TAHPANHES.
8. Tahapenes, also written Tahpanhes, Jer. 43:7, 9, or Tehaph´nehes, Ezek. 30:18, was an Egyptian city on the east of the Delta, seventy-eight miles east-northeast from the present Cairo, and upon the most eastern branch of the Nile. In 1886 Mr. Petrie discovered, at this place, the palace above alluded to, at which the Pharaoh (Hophra) then reigning probably received king Zedekiah’s daughters, to which there seems a reference in the traditional name “Castle of the Jew’s daughter.” The place is now called Tell Defenneh, but there exist only ruins covered by a mound.
DANIEL.
9. Daniel went into captivity six or sevenyears before the captivity of Ezekiel, when Nebuchadnezzar first laid siege to Jerusalem, B. C. 606. At this time the king of Babylon took captive Daniel and his companions, who were young and of noble families, and had them sent to his palace to be educated for the king’s service. The Assyrian records show that it was a custom among the kings to select young men of talent and educate them at royal expense, that they might be special officers at court. Daniel was so chosen, with three others, and they were “taught the learning and the tongue of the Chaldæans,” Dan. 1:4. Their great skill and wisdom roused a jealousy among the princes of the court against the companions of Daniel, and while Daniel was absent on some commission, or other duty, his companions were condemned to be burned alive, but were delivered by divine interference, Dan. 3.
EZEKIEL.
10. The prophet Ezekiel went into captivity with Jehoiachin king of Judah, eleven years before the final captivity, and was placed with a Jewish company at the river Chebar, which may be the same as “The royal Canal,” just north of Babylon, and which was dug by Nebuchadnezzar to unite the waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris. This prophet was skilled in the law and a faithful priest and teacher, and his influence was great among the captives.
OBADIAH.
11. Obadiah was the fourth prophet, whose prophecies seem to have been delivered about B. C. 587, or during the captivity of Judah and soon after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. He appears as specially commissioned to foretell the punishment of the Edomites for their pride and insulting rejoicing at the destruction of Jerusalem and the distress of the Jews. According to Josephus, this warning received its fulfilment about five years after the prophecy.
ASSYRIAN KINGS OF THE CAPTIVITY.
12. Of the kings of Assyria and Babylon during the captivities the first mentioned in Scripture is Tiglath-pileser, of whom and his successors we have already spoken, pages 159, 160. These kings were active only in the captivities of Israel. Nebuchadnezzar was connected with the captivities of Judah.