The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 427

Jehoiaklm to continue. It is in his favom envoys of Merodaoh-Bo.Jadan were carried thut he did not aoti vely peraeoute Jeremiah. off by Sennacherib (eh. xviii. 15), still there Ver. 10.-At that time the servants of had probably been fresh accumulations made Nebuohadneoar King of Babylon oame up during their long reigns by Manasseh and against Jerusalem. This siege fell probably Josiah. And out in pieoea all the vessels of into the year B.o. 597, which was" the eighth gold whioh Solomon Xing of Israel had yeur of N ebuohe.dnezzar" (ver. 12). N ebu- made in the temple of the Lord. (For an che.dnezze.r himself was, at the time, en- e.ccount of these vessels, see 1 Kings vii. gaged in the siege of Tyre, which had 48-50.) '£hey consisted in part of articles revolted in B,O. 598 (see • Ancient Monar- of furniture, like the altar of incense and ohies,' vol. iii. p. 51), and therefore sent his the table of ehrewbread, which were thickly " servants "-i.e. generals.-gainst J erusa- covered with plates of gold ; in po.rt of lem. And the oity was besieged. Probably vessels, etc., made wholly of the precious for only e. short time. Jeconiah may at metal, as candlesticks, or rather candelabra, first have had some hope of support from snuffers, tongs, basins, spoons, censers, and Egypt, still, under the rule of N echoh ; but the like. As the Lord had said (comp. eh. when no movement was me.de in this quarter n. 17; Jee.. x.xx.ix. 6; Jer. xv. 13; xvii. (see the comment on ver. 7), he determined 3; n. 5, etc.). not to provoke his powerful enemy by an Ver.14.-And he carried away all Jerusa- obstinate resistance, but to propitiate him, lem. The expression has to be limited by if possible, by e. prompt surrender. what follows. "All Jerusalem" means all Ver. 11.-And Nebuchadnezzar Xing of that was important in the population of J e- Babylon came age.inst the city, and his ser- ruea.lem-all the npper classes, the "princes" vants did besiege it; rather, his servants and " nobles," all the men trained to the were besieging it. Wllile the siege conducted use of arms, and all the skilled craftsmen by his generals was still going on, Nebu- and artisans of the city. The poor and chadnezzar made his appearance in person weak and unskilled were left. The number before the walls, probably bringing with deported, according to onr author, was him an additional force, which me.de e. suc- either ten or eleven thousand. The whole cessful resistance hopeless. A council of population of the e.ncieut city has been cal- war was no doubt held under the new culated from its area. at fifteen thousand. circumstances, and a surrender was decided The largest estimate of the population of on. the modem city is seventeen thonsa.nd. And Ver. 12.-And J'ehoiachin the Xing of all the princes. The sarim, or " princes," Judah went out to the Xing of Babylon (for are not me.lee of the blood royal, but the the use of the expression, " went out to," nobles, or upper classes of Jerusalem (comp. in this sense of making a surrender, see 1 Jer. nv. 18; nvi. 10-16, etc.). And all Sam. xi. 3; Jer. ni. 9; xxxviii.!17, etc.), the mighty men of ve.lour-i.e. "all the he, and his mother (see the commeut on ver. trained troops" (Ewald); not" all the men 8), and his servantd, and his prinoes, and his of wee.Ith," as Bahr renders-even ten offloers-rather, his eunuchs ( see the comment thousand captives. As the soldiers are on eh. xx. 18)-and the King of Babylon reckooed below (ver. 16) at seven thoUBand, took him in the eighth year of his reign, and the craftsmen at one thousand, the upper- Nebacho.dnezzar succee<led his father, N abo- class captives would seem to have been two polassar, in B.o. 605; but his first year was thousand ; unless, indeed, the " craftsmen" not complete till lute in B.O. 604. His are additional to the ten thousand, in which " eighth year" was thus B.o. 597. case the upper-class captives would he. ve Ver. 13.-And he oarried out thence all numbered three thousand, and the prisoners the treasures of the house of the Lord. hn.ve amonnted altogether to eleven thousand. "Thence" means "from Jorusalem," which And all the craftsmen and smiths. Ewald he entered and plundered, notwithstanding un,lerstands "the military workmen and Jehoinchin's s11bmiesion, so that not much siege euginecrs" to be inteoded (' History was gained by the voluntary surrender. A of Israel,' vol. iv. p. 263, note 9n but the beginning had been mode of the carrying term ;;,n in Ho brew includes a.11 workers in off the sacred vessels of the temple in Je- atone, in'etal, or wood (Gen. iv. 22; Isa. xliv. hoiakim's third (fourth?) year (Dan. i. 1), 12; 1 ~ings viL 14), and there is nothing which was the first of Nebuchadoezzar. to limit it here to military craftsmen. It The plundering wos now carried a step was a.n Oriental practice to weaken a state further; while the final complete sweep of by the deportation of all the stronger ele- all that reml\iued came eleven years later, ments of its population. None remained, at the end of the reign of Zedekiah (see eh. save the poorest sort of the people of the xxv. 19-17), And the treasures of the land. These words must be taken with king's houH (comp. eh. xx. 13). If the some latitude. There are still "princes" treusures wbiob Hczekil\h showe<! lo the in Jern8&le71 under ~edekil\h (Jer. xuviii  THE SECOXD ROOK OF THE KINGS. [en. xxrv. 1-20,