And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees. — Jehoiakim’s revolt was no doubt instigated by Egypt. Whilst Nebuchadnezzar himself was engaged elsewhere in his great empire, predatory bands of Chaldeans, and of the neighbouring peoples the hereditary enemies of Judah, who had submitted to Nebuchadnezzar, and were nothing loth to make reprisals for the power which Josiah had, perhaps, exercised over them, ravaged the Judæan territory (comp. Jeremiah 12:8-17, concerning Judah’s “evil neighbours”).
According to the word of the Lord. — Isaiah, Micah, Urijah (Jeremiah 26:20), Huldah, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and doubtless others whose names and writings have not been transmitted, had foretold the fate that was now closing in upon Judah.