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<p>We have here a very melancholy account, 1. Of the slaughter of some great men, in cold blood, at Riblah, seventy-two in number (according to the number of the elders of Israel, <a class="bibleref" title="Num.11.24,Num.11.25" href="/passage/?search=Num.11.24,Num.11.25"><span class="bibleref" title="Num.11.24">Num. 11:24</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Num.11.25">25</span></a>), so they are computed, <a class="bibleref" title="2Kgs.25.18,2Kgs.25.19" href="/passage/?search=2Kgs.25.18,2Kgs.25.19"><span class="bibleref" title="2Kgs.25.18">2 Kgs. 25:18</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="2Kgs.25.19">19</span></a>. We read there of five out of the temple, two out of the city, five out of the court, and sixty out of the country. The account here agrees with that, except in one article; there it is said that there were five, here there were seven, of those that were <i>near the king</i>, which Dr. Lightfoot reconciles thus, that he took away seven of those that were near the king, but two of them were Jeremiah himself and Ebed-melech, who were both discharged, as we have read before, so that there were only five of them put to death, and so the number was reduced to seventy-two, some of all ranks, for they had all corrupted their way; and it is probable that such were made examples of as had been most forward to excite and promote the rebellion against the king of Babylon. <i>Seraiah the chief priest</i> is put first, whose sacred character could not exempt him from this stroke; how should it, when he himself had profaned it by sin? Seraiah the prince was <i>a quiet prince</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Jer.51.59" href="/passage/?search=Jer.51.59">Jer. 51:59</a>), but perhaps Seraiah the priest was not so, but unquiet and turbulent, by which he had made himself obnoxious to the king of Babylon. The leaders of this people had caused them to err, and now they are in a particular manner made monuments of divine justice. 2. Of the captivity of the rest. Come and see how <i>Judah was carried away captive out of his own land</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Jer.52.27" href="/passage/?search=Jer.52.27">Jer. 52:27</a>), and how it spued them out as it spued out the Canaanites that went before them, which God had told them it would certainly do if they trod in their steps and copied out their abominations, <a class="bibleref" title="Lev.18.28" href="/passage/?search=Lev.18.28">Lev. 18:28</a>. Now here is an account, (1.) Of two captivities which we had an account of before, one in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar (the same with that which is said to be in his eighth year, <a class="bibleref" title="2Kgs.24.12" href="/passage/?search=2Kgs.24.12">2 Kgs. 24:12</a>), another in his eighteenth year, the same with that which is said (<a class="bibleref" title="Jer.52.12" href="/passage/?search=Jer.52.12">Jer. 52:12</a>) to be in his nineteenth year. But the sums here are very small, in comparison with what we find expressed concerning the former (<a class="bibleref" title="2Kgs.24.14,2Kgs.24.16" href="/passage/?search=2Kgs.24.14,2Kgs.24.16"><span class="bibleref" title="2Kgs.24.14">2 Kgs. 24:14</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="2Kgs.24.16">16</span></a>), when there were 18,000 carried captive, whereas here they are said to be 3023; they are also small in comparison with what we may reasonably suppose concerning the latter; for, when all the residue of the people were carried away (<a class="bibleref" title="Jer.52.15" href="/passage/?search=Jer.52.15">Jer. 52:15</a>), one would think there should be more than 832 souls; therefore Dr. Lightfoot conjectures that, these accounts being joined to the story of the putting to death of the great men at Riblah, all that are here said to be carried away were <i>put to death</i> as rebels. (2.) Of a third captivity, not mentioned before, which was in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, four years after the destruction of Jerusalem (<a class="bibleref" title="Jer.52.30" href="/passage/?search=Jer.52.30">Jer. 52:30</a>): Then <i>Nebuzaradan</i> came, and <i>carried away</i> 745 Jews;
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