THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT CONNECTED, IN THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS AND NEIGHBOURING NATIONS, FROM The Declension of the Kingdoms of ISRAEL and JUDAH, to the Time of CHRIST. BOOK II. IN An. 587. Nebuchadnezzar 18. 'N the 12th year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, one escaping from Jerufalem a came to Ezekiel in the land of the Chaldeans, and told him of the deftruction of the city; whereon he prophefied defolation to the rest of the land of Judah, and utter deftruction to the remainder of the Jews who were left therein. The fame year Ezekiel prophefied against Egypt, and Pharaoh Hophira, the king thereof, that God would bring against him Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who fhould lay the land defolate; and that he and all his armies fhould be brought to deftruction, and perifh, like as other nations whom God. had cut off for their iniquities: which is the fubject of the 32d chapter of his prophecies. The Jews which went into Egypt, having fettled at Migdol, and Tahpanhes, and Noph, and in the country of Pathros, (i, c. ? Ezek. xxxiii, 21—29. ɓ Jer. xliv. 1. с b (i. e. at a Magdalum by the Red fea, at Daphne near Pelufium, at Memphis, and in the country of Thebais), gave themselves there wholly up to idolatry, worshipping the queen of heaven, and other falfe deities of the land, and burning incenfe unto them, without having any more regard to the Lord their God. Whereon the prophet Jeremiah cried aloud against this impiety, unto thofe among whom he lived, that is, those who had fettled in the land of Pathros or Thebais. (For this being the fartheft from Judea of all the places where they had obtained fettlements in that country, they had carried him thither, the better to take from him all opportunity of again returning from them). But all his exhortations were of no other effect, than to draw from them a declaration, that they would worfhip the Lord no more, but would go on in their idolatry: for they told him, that it had been beft with them, when they practifed it in Judah and Jerufalem; that it was fince their leaving of it off, that all their calamities had happened unto them; and that therefore, they would no more hearken unto any thing, that he should deliver unto them in the name of the Lord. Whereon f the word of the Lord came unto the prophet, denouncing utter deftruction unto them by the fword, and by the famine, that thereby all of them, that is, all the men of Judah then dwelling in Egypt, fhould be confumed, excepting only fome few, who fhould make their escape into the land of Judah. And, for a fign hereof, it was foretold unto them by the fame prophet, that Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, in whom they trufted, fhould be given into the hands of his enemies, who fought his life, in the fame manner as Zedekiah was given into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, that fought his life; that fo, when this fhould be brought to pass in their eyes, they might be affured thereby, that all thefe words, which the Lord hath spoken against them, fhould certainly be fulfilled upon them; as accordingly they were, about 18 years afterwards. After this there is no more mention of Jeremiah. It is most likely that he died in Egypt foon after, he being then much advanced in years: (For he had now prophefied 41 years from the 13th of Jofiah), and also much broken (as we may well fuppofe) by the calamities which happened to himself and his country. Tertullian, Epiphanius, Dorotheus, Jerome, and Zonaras, tell us, that he was ftoned to death by the Jews, for preaching against against their idolatry. And of this fome interpret St Paul's ibásou (i. e. they were ftoned), Heb. xi. 37.: but others fay, that he was put to death by Pharaoh Hophra, because of his prophecy against him. But these feem to be traditions, founded rather on conjecture, than on any certain account of the matter. Nebuchadnezzar, being returned to Babylon after the end of the Jewish war, and the full fettling of his affairs in Syria and Palestine, did, out of the spoils which he had taken in that expedition, make that golden image to the honour of Bel his god, which he did fet up, and dedicate to him in the plain of Dura: the history of which is at large related in the 3d chapter of Daniel: but how Daniel efcaped the fiery furnace, which his three friends on that occafion were condemned unto, is made a matter of inquiry by fome. That he did not fall down and worship the idol, is moft certain; it abfolutely dif agreeing with the character of that holy religious man, to make himfelf guilty of fo high an offence against God, as fuch a compliance would have amounted unto; either, therefore, he was abfent, or elfe, if prefent, was not accufed. The latter feems moft probable; for Nebuchadnezzar, having fummoned all his princes, counsellors, governors, captains, and all other his officers and minifters, to be prefent, and affifting at the folemnity of this dedication, it is not likely, that Daniel, who was one of the chiefeft of them, fhould be allowed to be abfent. That he was prefent, therefore, feems most probable: but his enemies thought it fitteft not to begin with him, because of the great authority he had with the king; but rather to fall first on his three friends, and thereby pave the way for their more fuccefsful reaching of him after it. But what was in the interim miraculously done in their cafe, quafhed all further accu fation about this matter; and for that reafon it was, that Daniel is not at all spoken of in it. Nebuchadnezzar, in the 21st year of his reign, according to the Jewish account, which was the 19th according to the Babylonith account, and the fecond from the An. 586. destruction of Jerufalem, came again into Syria, and laid fiege to Tyre, Ithobal being then king of Nebuchadnezzar. 19. that In the Greek verfion of Daniel, chap. iii. 1. this is faid to have been done in the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar. But this is not in the original text; for in that no year at all is mentioned: and therefore it is most probable it crept into it from fome marginal comment, for which, I doubt not, there was fome very good authority. For, it could in no year of that king's reign fall more likely; and therefore according hereto I have here placed it. Jofephus Antiquities book 10. chap. 11. et contra Apionem 1 that city; which found him hard work for thirteen years together, it being fo long before he could make himself master of the place for it was a strong and wealthy city, which had never as yet fubmitted to any foreign empire, and was a of great fame in those days for its traffic and merchandife, whereby feveral of its inhabitants had made themfelves as great as princes in riches and fplendour. It was built by the Zidonians, 240 years before the building of the temple of Solomon at Jerufalem: For Zidon being then conquered and taken by the Philistines of Askelon, many of the inhabitants efcaping thence in their fhips, built Tyre; and therefore it was called by the prophet Ifaiah the daughter of Zidon: but it foon out-grew its mother in largeness, riches, and power, and was thereby enabled to withstand for fo many years the power of this mighty king, to whom all the eaft had then fubmitted. While Nebuchadnezzar lay at this fiege, Nebuzaradan, the An. 584. captain of his guards, being fent out by him with part of his army, invaded the land of Ifrael, to take revenge, as it may be supposed, for the death of Gedaliah, there being no other reason why he should fall on the poor remains of those miserable people, whom he himself had left and fettled there. In which expedition f Nebuzaradan, feizing upon all of the race of Ifrael that he could meet with in the land, made them all captives, and fent them to Babylon. But they all amounted to no more than 745 perfons, the reft having been all fled into Egypt, as hath been before related. By this laft captivity was fully completed the defolation of the land, no more of its former inhabitants being now left therein. And hereby were also completed the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and other prophets relating hereto; and particularly that of Ezekiel, wherein God's forbearance of the houfe of Ifrael is limited to 390 days, and his forbearance of the houfe of Judah to 40 days. For, taking the days for years, according to the prophetic ftile of scripture, from the apostasy of Jeroboam to the time of this laft captivity, there will be just 390 years; and fo long God bore the idolatry of the house of Ifrael and from the 18th year of Jofiah, when the house of Judah entered into covenant with God to walk wholly in his ways, to the fame time will be just 40 years; and fo long God bore their walking contrary to that covenant. But now the flated time of his forbearance, in refpect of both being fully completed, a Ezek. xxvi. &. xxvii. b If. xxiii. 8. C Jofeph. Antiq. b. 8. c. 2. Juftin lib. 18. c. 3. e If. xxiii. 12. f Jer. lii. 30. Ezek. iv. 1---8. 2 Chron. xxxiv. 29--31. pleted, he completed also the defolation of both in this laft captivity, in which both had an equal share, part of them, who were now carried away, being of the house of Judah, and part of the house of Ifrael. There are others who end both the computations at the deftruction of Jerufalem; and, to make their hypothefis good, they begin the 40 years of God's forbearance of the house of Judah from the miffion of the prophet Jeremiah to preach repentance unto them, that is, from the 13th of Jofiah, a when he was first called to this office; from which time, to the last year of Zedekiah, when Jerufalem was destroyed, were exactly 40 years. And as to the 390 years forbearance of the houfe of Ifrael, according as they compute the time from Jeroboam's apoftafy, they make this period to fall exactly right also, that is, to contain just 390 years from that time to the deftruction of Jerufalem. But this period relating purely to the houfe of Ifrael, as contradiftinct from the house of Judah, in this prophecy, it cannot be well interpreted to end in the destruction of Jerufalem, in which the house of Ifrael had no concern: for Jerufalem was not within the kingdom of Ifrael, but within the kingdom of Judah, of which it was the metropolis; and therefore the latter only, and not the former, had their punishment in it. But this laft equally affected both; and therefore here may well be ended the reckoning which belonged to both. As to the computing of the 40 years of God's forbearance of the houfe of Judah from the miffion of Jeremiah to preach repentance unto them, it must be acknowledged, that from thence to the deftruction of Jerufalem, the number of years falls exactly right; and therefore, fince the 120 years of God's forbearance of the old world is reckoned from the like miffion of Noah to preach repentance unto them, I should be inclined to come into this opinion, and reckon the 40 years of this forbearance of Judah by the 40 years of Jeremiah's like preaching of repentance unto them; but it cannot be conceived, why Ezekiel fhould reckon the time of his mithion by an æra from the 18th year of Jofiah (for the 30th year on which he faith he was called to the prophetic office is certainly to be reckoned from thence), unless it be with respect to the 40 years of God's forbearance of the houfe of Judah in his own prophecies. After this, Nebuzaradan marched against the Ammonites; and, having destroyed Rabbah, their royal city, and by fire and fword made great defolation in that country, he carried their king, and their princes, and most of the chief of the land, into captivity and this was done by way of juft revenge for the * Jer. i. 2. part |