II
C H R O N I C L E S
CHAP. XXXVI.
We
have here, I. A short but sad account of the utter ruin of
Judah
and
Jerusalem
within a few years after Josiah's death. 1.
The history of it in the unhappy reigns of Jehoahaz for three months (ver.
1-4), Jehoiakim (ver. 5-8) for eleven years, Jehoiach in three months (ver. 9,
10), and Zedekiah eleven years, ver. 11. Additions were made to the national
guilt, and advances towards the national destruction, in each of those reigns.
The destruction was, at length, completed in the slaughter of multitudes (ver.
17), the plundering and burning of the temple and all the palaces, the
desolation of the city (ver. 18, 19), and the captivity of the people that
remained, ver. 20. 2. Some remarks upon it--that herein sin was punished,
Zedekiah's wickedness (ver. 12, 13), the idolatry the people were guilty of
(ver. 14), and their abuse of God's prophets, ver. 15, 16. The word of God was
herein fulfilled, ver. 21. II. The dawning of the day of their deliverance in
Cyrus's proclamation, ver. 22, 23.
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The
Destruction of Jerusalem.
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B.
C. 588.
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1 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the
son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem.
2 Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and
he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3 And the king of Egypt put
him down at Jerusalem, and condemned the land in a hundred talents of silver
and a talent of gold. 4 And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his
brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name to Jehoiakim. And
Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt. 5
Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in
the sight of the LORD
his God. 6 Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and
bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar
also carried of the vessels of the house of the LORD
to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon. 8 Now the rest
of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which
was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of
Israel and Judah: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead. 9
Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned
three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil
in the sight of the LORD.
10 And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to
Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD,
and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.
The destruction of Judah and Jerusalem is here coming on by degrees. God so
ordered it to show that he has no pleasure in the ruin of sinners, but had
rather they would turn and live, and therefore gives them both time and
inducement to repent and waits to be gracious. The history of these reigns was
more largely recorded in the last three chapters of the second of Kings.
1. Jehoahaz was set up by the people (v. 1), but in one quarter of a
year was deposed by Pharaoh-necho, and carried a prisoner to Egypt, and the
land fined for setting him up, v. 2-4. Of this young prince we hear no
more. Had he trodden in the steps of his father's piety he might have reigned
long and prospered; but we are told in the Kings that he did evil in
the sight of the Lord, and therefore his triumphing was short and his joy
but for a moment. 2. Jehoiakim was set up by the king of Egypt, an old enemy
to their land, gave what king he pleased to the kingdom and what name he
pleased to the king! v. 4. He made Eliakim king, and called him Jehoiakim,
in token of his authority over him. Jehoiakim did that which was evil (v.
5), nay, we read of the abominations which he did (v. 8); he was
very wild and wicked. Idolatries generally go under the name of abominations.
We hear no more of the king of Egypt, but the king of Babylon came up against
him (v. 6), seized him, and bound him with a design to carry him to
Babylon; but, it seems, he either changed his mind, and suffered him to reign
as his vassal, or death released the prisoner before he was carried away.
However the best and most valuable vessels of the temple were now carried away
and made use of in Nebuchadnezzar's temple in Babylon (v. 7); for, we
may suppose, no temple in the world was so richly furnished as that of
Jerusalem. The sin of Judah was that they had brought the idols of the heathen
into God's temple; and now their punishment was that the vessels of the temple
were carried away to the service of the gods of the nations. If men will
profane God's institutions by their sins, it is just with God to suffer them
to be profaned by their enemies. These were the vessels which the false
prophets flattered the people with hopes of the return of, Jer. xxvii. 16. But
Jeremiah told them that the rest should go after them (Jer. xxvii. 21, 22),
and they did so. But, as the carrying away of these vessels to Babylon began
the calamity of Jerusalem, so Belshazzar's daring profanation of them there
filled the measure of the iniquity of Babylon; for, when he drank wine in them
to the honour of his gods, the handwriting on the wall presented him with his
doom, Dan. v. 3, &c. In the reference to the book of the Kings
concerning this Jehoiakim mention is made of that which was found in him
(v. 8), which seems to be meant of the treachery that was found in him
towards the king of Babylon; but some of the Jewish writers understand it of
certain private marks or signatures found in his dead body, in honour of his
idol, such cuttings as God had forbidden, Lev. xix. 28. 3. Jehoiachin, or
Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, attempted to reign in his stead, and reigned
long enough to show his evil inclination; but, after three months and ten
days, the king of Babylon sent and fetched him away captive, with more of the
goodly vessels of the temple. He is here said to be eight years old, but in Kings
he is said to be eighteen when he began to reign, so that this seems to be a
mistake of the transcriber, unless we suppose that his father took him at
eight years old to join with him in the government, as some think.
11 Zedekiah was one and twenty years old
when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD
his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking
from the mouth of the LORD.
13 And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by
God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel.
14 Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very
much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the
LORD
which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. 15 And the LORD God of their fathers sent
to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had
compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: 16 But they
mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his
prophets, until the wrath of the LORD
arose against his people, till there was no remedy. 17
Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young
men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon
young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them
all into his hand. 18 And all the vessels of the house of God,
great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD,
and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought
to Babylon. 19 And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the
wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed
all the goodly vessels thereof. 20 And them that had escaped from
the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his
sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: 21 To fulfil the
word of the LORD
by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for
as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten
years.
We have here an account of the destruction of the kingdom of Judah and the
city of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. Abraham, God's friend, was called out of
that country, from Ur of the Chaldees, when God took him into covenant and
communion with himself; and now his degenerate seed were carried into that
country again, to signify that they had forfeited all that kindness wherewith
they had been regarded for the father's sake, and the benefit of that covenant
into which he was called; all was now undone again. Here we have,
I. The sins that brought this desolation.
1. Zedekiah, the king in whose days it came, brought it upon himself by his
own folly; for he conducted himself very ill both towards God and towards the
king of Babylon. (1.) If he had but made God his friend, that would have
prevented the ruin. Jeremiah brought him messages from God, which, if he had
given due regard to them, might have secured a lengthening of his
tranquillity; but it is here charged upon him that he humbled not himself
before Jeremiah, v. 12. It was expected that this mighty prince,
high as he was, should humble himself before a poor prophet, when he spoke
from the mouth of the Lord, should submit to his admonitions and be
amended by them, to his counsels and be ruled by them, should lay himself
under the commanding power of the word of God in his mouth; and, because he
would not thus make himself a servant to God, he was made a slave to his
enemies. God will find some way or other to humble those that will not humble
themselves. Jeremiah, as a prophet, was set over the nations and kingdoms
(Jer. i. 10), and, as mean a figure as he made, whoever would not humble
themselves before him found that it was at their peril. (2.) If he had but
been true to his covenant with the king of Babylon, that would have prevented
his ruin; but he rebelled against him, though he had sworn to be his
faithful tributary, and perfidiously violated his engagements to him, v.
13. It was this that provoked the king of Babylon to deal so severely with him
as he did. All nations looked upon an oath as a sacred thing, and on those
that durst break through the obligations of it as the worst of men, abandoned
of God and to be abhorred by all mankind. If therefore Zedekiah falsify his
oath, when, lo, he has given his hand, he shall not escape,
Ezek. xvii. 18. Though Nebuchadnezzar was a heathen, an enemy, yet if, having
sworn to him, he be false to him, he shall know there is a God to whom
vengeance belongs. The thing that ruined Zedekiah was not only that he turned
not to the Lord God of Israel, but that he stiffened his neck and
hardened his heart from turning to him, that is, he as obstinately
resolved not to return to him, would not lay his neck under God's yoke nor his
heart under the impressions of his word, and so, in effect, he would not be
healed, he would not live.
2. The great sin that brought this destruction was idolatry. The priests and
people went after the abominations of the heathen, forsook the pure
worship of God for the lewd and filthy rites of the Pagan superstition, and so
polluted the house of the Lord, v. 14. The priests, the chief of
the priests, who should have opposed idolatry, were ring-leaders in it. That
place is not far from ruin in which religion is already ruined.
3. The great aggravation of their sin, and that which filled the measure of
it, was the abuse they gave to God's prophets, who were sent to call them to
repentance, v. 15, 16. Here we have, (1.) God's tender compassion
towards them in sending prophets to them. Because he was the God of their
fathers, in covenant with them, and whom they worshipped (though this
degenerate race forsook him), therefore he sent to them by his messengers,
to convince them of their sin and warn them of the ruin they would bring upon
themselves by it, rising up betimes and sending, which denotes not only
that he did it with the greatest care and concern imaginable, as men rise
betimes to set their servants to work when their heart is upon their business,
but that, upon their first deviation from God to idols, if they took but one
step that way, God immediately sent to them by his messengers to reprove them
for it. He gave them early timely notice both of their duty and danger. Let
this quicken us to seek God early, that he rises betimes to send to us. The
prophets that were sent rose betimes to speak to them, were diligent and
faithful in their office, lost no time, slipped no opportunity of dealing with
them; and therefore God is said to rise betimes. The more pains ministers take
in their work the more will the people have to answer for if it be all in
vain. The reason given why God by his prophets did thus strive with them is
because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling-lace, and
would by these means have prevented their ruin. Note, The methods God takes to
reclaim sinners by his word, by ministers, by conscience, by providences, are
all instances of his compassion towards them and his unwillingness that any
should perish. (2.) Their base and disingenuous carriage towards God (v.
16): They mocked the messengers of God (which was a high affront to him
that sent them), despised his word in their mouths, and not only so,
but misused the prophets, treating them as their enemies. The ill usage
they gave Jeremiah who lived at this time, and which we read much of in the
book of his prophecy, is an instance of this. This was an evidence of an
implacable enmity to God, and an invincible resolution to go on in their sins.
This brought wrath upon them without remedy, for it was sinning against the
remedy. Nothing is more provoking to God than abuses given to his faithful
ministers; for what is done against them he takes as done against himself. Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me? Persecution was the sin that brought upon
Jerusalem its final destruction by the Romans. See Matt. xxiii. 34-37. Those
that mock at God's faithful ministers, and do all they can to render them
despicable or odious, that vex and misuse them, to discourage them and to keep
others from hearkening to them, should be reminded that a wrong done to an
ambassador is construed as done to the prince that sends him, and that the day
is coming when they will find it would have been better for them if they had
been thrown into the sea with a mill-stone about their necks; for hell
is deeper and more dreadful.
II. The desolation itself, and some few of the particular so fit, which we had
more largely 2 Kings xxv. 1. Multitudes were put to the sword, even in the
house of their sanctuary (v. 17), whither they fled for refuge,
hoping that the holiness of the place would be their protection. But how could
they expect to find it so when they themselves had polluted it with their
abominations? v. 14. Those that cast off the dominion of their religion
forfeit all the benefit and comfort of it. The Chaldeans not only paid no
reverence to the sanctuary, but showed no natural pity either to the tender
sex or to venerable age. They forsook God, who had compassion on them (v.
15), and would have none of him; justly therefore are they given up into the
hands of cruel men, for they had no compassion on young man or maiden.
2. All the remaining vessels of the temple, great and small, and all the
treasures, sacred and secular, the treasures of God's house and of the king
and his princes, were seized, and brought to Babylon, v. 18. 3. The
temple was burnt, the walls of Jerusalem were demolished, the houses (called
here the palaces, as Ps. xlviii. 3, so stately, rich, and sumptuous
were they) laid in ashes, and all the furniture, called here the goodly
vessels thereof, destroyed, v. 19. Let us see where what woeful
havock sin makes, and, as we value the comfort and continuance of our estates,
keep that worm from the root of them. 4. The remainder of the people that
escaped the sword were carried captives to Babylon (v. 20),
impoverished, enslaved, insulted, and exposed to all the miseries, not only of
a strange and barbarous land, but of an enemy's land, where those that hated
them bore rule over them. They were servants to those monarchs, and no doubt
were ruled with rigour so long as that monarchy lasted. Now they sat down by
the rivers of Babylon, with the streams of which they mingled their tears, Ps.
cxxxvii. 1. And though there, it should seem, they were cured of idolatry,
yet, as appears by the prophet Ezekiel, they were not cured of mocking the
prophets. 5. The land lay desolate while they were captives in Babylon, v.
21. That fruitful land, the glory of all lands, was now turned into a desert,
not tilled, nor husbanded. The pastures were not clothed as they used to be
with flocks, nor the valleys with corn, but all lay neglected. Now this may be
considered, (1.) As the just punishment of their former abuse of it. They had
served Baal with its fruits; cursed therefore is the ground for
their sakes. Now the land enjoyed her sabbaths; (v. 21), as
God had threatened by Moses, Lev. xxvi. 34, and the reason there given (v.
35) is, "Because it did not rest on your sabbaths; you profaned
the sabbath-day, did not observe the sabbatical year." They many a time
ploughed and sowed their land in the seventh year, when it should have rested,
and now it lay unploughed and unsown for ten times seven years. Note, God will
be no loser in his glory at last by the disobedience of men: if the tribute be
not paid, he will distrain and recover it, as he speaks, Hos. ii. 9. If they
would not let the land rest, God would make it rest whether they would or no.
Some think they had neglected the observance of seventy sabbatical years in
all, and just so many, by way of reprisal, the land now enjoyed; or, if those
that had been neglected were fewer, it was fit that the law should be
satisfied with interest. We find that one of the quarrels God had with them at
this time was for not observing another law which related to the seventh year,
and that was the release of servants; see Jer. xxxiv. 13, &c. (2.) Yet we
may consider it as giving some encouragement to their hopes that they should,
in due time, return to it again. Had others come and taken possession of it,
they might have despaired of ever recovering it; but, while it lay desolate,
it did, as it were, lie waiting for them again, and refuse to acknowledge any
other owners.
22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of
Persia, that the word of the LORD
spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD
stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation
throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
23 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD
God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him a house in
Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his
people? The LORD
his God be with him, and let him go up.
These last two verses of this book have a double aspect. 1. They look back to
the prophecy of Jeremiah, and show how that was accomplished, v. 22.
God had, by him, promised the restoring of the captives and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, at the end of seventy years; and that time to favour Sion, that set time,
came at last. After a long and dark night the day-spring from on high visited
them. God will be found true to every word he has spoken. 2. They look forward
to the history of Ezra, which begins with the repetition of these last two
verses. They are there the introduction to a pleasant story; here they are the
conclusion of a very melancholy one; and so we learn from them that, though
God's church be cast down, it is not cast off, though his people be corrected,
they are not abandoned, though thrown into the furnace, yet not lost there,
nor left there any longer than till the dross be separated. Though God contend
long, he will not contend always. The Israel of God shall be fetched out of
Babylon in due time, and even the dry bones made to live. It may be long
first; but the vision is for an appointed time, and at the end it shall speak
and not lie; therefore, though it tarry, wait for it.
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