Apries, the son of Neco, brought this war to an end in the first year of
his reign (B.C. 590) by the arms of one of his generals; and, finding
that Nebuchadnezzar was still unable to reduce Phœnicia to subjection,
he ventured, in B.C. 588, to conclude a treaty with Zedekiah, king of
Judah, and to promise him assistance, if he would join him against the
Babylonians. This Zedekiah consented to do, and the war followed which
terminated in the capture and destruction of Jerusalem, and the transfer
of the Jewish people to Babylonia.

It is uncertain what exact part Apries took in this war. We know that he
called out the full force of the empire, and marched into Palestine,
with the object of relieving Zedekiah. as soon as he knew that that
monarch's safety was threatened. We know that he marched towards
Jerusalem, and took up such a threatening attitude that Nebuchadnezzar
at one time actually raised the siege (Jer. xxxvii. 5). We do not know
what followed. Whether Apries, on finding that the whole Chaldæan force
had broken up from before Jerusalem and was marching against himself,
took fright at the danger which he had affronted, and made a sudden
inglorious retreat; or whether he boldly met the Babylonian host and
contended with them in a pitched battle, wherein he was worsted, and
from which he was forced to fly into his own land, is uncertain.
Josephus positively declares that he took the braver and more honourable
course: the silence of Scripture as to any battle is thought to imply
that he showed the white feather. In either case, the result was the
same. Egypt recoiled before Babylon; Palestine was evacuated; and
Zedekiah was left to himself. In B.C. 586 Jerusalem fell; Zedekiah was
made a prisoner and cruelly deprived of sight; the Temple and city were
burnt, and the bulk of the people carried into captivity. Babylon
rounded off her dominion in this quarter by the absorption of the last