desired that forasmuch as he was grown ancient and his sonnes did not walke in his waies hee would grant and appoint them a King whom they might make use on for a Judge that saying displeased Samuell and therefore he thought it best to advise with God God bade him doe as they had desirod for that they had not rejected and cast off Samuell but himselfe that he might not rule over them And he showed him Saul the sonne of Kish whom he should annoint and ordaine King 1 Sam. 10. when he had found him because he was taller then any man by the shoulders he bad all the people see how that none was like him whom God had chosen and when they had cried God save their new King verse 24. after he had told them the Law of the Kingdome and writ it and laid it up in the Tabernacle he blessed the people After this by recitall of Gods benefits which they and their fathers had alwayes neglected he made knowne to them what a grievous sin they had committed when they asked a King Which that they might the better understand there were thunder-claps heard raine poured downe at his request as he had told them aforehand it should come to passe at which so strange and usuall a matter being much affrighted they speake to him that he would beseech God that they might not dy forasmuch as they confessed they had grievously sinned in asking a King Samuell exhorted them at large to be of good courage and not to fear 1 Sam 12.3 for that they indeed had sinned exceedingly yet ought not to forsake God but serve him with all care earnestnes of Spirit scorning and neglecting the worship of strange Gods who seeing they were vaine and unprofitable could not be able to deliver from evill For thus it should come to passe that God would not forsake them for his great name seeing especially he had made it good with an oath that he would make them his people but it they should goe on to sin that both they and their King should perish Sect. 7. Saul being King had offered Sacrifices shortly after contrary to Gods command because Samuell came not within the 7 days 1 Sam. 13. in which time he had said that he would come and the Jewes slipt away for feare of the huge company of Philistines that came to battell when as Samuell coming in the mean while rebuked him sharply and foretold that the end of his Kingdome was at hand and that in his stead there should succeed a man that should be pleasing to God ver 13. A second time as Gods Propher he told Saul of the end or downfall of his Kingdome for the very same cause 1 Sam. 13. The Amalekites had made resistance to the Jews as they came out of Aegypt whose wrongs when God had purposed to revenge by Saul he sent Samuel to him to charge him that he should raise a mighty Army and utterly destroy Amaleck and all things that belonged to them But he spated King Agag when he was taken and reserved the Heards and the Flocks and all the things that were of any value Hereupon God told Samuel that he was displeased and that he repented that he had made Saul King who set light by his Commandements 1 Sam. 15. Upon these words of God and the thing which Saul had committed Samuel took such griefe that he spent the rest of the night in crying and praying and carely in the morning he hasted by long journeys to Saul whom when he had soundly chid having reckoned up Gods benefits towards him because he had not againe observed God and he on the contrary maintained that he had obeyed him and the people only had reserved the richest of the spoile that they might offer it to God he said that God did not desire sacrifices but willed rather that men should obey and keep his Commandements for obedience is better than sacrifice Therefore he should know and perswade himselfe thus much that he had rejected God and that he also was rejected by God from being King When Saul confessed that he had sinned against God and him for feare of the people and entreated him that he would also beare with his fault and go back with him to worship God and Samuel said he would not do so because God had despised him that he should not now be King over Israel he caught hold on the skirts of his mantle as he was going away with such a force as that it rent by which passage as by a token aforehand Samuel told him that God had rent away his Kingdom and given it to one better than he when againe he confessed that he had sinned and entreated Samuel that he would do him honour in the sight of the Princes and of his people and that he would returne with him that he might worship God he followed him and cut in peeces King Agag who was a corpulent man with these words As thy sword hath made mothers childlesse so shall thy mother be childlesse amongst women Sect. 8. After that Samuel went to his house in Ramath neither did he from that day forward see Saul whose chance and misfortune neverthelesse he was sorry for 1 Sam. 16. God rebuked him when he sorrowed and asked how long he would mourne for him whom he had put from his Kingdome And therefore he should fill a horne with oyle that he might send him to Jesse the Bethlehemite whose Son he had chosen King when he asked how he could go but he should be quickly killed by Saul when he knew it he shewed a way and a meanes how he might easily avoid his fury Thus at the last being very consident he went diligently and dutifully to execute what God had commanded him and he annointed David King whom God had manifested and shewed to him Sect. 9. Samuel after all these famous and holy performances dyed in a good old age at his own house in Ramath 1 Sam 25. which when the Jews knew of they all met and mourned for him and buried him there if we follow the Scries of those things which are written in the first booke of the Kings he will seeme to have dyed before Sauls death and the beginning of Davids Raigne or his taking upon him the Government and Kingly Office but if we respect those things which are written in the first booko of the Chronicles how that David and Samuel the Seer that is the Prophet chose two hundred and twelve Porters which are there reckoned a thing which doth not seem to ha have been done whilst Saul was living he did not die till after Sauls death Nathan the Prophet CHAP. III. Section 1 NAthan was Prophet when David was King of the kindred of Thot as Epiphanius saith who who also writeth that he was a man of Gabath and that he knew beforehand that grievous sin which David was to commit with Bersheba and that as he came a long journey to keep the King from
former times out of their Countries that he might place his own people in them as he had promised Abraham would heare him and his in this sad time of danger that the Ammonites and Moabites came against him with an hostile Army being unthankfull for and unmindfull of their deliverance when at his command their Elders coming out of Egypt under the Conduct of Moses spared those two Nations when other people were destroyed He knew well that he was not able to stand against such a Multitude unlesse God Almighty did help him nor did the King alone pray to God but also all the Jewes with their wives and children There was amongst them this Jehaziel the son of Zachary a Levite who by a long descent was come from Asaph Davids singer He being moved by the Spirit of God came from amidst the multitude and foretold to Jehosaphat and others by Gods Command that they should not feare such a multitude forasmuch as the battle was not theirs but Gods who the next day would overthrow their enemies This very thing fell out the next day not in that manner as one would have expected for Iosaphat and his Army did not overcome their enemies by sight but they overthrew themselves by fighting wounding and killing one another which when the Jews had observed they found so much booty that they could not carry it away in three daies Triumphing hereupon they returned to Ierusalem with Lutes and Timbrels praising God Eliezer the Prophet CHAP. XIX ELiezer the Prophet was the Son of Dodavah of Maresha 2 Chron. 20.37 I find that he also executed the office of a Prophet only once and that unto the same King Iehosaphat for when the King had made friendship with Ahaziah Iniisset inimicitias that ungodly King of Israel and been partaker with him in the designe of rigging a Navy which should go to Tharsis but the hand of God was lost at Sea this Eliezer was sent by God to tell him that because he had made a Covenant with Ahazias by Gods providence the Navy was cast away at Sea and could not reach Tharsis The life of the Prophet Esaias CHAP. XX. ESaias the Prophet was the Son of Amoz the Prophet whose Prophesie is extant as Epiphanius would have it or another * Am. 1. Amos Esa 1. Amoz Amoz because of the unlike spelling in St Hieroms opinion he discharged the duty of a Prophet in the Reigne of Iotham Ahaz and Hezekias Kings of Iudah and his Prophesie doth chiefly concerne Iudah and Ierusalem what he foretold in every Kings Raigne is uncertaine except in Ahaz his and Hezekias unto whom he was sent as I shall tell you anon Although we may conceive this that he prophesied those things which he treateth of from the beginning of his book * From the first chap. to the seventh to that place where he mentioneth King Ahaz when Vzziah and Iotham were Kings And those things that follow to that place Ezech. 3.6 wherein he speakes of Hezekiah when Ahaz was King and the rest to the end of his Prophesie whilest Hezekiah raigned Sect. 1. He was sent to Ahaz upon this occasion Rezin King of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah King of Israel joyned forces and besieged Hierusalem yet could they not take it And God had Esaias tell this before their Army was on march to Ahaz who was exceedingly afraid that Pekah King of Israel had made a confederacy with Rezin King of Syria that they seizing on the kingdome of Iudah might drive Abaz thence and make the son of Tabell King in his stead but that he should not seare for it should not so come to passe as they had devised He bad him also by Gods command that he should aske a signe of God either in heaven or earth and when he said he would not aske or tempt God not in that he behaved himselfe humbly but in that he worshiping strange gods did not believe God and yet dissembled it Esaias chiding him and them that obeyed him because they had not only wearied men but God also Esa 7.13 foretold that such a signe as this should be given them He said a Virgin should conceive and bring forth a Son whose name they should call Emmanuel that is God with us Sect. 2. And when Hezechiah was King Esaias was sometime consulted withall and sent unto by the King who intreated his prayers for him and other times sent by God on messages to the King which how and wherefore it was done I will declare in few words Isa 3.6 Senacherib King of Assyria invading Iudah had taken all the fenced Cities thereof and had sent Rabshacheh Generall of his Army to Hierusalem that he might treate with Hezechiah concerning the surrender of the City Hezechiah being mightily afraid sent Eliakim the son of Helkiah the Steward of his house Shebna the Scribe and Ioah the son of Asaph the Recorder who when they had heard many words tending both to the disgrace of the King and the dishonour of God as though he was not able to help his own people and had told them to Hezechiah he rent his cloaths and being clad with sackcloath went into the Temple of God and sent those three in the same habit to Isaiah First to relate to him those things and afterwards to increat him that he would pray to God for them that persevered trusting in him Esaias at Gods Command bad them toll Hezechiah that he should not feare for God would send a blast upon Senacherib and he should heare a Rumour upon which he should returne into Assyria and there dye by the sword These things they told to the King but because in the meane time Senacherib sent messengers who brought Letters to Hezechiab containing yet more grievous railings against God he first read them over as soone as he had taken them from the hands of the Embassadours and afterwards going into the Temple he humbly besought God and that at large to revenge the wrongs and reproaches of Senacherib and deliver his own people God being intreated with those prayers of the King declared at large by Esaias that there should be a great deliverance and shewed the tokens by which he should know the things for certaine which when they had all come to pass accordingly a hundred fourscore five thousand of the Assyrians were slaine and Senacherib himselfe also a while after in Assyria whereupon ensued a happy peace Sect. 3. The occasion afterwards why he was sent unto the King was this Hezechias was sick and that with danger of life therefore God sent Esaias to him to put him in mind of ordering himselfe and his affaires because he was to dye He being affrighted with this message besought God presently that he would have mercy on him whereupon Esaias was againe sent by God having not yet gone out of the Court-yard to tell him that his prayers were heard and his teares seene and that therefore he should live fifteen yeares
in that felicity that both he and the City should be free from the King of Assyria and that he should hence know this for that the shadow of the sun in Ahaz his Diall should go back ten degrees and so the King recovered having by Esaias direction laid to the wound a plaister of dry figs. Sect. 4. Mcrodach King of Babylon had heard that Hezechiah was recovered from that sicknesse and he sent him Letters Congratulatory and Presents by Embassadours unto whom Hezechiah shewed all things that were brave and costly in his Treasuries This deed of his being full of arrogancy and glory was so displeasing to God that he sent his Prophet Isaiah to tell him that because he had done this very thing it should come to passe that all those things should be carried away and his Posterity become Eunuchs in the Palace of the King of Babylon To these things Hezechiah made no answer but that the word of God was right and good only might there be peace while he lived And these things have I found concerning Esaias in the Scriptures But Epiphanius writeth that he was cut in two pecces by Manasses and buried under an Oake at Rogel He also spake so plainly and openly concerning the mysteries of our Religion as of the Conception Birth Sermons or Preaching wonderfull workes in curing diseases Death Resurrection and Ascention of Christ that he seemeth not to foretell them as things to come but to relate them as things present or done and past Therefore St Hierom will have him reckoned not so much a Prophet as an Evangelist The Life of the Prophet Joel CHAP. XXI JOel the Prophet as Epiphanius saith was a Bethorian of the Tribe of Ruben and the son of Phatuel It doth not appeare out of the Book of his Prophesie under what King he prophesied or lived But St Hierom writeth that he prophecyed under the same Kings that Hosea did that is Vzziah Joatham Ahaz and Hezekiah and he will have all his Prophesie to belong to the Kingdome of Judah only and not also to Israel Act. 2.16 Ioel 2.28 he spake much concerning the comming of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles which St Peter the Apostle interpreted and many concerning that repentance which God requires in his Children Moreover as Epiphanius saith he was buried honourably in his own Country The Life of the Prophet Micha CHAP. XXII MIcha the Morastite so called of Morasthi a little Town of Palestina of th◠Tribe of Ephraim as Epiphanius writeth he ministred when Ioatham Ahaz and Hezekiah were Kings of Iudah we find nothing written concerning the Life of this Prophet nor concerning many others only there is extant a little booke wherein his Prophesie is set downe and that indeed chiefly relates to Samaria and Hierusalem and somewhat also to the Birth of Christ St Matthew an Apostle and Evangelist so interprets that place of Bethlehem the place where Christ was borne and forasmuch as he rebukes the wickednesse both of Jews and Israelites first against God and then against their neighbours in his disallowing those things he sheweth and declareth not only to them but also to all men what they ought to doe For he saith this is good and this God requires doe judgement that is that we performe what we rightly determine and that we love mercy and bounty and that we carefully and diligently walke with God Epiphanius writeth that because he reprehended and blamed the wicked villanies of Ioram King of Iudah he was throwne by him from a steep place and was afterwards buried in his own Country with honour Joram was Father to Vzziah is it not Jotham and how could Jotham kill him he prophesied in Ahazia's and Hezekia's dayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The life of Oded the Prophet CHAP. XXIII ODED the Prophet was found once discharging the duty of a Prophet when Ahaz was King of Judah For when Zizchria mighty man of Ephraim had killed Maaseiah the Kings sonne and Azrica the ruler of his house and Elkana who was next to the King and the Isralitos besides had taken captive two hundred thousand women and children of Judah and an infinite bootie and carried all to Samaria Then this Oded who was there going out to meet the victorious army comming in told them that that deed was not acceptable to God who had suffered the Jewes to be killed for their wickednesse whose wives children and goods they took away and spoiled contrary to all right and therefore they should follow his advice to carrie their captives back againe for feare the wrath of God grew hot upon them These things he spake to Azaria Berechia Ichizkiah and Amosa the commanders in chiefe who presently told the same to their companies and caused them to bring back their prisoners and restore all the booty as sacred lest the wrath of God should rage against them which thing they did with so great devotion and affection that they sent back those that were naked cloathed and set them that were weak upon beasts after that they had well refreshed them Nahum the Prophet CHAP. XXIV Nahum the Elkeshite so called of Elkesis a small Village in Galilee which St Hierome writeth was shewed unto him of the tribe of Simeon as Epiphanius writes he foretold the destruction of Nineve and the Ninevites who before as I have told you perswaded by the Prophet Ionah had obtained pardon from God upon their repentance he prophesied in the reigne of Hezekiah the King as St Hierome will have it at the last he died in his owne country and there was buried The life of the Prophet Jeremiah CHAP. XXV Section 1 JEremiah the Prophet Ieremiah's Father was of the Priests that were in Anathoth in Terra Benjamin was the son of Halchiah of the Tribe of Benjamin a Priest of Anathoth he prophesied as may be gathered from the beginning of his prophesie from the eleventh year of Iosiah the sonne of Amon King of Iudah to the eleventh yeare of Zedekiah who then was led away to Babylon after Ierusalem was taken with the remnant of Judah as Ieremiah had constantly foretold by Gods command which thing occasioned him great trouble For he was both laid in Irons and cast into a prison and a most nastie dungeon and yet by all these duresses his undaunted spirit could not be brought either to think or Prophesie otherwise then God commanded though the false Prophets told the contrary This because it much commends him I have resolved to set downe in what manner it was done God had sent him to Topeth to foretell those things which he had given him in charge and when he was come back from thence to Hierusalem and standing in the Court of the Temple told all the people plainly that all those evils should befall both the City and the Inhabitants thereof which God had spoken because they obeyed not his Commandements Phashur the Priest could not endure such words with patience but presently cast him after he
had beaten him into prison The next day very early when Phashur had brought him out whatever the cause was for I doe not finde it written Ieremiah constantly and freely maintained that he was not called Phashur by God but Magor-Missabib Ier. 20. feare on every side forasmuch as God would astonish him with feare and his friends so as that they should be run through with the enemies whilst hee looked on and that God would deliver all Iudah into the hands of the King of Babylon to be slaine and their riches for a spoile and Phashur himselfe should be led captive thither with all his family and die there and all his friends unto whom he prophesied lies What answer Phashur made to these words or what he did being moved with them is not foe down in the Scriptures Sect. 2. In the beginning of the raigne of Ichoiakim son of Iosiah as he stood in the court of the Temple he denounced to all that were come out of the Cities of Iudah and Ierusalem to worship God that unlesse they kept Gods Lawes both that should befall the Temple which besell Siloh and that all Nations should abhorre that City Ier. 26. The Priests false Prophets and people who had heard him speak these words apprehended him and said first among themselves afterwards to the Princes who having heard this doom of his went from the Palace into the Temple that for that matter he ought to be put to death But he having leave given him to speak told them that God had sent him to declare every word that he had spoken And therefore they should repent and observe Gods Commandements who thereupon also would repent and not bring the evill upon them that he had purposed ver 13. And as for him that he was in their hands that they might resolve what they would against him yet thus much they should understand know it they put him to death they should kill one that was innocent towards them and the City because God had sent him to prophesie all those things unto them ver 14. The great men and the Rulers being perswaded by these speeches perswaded the Priests and the false Prophets that they should not kill him that was sent by God And amongst these some Elders standing up altered their mindes by minding them of Micah the Prophet who when Hezekiah was King had foretold many things concerning the destruction of the City and for all that was not put to death but the men which lived that time appeased God by their repentance prayers and fears but herein the paines and diligence of Ahicam the son of Shaphan most of all appeared that he might not be put to death Sect. 3. In the same Kings Raigne God commanded Ieremiah to bring the posterity of Richab who were called Rechabites into the Temple and give them wine Now they had a command from Ionadah their father to abstaine from wine Therefore when Ieremiah had set wine before them at Gods cōmand they bringing this command of their Fathers for anexcuse refrained altogether from wine which had not been well done of them if he had said that God had commanded them this But God by this example of the Rechabites intended to show and shame the depraved and corrupted manners of the Jewes For he sent afterwards to Iieremias to tel them how grievously they offended because the Rechabites at their Fathers bidding abstained from wine all their whole life whereas he had endeavoured to draw them from their wicked course of life by his Prophets of whom he had sent a great many and could not because of their obstinate will hereupon also he denounced that the Jewes should be plagued with Famine Pestilence and captivity But to the Rechabites he promised that their posterity should never faile before him because they had obeyed their Fathers command with such constancy of spirit Sect. 4. And in the fourth yeare of the same King God commanded him that he should write in a booke all the miseries with which he would punish the Kingdomes of Israel and Iudah that when they should heare them read they might by repentance seek to appease Gods wrath against them Ier. 36. He was then as I said in prison therefore he sent for Baruch the sonne of Neriah a good man whom he bad first write in a book what he dictated and afterwards to rehearse it in the Temple whither he could not come on the fast day to all the people and all that came out of Iudah to worship that if they would believe those words which were rehearsed and live according to them they might find God more favourable unto them When he had done these things and at a set fast in the fifth yeare of the same King and the ninth month had rehearsed them all Michaiah the soune of Gemariah told them all to the chiefe men of the Court and they sent Iehudi the sonne of Nethaniah to command him that he should bring the role to them When he was come hee read all out of the writing as they commanded and that with such admiration or aftonishment rather that they said they would acquaint the King with all those words yet first they enquired of him how he writ all those words When he had told them that he had taken all those words from the mouth of Ieremiah who dictared them as if he had read them out of a book and that he had written them all with ink then they advised him that he and Ieremiah would hide themselves some where so as no body might know it they gave the book to Elishama the scribe Then Iehudi at the Kings command began to reade the booke but after three or foure pages only were read the King cut it with a penknife and afterwards threw it into the fire nor could Elnathan Delaiah and Gemariah disswade him but that he would needs do the thing nor was Ichojakim content with this so grievous a wicked act but he also commanded Ierahmiel Hammelech and Seraiah the son of Azriel and Shelemiah the sonne of Abdul to apprehend Baruch the Scribe and Ieremiah the Prophet but God hid them from the Kings wrath But God was so offended with the burning of the book that he bad Ieremias to write the same role over againe and to adde thereunto many other things and to tell the King front him that there should remaine none of his posterity that should sit upon the throne but withall that his carkasse should be throwne out and that he his posterity and servants should be punished for their wickednesse and those evils should befall them the City and people which when they were foretold they had so neglected and slighted Ieremiah as he was commanded by God delivered the other book to Baruch whether Baruch read to the King himselfe or the people or both or what the King did or the rest is not set downe in the Scriptures The same Ieremiah in the beginning of the Raigne of Ichotakim
had him in such veneration untill Epiphanius his time that they prayed in that place and with the dust which they took out of the Sepulchre they both healed the bitings of Asps and drove the Crocodiles out of the River Oswaldus hath recorded that he was at Tahpanhes the first day of May. The Life of the Prophet Baruch CHAP. XXVI BAruch the Prophet was the son of Neriah He was servant and assistant to Hieremiah the Prophet in taking the Book from him at Gods Command wherein God denounced the evils that should come upon them that went not out of the City Hierusalem to Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon and the good things that should befall them that went and in reading in the Temple on the Fast day to all the people that were come to Hierusalem our of the Cities of Iudah There is extant a Book which is not the very same he wrote then as may be conceived by the time and place For the former book was taken in the fourth yeare of Ichoiakim King of Iudah and in the fifth yeare in the ninth month when a Fast was appointed at Hierusalem it was read in the Temple and when it was cut in pieces by King Ichoiakim and thrown into the fire it was copied out againe by this same Baruch in the same words and more at Gods Command whilest the same Hieremias dictated or certainly it was delivered him by Hieremiah But this that is extant is said to be written by this Baruch and to be there read by him to Ieconias the son of Ioackim King of Iudah and to all the people that were carried Captive into Babylon so that this was writ later Concerning that former we have spoken sufficiently in the Life of the Prophet Hieremiah And when this was read they all wept fasted and prayed unto God But when the other was read they sent money that they gathered as every mans Estate would beare to Hierusalem to them that were there to buy sacrifices entreating them that they would both offer for the sins of all the people and beseech God that he would grant a prosperous life to Nebuchadnezzer and his son Balshazar and afford them favour in the sight of Nebuchadnezzer and his son that they might live and make their prayers before God against whom they had offended and whose wrath was not yet pacified They exhorted them also that they would take order that the book which they had sent should be rehearsed upon holy daies in the Temple The rest of his words is spent in detestation of the sins and wickednesse which they had committed reckoning up the evils with which they were rightly pressed There is also in the latter end of Hieremias book a Letter wherein as a Prophet of God he doth foretell the Captives of Hierusalem that they should be brought to Babylon by Nebuchadaezzar the King of Babylon and exhorts them that when they be there they should not worship the gods which they should see but the true God Now Baruch was of such familiarity and acquaintance with Hieremiah that when the City of Hierusalem was taken and the people lead away to Babylon with Zedechias and the great men He tarried with those which out of severall Countries returned to Iudah and dwelt there at the command of Nebuchadnezzer the King Gedaliah being Governour and after Gedaliah was slaine and the remnant had intreated Hieremiah to enquire of God whether they should go into Egypt or no and he had told them by Gods command that they ought not to go They said God did not forbid this but that Baruch was one who moved him against them and because they did not obey Gods Command the Commanders brought Hieremias and Baruch by force into Egypt with the rest and there as I suppose he died and was buried The Life of the Prophet Ezekiel CHAP. XXVII Section 1. Ezekiel a Prophet and a Priest was the son of Buzi He prophecyed at the same time that Hieremiah but with this difference that Hieremias began to prophesie in the thirteenth yeare of Iosiah King of Iudah but he in the fifth yeare after Iechoniah was led away to Babylon and Hieremias continued prophecying till the eleventh yeare of Zedechiah wherein he was taken and little more than so But Ezekiel unto the fourteenth yeare after the City was spoyled which he calls the five and twentieth after he himselfe was led away which that it may more easily be understood and the Life of Ezekiel better known I have a mind to fetch the order of times and things a little more from the bottome Sect. 2. Ichoiakim after his Father Iosiah was slain who raigned thirty one yeares 2 Chro. 36. and after Ichoahaz his brother who raigned only three months was led into Egypt was made King of Iudah in his brothers stead by Nechokin King of Egypt Iehoiakim dying in the eleventh yeare of his raigne left Ichoiakim who is also called Iechoniah the heire to his Kingdome This Ichoiakim in the third month of his raign when the City was vanquished and the Temple spoiled was taken and led away to Babylon with his mother wives and Eunuchs and a great many more and amongst these Ezekiel now began to prophesie in Babylon as himselfe saith in the fifth yeare after Ichoiakim was taken that is in the fifth yeare of Zedechias who was placed in his stead by Nebuchadnezzer the King And Zedechiah was taken in the eleventh yeare of his raigne and cast into bonds To these eleven yeares of Zedechiah wherein Ezekiel was now Captive if we adde the other fourteene after Hierusalem and Zedechiah were taken we shall find five and twenty yeares and that five and twentieth is the yeare of his Captivity unto which he continues all his Prophesies And therefore Ezekiel did not prophesie in Iudah but in Babylon and foretold first that other Captivity which befell when Zedechiah as I have said was King of all the people because of their wickednesse both old and new all which God shewed unto him though done by them not in Babylon he spake of their deliverance also He began to prophesie in the sixth yeare after Iehoniah was taken and carried to Babylon and that in the fourth month and the fifth day A yeare after that is to say in the sixth yeare on the fifth day of the sixth month God appeared to him and bad him fasten his eyes upon the way which looketh towards the North which when he had done he behold an Image The Image of Jealousie at the gate of the Altar in the very entrance of the Temple of Hierusalem which the Inhabitants worshipped that by this their villany they might even drive God away from them This was a great wickednesse but he shewed them another greater than this He brought him into the Court of the Temple and bid him dig through the wall when he had done this there appeared a doore by which when upon Gods commandement he had gone in he saw upon the wall the pictures of
Law those two I Iders were punished with death By which Iudgement Daniel afterwards obtained great renowne and authority amongst the people God told him many things by Gabriel the Angel concerning the Kings of Persia-Greece and Egypt also concerning the Kingdome of Christ the restitution of Jerusalem and the bringing back of the Jewes which are set downe in the booke which by his name is reckoned amongst those of the Bible He died at Babylon and was buried in the Kings Cave as Epiphanius writeth who saith also that his sepulchre in his time was very well knowne to all Habbakkuk the Prophet CHAP. XXIX HAbbakkuk the Prophet was of the Country of Bezzocherene of the Tribe of Simeon as Epiphanius saith and he fled having left his Country into Ostracina a country of the Ismaelites when he heard that Nebuchadonosor came with a mighty Army to destroy the City Hierusalem There he dwelt untill he was certified that the Chaldees having taken and demolished the City were returned with spoiles and poisoners into their Country and the rest of the Jews amongst whom was Hieremias and Baruch were gone to dwell in Egypt as I have exprest in their life for than he returned into his Country After his returne in what yeare it is uncertaine he had sown some Barly and when the harvest came had let it out to reapers to be cut down and bound up in sheaves And when he carried them their Dinner an Angell of God appearing unto him bad him carry it to Daniel who was in the Lions Den in Babylon He made answer to the Angell that he had never seen Babylon and that he did not know the Den whereupon he carried him by the haire of his head and set him by the mouth of the Den calling Daniel by name from the mouth of the Den he told him of the Dinner that God sent him whereupon Daniel blessing God who was not unmindfull of them that trusted in him and having given him thankes for that benefit had taken the pottage and the bread sopt in it out of Habbakkuks hand the Angel of God in a moment of time set him againe in the same place There be some that affirme Epiphanius for one that he who knew that thing would be so before he was carried thither did tell his servants aforehand that he should go a great way off and come againe presently but if he should be too long away they should get the reapers some meat and that he came againe that very day and came in amongst the Reapers just as they were at their supper In the holy Bible there is reckoned a very little book intituled by his name In the beginning of the book he expostulates with God more earnestly why the wicked should overcome and afflict the Godly but after God had foretold of the comming of Christ who should free and preserve the good he became more patient and concludes with prayers which do shew the vertue and power of Christ He died in Judaea two yeares before the Jewes were brought back from Caldaea the fifteenth of January as Epiphanius saith and his body by Gods discovery was found when Arcadius was Emperour Sophonias the Prophet CHAP. XXX SOphonias the Prophet was the son of Cushi of the Tribe of Simeon He prophesied what is written in the book of holy Scripture which is called by his name when Josias the son of Amon was King of Judah First he terrifieth and afterwards comforreth he foretelleth the Captivity of the Jews for the wickednesses which he reckons up first of all and then of the Princes and Judges and for terrors sake he cals the day by such names as use to strike terror into men He foretels also the destruction of many Nations as of the Ethiopians Assyrians Moabites and Philistines In the latter end of his book he treats of the comming and resurrection of Christ and the conversion of the Centiles unto him He dyed and was buried alone in his owne country as Epiphanius saith Aggaeus the Prophet CHAP. XXXI AGgaeus at Gods Commandement underwent he duty of a Prophet when he was but a very young man in the second yeare of Darius Hystaspes first unto Zorobabell the sonne of Salathiel and Jesus the sonne Josedec the Priest and afterwards unto the Priests The occasion of his prophesie was this When in the first yeare of King Cyrus the people of the Jewes who were at his Command brought back againe to Hierusalem to build the Temple of God said that the time of building was not yet come God sent Aggaeus to tell Zorobabell the governour and Jesus the sonne of Jozedec that the people spake falsely that the time of building Gods house was not yet come seeing it was come and that for that reason because the building was omitted what they had sowne in great abundance had afforded slender profit the raine being withheld from it And that therefore they should diligently begin and dispatch the work These two men liked well of this word of Aggaeus or rather of God and by their meanes all the people And when the work was begun in the twentie fourth day of the sixth month of that same yeare hee was againe sent to these two whom I spoke of and to the rest of the people First to exhort these two to goe on because God would helpe them and then to tell them all that that new Temple should exceed the old one in glory because of Gods comming which was at hand In the twenty fourth day of the ninth month he was sent again to tell them having wrested a confession from the Priests by a simile and an induction that those gifts were not very welcome and acceptable which they brought to God in the Temple and that the worke of laying the foundation of the Temple was so pleasing to him that for the future he would increase their come Being sent againe the same day under the name of Zorobabell he foretold the comming and glory of Christ This Aggaeus at Gods bidding did not onely tell Zorobabel and Jesus the Priest that the time of building the Temple was come but also when they believed him he helped them in finishing the worke not onely as a workeman but also by a new kinde of singing for there he and Zacharias the Prophet are said to have first sung an Hallelujah which being an Hebrew word signifieth the same that praise yee the Lord. Therefore the hymne and praise of Aggaeus and Zacharias is called Hallelujah he died at that same place and was buried with honour by the Sepulchres of the Priests Zacharias the Prophet CHAP. XXXII ZAcharias the Prophet was the sonne of Barachias who was the sonne of Addon He began to prophesie the same yeare that Aggaeus that is in the second yeare of Darius the King but in the eighth month whereas he beganne the first day of the sixth month But he prophesied longer then he and to more For he performed the Office of a Prophet in the fourth
year of Darius and the booke that is intituled by his name reckoned amongst Scripture containeth many more verses In the beginning of the book at Gods bidding he chargeth the Iewes who were newly returned out of Babylon that they would return to him and so at last he would return to them and that they would not live as their forefathers had done who had contemned the Command of the former Prophets who perswaded them from their wickednesse to an holy course of life that they would not lie but speak the truth to their neighbours that they would judge truly and friendly that they would not devise evill in their mind against their neighbour that they would not love a false oath forasmuch as these were the things which God hated These things if they would doe that they should receive all things that they had sowne with increase and aboundance He foretold the comming of Christ to Hierusalem upon a shee Asse and the price of his betraying God shewed him Jesus the sonne of Josedec the high Priest standing before his Angell and Sathan standing at his right hand to withstand him whom when God had rebuked he signified by the Angell that his sins were pardoned by the change of his apparell and that he should become a judge if he would observe his Commandements In the fourth yeare of Darius in the fourth day of the month that is of November some amongst whom were Sarasar and Regemmelech had sent to Hierusalem to aske the Priests and Prophets whether they should weep and fast in the fifth month for the time to come as they had done already in former times and for many yeares Now God bad Zacharias being inspired and moved with a prophetick spirit to aske of the people of the Country and of the Priests whether they had fasted to God these seventy yeares in which they had been out of their land when they kept a fast the fifth and ninth month or when they eat and drank to him God declaring by these words that their fastings dinners suppers were not acceptable to him because they were not joyned with works of bountie and mercy as he had wished them by former Prophets and therefore it was come to passe that he being moved against them had scattered them abroad into all countries He prophesieth also many other things which are besides my present purpose he foretold also to Josedec as Epiphanius saith that he should have a sonne that should serve as a Priest in the Temple of God and to Salathiell how he should have Zorobabel There are some as Hierome saith that would have this to be the Zacharias whom Christ affirmeth in Mathew to have been slaine betwixt the Temple and the Altar But Epiphanius referreth this to Zacharias the father of John the Baptist in his life and writeth how that this man being very aged died in Judaea and was buried neer Aggaeus the Prophet The Life of the Prophet Esdras CHAP. XXXIII ESdras the Prophet and scribe of the Tribe of Levi was the sonne of Saraias He as himselfe saith was a Captive when Artaxerxes was King of Babylon and he beganne to prophesie in the thirtieth yeare almost after Jerusalem was destroyed He maketh mention in his book of the prophesying of Malachias the Prophet who neverthelesse is said to be born after the people were brought back againe from captivity And therefore he must be conceived to have foretold this as being moved with a prophetick spirit But because we write the life and acts of Esdras we must keep the order of the times as long as we can in setting them downe In the first year of Cyrus King of the Persians in which the seventy yeares of the captivity foretold by Hieremiah were fulfilled by his grant this Esdras went to Hierusalem to build the Temple with Zorobabel the governour and Jesus the sonne of Josedeck and others that had a minde to goe after them but how long he was there it is uncertaine For he came afterwards againe to Babylon and in the seventh yeare of Artaxerxes he returned thence to Hierusalem by his grant with many others and so as that when they set out from Babylon the first day of the first month they came to Hierusalem the first day of the fifth month Which journy and returne of his why and how it befell or was procured because it pertaines to his exceeding commendation I have thought meet to be related The work of the Temple of Iierusalem which was begun by the edict of Cyrus had been intermitted by the hatred envy of the enemies of Ierusalem and compleated in the sixth yeare of Darius and the third day of the twelfth month And in the seventh yeare of Artaxerxes the sonne of Darius seeing he by Gods blessings was in great favour with the King both because of his great vertues with which he was endowed and also because he knew him to be a scribe very skilfull in the Law of God hee not onely willingly granted his petition that he might goe to Hierusalem with his country men that had a mind to explain the law but also he gave him a Patent whereby it may easily be conceived how gratious he was with him Now the Copy of the Patent is thus Artaxerxees King of Kings to Esdras the Priest ascribe exceeding skilfull of the law of the God of Heaven greeting I have made a decree that he that will of the people of Israel the Priests and Levites may goe with thee to Hierusalem out of my Kingdome for thou art sent by me according to the advice and judgement of my seven Councellors that thou maiest teach and explaine in Judaea and Hierusalem the law of thy God which thou understandest and propound it to all and maiest carry the Gold and silver which I and my Councellers have of our selves and of our owne accord offered unto the God of Israel whose Temple is at Hierusalem And if the people which is in the country will give gold and silver I give thee leave to receive it all and buy with it Calves ramms lambs and other necessary sacrifices which thou maiest offer in the Temple of thy God and if there be any silver or gold left that ye may dispose of it as it liketh thee or thy people according to the will of God The vessels also which are delivered thee to doe sacrifice in the Temple of thy God doe thou there look to that they may be ready at hād But if thou want any thing besides I would that thou require of my Rulers whom I have set over my Treasurie beyond the river for this I have given them charge of in thy decree lest perhaps thy God should be angry at me and my children and also that they that attend Gods service may be altogether free Let it be also lawfull for thee to appoint some punishment either of banishment or death or prison or fine Esdras having received this Patent after he had thanked the King in