Moses Gaster

From the time our ancestors were brought out of Egypt until the destruction of the first temple they were exiled eight times. This happened on the following occasions: Four times Sennacherib banished them, and four times Nebuchadnezzar.

In the time of David these people were called Kerethi and Pelethi. Yet another explanation makes the words refer to the mighty men of Judah and their children.

The Israelites were exceedingly afraid of this and fled to Egypt, in the twenty-seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, when he besieged Tyre, and capturing it, killed all its inhabitants and sent its king into captivity. On his return he went to Egypt, captured it, and reduced it to desolation, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Scripture, 'Egypt shall be a desolation.' He then slew all the Jews found in Ammon and Moab, and in the surrounding parts of Egypt. There, in Egypt, he discovered the prophet Jeremiah and Baruch, the son of Neriya, and carried them to Babylon.