Kings II 24:8

8 And they compassed the whole land; and they arrived at Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

Kings II 24:8 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 24:8

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign,
&c.] In ( 2 Chronicles 36:9 ) he is said to be but eight years old; which may be reconciled by observing, that he might be made and declared king by his father, in the first year of his reign, who reigned eleven years, so that he was eight years old when he began to reign with him, and eighteen when he began to reign alone ^F17. Dr. Lightfoot ^F18 gives another solution of this difficulty, that properly speaking he was eighteen years old when he began to reign, but, in an improper sense, the son of eight years, or the eighth year, as the Hebrew phrase is; that is, he fell in the lot of the eighth year of the captivity of Judah, which was in the latter end of the third, or the beginning of the fourth of his father's reign, and the first of Nebuchadnezzar's, and it was now in the eighth of Nebuchadnezzar that he was king, see ( 2 Kings 24:12 ) , but very probably in ( 2 Chronicles 36:9 ) there is a mistake in the copyist of eight for eighteen, since in the Arabic and Syriac versions it is there eighteen, as here:

he reigned in Jerusalem three months;
the ten days besides are here omitted for shortness, ( 2 Chronicles 36:9 )

and his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of
Jerusalem;
a person no doubt well known in those times.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 So in Seder Olam Rabba, c. 25.
F18 Works, vol. 1. p. 122.

Kings II 24:8 In-Context

6 And they came to Galaad, and into the land of Thabason, which is Adasai, and they came to Danidan and Udan, and compassed Sidon.

7 And they came to Mapsar of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Evite and the Chananite: and they came by the South of Juda to Bersabee.

8 And they compassed the whole land; and they arrived at Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

9 And Joab gave in the number of the census of the people to the king: and Israel consisted of eight hundred thousand men of might that drew sword; and the men of Juda, five hundred thousand fighting men.

10 And the heart of David smote him after he had numbered the people; and David said to the Lord, I have sinned grievously, O Lord, what I have now done: remove, I pray thee, the iniquity of thy servant, for I have been exceedingly foolish.