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The unlawful marriage which this prince contracted with Herodias, was the cause of his ruin. For that ambitious woman, out of the pride of her heart, not being able to bear that her brother Agrippa, the son of Ariftobulus, and nephew of Antipas, fhould be advanced to the throne, and excel her in fplendor, dignity, and power; compelled, in a manner, her husband to go to Rome, and get the like honour and preferment for himself (f). But Agrippa countermined him, by giving Caligula, who was then emperor, just reason of fufpecting his loyalty to him (g); fo that inftead of making him king, he banished him to Lyons, and afterwards to Spain. This Herod built or repaired fome cities, as Sephoris (h), which he named Tiberias in honour of Tiberius; and another in Peraa, which was by him called Julias, in memory of Julia the daughter of Auguftus. He enjoyed his Tetrarchy forty-three years.

As for his brother Philip, who was Tetrarch of Ituraa, and Trachomitis, mention is made of him only in St. Luke (i). It is true that St. Matthew and St. Mark (k) speak of one Philip, the brother of Herod ; but, as hath been already obferved, Jofephus gives us reafon to doubt, whether this was Philip the Tetrarch, or another Herod, that had also the name of Philip (1). This historian reprefents Philip as a meek, just, and peaceable prince; and therefore Jefus Chrift was wont to retire into his dominions, in order to fecure himself against the infults and attacks of the Jews (m). He also built or beautifyed and enlarged fome cities, as Paneas for inftance, to which he gave the name of Cafarea (n), (and which is commonly called Cæfarea Philippi (0), that it may thereby be diftinguished from another Cæfarea or Turris Stratonis, which lay on the fea-coaft ;) Bethfaida was likewife enlarged by him, and named Julias. He reigned thirty-feven years; and as he died without iffue, Tiberius annexed his dominions to Syria. It remains now to give some account of the grandfons of Herod the Great, as far as is requifite for the understanding of fome parts of the New Testament.

Herod the Great,

ARISTOBULUS, who was put to death by his faOf the grandfons of ther's orders, left behind him two fons, of whom mention is made in the Acts of the Apoftles and the history of Jofephus. The first of them was Agrippa furnamed the Great, the fon of Mariamne, a princess of the Afmonaan race: to him Caligula gave the kingdom of Judea, Idumæa, and Samaria, with the Tetrarchy of Antipas, which was approved of and confirmed by the emperor Claudius, who moreover added to his dominions the territories which had belonged to Philip (p). This is the fame Agrippa who in the Acts is named Herod the king (q), and who, to please the Jews, killed James the fon of Zebedee with the favord, and caft St. Peter into prifon. Like his grandfather, he was cruel, effeminate, and impious; and he met alfo with the fame unhappy end, for he was fmitten by the hand of God for his crimes (r). After

(f) Jofeph. Antiq. 1. xviii. c. 9.

(b) Jofeph. Antiq. 1. xviii. c. 3.

(k) Matth. xiv. 3. Mark vi. 17.

(g) Id. Ibid.
(i) Luke iii. 1.

(2) Jofeph. Antiq. I. xviii. c. 6.

(m) Id. Ibid. (2) Jofeph. Antiq. 1. xviii. c. 3. () Matth. xvi. 13. (p) Jofeph. Antiq. I. xviii. c. 9. & de Bell. Jud. I. ii. c. §.

(9) Acts xii. 1.

(~) Ibid. c. 23.

After his death, which occafioned great joy to all his people, Judea became again a province to the Roman empire, and was governed by Cufpidius Fadus; the fon of Agrippa being then too young to be entrusted with the government of a kingdom (s). The other fon of Ariftobulus was Herod king of Chalcis, commonly known by the name of Claudius's favourite; from whom he obtained the privilege of chufing and depofing the high-priefts (1), together with the charge of the temple, and the holy treasure; though, in other refpects, he had no manner of authority or power in Judea. We find no mention at all of him in feripture.

After the deccafe of Herod king of Chalcis, Agrippa the Younger, the fon of Agrippa the Great, was put in poffeffion of that little kingdom; the fituation whereof, hiftorians are not well agreed about. The most probable opinion is, that it lay between Libanus and Antilibanus. To this prince was likewife committed the keeping of the temple, the holy treasure, and the priefly garments. Before this Agrippa it was that St. Paul made that noble. defence for himself which we read in the xxvith chapter of the A&ts of the Apoftles; where he is always ftiled king, either upon the account of his being king of Chalcis, as he actually was, or elfe because he had a great power in Judea, though he was not invefted with the fupreme authority, fince we find that it was in the hands of governors appointed by the Romans, as Feftus, Felix, Albinus, and Geffius Florus (u). The laft of whom was the occafion of those grievous disturbances and troubles in that province, which in the end proved the caufe of its total ruin and deftruction. Agrippa is well known in hiftory by his criminal, or, at leaft, his too free converfation, with Berenice, the daughter of Agrippa the Great, and confequently his own fifter, which before had been the wife of Herod king of Chalcis, his uncle, and was after married to Polemo king of Cilicia (x), whom the foon forfook, being drawn away by her immoderate and exceffive luft. This is the fame with him in the Acts of the Apoftles (y). Agrippa was the laft king of Herod's race. In what year he died is uncertain : Some imagine that he lived till the time of Trajan. Thus much we know, that he furvived his country, and endeavoured to prevent the fall of it by his wife counfels, and prudent administration (z). But the time appointed for the deftruction of that impenitent people was come; now become their own enemies, contriving, as they did, their own ruin, by repeated feditions, and continual revolts.

Thus have we brought down the hiftory of Herod and his pofterity, to the downfall of the Jewifh commonwealth, which happened in the 70th year of the Christian æra, and 40 years after it had been foretold by Jefus Chrift.

Of thofe Jews who were difperfed in feveral parts of the world.

To finish the account of the ftate of the Jewish nation as far as it relates to the New Testament, it will be neceffary to speak of the Jews that were difperfed in feveral parts of the earth. There were great numbers of

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them in Greece, and all the other parts of the Roman Empire, which had at that time no other bounds, but those of the then known world. It is of the Jews difperfed among the Gentiles, that the Jews of Jerufalem fpeak, in the feventh chapter of St John's gofpel (a). Jesus Christ likewife feems to allude to them, when he faith, he hath yet other sheep (b); without excluding nevertheless the Gentiles, who were alfo to enter into his fheepfold, or to be admitted into his church. Let this be as it will, fome of the difperfed Jews were met together from all parts of the world at Jerufalem on the day of Pentecoft, after our Saviour's afcenfion (). It was then the critical time, in which the Jews openly profeffed they were in expectation of the coming of the Meffiah. God moreover ordered it fo, (that they fhould now be at Jerufalem) to the intent that the miraculous effufion of the Holy Ghoft might be made known to all nations, in order to convince them of the divine mission of Jefus Chrift, and the truth of the Chriftian religion.

To thefe difperfed Jews it was that St. James and St. Peter wrote their epiftles; the former to thofe of the twelve tribes which were fcattered throughout the world; the latter to thofe in particular that were in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Afia, and Bithynia. We may judge of the prodigious number of them by what king Agrippa the Elder wrote to the emperour Caligula, to diffuade him from fetting up the ftatue of Jupiter in Jerufalem, and from ordering that he himself should be worThipped there as a god (d). "Jerufalem, faith he, is the metropolis not "only of Judea, but of many other colonies that have been planted from "thence. In the neighbouring parts there are abundance of them, as "in Egypt, Phoenicia, Upper and Lower Syria, Pamphylia, Cilicia, and "feveral parts of Afia, as far as Bithynia and Pontus : And fo in Europe, "Theffaly, Boeotia, Macedonia, Ætolia, Athens, Argos, Corinth, and the "better part of Peloponnefus. And not only the continent, but the "inlands alfo of most eminent note, are filled with Jewish plantations; as "Eubæa, Cyprus, Crete; to fay nothing of those beyond the Euphrates." Thefe words of Philo give a great light to the fecond chapter of the Acts. And that the cafe was the fame even in the time of Jofephus, appears from the speech which Agrippa the Younger made to the Jews, with a defign to perfuade them not to engage in a war against the Romans; where, among other arguments, he offers this, that "the Jews, "who were scattered over the face of the whole earth, would be involved in "their ruin (e)." Thefe difperfions of the Jews were owing to particular occafions and caufes (f), but they were undoubtedly the effect of the wonderful wifdom of God, who thereby gave the Apostles an opportunity of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, because the Jews, who were mixed with, and refided among them, profeffed to be in expectation of the Meffiah. It cannot moreover be queftioned, but that this difperfion

(b) Id. x. 16.

(a) John vii. 35-
d) Vid. Philonis Legationem ad Caium, p. 16,
(e) Jofeph. de Bello Jud. 1. ii. c. 16.

(c) Acts ii. 5, &c.

You may fee an account of the feveral difperfions of the Jews, and the caufes and occafions of them, in the famous Mr. Bafnage's history of

the Jews.

difperfion did very much contribute towards the preferving the body of the Jewish nation, as a lafting monument of the truth of Chriftianity; fince very few of them furvived their country, and, fuch as then remained, were almoft entirely deftroyed and cut off by the emperor *Adrian afterwards.

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Having given an account of the Jewish nation, properly Concerning fo called, it will not be amifs to give an abstract of the the Samarihiftory of the Samaritans, who were a branch of the Jews, tans. and of whom mention is often made in the New Testament. The Samaritans were fo called from Samaria (g), which formerly was the capital of a country of the fame name, as it was alfo of the kingdom of the ten tribes: Omri king of Ifrael, by whom it was built, gave it that name, because he bought the hill, on which it ftood, of one Semer or Samar (b). One would be apt to think, by what Jofephus fays, that Samaria and Sichem were one and the fame city, fince that hiftorian places Sichem on mount Gerizim, and calls it the capital of the Samaritans (i). But the moft exact Geographers make Samaria and Sichem to have been two different cities. This being of little moment, we fhall fpend no time in examining it. What is certain is this, that Sichem is the fame with Sichar in the gofpel (k); the alteration of the name being occafioned, either by changing the letter M into an R, agreeably to the different dialects of the Jews and Samaritans, as the learned have observed or elfe by way of reproach, because the Hebrew word Sichar, according as it is written and pointed, fignifies feveral fcandalous and ignominious things, viz. a liar, mercenary, drunkard, fepulchre. We have fpoken already of the fchifm of the ten tribes, which was the first rise of the extreme averfion the Jews had for the Samaritans, Samaria being the metropolis of the kingdom of Ifrael, and fet up, in a manner, as a rival to Jerufalem. Samaria stood firm, for a confiderable time, against the repeated and violent affaults of Benhadad king of Syria; but was, at last, entirely deftroyed by Salmanefer king of Affyria, when he carried away the ten tribes captive (/). It seems, nevertheless, to have rifen again out of its ruins, fince we read that the Samaritans got leave from Alexander the Great, to build a temple upon mount Gerizim (m), because from thence had been pronounced the bleffings annexed to the obfervance of the law of Mofes (n). It became fubject to the kings of Egypt or Syria, till it was befieged and taken by Johannes Hyrcanus, the high-prieft of the Jews (); who defaced and laid it wafte to that degree, that (to ufe Jofephus's (p) words) "there was not the least mark left of any building that had ever been there." It was afterwards wholly rebuilt, and confiderably enlarged by Herod the Great, who gave it the name of Sebafte, that is, Augufta, and who built therein a temple in honour of

1 Kings xvi. 24. & 2 Kings xxiii. 19.

(b) 1 Kings, ubi fupra. The Hebrew name of it is Schomeron.

(i) Jofeph Antiq. 1. 11. fub finem.

(1)2 Kings xvii.

(z) Deut. xi. 29. xxvii. 12.
(P) Jofeph. Antiq. 1. xiii. 18.

(k) John iv. 5.

(m) Anno 3668. Jofeph. Antiq. 1. 11. c. 8.
(0) Anno 3869.

Cæfar

Cæfar Auguftus (9). Laftly, as it was united with the kingdom of Ju dea, it became with it a province of the Roman empire.

The origin of the Samaritans is well known; and the account which the fcripture gives us of it is undoubtedly to be preferred before that which we meet with in the Samaritan Chronicle (r), for this is manifeftly. a new-fangled and fpurious work, and therefore deferves no credit. Jofephus agrees in this particular with the facred writings (s).

The Samaritans were a mixture of fuch Jews as remained in the land, when the ten tribes were carried away captive; or of those that afterwards returned thither upon feveral occafions; as likewife of thofe idolatrous people, which were tranfplanted thither by Salmanefer, and are known by the general name of Cuthæans (t). These brought their gods along with them, and highly provoked the true and great God to indignation against them for the worship they paid to thefe idols; whereupon God, to punish them for their idolatry, and to keep the reft of the inhabitants from following their example, fent lions among them, which devoured feveral of them. But they having been informed (as Jofephus (2) tells us) by an oracle, that this punishment, which he calls a plague, was brought upon them, because they did not worship the true God; they fent commiffioners to the king of Affyria, with a petition, that he would be pleafed to fend them fome of the priests that were carried away captive with the Ifraelites, to teach them the worship of the true God, whom they called the God of the land. Which having been granted, they ceafed to be infefted with lions, but continued ftill to be idolaters; fearing the Lord, and ferving withal their graven images. Thus there came to be among the Samaritans a mixture of religions as well as of nations. It cannot exactly be determined how far the ancient inhabitants of Samaria were concerned in this way of worship; but it is very probable, that they embraced the religion of their conquerors, as people are naturally apt to do (x). And that even before this time they had not been entirely free from idolatry, as is plain from Jeroboam's golden calves (y), and the fcriptures reproaching them upon that score. What helped morcover to fpread the infection, was their neighbourhood to Syria, the kings whereof had great power in Samaria (z). is however generally fuppofed that their worship was reformed by Manaffeh, whom Sanballat made high-prieft of the temple of Gerizim (a). At least it is certain that Manaffeh, who was the brother of Jaddus the high-prieft of the temple at Jerufalem, was very zealous for the law of Mofes, though he had married a frange woman. Jofephus tells us that feveral Jews, whofe cafe was the fame with Manaffeh's, withdrew to Gerizim; from whence we may infer, that, bating these marriages, they obferved in other respects the law of Mofes. He further teftifies, that the Samaritans kept the fabbatical year, and defired of Alexander

(2) Jofeph. Antiq. xv. 12. & de Bello Jud. I. i. c. 16.
(r) Reland. Differt. de Samarit. p. 14, 17.
() Jofeph. Antiq. I. 9. c. 14.
(2) Jofeph. Antiq. 1. ix. 14.
()
Kings xii. 28.

(a) Jof. Antiq. 1. xi. c. 8.

(t) 2 Kings xvii.

(x) 2 Kings xvii. 29, &c. (2) Reland de Samarita. p. 6, 7.

7

It

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