Part 12 (2/2)

THE RELIGION OF JUDAH

THE PROPHETS OF JUDAH

ANCIENT JERUSALEM

THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH IN RELATION TO EGYPT AND assYRIA

[Illustration: SOLOMON'S DOMINIONS, THE KINGDOMS OF JUDAH & ISRAEL AND THE LANDS of the CAPTIVITIES]

NINTH STUDY

THE CAPTIVITY OF JUDAH

I We uish between the =CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL=, or the ten tribes, and =THAT OF JUDAH=

1 The captivity of Israel took place B C 721, that of Judah B C

587 The southern kingdoer than the northern

2 Israel was taken captive by the assyrians under Sargon; Judah by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar

3 Israel was taken to the lands south of the Caspian Sea (2 Kings 17

6); Judah to Chaldea, by the river Euphrates (Psa 137 1)

4 Israel never returned from its captivity, which was the end of its history; but Judah was brought back fro state, though subject to foreign nations during most of its after history

II There were =THREE CAPTIVITIES= of Judah, all in one generation and all under one Chaldean king, Nebuchadnezzar:

1 =Jehoiakim's captivity= (B C 607) Jehoiakim was the son of Josiah, placed upon the throne after the battle of Megiddo, in which Josiah perished (2 Kings 23 34) In the war between Pharaoh-nechoh of Egypt and Nebuchadnezzar (then joint king of Babylon with his father Nabopolassar) Jehoiakiyptians

After the defeat of Nechoh, Nebuchadnezzar marched to punish Jehoiakie of Jerusale to Babylon to assuovernment Jehoiakim was spared, but a number of the nobles of Judah were taken to Babylon, perhaps as hostages for the king's good conduct

For three years Jehoiakim obeyed Nebuchadnezzar; then he rebelled, but was speedily reduced to subjection, andthe Jeere carried captive to Babylon (2 Kings 24 1, 2) A these captives was Daniel the prophet (Dan 1 1-6) From this event the _seventy years_ of the captivity were dated (Jer 27 22; 29 10), though the kingdoer Jehoiakih bound in chains for that purpose (2 Chron 36 6); he reigned several years after this event, but under suspicion of the Chaldeans, and his end was ignoble (Jer 22 18, 19; 36 30)

2 =Jehoiachin's captivity= (B C 598) Jehoiachin was the son of Jehoiakim (called Jeconiah, 1 Chron 3 16; Jer 24 1; and Coniah, Jer

22 24) He reigned only three months, and was then deposed by Nebuchadnezzar and carried to Babylon With the young king and the royal family were taken thousands of the people of the s 24 8-16) A these captives was Ezekiel, the prophet-priest (Ezek 1 1-3)

3 =Zedekiah's captivity= (B C 587) He was the uncle of Jehoiachin, and the son of the good Josiah (2 Kings 24 17), and had been ainst his master, to whom he had taken a solereatly incensed by these frequent insurrections, and determined upon a final destruction of the rebellious city After a long siege Jerusaleht

He was blinded and carried away to Babylon, the city was destroyed, and nearly all the people left alive were also taken to the land of Chaldea (2 Kings 25 1-11) After this captivity the city lay desolate for fifty years, until the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus (B C 536)

III Let us ascertain the =CAUSES OF THE CAPTIVITY=; why the Jeere taken up bodily from their own land and deported to a distant country

1 Such deportations were a frequent =policy of Oriental conquerors=

The Orientals had three ways of dealing with a conquered people: that of extermination or wholesale butchery, which is frequently described upon the assyrianthem in the land under tribute, as subjects of the conqueror; and that of deporting them _en masse_ to a distant land Frequently, when the interests of the e the population of a province, this plan was carried out Thus the ten tribes were carried to a land near the Caspian Sea, and other people were brought to Sas 17 6, 24) A similar plan with respect to Judah was proposed by Sennacherib (2 Kings 18 31, 32), but was thwarted by the destruction of the assyrian host

2 We have already noticed another cause of the captivity in the frequent =rebellions of the kings of Judah= against the authority of Babylon The old spirit of independence, which had , and it was fostered by the hope of universal rule, which had been predicted through centuries, even while the kingdo The prophets, however, favored subed rebellion and independence

Their policy was pursued, and the unequal strife was taken up more than once The rebellions always failed; but after several attempts the patience of Nebuchadnezzar was exhausted, and the destruction of the rebellious city and the deportation of the population was ordered

3 But underneath was another and a deeper cause--in =the rivalry of Egypt and Babylon= Whenever in history one nation has been doth, as its rival to check its supree in the way of republican Rome, and Parthia in the way of imperial Rome In the earlier days assyria (and after assyria Babylon) was the controlling power in the East; but it was always opposed by Egypt, which, though less powerful, was yet strong enough to be dangerous to assyrian or Chaldean supremacy Palestine stood on the border of the assyrian Eypt; and in Palestine there were two parties, the assyrian and the Egyptian; one counseling subainst assyria (Isa 31 1-3; 37 6)

After Babylon took the place of Nineveh the Chaldean party took the place of the assyrian, as the Chaldean Empire was the successor of the assyrian Empire The prophets, led by Jereainst trusting to Egypt, which had never given any thing yptian party, and constantly influenced the kings to renounce the yoke of Babylon, and to strike for independence by the aid of Egypt Under Egyptian influence the later kings of Judah ainst the Chaldean Eypt never caain to suffer the wrath of Babylon (Jer 37 5-9) The necessity ofthe frontier of the Chaldean Eypt was the political cause for the deportation of the tribe of Judah Nebuchadnezzar dared not to leave a people on the soil ould constantly endanger the entrance to his doyptians He therefore took up the Jews bodily, placed them in the center of his empire, and turned the land of Judah into a desolation

4 There was underlying all these political reasons a moral cause in =the divine purpose to discipline the nation= The captivity was a weeding-out process, to separate the precious from the vile, the false from the true, the ”remnant” from the mass There had always been two distinct ele few, and the worldly, idol-worshi+ping ious took part in the resistance to the King of Babylon; and the worshi+pers of Jehovah, led by the prophets, urged submission As a result, the nobles and the warriors, for the th and hope of the nation, were carried away captive Notice that the captives were s 24 14-16) Those who had subs 25 11) The prophet expressed greater hope for those taken away than for those left behind (Jer 24 1-10) The captives were the root of Judah, out of which in due time a new nation should rise

IV =THE CONDITION OF THE CAPTIVES IN CHALDEA= was far better than we are apt to suppose