r presence about the year 592.*

* Ezelc. i. 1, 2. We see him receiving the elders in his
house in chaps, viii. 1, xiv. 1, xx. 1, et. seq.

This little band of exiles was in constant communication with the
mother-country, and the echo of the religious quarrels and of the
controversies provoked between the various factions by the events of
the political world, was promptly borne to them by merchants, travelling
scribes, or the king's legates who were sent regularly to Babylon with
the tribute.* They learnt, about the year 590, that grave events were at
hand, and that the moment had come when Judah, recovering at length from
her trials, should once more occupy, in the sight of the sun, that place
for which Jahveh had destined her. The kings of Moab, Ammon, Edom,
Tyre, and Sidon had sent envoys to Jerusalem, and there, probably at the
dictation of Egypt, they had agreed on what measures to take to stir
up a general insurrection against Chaldaea.** The report of their
resolutions had revived the courage of the national party, and of its
prophets; Hananiah, son of Azzur, had gone through the city announcing
the good news to all.***

* Jer. xxix. 3 gives the names of two of these transmitters
of the tribute--Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the
son of Hilkiah, to whom Jeremiah had entrusted a message for
those of the captivity.

** Jer. xxvii. 1-3. The statement at the beginning of this
chapter: _In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim_,
contains a copyist's error; the reading should be: _In the
beginning of the reign of Zedekiah_ (see ver. 12).

*** Jer. xxvii., xxviii.

"Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have
broken the yoke of the King of Babylon. Within two full years will I
bring again into this place all the vessels of the Lord's house .. . and
Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, King of Judah, with all the captives of
Judah that went to Babylon!" But Jeremiah had made wooden yokes and
had sent them to the confederate princes, threatening them with divine
punishment if they did not bow their necks to Nebuchadrezzar; the
prophet himself bore one on his own neck, and showed himself in the
streets on all occasions thus accoutred, as a living emblem of the
slavery in which Jahveh permitted His people to remain for their
spiritual good. Hananiah, meeting the prophet by chance, wrested the
yoke from him and broke it, exclaiming, "Th