2 Kings 24:4, commentary and pictures

2 Kings 24:4 belongs to the account of Jerusalem's capture and Judah's fall in 2 Kings 24-25, in the setting of Jehoiakim's rejection of the word and the end of his house. Jehoiakim's son Jehoiachin attempted to reign but after three months was dethroned by Babylon, while Judah was occupied and Jerusalem besieged. The fuller account in chapters 24 and 25 reaches to the downfall of Zedekiah, the last king of the chosen people.

It means that Manasseh filled Jerusalem with innocent blood throughout the city, which the Lord would not pardon. That unpardoned guilt had lasting consequences, contributing to Judah's downfall and Babylonian captivity many years after Manasseh's reign. At the Lord's command this judgment came upon Judah to remove them from His sight for the sins of Manasseh, according to the word spoken by the prophets, by sending bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites and Ammonites against Judah to destroy it.

Gentile rule over Jerusalem commenced in Jehoiakim's reign, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up and Jehoiakim became his servant three years and then rebelled. Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem in Jehoiakim's reign, took the city and carried away some of the chief men to Babylon, among them Daniel and his three companions. Jehoiakim had renounced allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar after gaining a promise of aid from Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar marched into Palestine in his seventh year, B.C. 598, with a vast army of Babylonians and Median allies, first investing Tyre and then pressing on to Jerusalem while leaving part of the army to blockade Tyre.

When Egypt failed to help, Jehoiakim submitted and was punished with death and indignity to his dead body, left without burial contrary to common custom, and may have been killed in battle. His eighteen-year-old son Jehoiachin attempted to reign but after three months was dethroned on suspicion of disloyalty and carried captive to Babylon, while Judah was occupied and Jerusalem besieged, and his uncle Zedekiah was set in his place. Jerusalem's complete destruction came in the third captivity carried out by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. Zedekiah was the last king of the chosen people in that downfall; Nebuchadnezzar put out his eyes and took him to Babylon, where he died in captivity. Afterward Judah had no independent government except as a province subservient to the great kingdoms that ruled the world. Tyre continued to resist Nebuchadnezzar for thirteen years.

The verse concerns bloodshed and judgment and does not establish that Israel's covenant was abrogated during Manasseh's reign.