g As the King ſuſpe&ed ſo it came to paſs; the Kings private Diſcourſe with the Prophet took wind, h and all the Princes then at Court came and inquired of Feremiah what was the ſubſtance of his Diſcourſe, i Jeremiah anſwered them according as the King had dire&ed. A Man is not bound in all caſes to ſpeak the whole truth, much lefs to thoſe who have nothing to do to inquire of us which theſe Princes had not. & By this means the Princes never knew the matter of this Diſcourſe.
28 So Jeremiah abode in the court of the priſon,
until theday that Jeruſalem was taken, and he was zhere
when Jeruſalem was taken /.
I Thus God hath ſeveral waysto hide his People in an evil day ; he hid Joſiah from it in the Grave, he hid Noah in an Ark, Lot in Zoar, Jeremy in a Priſon, which in probability was a ſafer place for him, than the Land of Benjamin, whether he would have gone, had not I:jah ſtopt him, chap. 37.12, 13+ Conquerours have commonly the ereateſt kindneſs, for thoſe whom they find under the frowns of the conquered, eſpecially when that which hath made them ſo hath been ſomething ſpoken, or done in the favour of the Conquerors,
CHAP. XXXIX.
Teruſal:m is taken : Zedekiahs Sons are /tatn ; His Eyes put out : He is ſent to Babylon : All the Nobles of Judah are ſlain : The City s burnt, and the Chief of the People carried Captrve, 1 to. Nebuchadnezzars Charge concerning Jeremiah, 11 I4. Gods Promile to Bdeb-melech,
15—18. X
N the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Baby- lon 4, and all his army, againſt Jeruſalem, and they
beſieged it. | s This exaly agreeth with the Hiſtorical part of Scripture, 2 Kings 25+ 1. and with the repetition of it, Chap. 52. 4 This Month was called Tebeth, Efher 3. 16. and anſwers to part of our December and January. Princes are ſaid to do that which is done by their great Officers by their Order, yet ſome think Nebuchadrezzar came firſt in Perſon, though he quickly left his Army, and was not there at the taking of the City. EE 2 Andin the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth
month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up 9.
; The Siege laſted a year and half, for it was the fourth Menth of Zedekiahs eleventh year before it was taken, it is ſaid here to be broken up, becauſe their way of taking fortified places then, was by beating down the Walls of the Belieged with Iron Rams and Engines, as we now do with great Guns. This Kingdom had now held 380 years, from Rehoboam rheirfirſt King, in which they had had twenty Kings ( velides Arhaliah.)) The Ten Tribes had been now in Captivity 130 years, ſo as the Kingdom of Iſr a!l ſtood but 250 years after the diviſion, in which time they had had 18 Princes, but of ſeveral Families ; all the Kings of Judah were of the Houſc of David, lineally deſcended from him.
2 Aud all the princes of the king of Babylon came ir, and fate in the middle gate c,ever Nergal-ſharezer, Samgar-nebo Sar-ſechim; Rab-ſaris, Nergal-ſharezer, Rab- mag, with al! the relidue of che princes of the king of Babyion 4. : >
c All the great Men of 2:5ylor, that were imployed iti the condut of the Babylonian Army ( the City being taken by Storm, or ſurprize) entred into ir, but rcited at che miadle Gate, 'T he City they lay was incompa!l-4 with two Walls, before they came to the Wall of the Temple; the Gate in the inner Wal!, is C:pnoſed to have been thar' which is called the middle Gate, they woutd not at ficſt, adventure in further, the City being large and well fortified, there might have been ſome Traps ijaid for them, they would therefore have their Soldiers firlt clear the Stre2rs, and ſearch all places, that they might enter further into the City withour hazarding their p-rſons, « Some Interpreters have examined the lignification of the Names of theſe Princes, bu: I kaow of no uſe it can be to us whether they were the Names of the perſons, or ſignificarive of the Offices they bare.
4 \ And it came to p.1s, that when Zedekiah the king. of Judah ſaw them, aud allche. men of ware, then they..
fled. and went forth ourof the city by nightf, by the way of the &ings garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls,
and he went out the way ot che plain g.
| weakned, as on a ſudden they might dig it through : poſſibly, theſe
M : : " H. Chap RYAN! l; ; © It Mould ſeem that the City was taken by a Sarprize, the | ; Coaldeans battering th: Walls as Pas with _. as: a Fi q | re War, on a ſudden made ſuch a breachas gave them a liberty | - _ in. f The King either heard of it, or poflibly might be in : my acc where he might ſee it, then he begins to think of eſcaping, ut ror greater privacy ſtayeth till he had the covert of ths N;obr.
g md then goeth out towards the plains of Jericho, for there the Chaideans overtcok him, as weread in the next Verſ. ) he 15 ſaid here to have gone by the way of the K'ngs Garden by the Gate b:twixt the rwo Walls. It is very hard for usat this diſtance of time to pretend to any certainty in determining the way by which he made hiseſcape
They ſeem to judge moſt probably, that think that the King had Prepared for himieIfa private paſſige out of his Garden betwixt two .»\|
Walls, leading to the Wall of the City, which they had befare ſo ſl;
: :
-
particulars are the rather ſet down, to ſhew us how what he had revealed in this matter to the Prophet, dee God ſet the Prophet, Y-r. 3, To prepare fuff for r2moving and to remove by day 71 the ſight of the p-oplc from his own place to another place, and Per. 4 To goout at even in their ſight, as they that goout inty Capt.vity. To dig through the wall in their ſight, and to carry out thereby : In their fight to bear it on is ſhoulders. and carry it forth in the twilight ; to cover his face, fo as not to ſee the ground, and Yer. 6. he t>1d him, that in all this he was to be a fign ; and Yer. 10. tells im Tow burden concerneth the Prince in Jeruſalem ( who was that Zedekiah ) Per. 12. Aud the Prince that u among them, ſhall bear upm his ſblder in the twilight, and ſhall go forth, they ſhall dig through the Wall, to go W thereby he ſhall cover his face, that hz ſee mt the ground with his eyes.