Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Kings 23:33

"And Pharaoh-necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold." — 2 Kings 23:33 (ASV)

And Pharaoh-nechoh put him in bands ... —See Note on 2 Chronicles 36:3. The Septuagint here has “removed him,” but the other versions “bound him.”

That he might not reign. —This is the reading of the Hebrew margin, some MSS., and the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Targum. The Syriac and Arabic have, “when he reigned,” which is the ordinary Hebrew text.

The original text of the whole was perhaps this: “and Pharaoh-nechoh bound him at Riblah ... and removed him from reigning in Jerusalem;” i.e., he threw him into bonds, and pronounced his deposition. (Compare the construction in 1 Kings 15:13.)

Riblah (now Ribleh) lay in a strong position on the Orontes, commanding the caravan route from Palestine to the Euphrates. Necho had advanced so far, after the battle of Megiddo, and taken up his quarters there, as Nebuchadnezzar did afterwards (2 Kings 25:6; 2 Kings 25:20–21).

Josephus relates that Necho summoned Jehoahaz to his camp at Riblah. The passage, Ezekiel 19:4, suggests that he got the king of Judah into his power by fraud: he was taken in their pit.

It used to be supposed, on the strength of Herodotus ii. 159, that Necho captured Jerusalem. What Herodotus says is this: “And engaging the Syrians on foot at Magdolus, Nechoh was victorious. After the battle he took Kadytis, a great city of Syria.”

Kadytis has been thought to be either Hadath (“the new town,” referring to the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Return), or el-Kuds (“the holy,” the modern Arabic title of Jerusalem), or Gaza. In reality, it is Kadesh on the Orontes, one of the great Hittite capitals, and not far from Hamath.

A talent of gold. —So Chronicles. The Septuagint here reads, an hundred talents of gold (a transcriber’s error). The Syriac and Arabic, ten talents, which may be right. (Compare 2 Kings 18:14, where the proportion of silver to gold is ten to one.)

Tribute. —The Hebrew word means fine. The Vulgate renders rightly, “et imposuit multum terrae.”