The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 449

holy day (Ps. xlii. 6). But idolatry and hypocrisy bad made "the house of prayer" into "a den of robbers" (Isa. lvi. 7; J er. vii. 11 ; Matt. xxi. 13), and God's glory had been seen by the prophet on the banks of the Cbebar departing from it (Ezek. xi. 22, 23). The temple bad been the special boast of the godless people. They had trusted in lying words, saying, "The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these" (Jer. vii. 4). This wa.s to make the temple a fetish, and, as Hezekiah bad broken the brazen serpent in pieces when it began to be worshipped (eh. xviii. 4), it had become necessary to destroy the temple also. 2. The buildings 'burned. "The king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire." When the central glory of the city had perished, secular pa.laces and houses could not expect to escape. They also were set on fire, and the ruddy blaze, spreading from street to street, would consume most of the humbler houses as well. How faithfully had all this been foretold, yet none would believe it ! Literally bad Jerusalem now become heaps (Micah iii. 12). 3. The walls broken down. "All the army of the Cbaldeans . . . brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about." This completed the catastrophe, made the holy city a heap of ruins, and rendered it impossible for inhabitants any longer to dwell in it. Gedaliah made bis head- quarters at Mizpah (ver. 23). The centre of Judah's nationality was destroyed. Jerusalem had been emptied, "as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down" (eh, xxi. 13). One stands appalled at so complete a wreck of a city which God bad once honoured by making it the place of his a.bode, and for which be had done such great things in the past. But the lesson we are to learn from it is that nothing can reverse the action of moral laws. God is terrible in his justice. Though a person or place is as "the signet upon his right hand," yet will be pluck it thence, if it abandons itself to wickedness (Jer. xxii. 24, 28).-J. 0. Vers. 11-21.-17ie final deportation. An end having been made of the city, the next step was to complete the conquest by deporting to Babylon the remnant of the population, and carrying away the spoil. To this task Nebuzar-a.dan now addressed himself. I. THE PEOPLE CJABBmD AWAY, 1. The gleanings taken. Ten or eleven thousand persons bad been carried away in the earlier captivity (eh. x.xiv .14), including amongst them the best part of the population (cf. Jer. xxiv. 3-10). The remnant bad since been thinned by famine, pestilence, and war (Jer. xxi. 7; xxiv. 10). On the most probable view of J er. lii. 28 ("seventeenth" for" seventh"), a further large deportation of captives-over three thousand-took place a year before the conclusion of the siege. Now there were only the gleanings to take away, and these amounted to but eight hundred and thirty-two persons ( J er. lii. 29). They were but a small handful compared with those who had perished, but they would comprise all the people of any position and influence. '.l.'hey consisted of those who were in the city, of those who had previously deserted to the Cba.ldea.ns, and of the pickings of the multitude outside. 'l'he mourning and lamentation occasioned by these captivities is poetically represented by Jeremiah in the well-known description of Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted, as she sees the long trains defile away (Jer. xxxi. 15). 2. The poor left. As before, it was only the poorest of the land, those "which had nothing" (Jer. xxxi.x. 10) who were left behind, to till the fields and care for the vineyards. With tbe exception of these, the country was depopulated. The best eveu of this poorer class had been removed in the last sifting of the population, so that the residue must have been poor indeed. They formed but a scant remnant ; bnt even they, as we shall see, were unable to hold together, and were soon to be expatriated, leaving the land utterly desolate. II. THE BRAZEN VESSELS CARRIED AWAY, The temple plunder. The more valu- able of the temple vessels had been carried away in the first captivity (eh. xxiv. 13), but there remained a large number of articles and utensils of brass, together with some of the precious metals (ver. 16), either formerly overlooked or subsequently replaced. All these bad been gathered out before the temple was burnt, and were now carried away as spoil. They consisted (1) of the two brazen pillars, Jachin and Boaz, which stood in the porch of the temple, and by their symbolical names, "He shall establish," .. lo it ie strength," witnessed to the fact that God's dwelling-place was now established 602 THE SECOND BOOK OF 'l'HE RINGS. [en. xxv. 1-30.