2 Kings 25:8

THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM AND THE TEMPLE

"Now in the fifth month on the seventh day of the month, which was the 19th year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem. And he burnt the house of Jehovah, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burnt he with fire. And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about. And the residue of the people that were left in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away captive. But the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen."

"The fifth month ... the seventh day of the month" (2 Kings 25:8). "This was the Jewish month of Abh[12] (July/August) 586 B.C., corresponding to our August 15th.[13] A month had elapsed after the flight of Zedekiah from the city; and, "During this time the princes of the Chaldeans had probably gone to Riblah to consult with Nebuchadnezzar (at his military headquarters there) regarding the fate of Jerusalem; they returned with orders to burn it and utterly destroy it, to destroy all of its important buildings and to loot everything of value."[14]; Lamentations 5:11-12 gives a summary of what happened.

"Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard" (2 Kings 25:11). "Archeological discoveries reveal that this character was the Babylonian Nabuzeridinna, `the chief baker,' a title that had come to have no functional significance whatever."[15] He was one of the great generals in command of the armies of Babylon.