Page:Light and truth.djvu/133

Rh The following are the kings of Egypt mentioned in scripture by the common appellation of Pharaoh:—

8. Psammetichus Pharaoh, king of Egypt, owed his preservation to the Ionians and Carians. He permitted them to settle in Egypt, whence all foreigners had hitherto been excluded. By assigning them sufficient lands, and fixed revenues, he made them forget their native land; and by his order the Egyptian children were placed under their care to learn the Greek language. Psammetichus engaged in war against the king of Assyria, on account of the limits of the two empires. This war was of long continuance. Ever since Syria had been conquered by the Assyrians, Palestine, being the only country that separated the two kingdoms, was the subject of continual discord; as afterwards between the Ptolemies and the Seleucidæ. They were eternally contending for it, and it was alternately won by the stronger. Psammetichus, seeing himself the peaceable possessor of all Egypt, and having, restored the ancient form of government, [this revolution happened about seven years after the captivity of Manasseh king of Judah,] thought it high time for him to look to his frontiers; and to secure them against the Assyrian, his neighbor, whose power increased daily. For this purpose he entered Palestine at the head of an army.

Perhaps we are to refer to the beginning of this war, an incident related by Diodorus: That the Egyptians, provoked to see the Greeks posted on the right wing by the king himself in preference to them, quitted the service, they being upwards of two hundred thousand men, and retired into Ethiopia, where they met with an advantageous settlement.

Psammetichus died in the 24th year of the reign of Josiah king of Judah; and was succeeded by his son Nechao or Necho—in Scriptures frequently called Pharaoh Necho.

9. Nechao or Pharaoh Necho reigned sixteen years king of Egypt, (2 Chron. xxxv. 20,) whose expeditions are often mentioned in profane history.

The Babylonians and Medes having destroyed Nineveh, and with it the empire of the Assyrians, did