Chapter II. The Second Assyrian Empire, both of Nineveh and Babylon.
This second Assyrian empire continued two hundred and ten years, reckoning to the year in which Cyrus, who was become absolute master of the East by the death of his father Cambyses and his father-in-law Cyaxares, published the famous edict, whereby the Jews were permitted to return into their own country, after a seventy years' captivity at Babylon.
Belesis. A.M. 3257. Ant. J.C. 747.
Kings of Babylon.[1013]—Belesis. He is the same as Nabonassar, from whose reign began the famous astronomical epocha at Babylon, called from his name the Æra of Nabonassar. In the holy Scriptures he is called Baladan. He reigned but twelve years, and was succeeded by his son:
Merodach-Baladan.
Merodach-Baladan. This is the prince who sent ambassadors to king Hezekiah, to congratulate him on the recovery of his health, of which we shall speak hereafter.[1014] After him there reigned several other kings of Babylon,[1015] with whose story we are entirely unacquainted. I shall therefore proceed to the kings of Nineveh.
Tiglath-Pileser. A.M. 3257. Ant. J.C. 747.
Kings of Nineveh.—Tiglath-Pileser. This is the name given by the holy Scripture to the king, who is supposed to be the first that reigned at Nineveh, after the destruction of the ancient Assyrian empire. He is called Thilgamus, by Ælian.[1016] He is said to have taken the name of Ninus the younger, in order to honour and [pg 336] distinguish his reign by the name of so ancient and illustrious a prince.
Ahaz, king of Judah,[1017] whose incorrigible impiety could not be reclaimed, either by the divine favours or chastisements, finding himself attacked at the same time by the kings of Syria and Israel, robbed the temple of part of its gold and silver, and sent it to Tiglath-Pileser, to purchase his assistance; promising him besides to become his vassal, and to pay him tribute. The king of Assyria finding so favourable an opportunity of adding Syria and Palestine to his empire, readily accepted the proposal. Advancing that way with a numerous army, he beat Rezin, took Damascus, and put an end to the kingdom erected there by the Syrians, as God had foretold by his prophets Isaiah and Amos[1018]. From thence he marched against Pekah, and took all that belonged to the kingdom of Israel beyond Jordan, as well as all Galilee. But he made Ahaz pay very dear for his protection, still exacting of him such exorbitant sums of money, that for the payment of them he was obliged not only to exhaust his own treasures, but to take all the gold and silver of the temple. Thus this alliance served only to drain the kingdom of Judah, and to bring into its neighbourhood the powerful kings of Nineveh; who afterwards became so many instruments in the hand of God for the chastisement of his people.
Shalmanezer. A.M. 3276. Ant. J.C. 728.
Shalmanezer. Sabacus, the Ethiopian, whom the Scripture calls So, having made himself master of Egypt, Hoshea, king of Samaria, entered into an alliance with him, hoping by that means to shake off the Assyrian yoke.[1019] To this end he withdrew from his dependence upon Shalmanezer, refusing to pay him any further tribute, or make him the usual presents.
Shalmanezer, to punish him for his presumption, marched against him with a powerful army; and after having subdued all the plain country, shut him up in Samaria, where he kept him closely besieged for three years; at the end of which he took the city, loaded Hoshea with chains, and threw him into prison for the rest of his days; carried away the people [pg 337] captive, and planted them in Halah and Habor, cities of the Medes. And thus was the kingdom of Israel, or of the ten tribes, destroyed, as God had often threatened by his prophets. This kingdom, from the time of its separation from that of Judah, lasted about two hundred and fifty years.
It was at this time that Tobit, with Anna his wife, and his son Tobias, was carried captive into Assyria, where he became one of the principal officers of king Shalmanezer.[1020]
Shalmanezer died, after having reigned fourteen years, and was succeeded by his son:
Sennacherib. A.M. 3287. Ant. J.C. 717.
Sennacherib. He is also called Sargon in Scripture.[1021]
As soon as this prince was settled on the throne, he renewed the demand of the tribute exacted by his father from Hezekiah. Upon his refusal he declared war against him, and entered into Judea with a mighty army. Hezekiah, grieved to see his kingdom pillaged, sent ambassadors to him, to desire peace upon any terms he would prescribe. Sennacherib, seemingly mollified, entered into treaty with him, and demanded a very great sum of gold and silver. The holy king exhausted both the treasures of the temple, and his own coffers, to pay it. The Assyrian, regarding neither the sanction of oaths nor treaties, still continued the war, and pushed on his conquests more vigorously than ever. Nothing was able to withstand his power, and of all the strong places of Judah, none remained untaken but Jerusalem, which was likewise reduced to the utmost extremity. At this very juncture,[1022] Sennacherib was informed, that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, who had joined his forces with those of the king of Egypt, was coming up to succour the besieged city. Now it was contrary to the express command of God, as well as the remonstrances of Isaiah and Hezekiah, that the chief men at Jerusalem had required any foreign assistance. The Assyrian prince marched immediately to meet the approaching enemy, after having written a letter to Hezekiah, full of blasphemy against the God of Israel, whom he insolently boasted he would speedily vanquish, as he had done all the gods of the other nations round about him. In short, he discomfited the Ægyptians, [pg 338] and pursued them even into their own country, which he ravaged, and returned laden with spoil.
It was probably during Sennacherib's absence, which was pretty long, or at least some little time before, that Hezekiah fell sick, and was cured in a miraculous manner;[1023] and that (as a sign of God's fulfilling the promise he had made him of curing him so perfectly, that within three days he should be able to go to the temple,) the shadow of the sun went ten degrees backwards upon the dial of the palace. Merodach-Baladan, king of Babylon, being informed of the miraculous cure of king Hezekiah, sent ambassadors to him with letters and presents, to congratulate him upon that occasion, and to acquaint themselves with the miracle that had happened in the land at this juncture, with respect to the sun's retrogradation ten degrees. Hezekiah was extremely sensible of the honour done him by that prince, and very forward to show his ambassadors the riches and treasures he possessed, and to let them see the whole magnificence of his palace. Humanly speaking, there was nothing in this proceeding but what was allowable and commendable; but in the eyes of the supreme Judge, which are infinitely more piercing and delicate than ours, this action discovered a lurking pride, and secret vanity, with which his righteousness was offended. Accordingly, he instantly informed the king by his prophet Isaiah, that the riches and treasures which he had been showing to those ambassadors with so much ostentation, should one day be transported to Babylon; and that his children should be carried thither, to become servants in the palace of that monarch. This was then utterly improbable; for Babylon, at the time we are speaking of, was in friendship and alliance with Jerusalem, as appears by her having sent ambassadors thither: nor did Jerusalem then seem to have any thing to fear, but from Nineveh; whose power was at that time formidable, and who had entirely declared against her. But the fortune of those two cities was to change, and the word of God was literally accomplished.
But to return to Sennacherib.[1024] After he had ravaged [pg 339] Egypt, and taken a vast number of prisoners, he came back with his victorious army, encamped before Jerusalem, and besieged it anew. The city seemed to be inevitably lost: it was without resource, and without hope from the hands of men; but had a powerful protector in Heaven, whose jealous ears had heard the impious blasphemies uttered by the king of Nineveh against His sacred name. In one single night a hundred and eighty-five thousand men of his army perished by the sword of the destroying angel. After so terrible a blow this pretended king of kings, (for so he called himself,) this triumpher over nations, and conqueror even of gods, was obliged to return to his own country with the miserable remnant of his army, covered with shame and confusion: nor did he survive his defeat more than a few months, only to make a kind of open confession of his crime to God, whose supreme majesty he had presumed to insult, and who now, to use the Scripture terms, having “put a ring into his nose, and a bridle into his mouth,” as a wild beast, made him return in that humbled, afflicted condition, through those very countries, which a little before had beheld him so haughty and imperious.
Upon his return to Nineveh, being enraged at his disgrace, he treated his subjects in the most cruel and tyrannical manner. The effects of his fury fell more heavily upon the Jews and Israelites, of whom he caused great numbers to be massacred every day, ordering their bodies to be left exposed in the streets, and suffering no man to give them burial.[1025] Tobit, to avoid his cruelty, was obliged to conceal himself for some time, and suffer all his effects to be confiscated. In short, the king's savage temper rendered him so insupportable to his own family, that his two eldest sons conspired against him, and killed him in the temple,[1026] in the presence of his god Nisroch, as he lay prostrate before him. But these two princes, being obliged after this parricide to fly into Armenia, left the kingdom to Esarhaddon, their youngest brother.
Esarhaddon. A.M. 3294. Ant. J.C. 710.
Esarhaddon. We have already observed, that after Merodach-Baladan there was a succession of kings at Babylon, of whom history has transmitted nothing but the names.[1027] The royal family becoming extinct, [pg 340] there was an eight years' interregnum, full of troubles and commotions. Esarhaddon, taking advantage of this juncture, made himself master of Babylon, and annexing it to his former dominions, reigned over the two united empires thirteen years.
After having reunited to the Assyrian empire Syria and Palestine, which had been rent from it in the preceding reign, he entered the land of Israel, where he took captive as many as were left there, and carried them into Assyria, except an inconsiderable number that escaped his pursuit. But that the country might not become a desert, he sent colonies of idolatrous people, taken out of the countries beyond the Euphrates, to dwell in the cities of Samaria. The prediction of Isaiah was then fulfilled;[1028] within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be no more a people. This was exactly the space of time which elapsed between the prediction and the event: and the people of Israel did then truly cease to be a visible nation, what was left of them being altogether mixed and confounded with other nations.
This prince, having possessed himself of the land of Israel, sent some of his generals with part of his army into Judea, to reduce that country likewise under his subjection.[1029] These generals defeated Manasseh, and having taken him prisoner, brought him to Esarhaddon, who put him in chains, and carried him with him to Babylon. But Manasseh, having afterwards appeased the wrath of God by a sincere and lively repentance, obtained his liberty, and returned to Jerusalem.
Meantime the colonies, that had been sent into Samaria, in the room of its ancient inhabitants, were grievously infested with lions.[1030] The king of Babylon being told that the cause of this calamity was their not worshipping the God of the country, ordered an Israelitish priest to be sent to them, from among the captives brought from that country, to teach them the worship of the God of Israel. But these idolaters did no more than admit the true God amongst their ancient divinities, and worshipped him jointly with their false deities. This corrupt worship continued afterwards, and was the primary [pg 341] source of the aversion entertained by the Jews against the Samaritans.
Esarhaddon, after a prosperous reign of thirty-nine years over the Assyrians, and thirteen over the Babylonians, was succeeded by his son:
Saosduchinus. A.M. 3335. Ant. J.C. 669.
Saosduchinus. This prince is called in Scripture Nabuchodonosor, which name was common to the kings of Babylon. To distinguish this from the others, he is called Nabuchodonosor the First.
Tobit was still alive at this time, and dwelt among other captives at Nineveh.[1031] Perceiving his end approaching, he foretold to his children the sudden destruction of that city; of which at that time there was not the least appearance. He advised them to quit the city, before its ruin came on, and to depart as soon as they had buried him and his wife.
“The ruin of Nineveh is at hand,” says the good old man, “abide no longer here, for I perceive the wickedness of the city will occasion its destruction.” These last words are very remarkable, “the wickedness of the city will occasion its destruction.” Men will be apt to impute the ruin of Nineveh to any other reason, but we are taught by the Holy Ghost, that her unrighteousness was the true cause of it, as it will be with other states that imitate her crimes.
Nabuchodonosor defeated the king of the Medes in a pitched battle,[1032] fought the twelfth year of his reign, upon the plain of Ragau, took Ecbatana, the capital of his kingdom, and returned triumphant to Nineveh. When we come to treat of the history of the Medes, we shall give a more particular account of this victory.
It was immediately after this expedition, that Bethulia was besieged by Holofernes, one of Nabuchodonosor's generals; and that the famous enterprise of Judith was accomplished.
Saracus. A.M. 3356. Ant. J.C. 648.
Saracus, otherwise called Chynaladanus. This prince succeeded Saosduchinus;[1033] and having rendered himself contemptible to his subjects, by his effeminacy, and the little care he took of his dominions, Nabopolassar, a Babylonian by birth, and general of his army, usurped [pg 342] that part of the Assyrian empire, and reigned over it one and twenty years.
Nabopolassar. A.M. 3378. Ant. J.C. 626.
Nabopolassar. This prince, the better to maintain his usurped sovereignty, made an alliance with Cyaxares, king of the Medes. With their joint forces they besieged and took Nineveh, killed Saracus, and utterly destroyed that great city. We shall speak more largely of this great event, when we come to the history of the Medes. From this time forwards the city of Babylon became the only capital of the Assyrian empire.
The Babylonians and the Medes, having destroyed Nineveh, became so formidable, that they drew upon themselves the jealousy of all their neighbours. Necho, king of Egypt, was so alarmed at their power, that to stop their progress he marched towards the Euphrates at the head of a powerful army, and made several considerable conquests. See the history of the Egyptians[1034] for what relates to this expedition, and the consequences that attended it.
Nabopolassar finding,[1035] that after the taking of Carchemish by Necho, all Syria and Palestine had revolted from him, and neither his age nor infirmities permitting him to go in person to recover them, he made his son Nabuchodonosor partner with him in the empire, and sent him with an army to reduce those countries to their former subjection.
A.M. 3398. Ant. J.C. 606.
From this time the Jews begin to reckon the years of Nabuchodonosor, viz. from the end of the third year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, or rather from the beginning of the fourth. But the Babylonians compute the reign of this prince only from the death of his father, which happened two years later.
Nabuchodonosor II.
Nabuchodonosor II. This prince defeated Necho's army, near the Euphrates, and retook Carchemish.[1036] From thence he marched towards Syria and Palestine, and reunited those provinces to his dominions.
He likewise entered Judea, besieged Jerusalem, and took it:[1037] he caused Jehoiakim to be put in chains, with a design to have him carried to Babylon; but being moved with his repentance [pg 343] and affliction, he restored him to the throne. Great numbers of the Jews, and, among the rest, some children of the royal family, were carried captive to Babylon, whither all the treasures of the king's palace, and a part of the sacred vessels of the temple, were likewise transported. Thus was the judgment which God had denounced by the prophet Isaiah to king Hezekiah accomplished. From this famous epocha, which was the fourth year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, we are to date the captivity of the Jews at Babylon, so often foretold by Jeremiah. Daniel, then but twelve years old,[1038] was carried captive among the rest; and Ezekiel some time afterwards.
Towards the end of the fifth year of Jehoiakim died Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, after having reigned one and twenty years.[1039] As soon as his son Nabuchodonosor had news of his death, he set out with all expedition for Babylon, taking the nearest way through the desert, attended only with a small retinue, leaving the bulk of his army with his generals, to be conducted to Babylon with the captives and spoils. On his arrival, he received the government from the hands of those that had carefully preserved it for him, and so succeeded to all the dominions of his father, which comprehended Chaldea, Assyria, Arabia, Syria, and Palestine, over which, according to Ptolemy, he reigned forty-three years.
A.M. 3401. Ant. J.C. 603.
In the fourth year of his reign he had a dream,[1040] at which he was greatly terrified, though he could not call it again to mind. He thereupon consulted the wise men and soothsayers of his kingdom, requiring of them to make known to him the substance of his dream. They all answered, that it was beyond the reach of their art to discover it; and that the utmost they could do, was to give the interpretation of his dream, when he had made it known to them. As absolute princes are not accustomed to meet with opposition, but will be obeyed in all things, Nabuchodonosor, imagining they dealt insincerely with him, fell into a violent rage, and condemned them all to die. Now Daniel and his three companions were included in the sentence, as being [pg 344] ranked among the wise men. But Daniel, having first invoked his God, desired to be introduced to the king, to whom he revealed the whole substance of his dream. “The thing thou sawest,” says he to him, “was an image of an enormous size, and a terrible countenance. The head thereof was of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, and the feet part of iron and part of clay. And as the king was attentively looking upon that vision, behold a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands, and the stone smote the image upon his feet, and brake them to pieces; the whole image was ground as small as dust, and the stone became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” When Daniel had related the dream, he gave the king likewise the interpretation thereof, showing him how it signified the three great empires, which were to succeed that of the Assyrians, namely, the Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman, or (according to some,) that of the successors of Alexander the Great. “After these kingdoms (continued Daniel) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and this kingdom shall not be left to other people, but shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and shall stand for ever.” By which Daniel plainly foretold the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The king, ravished with admiration and astonishment, after having acknowledged and loudly declared, that the God of the Israelites was truly the God of gods, advanced Daniel to the highest offices in the kingdom, made him chief of the governors over all the wise men, ruler of the whole province of Babylon, and one of the principal lords of the council, that always attended the court. His three friends were also promoted to honours and dignities.
At this time Jehoiakim revolted from the king of Babylon, whose generals, that were still in Judea, marched against him, and committed all kinds of hostilities upon this country.[1041] “He slept with his fathers,” is all the Scripture says of his death. Jeremiah had prophesied, that he should neither be regretted nor lamented; but should “be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem:” this was no doubt fulfilled, though it is not known in what manner.
Jechonias[1042] succeeded both to the throne and iniquity of his father. Nabuchodonosor's lieutenants continuing the blockade of Jerusalem, in three months' time he himself came at the head of his army, and made himself master of the city. He plundered both the temple and the king's palace of all their treasures, and sent them away to Babylon, together with all the golden vessels remaining, which Solomon had made for the use of the temple: he carried away likewise a vast number of captives, amongst whom was king Jechonias, his mother, his wives, with all the chief officers and great men of his kingdom. In the room of Jechonias, he set upon the throne his uncle Mattaniah, who was otherwise called Zedekiah.
This prince had as little religion and prosperity as his forefathers.[1043] Having made an alliance with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, he broke the oath of fidelity he had taken to the king of Babylon. The latter soon chastised him for it, and immediately laid siege to Jerusalem. The king of Egypt's arrival at the head of an army gave the besieged a gleam of hope; but their joy was very short-lived; the Egyptians were defeated, and the conqueror returned against Jerusalem, and renewed the siege, which lasted near a twelvemonth.
A.M. 3415. Ant. J.C. 589.
At last the city was taken by storm, and a terrible slaughter ensued. Zedekiah's two sons were, by Nabuchodonosor's orders, killed before their father's face, with all the nobles and principal men of Judah. Zedekiah himself had both his eyes put out, was loaded with fetters, and carried to Babylon, where he was confined in prison as long as he lived. The city and temple were pillaged and burnt, and all their fortifications demolished.
Upon Nabuchodonosor's return to Babylon, after his successful war against Judea, he ordered a golden statue to be made,[1044] sixty[1045] cubits high, assembled all the great men of the kingdom to celebrate the dedication of it, and commanded all his subjects to worship it, threatening to cast those that should refuse into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Upon this occasion it was that the three young Hebrews, Ananias, Misael, [pg 346] and Azarias, who with an invincible courage refused to comply with the king's impious ordinance, were preserved after a miraculous manner in the midst of the flames. The king, himself a witness of this astonishing miracle, published an edict, whereby all persons whatsoever were forbidden, upon pain of death, to speak any thing amiss against the God of Ananias, Misael, and Azarias. He likewise promoted these three young men to the highest honours and employments.
Nabuchodonosor, in the twenty-first year of his reign, and the fourth after the destruction of Jerusalem, marched again into Syria, and besieged Tyre, at the time when Ithobal was king thereof. Tyre was a strong and opulent city, which had never been subject to any foreign power, and was then in great repute for its commerce: by which many of its citizens were become like so many princes in wealth and magnificence.[1046] It had been built by the Sidonians two hundred and forty years before the temple of Jerusalem. For Sidon being taken by the Philistines of Ascalon, many of its inhabitants made their escape in ships, and founded the city of Tyre. And for this reason we find it called in Isaiah “the daughter of Sidon.”[1047] But the daughter soon surpassed the mother in grandeur, riches, and power. Accordingly, at the time we are speaking of, she was in a condition to resist, thirteen years together, a monarch, to whose yoke all the rest of the East had submitted.
It was not till after so long an interval, that Nabuchodonosor made himself master of Tyre.[1048] His troops suffered incredible hardships before it; so that, according to the prophet's expression, “every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled.”[1049] Before the city was reduced to the last extremity, its inhabitants retired, with the greatest part of their effects, into a neighbouring isle, half a mile from the shore, where they built a new city; the name and glory whereof extinguished the remembrance of the old one, which from thenceforward became a mere village, retaining the name of ancient Tyre.
Nabuchodonosor and his army having undergone the utmost fatigues during so long and difficult a siege,[1050] and having found [pg 347] nothing in the place to requite them for the service they had rendered Almighty God (it is the expression of the prophet) in executing his vengeance upon that city, to make them amends, God was pleased to promise by the mouth of Ezekiel, that he would give them the spoils of Egypt. And indeed they soon after conquered that country, as I have more fully related in the history of the Egyptians.[1051]
When this prince had happily finished all his wars, and was in a state of perfect peace and tranquillity, he employed himself in putting the last hand to the building, or rather to the embellishing of Babylon. The reader may see in Josephus[1052] an account of the magnificent structures ascribed to this monarch by several writers. I have mentioned a great part of them in the description already given of that stately city.
Whilst nothing seemed wanting to complete this prince's happiness, a frightful dream disturbed his repose, and filled him with great anxiety.[1053] “He saw a tree in the midst of the earth, whose height was great: the tree grew, and was strong, and the height of it reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of the earth. The leaves were fair, and the fruit much; and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof; and all flesh was fed of it. Then a watcher and a holy one came down from heaven, and cried; Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit; let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches. Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his heart be changed from man's; and let a beast's heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him. This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.”
The king, justly terrified at this dreadful dream, consulted [pg 348] all his wise men and magicians, but to no purpose. He was obliged to have recourse to Daniel, who expounded the dream, and applied it to the king himself, plainly declaring to him, “That he should be driven from the company of men for seven years, should be reduced to the condition and fellowship of the beasts of the field, and feed upon grass like an ox; that his kingdom nevertheless should be preserved for him, and he should repossess his throne, when he should have learnt to know and acknowledge, that all power is from above, and cometh from Heaven. After this he exhorted him to break off his sins by righteousness, and his iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.”
All these things came to pass upon Nabuchodonosor, as the prophet had foretold. At the end of twelve months, as he was walking in his palace, and admiring the beauty and magnificence of his buildings, he said: “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?” Would a secret impulse of complacency and vanity in a prince, at the sight of such noble structures erected by himself, appear to us so very criminal? And yet, hardly were the words out of his mouth, when a voice came down from Heaven, and pronounced his sentence: “In the same hour his understanding went from him; he was driven from men, and did eat grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of Heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.”
After the expiration of the appointed time, he recovered his senses, and the use of his understanding: “He lifted up his eyes unto Heaven (says the Scripture) and blessed the Most High; he praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:” Confessing, “That all the inhabitants of the earth are as nothing before him, and that he doeth according to his will, in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” Now he recovered his former countenance and form. His courtiers went out to seek him; he was restored to his throne, and became greater and more powerful than ever. Penetrated with the heartiest gratitude, he [pg 349] caused, by a solemn edict, to be published through the whole extent of his dominions, what astonishing and miraculous things God had wrought in his person.
One year after this he died, having reigned forty-three years, reckoning from the death of his father. He was one of the greatest monarchs that ever reigned in the East. He was succeeded by his son:
Evil-Merodach. A.M. 3441. Ant. J.C. 563.
Evil-Merodach. As soon as he was settled in the throne, he released Jechonias, king of Judah, out of prison, where he had been confined near seven and thirty years.[1054]
In the reign of this Evil-Merodach, which lasted but two years, the learned place Daniel's detection of the fraud practised by the priests of Bel; the innocent artifice by which he contrived to destroy the dragon, which was worshipped as a god; and the miraculous deliverance of the same prophet out of the den of lions, where he had victuals brought him by the prophet Habakkuk.
Evil-Merodach rendered himself so odious by his debauchery and other extravagancies, that his own relations conspired against him, and put him to death.[1055]
Neriglissor. A.M. 3444. Ant. J.C. 560.
Neriglissor, his sister's husband, and one of the chief conspirators, reigned in his stead.
Immediately on his accession to the crown, he made great preparations for war against the Medes,[1056] which made Cyaxares send for Cyrus out of Persia, to his assistance. This story will be more particularly related by and by, where we shall find that this prince was slain in battle in the fourth year of his reign.
Laborosoarchod. A.M. 3448. Ant. J.C. 556.
Laborosoarchod, his son, succeeded to the throne. This was a very wicked prince. Being born with the most vicious inclinations, he indulged them without restraint when he came to the crown; as if he had been invested with sovereign power, only to have the privilege of committing with impunity the most infamous and barbarous actions. He reigned but nine months; his own subjects conspiring against him, put him to death. His successor was:
Labynitus, or Nabonidus. A.M. 3449. Ant. J.C. 555.
Labynitus, or Nabonidus. This prince had likewise other names, and in Scripture that of Belshazzar. It is on good grounds supposed that he was the son of Evil-Merodach, by his wife Nitocris, and consequently grandson to Nabuchodonosor, to whom, according to Jeremiah's prophecy, the nations of the East were to be subject, as also to his son, and his grandson after him: “All nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land shall come.”[1057]
Nitocris is that queen who raised so many noble edifices in Babylon.[1058] She caused her own monument to be placed over one of the most remarkable gates of the city, with an inscription, dissuading her successors from touching the treasures laid up in it, without the most urgent and indispensable necessity. The tomb remained closed till the reign of Darius, who, upon his breaking it open, instead of those immense treasures he had flattered himself with discovering, found nothing but the following inscription:
if thou hadst not an insatiable thirst after money, and a most sordid, avaricious soul, thou wouldst never have broken open the monuments of the dead.
In the first year of Belshazzar's reign, Daniel had the vision of the four beasts, which represented the four great monarchies, and the kingdom of the Messiah, which was to succeed them.[1059] In the third year of the same reign he had the vision of the ram and the he-goat, which prefigured the destruction of the Persian empire by Alexander the Great, and the persecution which Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, should bring upon the Jews.[1060] I shall hereafter make some reflections upon these prophecies, and give a larger account of them.
Belshazzar, whilst his enemies were besieging Babylon, gave a great entertainment to his whole court, upon a certain festival, which was annually celebrated with great rejoicing.[1061] The joy of this feast was greatly disturbed by a vision, and still more so by the explication which Daniel gave of it to the king. The sentence written upon the wall imported, that his [pg 351] kingdom was taken from him, and given to the Medes and Persians. That very night the city was taken, and Belshazzar killed.
A.M. 3468. Ant. J.C. 536.
Thus ended the Babylonian empire, after having subsisted two hundred and ten years from the destruction of the great Assyrian empire.
The particular circumstances of the siege, and the taking of Babylon, shall be related in the history of Cyrus.