Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-06-19
CAPTIVITY OF JUDAH.
LESSON XII, SECOND QUARTER, IN
TERNATlONAL SERIES, JUNE 21.

salem, and pitched against It,"
AS we saw in the last lesson Josiah's
turning to God and great revival reached
but few comparatively, while the nation
as a whole continued in sin.
According to the Word of the Lord"
2. "And the city was besieged unto the
eleventh year of Zedekiah."
jeremiah had at this time been prophet
forty years, for he began in the thirteenth
! year of Josiah, after which Josiah contin-
ued eighteen years, and the eleventh of
| Iedekiah was twenty-five years later DER
! i, 9; II Kings xii, l. xiii, 81, SO; xiv, s.
| 1S). The thirty-five years which elapsed
between Josiah's great passover in the
eighteenth year of his reign Oh Chron.
xxxv, 19) and the destruction of the city,
is suggestive and perhaps typical of about
the same period which elapsed between
the greatest of all passovers, when Christ
our passover was sacrificed for us q Cor
V, y and the last destruction of Jerusalem
by Titus.
3. 1.-THE famine prevailed in the city, and
there was no bread for the people of the
! land"
4. "And the city was broken up, and all
the men of war fled by night; and the king
went the way toward the plain"
And yet this was the city which God had
chosen to put His name there-the city of
| the Great King beautiful for situation, the
! joy of the whole earth.
5. "And the army of the Chaldees pur-
sued after the king and overlook him in
the plains of Jericho, and all his army were
scattered from him"
This also was made known to the captives
at Babylon by the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek.
xii, b. f. CO.. Contrast the safety of IIeze-
kiah when besieged by the great army of
Sennacherb, and the wonderful deiverance
God wrought for him in answer to the
prayer of himself and Isaiah Oil Chron.
xxi, 2O-22 Isa xxxvii, 36). See also the
peace and safety of Elijah when besieged by
the Syrians II Kings vi, l6, ~, and CON
slider what God did for Abijah and Asa be
cause they relied on him Oh Chron. xiii, IS
xiv, II, 12).
G. $50 they took the king and brought
him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah
and they gave judgment upon him"
At the same place, just twenty-five years
before, the king of Egypt had put bands
upon his brother Jehoahaz and took him
to Egypt, where he died Oh Kings xxiD.
Z And they slew the sons of Zedekiah
before his eyes, and put out the eyes of
Zedekiah, and bound him with letters of
brass, and carried him to Babylon"
jeremiah had said, Chine eyes shall be-
hold the eyes of the king of Babylon. and
he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth,
and thou shalt 90 to Babylon" DER. X&Xiv,
b. The same spirit had said through
Ezekiel, 81 will bring him to Babylon, to
the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not
see it, though he shall die there" (Ezek.
xii, 49, See how these somewhat difficult.
and in a measure seemingly contradic-
tory, prophecies were literally fulfilled, and
all made perfectly plain in the fulfllment,
He saw the king of Babylon they looked
upon each other and spoke to each other.
He also went to Babylon, but he never saw
Babylon, for after seeing the king Of Baby
lon at RiDah, and after being compelled to
witness the death of his sons, his eyes were
put out. How fearfully sad the conse
quences of unbeliefl but what is all present
physical suffering when compared with
the endless torment of Rev. xiv. Oil?
S. "Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard
q servant of the king of Babylon"
The literal meaning of the Hebrew phrase
here translated captain of the guard" i
''chief Of the straightforward or executions
ers'' (see the margin of Gen. XxXvii, 800.
.. And he burnt the house of the Lord
and the Kings house, and all the houses OF
Jerusalem, and every great mans houst
burnt he with fire.
The people could now truly say, 80 God
the heather are come into thine inherit
ance; thy holy temple have they deiiled; they
have laid Jerusalem on heaps" (Ps. xxx
j. Our holy and our beautiful house
where our fathers praised Thee, is burnet
up with fire, and all our pleasant thing,
are laid waste" lisa. Xiv, IL. This mag
niticent building, costing hundreds of mill
ions of dollars, and which stood less thar
thirty-fou years in its original splendol
Il Kings xiv, 25, 26), is now completely de
stroyed and all the city burned with fire
and sin did it all
10. And all the army of the Chaldee
that were with the captain of the guard
brake down the walls of Jerusalem rounC
about"
And thus they continued until the re
turn of Nehemiah, many years after tn,
return of the $4,000 under Zerubbabel (Neh
i, -, and amid the greatest opposition ant
hatred was the wall rebuilt (Neh iv, VII.
II. Now the rest of the people that wer,
left in the city did Nebuzar-adan, the cap
tain of the guard, carry away"
Some were slain Tvs. lS-2l; at three diff
ferent times 1900 were carried captive der
lii, 2S-S0), while some were left in the land
Some were carried captive for their good
that He might bring them again, and builC
and give them a heart to know Him; whil
others who were disobedient were taken t,
be consumed and destroyed because o
their sins Tread Jer XIV. The sam
event or series of events may happen t,
both the righteous and the wicked; to tn
one it means blessing, to the other ours
ing. The same glad tidings of salvation
preached to a congregation may mean lif
to some and death to others QI Cor ii
Is, 49,
IL. But the captain of the guard left o
the poor OF the land to be vine dressers ant
husbandmen.
To the poor of the people, who had moth
ing in the land, he gave vineyards an,
fields DER. xxx, 10). Gedaliah was mad
|, governor over these, and jeremiah chos
" to dwell with him among the people tina
- were left in the land DER. XII, 40. Ged
allah was slain by Ishmael, and he in turf
was defeated by Johanan, who ere Ions
took all the remnant of the people, men
!. women and children and kings daug hter
> and jeremiah and Baruch, and went dow
. to Egypt, where probably Jeremiah diet
| (Jer xii g g. III. II: xiii An