Ancient furnace.

Calmet.

Usher.

Revolt against Babylon.

Tyre.

Egypt.

that a hair of their head was not singed, their garments were not changed, nor was there even the smell of fire about them. With a temper as impetuous as before, Nebuchadnezzar now decreed that the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, should not be subjected to any indignity among his numerous subjects, on the penalty of the utter extermination of the offending individual and his property. The furnace into which these celebrated sufferers were cast is not to be identified with the structures so called in modern times. No certain form of building can be absolutely determined from the word() employed. The ancient furnace was probably an open enclosure for fire; such we know to have been the broad, but enclosed layer of fire, through which the superstitious passed in honour of Moloch; and this is sanctioned by the Apocryphal writer, who says, that the angel of the Lord descended, and smote the flame of the furnace by a current of air. Now, admitting the wind to have been the instrument in producing, or in assisting, this miraculous deliverance, it is evident, on the supposition of a furnace so constructed, that the very blast, which had sufficient power to abate the fury of the element within the enclosure, by driving it beyond its limits, would also, by that very act, urge it upon the soldiers of Nebuchadnezzar, and cause it to scorch and to devour them. Calmet places this event at the close of the scriptural account of Nebuchadnezzar, and after his restoration from the insanity which seized him, (of which we are to speak hereafter,) but upon what authority it does not appear. It is placed in the order in which we have considered it, not only in the book of Daniel, but according to the chronology of Archbishop Usher, adopted in the margin of our Bibles, and by most other writers. Having followed this chronological arrangement hitherto, we have met with no arguments sufficiently conclusive to induce us to depart from it on the present occasion.

Three years after the destruction of Jerusalem, the most considerable of the neighbouring nations confederated against the king of Babylon, whose power was too formidable, and his empire too extended, to allow him to continue in repose, so long as any possibility of resistance to his authority remained to the conquered provinces. It is not impossible that they might have been stirred up with indignation against him, from the imposition of homage to his deities, which we have just noticed, and which was exacted in such rigorous terms, from all over whom his domination extended. higher indignity could not be offered to any vanquished nation, as we have observed, than to oblige them to abandon their own deities, and receive those of their conqueror. Tyre and Egypt had been long threatened in the sacred prophecies with the Babylonish yoke; and the time was now come when Nebuchadnezzar was to be the

7 Song of the Three Children, ver. 26, 27.

A

taken.

unconscious instrument of carrying into effect these menaces of heaven. The arms of this mighty warrior were first turned against siege of Tyre; but he found the city so strongly fortified, that its siege Tyre. occupied no less than thirteen years; and when, eventually, he made himself master of the city, there were but few inhabitants, and no The city spoil. The wretched remnant he put to the sword; and razed the city to the ground. The Tyrians, anticipating the result, and being fully acquainted with the persevering character of the man with whom they had to deal; hopeless also of finally repelling, although they were able so long to keep him in check; gradually removed their effects, and the population of the old city, to an island belonging to them, about half-a-mile from the shore; upon which they founded a new state, and left the disappointed and exasperated victor to vent his fury upon the deserted houses, and the miserable beings who could not escape.

prophecy.

Sidonians,

The prophet Ezekiel distinctly enumerates the difficulties and B.C. 572. circumstances of this siege: the final success of the invader; the little profit accruing from his victory; and the recompense for his warlike toils awaiting him in Egypt, "Son of man, Nebuchadrez- Ezekiel's zar, king of Babylon, caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus; every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled; yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it. Therefore, thus saith Jehovah, 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.' "8 Accordingly, the Babylonish monarch, who was not idle during this long investment of Tyre, nor confined his operations to that object, (for he had punished by the hand of his general, Nebuzaradan, the remnant of Nebuzarathe Jews who had been left in their native land, and who had dan and the assassinated Gedaliah, their governor; and chastised the Sidonians, Moabites, Moabites, Ammonites, and Idumæans,) at length directed his ener- and gies against Egypt, already weakened by his former retrenchment Idumæns. of its empire, and now still more enervated by intestine divisions. invaded. A civil war was at this time carried on, with the animosity usual to Civil war. such contentions, between Apius and Amasis, each striving for the Apius and sole sovereignty, and mutually laying open their devoted country as a spoil to the advancing destroyer. He succeeded in the subjugation Egypt of this renowned kingdom, and returned again to Babylon a victor, enriched with spoil. What arrangements he made in Egypt is not so certain as his success. The name of Amasis, however, is so Amasis still considerable in the history of that people, as to induce a probable conclusion that he confirmed to him the crown in subordination to himself. Once more settled quietly in his dominions, Nebuchadnezzar set himself to perfect those works which we have already

8 Ezek. xxix. 18, 19.

Ammonites,

Egypt

Amasis.

subdued.

considerable.

Nitocris.

adverted to as commenced in an earlier part of his reign, for the embellishment and fortification of the astonishing city which was the boast of his empire. Into a detail of these it is unnecessary that we should enter further than has already been done, under the Article SEMIRAMIS, with whom they were fabled to originate. We venture to say fabled, because, even admitting her existence, and that she, or Belus, commenced the work, and drew the mighty outline, no more can be pretended, with any colour of probability, than that she laid the foundation of its future magnificence: that outline swelling under the enterprising genius of Nebuchadnezzar, until it reached an extent beyond human ability to fill it up; and although he accomplished his design in part, and was succeeded in his labour by his daughter-in-law, the Queen Nitocris, and the city thus actually reared was the admiration of the world—the Babylonish monarchy did not exist long enough to suffer the magnificent design to be carried into completion. With the circumstances of the destruction of this city, we have not at present any thing to do; they are connected with the overthrow of the monarchy itself. To Nebuchadnezzar we must assign whatever was most esteemed in Babylon; the fortifications, bridge, gardens, lake, and canals for Nebuchad- draining the river-so confidently ascribed to Semiramis: and with this assumption agrees his own vaunt, as he looked down upon the city from the terraces of his palace:-" Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? before we pronounce, upon the almost incredible extent of these labours, a final sentence of doubt, if not of absolute denial, let us recollect that the vestiges of antiquity yet remaining of different nations, convey an irresistible evidence of the stupendous operations of the ancients; and that the materials of which the fortifications of Babylon were built, being of unburnt bricks, clay baked only in the sun, would render the monuments of its greatness most liable to the injuries of the seasons and the ravages of time.

Babylon o wes its

splendour to

nezzar

Vestiges of antiquity.

vision.

And

We are now approaching the last scene of this monarch's life, of which we have any authentic record. Elated by conquest, and inflated with personal vanity, a signal punishment awaited his pride His second and presumption. It was declared to him in a vision of the night, and Daniel, as usual, was called in to interpret it. The whole is told with so much grandeur and simplicity in the Scripture narrative, that it is impossible to equal, and it would be injury to imitate, the language of the sacred historian. That heart must be made of singular materials, that is not affected by it; and we confess, that we never read the solemn, and even awful terms of the denunciation, conveyed through the medium of the most beautiful imagery, and connected with the event thus predicted, without feeling an unusual and indescribable awe stealing upon our spirits. It is thus related by the king himself. "I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of

Related.

the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth. The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. I saw in the visions of my head, upon my bed, and behold, a watcher, and an holy one, came down from heaven He cried aloud, and said thus-Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit; let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches. Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass in the tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him. This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know' that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. The prophet had no sooner heard this, than perceiving its import, he was filled with astonishment and dismay: "not fearing the wrath of the king," but anxious to impart to him so afflicting a message in the gentlest terms; and actuated, as it should seem, by the sincerest feelings of regard to the sovereign, Daniel "answered and Interpreted. said, My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies. The tree that thou sawest, which grew and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth; whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation: It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong; for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. And whereas, the king saw a watcher, and an holy one, coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it, yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him: This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which is come upon my lord the king: that they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen; and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven; and seven times shall pass over thee till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And whereas they commanded to leave the

Chaldeans and astrologers.

stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.

Astonished as the king must have been by this interpretation, and affected by the singularity of the dream itself, no lasting impression appears to have been made upon his mind. The habits of such a man as Nebuchadnezzar, so flattered, so surrounded, and so absolute, were not likely to be permanently influenced by the most evident indications of Divine Providence. We have a singular demonstration of this in connection with these very transactions. Although he had proved more than once the inability of the Chaldeans and astrologers to make good their pretensions to read futurity, and interpret mysteries, yet from mere habit, or prejudice, and contrary to those convictions which one might have supposed him to have received, and which ought certainly to have arisen from his own observation and experience, he consulted them, and received another mortifying evidence of their insufficiency, before he sent for Daniel. But, as in the former instance, "the dream was certain, and the interpretation thereof sure;" and the purposes of heaven were not to be turned aside by human opposition or indifference; the mighty king of Babylon was to learn that he was subject to a mightier than himself, and as he gathered no wisdom from the menace, it was quickly put in execution. "All this came upon B.C. 570. the king Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is The dream spoken; the kingdom is departed from thee."-"The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar; and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws."

fulfilled.

thropy.

It is by no means agreed in what this extraordinary change consisted, or how long it continued. The most probable interpretation of the matter is, that the king was seized with a species of insanity, not wholly unknown in the present day, under the term A lyncan- lycanthropy, (vxavgwia;) when, under the influence of a black melancholy, he imagined himself to be an ox, broke from the restraints of his guard, and, assuming the manners and habits of the beast he supposed himself, was suffered at length, as the only method of appeasing him, to roam in the park of his palace, in the circumstances Time of his stated by the sacred historian. As to the time during which this deposition. delirium raged, some have held it was no more than seven months;