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| 1 And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead, in Jerusalem. |
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| 2 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. |
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| 3 And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, and imposed a fine upon the land of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. |
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| 4 And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt. |
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| 5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and he did evil in the sight 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 came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him with chains of brass to carry him to Babylon. |
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| 7 And Nebuchadnezzar carried part of the vessels of the house of Jehovah to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon. |
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| 8 And the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead. |
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| 9 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem; and he did evil in the sight 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 king Nebuchadnezzar sent and had him brought to Babylon, with the precious vessels of the house of Jehovah; and he made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem. |
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| 11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years 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 did evil in the sight of Jehovah his God; he humbled not himself before the prophet Jeremiah speaking from the mouth of Jehovah. |
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| 13 And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take oath by God; and he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from returning to Jehovah the 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 All the chiefs of the priests also, and the people, increased their transgressions, according to all the abominations of the nations; and they defiled the house of Jehovah which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. |
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| 15 And Jehovah the God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending; because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling-place. |
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| 16 But they mocked at the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the fury of Jehovah rose against his people, and there was no remedy. |
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 brought up against them the king of the Chaldees, and slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and spared not young man nor maiden, old man nor him of hoary head: he gave them all 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, great and small, and the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, he brought all to Babylon. |
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| 19 And they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces thereof with fire, and all the precious vessels thereof were given up to destruction. |
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| 20 And them that had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they became servants to him and his sons, until the reign 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 by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath, to fulfil 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, that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, and he made a proclamation throughout 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 says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth has Jehovah the God of the heavens given to me, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whosoever there is among you of all his people, Jehovah his God be with him, and let him 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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