דברי הימים ב, פרק כ״ה, פסוק כ״ד

Following a military victory, the king of Israel plunders Jerusalem, gathering vast wealth, royal property, and strategic human assets before returning home. He seizes all the gold and various spoils, including the sacred treasures of the Temple [מצודת דוד].

These Temple treasures are noted as being kept with Oved-Edom. The primary approach among commentators is that Oved-Edom and his descendants served as the official appointed guards of the Temple treasuries throughout the generations. Alternatively, the sacred vessels were physically stored within Oved-Edom's own home. This arrangement dated back to the days of King David; when the Ark of the Covenant was temporarily housed there, various holy items were kept alongside it, and they remained in his home even after the Ark was relocated [מצודת דוד].

In addition to the material wealth stripped from the Temple and the royal palace, the king of Israel also captures human pledges. These hostages were the children of prominent ministers and nobles, held as strategic political assets to ensure their parents' loyalty and to prevent any future uprisings [שטיינזלץ].

The exact origin of these hostages is a matter of discussion. One perspective suggests they were the children of foreign officials, exchanged between kings to secure peace treaties [רד״ק], or taken from other nations and tribes as a guarantee against rebellion [מצודת דוד, שטיינזלץ, ורבינו יוסף המובא ברש״י]. However, another viewpoint argues that the Kingdom of Judah was not powerful enough at the time to demand hostages from foreign nations. Instead, these captives were the children of Judah's own ministers. According to this approach, the Kingdom of Israel refused to allow the defeated king of Judah to continue his rule in Jerusalem until the local ministers surrendered their own children as a guarantee against any future revolts [רש״י].