The Story of the Chosen People (Yesterday's Classics) (21 page)

At twenty years of age, Josiah made a journey all through his kingdom, asking his people to put away idolatry, destroying their idols, and collecting money to repair the temple. It was at this time that the high priest again found the long-lost and nearly forgotten book of the law, and read it aloud to the king.

Josiah was so impressed when he heard the terrible punishments threatened that he tore his clothing, and called for a prophet to come and explain to him the parts he could not understand. But all the prophets had been killed, and it was only after long search that a woman was found who could tell him the meaning of the sacred words.

She said that all that was written was true, but comforted the mourning king by telling him that he should not see the downfall of Jerusalem. To save his people if possible, Josiah ordered a public reading of the law, pulled down all the idols that were left, and defiled Tophet, the hot fire kindled for the worship of Moloch.

When Jerusalem had been thoroughly purified, he put all the wizards and witches to death, and then celebrated the Passover at Jerusalem, according to the teachings of the newly found book of the law.

While all these changes were taking place in Judah, the strong Assyrian kingdom had fallen into the hands of the Babylonians and Medes; and Nineveh, the proud city, was destroyed as had been foretold by Isaiah and two lesser prophets.

Hearing that the Egyptians were on their way to attack the Babylonians, his allies, Josiah made an attempt to stop them. In this battle, however, he received a mortal wound, and he died almost as soon as he reached Jerusalem. His death was mourned by the great prophet Jeremiah, and by all the people.

Josiah was the sixteenth and last real king of Judah; for although four others bore that name, they were only the servants of the Egyptian or Babylonian kings, who ruled the people and country as they pleased.

The Egyptians, angry because Josiah had tried to stop them, came to attack Jerusalem under his successor. After pulling him down from the throne, they named his brother Jehoiakim king in his stead. This new king did evil, so Jeremiah rebuked him in the name of the Lord, and again foretold that the Jews would be taken in captivity to Babylon, whence they would return only after many years.

The king vainly tried to silence the prophet, but Jeremiah went on to foretell the destruction of the temple. This prediction so enraged the priests that they would have put him to death, had not the judges declared that a prophet had the right to say anything he pleased.

By this time the Babylonians had fought and defeated the Egyptians, and marching into Palestine, they now laid siege to Jerusalem, and took the city after a short resistance. Jehoiakim was allowed to keep the throne, on condition that he would be the vassal of Babylon; and the conquerors departed, carrying off all the vessels of the temple, and a number of noble Hebrew youths, who were to be detained at their court as hostages.

Jerusalem was left in a very sorry condition, and the humbled people kept a solemn fast, during which Jeremiah again begged them to turn from their evil ways and repent. With the help of an assistant, Jeremiah wrote down all the prophecies he had uttered, and he now ordered that they should be read aloud, so that the people might see that some of them had already been fulfilled.

Jehoiakim, the king, was not present at this solemn reading, but he sent a man to get the prophecies and read them to him. He was so displeased, however, with what he heard that he burned the roll as soon as it was read. This proved to be of no use, for, by the Lord's command, Jeremiah again made his assistant write down every word he had said, adding a prophecy about the desolation which was to happen to Judah, and about the king's disgraceful end.

J
EHOIAKIM
relied upon the help of the Egyptians, and soon revolted against Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. This king was busy just then with another war, so he paid no heed at first to the uprising of the Jews.

When the war was ended he marched against Jerusalem, and put Jehoiakim to death in the way that Jeremiah had foretold. The son of Jehoiakim now became King of Judah, but, as he was only eight years of age, his courtiers reigned in his stead. They were neither good nor wise, and made so much trouble that Nebuchadnezzar, in anger, came again to Jerusalem, and carried off the king, his courtiers, and ten thousand prisoners.

It was probably some time during these campaigns that an event took place which you will not find in some Bibles, but which you will often see in pictures. It seems that one of the Assyrian generals caused so much trouble in the country, that a brave Jewish woman named Judith made up her mind to kill him. She dressed herself up in her finest clothes, and went down to the general's tent, pretending that she had come to visit him because she loved him. The general gave her a grand supper, and when he fell asleep after drinking much wine, she took a sword and cut off his head. Then she called her servant, put the dead general's head in a cloth, and carried it home, to show her people what she had done.

JUDITH

As Jerusalem could not be left without a ruler, the Babylonians now chose Zedekiah, Josiah's youngest son, to fill this office. He was a vassal of Nebuchadnezzar, and as he closely followed Jeremiah's advice during the beginning of his reign, all went well at first.

Made bold by success, Zedekiah fancied that he might shake off the Babylonian yoke, so he sought the alliance of Egypt. In punishment, his capital was again besieged, and at the end of two and a half years it fell into the hands of the Babylonians. They took Zedekiah captive and sacked the city of Jerusalem.

Not only were the temple and the houses burned, but the city walls were all torn down. This calamity seemed so great to the Jews that the anniversary of this evil day was always observed as a time of mourning and fasting.

Although the Babylonians would have liked to carry all the population off into captivity, the people had suffered so much during the long siege that only eight hundred and thirty-two of them were strong enough to stand the long journey.

The others were left in Palestine, to farm the land and take care of the vineyards. The country was placed under the rule of a governor, advised by Jeremiah. The prophet told the people to be patient and to submit, and at first they were so weak and so tired of war that they were only too ready to obey; but as soon as they got back strength, they again revolted, choosing a prince of Jewish blood as their leader.

After murdering the governor whom Nebuchadnezzar had given them, the Jews suddenly began to fear the wrath of the Babylonians. Hoping to escape from it, they fled into Egypt, where they fancied that they would be safe, although Jeremiah warned them that Egypt also would soon fall into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.

This prophecy was also spoken at the same time by Ezekiel, who was among the captive Jews at Babylon. It came true, too, before long; for Nebuchadnezzar became master of Tyre, after a siege of more than thirteen years, and then went on to conquer Egypt.

The Jews who had taken refuge in Egypt were duly punished, and when the Babylonian army went home, they took with them long caravans of captives, and left Judah a desert. These captives found many of their friends at Babylon, for twice before some of the Jews had been led thither into bondage.

T
HE
young Jewish hostages whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried off in the beginning of his reign, had grown up in Babylon, where they had received their education. But although so far away from home, and completely cut off from their people, they had not forgotten that they belonged to God's Chosen Race.

A few among them, following the example of Daniel, their young chief, ate pulse rather than defile themselves with the meat upon the king's table, which had first been placed on the altars of the idols. One of the officers in charge, seeing the young men eat such poor food, tried to force them to partake of better fare, lest they should grow thin and weak, or starve to death.

But Daniel coaxed this man to let them go on eating pulse, and when the officer saw that the young captives were ruddier and stronger than their companions, he no longer troubled them. We are told in the Bible that God gave all these Hebrew youths much knowledge, but that to Daniel, his servant and prophet, he gave a keen insight into dreams and visions, a power which was to prove very useful.

In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar was greatly worried by a dream which came every night, but which he could never remember when he awoke. He asked the wise men to describe this dream to him and to explain its meaning; but all in vain. Now, Nebuchadnezzar was in the habit of always having his own way; and when these men did not answer him he was so angry that he wanted to put them all to death. But Daniel came and begged the king not to do so, saying that he would tell and explain the vision in their stead.

After a short prayer, in which he asked the help of the Lord, Daniel came back and told the king that he had seen in his dreams a great statue, with a golden head, silver arms and breast, brazen belly and thighs, iron legs, and feet and toes that were part iron and part clay. This statue was knocked down by a stone,—cut without hands from the living rock,—which came rolling along with great force. Then, having broken the image into pieces, this stone grew larger and larger, until it became a great mountain which filled all the earth.

Next, Daniel told the meaning of this strange dream. He said that the different parts of the statue represented different kingdoms. The head of gold was the kingdom of Babylon. Then would come in turn other powers which would be like the silver, brass, iron, and clay. But all these kingdoms would come to an end, when "the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed."

Like a great many of the prophecies, this was not understood until many years after, but now we are told that the golden head stood for the kingdom of the Assyrians and Babylonians, and the silver arms and breast for the Medes and Persians, who next took possession of Babylon. The brazen belly and thighs were the kingdom founded by Alexander the Great; the iron legs stood for the Roman Empire, and the iron and clay feet and toes represented the many but short-lived kingdoms which were formed from it. Finally, the Christians say that the stone, cut without hands from the living rock, was to represent the religion taught by Jesus Christ, which would in time spread all over the face of the earth.

Nebuchadnezzar was so astonished that Daniel could describe and explain his dream, that he fell down upon his face at the young prophet's feet, and did homage to him. In reward for this service, he made Daniel ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and gave important offices to his three companions.

Although the king knew that God had helped Daniel, he would not yield to the Lord, but soon afterwards set up a golden image which he bade all his subjects worship; and when the three young Jews whom he had so highly honored, refused to bow down before it, he condemned them to be cast into a fiery furnace.

This mode of execution had already often been tried, even on the Jews, and all the victims had died. Imagine Nebuchadnezzar's surprise, therefore, when he saw the youths calmly walking about amid the flames, in company with a fourth figure, which looked like an angel.

The king at once ordered that the young men should be set free, and they came out of the fiery furnace unharmed, and even without any odor of fire about their hair or garments. But in spite of this miracle, the king did not yet believe fully in the power of the God of the Jews.

Shortly after, Nebuchadnezzar was greatly troubled by another vision, or dream, in which he saw a great tree which overshadowed all the earth. But even while he was admiring it, he heard a voice from heaven order that the tree should be cut down, and that his man's heart should be changed into that of a beast for seven years' space.

None of the wise men could explain this dream, so Daniel was again called upon. The young Hebrew prophet told Nebuchadnezzar that the mighty tree stood for him, that he would be cut down in his pride, and that for the space of seven long years his reason would forsake him, and he would eat grass like the beasts of the field.

Although Daniel warned Nebuchadnezzar that this calamity could be warded off only by repentance, the King of Babylon went on living as before. One year later the prophecy came true; the mighty king became insane, and for seven years he was like the "beasts of the field."

Nebuchadnezzar, however, recovered his reason at the end of the appointed time, and, doing honor to God, went on reigning over Babylon for many years. His career was brilliant to its end, and when he died, his son succeeded him.

T
HE
new ruler of Babylon seems to have been a very kind monarch; for he took Jehoiachin, the King of Judah, out of his prison. Although this captive was not allowed to return to Jerusalem, he was treated like a guest in the Babylonian palace. We know but little of this King of Babylon, but we are told that he was soon followed by Belshazzar.