What Jeremiah had predicted for so long finally became a reality for Judah. There are four chapters in the Bible that record the fall of Jerusalem reflecting the importance of this event (39; 52; 2 Kings 25; 2 Chron. 36).
39:1-2 Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army captured Jerusalem and began its siege in 588 B.C. It took the Babylonians about eighteen months to breach the walls of the city, which they did in 586 B.C. (cf. 52:4-6).499
39:3 All the officials of the Babylonian army entered the city and eventually took their places at a gate in the middle of the city, in fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy in 21:4. This Middle Gate was evidently an opening in a wall that separated two parts of Jerusalem. This is the only reference to this gate in the Bible.
The writer mentioned two, three, or four of the Babylonian officials by name: Nergal-sar-ezer, Samgar-nebu, Sar-sekim the Rab-saris or chief official, and perhaps another Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag or chief magi. Nergal-sar-ezer was probably Nebuchadnezzar's son-in-law who ascended the throne of Babylon in 560 B.C. The writer may have described him with two different titles in this verse, or there may have been two men with the same name. Samgar may be the title of Nergal-sar-ezer, and Nebu may describe a geographical district that he ruled.500
"In its context v. 3 is a parenthesis describing one of the things that was done soon after the fall of Jerusalem. Its true context is at v. 13, where it is inserted again in the first account of Jeremiah's release."501
39:4 When Zedekiah saw the invaders within the city, he and many of the Judean soldiers tried to escape by night exiting Jerusalem by a gate in the king's garden. This was probably the Fountain Gate near the Pool of Siloam (cf. Neh. 2:14; 3:15; 12:37). They took a passageway between the two walls of the city there (cf. Isa. 22:11) and headed east toward the Arabah (Jordan Valley). Zedekiah evidently wanted to escape to Ammon, an ally of Judah's at this time (cf. Ezek. 21:18-23).
39:5 The Chaldean soldiers spotted Zedekiah fleeing and finally caught up with him in the plains near Jericho. They captured him and took him to Nebuchadnezzar, who was at Riblah, an ancient city located on a highway between Egypt and Mesopotamia on the Orontes River in central Aramea (cf. 2 Kings 23:33). Riblah stood about 50 miles south of Hamath and 65 miles north of Damascus. There Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on his rebellious vassal. Nebuchadnezzar evidently did not personally participate in the siege of Jerusalem; his headquarters during this campaign was at Riblah.
39:6-7 Nebuchadnezzar then slew Zedekiah's sons as their father watched as well as the Judean nobles. He also blinded Zedekiah and sent him bound in strong chains to Babylon where he died (cf. 52:11; Judg. 16:21). The last sight Zedekiah saw was the execution of his own children. Truly this last king of David's line was a pathetic figure.
39:8 Back in Jerusalem, the Chaldeans burned the royal palace, the other houses in the city, including the temple (52:13), and broke down the city walls to make it uninhabitable and indefensible.
39:9-10 Nebuzaradan (lit. the chief butcher, an archaic title), the captain of Nebuchadnezzar's bodyguard, was in charge of deporting the Jerusalemites to Babylon. He deported almost everyone who was left in the city plus the Judahites who had defected to the Babylonians. The only native inhabitants that he left behind were some of the poorest of the people to whom he gave vineyards and fields. It was in Babylon's best interests to maintain the agricultural productivity of Canaan.
