(12) In the tenth day of the month.--2 Kings 25:8 gives the "seventh day." We have no means of ascertaining which of the two statements is the more accurate. The Jews have always kept the ninth day as a commemorative fast. And this date is given in the Syriac version of 2 Kings.
Which served the king of Babylon.--Better, which stand before the king. The Hebrew word is one used continually of honourable service (Jeremiah 35:19; Numbers 27:2; Numbers 27:21; Deuteronomy 1:30). In 2 Kings 25:8 we have the less accurate term of "servant" or "slave," or "captain of the guard." (See Note on Jeremiah 39:9.)
52:12-23 The Chaldean army made woful havoc. But nothing is so particularly related here, as the carrying away of the articles in the temple. The remembrance of their beauty and value shows us the more the evil of sin.
Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month,.... Hence the fast of the fifth month, for the burning of the city, which was the month Ab, and answers to part of July and part of August, Zechariah 8:19;
which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; that is, the nineteenth year of his reign; who reigned in all forty three years, according to Ptolemy's canon:
came Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem; or "stood before the king of Babylon" (s); ministered to him, was a servant of his, the provost marshal, or chief marshal; he was sent, and came from Riblah to Jerusalem, with a commission to burn the city. In 2 Kings 25:8; it is said to be on the "seventh" day of the fifth month that he came thither; here, on the "tenth" day; which difficulty may be solved, without supposing different copies, or any error: he might set out from Riblah on the seventh day, and come to Jerusalem on the tenth; or he might come thither on the seventh, and not set fire to the city till the tenth; or, if he set fire to it on the seventh, it might be burning to the tenth, before it was wholly consumed. The Jews (t) account for it thus,
"strangers entered into the temple, and ate in it, and defiled it, the seventh and eighth days; and on the ninth, towards dark, they set fire to it; and it burned and continued all that whole day, as it is said, Jeremiah 6:4;''
R. Johanan was saying, if I had been in that generation, I should have fixed on that day, for the greatest part of the temple was burnt on that day. The authors of the Universal History say (u) it was on Wednesday the eleventh of the fourth month, answering to our twenty seventh of July; but, according to the express words of the text, the city was broke up on the ninth of the fourth month, and burnt on the tenth day of the fifth month; and which was, according to Bishop Usher (w), the twenty seventh of August, on a sabbath day, and in the year of the world 3416, and before Christ 588; and is placed by them in the same years; and by Mr. Whiston (x) in 589; and by Mr. Bedford (y) in the year 587. This was a month after the taking of the city.
(s) "qui setit coram rege", Schmidt. (t) T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 29. 1.((u) Vol 4. p. 189. & vol. 21. p. 61. (w) Annales Vet. Test. p. 131. (x) Chronological Tables, cent. 10. (y) Scripture Chronology, p 684.
Which served the king of Babylon.--Better, which stand before the king. The Hebrew word is one used continually of honourable service (Jeremiah 35:19; Numbers 27:2; Numbers 27:21; Deuteronomy 1:30). In 2 Kings 25:8 we have the less accurate term of "servant" or "slave," or "captain of the guard." (See Note on Jeremiah 39:9.)
which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; that is, the nineteenth year of his reign; who reigned in all forty three years, according to Ptolemy's canon:
came Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem; or "stood before the king of Babylon" (s); ministered to him, was a servant of his, the provost marshal, or chief marshal; he was sent, and came from Riblah to Jerusalem, with a commission to burn the city. In 2 Kings 25:8; it is said to be on the "seventh" day of the fifth month that he came thither; here, on the "tenth" day; which difficulty may be solved, without supposing different copies, or any error: he might set out from Riblah on the seventh day, and come to Jerusalem on the tenth; or he might come thither on the seventh, and not set fire to the city till the tenth; or, if he set fire to it on the seventh, it might be burning to the tenth, before it was wholly consumed. The Jews (t) account for it thus,
"strangers entered into the temple, and ate in it, and defiled it, the seventh and eighth days; and on the ninth, towards dark, they set fire to it; and it burned and continued all that whole day, as it is said, Jeremiah 6:4;''
R. Johanan was saying, if I had been in that generation, I should have fixed on that day, for the greatest part of the temple was burnt on that day. The authors of the Universal History say (u) it was on Wednesday the eleventh of the fourth month, answering to our twenty seventh of July; but, according to the express words of the text, the city was broke up on the ninth of the fourth month, and burnt on the tenth day of the fifth month; and which was, according to Bishop Usher (w), the twenty seventh of August, on a sabbath day, and in the year of the world 3416, and before Christ 588; and is placed by them in the same years; and by Mr. Whiston (x) in 589; and by Mr. Bedford (y) in the year 587. This was a month after the taking of the city.
(s) "qui setit coram rege", Schmidt. (t) T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 29. 1.((u) Vol 4. p. 189. & vol. 21. p. 61. (w) Annales Vet. Test. p. 131. (x) Chronological Tables, cent. 10. (y) Scripture Chronology, p 684.