824. Relate the circumstances attending the (first) capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.

825. Describe the impious conduct of Jehoiakim when reproved and warned by the prophet Jeremiah.

826. What led to the overthrow and death of Jehoiakim?

827. How long did Jehoiakim reign? By whom was he succeeded?

828. Relate the circumstances attending the (second) capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in the reign of Jehoiachin.

829. Whom did Nebuchadnezzar appoint as successor to Jehoiachin? 830. Describe the earlier, and the later, policy of Zedekiah.

831. How was Zedekiah induced to revolt from Nebuchadnezzar ?

832. What was the issue of this revolt ?

833. Describe the final siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and his generals. 834. Relate the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the people. What became of Zedekiah?

835. Whom did Nebuchadnezzar appoint governor of Judea?

836. Repeat 2 Chron. xxxvi. 14-16.

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS,

837. Give some account of the prophets- Habakkuk Zephaniah-JeremiahEzekiel and Obadiah--and mention the substance of their several prophecies.

838. Date the following events :-accession of Amon- death of Amon and accession of Josiah-death of Josiah, and accession of (Shallum) Jehoahaz--deposition of Jehoahaz, and accession of (Eliakim) Jehoiakim-death of Jehoiakim, and accession of Jehoiachin-captivity of Jehoiachin, and accession of (Mattaniah) Zedekiah-captivity of Zedekiah and destruction of Jerusalem.

839. Give the meanings of-Amon, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah-Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Obadiah.

CHAPTER XL.

THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY.

(2 Kings xxv. 22-30, and Jer. xl. 7-xliv. 30; lii. 30-34; Daniel.)

THE land of Judah was not colonised by the conquerors, að that of Israel had been (p. 280), but was left in the occupation of the poorer natives, under a governor appointed by the king of Babylon. Soon after the departure of the invading army, this governor, Gedaliah, was treacherously murdered by a member of the royal family of Judah, named Ishmael, who, being in league with the Ammonites, hoped, perhaps, to make head against the king of Babylon and to obtain the crown of Judah for himself. Ishmael, however, was opposed by the rest of his countrymen, and obliged to seek safety in flight.

Afraid of the vengeance of Nebuchadnezzar for the death of Gedaliah, the greater part of the Jews who had been left in their native land, or had returned to it from the adjoining

countries, now migrated to Egypt, carrying with them the prophet Jeremiah, who in vain protested against their removal to that country. Some of them were located in Migdol,* others at Tahpanhes, others at Noph or Memphis, and others in Pathros (probably the Thebaid); and here they became deeply implicated in the idolatry of the land-a sin for which Jeremiah threatened them with punishment, to be inflicted when the king of Babylon should become master of Egypt. This conquest of Egypt was also predicted by Ezekiel on the Chebar (ch. xxix.-xxxii.), but some uncertainty exists respecting the time at which it took place. Of the Jews still left in Judea, another remnant was carried away to Babylon by Nebuzaradan, about four years after the murder of Gedaliah.

The Jews whom Nebuchadnezzar had transported to Babylon found there the royal and noble youths who had been carried away in the reign of Jehoiakim (p. 290). They had received the best education, according to the Chaldean institutions; and four of them, having been found to possess an extraordinary degree of intelligence and virtue, had been raised to posts of dignity and influence. One of these was the prophet Daniel (God is my judge), who had received the Chaldean name Belteshazzar (perhaps, keeper of Baal's treasure†). The following was the cause of his advancement. Nebuchadnezzar had been visited by a dream which weighed much upon his spirits, and of which he anxiously desired to obtain a correct interpretation. He had, however, forgotten even the form or circumstances of the dream itself; and, having proposed the matter to his magi, or learned men, he found them unable to recall the dream to his mind. For this incapacity the enraged king condemned the whole fraternity to death; and in this sentence Daniel and his three friends found themselves involved. Hereupon Daniel and his companions prayed earnestly to God for a revelation of the secret, and Daniel was enabled to declare to Nebuchadnezzar that in his dream he had seen an image, having a head of gold, arms and breast of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet part of iron and part of clay; and that he saw a stone smite the image upon its feet and break it in pieces, the stone itself afterwards becoming a great mountain and filling the whole earth. Daniel then declared that the several parts of the image denoted four great kingdoms or empires which should successively arise, to be

* [Either the place mentioned Exod. xiv. 2, and therefore near the Red Sea, or (which is more probable) a place twelve Roman miles south of Pelusium. See Smith's Dict.]

† [More probably, Bel's prince, i.e. prince whom Bel favours. See Gesenius.]

followed by a kingdom which the God of heaven should set up, never to be destroyed-an interpretation which we now understand as pointing to the Chaldean, Medo-Persian, Macedonian, and Roman empires, to be succeeded by the kingdom (church) of Christ.* Nebuchadnezzar recognised his dream; and, struck with admiration at the heavenly wisdom by which it had been declared to him, he rewarded Daniel with rich presents, and with promotion to the high dignity of chief magian, and governor of the province of Babylon. This promotion of Daniel led to a corresponding advancement of his three friends. Their original names were Hananiah (God is gracious), Mishael, (perhaps, of the mighty God), and Azariah (help of the Lord); but these had been respectively changed, by the prince of the eunuchs, to the Chaldee Shadrach (perhaps, inspiration of the sun), Meshach (of [the goddess] Shach), and Abed-nego (servant of the light or fire). This advancement of Daniel and his friends occurred in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, B.C. 603,

Great jealousy had been thus excited among the native Babylonian nobles, who (B.c. 580) eagerly seized what seemed to be a favourable opportunity for the destruction of Daniel's three friends. Nebuchadnezzar having set up a golden image in the Babylonian plain of Dura, with strict orders that people of all ranks should fall down and worship it whenever they heard the sound of certain instruments of music, under penalty of death by fire, these pious Jews refused to perform the prescribed act of idolatry; and, their refusal having been eagerly reported to the king, a command was immediately issued that they should be thrown into the furnace of fire heated seven times more than usual. They were accordingly bound and cast into the fire; but, while the heat of the furnace was so great that it destroyed the executioners, the God of heaven preserved His servants in complete safety; and the idolatrous monarch was soon constrained to exclaim, with astonishment, 'Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.' The three faithful confessors were then taken out of the furnace and restored to high favour at court; and Nebu

*These mighty empires were suffered to convulse the world and to destroy one another; and, though their power was so great, yet they could not uphold themselves, but fell one after another, and came to nothing, even the last of them, which was the strongest and had swallowed up the earth. It pleased God thus to show in them the instability and vanity of all earthly power and greatness, which served as a foil to set forth the glory of the kingdom of His Son, which never shall be destroyed.'--Edwards, History of Redemption, Period I.

This advancement of Daniel at Babylon, in itself and in its circumstances, bears great similarity to the promotion of Joseph in Egypt.

chadnezzar made a decree forbidding men to revile their religion.

Some time after this, Daniel was called upon to interpret to Nebuchadnezzar another dream, of a tree cut down to a stump, which Daniel declared to foretell the temporary degradation of the king himself. And the event corresponded to the prediction. At the end of twelve months the king 'walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.' At the end of seven years, the king's reason having been restored, he was reinstated on the throne; and then, instead of making a boastful and self-glorifying speech, he himself said, 'Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, and extol, and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment: and those that walk in pride He is able to abase. Nebuchadnezzar died after a reign of forty-three years (B.C. 561), and was succeeded by his son Evil-Merodach.

The events which have been recorded could not fail to raise the reputation of the Jews throughout the country in which they had been dispersed. While still, doubtless, exposed to some indignities and privations, as foreigners and captives, they were yet regarded at least as immigrants of considerable value to the state, and they probably enjoyed some consideration from the circumstance that several members of the nation were high in court favour, and had long been occupying posts of authority. Nor should it be forgotten that the Jews, during the Babylonian captivity, while suffering chastisement for the sins which they had committed in their native land, were still fulfilling their high mission in the Divine economy, maintaining and disseminating the knowledge of the true God.

At the beginning of his reign, Evil-Merodach released Jehoi achim from his long imprisonment of thirty-seven years, and placed him at his own table. Jehoiachin probably died soon

after; leaving his son* Salathiel to be recognised by the Jews of Babylon as Prince of the Captivity.

The reign of Evil-Merodach was short. He was succeeded, first by Neriglissar, then by Laborosoarchod, and afterwards by Nabonadius (B. C. 555), who towards the end of his reign associated his son Belshazzar with him on the throne, and entrusted him with the government of Babylon. This is the prince whose impious feast (B. c. 538) is recorded in the fifth chapter of Daniel. For some time previously Cyrus, the founder of the Persian empire, had been besieging Babylon; and on the very night of the feast he succeeded in capturing it, by diverting the course of the Euphrates, and thus unexpectedly making an assault from the dry bed of the river.‡ Belshazzar perished in the carnage, and the throne of Babylon was occupied by Darius the Mede (i. e. most probably, Cyaxares II., son of Astyages, and therefore uncle of Cyrus).

Daniel, still in high favour, continued to hold office under Darius. Seeking his destruction, the Babylonian nobles obtained from the new monarch a decree that none of his subjects should offer a prayer to any god or man, except himself, during the space of thirty days, under penalty of death by being thrown to the lions. Daniel, however, conscientiously persevered in his usual devotions, addressed to the Most High; and, upon accusation by his enemies, was sentenced to suffer the appointed punishment. But God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths. Daniel was preserved in life and honour; and Darius decreed that worship should be offered to the living God.

On the death of Darius (B. c. 536) the kingdom of Babylon passed to Cyrus, who was thus placed at the head of the combined empire of the Babylonians, Medes, and Persians. This monarch had been mentioned by name in the prophecies of

*[Others think that Jehoiachin died childless, Solomon's family becoming extinct in him, and that Salathiel, though reckoned his son or grandson in 1 Chron. iii. 17, and Matt. i. 12, was merely his heir, being descended from Nathan, Solomon's brother. See the genealogy in St. Luke iii. The meaning of the Hebrew word translated 'childless' in Jer. xxii. 30, is disputed. See Davison On Prophecy, pp. 209-210 and 507-510.]

t[This has been recently ascertained from the Assyrian inscriptions, and thus the statements of Scripture are reconciled with the apparently contradictory statements of Berosus, as given by Josephus (Cont. Ap. i. 20). See Dr. Pusey On Daniel, p. 402, and Smith's Dict. i. 157.]

[The circumstances attending the capture had been predicted by Jeremiah (1. 38; li. 36, 39, 57).]

[On this point, however, great difference of opinion exists. Many recent authorities identify Darius with Astyages, regarding Cyaxares II. as a mere invention of Xenophon. Professor Rawlinson says (Bampton Lectures, p. 171), "Perhaps it is the most probable view that he was a viceroy set up by Cyrus, of whom there is at present no trace in profane history."]

Thus putting an end to the Chaldean empire, which had commenced after the fall of Nineveh, B. C. 625.