2 Kings 24:1

THE BEGINNING OF THE SEVENTY YEARS OF CAPTIVITY

"In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. And Jehovah sent against him bands of Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spake by his servants the prophets. Surely at the commandment of Jehovah came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did, and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood: and Jehovah would not pardon. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers; and Jehoiakin his son reigned in his stead. And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land; for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Egypt unto the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt."

Right here in 2 Kings 24:1 is the beginning of the seventy years of captivity for the children of Israel, as Jeremiah had prophesied:

"And this whole land (Palestine) shall be a desolation and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years." (Jeremiah 25:11).

It should be noted that the `seventy years' of Jeremiah's prophecy should be applied to the sovereignty of the king of Babylon and not uniquely to the actual period that the people of God would be in captivity, although that too was approximately seventy years.

"In his days Nebuchadnezzar ... came up" (2 Kings 24:1). This is a reference to the days of Jehoiakim.

"And he became his servant" (2 Kings 24:1). From this day, Judah was no longer an independent nation. The exact date when Jehoiakim became the servant of Nebuchadnezzar is not exactly clear. Josephus thought that it was in the years 603-601 B.C., but we agree with LaSor that it was, "Soon after Pharaoh-necoh withdrew to Egypt in 608 B.C.,"[1] which would have been very near the year 606 B.C., the year prior to the battle of Carchemish. This would mean that Jehoiakim's revolt would have been in the year 605.

We have written extensive comments on all of these events in Jeremiah 20-39. Helpful facts that help in understanding the complicated history of this period include the following:

(1) There are four separate Biblical accounts of the fall of Jerusalem (1) Jeremiah 39; (2) Jeremiah 52; (2) 2 Kings 24, and (4) 2 Chronicles 36. Additionally, there is the account of it in the works of Flavius Josephus. There are variations in these reports, of course; and the exploration of these differences is an absolutely worthless endeavor! (See my full comment on this in Vol. 2 (Jeremiah) of the major prophets, p. 429.)

(2) There were no less than three deportations of the Israelites from, Jerusalem and Judah. "These were in 597 B.C., 587 B.C. and 582 B.C."[2] Cawley, however, gave the dates as 597 B.C., 586 B.C., and 581 B.C. respectively.[3] Daniel and his friends were among the first deportees; Ezekiel was in the second group; and the conceited residue of Judah which still remained in Jerusalem, who supposed that they alone were the terminal heirs of all the promises to the patriarchs, were removed in the last one.

Scholars disagree about the exact date when the bands of Chaldeans, Moabites, Ammonites, and Syrians raided Jerusalem and Judah. Some think it was in the interval when Nebuchadnezzar returned to Babylon to receive the throne after his father died, and others place it somewhat later. "During the interval (whenever it was), Nebuchadnezzar sent raiding bands to harass Jerusalem (2 Kings 24:2) as a judgment from Jehovah."[4]

"And Jehovah sent against him bands of the Chaldeans ..." (2 Kings 24: 2). Of course, it was the king of Babylon who commanded those raiding bands; "But after the Lord had given Judah into the hands of the Chaldeans as a punishment of their apostasy, all revolt against them was rebellion against the Lord."[5]

"And Jehovah would not pardon" (2 Kings 24:4). Jeremiah 15:1ff explains why this was true. "It was because the measure of their sins was full, and in justice God had no choice except to punish them. Even if the greatest intercessors such as Moses and Samuel had come before the Lord (pleading for Judah), it would have done no good."[6]

"So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers; and Jehoiakin his son reigned in his stead" (2 Kings 24:6). "This does not contradict Jeremiah's prophecy (Jeremiah 22:19) that Jehoiakim would receive the burial of an ass, carried off and cast away beyond the gates of Jerusalem."[7] (See our comment on this under that reference in Jeremiah.) LaSor explained what probably happened. "Jehoiakim had revolted again; and 2 Chronicles 36:6 states that, `Nebuchadnezzar bound him with fetters to take him to Babylon,' but he had been wounded and died on the way; and his body was cast away."[8]

Jeremiah gave another prophecy regarding Jehoiakim that, "He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David" (Jeremiah 36:30). Yes, our text says that, "His son Jehoiakin reigned in his stead," but it was no longer "the throne of David," nor had it been since Nebuchadnezzar had become Lord of the entire world of that era. Also, as Keil stated in this connection, "Even though Jeconiah ascended the throne, his brief three-months reign, quickly followed by his capture and removal to Babylon, was quite properly described by the prophet as not sitting upon the throne of David."[9]

"The king of Babylon had taken ... all that pertained to the king of Egypt" (2 Kings 24:7). At this point in history, Nebuchadnezzar was supreme from the border of Egypt to the Euphrates, and for seventy years Judah would lie under the heel of the Chaldeans. In no real sense did the `throne of David' actually exist during this period, nor would it ever on earth exist any more. God had completely and forever removed the "sinful kingdom" (Amos 9:8) out of his sight.

THE THREE-MONTH REIGN OF KING JEHOIAKIN

This king was also known as Jeconiah (or Coniah). See Matthew 1:11 and Jeremiah 22:24. He was just as wicked as any of his fathers.