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mises. Accordingly the king called for him the next day, and gave him an epistle to be carried to Adeus the governor of Syria, and Phoenicia, and Samaria: wherein he sent to him to pay due honor to Nehemiah, and to supply him with what he wanted for his building.

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day that they came up from Babylon; which
is taken from the tribe of Judah, which came
first to these places, and thence both they and
the country gained that appellation.

Now when the Ammonites, and Moabites,
and Samaritans, and all that inhabited Colesy-
ria heard that the building went on apace,
they took it heinously; and proceeded to lay
snares for them, and to hinder their intentions.
They also slew many of the Jews; and sought
how they might destroy Nehemiah himself, by
hiring some of the foreigners to kill him. They
also put the Jews in fear, and disturbed them,
and spread abroad rumours, as if many nations
were ready to make an expedition against

But

Now when he was come to Babylon, and had taken with him many of his countrymen, who voluntarily followed him, he came to Jerusalem in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of Xerxes. And when he had shewn the epistles to God, * he gave them to Adeus, and to the other governors. He also called together all the people to Jerusalem, and stood in the midst of the temple, and made the follow-them: by which means they were harassed, ing speech to them. "Ye know, O Jews, that God hath kept our fathers, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in mind continually; and for the sake of their righteousness hath not left off the care of you. Indeed he hath Indeed he hath assisted me in granting this authority of the king to raise up our wall, and finish what is wanting of the temple. I desire you there fore, who well know the ill-will the neighbouring nations bear to us, and that when they once are made sensible that we are in earnest about building, they will come upon us, and contrive many ways of obstructing our works, that you will, in the first place, put your trust in God, as in him that will assist us against their hatred; and to intermit building neither night nor day; but to use nor day; but to use all diligence, and to hasten on the work, now we have this especial opportunity for it." When he had said this, he gave order that the rulers should measure the wall, and part the work of it among the people, according to their villages and cities; as every one's ability should require. And when he had added this promise, that he himself, with his servants, would assist them, he dissolved the assembly. So the Jews prepared for the work.

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This is the name they are called by from the

This shewing king Xerxes's epistles to God, or laying them open before God in the temple, is very like the laying open the epistles of Sennacherib, before him also by Hezekiah, 2 Kings xix. 14. Isaiah xxxvii, 14. although this last was for a memorial, to put him in mind of the enemies, in order to move the divine compassion;

and had almost left off the building.
none of these things could deter Nehemiah
from being diligent about the work. He only
set a number of men about him, as a guard to
his body; and so unweariedly persevered there-
in, and was insensible of any trouble, out of
his desire to perfect this work. And thus did
he attentively and with great precaution take
care of his own safety: not that he feared
death; but out of this persuasion, that if he
were dead, the walls for his citizens would
never be raised. He also gave orders that the
builders should keep their ranks, and have
their armour on while they were building.
Accordingly the mason had his sword on, † as
well as he that brought the materials for build-
ing. He also appointed that their shields
should lie very near them; and he placed
trumpets at every five hundred feet, and
charged them, that if their enemies appeared,
they should give notice of it to the people,
that they might fight in their armour, and
their enemies might not fall upon them naked.
He also went about the compass of the city
by night, being never discouraged, neither
about the work itself, nor about his own diet
and sleep for he made no use of those things
for his pleasure, but out of necessity. And
this trouble he underwent † for two years and

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four months for in so long a time was the wall built in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of Xerxes, * in the ninth month. Now when the walls were finished, Nehemiah and the multitude offered sacrifices to God for building of them; and they continued in feasting eight days. However, when the nations which dwelt in Syria heard that the building of the wall was finished they had indignation at it. But when Nehemiah saw that the city was thin of people, he exhorted the priests and the Levites, that they would leave the country, and remove themselves to the city, and there continue; and he built them houses at his own

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expence ; and he commanded that part of the people which were employed in cultivating the land to bring the tithes of their fruits to Jerusalem; that the priests and Levites having whereof they might live perpetually, might not leave the divine worship. Accordingly they hearkened to the constitutions of Nehemiah by which means the city of Jerusalem came to be fuller of people than it was before. So when Nehemiah had done many other ex

Xerxes, in which the walls of Jerusalem were built; viz. that Nehemiah came with his commission in the 25th of Xerxes; that the walls were two years and four months in building; and that they were finished on the 28th of Xerxes. It may also be remarked farther, that Josephus hardly ever mentions more than one infallible astronomical character, I mean an eclipse of the moon: and this a little before the death of Herod the Great, XVII. 6. Now on these two chronological characters, in great measure depend some of the most important points be longing to Christianity; viz. The explication of Daniel's seventy weeks, the duration of our Saviour's ministry and the time of his death, in correspondence to those seventy weeks. Though Josephus's own chronology was so different from ours, as exhibited in Ptolemy's Canon, that it was impossible he should have regard to any such correspondence.

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This prince, to distinguish him from others of that name, was called Maxpoxip, or Longimanus, upon the supposed length of his hands, with which it is said that he could have touched his knees, even when he stood upright; but this notwithstanding, it is reported of him, that he was both the handsomest person of the age in which he lived, and a prince likewise of a very mild and generous disposition. Prideaux's Con. anno 465. B.

§ Since some sceptical persons are willing to discard this book of Esther, as no true history: and even our learned and judicious Dr. Wall, in his late posthumous critical notes upon all the other Hebrew books of the Old Testament, gives us none upon the Canticles, or upon Esther; and seems thereby to give up this book, as well

cellent things, and things worthy of commendation, in a glorious manner, he came to a great age, and then died. He was a man of a good and righteous disposition, and very ambitious to make his own people happy. And he left the walls of Jerusalem as an eternal monument for himself. Now this was done in the days of Xerxes.

CHAP. VI.

CONCERNING ESTHER, MORDECAI, AND HAMAN; AND THE EMINENT DANGER TO WHICH THE WHOLE NATION OF THE JEWS WAS EXPOSED IN THE REIGN OF ARTAXERXES.

AFTER the death of Xerxes, † the kingdom came to be transferred to his son Cyrus, whom the Greeks call Artaxerxes. ‡ When this man had obtained the government over the Persians, the whole nation of the Jews, § with their wives and children, were in danger of perishing: the occasion whereof we shall declare in a little time. For it is proper in the first place to explain somewhat relating to this king, and how he came to

as the Canticles, as indefensible: I shall venture to say, that almost all the objections against this book of Esther are obviated at once, if, as we ought certainly to do, and as dean Prideaux has justly done, we place this historyunder Artaxerxes Longimanus: as do both the Septuagint interpreters, and Josephus. I mean in this case we also take our true copies from the septuagint, and from Josephus; rather than from our Masorete Hebrew. I shall here add farther, on its behalf, the words of the learned Dr. Lee in his posthumous Dissertation on the second book of Esdras, page 25, that "The truth of this history is demonstrated by the feast of Purim, kept from that time to this very day. See 2 Maccabees xv. 36. And this surprising Providential revolution in favour of a captive people, thereby constantly commemorated, standeth even upon a firmer basis than that there ever was such a man as Alexander the Great in the World; of whose reign there is no such abiding monument at this day to be found any where. Nor will they, I dare say, who quarrel at this, or any other of the sacred histories, find it a very easy matter to reconcile the different accounts which are given by historians of the affairs of this king: or to confirm any one fact of his whatever with the same evidence which is here given for the principal fact in this sacred book: or even so much as to prove the existence of such a person, of whom so great things are related, but upon granting this book of Esther, or sixth of Esdras: (as it is placed in some of the most ancient copies of the Vulgate :) to be a most true and certain history."

N. B. The oldest and most authentic record we now have of Alexander the Great, is contained in the first seven verses of the first book of Maccabees.

marry

marry a Jewish wife; who was also of the royal family, and who is related to have saved our nation. For when Artaxerxes had taken the kingdom, and had set governors over the hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India even unto Ethiopia, in the third year of his reign, he made a costly feast for his friends, † and for the nations of Persia, and for their governors: such an one as was proper for a king to make, when he had a mind to make a public demonstration of his riches; and this for a hundred and eighty days. After which he made a feast for other nations, and for their ambassadors, at Shushan, for seven days. Now this feast was ordered after the following manner. He caused a tent to be pitched, which was supported by pillars of gold and silver, with curtains of linen and purple spread over them; that it might afford room for many thousands to sit down. The cups which the waiters ministered were of gold, and adorned with precious stones. He also

gave order to the servants, that they should not force the guests to drink, by bringing them wine continually, as is the practice of the Persians; but to permit every one to follow his own inclination. Moreover, he sent messengers through the country, and gave order that they should have a remission of their labors, and should keep a festival many days, on account of his kingdom. In like manner did

* An. 454.

+ The occasion of this great festival is, very likely, intimated to us in the phrase, When the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, chap. i. 2. i. e. enjoying peace and tranquillity through his large dominions; for the history of his accession to the throne is this:-Xerxes, his father, was privately murdered by Artabanus, captain of his guard. He coming to him, (who was then but the third son,) made him believe, that Darius, his elder brother, had done it, to make his way to the throne, and had a design likewise to cut him off, to secure himself in it. This Ahasuerus believing, went immediately to his brother's apartment, and by the assistance of the wicked Artabanus and his guards, slew him, thinking that all the while that he acted but in his own defence. Artabanus's drift was to seize on the throne himself; but for the present he took Ahasuerus, and placed him thereon, with a design to pull him down as soon as matters were ripe for his own ascent; but when Ahasuerus understod this from Magabyzus, who had married one of his sisters, he took care to counterplot Artabanus, and to cut him and his whole party off before his treason was come to maturity; and for this, and some other successes against his brother Hystaspes, which settled him in a peaceable possession

Vashti, ‡ the queen, gather her guests together, and made them a feast in the palace. Now the king was desirous to shew her, who exceeded all other women in beauty, to those that feasted with him; and sent some to command her to come to his feast. But she, out of regard to the laws of the Persians, which forbid the wives to be seen by strangers, did not go to the king. And though he repeatedly sent the eunuchs to her, she did nevertheless refuse to come: till the king was so much irritated, that he broke up the entertainment, and rose up, and called for those seven, who had the interpretation of the laws committed to them, and accused his wife, and said, that he had been affronted by her; because when she was frequently called by him to his feast, she did not obey him. He therefore gave order, that they should inform him what could be done by the law against her. So one of them, whose name was Memucan, said, that this affront was offered not to him alone, but to all the Persians; who were in danger of leading their lives very ill with their wives if they must be despised by them. For that none of their wives would have any reverence for their husbands, if they had such an example of arrogance in the queen towards him who ruled over all. Accordingly he exhorted him to punish her who had been guilty of so great an affront to him, after a severe manner; and

of the whole Persian empire, very probably it was, that a festival-season of above a hundred and fourscore days' continuance was appointed, which, even to this day, according to some travellers, is no uncommon thing in those parts of the world. Prideaux's Connec. anno 465, and Patrick's Com. on Esther, Chap. i. B.

It has been a great inquiry among the learned, who this Vashti was. Those who make the Ahasuerus in Scripture to be Darius the son of Hystaspes, suppose that she was Atossa the daughter of Cyrus, who was first married to Cambyses, her own brother, then to the Magian, who would have passed for Smerdis, and last of all to Darius. Others suppose, that she was Ahasuerus's own sister because the Persians, in those days made no scruple in these kind of marriages; though there is much more reason to think, that before her marriage, there had been such a collection of virgins made for the use of the king, as was before Esther's, (this is implied in chap. ii. 19.) and that having the good fortune then of obtaining the preference in the king's esteem, she was created queen; but being perhaps a woman of no high descent, her family extraction, for that reason, might be concealed. Calmet's Dict, under the name. B.

when he had so done, to publish to the nations what had been decreed about the queen. So the resolution was to put Vashti away, and to give her dignity to another woman.

*

But the king having been fond of her, did not well bear a separation: and yet by the law he could not admit of a reconciliation. So he was under trouble at not having it in his power to do what he desired. But when his friends saw him so uneasy, they advised him to cast the memory of his wife, and his love for her, out of his mind; and to send abroad over all the habitable earth, and to search out for comely virgins, and to take her whom he should best like, for his wife, because his passion for his former wife would be quenched by the introduction of another; and the kindness he had for Vashti would be withdrawn from her, and be placed on her that was with him. Accordingly he was persuaded to follow this advice: and gave order to certain persons to choose out of the virgins that were in his kingdom, those that were esteemed the most comely. So when a great number of these virgins were gathered together, there was found a damsel in Babylon, whose parents were dead, and she was brought with her uncle Mordecai; who was of the tribe of Benjamin, and one of the principal persons among the Jews. Now it proved that this damsel, whose name was Esther, was the most beautiful of all the rest; and that the grace of her countenance drew the eyes of the spectators principally upon her.

Esther ii. 3, 4.

†The reason is assigned in the following verse, for their being kept so long in this course, viz. that for six months they might be anointed with the oil of myrrh, which, besides the fragrancy of its smell, was good to make the skin soft and smooth, and clear it from all manner of scurf; and for six more with sweet odours, which, in these hot countries, were necessary to take away all ill scents, and as some think, to make the body more vigor

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So she was committed to one of the eunuchs, to take the care of her, and she was provided with odours, and with costly ointments, such as her body required to be anointed withal. † And this was used for six months by the virgins; who were in number four hundred. And when the eunuch thought the virgins had been sufficiently purified, in the aforementioned time, and were now fit to go to the king's bed, he sent one to be with the king every day. So when be had accompanied with her, he sent her back to the eunuch. And when Esther had come to him, he was pleased with her, and fell in love with the damsel, and married her; and made her his lawful wife, † and kept a wedding feast for her on the twelfth month of the seventh year of his reign; which was called Adar. He also sent Angari, as they are called, or messengers into every nation; and gave orders that they should keep a feast for his marriage: while he himself treated the Persians, and the Medes, and the principal men of the nations, for a whole month. Accordingly Esther came to his royal palace, and he set a diadem on her head and thus was she married; § without making known to the king what nation she was derived from. Her uncle also removed from Babylon to Shushan, and dwelt there: being every day about the palace, and inquiring how the damsel did: for he loved her as though she had been his own daughter.

Now the king had made a law, that none

wives or concubines. This was the name of every one that was taken from among the virgins, who had a separate house for themselves and conducted to the king's bed; where having passed a night, she returned no more to the virgin's apartments, but was, the next morning, received into the house of the concubines, and there treated in the state and port of one of the king's wives: for such they were accounted. No man was permitted to marry them, as long as the king lived; and upon his demise, they generally fell to his successor. Of these Darius Nothus is reckoned to have had no less than three hundred and sixty: Pool's Annot. The manner of the Persian king was, to give his queens, at their marriage, such a city to buy them clothes; another for their hair; another for their necklaces; and so on for the rest of their expences. And as it was customary for him, according to the testimony of Herodotus, upon his accession to the throne, to remit the tribute that was due to him from all the cities; so he might, upon this occasion, out of his abundant joy, make a release to the provinces, and forgive them some of the duties and imposts that they were bound to pay him. Patrick's Com.

B.

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