Half Hours in Bible Lands Part 4

Neither the haughty and cruel monarch, nor the mother, nor the little voyager, thought of Moses as the future deliverer of his countrymen from bondage--the great leader and lawgiver of Israel.

We have already had glimpses of the Hebrews in the wilderness, their progress and rulers in Palestine, after the moving mult.i.tude reached the "promised land."

The ages of changing sovereigns, and fortunes of crimes and discipline brought them at last to another mournful captivity.

About six hundred years before Christ, while that wicked Mana.s.sah was king in Palestine, the monarch of a.s.syria--a grand and powerful empire--invaded it, and took Jerusalem. Mana.s.sah was carried in chains to Babylon, the splendid a.s.syrian capital. His son, Amon, became the sovereign under the a.s.syrian conqueror, but was soon a.s.sa.s.sinated, and Josiah took the throne.

During his reign, the King of Egypt marched into Palestine and conquered it, killing Josiah, the king.

A few years later, Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian monarch, besieged and took Jerusalem, the "City of David."

The ma.s.sive walls of the cities of old was their chief protection. Those of Babylon, according to the old Roman historians, were marvelously great. Think of them rising three hundred and fifty feet, eighty-seven feet in thickness, and extending sixty miles around the city! One writer says, that two four-horse chariots could pa.s.s each other on the top.

They were built of brick, cemented together with bitumen.

They had twenty gates made of solid bra.s.s, and were surmounted with two hundred and fifty towers.

The city had six hundred and seventy-six squares, each over two miles in circ.u.mference. The river Euphrates flowed through the entire extent, from north to south.

The hanging gardens, suspended from the walls, were gorgeous, and the public buildings rich and elegant.

Such was the home of the Hebrew exiles for seventy years or more.

Quintus Curtius, a Roman, has described the entrance of the great and victorious Alexander into Babylon, at a later period, who soon after died there of dissipation, while yet a young man. The pleasant sketch gives a vivid impression of the glory and pomp of this ancient capital of Babylon:

[Ill.u.s.tration: Christ Declaring Who is Greatest.]

"A great part of the inhabitants of Babylon stood on the walls, eager to catch a sight of their new monarch; many went forth to meet him. Among these Bagophanes, keeper of the citadel and of the royal treasure, strewed the entire way before the king with flowers and crowns; silver altars were also placed on both sides of the road, which were loaded not merely with frankincense, but all kinds of odoriferous herbs. He brought with him for Alexander gifts of various kinds, flocks of sheep and horses; lions, also, and panthers were carried before him in their dens.

The magi came next, singing in their usual manner their ancient hymns.

After them came the Chaldeans with their musical instruments, who are not only the prophets of the Babylonians, but their artists. The first are wont to sing the praises of the kings; the Chaldeans teach the motion of the stars, and the changes of the seasons. Then followed, last of all, the Babylonian knights, whose equipments, as well as that of their horses, showed the pa.s.sion of the people for luxury. The king, Alexander, attended by armed men, having ordered the crowd of the townspeople to proceed in the rear of his infantry, entered the city in a chariot and repaired to the palace. The next day he carefully surveyed the household treasures of Darius, and all his money. For the rest, the beauty of the city and its age turned the eyes not only of the king, but of everyone in itself, and that with good reason."

The kings and conquerors of old had no ca.n.a.ls for boats, no railways, and not many good roads. Consequently, their invasions and various public enterprises were carried forward in a slow and toilsome manner.

Heavy wagons and chariots, the latter sometimes armed with scythes or long blades for battle, were the best vehicles in use.

There were no monitors, nor fire-arms. Large swords, daggers, slings, the catapulta and battering-ram, were the princ.i.p.al weapons.

The last named instrument was a ma.s.sive machine with a movable beam, crowned with a very hard end, often shaped like a ram's head, which could be thrown against a wall with tremendous force, beating it down.

The catapulta, which was placed upon city walls, was a great cross-bow for hurling arrows upon an enemy. In it was combined the bow and arrow, and the sling. The mammoth arrow was put in the groove, the twisted ropes were connected with levers, and the powerful recoil would send the strong and sharp arrow a great distance.

Some of the machines were large enough to discharge beams loaded with iron; and one kind, called the balista, would send great stones, crus.h.i.+ng through the houses on which they fell.

Among the spoil, taken by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon, were the costly vessels of the temple; and he graced his train with members of the royal family and the princ.i.p.al n.o.bles.

He placed Zedekiah on the throne of his Hebrew province, who soon after rebelled against him.

In consequence of this revolt, the Babylonian king invaded Judea with a great army, and, after taking most of the princ.i.p.al towns, sat down before Jerusalem. Early in the next year the Egyptians marched an army to the relief of their ally, but being intimidated by the alacrity with which the Babylonians raised the siege and advanced to give them battle, they returned home without risking an engagement. The return of the Chaldeans to the siege, destroyed all the hopes which the approach of the Egyptian succors had excited. The siege was now prosecuted with redoubled vigor; and at length Jerusalem was taken by storm at midnight, in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, and in the eighteenth month from the commencement of the siege. Dreadful was the carnage. The people, young and old, were slaughtered wherever they appeared; and even the temple was no refuge for them; the sacred courts streamed with blood. Zedekiah himself, with his family and some friends, contrived to escape from the city; but he was overtaken and captured in the plains of Jericho. He was sent in chains to Nebuchadnezzar, who had left the conclusion of the war to his generals, and was then at Riblah in Syria. After sternly reproving him for his ungrateful conduct, the conqueror ordered all the sons of Zedekiah to be slain before his eyes, and then his own eyes to be put out, thus making the slaughter of his children the last sight on which his tortured memory could dwell. He was afterward sent in fetters of bra.s.s to Babylon, where he remained until his death.

Nebuchadnezzar evidently felt that his purposes had not been fully executed by the army, or else he was urged by the Edomites and others to exceed his first intentions. He therefore sent Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, with a sufficient force to complete the desolation of Judah and Jerusalem. He burned the city and the temple to the ground; he collected and sent to Babylon all the gold and silver which former spoilers had left; and he transported all the people who had been left behind in Jehoiachin's captivity, save only the poor of the land, who were left to be vine-dressers and husbandmen. Four years after, Nebuzaradan again entered Judea, and gleaned a few more of the miserable inhabitants, whom he sent off to Babylon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Handwriting on the Wall.]

Thus was the land left desolate; and thus ended the kingdom of Judah and the reign of David's house, after it had endured four hundred and four years under twenty kings. It is remarkable that the King of Babylon made no attempt to colonize the country he had depopulated, as was done by the a.s.syrians in Israel; and thus, in the providence of G.o.d, the land was left vacant, to be re-occupied by the Jews after seventy years of captivity and punishment.

The grand and melancholy march into captivity is seen in the ill.u.s.tration of the artist.

What a vast and sad procession! The conquerors ride proudly on the high ground with the captive host in full view. The tower of Babel and the walls of their magnificent city are visible in the distance.

The exiles found in Babylon many of their countrymen, who had been carried there in previous conquests, and were useful, respectable citizens. Among these, there was a young man of splendid abilities and n.o.ble heart, named Daniel.

He was one of the youthful sons of high family, who were carried away as hostages for the fidelity of King Jehoiachin. He and some others were put under the chief eunuch, to be properly trained in the language and learning of the Chaldeans, to fit them for employments at the court.

This training lasted three years, when they were examined in the presence of the king; and Daniel and three of his friends were found to have made far greater progress than any of those who had been educated with them. They were therefore enrolled among the magians or learned men.

A few years after, Nebuchadnezzar was greatly troubled with a dream, which made a profound impression upon his mind; but the particulars of which quite pa.s.sed from his memory when he awoke. Great importance was attached to dreams in those days, and men skilled in the sciences were supposed to be able to discover their meaning. Therefore, the king sent for his court magians, and required them not only to interpret the dream, but to discover the dream itself, which he had forgotten. This they declared to be impossible; on which the exasperated tyrant ordered all the magians to be ma.s.sacred. Daniel and his friends, although not present, were included in such a sentence. On learning this, he begged a respite for the whole body, undertaking to find, through his G.o.d, the solution of the difficulty. The respite was granted; and at the earnest prayer of Daniel, G.o.d made the secret known to him. A colossal image which the king saw, with a head of gold, arms and breast of silver, belly and thighs of bra.s.s, legs of iron, and toes partly iron and partly clay, was struck down by a stone, which itself grew and filled the whole earth. This, in the interpretation of Daniel, figured forth "the things to come;" describing by characteristic symbols the succession of empires to the end of time; and it is wonderful to observe how precisely the greater part of what was then future has since been accomplished. The king was not only satisfied but astonished; he was almost ready to pay divine honors to Daniel; and raised him at once to the eminent station of Archimagus, or chief of the magians, and governor of the metropolitan province of Babylon. His three friends, also, were at his request, promoted to places of trust and honor.

Not long after, Nebuchadnezzar set up a colossal image in the plains of Dura, and commanded that, when music sounded, everyone should wors.h.i.+p it, on pain of death. He soon learned that this command was utterly neglected by Daniel's three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; and his rage grew so high, at the example of disobedience given by persons in their high station that he ordered them to be at once cast into "the burning furnace." The heat of the furnace was so great as to destroy the men who cast them in; but they themselves remained unhurt, and not even a hair of their heads was singed. They came forth when the king called them; and he was so much astonished and convinced by this prodigy, that he publicly acknowledged the greatness of the G.o.d whom they served.

There appear to have been good and generous qualities in the character of Nebuchadnezzar; but the pride with which he contemplated the grandeur of his empire, and the magnificence of his undertakings, was most inordinate, and he required to be taught that "the Most High ruleth over all the kingdoms of the earth, and giveth them to whomsoever he will."

He was warned of this in a dream, which was interpreted to him by Daniel; but, neglecting the warning, "his heart was changed from man's, and a beast's heart was given to him." He was afflicted with a madness which made him think himself a beast, and, acting as such, he remained constantly abroad in the fields, living upon wild herbs. In this debased and forlorn condition the mighty conqueror remained seven years, when he was restored to his reason and his throne, and one of his first acts was to issue a proclamation, humbly acknowledging the signs and wonders which the Most High G.o.d had wrought toward him, and declaring his conviction, that "those who walk in pride he is able to abase." He died soon after.

The next ill.u.s.tration is drawn from the interpretation of the dream in the royal palace. Conscious of Jehovah's favor and guidance, how courageously and grandly he stands before the monarch, and declares the whole counsel of G.o.d!

He thus became a prophet of the Most High, whose wonderful career afterwards, we shall again follow, when we come to the narratives of the seers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The vision of the Dragon Chained.]

The spirit alienation from G.o.d, and of depraved desires, which ruled the ancient pagan realms is set before us under various t.i.tles. Among them is that of the dragon, in the engraving; which the "king of kings" shall yet bind forever and imprison.

The fate of the proud kingdoms which ruled Palestine, teaches the world how little importance G.o.d attaches to human glory in his punishment of the wicked.

Egypt has scarcely more than its location and name left. Its pyramids, one of which it is estimated employed three hundred thousand men twenty years in building, stand in the desert places, solitary and pillaged sepulchres.

The temple of Karnak, on the east bank of the Nile, whose ma.s.sive stone roof was supported by one hundred and thirty-four majestic columns, forty-three feet high, and ranged in sixteen rows; the whole structure twelve hundred feet in length, and covered with figures of G.o.ds and heroes; is one of the grandest works of time.

Should you visit the gorges of the Theban Mountains, your feet would stumble over the bones of departed generations. Princes, priests, and warriors, after reposing thousands of years in their deep seclusion, are dragged forth by poor peasants, and scattered around the doors of those cavern-like excavations in the everlasting hills.

Lighting a torch or candle, you may wander along the rock-walled galleries several hundred feet into the heart of the summits, on each side of which are the apartments of death.

Inscriptions, three thousand years old, can be distinctly traced.

How little thought the Hebrews, while toiling under the shadow of palaces, or flying at night from the mighty realm of Egypt, of what we find to-day along the banks of the Nile!

The doom of Babylon, with that of the great invaders and conquerors of Palestine, is equally wonderful and instructive.