The History of Antiquity Volume Iii Part 22

[593] Jerem. x.x.xi. 31-35.

[594] Jerem. xxvi. 1-5, 13.

[595] Jerem. vii. 18.

[596] Jerem. vii. 1-15; viii. 8; xxvi. 6.

[597] Micah iii. 12.

[598] Jerem. xxv. 1-3. By this date the ident.i.ty of these warnings with the writing which, according to x.x.xvi. 1, 2, was read on the fast day, is established, an ident.i.ty which is also proved by internal reasons.

[599] Jerem. ch. xxv.

[600] Jerem. x.x.xvi. 1, 22.

[601] Jerem. x.x.xvi. 9-26.

[602] Beros. ap. Joseph. "Antiq." 10, 11, 2. "c. Apion," 1, 19. In these pa.s.sages the acts of Nebuchadnezzar in Syria are put together in such a general way, that from them we cannot draw the conclusion that Nebuchadnezzar in his first campaign into Syria pa.s.sed the borders of Judah, and that even then he had not only set foot in Syria but had incorporated it. The uncertainty of the succession in the new kingdom must have called him back as quickly as possible to his home, and the retirement of the whole army is expressly mentioned. Besides, from Jeremiah x.x.xvi. 1, 9, 22, and xxv. 1, 3, it follows that Nebuchadnezzar, in the years 605-604 B.C., and 604-603 B.C., _i.e._ in the fourth and fifth of the reign of Jehoiakim, had not yet marched with his army through Judah. Joseph., "Antiq." 10, 6, 1, represents Nebuchadnezzar as conquering Syria, except Judah, after the victory of Karchemish. The statement in the Book of Daniel (i. 1 ff) that Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem in the third year of Jehoiakim, _i.e._ in the year 606-605 B.C., is not a cogent proof.

[603] Jerem. xxv. 20-23; xlix. 28-33.

[604] Habakkuk i. 6-11.

[605] Habakkuk iii. 16.

[606] Habakkuk i. 17; ii. 5-8.

[607] Jerem. xlix. 19.

[608] Jerem. xlix. 28-33.

[609] Jerem. xlix. 3.

[610] Jerem. xlviii. 40, 46.

[611] Jerem. xlix. 23, 24.

[612] Jerem. xlix. 16.

[613] 2 Kings xxiv. If it is stated here that Jehoiakim served Nebuchadnezzar for three years, and then revolted from him; if the punishment for this revolt falls not on him but on his successor Jechoniah, it is clear that these three years must be reckoned from the end of the reign of Jehoiakim, so that in this way the first subjugation falls in the year 600 B.C. So Josephus ("Antiq." 10, 6, 1,) states that the subjugation of Jehoiakim took place in the eighth year of his reign, _i.e._ in 601-600 B.C.

[614] 2 Kings xxiv. 1-10. That Jehoiakim could not have attempted a rebellion without reliance on the help of Egypt, is clear without further proof. Josephus ("Antiq." 10, 6, 2) says: Jehoiakim had revolted because he heard that the Egyptians were taking the field against Nebuchadnezzar; but the Egyptians had not had the courage really to take the field. An attack of Nebuchadnezzar on Egypt, as well as Egyptian prisoners who are led from Syria to Babylonia, are mentioned in the statements of Berosus, quoted by Josephus above, p. 328, _n._ But these statements are so general that they may also be referred to the war which Nebuchadnezzar carried on with the Egyptians in 587 B.C., p. 341.

Nevertheless, the observation in the Second Book of Kings, which follows after Jehoiakim's death, "that Nebuchadnezzar had taken all the land, as far as the brook of Egypt (2 xxiv. 7), which belonged to the king of Egypt," may have reference to a struggle then going on with Egypt.

Beyond their own borders the Egyptians could only have maintained Gaza, and a few other cities of the Phenicians. The statement of the Chronicles that Jehoiakim was carried to Babylon in chains cannot be maintained against the accounts of the Books of Kings.

[615] 2 Kings xxiv. 10, 11.

[616] Jerem. xxii. 24-27.

[617] This date is fixed by the remark that it occurred in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings xxiv. 12).

[618] Ezekiel xvii. 13. 2 Kings xxiv. 13-17. 2 Chron. x.x.xvi. 13. In Jerem. x.x.xix. 1-3, and lii. 28, the number of the captives is given at 3023; the pa.s.sages quoted from the Books of Kings put the number of the soldiers at 7000, of the captives generally at 10,000.

[619] Jerem. xxviii. 1-4.

[620] Jerem. xxviii. 12-17.

[621] Jerem. xxix.; cf. xxiv. 5 ff.

[622] Jerem. xx. 7, 8.

[623] Jerem. xx. 9.

[624] Jerem. xx. 14-18.

[625] Jerem. xv. 15.

[626] Jerem. xvii. 6.

[627] Jerem. xi. 19.

[628] Jerem. xv. 16-18.

[629] Jerem. xii. 1.

[630] Jerem. xii. 3.

[631] Jerem. xviii. 21-23.

[632] Jerem. i. 17-19; xv. 20, 21.

[633] Jerem. xiv. 11-16.

[634] Jerem. xiv. 20-22; xv. 1.

[635] Jerem. xvii. 1.

[636] Jerem. xxvii. 1-12.

[637] Jerem. li. 59.

[638] This conclusion is rendered certain by the fact that afterwards the island city of Tyre is the only one spoken of as not subjugated. Cf.

p. 352.

[639] Ezek. x.x.xii. 29 mentions Sidon among the nations which had succ.u.mbed to the sword of the king before the twentieth year of Nebuchadnezzar. Cf. xxviii. 21-26. Jerem. xlvii. 4.

[640] Jerem. xlvi. 19, 26. The position of affairs shows that this announcement belongs to this date. According to Ezek. viii. 1, Zedekiah appears to have had dealings with Egypt as early as 591 B.C. Cf. Joseph.

"Antiq." 10, 7, 5.