2 Kings 25:3, commentary and pictures

On the ninth day of the fourth month the prolonged Babylonian blockade of Jerusalem reached its crisis, when famine overpowered the city so that no food remained for its people and the city was broken open. The siege came because Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar after years as his vassal, seeking Egyptian help, so Babylon invested Jerusalem for a year and a half until relief from Egypt failed and the blockade was complete. That day ended kingship over the chosen people, for Zedekiah the last king fled by night, was captured in the plains of Jericho, blinded and carried to Babylon, and Judah never again had independent government but remained a province with only a remnant left under Gedaliah. The suffering was remembered in the fast of the fourth month and in Lamentations, as the judgment that fell on Jerusalem for disobedience to God in its destruction and captivity. The siege, famine, destruction and captivity in 2 Kings 25:1-21 are typical of events to transpire at the close of this dispensation, with a special and emphatic application beyond the Jewish dispensation to the Christian dispensation.

Setting and Siege Narrative

The verse belongs to the history of the remaining kingdom of Judah after the ten tribes had been swept away, in 2 Kings 18-25, which closes the continuous history of the kings from the accession of Solomon to the Babylonian captivity told in the books of Kings, which form one whole counted as one book in the Hebrew canon. It stands in the closing and final history of Judah during the wicked and weak reigns of its kings, when the kingdom fell before Nebuchadnezzar. Babylon overthrew the kingdom, took the people captive and scattered them.

The famine overwhelmed Jerusalem on the ninth day of the fourth month after Zedekiah's rebellion and prolonged siege by Nebuchadnezzar. After eight years as a faithful vassal, Zedekiah in his ninth year sought independence by sending ambassadors to the young Egyptian king Uaphris for foot soldiers and horsemen and then revolted. Nebuchadnezzar came in person with all his hosts, overcame and pillaged the open country, built forts and besieged Jerusalem. When Uaphris marched out of Egypt to relieve his ally, the Babylonians raised the siege to meet the Egyptians, who were defeated or retreated hastily into their own country so the relief failed.

After a brief interval the army returned and renewed the siege as a complete blockade. In the eleventh year of Zedekiah the famine prevailed severely so there was no bread for the people of the land, the siege having then continued a year and a half, a year and a half from the second investment until the city fell. On that ninth day of the fourth month the city was broken up, with all the men of war fleeing by night by the gate between two walls by the king's garden while the Chaldees were round about the city. The king went toward the plain and was pursued and overtaken in the plains of Jericho with his army scattered from him and was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah for judgment, where his sons were slain before his eyes and his eyes were put out and he was bound with fetters of brass and carried to Babylon.

The verse belongs to the fuller account of Zedekiah's downfall in 2 Kings 24-25 and the taking of Jerusalem and carrying of many into captivity through the rebellion that brought the final capture. It marks the end of kingship over the chosen people, for Zedekiah was the last king, and after his blinding, captivity and death in Babylon Judah never again had independent government but existed only as a province subservient to the great kingdoms ruling the world. Only a little company was left in the land under Gedaliah. The closing history around the verse includes the laying waste of Jerusalem with the despoiling of the temple, the slaying of the captives at Riblah, and the capture of Zedekiah the last king. It includes also the appointment of Gedaliah as governor and his slaying through treachery, the going of the remnant to Egypt contrary to the counsel of Jeremiah, and the kind treatment shown to Jehoiachin by the king of Babylon.

Remembrance Judgment and Typology

The famine that prevailed in Jerusalem in the fourth month, when the city was taken by Nebuchadnezzar and there was no bread for the people of the land, was commemorated by the Jews with a fast in the fourth month. Inside the besieged city the famine became severe, and by comparing with the breaking of the city and the pursuit and capture that followed, the siege had then continued a year and a half. The horrors of that siege and famine are described in the book of Lamentations. That famine in the besieged city marks the suffering that accompanied the judgment on Israel for adopting slavery and disobeying God's commands in Jerusalem's destruction and captivity by Nebuchadnezzar.

The siege, famine, final destruction of Jerusalem, and captivity in Babylon described in 2 Kings 25:1-21, with the prophecies relating to it, are typical of events to transpire either under the gospel or at the close of this dispensation. There is a sudden transition from type to antitype and a double fulfillment, so what applied primarily and typically to the Jews carries beyond their dispensation to have special and emphatic application in the Christian dispensation. Care must be taken not to apply to the type what evidently applies to the antitype. The verse records the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem reaching a crisis when famine prevailed in the city and the people had no bread. The Babylonian captivity is a past historical event, but its truth does not by itself meet the needs of later generations.