Account of the siege JEREMIAH. and capture of Jerusalem. year of his accession to the throne of Babylon (which was in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity, and the one hundred and ninety-first from the building of Rome, according to the computation of Varro), orders Jehoiachin to be taken out of prison, and treats him kindly for the remainder of his life, 31-34. on chap. xxxix. 1, &c. The fourth month answers Verse 1. Zedekiah was one and twenty years old] nearly to our July. See 2 Kings xxiv. 18. Verse 2. And he did-evil] This and the following verse are the same as 2 Kings xxiv. 19. Verse 3. Through the anger of the Lord] Here is a king given to a people in God's anger, and taken away in his displeasure. Verse 4. Ninth year-tenth month] Answering nearly to our January. Verse 5. So the city was besieged] It held out one year and six months. Verse 6. And in the fourth month] See the notes Verse 8. The army of the Chaldeans pursued] See on 2 Kings xxv. 5. Verse 9. King of Babylon to Riblah] See the note on chap. xxxix. 5. Verse 11. He put out the eyes of Zedekiah] See on chap. xxxix. 7. Verse 12. Now in the fifth month] Answering nearly to our August. Verse 13. And burned the house of the Lord] Thus perished this magnificent structure, after it had stood four hundred and twenty-four years three months and The Babylonish A. M.3416. Anno OL XLVIII. 1. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., 29. a CHAP. LII. 15 Then Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard carried away captive certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. 16 But Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen. 17 Also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon. e 18 The caldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away. 19 And the basons, and the "firepans, and the bowls, and the caldrons, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups; that which was of gold in gold, and that which was of silver in silver, took the captain of the guard away. 20 The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brasen bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the brass of all these vessels was without weight. h i 21 And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow. 22 And a chapiter of brass was upon it; and the height of one chapiter was five cubits, Ch. xxxix. 8, 9. b Ch. xxvii. 19.- - See 1 Kings vii. 15, 23, 27, 50.- d Exod. xxvii. 3. 2 Kings xxv. 14, 15, 16. Or, instruments to remove the ashes. Or, basons. 1 Kings vii. 47. Heb. their brass. Or, censers. 1 Kings vii. 15. Heb. thread. 2 Kings xxv. 17. 2 Chron. iii. 15. m See 1 Kings vii. 20.- —n 2 Kings xxv. with network and pomegranates upon the chapiters round about, all of brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like unto these. m captivity. A. M. 3416. B. C. 588. Ol. XLVIII. 1. Anno Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., 29. 23 And there were ninety and six pomegranates on a side; and all the pomegranates upon the network were an hundred round about. 24 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door: 25 He took also out of the city an eunuch, which had the charge of the men of war; and seven men of them that were near the king's person, which were found in the city; and the 'principal scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city. 26 So Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. 27 And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus 'Judah was carried away captive out of his own land. eight days. It was built A. M. 2992, and destroyed door to receive the offerings of the people, see 2 Kings A. M. 3416. Verse 15. Those that fell away] The deserters to the Chaldeans during the siege. Verse 16. The poor of the land] See on chap. xxxix. 1. Verse 17. Also the pillars] See on chap. xxvii. 19. Verses 18-23. In reference to these verses see the parallel texts in the margin, the various readings there, and the notes. Verse 24. The second priest] See the note on 2 Kings xxv, 18, The three keepers] The priests who stood at the XX. 9, and xxiii. 4. Verse 25. Seven men that were near the king's person] These were privy counsellors. Verses 28-30. On these verses Dr. Blayney has some sensible remarks; I will extract the substance. These verses are not inserted in 2 Kings xxv. Are we to conclude from these verses that the whole number of the Jews which Nebuchadnezzar, in all his expeditions, carried away, was no more than four thousand six hundred? This cannot be true; for he carried away more than twice that number at one time; and this is expressly said to have been in Jehoiachin is brought A. M. 3420. Ol. XLIX. 1. JEREMIAH. C 30 In the three and twentieth of Jehoiachin king of Judah, year of Nebuchadrezzar Ne- and brought him forth out of Tarquinii Prisci, buzar-adan the captain of the prison, R. Roman., 33. guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons all the persons were four thousand and six hundred. * 2 Kings xxv. 27, 28, 29, 30.-b Gen. xiv. 13, 20. the eighth year of his reign, 2 Kings xxiv. 12-16. Before that time he had carried off a number of captives from Jerusalem, in the first year of his reign, among whom were Daniel and his companions, Dan. i. 3-6. These are confessedly not noticed here. And as the taking and burning of Jerusalem is in this very chapter said to have been in the fourth and fifth months of the nineteenth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, those who were carried into captivity at the date of those events cannot possibly be the same with those that are said to be carried away either in the eighteenth or twenty-third year of that prince. Nor, indeed, is it credible that the number carried away at the time that the city was taken, and the whole country reduced, could be so few as eight hundred and thirty-two (see ver. 29); supposing a mistake in the date of the year, which some are willing to do without sufficient grounds. Here then we have three deportations, and those the most considerable ones, in the first, in the eighth, and nineteenth years of Nebuchadnezzar, sufficiently distinguished from those in the seventh, eighteenth, and twenty-third years. So that it seems most reasonable to conclude with Abp. Usher, in Chronologia Sacra, that by the latter three the historian meant to point out deportations of a minor kind, not elsewhere noticed in direct terms in scripture. The first of these, said to have been in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar, was one of those that had been picked up in several parts of Judah by the band of Chaldeans, Syrians, and others, whom the king of Babylon sent against the land previously to his own coming, 2 Kings xxiv. 2. That in the eighteenth year corresponds with the time when the Chaldean army broke off the siege before Jerusalem, and marched to meet the Egyptian army, at which time they might think it proper to send off the prisoners that were in camp, under a guard to Babylon. And the last, in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, was when that monarch, being engaged in the siege of Tyre, sent off Nebuzar-adan against the Moabites, Ammonites, and other neighbouring out of prison. A. M. 3442. B. C. 562. Ol. LIV. 3. Anno Servii Tullii, R. Roman., 17. 32 And spake kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon. 33 And changed his prison garments: “and he did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life. 34 And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, *every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life. d 2 Sam. ix. 13. e Heb. the matter of the day in his day. nations, who at the same time carried away the gleanings of Jews that remained in their own land, amounting in all to no more than seven hundred and forty-five. Josephus speaks of this expedition against the Moabites and Ammonites, which he places in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar; but mentions nothing done in the land of Israel at that time. Only he says, that after the conquest of those nations, Nebuchadnezzar carried his victorious arms against Egypt, which he in some measure reduced, and carried the Jews whom he found there captives to Babylon. But the Egyptian expedition was not till the twenty-seventh year of Jehoiachin's captivity, i. e the thirty-fifth of Nebuchadnezzar, as may be collected from Ezek. xxix. 17; so that those who were carried away in the twenty-third year were not from Egypt, but were, as before observed, the few Jews that remained in the land of Judah. Verse 31. In the twelfth month] Answering nearly to our twenty-fifth of April, A. M. 3442. Lifted up the head of Jehoiachin] This phrase is taken from Gen. xl. 13. It is founded on the observation that those who are in sorrow hold down their heads, and when they are comforted, or the cause of their sorrow removed, they lift up their heads. The Hebrew phrase, lift up the head, signifies to comfort, cheer, make happy. Verse 32. Spake kindly] Conversed freely with him. Set his throne] Gave him a more respectable sea than any of the captive princes, or better than even his own princes had, probably near his person. Verse 33. And changed his prison-garments] Th is, Jehoiachin changed his own garments, that he might be suited in that respect to the state of his elevation. Kings also, in token of favour, gave caftans or robes to those whom they wish to honour. And he did continually eat bread before him] Was a constant guest at the king's table. Verse 34. And-there was a continual diet given him] This was probably a ration allowed by the king for the support of Jehoiachin's household. For other particulars, see the note on 2 Kings xxv. 30. Concluding observations. CHAP. LII. Masoretic notes. All the days of his life.] I believe these words have | lamentacion Jerusalem; and with bitter inwit sighand been by mistake added from the preceding verse. and criand weilawai, seide. Then follows in red There, they are proper; here, they are tautological. letters: Here beginneth the Lamentacion of Jeremye, They are wanting in the Septuagint and in the Arabic. that is intitle Cenoth; with the sortynge out of Ebrue The preceding words, yad yom motho, letters. ALEPH: How sittith aloon the city, &c. See "to the day of his death,” are wanting in two of something of a similar kind from other authorities, at De Rossi's and one of Kennicott's MSS. the beginning of Lamentations. Coverdale ends thus: All the days of his life untill he died. This is better than the common Version. Immediately after this verse, my old MS. Bible adds the following words: And done is aftir that into caitifte is brougt Esrael, and Jerusalem is destroide, satte Jeremye the prophet weepund, and weiled with this MASORETIC NOTES. Number of verses in this Book, 1365. INTRODUCTION TO THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. THIS book, like the several books of the Pentateuch, is denominated in Hebrew eicah, how, from its first word; and sometimes p kinnoth, lamentations, from its subject. In the Septuagint it is termed OPHNOI TOY IEPEMIOY, for the same reason. The Syriac and Arabic copy or follow the Septuagint; and so does the Vulgate, from the Lamentationes of which, the book has that name which it bears in our language. In the Chaldee it has no name; and in it, and perhaps anciently in the Hebrew, it was written consecutively with the last chapter of Jeremiah. It is one of the books of the m Megilloth, or Roll, among the Jews; and because it relates to the ruin of their affairs, and contains promises of restoration, it is peculiarly prized, and frequently read. The five Megilloth are: Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Lamentations, Ruth, and Esther. There has been little difference among learned men concerning the author of this book. The whole current of antiquity and modern times has pointed out Jeremiah as the writer: of this the style is a sufficient evidence. Mr. John Henry Pareau, in a Dissertation prefixed to his Translation and Notes on this book (8vo. Lugd. Bat. 1790), has proved this point amply from a general collation of the prophecy of Jeremiah with select passages in this book. I have heard of but one learned man who has entertained serious doubts on the subject, Mr. Herman Van der Hardt, who has supposed the five chapters were written by Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Jeconiah. To this opinion I suppose none has ever been converted. There has been more difference of opinion relative to the subject and occasion. Some have thought the book was composed on the death of Josiah; others that it was composed on occasion of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the various desolations connected with it. To this all its parts and its general phraseology seem best to apply; and this is the sentiment most generally embraced at present. This will receive much proof from a minute consideration of the book itself. The composition of this poem is what may be called very technical. Every chapter, except the last, is an acrostic. Of the two first, each verse begins with a several letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in the order of the letters, with this exception, that in the second, third, and fourth chapters, the phe is put before they ain; whereas in all the acrostic Psalms the latter precedes the former, as it does in all grammars of the Hebrew language. In the first and second chapters each verse is composed of three hemistichs or half verses, except the seventh verse of the first, and the nineteenth of the second chapter, which have each four hemistichs. |