We have here, I. A short but sad account of the utter ruin of Judah and Jerusalem within a few years after Josiah's death. 1. The history of it in the unhappy reigns of Jehoahaz for three months (ver. 1-4), Jehoiakim (ver. 5-8) for eleven years, Jehoiach in three months (ver. 9, 10), and Zedekiah eleven years, ver. 11. Additions were made to the national guilt, and advances towards the national destruction, in each of those reigns. The destruction was, at length, completed in the slaughter of multitudes (ver. 17), the plundering and burning of the temple and all the palaces, the desolation of the city (ver. 18, 19), and the captivity of the people that remained, ver. 20. 2. Some remarks upon it--that herein sin was punished, Zedekiah's wickedness (ver. 12, 13), the idolatry the people were guilty of (ver. 14), and their abuse of God's prophets, ver. 15, 16. The word of God was herein fulfilled, ver. 21. II. The dawning of the day of their deliverance in Cyrus's proclamation, ver. 22, 23.
The Destruction of Jerusalem. (b. c. 588.)