[791] Jer. xlv. 1-5.
[792] Zeph. i. 8; 1 Kings xxii. 26; Jer. xxxvi. 26, A.V., "The son of Hammelech." Comp. xxxviii. 6. Hammelech may be a proper name, or a prince of the blood-royal may be intended.
[793] "The 'Book,' now as afterwards, was to be the death-blow of the old regal, aristocratic, sacerdotal exclusiveness. The 'Scribe,' now first rising into importance in the person of Baruch to supply the defects of the living Prophet, was, as the printing-press in later ages, handing on the words of truth, which else might have irretrievably perished" (Stanley).
[794] Cheyne, Jeremiah, p. 149; Jer. xiv. 1-xv. 9.
[795] Nebuchadrezzar occupies a larger space in the Bible than any heathen king, being spoken of in 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
[796] For further details of Jehoiakim see 1 Esdras i. 38: "He bound Joakim and the nobles; but Zaraces his brother he apprehended, and brought him out of Egypt." The allusion is entirely obscure, and probably arises from some corruption of the text. The literal rendering is: "And Joakim bound the nobles; but Zaraces his brother he apprehended, and brought him out of Egypt." Zaraces might be a corruption for Zedekiah, who was Jehoiakim's half-brother. Some think that Zaraces is a corruption for Urijah, and "his brother" a clerical error.
[797] Jer. xxxvi. 30, xxii. 19.
[798] LXX., καὶ ἐκοιμήθη Ἰωακεὶμ ἐν Γανοζὰν μετὰ τῶν πατέρων ἑαυτοῦ.
[799] 2 Chron. xxxvi. 8.
[800] Sanhedrin, f. 104, 2. For another allusion see id. 49, 1; Hershon, Treasures of the Talmud, p. 232.