THE CAPTIVITY OF JUDAH.-- 2 Kings 25:1-12. GOLDEN TEXT. --_ By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion_.-- Psalms 137:1. TIME. --B. C. 590 to 588. PLACE. --Jerusalem, Jericho, Riblah. HELPFUL READINGS. -- 2 Chronicles 36:11-21; Jeremiah 34:1-12; Jeremiah 39:1-... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CITY WAS BESIEGED UNTO THE TENTH YEAR OF KING ZEDEKIAH. The siege lasted almost exactly. year and. half. For details examine Jeremiah 52:1-6, where is learned the day on which it ended. For all understanding of the calamities read the second and fifth Chapter s of Lamentations, probably written... [ Continue Reading ]
ON THE NINTH DAY OF THE FOURTH MONTH THE FAMINE PREVAILED. In the original the number is omitted, probably by the fault of the copyist. It is supplied from Jeremiah 52:6. The month answers to July. The city yielded to famine, an enemy more dreadful than the Chaldean soldiers. Hemmed in on all sides... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE CITY WAS BROKEN UP. Rather, "broken into.". breach was made in the walls through Which the enemy entered. Josephus says that the entrance was made at midnight, and Ezekiel says (9:2) that the breach was in the northern wall. On all other sides the city was defended by deep ravines, on the s... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ARMY OF THE CHALDEES. *. OVERTOOK HIM. His escape was soon discovered and he was promptly pursued. Near Jericho, in the plains below the city, he was overtaken and his army at once scattered to save itself and left him to his fate. The student must bear in mind that the Babylonians were also ca... [ Continue Reading ]
TOOK THE KING AND BROUGHT HIM TO THE KING OF BABYLON TO RIBLAH. Nebuchadnezzar's headquarters were now at Riblah on the northern limits of Palestine,. point from whence he could direct the two sieges of Tyre and Jerusalem. The siege of Jerusalem seems to have been under the immediate direction of.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SLEW THE SONS OF ZEDEKIAH. Usually, in those days, the children were involved in the hapless fate of the father. They were slain before his eyes in order to add to the bitterness of his punishment. Pity was not. characteristic of an oriental monarch. AND PUT OUT THE EYES OF ZEDEKIAH. Not unt... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN THE FIFTH MONTH AND ON THE SEVENTH DAY. August. "It was the tenth day of the fifth month,. day memorable in Jewish annals as. day of misery, when the siege of Titus closed in like manner,--a day tragical in European annals as the tenth of August,--that Nebuzaradan, captain of the royal guard... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE BURNT THE HOUSE OF THE LORD. The temple, as predicted. Jeremiah 21:10. EVERY GREAT MAN'S HOUSE. The king's palace and the homes of the nobles. All houses of any pretension were destroyed. The hovels of the poor might have been passed over.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALL THE ARMY... BRAKE DOWN THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM. We learn from Jeremiah, not only that the walls were leveled, but that the sepulchres of the kings were opened and the bodies thrown out to the vultures. Some of the great men were hung up on the ruined temple walls and others were carried to e... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FUGITIVES THAT FELL AWAY TO THE KING. Those who had been satisfied of the folly of resisting him, and had quitted Jerusalem before or during the siege. There were two factions during all these troublous times, one that insisted on peace with the Babylonians, and one that was for war. The remain... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD LEFT THE POOR. A remnant of the nation was left in Judea, principally the poor tillers of the soil. To these were assigned certain fields and vineyards (Jeremiah 39:10). Some of other classes also remained, Jeremiah of his own free choice (Jeremiah 40:6); Gedaliah, the gran... [ Continue Reading ]