FROM WORLD-DOMINION TO SUBJECTION. 



115 



Egypt, Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, in his turn incurred the 

 hostihty of the King of Babylon, who sent an army to besiege 

 Jerusalem, and afterwards journeyed thither himself. The 

 capture of the city followed, and the Jewish king, with his 

 Court, were carried away to Babylon (598 B.C.) The number of 

 captives on this occasion exceeded 10,000, and the treasures of 

 the palace and the Temple formed part of the spoil. The 

 country was not annexed, however, for Nebuchadrezzar made 

 Mattaniah King of Judah instead of Jehoiachin, changing his 

 name to Zedekiah (Bab. form Siclqd, Sidqaa, or Siclqaya). 



Passing years seemingly weakened any gratitude Zedekiah 

 may have felt to the power which had raised him, and, 

 encouraged by Pharaoh Hophra, he rebelled in the ninth year 

 of his reign, the result being that Jerusalem was once more 

 besieged. Pharaoh Hophra thereupon marched with an army 

 to the help of his ally ; but this move gave the Jewish capital 

 but little relief, for Nebuchadrezzar's army merely raised the 

 siege of Jerusalem long enough to defeat the Egyptians 

 (Jer. xxxvii, 5-7). The city was taken at the end of a year-and- 

 a-half, notwithstanding a very courageous resistance (July, 

 586 B.C.). 



Zedekiah, with his army, fled, but was pursued by the Chal- 

 deans and captured near Jericho. Nebuchadrezzar was then at 

 Kiblah with his officers (2 Kings xxv, 6), and there judgment 

 was at once pronounced against the faithless vassal, whose sons 

 were slain before his eyes, his own sight destroyed, and he him- 

 self carried captive to Babylon. It was a barbarous sentence, 

 but quite in accordance with the customs of the age, just as the 

 legal formalities apparently conformed to Babylonian usage. 

 The destruction of the Temple and all the principal houses in 

 the city, by Nebuzaradan (Nabu-zer-iddina), the captain of 

 Nebuchadrezzar's guard, followed, and those remaining in the 

 city were carried captive. The lowest class of the people only 

 remained, in order to carry on the cultivation of the land. 

 Naturally a new governor was appointed — not, as might reason- 

 ably have been expected, a Babylonian, but a Jew — Gedaliah, 

 son of Ahikani. His death at the hands of his own country- 

 men took place shortly afterwards, and with him disappeared 

 the last vestige of Jewish rule in Palestine. 



The turn of Tyre came next, and it is said that Nebuchad- 

 rezzar blockaded this maritime port no less than thirteen years 

 (585-573 B.C.). 



Erom a fragment of a tablet in the British Museum, referring 

 to Nebuchadrezzar's thirty-seventh year (567 B.C.), we learn that 



I 2 



