The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 433

shall be left" (eh. xx. 17; cf. Micah iv. 10). That prediction now hasted to its accorn- pli11hment. Babylon had emerged as the successor to Assyria in the undisputed pos- session of imperial power. Its second king was Nebuchadnezzar, God's chosen instrument for the chastisement of Judah and surrounding nations (Jer. xxvii.). I. JEHOIAKIM's BUDMISBION. 1. The defeat of Neclwh. It was through Pbaraoh- Ncchoh, as previously stated, that Nebuchadnezzar was brought into relations with Judah, which did not end till the final ruin of the latter state. Nechoh had advanced to Carchemish on the Euphrates, when Nebuchadnezzar, finding his hands free, met him in battle, and completely defeated him (B.c. 605). All the country between Egypt and the Euphrates, which Nechoh had conquered, thus fell under the power of Babylon (ver. 7). Egypt might intrigue, but was thereafter powerless to help. Won- derful are .the corn binations of circumstances by which, in providence, God works out his ends. 2. Nebuchadnezzar's advance on Jerusalem. It was now the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Jer. xxv. 1), and, as Nechoh's va~sal, he had probably contributed his con- tingent to the defeated Egyptian army. Nebuchadnezzar speedily came against him. We learn from other passages (2 Chron. xnvi. 6, 7; Dan. i. 1, 2) that Jerusalem actually was besieged, and Jehoiakim bound in fetters, with the intention of being sent to Babylon. The king saved himself by submission; but the temple was plundered of its sacred vessels, and certain princes, among them Daniel, were taken away captive. This is the beginning of the seventy years' captivity (Jer. xxv. 11). 3. The three years\ servitude. For three years Jehoiakim bore the heavy yoke of the King of Babylon, as before he had borne that of Nechoh. During that period his character underwent no improvement. He still proved himself the tyrant and oppressor of his people, was obstinate and headlong in his courses, and sought the life of God's proph<ets. He built magnificent palaces by forced labour (Jer. xxii. 13--17). When Jeremiah's roll was read to him, he cut it up with his penknife, and threw it in the fire (Jer. xxxvi. 20-23). He slew Urijah the prophet, and would have put Jeremiah also to death if he had dared (Jer. xxvi. 12-24). Under his reign heathenism underwent a great revival, and the moral condition of the people rapidly deteriorated. Judah, like Israel of former days, had become a hopelessly corrupt carcase, and nothing remained but to remove it from the face of the earth. II. JEHOIAKrn's REBELLION. 1. Its motives. Three years Jehoiakim served the King of Babylon, then "he turned and rebelled against him." Not much light is thrown on the motives of this rebellion beyond the fact that Nebuchadnezzar was at this time at a distance, and Jehoiakim may have thought he might assert his indepen- dence with impunity. Pharaoh-Nechoh was still intriguing to stir up disaffection; plots were always hatching to get the subject-nations to combine against their common oppressor (cf. Jer. xx.vii. 3: on this occasion, however, Moab and Ammon were on the side of Nebuchadnezzar, ver. 2); and false prophets were never wanting to predict success (cf. Jer. xxviii.). Jeremiah gave a steady voice to the contrary, but it was unheeded. The proverb was again to be fnlfilled-whom the gods wish to destroy, they first madden. Jehoiakim was given up to the delusions of his own vain and foolish notions, and the people cherished extravagant hopes based on their possession of the temple and the Law (Jer. vii. 4; viii. 8). But neith\lr temple nor Law will avail those who refuse to "thoroughly amend" their "ways" and their "doings" (Jer. vii. 5). 2. Human instruments of punishment. "And the Lord sent against him bands of the Cbaldees, and bands of the Syrians," etc. Nebuchadnezzar could not at the time attend to Jehoiakim in person; but he conld lay his commands on neighbouring peoples, and these were ordered to keep up a galling and harassing attack on Judah by means of marauding bands. Detachments of his own Chaldeans were assisted by Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites, and gave Jehoiakim no peace. God's heritage is compared by Jeremiah to "a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her" (Jer. xii. 9). Troubles rise on every side against those who forsake God. 3. God over all. lt was the "Lord" who sent these hostile bands " against Judah to destroy it"-" surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight." In sacred history everything is looked at from the standpoint of Divine provi- dence. From second causes it mounts invariably to the supreme cause. Nebuchad- nezzar is God's "servant-his instrument for the chastisement of the nations" (Jer. xxvii. 4-7); and what, from the purely historical point of view, seems a lawless play  484 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. [OB. XXIV, 1-20.