dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws." Q. How long did he live in this condition? A. Seven years; after which his reason returned, and he was restored to his kingdom. Q. How did he signalize his restoration ? A. He made known to all his subjects the wonderful dispensation he had experienced, and blessed the Most High," and praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and whose kingdom is from generation to generation." A. M. 3442. Q. How long did he survive this event? B. C. 562. A. A very short time; at his death he left the kingdom to his son Evil-Merodach.* Q. What happened in his reign ? A. In the first year of his reign, "he lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison,—and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon." A. M. 3443. Q. How long did Evil-Merodach reign? B. C. 561. A. His crimes made his government so intolerable, that Neriglissar, his brother-in-law, slew him in the second year of his reign, and usurped the throne.† * This prince is the Ilvarollamus of profane history, as is evident from the time of his succession, which exactly agrees with the period of Jehoiachin's release. + Dean PRIDEAUX infers from Jer. xxii. 30. lii. 33. that Jehoiachin fell with Evil-Merodach: considering that the prophecies" could not be so well verified of him if he died in full possession of all that prosperity which Evil-Merodach advanced him unto." A. M. 3447. Q. How long did Neriglissar reign? B. C. 556. A. His son Laborosoarchod: his in- B. C. 555. A. Nabonadius or Labynetus, the Belshazzar of holy writ, son of Evil-Merodach by his queen Nitocris:* he was a great tyrant.† Q. What remarkable vision had Daniel in the first year of Belshazzar's reign > A. He had a vision of the four great monarchies, under the appearance of four beasts coming out of the sea.‡ A. M. 3451. Q. What remarkable vision had he in B. C. 553. the third year of Belshazzar ? Belshaz.. 3. A. The great power and extent of the Persian empire and its subversion by Alexander the Great, and the division of the Macedonian empire by four of Alexander's captains, were represented to Daniel under the vision of the ram and he-goat.§ Q. With whom did Belshazzar carry on war? * See this clearly demonstrated by Dean PRIDEaux in his Connection, Anno B. c. 555. Isa. xiv. 17. 20. + Dan. vii. armorial sign of the Persian "about two hundred years § Dan. viii. The ram was the empire: and the Macedonians, before Daniel, were denominated Egeadæ, or the goat's people, as their first seat was called Egea or Egæ, or goat's town, a goat being their ensign."-HORNE'S Introd、 vol. iv. p. 204. A. With Cyrus king of Persia, who after a struggle of some years, during which several battles were fought, shut him up in Babylon, and laid siege to the city. Q. Did the siege alarm the Babylonians ? A. No trusting to the vast strength of their fortifications, they defied the assaults of their enemies, and indulged themselves as usual in their idolatrous revelries. A. M. 3465. Q. What occurred in the second year B. C. 539. of the siege. Belshaz. 17. A. Belshazzar made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and "the king, and his princes, his wives and his concubines," drank wine out of the sacred vessels belonging to the Jewish temple, " and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone." But "in the same hour came forth the finger of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace;" at the sight of which " the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, and his knees smote one against another,—and his lords were astonished." Q. What did the writing import? A. Neither the king nor his nobles could read it; wherefore the magi were instantly sent for, but to the king's great dismay, they were utterly unable to decypher the characters.* Meanwhile Nitocrist the * The writing being in the old Hebrew, now called the Samaritan, of which the Babylonians were ignorant, is usually assigned as the reason why the magi could not decypher it. + Nitocris, Belshazzar's mother, superintended the administration of affairs, whilst her son was the victim of sensuality. queen mother coming in, "by reason of the words of the king and his lords," endeavoured to compose the king's mind; but advised him to send for Daniel, who was renowned for his wisdom. Daniel was therefore immediately sent for, and brought in before the king. Q, How did Belshazzar accost him? A. Having stated to him the circumstance which had caused so much alarm, he offered him the third rank in his empire, if he could read and interpret the handwriting on the wall. Q. How did Daniel reply? A. By recapitulating the dispensations of God towards Nebuchadnezzar, the king's grandfather, and reproving Belshazzar for his pride, impiety, and idolatry; after which he read the writing on the wall, and thus interpreted it: MENE, (numbered.) TEKEL, (weighed.) "God hath NUMBERED thy kingdom and finished it.' "Thou art WEIGHED in the balances, and art found wanting." With design to provide for the worst contingencies in the war carried on by Cyrus against the empire, she applied herself with great assiduity to complete the stupendous works begun by Nebuchadnezzar the Great; and so fortified the city, both towards the land and river, as to make it impregnable, had it been duly guarded by the soldiery. The great reservoir formed by Nebuchadnezzar to receive the waters of the Euphrates, when they rose so high as to threaten an inundation, she is said to have finished, together with the canal leading to it.— Consult PRIDEAUX's Connect. anno B. c. 555 to 538. PERES, (divided.) 'Thy kingdom is DIVIDED and given to the Medes and Persians." "Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom." Q. Were these predictions verified? : A. Yes "in that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.* And Darius the Median took the kingdom." * Babylon, situated on a vast and exceedingly fertile plain, and intersected from north to south by a branch of the Euphrates, was fifteen miles square, and defended by walls eighty-seven feet thick and three hundred and fifty feet high. On each side of the city were twenty-five brasen gates, opening into as many streets, each running parallel to the length of the walls. Each of these streets, fifty in number, was one hundred and fifty feet wide; and, by their intersections, formed six hundred and seventy-six squares, each of which was four furlongs and a half square. In the centre of each square was a large plot of ground for gardens, courts, &c. and the houses, beautifully adorned towards the street, stood around. Over the Euphrates was a bridge of a furlong in length, adorned on the east side by the old palace, whose site occupied four of the above-named squares; and on the west side, (the site of the new city built by Nebuchadnezzar,) by the new palace, which stood upon nine squares, and was famous for the hanging gardens. The temple of Belus, which was near the old palace, stood upon one square. Nebuchadnezzar, with design to people this large city, carried thither great numbers of captives out of Judea and other countries. It was nevertheless but thinly inhabited; CC |