The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 436

ohaptor in his commentary, are not un• word "God," but possibly meant to taunt worthy of note. Ho so.ye, "As the kingdom the "Jehovah'' of the Jew. of Judah o.fter Josinh's deo.th advanced Ver. 5.-Here we note the age of ,Jehoio- with swift steps to its destruction by the klm os greater than that of Jehoahaz, and in the pare.lie! we read that his mother was Ohaldeans, so the o.uthor of the Ohroniole different. goes quickly over the reigns of the last Ver. 6.-Against him came up Nebuohad- kings of Judah, who by their godless con• nezzar Xing of Babylon. Our mere allusions duct hastened the ruin of the kingdom. As in this and the following verse to N ebu- to the four kings remaining, who reigned chadnezzar's relations to Jehoiakim and Judah are strange in comparison with the between J osiah's death and the destruction graphic account furnished by the parallel of Jerusalem, he gives, besides their ages (2 Kings xxiv. 1-6). The name is the at their respective accessions, only a short same with Nabokodrosoros, is written in characterization of their conduct towards the Assyrian monuments Nebu-kuduri-utzur, God, and a statement of the main events and meaning, "Nebo (Isa.. xlvi. 1), pro- tector from ill," or ."protects the crown." which, step by step, brought about the ruin In Jeremiah (xlix. 28) we have the name of the king and the burning of Jerusalem written N ebuchadrezze.r, as also in Ezekiel. and the temple." Nebuchadnezzar, second King of Babylon, This chapter, then, contains, :first, very was the eon of Nabopolassar, who took brief accounts of the four reigns of Jehoahaz Nineveh B.O. 625, and reigned above forty years. Though we are here told he bo1lll.d (vers. 1-4), Eliakim or Jehoiakim (vers. 4- J'ehoiakim in chains, to take him to Babylon, 8), Jehoiachin (vers. 9, 10), and Zedekiah for some reason or other he did not carry (vers. 10-13); next, general remnrks on out this intention, and J ehoiakim was put the iniquity that heralded the destruction to death e.t Jerusalem (Jer. xii. 18, 19; of the nation and the punishment of it by xxxvi. 30: Ezek. xi.x. 8, 9). The expedition of Nebuchadnezzar was B.c. 605-4 (Dau. i. the Chaldean oapti vity ( vers. 14-17) : l; Jer. xxv. 1), and during it, his father thirdly, the methods of that destruction e.nd dying, he succeeded to the throne. captivity (vers. 17-21); and lastly, the Ver. 7.-(Comp. Dan. i. 2.) The temple restoring proclamation of Oyrus King of here called his temple was, no doubt, the Persia. temple of Belus, or in the vernacular "Me- rodach," the Babylonian god of war. This Ver. 1.-The people of the land took rifling of the sacred vessels or Jern.salem's J'ehoahaz (see parallel, 2 Kings xxiii. 30). temple for Babylon's temple was the sig- The form of expression may indicate the nificant beginning of the end for Judah now hearty zee.l of the nation for this chosen son at last, arter many a warning. of Josiah, who seems to have been not the Ver. 8.-The rest of the acts of J'ehoiaki.m. eldest. In the next verse, as Revised Ver- As our compiler has literally told us none sion, he is called Joahaz. In 1 Chron. iii. at all, we need but note his expreosion here 15, e.s in the affecting passage Jer. xxii. as a convenient formula, indicating his own 10-12, his name appears as Shallum. His intentional brevity, and the fact that Le mother's name was Hamutal, while the was privy to all in the original sources, name of the mother of hie immediate suc- which he nevertheless now omitted ; yet see cessor was Zebudah (2 Kings xxiii. 31 o.nd Jer. vii. 9; xi.x. 13, etc. The telling e:s:- 36). preesion, what was fo1llld in him, is too Ver. 3.-Put him down; Hebrew, l;'IJ'I?'.': readily to be filled up from the pare.lie!, in i.e. deposed him (Revised Version). At its vers. 3, 4. Jehoiachin his son. In 1 Jerusalem, In something more than three Cbron. iii. 16 he is called Jeconiah, and in months Pharaoh-Necho seems to have been Jer. xxii. 24 he is co.lied Coniah. returning, and in the neighbourhood of Ver,, 9.-Eight years old. Our te:s:t, not JeJ"usalem. The parallel(2 Kings xxiii. 31) the writer, is in error, and the parallel fur- tells us that he put J ehoahaz "in bands" nishes the correction, "eighteen years old." at " Riblath in the land of Hamath" (Ezek. Ver. 10.-When the year was expired ; i.e. xix. 4). And oondemned the land; i.e. in- at the beginning of the new yeflr, in spring flicted a fine on the land; Heb1·ew, i;lJl..'.~- (ob. xxiv. 23). It appears, from 2 Kings From this time nothing further is hee.rd'of xxv. 27-30, that the captivity of Jehoia- Johoahaz or Shallum. cLin, which thus began, lasteu thirty-seven Ver. 4.-Elie.kim. The meaning of the years, till B.C. 561, past the end of N cbu- word is •• God sets up; " the meaning of chadnezzar's reign, and that he was lhPnce- Jehoiakim is "Jehov11h sets up." Au forward kindly treated by Evil-llhrou,\cb. Egyptie.11 king knew and recognized the Compare particulurly with lhis verse the «O THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [on. xxxv1. 1-29,