And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
Still it is observable how punctual the Holy Ghost is in recording the fulfillings of the words of the Lord. This prophet had at least four times foretold that this would be one consequent of the kings and nobles stubbornness, in not submitting to the king of Babylon. See Jer 37:8; 38:18,23.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. burned . . . the houses(Jer 52:12; Jer 52:13).Not immediately after the taking of the city, but in the month after,namely, the fifth month (compare Jer39:2). The delay was probably caused by the princes having tosend to Riblah to know the king’s pleasure as to the city.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the Chaldeans burnt the king’s house,…. His palace: this was a month after the city was taken, as appears from Jer 52:12;
and the houses of the people, with fire; the houses of the common people, as distinct from the king’s house, and the houses of the great men, Jer 52:13; though Jarchi interprets of the synagogues. It is in the original text in the singular number, “the house of the people”; which Abarbinel understands of the temple, called, not the house of God, he having departed from it; but the house of the people, a den of thieves; according to Adrichomius k, there was a house in Jerusalem called “the house of the vulgar”, or common people, where public feasts and sports were kept; but the former sense seems best:
and broke down the walls of Jerusalem; demolished all the fortifications of it, and entirely dismantled it, that it might be no more a city of force and strength, as it had been.
k Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 154.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Here also the Prophet shews that whatever he had predicted was fulfilled, so that nothing was wanting to render faith sure and fixed. He had said, as we have seen, that if Zedekiah surrendered himself of his own accord, the houses in the city would not be burnt. Zedekiah thought this all vain, or at least he closed up his ears. He now heard, though he was blind, that God had declared nothing in vain by the mouth of Jeremiah; for his palace was burnt, and also all the other houses.
He put בית , bith, in the second clause, the singular for the plural; and so there is here an enallage, for it was not only one house of the people that was burnt, but the fire consumed all the houses. We at last come to the walls, which were beaten down; and thus the city was destroyed as Jeremiah had predicted. It follows, —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
C. The Captivity of the People Jer. 39:8-10
TRANSLATION
(8) The Chaldeans burned the house of the king and the houses of the people and tore down the walls of Jerusalem. (9) The rest of the people who remained in the city, and those who had deserted to him, and the rest of the people who remained, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, took captive to Babylon. (10) Only some of the poor people who had nothing did Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, leave in the land of Judah, giving to them vineyards and fields at that time.
COMMENTS
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: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(8) And the Chaldeans burned the kings house.In the fuller account of Jer. 52:12, we find that this was the work of Nebuzar-adan, who had been sent by Nebuchadnezzar, on hearing of the capture of the city, and that it included the destruction of the Temple as well as the palace.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 39:8 And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem.
Ver. 8. See on 2Ki 25:8 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the Chaldeans burned, &c. On the tenth day of the fifth month. Compare Jer 52:12, Jer 52:13. The same day as the capture of the city by the Romans in A.D. 69.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
burned: Jer 7:20, Jer 9:10-12, Jer 17:27, Jer 21:10, Jer 34:2, Jer 34:22, Jer 37:10, Jer 38:18, Jer 52:13, 2Ki 25:9, 2Ch 36:19, Isa 5:9, Lam 1:10, Lam 2:2, Lam 2:7, Amo 2:5, Mic 3:12
and brake: Jer 52:14, 2Ki 25:10, Neh 1:3
Reciprocal: Neh 3:25 – the king’s Psa 79:1 – have laid Isa 24:10 – city Isa 32:13 – General Jer 5:10 – ye up Jer 20:5 – I will deliver Jer 22:5 – that Jer 32:29 – and set Lam 2:9 – gates Eze 16:41 – burn Eze 23:47 – and burn Eze 24:11 – set it
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE CAPTIVE DAUGHTER OF ZION
The Chaldeans brake down the walls of Jerusalem.
Jer 39:8
How Zedekiah must have repented now that he had not listened to the prophets word! How his neglect must have stabbed him to the heart when he saw his little children massacred! But it was all too late now, and the hour had struck. The day of mercy had closed for Zedekiah. Like Esau, he found no place of repentance, although he sought it carefully with tears. Let us all remember the terrible risk we run if we neglect so great salvation. God speaks to us through minister and teacher, as He spoke to Zedekiah through the prophet. And we may love and reverence our teachers, as the king in secret reverenced Jeremiah, yet if we live on and never heed their message, may not we also have to suffer terribly? It is to teach us such things that this tale is written. It is far more than a dark scene from ancient history. It is a scene of warning and of judgment, written for us by the God of love.
There are three particular lessons we should learn here.
I. How slow yet sure is God.All that now happened had been long foretold, yet it had come so slowly that men doubted it. More than once it had looked as if all were lost, and more than once the sun had shone again; until at length the citizens of Judah had come to think that all would yet be well. That was one thing graven on their hearts, when at long last the city was destroyed. It was that God, though He may long delay, yet never fails at last to keep His word. And whether it be for evil or for good, do not forget that God is still the samethough the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small.
II. How our sin involves the life of others.Not only did Zedekiah perish, but he brought a doom upon his helpless children. Had he obeyed the message of his God, all would have been well with him and them; but disobeying it, not only did he suffer, but the children whom he loved so, suffered also. Sin would be bad and terrible enough if it affected no one but ourselves. But the worst of sin is that it puts out its hands and touches the happiness of other people. Hence sin is fittingly portrayed by leprosy, that most deadly and infectious trouble, that spreads insidiously, with its curse and blight, till it takes the brightness from the eyes of innocence. Lastly, let us notice here
III. How no service to the needy is forgotten.Ebed-melech had rescued Jeremiah, and in the day of trouble God did not forget it. Lord, when saw we Thee in prison and visited Thee, or when did we see Thee naked and clothed Thee? Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My little ones, ye have done it unto Me.
Illustrations
(1) The siege of Jerusalem by the king of Babylon was begun amid the hardships of mid-winter, and was continued, with certain intermissions, for a period of eighteen months. It was a common belief that the city was impregnable, a belief which the false prophets helped to foster, but the strongest city is no longer safe when it neglects the God Who is its refuge. Jerusalem was captured, and through the broken walls the Babylonian troops came pouring in. Following them, in all the pride of victory, came the procession of Babylonian princes. And in the middle gate, where had sat the Hebrew rulers, now sat these heathen and contemptuous nobles, whose very names suggested the false gods that they worshipped in their Babylonian home.
(2) We can well imagine with what divided feelings Jeremiah would view the capture of the city. There is always a mingling of feelings in our greatest moments, and so it would be with the prophet in this hour. On the one hand, as a true child of Israel, he must needs mourn for the downfall of the kingdom. He loved his land and its capital too well not to be bitterly humbled at this overthrow. But on the other hand would be that exaltation that comes from Gods unquestioned intervention, for this was the very issue of events that God had led His prophet to predict. Had Jeremiah spoken in his own wisdom, you might have found him crying now, I told you so. You might have found him boasting in his triumph, and taunting all who had gainsaid his word. But a true messenger of God is always humble, and while he proclaims the punishment of sin, no one has such a sorrowing heart as he, when the predicted punishment arrives.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Jer 39:8. Having overtaken Zedekiah and turned him over to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah, the Chaldeans completed their reduction of the buildings in Jerusalem. They destroyed the temple (2Ki 25:9) and the kings house which means the palace.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Back in Jerusalem, the Chaldeans burned the royal palace, the other houses in the city, including the temple (Jer 52:13), and broke down the city walls to make it uninhabitable and indefensible. Thus began "the times of the Gentiles" (Luk 21:24), the period in history during which Israel is under Gentile control, which will continue until Christ’s second coming.