STATE OF PALESTINE The head, and the hair of the feet: That a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep; For the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: For butter and honey shall every one eat That is left in the land. And it shall come to pass in that day, That every place shall be, Where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, It shall even be for briers and thorns. With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; This passage describes the wild state of the fertile land once so fully cultivated. Large tracts, formerly occupied as vineyards, rented after the rate of a piece of silver for each vine, were overgrown with thorns and briers. The thinly scattered inhabitants no longer went forth with the implements of husbandry; but carried bows and arrows to destroy the wild animals that lurked in the underwood and bushes. Gardens and fields were no longer fenced; the produce was not regularly carried to the store-house or the byre; but the few kine and sheep belonging to the poor occupiers, were left to enjoy the full benefit of an abundant though spontaneous pasturage. A cow in the East produces only a quart or two of milk in the day; but then, from the ample supply of food, it would freely give an unusual quantity of milk, with the rich cream or butter, the delicacy of eastern countries. In former days, the poor tenant of the soil rarely tasted this delicacy; now he might freely enjoy it. But could he do so, if, as one of the chosen people of God, he thought of his nation humbled, and her glories departed? Could he do so; when, although he ranged at will over the district DURING THE CAPTIVITY. 7 once cultivated for princes, whose families were now captives in a foreign land, he had no security for his life or scanty hoard? Both were at the disposal of any predatory band that might rove near his dwelling. And if disposed to exert himself, he could neither sell the fruits of his labour, nor hope to enjoy them in security. If not plundered by the robber, the collector and officers of his foreign master were at hand to take his property under the name of tribute ; whatever portions might reach the treasury, the unhappy peasant was sure to lose all of which he could be deprived. The poor of a civilized land may be ground beneath the undue requirements of those above them; but let all who act thus remember, He that oppresseth the poor, reproacheth his Maker. He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth. Whoso stoppeth his ears to the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard." Yet when there is no regularly organized state of society, no protection of law or justice, there the poor suffer still more severely; there is no security or real comfort to be enjoyed by any rank. Though the highest may first be removed, or cast down by the storm, yet when a deluge of suffering is poured out upon a land, as upon Judea, "all faces shall gather blackness," even the poorest must lose his little all; the sweeping torrent carries all away. In this wild and solitary state, the land was left to enjoy her sabbaths, till the number of the sabbatical years in which the land had been tilled and sown, contrary to the Divine command, had been compensated for. Moses had denounced this judgment, Lev. xxvi. 34, and Jeremiah declared it was come to pass, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21. And if the words of the apostle, Rom. viii. 20-25, describing the whole creation as groaning and travailing in pain for the sin of man, are applied to inanimate nature, we may figure to ourselves the land of Judea rejoicing at being emptied of that wretched race of heaven-defying idolators, who lately had cumbered the 8 STATE OF PALESTINE. ground. The uncultivated state in which Judea was suffered to remain during the captivity, and the facility with which those who returned from Babylon re-occupied the possessions of their forefathers, plainly show that the land was left vacant; not colonized by heathens, as Samaria had been, nor occupied by an increase arising from the scanty remnant left by the conquerors. It is remarkable, that the counsels of Nebuchadnezzar should thus be overruled, so that he acted contrary to his obvious policy; but thus, and thus only, could the express denunciations by the prophets be fulfilled. The ten tribes were not to return to their possessions; a heathen colony was therefore permitted to settle therein. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin were again to occupy Jerusalem and the land of their fathers, therefore that country was reserved for them, there was no opposition to their return, they all could "dwell in their cities" without difficulty from their being possessed by others, Ezra ii. 70. THE CAPTIVE JEWS. 9 CHAPTER II. THE CAPTIVE JEWS-ANCIENT BABYLON. THE captive Jews who were carried to Babylon now claim attention. In the latter captivities, especially the last, the prisoners would most feel the bitterness of their lot. To be subjected to the lot of a prisoner of war is painful any where, but more so in the East than among European nations. This has been fully described by modern writers. The captives are stripped, or nearly so, of their apparel, and urged forward by force. They are also often bound in painful postures; the monuments of Egypt and sculptures of Persia give some striking representations of this. Those least accustomed to privations and fatigue, or of feeble constitutions, speedily sink under their sufferings; they are left to perish by the way, unless life is ended by the weapons of their guards. The statement, 2 Chron. xxviii. 15, respecting the captives of Judea, set free at the word of the prophet Oded, shows the state to which they were reduced in the short removal to Samaria; "And the men which were expressed by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren." From Jer. xl. 1, we learn that the prisoners were collected at, Ramah in Benjamin; some were slaughtered, the rest were fettered before the journey to Babylon commenced. To this gathering together of the pri soners, and their sad fate, the same prophet seems to refer in the passage already quoted, ch. xxxi. 15, when he says, "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping." By that beautiful and figurative description, Rachel, the mother of Benjamin, is represented as weeping for her children. A voice comes from Ramah, a voice of despair, Alas for the parent whose hope and whose trust A voice comes from Ramah, a voice of dismay, The engraving on page 11, is copied from a sculpture on the face of a mountain in Media. Sir Robert Kerr Porter considers that it was expressly intended to commemorate the captivity of Israel; but it may rather be considered to represent the general treatment of eastern captives: they are here delineated as being brought into the presence of an eastern ruler, who is trampling under his feet the leader of his captive enemies. In this view, it may be considered as illustrating the removal of the Jewish prisoners to Babylon. Even if some arrangements, more kind and better regulated than common, were made for the removal of the Jews to Babylon, still the length of the way, the extent of desert and mountain they had to pass, would render their trials severe. Doubtless many perished, while the recollection of past enjoyments, and the remembrance of the possessions of which they were deprived, with the painful anticipation of unknown trials awaiting their arrival, would add much to their sufferings. |