2 Chronicles 36:8

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

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.

Verse 8. - The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim. As our compiler has literally told us none at all, we need but note his expression here as a convenient formula, indicating his own intentional brevity, and the fact that he was privy to all in the original sources, which he nevertheless now omitted; yet see Jeremiah 7:9 ; Jeremiah 19:13 , etc. The telling expression, what was found in him , is too readily to be filled up from the parallel, in its vers. 3, 4. Jehoiachin his son. In 1 Chronicles 3:16 he is called Jeconiah , and in Jeremiah 22:24 he is called Coniah . 2 Chronicles 36:8

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and {d} that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead. (d) He means superstitious marks which were found on his body when he was dead, which declared how deeply idolatry was rooted in his heart, seeing he bore the marks in his flesh.

(8) Now the rest of the acts. —(Comp. 2Kings 24:5 .) And his abominations which he did.—His crimes against God and man, i.e., probably acts of idolatry and tyranny. (Comp. Jeremiah 25:6; Jeremiah 7:5-11; Jeremiah 22:13-19; covetousness, shedding innocent blood, &c. charged against him.) That which was found in him.—2Chronicles 19:3. His general character and conduct. As in the case of Anion (2Chronicles 33:25), the last particulars about Jehoiakim are omitted in this flying notice of his reign, which was only memorable because of the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar. The LXX., however, gives instead of this verse 2Kings 24:5-6, interpolating in the latter “and was buried with his fathers in the garden of Uzza” (ἐν γανοζαῆ or γανοζάν; see 2Kings 21:26). Thenius says “these words certainly (!) stood in the original text,” but were omitted by the chronicler and the editor of Kings, because they conflict with the prophecy of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 22:18-19, Jeremiah 36:30)—which is apparently the reason why he is so sure of their genuineness. JEHOIACHIN (2Chronicles 36:9-10). (Comp. 2Kings 24:8-17; 3 Esdr. 1:41-44; Jeremiah 22:24-30; Ezekiel 19:5-9.)

6. Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon—This refers to the first expedition of Nebuchadnezzar against Palestine, in the lifetime of his father Nabopolassar, who, being old and infirm, adopted his son as joint sovereign and despatched him, with the command of his army, against the Egyptian invaders of his empire. Nebuchadnezzar defeated them at Carchemish, drove them out of Asia, and reduced all the provinces west of the Euphrates to obedience—among the rest the kingdom of Jehoiakim, who became a vassal of the Assyrian empire (2Ki 24:1). Jehoiakim at the end of three years threw off the yoke, being probably instigated to revolt by the solicitations of the king of Egypt, who planned a new expedition against Carchemish. But he was completely vanquished by the Babylonian king, who stripped him of all his possessions between the Euphrates and the Nile (2Ki 24:7). Then marching against the Egyptian's ally in Judah, he took Jerusalem, carried away a portion of the sacred vessels of the temple, perhaps in lieu of the unpaid tribute, and deposited them in the temple of his god, Belus, at Babylon (Da 1:2; 5:2). Though Jehoiakim had been taken prisoner (and it was designed at first to transport him in chains to Babylon), he was allowed to remain in his tributary kingdom. But having given not long after some new offense, Jerusalem was besieged by a host of Assyrian dependents. In a sally against them Jehoiakim was killed (see on [478]2Ki 24:2-7; also Jer 22:18, 19; 36:30).

"Against him came Nebuchadnezzar (in inscriptions, Nabucudurriusur, i.e., Nebo coronam servat; see on Dan. S. 56) the king of Babylon, and bound him with brazen double fetters to carry him to Babylon." This campaign, Nebuchadnezzar's first against Judah, is spoken of also in 2 Kings 24 and Daniel 1:1-2 . The capture of Jerusalem, at which Jehoiakim was put in fetters, occurred, as we learn from Daniel 1:1 , col. c. Jeremiah 46:2 and Jeremiah 36:7 , in the fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign, i.e., in the year 606 b.c.; and with it commence the seventy years of the Chaldean servitude of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar did not carry out his purpose of deporting the captured king Jehoiakim to Babylon, but allowed him to continue to reign at Jerusalem as his servant (vassal). To alter the infin. להוליכו into the perf., or to translate as the perf., is quite arbitrary, as is also the supplying of the words, "and he carried him away to Babylon." That the author of the Chronicle does not mention the actual carrying away, but rather assumes the contrary, namely, that Jehoiakim continued to reign in Jerusalem until his death, as well known, is manifest from the way in which, in 2 Chronicles 36:8 , he records his son's accession to the throne. He uses the same formula which he has used in the case of all the kings whom at their death their sons succeeded, according to established custom.

Had Nebuchadnezzar dethroned Jehoiakim, as Necho deposed Jehoahaz, the author of the Chronicle would not have left the installation of Jehoiachin by the Chaldean king unmentioned. For the defence of this view against opposing opinions, see the commentary on 2 Kings 24:1 and Daniel 1:1 ; and in regard to 2 Chronicles 36:7 , see on Daniel 1:2 . The Chronicle narrates nothing further as to Jehoiakim's reign, but refers, 2 Chronicles 36:8 , for his other deeds, and especially his abominations, to the book of the kings of Israel and Judah, whence the most important things have been excerpted and incorporated in 2 Kings 24:1-4 . עשׂה אשׁר תּועבותיו Bertheau interprets of images which he caused to be prepared, and עליו הנּמצא of his evil deeds; but in both he is incorrect. The passages which Bertheau cites for his interpretation of the first words, Jeremiah 7:9 . and Ezekiel 8:17 , prove the contrary; for Jeremiah mentions as תּועבות of the people, murder, adultery, false swearing, offering incense to Baal, and going after other gods; and Ezekiel, loc. cit., uses תּועבות עשׂות of the idolatry of the people indeed, but not of the making of images - only of the worship of idols, the practice of idol-worship.