the Medes; alleging, that by their union with the Persians by marriage and alliance, they were grown great and powerful, and unless they were opposed with the united force of the confederates, they would be finally subdued, separately. But the designs of Evil Merodach were frustrated. Cyrus, who was appointed general of the combined army of the Medes and Persians, by Cyaxares, his uncle and father-in-law, anticipated the threatened invasion, attacked the Babylonians, routed and pursued them to their camp, and slew Evil Merodach, B. c. 558. He was succeeded in his kingdom by BELSHAZZAR, his son, the common accounts of whom appear to combine with what is said of the Neriglissar of profane historians. By the prophet Isaiah, who represents the Babylonian dynasty as the scourge of Palestine, Nebuchadnezzar is styled "a serpent," Evil Merodach "a cockatrice," and Belshazzar, a fiery flying serpent," which is the most evil and destructive of all, Isa. xiv. 29. The character of Belshazzar, as described prophetically by Isaiah, and the accounts of Xenophon, are found to agree. According to that writer, his barbarity was such as is rarely recorded in the annals of history. A wanton sporting with the lives and persons of his subjects, appears to have ever inflamed his breast. Thus he slew the only son of Gobryas in a transport of rage, because, at a hunting match, he hit a bear with his spear, and afterwards a lion, when the king had failed in the attempt. The whole life of Belshazzar appears to have been one continued scene of riot and intemperance. His last, and most heinous offence, was the profanation of the sacred vessels belonging to the temple of Jerusalem, which even his grandfather and father had respected. At a great festival he made a feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before them. While at the board, surrounded by parasites and concubines, he had the audacity to send for these holy vessels, for the purpose of prostituting them to debauchery. And to aggravate sacrilege by ingratitude against the Author of all their enjoyments, he and his nobles, etc., "praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone." But this desecration was marked by the eye of God, nor did their impiety escape punishment. As they were indulg ing in their mad revelry, the finger of God penned the monarch's doom upon the wall opposite his seat. His eye caught the part of the hand which wrote, and, alarmed at the apparition, and the mystical characters, he called aloud for the magicians, of whom he required an explanation, and an interpretation of the writing. But none could read, and none interpret, and confusion prevailed in the palace, and an awful uncertainty in the bosom of all its inmates. At length, however, the queen-mother reminded her son of the eminent wisdom of Daniel, who had been long despised, and he was sent for into the royal presence. The prophet came, and the king offered him the highest rewards and honours if he would interpret the inscription. But Daniel knew too well the empty nature of sublunary honours to be dazzled by such an offer. This his answer to the monarch proved: "Let thy gifts be to thyself," said he, "and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation." Before the prophet did this, he boldly charged the monarch with the impious deed of profaning the holy vessels of God's sanctuary, and of committing a flagrant act of rebellion against the Majesty of heaven. He then read aloud, and interpreted to this terrified auditory the mystical writing, a view of which has thus been taken by Dr. Hales. MENE MENE "Number Number THE INSCRIPTION. TEKEL [PERES] UPHARSIN THE INTERPRETATION. MENE" God hath numbered thy reign," and MENE " Hath finished it." The repetition emphatically signifying that the decree was certain, and should shortly come to pass. See Gen. xli. 32. TEKEL "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.' See Job xxxi. 6; Rev. vi. 5 PERES "Thy kingdom is divided." UPHARSIN" And given to the Mede and the Persian" [Darius and Cyrus.] Belshazzar heard this dreadful sentence, and however_unwelcome it was to him, he nevertheless bestowed upon Daniel the promised rewards: he caused him to be clothed in scarlet, with a chain of gold about his neck, and to be proclaimed the third ruler in the kingdom. "In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain," Dan. v. 25-30. This is the brief statement of Holy Writ. No circumstances are detailed. All inquiries, there fore, into the particulars are only conjectures, or to be supported by such evidence as may be found in common writers. If these contradict each other, we may adopt which we think best grounded, without in the least departing from, or impugning the truth of Scripture. According to Xenophon, Belshazzar was slain by conspirators; for he states, that Gobryas and Godatas, who led the band that broke into his palace, were the first who adored the gods for having punished the impious king. Dr. Hales conceives it probable that Daniel's interpretation of the handwriting upon the wall hastened his doom, since the conspirators, with their most injured leaders, would now consider him as devoted to immediate destruction by God himself for his "sacrilege." "The great feast," adds this excellent writer, แ on the night of which he was slain, appears to have been a season of profound peace and tranquillity, when a thousand of his lords could freely come from all parts of his empire without molestation or interruption from a besieging enemy, and when the king would be most apt to forget God, after he had eaten, and was full." The death of Belshazzar occurred B. C. 553, and he was succeeded in his kingdom by LABOROSOARCHAD, A boy, who, according to Berosus, was slain in a conspiracy, nine months after, when, according to Dr. Hales, the Babylonian dynasty became extinct, and the kingdom descended peaceably to Darius the Mede," or Cyaxares; who, on the well-known policy of the Medes and Persians, appointed a Babylonian nobleman named NABONADIUS, Or Labynetus, to be king, or viceroy. According to Rollin, and other writers of ancient history, this person was the Belshazzar of Scripture; but Dr. Hales, who is here followed, has satisfactorily shown, that the succession of Darius the Mede to the Babylonian throne, was not attended with war. After recording the death of Labo rosoarchad, he says: "The family of Nebuchadnezzar being now extinct, and the Babylonian dynasty ended, according to prophecy, who had so good a title to the crown as Cyaxares, or Darius the Mede?' 6 1. He was pointed out as the next successor by the prophet Daniel, whose interpretation of the Divine inscription must naturedly have had the greatest weight with the grandees and the whole nation. 2. He was the queen-mother's brother, and the next of kin, by her side, to the crown. And, 3. He was by far the most powerful competitor for it, and also a prince of an easy and amiable disposition. Upon all these accounts, therefore, we cannot hesitate to admit, that the Babylonians made him, soon after, a voluntary tender of the sovereignty, and that 'Darius the Mede' took, or accepted the kingdom, with their free and full consent." According to this, it would appear that Belshazzar was not the king in whose time the city was taken by Cyrus; and consequently the events which took place on the night on which Belshazzar was slain, were distinct from, and anterior to the siege and capture of the city by the Persian king. Nabonadius, it would appear, held his office for the space of seventeen years, at the end of which time, B. c. 536, he revolted against Cyrus, who had this year succeeded to the united empire of the Medes and Persians. Cyrus could not attend immediately to him, but at length he marched to Babylon, and took the city, during the drunken festival of the Sakea, as predicted by the prophet Jeremiah, ch. li. 28—41. This event took place in the first year of the sovereignty of Cyrus, after which the proud city mouldered into dust. It is known only in the pages of history, and there it is exhibited as a monument of God's wrath, and as testifying to the frailty of all sublunary affairs.** "The glory of Babel the proud is no more, She hath perished, as lesser things perished before; O'er the muddy heaps of her ruined walls; And the serpents creep, and the wild beasts stray Where her chambers of state and her proud halls lay; And nothing is left, save a tale of her fame, The fame of her glory, and wreck of her name."—ANON. The date of the taking of Babylon by Cyrus, as connected with the liberation of the Jews, is not affected by this correct view of history; whereas, by the plan adopted by some, of placing the death of Belshazzar and the siege of Babylon together, the reign of the former is carried down too far in the chronology of the Babylon monarchs. 98 8 2554 7 6 2455 .... 2448 2413 2370 2322 2282 2237 .. 1252 4. Nechubus............................................. 5. Abius....................................................... 6. Oniballus................................................ 7. Zinzirua.. ....................................................... Interregnum......... End of the Interregnum.............. .............................. 1. Mithraeus, or Ninus II...... 2. Tautunes, or Teutames................................. 3. Tautaeus 4. Thinaeus....................................... 5. Dercylus. . . . . . . . . . . .. II.-ASSYRIAN DYNASTY. 431 YEARS. BABYLONIAN KINGS. Y. B.C. 1. Nabonassar................ 14 747 3. Chinzirus......................................... 5. Mardock Empad, or Mero- revolts from Assyria.. I writes to Hezekiah. 6. Arcianus.... ... .... ... ... ......... ... ... .... .... 1. Interregnum....................................... 7. Belibus.. ............... 2 733 5 731 5. 726 12 721 710 Third Invasion of Israel... 710 5 709 5. Sennacherib.. 714 2 704 ...... First Invasion of Judah.. 711 3 702 6. Esarhaddon, Asaradin, or Sardanapalus 1.. 8 Apronadius. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .... ... ... ... ... ... 6 699 710 9. Regibelus. 1 693 Medes and Babylonians revolt.. 710 10. Messemordach............. 4 692 II. Interregnum... 8 688 Second Invasion of Judah, and 11. Asaradin, or Esarhaddon... 13 680 7. Ninus III.. 667 ........ 8. Nabuchodonosor.. 658 14. Nabopolassar, or Labyne 21 625 606 lofernes... 9. Sarac, or Sardanapalus 11....... 636 Nineveh taken.. 606 BABYLONIAN DYNASTY. Nineveh taken... ....... 1. Nabopolassar, Labynetus 1., Boktanser, or Nebuchadnezzar........... subdues Elam, or Persia... 2. Ilverodam, or Evil Merodach.. 3. Niracassolassar, Neriglissar, or Belshazzar 4. Nabonadius, or Labynetus II., appointed by Darius the Mede..... Babylon taken by Cyrus.... Y. B.C. 2 606 43 604 596 3 561 5 558 17 553 70 536 |