neither the people nor their kings (with the exception of Hezekiah and Josiah) paid any attention to the merciful warnings of Almighty God; they continued to live in the neglect of his ordinances, and in rebellion against his laws; although his threatenings against Israel had already been fulfilled in the desolation of that kingdom, and the carrying away of the ten tribes by the Assyrians. In the reign of Josiah we see a revival of religion, as to its external rites, and the extinction of idolatry, as far as the power of this pious and excellent monarch could effect them. But the hearts of the people were unreclaimed, and therefore the Lord, while approving the conduct of Josiah, and for his sake deferring the threatened ruin, declares, nevertheless, that his fury is not turned away, but that his arm is stretched out still. "Behold, saith the Lord, I will bring evil on this place, and upon all the inhabitants thereof: even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah." The death of Josiah, at Megiddo, hastened the completion of this awful prediction. The people of Judah made his son, Jehoahaz, king instead of his father, though the reason of their choice is difficult to conceive, for he was not the eldest son; and, as to his character, that is portrayed in few words, "He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done." His reign, however, was short; for Pharaoh Necho having obtained a signal victory over the Babylonians, near the river Euphrates, made himself master of Carchemish, a considerable city in that neighbourhood, and, having established a garrison there, proceeded to the subjection of Syria and Palestine. During his march he was informed that Jehoahaz had assumed the government of Judah, which he already regarded as a conquered kingdom. He therefore summoned the new made king to Riblah, in Syria, and on his arrival caused him to be put in chains, and sent captive to Egypt, where he died. He had reigned only three months. Pharaoh soon after this came to Jerusalem, where he made Eliakim, another son of Josiah, king, on condition of his paying Dan annual tribute* of a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. Pharaoh changed the name of this prince to Jehoiakim. A change of names was frequently made by conquerors, as a proof of their absolute power over the vanquished;+ but the change here made was only in sound, both words having the same signification. It is supposed, by some divines, that Pharaoh thus ascribed his conquest to Jehovah, by whom he had declared himself to be sent. Neither these humiliating circumstances, nor the fate of his unhappy brother, seem to have had any effect on Jehoiakim, for he too "did evil in the sight of the Lord his God," and his people were but too willing to follow his example, though they also began to share in his degradation : as he taxed the land in order to raise the tribute money, The Lord God did not even now forsake this perverse remnant of his people Israel; he continually warned them by the voice of his prophets.§ Jeremiah tells us that he prophesied from the thirteenth year of Josiah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive, in the eleventh year of Zedekiah; and several other prophets are mentioned in the course of the history, whose predictions * (2 Chron. xxxvi. 3.) 52,2001. of our money. 2 Chron. xxxv. 21. See Jeremiah xxii. were probably not written, or, at least, have not come down to us. Habakkuk and Zephaniah also prophesied at this period. Such, however, is the deceitfulness of sin, such are the wiles of the tempter, that transgressors are either lulled in a false security, and so infatuated that no danger can arouse them to reflection; or they are hardened in their crimes, and not only determine to persist in their mad career, but disdain remonstrance, and wreak their vengeance on the messengers of God. The king and people of Judah had arrived at this degree of guilt and wretchedness. On the one hand they were deceived by the false prophets, who promised them deliverance and peace; and, on the other, they not only refused to hearken to God's prophets, but even persecuted and killed them. Jeremiah, preserved by God, who raised up Ahikam to protect him, was not put to death, but Urijah,† another prophet, was brought out of Egypt, whither he had fled, and put to death by the merciless Jehoiakim, in the beginning of his reign. In the third year of Jehoiakim, Nabopolasser, king of Babylon, perceiving that by the loss of Carchemish he had lost Syria and Palestine also, deter mined to reduce them again to his authority. But, as he was now too old to undertake this expedition in person, he sent his son, Nebuchadnezzar, to conduct it, having previously made him his associate in the empire. In the following year this prince defeated the Egyptian garrison at Carchemish, and, as a consequence of this victory, soon obtained possession of Syria and Palestine. It was on the approach of his * Zephaniah i. 1. Habakkuk does not specify the time of his prophesying, but it is inferred from his speaking of the Chaldeans. ↑ Jeremiah xxvi. 20-23. army that the Rechabites took shelter in Jerusalem; where their conduct is made the subject of expostulation by God to his disobedient people.* This same year (the fourth of Jehoiakim) Jeremiah foretold the taking of Jerusalem, by Nebuchadnezzar at this time, and the captivity which should ensue and last seventy years. God now commanded Jeremiah to write on a roll, or parchment, all the prophecies he had spoken, from the time of his appointment to the prophetical office; and to send Baruch to read them in the temple on the great day of atonement. It does not appear that any resentment was expressed against Baruch while performing this command; but his reading of the prophecies seemed to have no effect in bringing the people to repentance. Shortly after this Nebu-, chadnezzar marched into Judah, and laid siege to Jerusalem. In less than two months he succeeded in taking the city, and having bound Jehoiakim in fetters, intended to carry him to Babylon. But Jehoiakim humbling himself, and consenting to become tributary to the king of Babylon, was restored to his liberty and replaced on his throne. Nebuchadnezzar at this time caused great numbers of the people to be sent captives to Babylon; he also took some of the vessels from the house of the Lord, and sent them to be placed in the temple of his idols. Among the captives were many sons of the nobles, and several princes of the royal family, whom Nebuchadnezzar desired his officers to select, that they might serve in his palace at Babylon : Daniel and his three companions, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were of the number of the princes. The whole nation being thus brought into subjection, the *Jeremiah xxxv. king reduced to vassalage, and many of his family and nobles to slavery, the seventy years' captivity predicted by Jeremiah is very properly reckoned from this year, the fourth of Jehoiakim. Nebuchadnezzar, after leaving Jerusalem, proceeded with uninterrupted success to recover all that the Egyptians had formerly taken in Syria and Palestine, till he confined them within their natural boundary, the river of Egypt.* He was prevented at this time from proceeding farther against Pharaoh Necho, by the death of his father Nabopolasser, which obliged him to hasten back to Babylon, in order to take possession of the kingdom. After the departure of the Chaldean army from Jerusalem, the inhabitants of that city seem to have forgotten the judgments inflicted on them, at least no salutary recollection of them prevailed; for neither Jehoiakim nor his people turned from their idolatry, though Jeremiah continually warned them by the terrors of the Lord, or besought them by the promises of his mercy to repent. It seems, however, that some of the external forms of worshiping the Lord God were yet retained; for on the anniversary of the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar a fast was proclaimed in commemoration of that calamity.+ Jeremiah, availing himself of this opportunity, again sent Baruch to read the roll of prophecy in the ears of all the people who came to the house of the Lord. Baruch went accordingly, and having stationed himself in the king's council chamber, which was over the eastern gate of the temple, read from a window, to the multitude then assembled in the court below, all the prophecies Jere* The river Sichor, which separates Palestine from Egypt. † See Note G. |