BRITISH ISRAEL.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 14 September 1935, Page 6

BRITISH ISRAEL.

EXPOSITORY COLUMN. (By DJS.M.) No. 14. ISRAEL AND THE JEWS: EXILE OF JUDAH. Although Israel had been exiled on account of her sins, the House of Judah (later known as the Jews) did not .profit from the lesson. True it is that certain kings, Hezekiah and Josiab, feared God and ruled wisely, but for the most part the laud was full of idolatry, immorality ,and economic inequality and oppression. The people thus fell far short of their Divinely appointed mission, which was to show to the world that God’s law works in human affairs, and that obedience to His 'will as expressed in the laws of Moses brings justice and freedom and happiness in its train. PENALTY OF THE LAW. The Covenant which God made with the people under Moses provided fo,r punishment and exile in the case of persistent disobedience to the law, and the time was now ripe for that sentence to be carried out. Accordingly God permitted the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar to carry captive the House of Judah. This was not done at once, but in stages, and that not completely.

The brief account of the captivity of Judah is to be found in the last thro chapters of 2 Kings, and in the last chapter of 2 Chronicles, but scattered through the Book of Jeremiah ere more detailed references to the history of those days. Even as God had raised up prophets to warn Israel of their impending doom, offering a last chance for repentance, so did God commission Jeremiah to the task ot warning Judah. The response of the king and of the nobles was to place him in stocks on one occasion, and in an underground slimy dungeon on another. FOOLISH FOREIGN POLICY. !The first threat of trouble was when Egypt sent an army against the waning power of Assyria. Josiah, king of Judah, attempted to intercept the Egyptian army at Megiddo, but his army was defeated, and he was killed. Jehoahaz. a sou of Josiah, was proclaimed king by the people, but the Egyptian depo’sed him, carried him captive to Egypt, and placed Jehoiakim, another son of Josiah on the throrfe. 'But the southern part of Assyria had become the undisputed possession of the king of Bdbylo'n, who had no wish to let the north become an Egyptian province, and he sent Nebuchadnezzar with an army against Egypt at Carchemish on the Euphrates.

“The greater part of Syria and Palestine lost no time in transferring their allegiance to Babylon. The little state of Judah was an exception, for though she paid her tribute at first, she soon put the warning? of the pro phet Jeremiah at dofinace, and her short-sighted revolt led to the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 596 B.C. and to the carrying away of a large portion of her population Into captivity. A few years later Egypt made her last attempt to reoccupy Palestine and Syria, ami Judah joined the Phoenician cities of Sidou and Tyre in rallying to her support. In 587 Nebuchadnezzar advanced into northern Syria ami took up a strong strategic, position at Riblah <>u the Orontcs, whence lie despatched part of his army to besiege Jerusalem. An attempt by Apries, the Egyptian king, to relievo the city was unsuccessful, and in 586 Jerusalem was once more taken and the greater part of the remnant of the Jews followed then countrymen into' exile.” (Hutchinson's History of the Nations, Vol. 1, The Babylonian Nation, by Leonard Vv, King , M.A., F.S.A.) We have quoted the above extract because it is from the pen of a reputed Assyriologist, and because it so admirably cor-ordinates the scattered writings of the Bible historians and Jeremiah with the monuments of Babylon.

' CAPTIVITIES CONTRASTED. There is nothing to add to the account except to contrast briefly the two captivities, of Israel and of Judah.

Israel was taken captive by the Assyrians, and taken to Assyria and Media, south of the Caspian Sea. Judah was taken captive by the Babylonians to Babylon and to the part.*> which lie near the Persian Gulf. The captivity of Israel is described as having been complete. 2 Kings E: 18 says, "Therefore the Lord was very angrv with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.” The captivity of Judah, on the other hand, is described as not being complete. 2 Kings 25:12 says, "But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vine-dressers and husbandmen.” The same chapter describes how a governor was appointed over the remnant that was left behind.

In face of such plain statements, it is curious to note that one of our recent opponents (Kev. W. Lamb in “Anglo-Israelism—True or False,”, page 132) says: “If we look a little more closely, into the sacred account concerning the captivity of the tribes of Israel, it will not be difficult to understand that those then carried away were not such a great host after all. Not so universally sweeping was r he captivity as was the case later on, when the southern kingdom of Judah came to be carried away hy the Babylonians.”

Jeremiah w r as left in Judah, and was in charge of the daughters of the king of Judah. But that is a story

which will be examined when we come to study the teaching of the Bible about the Throne of David.