2 Kings 24:1

1. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon For more than half a century after Merodach-baladan, who was contemporary with Hezekiah, and whom Sennacherib defeated and deposed, (see note on 2 Kings 20:12,) Babylonia continued to be an Assyrian fief. But some time during the reign of Josiah, Nabopolassar, the viceroy, revolted from Assyria, and formed an alliance with Cyaxares, the great Median monarch, whom he also assisted in the capture and destruction of Nineveh. By mutual agreement between the two confederates the whole valley of the Euphrates, together with Syria and Palestine, fell to Nabopolassar. He was succeeded by his son Nebuchadnezzar, (written also Nebuchadrezzar,) whom Rawlinson represents as “the great monarch of the Babylonian empire, which, lasting only eighty-eight years, was for nearly half that time under his sway. Its military glory is due chiefly to him; while the constructive energy, which constitutes its especial characteristic, belongs to it still more markedly through his character and genius. It is scarcely too much to say that, but for Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians would have had no place in history. At any rate, their actual place is owing almost entirely to this prince, who to the military talents of an able general added a grandeur of artistic conception, and a skill in construction, which place him on a par with the greatest builders of antiquity.”

There is a difficulty in the date of Nebuchadnezzar’s first invasion of Palestine. According to Daniel 1:1, it occurred in the third year of Jehoiakim; but, according to Jeremiah 25:1, the first year of Nebuchadnezzar synchronized with the fourth of Jehoiakim, and according to Jeremiah 46:2, the defeat of Pharaoh-necho at Carchemish occurred in the same year. We learn, also, from a fragment of Berosus, (in Josephus 2 Kings 10:11 ; 2 Kings 10:1,) that Nabopolassar, being himself too infirm to go to war, put his son Nebuchadnezzar in command of his army, and that the latter reduced the western provinces, which had been for some years subject to Egypt, and made them subject to Babylon before the death of his father. All this is, perhaps, best explained as follows: The Jewish writers, who knew nothing personally of Nabopolassar, would naturally consider and call Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and date his reign from the time he took command of the Babylonian army. Nebuchadnezzar probably started on his western campaign in the latter part of the third year of Jehoiakim, (Daniel 1:1,) and so his first year would synchronize with the greater part of the fourth of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah 25:1. It is possible, as some suppose, that he besieged Jerusalem, and received Jehoiakim’s submission, before the battle of Carchemish, (Jeremiah 46:2;) but this is hardly probable, since the Egyptian garrison at Carchemish would naturally have stood in his way, and would have first engaged his attention. Therefore it would seem that the date mentioned in Daniel 1:1 is either an error, or else to be understood as the time that Nebuchadnezzar began his expedition against Jerusalem.

Jehoiakim became his servant According to 2 Chronicles 36:6, Nebuchadnezzar “bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon.” But it is not said that he carried him to Babylon. Probably that was his intention when he bound him; but upon his submission and pledges of fidelity to his conqueror, the latter contented himself with taking off the vessels of the temple, and a number of captives, among whom were Daniel and his three distinguished companions, (Daniel 1:1-7,) while Jehoiakim was left on the throne at Jerusalem as a vassal king. At the end of three years he revolted, but the king of Babylon was at that time too busy in the eastern part of his empire to attend in person to this rebellion, and did not proceed against Jerusalem until after the death of Jehoiakim.