34 REV. JOHN UEQUHART, ON THE BEARING OF RECENT 



only say that we must not make it responsible for the utter- 

 ances of the Syrians. " The Syrians speak," he said, " not of 

 the historically certain, but from a mere conjecture founded 

 upon the noise heard."* 



The discovery of the Hittite dominion is part of the romance 

 of Eastern archa3ology. Theirs was a great, though a long- 

 forgotten, Empire ; and the Scripture references to them have 

 been amply substantiated. This takes its place among the 

 number. About 40 years after thiy timeShalmaneser 11. of Assyria 

 encountered their hosts in battle. Two of his Western 

 adversaries, he tells us in one of his inscriptions, engaged the 

 assistance of " the kings of the Hittites," and marched against 

 Assyria " trusting in each other's might." It will be observed 

 how closely this tallies with the rel'erence in 2 Kings. The 

 Hittites were at that time a great Eastern power : they were able 

 to be " hired" : and they were governed not by one monarch cnly, 

 for Slialmaneser I. uses the very phrase of the Scripture — " the 

 kings of the Hittites." But what of the sister phrase — " the 

 kings of the Egyptians " ? Was that monarchy also broken up 

 into sections ? The reply is in the affirmative. The great 

 Shishak, or Sheshonq, or Sheshenk, was unfortunate in Ids 

 successors. Maspero explains that they divided the kingdom 

 into great principalities so as to govern tlie land with greater 

 ease. Some of these " comprised only a few towns, while others 

 stretched over several contiguous nomes." The result might 

 have been foreseen. The great potentates thus created gradu- 

 ally became sovereigns in their respective domains. "Soon," 

 says Maspero, " the masters of these principalities grew V)ol(l 

 enough to reject the sovereignty of the Pharaoh . . . Tliey 

 usurped not only tlie functions of royalty, but also the title of 

 king, while the legitimate dynasty, confined to a corner of the 

 Delta, exercised there hardly a remnant of authority."! That 

 was the condition of Egypt at tliis time, so that the reference 

 to "the kings of Egypt "is equally exact with that to "the 

 kings of the Hittites." Tested by these these things, tlie Elijah- 

 Elisha narrative shows nothing of the well-known lineaments 

 of legend, but displays, on the contrary, the usual features of 

 history. 



The researches of tlie Palestine Ex])loration Eund have 

 thrown a Hood of light upon the opening chapters of 1 Kings. 

 As is well-knowii; criticism 1)elieves that we have no really 



* See his Commentary. 



t Records of the I'axt, vol. i, pp. 35, :3G. 



