Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Kings 25

And it came to pass. — With the account that follows, compare Jeremiah 52:4 and following, Jeremiah 39:1–10, and Jeremiah 40-43.

In the ninth year ... tenth day. — Compare the similarly exact dates in 2 Kings 25:3 and 2 Kings 25:8. Ezekiel 24:1–2 agrees with the present account. The days were observed as fasts during the exile (Zechariah 7:3, Zechariah 7:5, and Zechariah 8:19).

Came ... against Jerusalem. — After taking the other strongholds of Judah, as Sennacherib had done (Jeremiah 34:7; compare 2 Kings 18:13 and 2 Kings 19:8), Zedekiah must have prepared for the siege, as it lasted a year and a half.

Forts. — The Hebrew word (dâyçq) occurs in Ezekiel 4:2, Ezekiel 17:17, Ezekiel 21:27, and Ezekiel 26:8. Its meaning is some kind of siege work, as appears from the context in each case; but what precisely is not clear. The Septuagint here has “wall” (τεῖχος); Syriac, “palisade” (qalqûmê, i.e., χαράκωμα).

Until the eleventh year. —The siege lasted altogether one year, five months, and twenty-seven days (2 Kings 25:1 compared with 2 Kings 25:8). The Chaldeans raised the siege for a time, and marched against Pharaoh-Hophra, who was coming to the help of the Jews (Jeremiah 37:5 and following; Ezekiel 30:20 and following).

And on the ninth day of the fourth month. —The text is supplemented from Jeremiah 39:2 and Jeremiah 52:6. The Syriac, however, has, “And in the eleventh year of King Zedekiah, in the fifth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine prevailed,” etc. which may be original. (Compare to 2 Kings 25:1.)

The famine prevailed. —Not that the scarcity was first felt on that day, but that it then had reached a climax, so that defence was no longer possible. The horrors of the siege are referred to in Lamentations 2:11 and following, Lamentations 2:19 and following, Lamentations 4:3–10, Ezekiel 5:10, and Baruch 2:3. As in the famine of Samaria and the last siege of Jerusalem, parents ate their own offspring. (Compare to the prophetic threats of Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:53 and following; Jeremiah 15:2 and following, Jeremiah 27:13; and Ezekiel 4:16 and following.)

The people of the land. —The population of the city, especially the families which had crowded into it from the country. Thenius, as usual, insists that the militia are meant. But these are the men of war (2 Kings 25:4).

Broken up. —Compare 2 Chronicles 32:1. A breach was made in the wall with battering-rams, such as are depicted in the Assyrian sculptures. The Chaldeans forced their entry on the north side of the city, that is, they took the Lower City (2 Kings 22:14). This is clear from Jeremiah 39:3, where it is said that, after effecting an entrance, their generals proceeded to assault “the middle gate,” that is, the gate in the north wall of Zion, which separated the upper from the lower city. (See also 2 Kings 14:13.)

All the men of war fled. —The Hebrew here is defective, for it lacks a verb, and mention of the king is implied by what follows. (Jeremiah 52:7.) A comparison of these parallels suggests the reading: And Zedekiah king of Judah and all the men of war fled, and went out of the city by night, etc.

By the way of the gate between the two walls which was by the king’s garden.—This gate lay at the south end of the Tyropoeon, that is, the glen between Ophel and Zion; and is the same as “the Gate of the Fountain” (Nehemiah 3:15). The two walls were necessary for the protection of the Pool of Siloam and the water supply; besides this, the point was naturally weak for purposes of defense. Whether “the king’s garden” was within or without the double wall is not clear, probably the latter, as Thenius supposes.

Now the Chaldeans ... round about. —An indication that even by this route the king and his warriors had to break through the enemy’s lines, as the city was completely invested. (Compare Ezekiel 12:12.)

And the king went. — Some manuscripts and the Syriac, and they went. (a correction, after the mention of the king had fallen out of the text.)

The way toward the plain. —The Arabah, or valley of the Jordan (Joshua 11:2; 2 Samuel 2:29).

In the plains of Jericho. —In the neighborhood of Jericho, the Arabah expands to the breadth of eleven or twelve miles. The part west of Jordan was called the “plains” (Arbôth plural of Arabah) of Jericho; and that which lay east of the river was known as the plains of Moab (Joshua 4:13; Numbers 22:1). The depression between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Akaba still bears the old name of the Arabah; between the Dead Sea and the Lake of Tiberias it is called the Ghor.