In the year 606 B. C., Nabuchodonozor (Fig. 54)[1], king of Babylon, placed himself at the head of an immense army, marched against Jerusalem[2], and, having taken it, carried away the king and the principal inhabitants as captives [3]. Sixteen years later, those who were left in Jerusalem revolted once more against Nabuchodonozor, and the latter returned with a still greater army, and after a siege of eighteen months, he took Jerusalem by storm (588 B. C.).
Then the whole city was given up to fire and pillage[4]. The Temple itself was consumed by fire, and the sacred vessels were carried off. All the people[5] that escaped the sword were led into captivity in Babylon, and the splendid city of Jerusalem was reduced to a heap of ruins.
Jeremias[6] remained in Jerusalem (Fig. 55), and, sitting on the ruins of the desolate city, he lamented in the most pathetic manner the miseries of his people, and the destruction of Jerusalem. “How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people; how is the mistress of nations become as a widow[7]; the princess of provinces
- ↑ Nabuchodonozor. About 610 B. C., he and his father had destroyed Ninive and the Assyrian empire (to which Babylon belonged), and set up a new Babylonian empire, and subjected half Asia.
- ↑ Against Jerusalem. It appears that between 606 — 588 Nabuchodonozor had to march several times against Jerusalem to quell revolts, before it was finally destroyed.
- ↑ Captives. 10,000 men.
- ↑ Pillage. The famine during this siege was so terrible that mothers cooked and ate their children who had perished from starvation. A pestilence, moreover, broke out and swept off many of the inhabitants. When, at last, the city was stormed, thousands were killed, and the streets literally ran with blood. The city was sacked, the beautiful Temple destroyed, the houses burnt, and the walls overthrown.
- ↑ All the people. Only the very poor were left behind to cultivate the fields and vineyards. The king Sedecias was carried off, his eyes were put out, and he was kept in prison till he died.
- ↑ Jeremias was given the choice of either remaining in Juda, or of filling an honourable post in Babylon. He chose to remain among the ruins of the Temple to comfort the Jews who -were left behind.
- ↑ As a widow. Jerusalem, formerly the mistress of many nations, now robbed of her king and her inhabitants.
