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Oriental Accounts of the Ancient History of Persia. [July I, 



ediy deposed and butchered ; his son 

 «g,triisted with the sovereignty ; and 

 ci<ptives, or hostages, among whom 

 was Ezekiel, were transportedloBaby- 

 lon. The successor of Jehoiakira was 

 supposed toharbour vindictive feelings, 

 was in his turn deposed, and sup- 

 planted by his kinsman Zedekiah, a 

 son-in-law of Jeremiah. Fipally 

 Zedekiah was accused of revolting to 

 the Egyptians; and a second invest- 

 ment, or siege, of Jerusalem took 

 place, during which the people suf- 

 fered every extremity for eighteen 

 months, and at length surrendered. 

 The assassination of Holofcrnes by 

 Judith seems to have delajed tlie ap- 

 proach, and embittered the vengeance, 

 of this army. The Babylonian mo- 

 narch, adds Josephus, abode at Riblah, 

 while his generals took the town ; the 

 temple was burnt by Nebuzaradan, 

 and the city razed. Zedekiah was cap- 

 tured alive, blinded, and imprisoned 

 until his decease at Babylon ; whither 

 the vessels of the temple, and the 

 saleable inhabitants, were removed. 

 The young kinsmen of Zedekiah were 

 brought up in the schools of the Chal- 

 deans; among whom, Daniel and 

 Ezra acquired great distinction. Arioch 

 of Elara was their protector. The 

 high-priest Josadok was released from 

 his bonds. 



Thus far all is probable, and con- 

 sistent with Scripture; but, we are 

 next told by Josephus, that, after a 

 reign of forty-three years, NebuchHd- 

 nezzar died ; that he was succeeded by 

 Evilmerodach, who reigned eighteen 

 years ; then by Niglissor, who reigned 

 forty years ; then by Labosordacus, 

 who reigned nine months ; and then by 

 Baltasar. A gainst him, says Josephus, 

 (Ant. X. 11,) Cyrus king of Persia, 

 and Darius king of Media, made war; 

 and he had reigned seventeen years 

 when they took Babylon. This 

 Darius, king of Media, is stated to 

 have patronized Daniel, and to have 

 made the bard one of his principal pre- 

 fects. Cyrus is next described as 

 restoring to the Jew s the vessels plun- 

 dered from their temple, and as pub- 

 lishing an edict to favour the recoloni- 

 zation of Jerusalem. This edict 

 Cambyses is made to interrupt (Ant. 

 xi. 2,) during his campaigns against 

 Egypt: at length Darius accedes, and 

 Zorobabel is allowed to carry it into 

 execution. 



This second narrative of Josephus 

 carries contradiction on its face. If 



the Nebuchadnezzar who took Jerusa- 

 lem began to reign in the fourth yeai 

 of Jchoiakim ; captured Ezekiel in the 

 eighth of the same prince; and, in the 

 ninth of Zedekiah, or nineteenth of his 

 own reign, again besieged Jerusalem, 

 and removed Ezra and Daniel to 

 Babylon ; these captives must have 

 been, in his last, or forty-third, year, 

 exactly twenty-four years older than 

 at the time of their captivity; and, 

 conseqnently,betwecn thirty and forty. 

 Now, if the eighteen years of Evilme- 

 rodach, the forty years of Niglissor, 

 and the seventeen years of Baltasar, 

 are to be inserted before the accession 

 of Cyrus, these captives must have 

 been above a hundred years old when 

 Cyrus began to reign. Yet they are 

 stated by Josephus to flourish and 

 govern under his successor Darius, 

 whose accession is placed by Herodo- 

 tus twenty-nine years later than that 

 of Cyrus. This is absolutely impossi- 

 ble. Here are at least seventy-five 

 superfluous years. 



Josephus j)laces the rebuilding of 

 the temple, by Joshua, the son of 

 Josadok, in the ninth year of Darius, 

 (Ant. xi. 4;) although the father was 

 one of the captives, and released, no 

 doubt, at the instigation of Jeremiah, 

 from his bonds. Here again are se- 

 venty-five superfluous years, if any 

 probability of age is to be observed. 



The Egyjitian chronology too is in- 

 consistent with the reckoning of Jose- 

 |)hus. Jeremiah (xliv. 30,) mentions 

 the death of Hophra, or A pries, as 

 subsequent to, but nearly contiguous 

 with, the capture of Zedekiah. To 

 Hophra succeeded Psammcnitus, who 

 reigned a few months by the aid of 

 Hophra's party ; but he also was seized 

 and put to death by the friends of 

 Amasis, whose usurpation was sup- 

 ported by the Persians, and long pre- 

 ceded the death of Hophra. During 

 the siege of Pelusium by Cambyses, 

 Amasis died, having reigned, accord- 

 ing to Herodotus, (iii. 10,) forty-four 

 years, of which the greater half pro- 

 bably was cotemporary with the desti- 

 tution, or nominal sovereignty at Sais, 

 of Hophra. Shortly after the siege of 

 Pelusium, Cambyses, who survived 

 Cyrus, died a violent death, (Thalia 

 Ixiv.) not unlike an assassination. 



It follows, that within forty-four 

 years, if Amasis reigned so long alone, 

 and perhaps within twenty-four years 

 of the captivity of Zedekiah, which 

 was coeval with the death of Hophra, 



tha 



