2 Kings 25:18

JUDGMENT OF ZEDEKIAH'S COURT AT RIBLAH

"And the captain of the guard took Serajah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold: and out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war; and five men of them that saw the king's face, who were found in the city; and the scribe, the captain of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the city. And Nebuzaradan took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land."

According to the standards of justice in those days, the officials mentioned here, who included the friends and advisers who had persuaded Zedekiah to rebel against Babylon, certainly deserved the punishment they received.

"These officials were men of authority, the High Priest and his deputy, the equivalent of Secretary of Defense, the commandant of the city and five members of the King's Privy Council, and sixty other prominent and powerful men in the city."[17]

"Compared with the many occasions in which Persian or Assyrian conquerors put to death hundreds, or even thousands of a revolted town, the executions recorded here must be regarded as moderate, or even merciful in their vengeance."[18] It was perhaps due to the great influence of Daniel that the Hebrew captives received much favorable treatment. Also, it could have been that same influence that led Nebuchadnezzar to take a full twenty years actually to liquidate and destroy Jerusalem and Judea. In fact, it appears that Nebuchadnezzar would never really have made the city a desolation except for the repeated rebellions of the Jews.

"Nebuchadnezzar took twenty years to destroy Jerusalem, but he could have done it at first if he had wanted to. Perhaps Daniel may have had a restraining influence upon him."[19]

Among the captives carried away was the prophet Jeremiah, but Nebuchadnezzar ordered that he should be privileged and not restrained in any manner (Jeremiah 39:10-12).

"Nebuzaradan took them to the king of Babylon to Riblah" (2 Kings 25:20). "Riblah was located on the Orontes river, where for several years Nebuchadnezzar had his headquarters."[20]

"So Judah was carried away out of his land" (2 Kings 25:21). "Zedekiah was the last king who occupied the throne of the House of David. He called himself The Righteousness of God, but all that he did gave the lie to a name like that, and he vacated the throne until He should come who was truly The Righteousness of God, even the Lord Jesus Christ."[21]

In Jeremiah 41, we learn that a number of Jews, after the murder of Gedaliah, went to Egypt, but many of the captives were taken to Babylon in Mesopotamia. "How strange it was that some fifteen hundred years after Abraham had left Ur of the Chaldees to go to Palestine, some of his descendants were at this time returning to that land, not as free men, but as captives."[22]

Montgomery appeared to believe that "the number of captives carried away might not have been very large, based upon figures given in Jeremiah.[23] However, Jeremiah apparently gave only the number of the men, after the Jewish custom, and the actual number would have been much higher including women and children. Besides that, LaSor, quoting Albright, observed that, "The virtual depopulation of Judaea has been confirmed by archeological research."[24]