And it came to pass, [that] when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, by the gate between the two walls: and he went out the way of the plain.
4. by the gate betwixt, etc.] “on the S. of the city (the ‘king’s garden’ was near the pool of Siloam, Neh 3:15), probably the fountain gate of Neh 2:14; Neh 3:15; Neh 12:37, the ‘two walls’ (cf. Isa 22:11) being those below this gate along the W. side of the E. hill of Jerusalem, and the E. side of the W. hill.” Dr. See further in C.B. (Barnes) 2Ki 25:4.
Arabah ] the deep valley of the Jordan. See Deu 1:1 R.V. mg.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
4 10. See introd. note and summary to ch.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Compare the marginal reference. The differences between the two accounts are slight.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. Went forth out of the city by night] Probably there was a private passage under ground, leading without the walls, by which Zedekiah and his followers might escape unperceived, till they had got some way from the city.
The way of the plain.] There were two roads from Jerusalem to Jericho. One passed over the mount of Olives; but, as this might have retarded his flight, he chose the way of the plain, and was overtaken near Jericho, perhaps about sixteen or eighteen miles from Jerusalem. He had probably intended to have passed the Jordan, in order to escape to Egypt, as the Egyptians were then his professed allies.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It should seem that the city was taken by a surprise; the Chaldeans battering the walls incessantly with their rams and engines of war, on a sudden made such a breach as gave them a liberty to enter in. The king either heard of it, or possibly might be in some place where he might see it; then he begins to think of escaping, but for greater privacy stayeth till he had the covert of the night, and then goeth out towards the plains of Jericho, for there the Chaldeans overtook him, as we read in the next verse. He is said here to have gone by
the way of the kings garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls. It is very hard for us at this distance of time to pretend to any certainty in determining the way by which he made his escape. They seem to judge most probably that think that the king had prepared for himself a private passage out of his garden betwixt two walls, leading to the wall of the city, which they had before so weakened, as on a sudden they might dig it through. Possibly these particulars are the rather set down, to show us how God verified what he had revealed in this matter to the prophet Eze 12; where God set the prophet, Eze 12:3, to prepare stuff for removing, and to remove by day in the sight of the people from his own place to another place; and, Eze 12:4, to go out at even in their sight, as they that go out into captivity: Eze 12:5, to dig through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby: Eze 12:6, in their sight to bear it on his shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight; to cover his face, so as not to see the ground: and he told him, that in all this he was to be a sign; and, Eze 12:10, tells him, this burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem (who was that Zedekiah). Eze 12:12, And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to go out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. the king’s gardenThe”gate” to it from the upper, city above was appropriated tothe kings alone; stairs” led down from Mount Zion and the palaceto the king’s garden below (Ne3:15).
two wallsZedekiahmight have held the upper city longer, but want of provisions drovehim to flee by the double wall south of Zion, towards the plains ofJericho (Jer 39:5), in order toescape beyond Jordan to Arabia-Deserta. He broke an opening in thewall to get out (Eze 12:12).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And it came to pass, [that] when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war,…. That is, when Zedekiah and his soldiers saw the princes and generals of the Chaldean army enter the city through a breach made in the wall, and take possession of the middle gate; which they might see from some high tower where they were for safety, and to make their observation of the enemy:
then they fled; finding they were not able to keep their posts and resist the enemy:
and went forth out of the city by night; it being the middle of the night, as before observed out of Josephus, that the city was taken; and they took the advantage of the darkness of the night to make their escape: this they chose rather to do than to surrender to the Chaldeans, and lie at their mercy: and they went
by the way of the king’s garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls; which lay either between the wall of the city and the outworks, as some; or between the old wall and the new one Hezekiah built,
2Ch 32:5; as others; or rather between the wall of the city and the wall of the king’s garden; this being a private way, they took it. The Jews have a fable, and which is related both by Jarchi and Kimchi, that there was a cave or vault underground, from the king’s house to the plains of Jericho; and by this way the king went that he might not be seen; but God prepared a hind, which the Chaldean army saw, and pursued, and which went into the cave, add they after it; and when they were at the mouth of the cave they saw Zedekiah coming out of it, and took him:
and he went out the way of the plain; on the south side of the which led to Jericho; and on which side the kings garden was; not that he went alone, but his wives, and children, and princes, and men of war with him; see Jer 52:7.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Vs. 4-8: THE CAPTURE AND HUI’IUATION OF ZEDEKIAH
1. Horrified by the prospect of impending captivity (in spite of the faithful assurance given by Jeremiah, the man of God), Zedekiah attempted to flee -with what remained of the army of Judah .
a. At night they attempted to escape – leaving by way of the king’s garden, and passing between the two walls.
b. They headed toward Jericho and the Jordan valley, (vs. 4; comp. Eze 12:12-13).
2. Pursued by the Babylonian army, Zedekiah was captured in the plains of Jericho and brought to the headquarters of Nebuchadnezzar, at Riblah, of Hamath, in the Orontes Valley, (vs. 5; 2Ki 23:33; 2Ki 25:6; 2Ki 25:20).
3. The meeting was a tragic one for Zedekiah; he was forced to witness the slaying of his own sons and the remaining nobles of Judah (vs. 6, Jer 34:19-21; Jer 52:10; comp. Deu 28:34; 2Ki 25:7); then he was blinded and taken to Babylon in chains (vs. 7; Jer 52:11), where he remained a prisoner until the day of his death.
4. It appears that the Babylonians methodically destroyed the royal palace and the dwellings of the people -while breaking down the walls of the city (vs. 8); it is possible that this took place at the same time the temple was destroyed – a month after the actual capture of the city, (Jer 52:12-13).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
he then adds, After Zedekiah saw them, etc. ; not that he came to that part, but after he understood that that part of the city was occupied by the enemies; for matters then had come to an extremity. Then he fled with his men of war. And here is set before us a sad spectacle: men in no way trained up for war were left in the city, women also and children were left there, while the men of war fled, inasmuch as their condition was worse, because they had delayed the taking of the city. It was then according to what is commonly done, that they fled. We yet see that ungodly men, after having long despised heavenly truth, flee in time of danger, and are so filled with terror, that they cast themselves headlong into many perils. This is a just reward to those who are not terrified by the threatenings of God, but become so hardened, that they too late acknowledge that they ought to have feared; and being, as it were, stunned, they see not what is expedient, and cannot follow any fixed course.
The Prophet adds, that they fled in the night, and that they went out by the way of the king’s garden, and lastly, that they came to the gate which was between the two walls There is in this passage nothing superfluous; for he meant to shew us, that though the king thought that he could escape from the hands of his enemies, he was yet taken, as God had predicted. For, if after the city was taken, he had come as a suppliant, of his own accord, he might probably have obtained mercy; and this counsel, we know, was given while the state of things was not yet desperate; but he put no faith in God’s word. In the meantime he thought that he could disappoint his enemies, if he quickly fled through some secret way. Some think that there was a subterranean passage, which had a door in the middle of the garden, and had also an egress at the other end in the plain of Jericho, as we shall hereafter see. And that region was barren, and therefore solitary. Hence the king entertained confidence; but he found, at length, how certain was prophetic truth; for it is said afterwards, that the Chaldeans followed and took him. But this circumstance, as I have said, ought to be carefully observed, that the king, as the Prophet tells us, fled. through a secret way, during the darkness of the night, and escaped. It now follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
B. The Capture of the King Jer. 39:4-10
TRANSLATION
(4) And it came to pass when Zedekiah, king of Judah, and all the men of war saw them, they fled by going out at night from the city by way of the kings garden through the gate between the walls. And they went out toward the way of the Arabah. (5) And the Chaldean army pursued after them, and they caught up with Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, took him captive, and brought him to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in the land of Hamath. There he passed sentence upon him. (6) And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes at Riblah. The king of Babylon also slew all the nobles of Judah. (7) Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with chains to take him away to Babylon.
COMMENTS
When the lower city fell to the Chaldeans, Zedekiah knew that within a matter of hours he would be captive in the hands of his enemies. Under cover of night he and what was left of the army made a desperate dash for safety. The king fled through the gate between the two walls, i.e., where the inner and outer walls came together. The kings garden was on the southeastern slope of the city near the junction of the Hinnom and Kidron Valleys. It must have been his intention to cross the Jordan river (Jer. 39:4). But in the plains around Jericho the Chaldean army overtook him. The king and his staff were taken in chains to the headquarters of Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah[335] some two hundred miles to the north. There Zedekiah was forced to stand in the judgment of the king against whom he had violated a sacred oath of allegiance (Jer. 39:5).
[335] This is probably the same Riblah mentioned in Num. 34:11 as on the eastern boundary of the promised land. Some years earlier Pharaoh Necho had made Riblah his military headquarters. There he had summoned Judean king Jehoahaz who was then deported to Egypt in chains (2Ki. 23:33). Riblah was a strategic military point being at one of the major crossroads of western Asia.
Many vassal oaths from the ancient Near East have come to light in recent years. In swearing fidelity to his overlord the vassal would call upon the gods of both nations to punish him if he proved unfaithful to the terms of the agreement. Generally such vassal treaties contained a section of maledictions which the vassal pronounced against himself, his family, and his nation should he violate any part of the treaty. Such treaties were regarded as the most solemn possible obligation. The overload would punish in the most severe way the vassal who disregarded the treaty and rebelled. Though the exact wording of the vassal treaty between Zedekiah and Nebuchadnezzar is unknown, perhaps the words can be reconstructed in the light of what happened at Riblah. If this particular vassal treaty followed the terminology which was more or less standard in such documents, Zedekiah may well have said something like the following: May my sons and my officials be slain before my eyes and my eyes be blinded if I am unfaithful to any of the terms of this treaty. May I be carried to Babylon in fetters of bronze and languish in prison until my death if I violate this agreement. If Zedekiah said something to this effect when he was placed on the throne of Judah as the vassal of Nebuchadnezzar then no wonder he tried so desperately to escape the wrath of the great king. Those self-maledictions, uttered as part of a formal vassal treaty, were literally fulfilled at Riblah. The last sight which Zedekiah saw was the slaying of his own sons. Then his own eyes were blinded and he was carried away to Babylon (Jer. 39:6-7).
The tragedy of Riblah is that all of this could have been avoided had Zedekiah only heeded the word of God spoken through the prophet Jeremiah. Again and again Jeremiah had warned Zedekiah that disobedience to his vassal oath would result in face to face confrontation with the king of Babylon and eventual deportation to Babylon (Jer. 32:4-5; Jer. 34:3). The prophet Ezekiel in far away Babylon also accurately predicted the course of events though his words must have seemed vague and contradictory at the time he uttered them. I will bring him (Zedekiah) to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not SEE it, though he shall die there (Eze. 12:13). As I live (oracle of the Lord God), surely in the place where the king dwells that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die (Eze. 17:16).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(4) When Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them . . .The hasty flight is narrated again in Jer. 52:7. The gate between the two walls was one apparently that opened from the park-like garden of the palace, near the pool of Siloah (Neh. 3:15); probably identical with the garden of Uzza, which was used as a burial-place for Manasseh and Amon (2Ki. 21:18-26); and led to the Arabah, the plain (always known by this distinctive name) of the valley of the Jordan (Deu. 1:1; Deu. 3:17; Deu. 4:49; Jos. 12:1, and elsewhere). The two walls appear as part of the defence of the city in Isa. 22:11, and connected Zion with the fortress known as Ophel (2Ch. 27:3; 2Ch. 33:14).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Saw Perhaps literally, notwithstanding it was night, but the sense may be perceived knew by the confusion.
Way of the king’s garden the way of the plain In Neh 3:15, occurs this expression: “The wall of the pool of Siloah by the king’s garden.” The two walls were that of Ophel on the east, and that of Zion on the west. The gate was probably in the short wall uniting these and stretching across the valley of the Tyropoeon. It was not, as some have suggested, “the gate of the fountain,” but the same that is called the “horse gate” in Neh 3:28. The “way of the plain” is more distinctly indicated in the following verse the plain of Jericho.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 39:4. By the gate betwixt the two walls That is, betwixt the wall and the outworks, or betwixt the old wall of the city and the new one which was built by Hezekiah. See 2Ch 32:5 and Eze 12:4; Eze 12:28.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
What a sad business Zedekiah had made of it; and what a grievous calamity followed! Zedekiah was but in the prime of life when these things took place. And here he felt the awful consequence of rejecting the counsel of God against his own soul His eyes allowed him to behold his little ones, and nobles, all slain; and then darkness as to this world, closed in upon him forever. Reader! pause and contemplate the still greater calamity of the hardened sinner, when all earthly comforts are departing from him; and the everlasting darkness of death and eternal misery, are sealing up his soul at the last day!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 39:4 And it came to pass, [that] when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls: and he went out the way of the plain.
Ver. 4. When Zedekiah the king saw them. ] Not entered, but ready to enter. See 2Ki 25:4 .
He went out the way of the plain.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the plain. To avoid the Jordan.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jer 39:4-10
Jer 39:4-5
THE CAPTURE OF ZEDEKIAH
And it came to pass that, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, through the gate betwixt the two walls; and he went out toward the Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he gave judgment upon him.
When the king. and the men of war … saw them …..
(Jer 39:4). The word saw in this passage simply means, when they perceived, or understood, what had happened. One often hears a blind person say, we went and saw this or that. A similar usage is found here. We may be certain that the king fled the city as soon as he definitely knew that Nebuchadrezzar’s army had entered it. Nothing certain is known about the exact location of the king’s garden, or the gate by which he escaped, nor can we trace the route of his departure.
Nebuchadrezzar at Riblah in the land of Hamath…
(Jer 39:5). This place was a stronghold on the Orontes river, 35 miles north-east of Baalbeck, in an area that provided an abundant supply of fuel and food. Pharaoh-Necho II made it his headquarters at the time of the defeat of Jehoahaz; and Nebuchadnezzar made it the base of his operations in the final campaign to destroy Jerusalem in 588-587 B.C. This place was about 200 miles north and east of Jerusalem; but Nebuchadnezzar remained there and entrusted the siege of Jerusalem to his military subordinates.
At Riblah, Nebuchadnezzar was fully equipped for his murderous business of executing all of his enemies. Here he gave judgment against Zedekiah.
Jer 39:6-7
ZEDEKIAH’S PUNISHMENT
After the ancient custom of terrible and inhumane punishment of defeated enemies, Nebuchadnezzar imposed his ruthless sentence upon Zedekiah and his nobles, sons, and friends. Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.
He put out Zedekiah’s eyes…
(Jer 39:7). Feinberg tells us that ancient kings liked to perform this act of cruelty, and often did it with their own hands. The word in the Hebrew from which the verb comes in this place is from a root which means to dig out, indicating that the entire eyeball was popped out of the victim’s skull. Another form of blinding was that of bringing a red hot iron to the surface of the eye. What made this especially pitiful to Zedekiah was the fact of his witnessing the execution of his sons and the nobles of Judah as the very last events that he would ever be able to remember seeing.
In Jer 52:11, it is stated that Zedekiah remained a prisoner in Babylon until the day of his death, but no hint of just when that death occurred is given.
Jer 39:8-10
JERUSALEM DESTROYED
And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem. Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the residue of the people that remained in the city, the deserters also that fell away to him, and the residue of the people that remained. But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, that had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.
And the houses of the people…
(Jer 39:10). It is strange that the temple was not included in this list of the things destroyed; and some commentators think that the omission was due to a damaged text. In any case, the temple also was among the things burned with fire (Jer 52:13). Harrison suggested that the place should read: The royal palace, the Lord’s temple, and the houses of the populace. The text, however, is accurate as it stands. In the Bible, one must read all that the Bible says on any given subject in order to know the whole truth; and here we have another illustration of that fact.
The Capture of the King Jer 39:4-10
When the lower city fell to the Chaldeans, Zedekiah knew that within a matter of hours he would be captive in the hands of his enemies. Under cover of night he and what was left of the army made a desperate dash for safety. The king fled through the gate between the two walls, i.e., where the inner and outer walls came together. The kings garden was on the southeastern slope of the city near the junction of the Hinnom and Kidron Valleys. It must have been his intention to cross the Jordan river (Jer 39:4). But in the plains around Jericho the Chaldean army overtook him. The king and his staff were taken in chains to the headquarters of Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah some two hundred miles to the north. This is probably the same Riblah mentioned in Num 34:11 as on the eastern boundary of the promised land. Some years earlier Pharaoh Necho had made Riblah his military headquarters. There he had summoned Judean king Jehoahaz who was then deported to Egypt in chains (2Ki 23:33). Riblah was a strategic military point being at one of the major crossroads of western Asia. There Zedekiah was forced to stand in the judgment of the king against whom he had violated a sacred oath of allegiance (Jer 39:5).
Many vassal oaths from the ancient Near East have come to light in recent years. In swearing fidelity to his overlord the vassal would call upon the gods of both nations to punish him if he proved unfaithful to the terms of the agreement. Generally such vassal treaties contained a section of maledictions which the vassal pronounced against himself, his family, and his nation should he violate any part of the treaty. Such treaties were regarded as the most solemn possible obligation. The overload would punish in the most severe way the vassal who disregarded the treaty and rebelled. Though the exact wording of the vassal treaty between Zedekiah and Nebuchadnezzar is unknown, perhaps the words can be reconstructed in the light of what happened at Riblah. If this particular vassal treaty followed the terminology which was more or less standard in such documents, Zedekiah may well have said something like the following: May my sons and my officials be slain before my eyes and my eyes be blinded if I am unfaithful to any of the terms of this treaty. May I be carried to Babylon in fetters of bronze and languish in prison until my death if I violate this agreement. If Zedekiah said something to this effect when he was placed on the throne of Judah as the vassal of Nebuchadnezzar then no wonder he tried so desperately to escape the wrath of the great king. Those self-maledictions, uttered as part of a formal vassal treaty, were literally fulfilled at Riblah. The last sight which Zedekiah saw was the slaying of his own sons. Then his own eyes were blinded and he was carried away to Babylon (Jer 39:6-7).
The tragedy of Riblah is that all of this could have been avoided had Zedekiah only heeded the word of God spoken through the prophet Jeremiah. Again and again Jeremiah had warned Zedekiah that disobedience to his vassal oath would result in face to face confrontation with the king of Babylon and eventual deportation to Babylon (Jer 32:4-5; Jer 34:3). The prophet Ezekiel in far away Babylon also accurately predicted the course of events though his words must have seemed vague and contradictory at the time he uttered them. I will bring him (Zedekiah) to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not SEE it, though he shall die there (Eze 12:13). As I live (oracle of the Lord God), surely in the place where the king dwells that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die (Eze 17:16).
The Captivity of the People Jer 39:8-10
The capture of the upper city of Jerusalem and other pockets of resistance must have taken three or four weeks. According to Jer 52:12, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the kings body guard, did not arrive on the scene in Jerusalem until a month after the city fell. When he arrived he put the city to the torch and broke down the walls which had for so many months thwarted the Chaldean might (Jer 39:8). The Judeans who had already defected to the Chaldeans and those who were captured when the city fell were prepared for deportation to Babylon (Jer 39:9). Only the very poor of the land were left. The parallel accounts (Jer 52:16; 2Ki 25:12) say that they were left as vinedressers and husbandmen. The text here indicates further that these poor were given the vineyards and fields (Jer 39:10).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
when: Jer 38:18-20, Lev 26:17, Lev 26:36, Deu 28:25, Deu 32:24-30, 2Ki 25:4-7, Isa 30:15, Isa 30:16, Eze 12:12, Amo 2:14
betwixt: Jer 52:7-11, 2Ch 32:5
Reciprocal: Ecc 2:5 – me Isa 22:3 – thy rulers Isa 24:10 – city Isa 29:2 – I will Jer 4:9 – that the heart Jer 4:29 – shall flee Jer 21:7 – I will Jer 32:4 – General Jer 34:3 – And thou Jer 40:7 – all the Lam 4:18 – hunt Eze 12:4 – at even
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 39:4. This verse through 8 should be marked as a bracket because of the important events recorded in connection with each other, and their connection with other passages in the Bible. I will suggest that the reader see also 2 Kl. 25: 4-7. The king thought he could make his escape if he selected the darkness for the purpose. Only a short time before this (Eze 12:12) another prophet had predicted that the king would flee by night or “twilight.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 39:4-10. They fled by the gate betwixt the two walls Betwixt the wall and the outworks, or betwixt the old wall of the city and the new one which Hezekiah built, of which mention is made 2Ch 32:5. See note on 2Ki 25:4. Blaney thinks it probable that between these two walls there might be a private postern through which the king and his followers might slip out unperceived by the besiegers, who surrounded the city, and undoubtedly kept a strict watch on the principal gates. The Chaldean army pursued, &c. For an illustration of this and the five following verses, see notes on 2Ki 25:5-12.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
39:4 And it came to pass, when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, by the {b} gate between the two walls: and he went out the way of the plain.
(b) Which was a postern door, read 2Ki 25:4 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
When Zedekiah saw the invaders within the city, he and many of the Judean soldiers tried to escape by night, exiting Jerusalem by a gate in the king’s garden. This was perhaps the Fountain Gate near the Pool of Siloam (cf. Neh 2:14; Neh 3:15; Neh 12:37) or the Horse Gate (cf. Neh 3:28). [Note: Keil, 2:121, argued for the Horse Gate.] They took a passageway between the two walls of the city there (cf. Isa 22:11) and headed east toward the Arabah (Jordan Valley). Zedekiah evidently wanted to escape to Ammon, an ally of Judah at this time (cf. Eze 21:18-23).