Under these favoring auspices, the work | dice him against the inhabitants of Judah proceeded with renewed spirit; and four and Jerusalem. But the king confirmed years after, being the sixth of Darius (B. C. in every particular the grants made by his 516), the temple was completed. It was father. It was father. Xerxes is the Ahasuerus of Ezra dedicated with great solemnity, of which iv. 6. (See also Joseph. Antiq., xi. 4, 8; there has ever since been an annual com- xi. 5, 1.) memoration in "The Feast of Dedication. He was succeeded in B. C. 464 by his In the following month the Passover was son Artaxerxes Longimanus, whose protracted. celebrated in a regular and solemn manner, reign was replete with incidents most imporfor the first time since the restoration. The tant and interesting to the Jews. At the temple service was then re-established as beginning of it they began regularly tc before the Captivity; Jeshua, the high-rebuild Jerusalem, and to surround it by priest, encouraging the other priests and the a wall. But they were stopped in their Levites by his example to attend to their work by an order from the king, in consepeculiar duties. quence of a letter of complaint from the The Jews appear to have been undisturbed principal Samaritan officers, who described during the remainder of the thirty-six years Jerusalem, truly enough, as "a rebellious and warned him that if the in which Darius reigned. It is possible, and bad city; indeed, that some difficulty arose in the lat-city were rebuilt and fortified, the inhabitter years of that reign from their relation to auts were sure to prove seditious as in the Persian empire. Darius, whose whole former times, and would be likely to raise reign was occupied in foreign and generally up troubles, and endanger the Persian dosuccessful war, had then extended his oper- minion in that quarter. They appealed to ations westward. After the Persians had the archives of the empire to prove that the lost the battle of Marathon in B. C. 490, town had been demolished and dismantled Darius made immense preparations for re- on account of its rebellion and seditions. newing the war, which kept all Asia in a The records were accordingly consulted, and ferment for three years: in the fourth Egypt the fact being found as thus stated, the king revolted, which occasioned the division of delayed not to send a letter authorizing the the army into two, one to act against Greece, Samaritan chiefs to stop the work until and the other against Egypt. But just as further orders. This they forthwith did, all preparations were completed, Darius died, and with no gentle hand.* This opposition B. C. 485. Now, as the rendezvous of the of the Samaritans was remarkably wellarmy in this expedition against Egypt was timed, and hence, in all probability, its sucin the neighborhood of the Hebrew territory, cess. Immediately on the death of Xerxes, it is in every way likely that the Jews were Egypt had again revolted from the Persian obliged to participate in its operations; or it yoke (Diod. lib. iii.); the Samaritans thereis possible that they obtained an exemption fore could not have chosen a fitter opportufrom personal service on condition of sup-nity to carry their point, or a stronger arguplying the army with provisions. Xerxes completed the intentions of his father as to Egypt, which he succeeded in again bringing under the Persian yoke. His subsequent gigantic plans and operations against Greece, however important, claim no notice in this place. As the resources of the empire were on this occasion taxed to the uttermost, there is no reason to suppose that the Jews were able to avoid contributing toward this vast undertaking, either by their property or personal service, or by both. At the commencement of his reign the Samaritans made some attempt to preju * Ezra iv. 6-23. The whole passage is referred to this reign in the text (after Howe and Hales), under the impression that where it stands in the ment to work upon the king's fears, than the danger that might result from allowing the Jews to fortify their city. For, strengthened and increased as they were in the seventytwo years since their return, it might be apprehended that, as in former times, they would not only themselves follow the example of Egypt by refusing to pay tribute, but that they might offer serious obstruction to the Persian army to be employed in the reduction of Egypt, in going or returning through Palestine. After he had subdued all his domestic foes and competitors for the crown, Artaoriginal narrative it is an historical anticipation, and not in its proper chronological place. bear rule in his own house! So Vashti was deposed; and, ultimately, a beautiful Jewish damsel named Esther was promoted to her place, in the fourth year of Artaxerxes. xerxes, in the third year of his reign, cele- | sary that the queen should be deposed, and brated at Susa the general and protracted that the act of deposition should be accomrejoicing which usually attended the settle- panied by a decree that every man should ment of a new king on the throne. At a public banquet, the king, in his cups probably, had the folly to send for the queen, Vashti, that the banqueters might be witnesses of her extreme beauty. An order so repugnant to the customs of women, the The king had now leisure to turn his queen was under the necessity of disobeying, attention to Egypt, and in the course of the and disobedience, whatever were the cause, expedition to bring that country back to its could not be allowed to pass unpunished. subjection, which was happily concluded in All the sages of Persia held that, to prevent the sixth year of his reign. He had probathe evil effects of this example, it was neces-bly sufficient opportunity to become ac quainted with the present character and tify abuses, to enforce the observance of the law, to punish the refractory with fines, im prisonment, banishment, or even with death, according to the degree of their offences. He was also permitted to make a collection for the service of the temple among those Hebrews who chose to remain in the land of their exile; and the king and his council not only largely contributed toward the same object, but the ministers of the royal revenues west of the Euphrates were charged to furnish Ezra with whatever (within certain limits) of silver, corn, wine, oil and salt (without limit) which he might require for the service of the temple. Such persons of the Hebrew race as thought proper to return was certainly perfectly competent for Esther with Ezra to their own land, were permitted to make the king better acquainted with the and invited to do so. From the whole tenor claims of the God she served and of the of this commission it is evident that the God people to whom she belonged; nor should of the Hebrews was still held in high she be blamed for employing, or the king respect at the Persian court; and, by a new for receiving, such influence. But there concession, all his ministers, even to the were other and adequate means through lowest nethinim, were exempted from trib- which "the great king" might acquire this ute, and thus put on an equality with the knowledge, at which he certainly arrived. Persians and Medes. For these favors some To the series of splendid acknowledgments writers would assign "the solicitations of extracted from these illustrious monarchs Esther" as the motive. But it is not clear through the captivity and vassalage of the that the king knew she was a Jewess. It Jews, let us add that of Artaxerxes, whose commission to Ezra orders: "Whatsoever where the number assembled was found to is commanded by THE GOD OF HEAVEN Consist of sixty "houses," containing one let it be diligently done for the house of thousand seven hundred and fifty-four THE GOD OF HEAVEN; lest there be wrath (adult?) males, so that, with women and [from Him] against the realm of the king children, there were probably not less than and his sons. six thousand persons. When Ezra surveyed this party it was with much chagrin that he found not one of the tribe of Levi among them, notwithstanding the exemption from tribute; and it was not without difficulty that two families of priests were induced to join the emigrants. It is worthy of remark, however, that the decree of Artaxerxes was limited to the same object the temple-as the edicts of former kings; and that no mention is made of the walls, from which it appears that the king was not yet prepared to concede that Jerusalem should be fortified. The rendezvous of the party gathering for this second caravan was by the River Ahava, Considering the treasure with which they were charged, and the number of helpless women and children of the party, there was himself, who was destroyed with all his family, and Mordecai (by virtue of an old and neglected service) promoted to his place. In the narrative of this transaction, the attention is arrested by the further illustration, offered in the case of Haman and afterward of Mordecai, of the distinction and wealth which foreigners and captives-or, at least, persons of foreign and captive origin were enabled to attain. The rank much ground to apprehend danger from the Arabs infesting the desert over which the caravan must pass, and who then, as now, were wont to assault, or at least to levy large contributions, on caravans too weak or too timid to resist them. Ezra therefore appointed a special season for fasting and prayer beside the river, that they might, as it were, throw themselves upon the special protection and guidance of Jehovah: for, as Ezra ingenuously confesses, "I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen is obvious; and as to the wealth they were to defend us against the enemy by the way; because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him, but his power and his wrath is against all that forsake him.'" Their confidence was not in vain, for they all arrived safely at Jerusalem after a journey of four months. They set out on the first month of the seventh year of the king's reign, and reached their destination on the first day of the fifth month, B. C. 457. Of all the improvements and regulations which Ezra introduced into Judæa, the book which bears his name only records his exertions in removing the heathen women with whom matrimonial connections had very generally been formed by the Jews-to such an extent indeed that even the sons of the high-priest Jeshua, and many of the other priests, had fallen into this grievous error. To annul these marriages, was a measure, however harsh to the natural affections, indispensably necessary as a security against a relapse into idolatry. allowed to acquire, no more striking illustration can be afforded than by the fact that Haman, to gratify his barbarous whm, was in a condition to offer the king a gratuity of ten thousand talents of silver, to defray the probable deficiency of the royal revenue by the proscription of the Jews throughout the empire. This the king declined accepting. The amount, computed by the Babylonish talent, would be upward of two millions sterling; and this, it appears, was considerably short of the full amount of the Jewish tribute. On this occasion, we also have another example of the mischievous consequences which might result from the king being unmindful of the heavy responsibility of caution, which was designed to be imposed by the well-meant law which precluded his decrees from being changed or repealed. For when Artaxerxes became convinced of the grievous wrong into which he had been led in decreeing the massacre of the Jews, it was beyond his power to recall the order he had issued. All he could do was to despatch swift couriers with a counter decree, empowering the Jews to stand upon their defence when assaulted, with the aid of whatever moral advantage they might derive from this indication of the present intentions of the king. On the appointed day, which had been destined to sweep the race of Israel from the face of the earth, the Jews were by no means wanting to themselves. They repelled their assailants by force of arms, and that with such effect, that in Susa itself eight hundred men fell by their hands, and in the different provinces seventy-five thousand. The slaughter among the Jews themselves is not stated, but must have been considerable. While Ezra was thus, and by other means, laboring to raise the character and improve the condition of the Hebrews in Judæa, all the Jews in the Persian dominions were suddenly threatened with entire extermination. Haman, an Amalekite, and as such, an inveterate foe of the Hebrew nation, occupied the chief place in the confidence and service of the Persian king. His paltry pride being irritated by the apparent disrespect of a Jewish officer, named Mordecai (the uncle of Queen Esther, but not known as such), he laid a plot for the massacre of the whole nation and the spoliation of their goods. The book of Esther, to which we must refer the reader, relates at large the particulars of the plot, and shows how the machinations of the Amalekite were defeated This great deliverance has ever since been by the address and piety of Queen Esther, commemorated by the annual feast of Purim, and turned upon the unprincipled contriver or of Lots, so called from the lots which were superstitiously cast by Haman to find a propitious day for the massacre. It was not until the twentieth year of his reign that Artaxerxes granted the longdelayed permission to build the walls of Jerusalem. It was then obtained at the instance of a Jew named Nehemiah, who held at the Persian court the high and confidential office of cup-bearer, or butler. He had become acquainted with the mortifications and insults to which the inhabitants of Jerusalem were exposed through the defenceless condition of their city; and the depression of his spirits, in consequence, was too strongly marked on his countenance to pass unnoticed by the king, who demanded the cause of his sadness. As it was no ordinary misdemeanor to exhibit sadness in the presence of "the king of kings," Nehemiah was much alarmed, but answered, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad when the city, the place of fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?" The king encouraged him to declare his wishes freely, and the result was that Artaxerxes consented to dispense with his services at court for a few years, and gave him the appointment of tirshata, or civil governor, of Judæa, in succession to Zerubbabel, whose death about this time might furnish an additional reason for the appointment (Neh. xii. 47). This would not interfere with the commission of Ezra, which was chiefly of an ecclesiastical nature, and who, by the discharge of his proper function of teaching the law to the people, would give the new governor important co-operation. my the other to labor and build; and even the builders "with one hand wrought in the. work, and with the other held a weapon. Thus, by the most noble exertions, the whole wall, which was distributed in lots among the priests and chiefs of the people, was finished, with all the towers and gates, in the short space of fifty-two days. On the commission of Nehemiah, Hales, following the acute observations of Howes, remarks: "This change in the conduct of Artaxerxes, respecting the Jews, may be accounted for upon sound political principles, and not merely from regard to the solicitations of his cup-bearer or the influence of his queen. "Four years before, in the sixteenth year of his reign, Artaxerxes, who, after the reduction of Egypt, had prosecuted the war against their auxiliaries, the Athenians, suffered a signal defeat of his forces by sea and land, from Cimon the Athenian general, which compelled him to make an inglorious peace with them, upon the humiliating conditions, 1, that the Greek cities throughout Asia should be free and enjoy their own laws; 2, that no Persian governor should come within three days' journey of any part of the sea with an army; and 3, that no Persian ships of war should sail between the northern extremity of Asia Minor and the boundary of Palestine, according to Diodorus Siculus (lib. xii.). Thus excluded from the whole line of sea-coast, and precluded from keeping garrisons in any of the maritime towns, it became not only a matter of prudence but of necessity to conciliate the Nehemiah was commissioned to build walls Jews; to attach them to the Persian interest, and gates to the town, to erect a palace for and detach them from the Grecians by furhimself and future governors, and afterward ther privileges; that the Persians might to rebuild the city. All this he accomplished have the benefit of a friendly fortified town with singular zeal, ability, and disinterested- like Jerusalem, within three days' journey ness, in the course of his administration of of the sea, and a most important pass to keep twelve years, to which his leave of absence up the communication between Persia and from the Persian court extended. He Egypt; and, to confirm this conjecture, we had to encounter much opposition and may remark that in all the ensuing Egyptian many threats from the chiefs of the sur-wars, the Jews remained faithful to the Perrounding nations,- Sanballat the Samari- sians; and even after the Macedonian invatan, Tobiah the Ammonite, the Arabians, sion: - and surely some such powerful and the remnant of the Philistines. But Nehemiah piously encouraged the people to rely on JEHOVAH, and "to fight for their brethren, their sons and their daughters, their wives and their homes.' And he divided them into two parts, one to fight and motive must have been opposed in the king's mind to the jealousy and displeasure this measure must unavoidably excite in the neighboring provinces hostile to the Jews, whose remonstrances had so much weight with him formerly. It was necessary, there |