John Gill Commentary Jeremiah 39

In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month

The month Tebet, which answers to part of our December, and part of January; so that it was in the winter season the siege of Jerusalem began: came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it.

This was provoked by Zedekiah's breaking covenant with him, and rebelling against him, who had set him upon his throne, in the room of his nephew; so that here was a mixture of perfidy and ingratitude, which he was determined to revenge; and being impatient of it, came at such an unseasonable time of the year for a long march and a siege.

The king of Babylon came in person at first; but having begun the siege, and given proper orders to his generals for the carrying of it on, and supposing it would be a long one, retired to Riblah in Syria, either for pleasure or for business.

The time of beginning the siege exactly agrees with the account in (2 Kings 25:1); only there it is more particular, expressing the day of the month, which was the tenth of it; and so in (Jeremiah 52:4). The reason of inserting the account of the siege and taking of the city, in this place, is both to show the exact accomplishment of Jeremiah's prophecies about it, and to lead on to some facts and predictions that followed it.

[And] in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month ,
&c.] The month Tammuz, which answers to part of June, and part of July: the ninth [day] ofthe month, the city was broken up ;
or taken by storm; the walls of it were broken by engines and battering rams, so that the Chaldeans couldenter it, and take it. This was just a year and a half after it had been besieged, not being able to hold outany longer, because of the famine; see (Jeremiah 52:6Jeremiah 52:7) .

And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in
Into the city: a breach being made in the walls to take possession of it: and sat in the middle gate;

According to Jarchi, this was a gate of the temple; the gate Nicanor, the eastern gate, which was between the gate of the court of the women and the gate of the temple; who observes, that their Rabbins say, the middle gate was the gate in which the wise men made their decrees and constitutions: so that, in "the place of judgment, wickedness was there"; as in (Ecclesiastes 3:16).

And Josephus^F7 says, that the city was taken in the middle of the night, when the enemies' generals went into the temple; but rather, according to Kimchi, it was one of the gates of the city of Jerusalem; according to Abarbinel, Jerusalem had three walls, and this was the gate of the middle wall; but others take it to be the gate in the middle wall, between the upper and lower city; perhaps it is the same called the second gate, (Zephaniah 1:10).

And might be the chief and principal gate where these princes placed their seats in triumph as victors, and so fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah, (Jeremiah 1:15); though they might have another reason for it, their own safety; here they sat till the city was well searched and cleared, lest there should be any ambush laid for them, and cut them off as they entered.

The names of some of them were as follow: [even] Nergalsharezer:

According to Kimchi, these are two names of two distinct persons; but generally thought to be one name of the same person; so Josephus, who calls him Nergelearus. The first part of the name "Nergal" was the name of an idol with the Cushites, (2 Kings 17:30); and it was usual with the Heathens to give the names of their idols to their kings, princes, and great men. The other part, "Sharezer", is a name of one of Sennacherib's sons; and seems to be an Assyrian name, (Isaiah 37:38).

The next is called Samgarnebo; though, according to Hillerus^F8, this is a surname of the former, to distinguish him from another Nergalsharezer after mentioned, taken from his office: this name signifying the "strict keeper of Nebo", the temple of the idol Nebo; see (Isaiah 46:1).

The next is Sarsechim Rabsaris; for these are not two names of different persons, but of the same person. The first is his proper name, which signifies the "prince of the Scythians"; the other his name of office, and signifies the "chief eunuch", or the "chief of the eunuchs".

The last name is Nergalsharezer Rabmag; these names belong to the same person, who is called from his office "Rabmag", the "chief magician", or the "chief of the magicians", to distinguish him from the other Nergalsharezer before mentioned: these, with all the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon, entered the city and took it.

FOOTNOTES:

• F7: Antiqu. l. 10. c. 8. sect. 2.
• F8: Onomastic. Sacr. p. 608.

And it came to pass, [that] when Zedekiah the king of Judah
saw them, and all the men of war
That is, when Zedekiah and his soldiers saw the princes and generals of the Chaldean army enter the citythrough a breach made in the wall, and take possession of the middle gate; which they might see from somehigh tower where they were for safety, and to make their observation of the enemy: then theyfled ;finding they were not able to keep their posts and resist the enemy: and went forth out of thecity by night ;it being the middle of the night, as before observed out of Josephus, that the city was taken; and they tookthe advantage of the darkness of the night to make their escape: this they chose rather to do than tosurrender to the Chaldeans, and lie at their mercy:

and they went by the way of the king'sgarden, by the gate between the two walls ;which lay either between the wall of the city and the outworks, as some; or between the old wall and the newone Hezekiah built, (2 Chronicles 32:5); as others; or rather between the wall of the city and the wall ofthe king's garden; this being a private way, they took it.

The Jews have a fable, and which is related bothby Jarchi and Kimchi, that there was a cave or vault underground, from the king's house to the plains ofJericho; and by this way the king went that he might not be seen; but God prepared a hind, which the Chaldeanarmy saw, and pursued, and which went into the cave, and they added after it; and when they were at the mouth ofthe cave they saw Zedekiah coming out of it, and took him:

and he went out the way of theplain ;on the south side of the which led to Jericho; and on which side the kings garden was; not that he wentalone, but his wives, and children, and princes, and men of war with him; see (Jeremiah 52:7) .

But the Chaldean army pursued after them
Being informed of the flight of them, by those who surrendered to them, as Josephus says; or not finding the king, his family, nobles, and guards, at the palace, where they expected them; and, knowing which way they must take, pursued after them;

not the whole army, only a part of it; for some must remain at Jerusalem to demolish the city, and take the spoil of it: and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho ;
not far from it, as Josephus says; and who also observes, that when his friends and generals saw the enemy near, they left him, and shifted for themselves, and only a few were with him when overtook:

and when they had taken him they brought him to Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath :
which is generally thought to be Antioch in Syria; whither he had retired from the siege of Jerusalem, having left it to his generals to refresh himself in this pleasant place, as it seems it was; or that he might be nearer his own kingdom, if any troubles should arise in it during his absence; however, here he was, and here the army brought Zedekiah to him, and those they took with him; which must be very agreeable to the king of Babylon to have this perfidious and ungrateful prince in his power:

where he gave judgment upon him :
or passed sentence on him, which was to have his eyes put out: or, "spoke judgments with him" ^F9 ; he severely chide him, and upbraided him for the injury he had done him; the perfidy he had been guilty of in breaking his oath and covenant.

So Josephus says, "after he came to him, Nebuchadnezzar began to call him a wicked man and a covenant breaker, unmindful of promises he had made to preserve the country for him; he reproached him with ingratitude, in receiving the kingdom from him he has taken from Jehoiakim, and given to him, who has used his power against the giver; but, says he, the great God that hates your manners has put you into our hands."

FOOTNOTES:

• F9: (Myjpvm wta rbdyw) "et locutus est cum eo, [vel] ipso judicia", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius, Schmidt.