But Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen.
After Jerusalem fell and was destroyed, Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard left certain of the poorest people of the land behind to tend vineyards and to work the fields as vinedressers and husbandmen. That only this poor remnant was left behind shows that the destruction and deportation greatly reduced the Jewish population, yet a small remnant still remained in the land. The few thousand carried away to Babylon were only part of a nation that had numbered millions.
The destruction recorded in the chapter came a few years after God's promise that Jerusalem would stand forever if His people would listen and obey Him by bearing no burdens on the Sabbath, but that He would destroy it if they would not hearken. The chapter therefore proves the sacredness of the Sabbath and God's condescension in urging His people to keep His holy day. The account containing the verse stands as a warning that places and cities that forget and defy God face judgment, and that ignored warnings can end in judgment.
After Jerusalem fell and was destroyed, Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard left certain of the poorest people of the land behind to tend vineyards and to work the fields as vinedressers and husbandmen. That only this poor remnant was left behind shows that the destruction and deportation greatly reduced the Jewish population, yet a small remnant still remained in the land. The few thousand carried away to Babylon were only part of a nation that had numbered millions.
The destruction recorded in the chapter came a few years after God's promise that Jerusalem would stand forever if His people would listen and obey Him by bearing no burdens on the Sabbath, but that He would destroy it if they would not hearken. The chapter therefore proves the sacredness of the Sabbath and God's condescension in urging His people to keep His holy day. The account containing the verse stands as a warning that places and cities that forget and defy God face judgment, and that ignored warnings can end in judgment.