2 Chronicles 36:17

Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees,.... Nebuchadnezzar; and though it was the rebellion of Zedekiah which was the cause and occasion of his coming against them, yet it was the Lord that moved him to it, and gave him success: who slew their young men with the sword, in the house of the sanctuary; in the temple, where they took sanctuary, imagining that sacred place would protect them from the rage of the enemy, but it did not: and had no compassion on young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age; spared none on account of age or sex, but put them all to the sword, or carried them captive: he gave them into his hand; that is, the Lord delivered them into the hand of the king of Babylon, for their sins.

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.

2 Chronicles 36:17 . Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees — The king of the Chaldeans marched against them out of some political view; but we are taught in the Holy Scriptures to ascribe all these events to the agency of the Divine Providence, and therefore it is said here, not that the king of the Chaldeans went against them, but that the Lord brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans. Who slew their young men in the house of their sanctuary — Either in Jerusalem, which was the dwelling- place of God’s sanctuary, or in the house which was their sanctuary. It is probable they killed some of them in the very courts and house of God, to which they had fled for refuge, such places being esteemed sacred and inviolable by the heathen themselves. He gave them all into his hand — To be carried captive into Chaldea. Abraham was called out of Ur of the Chaldees, when God took him into covenant with himself. And now his degenerate seed are carried into that country again, to signify that they had forfeited all that kindness wherewith they had been loved for their father’s sake, and the benefit of the covenant into which he was called.

17 . Chaldees ] R.V. Chaldeans . Their name in Hebrew is Casdim and in Assyrio-Babylonian Caldu (the change of “s” for “l” before a dental is not uncommon in the latter language). They were a people originally living south of Babylon on the sea, but Nabopolassar, father of Nebuchadnezzar, conquered Babylon and established a Chaldæo-Babylonian empire. in the house of their sanctuary ] Cp. Ezekiel’s vision of the slaughter; Ezekiel 9:1-11 . him that stooped for age ] R.V. ancient ; cp. Isaiah 9:15 .

In the house of their sanctuary; either in Jerusalem, which was the dwelling-place of God’s sanctuary; or, in the house which was their sanctuary ; as the river of Euphrates , Genesis 15:18 , is the river which is Euphrates. It is probable they killed them in the very courts and house of God, to which some of them fled for refuge, such places being esteemed sacred and inviolable by the heathens themselves.

Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword {h} in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he {i} gave them all into his hand. (h) Where they fled, thinking to have been saved for the holiness of it. (i) Which is not because God approves him, who yet is the minister of his justice, but because God would by his just judgment punish this people: for this king was led with ambition and vain glory, to which were joined fury and cruelty: therefore his work was condemnable, even though it was just and holy on God's part, who used this wicked instrument to declare his justice.

(17) Therefore he brought up. — And He caused to come up; alluding to “the wrath . . . went up .” In the house of their sanctuary.—Which they had polluted (2Chronicles 36:14). The scene of their sin witnessed their destruction. Him that stooped for age.—Rather, greyheaded, hoary (yāshēsh). (Comp. Ezekiel 9, where the horrors of the capture of Jerusalem are ascribed expressly to the Divine working; see also Jeremiah 15:1-9; Deuteronomy 32:25.) He gave them all into his hand.—Comp. Jeremiah 37:6; Jeremiah 32:3-4. Them all.—Literally, the whole, everything, τά πάντα. “Them all” would be hullām, whereas the text is hakkōl. (So 2Chronicles 36:18, “all these.”) Jerusalem was taken 588 B.C.

13. who had made him swear by God—Zedekiah received his crown on the express condition of taking a solemn oath of fealty to the king of Babylon (Eze 17:13); so that his revolt by joining in a league with Pharaoh-hophra, king of Egypt, involved the crime of perjury. His own pride and obdurate impiety, the incurable idolatry of the nation, and their reckless disregard of prophetic warnings, brought down on his already sadly reduced kingdom the long threatened judgments of God. Nebuchadnezzar, the executioner of the divine vengeance, commenced a third siege of Jerusalem, which, after holding out for a year and a half, was taken in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah. It resulted in the burning of the temple, with, most probably, the ark, and in the overthrow of the kingdom of Judah (see on [480]2Ki 25:1-7; [481]Eze 12:13; [482]Eze 17:16).

When the moral corruption had reached this height, judgment broke upon the incorrigible race. As in 2 Chronicles 36:12-16 the transgressions of the king and people are not described according to their historical progression, but are portrayed in rhetorical gradation; so, too, in 2 Chronicles 36:17-21 the judgment upon the sinful people and kingdom is not represented in its historical details, but only rhetorically in its great general outlines. "Then brought He upon them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in their sanctuary, and spared not the youth and the maiden, the old man and the grey-headed; he gave everything into his hand." Prophetic utterances form the basis of this description of the fearful judgment, e.g., Jeremiah 15:1-9 ; Jeremiah 32:3 ., Ezekiel 9:6 ; and these, again, rest upon Deuteronomy 32:25 . The subject in the first and last clause of the verse is Jahve. Bertheau therefore assumes that He is also the subject of the intermediate sentence: "and God slew their young men in the sanctuary;" but this can hardly be correct. As in the expansion of the last clause, "he gave everything into his hand," which follows in 2 Chronicles 36:18 , not Jahve but the king of Babylon is the subject; so also in the expansion of the first clause, which וגו ויּהרג introduces, the king of the Chaldeans is the subject, as most commentators have rightly recognised.

By מקדּשׁם בּבית the judgment is brought into definite relationship to the crime: because they had profaned the sanctuary by idolatry ( 2 Chronicles 36:14 ), they themselves were slain in the sanctuary. On נתן ב הכּל, cf. Jeremiah 27:6 ; Jeremiah 32:3-4 . הכּל includes things and persons, and is specialized in 2 Chronicles 36:18-20 .