It is dithcult to say how long Zedekiah remained negatively loyal to the Chaldicans, but in his fourth
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ZEDEKIAH
ZEDKKIAII
year (n.c. 590) his allegiance was so far question- able that the rulers of Edoni, Moab, Amnion, Tyre, and Sidon (Jer 27'''), incited thereto by their pro- phets and diviners, were emboldened to send envoys to Jerusalem in order to induce Ztdekiah to join a league for the purpose of throwing oli' the BaDjlonian yoke. The prophets and diviners of Israel, too, both in Jerusalem and Babylon, were fomenting a similar agitation, utterinj,' delinite predictions that ' shortly ' (Jer 27'"), ' within two full years' (Jer 28'), would all the vessels of the Lord's house and Jeconiah himself be restored to their native land. The silver vessels which Zedekiah is said (Bar 1') to have made to take the place of the gold ones served to emphasize the national humiliation. It seems to us unaccount- able that the peoples of Syria could have had such provincial imaginations, so little sense of pro- portion, as to expect the speedy fall of the empire of Nebuchadrezzar. On the other hand, it must be rememliered that the rise of Chalda;a was of very recent date, the sudden collapse of Nineveh must have made anytliing seem possible, and belief in the inexhaustible resources of Egypt was a tradition in the East. The prestige of centuries dies hard. In opposition to such men as Hananiah and Shemaiah at Jerusalem (Jer 28' 29-^), and Ahab and Zedekiah at Babylon (Jer 29--), Jere- miah as chief prophet of the pro-Chaldsean party declared that resistance to Nebuchadrezzar was premature, futile, and suicidal, since supremacy had been assured by God to Babylon for 70 years.
With characteristic energy Nebuchadrezzar at once set about crushing the incipient revolt. He made examples of the agitators at Babylon, ' roasting them in the fire ' (Jer 29--), and at the same time apparently sent to demand explana- tions from his vassal at Jerusalem. It is possible that the mission of Elasah and Gemariah (Jer 29^) to Babj'Ion should be referred to this date ; in any case Zedekiah's personal attendance was required, and he journe3'ed to Babylon before the close of his fourth j'ear, accompanied by a leading member of the pro - ChaUUean party, Seraiah (Jer 51°"). There is no reason to doubt the sincerity of the protests of loyalty which Zedekiah doubtless made at this time. He had, in fact, everything to lose by the defeat of Chaldsea, but he counted for nothing in the struggle of factions at Jerusalem, which continued as before, intense, sordid, mono- tonous. In his fifth year Ezekiel (F4"-) sees the fate of Jernsakni to be inevitable. The dominant party had an infatuated confidence in the im- pregnability of their fortress, ' This city is the caldron, and we be the flesh ' (Ezk 11') ; and as it was hopeless to expect any help from the exiles in Babylon, these latter — the real depositaries of the Mes.sianic hope — came to be regarded as outcasts : ' Get you far from the Loi;d ; unto us is this land given for a posses.sion ' (Ezk 11"). This was the state of feeling in Jerusalem in the sixth year of the reign.
Psainmetichus 11., who died in 589, was succeeded on the throne of Egypt by his brother Apries (Uahibri), and Zedekiah was induced to 'send his ambassadors into Egj-pt that they might give him horses and much people' (Ezk 17'°). Edom, Moab, and Philistia now held back, but Judali committed itself to an alliance with Tyre (Ezk 26' 29"*), Amnion, and Egypt against Babylon. This took place, according to Josephus (Ant. X. N-ii. 3), at the close of Zedekiah's eighth year ; but the prophecy of Ezekiel (21) in which reference is made to it seems to be dated (20') in his seventh year. In any case it was not until his ninth year, the tenth day of the tenth month, that the Chalda;an army actually invested Jerusalem. The delay is easily accounted for. At the time when war was actually
declared, Nebuchadrezzar was probably engaged in reducing Elam or Susiana (Jer 49^'"), ami when he did turn his attention to the Egyptian coalition he was uncertain whether he should first attack Amnion or Judah (Ezk 21^'''). Finally, he estab- lished himself at Kiblah, wlience he despatched expeditions against Tyre and Jerusalem respec- tively. The division sent against Zedekiah, before settling down around the capital, reduced tha smaller fortresses of Judah ; Lachish and Azekah alone held out (Jer 34'). It was a day never to be forgotten (2 K 25', Jer 39' 52*, Ezk 24», Zee 8'»). Some, the king himself included, at last recognized the fact that deliverance from this danger would be a miracle comparable to one of the Lord's wondrous works of old time (Jer 2P). The general alarm, indeed, was such as to cause a religious revival, one feature of which was a renewal, with the patriarchal ceremonial (Jer 34'- '*), of the covenant, and in particular a solemn engagement was made by all the people that they would in future observe the law as to the manumission of slaves (Ex 2P, Dt 15"). Their zeal for this enact- ment may have been quickened by a desire to increase the number of defenders of the city.