THE GIFT OF Alfred eC. I5airnft9. M«Ma^ ■taapiiivnfrtlf wwa, Date Due MAY 8 1963 1 f 1' A. i v^ -^'-v^' — 1 PRINTED IN U. S. A. (Of NO. ZS233 Cornell University Library BS580.E97 R26 Ezra and Nehemiah : 'hdr lives and time olln 3 1924 029 279 705 3s Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029279705 MEN OF THE BIBLE. Under an arrangement with the English publishers, Messrs. A. D. F. Randolph & Co. have issued a series of volumes by dis- tinguished scholars, on THE MEN OF THE BIBLE. ABRAHAM: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By the Rev. W. J. Deane, M.A. MOSES : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By the Rev. Canon G. Rawlinson, M.A. '^SOLOMON : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. Bythe Ven. Archdeacon Farrae, D.D. ^ISAIAH: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By the Rev. /-Canon S. R. Driver, M.A. ' SAMUEL AND E^AUL : THEIR LIVES AND TIMES. Py Rev. William J. Dean, M.A. '' JEREMIAH: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By the Rev. Canon T. K. Cheyne, M.A. ^ JESUS THE CHRIST : HIS LIFE AND TIMES By the Rev. F. J. Vallings, M.A. ' ELIJAH : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By the ReT W. Milugan, D.D. ' DANIEL : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By H. Deane, B.D. •^DAVID : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By Rev. Wm. J. Deane, M.A. KINGS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH. By the Rev. Canon G. Rawlinson, M.A. ■^JOSHUA: HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By Rev. William J. Deane. / ST. PAUL : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. By James IVERACH, M.A. THE MINOR PROPHETS. By the Ven. Arch- / deacon Farrar, D.D. '' ISAAC AND JACOB : THEIR LIVES AND TIMES. By George Rawlinson, M.A. V. GIDEON AND THE JUDGES : A Study, Histori- cal and Practical. By Rev. John Marshall Lang. / D.D. ■^EZRA AND NEHEMIAH : THEIR LIVES AND TIMES. By George Rawlinson, M.A., F.R.G.S. izmo, cloth. $1. To the student and the general reader these volumes will be found alike useful and inter- esting. Price, $1.00 each. Complete in 17 volumes. *** Sent by mail on receipt of price. ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 38 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET, N. Y. EZRA AND NEHEMIAH THEIR LIVES AND TIMES. GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A., F.R.G.S., CORRESPONDING MEMBER OP THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF TURIN, AND LATB CAHOBH PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OP OXFORD, CANON OP CANTERBURY, AND RECTOR OF ALL HALLOWS*, LOMBARD STREET. NEW YORK: ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 38 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET. B s-rt PREFACE. The lives of Ezra and Nehemiah are known to Us, almost wholly, from the Books that bear their names. A few notices in Josephus, a few Rabbinical traditions, are all that can be added to the accounts given in Holy Scripture. Their times, however, receive considerable illustration from recent researches into the ancient history of Persia. Such copiously illustrated works as Ker Porter's "Travels," Rich's " Babylon and Perse- polis," Baron Texier's "Description de TArmdnie, de la Perse et de la Mdsopotamie," and the "Voyage en Perse" of MM. Flandin and Coste, throw a flood of light on the character of the Persian Court, the magnificence of the Royal palaces, and the manners and customs of the governing classes under the early Persian kings. Loftus's " Chaldsea and Susiana" contains a special monograph on the great Persian capital, Susa, which accurately describes its situation, and its probable appearance in the days of Nehemiah and Ezra. The notices in classical authors, as Herodotus, Ctesias, Xenophon, Arrian, Athenseus add occasional touches, and help towards a reproduction of the scenes in which were passed the early lives of the two great Reformers. Josephus adds very little to the information con- tained in Scripture, and the Rabbinical traditions are neither copious, nor wholly trustworthy. In this deficiency of ancient authorities, modern writers demand an unusual share of our attention. The articles on "Ezra" and "Nehemiah" in Winer's " Realworterbuch," in Kitto's " Cyclopaedia," and in Dr. Smith's " Dictionary of the Bible," are of great weight and importance. But, probably, the best accounts that have hither- to been given of the times and characters of the two Reformers are those contained in the general "Histories of Israel" put IV PREFACE. forth within the last twenty or thirty years by some of the ripest scholars and the most eminent writers of our day. Ewald in his " Geschichte des Volkes Israel," and Dean Stanley in his "Lectures on the Jewish Church," have made most careful studies of the period, and it is to them that the present writer must acknowledge his special obligations. The work of Pro- fessor Kuenen on the " Religion of Israel " has also been of con- siderable service to him, though its value is much impaired by the confident adoption of quite unproved and most improbable hypotheses with respect to the late origin .of the Mosaic Law, and the promulgation of much of it by Ezra and Nehemiah " for the first time." On the subject of the chronology of the period, the author has found himself unable to adopt the view advocated with so much ingenuity by the late Mr. Bosanquet iiv his "Times of Ezra and Nehemiah," or even that suggested in the " Dictionary of the Bible " by Bishop Arthur Hervey. The old chronology of Prideaux has seemed to him the most reasonable, and it has confirmed his judgment on the point to find the same view taken both by Ewald and Stanley. London, November 11, i8ga CONTENTS. EZRA. CHAPTER I. Birth and Education .... Ezra's priestly descent— His position in the priestly order- Culture with which he was brought into contact — Babylonian culture of the time — ^^Judaean culture — Ezra's leanings towards the latter — His probable studies. CHAPTER II. Earlt Relations with the Persian Government . • • 9 Position of the Jews under the Persians— Favour shown to them by Cyrus — Grounds of this favour — Its results — Re-occupation of Judaea under Zerubbabel — Continuance of Jewish communities in Persia — Ezra's position — His birth under Darius Hystaspis — Grows to manhood under Xerxes — Character of Xerxes — His edict for the extermination of the Jews — General alarm caused thereby — His second edict and its consequences — Ezra's probabU feelings towards Xerxes— Death of Xerxes. CHAPTER III. Relations with Artaxerxes Longimanus .... 18 Troubles in Persia at the death of Xerxes — ^Accession of his son, Artaxerxes — Revolt of Egypt, and resolve of Artaxerxes to strengthen the Jewish element in the population of Palestine — The new colonists drawn cliiefly from Babylonia — Choice of Ezra as leader — Commi^sion intrusted to him — Fewness of the cofoiiists — Wealtli intrusted to them — Powers conferred on Ezra — His reason for not asking an escort — His care to carry sufficient credentials — Exact term.s of bis commission. Vi CONTENTS, CHAPTER IV, PAGB Governorship of Jud^a ''^ Journey from Babylon to Jerasalem— First stage, Babylon to Ahava or Hit— Halt there— Accession to the body of emigrants — Journey from Hit — Choice of routes— Route probably taken — Halt at Jericho -Arrival at Jerusalem— Delivery of the sacred vessels and treasure— Solemn sacrifice — Ezra's governmental position — Appeal made to him by the princes — Ezra's arrange- ment of the mixed marriage question. CHAPTER V. Relations with Nehemiah » « 44 Blank interval of twelve years in the history of Ezra— Possible return to the Persian Court— Second visit of Ezra to Jerusalem as coadjutor to Nehemiah— Their joint labours— Restoration of the Feast of Tabernacles— Proclamation of a fast day — Renewal of the Covenant— Special promises — Assumption of fresh obli- gations — Dedication of the., wall of Jerusalem — Ezra's position with regard to Eliashib. CHAPTER VI. Literary Labours S3 Works to be assigned to Ezra — His authorship, wholly or in part, of the Book that bears his name — His contribution to the Book of Nehemiah — His probable authorship of Chronicles — Style of Ezra — Literary merit of Chronicles — Ezra's work in connection with the Canon of Scripture— His probable intro- duction of the " square" character — His origination of the Great Synagogue — His origination of the local synagogue system — Account of the system. CHAPTER VIL Later Life, Death, and Character . • • . . 67 Scantiness of the materials for Ezra's later life — Probably passed at Jerusalem — Position and occupations — Possible contact with Malachi— Probable date of death — Magnificence of his fimeral — Estimate of his work and character. CONTENTS. Vll NEHEMIAH. CHAPTER I. PAt.i Descent and probable Birthplace ..••.. rj' r Nehemiah's tribe — His supposed descent from David — His probable birthplace, Susa — Position of Susa— Its ruins — Descrip- tion of the Royal palace there, and its surroundings — Nehemiah's origiDal position in S';«a. CHAFIER II. Position at the Court of Artaxerxes Longimanus . . P2 Splendour of the Persian Court under the later Achaemenians — Habits of the monarch — Etiquette of the Court — Appointment of officers— Office of cupbearer, and opportunities which it gave — Friendly feeling of Artaxerxes towards Nehemiah — Nehemiah's grief and Artaxerxes' perception of it— Presence of the Queen at the time — Request made of Artaxerxes by Nehemiah — The boldness of it — The request granted, together with other minor requests — Nehemiah proceeds to Jerusalem under the protection of an armed escort. CHAPTER III. Removal to Jerusalem— Repair of the Walls . • . 92 Nehemiah's journey — Probable halt at Damascus, and interview with the satrap of Syria — Route followed from Damascus to Jerusalem — Entry into the city — Secret survey of the walls — Arrangement made for the repairs — Feelings of Sanballat — His scoffs and jeers — Progress of the work— Attempts of Sanballat to hinder it, how met by Nehemiah — Completion of the walls in fifty-two days— Further effiDrts of Sanballat and their failure- Final arrangements for the scciuity of the city. CHAPTER IV. Material condition of the Jewish People .... 106 Distress of the poorer classes at Jerusalem — Principal causes of it — Exactions of governors — Disturbed state of the country — Hostility of Samaria — Rapacity of the nobles, and operation of the law of debt — Neglect of those provisoes in the Law which aimed at preventing extreme poverty— Consequences — Steps taken * via CONTENTS. rAGB by Nehemiah to alleviate the distress— His redemption of Hebrews sold to foreigners — His refusal to receive any payment for him- self—His success in persuading the nobles to make restitution to the poorer classes. CHAPTER V. Religious condition of Judma . . . . ; . •114 Effects of the Captivity on the religion of Israel — Reaction against idolatry — Suspension of ritual— General decay and de- cline of religion — Revival under Zerubbabel — Rebuilding of the Temple and re-establishment of the Temple-worship — Position taken up with respect to the Samaritans — Recurrence of luke- warmness — The Priests and Levites under Zerubbabel — The prophets, Haggai and Zechariah — Question as to the extent to which the Mosaic Law was known to, and acted on by, Zerub- babel — Exaltation of the High-Priesthood — Advance of the Hagiocracy^General decline of religious fervour — Intermarriage with heathen — Danger of syncretism — Want of a definite sacred Book — Want of copies of the Law and of religious teaching — Early efforts of Ezra to improve matters, 'fail— State of Religion on the arrival of Nehemiah at Jerusalem. CHAPTER VI. First Reformation of Religion under Nehemiah. . . 131 Reappearance of Ezra — His importance — Part in the Refor- mation assigned to him — Time chosen for inaugurating it — Preparations made — The reading of the Law on the first day of Tisri — The reading on the second day and its effect on the people — Celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles— Proclamation of a Fast-day, and further reading of the Law, followed by penitential service — The people called on to renew the Covenant, consent — Nature of the renewal — Further obligations undertaken — Probable feelings of Nehemiah. CHAPTER VII. Rbcall to Court, and results of it . . . . .14a Nehemiah'srecall, and the possible grounds of it — Probable absence of Ena from Jerusalem at the time — Eliashib comes to the front and assumes the direction of affairs — Changes made by his con- idvance or under his authority — Renewal of the mixed marriages — The tithe withheld (rom the Priests and Levites, and the choral service of the Temple interrupted— The Temple itself desecrated CONTENTS. IX PAGB — ^The Sabbath rest infringed upon — ^The settlement of foreigners in large numbers at Jerusalem encouraged — Question of the re- introduction of idolatry — ^Motives actuating those who supported Eliashib — Universalism— Indifference and laxity — A remnant con- tinues faithful. CHAPTER VIII. Second Reformation of Religion bt Nehbmiah • i . 150 Return of Nehemiah to Jerusalem — His struggle with Eliashib — Ejection of Tobiah's goods, and restoration of the Temple chambers to sacred uses — Recall of the Priests and Levites, re- establishment of the full Temple worship, and re-enforcement of the collection of tithe — Stop put]to the desecration of the Sabbath — Renewal of the law against mixed marriages, and ejection of the "heathen wives — Resistance made by Manasseh — His exile and its consequences. CHAPTER IX. Further action as Ctvn. Governor . . , » i , igs Steps taken to increase the population of Jemsalem — Census made of the inhabitants — Results, as reported to us — Dedication of the wall of Jerusalem — Preparations made — Proceedings on the day of dedication — Probable acquaintance of Nehemiah with Malachi — Services which Malachi rendered him — ^Higher teaching of Malachi probably beyond the grasp of Nehemiah. CHAPTER X. Legends respecting Nekeioah ...•••. i^ Nehemiah made contemporary with Zerubbabd — Reference to him in the Book of Enoch— Expansion of the legend— Nehemiah regarded as the builder of the Second Temple — Legend of the Sacred Fire, as told in the Second Book of Maccabees — Intention of the legend — Rival legend respecting Ezra— Legend of Nehe- miah's Library, and collection in one of the Jewish sacred Books'— Rapid waning of Nehemiah's fame, and occupation of his place by Ezra — Nehemiah's hopes not disappointed. CHAPTER XL Chabacter and work \ . . -••••* 169 Opinions of Ewald, Stanley, and Bishop A. Hervey, on the character of Nehemiah— The most striking feature of it, his piety CONTENTS. —Other principal features — Nehemiah's patriotism — His activity and energy— His prudence and caution — His courage, physical and moral — His unselfishness, liberality, and generous hospi- tality — Defects in his character — Displays of passion — Vin- dictiveness — Self-complacency — Nehemiah's work twofold, material and moral — Restoration of Jerusalem — Reformation of Religion. EZRA. CHAPTER I. BIRTH AND EDUCATION Ezra's priestly descent — His position in the priestly order— Culture with which he was brought into contact — Babylonian culture of the time — > Judaean culture — Ezra's leanings towards the latter — His probable studies. Ezra was of the tribe of Levi, and of the priestly branch of it, which was descended from Aaron. He came of the line of the High Priests, but not of the branch which had enjoyed the High Priesthood since the return from the Captivity. The last high priestly ancestor whom he could boast was Seraiah (Ezra vii. i), who held the office in Zadekiah's time (2 Kings xxv. 18), was captured at the final siege of Jerusalem, and was put to death by Nebuchadnezzar (ibid. ver. 2i). This personage was prob- ably his great-great-grandfather." There is reason to believe that the priestly houses were held in high respect among their countrymen during the whole period of the exile ; and that such as elected to remain behind when Cyrus gave permission for the Return, continued to form the directing and governing element among the flourishing communities of Jews which were scat- tered over the eastern countries, more especially in Babylonia, Persia, and Media. Thus Ezra, as belonging to a high-priestly family, would from the first have held a dignified position among the exiles, and, as he grew to manhood among them, would have had every opportunity to cultivate his mind, and lay up stores of knowledge, that the circumstances of the time-allowed. His position in the priestly order would be above that of most, since " See the " Speaker's Commentary," vol. iii. p. 408. 2 3 EZRA. there could be few with so illustrious an ancestry — an ancestry of which he was justly proud (Ezra vii. 1-5) — and whatever forms of culture belonged to the Judseans of the period, what- ever " schools " were open to them, whatever access they had either to native or to foreign literature, would come within the range of his choice.' It is difficult to say, what exactly was the culture, either of thejudasan or of the Babylonian schools of the time ; but some attempt must be made — however scanty are the materials— to estimate each, if any definite idea is to be formed of the means at Ezra's disposal for equipping himself to perform his task in life. Now the learning of the Babylonians had, from a very ancient date, covered a wide field. They had cultivated arith- metic, astronomy, history, chronology, geography, comparative philology, and grammar. In astronomy the progress which they had made was remarkable. They had mapped out the heaven into constellations, traced the passage of the sun and moon along the line of the Zodiac, catalogued the fixed stars, observed, calculated, and recorded eclipses, noted occultations of the planets by the sun and moon, deter- mined correctly within a small fraction the synodic revolutions of the moon, and the true length of the solar year, ascribed eclipses of the sun to their proper cause, noticed comets, fixed the periodic times of the planetary revolutions, and thence correctly determined their relative distance from the earth.' They had, it is true, mixed astrology with their astronomy, and thus degraded the " queen of sciences " from the exalted posi- tion properly belonging to her ; but still " a school of pure astronomers existed among them," ' and it was a veritable science which the Greeks of the days of Alexander the Great received at their hands. It was a science built up inductively from observation and experience, resting upon ancient records, and, in the main, truthful and sound. It formed a solid basis for the further researches of Hipparchus and Ptolemy. It lies, in many respects, at the root of the astronomy of to-day. It had, of course, the defects naturally belonging to a geocentric system ; but, in spite of these defects, it had no small value, • Compare Ewald, " History of Israel," vol. v. p. 130, E. T. ; Stanley, " Lectures on the Jewish Church," vol. iii. p. 115. " Se ■ the author's "Ancient Monarchies," vol. ii. pp. S7I-577- ' Ibid. p. 578. BIRTH AND EDUCATION. 3 both as a mental training, and as available for many practical purposes. Astronomical investigations cannot be conducted without a knowledge of arithmetical processes ; and there is evidence that Babylonian learning included a considerable proficiency in the science of number. Not only were the simpler processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division known to them, but they formed tables of squares and cubes,' and extracted square and cube roots. Two systems of arithmetical notation were employed by them, the one decimal, the other sexagesimal. In calculations of time, they counted by the sar, the ner, and the soss — the soss being a period of sixty, the ner one of six hun- dred, and the jar one of three thousand six hundred (60X60) years. But for ordinary calculations they had a decimal system, and a notation much resembling that of the Romans. Babylonian history and chronology were very closely inter- connected, the Babylonians priding themselves on being most exact and particular in their dates. The names of kings and the duration of reigns were carefully chronicled ; and calcula- tions of the distance of time between one event of history and another were regarded as capable of being made with absolute accuracy.' Events, however, were recorded in a very dry and jejune manner, while the investigation of causes, and the " philosophy of history generally, met with complete neglect. Kings ^were usually their own historiographers, and directed what events of their reigns should be put on record, and what passed over sub silenti'o. Candour was nr .haracteristic of the historical' writings, which rarely mentioned the failure of an enterprise, and never chronicled a defeat. A minute exactness, however, was affected with respect to details, and in the accounts of a king's buildings, of his expeditions, of the plunder that he took, of the tribute that was paid ' him, of the punishments which' he inflicted, all the facts were given in extenso, and nothing left to the imagination .3 Geography, with the Babylonians, was practical rather than speculative. It did not concern itself with the shape or size of the earth, the general distribution of land and water, the height of mountains, the length of rivers, or the contourof coasts. It was, in the main, an enumeration of countries, with occasional ' G. Smith, "History of Babylonia," p. 19. ' Ibid. p. 91. 3 See the " Records of the Past," vols, i., iii., v., vii., ix., xi., passim. 4 EZRA. mention of their relative geographical position, and with marked reference to their principal products .' Only two seas were known, the " Upper Sea," or Mediterranean, and the " Lower Sea," or Persian Gulf. The rivers noticed were the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Greater Zab, the Lesser Zab, the Eulseus, the Khabur, and the Orontes. The principal known countries were Elam, Chaldaa, Babylonia, Persia, Media, Assyria, Armenia, or Ararat, Mesopotamia, or the Na'iri country, Cilicia, Lydia, Commagene, Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, Arabia, the Sinaitic peninsula, Egypt, and Ethiopia. The mountain ranges which received notice were those of Zagros, Niphates, Masius, Amanus, and Lebanon. The only islands known were Cyprus, Aradus, and the Bahrein isles in the Persian Gulf. Distances were estimated by kaspu (parasangs or farsakks) and double kaspu {kaspu-kikkar) — the former about three miles and a half, the latter about seven miles, English.' There is no indication, how- ever, of any use of maps or plans by the Babylonians, nor any proof that they even made exact measurements of the distance between place and place, much less anticipated the modem system of accurate survey by means of triangulation. The study of comparative philology and grammar was forced on the Babylonians by the linguistic changes of which their country was the theatre. Originally, the inhabitants of the lower Mesopotamian region spoke an agglutinative language of a Turanian type.' This language — the Akkadian or Accadian — gradually died out, and was succeeded by a form of the Semitic, not very different from Hebrew. The old Akkadian after a while became unintelligible, except to scholars ; and as the whole of the ancient learning — the accumulation of cen- turies — was written in it, careful study and exact translation became absolutely necessary, unless the living and coming generations were to lose all benefit from the times that were past. Hence the energy of a large number of persons was turned in this direction ; and the result was a whole library of works, con- sisting in part of direct translations of the old Akkadian docu- ments into the new Babylonian language —in part, of syllabaries, vocabularies, and lists of various kinds, where the ancient forms of speech were represented in one column, and their modern ■ " Records of the Past," vol. xi. pp. 147-149. ■ So Oppert in the " Records of the Past," vol. xi. p. 19. ' Sayce in G. Smith's " History of Babylonia," p. 67. BIRTH AND EDUCATION. J equivalents in another. A labour of this kind could not but result in a considerable advance in linguistic and grammatical science, by the formation of canons of construction, the obser- vance of different shades of meaning in vrords, and the estab- lishment of approximate synonyms. The litterati of Babylon in the time of Ezra were, in all probability, possessed of some- thing more than a rudimentary criticism ; and their translations and paraphrases were well calculated to serve as models for less advanced nations. On the other hand, the Hebrew exiles had also inherited from their forefathers, and brought with them into Babylonia from Palestine, a literary culture which was far from contemptible. From the time of the sojourn in Egypt, if not even earlier, Israel had been a literary people;' and sacred writings, re- garded as possessing the highest value, and entitled to the utmost respect, had been among their most cherished treasures. " Schools " had early been formed, into which bodies of students were collected under the direction of a master, and in which writing, composition, religious doctrine, and music were taught. " The chief subject of study was, no doubt, the Law and its interpretation;"' but "subsidiary subjects of instruction"' entered also into the curriculum, and among these were certainly included musical science, sacred poetry, exegesis, and a rough criticism. As time went on, the number of sacred books in- creased, and also the number of other books, not regarded as sacred, but nevertheless viewed as authentic, and of high value. The prophetical schools were the keepers of these books, and in some instances, probably, their compilers and arrangers. By the time of the Exile, or, at any rate, by the time of Ezra, there existed, not only the historical works of the Pentateuch, of Joshua, and Judges, of Samuel and of Kings, but a vast amount cf poetical writings, partly of a gnomic character, partly in the shape of psalms and hymns, partly in that of the collected writings of particular prophets, as Jonah, Hosea, Isaiah, Amos, Joel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the rest of those commonly known as "the Major and Minor Prophets ; "* whose works are still extant. There were also a number of compositions, ^well ' Exod. xvii. 14, xxiv. 4 ; Deut. xxxi. 22-26. ' "Dictionary of the Bible," vol. ii. p. 930. 3 Ibid. * Malachi is perhaps to be excepted, since that prophet seems to have lived later than Ezra (Ewald, " History of Israel," vol. v. p. 170, note). EZRA. known to the writers of the time of the Captivity, which have since been wholly lost; as those quoted by the author of Chronicles— " the Chronicle of King David" (i Chron. xxvn. 24), "the Acts of Samuel the Seer," "the Acts of Nathan the Prophet," "the Acts of Gad the Seer" (ibid. xxix. 29), " the Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite," " the Visions of Iddo the Seer" (2 Chron. ix. 29), "the Acts of Shemaiah the Prophet,"' "Iddo the Seer on Genealogies" (ibid. xii. 15), "the Com- mentary of the Prophet Iddo" (ibid. xiii. 22). "the Acts of Jehu the son of Hanani " (ibid. xx. 34), " the Commentary of the Book of the Kings " (ibid. xxiv. 27), " Isaiah's Acts of Uzziah " (ibid. xxvi. 22), " the Vision of Isaiah " (ibid, xxxii. 32), and " the Acts 6fHosai,"or" of the Seers" (ibid, xxxiii. 19). Whether the " Thousand Songs of Solomon," and his works upon natural history (l Kings iv. 32, 33), were extant then, or not, may be doubted ; but it is beyond question that the exiles were in pos- session of a copious literature, varied in its character, and of high educational value to those who studied it. Such being the condition of learning and literature during the time when Ezra was growing to manhood, we have further to inquire, what was the probable course and line of his own studies and acquirements. And here it seems necessary at once to note the strong religious bias of his mind and character. Ezra, though not a member of " the goodly fellowship of the prophets," had all the religious fervour of a prophet, and all the disregard of mere profane and secular learning which charac- terized the prophets generally. His heart was wholly set on the moral and religious improvement of his countrymen. The bulk of the Babylonian learning would, consequently, possess little attraction for him. He would devote himself especially to the pursuit and cultivation of that science and literature which had been handed down in the Judaean schools, and which since the Exile had no doubt derived considerable advantage and improvement from contact with the " Chaldaean learning," and with the "famous scientific caste"' which had one of its chief seats at Babylon, and another at Borsippa, in the immediate neighbourhood. His main study would be a study of the sacred books, and especially of the Torah or "Law of Moses" — the most Siicred of all the J udsan documents, of his deep regard for which we have ample proof (Ezra vii. 6, 10; " Stanley, " Lectures on the Jewish Church," vol. iii. p. 113. BIRTH AMD EDUCATION. 7 X. 3 ; Neh. viii. 2, J, 14 ; ix. 3, 14 ; x. 29, &c.). But this would involve much linguistic and critical research, since the Old Hebrew was no longer generally intelligible to the exiles, whose language had come to be the Aramaic, or so-called " Chaldee." Ezra would have to make himself thoroughly acquainted with two considerably different forms of speech, and able without hesitation or pause to translate the one into the other (Neh. viii. 8). He would also have to master the elements, at any rate, of textual criticism, in order to decide between various readings in the different copies of the Law, which were in the hands of the exiles. Either it was from the first, or it soon came to be, his object to make himself as perfect a "scribe of the Law of God" (Ezra vii. 12, 21) as possible ; and this involved not only acquaintance with the letter, but familiarity with the spirit, of Scripture — the power of expound- ing ' aright all the many passages of the Law where the meaning was obscure or ambiguous, and so making the hearer to "under- stand" it (Neh. viii. 7). Essential elements in his education would thus be — (i) Knowledge of two languages, Hebrew and Aramaic ; (2) Facility in speaking and writing them ; (3) Deep acquaintance with the full spiritual meaning of the Law, so as to correctly expound it ; (4) Some knowledge of textual criticism, either in its principles, or in the traditional applica- tion of them. But this was not all that was needed. To be the successful teacher of a people, which was what Ezra set himself and " prepared his heart " to be,' it is necessary to know them ; and to know them, it is necessary to study their history. If Ezra was, as he almost certainly was,^ the author of Chronicles, he must clearly have made the history of his nation, from its earliest beginning, one of the principal objects of his study. The writer of Chronicles has searched the archives of his nation with extraordinary diligence, and has gathered his narrative from original documents, and the works of contem- porary writers, with an indefatigable industry and a zeal above all praise. We cannot doubt that Ezra, in the course of his early training at Babylon, must have devoted a large share of his attention to the Judsean historical literature, of which an " Josepbus calls the scribes Igi/yj/rdg vojiiav ("Ant. Jud.," xvii. 6, § a). ' Ezra vii. 10 : "To teach in Israel statutes and judgments." 3 See below, ch. vi. 8 EZRA. account has been given above,' which had been brought witlt them from Jerusalem by some of the richer and better-educated among the exiles, and had been treasured up by them as among the most valuable of their possessions. He may indeed have carried on these studies, and so reached the perfection to which he ultimately attained in later life ; but the foundation, whereon was afterwards built up so lofty a superstructure, may be presumed to have been laid, and much of the material after- wards employed to have been accumulated, in those early years when leisure was abundant, and the acquisition of knowledge was the main duty of the day. It is deeply to be regretted that so little has come down to us with respect to the Judaean schools of the period of the Exile,' the division of the subjects of study, the methods of the teaching, or the order in which the subjects were taken. The very names of the teachers anterior to Ezra are unknown to us, and we are precluded from drawing any picture of the " Gamaliel " at whose feet he was brought up ; we can only figure to ourselves vaguely a docile and zealous student, diligent in his attendance day after day on the best teachers of the time, listening to them, and hanging on their words, poring over the books to which they allowed him access, questioning them and pondering their replies, and so at once improving his mind, "And hiving wisdom with each studious year." The scribe could not enter upon his office until he was thirty years of age.' His studies began, probably, at thirteen ; in which case he would be under tutelage and instruction for the space of seventeen years. Education was thus not hurried over as it so often is ; and Ezra would have ample space to equip himself with all the knowledge his profession required before the time came for engaging in its active exercise. ■ Seepages. • Compaie Ewald, •• Histoiy of Israel," vol. v. p. 131. » So SchSttgen concludes ("Horae Hebraicae"), but rather bom to* analogy of the Levite's office than bom any direct proof. CHAPTER II. EARtY RELATIONS WITH THK PERSIAN GOVERNMENT. Position of the Jews under the Persians — Favour shown to them by Cyrus — Grounds of this favour — Its results— Re-occupation of Judaea under Zerubbabel— Continuance of Jewish communities in Persia — Ezra's position— His birth under Darius Hystaspis— Grows to manhood under Xerxes — Character of Xerxes — His edict for the extermination of the Jews — General alarm caused thereby — His second edict and its consequences— Ezra's probable feelings towards Xerxes — Death of Xerxes. The position which Ezra occupied politically was, primarily, that of a Persian subject. The supremacy exercised by Babylon over the Jewish nation from the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (B.C. 586) to the destruction of the Babylonian Empire by Cyrus the Great (B.C. 538), passed on the capture of Babylon in that year to Persia, and the Achaemenian monarchs thenceforward for above two centuries controlled and directed the destinies of the Hebrew people. They inaugurated their rule by an act of extraordinary grace and favour. The people was found by them split into two great sections. On the one band, there were still in Juda:a Proper, in the central region of Palestine, in Galilee, and even in the district beyond the Jordan, " many descendants of Israel who remained true to their religion," ' and lived peaceably, intermixed with heathens, in the old settlements of the nation ; on the other hand, there dwelt in Babylon and its vicinity the great mass of the people, and especially the noblest and most distinguished of them, ' Ewald, " History of Israel," vol. v. p. 90. lO EZRA. descendants of that Hite of the inhabitants of Judah a d Jerusalem which Nebuchadnezzar, in his various raids upon the land, had carried off (2 Kings xxiv. 14-16 ; xxv. 11,12). Cyrus had no sooner made himself master of Babylon than, in the very first year of his reign there, he issued a decree, whereby this entire population, amounting to many tens of thousands, and possessed of considerable wealth," was permitted, and exhorted, to quit the land into which it had been forcibly trans- planted some fifty, sixty, or seventy years earlier, and to transfer itself once more to its old and much-loved habitation (2 Chron. xxxvi. 23 ; Ezra i. 3). It is an interesting inquiry, what were the grounds of the remarkable and exceptional favour thus shown by the great Persian conqueror, the foremost man of his day, to the Judaean people ? Ewald indeed suggests that, "as the mighty destroyer of the Babylonian Empire, Cyrus was called, without being stimulated by others, to bring freedom and restoration to all the peoples it had oppressed, and all the cities it had over- thrown."' But history records no other instance of such favour as having been shown by Cyrus to any other people ; nor, indeed, is the mission of restoration and reversal of the doings of the power which he succeeds any part of the ordinary con- ception formed of his duties by an Oriental conqueror. In general the status quo is maintained ; the achievements of the conquered power are regarded as fails accomplis ; the victor reaps the benefit of them, and has no thought of undertaking so quixotic a task as that of giving back to freedom and independence the nationalities which his predecessor has brought under subjection. There must have been some very special reason which induced Cyrus to depart from the ordinary course of proceeding among kings and rulers of the period, and at the same time to make an exception from his own usual practice, by the restoration of Israel. The explanation of this abnormal act is probably to be found in the recognition by Cyrus of a certain resemblance and con- formity between his own religion and that of the Israelites— a resemblance and conformity which caused him to feel a keen sympathy with the people and a strong desire to help and benefit them. The nearness of Zoroastrianism to the ancient » Josephus, "Ant. Jud.,*' xi. i. » Ewald, vol. v. pp. 49, 50. EARLY RELATIONS WITH THE PERSIAN GOVERNMENT. II Jewish faith is generally allowed ;' and, though it is now held by some that Cyrus was not a Zoroastrian,' yet the grounds for this opinion are in reality insufficient, and historical criticism will, it is probable, ultimately revert to the belief which was almost universal before the discovery of the well-known " Cyrus Tablet." The decree in Ezra (ch. i. 2, 3), considered merely as a historical document, is likely to be quite as authentic as the Babylonian clay tablet, which was not issued by Cyrus himself, but by the priests of Bel-Merodach, who would be interested in misrepresenting him. And the Behistun Inscription shows us the Zoroastrian religion as established in Persia, certainly under Cambyses,' and therefore probably under Cyrus, not as first set up by Darius Hystaspis. We are not perhaps entitled to regard the decree as exactly expressing the views of Cyrus on the subject of religion ; its language is probably " coloured by the Hebrew medium through which it !?fts passed;"^ but at any rate we are justified in accepting it as the best extant authority on " the guiding cause of the liberation," s and the nearest approach that we can obtain to what was passing in the Great King's mind. He was actuated by a religious motive ; he sympathized with the Jews as monotheists ; he identified their God, Jehovah, with his own God, Ormazd ; and he con- sidered the restoration of the Jewish Temple as a religious duty. It is even quite within the bounds of possibility that the narra- tive of Josephus " is true ; and that the action of Cyrus was mainly determined by his having, on becoming master of Babylon, been brought into contact with the Jews who had held high office under his predecessor, and been by them made acquainted with those prophecies of Isaiah, which announced his victories, and declared him to be "God's shepherd, who should perform all his pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid " (Isa. xliv. 28). The theory of a "second Isaiah " or * See the author's "Ancient Monarchies," vol. ii. pp. 324-340, and compare Haug, "Essays on the Sacred Writings of the Parsees," p. 257, and Ewald, " History of Israel," vol. v. pp. 39, 40. * Sayce, " Herodotos," p. 440. 3 " Beh. Inscr.,'" coL 1. par. 14 ; compare the Scythie, or Protomedic, text. * Stanley, " Lectures on the Jewish Church," vol. iii. p. 83. 5 Ibid * " Ant Jud.,'' xL I. 12 EZRA. " Great Unnamed," who lived during the time of the Captivity, however fanciful, does not invalidate this view, since the effect on the mind of Cyrus would scarcely be less if the prophecies were recent than if they were two centuries old ; and it might even be argued that the more recent they were, the greater the obligation under which they would have laid him. In any case, if we accept as true the high political position assigned to Daniel in the book that bears his name, under the three reigns of Belshazzar, Darius the Mede, and Cyrus the Persian (Dan. i. 21 ; v. 1 1-29 ; vi. 2-28), it would be natural that the attention of Cyrus should be called to any mention of his name in the Jewish sacred books which was of a flattering and laudatory character. The permission given by Cyrus for the return of the Jews, and indeed of the whole people of Israel (Ezra i. 21 ; ii. 70 ; vi. 16), to their own land, was not at first accepted by any very large number. No more than 42,360 Israelites, together with 7,337 slaves, quitted Babylonia under the appointed leader, Shesh- bazzar, or Zerubbabel, and accomplished the long and painful journey from the Chaldean capital to the Judaean territory (ibid. ii. 64, 65 ; compare Neh. vii. 66, and i Esdr. v. 41). By far the greater number, and especially those of the wealthier classes,' preferred to remain behind, to hold the property which they had acquired, and pursue the avocations to which they were accustomed on a foreign but now friendly soil. It has been calculated that those who returned stood to those who stayed behind in the proportion of one to six ; ° but, however tliis may have been, it is quite certain that the edict of Cyrus took but a very partial effect, and that, both at Babylon and elsewhere in the Persian dominions, as especially at Susa (Esther ix. 5-18), there remained, during the whole of the Persian period, very large and flourishing communities of Jews, who, as a general rule, were content with their position, and made no effort to remove to Palestine It was to one of these communities, probably that of Babylon, that Ezra belonged. The Persian government, for the most part, treated them well. Most probably a special quarter was assigned to them in each of the principal towns wherein they dwelt, and an independent ' Josephus, "Ant. Jud.," xi. 1. " Bullock, in Smith's " Diet, of the Bible," vol. i. p. 441. KARLY RELATIONS WITH THE PERSIAN GOVERNMENT. 1 3 municipal organization may have been granted them in many., if not in all, instances. They enjoyed certainly the free exer- cise of their religion. Synagogues everywhere grew up, and in many places schools of learning were founded, which attained a high reputation. A certain connection was kept up with Jerusalem ; and from the time of the complete restoration of the Temple (B.C. 515), an annual payment was made by each foreign Jew towards the Temple service,' which was collected in the provinces, and carried each year by sacred messengers to Jerusalem.' The Jewish communities formed, thus far, a sort of imperium in itnperioj but still their individual members had all the duties of Persian subjects to discharge, were taxed like the other subject races, and might be called upon to serve in the wars. With the burdens of citizenship they shared also its privileges. High places were opened to them ; and thus we And Zerubbabel and Nehemiah designated as " Pashas," or provincial governors, and Mordecai declared to have been " next to the king " (Esther x. 3). No statement has come down to us with respect to the exact year of Ezra's birth. We may gather, however, from the decree ot Artaxerxes Longimanus in Ezra vii., that in B.C 458 — that monarch's seventh year — he was at least forty years of age.' If so, he must have been born under Darius, the son ol Hystaspes — the great ruler in whose reign the Second Temple was brought to its completion (Ezra vi. 15), and to whom the organization of the Persian Empire was due.* Darius was very friendly to the Jews (ibid. vers, l-iz), and is likely to have favoured those of Babylon especially, since in the native Baby- lonians he had implacable enemies, who twice rebelled against him, and set up pretenders, who disputed with him the sovereignty of the Eastern world.s But Darius died in B.C. 486, when Ezra was probably still a boy attending school, and was then succeeded by his son Xerxes, the arbitrary tyrant, " ■■ Mishna," Sheialim, vii. 4 ; Joseph., " Ant Jud.," xvi. 6, } i. • Philo, " Leg. ad Caium," p. 1013. 3 Thirty was probably the age for entering upon the scribe's office (see above, p. 8). Ezra must have been a scribe for a considerable term of years before he could have gained the reputation which caused Artaxerxes and his seven counsellors to single him out for an importani mission (Ezra vii. 14). * Herod, iii. 89-97. s " Beh. Inscr." col. i. par 18, 19, col. iii. par. 13, 14. 14 EZRA. whose caprices and extravagances are so well known. Ezra grew to manhood under this licentious and sanguinary prince, the worst of all the Archasmenian monarchs, and the most fickle and capricious even of Oriental rulers. He was probably about twenty-four or twenty-five years of age when the news came to Babylon from Susa ■ that, to gratify a favourite, the fantastic Xerxes- had issued a decree for the extermination of the whole Jewish people (Esther iii. 12, 13). Then "in every province" — and certainly not least in the adjacent province of Babylonia — "was there great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing ; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes" (ibid. iv. 3). The doom of death, pronounced against the whole race, would be carried by the swift posts, which Darius had established throughout the empire, in a very short space, to the remotest Jewish settlement within the Persian dominions, not only to Babylon and Borsippa, and Ahava, and Nearda, but to Mespila, and Rhages, and Damascus, and Jerusalem, and Lachish, and Hebron, and Beersheba. Everywhere the Jews would be thrown into con- sternation. There would seem to be no way of escape. An irresponsible despot, utterly reckless of bloodshed, well known to have committed the wildest extravagances in the earlier years of his- reign," had condemned the entire nation to death, and sealed his condemnation by a decree — a decree which even he, with all his pride and self-will, was powerless to revoke (ibid, viii. 8). Ezra, and his fellow-countrymen in Babylon, must have fully shared with the rest of the nation in their extreme alarm and apprehension, and while seeking to avert their doom by fasting and self-humiliation, must have been roused to bitter hatred of the monarch who threatened their lives. This state of apprehension lasted for somewhat more than two months. Then, a little before midsummer, the posts went once more speeding through the land, bearing a royal mes- sage (Esther viii. 10). "King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) granted permission to the Jews, in every city wherein they had a settle- ment, to gather themselves together on the day for which the massacre was fixed, and to stand for their lives, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish all the power of the people and province that should assault them, and to have their spoil for a prey" (ibid. ver. 11). The former decree could not be directly • In B.C. 474, Xerxes' 12th year. » Herod, vii. 33, 39, &o. EARLY RELATIONS WITH THE PERSIAN GOVERNMENT. 1 5 countermanded ; and so, to defeat it, the Jews were allowed and encouraged to resist in arms any attack that might be made upon them by the native races among whom they dwelt, and assured of the neutrality — the benevolent neutrality — of the royal forces. At once there was a revulsion of feeling. The Jews were confident of their own strength, if they might freely use it, unhampered by the fear of being taxed with rebellion, and punished by the central authority for insurrection. So, everywhere, "in every province and in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast, and a good day" (ibid. ver. 17). The sackcloth was put off; the mourning came to an end; feasting superseded fasting; "joy and gladness" took the place of sorrow and apprehension. At Babylon, no doubt, as elsewhere, a violent re-action set in ; and Ezra and his com- panions, released from their alarms, gave themselves up to rejoicing and festivity. But the crisis was not yet past. The day fixed by the former decree would not arrive until the spring of the ensuing year. Between eight and nine months would have to pass before it could be seen and known whether the Jews or their enemies would prevail, whether God's people would triumph or be swept away. After the first burst of joy on the arrival of the second decree a certain amount of apprehension must have revived. The Jews had many bitter enemies among the various peoples subject to the Persian Crown. Their pride of race and haughty exclusiveness made them disliked generally. When Jerusalem was about to fall under the attack of Nebuchadnezzar, it was probably not among the Edomites alone that the cry was raised of "Down with her, down with her, even to the ground" (Psa. cxxxvii. 7, Prayer-Book Version). The malevolence of their foes had been excited by the first decree, and, as time went on, it became quite clear to the Jews settled in foreign towns that on the day named in the decree — the 13th of Adar' — they would be attacked. Accordingly they prepared themselves, procured arms, "gathered themselves together" (Esther ix. 2, 16), per- haps organized themselves into corps, at any rate watched and stood upon their guard, keeping a wary eye upon their foes. The attitude of the government was favourable. " All the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and the ' Early in March, B.C. 473. 1 6 EZRA. officers of the king "—each in his several station— " helped the Jews " (ibid. ver. 3), not, it is probable, openly taking their part, but secretly aiding them, granting them facilities, and putting impediments in the way of their foes. At last the day, so long looked for, arrived, and the collision took place. We have no details of the circumstances of the struggle in any place but Susa.' There, on the 13th of Adar, the Jews of the place assembled, and being menaced, fell upon their enemies, and " smote them with the edge of the sword, and with slaughter and destruction, and did what they would unto them " (ibid. ver. 5), slaying as many as five hundred (ver. 6). Nay, further, not content with their triumph, they asked and obtained the royal permission to continue the struggle for another day, and in the course of the second day slew of their enemies three hundred more, making a total of eight hundred. Among the killed were the ten sons of Haman, their great persecutor (ibid. vers. 7-15). Elsewhere, "in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus," the Jews also "gathered themselves together, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt " (ibid. ver. 3), and " stood for their lives, and slew of their foes," in all, " seventy and five thousand " " (ibid. ver. 16). Among the towns wherein these sanguinary scenes were enacted, Babylon is likely to have held a leading place. Thus Ezra, by the time that he was twenty-five years old, had probably passed through some severe trials and had some re- markable experiences. He was not a mere recluse student. The circumstances of his life had made him acquainted with danger, trouble, doubt, suspense, conflict, triumph. When, at thirty, he was formally inducted into the scribe's office, he was no neophyte, trembling, nervous, and diffident, but a man of ripened judgment and tried powers, competent to fill well an important position, and to exercise a powerful influence over the fortunes of his countrymen. He cannot have been, during the lifetime of Xerxes, a very loyal Persian subject. The remem- brance of the fearful danger into which his nation had been ' Ewald suggests that there was no conflict, and indeed no danger, any- where but at Susa (" History of Israel," vol. v. p. 231). Such a view is, however, in direct contradiction to Esther ix. n, 16, as well as to Josephus, "Ant. Jud," xi. 6, § 13. " The Septuagint Version has "fifteen thousand," which is perhaps a more probable number. SARLY RELATIONS WITH THE PERSIAN GOVERNMENT. IJ thrust by the weakness and folly of the reigning king could not have been obliterated, and is scarcely likely to have been con- doned, in consideration of the half-repentance and half-retrac- tion which the influence of Esther and Mordecai brought about. Ezra, and the Jews generally, may "have been pleased and grati- fied by the high place accorded to their compatriots at the Court of Susa (Esther ix. 29, 32 ; x. 2, 3) ; but they could never cease to detest the cruel king, who, with a barbarity beyond that even of Antiochus Epiphanes in later times (l Mace. iii. 35, 36), had doomed their whole race to extinction. While Xerxes lived they cannot have felt secure against a recurrence of the danger to which they had been exposed, and which they had, by a series of wonderful chances, escaped. Xerxes died in B.C. 465, murdered by the captain of his guards. Ezra was at this time, probably, between thirty and thirty-five years of age. CHAPTER III. RELATIONS WITH AKTAXERXES LONGIMANUS. Troubles in Persia at the death of Xerxes — Accession of his son, Arta- xerxes — Revolt .of Egypt, and resolve of Artaxerxes to strengthen the Jewish element in the population of Palestine — The new colonists drawn chiefly from Babylonia — Choice of Ezra as leader — Commission intrusted to him — Fewness of the colonists — Wealth intrusted to them — Powers conferred on Ezra — His reason for not asking an escort — His care to carry sufficient credentials — Exact terms of his commission. The crown of Persia passed, on the death of Xerxes, after a certain period of disturbance, to the youngest of his sons, Arta- xerxes, whom the Greeks called " Macrocheir"and the Romans " Longimanus." He was not much more than a boy at his accession, and had some difficulty in maintaining himself upon the throne ; but, after seven months of indecision, he adopted a vigorous policy, punished Artabanus, the murderer of his father, and his tool, Aspamitres, with death, and undertook the active direction of the state. After suppressing a revolt in Bactria, in which he gained some military distinction, his atten- tion was turned, in the fifth year of his reign, towards Egypt, where an insurrection had broken out under Inarus, an African chief, and Amyrtseus, a native Egyptian, which threatened the gravest danger to the empire, since it was fomented by the Athenians.' It may well have been in connection with this most important rebellion, which was not suppressed till six years later, that the Great Monarch took into special considera- tion the condition of Palestine, which lay upon the Egyptian ' See the author's "Ancient Monarchies," vol. iii. pp. 470-473, 2nd edition. RELATIONS WITH ARTAXERXES LONGIMANUS. IQ border ; and, regarding the Judseans as the most faithful of all his subjects in that quarter, resolved to attach them as closely as possible to his interests by favours which should recall the old kindness and the old munificence of Cyrus and of Darius Hystaspis.' The colonists who had gone out with Zerubbabel were, he knew, too few aind too feeble to occupy one half of the territory which had belonged to the Jewish nation in the olden time; Jerusalem itself was but sparsely populated (Neh. vii. 4), and the people maintained with difficulty its position among the hostile tribes which encompassed it Under these circum- stances Artaxerxes determined on a re-colonization. He resolved to renew the permission which had been given, eighty years earlier, by Cyrus, and to make a decree that " all they of the people of Israel in all his realm, and of their priests and Levites, which were minded to go up to Jerusalem," should be at liberty to do so (Ezra. vii. 13). He expected probably from this ini- tiative a greater result than actually followed it. He desired to have in the extreme limit of South- Western Asia, an effective garrison, which should hold the country for him against all comers ; furnish him with a point d'appui from which he might make his attacks on the revolted Egyptians ; and, if the worst came to the worst, and Egypt re-established her independence, should form a solid barrier against any advance into Asia which might be attempted by the ambitious Africans. But who was to lead out the colony, and from what quarter were the new settlers to be obtained? There is reason to believe that, of all the Jewish communities dispersed over foreign lands, that of Babylon was at the time at once the most numerous and the wealthiest. Without limiting his invitation — which was conceived in the broadest terms — to the inhabi- tants of a single city, it was natural that the Persian monarch should look especially to the place where Judaeans were congre- gated in the greatest numbers, to be the starting-point, and the main source of supply, of the new migration. He would know Babylon well, since it had been, from an early date, the custom of the Achaemenian kings to hold their court, during different portions of the year, at the three great capitals of Babylon, Susa, ahd Ecbatana. According to the best authority," the Babylonian residence was the longest, extending to seven " Compare Ezra i. i-ii ; Hi. 7 ; vi. 6-14. = Xenophon {" Cyrop." viii. 6, § 22). 20 EZRA. months out of the twelve. Artaxcrxes, during these frequent and prolonged sojourns, must have acquired an intimate know- ledge of the great Chaldaean city, of the mixed character of its population, and of the proportion in which the different ethnic elements stood to each other. He may also have become personally acquainted with a certain number of the leading Judaeans, the men of most repute among their fellow-countrymen in the Babylonian community. As Xerxes had had "Mordecai the Jew" among his intimates at Susa, and as this same Artaxerxes at a later date was familiar with Nehemiah, another Jew, at the same place (Neh. i. II ; ii. 1-8), so in his earlier residences at Babylon Longi- manus may have known something of Ezra, if not personally, yet at any rate by reputation. Or, possibly, it was not until the king had formed his project of reinforcing the Israelites in Judaea by a second colony, that he began to inquire for a man of influence among the Jews of Babylon, competent to carry out his idea. The terms of his decree seem, however, to imply something like a close personal knowledge. Ezra is described as " the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, per- fect" (Ezra vii. 12). "The law of his God is in his hand" (ibid. ver. 14), and " the wisdom of his God " (ibid. ver. 25). He is trusted to an almost unlimited extent. He is addressed in the second person (vers. 14-25). It is possible that the decree, as reported by the writer of Ezra, may not be an exact translation of the original Persian document ; but there can be little doubt that it fairly represents that document's tone and spirit.' Ezra had clearly, in some way or other, gained the deep respect and high approval of the Persian king, who must have formed an extraordinary estimate of his character and capacity. Personal knowledge best explains this high estimate, and is quite conceivable under the circumstances. The exact mission entrusted to Ezra is now to be considered. In the first place, he was to collect colonists. No compulsion was to be used. This was not like one of the occasions when a despotic Oriental king ordered the transference of a subject population from one part of his empire to another, for the purpose of punishing their offences, or breaking their spirit, or Ewald says, " We have every reason to believe this Aramaic document «t least in its essential contents, as genuinely historical " (" Hist, of Israel,' *oL T. p. 136, note). RELATIONS WITH ARTAXERXES LONGIMANUS. 21 quenching their.patriotic ardour. It was of its essence, that it should be voluntary. The king wanted, not a mere increase of population in the Judaean territory, but the gathering together into that region of a band of stanch adherents, who would stoutly maintain the interests of the Persian Crown in the south-western corner of Asia and resist all encroachment. Ezra was, no doubt, bidden to collect as many as he could ; but he had great difficulties to contend with, and the entire number of colonists with which he set out from Babylon does not appear to have exceeded six thousand." The Judsean settlers in Baby- lonia were attached to the homes which they had made for themselves. They had trades, employments, businesses, which they could not carry away with them. To the generality ex- patriation meant impoverishment, the loss of position, the disruption of ties, the extinction of the old life, and its replace- ment by a new life to be begun under trying and difficalt circumstances. It is apparent that the community which had gone out under Zerubbabel, notwithstanding the patronage which it had received from the two greatest of the Achse- menian monarchs, Cyrus and Darius Hystaspis, had not greatly flourished, was not in a truly prosperous state, nay, rather was overwhelmed with debt and suffering (Neb. v. 2-5), lay, in fact, in a weak and depressed condition, and so offered no tempta- tion to intending immigrants. Dean Stanley's picture of the Judaean community at this period is not overdrawn : " The poorer classes," he observes, " had, many of them, sunk into a state of serfage to the richer nobles, in whom the luxurious and insolent practices of the old aristocracy, denounced by the earlier prophets, began to reappear. Jerusalem itself was thinly inhabited, and seemed to have stopped short in the career which, under the first settlers, had been opening before it. If we could trust the conjecture of Ewald that the eighty-ninth Psalm ex- presses the hope of a Davidicking in the person of ?erub babel and his children, and the extinction of that hope in the troubles of the time, we should have a momentary vision of the shadows which closed round the reviving city. It is certain that, whether from the original weakness of the rising settlement, or from some fresh inroad of the surrounding tribes, of which we have no distinct notice, the walls of Jerusalem were still unfinished ; * Fifteen hundred adult males (Ezra viiL 3-14). Allowing four to a funily, the total number would be six thousand. 33 EZRA. huge gaps left in them where the gates had been burnt and not repaired ; the sides of its rocky hills cumbered with their ruins; the Temple, though completed, still with its furniture scanty and its ornaments inadequate." ' Thus, it was very far from a tempting prospect that was presented to the Babylonian Israelite, who was asked to exchange the comfortable quarters, where he and his fathers had been settled more than a hundred and thirty years, for residence in a distant land, exposed to many dangers, and in a community weak, depressed, and impoverished. Again, there were the perils and hardships of the journey to be considered. Either the waterless desert must be crossed by way of Tadmor and Damascus, or the long cUtour must be made by the Euphrates valley, the chalky upland near Aleppo, and the Coele-Syrian vale ; with the certainty, in either case, of great fatigue, and the probability of attack from robber tribes,' fierce and cruel, and amenable to no government, who would cut off all stragglers from the caravan and carry them into hopeless slavery. Such a prospect would deter many, and strongly reinforce the other arguments which inclined the Jews of the Dispersion to remain where they were, and turn a deaf ear to the persuasions which Ezra addressed to them. The result was, as we have said, that only about six thousand souls, men, women, and children included, obeyed his call and set out with him from Babylon. These souls belonged to some twelve families, chiefly families which had taken part in the colonization under Zerubbabel, and which therefore might ex- pect to find friends and helpers in the Judsean territory. One descendant of David accompanied the emigrants, a man of the name of Hattush (Ezra viii. 2). There were also, besides Ezra, two priests, Gershom and Daniel. The remainder were of families possessing but little distinction. The largest con- tingent sent by any family was three hundred adult males, or twelve hundred colonists ; the smallest twenty-eight adult males, or a hundred and twelve of both sexes and all ages. One family, that of Adonikam, distinguished itself by joining the emigration with all its remaining members ; but the number was insignificant, amounting to no more than two hundred and forty (Ezra viii. 13). • " Lectures on the Jewish Church," vol. iii. p. 114. * Ezra viii. 32 ; Neh. ii. 9. RELATIONS WITH ARTAXERXES LONGIMANUS. 23 Next in importance to the number of colonists was the amount of wealth that they could bring with them. They were about to join a poverty-stricken community, or at any rate one in which opulence was rare, and the great majority was not merely possessed of narrow means, but crushed under the burden of indebtedness.' Artaxerxes took this state of things into his consideration, and made provision against it. He and his chief counsellors and his lords made a contribu- tion in gold and silver to a large amount, and intrusted it to Ezra for conveyance to Jerusalem, where it was to be laid out in the adornment of the Temple, and other cognate uses (Ezra vii. 15, 37 ; viii. 25). Further, they sanctioned and promoted a subscription among the non-Jewish inhabitants of the empire for the benefit of the Jews (ibid. vii. 16), following in this the example of Cyrus, who had done the same for those who went up with Zerubbabel (ibid. i. 4). Artaxerxes likewise presented to the Temple a number of vessels, some of gold, some of silver, some of " fine copper " or brass " (ibid. viii. 26, 27) — twenty basins of the first, each worth fifty darics, or about fifty-five pounds sterling ; a hundred vessels of the second, each weighing a talent ; and two vessels of the third, which was a rare amalgam at the time and regarded as highly valuable. He also conferred on Ezra a most important power — namely, the right of drawing upon the provincial treasuries in Palestine and Syria for any further sums or any stores that he might need, within the limit, hov/ever, of a hundred talents of silver, and a hundred measures, respectively, of wheat, wine, and oil (ibid. ver. 22). At the same time he granted an exemption from taxes of every sort or kind to all Jewish priests and Levites, to the Nethinim, or sacred slaves given to the Levites to assist them in their work, and even to the " ministers," or lowest class of persons employed in the Temple service (ibid. ver. 24). Ezra was thus enabled to convey to his countrymen in Judaea a most important supply of the precious metals. The contribution in specie amounted to as much as six hundred and fifty talents of silver, or nearly twice the amount received annually by the Persian Crown from the entire Syrian satrapy, which included within it, not only Syria, but Phoenicia, Palestine, and Cyprus ; together with one ' See above, p. 21. ■ Seethe comment on Ezra viii. 27 in the "Speaker's Commentaiy," vol iii. p. 413. 24 EZRA. hundred talents of gold, which was probably worth at least fout times the amount of the silver (ibid. ver. 26). The powers conferred by Artaxerxes upon Ezra were extra- ordinary. He was sent, primarily, "to inquire" (Ezra vii. 14), i.e., to make inquisition into the general condition of the pro- vince, and report upon it ; according to an ordinary practice of the Persian Court, by which commissioners were despatched, either regularly or irregularly, from head-quarters, to inspect particular provinces and bring the Crown an account of them.' But this was only a small part of his mission. Though he is not expressly given anywhere the title of governor — " Pechah " or " Tirshatha "—yet it is quite clear that he exercised the full governmental office, and was, during this his first visit to Jeru- salem, entirely uncontrolled by any higher authority. He was distinctly empowered by the terms of his commission to set up magistrates and judges over all the people — i.e., all the Israelite people — in the district beyond the river — the "province" (midinah), as it was called, in a special sense ; and it is evident that he was practically himself the Chief Judge (Ezra ix. I ; X. 5, 10, II, 16, 17). He had the power of life and death (ibid. vii. 26), though it does not appear that he exercised itt and he had, of course, what such power implies, the right to inflict all the customary punishments of a secondary kind, as fine, imprisonment, entire confiscation of goods, and outlawry.' It was especially enjoined upon him by the king, that he should see to the observance among all classes in Judiea of " the law of his God " (ibid. vii. 14, 25, 26) — that he should enforce it upon those who knew it, and teach it to such as were ignorant of it. He was to regard " the law of his God " as being, in the territory committed to his charge, also " the law of the king '' (ibid. ver. 26), and was not to condone its neglect or non- observance, but to punish all offenders against it rigorously. Special stress was laid upon the complete . re-establishment, in full dignity and honour, of the Temple service (ibid. vers. 15-20) with its daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly sacrifices, its meat-offerings and drink-offerings (ibid. ver. 17), and its entourage of priests, Levites, singers, porters, Nethinim, and " ministers," each in their several stations bearing their part in ' Xen., " Cyrop.'' viii. 6, § 16. • Our version has " banishment " (Ezra vii. a6) ; but " cutting off from the congregation " is probably intended. RELATIONS WITH ARTAXERXES LONGIMANUS. 2? the service, and helping forward the due celebration of it (ibid, ver. 24). The house itself was to be "beautified" (ibid. ver. 27), the number of the vessels increased, and all things that were needful for it provided (ibid. ver. 20). Artaxerxes seems to have set great store upon the intercession which the Jews were wont to make in their public services on behalf of their civil governor, whoever he might be (Jer. xxix. 6), and was fearful lest, through any default in the regular series of offerings, there " should be wrath against the realm of the king, and of his sons " (ibid. ver. 23). He clearly identified Jehovah, the God of the Jews with his God, Ormazd ; and Ezra believed that it was Jehovah who had " put in his heart" all the good inten- tions which he entertained towards the Jewish people (Ezra viii. 37). Ezra did not fail to recognize that the commission entrusted to him by the Persian king involved not only responsibility, but a considerable amount of difficulty and danger.' The thought crossed his mind to call the king's attention to the perils of the way, and to beg that such an escort of soldiers, both horse and foot, might be ordered to accompany himself and his fellow emigrants, as would afford them adequate protection if an attack were made (Ezra viii. 22). But, on consideration, he put aside the idea. In previous consultations with the king he had expressed a full assurance in the power and will of Jehovah to protect His faithful worshippers from all dangers, and to pour His wrath and fury upon all who might oppose them. After having thus expressed himself he felt ashamed to confess to any apprehension or alarm in respect of the coming journey, and therefore, as Ewald says,' " refrained from asking for a royal escort for the caravan, although this precaution was quite customary at the time on account of risks from robbers " (Neh. ii. 9 ; I Esdr. v. 2). It was, however, scarcely from any super- abundance of " lofty courage " or " trust in God " ' that he so acted ; he was evidently full of apprehension, but he smothered his fears in his own bosom and kept them to himself lest he should betray a want of confidence, which would be dishonouring, both to his own character and to the God whom he served. In default of any such sign of the Great King's favour as a royal escort would have been, it was the more incumbent on the ' See above, page 22. ' " History of Israel," vol. v, p. i^ ( Ibidt 26 EZRA. Jewish leader to obtain from the Court and carry with him into his province abundant written credentials, addressed to the official representatives of the Persian government in the regions which he was about to visit. Such credentials it is evident that he applied for and received. His main commission was " en- dorsed by the Seven leading members of the Royal Council " • (Ezra vii. 14, 28)— the great "princes of Persia and Media which saw the king's face, and which sat the first in the king- dom " » (Esther i. 14 ; Herod, iii. 84). It was, no doubt, " written in the name of the king," Artaxerxes, and " signed with the king's ring" (Esther iii. 12 ; viii. 8). It set forth that "Arta- xerxes, king of kings, had made a decree that all they of the people of Israel, and of their priests and Levites, throughout his realm, which were minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem, might go thither with Ezra the priest, the perfect scribe of the law of the God of heaven. Forasmuch," it went on, " as thou art sent of the king, and of his seven counsellors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand ; and to carry the silver and the gold which the king and his counsellors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem, and all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem : that thou mayest buy speedily with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meat-offerings and their drink- offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. And whatsoever shall seem good to thee, and to thy brethren, to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do after the will of your God. The vessels also which are given thee for the service of the house of thy God, those deliver thou before the God of Jerusalem. And whatso- ever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasure house. And I, even I, Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily, unto an hundred talents of silver and to an hundred measures of wheat, and to an hundred • " History of Israel," pp. 136, 137. ■ Compare the "Behistun Inscription," col. iv. par. 18. RELATIONS WlTH ARtAXERXES LONGlMANtJS. 27 baths of wine, and to an hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven : for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons ? Also we certify you, that touching any of the priests and Levites, singers, porters, Nethinim, or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose toll, tribute, or custom upon them. And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God ; and teach ye them that know them not. And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him whether it be unto death, or to outlawry, or to confiscation o: goods, or to imprisonment." ' Besides this general commission, Ezra seems also to have taken with him from the Court a number of shorter documents, addressed to the several satraps, governors, and royal treasurers beyond the Euphrates, in the name and with the authority of the king, requiring them to do certain acts (Ezra vii. 21-23), ^nd abstain from doing certain others (ibid. ver. 24), which were to be delivered severally to the individuals to whom they were addressed (ibid. viii. 36). Thus he was abundantly supplied with vouchers for his high dignity, and authority to speak in the king's name — vouchers of very much the same character as the firmans which at the present day are issued by the government of the Sublime Porte. ■ Ezra vii. la-aS, CHAPTER IV. GOVERNORSHIP OF JUDA* Journey hom Babylon to Jerusalem — First stage, Babylon to Ahava or Hit —Halt there — Accession to the body of emigrants— Journey from Hit —Choice of routes— Route probably taken— Halt at Jericho— Arrival at Jerusalem— Delivery of the sacred vessels and treasure— Solemn sacrifice — Ezra's governmental position — ^Appeal made to him by the princes — Ezra's arrangement of the mixed marriage question. The first stage of the journey between Babylon and Jerusalem presents little difficulty, and scarcely offers a choice of route. The course of the traveller, whether he journeys alone or forms one of a caravan, must be up the stream of the Euphrates, either on one side of it or the other. The left or eastern bank of the river is that usually preferred, since the country to the west of the Euphrates is for some distance marshy, and in wet seasons impassable,' while the whole tract is more exposed than the left bank to the attacks of the predatory Arab tribes, who roam freely over the great Desert which intervenes between Mesopotamia and Palestine. Ezra, with his caravan of six thousand Israelites, probably quitted Babylon by the north gate — the gate of Nineveh," and proceeded north-westward along the river-course from the site of Babylon to that of Is or Hit, a distance of one hundred and forty miles. This he would accomplish in the space of nine days,^ without much trouble or • See the author's "Ancient Monarchies," vol. i. pp. ii, 12. • Herod, iii. iss- 3 Herodotus makes the distance a journey of eight days (i. 179), which might be the time taken by an ordinary traveller ; but a caravan vrould be slower. GOVERNORSHIP OF JUDAEA. 29 fiitigue. His way lay through cultivated districts, in a part of the empire which was well watched and guarded, perhaps along a " Royal Road," though not the Royal Road which is described by Herodotus.' The caravan under his charge carried' tents (Ezra viii. 15), which were pitched at the end of each day's journey, and sufficiently protected the travellers from the heavy night dews, and from any possible storms or other changes in the weather. It was accompanied, no doubt, by a considerable number of baggage animals — asses, camels, mules, and perhaps horses. The colonists who went out with Zerubbabel — forty-two thousand in number — were attended by above eight thousand beasts of burthen (ibid. ii. 66, 67), or one to each five of the emigrants. If we suppose the same proportion to have been maintained by the later emigration, their baggage animals would have amounted to above eight hundred and fifty. The great bulk of them were, no doubt, asses ; but it may be presumed that a certain number were horses or mules, and the emigrants are not likely to have adventured on the journey without a body of. some fifty or sixty camels. They could not possibly avoid encountering stretches of desert ; and the camel — the " ship of the desert" — is a sine qua turn where such regions have to be traversed. The start of the caravan iirom Babylon would offer a strange scene, picturesque and exciting, but full of tenderness and pathos. The friends and relatives of the emigrants, though resolved on remaining behind, would yet flock to the place of departure, bent on escorting their kindred for a certain distance. There would be agonizing partings of brother from brother, of parent from child, perhaps of youths and maidens, betrothed one to the other. While a holy enthusiasm sustained the majority of the emigrants, there were probably some with whom fear predominated over hope, who wept at leaving their old homes, and shrank in their inmost hearts from the perils of the unknown future. The friends whom they were about to leave behind would yield still more to sorrow and depression of spirits, and, with the abandon of Orientals.would " weep and wail without stint." * Meanwhile, a babel of sounds would strike the ear, as the beasts that were being laden groaned, and their drivers lashed or goaded them with much objurgation and abuse, and horses neighed, and asses brayed, and mules stamped, and ■ Herod, v. 53. * Compare Herod, viii. 99. 30 GZ&A. kicked, and squealed. At length all would be ready ; the caravan would be marshalled and arranged ; the guide or " captain of the caravan " would step forth ; and the rest would follow, spears flashing, bells tinkling, banners (it may be) , flying, turbans nodding, children laughing, women screaming, men shouting or asking the blessing of God upon their setting forth. The journey to Hit — the modem representative of the ancient Is, Ihi, or Ahava " — occupied, as we have said, nine days. The march would probably begin each day in the early morning, an liour or so before sunrise, and would continue till the sun reached a certain altitude, when it would be too hot to proceed, and the signal would be given for the midday halt. A shady spot would, if possible, be ch"sen, where a grove of palms, or a tangled cluster of acacias and tamarisks, gave a prospect of protection from the solar rays. The banks of the Euphrates, or of some canal or branch stream flowing in or out of it, would on most occasions be sought, that there might be sure to be abundant water for the entire company and also for their beasts. Tents would not be pitched ; but the travellers would sit, or lie along the ground, in the densest shade that they could obtain, and rest, or chat, or take some slight refreshment, or indulge in a short siesta. Ere long, however, the signal would again be given, and the march resumed, this time under unpleasant con- ditions — the sun would burn overhead — the atmosphere would glow and quiver — the feet would be weary, the limbs would ache, the mouth would be dry and parched. The hours would drag slowly on, till at length the sun declined, lost his fiery heat, and then suddenly, set. As night closed in, tents would be pitched, watch fires lighted, guards set, carpets strewn on the ground, camels unladen, horses and mules hobbled or picketed, the beasts generally fed and watered, after which, in a little time, silence would fall upon the camp, and scarcely a sound would break the stillness, till the dawn of another day flushed the sky. At Ahava, or Hit, Ezra made preparations for a longer halt than the ordinary one. In the march of a caravan or of an army, it is always necessary to allow stoppages of some days' duration, at intervals, for rest and refreshment, and to enable » See the author's "Herodotus," vol. i. p. 300, and compare Smith's " Dictionary of the Bible," ad. voe. Ahava, and Stanley " Lectures," vol. iii. p. 116. GOVERNORSHIP OF JUD^A. 3I the Stragglers who have dropped out to rejoin. Cyrus, when he was hastening at his best speed from Asia Minor to Babylon, in order to attack his brother, Artaxerxes Mnemon, made several such halts.' Ezra now determined on a halt of three days. Ahava was a pleasant spot, on the banks of the Euphrates, where a small stream flowed into it from the east, and at the point where the Babylonian alluvium terminates, and the rolling plain of Upper Mesopotamia has its commencement. It was a resort of merchants, who frequented it on account of its bitumen springs, which furnished that valuable article of commerce, and are still unexhausted." Ezra, having ordered the tents to be pitched, proceeded to hold a muster of the colftnists, who were, perhaps, now for the first time counted, and assigned to their several families (Ezra viii. 1-15). In the course of his review, or on making out the muster-roll, the Jewish leader was greatly struck with the fact, that while a certain number of the priests had accompanied him from Babylon, there was not in the entire caravan a single person belonging to the class of simple Levites. A disinclination on the part of the Levites to return to Jerusa- lem had manifested itself at the former enrolment of colonists under Zerubbabel,' when the priests had outnumbered the Levites in the proportion of nearly sixty to one (ibid. ii. 36, 40). But the defection on the present occasion was still more pro- nounced, and Ezra thought it his duty to make an attempt to remedy it. There was a Jewish settlement at a place called Casiphia in the neighbourhood of Ahava (ibid. viii. 17). The exact site is unknown, since Casiphia does not elsewhere obtain mention ; but it was probably not more than a few miles off. To this place, where he knew that there were Levites and Nethinim, Ezra sent a formal embassy,* consisting of twelve Israelites, to represent the twelve tribes, and begged the Casi- phians to reinforce his colony by a supply of these lower ministers and servants of the Temple, who were quite as much needed as priests for the service of the sanctuary.^ The Casi- phians, who had at their head a chief called Iddo, readily con- • Xen. '■ Anab." i. 2, } 6, 9 ! 3' § ' ! 4. § i. &<:• » See the author's " Ancient Monarchies," vol. i. p. 3<>, 3 See Ewald, " Hist, of Israel," yol. v. p. 84. « Ibid. vol. V. p. 138, note 3. 5 See Ex. xxxii. S6-29 ; Numb. iii. 5-51 ; i Kings viii. 4 ; i Chron. xxiv ao-31 ; a Chron. v. 11-13, &c. 33 EZRA. sented ; and Ezra in this way obtained an addition to his followers of thirty-eight Levites of full age, and two hundred and twenty Nethinim. As these individuals were, no doubt, accom- panied by their families, we may regard the caravan, which Ezra was conducting, as henceforth increased by somewhat more than a thousand members, or raised from six thousand to seven thousand. With his increased numbers, Ezra, after his three days' rest, set forth from Ahava, probably' still ascending the course of the Euphrates on its left or eastern bank. He would pass Anat,' on its island in the middle of the river, in long. 42° nearly, and proceed thence westward to Irzah or Werdi, and then north- westward to Sirki, which the Greeks and Romans called Cir- cesium.' This city lay on the left bank of the Euphrates, im- mediately below its junction with the Khabour, Habor, or Aborrhas,' the last of its great affluents, in lat. 35° 10' nearly. It occupied an important position. Commanding the courses of the two streams which washed its walls, it was also, almost certainly, connected by a line of route with Tadmor or Palmyra, and was a mart for the Syrian and Phoenician trade which passed by way of Damascus and Tadmor into Assyria. It was here that Ezra must finally have determined whether he would attempt the comparatively short passage across the Syrian desert, from Sirki to Tadmor, from Tadmor to Kennesarin, and from Kennesarin to Damascus, or whether he would pursue the route ordinarily taken by armies, following the course of the Euphrates for two hundred or two hundred and fifty miles further, past Thapsacus and Balis, to the 36th parallel of lati- tude, and thfn striking across the chalky upland by Chalcis and Aleppo to the Lower Orontes valley, which would conduct him to Palestine. The late Dean Stanley suggested in his work upon the Jewish Church, that the route actually selected by Esther was that which crossed the desert ; * but this view is highly questionable. The direct distance from Circesium to Damascus was not less than two hundred and sixty miles, or, at the rate at which Ezra seems ' Layard, "Nin. and Babylon," p. 355; Fox Talbot, "Assyrian Texts," p. 21 ; Isid. Char. " Mans. Parth." p. 4. • See the author's " Ancient Monarchies," vol i. p. 198. J Ibid. p. 187. * " Lectures on the Jewish Church," vol. iii. p. 116. GOVERNORSHIP OF JVOJEJu 33 to have moved,' a journey of nearly three weeks. The route was almost absolutely waterless. Well-appointed caravans, no doubt, occasionally travelled it, but scarcely unless they had made arrangements with friendly tribes to allow them the use of the few wells, or even to furnish them with water at intervals, along the course of it. And, without an armed escort, the attempt to reach Jerusalem by this route would have been most dangerous. Ezra had refused an escort, or rather had not applied for one. He knew of " enemies in the way " (Ezra viii. 31). He must have been well aware that the Arab tribes who peopled the sandy waste were for the most part a predatory race— a race whose " hand was against every man, and every man's hand against them" (Gen. xvi. 12) — he could scarcely hope to cross the desert without attracting their attention, and he could still less dream of resisting them successfully in arms. Whatever his trust in " the good hand of his God " (ibid. vii. 9 ; viii. 22), he would not be likely to thrust himself into the midst of unnecessary dangers in reliance upon miraculous aid, when a little prudence and a little patience were alone needed to enable him to avoid them. The route along the great river to Balis, and across Northern Syria between the thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh parallels was for the most part well watered, and was a comparatively safe one. It was not altogether secure from occasional Bedouin raids, or without a sprinkling of thievish tribes among its permanent inhabitants ; but so large a caravan as that which Ezra led might hope to traverse it without very serious risk. The additional distance would not exceed a hundred and fifty miles, or two hundred at the utmost, and this distance could be accomplished, under favourable circum- stances, in a fortnight. We think it best, therefore, to suppose that the prudent and circumspect leader, who well understood the perils of the way, having crossed the Khabour at Sirki, probably by a bridge of boats, continued his journey along the left or eastern bank of the great river from the Khabour to the Belik, and from the. Belik at least as high as Balis, before crossing the stream and adventuring himself on the Syrian side of it. From Balis there was an established route, by way of Aleppo (Haleb), to the valley of the Orontes, and this route it is probable that Ezra ' Including stoppages, he does not seem to have travelled at the rate ol more than about twelve and a half miles a day. 4 34 EZRA. pursued with his caravan of seven thousand persons. Progress along the dry and chalky upland was, no doubt, slow and diflficult. Here probably were found "the enemy and those that lay in wait by the way" (Ezra viii. 31) ; and here there would be some scantiness in the supply of water ; but enough for the needs of the caravan was probably carried in skins by the camels and asses from the Euphrates to the river of Aleppo, and from the river of Aleppo to the Orontes or Arantu.' The difficulties of the long journey were now well-nigh over. Coele- Syria, or the double valley of the Orontes and Litany, is a long grassy plain, running southwards between two mountain ranges, with at first a gradual slight ascent to about lat. 34° 10', and then a gradual slight descent to lat. 33° 20'. At this point Palestine is reached, and either the Jordan valley may be descended from Dan (or Laish) to Jericho, and then the steep incline ascended from Jericho to Jerusalem, or else a more westerly line may be taken through the Galilean hills, across the Esdraelon plain, and then along the highlands of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Benjamin to the Holy City. Ezra would be likely to follow the more eastern of these two. routes, which was at once the more level and the more friendly. He would naturally avoid Samaria, where were gathered together "the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin " (ibid. iv. l), and would thus be led to avoid the entire Samaritan highland. In the Jordan vale he would find no enemies, and its luxuriant vegetation would attract him, when he was fresh from traversing the compara- tively bleak tracks of Chalcitis and Coele-Syria. He would travel slowly along it, not following the tortuous stream," but keeping it generally in sight, and might complete the journey from Dan to Jericho in a little more than a week. Amid the lovely palm-groves of Jericho 3 he would probably make his final rest, before affronting the difficulties of the long and steep ascent, along the side of the Wady Kelt, from Jericho to Jerusalem. " The whole of the Wady Kelt is singularly wild and roman- tic, for it is simply a deep rent in the mountains, scarcely twenty ' This is the form of the name in the Assyrian Inscriptions. » See Stanley, "Sinai and Palestine," p. 277; Peterroann in "Geo- graphical Journal," vol. xviii. p. 94. The English sailors who accompanied the Petermann Expedition are said to have remarked, "The Jordan is the crookedest stream what is " (ibid. p. 113). 3 Deut. xxxiv. 3. GOVERNORSHIP OF JUD^A. 35 yards across at the bottom, filled with tall canes, and beds oi rushes, to which you look down over high perpendicular walls of rock. Its cliffs are full of caves. . . . White chalk hills rise in the wildest shapes on each side, forming strange peaks, sharp rough sierras, and fanciful pyramid -like cones; the whole seamed in all directions by deep torrent beds. Not a tree is to be seen on the bare slopes. Nor is the end of the pass less striking, for it is guarded, as it were, by two tall sloping peaks of white chalk, with each of which special traditions and legends are connected." ' The road from Jericho does not attempt to follow the deep ravine of the Wady Kelt, but "skirts" it.' Sometimes the track "leads along the edge of sheer precipices; at others, up rocks so steep and rough that it needs every care to prevent a fall." ^ The scenery is everywhere gloomy and for- bidding, framed in by wild, desolate hills, ever more and more bare and stony. There is little animal or vegetable life at the present day, and there can never have been very much. The road reaches its highest point by a sort of " rocky staircase," * in the vicinity of the Bir-el-Khut, the only spring to be found on the entire route — an unfailing source of clear, sweet water, probably the ancient En-shemesh, or " Spring of the Sun," mentioned in the Book of Joshua (xviii. 17). From the Bir-el- Khut there is another steep ascent to Bethany, after which the road descends into the Kedron valley, and Jerusalem presents itself to the gaze of the weary traveller. It was on the '• first day of the fifth month " (Ezra vii. 9) ; in the burning heat of July — that Ezra with his company reached the Holy City. They had been just four months upon their journey. The direct distance of Jerusalem from Babylon is not more than about 520 miles, but the circuitous route pursued had almost doubled the length of the way. And long halts had no doubt been made at several places besides Ahava. The " king's commissions " had had to be delivered to the Persian satraps and subordinate governors to the west of the Euphrates, and detours had perhaps had to be made for this purpose, as well as to avoid robber tribes or other enemies. The result was that the average rate of progress had been little more than eight miles per diem, and four months had been consumed in travel- " Geikie, "The Holy Land and the Bible,'' vol. ii. p. 69. " Tristram, "Land of Israel," p. 199. 3 Geikie, p. 68. "* 'I'liotrani, p. 196. 36 EZRA. ling a distance that was usually accomplished in less than three The wearied travellers, moreover, on their arrival, required another spell of rest ; and it was not till three days after, that Ezra, with his chief priests and Levites, felt equal to appearing before the civil and ecclesiastical authorities of the city, to make Artaxerxes' intentions known to them, and discharge a special commission which they had received at his bands. Then, "on the fourth day " (ibid. viii. 33), notice was given by Ezra to the Temple priests, and a solemn conference held, at which he made over to them the gold and silver vessels for the Temple service, together with the gold and silver bullion, which Artaxerxes and Iiis lords had sent as an offering to the God of Israel, and which Ezra had at Ahava put under the charge of twelve priests and twelve Levites (ibid. viii. 24), for safe conveyance to Jerusalem. Having made over these treasures to the custodians of the Temple, Ezra and the colonists who had come with him offered a sacrifice on a large scale to the God of Israel, " twelve bullocks for «// Israel, ninety and six rams, seventy and seven lambsi and twelve he-goats for a sin-offering : all this was a burnt- offering to the Lord " (Ezra viii. 35). As before, when Zerub- babel made his great sacrifice on the dedication of the second Temple, so now Ezra put prominently forward the idea that the returned exiles represented " all Israel," were the people of God in their totality — not a remnant of one tribe only escaped from barbarian masters, but the entire nation restored to their native land, and planted there a second time, with a full right and title to all the old privileges and promises attached to the " seed of Abraham " — an indefeasible right of dominion over the entire tract which God had granted to the first patriarch (Gen. xv. 18-21), extending from "the river (or rather, the torrent)' of Egypt even to the great river, the river Euphrates." His mission thus by solemn rites inaugurated, the new-comer had to obtain recognition of the dignified position assigned to him by his royal master, and to arrange with the existing authorities, what exactly his relations were to be with them. Jerusalem, since the time of Zerubbabel, had had, it would seem, no special governor. It had remained under the authority of the satrap of Syria, who occasionally honoured it with his presence, and had a residence there, or at any rate a tribunal, » DnVD \ni Gen. xt. 18. GOVERNORSHIP OF JUDAEA. 37 ttmm which he delivered sentences, and which was known as " the throne of the governor on this side the river " (Neh. iii . 7 In his absence authority rested, partly with the high pries. partly with the "princes," or "elders " of the people, who mi together, from time to time, in council, and discharged thi necessary municipal functions. Had Ezra come as "governor,' the position of affairs would have been clear — Jerusalem would have reverted to its former condition under Zerubbabel, and all would have been plain sailing ; but, under the royal decret- which gave him his authority, Ezra was not exactly " governor ' • — ^hewas, as Ewald expresses it,' " Chief Judge." He was "em- powered to settle everything relating to the religion of the Judaeans, and the life which was regulated by it, and to maintain everything quietly as it was established by law. But the man- ner in which the details were to be carried out could not be traced beforehand by the Persian king : it depended solely on the ancient sacred law, and the actual circumstances of the time.'" Not much difficulty, however, seems to have been experienced in establishing a modus vivendi. Ezra was accepted as chief director of the affairs of the nation ; but the previous local authorities were also maintained in office, and acted under him as his subordinates, not only in Jerusalem (Ezra x. 8), but also throughout the country districts (ibid. ver. 14). " In the course of the first few months, the new chief judge was," as Ewald says, ' " settled down in Jerusalem in tolerable quiet " — his administrative functions were admitted without question, and the other officials, both ecclesiastical and civil, worked under him, apparently, without friction or jealousy (ibid. ix. i ; X. s, 14-16). It was not till several months had gone by without disturbance or special anxiety, that Ezra was suddenly asked to turn his attention to a matter of the deepest interest to the community. It is conjectured that " the copies of the Law which Ezra had brought from Chaldaea must have become in the interval known to the settlement in Palestine," ^ and that it was these copies which brought home to the settlers generally the fact, that they were living in complete disregard of one of the simplest and plainest of the Mosaical directions. God had commanded, by Moses, that there should be no intermarriages between his * " History of Israel," vol. v. p. 139. * Ibid., l.$.e, * Ibid. 4 Stanley, "Lectures on the Jewish Church,'' vol. iii. p. 118. 38 EZRA. peculiar people and the heathen races by which they were surrounded — " thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son " (Deut. vii. 3) ; but this command had, during the early ages, been frequently transgressed (Ruth i. 4 ; 2 Sam. iii. 3 ; i Kings iii. i, xi. I, xvi. 31), and, after the return from the Captivity, had apparently been wholly forgotten. Foreign marriages had become matters of every-day occurrence. The colonists, who had not perhaps been accompanied on their return journey by an adequate pro- portion of females, had taken wives of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites — Levites and priests had been as guilty as the common people, and the upper classes had been implicated in the trespass " in a quite special degree." ' And the consequences had been such as were to be expected. " The people of Israel had not separated themselves from the people of the lands in respect of their abominations" (Ezra ix. l) — intimate association with idolaters had led to a toleration of idolatry within the limits of the Holy Land, and probably even of the " Holy Mountain " — superstitious practices of various kinds had crept in, and purity of religion was seriously endangered. A modern pseudo-liberalism objects to the nar- rowness of view, which induced the leaders of the Jewish com- munity to bring this " comparatively trivial and in some respects questionable" controversy before the notice of Ezra. " Larger, nobler, and freer views," we are told,' " belonged to the earlier and also to the later portion of the Jewish history. . . . There had not been the faintest murmur audible when the ancestors of David once and over again married into a Moabite family, nor when David took among his wives a daughter of Geshur ; nor is there a more exuberant Psalm than that which celebrates the union of an Israelite king with an Egyptian or Tyrian princess (Psa. xlv. 12, 16). Even if the patriarchal alliance of Abraham with the Egyptian Hagar or the Arabian Keturah, or the mar- riage of Moses with the Midianite or the Ethiopian, provoked a passing censure, it was instantly and strongly repelled by the loftier tone of the sacred narrative. Nor is there in the New Testament a passage more redolent of acknowledged wisdom ' Ewald, /. s. c. Compare Ezra ix. a: "The hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass." » Stanley, " Lectures on the Jewish Church," vol. iii. p. 117. GOVERNORSHIP OF JVDMA. 39 and charity than that in which the Rabbi of Tarsus tolerates the union of the heathen husband and the believing wife (l Cor. vii. 14). Nor are there more critical incidents in Christian history than those which record the union of Clovis with Clotilda, or of Ethelbert with Bertha." But it is not denied that the " narrower view," which after all has the sanction of the " Rabbi of Tarsus," who bids his converts '' not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers " (2 Cor. vi. 14), was suited to the times, and helped to " keep alive the spirit of exclusive patriotism and of uncompromising zeal,"' which alone enabled the community to maintain its existence during the times of depression and of trial that were approaching. But, whatever moderns may think of the policy of Jewish isolation, and however much they may prefer to it " the large freedom of Isaiah," ' or the policy of attempting to convert the world by fusion with it, at any rate the holiest instincts of the religious Jews of the time were strongly set in the contrary direction. Ezra was appealed to by a certain number of the foremost members of the community (Ezra ix. i) to stop a practice which to them seemed not only wrong, but fraught with danger to the best interests of the nation. To Ezra him- self the revelation came as a shock and an astonishment. Nothing in his Babylonian experience had prepared him for such a falling away. He was " seized with the most vehement horror " at the disclosure of it.' " When I heard this thing." he says, " I rent my garments and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head, and sat down astonied" (ibid. ver. 3). " Overwhelmed with horror, he sank involuntarily on the ground, and all the men of more tender conscience gradually assembled round their leader, still utterly unstrung, and wail- ing deeply ; but not till about the time for evening sacrifice could he recover from the profound shock he had sustained sufficiently to pour forth his feelings in prayer. In words wrung from his inmost soul he implored God to have pity on His people, who, though long sunk so low by their ancient sins, had now, by this violation of His express command, imperilled ' Stanley, " Lectures on the Jewish Church," vol. iii. p. 122. ' Ibid., p. 117. It is not at all clear that Isaiah would have tolerated any fusion of Jews with heathen in his own day, though he may hava looked forward to an ultimate fusion in the Messiah's kingdom, 3 Ewivld, " History of Israel," vol. v. p. 139. 40 EZRA. even the feeble commencement of a somewhat improved con- dition, but now vouchsafed them by the grace of God." ' It seemed to him that the very continuance of the people's exis- tence depended on an immediate and complete reform — on an entire relinquishment of the evil practice which had grown up, and on taking such other steps as might be necessary for purging out the fatal corruption which had been admitted into the heart of the nation. The national life hung on God's good pleasure — if after so solemn a warning as the Captivity, the restored nation, just allowed a deliverance, should again fall away, openly break God's commandments, and join in affinity with a people of abomination, might it not be expected that God would be angry with them till He had consumed them, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping (ibid. ver. 14) ? But, alone, he would have been powerless. What can one man do against a multitude ? He had -no armed force at his dis- posal, and the chief men of the nation were the chief sinners (ibid. ver. 2). It must have been with a deep sense of relief, that the Chief Judge, lying prone in the Temple Court before the house of God, heard the utterance of "a distinguised lay- man"'— one of the principal of those who had congregated about him, one Shechaniah— who, " in the name of the whole community, confessed the guilt of the people, and further de- clared their true desire to act in full compliance with the Law, even in this respect."* "We have trespassed against our God," he said, " and have taken strange wives of the people of the land; yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. Let us make a covenant w-**! our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the command- ment of our God ; and let it be done according to the Law. Arise, for this matter belongeth unto thee : we also will be with thee : be of good courage, and do it " (Ezra x. 2-4). Upon this, " the prostrate, weeping mourner sprang to his feet, and exacted an oath from all present, that they would assist his efforts ; and, having done this, he disappeared, and withdrew into the chamber of the high priest's son, in one of the upper storeys of the Temple, and there remained in complete abstinence even from bread and water, for the three days which were to * Ewald, "History of Israel," vol. v. p. 141, • Ibid. » Ibid. pp. 141, 143. GOVERNORSHIP OF JODjEA. 4t elapse before a solemn assembly could be convened to ascer- tain the national sentiment."' The solemn assembly was then convened. Messengers were sent " throughout Judah " (Ezra x. 7) " to all the children of the captivity," and proclamation was made, requiring them all — «.#., all the males of full age — to gather themselves together to Jerusalem upon the third day, under the heavy penalty, on such as should absent themselves, of the confiscation of their goods, and their expulsion from the congregation of the faith- ful. The territory occupied by the returned Hebrews was still so small, that the short space allowed was sufficient, both for the distribution of the summonses, and for the coming together of the people in obedience to them. It was deep winter — December probably — and the heavy rains had set in (ibid. ver. 9) ; but still the whole people answered to the call made upon them, and on the third day — the twentieth of Chisleu — the men of Jerusalem, and all the outlying inhabitants of the hills of Judah and Benjamin, congregated in the open space in front of the great gate of the Temple — " shivering," it may be, " in the raw ungenial weather," ' but resolute to learn from their rulers, what the occasion was which had necessitated their being brought together, and to take prompt action with respect to it. The exposition of the circumstances was soon made ; the danger into which they had brought the nation was explained ; and the only course which in his judgment could avert the ruin of the people was set forth by Ezra (ibid, vers, 10, 1 1). It would not be enough to resolve that the mixed marriages should be discontinued in the future ; the past must be, as far as possible, undone — there must be a general dismissal of all the foreign wives, together with any children which they might have borne to their husbands. The decree thus formulated was adopted by the assembly, apparently without any opposition.^ It was agreed, however, not to hurry the matter. A Commission of Inquiry was appointed, consisting of Ezra and a number of the " rulers," who should investigate each supposed case of unlaw- ful marriage separately, and decide according to the evidence. When the parties inculpated belonged to the country towns oi * Stanley, " Lectures on the Jewish Church," vol. iii. pp. 119, 12c ■ Ibid. p. i2t. 3 There is some doubt whether a certain weak opposition is not hinted at in Ezra x. 15. (See the " Speaker's Commentary," vol. iii. p. 419.) 41 ttkA. Judah and Benjamin, the Commission was to be assisted by persons with local knowledge, such as the elders and judges of the several places (ibid. ver. 14), so that the truth might be clearly ascertained in every instance. The Court sat de die in diem, except probably on the Sabbath, and brought its labours to a close in the course of three months (ibid. vers. 16, 17). The result was that four priests of the high-priestly family, together with thirteen other priests, terf Levites, and eighty- six laymen (ibid. vers. 18-43) — many of them of high rank (Ezra ix. 2) — were found to have been involved in the trespass, and were made to dismiss their foreign wives and foreign children. The four most exalted offenders were further required to make public acknowledgment of their transgression by each of them offering to God a ram as a trespass-offering (Ezra x. 19). Thus was this scandal put an end to, and a very real danger, for the time at any rate, escaped. The decision which Ezra enforced so inexorably, must doubtless have borne hardly upon many of the repudiated wives and of the cast-off children. These innocent ones suffered through the guilt of their hus- bands and fathers, who ought never to have contracted such marriages. But the suffering involved would probably not have been very great. In the East there has always prevailed a large facility of divorce ; and the discarded wife, unless where her own misconduct has provoked the repudiation, is received back by her family without incurring reproach or disgrace. She has a right to reclaim her dowry at her husband's hands , and, if she goes back to her parents, she finds her status in the house- hold but little lowered. No slur rests upon her children, who live with the other children of the house on terms of equality. But Ezra would scarcely have felt himself bound to consider consequences. He would regard himself as having a plainduty to perform, which was to enforce the Law at whatever cost. It is quite clear that he read the Law as absolutely prohibitive of mixed marriages (Ezra ix. 10-14) — i-e-, as not only forbidding their inception, but their continuance. Strictly speaking, he probably looked upon them as unreal marriages, and so as no better than ordinary illicit connections. For the evils which flow from such unions, those who make them, and not those who break them, are responsible. The record of Ezra's governorship of Judasa terminates, somewhat abruptly, with the list of those who had " taken GOVERNORSHIP OF JUDiEA. 43 Strange wives," and whose marriages were annulled by the Commission of Inquiry. The space covered is the short one of eight months. It seems probable that Ezra, soon after he had succeeded in effecting his reform, was either recalled by Arta- xerxes to the Court, or returned of his, own accord to make the report, which he had been commissioned to make (ch. vii. 14), on the general condition of the Palestinian province; CHAPTER V. RELATIONS WITH NEHEUIAB. Blank fnterral of twelve yeais in the histoiy of Ezra— Possible ratarn to tlie Persian Court — Second visit of Ezra to Jerusalem as coadjutor to Nehemiah— Their joint labours— Restoration of the Feast of Taber- nacles — Proclamation of a fast day — Renewal of the Covenant — Special promises — Assumption of fresh obligations — Dedication of the mil of Jerusalem — Ezra's position with regard to Eliashib. A GAP of twelve or thirteen years occurs between the narrative with which the Book of Ezra ends, and the next appearance which Ezra makes upon the scene of history. It is uncertain how he was employed during this interval. Ewald supposes that he remained at Jerusalem, and there " lived and laboured, . . . leading back the wiiole national life, as far as possible, to the letter of the written Law," and further, " with unwearied perseverance," training and educating " a number of younger scribes and judges, to persevere and develop still further in the community his own special kind of ability, both as a scholar and as a judge."* But arguments of great weight have been brought forward against this view. "As Ezra's commission was only of a temporary nature," says Bishop Arthur Hervey, "to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, and to carry thither the silver and gold which the king and his counsellors had freely offered unto the God of Israel, and as there is no trace whatever of his presence at Jerusalem between the eighth and the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, it seems probable, that, after he had efiected his reformation, and had appointed competent judges and magistrates, with authority to maintain ' "History of Israel," voL t. p. 143. RELATIONS WITH NEHEMIAH. 45 it, he himself returned to the King of Persia. This is in itself what one would expect, and what is borne out by the parallel case of Nehemiah ; and it also accounts for the abrupt termina- tion of Ezra's narrative, and for that relapse of the Jews into their former irregularities which is apparent in the Book of Nehemiah. Such a relapse, and such a state of affairs at Jerusalem in general, could scarcely have occurred if Ezra had continued there." ' On these grounds it seems best to conclude, that from B.C. 457 to B.C. 445 the great priest and scribe was absent from the Holy City, either employed by the Persian monarch in other secular work, or pursuing his literary labours in retirement, at Babylon or elsewhere. But a time came when, again, a call was made on him to return to Jerusalem — the Cradle and Citadel of his race — and resume an active superintendence over the community, which had been the object of his deep affection and diligent care twelve years before. But, this time, he was not to be in sole charge. Providence had provided him with a coadjutor in the person of Nehemiah — a man after his own heart — zealous, active, intensely pious, and profoundly anxious for the true well-being of his nation. Nehemiah occupied the position, which had been formerly held by Zerubbabel. He was Tirshatha, or Governor,' appointed to the post by Artaxerxes himself (Neh. ii. 5, 6), and responsible to no one but the king. It is a reasonable conjecture that Nehemiah, when he became practically acquainted with 'the difificulties of the post conferred on him, made request to Artaxerxes, that Ezra, whom he may have known at the Persian Court, or of whose high capacity he may have heard at Jerusalem, should be sent out to him to aid him in his work.' The two were excellently fitted to assist and supplement each other. One possessed in a high degree the qualities needed in a political leader, was an active warrior, a sagacious statesman, well suited to grapple with practical dangers and difificulties of all kinds ; the other was above all hings a teacher, able to impress men's minds, to expound, convince, persuade, instruct, educate, guide in the way of true knowledge and pure religion. Nehemiah's practical good sense showed him, when he had battled with the external diflSculties » "Dictionary of the Bible,'' vol. i. p. 663. • See Nehem. viii. 9 ; x. i. » See Bishop Arthur Hervey in the " Diet, of the Bible," /. s. e. 46 EZRA. of the situation, and overcome them, that the internal difficulties were, after all, the greatest, and that, to meet them, he needed a man of spiritual insight and influence, who could bring to bear upon the people the weight of authority which still remained to the priests, together with the magic of a high personal reputa- tion for wisdom and sanctity, such as would incline all to submit to him. We are not allowed to witness the meeting of the two great reformers and restorers of the Judasan community ; but we can well imagine the joy with which the vexed and- harassed Civil Governor would greet the arrival of the great Ecclesiastical Chief, whom he had summoned from his business or his studies, to lend once more a helping hand in the re-establishment of the Jewish State, as well as the satisfaction of this chief himself on perceiving the progress in material prosperity, which the Holy City had made during his absence (N'eh. vii. 1-4). Ezra's arrival seems a little to have preceded the time for the observ- ance of the annual Feast of Tabernacles, which fell in the autumn, after the completion of the harvest (Exod. xxiii. i6), when all the fruits of the field had been gathered in. That festival, though restored by Zerubbabel on his return to Jerusalem (Ezra iii. 4), had, it appears, fallen into desuetude ; but, under the circumstances of the time, Nehemiah and Ezra determined to revive it. Their object, apparently, was to arouse the Judaean community from the state of depression into which it had sunk under the trials of the period through the widespread poverty (Neh. v. 2-5) and the hostility of the surrounding nations. The general feeling of the time was one of sadness and despondency. When God's Word was read to the people, instead of bracing them to noble resolutions and brave efforts, it only drew from them a burst of grief (ibid. viii. 9), indicative of relaxed fibre and moral wealsness. Ezra and Nehemiah set themselves to resist this tendency — " mourn not," they cried, " nor weep. Go your way ; eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared. . . . Hold your peace, . . . be not grieved— your strength is in the joy of the Lord " (ibid, vers. 10, 11). It was the seventh month — the Jubilee month of the year — the time for joy and rejoicing. Ezra read, of set purpose, to the people those passages of the Law (Ley. xxiii. 34-43 ; Deut. xvi. 13-15) which required the celebration of the harvest festival with gladness and with thanksgiving, and RELAtlONS WItH HEHEMIAH. ^'} insisted on a compliance with them ; and the people at lengtli, changing their mood with the facility of Orientals," poured forlli in crowds from Jerusalem to the gardens of Olivet, and there stripped off their boughs from the olives, and the palms, and the myrtles, and the oleasters with which its sides were thickly clothed, and returned with them into the city, where, on the flat roofs of the houses and in the courts round which they were built, and in some of the Courts of the Temple, and in the open spaces before the city gates, they wove themselves leafy arbours of the g^een boughs and branches, and gave themselves up to rejoicing and festivity. Thus was there " very great gladness " (ibid. ver. 17). " Also day by day, from the first day until the last, Ezra read in the book of the Law of God. And they kept the feast sieven days ; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner" (ibid. ver. 18). The Feast was over — the " solemn assembly " of the eighth day had been held — and the Judaaan community, assembled from the furthest points of the territory, from Hebron and Beersheba, from Ziklag, Jarmuth, and Lachish, from Bethel, from Jericho and Tekoa,' expected probably to be dismissed to their homes, when a further religious duty was laid upon them. Their desire to weep and mourn and afflict themselves, which Nehemiah and Ezra had checked, when it showed itself in- opportunely on the first day of Tisri (Neh. viii. 2-9), was now to be gratified. The feast having been celebrated, and one day of rest allowed them, the twenty-=fourth of Tisri was appointed by the civil and ecclesiastical authorities to be a day of humilia- tion and abstinence, on which another solemn assembly shoiikl be held, a confession of sin made, and a formal renewal of their covenant with God entered into by the whole people (ibid. ix. 1-38). It was to this that all the previous solemnities — the read- ing and expounding of the Law (ch. viii. 3-8), the gatherings of priests and Levites (vers. 4, 7), the punctilious keeping, accord- ing to all the ancient rites (vers. 15-18), of the Tabernacle Feast, had been intended to lead up. Ezra and Nehemiah were bent on practical reforms of a somewhat sweeping character, and had determined to take this opportunity of introducing them. They would strike while the iron was hot. Finding the people malleable, repentant, convinced of sin, and ' Compare Herod, viii. 99. ■ See Neh. iii. 2, 5 ; xi. 27, 29, 30, 31. 48 EZRA. eagerly desirous of better things, they resolved, after the example of former rulers,' to call upon the nation to make the most solemn profession possible of its complete acceptance of the Law, and of its determination henceforth to live up to it. This would enable them to point out neglects of various kinds, which they regarded as important, and to initiate arrangements which should prevent such neglects in the future. All went well for the zealous Reformers. The real heart of the people had been touched ; and on the twenty and fourth day of the seventh month, "the children of Israel assembled with fasting, and with sack-cloth and earth upon them " (Neh. ix. i). They had carefully " separated themselves from all strangers " (ibid. ver. 2), and having gathered themselves together in the Temple Court, " they stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers " (ibid.). Passages from the Law were read to them by the Levites during a fourth part of the day (ibid. ver. 3) ; then during another fourth part the people knelt and confessed their sins to God and worshipped Him ; after this, they rose up from their knees, and, standing each in his place, blessed and praised the Lord (ibid. ver. 5), according to a set form of words, which Ezra probably composed,' and which has been preserved to us in the Book of Nehemiah (ibid. vers. 5-38). God's many mercies were recounted, and the people's many backslidings ; His justice was acknowledged, and His mercy appealed to ; it was solemnly represented to Him that His people were " in great distress " (ibid. ver. 37) ; and then the covenant was renewed — not, as on former occasions, merely by word of mouth, but in a documentary form (ibid. ver. 38) — a formal deed being drawn out, to which the princes, Levites, and priests appended their seals, and which was no doubt laid up in the national archives. First Nehemiah, as Governor, affixed his seal ; then " Zadok the scribe" (Zidkijah), by whom the document had been drawn up ; ' then the heads of the priestly families, each appending the seal of his house ; next, the chief Levites, doing the same ; finally, the "princes," or heads of important families, to the • 2 Kings xxiii. 3 ; 2 Chr. xv. 12, xxix. 10, xxxiv. 31 ; Ezra x. 3. ' A priori this would be probable, considering Ezra's position. It is rendered more than probable by the resemblances between Neh. ix. 5-38 nnd Ezra ix. 6-15. 3 Compare the "Speaker's Commentary," vol. iii. p. 455. RELATIONS WITH NEHEMIAH. 49 number of forty-four, some appending the seal in the name of the family, some in their own individual names (ibid. ch. x. 1-27). The seals appended numbered, altogether, eighty-four, and included those of all the personages of importance in the community ; but, as the adhesion of every single member was desired, " all the rest of the people " who had attained to years of discretion, priests or laymen, male or female, were induced to "cleave to their brethren," and to bind themselves by an oath and a curse " to walk in God's Law " thenceforth, and " to observe and do all the commandments of Jehovah their Lord, and His judgments, and His statutes '' (ibid. vers. 28,29). To this general promise of obedience to the Law in all its various requirements, there seem to have been appended cer- tain special protestations on particular points of religious observance, in respect of which there had recently prevailed a widespread neglect in the community. Among these were the old and vexed question of inter-marriage with the heathen (Neh. X. 30), the proper observance of the Sabbath and of the sabbatical year (ibid. ver. 31), the allowance, or non-allowance, of the practice of pledging the person (ibid.), the faithful pay- ment of the first-fruits (ibid. vers. 35-37) and of the tithes, and the adequate support of the Temple service year after year by the voluntary offerings of the faithful (ibid. vers. 32-34). The people, in their highly-excited zeal, undertook " not to give " at all, under any circumstances, " their daughters unto the people of the land, nor take the daughters of the people of the land for their sons " ; not to purchase wares of any kind brought into the land by foreigners for sale on the Sabbath-day ; to leave the land free from cultivation every sabbatical year ; to cease the practice of forcing into slavery insolvent debtors who had bor- rowed money on the security of their persons ; to pay severally the third part of a shekel each year towards the service of the sanctuary ; to supply wood for the Temple sacrifices ; and them- selves to bring the first-fruits and tithes year by year to Jeru- salem, and there deliver them over into the hands of the priests and Levites. The subscription of the third part of a shekel to the Temple service, and the obligation of the wood-offering, appear to have been new obligations, outside the range of the Law, but thought to be necessary by Ezra and Nehemiah under existing circumstances. The need of the new imposts indi- 5 50 EZRA. cates strongly — first, the general poverty, which had caused the revenue from voluntary offerings to shrink ; and, secondly, the exhaustion of the wood supply from the districts round Jeru- salem, and the necessity of sending further and further afield for the fuel which was continually needed to consume the sscrifices offered up in the Temple. A result of the new arrangement was, that the fourteenth day of the fifth month became " the Festival of the Wood-cutters";' and on that day in each year a train of offerers arrived from one part of the territory or another, laden with heavy burdens of wood, which they brought with them to the "Holy Mountain," and there deposited in the custody of the priests, to be a stock on which reliance might be placed for the ensuing year. These various reforms — which, while in some respects they restricted the liberties and increased the burdens of the Jud:ean community, were yet of the highest advantage to it, by calling out its patriotism and waking up its religious zeal — must be assigned to the conjoint efforts of the two Hebrew leaders, who worked together in the most perfect harmony and agreement. The exact time which they occupied is uncertain ; but it is on the whole most probable that they were begun and concluded within the space of a few months. The Book of Nehemiah is deficient in chronolog'ical notices ; and, having been compiled from a number of distinct documents," lends itself to various inter- pretations. Nehemiah's governorship lasted certainly for above twelve years (Neh. v. 14 ; xiii. 6) ; but during what portion of this time Ezra was associated with him cannot be determined. The evidence is rather against their having been companions for very long, and leads rather to the belief that, while Ne- hemiah resided permanently at the Jewish capital, Ezra was summoned to attend him and to take piart in his work on par- ticular occasions. One such occasion brought him into a position of peculiar prominency. The city walls had been repaired, the gate-towers completed, and the gates hung in their places. Watches had been arranged and organized fNeh. vii. 3). A special captain of the guard had been appointed in Nehemiah's brother (ibid ver. 2), to see to the safety of the town. Strict orders had been given that the gates should be shut and barred at sun-down, ■ Josephus, " Bell. Jud." ii. 17, { 6. • See " Speaker's Commentary," vol. iii. p. 425-427 ■ RELATIONS WITH NEHEMIAH. SI and not opened in the morning " until the sun was hot " (ibid, ver. 3). And now the time was come when, everything having been established in its rightful order, it seemed fitting that there should be a solemn dedication of the wall to Almighty God. It was not the Temple only which was viewed as a sanctuary by the more religious Jews ; but the entire city was regarded as holy — as " God's mountain " (Isa. Ixv. 25)— as a sort of outer sanctuary guarding the inner sanctuary, and, therefore, as re quiring to be set apart to God by a formal act of consecration. On the day appointed for this important ceremony, Nehemiah arranged two grand processions, which should girdle the city on the right hand and on the left, and, meeting together at the Temple, should there sing praise to God, and " offer great sac- rifices, and rejoice " (Neh. xii. 43). The Levites were summoned from their country districts, with their full array of the musical instruments, which still bore the name of their royal inventor, David (ibid. ver. 36) ; and the minstrels gathered themselves together from their retreats in the hills of Judah and in the deep valley of the Jordan • (ibid. vers. 28, 29). The priests came in their full numbers, carrying the sacred trumpets (ibid, vers. 35, 41), and the princes of Judah mustered in great strength (ibid. vers. 31, 32, 40). Nehemiah divided the assembled mul- titude into " two great com^janies of them that gave thanks," and placing himself at the head of the one company (ibid, ver. 40), and " Ezra the scribe '' (ibid. ver. 36) at the head of the other, caused them to ascend the wall and make the circuit of it, part going in one direction and part in the other, rejoicing all the way and giving praise, until they met on the eastern ram- part opposite the Temple, and, there taking their stand, brought the ceremony to an end by a loud antiphonal psean of praise, in which the priests blew their trumpets, the Levites sounded their harps, cymbals, and psalteries, and the singers, "wilh Jera- hiah their overseer" (ibid. ver. 42), "sang loud" and "with great joy rejoiced " (ibid. vers. 42, 43). At the same time, even the women and children joined in the general acclamation, so that " the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off" (ibid. ver. 43). Ezra and Nehemiah, each at the head of their own half of the procession, stood facing one the other, set before the nation as their almost co-equal guides and rulers, to be alike venerated and alike obeyed. " Stanley, " Lectures on the Jewish Church," voL iii. p. 129. 52 EZRA. Perhaps the most remarkable fact connected with Ezra's high position under the governorship of Nehemiah, is the way in which he casts Eliashib, the high priest of the time, altogether into the shade. On Nehemiah's arrival at Jerusalem, Eliashib appears as a personage of importance in the state, and one whom Nehemiah treats with high respect To him is assigned the task of initiating the restoration of the wall (Neh. iii. i),and the initial consecration, which is thought necessary, is effected by him. But from the time of Ezra's entrance upon the scene, Eliashib disappears ; he takes no part in the celebration of the Tabernacles' feast, or in the proclamation of a day of fasting, or in the ceremonies of that day, or in the renewal of the covenant, or in the final dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. In all these proceedings his place is taken by Ezra, who acts as if he were the highest ecclesiastical authority, which, however, he cannot really have been. The explanation would seem to be that Nehemiah, finding,after a time,thatEliashib's policy was altogether antagon- istic to his own (Neh. xiii. 4-9, 28), declined to allow him any part in the elaboration or establishment of his reforms, and used the services of Ezra, who occupied a position analogous to that of a court chaplain under a Christian sovereign, instead. Ezra's conduct in taking Eliashib's place was at variance with ordinary ecclesiastical propriety, but may be regarded as jus- tified under the circumstances of Eliashib's unfaithful, or, at any rate, imprudent, dallying with heathenism. CHAPTER VI. LITERARY LABOURS. Works to be assigned to Ezra— His autiiorship, wholly or in part, of ilip Boole that bears his name — His contribution to the Book of Nehemiali — His probable authorship of Chronicles — Style of Ezra — Literary merit of Chronicles — Ezra's work in connection with the Canon ci Scripture — His probable introduction of the " square " character — Hi^ origination of the Great Synagogue — His origination of the local syna- gogue system — ^Account of the system. We have spoken of Ezra as a literary student. The time ha? now arrived for considering him as an author, an editor, and a teacher. It is allowed on all hands that a portion of the Book which bears his name is his composition, since it is written in the first person (Ezra vii. 28 ; viii. I, 15, 16, 17, 21, &c. ; ix. i, 3, 4, 5, 6, &c.), and personation of one writer by another was unknown at the time to which the Book of Ezra must be ascribed. The separating school of German critics refuse, how- ever, to admit that the entire work is from Ezra's pen, maintain- ing that it contains distinct traces of two, if not even of three, hands.' The most marked of these traces is the transition from the third to the first person in ch. vii. ; and, again, the transi- tion from the first person to the third in the beginning of ch. x. One English writer' even goes beyond the German ''separators," ascribing ch. i. to Daniel, ch. ii. to Nehemiah, chs. iii.-vi. to Haggai, and to Ezra chs. vii.-x. Jewish tradition, on the other hand, ascribed the entire Book unhesitatingly to Ezra alone ; ' ' So De Wette, Bertheau, Winer, and others. ' Bishop Arthur Hervey. (See his article on " The Book of Ezra," in the " Dictionary of the Bible," vol. i. pp. 606-608, 3 See " Baba Bathra," fol. 14, c. a. 54 EZRA. and it is quite possible that the whole may be his. He may have collected the documents and traditions which constitute the first part (chs. i.-vi.), and have been the original author of the second (chs. vii.-x.). A marked uniformity of style runs through the Book ; ' the same phrases continually recur ; there is the same accuracy, the same inclination to insert documents, the same constant mention of the Levites, the same knowledge of two languages — Hebrew and Chaldean — the same mode of designating the Almighty, the same exactness with respect to dates, and the like. Or " Ezra " may have been compiled by some one who was not Ezra — e.g.,hy Malachi; but, in that case, its constituent parts had probably, all of them, passed previously through Ezra's hands. The Book of Nehemiah embodies a document which was, in all probability, originally composed by Ezra.' This is the long address to the Almighty in ch. ix. (vers. 5-38), which was de- livered in the name of the people, immediately before the " sealing of the covenant," by two companies of Levites, chaunt- ing with a loud voice ; and in which many resemblances may be perceived to the tone of thought and modes of expression used in the admitted prayer of Ezra in his own Book (ch. ix. 6-15). This solemn form of words, composed for the occasion, would naturally be the work of the chief ecclesiastical authority of the time, whom we have already shown to have been, prac- tically, Ezra,' since Eliashib, the high priest, was under a cloud, and distrusted by Nehemiah. But the greatest literary achievement of Ezra, if we may be allowed to regard it as his, was the composition of the important and extensive work known to the Jews as "Dibrey hay-yamim* and represented in our Authorized Version by " the two Books of Chronicles." Ezra's authorship of Chronicles is maintained by the entire array of Hebrew authorities, and, though disputed by the greater number of modern critics,* has arguments of great weight in its favour. The resemblance between the style of Chronicles and the style of the Book of Ezra is very striking, and extends to those portions of the latter Book which are almost universally allowed to be from Ezra's hand.5 Many ■ See " Speaker's Commentary," vol. iii. p. 387, note. ■ So Ewald, " History of Israel," vol. v. p. 146. 3 See above, p. 5a> * As Ewald, Stanley, De Wette, Zunz, and others. S See " Speaker's Commentary," vol. iii. p, 158, note 4. UTERARY LABOURS. 5$ of the best scholars hold that the two works were originally one ; and the identity of 2 Chron. xxxvi. 22, 23 with Ezra i. 1, 2, seems best accounted for by supposing that some uncertainty prevailed in the Jewish schools as to where the severance should be made between them. The general tone and spirit of the two Books is similar. In both what has been called " the Levitical spirit " is dominant ; the externals of religion are held in high account ; the Temple and the Temple worship are all-important ; great stress is laid on the proper maintenance of the priests and Levites, the regular establishment of the " courses," and the rightful distribution of the several ministrations of the Temple among the Levitical families. A strong desire is shown to put on record the names of the priests and Levites employed in the ceremonies that come under notice, and no opportunity is neg- lected of doing honour to the Levitical order. Those who will not allow that the author of Chronicles is Ezra, are obliged to ascribe portions of the Book of Ezra, in which the generality of critics most distinctly see his band, to "the Chronicler."' The purity of Ezra's style as a writer is generally admitted. "It is elevating to see," says Ewald,'"how forcible and how beautiful the Hebrew idiom still appears for general purposes in the memoirs of Ezra and Nehemiah." Simplicity and direct- ness are the main characteristics ; but there are places where the composition rises into eloquence, and is entitled to our admiration. The following are stirring passages, possessing much literary merit : — " And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord after the ordinance of David, king of Israel. And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord ; because He is good, and His mercy endureth for ever toward Israel : and all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice ; and many shouted aloud for joy ; so that the people could not discern the noise o: ' Ewald, " History of Israel," vol. v. pp. 145, 147, 165, &c. ■ Ibid., p. 183. 56 EZRA. the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people : for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off" (Ezra iii. 10-13). " And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away ; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness ; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my luices, anrl spread out my hands unto the Lord my God, and said — O my God, I am ashamed, and blush to lift up my face unto Thee, my God ; for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day ; and for our iniquities have we, our kings and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to cap- tivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in His holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. For we are bondsmen ; yet our Lord God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. And now, O our God, what shall we say after this ? For we have forsaken Thy commandments, which Thou hast commanded by Thy servants the prophets, saying, The land unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abomi- nations which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness. Now, therefore, give not your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace nor their wealth for ever : that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that Thou, our God, hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this ; should we again break Thy LITERARY LABOURS. %f commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations, wouldest Thou not be angry with us till Thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? O Lord God of Israel, Thou art righteous : for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day : behold, we are before Thee in our trespasses ; for we cannot stand before Thee because of this" (ibid. ix. 3-15). " Thou didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red Sea, and shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of bis land ; for Thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst Thou get Thee a name, as it is this day. And Thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land ; and their persecutors Thou threwest into the deep, as a stone into the mighty waters. Moreover, Thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar ; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go. Thou earnest down also upon Mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments, and madest known unto them Thy holy sabbath, and commandedest them precepts, statutes, and laws by the hand of Moses Thy servant ; and gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land, which Thou hadst sworn to give them. But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to Thy command- ments, and refused to obey, neither were mindful of Thy wonders which Thou didst among them ; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage ; but Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and forsookest them not" (Neh. ix. 9-17). " Dibrey hay-yamim " is a far more ambitious effort than the brief " Memoirs " in which Ezra embodied his recollections o< his own first visit to Jerusalem, together with a sketch of the previous history of the returned emigrants, who " came with Zerubbabel." It is a work of great research, of wide scope, and ot rnost careful execution. The author has ransacked all the documentary sources accessible to him. Not only has 58 EZRA. he consulted the State Archives compiled by the Court his loriographers of the several reigns, but he has studied the more copious works of which the State Archives were abridg- ments ; as for instance, " The Acts of Samuel the Seer," " The Acts of Nathan the Prophet," "The Acts of Gad the Seer" (i Chron. xxix. 29), "The Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite," "The Visions of Iddo the Seer" (2 Chron. ix. 29), " The Acts of Shemaiah the Prophet," " Iddo the Seer on Genealogies " (ibid. xii. 15), "The Commentary of the Prophet Iddo" (ibid, xiii. 22), " The Acts of Jehu, the son of Hanani " (ibid. xx. 34), " The Commentary of the Book of the Kings" (ibid. xxiv. 27), Isaiah's "Acts of Uzziah" (ibid. xxvi. 22), "The Vision of Isaiah" (ibid, xxxii. 32), and "The Acts of Hosai," or "Of the Seers " (ibid, xxxiii. 19).' Nor has he limited himself to public documents. The genealogical records of great families have been laid under contribution, and most interesting information has been extracted from them with respect to the fortunes of particular tribes. Examples are the incidents of the slaughter of the sons of Ephraim by the Gittites (i Chron. viL 21 ; viii. 13) ; the account of the sons of Sbeba, and their dominion in Moab (ibid. iv. 21, 22) ; the adventures of the sons of Simeon in Gedor and Mount Seir (ibid. vers. 39-43) j the marriage of a Jewish prince with a " daughter of Pharaoh " (ibid. ver. 18) ; the identification of the "prince of Reuben'' whom Tiglath- pileser carried away captive (ibid. v. 6) ; and the war of the Reubenites and Gadites with the Hagarites (ibid. vers. 10-22). The curious . details with respect to this struggle "must have been drawn from contemporary documents, embodied probably in the genealogical records of Jotham and Jeroboam, while other records used by the compiler are as late as after the return from Babylon," ' such as I Chron. ix. 2-34. The work possesses a remarkable unity. " At first sight it might seem that there was something incongruous in the combination of a number of genealogies, such as occupy the first nine chapters of the First Book, with an historical narrative, such as forms the main subject of the entire remainder of the work. The genealogies, too, might seem to be thrown together by different hands, since some are carried down much later than others, ' See above, p. 6. ' Bishop Arthur Hervey in Smith's " Dictionary of the Bible," vol. i. P- 309- LITERARY LABOURS. J9 while some are repeated with slight additions, as though from a later writer, who was more fully informed on the subject. But, on the whole, the indications of unity in the authorship greatly preponderate over those of diversity, and the attentive student will probably come to the conclusion that the entire work is from one and the same author. The genealogical tendency, which . shows itself so strongly in the Introductory Section (l Chron. i.-ix.), is remarkably characteristic of the writer, and continually thrusts itself into notice in the more purely his- torical portions of his narrative. Conversely, the more genea- logical portion of the work is penetrated by the same spirit as animates the historical chapters, and moreover abounds with phrases characteristic of the writer." ' Ancient Hebrew tradition declares that Ezra was not only an author, but an editor. He is credited with a general settling oi the Canon of the Old Testament, with " the restoring, correct- ing, and re-editing of the whole sacred volume according to the threefold arrangement of the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa, with the divisions of the Pesukim, or verses, the writing of the vowel points handed down by tradition from Moses, and the whole series of emendations known as the KM" ' and inserted ordinarily in the margin of Hebrew Bibles. Modern critics regard this traditional view as exaggerated, but admi( that the idea of collecting together the sacred Hebrew literature belongs to Ezra's time, and that a nucleus was then^ formed round which were gathered subsequently, by a natural gravitation, the various " Books " at present constituting the Hebrew Scriptures.^ The formation of this nucleus is sometimes ascribed to Nehemiah (2 Mac. ii. 13), but we may properly look upon this tradition as signifying no more than that it was set forth by his authority. The actual collector of the sacred Books, their arranger and editor, could only be Ezra. The centre, and " kernel " of the collection was " the Law.'' On the Law Ezra had for long years expended his most diligent labour, his most careful thought, all the resources of his learning (Ezra vii. 6, 10, 14). He had probably, while at Babylon, collected the various copies of the Law brought with them from ' See the "Speaker's Commentary," vol. iii. pp. iSr^ 162. • Bishop Arthur Hervey in Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible," vol. l p. 606. 3 Stanley, " Lectures on the Jewish Church," vol. iii. pp. 140-142. 6o EZRA. Palestine by the exiles, and, when he took up his abode at Jerusalem, had further collated such copies as he found there, thus forming a text which we may well regard as the basis, at any rate, of that which our Hebrew Bibles now give us. The other Books which may reasonably be ascribed to his col- lection, and which we may believe him to have corrected and edited, are the Book of Joshua, attached to the Pentateuch in the Samaritan Version, the Books of the Kings, including those of Samuel, the earlier Prophets, Isaiah, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, a certain number of the Psalms, especially those traditionally ascribed to David, together with his own works — the Books of Ezra and Chronicles. With respect to the language in which Ezra wrote, .and the characters which he used, it is to be remarked, in the first place, that he was familiar with two tongues, as his writings show us — the Hebrew, and the Syriac or Chaldee. He uses the Hebrew language from the beginning of his Book to ch. iv. 7, inclusive ; he employs the Chaldee from ch. iv. 8, to ch. vi. 18 ; he then returns to the Hebrew, and uses it during the remainder of the Book, except for the letter of Artaxerxes (ch. vii. 12-26). According to the general Hebrew tradition,' which is sup- ported by Origen" and Jerome,' the character in which he wrote was that square one, in which Hebrew books are now printed, and which has been certainly used for all Hebrew mar 1- scripts from the date of the Christian era. The character is called by the Jews indifferently mlrubbd, " square," and ashsh&rith, " Assyrian " ; and the simplest and most ordinary explanation of the latter term is, that it meant " Babylonian," Babylonia being considered a part of Assyria,* and that it was given to the writing because Ezra brought it from Babylon. The Assyrians and Babylonians had certainly from a tolerably remote date a cursive character and writing not very different in its general appearance from the square Hebiew,5 and it is quite possible that by Ezra's time this cursive writing had assumed a form not very remote from that with which we are " " Talmud Jerus.," Megillah. fol. 71 ; '• Talmud Babylon.," Sanhed. fol. 21, 2 ; 22, I. • " Comment, in Ezram," ix. 4 ; " Hexapla," i. 86. 3 " Prolog. Gal. in Libr. Reg." ♦ Herod, i. 106, 178 j 2 Kings xxiii. 29^ 5 Layard, " Nineveh and its Remains," vol. ii. pp. i6,i;, 166. LITERARY LABOURS. 6l now familiar. Ezra may have made certain alterations in it, and so have come to be regarded as its author or inventor ; but we ourselves should be disposed to assign to him no more than the first introduction of the character into Palestine, and the first application of it to the sacred volume. It has been conjectui-ed that the motive for making the change was " the desire to have an additional mark of distinction from the Samaritans,"" who for their sacred books — the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua — retained the old Phoenico-Hebrsean letters ; but this explanation seems forced, and it is at least as likely that Ezra's action was determined by the simple fact, that, to the Hebrews of his day who could read, the square cursive character was far more familiar and intelligible from their long stay in Babylonia, than the archaic letters of the Phoenician type. He would wish to facilitate the study of the Law, and of the other Books which formed his " collection," and would therefore cause his copies to be made in the character best known to those who were likely to be students. Besides these labours of a purely literary character, Jewish tradition assigns to Ezra the origination of certain institutions, which had for their object either the general direction of religion, or its systematic inculcation upon the people. For the former of these purposes was instituted, we are told, " the Great Syna- gogue," an assembly of one hundred and twenty members under' the presidency of Ezra himself, who assisted him in his literary labours, organized and established the feast of Purim as a national observance, arranged the services to be used in the various " houses of God " which now sprang up in all parts of the land (Psa. Ixxiv. 8), and issued decrees on religious subjects, which came to be more regarded than even the precepts of the Law itself.' Indications of the existence of this body in Ezra's time are thought to be found in the Book of Nehemiah, particu- larly in ch. viii. 13, and ch. x. 32-39 ; and it is certainly clear that Ezra had a body of counsellors who advised him in matters of religion, though contemporary evidence is wanting as to their number, as well as with respect to their powers, duties, and method of appointment. This body of counsellors was probably the germ out of which the " Great Synagogue " grew ; and the later Sanhedrim was probably a revival in Greco-Macedonian • Stanley, " Lectures on the Jewish Church," vol. iii. p. 143. " Dean Plumptre in Smith's " Dictionary of the Bible," vol. iii. p. 1402. 62 EZRA. times of the earlier " Great Synagogue," which after a time had died out. For the systematic inculcation of religion upon the people at large, Ezra seems to have devised the local synagogue system, which is so striking a feature of the later Jewish Church, as exhibited to us in the New Testament. Some administration of the system may be detected in the history of the kingdom of Israel, after its separation from that of Judah (3 Kings iv. 23), and something of the kind must also have existed after the Captivity in the various lands to which the Jews were carried by their conquerors ; but to Ezra probably belongs the intro- duction intojudasaitself of local synagogues — places of worship distinct from the Temple — spread widely over the land, and thus multiplying almost indefinitely the centres of religious in- fluence, whence instruction flowed to the people. Before the Captivity Jerusalem had been the one and only centre of reli- gious life and knowledge — the people were expected to go up three times a year to Jerusalem, there to have their religious life quickened and intensified ; but if they did not go up, if they remained at home, as we may be sure that too many ol ihem did, then there was no provision for arousing them, or instruct- ing them, or bringing them to a sense of their religious duties, except occasionally and spasmodically. Now and then good kings, such as Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah, sent special missions from the capital to the various provincial towns and villages, to stir up the religious life of the people, and to give them much-neeaed instruction (2 Kings xxiii. 8-21 ; 2 Chron. xvii. 7-9 ; XXX. 1-12) But vastly different from this was the establishment, over the length and breadth of the land, of these local centres of teaching, with their official staff, their regular stated meetings, their set forms of prayers, their systematic reading of the Scriptures, their psalmody and hymnody, their exposition of God's Word, and their power of excommunication. " It is hardly possible to over-estimate the influence of the system thus developed. To it we may ascribe the tenacity with which .... the Jews adhered to the religion of their fathers, and (after the return from the Captivity) never again relapsed into idolatry. The people were now in no danger of forgetting the Law, and the external ordinances that hedged it round. If pilgrimages were still made to Jerusalem at the set feasts, the habitual religion of the Jews, in and yet more out of Palestine, LITERARY LABOURS. 63 was connected much more intimately with the synagogue than with the Temple.'" The establishment of the system involved, in the first place, the erection in every town and city throughout the whole land, of a decent building to be set apart for holy uses, known as a " house of God " or " synagogue of God," or '' place of prayer '' (TOTToc'irpooewxqc). The size of the building varied according to the population. It had no fixed dimensions or proportions, but it stood commonly on the most lofty eminence in or near the city to which it belonged, or, failing this, was rendered conspicuous by a tall pole which rose from the roof and naturally attracted attention. And its direction was fixed and determinate. "The synagogue was in all cases so constructed that the worshippers as they entered, and as they prayed, looked towards Jerusalem.'" The internal arrangements followed the type of the Tabernacle. "' At the upper, or Jerusalem, end stood the Ark — the chest, which, like the older and more sacred Ark, contained the Book of the Law. It gave to that end the name and character of a ' sanctuary.' This part of the synagogue was actually the place of honour. Here were the 'first seats,' after which Pharisees and Scribes in later times strove so eagerly (Matt, xxiii. 6), to which the wealthy and honoured worshipper was invited (James ii. 2, 3). Here too, in front of the Ark, still representing the type of the Tabernacle, was the eight-branched lamp, lighted only on the greater festivals. Besides this, there was one lamp kept burning perpetually. Others, brought by devout worshippers, were lighted at the beginning of the Sabbath. A little further towards the middle of the building was a raised platform, on which several persons could stand at once ; and in the middle of this rose a pulpit, in which the Reader stood to read the lesson or sate down to teach. The congregation were divided, men on one side, women on the other, a low partition five or six feet high, running between them. Within the Ark, as above stated, were the rolls of the sacred books. The rollers round which they were wound were often elaborately decorated, and the cases for them embroidered or enamelled, according to their material. As part of the fittings we have also to note another chest for the Haphtaroth, or rolls of the Prophets ; alms-boxes at or near the door, after the « Dean Plumptre in Smith's " Dictionary of the Bible," vol iiL p. 1398. ■ Vitringa, " De Synagogis," pp. 178, 457. 64 XZRA. pattern of those at the Temple, one for the ppor of Jerusalem, the other for local charities ; notice-boards, on which were written the names of offenders who had been ' put out of the synagogue ; ' and a chest for the trumpets and other musical instruments, used at the New Years, Sabbaths, and other festivals." ' The buildings had to be placed under the care and direction of special officers; and here the most remarkable point in the arrangement was, that no special functions or position was assigned to members of the hereditary priesthood. "The services of the synagogue required no sons of Aaron, and gave them nothing more than a complimentary precedence."' Each locality appointed its own officers. These were, generally, (i) a body of laymen, called " Elders," or " Pastors," who had the general care of the building and services, and were presided over by one of their number, called the Archisynagogos, or "Ruler of the Synagogue ;"3 (2) the Shellach, or "deputy," the officiating minister, who acted as the delegate of the congre- gation, and was the chief reader of the prayers, &c., which he offered up in their name ; (3) the Chazzan, or " attendant," who had duties of a lower kind, who kept the building clean, opened the doors, and made things ready for service ; and (4) the ten Batlanim, or "men of leisure," who undertook to be present at all services, so that a congregation might never be wanting, and who acted probably in most cases as collectors of the alms of the faithful/ The governing power belonged to the Elders alone. With their head, the Archisynagogos, they formed a kind of Chapter, managed the affairs of the synagogue, and possessed the power of excommunicating. The services arranged for the synagogues consisted of prayer, praise, the reading of God's Word, and the exposition of it. Set forms of prayer were established by ecclesiastical authority — originally, no doubt, by Ezra — and these were required to be recited regularly, after a formal fixed order, on every day of the week. Among the prayers were interspersed psalms, hymns, and blessings. The psalms and hymns might be varied, but the Shemoneh Ezreh, the eighteen fixed prayers and benedic- ' " Dictionary of the Bible," vol. iii., pp. 1398, 1399. ■ Ibid., p. 1398. 3 Lul