Chapter XXIX: Manasseh (b.c. 686-641) 351

The name Manasseh--His tender age--Influence of evil
counsellors--Heathenising party--Their dislike of Hezekiah's
reformation and of the exclusive worship of Jehovah--Tendency to
trust in sacrifices and asceticism--Sanctification of
licence--Arguments of the heathenisers--Disparagement of the work
of Isaiah--Doubts and disbelief--Influence of the
_bamoth_-priests--Reliance on Assyria--The immoral and idolatrous
reaction--1. Restoration of the _bamoth_, and arguments in their
favour--2. Adoption of Phœnician nature-worship--3. Assyrian
Sabaism and star-worship--Connivance of the priests--4. Canaanite
Moloch-worship--5. Mesopotamian Shamanism--6. The
_Asherah_--Denunciation of the prophets--Persecution and the
shedding of innocent blood--Asserted captivity, repentance, and
reforming energy of Manasseh--Difficulties of the story--Reign of
Amon (B.C. 641-639)--Wretchedness of his reign--Zephaniah and
Jeremiah--Murder of Amon.

CHAPTER XXX

JOSIAH (B.C. 639-608) 374

Three vast movements--Jeremiah's earlier prophecies--The state of
society--The Scythians--Prophecies of Ezekiel--Herodotus--The fate
of Nineveh--Rise of the Chaldæans--Habakkuk.

CHAPTER XXXI

JOSIAH'S REFORMATION 385

Growth of Josiah's character--Repairs of the Temple--Hilkiah finds
the Book of the Law--Intense effect produced on mind of the
king--His message to the prophetess Huldah--Great
assembly--Renewal of a solemn league and covenant with
Jehovah--The _bamoth_-priests degraded--Defiling of Tophet--He
carries the reformation into Samaria--Its stringency and
severity--The Passover--Suppression of heathen
corruptions--Jeremiah's share in the reformation--Its dangers and
disappointing results--Jeremiah's warnings against all trust in
externals--The prophecy of a new covenant--NOTE TO CHAPTER XXXI.:
The Book found in the Temple.

CHAPTER XXXII

THE DEATH OF JOSIAH (B.C. 608) 402

Prosperity and happiness of Josiah--Accession of the great Pharaoh
Necho II.--His excursion against Carchemish--Josiah determines to
bar his path--Warnings of Pharaoh Necho--Disaster at Megiddo and
death of Josiah--Mistaken hopes--God's dealings with men and
nations--Distress among Josiah's subjects--The king's
burial--Misgivings respecting the future--Sorrow of
Jeremiah--Ultimate fulfilments.

CHAPTER XXXIII

JEHOAHAZ (B.C. 608) 411

Four sons of Josiah--Shallum chosen by the people of the land--Elegy
of Ezekiel--Change of name from Shallum to Jehoahaz--Conquests of
Pharaoh Necho II.--Jehoahaz summoned to Riblah--Carried captive by
Pharaoh to Egypt--Tribute imposed on Judæa.

CHAPTER XXXIV

JEHOIAKIM (B.C. 608-597) 416

Eliakim--His change of name--Ignored by Ezekiel--Evil
influences--Æsthetic selfishness and oppressive
greed--Denunciation by Habakkuk--Denunciation by Jeremiah--Murder
of Urijah--Threatened murder of Jeremiah averted by Ahikam--Fall
of Nineveh--Utterances of the prophets--Rise of the
Chaldæans--Nabopolassar--Defeat of Pharaoh Necho by
Nebuchadrezzar--His return to Babylon--His invasion of
Judæa--Beginning of the Babylonian captivity--Jehoiakim revolts to
Egypt in spite of Jeremiah's warnings--Imprisonment of
Jeremiah--Baruch--The menacing roll--Alarm of the princes--Rage of
the king--He cuts the scroll to pieces and burns it--Wretchedness
of the times--A great drought--Captives of Jerusalem--Miserable
death of Jehoiakim--"That which was found in him."

CHAPTER XXXV

JEHOIACHIN (B.C. 597) 431

Bad influence over him--His brief reign--Allusions to him by
Jeremiah at Jerusalem--Second captivity--Regret felt for
Jehoiachin--Did he die childless?

CHAPTER XXXVI

ZEDEKIAH, THE LAST KING OF JUDAH (B.C. 597-586) 437

His oath to the King of Assyria--Ezekiel's prophecies--The exiles
and the remnant--Weakness of Zedekiah--Continuance of idolatry as
described by Ezekiel--The king breaks his oath with
Assyria--Indignation and warnings of Jeremiah--The false prophet
Hananiah--The wooden and iron yokes--Death of Hananiah--False
prophets--The broken covenant--Advance of
Nebuchadrezzar--Belomancy and Babylonian divinations--Siege of
Jerusalem--Gloom of Jeremiah's prophecies.

CHAPTER XXXVII

JEREMIAH AND HIS PROPHECIES 449

Pathos of Jeremiah's lot--The sad epoch in which he
lived--Religious changes--Arrest of Jeremiah--Progress of the
siege--Zedekiah sends for the prophet--His hardships
alleviated--Horrors of famine--Wicked defiance--A sudden
death--Anger of the priests and nobles against Jeremiah--He is
thrust into a miry pit--Compassion of Ebed-Melech--Purchase of a
field at Anathoth--Secret interview with Zedekiah--It becomes
known--Distress of Zedekiah.

CHAPTER XXXVIII

THE FALL OF JERUSALEM (B.C. 586) 457

Nebuzaradan and the Babylonians--The final captivity--Dreadful
fate of Zedekiah--Prophecies of Ezekiel and Jeremiah--Sack of the
city--Massacre of the chief inhabitants--Burning of the city and
Temple--Desolation--Respect shown by the Babylonian general to
Jeremiah--He decides to remain with the remnant in Judæa.

CHAPTER XXXIX

GEDALIAH (B.C. 586) 465

Sad parting from the exiles--The wail at Ramah--Gedaliah's
appointment as satrap perhaps due to Jeremiah--Desolation of
Jerusalem--The seat of government removed to Mizpah--A respite and
a gleam of hope--Guerilla bands--Johanan warns Gedaliah against
Ishmael--Unsuspecting generosity of the governor--He receives
Ishmael and his confederates with hospitality--He is brutally
murdered--Massacre of the pilgrims from Shiloh--The horrible
well--Johanan pursues Ishmael--His escape--Proposal to migrate to
Egypt--Jeremiah consulted--His advice refused--Prophecy of
Jeremiah at the khan of Chimham--Kindness shown by Evil-Merodach
to Jehoiachin.

EPILOGUE 477

The interest of the preceding history and the great moral lessons
which it involves--The central conceptions of Hebrew prophecy--The
end of the whole matter.

APPENDIX I

THE KINGS OF ASSYRIA, AND SOME OF THEIR INSCRIPTIONS 487

APPENDIX II

INSCRIPTION IN THE TUNNEL OF THE POOL OF SILOAM 493

APPENDIX III

WAS THERE A GOLDEN CALF AT DAN? 494

APPENDIX IV

DATES OF THE KINGS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH, AS GIVEN BY KITTEL AND
OTHER MODERN CRITICS 495

THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS

"Theories of inspiration which impaginate the Everlasting Spirit, and make each verse a cluster of objectless and mechanical miracles, are not seriously believed by any one: the Bible itself abides in its endless power and unexhausted truth. All that is not of asbestos is being burned away by the restless fires of thought and criticism. That which remains is enough, and it is indestructible."--BISHOP OF DERRY.