The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 437

extremity, and, as in So.maria under Jeho- vallation, which, moreover, were not em- re.m (oli. vi. 29), 1111d o.go.in in Jerusalem ployed in their siegces by the Orientals. during the siege by 'l'itus (Josephua, 'Dell. Ddyek (p:1) seems to be properly a "watch- Jud.,' vi. 8. § 4), m0thers ale their children tower," from pn, speculari, whence it pagsed (see Lo.m. ii. 20; iv. 10). When resistance into the meaning of a "tower" generally. was no longer possible, Zedekfah, with his The towers used in sieges by the Assyria.ns and Babylonians were movable ones, made mea-11t-11rms, attempted to escape by night, of planks, which were pushed up to the o.nd fie,! eastward, but were overtaken e.nd walls, eo that the assailants might attack captu1·ed in tile plain of Jericllo (Jer. xxxix. their adversaries, on e. level, with greater 4, 5). Meanwhile the city fell into the advantage. Sometimes they CQnt..ined bat- eaemy'e hunds, and was treated with all tering-rams (see Le.yard, ' Monuments of Nineveh,' first series, pl. 19; and comp. tile rigours of war. 'l'he temple, the royal Jer. Iii. 4; Ezek. iv. 2; xvii. 17; uvi. 8; palace, and the great llouses of the rich Josephus, • Ant. Jud.,' x. 8. § I). men were first plundered and then de- Ver. 2.-And the city was besieged =to livered to the flu.mes (ver. 9). The walls of the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. The the city were broken down (ver. 10), and the writer omits all the details of the siege, gates la.id even with the ground (Lam. ii. and hastens to the final catastrophe. From Jeremiah and Ezekiel we learn that, after 9). A great massacre of the population the sie"e had continued a. certain time, the took place in the Hlreets (Lam. ii. 8, 4). Egypli:n monarch, Hophr.i. or .A.pries, ma.de an effort to carry out the terms of his agree- ment with Zedekiah, and marched an army Ver. 1.-And it oa.me to pass in the ninth into Southern Judrea, with the view of raising year of his-i.e. Zedekia.h's-reign, in the the sie"'e (Jer. xxxvii. 5; Ezek. xvii. 17). tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuche.dnezzill' hastened to meet him. Extreme exactness with respect to a date With the whole or the greater pa.rt of hie indicates tile extreme importance of the host he marched south ward and offered event dated. In tho whole range of the battle to the Egyptians. Whether an en- history contained in the two Books of ge."emeut took place or not is uncertain. the Kings, there is no instance of tho year, Jo~ephus affirms it, and says that Apriee month, and day being all given exceptin_g wns "defeated and driven out of Syria" in the p1·esent chapter, where we find this (' Ant. Jurl.,' x. 7. § 8). The sileuce ~f extreme exactness thxee times (vers. 1, 4, Jeremiah is thought to throw doubt on hie and 8), 'l'he date in ver. l is confirmed by e.ssertion. At any rate, the Egyptians re- Jer. lii. 10 and Ezek. xxiv. I. That Nebu- tired (Jer. :xxxvii. 7) and took no _further ohadnezzar King of Babylon came, he, and all part in the struggle. 'fhe Dabylon1ans re- his host, against Jerusalem. According to turned, aud the siege recommenced. A the description of the eye-witness, Jeremiah, complete block11de was esta.blislled, and the the army was one of unusual magnitude. defenders of the city soon began to suffer Nebuchadnc-zzar brought against Jerusalem from famine (Jer. x.xi. 7, 9; Lam. ii. 12, 20). e.t this time "all I.is army, and all the l,ing- Ere long, as so often happens in sieges, doms of the earth of his dominion, and all fa.mine was followed by pestilence (Jer. xxi. the people" (Jer. xxxiv. 1). The march of 6, 7; Josephus,' Ant. Jud.,' l. s. c.), and a[ter the army was not direot upon Jerusale~; a time the place wus reduced to the last it at first sprnad itself over Judrea, wastmg extremity (Lam. iv. 3-9). Bread was no the country and capturing the sruallor forti- longer to be had, and mothers devoured their fied towns (Josephus, 'Ant. Jnd.,' x. 7. § 8) children (Lam. iv. 10). At length a breach -among them Lachish, so famous in the was effected in the defences ; the enemy war ag11inst Sennacherib (eh. ~viii. 14, 17; poured in ; and the city fell (see the com- xix. 8), 11nd Azekah (Jer. xxx1v. 7). The ment on ver. 4). ca.ptme of these two places was importa~t Ver. 8.-And on the ninth day of the as intercepting Zedekiah's. line of oom~um- fourth month. The text of Kings is here catiou with Egypt. HaVIng made himself incomplete, and has to be restored from master of them, Nebuchadnezzar proceeded Jer. Iii. 6. Our tmnsla.tors have supplied to invest the capital. And pitohed against the missing words. The famine prevailed it-i.e, encamped, and commenced a regular in the oity (see the comment on ver. 2). As I sicgo-and they built forts against it round h1\Ve elsewhere observed, "The intensity of about. It has been argued that p.'.1 does not the suffering endured may be gnthered from me11n a " fort" or "tower," but e. "line of Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Josephus. 'fl>e circumvallation" (Michaelis, Hitzig, The· complexions of the men grew black with nius Bahr). Jerusalem, however, oan fa.mine (Lam, iv. 8; v. 10); their skin W:_\S a~ly be surrounded by lines of oiroum- shrunk and parched (Lam. iv. 8); the rich  488 THE SECOND BOOK OF 'l'HE KINGS. [ell, XXV, 1-80.