2 Kings 25:27 - Exposition

And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin King of Judah. According to Berosus and the Canon of Ptolemy, Nebuchadnezzar reigned forty-four years. He carried off Jehoiachin to Babylon in his eighth year ( 2 Kings 24:12 ), and thus the year of his death would exactly coincide with the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of the Jewish prince. In the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month. The five and twentieth day, according to Jeremiah 52:31 , (On the rarity of such exact dates in the historical Scriptures, see the comment on Jeremiah 52:1 .) That Evil-Merodach King of Babylon. The native name, which is thus expressed, seems to have been "Avil-Marduk." The meaning of avil is uncertain; but the name probably placed the prince under the protection of Merodach, who was Nebuchadnezzar's favorite god. Avil-Marduk ascended the Babylonian throne in B.C. 561, and reigned two years only, when he was murdered by Neriglissar, or Nergal-sar-uzur, his brother-in-law. In the year that he began to reign— the year B.C. 561— did lift up the head of Jehoiachin King of Judah out of prison. (For the phrase used, see Genesis 40:13 , Genesis 40:19 , Genesis 40:20 .) The act was probably part of a larger measure of pardon and amnesty, intended to inaugurate favorably the new reign.