At the expiration of his twelfth year of office, when his leave of absence expired, Nehemiah returned to resume his station at the Persian court.

When he departed, no person with adequate authority appears to have been left to carry on or complete his measures. His salutary regulations, and even the solemn covenant into which the people had entered, were gradually infringed and violated. The general laxity of principle and conduct may be estimated from the proceedings of the persons who might have been expected to offer the brightest examples of knowledge and faithfulness. Thus the high-priest himself, Eliashib, gave Tobiah the Ammonite (the grand opponent of Nehemiah) for lodging, even in the temple itself, a large chamber, which had been used as a store room for the tithes and offerings. This Tobiah, as well as his son Johanan, had married Jewish women and became allied to the high-priest. One of the grandsons of Eliashib was also son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite, another of Nehemiah's great adversaries. The temple service was neglected; the tithes, appointed for the support of the Levites and the singers, were abstracted by the high-paiest and his agents, or withheld by the people; the sabbath was profaned in every possible way;* and marriages with strange women were frequent among the people. In accounting for the demoralization of this period, it may not be improper to connect it with the frequent march of Persian troops through the territory in passing to and from Egypt, which was frequently in a state of revolt. By this Judea was made to share in the evils of war, than which nothing is more relaxing of the bonds by which the order of civil society is maintained.

The tidings of this relapse occasioned much grief to Nehemiah at the Persian court, and he ultimately succeeded in obtaining permission to return to Judea. He returned in his former capacity as governor, and applied himself most vigorously to the correction of the evils which had gained ground during his absence. His exertions appear to have been continued for four years, or until the third year of Darius Nothus, whom Nehemiah designates as Darius the Persian. The end, therefore, of this eminent person's second reform, which may be taken as the final act in the restoration and settlement of the Jews in their own land, may be ascribed to the year B. C. 420. With this year, therefore, the canon of the Old Testament concludes; for Malachi, the last of the prophets, is alleged by tradition, supported by every probability of internal evidence, to have prophesied during this later administration of Nehemiah. Malachi is supposed by many to be the same as Ezra.

One of the measures of Nehemiah was to expel the grandson of the high-priest, who had wedded the daughter of Sanballat, from whom he declined to separate. This act was attended with important consequences. Josephus informs us that this person's name was Manasseh; and that, on being expelled from Jerusalem, he went to his father-in-law Sanballat, who, by his interest with the Persian king, obtained permission to build a temple upon Mount Gerizim like that at Jerusalem, and in which Jehovah was to be worshipped with similar services. Of this establishment he made anasseh the high-priest. This, in future, attracted numbers of Jews who had married strange wives from whom they could not bring themselves to part, or who had rendered themselves amenable to punishment by other transgressions of the law. And this, while it tended in a very serious degree to aggravate the enmity between the two nations, served ere long to correct the remaining idolatrous practices, and tendencies to idolatry among the Samaritans. Receiving the account of these matters through Josephus, and other prejudiced writers, it behooves us to be cautious of receiving all the impressions they intend to convey. The temple of Gerizim was undoubtedly a schismatical establishment. But seeing that, on the one hand, the Samaritans were anxious to worship Jehovah according to the regulations of Moses, while, on the other, the Jews, whether right or wrong, pertinaciously refused to receive their adhesion to the temple of Jerusalem, it is difficult to see what other course was left them than to build a temple for themselves. Besides, the obligation of adhesion to one temple was imposed only on the seed of Abraham, and the law made no provision for the case of a people who desired to worship Jehovah, but were repelled by the Jews. And this very fact may suggest that this repulsion was in itself not legal, whatever good effects may ultimately have resulted from it.

*One of the profanations consisted in the practice of the Tyrians bringing fish to the city for sale on the sabbath day. A curious fact.

The time is uncertain and conjectures vary. Hales makes it B. C. 424, six years after his return to Persia.

CHAPTER XXIV.

FROM B. C. 420, TO B. c. 163.

AFTER Nehemiah, no more separate governors of Judea were sent from Persia. The territory was annexed to the province of Cole-Syria, and the administration of Jewish affairs was left to the high-priests, subject to the control of the provincial governors. This raised the high-priesthood to a degree of temporal dignity and power, which very soon made it such an object of worldly ambition, as occasioned many violent and disgraceful contests among persons who had had the least possible regard for the religious character and obligations of the sacerdotal office.

The history of this period is obscure and intricate. Facts are few, and some of those which we possess are hard to reconcile. But there is enough to acquaint us with the unholy violence and unprincipled conduct of the competitors for the priesthood, and the sufferings arising from this, as well as from the arbitrary proceedings of those who succeeded in obtaining that high office.

Jeshua, the high-priest who returned with Zerubbabel, was succeeded by his son Joachim, and he by his son Eliashib, who obtains unfavorable notice in the history of Nehemiah's second administration. He was then old, and died in B. C. 413. He was succeeded by his son Joiada or Judas, who held the office for forty years, B. C. 413-373. Artaxerxes, who died in 423 B. C., left one son by his queen, and seventeen sons by his concubines. The first was named Xerxes, and, among the latter, history only knows Sogdianus, Ochus, and Arsites. Xerxes, the only legitimate son, succeeded; but, after forty-five days, he was slain by Sogdianus, who mounted the throne. On this, Ochus, who was governor of Hyrcania, marched thence with a powerful army to avenge the deed. Sogdianus submitted, and was put to death.* Ochus, in ascending the vacant throne, took the name of Darius, and was surnamed Nothus, or “bastard," to distinguish him from others of the name.

Of the events of this troubled reign, it is perhaps only necessary to notice that the Egyptians again shook off the Persian yoke, and made Amyrtæus of Sais their king, 413 B. C. With the aid of the Arabians, they drove the Persians out of Egypt, pursued them as far as Phoenicia, and maintained their independence sixty-four years. Ochus sent an army against them without success. The Persian forces marched to Egypt along the coast, through Judea. This event could not fail to act to the serious detriment and disquiet of the Jews; but we possess no precise information on the subject. The Persian army while on its march might have laid waste Idumea, because the Idumcans had perhaps taken part with those Arabs, who, in conjunction with the Egyptians, had pursued the Persians into Phoenicia, while the Jews continued faithful to the Persian government, with which they certainly had no reason to be dissatisfied. The prophet Malachi appears to allude to these circumstances. (Mal. i. 2-5.)

Darius Nothus died in 404 B. C., and was succeeded by his eldest son Arsaces, who, on his accession, took the name of Artaxerxes, and was surnamed Memnon, on account of his astonishing "memory." The long reign of this monarch was full of striking and important events; but our notice must be confined to the circumstances connected with Egypt and Phoenicia, with which the Jews could not but be in some way involved.

Artaxerxes determined to make a vigorous effort to restore the Persian power in Egypt, and to this end made most extensive preparation, continued for three years. At last, in 473 B. C., he had equipped a most formidable expedition by land and sea, which, he confidently expected, would speedily reduce the strongholds, and firmly establish his authority throughout the country. But the jealousy between the com manders of the land and sea forces, prevented that union of purpose and action which was essential to success. Pelusium was found to be impregnable, and all the fortified towns were placed in a state of defence. The Persian general, Pharnabazus, therefore, despaired of making any impression upon them, and advanced into the interior, but being opposed by the Egyptian king (Nectanebo) with a considerable force, and in consequence of the want of boats, being constantly impeded in his movements by

He was smothered in ashes. Ochus had sworn not to kill him by sword, poison, or hunger; and there fore invented this novel kind of death to observe the letter while he infringed the spirit of his oath.

the various channels of the rising Nile, he was obliged to retreat and relinquish the hope of subjecting Egypt to the Persian yoke.

The Egyptian king, by whom the Persians were thus repelled, was succeeded in 369 B. C. by Teos or Tachos, who formed large designs, and made extensive preparations for acting offensively against the Persian power. He made an alliance with the Lacedæmonians, and received from them 10,000 auxiliaries under the command of Agesilaus their king. Both the person and counsels of this consummate general were treated with considerable disrespect; and the king persisted in leading his army in person into Phoenicia against the Persians. But his absence was immediately followed by a powerful conspiracy in favor of his relative Nectanebo, for whom the army also declared, so that the infatuated Tacho had no resource but to flee from his own people and throw himself under the protection of the great and generous king of Persia, whose dominions he had invaded."

The Idumeans again suffered much from being mixed up in the contest between the Persians and Egyptians. Nor can it be supposed that the Jews escaped without much moral, if not physical injury. It will be considered that they were exposed to the burdens of a military rendezvous from 377 to 374 B. C.; for at that time there were assembled in their vicinity 200,000 barbarian soldiers, besides 20,000 Greeks; and 300 ships of war, 200 galleys of thirty rowers, and a great number of store-ships were collected at Acco (Acre). The invading army of Persia, both in going and returning, took its route along their coasts, as did afterward the Egyptian army in its invasion of Phoenicia. These circumstances could not but be attended with very injurious effects; but upon the whole the Jews may be considered to have enjoyed peace and comfort during most of the reign of Artaxerxes Memnon, who was a prince of mild and humane character, and governed with much moderation and prudence, and with considerable political wisdom. However, in all the provinces, much depended on the character of the governor or satrap, whose powers, within his province, were almost regal. Artaxerxes died in 358 B. C., after a long reign of forty-six years. The pen of Xenophon has immortalized the revolt of his younger brother Cyrus, by which the early part of his reign was much troubled. The retreat of the 10,000 Greeks-who had fought for Cyrus and survived his overthrow and death—under the conduct of the historian himself, has been more admired and celebrated than most ancient or modern victories.

It was between the periods of disturbance which have been indicated, namely, in 373 B. C., that the high-priest Joiada died, and was succeeded by his son Jonathan or Jochanan (John). About the time of the Egyptian invasion, this person occasioned much trouble to his nation. His brother Jesus had become so great a favorite with the Persian governor Bagoses, that he nominated him to the priesthood. When Jesus came to Jerusalem in that capacity, he was slain by Jonathan in the very temple. Bagoses no sooner heard of this outrage than he hastened to Jerusalem; and when an attempt was made to exclude him from the temple as a gentile, and consequently unclean, he replied with vehemence, "What! am not I as clean as the dead carcase that lies in your temple?" The punishment which Bagoses imposed for the murder of Jesus was a heavy tax upon the lambs offered in sacrifice. This onerous impost was not remitted until the succeeding reign; and it must have been the more sensibly felt, as the priests had for many years been accustomed to receive large contributions from the Persian kings toward defraying the expense of the sacrifices.

Artaxerxes Memnon was succeeded in the throne of Persia by his son Ochus. In his reign, among many other disturbances which we need not mention, the Sidonians, Phoenicians, and Cyprians revolted, and made common cause with the Egyptians, who still maintained their independence. After repeated failures of his generals to reduce them, Ochus himself took the command of the expedition against them. He besieged Sidon, which was betrayed to him by the king Tennes; on which the Sidonians in despair set fire to the city, and burned themselves with all their treasures. Terrified by this catastrophe of Sidon, the other Phoenicians submitted on the best terms they could obtain; and among them we may include the Jews, who seem to have joined the common cause. Being anxious to invade Egypt, Ochus was not unreasonable in his demands. After having also received the submission of Cyprus, the king marched into Egypt 350 B. C., and completely reduced it, chiefly by the assistance of Mentor the Rhodian, and 10,000 mercenary Greeks whom he had drawn

into his service. The Egyptians were treated with a severity more congenial to the savage disposition of Ochus than was the moderation to which policy had constrained him in Phoenicia :-he dismantled the towns, he plundered the temples of their treasures and public records; and the ox-god Apis he sacrificed to an ass-a severe practical satire upon the animal-worship of Egypt, and not less significant as an act of revenge upon the Egyptians for their having nicknamed himself The Ass, on account of his apparent inactivity and sluggishness. Ochus returned in triumph to Babylon, laden with spoil of gold and silver, and other precious things from the kingdoms and provinces he had conquered. From this decisive war the humiliation of Egypt may be dated. Nectanebo II., the last of her native kings, now fled with all the treasures he could collect into Ethiopia. Thenceforth, even to this day, it has been the destiny of Egypt only to change masters, as Ezekiel the prophet had foretold (Ezek. xxix. 13-16).

That the Jews were involved in the revolt of the Phoenicians has been already intimated. This appears from the fact that Ochus went from Phoenicia to Jericho, subdued that city, took some of the inhabitants with him into Egypt, and sent others into Hyrcania to people that province. But that the disaffection of the Jews was not general, or that, at least, it was not shared by the inhabitants of Jerusalem, may be inferred from the fact that this city was not disturbed. Indeed, the Jews owed some gratitude to Ochus for remitting at his accession the heavy tax* which Bagoses had in the preceding reign imposed.

It was in the eighteenth year of Ochus (B. C. 341) that the high-priest Jonathan whose murder of his brother Jesus had given occasion for the imposition of this tax, died, and was succeeded by Jaddua or Jaddus.

Ochus, after having re-established his dominion over all the provinces which had newly or in foriner times revolted, abandoned himself to luxurious repose, leaving the government in the hands of Bagoas, an Egyptian eunuch, and of his general Memnon, from both of whom he had received important services during the Egyptian war. But Bagoas could not forgive the ruin of his country, although that had been the basis of his own fortunes. He poisoned Ochus and destroyed all his sons, except Arses the youngest. This horrid act was followed by his sending back to Egypt such of the plundered archives as he could collect. Arses, whom he had spared, he placed on the throne, expecting to reign in his name. But finding that the young king contemplated the punishment of the murderer of his father and his brothers, Bagoas anticipated his intention, and in the third year of his reign destroyed him and all the remaining members of his family. The eunuch, whose soul was now hardened to iron by the concurrent and repeated action of grief and crime, tendered the sceptre to Codomanus, the governor of Armenia, a descendant of Darius Nothus,† and who on his accession assumed the name of Darius, and is known in history as Darius Codomanus, B. C. 335. Bagoas soon repented of his choice, and plotted the death of this king also; but Darius, having discovered his design, returned to his own lips the poisoned chalice which he had prepared for the king.

Few kings ever enjoyed greater advantages than Darius at their accession. He had no competitors or opponents; his treasures, increased under Ochus by the plunder of many lands, seemed exhaustless; his dominion appeared well established over all the nations which abode from the Indus to the isles of Greece, and from the cataracts of the Nile to the Caucasian mountains; and with all this, the personal bravery of Darius and his acknowledged merits made him universally respected and admired throughout his empire. But bright as appeared his star, another had risen before which his own grew pale and became extinct.

Alexander, the son of Philip king of Macedon, ascended the throne when he was only twenty years of age, in B. C. 335, being the very same year that Darius Codomanus became king of Persia. It is not necessary in a work of this nature to record the exploits of this celebrated hero, unless as far as necessary to carry on the history of Palestine and the Jews.

• Jahn estimates that it must have produced 50,000l., perhaps rather too high an estimate.

+ His grandfather was the brother of Darius Nothus, and his father was the only one of the family who escaped the massacre with which Ochus commenced his reign. He afterward married and had a son, who was this Codomanus The young man lived in obscurity during most of the reign of Ochus, supporting himself as an astanda, or courier, by carrying the royal despatches. He at last had an opportunity of dissinguishing his valor by slaying a Cadusian champion, who, like another Goliah, defied the whole Persian my. For this gallant exploit he was rewarded by Ochus with the important government of Aimens.