lefer, to purchase his friendship and affiftance; promifing him befides to become his vaffal, and to pay him tribute. The king of Affyria, finding fo favourable an opportunity of adding Syria and Paleftine to his empire, readily accepted the propofal. Advancing that way with a numerous army, he beat Rezin, took Damafcus, and put an end to the kingdom erected there by the Syrians, as God had foreIf. viii. 4. told by his prophets Ifaiah and Amos., From thence Am. i. 5. he marched against Phacæa, and took all that belong'd to the kingdom of Ifrael beyond Jordan, or in Galilee. But he made Ahaz pay very dear for his protection, ftill exacting of him fuch exorbitant fums of money, that for the payment of them he was obliged not only to exhauft his own treafures, but to take all the gold and filver in the temple. Thus this alliance ferv'd only to drain the kingdom of Judah, and to bring into its neighbourhood the powerful kings of Nineveh, who became fo many inftruments afterwards in the hand of God for the chaftifement of his people.

SALMANESER,

AN.MUN. Sabacus, the Ethiopian, whom the fcripture calls 3276. Fe-So, having made himfelf mafter of Egypt, Hofea, fore CHR king of Samaria, enter'd into an alliance with him, 2Kings 17. hoping by that means to fhake off the Affyrian

728.

yoke. To this end he withdrew from his dependance upon Salmanefer, refufing to pay him any further tribute, or make him the ufual prefents.

Salmanefer, to punish him for his prefumption, march'd against him with a powerful army; and after having fubdued all the plain country, fhut him up in Samaria, where he kept him closely befieg'd for three years; at the end of which he took the city, loaded Hofea with chains, and threw him into prifon for the rest of his days; carry'd away the people captive, and planted them in Halah and Habor, cities of the Medes. And thus was the kingdom

of

of Ifrael, or of the ten tribes, deftroy'd, as God had often threaten'd by his prophets. This kingdom, from the time of its feparation from that of Judah, lafted about two hundred and fifty years.

'Twas at this time that Tobit, with Ann his wife, Tob. c. 1. and his fon Tobias, was carried captive into Affyria, * where he became one of the principal officers to king Salmanefer.

Salmanefer, died, after having reign'd fourteen years, and was fucceeded by his fon,

SENNACHERIB.

AN.MUN.

717.

He is alfo call'd Sargon in fcripture. Affoon as this prince was fettled on the throne, he 3287. Berenew'd the demand of the tribute, exacted by his fore CHR. father from Hezekiah. Upon his refufal, he de-If. xx. 1. clared war against him, and enter'd into Judea with 2 Kings c. a mighty army. Hezekiah, griev'd to fee his king- xviii. and dom pillaged, fent embaffadors to him, to defire* peace upon any terms he would prefcribe. Sennacherib, feemingly mollify'd, enter'd into treaty with him, and demanded a very great fum of gold and filver. The holy king exhausted both the treasures of the temple, and his own coffers, to pay it. The Affyrian, regarding neither the facredness of oaths nor treaties, still continued the war, and pufh'd on his conquests more vigorously than ever. Nothing was able to withstand his power; and of all the strong places of Judah, none remain'd untaken but Jerufalem, which was likewife reduc'd to the utmost extremity. At this very juncture Sennacherib was in- 2 Kirgs form'd, that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, who had xix. 9. join'd forces with the king of Egypt, was coming up to fuccour the befieged city. Now 'twas contrary to the express command of God, as well as the remonftrances of Isaiah and Hezekiah, that the chief rulers at Jerufalem had requir'd any foreign affiftance. The Affyrian prince marched immediately to meet the approaching enemy, after having writ a letter

to

2 Kings

XX.

xxxii. 24-

31.

to Hezekiah, full of blafphemy, against the God of Ifrael, whom he infolently boasted he would speedily vanquish, as he had done all the gods of the other nations round about him. In fhort, he difcomfited the Egyptians, and pursued them even into their own country, which he ravaged, and return'd laden with fpoil.

It was probably during Sennacherib's abfence, which was pretty long, or at least fome little time be2 Chron. fore, that Hezekiah fell fick, and was cured after a miraculous manner; and that (as a fign of God's fulfilling the promise he had made him of curing him fo perfectly, that within three days he should be able to go to the temple) the fhadow of the fun went ten degrees backwards upon the dial of the palace. Merodach-Baladan, king of Babylon, being inform'd of the miraculous cure of king Hezekiah, fent embaffadors to him with letters and prefents, to congratulate him upon that occafion, and to acquaint themselves with the miracle that had happen'd upon earth at this juncture, with refpect to the fun's retrogradation ten degrees. Hezekiah was extremely fenfible of the honour done him by that prince, and very forward to fhew his embaffadors the riches and treasures he poffefs'd, and to let them fee 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 fupreme judge, which are infinitely more piercing and delicate than ours, this action discover'd a lurking pride, and fecret vanity, with which his righteoufnefs was offended. Accordingly he inftantly advertised the king by his prophet Ifaiah, that the riches and treasures he had been fhewing to those embassadors with fo much oftentation, fhould one day be transported to Babylon; and that his children fhould be carried thither, to become fervants in the palace of that monarch. This was then utterly improbable; for Babylon, at the time we are fpeaking of,

was

was in friendship and alliance with Jerufalem, as appears by her having fent embaffadors thither: nor did Jerufalem then feem to have any thing to fear, but from Nineveh; whofe power was at that time formidable, and had intirely declar'd against her. But the fortune of those two cities was to change, and the word of God was literally accomplished.

In one

But to return to Sennacherib; after he had ravag'd 2 Kings Egypt, and taken a vast number of prifoners, he xix. 35--came back with his victorious army, encamp'd be-37. fore Jerufalem, and befieg'd it anew. The city feem'd to be inevitably loft: 'twas without refource, and without hope from the hands of men; but had a powerful protector in heaven, whose jealous ears had heard the impious blafphemies utter'd by the king of Nineveh against his facred name. fingle night an hundred and eighty five thousand men of his army perifh'd by the fword of the destroying angel. After fo terrible a blow this pretended king of kings (for fo he call'd himself) this triumpher of nations, and conqueror of gods, was obliged to return to his own country with the miferable remnant of his army, cover'd with fhame and confusion: nor did he furvive his defeat a few months, but only to make a kind of an honourable amande to God, whofe fupreme majefty he had prefumed to infult, and who now, to use the fcripture terms, having put a ring into his nofe, and a bit into his mouth, as unto a wild beaft, made him return in that humbled, afflicted condition, through thofe very countries, which a little before had beheld him fo haughty and imperious.

Upon his return to Nineveh, being enraged at his difgrace, he treated his fubjects after a moft cruel and tyrannical manner. The effects of his fury fell Tob. c. 1. more heavily upon the Jews and Ifraelites, of whom 18--24. he had great numbers maffacred every day, ordering their bodies to be left expofed in the ftreets, and fuffering no man to give them burial. Tobit, to avoid 2 Kings

AN.MUN.

tore CHR.

710.

his cruelty, was obliged to conceal himfelf for fome time, and fuffer all his effects to be confifcated. In fhort, the king's favage temper render'd him fo infupportable to his own family, that his two eldest fons confpired against him, and killed him in the temple, under the eyes of his god Nifroch, as he lay proftrate before him. But thefe two princes, being obliged after this parricide to fly into Armenia, left the kingdom to Efarhaddon, their youngest brother.

t

ESARHADDON.

We have already obferved, that after Merodach3294. Be-Baladan there was a fucceffion of kings at Babylon, of whom hiftory has tranfmitted nothing but the Can. Prol. names. The royal family becoming extinct, there was an eight years interregnum, full of troubles and commotions. Efarhaddon, 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 re-united Syria and Palestine to the Affyrian empire, which had been rent from it in the preceding reign, he enter'd the land of Ifrael, where he took captive as many as were left there, and carried them into Affyria, except an inconfiderable number that escaped his inquifitive eye. . And that the country might not become a defart, he fent colonies of idolatrous people, taken out of the countries beyond the Euphrates, to dwell in the cities of Samaria. If. vii. 8. Then was fulfill'd the prediction of Ifaiah, within threefcore and five years fhall Ephraim be broken, that it be no more a people. This was exactly the space of time elapfed between the prediction and the event; and the people of Ifrael did then truly ceafe to be a vifible nation, what was left of them being altogether mixed and confounded with other nations.

2 Chron.

This prince, having poffeffed himself of the land xxxiii. 11 of Ifrael, fent fome of his generals with part of his

13.