The cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament - The Search For ...

SECOND BOOK OF KINGS XX. 29
both verse 6 and XVIII. 2, 13). And this must also be
regarded as m the main correct. But we are not justified
(1) in assuming the scheme of Biblical chronology as our
basis in this particular case, and thus place the event we
are considering in the year 714 B. C. ; for, as is shown
by the chronological Addenda at the close of this volume,
this scheme is traversed by the Assyrian and the Babylonian
chronology, both of which are certified by the monuments.
And we also may not (2) forget that the above-mentioned
scriptural statement stands in a passage that, in its present
form, comes from the hand of the last writer at the begin-
ning of the exile (see De-Wette-Schrader, Einleitung ins
Alte Testament 8'" ed. § 221 f. p. 355). We have there-
fore full scope for defining more closely the date of the
embassy. Let us bear in mind then (1) that the Merodach-
Baladan of Sanherib's time, according to Polyhistor (and
indirectly according to the Ptolemaic canon too ; see above),
reigned during this period only six months; (2) that during
this period he was threatened with an Assyrian war and
would have occasion to seek the favour and aid of the king
of Juda (and undoubtedly of other Syro-phoenician rulers
as well) ;
(3) that we can clearly discern from the scriptural
narrative that Hezekiah's treasure-chambers were still full
and thus had not yet been emptied by Sanherib's requisition
for tribute (2 Kings XVIII. 15). From these considerations
we deem it most probable that Merodach-Baladan despat-
ched that embassy to Hezekiah during the six months
above referred-to, i. e. in the year 704 or 703, certainly
before Sanherib's expedition to Syria, Judaea & Aegypt.
Having thus formed a clear idea as to the person 345
referred-to by the Biblical writer in this particular passage,
we shall not omit to place before the reader the report of