Anti-Semitism Ism

12.

The Fall of the Judaean Monarchy.—A new era was beginning in the history of the world (see PALESTINE : History, sec. 8). Assyria was rapidly decaying and Egypt, under Psam metichus (Psamtek) I. had recovered from the blows of Assur bani-pal, to which the Hebrew prophet, Nahum, refers (iii. 8-1o). Chaldean prince, Nabopolassar, set himself up in Babylonia. It was, perhaps, after this that an inroad of the Scythians oc curred (c. 626 B.c.) ; if it did not actually touch Judah, the advent of the people of the north appears to have caused great alarm (Jer. iv.–vi.: Zephaniah). Nineveh fell in 612, and Harran, whither the court had been removed, was taken in 61o. Thus fell an empire which had dominated Palestine for two centuries, and whose history in the West went back for a millennium. On the exultation caused by the events (see NAHUM), Necho, son of Psammetichus, marched through Palestine to aid Assyria. Josiah interposed; possibly he had hopes of extending his kingdom (2 Chron. xxxv. 20 seq. is more reliable than 2 Ki. xxiii. 29 seq.). That he had authority over a much larger area than Judah alone is suggested by 2 Ki. xxiii. 19, and by the references to the border at Riblah, 45 m. south of Hamath (Ezek. vi. 14, xi. 10 seq.). He was slain at Megiddo, and Egypt, as in the long dis tant past, again held Palestine and Syria. The Judaeans made Jehoahaz (or Shallum) their king, but the Pharaoh banished him to Egypt three months later and appointed his brother, Jehoiakim.

Meanwhile, Nabopolassar recognized in Necho a dangerous rival, and sent his son Nebuchadrezzar, who overthrew the Egyptian forces at Carchemish (6o5). The battle was the turn ing-point of the age. The succession of the new Chaldean or Babylonian kingdom was assured, though the relations between Egypt and Judah were not broken off. Jehoiakim was inclined to rely upon Egypt. He died just as Nebuchadrezzar, after seeing his warnings disregarded, was preparing to lay siege to Jerusalem. His young son, Jehoiachin, surrendered after a three months' reign, with his mother and the court ; they were taken away to Babylonia, together with a number of artisans (597). Jehoial'im's brother, Mattaniah, or Zedekiah, was set in his place under an oath of allegiance, which he broke, preferring Hophra, the new king of Egypt. A few years later the second siege took place. It began on the tenth day of the tenth month, Jan. 587. The looked for intervention of Egypt was unavailing, although a temporary raising of the siege inspired wild hopes. Desertion, pestilence and famine added to the usual horrors of a siege, and at length on the ninth day of the fourth month, 586, a breach was made in the walls. Zedekiah fled towards the Jordan valley but was seized and taken to Nebuchadrezzar at Riblah. His sons were slain before his eyes, and he himself was blinded and carried off to Babylon after a reign of II years. The Babylonian Nebu-zaradan was sent to take vengeance upon the rebellious city, and on the seventh day of the fifth month 586 B.C. Jerusalem was destroyed. The Temple, palace and city buildings were burned, the walls broken down, the chief priest, Seraiah, and other leaders were put to death, and many people again carried off. The disaster became

the great epoch-making event in Jewish history and literature.

Throughout these stormy years the prophet Jeremiah (q.v.) had realized that Judah's only hope lay in submission to Baby lonia. Stigmatized as a traitor, scorned and imprisoned, he had not ceased to warn deaf ears, although Zedekiah himself was, perhaps, open to persuasion. Now the penalty had been paid, and the Babylonians, whose policy was less destructive than that of Assyria, contented themselves with appointing as governor a certain Gedaliah. The new centre was Mizpah, a commanding eminence and sanctuary, about 5 m. N.W. of Jerusalem ; and here Gedaliah issued an appeal to the people to be loyal to Babylonia and to resume their former peaceful occupations. The land had not been devastated, and many gladly returned from their hiding-places in Moab, Edom and Ammon. But discontented survivors of the royal family under Ishmael intrigued with Baalis, king of Ammon. The plot resulted in the murder of Gedaliah and an unsuccessful attempt to carry off various princesses and officials who had been left in the governor's care. This new con fusion and a natural fear of Babylonia's vengeance led many to feel that their only safety lay in flight to Egypt, and, although warned by Jeremiah that even there the sword would find them, they fled south and took refuge in Tahpanhes (Daphnae, q.v.), afterwards forming small settlements in other parts of Egypt. But the thread of the history is broken, and apart from an allu sion to the favour shown to the captive Jehoiachin (with which the books of Jeremiah and Kings conclude), there is a gap in the records, and subsequent events are viewed from a new standpoint.

13. Internal Conditions and the Exile.—Many of the exiles accepted their lot and settled down in Babylonia (cf. Jer. xxix. Jewish colonies, too, were being founded in Egypt. The agriculturists and herdsmen who had been left in Palestine formed, as always, the staple population, and it is impossible to imagine either Judah or Israel as denuded of its inhabitants. The peasants were left in peace to divide the land among them, and new condi tions arose as they took over the ownerless estates. Here, as already in Israel, the fall of the monarchy involved a reversion to a pre-mcnarchical state, and it is impossible to sever too rigor ously two sections of Hebrews who had so much in common. Indeed, kings of Judah might well have been tempted to restore the kingdom of their traditional founder, or Assyria might have been complaisant towards a faithful Judaean vassal. But Israel, after the fall of Samaria, is ignored by the Judaean writers, and lies as a foreign land ; although Judah itself had suffered from the intrusion of foreigners in the preceding centuries of war and turmoil, and strangers had settled in her midst, had formed part of the royal guard, or had served as janissaries.