hem to scorn, and mocked
them," but others "humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem," and in
the second month the "very great assembly * * * killed the passover. * *
* So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon the
son of David, king of Israel, there was not the like in Jerusalem."

Manasseh, the next king, reestablished idolatry, and his son Amon,
who ruled but two years, followed in his footsteps. Josiah, who next
occupied the throne, was a different kind of a man. "He did that which
was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and walked in all the way of David his
father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left." In his
reign, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law in the temple, and
delivered it to Shaphan the scribe, who read it, and took it to the king
and read it to him. "And it came to pass when the king heard the words
of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes," and commanded that
inquiry be made of the Lord concerning the contents of the book. As a
result, the temple was cleansed of the vessels that had been used in
Baal worship, the idolatrous priests were put down, the "houses of the
sodomites," that were in the house of Jehovah, were broken down, the
high places erected by Solomon were defiled, and a great reformation was
worked.

Zedekiah was the last king in the line. In his day, Nebuchadnezzar, king
of Babylon, invaded the land, and besieged Jerusalem for sixteen months,
reducing the people to such straits that women ate the flesh of their
own children. When the city fell, a portion of the inhabitants were
carried to Babylon, and the furnishings of the temple were taken away
as plunder. Zedekiah, with his family, sought to escape, going out
over Olivet as David in his distress had done, but he was captured and
carried to Riblah, thirty-five miles north of Baalbec, where his sons
were slain in his presence. Then his eyes were put out, and he was
carried to Babylon. In this way were fulfilled the two prophecies, that
he should be taken to Babylon, and that he should not see it.

Thus, with Jerusalem a mass of desolate, forsaken ruins, the Babylonian
period was ushered in. Some of the captives rose to positions of trust
in the Babylonian government. Daniel and his three associates are
examples. During this period Ezekiel was a prophet. No doubt the frame
of mind of most of them is well expressed by the Psalmist: "By the
rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea w