CHRONOLOGY OF THE KINGS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH. 275 



Mr. Theo. Pinches, LL.D. — Although I am an Assyriologist, 

 I may say that I cannot claim to be a chronologist. That is a 

 matter arising partly from my natural incapacity to make long 

 and abstruse calculations, and partly from the fact that there is 

 really so much of a doubtful nature connected with the subject 

 that I have held aloof, as far as possible, from all chronological 

 questions. 



The discrepancy of forty years between the Assyrian and 

 Hebrew chronology has been to my mind sufficient reason for 

 keeping myself from any attempts to form a theory of my own. I 

 content myself, in fact, with simply accepting, provisionally, the 

 chronological data as given by my contemporaries who have made 

 a speciality of the subject, and that, I think, is best. I am speaking, 

 of course, from my own point of view. My desire has been not to 

 have to make a confession that I have been mistaken. That may 

 have been cowardly on my part, but still I think it was the best 

 course. Assyriology, as you know, is a progressive study. AVe are 

 constantly learning and constantly having to change the opinions 

 we may have formed, and on that account we may expect, at any 

 time, to find materials necessary for filling up gaps or doing what 

 may be necessary to put things straight from a chronological point 

 of view. I need only mention here that the Germans and the 

 English are working on the site of the ancient city of Asshur, the 

 capital of Assyria, and according to the accounts that have come to 

 hand they have found an enormous amount of material and names, 

 from about 1900 years B.C. to the time of Abraham. They have 

 found the names of kings well known. 



Owing to pressure of time I have been unable to read this paper 

 through before coming to the meeting, but on hearing it read now 

 for the first this evening, I feel it my duty to add my testimony to 

 its general excellence. I would here wish to remark that Dr. Budge's 

 introduction of a second siege of Jerusalem, shortly before the death 

 of Sennacherib, is a theory that has found acceptance with a great 

 many Assyriologists, and in fact it seems to suit the case very well, 

 i.e., as far as I was able to judge, when dealing with that portion of 

 Assyrian history in my book on the Old Testament and the 

 records."*^ 



* The Old Testament in the Light of Historical Records, 2nd Edit., 1904. 



