of performing his duty, pleased with his unexpected honours, stayed with the mutineers, and confirmed them in their rebellion.

Apries, on receiving intelligence to this effect, was more exasperated than ever, and he sent Patarbemis, one of the principal lords of his court, to arrest Amasis and bring him before him. This was not so easily effected; the rebel army surrounded Amasis to defend him, and Patarbemis was compelled to return without having executed his commission. Apries visited him for this supposed remissness of duty with unjustifiable punishment. He was treated, indeed, in the most inhuman and ignominious manner, his nose and ears being cut off by the command of Apries. But this outrage, committed upon a person of such high distinction, had the worst effect upon the minds of the Egyptians; they arose in a body and joined the rebels, so that the insurrection became general. Apries was now forced to retire into Upper Egypt, where he supported himself some years, during which time Amasis made himself master of the rest of his dominions.

Internal discord was not all the misery brought upon Egypt at this period. The king of Babylon, seeing the troubles that distracted Egypt, embraced this opportunity of invading the kingdom. This prince, unknown to himself, was only an agent in the hands of the Almighty, to punish a people, on whom, as we have seen, he had, by the mouth of his prophet, denounced vengeance. Nebuchadnezzar had just before taken Tyre, where himself and army had suffered incredible hardships, and yet had obtained no recompense when the city fell into their hands; the Tyrians having spoiled the city themselves, and fled away with their effects. But the riches of the earth are in the hands of God, and he giveth them to whom he will. To recompense the toils which the king of Babylon had endured in taking Tyre, (which event also took place in accordance with prophecy,) God promised him the riches of Egypt, then one of the most prosperous and powerful kingdoms in the world. According to Herodotus, it was at this epoch at which Egypt was most flourishing, both with regard to the advantages conferred by the river on the soil, and by the soil on the inhabitants.

There are few passages in Holy Writ more remarkable than that which reveals the designs of the Creator with reference to this event, or which give us a clearer idea of the supreme authority he exercises over the children of men, however exalted their station may be. "Son of man," said

the Almighty to his prophet Ezekiel, "Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald," (owing to the pressure of their helmets,) "and every shoulder was peeled," (the consequence of carrying baskets of earth and large pieces of timber to join Tyre to the continent :) "yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it: Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord God," Ezek. xxix. 18-20. The prophet Jeremiah, also, with reference to this event, uses these remarkable words: "He shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment," (with the greatest readiness;) "and he shall go forth from thence in peace," Jer. xliii. 12.

The extent of the desolation of Egypt was foretold by the prophet Ezekiel, (chap. xxx. 3-12,) in these words:

"The day is near,

Even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy day;

It shall be the time of the heathen.

And the sword shall come upon Egypt,

And great pain shall be in Ethiopia,

When the slain shall fall in Egypt,

And they shall take away her multitude,

And her foundations shall be broken down.

Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia,

And all the mingled people, and Chub,

And the men of the land that is in league,

Shall fall with them by the sword.

Thus saith the Lord;

They also that uphold Egypt shall fall;

And the pride of her power shall come down:

From the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword,

Saith the Lord God.

And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate,

And her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted.

And they shall know that I am the Lord,

When I have set a fire in Egypt,

And when all her helpers shall be destroyed.

In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships

To make the careless Ethiopians afraid,

And great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt:
For, lo, it cometh.

Thus saith the Lord God;

I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease

By the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.
He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations,
Shall be brought to destroy the land:

And they shall draw their swords against Egypt,
And fill the land with the slain.

And I will make the rivers dry,

And sell the land into the hand of the wicked:

And I will make the land waste, and all that is therein,
By the hand of strangers:

I the Lord have spoken it."

How literally the event justified these predictions, profane history declares. In the spring of the year, B. c. 570, Nebuchadnezzar, that "cruel lord, and fierce king," invaded Egypt; and he quickly overran the whole extent of the country, from Migdol, its northern extremity near the Red Sea, to Syene, the southern, bordering on Ethiopia, or Abyssinia. He made a fearful slaughter wherever he came, and desolated the country so effectually, that the damage could not be repaired in forty years. The spoils he collected were immense. With these, he clothed, as it were, his army, and after he had made alliance with Amasis, or placed him on the throne as his viceroy, he returned to Babylon.

When the Chaldean army had retired from Egypt, Apries left the retreat in which he had secreted himself, and advanced towards the sea coast, probably on the side of Libya. Then, hiring an army of Carians, Ionians, and other foreigners, he marched against Amasis, to whom he gave battle near Memphis. In this battle, Apries was taken prisoner, and he was carried to the city of Sais, and strangled in his own palace by the Egyptians; fulfilling the prophecy which saith, "Behold, I will give Pharaoh-hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life," Jer. xliv. 30. See also Ezek. xxxii. 32. This occurred B. C. 569.

We have intimated that the king of Babylon was an agent in the hands of God in thus punishing Pharaoh-hophra and his people the Egyptians. A notice of other remarkable prophecies, not before adduced, and relating to this event, may here be given. By the prophet Ezekiel, (chap. xxx. 22-24,) the Almighty said:

"Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt,

And will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken;
And I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand.

And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations,

And will disperse them through the countries.

And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon,

And put my sword in his hand:

But I will break Pharaoh's arms,

And he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded

man.

The very towns which were to be ravaged by the victor are also enumerated, Ezek. xxx. 13—18.

"Thus saith the Lord God;

I will also destroy the idols,

And I will cause their images to cease out of Noph;

And there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt:

And I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.

And I will make Pathros desolate,

And will set fire in Zoan, [Tanis,]

And will execute judgments in No.

And I will pour my fury upon Sin, [Pelusium,] the strength of Egypt; And I will cut off the multitude of No.

And I will set fire in Egypt:

Sin shall have great pain,

And No shall be rent asunder,

And Noph shall have distress daily.

The young men of Aven [Heliopolis] and of Pibeseth [Pubastum] shall fall by the sword.

And these cities shall go into captivity.

At Tehaphnehes [Daphne Pelusiæ] also they shall be darkened,
When I shall break there the yokes of Egypt:

And the pomp of her strength shall cease in her:

As for her, a cloud shall cover her,

And her daughters shall go into captivity."

But the Almighty was not less punctual in the accomplishment of his prophecies which bare reference to such of his own people as had retired, contrary to his will, into Egypt, after the taking of Jerusalem, and who had forced Jeremiah to go down thither with them also. The moment they had arrived in Egypt, and had settled at Tanis, the prophet, after having hid in their presence, by the command of God, some stones in a grotto which was near the palace of the monarch, declared to them that the king of Babylon should soon arrive in Egypt, and that his throne should be established in that very place; that he would lay waste the whole kingdom, and carry fire and sword into all places: that themselves should fall into the hands of the Chaldeans, when one part of them should be slain, and the rest led captive to Babylon; and that only a very small number should escape, and be at length restored to their country. All these prophecies were accomplished in the appointed time. See Jer. xliii. xliv.

CHAPTER V.

THE KINGDOM OF EGYPT.

BABYLONIAN DOMINATION.

AMASIS.

THE defeat and death of Apries, before mentioned, are given on the authority of Herodotus, who represents Amasis as a rebel chief taking advantage of the disaffection of the army to dethrone his sovereign. This information he received from the Egyptian priests; but they made no mention of the signal defeat their army experienced, nor of that loss of territory in Syria which resulted from Nebuchadnezzar's success. It is reasonable to conclude, therefore, that they disguised the truth from the Greek historian; and without mentioning the disgrace which had befallen their country, and the interposition of a foreign power, attributed the change in the succession, and the elevation of Amasis to the throne, solely to his ambition and the choice of the military of Egypt. Josephus, however, expressly states that the Assyrian monarch led an army into Calo-Syria, of which he obtained possession, and then waged war on the Ammonites and Moabites. These being subdued, he invaded and conquered Egypt; and having put the king of that country to death, he appointed another in his stead. If Josephus be correct in this statement, there is reason to suppose he alludes to Apries being deposed, and succeeded by Amasis; and it may be readily imagined that the Assyrians, having extended their conquests to the extremity of Palestine, would, on the rumour of civil war in Egypt, hasten to take advantage of the tunity thus afforded them of attacking the country. This would amount almost to a certainty, if, as some suppose, the war between Apries and Amasis did not terminate in the single conflict at Memphis, but lasted several years; and that

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