stantly introduced as ornaments, particularly on the chariots. They are frequently accompanied by seven disks, which probably represent the seven great heavenly bodies-that mysterious number so prevalent in the Sabian system-or, perhaps, the Pleiads, like which they are grouped."a

Thus I have laid before you the facts of Holy Scripture, connected with the foundation of the Assyrian kingdom, which are illustrated by modern discoveries, and proceed to consider,—

Secondly: WHAT RELATES ΤΟ THE

PROGRESS

OF THE KINGDOM OF ASSYRIA IN POWER AND CONQUEST.

After the lapse of several centuries from the days of Nimrod, we find in the book of Genesis that the Assyrian dominion, which he had founded, reached to the borders of Syria and Palestine. A tribute had been imposed upon the people who dwelt in the Valley of the Jordan, and which the petty kings of Sodom and her sister states had paid for twelve years. But being weary of this degradation, they rebelled against the yoke of Assyria in the thirteenth year, which caused a fresh invasion, "and Tidal, or Thadel, bearing the high-sounding Assyrian title of King of Nations, marched at the head of the chief

princes of his territories," and swept over the country as far south as the Arabian peninsula; they then returned by the Vale of Jordan, and having encountered and vanquished the forces of the confederate princes, they took Lot, the nephew of Abraham, prisoner, with other captives, and a great spoil. Abraham pursued the conquerors, and on the fifth night overtook them at Dan, one of the sources of the Jordan, and by a sudden and judicious attack upon their camp, when they were drowned in sleep or drunkenness, occasioned a panic, so that they fled in confusion, leaving behind them the prisoners and the booty. And so it was demonstrated, says Josephus, that victory does not depend on the multitude of hands, but on the alacrity and courage of soldiers, for Abraham drove this great army ingloriously back to their own land with three hundred trained men, (Gen. xiv. 1–14.)

Another instance of their warlike aggressions upon the border tribes is afforded in the history of Job, where we read that "Chaldæans made out three bands, and fell upon his camels," when grazing in the plains of Mesopotamia. The

a

Chesney, vol. ii. pp. 65–67.

chaps. 9, 10.

The idea that the land of

Josephus, Antiq., book i.

Uz was in Idumæa is now,
Colonel Chesney thinks that

I believe, generally abandoned. in all probability it was in the vicinity of O'rfáh, where, to this day, a tank and a well, on the road to Diyár Bekr, are

Septuagint calls them horsemen," a rendering that well accords with the display of cavalry which is seen in the oldest monuments of Nineveh, and with the fierce and warlike habits of "that bitter and hasty nation." "Their horses are swifter than leopards, and fiercer than the evening wolves. Their horsemen prance proudly around: and their horsemen shall come from afar, and fly like the eagle when he pounces on his prey," (Hab. i. 8.)

After these glances at the early enterprises of the Assyrian power in the days of Abraham, we see nothing of it again until the chosen tribes were about to enter the Promised Land. The approach of triumphant Israelites alarmed Balak, king of Moab, who, therefore, resolved to invoke superhuman aid to accomplish that which he feared his own army could not effect; for it was a common usage amongst the ancient nations to supplicate the gods to curse their enemies, and in later times such acts of religious execration were performed with intense malignity both by the Greeks and Romans. Having heard that Balaam, the most celebrated prophet and soothsayer of the east, dwelt in Aram-Naharaim, at Pethor, by the

connected with the name of the great patriarch. This opinion is also supported by other remarkable coincidents.— Expedition to the Euphrates, etc., vol. ii. pp. 77-79.

a Oi inweis. Barnes's Notes, Job i. 17.

river Tigris, Balak sent thither an embassy, to induce him by entreaties, presents, and honours, to come and curse Israel. We have not now, however, to discuss their negotiations with this mercenary diviner, nor the crooked and accursed policy which he pursued, but to state that, having come with them to the heights of Moab, he alluded to the Assyrian power in his closing predictions, prophesied of its triumph, and foretold its ruin, in words like these :

:

And he beheld the Kenites—and said,
Strong is thy habitation, and

Thou puttest thy nest in a rock;

Nevertheless, the Kenite shall be wasted,

Until the Assyrian shall carry thee away captive.
And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim,
And shall afflict the Assyrians,

And shall afflict the Hebrews,

But he also [the invader] is doomed to destruction."

As the reputation of Balaam had spread far and wide, and his home was upon the Tigris, it is a probable conjecture that he had visited Nineveh, and had often looked upon those proud palaces and noble temples, the overthrow of which he was now inspired to foretell. This is a second link in the chain of Assyrian history recorded in the Bible, showing that in the days of Balaam the power of Assyria continued formidable, and was, in fact,

likely to attain unto still greater strength and dominion throughout the east.

There is another event mentioned in the Scriptures, at a later period, which requires to be noticed. The fearful apostasy of Israel from the service of the true God, which occurred after the death of Joshua, is recorded in the book of Judges. That people had been chosen by Jehovah to be the depositories of revelation, and the lights of the world. When they suffered themselves to be allured or shamed by the heathen nations around them into the service of dumb idols, they failed to accomplish the very object of their national existence. After the death of Joshua and his contemporaries, there arose another generation, who "knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim: and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer