led to the discovery of the whole, and even | recovery, and after having distributed presmade known to Herod the part which Antip- ents among his attendants and soldiers, he ater had taken in compassing the death of returned to Jericho. His sufferings were the two sons of the first Mariamne. It not likely to humanize his naturally savage appeared also that the second Mariamne was disposition. a party in this conspiracy, in consequence of which she was divorced, the name of her son was struck out of the king's will, and her father, the high-priest Simon, was deposed from his office, which was given to Matthias the son of Theophilus. On these disclosures, Herod managed to get Antipater back from Rome, without allowing him to become acquainted with what had transpired. On his arrival he was formally accused before Quintilius Varus, the prefect of Syria, who was then at Jerusalem, and was imprisoned until the affair should have been submitted to the judgment of Augustus. Meanwhile Herod, then in the sixty-ninth year of his age, fell ill of that grievous disease of which he died, and which, by some singular dispensation of Providence, appears to have been the peculiar lot of tyrannous and proud sovereigns, and which rendered him wretched in himself and a terror to all around him. A report got into circulation that his disease afforded no chance of his recovery, in consequence of which a dangerous tumult was excited by two celebrated doctors, named Judas and Matthias, who instigated their disciples to pull down and destroy a golden eagle of large size and exquisite workmanship, which had been placed over one of the gates of the temple. Scarcely had this rash act been completed, when the royal guards appeared and seized the two leaders and forty of their most zealous disciples. Some of them were burnt, and others executed in various ways by Herod's order. Being suspected of having privately encouraged the tumult, Matthias was deprived of his high-priesthood, and the office given to Joazar, the brother of his wife. In the mean time the disease of Herod became more loathsome and intolerable. It appears to have been an erosion of the bowels and other viscera by worms, which occasioned violent spasms and the most exquisite tortures, until he at length became a mass of putrefaction. Experiencing no benefit from the warm baths of Calirrhoe beyond Jordan, he gave up all hopes of *The wives of Herod "the Great" were:I. Doris, the mother of Antipater. He was convinced, by the recent outbreak, that his death would occasion no sorrow in Israel, and therefore, to oblige. the nation to mourn at his death, he sent for the heads of the most eminent families in Judæa, and confined them in prison, leaving orders with his sister Salome and her husband Alexas to put them all to death as soon as he should have breathed his last. This sanguinary design was, however, not executed by them. At length Herod received full powers from Rome to proceed against his son Antipater. At this intelligence, the dying tyrant appeared to revive; but he soon after attempted suicide, and although prevented, the wailing cries, usual in such cases, were raised throughout the palace for him, as if he were actually dead. When Antipater in his confinement heard these well-known lamentations, he attempted by large bribes to induce his guard to permit his escape; but he was so universally hated for procuring the death of the sons of Mariamne, that the guard made his offers known, and Herod ordered his immediate execution. On the fifth day after, Herod himself died, shortly before the Passover, in the seventieth year of his age, and the thirty-seventh from his appointment to the throne. Before his death was announced, Salome, as if by his order, liberated the nobles confined in the hippodrome, whose death she had been charged to execute, but dared not, had she been so inclined. corpse, under the escort of his life-guard, composed of Thracians, Germans, and Gauls, was carried with great pomp to Herodium, and there buried. His Herod had ten wives, two of whom bore him no children, and whose names history has not preserved. As it is of some importance to understand clearly the combinations of relationship among his descendants by these different wives, the details in the note below will not be unacceptable to the reader.* Herod was succeeded in the kingdom of Judæa by his son Archelaus, whose evil conduct so displeased the Romans, that they reduced Judea to the form of a Roman II. Mariamne, the daughter of Alexandra. she had province, ruling it by procurators or gov-| brother Philip's wife, and beheaded John ernors, sent and recalled at their pleasure; the Baptist. (See Matt. xiv. 3-10.) 3. the power of life and death was taken out of the hands of the Jews, and vested in the Roman governor; and the taxes being gathered by the publicans, were paid more directly to the emperor. As there are several Herods mentioned in the New Testament, it may not be amiss here to distinguish them, according to the best authority which can be obtained. 1. Herod the king of Judæa (already noticed), who died while Christ was an infant. (See Matt. ii. 19.) 2. His son, Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, who took away his 1. Alexander, who married Glaphyra, the daughter of the king of Cappadocia, by whom he had — Tigranes, king of Armenia, and Alexander, who married a daughter of Antiochus king of Comagene. 2. Aristobulus, who married Berenice the daughter of Salome, the sister of Herod, by whom he had — Herod, king of Chalcis, who married, first, Mariamne, the daughter of Olympias (sister of Archelaus the ethnarch); and afterward his niece Berenice, by whom he had Aristobulus, Berenicicus, and Hyrcanus. The eldest of these, Aristobulus, married Salome (she whose dancing cost John the Baptist his head), then the widow of the tetrarch Philip, by whom he had Agrippa, Herod, and Aristobulus. Agrippa I., king of the Jews, who married Cypros the daughter of (Mariamne's daughter) Salampso, by whom he had Drusius; Agrippa II., who was at first king of Chalcis, and afterward tetrarch of Trachonitis; Berenice, whose second husband was her uncle Herod, king of Chalcis; Mariamne, married first to Archelaus son of Chelcias, and afterward to Demetrius, alabarch of the Jews at Alexandria, by whom she had Berenice and Agrippa; Drusilla, who was first married to Aziz, king of Emesa, and afterward to Felix the Roman procurator of Judæa, by whom she had a son named Agrippa, who, with his wife, perished in the flames of Vesuvius. The third son of Aristobulus the son of Mariamne, was Aristobulus, who married Jotape, daughter to the king of Emesa; and there were two daughters. Herodias, who married, first, Herod (called Philip in the Gospels), son of Herod the Great by the second Mariamne, by whom she had Salome (the dancer), and afterward to his half-brother Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, both her uncles. Mariamne, who married her uncle Antipater. 3. The third son of Mariamne was Herod, who died young while at his studies in Rome. Mariamne had also two daughters: 4. Salampso, who married her cousin Phasael, after having been promised to Pheroras. 5. Cypros, who married Antipater, the son of Salome, sister of Herod the Great. III. Herod's third wife was Pallas, by whom he had a son, Phasael. IV. Phædra, who had a daughter called Roxana, married to a son of Pheroras. That Herod who put the Apostle James to death, and was afterward smitten by the angel of the Lord with a strange and sudden death. (See Acts xii. 2, and ver. 20-23.) Historians consider him the grandson of the first Herod, and the father of King Agrippa, before whom Paul made his defence. The almighty Disposer of all events, at whose nod empires rise and fall, and nations flourish or decay, marks with undeviating attention, and a retributive hand, not only the sins of a people, but the turpitude of those who profess to govern. V. Mariamne, daughter of the high-priest Simon. Herod had by her- Herod-Philip, the first husband of Herodias, by whom he had Salome (the dancing lady), whose first husband was Philip, and her second Aristobulus, the son of Herod king of Chalcis. VI. Malthace, a Samaritan woman, who was mother to Archelaus the ethnarch of Judæa, and Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, who married first a daughter of the Arabian king Aretas, whom he put away, and took Herodias, the wife of his brother Herod-Philip, who was still living. Malthace had also a daughter, Olympias, who married Joseph, a nephew to Herod the Great. VII. Cleopatra, who was the mother of Herod and Philip, tetrarch of Trachonitis, which last married the noted Salome, daughter of HerodPhilip and Herodias. VIII. Elphis had a daughter called Salome, married to a son of Pheroras. The * The title and office of tetrarch had its origin from the Gauls, who, having made an incursion into Asia Minor, succeeded in taking from the king of Bithynia that part of it which from them took the name of Galatia. The Gauls who made this invasion consisted of three tribes; and each tribe was divided into four parts, or tetrarchates, each of which obeyed its own tetrarch. tetrach was of course subordinate to the king. The appellation of tetrarch, which was thus originally applied to the chief magistrate of the fourth part of a tribe, subject to the authority of the king, was afterward extended in its application, and given to any governors, subject to some king or emperor, without regard to the proportion of the people or tribe which they governed. Thus Herod Antipas and Philip were denominated tetrarchs, although they did not rule as much as the fourth part of the whole territory. Although these rulers were dependent upon the Roman emperor, they nevertheless governed the people within their jurisdiction according to their own choice and authority. They were, however, inferior in point of rank to the ethnarchs, who, although they did not publicly assume the name of king, were addressed with that title by their subjects, as was the case, for instance, with respect to Archelaus. (Matt. ii. 22; Jos. Antiq. xvii. 11, 4.) CHAPTER XXVII. PROPHECIES CONCERNING CHRIST. HAVING in the preceding pages given an accurate account of every material occurrence related in the sacred Scriptures, from the creation of the world to the death of the prophet Nehemiah, and thence to the rebuilding of the temple of Jerusalem by Herod, we shall conclude the OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY by devoting a few pages here to the prophecies concerning CHRIST and the Christian religion. The coming of a Saviour, which was the hope of Israel and the expectation of the Jews in every age, is frequently foretold throughout the Old Testament Scriptures. They represent it as announced by the voice of God to the first human pair, and as forming, from the first to the last, the theme of all the prophets. And, however imperfect a summary view of such numerous prophecies must necessarily be, a few remarks respecting them shall be prefixed to the more direct and immediate proofs of the inspiration of Scripture, derived from existing facts, in order that the reader may be rather induced to search the Scriptures to see how clearly they testify of Jesus, than contented to rest satisfied with the mere opening of the subject. THEIR FULFILMENT. 1.) A messenger was to appear before him, the oblation and sacrifice, according to the law of Moses, were there duly and daily offered up-and the time prescribed for the coming of the Messiah had drawn to its A few of the leading features of the close-at the commencement of the Chrisprophecies concerning Christ, and their tian era. Before the public ministry of fulfilment, shall be traced as they mark Jesus, a messenger appeared to prepare his the time of his appearance, the place of his way; and Josephus, in the history of that birth, and the family out of which he was to time, speaks of the blameless life and cruel arise, his life and character, his sufferings death of John that was called the and his death, the nature of his doctrine, Baptist, " and describes his preaching and and the extent of his kingdom. baptism. (Josephus' Antiquities, b. 18, The time of the Messiah's appearance in c. 5, sect. 2.) But every mark that denoted the world, as predicted in the Old Testament, the fulness of the time, and of its signs, is defined by a number of concurring circum-when the Messiah was to appear, was erased stances that fix it to the very date of the soon after the death of Christ, and being advent of Christ. The sceptre was not to fixed to that single period, those marks depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver to cease could no more be restored again than time from among his descendants, till Shiloh past could return. Seventy weeks, or 490 should come. (Gen. xlix. 10.) The desire years, the time determined upon the people of all nations, the messenger of the cove- and the holy city, passed away (Dan. nant, the Lord whom they sought, was to ix. 24). The tribe of Judah were no come to the second temple, and to impart longer united under a king. Banished from to it, from his presence, a greater glory than their own land, and subjected to every opthat of the former. (Hag. ii 7-9; Mal. iii.pression, there was no more a lawgiver of rest, and to which the Gentiles would seek. (Isa. xi 1-10.) It was unto David that a righteous branch was to arise, a king, whose name was to be called the Lord our righteousness. (Jer. xxii. 5, 6.) And it was Judah, little as it was among the thousands of Israel, that he was to come, whose goingsforth had been of old, from everlasting. (Micah. v. 2.) And Jesus is he alone of the seed of the woman, of the descendants of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, of the house of David, in whom all the families of the earth can be blessed; to whom the Gentiles seek, and who, ere the family genealogies of the Jews were lost, was shown by them to be born of the lineage of David, and in the town of Bethlehem. the tribe of Judah, though Judah was he | From the root of Jesse a branch was to grow whom his brethren were to serve. Of the up, on which the spirit of the Lord was to temple one stone was not left upon another. The sacrifice and oblation, which none but priests could offer, altogether ceased when the genealogies of the tribe of Levi were lost, and when the Jews had no temple, nor country, nor priest, nor altar. Ere Jeru- in Bethlehem Ephratah, in the land of salem was destroyed, or desolation had passed over the land of Judæa, the expectation was universal among the Jews that their Messiah was then to appear; and heathen as well as Jewish historians testify of the belief then prevalent over the whole East that the ancient prophecies bore a direct and express reference to that period. And the question might now go to the heart of a Jew, however loath to abandon the long-cherished hope of his race, how can these prophecies be true, if the Messiah be not come? or where, from the first words. of Moses to the last of Malachi, can there be found such marks of the time when Shiloh was to come, or Messiah the prince to be cut off, as pertained to the period when their forefathers crucified Jesus a period which closed over the glory of Judah, and which, in the continued unbelief of the Jews, has not heretofore left, for nearly eighteen centuries, a bright page in their history beyond it? The history of the life of Christ by the four evangelists is simply a record of what he said and did, and his character is illustrated by his words and actions alone. Christians have often tried to delineate it; and if in the attempt their thoughts have harmonized with the divine records, their hearts may well have then felt as it were the impression of that divine image after which man was at first created. Even some who never sought to be the champions of the Christian faith, have been struck with irresistible admiration of the life of its author. Rousseau acknowledges that it would have been nothing less than a miracle that such a character, if not real, could ever have been thought of by fishermen of Galilee. And Lord Byron not only called Christ diviner than Socrates, but he has no less truly than nobly said, that "if ever God was man, or man God, he was both." But the divine character is such as none but a divine hand could draw and seeking in the prophecies what the Messiah was to be, we read what Jesus was while he dwelt among men. Though the countrymen of Christ when he came would not receive him, yet it was of the Jews that Jesus was to come; and the human lineage of the Messiah is as clearly marked in the prophecies as the time of his appearance. The divinity of the person of the Messiah, and his taking upon himself the likeness of sinful flesh, is declared in the Old Testament as well as in the new He whose name was to be called the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty God, was to become a child that was to be born, a son that was to be given. (Isa. ix. 6.) It was the seed of the woman that was to bruise the serpent's head. (Gen. iii. 15.) The line. Thou art fairer than the children of men ; of his descent, according to the flesh, and the grace is poured into thy lips, therefore God place of his birth, were expressly foretold. hath blessed thee forever. The sceptre of It was in the seed of Abraham that all the thy kingdom is a right sceptre- thou lovest nations of the earth were to be blessed. righteousness and hatest iniquity. (Psalm (Gen. xxii. 18.) It was from the midst of xlv. 2, 6, 7.) The spirit of the Lord shall the Israelites, of their brethren, that a rest upon him, the spirit of knowledge and prophet like unto Moses was to arise. of the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge (Deut. xviii. 15.) And he was to be not only after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove of the tribe of Judah (Gen. xlix. 8, &c.), after the hearing of his ears. But with but also of the house or family of David. righteousness shall be judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. | prophetically describe, like a very history of And righteousness shall be the girdle of his the facts, the sufferings and the death of loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. Christ; his rejection by the Jews; his (Isa. xi. 2-5.) He shall feed his flock like humility, his meekness, his affliction, and his a shepherd, he shall gather the lambs with agony; how his words were disbelieved; how his arm, and carry them in his bosom. (Isa. his state was lowly; how his sorrow was xl. 11.) He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor severe; how his visage and his form were cause his voice to be heard in the streets. A marred more than the sons of men; and how bruised reed shall he not break, and the he opened not his mouth but to make intersmoking flax shall he not quench. (Isa. xlii. cession for the transgressors. In direct oppo2, 3.) Thy king cometh unto thee: he is sition to every dispensation of Providence just, and having salvation, lowly, and which is registered in the records of the Jews, riding upon an ass. (Zech. ix. 9.) He hath this prophecy represents spotless innocence done no violence, neither was there any suffering by the appointment of Heaven deceit in his lips. (Isa. liii. 9.) He was death as the issue of perfect obedience oppressed and afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth, he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. (Isa. liii. 7.) I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheek to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting. (Isa. 1. 6.) He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth. (Isa. xlii. 4.) I have set my face as a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. (Isa. 1. 7.) He shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be in his sight. Men shall be blessed in him- all nations shall call him blessed." Psalm lxxii. 12, 14, 17. The death of Christ was as unparalleled as his life, and the prophecies are as minutely descriptive of his sufferings as of his virtues. His growing up as a tender plant (Isa. liii. 2); his riding in humble triumph into Jerusalem; his being betrayed for thirty pieces of silver (Zech. xi. 12), and scourged, and buffeted, and spit upon; the piercing of his hands and of his feet, and yet every bone of him remaining unbroken; the last offered draught of vinegar and gall; the parting of his raiment, and casting lots upon his vesture (Psalm xxii. 18); the manner of his death and of his burial (Isa. liii. 9), and his rising again without seeing corruption (Psalm xvi. 10), were all as minutely predicted as literally fulfilled. The last three verses of the fifty-second and the whole of the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, written above seven hundred years before the Christian era, and forming, word for word, a part of the Jewish as well as of the Christian scriptures, God's righteous servant as forsaken by him and one who was perfectly immaculate bearing the chastisement of many guilty, sprinkling many nations from their iniquity by virtue of his sacrifice, justifying many by his knowledge, and dividing a portion with the great, and the spoil with the strong, because he had poured out his soul unto death. The prophecies concerning the humiliation, the sufferings, and the cutting-off of the Messiah, need only to be read from the Jewish scriptures, to show that the very unbelief of the Jews is an evidence against them, and the very scandal of the cross a strong testimony to Jesus. For thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, according to the scriptures. And those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. That the Jews still retain these prophecies, and are the means of preserving them and communicating them throughout the world, while they bear so strongly against themselves, and testify so clearly of a Saviour that was first to suffer and then to be exalted, are facts which give a confirmation to the truth of Christianity, than which it is difficult to conceive any stronger. The prophecies that testify of the sufferings of the Messiah need no forced interpretation, but apply, in a plain and literal manner, to the history of the sufferings and of the death of Christ. In the testimony of the Jews to the existence of these prophecies, long prior to the Christian era; in their remaining unaltered to this hour; in the accounts given by the evangelists of the life and death of Christ; in the testimony of heathen authors, and in the arguments of the first opposers |