Chapter 5.
- Antiquities of the Jews -- Preface
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Chapter 5.
HOW XERXES THE SON OF DARIUS WAS WELL DISPOSED TO THE JEWS; AS ALSO CONCERNING ESDRAS AND NEHEMIAH, FJAJ 11.35
1. UPON the death of Darius, Xerxes his son took the kingdom, who, as
he inherited his father's kingdom, so did he inherit his piety towards
God, and honor of him; for he did all things suitably to his father relating
to Divine worship, and he was exceeding friendly to the Jews
Now about
this time a son of Jeshua, whose name was Joacim, was the high priest.
Moreover, there was now in Babylon a righteous man, and one that enjoyed
a great reputation among the multitude
He was the principal priest of
the people, and his name was Esdras
He was very skillful in the laws of
Moses, and was well acquainted with king Xerxes
He had determined to go
up to Jerusalem, and to take with him some of those Jews that were in Babylon;
and he desired that the king would give him an epistle to the governors
of Syria, by which they might know who he was
Accordingly, the king wrote
the following epistle to those governors: "Xerxes, king of kings,
to Esdras the priest, and reader of the Divine law, greeting
I think it
agreeable to that love which I bear to mankind, to permit those of the
Jewish nation that are so disposed, as well as those of the priests and
Levites that are in our kingdom, to go together to Jerusalem
Accordingly,
I have given command for that purpose; and let every one that hath a mind
go, according as it hath seemed good to me, and to my seven counselors,
and this in order to their review of the affairs of Judea, to see whether
they be agreeable to the law of God
Let them also take with them those
presents which I and my friends have vowed, with all that silver and gold
that is found in the country of the Babylonians, as dedicated to God, and
let all this be carried to Jerusalem to God for sacrifices
Let it also
be lawful for thee and thy brethren to make as many vessels of silver and
gold as thou pleasest
Thou shalt also dedicate those holy vessels which
have been given thee, and as many more as thou hast a mind to make, and
shall take the expenses out of the king's treasury
I have, moreover, written
to the treasurers of Syria and Phoenicia, that they take care of those
affairs that Esdras the priest, and reader of the laws of God, is sent
about
And that God may not be at all angry with me, or with my children,
I grant all that is necessary for sacrifices to God, according to the law,
as far as a hundred cori of wheat
And I enjoin you not to lay any treacherous
imposition, or any tributes, upon their priests or Levites, or
sacred
singers, or porters, or sacred servants, or scribes of the temple
And
do thou, O Esdras, appoint judges according to the wisdom [given thee]
of God, and those such as understand the law, that they may judge in all
Syria and Phoenicia; and do thou instruct those also which are ignorant
of it, that if any one of thy countrymen transgress the law of God, or
that of the king, he may be punished, as not transgressing it out of ignorance,
but as one that knows it indeed, but boldly despises and contemns it; and
such may be punished by death, or by paying fines
Farewell."FJAJ 11.36
2. When Esdras had received this epistle, he was very joyful, and began
to worship God, and confessed that he had been the cause of the king's
great favor to him, and that for the same reason he gave all the thanks
to God
So he read the epistle at Babylon to those Jews that were there;
but he kept the epistle itself, and sent a copy of it to all those of his
own nation that were in Media
And when these Jews had understood what
piety the king had towards God, and what kindness he had for Esdras, they
were all greatly pleased; nay, many of them took their effects with them,
and came to Babylon, as very desirous of going down to Jerusalem; but then
the entire body of the people of Israel remained in that country; wherefore
there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Iomans, while
the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude,
and not to be estimated by numbers
Now there came a great number of priests,
and Levites, and porters, and sacred singers, and sacred servants to Esdras.
So he gathered those that were in the captivity together beyond Euphrates,
and staid there three days, and ordained a fast for them, that they might
make their prayers to God for their preservation, that they might suffer
no misfortunes by the way, either from their enemies, or from any other
ill accident; for Esdras had said beforehand that he had told the king
how God would preserve them, and so he had not thought fit to request that
he would send horsemen to conduct them
So when they had finished their
prayers, they removed from Euphrates on the twelfth day of the first month
of the seventh year of the reign of Xerxes, and they came to Jerusalem
on the fifth month of the same year
Now Esdras presented the sacred money
to the treasurers, who were of the family of the priests, of silver six
hundred and fifty talents, vessels of silver one hundred talents, vessels
of gold twenty talents, vessels of brass, that was more precious than gold,
(8)
Dr. Hudson takes notice here, that this kind of brass or copper, or rather
mixture of gold and brass or copper, was called aurichalcum, and that this
was of old esteemed the most precious of all metals. twelve
talents by weight; for these Presents had been made by the king and his
counselors, and by all the Israelites that staid at Babylon
So when Esdras
had delivered these things to the priests, he gave to God, as the appointed
sacrifices of whole burnt-offerings, twelve bulls on account of the common
preservation of the people, ninety rams, seventy-two lambs, and twelve
kids of the goats, for the remission of sins
He also delivered the king's
epistle to the king's officers, and to the governors of Celesyria and Phoenicia;
and as they were under a necessity of doing what was enjoined by him, they
honored our nation, and were assistant to them in all their necessities.FJAJ 11.37
3. Now these things were truly done under the conduct of Esdras; and
he succeeded in them, because God esteemed him worthy of the success of
his conduct, on account of his goodness and righteousness
But some time
afterward there came some persons to him, and brought an accusation against
certain of the multitude, and of the priests and Levites, who had transgressed
their settlement, and dissolved the laws of their country, by marrying
strange wives, and had brought the family of the priests into confusion.
These persons desired him to support the laws, lest God should take up
a general anger against them all, and reduce them to a calamitous condition
again
Hereupon he rent his garment immediately, out of grief, and pulled
off the hair of his head and beard, and cast himself upon the ground, because
this crime had reached the principal men among the people; and considering
that if he should enjoin them to cast out their wives, and the children
they had by them, he should not be hearkener to, he continued lying upon
the ground
However, all the better sort came running to him, who also
themselves wept, and partook of the grief he was under for what had been
done
So Esdras rose up from the ground, and stretched out his hands towards
heaven, and said that he was ashamed to look towards it, because of the
sins which the people had committed, while they had cast out of their memories
what their fathers had undergone on account of their wickedness; and he
besought God, who had saved a seed and a remnant out of the calamity and
captivity they had been in, and had restored them again to Jerusalem, and
to their own land, and had obliged the kings of Persia to have compassion
on them, that he would also forgive them their sins they had now committed,
which, though they deserved death, yet, was it agreeable to the mercy of
God, to remit even to these the punishment due to them.FJAJ 11.38
4. After Esdras had said this, he left off praying; and when all those
that came to him with their wives and children were under lamentation,
one whose name was Jechonias, a principal man in Jerusalem, came to him,
and said that they had sinned in marrying strange wives; and he persuaded
him to adjure them all to cast those wives out, and the children born of
them, and that those should be punished who would not obey the law
So
Esdras hearkened to this advice, and made the heads of the priests, and
of the Levites, and of the Israelites, swear that they would put away those
wives and children, according to the advice of Jechonias
And when he had
received their oaths, he went in haste out of the temple into the chamber
of Johanan, the son of Eliasib, and as he had hitherto tasted nothing at
all for grief, so he abode there that day
And when proclamation was made,
that all those of the captivity should gather themselves together to Jerusalem,
and those that did not meet there in two or three days should be banished
from the multitude, and that their substance should b appropriated to the
uses of the temple, according to the sentence of the elders, those that
were of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin came together in three days, viz.
on the twentieth day of the ninth month, which, according to the Hebrews,
is called Tebeth, and according to the Macedonians, Apelleius
Now as they
were sitting in the upper room of the temple, where the elders also were
present, but were uneasy because of the cold, Esdras stood up and accused
them, and told them that they had sinned in marrying wives that were not
of their own nation; but that now they would do a thing both pleasing to
God, and advantageous to themselves, if they would put those wives away.
Accordingly, they all cried out that they would do so
That, however, the
multitude was great, and that the season of the year was winter, and that
this work would require more than one or two days.FJAJ 11.39
"Let their rulers,
therefore, [said they,] and those that have married strange wives, come
hither at a proper time, while the elders of every place, that are in common
to estimate the number of those that have thus married, are to be there
also." Accordingly, this was resolved on by them, and they began the
inquiry after those that had married strange wives on the first day of
the tenth month, and continued the inquiry to the first day of the next
month, and found a great many of the posterity of Jeshua the high priest,
and of the priests and Levites, and Israelites, who had a greater regard
to the observation of the law than to their natural affection, (9)
This procedure of Esdras, and of the best part of the Jewish nation, after
their return from the Babylonish captivity, of reducing the Jewish marriages,
once for all, to the strictness of the law of Moses, without any regard
to the greatness of those who had broken it, and without regard to that
natural affection or compassion for their heathen wives, and their children
by them, which made it so hard for Esdras to correct it, deserves greatly
to be observed and imitated in all attempts for reformation among Christians,
the contrary conduct having ever been the bane of true religion, both among
Jews and Christians, while political views, or human passions, or prudential
motives, are suffered to take place instead of the Divine laws, and so
the blessing of God is forfeited, and the church still suffered to continue
corrupt from one generation to another. See ch. 8. sect. 2.
and immediately cast out their wives, and the children which were born
of them
And in order to appease God, they offered sacrifices, and slew
rams, as oblations to him; but it does not seem to me to be necessary to
set down the names of these men
So when Esdras had reformed this sin about
the marriages of the forementioned persons, he reduced that practice to
purity, so that it continued in that state for the time to come.FJAJ 11.40
5. Now when they kept the feast of tabernacles in the seventh month
(10)
This Jewish feast of tabernacles was imitated in several heathen solemnities,
as Spanheim here observes and proves. He also further observes presently,
what great regard many heathens had to the monuments of their forefathers,
as Nehemiah had here, sect. 6.
and almost all the people were come together to it, they went up to the
open part of the temple, to the gate which looked eastward, and desired
of Esdras that the laws of Moses might be read to them
Accordingly, he
stood in the midst of the multitude and read them; and this he did from
morning to noon
Now, by hearing the laws read to them, they were instructed
to be righteous men for the present and for the future; but as for their
past offenses, they were displeased at themselves, and proceeded to shed
tears on their account, as considering with themselves that if they had
kept the law, they had endured none of these miseries which they had experienced.
But when Esdras saw them in that disposition, he bade them go home, and
not weep, for that it was a festival, and that they ought not to weep thereon,
for that it was not lawful so to do.FJAJ 11.41
(11)
This rule of Esdras, not to fast on a festival day, is quoted in the Apostolical
Constitutions, B. V., as obtaining among Christians also.
He exhorted them rather to proceed immediately to feasting, and to do what
was suitable to a feast, and what was agreeable to a day of joy; but to
let their repentance and sorrow for their former sins be a security and
a guard to them, that they fell no more into the like offenses
So upon
Esdras's exhortation they began to feast; and when they had so done for
eight days, in their tabernacles, they departed to their own homes, singing
hymns to God, and returning thanks to Esdras for his reformation of what
corruptions had been introduced into their settlement
So it came to pass,
that after he had obtained this reputation among the people, he died an
old man, and was buried in a magnificent manner at Jerusalem
About the
same time it happened also that Joacim, the high priest, died; and his
son Eliasib succeeded in the high priesthood.FJAJ 11.42
6. Now there was one of those Jews that had been carried captive who
was cup-bearer to king Xerxes; his name was Nehemiah
As this man was walking
before Susa, the metropolis of the Persians, he heard some strangers that
were entering the city, after a long journey, speaking to one another in
the Hebrew tongue; so he went to them, and asked them whence they came.
And when their answer was, that they came from Judea, he began to inquire
of them again in what state the multitude was, and in what condition Jerusalem
was; and when they replied that they were in a bad state (12)
This miserable condition of the Jews, and their capital, must have been
after the death of Esdras, their former governor, and before Nehemiah came
with his commission to build the walls of Jerusalem. Nor is that at all
disagreeable to these histories in Josephus, since Esdras came on the seventh,
and Nehemiah not till the twenty-fifth of Xerxes, at the interval of eighteen
years.
for that their walls were thrown down to the ground, and that the neighboring
nations did a great deal of mischief to the Jews, while in the day time
they overran the country, and pillaged it, and in the night did them mischief,
insomuch that not a few were led away captive out of the country, and out
of Jerusalem itself, and that the roads were in the day time found full
of dead men
Hereupon Nehemiah shed tears, out of commiseration of the
calamities of his countrymen; and, looking up to heaven, he said, "How
long, O Lord, wilt thou overlook our nation, while it suffers so great
miseries, and while we are made the prey and spoil of all men?" And
while he staid at the gate, and lamented thus, one told him that the king
was going to sit down to supper; so he made haste, and went as he was,
without wishing himself, to minister to the king in his office of cup-bearer.
But as the king was very pleasant after supper, and more cheerful than
usual, he cast his eyes on Nehemiah, and seeing him look sad, he asked
him why he was sad
Whereupon he prayed to God to give him favor, and afford
him the power of persuading by his words, and said, "How can I, O
king, appear otherwise than thus, and not be in trouble, while I hear that
the walls of Jerusalem, the city where are the sepulchers of my fathers,
are thrown down to the ground, and that its gates are consumed by fire?
But do thou grant me the favor to go and build its wall, and to finish
the building of the temple." Accordingly, the king gave him a signal
that he freely granted him what he asked; and told him that he should carry
an epistle to the governors, that they might pay him due honor, and afford
him whatsoever assistance he wanted, and as he pleased.FJAJ 11.43
"Leave off
thy sorrow then," said the king, "and be cheerful in the performance
of thy office hereafter." So Nehemiah worshipped God, and gave the
king thanks for his promise, and cleared up his sad and cloudy countenance,
by the pleasure he had from the king's promises
Accordingly, the king
called for him the next day, and gave him an epistle to be carried to Adeus,
the governor of Syria, and Phoenicia, and Samaria; wherein he sent to him
to pay due honor to Nehemiah, and to supply him with what he wanted for
his building.FJAJ 11.44
7. Now when he was come to Babylon, and had taken with him many of his
countrymen, who voluntarily followed him, he came to Jerusalem in the twenty
and fifth year of the reign of Xerxes
And when he had shown the epistles
to God (13)
This showing king Xerxes's epistles to God, or laying them open before
God in the temple, is very like the laying open the epistles of Sennacherib
before him also by Hezekiah, 2 Kings 19:14; Isaiah 37:14, although this
last was for a memorial, to put him in mind of the enemies, in order to
move the Divine compassion, and the present as a token of gratitude for
mercies already received, as Hayercamp well observes on this place.
he gave them to Adeus, and to the other governors
He also called together
all the people to Jerusalem, and stood in the midst of the temple, and
made the following speech to them: "You know, O Jews, that God hath
kept our fathers, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in mind continually, and
for the sake of their righteousness hath not left off the care of you.
Indeed he hath assisted me in gaining this authority of the king to raise
up our wall, and finish what is wanting of the temple
I desire you, therefore
who well know the ill-will our neighboring nations bear to us, and that
when once they are made sensible that we are in earnest about building,
they will come upon us, and contrive many ways of obstructing our works,
that you will, in the first place, put your trust in God, as in him that
will assist us against their hatred, and to intermit building neither night
nor day, but to use all diligence, and to hasten on the work, now we have
this especial opportunity for it." When he had said this, he gave
order that the rulers should measure the wall, and part the work of it
among the people, according to their villages and cities, as every one's
ability should require
And when he had added this promise, that he himself,
with his servants, would assist them, he dissolved the assembly
So the
Jews prepared for the work: that is the name they are called by from the
day that they came up from Babylon, which is taken from the tribe of Judah,.
which came first to these places, and thence both they and the country
gained that appellation.FJAJ 11.45
8. But now when the Ammonites, and Moabites, and Samaritans, and all
that inhabited Celesyria, heard that the building went on apace, they took
it heinously, and proceeded to lay snares for them, and to hinder their
intentions
They also slew many of the Jews, and sought how they might
destroy Nehemiah himself, by hiring some of the foreigners to kill him.
They also put the Jews in fear, and disturbed them, and spread abroad rumors,
as if many nations were ready to make an expedition against them, by which
means they were harassed, and had almost left off the building
But none
of these things could deter Nehemiah from being diligent about the work;
he only set a number of men about him as a guard to his body, and so unweariedly
persevered therein, and was insensible of any trouble, out of his desire
to perfect this work
And thus did he attentively, and with great forecast,
take care of his own safety; not that he feared death, but of this persuasion,
that if he were dead, the walls for his citizens would never be raised.
He also gave orders that the builders should keep their ranks, and have
their armor on while they were building
Accordingly, the mason had his
sword on, as well as he that brought the materials for building
He also
appointed that their shields should lie very near them; and he placed trumpeters
at every five hundred feet, and charged them, that if their enemies appeared,
they should give notice of it to the people, that they might fight in their
armor, and their enemies might not fall upon them naked
He also went about
the compass of the city by night, being never discouraged, neither about
the work itself, nor about his own diet and sleep, for he made no use of
those things for his pleasure, but out of necessity
And this trouble he
underwent for two years and four months; (14)
It may not be very improper to remark here, with what an unusual accuracy
Josephus determines these years of Xerxes, in which the walls of Jerusalem
were built, viz. that Nehemiah came with his commission in the twenty-fifth
of Xerxes, that the walls were two years and four months in building, and
that they were finished on the twenty-eighth of Xerxes, sect. 7, 8. It
may also be remarked further, that Josephus hardly ever mentions more than
one infallible astronomical character, I mean an eclipse of the moon, and
this a little before the death of Herod the Great, Antiq. B. XVII. ch.
6. sect. 4. Now on these two chronological characters in great measure
depend some of the most important points belonging to Christianity, viz.
the explication of Daniel's seventy weeks, and the duration of our Savior's
ministry, and the time of his death, in correspondence to those seventy
weeks. See the Supplement to the Lit. Accorap. of Proph. p. 72.
for in so long a time was the wall built, in the twenty-eighth year of
the reign of Xerxes, in the ninth month
Now when the walls were finished,
Nehemiah and the multitude offered sacrifices to God for the building of
them, and they continued in feasting eight days
However, when the nations
which dwelt in Syria heard that the building of the wall was finished,
they had indignation at it
But when Nehemiah saw that the city was thin
of people, he exhorted the priests and the Levites that they would leave
the country, and remove themselves to the city, and there continue; and
he built them houses at his own expenses; and he commanded that part of
the people which were employed in cultivating the land to bring the tithes
of their fruits to Jerusalem, that the priests and Levites having whereof
they might live perpetually, might not leave the Divine worship; who willingly
hearkened to the constitutions of Nehemiah, by which means the city Jerusalem
came to be fuller of people than it was before
So when Nehemiah had done
many other excellent things, and things worthy of commendation, in a glorious
manner, he came to a great age, and then died
He was a man of a good and
righteous disposition, and very ambitious to make his own nation happy;
and he hath left the walls of Jerusalem as an eternal monument for himself.
Now this was done in the days of Xerxes.FJAJ 11.46