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they "slew their young men with the sword in { the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age," 2 Kings xxv. ; 2 Chron. xxxvi. ; Jer. xxxix. ;

Thus, on the 9th day of the fifth month, Ab, in the year 588 B.C., 803 years from the departure out of Egypt, and 416 years from the completion of the temple, was fully accomplished the terrible but righteous doom which Moses had foretold should come to pass if the chosen people went astray from the Lord, and refused to observe his covenant. Lev. xxvi. 14—41; Deut. xxviii.

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CHAPTER VI.

JERUSALEM FROM THE CAPTIVITY TO THE TIME OF

CHRIST.

THE ten tribes composing the kingdom of Israel had already been upwards of 130 years transported to Assyria, when now the men of Judah sustained a second and more extensive deportation to Babylon. The castle of David, the holy and beautiful house in which so many kings and prophets had worshipped God, the city itself, were all in ruins, and to all appearance there seemed an end of the chosen people as a nation, and of the city which the Most High had appointed to be the place of his sanctuary. But it was not intended that the people should in this view regard the dispensation to which they were subjected. He who knoweth the end from the beginning, to whom a thousand years are as one day, and "who doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of

men," was careful that they should be taught to look upon it as a chastening, not as a destruction, and their attention was directed forward to a day, not very remote, of restoration and gladness, which the nation might yet realize, when, like the repenting prodigal, it should แ come to itself," and say, "I will arise, and go to my father." Moses himself had long ago predicted that, if in the land of their captivity they repented of their evil doings, they should again be restored to the land out of which they had been cast. Deut. xxx. 1—5; compare 1 Kings viii. 46-53; 1 Neh. i. 8, 9. The Lord had also condescended even to point out the agency through which the restoration of the holy city was to be accomplished, and mentioned by his very name, at least 125 years before he came into existence, the monarch, Cyrus, under whose orders this was to be effected. "Thus saith the Lord of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid," Isa. xliv. 28; see also Jer. iii. 2, 7, 8; xxiii. 3; xxxi. 10; xxxii. 36, 37. Another prophetic indication, almost as remarkable as this for its precision, distinctly limits the

duration of the captivity to seventy years. Jer.

xxix. 10.

These encouragements were continued through the prophets who themselves shared the captivity. Of this number was Daniel, who thus prayed: "O Lord, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquity of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.-O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive;-defer not for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name." While the prophet was still urging this supplication in behalf of Jerusalem, it was revealed to him that its streets and its walls should again be built, even in troublous times, Dan. ix. 16, 19, 25. Daniel lived to see the reign of Cyrus king of Persia, and to realize the accomplishment of his prayer, Dan. x. 1. It was in the year 536 B.C., “in the first year of Cyrus," that, in fulfilment of Jeremiah's prophecy, the Lord stirred up the spirit of this prince, who made a proclamation throughout all his realm expressed in these remarkable words :- "The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him a house

in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel," Ezra i. 2, 3. It is clear, from the terms of this proclamation, that Cyrus had been made acquainted, probably by Daniel, with the remarkable prophecies to which we have referred-those which point him out as the restorer of Jerusalem, and which fix the time of that event. This, it is now generally understood, counts the seventy years, not from the final destruction of Jerusalem under Zedekiah, but from the first captivity under Jehoiachin.

A very considerable number of persons, particularly of priests and Levites, came forward gladly when the proclamation was put forth, and prepared themselves for the journey to their long lost home; and although a far greater number declined to quit the houses and possessions they had acquired in the land of their exile, they failed not to commit valuable gifts to the hands of their more zealous brethren, to assist them in the great work they had undertaken. Cyrus did not suffer them to depart empty handed; for he caused the sacred vessels of gold and silver which Nebuchadnezzar

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