Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 36:21
To fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: [for] as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years.
21. by the mouth of Jeremiah ] Cp. Jer 25:11; Jer 29:10.
until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths ] Cp. Lev 25:1-7; Lev 26:34-35.
threescore and ten years ] i.e. two whole generations. It is very unlikely that the Chronicler intended to suggest that the Sabbatical years had been neglected throughout the period (about 490 = 70 7 years) during which the kingdom lasted, for he mentions several God-fearing kings (David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat) whose reigns would need to be subtracted from this total, so that the number of violated Sabbatical years would fall considerably below 70.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See the marginal references. The 70 years of desolation prophesied by Jeremiah, commenced in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Jer 25:1, Jer 25:12; compare Dan 1:1), or 605 B.C.; and should therefore have terminated, if they were fully complete, in 536 B.C. As, however, the historical date of the taking of Babylon by Cyrus is 538 B.C., or two years earlier, it has been usual to suppose that the Jews reckoned the reign of the kingdom of Persia as commencing two years after the capture of Babylon, on the death or supersession of Darius the Mede. But the term seventy may be taken as a round number, and the prophecy as sufficiently fulfilled by a desolation which lasted 68 years.
Until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths – Between the time of Moses and the commencement of the captivity, there had been (about) 70 occasions on which the Law of the sabbatical year Lev 25:4-7 had been violated.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 21. To fulfill the word of the Lord] See Jer 25:9, Jer 25:12; Jer 26:6-7; Jer 29:12. For the miserable death of Zedekiah, see 2Kg 25:4, c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Had enjoyed her sabbaths, i.e. had rested from the labour of the husbandmen in ploughing and harrowing it, &c., the people that should have managed it being destroyed. Of the phrase, See Poole “Lev 25:2“.
To fulfil threescore and ten years; that so the seventy years captivity prophesied of by Jeremiah might be accomplished.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. until the land had enjoyed hersabbathsThe return of every seventh was to be held as asabbatic year, a season of rest to all classes, even to the landitself, which was to be fallow. This divine institution, however, wasneglectedhow soon and how long, appears from the prophecy of Moses(see on Le 26:34), and of Jeremiahin this passage (see Jer25:9-12), which told that for divine retribution it was now toremain desolate seventy years. As the Assyrian conquerors usuallycolonized their conquered provinces, so remarkable a deviation inPalestine from their customary policy must be ascribed to theoverruling providence of God.
2Ch 36:22;2Ch 36:23. CYRUS’PROCLAMATION.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah,…. That is, the Jews were so long servants in Babylon, as in the preceding verse, to accomplish Jeremiah’s prophecy of it, 2Ch 25:12
until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths; the sabbatical years, or seventh year sabbaths, which, according to the law of the land, was to rest from being tilled, Le 25:4, which law had been neglected by the Jews, and now, whether they would or not, the land should have rest for want of persons to till it:
for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years; as threatened in Le 26:34 on which text Jarchi observes, that at the destruction of the first temple the law concerning the sabbath, or rest of the land had been neglected four hundred and thirty years, in which space were sixty nine sabbatical years; and, according to Maimonides d, it was at the end of a sabbatic year that the city and temple were destroyed, and so just seventy years had been neglected, and the land was tilled in them as in other years, and now it had rest that exact number of years; but of this we cannot be certain, though it is probable.
d Hilchot Shemitah Veyobel, c. 10. sect. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(21) To fulfil.lmalth (an Aramaised form).
The word . . . Jeremiah.The seventy years of Babylonian exile are predicted in Jer. 25:11-12. (Comp. also Jer. 29:10 : Thus saith the Lord, After seventy years be accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you.)
Until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths.Enjoyed is rthh, which Gesenius renders persolvit, made good, discharged, as a debt. The meaning is that during the long years of the exile, the land would enjoy that rest of which it had been defrauded by the neglect of the law concerning the sabbatical years (Lev. 25:1-7). The following words, as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath (literally, all the days of the desolation she rested) are taken from Lev. 26:34-35.
To fulfil threescore and ten years.i.e., in order to fulfil the seventy years of exile foretold by Jeremiah.
We have no right whatever to press the words of the sacred writer, in the sense of assuming that he means to say that when Jerusalem was taken by the Chaldeans exactly seventy sabbatical years had been neglectedthat is, that the law in this respect had not been observed for 490 years (707), or ever since the institution of monarchy in Israel (490 + 588 = 1,078).
The seventy years are reckoned from the 4th of Jehoiakim, when the prophecy was uttered (Jer. 25:1; Jer. 25:12), to the first year of Cyrus, and the return under Zernbbabel, 536 B.C.
THE EDICT OF CYRUS, AUTHORISING THE RETURN (2Ch. 36:22-23). (Comp. Ezr. 1:1-3; 3 Esdr. 2:1-5; Isa. 44:28; Isaiah 45-47)
(22) Now in the first year of Cyrus.This verse is the same as Ezr. 1:1, save that it has by the mouth instead of from the mouth. The latter is probably correct. (Comp. 2Ch. 36:12 supra.) So some MSS. here also.
That the word . . . Jeremiah.Concerning the seventy years.
Stirred up the spirit.1Ch. 5:26;2Ch. 21:16.
That he made a proclamation.And he made a voice pass (2Ch. 30:5).
Throughout all his kingdom . . . and put it also in writing.Into all . . . and also into a writing.
Writing.Miktb (2Ch. 35:4.)
The Lord.Iahweh. Instead of this Ezr. 1:3 has, Iehi, Be; so also 3 Esdr. 2:5. The Lordwith him! (Iahiveh imm) is a frequent formula in the chronicle, and is probably correct here. (Some Hebrew MSS. and the Vulg. unite the readings.)
And let him go up.Whither The sentence is abruptly broken off here, but continued in Ezr. 1:3. As to the relation between the Chronicles and Ezra, see Introduction.
Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia.Comp. the words of Darius Hystaspes on the famous Behistuu Inscription, which begins I am Darius, the great king, the king of kings, the king of Persia; while every paragraph opens with Saith Darius the king.
All the kingdoms . . . given me.Comp. the words of Darius: Saith Darius the king :By the grace of Ormazd I am king; Ormazd has granted me the empire.
The Lord God of heaven.Jehovah, the God of heaven. The god of heaven was a title of Ormazd or Ahuramazda, the Supreme Being according to Persian belief, which was Zoroastrianism. It is not at all wonderful that Cyrus should have identified the God of Israel with his own deity, especially if he had heard of the prophecies Isa. 44:28, &c. Such a politic syncretism was the settled practice of the Roman empire in a later age.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. The word of the Lord by Jeremiah Jer 25:9-12; Jer 29:10; and the note on Ezr 1:1.
Until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths See Lev 26:34-35; Lev 26:43. We need not assume that the observance of the sabbatic years had been neglected exactly seventy times in succession, or for the period of four hundred and ninety years preceding this exile. But it is probable that during the thousand years between Moses and the Babylonish exile as many as seventy sabbatic years had been neglected, and, at last, judgment that had seemed to slumber long, exacted all.
THE PROCLAMATION OF CYRUS, 2Ch 36:22-23.
For exposition of these verses, see notes on Ezr 1:1-4.
As the books of Kings end with a notice of Jehoiachin’s release from prison, thus shedding a ray of light on Judah’s future, (see note on 2Ki 25:30,) so these Chronicles close with a recital of the proclamation of Cyrus, the Lord’s anointed shepherd, of whom Isaiah (Isa 44:28; Isa 45:1) had prophesied long years before as “saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.” It was a sound of grace, the trumpet blast that shook the dry bones of fallen Israel, (Eze 37:1-14,) and raised the nation to a new and purer life. It was the opening of a new age, and our author felt he could not close his work without directing the eye of his reader across the dark gulf of his people’s exile to the dawn of a brighter era.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ch 36:21. As long as she lay desolate, she kept sabbath, &c. God had commanded them to let their land rest every seventh year; and because the Jews had violated this, as well as other precepts, God gave their land a long sabbath or rest, for no less than ten times seven years, which Jeremiah threatened. If it be true that they had neglected this law for the space of 490 years, having ploughed their ground in the seventh, as well as in other years, then the judgment of God upon them was very remarkable, in causing their ground to rest, and be free from tillage, just as long as it should have been if they had observed his law. For in those 490 years, says Procopius Gazaeus, when they were under the government of kings, there were seventy years to be kept as sabbaths, which, that the land might enjoy its sabbath, were spent in the captivity of Babylon. Their punishment too was made the more remarkable in this particular, if it be true, as some have observed, that both the kingdom of Samaria and the kingdom of Judah were destroyed in a sabbatical year; and that, immediately after a jubilee, the city and temple were destroyed by Titus, according to Scaliger’s computation. See Patrick and Calmet.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The short and evil reigns recorded in this chapter were the forerunners of the kingdom’s ruin.
1. Jehoahaz, set up by the people, was quickly dethroned, and carried captive into Egypt, by Necho, provoked at his father’s opposition. He reigned but three months, yet long enough to give a sufficient specimen of his evil conduct.
2. Jehoiakim, the tributary of the king of Egypt, continued eleven years governor of the impoverished country, yet more abundantly weakened by his wickedness, when he fell into the hands of the king of Babylon, and died in chains, after seeing Jerusalem and the temple plundered, and the sacred vessels taken away.
3. His son, who succeeded him, shewed, though young, the evil which was in his heart; and after a short reign of three months and ten days, was deposed by the king of Babylon; and Zedekiah, the last of the kings of Judah, advanced to the throne. Thus did the nation hastily change her kings; and, not being admonished by the repeated warnings, vengeance came upon them to the uttermost.
2nd, Behold the desolations of Zion! the beautiful temple lies in ruins, the line of confusion is stretched over the palaces of Jerusalem: O sin, what a bitter and evil thing art thou! We have here,
1. Zedekiah’s rebellion against the king of Babylon. Though he had solemnly sworn to serve him, he perfidiously violated his engagements, and obstinately refused submission, notwithstanding all Jeremiah’s warnings and entreaties. Note; (1.) Oaths are sacred things; God will not suffer them to be broken with impunity. (2.) They who will not bow, must break.
2. He rebelled also against God, and neither paid regard to the admonitions of Jeremiah, nor humbled himself before the Lord. We need not mind who is our enemy, if God be our friend; but who ever hardened his heart against him and prospered?
3. The priests and people universally fell into idolatry; they who should have been the first to restrain others, were the ringleaders in the wickedness; and even in the temple their abominations were set up. In vain the compassionate Lord God of their fathers, unwilling that they should perish, sent them repeated warnings, and his prophets with diligence and zeal rose up early to testify against their sins; they mocked at his counsel, and despised his reproof; his prophets they treated with scorn and contempt; and the hand of the priests was chief in the transgression. Note; (1.) God abandons not the sinner, till all the methods of his grace have been ineffectual, and his wilful heart refuses to be reformed. (2.) God’s true prophets are earnest and assiduous in their word; woe to those against whom they complain, all day long have we stretched out our hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people. (3.) When God visits for sin, no charge will lie heavier than that of a slighted gospel. (4.) God’s ministers, when employed in the kindest offices, are often grievously misused; but let them not be discouraged; they shall be glorious, though Israel be not gathered. (5.) Worldly and wicked priests in every age have been the most inveterate enemies of God’s faithful prophets and preachers. (6.) They who ill-use the ministers of God, seeking to render their labours ineffectual, and their persons contemptible, know not what wrath they treasure up against their souls.
4. The consequence of this conduct was utter ruin. After a terrible siege, see 2 Kings 25 the city was taken by storm, and sacked; no sanctuary protected young or old; even the temple was filled with the carcases of the slain; the sacred house was stripped of all its ornaments, the palaces were plundered, the temple was burnt, the city razed to its foundations, the few that were left from the sword were enslaved and insulted, and dragged to Babylon to weep in vain over the mournful remembrance of their part and present miseries; their country was ravaged and desolate, and left to enjoy those sabbaths which they profanely refused to observe: and seventy years the iron bondage lasted, till the kingdom of Persia rose upon the ruins of their conquerors, and the daughter of Babylon, wasted with misery, drank of the cup of wrath which she had put into the hands of the nations. Note; (1.) The more we see of the miseries that sin produces, the more should we fear to provoke a holy God. (2.) When the rod has done its office, it will be broken or burned. God, though he afflicts his people, will not be wroth for ever.
Thus have we arrived at the end of the books of the Chronicles, which we would advise always to be read in harmony with the books of Kings; for then they will mutually throw light upon each other, and the difficulties found in either will be more easily removed. We conclude our observations with some general reflections on the moral causes of the Babylonish captivity, and the propriety of that dispensation, from Dr. Taylor’s ingenious work, intitled, “The Scheme of Scripture Divinity.”
The whole Jewish nation, both Judah and Israel, had all along a strong and strange propensity to idolatry; and their morals were as corrupt as their religion. What their peculiar temptations were, we know not; but all the endeavours of good kings, and all the preaching of holy prophets, sent by special commission from God, were ineffectual to produce a reformation. See 2Ch 36:14; 2Ch 36:23. They were, therefore, carried away captive into Babylon. This dreadful calamity came upon them gradually; but gradual punishment effected no amendment of the religion or morals of the nation. Zedekiah, the last king, was as bad as his predecessor; therefore the whole land of Judea was reduced to an utter desolation for the sins thereof.
The propriety of this dispensation will appear, if we reflect: I. That the lenity of God appeared in bringing this terrible overthrow upon them so gradually, after a succession of judgments from less to greater, for the space of twenty-two years, which should have been a warning to them, and by experience have convinced them, that the threatenings denounced by the prophets would certainly be executed.
II. That it was a just punishment of their sins, particularly of their idolatry, whereby they forsook God, and therefore God justly forsook them, and delivered them into the hands of their enemies, as Moses had foretold, Lev 26:30-36.
III. This dreadful calamity was the most effectual means to work their reformation, which was the end proposed by the divine wisdom. Now in their captive, disconsolate state, they had time, and their calamities had a natural tendency to give them a disposition, to reflect upon the long series of iniquity and perverseness which had brought them under the heaviest of God’s judgments. Now their own wickedness corrected them, and their back-slidings reproved them; now they must know and see that it was an evil thing and bitter, that they had forsaken the Lord their God, and that his fear had not been in them. Isa 2:19. In the land of their captivity, the sermons of the prophets, declaiming with the highest authority against their profane and vicious practices, would be still sounding in their ears, and their abject, wretched condition, the consequence of such practices, would sink them deep into their hearts, and surety give them an utter detestation of what they very well knew was the cause of all their grievous sufferings.
IV. The law of God, written by Moses as the rule of their conduct in all affairs civil and religious, and the ground of their happiness, they had so far neglected, that once it was almost unknown and lost among them, 2Ki 22:8-12. Against this contempt of the divine law, the prophets had frequently and strongly protested, Isa 5:24; Isa 30:9. Jer 6:19; Jer 8:8; Jer 9:13. Hos 8:12. Amo 2:4 and in other places; and publicly declared that it would be their ruin. In their ruined state, this must have been remembered as the primary reason of all their sufferings; and they must have been thoroughly sensible, that a due regard to the law of God was the only way to recover his favour and their own prosperity, and accordingly must have been disposed to be attentive to it; which was really the case. Here was another good effect of this dispensation; and it may justly be given as one good reason of their being so strongly fixed against idolatry ever after the Babylonish captivity.
V. This dispensation was also calculated to produce good effects among the nations whither they were carried into captivity. For, wherever they were dispersed in the eastern countries, they would bring with them the knowledge of the true God, now seriously impressed upon their hearts. Divine Providence, by such signal circumstances of his interposition as were published and known over all the vast extent of the eastern empire, raised some of the captive Jews to the highest posts of dignity and power in the courts of Assyria and Persia, Dan 1:19-20 insomuch that the most haughty monarchs openly confessed the living and true God, as the only and supreme God, (Dan 2:47-49; Dan 4:34; Dan 4:37.) and made decrees, which were published throughout their spacious dominions, in favour of the profession and worship of him, Dan 3:29; Dan 6:25; Dan 6:28. From all this it is clear, that the Jews, notwithstanding their depravity in their own country during the captivity of seventy years, must have been a burning and shining light all over the eastern countries. And thus, in this dispensation also, God, the Father and Governor of mankind, was working for the reformation and improvement of the world, in that which is the true excellency of their nature, and the only foundation of their happiness.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Ch 36:21 To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: [for] as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.
Ver. 21. To fulfil the word of the Lord. ] See Jer 25:9 ; Jer 25:12 ; Jer 29:10 Dan 9:2 .
Until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
fulfil. fulfil. At beginning and end of verse in Hebrew Note the emphasis by the Figure of speech Epanadiplosis. App-6.
Jeremiah. Compare Jer 25:9, Jer 25:12; Jer 29:10.
as long as = all the days. Thus completing a period of seventy years. This was foretold also (Lev 23:32; Lev 26:34, Lev 26:35).
threescore and ten years. See special note on 2Ch 36:21, below.
SPECIAL NOTE ON 2Ch 36:21
THE “SERVITUDE”, THE “CAPTIVITY”, AND THE “DESOLATIONS”.
Three Periods of seventy years are assigned to these three respectively, and it is necessary that they should be differentiated.
i. The “servitude” began in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, and the first of Nebuchadnezzar, when the “kingdom” passed under Chaldean rule for seventy years (Jer 25:1). This period closed with the capture of Babylon by Darius the Median (Astyages), and the “Decree” of Cyrus to rebuild the Temple. It lasted from 496-426 B.C.
ii. The “captivity” commenced, and is dated by Ezekiel from the carrying away to Babylon of JECHONIAH, in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar (2Ki 24:8-16). This was in 489 B.C. Consequently, when the “servitude” ended in 426 B. C, the “captivity” had lasted for sixty-three (9 x 7) years.
Seven years later Cyrus died, in 419 B.C. That year (419) is further notable for:.
1. The appointment of Neherniah as Governor of Jerusalem by Cambysses (Neh 5:14).
2. The completion of “the wall” in fifty-two days (Neh 6:15); and.
3. The fact it marks the end of the fifth of the “seven sevens” of Dan 9:25. (See App-60.) The “captivity” lasting from 489 to 419 B.C.
iii. The “desolations “commenced with the beginning of the third and last siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 479 B. C, and cover a period of “seventy years”, ending in the second year of Darius Hystaspis: i.e. in 409 B.C.
This “threescore and ten years” which is referred to here (2Ch 36:21), is the fulfillment of Lev 26:32-35, and has reference to “the land”.
It is this period of which Daniel says he “understood by books”, as being the number of the years that Jehovah “would accomplish in the Desolations of Jerusalem” (Dan 9:2).
The Darius here (Dan 9:1) is evidently Cyrus , the son of Astyages (see notes on p. 618, and App-57); and as the first year of his reign was 426 B. C, it follows that seventeen years had, then, yet to run before the “Desolations” of the land were ended, in 409 B.C. Hence, Daniel’s prayer, that follows, resulted in the giving to him the famous prophecy of the “seventy sevens” of years contained in Dan 9:20-27.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
To fulfil: Jer 25:9, Jer 25:12, Jer 26:6, Jer 26:7, Jer 27:12, Jer 27:13, Jer 29:10, Dan 9:2, Zec 1:4-6
until the land: Lev 25:4-6, Lev 26:34, Lev 26:35, Lev 26:43, Zec 1:12
Reciprocal: Lev 25:2 – a sabbath Num 14:34 – After 2Ch 36:22 – that the word Neh 10:31 – and that we Psa 79:7 – laid Isa 5:9 – Of a truth Isa 24:3 – shall Jer 1:1 – words Jer 4:27 – The Jer 25:11 – seventy Jer 27:7 – all Jer 27:22 – until Jer 38:23 – they shall Jer 39:16 – Behold Lam 1:3 – gone Eze 29:11 – forty Eze 33:28 – I will lay Eze 36:34 – General Mic 2:4 – he hath changed Mic 2:10 – and Zep 1:2 – I will Zec 7:14 – the land
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ch 36:21. Until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths God had commanded them to let their land rest every seventh year; and because the Jews had violated this, as well as other precepts, God gave their land a long sabbath, or rest, for no less than ten times seven years, which Jeremiah threatened, as in the margin. If it be true, that they had neglected this law for the space of four hundred and ninety years, having ploughed their ground in the seventh as well as in other years, then the judgment of God upon them was very remarkable, in causing their ground to rest, and be free from tillage, just as long as it should have been if they had observed his law. For in those four hundred and ninety years, says Procopius Gazus, when they were under the government of kings, there were seventy years to be kept as sabbaths, which, that the land might enjoy its sabbath, were spent in the captivity of Babylon. Their punishment, too, was made more remarkable in this particular, if it be true, as some have observed, that both the kingdom of Samaria and the kingdom of Judah were destroyed in a sabbatical year; and that immediately after a jubilee, the city and temple were destroyed by Titus, according to Scaligers computation. See Patrick, Calmet, and Dodd.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
36:21 To fulfil the word of the LORD by the {l} mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: [for] as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.
(l) Who threatened the vengeance of God and 70 years captivity, which he called the sabbaths or rest of the land, Jer 25:11.