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Show REV. ROBERT H. HARPER Tb Soutbirn Kingdom Ovr- thrown. Lesson for July 24: 11 Kings 24: 2025: 12. CoUtn Ttxt: CaUiUnt 6: 7. In preceding lessons there have been indications of the sad condition condi-tion of Judah. with the greater part of the people exiled to Babylon and the poorer people left in the land. .Now we think of the final ruin when Nebuchadnezzar's general gen-eral came with a great army for the destruction of Jerusalem, The occasion for this was the rebellion of Zedekiah, the last of the feeble kings of Judah following the reign of Josiah. Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnez-zar, in the first overthrow of Jerusalem, Jeru-salem, carried the pick of the people peo-ple into Babylon, as skilled laborers lab-orers have been deported In recent tragic years to serve their conquerors. con-querors. The Jews who remained after the earlier captivity were made vassals vas-sals of Babylon and this situation was continued for eleven years under Zedekiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchad-nezzar had made king. At the end of eleven years, the poor king tried to play politics, violated his oath to the Babylonian ruler, entering in an alliance with neighboring small nations and rebelling against their master. The territory of Judah was soon overrun, but Jerusalem held out for a year and a half. Famine brought the end. Trying to escape by flight, Zedekiah was captured near Jericho. In Babylon his sons were slain before him, his eyes were put out, and he was. kept ia prison till bis death. |