18 GENERAL INDEX TO THE HOLY BIBLE. A.M. B. C. he had made. He went against Egypt and ravaged it in a terrible manner. Isa, xx. 1, &c. The prophecy of Nahum was now fulfilled. iii. 10, &c. On his return from Egypt he besieged Pelusium, but hearing that Tirhakah was coming to assist the Egyptians, he raised the siege, and again entered Judea. He sends three of his captains to threaten Hezekiah, and induce him to submit. But he abides firm, relying on his God, whom Senacherib had defied; and when, having conquered the Ethiopians, he was marching to destroy Jerusalem, nearly his whole army is cut off by an angel of the Lord; and he himself is soon slain by his own sons. 2 Kings xix. 1-37. Isa. xxxvi, xxxvii. After these things Media revolted from Assyria, and one Deioces became king. Esarhaddan succeeded Senacherib over the Assyrians. Hezekiah, after a reign of twenty-nine years, dies, and is succeeded by his wicked son Manasseh, then about twelve years of age. He grows up in vice, introduces idolatry, persecutes all who adhere to Jehovah, and sheds much innocent blood. 2 Kings xxi. 1-16. In the nineteenth year of Manasseh, Esarhaddan, king of Assyria, conquered Babylon, and reigned over it, as well as Assyria. He soon collected troops, and came into Syria, and then into Judea. All those who had been left in the land he removed into Babylon and Assyria; and he brought other people to inhabit the land. Ezra iv. 2—17. They formed a religion of their heathen customs, and of the rites of Moses, and were afterwards called Samaritans. 2 Kings xvi. 20—41. 3306 3361 3363 3378 3392 3394 3395 698 643 641: 626 612 610 Manasseh being taken, was sent to Babylon; and in his captivity and affliction, being brought to serious reflection and repentance, he finds favour in the eyes of the king; and is restored and reigns at Jerusalem, tributary to the king of Assyria. He now repaired the altar of the Lord, and abolished all the altars built to idols; and he fortified Jerusalem and other cities. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 12-17. In the thirty-first year of the reign of Manasseh, died Esarhaddan, after he had reigned thirty-nine years over the Assyrians, and thirteen over the Babylonians. He was succeeded by Chyniladanus. Deioces, the first king of Media, died and was succeeded by his son Phraortes, who reigned over it twenty-two years. After Manasseh, Amon his son reigned two years; but doing evil and giving himself up to idolatry his servants slay him. 2 Kings xxi. 19. Josiah, the son of Amon, only eight years old, is made king. As he grew up he manifested a proper regard for the honour of God; he repairs the temple, reforms abuses, and renews the covenant with God, and in a solemn manner celebrates the passover. During his reign, Jeremiah and Zephaniah prophesy. In the sixth year of Josiah, Phraortes, king of Media, collects a great army, and besieges Nineveh; but he is defeated with great loss. Cyaxares, the son of Phraortes, succeeds his father in the kingdom of Media; and having collected another army overthrew the Assyrians opposed to him, and then laid siege to Nineveh. The Scythians invading his own kingdom, he raises the siege, and goes to expel them; but fails in the attempt, and they continue to hold the upper provinces of Asia for twenty-eight years, and even make inroads as far as Syria and the borders of Egypt. In the fifteenth year of Josiah, Chyniladanus, king of Babylon and Assyria, having become contemptible by his effeminacy, Nabopolassar, general of his army, and a Babylonian, seized on Babylon, and its territory for himself, and reigned there twenty-one years. From him a new era begins in the Chaldean History, called the era of Nabopolassar. In the twenty-ninth year of Josiah, and the twenty-third of Cyaxares, king of Media, Nabopolassar contracts affinity with the latter, by the marriage of Nebuchadnezzar, his son, with Amytis, daughter of Astyages, son of Cyaxares. After this joining their forces, they besiege Nineveh; and having taken it, and slain the king, to gratify the Medes, this ancient city, the metropolis of the Assyrian empire, is utterly demolished, and becomes a mere heap of ruins. In this destruction were fulfilled the prophecies of Nahum and Zephaniah against it. It was situated east of the Tygris, and was near sixty miles in circumference. The destruction of Nineveh, and the overwhelming power of the Medes and Babylonians, excited the fears and jealousy of other nations; and Necho, king of Egypt, in the thirty-first year of Josiah, marchies towards the Euphrates to make war, upon them. He coming through Judea, Josiah resolves to oppose him. Necho sends him word that he would not molest him, if he would allow him to pass through his land. Josiah refuses, an engagement follows, and the pious king of Judah is slain. 2 Chron. xxxv. 25. 609 Zech, xii. 11. After his death the people anointed Jehoahaz king over them, who only reigned three months. For Pharaoh-Necho deposed him, and made Eliakim, whom he named Jehoiakim, king over Judah, and imposed a heavy tribute on the land. He reigned eleven years, and did evil in the sight of the Lord, 2 Kings xxii. 31-37. 2 Chron. xxxvi, 1-5. Jeremiah prophesied under him. A.M. 3397 3398 3399 3401 3405 3416 B. C. 607 GENERAL INDEX TO THE HOLY BIBLE. 19 In the third year of Jehoiakim's reign, Nabopolassar, being grown old, associates Nebuchadnezzar with him in the government. Pharaoh having taken Carchemish on the Euphrates, became master of both Syria and Judea. Against him Nebuchadnezzar marches with a formidable army, takes Carchemish, 606 and then proceeds to Judea. In the fourth of Jehoiakim, he arrives in the land of Judah, when the Rechabites finding no safety in the open country, go to Jerusalem. Jer. xxxv. 6—11. 605 This very same year Jeremiah prophesied of the coming of Nebuchadnezzar; and foretold that he would take the whole land and carry the people captive to Babylon, where they should remain for seventy years. Jer. xxv. Nebuchadnezzar having vanquished the Egyptian forces, at length laid siege to Jerusalem, and soon took it; and having made Jehoiakim prisoner, he put him in chains, intending to remove him to Babylon. But he having humbled himself, and submitting to become tributary, is again restored to his kingdom. While at Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar had taken and sent numbers of the people captives to Babylon, among whom were Daniel and his three companions. Dan. i. 6. Departing from Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar carried on the war against the Egyptians; and with such success, that before the ensuing winter he had expelled them from all Syria and Palestine, and reduced the whole country into subjection from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates. Jehoiakim, on the departure of Nebuchadnezzar, did not repent and reform; but, together with the people left, became more corrupt and wicked. In the fifth year of Jehoiakim, Nabopolassar dies; and Nebuchadnezzar succeeds him, going to Babylon, and assuming the entire government of the empire, including Chaldea, Assyria, Arabia, Syria, 603 and Palestine. In the seventh of Jehoiakim, and the second of Nebuchadnezzar, according to the Babylonish account, and the fourth according to the Jewish, who reckon from the time he was associated with his father, Daniel reveals to him his dream, and interprets it, and is promoted. Dan. ii. The same year Jehoiakim, having served Nebuchadnezzar three years, revolted, being encouraged by a new alliance with Egypt. The king of Babylon on hearing this, sends an army of Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites against him; they lay waste the whole land, take three thousand and twenty-three as captives; Jehoiakim is made prisoner, then put to death, and his body dragged out of the gate of Jerusalem, and left unburied without the walls. 2 Kings xxiv. 2. Jer. xxii. 18. & xxxvi. 30. Jehoiakim being dead, Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead, and did evil in the sight of the Lord as his father had done. Jeremiah foretels his captivity, xxii. 24-30. The Chaldeans continue to block up Jerusalem; and in three months Nebuchadnezzar comes thither, and Jehoiachin finding himself unable to defend the city, goes forth with the princes and his chief servants, and gives up himself into 599 his hands. The king of Babylon enters the city, and takes all the treasures which he could find in the temple and the palace, breaking in pieces the vessels of gold which Solomon had made; and carrying the king, his mother, wives, nobles, and ten thousand able men, from Jerusalem, leaving only the poor there; and out of the country he also carried eight thousand. artificers. Among the captives are Mordecai, and Ezekiel the prophet, who always reckons from this captivity in his writings. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9. Jer. xxiv. 1. Ezek. i. 2, 3. & xvii. 12. Before his departure, the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's uncle, king in Jerusalem, changing his name to Zedekiah. 2 Kings xxiv. 17. Zedekiah begins to reign when twenty-one years old, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. Not instructed or warned by the calamities of his house, he continued in the idolatry and sin of his predecessors, and utterly disregarded the alarming denunciations of Jeremiah. Surrounding tributary kings send their ambassadors to Zedekiah, and induce him to revolt from the king of Babylon, in the third year of his reign. In the ninth came Nebuchadnezzar with a mighty army, and laid siege to Jerusalem. In the seventh of Zedekiah, God had revealed this siege and the result of it to Ezekiel, xii. 1, &c. In the tenth year Jeremiah declared to him, that the city would be taken and burnt, and himself carried to Babylon. Jer. xxxiv, 1, &c. Pharaoh-hophra, king of Egypt, now marches towards Judea; and Nebuchadnezzar withdraws from Jerusalem to meet him; but he retreats to Egypt without risking a battle, leaving Zedekiah to contend alone with the enemy. The siege is renewed, and in the latter end of Zede588 kiah's eleventh year, the city is taken, and himself and princes, who endeavoured to escape, made prisoners, and brought to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblalı, where he sees his own children slain; and then has his own eyes put out, and being loaded with chains, is carried to Babylon. About a month after taking the city Nebazar-adan, captain of the guard, comes and sets fire to the temple, palace, and chief houses, and thus reduces it to ashes. The walls are next rased to the ground, and whatever could be found in it was collected and carried away. 2 Kings xxv. 1, &c. Jer. xxxix, lii. 20 A. M. 3442 3417 3420 3430 3434 3438 B. C. GENERAL INDEX TO THE HOLY BIBLE. Thus was Judah destroyed as a kingdom, and the capital, Jerusalem, consumed with fire, four hundred and sixty-eight years after David began to reign in it, and three hundred and eighty-eight years after the revolt of the ten tribes, and one hundred and thirty-four years after the destruction of the kingdom of Israel. of In the year 3403, or 601 before Christ, happened an eclipse of the sun, foretold by Thales the Milesian; and the eclipse being considerable, the Lydians and Medes, who were then engaged in battle, being struck with fear, suspended hostilities, and agreed to refer their differences to arbitration. Nebuchadnezzar, and the king of Cilicia, Syennesis, were appointed for this purpose; the former on the part the Medes, and the latter on the part of the Lydians. They made peace on the terms, that Astyages, son to the king of Media, should marry Arienna, daughter of the king of Lydia; from which marriage, within a year after was born Cyaxares, called Darius the Mede, in Daniel. The same year that Cyaxares was born to Astyages, he gave his daughter by a former wife in marriage to Cambyses, king of Persia, of whom was born the next year Cyrus, the founder of the Persian empire, the restorer of the 562 Jews to their own country, and of their temple and state. After Jerusalem was laid in ruins, Gedaliah was appointed to rule over the few Jews left in the land; and he dwelt at Mispeh. On the departure of the greatest part of the Chaldeans, those Jews who had fled to the neighbouring countries returned to their own land, and came to Gedaliah. Among them was Ishmael one of the royal family, who treacherously slew Gedaliah, and many others; and the remaining people fearing the vengeance of Nebuchadnezzar fled to Egypt, contrary to the advice of Jeremiah, whom they forced to go with them. Jer. xl-xliii. Here they were given up to idolatry: and for their sins were devoted to the sword. Jer. xliv. 26-30. 587 584 574 570 566 Nebuchadnezzar having returned to Babylon at the end of the Jewish war, made a golden image, out of the spoils which he had taken, to the honour of his god Bel, and set it up and dedicated it to him in the plain of Dura; for refusing to worship which, the three friends of Daniel were cast into the fiery furnace; but were in a most wonderful manner preserved, Dan. iii. About this time Nebuchadnezzar came again into Syria, and laid siege to Tyre, which he had not before attempted on account of its strength. While he carries on the siege, Nebuzar-adan went into Judea, collected the few people he could find and sent them to Babylon. Jer. lii. 30. He then marched against the Ammonites, took Rabbah, and made the king, princes, and people captives. The other nations around were in like manner plundered, slain, and made captives. Jer. xxvii-xxix. Ezek. xxv. The siege of Tyre was carried on with perseverance, and defended with bravery year after year. The Tyrians being masters at sea, removed their valuables to an island adjoining, and built there a new city. During this siege Egypt became the scene of a sanguinary civil war, in which the king at last fell, Pharaoh-Hophra, and Amasis reigned. In the fifteenth year from the destruction of Jerusalem, Old Tyre was taken, but nothing valuable was found in it; and thus the hopes of Nebuchadnezzar and of his troops were disappointed. Ezek. xxix. 18-20. & xxx. 1-19. On this he turned his attention to Egypt; and marches for that divided and now enfeebled country. Accordingly he enters and goes through the land, murdering the inhabitants and taking whatever was valuable. He reduced it so much that it did not recover for forty years after. In this devastation those Jews who had fled to Egypt perished. Jer. xliv. 27, 28. Ezek. xxix. 30-32. Nebuchadnezzar having returned to Babylon from this expedition, had the dream recorded in the fourth chapter of Daniel. He now set all hands to work, and completed the magnificent works begun before; the walls and ramparts; the temple of Bel; the hanging gardens, and a large artificial lake. While walking, most probably in his hanging gardens, and proud of his victories over Egypt, his final conquest of Palestine, Syria, and other countries, and boasting of the splendour and magnificence of Babylon, he loses his reason, and is driven from the society of men. Dan. iv. 29-33. After seven years spent in this unhappy state, his reason is restored, and he humbly acknowledgeth the power of God, and his goodness towards him. He is also restored to his kingdom, and soon after dies, having reigned fortyfive years, according to the Jewish account, and forty-three according to the Babylonian. The first census taken at Rome, and the number of citizens was eighty-four thousand. Nebuchadnezzar is succeeded by Evil-merodach, his son, who soon released Jehoiakim, king of Judah, out of prison, after he had been confined there near thirty-seven years, and promoted him to great honour in his palace. 2 Kings xxv. 27-30. Jer. lii. 31-34. Evil-merodach was a weak and wicked king, abusing the power he possessed in the oppression of the people, and in the indulgence of his lusts. At length his own relations conspired against him, and put him to death; and Neriglissar, his sister's ́ husband, obtained the crown. The same year that Evil-merodach was slain, died Astyages, king of Media, and was succeeded by A. M. 3449 3453 3466 GENERAL INDEX TO THE HOLY BIBLE. 21 B. C. his son Cyaxares, in the civil government, and by Cyrus his grandson, by his daughter Mandane, in the military. Cyrus was now forty years old. Neriglissar, king of Babylon, in the beginning of his reign made great preparations for war with the Medes; and to meet him with as formidable an army as could be raised, Cyaxares called Cyrus from Persia, with thirty thousand Persians,, and made him commanderin-chief of all his forces. The name of Persia at this time only extended to one province; for the whole nation did not exceed one hundred and twenty thousand. Neriglissar called to his aid, all the neighbouring independent nations; and after more than three years had been spent in preparation, and in collecting troops, war commenced. In the first engagement Cyrus obtained the victory, and Neriglissar was slain. Croesus, king of Lydia, now took the command of the vanquished army, and attempted to make a retreat; but Cyrus pursued, and the very next day took their camp, and all their baggage, and completely dispersed them. 555 551 538 The Babylonians now raised the son of Neriglissar to the throne, called Laborosoarchad, who proved a bad and oppressive king. He murdered his subjects without mercy; nor did he spare the nobles. He killed the son of Gobrias, because he had thrown his dart at a wild beast with success, which the king had missed; and he ordered another to be castrated because one of his concubines had commended him for his beauty. These injuries led them to revolt against him, with the provinces they governed. They invited Cyrus to come to their support, who gladly accepted the invitation, and thus obtained a footing in the heart of the enemy's country. The king of Babylon went to oppose him, but his army was vanquished, and he fled to Babylon. Cyrus now ravaged the country, and twice led his army to the walls of Babylon. Towards winter he withdrew to the borders of Media. The king of Babylon, now freed from the presence of Cyrus, began to oppress his people, and to slaughter the nobles with an unsparing hand; and his own people conspired against and slew him. On the death of Laborosoarchad, a person named Nabonadius by profane writers, and Belshazzar by Daniel, supposed to be a son of Evil-merodach, was raised to the throne, and reigned seventeen years. He was a weak and even impious prince; but while he gave himself up to his pleasures, his mother, a woman of great understanding, managed the affairs of government. Cyrus with the advice and concurrence of Cyaxares, now altered the mode of his warfare, and instead of ravaging the open country, began to besiege and take the fortresses and cities, and to add them to his own dominions. In this work he employed seven years. In the first year of Belshazzar, Daniel was favoured with the vision of the four monarchies, which was to be followed by the kingdom of the Messiah. Dan. vii. And in the third of his reign he had the vision of the Ram and He-goat, by which was signified the overthrow of the Persain empire, by Alexander the Great, and the persecution under Antiochus Epephanes. Dan. viii. This year Belshazzar hired Croesus king of Lydia, and the nations of the lesser Asia to invade Media, and thus prevent Cyrus from prosecuting his designs against Babylon. Cyrus having full intelligence of this, leaving the cities and fortresses he had taken well garrisoned, went to the defence of Media, where he met with and put to flight Croesus and his army. He knew how to improve his victory; and following Croesus into his own country, soon made himself master of it, and of all the Lesser Asia. Having spent eleven years in these conquests and settling the future government of his new provinces, he resolved on taking Babylon, the only place of any consequence which held out against him. The manner in which it was taken is briefly stated in Daniel, with which other accounts agree. Belshazzar keeping a feast in honour of his gods, the guards and the people being drunk, the troops of Cyrus having turned the river, entered by its channels, marched to the palace, and slew the king and his guards. Dan. v. Thus ended the Babylonian empire, two hundred and nine years from Nabonassar, who founded it, and fifty after the destruction of Jerusalem. In Daniel, Cyaxares, called Darius the Mede, is said to be king of Babylon; for Cyrus allowed him this honour, though it was by his valour that the empire had been established. Cyrus having now some leisure, visited his own country and his parents, who were still living; and going into Media, he married the daughter of Cyaxares, and his only child, with whom he became heir to the throne. He then with his new wife returned to Babylon, accompanied by Cyaxares. Here they took counsel for the settling of the empire; and having divided it into one hundred and twenty provinces, they appointed those nobles and officers, who were most deserving, to the government of them. Over these were appointed three presidents, to whom the governors of provinces were to send despatches, and who were to return the orders of the king to them. Daniel for his experience and wisdom, was appointed the chief of these three. Dan. vi. 1-3. This station excited great envy, and the presidents and princes sought occasion for removing f 22 GENERAL INDEX TO THE HOLY BIBLE. A.M. B. C. him; and he was cast into the den of lions; but being mercifully preserved, continued in the favour of Cyrus as long as he lived. Dan. vi. 4—28. 3468 536 3469 535 3474 530 3481 3482 In the first year of Darius, Daniel considering that the seventy years of Judah's captivity were drawing to an end, fasted and prayed, as is recorded in his ninth chapter. In the third year Darius or Cyaxares, and Cambyses, the father of Cyrus, both dying, he becomes the sole monarch of the Persian empire, and reigns in Babylon seven years. By some his reign is reckoned from his first coming out of Persia to be thirty years; by others from the taking of Babylon, nine years; and in Ezra from the time he became sole monarch seven years. In the first of his sole reign he issued the decree, granting liberty to the Jews to return to their own land, and to take with them the vessels of gold which had been taken from their temple at Jerusalem. Ezra i. Thus were the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah fulfilled. Isa. xliv. 28. xlv. 1, 13. & xlviii. 20. About thirty thousand of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and about twelve thousand of the other tribes, and near eight thousand proselytes, and servants, return under the direction of Zerubbabel and Joshua. Ezra i, ii. After keeping the feast of tabernacles, and making preparations for seven months, the returned Jews lay the foundation of the second temple, amidst joy and grief; joy among the young people, and grief among the old, who had seen and remembered the first temple. Ezra iii. 8-13. The Samaritans and other neighbours, vexed at their return, and because the Jews refused to admit them to worship at the same altar and in the same temple, did their utmost to obstruct the building of the temple, and the restoration of their city and state. They hired persons at court to injure them in the opinion of Cyrus and his successor. Ezra iv. 5. It is most probable, that Daniel knowing of this opposition, gave up himself to mourning and fasting for three weeks, after which he was favoured with the vision contained in the three last chapters of his book, showing the succession of the Persian kings, the empire of the Macedonians, and the conquests of the Romans, In this year Cyrus died, the restorer of Israel, and who had been appointed to this work, and in order to it had been successful against all his enemies, and founded one of the largest empires hitherto known in the world. Daniel is thought to have died two years before him. Cyrus was succeeded by his son Cambyses, who in scripture is called Ahasuerus. Ezra iv. 6. The enemies of the restored Jews prevailed on him to put a stop to the building of the temple, not by revoking the decree of his father, but by other discouragements. In the third year of his reign, having collected an immense army, and engaged the Phoenicians and Greeks in his course, he marches for Egypt; and having obtained a complete victory over the Egyptian forces, he ravages the country for above three years; and having by foolish expeditions in the deserts lost a great part of his army, and become hateful to his subjects by the most wanton acts of murder and cruelty, having murdered his own brother Smerdis, one Smerdis a magian, like the deceased prince, assumed the sceptre and sent heralds into all the provinces, requiring their obedience. On this 523 Cambyses began to march towards Babylon; but his sword falling from its sheath, wounded him in the thigh, of which he died in Syria, and Smerdis continued to reign, who is called in scripture Artaxerxes. Ezra iv. 5-7. The Samaritans and Arabians formally accuse the Jews of rebuilding their city, with an intention to revolt; and the king forbids them to proceed in the work. Ezra iv. 7—24. 522 From the secrecy in which Smerdis or Artaxerxes ruled, and other circumstances, seven noble Persians suspected that he was not the son of Cyrus, but the magian; and after inquiry being satisfied of the truth of their suspicion they enter the palace and murder him, after he had reigned about seven months. The seven conspirators agreed that the monarchy should be continued as it had been established by Cyrus; and that the next morning they should meet at a certain place without the city, at the rising of the sun, and that he whose horse should first neigh, should be king. On repairing thither next morning, Darius' horse neighed, and he was made king over the Persian empire, the others being advanced to great dignity and privileges. The Jews neglecting to resume the building of the temple, on the death of Smerdis, God punished them with an unfruitful season. Hag. i. 6—11, & ii. 17, 19. In the second year of Darius, they were exhorted to prosecute this work, Zerubbabel and Joshua began to do so with zeal. Hag. i. 15. A little time after, Haggai assured them of God' presence, and that the glory of this latter temple, should be greater than that of the former, by the coming, and presence of the Messiah in it. Hag. ii. 1-9. In the beginning of the next year, the Samaritans finding that the Jews were rebuilding the temple, again attempted to obstruct the work, by false representations to Tatnai, the Persian governor of Syria and Palestine. He, to satisfy himself, comes to Jerusalem, and inquired by what authority they had begun |