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and after the division of the kingdom, fell to the share of the ten tribes. After the death of Ahab, the Moabites rebelled; but were severely chastised by his son Jehoram, and their country nearly ruined. (2 Ki. 1. 1-3.) Both nations united in the confederacy against Jehoshaphat, when their armies perished in the attempt. (2 Ch. xx. Ps. lxxxiii.) The kings of Israel being no longer able to retain them in subjection, Uzziah and Jotham kings of Judah, conquered and made them tributary; but it appears they regained their freedom during the nnhappy reign of Ahaz. (2 Ch. xxvi...xxviii.) While the Assyrians ravaged the kingdom of Israel, the Ammonites and Moabites seized on the cities near them, and murdered the inhabitants in the most inhuman manner; but soon afterwards, the Assyrians seized their wealth, burnt their cities, murdered or carried captive many of their people, and desolated their country. After the death of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, they again asserted their independence. They ungenerously triumphed over the Jews when oppressed and carried captive by the Chaldeans; but they were soon involved in the same calamity by Nebuchadnezzar, in revenge for their assisting the Tyrians when he passed through Syria in his way to Egypt. Josephus (Ant. 1. x. c. 2.) expressly states, that five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar turned his arms against the Ammonites and Moabites, and entirely subjugated them; and it is probable, that the Arabs, and other nations east of Judah, then took possession of their cities, and enjoyed the fruits of their land, agreeably to the prophecy of Ezekiel, (ch. xxv.)* After the destruction of the Babylonian empire by Cyrus, many of the Moabites were afterwards restored to their country by him, as we learn from Josephus; but they never were restored to their national consequence; and perhaps their restoration in the latter days spoken of by the prophet Jeremiah (ch. 48. 47.) refers to the conversion of their scattered remnants to the Gospel. They afterwards successively became subject to the Persians, Greeks and Romans. After the captivity, they took every opportunity to distress the Jews; till Judas Maccabæus, provoked with their insults, particularly during the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, invaded the Ammonites with a small force, routed their armies, burnt their cities, and made slaves of their wives and children, (1 Mac. v.); and about seventy years afterwards Alexander Jannæus reduced the Moabites into a state of slavery to the Jewish nation. After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans all the tribes around Judea were denominated in general Arabians; and before the end of the third century, the Moabites and Ammonites were not known as distinct people. The country of Moab and Ammon is now inhabited by the Bedouin Arabs; where they pasture their flocks, and, no doubt, make the ruins of Rabbah, their once proud capital, a stable for camels,' (Ezek. 25. 5.) and other cattle, and their name has utterly perished from the face of the earth. Thus Moab (as

• Comprehensive Bible, Note on Ezek. 25. 4.

Idem, Introd. pp. 92, 93.

+ Idem, Note in loco,

well as Ammon) has long since ceased to be a nation; "and destroyed from being a people;" (Jer. 48. 42.) while the Jews, agreeably to the Divine promise, (ch. 46. 28.) though successively subdued and oppressed by the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Syro-Macedonians, and Romans, (which have also passed away, and are no more) and dispersed over the face of the earth, subsist to this day as a distinct people from all the nations of the world.*

(13.) The PHILISTINES, who were part of the posterity of Mizraim, the second son of Ham, (Gen. 10. 14. 1 Chr. 1. 11, 12.); who, leaving Caphtor, or the north-eastern part of Egypt, settled at an early period in a small strip of territory along the shore of the Mediterranean, in the south-west of Cannan, having expelled the Avites, who had before possessed it. (Deut. 2. 23. Amos 9.7. Jer. 47. 4.) As early as the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Ephraim, they were a powerful people, in possession of several considerable cities; and even at that period discovered their enmity to the Hebrews. (Gen. xx. xxi. xxvi. 1 Chr. 7. 21.) Though Joshua allotted their territories to the tribe of Judah, they long retained the fortified cities of Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gaza, and Gath, which constituted their five satrapies or lordships. They were perhaps the most inveterate enemies the Israelites had to encounter; never losing an opportunity of doing them a mischief. They frequently conquered and held them in bondage; and though Samson, Samuel, and others were raised up to deliver the Israelites out of their hands, yet they continued to maintain their independence till the time of David, who entirely subjected them. (Jud. 3. 31. xiii. xvi. 1 Sam. iv. vii, xiii. xiv. xvii. xviii. xxxi. 2 Sam. vii. viii. 1 Ch. 14.8-17; 18. 1.) Towards the latter part of his reign they attempted to revolt, (2 Sam. 21. 13-22. 1 Chr. 20. 4-8.); and not long after the division of the Hebrew monarchy, they renewed the war with the ten tribes. (1 Kings 15. 27: 16. 15.) They joined in the grand confederacy against Jehoshaphat to their own damage, (2 Chr. xx. Psa. 83. 7—18.); but under his son Jehoram, they ravaged the kingdom of Judah, and sold multidudes of the Jews to the Edomites and Greeks. (2 Chr. 21. 16, 17. Amos 1. 6. Joel 3. 6.) Although Uzziah, king of Judah had reduced part of their country, they again took up arms in the days of Ahaz, and seized upon part of Judea, (2 Chr. 26. 6; 28. 18. Isa. 9. 12.); but about twenty years after, Hezekiah reduced the whole of their country to the brink of ruin, (2 Kings 18. 8. Isa. 14. 29-31.) Not long after they were attacked by the Assyrians, (Isa. 20. 1); and to expel their troops, Psammiticus, king of Egypt, reduced Ashdod by a siege of twenty-nine years. After being greatly harassed by the kings of Egypt, they were, with the other neighbouring nations, conquered by Nebuchadnezzar. Provoked with their attempts to assist the Tyrians, he desolated their country, burnt their cities, and murdered their inhabitants, according to the prediction of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, (Jer. xlvii. Ez.

xxv.) Berosus (apud Josephus, Cont. Ap.) states that he subdued Syria, Arabia, Phoenicia, and Egypt. Afterwards they fell under the dominion of the Persians, under whose government they recovered in some degree their former consequence: but Alexander the Great having destroyed Tyre, B. C. 332, marched against their cities, which were then garrisoned with Persian troops, took Gaza by storm, (Strabo, 1. xvi. Arrian, l. ii.) and murdered or sold its inhabitants, and placed Macedonian garrisons in all their fortified cities. After the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, they were gradually subdued by the Maccabees. About B. C. 148, Jonathan, the brother and successor of Judas Maccabæus, subdued the whole country of the Philistines, and Tryphon gave Jonathan the whole of their country from Tyre to Egypt, agreeably to the prediction of Zephaniah, (ch. 2. 7. Josephus, Ant. 1. xviii. c. 9. 1 Mac. 11. 57–59.) About fifty years afterwards Alexander Jannæus burnt Gaza, and incorporated the remnant of the Philistines with such Jews as he placed in their country, (1 Mac. 10. 69-39.) and now their very names have no existence, except in history.*

(14.) The CHALDEAN, or Babylonian monarchy, the first of the four great monarchies, respecting which the prophet Daniel has delivered the most astonishing predictions. These monarchies are represented in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, as interpreted by the prophet, under the figure of a human being, (ch. 31-35.) "This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay..."" A stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." It appears from ancient coins and medals, that cities and people were often represented by the figures of men and women; and Florus, in the proœmium to his Roman History, represents the Roman empire under the form of a human being, in its different states from infancy to old age. A stupendous human figure, therefore, was not an improper emblem of sovereign power and dominion; and the various metals of which it was composed not unfitly represented the various kingdoms which should arise; while the order of the succession is clearly denoted by that of their parts.† The same monarchies were afterwards seen by the prophet in vision as "four great beasts," which “came up from the sea, diverse one from another," —a lion, a bear, a leopard, and "a fourth beast, diverse from all the beasts that were before it." (Dan. vii. 3, &c.) That is, four kingdoms, (v. 17.) called beasts from their tyranny and oppression, emerging from the sea, i. e. the wars and commotions of the world.†

• Comprehensive Bible, Introd. pp. 91, 92; and Notes on Ezek. 25. 16, and Zeph. 2. 7. + Idem, Note in loco,

In the image, the head of gold represented the Chaldean monarchy, as Daniel interpreted it to Nebuchadnezzar, (ch. 2. 37, 38.) "Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the Beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold," that is, the Chaldean monarchy, over which Nebuchadnezzar was the only king of note; by whose conquests it was raised to the pinnacle of glory, and in whose time it extended over Chaldea, Assyria, Arabia, Syria, Egypt, and Libya: the head of gold represented its immense riches.' The rapid and extensive conquests of this prince, and the decline and ruin under Belshazzar of this monarchy, are denoted in the prophet's vision, ch. vii. 4. "The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it." Nebuchadnezzar having routed the troops of Pharaoh-necho at the Euphrates, and taken Carchemish, succeeded his father B. C. 605; and, having raised a formidable army of Chaldeans, Scythians and others, he subdued the Syrians, Jews, Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, and part of the Arabs. Enraged that the Tyrians had withdrawn with their riches, after he had besieged them thirteen years, he wreaked his vengeance on the Philistines and Egyptians, who had assisted them, and terribly alarmed, if not ravaged Ethiopia and Libya. He returned to Babylon laden with spoil; and having given himself up to idolatry and pride, he was punished with a temporary alienation of mind, as related in Da. iv. and died after a reign of 43 years, B. C. 562. He was succeeded by his son Evil-merodach, who reigned little more than two years, being put to death by his own relations. Neriglisser, his sister's husband and one of the chief conspirators, reigned in his stead; and, after a short reign of four years, being slain by the Medes and Persians in battle, he was succeeded by Laborosoarchod, a wicked and inglorious prince, who was put to death by his subjects for his tyrannical conduct and crimes. He was succeeded by Belshazzar, called also Nabonadius and Labynitus, the son of Evilmerodach, and grandson of Nebuchadnezzar; but Cyrus having taken Babylon, after a siege of two years, Belshazzar was slain in the assault on his palace; and with him terminated the Babylonian empire, B. C. 538.+

(15.) The MEDO-PERSIAN empire, or that of the Medes and Persians, whose union was denoted by the breast and two arms of silver, (Dan. 2. 32.) and which was established on the ruins of that of the Chaldeans on the capture of Babylon by Cyrus, B. C. 538. This union of the two nations, forming one kingdom, was denoted by the second "beast like to a bear," which raised up itself on one side, or one dominion, (Dan.

Comprehensive Bible, Note in loco.

+ Idem, Introd. pp. 95, 96.

7.5.) being compared to a bear from their cruelty and thirst for blood.⚫ In the prophet's vision by the river Ulai, the Medo-Persian empire was represented by " a ram which had two horns," (Dan. 8. 3.) i. e. “the kings of Media and Persia," as Gabriel interpreted it, (ver. 20.) of which a ram was the ensign; and a ram's head with horns, one higher than the other, is still to be seen on the ruins of Persepolis,* agreeably to the prophetic description; " and the two horns were high: but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last," intimating, that of the two kingdoms of which it was composed, Media was the more ancient, but Persia, after Cyrus, the most considerable. * The Medes were the descendants of Madai, son of Japheth, (Gen. 10. 2.) and inhabited_the tract of country which lies between the Caspian sea and Armenia on the north, Persia on the south, Assyria on the west, and Parthia and Hyrcania on the east. It was first raised into a kingdom by its revolt from the Assyrian monrachy under Arbaces; and after it had for some time enjoyed a kind of republican government, Deioces, by artifice, procured himself to be called king, and made Ecbatana his capital, B. C. 700. After a reign of fifty-three years, he was succeeded by Phraortes, B. C. 647, by Cyaxares, B. C. 625, and by Astyages, B. C. 585; in whose time, Cyrus became master of Media; and the empire was transferred to the Persians, or Elamites, who were descended from Elam, the eldest son of Shem, (Gen. 10. 22.), and originally inhabited a small province east of Susiana, west of Caramania, south of Media, and north of the Persian gulf. Previous to the time of Cyrus, Persia was subject to the Assyrian and Chaldean monarchs. He was heir to the Persian crown by his father Cambyses, and, to the Median, by his mother Mandane; and having, with his Medo-Persian troops, conquered the three powerful kingdoms of Lydia on the north, Egypt on the south, and Babylon in the centre, (denoted by the "three ribs in the mouth of the bear, between the teeth of it," Dan. 7. 5.)* with immense spoil, he founded the Persian empire, B. C. 530, which became under him, and his successors, one of the most considerable and powerful kingdoms of the earth. Thus, "the ram pushed westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beast might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand ; but he did according to his will, and became great." (Dan. 8. 4.) In the third year of Cyrus, the angel Michael revealed to Daniel the fate of this and the succeeding kingdom, saying, “Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia." These were, Cambyses, son of Cyrus; Smerdis, the Magian impostor, and Darius Hystaspes.* " And the fourth shall be far richer than they all :" Xerxes, son of Darius, of whom Justin (1. ii. c. 10.) says, that there was so great an abundance of riches in his kingdom, that when rivers were dried up by his army, yet his wealth remained unexhausted."*" And by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia." Herodotus, (l. vii. c. 60.) says,

Comprehensive Bible, Note in loco.

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