The wall finished.

orders to Sanballat, and others of his officers on this fide Euphrates, to furnish him with all neceffary materials out of the royal treasury. Nehemiah, having gathered a fresh supply of men and women to return with him into Judæa, departed under an escort, which the king had granted, and arrived at Jerufalem, where he kept himfelf in private three days; at the end of which he went in the night, accompanied with a few of his men, to take a full view of the city and walls, which he found to answer exactly the fad report that had been made of it to him at Shufhan. On the morrow he fent for the heads of the people, and in the great affembly opened his commission, which he told them he would immediately put in force. With refpect to the city wall, he divided the work between a number of great families, each of which undertook a part of a stated extent, and were to build it at their own charges; and the new governor plied them fo clofe, that in fifty-two days they had all completed their tafks, notwithstanding the many difcouragements which they met with both from within and without.

In the profecution of the work, they were forced to bear with many bitter farcafms from Sanballat, an Horonite (P), governor of Samaria, and others of his officers; but this was nothing to fome of their underhand plots to obftruct it; for they went fo far, as to hire certain treacherous Jews to difhearten both the governor and people, with the fpecious pretence, that they were fent from God to put a stop to the enterprize. Nehemiah foon detected their arts; but foreseeing that his enemies would ufe force, if their deceitful practices failed, he ordered the people to arm themselves, even while they were at work, placing ftrong guards to defend them, and trumpeters at convenient distances from each other, that at what quarter foever they should chance to be attacked, the reft, upon hearing the alarm, might come immediately to their affiftance. But the greatest obftacle of all was, that the poorer fort, who were to bear the greater fhare of the labour, had been fo

(P) Probably fo called, becaufe he was a native of Horonaim, a city of Moab. Their other two principal enemies were Tobias the Ammonite, and Gefhem the Arabian; all confequently ill-affected to the

Jews; but now doubly fo, fince they were likely to be difpoffeffed by them of many a good eftate, which they had feized on, during their captivity.

impoverished

impoverished by continual extortions from the rich, for fome years before his arrival, that they had already been forced to mortgage their lands, fell their fons and daughters, and fubmit to fo many other hardships, that they were quite difabled from purfuing the work. Nehemiah, who expected nothing less than to hear of fuch horrid cruelties committed by the Jewish rulers, upbraided them in the feverest terms; and partly by perfuafions, and partly by his own authority, obliged them to restore all their ill-gotten wealth to the poor owners; at the fame time he took care that they fhould be fupplied with all necessary sustenance while they continued in the work". By these means he defeated the measures of the Samaritans. As foon as the wall was finished, he caufed the Is confededication of it to be celebrated, with the ufual fo- crated. lemnities, by the priests and Levites; and left the government of the city to his two brothers Hanani and Hananiah P, whilft he himself returned, as is reasonably fuppofed, into Perfia, to obtain a new commiffion, the former extending no farther than the rebuilding the city wall, which was now actually finished.

Hitherto Jerufalem remained but thinly peopled, the far greater part of the Jews having fettled themselves in the countries round about; and whenever any bufinefs called them into the city, they feldom failed returning at night to their respective habitations. This practice Nehemiah had indeed forbidden, while the wall was building; but after it was finished, they returned to their country-feats; fo that he was obliged to provide for its The city fafety, by caufing a greater number of people to come and peopled. fettle within the walls. He perfuaded, at first, the nobler and richer to build them houfes there; an injunction which they the more gladly complied with, because the country was very much infefted with thieves and banditti. They afterwards took in all that willingly offered themselves to come and fettle there; but these not proving fufficient, he was fain to take every tenth family by lot; fo that by this time the city being well built, peopled, guarded, and fortified, it began to resume fomething of its former luftre ; and Herodotus, who faw it soon after this time, compares it to Sardis, the metropolis of Asia Minor (Q).

xi.

Nehem. v. paff. Ch. xii. p Ibid. chap. vii. q Nehem. Herodot. lib. iii. (Q) Herodotus calls it Cadytis; but whoever reads what the learned Prideaux has faid on

that fubject, will eafily think
with him, that it could be no
other than Jerufalem.
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Whilft

The law

publicly read and expounded

Whilft Nehemiah was thus employed in peopling and fortifying the city, adorning the temple, and rectifying the genealogies, both of priefts and people (R), Ezra, who had by that time finished his collection of the facred books, was preparing himself, and fome other learned priests, to make a folemn lecture of them to the whole nation on the next approaching festival, which was that of the trumpets, ushering in the new year. To this end a capacious fcaffold or defk was raised in one of the largest streets of the city, that the people, who came from all parts of the land to the feaft, might conveniently hear his voice. Ezra was feated in the midst, with the facred volume before him; and on each fide ftood fix priefts, well verfed in the Hebrew and Chaldee, who interpreted in the latter what he read in the former, verfe by verfe. At noon, Nehemiah reminding them of the joyful feftival they were celebrating, difmiffed them for that day, charging them to fpend the remainder of it in feafting and joy, and to make their poor brethren partake of their fatisfaction. As the people expreffed a more than common defire to have this lecture and expofition continued to them, Ezra complied with their requeft, until he and his affiftants had gone through the whole Pentateuch. The grand feftival of tabernacles bernacles. being likewife near at hand, it opportunely happened, that the part of Leviticus in which it is enjoined, was read fome days before; by which means they were made sensible, how fhort they had been till then of its due obfervation, fo that the next they kept, was obferved with greater précision and folemnity than it had been fince the time of Joshua (S).

Feaff of ta

• Nehem. viii. 12, & feq.

(R) This had been done once before, foon after the return, as was lately hinted; but not fo clearly, but that there were still many families of priests, Levites, and of the people, who could not make out their claim to their tribes. It is therefore likely, that fome of them were fince enabled to do it, and were then inferted in this new regifter, together with thofe who came up with Nehemiah. Several of the old families, that came up upon the first edict,

But

might be by this time extinct; all which is probably the caufe of the difference we find in the genealogies of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

(S) It is fuppofed to have been at this folemnity, that the notable difcovery happened of the facred fire, related in the book of Maccabees. The Jews affirm, that Jeremiah, or fome other prophet, had caufed it to be hid in a dry well a little before the taking of Jerufalem: the memory of it having been

But this was not all the advantage which Nehemiah reaped from this lecture of the law: there appeared such marks of concern in them, whenever any point was read, of which they knew themselves tranfgreffors, that he made use of that happy difpofition to extort from them a general confeffion of their fins, and a folemn promise and vow to rectify all that was amifs for the future; especially with respect to the four following heads; namely, 1. Not to make any intermarriages with the Gentiles, and to difannul the old connexions: 2. The obfervation of fabbaths, fabbatic years, and thofe divine commands which related to them: 3. The punctual payment of their yearly tribute to the temple, both for the repairs and the maintenance of the divine fervices in it: and, 4. The exact payment of their tythes, first-fruits, vows, &c. to the priests and Levites. The folemnity concluded with a generous collection, which he caused to be made among them for the fervice of the temple: in which, to fhew a noble example to the reft, he himself gave a thousand drachms of gold, fifty dishes, and five hundred and thirty-two prieftly veftments.

Having thus, with great credit and honour, completed the tenor of his commiffion, he returned into Perfia, according to his promife to the king, after having enjoyed the government of Judæa twelve years.

Yr. of Fl. 1906. Ante Chr.

442.

During his abfence, which lafted but five years, it is almoft incredible, what abuses had crept into the Jewish church and commonwealth. Eliafhib, whether the then high-prieft, or fome other of the fame name, who was overfeer of the temple-chambers ", married his grandfon to the daughter of Sanballat, the profeffed enemy of the Jews; and had fo much bafe complaifance for him, The temple as to accommodate his friend Tobiah the Ammonite, with profaned. a large apartment in that facred place, from which even the Ifraelites, who were not of the tribe of Levi, were excluded.

Another shameful abufe was an almost total difregard of The fabthe fabbath; they threshed their corn, prefied their wine bath profaned. and oil, bought and fold from the Tyrians, and other ftrangers, who affected to bring their mercantile wares into

t Nehem. ix. & x. ubi fupra, fub an. 428.

ftill preserved to that time, Nehemiah caufed it to be fetched out for the divine fervice.

De hoc vide Commentat. & Prid.

In memory of this wonderful difcovery, the Jews instituted a feaft, which they called the feaft of the new fire.

C 3

the

the city on that day, rather than on any other of the week. To prevent this practice for the future, Nehemiah, having reproved thofe magiftrates in the fevereft terms, ordered the gates of the city to be shut up every Friday night about fun-fet, and not to be opened again till the fabbath was quite over; by which means those strangers having been disappointed twice or thrice, and threatened from the walls with further punishment, defifted from coming any more on that day. What aggravated the folly and baseForewarn nefs of the Jews is, that they had among them three coned by the fiderable prophets, who rebuked them feverely for their prophets. crimes, and warned them of the dreadful punishments which they would bring upon them.

The wor Ship refored.

Thefe were Zechariah, Haggai, and Malachi, whose prophecies demanded the utmost regard and attention (T). But what the authority of the prophets could not do, that of the governor's prefence foon brought about; fo that, befides thofe abuses we have already obferved, he rectified a number of others, which were no lefs enormous ; one of which was the ceafing of the divine worship through the avarice of the people, who, refufing to pay the priests and Levites their tythes, and other dues, had forced them to feek their living out of the temple and city. All these Nehemiah restored to their former. regularity, and reformed every thing that was amifs, not probably all at once, as one might be apt to think, from their being mentioned together in one chapter *, but at several times, and as opportunity ferved.

All these enormities, introduced within the fhort interval of his abfence, being manifeftly owing to their ignorance or forgetfulness of the Mofaic law, foon pointed out to him, that the only way to remedy them, was to enforce the frequent lecture and expofition of it, not only in Jerufalem, but alfo in all other cities and places of Judæa; an. expedient which had been formerly ufed with good fuccess by fome of the pious kings of Judah. Thefe lectures were

x Nehem. ch. ult.

(T) Zechariah, for the number, excellency, and precifenefs of his prophecies, is emphatically termed Sol inter prophetas minores; he was contemporary with Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Malachi, if this last be not the fame

with Ezra. He began to prophefy about two months after Haggai, and, with him, to encourage the rebuilding of the temple, by affuring them of the divine protection and bleffing on the work.

probably