2 Chronicles 36:10

And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) And when the year was expired.—See margin. “At the return of the year” means in spring, when kings usually went forth to war. (2Samuel 11:1; 1Kings 20:22.) Kings gives a full account of the siege and surrender of Jerusalem, and the deportation to Babylon of the king and all his princes and men of war, by “the servants of Nebuchadnezzar.”

With the goodly vessels.—2Chronicles 32:27. “Some of the vessels” had already been carried off (2Chronicles 36:7). (See 2Kings 24:13 and Jeremiah 27:18-22.)

Zedekiah his brother.—Zedekiah was uncle of Jehoiachin, being a son of Josiah, and brother of Jehoiakim. Perhaps “brother” is equivalent to “kinsman” here, as elsewhere. (Comp. 1Chronicles 3:15, where Zedekiah appears as a son of Josiah; and 2Kings 24:17.) The versions read “his father’s brother”—a correction. Thenius thinks the word for “uncle” had become illegible in the MS. here used by the chronicler.

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 36:10. When the year was expired — Hebrew, At the return of the year. At the beginning of the next year, according to the sacred account of the Hebrews, at the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle, as is elsewhere said, when Nebuchadnezzar, among others, went forth to settle and enlarge his conquests. His brother — Largely so called, for this was his uncle, or his father’s brother, being the son of Josiah.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

36:1-21 The ruin of Judah and Jerusalem came on by degrees. The methods God takes to call back sinners by his word, by ministers, by conscience, by providences, are all instances of his compassion toward them, and his unwillingness that any should perish. See here what woful havoc sin makes, and, as we value the comfort and continuance of our earthly blessings, let us keep that worm from the root of them. They had many times ploughed and sowed their land in the seventh year, when it should have rested, and now it lay unploughed and unsown for ten times seven years. God will be no loser in his glory at last, by the disobedience of men. If they refused to let the land rest, God would make it rest. What place, O God, shall thy justice spare, if Jerusalem has perished? If that delight of thine were cut off for wickedness, let us not be high-minded, but fear.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

When the year was expired - literally, as in the margin, i. e. at the return of the season for military expeditions. The expedition against Jehoiakim took place probably late in the autumn of one year, that against Jehoiachin early in the spring of the next.

Strictly speaking, Zedekiah was uncle to Jehoiachin, being the youngest of the sons of Josiah (marginal note and reference). He was nearly of the same age with Jehoiachin, and is called here his "brother" (compare Genesis 14:14).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9, 10. Jehoiachin was eight years old—called also Jeconiah or Coniah (Jer 22:24)—"eight" should have been "eighteen," as appears from 2Ki 24:8, and also from the full development of his ungodly principles and habits (see Eze 19:5-7). His reign being of so short duration cannot be considered at variance with the prophetic denunciation against his father (Jer 36:30). But his appointment by the people gave umbrage to Nebuchadnezzar, who, "when the year was expired" (2Ch 36:10)—that is, in the spring when campaigns usually began—came in person against Jerusalem, captured the city, and sent Jehoiachin in chains to Babylon, removing at the same time all the nobles and most skilful artisans, and pillaging all the remaining treasures both of the temple and palace (see on [479]2Ki 24:8-17).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

When the year was expired, Heb. at the return of the year, i.e. at the beginning of the next year, according to the sacred account of the Hebrews, at the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle, as is elsewhere said, when Nebuchadnezzar, among others, went forth to settle and enlarge his conquests.

Zedekiah his brother; largely so called, for this was his uncle, or his father’s brother, as he is called, 2 Kings 24:17, being the son of Josiah. See 1 Chronicles 3:15 Jeremiah 1:3.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah,.... Of whose reign, and of the three following, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, and the account of them, from hence to the end of 2 Chronicles 36:13, what needs explanation or reconciliation; see Gill on 2 Kings 23:31, 2 Kings 23:32, 2 Kings 23:33, 2 Kings 23:34, 2 Kings 23:35, 2 Kings 23:36, 2 Kings 23:37, 2 Kings 24:5, 2 Kings 24:6, 2 Kings 24:8, 2 Kings 24:10, 2 Kings 24:17, 2 Kings 24:18

Geneva Study Bible

And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. when the year was expired] R.V. at the return of the year; cp. 2 Samuel 11:1 = 1 Chronicles 20:1, “at the return of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle,” R.V. This would be in the spring.

brought him to Babylon] It was not the king only, but also all the best of the people, “the princes, … men of valour, the craftsmen and the smiths” who went into captivity; 2 Kings 24:14; Jeremiah 24:1; Jeremiah 24:5; Ezekiel 17:12-14.

Zedekiah] A covenant-name like “Jehoiakim” (2 Chronicles 36:4, note); it seems to mean “Righteousness of Jehovah”; cp. the significant title in Jeremiah 23:6, “The Lord is our Righteousness.” Zedekiah’s original name was “Mattaniah”; 2 Kings 24:17.

his brother] In 2 Kin. (more accurately) “his father’s brother”; cp. 1 Chronicles 3:15-16, notes.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - When the year was expired; i.e. at the beginning of the new year, in spring (2 Chronicles 24:23). It appears, from 2 Kings 25:27-30, that the captivity of Jehoia-chin, which thus began, lasted thirty-seven years, till B.C. 561, past the end of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, and that he was thenceforward kindly treated by Evil-Merodach. Compare particularly with this verse the parallel in its vers. 10-16. Zedekiah his brother; i.e. not adopting the very generic usage of the terms of relationship, so common in Old Testament language, his uncle. His mother (Hamutal, ver. 18 of parallel) was the same with the mother of Jehoahaz. Ten years old evidently when Jehoiakim began his reign, he must have been thirteen years younger than his whole brother Je-hoahaz. Zedekiah's name was before Mat-taniah. The account of Zedekiah in the parallel (which see) is very much more full. 2 Chronicles 36:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The reign of Jehoiachin. Cf. 2 Kings 24:8-17. - Jehoiachin's age at his accession is here given as eight years, while in 2 Kings 24:8 it is eighteen. It is so also in the lxx and Vulg.; but a few Hebr. codd., Syr., and Arab., and many manuscripts of the lxx, have eighteen years in the Chronicle also. The number eight is clearly an orthographical error, as Thenius also acknowledges. Bertheau, on the contrary, regards the eight of our text as the original, and the number eighteen in 2 Kings s an alteration occasioned by the idea that eighteen years appeared a more fitting age for a king than eight years, and gives as his reason, "that the king's mother is named along with him, and manifestly with design, 2 Kings 24:12, 2 Kings 24:15, and Jeremiah 22:26, whence we must conclude that she had the guardianship of the young king." A perfectly worthless reason. In the books of Kings the name of the mother is given in the case of all the kings after their accession has been mentioned, without any reference to the age of the kings, because the queen-mother occupied a conspicuous position in the kingdom. It is so in the case of Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin, 2 Kings 23:36 and 2 Kings 24:8. On account of her high position, the queen-mother is mentioned in 2 Kings 24:12 and 2 Kings 24:15, and in Jeremiah, among those who submitted to Nebuchadnezzar and were carried away to Babylon. The correctness of the number eighteen is, however, placed beyond doubt by Ezekiel 19:5-9, where the prophet portrays Jehoiachin as a young lion, which devoured men, and knew widows, and wasted cities. The knowing of widows cannot apply to a boy of eight, but might well be said of a young man of eighteen. Jehoiachin ruled only three months and ten days in Jerusalem, and did evil in the eyes of Jahve. At the turn of the year, i.e., in spring, when campaigns were usually opened (cf. 1 Kings 20:22; 2 Samuel 11:1), Nebuchadnezzar sent his generals (2 Kings 24:10), and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of Jahve, and made his (father's) brother Zedekiah king in Judah. In these few words the end of Jehoiachin's short reign is recorded. From 2 Kings 24:10-16 we learn more as to this second campaign of Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem, and its issues for Judah; see the commentary on that passage. Zidkiyah (Zedekiah) was, according to 2 Kings 24:17, not a brother, but דּוד, uncle or father's brother, of Jehoiachin, and was called Mattaniah, a son of Josiah and Hamutal, like Jehoahaz (2 Kings 24:18, cf. 2 Kings 23:31), and is consequently his full brother, and a step-brother of Jehoiakim. At his appointment to the kingdom by Nebuchadnezzar he received the name Zidkiyah (Zedekiah). אהיו, in 2 Chronicles 36:10, is accordingly to be taken in its wider signification of blood-relation.