Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 36:20
And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:
20, 21 (= 1Es 1:57-58 ). The Captivity
20. to him and his sons ] Cp. Jer 27:7. There were three kings of Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar before Cyrus established Persian rule, viz. Evil-Merodach (Amil-Marduk) (2Ki 25:27), Neriglissar (Nergalar-uur), and Nabonidus (Nabu-na’id). The last two kings were usurpers. Neriglissar was (it seems) son-in-law to Nebuchadnezzar (Hommel, Babylonia in Hastings’ Bible Dict., i. 229a). Whether Nabonidus was connected with the royal house is not known.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Servants – Or, slaves. They were probably employed by Nebuchadnezzar in the forced labor which his great works necessitated.
His sons – The word probably includes all Nebuchadnezzars successors in the independent sovereignty of Babylon.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away captive,…. The king of Babylon, or his general by his orders, excepting some poor persons left to till the land, see Jer 52:15,
where they were servants to him and his sons; his son Evilmerodach, and his grandson Belshazzar, [See comments on Jer 27:7]:
until the reign of the kingdom of Persia; until that monarchy began, as it did upon the taking of Babylon by Cyrus king of Persia. This is the first place we meet with this name of Persia in Scripture. The Arabic writers differ about the origin of it; some derive it from Pars the son of Arsham (Arphaxad), the son of Shem; others from Pars the son of Amur, the son of Japheth; and others say Pars was the son of Elam, the son of Shem, the son of Noah a; but Bochart b, seems to be most correct in the derivation of the word, who observes, from Xenophon c, horses were very rare in this country; and very few could ride them before the times of Cyrus, who taught his foot soldiers to ride horses; and hence it became common, so that none of the best men of the land cared to be seen on foot; yea, he made a law, that it should be reckoned infamous if any of those he had taught the art of riding were seen to go on foot, though ever so little a way; from this sudden change made in his time the people were called Persians, and the country Persia; in the Arabic language, “pharas” signifying a horse, and “pharis” a horseman; and the same writer observes, that hence it is that no mention is made of this country, in the name of Persia, by Isaiah and Jeremiah; but by Ezekiel and Daniel, who were contemporary with Cyrus; and in this book and the following historical ones, which were wrote after the Babylonish captivity, as their history shows; and that this book was, is clear from the preceding clause, as well as from the three last verses.
a Hyde, Hist. Relig. Vet. Pers. c. 35. p. 418, 419. b Phaleg. l. 4. c. 10. col. 224. c Cyropaedia, l. 1. c. 11. & l. 4. c. 17, 18.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He who remained from the sword, i.e., who had not been slain by the sword, had not fallen and died in war, Nebuchadnezzar carried away to Babylon into captivity; so that they became servants to him and to his sons, as Jeremiah (Jer 27:7) prophesied, until the rise of the kingdom of the Persians. These last words also are an historical interpretation of the prophecy, Jer 27:7. All this was done (2Ch 36:21) to fulfil ( instead of , as in 1Ch 29:5), that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, he having prophesied ( Jer 25:11., 2Ch 29:10) the seventy years’ duration of Judah’s desolation and the Babylonian captivity, while the king and people had not regarded his words (2Ch 36:12). This period, which according to 2Ch 36:20 came to an end with the rise of the kingdom of the Persians, is characterized by the clause as a time of expiation of the wrong which had been done the land by the non-observance of the sabbath-years, upon the basis of the threatening (Lev 26:34), in which the wasting of the land during the dispersion of the unrepentant people among the heathen was represented as a compensation for the neglected sabbaths. From this passage in the law the words are taken, to show how the Lord had inflicted the punishment with which the disobedient people had been threatened as early as in the time of Moses. is not to be translated, “until the land had made up its years of rest;” that signification has not; but, “until the land had enjoyed its sabbath-years,” i.e., until it had enjoyed the rest of which it had been deprived by the non-observance of the sabbaths and the sabbath-years, contrary to the will of its Creator; see on Lev 26:34. That this is the thought is placed beyond doubt by the succeeding circumstantial clause, taken word for word from Lev 26:34: “all days (i.e., the whole time) of its desolation did it hold it” ( , it kept sabbath). “To make full the seventy years;” which Jeremiah, ll. cc., had prophesied.
This connecting of Jeremiah’s prophecy with the declaration in Lev 26:34 does not justify us in supposing that the celebration of the sabbath-year had been neglected seventy times, or that for a period of 490 years the sabbath-year had not been observed. Bertheau, holding this view, fixes upon 1000 b.c., i.e., the time of Solomon, or, as we cannot expect any very great chronological exactitude, the beginning of the kingly government in Israel, as the period after which the rest-years ceased to be regarded. He is further of opinion that 2Ch 35:18 harmonizes with this view; according to which passage the passover was not celebrated in accordance with the prescription of the law until the end of the period of the judges. According to this chronological calculation, the beginning of this neglect of the observance of the sabbath-year would fall in the beginning of the judgeship of Samuel.
(Note: The seventy years ‘ exile began in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, i.e., in the year 606 b.c., or 369 years after the division of the kingdom; see the Chronol. Tables at 1 Kings 12 (ii. 3, S. 141), to which the eighty years of the reigns of David and Solomon, and the time of Saul and Samuel, must be added to make up the 490 years (see the comment. on Judges).)
But this is itself unlikely; and still more unlikely is it, that in the time of the judges the sabbath-year had been regularly observed until Samuel; and that during the reigns of the kings David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah, this celebration remained wholly in abeyance. But even apart from that, the words, that the land, to make full the seventy years prophesied by Jeremiah, kept the whole time of the desolation holy, or enjoyed a sabbath rest such as Moses had proclaimed in Lev 26:34, do not necessarily involve that the land had been deprived of its sabbath rest seventy times in succession, or during a period of 490 years, by the sin of the people. The connection between the prophecy of Jeremiah and the provision of the law is to be understood theologically, and does not purport to be calculated chronologically. The thought is this: By the infliction of the punishment threatened against the transgressors of the law by the carrying of the people away captive into Babylon, the land will obtain the rest which the sinful people had deprived it of by their neglect of the sabbath observance commanded them. By causing it to remain uncultivated for seventy years, God gave to the land a time of rest and refreshment, which its inhabitants, so long as they possessed it, had not given it. But that does not mean that the time for which this rest was granted corresponded to the number of the sabbath-years which had not been observed. From these theological reflections we cannot calculate how often in the course of the centuries, from the time of Joshua onwards till the exile, the sabbath-year had not been observed; and still less the time after which the observation of the sabbath-year was continuously neglected. The passage 2Ch 35:8 has no bearing on this question, because it neither states that the passover had been held according to the precepts of the law till towards the end of the time of the judges, nor that it was no longer celebrated in accordance with the precept from that time until Josiah; it only contains the thought that such a passover as that in Josiah’s reign had not been held since the time of the judges: see on the passage.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
2Ch 36:20. Until the reign of the kingdom of Persia Until the reign of the king of Persia. Houbigant. Respecting the proclamation of Cyrus, see the beginning of the next book: Kennicott thinks that the two last verses of this book belong properly to the book of Ezra.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Ch 36:20 And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:
Ver. 20. Carried he away to Babylon. ] See 2Ki 25:11 .
Where they were servants to him and his sons,
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
servants. Compare Jer 27:6, Jer 27:7. Daniel 1. This was foretold in 2Ki 20:17, 2Ki 20:18. Isa 39:7.
the kingdom of Persia. See the Chronological Structure of Ezra-Nehemiah (p. 618), and notes there.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
am 3416-3468, bc 588-536
And them that had escaped from: Heb. And the remainder from
they were servants: Deu 28:47, Deu 28:48, Jer 27:7
until the reign: 2Ch 36:22, Ezr 1:1-11
Reciprocal: Deu 28:36 – bring thee Est 2:6 – Jeconiah Isa 24:2 – as with the people Isa 39:7 – of thy sons Jer 38:23 – they shall Jer 52:29 – the eighteenth Lam 1:3 – gone Eze 14:22 – therein Mic 2:4 – he hath changed Mic 2:10 – and Mic 4:10 – shalt thou Mat 1:11 – about
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ch 36:20. Where they were servants to him and his sons They do not seem to have been made captives to private persons, but to have been taken in one body, and made the servants of the king; that is, to have been employed by him, in one way or other, to his private advantage, which we are not now acquainted with. Until the reign of the kingdom of Persia Until the reign of the king of Persia, Houb. Respecting the proclamation of Cyrus, see the beginning of the next book. From these words, we may conclude that this book was written after the return from captivity.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
36:20 And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of {k} Persia:
(k) When Gyrus king of Persia had made the Babylonians subject.