[701]Comp. Jer. ii. 23, where the LXX. has ἐν τῷ πολυανδρίῳ. In 2 Chron. xxxiv. 4, perhaps the true reading is, notBenî-ha-'âm, butBenî-hinnom—which would mean that he scattered the dust in the gehenna of Jerusalem. Comp. 1 Kings xv. 13.[702]For these Galli, see Seneca,De Vit. Beat., 27; Pliny,H. N., xi. 49.[703]Heb.,bathîm, lit. "tents" or "houses"; Vulg.,quasi domunculas.[704]In 2 Kings xxiii. 8, Geiger would read "the high places of thesatyrs" (שׂצירים).[705]Usually derived (as by Selden and Milton) fromtoph, "drum," but perhaps fromtuph(tospitin sign of abhorrence).[706]Parvar—perhaps "open portico." Renan connects the word with the Greek περίβολος. On horses dedicated to the sun, see Xen.Cyrop., viii. 3, 5, 12;Anab., iv. 5.[707]See Zeph. i. 5; Jer. xix. 13, xxxii. 29.[708]2 Kings xxiii. 13: "The Mount of Corruption"; Vulg.,Mons offensionis; LXX., τοῦ ὄρους τοῦ Μοσθάθ. Some conjecture thatMaschithmay be a derisive change for some word which meant "anointing" (from being theOilMountain,Har ham-mischchah).[709]In burning the bones of the dead, he violated all Jewish feeling. Amos (ii. 1) had severely rebuked this form of revenge and insult even in the case of the heathen King of Moab. Bones defiled the touch (Num. xix. 16; Herod., iv. 73). Josiah's question at Bethel was, "Whatpillaris that?" (tsiyun). LXX., σκόπελον. Comp. Gen. xxxv. 20.[710]1 Kings xiii. 29-31.[711]2 Chron. xxxv. 1-19.[712]Jer. xi. 3, 4. Since, in this part of my subject, I make frequent reference to the prophecies of Jeremiah which are indispensable to the right understanding of the history, I may here say that modern critics (Cheyne and others) arrange them as follows:—In the reign ofJosiah, Jer. ii. 1-iii. 5, iii. 6-vi. 30, vii. 1-ix. 25, xi. 1-17.In the reign ofJehoiakim, xxvi. 2-6, xlvi. 2-12, xxv., xxxv., and possibly xvi. 1, xviii. 19-27, xiv., xv., xviii., xi. 18-xii. 17.In the reign ofJehoiachin, x. 17-23, xiii.In the reign ofZedekiah, xxii.-xxiv., xxvii.-xxix. 1-11 (?), lii.In theExile, xxxix.-xliv.[713]See Cheyne,Jeremiah, p. 56,id.6.[714]Canon Cheyne shows that even Mohammed could not persuade the Qurashites wholly to give up their black stone at the Kaaba, and their dolmens and sacred trees (id.103). He left theauçab, or sacrificial stones (matstseboth), though he warns his followers against them (Quran, v. 92).[715]Jer. xvii. 9-11.[716]Ewald,The Prophets, iii. 63, 64.[717]Jer. xvii. 1-4.[718]The Qurashites and other heathen Arabs accounted holy a large green tree, and every year had a sacrifice in its honour. "On the way to Hunain we called to God's Messenger (Mohammed) that he should appoint for us such trees. But he was terrified, and said, 'Lord God, Lord God! Ye speak even as the Israelites ... ye are still in ignorance,—thus are heathen enslaved'" (Vakïdi,Book of the Campaigns of God's Messenger, quoted by Cheyne,Jeremiah, p. 103, from Wellhausen).[719]Psalm lxxxv. 8.[720]Deut. xxx. 11-14. See Wellhausen, p. 165.[721]Jer. vi. 20. The passages of Jeremiah which seem of a different spirit may have been added by later hands—e.g., xxxiii. 18, which is not in the LXX.[722]Jer. vii. 21; Ewald; and Cheyne,l.c.120. So the Jews seem to have understood it, for they appoint this passage to be read on theHaphtaraafter theParashahabout sacrifices from Leviticus.[723]Jer, vii. 22, 23. This alone would show that Jeremiah did not (as earlier critics thought)write"Deuteronomy," in spite of the numerous close resemblances in phraseology. Thus, Jeremiah often denounces the priests (i. 18, ii. 8-26, iv. 9, v. 31, viii. 1, xiii. 13, xxxii. 32). Cheyne, p. 82.[724]Mic. iii. 11.[725]Jer. vii. 4, 8-15.[726]Jer. xxxi. 31, 32.[727]Jer. xxii. 15, 16.[728]He was forced to desist by a fearful mortality among the labourers.[729]Circ.b.c.611-605. Herod., ii. 158, 159, iv. 42. Psamatik, the father of Necho, was perhaps a Lybian. He established his sway over all Egypt displacing the Assyrians.[730]Antt., X. v. 1.[731]Herod., ii. 158. His father Psamatik had left him an adequate army of natives and mercenaries.[732]Herodotus says of his ships: Ἁι μὲν ἐπὶ τῇ βορηίῃ θαλάσσῃ ἐποιήθησαν.[733]Judg. iv. 23; 1 Sam. xxix. 1-11; 1 Kings xx. 26; 2 Kings xxiii. 29; 2 Chron. xxxv. 22; Rev. xvi. 16 (Armageddon). Herodotus confuses it with Migdol (Μάγδολον).[734]1 Macc. xii. 49; Jos.,Antt., XIII. vi. 2.[735]2 Chron. xxxv. 20-22.[736]According to 1 Esdras i. 25-32, "for upon Euphrates is my war."[737]Klostermann, in 2 Chron. xxxv. 21, readsbachalôm, "in a dream," instead of "to make haste."[738]Gen. xli. 1; Herod., ii. 188;Records of the Past, ix. 52.[739]2 Kings xviii. 25.[740]Antt., X. v. 1: Τῆς πεπρωμένης οἶμαι εἰς τοῦτ' αὐτόν παρορμησάσης.[741]Deut. xxviii. 1-8.[742]Psalm xx. 6, xviii. 29-50.[743]Lev. xxvi. 36.[744]2 Chron. xxxv. 22: "hearkened notto the words of Necho from the mouth of God."[745]"When he hadseenhim." Comp. 2 Kings xiv. 8.[746]1 Esdras i. 25; and LXX., "firmly resolved," "strengthened himself," as in 2 Chron. xxv. 11.[747]Jos.,Antt., X. v. 1; and 2 Chron. xxxv. 23; 1 Esdras i. 30.[748]The fortunes of the Jews again prevailed in this plain in the days of Holofernes (Judith vii. 3); but they were defeated there by Placidus (Jos.,B. J., IV. i. 8).[749]Zech. xii. 11-13 (comp. Jer. xxii. 10, 18). No such place as Hadadrimmon is known, though there is a Rummâne not far from Megiddo. Jerome (Comm. in Zach.) identifies it with a place which he calls Maximianopolis. Wellhausen (Skizzen, 192) thinks that the mourning is compared to some wail over the god Hadadrimmon, like the wailing for Tammuz. Jonathan and Jarchi say that Hadadrimmon was the son of Tabrimmon, who opposed Ahab at Ramoth-Gilead.[750]2 Chron. xxxv. 24, 25. Jeremiah's elegy has probably perished. It would have been most interesting had it been preserved. Lam. iv. is too vague to have been this lost poem.[751]Jer. iv. 10.[752]Jer. xx. 7, 8.[753]Chron. iii. 15.[754]He is named "fourth," but he was older than his brothers Jehoiakim and Zedekiah (2 Kings xxiii. 31, xxiv. 18). The genealogy is as follows:—Zebudah = JOSIAH = Hamutal.| |------ |--------------------| | |Nehushta = ELIAKIM ZEDEKIAH JEHOAHAZ| or Jehoiakim. or Mattaniah. or Shallum.|JEHOIACHIN.[755]An allusion to the Syrian mode of hunting the lion by driving it with cries into a concealed pit (Tristram,Nat. Hist. of the Bible, 118; Cheyne, 140).[756]Ezek. xix. 1-4.[757]The name Shallum means "recompense." It may have been regarded as ill-omened, since the King of Israel who bore this rare name had only reigned a month.[758]The Talmud says that kings were only anointed in special cases (Keritoth, f. 5, 2; Grätz, ii. 328).[759]Jos.,Antt., X. v. 2: Ἀσεβὴς καὶ μιαρὸς τὸν τρόπον.[760]Herod., ii. 159.[761]Mr. G. Smith identifies Carchemish with Jerablûs.[762]Cheyne,Jeremiah, p. 127.[763]Comp. 2 Kings xxv. 20, 21. The old Hittite capital of Riblah was a convenient halting-place on the road between Babylon and Jerusalem. It was on the northernmost boundary of Palestine towards Damascus (Amos vi. 14).[764]Jer. xxii. 10-12.[765]2 Chron. xxxvi. 3; 1 Esdras i. 36. The smallness of the tribute proves the impoverishment of the land. Sennacherib demanded from Hezekiah three hundred talents of silver, and thirty of gold; and Menahem paid one thousand talents of silver to Tiglath-Pileser.[766]Not Jehoiakim, but Jehoiachin, as the sequel shows.[767]Ezek. xix. 5-9. The allusions to Jehoiakim by Jeremiah are numerous, and all unfavourable (xxii. 13-19, xxvi. 20-23, xxxvi. 20-31, etc.)[768]Josephus (Antt., X. v. 2) is very severe on this king. He says that "he was unjust in disposition, an evil-doer, neither pious towards God nor just towards men."[769]Perhaps an allusion to a sort of fortified palace on Ophel.[770]Hab. ii. 9-11.[771]The text is perhaps corrupt. Two MSS. of the LXX. read "because thou viestwith Ahab," and the Vatican MSS. has "with Ahaz." Cheyne adopts the former reading.[772]Jer. xxii. 13-17.[773]Jer. xxiii. 1.[774]Jer. xxii. 23.[775]Jer. xii. 5.[776]Jer. xxvi. 20-23. So far as I am aware, Bunsen stands alone in identifying Urijah with the "Zechariah" who wrote Zech. xii.-xiv. Others refer Zech. xii. 10 to the murder of Urijah.[777]Jer. xxvi. 18.[778]Isa. xiv.,passim.[779]Nabu-pal-ussur, "Nebo protect the son."[780]Nabu-kudur-ussur, "Nebo protect the crown" (Schrader, ii. 48), or "the youth" (Oppert). The portrait of Nebuchadrezzar—this is the proper spelling, as generally in Jeremiah—is preserved for us on a black cameo which he presented to the god Merodach. It is now in the Berlin Museum, and shows strong but not cruel or ignoble characteristics. It is copied in Riehm'sHandwörterbuch, ii. 1067. The Jews, as they were fond of doing to their enemies, made insulting puns on his name. Thus in theVayyikra Rabba(Wünsche,Bibl. Rabb.) the Three Children are represented as saying to him, "You are Neboo-cad-netser: bark [nabach] like a dog; swell like a water-jar [kad], and chirp like a cricket [tsertser],"—in allusion to his madness.[781]Jer. xlvi. 5 (vi. 25).[782]Jos.,Antt., X. xi.; Berosus, p. 11. The Chronicler and Josephus show some confusion, caused by the similarity of the names Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin.[783]Dan. i. 6.[784]We might infer from Ezek. xvii. 12 that Nebuchadrezzar actually took Jehoiakim with him to Babylon.[785]Ezek. xvii. 15.[786]Jer. xxxvi. 29, xxv. 9, xxvi. 6.[787]2 Kings xxiv. 2-4.[788]Grätz thinks that Jeremiah's roll was substantially Jer. xxv.[789]Jos.,Antt., IX. ix. 1.[790]Jer. li. 59. Ewald, Hitzig, and others take the title to mean "quartermaster" (2 Chron. xxxiv. 8).[791]Jer. xlv. 1-5.[792]Zeph. i. 8; 1 Kings xxii. 26; Jer. xxxvi. 26, A.V., "The son of Hammelech." Comp. xxxviii. 6.Hammelechmay be a proper name, or a prince of the blood-royal may be intended.[793]"The 'Book,' now as afterwards, was to be the death-blow of the old regal, aristocratic, sacerdotal exclusiveness. The 'Scribe,' now first rising into importance in the person of Baruch to supply the defects of the living Prophet, was, as the printing-press in later ages, handing on the words of truth, which else might have irretrievably perished" (Stanley).[794]Cheyne,Jeremiah, p. 149; Jer. xiv. 1-xv. 9.[795]Nebuchadrezzar occupies a larger space in the Bible than any heathen king, being spoken of in 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.[796]For further details of Jehoiakim see 1 Esdras i. 38: "He bound Joakim and the nobles;but Zaraceshis brother he apprehended, and brought him out of Egypt." The allusion is entirely obscure, and probably arises from some corruption of the text. The literal rendering is: "AndJoakimbound the nobles; but Zaraces his brother he apprehended, and brought him out of Egypt." Zaraces might be a corruption for Zedekiah, who was Jehoiakim's half-brother. Some think that Zaraces is a corruption for Urijah, and "his brother" a clerical error.[797]Jer. xxxvi. 30, xxii. 19.[798]LXX., καὶ ἐκοιμήθη Ἰωακεὶμ ἐν Γανοζὰν μετὰ τῶν πατέρων ἑαυτοῦ.[799]2 Chron. xxxvi. 8.[800]Sanhedrin, f. 104, 2. For another allusion seeid.49, 1; Hershon,Treasures of the Talmud, p. 232.[801]Jer. xxvi. 22.[802]2 Chron. xxxvi. 9.[803]Jer. xx. 2. There seem to have been special "stocks" and "collars" in the Temple, reserved, by order of the priest Jehoiada, for those whom the priests regarded as unruly prophets (Jer. xxix. 26).[804]Jer. xxii. 24-30. The captivity of the queen-mother struck men's imaginations (Jer. xxix. 2).[805]Middoth, ii. 6, quoted by Cheyne, p. 163; Jos.,B. J., VI. ii. 1. Comp. Ezek. i. 2.[806]Ezek. xix. 6-9. The special allusions are no longer certain.[807]2 Kings xx. 17. The expression "he cut to piecesall the vessels of gold which Solomon had made" is hardly consistent with Ezra i. 7-11, unless we understand the word in a loose sense.[808]He says that he nobly gave himself up to save the city (Antt., X. vii. 1). His captivity was made an era from which to date Ezek. i. 2, viii. 1, xxiv. 1, xxvi. 1, etc. Comp. Susannah 1-4.[809]Jer. xxii. 30, 'arîrî. His "son" Assir (1 Chron. iii. 17) may have been made an eunuch (Isa. xxxix. 7).[810]Luke iii. 27, 31; Matt. i. 12.[811]Baruch i. 3, 4.[812]The favourable notice of Nebuchadrezzar inTaanith(quoted above) is not found inBerachoth, f. 57, 2, where he is called "the wicked." There are many wild legends about him. InNedarim(f. 65, 2), R. Yitzchak says: "May melted gold be poured into the mouth of the wicked Nebuchadrezzar! Had not an angel struck him on the mouth, he would have outshone all David's songs and praises." With reference to Isa. xxii. 1, 2, the Rabbis say that Jeconiah went to the Temple roof, and flung up the keys into the air, when Nebuchadrezzar required them: "a hand took them, and they were seen no more" (Shekalim, vi. 5). InNedarim(f. 65, 2) we are told that Zedekiah's rebellion consisted in divulging, contrary to his oath, that he had seen Nebuchadrezzar eating a live hare (Hershon,Treasures of the Talmud).[813]Comp. Jer. xxiii. 6: Jehovah-Tsidkenu.[814]Ezek. xvii. 12-14.[815]Ezek. xvii. 1-6.[816]Jer. xxxiv. 8-11.[817]Jer. xxxiv. 19. Comp. Gen. xv. 17.[818]This is strikingly shown by his piteous remark to them in Jer. xxxviii. 5.[819]He first sent two of Jeremiah's friends, Elasah and Gemariah, the son of Shaphan.[820]Some critics have doubted the authenticity of Jer. li., lii.[821]2 Chron. xxxvi. 14-21; Stanley, ii. 528; Milman, i. 394.[822]Shaphan's other sons, Gemariah, Ahikam, Elasah, and his grandson Gedaliah, were friends of Jeremiah.[823]Ezek. viii. 17. The allusion seems to be to a custom like that of the Parsees, who hold a branch of tamarisk or pomegranate twigs (calledbarsom) before their mouths when they adore the sacred fire. Strabo, xv. 732; Spiegel,Zendavesta, ii., p. lxviii;Eran. Alterthumsk., iii. 571 (Orelli,ad loc.). Lightfoot explains it, "add fuel to their wrath."[824]Ezek. xvi. 15-34.[825]Jer. vii. 4, 21-28, viii. 8, xxiii. 31-33, xxxi. 33, 34.[826]Jer. iii. 15, 16.[827]Jer. xxvii. 3.[828]Herod., ii. 161.[829]Psammis, the son of Necho, only reigned six years; Hophrah (b.c.594) was his son.[830]The LXX. calls him "the false prophet."[831]Jer. xxvii. 1-8, 12-18. On vv. 16-22 see the LXX.[832]Here (Jer. xxviii. 11, and in xxxiv. 1, xxxix. 5) the name is written "Nebuchadnezzar"; everywhere else in Jeremiah it is "Nebuchadrezzar."[833]Part of his dispute with Jeremiah turned on the recovery or non-recovery of the Temple vessels. Zedekiah is said to have given a set of silver vessels to replace the old ones (Baruch i. 8).[834]Jer. xxix. 21-23.[835]Jer. xxiii. 9-32.[836]Jer. xxviii. 13-16, xxiii. 28.[837]Jer. xxiii. 29.[838]Ezek. xiii. 1-23.[839]Ezek. xvii. 25.[840]Josephus rightly attributes the unfortunate career of Zedekiah to the weakness with which he listened to evil counsellors, and to the insolent multitude.[841]2 Chron. xxxvi. 13; Jer. lii. 3.[842]Ezek. xvii. 15, 16, 18, 19.[843]Ezek. xvii. 7-10.[844]Jer. xlvi. 17.[845]Another form of belomancy is still commonly practised among the Arabs. Three arrows are placed in a vessel: on one of them is written, "My God permits me"; on another, "My God forbids me"; the third is blank. They are then shaken, and the decision is guided by the one which falls out first. Comp. Homer,Iliad, iii. 316;Speaker's Commentary,ad loc.[846]Ezek. xxi. 28-32.[847]An allusion to the restoration of Jeconiah or his descendants, and to the far-off Messiah, meek and lowly.[848]Ezek. iv. 1-3.[849]Jer. xxxvii. 3.[850]Ezek. vii. 16.[851]Jer. xxi. 1-10, xxxvii. 1-17. Josephus says that Pharaoh was defeated (Antt., X. vii. 3). Jeremiah merely says that he and his army returned to their own land.[852]Homer,Iliad, i. 106-109.[853]But it must not be forgotten that Jer. xxxi. 1-34 is so hopeful that it has been called "the Gospel before Christ."[854]Jer. vi. 14, viii. 11; Ezek. xiii. 10.[855]W. R. Smith, "Prophets" (Enc. Brit.).[856]Jer. xxxvii, 11-15.[857]Jer xxxviii. 5. The Jewish aristocracy consisted, says Grätz, of three classes: thebenî hammelech, or "king's sons"—i.e., princes of the blood-royal; theroshî aboth, "heads of the fathers," orzekenîm, "elders"; and theabhodî hammelech, "king's servants," or "courtiers" (ii. 446).[858]Lam. v. 4.[859]Jer. xxxvii. 21, xxxviii. 9, lii. 6.[860]Lam. iv. 7, 8.[861]Lam. iv. 10, ii. 20; Ezek. v. 10; Baruch ii. 3.[862]Lam. iv. 5. See Stanley,Lectures, ii. 470.[863]Ezek. xi. 22.[864]This may possibly be alluded to in Psalm lxix. 2.[865]Jer. xxxviii. 10, A.V., "thirty."[866]Van Oort, iv. 52.[867]Jos.,Antt., X. viii. 2; 2 Chron. xxxii. 5, xxxiii. 14. First and last, the siege seems to have lasted one year, five months, and twenty-seven days.[868]Zech. viii. 19.[869]The inscriptions of Nebuchadrezzar which have been as yet deciphered speak of his sumptuous buildings and of his worship of the gods rather than of his conquests. SeeRecords of the Past, vii. 69-78.[870]Robinson,Bibl. Res., ii. 536. Some suppose that "the king's garden" was near the mouth of the Tyropœon Valley.[871]Ezek. xii. 12. Perhaps the gate alluded to is the fountain gate of Neh. iii. 15. Ezekiel seems to speak of "digging through the wall." Robinson says that a trace of the outermost wall still exists in the rude pathway which crosses the mouth of the Tyropœon on a mound hard by the old mulberry tree which marks the traditional site of Isaiah's martyrdom.[872]Jos.,Antt., X. viii. 2.[873]Traces of his presence are found in inscriptions in the Wady of the Dog near Beyrout, and in Wady Brissa. See Sayce,Proceedings of the Bibl. Arch. Soc., November 1881.[874]2 Kings xxv. 7. See Layard,Nineveh, ii. 376.[875]The blinding was sometimes done by passing a red-hot rod of silver or brass over the open eyes; sometimes by plucking out the eyes (Jer. lii. 11, Vulg.oculos eruit; 2 Kings xxv. 7,effodit). See a hideous illustration of a yet more brutal process in Botta (Monum. de Ninève, Pl. cxviii.), where Sargon with his own hand is thrusting a lance into the eyes of a captive prince, whose head is kept steady by a bridle fastened to a hook through his lips. See also Judg. xvi. 21; Xen.,Anab., i. 9, § 13; Procopius,Bel. Pers., i. 1; Ammianus, xxvii. 12; Rawlinson,Ancient Monarchies, i. 307.[876]Jos.,Antt., X. viii. 2, 3.[877]Nebur-zir-iddina, "Nebo bestowed seed." Jer. xxxix. 9, 13, is in some way corrupt. Ezekiel (ix. 2), however, and Josephus (Antt., X. viii. 2) mentionsixofficers. Nebuzaradan was "chief of the executioners" (Gen. xxxvii. 36; 1 Kings ii. 25, 35, 46).[878]Psalm lxxix. 2, 3.[879]2 Chron. xxxvi. 17; Lam. ii. 21, v. 11, 12.[880]To the reminiscences of these scenes are partly due the Talmudic legend about the blood of Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, bubbling up to demand vengeance. Nebudchadrezzar slew a holocaust of human victims to appease the shade of the wrathful prophet, until the king himself was terrified, and asked if he wished his whole people to be slaughtered. Then the blood ceased to bubble.[881]See Rawlinson,Kings of Israel and Judah, p. 236.[882]Lam. iv. 22.[883]Psalm lxxix, 1.[884]Obad. 14-16; Psalm cxxxvii. 7; 1 Esdras iv. 45.[885]Comp. Esther i. 14.[886]On these personages see 1 Chron. vi. 13, 14; 2 Kings xxii. 4; Ezra vii. 1; Jer. xxi. 1, xxxvii. 3, etc.[887]Nebuchadrezzar had no doubt needed them for his great buildings at Babylon, and their deportation would render more difficult any attempt to refortify Jerusalem.[888]Jer. xli. 8, xl. 12.[889]Jer. lii. 28-30. In his seventh year, 3,023; in his eighteenth, 832 in his thirty-third, 745 = 4,600.[890]Ramah was but five miles from Jerusalem, and at first Jeremiah may not have been identified (Jer. xl. 1-6).[891]The present, if accepted, could only be regarded, under the circumstances, as part of the necessity of life. It does not fall under the head of the presents often offered to prophets (1 Sam. ix. 7; 2 Kings iv. 42; Mic. iii. 5, 11; Amos vii. 12).[892]Jer. xi. 19-21, xii. 6.[893]Stanley,Lectures, ii. 515.[894]So Grätz and Cheyne.[895]Jer. xxxi. 15-17.[896]Jer. xxvi. 24.[897]Jer. xl. 12.[898]Some identify it withShaphat, a mile from Jerusalem.[899]They are calledsarî("princes").[900]There is no Elishama in the royal genealogy, except a son of David. Ishmael may have been the son or grandson of some Ammonite princess. An Elishama was scribe of Jehoiakim (Jer. xxxvi. 12).[901]The Hebrew text calls these ten ruffiansrabbî hammelech, "chief officers of the king" of Ammon.[902]Josephus records or conjectures that the governor was overpowered by wine, and had sunk into slumber (Antt., X. ix. 2).[903]In Jer. xli. 9, for "because of Gedaliah," the better reading is "was a great pit" (LXX., φρέαρ μέγα).[904]Ishmael—a marvel of craft and villainy—put into practice the same stratagem which on a larger scale was employed by Mohammed Ali in his massacre of the Mamelukes at Cairo in 1806 (Grove,s.v.Bibl. Dict.). For "the midst of the city" (Jer. xli. 7), we ought to read "courtyard," as in Josephus.[905]Comp. Jehu's treatment of the family of Ahaziah (2 Kings x. 14).[906]The dark deed is still commemorated by a Jewish fast, as in the days of Zechariah (Zech. vii. 3-5, viii. 19).[907]Isa. xix. 18-22.[908]Jer. ii. 16, xliv. 1; Ezek. xxx. 18; Jer. xliii. 7, xlvi. 14; Herod., ii. 30.[909]Fl. Petrie,Memoir on Tanis(Egypt. Explor. Fund, 4th memoir), 1888.[910]Jer. xliii. 13, Beth-shemesh. Only one pillar of the Temple of the Sun is now standing. It is said to be four thousand years old. It is certain that Nebuchadrezzar invaded Egypt and defeated Amasis, the son of Hophrah,b.c.565, reducing Egypt to "the basest of kingdoms" (Ezek. xxix. 14, 15). Three of Nebuchadrezzar's terra-cotta cylinders have been found at Tahpanhes.[911]How far the prophecy was fulfilled we do not know. Assyrian and Egyptian fragments of record show that in the thirty-seventh year of his reign Nebuchadrezzar invaded Egypt and advanced to Syene (Ezek. xxix. 10).[912]2 Macc. ii. 1-8; comp. xv. 13-16. The tradition is singular when we recall the small store which Jeremiah set by the Ark (Jer. iii. 16).[913]Evil-Merodach (Avil-Marduk, "Man of Merodach") only reigned two years, and was then murdered by his brother-in-law Neriglissar (Berosusap.Jos.: comp.Ap., i. 20). The Rabbis have a story—perhaps founded on that of Gaius and Agrippa I.—that Evil-Merodach had been imprisoned by his father for wishing his death, and in prison formed a friendship for Jehoiachin.[914]"Lifted up his head." Comp. Gen. xl. 13, 20.[915]To be thus ὁμοτράπεζος, or σύσσιτος, of the king was a high honour (Herod., iii. 13, v. 24. Comp. Judg. i. 7; 2 Sam. ix. 13, etc.).[916]T. Hodgkin,Friends' Quarterly, September 1893, p. 401.[917]Jer. xxix. 25-27.[918]Up to the time of Tiglath-Pileser II., the Eponym Year (which is not here given) marks the second complete year of each king's reign.[919]This Shalmaneser died aboutb.c.825, after a reign of thirty-five years (Sayce inRecords of the Past, v. 27-42; Oppert,Hist. des Empires de Chaldée et d'Assyrie; Ménant,Annales des Rois d'Assyrie, 1874).[920]Many of these dates can only be regarded as uncertain and approximate. Kamphausen dates the commencement of all the latter kings a year later (Die Chronologie der hebräischen Könige, Bonn, 1883).
[701]Comp. Jer. ii. 23, where the LXX. has ἐν τῷ πολυανδρίῳ. In 2 Chron. xxxiv. 4, perhaps the true reading is, notBenî-ha-'âm, butBenî-hinnom—which would mean that he scattered the dust in the gehenna of Jerusalem. Comp. 1 Kings xv. 13.
[702]For these Galli, see Seneca,De Vit. Beat., 27; Pliny,H. N., xi. 49.
[703]Heb.,bathîm, lit. "tents" or "houses"; Vulg.,quasi domunculas.
[704]In 2 Kings xxiii. 8, Geiger would read "the high places of thesatyrs" (שׂצירים).
[705]Usually derived (as by Selden and Milton) fromtoph, "drum," but perhaps fromtuph(tospitin sign of abhorrence).
[706]Parvar—perhaps "open portico." Renan connects the word with the Greek περίβολος. On horses dedicated to the sun, see Xen.Cyrop., viii. 3, 5, 12;Anab., iv. 5.
[707]See Zeph. i. 5; Jer. xix. 13, xxxii. 29.
[708]2 Kings xxiii. 13: "The Mount of Corruption"; Vulg.,Mons offensionis; LXX., τοῦ ὄρους τοῦ Μοσθάθ. Some conjecture thatMaschithmay be a derisive change for some word which meant "anointing" (from being theOilMountain,Har ham-mischchah).
[709]In burning the bones of the dead, he violated all Jewish feeling. Amos (ii. 1) had severely rebuked this form of revenge and insult even in the case of the heathen King of Moab. Bones defiled the touch (Num. xix. 16; Herod., iv. 73). Josiah's question at Bethel was, "Whatpillaris that?" (tsiyun). LXX., σκόπελον. Comp. Gen. xxxv. 20.
[710]1 Kings xiii. 29-31.
[711]2 Chron. xxxv. 1-19.
[712]Jer. xi. 3, 4. Since, in this part of my subject, I make frequent reference to the prophecies of Jeremiah which are indispensable to the right understanding of the history, I may here say that modern critics (Cheyne and others) arrange them as follows:—
In the reign ofJosiah, Jer. ii. 1-iii. 5, iii. 6-vi. 30, vii. 1-ix. 25, xi. 1-17.
In the reign ofJehoiakim, xxvi. 2-6, xlvi. 2-12, xxv., xxxv., and possibly xvi. 1, xviii. 19-27, xiv., xv., xviii., xi. 18-xii. 17.
In the reign ofJehoiachin, x. 17-23, xiii.
In the reign ofZedekiah, xxii.-xxiv., xxvii.-xxix. 1-11 (?), lii.
In theExile, xxxix.-xliv.
[713]See Cheyne,Jeremiah, p. 56,id.6.
[714]Canon Cheyne shows that even Mohammed could not persuade the Qurashites wholly to give up their black stone at the Kaaba, and their dolmens and sacred trees (id.103). He left theauçab, or sacrificial stones (matstseboth), though he warns his followers against them (Quran, v. 92).
[715]Jer. xvii. 9-11.
[716]Ewald,The Prophets, iii. 63, 64.
[717]Jer. xvii. 1-4.
[718]The Qurashites and other heathen Arabs accounted holy a large green tree, and every year had a sacrifice in its honour. "On the way to Hunain we called to God's Messenger (Mohammed) that he should appoint for us such trees. But he was terrified, and said, 'Lord God, Lord God! Ye speak even as the Israelites ... ye are still in ignorance,—thus are heathen enslaved'" (Vakïdi,Book of the Campaigns of God's Messenger, quoted by Cheyne,Jeremiah, p. 103, from Wellhausen).
[719]Psalm lxxxv. 8.
[720]Deut. xxx. 11-14. See Wellhausen, p. 165.
[721]Jer. vi. 20. The passages of Jeremiah which seem of a different spirit may have been added by later hands—e.g., xxxiii. 18, which is not in the LXX.
[722]Jer. vii. 21; Ewald; and Cheyne,l.c.120. So the Jews seem to have understood it, for they appoint this passage to be read on theHaphtaraafter theParashahabout sacrifices from Leviticus.
[723]Jer, vii. 22, 23. This alone would show that Jeremiah did not (as earlier critics thought)write"Deuteronomy," in spite of the numerous close resemblances in phraseology. Thus, Jeremiah often denounces the priests (i. 18, ii. 8-26, iv. 9, v. 31, viii. 1, xiii. 13, xxxii. 32). Cheyne, p. 82.
[724]Mic. iii. 11.
[725]Jer. vii. 4, 8-15.
[726]Jer. xxxi. 31, 32.
[727]Jer. xxii. 15, 16.
[728]He was forced to desist by a fearful mortality among the labourers.
[729]Circ.b.c.611-605. Herod., ii. 158, 159, iv. 42. Psamatik, the father of Necho, was perhaps a Lybian. He established his sway over all Egypt displacing the Assyrians.
[730]Antt., X. v. 1.
[731]Herod., ii. 158. His father Psamatik had left him an adequate army of natives and mercenaries.
[732]Herodotus says of his ships: Ἁι μὲν ἐπὶ τῇ βορηίῃ θαλάσσῃ ἐποιήθησαν.
[733]Judg. iv. 23; 1 Sam. xxix. 1-11; 1 Kings xx. 26; 2 Kings xxiii. 29; 2 Chron. xxxv. 22; Rev. xvi. 16 (Armageddon). Herodotus confuses it with Migdol (Μάγδολον).
[734]1 Macc. xii. 49; Jos.,Antt., XIII. vi. 2.
[735]2 Chron. xxxv. 20-22.
[736]According to 1 Esdras i. 25-32, "for upon Euphrates is my war."
[737]Klostermann, in 2 Chron. xxxv. 21, readsbachalôm, "in a dream," instead of "to make haste."
[738]Gen. xli. 1; Herod., ii. 188;Records of the Past, ix. 52.
[739]2 Kings xviii. 25.
[740]Antt., X. v. 1: Τῆς πεπρωμένης οἶμαι εἰς τοῦτ' αὐτόν παρορμησάσης.
[741]Deut. xxviii. 1-8.
[742]Psalm xx. 6, xviii. 29-50.
[743]Lev. xxvi. 36.
[744]2 Chron. xxxv. 22: "hearkened notto the words of Necho from the mouth of God."
[745]"When he hadseenhim." Comp. 2 Kings xiv. 8.
[746]1 Esdras i. 25; and LXX., "firmly resolved," "strengthened himself," as in 2 Chron. xxv. 11.
[747]Jos.,Antt., X. v. 1; and 2 Chron. xxxv. 23; 1 Esdras i. 30.
[748]The fortunes of the Jews again prevailed in this plain in the days of Holofernes (Judith vii. 3); but they were defeated there by Placidus (Jos.,B. J., IV. i. 8).
[749]Zech. xii. 11-13 (comp. Jer. xxii. 10, 18). No such place as Hadadrimmon is known, though there is a Rummâne not far from Megiddo. Jerome (Comm. in Zach.) identifies it with a place which he calls Maximianopolis. Wellhausen (Skizzen, 192) thinks that the mourning is compared to some wail over the god Hadadrimmon, like the wailing for Tammuz. Jonathan and Jarchi say that Hadadrimmon was the son of Tabrimmon, who opposed Ahab at Ramoth-Gilead.
[750]2 Chron. xxxv. 24, 25. Jeremiah's elegy has probably perished. It would have been most interesting had it been preserved. Lam. iv. is too vague to have been this lost poem.
[751]Jer. iv. 10.
[752]Jer. xx. 7, 8.
[753]Chron. iii. 15.
[754]He is named "fourth," but he was older than his brothers Jehoiakim and Zedekiah (2 Kings xxiii. 31, xxiv. 18). The genealogy is as follows:—
Zebudah = JOSIAH = Hamutal.| |------ |--------------------| | |Nehushta = ELIAKIM ZEDEKIAH JEHOAHAZ| or Jehoiakim. or Mattaniah. or Shallum.|JEHOIACHIN.
[755]An allusion to the Syrian mode of hunting the lion by driving it with cries into a concealed pit (Tristram,Nat. Hist. of the Bible, 118; Cheyne, 140).
[756]Ezek. xix. 1-4.
[757]The name Shallum means "recompense." It may have been regarded as ill-omened, since the King of Israel who bore this rare name had only reigned a month.
[758]The Talmud says that kings were only anointed in special cases (Keritoth, f. 5, 2; Grätz, ii. 328).
[759]Jos.,Antt., X. v. 2: Ἀσεβὴς καὶ μιαρὸς τὸν τρόπον.
[760]Herod., ii. 159.
[761]Mr. G. Smith identifies Carchemish with Jerablûs.
[762]Cheyne,Jeremiah, p. 127.
[763]Comp. 2 Kings xxv. 20, 21. The old Hittite capital of Riblah was a convenient halting-place on the road between Babylon and Jerusalem. It was on the northernmost boundary of Palestine towards Damascus (Amos vi. 14).
[764]Jer. xxii. 10-12.
[765]2 Chron. xxxvi. 3; 1 Esdras i. 36. The smallness of the tribute proves the impoverishment of the land. Sennacherib demanded from Hezekiah three hundred talents of silver, and thirty of gold; and Menahem paid one thousand talents of silver to Tiglath-Pileser.
[766]Not Jehoiakim, but Jehoiachin, as the sequel shows.
[767]Ezek. xix. 5-9. The allusions to Jehoiakim by Jeremiah are numerous, and all unfavourable (xxii. 13-19, xxvi. 20-23, xxxvi. 20-31, etc.)
[768]Josephus (Antt., X. v. 2) is very severe on this king. He says that "he was unjust in disposition, an evil-doer, neither pious towards God nor just towards men."
[769]Perhaps an allusion to a sort of fortified palace on Ophel.
[770]Hab. ii. 9-11.
[771]The text is perhaps corrupt. Two MSS. of the LXX. read "because thou viestwith Ahab," and the Vatican MSS. has "with Ahaz." Cheyne adopts the former reading.
[772]Jer. xxii. 13-17.
[773]Jer. xxiii. 1.
[774]Jer. xxii. 23.
[775]Jer. xii. 5.
[776]Jer. xxvi. 20-23. So far as I am aware, Bunsen stands alone in identifying Urijah with the "Zechariah" who wrote Zech. xii.-xiv. Others refer Zech. xii. 10 to the murder of Urijah.
[777]Jer. xxvi. 18.
[778]Isa. xiv.,passim.
[779]Nabu-pal-ussur, "Nebo protect the son."
[780]Nabu-kudur-ussur, "Nebo protect the crown" (Schrader, ii. 48), or "the youth" (Oppert). The portrait of Nebuchadrezzar—this is the proper spelling, as generally in Jeremiah—is preserved for us on a black cameo which he presented to the god Merodach. It is now in the Berlin Museum, and shows strong but not cruel or ignoble characteristics. It is copied in Riehm'sHandwörterbuch, ii. 1067. The Jews, as they were fond of doing to their enemies, made insulting puns on his name. Thus in theVayyikra Rabba(Wünsche,Bibl. Rabb.) the Three Children are represented as saying to him, "You are Neboo-cad-netser: bark [nabach] like a dog; swell like a water-jar [kad], and chirp like a cricket [tsertser],"—in allusion to his madness.
[781]Jer. xlvi. 5 (vi. 25).
[782]Jos.,Antt., X. xi.; Berosus, p. 11. The Chronicler and Josephus show some confusion, caused by the similarity of the names Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin.
[783]Dan. i. 6.
[784]We might infer from Ezek. xvii. 12 that Nebuchadrezzar actually took Jehoiakim with him to Babylon.
[785]Ezek. xvii. 15.
[786]Jer. xxxvi. 29, xxv. 9, xxvi. 6.
[787]2 Kings xxiv. 2-4.
[788]Grätz thinks that Jeremiah's roll was substantially Jer. xxv.
[789]Jos.,Antt., IX. ix. 1.
[790]Jer. li. 59. Ewald, Hitzig, and others take the title to mean "quartermaster" (2 Chron. xxxiv. 8).
[791]Jer. xlv. 1-5.
[792]Zeph. i. 8; 1 Kings xxii. 26; Jer. xxxvi. 26, A.V., "The son of Hammelech." Comp. xxxviii. 6.Hammelechmay be a proper name, or a prince of the blood-royal may be intended.
[793]"The 'Book,' now as afterwards, was to be the death-blow of the old regal, aristocratic, sacerdotal exclusiveness. The 'Scribe,' now first rising into importance in the person of Baruch to supply the defects of the living Prophet, was, as the printing-press in later ages, handing on the words of truth, which else might have irretrievably perished" (Stanley).
[794]Cheyne,Jeremiah, p. 149; Jer. xiv. 1-xv. 9.
[795]Nebuchadrezzar occupies a larger space in the Bible than any heathen king, being spoken of in 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
[796]For further details of Jehoiakim see 1 Esdras i. 38: "He bound Joakim and the nobles;but Zaraceshis brother he apprehended, and brought him out of Egypt." The allusion is entirely obscure, and probably arises from some corruption of the text. The literal rendering is: "AndJoakimbound the nobles; but Zaraces his brother he apprehended, and brought him out of Egypt." Zaraces might be a corruption for Zedekiah, who was Jehoiakim's half-brother. Some think that Zaraces is a corruption for Urijah, and "his brother" a clerical error.
[797]Jer. xxxvi. 30, xxii. 19.
[798]LXX., καὶ ἐκοιμήθη Ἰωακεὶμ ἐν Γανοζὰν μετὰ τῶν πατέρων ἑαυτοῦ.
[799]2 Chron. xxxvi. 8.
[800]Sanhedrin, f. 104, 2. For another allusion seeid.49, 1; Hershon,Treasures of the Talmud, p. 232.
[801]Jer. xxvi. 22.
[802]2 Chron. xxxvi. 9.
[803]Jer. xx. 2. There seem to have been special "stocks" and "collars" in the Temple, reserved, by order of the priest Jehoiada, for those whom the priests regarded as unruly prophets (Jer. xxix. 26).
[804]Jer. xxii. 24-30. The captivity of the queen-mother struck men's imaginations (Jer. xxix. 2).
[805]Middoth, ii. 6, quoted by Cheyne, p. 163; Jos.,B. J., VI. ii. 1. Comp. Ezek. i. 2.
[806]Ezek. xix. 6-9. The special allusions are no longer certain.
[807]2 Kings xx. 17. The expression "he cut to piecesall the vessels of gold which Solomon had made" is hardly consistent with Ezra i. 7-11, unless we understand the word in a loose sense.
[808]He says that he nobly gave himself up to save the city (Antt., X. vii. 1). His captivity was made an era from which to date Ezek. i. 2, viii. 1, xxiv. 1, xxvi. 1, etc. Comp. Susannah 1-4.
[809]Jer. xxii. 30, 'arîrî. His "son" Assir (1 Chron. iii. 17) may have been made an eunuch (Isa. xxxix. 7).
[810]Luke iii. 27, 31; Matt. i. 12.
[811]Baruch i. 3, 4.
[812]The favourable notice of Nebuchadrezzar inTaanith(quoted above) is not found inBerachoth, f. 57, 2, where he is called "the wicked." There are many wild legends about him. InNedarim(f. 65, 2), R. Yitzchak says: "May melted gold be poured into the mouth of the wicked Nebuchadrezzar! Had not an angel struck him on the mouth, he would have outshone all David's songs and praises." With reference to Isa. xxii. 1, 2, the Rabbis say that Jeconiah went to the Temple roof, and flung up the keys into the air, when Nebuchadrezzar required them: "a hand took them, and they were seen no more" (Shekalim, vi. 5). InNedarim(f. 65, 2) we are told that Zedekiah's rebellion consisted in divulging, contrary to his oath, that he had seen Nebuchadrezzar eating a live hare (Hershon,Treasures of the Talmud).
[813]Comp. Jer. xxiii. 6: Jehovah-Tsidkenu.
[814]Ezek. xvii. 12-14.
[815]Ezek. xvii. 1-6.
[816]Jer. xxxiv. 8-11.
[817]Jer. xxxiv. 19. Comp. Gen. xv. 17.
[818]This is strikingly shown by his piteous remark to them in Jer. xxxviii. 5.
[819]He first sent two of Jeremiah's friends, Elasah and Gemariah, the son of Shaphan.
[820]Some critics have doubted the authenticity of Jer. li., lii.
[821]2 Chron. xxxvi. 14-21; Stanley, ii. 528; Milman, i. 394.
[822]Shaphan's other sons, Gemariah, Ahikam, Elasah, and his grandson Gedaliah, were friends of Jeremiah.
[823]Ezek. viii. 17. The allusion seems to be to a custom like that of the Parsees, who hold a branch of tamarisk or pomegranate twigs (calledbarsom) before their mouths when they adore the sacred fire. Strabo, xv. 732; Spiegel,Zendavesta, ii., p. lxviii;Eran. Alterthumsk., iii. 571 (Orelli,ad loc.). Lightfoot explains it, "add fuel to their wrath."
[824]Ezek. xvi. 15-34.
[825]Jer. vii. 4, 21-28, viii. 8, xxiii. 31-33, xxxi. 33, 34.
[826]Jer. iii. 15, 16.
[827]Jer. xxvii. 3.
[828]Herod., ii. 161.
[829]Psammis, the son of Necho, only reigned six years; Hophrah (b.c.594) was his son.
[830]The LXX. calls him "the false prophet."
[831]Jer. xxvii. 1-8, 12-18. On vv. 16-22 see the LXX.
[832]Here (Jer. xxviii. 11, and in xxxiv. 1, xxxix. 5) the name is written "Nebuchadnezzar"; everywhere else in Jeremiah it is "Nebuchadrezzar."
[833]Part of his dispute with Jeremiah turned on the recovery or non-recovery of the Temple vessels. Zedekiah is said to have given a set of silver vessels to replace the old ones (Baruch i. 8).
[834]Jer. xxix. 21-23.
[835]Jer. xxiii. 9-32.
[836]Jer. xxviii. 13-16, xxiii. 28.
[837]Jer. xxiii. 29.
[838]Ezek. xiii. 1-23.
[839]Ezek. xvii. 25.
[840]Josephus rightly attributes the unfortunate career of Zedekiah to the weakness with which he listened to evil counsellors, and to the insolent multitude.
[841]2 Chron. xxxvi. 13; Jer. lii. 3.
[842]Ezek. xvii. 15, 16, 18, 19.
[843]Ezek. xvii. 7-10.
[844]Jer. xlvi. 17.
[845]Another form of belomancy is still commonly practised among the Arabs. Three arrows are placed in a vessel: on one of them is written, "My God permits me"; on another, "My God forbids me"; the third is blank. They are then shaken, and the decision is guided by the one which falls out first. Comp. Homer,Iliad, iii. 316;Speaker's Commentary,ad loc.
[846]Ezek. xxi. 28-32.
[847]An allusion to the restoration of Jeconiah or his descendants, and to the far-off Messiah, meek and lowly.
[848]Ezek. iv. 1-3.
[849]Jer. xxxvii. 3.
[850]Ezek. vii. 16.
[851]Jer. xxi. 1-10, xxxvii. 1-17. Josephus says that Pharaoh was defeated (Antt., X. vii. 3). Jeremiah merely says that he and his army returned to their own land.
[852]Homer,Iliad, i. 106-109.
[853]But it must not be forgotten that Jer. xxxi. 1-34 is so hopeful that it has been called "the Gospel before Christ."
[854]Jer. vi. 14, viii. 11; Ezek. xiii. 10.
[855]W. R. Smith, "Prophets" (Enc. Brit.).
[856]Jer. xxxvii, 11-15.
[857]Jer xxxviii. 5. The Jewish aristocracy consisted, says Grätz, of three classes: thebenî hammelech, or "king's sons"—i.e., princes of the blood-royal; theroshî aboth, "heads of the fathers," orzekenîm, "elders"; and theabhodî hammelech, "king's servants," or "courtiers" (ii. 446).
[858]Lam. v. 4.
[859]Jer. xxxvii. 21, xxxviii. 9, lii. 6.
[860]Lam. iv. 7, 8.
[861]Lam. iv. 10, ii. 20; Ezek. v. 10; Baruch ii. 3.
[862]Lam. iv. 5. See Stanley,Lectures, ii. 470.
[863]Ezek. xi. 22.
[864]This may possibly be alluded to in Psalm lxix. 2.
[865]Jer. xxxviii. 10, A.V., "thirty."
[866]Van Oort, iv. 52.
[867]Jos.,Antt., X. viii. 2; 2 Chron. xxxii. 5, xxxiii. 14. First and last, the siege seems to have lasted one year, five months, and twenty-seven days.
[868]Zech. viii. 19.
[869]The inscriptions of Nebuchadrezzar which have been as yet deciphered speak of his sumptuous buildings and of his worship of the gods rather than of his conquests. SeeRecords of the Past, vii. 69-78.
[870]Robinson,Bibl. Res., ii. 536. Some suppose that "the king's garden" was near the mouth of the Tyropœon Valley.
[871]Ezek. xii. 12. Perhaps the gate alluded to is the fountain gate of Neh. iii. 15. Ezekiel seems to speak of "digging through the wall." Robinson says that a trace of the outermost wall still exists in the rude pathway which crosses the mouth of the Tyropœon on a mound hard by the old mulberry tree which marks the traditional site of Isaiah's martyrdom.
[872]Jos.,Antt., X. viii. 2.
[873]Traces of his presence are found in inscriptions in the Wady of the Dog near Beyrout, and in Wady Brissa. See Sayce,Proceedings of the Bibl. Arch. Soc., November 1881.
[874]2 Kings xxv. 7. See Layard,Nineveh, ii. 376.
[875]The blinding was sometimes done by passing a red-hot rod of silver or brass over the open eyes; sometimes by plucking out the eyes (Jer. lii. 11, Vulg.oculos eruit; 2 Kings xxv. 7,effodit). See a hideous illustration of a yet more brutal process in Botta (Monum. de Ninève, Pl. cxviii.), where Sargon with his own hand is thrusting a lance into the eyes of a captive prince, whose head is kept steady by a bridle fastened to a hook through his lips. See also Judg. xvi. 21; Xen.,Anab., i. 9, § 13; Procopius,Bel. Pers., i. 1; Ammianus, xxvii. 12; Rawlinson,Ancient Monarchies, i. 307.
[876]Jos.,Antt., X. viii. 2, 3.
[877]Nebur-zir-iddina, "Nebo bestowed seed." Jer. xxxix. 9, 13, is in some way corrupt. Ezekiel (ix. 2), however, and Josephus (Antt., X. viii. 2) mentionsixofficers. Nebuzaradan was "chief of the executioners" (Gen. xxxvii. 36; 1 Kings ii. 25, 35, 46).
[878]Psalm lxxix. 2, 3.
[879]2 Chron. xxxvi. 17; Lam. ii. 21, v. 11, 12.
[880]To the reminiscences of these scenes are partly due the Talmudic legend about the blood of Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, bubbling up to demand vengeance. Nebudchadrezzar slew a holocaust of human victims to appease the shade of the wrathful prophet, until the king himself was terrified, and asked if he wished his whole people to be slaughtered. Then the blood ceased to bubble.
[881]See Rawlinson,Kings of Israel and Judah, p. 236.
[882]Lam. iv. 22.
[883]Psalm lxxix, 1.
[884]Obad. 14-16; Psalm cxxxvii. 7; 1 Esdras iv. 45.
[885]Comp. Esther i. 14.
[886]On these personages see 1 Chron. vi. 13, 14; 2 Kings xxii. 4; Ezra vii. 1; Jer. xxi. 1, xxxvii. 3, etc.
[887]Nebuchadrezzar had no doubt needed them for his great buildings at Babylon, and their deportation would render more difficult any attempt to refortify Jerusalem.
[888]Jer. xli. 8, xl. 12.
[889]Jer. lii. 28-30. In his seventh year, 3,023; in his eighteenth, 832 in his thirty-third, 745 = 4,600.
[890]Ramah was but five miles from Jerusalem, and at first Jeremiah may not have been identified (Jer. xl. 1-6).
[891]The present, if accepted, could only be regarded, under the circumstances, as part of the necessity of life. It does not fall under the head of the presents often offered to prophets (1 Sam. ix. 7; 2 Kings iv. 42; Mic. iii. 5, 11; Amos vii. 12).
[892]Jer. xi. 19-21, xii. 6.
[893]Stanley,Lectures, ii. 515.
[894]So Grätz and Cheyne.
[895]Jer. xxxi. 15-17.
[896]Jer. xxvi. 24.
[897]Jer. xl. 12.
[898]Some identify it withShaphat, a mile from Jerusalem.
[899]They are calledsarî("princes").
[900]There is no Elishama in the royal genealogy, except a son of David. Ishmael may have been the son or grandson of some Ammonite princess. An Elishama was scribe of Jehoiakim (Jer. xxxvi. 12).
[901]The Hebrew text calls these ten ruffiansrabbî hammelech, "chief officers of the king" of Ammon.
[902]Josephus records or conjectures that the governor was overpowered by wine, and had sunk into slumber (Antt., X. ix. 2).
[903]In Jer. xli. 9, for "because of Gedaliah," the better reading is "was a great pit" (LXX., φρέαρ μέγα).
[904]Ishmael—a marvel of craft and villainy—put into practice the same stratagem which on a larger scale was employed by Mohammed Ali in his massacre of the Mamelukes at Cairo in 1806 (Grove,s.v.Bibl. Dict.). For "the midst of the city" (Jer. xli. 7), we ought to read "courtyard," as in Josephus.
[905]Comp. Jehu's treatment of the family of Ahaziah (2 Kings x. 14).
[906]The dark deed is still commemorated by a Jewish fast, as in the days of Zechariah (Zech. vii. 3-5, viii. 19).
[907]Isa. xix. 18-22.
[908]Jer. ii. 16, xliv. 1; Ezek. xxx. 18; Jer. xliii. 7, xlvi. 14; Herod., ii. 30.
[909]Fl. Petrie,Memoir on Tanis(Egypt. Explor. Fund, 4th memoir), 1888.
[910]Jer. xliii. 13, Beth-shemesh. Only one pillar of the Temple of the Sun is now standing. It is said to be four thousand years old. It is certain that Nebuchadrezzar invaded Egypt and defeated Amasis, the son of Hophrah,b.c.565, reducing Egypt to "the basest of kingdoms" (Ezek. xxix. 14, 15). Three of Nebuchadrezzar's terra-cotta cylinders have been found at Tahpanhes.
[911]How far the prophecy was fulfilled we do not know. Assyrian and Egyptian fragments of record show that in the thirty-seventh year of his reign Nebuchadrezzar invaded Egypt and advanced to Syene (Ezek. xxix. 10).
[912]2 Macc. ii. 1-8; comp. xv. 13-16. The tradition is singular when we recall the small store which Jeremiah set by the Ark (Jer. iii. 16).
[913]Evil-Merodach (Avil-Marduk, "Man of Merodach") only reigned two years, and was then murdered by his brother-in-law Neriglissar (Berosusap.Jos.: comp.Ap., i. 20). The Rabbis have a story—perhaps founded on that of Gaius and Agrippa I.—that Evil-Merodach had been imprisoned by his father for wishing his death, and in prison formed a friendship for Jehoiachin.
[914]"Lifted up his head." Comp. Gen. xl. 13, 20.
[915]To be thus ὁμοτράπεζος, or σύσσιτος, of the king was a high honour (Herod., iii. 13, v. 24. Comp. Judg. i. 7; 2 Sam. ix. 13, etc.).
[916]T. Hodgkin,Friends' Quarterly, September 1893, p. 401.
[917]Jer. xxix. 25-27.
[918]Up to the time of Tiglath-Pileser II., the Eponym Year (which is not here given) marks the second complete year of each king's reign.
[919]This Shalmaneser died aboutb.c.825, after a reign of thirty-five years (Sayce inRecords of the Past, v. 27-42; Oppert,Hist. des Empires de Chaldée et d'Assyrie; Ménant,Annales des Rois d'Assyrie, 1874).
[920]Many of these dates can only be regarded as uncertain and approximate. Kamphausen dates the commencement of all the latter kings a year later (Die Chronologie der hebräischen Könige, Bonn, 1883).