The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 447

fortunes repelled him. Jehova.h's withering ecorn of Coniah as "a despised and broken rot," "a vessel wherein is no pleasure" (Jer. x.xii. 28; cf. xlviii. 38), significantly intima.tee the est.eem in which he was held by him who tries the hearts and reins a.like of kings a.nd common men; while the relentless doom pronounced upon " this man " and "his seed" wa.s a clear certification that the stock from which he spra.ng wa.s incurably diseased, that the ta.int of vileness in the fa.mily wa.s ineradicable, that he a.nd hie descenda.nte were only fit to be ca.st out a.nd trodden in the mire (Ma.tt. v. 13 ; Luke xiv. 34). 2. .A.s a ki,ng. "He did tha.t which was evil in the sight of the Lord" (ver. 9), He ha.d no power, even ha.d he possessed the inclination, to arrest the down- ward progress of his nation. By personal preference as well as by officia.l position he was bound neck and heels to the heathen party to which his mother Nehuehta. belonged, a.nd which sought neither the prosperity nor the safety of their land and kingdom in me.inta.ining the pure worship of Jehovah, but in serving Cane.anitish, Phcenician, Egyptian, Assyt"ian, or Babylonia.n idols, whichever should at any time be thought most likely to serve their turn. III. HIS CAPTIVITY. 1. ~ reason. Not stated by either the Chronicler or the author of Kings, this may ha.ve been suspicion of Jehoiachin's fidelity (Rawlinson, •Kings of Israel and Judah,' p. 231), or knowledge of Egyptian troops a.dva.ncing to the aid of Jerusalem (Cheyne,' Jeremiah: his Life and Times,' p. 162). 2. Tlie time. At the return of the Jl8&r (ver. 10), i.e. in springtime, when kings were accustomed to go forth to battle (2 Sam. xi. 1). The year was the eighth of Nebuchadnezzar's reign (2 Kings :x:xiv. 12), or B.O. 597. 3. The '111,Q,nner. (2 Kings xxiv. 10-15.) (1) Nebuchadnezzar despatched his genera.ls to besiege Jerusalem. (2) Afterwards Nebuchadnezzar himself appeared in front of the city. (3) Jehoiachin, accompanied by his mother, his wives, his servants, his princes, his officers, went out to make sub- mission and surrender the city to Nebucha.dnezzar, in the hope doubtless of being permitted, like Jehoiakim, to retain his kingdom as a vassal of Babylon. This, how- ever, was not accorded him. (4) Nebuchadnezzar ma.de him prisoner and carried him off to Babylon, as Jeremiah (xxii 25) ha.d some time before predicted he would do. (5) In a.ddition, Nebuchadnezzar carried off his mother, his wives,' his officers, the chief men of the land, amongst whom was Ezekiel (i. 1, 2), even ten thousand captives, with seven thousand men of might, and a thousand craftsmen and smiths-" a sad mitigation of his lot indeed, but one for which Jehoahaz might have envied him. All that was best and worthiest in the old capital city went with Jehoiachin to Babylon" (Cheyne, •Jeremia.h,' etc., p. 162). (6) Only the poorest sort of people were left in the land, with the king's uncle Matta.nias, or Zedekiah, ae king. (7) The temple and palace were on this occasion completely plundered. " The goodly vessels of the house of the Lord" (ver. 10), i.e. the larger articles-the sma.ller ones having been previously taken ~er. 7)---were transported to Babylon. 4. The d'IJlf'ati<m. Thirty-seven years. Then, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the year, Evil-Merodach (in the inscriptions .,d'ITl,7,-Marduk, signifying "Man of Marduk" or "Meroda.ch "), on coming to the throne after Nebuchadnezzar's death, lifted up kis head out of prison (2 Kings xxv. 27-30). Learn: 1. The incurable character of sin, at least by any merely human means. 2. The swiftness in some cases of Divine retribution. 3. The misery entailed by sin upon evil-doers and all connected with them. 4. 'l'he evil done to religion by the wicked- ness of those who profess and should adorn it.-W. Vere.11-21.-Zedekiah; or, t'Mfall of Judah. I. Al,i Eltilll'LE OF INBENBATB WICKEDNE88. (Vere. 11-16.) L On the parl of the ki11g. Seemingly the third (1 Chron. iii. 16), but in reality the fourth, son of Joeia.b (cf. 2 Kings xxiii. 31, 36), and the full brother of Jehoahaz, or Bha.llwn (2 Kings xxiii. 31; xxiv. 18), but the half-brother of Jehoiaki.m (2 Kings xxiii 36), Mattaniae, or" Jehovah's gift," as he was originally called, ascended the throne o( Judah in his twenty-first year, by the favour of Nebuchadnezzar his overlord (ver. 10). With hie superior's consent, like Jehoiak:im., he a.dopted of his own accord, or had chosen for him by others (Cheyne), a special throne-name. Zedekiah, Zidkiab, meaning "Jehovah is righteous," or "Justice of Jehovah," had been the name of a former sovereign of Ascalon, whom Sennacherib bad subdued (Schra.der, 'Die Keilinschriften,' p. 291); and whatever may have been on. xx:xvr. 1-23.J THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 451