Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Kings 25:4

"Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war [fled] by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king`s garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city round about); and [the king] went by the way of the Arabah." — 2 Kings 25:4 (ASV)

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).