And in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month, which was in the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzar-adan, captain of the body-guard, servant of the king of Babylon, came unto Jerusalem;
The date in this verse is exact: a month, a day, a named officer, and a foreign king's year on the throne. What arrived in Jerusalem that day was not just an army. It was the end of a warning God had repeated for generations.
One commentator traces what happened next, and notes that the day was never forgotten:
After the flight and capture of the king, the city could not long hold out. A month later, on the seventh day of the fifth month (Ab), Nebuzar-adan ("Nebo gave posterity") forced his way into the city. The temple was set on fire, and the king's palace with it. The whole city became ruins and ashes, and the walls that had defended it came down. After three days the work of destruction was finished. Ever afterwards the people mourned the 10th (9th) of Ab as the fatal day of Jerusalem's fall.
Years earlier, Jeremiah had warned that God would do to the temple what He once did to Shiloh. One writer points to this day as the moment those words came true:
Again, the temple worship seemed to be flourishing on the outside. But the Lord had laid Shiloh waste, the place where He first set His Name. So, said the prophet, it would be done to this house too, because of their wickedness (Jer. 7:11–14). This too came to pass (2 Kings 25:8–17).
Could the building itself keep God committed to them? One writer answers from what had already happened to Shiloh:
What was Shiloh now? God had profaned it: and God would do the very same thing where the ark was now placed, where the sanctuary was in Jerusalem. God could never bind Himself to maintain an empty form. The temple was a beautiful picture of His truth, but He would hold it up no longer, since the state of the people and of the priests was the most offensive evil under the sun in His eyes.
Nebuzaradan came as an officer of Babylon. One writer points to the hand behind him, and to a departure that happened before any torch was lit:
The glory was leaving, not coming to live there. Jehovah is leaving the seat He chose for Himself — not leaving it for ever, for He has chosen it for ever. But for now the sins of His own people, and their turning away from Him, drive Him out... Whatever He might do at other times, it was clearly Jehovah who directed the sweeping destruction of His own city and sanctuary.
The glory was already gone. What Babylon seized was an empty shell:
The temple is void; the glory has departed from it! The golden cherubim spread their wings over a forsaken mercy-seat and over a broken law, but it was all in vain. The One who had filled that throne of glory until a short time before had now left it. Nebuchadnezzar could take possession of the temple the way a man takes possession of a corpse.
The fire closed one chapter and opened another that is still running:
At the taking of Jerusalem, then, we see the judgment of God carried out on His people. The ark of the covenant taken. The house of God burnt. Its royal authority taken from the family of David, and this until the coming of the true son of David. The Urim and the Thummim of the priesthood lost. The throne of God removed from off the earth. And sovereign authority placed in the hands of the Gentiles.
Nebuchadnezzar had a reason for burning the temple. One writer turns that reason into a question for readers today:
He saw that the Jews must have no centre to gather around, so the temple, built in such splendour in the time of Solomon, was destroyed by fire. What is there in Christendom that would answer to this? God's true Centre in the Church is Christ Himself. But is this realised today in the professing church?
- Warned. God had said through Jeremiah that He would do to this house what He did to Shiloh. He did it.
- Emptied. The glory left the house before any torch was lit. Babylon laid hold of the temple the way a man lays hold of a corpse.
- Directed. Nebuzaradan held the torch, but it was Jehovah who "directed the sweeping destruction of His own city and sanctuary."
- Directed. Nebuzaradan held the torch, but it was Jehovah who "directed the sweeping destruction of His own city and sanctuary."
- Applied. No building, however grand, keeps God present. He will not "maintain an empty form." The true centre is Christ Himself.
and he burned the house of Jehovah, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; and every great [man's] house he burned with fire.
The siege of Jerusalem ends in fire, not in a surrender deal. Nebuzaradan, an officer of the king of Babylon, burns the temple, the royal palace, and every great house in the city. The hardest question is why God let His own house — the place where He had set His name — go up in flames.
Babylon lit the fire, but commentators read the event as God's own act of giving the city up. Writing on Jeremiah's warning to Zedekiah, William Kelly says that fighting back was useless. The real opponent was not Babylon:
The Lord then told him to speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, on His own behalf. He assured him that He would "give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire." To fight it out was to resist the Lord Himself. Nebuchadnezzar was not the only one taking Jerusalem. The LORD was giving up the city and their king of the house of David — a most solemn sign of His displeasure.
Kelly also notes the title God gives the conqueror in Jeremiah. It had belonged to Judah's own king:
It was no longer Zedekiah, My servant, but Nebuchadnezzar, My servant. The children of Israel and of Judah were about to lose their special place as His nation, too. Being His servant was now no longer a special honour; it simply meant being used in God's control of events. Nebuchadnezzar, the idol-worshipping Gentile, could be His servant in that way as much as anyone else.
This burning was not a sudden stroke:
Here was the carrying out of God's judgment, which He had foretold long before and long delayed in His patience.
H. J. Vine points out how unlikely the prediction must have sounded when it was made, with temple worship still running smoothly — and that the fire matched the word exactly:
On the surface, everything about the temple worship seemed to be flourishing. But the Lord had laid Shiloh waste, the first place where He set His Name. The prophet said He would do the same to this house, because of their wickedness (Jer. 7:11-14). This too came to pass (2 Kings 25:8-17).
The people treated the sanctuary as a guarantee of safety. Kelly describes what they trusted, and the terms God offered instead:
Danger was closing in, and they were trusting neither in God nor in His word. They trusted lying words of their own: that the outward forms would be enough to hold back the Gentile invader. "Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.' For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another… then I will let you dwell in this place."
The verse names the house of the LORD first, before the palace and the great houses. That order matters:
Judgment must begin at the house of God. It always begins there. The greater the privilege, the greater the responsibility. Being outwardly near to God while the heart is far away only invites judgment all the more.
The fire took the great houses too — the homes of the city's officials. Leslie Grant sees a deliberate plan in the choice of targets, and applies it to the church today:
Nebuchadnezzar seems to have had no more hope that Judah would be subject to him. So he sent his servant Nebuzaradan to Jerusalem to burn the house of the Lord, the king's house and all the houses of the officials (v.9). He realised the Jews must have no centre of gathering. So fire destroyed the temple, that splendid building from Solomon's day. What is there in Christendom that would answer to this? God's true Centre in the Church is Christ Himself.
The verse ends a history, but not God's dealings with the people:
Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple, burning it to the ground and carrying away its golden vessels to Babylon, with the people. In mercy, after seventy years of captivity, God brings a remnant of the people back to Jerusalem, and they rebuild the temple.
- Privilege — Judah stood nearest to God. Nearness raises responsibility; it never lowers it.
- Presumption — They leaned on the building, not on God. They repeated "the temple of the LORD" as if stone could stop an army.
- Patience — God foretold this judgment long before, and He held it back long, before the fire ever touched the roof.
- Purging — Judgment began at the sanctuary and worked outward. It left the people no centre to gather around.
- Pardon — Seventy years later a remnant returned and rebuilt the house. The fire ended a building, not God's mercy.
And all the army of the Chaldeans that were with the captain of the body-guard broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about.
Jerusalem's siege ends with demolition, not battle: soldiers pull down the city wall on every side. Two questions follow — whose hand was behind it, and what is left for a people with no walls?
Losing the wall left the city with no defence. One writer sees the same loss in the church today:
Besides this, the army of the Chaldeans broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around, so that the city would have no protection from raiders (v.10). In the same way today, in the professing church, the wall of separation has been broken down, so that unbelievers have easily come in to do damage.
The Chaldeans swung the hammers. One writer names another hand behind theirs, and finds comfort in it:
The prophet insists that it was the Lord who had done the work of destruction, because of His people's sin. The nations might boast of their power over Jerusalem, but the work was His. "The Lord has done what He purposed; He has carried out His word, which He commanded long ago; He has thrown down without pity; He has made the enemy rejoice over you and exalted the might of your foes." Sorrowful, most sorrowful, that His hand had done it all. Yet it is a comfort to faith, for this is the hand that can and will build up again for His name's sake.
The army that broke the wall belonged to Nebuchadnezzar. The title he now carried had once belonged to Judah's own king:
This last is a remarkable word. It was no longer Zedekiah, My servant, but Nebuchadnezzar, My servant. The children of Israel and of Judah were about to lose their special place as His nation too. It was now a question, not of being His servant as a special honour, but merely in providence. Nebuchadnezzar, the idol-worshipping Gentile, could be His servant in this way as much as anyone else.
The ruin was foretold while Jerusalem still looked safe. One writer asks how such a prediction would sound today:
In Josiah's day, things looked very prosperous at Jerusalem. Still, the prophet announced over the city "disaster from the north, and great destruction" (Jer. 4:6). This was exactly fulfilled, but we tend to overlook how miraculous it was. Suppose someone insisted today that enemies would capture and destroy a great capital city. Most people would smile and dismiss the idea. If it then happened, their doubt would only make the fulfilment more striking.
The warning ran back further than Jeremiah:
This was no hasty chastening. From the earliest days the Lord had threatened and predicted through Moses what Jeremiah sets out in his Lamentations. Compare Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.
The stones were not the whole story. One writer draws out what a wall and a gate stood for:
"The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire." This was the fact, and Nebuchadnezzar had been the instrument, through his army, to bring it about. There is, however, another meaning. The wall is the symbol of separation; and, as we have seen, the wall of separation between Israel and the nations had been broken down. The gate was the place, and so the emblem, of judgment; and we are taught by this that no one was administering justice and fairness any more.
The gates burned as well. One writer asks whether ruined walls and gates can be repaired now:
The gates stand for the principles of truth: they let in what should be in and keep out what should be out. What a picture, then, of those gates burned — that is, deliberately destroyed! Do we see such things in professing Christendom today? Sadly, it is true almost everywhere. Can we repair these walls and gates? Certainly not in all of Christendom; but we can do so in whatever small sphere of responsibility the Lord may give us.
- Wall — the stones around Jerusalem were its whole defence. Once they fell, the city lay open to anyone.
- Hand — the Chaldeans did the breaking, but Scripture assigns the work to the Lord, doing what He had said long before.
- Servant — the title once carried by Judah's king passed to Nebuchadnezzar; Judah's special place went with it.
- Warning — the prophets named this ruin while the city still looked prosperous, and it came just as they said.
- Rebuilt — the hand that threw the wall down can build it again. Our own repair work starts in whatever small sphere the Lord gives us.
And Nebuzar-adan the captain of the body-guard carried away captive the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the deserters that had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.
Jerusalem has fallen, the temple is ash, and Nebuzaradan, commander of the Babylonian guard, marches the last of its people off to Babylon. Among them are the deserters who had already gone over to the enemy — and they are the ones who lived.
One commentator describes the city's last days and names who was taken:
The Babylonians set the temple on fire, and the king's palace too. They reduced the whole city to ruins and ashes and broke down the walls that had defended it (2 Kings 25:9, 10). Three days later the work of destruction was complete. Ever after, people mourned the 10th (9th) of Ab as the fatal day of Jerusalem's fall (Jer. 52:12; Zech. 7:3, 5, 8:19). … We can hardly be wrong to see these captives as most of the civilian population of Jerusalem and Judah.
The deserters did not simply run. They had heard something first:
Only a small remnant who had received the Lord's message and had delivered themselves over to the Chaldeans had their lives saved (2 Kings 25:11). They were the excellent figs of Jeremiah 24.
That message came at a price. The city's officials wanted the man who preached it dead:
"Thus says the Lord: He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. But he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live; he shall have his life as a prize of war, and live." … So the officials said to the king, "Let this man be put to death. He weakens the hands of the soldiers who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. This man does not seek the welfare of this people, but harm."
Walking out to the besieging army looked like betraying your own nation. The same writer explains why it was the opposite:
The Lord meant their exile to be for their eventual good. In a day of ruin faith always recognises the chastening of God and bows to it. Unbelief always resists, and counts it patriotism or perhaps religion to oppose. For this reason Jeremiah seemed, in the eyes of the men of Judah, a very false Jew. He always advised them to submit to the king of Babylon. They thought themselves much better Jews, because they were willing to fight against the king of Babylon.
Emptying the land served a purpose. It reached back to a command Israel had ignored: let the farmland rest every seventh year.
So God's word through Jeremiah came true. The land of Israel would be left empty, to enjoy the sabbaths it had not enjoyed for years. The people were greedy and wanted crops in the seventh year as well as in the six years God had allotted them. So God had told them through Jeremiah that the land would stay empty for 70 years — the length of Judah's captivity in Babylon (Jer. 25:9-12).
This deportation did more than end a kingdom. It moved the seat of authority on earth:
God still waited patiently with the kingdom of Judah. Then the sin of David's house made it impossible for Him to bear with either any longer. Jerusalem fell, the temple was destroyed, and the Jews were carried captive to Babylon. The throne of God no longer existed at Jerusalem. Power passed into the hands of the Gentiles, and it has stayed with them until now. With Nebuchadnezzar, the times of the Gentiles began, and so did the captivity and scattering of the Jews.
The chapter reads like an ending. One writer sees it closing man's story, not God's:
The people are carried away to Babylon. The priests and those who had helped with the resistance die a violent death at Riblah. The last traces of Judah's power and wealth disappear after this attack. Even the two pillars of the temple are broken in pieces and carried to Babylon, along with all the brass, the gold and the silver of the house of God. … So ends the history of man, placed under responsibility before God. God must give him up — but His promises are not withdrawn. He will re-establish the reign of His anointed upon these two marvellous pillars, and this reign will be unshakeable.
- Sin. Real guilt emptied the land. Israel had ignored God's command to let the ground rest, and the seventy years abroad collected that unpaid rest.
- Sentence. Everyone left in the city went to Babylon. Most were ordinary civilians, taken after the temple and the walls had fallen.
- Surrender. The deserters lived because they believed a warning: stay and die, go out to the Chaldeans and live. Obedience, not the city wall, was the safe place.
- Shift. This captivity ended God's throne at Jerusalem. Authority passed to the Gentile powers, and it has stayed there ever since.
- Sureness. Man's record under responsibility ends in ruin here. God's promise does not end, and the reign He will set up cannot be shaken.
But the captain of the body-guard left of the poor of the land for vinedressers and husbandmen.
Judah's capital lay in ruins, and its leading citizens were gone. Why did the captain of the guard leave a handful of the poorest to work the land, and what does that say about God's dealings with His people?
The verse closes a national collapse. King, temple and city were gone. Only the poorest layer of society stayed.
The temple was burned to the ground. Only a miserable remnant of the nation was left in the land — "the poor" — to be vinedressers and plowmen (2 Kings 25:12). Rebellion arose even among these. In fear of the Chaldeans they fled to the land of Egypt, only to perish miserably there, as Jeremiah had faithfully warned them, with tears.
Even the survivors did not survive well.
Commentators point to this moment as the start of a long period in which Israel no longer holds power over itself.
The end of 2 Kings tells how Nebuchadnezzar's captain of the guard destroyed Solomon's temple and razed Jerusalem to the ground. He broke down its walls and burned its palaces and houses. He deported all the Jews, except for leaving a few of "the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen" (2 Kings 25:12). It was then that the Times of the Gentiles began — the time when the Jewish nation came under Gentile domination.
Another writer weighs what that handover cost: a nation given every advantage, and pardoned once before.
So the history of Israel's downfall ends in mercy — but in a mercy that recognises that power has passed into the hands of the Gentiles. This was the downfall of a people placed in the most favourable circumstances. God could say to them, "What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it?" They were a people who had already been pardoned once... The long-suffering of God, the restoration He had granted them, the establishment of the house of David in grace, all was fruitless.
The parallel account in Jeremiah gives more detail, and one writer reads the selection of the poor as something more than military calculation.
The poorest are permitted to remain and were treated mercifully. God remembers the poor and they are spared. As far as we know, these poor people, who had nothing, were the godly ones, those who wept over the conditions and who cried to God for help. Their prayer, the prayer of the needy, was answered.
Commentators differ here: Knapp, above, sees the same group rebelling soon after.
The Babylonian officer thought he was tidying up a conquest. Another writer sees a promise buried in the arrangement, noting that Jeremiah's version adds that these landless people were actually given the vineyards and fields.
Still, the clearance was not complete. The poor did not fail in the land; some were left in it. They were a pledge — little as the foreigner thought it — of the return of a poor remnant, and of a nation yet to be poor in spirit. That will be when God brings back the captivity of His people, and Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad.
Those left behind were placed under a governor and told to work the land in submission to Babylon. One writer treats that submission as the right response, and draws a lesson from it.
It was God who had put them in that position because of Judah's previous guilt, and faith could only bow to it... rebellion would have been rebellion against God. So too in Christendom, because of the sad failure in testimony, God has allowed confusion (the meaning of Babylon) to take possession of the church publicly, and it is only right that we bow to the shame of our confusion.
A quiet season followed the collapse.
For this poor remnant there was a respite of several months. They gathered wine and summer fruits in great abundance (Jer. 40:12). People even seem to have honoured the worship of the Lord again, at a time when the temple lay completely destroyed and ruined.
- Emptied — the temple burned, the city fell, and only a miserable remnant stayed to tend vines and fields.
- Transferred — the Times of the Gentiles begin here. Power over Jerusalem passes to the Gentiles, after long patience and by mercy.
- Remembered — God remembered the poor, who had nothing, and spared them; one writer reads them as the godly who cried to Him.
- Pledged — the poor left in the land were a hidden pledge: a poor remnant will return, and a nation will yet be poor in spirit.
- Bowed — God had put them under Babylon for Judah's guilt. Faith could only bow; rebellion here would have been rebellion against God.
And the brazen pillars that were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases, and the brazen sea that was in the house of Jehovah, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried the brass thereof to Babylon.
This verse reads like a list of scrap metal. Yet each item named had stood at Solomon's temple for centuries, and each one carried meaning. So why did God let the Chaldeans smash His own furnishings and haul them off? And did anything they stood for survive?
The two bronze pillars had names, and the names were promises. One writer notes that those promises were never meant to describe the state of things at the time:
The pillars were named Jachin (on the right) and Boaz (on the left) of the entry. Jachin means "He shall establish." This is a promise that God will one day establish His house, because He was not establishing it then. Israel's unfaithfulness later brought that house down, but God's promise for the future remains. Boaz means "in Him is strength." Israel's weakness led to ruin and failure, but the Lord Jesus is still the strong One who will do the will of God perfectly.
The pillars did not fall by accident:
Even the two pillars of the temple are broken in pieces and carried away to Babylon. So is all the bronze, the gold and the silver of the house of God. The Lord had been despised. What did Jachin and Boaz still have to do at Jerusalem? Judah's unfaithfulness had driven away the strength that was in the Lord. God had destroyed it instead of establishing it. So ends the history of man, placed under responsibility before God. God must give him up — but His promises do not change. He will re-establish the reign of His anointed on these two marvellous pillars. That reign will be unshakeable.
The bronze sea was a huge basin, and both its stand and its use carried meaning:
The Sea matches the washing basin of the tabernacle, but how much greater! It was about 15 feet across and 7½ feet high. Twelve bronze oxen carried it, all facing outward, three toward each point of the compass. In this way they stood for the 12 tribes of Israel. The oxen speak of lowly, patient service. The priests washed in the Sea, symbolising the moral cleansing necessary for carrying out their service.
The verse names the metal three times. Bronze carried its own meaning, tied to where it was used:
Bronze is the symbol of the righteousness of God, showing on earth what He is for sinful man. The temple furniture was gold. The furniture of the court was bronze, cast in the earth.
Where the bronze ended up matters too, and one writer draws a line to our own day:
The bronze pillars and the bronze sea were broken in pieces to be taken to Babylon… There was so much bronze in these many articles that it was beyond measure. All these things were God's property, and they picture what only faith can truly take hold of. But when they went to Babylon (which means "confusion"), they were put in connection with idol worship. Today too, false religion has taken for itself what belongs to God and uses it for its own unholy profit.
The plunder of the temple ended one era and began another:
In time the terrible day came. The Lord could no longer put up with the evil nation, and He gave everything up to destruction. With sorrow of heart the inspired writer tells how the famous pillars Jachin and Boaz were broken up, along with the bases, the cast metal sea and the twelve bronze bulls. All of it was then loaded up as scrap in a dismal convoy of wagons and carried off to Babylon! This is how "the times of the Gentiles" began, and they are not ended yet. Israel still bleeds, and the nations of the earth find no rest. Oh, the folly of sin against God!
What went to Babylon did not stay there. Later a Persian king sent the temple articles back, counted out one by one:
More important still, King Cyrus acted over the articles that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem. He had them brought out of the temple of his idols, to send them back to their rightful place. He knew that Babylon's idols were not God. The Persian treasurer, Mithredath, counted these out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. The record of them was faithfully kept… The total number of gold and silver articles was 5,400.
- Establish — Jachin meant "He shall establish." It was a promise about the future, not a picture of Israel at that time. So the pillar could fall and the promise still stand.
- Strength — Boaz meant "in Him is strength." Judah's unfaithfulness drove that strength away, and God destroyed the pillars instead of establishing them.
- Confusion — the pillars, stands and sea were God's property, yet they ended up in Babylon among idols. One writer applies this to false religion that still profits from what belongs to God.
- Gentiles — the convoy of broken bronze opened the times of the Gentiles, a period writers say is not yet over.
- Counted — Cyrus brought the vessels out of the idol temple and had them counted back to Judah. God's last word is the pillars' word: He will yet establish the reign of His anointed.
The cauldrons also and the shovels and the knives and the cups, and all the vessels of copper wherewith they ministered, they took away.
Verse 14 reads like an inventory clerk's list of small metal objects, all carried off to Babylon. Why does Scripture record such small items at all? And what does it mean that the tools of God's own service ended up in pagan hands?
These were not the temple's golden showpieces. The metal they were made of shows where they were used.
Verse 11 mentions pots, shovels and bowls, and verse 16 tells us they were made of polished bronze (or copper). So they were used outside the temple, with the sacrifices and the fire provided for the sacrifices. The furniture inside the temple was either solid gold or covered with gold.
The vessels shared the people's captivity, and one writer sees the sting in that.
The Babylonians carried the vessels away into captivity. How moving it is to think that things once dedicated to the service of God were now in the grip of the pagans, held for the sinister religion of Babylon.
Several deportations stripped Jerusalem. One writer asks which of them counted most in God's reckoning.
Three deportations took place, and the last of them did the most damage. The temple was burnt, and very large numbers were led captive. But the 70 years of captivity count from the first deportation — the one we would call relatively unimportant. Why was this first one the important one in God's eyes? It's because of the vessels. Nebuchadnezzar had taken the vessels of the Temple to Babylon, and even put them into the house of his idols. Such a thing had never happened before. True, some kings had taken silver from the treasury, and even from the door panels of the temple, to buy off the king of Assyria. But no one had ever touched the holy vessels.
Captivity did not change what these things were in God's eyes. One writer explains why a Babylonian king's drinking party became a direct insult to God.
The crowning sin of this drinking party was the direct insult Belshazzar offered to the God of Israel, the God of heaven. The holy vessels were still holy in God's eyes, however much the sins of His kings and priests had polluted them. They had been used in the house where He had put His name for ever, the house where His eyes and His heart were always to be. True, in judgment He had let them share the captivity of His people. But He could not let the Gentile king and his immoral companions defile them. That would have gone against everything He was and everything He purposed.
One writer sees the same pattern at work today.
All these things were God's property. They are pictures of what only faith can truly take hold of. But when they were carried to Babylon — a name that means "confusion" — they were put in connection with idol worship. False religion does the same today. It takes over what belongs to God and uses it for its own unholy profit.
The raid also broke up the temple's two great pillars, Jachin and Boaz. One writer reads their fall as the end of one story — but not of God's promises.
Even the two pillars of the temple are broken in pieces and carried away to Babylon, along with all the brass, the gold and the silver of the house of God. The Lord had been despised. What was left for Jachin and Boaz to do at Jerusalem? Judah's unfaithfulness had driven away the strength that was in the Lord, and God had destroyed it instead of establishing it. So ends the history of man, placed under responsibility before God. God must give him up — but He never takes back His promises. He will set up again the reign of His anointed on these two wonderful pillars, and that reign will never be shaken.
- Ordinary. The pots, shovels and snuffers were plain bronze tools of the altar, not golden showpieces. Scripture still lists them one by one.
- Stolen. Tools dedicated to God's service ended up serving the religion of Babylon.
- Decisive. Earlier kings had raided the temple treasury, but no one had touched the holy vessels. God started counting the seventy years from the day Nebuchadnezzar took them.
- Still His. Exile never cancelled their holiness. God let them share His people's captivity, but He would not let a pagan king defile them.
- Restored. Judah's unfaithfulness left God tearing down instead of establishing. Yet He never takes back a promise. He will set up the reign of His anointed on those pillars, never to be shaken.
And the censers and the bowls, that which was of gold in gold, and that which was of silver in silver, the captain of the body-guard took away.
The Babylonian officer stripped the temple before he burned it, and verse 15 reaches the small implements — weighed out as plain gold and silver. Why record the inventory of a looted building, and what did Judah lose when these objects left Jerusalem?
The word behind "fire pans" belongs to the service of incense. A dictionary entry traces it across the Old Testament:
A small metal vessel, made to hold burning coals from the altar. The priest sprinkled incense on the coals, so that a cloud of incense might rise from it (Lev. 10:1; Lev. 16:12). Solomon made some of gold (1 Kings 7:50; 2 Chr. 4:22; Heb. 9:4; Rev. 8:3, 5)... The same Hebrew word is translated 'fire-pan' in Ex. 27:3; Ex. 38:3; 2 Kings 25:15; Jer. 52:19.
One commentator dates this stripping to the days just before the fire:
Evidently verses 13-17 refer to what took place before Nebuzaradan burned the temple... The firepans, basins and things of solid gold and solid silver were also taken (vv.14-15).
These objects had an owner, and it was not Judah. The same writer follows them into Babylon:
All these things were God's property. They stand for what only faith can take hold of. But when they were carried to Babylon — a name that means 'confusion' — they were put in connection with idol worship. Today false religion does the same: it takes what really belongs to God and uses it for its own unholy profit.
Changing hands did not change what these objects were. Another writer says God still counted them holy in a Gentile king's hands:
The holy vessels were still holy in God's eyes, however much the sins of His kings and priests had polluted them. They had served in the house where He had put His name for ever, and where His eyes and His heart were to be always (1 Kings 9:3). True, in judgment He had let them share the captivity of His people. But He could not let the Gentile king and his immoral friends defile them. That would not fit with all that He was, or with all that He purposed. It was not only that the king, his princes, his wives and his concubines drank from them; they drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
These were working tools, not ornaments. One writer carries the loss through to the present day:
Without vessels, it was impossible to bring the sacrifices God had prescribed. No vessels, no worship! This is the tragedy. Does it not remind us of a sad fact? Wide parts of Christendom have lost the whole idea of worship, above all worship together. Concerts, performances, and all sorts of things have taken the place of meetings for worship... The Father seeks one thing: worshippers.
Judah's real loss was not metal. One writer reads the smashing and carrying off of the temple's structures and treasures as God undoing what He had once set up:
Even the two pillars of the temple are broken in pieces and carried away to Babylon. So is all the brass, the gold, and the silver of the house of God. The Lord had been despised. What use were Jachin and Boaz, those two pillars, at Jerusalem now? The strength that was in the Lord had departed through Judah's unfaithfulness, and God had destroyed it instead of establishing it.
The story does not end in Babylon. One commentator counts what came back:
The dominant feature at the beginning of these 70 years is that the glory of the temple was itself taken away captive — the glory of the service of the worship of the Lord... At the time of Judah's restoration, all these objects came back, 5400 of them (Ezra 1:9-11). This was even the most characteristic feature of the exodus that was to bring the remnant of the people back to their land.
- Vessels named. The fire pans held burning coals from the altar, so that a cloud of incense could rise. The same Hebrew word is also translated "censer."
- Vessels owned. Everything on the list was God's property. In Babylon it was tied to idol worship — and false religion still takes what belongs to God for its own profit.
- Vessels still holy. Captivity did not cancel their holiness. They had served in the house where God put His name, and He would not let a foreign king defile them.
- Vessels missing. No vessels meant no sacrifices. The tragedy of the chapter is lost worship, not lost gold.
- Vessels restored. God pulled down what Judah's unfaithfulness had emptied out. Yet He counted every article, and the return of all 5,400 marked the remnant's homecoming.
The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of Jehovah for the brass of all these vessels there was no weight.
Jerusalem has fallen, and the account ends not with the ruins but with an inventory of temple metal. Why does the record stop to name the beautiful things Babylon broke up, and add that their bronze was past weighing?
The order of events matters. This list belongs to the days before the temple was set on fire.
Clearly verses 13-17 refer to what happened before Nebuzaradan burned the temple. Babylon's men broke the bronze pillars and the bronze sea in pieces to carry them away. There was so much bronze in these many articles that no one could measure it. All these things were God's property. They stand for what only faith can take hold of. But when they were carried to Babylon — a name that means "confusion" — they were brought into connection with the worship of idols. Today too, false religion has taken for itself what really belongs to God, and uses it for its own unholy profit.
The two pillars were not decoration. They stood at the front of the temple, and their names carried a message to every worshipper.
The bronze pillars stood in front of the porch of the temple, and they caught the eye at once. They put the principles of the kingdom on open display. As we have already said, the temple has no other pillar. Their names were Jachin (He shall establish) and Boaz (in Him is strength). These were the two great truths pictured for everyone who shared in the blessed reign of Solomon. Everything came from Him; in Him, in His own person, there is strength. He holds Himself up and needs no help from outside. His strength establishes others; it never needs establishing.
The same writer asks what Jachin and Boaz still had to do in Jerusalem. He answers on two sides: judgment now, and promise later.
Even the two pillars of the temple are broken in pieces and carried off to Babylon, along with all the bronze, the gold, and the silver of the house of God. The people had despised the Lord. What did Jachin and Boaz still have to do in Jerusalem? The strength that was in the Lord had gone, because Judah was unfaithful, and God had broken it down instead of establishing it. So ends the story of man under responsibility before God. God must give him up — but He never takes back His promises. He will set up the reign of His anointed again on those two wonderful pillars, and that reign will never be shaken.
Bronze past weighing was not new to this house. The same abundance marked it from the day it was built.
The temple had many bronze vessels. Before David died, the leaders of Israel gave 18,000 talents of bronze, on top of what they gave in gold, silver, and iron (1 Chron. 29:7). And that was not all. "Solomon left all these vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them; the weight of the bronze was not ascertained" (1 Kings 7:47).
None of this caught Judah by surprise. Jeremiah had already warned the men in charge of worship about these very vessels.
Jeremiah also speaks to the priests — the men responsible for the religious life of the nation. He warns them in particular about "the vessels of the LORD's house" (27:16). The false prophets promised that these vessels would soon come back from Babylon. They would not. Instead, the vessels still left in the temple would be carried away too. Such a sad outlook should have brought the men in charge of God's worship to repentance. But they did not care.
The pillars were not the only loss. The sea, the stands and the bulls went with them, and their leaving marked a turn in world history.
With a sad heart the inspired historian tells us how they broke up the famous pillars Jachin and Boaz, the stands, the cast-bronze sea, the twelve bronze bulls and the rest — and loaded it all up as "scrap" in a grim train of wagons for Babylon! "The bronze of all these things was beyond weight" (Jer. 52:20). This is how "the times of the Gentiles" began, and they have not ended yet. Israel still bleeds, and the nations of the earth find no rest. Oh, the folly of sin against God!
- Given — The bronze was past weighing from the start. Solomon built the house out of that abundance.
- Named — Two pillars preached two truths: He will establish, and in Him is strength.
- Warned — Jeremiah told the priests that the rest of the vessels would go to Babylon. They should have repented. They did not care.
- Broken — Judah was unfaithful, so the strength was gone. God broke down what He had once built, and the beautiful things left as scrap.
- Restored — God never takes back His promises. The reign of His anointed will yet stand on those same two pillars, and nothing will shake it.
The height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the capital upon it was brass, and the height of the capital three cubits; and the network and the pomegranates, upon the capital round about, all of brass and similarly for the second pillar with the network.
Verse 17 stops in the middle of a demolition report to measure what Babylon's soldiers had just smashed: the bronze pillars, their crowns, their latticework, their pomegranates. Why does a record of ruin dwell on beauty that no longer exists?
The two pillars in view had names, and the names were a promise about God's kingdom.
BOAZ and JACHIN were the names given to two pillars in the porch of the temple Solomon built. JACHIN means "He will establish," and BOAZ, "in Him is strength." This implies that God will establish the kingdom in strength and in peace, under the rule of Christ. So the names picture the coming age. There seems to be a reference to these pillars in Revelation 3:12, where the overcomer is made a "pillar" in the temple of God.
reason: verse's "eighteen cubits" never explained — depth gap
In 1 Kings 7:16 the capitals — or crowns, as the Hebrew word Cotharoth means — are five cubits high. Verse 19 gives the lily work as four cubits. And 2 Kings 25:17 says, "The height of the capital was three cubits." I take it that each of these capitals had four parts:
1. a square ledge on top, half a cubit thick, on which were the pomegranates; 2. a similar ledge at the bottom; 3. a bowl one cubit deep (1 Kings 7:41); 4. a bulge of three cubits (1 Kings 7:20).
The last two together, covered with LILY WORK, would make FOUR cubits, and the two ledges would complete the height of FIVE cubits.
The pomegranates here also appear on the robe of Israel's high priest, paired with bells.
In the Word the pomegranate seems to be the image of fruit borne for God. The hem of the high priest's garment was trimmed with bells and pomegranates one after the other (Ex. 28:31-35). The bells represent the testimony, the pomegranates, the fruit… Our fruit should bear the character of Christ and be worthy of Him. It should also match our testimony, just as the pomegranates were the same in number as the golden bells. One often finds Christians with more bells than pomegranates, more words than fruit!
The pillars promised that God would establish the kingdom in His strength. Their fall was His own doing, not an accident.
Even the two pillars of the temple are broken in pieces and carried away to Babylon. So are all the brass, the gold, and the silver of the house of God. The Lord had been despised. What did Jachin and Boaz still have to do at Jerusalem? Judah's unfaithfulness had driven away the strength that was in the Lord. God had destroyed it instead of establishing it.
That is the answer to the puzzle of this verse — a loving inventory inside a demolition report.
David's royal house has forfeited everything by unfaithfulness; but Christ will restore it all in the day of His power. Meanwhile, Solomon's famous pillars have been broken up as scrap, and carried to Babylon (Jer. 27:19-22; Jer. 52:17-23). The Holy Spirit dwells mournfully upon their beauty while recording their destruction.
Where the bronze ended up mattered too. One writer draws a present-day parallel:
All these things were God's property. They stand for what only faith can truly take hold of. But when they were carried to Babylon — a name that means "confusion" — they were placed in connection with idol worship. Today also false religion has taken for itself what really belongs to God and uses it for its own unholy profit.
Fire could melt the bronze. It could not touch what the bronze declared.
But even if the material pillars have disappeared, the moral pillars remain. The day will come when the Lord in whom is strength will show everyone that He has established in righteousness a kingdom which will never be moved.
- Named — the pillars meant "He will establish" and "in Him is strength": a kingdom held up under the rule of Christ.
- Adorned — the capital, latticework and pomegranates were beauty by measure. As on the high priest's robe, the fruit matched the testimony.
- Broken — the Lord had been despised, so the pillars had nothing left to say in Jerusalem. God pulled them down instead of holding them up.
- Removed — God's own bronze ended up serving idols in Babylon. False religion still takes God's things for its own gain.
- Re-established — the pillars are gone, but their promise stands. The kingdom He establishes will never be moved.
And the captain of the body-guard took Seraiah the high priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers.
Jerusalem has fallen. Babylon's soldiers have burned the temple. Now their commander turns to the men who served at the house of God: the chief priest, his deputy, and the three who kept the doors. Why does the list of prisoners begin with the priests, and does the priestly line die with them?
Seraiah heads the list. One reference work gives his family line and his end:
He was the son of Azariah, and high priest in the reign of Zedekiah. When Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem, he was carried to Riblah and put to death there. 2 Kings 25:18; 1 Chr. 6:14; Jer. 52:24.
He was not seized alone. The soldiers also took the doorkeepers, army officers and the king's advisers. One commentator follows the list to its end:
Verse 19 then lists the men whom the captain of the guard found in the city: Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, three doorkeepers … and sixty others. Nebuzaradan took all of these captive and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah (v.20). Nebuchadnezzar let none of them live; by his order they were all put to death (v.21). This completed the captivity of Judah and the desolation of Jerusalem.
The priests fell with the nation, not instead of it. One writer ties king, priest and people together:
When humiliation comes, it is no use blaming others, this one or that one. The blame belongs to God's people as a whole — to ourselves — especially if we carry the chief responsibility to act. Here the king had an immense place, and of course the priests also. If the king was righteous, the Lord always blessed the people for his sake alone. If the king was godless, his evil brought discipline on the people. Sadly, where there was a godless king, there was a godless people too. We may say, Like people, like king; and not only "Like people, like priest."
The deputy priest taken here is not a stranger to the book of Jeremiah:
Son of Maaseiah and 'second' priest in the reign of Zedekiah; he was carried captive to Nebuchadnezzar and slain at Riblah. 2 Kings 25:18; Jer. 21:1; Jer. 29:25, 29; Jer. 37:3; Jer. 52:24.
Twice this man carried the king's errand to Jeremiah. On one of those visits the request was for prayer, at a moment when the siege had briefly lifted and things looked hopeful:
This was the time of patience which the Lord usually gives, when evil men have not yet declared themselves openly and fully. Appearances favour the false against the true for a while, and so faith is tested more fully. The prophet was not yet openly despised or persecuted. The king was still seeking his prayers through one of the priestly house of Aaron, as well as through a minister of the government.
The death of the priests was part of a larger stripping. One writer finds the point of the whole scene in the temple's two pillars, Jachin and Boaz:
The people are carried away to Babylon; the priests and those who had helped with the resistance die a violent death at Riblah. … Even the two pillars of the temple are broken in pieces and carried away to Babylon. So are all the brass, the gold, and the silver of the house of God. The Lord had been despised. What place was left for Jachin and Boaz at Jerusalem? … So ends the history of man, placed under responsibility before God. God must give him up — but He never takes back His promises. He will re-establish the reign of His anointed upon these two marvelous pillars, and this reign will be unshakeable.
Seraiah died, but his family line did not end at Riblah. The high priest of the returning exiles was his own grandson:
Joshua is mentioned several times in Zechariah. He was the first high priest after the captivity… He and Zerubbabel are prophetic types of our Lord as the King-Priest. Joshua was the son of Josedech (Jehozadak), the high priest whom the Babylonians carried into captivity (1 Chron. 6:15). He was the grandson of Seraiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar put to death at Riblah after the capture of Jerusalem.
- Named: The prisoner list opens with the priests — Seraiah, Jerusalem's last high priest of the old order, and Zephaniah his deputy.
- Warned: Zephaniah himself carried the king's plea for prayer to Jeremiah. He stood near the prophet's word, and still died at Riblah.
- Shared: Judgment did not fall on priests apart from the nation — "like people, like king," and "like people, like priest."
- Stripped: The priests died at Riblah, and even the temple pillars were broken up. So ends the story of man under responsibility.
- Preserved: God's promises hold where man's office fails. Seraiah's own grandson Joshua served as high priest for the returned remnant, and the reign of God's anointed will stand unshaken.
And out of the city he took a chamberlain that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king's presence, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the captain of the host, who enrolled the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land that were found in the city.
Jerusalem has fallen, and the commander of Babylon's guard now walks the ruins arresting the men who had run the city. Why does Scripture pause to list their offices, and what became of them?
One writer sets out the whole group the captain of the guard collected, and what happened to them next.
Verse 19 then lists many men whom the captain of the guard found in the city. They were Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, three doorkeepers, an officer in charge of the men of war, five men of the king's close associates, the chief recruiting officer of the army, and sixty others who were found in the city. Nebuzaradan took all of these captive and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah (v.20). None of them were allowed to live. Nebuchadnezzar ordered them all put to death (v.21). This completed the captivity of Judah and the desolation of Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 52 records the same round-up a second time, and its list does not match the one in Kings. One writer weighs the difference.
It is remarkable that among the prisoners listed in verse 25, we have seven men here who correspond to five men in 2 Kings 25:19. I take it that two more were added. This inspired account notices them, in addition to the more general description given in the history. There were five, but this does not prevent the addition of two more in an account of greater detail.
The arrests reached every office that held the nation together. One writer sets these deaths beside the stripping of the temple.
The people are carried away to Babylon; the priests and those who had helped with the resistance die a violent death at Riblah. The last traces of the power and prosperity of Judah disappear after this attack. Even the two pillars of the temple are broken in pieces and carried away to Babylon. All the bronze, the gold, and the silver of the house of God go with them. The Lord had been despised. What use were Jachin and Boaz still at Jerusalem? The strength that was in the Lord had gone through Judah's unfaithfulness. God destroyed it instead of establishing it. So ends the history of man, placed under responsibility before God. God must give him up — but His promises cannot be taken back. He will set up again the reign of His anointed on these two wonderful pillars, and that reign will never be shaken.
Jachin and Boaz were the temple's two great pillars. Their names spoke of God establishing and strengthening, and God still keeps the promise those pillars carried.
These men were not just losers in a local war. The king they were brought to begins something the world has not seen the end of.
In 2 Kings 24 the mighty king of Babylon first comes before us — Nebuchadnezzar, the one destined to begin the great imperial system that we have not finished with yet. The world is still to see the last phase of the imperial power that began at this very time, or shortly after. This gives deep interest to what we are now looking at. Here we find the last phase of Jerusalem's sorrowful history — the last group of Jews carried down into captivity.
With the officials dead and the people deported, the land lay empty. That emptiness had a fixed length and a reason.
The seventy-year captivity had begun. The word of the Lord through Jeremiah was that the land would enjoy its Sabbaths: "All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years" (2 Chron. 36:21).
- Taken — the men. Judah lost the men who ran it: a court officer, the commander of the soldiers, five royal advisers, the recruiting officer, and sixty citizens.
- Taken — to Riblah. Nebuzaradan brought them to the king of Babylon, who put them all to death. That finished the captivity of Judah and the desolation of Jerusalem.
- Taken — counted twice. Jeremiah 52 lists seven men where Kings lists five. The prophecy gives the fuller detail, the history the more general description.
- Taken — the props. Priests, fighters, advisers and even the temple pillars went together. Judah's strength was in the Lord, and unfaithfulness had sent it away.
- Taken — not forever. The emptied land kept its Sabbaths for seventy years, and God promised to set up the reign of His anointed again on those same two pillars.
And Nebuzar-adan the captain of the body-guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah;
Jerusalem has fallen, and Nebuzaradan, the commander of Babylon's guard, marches one last group of prisoners north to the king. Who were these men, and why were they taken so far?
Riblah was not a random spot on the map. Judah's last king, Zedekiah, had already been dragged there with his sons.
He was brought, with his sons, to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah. It stood on the high road between Palestine and Babylon, where the Babylonian kings stayed while they directed the operations of their armies in Palestine and Phoenicia.
These prisoners were not ordinary citizens. They ran the temple and the army, and every one of them met the same end.
Verse 19 lists the men whom the captain of the guard found in the city. They were Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, three doorkeepers, an officer in charge of the men of war, five of the king's close associates, the chief recruiting officer of the army, and sixty others. Nebuzaradan took all of these captive and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah (v.20). None of them were allowed to live. Nebuchadnezzar ordered them all put to death (v.21). This completed the captivity of Judah and the desolation of Jerusalem.
Two things died at Riblah: the priesthood and the resistance. One writer sets this beside the breaking up of the temple's two great pillars, Jachin and Boaz.
The people are carried away to Babylon. The priests and those who had helped with the resistance die a violent death at Riblah. The last traces of the power and prosperity of Judah disappear after this attack. Even the two pillars of the temple are broken in pieces. They are carried to Babylon, along with all the bronze, the gold, and the silver of the house of God. The Lord had been despised. What did Jachin and Boaz still have to do at Jerusalem? The strength that was in the Lord had departed through Judah's unfaithfulness. God had destroyed it instead of establishing it.
The same writer does not stop at the ruin. The pillars still have a future.
So ends the history of man, placed under responsibility before God. God must give him up — but He never takes back His promises. He will re-establish the reign of His anointed upon these two marvellous pillars. That reign will be unshakeable.
Jeremiah's account of the same deportation counts the prisoners differently. One commentator explains why.
It is remarkable that among the prisoners listed in verse 25, we have seven men here who answer to five men in 2 Kings 25:19. I assume that two more were added. This inspired account notices them in addition to the more general description given in the history. There were five, but this does not prevent the addition of two more in a notice of greater detail.
The executions at Riblah were not a sudden stroke. God had gone on warning Judah to the last day.
To have the complete history, you must read the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. They give the inner history of the spirit of the people, and of the king. They show the condition that drew down the judgment. They also show the patience of God, who kept sending them deeply moving calls to repentance, even until the very taking of the city — alas, in vain. And the times of the Gentiles began.
That last phrase marks a turn in world history. Something left Jerusalem that had been with Israel since Egypt.
The symbol of God's presence had never left them since their redemption out of Egypt, except for a little while in Samuel's day. Now it departed entirely, and Jerusalem was no longer the place of the Lord's throne. The whole order of things that depended on His dwelling at Jerusalem was set aside. Universal supremacy now went to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, the first great chief of the Gentiles. It was with him that "the times of the Gentiles" began.
- Patience — God kept calling Judah back through Jeremiah and Ezekiel until the day the city fell. Riblah came after long patience, not sudden anger.
- Place — Riblah sat on the high road between Palestine and Babylon. Babylon's kings ran their campaigns from there, so the prisoners were marched to the king.
- People — the chief priest, the second priest, doorkeepers, army officers, the king's advisers. Worship and defence fell together, and no one survived.
- Pillars — Jachin and Boaz were broken up and carried off. Judah's strength was in the Lord, and it left them when they were unfaithful.
- Promise — man under responsibility had to be given up, but God never takes back His promises. He will yet set up the reign of His anointed on those same pillars, and it will be unshakeable.