In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.
Nebuchadnezzar. The name as written on the monuments is Nabukudurri-uzur, and signifies, according to Sir H. Rawlinson, 'Nebo protects the youth;' according to Dr. Hincks, 'Nebo has formed a warrior.' He was the son of Nabopolassar, the founder of the Chaldee monarchy. The rulers who are entitled 'kings of Babylon' belong to two different periods, separated by the interval of nearly seven centuries. The first period was coeval with the origin of the Assyrian empire, in the 20th century B.C., and terminated in the middle of the 16th century B.C. After the lapse of two centuries, Nineveh rose to be the metropolis of the great Assyrian empire and Babylon being only a provincial capital, the Assyrian kings never assumed to themselves, nor permitted any one to appropriate, the title of king of Babylon. But on the decline and fall of Nineveh, Babylon recovered its metropolitan pre-eminence, and the kings of Assyria again called themselves 'kings of Babylon.' This invasion took place in the inch year of Jehoiakim's, and the first of Nebuchadnezzar's reign (Jeremiah 25:1 cf. 46:2). The young king of Assyria being probably detained at home on account of his father's demise, despatched, along with the Chaldean troops on his border, an army composed of the tributary nations that were contiguous to Judea, to chastise, Jehoiakim's revolt from his yoke. But this hostile band was only an instrument in saluting the divine judgment (2 Kings 24:2) denounced by the prophets against Judah for the sins of the people; and hence, though marching by the orders of the Assyrian monarch, they are described as sent by the Lord, 2 Kings 24:3.