Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He narrates the history of the disaster of Jerusalem, then of Zedekiah, verse 8; then of the temple, and its vessels carried off by the Chaldeans, verse 17; after this, the princes killed and the people carried away, verse 24; finally, the liberation and exaltation of Jehoiachin, verse 31.
Vulgate Text: Jeremias 52:1-23
1. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign: and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2. And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 3. For the wrath of the Lord was upon Jerusalem and upon Judah, until He cast them out from His face: and Zedekiah revolted from the king of Babylon. 4. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month: Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and they besieged it, and built fortifications against it round about. 5. And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. 6. And in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, famine prevailed in the city: and there was no food for the people of the land. 7. And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went out of the city by night, by the way of the gate that is between the two walls, and leads to the king's garden (the Chaldeans besieging the city round about), and they went by the way that leads to the wilderness. 8. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king; and they overtook Zedekiah in the desert which is near Jericho: and all his company scattered from him. 9. And when they had taken the king, they brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, which is in the land of Hamath: and he pronounced judgments upon him. 10. And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: and he slew all the princes of Judah in Riblah. 11. And he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, and the king of Babylon brought him to Babylon, and put him in prison until the day of his death. 12. And in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon: Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem. 13. And he burned the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burned with fire. 14. And all the army of the Chaldeans that was with the captain of the guard broke down all the wall of Jerusalem round about. 15. And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away some of the poor of the people, and the rest of the common people that remained in the city, and the deserters that had fled to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. 16. But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land for vinedressers and farmers. 17. The Chaldeans also broke in pieces the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the sea of bronze that was in the house of the Lord, and carried all the bronze of them to Babylon. 18. The pots also, and the shovels, and the psalteries, and the bowls, and the small mortars, and all the vessels of bronze used in the ministry, they took away: 19. and the basins, and the censers, and the pitchers, and the bowls, and the candlesticks, and the mortars, and the cups: whatever was of gold, the gold; and whatever was of silver, the silver, the captain of the guard took away: 20. and the two pillars, and the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the Lord: the bronze of all these vessels was without weight. 21. And as for the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a cord of twelve cubits compassed it: and its thickness was four fingers, and it was hollow within. 22. And chapiters of bronze were upon both: the height of one chapiter was five cubits: and network and pomegranates upon the crown round about, all of bronze. The second pillar likewise, and the pomegranates. 23. And there were ninety-six pomegranates hanging down: and all the pomegranates were a hundred, surrounded by network.
24. And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold. 25. And from the city he took one eunuch who was set over the men of war: and seven men of those who saw the king's face, who were found in the city: and the principal scribe of the army who mustered the recruits: and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city. 26. And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. 27. And the king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath: and Judah was carried away out of his own land. 28. This is the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews: 29. In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, eight hundred and thirty-two persons from Jerusalem: 30. In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away seven hundred and forty-five persons of the Jews; all the persons therefore were four thousand six hundred. 31. And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him out of the prison house. 32. And he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon. 33. And he changed his prison garments, and he ate bread before him continually all the days of his life; 34. and for his sustenance, a continual allowance was given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion, until the day of his death, all the days of his life.
One may ask whether this chapter is by Jeremiah. Theodoret, Hugo, Rabanus, and Lyranus respond that it is: to which add that this chapter was transferred from 4 Kings, the final chapter, to this place: for the author of books III and IV of Kings is Jeremiah, as Sixtus of Siena teaches from Procopius, Kimchi, and Isidore in book I of the Bibliotheca, and Abulensis, question IV on Judges chapter 17. From there, therefore, Baruch the scribe and compiler of Jeremiah's oracles transferred it here, both to show that the things which Jeremiah prophesied throughout the entire book against Jerusalem had been fulfilled; and to pave the way to the Lamentations that follow. Whence Baruch added certain things on his own, namely events after the death of Jeremiah, such as the exaltation of Jehoiachin, which occurred after the death of Nebuchadnezzar under Evil-merodach. It is certain that this chapter is canonical Scripture.
Verse 1: Filia Jeremiæ
1. The daughter of Jeremiah — not of this Prophet: for he was from Anathoth, and was celibate; but of another Jeremiah, a native of Libnah.
Verse 12: Decima Mensis
12. On the tenth of the month. — You will object: 4 Kings 25:8 says Nebuzaradan came on the seventh day. I respond: On the seventh day he departed from Riblah, where Nebuchadnezzar was residing, and on the tenth day (for it is a three-day journey) he arrived in Jerusalem.
Verse 21: Decem Et Octo Cubiti Altitudinis Erant In Columna Una
21. Eighteen cubits was the height of one pillar. — You will object: 2 Chronicles 3:15 says these pillars were thirty-five cubits high. I respond: The total height of both pillars taken together was thirty-six cubits: therefore the height of one was eighteen cubits: for twice eighteen makes thirty-six; in the book of Chronicles, however, not thirty-six but thirty-five cubits are assigned, because half a cubit in each pillar was hidden within its chapiter.
You will object second: Here it says there were ninety-six pomegranates on each pillar, but 3 Kings 8:20 says there were two hundred, that is, a hundred on each. I respond: There were a hundred, but only ninety-six were visible: for a spherical body cannot be seen in its entirety from one viewpoint, and therefore four were hidden. So Vatablus and Lyranus.
And a cord — as if to say: The circumference of the pillars, which we are accustomed to measure with a cord, or as the Hebrew has it, a thread, was twelve cubits.
Verse 28: In Anno Septimo
28. In the seventh year — of Nebuchadnezzar, which was the eleventh and last year of Jehoiakim: for at that time, having killed Jehoiakim, he carried away to Babylon three thousand Jews, as it says here, and among them Ezekiel. So Josephus, book X of the Antiquities, chapter viii. In the eighteenth year of his reign, which was the eleventh and last year of Zedekiah, Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem and carried away 832 Jews. From this passage of Jeremiah it is clear that there was no captivity in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, as R. Saadias and Maldonatus hold on Daniel 1; for otherwise Jeremiah would have mentioned it here along with the others; or at least it was a very small one, namely that Daniel and a few others were carried away. See the comments on Daniel 1:1.
Verse 30: In Anno Vigesimo Tertio Transtulit
30. In the twenty-third year he carried away, etc., seven hundred and forty-five — namely from Egypt; having subdued it, he transferred the remnants of the Jews who had fled there to Babylon. So some say. But Nebuchadnezzar subdued Egypt not in year 23 of his reign but in year 35, as will be clear from Ezekiel 29:17. I say therefore that in this twenty-third year Nebuchadnezzar subdued the Ammonites and Moabites, and then again gleaned the neighboring Jews, both those remaining in Judea and the refugees among Ammon and Moab, and those who had survived the two earlier captivities, carrying away 745 in number. So Lyranus and Dionysius. This twenty-third year was the fifth after the destruction of the city and the temple.
Verse 31: Vigesima Quinta Mensis
31. On the twenty-fifth of the month. — You will object: 4 Kings 25:27 says this happened on the twenty-seventh day of the month. I respond: Evil-merodach decided and began to do this on the twenty-fifth day, but completed and finished it on the twenty-seventh day of the month. So Vatablus. That is, on the twenty-fifth day he freed Jehoiachin from his chains and prison, on the twenty-seventh he exalted him above the other kings. So Sanchez. R. David relates, or rather fabricates, that Nebuchadnezzar died on the twenty-fifth day, was buried on the twenty-sixth, and Evil-merodach was released from the prison in which he was held because he was seeking the kingdom: on the twenty-seventh day he was established as king, and then he likewise brought Jehoiachin out of prison and exalted him, because he had become familiar with him in prison.
Others fabricate that Evil-merodach feared lest Nebuchadnezzar might return from death to life, just as shortly before he had returned from bestial form to human; he therefore waited for the third day after death, namely the twenty-seventh, when with his father buried he securely assumed the kingdom. Others invent that Evil-merodach, on the advice of Jehoiachin, cut his father's corpse into three hundred pieces and threw them to as many vultures to be devoured, lest his father be believed to be about to live again and return to the kingdom, as I said on Isaiah 14:16. Note here that Jehoiachin was in prison for thirty-seven years, that is, the entire time that Nebuchadnezzar reigned: when he died, Evil-merodach brought him out, when Jehoiachin was already fifty-five years old. For when he was eighteen years old, he was carried away and shut up in prison. Moreover, Evil-merodach brought him out and exalted him, either because his father on his deathbed, repenting of his tyranny and pride, as is intimated in Daniel 5:34, had so commanded him; or because he had been delighted by his manners and conversation in prison, and had formed a friendship with him.
Verse 32: Et Posuit Thronum Ejus Super Thronos Regum
32. And he set his throne above the thrones of the kings — whom he kept as courtiers in his court, both for the sake of pomp and lest they rebel, just as even today kings have dukes and princes as courtiers. Or certainly these kings were those whom he had conquered and imprisoned along with Jehoiachin, such as the king of Tyre, the king of Egypt, the king of Edom, Ammon, Moab, etc.
Finally, note here first that Jeremiah, shortly before the capture of the city, secretly carried the Ark of the Covenant and the altar of incense out of the temple (and the candlestick and the table of showbread, says Torniellus; for no mention of any of these is made among the spoils taken by the Chaldeans), and hid them in some underground place, and afterwards transferred them to Mount Nebo, as is said in 2 Maccabees 2:4. See the comments on Exodus 25:10.
Second, the events which are written in this chapter from verse 30 onwards occurred after the death of Jeremiah, and therefore were written and added not by him, but by Baruch or by Ezra. The rest of this chapter is to be explained at 4 Kings, the final chapter; for they belong there:
Here is the end of Jehoiachin's fate, this is the outcome that lot brought him; these the fates of Zedekiah, these the funerals of Judah; this the last day of Jerusalem: Troy is fallen, and the great glory of Abraham's sons, and the splendor of Isaac's heirs.
How truly spoke our God-taught Thomas, in book I of The Imitation of Christ, chapter 1: 'Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity, except to love God, and to serve Him alone. This is the highest wisdom: through contempt of the world, to strive toward the heavenly kingdom. It is therefore vanity to seek perishable riches, and to hope in them. It is also vanity to pursue honors, and to exalt oneself on high. It is vanity to follow the desires of the flesh; and to desire that for which one must afterwards be grievously punished. It is vanity to wish for a long life, and to care little for a good life. It is vanity to attend only to the present life, and not to foresee the things that are to come. It is vanity to love what passes away with all speed, and not to hasten to where everlasting joy abides.' It is vanity to build gardens, palaces, and cities that will shortly collapse; and not to think of building a home in heaven. It is vanity to heap up gold and silver, that is, red and white earth; and to neglect celestial and immortal riches. It is vain, and too vain, to labor so at enriching one's children or grandchildren that you bring upon yourself the danger of the ever-burning hell, and lose everlasting life. O vanity! O vanity of vanities! O vain, O foolish sons of Adam! Why, why, why do you love vanity, the vainest and sheerest vanity, and seek after falsehood? O Truth, O happiness, O eternity! How seldom do You dwell in the minds of men! How few think of You, none penetrate You! For You are impenetrable.
THINK ON ETERNITY, Alpha and Omega. GATHER ETERNAL THINGS. BUILD ETERNAL THINGS. How narrow is the way that leads to life! How few find it!