Translator Mordechai Cogan
II Kings Volume in ANCHOR BIBLE
SERIES, pages 328-330
II Kings 25: 27 - 30
In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of
Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth
month, on the twenty-seventh day of the
month, Evil-merodach, king of Babylon,
in his accession year [he succeeded
Nebuchadnezzar in 562 - 560 B.C.E. ]
pardoned Jehoiachin king of Judah <and
released him> from prison. He spoke
kindly to him and set his throne above
those of the Kings that were with him in
Babylon. He changed his prison garb
and he received permanent provisions by
his favor for life. His allowance was a
permanent allowance from the king, daily
for life.
Comment by M. Cogan : The release of
Jehoiachin from prison is the last
historical notation recorded in I-II Kings
and is an addition by an exilic writer
acquainted with the event. What might
have been the purpose of this final post-
scriptum? These verses are merely an
epilogue by an exilic writer who brought
the narration of Jehoiachin's life up to date.
Exilic readers might have found some
measure of consolation in the preferred
treatment of their aged king; from this
point of view the book of I-II Kings does
end on a positive note. [see other
commended figures from Judea who are
promoted to positions of influence at foreign
courts : Daniel at the court of Nebuchadnezzar
and Mordecai at the court of Ahasuerus ].
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