N the earliest account of the settlement of the earth by its various peoples after the Deluge, we meet with the name of Nineveh. After recording the exploits of Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord,' the sacred writer goes on to say, 'Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city' (Gen. x. 11, 12). These verses have given rise to considerable controversy, as to both the person referred to, and the cities he built. JULY, 1879. T That land,' is 'the land of Shinar,' and we may with some confidence identify it with Mesopotamia, or the southern portion of it. Asshur was a son of Shem (v. 22), and he may have been driven from his possessions by Nimrod, and then become the founder of Nineveh. So the translators of the English Bible understood Moses' statement. But it may also be rendered, 'Out of that land he (Nimrod) went forth into Asshur, etc.'-i.e., invaded Assyria, and founded cities therein. This interpretation accords better with Assyrian traditions than the other. Many expositors translate the last clause of the twelfth verse, 'this is the great city,' and suppose that it means that the four cities, Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen, formed together the great city of Nineveh, just as with us Marylebone, Southwark, Westminster, etc., are comprised under the one name of London. Others regard the four places mentioned as separate towns, and think they can trace their probable sites. These very doubts remarkably fulfil prophecy, as we shall see shortly. However and by whomsoever founded, there is no doubt that Nineveh grew to be a great city,' with a very large population. In the Book of Jonah its extent is described as 'of three days' journey,' and it is said to have 'six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand.' One hundred and twenty thousand young children implies a population of at least six hundred thousand. Ancient heathen historians assert that Nineveh was larger than Babylon. They say, moreover, that it was built in the form of a quadrangle; the two longer sides measuring about twenty miles, and the two shorter about twelve miles each. This measurement would make its circuit about sixty-four miles, a sufficiently near approach to the sixty miles represented by Jonah's three days' journey. Mr. Layard's estimate of the size of the city is precisely that of Jonah. He gives for the longer sides of the square eighteen miles, and for the shorter twelve miles each, precisely sixty miles in all. The extent of Nineveh is by no means the only evidence of its importance. It was the capital of the mighty Assyrian Empire, one of the five great monarchies of the ancient world. The excavations of Mr. Layard and others have furnished abundant evidence of its glory and grandeur. Vast palaces and temples have been discovered, guarded by huge stone bulls, winged and human-headed. Innumerable inscriptions and bas-reliefs on pillar and tablet, and brick, and stone and wall, tell of the victorious marches of the Assyrian armies, of the battles they won, the towns they took, and the prisoners they captured. We see long lines of slaves bearing tribute from distant provinces, and kings and princes supplicating the mercy of the mighty monarch of Nineveh. The sculptures represent the agriculture, the commerce, the manufactures, and the amusements of the people; and show the pomp and state of the court. Tradition and history and remains combine to testify of the wealth and magnificence and power of the city and of the empire of which it was the capital. While Nineveh was at the very summit of its prosperity, while it was well-nigh undisputed mistress of the known world, while the terrible conqueror, Sennacherib, and the scarcely less savage and skilful Shalmaneser were its lords, an obscure Hebrew, Nahum, of the little village of El Kosh, spoke the word of the Lord against it, and predicted its utter downfall and the manner of the overthrow. He describes the marshal array of its soldiery, their uniform of 'scarlet,' reminding us of the red coats of the British infantry, the 'fire of steel' that flashed from the scythes with which the axles of their war-chariots were armed, the mustering of its hosts, and the thundering tramp of its valiant men (ii. 3-5).* But all this strength shall be in vain ; the doom of the city has been pronounced, for Assyria is the enemy of the God of Israel. 'Why do ye imagine mischief against the Lord?' enquires the prophet; and he declares Jehovah will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time' (i. 9). It is quite possible that these words refer to the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib, and the awful judgment that should overwhelm it-a judgment so fearful that Assyria never again attacked Jerusalem after the flower of its troops had become 'dead corpses' at the breath of the destroying angel. Wonderfully significant is the silence of the cylinders Mr. Layard and M. Botta have brought to light. For sixteen years they boast of the victories of Sennacherib, and they tell even that he shut up Hezekiah in Jerusalem like a bird in a cage; but for eight years there is no record of successful campaigns; the power of the haughty warrior had 'melted like snow at the glance of the Lord.' But such predictions as the following can only relate to the final overthrow of the city: With an overrunning flood He will make an end of the place thereof....While they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry....And the Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown....I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.... The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.... Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold....She is empty, and void, and waste.... There shall the fire devour thee.... Thy crowned are as the locusts,...when the sun *Flaming torches '-the best authorities translate 'fire of steel.' ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they were ' (i. 8, 10, 14; ii. 6, 9, 10; iii. 15, 17). : In the prophecies just quoted, two points are worthy of special notice the mode of the fall of the city, and its complete desolation. Side by side with the predictions, let us place the witness of ancient historians and more modern travellers. Herodotus asserts the fact of the capture by the Medes and Babylonians, promising further details in a work which he never wrote. The fullest account, however, comes from the pen of Diodorus Siculus; it is brief, but pertinent and decisive. The Assyrian monarch had gained considerable successes against his rebellious subjects, and the coalition of Medes and Babylonians was about to be dissolved. He gave himself up to feasting, and his example was followed by his army. Drunkenness spread throughout the troops. The sentries forsook their posts to join in the general jollity. Meanwhile a welcome reinforcement had reached the Median camp. Deserters carried intelligence of the debauchery and carelessness to Arbaces, the rebel general. He resolved to take advantage of it to assault the city. Probably he would not have succeeded but for another predicted occurrence. Continual heavy rains had swollen the river Tigris: it overflowed its banks, and broke down part of the battlements that defended the city. Through this providential breach the Median soldiers pressed; and Nineveh was in their hands. Drunkenness and flood had fulfilled the word of the Lord; now fire performed its allotted task. An oracle had said that the city should be impregnable till the river became its enemy. When the Assyrian King heard of the flood and the attack, he remembered the oracle, and believed that all was lost. Thereupon he built a large funeral pile in the palace, and collecting together all his wealth, and his concubines and eunuchs, burnt himself. Such is the testimony of Diodorus, who knew nothing of Nahum's prophecy. The excavations confirm the historian's statement; for writes Mr. Layard, "The palace had been destroyed by fire. The alabaster slabs were almost reduced to lime, and many of them fell to pieces as soon as uncovered. The places which others had occupied could only be traced by a thin white deposit left by the burnt alabaster upon the wall of sun-dried bricks.' The fire must have spread widely, for its traces were repeatedly found in mounds distant from each other. Of another palace, Mr. Layard says, 'The whole entrance was buried in charcoal, and the fire which destroyed the building appears to have raged in this part with extraordinary fury.' In the ruins he found melted lead. And M. Botta, at one time sceptical as to the evidence of the work of fire, admits of yet another palace, 'I must acknowledge that I can no longer doubt that this monument was destroyed by fire.' Diodorus also states that the sack of Nineveh greatly enriched the conquerors, and that vast store of treasures was conveyed to Ecbatana. The sculptures, too, prove that the city possessed enormous riches. Before adducing specimens of the evidence-embarrassing by its quantity that shows how perfectly the predictions concerning the complete desolation of Nineveh have been accomplished, let us read the utterances thereupon of the prince-prophet Zephaniah: we adopt the spirited version of Mr. Cox : 'And He will stretch His hand over the north, And destroy Assyria; He will also make Nineveh a barren waste, An arid waste, like the desert; And herds shall lie down in the midst of her, Wild beasts of every kind in droves; Pelicans and hedgehogs lodge on their capitals; Birds sing from the windows; Rubbish-heaps lie on the thresholds, For the cedar-work is laid bare. This is the city, the exulting city, the impregnable city, "I, and no other." How is she become a desolation, A lair of wild beasts! Every one that passeth by her shall hiss, And swing his hand' (ii. 13 – 15). See now how thoroughly the threatenings of Nahum and Zephaniah were performed. The earliest witness is the prophet Ezekiel; and his testimony is none the less striking because he too was a prophet. So well known was the destruction of the imperial city, that he could refer to it as a thing of the past (xxxi.). The apocryphal Book of Tobit also mentions it incidentally. Two centuries after the destruction, Xenophon marched, during the famous retreat of the Ten Thousand, over its site, noticed the ruins, but knew not of what place they were the remains. Lucian, who lived in the second century of our era, affirms: Nineveh hath so perished, that no vestige of it remains at this time, nor can it be easily ascertained where once it stood.' Gibbon, describing the decisive battle between Heraclius and Chosroes, which was fought A D. 627, says, 'Eastward of the Tigris, at the end of the bridge of Mosul, the great Nineveh had formerly been erected; the city, and even the ruins cf the city, had long since disappeared; the vacant space afforded a spacious field for the operations of the two armies.' So completely had the fame of Nineveh perished, that men doubted whether it had stood on the Euphrates or the Tigris. The learned Niebuhr could pass by the mounds which have so recently revealed their secrets, and mistake them for hills cast |