CHAPTER XII, 455 palace of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem he brake down the walls of the city, and carried away the rest of the peo- plecaptive ; together with all the vessels of gold, silver, and brass, great and small, that belonged to the temple ; 2 Kings xxv. 8-17. 70. Q. But were the people punished thus for the sins of their kings ? A. The princes, and the priests, and the people, had a large share in the common idolatry and wickedness, toge- ther with the kings, and that in opposition to all the warnings of their prophets, whereby God was provoked to punish them all; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 14-21. 71. Q. Was there any ruler of the scattered people that re- mained in the land of Israel ? A. Gedaliah was made governor by the king of Babylon, but he was slain in a little time by a faction under Ishmael, one of the seed royal ; and there was nothing but confusion and disorder in the land; 2 Kings xxv. 22-26. 72. Q. What became of the people afterward ? A. Joha- nan the son of Kareah, one of the captains under Gedaliah, routed Ishmael, and drove him out of the land ; yet being afraid of the anger of the king of Babylon, and his resentment of the murder of Gedaliah his governor, he was tempted to fly into; Egypt, and to carry most of the people thither with him, where they were dispersed into several cities ; Jer. xli. 13-18. and xli. and xliii. 73. Q. Was this done by any divine order ? A. No ; but directly against the word of the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet, who was left among them in the land : and they carried him also into Egypt with them ; Jer. xlüi. 1, 9. 74. Q. Did the Jews behave' themselves better in Egypt after all their afflictions and distresses ? A. They practised idol- atry in Egypt with insolence, in opposition to the reproofsof Je- remiah the prophet; Jer. xliv. 75. Did they perish there or return ? A. Jeremiah was ordered by the Lord to foretel the destruction of Egypt by the king of Babylon, and to denounce utmost calamities and death, by sword and famine, upon the Jews that sojourned there ; and that but a very small number of them should ever return to the land of Judah, though he foretold the return of their brethren from their captivity in Babylon ; Jer. xliii. 9. and xliv. 11, 28-30.
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