He was conducted to the
open street amid a general fight. The din of battle brought together vast
multitudes, who, seeing their king a captive, added greatly to the
strength of Judah's forces; and the Chaldeans found themselves
continually attacked from unexpected quarters. Thus the conflict waxed
hotter and hotter as the Chaldeans desperately fought their way through
the exasperated men of Judah.
Finally, the King of Judah was carried into the presence of
Nebuchadnezzar and had he, even then, humbled himself, he might have
escaped an awful doom. The behavior of Jehoiakim in the presence of the
Chaldean monarch was that of a madman. To every inquiry he replied in the
most insulting and abusive epithets; and to seal his own fate he madly
rushed on the King of Babylon with his sword, and had it not been that
this potentate was on his guard, it would have gone hard with him. This
was beyond endurance. Nebuchadnezzar, stung to the quick, grasped his
sword, commanded his officers to stand aloof, and faced his enraged foe.
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