2 Kings 25:9

2Ki 25:9 And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great [man’s] house burnt he with fire.

Ver. 9. And he burnt the house of the Lord.] Which had now stood about four hundred and fifty years. With this house were burnt, say some ancients, all the copies of the holy Scriptures; but that is not likely.

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.

2Ki 25:9. And he burnt the house of the Lord — The king of Babylon, it appears, did not design to send any colonies to people Judea, and therefore ordered Jerusalem to be laid in ashes, as a nest of rebels. “At the burning of the king’s house,” says Henry, “and the houses of the great men, one cannot much wonder, the inhabitants had by their sins kindled the fire of God’s wrath against them; but that the house of the Lord should perish in these flames, that that holy and beautiful house should be burned with fire, (Isa 64:11,) is very strange; that house which David prepared for, and which Solomon built, at such a vast expense; that house which had the eye and the heart of God perpetually upon it, (1Ki 9:3,) might not that have been snatched as a brand out of the burning? No, that will not be fireproof against God’s judgments; this stately structure must be laid in ashes, and it is probable the ark in it; for the enemies, probably having heard how dear the Philistines paid for the abusing it, durst not seize it; nor did any of its friends take care to preserve it; for then we should have heard of it again in the second temple.” The temple was burned four hundred years after the time that it was built, says Sir John Marsham; four hundred and twenty-four years three months and eight days, says Archbishop Usher; four hundred thirty years, says Abarbinel and other learned Jews; but Josephus computes the matter still higher; for he tells us that the temple was burned four hundred and seventy years six months and ten days after the building of it; one thousand and sixty years six months and ten days from the time of the Israelites coming out of the land of Egypt; one thousand nine hundred, and fifty years six months and ten days from the deluge; three thousand five hundred and thirty years six months and ten days from the creation; and he mentions it as a very remarkable circumstance, that the second temple was burned by the Romans in the same month and on the very same day of the month that this was set on fire by the Chaldeans, and, as some of the Jewish rabbis say, when the Levites were singing the very same passage, namely, He shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness: yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off, Psa 94:23. By the burning of the temple, God would show how little he cares for the external pomp of his worship, when the life and power of religion are neglected. The people trusted to the temple, as if that would protect them in their sins, (Jer 7:4,) but God by this let them know that when they had profaned it, they would find it but a refuge of lies.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25:9-10 destroyed all the important buildings: The Babylonians destroyed key religious and civic buildings to discourage further resistance or insurrection, and they demolished the city’s walls, leaving Jerusalem defenseless.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(9) He burnt the house . . . king’s house.—Which were in the upper city. (There should be a semicolon after “king’s house.”)

And every great man’s house.—Omit man’s. The phrase limits the preceding one, “all the houses of Jerusalem,” that is to say, “every great house” (2Ch_36:19, “all her palaces”). The common houses were spared for the poor who were left (2Ki_25:12).

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

9. every great man’s house burnt he with fire] R.V. omits ‘man’s’. The expression in 2 Chronicles is ‘he burnt all the palaces thereof with fire’.

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.

He burnt the house of the Lord - Compare the prophecies of Jeremiah Jer 21:10; Jer 34:2; Jer 38:18, Jer 38:23. Psa 79:1-13 is thought to have been written soon after this destruction of the temple.

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

Great. This word is supplied from Jeremias lii. 13., and Hebrew, "great man’s house." (Protestants) But Jeremias xxxix. 8., we read, they burnt the houses of the people, (Haydock) even the meanest, destroyed the walls, and took the people to Babylon, only leaving some countrymen to cultivate the land. Jeremias was set at liberty by Nabuzardan, (ibid. xi.[Jeremias xxxix. 9.?]) and chose to continue with this remnant of the people, for their comfort and direction. (Haydock) --- They applied to him to know whether they should retire into Egypt; and after ten days, he gave them God’s injunction to the contrary: but they despised it, Jeremias xlii. 7., and xliii. 1. The prophet, and his secretary, Baruch, followed them into Egypt. Thus was the country abandoned, and the monarchy at an end, after it had subsisted 468 years from the commencement of David’s reign. (Calmet) --- Yet some little power remained in the family of David, even at Babylon; (ver. 27.) and the Jewish affairs were re-established, after the captivity, though not in such splendour as formerly, nor always under princes of the same royal family. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

He burnt the house of the Lord, which had now stood about four hundred and fifty years.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. All the houses of Jerusalem — All the principal houses, or, as the next sentence explains, the houses of all the chief citizens. 2Ch_36:19 has, all the palaces. Thus all the architectural glory of the ancient Jerusalem — temple, palaces, and noble edifices — was reduced to a mass of ruins.

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

And he burnt the house of the Lord. After it had stood, according to Josephus ("Ant. Jud:," 10:8. four hundred and seventy years six months and ten days. This calculation, however, seems to exceed the truth. Neither the Assyrians nor the Babylonians had any regard for the gods of other nations. They everywhere burnt the temples, plundered the shrines, and carried off the images as trophies of victory. In the temple of Jerusalem they would find no images except those of the two cherubim, (1Ki_6:23-28) which they probably took away with them. And the king"s house (see 1Ki_7:1, 1Ki_7:8-12; 2Ki_11:16) The royal palace was, perhaps, almost as magnificent as the temple; and its destruction was almost as great a loss to art. It doubtless contained Solomon"s throne of ivory, (1Ki_10:18) to which there was an ascent by six steps, with two sculptured lions on each step. And all the houses of Jerusalem. This statement is qualified by the words of the following clause, which show that only the houses of the princes and great men were purposely set on fire. Many of the remaining habitations may have perished in the conflagration, but some probably escaped, and were inhabited by "the poor of the land." And every great man"s house burnt he with fire. (comp. 2Ch_36:19, where the Chaldeans are said to have burnt "all the palaces

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

Burnt the house of the Lord - One of the apocryphal writers tells us, that Jeremiah got the ark out of the temple, and conveyed it to a cave in mount Nebo, 2Macc ii, 4, 5. But this is like the other tales of that author, who has no regard either to truth or probability. For Jeremiah was at this time a close prisoner. By the burning of the temple God would shew, how little he cares for the outward pomp of his worship, when the life and power of religion are gone. About four hundred and thirty years the temple of Solomon had stood. And it is observed by Josephus, that the second temple was burnt by the Romans, the same month, and the same day of the month, that the first temple was burnt by the Chaldeans.

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

And all the houses of the dignitaries. [This includes] synagogues wherein Torah and prayer are aggrandized, and the houses of the princes.

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.