Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 52
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Jeremiah 52
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Jeremiah 52
"In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land." — Jeremiah 52:6 (ASV)
And in the fourth month. —Omitted in the Hebrew of 2 Kings 25:3, but supplied in the English version.
"Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city 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 they went toward the Arabah." — Jeremiah 52:7 (ASV)
Went forth out of the city. —Omitted in 2 Kings 25:4.
They went by the way of the plain. —In 2 Kings 25:4 “the king (not in the Hebrew) went (verb in the singular) the way toward the plain.”
"Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he gave judgment upon him." — Jeremiah 52:9 (ASV)
To Riblah in the land of Hamath. —The descriptive words are omitted in 2 Kings 25:6. (See Note on Jeremiah 39:5.)
He gave judgment upon him. —In 2 Kings 25:6, they gave judgment. So in the next verse, the king of Babylon slew takes the place of they slew in 2 Kings 25:7.
"And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah." — Jeremiah 52:10 (ASV)
He slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah. —The fact is not stated in 2 Kings 25, but is found in Jeremiah 39:6.
"And he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death." — Jeremiah 52:11 (ASV)
And put him in prison till the day of his death.—This also is an additional detail not mentioned in 2 Kings 25, and its absence is probably due to the fact that that was the earlier narrative of the two. The word for “prison” is a peculiar one, and differs from that in Jeremiah 52:31. Literally it means “house of visitation,” and this may imply either stricter custody, or more severe punishment in addition to imprisonment. The Septuagint renders it as “house of the mill,” as though Zedekiah, after he had been blinded, had been made to do slave work like that of Samson.
Possibly this was merely an inference from Lamentations 5:13. Such treatment of captive kings was, however, quite in keeping with the character of Assyrian and Chaldean rulers. Thus Assur-bani-pal boasts that he placed a king of Arabia in chains, and bound him with the dogs, and caused him to be kept in one of the great gates of Nineveh (Records of the Past, i. p. 93). So Darius, in the Behistun inscription, boasts of having taken a rebel king of Sagartia, cut off his nose and ears, and kept him chained at his door (Records of the Past, i. p. 119).
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