Syria an independent kingdom again,' and Damascus became its capital city; and in Ahab's time it was grown so powerful, that Benhadad the king of it had thirty and two kings in his army;" yet all this time Syria and all its dependants were not subject to the kings of Assyria. In the time of Ahaz, when Rezon was king, Tiglath-Pileser conquered him, took Damascus, captivated its inhabitants, and put an end to the kingdom of Syria; but before this, neither he nor his predecessors appear to have had any command in these countries. God gave by promise to the seed of Abraham all the land from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates, and Solomon came into the full possession of it; but neither he nor his fathers had any wars with the kings of Assyria; so that we must conclude that the king of Assyria's dominions reached no further than to that river. When Chedorlaomer invaded Canaan, the world was thin of people, and the nations planted in 1 Kings xi. 23, 24, 25. Ibid. Isaiah. vii. 8. * 2 Kings xvi. y Gen. xv. * 1 Kings xx. it were comparatively speaking, few, and all that large tract between the nations which he came to conquer, and the Euphrates, was not inhabited; for we find that his auxiliaries who came with him, lived all in and near the land of Shinaar. There were no intermediate nations; for if there had been any, he would have brought their united strength with him. Now this agrees with the description of the land between the river of Egypt and Euphrates in the promise to Abraham; wherein the nations inhabiting in and near Canaan are enumerated; but except these there were no other. Agreeably to this when Jacob travelled from Canaan to the land of Haran,' and afterwards returned with a large family from Laban into Canaan, we do not read that he passed through many nations, but rather over uninhabited countries; so that the kingdoms near Canaan which served Chedorlaomer were in his time the next to the kingdoms, on or near the Euphrates. Therefore when he Gen. xv. 18-21. Gen. xxviii. xxix, lost the service of these nations, his empire extended no farther than that river; and his successors not enlarging their empire, all the country between Palestine and Euphrates, though after these days many nations were planted in it, was not a part of the Assyrian empire, until in after-times the Assyrian, and after them the Babylonian kings by new conquests extended their empire farther than ever their predecessors had done. When the ancient Assyrian empire was dissolved, on the death of Sardanapalus, the dominions belonging to it were divided between the two commanders, who subverted it; Arbaces the governor of Media, and Belesis governor of Babylon. Belesis had Babylon and Chaldea, and Arbaces had all the rest. Arbaces is in Scripture called Tiglath-Pileser, and the nations of which he became master were Assyria and the eastern provinces, the kingdoms of Elam and Media; for hither he sent his captives when he conquered Syria; therefore these countries thus di 2 Prideaux Connect. Vol. 1. b. 1. vided were the whole of the ancient empire of the Assyrians. Thus our learned author's argument does in no wise prove, that there was no ancient Assyrian empire; for it only intimates, what may be abundantly proved to be true, that the profane historians. supposed many countries to be a part of it, which really were not. They were not accurate in the particulars of their history; they reported that the armies of Semiramis were vastly more numerous than they really were; but we must not thence infer, that she raised no armies at all. They took their dimensions of the Assyrian empire, from what was afterwards the extent of the Babylonian or Persian; but though they thus surprisingly magnified it, yet we cannot conclude that there was no such empire, from their having misrepresented its grandeur and extent. Some particulars are suggested by our great and learned author, which, though they do not directly fall under the argument which I have considered, may yet be here mentioned. Sir Isaac Newton remarks, 1. that "the land of Haran mentioned Gen. xi. I answer : was not under the Assyrian.' when the Chaldeans expelled Terah and his family from their land for not serving their gods, they removed about one hundred miles up the country, towards the North-west. Now the earth was not then so full of inhabitants, but that they here found a tract of land distant from all other plantations; and living here within themselves upon their pasturage and tillage, and having no business with distant nations, no one interrupted their quiet. The territories of the Chaldees reached most probably but a little way from Ur; for kingdoms were but small in these times. Terah's family lived far from their borders and plantations, and that gave them the peace which they enjoyed. But, 2. "In the time of the Judges of Israel, Mesopotamia was under its own king." I answer, so was Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Zoar, in the days of Abraham; yet all the kings of these cities. had served Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, twelve years. But it may be said, Chushan |