Page 120 - New English Book L
P. 120
119
the city, which is besieged by the Chaldeans. The pseudo-
prophet Hananiah dies as Jeremiah had foretold. The wall
of the city is thrown down somewhere, and the victorious
army rushes into the city, the fleeing King Zedekiah and
his retinue are seized and taken to the King of Babylon.
The city and the temple, after being pillaged, are set on
fire and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem are carried into
Babylonia; only the poorer classes are left to cultivate the
land. By order of Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah is granted a
favour of staying in Jerusalem, and the newly appointed
governor, Gedaliah, is charged to guard and well look after
the prophet. But Gedaliah is killed by the rebellious Jews,
and then they all flee to Egypt, carrying Jeremiah with
them. Even in Egypt he prophesies against the fugitives
and the Egyptians. He must have ended his life in Egypt.
His books, as it now stands, is quite different from the
text of the Septuagint; evidently, the copy from which the
Greek text was written by the Alexandrian translators had
a different order of chapters.
The Biblical critics consider that Jeremiah was the
author, or, at any rate, a compiler, of the fifth book of
the Pentateuch called Deuteronomy. I myself am of the
same opinion. Jeremiah was a Levite and a priest as well
as a prophet. There is much of Jeremiah’s teachings in
Deuteronomy which are unknown in the rest of the Old
Testament writings. And I take one of these teachings for
my present subject, which I consider as one of the gems or
golden texts of the Old Testament and must be esteemed
very precious and holy.
After this detailed explanation I hasten to the main point
which I have selected for the topic of this article: How to
distinguish a genuine prophet from a false prophet. Jeremiah
has supplied us with a fairly satisfactory answer, namely:
