Then came the armies of the Eastern conquerors;
Israel was destroyed by Sargon, king of Assyria (722); Judah, by
Nabuchodonosor (Nebuchadrezzar), king of Chaldea (586).
=Sentiments of the Israelites.=--Faithful Israelites regarded these
woes as a chastisement: God was punishing his people for their
disobedience; as before, he delivered them from their conquerors. "The
children of Israel had sinned against Jehovah, their God, they had
built them high places in every city, they imitated the nations around
them, although the Lord had forbidden them to do like them; they made
them idols of brass; they bowed themselves before all the host of
heaven [the stars], they worshipped Baal. It is for this that Jehovah
rejected all the race of Israel, he afflicted them and delivered them
into the hands of those that plundered them."
=The Prophets.=--Then appeared the prophets, or as they were called,
the Seers: Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel. Usually they came from
the desert where they had fasted, prayed, and given themselves to
meditation. They came in the name of Jehovah, not as warriors in
judgment, but as preachers.
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