LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO.

Speaker's Commentary.
Scott's Commentary.

Matthew Henry's Commentary.

Smith's Dictionary of the Bible.

The Old Testament, by Dr. Townsend.

The Scriptures Arranged (on the basis of Dr. Townsend's Work). By the Rev. Henry Linton. Third Edition.

Commentary on the Old and New Testaments. (Brown, Jamieson, and Fausset.)

Horne's Introduction to the Holy Scriptures. 5 vols. Connection between the Old and New Testaments. Dean Prideaux. 2 vols.

Notes on Ezra. By J. Davies.

The following abbreviations are employed in the Notes:-
For the Speaker's Commentary-Sp. Com.

Brown and Fausset's Commentary-Br. and F.

The Septuagint Version-lxx.

By

When a Commentary is referred to, ad locum is employed to indicate the same Book, Chapter, and Verse.

SKETCH OF PERSIAN HISTORY,

FROM THE TIMES OF DARIUS THE MEDE.
See "Notes on Ezra," p. 9.

Darius the Median, referred to by Daniel (ch. v. 31), is known in history as Cyaxares, the son of Astyages, king of Media, and the uncle of Cyrus on the mother's side, Cambyses, the father of Cyrus, having married Mandane, the daughter of Astyages, and sister of Cyaxares. In 559 Cyrus is summoned to his uncle's aid, in order to destroy the coalition entered into against him by the Lydians and Babylonians. Cyrus defeats Neriglissor, king of Babylon, and afterwards overcomes the Lydians at the river Halys, B.C. 549, taking Croesus, their king, prisoner (Solon, one of the seven wise men, was then at his court in Lydia). In the year 539 he lays siege to Babylon, at that time governed by Belshazzar (Labynitus, the king, being absent), and eventually enters the city through the bed of the river Euphrates. Cyrus the Great begins his sole reign on the death of his uncle. In 536 he issues his famous decree in favour of the Jews. In consequence of this decree, many of the Jews return, under Zerubbabel and Jeshua, to their own land, and rebuild their City and Temple. In 529 Cyrus dies, according to Xenophon, in his bed; but according to Herodotus, he was slain by Tomyris, the queen of the Massagetæ. Cambyses, son of Cyrus, succeeds to the throne. His conquest of Egypt, 525 (fulfilling thus in part Ezekiel's prediction, ch. xxix. xxx.), and his unsuccessful expedition against Ethiopia, are the chief events of his short reign. Among other acts of cruelty, amounting almost to madness, he murdered his brother Smerdis. He also first married and afterwards murdered his sister Meroe.

Smerdis, 522, the Magian, usurped the throne, assuming the name of the murdered Smerdis; but he was dethroned by Darius Hystaspes, 521. In order to strengthen himself on the throne, he marries the daughters of Cyrus, Atossa, and Artistona. The principal events in his reign are the burning of Sardis by the Athenians and Ionians, and the Expeditions against Greece.

The 1st under Mardonius, 494, wrecked off Mount Athos. The 2nd under Datis and Artaphernes, 492, during which was fought the battle of Marathon, 490, in which Hippias, one of the sons of Peisistratus, was slain.

Xerxes, 485, succeeds on his father's death, and undertakes the 3rd Expedition against Greece in person, 480, during which were fought battles at Thermopyla, at Salamis (after which Xerxes fled from Greece, leaving Mardonius in command), also at Platœa and Mycale (on the same day), and in 469 the battle is gained by Cimon, son of Miltiades, at the Eurymedon. Xerxes is murdered in 464.

Artaxerxes Longimanus (the longhanded), 464. The chief events of his reign are as follows. He suppressed a revolt of the Egyptians (in which they were aided by the Athenians), and put Inarus their king to death. In 469 Cimon again defeats the Persians in a sea fight off Cyprus. In 457, Ezra, and in 445, Nehemiah, are permitted to visit Judea, and to rebuild the walls of the city (the city and temple had been rebuilt under Zerubbabel and Jeshua). (This was the Ahasuerus who married Esther, according to Dean Prideaux).

Xerxes II, 424, reigns only 45 days. He is succeeded by Sogdianus, an illegitimate brother, who after six months was slain by

Darius Nothus (the illegitimate), 423.

This king is known

chiefly as the father of Cyrus the Younger,

Artaxerxes Mnemon, 405. Soon after his accession he is attacked by his brother Cyrus the younger, who is aided by Greeks. The expedition (the Anabasis of Xenophon) is defeated at the Battle of Cunaxa, 401, and Cyrus slain.

Artaxerxes III, or Ochus, 385, murders his predecessor and his family, suppresses a revolt in Egypt, and slays Apis, their calf-god. He is slain by Bagoas, an Egyptian.

Arses, 338, the younger son of Artaxerxes, is put on the throne by Bagoas, whose intention was to reign really while Arses was nominally king, but finding him determined to avenge his father's murder, he slays him, and elevates

Darius Codomanus, 336 (short handed), who destroys Bagoas, Last king of Persia, defeated at the battles of Granicus, Issus, and Arbela, by Alexander the Great, who closes the Persian Empire.

THE TIMES OF NEHEMIAH.

1. Rome. From the Tabular View appended to this book it will be seen that the Kingdom of Rome, founded by Romulus in 753, had been brought to a close, by the crimes of the last king, Tarquin the Proud, and other members of his family, after 240 years' duration, B.C. 510. Consuls having been appointed, the Republic, after the war with Lars Porsena and Tarquin, becomes firmly established; and while Ezra is revising the Scriptures in Judea, and Nehemiah is building the walls of Jerusalem, the infant Republic is contending with the various perils, (from the secessions of her plebeian order, and frequent wars with the neighbouring states,) which from time to time threaten to obstruct her path.

2. Greece. In Athens, the fall of the Peisistratidæ, in the very year in which the Tarquins were expelled, (510), restores her people to freedom again. The War against Persia, with its connected events, unites nearly all the states in the earlier half of the century, while the latter half is taken up with the Sacred and Peloponnesian Wars. The Tabular View before referred to will show at a glance the principal events and great men of the period, contemporary with Ezra and Nehemiah.

3. Egypt.-Brought under the power of Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in 572, this kingdom, once so powerful, became a prey to each succeeding conqueror,-to the Persians, under Cambyses, son of Cyrus, 525; and after a vain struggle, in which Inarus and Amyrtæus were aided by the Athenians, 414, their last king, Nectanebus, passed away, 350; and the prophet's words were fulfilled." It shall be the basest of kingdoms."—(Ezek. xxix. 15.)

4. Judea. In order that our younger readers may have a clear knowledge of the events connected with the Restoration, a

sketch of events is here presented from the first return in 536, to the close of the Old Testament history:

In 536. On the promulgation of Cyrus' decree (Ezra i. 1) the first band of exiles return under Zerrubbabel and Jeshua. In the following year, 535, they begin to build the city and temple, but are hindered by the "people of the land," who influence by bribes the officers of Cyrus against their work. After 15 years (in 520) they resume the building, a decree having been issued by Darius in their favour (Ezra vi.), and in

years more the temple is finished, and dedicated B.C. 515. (This temple was 20 years in building, from the 2nd of Cyrus to the 7th of Darius.-(Prideaux's Connexion, anno 515).

The narrative is here interrupted, 50 years intervening between chapter vi. and chapter vii. in the book of Ezra.

In 457 Ezra is sent to Jerusalem (Ezra ch. vii.); the second band of exiles return with him.

According to Dean Prideaux, Artaxerxes Longimanus, who was now reigning (see sketch of Persian History, p. 4), was the Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther, to whose influence with the king his favour towards the Jews is ascribed.

On reaching Jerusalem, Ezra finds that many abuses had crept in; he effects therefore a reformation, especially by inducing the people to put away strange wives (ch. viii.-x.) Zechariah's prediction of the glory of Christ's kingdom was now published (ch. ix.-xiv.)

In 445, 12 years after Ezra, Nehemiah is allowed to visit Judea, stirred up by a deputation which came from Jerusalem (Neh. i.-ii.) He succeeds, after hindrances from Sanballat and the Samaritan party, in building the walls after 52 days.

445 B.C.-According to Dr. Townsend, Nehemiah returns now to Persia, according to his promise (chap. ii. 6, and vii. 1-4), and after a brief stay there, "after certain days," was sent back to Judea, 444, as Governor, Tirshatha, under the king, Having governed Judea for 12 years (chap. xiii. 6), he went again to Persia, 433, but returns with fresh powers, and completes his work in Judea. The last Reformation of Nehemiah was in 409, under the priesthood of Joiada, son of Eliashib, who had defiled the Temple by allowing Tobiah to lodge there.