2 Kings — Chapter 25

He slew the sons of Sedecias before his eyes: and he put out the eyes of Sedecias, and bound him with fetters of brass, and brought him to Babylon. Lapide: The blinding of Zedekiah after being forced to witness his sons' execution fulfilled in a dreadful way the prediction of Ezekiel (xii.13), that he should be brought to Babylon yet should not see it — for he arrived blind. Lapide notes the terrible irony: his last sight was his sons' deaths, and then he was struck blind. This is the seal of divine justice on a man who twice swore loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar and twice broke his oath.

He burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burnt with fire. Lapide, citing S. Gregory (Pastor. III.Adm.20) and Angelomus: The burning of the temple of Jerusalem is interpreted allegorically by the Fathers: Jerusalem is the soul of the faithful; the temple is the virtue of prayer and the fear of God; Nebuchadnezzar is the devil; the \"prince of the cooks\" (Nabuzardan) is the vice of gluttony, which destroys the walls of the soul (its virtues). \"The prince of cooks tore down the walls of Jerusalem, because when the belly is extended by gluttony, the virtues of the soul are destroyed through lust.\"

The rest of the people that remained in the city, and those that yielded themselves to the king of Babylon, Nabuzardan the general carried away. Lapide: The final deportation is total. Only the poorest vine-dressers and farmers were left. The kingdom of Juda had ceased to exist. Lapide reads this typologically: as Cyrus would later release the captives and restore them to their land, so Christ releases souls captive to sin and restores them to the city of God. Angelomus: Cyrus is a type of Christ.

The king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in Rebla in the land of Emath; and Juda was carried away captive out of their land. Lapide: With this sentence the kingdom of Judah formally ends — \"Juda was carried away captive out of their land.\" Lapide draws the theological lesson from the whole Book of Kings: the kingdom of God on earth cannot be identified with any temporal dynasty or polity. Even the people of the covenant lose their land when they abandon the covenant. The true kingdom — which never falls — is the spiritual kingdom established by Christ.

In the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Joachin king of Juda, in the twelfth month, Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Joachin king of Juda out of prison. Lapide: The release and exaltation of Jehoiachin after thirty-seven years in a Babylonian prison is a sign of hope with which the Book of Kings ends. From this captive king the line of David continued, and through it the Messiah would come. The lifting up of Jehoiachin's head is a figure of Christ's resurrection and the restoration of all things in Him at the last day.