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The Babylonians after the loss of a battle or two, never recovered their courage to face the enemy in the field: they retired within their walls; and the first time that Cyrus came with his army before the place, he could not provoke them to venture forth, though he challenged the king to fight a duel with him; and the last time he came, he consulted with his officers respecting the best mode of carrying on the siege, ‘since,' said he, they do not come out to fight.' (Xenophon, 1. v. vii.) Thus “the mighty men of Babylon forebore to fight, they remained in their holds: their might failed; they became as women." (Jer. 41.30.)* The city at this time was furnished with provisions for twenty years, and the void ground within the walls was able both by tillage and pasturage to supply them with much more. (See Q. Curtius, l. v. c. 1. Herodotus, l. i. c. 190.)† And from the impregnable nature of their fortifications, they might deem themselves secure; but God "had laid a snare for them;" and when "she was not aware," (Jer. 50. 24,) Cyrus took the city by surprise, by diverting the waters of the Euphrates; though the Euphrates being more than two furlongs broad, and deeper than two men standing upon one another, the city was thought to be better fortified by the river than by the walls. (Xenophon, Cyr. 1. vii.) Yet Cyrus, by draining the channel, marched his army into the heart of the city. (Herodotus, l. i. c. 191.) And thus "a drought was upon her waters, and she was dried up." (Jer. 50. 31.)* All the streets of Babylon, leading on each side to the river, were secured by two leaved brazen gates; and these were providentially left open when Cyrus' forces entered the city in the night through the channel of the river, in the general disorder occasioned by the great feast which was then celebrated; otherwise, says Herodotus, (i. 180. 191.) the Persians would have been shut up in the bed of the river as in a net, and all destroyed. Jehovah thus "opened before him the two leaved gates; and the gates were not shut. He went before him, and made the crooked places straight: he broke in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron." (Isa. 45. 1.)* Gobrias and Gadates, when they entered Babylon, marched directly to the palace, killing all they met; and the gates of the palace having been imprudently opened to ascertain the occasion of the tumult, the two parties under them rushed in, got possession of the palace, and slew the king. (Xenophon, Cyr. lib. vii.) And thus "her young men fell in the streets, and all her men of war were cut off." (Jer. 50. 30.)* Besides the immense store found by Cyrus, "a sword was upon her treasures; and they were robbed." (Jer. 50. 37.) The amount of the gold and silver taken by Cyrus when he conquered Asia, according to the account of Pliny, (1. xxxiii. c. 15.) was £126,224,000 of our money, to which Sardis and Babylon greatly contributed.

After this period Babylon was no more called "the lady of kingdoms." (Isa. 47. 5.) Instead of being the lady of kingdoms,' the metropolis

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* Comprehensive Bible, Note in loco.

+ Idem, Note on Je. 50. 26.

of a great empire, and mistress of all the East, it became subject to the Persians; and the imperial seat being removed to Susa, instead of having a king, it had only a deputy residing there, who governed it as a province of the Persian empire.* Cyrus having diverted the waters of the Euphrates, which ran through the midst from their channel, and the river being never restored to its proper course, overflowed the whole country, and made it a morass. And eventually it has become “a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and has been swept with the besom of destruction." (Isa. 14. 23.)† Darius Hystaspes afterwards took the city by stratagem, after a siege of twelve months, A. M. 3888. B. C. 516, put 300,000 of the inhabitants to death,‡ demolished or took away the 100 gates of brass, and beat down their walls from 200 to 50 cubits (Herodotus, 1. iii. c. 159.); and now not a vestige of these immense fortifications remains, to mark the site of this once mighty city! "The broad walls of Babylon were utterly broken, and her high gates burned with fire." (Jer. 51. 58.)* Xerxes destroyed all the temples of Babylon, B. C. 479. (Herodotus, l. i. c. 183, &c.) thus verifying the prediction of Jeremiah, that the Lord would "do judgment upon her graven images,” (Jer. 51.52.)* "Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity." (Isa. 46. 1, 2.) Bel, called Belus, by the Greek and Roman writers, was the same as Baal; and Nebo is interpreted by Castell and Norberg of Mercury; the two principal idols of Babylon. When the city was taken by the Persians, these images were carried in triumph. (See Selden, De diis Syris, c. i. xii. cum addit. Beyeri.)* The building of Seleucia nearly exhausted it of its inhabitants; a king of the Parthians carried a number of them into slavery, and destroyed the most beautiful parts.§ Strabo says, (1. xvi.) in his time, about the Christian æra, a great part of it was a desert; Jerome says, that in his time, cir. A. D. 340, it was quite in ruins, the walls merely serving for an inclosure for wild beasts, for the hunting of the kings of Parthia; and modern travellers universally concur in describing it in a state of utter desolation, a mass of shapeless ruins, and the habitation of wild beasts, and noxious reptiles. (See Benjamin of Tudela, Itin. p. 76. Texeira, c. 5. Rauwolff, P. ii. c. 6. Della Valle, P. ii. ep. 17. Tavernier, vol. ii. b. ii. c. 5. Rich's Two Memoirs on the ruins of Babylon; and Sir R. K. Porter's Travels, vol. ii. pp. 308—400.)|| Thus have the remarkable predictions respecting the final destruction of Babylon received their completion. The prophecy of Jeremiah (upwards of a century after those of Isaiah) "that none should remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever" (Jer. 51. 62.) was delivered 56 years before the taking of Babylon by Cyrus, 79 before

* Comprehensive Bible, Note in loco.

+ Idem, Note on Is. 13. 18.

its capture by Darius, 150 before the time of Herodotus, 250 before that of Xenophon, and 2421 from the present time; and all historians, geographers, and travellers agree to shew that these predictions have been successively accomplished to the latest period!*

(9.) TYRE, whose destruction by Nebuchadnezzar is foretold by Isaiah, (ch. 23. 1, 14.) and Ezekiel, (ch. xxvi. xxvii.) was a city of Phoenicia, on the shore of the Mediterranean, 24 miles south of Sidon, and 32 north of Accho or Ptolemais, according to the Antonine and Jerusalem Itineraries, about lat. 33° 18′ N. long. 35° 10′ E. There were two cities of this name; one on the continent called Palæ Tyrus, or old Tyre, according to Strabo (1. xvi.) 30 stadia south of the other, which was situated on an island, not above 700 paces from the main land, says Pliny, (1. v. c. 18.) Old Tyre was taken and utterly destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, after a siege of 13 years, B. C. 573, (Josephus, Ant. 1. x. c. 11. Cont. Ap. l. i.) During this long siege, the soldiers must have endured great hardships: their heads would become bald by constantly wearing their helmets; and their shoulders be peeled by carrying materials to form the works. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder peeled: yet had he (Nebuchadnezzar) no wages, for his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it." (Ezek. 30. 18.) St. Jerome asserts, (in Is. 23. 6. and in loc.) on the authority of the Assyrian histories, that when the Tyrians saw their city must fall, they put their most valuable effects on board their ships, and fled with them to the islands, and their colonies, 'so that the city being taken, Nebuchadnezzar found nothing worthy of his labour.':

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Old Tyre was never rebuilt after its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, never afterwards rose higher than a village, and there are now no traces left to mark its site, (see Pococke, vol. ii. b. i. c. 20.) But the inhabitants having removed their effects to the island, it afterwards became famous again by the name of Tyre.† It arose out of its ruins, after seventy years, and recovered its ancient wealth and splendour, as foretold by Isaiah, (ch. 23. 15—17.) “And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot. Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered. And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth." It was afterwards, B. C. 332, taken and burnt by Alexander; and the ruins of old Tyre contributed much to the taking of the new city; for with the stones, timber, and rubbish, Alexander built a bank, or causeway, from the continent to the island, thereby literally fulfilling the words of the prophet, (Ezek. 26. 32.) “They shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water." (Q. Curtius, l. iv.

* Comprehensive Bible, Note in loco.

+ Idem, Note on Isa. 23. 1.

c. 2, Diodorus, 1. xvii.) It, however, speedily recovered its strength and dignity, and 19 years afterwards withstood both the fleets and armies of Antigonus. Agreeably to the prophetic declarations (Ps. 45. 12. 72. 10. Is. 23. 18. Zec. 9. 1—7.) it was early converted to Christianity; and after being successively taken by the Saracens, Christians, Mamalukes, and Turks, in whose hands it still remains, it had become, when visited by Maundrell, Bruce, and other travellers, literally a place for fishers to dry their nets on.' Ezek. 26, 14.*

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(10.) SIDON, or Zidon. "Son of man set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her. For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the Lord." Ezek. 28. 21-23. Sidon was a celebrated city of Phoenicia, now Saidè, situated in a fine country on the Mediterranean, 400 stadia from Berytus, and 200 (north) from Tyre, according to Strabo, (1. xvi.) one day's journey from Paneas, according to Josephus, (Ant. l. v. c. 3.) and 66 miles from Damascus, according to Abulfeda.† Tyre was a colony of the Zidonians, for the prophet Isaiah (ch. 23. 12.) addresses her as "the daughter of Zidon," and the 'Sidonians,' says Justin, (l. xviii. c. 3.)' when their city was taken by the king of Ascalon, betook themselves to their ships; and landed and built Tyre.' Sidon was therefore the mother city, and a more ancient, though a less considerable city than Tyre; and it is probable that it was taken by the Chaldeans soon after the destruction of the latter. It was afterwards burnt to the ground by the inhabitants, to prevent it falling into the hands of Ochus. See Prideaux, an. 351. §

(11.) EGYPT.. The Egyptians, or Mizrim, were descendants of Mizraim, the son of Ham, (Gen. x. 6, 13.) Their country, which is situated between 24° and 32° N. lat. and 30° and 33° E. long., lay on the N. E. of Africa, west of the Red sea, and s. w. of Canaan, being bounded on the south by Ethiopia, on the north by the Mediteranean, on the east by the mountains of Arabia, and on the west by those of Lybia, is about 750 miles in length from north to south, being one long vale, till where the Nile, which runs through the middle of it, is divided into several streams, and empties itself into the Mediterranean; in breadth from one to two or three days' journey, and even at the widest part of the Delta, from Pelusium to Alexandria, not above 250 miles broad. || It is extremely fertile in consequence of the annual overflowing of the Nile; and is said to have contained 20,000 cities, the principal of which were, No, Zoan, On or Heliopolis, Noph or Memphis, Migdol, Pithom, Rameses, and Tah

Comprehensive Bible, Note on Ezek. 26. 3, 14.

+ Idem, Note on Judg. 1.31.

panhes. Not long after the dispersion from Babel, their monarchy was founded by Mizraim; which, according to the calculations of Constance Mannasses, continued 1663 years, till the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses, B. C. 525. Their kings usually had the surname of Pharaoh, under one of whom, Joseph by his prudence, saved the nation from the terrible effects of a famine of seven years' duration. (Gen. xl.—xlvii.) Their cruel oppression of the Israelites, drew upon them ten fearful plagues; and, at last, their first-born were slain one night, and their army drowned in the Red sea. (Exod. i.-xiv.) From this period, no intercourse subsisted between the Egyptians and Israelites till the reign of Solomon, who having married a daughter of Pharaoh, established a considerable trade between the two countries. (1 Kings iii. 1. vii. 8.) In the reign of Rehoboam, the son and successor of Solomon, Shishak, who it seems first united Egypt under one king and widely extended his empire in Asia and Africa, invaded the kingdom of Judah, and despoiled the temple of its treasures. (1 Kings xiv. 25-28. 1 Ch. xii. 1-9.) In his absence his brother rebelled; and after his death, his large empire fell in pieces, and Egypt itself bent under the Ethiopians. Provoked with their attempts to assist the Jews, the Assyrians under Sennacherib invaded Egypt about B. C. 712, and ravaged the country for three years. (Na, iii. 8-10.) Two years previously (B. C. 714.) Isaiah by the mouth of the Lord declared, (ch. 19. 2, 3.) “And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof." This is a prophecy of what took place in Egypt about twenty-two years after the destruction of Sennacherib's army, when upon the death of Tirhakah, (B. C. 688.), not being able to settle about the succession, they continued for two years in a state of anarchy, confusion and civil wars; which was followed by the tyranny of twelve princes, who, seizing on, divided the country among them, and governed it for fifteen years; and at last, by the sole dominion of Psammiticus, who having conquered his competitors, ascended the throne, and which he held for fifty-four years. (Herodotus, l. ii. Diodorus, 1. i.)* Notwithstanding all his efforts to restore the power and felicity of the nation, his wars with the Assyrians in Palestine, and his provoking 200,000 of his troops to retire into Ethiopia, greatly weakened the country. (Is. xviii.— xx.) About B. C. 610, Pharaoh-necho his son attempted to extend his power on the ruins of the Assyrian empire, and took Carchemish on the Euphrates, and rendered the Jewish nation tributary. But Nebuchadnezzar, B. C. 606, defeated his army, retook Carchemish, and pursued the Egyptians to the frontiers of their country. Pharaoh Hophra, or Apries, as he is called by Herodotus, (1. ii. c. 161.) having succeeded his father Psammis on the throne of Egypt, A. M. 3410. B. C. 594, reigned twen

Comprehensive Bible, Note in loco.

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