2 Kings 23:33

33. Put him in bands at Riblah Some render, made him, or took him, captive at Riblah. But how came Jehoahaz at Riblah? Some think he marched thither at the head of his army to fight with the Egyptian king, and to avenge the death of his father. More probable, however, is the statement of Josephus, that when Necho returned from his eastern campaign, and arrived at the land of Hamath, “he sent for Jehoahaz to come to him, and when he was come, he put him in bands.” Perhaps Necho induced him by some false pretext to come to his camp. Riblah is mentioned at Numbers 34:11, as a border city of Israel. Some, however, doubt its identity with this Riblah in the land of Hamath. The site of this latter is beyond all question identical with the modern village of the same name, situated on the east bank of the Orontes, about thirty-five miles northeast of Baalbek. It lies in the midst of a vast plain of great beauty and fertility. Here Nebuchadnezzar was encamped when Zedekiah and his sons were brought captives into his presence; and here the sons were slain and the father’s eyes put out. 2 Kings 25:6-7. Here, too, Zedekiah’s principal officers were put to death. 2 Kings 25:21. Dr. Robinson, who visited this spot in 1852, remarks: “A more advantageous place of encampment for the hosts of Egypt and Babylon can hardly be imagined. On the banks of a mountain stream, in the midst of this vast and fertile plain, the most abundant supplies of provisions and forage were at hand. From this point the roads were open to the Egyptian monarch across the desert, either by Aleppo and the Euphrates to Nineveh, or by Palmyra to Babylon. From Riblah, too, the host of the Babylonian conqueror could sweep around the end of Lebanon and along the coast to Palestine and Egypt; or, passing on southwards through the Buka’a, could spread themselves out over the land either eastwards or westwards from the valley of the Jordan.” The land of Hamath was the territory belonging to the kingdom of this name, and seems to have included the whole valley of the Orontes.

That he might not reign in Jerusalem This is the reading of the Keri, ( ממלךְ ,) which is sustained by the Septuagint, Chaldee, and Vulgate. and makes better sense than the Kethib, ( במלךְ ) whilst he reigned in Jerusalem. Why Necho refused to ratify the election of Jehoahaz, and made his elder brother king in his place, does not appear, unless it be that Eliakim was the rightful heir to the throne. See on 2 Kings 23:31. It may be that Jehoahaz was a more bold and energetic prince than his elder brother, and the Egyptian king feared that he would soon lead the nation into rebellion against him. Ezekiel (Ezekiel 19:2-3) represents him as a young lion which devoured men, of whom, when the nations heard, “he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.”

A hundred talents of silver About one hundred and sixty-six thousand dollars.

A talent of gold About fifty-six thousand nine hundred dollars. “The relative amount of the silver and the gold is remarkable; but as the same figures are given in 2 Chronicles 36:3, and in 3 Esra (1 Esdras) 1Es 1:36 , we are not justified in changing them. It may be that Necho wanted silver, which was rarer in the Orient, or that he did not wish to alienate the country too much from himself by pitiless severity.” Bahr.