Jeremiah's escape to Ireland --
The Babvlonish captivity -- His treatment by the Jews, by
Nebuehadnezzar -- Taking the ark and Jacob's stone out of the
temple -- Going down to Egypt with Baruch and the women
-- His flight thence to Ireland -- The marriage of Tephi
to Eoehaid -- Crowned on Jacob's stone --
Transmitted down through every reign to Victoria, who was last crowned on
it -- Now in Westminster Abbey -- Tephi's death
and burial in Tarah -- Hebrew institutions established by
Jeremiah.
"See, I 'have this day set thee over the nations and over
the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow;
to build up and to plant." (Jer. 1:10.) Again, Ezk. 17:22: "Thus saith the
Lord' I will also take of the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it; I
will crop off from the top most of his young twigs a tender one, and I
will plant it upon a high mountain and eminent."
These passages of scripture are believed to
teach what Jeremiah is about to do in Ireland.
It is necessary to refer now to Judah. Judah
was still left in Jerusalem, after Israel was carried away captive into
Assyria, for Judah's cup of bitterness had not yet become fulll. But he
was fast following on the same course of idolatry practiced by Israel. Yet
the "long-suffering" of God endured for all hundred and thirty years after
Israel's captivity, when, Judah's cup being full, God sent Nebuchadnezzar,
who utterly destroyed Jerusalem, burned the temple, and carried all the
principal people to Babylon.
The account of the Babylonish captivity is
contained in 2 Kings, 25:1-20, and in the last chapter of Jeremiah; a
brief account of which it may be well to look at.
By consulting the prophecy of Jeremiah, (Jer.,
chapters 36, 37, 38, 40,) it appears that he had been charged with a
message to Judah, the sum of which was, that the iniquities of that nation
had become so great that they were to be all sent to Babylon, where they
would be cured of their idolatry.
This was their great sin, and this sin Jeremiah
charged home upon them with great power. But they would not listen to the
preaching of that prophet of God, but declared that they would not go to
Babylon; and in their wrath thrust Jeremiah down into that deep pit, where
it was found he would soon die, being sunk down in the mire.
He was therefore taken out and placed in the
court of the prison, where he remained until the temple was destroyed.
Now it was that the first attack was made on
Judah by Nebuchadnezzar. In this battle, the army of the Jews was
defeated, the king, Zedekiah, taken, his eyes put out, his sons slain, and
his daughters delivered into the care of Jeremiah. We find also that the
King of Babylon charged Nebuzaradan, his chief captain, to look well to
Jeremiah; to administer to all his wants; to give him liberty to dwell and
to (go wherever he might wish; and that nothing should be withheld.
Also it is found that the temple was sacked by
Nebuchadnezzar at that time, and all the sacred vessels taken out and
carried to Babylon. These vessels are all numbered and specified, but no
mention is made of the "Ark of the Covenant." (Ezra, 1:5-11.) So,
also, when Cyrus, some seventy years after this, ordered all these vessels
which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple, to be returned to
Jerusalem, no mention is made of the "Ark of the Covenant"! (
Ezra, 1:7-11.) Josephus also mentions the same things, but is silent
respecting the Ark of the Covenant! Now why this silence?
This sacred vessel, the most highly prized of
all the vessels of the temple, has no mention made of it. Why is this? If
it had been in the temple, would it not most surely have been taken by
Nebuchadnezzar, being an object of priceless value?
There seems but one answer possible to these
questions. Jeremiah, we know, had full liberty of the temple, which
Nebuchadnezzar had given him on his first approach to
Jerusalem..
Furthermore, Jeremiah knew that the temple
was to be destroyed utterly; therefore it is believed, though it can not
be proved here, that he went into the temple before it was sacked by
Nebuchadnezzar, and took from thence "the Ark of the Covenant," and
Jacob's stone on which he had rested his head at Bethel, which he had
erected as a witness, and anointing' it, said "this is Bethel," (God's
house.)
These Jeremiah took to himself he and Baruck,
and preserved them for future use, of which mention shall be made
hereafter.
At the second invasion of Jerusalem the temple
was burnt -- the king's house, and the very walls of the city destroyed,
and all the principal people carried to Babylon. But Jeremiah with Baruck
and a few others were left. These soon determined to go down to Egypt,
although Jeremiah had told them that death would surely be the result. But
all went down, yet none ever returned save Jeremiah and Baruck and the
women. (Jer. 42:17, and 44:14 and 28.)
This is the last account the scriptures give of
Jeremiah. But what shall he now do? Judah is carried away captive to
Babylon; the beautiful temple is burned up with fire, and Jerusalem itself
deserted and laid waste! What shall lie do? Whither shall he flee? Stay in
Jerusalem he cannot, for all is gone!
The kingdom is utterly subverted, and all the
tribes of Israel are gone, utterly swept from the land given them by God,
and the whole land is desolate. But has Jeremiah finished his whole work
assigned to him? What was that work? Jer. 1:10 --''See, I have this day
set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull
down, and to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant." Here,
then, is his commission. He is God's minister plenipotentiary, and
as yet he has been employed only in rooting up and throwing down; now
he
must finish by "planting" and "building up." But where shall he go,
and how is this great work to be done?
Jeremiah must
certainly know where Dan is. And he knows, too, that he has in his own
possession, Tephi, the daughter of king Zedekiah, the only living heir to
the throne of David; and as we shall find, the "coronal stone" he has in
his possession.
Now we shall find soon after this, according to
the Irish records, that "a wise, holy man from the East came to Dan,
bringing with him his scribe, Brugsch, [Barueh?] also a beautiful
princess, daughter of a king." (B. C. about 525.)
Dan had now a regularly organized government,
and Eochaid II was the reigning prince. This prince, when he beheld that
beautiful damsel, said to Jeremiah: "I must marry that beautiful
princess." Well, replied Jeremiah, on this ground alone: your government
must be purged of all Baalism, and based on the divine law which I have
here.
To this Eochaid assented, and so the marriage
was ratified by Jeremiah, and Tephi was crowned on Jacob's Stone. Then
this stone was given to them, to be transmitted down through every
reigning flintily, as the "title-deed" to the land of Canaan.
In obedience to this injunction, the stone was
transmitted down through every succeeding reign in Ireland to Fer:gus I,
who took it over to Scotland, (B. C. 320,) and thence down through every
reign to James VI, of Scotland, James VI, of England, and thus down
through every reign to Victoria, the last who was crowned upon it; and
this identical stone is now in Westminster Abbey!
In Ireland, Jeremiah established the "School
of' the Prophets," the supreme judgeship, and several other Hebrew
institutions, according to the Mosaic ritual. Thus did Jeremiah fulfill
his commission, by "planting and building" -- for here was certainly
established the Throne of David by the coronation of Tephi, the true
lineal descendant of David himself -- and then laying the foundations of
the government in strict accordance with the divine requirements. (See
Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.)
But what became of this Queen Tephi? It is said
that she died a few years after, leaving a family of young children, and
that her death was mourned by all the people, in prose, in verse and in
song, as none other has ever been mourned for. And as for poor Eochaid,
his heart was so torn he said, "I must make a great mausoleum for my
beloved queen;" and he did so, building a tomb in the center sixty feet
square, ill which the body of' Tephi was placed, and over it was
constructed a great mound, which he named "Tara," a pure Hebrew word,
meaning "two tables."
And here, it is believed by some, was placed
the Ark of the Covenant, together with its sacred contents. Now, as to the
Ark of the Covenant, no one knows definitely what became of it. It seems
to be acknowledged by all that it was known to have been in the temple
before the invasion by Nebuchadnezzar, as also Jacob's stone; and that
there is no mention made, in the enumeration of the articles taken from
the temple by Nebuchadnezzar, of the Ark of the Covenant, nor of Jacob's
stone. The great inquiry, for a long time has been, "What became of the
Ark?" But no answer has as yet been given which seems entirely
satisfactory.
In II Maccabees this passage is found' "It was
also contained in the same writing that the prophet, being warned of God,
commanded the tabernacle and the Ark to go with him [Jeremiah ] as he went
forth into the mountain, where Moses climbed up and saw the heritage of
God. And when Jeremv came thither, he found a hollow cave, wherein he laid
the tabernacle, and the ark, and altar of incense, and no stopped the
door. And some of those that followed him came to mark the way, but they
could not find it. Which when Jeremv perceived, he blamed them, saying, As
for that place, it shall be unknown until the time that God gathers his
people together again and receives them into mercy. Then shall the Lord
shew them these things, and the glory of the Lord shall appear, and the
cloud also, as it was shown unto Moses." (II Maccabees, 2:1-8.)
This account purports to have been taken from
the records of Jewish history, and the writer, whoever he may have been,
in the history he has written has given the exact account of many things,
in language similar to the account ill the Bible of the same events. It
would seem, therefore, if credence is to be given to the writer in these
things, it might be justly claimed as to the account given of the
disposition of the ark, the tabernacle, etc. Why not? Incredible? Is this
any more incredible than the wonderful events recorded as having
transpired at Mt. Sinai? or the feeding the Israelites with manna? or the
burying of Moses in the mount by the hand of God?
All these, you say, were miraculous
manifestations, made for a special purpose. True; but would not the ark,
etc., seem to require that same divine protection? It is, indeed, believed
by some that the ark was transported to Ireland and there buried in Tarah.
Perhaps it was; for in that belief an effort was made in England not long
ago to raise a fund sufficient to buy Tarah, with the view of searching
the tomb of Tephi and see if the ark could not be found; but of late that
work seems to have ceased, either for the want of money or from the
decline of evidence that the ark was ever brought to Ireland by
Jeremiah.
But whatever became of the ark, can we think
for a moment that it was destroyed? For myself, I cannot but believe it
will yet be found, brought to light in God's good time, and in this I rest
with the utmost confidence.