Глава 25

The fall of the kingdom of Judah. 1–3. Siege of Jerusalem and famine in the city 4–7. The capture of the city, the flight of Zedekiah, the killing of his sons and his captivity to Babylon. 8–17. The invasion of Nebuzardan, the burning of Jerusalem, the robbery of the church and the captivity of the masses to Babylon. 18–21. Execution of Jewish dignitaries in Rivla. 22–26. The remaining population in Judea; the murder of Gedaliah and the exodus of the Jews to Egypt. 27–30. A note on the liberation of Jeconiah in the 37th year of his migration, under Evilmerodach. 2 Kings 25:1. In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army to Jerusalem, besieged it, and built a rampart around it. 2 Kings 25:2. And the city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 2 Kings 25:3. On the ninth day of the month there was a famine in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. Outraged by the perjury of Zedekiah, as well as by the uprising of other nations, Nebuchadnezzar (according to Ezek. 21:18 ff., having previously cast lots, which fell on Jerusalem) invaded the borders of Judea for the second time and besieged Jerusalem (“according to all the rules of art,” as Josephus noted) in the 9th year of his reign (not Nebuchadnezzar, as according to the Russian synodal translation “his”, and Zedekiah, in the LXX: αὺτοῦ, glav.: “his”) in the 10th month, on the 10th day of the month. Such accuracy of the date of the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem, as well as other outstanding moments of this sad event for the national Jewish feeling (cf. vv. 3, 8) is explained by the fact that the Jews in captivity, in remembrance of this and other days of sad memory, established and performed deliberate fasts (Zech. 8:19; cf. 2 Kings 7:3). The 10th month, correspondingly the beginning of the Babylonian table of names of months among the Jews, which received in captivity, was called Tebet (Esther. 2:16). From Art. 6 it is clear that Nebuchadnezzar did not conduct the siege of Jerusalem personally, since he had his main apartment and residence in the city of Rivla, but through the agency of one of his military leaders. From the verse (2 Kings 34:7) it is clear that the Babylonians also besieged other Jewish cities, such as Lachish and Azekah. The siege as a whole lasted about a year and a half (with the exception of a short break, when, having heard about the approach of the Egyptians to help the Jews, the Chaldeans lifted the siege from Jerusalem for a short time, (Jer. 37: 5-8, 34: 21-22)), exactly 1 year, 5 months, 27 days; The extreme increase in famine in the city and the first breach of the city wall occurred on the 9th day of the fourth (as directly stated in Jer. 39:2,52:6) month (“Tammuz”, corresponding to most of our July) of the 11th year of the reign of Zedekiah (vv. 2-3). How great were the disasters of famine and others that the besieged suffered, can be seen from (Jer. 2:11-12,19,4:3-10), cf. (Ezek.4) and other places. 2 Kings 25:4. And the city was taken, and all the soldiers fled at night along the road to the gate, between the two walls, which is near the royal garden; The Chaldeans stood around the city, and the king went along the road to the plain. 2 Kings 25:5. And the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook him on the plains of Jericho, and all his army fled from him. 2 Kings 25:6. And they took the king and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and brought him to trial: 2 Kings 25:7. and they slain the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and they blinded the eyes of Zedekiah himself, and bound him with chains, and took him to Babylon. The breach of the wall and the invasion of the Chaldeans into Jerusalem occurred from the north side, at the “middle gate” (Jer. 39:3), usually identified with the Ephraim gate in the north of Jerusalem (Neh. 8:16,12:39; 2 Kings 14:13). Having learned about this, Zedekiah and his army fled at night in the direction of the east through the so-called gate “between the two walls, which is near the king’s garden,” supposedly identical with the “Gate of the Source” (Neh. 2:14, 3:15, 12:37) (the royal gardens were on the south-eastern side outside the city walls near the Pool of Siloam) on the eastern side of the city, and headed towards Jericho and beyond the Jordan, but on the way Zedekiah was captured by the Chaldeans, after which his army fled, and he was taken to Rivla to Nebuchadnezzar, who carried out a cruel military trial on him. The last thing he saw with his own eyes was the execution of his sons (perhaps they appeared to the Babylonians as troublemakers of the people, and their killing could have been aimed at exterminating the entire reigning dynasty of Judah. However, according to (Jer.39:6,52:10), some Jewish nobles were killed along with the sons of Zedekiah); then Zedekiah was blinded - like the ancient Chaldean and Persian execution (Herodotus. History VII, 18), hitherto accepted in Persia and Turkey for contenders for the throne. Zedekiah was then taken to Babylon in chains. 2 Kings 25:8. In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, that is, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, the servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 2 Kings 25:9. and he burned the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses in Jerusalem, and all the great houses he burned with fire; 2 Kings 25:10. and the walls around Jerusalem were destroyed by the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard. 2 Kings 25:11. And the rest of the people who remained in the city, and the renegades who were handed over to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the common people were evicted by Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard. 2 Kings 25:12. Only a few of the poor people of the land were left by the chief of the bodyguard as workers in the vineyards and cultivators. In (Jer.52:12) the day of the arrival of Nebuzardan (his position in Hebrew is called rabtabbahim - “head of the executioners”: cf. (Gen.37:36), i.e. bodyguards: “the executioners always formed the closest guard” Prof. Gulyaev, p. 384) is called not the seventh, as here, but the 10th; the latter is also indicated by Josephus (“Jewish War” 6:4,8; in “Jewish Antiquities” 10:8,5 he, however, considers the 1st day of the 5th month to be the day of the burning of the church). The fifth month Ab corresponds to most of our August. According to Josephus (Jewish War, cit.), the Temple of Solomon was burned by the Babylonians on the same day of the fifth month (Aba, in Josephus - “loos” 23), in which later (70 AD) the Temple of Herod was burned by the Romans. Talmudic tradition places the destruction of both churches on the ninth Aba (Taanit 29a), and a fast was established on this day. In addition to the church and the royal palace, Nebuzaradan also burned all the palaces of the city of any significance, and the walls of the city, which formed his stronghold, were also destroyed (see 2 Chronicles 32:5,33:14). Nebuzaradan, having evicted the last remnants of any wealthy people from Judea, left in Judea only completely poor inhabitants - farmers and gardeners. 2 Kings 25:13. And the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the stands, and the sea of ​​brass that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried their brass to Babylon; 2 Kings 25:14. and they took the basins, and spatulas, and knives, and spoons, and all the copper vessels that were used in the service; 2 Kings 25:15. The captain of the guard took the censers and the cups, some of them were gold and some were silver: 2 Kings 25:16. the pillars were two in number, the sea was one, and the stands that Solomon made for the house of the Lord—the brass in all these things was not worth its weight. 2 Kings 25:17. Eighteen cubits high in one pillar; the crown on it is of copper, and the height of the crown is three cubits, and the mesh and pomegranates around the crown are all of copper. The same thing happens on the other post with the net. The accessories of the church utensils taken by Nebuzaradan to Babylon are listed, starting with the large and most important “pillars of brass,” i.e., the famous columns of Jachin and Boaz in front of the pediment of the church, the “sea of ​​brass” with “bases,” etc., cf. (1 Kings 7:15–39). 2 Kings 25:18. And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the high priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three who stood guard at the threshold. 2 Kings 25:19. And from the city he took one eunuch, who was in charge of the military people, and five men who stood before the king, who were in the city, and the chief scribe of the army, who registered the people of the land in the army, and sixty men from the people of the land, who were in the city. 2 Kings 25:20. And Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them and led them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 2 Kings 25:21. And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. And the Jews were driven out of their land. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Nebuzaradan took from here the highest ecclesiastical and civil dignitaries and, like Zedekiah, sent them to Rivla, where, taken to Nebuchadnezzar, they were all executed. At the same time, the deportations of the Jews to Babylon ended. The country, of course, did not remain completely deserted (cf. E. Blagonravov, The Babylonian Captivity, p. 128 etc.), but the rare and poorest population remaining in it did not interfere with the terrible desolation of Judea (2 Chron. 36:21), in full accordance with the prediction of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 25:11). The prophet of Chaldea himself, by order of his king, was given the freedom to go to Babylon or remain in his homeland. The Prophet chose the latter (Jer.39:11,14). Behind the station 21 in the parallel story of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 52:28–30) there is a list of those resettled to Babylon. 2 Kings 25:22. And over the people that remained in the land of Judah, which Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had left, he appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, as ruler over them. 2 Kings 25:23. When all the captains of the army, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah ruler, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, namely: Ishmael the son of Nephaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth of Netophath, and Jezeniah the son of the Maachite, they and their men. 2 Kings 25:24. And Gedaliah swore to them and to their people, and said to them: Do not be afraid to be subject to the Chaldeans, settle in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be good for you. 2 Kings 25:25. But in the seventh month came Ishmael the son of Nephaniah the son of Elishama, of the king's tribe, with ten men, and smote Gedaliah, and he died, and the Jews and the Chaldeans that were with him at Mizpah. 2 Kings 25:26. And all the people, from the smallest to the greatest, and the captains of the army, arose, and went down to Egypt, because they were afraid of the Chaldeans. A shortened version of the story, which is contained in detail in the book of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer.39:11–43:7). Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, was the most prominent of the prudent citizens of the kingdom of Judah who believed and were ready to follow the advice of the prophet Jeremiah Zedekiah - to voluntarily surrender to the Babylonian king (Jer. 38:17). As a man of noble spirit (Jer.40:16), Gedaliah received the commission to free Jeremiah (Jer.39:14) and was invested with the title of Babylonian governor over the remaining population of Judah (Jer.40:7,10). Having chosen Mizpah (a city in the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 13:26) northwest of Jerusalem) as his location, Gedaliah formed a guard of Jews and Chaldeans around himself, and with the support of the prophet Jeremiah and Baruch tried to organize the poor population of Judah into a settled community (Jer.40:6,8,41:3,5,43:6), but was villainously killed 2 months later (v. 26; Jer. 41:2 ff.). Netophath is a city in the inheritance of the tribe of Judah, near Bethlehem (Neh. 7:26; 1 Ezra 2:22; 1 Chron. 2:54), identified with the current Bett-Nitiz (Onomasticon, 747). The region of Maach lay in the north of the Trans-Jordan country at the foot of Hermon (Deut. 13:14; Josh. 13:13). 2 Kings 25:27. In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evilmerodah king of Babylon, in the year of his accession, brought Jehoiachin king of Judah out of the prison house 2 Kings 25:28. and he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne higher than the throne of the kings that he had in Babylon; 2 Kings 25:29. and he changed his prison clothes, and he always had food with him all the days of his life. 2 Kings 25:30. And his maintenance, constant maintenance, was given to him from the king, day after day, all the days of his life. Compare (Jer. 52:31–34). The liberation of Jeconiah falls in the year 561. Reign of Evilmerodach - 561–559. I. Flavius ​​(Against Apion I, 20), based on Berosus, gives a bad review of this king. The event of Jehoiachin's deliverance is the last event recorded in 2 Kings, and the writing of 3 and 2 Kings probably occurred shortly after this event. According to Josephus ("Antiquities of the Jews" 10:8,5), Solomon's temple was burned 470 years 6 months 10 days after its construction. According to chronologists, this figure should be reduced: the construction of the church is supposed to be in 1012, and the destruction in 586, therefore the church existed for 426–425 years (cf. I. Spassky “Study of Biblical Chronology”, p. 131) You might be interested in: