CHAPTER V.

IDUMEA.

Idumea or Edom, the country of Esau in Arabia Petrea-Idolatry and cruelty of the EdomitesPredictions of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Ezekiel, and Malachi--Desolation of Idumea testified by travellers the ruins of Petra-mausoleums and sepulchres-all confirm the Scriptures.

IDUMEA, as the country of Edom was called by the Greeks and Romans, was a district lying south of the Dead Sea, on the borders of Moab. Judg. xi. 17; it was a strip of land considerably elevated, between the desert of Sin on the west, and Arabia Petrea on the east. The climate was delightful; and the country was remarkable for the richness of its soil; it derives its name from Esau or Edom, Gen. xxxvi. 43, whose posterity settled in it, expelling the ancient Horites. Deut. ii. 12. They cherished the enmity of their father Esau against his brother Jacob, and though equally descended from the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac, they continued the determined enemies of their brethren the Israelites. They united with King Nebuchadnezzar when he besieged Jerusalem, and urged him to "rase it, even to the foundation thereof." Psalms cxxxvii. 7.

Idolatry, cruelty, and various wickedness, distinguished the Edomites, who were among the most rancorous enemies of the people of GoD: his prophets were therefore inspired to record the Divine judgment against that guilty people. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Ezekiel, and Malachi, have written as follows concerning Idumea.

"For my sword shall be bathed in heaven; behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.-For the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls. The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech-owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein." Isa. xxxiv. 5, 17.

Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts, Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished? Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him. For I have sworn by myself, saith the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes. Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD. Also Edom shall be a desolation, every one that goeth by it, shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof. As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighbor cities thereof, saith the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it." Jer. xlix. 7-18.

"How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up! Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau? And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of

Esau may be cut off by slaughter. For thy violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever." Obad. ver. 6-10. "Thus saith the LORD GOD, Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out my hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate. I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their calamity had an end: therefore as I live, saith the LORD GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: since thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee. As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it; and they shall know that I am the LORD." Ezek. xxxv. 3-15.

Idumea has been desolate for many generations; and it exhibits the most remarkable monuments in the ruins of ancient buildings. An intelligent modern traveller states: "From the reports of the Arabs of Bakir, and from the inhabitants of Gaza, who frequently go to Maan (or Teman) and Karak, on the road of the pilgrims, there are, within three days' journey to the southeast of the Dead Sea, upwards of thirty ruined towns absolutely deserted. The Arabs, in general, avoid them, on account of the scorpions with which they swarm. We cannot be surprised at these traces of ancient population, when we recollect that this was the country of the Nabatheans, the most powerful of the Arabs, and of the Idumeans, who, at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, were almost as numerous as the Jews." These ruins of cities, however, are not the only monuments of the former greatness of Edom. Its southern capital city, Petra or Sela, now without an inhabitant, except the wild animals foretold by the prophet a thousand years before it ceased to be tenanted by men, presents one of the most astonishing scenes that it is possible to imagine. In the vicinity of mount Seir, extensive ruins of a large city, vast heaps of hewn stones, foundations of buildings, fragments of columns, and vestiges of paved streets, are spread over a valley which is enclosed on each side by perpendicular cliffs, varying from four hundred to seven hundred feet in height, hollowed out into innumerable chambers of different dimensions, and rising in the cliffs, tier above tier; the uppermost appearing beyond the possibility of human habitation. Columns also rise above columns, adorning the fronts of the dwellings: horizontal grooves, for the conveyance of water, run along the face of the cliffs: flights of steps formed the means of ascent to the habitations, and the summit of the heights in various places, is covered with pyramids cut out of the rock. The identity of the scene, as described by the prophet Jeremiah, in all the "terribleness" of the human power which pertained to it, and as depicted in the rightful aspect which it now exhibits, is such as cannot be mistaken by any observer, possessing the prophetical writings.

Mausoleums and sepulchres are very numerous and magnificent in these ruins they are of various periods of their sculpture, and of different orders of architecture. One of them particularly is described as a work of prodigious labor and of colossal magnitude, in perfect preservation, containing a chamber sixteen paces square, and about twenty-five feet high, crowned with a pediment highly ornamented, and all cut out of the solid rock, designed, it is probable, for the mortal remains of its rulers.

These splendid monuments, dedicated to the memory of its chiefs and princes, demonstrate to modern ages the opulence of the city. They afford also instructive moral lessons to all succeeding ages. Deistical free-thinkers might be admonished by the fate of the enemies of the ancient church of GOD, as they

have been cut off according to the word of the LORD by his prophets; and as their very land, especially that of the Idumeans, for their violence against their brethren of Israel, has been wasted with a curse, which cleaves to it even to this day, designed as an evidence of Divine Revelation.

CHAPTER VI.

EGYPT.

Egypt, an ancient nation, celebrated for its advancement in the arts and sciences-Its vast population and numerous cities-Pyramids of Egypt-Ruins of Thebes-Injuries of Israel by the Egyptians-Predictions of Ezekiel-their fulfilment in the decline and desolation of Egypt under the Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians, Syrians, Romans, Mamelukes, and Turks.

EGYPT is famous as one of the most ancient kingdoms in the world, and its history is one of the most interesting of any country upon earth. Many regard it as the birth-place of the arts and sciences, and all admit that they were patronised there at a very remote period, so that its wise men were celebrated for cultivating every kind of knowledge which distinguished the sages of antiquity. Egypt was, therefore, celebrated among the nations for its wisdom, and its mythology and priesthood were no less famed: yet, at a very early period, its priests instructed its people in the most degrading idolatries. Debased by superstition, they carried these criminal follies to a greater height than the people of any other country, paying divine honors to the sun, moon, and stars, to men and brute animals, to plants and reptiles, and even to the most despicable insects, as their deities!

Egypt was famed for its vast population, its numerous cities, and the greatness of its wealth; and what is recorded in history regarding its public buildings would exceed all credibility, were it not in a high degree confirmed by their prodigious remains, which exist at this day, to the astonishment of all Europe. Egypt is a field of research to learned antiquaries: surveying the ruins of ancient magnificence, the traveller overlooks the present period, in contemplating remote generations; and among the degenerate existing population, he looks in vain for the genuine descendants of the ancient inhabitants, the authors of these mighty and enduring works.

Among the wonders of the world in modern times, we always find reckoned the Pyramids of Egypt." Many of them are found in different parts of the country; but three of these astonishing edifices are most frequently mentioned, as standing at Djiza, about eleven miles west of the Nile, and about fifteen miles from the city of Grand Cairo, where stood the city of Memphis, or Noph, Isa. xix. 13, Ezek. xxx. 13. The largest of these enormous edifices is built of hewn stones, many of which are thirty feet long. An eminent French engineer has calculated that the stones in this vast pile called the " Great Pyramid," amount to six millions of tons; and that they would be sufficient to build a wall round the whole of France, measuring about eighteen hundred miles, one foot thick and ten feet high. This mountain of a building forms a square, each side of which is about seven hundred and forty-six feet, and covers nearly fourteen acres of land: it is, therefore, about equal to the square called Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, in London. Its perpendicular height is about five hundred and sixty feet, or one hundred and seventeen feet higher than St. Paul's Cathedral, in London. Viewed from the ground, the summit of this pyramid appears to the beholder only a point; but it is found, by those who ascend it, to be a kind of platform, measuring thirty-two feet square, as stated by Dr. Clarke.

These stupendous monuments of human art appear to have been designed as the tombs for the kings of Egypt. From these, therefore, and from the equally wonderful ruins of Thebes, "the populous No," as called by the prophets, Nah. iii. 8, Jer. xlvi. 25, "the city with an hundred gates," as mentioned by Homer, as they are still found at the villages of Karnac and Luxor, we may infer the grandeur and resources of the ancient Egyptians.

Egypt, with idolatries and wickedness, had for ages been a snare to the Israelites, and many of their miseries as a nation arose from that country. The Egyptians had drawn king Zedekiah into rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar; and after having formed a confederacy with him, they treacherously left him to perish in the war with the Chaldeans, who destroyed Jerusalem. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 3-13, Ezek. xvii. 15-17. Herodotus states that "Apries," or Pharaoh Hophra, Jer. xliv. 30, proudly boasted of having so securely established his kingdom, that it was not even in the power of God to dethrone him! Euterpe, clxix. The prophet of GOD, therefore, wrote:

"Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and prophecy against him, and against all Egypt: speak, and say, Thus saith the LORD GOD, Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales. And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven. And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD; because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it. Behold, therefore, I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia. And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. Yet thus saith the LORD GOD, I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and I will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom. It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them; but they shall know that I am the LORD. Thus saith the LORD GOD, I will also destroy their idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt. Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt, and they shall know that I am the LORD." Ezek. xxix. 2-5, 9, 10, 12, 14-16; xxx. 13, 19. Divine Providence has accomplished the fulfilment of these prophetic denunciations with fearful particularity in Egypt. The country abounds with the relics of ancient magnificence in heaps of rubbish and mighty ruins. Those stupendous temples, abounding with massy and lofty columns, are profusely covered with hieroglyphic characters: but though they were erected to the honor of false divinities, by mortals who had "changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things," Rom. i. 23; they are evidently destined

in their desolations, to reflect homage to JEHOVAH, as the only living and true GOD, illustrating at the same time the historical and prophetical truth of the Holy Scriptures.

Two thousand three hundred years ago, Egypt was deprived of her Pharaohs, and her natural proprietors; and her fertile plains have fallen a prey to the Persians, the Macedonians, the Syrians, the Romans, the Greeks, and the Saracens under Omar, A. D. 640; when they established the Mahommedan imposture which has prevailed ever since, as the religion of the Egyptians. About A. D. 970, the Moslem caliph of Syene wrested it from the caliph of Bagdad; and he and his descendants governed it 200 years. About A. D. 1171, Saladin, the Kurd, craftily seized it; and he and his posterity governed it for 80 years. It was next ruled by the Mamelukes, or slave-usurpers, for 275 years; and in 1525, it was annexed to the Ottoman empire, of which it still nominally forms a part, governed by a pacha and twenty-four begs or chiefs. Through these successive periods there has "not been a prince of the land of Egypt;" the pachas have been strangers and oppressors. Everything reminds the traveller that he is in a country of slavery and tyranny: as there is no middle class of the community,-neither nobility, clergy, merchants, nor landholders. Thus has Egypt been "the basest of kingdoms," and "has not been governed by a prince of the land of Egypt," for upwards of 2000 years. Having been successively under the dominion of the Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians, Syrians, Romans, Mamelukes, slaves, and Turks, to whom it remains in abject servitude to this day; it has continued a most "base," or tributary kingdom, a standing memorial of the inspiration of the word of GOD.

CHAPTER VII.

NINEVEH.

Magnitude of Nineveh the capital of Assyria-Nineveh flourished by the ruin of surrounding states The overthrow of the Israelites by Shalmanezer-Jonah's ministry at Nineveh-Nahum predicts the destruction of Nineveh-Its king slew himself and family, by the conflagration of his palace and his treasure-Present desolation of Nineveh-Remarks of Bishop Newton.

NINEVEH, the capital city of the ancient Assyrian empire, was situated on the eastern bank of the river Tigris, about 280 miles north of Babylon, and 400 miles north-east of Damascus. It was one of the most ancient cities upon earth; being founded by Ashur or by Nimrod, both grandsons of Noah. According to Diodorus Siculus, this city was an oblong parallelogram, extending 150 furlongs in length, 90 furlongs in breadth, and 480 in compass. This agrees with the account given by the prophet, that it was "an exceeding great city of three days' journey" (Jonah iii. 3,) in circuit; reckoning 20 miles a day, as the common computation for a traveller on foot. This vast city was surrounded with prodigious walls, 100 feet high; and so broad that three chariots could drive abreast on them: the whole extent was defended by 1500 towers, 200 feet high, or double the height of the walls. The population of Nineveh is supposed to have been at the least 600,000 souls, in the time of the prophet Jonah, Jonah, iv. 11.

Nineveh had risen to its splendor and magnificence on the ruins of the surrounding states, under a succession of ambitious and martial princes, who had reduced into subjection to Assyria the greater portion of that division of Asia. Success having attended their various military enterprises, both rulers and their people became intoxicated with pride, and, under the influence of superstition