THE RESTORATION--ARTAXERXES--EZRA--NEHEMIAH

THE RESTORATION--ARTAXERXES--EZRA--NEHEMIAH
GOD HONORED IN SPITE OF ISRAEL'S DISOBEDIENCE
We consider the great argument of the preceding chapter to have been, that the honor of Jehovah was as adequately maintained, and that the knowledge of his claim to be the supreme and only God, to have been even more diffused by the destitution of the Hebrews, than it would even have been by their continuance in their own land. It also appears very clearly to us, that by a succession of such operations as those which elicited the public acknowledgments of Nebuchadnezzar, Darius and Cyrus, and by acts which could not but be known to many nations, these objects might have been promoted as well without as by the restoration of the Hebrew people to their own land, and the re-establishment of the temple service. It may then be asked, why it was expedient that Judah should be at all restored; and, being restored, why Israel--the ten tribes--were not? These interesting questions we can not discuss in the extent which they deserve; but we may suggest, that since, by immutable promises, the privilege had been secured to the seed of Abraham of upholding the standard of divine truth in the world, until “the fulness of times,” and since the nationality of Judah, until then, had been anciently secured by the guarantee of the Lord's promise, it was necessary that a restricted restoration, after punishment and correction, should for these purposes take place. This was all the more necessary, as it was from Judah and from the royal house of David that, as was well known, he was to spring who was to enlighten and redeem the world, and to bring in that new creation for which the moral universe groaned as the times advanced to their completion. For his identity, as the ransomer promised of old, it was necessary that the dying struggles of the Hebrew nationality should not be yet permitted to terminate. And further, inasmuch as the bondage of the Hebrews east of the Euphrates, had tended in no small degree to advance in that quarter the knowledge of the great preparatory principles of which the Jews were the commissioned conservators, it remained for the west to be in like manner allowed to catch such glimmerings of light, as might make the nations impatient of their blindness, and prepare them to hail with gladness the future “day-spring from on high.” And this was, in fact, accomplished by the intercourse of the Hebrews with the western nations--Egypt, Syria, Asia-Minor, Greece, Rome--in subjection, in conflicts, or in commerce.
ISRAEL'S PUNISHMENT WAS GREATER
That Judah was preferred to this vocation, and that the ten tribes were not nationally or formally restored, must be accounted for by the further development of a consideration to which the reader's attention was called in the preceding chapter. The political sins of Judah were there traced to the disposition to lean rather upon men than upon institutions. The sin of Israel was even greater, and merited greater severity of punishment. There, not only was the same disposition exhibited, but the institutions themselves were corrupted, alienated, tortured from the objects for which they were expressly framed, and, with most culpable ingenuity, made subservient to the very circumstances against which they were designed to operate. In Judah, the building of God was indeed often neglected, often allowed to run to ruin; but it was not, as to Israel, made the abiding habitation of unclean and evil things. In Judah, a good king could purge out abuses and correct evils; but in Israel the tampering with institutions was so effective, that the best kings were unable to lay an improving finger on them. For these things Israel was thrown loose from the mercies of God, much sooner than Judah; and the evil had been so heinous and deeply rooted, that no promise or hope of restoration was held forth, nor did any take place.
DISPERSIONS
By the attention which, through the captivity and consequent dispersion of the Jews among what was then (if we except Egypt) the most civilized nation of the world, had been directed to the majesty and providence of Jehovah, we consider that a very important part of the mission confided to the Hebrews was accomplished; for an impression was made, the effects of which may without difficulty be traced to the time of Christ, and, therefore, we are thus brought to a sort of end in the national history of the Hebrew people. Undoubtedly, the real fall of Jerusalem-was that which was wrought by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar; the real destruction was that which the Assyrians worked in the north, and the Babylonians in the south; and the real dispersion of the race was that which took place in consequence of the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. A remnant only was preserved, as necessary for the remaining objects which have just been indicated; and it is the history of that remnant which forms the subject of the present chapters.
CURED OF IDOLATRY
It is unquestionable that this remnant was highly fitted for its vocation. The large mass of the Israelites were natives of the land of their exile, in which they were for the most part so comfortably situated that only those whose religious zeal and sentiments were above the average warmth, would be likely, or did, encounter the dangers of the desert and the inconveniences and anxieties of an unsettled country. The circumstances of the remigration were in fact such as to attract only those who were in the soundest state of moral health. They were also cured of all danger of idolatry, and of all disposition to make light of their own institutions. That the Hebrews as a body profited largely by the correction which they had received, is unquestionable--so largely indeed that under temptations as great as any to which they had in former times yielded, idolatry was ever after their abhorrence. And indeed if, during the period of the captivity, the proudest heathen were made so seriously attentive to the God of Israel, much more were the Hebrews likely to be awakened by the same events to be true to their own God. On this point we copy the remarks of Professor Jahn--
“Among the Hebrews who, agreeably to the sanctions of the law, were punished for idolatry by total banishment from their native land, there were certainly many who did not worship idols; and probably not a few, in consequence of this national judgment, so often predicted, were brought to reflect on and to abhor the superstition which had been the cause of so great a calamity. Others, not wholly relinquishing idolatry, still retained a reverence for Jehovah. They never, like other transplanted nations, intermingled with the people among whom they were settled, but continued a peculiar race. There were doubtless individual exceptions; but the nation as such remained distinct. The intermingling with pagans, and that entire extinction of the Hebrews as a peculiar people which must have resulted from it, was promoted by the rite of circumcision, by the prohibition of many kinds of food allowed among other nations, by ceremonial impurities, and by various other institutions, designed to segregate and consequently to preserve the nation. These usages had by time become a second nature, so that any intimate connection with Gentiles was a matter of considerable difficulty. The ancient favors of Jehovah, the miraculous deliverances which he had vouchsafed exclusively to them, and the promises he had given them for futurity, were not easily forgotten. The fulfillment of so many prophecies respecting the fall of the Assyrian empire and of the city of Nineveh, respecting the Babylonian captivity and the destruction of Jerusalem, must have raised Jehovah to their eyes far above all idols; and the very punishment they were then suffering was well calculated to awaken reflection, and thus become a bitter but powerful antidote to their propensity to idolatry. Many Israelites, therefore, in Assyria and Media (as the book of Tobit testifies) persisted in the sincere worship of Jehovah; neither could the Jews in Babylon, and those by the river Chebar, fall easily into idolatry, while such men as Ezekiel and Daniel were constantly and earnestly reminding them of the God whom they were bound to serve.
“The prophecies of Ezekiel, relating for the most part to events near at hand, were accomplished before the eyes of the unbelieving exiles; and every fulfillment was a new proof that Jehovah, the author of these predictions, was the God and ruler of the world. Thus there were repeated opportunities to remind this superstitious people of Jehovah their God. The remarkable prophecy respecting the conquest and destruction of the powerful city Tyre, which was so speedily accomplished, is particularly worthy of notice. By such striking accomplishments of the prophecies respecting occurrences near at hand, the belief of predictions of more distant events was strengthened, and the eyes of the Hebrews were eagerly directed toward the future.”
Thus, and through the deliverance which Jehovah wrought in behalf of his persecuted servants--and through the acknowledgments which were extorted from the pagan monarchs under whose yoke the necks of Israel and Judah were placed--God pursued them (so to speak) with the efficacious dealings of his providence, with miracles and prophecies, in order to compel them to preserve the true religion, and to place them in a situation in which it would hardly be possible for them to exchange the worship of the creator and governor of the world for the worship of idols. By the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 20:32-44), Jehovah declares in so many words that even if the Hebrews desired to become united with the heathen, it should not be done; and that he would himself find means effectually to prevent the execution of such a design” (Jahn, ii. 1, sect. 53, Ruckker der zehen Stamme).
RESTORATION TO PALESTINE PROPHECIES
That the restoration to Palestine, which now took place, is, at least primarily, that of which the prophets delivered such glowing predictions, very few who carefully examine the subject will find reason to doubt. The more closely the matter is examined, the more clearly the details of the prophecy will be found to agree with this fulfillment. We are quite aware that the large terms and forcible expressions employed by the prophets have led all the Jews and many Christians into the expectation of a more brilliant and complete restoration than on this occasion took place. Our undertaking is however to record past events rather than to undertake the development of prophecies which may be deemed unfulfilled. That these prophecies have a further meaning beyond the literal and primary purport, we take to be evinced not only by the glowing language employed, but by the present condition of the Hebrew nation, “like a column left standing amid the wreck of worlds and the ruins of nature” ('Trans. of the Parisian Sanhedrin,' p. 68, 1807), in which they manifestly remain awaiting destinies yet to come; but that these destinies include the restoration and independent and happy settlement of the nation in Palestine, we hold to be considerably less certain and less important than has of late years been made to appear.
Now, by the decree of Cyrus, the mountains were made low and the valleys filled for the return of the Hebrews to their own land. But seeing that only the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin--conventionally regarded as one tribe--formally returned to Palestine, it becomes an interesting question, What became of the other ten tribes?
CYRUS FREED ALL ISRAELITES
As the invitation of Cyrus was directed to all the people of Jehovah, and proclaimed throughout his empire, there is every reason to conclude that not a few of the ten tribes returned to Palestine. Those who supposed they could improve their condition by removing, would attach themselves here and there to a caravan of merchants, and proceed to the land of their fathers. But as they arrived one after another, and in small companies, their return is not particularly noticed in a history so concise. There might even have been many Israelites in the first great caravan under Zerubbabel; but, however this may be, it is highly probable that the Israelites returned in considerable numbers, as soon as they heard of the settlement of the prosperity of their brethren in Palestine. Most of these arrivals were probably subsequent to the close of the Old Testament canonical history, and when the restored nation had acquired a somewhat settled form. But whether their return were early or late, it is certain that at least a portion of them did return, for the history of later periods mentions Israelites as settled in Galilee and Perea (1Ma_5:9-24) long before the time of Christ. But connecting themselves with the tribe of Judah, they finally lost the name of Israelites, and all Hebrews were indiscriminately designated as Jews.
MANY STAY BEHIND
But since many of the tribe of Judah chose to remain in the land of their exile, it is reasonable to suppose that still greater numbers of the Israelites who had lived in those countries 200 years longer, would feel little inclination to exchange the comforts they there enjoyed for the uncertain advantages of Palestine. But as the jealousy between Judah and Israel had now ceased, according to the predictions of the prophets, those Israelites also who remained in exile joined themselves to the tribe of Judah, which was in the possession of the temple, and, consequently, they too received the denomination of Jews.
On these grounds Professor Jahn conceives that all questions and investigations for the purpose of ascertaining what has become of the ten tribes, and whether it is likely they will ever be discovered, are superfluous and idle. We are not ourselves quite so clear that this is the case. We grant indeed that there is no good reason for expecting to find the remnant of the ten tribes as distinct from the remnant of Judah; but that traces of the Hebrews of both captivities, without distinction of tribes, may be found in the countries in which they were so long located, there is much reason to conclude. We say, in those countries, for the reasons which prevented them from returning to Palestine were as operative in preventing their migration in any other direction. Indeed, while the second temple stood, one would expect that such of them as were disposed to migrate at all, would return to the land of their fathers, as many of them, no doubt, did. But, apart from this preference, there was much reason for their remaining in Media; for the empire which comprehended that country, continued long to be possessed by a nation which was quite able to protect them and make their homes secure; while the religion which it professed was more in agreement with that of Moses, and less revolting to the peculiar notions of the Hebrews, than any other they could find in the world. It is certain also, that for a long course of ages a large remnant of the captivity of Judah remained to Babylonia, and this so much composed of the elite of the nation, as to secure the respect of the Jews who returned to Palestine and multiplied there--all traces of which estimation of the Babylonian Jews is not even at this day wholly obliterated; and this fact would suggest the probability of a similar local fixity of the ten tribes in Media and Assyria. Indeed the probability is the greater, from the fact that in those countries, as history proves, they would be much less liable to be disturbed by wars and troubles than the Jews of Babylonia. It is probably under such a class of impressions, that the Jews themselves have generally been disposed to look for traces of the ten tribes in that direction. Nor, as it would appear, has the search been quite abortive.
JEWISH COLONY FOUND BY BENJAMIN
In the twelfth century of Christ, the district referred to on p375 was visited by the Spanish Jew, Benjamin of Tudela. After speaking of large congregations of Jews in this quarter, he comes to Amaria [which Major Rawlinson regards as the same as Halah, now Holwan], where he found 25,000 Jews. “This congregation forms part of those,” says Rabbi Benjamin, “who live in the mountains of Chaphton, which amount to more than 100, extending the frontiers of Media. These Jews are descendants of those who were originally led into captivity by King Shalmaneser. They speak the Syriac language, and among them are many excellent talmudic scholars.”[375] Benjamin then gives the history of the false Messiah, David El Roy, who sprang from the city of Amaria, and whose romantic history has lately been made familiar to the English public.
[375] The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela. Translated and edited by A. Asher Berlin, 1840.
RAWLINSON'S FIND OF A COLONY
Recently, the Rabbi David D'Beth Hillel has much obscure and dispersed talk about the fragments of the tribes which he found in the same quarter. But the following statement by Major Rawlinson will give more satisfaction to the reader--
“If the Samaritan captives can be supposed to have retained to the present day any distinct individuality of character, perhaps the Kalhurs, who are believed to have inhabited from the remotest antiquity those regions around Mount Zagros, preserve in their name the title of Calah [Halah]. They state themselves to be descended from Roham, or Nebuchadnezzar, the conqueror of the Jews--perhaps an obscure tradition of their real origin. They have many Jewish names among them, and, above all, their general physiognomy is strongly indicative of an Israelitish descent. The Iliyat of this tribe now mostly profess Mohammedanism; but a part of them, together with the Gurans, who acknowledge themselves to be an offset of the Kalhurs, and most of the other tribes of the neighborhood, are still of the 'Ali-Ilahi persuasion--a faith which bears evident marks of Judaism, singularly amalgamated with Sabaean, Christian, and Mohammedan legends. The tomb of Baba Yadgar, in the pass of Zardah, is regarded as their holy place; and this, at the time of the Arab invasion of Persia, was regarded as the abode of Elias. The 'Ali-Ilahis believe in a series of successive incarnations of the godhead, amounting to a thousand and one, Benjamin, Moses, Elias, David, Jesus Christ, Ali, and his tutor Salman, a joint development, the Imam Husein, and the Haf-tan (the seven bodies), are considered the chief of these incarnations. The Haf-tan were seven Pirs, or spiritual guides, who lived in the early ages of Islam, and each, worshipped as the Deity, is an object of adoration in some particular part of Kurdistan--Baba Yadgar was one of these. The whole of the incarnations were thus regarded as one and the same person, the bodily form of the Divine manifestation being alone changed; but the most perfect development is supposed to have taken place in the persons of Benjamin, David, and Ali.” Referring to the passage already adduced from Rabbi Benjamin, the major notices that he appears to have considered the whole of these 'Ali-Ilahis as Jews, and remarks, “It is possible that in his time their religion was less corrupted.”[376]
[376] Geographica Journal,' vol. ix. part 1, p. 36
Abandoning this subject for the present, we may now be allowed to return to the historical narrative.
ZERUBBABEL'S CARAVAN
All obstacles being removed, and every facility afforded, Zerubbabel, the grandson of King Jehoiachin, and Jeshua, a grandson of the high-priest Jozadak, with ten of the principal elders, prepared themselves for the journey home. The number of the remnant who joined these heads of the nation was, in round numbers, 50,000, including 7,337 male and female servants.[377] This large body was composed chiefly, it would seem, of members of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, although the comparatively high number of the re-migrants supports the probability that a considerable proportion were of the ten tribes. The prophet Daniel, who must at this time have been about ninety years old, remained at the court of Cyrus, where he could probably render much more service to his nation than by returning to Palestine.
[377] The number a the congregation was 42,620, which, with 7,337 servants, makes 49,697
Those who were to return assembled from all quarters at an appointed place, according to the usual method of collecting a caravan, furnished with provisions and other things necessary for the journey. Their camels, horses, and beasts of burden, amounted to eight thousand one hundred and thirty-six. Zerubbabel, on whom devolved the serious responsibility of directing this immense caravan, received from Cyrus the sacred vessels of the temple, and was entrusted with the very large contributions toward the rebuilding of the sacred edifice made by those of the Hebrew race who chose to remain behind. Zerubbabel was not only appointed leader or sheikh of the caravan, but the office of governor of Judea was entrusted to him. This appointment may probably be attributed not more to the circumstance which inclined Cyrus to show peculiar favor to the nation, than to the general policy of the Persian kings in leaving the governments of conquered provinces to native governors, whenever this could be done with safety. Several months were consumed in preparations for the journey; and encumbered as they were with baggage and young children, and therefore obliged to travel slowly, the journey itself occupied four months.
SEVENTY YEARS COMPLETED
The “seventy years” of the captivity were completed by the time they arrived; and they were now to settle in their own land, governed by their own laws, and forming a distinct commonwealth. The Persian sovereignty was not a calamity, but a benefit, from the protection and security which it gave to a colony as yet too weak for independence.
FEAST OF TABERNACLES OBSERVED
The people dispersed themselves on their arrival in search of their native cities and of necessaries for their families. But in the following month, being the seventh of the Jewish year, they all assembled at Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of tabernacles. On this occasion an altar was reared upon the ruins of the temple, and the customary sacrifices were offered; and on this altar the daily morning and evening sacrifices were afterward continued.
DISAPPOINTMENT OF NEW TEMPLE
In the second month of the second year of their return, the people again assembled at Jerusalem, to lay the foundation of the temple, the preparations for which, through the voluntary contributions of the people and the elders, were now completed. This was a most joyful occasion to all but the old people; and very loud were the shouts of gladness which were raised: but, loud as were the sounds of rejoicing, they were neutralized by the wailings of the old people, who had seen “the holy and beautiful house” in which their fathers praised Jehovah; and who wept bitterly and loudly at the comparison: for they could perceive that the edifice would neither be so large, so magnificent, nor so richly ornamented as the temple of Solomon. It is true, as appears from the record found at Ecbatana in the time of Darius Hystaspes, that Cyrus, had directed that the temple should be twice as large as that of Solomon, and that the expense should be defrayed from the royal treasury. But either the proper officers had neglected to give effect to these orders, or the Jews were backward to avail themselves of the full extent of the monarch's bounty, lest they should awaken the envy of the worshippers of Ormuzd, and expose themselves to their persecutions. From whatever cause, it is certain that they did not build the temple so large as the decree of Cyrus allowed (Ezra 4:1-5).
SAMARITANS OFFER RESISTANCE
The Persian governors of Syria and Palestine offered no opposition to the settlement of the Jews in their own country or to their proceedings there. No doubt, therefore, orders corresponding to the tenor of the decree under which the restoration took place, had been forwarded to them. This indeed is stated by Josephus, although such orders, being sent direct to the Persian magistrates, are not noticed by Ezra. But opposition, persevering and venomous, came from another and probably unexpected quarter. This was from the colonists whom the Assyrian kings had planted in the land of Israel, and who had intermarried with the remaining Israelites, and now formed one people with them under the name of Samaritans. It does not appear that the Samaritans were, at this time, completely purged of the idolatries which their fathers had brought from foreign lands; yet the measures employed to enlighten them with the knowledge of the true God seem gradually to have produced a considerable effect. The return of the Jews from their seventy years' captivity so clearly evinced the over-ruling providence of Jehovah; that the Samaritans were extremely desirous to join in rebuilding his temple and celebrating his worship: “They said unto the chief of the fathers, 'Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as ye do; and we have done sacrifice to him since the days of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, who brought us up hither.'” This proposal was steadily rejected by the Jews: and, whatever their motives may have been, it is easy to discern important reasons in consequence of which this rejection appears to have been subservient to the purposes of the Divine economy.[378]
[378] “The intermixture of the Samaritans with the Jews might have rendered the accomplishment of the prophecies concerning the family and birth of the Messiah less clear--might have reintroduced idolatry among the restored Jews, now completely abhorrent from it, and in various ways defeated the grand objects of Providence in selecting and preserving a peculiar people. In consequence of this rejection and the alienation it produced, the Jews probably became more vigilant in preserving the strictness, and the Samaritans more jealous in emulating the purity, of the Mosaic ritual. They became hostile, and therefore unsuspected guardians and voucher of the integrity of the sacred text, particularly of the Pentateuch. And while the Jews in general, blinded by their national prejudices, could see in the promised Messiah only a national and temporal deliverer, the Samaritans appear to have judged of his pretensions with more justice and success”--(Dean Graves's “Lectures on the Pentateuch,” p. 347 5th Ed. 1839).
Finding they could not prevail, the Samaritans used every means in their power to thwart the enterprise. Their influence at the Persian court appears to have been considerable, owing perhaps, as Josephus suggests, to their claiming to be of Median and Persian origin. Through this influence they managed, during the latter days of Cyrus, who was either absent in foreign wars or not at leisure to attend to such provincial matters, to oppose such obstacles to the progress of the work that the people got disheartened, and discontinued the building. This discouragement continued during the succeeding reigns of Cambyses and of Smerdis the magian; nor was the work resumed until the second year of Darius Hystaspes.
The proceedings of the Samaritans in this matter naturally excited the enmity of the Jews; and thus was laid the foundation of the hatred between the two nations, which new provocations continually increased, until, at last, all friendly intercourse between them was entirely discontinued.
CYRUS DIES
Cyrus died seven years after the restoration of the Jews. The reigns of Cambyses his son, and of the usurping magian Smerdis (seven months), occupied together eight years. Darius Hystaspes, one of the seven nobles who slew the intrusive magian, was elected king, B.C. 521.
HAGGAI CHALLENGES ISRAEL TO REBUILD
At Jerusalem, the people had by this time lost their zeal in a work which had been so much obstructed, and, counting from the destruction of the former temple instead of from the commencement of the captivity, they argued that the time for the rebuilding of the sacred edifice had not yet arrived. But while they erected fine buildings for their own use, and bestowed much expense and labor on the mere ornamental parts of their own dwellings, this was obviously a mere pretence, and provoked the severe reproaches of the prophet Haggai, who attributed to this neglect the drought, and consequent failure of crops, which had then occurred; and was authorized to promise the blessings of plenty from the time they should recommence the building of the temple. And, to neutralize the discouragements arising from the detractive or sorrowful comparisons of the old men who had seen the temple of Solomon, he was commissioned to deliver the celebrated prophecy--
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts:
Yet once more, and in a little while,
And I will shake the heavens and the earth,
And the sea and the dry land;
And I will shake all the nations,
And the Desire of all nations shall come,
And I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.
The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.
The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts
And to this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts”--Haggai 2:6-9.
DARIUS ENDORSES REBUILDING
The prophecies of Zechariah tended to the same objects as those of Haggai; and in consequence of their forcible representations, the building of the temple was resumed with rekindled zeal. To this resumption of the work, after so long a suspension, the Samaritans succeeded in drawing the attention of Tatnai, the Persian general-governor of Syria, who, being a man of impartial justice, determined to go himself to Jerusalem to investigate the matter. He there demanded the authority of the Jewish chiefs for their operations, and was referred by them to the edict of Cyrus. Tatnai sent a clear and rigidly unbiased report of the matter to the king, and did not deem it necessary to direct the present suspension of the work. The reference to the Persian court could not have been made under more favorable circumstances; for Darius was of a mild and just character; and, still more, was a devoted admirer of Cyrus, and disposed to pay the highest respect to his acts and intentions.[379] The king, on receiving the report of Tatnai, directed a search to be made among the archives of the kingdom. It was naturally sought at first among the records kept in the treasure house at Babylon. It was not found there; but a roll containing the edict was ultimately discovered in the record chamber of the palace at Achmetha (Ecbatana). It directed not only that the temple should be rebuilt, and of larger dimensions than before, but that the expenses should be defrayed out of the royal treasury. The king directed a copy of this edict to be forwarded to Tatnai, together with a letter, in which he was enjoined not to obstruct the building, but zealously to forward it, to defray the expenses out of the royal revenues accruing within his government, and also to furnish the priests with such animals as were necessary for the sacrifices, with wheat, salt, wine, and oil, from day to day, for the divine service. “That they may offer sacrifices of a sweet savor to the God of heaven; and pray for the life of the king and of his sons.” The letter concluded with an order (apparently leveled at the Samaritans), that whosoever obstructed the execution of the decree should be hanged, and their houses demolished: and an imprecation was added on all kings and people who should attempt to destroy the house of God.
[379] Hystaspes, the father of Darius, was high in the confidence and favor of Cyrus, and he (and very probably his son) could not but have known so eminent a person as Daniel when at the court of Susa. Indeed, the wisdom of Daniel appears to have been a proverb (Ezekiel 28:3). It is remarkable that Hystaspes ultimately succeeded (under his son) to the very office of archimagus, or master of the magians, which Daniel had formerly occupied.
GOD HONORED IN HEATHEN WORLD
This transaction gives a very favorable idea of the good order and efficient administration of the Persian government; while the concluding direction affords another and very important illustration of the honor which Jehovah had obtained for his name among the heathen through the eastward dispersion of the Hebrews. Indeed, the edict of Cyrus, which was on this occasion brought to light, contained such a declaration of reverence for, and dependence on, Jehovah, as alone could not but have had great weight upon the mind of Darius. It may be remarked, indeed, that Darius himself was a disciple and supporter of Zoroaster, the reformer of the magian religion, who is supposed to have profited largely by his intercourse with the Hebrew captives and prophets in Babylon.
TEMPLE FINISHED
Under these favoring auspices, the work proceeded with renewed spirit; and four years after, being the sixth of Darius (B.C. 516), the temple was completed. It was dedicated with great solemnity, of which there has ever since been an annual commemoration in “The Feast of Dedication.” In the following month the Passover was celebrated in a regular and solemn manner, for the first time since the restoration. The temple service was then re-established as before the Captivity; Jeshua, the high-priest, encouraging the other priests and the Levites by his example to attend to their peculiar duties.
Record Chamber

DARIUS DIES PREPARING TO BATTLE
The Jews appear to have been undisturbed during the remainder of the thirty-six years in which Darius reigned. It is possible, indeed, that some difficulty arose in the latter years of that reign from their relation to the Persian empire. Darius, whose whole reign was occupied in foreign and generally successful war, had then extended his operations westward. After the Persians had lost the battle of Marathon in B.C. 490, Darius made immense preparations far renewing the war, which kept all Asia in a ferment for three years: in the fourth Egypt revolted, which occasioned the division of the army into two, one to act against Greece and the other against Egypt. But just as all preparations were completed, Darius died, B.C. 485. Now, as the rendezvous of the army in this expedition against Egypt was in the neighborhood of the Hebrew territory, it is in every way likely that the Jews were obliged to participate in its operations; or it is possible that they obtained an exemption from personal service on condition of supplying the army with provisions.
XERXES COMES TO THRONE
Xerxes completed the intentions of his father as to Egypt, which he succeeded to 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 prejudice him against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. But the king confirmed in every particular the grants made by his father. Xerxes is the Ahasuerus of Ezra 4:6 (See also Joseph. Antiq., xi. 4, 8; xi. 5. 1.)
ARTAXERXES REIGNS
He was succeeded in B.C. 464. by his son Artaxerxes Longimanus, whose protracted reign was replete with incidents most important and interesting to the Jews. At the beginning of it they began regularly to rebuild Jerusalem, and to surround it by a wall. But they were stopped in their work by an order from the king, in consequence of a letter of complaint from the principal Samaritan officers, who described Jerusalem, truly enough, as “a rebellious and bad city;” and warned him that if the city were rebuilt and fortified, the inhabitants were sure to prove seditious as in former times, and would be likely to raise up troubles, and endanger the Persian dominion in that quarter. They appealed to the archives of the empire to prove that the town had been demolished and dismantled on account of its rebellion and seditions. The records were accordingly consulted, and the fact being found as thus stated, the king delayed not to send a letter authorizing the Samaritan chiefs to stop the work until further orders. This they forthwith did, and with no, gentle hand.[381] This opposition of the Samaritans was remarkably well-timed, and hence, in all probability, its success. Immediately on the death of Xerxes, Egypt had again revolted from the Persian yoke (Diod. lib. iii.); the Samaritans therefore could not have chosen a fitter opportunity to carry their point, or a stronger argument 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 seventy-two 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.
[381] Ezra 4:6-23. The whole passage is referred to this reign in the text (after Howe and Hales), uncle, the impression that where it stands in the original narrative it is an historical anticipation, and not in its proper chronological place.
ESTHER BECOMES QUEEN
After he had subdued all his domestic foes and competitors for the crown, Artaxerxes, in the third year of his reign, celebrated at Susa the general and protracted rejoicing which usually attended the settlement 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 queen was under the necessity of disobeying, and disobedience, whatever were the cause, could not be allowed to pass unpunished. All the sages of Persia held that, to prevent the evil effects of this example, it was necessary that the queen should be deposed, and that the act of deposition should be accompanied by a decree that every man should 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.
An Encampment Tartar or Turkish Courier

EZRA SENT TO JERUSALEM
The king had now leisure to turn his attention to Egypt, and in the course of the expedition to bring that country back to its subjection, which was happily concluded in the sixth year of his reign. He had probably sufficient opportunity to become acquainted with the present character and position of the Jews, and with the claims to his favor which they derived from the edicts of Cyrus and Darius. At all events, in the seventh year of his reign, he indicated his knowledge of those edicts and his willingness to enforce them, by authorizing “Ezra the priest, and a scribe of the Law of the God of Heaven” to proceed to Jerusalem “to beautify the house of Jehovah,” and to establish the ecclesiastical and civil institutions with greater firmness and order than they had yet acquired. His powers were very large. He was commissioned to appoint judges, superior and inferior, to rectify abuses, to enforce the observance of the law, to punish the refractory with fines, imprisonment, 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 with Ezra to their own land, were permitted and invited to do so. From the whole tenor of this commission it is evident that the God of the Hebrews was still held in high respect at the Persian court; and, by a new concession, all his ministers, even to the lowest nethinim, were exempted from tribute, and thus put on an equality with the Persians and the Medes. For these favors some writers would assign “the solicitations of Esther” as the motive. But it is not clear that the king knew she was a Jewess. It was certainly perfectly competent for Esther to make the king better acquainted with the claims of the God she served and of the people to whom she belonged; nor should she be blamed for employing, or the king for receiving, such influence. But there were other and adequate means through which “the great king” might acquire this knowledge, at which he certainly arrived. To the series of splendid acknowledgments extracted from these illustrious monarchs through the captivity and vassalage of the Jews, let us add that of Artaxerxes, whose commission to Ezra orders: “Whatsoever is commanded by the God of Heaven let it be diligently done for the house of the God of Heaven; lest there be wrath [from Him] against the realm of the king and his sons.”
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.
LEVITES NOT EMIGRATING
The rendezvous of the party gathering for this second caravan was by the river Ahava, where the number assembled was found to consist of sixty “houses,” containing one thousand seven hundred and fifty-four (adult?) males, so that, with women and children, there were probably not less than 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 with out difficulty that two families of priests were induced to join the emigrants.
FASTING FOR PROTECTION
Considering the treasure with which they were charged, and the number of helpless women and children of the party, there was 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 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.
Ancient Persian Cupbearers

HEATHEN MARRIAGES ANNULLED
Of all the improvements and regulations which Ezra introduced into Judea, 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.
HAMAN'S PLOT TO EXTERMINATE JEWS
While Ezra was thus, and by other means, laboring to raise the character and improve the condition of the Hebrews in Judea, 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 by the address and piety of Queen Esther, and turned upon the unprincipled contriver 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 is obvious; and as to the wealth they were allowed to acquire, no more striking illustration can be afforded than by the fact that Haman, to gratify his barbarous whim, 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.
THE JEWISH DEFENSIVE VICTORY
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 be had issued. All he could do was to dispatch 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.
This great deliverance has ever since been commemorated by the annual feast of Purim, or of Lots--so called from the lots which were superstitiously cast by Haman to find a propitious day for the massacre.
NEHEMIAH SENT TO JERUSALEM
It was not until the twentieth year of his reign that Artaxerxes granted the long delayed 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 defenseless 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 my fathers' sepulchers, 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 Tirshatha, or civil governor, of Judea, in succession to Zerubbabel, whose death about this time might furnish an additional reason for the appointment (Nehemiah 12:47). 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.
Modern Oriental Gate

JERUSALEM'S WALL BUILT
Nehemiah was commissioned to build walls and gates to the town, to erect a palace for himself and future governors, and afterward to rebuild the city. All this he accomplished with singular zeal, ability, and disinterestedness, in the course of his administration of twelve years, to which his leave of absence from the Persian court extended. He had to encounter much opposition and many threats from the chiefs of the surrounding nations--Sanballat the Samaritan, Tobiah the Ammonite, the Arabians, 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 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.
POLITICAL NEED FOR JERUSALEM'S WALLS
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 seacoast, 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 Jews; to attach them to the Persian interest, and detach them from the Grecians, by further privileges; that the Persians might have the benefit of a friendly fortified town like Jerusalem, within three days' journey of the sea, and a most important pass to keep up the communication between Persia and Egypt; and, to confirm this conjecture, we may remark that in all the ensuing Egyptian wars, the Jews remained faithful to the Persians; and even after the Macedonian invasion--and surely some such powerful 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, therefore, to entrust the important mission to an officer high in former trust and confidence, such as Nehemiah, whose services at court Artaxerxes reluctantly dispensed with, as appears from his appointing a set time for Nehemiah's return, and afterward, from his return again to Persia in the thirty-second year of his reign.”
FAMILIES CHOSEN TO FILL JERUSALEM
While the city remained unwalled the mass of the people had chosen rather to dwell in the country than in a place so conspicuous and yet so insecure. The walls were built on the old foundations; and Nehemiah found that although as enclosed within the walls “the city was large and great,” yet “the people were few therein, and the houses were not builded.” He therefore caused the people to be registered, and required that one family in ten (to be chosen by lot) should come to reside in Jerusalem. Those who, without waiting the decision of the lot, voluntarily offered themselves to dwell in Jerusalem, were received with peculiar favor. The city was thus replenished with inhabitants, and the walls with defenders. The walls were dedicated with great solemnity and joy. And while the governor was thus heedful of the stone-and-mortar framework of the social system which he desired to establish, he was by no means negligent of the inhabiting and animating spirit. He applied himself diligently (assisted by Ezra) to the organization of the temple-service, and of the civil government; while various abuses, which the unsettled condition of affairs had engendered, were corrected by him with a firm and unsparing hand. And to strengthen his authority and influence, and that he and his government might not be burdensome to the people, this fine-spirited man declined to receive the usual dues of a governor; but while he travelled with a great retinue, maintained a large number of servants, and kept open table at Jerusalem, the heavy charges were entirely borne from his own private fortune, which must have been very considerable. That he, a foreigner and a captive, was enabled to accumulate such a fortune, affords another illustration of the liberality of the Persian government; which also was unquestionably, as far as the Hebrews at least were concerned, the best and most generous of the foreign governments, to which they were at any time subjected.
HEBREW LETTERING CHANGED
It was during the government of Nehemiah that Ezra, his ecclesiastical coadjutor, completed his collection and revisal of the sacred books. Traces of his careful hand may still be detected throughout the historical books of scripture; and the settlement of the Old Testament canon in nearly its present shape, may be ascribed to him. Among his labors was the exchange of the old Hebrew character of writing--with which the people had now become unacquainted--for the more shapely and generally known Chaldean character, with which alone the people were now familiar. The difference thus created is not so great as that which would take place were the Germans to exchange their peculiar (and not very elegant) character of print for that (the Roman) which prevails among nearly all other European nations. The Samaritans did not adopt or need this change in their copies of the Pentateuch; they retained the original character, which, therefore, has since been known as the Samaritan character.
It was not alone the old Hebrew character of writing, but the language itself, which had become unintelligible to the mass of the people, who had been born beyond the Euphrates, and had imbibed the East-Aramaean or Chaldee dialect as a mother tongue. The old Hebrew was still well known to, and spoken by, educated persons in their intercourse with each other; but the Chaldee was used in all the common intercourse of life, since that only was understood by all. It was not, however, until the time of the Maccabees, that the old Hebrew was completely displaced by the Chaldee. This last language is but a dialect of the Hebrew, which fact accounts for the ease with which the Jews fell into the use of it during the captivity. It however assigned to words essentially the same such additional or new meanings, and such differing terminations and pronunciation, that the old Hebrew could be but imperfectly intelligible to those who understood only the Chaldee.
THE LAW READ AND EXPLAINED
Accordingly, when Ezra had finished his revision of the sacred books, and the people thronged to Jerusalem to hear the authentic law from his lips, it was necessary that some of the Levites should interpret to the multitude what this excellent person read in Hebrew from the book. This was a very solemn and interesting occasion. The people assembled in the open street; and Ezra, raised above the people on a kind of pulpit made for the occasion, read from the book of the law to an immense audience, who listened with most rapt attention to the interpretations which the surrounding Levites gave. It is manifest that the copies of the law had been scarce, and that it had not been publicly read to the people, for it is manifest that they heard much on this occasion with which they were not previously acquainted; and the consciousness of the extent to which the injunctions which they heard had been neglected by them, filled them with grief, and occasioned much and loud lamentation, which the Levites allayed with difficulty. Among other things, they heard of the feast of tabernacles, and found that the time of its celebration was close at hand. They therefore proceeded forthwith to manifest their obedience to this law, and they celebrated the feast in a manner so distinguished that nothing like it had been known since the time of Joshua.
PLEDGE TO FOLLOW GOD
Nehemiah and Ezra availed themselves of the favorable disposition which at this time existed to induce the people to enter into one of those solemn covenants which we have had frequent occasion to notice in the past history. This was, however, more specific in its obligations; for the people pledged themselves: 1, to walk in God's law as given to Moses; 2, not to intermarry with the people of the land; 3, to observe the sabbath day, and not to buy or to sell goods thereon; 4, to keep the sabbatical year, and to remit all debts therein; 5, to pay a tax of a third of a shekel yearly for the service of the temple; 6, and to render their first-fruits and tithes as required by the law.
NEHEMIAH RETURNS TO OFFICE
At the expiration of his twelfth year of office, when his leave of absence expired, Nehemiah returned to resume his station at the Persian court.
THE PLEDGE VIOLATED
When he departed, no person with adequate authority appears to have been left to carry on or complete his measures. His salutary regulations, and even the solemn covenant into which the people had entered, were gradually infringed and violated. The general laxity of principle and conduct may be estimated from the proceedings of the persons who might have been expected to offer the brightest examples of knowledge and faithfulness. Thus the high-priest himself, Eliashib, gave Tobiah the Ammonite (the grand opponent of Nehemiah) for lodging, even in the temple itself, a large chamber, which had been used as a store room for the tithes and offerings. This Tobiah, as well as his son Johanan, had married Jewish women and became allied to the high priest. One of the grandsons of Eliashib was also son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite, another of Nehemiah's great adversaries. The temple service was neglected; the tithes, appointed for the support of the Levites and the singers, were abstracted by the high priest and his agents, or withheld by the people; the sabbath was profaned in every possible way;[382] and marriages with strange women were frequent among the people. In accounting for the demoralization of this period, it may not be improper to connect it with the frequent march of Persian troops through the territory in passing to and from Egypt, which was frequently in a state of revolt. By this Judea was made to share in the evils of war, than which nothing is more relaxing of the bonds by which the order of civil society is maintained.
[382] One of the profanations consisted in the practice of the Tyrians bringing fish to the city for sale on the Sabbath day. A curious fact.
NEHEMIAH RETURNS TO JERUSALEM
The tidings of this relapse occasioned much grief to Nehemiah at the Persian court, and he ultimately succeeded in obtaining permission to return to Judea. He returned in his former capacity as governor, and applied himself most vigorously to the correction of the evils which had gained ground during his absence.[383] His exertions appear to have been continued for four years, or until the third year of Darius Nothus, whom Nehemiah designates as Darius the Persian. The end, therefore, of this eminent person's second reform, which may be taken as the final act in the restoration and settlement of the Jews in their own land, may be ascribed to the year B.C. 420. With this year, therefore, the canon of the Old Testament concludes; for Malachi, the last of the prophets, is alleged by tradition, supported by every probability of internal evidence, to have prophesied during this later administration of Nehemiah. Malachi is supposed by many to be the same as Ezra.
[383] The time is uncertain and conjectures vary. Hales makes it B.C. 424, six years after his return to Persia.
LEADERSHIP REFORMS
One of the measures of Nehemiah was to expel the grandson of the high-priest, who had wedded the daughter of Sanballat, from whom he declined to separate. This act was attended with important consequences. Josephus informs us that this person's name was Manasseh; and that, on being expelled from Jerusalem, he went to his father-in-law Sanballat, who, by his interest with the Persian king, obtained permission to build a temple upon Mount Gerizim like that, at Jerusalem, and in which Jehovah was to be worshipped with similar services. Of this establishment he made Manasseh the high-priest. This, in future, attracted numbers of Jews who had married strange wives from whom they could not bring themselves to part, or who had rendered themselves amenable to punishment by other transgressions of the law. And this, while it tended in a very serious degree to aggravate the enmity between the two nations, served ere long to correct the remaining idolatrous practices, and tendencies to idolatry among the Samaritans. Receiving the account of these matters through Josephus, and other prejudiced writers, it behooves us to be cautious of receiving all the impressions they intend to convey. The temple of Gerizim was undoubtedly a schismatical establishment. But seeing that, on the one hand, the Samaritans were anxious to worship Jehovah according to the regulations of Moses, while, on the other, the Jews, whether right or wrong, pertinaciously refused to receive their adhesion to the temple of Jerusalem, it is difficult to see what other course was left them than to build a temple for themselves. Besides, the obligation of adhesion to one temple was imposed only on the seed of Abraham; and the law made no provision for the case of a people who desired to worship Jehovah, but were repelled by the Jews. And this very fact may suggest that this repulsion was in itself not legal, whatever good effects may ultimately have resulted from it.
Tomb of Ezra