Chapter XXXIX
Ver. 1-18. Jerusalem taken. Zedektah's Fatb. Jbr-! EMIAH CARED FOR. EBED-MELECH ASSURED. This-chapter consists of two parts: the first describe* the capture of Jerusalem, the removal of the people to Babylon, and the fate of Zedekiah, and that of Jeremiah. The second the assurance of safety to Ebed-melech. 14 ninth yeax
. . . tenth month—and on the tenth day of It (ch.62. 4 ; 2 Kings 25. 1-4). From v. 2, " eleventh year . . . fourth month . . . ninth day," we know the siege lasted ooe and a half years, excepting the suspension of it caused ))y Pharaoh. Nebuchadnezzar was present/ in the beginning of the siege, but was at Riblah at its close (v. 3. 6; cf. ch.
38. 17). 3. sat—expressing military occupatien or encampment, middle gate—the gate from the upper city (comprehending Mount Zlon) to the lower city (no«-//i of the former and much lower); it was into the latter (the iwrth 8lde4 the Chaldeans forced an euta'^,.and took utp their 54S
Jervsalem Ruined by Nebuchadnezzar. JEREMrAH XL. Tlie Jews Rcsorl (o Gedaliah.
but figuratively, before thee—In thj' sight. 17. the men of whom thou art afraid—(Ch. .3S. 1, 4-6.) The courtiers and princes hostile to thee for having delivered Jeremiah shall have a danger coming so home to themselves as to have no power to hurt. Heretofore intrepid, he was now afraid ; this prophecy was therefore the more welcome to him. 18. like . . . for a prey—(Notes, cll. 21. 9; 38. I; 45.
position opposite the pate of the " middle" wall, between
tlie lower and upper city. Zedekiah fled in the opposite,
I. f., the .fouth direetion {v. 4). Nergalsliarezer, Samgar-
iifl>o—proper names formed from those of the idols, Ner-
t;al and Nebo (2 Kings 17.30; Isaiah 46.1). Rab-sarls— meaning chief of the eunuchs. Kab-mag—c/uc/o///te magi;
brouslit with the expedition in order tliat its issue might be foreknown through his astrological skill. Mag is a Persian word, meaning great, powerful. Tlie magi were a sacerdotal caste among tlie Medes, and supported the Zoroastriau religion, i. tUe king's garden—the "gate"
5.) put . . . tnist in me—(C'h.oS. 7-9.) Trust in God was the root of his fearlessness of the wrath of men, in his humanity to the prophet (1 Chronicles 5. 20; Psalm 37. 40). The "life" he thus risked was to be his reward, being spared beyond all hope, when the lives of his enemies should be forfeited ("for a prey").
to it from the upper city above was appropriated to the kings alone; "stairs" led down from Mount Zion and the palace to the king's garden below (Nehemiah 3. 15). two walls— Zedekiah might have held the upper city