CHAP. II.

Psammeticus.... The king of Assyria.... Pharaoh Necho.... The Jews led captive.... Psammis the king of Egypt.... Nebuchadnezzar's victories in that country.

B. C.

670.

P

SAMMETICUS was the son of an Egyptian prince whom Sabachus at his accession had put to death; but through difficulties and dangers the son gradually ascended the throne of his country, and reigned in full sway over the kingdom of Egypt. From the connection which subsisted between the two countries, the affairs of Egypt were much known in Greece; and from the Grecian annals, the history of Egypt may now be placed in a more accurate and lucid train. From the east a great and accumulated power now bent with threatening majesty toward Eyypt. Sennacherib, from his defeat in Judea, re

turned to Nineveh with a spirit of chagrin and vengeance. Mad with disappointment and rage, he was not only cruel toward the captive Israelites; but he was so intolerably fierce and vindictive, that his sons conspired against him and slew him in the temple of Nisroch his god. Evarhaddon succeeded his father; and in a time of anarchy at Babylon, added the kingdom of Chaldea to that of Assyria. Rising on the wings of power, he hastened westward to retrieve what his father had lost. Soon he subdued Syria, and over-ran Samaria, which was beginning to rebel against Assyria. Then he directed his course to Jerusalem, took its king, Manasseh, captive, and left him in the state of a tributary prince.

These increasing movements could not be tamely observed by the king of Egypt. Nothing intervened between his empire and the powerful dominions

i 2 Ķings xix, v. 37.

of Assyria, but the small district of Palestine, and it too was subject by tribute to the Assyrian king. To rescue that province from the eastern monarch, and to place it as a barrier against his increasing power, were objects of high importance to Psammeticus. Therefore he laid siege to Azotus, or Ashdod; but there he met with a desperate resistance, for it was formerly a strong hold of the Philistines; had lately been completely fortified, and it cost Psammeticus 29 years to reduce it. About this time the Scythians had rushed down like a torrent upon Asia Minor; and stood in a threatening attitude toward Egypt. But Psammeticus was a wise as well as a warlike prince. His kingdom being much exhausted in strength, and himself far advanced in years, he had recourse to negociation, and not to arms. Thus the Scythians and he remained in peace. Having performed these and many other illustrious deeds, Psammeticus died in the 54th year of his reign.

B. C. 617.-Necho, who, in the language of Scripture, is called Pharaoh Necho, succeeded his father on the throne of Egypt. The spirit of commerce and adventure, which had appeared in the reign of the late king, was cherished by his son and brought into vigorous action. The Phoenicians had long been a people of commercial enterprize, and the cities of Tyre and Sidon had grown rich by traffic. Engaging in his service sailors of Phoenicia, Necho fitted out a fleet, which sailed down the Arabian gulf, passed through the straits of Babelmandel, coasted round the south and west of Africa, and, in the third year, sailing up the Mediterranean, arrived in Egypt.

The strength of the eastern nations continued to excite emotions of jealousy, and Necho was desirous of humbling their power. To repel their incursions, his father had passed into Judea, but Necho bent his course to more distant parts, and aimed a more extensive blow.

About this time Nineveh was destroyed, and its strength absorbed in the empire of Babylon. The king of Chaldea, being then also king of Assyria, united with his interest the empire of the Medes, by having his son Nebuchadnezzar married to the grand-daughter of Cyaxares. In this united condition, these princes were formidable to their neighbours, and particularly obnoxious to the Egyptian king. To meet them in the field of battle, Pharaoh Necho, with a powerful army, marched toward the Euphrates, and as he must pass through the borders of Judah, Josiah king of Jerusalem went out to oppose his progress.

Notwithstanding the declarations of Necho, that he intended to pass through their country in a pacific manner, yet Josiah was alarmed, and went out to give him battle. They met at Magdolus, or Megiddo, where the king of Jerusalem was slain. The diversified injuries which so great an army might have done in passing through his territories, would