The Destruction Of Jerusalem And Of The Temple Followed By The Taking Of Exiles And The Treasures Of The Temple To Babylon (Jeremiah 52:12-23).
Having taken Jerusalem Nebuzaradan, the commander of the king's bodyguard, burned down the Temple and the royal palace, together with the leading residences of Jerusalem, completely dismantled the defensive walls of Jerusalem (the efficiency with which he did this has been testified to archaeologically), and carried away the cream of the population into exile (which only numbered eight hundred and thirty two, together no doubt with their wives and families) leaving the poorer people to look after the land. He also took the treasures of the Temple as spoils to Babylon.
‘Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,'
One month later Nebuzaradan the captain of Nebuchadrezzar's guard (he ‘stood before the king of Babylon') arrived in Jerusalem, no doubt with strict instructions as to what he was to do. The city had rebelled once too often, and both YHWH and Nebuchadrezzar were sick of it. Nebuzaradan was going to teach them a severe lesson.
2 Kings 25:8 says that it was on the seventh day of the month. This may in fact have been the day on which he started his journey, with Jeremiah giving the arrival date. Or it may be that he arrived at the Babylonian camp outside Jerusalem on the seventh day and had discussions there with the Babylonian commanders in order to plan what he was going to do, prior to actually commencing his activity on the 10th. Jeremiah 52:29 says that it was in the eighteenth year demonstrating that the year of accession was there ignored in the calculation.
‘And he burned the house of YHWH, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, he burned with fire. And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.'
The book of Kings began by describing the building of the house of YHWH and the king's house, in all their splendour (1 Kings 5:1 to 1 Kings 7:12). Now those same houses were to be burned with fire, along with all the other large houses in Jerusalem (no one would bother about the hovels). The walls also of the city were broken down all round the city, something testified to archaeologically. Jerusalem was to be left a ruin, almost uninhabited apart from the poor and the totally defenceless. This was demonstrating that Judah was no longer to be allowed to continue as a semi-independent state.
‘Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest of the people, and the residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude. But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.'
The whole of what remained of the repopulated Jerusalem (it had had to be repopulated following what happened in 597 BC) were transported to Riblah, even those who had surrendered to the Babylonians during the siege (those who ‘fell away to the king of Babylon'). ‘The residue of the multitude' probably refers to those who had taken refuge in the city before the siege began. All were carried away captive because of their connection with Jerusalem.
The land was not, however, to be left totally deserted and of those transported to Riblah were the common and unimportant folk (and there would be many of them) who were left in the land in order to maintain its agriculture and pay tribute to Babylon. Thus while Jerusalem itself was now almost deserted and in ruins, the land around remained populated and was tended, although hardly initially being in good condition. Those who were left of Judah still survived in the land, and they would no doubt be supplemented by those who came out of hiding in the mountains once the Babylonian forces had withdrawn. Thus it is wrong to think of Judah as totally deserted. Babylon's purpose had been to draw Judah's teeth, not to commit genocide. Furthermore as far as we know Lachish, and possibly other cities, had not been taken, and if so their inhabitants may have been treated more leniently. Gedaliah the new governor would come from Lachish.
A Description Of The Treasures Of YHWH's House Which Were Taken Away.
We are now given a description of the Temple treasures which were removed to Babylon. These included the two huge free-standing pillars which Solomon had erected in front of the Sanctuary, and the great brazen ‘sea', erected on twelve brazen bulls, which had contained water for the cleansing of the priests. Also included were the pots and vessels used in worship, many of which would be stored up in Babylon and made available to them on the decree of Cyrus when the exiles began to return.
‘And the pillars of bronze which were in the house of YHWH, and the bases and the brazen sea which were in the house of YHWH, did the Chaldeans break in pieces, and carried all the bronze from them to Babylon.'
Reference back to the first part of Kings continues (see 1 Kings 7:13 onwards). The two pillars of bronze and the brazen sea which Solomon had made were broken in pieces and their bronze carried back to Babylon. Previously these had been allowed to remain. Now the last remnants of their former glory were being removed. All that Judah had built up was being broken down. Such was the consequence of their disobedience.
‘The pots also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered, they took away, and the cups, and the firepans, and the basins, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the spoons, and the bowls what was of gold, in gold, and what was of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away.'
The description here expands slightly on 2 Kings, but the gist of it is the same. All the means of worship were ‘taken away' for the sake of their valuable metallic content. Many of these had been replacements for those initially taken by the Babylonians in 597 BC (Jeremiah 27:16; 2 Kings 24:13). Some of the bronze ones were possibly taken away as spoils by the soldiers, although the large part would go to the treasury in Babylon, but in contrast the gold and silver was especially watched, and was taken away by the ‘captain of the guard', the commander of the king's bodyguard, no doubt again for the king's treasury. Theoretically at least all worship in Jerusalem had ceased. It is interesting that the silver and gold items that remained were especially taken charge of by Nebuzaradan himself, no doubt in the king's name.
‘The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve brazen bulls which were under the bases, which king Solomon had made for the house of YHWH the bronze of all these vessels was without weight.'
The two huge bronze pillars, and the moulten ‘sea' with its twelve brazen bulls providing support for the bases, could not be weighed, either because they were too heavy, or because they were too cumbersome. They had lasted throughout all Judah's tribulations without being called on for tribute purposes, but now even this reminder of Solomon's glory would be no more. Judah was being stripped bare and left with nothing. All that God had given had been taken away.
‘And as for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a line of twelve cubits encompassed it; and its thickness was four fingers. It was hollow. And on it was a capital of bronze; and the height of the one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates n the capital round about, all of bronze: and the second pillar also had similar to these, and pomegranates. And there were ninety and six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were a hundred on the network round about.'
We have here a detailed description of the two huge pillars of Solomon. More detail is given here than in 2 Kings. “ Kings, however, tells us that ‘the height of the capital was three cubits' compared with five here and in 1 Kings 7:16. The loss of two cubits was possibly due to the necessity for earlier repair work on one of the pillars. Pomegranates were holy symbols prominent in the Sanctuary, and were symbols of fruitfulness and of YHWH's provision.