of the Assyrian Monarchy. 299 
were originally very small, is evident from 
what is related in the 14th chapter of Gene- 
sis, where a king of Shinar (the Babylonian 
plain) confederated with a king of Elam, 
and two others, comes and attacks some 
petty sovereigns of Palestine ; and Abraham, 
arming his own household, is able to defeat 
the invaders. From this time we searcely 
meet with any mention of Assyria, till the 
book of Numbers, where, in the prophecy 
of Balak, it is foretold, that Assur should 
carry the Kenites into captivity. Among 
the oppressors of Israel, mentioned in the 
book of Judges, is Chushan Rishathaim, 
king of Mesopotamia, whose dominions 
may have included Nineveh, but who hardly 
could have exercised an independent sove- 
reignty, and made conquests, if that city 
had been itself the metropolis of a mighty 
state. A circumstance mentioned in the his- 
tory of David(*) leads to the same conclu- 
sion respecting his own time. He had a war 
with the king of Tobah, (Nisibis) which 
was at so short a distance from Nineveh, that 
it is scarcely possible that, had that city been 
the seat of a great monarchy, either the king 
of Tobah could have carried on war as an in- 
dependent prince, or David have fought 
against him without coming into collision 
