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New Defender's Study Bible Notes
36:1 Jehoahaz. Three sons of good king Josiah each occupied the throne of Judah for a brief time, and all did “evil in the sight of the LORD”: Jehoahaz (II Kings 23:32); Jehoiakim (II Kings 23:37); and Zedekiah (II Kings 24:19). A grandson, Jehoiachin, reigned for a very short time between Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, and he also “did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD” (II Kings 24:9). The combined rule of all four Kings lasted only twenty-two and one-half years, and all were essentially vassals of either Egypt or Babylon. See note on II Kings 24:12.
36:9 Jehoiachin was eight years old. This is apparently a copyist error, as he already had “wives” at the time (II Kings 24:15). While he also “did evil” during his very short reign, he was not as much a rebel against God as his father and his two uncles. He was thus eighteen years old at the time (not eight—see II Kings 24:8) and, even though carried captive to Babylon, was treated kindly there (II Kings 25:27-30). He did not rebel against Babylonian rule, as had Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, against the warnings of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 36:24-31; 38:17-18). Note II Chronicles 36:12. Jehoiachin only reigned three months, and the context would indicate his actions to have been culpable as an adult.
36:18 brought to Babylon. It is noteworthy that, while the great temple is destroyed, and all its treasures taken to Babylon, no mention whatever is made of its most sacred occupant, the ark of the covenant. God evidently would not allow it to be desecrated again, and so translated it directly (like Enoch and Elijah) to the heavenly temple, where it was seen by John five hundred years later when he himself was translated into the distant future of the end-times (Revelation 11:19).
36:21 mouth of Jeremiah. This prophecy by Jeremiah of a seventy year captivity is found in Jeremiah 25:11 and 29:10. See also Daniel 9:2.
36:21 threescore and ten years. The law had required that the land be allowed to “rest” every seventh year (Leviticus 25:4). Evidently this law had been ignored for some 490 or so years, since about the time of Solomon. Therefore God enforced the law in this most impressive way.
36:22 Cyrus king of Persia. The last two verses of the Chronicles (II Chronicles 36:22-23) are essentially the same as the first three verses of Ezra (Ezra 1:1-3). Quite possibly, this could have been a device used by Ezra to tie the two books together. Although it cannot be proved definitely, the consensus of conservative Old Testament scholars is that Ezra was indeed the author of Chronicles.
