_NEBUCHADNEZZAR, HAVING TAKEN JERUSALEM, PUTS OUT THE EYES OF ZEDEKIAH, AND CARRIES HIM TO BABYLON. THE TEMPLE IS BURNED. ISHMAEL KILLS GEDALIAH: THE JEWS WHO ARE LEFT FLY TO EGYPT, THROUGH FEAR OF THE CHALDEANS. JEHOIACHIN, AFTER THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS, IS BROUGHT FORTH FROM PRISON, AND TREATED HUMANEL... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FAMINE PREVAILED— See Ezekiel 5:10 and Lamentations 4:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MEN OF WAR FLED BY NIGHT— It is difficult to conceive how the besieged could make their escape, as the Chaldees had encompassed the city. Josephus indeed gives us this account, that as the city was taken about midnight, the captains with the rest of the soldiers went directly into the temple; wh... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PUT OUT THE EYES OF ZEDEKIAH, &C.— Josephus takes notice, that the seeming contradiction in the prophesies of Ezekiel and Jeremiah concerning the fate of Zedekiah, made that prince give no heed to what was foretold. Ezekiel's prophesy runs thus: _I will bring him to Babylon, to the land of the C... [ Continue Reading ]
HE BURNED THE HOUSE OF THE LORD— Josephus tells us, that the temple was burned four hundred and seventy years, six months, and ten days after the building of it; one thousand and sixty years, six months, and ten days from the time of the Israelites' coming out of the land of Egypt; one thousand nine... [ Continue Reading ]
ZEPHANIAH, THE SECOND PRIEST— The Jews call their second priest their סגן _Segan,_ whose business it was to supply the function of the high-priest, in case he was sick, or under any other incapacity. We find no such particular institution under the law; but Eleazar, the son of Aaron, who is styled _... [ Continue Reading ]
GEDALIAH, THE SON OF AHIKAM— Ahikam, the father of Gedaliah, was a person in such credit in all the latter reigns, that he had been able to screen Jeremiah from the resentment of the king, and the fury of the people; so that it is very probable that the prophet, in gratitude to the father, obtained... [ Continue Reading ]
TO MIZPAH— See Genesis 31:49 where the reason of the name of this place will be found. It was situate on the east side of the river Jordan, and in the division of the land fell to the tribe of Dan; and here it was that Gedaliah chose to fix his habitation, or perhaps was ordered to fix it, because i... [ Continue Reading ]
EVIL-MERODACH, KING OF BABYLON— Nebuchadnezzar, the father of Evil-merodach, died in the year of the world 3442, and before Christ 562, after he had reigned from the death of his father, according to the Babylonish account, three and forty years. He was certainly one of the greatest princes that had... [ Continue Reading ]