destroy the palaces of Egypt, and would bring ruin upon the temples of their gods.

The sun was worshipped with great pomp in one of the cities of Egypt, called Heliopolis. This is thought to be the same town as that which Jeremiah calls Beth-shemesh. Priests there offered sacrifices to images of the sun, and chariots were dedicated to him. These were all to be swept away, or brcken in pieces. When the Jews saw this sign fulfilled they would know how truly Jeremiah had spoken from the mouth of the Lord.

(Read Jer. xliii. 8-13.)

30. JEREMIAH'S LAST MESSAGE TO JUDAH.

One more message Jeremiah carries to the people of Judah from the Lord. As far as we know, it was his last. But like all the former ones, it too was unheeded. Jeremiah begins by reminding them how often they had been warned already; how the Lord had sent His prophets early and late; how He Himself had entreated them, saying, “Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate!" But as they had refused to hearken, the threatened evil had come upon them. Many of their brethren had been slain; 4600 had been carried captive to Babylon; they themselves were exiles in the land of Egypt.

Had all this affliction softened their hearts and made them cleave to the Lord their God only? Alas! no. They had only changed the gods which they formerly worshipped; and now the people of God were seen bowing down with the Egyptians to their images.

The women offered up incense and poured out drink-offerings to the moon, the queen of heaven. They taught their little children to worship her also, and make cakes stamped with her likeness, or made into a crescent like her shape. When Jeremiah reproved them, their husbands defended them, and answered boldly, "We will not hearken to thee, but we will certainly do what goeth forth out of our own mouth." They made their choice, and the Lord would allow them to take their own way; and they heard unmoved this dreadful prophecy: "Behold, I will watch over you for evil and not for good." The men and women were to perish in Egypt, all but a very small remnant, who were to be permitted to return to their own land. And they should learn at last whose words would stand-whether those of the God of truth or those of the false prophets. One more sign was given. The King of Egypt, Pharaohhophra, was then a mighty monarch, fearing no danger to his dominions. But Jeremiah says that before very long he would lose his throne, and, like Zedekiah, fall into the hands of the King of Babylon.

(Read Jer. xliv.)

31. PROPHECY AGAINST THE NATIONS, EGYPT AND PHILISTIA.

Long before this time the Lord had given the winecup of His wrath to Jeremiah to make the nations. drink of it. Now He gives a special message to each.

I must tell you first of the prophecy against Egypt. The first part seems to have been uttered in the reign

of Jehoiakim; the latter part in that of Zedekiah. You remember that Pharaoh-necho invaded Judah and slew the good King Josiah; and, after his son Jehoahaz had been three months on the throne, this powerful king deposed him and carried him to Egypt, leaving his brother Jehoiakim to reign in Judah.

Pharaoh-necho next determined to go up against the Chaldeans. He said in his pride, "I will go up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy the city, and those that dwell in it." He led his army as far as Carchemish. This strong city was situated on a peninsula formed by the junction of the two rivers Euphrates and Chebar. You will hear again of this Chebar, for it was by its banks that Ezekiel saw his wonderful visions.

But the Egyptians were no match for the Chaldeans, who fought upon their own ground. In vain they harnessed their horses; they put on their helmets, and clad themselves in the brigantines, or coats of mail. A panic seized them; they fled away, never once looking behind them. But their pursuers were swift: they were quickly overtaken, and fell down by the deep-flowing river. For the Lord had a great sacrifice there on its shores.

The second part of Jeremiah's prophecy against Egypt shows how Nebuchadnezzar was to invade the land. He, the mighty King of Babylon, towering above all other kings, as the lofty Tabor rises high above the mountains around it; he was to sweep down from the north, with his armies like grasshoppers in multitude. He would lay her mighty cities, Noph and Tahpanhes, waste and desolate, without an inhabitant. Like a woodman with his sharp axe, who fells the stately trees of the forest, so would Nebuchadnezzar

lay the princes of Egypt low at his feet. Pharaoh himself should not escape: he was to be delivered into the hand of the King of Babylon. He had trusted in his false gods; but what a vain confidence that was! They, too, were to be destroyed in the day of the Lord's anger.

And yet even for Egypt there was hope. "For thus saith the Lord, Afterwards shall it be inhabited, as in the days of old." And the prophecy closes with blessed words about His own beloved people, which must have been comforting to Jeremiah's sorrowful heart. He heard that the captivity in Babylon was to have an end; and though he would not welcome the exiles back, yet to him the Lord entrusted this gospel of glad tidings: "Fear thou not, O my servant Jacob! and be not dismayed, O Israel! for behold I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be at rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. Fear thou not, O Jacob, My servant, saith the Lord, for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of the nations whither I have driven thee, but will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished."

The country to the north of Egypt was inhabited by the Philistines. They too drank of the Lord's wine-cup; and as Jeremiah saw in vision this fair country laid desolate, he exclaims, half in pity, half in astonishment, "O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself in the scabbard; rest, and be still." And he answers the question by another, "How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon and the sea-shore ?" They who wielded the Lord's sword

were the Chaldeans from the north. All through the land was heard the stamping of the strong warhorses, the rumbling of the chariot wheels. Like an overflowing flood the enemy came, sweeping everything before him. Gaza and Ashkelon, those mighty cities, were laid bare; the inhabitants sitting on the ground with their garments rent and their heads shaven in token of their misery and mourning, and no ray of hope gilded the dark future of Philistia.

(Read Jer. xlvi. and xlvii.; Ezekiel i. 3.)

32. THE DESOLATION OF MOAB AND AMMON.

Moab had long been a prosperous country: it had not often been invaded; therefore the prophet speaks of it thus: "Moab hath been at ease from his youth." Like good wine, which is allowed to settle on its lees and is not emptied from vessel to vessel, so had this country been left undisturbed. It had not become the spoil of one king after another; its inhabitants had never gone into captivity. Thus they had grown proud. Jeremiah says, "We have heard of the pride of Moab (he is exceeding proud), his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart." How was his pride shown? In two ways. In one way very displeasing to God. The Moabites had a bitter hatred of Israel. They exulted over his fall; they derided his misery, and rejoiced over his captivity. The pride of Moab was also seen in the way in which they boasted of their army, saying, "We are mighty and strong men for war." They heaped up treasures, they built strong defences. They put their confidence in their