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Topic:
Thoughts And Things Of The Bible --
Captivity
With respect to the word "captivity…"
(1.) Of Israel. The kingdom of the ten tribes was successively
invaded by several Assyrian kings. Pul (q.v.) imposed a tribute on
Menahem of a thousand talents of silver (2 Kings 15:19, 20; 1 Chr. 5:26)
(B.C. 762), and Tiglath-pileser, in the days of Pekah (B.C. 738),
carried away the trans-Jordanic tribes and the inhabitants of Galilee
into Assyria (2 Kings 15:29; Isa. 9:1). Subsequently Shalmaneser invaded
Israel and laid siege to Samaria, the capital of the kingdom. During the
siege he died, and was succeeded by Sargon, who took the city, and
transported the great mass of the people into Assyria (B.C. 721),
placing them in Halah and in Habor, and in the cities of the Medes (2
Kings 17:3, 5). Samaria was never again inhabited by the Israelites. The
families thus removed were carried to distant cities, many of them not
far from the Caspian Sea, and their place was supplied by colonists from
Babylon and Cuthah, etc. (2 Kings 17:24). Thus terminated the kingdom of
the ten tribes, after a separate duration of two hundred and fifty-five
years (B.C. 975-721). Many speculations have been indulged in with
reference to these ten tribes. But we believe that all, except the
number that probably allied themselves with Judah and shared in their
restoration under Cyrus, are finally lost. "Like the dew on the
mountain, Like the foam on the river, Like the bubble on the fountain,
They are gone, and for ever."
(2.) Of Judah. In the third year of Jehoiachim, the eighteenth king
of Judah (B.C. 605), Nebuchadnezzar having overcome the Egyptians at
Carchemish, advanced to Jerusalem with a great army. After a brief siege
he took that city, and carried away the vessels of the sanctuary to
Babylon, and dedicated them in the Temple of Belus (2 Kings 24:1; 2 Chr.
36:6, 7; Dan. 1:1, 2). He also carried away the treasures of the king,
whom he made his vassal. At this time, from which is dated the
"seventy years" of captivity (Jer. 25; Dan. 9:1, 2), Daniel
and his companions were carried to Babylon, there to be brought up at
the court and trained in all the learning of the Chaldeans. After this,
in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, a great national fast was appointed (Jer.
36:9), during which the king, to show his defiance, cut up the leaves of
the book of Jeremiah's prophecies as they were read to him in his winter
palace, and threw them into the fire. In the same spirit he rebelled
against Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 24:1), who again a second time (B.C.
598) marched against Jerusalem, and put Jehoiachim to death, placing his
son Jehoiachin on the throne in his stead. But Jehoiachin's counsellors
displeasing Nebuchadnezzar, he again a third time turned his army
against Jerusalem, and carried away to Babylon a second detachment of
Jews as captives, to the number of 10,000 (2 Kings 24:13; Jer. 24:1; 2
Chr. 36:10), among whom were the king, with his mother and all his
princes and officers, also Ezekiel, who with many of his companions were
settled on the banks of the river Chebar (q.v.). He also carried away
all the remaining treasures of the temple and the palace, and the golden
vessels of the sanctuary. Mattaniah, the uncle of Jehoiachin, was now
made king over what remained of the kingdom of Judah, under the name of
Zedekiah (2 Kings 24:17; 2 Chr. 36:10). After a troubled reign of eleven
years his kingdom came to an end (2 Chr. 36:11). Nebuchadnezzar, with a
powerful army, besieged Jerusalem, and Zedekiah became a prisoner in
Babylon. His eyes were put out, and he was kept in close confinement
till his death (2 Kings 25:7). The city was spoiled of all that was of
value, and then given up to the flames. The temple and palaces were
consumed, and the walls of the city were levelled with the ground (B.C.
586), and all that remained of the people, except a number of the
poorest class who were left to till the ground and dress the vineyards,
were carried away captives to Babylon. This was the third and last
deportation of Jewish captives. The land was now utterly desolate, and
was abondoned to anarchy. In the first year of his reign as king of
Babylon (B.C. 536), Cyrus issued a decree liberating the Jewish
captives, and permitting them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the
city and the temple (2 Chr. 36:22, 23; Ezra 1; 2). The number of the
people forming the first caravan, under Zerubbabel, amounted in all to
42,360 (Ezra 2:64, 65), besides 7,337 men-servants and maid-servants. A
considerable number, 12,000 probably, from the ten tribes who had been
carried away into Assyria no doubt combined with this band of liberated
captives. At a later period other bands of the Jews returned (1) under
Ezra (7:7) (B.C. 458), and (2) Nehemiah (7:66) (B.C. 445). But the great
mass of the people remained still in the land to which they had been
carried, and became a portion of the Jews of the "dispersion"
(John 7:35; 1 Pet. 1:1). The whole number of the exiles that chose to
remain was probably about six times the number of those who returned.
Derived from Easton's and Smith's Bible Dictionaries
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