10 Then read Baruch 2 in the book the words of Jeremiah A.C. 605. in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the a new judgment on his people, to the gracious effects of which we may perhaps, even to this day, consider ourselves indebted for the Hebrew Scriptures, and the very existence of the Christian Church. After a succession of punishments, and every possible appeal to their feelings, and understandings, had been constantly and vainly made, the seventy years' captivity began. This dreadful calamity came upon them gradually; it was brought upon them for their sins, as Moses had foretold, Lev. xxvi. 30-36. and was the means decreed by divine Wisdom to effect their reformation. While their sad and desolate state naturally tended to excite in them serious reflections on their past conduct—while the recollection of their iniquities and idolatry would be still fresh in their memory, and the denunciations and predictions of their prophets were too faithfully accomplished, and too severely felt-they learnt to detest the cause of all these sufferings; to honour God, and to keep his laws, This dispensation was also calculated to spread the knowledge of God in those eastern countries where the Jewish people were stationed. Through the merciful interposition of divine Providence, some of the distinguished captives were raised to the highest posts of dignity and power in the courts both of Assyria and Persia, and the greatest monarchs, from their constancy and fidelity, openly confessed the living and true God, Dan. ii. 47, &c. iv. 34, &c.; and made decrees in favour of his worship, Esther viii. 7, and following verses, Dan. iii. 29. vi. 26. The great Cyrus was so well acquainted with the true God, that one of his first acts, after he obtained the empire of Persia, was to make a decree for the return of the Jews into their own country, and for the rebuilding of the temple, Ezra i. From all this it is evident, that the Jews in their captivity must have repented of their transgressions, and "must have known and seen that it was an evil thing and bitter, that they had forsaken the Lord their God;" for, during their appointed sojourning in strange lands, they were a burning and shining light to all the eastern countries. And thus, in this dispensation, the Almighty, in punishing his peculiar people, and in bringing about their reformation, made them the messengers of his glory and power, and the instruments of his mercy, in conveying to nations that were in "darkness and the shadow of death," the knowledge of the one true God, the Creator and Preserver of the World. ? It has been already stated, that the roll of Jeremiah's prophecies is supposed to have been read twice. From ver. 9, and 10, of Jeremiah xxxvi. appears that the second time it was read was on the fast day in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim. This day of humiliation, in all probability, was appointed by the king or the Sanhedrim, in remembrance of some great calamity, as the great day of fasting and expiation annually observed by the Jews, was always held on the tenth day of the month Tisri. This fast, therefore, is generally supposed to have been instituted in commemoration of the calamity which had befallen Jerusalem on the same day of the preceding year, when Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem; and it is still observed by the Jews in reference to this event. This part of chapter xxxvi. is inserted here on the united authorities of Calmet, Prideaux, Lightfoot, Taylor, and Archbishop Usher. A.C. 605. * Or, door. a ch. xxvi. 10. entry of the new gate of the LORD's house, in the ears of all the people. 11 When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the LORD, 12 Then he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber: and, lo, all the princes sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes. 13 Then Micaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people. 14 Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came unto them. 15 And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears. 16 Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words. 17 And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth? 18 Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book. 19 Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be. 20 And they went in to the king into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king. 21 So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king. 22 Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. 23 And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. 24 Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these A C. 605. words. 25 Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll but he would not hear them. * of 26 But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD hid them. 27 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, 28 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. 29 And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the LORD; 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? 30 Therefore thus saith the LORD of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: b * Or, of the king. and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, bch. xxii, 19.and in the night to the frost. 31 And I will † punish him and his seed and his servants + Heb. visit upon. for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the ch. xxiii. 34. inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not. 32 Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words. SECTION H. Rebellion and Death of Jehoiakim. 2 KINGS XXIV. PART OF VER. 1, AND VER. 2. 3 Then he turned and rebelled against him. → Jehoiakim rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar three years after that monarch had released him from fetters, and restored him to his kingdom. This division of the verse, though apparently very abrupt and singular, is unavoidable, from the necessity of attending to the history. Nebuchadnezzar, on this revolt, being probably prevented from going himself to Jerusalem, by being engaged in observ *Heb. as they. 603. A.C. 603. 2 And the LORD 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 ech. xx. 17. Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, *Heb. by the which he spake * by his servants the prophets. & xxiii. 27. hand of. 599. с 2 CHRONICLES XXXVI. VER. 5. 5 Jehoiakim was twenty and five 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 his God. 2 KINGS XXIV. ver. 5. 5 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 2 CHRONICLES XXXVI. VER. 8. 3 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel Or, Jeconiah, and Judah: and † Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead. i Chron. iii. 16. or, Coniah, Jer. xxii. 24. SECTION III. Reign of Jehoiachin, nineteenth King, 3 Months.-Captivity of 2 KINGS XXIV. VER. 6-10. 6 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead. : 7 And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt. ing the motions of the Medes and Lydians, between whom, in the tenth year of Jehoiakim, he was called upon to mediate a peace, sent orders to all his lieutenants, and governors of provinces, to make war upon the weakened kingdom of Judah, and to ravage the land on every side. This brought upon Jehoiakim all the neighbouring nations, which were subject to the Babylonian power. At the end of three years, during which time these different people had been constantly harassing the surrounding country, they at length united against Jerusalem. Jehoiakim, it is generally supposed, was taken prisoner in a sally which he made upon them; and being slain with a sword, according to the prediction of Jeremiah, his dead body was ignominiously cast out into the highway, without one of the gates of Jerusalem,-Prideaux's Connection, vol. i. p. 95. 8 ¶ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began A. C. 599. to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And *Called Jeconiah, 1 Chron. iii. 16. Jer. * On comparing 2 Kings xxiv. 8. with the parallel passage 2 Chron. xxxvi. xxiv. 1. and 9. we observe, that in the first of these Jehoiachin is said to have been eighteen xxii. 24, 28. Coniah, Jer. when he began to reign; and, in the other, that he was only eight years old. The difference may be reconciled, either by supposing that the custom of uniting the successor to the throne with its actual possessor, which seems to have uniformly existed in the kingdom of Judah, had been here adopted; or, as Lightfoot conjectures, that the commencement of the captivity is referred to in 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9.; and that this passage signifies, that Jehoiachin began to reign in the eighth year of the first captivity by Nebuchadnezzar. Unmoved either by the warning of Jeremiah, the calamities of his country, or the fate of his father, Jehoiachin continued to "do evil in the sight of the Lord." His conduct provoked a bitter declaration of God's wrath against him, by the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah, and it was as bitterly executed upon him. After Jehoiakim's death, Jerusalem was still besieged by the governors of the provinces, and the other officers of Nebuchadnezzar; and, at the end of three months, this king himself, having settled the affairs of Asia Minor, advanced with the royal army, and laid siege in person to that city. Jehoiachin, finding it was not possible to defend Jerusalem, surrendered it, with himself, his mother, his princes, and his servants, to Nebuchadnezzar. He was immediately put into chains, and carried prisoner to Babylon, where he continued till Nebuchadnezzar's death, shut up in prison, for at least thirty-seven years. The latter part of this prophecy (Jer. xxii. 29.), is thus translated by Dr. Hales: Oh earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord, Thus saith the Lord, Write this man childless A man who shall not prosper in his days: Sitting upon the throne of David, And reigning any more over Judah. When Jehoiachin was deposed by Nebuchadnezzar, Zedekiah was made king; and none of Jehoiachin's family ever came to the throne. For allowing that Sheshbazzar (who was appointed governor of Judea under the title of Zerubbabel, at the return from the captivity in the first year of Cyrus, Ezra i. 8.), was the lineal descendant of Jeconiah, 1 Chron. iii. 17, 18, 19. Matt. i. 12.; yet he was merely a provincial governor, Haggai i. 1.; a mere vassal of the king of Persia, in whom the sovereignty rested, and therefore he could not be considered as sitting on the throne of David, and ruling in Judah. Not any of the kings that reigned afterwards in Judah were even of the family of David, till Christ himself came; not of the seed of Jehoiachin, but descended from the same ancestor by a collateral line. The prophet emphatically and solemnly calls upon the earth, to witness the dissolution of the temporal kingdom of the house of David, and predicts, in a beautiful metaphor before used by Isaiah, the spiritual kingdom that should succeed it (compare Jer. xxiii. 5. with Isaiah xi. 1.); and thus, at the very moment when the failure of Solomon's house is denounced, God in his mercy declares he will raise from the root of Jesse an everlasting kingdom, a righteous branch, to live and to flourish for ever. The twenty-third |