THE SACRED INTERPRETER. PART I CHAP. I. Of fome Matters necessary to be confidered in the firft Place. SECTION I. An Account of the Four Ancient Monarchies; re ceffary for the understanding of the State and Condition of the Jews, and thereby of the Holy Scriptures. As S in the feveral ages of the world, a great many particular countries were governed by their respective kings, fo there were four principal or great monarchies, which fucceeded each other, and which had the chiefest authority and power, and the largest dominions in fubjection under them: In the hiftories of which, thofe who VOL. I. B read read the unexpected and most surprising fuccefs on the one hand, and at other times, the no lefs wonderful difappointments, cannot but obferve the providence of God, both in the first establishment of, and also in the periods put to each of them, and the changes made from the one to the other when the divine pleasure had once been accomplished, and the ends brought about for which they were at firft fupported, and afterwards difcontinued. Thefe principal monarchies were, the Affyrian, the Perfian, the Grecian, and the Roman. с First, the Affyrian, founded by Nimrod, about the year of the world 1771, who had his feat at Babel, or Babylon, on the river Euphrates, whence the country was called Babylonia; and alfo at Nineveh, fo called from his fon Ninus, on the river Hiddekel, the fame with Tygris. This empire continued above fourteen hundred years, till a confpiracy being entered into by Arbaces and Belefis, the deputy-governors of Media and Babylon, against Sardanapalus, an effeminate prince, a divifion was made of the monarchy in the year of So vifible alfo, in other ages, was the hand of God in the fubverfion of the Greek church, which was become very corrupt in faith and practice, ard in the conquest of the Grecian emperors, at the first enterprised by a fmall number of undifciplined Arabians or Saracens under Mahomet and his fucceffors, the Cailiffs, till at length they became mafters of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, and extended their conquefts as far as Perfia. See Ockley's hift. of the Saracens, Part I. To thefe afterwards, the Turks, another fierce nation of people, oppofed themfelves, till at length they became their mafters, having embraced the Mahometan religion, which they found to agreeable to their own tempers and manners, and transferred the imperial authority to themfelves. Gen. x. Uffer Annal, A. M. 1771. Gen. x. II. the marginal reading. Bechartus apud Pool & Patrick in loc. Uffer, A. M. 3257. of the world 3257; when Arbaces, governor of Media, called in fcripture Tiglathpilefer, one of the chief confpirators, feized upon Media and Perfia, and the neighbouring provinces; and alfo upon Sardanapalus' deftroying himself in a funeral pile at Nineveh, he was owned king of Affyria, and refided at Nineveh. Belefis, the other of the Confpirators, governor of Babylon, called Nabonaffar, and in fcripture Baladan, f made himself king of Babylon, in Chaldea; and there his fucceffors refided for fixty fix years, till the year 3323; when the feed royal failing at Babylon, Efarhaddon, then king of Affyria, obtained Babylon too, and reunited it to the ancient Affyrian monarchy, % which is alfo called by the name of the Babylonian or Chaldean monarchy, from thofe kings who kept their court at Babylon, a city of Chaldea, as thofe especially did who fucceeded Efarhaddon. This monarchy is reckoned to have lafted near seventeen hundred years, either in a larger or fmaller extent, from the first beginning thereof by Nimrod, to its period by Cyrus. h Many of the Affyrian and babylonian kings were as fcourges in the hands of God, to chaftife both the kingdoms of Judah and Ifrael for their fins. Such as Pul, who is fuppofed to be the father of Sardanapalus, and Tiglathpilefer who fubdued and carried into captivity a great many from the northern parts of the kingdom of Ifrael, as about Galilee and Gilead; and Salmanefer, and after him Efarhaddon made captive the reft of the ten tribes and at length Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, carried away alfo the two tribes of Judah b k. B 2 2 Kings xv. 29. f 2 Kings xx. 12. 8 Uffer, A. M. 3323. 2 Kings xv. 19. 1 Chron. v. 26. j 2 Kings xv. * 2 Kings xvii, 6, 24. compared with Ezra. iv 2, 10. 29. |