Brit-Am Commentary (BAC).
Contents:
Fall of the First Temple.
Significance of this day.
The Final End of the First Kingdom of Judah.
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2 Kings 24
2-Kings 25: The Fall of the First Temple
[2-Kings 25:1] Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around.
[2-Kings 25:2] So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
[2-Kings 25:3] By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.
The city was besieged for 3 (9th year) plus 12 (10th year) plus 3 (11th year) for ca. 18 months.
The city held out almost as long as there was food. When the supply of food ended and had been entirely consumed the wall was broken. It is as if the will of the metropolis had been broken by famine and then the enemy was enabled to break in.
[2-Kings 25:4] Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled at night by way of the gate between two walls, which was by the king's garden, even though the Chaldeans were still encamped all around against the city. And the king went by way of the plain.
Chaldeans: This is the Greek rendition of the name. in Hebrew it is Casdim. We have spoken of them above.
Genesis 11:
27 This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran...
Chesed (from whom came the Casdim) was the son of Nahor (Genesis 22:22).
He was therefore the nephew of Abraham.
Chaldean, or Casdi, is another term for Babylonian.
[2-Kings 25:5] But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him.
[2-Kings 25:6] So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they pronounced judgment on him.
[2-Kings 25:7] Then they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, put out the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with bronze fetters, and took him to Babylon.
[2-Kings 25:8] And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
# the captain of the guard # In Hebrew "rav-tabachim" literally the Chief Executioner.
[2-Kings 25:9] He burned the house of the LORD and the king?s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire.
[2-Kings 25:10] And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around.
[2-Kings 25:11] Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the rest of the people who remained in the city and the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon, with the rest of the multitude.
[2-Kings 25:12] But the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers.
The word translated as "farmers" in Hebrew is "yogvim" which is understood to mean growers of cereal crops.
[2-Kings 25:13] The bronze pillars that were in the house of the LORD, and the carts and the bronze Sea that were in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried their bronze to Babylon.
The word translated as bronze in Hebrew is "nechoshet". In Modern Hebrew this word is understood as meaning copper.
In Biblical terms it meant "bronze" which is an alloy of copper and tin.
In some cases however it may mean brass which is an alloy of copper and zinc.
Most tin in the ancient world came from Britain though some came also from Spain and from the Erzebirge region on the border of Germany and Czechia.
[2-Kings 25:14] They also took away the pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priests ministered.
[2-Kings 25:15] The firepans and the basins, the things of solid gold and solid silver, the captain of the guard took away.
These objects were valued not only due to their intrinsic value but also because of their association with the Temple of Solomon whose fame had spread to all the world.
[2-Kings 25:16] The two pillars, one Sea, and the carts, which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure.
[2-Kings 25:17] The height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the capital on it was of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits, and the network and pomegranates all around the capital were all of bronze. The second pillar was the same, with a network.
The non-Israelites hate Israelites.
They do not need a reason.
Amongst both Judah and Israel are also to be found many non-Israelite elements.
Possibly we may all be a mixture as some have suggested.
We need all of us to heighten our Israelite consciousness.
This is what we can do.
Significance of this day.
It is perhaps of interest that this posting was sent out on 19 July 2011 , 17 Tammuz 5771.
This in the Jewish Religion is a Fast Day.
See:
Seventeenth of Tammuz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeenth_of_Tammuz
On this day Jews mourn several events of the past.
Amongst these events was the breaching of the Walls of Jerusalem in Second Temple Times (ca. 70 CE) whereas the walls of Jerusalem
in the First Temple Era which is what our passage deals with as related above were broken on the ninth day [2-Kings 25:3].
Nevertheless we mourn the breaching of the Walls of Jerusalem for both periods on this day.
This day begins a three week period of mourning for the Temple in Jewish Tradition.
This day is in effect a Biblical Proof concerning Judah.
See:
THE JEWS ARE JUDAH
by Steven Collins and Yair Davidiy
http://www.britam.org/judah.html
Jews Observe the Fasts
http://www.britam.org/judah.html#7a
We need to strengthen ourselves our Biblical Israelite Consciousness and to strengthen Judah and the State of Israel.
The Final End of the First Kingdom of Judah
[2-Kings 25:18] And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers.
[2-Kings 25:19] He also took out of the city an officer who had charge of the men of war, five men of the king?s close associates who were found in the city, the chief recruiting officer of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city.
[2-Kings 25:20] So Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
[2-Kings 25:21] Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive from its own land.
Hamath is often described as a city but it should more correctly be considered a large province in northern Syria though there was also a city named Hamath.
The Chronicles of Eri by O'Connor say that the Assyrians used Hamath as a based to colonize Spain and the west. They say that from Hamath the ancestors of the northern Gaeli Irish (and by implication also Scottish) were transported to the west by ship. These events have since been confirmed by other sources and they refer to Israelites from the Ten Tribes.
See our book, "Origin".
http://britam.org/origin.html
See also:
THE CHRONICLES OF ERI
http://britam.org/traditions17.html
[2-Kings 25:22] Then he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left.
[2-Kings 25:23] Now when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah?Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Careah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.
[2-Kings 25:24] And Gedaliah took an oath before them and their men, and said to them, ?Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
[2-Kings 25:25] But it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men and struck and killed Gedaliah, the Jews, as well as the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
The death of Gedaliah was a national tragedy. It caused a final end to the Jewish polity in the land in that Era.
Religious Jews fast (for ca. 12 hours with no food or water) once a year on the day known The Fast of Gedaliah.
This is the FAST OF THE SEVENTH, - 3rd of Tishrei (Gedaliah) mentioned by Zechariah 8:19 as a day that would become a distinguishing mark of Judah.
http://www.britam.org/judah.html#7a
[2-Kings 25:26] And all the people, small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
[2-Kings 25:27] Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison.
Evil-Merodach was the son of Nebuchadnessar.
[2-Kings 25:28] He spoke kindly to him, and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon.
[2-Kings 25:29 So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life.
[2-Kings 25:30] And as for his provisions, there was a regular ration given him by the king, a portion for each day, all the days of his life.
This was the end of the First Kingdom of Judah.
It was the beginning of the Jewish Diaspora.
From here we being the history of the Jews in Exile which includes the story of Daniel and of Queen Esther.
Under Ezra and Nehemiah a small portion of the Jews did return and make a new beginning.
Eventually the renewed Jewish settlement in the Land was to increase and multiply and to reach quite formidable proportions.
This too however was to be destroyed by the Romans and it never encompassed the majority of the Jewish People.
From the Destruction of the First Temple and the Babylonian Exile the majority of Jews were to be found outside of the Land of Israel.
This is still the case in our time though things may be changing.
This is the end of the second Book of Kings.
It signifies the close of a period and a permanent change in the State of Existence of the Israelite Nation.
The Ten Tribes were in Exile. The Ten tribes were more or less congregated together in cohesive units but unaware of who they really were.
The Jews were to be scattered all over the place especially in areas pertaining to Edom and Ishmael.
Paradoxically it was the Jews who were not to forget who their ancestors were.
This had been prophesied by Jacob:
Genesis 49:
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes;
And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
In the above translation the word given as "scepter" in Hebrew is "shevet" meaning "staff" or "rod" and also "Tribe".
"the expression "the obedience of the people" could also be "ingathering of the peoples".
Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel (and others) pointed out these alternate meanings.
The verse may be understood as saying:
Genesis 49:10
# The Tribal-Identification of Judah shall not depart from him
[though it would from the other tribes?]
Nor a lawgiver from amongst his offspring,
Until Shiloh comes [OR, "until the coming to Shiloh]
And to Him shall be the ingathering [and personal identification] of the Other Tribes. #
By "Peoples" (Hebrew "amim" in the plural) here Menasseh ben Israel understood the meaning to be the other Tribes.
The Messiah or agencies belonging to him will enable each and every Israelite to know to what Tribe they belong.
[Malachi 3;3 Talmud, Kiddushin 70;a]
http://britam.org/now/now101.html
This is quoted by Maimonides [Mishneh Torah, The Laws of Kings, ch. 12, no.3]
as a Legal Principle in Jewish Law:
See Also our new article:
What is to be Done? MATTERS FOR CONSIDERATION
Reflections on Brit-Am beliefs Concerning the Ten Tribes and Practical Conclusions.
http://www.britam.org/matters.html
To Make an Offering to Brit-Am!
http://www.britam.org/contribute-Brit-Am.html
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