2 Kings 24:10

THE FALL OF JERUSALEM AND THE FIRST DEPORTATION

"At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came unto the city, while his servants were besieging it; and Jehoiakin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants; and his princes, and his officers; and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold, which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of Jehovah, as Jehovah had said. And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. And he carried away Jehoiakin to Babylon; and the king's mother, and the king's wives,, and his officers, and the chief men of the land, carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths a thousand, all of them strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiakin's father's brother, king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah."

These tragic words describe the fall of Jerusalem and the deportation of the cream of its population to Babylon. Daniel and his companions were among the princes carried away. These, in all probability, were emasculated and made eunuchs in the pagan establishment at Babylon. The Book of Daniel relates the fortunes of some of those princes. Significantly, God blessed Daniel with great preferment and power in Nebuchadnezzar's capital.

"In the eighth year of his reign" (2 Kings 24:12). "The eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign was 597 B.C. The siege extended from December (Chislev) 598 B.C. to March (Adar) of 597 B.C., according to Babylonian records."[11]

"And Jehoiakin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon" (2 Kings 24:12). Evidently, Jehoiakin believed that by such submission to Nebuchadnezzar he might retain his throne as a vassal of Babylon. Of course, that is what took place earlier at the first conquest of Jerusalem, with the result that Jehoiakim retained his throne as a vassal, but on this occasion, "Nebuchadnezzar showed Jehoiakin no favor at all, treated him as a rebel, and carried him and all the nobility of Jerusalem into captivity in Babylon."[12]

A significant element in this chapter was the plundering and looting of Solomon's temple. "Nebuchadnezzar spoiled Solomon's temple three times: (1) He took some of the treasures away when Jehoiakim was king, placing the golden vessels in the temple of his god in Babylon (Daniel 1:2). These were the vessels profaned by Belshazzar (Daniel 5:2). (2) He continued the destruction by taking many other treasures, breaking and cutting them into pieces when he came up against Jeconiah (as in this chapter). (3) He thoroughly looted and destroyed the temple, even cutting up the brass and all other metal objects of value when the city fell a third time at the end of the reign of Zedekiah (2 Kings 25:13-16)."[13]

"And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah ... king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah" (2 Kings 24:17). Zedekiah, of course, was another wicked son of Josiah; and Nebuchadnezzar's placing him on the throne of Judah should be understood as a full and complete submission of Zedekiah to the will of the king of Babylon. He had evidently sworn with a most solemn oath absolute and continual fealty to the king of Babylon, even invoking the name of Jehovah in that solemn oath. The change of his name to Zedekiah was an essential element in the whole procedure. The meaning of this was that Zedekiah's ultimate rebellion against Babylon was also interpreted by the prophet Jeremiah as rebellion against Jehovah.

This matter is discussed at length at Jeremiah 31.