EZEKIEL CHAP. V. be sounded for his army; and returned to JerusaOF THE EXPEDITION OF NECho, King of egypt; the DEATH OF JO. lem, and died of that wound, and he was magnifiSIAH; THE CAPTIVITY OF HIS SUCCESSOR JEHOAHAZ, AND THE AC-cently buried in the sepulchre of his fathers, when CESSION OF JEHOIAKIM; ALSO OF THE PROPHETS JEREMIAH AND he had lived thirty-nine years, and of them had reigned **thirty-one. But all the people mourned greatly for him; lamenting and grieving on his account many days.tt And Jeremiah the prophet composed‡‡ an elegy to lament him; which is still extant. Moreover this prophet denounced beforehand the sad calamities that were coming upon the city. He also left behind him in writing a description of that destruction of our nation, which has lately happened in our days, and the taking of Babylon. Nor was he the only prophet who delivered such predictions beforehand to the multitude; but so did Ezekiel also; who was the first person that wrote, and left behind him in writing Now Necho, king of Egypt, raised an army,† and marched to the river Euphrates; in order to fight with the Medes and Babylonians who had toverthrown the dominion of the Assyrians. For he had a desire to reign over Asia. But when he was come to the city Mendes, which belonged to the kingdom of Josiah, he brought an army to hinder him from passing through his country, in his expedition against the Medes. Now Necho sent a herald to Josiah, and told him that he did not make this expedition against him; but was making haste to Euphrates; and desired that he would not provoke him to fight against him, be-Stwo books concerning these events. Now these cause he obstructed his march to the place whither he had resolved to go. But Josiah did not admit of this excuse, but put himself into a posture to hinder him from his intended march. I suppose it was Sfate that pushed him on this conduct; that it might take an occasion against him. For as he was setting his troops in array, and rode about in his chariot, from one wing of his army to another, one of the Egyptians shot an arrow at him, and put an end to his eagerness of fighting: for being sorely wounded, he commanded a retreat to Pharaoh signifies no more, in the Egyptian language, than king; and was therefore given to any one that sat upon that throne: but Necho (according to Herodotus) was his proper name, though some will have it to be an appellative which sig. nifies lame, because this Pharaoh (as they suppose) had a lameness, which proceeded from some wound he had received in the wars. The same historian tells us, that he was the son and successor of Psammetichus king of Egypt, and a man of a bold, enterprising spirit; that he made an attempt to join the Nile and the Red Sea, by drawing a canal from one to the other; that though he failed in this design, yet, by sending a fleet from the Red Sea through the straits of Babel Mandel, he discovered the coasts of Africa, and, in this his expedition to the Euphrates, resolved to bid fair (by destroying the united force of the Babylonians and Medes) to be the whole monarch of Asia. Prideaux's Connection, Anno 610, and Marsham's Canon. æg. sæcul. 18. B. † An. 610. This is a remarkable passage of chronology in Josephus; that about the latter end of the reign of Josiah, the Medes and Babylonians overthrew the empire of the Assyrians; or, in the words of Tobit's continuator, that before Tobias died, he heard of the destruction of Nineveh, which was taken by Nabuchodonosor, the Babylonian, and Assuerus, the Mede. Tobit xiv. 15. Of which see Dean Prideaux's Connection, at the year 612. § Or Divine Providence; for this procedure was against a divine admonition. ||This battle is justly esteemed the very same that Herodotus mentions, when he says, that Necho joined battle with the Syrians (or Jews) at Magdolum (Megiddo,) and beat them: as Dr. Hudson here observes. It was the custom of war in former times for great officers to have their led horses, that if one failed they might mount two prophets were priests by birth. But of them Jeremiah dwelt in Jerusalem, from the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, until the city and temple were utterly destroyed. However, as to what befell this prophet, we will relate it in its proper place. Upon the death of Josiah, his son, Jehoahaz by name, took the kingdom, being about twentythree years old. He reigned in Jerusalem; and his mother was Hamutal, of the city Libnah. He was an impious man, and impure in his course of another. The kings of Persia (as Quintus Curtius informs us) had horses attending their chariots, which, in case of an accident, they might make to; and, in like manner, we might presume, that, when it became a mighty fashion to fight in chariots, all great captains had an empty one following them, unto which they might betake themselves if any mischance befell the other. Bochart's Hieroz. part I. c. 2. and 9. B. ** From An. 641 to An. 610. tt The Jews were wont to make lamentations, or mournful songs, upon the death of great men, princes, and heroes, who had distinguished themselves in arms, or by any civil art had merited well of their country. By an expression in 2 Chron. xxxv. 25, Behold they are written in the lamentations, one may infer, that they had certain collections of this kind of composition. The author of the book of Samuel has preserved those which David made upon the death of Saul and Jonathan, of Abner, and Absalom: but this mournful poem, which the disconsolate prophet made upon this immature death of good Josiah, we nowhere have, which is a loss the more to be deplored, because, in all probability, it was a masterpiece in its kind: since never was there an author more deeply affected with his subject, or more capable of carrying it through all the tender sentiments of sorrow and compassion. Calmet's Commentary, and Preface sur les Lamentations de Jeremie. B. Whether Josephus, from 2 Chron. xxxv. 25, here means the book of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, still extant; which chiefly belongs to the destruction of Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar; or any other melancholy poem now lost, but extant in the days of Josephus, belonging peculiarly to Josiah, cannot now be determined. §§ Of these two books of Ezekiel, see Authentic Records, part II. page 778. Jeremiah i. 2. life. But as the king of Egypt returned from the battle, he sent for Jehoahaz to come to him, to the city of Hamath,* which belongs to Syria; and when he was come, he put him in bands, and delivered the kingdom to a brother of his by the father's side, whose name was Eliakim; and changed his name to Jehoiakim; and laid a tribute upon the land of a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold: and this sum of money Jehoiakim paid by way of tribute. But Necho carried away Jehoahaz into Egypt; where he died, when he had reigned three months and ten days. Now Jehoiakim's mother was called Zebudah, of the city Rumah. He was of a wicked disposition; and prone to mischief: nor was he either religious towards God, or good-natured towards men.† CHAP. VI. OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S EXPEDITION AGAINST THE KINGS OF EGYPT AND JUDEA; THE DEATH OF JEHOIAKIM, AND THE SUCCESSION OF HIS SON JEHOIACHIN. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, one whose name was Nebuchadnezzar took the government over the Babylonians; who at the same time went up with a great army to the city Carchemish, which was at Euphrates; upon a resolution that he had taken to fight with Necho king of Egypt, under whom all Syria then was. And when Necho understood the intention of the king of Babylon, and that this expedition was made against him, he did not despise his attempt; but made haste with a great band of men to Euphrates, to defend himself from Nebuchadnezzar. And when they had joined battle he was beaten, and lost many thousands of his soldiers. So the king of Babylon passed over the Euphrates, and took all Syria, as far as Pelusium, excepting Judea. But when Nebuchadnezzar had already reigned four years, which was the eighth of Jehoiakim's government over the *This ancient city, Hamath, which is joined with Arpad or Aradus, and with Damascus, 2 Kings xviii. 34. Isa. xxxvi. 19. Jer. xlix. 23, cities of Syria and Phoenicia, near the borders of Judea, was also itself evidently near the same borders; though long ago utterly destroyed. Nor ought the moderns to dream here of Antioch at a vast distance from those borders; or even of Epiphania, or Emesa, or any other neighbours; as being still much too remote for the situation of this city. It was, I think, in or very near a famous passage between Judea and Libanus or Antilibanus, so frequently called the entrance of Hamath: see Antiq. VIII. 6. Reland. Palestin. lib. I. page 119, 120, 121, 122, and Maundrell, page 24, 25, who very well observes from 1 Macc. xii. 25, 30, that the river Eleutherus, which ran somewhat north of Sidon, ran also through this country of Amathis or Hamath. See Antiq. XIII. 4, which accurately determines the situation of that country. + 2 Chron. xxxvi. 5. The prophet's words upon this occasion, are these: Be Hebrews, the king of Babylon made an expedition with mighty forces against the Jews, and required tribute of Jehoiakim; threatening upon his refusal to make war against him. He was affrighted at his threatening, and bought his peace with money; and brought the tribute he was ordered to bring for three years. But on the third year, upon hearing that the king of Babylon made an expedition against the Egyptians, he did not pay his tribute; yet was he disappointed of his hope, for the Egyptians durst not fight at this time. And indeed the prophet Jeremiah foretold every day how vainly they relied on their hopes from Egypt; and how the city would be overthrown by the king of Babylon,‡ and Jehoiakim the king would be subdued by him. But what he thus spoke, proved to be of no advantage to them, because there were none that should escape. For both the multitude, and the rulers, when they heard him, had no concern about what they heard: but being displeased at what was said, as if the prophet were a diviner against the kings, they accused Jeremiah; and bringing him before the court, they required that a sentence of punishment might be given against him. Now all the rest gave their votes for his condemnation; but the elders prudently sent away the prophet from the court of the prison, and persuaded the rest to do him no harm. For they said he was not the only person who foretold what would come to the city, but that Micah signified the same before him, as well as many others; none of whom suffered any thing of the kings that then reigned, but were honoured as the prophets of God. So they appeased the multitude with these words, and delivered Jeremiah from the punishment to which he was condemned.§ Now when this prophet had written all his prophecies, and the people were fasting, and assembled at the temple, on the ninth month of the fifth year of cause ye have obeyed the commandments of Jonadab, your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he hath commanded you; thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Jonadab, the son of Rechab, shall not want a man to stand before me for ever, Jer. xxxv. 18, 19. To stand before a prince, or to see his face, in Scripture-phrase, denotes the hon. our which accrues from being in his service, but the Rechabites were neither priests nor Levites. Hitherto they had lived in the fields, separate from towns and villages, and were averse indeed to any employment either in church or state; but from the time of their captivity, (for they were carried along with the two tribes,) we find them employed as singers and porters in the service of the temple. To serve in this capacity, there was no necessity for their being of the tribe of Levi; the declaration of the divine will by the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah, was in this case a sufficient vocation. Calmet's Commentary on Jer. xxv. 19. B. § Jeremiah xxvi. 8—24. Jehoiakim, he read the book he composed, con- | done; fearing lest he might excite a revolt, to retaining his predictions of what was to befall the venge the death of his father. He therefore sent city, the temple, and the multitude. And when an army, and besieged Jehoiachin in Jerusalem.‡ the rulers heard of it, they took the book from But because he was of a gentle and just disposihim, and bade him and Baruch the scribe to go tion,§ he did not desire to see the city endangered their ways, lest they should be discovered by one on his account; but he took his mother, and kinor the other. They then carried the book to the dred, and delivered them to the commanders sent king, who gave order in the presence of his friends, by the king of Babylon, and accepted of their that his scribe should read it: but when he heard oaths, that neither should they nor the city suffer what it contained, he was angry, and tore it, and any harm. This agreement, however, was not cast it into the fire, where it was consumed. He observed for a single year; for the king of Babyalso commanded they should seek for Jeremiah, lon gave orders to his generals to take all that and Baruch the scribe, and bring them to him that were in the city captives; both the youth, and the they might be punished. However, they escaped handicraft men, and bring them bound to him: his anger. their number was ten thousand eight hundred and thirty-two; as also Jehoiachin, and his mother and friends. And when these were brought to him, he kept them in custody, and appointed Jehoiachin's uncle, Zedekiah, to be king; and made him take an oath, that he would certainly keep the kingdom for him, and make no innovation, nor have any league of friendship with the Egyptians. Now Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he took the government; and had the same mother with his brother Jehoiakim; but he was a despiser of justice, and of his duty. And those of the same age with him were wicked about him; and the whole multitude did what unjust and insolent things they pleased. For this reason the prophet Jeremiah came often to him, and insisted, that he must leave off his impieties and transgressions; and take care of what was right; and neither give ear to the rulers, among whom were wicked men; nor give credit to their false prophets, who deluded them, as if the king of Babylon would make no more war against them; and as if the Egyptians whould make war against him, and conquer him; since what they said was not true, and the events would not prove such as they expected. Now as to Zedekiah himself, while he heard the prophet speak, he believed him, and agreed to every thing as true; and supposed it was for his advantage. But then his friends perverted him, and dissuaded him from what the prophet advised, and obliged A little time afterward, the king of Babylon made an expedition against Jehoiakim; who received him into the city; and this out of fear of the foregoing predictions of Jeremiah, as supposing he should suffer nothing that was terrible; because he neither shut the gates, nor fought against him. Yet when he was come into the city, he did not observe the covenants he had made; but he slew such as were in the flower of their age, and such as were of the greatest dignity; together with their king Jehoiakim, whom he commanded to be thrown before the walls, without any burial, and made his son Jehoiachin king of the country, and of the city; he also took the principal persons in dignity for captives, three thousand in number, and led them away to Babylon. Among whom was the prophet Ezekiel, who was then but young. And this was the end of king Jehoiakim, when he had lived thirty-six years, and reigned eleven.* But he was succeed ed in the kingdom by Jehoiachin, whose mother was Nehusta; a citizen of Jerusalem. He reigned three months and ten days. CHAP. VII. OF THE DEPOSITION OF JEHOIACHIN BY THE BABYLONIANS; THE SUC- AFTER the king of Babylon had given the kingdom to Jehoiachin, he repented of what he had * From An. 610 to An. 599. † It is very probable that Nebuchadnezzar heard that he had entered into a confederacy with the king of Egypt, as his successor did; and therefore sent an army against him, in the very beginning of his reign, to lay siege to Jerusalem, against which he intended to come himself: but the Jews have a conceit, that Nebuchadnezzar's counsellors represented to him, how unadvisedly he acted in making him king whose father had been in rebellion against him, and that, upon their representation, he resolved to depose him. From an ill dog there never comes a good whelp, was the proverb, they say, which the counsellors made use of on this occasion; and to make this more feasible to the father and son, they generally apply that passage in Eze kiel, "She took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion, and he went up and down among the lions. He became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devour men.Then the nations set against him on every side, from the prov inces; they spread their net over him, and he was taken in their pit." chap. xix. 6, &c. Calmet's and Patrick's Commentaries. B. 2 Kings xxiv. 10. Josephus's character of this Jehoiachin here, seems contrary to that in 2 Kings xxiv. 19. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9. and Jer. xxii. 28. And yet Josephus's account is confirmed by himself elsewhere, Of the War, IV. 2, both which places agree, that he was so mild, and so disposed to spare his people, that he gave up the city Jerusalem into the hands of the Babylonians, upon him to do what they pleased.* Ezekiel also fore- || king of Babylon would not make any more war told in Babylon what calamities were coming upon the people; which, when he heard, he sent accounts of them unto Jerusalem. But Zedekiah did not believe their prophecies, for the following reason: It happened that the two prophets agreed with one another in what they said as to all other things; that the city should be taken, and Zedekiah himself should be taken captive. But Ezekiel disagreed with him, and said, that Zedekiah should not see Babylon; while Jeremiah said, that the king of Babylon should carry him away thither in bonds. And because they did not both say the same thing as to this circumstance, he disbelieved what they both appeared to agree in; and condemned them as not speaking the truth therein; although all the things predicted did come to pass according to their prophecies; as we shall show upon a fitter opportunity. Now when Zedekiah had preserved his league with the Babylonians for eight years, he broke it, and revolted to the Egyptians; in hopes, by their assistance, of overcoming the Babylonians. When the king of Babylon knew this, he made war against him, laid his country waste, and took his fortified towns; and came to the city Jerusalem itself to besiege it. But when the king of Egypt heard what circumstances Zedekiah, his ally, was in, he took a great army with him, and came into Judea; as if he would raise the siege. Upon which the king of Babylon departed from Jerusalem, and met the Egyptians, and joined battle with them, and defeated them; and when he had put them to flight, he pursued them, and drove them out of all Syria. Now as soon as the king of Babylon was departed from Jerusalem, the false prophets deceived Zedekiah, and said, that the their oath to do the people no harm without opposition; which good-will to his people he greatly celebrates in the place last quoted. Perhaps Josephus chose to omit his idolatrous conduct in so short a reign; and to celebrate this humane disposition only, without any contradiction of his copy to ours. Compare this character of Zedekiah at first, with that a little after. * The words in the text according to our translation, areThe word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, &c., when he went with Zedekiah, the king of Judah, into Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince, Jer. li. 59, and from hence some Hebrew interpreters infer, that Zedekiah went to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign, to make his court, and cultivate the good graces of his patron and paramount, Nebuchadnezzar. But this opinion, though followed by several, has no foundation in any other part of Scripture; and the passage now before us, may, according to the original, be very properly rendered in this wise-The word which Jeremiah commanded Seraiah, when he went to Babylon upon an embassy from Zedekiah. The chief business of this embassy was to request of Nebuchadnezzar, a restitution of the sacred vessels of the temple, which he had taken away, when he carried Jehoiachin captive into Babylon. against him or his people; nor remove them out of their own country into Babylon; and that those then in captivity would return, with all those vessels of which the king of Babylon had despoiled the temple. But Jeremiah came among them, and prophesied what contradicted those predictions, and what proved to be true: that they did ill, and deluded the king; that the Egyptians would be of no advantage to them; but that the king of Babylon would renew the war against Jerusalem, and besiege it again, and would destroy the people by famine, and carry away those that remained into captivity; and would take away what they had as spoils, and would carry off those riches that were in the temple. Nay, that besides this, he would burn it, and utterly overthrow the city; and that they should serve him and his posterity seventy years. That then the Persians and the Medes should put an end to their servitude, and overthrow the Babylonians; and that the Jews should be dismissed, and return to their land, §rebuild the temple, and restore Jerusalem. When Jeremiah said this, the greater part believed him; but the rulers and those that were wicked despised him, as one disordered in his senses. Now he had resolved to go to his own country, which was called Anathoth, and was twenty furlongs distant from Jerusalem. But as he was going, one of the rulers met him, and seized upon him, and accused him falsely; as though he were going as a deserter to the Babylonians. Jeremiah said that he accused him falsely; and added, that he was only going to his own country. But the other would not believe him; but seized upon him, and led him away, and accused him to the rulers; under whom he endurOur translation, however, is not at all significant in this place, when it styles this Seraiah a quiet prince. The Septuagint has very properly rendered the words apxwv dwpwv (the prince of the presents,) which some apply to the presents which king Zedekiah made to the temple, and others to the things they daily supplied for sacrifices; but the most natural sense in this place is, that he was charged with the presents and tribute which Zedekiah was obliged to send to Nebuchadnezzar; that his business was, to present them to the emperor, and, upon that occasion, to solicit the restoration of the sacred vessels; upon which account, the Vulgate has rendered the words princeps prophetia, the chief person in the embassy, who, at the time of audience, was to make a speech to the emperor in his prince's Calmet's Commentary. B. name. † See Jeremiah xxxii. 4. and Ezekiel xii. 13 Josephus says here, that Jeremiah prophesied not only of the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, and this under the Persians and Medes, as in our other copies; but of their rebuilding the temple, and even the city Jerusalem, which do not appear in our copies under his name. ed all sorts of torments, and was reserved to be punished; and this was the condition he was in for some time, while he suffered unjustly what I have already described. In the ninth year of the reign of Zedekiah, on the tenth day of the tenth month, the king of Babylon made a second expedition against Jerusalem, and lay before it eighteen months, and besieged it with the utmost application.* There came upon them also two of the greatest calamities, at the same time that Jerusalem was besieged; a famine and pestilential distemper, and made great havoc among them. And though the prophet Jeremiah was in prison, he did not rest, but proclaimed aloud, and exhorted the multitude to open their gates, and admit the king of Babylon: for that if they did so, they should be preserved, and their whole families; but if they did not do so, they should be destroyed. And he foretold that if any one stayed in the city, he should certainly perish by the famine, or by the enemies' sword: but that if he would flee to the enemy, he would escape death. Yet did not these rulers that heard him believe him, even when they were in the midst of their sore calamities; but they came to the king, and, in their anger, informed him of what Jeremiah said, and accused him, and complained of the prophet, as of a madman, and one that disheartened their minds; and by the denunciation of miseries, weakened the alacrity of the multitude, who were otherwise ready to expose themselves to danger for him, and for their country; while he, in a way of threatening, warned them to flee to the enemy: and told them that the city should certainly be taken, and utterly destroyed. But for the king himself, he was not at all irritated against Jeremiah; such was his gentle and righteous disposition, Yet that he might not be engaged in a quarrel with those rulers, at such a time, by opposing what they intended, he let them do with the prophet whatsoever they would. Whereupon, when the king had granted them such a permission, they presently came into the prison, and took him, and let him down with a cord into a pit full of mire, that he might be suffocated, and die of himself. So he stood up to the neck in the mire, which was all about him, and so continued. But there was one of the king's servants, who was in esteem with him, an Ethiopian by descent; who told the king what a state the prophet was in, and said that his friends and his rulers had done evil in putting the prophet into the mire, and by that means contriving against him, that he * 2 Kings xxv. 1. should suffer a death more bitter than by his bonds. only. When the king heard this, he repented of his having delivered up the prophet to the rulers, and bade the Ethiopian take thirty men of the king's guards, and cords with them, and whatsoever else they understood to be necessary for the prophet's preservation; and to draw him up immediately. So the Ethiopian took the men he was ordered to take, and drew up the prophet out of the mire, and left him in the prison.† But when the king had sent to call him privately, and inquired what he could say to him from God, which might be suitable to his present circumstances, and desired him to inform him of it; Jeremiah replied, he had somewhat to say; but that he should not be believed, nor if he admonished him, should he be hearkened to. "For," said he, "thy friends have determined to destroy me, as though I had been guilty of some wickedness. And where are now those men that deceived us, and said that the king of Babylon would not come and fight against us any more? But I am afraid now to speak the truth; lest thou shouldst condemn me to die." And when the king had assured him upon oath that he would neither himself put him to death, nor deliver him up to the rulers, he became bold upon that assurance, and gave him this advice: that he should deliver the city up to the Babylonians: and he said, that it was God that prophesied this by him, that he must do so, if he would be preserved, and escape out of the danger he was in; and that then neither should the city fall to the ground, nor should the temple be burned; but if he disobeyed, he would be the cause of these miseries coming upon the citizens, and of the calamity that would befall his whole house. When the king heard this, he said, he would willingly do what he persuaded him to, and what he declared would be to his advantage; but that he was afraid of those of his own country, that had fallen away to the Babylonians; lest he should be accused by them to the king of Babylon, and be punished. But the prophet encouraged him, and said, he had no cause to fear such punishment: for that he should not have the experience of any misfortune, if he would deliver up all to the Babylonians; neither himself, nor his children, nor his wives; and that the temple should then continue unhurt. So when Jeremiah had said this, the king let him go, and charged him to betray what they had resolved on to none of the citizens, nor tell any of these matters to any of the rulers, if they should have learned that he had been sent for, and should inquire † Jeremiah xxviii. 13. |