2 Kings 24:10-17--Jerusalem Captured

2 Kings 24:10-17
English Standard Version
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Jerusalem Captured
10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. 11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it, 12 and Jehoiachin the king of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, himself and his mother and his servants and his officials and his palace officials. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign 13 and carried off all the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the LORD, which Solomon king of Israel had made, as the LORD had foretold. 14 He carried away all Jerusalem and all the officials and all the mighty men of valor, 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained, except the poorest people of the land. 15 And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon. The king's mother, the king's wives, his officials, and the chief men of the land he took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 And the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor, 7,000, and the craftsmen and the metal workers, 1,000, all of them strong and fit for war. 17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

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Remember that Judah had become a vassal state of Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.  Jehoiackin had already been captured and taken away in chains to Babylon (see 2 Chronicles 36:6), and at the time of that first attack, Nebuchadnezzar also carried of some of the vessels of the house of the LORD (the Temple) and took them back to Babylon with him to be put into the temples of his gods.  The reason Jehoiachin's reign was so short is because he gave himself up to Nebuchadnezzar to also be taken to Babylon.  He also brought with him the rest of the precious vessels from the house of the LORD, and at that time Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiachin's brother Zedekiah to be king over Judah because Nebuchadnezzar wanted to be the king-maker that would choose the member of the royal family that he thought would be most loyal to him and Babylon (see 2 Chronicles 36 as well as verses 12-13 of this chapter).

At this time, Nebuchadnezzar also carried off the mighty men of valor, 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths--everything that would have helped Judah to be able to mount a counter-attack.  They have no army, no ability to make armor, swords, shields, or other weapons, and this is probably the time when the other members of the royal family like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were taken captive as this would prevent any of them from taking the throne away from Zedekiah.

Of the 10,000 captives that were carried away, 7,000 of them were brought to Babylon, along with all the men of valor and all the craftsmen and metal workers (there were 1,000 such craftsmen and metal workers among the group).All of these men of valor and craftsmen were men fit for war, meaning that Nebuchadnezzar probably made them fight in Babylon's army.  This passage ends with what we already said earlier that Nebuchadnezzar put Jehoiachin's uncle in power.  His Jewish name was Mattaniah, but Nebuchadnezzar changed his name to Zedekiah (we'll see this is something Nebuchadnezzar loved to do--to try to change the name and identity of his captives as he tried to make them have a Babylonian worldview and lose attachment to anything, including their name, that would allow them to hold onto their previous identity, culture, and religious beliefs).