o the Prophet the whole
of this prospect. The city was about to be ruined, its houses filled with
dead; the land had already been ravaged. His office of doom was
discharged; it is not unnatural to believe that his great soul broke out
with a vision of the hope beyond for which he had taken so practical a
pledge. That is all we can say; some of the details of the prospect can
hardly be his.(607)

Jerusalem fell at last in 586 and Jeremiah's imprisonment in the
guard-court was over.(608)

4. And After. (XXX, XXXI, XXXIX-XLIV.)

There are two separated accounts of what befel Jeremiah when the city was
taken. Ch. XXXIX. 3, 14 tells us that he was fetched from the guard-court
by Babylonian officers,(609) and given to Gedaliah, the son of his old
befriender Ahikam, _to be taken home_.(610) At last!--but for only a brief
interval in the life of this homeless and harried man. When a few months
later Nebusaradan arrived on his mission to burn the city and deport the
inhabitants Jeremiah is said by Ch. XL to have been carried off in chains
with the rest of the captivity as far as Ramah, where, probably on
Gedaliah's motion, Nebusaradan released him and he joined Gedaliah at
Mispah.(611)

It is unfortunate that we take our impressions of Nebuchadrezzar from the
late Book of Daniel instead of from the contemporary accounts of his
policy by Jeremiah, Baruch and Ezekiel. A proof of his wisdom and clemency
is here. While deporting a second multitude to Babylonia in the interests
of peace and order, he placed Judah under a native governor and chose for
the post a Jew of high family traditions and personal character. All
honour to Gedaliah for accepting so difficult and dangerous a task! He
attracted those Jewish captains and their bands who during the siege had
maintained themselves in the country,(612) and advised them to acknowledge
the Chaldean power and to cultivate their lands, which that year
fortunately produced excellent crops. At last there was peace, and the
like-minded Governor and Prophet must together have looked forward to
organising in Judah the nucleus at least of a restored Israel.

To this quiet interval, brief as it tragically proved, we may reasonably
assign those Oracles of Hope which it is possible to recognise as
Jeremiah's among the series attributed to him in Chs. XXX, XXXI. No
chapters of the book have been more keenly discussed or variously
estimated.(613) Yet at least there is agreement that the