The nation thus transported by the monarchs of Assyria and Babylon were treated with no unneces- sary harshness, even under the dynasty that captured theiD. So far were they from the condition of ftondls- mm (which the word ^captive" suggests), that the ^otk of Susanna represents their elders in Babylon as ntsining the piower of life and death over their own psople (i, 28), when Daniel was as yet a very young ■MB. The authority of that book cannot indeed be pRsaed as to the chronology, yet the notices given by EceUel (xiv, 1 ; xx, 1) concur faa the general fact that they still held an internal jurisdiction over their own
members. At a later time, under the Seleucidss, we have distinct proof that in the principal cities the Jews were govemeid by an officer ii9vapxiK) of their own nation, as also in Egypt under the Ptolemies. The book of Tobit exhibits Israelites in Media possessed of slaves themselves (viii, 18) ; the book of Daniel tells us of a Jew in eminent political station, and that of Esther celebrates their power and consequence in the Persian empire. Under the Seleucida [see Artio- CHus] they were occasionally important as garrison. soldiOTS ; and it may be suspected that, on tlM whole, their lot was milder than that of the other conquered nations among which they dwelt.
8. Eventual Fate of ike ExUe$ im Amyria.—lianj at- tempts have been made to discover the ten tribes exr isting as a distinct community. Josephus (Ani, xi, 5, 2) bdieved that in his day they dwelt in large multi- tudes somewhere beyond the Euphrates, in Arsareth, according to the author of 2 Esd. xiii, 45. Babbinical traditions and fobles, committed to writing in the Mid- dle Ages, assert the same fact (Ughtfoot, ffor. Hebr, in 1 Cor. xiv, Appendix), with many marvellous am* plifications (Eisenmenger, Ent, Jvd, vol. ii, ch. x; Jahn, Hebrew CbmmofNMaM, App. bk. vi). The imag- ination of Christian writers has sought them in the neighborhood of their last recorded habitation ; Jewish features have been traced in the Aflj^han tribes ; ru- mors are heard to this day of a Jewish colony at the foot of the Himalayas ; the Black Jews of Malabar claim affinity with them ; elaborate attempts have been made to identify them with the Tartars (G. Fletcher, lera^ Bedm, Lond. 1677), and more recently with the Nestorians (Grant's Nettoriant, N. T. 1841), and hi the seventeenth century with the Indians of North Ameri- ca. But, though history bears no witness of their present distinct existence, it enables us to track the footsteps of the departing race in four directions after the time of the Captivity: (1.) Some retnmed and mixed with the Jews (Luke ii, 86; Phil, iii, 5, etc.). (2.) Some were left in Samaria, mingled with the Sa- maritans (Ezra vi, 21 ; John iv, 12), and became bitter enemies of the Jews. (8.) Many remained in Assyria, and, mixing with the Jews, formed colonies through- out the East, and were recognised as an integral part of the Dispersion (see Acts ii, 9 ; xxvi, 7 ; Bnchanan*s Ckrietian Reeeardtee^ p. 212), for whom, probably ever since the days of Exra, that plaintive prayer, the tenth of the Shemomh Een, has been daily offered, " Sound the great trumpet for our deliverance, lift up a banner for the gathering of our exiles, and unite us all to- gether from the four ends of the earth." (4.) Most, probably, apostatized in Assyria, as Prideaux (sub ann. 677) supposes, and adopted the usages and idola- try of the nations among whom they were planted, and became wholly swallowed up in them. Disserta- tions on the Ten Tribes have been written by Calmet (CommenUthre UtUrai, vol. lit and vi) and others (the latest by J. Kennedy, Lond. 1855) ; also innumerable eraays and disquisitions scattered in the works of trav- ellers, and in tiie pages of varions periodicals, mostly of a highly fanciful character. Every scriptural inti- mation respecting them, however, goes to show that they shared the ultimate history of their brethren of the kingdom of Ji^dah transported to the same or ad- joining parts. See below.
II. Babtloioan CAPnvrrr of ** Judah."— 1. lu 2>a^ — Sennacherib, B.C. 718, is stated (Kawlinson, Ordline^ p. 24 ; but comp. Demetrius ap. Clem. Alex- and. Stromata, 1, 21, incorrectly quoted as confirming the statement) to have carried into Assyria 200,000 captives fh>m the Jewish cities which he took (2 Kings xviii, 18). Nebuchadnezzar, early in his reign, B.C. 606-562, repeatedly invaded Judssa, and finally be- sieged Jerusalem, carried away the inhabitants to Babylon, and destroyed the city and Temple. Two distinct deportations are mentioned in 2 Kings xxiv, 14, and xxv, 11 ; one in 2 Chron. xxxvi, 20 ; three in
CAPTIVITY
110
CAFnVITY
Jer. lii, 28, 29, and one in Dan. i, 8. The two princi- pal deportationB were, (1) that which took place B.C. 698, when Jehoiachin, with all the nobles, soldiers, and artificers were carried away ; and (2) that which fol- lowed the destmction of the Temple and the capture of Zedekiah, B.C. 688. The three which Jeremiah mentions may have been the contribntions of a partic- ular class or district to the general captirity ; or they may have taken place, under the orders of Nebuchad- nezzar, before or after the two principal deportations. The third is located by the date in B.C. 582. The cap- tivity of certain selected children, B.C. 607, mentioned by Daniel (i, 8, 6), who was one of them, may have oc- curred when Nebuchadnezzar (q. v.) was colleague or lieutenant of his father Nabopolassar, a year before he reignod alone. The captivi^ of Ezekiel (q. v.) dates fh>m B.C. 598, when that prophet, like Mordecai, the uncle of Esther (ii, 6), accompanied Jehoiachin.