A. C. 606.

4 Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.

5 And the king appointed them a daily provision of the *Heb. the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank : so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king.

wine of his drink.

6 Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah :

7 Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names : for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach ; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abed-nego.

2 KINGS XXIV. ver. 3, 4.

3 Surely at the commandment of the LORD came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did;

4 And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the LORD would not pardon.

PERIOD THE SEVENTH;

THE BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY-SEVENTY YEARS. -FROM 606 TO 536.

Chapter

I. EVENTS At Jerusalem FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE CAPTIVITY, TO The Burning of the Temple.

II. CONTEMPORARY EVENTS AT BABYLON, During the same PERIOD.

III.-HISTORY OF THAT PORTION of the Jewish NATION, WHICH

WAS NOT CARRIED CAPTIVE TO BABYLON, AFTER THE
BURNING OF THE TEMPLE, AND THE DESTRUCTION OF
JERUSALEM.

IV. EVENTS At Babylon, between the DESTRUCTION OF THE
TEMPLE, AND THE RETURN OF THE JEWS FROM THEIR
CAPTIVITY, ON THE DECREE OF CYRUS,

Events at Jerusalem, between the Commencement of the
Captivity and the Burning of the Temple.

SECTION I.

Reign of Jehoiakim continued.-Second Reading of the Roll.

JEREMIAH XXXVI. VER. 9, TO THE END.

9 And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the A.C. 605. son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they

1 The great object of that revelation which God, at various times, and in divers manners, imparted to man, was to establish among them the knowledge of himself, and gradually to direct their attention to his Son.

The revelation first given to Adam was preserved during the deluge by Noah, the only individual, except his own family, that remained uncorrupt in the old world, and it was by him committed to the new. Idolatry, however, again sprung up soon after the Deluge; and, to prevent another total corruption, the language of mankind was confounded, and the world was divided into several distinct societies; yet so general was the idolatry that had contaminated the several colonies which had emigrated from Shinar, that, within four hundred years after the flood, the knowledge and worship of the one true God was once more in danger of being entirely lost. To prevent this fearful evil, instead of destroying again all flesh, the divine Wisdom revealed himself to Abraham; beginning with him to form a peculiar people, by whom the knowledge of the true God should be preserved and transmitted to all future nations. In pursuance of this gracious design, God commanded him to separate from his idolatrous kindred, and to go into a distant land: and, after this trial of his faith and obedience, the Almighty took him under his especial care; appeared to him, conversed with him, encouraged him by promises and blessings; and imparted to him new laws, and religious ceremonies. Isaac and Jacob were made heirs of the same blessings: and when this family were grown numerous enough to be a people, the Almighty himself became their King. "With a mighty hand, and a stretched-out arm," he delivered them from Egyptian bondage; and, after a series of most wonderful miracles, to confirm their faith, and to destroy their idolatrous enemies-a passage is opened for them through the Red Seapillars of cloud and fire alternately direct their march; and the Almighty estab

A. C. 605. proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.

lishes his covenant with them on Mount Sinai, promising them every blessing, on condition that they observed his laws and statutes, and refrained from idolatry. At length they were put in possession of the land promised to their forefathers, Gen. xv. 18.; and, to furnish them with a most convincing proof of the imbecility of idol-gods, and of the great sin of idolatry, they were commissioned to destroy all the nations of Canaan who trusted in them. Still the Israelites, on every opportunity, shewed that they were not entirely alienated from the false worship of the neighbouring nations; and, for a long course of years, they were exercised with a variety of dispensations: when they were obedient to the laws and service of God, they were triumphant and prosperous; when they forsook him, they were in distress and bondage. Often as the people apostatized, idolatry never received support from the head of the nation till the time of Solomon, who was the first ruler that erected an idolatrous altar, and who bowed down before a graven image. With this act, idolatry may be considered as usurping the established dominion of the true religion, and to reign in her stead. The nation soon after divided: the ten tribes wholly revolted from the God of their fathers, and formed themselves into a distinct people. They resisted all the appeals of their prophets, the miracles of Elijah and Elisha, the judgments of God, the continued fulfilment of various predictions, and every other evidence of the truth of their Scriptures, and were at last taken captive at three several invasions by the kings of Assyria; by Tiglath-Pileser, in the reign of Ahaz; by Shalmaneser, in that of Hezekiah; and by Esar-haddon, in the reign of Manasseh.

The people of Judah, though frequently relapsing into idolatry, had never so entirely devoted themselves to it, as totally to renounce the worship of God: and they were still permitted to continue in the promised land more than one hundred years after the great captivity of the ten tribes by Sennacherib. During the whole of this period, they were constantly appealed to by judgments, prophecies, and promises, to repent of their idolatries, and to become wholly devoted to the God of their fathers. There seems to have been in the kingdom of Judah, an uninterrupted contest between the worshippers of Jehovah and those of idols: but the party of the latter so much predominated, that all the exertions of good kings, and the constant exhortations and denunciations of the prophets were ineffectual to produce a reformation: the attachment of the Jews to the worship of the God of their fathers visibly and gradually declined, till an open and general apostacy threatened to ensue. The prophets of the Lord were insulted, imprisoned, and slain. Idolatry was openly advocated-its grossest superstitions resorted to-and the worship of Jehovah abandoned. Prosperity and adversity, prophecy and miracle, the desolations of war, the loss of power, wealth, pre-eminence, and liberty, were alike in vain inflicted, to reclaim this rebellious race. "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint❞—an universal degeneracy prevailed, and threatened in a short time to annihilate God's visible church upon earth. To wean the Jews from this universal idolatry, and to continue the knowledge of the true God in the world; not only to this single nation, but to all the future nations of the earth; God in his mercy inflicted