Yr. of Fl. 1826.

522.

The building obAructed by the Sama

them leave to obftruct the execution; fo that the work, though it was not wholly fuppreffed, went at least very heavily on during his whole reign, which lafted but feven years and five months.

Cambyfes being dead, and one of the magi having mounted the throne (F), the Samaritans failed not to Ante Chr. renew the accufation against the Jews to that ufurper; they represented to him, that this nation had been always famed for rebellion, for the truth of which they appealed to ancient records; and added, that if they were fuffered to proceed in rebuilding their city and temple, it would not be long ere they fhook off the yoke. The ufurper, who had been one of the chiefs of the fect of the magi, against whom the Jews were known to be diametrically oppofite in point of religion, did not want any great arguments to induce him to fupprefs them; but fent an immediate decree to them, to defift from their enterprize, and charged the Samaritans to fee it executed. These, therefore, having received the order, went ftraitway with it to Jerufalem, and caufed a total ftop to be put to the work, till the Jews obtained a fresh decree in the second year of Darius his fucceffor's reign, that is, about two years after.

ritans.

The Jews punished neith dearth.

The work refumed.

The Jews, by that time, had been fo difheartened, partly by the conftant oppofition of the Samaritans, and partly by this laft decree, that though the latter ceafed with the discovery and death of the ufurper, yet did they not fhew the leaft readiness to refume their enterprize, till God had punished their indolence with a great dearth, and let them know by his prophet Haggai, it was upon that account that both their harveft and vintage had failed°. This was indeed an effectual argument to awake the zeal of that selfish people, who had by this time taken care to feat themselves in commodious and fumptuous houses, without giving themselves any farther thought about the houfe of God. The prophet was therefore fent to the governor, to the high-prieft, and to the rest of the heads of Judah, to upbraid them with their ingratitude; and, at the fame time, to affure them, that if they would now fet about the work in earneft, God would not only make it profper in their hands, but that he would make • Haggai i. 6. & feq.

(F) This is he whom Ezra calls Artaxerxes, or rather Artahfhafhtha: he is differently named by profane hiftorians,

as Smerdis, by Herodotus; Mardys, by Efchylus; Spendadates, by Ctefias; and Oropaftes, by Juftin.

the

the glory of this fecond temple by far exceed that of the firft. This meffage had at length the desired effect; and the people, roufed by these promifes and threats, refumed and pursued the work under the eye and guidance of Haggai and Zechariah P.

In the mean time the Samaritans, who kept a watch- Tatnai ful eye over them, applied to Tatnai, whom Darius comes to had made governor of Syria and Palestine, and ac- Jerufalem. quainted him, that this enterprize was refumed, not only against the king's order, but to the manifeft detriment of his realm. They expected, probably, that this new governor would have immediately fuppreffed that work; but he, being a man of more temper and moderation, repaired to Jerufalem, accompanied by fome of his counfellors, and one Shetharboznai, who is fuppofed to have been governor of Samaria, and enquired of the Jews-by what authority they proceeded in the work. Zerubbabel and Jefhua acquainted him with the decree they had formerly obtained from Cyrus; and at the same time produced the facred veffels, which that monarch had ordered to be restored to them, in order to renew the worship of God in Jerufalem. Tatnai, having received this answer, thought the matter of too great confequence to interpose, until he had fent a full account of it to Darius, and defired that fearch might be made concerning that decree. It was accordingly found among the records that were Darius's kept in the palace of Ecbatan, where Cyrus was at the decree. time of his granting it; and Darius, out of refpect to that great monarch, two of whofe daughters he had then married, readily confirmed it by a new edict, in which all the grants of the former were repeated and ratified, with this fevere penalty annexed, that whofoever fhould prefume to contravene or obstruct it, his house should be pulled down, and himself hanged on a gallows made of the timber. The execution of the decree was committed to Tatnai and Shetharboznai, and was brought to them accordingly much about the beginning of the fourth year of Darius's reign, and by them communicated to the Jews.

It was then that the building began to rife apace, fince they were now not only free from any obftructions from their enemies, but were fupplied, by the king's order, with all the neceffaries towards the expence of it, out of the treasury of that province: this addition of the king's bounty, joined to the offerings, which both they of PalefP Ezra v. 1, & feq. Zechar. i. 1, & feq. q Ezra vi, 6, & feq. Jofeph, Antiq. lib. xi. cap. 4.

Yr. of Fl. 1830. Ante Chr.

518.

The temple finished.

Samari

tans refufe to pay to zt.

tine, and their brethren abroad, paid towards it, caufed fuch a dispatch in the work, that it was completely finifhed in three years; that is, in the fixth year of Darius, and in the month Adar, which is the laft of the Jewish year, anfwering in part to our February. The dedication was celebrated with folemnity and joy, and with abundance of facrifices; after which they prepared tbemfelves for the approaching feftival of the Paflover', at which many of their brethren from other provinces affifted and from this time we reckon the complete restoration of the Jews. Accordingly, when thofe that dwelt in Babylon fent about this time to Jerufalem, to enquire of the prophets, whether they might not thenceforward defift from keeping the fafts of the fifth and feventh months (G), Zechariah, among other things contained in the feventh and eighth chapters of his prophecies, tells them that they had now kept those fafts seventy years. In memory of this decree, which was given from Shufhan, or Sufa, the Jews gave the name of Shushan to the eastern gate of the outward temple-wall, and caufed a bas-relief of that metropolis to be fet up over it, which continued there till its total deftruction by the Romans 1.

In the mean time, the mortification which the envious Samaritans received from the king's decree in favour of the Jews, and the wonderful difpatch with which they had finished their temple, ferved only to augment their rancour. They deeply refented their being obliged to pay, not only towards the rebuilding of that edifice, but towards the facrifices and oblations that were daily to be offered up there for the profperity of the king, and the whole realm, as well as for the maintenance of the priests. Therefore, as foon as the temple was finished, though the out-buildings were ftill unrepaired, they made it a pretence for with-holding the usual tribute, alleging, that it was to cease as soon as the building was finished. This refusal obliged the Jews to fend a deputation to Darius, at the head of whom were Zerubbabel, Mordecai, and Ananias, Ezra vi. 15. vii. 6. s Ezra vi. 16, ad fin. * Lightfoot's Profpect of the Temple, chap. iii.

(G) Thefe were fafts which the captive Jews kept in thofe two months, in memory, first, of Jerufalem being firft befieged by Nebuchadnezzar; fecondly, of its being taken by him; thirdly, of its being burnt with

the temple; and, fourthly, for the murder of Gedaliah. All which fafts they keep to this day, though they have fomewhat changed their place in their calendar.

to

to complain of the Samaritans. Darius received them with his ufual benevolence; and, after a full hearing, iffued out a fresh decree, commanding his officers at Samaria to cause the ufual tribute to be paid to the temple; and ordaining that, for the future, on no pretence whatever, the Jews fhould have any cause of complaint upon that article ". After this edict they met with no farther obftacle during the rest of that monarch's reign, which lasted twenty-eight years longer, nor during the twelve years of his fucceffor; but enjoyed a perfect peace, being governed by their high-priests in matters of religion, and in thofe of state by the heads of the tribe of Judah, though ftill in fubjection to the kings of Perfia, and fubordinate Yr. of Fl. to his governors on this fide the Euphrates. Xerxes had no fooner fucceeded his father, than he confirmed all the privileges formerly granted to the Jews. In the third. year of his reign, according to the Alexandrian chronicle, Xerxes. died the Jewith high-prieft Jefhua, in the fifty-third year of his high-priesthood, and was fucceeded by his fon Joiakim. Xerxes, being murdered in the twenty-firft year of his reign, was fucceeded by his fon Artaxerxes, the Ahafuerus of Scripture, the hufband of Efther, and confequently the greatest friend the Jews ever had, either before or fince their restoration.

1890. Ante Chr.

458.

yours the erus, faJews.

Efther, or Hadaffeh, was an orphan of the tribe of Artaxerxes Benjamin, brought up and adopted by her uncle Mordecai; this laft was a defcendent of those who had been brought captives into Babylon, with Jeconiah king of Judah; and, by his conftant attendance at the palace-gate, seems to have been one of the king's porters. He had found interest enough to introduce his niece into the palace, among other beauties who were to be candidates to fucceed the repudiated Vashti; and fhe had already fo captivated the Persian monarch, even before he had fet the diadem on her head, that she could obtain any thing from him which her uncle bid her afk; it being a peculiar privilege of thofe virgins, whenever their turn came to appear before the king, to obtain whatever they requested. It is therefore reasonably fuppofed, that it was by her interest that Ezra, a very learned and zealous Jew, of the house of Ezra fent Aaron (H), obtained an ample commiffion from Arta- into Judæa.

xerxes

x Nehem. xii. 10. Jofeph.

Jofeph. Antiq. lib. xi. cap. iv. ubi fupra, cap. v. y Efther ii. 13, & feq.

4

(H) He calls himself here, the fon of Seraiah, who was according to the Hebrew idiom, the high-priest whom Nebu

chadnezzar

His commiffion.

xerxes to return to Jerufalem, with as many of his nation as were willing to go with him, and there to regulate or reform all matters, whether of church or ftate, as he fhould fee fit.

Ezra ftaid fome days near the river Ahavah, for the reft of his company; and, during that time, being willing to take fome Nethinims with him to Jerufalem to serve there as formerly in the temple, he fent fome of his retinue to Iddo, who was chief of thofe that dwelt near the place Cafiphia (I), from whence he gathered about two hundred and twenty of them, befides fome priefts and Levites; with thefe, having proclaimed a folemn fast, to implore the divine protection, he fet forward, and arrived at Jerufalem on the first day of the fifth month, or the middle of July, that is, after a journey of four months.

At his arrival he opened his commiffion before the whole Jewish affembly, and there delivered to the priests the offerings which had been made by the king, the nobles, and the Babylonish Jews. Having fent to acquaint the governor of Syria and Palestine with the power he had received from the king, he began with appointing judges and magiftrates to reform every thing that was contrary to the law of Mofes; and, pursuant to his commiffion, impowered them to punish offenders, not only with fines, imprisonment, and other leffer punishments, but even with banishment and death, according to the nature of the crime. Ezra continued in the faithful discharge of his authority thirteen years, that is, till he was fucceeded by Nehemiah, who was fent thither with a fresh commiffion from the fame monarch. But, in the mean a Ezra vii. 25, 26.

z Ezra vii. 6, & feq. chadnezzar caused to be flain at the taking of Jerufalem; but, had he been his real son, he must have been at least a hundred and thirty-two years old, fuppofing him to have been an infant when his father died, and fo wholly unfit for fuch a journey and employ; whereas we find him capable of reading the Scriptures to the people from morning to noon, one whole week, and of affifting Nehemiah in his office thirteen years after, when he must have

been at least a hundred and forty-five years old.

(1) It is not eafy to guess what place this was: the text calls it Cafiphia hammakom, Cafiphia the lace. Some have taken it for the Cafpian mountains, fituate between Media and Hyrcania, in the mines of which these captive Nethinims are supposed to have been fent to work; if fo, it is no wonder they fhould be fo ready to em brace the benefit of the king's decree.