2 Kings 24:1, commentary and pictures

In his reign Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem and made Jehoiakim, whom the king of Egypt had set on the throne in place of Jehoahaz, his servant and vassal for three years, until he turned and rebelled and renounced his allegiance. He rebelled because he trusted in promised aid from Egypt, but when that aid failed he submitted, and his rebellion brought Nebuchadnezzar again with a vast army to punish him with death and to besiege Jerusalem. The Lord then sent bands of Chaldees, Syrians, Moabites and Ammonites against Judah to destroy it and remove it out of His sight for the sins of Manasseh, who filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, after Judah had followed Israel in departing farther from God until reform could no longer stay captivity. This was the commencement of Gentile rule over Jerusalem and the beginning of the captivity and utter ruin of the kingdom of Judah, with its people removed to Babylon and held afterward in continual subjection. It marks the beginning of the seventy years captivity and desolation foretold by Jeremiah, when Nebuchadnezzar also carried away vessels of the temple and chief men and royal seed, among them Daniel and his three companions, which opens the history told in Daniel 1.

Historical Setting and Sequence

The verse stands in the final section of Kings, the history of Judah's remaining kingdom after the ten tribes had been swept away, extending to the Babylonian captivity. It records Judah's rapid movement toward captivity soon after Josiah's death, the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the beginning of captivity, leading on to the later rebellion of Zedekiah and the final capture of the nation, and the end of its independent rule. The invasion came in Jehoiakim's reign, when Nebuchadnezzar came up against Jerusalem and first took the city during his expedition against Necho. Though the verse does not use the word siege, it plainly specifies that siege.

Jehoiakim, whose name had been changed from Eliakim, had been made king of Judah and Jerusalem by the king of Egypt in place of Jehoahaz. Nebuchadnezzar on taking Jerusalem made him his servant, his vassal. He served the king of Babylon as vassal for three years, and then rebelled and renounced his allegiance. He renounced allegiance because he had obtained a promise of aid from the Egyptians, at the same time Phoenicia revolted under Tyre, only a few years after Nebuchadnezzar's triumphant campaign against Neco.

Because of the rebellion Nebuchadnezzar came against Jehoiakim a second time, three years after his first campaign. That coming was in his seventh year, B.C. 598, into Palestine at the head of a vast army of his own subjects and his Median allies. He first invested Tyre but left part of his army to continue that siege while he pressed forward against Jerusalem. Jehoiakim remained king in Jerusalem for five more years and died there, and was not taken captive to Babylon. Those who date the event as the second Babylonian captivity in 598 B.C. place here the taking of Jehoiakim and many others captive and the carrying away of much treasure.

When Jehoiakim saw the Egyptians would not come to his aid he made submission, but Nebuchadnezzar punished his rebellion with death and had his dead body treated with indignity. Judah was occupied by Nebuchadnezzar's army and Jerusalem was under siege. Nebuchadnezzar placed Jehoiakim's eighteen-year-old son Jehoiachin on the throne, but after three months deposed him as unfaithful and carried him captive to Babylon and installed Jehoiakim's brother, his uncle Zedekiah, in his place, while Tyre continued to resist the blockade for thirteen years.

Judgment, Captivity, and Prophecy

The verse marks the commencement of Gentile rule over Jerusalem and over the church of God in the reign of Jehoiakim, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up and Jehoiakim served him three years and then rebelled. That rebellion brought the Lord's judgment upon Judah, for the Lord sent bands of Chaldees, Syrians, Moabites and Ammonites against Judah to destroy it according to the word of the Lord spoken by the prophets, and this warfare continued for years after the revolt. It came surely at the Lord's commandment to remove Judah out of His sight for the sins of Manasseh, who filled Jerusalem with innocent blood which the Lord would not pardon, beginning the captivity and utter ruin of the kingdom of Judah with the removal of the people of Jerusalem to Babylon and their continual subjection afterward to the arbitrary rule of the Gentile nations.

Judah in this history followed Israel's course of departure from God until captivity came. After Manasseh seduced them to do evil they departed farther and farther from God, their service of mere formality became an abomination, and they lost protection against the nations about them despite the reform under Josiah, continuing a hold by Babylon first gained when Manasseh was carried to Babylon. Jehoiakim's rejection of the Lord's word led to his own rejection, and his reign ended with him. His son Jehoiachin ruled only briefly before Nebuchadnezzar dethroned him and installed Jehoiakim's brother in his place, while Judah was occupied by Nebuchadnezzar's army and Jerusalem was under siege.

The verse marks the beginning of the seventy years captivity prophesied by Jeremiah and understood by Daniel as seventy years of desolation of Jerusalem, dated to B.C. 606, with its end in B.C. 536 in the first year of Cyrus. At this taking Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the temple vessels and carried away some of the chief men of the city and members of the royal family and other Israelites to Babylon. Among those captives were Daniel and his three companions, taken in 607 B.C., which opens the history told in Daniel 1. The event thus furnishes the historical background for the book of Daniel, making its interpretation more clear and forcible.