The Signs of the Times, vol. 11

October 8, 1885

“The Empire of Grecia. (Continued.)” The Signs of the Times 11, 38, p. 596.

(Continued.)

THE BATTLE OF GRANICUS, ISSUS, AND ARBELA

ABOUT seventy-five or eighty miles from the place where Alexander landed in Asia Minor, the river Granicus pours into the Sea of Marmora. There, early in his fourth day’s march (May 22, B.C. 334, Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates.), he found the Persian army drawn up in battle array, on the eastern bank of the river. “On approaching the river he made his preparations for immediately attack.” Alexander’s forces having arrived at the brink of the river, the two armies stood for some time “watching each other in anxious silence.” Then Alexander gave the word of command, and with wild war-shouts, and sound of trumpets, his troops rushed into the river and across, and in a little while had gained the opposite bank. The Persian army was annihilated. Of the Persian troops about 20,000 were killed, and about 2,000 were taken prisoners; while of Alexander’s soldiers there were only 115 killed, and about 1150 wounded. “No victory could be more decisive or terror-striking than that of Alexander” at the Granicus. “There remained no force in the field to oppose him.... Such exploits, impressive even when we read of them now, must at the moment when they occurred have acted most powerfully upon the imagination of contemporaries.”—Grote, chap. 92, par. 39-50; Rollin, Hist. Alexander, sec. 3, par. 10-15. SITI October 8, 1885, page 596.1

“The battle of Granicus threw open to Alexander the whole of Asia Minor. There was no force left in the entire country that could venture to resist him, unless protected by walls. Accordingly, the Macedonian operations for the next twelve months, or nearly the whole space that intervened between the battles of the Granicus and of Issus, consisted of little more than a series of marches and sieges.”—Seven Great Monarchies, Fifth Mon., chap. 7, par. 195. Encyc. Brit., art. Macedonian Empire. SITI October 8, 1885, page 596.2

Alexander gave his army a few months’ rest at Gordium, the capital of Phrygia, in the latter part of the winter and early spring of 333 B.C. Having received re-enforcements to the amount of 3,650 troops, he set out, the latter part of May, to the southeastward through Phrygia, Cappadocia, and Cilicia. SITI October 8, 1885, page 596.3

In the year that had passed since the battle of the Granicus, Darius had succeeded in gathering together a vast host, numbering at the very lowest estimate 311,200, and at the highest 600,000; the weight of authority favors placing the real number at about 500,000. Accompanied by his mother, his wife, his concubines, his children, and all the personal attendants of every description that pertain to the palace and the harem, Darius in person led his army out of Babylon just about the time that Alexander with his little band of less than 40,000, left Gordium. In the camp, all the luxury of the palace was maintained by the king and his Persian grandees. SITI October 8, 1885, page 596.4

“The baggage was enormous; of gold and silver alone, we are told that there was enough to furnish load for 600 mules and 300 camels. A temporary bridge being thrown over the Euphrates, five days were required to enable the whole army to cross.... At the head of such an overwhelming host, Darius was eager to bring on at once a general battle.”—Grote, chap. 93, chap. 18, 19. SITI October 8, 1885, page 596.5

Alexander, being by a fever delayed at Tarsus (“no mean city,” by the way), the two armies did not meet till November, and then at Issus, where was fought the second battle between Grecia and Persia. The city of Issus, near which the battle was fought, lay at the extreme northeastern point of the Mediterranean Sea. Here, between the base of the mountains and the sea, on the borders of the Gulf of Issus, was a tract of flat land, nowhere more than a mile and a half wide. In this narrow space, on the north bank of the River Pinarus, Darius wedged 200,000 men. Of course this made his ranks so deep that the rest of his army had no room to act, and so they remained, to the number of about 250,000, useless and unformed in the rear. SITI October 8, 1885, page 596.6

On the south side of the River Pinarus, Alexander formed his forces, so in this position the Pinarus flowed between the two armies as did the Granicus at the battle that was fought there. The battle began by the advance of Alexander. Leaving 300 of his cavalry to hold in check 20,000 Persians that threatened his right flank, he moved onward his whole line at a slow pace till it came within bow-shot of the Persian front, and then gave the command to charge. Alexander with the right of his line charged Darius’s left, which “instantly broke and fled.” Alexander’s left was not so successful, however,—their part of the bank of the river was steep, and defended by stakes, and besides this, the Persian right showed a stubborn resistance; nor was it until Alexander had returned from the rout of Darius’s left, and attacked in flank the remaining forces, that his own left gained any headway; then, however, that part of the Persian line was driven back, and the rout became general. SITI October 8, 1885, page 596.7

Then the vast multitude confined in so narrow a space, horses, and chariots, and men, rushing headlong hither and thither in their frantic efforts to escape, only made the slaughter more dreadful. One hundred and ten thousand of the Persian army were slain, and 40,000 were made prisoners. Among the prisoners was Darius’s whole family. He himself managed to gather up 4,000 of the flying troops, and made no tarrying until he put the Euphrates between himself and Alexander. Besides these, 8,000 hired Greeks held together in one body, and made their way to Tripolis on the coast of Phenicia, where they found the vessels that had brought them over; these they seized and escaped to Cyprus, and then to Egypt. And that was all that was left of the immense host that Darius brought to the battle of Issus. No attempt was made to rally or re-form the flying fugitives, and so the second time a Persian army was annihilated by Alexander; this time with a loss to himself of only 450 killed, and 504 wounded. “No victory recorded in history was ever more complete in itself, or more far-stretching in its consequences, than that of Issus.” As the battle of Granicus gave to Alexander all Asia Minor, so the battle of the Issus laid at his feet Egypt and all of Asia west of the Euphrates. Grote, chap. 93, par. 1-33; “Seven Great Monarchies,” Fifth Mon. chap. 7, par 196-202; Rollin, “Hist. Alexander,” sec. 5. SITI October 8, 1885, page 596.8

But Darius was yet alive and free, and one more blow must be struck, and only one, before the proud Persian ascendancy is destroyed. It was “twenty months” after the battle of Issus before Alexander set his forces in motion toward the interior of the Persian Empire. By this time—about June 331—Darius had succeeded in gathering together at Arbela, an army of more than a million of men. SITI October 8, 1885, page 596.9

“The forces which he had collected for the final struggle comprised—besides Persians, Babylonians, Medes, and Susianians from the center of the empire—Syrians from the banks of the Orontes, Armenians from the neighborhood of Ararat, Cappadocians and Albanians from the regions bordering on the Euzine, Cadusians from the Caspian, Bactrians from the Upper Oxus, Sogdians from the Jaxartes, Arachosians from Cabul, Arians from Heart, Indians from Punjab, and even Sace from the country about Kashgar and Yarkand, on the borders of the Great Desert of Gobi. Twenty-five nations followed the standard of the great king, and swelled his vast army, which amounted (according to the best authorities) to above a million of men. Every available resource that the empire possessed was brought into play, Besides the three arms of cavalry, infantry, and chariots, elephants were, for perhaps the first time in the history of military science, marshalled in the battle-field, to which they added an unwonted element of grotesqueness and savagery.”—Seven Great Monarchies, Fifth Mon., chap. 7, par. 207 (11th from the end). SITI October 8, 1885, page 596.10

Alexander crossed the Euphrates at Thasacus (the modern Deir); marched northeastward and crossed the Tigris about thirty-five miles above the site of Nineveh; turned to the right and marched for four day down the Tigris. The fourth day he met a body of Persian cavalry, which he scattered, taking some prisoners from whom he learned that Darius with his whole army was only a few miles away. At this he halted and gave his army a rest of four days. While it was yet dark, the morning of the fifth day he advanced with the intention of attacking Darius at break of day. However, when he reached the plain immediately in the Persian front, he saw that some of the ground was freshly broken, and fearing that pitfalls had been prepared for his army, he delayed the attack, and spent the day in carefully surveying the field. SITI October 8, 1885, page 596.11

“The spot predetermined for a pitched battle, was the neighborhood of Gaugamela, near the river Bumodus, about thirty miles west of Arbela, towards the Tigris, and about as much southeast of Mosul, a spacious and level plain, with nothing more than a few undulating slopes, and without any trees. It was by nature well adapted for drawing up a numerous army, especially for the free manœuvres of cavalry, and the rush of scythed chariots; moreover the Persian officers had been careful beforehand to level artificially such of the slopes as they thought inconvenient. [This was what caused Alexander to suspect pitfalls.] In the ground, there seemed everything to favor the operation both of the vast total, and the special forces, of Darius; who fancied that his defeat at Issus had been occasioned altogether by his having adventured himself in the narrow defiles of Cilicia, and that on open and level ground, his superior numbers must be triumphant. For those who looked only to numbers, the host assembled .. might well inspire confidence, for it is said to have consisted of 1,000,000 of infantry, 40,000 cavalry, 200 scythed chariots, and fifteen elephants.”—Grote, chap. 93, par. 72, 73. SITI October 8, 1885, page 596.12

The next morning Alexander marshaled his army, consisting of 40,000 infantry, and 7,000 cavalry. As at Issus, Alexander led the right and Parmenio the left. In fact the whole conflict was hardly more than a repetition of the battle of Issus. Alexander defeated the Persian left, and got near enough to hurl a spear at Darius which killed his charioteer. At this the cry was raised that Darius had fallen, the Persian ranks at once grew unsteady, and presently began to break and fly. Darius, seeing this, and being in imminent danger from Alexander, yielded to the general alarm and fled, and with him, fleeing in every direction, went the whole of the left and center of his army. The Persian right, however, stoutly withstood Parmenio until Alexander had routed the rest of the army, and was recalled to attack these in flank, then, seeing that all hope of success was gone, they too quitted the field. Then the terror began. The Persians hurrying to cross the river Zab, were pursued by the conquerors, who slew the unresisting fugitives, till they were weary of slaughter. SITI October 8, 1885, page 596.13

“The prodigious army of Darius was all either killed, taken, or dispersed, at the battle of Arbela.... The miscellaneous contingents of this once empire, such at least, among them, as survived, dispersed to their respective homes, and could never be again mustered in mass. The defeat of Arbela was in fact the death-blow of the Persian Empire. It converted Alexander into the great king, and Darius into nothing better than a fugitive pretender.”—Grote, chap. 93, par. 88. SITI October 8, 1885, page 596.14

A. T. J.

“Notes on the International Lesson. 2 Kings 12:1-15. The Temple Repaired” The Signs of the Times 11, 38, p. 598.

OCTOBER 25. 2 Kings 12:1-15

THE subject of this lesson is, “The Temple Repaired,” but before we notice that, we shall have to inquire how it became necessary that the temple should be repaired. Jehoram, the son of Johosphaphat, married Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and this carried into the kingdom of Judah all the corruptions of the house of Israel; for, says the record, “He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab; for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife.” The Arabians came and slew all of Jehoram’s sons except Ahaziah, the youngest; Jehoram died; and Ahaziah went down to see Joram of Israel just at the time when Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, and Jehu slew him with the princes of the house of Ahab. And even while he lived “his mother was his counselor to do wickedly.” SITI October 8, 1885, page 598.1

WHEN Athaliah learned that Ahaziah was dead, “she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah.” But Jehoshabeath, the sister of Ahaziah, was the wife of Jehoiada the priest, and she secured Joash, who was about a year old, and fled with him to the temple, where she hid him and his nurse, and there he was kept under the care of Jehoiada the priest, six years. This left Athaliah, the daughter of Jezebel, in authority in the kingdom of Judah. She, being the true daughter of her mother, forced the worship of Baal upon the people of Judah as her mother had forced it upon Israel. She built a house for Baal, and robbed the house of the Lord of its ornaments and decorations and wealth, to furnish the house of Baal. When Joash was seven years old, Jehoiada laid plans to proclaim him king. “And he set all the people, every man having his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple, along by the altar and the temple, by the king round about. Then they brought out the king’s son, and put upon him the crown, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, God save the king.” SITI October 8, 1885, page 598.2

“NOW when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the house of the Lord; and she looked, and, behold, the king stood at his pillar at the entering in, and the princes and the trumpets by the king: and all the people of the land rejoiced, and sounded with trumpets, also the singers with instruments of music, and such as taught to sing praise. Then Athaliah rent her clothes, and said, Treason, Treason.” Then Athaliah was slain, “and Jehoiada made a covenant between him, and between all the people, and between the king, that they should be the Lord’s people. Then all the people went to the house of Baal, and brake it down, and brake his altars and his images in pieces, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.” Thus Baal was destroyed out of Judah also. SITI October 8, 1885, page 598.3

THEN under the guidance and wise counsel of Jehoiada, Joash carried forward the good work of reformation, and gave orders that the temple that had been rifled by Athaliah should be repaired. But, although the people were willing and gave of their means for the purpose, it seems that the priests, to whom was given the charge, were unfaithful; for the donations continued twenty-three years, yet nothing was done for the house of the Lord. It appears that the priests who had charge of the matter had gone so far as to even keep for themselves the means dedicated to the house of the Lord. “Then king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and the other priests, and said unto them, Why repair ye not the breaches of the house? now therefore receive no more money of your acquaintance, but deliver it for the breaches of the house. And the priests consented to receive no more money of the people, neither to repair the breaches of the house.” SITI October 8, 1885, page 598.4

THEN “Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one cometh into the house of the Lord; and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord. And it was so, when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king’s scribe and the high priest came up, and they put up in bags, and told the money that was found in the house of the Lord. And they gave the money, being told, into the hands of them that did the work, that had the oversight of the house of the Lord; and they laid it out to the carpenters and builders, that wrought upon the house of the Lord. And to masons, and hewers of stone, and to buy timber and hewed stone to repair the breaches of the house of the Lord, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it.” SITI October 8, 1885, page 598.5

THIS time they found honest men to do the business—so strictly honest, indeed, that it was not necessary to reckon with them, for we read, “They reckoned not with the men, into whose hand they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen: for they dealt faithfully.” SITI October 8, 1885, page 598.6

WE cannot be any too careful with the house of the Lord. The Lord himself has great care for the place of his worship, and we are doing his will when we have a care for it. Once as David sat in his house, Nathan was sitting by, and David spoke to him, saying, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.” That very night the Lord appeared to Nathan, and told him to go and tell David that he should not build the house himself, but that his son should build it, and also to say to David, “Also the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house.... And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee; thy throne shall be established forever.” 2 Samuel 7:1-16. Thus we see that a thought of David’s, concerning the house of the Lord, is rewarded with eternal glory. There is a thought that bears fruit to all eternity. SITI October 8, 1885, page 598.7

AT another time the house of the Lord was desolate, and the people regarded it carelessly, although they themselves dwelt in good houses. And at the same time they made excuses that they could not build the house because they were not doing well financially. Their crops failed; their money seemed to slip away unawares; and their clothing did not wear as well as it ought. But the very thing which they made an excuse for not building the house was the result of their not building it. Then the Lord said, “Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.” Haggai 1:7-9. SITI October 8, 1885, page 598.8

AGAIN we say, The Lord has a care for the place of his worship, and he not only wants his people to have a care for it, but he richly rewards such care. But such a care as he regards is not that kind in which the place of his worship is fitted up for theatricals, operatic airs, feasts, and festivals. SITI October 8, 1885, page 598.9

A. T. J.