=Jehoiakim's Reign.= By the death of Josiah the cause of the patriotic prophetic party in Judah suffered severely. The younger son of the dead king, who was first put on the throne, was soon deposed by Necho and the selfish Jehoiakim was established as a vassal of Egypt. His sympathies were with the party of reaction and he proved another Manasseh. When the Chaldeans appeared in Palestine their rule was readily accepted, but after a reign of ten years Jehoiakim listened to the seductive promises of Egypt and rebelled against his Chaldean master. It was during the reign of Jehoiakim that Jeremiah delivered the greater part of his sermons. By direct address and object-lesson he denounced the follies and crimes of the king and people and tried to save them from the calamity which he saw impending. When the spirit of rebellion was rife he used all his influence to keep his countrymen loyal to the Chaldeans, but in vain. While Judah was being overrun by the Chaldean armies, Jehoiakim died and was succeeded by his young son, Jehoiachin. =The First Captivity.= In 597 B.C. Jerusalem itself fell before the army of Nebuchadrezzar. The king, his nobles, and between eight and ten thousand of the prominent men and artisans, representing in all between thirty and forty thousand souls, were transported to Babylonia. The object of Nebuchadrezzar was to strip the land of its leaders and all who might assist in carrying through another rebellion. Over the Judeans who were left behind was placed Zedekiah, a son of Josiah. The new king was inclined to listen to the voice of Jeremiah and to rule for the best interests of his subjects, but he was helpless in the hands of his headstrong nobles. For nearly a decade Judah submitted to the strong and, on the whole, benign rule of Nebuchadrezzar; but by 593 B.C. the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon encouraged, as of old, by Egypt were again plotting rebellion. Jeremiah did all in his power to save Judah from these fatal entanglements, but false prophets undermined his influence and encouraged the people to hope that Jehovah would perform a miracle in their behalf.