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Comes to
Gedaliah.

B.C. 590. liberty to go where he pleased. He preferred staying in Judea, and went to Mizpeh, to Gedaliah, a Jewish prince, whom Nebuchadnezzar had constituted governor of the cities of Judah, and from whom, in former instances, the prophet had received protection. Here he resided in peace, with the remnant of the Jews, for some time. But a conspiracy was forming against Gedaliah, which disturbed this tranquillity, and terminated the life of the governor. One of the unworthy princes of Judah, Ishmael by name, had escaped the general destruction by flying to the king of Ammon; and after the settlement of the Jewish remnant under the just administration of Gedaliah, either moved by envy of his station, or instigated by the conspiracy. monarch with whom he had found protection, he resolved to compass the death of this good governor. Gedaliah had received notice of this conspiracy from Johanan, and others of the dispersed captains, who came in to him after the establishment of his government, and repeatedly urged that they might prevent the meditated evil by cutting off the traitor. The governor was too just to allow this latter measure; and, as the event proved, too secure to take the proper precautions against his insidious adversary. Unwilling to think so ill of a man upon whom he had conferred distinguished kindness, he suffered Ishmael to have constant access to him; availing himself of Gedaliah's which, he found occasion to assassinate Gedaliah, and the friends who surrounded him.

Ishmael's

death.

Ishmael's further treachery.

His defeat

and flight.

The Jews

fear the Chaldeans.

This cruel piece of treachery and rebellion was followed by another. Two days after this nefarious transaction, fourscore men approaching the desolated sanctuary, in habiliments of mourning, with incense and offerings, to lament the ruin of their country, the city, and the temple, were intercepted by the hypocritical murderer, who, mingling his tears with theirs, offered to conduct them to Gedaliah; and, after leading them into the midst of the city, he brought them to a pit, or subterraneous excavation, which had been made by Asa, king of Judah, as a hiding-place, when he was threatened by Baasha, king of Israel, and killed them there, filling up the cavern with the carcases of those who had fallen by his treachery. He then compelled the remnant of the people, among whom were some princesses who had escaped the captivity, to follow him, and was returning to Baalis, the king of the Ammonites, with whom this infamous plot seems to have originated, when Johanan, and other officers, who had in vain attempted to awaken the suspicions of the too confiding Gedaliah, having received information of these acts of violence on the part of Ishmael, pursued, and overtook him in Gibeon, rescued his prisoners, and compelled him to flee for his life, with only eight men who || escaped with him.

Notwithstanding this atrocious murder of Gedaliah was an act of treason unsanctioned by the remnant of the Jews, and so promptly revenged by Johanan, neither did that chief, his companions in arms, or the people, judge it prudent to return to the heart of their

Egypt.

Jeremiah.

to go.

country, until they could ascertain what representations on the B.C. 590. subject might be made to Nebuchadnezzar, and how that monarch might be disposed to receive them. They turned, therefore, aside to the borders of Egypt, and dwelt on the confines of Judea, near Bethlehem. They had greater cause for apprehension, because not only the deputy appointed by the king of Babylon had fallen, but the Chaldeans who remained with him had been also put to the sword; and their fears so far prevailed, that they began to think of Meditate a seeking shelter in Egypt. This step, however, they would not take return to without consulting Jeremiah, and, through him, seeking counsel at Consult the hand of God; at the same time promising that they would abide by whatever decision he should make by inspiration. The prophet accordingly received, ten days afterward, an answer to their solemn appeal to him; and assured them, in the name of Jehovah, that if they continued in their country, he would give them favour in the sight of Nebuchadnezzar, and deliver them from their fears of the Chaldeans; but that if they persisted in going down into Egypt, Are forbid they should their perish by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. At the same time, he added, that they had dissembled before him, in sending to inquire after his will, for that they had already made up their minds, and would disobey his injunctions. So it proved; Disobey. for Jeremiah had no sooner delivered his message, than they accused him of conspiring with Baruch to deliver them into the hands of the Chaldeans, and of thinking so to intimidate them by this prediction, which they pronounced false, as to bend them to his purpose. They, therefore, gathered the people, and took them into Egypt, compelling Jeremiah and Baruch to accompany them. They Force had no sooner come to Tahpanhes, or, as some write it, Taphnes, and than the prophet was commanded to " take great stones, and hide Baruch to them in the clay in the brick-kiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's them. house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah; and say Tahpanhes. unto them, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them." He then proceeded to state his entire conquest of Egypt, and the destruction of those Jews who had fled thither, contrary to his express command, for protection. In this constrained sojournment in Egypt, Jeremiah wrote several distinguished prophecies, principally against the Jews and the Egyptians; and if, as is the best founded opinion, his book Book of Laof Lamentations were composed on occasion of the ruin of his country by the Chaldeans, that work was also probably written here. Some have conjectured that they were framed on occasion of the death of Josiah: it is certain that he wrote some elegiac piece or pieces then; but the character of this book seems best to suit the melancholy extinction of the national glory and even existence. They are the longest specimens remaining of that kind of Hebrew

Jeremiah

accompany

Type at

mentations.

B.C. 590. poetry, and are pre-eminent for beauty and pathos. They justify the judgment of those who have pronounced the characteristic style of Jeremiah to have been tenderness. No man could so have written who did not deeply feel; and no man could so have felt, who was not involved in the calamities which he describes. Of his style, Bishop Lowth says, "Jeremiah, though deficient neither in elegance nor sublimity, must give place in both to Isaiah. Jerome seems to object against him a sort of rusticity of language, no vestige of which, I must however confess, I have been able to discover. His sentiments, it is true, are not always the most elevated, nor are his periods always neat and compact; but these are faults common to those writers, whose principal aim is to excite the gentler affections, and to call forth the tear of sympathy or sorrow. This observation is very strongly exemplified in the Lamentations, where these are the prevailing passions; it is, however, frequently instanced in the prophecies of this author, and most of all in the beginning of the book, which is chiefly poetical. The middle of it is almost entirely historical. The latter part, again, consisting of the six last chapters, is altogether poetical; it contains several different predictions, which are distinctly marked, and in these the prophet approaches very near the sublimity of Isaiah. On the whole, however, I can scarcely pronounce above half the book of Jeremiah to be poetical." He conjectures that the 53d chapter belongs properly to the Lamentations, to which it serves as an exordium.

A M. 3418.

His other

works and death.

Jeremiah has been said to be the author of the 137th psalm; and B.C. 586. to him, with Ezekiel, has been also ascribed psalm 65th. Some have supposed that the prophet terminated his days in this involuntary exile, and that he was put to death by the Jews, irritated by his threatenings and reproaches at Tahpanhes. They have even conjectured that he was stoned, and suppose that he was one of those to whom the author of the epistle to the Hebrews alludes. (Chap. xi. 37.) Others affirm that he died in Babylon. Some rabbins assert that he returned to Judea: but the time, manner, and place of his death, are altogether uncertain. Other circumstances have been 2 Macc. xv. added, as little to be depended upon. The apocryphal writer affirms, that he appeared in company with Oneas, after his death, to Judas Maccabæus, gave him a sword, and encouraged him to fight for his country. The Alexandrian chronicle speaks of predictions which he delivered to the Egyptian priests, foretelling the overthrow of their idols by an earthquake at the birth of our Saviour; and that Alexander, visiting his tomb, and learning the prophecies which he had delivered concerning his person and conquests, caused his body to be removed to Alexandria, and a magnificent mausoleum to be erected over him. The apocryphal writer before alluded to states, that he took the holy fire and concealed it in a cistern; that the Jews, upon their return, found in this receptacle only muddy water, which

13.

2 Macc. ii. 4, 5, 6.

became, however, inflamed, when poured upon the altar. He also A.M. 3418. tells us, that Jeremiah removed the tabernacle and the ark to mount B.c. 586. Nabo, and concealed them in a cavern, where they remain to this day. Some of these things are palpably fables, and all of them uncertain. The only authentic account of this illustrious prophet is that which we have given, collected principally from his own writings, and from other parts of the sacred Scriptures.

CHAPTER XIV.

prophecies.

EZEKIEL.

FLOURISHED ABOUT A.M. 3409; B.C. 595.

THE prophet Ezekiel, the third of those who have acquired the greatest distinction amongst the Jews, was a descendant of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi, consequently of the sacerdotal order. His father's name was Buzi; and he is said to have been a native of Sarera. With regard to other particulars generally deemed interesting in the early history of distinguished men, Scripture has left no record, because they are of minor consideration compared with his great character as a prophet, and because they have no immediate connection with his predictions.

The time of his appearance and the drift of his writings evince a marked and most merciful interference of Providence on behalf of the Jewish nation. They were now in a state of depression and captivity; and our prophet, who was destined to console them amidst their sorrows, was himself a participator of them, being carried away captive to Babylon with Jeconiah, or Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Scene of his about A.M. 3405, B.C. 599. In this condition, he dwelt with his countrymen on the banks of the river Chebar, in Mesopotamia, which flows into the eastern side of the Euphrates, at Circesium, the modern Carchemish, two hundred miles, or thereabouts, to the north of Babylon. It is called by Pliny, (Lib. I. C. 26,) Cobaris; by Ptolemy and Strabo, Chaboras, or Aboras. There is no account of Ezekiel's having prophesied at any earlier period of his life; but upon his going into Mesopotamia, he was favoured with the spirit of inspiration, and became the appointed minister of consolation to his afflicted compatriots. They had entertained the idea, so natural to those in a state of bondage, that those who remained in Judea were much more happily circumstanced than themselves, in which supposition they were confirmed by the studied misrepresentations of false prophets. They were, however, now undeceived, by being informed of the calamities which were about to overspread their country, and the ultimate destruction which awaited Jerusalem itself with its celebrated and beloved temple, in consequence of the universal apostacy that would occur.

The commencement of his prophetic office is to be dated in the fifth year of the captivity, about eight or ten years after Daniel, and

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