2 Kings 24:13 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

He carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord Nebuchadnezzar carried away the treasures and rich furniture of the temple at three different times: First, In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, when he first took Jerusalem, he carried a part of the vessels of the house of God into the land of Shinar, and put them in the house of his god, Daniel 1:2. These were the vessels which his son Belshazzar profaned, (Daniel 5:2,) and which Cyrus restored to the Jews, (Ezra 1:7,) to be set up in the temple again, when rebuilt: Secondly, In the reign of this Jehoiachin he took the city again, and cut in pieces a great part of the vessels of gold which Solomon had made, and which, through some means, had escaped his former plunder, and the plunder of the kings of Egypt and Israel, who had rifled the city and temple more than once; perhaps being preserved from them by the care of the priests, who hid them, or by the special providence of God, disposing their hearts to leave them. Or if these vessels had been taken away by any of these kings, they might afterward be recovered at the cost of the pious kings of Judah: Thirdly, In the eleventh year of Zedekiah he pillaged the temple once more, when he broke in pieces the pillars of brass, &c., and took away all the vessels of silver and gold that he could find, and carried them to Babylon, 2 Kings 25:13. It is something strange, that among all this inventory, no mention is made of the ark of the covenant, which, of all other things, was held most sacred. But it is very probable that it was burned, together with the temple, in the last desolation; for what some say of its being hidden by the Prophet Jeremiah in a certain cave in mount Nebo, is a mere fable. See Calmet's Comment. and Dissert. on the Ark.