He took also out of the city an eunuch, which had the charge of the men of war,.... The master-master-general of the army:and seven men of them which were near the king's person which were found in the city; or, "saw the face of the king": or rather, "made to see [his] face" ; these were ministers of state, who were always at court, and assisted in councils of state, and introduced persons into the king's presence; in 2Ki 25:19; they are said to be but "five"; but Josephus has seven, as here; perhaps two of them were of less note, and so not reckoned, as Jarchi observes: some will have it, that the two scribes of the judges are left out; but others, more probably, Jeremiah and Baruch, who were first taken, and afterwards dismissed:and the principal scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land; or the scribe of the prince of the army, as the Targum; the general's secretary:and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city: persons of prime note, who, upon the invasion, betook themselves from the country to the city of Jerusalem with their effects, and to defend it.
Josephus calls them rulers or governors. Klmh ynp yarm "ex videntibus facies, [vel] faciem regis", Montanus, Piscator; "de videre facientibus facies regis", Schmidt. Antiqu. l. 10. c. 8. sect. 5.