a vision of the night, to go out and meet the conqueror in his pontifical robes, with the priests in their proper vestments, and all the people in white garments; not doubting the deliverance which should be effected for them. Jaddua, accordingly, having the next day got ready the sacred procession as instructed, awaited the approach of Alexander; and when he understood that he was not far from the city, he went out to meet him to a place called Sapha, an eminence without Jerusalem, which commanded a prospect of the whole country, to which place the procession extended the whole way from Jerusalem. As soon as Alexander saw this dazzling spectaclethe white garments of the multitude shining in the sun, the priests clothed in fine linen, and the pontiff in purple and scarlet, with his mitre on his head, having the golden plate on which the name of God was engraved-he was struck with awe, adored that Name, and saluted the high-priest. The Jews at the same time surrounded Alexander, and saluted him. The kings and others in the train of Alexander were so astonished at this act, and the sudden, and to them inexplicable alteration of his purpose, that they supposed him disordered in his mind. Parmenio alone, his favourite general, ventured to go up to him, and to ask, 'How it came to pass, that, when all others adored him, he should adore the high-priest of the Jews?' To which Alexander replied, 'I did not adore him, but that God who has honoured him with his high-priesthood; for I saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit, when I was at Dios, in Macedonia, who, when I was considering with myself how I might obtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly pass over the sea thither, for that he would conduct my army, and

give me the dominion over the Persians: whence it is, that having seen no other in that habit, and now seeing this person in it, and remembering that vision, and the exhortation which I had in my dream, I believe that I bring this army under the Divine conduct, and shall therewith conquer Darius, and destroy the power of the Persians, and that all things will succeed according to my own mind.' After he had thus explained his conduct on this extraordinary occasion, he gave his right hand to the high-priest, and entered Jerusalem with him in a friendly manner; where he offered sacrifices to God in the temple, according to the directions of the high-priest, who afterwards showed him the prophecies of Daniel, which predicted the overthrow of the Persian empire by a Grecian king; when, satisfied that he was the person meant, he departed in assurance of success in his future wars; having granted the Jews the free enjoyment of their laws and religion, and exempted them every seventh year from paying any tribute, as in that year they neither sowed nor reaped.*

*For an able defence of the credibility of this account, see Examen Critique des Historiens d'Alexandre, par M. de Sante-Croix ; and Jahn's Hist. of the Hebrew Commonwealth, p. 80.

CHAPTER IV.

Persecutions by Antiochus Epiphanes-The War of IndependenceSubjugation of Judæa by the Romans-Invasion by the ParthiansAntigonus-Defeat of Antigonus, and Accession of Herod to the Throne of Judæa.

Ar the death of Alexander, Judæa, owing to its intermediate position, was exposed to the violent collisions which took place among the crumbling ruins of his vast but ephemeral empire. On the partition of his dominions amongst his generals, Jerusalem, with the whole of Syria and Palestine, was allotted to Laomedon, one of Alexander's officers; from whom, however, those districts were wrested shortly after by Ptolemy Lagus, king of Egypt. In the frequent wars which followed between the kings of Syria and those of Egypt, called by Daniel the kings of the north and south, Judæa belonged sometimes to the one and sometimes to the other; the passive victim of the oscillations of fortune. This unsettled and turbulent period proved highly favourable to disorder and corruption; crime and pillage were everywhere rampant; law and order were set at defiance; the high-priesthood was openly sold to the highest bidder; and numbers of the Jews deserted their religion for the idolatries of the Greeks. Having been so long under the dominion of Grecian monarchs, they had

now become familiar with the customs, literature, and sciences of Greece, and had acquired a taste for them. Some even began to look on the idolatrous mythology of the Greeks with a favourable eye, and endeavoured to obliterate their Jewish peculiarities.

Soon after ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES ascended the throne of Syria, vigorous efforts were made to bring over the Jewish people altogether to the Grecian manners and religion. The author of this project was Jesus, a brother of the high-priest Onias III. He assumed the Greek name Jason, and basely supplanted his brother in the highpriesthood, which he purchased of the king for 3600 talents. He also offered 150 talents for the right of establishing a Greek gymnasium at Jerusalem, and the power of conferring upon the Jews the citizenship of Antioch. The design of these innovations was to undermine the ancient religion of his country, and graft paganism on its ruins. For three years he laboured hard to destroy the Jewish constitution, and assimilate his countrymen to the habits and usages of the Greeks.

In the year 172 B.C. he commissioned his younger brother Onias, who had adopted the Greek name of Menelaus, to carry the tribute to Antioch, and transact other business with the king. But Menelaus, instead of executing his commission, took this opportunity to supplant his brother; and, by promising the king 300 talents more than the tribute paid by Jason, obtained a nomination to the high-priesthood. This traitor, having solemnly abjured the religion of his fathers, and engaged to abolish the Mosaic and establish the Grecian religion in its stead, was furnished by the king with a force sufficient to expel Jason from the country. Menelaus plundered the temple, in order to meet his engagements with the king. This led to a tumult, in which Lysimachus, the agent