19 He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The burial of an ass - i. e., he shall merely be dragged out of the way, and left to decay unheeded. Nothing is known of the fulfillment of this prophecy.
With the burial of an ass - Cast out, and left unburied, or buried without any funeral solemnities, and without such lamentations as the above.
He shall be (m) buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
(m) Not honourably among his fathers, but as carrion are cast in a hole, because their stink should not infect, read (1-Kings 14:10). Josephus writes that the enemy slew him in the city and commanded him to be cast before the walls unburied, see (Jeremiah 36:30).
He shall be buried with the burial of an ass,.... Have no burial at all, or no other than what any brute creature has; which, when it dies, is cast into a ditch, and becomes the food of dogs, and the fowls of the air. The "ass" is mentioned, as being a sordid stupid creature; and such an one was this king;
drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem; as the carcass of a beast is dragged about by dogs; or as a malefactor, when executed, is dragged and cast into a ditch: this perhaps was done by the Chaldeans, who, when he was slain, dragged him along, and cast him beyond the gates of Jerusalem. So Josephus (w) says, that when Nebuchadnezzar entered Jerusalem, he slew the most robust and beautiful with Jehoiakim their king, and ordered him to be cast without the walls unburied; and so, though he is said to "sleep with his fathers", yet not to be buried with them, 2-Kings 24:6. Kimchi says that he died without Jerusalem, as they were carrying him into captivity a second time; and the Chaldeans would not suffer him to be buried. Jerom reports, from the Hebrew history, that he was killed by the robbers and thieves of the Chaldeans, Syrians, Ammonites, and Moabites. Some think, that as he was bound in chains, in order to be carried to Babylon, that he was had there, and there died, and after his death used in this ignominious manner: and the words will bear to be rendered, "cast forth far beyond the gates of Jerusalem" (x); even as far as Babylon; see 2-Chronicles 36:6.
(w) Antiqu. l. 10. c. 6. sect. 3. (x) "et projiciendo procul ultra portas Hierosolymae", Schmidt. So Grotius and Gataker.
burial of an ass--that is, he shall have the same burial as an ass would get, namely, he shall be left a prey for beasts and birds [JEROME]. This is not formally narrated. But 2-Chronicles 36:6 states that "Nebuchadnezzar bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon"; his treatment there is nowhere mentioned. The prophecy here, and in Jeremiah 36:30, harmonizes these two facts. He was slain by Nebuchadnezzar, who changed his purpose of taking him to Babylon, on the way thither, and left him unburied outside Jerusalem. 2-Kings 24:6, "Jehoiakim slept with his fathers," does not contradict this; it simply expresses his being gathered to his fathers by death, not his being buried with his fathers (Psalm 49:19). The two phrases are found together, as expressing two distinct ideas (2-Kings 15:38; 2-Kings 16:20).
Of an ass - None attending him to his grave, none mourning for him.
*More commentary available at chapter level.