Jeremiah steadfastly preached the duty of submission. In his eyes the Chaldaean invasion was the divinely ordained chastisement of Judah's sin; the ruthless enemies of his country were only fulfilling Jehovah's righteous will. Respecting the position of affairs in Jerusalem at this time, we find evidence not only in the writings of Jeremiah, but also in those of Ezekiel, who was probably one of the captives carried away after the recent siege (597). Both prophets draw an appalling picture of the state of Judah— the prevalence of idolatry of the most debased type; the iniquity of the rulers; the fanatical and misguided patriotism of the populace; the delusive promises of the false prophets, like Hananiah, who proclaimed that Jehovah's indignation was overpast, that Judah had already suffered enough, and that the deliverance of the captives from the yoke of Babylon was imminent (Jer. 28). Meanwhile, Jeremiah and Ezekiel fixed their hope on the exiles settled in Babylon. These were objects of contempt to their degenerate countrymen in Judah; but the true prophets perceived that on them depended the destinies of the Hebrew race. The book of Jeremiah contains a letter to the exiles, who in his eyes constituted the Israel of the future (Jeremiah 29). He bids them patiently submit to their hard lot, and counsels them to seek the peace of the city whither they have been carried captive, to turn a deaf ear to the delusive promises of false prophecy, and to wait quietly for the fulfilment of Jehovah's purpose.

3. Siege and Fall of Jerusalem. "In the ninth year of his reign, Zedekiah, who had long been plotting with a view to rebellion, finally broke faith with the king of Babylon, and revolted, relying on empty hopes of support held out by Hophra (or Apries), king of Egypt 588-569.

The vengeance inflicted by Nebuchadnezzar was swift and exemplary. With a powerful army he once more invaded Judah and besieged Jerusalem. After an eighteen months' siege, when the city was already hard-pressed by famine, a breach was made in the walls (9 July, 586). Zedekiah with his men of war attempted to escape in the direction of the Jordan valley, but they were pursued, captured, and brought to the presence of the Babylonian monarch at Riblah. The sons of Zedekiah were slain before his eyes; after which he himself was blinded and carried in fetters to Babylon, where he died miserably in prison. A month later Nebuzar-adan, the captain of Nebuchadnezzar's bodyguard, arrived at Jerusalem armed with full power to inflict vengeance on the rebellious city. The temple, the palace, and all the principal buildings were pillaged and burned; the walls were broken down; the chief officers, priests, and notables were sent in chains to Riblah and there put to death; the sacred vessels of the sanctuary were confiscated, and the greater part of the inhabitants were carried captive to Babylon. Only the poorest of the land were left to be vinedressers and husbandmen. Over this miserable remnant Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, was appointed governor, and established himself at Mizpeh. He was a friend of Jeremiah, and shared his conviction that the only hope of safety for Judah lay in complete submission to the Chaldaeans. Scarcely two months, however, elapsed before Gedaliah himself fell a victim to the jealousy of Ishmael, a member of the royal family, by whom he was treacherously slain. Ishmael was acting partly in his own interest, partly at the instigation of Baalis, king of Ammon, who secretly hoped to annex part of the Judaean territory to his dominions. The murder of Gedaliah was fol

lowed by the wholesale massacre of his adherents, and even of some Chaldaeans who formed part of the governor's retinue. Ishmael then made prisoners of the surviving inhabitants of Mizpeh, and attempted to deport them into Ammonite territory. In this object, however, he was defeated by Johanan, son of Kareah, who pursued the adventurer, compelled him to relinquish his captives, and forced him to seek refuge beyond the Jordan.

4. The Migration. The surviving leaders of the people were panic-stricken, and fearing the king of Babylon's vengeance, disregarded the protests of Jeremiah, and hastily migrated with most of their countrymen into Egypt. The greater number of the Jews settled at Tahpanhes, one of the frontier towns of the eastern Delta. Here a curtain falls upon the life of the heroic prophet who, in spite of bitter persecution and contumely, had never wavered in preaching the duty of submission to the king of Babylon, as the one hope of safety for his people. He now felt bound to continue his ministry among the fugitives who had sought an asylum in Egypt, and there, according to a Jewish tradition, "amid mournful surroundings of obstinate idolatry, his teaching spurned and misunderstood, and his country waste and desolate, he met a martyr's death. at the hands of his compatriots."-R. L. OTTLEY.

5. Israel the Bearer of an Idea. "If Israel had been merely a race like others it would never have survived this fearful catastrophe and would have disappeared in the Babylonian exile. But Israel was the bearer of an idea; this was not to be annihilated with the state, and its eternal destiny was not closed with its political life. On the contrary, it seems as though only now, when the body was dashed to pieces, was the spirit really able to develop

unhampered. The death that Judah died was a death suffused with dawn. While its sun seemed set in eternal night, already in the east new day was breaking, destined in the fulness of time to illumine the whole world with its light. Israel went down to the grave with the hope of early resurrection, and this hope was not disappointed. Forty-. nine years after Nebuzaradan, the Babylonian captain of the guard, set fire to city and temple, a burnt offering from those who had returned to the fatherland was again smoking to the God of Israel on the spot where the brazen altar of Solomon had stood. The flame that had consumed Jerusalem was for Judah a purifying fire; from the seedfield of the exile sown in tears was to spring up a precious and immortal harvest."-CORNILL.

The Preacher of Repentance

Lesson Passages: Jeremiah 1:11-19; 2:1-4; 5:20-31; 26:1-23; 32: 28-41.

I. The Preacher of Repentance. Synopsis of the Book of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 1:11-19. His birth and destiny.

Jeremiah 3:1-4. His call.

Jeremiah 5:20-31. God's judgments.

Jeremiah 26:1-23. The Prophet's impeachment and trial.

Jeremiah 32: 28-41. Prayer for the assurance of God's mercy on Israel.

The following is taken from the Message of the Prophets by Sanders and Kent. It will be found a very clear and interesting summary of Jeremiah's earlier activity. The Lesson Passages above given have noted beside them the general thought of each.

II. Jeremiah's Early Life. "A brisk walk of an hour northward from Jerusalem along one of the great highways which radiate from the sacred city, brings one to the little town of Anâta, the Anathoth of the Hebrews. It is unattractive to-day, with its few poor hovels, and it must have been insignificant also in antiquity (cf. Isa. 10:30). Although shut off from Jerusalem by hills, it figured as one of the northern military outposts of the capital In the days of Solomon, Abiathar, a descendant of the priestly house of Eli, was banished thither (I Kings 2: 26); and it