CHAPTER XXXVI.

=1‒4= (= 1 Esdras i. 34‒38; 2 Kings xxiii. 30b‒34). THE REIGN OF JEHOAHAZ.

¹Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father’s stead in Jerusalem.

=1.= _the people of the land took_] Compare xxvi. 1, xxxiii. 25.

_Jehoahaz_] Called “Shallum” in 1 Chronicles iii. 15; Jeremiah xxii. 11. He was younger than Jehoiakim; verse 5.

²Joahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

=2.= _in Jerusalem_] His mother’s name is here omitted; compare xxxiii. 1, 21, xxxiv. 1. According to 2 Kings xxiii. 32 (compare Ezekiel xix. 3, 4) Jehoahaz “did evil.”

³And the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem, and amerced the land in an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

=3.= _deposed him at Jerusalem_] The clause answers to 2 Kings xxiii. 33, “put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem.” Perhaps we should read the same words in Chronicles The Hebrew words for “deposed” and “put in bands” are liable to be easily confused.

_amerced_] Authorized Version _condemned_. For “amerce” in the sense of “fine,” compare Deuteronomy xxii. 19; and for “condemn” in the same sense see Amos ii. 8 (Authorized Version, “fined” Revised Version).

_an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold_] The land was poorer than in the days when Sennacherib had imposed a fine on Hezekiah of “three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold” (2 Kings xviii. 14).

⁴And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Neco took Joahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.

=4.= _changed his name to Jehoiakim_] This name is compounded with the Divine name Jehovah. Probably Neco made the new king swear fealty _by Jehovah_, and then declared his official name to be Jehoiakim, in order that he and his people might have something to remind them of the oath he had taken. (_Eliakim_ = “God establishes”; Jehoiakim = “_Jehovah_ establishes.”) The rendering of this verse in 1 i. 38 is due to misreadings of the Hebrew.

_took Joahaz ... to Egypt_] He died in Egypt; 2 Kings xxiii. 34; Jeremiah xxii. 12.

=5‒8= (= 1 Esdras i. 39‒42; 2 Kings xxiii. 36‒xxiv. 6). THE REIGN OF JEHOIAKIM.

⁵Jehoiakim 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.

=5.= _and he reigned eleven years_] So also in Kings. The statement, however, is lacking in 1 Esdras i. 39, so that it is a highly probable inference that the text of Chronicles has here been harmonised with Kings; compare verse 15, and Introduction § 3, p. xxii.

_in Jerusalem_] The Chronicler omits his mother’s name (compare verse 2, note) and also the statement that he raised the indemnity imposed by Neco by means of a poll-tax (2 Kings xxiii. 35).

_he did that which was evil_] Compare 2 Kings xxiii. 37; Jeremiah xxii. 13‒18, xxvi. 20‒23, xxxvi. 1‒32.

⁶Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.

=6.= _Nebuchadnezzar_] The correct form of his name is “Nebuchadrezzar” (so generally in Jeremiah and Ezekiel); in the inscriptions Nabu-kudurri-uṣur. The name is Assyrian and means “O Nebo, defend the crown” (or “the boundary”), Nebo being a god who was regarded as the son of Marduk, the chief god of Babylon (compare Isaiah xlvi. 1). Nebuchadrezzar reigned from 604‒561 B.C., and was succeeded by Evil-Merodach (Amil-Marduk). The only purely historical inscription relating to his reign deals with a campaign in Egypt in 568 B.C.; compare Jeremiah xliii. 11.

_came up_] It seems probable that Nebuchadrezzar did not _in person_ come up against Jerusalem _at the end of Jehoiakim’s reign_, nor in person carry off any of the sacred vessels; it is likely moreover that Jehoiakim was not carried to Babylon. The result of Jehoiakim’s rebellion against Nebuchadrezzar was according to 2 Kings simply that “bands” of Chaldeans and their allies invaded Judah. Probably Jehoiakim’s life and reign came to an end (_how_ we do not know; compare Jeremiah xxii. 18, 19) during this petty warfare, and then three months later, the main Chaldean army under Nebuchadrezzar having arrived, Jerusalem was taken, and Jehoiakim’s son and successor Jehoiachin was carried off with the golden vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon. The Chronicler seems to foreshorten the history at this point.

⁷Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple¹ at Babylon.

¹ Or, _palace_.

=7.= _of the vessels_] There is no mention in 2 Kings of the removal of sacred vessels during Jehoiakim’s reign. Some were carried off under Jehoiachin, the rest under Zedekiah; 2 Kings xxiv. 13, xxv. 13‒17. Compare last note.

_in his temple_] So LXX.; 1 Esdras i. 39 [41]; Daniel i. 2. Note the margin, “in his palace.” The Hebrew word (_heykāl_) is a loan-word; the original (_ikallu_) is the ordinary word in Assyrio-Babylonian for “palace.”

⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in¹ him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah: and Jehoiachin² his son reigned in his stead.

¹ Or, _against_.

² In 1 Chronicles iii. 16, _Jeconiah_. In Jeremiah xxii. 24, _Coniah_.

=8.= _that which was found in him_] i.e. his sin (in this context); compare 1 Kings xiv. 13.

_of Israel and Judah_] The LXX. (but not 1 Esdras) adds here “And Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of Uzza with his fathers.”

=9, 10= (= 1 Esdras i. 43‒45; compare 2 Kings xxiv. 8‒17). THE REIGN OF JEHOIACHIN.

The account given in 2 Kings contains much that is not given in Chronicles and, in particular, many details of the first captivity of Judah.

⁹Jehoiachin was eight¹ 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.

¹ In 2 Kings xxiv. 8, _eighteen_.

=9.= _Jehoiachin_] Called “Jeconiah,” 1 Chronicles iii. 16, where see note.

_eight years_] So LXX. (B) of Chronicles and Esdras (B); but the number is probably corrupt for _eighteen_, so LXX. (A) of Chronicles and Esdras (A) and Hebrew and LXX. of 2 Kings xxiv. 8. It is possible that the words “and ten days” in the latter part of the verse are a misplaced fragment of an original _ben shĕmōneh ‘esreh shānāh_, i.e. “eighteen years old.”

_in Jerusalem_] The Chronicler here omits the king’s mother’s name (compare verse 2, note), though she was a person of some influence; compare 2 Kings xxiv. 12; Jeremiah xxii. 24‒ 26; and perhaps Jeremiah xiii. 18 (Revised Version).

_he did that which was evil_] Compare Jeremiah xxii. 24; Ezekiel xix. 5‒9.

¹⁰And at the return of the year 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.

=10.= _at the return of the year_] Compare 2 Samuel xi. 1 = 1 Chronicles xx. 1, “at the return of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle.” This would be in the spring.

_brought him to Babylon_] Not the king only, but also certain leading men and craftsmen and smiths (in number 3023) went into captivity――so Jeremiah lii. 28; compare Jeremiah xxiv. 1, and 2 Kings xxiv. 14 (where the size of the deportation is magnified into “all Jerusalem save the poorest of the land――even ten thousand captives”).

_Zedekiah_] A covenant-name like “Jehoiakim”――(verse 4, note); it seems to mean “Righteousness of Jehovah”; compare the significant title in Jeremiah xxiii. 6, “The LORD is our Righteousness.” Zedekiah’s original name was “Mattaniah” (i.e. “gift of Jehovah”); 2 Kings xxiv. 17.

_his brother_] In 2 Kings (more accurately) “his father’s brother”; compare 1 Chronicles iii. 15, 16, notes.

=11‒19= (= 1 Esdras i. 46‒56; compare 2 Kings xxiv. 18‒xxv. 21; Jeremiah xxxvii. 1‒xxxix. 8, lii. 1‒27). REIGN OF ZEDEKIAH. DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.

¹¹Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem:

=11.= _in Jerusalem_] The Chronicler omits, as usual, his mother’s name. She was “Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah” (2 Kings xxiv. 18), and was mother of Jehoahaz also (2 Kings xxiii. 31). Jehoiakim was by a different mother (2 Kings xxiii. verse 36).

¹²and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God; he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet _speaking_ from the mouth of the LORD.

=12.= _humbled not himself_] Jeremiah consistently advised Zedekiah to submit to the Chaldeans; but the king partly through fear of his princes, partly through illusive hopes, could never bring himself to do so; compare Jeremiah xxi. 1‒7, xxxiv. 8‒22, xxxvii. 1‒10, 17, xxxviii. 17‒23.

¹³And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened¹ his heart from turning unto the LORD, the God of Israel.

¹ Hebrew _strengthened_.

=13.= _who had made him swear by God_] Compare Ezekiel xvii. 11‒19.

¹⁴Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the heathen; and they polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.

=14.= _polluted the house_] Jeremiah vii. 9‒11, xxiii. 11‒14; Ezekiel viii. 5‒16.

¹⁵And the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:

=15.= _rising up early and sending_] The words are absent from 1 Esdras