After a short reign of three months, Pharaoh Necho put him in bands at Riblah, in the land of Hamath; and coming thence to Jerusalem,† he exacted a tribute of an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold,§ and having placed Eliakim, another son of Josiah, whose name he changed to Jehoiakim, upon the throne; he took Jehoahaz away with him into Egypt, where he died,|| as Jeremiah, who calls him Shallum, had foretold.

A. C. 610.

JEHOIAKIM.

THE first act of this monarch's reign was to tax his subjects, in order to raise and pay the stipulated tribute to Pharaoh. His mother's name was Zebudah, who was the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah; and he did that which was evil¶ in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers had done.**

The period now approaching when the forbearance of Jehovah towards his favourite people was to cease for a season, he sent them several prophets to forewarn them of the im pending ruin.

"It is conjectured that Jehoahaz raised an army, and met and fought Necho on his return from Carchemish, and was beaten and taken prisoner by that monarch." A. CLARKE.

↑ Herodotus mentions this circumstance, but gives Jerusalem the name of Cadytis, by which, or some similar appellation, the holy city was known as well among the heathen, as it is by most of the eastern nations at this day. Prid. i. 85. Jahn, i. 152.

2 Kings, xxiii. 31-34. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 2. 4. Jer. xxii. 11, 12. See Scott in loco.

¶ Jer. xxii. 13-19.

** 2 Kings, xxiii. 35-37. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 5.

Thus Habakkuk, Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously; for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful; their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves:* and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far, they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.†

Urijah, too, having prophesied against the holy city, and the land of Judea, Jehoiakim, and all his mighty men sought to put him to death, but Urijah fled into Egypt. The king, however, fetched him from thence, and slew him, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.‡

But the prophet Jeremiah was the chief instrument employed by God to make known his purposes of judgment and mercy to this infatuated people. Thus saith Jehovah; stand in the court of the house of Jehovah, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the house of Jehovah, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them;

66

Oppian, speaking of the horses bred about the Euphrates, says, They are by nature war-horses, and so intrepid, that neither the sight nor the roaring of the lion appals them; and, besides, are astonishingly fleet." A. CLARKE. Most modern travellers notice the swiftness and courage of the breed of horses, still existing in the vicinity of this river.

† Hab. i, 5-10.

‡ Jer. xxvi. 20-23.

diminish not a word: If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil which I purpose to do unto them, because of the evil of their doings. And thou shalt say unto them, thus saith Jehovah; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, to hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened; then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. So the priests and the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Jehovah.*

Upon the delivery of this prophecy, the priests and the prophets apprehended Jeremiah, and brought him before the princes of the people, and formally accused him with a view to procure a sentence of death; but the prophet boldly defended himself and exclaimed, Jehovah sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city, all the words that ye have heard. Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of Jehovah, your God; and Jehovah will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you. As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you. know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth Jehovah hath sent me unto you, to speak all these words in your ears.† Upon which the princes declared that he was not worthy to die, for he had spoken to them in the name of Jehovah, and some of the elders justified their judgment, by the example of Micah, in the reign of Hezekiah. "Did Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah put him at all to death? Did he not fear

Jer. xxvi 2-7.

Jer. xxvi, 12-15.

But

Jehovah, and beseech Jehovah, and Jehovah repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls." But it was probably chiefly owing to the influence of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, under a divine providence, that the life of the prophet was saved.*

About three years after this, another message came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, and which was probably a summary, or recapitulation of all his former denunciations. "From the thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of Jehovah hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened. And Jehovah hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear. They said, turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that Jehovah Lath given unto you and to your fathers, for ever and ever: and go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt. Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith Jehovah; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, to your own hurt.

Therefore, thus saith Jehovah of hosts; because ye have not beard my words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith Jehovah, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Dabylon, my servant,† and will bring them against this land,

Jer. xxvi. 16-24, Prid i. 89.

+"That is, move them as it were, by a secret instinct, to come as readily and unanimously to his service, as if some messenger had been sent to invite them to it. Thus doth God shew himself to be Jehovah of Hosts, and that he hath all creatures, even wicked men and devils themselves, at his command; making use of them even

and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones,* and the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Pabylon seventy years.

And it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith Jehovah, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. And I will bring upon that land, all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations. For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves, of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.

For thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel unto me; take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee to drink it. And they shall drink and be moved, and be mad, because of the

without their knowledge, and besides their purposes, (Isaiah, x. 5-7. and xlv. 4, 5.) to his own glory; for the correction of some, and advancement of others. Wollaston's MS.

* That is, necessary provisions. S. CLARKE. "The sound of the millstones and the light of the candle joined together, because they generally ground the corn before day by the light of the candle. Sir J. Chardin remarks, that every where, in the morning, may be heard the noise of the mills; for they generally grind every day just as much as is necessary for the day's consumption. Where then the noise of the mill is not heard, nor the light of the candle seen, there must be