translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: JER

label: NET study note

text: 2 Kgs 25:1 and Jer 52:4 give the more precise date of the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year which would have been Jan 15, 588 b.c . The reckoning is based on the calendar that begins the year in the spring (Nisan = March/April).


text: According to modern reckoning that would have been July 18, 586 b.c . The siege thus lasted almost a full eighteen months.


text: The king’s garden is mentioned again in Neh 3:15 in conjunction with the pool of Siloam and the stairs that go down from the city of David. This would have been in the southern part of the city near the Tyropean Valley which agrees with the reference to the “two walls” which were probably the walls on the eastern and western hills.


text: Heb “toward the Arabah.” The Arabah was the rift valley north and south of the Dead Sea. Here the intention was undoubtedly to escape across the Jordan to Moab or Ammon. It appears from 40:14; 41:15 that the Ammonites were known to harbor fugitives from the Babylonians.


text: 2 Kgs 25:5 and Jer 52:8 mention that the soldiers all scattered from him. That is why the text focuses on Zedekiah here.


text: Riblah was a strategic town on the Orontes River in Syria. It was at a crossing of the major roads between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Pharaoh Necho had earlier received Jehoahaz there and put him in chains ( 2 Kgs 23:33 ) prior to taking him captive to Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar had set up his base camp for conducting his campaigns against the Palestinian states there and was now sitting in judgment on prisoners brought to him.


text: According to the parallels in 2 Kgs 25:8-9 ; Jer 52:12-13 this occurred almost a month after the wall was breached and Zedekiah’s failed escape. It took place under the direction of Nebuzaradan, the captain of the king’s special guard who is mentioned in the next verse.


text: Gedaliah . This is the first reference to this individual whom Nebuchadnezzar appointed governor over the people who were left to live in Judah (cf. 40:5 ; 2 Kgs 25:22 ). His father was the man who spoke up for Jeremiah when he was accused of being a false prophet by some of the priests and prophets ( 26:24 ). His grandfather was the royal secretary under Josiah who brought the discovery of the book of the law to Josiah’s attention, read it to him, and was involved in helping Josiah institute his reforms ( 2 Kgs 22:8-10 ).


text: Jer 39:15-18 . This incident is out of chronological order (see Jer 38:7-13 ). It is placed here either due to a desire not to interrupt the sequential ordering of events centering on Jeremiah’s imprisonment and his release ( 38:14 – 39:14 ) or to contrast God’s care and concern for the faithful (Ebed-Melech who, though a foreigner, trusted in God) with his harsh treatment of the faithless (Zedekiah who, though informed of God’s will, was too weak-willed in the face of opposition by his courtiers to carry it out).


text: Even though Jeremiah was confined to the courtyard of the guardhouse, he was still free to entertain visitors ( 32:2, 8 ). Moreover, Ebed-Melech was an official attached to the royal court and would have had access to the courtyard of the guardhouse ( 38:7, 13 ). Jeremiah would not have had to leave the courtyard of the guardhouse to “go and tell” him something.


text: Some commentators see this as a reference to the princes from whose clutches Ebed-Melech delivered Jeremiah ( 38:7-13 ). However, it is clear that in this context it refers to those that he would fear when the Lord brings about the threatened disaster, i.e., the Babylonians who are attacking the city.


text: Heb “you will not fall by the sword.” In the context this would include death in battle and execution as a prisoner of war.