Joshua was the son of Josedec,

afterwards by Ezra. the high priest, and grandson to Seraiah, who was high priest when the temple was destroyed. Darius, the successor of Cyrus, confirmed this decree, and favoured the re-establishment of the people. But it was in the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus, called in Scripture Ahasuerus, that Ezra obtained his commission, and was made governor of the Jews in their own land (x), which government he held thirteen years; then Nehemiah was appointed with fresh powers, probably through the interest of queen Esther; and Ezra applied himself solely to correcting the canon of the Scriptures, and restoring and providing for the continuance of the worship of God in its original purity.

The first care of the Jews, after their arrival in Judæa, was to build an altar for burnt-offerings to God; they then collected materials for rebuilding the temple, and all necessary preparations being made, in the beginning of the second year after their return under Zerubbabel, they began to build it upon the old foundations. The Samaritans, affirming that they worshipped the God of Israel, offered to assist the Jews; but their assistance being refused, they did all in their power to impede the work, and hence originated that enmity which ever after subsisted between the Jews and Samaritans. The temple, after a variety of obstructions and delays, was finished and dedicated, in the seventh year of king Darius, and twenty years after it was begun. Though this second temple, or as it is sometimes called, the temple of Zerubbabel, who was at this time governor of the Jews, was of the same size and dimensions as the first, or Solomon's temple, yet it was very inferior to it in

515.

(r) About 1,500 Jews returned from Babylon with Ezra, and great numbers now returned from the neighbouring nations.

splendour and magnificence; and the ark of the covenant, the Shechinah, the holy fire upon the altar, the Urim and Thummim, and the spirit of prophecy, were all wanting to this temple of the remnant of the people. At the feast of the dedication offerings were made for the twelve tribes of Israel, which seems to indicate that some of all the tribes returned from captivity; but by far the greater number were of the tribe of Judah, and therefore from this period the Israelites were generally called Judæi, or Jews, and their country Judæa. Many, at their own desire, remained in those provinces where they had been placed by the kings of Assyria and Babylon. The settlement of the people, "after their old estate," according to the word of the Lord, together with the arrangement of all civil and ecclesiastical matters, and the building of the walls of Jerusalem, were completed by Ezra and Nehemiah (y). But we soon after find Malachi, the last of the prophets under the Old Testament (), reproving both priests and people very severely, not for idolatry, but for their scandalous lives and gross corruptions.

430.

The Scripture history ends at this period, and we must have recourse to uninspired writings, principally to the books of the Maccabees and to Josephus, for the remaining particulars of the Jewish history, to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans (a).

(y) Manasseh, a priest, the brother of Jaddua, the high priest of Jerusalem, who had married the daughter of Sanballat, the governor of Samaria, was banished by Nehemiah, and went to Samaria, with a number of other refractory Jews, and was made high priest of the temple on Mount Gerizim.

(*) The cessation of prophecy had been previously threatened as a token of the displeasure of God, and we may presume that it was designed also to increase their desire and expectation of the appearance of the Messiah at the appointed time.

(a) The history contained in the apocryphal books ends about 135 years before Christ, according to Dr. Blair.

Judæa continued subject to the kings of Persia about two hundred years, but it does not appear that it had a separate governor after Nehemiah. From his time it was included in the jurisdiction of the governor of Syria, and under him the high priest had the chief authority. When Alexander the Great was preparing to besiege Tyre, he sent to Jaddua, the high priest at Jerusalem, to supply him with that quantity of provisions which he was accustomed to send to Persia. Jaddua refused, upon the ground of his oath of 332. fidelity to the king of Persia. This refusal irritated Alexander; and when he had taken Tyre, he marched towards Jerusalem to revenge himself upon the Jews. Jaddua had notice of his approach, and by the direction of God went out of the city to meet him, dressed in his pontifical robes, and attended by the Levites in white garments. Alexander, visibly struck with this solemn appearance, immediately laid aside his hostile intentions, advanced towards the high priest, embraced him, and paid adoration to the name of God, which was inscribed upon the frontlet of his mitre : he afterwards went into the city with the high priest, and offered sacrifices in the temple to the God of the Jews. This sudden change in the disposition of Alexander excited no small astonishment among his followers; and when his favourite Parmenio inquired of him the cause, he answered that it was occasioned by the recollection of a remarkable dream he had in Macedonia, in which a person, dressed precisely like the Jewish high priest, had encouraged him to undertake the conquest of Persia, and had promised him success; he therefore adored the name of that God by whose direction he believed he acted, and shewed kindness to his people. It is also said, that while he was at Jerusalem the prophecies of Daniel were pointed out

to him, which foretold that "the king of Grecia (b)” should conquer Persia. Before he left Jerusalem he granted the Jews the same free enjoyment of their laws and their religion, and exemption from tribute every sabbatical year, which they had been allowed by the kings of Persia; and when he built Alexandria, he placed a great number of Jews there, and granted them many favours and immunities. Whether any Jews settled in Europe so early as while the nation was subject to the Macedonian empire, is not known, but it is believed that they began to hellenize about this time. The Greek tongue became more common among them, and Grecian manners and opinions were soon introduced.

323.

At the death of Alexander, in the division of his empire among his generals, Judæa fell to the share of Laomedon (c). But Ptolemy Soter, son of Lagus, king of Egypt, soon after made himself master of it by stratagem: he entered Jerusalem on a sabbath day, under pretence of offering sacrifice, and took possession of the city without resistance from the Jews, who did not on this occasion dare to transgress their law by fighting on a sabbath day. Ptolemy carried many thousands captive into Egypt, both Jews and Samaritans, and settled them there; he afterwards treated them with kindness, on account of their acknowledged fidelity to their engagements, particularly

(b) Dan. c. 8. v. 20, &c.

Laomedon, one of Alexander's captains, had Syria, Phoenicia, and Judæa, assigned to him in the first partition after the death of Alexander; but Ptolemy Soter very soon took possession of these territories. As both Laomedon and Antigonus continued masters of those countries, which were allotted to them, only a short time, the Macedonian empire is generally considered as divided into four parts, the Macedonian, the Asiatic, the Syrian, and Egyptian, of which Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy Soter, were respectively kings.

in their conduct towards Darius, king of Persia; and he granted them equal privileges with the Macedonians themselves at Alexandria. Ptolemy Philadelphus is said to have given the Jews, who were captives in Egypt, their liberty, to the number of 120,000. He commanded the Jewish Scriptures to be translated into the Greek language, which translation is called the Septuagint, from the number of persons said to have been employed in the work*. After the Jewish nation had been tributary to the kings of Egypt for about an hundred years, it became subject to the kings of Syria. They divided the land, which now began to be called Palestine, into five provinces, three of which were on the west side of the Jordan, namely, Galilee, Samaria, and Judæa (d), and two on the east side, namely, Trachonitis and Peræa: but they suffered them to be governed by their own laws, under the high priest and council of the nation. Seleucus Nicanor gave them the right of citizens in the cities which he built in Asia Minor and Cole-Syria, and even in Antioch, his capital, with privileges which they continued to enjoy under the Romans. Antiochus the Great granted considerable favours and immunities to the city of Jerusalem; and to secure Lydia and Phrygia, he established colonies of Jews in those provinces. In the series of wars which took place between the kings of Syria and Egypt, Judæa, being situated between those two countries, was, in a greater or less degree, affected by all the revolutions which they experienced, and was frequently the scene of bloody and destructive battles. The evils to which the Jews were exposed from these foreign powers were considerably aggravated by the corruption and misconduct of their own high priests, (d) But the whole country was frequently called Judæa after * See Note (t) p. 9.

this time.