Ch. 52. Historical Appendix to the Book

This ch. except Jeremiah 52:28-30, whose source is unknown, is taken from 2 Kings 24:18; 2 Kings 25:21; 2 Kings 25:27-30, but in some cases the text here has been more faithfully preserved than that in 2 Kings Vv4-11, 13-16 here have already appeared in Jeremiah 39:1-2; Jeremiah 39:4-10, where see notes. Particulars relating to the Temple vessels, etc., not recorded in ch. 39, are given here (see Jeremiah 52:17-23), while Nebuchadnezzar’s charge concerning Jeremiah’s safety (Jeremiah 39:2-14) is not found in the present narrative. The aim in adding this Appendix apparently was to shew the fulfilment of that overthrow which Jeremiah had so persistently foretold. It may be added that Jeremiah 52:2-3; Jeremiah 52:15; Jeremiah 52:22-30 are not found in the LXX.

Ch. Jeremiah 52:1-11. Capture of the city

1. Zedekiah was one and twenty years old] So 2 Chronicles 36:11, but, if we compare 1 Chronicles 3:15 and 2 Kings 23:31 (= 2 Chronicles 36:2), we find that, supposing the numbers which we now read there to be correct, Zedekiah should by this time have been thirty-four or thirty-five years of age. An error has somewhere crept in.

his mother’s name was Hamutal] or Hamital, the other reading of MT. both here, and in 2 Kgs. Zedekiah was thus brother of Jehoahaz but half-brother of Jehoiakim (2 Kings 23:31; 2 Kings 23:36).

4. in the tenth month] Cp. Zechariah 8:19 for the memorial fast.

Nebuchadrezzar] the more accurate form of the name. See on ch. Jeremiah 21:2.

forts] some kind of bulwarks, or siege-wall.

6. In the fourth month] In memory of this date also, a fast was appointed (Zechariah 8:19). The numeral, which was dropped out of the Kgs. narrative, here survives.

famine] described in detail in Lamentations (Jeremiah 2:19 f., Jeremiah 4:3 ff., Jeremiah 5:10). Cp. Ezekiel 4:16 f., Jeremiah 5:16 f.

the people of the land] the poorer classes, who had taken refuge in Jerusalem, or who dwelt there.

7. See on Jeremiah 39:4.

8. Lamentations 4:19 f. may perhaps refer to this, in which case the circumstances probably were these, that one body of Chaldaeans followed, and another laid wait in the plain. Cp. Ezekiel 12:13.

9. Riblah] See on Jeremiah 39:5.

he gave judgement upon him] For mg. spake judgements with him see on Jeremiah 1:16.

10. he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah] omitted in 2 Kgs.

10, 11. These vv. appear in a shorter form in 2 Kings 25:7.

11. he put out the eyes] See on Jeremiah 34:3, and Jeremiah 39:7.

and put him in prison till the day of his death] an addition to the narrative in 2 Kgs.

prison] lit. the house of visitations, i.e. of punishment. The LXX render mill, of which rendering there is also a trace in Jeremiah 39:7 in that Version; an indication perhaps of a tradition on the subject.

12–27. Severities following upon the capture

12. From this to Jeremiah 52:23, a part of the narrative which has been summarized in Jeremiah 39:8-10, we find in almost verbal accord with 2 Kings 25:8-17.

in the fifth month] See Zechariah 7:3 for the commemorative fast.

tenth] 2 Kgs has seventh. We have no grounds whereby to decide between the two dates.

captain of the guard] See on Jeremiah 39:9.

stood before] See on Jeremiah 15:19.

13. every great house] We must render as mg. every great man’s house, but the Heb. expression is a strange one.

15. The whole v. is omitted by the LXX. The words “of the poorest sort of the people and” seem to have come in from the next v. through an error of sight on the part of a copyist. The three classes of persons actually spoken of in the v. appear to be (a) those found within the city at the time of its capture, (b) those who had gone out to the Chaldaeans during the siege (see note on Jeremiah 39:9), (c) the “residue of the multitude.” But for “multitude” read, as mg. artificers. Cp. Proverbs 8:30 (R. V. “a master workman”). The original differs by but one consonant from “multitude” which is the reading in Kings.

17. This description of the fate of the Temple furniture is much fuller than that in the Kings passage, and has no parallel in ch. 39. For the vessels mentioned in this v., see on ch. Jeremiah 27:19 with note. They were too large to be conveniently carried as they were, and so were broken and taken to Babylon for the sake of the material. For “brass” and “brasen” read bronze in this and the following vv.

18. pots] See 1 Kings 7:45. They were used (Exodus 27:3) for the altar of burnt offering.

snuffers] for the lamps (Exodus 25:38; Numbers 4:9).

basons] lit. tossing-vessels, to toss (not “sprinkle” as in E.VV. in Leviticus 1:5; Leviticus 1:11; Leviticus 3:2, etc.), the blood of the sacrifices against the sides of the altar.

19. The cups, basons, and spoons are said in 1 Kings 7:50 to have been of gold.

candlesticks] See 1 Kings 7:49.

bowls] for libations in connexion with the table of “shewbread.” Cp. Exodus 25:29 in C. B., where Driver suggests “chalices,” and Numbers 4:7.

20. twelve brasen bulls that were under, etc.] There appears to be some confusion in the MT. In the Temple as built by Solomon the bases were under the lavers, while the twelve bulls supported the sea. (1 Kings 7:25; 1 Kings 7:44.)

21. eighteen cubits] a cubit was about 18 inches.

21–23. Cp. 1 Kings 7:15-18.

22. a chapiter] a capital.

five cubits] From this, which agrees with 1 Kings 7:16, we must correct the “three cubits” of 2 Kings 25:17, unless we take the smaller number to denote the actual measurement of the network of the chapiter, excluding the pomegranates.

and pomegranates] The Heb. for “network” seems to have dropped out accidentally before these words, while conversely “network” has been retained, and the words “and pomegranates” apparently dropped out through inadvertence in 2 Kings 25:17.

23. In 1 Kings 7:20; 1 Kings 7:42 each pillar is said to have had two rows of pomegranates, a hundred in each, the one above and the other below the ornamental network of the chapiters. It is possible that the account here may not be inconsistent with the existence of such a double row upon each chapiter, though it certainly does not suggest it, or again, one of the rows may have been removed before this period, leaving one hundred on each chapiter.

on the sides] The other renderings in mg. shew that the meaning of the expression is obscure. Suggestions are (a) visible outwards, i.e. four of the hundred in each row were hidden owing to the nearness of the pillar to the wall of the porch, or (b) hanging loosely, i.e. four of the pomegranates were fixed to the network on the capitals, while the rest hung in festoons between them.

24. Seraiah the chief priest] probably identical with the ancestor of Ezra, mentioned Ezra 7:1.

Zephaniah] See on Jeremiah 21:1.

keepers of the door] Heb. threshold. See on Jeremiah 35:4.

24–27. Omitted in ch. 39, but cp. with it 2 Kings 25:18-21.

25. seven men] in 2 Kings (Jeremiah 25:19) five men.

saw the king’s face] were near his person as privileged members of the court. So in Esther 1:14. Cp. 2 Samuel 3:13; 2 Samuel 14:24; 2 Samuel 14:28.

scribe] secretary.

mustered] organised in military fashion.

28–30. Enumeration of Nebuchadnezzar’s captives

28. in the seventh year] These vv. are absent from the LXX and from 2 Kings 25 and apparently come out of a separate document from the rest. For “seventh” we should read seventeenth, for in Jehoiachin’s captivity the number was far greater than is here specified (2 Kings 24:14; 2 Kings 24:16). Thus the first deportation would consist of the men of Judah taken prisoners outside Jerusalem in the first year of the siege (Jeremiah 39:1), the second (Jeremiah 52:29) of those carried captive “from Jerusalem” itself, but not including those taken into exile after the capture of the city. Of the third occurring some years later we have no other clear account, though we know from Josephus (Ant. X. ix. 7) that Nebuchadnezzar in his 23rd year carried on considerable warlike operations in the direction of Palestine and in Egypt, carrying off Jews from that country to Babylon.

31. the seven and thirtieth year] b.c. 561.

five and twentieth] 2 Kgs has seven and twentieth.

Evil-merodach] See on Jeremiah 27:7.

lifted up the head] For the phrase generally, but not always, used as here in a good sense cp. Genesis 40:13; Genesis 40:20.

31–34. Last notice of Jehoiachin

31–34. Found with slight variations in 2 Kings 25:27-30.

32. set his throne above] in general, paid him more honour.

the kings] Captured kings were kept at the court of their conqueror to perpetuate the memory of his triumph as well as for security against rebellion. Cp. Jdg 1:7. So Croesus dwelt at the court of Cyrus.

33. changed his prison garments] Cp. Genesis 41:14; Luke 15:22.

did eat bread before him continually] was admitted to the king’s own table. Cp. 2 Samuel 9:7; 2 Samuel 19:33. So this privilege was accorded to Democêdês the Greek physician after his cure of Darius (Herod. III. 132).

34. until the day of his death, all the days of his life] The latter of these clauses (absent from LXX) is probably either an addition to, or originally a substitution for, the former, in order to avoid the inauspicious ending with the word death.