Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 52:12-23
We have here an account of the woeful havoc that was made by the Chaldean army, a month after the city was taken, under the command of Nebuzaradan, who was captain of the guard, or general of the army, in this action. In the margin he is called the chief of the slaughter-men, or executioners; for soldiers are but slaughter-men, and God employs them as executioners of his sentence against a sinful people. Nebuzaradan was chief of those soldiers, but, in the execution he did, we have reason to fear he had no eye to God, but he served the king of Babylon and his own designs, now that he came into Jerusalem, into the very bowels of it, as captain of the slaughter-men there. And, 1. He laid the t…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 52:13
all the houses . . . and all the houses of the great--the "and" defines what houses especially are meant, namely, the houses of the great men.
John Gill on Jeremiah 52:13
And burnt the house of the Lord,.... The temple built by Solomon, after it had stood four hundred and seventy years, six months, and ten days, according to Josephus (z): but the Jews say it stood but four hundred ten years (a):
and the king's house; the royal palace; probably that which was built by Solomon, 1 Kings 7:1;
and all the houses of Jerusalem: of any note or strength:
and all the houses of the great men burnt he with fire; of the princes and nobles in Jerusalem; it is in the singular number, "and every house of the great one"; or "every great house" (b); Jarchi interprets it of the synagogue, where prayer was magnified; and others, he says, understood it of the schools, where th…
Read the whole note in the consoleKeil & Delitzsch on Jeremiah 52:12-14
The destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple, and the carrying away of the people, which are only very summarily stated in Jer 39:8-10, are here related in complete accordance with the account given in Kg2 25:8-17. The deviations for the most part originated through the freedom exercised by the epitomizer in his work, or only when mistakes were made by later copyists. The text before us has some amplifications (especially the notices regarding the ornaments of the brazen pillars, Jer 52:23) which are found nowhere else in the Old Testament. The difference in date between Jer 52:12 ("on the tenth of the month") and the passage in Kings ("on the seventh of the month") has arisen through one…
