2 Kings 25:19
And out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king’s presence, which were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land that were found in the city:
The books of Kings form one whole and are counted as one book in the Hebrew Canon. The division into two books was introduced in the old versions that reckoned Samuel and Kings as a continuous series called the four books of the Kingdoms, or of the Kings, a title retained in the Authorized Version. The division is less happy for Kings because 1 Kings breaks off at an arbitrary point of no special significance in the history. The name Kings is appropriate because the books relate the history of the kings from the accession of Solomon to the Babylonian Captivity. That whole period falls into three great sections marked by great facts in the history of the monarchy: the undivided kingdom under Solomon in 1 Kings 1-11, the divided kingdom in 1 Kings 12 to 2 Kings 17, and the remaining kingdom of Judah after the ten tribes had been swept away in 2 Kings 18-25, to which this verse belongs.
The verse belongs to the close of Kings describing the wicked and weak reigns of the kings of Judah. It stands in the account of Jerusalem's final fall to Nebuchadnezzar, its destruction, the Babylonian captivity, and the end of Judah's kingdom. That captivity closes the biblical history of the great empires from the confusion of tongues onward. The taking of Jerusalem came after the rebellion of Zedekiah and involved carrying many into captivity, after which a little company under Gedaliah was left in the land. In the fall Zedekiah was blinded by Nebuchadnezzar and taken to Babylon, where he died in captivity, and after his removal Judah had no independent kingdom but remained subject to the great world powers.
Out of the city the Babylonians took surviving officials and leading people found there: an officer set over the men of war, five men who were in the king's presence, the principal scribe of the host who mustered the people of the land, and sixty other men of the people of the land. Those seized were part of the small remnant carried to Babylon after widespread destruction and the deaths of many of the nation. Their capture shows the conquest reached both the kingdom's military and civil leadership and the remaining population, in the conquest that overthrew the kingdom, carried Judah captive, and scattered its people. In the wider context of chapter 25:18-21, Jerusalem's destruction put the family of Seraiah, the high priest and grandfather of Joshua, in danger of extinction.
The history of Judah's captivity in Babylon and the final destruction of Jerusalem is a type of events to transpire under the gospel or at the close of this dispensation. The taking of the officers and men found in the city therefore applies beyond its own time and has special interest for those living in the Christian dispensation. The account of the Babylonian captivity was received as a true record of God's past dealings with people and shows God's overruling hand in the history of nations. That past event does not by itself reveal God's truth for the present needs of later generations.