they came to pass. In the same manner Daniel wrote concerning the Roman government, and that our country should be made desolate by them. All these things did this man leave in writing, as God had shewed them to him, Insomuch that such as read his prophecies, and see how they have been fulfilled, may justly wonder at the honour wherewith God honoured Daniel; and may thence discover how the Epicureans are in an error, who cast Providence out of human life; and do not believe that God takes care of the affairs of the world; nor that the universe is governed and continued in being by that blessed and immortal nature; but say that the world is carried along of its own accord, without a ruler and a curator, which, were it destitute of a guide to conduct it, as they imagine, it would be like ships without pilots, which we see destroyed by the winds; or like chariots without drivers, which are overturned: so would the world be dashed to pieces by being carried without a Providence, and so perish and come to nought. So that by the aforementioned predictions of Daniel those men seem to err from the truth, who determine that God exercises no Providence over human affairs. For if that were the case, that the world went on by mechanical necessity, we should not see that all things would come to pass according to his prophecy. Now as to myself I have so described these matters as I have found them and read them; but if any one be inclined to another opinion about them, let him enjoy bis sentiments without any blame from me.

BOOK XI.

Containing an Interval of Two Hundred and Fifty-three Years and Five Months.

FROM THE FIRST YEAR OF CYRUS TO THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

CHAP. I.

OF THE PERMISSION GRANTED TO THE JEWS BY CYRUS, KING* OF PERSIA, TO RETURN TO THEIR OWN COUNTRY, AND TO REBUILD THEIR TEMPLE.

IN the first year of the reign of Cyrus; which was the seventieth from the day that the Jews were removed out of their own land into Babylon: God commiserated the captivity and calamity of these poor people; according as he had foretold by Jeremiah the prophet,‡ before the destruction of the city; that after they had served Nebuchadnezzar, and his posterity, and after they had undergone that servitude seventy years,|| he would restore them again to the land of their fathers, and they

*N. B. Josephus never makes use of our Hebrew book of Ezra, which probably he never saw; but only of the first book of Esdras, by us called apocryphal and which he read in Hebrew; but which Hebrew copy has been long lost; our book being now only extant in the Septuagint, and vulgar Latin versions. † 2 Chronical. xxxvi. 22. Ezra i. 1.

This Cyrus is called God's shepherd by Xenophon, page 581, as well as by Isaiah xlv. 28, as also it is said of him by the same prophet, "I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir," Isa. xiii. 12. which character makes Xenophon's most excellent history of him very credible.

|| Jeremiah xxv. 11.

ap

should rebuild their temple, and enjoy their ancient prosperity. And these things God did afford them. For he stirred up the mind of Cyrus, and made him write thus throughout all Asia : "Thus saith Cyrus the king, Since God Almighty hath pointed me to be king of the habitable earth, I believe that he is that God whom the nation of the Israelites worship: for indeed he foretold my name by the prophets; and that I should build him a house at Jerusalem, in the country of Judea.'

This was known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left behind him of his prophecies. For this prophet said that God had spoken thus to him in a secret vision:-" My will is, that Cyrus, whom I have appointed to be king over many and great nations, send back my people to their own land, and build my temple."+ This was foretold by Isaiah one hundred and forty years before the temple was demolished. Accordingly when Cyrus read this, and admired the divine power, an earnest desire seized upon him, to fulfil what was so written. So he called for the most eminent Jews that were in Babylon, and said that he gave them leave to go back to their own country, and to rebuild‡ their city Jerusalem and the temple of God,

*It is a good deal more than probable, that this decree in favour of the Jews was, in a great measure, owing to Daniel's good offices. Cyrus, at his first coming to Babylon, after he had taken the city, found him there an old minister of state, famed for his great wisdom over all the east, and in many things, for a knowledge superior to the rest of mankind; and accordingly we find, that he not only employed him as such, but, upon the settling of the government of the whole empire, made him first superintendent or prime minister of state over all the provinces of it. In this station of life, Daniel must have been a person of great authority at court, and highly in the esteem of his prince: and therefore, as we find him earnest in his prayer to God for the restoration of his people, Daniel ix. we cannot but think, that he would be equally warm in his intercessions for it with the king. To which purpose, it is not improbable, that he might shew him those passages in Isaiah, which speak of him by name, (150 years before he was born,) as a great prince and conqueror, the ruler of many nations, and the restorer of his people, by causing his temple to be built, and the city of Jerusalem re-inhabited. For, that Cyrus had seen those prophecies, the thing is plain, not only from the testimony of Josephus, Antiq. lib. xi. c 1. but from the recital that is made of them in the decree itself, Ezra i. 2; and if so, who shall be so proper to shew them to him, and to recommend the accomplishment of them to his princely care, as Daniel, who had so great credit with him, and so passionate a concern for the restora tion of Zion? Prideaux's Connection, anno 539. B.

+ Isaiah xliv. 28.

This permission to build Jerusalem, and this epistle of Cyrus to Sisinnes and Sathrabuzanes, to the same purpose, are, most unfortunately, omitted in all our

for that he would be their assistant; and that he would write to the rulers and governors that were in the neighbourhood of Judea, that they should contribute gold and silver, for the building of the temple, and besides that, beasts for their sacrifices.

When Cyrus had said this to the Israelites, the rulers of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with the Levites and priests, went in haste to Jerusalem. Yet did many of them stay at Babylon, as not willing to leave their possessions. And when they were come thither, all the king's friends assisted them, and brought in, for the building of the temple, some gold, and some silver, and some a great many cattle and horses. So they performed their vows to God: and offered the sacrifices that had been accustomed of old time; I mean this upon the rebuilding of their city, and the revival of the ancient practices relating to their worship. Cyrus also sent back the vessels of God which king Nebuchadnezzar had pillaged out of the temple, and had carried to Babylon.* So he committed these things to Mithridates the treasurer, to be sent away; with an order to give them to Sanabasser, that he might keep them till the temple was built; and when it was finished, he might deliver them to the priests and rulers of the multitude, in order to their being restored to the temple. Cyrus also sent the following epistle to the governors that were in Syria:

other copies, but this best and completest copy of Josephus; and by such omission the famous prophecy of Isaiah, xliv. 28. where we are informed, that God said of, or to Cyrus-He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built; and to the temple, thy foundation shall be laid: could not hitherto be demonstrated from the sacred history to have been completely fulfilled; I mean as to that part of it which concerned his giving a commission, for the rebuilding the city Jerusalem, as distinct from the temple; whose rebuilding is alone permitted or directed in the decree of Cyrus in all our copies.

* Some are of opinion, that among the sacred things which Cyrus ordered to be restored, the ark of the covenant was one; but it no where appears, that this ark was carried from Jerusalem to Babylon. They tell us, indeed, that in the second temple, sacrifices were offered, as in the first, and all solemn days observed, especially the great day of expiation, when the law ordained, that the blood should be sprinkled before the mercy-seat; and the mercy-seat, say they, was part of the ark but besides that the ark, without the Shechinah, or divine glory, (which was then withdrawn,) would have been of no great significance, the Jews universally acknowledged that the ark was one of the five things that were wanting in the second temple. B.

:

KING CYRUS TO SISINNES AND SATHRABUZANES SENDETH

GREETING.

I HAVE given permission to as many of the Jews in my country as please to return to their own country, and to rebuild their city, and to build the temple of God at Jerusalem, on the same place where it was before. I have also sent my treasurer Mithridates, and Zorobabel, the governor of the Jews, that they may lay the foundations of the temple, and may build it sixty cubits high, and of the same latitude: making three edifices of polished stones, and one of the wood of the country; and the same order extends to the altar whereon they offer sacrifices to God. I require also that the expenses for these things be given out of my revenues. I have also sent the vessels which king Nebuchadnezzar pillaged out of the temple, and have given them to Mithridates the treasurer; and to Zorobabel the governor of the Jews; that they may have them carried to Jerusalem, and may restore them to the temple of God. Now their number* is as follows: fifty chargers of gold, and five hundred of silver; forty Thericlean cups of gold and five hundred of silver; fifty basons of gold and five hundred of silver; thirty vessels for pouring the drink-offerings, and three hundred of silver; thirty vials of gold, and two thousand four hundred of silver; with a thousand other vessels. I permit them to have the same honour which they were used to have from their forefathers, as also for their small cattle, and for wine, and oil, two hundred and five thousand and five hundred drachmæ; and for what flour, twenty thousand and five hundred artabæ. And I give order that these expenses shall be given them out of the tributes due from Samaria. The priests shall also offer these sacrifices according to the laws of Moses in Jerusalem: and when they offer them, they shall pray to God for the preservation of the king, and of his family; that the kingdom of Persia may continue. But my will is, that those who disobey these injunctions, and make them void, shall be hung upon a cross, and

* Of the true number of golden and silver vessels, here and elsewhere belonging to the temple of Solomon, see the description of the temples, chap. 13.