.

gave him battle at Megiddo. There the "archers shot at Josiah," who, in the beautiful language of Scripture, exclaimed to his charioteer, “have me away for I am sore wounded;" and commanding a retreat to be sounded for his army, he returned to Jerusalem, and died of his wound.

In this expedition, Necho made several important conquests, and overthrowing the Babylonians at the river Euphrates, took possession of Carchemish, a great city in Assyria; and having secured it to himself by a strong garrison, he returned after three months, towards his own territories. Finding on his arrival in Syria that Jehoahaz had made himself king of Judah without his permission, he commanded him to appear before him at Riblah, and putting him in fetters, sent him à prisoner into Egypt, where he died. On his ar rival at Jerusalem, Necho directed Jehoiakim, another of the sons of Josiah, to be made king instead of his brother, and imposing on the land an annual tribute of one hundred talents of silver, and one talent of gold, he returned into his own dominions.

Three years after these events, Nabopolassar

perceiving that on account of the successes of Necho in his war with Assyria, both Palestiné and Syria had revolted to Egypt; and being now through age and weakness unable himself to reduce these states again to their allegiance, he adopted Nebuchadnezzar, his son, into a share of the empire, and sent him with an army to regain the revolted tributaries.

Nebuchadnezzar speedily retook Carchemish, and destroying the garrison left there by Necho, proceeded towards Syria; and it was on this occasion that the Rechabites,who according to an institution of their father Jonadab, were commanded to dwell in tents,-finding it impossible to remain any longer in safety, in the open coun try, which they had hitherto inhabited, retired towards Jerusalem for protection.

It was also about the same period, or a little prior to it, that Jeremiah foretold the advance of this victorious monarch, and the destructive calamities which hung over the Jews, in consequence of their idolatry and disobedience.

Nebuchadnezzar, after taking possession of Syria, and all the country except Judea, as far

as Pelusiam, proceeded against Jerusalem, which he besieged and took; and making a prisoner of Jehoiakim, put him in chains, intending to carry him to Babylon. But the king humbling him self to the victor, and submitting to become his tributary, swore fidelity to Nebuchadnezzar, who restored him to his kingdom, and proceeded to carry the war to the confines of Egypt. But before his departure from Jerusalem he sent away great numbers of the inhabitants captive to Babylon,* and gave particular directions to the master of his eunuchs to select from the princes of the family of Judah, and from the families of the chief nobility, the fairest and most intelligent of their youth, to serve him in his palace at Babylon. In this tyrannical charge were ful

Among the number of children that were carried captive at this time, were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.Prideaux, vol. i. p. 92.

+ The same regard to personal beauty, in the attendants of great men, still prevails in the east, as may be seen by the following quotation from Rycaut's State of the Ottoman Empire.

"The youths who are designed for the great offices of

filled the denounciations of the prophet Isaiah, uttered one hundred years before, when Hezekiah displayed his treasures to the ambassadors of Merodach-Baladan* On this occasion thè son of Nabopolassar also carried off a great part

masters.

the empire, must be of admirable features, and pleasing looks, well-shaped in their bodies, and without any defect of nature; for it is conceived that a corrupt and sordid soul can scarce inhabit in a serene and ingenuous aspect; and I have observed, that not only in the seraglio, but also in the courts of great men, their personal attendants have been of comely youths, well habited, deporting themselves with singular modesty and respect in the presence of their So that when a pasha, aga, or spahee travels, he is always attended with a comely equipage, followed by flourishing youths, well cloathed and mounted, in great numbers, that one may guess at the greatness of this empire, by the retinue, pomp and number of servants which accompany persons of quality in their journeys; whereas in the parts of christendom where I have travelled, I have not observed, no not in the attendance of princes,——such ostentation in servants as is amongst the Turks, which is the life and ornament of a court."—Sir Paul Rycaut's present state of the Ottoman Empire.-See Universal History. * Isar xxxix. 7

of the treasures of the holy temple; its sacred vessels of gold, and of silver, and placed them in the house of his god Bel, at Babylon. From this epoch commences the seventy years of the captivity of Judah; for though the king continued to reign for a few years longer at Jerusa→ lem, yet it was only as a vassal of the Assyrian monarch; and the princes of Judah, the children of the nobility, the vessels of the sanctuary, the desolation of the land, and the subjection of all to that haughty prince, plainly indicate the captive state of Judah, and the beginning of the long threatened chastisement of the last remnant of that guilty nation.

· Jehoiakim unaffected by the afflictions of his people, his own degradation, and the warning voice of the prophet Jeremiah, continued still impenitent, and became every day more wicked than before. The roll dictated by the prophet at the command of God, as related in the thirty-sixth chapter of Jeremiah, is supposed to have been read at this period, by Baruch in the ears of the people, which, so incensed Jehoiakim, that he caused it to be brought