2 Kings 25:12

2Ki 25:12 But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land [to be] vinedressers and husbandmen.

Ver. 12. Left of the poor of the land.] Who would be rather a burden than a benefit to the Chaldees; fruges consmere nati; but in Jewry might do some service. De populo tenuissimos, quibus nihil erat quicquam, reliquit. And yet of these poor ones also; about four or five years after this, were carried away seven hundred and forty-five persons; that so the land might enjoy her Sabbath. {2Ch 36:20-21 Jer 52:30} And here ended those before prophesied three hundred and ninety years of Israel’s iniquity; and those forty years of Judah’s. {Eze 4:5-6}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(12) Of the poor of the land.—2Ki_24:14 (Comp. Jer_39:10.)

Husbandmen.—Or, plowmen. The word (Hebrew text, gâbîm) occurs here only. Jer_52:16 has a cognate form (yôg’bîm) also unique.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. left of the poor [R.V. poorest] of the land] The word was so rendered above in 2Ki_24:14. Now that the great houses and their inhabitants were gone and the craftsmen also, the life became no better than that of the nomads, and the people left behind could only turn to keeping the land in cultivation. Jeremiah (Jer_39:10) calls them ‘the poor of the people, which had nothing’.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

There was probably an intention of seating colonists into the country from some other part of the Empire, as the Assyrians had done in Samaria 2Ki 17:24.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. Vinedressers and husbandmen — From these poor no trouble was apprehended, and it was deemed wise to leave those who would cultivate the land, in order that the country might not become utterly a desert.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land. It was inconvenient to deport persons who had little or nothing. In the Assyrian sculptures we see the captives, who are carried off, generally accompanied by their own baggage-animals, and taking with them a certain amount of their own household stuff. Pauper immigrants would not have been of any advantage to a country. To be vinedressers and husbandmen. Jeremiah adds that Nebuzar-adan "gave" these persons "vineyards and fields at the same time". (Jer_39:10) The Babylonians did not wish Judaea to lie waste, since it could then have paid no tribute. On the contrary, they designed its continued cultivation; and Gedaliah, the governor of their appointment, made great efforts to have cultivation resumed and extended. (see Jer_40:10, Jer_40:12)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Left of the poor - So while the rich were prisoners in a strange land, the poor had liberty and peace in their own country! Thus providence sometimes humbles the proud, and favours them of low degree.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

And farmers. Diggers of the earth, an expression of wine vats [=יקבים] which are diggings in the ground.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.