Jehoiachin is brought A. M. 3404. Ol. XLV. 1. Tarquinii Prisci, Ol. XLVII. 4. Anno CHAP. LII.. 28 This is the people whom persons were four thousand and out of prison. A. M. 3442. B. C. 562. OI. LIV. 3. Anno Servii Tullii, 31 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the R. Roman., 17. captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the 29 In the eighteenth year of twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day Nebuchadrezzar he carried away of the month, that Evil-merodach king of captive from Jerusalem eight Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted hundred thirty and two persons: up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and 30 In the three and twentieth brought him forth out of prison, Ol. XLIX. 1. year of Nebuchadrezzar NebuzarTarquinii Prisci, adan the captain of the guard R. Roman., 33. carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the Tarquinii Prisci, A. M. 3420.. Anno m m 32 And spake Pkindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon, 33 And changed his prison garments: a and See 2 Kings 2 Kings xxv. 27, 28, 29, 30.- Gen. xiv. 13, 20.-P Heb. at which time they might think it proper to send off 2 Kings xxiv. 2.- See 2 Kings xxiv. 12.xxiv. 14. See ver. 12;. chap. xxxix. 9.Verses 28-30. On these verses Dr. Blayney has some sensible remarks; I will extract the substance. These verses are not inserted in 2 Kings xxv. Are we to conclude from these verses that the whole num- And the last, in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadber of the Jews which Nebuchadnezzar, in all his ex-nezzar, was when that monarch, being engaged in the peditions, carried away, was no more than four thou-siege of Tyre, sent off Nebuzar-adan against the Moabsand six hundred? This cannot be true; for he car-ites, Ammonites, and other neighbouring nations, who ried away more than twice that number at one time; at the same time carried away the gleanings of Jews and this is expressly said to have been in the eighth that remained in their own land, amounting in all to no year of his reign, 2 Kings xxiv. 12-16. Before that more than seven hundred and forty-five. time he had carried off a number of captives from Je- Josephus speaks of this expedition against the Moabrusalem, in the first year of his reign, among whom ites and Ammonites, which he places in the twentywere Daniel and his companions, Dan. i. 3-6. These third year of Nebuchadnezzar; but mentions nothing are confessedly not noticed here. And as the taking and done in the land of Israel at that time. Only he says, burning of Jerusalem is in this very chapter said to that after the conquest of those nations, Nebuchadnezhave been in the fourth and fifth months of the nine-zar carried his victorious arms against Egypt, which teenth- year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, those who were carried into captivity at the date of those events cannot possibly be the same with those that are said to be carried away either in the eighteenth or twenty-third year of that prince. Nor, indeed, is it credible that the number carried away at the time that the city was taken, and the whole country reduced, could be so few as eight hundred and thirty-two, (see ver. 29;) supposing a mistake in the date of the year, which some are willing to do without sufficient grounds. Here then we have three deportations, and those the most considerable ones, in the first, in the eighth, and nineteenth years of Nebuchadnezzar, sufficiently distinguished from those in the seventh, eighteenth, and twenty-third years. So that it seems most reasonable to conclude with Abp. Usher, in Chronologia Sacra, that by the latter three the historian meant to point out deportations of a minor kind, not elsewhere noticed in direct terms in Scripture. he in some measure reduced, and carried the Jews whom he found there captives to Babylon. But the Egyptian expedition was not till the twenty-seventh year of Jehoiachin's captivity, i. e., the thirty-fifth of Nebuchadnezzar, as may be collected from Ezek. xxix. 17; so that those who were carried away in the twenty-third year were not from Egypt, but were, as before observed, the few Jews that remained in the land of Judah. Verse 31. In the twelfth month] Answering nearly to our twenty-fifth of April, A. M. 3442. Lifted up the head of Jehoiachin] This phrase is taken from Gen. xl. 13. It is founded on the observation that those who are in sorrow hold down their heads, and when they are comforted, or the cause of their sorrow removed, they lift up their heads. The Hebrew phrase, lift up the head, signifies to comfort, cheer, make happy. Verse 32. Spake kindly] Conversed freely Set his throne] Gave him a more respectable seat than any of the captive princes, or better than even his own princes had, probably near his person. The first of these, said to have been in the seventh | with him. year of Nebuchadnezzar, was one of those that had been picked up in several parts of Judah by the band of Chaldeans, Syrians, and others, whom the king of Babylon sent against the land previously to his own coming, 2 Kings xxiv. 2. That in the eighteenth year corresponds with the time when the Chaldean army broke off the siege before Jerusalem, and marched to meet the Egyptian army, Verse 33. And changed his prison garments] That is, Jehoiachin changed his own garments, that he might be suited in that respect to the state of his elevation. Kings also, in token of favour, gave caftans or robes to those whom they wish to honour. Jehoiachin treated kindly A. M. 3442. Anno he did continually eat bread be- of the king of Babylon, every r Heb. the matter And he did continually eat bread before him] Was a constant guest at the king's table. Verse 34. And there was a continual diet given him] This was probably a ration allowed by the king for the support of Jehoiachin's household.. For other particulars, see the note on 2 Kings xxv. 30. life. of the day in his day. A. M. 3442. the following words: And done is aftir that into caitifte is brougt Esrael, and Jerusalem is destroide, satte Terempe the prophet weepund, and weiled with this lamentacion Jerusalem; and with bitter inwit sighand and criand weilawat, seide. Then follows in red letters: Here beginneth the Lamentation of All the days of his life.] I believe these words have Terempe, that is intitle Cenoth; with the sortpnge out been by mistake added from the preceding verse. of Ebrue letters. ALEPH: How sittith aloon the There, they are proper; here, they are tautological. | city, &c. See something of a similar kind from other They are wanting in the Septuagint and in the Arabic. authorities, at the beginning of 'Lamentations. The preceding words, my ad yom motho, "to the day of his death," are wanting in two of De Rossi's and one of Kennicott's MSS. Coverdale ends thus: All the days of his life untill 398 MASORETIC NOTES. Number of verses in this Book, 1365. Middle verse, chap. xxviii. 11 -Masoretic sections, 31. INTRODUCTION TO THE L À MENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. THIS book, like the several books of the Pentateuch, is denominated in Hebrew now eicah, how, from its first word; and sometimes p kinnoth, lamentations, from its subject. In the Septuagint it is termed PHNOI TOY IEPEMIOT, for the same reason. The Syriac and Arabic copy or follow the Septuagint; and so does the Vulgate, from the Lamentationes of which, the book has that name which it bears in our language. In the Chaldee it has no name; and in it, and perhaps, anciently in the Hebrew, it was written consecutively with the last chapter of Jeremiah. It is one of the books of the niban Megilloth, or Roll, among the Jews; and because it relates to the ruin of their affairs, and contains promises of restoration, it is peculiarly prized, and frequently read. The five Megilloth are: Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Lamentations, Ruth, and Esther. There has been little difference among learned men concerning the author of this book. The whole current of antiquity and modern times has pointed out Jeremiah as the writer: of this the style is a sufficient evidence. Mr. John Henry Pareau, in a Dissertation prefixed to his Translation and Notes on this book, (8vo. Lugd. Bat. 1790,) has proved this point amply from a general collation of the prophecy of Jeremiah with select passages in this book. I have heard of but one learned man who has entertained serious doubts on the subject, Mr. Herman Van der Hardt, who has supposed the five chapters were written by Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Jeconiah. To this opinion I suppose none has ever been converted. There has been more difference of opinion relative to the subject and occasion. Some have thought the book was composed on the death of Josiah; others that it was composed on occasion of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the various desolations connected with it. To this all its parts and its general phraseology seem best to apply; and this is the sentiment most generally embraced at present. This will receive much proof from a minute consideration of the book itself., The composition of this poem is what may be called very technical. Every chapter, except the last, is an acrostic. Of the two first, each versé begins with a several letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in the order of the letters, with this exception, that in the second, third, and fourth chapters, the phe is put before the y ain; whereas in all the acrostic Psalms the latter precedes the former, as it does in all grammars of the Hebrew language. In the first and second chapters each verse is composed of three hemistichs or half verses, except the seventh verse of the first, and the nineteenth of the second chapter, which have each four hemistichs. The third chapter contains sixty-four verses, each, as before, formed of three hemistichs, but with this difference, that each hemistich begins with the same letter, so that the whole alphabet is thrice repeated in this chapter. INTRODUCTION TO THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. The fourth chapter is made up of twenty-two verses, according to the number of the Hebrew letters; but the composition is different from all the rest, for each verse consists of only two hemistichs, and those much shorter than any in the preceding chapters. I have called this an inimitable poem; better judges are of the same opinion. "Never," says Bishop Lowth, "was there a more rich and elegant variety of beautiful images and adjuncts arranged together within so small a compass, nor more happily chosen and applied." “One would think," says Dr. South, "that every letter was written with a tear; every word, the sound of a breaking heart: that the author was compacted of sorrows; disciplined to grief from his infancy; one who never breathed but in sighs, nor spoke but in a groan." "Nor can we too much admire," says Dr. Blayney, "the full and graceful flow of that pathetic eloquence in which the author pours forth the effusions of a patriotic heart, and piously weeps over the ruins of his venerable country. But it was observed before that the prophet's peculiar talent lay in working up and expressing the passions of grief and pity; and, unhappily for him as a man and a citizen, he met with a subject but too well calculated to give his genius its full display." David in several places has forcibly depicted the sorrows of a heart oppressed with penitential sorrow; but where, in a composition of such length, have bodily misery and mental agony been more 'successfully painted? All the expressions and images of sorrow are here exhibited in various combinations, and in various points of view. Misery has no expression that the author of the Lamentations has not employed. Patriots! you who tell us you burn for your country's welfare, look at the prophecies and history of this extraordinary man; look at his Lamentations; take him through his life to his death, and learn from him what true patriotism means! The man who watched, prayed, and lived for the welfare of his country; who chose to share her adversities, her sorrows, her wants, her afflictions, and disgrace, where he might have been a companion of princes, and have sat at the table of kings; who only ceased to live for his country when he ceased to breathe ;-that was a patriot, in comparison with whom almost all others are obscured, minished, and brought low, or are totally annihilated! 400 THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. Chronological notes relative to the Book of the Lamentations. Year from the Creation, according to Archbishop Usher, 3416.-Year of the Jewish era of the world, 3173. CHAPTER I. The prophet begins with lamenting the dismal reverse of fortune that befell his country, confessing at the A. M. cir. 3416. OL. XLVIII. 1. b HOW doth the city sit solitary, and princess among the pro- is she become as a widow! she tary! cir. annum 29. that was great among the nations, Isa. xlvii. 7, 8.- Ezra iv. 20. In all copies of the Septuagint, whether of the Roman or Alexandrian editions, the following words are found as a part of the text: Και εγένετο μετα το αιχμαλωτισθήναι τον Ισραηλ, και Ιερουσαλημ ερημωθηναι, εκάθισεν Ιερεμίας κλαίων, και εθρήνησεν τον OpTVOV TOUTOV STI Isgoura, xa Sire" And it came to pass after Israel had been carried away captive, and Jerusalem was become desolate, that Jeremiah sat weeping and he lamented with this lamentation over Jerusalem; and he said." The Vulgate has the same, with some variations :"Et factum est, postquam in captivitatem redactus est Israel, et Jerusalem deserta est, sedit Jeremias propheta flens, et planxit lamentatione hac in Jerusalem, et amaro animo suspirans et ejulans, dixit." The translation of this, as given in the first translation of the Bible into English, may be found at the end of Jeremiah, taken from an ancient MS. in my own possession. 2 She c weepeth sore in the C Jer. xiii. 17. A. M. cir. 3416. B. C. cir. 588, Tarquinii Prisci, cir. annum 29. I subjoin another taken from the first PRINTED edition of the English Bible, that by Coverdale, 1535. "And it came to passe, (after Israel was brought into captyvitie, and Jerusalem destroyed ;) that Jeremy the prophet sat weeping, mournynge, and makinge his mone in Jerusalem; so that with an hevy herte he sighed and sobbed, sayenge.' Matthew's Bible, printed in 1549, refines upon this: "It happened after Israell was brought into captyvite, and Jerusalem destroyed, that Jeremy the prophet sate wepyng, and sorrowfully bewayled Jerusalem; and syghynge and hewlynge with an hevy and wooful hert, sayde." Becke's Bible of the same date, and Cardmarden's of 1566, have the same, with a trifling change in the orthography. On this Becke and others have the following note:— "These words are read in the LXX. interpreters: but not in the Hebrue.” 1 |