WALLS OF JERUSALEM REBUILT. 399 To the great commendation of Assuerus, St. Ambrose remarks, that this mighty mouarch thought it no dishonour to acknowledge his mistake, as soon as he discovered it; he desisted from a measure which he found to be unjust; he saw that his easy temper had been wickedly imposed upon, that his confidence had been betrayed to the abuse of his authority, and his name employed to procure the shedding of innocent blood. He inflicted on the guilty Aman the punishment due to such malignity, and he rescued the innocent from the gulf of despair. In a royal edict, reversing the former one which Aman had sent abroad, he made known the high esteem in which he held the Jewish nation, and promoted Mardochai to the same posts of honour that Aman, his enemy, had enjoyed before. So truly verified was the sentence of our blessed Saviour, in which He has since declared, that everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and that everyone who humbles himself shall be exalted. A.M. 3548.] Walls of Jerusalem rebuilt. [A.C. 456. Assuerus was succeeded by his son Artaxerxes, surnamed Longimanus, a monarch who became a steadfast protector of the Jews. In addition to other marks of favour, Artaxerxes employed many of the exiles in the service of his court; amongst those who were thus employed was a holy man named Nehemias, who served the king in the capacity of cup-bearer. Nehemias is commended in the sacred writings * We read in the Book of Esther (ix. 18-32) that the Feast of Purim, or of Lots, was instituted by Mardochai to commemorate this wonderful deliverance of the Jews from the cruel designs of Aman. It was to be celebrated on the 14th and 15th days of the month of Adar, the twelfth month of the Jewish year (See Notes pp. 112, 115). "The festival has its name from Aman's casting lots, in order to determine the day on which the destruction of the Jews should take place. It is still observed with great rejoicing by the Jews. The entire book of Esther is read in their Synagogues on this festival, and as often as the name of Aman occurs all clap their hands, stamp with their feet, and exclaim, "Let his name be blotted out."-DIXON, Introduction to the Sacred Scriptures, Diss. xvi., Chapter 2nd. for his prayer and fasting, and for his love of country; being of Jewish extraction, he never considered himself otherwise than as an exile, driven by misfortunes from the country of his ancestors. He lost no opportunity of inquiring after his countrymen in Judea, and of informing himself of the true state of their affairs. He had the comfort to learn that, by the zeal of Zorobabel and of Esdras, a regular form of government had been re-established in Judea, that the Temple was rebuilt, and the observance of the Law enforced amongst the people: but it grieved him beyond measure to hear of the ruinous condition in which the walls of Jerusalem still lay. His charity made him lament the evils which he wished to see redressed, and the heavy gloom of his countenance betrayed the sadness of a troubled heart. "The king, in receiving wine from his hand, observed his melancholy looks, and kindly asked what troubled him. "How is it possible, my liege," replied the humble man, "not to be sad, while the place of the sepulchre of my forefathers, the city of Jerusalem, is desolate, and the gates thereof lie consumed with fire ?" "What is thy request ?" said the king. "If it seem good to the king," answered Nehemias, "I beg that I may be permitted to visit the city where my forefathers lie buried, and to rebuild the walls thereof." He promised to return within a limited time, and upon that condition the king graciously granted his request, and dismissed him with letters of recommendation to the governors of those districts through which he should pass, and also to Asaph, the keeper of the royal forest, whom the king directed to supply him with timber, and other necessaries for the work. Nehemias, when he came to Jerusalem, spent three days in inspecting the broken walls and the ruins of the city, before he mentioned to any one his design of restoring them, or the authority he had received for this purpose. Then calling together the priests, the magistrates, and the nobles, he told them how deeply he had been grieved at their desolate and defenceless situation; he advised then the immediate rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, and produced the royal license which he had obtained from Artaxerxes for that purpose. Immediately the citizens CHASTISEMENT OF HELIODORUS. 401 set to work with great joy, they measured out the work into different portions, which they undertook by companies, the heaps of rubbish were cleared away, every breach in the wall was closed, and soon the gates and towers began to rise. The work was carried on with the greatest success and expedition, when the Samaritans, and other neighbouring people, hostile to the Jews, assembled to stop its progress. Nehemias then found it necessary to arm a number of the citizens, and to place a guard, day and night, to defend the workmen against the attacks of their enemies. By the redoubled efforts of the people, to which the Almighty gave a blessing, the works were completed in less than two months, and Jerusalem was again protected by walls and bulwarks. Nehemias is an example of that active zeal, which ought to animate every Christian in the discharge of his duty both to God and man. His undertaking to repair the holy city, threw him into those circumstances in which St. Paul describes himself to have been, when he says, that he saw nothing but struggles from without and alarms within. Nehemias, by the sagacity of his genius, and the vigour of his resolution, triumphed over every obstacle. He taught the Jews how to use the trowel with one hand while they grasped the sword with the other, and in his whole conduct he so happily united the virtues of fortitude and prudence, that he seems to have avoided the extremes of excessive boldness and of excessive timidity. A.M. 3828.] Chastisement of Heliodorus. [A.C. 176. After Jerusalem had thus been to some extent restored to her ancient splendour, the Jews continued to enjoy a long and prosperous peace, with the free exercise of their religion, under the kings of Persia, until an end was put to the Persian empire, by the Macedonians under the leadership of Alexander the Great.* This renowned conqueror of the The history of the Jews (See KITTO, Cyclopædia, Art. JEws) subsequent to their return from captivity, may be divided into five periods :1. The period of Persian supremacy (B.c. 536-332) terminating with the East had been figuratively shown to the prophet Daniel in two different visions, first under the appearance of a winged leopard with four heads, and then under the appearance of a goat with four horns; by which emblematical figures are expressed, not only his rapid conquests and his great power, but the division also of his empire into four kingdoms, which sprang up under as many of his captains, among whom his extensive territories were divided. Alexander died in the year 323 before the Christian era, and in the partition of his vast empire, Palestine, as well as the southern portion of Syria, were allotted, with Egypt, to Ptolemy, surnamed Soter, under whom, and his three immediate successors,* the Jews continued subject to the Egyptian rule. In the reign of the fifth Ptolemy, they passed under the sway of the Syrians, whose king, Antiochus the Great, wrested both Palestine and southern Syria from the Egyptians, and added them to his ancestral dominions. Under the Syrian kings,† as under the Ptolemies, the overthrow of the Persian empire by the victories of Alexander the Great over Darius Codomanus, at Issus, B.C. 333, and at Arbela, B.C. 331. 2. The period of the Greco-Macedonian supremacy (B.c. 331-168). During this period the Jews were successively subject, first to Alexander the Great (B.C. 332-23), then to the Greek kings of Egypt (в.C. 320-205), then alternately to those of Egypt and Syria (B.c. 205-198), and ultimately wholly to those of Syria, (B.C. 198-167). 3. The period of the struggle for national independence, the age of the Machabees. (B.C. 167-143). 4. The period of national independence under princes of their own nation. (B.C. 143-63). 5. That of the Roman supremacy (b.c. 63—a.d. 70), during which the Jews were at first governed immediately by princes of their own blood, afterwards by Herod and other princes of the Idumæan race, and ultimately partly by Roman officers, partly by tetrarchs and kings of the family of Herod. * It was under the auspices of the second Ptolemy, surnamed Philadelphus, that the celebrated Greek version of the Old Testament, known as the Septuagint was made. Its name is derived from a Latin word signifying seventy; seventy, or seventy-two, having been, according to a very ancient tradition, the number of translators employed upon the work. The dynasty then ruling in Syria is known in history as that of the Seleucidæ, so called from its founder Seleucus I.-one of the generals, to whom Syria had been allotted in the second partition of the Macedonian Empire, after the death of Alexander the Great. The kingdom thus founded was the most extensive as well as the most powerful of those that were formed out of the empire of Alexander. Seleucus established two capitals: he founded his western capital on the banks of the CHASTISEMENT OF HELIODORUS. 403 Jews enjoyed full liberty of religious worship, which continued almost unmolested until the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, the monarch whose cruel persecution of the Jews, and profanation of the Temple, had been so clearly foretold by Daniel in the eighth chapter of his prophecy. The general tranquillity, however, had suffered some interruption under Seleucus Philopator, the son and successor of Antiochus the Great. Philopator, although an idolator, had enacted a decree that the expenses of the sacrifices of the Temple should be defrayed out of the royal treasury. After some time, however, he received from Simon, the governor of the Temple, who seems to have had some spite against the High Priest Onias, exaggerated reports that great sums of money were deposited in the treasury, over and above what was necessary for all the expenses of the public worship; and as he was anxious to procure the means of paying the Roman tribute, he at once sent Heliodorus, his commissary, to demand the surrender of the money. Heliodorus, upon his arrival, intimated the king's orders to Onias. Onias told him that the money in question had been deposited in his hands for the benefit of poor widows and orphans, and that, as he was but the administrator of it, he could not deliver it up. Heliodorus replied, that it was not in his commission to examine how and for what purposes the money had been deposited there, but to carry it to his master. Upon this, the whole city was flung into the greatest consternation; the people, with Onias at their head, fled for refuge to the Temple, where they besought of God with ardent prayers that He would defend them against the threatened violence, and that He would not suffer His sanctuary to be plundered of its treasures. Their petition was heard. Tigris, calling the city Seleucia, after his own name: for his eastern capital he built the city of Antioch, which he named after his father Antiochus. Seleucus was a steadfast patron of the Jews. He invited many of them to settle in his new capital of Antioch; and on those who accepted the invitation he conferred many important privileges. * In this matter, the Egyptian and the Syrian rulers of Judæa merely carried out the policy of Alexander the Great, who had guaranteed to the Jews in Babylon and Media, as well as in Judæa, unrestricted religious freedom, and had even, with a view of enabling them more fully to observe their hereditary laws, exempted them from tribute every seventh, or Sabbatical year. (See Note, p. 116.) |