DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3236#0114
CHAP. VII.—POSITION AND HISTORY.
49
would seem most naturally to be the slips up
which the ships could be drawn from the water
for repairs, the sense being a place to draw a
vessel on. The settlement outside the camp is
probably then the civil quarter, for merchants and
sailors, apart from the garrison dwelling in the
camp, which would easily hold 20,000 men.
45. The reign of Nekau gave, doubtless, an
occasion for the use of the Daphniote garrison,
when that king made his great expedition against
Assyria. Then for the first time did a body of
Greeks come in contact with the Syrians and
Babylonians, and the Jews must have heard in
tbe speech of their conqueror's troops the tongue
with which they were afterwards to become so
familiar. The slaying of Josiah, the deposition of
Jehoahaz, the setting up of the tributary Jehoiakim,
and the removal of Jehoahaz into Egypt, marked
the first period of intercourse between Jews and
Greeks. "The children also of Noph and Tah-
panhes have broken the crown of thy head"
(Jer. ii. 16).
This intercourse, however, was soon to be in-
creased; three years later Nebuchadrezzar invaded
Judea, and all who fled from the war would arrive
at Tahpanhes in their flight into Egypt, and most
likely stop there. In short, during all the troubles
and continual invasions and sieges of Jerusalem
in G07, 603, 599 (in which a wholesale deportation
of the people took place), and above all in the
final long siege and destruction of 590—588 B.C.,
when " the city was broken up," and all the men
of war fled, every one who sought to avoid the
miseries of war, or who was politically obnoxious,
would naturally flee down into Egypt. Such
refugees would necessarily reach the frontier fort
on the caravan road, and would there find a mixed
and mainly foreign population, Greek, Phoenician,
and Egyptian, among whom their presence would
not be resented, as it would by the still strictly
protectionist Egyptians further in the country.
That they should largely, or perhaps mainly,
settle there would be the most natural course;
they would be tolerated, they would find a constant
communication with their own countrymen, and
they would be as near to Judea as they could in
safety remain, while they awaited a chance of
returning.
The last and greatest migration to Tahpanhes
is that fully recorded by Jeremiah, which gives us
the pattern of what doubtless had been going on
long before. After Nebuchadrezzar had retired
with his spoils, Gedaliah, the governor whom he
had set up, was quickly slain, the country fell into
anarchy, and all the responsible inhabitants who
were left fled into Egypt to avoid the vengeance of
Nebuchadrezzar. "Johanan the son of Kareah,
and all the captains of the forces, took all the
remnant of Judah, that were returned (from all
nations whither they had been driven), to sojourn
in the land of Judah; the men, and the women,
and the children, and the king's daughters, and
every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the
guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam
the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet,
and Baruch the son of Neriah; and they came
into the land of Egypt; for they obeyed not the
voice of the Lord : and they came even to Tah-
panhes " (Jer. xliii.. 5, 6, 7). The last act in
this history is mentioned by Josephus, when he
says that Nebuchadrezzar "fell upon Egypt . . .
and took those Jews that were there captives, and
led them away to Babylon; and such was the end
of the nation of the Hebrews " (Ant. ix. 7). As
these Jews were fugitive and rebellious subjects of
Nebuchadrezzar's own kingdom, it is most probable
that he would avenge their last rebellion and
flight from Judea by taking captive all whom he
could. This indeed was contemplated by Jeremiah:
"such as are for captivity to captivity" (xliii. 11).
46. We are now in a position, after finding
that Tahpanhes was the seat of the Greek frontier
garrison, to estimate the extent of the Hellenization
of the Jewish race during the five successive
periods of trouble in Judea between 607 and 587
B.C. In this twenty years a constant intercourse
49
would seem most naturally to be the slips up
which the ships could be drawn from the water
for repairs, the sense being a place to draw a
vessel on. The settlement outside the camp is
probably then the civil quarter, for merchants and
sailors, apart from the garrison dwelling in the
camp, which would easily hold 20,000 men.
45. The reign of Nekau gave, doubtless, an
occasion for the use of the Daphniote garrison,
when that king made his great expedition against
Assyria. Then for the first time did a body of
Greeks come in contact with the Syrians and
Babylonians, and the Jews must have heard in
tbe speech of their conqueror's troops the tongue
with which they were afterwards to become so
familiar. The slaying of Josiah, the deposition of
Jehoahaz, the setting up of the tributary Jehoiakim,
and the removal of Jehoahaz into Egypt, marked
the first period of intercourse between Jews and
Greeks. "The children also of Noph and Tah-
panhes have broken the crown of thy head"
(Jer. ii. 16).
This intercourse, however, was soon to be in-
creased; three years later Nebuchadrezzar invaded
Judea, and all who fled from the war would arrive
at Tahpanhes in their flight into Egypt, and most
likely stop there. In short, during all the troubles
and continual invasions and sieges of Jerusalem
in G07, 603, 599 (in which a wholesale deportation
of the people took place), and above all in the
final long siege and destruction of 590—588 B.C.,
when " the city was broken up," and all the men
of war fled, every one who sought to avoid the
miseries of war, or who was politically obnoxious,
would naturally flee down into Egypt. Such
refugees would necessarily reach the frontier fort
on the caravan road, and would there find a mixed
and mainly foreign population, Greek, Phoenician,
and Egyptian, among whom their presence would
not be resented, as it would by the still strictly
protectionist Egyptians further in the country.
That they should largely, or perhaps mainly,
settle there would be the most natural course;
they would be tolerated, they would find a constant
communication with their own countrymen, and
they would be as near to Judea as they could in
safety remain, while they awaited a chance of
returning.
The last and greatest migration to Tahpanhes
is that fully recorded by Jeremiah, which gives us
the pattern of what doubtless had been going on
long before. After Nebuchadrezzar had retired
with his spoils, Gedaliah, the governor whom he
had set up, was quickly slain, the country fell into
anarchy, and all the responsible inhabitants who
were left fled into Egypt to avoid the vengeance of
Nebuchadrezzar. "Johanan the son of Kareah,
and all the captains of the forces, took all the
remnant of Judah, that were returned (from all
nations whither they had been driven), to sojourn
in the land of Judah; the men, and the women,
and the children, and the king's daughters, and
every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the
guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam
the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet,
and Baruch the son of Neriah; and they came
into the land of Egypt; for they obeyed not the
voice of the Lord : and they came even to Tah-
panhes " (Jer. xliii.. 5, 6, 7). The last act in
this history is mentioned by Josephus, when he
says that Nebuchadrezzar "fell upon Egypt . . .
and took those Jews that were there captives, and
led them away to Babylon; and such was the end
of the nation of the Hebrews " (Ant. ix. 7). As
these Jews were fugitive and rebellious subjects of
Nebuchadrezzar's own kingdom, it is most probable
that he would avenge their last rebellion and
flight from Judea by taking captive all whom he
could. This indeed was contemplated by Jeremiah:
"such as are for captivity to captivity" (xliii. 11).
46. We are now in a position, after finding
that Tahpanhes was the seat of the Greek frontier
garrison, to estimate the extent of the Hellenization
of the Jewish race during the five successive
periods of trouble in Judea between 607 and 587
B.C. In this twenty years a constant intercourse