gments are preserved in the
museum at Constantinople. Some writers think it was composed
in the time of Hezekiah; for my own part, I agree with Stade
in assigning it to the period of Ahaz.

The whole position seemed so hopeless, that a section of the people
began to propose surrendering to the mercy of the Syrians.*

* This seems to be an obvious inference from the words of
Isaiah (viii. 6): "Forasmuch as this people hath refused the
waters of Shiloah that go softly, _and lose courage because
of Rezin and Bemaliali's son_." [The R.V. reads "_rejoice
in_" Rezin, etc.--Tr.]

Ahaz looked around him in search of some one on whom he might call for
help. All his immediate neighbours were hostile; but behind them, in the
background, were two great powers who might be inclined to listen to his
appeal--Egypt and Assyria. Ever since the expedition of Sheshonq into
Asia, Egypt seemed to have lost all interest in foreign politics.
Osorkon had not inherited the warlike propensities of his father,
and his son, Takeloti I., and his grandson, Osorkon II., followed his
example.*

* The chronology of this period is still very uncertain, and
the stelae of the Serapseum, which enable us to fix the
order of the various reigns, yield no information as to
their length. Sheshonq I. did not reign much longer than
twenty-one years, which is his latest known date, and we may
take the reign of twenty-one years attributed to him by
Manetho as being substantially correct. The latest dates we
possess are as follows: Osorkon I., twelfth year, and
Takeloti I., sixth year or seventh year. Lastly, we have a
twenty-ninth year in the case of Osorkon II., with a
reference in the case of the twenty-eighth year to the fifth
year of a Takeloti whose first cartouche is missing, and who
perhaps died before his father and co-regent. In Manetho,
Osorkon I. is credited with a reign of fifteen years, and
his three next successors with a total of twenty-five years
between them, which is manifestly incorrect, since the
monuments give twenty-nine years, or twenty-three at the
very least, if we take into account the double date in the
case of the first two of these kings. The wisest course
seems to be to allow forty-five years to Osorkon and his two
successors: if Sheshonq, as I believe, died in 924, the
fifty year