(12) And Jehoiaehin the king of Judah went out . . .--Despairing of the defence, he threw himself upon the clemency of Nebuchadnezzar. The queen-mother (Jeremiah 22:2) and all his grandees and courtiers accompanied the king, who probably hoped to be allowed to keep his throne as a vassal of Babylon.

Took him--i.e., as a prisoner.

In the eighth year of his (i.e., Nebuchadnezzar's) reign.--This exactly tallies with the data of Jeremiah 25:1; Jeremiah 46:2.

Verse 12. - And Jehoiachin the King of Judah went out to the King of Babylon (for the use of the expression, "went out to," in this sense of making a surrender, see 1 Samuel 11:3; Jeremiah 21:9; Jeremiah 38:17, etc.), he, and his mother (see the comment on ver. 8), and his servants, and his princes, and his officers - rather, his eunuchs (see the comment on 2 Kings 20:18) and the King of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. Nebuchadnezzar succeeded his father, Nabopelassar, in B.C. 605; but his first year was not complete till late in B.C. 604. His "eighth year" was thus B.C. 597.

24:8-20 Jehoiachin reigned but three months, yet long enough to show that he justly smarted for his fathers' sins, for he trod in their steps. His uncle was intrusted with the government. This Zedekiah was the last of the kings of Judah. Though the judgments of God upon the three kings before him might have warned him, he did that which was evil, like them. When those intrusted with the counsels of a nation act unwisely, and against their true interest, we ought to notice the displeasure of God in it. It is for the sins of a people that God hides from them the things that belong to the public peace. And in fulfilling the secret purposes of his justice, the Lord needs only leave men to the blindness of their own minds, or to the lusts of their own hearts. The gradual approach of Divine judgments affords sinners space for repentance, and believers leisure to prepare for meeting the calamity, while it shows the obstinacy of those who will not forsake their sins.And Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon,.... Not to fight with him, but to submit to him, and to surrender the city to him, and be at his mercy:

he and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers; the royal family, courtiers, and nobles:

and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign; Of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, and which was the eighth of the first captivity, and from whence the seventy years' captivity were reckoned.