2 Kings 25:27 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
2 Kings 25:27
And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;
seven (as the sacred full one) · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular absolute
thirtieth
בִשְׁלֹשִׁ֨יםvish.lo.Shim
H7970
thirty · preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
year
שָׁנָ֗הsha.Nah
H8141
a year (as a revolution of time) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
captivity
לְגָלוּת֙le.ga.Lut
H1546
captivity · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
Jehoiachin
יְהוֹיָכִ֣יןye.ho.ya.Khin
H3078
Jehojakin · proper noun, a man's name
king
מֶֽלֶךְMe.lekh-
H4428
a king · noun, common masculine singular construct
Judah
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 40:20 And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of th…
Jeremiah 52:31-34 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twen…
Genesis 40:13 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh’s cup into his hand,…
2 Kings 24:12 And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: a…
Proverbs 21:1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.
2 Kings 24:15 And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those…
Jeremiah 24:5-6 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 25:22–end
In these verses we have,
I. The dispersion of the remaining people. The city of Jerusalem was quite laid waste. Some people there were in the land of Judah (Kg2 25:22) that had weathered the storm, and (which was no small favour at this time, Jer 45:5) had their lives given them for a prey. Now see, 1. What a good posture they were put into. The king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah, one of themselves, to be their governor and protector under him, a very good man, and one that would make the best of the bad, Kg2 25:22. His father Ahikam was one that countenanced and protected Jeremiah when the princes had vowed his death, Jer 26:24. It is probable that this Gedaliah, by the advice of Jeremiah,…
seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin--corresponding with the year of Nebuchadnezzar's death, and his son Evil-merodach's ascension to the throne.
Evil-merodach . . . did lift up the head of Jehoiachin . . . and spake kindly--gave him liberty upon parole. This kindly feeling is said to have originated in a familiar acquaintance formed in prison, in which Evil-merodach had lain till his father's death, on account of some malversation while acting as regent during Nebuchadnezzar's seven years' illness (Dan 4:32-33). But doubtless the improvement in Zedekiah's condition is to be traced to the overruling providence and grace of Him who still cherished purposes of love to the…
And it came to pass - Nebuchadnezzar was just now dead; and Evil-merodach, his son, succeeded to the kingdom in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin: and on the seven and twentieth day [Jeremiah says five and twentieth] of the twelfth month of that year, (Tuesday, April 15, A.M. 3442), he brought the long captivated Jewish king out of prison; treated him kindly; and ever after, during his life, reckoned him among the king's friends. This is particularly related in the four last verses of the book of Jeremiah.
The Church Fathers
Evil-merodach was the son of Nebuchadnezzar. Since he had ruled the kingdom badly and had, in addition, troubled the land with a severe conflict, when his father came back [from his military campaign], his father imprisoned him, fearing that he might rebel against him. Now he was imprisoned in the same place where also Jehoaichin was imprisoned. There they kept each other company for a long time and became friends. Therefore, after Nebuchadnezzar was dead and Evil-merodach was appointed as the new king, he granted [Jehoiachin] favors and gifts. And this was a reward given to Jehoiachin, because he had obeyed the prophecy and had surrendered, so that God did not refuse him the wage that he had earned.
Jeremiah calls this son of Jehoiakim Jeconiah, and the Pharaoh Neco called the father of this man, though named Eliakim, Jehoiakim, whom Babylon, having carried off, cast forth before the gate, as the present prophet and Josephus in the tenth book of his Antiquities says. And the other editions have given the signet ring as a seal. And every person who through repentance makes shine again what is according to the image becomes a seal, a ring on the "right hand of God." For good works are understood as the part on the right of God, who places "the sheep at the right." The father gave this kind of seal to the profligate son who returned. If Jeconiah had become this way, he would have been a model for those who are subjects of devotion. But that did not happen. Yet he seemed to be persuaded by what the prophet said: "He who goes out to surrender to the Chaldeans who besieged you shall live." For after he brought with him his mother and the mighty men, he left, deserting to the Babylonians. But if he also displays mature repentance, so that he becomes "a seal of righteousness in circumcision." So that, according to this, he seems to be on the right hand of God, he would be delivered, since he did pay a penalty for his recent sins, though one more moderate. For in Babylon, after he chastised in prison and in chains, due to Evil-merodach, he was then set free, becoming one who ate with the king, and thus in a foreign land he finished life.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Chaldees — Or Chaldeans, the inhabitants of the country of which Babylon was the capital. They were so called till the time of the Captivity (2 Kings 25; Isa. 13:19; 23:13), when, particularly in the Book of…
Evil-merodach — Merodach’s man, the son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (2 Kings 25:27; Jer. 52:31, 34). He seems to have reigned but two years (B.C. 562-560). Influenced probably by Daniel, he…
Evilmerodach — (the fool of Merodach), (2 Kings 25:27) the son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar. He reigned but a short time, having ascended the throne on the death of Nebuchadnezzar in B.C. 561, and being himself…
Fast — The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called “the fast” (Acts 27:9). The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old…
Jerusalem — Called also Salem, Ariel, Jebus, the “city of God,” the “holy city;” by the modern Arabs el-Khuds, meaning “the holy;” once “the city of Judah” (2 Chr. 25:28). This name is in the original in the…
Kings, The Books of — The two books of Kings formed originally but one book in the Hebrew Scriptures. The present division into two books was first made by the LXX., which now, with the Vulgate, numbers them as the third…
Prison — The first occasion on which we read of a prison is in the history of Joseph in Egypt. Then Potiphar, “Joseph’s master, took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were…
Babylon · Treatment of the Jews in — Treatment of the Jews in
Captive · Kindness to — Kindness to
Evil-Merodach · Released Jehoiachin from pri — Released Jehoiachin from pri
Jehoiachin
יְהוּדָ֔הye.hu.Dah
H3063
Jehudah (or Judah) · proper noun, a place name
twelfth
בִּשְׁנֵ֤יםbish.Neim
H8147
two · preposition + noun, common both genders dual absolute
month
חֹ֔דֶשׁCho.desh
H2320
the new moon · noun, common masculine singular absolute
seven
וְשִׁבְעָ֖הve.shiv.'Ah
H7651
seven (as the sacred full one) · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular absolute
twentieth
בְּעֶשְׂרִ֥יםbe.'es.Rim
H6242
twenty · preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
month
לַחֹ֑דֶשׁla.Cho.desh
H2320
the new moon · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Evil-merodach
אֱוִ֣יל'e.Vil
H192
Evil-Merodak · proper noun, a man's name
king
מֶ֨לֶךְMe.lekh
H4428
a king · noun, common masculine singular construct
Babylon
בָּבֶ֜לba.Vel
H894
Babel (i.e. Babylon) · proper noun, a place name
year
בִּשְׁנַ֣תbish.Nat
H8141
a year (as a revolution of time) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
reign
מָלְכ֗וֹma.le.Kho
H4427
to reign · verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
up
נָשָׂ֡אna.Sa'
H5375
to lift · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
head
רֹ֛אשׁrosh
H7218
the head (as most easily shaken) · noun, common masculine singular construct
Jehoiachin
יְהוֹיָכִ֥יןye.ho.ya.Khin
H3078
Jehojakin · proper noun, a man's name
king
מֶֽלֶךְMe.lekh-
H4428
a king · noun, common masculine singular construct
Judah
יְהוּדָ֖הye.hu.Dah
H3063
Jehudah (or Judah) · proper noun, a place name
prison
מִבֵּ֥יתmi.Beit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
John Gill on 2 Kings 25:27
And it came to pass in the thirty and seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah,.... Who must then be fifty five years of age:
in the twelfth month, on the twenty and seventh day of the month; in Jeremiah 52:31 it is said to be the twenty fifth day; of the reason of which difference; see Gill on Jeremiah 52:31,
that Evilmerodach king of Babylon; who is supposed, by some (z)", to be the same with Belshazzar, and his successor Neriglissar, the same with Darius the Mede in Daniel. From hence, to the end of the chapter, the same account is given of the kindness of this king to Jehoiachin, as in Jeremiah 52:31. See Gill on Jeremiah 52:31; see Gill on Jeremiah 52:32; see Gill on…
Jehoiachin delivered from prison, and exalted to royal honours (cf. Jer. 42:31-34). - In the thirty-seventh year after his deportation Jehoiachin was taken out of prison by Evil-merodach when he came to the throne. מלכו בּשׁנת, in the year of his becoming king, probably immediately after he had ascended the throne, for it was no doubt an act of grace at the commencement of his reign. את־ראשׁ נשׂא, to lift up a persons' head, i.e., to release him from prison and exalt him to civil honours and dignities (cf. Gen 40:13). On the coincidence of the thirty-seventh year of Jehoiachin's imprisonment and the commencement of the reign of Evil-merodach see the remarks at Kg2 24:12. Instead of the 27th…
Evil-merodach (Babylonian, Amel-marduk, “man of Marduk”) succeeded Nebuchadnezzar II at his death and reigned a short time (561–560 BC). • He was kind to Jehoiachin: Babylonian annals give details of the rations Jehoiachin received in prison. The narrator’s mention of Jehoiachin living in gracious circumstances is perhaps intended to provide hope that God would preserve and restore a repentant people to their land (see 1 Kgs 8:46-53; Isa 35:8-10; 51:11; Jer 29:10-14; Zeph 3:20).
Rashi on 2 Kings 25:27
Evil Merodach … elevated. For Nevuchadnetzar died, and Evil Merodach reigned in his place.
On the twenty-seventh day of the month. But in Yirmiyohu it states, “On the twenty-fifth.”11Yirmiyahu 52:31. Rather, on the twenty-fifth Nevuchadnetzar died and he was buried on the twenty-sixth. On the twenty-seventh, Evil Merodach removed him from his grave and dragged him about,12Evil Merodach was afraid that his father was not really dead and would return to claim his throne. This happened before when Nevuchadnetzar became insane. He left his throne and lived as a wild beast for seven years. See Daniel 4:29-34. In the interim one of his sons was appointed in his place. When Nevuchadnetzar came bac…
Jerusalem · Calamities of, mentioned: Taken and burned by Nebuchadnezzar — Calamities of, mentioned: Taken and burned by Nebuchadnezzar
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
