Volume I, pages 759–777 of the 1732 edition, from JER to JES: everything printed on these pages, in order.
Continued from Jeremiah
same Prince, Seraiah, Baruch’s brother, having been sent to Babylon, in all probability In the year of the World 3409, before J. C. 591, before the Vulgar Æra 595.to desire of Nebuchadnezzar the restitution of the Vessels belonging to the Temple, Jeremiah gave him the prophecies, which he had written against Babylon, with directions to read them to the captive Jews, and after that to fasten them to a stone, and throw them into the river Euphrates. Jeremiah wrote again another time to the same captives by Gemariah, whom the King sent to Babylon, advising them to settle in that country, to build houses and marry there, because their captivity was to last seventy years; after the expiration of which, the Lord would deliver them. One Shemaiah, who was then at Babylon, wrote to Zephaniah, who was one of the Chief Priests, and reproved him for permitting Jeremiah to write these things to the captives, and for neglecting to imprison him upon this occasion. Zephaniah read the letter to Jeremiah, and this Prophet wrote again to the captives of Babylon, and foretold to Shemaiah, that he should die in captivity, and that neither he, nor any of his posterity should see the deliverance of the people of Judah.
While Nebuchadnezzar was carrying on the siege of Jerusalem in the tenth year of Zedekiah’s reign, Jeremiah, who was In the year of the World 3414, before J. C. 586, before the Vulgar Æra 590.continually prophesying, that the City would be taken, and the people reduced to captivity, was imprisoned in the Court belonging to the Palace. At that time Hanameel, the son of Jeremiah’s Uncle, visited the Prophet in his confinement, and told him, that the right of redeeming such a field at Anathoth, the place of his nativity, was his. Jeremiah bought it, sealed the writings, and delivered the money for it. He put the writings into Baruch’s hands, xxxiii.and ordered him to keep them, because, added he, the time will come, when this land will be again cultivated and inhabited. During the same siege, the King and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem set their slaves at liberty, because it was the Sabbatical Year; and the view of their present danger made them more exact in the observance of the Law. But Nebuchadnezzar having for some time left the siege, in order to make head against the King of Egypt, who made a shew of coming to its relief, the King and People took their slaves again, without considering their Word, or the Law of God. Jeremiah hereupon rose up against them, and threatned them in a terrible manner. After the siege was broke up, his liberty was given him, and Zedekiah sent to him, recommending himself to his prayers. The Prophet sent the King word, that NebuchadnezzarJerem. xxxvii. would return against the City, that he would take it, and reduce it to ashes. As he was preparing to retire to Anathoth, the place of his nativity, the guards seized him as a deserter, and the Princes threw him into a dungeon, where his life was in great danger by reason of the incommodiousness of the place. Zedekiah some time after sent to know of him, whether he had any new Revelation. Jeremiah told him, that he would infallibly be delivered into the hands of the Chaldæans, and desired him to procure his release out of the place of his confinement. The King granted this favour to him, and appointed bread to be given him every day for his sustenance, as long as there should be any in the City.
Nebuchadnezzar returning to the siege of Jerusalem, blocked it up closer than before; and Zedekiah having sent to ask JeremiahJer. xxi. whether he had any thing good to communicate to him, he answered the persons employ’d on this errand, that the destruction of the King and Grandees was resolved on; but as for the people, that they of them who should surrender to the Chaldæans would have their lives given them, and that they, who should persist obstinately in their design of abiding in the City, would be destroyed with it. As this Prophet continued to foretel the calamities which would befall the City, the Great Men of Jerusalem made their complaints to Zedekiah, who permitted them to do what they pleased with Jeremiah. They let him down therefore with cords into a well, where there was no water, but only mud; here the Prophet must have very soon perished, if Ebedmelech had not given notice of it to the King, who commanded him to be taken out of this place. Notwithstanding, Jerem. xxxviii.he was still left in the court of the prison, and there continued till the City was taken, which happened some time after, in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, of the World 3416, before Jesus Christ 584, before the Vulgar Æra 588.
Jeremiah was taken with other captives, and carried to Ramath: but as NebuchadnezzarJer. xxxix. 11,12,&c. xl. 1—6. xli. had expressly charged Nabuzaradan, the General of his troops, to take care of Jeremiah, and leave him at liberty to do as he thought fit; Nabuzaradan gave him the choice of going with him to Babylon, or of staying in Judæa with the remainder of the people. The Prophet accepted this last offer, and went to Gedaliah at Mizpah, where likewise many of the Jews, who had been dispersed into different places by the war, came and joined him. There they lived in peace and security, when Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, attended with ten men, came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and treacherously murdered him. But he was pursued by Johanan the son of Kareah, and by him obliged to let go the booty which he had
taken, and to fly himself with eight men in his company, to the Ammonites.
Johanan having got together as many Jews as he could find, appointed them to Jer. lxii.meet at Bethlehem, where they consulted Jeremiah, to know whether they should stay in Judæa, or retire into Egypt. The Prophet desired time to consult God; and at ten days end answered them, that if they went into Egypt, they would there perish by the sword, famine, and pestilence; and that if they continued in the land of Judah, God would protect and preserve them. The principal of the people hereupon began to mutiny, and asserted, that this answer did not proceed from God, but was suggested by Baruch, to divert them from going into Egypt. They resolved therefore to go thither, and compell’d Jeremiah and Baruch to accompany them. There this Prophet uttered several predictions against the Jews and Egyptians, told them that Nebuchadnezzar would invade the country, and described the very place where he would erect his throne; threatned the King of Egypt, that God would give him up into the hands of the Chaldæans, as he had already served Zedekiah. This is the account of Jeremiah’s life, which we have collected from his own writings.
Several of the Ancients1 maintain, that he was put to death at Taphnis in Egypt, by the Jews, who were not able to bear his menaces and reproaches; and they explain these words in the Epistle to the Hebrews, They were Heb. xi. 37.stoned, as relating to his death. Some Rabbins are of opinion that he returned into Judæa, and others will have it that he went to Babylon, and there died. Some of the Primitive Fathers2 tell us, that as Elijah did not die, so neither did he; because the Scripture says nothing of his sickness, and because the Apostles answered Jesus Christ, who asked Matth. xxvi. 14.them what the Jews said of him, that some took him for Elias, others for Jeremiah. But the common and general opinion of Divines, is, that he died, and must one day rise again. Beside the Book, which contains his prophecies, we have his Lamentations in five Chapters, which are mournful songs composed upon the occasion of those calamities which befel Jerusalem in its declining state, and upon the intire destruction of it by the Chaldæans. This opinion to us appears to have the best foundation. Others3 think that Jeremiah composed them upon the death of the pious King Josiah. It is certain that he wrote 2 Chron. xxxv. 25.Lamentations on this subject; but they have not been handed down to us. You have here what we read in the Chronicles relating to these Lamentations: And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for him, and all the singing-men and singing-women spake of Josiah in their Lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel. He is said likewise to be the Author of the cxxxviith Psalm, and some assert that he with Ezekiel composed the lxvth. There are Authors who affirm that he compiled the two Books of Kings, because the last chapter of Jeremiah is the same with the last chapter in the second Book of Kings. But the reason of this is, the last chapter of Jeremiah was taken from the second Book of Kings to serve as a supplement to his Prophecy. There are citations in the Books of the4 Maccabees from particular writings of Jeremiah, which were still to be seen in the year of the World 3880, before Jesus Christ 120, and 124 years before our Vulgar Æra. But these writings are lost. Lastly, the Fathers often cite Baruch under the name of Jeremiah; because Baruch is generally mentioned at the end of his master’s prophecies.
Jeremiah appeared after his death to Judas Maccabæus with that holy High-Priest Onias in his company, and gave him a sword of gold, very bright and glittering, with these words, Take this holy sword, the 2 Macc. xv. 13.gift of God, with which thou shalt wound the adversaries. At the same time Onias shewing him Jeremiah, said, This is a lover of the brethren, who prayeth much for the people, and for the holy City.
The Alexandrian Chronicle5 relates, Chronic. Pasch. p. 156, 157.that Jeremiah being in Egypt, prophesied to the Egyptian Priests, that their Idols would be overthrown by an earthquake, when the Saviour of the World should be born, and lying in a manger; for which reason they had from that time a Virgin represented with a child lying in a manger, and paid divine honours to him. King Ptolemy asking the Priests the reason of
this, they told him what Jeremiah had declared prophetically to their Ancestors. This Chronicle adds, that Alexander the Great going one day to this Prophet’s tomb, and being informed of what he had fore-told concerning his person and conquests, ordered his body to be removed to Alex-andria, and a magnificent monument to be erected for him. John Moschus, in his Pratum Spirituale6, relates likewise this last circumstance, and adds, that Jeremiah was very much honoured in that part of Alexandria called Tetraphyla.
Eupolemus, who is cited in Eusebius7, informs us also of some particularities concerning the life of Jeremiah, wherein there is no more certainly than in those which we have produced out of the Alex-andrian Chronicle. This Author says, that Jeremiah having declared to the idolatrous Jews, that their destruction was near, King Jehoiakim resolved to have him burnt alive. But the Prophet foretold to him how the Jews, who should be carried in captivity to Babylon, would make use of that very wood, wherewith he designed to burn him, in dressing provisions for the Babylonians, and in digging ditches for them round about the Euphrates and Tigris. Nebuchad-nezzar being informed of this prediction, engaged Assibazus King of the Medes to accompany him in the war, which he proposed to undertake against the Jews; and after he had subdued Samaria, Galilee, Scythopolis and the land of Gilead, he de-stroy’d Jerusalem, took Jehoiakim, and carried away the riches of the Temple, excepting the Ark, and Tables of the Law, which he left with Jeremiah. There are several things in this account, which are not warrantable. But as to this last cir-cumstance of the Ark, we read in the second Book of Maccabees, that Jeremiah having taken the sacred fire, concealed it in a cistern, where, when the Jews re-turned from the captivity, they found only some muddy water, which however took fire when it was poured upon the Altar; and that the same Prophet removed the Tabernacle and the Ark to Mount Nebo, and there hid them in a cave, where they still remain to this day.
Jeremiah was all his life-time exposed to the ill treatment of the Jews, whose irregularities he was continually reproving. Ecclus. xlix. 7.The Author of the Book of Ecclesiasticus, in the Encomium which he gives us of this Prophet, seems to draw his character from the persecutions endured by him. They entreated him evil, who nevertheless was a Prophet sanctified in his mother’s womb. St. Jerom8 observes, that Jeremiah’s style is lower and more neg-lected, than Isaiah’s for example, and some others of the Prophets. This defect he ascribes to this Prophet’s birth; for he was born and educated at Anathoth, which was a village or little country town. There are other Criticks9 who discover a sublimity, and greatness in his style. Grotius thinks with reason, that his talent lay principally in touching and exciting the passions of tenderness and pity. The Lamenta-tions are a master-piece in this kind.
II. JEREMIAH, of the City of Libnah, was the father of Hamutal the wife of Josiah King of Judah, and mo-ther of Jehoahaz and Zedekiah. 2 Kings xxiv. 18.
III. JEREMIAH, a very valiant man of the Tribe of Manasseh, and Head of his Family. 1 Chron. v. 24.
IV. JEREMIAH. There were two Heroes of this name in David’s Armies. 1 Chron. xii. 4, 10, 13.
JERIBAI, one of David’s brave Of-ficers. 1 Chron. xi, 36.
JERICHO, a City in the Tribe of Benjamin, about seven leagues from Jerusalem, and two from Jordan. Moses calls it the city of Palm-trees, by reason of the great number of these trees growing in the plain of Jericho. Josephus says, that in the territory belonging to this City there were not only many Palm-trees, but likewise the Balsam-tree, which produced that precious liquor so much esteemed by the Ancients. The Valley of Jericho was watered with a rivulet which formerly was salt and bitter; but was afterwards sweet-ned by the Prophet Elisha, so that its wa-ters made the plain of Jericho not only one of the most agreeable, but one of the most fertile spots in that country. Jericho was the first City in the Land of Canaan, taken by Joshua. He at first sent Spies thither, who were received by a woman named Rahab; by her they were lodged in her own house, and preserved from fal-ling into the King of Jericho’s hands, who had sent people to seize on them. She obliged them to promise her, that when the City should be taken, she and her whole family should have their lives given them. See the Article RAHAB.
Joshua received God’s orders to lay siege to Jericho, some few days after his Josh. vi. 1, 2, 3, &c.passage over Jordan, and perhaps on the evening before, or upon the very day of the first Passover, which the Hebrews celebrated in the Land of Canaan. The manner wherein the siege was to be formed, had something very extraordinary in it. God commanded them once every day for seven days together to make a tour about the City. The soldiers marched first, in all probability out of the reach of the Enemies arrows. After them followed the
Priests, who sounded the trumpets; then they who carried the sacred Coffer, wherein the Tables of the Law were included; and last of all, the whole body of the people disposed in the same order which they observed in their marches through the Wilderness. This ceremony was repeated till the seventh day, upon which they marched seven times round about the City; and at the seventh, while the trumpets were sounding, and all the people making great cries, the walls of themselves fell down. The first day, the Rabbins say, was Sunday, and the seventh, the Sabbath-day. During the six first days, all the people continued in profound silence; but on the seventh, Joshua commanding them to shout, they every where exalted their voices; and the walls being overthrown, they all entred the City, every man in the place which was opposite to him.
Now God had ordained that the City should be devoted to the Curse, and that no one should touch any thing, which was found in it; that they should spare neither man nor beast, that they should put all to the sword without distinction of age or condition; and that Rahab only and her family should be excepted out of this general law. All this was accordingly executed. They set fire to the City, and consecrated to the Lord all the gold, silver and brass which were to be found in it. Then Joshua pronounced this imprecation, and said, Cursed be the man before the Lord, who shall raise up and rebuild Jericho: let his first-born die while he lays the foundation of it, and may he lose his youngest child, when he hangeth up the gates. This 2 Kings xvi. 34. About the year of the World 3090, before J. C. 910, before the Vulgar Æra 914.imprecation made by Joshua was not vain. Hiel of Bethel about five hundred and thirty seven years after this undertook to rebuild Jericho. He lost his eldest son Abiram as he was laying the foundations, and his youngest son Segub, when he hung up the gates.
We are not however to imagine, that there was no City of the name of Jericho in this Canton till the time of Hiel of Bethel. There was a City of Palm-trees, the same probably as Jericho, in the time Judg. iii. 13.of the Judges, under Eglon King of the Moabites. David’s Ambassadors, who had been insulted by the Ammonites, dwelt at 2 Sam. x. 4, 5.Jericho, till their beards were grown again. There was therefore a City of Jericho at that time; but it was not built upon the foundations of the old one; it lay somewhere in the neighbourhood of this first a Doubdan, Voyage de la Terre Sainte, c. 37. b Joseph. de Bello, l. 5. c. 4.Jericho a. Josephus sufficiently distinguishes these two places, when he says b, that even in his time near ancient Jericho, which was destroyed by Joshua, there was the spring of a Fountain which abounded with water, and was sufficient to moisten the whole plain. But after Hiel of Bethel had repaired old Jericho, no one made any scruple of dwelling there. We have seen in the Article ELISHA, after what manner the Prophet sweetned the waters of this Fountain. Herod caused a very beautiful palace to be built at Jericho. Here he gave orders for drowning his brother-in-law the High-Priest Aristobulus. Our Saviour wrought some miracles at Jericho; and there it was that he was invited to abide with Zacchæus, whose faith is so much commended in the Gospel.
Ecclus. xxiv. 18. Quasi plantatio Rosæ in Jericho.The Rose of JERICHO is mentioned with approbation in the Scripture, and in the Writings of Travellers; though there is room to question whether what the Scripture calls the Rose of Jericho, be the same thing with what the Moderns understand by this name. Let this be as it will, that which goes under this name, is described thus: It is a plant in shape like an Elder-tree. The Blossom of it appears in bunches composed of very small flowers, like those of the Elder-tree. At first it is red, and afterwards becomes whitish. The plain of Jericho is all covered over with this sort of shrub. There are some too which grow in particular places of Arabia. The flower of it is incorruptible; it dries up, and closes much like the Elder-flower, before it opens and blows. Several virtues are ascribed to it, without any foundation. If it be left some time in the water, it opens, and blows; if it be left for any time out of the water, it closes again; and this in all seasons of the year.
As to the Balsam-tree of JERICHO, see the Article BALSAM-TREE.
JERICON, Jercon, or rather Jarkon, a Town in the Tribe of Dan. Joshua xix. 46. Me-jarkon signifies the waters of Jarkon. This place was situated in the neighbourhood of Joppa.
JERIMOTH, a City in the southern part of Judah. See JARMUTH.
JERIMOTH. There were several persons of this name, but we know nothing particularly of their lives. See 1 Chron. vii. 7, 18. viii. 14. xxiii. 13. xxiv. 30. xxv. 4, &c.
I. JEROBOAM, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, whose name is so often mentioned with detestation in the Scripture, as Author of the Schism and Idolatry of the ten Tribes; was the son of Nebat, and a widow, whose name was Zervah. He was born at Zereda in the Tribe of Ephraim. Jeroboam was bold and enterprizing; and Solomon had given him commission to levy the taxes over the whole house of Joseph, that is to say, throughout the Tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. One day when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, and was going alone into the 1 Kings xi. 29.country, the Prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him with a new cloak upon his shoulders. There were only these two
in the field. Then Ahijah taking his The year is uncertain, but it was towards the end of Solomon’s reign that this was done.cloak, cut it in twelve pieces, and said to Jeroboam, Take ten of them to thy self; for thus saith the Lord, I will divide and rend the Kingdom of Solomon, and will give ten Tribes to thee. One Tribe shall remain to him for my servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, which I have chosen among all the Tribes of Israel; because Solomon worshipped Ashtoreth the Goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the God of the Moabites, and Milcom the God of the Ammonites, and because he hath forsaken me, and given himself over to iniquity. Notwithstanding I will not deprive him of the Kingdom; he shall enjoy it till his death: but I will dispossess his son of it, and will give thee ten Tribes belonging to it. If therefore thou obeyest my orders, and walkest in my ways, as David my servant hath done, I will be with thee, and will establish thy house for ever, and put thee in possession of the Kingdom of Israel.
In the year of the World 3029, before J. C. 971, before the Vulgar Æra 975.Jeroboam, who was already ill-inclined to Solomon, being encouraged by Abijah’s promises, began to stir, and sollicit the people to revolt. But Solomon, who had intelligence of his designs, resolved to take Jeroboam into custody, who therefore fled into Egypt, and there continued till the death of Solomon. Rehoboam, who succeeded him, following the advice which his young Counsellors gave him a, behaved himself in a haughty and menacing manner towards the people, who were assembled in order to acknowledge him for their King; this provoked them to such a degree, that ten of the Tribes separated from a 1 Kings xii. 1, 2, &c.the house of David, and deserted Rehoboam. In the mean time, Jeroboam returned from Egypt, and the ten Tribes having intelligence of it, invited him to appear among them in a general Assembly, in which they appointed him to be King over all Israel. Jeroboam fixed his residence at Shichem, and there fortified himself. He likewise rebuilt Penuel beyond Jordan, and put it into a condition of defence, in order to keep the Tribes quiet which were on that side.
Jeroboam forgetting the fidelity which he owed to God, who had given him the Kingdom, thought of nothing more than maintaining himself in possession of it at the expence of Religion, and God’s Worship. He said within himself, If my people go to Jerusalem to offer their Sacrifices, and perform their Adorations, they will soon return to the obedience of the house of David, and I shall be the victim of their inconstancy, or of Rehoboam’s resentment. He resolved therefore to make two golden Calves, in imitation probably of the God Apis, whom he had seen in Egypt; to place one at Dan, the other at Beersheba10, at the two extremities of his Dominions; and to publish a prohibition throughout all the land against going hereafter to Jerusalem, and an order to worship these two golden Calves. Henceforth, said he, go no more to Jerusalem. Behold thy Gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt! He built Temples likewise in the High-Places, and made Priests of the lowest of the people, who were neither of Aaron’s Family, nor of the Tribe of Levi.
In the year of the World 3030, before J. C. 970, before the Vulgar Æra 974. 1 Kings xiii.He appointed publickly a solemn Feast upon the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in order to dedicate his new Altar, and consecrate his golden Calves; and all the people being assembled, he himself went up to the Altar to offer Incense and Sacrifices. At that time a man of God, who is generally believed to be the Prophet Iddo, came from Judah to Bethel by God’s direction, and seeing Jeroboam at the Altar, he cried, “ O Altar, Altar, thus saith the “ Lord; a Child shall be born unto the “ house of David, by name Josiah, and “ upon thee shall he sacrifice the Priests of “ the High-Places, who now burn incense “ upon thee: he shall burn men’s bones “ upon thee.” And for a proof that the Lord hath spoken this, behold the Altar shall immediately be rent asunder, and the ashes, and whatsoever is upon it, shall be poured upon the earth. At the same time the King, who was standing by the Altar, stretched out his hand, and commanded the Prophet to be seized: but the hand which he had so stretched out withered, and he could not draw it back. The Altar immediately was broken, and the fire, with the ashes which were upon it, fell upon the ground, according to the man of God’s prediction. Then the King said to him; Offer up thy prayers to God, that he may restore to me the use of my hand. The man of God besought the Lord, and the King’s hand was restored to the condition it was in before. Hereupon Jeroboam said to the Prophet, Come and dine with me at my house, and I will make thee some presents. He answered, Although thou shouldst give me half of thine house, I would not go with thee, nor will I taste any thing in this place; for the Lord hath expressly forbidden me to do so.
An event of so extraordinary a nature did not recover Jeroboam from his impiety; he continued to keep the people in error
and superstition, by appointing Priests of the High-Places, and engaging them in such a sort of worship as was contrary to the Law of God. This was the sin of Jeroboam’s family, and the cause of its utter The year is not certain.extirpation. Some time after, Abijah his son falling sick, Jeroboam sent his wife to 1 Kings xiv.the Prophet Abijah to consult him concerning his son’s health. And that the man of God might not discover the Queen, she disguised herself in the dress of an ordinary woman. She was scarce got to the threshold of the Prophet’s door, but Abijah, who had lost his sight with age, cried out to her, Come in thou wife of Jeroboam, why dost thou disguise thyself? Go tell Jeroboam, thus saith the Lord, I made thee Prince over my people, and thou, instead of continuing faithful to me, hast turned thy back upon me, and paid thy adorations to strange Gods. Wherefore I will utterly root out the house of Jeroboam; they of his family who shall die in the city, shall be eaten by dogs; and they, who shall die in the field, shall be devoured by fowls of the Air. As to the Child concerning whom thou art come now to consult me, he shall die of his disease, and all Israel shall mourn for him. As the Prophet had foretold, so it happened: yet Jeroboam became not at all the better for it. He died after a reign of two and twenty years, and Nadab his son In the year of the World 3050, before J. C. 950, before the Vulgar Æra 954.reigned in his stead.
II. JEROBOAM, the second of the name, King of Israel, was the son of Jehoash. He began to reign after his father, in the year of the World 3179, before Jesus Christ 821, before the Vulgar Æra 825. 2 Kings xiv. 23, 24, &c.He reigned one and forty years, and died in the year of the World 3220, before Jesus Christ 780, before the Vulgar Æra 784. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. His reign was long and happy. He restored the kingdom of Israel to its ancient splendor, from which it was extremely fallen under his predecessors, and reconquered the Provinces and Cities, which the Kings of Syria had usurped, and dismembred from his Dominions. He reduced all the countries to his obedience on the other side of Jordan, as far as the Dead Sea. And all this in execution of the promises which God had made by the Prophet Jonah, the son of Amathi, from whom we have other prophecies; but not those which he pronounced in favour of Jeroboam II. nor the particulars of the conquests made by this Prince, which were written in the Annals of the Kings of Israel.
The Prophets Hosea, Amos, and Jonah prophesied under Jeroboam II. We see by their writings, that in his reign, idleness, See Hosea v. 1. vi. 8. ix. 15. xii. 11. and Amos v. 5. vii. 13. viii. 14. Amos ii. 6, 7, &c. iii. 9, 10, 14. vi. 4, 5, 6. viii. 4, 5. Amos ii. 11, 12. iv. 4, 5. v. 22, 23. viii. 3, 5, 10. Amos vii. 10, 11, 12.effeminacy, magnificence, and injustice reigned in Israel; that the licentiousness of the people in point of Religion was extreme; that they not only frequented Dan and Bethel, where the golden Calves were placed, but likewise Mizpah in Gilead, Beersheba, Tabor, Carmel, and Gilgal, and in general, the several places where God had at any time appeared to the Patriarchs, and almost all the High-places in Israel. Not that they designed always to worship Idols there, but hereby they acted with disobedience to God, and exposed themselves to opportunities of falling into infamous disorders, by being present in assemblies, where there was so much gaiety and pleasure, and in places remote from view and observation. It is remarkable also, that in his reign several articles of the ceremonial Law were observed in Israel. The First-fruits and Tythes were paid; the Feasts and Sabbath were observed; and Nazarites were consecrated.
The Prophet Amos was raised up by God to threaten the house of Jeroboam with the utmost calamities. He said that the High-places consecrated to Idols should be destroy’d, and that Jeroboam’s family should be cut off by the sword. Amaziah the Priest of Bethel informed the King, that Amos was a rebellious subject, that he inspired the people with an inclination to revolt, and said publickly, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. This was a calumny framed by this sham-priest; and the Scripture does not say that the King gave any credit to it. Nevertheless Amaziah obliged him to depart out of the territories of Israel; and it is very probable, that he did so by the King’s authority. We know nothing more concerning the particulars of Jeroboam’s life.
2 Chron. xx. 16.JERUBBAAL. Gideon was surnamed thus after he had destroyed Baal’s grove, and his father had replied to those, who complained of this action, that it was Baal’s business to take revenge for it. Judg. vi. 31, 32. From hence Sanchoniathon has borrowed his Jerombaal, Priest of the God Jao. Euseb. Præpar. l. 1. See GIDEON.
Josh. xviii. 28. Gen. xiv. 18. Heb. vii. 1. Ps. lxxv. 3. in Heb.JERUEL. King Jehoshaphat obtained a great victory over the Ammonites, Moabites, and other confederated people in the wilderness of Jeruel. It lay to the west of the Dead Sea in the southern part of Judah, nor far from Ziz.
JERUSALEM, called before Jebus or Salem. Some call it Solyma or Ierosolyma; the Hebrews Jeruschalaim or Jeruschelem. This word may signify the vision of Peace, or the possession or inheritance of Peace. Joshua gave it to
Josh. xviii. 18. to the Tribe of Benjamin. He took and put to death the King of Jerusalem in the famous battle of Gibeon; and there is all the probability that can be, Josh. x. 23, 40. xii. 10.that he did not leave this city alone in the midst of the country without reducing it, as he had done the rest. Notwithstanding, it must be confess’d, that it is no where said to have been taken by him. Nay, it appears from other passages, that the Jebusites continued in possession 2 Sam. v. 6, 7.of it till David’s time; and it is said expressly, that the children of Benjamin did Judg. i. 21.not drive the Jebusites out of Jerusalem.
On the other side, this City appears to have been within the division of the Tribe Josh. xv. 63.of Judah. It is said in Joshua, That the children of Judah could not drive out the Jebusites Judg. i. 8.the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and in the Book of Judges we read, that the children of Judah took and burnt Jerusalem. Lastly, David, who was of the Tribe of Judah, no sooner was acknowledged King by all Israel, but he marched against Jerusalem, and reduced it to his obedience, drove the Jebusites out of it, and made it the Seat of his Kingdom. In a word, the Ps. lxxviii. 68.Psalmist does very clearly make Jerusalem to be a part of Judah, when he says, that the Lord chose not Ephraim, but the Tribe of Judah and Mount Sion. In order to reconcile these different Texts, it may be said, that Jerusalem being upon the frontiers of the two Tribes, it is sometimes made a part of one, and sometimes of the other; that Benjamin had most right to it by Joshua’s division of the country, and Judah by right of conquest, having twice subdued it; first under the Judges, and afterwards under David.
After that the Lord had declared Jerusalem to be the place which he had See Joseph. de Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 6. & l. 3. c. 5.chosen for his Habitation, and for his Temple, it was looked upon as the Metropolis of the whole Nation, and belonging to all the Israelites in common. It did not therefore properly belong either to Benjamin or Judah.
The City of Jerusalem was built upon one or two Hills, and was encompassed all Ps. cxxiv. 2. Strabo, l. 16.round with Mountains. Montes in circuitu ejus. It was situated in a stony and barren soil, and was about sixty furlongs in length, according to Strabo. The territory and places adjacent to Jerusalem, were well watered, having the fountains of Gihon and Siloam, and the brook Kidron at the foot of its walls; and besides these, the waters of Ethan, which Pilate had convey’d through Aqueducts into the City. The ancient City Joseph. l.Bello.1. c. 15. de of Jerusalem or Jebus, which David took from the Jebusites, was not very large. It was seated upon a Mountain southward of the Temple. The opposite Mountain, situated to the north, is Sion, where David built a new City, which he called the City of David, wherein was the Royal Palace, and the Temple of the Lord. The Temple was built upon Mount Moriah, which was one of the little Hills belonging 1 Kings ix. 15, 24. xi. 27.to Mount Sion11.
Between these two Mountains lay the Valley of Millo, which formerly separated ancient Jebus from the City of David, but was afterwards filled up by David and Solomon, in order to join the two Cities. After the reign of Manasseh, there is mention made of a new City, called the Second, which was inclosed with walls by this Prince12. The Maccabees made still some farther additions to it, and considerably enlarged it on the north side13, by inclosing a third Hill, and making it part of Jerusalem. Josephus speaks again of a fourth Hill called Bezetha, which Agrippa joined to the City, and began to encompass with walls. This new City lay to the North of the Temple, along the Brook Kidron. Wherefore Jerusalem was at no time so large, as when it was attacked by the Romans. It was then three and thirty furlongs in circumference, which make four miles and an hundred and five and twenty paces, or a league and almost an half, at three miles to a league. Which is farther confirmed Joseph. de Bello, l. 6. c. 6.by what the same Josephus says, who informs us, that the wall of circumvallation, which Titus made about the City, was nine and thirty furlongs, which make four miles, eight hundred seventy five paces, or something more than a league and an half. Others describe it to be of a much larger extent. See Villalpandus for the affirmative, and M. Reland for the negative. Palæstin. t. 2. l. 3. p. 836, 837.
We shall not undertake to describe all the publick and private Edifices of this celebrated City. The old ones are almost intirely unknown to us: and those which Josephus speaks of, and describes to us, have little or no relation to the Bible, which we proposed principally to illustrate in this work. We shall give you a description of the Temple in the particular Article belonging to it: we shall speak likewise of the Synagogues in another place. The Plan, which we have given of Jerusalem, excuses us from repeating here many things, which may be seen, by casting an eye only on this description. The Gates, which we have mentioned, were not perhaps exactly in the place where we put them: but in matters of
this nature, whether we will or no, something must be allowed for conjectures. I have spoken of the Fish-pool, which was in the Sheep-market, in its proper place, under Bethzaida or Bethesda. I have said something likewise of the fountains Siloam and Gihon.
It is an opinion generally entertain’d, that Melchisedek was King of Jerusalem; not but that there is some difficulty in this Hieron. Ep. ad Evangelum. Gen. xiv. 18.matter. St. Jerom thinks, that the City of Salem, whereof Melchisedek is said in Scripture to have been King, was a village near Scythopolis, where the ruins of this Prince’s Palace were still visible in his time; which were so extraordinary, as to shew sufficiently what formerly had been the magnificence of this Edifice. The Author of the Paschal Chronicle says likewise, that he saw the village where was formerly the Reland. Palæit. l. 3. p. 976, and 833.dwelling-place of Melchisedek. M. Reland, in like manner, will not believe that Melchisedek reigned at Salem. We chuse rather to follow the opinion of the generality of the Fathers and Interpreters, since there is nothing in it contrary to Scripture, which sometimes calls Jerusalem, Salem; since likewise they who are of the contrary opinion are not agreed concerning the situation of the City of Salem, which they affirm to have been the place of Melchisedek’s residence.
The Jebusites were masters of it during the time of Moses, Joshua, and the Judges, and till the beginning of David’s reign. It is the conjecture of some, that Joshua took it from them, as has been already observed by us. The children of Judah, after the death of Joshua, got possession of it14: but either they could not keep it, or they took only the lower Town, the Citadel continuing in the power of the Jebusites. And this is the first time that this City is said distinctly in the sacred Text to have been taken: the second time is set down at the beginning of David’s reign. No sooner did this Prince perceive himself to be well settled on the 2 Sam. v. 6.Throne of Israel, but he march’d against Jerusalem. The City was so strong, that the Jebusites, who were in possession of it, boasted that they would defend it only with the blind and lame. But David forced it, and drove out the Jebusites, and chose it to be the Capital of his Kingdom. From that In the year of the World 2956, before J. C. 1044, before the Vulgar Æra 1048.time Jerusalem became the theatre of many important actions; so that to write the History of this City, would be to undertake a recital of almost the whole sacred History.
David embelished and considerably augmented it: but Solomon added so many great and beautiful works, that he made it one of the finest Cities in the East. Under the reign of Rehoboam, the son and 1 Kings xiv. successor of Solomon, it was taken and pillaged 25, 26, 27. by Shishak King of Egypt. This Prince carried away all the treasures of In the year of the World 3033, before J. C. 967, before the Vulgar Æra 971. 2 Kings xii. 17. & 2 Chron. xxiv. 24, 25.the Temple and of the Royal Palace.
Hazael King of Syria being come against Jerusalem, and threatning to take it, Joash King of Judah redeemed the City with a great sum of money; which he sent to the King of Syria, in order to oblige him to raise the siege. To this end he made use of all the treasures of God’s house, and of the palace, that he might thereby be enabled to satisfy the avarice of Hazael, who notwithstanding, sent against him, the year following, an army, which defeated that of Judah, took several Princes, killed them, and left Joash himself languishing under violent diseases.
In the year of the World 3178, before J. C. 822, before the Vulgar Æra 826. 2 Kings xiv. 13. & 2 Chron. xxv. 23.Some time after, Joash King of Judah, having rashly declared war against Amaziah King of Israel, this last Prince defeated the army of Judah, took Joash prisoner; and entring Jerusalem, carried away all the treasures, which were in the Temple and the royal Palace, demolished four hundred cubits of the City-walls, from the gate of Ephraim to the Angle-gate, and then returned to Samaria.
Necho King of Egypt returning from his expedition against Carchemish on the Euphrates, entred Jerusalem, took Jehoahaz, whom the people of Judah had set upon the throne of Josiah, put Eliakim or Jehoiakim in his place, and carried Jehoahaz, into Egypt, where he died. We do not read in Scripture, that Necho pillaged the City or the Temple, but he imposed a Tax on all the land, of an hundred talents of silver, and ten talents of gold, which Jehoiakim was obliged to pay by levying a capitation or Tax upon all the people in proportion to their fortunes. It appears by Ezekiel, that Jehoahaz had attacked Necho, or at least had made a resolute resistance before he surrendred himself to him. Thy mother is a lioness, she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among lions. And she brought up one of her whelps, (meaning Jehoahaz) it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey, it devoured men. The nations also heard of him, he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains into the land of Egypt.
In the year of the World 3398, before J. C. 602, before the Vulgar Æra 606. 2 Kings xxiv. 1, &c. Dan. i. 1. Jer. xxv. 1. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 6.Nebuchadnezzar being come into Judæa b, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the King of Judah’s reign c, laid siege to Jerusalem, which was then tributary to the Kings of Egypt; and having subjected it to the dominion of the Chaldæans, he left Jehoiakim there, whom he designed at first to carry with him in irons
to Babylon. Thus the different passages wherein this event is spoken of, are reconciled; some whereof imply, that Jehoiakim was carried to Babylon, and others that he reigned at Jerusalem. He did reign there, but as a Prince depending on Nebuchadnezzar, as he reigned there before by the courtesy of the Kings of Egypt. At the end of In the year of the World 3400, or 3401, before J. C. 599, before the Vulgar Æra 603.three years, he grew weary of this submission, and took arms against Nebuchadnezzar. The King of Chaldæa being then busied in other affairs, could not so soon reduce Jehoiakim; he sent only some troops against him of the Chaldæans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites, who ravaged Judæa, and carried three thousand and three and twenty Jews to Babylon. In the Jer. lii. 28.seventh year of Jehoiakim, of the World 3401; and four years after, of the World 3405, which was the eleventh year of Jehoiakim, they entred Jerusalem, took and put to death this Prince, and cast his body into a common sewer.
2 Kings xxiv. 2, 3, 4.Jehoiachin his son succeeded him; but after a reign of three months and ten days, Nebuchadnezzar coming to besiege Jerusalem, Jehoiachin was obliged to surrender; the city was again taken by the Chaldæans, and the treasures of the Temple and royal Palace carried to Babylon. Lastly, 2 Kings xxv. 10, &c.Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem the fourth and last time, in the year of the World 3416, before the Vulgar Æra 588, and in the eleventh year of Zedekiah.
Ezek. xvii. 15—18. Jer. xxxiv. 8, &c. In the year of the World 3412.The occasion of this war was as follows: Zedekiah, in the seventh year of his reign took secret measures with Hophrah or Apries King of Egypt, to shake off the yoke of the Chaldæans; and two years after he declared himself openly, and refused to pay tribute to Nebuchadnezzar. This Prince being quite tired with the infidelity and inconstancy of the Jews, resolved to exterminate this perfidious Nation, to destroy their Kingdom, and transport the Inhabitants thereof beyond the Euphrates. He came therefore with a powerful army against Jerusalem, and arrived in Judæa at the beginning of the year of the World 3414, which was a Sabbatical Year, wherein the King and people were to dismiss their Slaves, according to the Law of the Lord, which requires the Hebrew Slaves to be set at liberty every seven years: this was immediately executed, and the Slaves continued free as long as the King of Babylon was taken up with the investiture of the city. But the King of Egypt advancing with his army to succour Jerusalem, and Nebuchadnezzar breaking up the siege in order to repel him, the Jews took their Slaves again, without troubling themselves either about their word, or the Law of God. This is what Jeremiah reproaches them with in very strong terms, at the same time as he is threatning them with the greatest calamities. In the mean time Nebuchadnezzar gave the King of Egypt battle, and after he had overcome him, and put him to flight, return’d to the siege of Jerusalem, took it, burnt and destroy’d both the City and the Temple, and carried the Princes and the People away into captivity. So that we may reckon the City of Jerusalem to have been taken nine times before the Babylonish captivity.
Observations on the blockade and siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.☞ Of all the Cities most celebrated in antiquity, none is more famous than Jerusalem, as well for its magnificent buildings, as for the many sieges it has sustained. The last and most memorable is that which it maintain’d against Titus, at the head of 2 Kings xxv.his Romans, under the empire of Vespasian. All the most profound and wonderful effects of Art were put in practice at this siege; the courage and resistance of the besieged was nothing inferior to the skill, valour, and obstinacy of the besiegers. All the calamities which generally accompany long defences, fell upon this unhappy City, as Jeremiah Jerem. ix. Joseph. de Bello Jud. l. v. c. 13.had foretold; pestilence and famine were as destructive to it, as the fury of its enemies. In a word, this was the last effect of God’s wrath, which determined the fate and utter annihilation of this proud city, thus to punish the ingratitude and perfidiousness of the Jews. The description which Josephus has given us of it, is so admirable, and written with so much art, that there is no one, however understanding in the affairs of war, who could acquit himself with more capacity than he has done. But let us return to the siege of this City by Nebuchadnezzar, which at present we are to speak of.
The sacred Author, after his usual manner, is so far from giving us a particular and circumstantial account of this siege, that he passes over the most necessary circumstances. Those Readers who know nothing of what belongs to War, trouble themselves very little about it; but they who are perfectly acquainted with this art, are sensibly concerned to find no particular relation in Historians, of so many gallant actions as were then perform’d, whereof we have but a very imperfect sketch remaining. However, as the Scripture in certain places reports some circumstances and practices, which it omits in others; by adding every thing together, we may be led to the discovery of the Jewish method in the art of attacking and defending.
The situation of Jerusalem, the strength of its walls, and the resistance of the besieged, rendred this City almost impregnable, and consequently the sieges very long. Wherefore Nebuchadnezzar, upon his setting down before the Town, did not attempt to take it by assault, but was concontent
to block it up at first, with two lines drawn round it; that is to say, with a circumvallation and contravallation. The King of Egypt having taken the field, in order to come speedily to the succour of the Joseph. Antiq. l. x. c. 10.place, Nebuchadnezzar march’d to meet him, defeated him, and put him to flight. This movement of the King of Babylon will not suffer us to doubt his drawing a line of contravallation against the sallies of the inhabitants, whom King Zedekiah commanded in person, and a line of circumvallation against the enemies without the City; for although the sacred Writer in the second verse says, That the city was shut up by the line of circumvallation till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah; this however is no declaration that but one line only was drawn: the words of the first verse prove sufficiently, that two lines were contrived, one against the City, the other against the Succours which were expected. Circumdederunt eam, & extruxerunt in circuitu ejus munitiones. They invironed the town, and made intrenchments quite round.
We see in this siege, as well as in many others mention’d in the Scripture, that lines of circumvallation and contravallation were known and practised by the Asiatick people, long before the Greeks and Romans, and that these were not the inventors of them. I believe it will not be unseasonable to produce here what I have said thereupon, in my Comment on Comment. sur Polyb. tom. 2. p.449,450.Polybius. The method of encompassing Towns with a Ditch and Intrenchment against the besieged, and another without towards the open country, with the camp between these two lines, was in use among the Asiatick nations, long before the Greeks and Romans, and perhaps many ages before Moses. When thou shalt besiege a city, says this great Legislator, and the siege shall be long, and thou shalt have encompassed it with machines in order to destroy it, thou shalt not cut down fruit-trees, nor ravage the country round about, by destroying all the trees with axes; because they are but wood, and not men, who might encrease the number of thine enemies. If they are only wild trees which produce no fruit, thou may’st cut them down to make machines of them, or fortifications against the city.
Comment. sur le Deut. c. xx. 19.The means and precautions following were made use of when Cities were extremely strong and well peopled; the enemy then blocked them up by a line or counter-line, with a ditch palissaded within, and sometimes enclosed with a parapet, the ground whereof was supported by a work with fascines. “ Such were properly the “ ditches, walls, palissades, and terrasses, “ with which the City was incompassed, “ in Hebrew called Matzur, says Dom Isai. xxix. 2, 3.“ Calmet; and all this could not be done “ without using the trees in the country.” What we are to admire in the works of this sort, is, that in the framing of them, they were altogether like those of the Greeks and Romans, excepting the Towers wherewith they were flanked. I do not observe any in the Hebrew camps, or in those of the several people they were at war with, before the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.
There are so many passages in the sacred Writers, which plainly describe lines of circumvallation and contravallation, that to produce them all would be superfluous; we shall confine ourselves to what Isaiah only says of them: I will distress Ariel; I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee. The Prophet speaks of these sorts of works, Idem. xxxvii. 33.as of something which was not new in his time: and elsewhere he promises King Hezekiah, that Sennacherib would not besiege Jerusalem, nor undertake any thing against it, and that it should not be encompassed with either intrenchments or terrasses: which signifies nothing more than that the King of Assyria should not invest it, nor surround it with a line of circumvallation.
The Prophet goes still farther; he distinguishes the line with which places are invironed, from terrasses; and I believe that these terrasses do not always signify high elevations of earth, which command the walls, or equal them almost in height, upon which towers were erected, or machines for throwing any thing, and where archers, slingers, and others employ’d in services of this nature, were placed: this is Dom Calmet’s opinion, and I think he is mistaken; they were only coverts round the borders of the ditch, like our trenches, where the slingers and archers were continually at work, secure against the defence made by the Town, while they annoy’d it every way. We see in several places of Scripture, that works of this kind were not only serviceable for such uses, but farther for a contravallation, to check and streighten the besieged.
It is very probable, that Nebuchadnezzar did not at first besiege the City in form, but only blocked it up, having intelligence, that the King of Egypt with his whole army was marching to the succour of the place: for he must have necessarily guarded his circumvallation, to prevent any relief from getting into the City, and have left a large body of troops to defend the works, capable of making head against the sallies of the besieged; which would have weakened him so much, that he could never have gone to meet the King of Egypt, who would not have
failed to cut off his provisions, and attack him, while the besieged, with the King at the head of them, would have sallied out vigorously upon him: but he prevented all this. He marched out to meet the Egyptian army, and after he had defeated it, and put it to flight, he returned to Jerusalem, opened the siege in form, ordered all the machines to be set up against the walls, battered it for a long time, so that it being distressed by famine, and the breach made, all the men of war fled by night, by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the King’s garden, (now the Chaldæans were against the city round about) and the King went the way toward the plain. The Chaldæans therefore entred the City through the breach, and made themselves masters of it after a siege of two years and an half, in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, on the ninth day of the fourth month, that is to say, on Jer. xxxix. 2.Wednesday the 27th of July, in the year of the World 3416.
Some will be surprized to see machines of every kind made use of in this siege, Towers, Battering-Rams, Balistæ and Catapultæ, which the Greeks made use of in their sieges; they were all known to the people of Asia, and no one can in the least doubt the King of Chaldæa’s making use of them at the siege of Jerusalem, since Ezekiel speaks of them so clearly in different Ezek. iv. 2. xxi. 22. Ibid. xxvi.places of his book, and particularly in his prophecy against Tyre: Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon shall come with horses and chariots, with horsemen and numerous troops; he shall incompass thee on every side with intrenchments and terrasses; he shall lift up his buckler against thee; he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers. Can any thing be more particular? No one therefore can question the Chaldæans putting in practice the method of covering themselves in their way from the camp to the batteries by parallels, which the French call blindeés, or something else equivalent to them: there was nothing more simple and easy; and I find it again practised in the last siege of Jerusalem by Titus.
Joseph. Antiq. l. x. c. 11.Josephus says, that the Chaldæans having entred the City about midnight, went up directly to the Temple, and that King Zedekiah and his people escaped in the dark, and fled through narrow passes into the Wilderness; but that the Chaldæans having got intelligence of them from deserters, set out by break of day in pursuit of them, and stop’d them in the plain of Jericho. Dio. l. 66. p. 747.The sacred Writer says almost the same thing: Zedekiah went the way toward the plain, and the army of the Chaldæans pursued after the King, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army were scattered from him. The Rabbins affirm, that Zedekiah fled through a subterraneous way, which led from the palace belonging to the Kings of Judah to the plains of Jericho; they might be believed in this particular, if they did not add some extravagancies to it, after their usual manner. They say, that the King intending to make his escape by this subterraneous passage, God permitted a Hind to follow him without, and go as far above as he went under-ground, and that the Chaldæans pursuing after the Hind, found unexpectedly the King coming out of the covered way. As to the subterraneous passage, there is nothing incredible in it: the Scripture and Josephus make no mention of it; but Dio, who is cited by Dom Calmet, tells us, where he is speaking of the last siege of Jerusalem, “ That the “ Jews had subterraneous conveyances, “ which passing under the walls, opened “ at a great distance from thence into “ the plain.”
Having therefore taken the King, they brought him to the King of Babylon at Riblah, and they gave judgement upon him. This verse demonstrates to us, that Nebuchadnezzar observing the siege to draw out into length, resigned the conduct of it to his Generals, and that he was not at Jerusalem when it was taken, but at Riblah, which some believe to be Apamea in Syria, upon the Orontes.
After the Captivity of Babylon, Jerusalem was rebuilt and repeopled, in the year of the World 3468, before Jesus Christ 532, before the Vulgar Æra 536, which is the first year of Cyrus’s reign at Babylon. But the Walls and Gates belonging to it, were not rebuilt till after the return of Nehemiah, in the year of the World 3550, before the Vulgar Æra 454. Alexander the Great, after he had taken Tyre, entred Jerusalem, in the year of the World 3672, before Jesus Christ 328, before the Vulgar Æra 332.
After the death of this Prince15, Jerusalem remained in the power of the Kings of Egypt; and Ptolemy the Son of Lagus, took Jerusalem by stratagem16, if the accounts of Aristæus and Josephus are to be credited17, and carried into captivity about an hundred thousand men, whom he had taken in Judæa. The same Josephus18 says, that Ptolemy Euergetes King of Egypt, came likewise to Jerusalem, and
there offered many sacrifices of thanksgiving. Lastly, Ptolemy Philopator, after the victory, which he had obtained over Antiochus the Great, near the City of Raphia, came to Jerusalem, went to the Temple, and there offered sacrifices: but the Priests hindred him from going into the Sanctuary, which so provoked him, that he resolved to put all the Jews to death who In the year of the World 2787, before J. C. 213, before the Vulgar Æra 217.were in Egypt; and this he had executed, had not God in a very miraculous manner protected his people, as is related at length in the third book of Maccabees.
Antiochus the Great having recovered Cœle-Syria and Judæa from the King of Egypt, came to Jerusalem, where he was very well received by the Jews, who furnished provisions for his Army and his Elephants, and assisted him to reduce the garrison, which Scopas had left in the citadel of Jerusalem. In acknowledgement for these good services, Antiochus omitted nothing that was necessary to re-establish Jerusalem in its former splendor; he granted large privileges to the Jews, and gave great sums for the Sacrifices of the Temple. Seleucus the son and successor of Antiochus the Great, was not so favourable to the Jews, as Antiochus had been. He sent Heliodorus to the Temple of Jerusalem19, to take from thence the treasures which belonged to it; but he was forced to return without doing any thing, after having been very ill handled by Angels, who appeared to him in the Temple.
Antiochus Epiphanes, brother and successor to Seleucus, came to Jerusalem20, and was received there by Jason, who had usurped the High-Priesthood, with great honours, with the light of flambeaus, and the loud acclamations of the people. At this time he did no mischief. But three years after, in the year of the World 3834, being informed that the inhabitants of Jerusalem had express’d some joy upon a false report that he was dead in Egypt, he conceived so much indignation against them, that at his return, he besieged the city, pillaged it, carried away all the gold, and most of the rich vessels belonging to the Temple, and killed above fourscore thousand men.
Two years after21, he sent one Apollonius to Jerusalem, the collector of his revenues, with secret orders to pillage and burn the city. This man in all appearance came at first with a peaceable spirit; but he fell suddenly upon the city, made a great slaughter in it, took a rich booty, set fire to the place, destroy’d most of the houses, and reserved so much only, as he ordered to be enclosed within walls at the upper end of the city, near the Temple of the Lord, where he built a Citadel, and left a strong garison. Jerusalem was then forsaken by its own inhabitants, and left in the hands of the Gentiles. In the year following, 3837, the Sacrifices were interrupted in the Temple, the statue of Jupiter Olympius was placed upon the Altar, and the abomination of desolation was seen in the House of God. Things continued in 1 Macc. i. 62.this condition for three years22. Judas Maccabæus having defeated Nicanor, Gorgias, and Lysias, went up to Jerusalem, purified 1 Macc.iv. 36, &c.the Temple, and restored the Sacrifices.
The year following, Antiochus Eupator was received by Judas Maccabæus in Jerusalem23, after the peace which had been concluded between them. This Prince honoured the Temple, and made presents to it. But before he left the city, he gave directions for pulling down the wall, which was between the Temple and the Citadel, and secured the Holy Place 1 Macc. vi. 2 Macc. xiii. 4 Macc. ii.from the attempts of the Syrians. This Citadel, which always kept Jerusalem depending on the Kings of Syria, stood six and twenty years, from the year of the World 3836 to 3862, when it was taken and demolished by Judas Maccabæus.
Antiochus Sidetes enraged at the great mischiefs which Simon Maccabæus had done him, made war with John Hircanus his son and successor. He came into Judæa, and after he had ravaged the open country, he compelled Hircanus to retreat to Jerusalem, where he besieged him; but he met with a vigorous resistance from the besieged, incamp’d at the distance of two furlongs, or two hundred and fifty paces from the Temple, towards the north part of the city, and erected an hundred and thirty Towers, upon which he placed a great number of soldiers, to drive away all those who defended the walls. And as they were carrying on the sap, they discovered the foundations of them to be laid on wood; Antiochus therefore set fire to it, which threw down a great part of the wall: but the besieged appeared upon the breach, and stop’d the effort of their enemies, who designed to get an entrance this way into the city. At the same time Hircanus made a vigorous sally on the besiegers, and compell’d Antiochus and his people to retreat to a good distance from the Town; after which, Hircanus returned, and burnt the Towers which had been erected by Antiochus.
I am very much surprized at Polybius’s silence Observations on the siege of Jerusalem by Antiochus Sidetes.with regard to the Jews, and the several wars carried on against this nation by the Kings named Antiochus, and particularly by Antiochus Sidetes; for the Greek Author here named is very circumstantial in his account of the expeditions of these Princes; notwithstanding which, he makes no mention of the Maccabees, and says not a word of so many battles and memorable sieges: in short, one would think, that King Hircanus, and this famous siege of Jerusalem by Sidetes, whom Josephus calls Soter, were all imaginary. Livy is no better informed than Polybius; we find nothing of the Jews in other contemporary Authors, nor in any but such as wrote long after. What can we think or believe of this silence?
This siege of Jerusalem happened about the end of the year 3869. Josephus, who has described it, relates some particular circumstances, which we do not read in the fourth book of Maccabees. He says, ” That Antiochus divided his army ” into four bodies, in Antiq. l. 13. c. 16.order by this means ” to inclose the whole place ; that he was ” very much incommoded by the want of ” water, which inconveniency was remedied by plenty of rain;” that he made a double circumvallation, very great and very wide, to cut off all communication between those within and others without: that the besieged on their part made many sallies, with great loss to the besiegers, when they happen’d not to be upon their guard; and when they were, the others retreated easily into the city. He adds farther this particular: Hircanus observing, that the number of unserviceable mouths which were in the place, might occasion an unprofitable consumption of his provisions, forced them all out, and retained those only who were in the vigour of their age, and for that reason fit for war; but Antiochus prevented them from getting into the open country, and so they continued wandering up and down within the inclosure of the city-walls, where they miserably perished with hunger. In the mean time, the Feast of Tabernacles coming on, the besieged touched with compassion for their fellow-citizens, permitted them to return into the city, &c. It is with some regret that we find the sacred Historians do not give us the whole detail of these so famous sieges.
Sidetes doubtless marched with a great provision of Troops, warlike Machines, and all things necessary for a long Siege, which he had reason to expect from his remembrance of preceding ones; for this city always made a stout resistance, which was owing not only to the strength and height of its walls, but to the bravery likewise of the besieged.
Sidetes incamped in the north part of the city, and erected an hundred and thirty towers, upon which he posted soldiers to drive away all those who appeared upon the walls. And in the mean time, the miners were employ’d in sapping the foundations of the wall. Josephus mentions only an hundred towers with three stories, which were very sufficient, not to say too many. It is surprizing that he should take no notice of Rams, and that they should endeavour only to make a way by subterraneous passages even under the foundations of the city-walls: but to what purpose were all these Towers near each other, and upon the whole front of the attack, if they had no design of battering it above, as well as below, whither the besieged might have come, and made the undertaking useless and ineffectual? I very much question their proceeding in this way: for I do not consider near so much the great expence of these Towers, as the difficulty of finding wood to build them with, in a country which must have been very much unprovided with it: for it is rare to find any in Provinces ravaged with almost continual Wars. Besides, these Towers become useless, when people intend to reduce a Town by subterraneous Galleries under the foundations of the ramparts, where too a prodigious quantity of Timber is necessary.
The Walls of Jerusalem were very strong and high, as the Author of the Maccabees informs us: and Josephus, who has given us a very exact description of them, makes them to be of a very surprizing height. The Archers posted in these Towers, which ran upon Wheels, prevented certainly any one’s appearing on the Fortifications; but to what purpose was this precaution, since they made their way only by subterraneous passages to the foundations of the City-walls? Was it with a design of hindering those, when the walls should fall, who were upon the fortifications, from incommoding their enemies who should go upon the Assault? This was too inconsiderable for so great a provision of Towers. For my part, I am of opinion, that Battering-Rams, and all the Machines in use at this time, were employ’d; and we must believe, that Antiochus took as much pains to destroy the walls above, as under ground.
The besiegers shortened mightily their work of sapping; for they found the City-walls built on Piles, so that they had nothing to do but to remove the earth from between the Piles, and fill the void places with combustible matter, and fascines, which they set on fire, and so made a large breach, by thus overthrowing the wall. Afterwards Antiochus storm’d the City with great fury, but the besieged defended themselves
with so much bravery and vigour, that the besiegers were repulsed with dishonour : And at the same time, Hircanus sallying out upon the enemy, killed abundance of them, and obliged Antiochus and his people to retire to a good distance from the city. This sally must have been very fierce and bloody, since Antiochus’s troops were forced to draw off farther from the place, and without doubt abandon their intrenchments; nevertheless Hircanus did not think it proper to engage himself farther, but prudently returned, and was content with setting fire to all the Towers above mentioned, and reducing them to ashes. It appears by the sequel of the story, that Antiochus was charm’d with the gallant resistance of the Jews, and that he could not forbear having a particular esteem for Hircanus: For the Feast of Tabernacles coming on, Hircanus sent to desire a suspension of arms till after the solemnity, (that is to say, for eight days ;) which the King granted, and sent even Sacrifices to the Temple, and Presents in gold and silver; and the High-Priest commanded the Priests to receive what the King sent; the liberality and piety of Antiochus engaged Hircanus and his people to sue to him for peace: the King consented, and entred the city. Hircanus received him there, together with the principal Officers of his army, and gave them a great entertainment.
Antiochus got clear of this affair like a man of capacity, and more gloriously than he had reason to expect; his generosity engaged the High-Priest to desire peace of him, and altho’ it was not very honourable to the Jews, the consequence shewed, that it conduced much to their greatness and elevation.
This peace may be reckoned among the most uncommon ones, for it lasted not only during the whole reign of Antiochus, but long after the death of this Prince, who perished unhappily in a war which he was carrying on against the Parthians. And Hircanus, who followed him as his friend, took the opportunity of his death to make himself master of several good places; he recovered all the Towns which had belonged to the Jews, subdued the Idumæans, received all his neighbours under his protection, who promised him to live in peace, and in obedience to him: lastly, he renewed the ancient alliance, which 1 Macc. viii. 17. xii. 1.had been contracted by Judas Maccabæus, and confirmed by Jonathan, between the Jews and Romans.
The City of Jerusalem enjoy’d great peace till the reign of Hircanus and Aristobulus, the Sons of Alexander King of the Jews. Hircanus, as eldest, had been acknowledged King; but as his stupidity In the year of the World 3938, before J. C. 62, before the Vulgar Æra 66. Joseph. Antiq. l. 14. c. 1. In the year of the World 3940, before J. C. 60, before the Vulgar Æra 64. Joseph. Antiq. l. 14. c. 8. & de Bello, l. 1. c. 5. Joseph. Antiq. l. 14. c.17. Antiq. l. 19. c. 7.and laziness rendred him very unfit to reign, Aristobulus his brother made himself master of the Kingdom, and three years after Hircanus had been upon the Throne, he obliged him to relinquish it, having overcome him in a battle near Jericho, and forced him in the Temple. Aretas King of the Arabians, having undertaken to restore Hircanus to his Dominions, and besieging Aristobulus in Jerusalem, the two brothers addressed themselves to Pompey, who was in the East, desiring his Protection. Pompey undertook to re-establish Hircanus on the Throne, to the exclusion of Aristobulus; he attacked Jerusalem, took it, entred the Temple, and went even into the Sanctuary ; but he had so much moderation as to touch nothing that was in this Holy Place. He left great Treasures there, and above all admir’d the fondness which the Priests shew’d for their Ceremonies, which neither the Alarms of the siege, nor the Conqueror’s sword, could induce them to interrupt. The day after the Temple was taken, he commanded it to be purified, and Sacrifices to be offered in it.
But some years after, Julius Cæsar, at the request of Hircanus, and in consideration of the services which he had perform’d for him in Egypt, permitted him to rebuild the walls. The Decree to this purpose was prepared at Rome, and no sooner was it brought to Jerusalem, but Antigonus set people to work in the repair of it, and it became very soon as strong as it had been before. As the City was still considerably inlarged afterwards, King Agrippa undertook to enclose the new Town with walls ; but Narsus, Præfect of Syria, having given intelligence of it to the Emperor Claudius, the Emperor forbad him to proceed any farther. Josephus says, that if he had been suffered to go on, he had made the Walls so high and so strong, that no Tacit. Hist. l. v. c. 12. Vitruv. l. 1. c. 2. Veger. de Re Mil. l. 4. c. 2.human power could have forced them. Tacitus remarks, that when Titus besieged it, it included two great Hills fortify’d with very strong Walls, which were not drawn in a strait Line, but with Angles in and out, and Towers; that when the enemy attack’d them, he might lie open on the sides, and be obliged to expose his flanks to the besieged. Duos colles immensum editos claudebant muri per artem obliqui, ac introrsum sinuati ut latera oppugnantium ad ictus patescerent. This was the good and ancient way of fortifying places, according to Vitruvius and Vegetius.
Antigonus the Son of Aristobulus, supported by the assistance of the Parthians, some years after24 attacked his Uncle Hircanus in Jerusalem. Herod and Phasael defended the City: but Hircanus and
Phasael departing thence, in order to go and treat with Pacorus the King of Parthia’s son, they were both seized and loaded with fetters. Herod was forced to leave the City, and save Antiq. l. 14. c 24, 25. & de Bello, l. 1. c. 11.himself by flight. He went to Rome, where, by the credit of Mark Antony and Cæsar, he procured the Title of King from the Senate. He returned therefore to Palestine25, and with the assistance of Sosius, who commanded the Roman army in Syria, he besieged Antigonus in Jerusalem. After a siege of five months, In the year of the World 3966, and 3967.Antigonus surrender’d, and threw himself at Sosius’s feet, who insulted him in his misfortune, by calling him Antigona, to reproach him with his weakness and cowardice. Archelaus, the Son and Successor of Herod the Great, being sent into exile, Antiq. l. 14. c. ult.Judæa was soon after reduced into a Province, under the obedience of the Governour of Syria. The Roman Emperors always kept a garrison in the Citadel Antonia, till the last rebellion of the Jews, which began by their besieging this fortress, wherein they forced the Roman garrison, and put it to the sword26. The year In the year of the World 4069, of J. C. 69, of the Vulgar Æra 65.following, of Jesus Christ 70, Titus laid siege to the City, carried it, burnt and reduced it to a wilderness.
Joseph. de Bello Jud. l. 7. c. 18.Josephus remarks, that Titus, after he had taken the City of Jerusalem, commanded his soldiers to demolish it intirely, excepting three Towers, which were the largest and most beautiful; these he was desirous to reserve as a monument of the valour of the Romans, who were able to take a place of such great strength. The Towers thus preserved were those of Phasaël, Hippicus, and Mariamne. He likewise ordered the wall to be left standing, which inclosed the City on the West-side, that it might serve as a rampart to the Camp there appointed to remain, with Troops to guard the country. All the rest of the City was destroy’d and levell’d, so that they who had never before seen it, could scarce persuade themselves that it had ever been inhabited.
The Jewish Authors assure us, that Turnus Rufus, or rather Terentius Rufus, whom Titus left there to command the Troops, plowed up the Joseph. de Bello Jud. l. 7. c. 20.ground on which the Temple stood, that none might ever after be permitted to rebuild it. The Roman Laws indeed prohibited the rebuilding places, where this Ceremony had been perform’d, without first obtaining permission from the Senate. But it is believed, that this did not happen, that is to say, that the ground on which the Temple stood was not plowed up till after the revolt of the Jews under Adrian. Some are of Hieron. in Zach. c. viii.opinion, that Jerusalem was Epiphan.not destroy’d in such a manner, but that still some inhabitants remain’d there, whether they dwelt amidst the ruins, with the Roman Troops, or near them, or whether they provided dwellings for themselves somewhere thereabouts.
St. Epiphanius affirms, that the house whither the Apostles retired after the ascension of the Son of God, and in which they received the Holy Ghost, was preserved, together with seven Synagogues, which were likewise on Mount Sion, and in the neighbourhood of this house. Besides, we know the names of the several Bishops taken from the Synagogue, who governed the Church of Jerusalem from Jesus Christ to Adrian’s time, when a Bishop was placed there, chosen from among the Gentiles.
Eusеb. l. 6. de demonstrat. Evang.Eusebius goes still farther than Epiphanius; for he will have it, that Titus preserved half the City, agreeably to the Prediction of the Prophet Zachary27, who had foretold, that one portion of the City should be left standing, and that the whole should not be razed to the very foundations till the time of Adrian. Lastly, St. Jerom maintains, that Mount Moriah, where the Temple Hieron. & Cyril. in Zach. xiv.stood, and Sion, where the Palace was, were left intire by Titus. All which is founded only upon what Josephus says, of Titus’s leaving that part of the wall standing, which enclosed Jerusalem on the West-side, which has been interpreted to include half the City; and that besides, he suffered not the Towers of Phasael, Hippicus, and Mariamne to be touched, which were thought to be in the upper part of the City: it is farther presumed, and that with reason, that the tenth Legion, which was appointed to remain in the Town, did not continue there alone; that the people who composed it, took care to preserve some houses for their own lodgings, and permitted some families of the Jews to dwell there for the service of the Troops.
The Rabbins pretend that God wrought continual miracles in the Temple and City of Jerusalem. 1. No woman ever miscarried by smelling the meats sacrificed in the Temple, or by eating to excess of them. 2. Flesh placed upon the Altar never corrupted, tho’ it were left there several days without consuming it by the fire; which sometimes happened, when the quantity of the Victims was too great. 3. It so fell out, that the High-Priest never contracted any pollution the night before the great Day of Expiation. 4. The Rain never extinguished the fire of the Altar. 5. The Wind did not hinder the smoke from rising like a pillar towards heaven.
6. There never was any defect or putrifaction discovered in the Manna which was preserved in the gold Omer, or in the Shew-bread. 7. The Israelites never found that they were too much crouded in the Court of the Temple, let the Assembly there be ever so numerous. 8. No one ever failed to get a lodging at Jerusalem, where he might lie. 9. Jerusalem never ceased to be holy after its Consecration by Solomon: nothing that happened to it from that time was ever capable of profaning it.
They affirm farther, that this City was common to all the Tribes, and belonged to no one in particular, and that it was not subject to the Law, which required all murder committed within the confines of any Tribe to be expiated by the Sacrifice of a young Heifer. No house there belonged to him who had bought it as his property. None were allowed to have gardens or orchards within the compass of the city; and when dead bodies were removed from one place to another, they were not permitted to be carried through the city, lest they should pollute it. There were but two Sepulchres in the city, that of David, and that of Huldah, which had been built by the old Prophets. These remarks are all taken from the Rabbins, whose exactness is not always unexceptionable.
In the beginning, and when the Jebusites were in possession of it, Jerusalem was very small; it was afterwards inlarged by piecemeal. I shall here lay before you an account taken from the Jewish Doctors of what was observed in these circumstances of inlarging Talmud. Halacah. Beith. Habberhira, c. 10. Psal. xxx. 1.any city. The Great Sanhedrim, the King, and some Prophet hereupon consulted the Urim and Thummim. After they were agreed in the meaning of the Oracle, the Counsellors of the Sanhedrim pronounced two Hymns, containing a thanksgiving to the Lord. This done, they took two loaves of leavened bread, and going out that instant amidst people playing upon cymbals, the harp and psaltery, they stop’d at each corner of the street, and at every publick building in their way, and pronounced these words, I will praise thee, O God, for thou hast lifted me up. Being come at last to the place, as far as which the city was to be inlarged, the procession stop’d; and of the two loaves which were brought, one was eat, the other was burnt.
The Eastern People, as well as the ancient Jews, call Jerusalem the Holy City, and sometimes the Holy House, by reason of the Temple which was built there. They give it the name likewise of Ilia, which is a corruption of Ælia, the name it bore by the Emperor Adrian’s order, when he rebuilt it. They affirm Jerusalem to have Ps. lxxiii. 1.been built by Melchisedech the Son of Shem, who removed thither the body of Adam, which had been kept by Noah in the Ark. They also maintain, that it is situated in the Centre of the whole habitable Earth, according to this expression of the Psalmist, Thou hast wrought Salvation in the midst of the Earth.
Mahomet, in the first years of his Sect’s appearing in the World, commanded all Mussulmen at their Devotions, to turn towards Jerusalem; and after his death, the generality of his companions were for burying him within the inclosure of this city. They believe, that the stone which Jacob anointed in his way to Mesopotamia was removed to Jerusalem, and placed on the Mountain where Solomon’s Temple was built. After the ruin of this Temple, the Christians built a magnificent Church in the same place; and the Turks at last becoming masters of the city, Omar, one of their Caliphs, built a Mosque near the same stone, which of all the places of Devotion frequented by them, next to those of Mecca and Medina, is that whereunto they principally go in pilgrimage; and their pilgrimages to Mecca having been interrupted by the incursions of the Carmates from the year 317 to 339 of the Hegira, the Mussulmen went to Jerusalem, and there perform’d their Devotions.
The Cadhi Gemaliddin, Son of Vustel, writes, that passing through Jerusalem in his way to Egypt, he saw the Christian Priests carrying glass-bottles full of wine, and placing them on the Sakra, that is to say, on Jacob’s stone, near unto which the Mussulmen have built a Temple.
This is a Series of the most remarkable Events which have befallen the city of Jerusalem, from Moses to its intire destruction by the Romans. It is not our design to carry on our Remarks any farther, since we confine ourselves to what concerns the Bible, and the History of the Old and New Testament.
We have in another place given a Catalogue of the Kings of Judah, and the other Princes who reign’d at Jerusalem, as far as Archelaus. We have also drawn up a Chronological List of the High-Priests of the Jews. As to the Bishops of the Christian Church of Jerusalem, the first who governed it after Jesus Christ, was St. James the Younger, surnamed the brother of our Lord, of whom we have spoken under his particular Title. He was chosen in all probability immediately after the Ascension. He was put to death by the intrigues of Ananus, the Son of Annas, who is mentioned in the Gospel. His martyrdom happened in the year of Jesus Christ 62. He was succeeded by Simeon, a Relation likewise, or Cousin of our Saviour, and, according to some Historians,
brother to St. James his predecessor. Simeon suffered martyrdom under Trajan, about the year of Jesus Christ 107. See the word SIMEON. The sequel of his successors has no relation to our subject.
JERUSHA, the mother of Jotham, son of Uzziah King of Judah. 2 Kings xv. 33.
JESHAIAH, the son of Jeduthun, of the four and twenty Families of the Levites appointed for the service of the Temple; he was Head of the eighth. 1 Chron. xxv. 3.
JESHANA, a City in the Tribe of Ephraim. 2 Chron. xiii. 19. the same perhaps as Zin, Numb. xxxiv. 4. Eusebius and St. Jerom place Zin at seven miles distance from Jericho, northward.
JESHARELAH, the seventh of the four and twenty Families of the Levites. 1 Chron. xxv. 14.
JESHEBEAB, Chief of the fourteenth Family of Priests, who were in waiting at the Temple. 1 Chron. xxiv. 13.
JESHER, the son of Caleb and Azubah. 1 Chron. ii. 18.
JESHIMON. This is probably the same as Hesmona, Asemona, Esem, Esemon, and Esemona, a city in the Wilderness of Maon, belonging to the Tribe of Simeon, lying a great way in the southern part of Palestine, and even in Arabia Petræa. See 1 Sam. xxiii. 24. Josephus Antiq. l. 6. c. 14. p. 198. G.reads the Wilderness of Simeon, instead of the Wilderness of Maon, where Jeshimon was situated. This city belonged to the Tribe of Simeon.
JESHISHAI, of the Tribe of Gad, the son of Jahdo, and father of Michael. 1 Chron. v. 14.
JESHUA, a city in the Tribe of Judah. Nehem. xi. 27.
JESHUI, the son of Saul. 1 Sam. xiv.49.
JESSE, the son of Obed, and father of Ruth. iv. 17,22. 1 Chron. ii. 13. Matth. i. 5. Gen. xlvi. 17.David, Eliab, Abinadab, Shaminah, Nethaneel, Raddai, and Ozem. David was the youngest of them all; but he became the most illustrious, and Head of his Family.
JESUI, the third son of Asher, Head of the Family of the Jesuites. Numb. xxvi. 44.
JESUS-CHRIST, the Son of God, the true Messiah, and Saviour of the World, begotten of the Father before all Ages, equal to and consubstantial with the Father as to his divine Nature; inferior to the Father, and of the same Substance with the Virgin Mary his Mother, as to his human Nature; the first and principal Object of the Prophecies; figured and promised in the Old Testament; expected and desired by the old Patriarchs; the hope and salvation of the Gentiles; the glory, happiness and consolation of Christians. The ineffable name of Jesus, or, as the Hebrews pronounce it, Jehoshuah, or Joshua28, signifies Saviour, He who shall save. No one ever bore this name with so much justice, nor so perfectly fulfilled the signification of it as Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World, who hath saved us from Sin and Hell, and hath merited Heaven for us by the price of his blood.
The Angel Gabriel had six months before declared to Zachary the future birth of his son John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, when God sent the same Angel29 to Nazareth, a city of Galilee, to the Virgin Mary, who was espoused to Luke i. 28.Joseph, of the Tribe of Judah. The Angel entring the place where she was, said, Hail thou, that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. Mary hearing these words, was disturbed at them; but the Angel encouraged her, and said, Thou hast found favour with God, thou shalt conceive, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the son of the Highest; and the Lord shall give unto him the Throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the House of Jacob for ever. Mary asked him how this could be, since she knew not man? the Angel answered, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that Holy thing, which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God. And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a Son in her old age, and this is the sixth month of her being with child; for there is nothing impossible with God. And Mary said, Behold the Handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word!
Luke ii. 1, &c.About nine months after this, an Edict issued by the Emperor Augustus, was published in Judæa, enjoining all persons to cause themselves to be registred in the place of their birth or original. Joseph, who was of the Tribe of Judah, and Family of David, and Mary his espoused wife, went together to Bethlehem; and while they were there, Mary’s time being up, she was delivered of a30 Son, and put him in a manger belonging to the stable, where they were obliged to lodge, there being no room to be found in the Inn. Whether our Saviour were born the very night on which the blessed Virgin arrived
at Bethlehem, or some days after, is a question. The most common opinion is, that he was born that very night: but the Text of the Gospel, which says, that while they were there, she brought forth her first-born, should seem rather to favour the contrary opinion.
Now there were Shepherds in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem, who passed the night in the fields, watching and guarding their flocks. On a sudden the Angel of the Lord appeared to them, and a Light from Heaven encompassed them, and they heard these words; I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, who is Christ, the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes lying in a manger. At the same instant there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly Host praising God, and saying, Glory be to God in the highest, and on Earth Peace, Good-will towards men. After this the Shepherds went speedily to Bethlehem, where they found Mary and Joseph, and the Child lying in a manger; and by these marks they discerned the truth of what they had been told concerning this Child.
The eighth day being come, when the Child was to be circumcised31, he was called Jesus, which was the name declared by the Angel, before he was conceived in his mother’s womb. Some days after there came Wise Men from the East to Jerusalem, who were in search after the new King of the Jews, and said, that an unknown Star had appeared to them in their country, which denoted the birth of this new Prince. At these words, the whole city was moved; and Herod, who was then at Jericho, where he Joseph. Antiq. l. 17. c. 8. & de Bello, l. 1. c. 21.was under cure for the disease whereof he died, being informed of it, sent for the Priests, and having asked them where Christ should be born, they answered at Bethlehem. Then inquiring diligently at what time the Star appeared, he bad the wise Men go, and find out the new King, and as soon as they had seen him, come and give him notice of it, that he too might go, and worship him. They departed, and immediately the Star, which they had seen in the East, again appeared to them, and conducted them to Bethlehem, where it stop’d over the place where the child was. There therefore they entred, adored Jesus, offered their presents to him, and the next night, the Angel of the Lord having warned them of Herod’s evil disposition, they returned by another way into their own country. Forty days after the birth of Jesus, the time of Mary’s Purification being come, she went to the Temple of Jerusalem, to present her first-born Son, and offer those Sacrifices, which the Law prescribed for women after their lying-in. The good old Man Simeon, filled with the Holy Ghost, came at the same time to the Temple; and taking Jesus in his arms, gave thanks to God, saying, That he should die contentedly, since he had seen that Saviour, who was the expectation of Israel. There was also a pious widow, whose name was Anna, in the Temple; she praised God for what she had seen, and published the coming of the Messiah to all who waited for redemption in Israel.
After this, as Joseph and Mary were preparing to return to Nazareth, an Angel warned Joseph in a dream, to fly with Jesus into Egypt, because Herod would soon Matth. ii. 13, 18.seek the Child, in order to kill him. Accordingly Herod seeing the Wise Men were returned, without coming to him, was mightily inraged; and fearing lest this new King was come to deprive him of his crown, he sent orders for the execution of all the male children under two years old in Bethlehem and the confines of it. Herod died soon after this massacre, and Archelaus his son succeeded him. Now the Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in Egypt, some months after the death of Herod, and told him, that he might return into Judæa; because he who had designs upon the Child’s life was dead. But when he was in Judæa, as soon as he understood that Archelaus reigned there, he did not think it proper to continue there. He chose rather to go to Nazareth, which was a small City of Galilee, whither the Dominion of Archelaus did not extend. There Jesus Christ dwelt, and was subject to Joseph and Mary, working at his father’s trade, who was, as is generally believed, a Carpenter, till the thirtieth year of the Vulgar Æra, which was the thirty third of his age.
Jesus, at the age of twelve years32 went to Jerusalem, in order there to celebrate the Luke ii. 22, &c.Passover. After they had performed what the Law required of them, Joseph and Mary returned to Nazareth; and believing Jesus to be with some of their friends or relations, they went a day’s journey without any suspicion of his absence. But in the evening, having in vain sought for him, they went back the next day to Jerusalem, where they found him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the Doctors, asking them questions, and hearing them. Joseph and Mary expressed to him the uneasiness which he had put them to; but
he answered them, that they might very well think he could be no where but in his Father’s Temple; as if he had a mind to intimate to them, that it was to no purpose to seek for him in any other place. He returned with them to Nazareth, and continued to live there with great submission to them.
John the Baptist, the son of Zachary, having lived to the age of two and thirty In the year of the World 4032, of the Vulgar Æra 28, of J. C. 31. Matth. iii. 13, &c. Luke iii. 21,22,&c. In the year of J. C. 32, of the Vulgar Æra 30.in the Wilderness, came into the country about Jordan, preaching repentance, and publishing that the Messiah, who had been so long expected, was at last come; that he was then present among the Israelites, that he had his fan in his hand, and would thoroughly purge his floor, and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.
As multitudes resorted to John, to be baptized, Jesus went to him among others: but John, who by the assistance of the Holy Spirit discovered him, prevented him, saying, It is from thee that I should receive baptism. Jesus answered him, Suffer it to be so; it is necessary, that I should thus fulfil all righteousness. John therefore baptized him: and as he came out of the water, and was praying, the heavens opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a Dove upon him, and a voice came from Heaven and said, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased.
After this, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the Wilderness, there to be tempted of the Devil; and having fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The Tempter hereupon approaching him, asked him to change the stones which he offered to him, into bread. Jesus dismissed him with these words, Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word of God; that is to say, by that which it pleases God to give him for food, or by that which has received from God the virtue of nourishing. Afterwards the Devil transported him to a high Mountain, and told him, that he would give him all the Kingdoms of the Earth, which he pointed out to him with his hand, if he would worship him. But Jesus checked him, saying, It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God. At last the Devil set him on a breast-work belonging to one of the Galleries of the Temple, or upon the Balustrade, which went round this lofty Edifice, and bad him throw himself down, for it is written, God hath commanded his Angels, and they will receive you in their arms, lest you should hurt your foot against a stone. But the Son of God answered him, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Then the Devil left him for a time, and Angels came and administred to him.
Some time after, John the Baptist going to baptize at Bethabara beyond Jordan, Jesus passed that way in his return from Galilee. John saw him, and said to two of his Disciples, Behold the Lamb of God, (the Victim which procures Salvation) behold the person who taketh away the Sins of the World! Hereupon these two Disciples followed Jesus, went to the place where he abode, and continued all that day with him. Towards the evening, Andrew, who was one of them, having found his brother Simon, brought him to Jesus, and Jesus said to him, Thou art SimonJohn i. 29—44. the son of Jona or Joanna; thou shalt hereafter be called Cephas, that is to say, a Stone or Rock. The next day, Jesus departed to go to Nazareth; he was accompanied by Andrew, Peter, and that other Disciple, who at first went with them to find Jesus, and whom some affirm to have been Bartholomew, or James the son of Zebedee. As Jesus therefore was on the way, he met Philip, and said to him, Follow me. Philip followed him, and lighting on Nathanael, told him, that they had found the Messiah, who was Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathanael answered him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip replied, come yourself and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael answered him, whence knowest thou me? Jesus replied, before Philip called thee, I saw thee under the fig-tree. It is the conjecture of some, that Nathanael was there at that time praying, and beseeching God to discover the Messiah to him. Then Nathanael answered him, I see evidently, that thou art the Son of God, the King of Israel. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt see greater things than these, when the Heavens shall be opened, and the Angels shall ascend and descend upon the Son of Man. Thus our Saviour often called himself, out of humility, and with an intention to describe his Human Nature.
From Bethabara, Jesus went to Cana in Galilee, where being invited to a wedding, together with his Mother and his Disciples, he changed the water into wine, and John ii. 12—25.wrought his first Miracle. From thence he went to Capernaum, where he continued some days with his Mother and his Disciples, because he proposed to be going to Jerusalem, there to celebrate the Passover. John iii. 1—21.Being come into the Temple, he drove out the money-changers, and the merchants, who sold beasts and birds for the Sacrifices; and as he was asked by what authority he did so, he answered, Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up again: which he meant
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Footnotes
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Tertull. adverf. Gnostic. c. 8. Hieronym. l. 2. contra Jovinian. Epiphan. de vita & morte Prophet. Doroth. in Synopsi. Ita & Hebræorum traditio. ↩
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Victorin. in Apoc. xi. 3. & plures apud Hilar. in Matt. can. 20. ↩
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Hieronym. in Zach. xii. 11. Ita Chald. Interpp. Raban. Maldonat. Bonav. Hugo. Thomas Figuier. Vat. Jun. Vide & Joseph. Antiq. l. x. c. 6. ↩
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2 Macc. ii. 1. Invenitur in descriptionibus Jeremiæ Prophetæ. ↩
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Translators’ note. This Chronicon had first the name of Fasti Siculi, because first found in an old Library in Sicily, and from thence convey’d to Rome, where Sigonius and Onufrius made use of it, and quote it under the name of Fasti Siculi. But Sylburgius having gotten another copy of it, presented it to Hæschelius, who gave it to the Library at Augsburg in Germany, from whence Rader the Jesuit published it with a Latin version Anno Dom. 1624. under the title of Chronicon Alexandrinum. He gave it this title, because in the Manuscript from whence he printed it, there was a short Preface premised under the name of Peter Patriarch of Alexandria. See Prideaux’s Connect. P. 2. ↩
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Joan. Mosch. Prat. Spirit. c. 77. p. 877. ↩
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Eupolem. apud Euseb. Præpar. l. 9. c. 39. ↩
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Hieronym. Præfat. in lib. 6. Comment. in Jerem. ↩
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Sanct. Proleg. 2. in Jerem. Du Pin. Frassen. ↩
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Translators’ note. One of these golden Calves was set up at Bethel, not at Beersheba: as the Author himself plainly intimates, where he tells us, that the Prophet found Jeroboam sacrificing at Bethel. Beersheba was distant a day’s journey from Bethel. Gen. xxvii. 10, &c. ↩
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See Psal. xlviii. 2. Isai. xiv. 13. and 2 Sam. v. 7, 9. and 1 Chron. xi. 5. and 1 Kings viii. 1. and 2 Chron. v. 2. Ezek. xl. 2. ↩
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2 Chron. xxiv. 22. xxxiii. 14. and 2 Kings xxii. 24. ↩
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Joseph. de Bello, l. 5. c. 6. p. 912, 913. ↩
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Judg. i. 8. Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. ↩
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The death of Alexander happened in the year of the World 3681, before Jesus Christ 319, before the Vulgar Æra 323. ↩
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In the year of the World 3684, before Jesus Christ 316, before the Vulgar Æra 320. ↩
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Antiq. l. 12. c. 1, 2. ↩
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Joseph. l. 2. contra Appion. p. 1064. In the year of the World 3758, before Jesus Christ 342, before the Vulgar Æra 346. ↩
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In the year of the World 3828, before Jesus Christ 172, before the Vulgar Æra 176. ↩
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In the year of the World 3831, before Jesus Christ 169, before the Vulgar Æra 173. ↩
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In the year of the World 3836, before Jesus Christ 164, before the Vulgar Æra 168. ↩
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Till the year of the World 3840, before Jesus Christ 160, before the Vulgar Æra 164. ↩
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In the year of the World 3841, before Jesus Christ 159, before the Vulgar Æra 163. ↩
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In the year of the World 3964, before Jesus Christ 36, before the Vulgar Æra 40. ↩
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In the year of the World 3965, before Jesus Christ 35, before the Vulgar Æra 39. ↩
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De Bello, l. 2. c. λα. λβ. p. 810, 811, 812. ↩
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Zach. xiv. 2. Half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. ↩
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יהושועJehoshuah. ΙΗΣΟΥΣ, Jesus. ↩
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In the year of the World 4000, nine months before the birth of Je- sus Christ. ↩
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Jesus Christ was born the 25th of December in the year of the World 4000, of the Julian Period 4709, four years before the Vulgar Æra; or, if you please, three years before the common Æra, beginning the year on the first of January, which begins the year 4710 of the Julian Period. ↩
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Luke ii. 21. In the year of the World 4000, of Jesus Christ 1, and 3 years before the Vulgar Æra. ↩
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In the year of the World 4012, of Jesus Christ 12, of the Vulgar Æra 9. ↩