Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_600_p.lzh/5_622.TXT

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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 Otlt
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 sur-
renderto 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, 2 Chron.
xxxii. 5, as others; or rather between the wall of the
city and the wall of the king's garden; this being a pri-
vate 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 under ground, 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 pre-
pared a hind, which the Chaldean army saw, and pur-
sued, 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 ch. lit. 7.
Ver.& But the Chaldean army pursued after them,
&c.] Being informed of the flight of them, by those
who surrendered to them, as Josephus says; or not
finding the king, his family, nobles, and guards, at the
palace, where they expected them; and, knowing
which way they must take, pursued after them; not
the whole army, only a part of it; for some must re-
main at Jerusalem to demolish the city, and take the
spoil of i t: and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Je-
richo; not far from it, as Josephus says; and who also
observes, that when his friends and generals saw the
enemy near, they left him, and shifted for themselves,
and only a few were with him when overtook: and
when they had taken him they brought him to Nebuchad-
nezzar king of Babylon to Riblab in the land of tta-
math: which is generally thought to be Antioch in
Syria; whither he had retired from the siege of Jeru-
salem, having left it to his generals to recreate himself
in this pleasant place, as it seems it was; or that he
might be- nearer his own kingdom, if any troubles
should arise in it during his absence; however, here he
was, and here the army brought Zedekiah to him, and
those they took with him; which must be very agree-
.able to the king of Babylon to have this perfidious and
ungrateful prince in his power: where he gave judgment
tipon him: or passed sentence on him, which was to
have his eyes put out: or, spaice judgments with him i;
he severely chad him, and upbraided him for the injury he
had done him; the perfidy he had been guilty of in
breaking his oath and covenant. So Josephus says,
"after he came to him, Nebuchadnezzar began to call
"him a wicked man and a covenant-breaker, unmind-
"fut of promises he had made to preserve the country
"for him; he reproached him with ingratitude, in re-
" cei.ving the kingdom fiom him he had taken from Je-
"hoiachim, and given to him, who had used his
"power against the giver; but, says he, the great
"God that hates thy manners has put thee into our
"hands."
Ver. 6. Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Ze-
dekiah in Riblab before his. eyes, &c.] Not with his
own hands, but gave orders to do it: these must be
very young, at least some of them; since Zedekiah at
this time was but thirty-two years of age. This must
be a dreadful spectacle for him to behold; and the con-
sideration must be cutting, that it was owing to his
own obstinacy in not taking the advice of the Prophet
Jeremiah to surrender to the Chaldeans, whereby he
and his family would have been saved, oh. xxxviii. 17:
also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah ;
who did not come over to the Chaldean army and sur-
render themselves; such who advised the king to stand
out to the last, and who fled, and were taken with him;
as many of them as fell into the hands of the king of
Babylon. Jarchi says those were the sanhedrim, who
loosed Zedekiah from his oath to Nebuchadnezzar.
Ver. 7. Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, &c.] By
what means is not certain; however, hereby the pro-
phecy of Jeremiah was fulfilled, that his eyes should
see the king of Babylon, as they did, before they were
put out, and that he should not die by the sword, ch.
xxxiv. 8, 4. and also the prophecy of Ezekiel, oh.
xii. 13. that he should be brought to Babylon, and
yet should not see it; for his eyes were put out before
he was carried there: a full proof this of the prescience
of God; of his foreknowledge of future and contingent
events; of the truth and certainty of prophecy, and of
the authority of divine revelation: and &ound him with
chains, to carry him to Babylon; with two brass or iron
chains, or fetters, for both his legs; and thus bound he
was carried to Babylon, where he remained to the day
of h is death.
Ver. 8. And the Chaldeans burnt the ki,g's house,
&c.] His palace: this was a month after the city was
taken, as appears from oh. lit. 12, 13: 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, oh. lit. 13. though Jarchi interprets of th,
synagogues. It is in the original text in the singular
number, the house of the people; which Abarbinel un-
derstands 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.

{i} \^Myjpvm wta rbdyw\^ & locutus est cum eo, vel ipso judicia,
Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius, Schmidt.
{k} Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 154.