fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. 20And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: 21to fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.
20, 21 (= 1 Esd. i. 57, 58). The Captivity.
20. to him and his sons] Cp. Jer. xxvii. 7. There were three kings of Babylon after Nebuchadrezzar before Cyrus established Persian rule, viz. Evil-Merodach (Amil-Marduk) (2 Kin. xxv. 27), Neriglissar (Nergalšar-uṣur), and Nabonidus (Nabu-na'id). The last two kings were usurpers. Neriglissar was (it seems) son-in-law to Nebuchadrezzar (Hommel, Babylonia in Hastings' Bible Dict., 1. 229 a, or Sayce in Ency. Brit.^{11}, III. pp. 105, 106). Whether Nabonidus was connected with the royal house is not known.
21. by the mouth of Jeremiah] Cp. Jer. xxv. 11, xxix. 10.
her sabbaths] i.e. years, occurring every seventh year, when the land was to be allowed a respite from cultivation; cp. Lev. xxv. 1—7, xxvi. 34, 35.
threescore and ten years] i.e. two whole generations. It is probable that the Chronicler intended to suggest that the Sabbatical years had been neglected throughout the period (about 490 = 70 × 7 years) during which the kingdom lasted; but, if so, he treats the point somewhat loosely, not troubling about the objection that the reigns of the several God-fearing kings (David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat) would need to be subtracted from this total, and that actually the number of violated Sabbatical years would fall considerably below 70.
22, 23 (= Ezra i. 1—3 a; 1 Esd. ii. 1—5 a). Cyrus Decrees the Rebuilding of the Temple.
These verses are obviously inappropriate as the conclusion of Chron., and their proper place is as the opening words of the book of Ezra, where also they are given. Their exposition properly belongs to the commentaries on Ezra or Esdras, to which accordingly the reader must be referred for fuller notes. These verses were retained here when the separation of Ezra-Nehemiah from Chron. was made (see Introd., § 2), either through mere accident, or perhaps to indicate that Chron. had originally formed one work with Ezra and Nehemiah, but most probably in order to avoid a depressing termination to the book. This last point carries no small weight in view of the fact that in the Hebrew Bible Chron. is the last book. It is interesting to note that to avoid closing the book of Isaiah with the terrible verse (lxvi. 24) which is actually its conclusion, it was customary to repeat after ver. 24 some hopeful words taken from ver. 23. Cp. also the last vv. of 2 Kin.
