Profane history bears its testimony to the truth of the sacred writings. Diodorus says, that the Chaldeans were greatly given to divination, and the foretelling of future events; and that they employed themselves, either by purifications, sacrifices, or enchantments, in averting evils, and procuring good fortune and success. The art of divination was performed by the rules of augury, the flight of birds, and the inspection of victims. They interpreted dreams and prodigies; and the presages which they derived from the inspection of the entrails of sacrifices, were received as oracles by the multitude. The same author states, that their knowledge and science were traditionally transmitted from father to son, thus proceeding on long established rules, and that they held the world to be eternal, having neither beginning nor end. They maintained, however, that all things were ordered, and that the beautiful fabric of the universe was supported, by Divine Providence, and the motions of the heavens performed by some unseen and overruling power. It was from their long observations of the stars, and their knowledge of their motions, that they professed to foretel future events. The Sun, Mars, Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter, they denominated "interpreters," as being principally concerned in making known to man the will of the gods. They maintained that future events were foreshown by their rising, setting, and colour: presaging hurricanes, tempestuous rains, droughts, famines, appearances of comets, eclipses, earthquakes, and every circumstance which was thought to bode good or evil to nations, kings, and private individuals. Like modern astrologers, they held also that the planets in their courses through the twelve signs, into which they divided the visible heavens, possessed an influence, either good or bad, on men's nativities; so that from a consideration of their several natures, and respective positions, it might be known what should befall them in after life. Several remarkable coincidences are mentioned by ancient historians to have occurred between their prognostications and events, but they partake too much of the fabulous to be admitted into these pages. They are as incredible as the number of years during which the Chaldeans allege that their predecessors were devoted to this study; for when Alexander was in Asia, they reckoned These probably were men who marked out for every year the events which, as they pretended, were to occur in each month of that year, after the manner of our ancient almanack makers. Such a custom was both ancient and oriental. up 470,000 years since they first began to observe the motions of the stars, a circumstance which fully proves their disposition for the marvellous.* The immense amount of mischief which the study of this vain science gave rise to cannot be estimated. One of the greatest evils which arose from it, was that of idolatry. From the motions and the regularity of the heavenly bodies, they inferred that they were either intelligent beings of themselves, or that they were each under the power of a presiding intelligence. Hence the origin of Sabiism, or the worship of the host of heaven. Their observations led them first to judicial astrology, and then to make images of those intelligences, which they imagined either animated the celestial orbs, or guided their motions. The highest object of regard would be that most glorious of all orbs—the sun. Hence it is supposed, that Belus was the sun itself, with the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians; or the Baal Shemain, or Lord of the Heavens, with those nations dwelling in the vicinity of Palestine. If this supposition be correct, then the image of Belus would be that of the sun, and the tower of Belus would be dedicated to that luminary. Accordingly, we are told, that there was a sacellum, or small chapel, on the summit of the tower, where his image was kept, and where he was worshipped. This form of worship prevailed, from all that appears, in the days of Job, whose trials were, it is believed, within that period in which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived. In reference to this mode of worship, the writer of the instructive book of Job says: "If I beheld the sun when it shined, It would not appear, however, that the Chaldeans or Assyrians bowed down to the heavenly hosts as God; at least, in their first stages of defection from their Maker. When men first became idolaters, they had not forgotten the existcharacter and attributes. They were aware of ence of God, but had become unmindful of his his existence; but they saw him not as Adam and Eve did in their state of innocence, and imagining that he was too high and distant to concern himself in their affairs, or in the management of the world on which they lived, they con * Dr. Hales seems to set this statement in its proper light. He says: "Cicero represents the foolish and arrogant pretensions of the Chaldeans to a series of recorded observations of the stars for 470,000 years, in round numbers. Diodorus is more particular, and raises it to 473,000 years before Alexander's expedition into Asia. The cor rect number is somewhat more, 473,040 years; the additional forty years being omitted by Diodorus, as insignificant in so great an amount, upon the same principle that even the 3,000 (fortunately preserved by Diodorus) were omitted by Cicero. But this correct cycle of 473,040 years was evidently formed by the multiplication of two factors; the square of the Chaldean Saros, 18 x 18=324 years, and the Nabonassarean or Sothiacal period of 1,460 years. The square of eighteen seems to have been employed, in order to furnish a larger period, approximating more nearly to the true lunar motions than the Saros itself, or rather its deficient value eighteen years, neglecting the eleven days over." Icluded that he must have left these small matters to beings greatly inferior to himself, but higher than man in their nature and existence. They sought for these, and beholding the sun when it shined, and the moon walking in brightness, and the planetary bodies moving unerringly onward in their courses, they believed them to be the regent governors, who took an immediate interest in their concerns, and turned to them in prayer. They esteemed them as mediators between God and them; for that there was a necessity for a mediatory office between God and man, is observed to have been a notion held by mankind from the beginning. "Conscious of their own meanness, vileness, and impurity," says Prideaux," and unable to conceive how it was possible for them, of themselves alone, to have any access to the all-holy, all-glorious, and Supreme Governor of all things, they considered him as too high and too pure, and themselves as too low and polluted, for such a converse; and therefore concluded, that there must be a mediator, by whose means only they could make any address to him, and by whose intercession alone any of their petitions could be accepted of. But no clear revelation being then made of the mediator, whom God had appointed, because as yet he had not been manifested unto the world, they took upon them to address themselves unto him by mediators of their own choosing; and their notion of the sun, moon, and stars, being, that they were the tabernacles or habitations of intelligences, which animated those orbs in the same manner as the soul of man animates his body, and were the causes of all their motions, and that those intelligences were of a middle nature between God and them; and, therefore, the planets being the nearest to them of all these heavenly bodies, and generally looked on to have the greatest influence on this world, they made choice of them in the first place for their mediators, who were to mediate for them with the Supreme God, and procure from him the mercies and favours which they prayed for; and accordingly they directed divine worship to them as such; and here began all the idolatry that hath been practised in the world." This was the first step in the defection of man from his Creator. And now no longer practically acknowledging "the God that is above," the knowledge even of his existence faded from the popular mind. For though some might know, by reason or tradition, that there was one great God, they knew it but obscurely and erroneously, and they also retained the original error, believing him to be too high to be honoured by adoration, or moved by prayer; and hence the most stupid idolatry usurped the place of true religion. At first, the sun and moon were worshipped by the Chaldeans in the open air, and their altars blazed high upon the mountains. At length, symbolical representations and statues were introduced, as supplying their place when absent, temples were erected, gods multiplied; and the actual worship of the heavenly bodies, from the one end of heaven to the other was adopted, as fear, avarice, ambition, or imposture might dicUnder the influences of these causes it was that these first idolaters began to furnish the Sacella, tabernacles or temples, with images, and tate. to erect the same under trees, and upon the tops of mountains; and from hence it was that they assembled themselves together, to worship the hosts of heaven, to hope for all good from them, to dread all evil as proceeding from them, and to honour and fear them; regardless of Him, by the word of whose mouth they were created. Such appears to have been the rise and progress of idolatry, such the original doctrines of Sabiism, as fabricated by the Chaldean priests, adopted by the Assyrians and Babylonians, and finally by all the nations of the east. But the evil did not stop here. As man departed further from his God, he seems to have hewn out to himself idols of a more ignoble kind, till at length the very dead were deified. This, however, did not take place till idolatry had attained its height. Josephus says, that the first instance of the kind was amongst the Syrians of Damascus, who deified Benhadad, and Hazael, his successor. Now, Adad, or Hadad, was the name of the sun with that people, and Benhadad signified the "son of the sun;" and from this it would appear, that the sun was the primary object of their worship, as it was with their neighbours, the Assyrians and Chaldeans, and that afterwards the deified Benhadad usurped those honours; or, that they were given to him by his subjects, under the belief that he was amongst them, what the sun was amongst the moon and stars. In like manner, it has been supposed that Belus, among the Assyrians, may have been in after ages a deified hero. This honour has, indeed, been ascribed to Pul, the founder of their political grandeur, he being, as will be seen in a future page, the first Assyrian monarch who extended his conquests west of the Euphrates. Nothing is more probable than this; for it was finally the belief of star worshippers, that the souls of their monarchs, when they ceased to animate their bodies, went to the sun, or illuminated some star in heaven, and they were consequently deified upon this opinion of their migration. Such being the lamentable fact, it is more than probable that this warrior king underwent an apotheosis, or had the same divine honours paid to him in after ages, that were in former days given to the orb, whither, they asserted, he was ascended. Preparatory to this, he would have been represented as the delegated god of Belus, or, the sun upon earth. Accordingly, Herodotus tells us, that in the Temple of Belus were two gods and two altars, both of gold: one larger and one smaller; that on the lesser altar none but sucking victims were offered; and on the greater, none but such as were full grown. These sucking victims may denote that the sun is the nourisher of all living creatures; and the fullgrown may signify that, being thus perfected by the nourishing power of Belus, he committed them to the care of his deified vicegerent on earth. In accordance with the view here taken of the D 66 un religion of the Chaldean priests, the author of the book of Wisdom, in speaking of idols, says: By the vain glory of men they entered into the world. Thus in process of time an godly custom grown strong was kept as a law, and graven images were worshipped by the commandments of kings. Whom men could not honour in presence, because they dwelt far off, they took the counterfeit of his visage from far, and made an express image of a king whom they honoured, to the end that by this their forwardness they might flatter him that was absent, as if he were present," Wisd. xiv. 14. 16, 17. This was certainly the case with regard to the deification of kings, who aspired, like the fallen angels, to be gods. The same author assigns 66 two other cogent reasons for this practice, which must have powerfully operated with the former : "For a father afflicted with untimely mourning, when he hath made an image of his child soon taken away, now honoured him as a god, which was then a dead man, and delivered to those that were under him ceremonies and sacrifices," ver. 15. "Also the singular diligence of the artificer did help to set forward the ignorant to more superstition. For he, peradventure willing to please one in authority, forced all his skill to make the resemblance of the best fashion. And so the mul titude, allured by the grace of the work, took him now for a god, which a little before was but honoured as a man. And this was an occasion to deceive the world: for men, serving either calamity or tyranny, did ascribe unto stones and stocks the incommunicable name," ver. 18-21. From what has been said, therefore, it appears that idolatry had its first rise among the Chaldean priests, and that the vain science of astrology was its parent. The evils to which it gave rise, are well described by the author before quoted: "For whilst they slew their children in sacrifices, or used secret ceremonies, or made revellings of strange rites; they kept neither lives nor marriages any longer undefiled: but either one slew another traitorously, or grieved him by adultery. So that there reigned in all men without exception blood, manslaughter, theft, and dissimulation, corruption, unfaithfulness, tumults, perjury, disquieting of good men, forgetfulness of good turns, defiling of souls, changing of kind, disorder in marriages, adultery, and shameless uncleanness. For the worshipping of idols not to be named is the beginning, the cause, and the end of all evil," ver. 23-27. Contrasting such a state of things as this with those that present themselves to our view, under the influence of the Christian religion, how ought we to admire and prize those doctrines which produce the good fruits of holiness. Sitting under our vine, and under our fig trees, we can live in peace, and, walking abroad in the world, can adopt the language of the poet, with reference to the beautiful scenes which nature presents to our view, "And smiling say, My Father made them all."-COWPER. But our happiness, under the benign influences of revealed religion, does not stop here. If we are Christians indeed, we are not only raised in the scale of nature, in a moral point of view, but in a spiritual; not only profited for time, but for eternity. Like Enoch of old, who, by faith, was translated, that he should not see death, we can "walk with God," and stretching our thoughts beyond the narrow bounds of time, and looking up to heaven, in humble dependence upon a crucified Redeemer, can say, "There is my house and portion fair, My treasure and my heart is there, For such as by faith are united to Christ, by whose blood they are justified, and by whose Spirit, through the means of the word, that immortal seed of regeneration, they are sanctified, mansions prepared for them in the eternal world. are reserved unto life everlasting, and have See John xiv. 1-3; 2 Cor. v. 1, 2. CASTE. As the Chaldeans were peculiarly the men of learning, and the priesthood in the Assyrian empire, so the Babylonians, properly so called, according to some authors, applied themselves to the arts and sciences, in which they excelled, as their manufactures, buildings, etc., testify. Besides these, there were other subordinate sects, but nothing is known of their constitution. Herodotus says, that three of them fed upon nothing but fish, and therefore infringed a sacred law among the Babylonians, who abstained from such food, out of respect to their great goddess. As these tribes, however, lived in the fens, where no corn grew, it may not, as Strabo observes, have been upon a religious principle, but out of necessity, that they departed from the usages of their countrymen. Strabo relates something more extraordinary of the inhabitants of Borsippa, where the bats being much larger than in other places, they salted them for food; but whether this practice proceeded from want, or superstition, is not related. This is all that can be safely narrated of the constitution of the empire of the Assyrians and Babylonians; for the statements of writers in general on this subject, are so vague and uncertain, that there are no satisfactory data on which to form correct opinions; and to record those which are palpably fabulous, forms no part of our plan. The writer and the reader of ancient history are constantly reminded, that they have no certain data, excepting as to what is derived from, or confirmed by the Holy Scrip tures. CHAPTER IV. THE KINGDOM OF ASSYRIA. THE Assyrian empire was one of the most powerful that has ever been established upon the face of the earth. By it, the nations around were long kept in awe, ruled by its iron rod. It grew so mighty, indeed, that its monarchs, eventually, lifted up with pride, forgot that they were mortal, and arrogated to themselves divine honours. Some authors contend that there were two Assyrian empires, and that Nimrod founded the first, which subsisted, in more or less extent and glory, upwards of 1450 years. The evidence, however, on which this proposition rests, is very slender. It is highly improbable that empires should have been in existence at so early a date after the dispersion. Kingdoms might, and were, but not empires. Besides, Nimrod was not an Assyrian, or descendant of Asshur, the son of Shem, but a Hamite, or Cushite. Ham, his grandfather, or, at least, his son Mizraim, settled in Egypt; others of his sons in Phenicia and Palestine, and Nimrod's brethren of the Cushite race appear to have settled in Arabia, and perhaps in India. Neither the writings of sacred nor profane historians relate that Babel was a city of consequence, till it was rendered such by Semiramis and Nebuchadnezzar. It is not probable that empires should have been at that early age of great importance. But a few years before, mankind had been involved in one general destruction, for their iniquities, eight souls excepted. And prior to the date at which it is said Nimrod founded his empire, the dispersion took place, and the souls then living were, as the sacred historian tells us, scattered abroad upon the face of all the earth, Gen. xi. 9. It may be safely asserted, therefore, that this city, like others in the east, rose gradually to the enormous magnitude it attained, as ages rolled on, and the empire of which it was the capital rose to its height of prosperity; just as the metropolis of our own country has arisen, as its population, wealth, and power increased. It is said, Gen. x. 11, "Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh;" that is, being driven out of Shinar, or Babylonia, he went out into Assyria, and builded Nineveh. Who, then, is so likely to have founded Nineveh as Asshur himself? It is not even suggested in the Bible, that Nimrod went forth into the land of Assyria, and built Nineveh; but we read, Isa. xxiii. 13, that Asshur founded Babel. "Behold the land of the Chaldeans; This people was not, Till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: They set up the towers thereof, The fair conclusions to be deduced from Scripture concerning Nimrod and Asshur are, that the former founded a small, but a short-lived kingdom, and that the latter founded Nineveh, which, in after ages, became the capital of the Assyrian empire. The chronology, and the actions of the ancient Assyrian kings, as recorded by Ctesias, and, after him, Diodorus Siculus, and many modern authors, abound with glaring improbabilities and exaggerations, such as have never been surpassed in the most notorious forgeries, or in the most extravagant romances of oriental writers. To have performed such actions as they ascribe to Ninus, who is represented by them as the founder of the empire, he must have possessed an empire wider in extent than any that has yet existed, and this empire must have been started into being at once, like the goodly globe on which we live. Years must pass away before the infant becomes a man; and ages must have rolled onward, before an empire could have stood forth so prominently, as that of the Assyrians is said to have done in the days of its founder, Ninus. It is wonderful how such monstrous fictions could pass for history with men of understanding as the Greeks were; it is still more wonderful, that they should have been seriously believed by some of the greatest men in the world of literature, whether of ancient or modern times. But such is the nature of man, that, wandering from the source of truth, he is easily led astray, easily seduced into errors. Learning and talent, then, avails him but little; for our judgment, like all our other faculties, is warped by our forefather's transgression-by our departure from original righteousness. Upon the particulars of such statements it is unnecessary to dwell minutely. The only safe guide for us to follow in this matter is the book of revelation. The sacred page does not, indeed, give us a definite history of other nations, but introduces them only so far as some historical facts are connected with the history of the Hebrew race, or with the Jews considered as a nation. In this way the following facts are discovered, which will throw a light upon the pretended antiquity of the Assyrian empire, and prove that it was neither so ancient, nor so extensive, as Ctesias and his followers would have us believe. In the book of Genesis, chap. xiv., we read concerning the nations dwelling on the east of the Euphrates, that, shortly after Abram migrated to the land of Canaan, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, and Tidal, king of Gojim, or nations, made a successful incursion into the territory called Pentapolis, or the five cities of the plain, which were involved in the overthrow of Sodom, and where now is the Dead Sea. We read, further, that the kings of these cities served Chedorlaomer, and his confederates, who carried their conquests this time to the shores of the Red Sea, and the frontiers of Egypt, and returned, carrying Lot and his family captive. The sacred narrative goes on to say, that Abram discovering the situation of his nephew, armed his servants, 318 in number, pursued Chedorlaomer, and his allies, and defeated them, rescuing Lot, and recovering the spoils. From this may be gathered, that Elam was an independent monarchy, and that Amraphel, king of Shinar, if not his vassal, was his ally. Now, the name Shinar, in Scripture, is usually applied to Babylonia; it was, therefore, in those early ages, a distinct kingdom from, and dependent, not on Assyria, but Elam. But if Nimrod, Ninus, and Semiramis, had founded, and reigned over so extensive an empire as some have asserted, this could not have been the case; for Elam itself, and the other nations mentioned in connexion with it, must have been provinces of that empire. In the days of Abraham, and for ages after, the Canaanites were an independent race, and from the expulsion of that people, down to the time of the "sweet singer of Israel," no mention is made of an Assyrian empire. There is a profound silence, indeed, throughout the whole of the sacred narrative, and in the writings of the prophets, concerning the empire of Assyria, till after the days of Amos, about B.C. 793. It is true, the writings of this prophet state that "the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir," Amos i. 5; and that as God had brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, so had he brought the Syrians from Kir, Amos ix. 7: but all that can be discovered from this is, that Kir was the ancient abode of the Assyrians, before they began to figure in the historic page. After the days of Amos, all the prophets make mention of Assyria as a powerful empire, and we read first of a king of Assyria by name, 2 Kings xv. 19; and the parallel passage, 1 Chron. v. 26, where it is recorded: "And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day." From this is discerned, therefore, that Pul was the first Assyrian king of any great political power, and that the Assyrian empire was raised up by the Almighty, to punish the children of Israel for their iniquities. It follows, then, that the story told us of the remote antiquity of the Assyrian empire, and of there being two empires, is a fiction. There was only one, and that one had not its origin till about the days of Pul, 790 years B.C., who invaded and rendered tributary the kingdom of Israel in the days of Menahem. This is all the information which Scripture gives concerning the antiquity, etc., of the Assyrian empire; and this is all that can be safely relied upon in this matter. And why should it be thought needful to carry inquiries beyond the bounds where correct data are given, and to lose time in discussing what is confessedly fictitious? PUL. It is recorded in the preceding section, that Pul is the first king of Assyria mentioned by name in Scripture. The Scripture dynasty of Assyrian kings, however, begins with that unnamed "king of Nineveh," who repented at the prophecy of Jonah, about B. C. 821. Dr. Hales thinks it probable that Pul was the son of this monarch. Be that as it may, Pul was the first king of Assyria who began to interfere in the affairs of the western states. Hitherto the Assyrian power appears to have lain dormant in that direction. But "God stirred up the spirit of Pul," and he invaded Israel, B.C. 770, in the twentieth year of his reign. The act is thus recorded in Scripture: And Pul the king of Assyria came against the land: and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him." [For Menahem had usurped the crown of Israel in the same year, and therefore needed protection.] "And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land," 2 Kings xv. 19, 20; 1 Chron. v. 26. 66 It is considered, by the best authorities, that Pul was the Assyrian Belus; that he shared a joint worship with the original Belus, or the sun; and that the temple of Belus, at Babylon, was dedicated to both, Babylon being originally a province of the Assyrian empire. Dr. Hales conceives, that he was the second Belus of the Greeks, Nimrod, or Ninus, being the first, who built the temple of that name at Babylon; and, like the first, was deified after his death. It is probable, that he attracted their attention by his excursions into Syria and Palestine. He died B. C. 747. TIGLATH-PILESER. This conqueror seems to have been the son of Pul. Sir Isaac Newton conjectures, and Dr. Hales concurs in the conjecture, that at Pul's death his dominions were divided between his two sons; when the sovereignty of Assyria was given to the elder, Tiglath-pileser; and the prefecture of Babylon to the younger, Nabonassar, from the date of whose government the celebrated era of that name took its rise, B.C. 747. The celebrated Semiramis, says the latter author, who built the walls of Babylon, according to Herodotus, might have been either the mother or the wife of Nabonassar. In the seventh year of his reign, B.C. 740, Tiglath-pileser found an opportunity of interfering in the disturbances that broke out in Syria and Palestine. The cause of this interference is thus narrated by the sacred historian: "Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day. So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me. And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin," 2 Kings xvi. 5—9. This act fulfilled the prophecies of Amos : "And the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the Lord." Amos i. 5. "Have not I brought up.........the Syrians from Kir?" Amos ix. 7. But the sacred historian says of Tiglath-pileser, that he distressed Ahaz, and strengthened him not, 2 Chron. xxviii. 21. At this time, indeed, he carried away the Transjordanite tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh, captives to Media, where he planted them in Halah, Habor, and on the river Gozan, 1 Chron. v. 26; and also the other half of Manasseh in Galilee, 2 Kings xv. 29, which acts were also in accordance with the sure word of prophecy : "I hate, I despise your feast days, And I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. |