cry, whenever they "called upon him faithfully." But neither the calamities with which they were occasionally visited, nor the blessings with which they were frequently favoured; neither the covenant of their fathers, the miracles of their temple, nor the voice of their prophets; neither the forbearance and long-suffering of their God, nor the signal example of divine vengeance exhibited in the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, could prevail upon this perverse and rebellious people to "forsake the evil of their ways, and turn unto the Lord their God with a stedfast mind."-" And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel; and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house, of which I said, My name shall be there (o)." But" for his great name's sake, and for the sake of his servant David," God was pleased to fix a period for this first banishment of Judah from his presence: "For thus saith the Lord, that after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word towards you, in causing you to return to this place (p)." Accordingly, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was permitted by God (0) 2 Kings, c. 23. v. 27. God to invade Judæa in the reign of Jehoiakim, and to besiege and take Jerusalem. He put Jehoiakim in chains, to carry him to Babylon; but upon his humbling himself, and engaging to be tributary to Nebuchadnezzar, he was released, and restored to his kingdom. The children of the royal family, and many of the people, were, however, sent captives to Babylon; and a great part of the treasures of the temple was also sent thither, with orders that they should be placed in the house of the god Bel. From this time, 606. about 115 years after the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, is to be dated the commencement of the Babylonian captivity; which, according to the prediction of Jeremiah the prophet, was to last seventy years. Jehoiakim continued faithful to Nebuchadnezzar three years; he then rebelled against him, and in conse599. quence, Judæa was invaded by an army of those nations which were subject to the king of Babylon, and Jehoiakim was slain. He was succeeded by his son Jehoiakim, commonly called Jeconias; and about three months after the death of Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar came in person to the siege of Jerusalem. Jeconias, being unable to defend the city, surrendered himself, with his mother and family, to Nebu598. chadnezzar, and was sent to Babylon, where he was was kept in prison thirty-seven years. Nebuchadnezzar, having made himself master of Jerusalem, sent the remaining treasures of the temple, and of the king's house, with great numbers of captives, to Babylon. He made Mattaniah, the uncle of Jeconias, king of the people who remained in Judæa, and changed his name to Zedekiah. In the ninth year of his reign, Zedekiah revolted from Nebuchadnezzar, and Jerusalem was again besieged and taken, after 588. the siege had lasted about eighteen months, dur-` ing which the people had suffered severely from famine and pestilence. Zedekiah escaped out of the city, but being pursued, was taken, and carried to Nebuchadnezzar, who, having caused his sons to be slain before his face, and his eyes to be put out, sent him in chains to Babylon, where he died in prison (q). By his being carried thither in a state of blindness, .two remarkable prophecies were fulfilled, which appeared to contradict each other; the one of Jeremiah, that Zedekiah should be carried to Babylon (r); the other of Ezekiel, that Zedekiah should not see Babylon (s). The walls of Jerusalem were broken down by the command of Nebuchad nezzar; (q) Zedekiah was the twenty-first king of the race of David. (r) Jer. c. 32. v. 5. c. 34. v. 3. (s) Ezek. c. 12. V. 13. nezzar; the temple, and all the buildings, were destroyed by fire; and this famous city became a heap of ruins, and nearly the whole nation was sent captive to Babylon. Gedaliah was made governor over the few people that were left; and many of those, who had fled during the siege of Jerusalem into the neighbouring countries, returned soon after, and were encouraged by Gedaliah to establish themselves in Judæa, upon condition of paying tribute to the king of Babylon (t). The kindness and liberality with which Gedaliah treated these poor people, induced some of their rulers to confess that Ismael, one of their brethren, and of the royal family, had determined to murder Gedaliah at the desire of the king of the Ammonites; and they offered to kill Ismael privately, if they received his permission. Gedaliah would not listen to this proposal, nor did he believe the accusation, and was soon after murdered by Ismael at a feast, to which he had purposely invited him. Upon this occasion most of the people, fearing that the king of Babylon would avenge the death of Gedaliah, went and settled in Egypt, contrary to the express advice of Jeremiah, who declared, upon divine authority, that they (t). It appears that many of the ten tribes, as well as the people of Judah, returned now, and afterwards, and were gradually incorporated under the same government they might remain with safety in Judæa, but would suffer the punishments they had seen inflicted upon their brethren, if they fled for protection to Egypt, which was soon to be conquered by the king of Babylon. Accordingly, about four years after the destruction of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar, having possessed himself of Cole-Syria, and reduced the Ammonites and Moabites under subjection, went against Egypt, slew the king (u), and subdued the kingdom. Many of the Jews, who had taken refuge there, were put to death; a small remnant only returned to Judæa, and, as no new inhabitants were sent thither by the king of Babylon, as there had been by the king of Assyria into Samaria, after the captivity of the ten tribes of Israel, "the land lay desolate" for the allotted time. When the kingdom of Judah had been seventy years in captivity, and the period of their affliction was completed, Cyrus, under whom were 536. united the kingdoms of Persia, Media, and Babylon, issued a decree, permitting all the Jews to return to their own land, and to rebuild their temple at Jerusalem. This decree had been expressly foretold by the prophet Isaiah (v), who called. upon Cyrus by name, above a hundred years before (u) Pharaoh-Hophra, or Apries. |