2 Kings 25:6 - Exposition

So they took the king [Zedekiah], and brought him up to the King of Babylon. The presentation of rebel kings, when captured, to their suzerain, seated on his throne, is one of the most common subjects of Assyrian and Babylonian sculptures. The Egyptian and Persian artists also represent it. To Riblah. (For the situation of Riblah, see the comment on 2 Kings 23:33 .) As Nebuchadnezzar was engaged at one and the same time in directing the sieges both of Tyro and of Jerusalem, it was a most convenient position for him to occupy. And they gave judgment upon him. As a rebel, who had broken his covenant and his oath ( Ezekiel 17:16 , Ezekiel 17:18 ), Zedekiah was brought to trial before Nebuchadnezzar and his great lords. The facts could not be denied, and sentence was therefore passed upon him, nominally by the court, practically by Nebuchadnezzar ( Jeremiah 52:9 ). By an unusual act of clemency, his life was spared; but the judgment was still sufficiently severe (see the next verse).