The First Captivity. In 597 B.C. Jerusalem itself fell before the army of Nebuchadrezzar. The king, his nobles, and between eight and ten thousand of the prominent men and artisans, representing in all between thirty and forty thousand souls, were transported to Babylonia. The object of Nebuchadrezzar was to strip the land of its leaders and all who might assist in carrying through another rebellion. Over the Judeans who were left behind was placed Zedekiah, a son of Josiah. The new king was inclined to listen to the voice of Jeremiah and to rule for the best interests of his subjects, but he was helpless in the hands of his headstrong nobles. For nearly a decade Judah submitted to the strong and, on the whole, benign rule of Nebuchadrezzar; but by 593 B.C. the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon encouraged, as of old, by Egypt were again plotting rebellion. Jeremiah did all in his power to save Judah from these fatal entanglements, but false prophets undermined his influence and encouraged the people to hope that Jehovah would perform a miracle in their behalf.

The Second Captivity. In 588 B.C. Zedekiah rebelled against the Chaldeans. Syria and Palestine proved themselves again, as throughout all their long history, a land incapable of united action. Nebuchadrezzar established his head-quarters at Riblah, on the upper Euphrates, beside the great northern highway. From this strategic point, from which history had already demonstrated that the Hebrew coastlands could best be ruled, he directed the campaign against the rebellious states. Most of them surrendered at once. Tyre and Jerusalem alone held out against a protracted siege. The Egyptian army which came to relieve Jerusalem was defeated on the borders of Palestine. It was only the fear of the judgment that would be visited upon them that inspired the followers of Zedekiah to resist as long as they did. Even at the risk of imprisonment and death at the hands of the unprincipled nobles, Jeremiah asserted that the only hope lay in surrender. At last Zedekiah in desperation, after the northern walls of the city had already been broken down by the besiegers, fled by night through the southeastern gate of the city, down through the gorge of the Kidron to Jericho. Here he was captured by the Chaldeans and carried to Riblah on the Orontes. While his life was spared, the nobles and religious leaders who had been active in the rebellion were put to death. About five thousand of the prominent men of Jerusalem were carried with Zedekiah to Babylon. The city and temple were stripped of their wealth and the walls were thrown down, leaving Judah's capital "a ruin and a heap." Israel's feasts were transformed into fasts and her songs into lamentations.[(110)]

The End of the Southern Kingdom. Not wishing to leave the territory of Judah in utter desolation, Nebuchadrezzar appointed Gedaliah, a grandson of Josiah's counsellor, Shaphan, governor over the Jews remaining in Jerusalem. The new ruler selected as the centre of his government Mizpah,[(20,] [21)] the most commanding point in northern Judah, four and a half miles northwest of Jerusalem. This was one of the two border cities which had been fortified by Asa, in his war against Northern Israel. The northern position of his capital suggests that his authority, like that of Josiah, extended over a part of southern Samaria. This inference is supported by the fact that Israelites from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria came, under the protection of his rule, to present offerings at the ruined temple at Jerusalem. Many Jewish refugees soon returned from Moab, Ammon, and Edom to put themselves under the protection of Gedaliah's just and kindly rule. The bright promise of an early restoration of Judah's fortunes was destroyed by the treachery of a certain Ishmael, of the Judean royal line, who, at the instigation of the king of Ammon, went to Mizpah and treacherously slew Gedaliah. Contrary to Jeremiah's advice, the Judahites who survived fled to Egypt, taking him with them. Thus Judah was overtaken with an even more overwhelming fate than that of the northern kingdom. Yet in the hour of its deepest humiliation two brave souls, Jeremiah in Palestine and Ezekiel in distant Babylon, proclaimed in clearest terms that Judah would again be inhabited and that a noble destiny yet awaited their nation. Above all, Jeremiah declared that inasmuch as the old covenant between Jehovah and the nation had been broken by the crimes of the rulers and people, a new and more spiritual covenant would be established between Jehovah and each individual.

XX

THE BABYLONIAN AND PERSIAN PERIODS

Jewish Refugees in Egypt. After the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. the Jews were to be found in three great centres—Egypt, Babylonia, and Palestine. Egypt, because of its friendly attitude toward the Jews and its nearness to southern Palestine, was the refuge to which most of the Jewish fugitives fled. Inasmuch as the approach of the Chaldean armies was from the north, the main highway running south from Hebron through the solitary desert was the most natural line of escape. The result was that a very large proportion of the Jewish race were to be found from this time on in the land of the Nile. Even before the final destruction of Jerusalem, both Jeremiah and Ezekiel addressed the Jewish refugees in Egypt. They were found in four important towns. The two nearest to Palestine were Migdol and Tahpanhes. Migdol means tower or fortress, and the reference is evidently to one of the frontier towns that guarded the eastern boundary of Egypt. It was probably the Migdolos mentioned in the Itinerarium Antonini, and was situated midway between Pelusium on the Mediterranean coast and Sele, a little west of the Crocodile Lake, the present Lake Timsah. This would identify it with the ruins known as the Tell es-Semut, twelve miles southwest of Pelusium, beside the ancient caravan route that ran from Palestine to Egypt.

BABYLONIAN EMPIRE PERSIAN EMPIRE ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE
THE M.-N. CO.