The Bible Story Part 209

JEHOIACHIN.

(Jehoiachin had hardly begun his reign before the city of Jerusalem yielded to the a.s.saults of the armies of Babylon, and the king, with the flower of the nation, men, women, and children, artisans and soldiers, were carried away into captivity. Tradition says that a later king of Babylon, Evil-Merodach, released Jehoiachin, then fifty-five years old, and treated him with distinguished respect.)

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done. And the army of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came unto the city, while his soldiers were besieging it; and Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said. And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all {347} the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the chief men of the land, carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths a thousand, all of them strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father's brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

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ZEDEKIAH.

(Over the remnant of Judah Nebuchadnezzar placed a va.s.sal king who swore the strongest oaths of allegiance to his superior. After reigning some years, however, he rebelled. Then followed one of the most desperate sieges of history. Jerusalem was ringed about by forts, a.s.sailed by all the enginery of the times. Famine and pestilence walked in her streets, and at last the city yielded. Zedekiah and his family escaped in the confusion, but were quickly captured and brought before Nebuchadnezzar. The cruel conqueror killed the children of the captive king before his sight, and then put out his eyes.)

Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. For through the anger of the Lord did it come to pa.s.s in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence: and Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

And it came to pa.s.s in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about. So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

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[Ill.u.s.tration]

GREAT STAIRWAY APPROACHING HEROD'S TEMPLE AT SAMARIA.

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood and used by special permission.

There are only a few ruins left to tell the story of the once proud city of Samaria. The old temple of Baal is thus described:--

"It was of a size sufficient to contain all the worshipers of Baal that the northern kingdom could furnish. Four hundred and fifty prophets frequented it. In the interior was a kind of inner fastness or adytum, in which were seated or raised on pillars the figures carved in wood of the Phoenician deities as they were seen, in vision, centuries later, by Jezebel's fellow-countryman, Hannibal, in the sanctuary of Gades. In the center was Baal, the Sun-G.o.d; around him were the inferior divinities. In front of the temple, stood on a stone pillar the figure of Baal alone"

This city, completely destroyed by the a.s.syrians, was rebuilt by Pompey. Herod, in pursuance of his commercial policy, which was based on intercourse with the west, and of his plan of governing the country with strongholds garrisoned by Gentile soldiers devoted to his interests, made Samaria a strong fortress.

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On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden: and the king escaped from the city.

But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army was scattered from him. Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, an officer of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem: and he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burnt he with fire. And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about. And the residue of the people that were left in the city, and those that fled to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the mult.i.tude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away captive. But the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen. And the pillars of bra.s.s that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases and the brazen sea that were in the house of the Lord, did the Chaldeans break in pieces, and carried the {352} bra.s.s of them to Babylon. And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of bra.s.s wherewith they ministered, took they away. And the firepans, and the basins; that which was of gold, and that which was of silver, the captain of the guard took away. The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord; the bra.s.s of all these vessels was of great weight. So Judah was carried away captive.

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THE KINGDOM OF THE NORTH

JEROBOAM.

(The story of the revolt of the northern part of the kingdom from the south has been told in the story of Rehoboam. Jeroboam, who became the king of the northern territory, was little improvement over Rehoboam, his rival in the south. He was not of royal birth, but, as a bright young man in Solomon's court, came under the great king's notice. He plotted, however, against his master, and, his treachery being discovered, fled to Egypt. As soon as Solomon died, Jeroboam returned from Egypt, and became the leader of the successful revolt against the tyranny of the young king of the south.)

_The New Kingdom_.

Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and he went out from thence, and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will return to the house of David: if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then will the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me, and return to Rehoboam king of Judah." Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said unto them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold thy G.o.ds, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." And he set the one {354} in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before, the one, even unto Dan. And he made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he went up unto the altar; so did he in Beth-el, sacrificing unto the calves that he made: and he placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places which he had made. And he went up unto the altar which he had made in Beth-el on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart: and he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and went up unto the altar, to burn incense.

_The Prophet from Judah and His Fate_.

And, behold, there came a man of G.o.d out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Beth-el: and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. And he cried against the altar by the word of Jehovah, and said, "O altar, altar, thus saith Jehovah: 'Behold, a son shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he sacrifice the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall they burn upon thee.'"

And he gave a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign which Jehovah hath spoken: 'Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.'"

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[Ill.u.s.tration]

STREET OF AN ANCIENT EASTERN CITY.

From a photograph taken by Prof. Lewis Bayles Paton of Hartford Theological Seminary, and used by his kind permission.

Notice the houses built over the street converting it almost into a tunnel.

[End ill.u.s.tration]

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And it came to pa.s.s, when the king heard the saying of the man of G.o.d, which he cried against the altar in Beth-el, that Jeroboam put forth his hand from the altar, saying, "Lay hold on him."

And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back again to him. The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of G.o.d had given by the word of Jehovah. And the king answered and said unto the man of G.o.d, "Entreat now the favor of Jehovah thy G.o.d, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again."

And the man of G.o.d entreated Jehovah, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.

And the king said unto the man of G.o.d, "Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward."

And the man of G.o.d said unto the king, "If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place: for so it was charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, 'Thou shalt eat no bread, nor drink water, neither return by the way that thou camest.'"

So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Beth-el.

Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el; and one of his sons came and told him all the works that the man of G.o.d had done that day in Beth-el: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them also they told unto their father.

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And their father said unto them, "What way went he?" Now his sons had seen what way the man of G.o.d went, which came from Judah.

And he said unto his sons, "Saddle me the a.s.s."

So they saddled him the a.s.s: and he rode thereon. And he went after the man of G.o.d, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, "Art thou the man of G.o.d that camest from Judah?" And he said, "I am."

Then he said unto him, "Come home with me, and eat bread."