Jeremiah 52:29

The eighteenth year. This was the year preceding the capture of Jerusalem (Jer. 52:12), presumably in the summer of 587. The customary campaigning season was the spring and summer (see on 2 Sam. 11:1; also Vol. II, p. 109n.). Some scholars have assumed that this 18th year is the time of the fall of the city, and that Jer. 52:12 supplies an erroneous date (see Vol. Ill, p. 93, n. 6), but there is no reason to assume a contradiction. Verse 30 records an additional captivity in the 23rd year, which is not mentioned elsewhere. Obviously, then, there is no reason to doubt that in the 7th and 18th years numbers of Jews were taken also. Inasmuch as annual campaigns were common at that time, captives were doubtless taken frequently and repeatedly. The capture of 832 persons in the 18th year must not, therefore, be equated with the major captivity of the 19th year.

The record of the various deportations does not state whether the figures given represent the number of those who began the journey into exile or of those who survived the rigorous trip and actually arrived in Babylon. According to the records of ancient history the usual result of such deportations was that the ultimate survivors represented only a fraction of those who began. Thus if the records of the number of captives refer to the ones who actually arrived in Babylon, we must believe that a great many more were initially made captives by Nebuchadnezzar, but died before they reached Babylon. On the other hand, if the numbers given refer to those who set out in chains (see ch. 40:4) into exile, how pitifully small must have been the various groups who arrived at Babylon.