According to Jeremiah 52:12 and 2 Kings 25:8, Nebuzaradan was Nebuchadnezzar’s captain of the guard, and he arrived in Jerusalem about a month after the city fell to deal with those who had survived the invasion. The king’s palace and the people’s homes are all burned to the ground. No mention is made here of the temple, but Jeremiah 52:13 says that the house of the Lord
was also burned. They also broke down the walls of the city, leaving it defenceless so that it could not be used again as a base for rebellion against Babylon.1
Nebuzaradan then took into exile all those who had survived the invasion, including those who had deserted to the Babylonians. He did not want to leave the city completely deserted and so he leaves in Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.
This is a population that is easily controlled and he leaves them with just enough to survive. Any visions of grandeur that once might have applied to Judah are replaced by the grimmest of pictures of survival and subsistence in the land.
2
9 Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the people who remained.