- 149-
- On the previous existence of such a canal, see the Note in Rawlinson's Herodotus, II.
pp. 242, 243. According to Herodotus (ii. 158), no fewer than 120,000 laborers perished
in the undertaking of Necho.
Circumstances seemed indeed favorable to the expedition of Necho against Assyria.
Asurbanipal had on his death (probably in 626 B.C.) bequeathed to his successor or
successors* a very troubled heritage. In Babylonia** Nabo-palassar appears (in 626 or
625) as nominally a viceroy, but virtually independent of Assyria.
- The Assyrian monuments leave us without clear information, and accounts are here
very confused.
** Of Babylonia more will be said in the sequel.
The expedition of Necho, to which reference is made in 2 Kings 23:29, and at greater
length in 2 Chronicles 35:20-25, was made in the year 609 B.C., or sixteen years after
Nabopalassar had becotne ruler of Babylonia. In 2 Kings 23:29 the expedition is
expressly described as against "the king of Assyria." But here a difficulty arises.
According to some authorities* the fall of Nineveh** preceded or coincided with the
accession of Nabo-palassar to the Babylonian throne in 626 B.C.
- We cannot here enter into particulars, but refer generally to Schrader die Keilinschr u.
d. A.T. pp. 358-361.
** To this reference will be made in the sequel.
In that case the expedition of Necho would have been against the Babylonian monarch,
who would have been designated "King of Assyria" as successor to that power.
According to other authorities the fall of Nineveh would have to be placed between the
years 609 and 606 B.C. As Asurbanipal seems to have still occupied the throne in 626
B.C., and as we read of two sieges of Nineveh, it appears most likely that this (the first)
expedition of Necho was still literally against "the king of Assyria."
Avoiding a march through the land of Judah, the Egyptian army advanced along the
ordinary route followed towards the East. At the slope of the hills which separate the low
coast tract south of Carmel from the great plain of Esdraelon, its progress was barred by a
Judaean army under Josiah, holding the strong position of Megiddo, the modern el-
Lejjun, which commanded the valley of the Kishon (called in 1 (3) Esd. i. 27 that of
Mageddo), and also access to the mountains of Samaria. It is not easy to form a definite
opinion as to the motives which induced Josiah to attempt arresting the march of Necho.
But probably he may have been influenced by those plans for the re-union of Israel and
Judah to which reference has already been made. He may have thought that the danger to
the independence of the new kingdom would be much greater if Necho succeeded in the
(^)