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| 1 And the people of the land take Jehoahaz son of Josiah, and cause him to reign instead of his father in Jerusalem. |
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| 2 A son of three and twenty years [is] Jehoahaz in his reigning, and three months he hath reigned in Jerusalem, |
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| 3 and turn him aside doth the king of Egypt in Jerusalem, and fineth the land a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold; |
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| 4 and the king of Egypt causeth Eliakim his brother to reign over Judah and Jerusalem, and turneth his name to Jehoiakim; and Jehoahaz his brother hath Necho taken, and bringeth him in to Egypt. |
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| 5 A son of twenty and five years [is] Jehoiakim in his reigning, and eleven years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah his God; |
Eleven years – Link No.43 in the chain of Bible chronology. B50; R1980:4
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| 6 against him hath Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon come up, and bindeth him in brazen fetters to take him away to Babylon. |
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| 7 And of the vessels of the house of Jehovah hath Nebuchadnezzar brought in to Babylon, and putteth them in his temple in Babylon. |
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| 8 And the rest of the matters of Jehoiakim, and his abominations that he hath done, and that which is found against him, lo, they are written on the book of the kings of Israel and Judah, and reign doth Jehoiachin his son in his stead. |
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| 9 A son of eight years is Jehoiachin in his reigning, and three months and ten days he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah; |
Was eight years old – An error of a copyist, should be 18 years. B53
2 Kings 24:8 says 18 years old. HG105:2[HG105:1]
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| 10 and at the turn of the year hath king Nebuchadnezzar sent and bringeth him in to Babylon, with the desirable vessels of the house of Jehovah, and causeth Zedekiah his brother to reign over Judah and Jerusalem. |
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| 11 A son of twenty and one years [is] Zedekiah in his reigning, and eleven years he hath reigned in Jerusalem; |
Reigned – Until the overthrow of the dynasty. R3623:2
Eleven years – Link No.44 in the chain of Bible chronology. B50; R1980:4
This reign was actually ten years, four months and nine days, but is stated in round numbers. B48
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| 12 and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah his God, he hath not been humbled before Jeremiah the prophet [speaking] from the mouth of Jehovah; |
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| 13 and also, against king Nebuchadnezzar he hath rebelled, who had caused him to swear by God, and he hardeneth his neck, and strengtheneth his heart, against turning back unto Jehovah, God of Israel. |
Made him swear by God – The taking of that oath was the immediate cause of his downfall. R3623:2
Stiffened his neck – A figure drawn from the stiffness of neck of a yoke of unruly bullocks, unmanageable, self-willed, resenting every effort to turn them in the right way. R3464:1
Representing those who break the oath of their covenant with the Lord, thus suffering loss in every respect. R3623:3
Let us be faithful to our vow and, for the present, be submissive to the powers that be. R3624:5
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| 14 Also, all the heads of the priests, and the people, having multiplied to commit a trespass according to all the abominations of the nations, and they defile the house of Jehovah that He hath sanctified in Jerusalem. |
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| 15 And Jehovah, God of their fathers, sendeth unto them by the hand of His messengers rising early and sending for He hath had pity on His people, and on His habitation, |
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| 16 and they are mocking at the messengers of God, and despising His words, and acting deceitfully with His prophets, till the going up of the fury of Jehovah against His people till there is no healing. |
Mocked the messengers – Referred to by Jesus in the parable of the Wicked Husbandmen (Mark 12:3-5). R1796:1
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| 17 And He causeth to go up against them the king of the Chaldeans, and he slayeth their chosen ones by the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and hath had no pity on young man and virgin, old man and very aged the whole He hath given into his hand. |
The king – Nebuchadnezzar. B191
Of the Chaldees – Of Babylon. B191
He gave them all – God foresaw the calamities which then came upon his chosen people; he foretold them and permitted them. R3623:5
The final overthrow of the typical kingdom is parallel to the final overthrow of nominal Christendom. R3575:2*
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| 18 And all the vessels of the house of God, the great and the small, and the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king and of his princes the whole he hath brought in to Babylon. |
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| 19 And they burn the house of God, and break down the wall of Jerusalem, and all its palaces they have burnt with fire, and all its desirable vessels to destruction. |
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| 20 And he removeth those left of the sword unto Babylon, and they are to him and to his sons for servants, till the reigning of the kingdom of Persia, |
Away to Babylon – Corresponding to the captivity of the true Church in mystic Babylon. B246; R1483:6
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| 21 to fulfil the word of Jehovah in the mouth of Jeremiah, till the land hath enjoyed its sabbaths; all the days of the desolation it kept sabbath to the fulness of seventy years. |
By the mouth of Jeremiah – Who specifically told, not only of the destruction of the city, but also that it would be 70 years before the return of its inhabitants. (Jer. 25:12; Jer. 29:10) R4893:1
Land had enjoyed – The land did not enjoy her sabbaths while they dwelt upon it. (Lev. 26:34,43) HG59:2
During this time the 70 years of rest were accomplished for the land, but the return feature of the Jubilee was neglected until the antitype in 1874. R4779:5*
The Jews were not forced to keep their sabbaths while in Babylon, but the land was forced to keep these sabbaths while the Jews were in Babylon. R4933:1; Q381:5
Her sabbaths – The sabbath system (the seventh day and fiftieth day, the seventh year and fiftieth year) was a connected whole. R2534:3
Lay desolate – "Without an inhabitant." (Jer. 44:2) HG47:2
Not 70 years captivity, but 70 years desolation. R3624:1, R1372:5, R1976:4
The time of the 70 years desolation of the land began in 606 BC with the carrying away of Zedekiah, not with his father's captivity 11 years previous. R5721:2, R3624:1
The date 606 BC marks the date of the beginning of the "Times of the Gentiles," the final conclusive punishment of "seven times" visited upon the Jewish people. A literal "time," or year, is 12 months of 30 days each; seven "times" would be 2520 days, representing 2520 actual years, ending in 1914. B89; R5721:2; Q356:2
We cannot make 70 years of desolation of the land into 51 years desolation for the sake of harmony with Ptolemy. We reject all of Ptolemy's Canon back of the first year of Cyrus, 536 BC. R3437:3
She kept sabbath – There is no record of Israel's keeping the Jubilees and the Lord here declares that they were neglected. R3624:1
God declared that their observance of the year sabbaths and jubilees was unsatisfactory to him, and he gave them all their jubilees at once. OV100:T
To fulfil – The 70 years desolation of the land of Israel, accomplished by Nebuchadnezzar, fulfilled the entire number of typical jubilee years divinely foreordained. R4779:1*, R3624:2; OV100:1[OV100]; PD48/59
Marking: (1) The beginning of the Great Jubilee cycle; (2) the close of God's typical kingdom; and (3) the beginning of the Times of the Gentiles. R1372:6
Threescore and ten – A period long enough to allow nearly all of them to die in exile, a period in which those who loved idolatry might go their way. R3623:5
The number 70 was put here to show us when the time should come for the Lord to bless Israel and the whole world. Q382:T
These 70 years represent 19 Jubilees imperfectly observed in the period of 950 years from the time the Jews entered Canaan until 19 years previous to the desolation of the land, and 51 additional Jubilees of 49 years each, 2499 years from the observance of the last Jubilee to earth's Great Jubilee, the Times of Restitution of all things, October 1874. B192, B195; R1493:2, R3624:4; OV88:1
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| 22 And in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, at the completion of the word of Jehovah in the mouth of Jeremiah, hath Jehovah waked up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, and he causeth an intimation to pass over into all his kingdom, and also in writing, saying, |
First year of Cyrus – The year 536 BC, a date well established in secular history. The 70 years of desolation of which this is the end is therefore link No.45 in the chain of Bible chronology. The Bible chronology does not go beyond this point at which secular history becomes reliable. B51; R1980:5; B80; HG46:5
The year 536 BC corresponds to 1309 AD, the year when the Papal residence was transferred from Rome to Avignon, marking the first favorable condition for the liberation of the truth from bondage to Papacy (typified by Babylon). R3577:2*
Like every other feature of God's plan, the deliverance of Israel from Babylon was promptly on time. R1483:3
He made a proclamation – The prophet had said that Cyrus would let Israel go, and God had to bend his will until he was in harmony with that prophecy. HG62:2
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| 23 'Thus said Cyrus king of Persia, All kingdoms of the earth hath Jehovah, God of the heavens, given to me, and He hath laid a charge on me to build to Him a house in Jerusalem, that [is] in Judah; who is among you of all His people Jehovah his God [is] with him, and he doth go up.' |
Thus saith Cyrus – Signifying "sun" or "brightness" and representing the deliverance of spiritual Israel out of Babylon the Great by the bright shining of the Sun of Righteousness. R1483:6
God had marked him out by the prophet Isaiah for this very purpose, calling him by name and specifying the work he was to do (Isa. 44:24, 28; Isa. 45:1-6). R1483:3
Who is there – Only a few, about 50,000, learned the lessons which their fathers refused to learn and accepted the offer to return. R3623:6
The remainder of the nation had become so comfortably settled in Babylon, socially and financially, that their interests in these things outweighed their faith in the Abrahamic promise. R3648:3
Let him go up – Not as masters of the land, but as servants of Cyrus and his successors. R1483:5
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