The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 446

Jehoiakim's third year (Dan. i. 1), the year before Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carohemish (Jer. xxv. 1; xlvi. 2), i.e. B.O. 606. The probability is that either before or immediately after defeating Necho, he proceeded to Jerusalem and reC:,ived the sub- mission of Jehoiakim, who had up till that time been Necho's vassal. In order to ■ecure this transference of Jehoiakim's allegiance, he appears to have both taken the city and put its sovereign in chains, as if, should he prove refractory, to deport him to Babylon, but to have departed from this design on obtaining promise of Jehoiakim's fealty. This, however, Jehoiakim only kept for three years (2 Kings xxiv. 1), at the end of which he rebelled. Nebuchadnezzar, being occupied with affairs in Babylon, having acceded to the throne only two years prior to Jehoiakim's revolt, despatched against the rebel several detachments of troops, "bands of Chaldeans," at the same time stirring up the Ammonites, Syrians, and Moabites to harass Judah (2 Kings xxiv. 2), but not himself returning to Jerusalem till five years later, in the reign of Jehoiachin. III. A NEW SPOLIATION OF JEHOVAH'B TEMPLE. (Ver. 7.) 1. Th.eforst plundermg of the saCTed edifice. (1) By whom? Shishak (Sheshonk) King of Egypt. (2) When? In the fifth year of Rehoboam, B,O. 971. (3) To what extent? Total: "He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord: he took all" (eh. xii. 9; 1 Kings xiv. 26). 2. The second plwndering of the saCTed edifice. (1) The despoiler. Ahaz King of Judah. (2) The time. B.O. 734, during the Syro-Ephraimitish invasion. (3) The reason. To purchase therewith the help of Tiglath-Pileser II. against Rezin of Damascus and Pekah of Samaria (eh. xxviil. 21). 3. The third plunderin_g of the sacred edifice. (1) The agent. Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz. (2) The act. He took "all the silver found in the house of the Lord . . . and the gold from the doors and pillars of the temple" (2 Kings xviii. 15, 16). (3) The object. To give to Sen- nacherib King of Assyria as tribute-money. (4) The date. When Sennacherib was encamped at Lachish, B.o. 701. 4. The fourth plundering of the saCTed edifice. (1) The person. Nebuchadnezzar, called King of Babylon, though at the time only crown-prince. (2) The extent. Partial: " He carried off the vessels of the house of the Lord." Jeremiah (xxvii. 18, 20) predicted that the vessels which had been left would one day be carried to Babylon, and would remain there until the return from captivity, when they should again be restored to their place in the temple (cf. ver. 18; Dan. v. 2; Ezra i. 7). (3) The cause. TQ punish Judah as well as J ehoiakirn. and to ensure their fealty. (4) The aggravation. The pillaged vessels were transported to Babylon and deposited in "his temple," or "treasure house of his god" (Dan. i. 2; 1 Esdr. i. 41), rather than "his palace" (Bertheau). The inscriptions show that :Marduk, or Merodach, was Nebuchadnezzar's patron divinity, that Nebuchadnezzar's temple was the temple of Merodach at Babylon, which he completely built and restored, and that Nebuchadnezzar himself was, according to his ideas, intensely religious, even calling himself "the heaven-adoring king"(' Records,' etc., v. 113, etc.; vii. 75, etc.). LESSONS. 1. The native corruption of the human heart, attested by the wicked characters of Josia.b.'s sons, 2. The impossibility of going on in sin with impunity.-W. Vere. 9, 10.-Jehoiachin tha worthless. I. Hm coBONATION. I. His titltS to Iha throne. He was Jehoiakim's son, his mother having been Nehushta, "The Brazen,• the daughter of El-nathan of Jerusalem (ver. 8; 2 Kings xxiv. 6, 8), one of the princes attached to Jehoiakim's court (Jer. xxvi. 22; xxxvi.12, 25). 2. His regal designation. Jehoiachin, "Jehovah has established," perhaps expressive of the hopes with which he assumed the sceptre. His personal name appears to have been "Coniah" (Jer. xxii. 24, 28), or Jeconiah (1 Chron. iii. 16), also signifying "Jehovah establishes." 3. His agtJ al QCCIJ8Hon. Eight years (ver. 9), obviously a mistake for eighteen (2 Kings xxiv. 8), since he had wives (2 Kings xxiv. 16), and in Jeremiah is represented as a man while if Ezekiel (xix. 6-9) refers to him rather than Jehoiakim, the language in ver. '7 is h~rdly suitable as applied to an infant or child of eight. 4. His continua,- t1pon the thron& Three months and ten days-ten days longer than his uncle J ehoab.az (ver. 2), and "just as long as _Napoleon's after ~is lan~ng in March, 1815 " (Cheyne)• .Another illustration of short-lived glory. Vanita, vamtatum I II. His OHARAOTEB, 1. As a man. He was obviously no better than his father, in whose footsteps he walked. His father's wickedness allured more than his father's evil ll OHRONIOLEB, 2 G ·450 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [oH. xxxvr, 1-23,