ToES Diary June 2018

Thousands of people were taken into captivity from Jerusalem (2 Kings 24:14-16). Mostly, it seems that the poor were left.

What happened to the goods of all the people who were taken away? Presumably, the Chaldeans would have taken things that could be easily taken away, things such as gold, silver, precious stones and other smaller but valuable items. Presumably, larger items would have been left and been available to the remaining inhabitants if they wanted them. If this is so, the poor would not be left quite so poor.

What happened to the houses of those who were taken away? Initially, the city would have been quite empty with 20,000 – 50,000 people having been taken away. Later in Zedekiah’s reign, we get a picture of a city that was full of people.

In most cases, there would be relatives who would claim the houses, but this could take quite a while to happen and judges would have needed to review the claims.

It is quite likely that rich people would have a much better chance of getting any empty houses than poor people who could not pay bribes.

It is always possible that the Chaldeans collected taxes or other fees from such transactions too.