them in pieces and strewed the fragments upon : the graves of them that had sacrificed to them. And he burnt the bones of the priests on the altars of the idols, and he cleansed Juda and Jerusalem. And in the cities of Manasses, and of Ephraim, and of Simeon, even to Nephthali, he demolished all.* ~ And when he had destroyed the altars and the groves, and had broken the idols in pieces, and had demolished all profane temples throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.

Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had cleansed the land and the temple of the Lord, he sent Saphan the son of Eselias, and Maasias the governor of the city, Joha the son of Joachaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God. And they came to Helcias the high priest and received of him the money which had been brought into the house of the Lord, and which the Levites and porters had gathered together from Manasses, and Ephraim, and all the remnant of Israel, and from all Juda, and Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, which they delivered into the hands of them that were over the workmen in the house of the Lord, to repair the temple, and mend all that was weak. But they gave it to the artificers and to the masons to buy stones out of the quarries, and timber for the couplings of the building, and to rafter the houses, which the kings of Juda had destroyed. And they did all faithfully. Now the overseers of the workmen were Jahath and Abdias of the sons of Merari, Zacharias and Mosollam of the sons of Caath, who hastened the work: all Levites skilful to play on instruments. But over them that carried burdens for divers uses were scribes, and masters of the number of the Levites, and porters.

The Book of the Law.-Now when they carried out the money that had been brought into the temple of the Lord, Helcias the priest found the book of the law of the Lord, by the hand of Moses. And he said to Saphan the scribe: I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord : and he delivered it to him. But he carried the book to the king, and told him, saying: Lo, all that thou hast committed to thy servants is accomplished. They have gathered together the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and it is given to the overseers of the artificers and of the workmen, for divers works. Moreover Helcias the priest gave me this book. And he read it before the king. And when he had heard the words of the

* After the Assyrian captivity the authority of the kings of Juda seems to have been recognised in the kingdom of Israel.

+ Probably the autograph of Moses. KENRICK.

law he rent his garments: and he commanded Helcias, and Ahicam the son of Saphan, and Abdon the son of Micha, and Saphan the scribe, and Asaa the king's servant, saying: Go and pray to the Lord for me, and for the remnant of Israel and Juda, concerning all the words of this book which is found : for the great wrath of the Lord hath fallen upon us, because our fathers have not kept the words of the Lord, to do all things that are written in this book.

And Helcias and they that were sent with him by the king went to Holda the prophetess, the wife of Sellum the son of Thecuath, the son of Hasra, keeper of the wardrobe: who dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second part: and they spoke to her the words above-mentioned. And she answered them: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Tell the man that sent you to me: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring evils upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, and all the curses that are written in this book which they read before the king of Juda. Because they have forsaken Me, and have sacrificed to strange gods, to provoke Me to wrath with all the works of their hands, therefore My wrath shall fall upon this place, and shall not be quenched. But as to the king of Juda that sent you to beseech the Lord, thus shall you say to him: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Because thou hast heard the words of this book, and thy heart was softened, and thou hast humbled thyself in the sight of God for the things that are spoken against this place and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and reverencing My face, hast rent thy garments, and wept before Me: I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. For now I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be brought to thy tomb in peace and thy eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place and the inhabitants thereof.*

They therefore reported to the king all that she had said. And he called together all the ancients of Juda and Jerusalem. And went up to the house of the Lord, and all the men of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites, and all the people from the least to the greatest. And the king read in their hearing, in the house of the Lord, all the words of the book. And standing up in his tribunal, he made a covenant before the Lord to walk after Him, and keep His commandments, and testimonies, and justifications with all his heart and with all his soul, and to do the things that were written in that book which he had read. And he adjured all

* He was to end his days before these calamities fell on his kingdom.

2 Par.

that were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to do the same: and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of the Lord the God of their fathers. And Josias took away all the abominations out of all the countries of the children of Israel and made all that were left in Israel to serve the Lord their God. As long as he lived they departed not from the Lord the God of their fathers.

Josias keeps the Passover.-And Josias kept a passover xxxv. 1-6. to the Lord in Jerusalem, and it was sacrificed on the fourteenth day of the first month. And he set the priests in their offices, and exhorted them to minister in the house of the Lord. And he spoke to the Levites, by whose instruction all Israel was sanctified to the Lord, saying: Put the ark in the sanctuary of the temple, which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built for you shall carry it no more: but minister now to the Lord your God, and to His people Israel. And prepare yourselves by your houses and families according to your courses, as David king of Israel commanded, and Solomon his son hath written. And serve ye in the sanctuary by the families and companies of Levi. And being sanctified kill the passover, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the words which the Lord spoke by the hand of Moses.

16-27.

2 Par. So all the service of the Lord was duly accomplished that XXXV. day, both in keeping the passover, and offering holocausts upon the altar of the Lord, according to the commandment of king Josias. And the children of Israel that were found there kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. There was no passover like to this in Israel, from the days of Samuel the prophet: neither did any of all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josias kept, with the priests and the Levites, and all Juda and Israel that were found, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josias was this passover celebrated.

Josias and Pharao Nechao.-After that Josias had repaired the temple, Nechao king of Egypt came up to fight in Charcamis by the Euphrates and Josias went out to meet him. But he sent messengers to him, saying: What have I to do with thee, O king of Juda? I come not against thee this day, but I fight against another house, to which God hath commanded me to go in haste: forbear to act against God, who is with me, lest He kill thee. Josias would not return, but pre

* It had been prophesied of Josias 340 years before that he should destroy the images and defile the high places. 3 Kings xiii.-Josias is also spoken of in the book of Ecclesiasticus (chap. xlix.) as one of three most perfect kings of Juda.

pared to fight against him, and hearkened not to the words of Nechao from the mouth of God, but went to fight in the field of Mageddo. And there he was wounded by the archers, and he said to his servants: Carry me out of the battle, for I am grievously wounded. And they removed him from the chariot into another, that followed him after the manner of kings, and they carried him away to Jerusalem: and he died, and was buried in the monument of his fathers, and all Juda and Jerusalem mourned for him. Particularly Jeremias :* whose lamentations for Josias all the singing men and singing women repeat unto this day, and it became like a law in Israel: Behold it is found written in the Lamentations.

Now the rest of the acts of Josias, and of his mercies, according to what was commanded by the law of the Lord, and his works first and last, are written in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel.

SECT. XCVIII. JOACHAZ SUCCEEDS HIS FATHER JOSIAS. THE REIGNS OF
JOAKIM AND JOACHIN. THE CAPTIVITY OF JUDA..

Joachaz. And the people of the land took Joachaz the son 4 Kings

XXIII.

B.C. 610. 30-37.

of Josias and they anointed him,† and made him
king in his father's stead. Joachaz was three and
twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three
months in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Amital, the
daughter of Jeremias of Lobna. And he did evil before the
Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. And Pharao
Nechao bound him at Rebla, which is in the land of Emath,
that he should not reign in Jerusalem: and he set a fine upon
the land, of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

Joakim.-And Pharao Nechao made Eliacim the son of
Josias king in the room of Josias his father: and
B.C. 609.
turned his name to Joakim. And he took Joachaz
away and carried him into Egypt, and he died there. And
Joakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharao, after he had

*The prophets Jeremias and Sophonius lived in his reign. The former is thought to refer to Josias, where he says: The breath of our mouth, Christ the Lord, is taken in our sins. Lam. iv. Christ meaning the Lord's Anointed One. In its spiritual sense it would refer to our Lord.

Joachaz was also called Sellum or Shallum. He was the fourth son of Josias. Jeremias prophesied his fall. He says: Weep not for him that is dead (that is king Josias), nor bemoan him with your tears: lament him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country. For thus saith the Lord to Sellum the son of Josias the king of Juda, who reigned instead of his father, who went forth out of this place: He shall return hither no more: but in the place, to which I have removed him, there shall he die, and he shall not see this land any more. Chap. xxii.

taxed the land for every man, to contribute according to the commandment of Pharao: and he exacted both the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every man according to his ability, to give to Pharao Nechao. Joakim was five and twenty years old when he began to reign:* and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Zebida the daughter of Phadaia of Ruma. And he did evil before the Lord according to all that his fathers had done.

4 Kings In his days Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came up, and XXIV. 1-17. Joakim became his servant three years: then again he rebelled against him. And the Lord sent against him the rovers of the Chaldees, and the rovers of Syria, and the rovers of Moab, and the rovers of the children of Ammon: and He sent them against Juda, to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which He had spoken by His servants the prophets. And this came by the word of the Lord against Juda, to remove them from before Him, for all the sins of Manasses which he did, and for the innocent blood that he shed, filling Jerusalem with innocent blood, and therefore the Lord would not be appeased. But the rest of the acts of Joakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? And Joakim slept with his fathers.

Joachin.

And Joachin his son reigned in his stead. And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of B.C. 598. his own country: for the king of Babylon had taken all that had belonged to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates. Joachin was eighteen years old +

* The history of Joakim, also called Jehoiakim, is given very briefly here, but there is a great deal about him in the book of the prophet Jeremias, who lived through his reign. He rebuked him (chap. xxii.) for his luxury and oppression of the poor, and predicted the taking of the city by the king of Babylon, and the fate of the king. Nabuchodonosor came up in the fourth year of his reign, and after defeating him, put him in chains to carry him away to Babylon, but afterwards relented, and left him in his kingdom. This is the first captivity, or beginning of the seventy years. It was then that Daniel was carried away, and the sacred vessels of the temple. Jeremias and Baruch were left behind, and continued to warn the king and the people. But the prophets were persecuted, and their predictions treated with contempt (see Jer. chap. xxxvi.). Joakim foolishly rebelled after three years. Nabuchodonosor first sent his generals against Jerusalem, and at last came himself, and put Joakim to death, placing Joachin on the throne in his place. Nabuchodonosor seems at this time to have left Jerusalem, and gone to make an attack on Egypt. On his return, after three months, he again besieged the city; but Joachin, seeing that Egypt had submitted, capitulated and was carried captive to Babylon, together with Ezechiel and Mordechai and 10,000 more. This is called the great captivity. Joachin remained in prison for many years.

He was associated by his father to the kingdom when he was but eight years old: but after his father's death, when he reigned alone, he was eighteen years old.