Jeremiah 39:7

39:1-10 Jerusalem was so strong, that the inhabitants believed the enemy could never enter it. But sin provoked God to withdraw his protection, and then it was as weak as other cities. Zedekiah had his eyes put out; so he was condemned to darkness who had shut his eyes against the clear light of God's word. Those who will not believe God's words, will be convinced by the event. Observe the wonderful changes of Providence, how uncertain are earthly possessions; and see the just dealings of Providence: but whether the Lord makes men poor or rich, nothing will profit them while they cleave to their sins.

Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes,.... By what means is not certain; however, hereby the prophecy of Jeremiah was fulfilled, that his eyes should see the king of Babylon, as they did, before they were put out, and that he should not die by the sword, Jeremiah 34:3 ; and also the prophecy of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 12:13 ; that he should be brought to Babylon, and yet should not see it; for his eyes were put out before he was carried there: a full proof this of the prescience of God; of his foreknowledge of future and contingent events; of the truth and certainty of prophecy, and of the authority of divine revelation: and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon; with two brass or iron chains, or fetters, for both his legs; and thus bound he was carried to Babylon, where he remained to the day of his death.

7 . Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes ] See on Jeremiah 34:3 and cp. Jdg 16:21 . “Putting out the eyes has been at all times a common Oriental punishment.… The frequency of the punishment in the time of the younger Cyrus is indicated by a passage in Xenophon, where it is said that men deprived of sight for their crimes were a common spectacle along the highways within his government.” Rawlinson’s Herod . vol. IV. p. 16. C.B. (Barnes), on the parallel passage in Kings, quotes Layard for modern instances in Persia. fetters ] The Hebrew word is dual, and the meaning therefore probably two chains. Cp. Acts 12:6 . Jeremiah 39:7

(7) Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes. —The special form of punishment is noticeable as fulfilling the two prophecies—(1) that Zedekiah should see the king of Babylon and be taken to that city ( Jeremiah 32:4 ); and (2) that though he was to die in Babylon, he should never see it ( Ezekiel 12:13 ). Beyond this, the fate of the last king of Judah is buried in darkness. His brother Jehoiachin was already a prisoner in Babylon ( 2Kings 24:15 ), but we do not know whether the two were allowed to meet. Twenty-six years later Jehoiachin was released by Evil-merodach ( 2Kings 25:27 ); but there is no mention of Zedekiah, and it is a natural inference that his sufferings had ended previously. Bound him with chains.—Literally, as in the margin, with two brazen chains.

Thus the two prophecies were fulfilled; that of this prophet, Jeremiah 34:4 , that Zedekiah should not die by the sword ; and that of Ezekiel, that he should not see Babylon , though he should die there, Ezekiel 12:13 . Riblah was at a great distance from Babylon, where the king was at this time, probably to be nearer his army while the siege lasted at Jerusalem, and to give orders about it, and to divert himself, the place being a pleasant place, and the king not willing to trouble himself about the siege to go thither in person; but the siege being over, he now removeth to Babylon, and carrieth Zedekiah and the rest of the prisoners along with him.

6. slew … sons … before his eyes—previous to his eyes being "put out" (Jer 39:7); literally, "dug out." The Assyrian sculptures depict the delight with which the kings struck out, often with their own hands, the eyes of captive princes. This passage reconciles Jer 32:4, "his eyes shall behold his eyes"; with Eze 12:13, "he shall not see Babylon, though he shall die there." slew all … nobles—(Jer 27:20).

In Jeremiah 39:4-7 are narrated the flight of Zedekiah, his capture, and his condemnation, like what we find in Jeremiah 52:7-11 and 2 Kings 25:4-7 . "When Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them (the Chaldean generals who had taken up their position at the mid-gate), they fled by night out of the city, by the way of the king's garden, by a gate between the walls, and he went out by the way to the Arabah. Jeremiah 39:5 . But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the steppes of Jericho, and captured him, and brought him to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, to Riblah, in the land of Hamath; and he pronounced judgment on him." Hitzig and Graf consider that the connection of these events, made by כּאשׁר ראם, is awkward, and say that the king would not have waited till the Chaldean generals took up their position at the mid-gate, nor could he see these in the night-time; that, moreover, he would hardly have waited till the city was taken before he fled. These objections are utterly worthless.

If the city of Zion, in which the royal palace stood, was separated from the lower city by a wall, then the king might still be quite at ease, with his men of war, in the upper city or city of Zion, so long as the enemy, who were pushing into the lower city from the north, remained at the separating wall, near the middle gate in it; and only when he saw that the city of Zion, too, could no longer be held, did he need to betake himself to flight with the men of war around him. In actual fact, then, he might have been able to see the Chaldean generals with his own eyes, although we need not press ראם so much as to extract this meaning from it. Even at this juncture, flight was still possible through the south gate, at the king's garden, between the two walls. Thenius, on 2 Kings 25:4 , takes חמתים to mean a double wall, which at the southern end of Ophel closed up the ravine between Ophel and Zion. But a double wall must also have had two gates, and Thenius, indeed, has exhibited them in his plan of Jerusalem; but the text speaks of but one gate (שׁער). "The two walls" are rather the walls which ran along the eastern border of Zion and the western border of Ophel. The gate between these was situated in the wall which ran across the Tyropoean valley, and united the wall of Zion and that of Ophel; it was called the horse-gate ( Nehemiah 3:28 ), and occupied the position of the modern "dung-gate" (Bab-el Moghribeh); see on Nehemiah 3:27-28 .