Judah, I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war." He even entreated Josiah to forbear from meddling with him, but the over confident king would not be advised; he assembled his army, and went and met the host of Egypt at Megiddo; here, as he was putting his troops in order of battle, an archer wounded him mortally, and he called to his servants to carry him out of the field. He was placed in a chariot, and brought to Jerusalem, where he died.

Great and sincere was the grief of his people for his untimely death. Jeremiah the prophet lamented him, and so universal was the mourning over the whole land, that 'to mourn as for Josiah' became a proverb. He was honourably interred in Jerusalem, in the sepulchres of the kings.*

Jehoahaz, (or Shallum,) the fourth son of Josiah, was made king after his father's death. Why he was chosen in preference to his elder brother, we have no means of knowing: he enjoyed his election but a short time, for Pharaoh Necho having conquered Carchemish on the Euphrates, stayed on his return through Syria at Riblah, near Antioch, a place famed for its

*The Prophet Zechariah xii. 11. refers to this, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo."Hadadrimmon was a town near Megiddo. Jeremiah's Lamentation is not extant. Some have supposed his book of Lamentations to be it, but this opinion is not received by the learned, as those Lamentations evidently refer to the subjugation and loss of Jerusalem.

delightful climate, and abundant supply of water, which rendered it a favorite residence of the Syrians; here, sending for Jehoahaz, he deposed him, and placed his elder brother Jehoiakim on the throne, at the same time making him tributary. Jehoahaz he carried with him to Egypt, where he died.

CHAPTER XVIII.

JEHOIAKIM BECOMES TRIBUTARY TO ASSYRIA: REVOLTS. JERUSALEM TAKEN BY NEBUCHADNEZZAR, AND THE CAPTIVITY BEGINS. JEHOIAKIM DE

THRONED. ZEDEKIAH MADE KING: REVOLTS:

FINAL SIEGE OF JERUSALEM.

AND CARRIED то BABYLON.

ZEDEKIAH BLINDED,

DEATH OF THE

PROPHET JEREMIAH.

II. Chronicles xxxvi. II. Kings xxiv. xxv. Also Jeremiah

B. C.

xxxiv.—xliii.

JEHOIAKIM OR ELIAKIM.

THE history of Judah now ceases to be 609. that of an independent kingdom. Situated between Egypt and Assyria, both then at the height of their grandeur, and unsupported by Jehovah whose authority the people had obstinately rejected, their kings were but tributary princes under whichever monarchy was in the ascendant. Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, had as we have seen, made a successful inroad into

Assyria, while Nabopolassar was engaged in the siege of Nineveh but this conquest being effected, and his son Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest of the Babylonian monarchs, being now joined with him in the government, the tide of success changed, and victory attended every where the arms of Assyria. Nebuchadnezzar retook Carchemish from the Egyptians, subdued Syria, and demanded the instant submission of the feeble king of Judah. The prophet Jeremiah was now at Jerusalem, and he advised, nay, as a prophet he commanded Jehoiakim and the people to yield he spoke the words of prophetic warning in their ears, now in the Temple, now in the places of public resort; first to the princes, then to the people: sometimes by acts of singular significance, as by hiding a girdle beyond the river Euphrates, and then bringing it back marred and spoiled of its beauty, he foretold the miseries of famine, defeat, and captivity which awaited them. But all was equally in vain. And now, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, when Nebuchadnezzar, victorious over Pharaoh Necho, approached Jerusalem, Jeremiah in opposition to the courtiers and false prophets, who trusted to receive aid from Egypt, declared that the people would only add to their sufferings by attempting any resistance. Jehoiakim, however, notwithstanding the urgent appeals of Jeremiah, persisted in his determination to withstand the conqueror. So daring was his defiance, that even the princes were

alarmed. Jeremiah being imprisoned in his house, was commanded to write upon a roll the punishments which God would bring upon the people, if they did not repent. Jeremiah wrote down these fearful denunciations, and sent Baruch his scribe to read them to the people, then assembled on a solemn fast day, before the gate of the Temple. When this was reported to the princes, they sent for Baruch, and desired to hear the words read to them; but when they heard that the city should be taken, and they themselves carried into captivity, they were afraid, and questioned Baruch anxiously as to how he had received the roll, and whether the words were really those of the prophet. After satisfying themselves of their truth, they laid the roll in one of the chambers of the palace, and first anxiously desiring Baruch to return to Jeremiah, and hide himself and the prophet, they went to lay the matter before the king. Jehoiakim instantly ordered the roll to be brought and read to him; but ere the scribe had read three or four leaves, the impious and enraged king seized the roll, and cut it in pieces, and threw it on the burning hearth, where it was consumed in his presence. Three of the princes interceded with the king, and implored him not to commit so flagrant an act of impiety, but in vain; while the rest of the courtiers, as daringly wicked as Jehoiakim himself, applauded the deed.

Then the word of the LORD came again to Jeremiah, and he was commanded to write another roll, in the place of the one that Jehoiakim had burnt, in which that king was foretold a yet worse fate, and his punishment rendered more severe; while the overthrow of the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar was even more clearly and positively set down. But Jehoiakim repented

not.

The invasion of the Assyrians quickly followed, and fulfilled the prediction of the prophet. Nebuchadnezzar appeared before Jerusalem, and after a short siege, took it. Jehoiakim was loaded with fetters, and carried prisoner to Babylon; but on his submission, he was restored to liberty, and returned, and was placed again on the throne of Judah, to govern as the tributary vassal of his great Assyrian conqueror. The Temple was plundered of its golden vessels, and much of its other riches, and Nebuchadnezzar sent captive to Babylon the sons of the noblest families, to serve as hostages for the fidelity of the people: amongst these were Daniel and his three friends, best known by their Persian names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

From this first carrying away of many of the noblest of the Hebrew families by the king of Babylon, is reckoned the beginning of the seventy years captivity, which dates from the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim. Before Christ, 606.