2nd Kings Chapter 25 verse 8 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 8. - And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month. Jeremiah says (Jeremiah 52:12) that it was on the tenth day of the month; and so Josephus (Bell Jud. Jud. 6:4. § 8). The mistake probably arose from a copyist mistaking י (ten) for ז (seven). According to Josephus, it was on the same day of the same month that the final destruction of the temple by the soldiers of Titus was accomplished. Which is the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar ascended the throne in B.C. 605, which was the fourth year of Jehoiakim, who began to reign in B.C. 608. The seven remaining years of Jehoiakim, added to the eleven of Zedekiah, and the three months of Jehoiachin, produce the result of the text - that the last year of Zedekiah was the nineteenth of Nebuchadnezzar. Came Nebuzaradan. Nebuchadnezzar had apparently hesitated as to how he should treat Jerusalem, since nearly a month elapsed between the capture of the city and the commencement of the work of destruction. He was probably led to destroy the city by the length of the resistance, and the natural strength of the position. The name, Nebuzar-adan, is probably a Hebraized form of the Babylonian Nebu-sar-iddina. "Nebo has given (us) a king." Captain of the guard; literally chief of the executioners; but as the King's guard were employed to execute his commissions, and especially his death-sentences, the paraphrase is quite allowable. A servant of the King of Babylon - i.e. a subject - unto Jerusalem. He came doubtless with instructions, which he proceeded to carry out.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(8) On the seventh day . . .--An error for the tenth day (Jeremiah 52:12), one numeral letter having been mistaken for another. The Syriac and Arabic read ninth (perhaps, because, as Thenius suggests, the memorial fasts began on the evening of the ninth day).According to Josephus the second Temple also was burnt on the tenth of the fifth month (Bell. Jud. vi. 4.8).The nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.--This agrees with Jeremiah 32:1, according to which the tenth of Zedekiah was the eighteenth of Nebuchadnezzar.Nebuzaradan.--A Hebrew transcript of the Babylonian name Nab--zir-iddina, "Nebo gave seed."Captain of the guard.--Strictly, chief of executioners. (See Genesis 37:36.) This means commander of the Royal Bodyguard, the "Praetorians" of the time; a corps of picked warriors, answering to the "Cherethites and Pelethites," and the "Carians and Runners" among the Hebrews (2Kings 11:4). Nebuzaradan is not mentioned among the other generals in Jeremiah 39:3. On this ground, and because his coming is expressly-mentioned here, and because a month elapsed between the taking of the city (2Kings 25:4) and its destruction (2Kings 25:9-10), Thenius infers that the city of David and the Temple did not at once fall into the hands of the Chaldeans; but were so well defended under the lead of some soldier like Ishmael (2Kings 25:23), that Nebuchadnezzar was compelled to despatch a specially distinguished commander to bring the matter to a conclusion. 2Kings 25:18-21 certainly appear to favour this view. . . .