The Egyptian army having retired before Nebuchadnezzar,† that monarch soon returned, and resumed the + Jer. xxxvii. 7. Prid. i. 110. It would seem that the dealings of God with the nation of the Jews, were by no means intended for their own benefit alone, but in order to exhibit, as it were, a grand epitome of his providence and government towards the vast family of man. And the more closely his proceedings are examined and scrutinized, the more equitable his government will appear, although not unfrequently those proceedings are veiled in mysteries, which the feeble comprehension of finite beings cannot fully penetrate. Thus when Zedekiah sent some of the priests to enquire of Jeremiah, and pray unto Jehovah, his God, for them; in this trying crisis, when the Chaldeans, who were besieging the city, had set out to intercept the Egyptian forces, who were coming to his relief; Jehovah directed the prophet to declare, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to enquire of me; Behold! Pharaoh's army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land. And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire. Jer. xxxvii. 7,8. Nothing can appear more distinctly a preordained purpose of God, than this transaction; and accordingly Pharaoh and his army retired before the Chaldeans, and left them at liberty to resume the siege of Jerusalem, which they destroyed. Still, for this very desertion of his ancient people, in the time of their greatest need, was the prophet Ezekiel commissioned to pronounce a prophetical judgment upon the whole Egyptian nation, which has been fulfilling almost from that day to this, and under the pressure of which all Mizraim still groans. Ezek. xxix. 2. 7. xxx. xxxi. xxxii. These judgments were executed both upon king and people, during forty years of war, confusion, and desolation; and not long after the expiration of that period, they were made a province of the Persian empire, and have been governed by strangers ever since; for on the failure of the Persian empire, they became subject to the Macedonians, and after them to the Romans; subsequently to the Saracens, then to the Mamalukes, and are at present a province of the Turkish empire, and probably very soon are likely to fall under the dominion of Mehemed Ali, who seems to be only waiting for a convenient opportunity to declare himself independent. Prid. i. 111. "The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations siege; when Zedekiah, whose mind seems all along to have misgiven him, sent for Jeremiah to his palace secretly, and asked him, Is there any word from Jehovah? To which the prophet replied, There is: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon. Moreover, Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, what have I offended against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison? Where are now your prophets, which prophesied unto you, saying, the king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land? Therefore, hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan, the scribe, lest I die there.† Moved by this earnest supplication, Zedekiah commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread, out of the baker's street, until all the bread of the city was spent.+ The siege proceeding, and finding his resources gradually cut off, the disquieted monarch sent Pashur and Zephaniah, and Maaseiah, the priest, unto Jeremiah, to enquire of Jehovah, whether he would deal with his people according to all his wonderous works, that Nebuchadnezzar might go up from them. To which Jeremiah, by command of Jehovah, replied, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel; behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city. And I myself will fight against you with an out-stretched hand, and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence. And afterwards, Jer. xxxvii. 17-20. § Jer. xxi. 1, 2. Jer. xxxvii. 8. Prid. i. 111. saith Jehovah, I will deliver Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy. And unto this people thou shall say, Thus saith Jehovah; behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey. For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith Jehovah it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, hear ye the word of Jehovah; O house of David, Thus saith Jehovah, execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. Behold, I am against thee,* O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith Jehovah; which say, who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitation? But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith Jehovah, and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.† Some of the princes and commanders having heard this fearful denunciation, besought Zedekiah to put the prophet "Meaning Jerusalem, which was built partly on the hill, and partly in the valley; and was compassed about with mountains."BARKER. to death, alleging that he weakened the hands of the soldiers, and destroyed their confidence. The unbelieving monarch weakly replied, behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you. Then took they Jeremiah and cast him into a dungeon of Malchiab, the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk into the mire.* And here this holy man of God would most likely have ended his mission, had not his promise-keeping master put it into the heart of Ebedmelech, an Ethiopian eunuch, to petition for his deliverance in bold and animated language; My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah, the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city.‡ Nor was this act of benevolence to his faithful servant unseen or unnoticed by the eye of omniscience; for Jeremiah was ordered to declare to this humane gentile, Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee. But I * Jer. xxxviii. 4-6. The deep and universal depravity of the whole nation may well be imagined, when not a single priest or Levite was to be found to entreat for this persecuted prophet, save an Ethiopian stranger. Nor do we know which most to admire, the courage of this illustrious foreigner, in complaining, in open court, to the king, sitting on his throne, in the midst of the princes who had condemned him, of their barbarous usage of the prophet; or the superintending providence of God, in thus animating the eunuch to make so forcible a remonstrance. Jer. xxxviii. 9. will deliver thee in that day, saith Jehovah: and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid. For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith Jehovah.* So powerful was this application, or so versatile was the monarch, that he immediately ordered Ebedmelech to take with him thirty men, and deliver the prophet; and the extreme misery and wretchedness of his situation may be imagined, by the description of the means to which Ebedmelech was obliged to have recourse, in order to extricate him.t How powerful and irresistible is the influence which a true believer possesses over even the profligate and abandoned. Thus Zedekiah, who probably hated Jeremiah at heart as much as any of his officers, still could not rest satisfied without frequent communication with him. Seeing no prospect of relief from human exertions, he sent for him again to meet him privately in the temple; and then adjured the prophet to tell him the truth. Jeremiah having first exacted from the monarch a solemn oath, that he would neither put him to death himself, nor deliver him into the hands of his persecutors, said to him, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel; if thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live and thine house but if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire; and thou shalt not escape out of their hand. And Zedekiah, the king, said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and |