capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar occurred in the year B. c. 605.

B. C. 602.-When Nebuchadnezzar deposed Jehaiokim he was but the coadjutor of Nabopolassar, on the Babylonish throne. His arrangements respecting Judea were as yet incomplete, when tidings of his father's death reached him; and hoping to bind the Jews to himself by the tie of gratitude, he released Jehoaikim from prison. He then exacted from him, in the name of Jehovah, an oath of fidelity and true friendship, and set him up again upon the throne of which he had never been worthy. But neither the bond of gratitude, nor the obligation of an oath, operated as any restraint upon one so depraved as Jehoaikim. Within three years he again put himself under the guidance of Egypt, and sealed thereby his own and his country's doom.

B. c. 602.—It was in these later ages of apostasy and tribulation, that the majority of the prophets whose writings have come down to us, flourished. Jeremiah, next after Isaiah the most distinguished among them, remonstrated against the folly as well as the wickedness of the king; and the more to impress him with a sense of his danger, caused Baruch the scribe to write a catalogue of all God's threatenings in a book. But the in

fatuated prince no sooner heard a few of these read aloud than he seized the volume, cut it across with a knife, and threw it into the fire. He endeavoured, likewise, to arrest Jeremiah, whom he would have certainly put to death, had not the prophet managed to conceal himself. Before he could execute his purpose, however, Nebuchadnezzar appeared at the gates. Jerusalem was again invested, again punished by heavy fine, again deprived

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of most of its leading men, and again pardoned. Indeed, Jehoaikim himself received the king's permission to continue at the head of affairs; though not without giving hostages for his future conduct. The children of all the branches of the royal family, and of most of the noble houses which yet remained in the land, Nebuchadnezzar removed to Babylon, where they became pages and personal attendants on the court; among these occur the names of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, better known, at least in Babylonia, as Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

There are men so infatuated, that neither hope of good nor fear of evil is of sufficient potency to keep them in the right line; and Jehoiakim seems to have been of that number. Within a year of this second humiliation he was again a rebel, and Nebuchadnezzar's patience being exhausted, he sent orders to the governors of all the adjacent provinces to march upon Jerusalem and destroy it. They gathered together a motley host, and overran the open country. Jerusalem was closely invested, its supplies were cut off, and frequent sorties thinned the garrison from day to day. In one of these Jehoiakim was slain; and his son Jehoiachin, a child of eight years of age, mounted the tottering throne.

B. C. 597.. The siege went on but slowly, till Nebuchadnezzar becoming impatient, arrived in person to conduct the operations. All hope now departed from the Jews; they therefore opened their gates, and threw themselves on the king's mercy. Not even yet did it wholly fail. Jehoiachin was indeed deposed; and a son of the good Josiah, to whom the name of Zedekiah was given, received the crown. But he, like all his immediate predeces

sors, abused the king's leniency. Moreover, he plotted a rebellion in common with the hereditary enemies of Israel, the Moabites, the Edomites, the Sidonians, and other polluted races; and treated with contempt the remonstrances of the good and wise Jeremiah on the occasion. It was to no purpose that this holy man assured him of the utter worthlessness of his plans. It was equally in vain that Ezekiel, then a captive in Babylon, denounced God's vengeance on both king and people. They were alike laughed to scorn; and the war began.

B. C. 597. It was felt on both sides that the day of clemency was past. While Nebuchadnezzar, therefore, was advancing slowly towards Jerusalem, Zedekiah stored the place with all things necessary for a siege, and sent messengers to Egypt with large offers of tribute, in order to induce a diversion from that side in his favour. To do him justice, likewise, Zedekiah fought like a desperate man; and for a moment light broke in upon his darkening prospects, but it was only for a moment. The king of Egypt took the field, and the rumour of his approach induced the Babylonians to raise the siege. Their departure operated as a signal for the renewal of all the idolatrous and cruel practices which the Jews, amid the depth of their terror, had abandoned. But the joy of this infatuated people soon came to an end. Having forced the Egyptians back into their own land, Nebuchadnezzar returned to Jerusalem; and the siege was renewed with fresh vigour. It would be a long tale to tell how the garrison fought, and how the inhabitants suffered, as long as a morsel of garbage remained wherewith to sustain life. Breaches were made in the walls, assaults delivered and repulsed; houses

n fire, whole streets razed, and at last, over

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multitudes of the dying and the dead, the victorious army marched. All the horrors of a city taken by storm ensued, and Jerusalem ceased to be the capital of a state.

Zedekiah being taken alive, had his eyes put out, after the whole of his children were slain in his presence. He was then loaded with chains, and sent off to Babylon. The temple, being plundered of all its costly furniture, was burnt to the ground. The city walls were levelled, and the mass of the population, being swept to the farther side of the Euphrates, only a remnant of the poorest and most lowly remained to keep the soil in a state of imperfect cultivation.

This great catastrophe befell in the year B. C. 586; just 434 years subsequently to the building of the temple of Solomon, and 404 from the date of the revolt of the Ten Tribes, and the division of the Israelites into two nations.

CHAP. XXXVIII.

BOOKS OF EZRA, NEHEMIAH, AND ESTHER.

DANIEL, SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO. REVOLUTIONS IN BABYLON. CYRUS THE GREAT.

HITHERTO in tracing the fortunes of God's chosen people I have had their own authentic and important records to consult. I am forced, from this moment, to seek elsewhere for some of the materials out of which my narrative is to be woven. For though the books of Esther and of the prophet Daniel

X

describe various incidents that occurred during the Babylonish captivity, and those of Ezra and Nehemiah tell how a remnant returned, how the temple was rebuilt, and the nationality restored; neither from these, nor from the apocryphal books, nor from all united, is it possible to gather more than a few scattered facts of undoubted value, as far as they go, but valuable only when accepted as fragments of a great whole. My readers must, therefore, put themselves trustingly into my hands, while I endeavour to clear for them a way through the six centuries, or thereabouts, that interpose between the first fall of Jerusalem and the coming of Jesus Christ.

B. C. 585.—Though swept of most of its leading families, Judea was not left a desert after the destruction of the capital. No sooner were the Chaldean armies withdrawn, than numbers of fugitives came forth from their hiding places; and these, submitting readily to the chief whom Nebuchadnezzar set over them, began again to plough and to sow, and to go about the ordinary business of life. This chief, however, by name Gedeliah, was not of the blood royal; and a person called Ishmael, who traced his lineage back to David, conspired against him, and slew him. But the only effect of this bad deed was to stir up a short civil war in the land. It ended in the flight of all concerned. Ishmael took refuge among the Ammonites, and Johanan, his rival, fled into Egypt, carrying with him the prophet Jeremiah, who died there.

Meanwhile the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried into Babylon, took root in the provinces whither he caused them to be transplanted, and not uncheered by the promises of Ezekiel and her prophets, took to various occupations, like