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mariah, in the higher court at the entry of the new gate of Jehovah's house, in the ears of all the people.

Michaiah, the son of Gemariah, being present, went immediately and repeated what he had heard to the princes who were sitting in the scribe's chamber, who dispatched Jehudi to Baruch, with orders to bring the roll to them. Baruch having repeated the prophecies in their hearing, they were afraid, and said to Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words; and upon being informed that Jeremiah had dictated the contents of the roll, said, Go hide thee, thou, and Jeremiah, and let no man know where ye be.

As soon as Jehoiakim had received information of the circumstance, he dispatched Jehudi to fetch the roll, who having brought it out of the chamber of Elishama, the scribe, began to read it before the king and his princes; but had not read more than three or four columns when Jehoiakim cut the roll with a penknife, and cast it into a fire that was burning before him on the hearth, and it was entirely consumed.* This was done in spite of the remonstrances and intreaties of Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah; but he would not hear them, nor were he nor his servants afraid; neither did they rend their garments. So true is the maxim even of an heathen-"Quem Deus vult perdere, prius dementat." And so infatuated was the ill-fated monarch, that he com

was read; but in the second relation it plainly appears he was out of prison; for he was then at full liberty to go out of the way and hide himself. For these reasons I take it for certain that the roll was twice read: and I have Abp. Usher with me in the same opinion, whose judgment must always be of the greatest weight in such matters." Prid. i. 95.

"The Jews preserve a melancholy memorial of this criminal transaction, by keeping a solemn fast, every year, on the 29th day of Cisleu, which answers to our November. Prid. i. 95,

manded both Baruch and Jeremiah to be apprehended; but Jehovah hid them.*

It was probably upon this occasion that Jeremiah was commanded to encourage the timid scribe by the following declaration: Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch; Thou didst say, woe is me now! for Jehovah hath added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest. Thus shalt thou say unto him, Jehovah saith thus; Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith Jehovah but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey, in all places whither thou goest.+

Such an act of atrocious insolence to the majesty of heaven, as that perpetrated by Jehoiakim, might well have drawn down the instantaneous wrath of God: but so great was his forbearance, and so unwilling was he to inflict his own judgments, that he afforded that wretched prince, even yet another opportunity of repentance. For the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying, Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, hath burned. And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Thus saith Jehovah; Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast? Therefore, thus saith Jehovah, concerning Jehoiakim, king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. And I will punish him, and his seed, and his servants, for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants, and upon

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the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them. So Baruch wrote in another roll, from the mouth of Jeremiah, all the words of the book which Jehoiakim had burned in the fire; and there were added besides unto them many like words; but they hearkened not.*

At the end of three years, Jehoiakim having rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, Jehovah sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the 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 Jehovah, which he spake by his servants, the prophets.†

Whether this monarch was carried to Babylon does not positively appear; but the sacred historian adds that he slept with his fathers, and was succeeded by his son,|| Jehoiachin.

+ 2 Kings, xxiv. 1, 2.

Jer. xxxvi. 27-32.

See p. 233.

The prophet Jeremiah had foretold of this prince, that they should not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they should not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory; but that he should be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. Jer. xxii. 18, 19. And again: His dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. Jer. xxxvi. 30. The author of the book of Kings does not notice this circumstance, or state any particular occurrence as to his burial; but Josephus says that Jehoiakim was thrown before the walls, by command of Nebuchadnezzar, without any burial. Josephus, ii. 59. Prideaux, without giving any authority, alleges the prophecy was literally accomplished. Prid. i. 98. Probably Jehoiakim held out against the Babylonish forces till the eleventh year of his reign; and while yet unburied, the Chaldeans dragged the dead body of the perjured monarch before the city, and suffered it to lie there unburied, as Jeremiah had predicted. Jahn, i. 154. "To sleep with one's fathers, is used as a common expression to express simply the act of dying; although it be a violent death.” DR. WALL. "Not that he was buried with his fathers, for he died in the way, as they led him prisoner toward Babylon." BARKER, 1598. 2 Kings, xxiv. 6.

JEHOIACHIN.

THIS prince, who is also called Jeconiah* and A. C. Coniah,† was only eighteen years old when he began 509. to reign, and his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

Having done that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his father had done, the prophet Jeremiah denounced a woful judgment upon him: Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: 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 eat up all thy pastors, 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 gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail ! As I live, saith Jehovah, though Coniah, 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 whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hands of the Chaldeans. And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die. But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return. Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? Wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? O earth,

earth, earth, hear the word of Jehovah! Thus saith Jehovah, 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.*

This was accordingly fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar coming against Jerusalem and besieging it, when Jehoiachin went out to meet him, with his mother, servants, princes, and officers; whereupon Nebuchadnezzar took him prisoner, after he had reigned only three months, and sent him to Babylon, where he was imprisoned.†

At the same time, the Babylonian seized upon all the treasures of the house of Jehovah, 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 Jehovah, as Jehovah had said. And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. And he carried away to Babylon the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to

Prid. i. 98. Scott in loco.

* Jer. xxii. 20-30. + 2 Kings, xxiv. 10-12. 15. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 10. By thus yielding himself up to the will of God, as declared by Jeremiah, he not only preserved his life, but, as we shall afterwards see, obtained a renewal of comfort and even honour. BARKER. In 2 Chron. xxxvi. 8. allusion is made to that which was found upon him; upon which the note in Barker's Bible is, "He meaneth superstitious marks, which were found upon his body after he was dead; which thing declared how deeply idolatry was rooted in his heart, seeing he bore the marks in his flesh,"

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