e understood his wicked forefathers, , and Amon. He had been unupon the throne by the people in is elder half-brother Eliakim. The levied a contribution of a hundred and one talent of gold upon Jeen made Eliakim, the son of Josiah, om of Josiah his father, and turned hoiakim. The account of the wars this Egyptian king against the Jews ns is confirmed by the discoveries veller Belzoni among the tombs of Overeigns. In one of the numerous the tomb of Psammethes, the son of , Belzoni found a sculptured group march of a military and triumphal n three different sets of prisoners, who Jews, Persians or Chaldeans, and The procession is headed by four red e kirtles, followed by a hawk-headed se are Egyptians, apparently released

and returning home under the proeir national divinity. Then follow n in striped and fringed kirtles, with and with a simple white fillet round ir. These are Jews, and might be portraits of those who at this day ets of London. After them come

en with smaller beards and curled

Kings, xxiii. 34.

and to himself with a good
de dcted his atention to Judah,

Riba, place on the great road
Palestine and Assyria Riblah was a city

in which lay in the love
the Orms, and which had for centur
nasty changing masters, now in
pwinded in the dominions of
lime and now in the power of
At the time of which we are wr
Hasank into insignificance, but R
dis supposed on the east bank
cvenient place for kings to
directing their armies against th
Jigs and there Necho establis
all be bad to his satisfaction arra

Ja, which be considered

His indignation was rouse the people of Judah had witho

Jeboahar the son of inking in his father's st Necho at once deposed th ing him to be brought to

how many wretched H dat some weary way to Ri

chains Jeboahar wa During his short reign of thre

which was evil in the sig coding all that his

suomi, &

-d War Fall

be understood his wicked forefathers, h, and Amon. He had been unupon the throne by the people in is elder half-brother Eliakim. The levied a contribution of a hundred r, and one talent of gold upon Jehen made Eliakim, the son of Josiah, om of Josiah his father, and turned ehoiakim. The account of the wars this Egyptian king against the Jews ans is confirmed by the discoveries aveller Belzoni among the tombs of

Te sovereigns. In one of the numerous

the tomb of Psammethes, the son of o, Belzoni found a sculptured group march of a military and triumphal h three different sets of prisoners, who Jews, Persians or Chaldeans, and The procession is headed by four red te kirtles, followed by a hawk-headed ese are Egyptians, apparently released , and returning home under the proeir national divinity. Then follow en in striped and fringed kirtles, with

and with a simple white fillet round air. These are Jews, and might be portraits of those who at this day ets of London. After them come en with smaller beards and curled

Kings, xxiii. 34.

never being mentioned in connexion with the reformation, it is supposed that he held aloof from the work that was going on. But for the word of God that had been spoken unto him he might unsuspectingly have borne his part among the reforming priests; but his eyes had been opened to the falsehood and lust of rule that were at work under the form of zeal, and his righteous soul shrank from such hypocrisy. Not, however, in silence could he contemplate the treachery of his countrymen; the first few chapters of his sad, sad book show this. His pleadings, his denunciations, his bitter invectives, and his exhortations, couched in language so touching, so passionate, and so beautiful, tell us how keenly he felt the degradation of his countrymen. Though he is not mentioned in the chronicles of Judah till after the death of Josiah, it is generally believed that it was by his advice that the king endeavoured to oppose the march of the Egyptian army on its way to the Euphrates. From the time Jeremiah is spoken of as taking a conspicuous part in the great national questions of his day, we find him ever maintaining the same policy, which was to conciliate as far as possible the Babylonians. He knew that his countrymen must ere long fall into their hands, and that Babylonia would be for the space of seventy years a land of captivity to the Hebrews, and that it was the wisest course to irritate as little

so that in their exile the captives might meet with merciful treatment. It is only conjectured that Jeremiah persuaded Josiah to go up against Pharaoh-necho. The former in what he did may have been influenced solely by a sense of honour. From the time of Manasseh's restoration the kings of Judah, in consideration of benefits conferred upon the nation by Babylon, were bound by oath to adhere to that country, and to defend the borders of the empire near Palestine against the enemies of Babylon -the Egyptians especially. To none of the Judean prophets, so far as we are aware, was revealed what would be the issue of the fatal battle in Megiddo; only the heathen, Pharaoh-necho, seems to have had a presentiment of the result. He was evidently unwilling to fight against Josiah, not from any misgiving as to the strength of his own forces, but from a humane wish to save unnecessary bloodshed. He sent ambassadors to Josiah to reason with the king upon what he (Necho) considered Josiah's uncalled-for interference, but Josiah would listen to no reasoning on the subject, and at once prepared to give battle. An engagement, it is presumed, took place after Josiah was slain, in which the Judean army was completely routed. And now Judah hastened rapidly to her ruin. Pharaohnecho after his victory over the Hebrews pursued his march to the Euphrates. He attacked Carchemish, an important Babylonian city, which commanded the ordinary passage of the great