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captivity

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captivity


  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Captivity  \Cap*tiv"i*ty\,  n.  [L.  captivitas:  cf  F. 
  captivit['e].] 
  1.  The  state  of  being  a  captive  or  a  prisoner. 
 
  More  celebrated  in  his  captivity  that  in  his 
  greatest  triumphs.  --Dryden. 
 
  2.  A  state  of  being  under  control;  subjection  of  the  will  or 
  affections;  bondage. 
 
  Sink  in  the  soft  captivity  together.  --Addison. 
 
  Syn:  Imprisonment;  confinement;  bondage;  subjection; 
  servitude;  slavery;  thralldom;  serfdom. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  captivity 
  n  1:  the  state  of  being  imprisoned;  "he  was  held  in  captivity 
  until  he  died";  "the  imprisonment  of  captured  soldiers"; 
  "his  ignominious  incarceration  in  the  local  jail";  "he 
  practiced  the  immurement  of  his  enemies  in  the  castle 
  dungeon"  [syn:  {imprisonment},  {incarceration},  {immurement}] 
  2:  the  state  of  being  a  slave;  "So  every  bondman  in  his  own 
  hand  bears  the  power  to  cancel  his  captivity"--Shakespeare 
  [syn:  {enslavement}] 
 
  From  Easton's  1897  Bible  Dictionary  [easton]: 
 
  Captivity 
  (1.)  Of  Israel.  The  kingdom  of  the  ten  tribes  was  successively 
  invaded  by  several  Assyrian  kings.  Pul  (q.v.)  imposed  a  tribute 
  on  Menahem  of  a  thousand  talents  of  silver  (2  Kings  15:19,  20;  1 
  Chr.  5:26)  (B.C.  762),  and  Tiglath-pileser,  in  the  days  of  Pekah 
  (B.C.  738),  carried  away  the  trans-Jordanic  tribes  and  the 
  inhabitants  of  Galilee  into  Assyria  (2  Kings  15:29;  Isa.  9:1). 
  Subsequently  Shalmaneser  invaded  Israel  and  laid  siege  to 
  Samaria,  the  capital  of  the  kingdom.  During  the  siege  he  died, 
  and  was  succeeded  by  Sargon,  who  took  the  city,  and  transported 
  the  great  mass  of  the  people  into  Assyria  (B.C.  721),  placing 
  them  in  Halah  and  in  Habor,  and  in  the  cities  of  the  Medes  (2 
  Kings  17:3,  5).  Samaria  was  never  again  inhabited  by  the 
  Israelites.  The  families  thus  removed  were  carried  to  distant 
  cities,  many  of  them  not  far  from  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  their 
  place  was  supplied  by  colonists  from  Babylon  and  Cuthah,  etc  (2 
  Kings  17:24).  Thus  terminated  the  kingdom  of  the  ten  tribes, 
  after  a  separate  duration  of  two  hundred  and  fifty-five  years 
  (B.C.  975-721). 
 
  Many  speculations  have  been  indulged  in  with  reference  to 
  these  ten  tribes.  But  we  believe  that  all  except  the  number 
  that  probably  allied  themselves  with  Judah  and  shared  in  their 
  restoration  under  Cyrus,  are  finally  lost. 
 
  "Like  the  dew  on  the  mountain,  Like  the 
 
  foam  on  the  river, 
 
  Like  the  bubble  on  the  fountain, 
 
  They  are  gone,  and  for  ever." 
 
  (2.)  Of  Judah.  In  the  third  year  of  Jehoiachim,  the  eighteenth 
  king  of  Judah  (B.C.  605),  Nebuchadnezzar  having  overcome  the 
  Egyptians  at  Carchemish,  advanced  to  Jerusalem  with  a  great 
  army.  After  a  brief  siege  he  took  that  city,  and  carried  away 
  the  vessels  of  the  sanctuary  to  Babylon,  and  dedicated  them  in 
  the  Temple  of  Belus  (2  Kings  24:1;  2  Chr.  36:6,  7;  Dan.  1:1,  2). 
  He  also  carried  away  the  treasures  of  the  king,  whom  he  made  his 
  vassal.  At  this  time,  from  which  is  dated  the  "seventy  years"  of 
  captivity  (Jer.  25;  Dan.  9:1,  2),  Daniel  and  his  companions  were 
  carried  to  Babylon,  there  to  be  brought  up  at  the  court  and 
  trained  in  all  the  learning  of  the  Chaldeans  After  this  in  the 
  fifth  year  of  Jehoiakim,  a  great  national  fast  was  appointed 
  (Jer.  36:9),  during  which  the  king,  to  show  his  defiance,  cut  up 
  the  leaves  of  the  book  of  Jeremiah's  prophecies  as  they  were 
  read  to  him  in  his  winter  palace,  and  threw  them  into  the  fire. 
  In  the  same  spirit  he  rebelled  against  Nebuchadnezzar  (2  Kings 
  24:1),  who  again  a  second  time  (B.C.  598)  marched  against 
  Jerusalem,  and  put  Jehoiachim  to  death,  placing  his  son 
  Jehoiachin  on  the  throne  in  his  stead.  But  Jehoiachin's 
  counsellors  displeasing  Nebuchadnezzar,  he  again  a  third  time 
  turned  his  army  against  Jerusalem,  and  carried  away  to  Babylon  a 
  second  detachment  of  Jews  as  captives,  to  the  number  of  10,000 
  (2  Kings  24:13;  Jer.  24:1;  2  Chr.  36:10),  among  whom  were  the 
  king,  with  his  mother  and  all  his  princes  and  officers,  also 
  Ezekiel,  who  with  many  of  his  companions  were  settled  on  the 
  banks  of  the  river  Chebar  (q.v.).  He  also  carried  away  all  the 
  remaining  treasures  of  the  temple  and  the  palace,  and  the  golden 
  vessels  of  the  sanctuary. 
 
  Mattaniah,  the  uncle  of  Jehoiachin,  was  now  made  king  over 
  what  remained  of  the  kingdom  of  Judah,  under  the  name  of 
  Zedekiah  (2  Kings  24:17;  2  Chr.  36:10).  After  a  troubled  reign 
  of  eleven  years  his  kingdom  came  to  an  end  (2  Chr.  36:11). 
  Nebuchadnezzar,  with  a  powerful  army,  besieged  Jerusalem,  and 
  Zedekiah  became  a  prisoner  in  Babylon.  His  eyes  were  put  out 
  and  he  was  kept  in  close  confinement  till  his  death  (2  Kings 
  25:7).  The  city  was  spoiled  of  all  that  was  of  value,  and  then 
  given  up  to  the  flames.  The  temple  and  palaces  were  consumed, 
  and  the  walls  of  the  city  were  levelled  with  the  ground  (B.C. 
  586),  and  all  that  remained  of  the  people,  except  a  number  of 
  the  poorest  class  who  were  left  to  till  the  ground  and  dress  the 
  vineyards,  were  carried  away  captives  to  Babylon.  This  was  the 
  third  and  last  deportation  of  Jewish  captives.  The  land  was  now 
  utterly  desolate,  and  was  abondoned  to  anarchy. 
 
  In  the  first  year  of  his  reign  as  king  of  Babylon  (B.C.  536), 
  Cyrus  issued  a  decree  liberating  the  Jewish  captives,  and 
  permitting  them  to  return  to  Jerusalem  and  rebuild  the  city  and 
  the  temple  (2  Chr.  36:22,  23;  Ezra  1;  2).  The  number  of  the 
  people  forming  the  first  caravan,  under  Zerubbabel,  amounted  in 
  all  to  42,360  (Ezra  2:64,  65),  besides  7,337  men-servants  and 
  maid-servants.  A  considerable  number,  12,000  probably,  from  the 
  ten  tribes  who  had  been  carried  away  into  Assyria  no  doubt 
  combined  with  this  band  of  liberated  captives. 
 
  At  a  later  period  other  bands  of  the  Jews  returned  (1)  under 
  Ezra  (7:7)  (B.C.  458),  and  (2)  Nehemiah  (7:66)  (B.C.  445).  But 
  the  great  mass  of  the  people  remained  still  in  the  land  to  which 
  they  had  been  carried,  and  became  a  portion  of  the  Jews  of  the 
  dispersion"  (John  7:35;  1  Pet.  1:1).  The  whole  number  of  the 
  exiles  that  chose  to  remain  was  probably  about  six  times  the 
  number  of  those  who  returned. 
 




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