(7) Nebuchadnezzar also carried.--And of the vessels of the house . . .did Nebuchadnezzar bring. Not mentioned in Kings, but confirmed by Daniel 1:2.
In his temple.--The temple of "Mercdach, my Lord" (Bilu, i.e., Bel), whom his inscriptions so frequently mention. The great temple of Belus (Bel Merodach), which Nebuchadnezzar built, was one of the wonders of the world to Herodotus (Herod, i. 181 seq.)
Verse 7. - (Comp. Daniel 2:2.) The temple here called his temple was, no doubt, the temple of Belus, or in the vernacular "Merodach," the Babylonian god of war. This rifling of the sacred vessels of Jerusalem's temple for Babylon's temple was the significant beginning of the end for Judah now at last, after many a warning.
36:1-21 The ruin of Judah and Jerusalem came on by degrees. The methods God takes to call back sinners by his word, by ministers, by conscience, by providences, are all instances of his compassion toward them, and his unwillingness that any should perish. See here what woful havoc sin makes, and, as we value the comfort and continuance of our earthly blessings, let us keep that worm from the root of them. They had many times ploughed and sowed their land in the seventh year, when it should have rested, and now it lay unploughed and unsown for ten times seven years. God will be no loser in his glory at last, by the disobedience of men. If they refused to let the land rest, God would make it rest. What place, O God, shall thy justice spare, if Jerusalem has perished? If that delight of thine were cut off for wickedness, let us not be high-minded, but fear.
In his temple.--The temple of "Mercdach, my Lord" (Bilu, i.e., Bel), whom his inscriptions so frequently mention. The great temple of Belus (Bel Merodach), which Nebuchadnezzar built, was one of the wonders of the world to Herodotus (Herod, i. 181 seq.)