14 And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.

15 Moreover the altar that was at Beth¶ el, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.

16 And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.

17 Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Beth-el.

18 And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.

19 And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Beth-el.

22 Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;

23 But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem.

24 ¶ Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the 1'images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.

25 And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

26 Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the "provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.

27 And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, 22 My name shall be there.

28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

23

29 In his days Pharaoh-nechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.

30 And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead.

31 Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

32 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

33 And Pharaoh-nechoh put him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, might not reign in Jerusalem; and

in bands that he put the

25. 26.

land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.

34 And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to "Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.

35 ¶ And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one

according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaoh-nechoh.

36 Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's

name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.

37 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

Verse 5. The planets.'—The original word (ni mazzaloth) is of doubtful signification. But as the Chaldeans gave this name to the constellations of the zodiac, this is probably the signification it should here bear. The Rabbins are of this opinion; the Vulgate also has duodecim signis;' and Cudworth, Gesenius, and others, acquiesce in this conclusion, which is also supported by the known practices of Sabæan idolatry, the principles of which we shall have an opportunity of explaining in the notes to the book of Job.

7. The women wove hangings for the grove.'-What is here to be understood necessarily depends on the signification we may determine to assign to the word asherah. Those who think that it denotes Astarte (see the second note on Judges vi. 25) conceive that the hangings were robes for her image, or else that they were hangings for the tents in which were celebrated the abominable rites in honour of that goddess at which this verse hints. Our impression is that the asherah, whatever it were, was placed not in the sanctuary but in its court, and that the hangings were those of the tent or canopy which graced and protected the idolatrous object. There is nothing very strange even in the idea of placing hangings on trees, to those who have observed the remaining relics of such a practice in the custom still preserved in the East, even in the Mohammedan countries, of decorating certain trees and bushes accounted sacred with rags and slips of cloth as votive offerings. When the sanctity of trees was more formally recognized than at present, and they stood protected in sacred places, rich hangings were probably used for the same purpose. We see an indication of this in the anecdote which, without seeming to understand it, Greek authors (Herodotus and Ælian) have related of Xerxes, who, on his important expedition against Greece, tarried a whole day in the desert of Lydia that he might pay homage to a magnificent plane-tree, on the branches of which he hung rich garments, bracelets, and other precious ornaments; and the next day, proceeding on his march, he left a soldier behind to guard the honoured tree and the offerings he had made. See Ouseley's Dissertation on Sacred Trees,' being Appendix ix. to his Travels in the East, vol. i. See also the note on Hos. iv. 13.

8. From Geba to Beer sheba.'-This seems a proverbial expression, to describe the extent of the kingdom from north to south; being of the same purport as from Dan to Beer-sheba,' for the extent of the whole country possessed by the Hebrews.

10. Topheth.'-This Hebrew word is usually derived from toph (), a tabret or drum; and it is supposed to have obtained this name from the drums or tabrets which, according to the general opinion of the Jews, were beaten to drown the cries of the children sacrificed to Moloch in this horrid valley. Milton had this in view when speaking of these sacrifices:

'Moloch, horrid king! besmeared with blood
Of human sacrifice and parents' tears,
Though from the noise of drums and timbrels loud,
Their children's cries unheard, that pass'd through fire
To his grim idol.'-Par. Lost, b. i. 1. 392.

The same custom, of raising a great vocal or instrumental noise when human sacrifices are in progress, has prevailed wherever such horrid rites have been known. It is even witnessed in the (supposed) voluntary immolation of widows in India. Terry states the practice so as

to make it illustrative of the present text: The parents and friends of those women will most joyfully accompany them; and when the wood is fitted for this hellish sacrifice, and begins to burn, all the people assembled shout and make a noise, that the screeches of this tortured creature may not be heard. Not much unlike the custom of the Ammonites, who, when they made their children pass through the fire to Moloch, caused certain tabrets or drums to sound, that their cry might not be heard; whence the place was called Tophet, a tabret.' (Purchas, p. 1479.)

11. He took away the horses...given to the sun...and burned the chariots of the sun.'-Horses were anciently sacrificed to the sun in different nations, their swiftness being supposed to render them an appropriate offering to that luminary. Some think that the horses here mentioned were intended for this purpose. We doubt this; for, if so, they would probably have been sacrificed before this time. The Jews generally suppose the horses were intended for the use of worshippers, when they rode forth in the morning to meet the sun and render him their homage. But the mention of chariots immediately after seems to point out another and more obvious explanation: this is, that they were employed to draw the sacred chariots dedicated to the sun. In the chariots themselves, the Rabbins inform us, the king and nobles rode when they went forth to meet the morning sun. This is possible; but, more probably, the horses and chariots were used in the sacred processions, and were employed, perhaps, on such occasions, to carry the images of the sun. The ancient Persians, who were sunworshippers, dedicated to that luminary white horses and chariots, which were paraded in their sacred processions; and it is thought that other nations borrowed the practice from them. Whether so or not, we find the same idea of associating a chariot and horses with the sun, to denote the rapidity of his apparent progress, common in the poetry and sculpture of classical antiquity. The sun was supposed to be drawn daily, in a chariot, by four wondrous coursers, through the firmament: and we all recollect the fate of the ambitious Phaeton, who aspired to guide the swift chariot and control the strong coursers of the sun. The names of these coursers are preserved -Eous, Pyrois, Ethon, and Phlegon-which are supposed to refer to the four divisions of the day. In his chariot, the personified Sun was represented generally as a young man with a radiant head, and driving, whip in hand. He is sometimes seen thus issuing from a cave, to denote the commencement of his daily career. In a medal of the emperor Heliogabalus, who had been a priest of the sun in Syria, and who established the Syrian form of his worship at Rome, the human figure is wanting, and we only see in the chariot a stone, round below, and rising pyramidally to a point above. The Syrian origin of this representation renders it of very considerable interest. That the sun is intended is indisputable from the inscription, which, as usual, is Soli invicto, To the invincible Sun.' It is remarkable, that, on ancient medals and gems, the horses are not always represented as abreast, but sometimes as turned towards the four quarters of the globe. The ideas which led to the representation of the sun as a charioteer, and assigned to him a chariot and horses, are too obvious to require explanation.

13. On the right hand of the mount of Corruption.'— The Chaldee and other versions read the Mount of Olives,' obviously deriving the word rendered corrup

tion' (ɲngin) from me to anoint, with reference to the oil produced by the famous olives of this mountain, rather than from the Chaldee Л, to destroy. We agree with this; as the Mount of Olives is no doubt intended, whatever name be given to it. With this the Jews agree in so far that they place the Mount of Corruption immediately fronting the temple on the east, which shews that they regarded it as the Mount of Olives. To understand this it is necessary to recollect that the Mount of Olives, in the general sense, is a range of hills to the east of Jerusalem, separated therefrom by the valley through which the Kidron flows, and extending from north to south. This range has three summits, the middlemost of which seems to be sometimes particularly distinguished as the mount of Olives,' by way of eminence, when there is a distinct reference to the particular summits or component hills of this range. By the mount of Olives,' or, if we will, mount of corruption,' of the present text, this central hill is to be understood; and then the hill on the right hand' of that, is of course the one to the scuth, that is, the southernmost of the three. This therefore is one of the few instances in which we can authenticate the local traditions which correctly point to this southern hill, under the name of the Hill of Offence,' as the site of the idolatrous high places erected by Solomon. This hill of course presents the same general appearance as the range to which it belongs; but it is more steep and rude than the central mount, with its dull red hue less relieved by

small vineyards and olive-groves. At its base is the small village of Siloam, consisting of about sixty poor dwellings, scarcely distinguishable from the surrounding tombs. The local tradition is, that Solomon's haram was established on this spot, and the high places for their worship on the hill above. The latter tradition is better authenticated than the former. On the steep brow of this hill there are a great number of excavations, some of the smaller of which are now used for habitations, and others as places of shelter for cattle. There are flights of steps cut in the rock, and leading from cave to cave, to facilitate the communication between them where the brow of the hill was steepest.

33. 'Riblah in the land of Hamath.'-Hamath has been mentioned under Num. xiii. Jerome says this was Daphne, near Antioch in Syria, and the Targums also put Daphne for Riblah. It seems to have been a very large village, noted for its pleasantness and abundant waters, and to which the inhabitants of Antioch resorted on leisure and holiday occasions. It was also celebrated for its sacred grove, in which was an asylum, with a temple of Apollo and Diana. The agreeable situation of the place, with other advantages which it offered, seems to have recommended it as a temporary residence to Pharaoh-neche, as it did afterwards to Nebuchadnezzar, whom we subsequently find at the same place (xxv. 6, 20, 21).

CHAPTER XXIV.

1 Jehoiakim, first subdued by Nebuchadnezzar, then rebelling against him, procureth his own ruin. 6 Jehoiachin succeedeth him. 7 The king of Egypt is vanquished by the king of Babylon. 8 Jehoiachin's evil reign. 10 Jerusalem is taken, and carried captive into Babylon. 17 Zedekiah is made king, and reigneth ill, unto the utter destruction of Judah. In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.

2 And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, 'according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servants the prophets.

3 Surely at the commandment of the LORD came this upen Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did;

4 And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the LORD would not pardon.

5 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judalı? 6 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

7 ¶ And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.

8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.

10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.

11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it.

12 And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

6

13 And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.

385

17 And the king of Babylon made. Mattaniah his father's brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

18 19Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

19 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

20 For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

CHAP. XXIV.--The leading facts of this very summary chapter are related still more summarily in eleven verses (6-16) of 2 Chron. xxxvi. Nevertheless, the passage in Chronicles, although shorter, contains some circumstances which the chapter before us does not express, chiefly in reference to the conduct of Zedekiah. The present text, on the other hand, is more particular in describing the proceedings of the Babylonian invaders. The three first verses of Jeremiah lii. correspond exactly to verses 18-20 of this chapter. Verse 1. " Nebuchadnezzar.-Now that the Babylonians appear again upon the scene, we take the opportu nity of recapitulating the history of the heathen kingdoms as influencing that of Judah. Our last notice of the subject concluded with the successful endeavour of Esarhaddon to re-establish the broken power of the Assyrian empire. This prince died in 667 B.C., and was succeeded by his son Ninus III. in the general authority; while one Saosduchin, who was either his son or his deputy, succeeded him at Babylon, but doubtless in dependence upon the king of Assyria. There is nothing particular recorded of this Ninus, who, in 658 B.C., was succeeded in the Assyrian throne by Nebuchadonosor. Many important particulars of this reign are stated in the apocryphal book of Judith, the historical authority of which is strongly advocated both by Dean Prideaux and Dr. Hales. The particulars which it gives are said by the latter to be perfectly consonant to the whole range of sacred and profane history, and supply some important links in both which are not to be found elsewhere.' Meanwhile, we may proceed on this authority to state, that this king Nebuchadonosor determined, in the twelfth year of his reign, to undertake an expedition against the Medes, who still maintained their independence, and summoned all the states of his empire to his aid. But the western and southern provinces of Cilicia, Phoenicia, Judæa, Moab, Ammon, and Egypt, refused to furnish their contingents of troops, and some of them even treated his ambassadors with insult. This retarded his operations, so that he was not in a condition to take the field till the seventeenth year of his reign, when he marched into Media, and completely succeeded in his enterprise, having defeated the Medes, slain their king, and taken Eebatana, their capital. Then, returning in triumph to Nineveh, he prepared to punish the refractory states which had refused to assist him in the Median war. For this purpose he the next year despatched his general Holofernes beyond the Euphrates, with an army of 120,000 foot and 12,000 horse. This great army ravaged and reduced Cilicia and Syria, with part of Arabia, Ammon, and Edom: Phoenicia was struck with alarm

and sued for peace, which was granted, but not so as to exempt it from being treated as a conquered nation. Holofernes then turned his attention to Judæa; but, while engaged in blockading the town of Bethulia, the key to the hill country of Judæa, he was slain in his tent by Judith, which struck such a panic into the Assyrians that they were easily routed with great slaughter. This event is fixed by Dr. Hales in the year 640 B.C., when, after the assassination of Amon, the government of Judæa was administered by Joachim the high-priest, and the council of elders, during the minority of Josiah. This Joachim is the Hilkiah of 2 Kings xxii. 8.

The effects of this signal defeat of the Assyrians may be traced in the sacred and profane history. Hales calls it the death-blow of the Assyrian empire.' He adds, They never recovered its disastrous consequences. The western nations all shook off the Assyrian yoke; the eastern, the Medes, rallied after their recent defeat, and recovered Ecbatana, and the cities that had been taken by Nebuchadonosor; they even carried the war into Assyria, and, in conjunction with the Babylonians, who again revolted, besieged and took Nineveh, and put an end to the Assyrian empire, 606 B.C. (about thirty-four years after the defeat of Holofernes), as we learn from the joint testimony of sacred and profane history. (Tobit xiv. 15; Herodot. Euterpe). Among those who availed themselves of the distresses of Assyria was Pharach-necho, king of Egypt, who, finding the king involved in a war with the revolted Medes and Babylonians, advanced through Judæa in order to take Carchemish, an important pass on the Euphrates. (See the note on 1 Kings iv. 24.) But his passage was opposed by Josiah, who was either indisposed to the Egyptians, who had proved a broken reed' to the Hebrews in their wars with the Assyrians, or perhaps thinking it safer to attach himself to the latter, who had already demonstrated their power and wreaked their resentment upon Israel. The result was, as recorded in the preceding chapter, that Josiah was slain; and, from the subsequent transactions, it appears that the Egyptian king treated Judæa as a subject kingdom.

When Assyria was taken by the Medes and Babylonians its king was Sarac, or Sardanapalus II., who, when defence was no longer practicable, burned himself, his concubines, and his treasure, upon a great pile in the court of his palace, to avoid falling into the hands of the enemy, who, after they had taken the city, razed it to the ground. The details of this event we shall hereafter notice more particularly in connection' with the prophecies in which it was predicted.

This transaction rewarded the Medes with indepcn