Israel; be glad and rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy; the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more. At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes." Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, a priest of Anathoth; he lived during the reigns of Josiah and the succeeding kings of Judah. When the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "Before thou wast born I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations"; Jeremiah answered, "Ah, Lord GOD! behold I cannot speak: for I am a child." But the Lord said unto me, "Say not, I am a child for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD....Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee; be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee." He was then commissioned to reprove the Jews for their idolatries,— to tell them of the certain punishments which awaited them-and to exhort them to repentance. NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. Lord. against-the opposition, hatred, and persecution of all classes should be directed against him, but God's protection and care would be more than sufficient to preserve him from them all. Jeremiah whom Jehovah has appoint- | gird-p. 137. girdle; p. 240. hand of the ed; he was very young when called to the prophetic office, on which account he felt extremely diffident in accepting the call of Jehovah. He was of the family of Aaron, and lived at Anathoth, a city of the priests. Before-See Acts xv. 18; Gal. i. 15,16. cannot speak a similar plea was urged by Moses. Exod. iv. 10-13. a child-not strictly within the years of childhood, but young. reprove-the idolatries were so increas ed, that, like neighbouring nations, they had a tutelary deity for every city of Judah. 115. JOSIAH IS SLAIN. Chron. xxxv. 20-24; xxxvi. 2 Kings xxiii. 29-35. Habakkuk. WHEN Josiah had completed the repairs of the temple, Necho, king of Egypt, came up to fight against Charchemish, by the Euphrates. and Josiah went out against him. But Necho sent ambassadors to him, saying, "What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war; for God commanded me to make haste; forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not." Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, "Have me away; for I am sore wounded." His servants therefore took him to Jerusalem, where he died, and he was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him: for there was no king before him nor after him that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, as he did, according to the law of Moses. NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. Necho-son of Psammeticus; in order Necho the second. Euphrates-the great river of Asia went out-Josiah was an ally of the king of Babylon, and he was bound by treaty to assist the Babylonians against their enemies. The government of all the land of Israel had been restored to Manasseh his grandfather, when he was liberated from prison in Babylon; and it seems certain that Josiah ruled over the whole land, as David and Solomon ruled over it before the separation of the tribes. forbear-this warning Josiah heeded not, because he questioned the preten The people made Jehoahaz, a younger son of Josiah, king after his father; he reigned only three months, and did evil. Pharaoh-Necho deposed and imprisoned him; he also exacted tribute of one-hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold from the kingdom: he made ·Eliakim king, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. The king procured the tribute from the people, and paid it to Pharaoh-Necho. At this time Habakkuk prophesied; he lamented the iniquity of the land; after which he described the Chaldeans as a bitter and hasty nation, which should march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling-places that were not their's. The prophet then humbly prayed that God would look upon Judah while under the debasing tyranny of the Chaldeans; he foretold the overthrow of the Babylonish kingdom; prayed that the Lord would revive his work in the midst of the years, and in wrath remember mercy. He also thus expressed his own confidence in God, "Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation." NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. of the kingdom of Israel, where Josiah would have had no business, if he had not been king of that kingdom as well as of Judah. Jehoahaz-whom Jehovah holds fast ;' also called Shallum; though he was the fourth son of Josiah, the people preferred him before the rightful heir. deposed-he was offended with the people for acting contrary to established usage. Necho was returning from Charchemish to Egypt at this time; he took with him Jehoahaz as a captive, and the prophecy of Jeremiah (xxii. 10-12) respecting him was thus fulfilled. eracted-the land of Israel was now tributary to Egypt; the sum amounted to £52,000, the smallness of which, some suppose, shows the impoverished condition of the Jews. Eliakim-called also Jehoiakim'whom Jehovah has set up,' Habakkuk- he who embraces;' he foretold the destruction of Babylon, as did Nahum the overthrow of the Assyrian kingdom-the two nations by which Israel and Judah were carried away captive. bitter and hasty-carrying destruction in their march, and rapid in the execution of their military enterprises. revive-Heb. 'keep alive;' i. e. notwithstanding the hostility and oppression of enemies. fig-tree-the fig-tree has no visible blossom, the flower is within the fruit and comes to maturity in concealment. The budding of its leaves always indicates the approach of summer, and is thus referred to by the prophet as a figure of returning prosperity. p. 147. figs, 299. gatherer. HABAKKUK'S RESOLVE. 66 THOUGH THE FIG TREE SHALL NOT BLOSSOM....I WILL JOY IN THE GOD OF MY SALVATION." Though the fig tree my bower that o'ershaded Though the vine's wreathed curtain all faded, Though the olive, lov'd symbol of heaven, Nor voice of the flock's tender bleating These joys are the moonbeam that waneth, And I will rejoice in his name. Undried is that fountain of pleasure, ALTHOUGH THE FIG TREE" &c. WARING. Greenfield appropriately remarks, "This verse (17) most nervously paints the desolate state of Judea during the captivity; (see p. 328. would deliver) and the two following verses (18,19) contain the finest display of the prophet's resignation and confidence, and holy triumph in the God of his salvation. He saw that the evil which the Spirit of God enabled him to paint in all its calamitous circumstances, was at hand and unavoidable; he submitted to this dispensation of Providence, and confided in his mercy and goodness." 66 ASSYRIA UNITED TO BABYLON. Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, assisted by the Medes, is supposed before this time, to have conquered the Assyrians and destroyed Nineveh. Thus he became king of Assyria also and some learned men are of opinion, that after Manasseh was freed from captivity, the kings of Judah reigned over the country formerly possessed by the ten tribes, as tributaries and allies to the kings of Babylon. Josiah might therefore consider himself as under engagements to the king of Assyria, as well as unwilling that the contending parties should march their armies through his country: he however lost his life in the attempt. Megiddo was situated in the lot of Manasseh, in a northern part of the land: but at this time it seems to have been under Josiah's government."—Scott's Bible. Y 116. PREDICTIONS OF JEREMIAH THE RECHABITES. Jeremiah. JEREMIAH declared God's judgments against Judah and mourned for their sins. He said "my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the ·fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Having pointed out some of their transgressions, he proceeded thus :—“ Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?....For the ⚫mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are ·burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowls of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone. And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant." Before delivering this prediction, Jeremiah felt deeply distressed for his countrymen, and exclaimed "Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!" The Lord commanded him to declare that the Jews should be utterly cast forth, and if they asked, "Whither?" he was to tell them; "Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. fountain-a spring or source of water; burned up-by drought and the scorch- den of dragons-a place of horror and |