Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
CHRONOLOGICAL HARMONY OF THE PROPHETS
That is, a chronological table recording the individual oracles of Isaiah and other Prophets by the years of the world and of Christ, in conformity with the one which I prefixed to Genesis as probable. I know that various scholars mark these variously, but with a few years added or subtracted — by which one chronology differs from another — this table will serve for any of them.
THE KINGS OF JUDAH, succeeding one another continuously, under whom the Prophets prophesied.
Uzziah or Azariah reigned for 52 years Jotham 16 Ahaz 16 Hezekiah 29 Manasseh 55 Amon 2 Josiah 31 Jehoahaz 3 months Jehoiakim 11 years From the end of Jehoiakim's 11th year, that is, from his death and the deportation of his son Jehoiachin to Babylon, the 70 years of the Babylonian captivity begin, of which Jeremiah speaks in chapter 25, verse 11. Hence Ezekiel begins and marks the years of his prophecy from this point throughout his entire prophecy. Jehoiachin 3 months Zedekiah 11 years In the 11th year of Zedekiah, Nebuchadnezzar overthrew the kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem, in the 18th year of his reign. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar reigned 26 more years. In total he reigned 44 years. He was succeeded by his son Evil-Merodach or Belshazzar, who reigned 34 years. When Babylon was captured, Darius and Cyrus killed Belshazzar. Thus after Belshazzar, Darius reigned in Babylon for one year, and after Darius, Cyrus for 3 years. In the 3rd year of Cyrus the prophecies of Daniel end, who prophesied last of all the four prophets.
In the year of the world 3136, before Christ 814
which was the year 1479 from the flood, 1187 from the birth of Abraham, 682 from the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, and 814 before the birth of Christ, Uzziah, or Azariah, king of Judah, began to reign, and he reigned for 52 years. Under him Hosea, Joel, Amos, and Isaiah prophesied. Isaiah, if we believe Eusebius, began to prophesy precisely in the 17th year of Uzziah, which was the year 797 before Christ. Likewise, under Uzziah the Olympiads began. For the 40th year of Uzziah, which was 774 before Christ, was the 1st year of the first Olympiad.
In the year of the world 3187, before Christ 769
which was the 52nd and last year of Uzziah, Isaiah saw, in chapter 6, the Lord sitting upon a high throne, and two Seraphim crying out: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts," by whom, purged through the Seraphim with a burning coal, he is sent to prophesy and to foretell the future unbelief and desolation of the Jews in the time of Christ, but the calling, faith, and multiplication of the Gentiles.
In the year of the world 3198, before Christ 751
which was the 11th year of Jotham, son of Uzziah, Rome was founded by Romulus, who began to reign there and reigned for 39 years.
In the year of the world 3207, before Christ 742
which was the year of Ahaz, son of Jotham, while Deioces was reigning among the Medes, Isaiah foretold the birth of Christ from the Virgin, saying in chapter 7: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel." He adds that the kingdom of Israel as well as that of Syria would soon be destroyed, which indeed happened: for in that same year Pekah, king of Israel, who had reigned for 20 years, was killed by the captain of his cavalry, namely by Hoshea, who succeeded him on the throne. Likewise Tiglath-Pileser, king of the Assyrians, devastated in that same year the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Syria, and killed its king Rezin, who had conspired with Pekah against Ahaz and the Jews.
Around this time the Erythraean Sibyl flourished, whose verses about the nativity, judgment, and resurrection of Christ St. Augustine records in the City of God, Book 8, chapter 23.
In the year of the world 3219, before Christ 730
when Ahaz died and his son Hezekiah succeeded him, that is, in the 1st year of Hezekiah, Isaiah prophesied, chapter 14, verse 28, Hezekiah's victory and triumph over the Philistines. Around the same time he also prophesied, chapters 13 and following, the burden, that is, the destruction, of Babylon by Cyrus, and of Moab, Damascus, Egypt, Ethiopia, Edom, Arabia, and Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar.
In the year of the world 3224, before Christ 725
which was the 6th year of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and the 9th and last year of Hoshea, king of Israel, Shalmaneser captured Samaria together with king Hoshea, overthrew the kingdom of Israel, and carried off the ten Tribes into Assyria, according to the burden and prophecy of Isaiah chapters 7 and 8.
At that time the story of Tobit occurred. For among others, Tobit with his wife Anna and his only son Tobias, from the tribe and city of Naphtali, was carried off by Shalmaneser to Nineveh. Since from infancy he had diligently worshipped God while fleeing idols, even in captivity he did not depart from the law and fear of God: therefore, having obtained the favor of Shalmaneser, he received permission to go wherever he wished: hence going about among the Israelite captives he consoled them, helped the needy, and lent ten talents of silver to Gabael.
In the year of the world 3232, before Christ 717
which was the 14th year of Hezekiah, Isaiah, chapter 20, walking naked for three days, by this act of his portended and in reality prophesied the despoiling of Egypt and Ethiopia, which was done that same year by Sennacherib and lasted for three years.
Therefore in the same year Sennacherib, besieging Jerusalem, vomited forth blasphemies and threats against it and against God through Rabshakeh; but at the prayers of Hezekiah and Isaiah, God turned his weapons away from it and diverted them elsewhere. For He raised up against him Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, and upon hearing of his approach, Sennacherib was forced to withdraw his forces from Jerusalem against Tirhakah; and fighting with him, he as victor devastated Egypt and Ethiopia, as I have already said. Isaiah 36 and 37.
In the same year Hezekiah fell ill, and Isaiah announced his death to him: he wept and prayed to God in repentance: God heard his prayers, and promised through Isaiah to add fifteen years to his life. To Hezekiah asking for a sign, He gave the portent of the sun's and the shadow's retreat on the sundial of Ahaz by ten lines. Therefore Isaiah, applying a poultice of figs to Hezekiah's ulcer, healed him; and he, restored to health on the third day, entered the temple and sang a hymn of thanksgiving to God, Isaiah 38.
In the same year Merodach, king of Babylon, astonished that the sun had moved backwards, sent ambassadors and gifts to Hezekiah, to inquire how and why such a portent had occurred: whence Hezekiah, puffed up, displayed to them all the treasures of his house; for which he was rebuked by Isaiah, and from him heard that those same treasures and his sons would in time to come be carried off to Babylon. The humble king patiently received the Prophet's sentence, and only prayed: "Let there be peace and truth in my days," and this he obtained: for having happily reigned 29 years, he fell asleep in peace, Isaiah chapter 39.
In the year of the world 3234, before Christ 715
which was the 16th year of Hezekiah and the 3rd since Sennacherib's invasion of Judea, Sennacherib, returning as victor from Egypt and Ethiopia and besieging Jerusalem again, received a blow from an angel, with 185,000 Assyrians slain, according to the oracle and promises of Isaiah chapter 37, verses 30 and 36. Therefore he himself fled and returned to Nineveh, and vented his wrath on the Israelites recently carried off there. For so Tobit chapter 1, verse 21 says: "When King Sennacherib had returned, fleeing from Judea the blow which God had struck him with because of his blasphemy, and in his anger killed many of the children of Israel, Tobias buried their bodies. But when this was reported to the king, he ordered him killed and took all his property. But Tobias, fleeing with his son and wife, hid himself destitute, because many loved him. But after forty-five days the king's own sons killed him, and Tobias returned to his house; and all his property was restored to him."
From this 16th year up to the 29th and last of Hezekiah, St. Jerome judges, in his commentary on Isaiah chapter 1, that Isaiah published all the remaining prophecies which he describes from chapter 40 to the end of the book. For Isaiah appends these after the defeat of the Assyrians described in chapter 37. Moreover, those prophecies concern Christ and the Church. For in passing he predicts that Cyrus will release the Jews from the Babylonian captivity; but he prophesies at length that Christ, the antitype of Cyrus, will redeem all men from the slavery of sin and the devil, and, leaving aside the Jews, will call the Gentiles to salvation, will suffer for them, die, ascend into heaven, and give an abundance of spiritual and temporal goods: for all nations will subject themselves to Christ and the Church, and kings and queens will be its foster-fathers and foster-mothers, and will bring all their wealth and glory into it, and will worship it with their faces bowed to the ground. Finally, Christ will repay the faithful and pious with ineffable happiness; but the unfaithful and impious with inextinguishable fire.
In the year of the world 3247, before Christ 702
Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, began to reign — wicked and idolatrous — and he reigned for 55 years. He therefore sawed Isaiah in two with a wooden saw, though Isaiah was his own kinsman, because he rebuked his crimes, cutting him in half near the pool of Siloam. Moreover, he shed very much innocent blood, until he filled Jerusalem to the brim. Therefore God sent the commanders of the king of Assyria, who led Manasseh bound in chains to Babylon, where, doing penance and praying to God, he was heard, and after 10 years was restored by Him to his kingdom: restored, he removed the idols and altars, rebuilt the altar and worship of God, and served Him entirely, and commanded his subjects to serve Him, III Kings 21 and II Chronicles chapter 33.
In the year of the world 3317, before Christ 632
which was the 13th year of the pious king Josiah, Jeremiah the priest, sanctified in his mother's womb, while still a boy was sent by God to prophesy; and when he pleaded his youth, touched by the hand of the Lord upon his mouth he received the gift of prophecy, boldness, and invincible strength for prophesying and preaching freely. Therefore in this 13th year of Josiah, he sees in ch. 1 a boiling pot and a watching rod coming from the face of the North, by which he announces that the coming of Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon is portended, who would overthrow Judea and Jerusalem for their crimes, either slaughter or carry the people into captivity, and lay waste the land.
In the year of the world 3335, before Christ 614
which was the 31st and last year of Josiah, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt marched against the king of the Assyrians. But Josiah, wishing to impede his passage through Judea, went out to resist him. To whom Neco said: "I do not come against you today, but I fight against another house, to which God has commanded me to go in haste: cease opposing God, who is with me, lest He kill you." Josiah refused to yield to him speaking God's words; but joining battle in the plain of Megiddo he was wounded by archers, and carried back to Jerusalem he died, and the whole people mourned him, Jeremiah most of all, whose lamentations over Josiah sung at the funeral were repeated for a long time thereafter.
Jehoahaz, also called Shallum, son of Josiah, the twentieth king of Judah, reigned wickedly and cruelly for 3 months. Meanwhile Neco, having obtained the victory, came to Jerusalem, sent Jehoahaz bound to Egypt, and having imposed a tribute on the Jews, made his brother Eliakim, also called Jeconiah, king, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He reigned 11 years, killed the prophet Uriah because he preached that Jerusalem would be destroyed, and cast his body into the graves of the common people. Ezekiel calls both him and the aforementioned Jehoahaz lions, because they violently oppressed the people.
Then by God's command Jeremiah, entering the house of the king of Judah, said of the firstborn of Josiah: "Do not weep for the dead." Then concerning Jehoahaz he added: "Weep for him who goes forth; for thus says the Lord to him: He shall return here no more, but in the place to which I have carried him away, there he shall die." Then he said of Jehoiakim: "Thus says the Lord to Jehoiakim: They shall not mourn for him, but he shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem." And finally he added concerning his son Jehoiachin, also called Jeconiah: "As I live, says the Lord, even if Jeconiah were a signet ring on My right hand, I would pluck him from there. And I will give you into the hand of the king of Babylon, and I will send you and your mother into a foreign land, and there you shall die."
After this, Jeremiah preaching in the temple to all the people that, unless they repented, the temple and city would be destroyed, was seized by the priests and false prophets, and accused before the princes so that he might be killed. To them he replied that he had been sent by God to announce these things; whereupon he was acquitted by the princes and elders, for Ahikam son of Shaphan delivered him. Jeremiah 26, last verse.
Around the same time Jeremiah was commanded by God to make bonds and chains, and to wear them and place them on his neck, and afterward under Zedekiah to send the same to the kings of Tyre, Sidon, Edom, Moab, and Ammon, so that through them he might signify and portend that bonds and captivity from Nebuchadnezzar were threatening them, as is clear from Jeremiah 27, v. 1 and following.
In the year of the world 3338, before Christ 611
in the 3rd year of the reign of Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, besieged Jerusalem, and captured King Jehoiakim with many nobles, among whom were Daniel, still a boy, and Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. The king bound in chains together with others, and as many of the temple vessels as he could take as quickly as possible, he carried off to Babylon, where he placed the vessels in the temple of his god. But Daniel and his three companions, because being of royal lineage they surpassed the rest in appearance and intelligence, he had nourished there with royal food and instructed in the language and literature of the Chaldeans, so that after three years they might stand before the king. By the consent of the chief of the eunuchs, abstaining from the royal dishes and living on vegetables and water alone, they obtained from God fullness of countenance and wisdom above all their contemporaries who ate the royal food; and Daniel received in addition the understanding of dreams. When the three years were completed, they stood before the king, surpassing all the Chaldean magi tenfold.
In the year of the world 3339, before Christ 610
which was the 4th year of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah prophesies in ch. 46, v. 2 and following, that the Chaldeans would rout the Egyptians together with their king Pharaoh Neco. For Neco, from his victory and the slaughter of Josiah, had subjugated the Jews to himself. Having therefore gathered a multitude of Egyptians, Libyans, and Lydians, he came to avenge himself on the Chaldeans for having driven away his tributary Jews to Babylon. In the 4th year of the reign of Jehoiakim, therefore, held in Babylonian captivity, a battle was joined near the river Euphrates at Carchemish, where both kings fell, says Adrichomius in his Chronicle, namely the elder Neco and the elder Nebuchadnezzar (but more on this elsewhere). The Egyptians were cut down; but the Chaldeans, gaining the upper hand, took from the Egyptians whatever they had taken from the Assyrians, from the Euphrates all the way to Egypt. Then Jehoiakim, restored to his kingdom, became tributary to the king of Babylon, and served him under tribute for 3 years. And this is the first year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar the Younger, surnamed the Great, king of Babylon, who afterward reigned 45 years.
In this same 4th year of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah cries out to the Jews that he has now been prophesying for 23 years: but because they refused to listen to him or to the other Prophets urging repentance, he foretells that they will be captured by the king of Babylon and will serve him for 70 years. Jeremiah ch. 25, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, and 51.
And he prophesies that all the surrounding nations -- Egyptians, Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, etc. -- will drink from the cup of Babylon the wine of the Lord's fury; and after 70 years Babylon itself will also drink, and will be completely overthrown by the Medes and reduced to perpetual desolation; and then at last Israel will return to its own land and will live there well and happily.
In the same 4th year, King Jehoiakim shut Jeremiah in prison. There, in the 5th year of Jehoiakim, in the month of November, by God's command Baruch the scribe and secretary of Jeremiah wrote in a book from the mouth of Jeremiah all his prophecies against Judah and the nations. Then, sent by Jeremiah with the book to the people gathered in the temple and celebrating a fast, he read it there before all the people, so that they might repent. Then, summoned to the princes, he read the same before all the princes in the king's house; who, astonished, said to Baruch: "Go and hide yourself, you and Jeremiah." So they freed the Prophet, and going in to the king reported to him the words of the book; which the king immediately had read, and after a few passages had been read, had it cut with a knife and burned in the fire. He sought Jeremiah and Baruch to kill them, but the Lord hid them. By His command Baruch soon wrote the same prophecies in another book from the mouth of Jeremiah; and moreover added that because of the burning of the first book, the corpse of Jehoiakim would be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night. Jeremiah 36.
Then Jeremiah rebuked Baruch for faintheartedness, because he complained that he had sorrow and no rest; yet to him, amid the devastation of all others, he promised the safety of his life.
There were then in Babylon two elder presbyters, Jewish judges, Ahab and Zedekiah, who, lusting after the most chaste Jewish woman Susanna as she bathed secretly in a garden, to satisfy their lust or commit rape, when they could not enjoy her company, accused her falsely before the people of adultery. When she, condemned, was being led to death and prayed to God, the boy Daniel, roused by the Spirit of God, in ch. 13 reviewed the judgment and, interrogating the elders separately, convicted them out of their own mouths of false testimony. The people was hastening to stone them according to the law of retaliation, but by order of Nebuchadnezzar they were burned with fire, as Jeremiah had foretold, ch. 29, v. 23.
In the year of the world 3342, before Christ 607
which was the 7th year of Jehoiakim, Jehoiakim, trusting in the help of the Egyptians and rebelling against Nebuchadnezzar, refused him tribute, not wishing to serve the Chaldeans any longer. Whereupon armies of the Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites, sent by God, destroyed Judah on account of the sins of Manasseh. Then Jeremiah, by God's command, approached the Rechabites, who by the precept of their father lived religiously, not drinking wine, nor owning fields or vineyards, dwelling in tents instead of houses, and now by the necessity of war living in the city; and he offered them wine. When they refused to drink, by the example of their obedience he rebuked the obstinate disobedience of the Jews, who neglected God's commandment; wherefore he announced punishment for the latter, but reward for the former.
In the year of the world 3346, before Christ 603
in the 11th year of the reign of Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar, coming to Jerusalem, cast out the slain Jehoiakim beyond Jerusalem to be torn by beasts and birds, and made his son Jehoiachin, also called Jeconiah, king. He reigned 3 months and 10 days, similar to his father in wickedness, dissimilar in name. 4 Kings 24; 2 Chronicles 36; 3 Esdras 1.
In the year of the world 3347, before Christ 602. But after three months
in the spring, Nebuchadnezzar returned and besieged Jerusalem. Going out to him on the advice of Jeremiah, King Jehoiachin and his mother, wives, and princes, and all the nobles and chief men of Judah -- among whom were also the young Ezekiel, and Mordecai, and Jehozadak the high priest -- voluntarily surrendered themselves to the king of Babylon, who transferred them together with the remaining vessels and treasures of the temple and palace, and the wealthier, stronger, and best artisans of every kind to Babylon, where Jehoiachin was committed to prison. But he made his uncle Mattaniah, son of Josiah, king, and made him swear by God that he would faithfully serve the Chaldeans under tribute; as a sign of which he changed his name and called him Zedekiah, which means "the justice of the Lord." He reigned impiously for 11 years, doing evil and not obeying the counsel of Jeremiah. 4 Kings 24; 2 Chronicles 36; 3 Esdras 1; Jeremiah ch. 37 and 52.
In the 1st year of his reign, Jeremiah sees in ch. 24 very good and very bad figs, divinely placed before the temple, and hears that the former signify the Jews already long ago transferred to Babylon, and that they would be brought back by the Lord to Judea; but the latter designate those who had remained in Jerusalem, and that they would be given over to the sword, famine, and pestilence. And immediately Jeremiah writes and sends letters to those who had been carried to Babylon, saying that after 70 years they would return to their own land; but those who had remained in Jerusalem would be consumed by sword, famine, and pestilence. He also prophesies the true liberation of the people to come through Christ, and a new law to be written on their hearts, and Jerusalem to be rebuilt, where they might freely, securely, and joyfully serve the Lord in the abundance of all goods. Jeremiah ch. 29, 30, and 31.
Around the same time, in the month of July, the false prophet Hananiah, removing in the temple before the priests and all the people the wooden chain from the neck of Jeremiah, which he wore by God's command as a sign of the coming captivity, and breaking it, said: Thus will God break, after two years, the yoke of the king of Babylon from the neck of all nations, and King Jeconiah and all the exiles with the vessels of the temple will return here. But Jeremiah, wearing by God's command an iron chain instead of the wooden one, declared that Hananiah was prophesying falsely and would therefore soon die; and he died in the seventh month afterward. Jeremiah 28.
At that time also Jeremiah sent chains to five kings -- of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon -- through their envoys who had come to Zedekiah, by which he warned them and likewise the king of Judah that if they were willing to serve the king of Babylon, they would remain in their land;
otherwise they would perish by the sword, famine, and pestilence. He also foretold that the sacred vessels which remained in Jerusalem would be transferred to Babylon, and at length brought back to Jerusalem.
In the year of the world 3350, before Christ 599
which was the 4th year of Zedekiah, Jeremiah, in ch. 19, breaks a flask in the court of the temple to show that the people would be similarly broken. Then in ch. 20, imprisoned by Pashhur, he threatens him with destruction, and out of weariness of life and the bitterness of his sufferings he curses the day of his birth. In the same year he prophesies, in ch. 50 and 51, the destruction of Babylon by Cyrus; whence, in v. 50, he writes in a book all the evils that threatened Babylon and hands the book to Seraiah the orator of Zedekiah who was going with him to Babylon, and commands him to read it before the Jews, then to tie it to a stone and cast it into the Euphrates, and say: "Thus shall Babylon be submerged." Jeremiah 51 and 59.
In the same year Jeremiah, ch. 13, v. 18, is sent by God to Zedekiah who was rebelling against the Chaldeans, and to the queen, to announce to them the overthrow of the kingdom, as will be clear from the chronological arrangement of Jeremiah.
In the year of the world 3351, before Christ 598
which was the 5th year of the deportation of Jehoiachin to Babylon and the 5th year of the reign of Zedekiah, on the 5th day of June, the priest Ezekiel, a Jew in Babylon, in the 30th year of his age, saw in a cloud and fire the likeness of four living creatures -- namely a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle -- moving straight forward by the impulse of the spirit, and the figure of a man sitting on the throne of the glory of God, mystically representing Christ and the four Evangelists. Commanded, he ate a scroll sent from heaven, written inside and outside, containing lamentations, a dirge, and woe. And thus having received firmness of spirit, he was divinely sent to prophesy to the Jewish captives, his companions in Babylon. And when he had been silent for seven days, seeing again in the plain the glory of the Lord, he was commanded to shut himself in his house as if bound and mute, and by signs to depict and draw on a tablet the siege of Jerusalem, and to place between himself and the city an iron frying pan for a wall, which would exclude from the captives the remedy of heavenly aid; and taking upon himself the iniquities of Israel, to lie on his left side for 390 days, then on his right side for 40 days, taking upon himself the iniquities of Judah, and daily to eat bread by weight -- cheap, scanty food made with cow dung -- and to drink a small measure of water. He was also commanded to shave the hair of his head and beard, and to dispose of what was shaved in three parts. By all these things he signified and announced that because of the iniquities committed, there would be a most severe siege of the city of Jerusalem, and an extreme and inevitable devastation and desolation of all Judea. Ezekiel chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
In the 6th year of the deportation, on the 5th of August, Ezekiel, caught up in the spirit and brought to Jerusalem, saw there in the temple the worst abominations of the Jews' idolatry, and because of these and their various crimes by which they surpassed Sodom and Samaria, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were to pray for them, all and each who had not been marked on the forehead with the sign of the tau by the man clothed in linen would be killed, and the city burned. But King Zedekiah, because allied with the king of Egypt he was rebelling against Nebuchadnezzar in violation of his oath, would be captured and brought to Babylon, yet he himself would not see it, and there he would die; but those who, surrendering to the Chaldeans, would migrate to Babylon would return to their homeland.
In the 7th year of the deportation, on the 10th of July, Ezekiel, when the Jews sought a divine answer from him, recounted the benefits that God had bestowed upon the Israelites in Egypt, in the desert, and in the promised land, yet they had always been rebels against His rule; therefore he threatens Jerusalem with the irrevocable sword, slaughter, and destruction. Ezekiel chapters 20, 21, 22, and 23.
In the year of the world 3355, before Christ 594
in the 9th year of Zedekiah, on the 10th of December, Nebuchadnezzar came with his army and besieged Jerusalem most closely for a year and a half, except that in the middle of that time he was absent for two months on account of the Egyptians. Meanwhile so great a famine pressed upon those besieged in the city that parents ate their children and children their parents. 4 Kings 25; Jeremiah 39 and 52, and 19; Ezekiel 5. On that same day, in the morning, Ezekiel, by a pot full of choice meats and bones placed on the fire and melted, signified to the exiles that there would be the burning of Jerusalem and the destruction of the people. But in the evening of that same day his beloved wife died, for whom he was forbidden by God to mourn, as a sign of the future desolation of the temple. And he prophesied that destruction also threatened the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, and Palestinians or Philistines, because they had exulted over the affliction of Jerusalem. Ezekiel 24 and 25.
Then King Zedekiah sent messengers to consult Jeremiah, to whom the Prophet replied that King Zedekiah would be captured and the city burned; and those of the people who remained in the city would die by famine, pestilence, and sword; but those who fled to the Chaldeans would live. Jeremiah 21.
In the year of the world 3356, before Christ 593
in the 10th year of Zedekiah, Jeremiah, sent by the Lord to Zedekiah, told him that the city would be captured and burned, and the king would not escape, but once captured would visibly speak face to face with Nebuchadnezzar, yet would not be killed by the sword, but led to Babylon would die there in peace by a natural death. For this reason the king shut the Prophet in prison for some days. Jeremiah 32 and 34. But Jeremiah, placed in prison, by the Lord's command bought from his cousin a field that was in Anathoth, and instructed Baruch to have the sealed deed of purchase placed in an earthen vessel and preserved; testifying that Jerusalem would indeed be destroyed and the people taken captive, but that they would return again and securely possess their fields in prosperity. He also prophesied that Christ would be born, and that after the redemption was accomplished, He would reign happily in all joy over the house of Jacob and David without end. Jeremiah chapters 32 and 33.
After this, Zedekiah, placed in a difficult position because of the imminent danger, since the seventh year was at hand, that is, the sabbath of the land, released the Prophet and summoned the people to the temple. They struck a covenant before the Lord, that each one should set his servants free; and as a sign of the firmness of the covenant, they passed between the halves of a cut-up calf, calling down upon themselves the most extreme punishments if they did not keep the covenant. And so they released their servants. Jeremiah 34.
Meanwhile the army of the king of Egypt came to Judea, to bring the promised aid to the Jews. Upon hearing this, the Chaldeans, raising the siege of Jerusalem, marched to meet the Egyptians and compelled them to retreat. Jeremiah 37.
In the same 10th year in December, Ezekiel prophesied that, because the king of Egypt had provided aid to the Jews, Egypt would be devastated, destroyed, and reduced to a wilderness by Nebuchadnezzar; but after 40 years would be restored, though not to its former glory. Ezekiel 29 and 30.
But when the Chaldeans had withdrawn, the Jews, thinking they were completely freed, immediately dragged back into servitude the servants they had released. Wherefore the Lord, rebuking the covenant-breakers through Jeremiah, said they would perish by the sword, pestilence, and famine. Jeremiah 34.
Moreover, Jeremiah, when King Zedekiah sought a divine answer from him, replied that the Egyptians would return to their own land, and the Chaldeans would return to Jerusalem and burn the city. Jeremiah chapter 37.
Then Jeremiah, wishing to go out to Anathoth, the village from which he came, to take possession of the field he had bought, was seized at the gate by guards falsely accusing him of deserting to the Chaldeans, and by order of the princes was beaten and thrown into prison, and he sat there many days. Brought out by King Zedekiah and secretly questioned about the truth, he said that the king would truly be captured. And so he was returned to prison, with a loaf of bread assigned to him daily, until all the bread in the besieged city was consumed. Jeremiah 37.
Meanwhile, the Egyptians having been routed, the siege of Jerusalem continued. But Jeremiah unceasingly proclaimed from prison to all the people that the city would be captured, and those remaining in it would die by sword, famine, and pestilence; but those who deserted to the Chaldeans would escape death. Therefore the princes asked the king for the Prophet to be killed, and with his consent, taking him from prison, they lowered him by a rope into a muddy cistern, so that he might die there of hunger. But with the king's tacit approval, Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian eunuch pulled him out and returned him and shut him back in prison. This Ebed-Melech, because of this good deed and especially because he always trusted in God, heard from Jeremiah that he would be divinely delivered from captivity and death. Jeremiah 38 and 39.
After this, Jeremiah was again secretly brought to the king, and questioned in private; he advised and counseled him to surrender to the Chaldeans, and thus he himself and the city would be saved. Otherwise the city would be burned by them and he would not escape. Having said this, he was brought back and shut up again in prison, and he remained there until the city was captured. Jeremiah 38.
In the year of the world 3357, before Christ 592
in the 11th year, on the first day of the month of March, Ezekiel prophesied that Tyre, the famous city of the sea and most wealthy through the multitude of its merchants, would be overthrown by Nebuchadnezzar, because it had exulted over the affliction and destruction of Jerusalem. But the king of Tyre, because of his pride by which he boasted himself to be God and wiser than Daniel -- a man already then of great renown and fame on account of the interpretation of the king's dreams and the deliverance of Susanna -- would be slain. But the Jews would be brought back to their own land. Ezekiel ch. 26, 27, and 28.
In the same 11th year, on the 5th of May, Ezekiel compared Pharaoh with the king of the Assyrians: that just as Assyria, though lofty, was cast down, so also the kingdom of Egypt would be cast down. Ezekiel 31.
In the same 11th year of Zedekiah, which was the 19th of Nebuchadnezzar, on the 5th of June, the Chaldeans broke through the outer wall of Jerusalem and entered as far as the inner gate of the second wall. Seeing this, King Zedekiah, fleeing by night through a subterranean passage with his princes, was seized by the Chaldeans in the plain of Jericho and brought to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah. There, rebuking him for his faithlessness and perjury, he killed his sons and the princes of Judah before his eyes; then he gouged out his eyes and sent him bound in chains to Babylon, where he committed him to prison until death. 4 Kings 25; Jeremiah 39 and 52, and the word of the Lord was fulfilled which He had spoken: "I will bring him to Babylon, and he shall not see it." Ezekiel 12.
On the 9th of June, the Chaldeans captured the city of Jerusalem, killing the people and sparing neither youth, nor maiden, nor old man. On the 7th of July, Nebuzaradan the captain of the army came and burned the king's palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Furthermore, on the 10th of July, he set fire to the temple of the Lord, which had stood for 446 years, and at the same time the sacred books were burned, which are cited in various places in Scripture but no longer exist. Moreover, he destroyed all the towers and walls of the city of Jerusalem round about, and the remaining buildings; the surviving people together with the deserters and the vessels of the temple he carried off to Babylon. He left in Jerusalem only a few poor farmers to cultivate the land, and set Gedaliah over them. But Nebuzaradan, by the command of Nebuchadnezzar, released Jeremiah from his chains and brought him out of prison, and gave him liberty, means, and the choice either of going to Babylon,
promising that he would treat him there with honor, or that he might dwell wherever he wished. But the Prophet, preferring to reside in his homeland, having been given much food and many gifts by him and commended to Gedaliah, dwelt together with Gedaliah in Mizpah; where Gedaliah kindly received the Jews scattered here and there, and promised them security provided they were willing to serve the king of Babylon. He was warned by them to beware of Ishmael who was plotting his death; but he did not believe, nor listen to those giving good advice. 4 Kings 25; 2 Chronicles 36; Jeremiah 39 and 52; 3 Esdras 1.
Moreover Jeremiah, sitting with a bitter spirit, grieving and weeping, laments in a fourfold metrical alphabet the destruction of Jerusalem, and in his affliction antitypically mourns the passion, death, and burial of Christ, and the desolation of the Church, and prays to God for the desolate. Lamentations ch. 2, 3, 4, and 5.
But on the third day of September, Ishmael the Jew treacherously killed Gedaliah at Mizpah, and many other Jews and Chaldeans who were with him. When he himself was also sought for death by the remnants of the Jews, he fled with eight men to the Ammonites. Jeremiah 41; 4 Kings 25.
But the remnants of the Jews, fearing vengeance from the Chaldeans for what had happened, resolved to flee to Egypt. They asked Jeremiah to pray and consult the Lord about what they should do, swearing they would do whatever he commanded. Ten days later, the Lord answered through Jeremiah that they would be safe by God's protection if they remained in Judea; but if they fled to Egypt, He declared that they would all die there by the sword, famine, and pestilence. But they, scorning the oracle of God, compelling Jeremiah and Baruch to go with them, departed and journeyed together into Egypt, and dwelt near Tahpanhes. There Jeremiah predicted that Nebuchadnezzar would come and devastate Egypt with its idols and would rule over it. Jeremiah ch. 42 and 43.
After this, the Jews in Egypt, rebuked by Jeremiah for idolatry because they were sacrificing to idols there, obstinately replied, together with a multitude of women, that they would persist in their deep-rooted idolatry and would sacrifice to the queen of heaven, that is, the moon. Jeremiah foretold that all of them would be utterly consumed by the sword and famine, and that Pharaoh king of Egypt would be captured. And because he did not cease to rebuke them, they stoned him there. The Egyptians, honoring him because by his prayer serpents had been driven away from that place, buried him near the tomb of their kings, and venerated him there with great reverence. Jeremiah 44.
After this, other Jews emerged from the neighboring places to which they had fled, and said: Abraham was one man, and he possessed the land; but we are many, the land is given to us as a possession. And so going they dwelt there among the ruins and rubble of the city. Ezekiel 33.
In the year of the world 3358, before Christ 591. In the 1st year of the desolation of Jerusalem
which was the 12th of the deportation, on the 5th of December, a certain fugitive came from Jerusalem to Babylon to Ezekiel, saying: The city has been devastated. At which time Ezekiel prophesies that the remnants of the Jews who were dwelling among the ruins, because of their iniquities, would be destroyed by wild beasts, and by the sword and pestilence, and the land would be reduced to a wilderness. Ezekiel 33.
In the same year, on the 1st of February, Ezekiel mourns over the future slaying of Pharaoh by Nebuchadnezzar, and the descent of him and many nations to the underworld: because they had spread their terror in the land of the living, that is, of the Jews and the Patriarchs, whom, because of their knowledge and worship of God, the Lord in the Gospel calls the living (Matthew 22). He also describes the office of the evangelical preacher, and in place of the shepherds of the Jews who, neglecting the flock, were feeding themselves, he promises the true shepherd Christ, who will gather His sheep, heal them, and feed them in peace and abundance. In addition he foretells that Edom would be devastated and destroyed because it had afflicted the people of God; but Israel would be brought back from captivity and restored to its own land, where, united under one king and shepherd Christ, they would dwell in happiness and walk in the precepts of God. This restoration is shown to the Prophet in a field through dry bones coming back to life, which mystically also prefigured the general resurrection of the dead. Finally he prophesies that Gog and Magog in the last days would come with a prepared and immense army from the North into the land of Israel, and there would perish. Ezekiel chapters 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, and 38.
In the year of the world 3362, before Christ 587
which was the 5th year from the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar, according to the prophecies of Isaiah ch. 23 and Jeremiah ch. 46, v. 13, invaded and occupied Coele-Syria, the Ammonites, and the Moabites (so Josephus, Antiquities X.11) and began to besiege Tyre, which he besieged for 13 years and finally captured. So Ezekiel ch. 29, v. 18, and Josephus. In the same year, which was the 24th of Nebuchadnezzar, on the 17th day of the fifth month, Baruch read the book he had written in Babylon before Jeconiah and all the people, by which he gave the Jews in Babylon counsels of salvation: namely that they had been carried into captivity because of their sins, but would be brought back to Jerusalem with glory. Furthermore, through Christ God, who would become man and dwell on earth among men, people would be more fully and perfectly taught the way of wisdom and salvation, and would be redeemed by Him, and gladdened and adorned with eternal honor, splendor, and delight in the light of the majesty of God. Baruch ch. 1 and following.
In the year of the world 3371, before Christ 578. In the 14th year from the destruction of Jerusalem
which is the 25th of the deportation, on the 10th of March, Ezekiel, led in the spirit to the land of Israel, with an angel showing him, saw under the figure of a city (Jerusalem) and a temple, to be rebuilt upon a mountain with a certain measure and dimension and to be filled with the glory of God, the most sacred mysteries of the Church of Christ. Ezekiel chapters 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, and 48.
In the year of the world 3373, before Christ 576
which was the 45th year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, the 10th of his monarchy, the 26th from the destruction of Jerusalem, and the 37th of the deportation of Jehoiachin, Nebuchadnezzar died, and his son Evil-Merodach, who was also called Belshazzar, succeeded him in the kingdom. In the same 1st year of his reign, he raised up and brought out Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison, and exalted him above all the princes of Babylon, so that from then on for the rest of his life he ate at the king's table with him. Jeremiah, last chapter, v. 34.
In the same 1st year of the reign of Belshazzar, Daniel saw in ch. 7, in a dream, four beasts: a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a fourth terrible and unnamed one, from whose head a little horn arising was growing and conquering many. These signified the four monarchies -- of the Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks, and Romans -- from which the Antichrist would arise, persecuting the saints and ruling the whole world like a monarch for three and a half years. The Son of Man, having received power from the Ancient of Days, would scatter and crush Him, and He Himself would reign forever.
Around the same time occurred the history of Bel and the dragon, which Daniel destroyed. Daniel ch. 14.
In the year of the world 3385, before Christ 564
which was the 3rd year of Belshazzar, Daniel saw a he-goat fighting against a ram and defeating it; then a small horn sprung from the he-goat exercising great tyranny over the people and temple of God. And he heard from Gabriel that thus the king of the Persians would one day be defeated in battle by the king of the Greeks, and from him would arise a shameless king (namely Antiochus Epiphanes, a figure of the Antichrist), who would kill the saints, violate the temple, take away and abolish the sacrifices and worship of God, and at last would be crushed without hands. Daniel 8.
In the year of the world 3417, before Christ 532
which was the 34th and last year of Belshazzar; Cyrus king of Persia and Darius king of the Medes, his uncle, besieged Babylon. But King Belshazzar, relying on the fortifications of the city, giving himself to feasting, drank wine with his princes, wives, and concubines from the vessels of the temple of Jerusalem, praising his idols. Therefore he saw a hand writing on the wall: Mene, Tekel, Peres. When the Babylonian magi could neither read nor interpret the writing, Daniel alone both read it to the terrified king and interpreted it as signifying that he would be driven from his kingdom, and that it would be given by God to the Medes and Persians. Whereupon Daniel was honored with a golden necklace and purple, and was made the third ruler of the kingdom. Daniel 5.
On that same night the Medes and Persians, having diverted the flow of the Euphrates elsewhere, entered Babylon through the dry riverbed,
Finally, Ezekiel at Babylon was killed by the judge of the people of Israel because he rebuked them for their idol worship, and crowned with martyrdom, was buried in the tomb of Shem and Arphaxad, ancestors of Abraham; to which many were accustomed to flock for the purpose of prayer, as the Roman Martyrology records, on the fourth of the Ides of April.
In the year of the world 3375, before Christ 574
which was the 2nd year from the devastation of Egypt and consequently from the monarchy of Nebuchadnezzar, but the 37th of his reign. Nebuchadnezzar, now proud and a glorious conqueror, having returned to Babylon, saw in a dream a fourfold statue -- namely with a golden head, a silver chest, a bronze belly, and iron legs -- portending the four empires of the world, which was crushed by a stone cut from a mountain, that is, by Christ, as Daniel explained to him in ch. 2. And therefore he was honored by the king and set over all Babylon. But the king, soon growing insolent because he heard from Daniel that he and his kingdom were the golden head, erected his own golden statue and had himself worshipped in it by all. When Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, while all others worshipped, refused to worship it, by the king's command they were cast into a furnace of burning fire; but though those who threw them in were consumed by the flame, they walked unharmed and untouched in the midst of the fire with the angel of God, blessing the Lord with a canticle and exhorting all creation to His praise. Observing this, Nebuchadnezzar was astounded, and calling them out of the furnace, blessed their God, commanding and ordering by edict that whoever blasphemed Him should be put to death.
After this, Nebuchadnezzar saw a dream of a tall tree to be cut down, which Daniel alone interpreted as referring to the king's future seven-year expulsion and dwelling with beasts, and his eventual restoration to the kingdom -- which, because of the almsgiving the king had done at Daniel's urging, was delayed for a year. Then the king, turned to madness because of his pride and driven from his kingdom, dwelling in the forests like a beast among beasts for seven years, ate grass like an ox and was drenched by the heat and dew of heaven.
Then, restored to his mind and kingdom by the prayers and intercession of Daniel, he acknowledged and glorified the God of heaven; and all these things he published to his subjects by letters.
killed King Belshazzar and the people, destroyed the city and the tower, and Darius the Mede, 62 years old, assumed the kingdom. Jeremiah 51. He preceded Cyrus because he was older, because he was his uncle, and because he was lord of the more powerful kingdom: for St. Jerome gives this threefold reason.
But Daniel, taken by Darius into Media, was made chief over the satraps of the kingdom. And because on account of his wisdom he was dearer to the king than the rest, through the envy of the princes he was accused before the king of praying to the God of heaven three times daily against the royal edict. Whereupon, though the king resisted greatly, he was thrown into the lions' den, and a stone was rolled over the mouth of the den and sealed. At first light, the king, finding Daniel preserved by God and unharmed by the lions, drew him out and cast his accusers to the lions; and when they were instantly devoured, by the publication of a decree throughout the whole kingdom he proclaimed that the God of Daniel was to be feared. Daniel ch. 6.
In the same 1st year of the empire of Darius the Mede over the Chaldeans, the 69th year of the deportation, Daniel, understanding from the book of Jeremiah that the end of the 70 years of the desolation of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity was approaching, prostrate before the Lord in fasting, sackcloth, and ashes, confessed that the Jews had been justly taken captive for their sins, and prayed that He would mercifully deign to bring them back to their own land according to His promise. To him the angel Gabriel appeared and responded, indicating that his prayer had been heard, and moreover revealed to him when the temple, when the city of Jerusalem would again be built; and what was greater than all, he foretold to him the time when the true liberty, Christ, would come, namely that 70 weeks (each of which, according to the custom of Scripture, contains 7 years, making therefore 490 years) had been determined and fixed by God until Christ; when, with sin abolished and expiated, God would bring true liberty and everlasting justice. Thus, from the going forth of the decree of the king permitting Jerusalem to be rebuilt again, that is, from the 7th year of Artaxerxes Longimanus king of Persia, when he sent Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem, and up to that day when Christ, the Holy of Holies, would be anointed from heaven by God the Father through the Holy Spirit in His baptism as leader and teacher of Christians, there would be 69 weeks,
that is, 483 years. But in the seventieth week, that is, the last and final one, Christ would confirm the covenant, that is, the evangelical law, the New Testament, and His Gospel with many miracles; but in the middle of that same week Christ would be killed, and the sacrifice of the old law would cease; the people who would deny Christ would be rejected; the abomination of desolation would be in the temple, or would be set up ("which was spoken of," says Christ, "in Matthew ch. 24, by the Prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place: let him who reads understand"): and the city and the temple would be destroyed and devastated by the leader and the people to come, and their desolation would last until the end of the world.
In the year of the world 3418, before Christ 531
in the 70th year of the desolation of Jerusalem, the sabbath of the land being now completed, and Darius the Mede being dead, Cyrus king of Persia, having obtained the monarchy, immediately in the 1st year of his monarchy, divinely inspired, published an edict throughout his whole kingdom giving the Jews permission to return to Jerusalem and to Judea, their homeland and land, and at royal expense commanded a temple to be built there to the God of Israel, returning to them 5,400 gold and silver vessels of the temple which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 36; 1 Esdras 1; 3 Esdras 2.
In the year of the world 3428, before Christ 521
which was the 3rd and last year of the monarchy and life of Cyrus, when Daniel had afflicted himself with mourning, fasting, and prayer for three weeks, he saw, on the 24th of March, beside the river Tigris a man clothed in linen and shining. Whence, fearing and trembling, he was strengthened by him and taught about Michael, the prince of the Synagogue who aids the Jews, and about the various future wars between the kings of Persia and Greece, and between the kings of the South, that is, Egypt, and the North, that is, Syria; likewise about Antiochus Epiphanes and his antitype the Antichrist, who would exalt himself against the God of gods, and having taken away the perpetual sacrifice, would persecute the Jews for three and a half years. Finally, after a great tribulation the dead would rise again, some to everlasting shame, some to eternal life; where the learned and the teachers would shine like stars. Daniel chapters 10, 11, and 12.