A. M. 3216. A. C. 758; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4772. A. C. 639. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. Other historians have observed that some of the Americans have a notion of the deluge, though they relate it in a different manner; that they celebrate a jubilee every fifth year, and a sabbath every seventh day; that others observe circumcision, abstain from swine's flesh, and purify themselves by bathing, whenever they have touched a dead carcase; that marriages, among others, are performed in a manner not unlike what Moses prescribes; and that they generally believe a resurrection; for which reason they cause their wives and slaves to be buried with them, that, when they arise from their graves, they may appear with an attendance suitable to their quality. their penetrating Scythia, and thence dispersing them- | concise, and full of energy, in which it much resembles selves in the kingdoms of Poland and Muscovy; because the Hebrew." the tranquillity and privileges which the princes of these countries have granted the Jews, are the true cause and motive of their resorting thither in such numbers. In confutation therefore of what has been said above,1 the Jewish historian has well observed, that the ancient Scythians were a people too fierce by nature, and too expert in war, for a handful of fugitives, such as the Israelites were, ever to conquer or expel; that the people of this country were all along idolaters, until they were converted to the religion of Mahomet, from whence they received the rite of circumcision, and some other ceremonies conformable to the law of Moses; that the etymology of names is, of all others, the weakest and most precarious argument; and that it is ridiculous to seek for the glory of God among the Tartars before the introduction of Mahometanism, since, according to the account of their historian, 2 some of them lived like beasts, without any sense of God; others worshipped the sun, moon, and stars; and others again made gods of the oxen that ploughed their land, or prostrated themselves before every great tree." 'This conformity of customs, and looks, and sentiments, have induced several to think, that the captive Israelites we are here in quest of, went into America, either by way of China or Tartary, and there settled themselves. But, how specious soever these arguments may appear, there is no manner of solidity in them. To prove a point of this kind, we should produce a whole nation or province in America, distinct from all others Manasseh, the famous Rabbin we lately mentioned, in their ceremonies and way of worshipping God, in a published a book, entitled, 'The Hopes of Israel,' found- manner exactly agreeing with the Hebrews: but to say, ed upon the number and power of the Jews in America; that because in one place the people abstain from but in this he was imposed upon by the fabulous relation swine's flesh, and in another they observe the seventh of Montesini, who reported, "that he found a great day; in one, they offer sacrifices, and in another use number of Jews concealed behind the mountains of Cor-baths, when they think themselves polluted, the Americans dilleras, which run along Chili in America; that continuing his journey in that country, he came at length to the banks of a river, where, upon his giving a signal, there appeared a people, who pronounced in Hebrew these words out of Deuteronomy, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord,' that they looked upon Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as their great progenitors, and had been conducted into that country by incredible miracles; that the Indians had treated them with great cruelty, and thrice declared war against them; but that, by God's protecting his people against idolaters, they had been as often defeated, and were now totally destroyed; and that some of their Magi, who made use of enchantments, had openly declared that the God of Israel was the only true God, and that, at the consummation of ages, their nation should become the mistress of the whole universe." were originally Israelites, is carrying the consequence a great deal too far, and what indeed we may prove in any other nation under heaven, if we may be allowed to argue in this manner from particulars to generals. The truth is, the devil, in all his idolatrous countries, has made it his business to mimic God in the rites of his religious worship; or, if this were not, there is naturally so great a conformity in men's sentiments concerning these matters, that the Americans might agree with the Jews in the oblation of their first-fruits, their computations by moons, &c., without having any commerce or affinity with them; and though there be something more characteristic in circumcision, yet as several other nations used it, the Americans, upon this account, cannot be Jews, a because, if we may believe Acosta, who had See Acostan, and other Writers on American Affairs. Zaaret's History of the Discovery of Peru, b. 1. c. 12. a We are not to believe that these savages are Jews, merely because their religious rites resemble in some respects those of Judaism. The religious worship of other idolaters has much in common with Judaism; and can we infer that they too are the posterity of Jews? There are those who attribute this similarity in forms of worship to the machinations of the devi, who seeks to rival the glory of God by receiving the same kind of adoration. But without allowing to the arch fiend more power than he really possesses, this resemblance may be explained from the similar dispositions of men. Idolatry does not necessarily derive its ceremonies from the true church. Nations which have never had any intercourse with each other, have the same ideas of a God, and frequently worship him in the same manner. The aborigines of America have been taught neither by the Manicheans nor Egyptians, the belief in two first principles. Yet the inhabitants of Peru relate that man was created by a powerful being named Con; but the sun and moon begat an evil being called Pachachauna, who was more powerful than Con. He transformed men into apes, parrots, and bears, and was the A. M. 3246. A. C. 758; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4772. A. C. 639. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. made their customs a good part of his study, they never did circumcise their children, and therefore are thus far excluded from being descendants of that race. Thus we have endeavoured to find out the situation of the ten tribes of Israel, and yet can meet with nothing, but either the fabulous accounts of the Talmudists, or the uncertain conjectures of modern critics; let us now have recourse to the Scriptures, and know what the information is that they can supply us with, in this our inquiry. The sacred history thus expresses it-the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor, by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes;' only we must note, that there is some ambiguity in the translation: for, whereas it looks as if Gozan were the river and not Habor, there is plainly no river to be found of the name of Gozan, and therefore the emendation should be—he placed them in Halah, and by the river Habor in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.' The holy penman, we may observe, distinguishes two places into which the Israelites were carried, as indeed they were numerous enough to make two different colo- | nies, Assyria and Media. In Assyria we see the river Habor, or Chaboras, a which rises from mount Masius, and, running through Mesopotamia, falls into the Euphrates. Halah, which in Ptolemy is called Chalcitis, is a city and province situate on one side of its banks, and Gozan, which is likewise a city and province, is found on the other; so that the ten tribes were seated in two provinces, which stretched along both sides of this river. A happy situation for them, since they were only separated by a river which watered all the cities that were assigned for their habitation! As to the cities of the Medes we are more in the dark, because the Scripture does not specify any; but we may presume that this colony was placed in the mountainous part of Media, because it was less peopled than the lower country. It wanted indeed inhabitants, and if we 12 Kings xvii. 6. 2 Basnage's History of the Jews, b. iv. c. 4. creator of the Indians. They worship both these beings but especially the evil being, because they fear that he may again change men into brutes. They may, in the same manner, have instituted rites resembling those of Judaism, without borrowing them from the Jews. They form their altars of twelve stones, they offer to God the first-fruits, and divide the year by moons; but these are customs which might have arisen from peculiar circumstances in any country. It is by no means certain that the Indians practised circumcision. Peter Martyr asserts that they "sacrificed their infants to idols, and circumcised themselves;" but Gomara says that the rite was not universal among them. Acosta, who was well acquainted with the customs of the Americans, observes, "that they never circumcised their children, and therefore could not be the posterity of the ten tribes." If they were uniformly circumcised, it would not prove their descent from the Jews, because there are other nations besides the Jews who practise this rite. We cannot then infer the origin of the Indians from an apparent resemblance in their forms of worship to those of Judaism.-Jahn's Heb. Com. pp. 316, 317. a Ezekiel addresses his prophecies from the river Chebar, or Habor. Our translation takes Habor for a city situated by the river of Gozan,' and major Rennell says there is found in the country anciently named Media, in the remote northern quarter towards the Caspian sea, and Ghilan, a considerable river named Ozan, or Hozal-Ozan. There is also fonnd a city named Abhar or Habor, situated on a branch of the Ozan; and it has the reputation of being exceedingly ancient. Here Mr Morner found ruins composed of large mud bricks, made with straw, and baked in the sun, like some of those found at Babylon. This is probably the place mentioned in Scripture.-ED. will believe 'Strabo, was supplied by strangers and colonies from abroad. The truth is, the ancients have extolled Media as a very happy country. Ecbatana, where the king kept his residence in summer, was one of the finest and largest cities in the world. Susa, where he spent the winter, was a very considerable place likewise : but, on the north side, there were high mountains, where nevertheless there was good pasturage, so that what the country wanted was good husbandmen, and such as were used to tillage; for which purpose the Israelites, who had made that their principal business in the Holy Land, were, of all other people, the fittest inhabitants. 4 In these two provinces were the ten tribes seated at first; and it is not improbable that, in a short time, those of Assyria might extend themselves into several other parts of the empire; for, in Alexander's time, we meet with a great body of them in Babylon; and that those of Media might stretch upon the right, into the provinces bordering upon the Caspian sea, or, as some imagine, even beyond that sea, as far as the river Araxes; but that they ever became so powerful as to change the ancient names of places into those of their own language, we can hardly believe; because they fell under so many bitter persecutions, were subject to so many revolutions of the kingdoms where they lived, and, from different princes, underwent such a variety of transmigrations, that, before they could gain any such weight and authority in the world, we find them here and there scattered, in lesser bodies, as it were, over the whole face of it. Not only some of the Greek fathers, but some of our modern critics likewise, have maintained, that the ten tribes were restored, with those of Judah and Benjamin, under the conduct of Zorobabel and Nehemiah, when Cyrus and his successors were so kind as to give the Jews in general a full permission to return into their native land.” To this purpose they have observed, that several of the prophets who foretold their captivity, with the same breath, as it were, have predicted their return; that, in token of such their return, twelve goats,' for every tribe one, were offered at the dedication of the new temple,' which would scarce have been done, had 3 66 Basnage's History of the Jews, b. vi. c. 4. 1 Esdras vii. 8. b Besides those that were carried thither at the captivity, Artaxerxes sent a new colony of that nation thither, who, when Alexander the Great was for rebuilding the temple of Belus, had the courage to resist him. For, whereas other people were eager to furnish materials for the building, they refused to do it, as thinking it had some stain of idolatry.-Basnage's Hist. of the Jews. c We read of the Cadusians, the Geles, and of Arsareth beyond the Caspian sea; for which reason the learned Fuller supposes, that the Jews spread themselves thus: "For the name of Geles,' says he, "is Chaldaic, and signifies strangers or fugitives, which title suited with the Jews, whom God had expelled from their country for their sins. The Cadusians have a little altered the word Chadoschim, which signifies saints, which was a title the Jews, who called themselves a holy nation, much affected; and, lastly, Arsareth, the most famous of all the cities built upon the Araxes, had a Hebrew name, signifying the city of relics, or the remains of Israel." But the author of the History of the Jews, so often cited upon this subject, has confuted the argument drawn from the etymology of the words; and, in particular, shown that the Cadusians were a people much ancienter in the country than the Israelites, since Ninus reckoned them among his subjects.--B. vi, c. 4. 8 A. M. 3246. A. C. 758; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4772. A. C. 639. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. ten of these tribes been left behind beyond the Euphrates; the Jews of the dispersion had converted; they must have that under Nehemiah the Levites confessed the sins of been Jews who came to sacrifice at Jerusalem, according the ten tribes; that in the time of the Maccabees all to the law; for by St Luke's enumeration of them, it Palestine was full of Israelites as well as Jews; that appears that they were the descendants of the tribes 2 St Matthew makes mention of the land of Naphtali ; that had been long before settled among the Medes, and that St Paul, in his defence before Agrippa, de- among the Parthians, in Mesopotamia, in Cappadocia, clares, that for the promise, to which the twelve tribes in Pontus, and Asia Minor, &c., and therefore we find hope to come, he was called in question.' St Peter, the apostle of the circumcision, directing his epistle 9to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,' 36 It cannot be thought, indeed, but that the love which the Jews, above all other nations, bore to their native country, and the great encouragement which the princes of the east were pleased to grant to forward the reestablishment, might tempt some of each tribe to take this opportunity of returning with the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin; nor can we doubt, but that, upon their return, they would be apt to assume their former names, and, as far as in them lay, to settle themselves in their ancient possessions. So that, what with those that escaped their conqueror's fury, and remained untransported; those who returned with Ezra, pursuant to the commission which Artaxerxes gave him; and those who took the advantage of the revolutions of the empire, and of the frequent journeys they made to Jerusalem,great numbers of the ancient inhabitants might be found in the days of the Maccabees, and some of every tribe in our Saviour's time: but that all these returns did never amount to a full restoration of the people, we have abundant testimony to convince us. Upon the strength of these authorities we may then conclude that, though Artaxerxes, in his commission to Ezra," gave free liberty to all Jews whatever that were under his dominions to return to Jerusalem, if they were so minded, which some, without doubt, most gladly embraced; yet the main bulk of the ten tribes, being loth to remove, continued in the land of their captivity, where they are still to be found in great numbers: and therefore all those glorious prophecies, which some by mistake have applied to their thin returns under the Jewish governors sent from Babylon, do certainly relate to a much greater event, even their conversion and final restoration under the kingdom of the Messias. The prophet Hosea, speaking of the present state of the Jews, gives us this character whereby to distinguish them: "They shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim.' Josephus 4 indeed tells us, that Ezra, upon the receipt In vain do they boast of that power and authority which of his commission from Artaxerxes, communicated the they never had, but in their own country. The kings contents of it to all the Israelites that were in exile, and the princes that they talk so much of, are all fictisome of whom resorted to Babylon in order to return tious and imaginary. From the first time of their with him; "but there were then another sort of Israelites," transmigration to this very day, they have been a people as his words are," who being wonted to the place, and without any governor, or form of government; and if, in settled in their habitations, chose rather to continue the midst of so many different nations, and under so where they were." Upon the whole, he computes, that severe persecutions, they nevertheless have hitherto been few or none, but those of the tribe of Benjamin and Judah, preserved, it must be imputed to the secret and wondercame along with Ezra; and "this is the reason," as he ful providence of God, who hath still designs of pity tells us, “that in his time there were only two tribes to and gracious loving-kindness towards them. To this be found in Asia and Europe under the Roman empire; purpose the same prophet assures us, that the number for, as for the ten tribes, they are all planted beyond the of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, Euphrates,” says he, " and so prodigiously increased in which cannot be measured or numbered; and in the number, that they are hardly to be computed." Nay, place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, even those that followed Ezra, according to the senti-there it shall be said unto them, ye are the sons of the ment of some of the Talmudists, were but the dregs of the people, because the nobility and principal men of the house of David still continued in Chaldea. However this be, it is certain that Philo, in his representation to Caligula, tells him, that Jerusalem ought to be looked upon, not only as the metropolis of Judea, but as the centre of a nation dispersed in infinite places; among which he reckons the isles of Cyprus and Candia, Egypt, Macedonia, and Bithynia; the empire of the Persians, and all the cities of the east, except Babylon, from whence they were then expelled. Nay, prior to this we read, that a great number of these orientals appeared at Jerusalem, at the feast of Pentecost, when, after our Saviour's ascension, his apostles began to preach the gospel during that festival. It cannot be thought that they were only proselytes, whom 1 Mac. v. 9, 15, &c. *Mat. iv. 15. Acts xxvi. 7. Jewish Antiq. b. xi. c. 5. Basnage's Hist, of the Jews, b. vi. c. 2. 6 Philo ad Caium. 7 Basnage's Hist. of the Jews, b. vi. c. 2. 12 4 living God: for he shall recover the remnant of his people,' says another prophet, 13that shall be left:He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth;' for "behold the days come, saith the Lord,' by another of his prophets, that it shall no more be said, the Lord liveth that brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands, whither he hath driven them. And I will bring them again into the land that I gave unto their fathers; and, when this is done, 15 I will no more hide my face from them,' but 16 will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people.' 17 They shall be no more a prey heathen: 18 violence shall be no more heard in their 91 Pet. i. 1. 8 Acts ii. 9. the 10 1 Esdras viii, 10, IL 13 Is. xi. 11, 12. 15 Ezek. xxxix. 29. 16 Is. lxv. 19. 18 Is. ix. 18. SECT. V. CHAP. I.—From the Death of Josiah, to the A. M. 3394. A. C. G10; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 1873. A. C. 608, 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON land, wasting, nor destruction within their borders; but they shall call their walls salvation, and their gates praise.' Their land shall no more be termed desolate,' 2but they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, even they and their children's children for ever; and my servant David,' (not the son of Jesse, who was dead long before Ezekiel prophesied, but the Messiah, who was to be of the lineage of David, as Kimchi explains it,) shall be their prince for ever.' 'Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace, which shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will set my sanctuary among them for evermore. My tabernacle shall be with them; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.' 3 THE HISTORY. AFTER the unhappy death of good Josiah, his son Jehoahaz, who was also called Shallum, was anointed king; but as he was far from following his father's ex and the glory of the God of Israel; 'at eventide it shall be light.' They now begin, centuries of persecution and spoliation having Now, though it cannot be denied that these, and passed away, to participate, in cases too numerous to be specified, several other prophecies to the like purpose, do denote of benefits arising from the altered spirit of the times. And a great and glorious restoration to God's people; yet it possessed, as in an unexampled degree they are, of silver and seems very evident that scarce any of them can be ap-doms, they may be said, even now in some manner, to inherit gold, and of large portions of the public funds of various kingplied to the return of the Jews from their captivity in the riches of the Gentiles.' And commanding, as in a great Babylon. Long since that time, and almost seventeen measure they do, the rate of exchange throughout Europe, they hundred years ago, his covenant of peace has been are entitled from the present influence of money on the security of departed from them; 'violence has been in their land,' governments, and on the art and results of war, to high political consideration; and the time may not thus be remote, when they which has been laid desolate ; their tabernacle and sancshall be raised up as an ensign among the nations.' Not tuary have been consumed; they have been a prey to the naturalized to the isles of the Gentiles, either by law or affection, heathen; and have long ceased to be God's people, or bound to any soil by the possession of fixed property, which and he to be their God: and therefore these prophecies diminished love to the land of their fathers, even after an would be of no easy transference, but ever looking with unmust be understood of some other event, which can only expatriation uninterrupted for nearly eighteen centuries, they be the general conversion of the Jews to Christianity, are ready, whenever the time shall be fulfilled, to fly thither like and their re-establishment in the Holy Land. For this a cloud, and like doves to their windows.' But to what degree, mystery the apostle has revealed, that blindness in and in what manner, the present convulsions of the Turkish empire, combined with the peculiar, and in many instances, novel part hath happened to Israel, until the fulness of the condition of the Jews, throughout Europe and America, shall be Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved, as the means of facilitating their eventual restoration to their own it is written, there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, land, (which is ravaged by Arabs, and yields but a scanty and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. 6 Then revenue to the Turks) no mortal can determine. It is enough for Christians to know, that two thousand of years, through nearly shall the Lord set his hand again, a second time, to rewhich period it has been dormant, can neither render extinct the cover the remnant of his people, and to assemble the title, nor prescribe the heaven-chartered right of the seed of outcasts of Israel, from every kindred, and tongue, and Abraham to the final and everlasting possession of the land of nation, and people, that, at the blowing of the great unto it his ancient people, and that his word concerning Zion, Canaan that God will remember the land, and gather together' trumpet, they may come from the land of Assyria and which he hath neither forgotten nor forsaken, is, 'I have graven Egypt, and may worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.' When this great event shall happen, it is impossible for us to determine; but our business, in the mean time, is to pray, that the salvation of Israel may come out of Zion, that Jacob may rejoice, and Israel may be glad,'a 'Is. lxii. 4. 86 * Ezek. xxxvii. 25, &c. 3 Whitby's Treatise of the true Millennium. Rom. xi. 25, 26. • Is. lix. 20. "Ibid. xi. 11, &c. 7 Ibid. xxvii. 13. "Ps. xiv. 7. : thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before a Numerous prophecies in the Old Testament declare, as clearly as language can, that the Jews shall return to Judea, and be at last permanently re-established in the land of their fathers. The uniform experience of the literal truth of every prediction respecting their past history may suffice to give assurance of the certainty of their predicted restoration. And amidst many signs that the times of the Gentiles' are drawing towards their fulfilment, many concurring circumstances seem also to be preparing the way of the children of Israel. Scattered as they have been for so many ages through the world, and maintaining still their distinctive character, their whole history forbids the thought that they will ever mingle among the nations, or cease to be, what they have ever been, a peculiar people. But while their history, as a nation, gave, for the space of many generations, unequivocal attestations of an overruling providence, sustaining the theocracy of the commonwealth of Israel; and while during a period of still greater duration, they have been ⚫ a people scattered and peeled:' yet after the lapse of so many ages, they are still reserved for illustrating the truth, the mercy, | Calmet's Commentaries. A. M. 3384. A. C. 610; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4803. A. C. 608. I KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. ample, he was soon tumbled down from his throne | discipline which his father had instituted, and the people, into a prison, where he ended his days, with misery and who never heartily came into that good king's reformation, disgrace, in a strange land. For Pharaoh-Necho, upon took this opportunity to follow the bent of their depraved his return from the expedition against the Babylonians, inclinations; whereupon the prophet Jeremiah went first wherein he had great success, hearing that Jehoahaz had to the king's palace, where he denounced God's judg taken upon him the kingdom of Judah without his conments against him and his family, and afterwards into the sent, sent for him to Riblah in Syria, and on his arrival, temple, and there spoke to all the people after the same caused him to be put in chains, and sent prisoner to manner. The priests, offended at this freedom, caused Egypt, where he died. He had an elder brother, whose him to be seized, and brought before the king's council, name was Eliakim; but Necho, when he came to Jerusa- in hopes of having him put to death; but Ahikam, who lem, changed it into Jehoiakim ; c and having constitut- was one of the chief lords thereof, so befriended him, that ed him king, and put the land to an annual tribute of he got him discharged by the general suffrage, not only an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold, he of the princes, but also of all the elders of the people returned with great triumph into his own kingdom. that were then present. d Jehoiakim being thus placed on the throne, went on in his brother's steps to relax all the good order and a The Scripture nowhere tells us, upon what occasion it was that Jehoahaz fell into the king of Egypt's hands, or for what reason it was that he used him so severely; but it is presumable, that to revenge his father's death, he might raise an army, and engage him in a pitched battle, though he failed in the attempt. For why should he put him in bands, if he voluntarily went, and surrendered himself at Riblah? or why be so highly offended at him for accepting of a crown which the people conferred on him? The general opinion therefore is, that he was a man of a bold and daring spirit, and therefore those words in the prophet Ezekiel are applied to him: thy mother is a lioness; she brought up one of her whelps; it became a young lion; but he was taken in the pit, and he was brought with chains unto the land of Egypt;' for which reason Pharaoh-Necho treated him in this manner, that he might put it out of his power to give him any farther disturbance. Patrick's and Calmet's Commentaries. This the prophet Jeremiah foretold, where he bids the king, and the people of Judah, not to weep for the dead,' meaning Josiah, but for him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.' Because, thus saith the Lord concerning Shallum,' which was the original and right name of Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah, his father, and who went forth out of this place, he shall not return hither any more.' (Jer. xxii. 11.) c It was a usual thing for conquerors to change the names of the persons they vanquished in war, in testimony of their absolute power over them. Thus we find the king of Babylon changing the name of Mattaniah into Zedekiah, when he constituted him king of Judah, (2 Kings xxiv. 17.) But our learned Usher has farther remarked, that the king of Egypt gave Eliakim the name of Jehoiakim, thereby to testify that he ascribed his victory over the Babylonians to Jehovah, the God of Israel, by whose excitation, as he pretended, (2 Chron. xxxv. 21, 22), he undertook the expedition.-Patrick's and Calmet's Commentaries. d As to the time when Jehoiakim came to the throne, the difference is very remarkable: for in 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9, it is said, that he was but eight years old,' but in 2 Kings xxiv. 8, that he was eighteen when he began to reign,' and yet, considering how common a thing it was for kings to make their sons their associates in the kingdom, thereby to secure the possession of it in their family, and prevent all contention among the other brothers, the difference is easily reconciled, by supposing, that when his father had reigned one year, he took him to reign in conjunction with him, when he was no more than eight years old. With his father he reigned ten years; so that, when his father died, he was eighteen years old, and then he began to reign alone, which was no more than three months. The author of the book of Kings makes mention therefore only of the years when he began to reign alone; but the author of the Chronicles speaks of all the time that he reigned, both with his father, and alone. This is a fair solution; though I cannot see what injury it can do to the authority of the sacred text, if we should acknowledge, that there is an error in the transcriber of the book of Chronicles; because two of the most ancient and venerable versions, the Syriac and Arabic, have rendered it in that place, not eight but eighteen, which they were doubtless induced to do by those ancient Hebrew copies from whence they formed their translation.-Patrick's Commentary, and Poole's Annotations. But 1Urijah, another prophet of the Lord, who, in like manner, had declared against the iniquity of the prince and people, did not so easily escape: for though he fled into Egypt, when he understood that Jehoiakim had a design against his life; yet this did not hinder the tyrant from pursuing him thither, where having procured him to be seized, he brought him prisoner to Jerusalem, and there had him executed, and his dead body contemptuously used; which was no small aggravation to all his other crimes. He had not been above three years upon the throne, before Nabopollassar, king of Babylon, being now become old and infirm, and perceiving that, upon the late advantage which the king of Egypt had gained against his arms, all Syria and Palestine had revolted from him, took his son Nebuchadnezzar into partnership with him in the empire, and sent him with a strong army into those parts, in order to recover what had been lost. It was in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, when Nebuchadnezzar, having defeated Necho's army on the banks 1 Jer. xxvi. 20, &c. e This Ahikam was the father of Gedaliah, (2 Kings xxv. 22) who was afterwards made governor of the land, under the Chaideans, and the son of Shaphan the scribe, (who was chief minister of state under king Josiah, 2 Kings xxii. 12.) and brother to Gemariah, (Jer. xxxvi. 10, Elasah, xxix. 3, and Jaazaniah, Ezek. viii. 11,) who were great men in those days, and members likewise of the council with him; where, in conjunction with them, he could not fail of having a powerful interest, which he made use of on this occasion, to deliver the prophet from that mischief which was intended against him.-Prideaur's Connec tion, anno 609. f About this time also were living the prophets Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Nahum, who being called to the prophetic office in the reign of Josiah, continued, very likely, to this time, be cause we find them prophesying the same things that Jeremiah did, namely, the destruction and desolation of Judah and Jerusalem, for the many heinous sins that they were guilty of. As to Habakkuk, neither the time in which he lived, nor the parents from whom he was descended, are any where named in Scrip ture; but his prophesying the coming of the Chaldeans, in the same manner that Jeremiah did, gives us reason to believe that he lived in the same time. Of Zephaniah, it is directly said, (chap. i.) that he prophesied in the time of Josiah, and in his pedigree, which is also given us, his father's grandfather is called Hezekiah, whom some take for the king of Judah, and consequently reckon this prophet to have been of royal descent. As to Nahum, lastly, it is certain, that he prophesied after the captivity of the ten tribes, and before that of the other two, which he foretold, (chap. i.) Though therefore the Jews do gene rally place him in Manasseh's reign, yet others choose to refer him to the latter part of Josiah's, as being nearer to the destru tion of Nineveh and of the Assyrian monarchy, to which several prophecies of his do principally relate.-Prideaux's Connection, anno 609; and Howell's History, in the notes. |