2 Chronicles 36:7, commentary and pictures

Nebuchadnezzar's first capture of Jerusalem came in 606 B.C. in the reign of Jehoiakim, when he bound the king, carried off part of the sacred vessels of God's house, and carried captive some of the people including Daniel and his companions. Only some of the vessels were taken then, and they were set in the temple of his god at Babylon, the temple of Bel the chief god of Babylon. The removal came because of Judah's persistent evil and transgression, with neglect of the Sabbath as its primal cause, and was the first step of God forsaking the sanctuary at Jerusalem with Nebuchadnezzar as the instrument of His purpose. From this date is reckoned the seventy years' captivity ending in 536 B.C., when Cyrus in his first year permitted the Jews to return and rebuild the temple. Setting Jehovah's vessels in a heathen temple was a triumph for a rival worship against the true God, and they were kept there until Cyrus's first year when they were delivered to those going up to carry them to Jerusalem to rebuild God's house.

Historical Setting and Details

Nebuchadnezzar's first capture of Jerusalem in 606 B.C., in the fourth year and reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, is the setting, when he came against Jerusalem, bound Jehoiakim in fetters, carried off some of the vessels of God's house to Babylon, and carried captive some of the people including Daniel and his companions. In that reign Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against Jerusalem and took it, and carried away some of the chief men of the city to Babylon, among whom were Daniel and his three companions. Jehoiakim remained in Jerusalem afterward.

The immediate royal background was that after Josiah was killed for interfering in a war between Egypt and Assyria, the people made his son Jehoahaz king, but he reigned only three months until the king of Egypt deposed him. The king of Egypt laid a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold on Judah, made his brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim was twenty-five when he began to reign, reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and did evil in the sight of the Lord. Because he did evil, the king of Babylon was permitted to come against him and carry him away captive, and some of the vessels of the house of the Lord were also carried to Babylon.

The account in Chronicles gives a sufficient record of the siege and invasion, even though 2 Kings 24:1 does not use the word siege, since it specifies Nebuchadnezzar's coming against Jehoiakim, Jehoiakim's three years of submission, and his rebellion. Jehoiakim was king of Judah when Nebuchadnezzar led his army against Jerusalem, and this belongs to the historical setting of the book of Daniel.

The vessels taken were only some or part of the temple's sacred vessels, not all. They were put in the temple of Nebuchadnezzar's god at Babylon, identified as the temple of Bel, Belus, or Bel-Merodach, Babylon's chief god. The gates of the sacred complex around that temple were conjectured to have been made from Jerusalem's temple spoils.

This partial taking was the first of three captivities and spoliations. A further ravaging with much treasure including vessels came under Jehoiachin in 598 or 599 B.C., when Ezekiel and many others were taken captive, and utter destruction of temple and city came under Zedekiah in 586 or 588 B.C., ending with Jerusalem laid waste and the holy house burned. The destruction in 586 B.C. is distinct from the first great captivity beginning in 606 B.C., with seventy years from the first captivity reaching to 536 B.C.

Divine Judgment and Restoration

The carrying of the vessels to Babylon came because of Judah's continued evil and transgression under its later kings, bringing upon the people the wrath that had been kindled in the days of Hezekiah. Neglect of the Sabbath was the primal cause of the calamity, for the Sabbath was God's sign that He sanctified Israel and the seal identifying Jehovah as the living Creator, and keeping it kept Israel mindful of the Lord unlike the Babylonians who served another god. It is the bondage that follows ceremonialism and mere outward service, when confidence in the flesh leaves the people under the power of sin and makes them the prey of their enemies, losing their independence among the nations.

The removal was the first step of God forsaking the sanctuary at Jerusalem because of sin, with Nebuchadnezzar acting as the instrument of God's purpose. At this time the people began to be carried into captivity, sons of the royal family and nobility made eunuchs and slaves in the palace at Babylon, the king made tributary, and the whole land brought into vassalage to Babylon though kings still reigned on the throne of Judah by Babylonian sufferance. This marked the end of the Jerusalem temple as Israel's central place of worship and definitely marked the beginning of the downward course that ended in the Babylonish captivity.

From this date in 606 B.C., in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, is reckoned the seventy years' captivity, one reckoning of Jeremiah's seventy years ending in 536 B.C. when Cyrus permitted the Jews to return and rebuild the temple. That first year of Cyrus was in his rule over all Medo-Persia including Babylon, and the seventy years from the first captivity, when Daniel and his companions were taken, reached to that year through a second captivity in 598 B.C. when Ezekiel and many others were taken with much treasure including vessels, and a third in 586 B.C. when Jerusalem was completely destroyed. After the seventy years they were allowed to return, but the Jews never again became an independent nation and Jerusalem was finally destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70.

The event fulfilled God's warning to do to Jerusalem as He did to Shiloh, but with tenfold heavier judgment, for at Shiloh the ark was taken and might be restored and the sanctuary remained, while here the vessels were cut to pieces and carried to Babylon, the sanctuary was laid in ruins, and the people were led away into foreign captivity. It belongs to the history marking the end of the period when Israel kept the release years and jubilees after Josiah's reign, when the people and land were no longer able to observe them. It was the beginning of the scattering of Israel by the carrying away of its people and temple treasures to Babylon, and part of the decline that ended with Jerusalem laid waste and the holy house burned.

Placing Jehovah's sacred vessels in a heathen temple was a triumph for a rival sanctuary and heathen worship set against the true God, an effort to divert worship from the true God to heathen rites by taking objects belonging to the worship of Jehovah into the service of a heathen deity. That Babylonian temple of Bel, Belus, or Bel-Merodach was Satan's sanctuary in that age, a counterfeit erected in place of the only living and true God, so laying God's sanctuary desolate and transferring to it what belonged to God's house was part of the treading under foot of the sanctuary by paganism. The vessels were kept there in Satan's sanctuary until the first year of Cyrus, when in fulfillment of his decree for restoration of God's sanctuary they were delivered to the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and Levites going up to carry them to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple of God.