The Bible Story Part 208

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JEHOAHAZ.

(Jehoahaz was the third son of Josiah, but was made king after the death of his father over the heads of his brothers. His reign lasted only three months. Neco the Egyptian, conqueror of Josiah at Megiddo, sent a detachment to Jerusalem which deposed the king and took him away captive to Egypt.)

Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem. Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem, and took tribute from the land, an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Neco took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.

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[Ill.u.s.tration]

AN OLD STREET OF JERUSALEM [End ill.u.s.tration]

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JEHOIAKIM.

(The Egyptians who deposed Jehoahaz put Eliakim, whose name they changed to Jehoiakim, on the throne and he became during his reign of eleven years one of the worst and most idolatrous kings who ever sat upon the throne. He persecuted the prophets of his time, and especially Jeremiah. His hatred of this great prophet, and how he put him in the foulest dungeon of Jerusalem, is told elsewhere. [Footnote: In Volume V. of this series.] The following is one of the prophet's fierce denunciations of this wicked king:)--

"Thus saith the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates. Thus saith the Lord: Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.' For thus saith the Lord concerning the house of {336} the king of Judah: 'Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited. And I will prepare destroyers against thee, everyone with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. And many nations shall pa.s.s by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbor, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great city? Then they shall answer, Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their G.o.d, and worshiped other G.o.ds, and served them.'

"Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him who goeth away; for he shall return no more, nor see his native country. For thus saith the Lord touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went forth out of this place: 'He shall not return thither any more; but in the place whither they have led him captive, there shall he die, and he shall see this land no more.'

[Footnote: Shallum was perhaps the original name of Jehoahaz, the preceding king, who after his brief reign had been carried captive to Egypt. ]

"Woe unto him who buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice; who useth his neighbor's service without wages, and giveth him not his hire; who saith, 'I will build me a wide house and s.p.a.cious chambers,' and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.

"Shalt thou reign, because thou strivest to excel in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice? then it was well with him. He judged the {337} cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. 'Was not this to know me?' saith the Lord.

"But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: They shall not lament for him, saying 'Ah, my brother!' or, 'Ah sister!' they shall not lament for him, saying, 'Ah lord!' or, 'Ah his glory!'

'He shall be buried with the burial of an a.s.s, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

"Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan: and cry from Abarim; for all thy lovers are destroyed. I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, 'I will not hear.' This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice. The wind shall feed all thy shepherds, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness. O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee! 'As I live,'

saith the Lord, 'though Jehoiachin the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence; and I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them of whom thou art afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

And I will cast thee out, and thy mother who bore thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall {338} ye die. But to the land whereunto their soul longeth to return, thither shall they not return.'

"Is this man Jehoiachin a despised broken vessel? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into the land which they know not? O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.

"Thus saith the Lord, 'Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.'

"'Woe unto the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!' saith the Lord.

"Therefore thus saith the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel, against the shepherds that feed my people: 'Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord. And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and multiply. And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking,' saith the Lord.

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute judgment and justice in the land. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, 'The Lord is our righteousness.'

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"Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, 'As the Lord liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt'; but, 'As the Lord liveth, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.'

"Concerning the prophets. Mine heart within me is broken, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome; because of the Lord, and because of his holy words. For the land is full of evil doers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pastures of the wilderness are dried up; and their course is evil, and their force is not right. For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord.

"Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery places in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the Lord. And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen an horrible thing; they walk in lies, and they strengthen the hands of evil doers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

"Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: 'Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, {340} and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.'

"Thus saith the Lord of hosts, 'Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you; they teach you vanity: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. They say continually unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace; and unto everyone that walketh in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shall come upon you. For who hath stood in the council of the Lord, that he should perceive and hear his word? who hath marked my word, and heard it? Behold, the tempest of the Lord, even his fury, is gone forth, yea, a whirling tempest: it shall burst upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall understand it perfectly. I sent not these prophets, yet they ran: I spoke not unto them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear my words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. Am I a G.o.d at hand, saith the Lord, and not a G.o.d afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord. I have heard what the prophets have said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.

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[Ill.u.s.tration]

VIEW LOOKING TOWARD JERUSALEM FROM THE WEST.

Used by special permission of the Detroit Photograph Company.

This view looks toward the city from the southwest. The winding road enters at the Jaffa gate.

[End ill.u.s.tration]

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"'How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies; even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart? which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name for Baal.

The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully.'

"'What is the straw to the wheat?' saith the Lord. 'Is not my word like as fire?' saith the Lord; 'and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?'

"'Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets,' saith the Lord, 'that steal my words everyone from his neighbor.' 'Behold, I am against the prophets,' saith the Lord, 'that use their tongues, and say, He saith.' 'Behold, I am against them that prophesy lying dreams,' saith the Lord, 'and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting: yet I sent them not, nor commanded them; neither shall they profit this people at all,' saith the Lord.

"And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, 'What is the burden of the Lord?' then shalt thou say unto them, 'What burden! I will cast you off,' saith the Lord.

"And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, 'The burden of the Lord,' I will even punish that man and his house. Thus shall ye say everyone to his neighbor, and everyone to his brother, 'What hath the Lord answered?' and 'What hath the Lord spoken?' And the burden of the Lord shall ye mention no more: for every man's own word shall be his burden; for ye have {344} perverted the words of the living G.o.d, of the Lord of hosts our G.o.d.

"Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, 'What hath the Lord answered thee?' and 'What hath the Lord spoken?'

"But if ye say, 'The burden of the Lord'; therefore thus saith the Lord: 'Because ye say this word, The burden of the Lord, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the Lord; therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off, and the city that I gave unto you and to your fathers, away from my presence: and I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten."

(This prophecy was already hastening on to fulfillment. The power of Egypt had been broken by Nebuchadnezzar at the battle of Carchemish, and now the great king of Babylon came sweeping down upon Judah to put an end to its existence as a nation. Tradition says that the evil king, Jehoiakim, was slain during a sally from the walls, and that his dead body lay there dishonored and unburied.)

Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the {345} Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by the hand of his servants the prophets. Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Mana.s.seh, according to all that he did; and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood: and the Lord would not pardon. So Jehoiakim died.

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