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  ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE BIBLE
  by John Kitto
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Kitto's comprehensive illustrated history of biblical events and figures
spanning approximately four thousand years from creation through the
establishment of Christianity. He emphasizes the Bible's unique value as a
literary, historical, and spiritual source.

  Chapters: 68

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. Preface
    2. INTRODUCTION
    3. HISTORIC AND LITERARY
    4. INTEGRITY OF THE TEXT
    5. ANCIENT VERSIONS
    6. THE SEPTUAGINT AND VULGATE
    7. MODERN FOREIGN VERSIONS
    8. ENGLISH VERSIONS
    9. THE APOCRYPHA
   10. HISTORY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
   11. THE CREATION--FALL OF MAN
   12. FAMILY OF ADAM--UNIVERSAL DEPRAVITY--THE FLOOD
   13. CALL OF ABRAHAM--MIGRATION--BIRTH OF ISHMAELAt the close of the preceding chapter, we ob...
   14. DESTRUCTION OF SODOM--BIRTH OF ISAAC--HIS MARRIAGESODOM AND GOMORRAH
   15. LIFE OF ISAAC--FORTUNES OF HIS FAMILYESAU AND JACOB'S BIRTH
   16. HISTORY OF JOSEPH--JACOB AND FAMILY REMOVED TO EGYPTJOSEPH'S PARTY COLORED COAT
   17. LIFE AND MISSION OF MOSES-DEPARTURE FROM EGYPTOPPRESSION OF THE HEBREWS
   18. ISRAELITES IN THE WILDERNESS--SINAI--TABERNACLE--SACRIFICES
   19. ENCAMPMENT OF ISRAELITES--MURMURINGS--KORAH'S SIN
   20. FIERY SERPENTS--BALAAM--APPROACH TO CANAAN--DEATH OF MOSES
   21. JOSHUA BECOMES LEADER--CONQUEST OF CANAAN
   22. WARS--IDOLATRY--STORY OF RUTH--DEBORAH'S HEROISM--GIDEON
   23. MURDER OF GIDEON'S SONS--JEPHTHAH'S VICTORY--SAMSON
   24. ELI--DEFEAT OF ISRAEL--ADMINISTRATION OF SAMUEL
   25. SAUL'S REIGN--HIS WARS--DAVID ANOINTED KING
   26. DAVID'S REIGN--HIS CONQUESTS--PURPOSE TO BUILD A TEMPLE
   27. SOLOMON'S ACCESSION--BUILDS THE TEMPLE--HIS COMMERCE
   28. REVOLT OF TEN TRIBES--JEROBOAM--REHOBOAM--AHAB
   29. JUDAH, FROM B.C. 990 TO B.C. 929
   30. ISRAEL, FROM B.C. 931 TO B.C. 895
   31. KINGDOM OF JUDAH FROM B.C. 929 TO B.C. 725
   32. ISRAEL, FROM B.C. 931 TO B.C. 895
   33. KINGDOM OF JUDAH FROM B.C. 929 TO B.C. 725
   34. ISRAEL FROM B.C. 895 TO B.C. 719--HEZEKIAH--JERUSALEM BURNT
   35. JUDAH, FROM B.C. 725 TO B.C. 586
   36. THE CAPTIVITY--DANIEL--BELSHAZZAR--DARIUS
   37. THE RESTORATION--ARTAXERXES--EZRA--NEHEMIAH
   38. END OF INSPIRED HISTORY 420 B.C--JEWISH HISTORY TO B.C. 163
   39. MACCABEAN RULE--POMPEY'S INVASION--ROMAN POWER
   40. ANTIPATER GOVERNOR OF JUDEA--HEROD--BIRTH OF CHRIST
   41. PROPHECIES CONCERNING CHRIST--THEIR FULFILLMENT
   42. HISTORY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
   43. BIRTH OF CHRIST--TEMPTATION--ENTERS ON HIS MINISTRY
   44. MIRACLES--TRANSFIGURATION--BLESSES LITTLE CHILDREN
   45. LAST PASSOVER--ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM--THE AGONY--THE TRIAL
   46. CHRIST'S CONDEMNATION--CRUCIFIXION--RESURRECTION--ASCENSION
   47. MIRACLES, PARABLES, AND DISCOURSES OF JESUS
   48. FROM THE ASCENSION TO THE MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN
   49. PHILIP THE EVANGELIST--CONVERSION OF SAUL
   50. PERSECUTION BY HEROD--LABORS OF BARNABAS AND SAUL
   51. PAUL AND SILAS VISIT CHURCHES--PAUL AT ATHENS--IN EPHESUS
   52. PAUL LEAVES EPHESUS--RETURNS TO JERUSALEM--IS ARRESTED
   53. PAUL'S DEFENSE--IS SENT TO ROME--HIS SHIPWRECK
   54. PAUL'S TRAVELS--IMPRISONED AT ROME--IS BEHEADED
   55. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE APOSTLES
   56. NOTICE OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA
   57. DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM AS FORETOLD BY CHRIST
   58. BIBLE CHRONOLOGY
   59. FROM THE CREATION TO THE DELUGE
   60. FROM THE DELUGE TO THE CALLING OF ABRAHAM, 426 YEARS AND 6 MONTHS
   61. FROM THE CALLING OF ABRAHAM TO THE EXODUS OF THE ISRAELITES, 430 YEARS
   62. FROM THE EXODUS OF THE ISRAELITES TO THEIR ENTRANCE INTO CANAAN, 40 YEARS
   63. FROM THE ENTRANCE OF THE ISRAELITES INTO THE LAND OF CANAAN TO THE BUILDING OF SOLOMON'S...
   64. FROM BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE TO THE BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY, 400 YEARS
   65. FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST, 586 YEARS
   66. THE ERA OF INSPIRED HISTORY ENDS ABOUT THIS TIME, AND THE OLD TESTAMENT CANON IS FINISHED
   67. FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO THE COMPLETION OF THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
   68. SYNCHRONICAL TABLES OF THE KINGS OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL

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  CHAPTER 1: PREFACE
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Preface “Bible History,” says Dr. Lange, “differs from the general history of
the kingdom of God, in that it delineates only the foundation of this kingdom by
means of and during the course of revelation. It traces, in historical
succession, the narrative contained in the Scriptures in all its essential
features. In the Old Testament it shows us all the elements of the life of
faith, and sets before us many a precious example of faith and patience for our
imitation; while in the New Testament it exhibits the history of faith and
salvation 'made perfect,' both in the miracles and triumphs of the Lord, and in
the deeds of His apostles. Thus Bible history forms the basis of Church
history.” As a department of useful knowledge, it possesses an intrinsic value
and interest, surpassing whatever can be claimed for any other history. It
covers a long period in the age of human society, whose chronicles, in an
authentic form have been nowhere else preserved. It runs back to the eventful
epoch whence the creation of the world, in its present organic state, dates its
existence; and furnishes the only reliable record of the origin of man, of his
primitive condition, his fall, his subsequent development, and the fortunes of
his family. Biblical history is the source of all we know of the antediluvian
period, and subsequent ages of the world down to the time of Herodotus, the
father of history. It contains the only truthful account of the ancient and long
since vanished civilizations. Herodotus was a contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah,
the last of the Old Testament historians. The antediluvian period, and that
intervening between the Noachian deluge and the times of Nehemiah, embrace an
era of about three thousand five hundred years, the history of which is nowhere
found but in the Old Testament. True, there are fabulous legends and cosmogonies
in which may be found a confused intermingling of traditional lore and the
inventions of the imagination, but thy are wanting in all the essential elements
of authentic history. It has been said by Dr. Kitto, that “Admidst the various
profane authors who have written more or less in detail on Egypt, the Bible
remains our best and fullest authority for the early history of this country….
The Bible supplies, either by express statement or obvious implication, facts
and principles which constitute genuine history and go far to give the past all
the value which it can possess for the men of these times.” The history of the
pre-Christian era embraces, 1. the primeval ages till the deluge, and the
re-settlement of Noah and his family in Armenia. 2. The dispersion of the
posterity of Noah's three sons till the calling of Abraham. 3. The origin and
establishment of the Hebrew Theocracy, and its relations to the ancient empires
of the world, comprising the period from Moses to David--the period of the kings
from David to the Babylonian exile--the period of sacerdotal rule under the
Maccabean administration, or what is called the middle period. 4. Primitive
Christianity to the close of the first century. Thus surveyed, it appears that
Biblical history covers a period of four thousand years--from the morning of
creation to the establishment of Christianity in all parts of the Roman empire.
When considered in respect to the infallible sources whence it is derived, and
the long flight of ages which it embraces, it must be regarded as possessing the
highest claims to our careful study. “Viewed merely as a literary production,
the Bible,” says the able and learned editor of Dr. Lange's Commentary on the
Holy Scriptures, “is a marvelous book, and without rival. All the libraries of
theology, philosophy, history, antiquities, poetry, law, and policy would not
furnish material enough for so rich a treasure of the choicest gems of human
genius, wisdom, and experience. It embraces works of about forty authors,
representing the extremes of society, from the throne of the king to the boat of
the fisherman; it was written during a long period of sixteen centuries, on the
banks of the Nile, in the desert Arabia, in the land of promise, in Asia Minor,
in classical Greece, and imperial Rome; it commences with the creation, and ends
with the final glorification, alter describing all the intervening stages in the
revelation of God and the spiritual development of man; it uses all forms of
literary composition; it rises to the highest heights, and descends to the
lowest depths of humanity; it measures all states and conditions of life; it is
acquainted with every grief and every woe; it touches every chord of sympathy;
it contains the spiritual biography of every human heart; it is suited to every
class of society, and can be read with the same interest and profit by the king
and the beggar, by the philosopher and child; it is as universal as the race,
and reaches beyond the limits of time into the boundless regions of eternity.”
The Illustrated History of the Bible is to be accredited to the labors of Kitto,
who has contributed several valuable and voluminous works to the cause of
biblical learning. For the numerous notes introduced, recourse has been had to
the most reliable authors, and especially to the later researches in the
department of sacred literature. As some readers may be interested in a brief
biographical notice of the distinguished Christian scholar referred to above,
the following is here inserted. JOHN KITTO was born in Plymouth, England, Dec.
4, 1804. His father was a common laborer, in humble circumstances. Being
addicted to intemperance, he squandered his earnings in ale-houses, and his
family was subjected to poverty and mortification. His son, John, was
consequently removed to the home of his maternal grandmother, where he was
tenderly cared for and instructed. Very early he manifested a strong desire for
knowledge, and sought the society of those who would entertain him with stories
or loan him books. In his grandmother's library he found a family Bible,
containing many pictorial illustrations of scenes in sacred history, which
afforded him much pleasure, and induced him to read the Scriptures. The course
of an eventful life is not infrequently shaped by some single incident in the
experience of childhood. In the case of Kitto, it is very evident that there was
a connection between his interest in the old family Bible, with its pictures,
and his subsequent fondness for Biblical studies. When he was ten years old, he
was brought back to the parental home; his father, a journeyman mason, required
John to assist him. In the mean time, he improved every leisure day and hour in
reading such books as he could find or borrow. While other boys were at play, he
was reading. In the year 1817, the thirteenth of his age, young Kitto suffered
in injury which cast a disheartening cloud over his future prospects. He was
employed in carrying slates to the roof of a house which his father was
repairing, when stepping from the ladder to the roof, his foot slipped, and he
fell to the pavement below. He was conveyed in a senseless state to his home,
and for two weeks there seemed to be but little hope of his recovery. At the
expiration of this time he opened his eyes and consciousness returned. His first
thoughts were directed to his books, his mind reverting to the subject with
which it was occupied at the time of the casualty. He seemed greatly surprised
to find himself weak and helpless. As yet he was not aware that, in consequence
of the injury he had received, he had become entirely deaf. On inquiring for a
book which he was reading just before he fell, he heard no answer. “Why do you
not speak?” he asked with some impatience. The painful information was given to
him, in writing, that he was deaf. The fact of his deafness, depressing as it
was, and unfitting him as it did for most kinds of business, did not extinguish
his thirst for knowledge. He resorted to a variety of resources and expedients
for earning small sums of money, which he expended in the purchase of cheap
books. But his scanty earnings were not sufficient for the purchase of such
books as he now craved, and for procuring food and clothing, which his parents
in their poverty could no longer provide for him. Consequently, in the fifteenth
year of his age, the poor deaf boy was sent to the poor-house. This stern,
humiliating necessity seemed intolerable to his noble and sensitive spirit.
After a while, however, he became resigned to this hard lot, and conducted
himself in a manner that won the sympathy and kindness of the overseer. In the
latter part of the year 1821, John Kitto was apprenticed to a shoemaker, who
proved to be an unreasonable and cruel master. But in these circumstances,
trying as they were, and though required to work sixteen or eighteen hours a
day, he redeemed time from sleep for the pursuit of knowledge. His was a mind
that rose above the pressure of the most depressing adversity. The promising
abilities of this unfortunate youth were at last brought to the notice of
several gentlemen in Plymouth. Measures were proposed by them in 1823, with a
view to procuring for him a situation favorable to the attainment of that
knowledge and culture on which he was so intent. As the result of these humane
efforts, he was removed from the work-house to the position of sub-librarian in
the Plymouth Public Library. Having triumphed over discouragements and
difficulties which would have utterly disheartened a less brave and resolute
spirit, he found himself on the upward career of successful literary culture and
achievement. Two grand ideas now impressed and affected his mind, viz.: that he
must make himself, and that usefulness should be the ruling purpose in the
prosecution of his literary labors find attainments. The eventful history of his
life affords abundant evidence that these noble ideas were not theoretical
elements, but practical forces, the influence of which was signally manifested
in the strength and affluence of a cultivated intellect, and in the widely
appreciated usefulness resulting from his manifold and elaborate contributions
to the department of Biblical learning. There were other elements of character
which contributed to his masterly activity and signal success. These were
singleness of aim, thoroughness of execution, rigid system, personal
independence, and strong faith in God. The friends of Kitto advised him to
engage in the work of a printing-office, for the purpose of qualifying himself
to superintend a mission press. He did so, and in 1827 he received from the
Church Missionary Society the appointment of lay missionary. In this capacity he
sailed for the Island of Malta, where he engaged in the department of labor for
which he had been set apart. On finding that his work was less favorable to
intellectual and spiritual growth than he had expected, he resigned the
situation. As a missionary company was about to be sent to Bagdad, he readily
accepted an invitation to join the same. The voyage to that oriental city
occupied six months, which time he improved in careful observations on men,
customs, and places. While residing in that city, it was visited by the plague,
the terrific ravages of which swept off more than one-half the inhabitants in
two months. Amidst this fearful desolation he remained calm and active at his
post. His connection with this mission continued about three and a half years.
On returning to England, he settled near London, and engaged in literary
pursuits. About this time he was married to a very excellent woman, who aided
him in his labors. His first work was a book of travels in the East. Soon he
commenced his great work, the Pictorial Bible, in three volumes. His Pictorial
History of Palestine and the Holy Land followed. Then another great work, the
The Cycloplaedia of Biblical Literature, was published in two very large
volumes. Another work was the Gallery of Scripture Engravings and Landscape, in
three volumes. Among his last productions may be mentioned the Daily Bible
Illustrations, in two series of four volumes each, designed for morning and
evening reading. Other works, besides numerous contributions to magazines, were
among his literary productions. They have, as a whole, greatly enriched the
department of Biblical Literature, and been regarded as valuable helps in the
explanation and illustration of the Sacred Scriptures, Their acknowledged value
has secured for them a wide circulation among Bible students in England and in
our own country. The religious change in the experience of Dr. Kitto, which
occurred at the age of twenty-two, is referred to by him in a manner showing
that it was deep and thorough. He speaks of it as the rising of “the day-spring
from on high” upon his soul, through the grace of God. His intense and
unremitting application to literary labors impaired his health, so that, when
fifty years of age, he was compelled to suspend his labors, and resort to
measures for recruiting his over tasked constitution. He visited Germany for
this purpose, but without any benefit. He rapidly declined, and died at
Caanstadt, near Stuttgardt. His wife, who was with him, has furnished a
beautiful record of his last days, which shows that his end was peace. It has
been the special care of the editor, in preparing this work, to verify
references, to review, and, in some instances, revise the marginal notes, and to
eliminate doubtful and irrelevant matter. As an humble contribution to the
department of Bible history, this work is offered to Christian readers, and
especially to the young, with the prayer and the hope that it may not only
contribute something towards a popular and attractive illustration of the
Historical Scriptures, but create an increased interest in the sacred book given
of God for the edification, enlightenment, and spiritual benefit of all nations
and all ages. A.B. Norwich, Conn., May 1866.


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  CHAPTER 2: INTRODUCTION
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INTRODUCTION


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  CHAPTER 3: HISTORIC AND LITERARY
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HISTORIC AND LITERARY The Bible of the Christians is, without exception, the
most remarkable work now in existence. In the libraries of the learned, there
are frequently seen books of an extraordinary antiquity, and curious and
interesting from the nature of their contents; but none approach the Bible,
taken in its complete sense, in point of age, while certainly no production
whatever has any pretension to rival it in the dignity of composition, or the
important nature of the subjects treated of in its pages. The word Bible is of
Greek origin, and, in signifying simply The Book, is expressive of its
superiority over all other literary productions. The origin and nature of this
every way singular work, how it was preserved during the most remote ages, and
how it became known to the modern world in its present shape, form of highly
interesting chapter of literary history. BIBLE DIVISIONS The Bible comprehends
the entire foundation of the religious belief of the Jews and Christians, and is
divided into two distinct portions, entitled the Old and New Testaments, the
former being that which is esteemed by the Jewish nation, but both being
essential in forming the faith of the Christian. The Old Testament is the
largest department of the work, and appears a collection of detached histories,
moral essays, and pious poetical effusions, all placed together in the order of
time, or, as they may serve, for the purpose of mutual illustration. On taking a
glance at the contents, the principal subject of narration seems the history of
the Jews, commencing with an account of the creation of the world, and tracing
their history genealogically, through a series of striking vicissitudes and
changes of situation. But when we examine the narrative minutely, it is found
that there is another meaning than that of more historical elucidation. It is
perceived that the whole train of events recorded, the whole of those lofty,
impassioned strains of poetry which distinguish the volume, are precursory and
prophetic of a great change, which, at a future period, was to be wrought on the
moral properties and fate of mankind, by the coming to the earth of a Messiah.
AUTHORSHIP The authorship of the Old Testament has been universally ascribed, by
both Jews and Christians, to God himself, though not by direct composition, but
by spiritually influencing the minds of certain sages to accomplish the work,
or, in ordinary phraseology, by inspiring or endowing them with a perfect
knowledge of the transactions to be recorded and predicted, in a way suitable to
the great end in view. The Bible is hence usually termed the Sacred Scriptures.
The periods when the act of writing all or most part of the Scriptures took
place, as well as most of the names of those who were instrumental in forming
the work, have been ascertained with surprising accuracy, both from written
evidence in the narratives themselves, and from the well-preserved traditions of
the Jews. At whatever time the different books were written, they were not
collected and put into a connected form till long after their immediate authors
were deceased; and their present arrangement, as we shall afterward fully
explain, is of comparatively modern date. PENTATEUCH According to the order in
which the books of the Old Testament now stand, those of an historical nature
are appropriately placed at the beginning. The first five books, having a chain
of connection throughout, are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy. These are styled the Pentateuch, such being the Greek compound for
five books. They are likewise entitled the Books of Moses, from the belief that
that enlightened Jewish leader composed them. GENESIS The Jews, or Hebrews, take
the name of the sacred books from the first word with which each begins; but the
Greeks, whom our translators generally follow, take the names from the
subject-matter of them. Thus, the first book is called by the Hebrews,
Bereshith, which signifies “In the beginning,” these being the first words: but
the Greeks call it Genesis, which signifies “production,” because the creation
of the world is the first thing of which it gives an account. It likewise
contains an account of the increase of mankind; of their corruption of manners,
and its cause; of their punishment by the deluge (an event which, by scientific
investigation and historical research, is placed beyond a doubt); of the origin
of the Jewish people from Abraham; of the manner in which God was pleased to
have them governed; and, particularly, of the nature of the special
superintendence vouchsafed to the Jewish nation by the Creation. This
comprehensive narrative reaches from the creation of the world till the death of
Joseph, or a period of 2,369 years. In another part of the Scriptures, reference
is made to the. Book of Jasher, and it is believed that Genesis is there meant;
for Jasher signifies “the Just,” and according to St. Jerome, a learned
Christian writer, the name of the Book of the Just, or the Authentic Book, was
applied to it from its containing the history of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
EXODUS Exodus, the title of the second book of Moses, signifies in the Greek,
“The going out,” and was applied from the account which it gives of the
Israelites going out of Egypt. In it are related the cruel Egyptian slavery
under which the Jews groaned; their delivery by flight and passage through the
Red Sea; the history of the establishment of their very peculiar law, and many
remarkable transactions; concluding with the building of the tabernacle, or
place appropriated to the service of the Divinity. This book comprises the
history of 145 years, from the death of Joseph till the building of the
tabernacle. The Hebrews call it Velle Shemoth, that is, in English, “These are
the names,” which are the words with which it begins. LEVITICUS The third book
of Moses is called Leviticus, because it contains the laws which God commanded
should be observed by those of the tribe of Levi who ministered at the altar. It
treats at large of all the functions of the functions of the Levites; of the
ceremonial of religion; of the different sorts of sacrifices; of the distinction
of clean and unclean beasts; of the different festivals; and of the year of
jubilee or continued holyday. It likewise presents us with an account of what
happened to the Jews during the space of one month and a half; that is, from the
time the tabernacle was erected, which was the first day of the first month of
the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, till the second month of
the same year, when God commanded the people to be numbered. The Hebrews called
this book Vayicre, that is, “And he called,” these being the first words; they
call it also The Law of the Priests. NUMBERS In the fourth book, which we call
Numbers, Moses numbers the Israelites, and that, too, in the beginning of the
book, which shows whence. it had its name. The Hebrews call it Vayedavber, that
is, “And he spake.” This book contains the history of all that passed from the
second month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, till the
beginning of the eleventh month of the fortieth year; that is, it contains the
history of thirty-nine years, or thereabouts. In it we have also the history of
the prophet Balaam, whom the king of the Midianites brought to curse the people
of God, and who, on the contrary, heaped blessings upon the Israelites, and
foretold the coming of the Messiah. It particularly mentions, also, the
two-and-forty encampments of the Israelites in the wilderness. DEUTERONOMY The
firth book is called Deuteronomy, a Greek term which signifies, “The second
law,” or, rather, “The repetition of the law,” because it does not contain a law
different from that which was given on Mount Sinai; but it repeats the same law,
for the sake of the children of those who had received it there, and were since
dead in the wilderness. The Hebrews call it Elle-haddebarim, that is, “These are
the words.” Deuteronomy begins with a short account of what had passed in the
wilderness, and then Moses repeats what he had before commanded in Exodus,
Leviticus, and Numbers, and admonishes the people to be faithful in keeping the
commandments of God. After this, he relates what had happened from the beginning
of the eleventh month, to the seventh day of the twelfth month of the same year,
which was the fortieth after their leaving Egypt. The discourse which is at the
beginning of this book was made to the people by Moses, on the first day of the
eleventh month. According to Josephus, he died on the first day of the twelfth;
and the Israelites, as the Scriptures say, mourned for him in the plains of Moab
thirty days, and, consequently, during the whole of the twelfth month. The Jews
called the Pentateuch “The Law,” without doubt because the law of God which
Moses received on Mount Sinai is the principal part of it; and it is as little
to be doubted whether that real man was the writer of the Pentateuch. This is
expressly declared both in Exodus and Deuteronomy. But as an account of the
death of Moses is given in the last eight verses of this book, it is therefore
thought that these verses were added either by Joshua or Ezra. The opinion of
Josephus concerning them is very singular; be pretends that Moses, finding his
death approaching, and being willing to prevent an error into which the
veneration the people had for him might cause the Jews to fall, wrote this
account himself, without which the Jews would probably have supposed that God
had taken him away, like Enoch. JOSHUA After the death of Moses, Joshua, by the
order of the Divine Being, took upon himself the conducting of the Hebrew
people, and succeeded Moses, to whom he had been a faithful servant, and by whom
he had been instructed in what he ought to do. It is uncertain whether the book
which contains tire history of this successor of Moses be called Joshua, from
the subject of it, or from his having been the writer of it. But it is certain
that it contains an account of what passed from the death of Moses to that of
Joshua. Nevertheless, there are several things in it which did not come to pass
till after the death of this great man, and which, consequently, could not have
been written by him. The common opinion as to the length of time it contains is,
that Joshua discharged his office only for seventeen years, and that, therefore,
this book contains no more than the history of that number of years. JUDGES
After the death of Joshua, the Israelites were governed by magistrates, who
ruled under the general designation of Judges; and the book which contains the
history of these rulers is called, The Book of Judges. This history begins with
the death of Joshua, and reaches to that of Samson. We here see the people of
God often enslaved in punishment of their crimes, and often wonderfully
delivered from slavery. Toward the end of it, we have some instances of this
people's inclination to idolatry, and of the corruption of their manners, even
before they had been brought into slavery. Such are the histories of Micah, and
of the Benjamites who abused the Levite's wife. This book contains the history
of three hundred and seventy years. RUTH During the time of the government of
the Judges, there was a great famine in the land of Israel, which forced
Elimelech, a native of Bethlehem to retire into the land of Moab, with his wife
Naomi, and two children. Elimelech died there, as also his two sons, who had
married two Moabitish women one of whom was named Ruth. Naomi, after the death
of her husband and her children, returned to Bethlehem accompanied by Ruth, her
daughter-in-law, who was there married to Boaz, Elimelech's near relation, and
the heir to his estate. The book which contains this history, is called, The
Book of Ruth. The beginning of it shows that it happened in the time of the
Judges, but under which of them is not certainly known; some place it in the
time of Shamgar, or of Deborah. As to the writer of this book, some think that
the books of Judges and Ruth were both written by Samuel; others attribute them
to Hezekiah, and others to Ezra. The Jews place the book of Ruth among the five
books which they usually read on all the festivals in the year. These five books
are, the Song of Songs, Ruth, the Lamentations of Jeremiah, Ecclesiastes, and
the book of Esther. In the Hebrew bibles they are printed or written apart by
themselves, and are bound up together. I & II SAMUEL The four books following
Ruth are called by the Greeks, and also in some Latin bibles, The History of the
Reigns. Others call them all, The Books of Kings, because they give an account
of the establishment of the monarchy, and of the succession of the kings, who
reigned over the whole kingdom at first, and over the kingdoms of Judah and
Israel after its division. At the beginning of these books is given the history
of the prophet Samuel, which gives light to that of The Kings. The Jews call the
first two of these books, The Books of Samuel: perhaps because they contain the
history of the two kings, who were both anointed by Samuel; and because what is
said of Saul in the first, and of David in the second, proves the truth of
Samuel's prophecies. They give the name of The Books of Kings only to the other
two, which, in the Latin and French bibles, are called the Third and Fourth
Books of Kings. The First Book of Kings, or the First of Samuel, contains the
history of the high-priest Eli, of Samuel, and of Saul. As the first year of
Eli's high-priesthood falls on the year of the world 2848, and the death of Saul
in 2949, the history of this book must comprehend the space of one hundred and
one years. The Second contains the reign of David, which is the history of about
forty years. It is commonly believed that Samuel, Nathan, and Gad, were the
writers of these two books, and, indeed, they are called, in the end of the
first book of Chronicles, David's historians. I & II KINGS The Third, or,
according to the Hebrews, the First Book of Kings, begins with a relation of the
manner in which Solomon came to the throne, and contains the whole of his reign.
After that, an account follows of the division of the kingdom, and the history
of four kings of Judah and eight kings of Israel. All these reigns, including
that of Solomon, which occupies the first forty-years, comprise the space of one
hundred and twenty-six years. The Fourth of these books contains the history of
sixteen kings of Judah, and twelve kings of Israel. It likewise gives an account
of the prophets who lived during this time. It is quite uncertain who were the
writers of the last two mentioned books. They are by some attributed to Jeremiah
or Ezra, but no very convincing proofs have been adduced in support of this
opinion. It is evident, indeed, that these books form a varied collection of
several particular histories. I & II CHRONICLES The name of Paralipomena, which
in Greek signifies the “history of things omitted,” is given to the two books
which follow those of The Kings. These form, in fact, a supplement, containing
what had been omitted in the Pentateuch, and the books of Joshua, Judges, and
Kings, or rather they contain a fuller description of some things which had been
therein only briefly related. Some give them the name of Chronicles, because
they are very exact in mentioning the time when every transaction happened. We
divide them into two books, as do also the Jews, who call them Dibere Hayanim,
that is, an “historical journal,” the matters of which they treat having been
taken from the journals or the kings. In the original language, however, the
word days often signifies the year; and, in this sense, we may understand the
term to signify properly “annals.” The generally-received opinion is, that Ezra
was the writer of these. In the first book, he begins with a succinct historical
abridgment, from the creation of Adam to the return of the Jews from their
captivity; and then he resumes the history of David, and carries it on to the
consecration of Solomon, that is, down to the year before Christ 1015. The
history contained in the second book reaches down to the year before Christ 536,
when, upon the expiration of the seventy years of captivity, Cyrus gave the Jews
leave to return to their own country. EZRA Ezra wrote the history of the return
of the Jews from the captivity of Babylon into Judea. It is the history of about
eighty-two years, from the year of the world 3468, when Cyrus became master of
the eastern empire, by the death of his father, Cambyses, in Persia, and his
father-in-law, Cyaxares, in Media, to the year 3550, which was the twentieth
year of the reign of Artaxerxes, surnamed Longimanus. This book bears the name
of Ezra, who was the writer of it. NEHEMIAH The next book is a continuation of
that of Ezra, and therefore it is by some called the Second Book of Ezra. It was
Nehemiah, however, whose name it also bears, who wrote it, as is said, by the
advice of Ezra. It contains the account of the reestablishment of Jerusalem, and
the temple, and the worship of God. It is the history of about thirty-one years;
that is to say, from the twentieth year or the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus,
to the reign of Darius Nothus, his son, which began in the year of the world
3581. ESTHER After this general history of the Jews, follow two histories of
particular persons, viz., Esther and Job. The first contains the account of a
miraculous deliverance of the Jews, which was accomplished by means of the
heroine named Esther. The Scripture says it happened under the reign of
Ahasuerus, king of Persia; but as there have been several Persian kings of that
name, it is not exactly known in which reign it is to be dated. Dr. Lightfoot
thinks it was that Artaxerxes who hindered the building of the temple, and who,
in the book of Ezra, is called also Ahasuerus, after his great grandfather the
king of the Medes. JOB The history of Job, which is next in order, is not only a
narration of his actions, but contains also the entire discourses which this
pious man had with his wife and his friends, and is, indeed, one of the most
eloquent books in the Holy Scriptures. It is generally conjectured that Moses
was the writer or compiler of this book; but this is very uncertain. PSALMS Next
to the historical books of Scripture follow those of a moral nature. The first
of these is the Book of Psalms, which is likewise in some measure historical;
for they recite the miracles which God had wrought, and contain, as it were, an
abridgment of all that had been done for the Israelites, and that had happened
to them. The Hebrews call them “the Book of Praises,” by which they mean, “of
the Praises of God.” The word psalm is Greek, and properly signifies the sound
of a stringed instrument of music. The Hebrews sung the Psalms with different
instruments. We make but one book of them all, but the Hebrews divide them into
live parts, which all end with the words Amen, Amen. Though the Psalms bear the
name of David, yet they were not all composed by him; some of them are more
ancient, and others are of a later date than his time; some of them being
ascribed to Moses, Samuel, and Ezra. Speaking of the dedication of the second
temple, Prideaux says, “In this dedication, Psalms 146 seem to have been sung;
for in the Septuagint versions they are styled the Psalms of Haggai and
Zechariah, as if they had been composed by them for this occasion; and this, no
doubt, was from some ancient tradition: but, in the original Hebrew, these
Psalms have no such title prefixed to them, neither have they any other to
contradict it.” It is not probable, however, that all those whose names they
bear were the true authors of them; it is more likely that these are only the
names of those to whom they were first given to sing. PROVERBS After the Psalms
are the Proverbs, which are a collection of moral sentences, of which Solomon
was the writer. This name is given them by the Greeks, but the Hebrews call them
Myste, that is, parables, or comparisons; and the word may also signify
sentences, or maxims. It is a collection of divine precepts, proper for every
age, and every condition of life. ECCLESIASTES The book which follows is also a
moral one, and was likewise composed by Solomon. The Greeks call it
Ecclesiastes, which answers to the name of Koheleth, which it bears in the
Hebrew. Both these words signify, in our language, a preacher, or one who speaks
in an assembly. In this book is given an admirable picture of the vanity of the
world. SONG OF SOLOMON Among, the moral books is also reckoned the Song of
Songs; that is to say, according to the Hebrew manner of speaking, a most
excellent song. This book has nothing of morality in it, and therefore, it is
thought the only reason of its being placed here is because it was a third work
of Solomon; for there is not one moral or religious maxim in it, and the name of
God is not so much as mentioned in it, except once in the original Hebrew, where
it is used adjectively. It is an Epithalamium, or nuptial song, wherein, by the
expressions of love between a bridegroom and his bride, are set forth and
illustrated the mutual affections that pass between God and a distinguished
remnant of mankind. It is a sort of dramatic poem or pastoral: the bride and
bridegroom, for the more lively representation of humility and innocence, are
brought in as a shepherd and shepherdess. We learn from St. Jerome, that the
Jews were not permitted to read this song, or the chapters at the beginning of
the book of Genesis, till they were thirty years old. PROPHETS In regard to the
prophets, it may be observed, that all the Old Testament is considered to be in
substance one continued prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ; so that all the
books of which it consists are understood to be in some sense prophetical. But
this name is more especially given to those books which were written by persons
who had a cleaver knowledge of futurity, who forewarned both kings and people of
what would happen to them, and who at the same time pointed out what the Messiah
was to do, whom they who are acknowledged to have been prophets had always in
view: and this is what ought most especially to be taken notice of in their
writings. The prophecies bear the name of those to whom they belong. Some
learned men are of opinion that the prophets made abridgments of the discourses
which they had written, and fixed them up at the gates of the temple, that all
the people might read them; and that after this the ministers of the temple
might take them away, and place them among the archives, which is the reason why
we have not the prophecies in the order in which they were written. But the
interpreters Scripture have long since labored to restore that order, according
to the course of their history. The works of the prophets are divided into two
parts, the first of which contains the greater, and the second, the lesser
prophets. This distinction, of course, does not apply at all to the persons of
the prophets, but only to the bulk of their works. The greater prophets are
Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Jeremiah. The Lamentations of Jeremiah make a
separate book by themselves, containing that prophet's descriptions of the
destruction of the city of Jerusalem, and of the captivity of the people. The
lesser prophets are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. They were formerly contained in one
single volume, which the Hebrews call Thereaser, which means twelve, or the book
of the twelve. The dates of many of the prophecies are uncertain, but the
earliest of them was in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam the
Second, his contemporary, king of Israel, about 200 years before the captivity,
and not long after Joash had slain Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, in the court
of the temple. Hosea was the first of the writing prophets, and Joel, Amos, and
Obadiah, published their prophecies about the same time. Isaiah began his
remarkable prophecies a short time afterward, but his book is placed first,
because it is the largest of them all, and is more explicit relative to the
advent of Christ than any of the others. The language of this eminent writer is
exceedingly sublime and affecting; so much so, that it has never been equaled by
any profane poet either in ancient or modern times. It is impossible to read
some of the chapters without being struck by the force of the prophetic
allusions to the character and sufferings of the Messiah; and in consequence of
these prevailing characteristics, the author is ordinarily styled the
evangelical prophet, and by some of the ancients, a fifth evangelist. The Jews
say than the spirit of prophecy continued forty years during the second temple;
and Malachi they call the seal of prophecy, because in him the succession or
series of prophets broke off; and came to a period. The book of Malachi,
therefore, appropriately closes the sacred record of the Old Testament. NEW
TESTAMENT The second and lesser division of the Bible relates entirely to the
Christian religion, or the fulfillment of that which was predicted in the
preceding and more ancient department of the work. This division of the sacred
Scriptures is generally styled the New Testament; and that portion of it which
relates to the history of the life of Christ is called the Gospel, and by some
the Evangel, both these words having the same meaning, and implying good news,
or glad tidings, from the circumstances that the narratives contain an account
of things which are to benefit mankind. The New Testament, like the Old, is a
compilation of books written by different inspired individuals, and all put
together in a manner so as to exhibit a regular account of the birth, actions,
and death of Christ--the doctrines he promulgated--and the prophecies regarding
the future state of the church which he founded. The historical books are the
four gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, all these being of the character of
narratives of events; the doctrinal are the Epistles of St. Paul, and some
others; the prophetic book is the last, and this is called the Revelation or
Apocalypse of St. John, having been written by that apostle while he was in the
island of Patmos. The writers of the books of the New Testament are generally
well known, each having the name of the author affixed to it, with the exception
of the Acts of the Apostles, which, it is presumed, was compiled by St. Luke. It
was long disputed whether St. Paul was the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews;
Tertullian, an ancient Christian writer, and some others, attribute it to St.
Barnabas; others to St. Luke; and others to St. Clement; while some think, with
greater probability, that St. Paul dictated it, and St. Luke acted as the
writer; and that the reason why the name of the true author was not affixed to
it, was because he was disliked by the Jews. The four evangelists, or writers of
the leading narratives, are St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John; these
having been companions to Christ during his ministrations, and, therefore,
personally acquainted with his life and character. Each of the four books is
principally a repetition of the history of Christ, yet they all possess a
difference of style, and each mentions some circumstances omitted by the others,
so that the whole is essential in making up a complete life of the Messiah.
These distinctions in the tone of the narratives and other peculiarities, are
always considered as strong circumstantial evidence in proof of their
authenticity, and of there having been no collusion on the part of the writers.
But, indeed, the events they record are detailed in so exceedingly simple and
unaffected a manner, that it is impossible to suppose that they were written
with a view to impose on the credulity of mankind. The veracity and actual
belief of the evangelists themselves are placed beyond a doubt. MATTHEW The
first book is written by Matthew, who was by birth a Jew, and exercised the
profession of a publican--that is, a collector of the public tax or assessment
imposed upon the Jewish people by their conquerors, the Romans. Matthew, who was
also called by the name of Levi, was one of the twelve apostles of Christ, and
he is said to have written his narrative about eight years after the departure
of his Master from the earth. Many of the ancients say that he wrote it in the
Hebrew or Syriac language; but Dr. Whitby is clearly of opinion that this
tradition is entirely void of foundation, and that it was doubtless written in
Greek, as the other parts of the New Testament were. Yet it is probable that
there might be an edition of it in Hebrew, published by St. Matthew himself at
the same time that he wrote it in Greek; the former for the Jews, the latter for
the Gentiles, when he left Judea to preach among the heathen. MARK In regard to
Mark, the writer of the second Gospel, it may be observed, that although Mark,
or Marcus, was a Roman name, and a very common one, yet we have no reason to
think but that he was by birth a Jew; but as Saul, when he went among the
Gentiles took the Roman name of Paul, so did this evangelist take that of Mark,
his Jewish name, perhaps, being Mardacai, is Grotius observes. Jerome and
Tertullian say that he was a disciple of the Apostle Peter, and his interpreter
or amanuensis. We have every reason to believe that both he and Luke were of the
number of the seventy disciples who companied all along with the apostles, and
who had a commission like to theirs: so that it is no diminution at all to the
validity or value of this Gospel that Mark was not one of the twelve, as Matthew
and John were. Jerome says, that after the writing of this Gospel he went into
Egypt, and was the first that preached the gospel at Alexandria, where he
founded a church, to which he was a great example of holy living. The Gospel of
St. Mark is much shorter than that of Matthew, not giving so full an account of
Christ's sermons as that did, but insisting chiefly on his miracles; and in
regard to these, also, it is very much a repetition of what we have in Matthew,
many remarkable circumstances being added to the stories there related, but not
many new matters. There is a tradition that it was first written in Latin,
because it was written at Rome; but this is generally thought to be without
foundation, and that it was written in Greek, as was St. Paul's Epistle to the
Romans, the Greek being the more universal language. LUKE Luke, the name of the
third evangelist, is considered by some to be a contraction of Lucilius, and it
is said by St. Jerome to have been borne at Antioch. Some think that he was the
only one of all the penmen of the Scriptures that was not of the Israelites;
that he was a Jewish proselyte, and was converted to Christianity by the
ministry of St. Paul at Antioch, and after his coming into Macedonia he was his
constant companion. He had employed himself in the study and practice of physic,
and hence Paul calls him “Luke, the beloved physician.” It is more than
probable, however, as is testified both by Origen and Epiphanius, that he was
one of the seventy disciples, and a follower of Christ when he was upon earth;
and if so, he was most likely to be a native Israelite. Luke must probably wrote
his Gospel at Rome, a little before he wrote his history of the “Acts of the
Apostles,” which is a continuation of the former, when he was there with Paul,
while he was a prisoner, and “preaching in his own hired house,” with which the
history of the Acts concludes. In this case, it must have been written about
twenty-seven years after Christ's departure, and about the fourth year of the
reign of Nero. Jerome says that St. Luke died when he was eighty-four years of
age, and that he was never married. Dr. Cave observes that “his way and manner
of writing are accurate and exact, his style polite and elegant, sublime anti
lofty, yet perspicuous; and that he expresses himself in a vein of purer Greek
than is to be found in the other writers of this holy history.” Thus he relates
several things more copiously than the other evangelists, and thus he especially
treats of those things which relate to the priestly office of Christ. JOHN The
fourth evangelist, John, was one of the sons of Zebedee, a fishermen of Galilee,
the brother of James, one of the twelve apostles, and distinguished by the
honorable appellation, “that disciple whom Jesus loved.” The ancients tell us
that John lived the longest of all the apostles, and was the only one of them
that died a natural death, all the rest suffering martyrdom; and some of them
say that he wrote this Gospel. Ephesus, at the request of the ministers of the
several churches of Asia, in order to combat certain heresies. It seems most
probable that he composed it before his banishment into the isle of Patmos, for
there he wrote his Revelation, the close of which seems designed for the closing
up of the canon of scripture; in which case this Gospel could not have been
written after. It is clear that he wrote the last of the four Evangelists, and,
comparing his Gospel with theirs, we may observe that he relates what they had
omitted, and thus gleans up what they had passed by. GOSPELS These four Gospels
were early and constantly received by the primitive church, and read in
Christian assemblies, as appears by the writings of Justin Martyr and Irenaeus,
who lived little more than one hundred years after the origin of Christianity;
they declared that neither more nor fewer than four were received by the church.
A Harmony of these four Evangelists was compiled by Tatian about that time,
which he called “The Gospel out of the four.” In the third and fourth centuries
there were gospels forged by divers sects, and published, one under the name of
St. Peter, another of St. Thomas, another of St. Philip, etc. But they were
never owned by the church, nor was any credit given to them, as the learned Dr.
Whitby shows. And he gives this good reason why we should adhere to these
written records: “because,” says he, “whatever the pretences of tradition may
be, it is not sufficient to preserve things with any certainty, as appears by
experience. For whereas Christ said and did many memorable things which were not
written, tradition has not preserved any one of them to us, but all is lost
except what was written; and that, therefore, is what we must abide by.” ACTS
After the Gospel, or history of Jesus Christ, follows the history of what passed
after his ascension, and was transacted by the apostles. The book, therefore,
which contains this history is called “The Acts of the Apostles.” It is a
history of the rising church for about the space of thirty years. It was
written, as has been already observed, by St. Luke the Evangelist, when he was
with St. Paul at Rome, during his imprisonment there. In the end of the book he
mentions particularly his being with Paul in his dangerous voyage to Rome, when
he was carried thither a prisoner; and it is evident that he was with him when,
from his prison there, Paul wrote his epistles to the Colossians and Philemon;
for in both of these he is named by him. EPISTLES Next to this come the Epistles
of St. Paul, which are fourteen in number: one to the Romans, two to the
Corinthians, one to the Galatians, one to the Ephesians, one to the Philippians,
one to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, two to Timothy, one to Titus,
one to Philemon, and one to the Hebrews. They contain that part of
ecclesiastical history which immediately follows after what is related in the
Acts. The principal matter contained in them is the establishment or
confirmation of the doctrine which Jesus Christ taught his disciples. According
as the difficulties which raised disputes among the Christians, or the heresies
which sprung up in the church from the first age of it, required, St. Paul in
these epistles clears up and proves all matters of faith, and gives excellent
rules for morality. His epistles may be considered as a commentary on, or an
interpretation of, the four books of the Gospel.[1] In respect to the leading
design of the apostolical epistles, Dr. Bloomfield remarks: “That though the
essential doctrines and precepts of Christianity are to be found in the Gospels,
yet a fuller and clearer statement of them was necessary, considering the
altered state of things to that which existed during our Savior's life-time; and
especially after the uprise of serious corruptions and dangerous errors,
originating partly in misconception, which required to be checked by a more
explicit, and yet equally authoritative revelation. Now this was done by St.
Paul and the other writers of the Epistles. Consequently, though they were
written for the immediate purpose of refuting heresies, arising from a mixture
of Christianity with Judaism or Gentilism, of repressing corruptions, reforming
abuses, and composing schisms and differences, yet, in point of fact, they
became, and were avowedly, commentaries on the doctrine of Christ, as delivered
in the Gospels; and though originally intended for particular Christian
societies, yet are adapted to the instruction of Christians in all ages.”
Principles are involved, which are our surest guides on all points relating to
church liberty especially as to abstaining from things innocent in themselves,
if likely to give offence to scrupulous brethren--Ed. BOOK ORDER The
chronological succession of the Epistles, according to Prof. Lange, is as
follows: 1. To the Thessalonians. 2. To the Galatians 3. To the Corinthians. 4.
To the Romans 5. The epistle of James. 6. To the Ephesians. 7. To the
Philippians. 8. To the Hebrews 9. The first epistle of Peter. 10. The first to
Timothy. 11. To Titus. 12. The second to Timothy. 13. The second of Peter. 14.
The epistle of Jude 1:15. The three epistles of John. As it respects the date of
these apostolic epistles, it is generally agreed that they were written between
the years A.D. 54 and 68, excepting those of John, written probably between the
years 96 and 100.[2] The apostolic epistles are didadactic or catholic. The
didactic epistles are those addressed to particular writings of Paul, for the
most part, belong to the former class. They are analyzed or classified by Lange,
as follows: 1. Eschatological epistles, which treat of the last things. 2.
Ecclesiastic epistles, which treat of the discipline of the church. 3.
Soteriological epistles, which treat of redemption and righteousness by faith.
4. Christological epistles, which treat of the person of Christ. 5. Pastoral
epistles. The Epistle to the Hebrews, that of James, and the three of John, and
those of Peter and Jude, are classed as catholic epistles--Ed. IMPORT OF
EPISTLES It has sometimes occurred to the minds of many well-disposed persons,
that it would have been better for Christianity had there never been any other
record of its origin and doctrines than the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John. But, however plain and satisfactory the histories of these evangelists may
be, and however little they admit of controversy, it has to be remembered that
it required the strong arguments and illustrations brought forward in the
epistles, by Paul and others, to combat the sophistry of the Greeks, and the
self-sufficient philosophies of other races of man. Paul, the chief of the
epistle writers, who became a Christian by conversion after Christ had departed
from the earth, is the great champion of the faith, and exposes, in strong and
dauntless language, the hidden depravities of the human heart; so that where the
affecting discourses and sufferings of the Messiah fail to convert and convince,
the reasoning of this great writer is calculated to silence and subdue those who
stubbornly resist the benignant influence of the Christian faith. NUMBER OF
BOOKS The first division of the Scriptures, as already mentioned, is into the
Old and New Testaments. The New belongs to the Christians, but the Old was
received from the Jews; and it is from them, therefore, that we must learn what
the number of the books of it originally was, and everything else relating to
this most ancient and interesting production. The celebrated Jewish writers,
Josephus and Philo, reckon two and twenty canonical books in the Old Testament,
which is the number of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet: and to make out this,
they join the book of Ruth to that of Judges, and the Lamentations of Jeremiah
to the book of his Prophecies. But other Jewish doctors divide the book of Ruth
from that of Judges, and, making likewise a separate book of the Lamentations of
Jeremiah, they reckon four and twenty books in all. In order to accommodate this
number to that of the letters of the alphabet, they repeat the letter yod three
times, as they say, in honor to the great name of God Jehovah, of which yod is
the first letter; and in Chaldee three yods together were used to express this
adorable name, but as the modern Jews thought this savored too much of what
Christians call the Trinity, they use only two yods for this purpose. St. Jerome
is of opinion that St. John had this division of the Hebrew scriptures in view,
when in his Revelation he speaks of the four and twenty elders who paid
adoration to the Lamb of God. The Jews divide the whole of these books into
three classes, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa or Holy
Writings, which last division includes more particularly the poetical parts; and
some are of opinion that Jesus Christ alludes to this division of the
Scriptures, when he says that “all things must be fulfilled that were written in
the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning” him. For
the book of Psalms, they understand all the books of the third class. The Law
comprehends the Pentateuch; that is, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy. The Prophetical books are eight viz: (1) Joshua, (2) Judges, with
Ruth, (3) Samuel, (4) Kings, (5) Isaiah, (6) Jeremiah, (7) Ezekiel, and (8) the
twelve Lesser Prophets. The first four books of this division are called the
Former Prophets, and the last four the Later Prophets. The Hagiographa, or Holy
Writings, are nine, viz: (1) Job, (2) the Psalms, (3) Proverbs, (4)
Ecclesiastes, (5) The Song of Songs, (6) Daniel, (7) Chronicles, (8) Ezra, with
Nehemiah, and (9) Esther. The Jews do not put Daniel in the rank of a prophet,
although they acknowledge him to have been a man inspired by God, and whose
writings are full of the clearest prophecies concerning the time of the
Messiah's coming and what should happen to their nation. Jesus Christ,
therefore, gives him the name of a Prophet, and the Jewish doctors are much
puzzled to find out a proper reason for their not doing the same. “It is,” says
Maimonides, “because everything that Daniel wrote was not revealed to him when
he was awake and had the use of his reason, but in the night, and in obscure
dreams.” But this is a very unsatisfactory account of the matter; and others are
of opinion that the name of a Prophet was commonly given to those only who were
of a certain college, and whose business it was to write the annals; and that,
therefore, their works were ranked among the prophetical books, though they did
not contain a single prediction of anything to come, as the books of Joshua and
Judges; while, on the contrary, the works of those who were of not of these
colleges of the prophets were not ranked among the prophetical books, although
they contained true prophecies. The Latins agree with the Jews as to the number
of the Psalms, which is a hundred and fifty; but both they and the Greeks divide
them differently from the Hebrews. In the Greek Bible and the Vulgate, or common
Latin version, the ninth and tenth, according to the Hebrew, make but one psalm;
and therefore, in order to make up the number of a hundred and fifty, they
divide the hundred and forty-seventh into two. DIVISIONS OF THE BIBLE This is
the general division of the sacred books among the Jews. But they divide the
Pentateuch, in particular, into certain paragraphs or sections, which they call
Parashiuth, and which they subdivide into the Great and Little. A Great section
contains as much as is to be read in the synagogue in a week. There are in all
fifty-four of these, inasmuch as there may be so many weeks in a year; for the
Jews are obliged to read all the Pentateuch over once every year, finishing it
on the feast of tabernacles, and beginning it again on the next Sabbath day. In
the time of the persecution by Antiochus Epiphanes, they also selected
fifty-four sections to be read out of the Prophets, which have ever since
constituted the second lessons in the Jewish synagogue-service. The Little
sections, which are subdivisions of the Greater, are made according to the
subjects they treat of; and these Great and Little sections are again of two
sorts, one of which is called Petuchoth, that is, open sections; and the other
Sethumoth, that is, close sections. The former commences in the Hebrew Bibles
always at the beginning of lines, and are marked with three P's if it be a great
section, and with only one if it be a little section; because P is the first
letter of the word Petuchoth. Every open section takes its name from its first
word; and thus the first section in the whole Bible is called Bereshith, which
is the first word of the Book of Genesis in Hebrew. The close sections begin the
middle of a line, and are marked with the letter Samech, which is the first
letter of the word Sethumoth; if it be a great section it has three Samechs; if
a little section, only one. Every great section is also divided again into seven
parts, which are read in the synagogue by so many different persons. If any
priest be present, he begins, and a Levite reads after him; and in the choice of
the rest, regard is had to their dignity and condition. The divisions of the
prophetical books already mentioned are read jointly with those of Moses, in the
same manner. These latter divisions they call Haphteroth, a term which
signifies, in Hebrew, dismissions; because after this reading is over they
dismiss the people. HEBREW VERSE DIVISIONS The Jews call the division of the
Holy Scriptures into chapters, Perakim, which signifies fragments; and the
division into verses they call Pesukim, a word of nearly the same signification
as the former. These last are marked out in the Hebrew Bibles by two great
points at the end of them, called hence Soph-Pasuk, that is, the end of the
verse. But the division of the Scriptures into chapters and verses, as we now
have them, is of a much later date. The Psalms, indeed, were always divided at
present; for St. Paul, in his sermon at Antioch in Pisidia, quotes the second
Psalm. But as to the rest of the Holy Scriptures, the division of them into such
chapters as at present, is what the ancients knew nothing of. Some attribute it
to Stephen Langton, who was archbishop of Canterbury in the reigns of King John
and his son, Henry the Third. But the true author of this invention, as is shown
by Dean Prideaux at great length, was Hugo de Sancto Caro, who, being from a
Dominican monk advanced to the dignity of a cardinal, and the first of that
order that was so, is commonly called Hugo Cardinalis. LATIN CONCORDANCE This
Cardinal Hugo, who flourished about the year 1240, and died in 1262, had labored
much in the study of the Holy Scriptures, and made a comment upon the whole of
them. The carrying on of this work gave him the occasion of inventing the first
concordance that was made of the Scriptures--that is, of the vulgar Latin Bible;
for, conceiving that such an index of all the words and phrases in the Bible
would be of great use for the attaining of a better understanding of it, he
projected a scheme for the making of such an index, and forthwith set a great
number of the monks of his order on the collecting of the words under their
proper classes in every letter of the alphabet, in order to this design; and, by
the help of so many hands, he soon brought it to what he intended. This work was
afterward much improved by those who followed him, especially by Arlottus
Thuseus, and Conradus Halberstadius, the former a Franciscan and the other a
Dominican friar, who both lived about the end of the same century. But the whole
intention of the work being for the easier finding of any word or passage in the
Scriptures, to make it answer this purpose the cardinal found it necessary, in
the first place, to divide the book into sections, and the sections into other
divisions, that by these he might the better make the references, and the more
exactly point out in the index where any word or passage might be found in the
text; and these sections are the chapters into which the Bible has ever since
been divided. For, on the publishing of this concordance, the usefulness of it
being immediately discerned, all were desirous to have it; and, for the sake of
the use of it, they all divided their bibles as Hugo had done; for the
references in the concordance being made by these chapters and the subdivisions
of them, unless their bibles were so divided too, the concordance would be of no
use to them. And thus this division of the several books of the Bible into
chapters had its original, which has ever since been made use of in all places
and among all people, wherever the Bible itself is used in these western parts
of the world; for before this there was no division of the books in the vulgar
Latin bibles at all. But the subdivisions of the chapters were not then by
verses as now. Hugo's way of subdividing them was by the letters A, B, C, D, E,
F, G, placed in the margin at equal distances from one another, according as the
chapters were longer or shorter. In long chapters all these seven letters were
used, in others fewer, as the length of the chapters required; for the
subdivision of the chapters by verses, which is now in all our bibles, was not
introduced into them till some ages after; and then it was from the Jews that
the use of it, as we now have it, took its original on the following occasion.
HEBREW CONCORDANCE About the year 1430, there lived here among the western Jews
a famous rabbi, called by some Rabbi Mordecai Nathan, by others Rabbi Isaac
Nathan, and by many by both these names, as if he were first called by one of
them, and then, by a change of it, by the other. This rabbi being much
conversant with the Christians, and having frequent disputes with their learned
men about religion, he thereby came to the knowledge of the great use which they
made of the Latin concordance composed by Cardinal Hugo, and the benefit which
they had from it, in the ready finding of any place in the Scriptures which they
had occasion to consult; which he was so much taken with, that he immediately
set about making such a concordance to the Hebrew Bible for the use of the Jews.
He began this work in the year 1438, and finished it in 1445, being seven years
in composing it; and the first publishing of it happening about the time when
printing was invented, it has since undergone several editions from the press.
The Buxtorfs, father and son, bestowed much pains on this work; and the edition
of it published by them at Basil in 1632 is by far the most complete, and has
deservedly the reputation of being the best book of the kind that is extant.
Indeed, it is so useful for the understanding of the Hebrew scriptures, that no
one who employs his studies in this way can have a better companion; it being
the best dictionary, as well as the best concordance to them. In the composing
of this book, Rabbi Nathan finding it necessary to follow the same division of
the Scriptures into chapters which Hugo had made in them, it had the like effect
as to the Hebrew bibles that Hugo's had as to the Latin, causing the same
divisions to be made in all the Hebrew bibles which were afterward either
written out or printed for common use; and hence the division into chapters
first came into the Hebrew bibles. But Nathan, though he followed Hugo in the
division into chapters, yet did not do so in the division of the chapters by the
letters A, B, C, etc., in the margin, but introduced a better usage by employing
the division that was made by verse. This division, as already mentioned, was
very ancient; but it was till now without any numbers put to the verses. The
numbering, therefore, of the verses in the chapters, and the quoting of the
passages in every chapter by the verses, were Rabbi Nathan's invention; in
everything else he followed the pattern which Cardinal Hugo had sent him. But it
is to be observed, that he did not number the verses any otherwise than by
affixing the numerical Hebrew letters in the margin at every fifth verse; and
this has been the usage of the Jews in all their Hebrew bibles ever since,
except that latterly they have also introduced the common figures for numbering
the intermediate verses between every fifth. Vatalibius soon after published a
Latin Bible according to this pattern, with the chapters divided into verses,
and the verses so numbered; and this example has been followed in all other
editions that have been since put forth. So that, as the Jews borrowed the
division of the books of the Holy Scriptures into chapters from the Christians,
in like manner the Christians borrowed that of the chapters into verses from the
Jews. But to this day the book of the law, which is read by the Jews in their
synagogues every Sabbath day, has none of these distinctions, that is, is not
divided into verses as the Bible is. GREEK VERSE DIVISIONS The division of the
books of Scripture into great and little sections, does, without doubt,
contribute much to the clearing up of their contents; and for this reason, as
well as because they found it practised in the synagogues, the Christians also
divided the books of the New Testament into what the Greeks call pericopes, that
is, sections, that they might be read in their order. Each of these sections
contained, under the same title, all the matters that had any relation to one
another, and were solemnly read in the churches by the public readers, after the
deacons had admonished the faithful to be attentive to it, crying with a loud
voice, “Attendance, Let us attend.” The name of titles was given to these
sections, because each of them had its own title. Robert Stephens, the famous
printer, who died at Geneva in 1559, gets the credit of being the first who made
the division of the chapters of the New Testament into verses, and for the same
reason as Rabbi Nathan had done before him as to the Old Testament; that is, for
the sake of a concordance which he was then composing for the Greek Testament,
and which was afterward printed by Henry Stephens, his son, who gives this
account of the matter in his preface to the concordance. Since that time, this
division of the whole Bible by chapters and verses, and the quoting of all
passages in them by the numbers of both, has grown into use everywhere among us
in these western parts; so that not only all Latin bibles, but all Greek ones
also, as well as every other that has been printed in any of the modern
languages, have followed this division. They who most approve of this division
of the Bible into chapters and verses, as at present used, agree that a much
more convenient one might be made; since it often happens that things which
ought to be separated are joined together, and many things which ought to be
joined together are divided. JEWISH RESPECT OF SCRIPTURES The respect which the
Jews have for the sacred books, and which even degenerates into superstition, is
one of the principal of their religious practices. Nothing can be added to the
care they take in writing them. The books of the ancients were of a different
form from ours; they did not consist of several leaves, but of one or more skins
or parchments sewn together, and fastened at the ends to rollers of wood, upon
which they were rolled up; so that a book when thus shut up might easily be
sealed in several places. And such was the book mentioned in the Revelations,
which St. John says “was sealed with seven seals,” and which no one but “the
Lion of the tribe of Judah could open and explain.” HEBREW MANUSCRIPT INTEGRITY
The Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible are of two kinds--the rolled ones, or those
used in the synagogues, and the square ones, or those which are to be found in
private collections. The rules laid down by the Jews with respect to their
manuscripts have undoubtedly tended much to preserve the integrity of the text.
They are directed to be written upon parchment, made from the skin of a clean
animal, and to be tied together with strings of similar substance, or sewn with
goat's-hair, which has been spun and prepared by a Jewess. It must be likewise a
Jew that writes the law, and they extremely diligent and exact in it, because
the least fault in the world profanes the book. Every skin of parchment is to
contain a certain number of columns, which are to be of a precise length and
breadth, and to contain a certain number of words. They are to be written with
the purest ink, and no word is to be written by heart or with the points; it
must be first orally pronounced by the copyist. The name of God is directed to
be written with the utmost attention and devotion, and the transcriber is to
wash his pen before he inscribes it on the parchment. If there should chance to
be a word with either a deficient or a redundant letter, or should any of the
prosaic part of the Old Testament be written as verse, or vice versa, the
manuscript is vitiated. No Hebrew manuscript with any illumination is, on any
account, admitted into a synagogue, although private individuals are permitted
to have them ornamented for their own use; but in the illustrations, the
resemblance of any animal denounced by the Jews as unclean can not be admitted.
Among the modern Jews, the book of Esther, in particular, is frequently
decorated with rude figures of various kinds; but with respect to this book, it
must be observed that, owing to its wanting the sacred name of God, it is not
held in such repute for holiness as the other books are. The manuscripts for
private use may be either upon parchment, vellum, or paper, and of various
sizes. “There is,” says Prideaux, “in the church of St. Dominic, in Bononia, a
copy of the Hebrew Scriptures, kept with a great deal of care, which they
pretend to be the original copy written by Ezra himself; and therefore it is
there valued at so high a rate, that great sums of money have been borrowed by
the Bononians upon the pawn of it, and again repaid for its redemption. It is
written in a very fair character upon a sort of leather, and made up in a roll
according to the ancient manner; but it having the vowel-points annexed, and the
writing being fresh and fair, without any decay, both these particulars prove
the novelty of that copy. But such forgeries are no uncommon things among the
papistical sect.” HEBREW SCRIPTURES IN SYNAGOGUES To open and shut up the roll
or book of the law, to hold it, and to raise and show it to the people, are
three offices, which are sold, and bring in a great deal of money. The skins on
which the law is written are fastened to two rollers, whose ends jut out at the
sides, beyond the skins, and are usually adorned with silver; and it is by them
that they hold the book when they lift it up, and exhibit it to the
congregation; because they are forbidden to touch the book itself with their
hands. All who are in the synagogue kiss it, and they who are not near enough to
reach it with their mouths, touch the silken cover of it, and then kiss their
hands, and put the two fingers with which they touched it upon their eyes, which
they think preserves the sight. They keep it in a cupboard, which supplies the
place of the ark of the covenant, and they therefore call this cupboard Aaron,
which is the Hebrew name for the ark; and this is always placed in the east end
of the synagogue. He who presides chooses any one whom he pleases to read and
explain the scripture, which was a mark of distinction; as we see in the
thirteenth chapter of the Acts, where we find the rulers of the synagogue
desiring the apostles, when they were in the synagogue, to make a discourse to
the people. Ordinarily speaking, a priest began, a Levite read on, and at last
one of the people, whom the president chose, concluded. He who reads stands
upright, and is not suffered so much us to lean against a wall. Before he
begins, he says with a loud voice, “Bless ye God;” and the congregation answer,
“Blessed be thou, O my God, blessed be thou for ever;” and when the lesson is
ended, the book is rolled up, and wrapped in a piece of silk. JEWISH VENERATION
OF HEBREW The Jews still retain so great a veneration for the Hebrew tongue,
that they do not think it lawful to use any other bibles in the synagogues but
such as are written in that language. This was what enraged them so much against
the Hellenistic or Graecising Jews, who read the Septuagint Greek version in
their synagogues; and so much were they grieved that this version was ever made,
that they instituted a fast, in which they annually lament this as a misfortune.
But because the Hebrew was, after the captivity, no longer the vulgar tongue,
there was an interpreter in the synagogues, who explained to the people in the
Chaldee, or common tongue, what was read to them in the Hebrew. The use they
made of the Scriptures, however, gave the people at least an imperfect knowledge
of the Hebrew language. And thus we see eunuch who is mentioned in the Acts,
could read Isaiah, and understand enough of it to form the question which he put
to Philip, concerning in the passage in the prophecy relating to Jesus Christ.
HEBREW LANGUAGE After having spoken of the books contained in the Bible, and of
the divisions of those books which have been used by the Jews and the
Christians, both in ancient and modern times, it may now be necessary to examine
a little into the language in which they were written. The Old Testament was
originally written in the Hebrew tongue and this language is generally
considered as having the best claims to be considered the most ancient at
present existing in the world, and, perhaps, as the primeval tongue of the human
race. By the Hebrew language, therefore, is meant that which was spoken by
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the twelve patriarchs, which was afterward preserved
among their posterity, and in which Moses wrote, it being improbable that he
would employ any other language than that which was in use among the Jews. This
language is supposed by some to derive its name from Heber, great-grandson son
to Shem, whose posterity were denominated Hebrews; but it is much more likely
that it received its name from its being the mother-tongue of the descendants of
Abraham, who were called Hebrews, not because they were descended from Heber,
but because Abraham, having received a command from God to leave the country
where he lived, which was beyond the Euphrates, passed that river, and came into
the land of Canaan, where the inhabitants of the country gave him the name of
the Hebrew, that is, one that has passed over; in the same manner as the French
call all those that live beyond the mountains, Ultramontanes. The reasons that
demonstrate the antiquity of the Hebrew tongue are many. In the first place, the
names which the Scripture explains are therein drawn from Hebrew roots. It was
thus that the first man was called Adam, because he had been formed out of the
ground, which in Hebrew is called Adamah. The first woman was called Eve,
because she was the origin of life to all, evach in Hebrew signifying to live.
The name of Cain, which comes from Canah, signifying to acquire, or get, alludes
to what Eve said when he was born: “I have got a man from the Lord.” The
explanation of these names is not to be found in any language but the Hebrew,
and as this relation between names and things does not occur in any other
language, it is in it alone that we can see the reasons why the first human
beings were so called. The names of an immense number of people, also, who are
descended from the Hebrews, show the antiquity both of the nation and the
language. The Assurians, for instance, derive their name from Ashur, the
Elamites from Elam, the Arameans from Aram, the Lydians from Lud, the Medes from
Madai, and the Ionians from Javan, who are all traced in the Hebrew bible to
Shem, Ham, and Japheth. These names lhave no signification in any language but
the Hebrew, which shows that they are derived thence, as are also the ancient
names of the pagan deities; to which we must add the remark which several
learned men have made, namely, that there is no language in which some remains
of the Hebrew are not to be found. A very apposite example, in allusion to the
meaning of proper names in Hebrew, is to be found in the Book of Ruth, toward
the end of the first chapter where it is said, “And the whole town was in
commotion about them; and the women said, Is this Naomi? And she said, Call me
not Naomi (which means Delightful); call me Marah (which means Bitter); for the
Almighty (Emer) hath caused bitterness exceedingly to me. I went away full, and
Jehovah hath caused me to return empty; wherefore then do ye call me Naomi,
since Jehovah hath brought affliction on me, and the Almighty hath caused evil
to befall me?” Thus we see that in Hebrew, as well as in most of the oriental
languages, all proper names are significant words; and this is found to be the
case also among many of the nations of Africa. This circumstance has a great
effect in increasing the energy of the diction in these tongues; for it not
infrequently happens, as in the case of Naomi, that the speaker or writer, in
addressing a person by his name, makes use of it at the same time as a word of
ordinary signification, to express something in the inward disposition or the
outward circumstances of the possessor. Instances of this occur in almost every
page of the Hebrew scriptures; and, as may readily be supposed, it is impossible
in such cases, for any common translation to do justice to the energy of the
original. We have a very remarkable example of this in the twenty-fifth chapter
of I Samuel, at the twenty-fifth verse, in which Abigail, speaking of her
husband Nabal, says to David: “Let not my lord set his mind at all now toward
the man of Belial (that is, worthless), this same person, Nabal (which means a
scoundrel); for like his name so is he; Nabal is his name, and Nebelah (that is,
vileness) is with him.” In speaking of the meaning of proper names, however, the
most extraordinary example, perhaps, that can be produced from any book, either
ancient or modern, is the following, which is to be found in the fifth chapter
of Genesis: the names of the ten antediluvian patriarchs, from Adam to Noah
inclusive, are there given; and when these ten names are literally translated,
and placed in the order in which they occur, they form altogether the following
very remarkable sentence in English: man, appointed, miserable, lamenting the
God of glory, shall descend, to instruct, his death sends to the afflicted,
consolation! We need not be surprised, therefore, at what is mentioned in the
Spectator (No. 221), of a certain rabbinical divine having taken the first three
of these names as the subject of his discourse, forming thus the text of a
regular sermon. “We had a rabbinical divine in England,” says Addison, “who was
chaplain to the earl of Essex in Queen Elizabeth's time, that had an admirable
head for secrets of this nature. Upon his taking the doctor of divinity's
degree, he preached before the university of Cambridge upon the first verse of
the first chapter of the First Book of Chronicles, 'in which,' says he, 'you
have the three following words: 'Adam, Sheth, Enosh.'' “He divided this short
text into many parts, and by discovering several mysteries in each word, made a
most learned and elaborate discourse. The name of this profound preacher was Dr.
Alabaster, of whom the reader may find a more particular account in Dr. Fuller's
Book of English Worthies.” It is evident, that although this matter appeared
ridiculous enough in Addison's eyes, so as to furnish him with a theme for a
very amusing paper, yet, on considering attentively the meaning of the original
words here used as proper names, a great deal of very sound doctrine might be
elicited by a subtle divine, even from such an apparently insignificant text. In
the same way the names of animals in Hebrew are found to be words expressive of
their qualities, which gives support to the idea that this was the language
which Adam used when he gave them their names; as we find recorded in Genesis
2:19 : “And Jehovah God formed out of the ground every beast of the field, and
he formed also every fowl of the heavens; and he brought them unto Adam to see
what he would call them, and whatever Adam called it--the living creature--it is
its name.” Some of the names of animals in Hebrew are still found to be clearly
descriptive of their qualities, and therefore in regard to what animal is
intended there can in such cases be no dispute. But with respect to some others
the matter is not so plain, as, from the root not being now found in the
language, the ideal meaning of the name can not be so readily ascertained: and
hence the eleventh chapter of Leviticus, in which the names of certain clean and
unclean animals are enumerated, presents difficulties to a translator of no
ordinary description. There is, perhaps, no language in the world so easily
reduced to its original elements as the Hebrew. As Wilson has well expressed it,
“We descend from words to their element; and the accurate knowledge of letters
is the principal part of Hebrew grammar. Its flexion nearly approaches that of
the modern languages, particularly the English. The relations and dependences of
nouns are not distinguished by terminations, or cases, but by particles or
prepositions prefixed. The persons, moods, or tenses, of verbs are not marked by
the changes of their last syllables, but by means of letters of a particular
order, which sometimes appear in the middle, sometimes in the beginning, and
sometimes in the end of the original ward.” In fact the structure of the Hebrew
language is peculiarly favorable for the expression of energy and sublimity. The
words, as is well known, are remarkable for shortness, the greater part
consisting of not more than two, three, or four letters; few words have more
than ten letters, and those that consist of that number are not many. The
sentences are also for the most part short, and are quite free from that
complexity which is apt to embarrass the reader when perusing even the best
authors of Greece and Rome. The idiom of any language consists in the order of
the words; but it is well known that, in this respect, the Greek and Latin
tongues are extremely capricious, the words being arranged in them not in the
order of the understanding, but of the ear, according to the sound rather than
the sense. The Greek and Roman writers place the emphatic words in whatever
order the sentence can be made to run most musically, though the sense be
suspended till the speaker or reader come to the end; and hence the need of so
many flexions and syntax-rules for a learner to arrange them to find out the
meaning. Yet even for this purpose more declensions than one were not necessary;
nor more teases than three, a past, a present, and a future. From this mass of
perplexity the Hebrew language is entirely free. Its original words, called
roots consist of a proper number of letters, commonly three, the fewest that
make a perfect number; and they express an action finished or expressed by a
single agent. It has a proper number of voices, that is, active, passive, and
medial--and only the tenses that are in nature. Its primitive words are more
sentimental and scientific than sonorous; and they express original ideas, being
definitions of things descriptive of their natures. The Hebrew, Greek, and
Latin, and such as are immediately derived from them, or constructed on their
model, are the only languages that are formed on a regular artificial plan; and
all other tongues of which we know anything, except perhaps the Persian and the
Sanskrit, must be considered in comparison as mere gibberish, being quite rude
in their original formation; nor is it possible to reduce them to another state,
without wholly metamorphosing them. That which was never the language of a
cultivated, learned people, and in which there are no literary works of taste,
cannot be a polished language, although it may have been the language of a
civilized nation, or of a court, if they were only an illiterate people. In a
word, all languages that have a concourse of consonants, or silent letters, are
rude in their writing or pronunciation, whatever their structure may be. The
Greek and Latin are free from the latter fault, and the Hebrew from both. “As
Solomon possessed the most wisdom and knowledge,” says Mr. Ray, “and treated all
subjects of natural philosophy, etc., and his court being the most splendid and
elegant, as people came to it from all nations, and greatly admired it, the
Hebrew must be a copious, elegant language; and its structure is invariable,
being the same in Moses and Malachi, at a thousand years' distance.” In speaking
of the genius of a language, indeed, which is its force, vigor, or energy, the
Hebrew, may, without doubt, be said to excel all. It is evident therefore that
if, as Longinus observes, “saying the greatest things in the fewest words” be
essential to simplicity and energy in discourse, the Hebrew is the best language
in the world for the purpose. In it we have no superfluous parts of a sentence
in words, or even in letters. A Hebrew writer conveys his meaning without
circumlocution; for, although he were inclined, he would be unable to accomplish
it, because the language is quite unsuitable in its nature for being employed in
any such way; and therefore if an author's subject be good, even although he
should possess but little genius, he will find no great difficulty to clothe his
ideas in sublime and energetic language, if he write in Hebrew.[3] The Bible was
composed, says Prof. Lange, in the two leading languages of antiquity, which
reflect the greatest contrast in the intellectual world. The Hebrew tongue may
be characterized as the most unstudied and child-like, as the deepest, purest,
and most direct language of spiritual experiences; while the Greek the most
cultivated, refined, and philosophical expression of intellectual life--Ed. Such
is the simple nature of the formation of this primitive language, and which
seems, at the same time, to entitle it more to the claim of being a
philosophical tongue than, perhaps, any other in the world. It is remarkable
that the structure of this very ancient language approaches closely to that of
the English, and other modern tongues, as the relations and dependences of
nouns, according to what has been already remarked, are not distinguished by
terminations, or cases, as in Greek and Latin, but by particles or prepositions
(or little words) prefixed, and which are, at the same time, conjoined with the
noun, as if they were a part of it. The advantages which the Hebrew language
possesses, above all others, in the simplicity of its formation--its remarkable
originality, in that it borrows from no language, while almost all others borrow
from it--as also the ideality which is found to pervade its roots or primitive
words--have all been considered as entitling it to higher claims in the
consideration of philosophers, than any other language in the world, either
ancient or modern. These notions have been carried to such a length, indeed, by
some learned men, that they gave rise to an entirely new school of philosophy,
generally know by the designation of the Hutchinsonian; the disciples of which
are remarkable as being opposed in many things the Newtonian system, and as
being possessed with the belief that in the Hebrew language, and in it alone,
are to be found the germs of all true philosophy.


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  CHAPTER 4: INTEGRITY OF THE TEXT
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INTEGRITY OF THE TEXT The sacred books which were written, as we have seen, in
Hebrew, the language of the patriarchs, have been preserved down to our days
without any corruption; and the same judgment may also be formed of those other
books of Scripture which have been since written in Greek. But before proving
the purity and integrity of these original texts, it may be necessary to remove
a prejudice which may arise from the variety of different readings that are
found in the manuscript and printed copies of the Bible. VARIOUS READINGS The
different manner in which some passages are expressed in different manuscripts,
together with the omission or insertion of a word, or of a clause, constitute
what are called various readings. This was occasioned by the oversights or
mistakes of transcribers, who deviated from the copy before them, these persons
not being, as some have supposed, supernaturally guarded against the possibility
of error; and a mistake in one copy would, of course, be propagated through all
that were taken from it, each of which copies might likewise have peculiar
faults of its own, so that various readings would thus be increased in
proportion to the number of transcripts that were made. Besides actual
oversights, transcribers might have occasioned various readings by substituting,
through ignorance, one word, or even letter, in place of another; they might
have mistaken the line on which the copy before them was written, for part of a
letter, or they might have mistaken the lower stroke of a letter for the line,
and thus have altered the reading; at the same time they were unwilling to
correct such mistakes as they detected, lest their pages should appear blotted
or defaced; and thus they sacrificed the correctness of their copy to its fair
appearance. Copiers seem not infrequently, to have added letters to the last
word in their lines, in order to preserve them even, and marginal notes have
been sometimes introduced into the text. These different circumstances, as well
as others with which we may not be acquainted, did no doubt contribute very much
to produce and multiply mistakes and variations in the manuscripts of the Hebrew
scriptures. This language is more susceptible of corruption, and any alteration
would be more detrimental in it than in others. In English, if a letter be
omitted, or altered, the mistake can be easily corrected, because the word thus
corrupted may have no meaning; but in Hebrew, almost every combination of the
letters forms a new word, so that an alteration of even one letter of any
description is likely to produce a new word and a new meaning. Thus putting all
alterations made knowingly--for the purpose of corrupting the text, out of the
question--we must allow that from these circumstances connected with the
transcribing, some errata may have found their way into it, and that the sacred
Scriptures have in this case suffered the fate of other productions of
antiquity. When we have collected all the differences that are found in
manuscripts of the original text, and have selected from them what are really
various readings, we are able to determine, from the number and authority of the
manuscripts, with tolerable correctness, what is the genuine reading. Beside the
authority of the manuscript, we must also be guided in determining the true
reading by the scope of the passage, by the interpretations and quotations of
ancient writers, by the old versions, and not infrequently by Scripture itself;
for similar or parallel passages will often be found useful for this purpose.
When all these things are considered, it will seldom happen that the true
reading of a passage will be doubtful; yet should it continue so, either reading
may contain a truth, though certainly both can not be authentic, and in a
theological point of view, either of them may be followed without involving a
doctrinal error; and in such a case, the common reading should not be
relinquished. To a person who has not considered the subject closely, it may
appear sufficient to overthrow the authority of the text, that no less than
thirty thousand various readings of the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments
have been discovered. But when these are examined closely, and all that are not
properly various readings are rejected, the number will be considerably
diminished; from these again let all be deducted which make no alteration in the
several passages to which they refer, and the reduction will be much greater;
and out of the remainder there are none found that can invalidate the authority
of those doctrines that have been esteemed fundamental, or that can shake a
single portion of that internal evidence whereby the divine origin of the
Scriptures is supported; so that the friends of revelation had no grounds for
the alarm they felt at the time when the subject of various readings began to be
discussed. These observations apply strongly to the New Testament, which, as it
has been transcribed more frequently, and probably by less skilful transcribers
than the Old, has, in proportion, many more various readings. Respecting these,
however, it has been said, that “all the omissions of the ancient manuscripts
put together, would not countenance the omission of any essential doctrine of
the gospel, relative to faith of morals; and all the additions countenanced by
the whole mass of manuscripts already collated, do not introduce a single point
essential either to faith or morals, beyond what may be found in the
Complutensian or Elzevir editions.[4] Vide Dr. Adam Clarke's Tract on the
Editions of the New Testament, and also the Critical Editions of the New
Testament, by Tichendorf, Dr. Henry Alford, and Dr. S. P. Tregelles--Ed. HEBREW
SCRIPTURE INTEGRITY The manner in which the original text of the Scriptures,
particularly the Hebrew, has been preserved free from all material corruption,
and handed down pure through such a long succession of ages, may now form the
subject of our especial consideration. It has been supposed by many that the
Christian fathers accused the Jews of corrupting the text; but from an
examination of such passages as seem to imply this, it appears that they spoke
not of corrupting the text, but of adopting unfaithful translations. Justin
Martyr, one of the most celebrated of the Christian fathers, defends the Jews
very well as to this point, and proves that they have not corrupted the
Scriptures; and it is past doubt that they have not; for, as St. Jerome
observes, before the birth of Jesus Christ they had certainly made no malicious
alterations in them. If they had done so, our Savior and his apostles, who cast
so many reproaches upon the scribes and Pharisees, would not have passed over in
silence so great a crime. To suppose such a thing, indeed, were to know little
of the attachment of the Jews for the Scriptures. Josephus and Philo assure us
that they would have undergone all sorts of torments rather than have taken a
letter from the Scripture, or altered a word in it. A copy which had only one
fault in it was by them thought polluted, and was not suffered to be kept above
thirty days; and one that had four faults was ordered to be hid in the earth. In
the Babylonian Talmud it is laid down as a regulation, that “the books of the
law which have been written by a heretic, a traitor, one who is a stranger to
the Jewish religion, an idolatrous minister--by which they mean a monk--a slave,
a woman, one under age, a Cuthæan, or Christian, or an apostate Israelite, are
unlawful.” “This,” says St. Augustine, “is a most visible effect of the
providence of God over his church. It pleased him that the Jews should be our
librarians; that, when the Pagans reject the oracles of the ancient prophets
concerning Jesus Christ, which we quote against them as being invented by us, we
might refer them to the enemies of our religion, who will show them in their
books the same prophecies which we quote against them.” MASSORITES The class of
Jewish doctors called Massorites were grammarians, who engaged with peculiar
ardor in the revisal of the Hebrew scriptures. The Massoritic notes and
criticisms relate to the verses, words, letters, vowel-points, and accents. All
the verses of each book and of each section are numbered, and the amount placed
at the end of each in numerical letters, or in some symbolical word formed out
of them; the middle verse of each book is also marked, and even the very letters
are numbered; and all this is done to preserve the text from any alteration, by
either fraud or negligence. For instance, Bereshith, or Genesis, is marked as
containing 1,534 verses, and the middle one is at--“And by thy sword thou shalt
live” (Genesis 27:40). The lines are 4,395; its columns are 43, and its chapters
50. The number of its words is 27,713, and its letters are 78,100. The
Massoritic notes, or Massorah, as the work is called, contain also observations
on the words and letters of the verses; for instance, how many verses end with
the letter samech; how many there are in which the same word is repeated twice
or thrice; and other remarks of a similar nature. It seems now generally agreed
upon that the Massorites of Tiberias, during the fourth century of the Christian
era, were the inventors of the system of the vowel-points and accents in the
Hebrew Bible; and although they multiply them very unnecessarily, it must be
allowed that this is the most useful of their works. From the points learn how
the text was read in their time, as we know they were guided in affixing them by
the mode of reading which then prevailed, and which they supposed to have been
traditionally conveyed down from the sacred writers. The Massoritic notes were
at first written in separate rolls, but they are now usually placed in the
margin, or at the top and bottom of the page in printed copies. Many opinions
are entertained about the authors of them; some think they were begun by Moses;
others regard them as the work of Ezra and the members of the great synagogue,
among whom were the later prophets; while others refer them entirely to the
rabbins of Tiberias, who are usually styled the Massorites, and suppose that
they commenced this system, which was augmented and continued at different times
by various authors, so that it was not the work of one man, nor of one age. It
is not improbable that these notes were begun about the time of the Maccabees,
when the Pharisees, who were called the masters of tradition, first began to
make their observations on the letter of the law though they were regardless of
its spirit. They might have commenced by numbering first the verses, next the
words and letters; and then, when the vowel-points were added, others continued
the system by making observations on them. On the whole, then it appears that
what is called the Massorah is entitled to no greater reverence or attention
than may be claimed by any other human compilation; but, at the same time, it
must be allowed that it has preserved the Hebrew text from the time it was
formed, and conveyed it to us as perfect as any ancient work could be given.
KERI AND CATIB The various readings given in the Hebrew Bibles, and which are
technically denominated by the Jews the Keri and Cetib, are not to be ascribed
to Moses or the prophets, for it can not be supposed that inspired writers were
ignorant of what was the true reading of the scripture text. One principal
occasion of the notes of the Keri and Cetib is, that there are several words
which the Jews, either from superstitious reverence or from contempt, are never
allowed to pronounce. When they meet with them in the text, instead of
pronouncing them, they pronounce others that are marked by certain vowels or
consonants in the margin. The chief of these is the great name of God JEHOVAH,
instead of which they always read Adonai, Lord, or Elohim, God. This is the word
called Tetragrammaton, or the ineffable name of God, consisting of the four
letters, Yod, He, Wau, He. The people were not suffered to pronounce it; the
high-priest alone had that privilege, and that only in the temple once a year,
when he blessed the people on the great day of atonement; and hence it is, that,
as this holy name has not been pronounced since the destruction of the temple,
its true pronunciation is now lost. Galatinus in the sixteenth century, was the
first who thought fit to say, that it ought to be pronounced Jehovah; “which did
not happen,” says Pere l'Amy, “without a very particular providence of God, who
was pleased, that when the Jews lost the temple in which the true God was
worshipped, they should at the same time lose the true pronunciation of his
august name. It happened, I say, because, being no longer willing to be their
God (for the destruction of the temple was an authentic testimony of the divorce
which he gave them), he would not leave them the power of so much as pronouncing
his name.”[5] Vide “Apparatus Biblicus, or an Introduction to the Study of the
Holy Scriptures.” Josephus, himself a priest, says it was unlawful for him to
speak of the name whereby God was made known to Moses; and if it be true that
the pronunciation of it was connected with the temple service, it is not
surprising that all trace of it should be lost when the temple was destroyed,
and when the Jews grew every day more superstitiously afraid of pronouncing it.
Leusden, the great orientalist, is said to have offered a Jew at Amsterdam a
considerable sum of money if he would pronounce it only once, but in vain.
EASTERN AND WESTERN READINGS Besides the various readings called the Keri and
Cetib, which the Jews admit to be the oldest, there are two other kinds of
various readings which deserve our notice, because they are given in some
printed bibles. The first are those of the eastern and western Jews; the second,
those between the manuscripts of Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali. By the eastern Jews
we are to understand those of Babylon; by the western, those of Palestine. At
Babylon and in Palestine, after the destruction of the city and temple, there
were famous schools for many ages, and between the learned men of these places
much rivalship existed; so that each party, by following their own copies, gave
rise to a collection of various readings, or corrections of the text, whose
antiquity is acknowledged, though it does not appear exactly at what time it was
made. The other collection is called after the heads of two celebrated
schools--Ben Asher, at Tiberias, and Ben Naphtali, at Babylon, who were two
famous Massorites, that lived about the year 1,030, and were the last of them.
Both of these rabbis labored to produce a correct copy of the Scriptures, and
the followers of each corrected theirs by that of their master. The variations
between them relate to the points, and in but one instance is there any
difference in the writing of a word; so that they do not affect the integrity of
the text. What has been said of the integrity of the text of the Old Testament,
may be applied also to the New, in so far as it may he charged with corruptions,
in consequence of the negligence of transcribers, as also in consequence of the
attempt of heretics to make it conform to their erroneous sentiments. Though it
must be admitted that the New Testament text, by being more frequently
transcribed than that of the Old, became liable to a greater proportion of
various readings, originating from the mistakes of the transcribers; yet thus
very circumstance was likewise a sure protection against willful perversion or
corruption; for in proportion as copies were multiplied, the difficulty of
effecting a general corruption was increased. No such system as that of the
Massorites was ever adopted to preserve the purity of the New Testament text;
but we have it in our power to use various means for ascertaining what is the
true reading of the text, without having recourse to such a plan as that of the
Massorah; and concordances, which are now brought to an uncommon degree of
perfection, are of great use in preserving it from corruption; in fact, the
single one of Buxtorf has done more toward fixing the genuine reading, and
pointing out the true meaning of Scripture, than the entire body of the
Massoritic notes. We have the consent of the church, in all ages and countries,
to prove our copies of the New Testament scriptures authentic, and the
authenticity of the Hebrew text is confirmed by Christ and his apostles; and, in
concluding this part of the subject, it may be remarked, that the general
integrity of the Hebrew text receives additional confirmation from the ancient
versions, as will more fully appear hereafter.


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  CHAPTER 5: ANCIENT VERSIONS
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ANCIENT VERSIONS Originally there was but one version of the Scriptures; but a
schism of a remarkable nature which broke out between the Jews and the
Samaritans, was the cause of producing another version; and of this, and those
which followed, we are now about to speak. The Second Book of Kings furnishes us
with the history of this schism, which, it will be recollected, was caused by
the setting up of certain golden calves to be worshipped at Dan and Bethel, by
Jeroboam. Omri hence built Samaria, and made it the capital of his kingdom, and
thus was the separation between Judah and Israel rendered complete. Samaria was,
at first, only the name of a city, but afterward it became that of a province.
It contained the tribe of Ephraim, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, which was on
this side Jordan; so that it was to the north of Judea, and between the Great
sea, Galilee, and Jordan; and there was, therefore, no going from Galilee to
Jerusalem without passing through this province. The capital of the district,
subsequent to the captivity, was Shechem, afterward called Neapolis, or Naplous,
which was situated between the mountains Gerizim and Ebal. SAMARITANS In the
reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, Samaria was taken by Shalmanezer, and the ten
tribes were carried into captivity. Some years after, Esarhaddon sent the
Cutheans to supply the place of the Jews, and to inhabit Samaria; and these
people, who knew not the true God, but continued their idolatrous practices, and
burnt their children in the fire to Moloch, were punished for their idolatry
with lions, which made great havoc among them. For this reason, at their
request, Esarhaddon sent some of those priests who had been carried into
captivity, to instruct them, and teach them the worship of the true God. They
did not embrace it with purity, however, but mixed the remains of paganism with
their religion; for which reason, in the writings of the Jewish rabbis, they are
denominated, in scorn, “The proselytes of the lions;” because it was through
fear of them that they mixed the worship of the Creator with that of their
idols. Nevertheless, when Manasses, the son of Jaddus, the high-priest of the
Jews, had built the temple on Mount Gerizim, the Samaritans then retained their
old superstitions no longer, but always contended that their temple was more
holy than that of Jerusalem; inferring from the ark's having been a long time at
Shiloh, near Ephraim, that the worship of God had rather begun in their country
than in Jerusalem. According to Josephus, they claimed kindred with the Jews in
their prosperity, but renounced all connection with them when they were under
persecution. From John's gospel we learn, that when the Messiah was on the
earth, the Samaritans, who received no part of the Old Testament except the
Pentateuch, had lost all tradition of the revolt and subsequent captivity of the
ten tribes; they considered themselves descended from the stock of Israel,
claimed Jacob for their father, and contended that the “holy mountain” was in
the portion assigned to them by Joshua. There was no particular enmity between
the two nations until the time of Ezra. Incensed by the opposition they gave to
the building of the temple, from the time their assistance was refused, he is
said to have solemnly excommunicated them; and hence arose that enmity, which
was carried to such a height that “the Jews had no dealings with the
Samaritans;” and, from Ezra's time, Samaria became a refuge for the malcontent
Jews. Ptolemy Lagos carried numbers, both of the Samaritans and of Jews, into
Egypt, where a fierce contest took place between them respecting the sanctity of
their temples, each party insisting that theirs stood on the holy mount. The
point was discussed publicly in presence of the king, and the Samaritan
advocates, failing in their proof, were put to death. In the year 109 before
Christ, John Hyrcanus destroyed the city and temple of the Samaritans, and,
though afterward, viz., in the year 25 before Christ, King Herod built them a
city and temple, they still continued to worship on Mount Gerizim. In the
twelfth century, Benjamin of Tudela found some remains of these people in that
country, where they are still to be found. During the revolt of the Jews, the
Samaritans continued in their subjection to the Romans; and since that period
they have always remained subject to different powers who have been in
possession of that and the neighboring countries. It is supposed that the
present Hebrew character was first adopted from the Chaldeans by Ezra, at the
time when, after the return of the Jews from Babylon, he collected the
Scriptures, and formed the entire canon. As the people were familiarized with
the Chaldee he used that character in transcribing the Old Testament. What is
now called the Samaritan, was the character used by Moses and the prophets; and
Ezra relinquished it to the Samaritans, it is said, in order to render the
separation between them and the Jews more complete. Since that time, the Jews
have used the character we call the Hebrew, and the Samaritans have retained the
others. The value of the Samaritan Pentateuch is very great; for, where its text
accords with the Hebrew text, it confirms it most decidedly; because, as the
Jews and Samaritans were such inveterate enemies, there never could have been
any designed corruption effected by them both. It frequently confirms, and
sometimes corrects, the reading of the Hebrew in important places; and it
overturns all that system of rabbinical trifling, by which mysterious knowledge
is said to be communicated through the shape and positions of certain letters,
or certain words, which they pretend Moses learned from God, because such things
can not be applied to its characters. As the Samaritans do not understand the
Hebrew text, although in the character of their own language, they have found it
necessary to translate it for common use. For, as the Jews, after the Babylonish
captivity, degenerated in their language from the Hebrew to the Babylonish
dialect, so the Samaritans did the same, most probably, by bringing this dialect
out of Assyria with them, when they first came to plant in Samaria. Therefore,
as the Jews, for the sake of the vulgar among them who understood only the
common language, were forced to make Chaldee versions of the Scriptures, which
they called Targums, so the Samaritans, for the same reason, were obliged to do
the same thing, and to make a version of their Pentateuch into the vulgar
Samaritan, which is, most probably, the most ancient translation of the Bible in
existence. This Samaritan version is not made, like the Chaldee versions among
the Jews, by way of paraphrase, but by an exact rendering of the text word for
word, for the most part without any variation. Being perfectly literal, the same
Latin translation answers both to it and the Samaritan Pentateuch; and all the
three are published in the Paris and London polyglots. GREEK BIBLE--SEPTUAGINT
There were two causes which chiefly conduced to render the Greek language, at
one time, of almost universal use in the world. The first cause was the
conquests of Alexander the Great, who was, by nation, a Grecian, king of
Macedon, and afterward ruler of the greater part of the then known world. His
vast empire, although divided, yet subsisted for a great length of time, as his
officers divided it among themselves, and reigned in different countries, so
that the Greeks still continued to have dominion in the world, particularly the
Seleucidae, in Syria, and the Ptolomies, in Egypt by which means the Greek
language became known and in use, both in Judea and Egypt. The other cause of
the extent of this language, was the high reputation the Greeks had acquired for
learning and wisdom, which it made many people desirous of knowing their
language, who were not subject to their dominion. This then, was the language
which was made use of to give the Gentiles the first knowledge of the Messiah.
The Greek version of the Old Testament prepared the way for the gospel. The
Gentiles read in these books the prophecies which the apostles showed had been
accomplished in Jesus Christ: and they found, also, that the obstinate
incredulity of the Jews had been foretold in them. They could not suspect the
fidelity of the apostles, because this version of the Scriptures had not been
made by them; nor could they accuse the Jews of having altered these books,
because, as they were, the Jews were condemned in them. Besides, the time at
which it was made, gave this translation of the Bible a prodigious deal of
weight; because, from its having appeared before the birth of Jesus Christ,
neither Pagans nor Jews could say that the ancient prophecies therein contained
had been adapted to the circumstances of his life. Whoever were the authors of
this the first translation of the Scriptures into Greek, commonly known by the
name of the Seventy, or the Septuagint, and of which the Jewish historians,
Philo and Josephus, have spoken much, no one doubts that it was made long before
the time of Jesus Christ; and it is of great authority. Several passages of the
Old Testament, which are quoted in the New, are taken thence; and, being thus
noticed by the writers of the New Testament, from their mode of using it, we may
infer that it was in general circulation among the apostolic churches. All the
other ancient versions, likewise, which were publicly read in the different
churches of the world, the Arabic, the Ethiopic, the Armenian, the Gothic, the
Illyrican, and the ancient Latin, which was in use before St Jerome's time, were
made from it; and, in short every one of them, except the Syriac, were made from
that of the Seventy, and to this day the Greek church, and the churches of the
east, have no other. It is this version that the fathers and doctors of the
church have explained and commented upon. It was from this version that they
drew their decisions in matters of faith, and their precepts of morality. It was
by this that they confuted heresies and both general and particular councils
explained themselves by it. Thus, whoever the authors of it were, its authority
is great; and that upon this account only, if no other, that it was made at a
time when the Hebrew was a living language, and, consequently, more easy to be
understood than it is now, when it is almost impossible to come at the true
understanding of it, otherwise than by the assistance of the ancient versions.
For these reasons, we shall turn our attention, somewhat particularly, to the
history of this celebrated version. ORIGIN OF THE SEPTUAGINT Alexander the
Great, on his building of the city of Alexandria, in Egypt, brought a great many
Jews thither to help to plant the new city; and Ptolemy Soter, after his death,
having fixed the seat of his government there, and set his heart much upon the
enlarging and adorning of it, brought thither many more of this nation for the
same purpose; where, having granted to them the same privileges with the
Macedonians and other Greeks, they soon grew to be a great part of the
inhabitants of that city. Their continual intercourse with the other citizens,
among whom they were there mingled, having obliged them to learn and constantly
use the Greek language, the same happened to them here, as had happened to them
before at Babylon; that is, by accustoming themselves to a foreign language,
they forgot their own. Hence, from their no longer understanding the Hebrew
language, in which the Scriptures had been hitherto first read, nor the Chaldee,
in which they were after that interpreted in every synagogue, they got them
translated into Greek for their own use, that this version might serve for the
same purpose in Alexandria and Egypt, as the Chaldee paraphrases afterward did
in Jerusalem and Judea. After the time of Ezra, the Scriptures were read to the
Jews in Hebrew, and interpreted into the Chaldee language; but at Alexandria,
after the writing of this version, it was interpreted to them in Greek, which
was afterward done also in all other Grecian cities where the Jews became
dispersed. There are several opinions which modern writers have entertained
respecting the origin of the Septuagint version, but the commonly received
opinion is that entertained by Bishop Walton, the author of the London polyglot
and is the same which is given in an historical account of the transaction, as
related by a Hellenistic Jew, who flourished in the time of Ptolemy
Philadelphus, king of Egypt. The account of the affair, as contained in a book
written by the person above mentioned, whose name was Aristeas, is as follows:
King Ptolemy Philadelphus, having, by the advice of Demetrius Phalerius, caused
a magnificent library to be erected at Alexandria, and given him the direction
of it, this philosopher spoke to him of the sacred books of the Jews, as of a
work which would do honor to his library. The prince, therefore, resolved to
have a copy of the Jewish law translated into Greek, his own language, and that
which was then universally understood. For this purpose he sent ambassadors to
Jerusalem, to Eleazar, the high-priest, with magnificent presents for the
temple. Their instructions were, to desire him to give the king a copy of the
sacred books, and to send him some persons of distinction and learning, who
might translate them into Greek. Aristeas, who was a chief officer in the king's
guards, and a chief man in the kingdom of Egypt, was of this embassy; and
Eleazar, who received him with honor, was, according to Josephus, the son of
Onias the First, the brother of Simon the just: who is mentioned in the
apocryphal book called Ecclesiasticus, and grandson to Jaddus, who went to meet
Alexander the Great, and made him confer favorable terms upon the Jews. The
high-priest consulted with the great council of the nation, called the
Sanhedrin, in regard to Ptolemy's request, and afterward chose six men out of
each tribe--seventy-two in all--gave them a copy of the law, written in letters
of gold, upon skins curiously fastened together, and sent them into Egypt. The
king received them favorably, and showed a great deal of respect for the divine
books; He then assigned them a residence in the isle of Pharos, about seven
furlongs distant from Alexandria, where they completed the version in
seventy-two days. Demetrius caused it to be read publicly in the presence of the
priests, great men, and all the Jews, who were then very numerous at Alexandria,
and it was universally applauded; they cried out, with one voice, that the
translation was just and faithful; and, in order to render it not only
authentic, but also unalterable, they made imprecations against those who should
attempt to make any alteration in it. When it was read to the king, he admired
the wisdom of the lawgiver, and commanded the books to be deposited in his
library, allowing copies to be taken for the use of the Jews; he then sent back
the seventy-two elders, after leaving made them some rich presents. The most
magnificent of these presents was the freeing of one hundred and twenty thousand
Jewish captives, whose ransom he paid, and gave them liberty to return into
Judea. This version soon became common among all the Jews who spoke the Greek
language, and was read publicly in their synagogues. It is not accurately
ascertained in what year all this took place; Walton thinks the opinion which
fixes it in the 7th of Ptolemy, and the 278th before Christ, the most probable.


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  CHAPTER 6: THE SEPTUAGINT AND VULGATE
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THE SEPTUAGINT AND VULGATE It has generally been admitted that the Septuagint,
which, as has been explained, is so called from the number seventy or, more
properly, seventy-two interpreters, who were said to be employed in the
formation of it, was the first Greek version of the Old Testament. No mention
has been made of any that preceded it, and it can not be deemed probable that
Ptolemy would have taken so much pains to procure a version of the Jewish law,
had any other previously existed; and it is equally improbable he should have
been unacquainted with it, had it existed at a time when, with the assistance of
Demetrius, he was procuring Greek books from every part of the world. It is
plainly affirmed by Philo, that before his time the law was not known to any
language but the original. The acquaintance with Jewish customs and Jewish
history, which many heathen writers, before the reign of Ptolemy, have
manifested, has led many persons to conclude that they must have derived their
knowledge from a Greek version of at least parts of the Old Testament. Yet we
may account for the knowledge of Jewish customs, etc. which these writers
display without supposing that they obtained it from any Greek version; for we
have direct evidence that Aristotle, at least, had intercourse with the Jews,
for the purpose of gaining information respecting their law; and as the
philosophers were certainly acquainted with the doctrine of the Gymnosophists
and the Druids, who had not any written law, so we may suppose they obtained
their knowledge of the Jewish religion from personal intercourse with
individuals of that nation. At first, it is probable, the law only was
translated, for there was no need of the other books in the public worship; no
other part of the Scriptures but the law having been in early times read in the
synagogues. But afterward, when the reading of the prophets also came into use
in the synagogues of Judea, in the time of the persecution under Antiochus
Epiphanies, and the Jews of Alexandria, who in those times conformed themselves
to the usages of Judea and Jerusalem in all matters of religion, were induced
hereby to do the same; this caused a translation of the prophets also to be
there made into the Greek language, in like manner as the law had been before.
After this, other persons translated the rest for the private use of the same
people; and so that whole version was completed which we now call the
Septuagint; and after it was thus made, it became of common use among all the
churches of the Hellenistical Jews, wherever they were dispersed among the
Grecian cities. When the Hebrew language had ceased to be the common tongue, the
version of the seventy was read in the synagogues, even in Judea itself. It is
true, this was not universally done; there was a sort of division among the Jews
about it; some were for having the Scripture read only in Hebrew, and were
therefore called Hebrews, or Hebraizers; while others read it in Greek, and were
called Hellenists, that is, Grecians, or Grecizers, as has been already
observed. As the number of the latter was greater than that of the Hebrew-Jews,
and the apostles preached most frequently to them, it is not to be wondered at,
as St. Jerome observes, that the passages of the Old Testament which are quoted
in the New, are sometimes borrowed thence. It is thus seen that this version
preceded the publication of the gospel; and it has been authorized by the use
which the apostles made of it, as well as the whole church. It seems very
evident however, from various passages, as Parkhurst has remarked, that the
writers of the New Testament, in their citations of the Old, did not intend
either literally to translate the Hebrew, or to stamp their authority on the
seventy translation, but only to refer us to the original Scriptures. THE AQUILA
GREEK VERSION The Septuagint version was continued in public use among the Jews
for more than three hundred years; but as it grew into use among the Christians,
it went out of credit with the Jews. In the twelfth year of the emperor Adrian;
A.D. 128, Aquila, a native of Sinope, a city of Pontus, published a new Greek
version of the Old Testament. This man, who had been a Christian, and afterward
became a Jew, is supposed to have undertaken this work in opposition to the
Christians, not only that the seventy might be superseded, but that a new
version might be given of those passages on which they relied most in their
controversies with the Jews. The Hellenistic Jews received this version, and
afterward used it everywhere instead of the Septuagint; and, therefore, this
Greek translation is often made mention of in the Talmud, or Compendium of
Jewish Doctrines, but the Septuagint never. The emperor Justinian published a
decree, which is still extant among his institutions, whereby he ordained that
the Jews might read the Scriptures in their synagogues, either in the Greek
version of the seventy, or in that of Aquila, or in any other language,
according to the country in which they should dwell. But the Jewish doctors
having determined against this, their decrees prevailed against that of the
emperor, and, within a little while after, both the Septuagint and the version
of Aquila was rejected by them; and ever since, the solemn reading of the
Scriptures among them, in their public assemblies, has been in the Hebrew and
Chaldee languages. “The Chaldee,” says Prideaux, “is used in some of their
synagogues even to this day, and particularly at Frankfort, in Germany.” Not
long after the time of Aquila, there were two other Greek versions of the Old
Testament scriptures made; the first by Theodotion, who lived in the time of
Commodus, the Roman emperor, and the other by Symmachus, who flourished a little
after him, in the reigns of Severus and Caracalla. The former is supposed to
have belonged to Ephesus, and fell into the heretical errors of Ebion and
Marcion, to which sect Symmachus also belonged, being by birth a Samaritan, and
by profession first a Jew, then a Christian, and, lastly, an Ebionite heretic.
They both of them undertook the making their versions with the same design as
Aquila did, though not entirely for the same end; for they all three entered on
this work for the perverting of the Old Testament scriptures. Aquila, however,
did it for the serving of the interest of the Jewish religion, the other two for
promoting the interest of the heretical sect to which they belonged; and all of
them wrested the original Scriptures in their versions of them, as much as they
could, to make them speak for the different ends which they proposed. From the
circumstances, therefore, under which these versions were made, it may be
inferred that their authority can not be very great, though from the fragments
of them which have been collected, we may derive considerable assistance in
understanding particular portions of the Old Testament. SYRIAC VERSION In
speaking of the ancient versions of the Bible, it must be observed, that there
are two in the Syriac language: the Old, which is a translation of the Old
Testament from the Hebrew, and the New, which is a translation of the New
Testament from the Greek. This last is, beyond contradiction, the most ancient
that ever was formed in the Christian church. It is that which the Christians in
the east, called Maronites, make use of in their worship: and they, as well as
the other Syrian Christians, boast very much of its antiquity; for they allege
that one portion of it was made by the command of Solomon, for the use of Hiram,
king of Tyre, and the other part by the command of Abgarus, king of Edessa. It
is certain this version was of considerable antiquity, and was in all likelihood
made within the first century after Christ, and had for its author some
Christian of the Jewish nation that was thoroughly skilled in both the Hebrew
and Syriac languages; and as it is among the oldest translations that we have of
any part of the Scriptures, so it is the best, without any exception, that has
been made of them by the ancients into one language whatsoever. This last
character belongs to it in respect of the New Testament, as well as of the Old;
and therefore, of all the ancient versions which are now consulted by Christians
for the better understanding of the Holy Scriptures, as well of the New
Testament as of the Old, none can better serve this end than this old Syriac
version, when carefully consulted and well understood. To this purpose the very
nature of the language gives much assistance; for, it having been the
mother-tongue of those who wrote the New Testament, and a dialect of that in
which the Old was first given, many things of both are more happily expressed in
it through this whole version than can well be done in any other language. The
languages of princes generally become, in time, the common language of their
subjects. The conquests of Alexander made the Greek tongue universal; and by the
same means the Latin tongue extended itself, with the Roman empire, all over the
world; so that, at length, there was scarce a nation where, by the help of this
language, you might not make yourself understood. LATIN BIBLE It is not known
who was the author of the first Latin version of the Scriptures; but St.
Augustine, a celebrated bishop of the Latin church, about A.D. 400, tells us
that there soon appeared a great number of them. “We know them who translated
the Scriptures into Greek,” says he, “and the number of them is not great; but
the number of the Latin translators is infinite. When the faith came to be
established, the first man who found a Greek copy, notwithstanding the little
knowledge he had of the two languages, boldly undertook a translation of it.”
From another passage of his writings, it has been generally concluded that there
was one particular version, called “the Italian,” in higher estimation than the
rest, and which was the authorized version of the Roman churches. However this
may be, it is certain the Latin church was in want of a version of the
Scriptures formed directly from the Hebrew, as all the Latin translations in
existence at that time had been taken from the seventy. St. Jerome, who was
contemporary with St. Augustine, was in every respect best suited, of any of the
learned men of that time, to the task of making a new translation, which he
accordingly undertook. He began by correcting some books of the Old Testament in
the Latin bible, particularly the version of the Psalms, and marked those
passages wherein any difference existed between the Latin version, the Greek of
the seventy, and the Hebrew original. He had early applied himself to the study
of the Hebrew language, and at different periods had the assistance of five
Jewish teachers; he had access also to the works of Origen, who published what
is called the Hexapla, that is, the Bible in six different languages. From these
he must have derived considerable assistance in the work he undertook: that of
translating into Latin all the books of the Old Testament, to which he added a
corrected edition of the common version of the new. This work of St. Jerome is
still used in the Roman Catholic church, and is known by the name of the
Vulgate; for which some have gone so far as to claim the authority and
infallibility of an inspired production. At first, however, his version was not
generally received; for although many were pleased with it, because it was more
consonant to the original, and a more literal translation than that of the
seventy, yet others, and among the rest Augustine, considered it a rash attempt,
and calculated to diminish the authority of the Greek Version. It was approved
of by the Jews as conformable to their text, and was received into the church
gradually and by tacit consent, rather than by the sanction of public authority.
Nevertheless, the Vulgate which we leave at present, and which the celebrated
council of Trent declared to be authentic, is not the pure version of St.
Jerome; it has in it a great deal of the ancient Italian; but it can not now be
discovered by whom, or at what time, this mixture was made. Some think that St.
Jerome has no part at all in the present Vulgate; and it is certain that the
Psalms in it are not his. Nevertheless, the Latin version comes nearer to the
Hebrew, and is more perspicuous, than the Septuagint. Since the time of the
council of Trent, namely, in 1589 and 1592, corrected editions of the Vulgate
have been published under the authority of the popes Sixtus the Fifth and
Clement the Eighth.


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  CHAPTER 7: MODERN FOREIGN VERSIONS
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MODERN FOREIGN VERSIONS We have seen, by the preceding remarks on this subject,
that, at some period prior to the promulgation of Christianity, there existed a
valuable translation of the Scriptures into Greek, entitled the Septuagint, or
the Seventy, from the number of individuals engaged in its arrangement. It has
also been shown, that at an early period in the history of the Christian church,
a Latin translation of the Scriptures was found called the Vulgate. These Greek
and Latin versions of the Bible did not supersede the use of the original Hebrew
Scriptures, such being ever preserved by the Jews with the most extraordinary
care, and generally made use of by them in their synagogues, while the
Septuagint and Vulgate, from being in more modern languages, were in more
extensive use among churchmen and the people. The existence of these early
versions is therefore an incontestable evidence that the Scriptures as now found
in the original tongues, have not been impaired, interpolated, or abused, during
the lapse of at least two thousand years. Almost all the modern nations of
Europe, and part of Asia, have had versions of the Scriptures, in whole or in
part, taken from other versions, or from the originals. Arabic having become the
common language of almost all the east, there are several versions of the Bible
in Arabic , which, besides the Syriac version (which is understood by the
learned alone), are not only used by the Maronites and other Christians in Asia,
but also by the Jews and Samaritans. About the year 900, Rabbi Saadias Gaon, an
Arabian Jew, translated the Old Testament, or, at least, the Pentateuch, into
Arabic. Another Jew of Mauritania translated the Pentateuch, and Erpenius
printed his work. Risius, a monk of Damascus, translated the New Testament. The
greater part of these versions were from the Septuagint.[6] The Arabic Bible,
translated by Dr. Ely Smith, and continued after his death by Dr. Van Dyck, both
of the Syrian Mission, a mission of the A. B.C. F. M., is now in course of
publication by the American Bible Society. This is pronounced by the best
critics superior to any other Arabic version extant--Ed. The Persians have some
manuscript versions of the Bible. Rabbi Jacob Favos, a Jew, translated the
Pentateuch into Persian, and the Jews printed it at Constantinople in 1546.
This, with the gospels translated by one Simon, a Christian, are inserted in the
London polyglot; but these gospels are far from being correctly done. There have
been several other Persian versions of the Psalms and the New Testament executed
in modern times, particularly the New Testament by Henry Martyn, the celebrated
English missionary, translated by him in the city of Shiraz in Persia, and
printed at Petersburg in 1815. TURKISH VERSION The Turks have likewise some
translations in manuscript of the Bible in their language. In 1666, a Turkish
New Testament was printed at London, for the purpose of being dispersed in the
east. It is mentioned, that, in 1721, the Grand Signore ordered an impression of
bibles to be produced at Constantinople, that they might be confronted with the
Koran, or Bible of the Mohammedans. In the Report of the British and Foreign
Bible Society for 1815, it is mentioned, that a Turkish translation in
manuscript of the whole Bible had been discovered in the repositories of the
University of Leyden, where it had remained for a century and a half. The author
of this translation was by birth a Pole, of the name of Albertus Boboosky, and
born in the beginning of the seventeenth century. While a youth, he was stolen
by the Tartars, and, being sold to the Turks in Constantinople, he was by them
educated in the Mohammedan faith. His name was changed to Hali Bey, and when he
grew up, he was constituted the chief dragoman or translator to Mohammed the
Fourth. The learning of Hali Bey was considerable. He understood seventeen
languages, and he is said to have spoken in French, German, and English, like a
native. He was particularly fond of the English language, and, at the request of
the Hon. R. Boyle, translated the Church of England Catechism into Turkish. He
also composed different works himself, several of which have been published. His
chief work, however, is his translation of the whole Bible into the Turkish
language, which was undertaken at the instigation and under the direction of the
famous Levin Warner, Dutch ambassador at the court of the sultan at that period;
and the translation appears to have been completed about the year 1666, the same
year in which Seaman's translation of the New Testament into Turkish was
published at Oxford. ARMENIAN VERSION The Armenians have a translation of the
Old Testament, done from the Septuagint, by Moses Grammaticus, and two others,
about 1400 years ago. In 1666, under the direction of an Armenian bishop, it was
printed at Amsterdam, corrected or corrupted from the Vulgate. Theodorus Patreus
procured an impression of an Armenian New Testament at Antwerp in 1668, and of
the whole Bible in 1690. In 1815, the Armenian Bible, in quarto, for the
accommodation of the Armenian inhabitants of Russia, who subscribed liberally
for the undertaking, was printed at St. Petersburg. The Armenians are scattered
all over Asia. GEORGIAN VERSION The Georgians have the Bible in their ancient
language; but that being now almost obsolete, and themselves, in general,
brutishly ignorant, few of them can either read or understand it. There has
never been, till lately, but one edition of the Georgian Bible; it was printed
at Moscow in 1743 in a large folio volume. MODERN GREEK VERSION The modern
Greeks have recently received the New Testament in their proper tongue, which is
considerably different from that in which the sacred work was originally
written. The edition is in the Hellenistic and Romaic dialects, and was printed
in England under the direction of a society. It has been approved of by the
patriarch of the Greek church. RUSSIAN VERSION The Russians have the Bible in
their Sclavonic tongue, done from the Greek by Cyril, their apostle. It was
published in 1581, but being too obscure, Ernest Gluk, a Swedish captive, above
one hundred years ago, began to form another. He died before he finished it.
Peter the Great ordered a number of his most learned clergy to complete the
work; and it is supposed that the bibles distributed by imperial authority about
1722 were of this translation. In the course of two hundred and sixty years,
from the time when printing was first introduced into Russia, no more than
twenty-two editions of the Sclavonian Bible had appeared, prior to the year
1815, consisting of about fifty thousand copies only. GERMAN VERSION The most
ancient German translation is that of Ulphilas, bishop of the Goths, about A.D.
360; but he left out the Books of Kings, lest they should have excited his
savage countrymen to war. Toward the end of the 16th century, Junius professed
to publish an edition of it, from a manuscript found in the abbey of Verden,
written in letters of silver. An anonymous version was printed at Nuremberg in
1477. Between 1521 and 1532, Luther composed his translation, but Michaelis, La
Croze, and Bayer, think this was not from the Gothic version of Ulphilas, but
one about 200 years later; he published it in seven parts, as it was ready. Some
persons of quality, masters of the German language, revised it. Two catholic
versions, the one of Eckius on the Old, and Emzer on the New Testament, and
another of Ulembergius were published to depress the credit of Luther's; but the
protestants of Germany and Switzerland still use it, a little corrected. About
1604, Piscator turned the Latin translation of Junius and Tremellius into a kind
of German, but too much Latinized. About 1680, Athias published a Hebrew-German
translation of the Old Testament, for the sake of his Jewish brethren, and
Jekuthiel another; but both, especially the latter, distorted several texts
relative to the Messiah, etc. POLISH VERSION The first Polish version of the
Scriptures is ascribed to Hadewich, the wife of Jagellon, Duke of Lithuania, who
embraced Christianity A.D. 1390. In 1596, the protestants published another,
formed on Luther's translation. There were three other versions, one by James
Wick, a Jesuit, and the other two by Socinians, published in the end of the 16th
century. BOHEMIAN VERSION About 1506, the Bohemian Taborites published a Bible
in their language, done from the Vulgate. In the end of the 16th century, eight
Bohemian divines, after a careful study of the original languages at Wurttemberg
and Basil, published a version from the original text. SWEDISH VERSION In 1534,
Olaus and Laurence published a Swedish Bible, done from Luther's German
translation. About 1617, Gustavus Adolphus ordered some learned men to revise
it; and it has been, since, almost universally followed in that kingdom. The
translation into the language of Finland is thought to have been done from it.
In 1550, Peter Palladius, and three others, published a Danish version, done
from the German of Luther; and there are one or two others, as also a version in
the Icelandic tongue. DUTCH VERSIONS The Flemish or Dutch Bibles, composed by
Roman Catholics, are very numerous; but the names of the translators are
scarcely known, except that of Nicolas Vink, in 1548. The Calvinists of the Low
Countries long used a version done from Luther's; but the synod of Dort
appointed some learned men to form a new one from the originals. It was
published in 1637, and is considered very exact. LATIN VERSIONS Since the
reformation, a vast number of Latin versions of the Bible have been made by
members of the Romish church. Pagnin the Dominican was the first after St.
Jerome who translated the Old Testament into Latin from the Hebrew. His version
was printed at Lyons in 1528. It is very literal, and generally exact. Arias
Montanus retouched it, and made it yet more literal. After Pagnin came a crowd
of interpreters, since the Hebrew language has been more studied. Leo of Judah,
who, though not a Jew, understood Hebrew extremely well, began one, which has
since been printed at Zurich; but death having prevented him from finishing his
work, Theodorus Bibliander completed it. This is the version which Robert
Stephens printed with the Vulgate and Vatablus's Notes, without naming the
authors of it. Of Protestants, Emmanuel Tremillius, who of a Jew became a
Christian, and Francis Junius, have also given a Latin translation, as also
Castalio and Beza. These are considered tolerably exact, and have been
frequently reprinted. Sebastian Munster also published a literal but judicious
translation. ITALIAN VERSION In 1471, an Italian Bible, done from the Vulgate by
Nicolas Malerme, a Benedictine monk, was published at Venice. Anthony Bruccioli
published another in 1530, but the council of Trent prohibited it. The
Protestants have two Italian versions--the one, which is rather a paraphrase
than a translation, by the celebrated Diodati, published in 1607, and with
corrections in 1641--the other by Maximus Theophilus, and dedicated to the Duke
of Tuscany, about 1551. By an order of King James of Arragon to burn them, we
find there were a number of bibles in Spanish about the year 1270, probably the
work of the Waldenses. About 1500, a Spanish version was published, but the
translator's name is unknown. In 1543, Driander published his version of the New
Testament, and dedicated it to the Emperor Charles the Fifth. In 1553, the Jews
published their Spanish version of the Old Testament, after having long used it
in private. Cassiodore, a learned Calvinist, published his Bible in 1569, which
Cyprian de Valera corrected and republished in 1602. FRENCH VERSIONS Peter de
Vaux, chief of the Waldenses, published the first translation of the Bible in
French about A.D. 1160. Two others were published about the years 1290 and 1380;
and in 1550, by order of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, the doctors of Louvain
published another. There are various other French versions, particularly of the
New Testament; that of Mons, done from the Vulgate, and published in 1665 with
the king of Spain and archbishop of Cambray's license, is in a most clear and
agreeable style. In 1702, F. Simon published his New Testament, with some
literal and critical notes, which the bishops of Paris and Meaux quickly
condemned. There are many French versions of the Bible done by Protestants.
Faber's translation of the New Testament was printed for those of Piedmont, in
1534. Next year, Peter Olivetan's Bible was published at Geneva, and, having
been reprinted with the corrections of Calvin and others, it is now a work of
considerable exactness. After some struggling with the French Protestant clergy,
Diodati published his in 1644; but, like his Italian and Latin versions, the
translation is too free and paraphrastic. Le Clerc published his New Testament
at Amsterdam in 1703, with notes mostly borrowed from Grotius and Hammond. The
states-general prohibited it, as inclining to the Sabellian and Socinian
heresies. La Cene published another, which shared much the same fate, on account
of its fancies and errors. The Bible, or at least portions of it, principally by
the labors of the missionaries at Scampore, are now printed in nearly forty
Indian languages, and are also to be found in Tartar, in Calmuc, and in Chinese.
Upon the whole, out of the 3,064 languages which are said to exist in the world,
the Bible is now to be found in more than two hundred languages.


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  CHAPTER 8: ENGLISH VERSIONS
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ENGLISH VERSIONS JOHN WICKLIFFE It is probable that the inhabitants of Britain,
who were first converted to Christianity by St. Augustine, about the beginning
of the seventh century, had some of the scripture in their own language. About
A.D. 709, Adelm translated the Psalms into English Saxon, and other parts of
scripture were translated by Eadfrid, a Saxon, about the same time. Bede, the
first ecclesiastical English historian, who was born at Jarrow, on the banks of
the Tyne, in 673, commonly denominated the Venenable Bede, made a translation of
the Gospels, if not the whole Bible, into his native tongue. The whole Bible was
translated into the Anglo-Saxon by order of King Alfred; and he himself, about
A.D. 890, undertook a version of the Psalms, but died before it was completed.
The next complete translation of the whole Bible, including the apocryphal
books, was made by John Wickliffe into English from the Latin, and appeared
between 1360 and 1380. This translation was written, but not printed; and great
objections were made to it by the clergy; so that, in consequence of a decree of
Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, many persons were committed to the flames for
reading Wickliffe's translation of the Old and New Testament. The only portion
of Wickliffe's version of the Scriptures which has ever appeared in print, is
the New Testament, published in 1731, by the Rev. John Lewis, minister of
Margate, in Kent. This was reprinted several years ago, with a life of this
earliest of English reformers, by the Rev. H. Baber, A.M., assistant librarian
at the British museum. For the gratification of our young readers, we shall
transcribe the Lord's prayer in Wickliffe's language, as a curious specimen of
the orthography of the times in which this great reformer lived-- “Our Fadir
that art in hevenys; halewid be thi name, Thi kyngdom come to, be thi will done
in erthe as in hevene. Give to us this day our breede ouir other substaunce. And
forgiue to us our dettis as we forgiven to our dettouris. And lede us not into
temptacioun, but delyvere us from yvel. Amen.” WILLIAM TYNDALE In the reign of
Henry VIII, William Tyndale made one of the best English translations of the New
Testament. It appeared in 1526, being the first that ever was printed in the
English language. It was published at Hamburgh or Antwerp, and was dispersed at
London and Oxford. Tonstal, bishop of London, and Sir Thomas More, bought up
almost the whole impression, and burnt it at St. Paul's Cross. The venders were
condemned by the star-chamber to ride with their faces to the horses' tails,
with papers on their heads, and with the copies they had dispersed tied about
them, to the standard at Cheapside, where they were compelled to throw them in
the fire. The price, however, enabled Tyndale to proceed, and, undismayed, he
began to translate the Old Testament; for which he was at length seized in
Flanders, and, having been strangled by the common hangman, his body was
consumed to ashes. ENGLISH BIBLICAL IGNORANCE Previous to the Reformation, in
the time of Henry VIII, people were so little acquainted with the Scriptures,
and so ignorant even in regard to the languages in which they were originally
written, that the strangest assertions were made. Upon the appearance of the
Scriptures in the Hebrew and Greek originals, some individuals exclaimed that
“there was now a new language discovered called Greek of which people should
beware, since it was that which produced all heresies; that in this language was
come forth a book called the New Testament, which was now in every body's hands,
and was full of briars and thorns. And there had also another language now
started up, which they called Hebrew, and that they who learnt it were termed
Hebrews!” When the Reformation in England first took place, efforts were made to
promote the reading of the Scriptures among the common people. Among other
devices for the purpose, the following curious one was adopted. Bonner, bishop
of London, caused six bibles to be chained to certain convenient places in St.
Paul's church, for all that were so well inclined to resort thither, together
with a certain admonition to the readers, fastened upon the pillars to which the
bibles were chained, to this tenor: “That whosoever came there to read should
prepare himself to be edified, and made the better thereby; that he should bring
with him discretion, honest intent, charity, reverence, and quiet behavior; that
there should no number meet together there as to make a multitude; that no such
exposition be made thereupon but what is declared in the book itself; that it be
not read with noise in time of divine service, or that any disputation or
contention be used about it; that in case they continued their former
misbehavior, and refuse to comply with these directions, the king would be
forced, against his will, to remove the occasion, and take the bibles out of the
church.” MATTHEWS BIBLE Soon after the death of Tyndale, John Rogers, afterward
martyr, finished the correction of Tyndale's translation of the Old Testament,
and printed it at Hamburg under the name of Thomas Matthews. Archbishop Cranmer
and Miles Coverdale further corrected it. Cranmer got it printed by public
authority in England, and King Henry ordered a copy of it to be set up in every
church, to be read by every one that pleased; but, by advice of the Romish
bishops, he soon after revoked this order, and prohibited the Bible. When
Coverdale, Knox, Samson, Goodman, Gilby, Cole, and Whittingham, were exiles
during the persecution in the reign of Mary, they framed another translation,
with short notes, and got it printed at Geneva. It was much valued by the
Puritans, and in about thirty years had as many editions. The bishops being
displeased with it, made a new one of their own, which was read in the churches,
while the Geneva translation was generally read in families. About 1583 Laurence
Thompson published an English version of the New Testament, from the Latin
translation, and annotations of the learned Genevan divine Theodore Beza. In the
end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century, the English
catholics at Rheims published a version of the whole Bible, crowded with
barbarous terms, and accompanied with notes calculated to support the doctrines
of their church. GENEVA BIBLE Of those who translated the Geneva bible, as it is
called, in the reign of Mary, besides Coverdale, we have their own and
contemporary testimony, that they well understood the grace and propriety both
of the Hebrew and Greek tongue. Among the good Hebrew scholars of this period,
also, must be reckoned Bishop Alley, afterward one of the translators of the
Bishops' Bible, who was the author of a Hebrew grammar, and a person universally
learned, especially in divinity and languages; as well as his fellow-laborer,
Bishop Benthan, who, about the beginning of the reign of Edward VI, is said to
have addicted his mind entirely to the study of theology and the learning of the
Hebrew language. To these may be added Bishop Davies, another of the translators
of the Bishops' Bible, who, in the time of Mary, fled from this country, and,
after his return in the following reign, served Wales, as well as England, with
his assistance in translations of the Bible from the original into the languages
of both countries. BIBLICAL EDUCATION FOR LADIES The knowledge of Hebrew seems
sometimes to have formed in those days a part even of female education for
ladies of superior rank; and, accordingly, Paschali, in his translation of the
Psalms from the Hebrew into Italian verse, dedicated it to Queen Elizabeth, as
one who was well acquainted with the eastern tongues. “Having entered upon the
reign of Elizabeth, we soon behold,” says Todd, in his Memoirs of Bryan Walton,
“with grateful admiration, the goodly company of those who made the present
version of our Bible in the reign of her successor. Of these, several, if they
have been equaled, have not yet been excelled by any of their countrymen in
oriental learning. With men of similar studies the kingdom then abounded. Nor
could it well be otherwise, attention having been paid to the cultivation of
such learning in public schools (particularly Merchant-Tailors school), founded
soon after the accession of Elizabeth, and the pursuit being greatly encouraged
at both universities.” KING JAMES VERSION At the conference which was held at
Hampton Court, soon after the accession of James, for the settling of an
ecclesiastical uniformity between the two countries of England and Scotland, the
Puritans suggested unanswerable objections to the Bishops' Bible; and the king
similarly objected to the Genevan translation. He therefore appointed fifty-four
learned persons to translate the Scriptures anew into English, or, at least,
compose a better translation, out of many. Seven of the fifty-four either died
or declined the assigned task. Forty-seven, who remained, were ranged into six
divisions, every individual of each division translating the portion assigned to
the division, all of which translations were collected together; and when each
company had determined on the construction of their part, it was proposed to the
other divisions for general approbation. When they met together, one read the
new version, while all the rest held in their hands either copies of the
original, or some valuable version: when they observed any objectionable
passage, the reader paused till they considered and agreed on it. They met at
Oxford, Cambridge, and Westminster, beginning the work in 1607, and after the
expiration of three years it was finished, and published in 1611. This Bible,
which is now in use, must be pronounced an excellent work, remarkable for the
general fidelity of its construction, as well as for the simplicity of its
language. Dr. Adam Clarke remarks, that “those who have compared most of the
European translations with the original, have not scrupled to say that the
English translation of the Bible, made under the direction of King James the
First, is the most accurate and faithful of the whole. Nor is this its only
praise; the translators have seized the very spirit and soul of the original,
and have expressed this almost everywhere with pathos and energy.” It is still
of public authority in the British dominions; and, next to the Dutch, is perhaps
the best translation of the Bible extant. It has been asserted by Mr. Bellamy,
and some others, that the authors of our authorized translation confined
themselves to the Septuagint and the Vulgate, and did not translate from the
Hebrew. This assertion, however, can be at once overthrown, by bringing forward
the authority of the fifty-four, or rather, as seven of them died before the
translation was finished, of the forty-seven learned men, as may be seen by
their no less modest than dignified preface, or address to the reader, inserted
in the edition of the Bible published in the year 1630, which has this
satisfactory passage among many others: “If you ask what they had before them,
truly it was the Hebrew text of the Old Testament--the Greek of the New.” Among
these translators, two of the most noted for Hebrew erudition were Dr. Adrian
Saravia, and Dr. Richard Clarke. Dr. Saravia, well known as a Hebrew critic,
“was educated,” says Mr. Todd in his life of Bryan Walton, “in all kinds of
literature in his younger days, especially in several languages. He was the
master of the celebrated oriental scholar, Nicholas Fuller, who gratefully
mentions him in the preface to his Miscellanea Theologica; and he was one of
those who had successfully answered an objection of the Puritans, which they
revived in the conference at Hampton Court, in regard to a verse in the old
English version of the Psalms. Next to him in rank is Dr. Richard Clarke, who
thoroughly understood three languages, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Christ college,
in Cambridge, of which he was a fellow, 'had a testimony of his learning in his
Hebrew lectures; so had the university, in his disputations and sermons; so had
the church, when his majesty (James the First) called many to the work of the
last translation of the English bible; in which number he was, like one of the
chief of David's worthies, not among the thirty, but among the first three.' To
him and to Dr. Saravia, it appears that the portion assigned was from the
Pentateuch to the book of Chronicles.” One of the best Hebrew scholars of that
time was the celebrated English divine and theological writer, Hugh Broughton,
who corresponded with a learned rabbi at Constantinople, and used great
exertions for the conversion of the Jews there to Christianity. Mr. Broughton
was in continual and most bitter controversy with the bishops, and was not
employed, as he thought he should have been, in the translation of the Bible. At
the time when our present version was made, he communicated many interpretations
to the translators, which, as he afterward complains, they “thrust into the
margent;” and whoever compares the text of our version with the marginal
readings, will be led to regret that our translators did not associate him with
them; though, it must be confessed, he would not have proved a very agreeable
fellow-laborer. It must be observed, that in rendering the original text into
English, there are certain words necessarily supplied by the translators, in
order to make out the meaning. These supplementary words are printed in our
Bible in italic letters, to show that they are not in the original. The greatest
of these supplements occurs in 1 John 2:23, where the translators have supplied
no fewer than ten words, in order to make out what they thought to be the proper
meaning. MODERN VERSIONS “From the mutability of language,” says Evans, “the
variation of customs, and the progress of knowledge, several passages in the
Bible require to be newly translated, or materially corrected. Hence, in the
present age, when biblical literature has been assiduously cultivated, different
parts of the sacred volume have been translated by able hands. The substituting
a new translation of the Bible in the room of the one now in common use, has
been much debated. Dr. Knox, in his ingenious essays, together with others,
argues against it; while Dr. Newcome, the late Lord Primate of Ireland, the late
Dr. Geddes, of the Catholic persuasion, and the late Rev. Gilbert Wakefield,
contended strenuously for it. Bishop Lowth and Professor Marsh have pointedly
shown the necessity of bringing the text of the Scriptures, by the aid of
ancient manuscripts and versions, as near as may be to perfection.” Ainsworth,
Doddridge, Macknight, Lowth, Blaney, and others, have published new translations
of parts of the sacred books in English; and there is no doubt that many
improvements might be made upon the present authorized version, particularly in
the Old Testament. Dr. Alexander Geddes, above mentioned, at his decease, had
proceeded as far as the Psalms in the Translation of the Old Testament; but many
of his variations from the common version are extremely injudicious. Archbishop
Newcome and Mr. Wakefield published entire translations of the New Testament;
and an improved version of the New Testament, founded on Newcome, has been
published by the Unitarians, accompanied with notes and an excellent
introduction. With the professed object of defeating the attacks on
Christianity, a new translation of the Bible was given to the world, some years
ago, by Mr. J. Bellamy, of Gray's-Inn lane, London. This version is in many
places so very literal in its translation as to be unintelligible, and,
therefore, unfit for any good purpose. The writer's forced and erroneous
interpretations, as well as his unjustifiable attacks upon other versions and
translators, were so far from tending to the accomplishment of his professed
object, that they seemed rather calculated to produce the opposite effect; and,
consequently, his new translation, which made some noise in its day, was soon
judiciously consigned to oblivion. And, upon the whole, it may be observed,
that, although it is generally acknowledged that after the lapse of two hundred
and twenty years, the improvements in critical learning, and the discoveries in
the pursuits of knowledge, together with hundreds of manuscripts that have since
emerged into light, call for a revision of the present authorized version; yet
such an attempt should not be rashly ventured upon, and it should not take place
until the necessity of it becomes much more apparent to common apprehension than
it is at present.


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  CHAPTER 9: THE APOCRYPHA
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THE APOCRYPHA Having given an account of the origin and literary characteristics
of the accredited and usually accepted books composing the Old and New
Testaments, we now proceed to offer a few details relative to those books styled
the Apocrypha, a branch of the subject possessed of considerable interest, and
which we shall treat in the same measure of impartiality.[7] [7] The
relationship between the canonical and the apocryphal books was correctly
defined by the ancient Jewish synagogue, and, after it, by the ancient Greek and
the modern Protestant churches, in opposition to the Roman Catholic theory. The
Apocrypha serve, 1. As a kind of historical supplement, being a narrative of the
kingdom of God during the period intervening between the Old and New Testaments.
2. As a record of popular piety, forming a distinct period between the age of
the prophets and that of the New Testament. 3. To exhibit the character of
Alexandrian Judaism, though only a part of them is derived from that source. 4.
As a background to the canon itself. 5. For private instruction and
edification--Dr. Lange's General Introduction to the Scriptures--Ed. The term
apocrypha is Greek, signifying hidden or concealed, and is used to designate a
number of books, often placed between the Old and New Testaments, or otherwise
bound up with them. Some writers divide the sacred books into three classes,
viz., the canonical, the ecclesiastical, and the apocryphal. In the first they
place those whose authority has never been questioned in the catholic or
universal church; in the second, those which were not received at first, but
which were nevertheless read in the public assemblies as books that were useful,
though they never placed them upon the same footing of authority as the former;
and in the third they placed the books which were of no authority, which could
not be made to appear in public, but were kept hidden, and were therefore called
apocryphal, that is, concealed, or such as could not be used in public.[8] [8]
Lange. etc., on Matthew., p. 14. The Apocrypha consists of fourteen books, viz.
First and Second Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the rest of the chapters of the Book of
Esther, the Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, the Song of the Three
Holy Children, the History of Susanna, the Story of Bel and the Dragon, the
Prayer of Manasses, and the First and Second Book of the Maccabees. Every
attentive reader must perceive that these books want the majesty of inspired
scripture; and that there are in them a variety of things wicked, false, and
disagreeing with the oracles of God. None of them were ever found in the proper
Hebrew tongue; and they were never received into the canon of scripture by the
Jews, to whom the oracles of God were originally committed. They were partly
read in private by the ancient Christians as useful, but they did not admit them
unto the canon of scripture. None of them are found in the catalogue of the
canonical books by Melita, bishop of Sardis, in the second century; nor does
Origen in the third, or Epiphanius in the fourth, in the least acknowledge their
authenticity. One or two of the writers of them also ask pardon if they have
said anything amiss; which clearly shows that they were not inspired, or at
least did not consider themselves to be so; and therefore these books can by no
means be considered as having a title to form part of the word of God. A very
simple analysis of the books themselves will be sufficient to demonstrate this
to every attentive mind. I ESDRAS I. It is not known at what time the First Book
of Esdras was written, neither is it known who was the author of it; but
Prideaux considers it certain that he wrote before the time of Josephus. It was
originally to be found only in Greek; and in the Alexandrian manuscript it is
placed before the canonical Book of Ezra, and is there called the First Book of
Ezra, because the events related in it occurred prior to the return from the
Babylonish captivity. In some editions of the Septuagint it is called the First
Book of the Priest (meaning Ezra), the authentic book of Ezra being called the
second book. In the editions of the Latin Vulgate previous to the Council of
Trent, this and the following book are styled the Third and Fourth Books of
Esdras, those of Ezra and Nehemiah being entitled the first and second books.
This book is chiefly historical, giving an account of the return of the Jews
from the Babylonish captivity, the building of the temple, and the
re-establishment of divine worship. It is, in fact, nothing but a bad extract of
the last two chapters of Chronicles, and the Book of Ezra; and in a great many
instances it even contradicts these. The author falsely makes Zorobabel a young
man in the days of Darius Hystaspes, and Joakim to be his son; whereas he was
the son of Joshua, the high-priest. He calls Darius king of Assyria, long after
that empire was utterly dissolved; and makes some things to be done under Darius
which were done under Cyrus. II ESDRAS II. The author of the Second Book of
Esdras is likewise unknown. It is supposed to have been originally written in
Greek, though the original of it has never been found but in Latin; and there is
an Arabic version, differing very materially from it, and having many
interpolations. Although the writer personates Ezra, it is manifest from the
style and contents of his book, that he lived long after that celebrated Jewish
reformer. He pretends to visions and revelations; but they are so fanciful,
indigested, ridiculous, and absurd, that it is clear the Holy Spirit could have
no concern in the dictating of them. He believed that the day of judgment was at
hand, and that the souls of good and wicked men would all be then delivered out
of hell. A great many rabbinical fables occur in this book, particularly the
account of the six days' creation, and the story of Behemoth (or Enoch, as it is
here called) and Leviathan--two monstrous creatures that are designed as a feast
for the elect after the day of resurrection, etc. He says that the ten tribes
are gone away into a country which he calls Arsareth, and that Ezra restored the
whole body of the Scriptures, which had been entirely lost. He also speaks of
Jesus Christ and his apostles in so clear a manner, that the gospel itself is
scarcely more explicit. On these accounts, and from the numerous traces of the
language of the New Testament, and especially of the Revelation of St. John,
which are discoverable in this book, several critics have concluded that it was
written about the close of the first century, by some converted Jew, who assumed
the name of Esdras or Ezra. TOBIT III. The Book of Tobit, from the simplicity of
the narrative, and the lessons of piety and meekness which it contains, has been
always one of the most popular of the apocryphal writings. It was first written
in Chaldee by some Babylonian Jew; but there is no authentic information as to
his name, or the time when he flourished. It professes to relate the history of
Tobit and his family, who were carried into captivity to Nineveh by Shalmanezer,
being first begun by Tobit, then continued by his son Tobias, and lastly,
finished by some other of the family, and afterward digested by the Chaldee
author into that form in which we now have it. The time of this history ends
with the destruction of Nineveh, about six hundred and twelve years before
Christ; but most commentators and critics agree in thinking that the book itself
was not written till about one hundred and fifty or two hundred years before
Christ. It has been generally looked upon, both by Jews and Christians, as a
genuine and true history; but it contains so many rabbinical fictions, and
allusions to the Babylonian demonology, that it is much more rational to suppose
the whole book an entire fable. It is not probable that, in the time of
Sennacherib and Esarhaddon, the father should live, as is here said, one hundred
and fifty-eight years, and the son one hundred and twenty-seven. It is certain
no angel of God could falsely call himself “Azarias the son of Ananias,” as this
writer affirms. The story of Sarah's seven husbands being successively killed on
their marriage-night by an evil spirit, and of that spirit's being driven away
by the smell and smoke of the roasted heart and liver of a fish, and bound in
the uttermost parts of Egypt, or of the angel Raphael's presenting to God the
prayers of the saints, with other matters evidently fabulous, are quite
sufficient to justify the rejecting of this book entirely from the sacred canon,
upon the score of internal evidence alone. JUDITH IV. The Book of Judith
professes to relate the defeat of the Assyrians by the, Jews, through the
instrumentality of their countrywoman of this name, who craftily cut off the
head of Holofernes, the Assyrian general. This book was originally written in
Chaldee by some Jew of Babylon, and was thence translated by St. Jerome into the
Latin tongue. Dr. Prideaux refers this history to the time of Manasseh, king of
Judah; Jahn assigns it to the age of the Maccabees, and thinks it was written to
animate the Jews against the Syrians; but so many geographical, historical, and
chronological difficulties attend this book, that Luther, Grotius, and other
eminent critics, have considered it rather as a drama or parable than a real
history. It has been received into the canon of scripture by some as being all
true; but, on the other hand, it is the opinion of Grotius that it is entirely a
parabolical fiction, written in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, when he came
into Judea to raise a persecution against the Jewish church, and that the design
of it was to confirm the Jews, under that persecution, in their hope that God
would send a deliverer. According to him, by Judith is meant Judea, which, at
the time of this persecution, was like a desolate widow: that her sword means
the prayers of the saints: that by Bethulia, the name of the town which was
attacked, is meant the temple, or the house of the Lord, which is called in
Hebrew Bethel. Nabuchodonosor denotes the devil, and the kingdom of Assyria the
devil's kingdom, pride. Holofernes, whose name signifies a minister of the
serpent, means Antiochus Epiphanes, who was the devil's instrument in that
persecution, etc., etc. It is plain that in this way; by means of a little
ingenuity, anything may be made of anything; and such conjectures as these, as
an able commentator remarks, however ingenious, are better calculated to exhibit
the powers of fancy and the abuse of learning, than to investigate truth, or
throw light on what is uncertain and obscure. The noted deliverance mentioned in
this book is there said to have happened after the Jews had returned from their
captivity, and had rebuilt the temple, and yet it is said to have been in the
eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, which is absurd; and it is said that they had
no trouble for eighty years or more after this deliverance, which is equally
absurd, as the Jews during any period of their history, or indeed any other
nation, never enjoyed a peace of such long continuance. It is quite improbable
that a small town, as Bethulia is here represented to be, should stand out
against so powerful an army, or that the death of the general should have made
all the troops betake themselves to a shameful flight. It is certainly wrong, as
is done in the case of Judith, to commend a woman as a devout fearer of the
Lord, who was guilty of notorious lying, of acting the part of a bawd, of
profane swearing, of murder, and of speaking in praise of that committed by the
patriarch Simeon, whom she claims as her ancestor. ADDITIONS TO ESTHER V. “The
rest of the chapters of the Book of Esther, which are found neither in the
Hebrew nor in the Chaldee,” were originally written in Greek, whence they were
translated into Latin, and formed part of the Italic or old Latin version in use
before the time of Jerome. Being there annexed to the canonical Book of Esther,
they passed without censure, but were rejected by Jerome in his version, because
he confined himself to the Hebrew Scriptures, and these chapters never were
extant in the Hebrew language. They are evidently the production of a
Hellenistic Jew, but are considered both by Jerome and Grotius as a work of pure
fiction, which was annexed to the canonical book by way of embellishment. From
the coincidence between some of these apocryphal chapters and Josephus, it has
been supposed that they are a compilation from the Jewish historian; and this
conjecture is further confirmed by the mention of Ptolemy and Cleopatra, who
lived but a short time before Josephus. These additions to the Book of Esther
are often cited by the father of the church; and the Council of Trent has
assigned them a place among the canonical books.[9] [9] Vide Horne's
Introduction to the Scripture, vol. iv p. 229. The author of these apocryphal
chapters says many things that are in direct contradiction to the inspired
historian; as when he affirms that the attempt made by the eunuchs to take away
the life of Ahasuerus was in the second year of his reign; that Mordecai was at
the very time rewarded for his discovery; that Haman had been advanced before
this event, and was provoked with Mordecai for his discovery of the eunuchs,
that Haman was a Macedonian, and intended to transfer the government of Persia
to the Macedonians. He very stupidly, also, represents Ahasuerus looking upon
Esther, “as a fierce lion,” and yet “with a countenance full of grace!” and as
calling the Jews “the children of the most high and most mighty living God;” and
as ordering the heathens to keep the feast of Purim. WISDOM OF SOLOMON VI. The
book of “The Wisdom of Solomon” was never written by that monarch, as its author
falsely pretends; for it was never extant in Hebrew, nor received into the
Jewish canon of scripture, nor is the style like that of Solomon. It consists of
two parts: the first, which is written in the name of Solomon, contains a
description or encomium of wisdom, by which comprehensive term the ancient Jews
understood prudence and foresight, knowledge and understanding, and especially
the duties of religion and morality. This division includes the first ten
chapters. The second part, comprising the rest of the book, treats on a variety
of topics widely differing from the subject of the first, viz., reflections on
the history and conduct of the Israelites during their journeyings in the
wilderness, and their subsequent proneness to idolatry. Hence the author takes
occasion to inveigh against idolatry, the origin of which he investigates, and
concludes with reflections on the history of the people of God. His allegorical
interpretations of the Pentateuch, and the precept which he gives to worship God
before the rising of the sun, have induced some critics to think that the author
was of the Jewish sect called Essenes. Although the fathers of the church, and
particularly Jerome, uniformly considered this book as apocryphal, yet they
recommended the perusal of it, in consideration of the excellence of its style.
The third Council of Carthage, held in the year 397, pronounced it to be a
canonical book, under the name of “the Fourth Book of Solomon,” and the famous
Council of Trent confirmed this decision. Jerome informs us that several writers
of the first three centuries ascribed the authorship of it to Philo the Jew, a
native of Alexandria who flourished in the first century; and this opinion is
generally adopted by the moderns, on account of the Platonic notions that are
discoverable in it, as well as from its general style, which evidently shows
that it was the production of a Hellenistic Jew of Alexandria. Drusius, indeed,
attributes it to another Philo, more ancient than the person just mentioned, and
who is cited by Josephus; but this hypothesis is untenable, because the author
of the Book of Wisdom was confessedly either a Jew or a heretical Christian,
whereas the Philo mentioned by Drusius was a heathen. It is quite evident that
this author had read Plato and the Greek poets; and he employs a great many
expressions taken from them, such as Ambrosia, the river of forgetfulness; the
kingdom of Pluto, etc.; as also several words borrowed from the Grecian games,
which were not in use till long after the time of Solomon, whose name he
assumes. A great many of his phrases seem to be taken out of the Prophets, and
even from the New Testament. There are numerous passages in the book evidently
borrowed from the Prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah; particularly in the
thirteenth chapter, where there are no less than nine verses plainly copied from
the forty-fourth chapter of Isaiah. This author brings forward many things that
are contrary both to the words of inspiration and to common sense. He condemns
the marriage-bed as sinful, and also excludes bastards from the hopes of
salvation: he talks as if souls were lodged in bodies according to their former
merits; makes the murder of Abel the cause of the flood; represents the
Egyptians as being plagued entirely by their own idols, that is to say, by the
beasts which they worshipped, though it is certain they never worshipped frogs,
locusts, or lice. He also calls the divine Logos, or second person of the
Trinity, a vapor or steam, with many other things that are evidently absurd.
ECCLESIASTICUS The seventh book of the Apocrypha, is entitled “The Wisdom of
Jesus the Son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus,” which, like the preceding, has
sometimes been considered as the production of King Solomon; whence the council
of Carthage deemed it canonical, under the title of the Fifth Book of Solomon,
and their decision was adopted by the council of Trent. It is, however,
manifest, that it was not, and could not be written by Solomon, because in it
allusion is made to the captivity; although it is not improbable that the author
collected some scattered sentiments ascribed to Solomon, which he arranged with
the other materials he had selected for his work. Sonntag is of opinion that
this book is a collection of fragments, or miscellaneous hints for a large work,
planned out and begun, but not completed. From the book itself it appears that
it was written by a person of the name of Jesus the Son of Sirach, who had
travelled in pursuit of knowledge. By reading the Scriptures, and other good
books, he attained a considerable share of wisdom; and by collecting the grave
and short sentences of such as went before him, and adding sundry of his own, he
endeavored to produce a work of instruction that might be useful to his
countrymen. This book was originally written in Hebrew, or rather the
Syro-Chaldaic dialect then in use in Judea about the year 232 before Christ,
when the author was probably about seventy years of age. Jesus, his grandson,
who is also called The Son of Sirach, translated it into Greek during the reign
of Ptolemy Evergetes, king of Egypt, about 140 years before Christ, for the use
of the Hellenistical Jews, among whom he had settled in Alexandria. The Hebrew
original is now lost; but it was extant in the time of Jerome, for he tells us
that he had seen it under the title of The Parables; but he says that the common
name of it in Greek was The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach. The Latin version
of this book has more in it than the Greek, several particulars being inserted
which are not in the other. These seem to have been interpolated by the first
author of that version; but now the Hebrew being lost, the Greek, which has been
made from it by the grandson of the author, must stand for the original, and
from that the English translation has been made. From the supposed resemblance
of this book to that of Ecclesiasticus, it has received from the Latin
translator the title of Ecclesiasticus, by which name it is most generally known
and referred to. Ecclesiasticus is considered by far the best of all the
apocryphal books. The ancients called it Panareton, that is, The Treasury of
Virtue, as supposing it to contain maxims leading to every virtue. It has met
with general esteem, also, in most of the western churches, and was introduced
into the public service of the Church of England by the compilers of its
Liturgy. It was frequently cited by the fathers of the church under the titles
of “The Wisdom of Jesus,” “Wisdom,” “The Treasures of all the Virtues,” or
“Logos, the Discourse:” and in those times it was put into the hands of
catechumens, or young Christians under examination, on account of the edifying
nature of its instruction. BARUCH VIII. The Book of “Baruch” is not extant in
Hebrew, and only in Greek and Syriac; but in what language it was originally
written it is now impossible to ascertain. Grotius is of opinion that it is an
entire fiction, and that it was composed by some Hellenistical Jew, under the
name of Baruch. The principal subject of the book is an epistle, pretended to be
sent by Jehoiakim and the captive Jews in Babylon, to their brethren in Judah
and Jerusalem; and the last chapter contains an epistle which falsely bears the
name of Jeremiah. This has never been considered as a canonical book, either by
the Jews or the Christians; and, indeed, it is little else than an arrant
romance. It absurdly pretends to have been written by Baruch at Babylon, when it
is probable he never went thither: that it was read to Jechoniah at the river
Sud, which is nowhere else mentioned; nor could Jeconiah hear it there, when he
was confined in prison. It mentions a collection to buy sacrifices, gathered by
the captives in Babylon, and sent to Joakim the priest, along with the sacred
vessels which Zedekiah had made; but how could the captives newly enslaved in
Babylon be able to make collections? How could they send it to a high-priest
that did not then exist? How could the sacred vessels which Zedekiah made be
returned from Babylon, when it does not appear that he made any? Or how could
they be returned before they were carried away, along with himself? The author
borrows a variety of expressions from Daniel, and must therefore have lived
after Baruch was dead. The epistle ascribed to Jeremiah is neither written in
his style, nor at all in the style of the Scriptures; and it ridiculously turns
the seventy years of the captivity into seven generations.[10] [10] Brown's
Dictionary of the Bible--Art. Apocrypha. SONG OF THREE CHILDREN IX. “The Song of
the Three Children in the Furnace” is placed in the Greek version of Daniel, and
also in the Vulgate Latin version, between the twenty-third and twenty-fourth
verses of the third chapter. It is partly a poor imitation of Psalms 148, and
partly deprecatory, not at all suited to such a deliverance. It does not appear
to have ever been extant in Hebrew; and although it has met with a good deal of
approbation for the piety of its sentiments, it was never admitted to be
canonical, until it was recognized by the council of Trent. The account of the
flame streaming above the furnace “forty-and-nine cubits,” and of the angel's
“smiting the flame out of the oven, and making a moist whistling wind in it,”
seems entirely fabulous and romantic; nor is it very consistent with the account
of the fire's loosening their hands. The fifteenth verse contains a direct
falsehood; for it asserts that there was no prophet at that time, when it is
well known that Daniel and Ezekiel both exercised the prophetic ministry then in
Babylon. This apocryphal fragment is, therefore, most probably the production of
some Hellenistic Jew. The hymn resembling Psalms 148, which commences at the
29th verse, was so approved of by the compilers of the Liturgy of the Church of
England, that they appointed it to be used instead of the Te Deum during Lent.
SUSANNA X. “The History of Susanna,” has always been treated with some respect,
but has never been considered as canonical, though the council of Trent admitted
it into the number of the sacred books. It is evidently, like the rest, the work
of some Hellenistic Jew, and in the Vulgate version it forms the thirteenth
chapter of the Book of Daniel. In the Septuagint version it is placed at the
beginning of that book. Lamy, and some other modern critics after Julius
Africanus and Origen, consider it to be both spurious and fabulous. That it was
originally written in Greek, is manifest in the punishment pronounced on the
elders, from the play which is made upon the Greek names of the mastic and holm
trees, under which they said they found Susanna and the young man together. It
is evidently absurd to affirm, that in the beginning of the captivity, Joachim,
the husband of Susanna, was become exceedingly rich; that there were Jewish
judges with the power of life and death in Chaldea; that Daniel, who was bred in
the court, had leisure, or being so young, was admitted to be a judge; that
Susanna went into her garden to wash at noonday, and did it without searching if
anybody was there; or that the elders attempted to force her, when they could
not but every moment expect the return of her maids. BEL AND THE DRAGON XI. “The
History of the Destruction of Bel and the Dragon” is a still more romantic
story. It is not extant in either the Hebrew or the Chaldee language, and it was
always rejected by the Jewish church. Jerome gives it no better title than that
of The Fable of Bel and the Dragon; nor has it obtained more credit with
posterity, except with the fathers of the council of Trent, who determined it to
be a part of the canonical scriptures. It forms the fourteenth chapter of Daniel
in the Latin Vulgate; in the Greek it was called the Prophecy of Habakkuk, the
son of Jesus, of the tribe of Levi; but this is evidently false, for that
prophet lived before the time of Nebuchadnezzar, and the events pretended to
have taken place in this fable are assigned to the time of Cyrus. There are two
Greek texts of this fragment, that of the Septuagint, and that found in
Theodotian's Greek version of Daniel. The design of this fiction is to render
idolatry ridiculous, and to exalt the true God; but the author has destroyed the
illusion of his fiction, by transporting to Babylon the worship of animals,
which was never practised in that country. It is also quite improbable that
Cyrus, a Persian, would worship a Babylonian idol; nay, an idol that was broken
to pieces at the taking of the city! It is absurd to imagine that a man of his
sense could believe an image of brass and clay did really eat and drink! How
Pitiful, for Daniel to discover the coming of the priests to devour the
provisions, by making the king's servants strew ashes on the floor, when the
priest might so easily perceive them, or the servants so readily inform
concerning them! It is absurd to suppose that the newly-conquered Babylonians
should, by menaces, oblige Cyrus to deliver up his beloved Daniel to them, to be
cast into the den of lions; or that Habakkuk should be then alive to bring him
food; or that Cyrus should be seven days before he went to the den, to see what
was become of his favorite minion. MANASSES XII. “The Prayer of Manasses,” king
of Judah, when he was holden captive to Babylon, never appeared in the Hebrew
language; and seems to be the product of some Pharisaical spirit. It was never
recognized as canonical, and is rejected as spurious even by the Church of Rome.
It can not be traced to a higher source than the Vulgate Latin version; and,
therefore, it has no claim to be considered as the original prayer which, in the
Book of Chronicles, Manasseh is mentioned to have made, and which it pretends to
be. The author speaks of just persons, such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as
being without sin, and not called to repent. MACCABEES XIII. The Books of the
“Maccabees” are thus denominated, because they relate the patriotic and gallant
exploits of Judas Maccabeus and his brethren. The Maccabees arose in defence of
their brethren the Jews, during the dreadful persecutions to which they were
subjected, on account of their religion, under Antiochus Epiphanes, king of
Syria, about 100 years before Christ. The most likely derivation of the title
Maccabees, is that which takes it from the motto put by Judas in his standard,
being this Hebrew sentence, taken out of Exodus 16:11, Mi Camo-ka Baelim
Jehovah, that is, “Who is like unto thee among the gods; O Jehovah?” which being
written like the S.P.Q.R., Senatus Populusque Romanus, on the Roman standards,
by an abbreviation formed by the initial letter of these words put together,
made the artificial word Maccabi; and hence all who fought under that standard
were called Maccabees or Maccabeans. I MACCABEES The First Book of Maccabees is
a very valuable historical monument, written with great accuracy and fidelity,
on which even more reliance may be placed than on the writings of Josephus, who
has borrowed some of his materials from it, and has frequently mistaken its
meaning. It is, indeed, an excellent history, and comes the nearest to the style
and manner of the sacred historical writings of any extant. It was written
originally in the Chaldee language of the Jerusalem dialect, which was the
language spoken in Judea, from the return of the Jews thither from the
Babylonish captivity; and it was extant in this Syro-Chaldaic language in the
time of Jerome, for he tells us that he had seen it. The title which it then
bore was, The Scepter of the Prince of the Sons of God: a title which is
certainly suitable to the character of Judas, who was a valiant commander of the
persecuted Israelites. It contains the history of the Jews under the government
of the priest Matthias and his sons, from the beginning of the reign of
Antiochus Epiphanes to the death of Simon Maccabeus, a period of about
thirty-four years. The author of this book is not certainly known: some
conjecture that it was written by John Hyrcanus, the son of Simon, who was
prince and high-priest of the Jews for nearly thirty years, and who commenced
his government at the time when this history ends: by others it is ascribed to
one of the Maccabees, and many are of opinion that it was compiled by the men of
the great synagogue. It is, however, most probable that it was composed in the
time of John Hyrcanus, when the wars of the Maccabees are terminated, either by
Hyrcanus himself; or by some persons employed by him. There is both a Greek and
a Latin translation of it, from the Syro-Chaldaic; and our English version is
made from the Greek. There are many things in this book which show that it was
not written by inspiration. The writer often observes, that there was no prophet
in his times; and, indeed, he has blundered into several mistakes; as, that
Alexander the Great parted his kingdom among his honorable servants while he was
yet alive; that Antiochus the Great was taken alive by the Romans; that they
gave India and Media, parts of his kingdom, to Eumenes, king of Pergamos; that
the Roman senate consisted of 320 persons; that Alexander Balas was the son of
Antiochus Epiphanes; and several others which are palpably absurd. II MACCABEES
XIV. The “Second Book of Maccabees” is a history of fifteen years, from the
execution of the commission of Heliodorus, who was sent by Seleucus to bring
away the treasures of the temple, to the victory obtained by Judas Maccabeus
over Nicanor, that is, from the year of the world 3828 to 3843. It commences
with two epistles sent from the Jews of Jerusalem to those of Alexandria and
throughout Egypt, exhorting them to observe the feast of the dedication of the
new altar, erected by Judas Maccabeus on his purifying the temple. The second of
these epistles is not only written in the name of Judas Maccabeus, who was slain
thirty-six years before, but also contains such fabulous and absurd stuff, as
could never have been written by the great council of the Jews assembled at
Jerusalem for the whole nation, as this pretends to be. The epistles, which are
confessedly spurious, are followed by the author's preface to his history, which
is an abridgment of a larger work, compiled by one Jason, a Hellenistic Jew of
Cyrene, who wrote in Greek the history of Judas Maccabeus and his brethren, and
an account of the wars against Antiochus Epiphanes and his son Eupator, in five
books. The entire work of Jason has long since perished; and Dr. Prideaux is of
opinion that the author of this second book of Maccabees was a Hellenistic Jew
of Alexandria, because he makes a distinction between the temple in Egypt and
that at Jerusalem, calling the latter “the Great Temple.” The compilation of
this unknown author is by no means equal in accuracy to the First Book of the
Maccabees, which it contradicts in several instances; it is not arranged in
chronological order, and sometimes also it is at variance with the inspired
writings. The author concludes it, begging excuse if he had said anything
unbecoming the story; and, indeed, he had reason to do so, considering what a
number of false and wicked things he retails: as, that Judas Maccabeus was alive
in the 188th year of the Seleucidae, when he died in the 152nd; that Antiochus
Epiphanes was killed at the temple of Nanea, in Persia, whereas he died on the
frontiers of Babylon of a terrible disease; that Nehemiah built the second
temple and altar, whereas they were built sixty years before he came from
Persia; that Jeremiah hid the tabernacle, ark, and altar of incense, in a cave;
that Persepolis was in being one hundred years after Alexander had burnt it to
ashes; that Judas did well in offering prayers and sacrifices to make
reconciliation for the dead; and that Rasis did well in murdering himself to
escape the fury of the Syrians. III MACCABEES The name of Maccabees was first
given to Judas, the son of Matthias, the priest of Modin, and his brethren, for
the reason which has been already mentioned; and, therefore, the two books just
spoken of, which give us an account of their actions, are called the First and
the Second Book of the Maccabees. But because they were sufferers in the cause
of their religion, others who were like sufferers in the same cause, and by
their sufferings bore witness to the truth, were in after times called also
Maccabees by the Jews. For this reason, other two books, giving an account of
other persecutions endured by the Jews, are found under the title of the Third
and Fourth Books of the Maccabees. The Third Book contains the history of a
persecution intended against the Jews in Egypt by Ptolemy Philopator, but which
was miraculously prevented. From its style, this book appears to have been
written by some Alexandrian Jew; it abounds with absurd fables. With regard to
its subject, it ought in strictness to be called the First Book of Maccabees, as
the event it professes to relate occurred before the achievements of that heroic
family; but as it is of less authority and repute than the other two, it is
reckoned after them. It is found in most ancient manuscripts of the Greek
Septuagint, particularly in the Alexandrian and Vatican manuscripts; but it was
never inserted in the Latin Vulgate, nor in our English bibles. IV MACCABEES Of
the Fourth Book of the Maccabees very little is known. It is destitute of every
internal mark of credibility, and is supposed to be the same as the book
“concerning the government or empire of reason,” ascribed to Josephus by
Philostratus, Eusebius, and Jerome. It is extant in some Greek manuscripts, in
which it is placed after the three books of Maccabees. Dr. Lardner thinks it is
the work of some unknown Christian writer. The history contained in it extends
to about 160 years; beginning at Seleucus's attempt to pillage the temple, and
ending just before the birth of Jesus Christ. Upon the whole, in regard to these
apocryphal books, it is to be observed, they appear to have been entirely, the
work of Hellenistic Jews, and quite destitute of any proper claim to the
authority of inspiration. The Jews, after their return from the Babylonish
captivity to the time of our Savior, were much given to religious romances: and
of this sort the greater part, if not all, of these books are to be accounted.
They were never extant in Hebrew, neither are they quoted in the New Testament,
or by the Jewish writers, Philo and Josephus; on the contrary, they contain many
things which are fabulous, false, and contradictory to the canonical scriptures.
They are nevertheless possessed of some value as ancient writings, which throw
considerable light upon the phraseology of Scripture, and upon the history and
manners of the east.


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  CHAPTER 10: HISTORY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
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HISTORY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT


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  CHAPTER 11: THE CREATION--FALL OF MAN
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THE CREATION--FALL OF MAN CREATION The first transaction recorded in history is
the creation of the world. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth.” Genesis 1:1. This work is worthy the amazing power of that Supreme Being
by whom it was executed. The idea of creation is truly sublime. It is, indeed,
so vast that ancient as well as some modern philosophers have denied the
possibility of creation, and hence have invested matter with the attribute of
eternity, making it coeval with God. From the infallible testimony of God, we
infer that the material elements, of which organic forms and worlds are
composed, were the product of the same creative power, so clearly seen and
understood by the things that are made. So reasons the apostle, Hebrews 11:3. In
the book of Genesis, the “beginning” of everything is ascribed to the creative
power of God; and we are informed that over the formless and chaotic earth,
darkness reigned, and “that the Spirit of God moved” or brooded “upon the face
of the waters,” bringing order out of confusion, light out of darkness, and this
beauteous earth into a fit condition for the residence of man, and the
subsistence of animal and vegetable life.[11] [11] Between the creative act,
described by the words, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,”
and the organizing work, commenced on the first of the six days, an indefinitely
protracted interval of time seems evidently to have elapsed. The facts of
geology, so far as they seem at variance with the sacred record, belong to what
has been denominated a pre-adamic earth, the time-periods of which were long
enough for the development and growth of those gigantic species of animal and
vegetable formations, found in the subterranean cabinets of fossil remains. The
learned Prof. Moses Stuart, though an anti-geologist, in commenting on the first
verse in Genesis, remarks; “All order and arrangement plainly seem to be
considered by the writer of Genesis 1 as having been effected after the original
act of creation. … The original act of creation, as understood by the sacred
writers, appears plainly to have been the calling of Matter into being, the
causing of it to exist; and out of this the heavens and the earth were
afterwards formed, i.e., reduced to their present order and arrangement.” The
Rev. John Harris, D.D., as the result of a very elaborate investigation, says:
“On the whole, then, my firm persuasion is, that the first verse in Genesis was
designed, by the Divine Spirit, to announce the absolute origination of the
material universe by the Almighty Creator; and that it is so understood in other
parts of Holy Writ; that, passing by an indefinite interval, the second verse
describes the state of our planet immediately prior to the Adamic creation; and
that the third verse begins the account of the six days' work.” These views are
not new--they were adopted by some of the most learned of the early fathers of
the Christian Church, long before the science of geology was known. Gregory
Nazianzen and Justin Martyr suppose an indefinite period between the creation
and the first ordering of things. Basil and Origen are still more explicit. To
these might be added Augustine, Theodoret, Episcopius, and others, whose
interpretations imply the existence of an indefinite interval between the
creation, as narrated in the first verse of Genesis, and that of which an
account is given in the following verses. (See Wiseman's Lectures, and
Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise.) During this indefinite interval between the
primordial creation and the Adamic creation, millions of ages might have
intervened, thus affording ample time for the productions, growths, formations,
deposits, and transitions which the modern science of geology has brought to
light. As Dr. Kitto remarks in his Bible Illustrations: “Whatever facts are
recorded in the Book of God, the volume of earth confirms ; and for other facts
unrecorded in Scripture, which are written in his stony volume, a sufficient
interval of silence and time is afforded.” Thus it appears that the phenomena,
developed by prying open the long-sealed, stony pages of God's ancient book of
nature, are found, in their ultimate results, to be in accordance with His
inspired volume--Ed. It is unfortunate that people felt the need to accept
theory over the facts of Scripture, to the point they would edit the great
writings of scholars to spout their ignorance and lack of faith. As time has
proven, there is no justification for these vast geologic ages which were only a
means of denying the power of God, and even the existence of God. The flood has
always been the answer to the layers of sediment. For there to be fossils, they
had to be instantly buried under specific conditions to preserve the evidence
that they existed. Otherwise, they would have rotted away as is observed
everywhere today The Almighty architect said, “Let there be Light, And there was
Light.” With respect to this expression, Longinus, that great judge of the
beautiful and sublime, says, “It is the most noble and lofty example of
sublimity that imagination can conceive; it commands things into existence,
speaks with the voice of supernatural authority, and is the language of God.”
“And God saw the light that it was good, and he divided the light from the
darkness, calling the light day, and the darkness night; and the evening and the
morning were the first day.” Surprising display of Omnipotence to illuminate a
whole system in so short a time, and appoint the proper portions of light and
darkness to every part of the universe! Who, with an intelligent mind and a
sensitive heart, can look upon the glorious scenes and objects around him,
without emotion; and, if piety be an inmate of his bosom, without adoring
reverence and filial love to Him who made them all? And yet it is most true that
the beauties and sublimities of the natural world are exhibited in vain to the
generality of mankind. Engaged in other pursuits, or degraded by evil passions,
or besotted by self-indulgence, the most magnificent, and the most soothing
scenes which mark the power or the goodness of God, are equally unnoticed and
despised by many who ought to feel most interested in them. “Wandering oft, with
brute unconscious gaze Man marks not” Him--“marks not the mighty hand, That,
ever busy, wheels the silent spheres-- And as, on earth, this grateful change
revolves, With transport touches all the springs of life.” THE FIRMAMENT The
waters being still dispersed over the face of chaos, the Almighty was pleased to
separate them from each other, and restrain their current within proper bounds.
He divided those above the firmament from those beneath, and parted the waters
of the earth from the watery atmospheres. The firmament[12] formed on this
occasion was called heaven, and, with the separation of the waters, completed
the second day of the creation. Light being formed, and the waters separated
from each other, the Almighty, on the third day, commanded that the waters
beneath the firmament should he gathered together, and dry land appear. The
waters, accordingly, fled into deep valleys, and recesses of the earth, the
lofty mountains raised their towering heads, and the lesser hills displayed
their pleasing summits. As the great Creator designed the earth for the future
habitation of man and beast, it was no sooner separated from the waters, than he
gave it a prolific virtue, and endowed it with the power of vegetation. The
surface was immediately covered with grass for cattle, which was succeeded by
herbs, plants, and fruit-trees, proper for the nourishment of man. All those
were instantly in a state of perfection, that they might be ready for the use of
those inhabitants for whom they were designed.[13] [12] The Hebrew word which we
translate firmament, signifies a curtain, or anything stretched out and
extended. The term is not only applied to the sky, but to the atmosphere, and in
this place seems particularly to refer to that extent of airy matter which
encompasses the earth, and separates the clouds from the waters on the earth.
[13] Though the first fruits of the earth were all produced without any seeds,
by the bare command of God yet, to perpetuate the same, each kind contained its
own seed, which being sown in the earth, or falling, when ripe, from the plants
themselves, should continue in succession to the end of the world. The Almighty
Creator, having prepared such necessaries as he thought proper on earth, for the
use of its intended inhabitants, on the fourth day formed those two great
luminaries of heaven called the Sun and Moon! the former of which he appointed
to rule the day, and the latter the night. He likewise formed the planets, fixed
their gravitation and vicissitudes, and appointed their regular courses, that
they might divide time and distinguish the seasons. By means of these luminaries
the atmosphere was rarified, and by their influence on the planets, was promoted
the office of vegetation. ANIMATE CREATION The creation of the first four days
consisting of things inanimate, on the fifth God pronounced his omnipotent fiat,
for the production of living creatures, saying, “Let the waters bring forth
abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowls[14] that they may fly
above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.” He was pleased to form these
creatures of different shapes and sizes; some very large[15], to show the
wonders of his creating power, and others exceeding small, to display the
goodness of his indulgent providence. After he had created them, he gave them
his blessing, by bidding them, be fruitful and multiply; enduing them, at the
same time, with a power to propagate, in a prolific manner, their respective
species. And thus were completed the works of the fifth day. In the beginning of
the sixth day God created the terrestrial animals, which the sacred historian
has divided into three classes, namely, 1. Beasts, or wild creatures, such as
lions, tigers, bears, wolves, etc. 2. Cattle, or domestic animals, for the use
of men, such as bulls and cows, sheep, hogs, horses, asses, etc. 3. Creeping
things, such as serpents, worms, and various kinds of insects. [14] From this
expression, some are of opinion that fowls derive their origin from the water as
well as the fishes; while others, with equal reason, suppose them to have been
made out of the earth, agreeably to the following passage in Genesis 2:19 : “Out
of the ground God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air.”
But these two texts are easily reconciled, when we consider that neither denies
what the other asserts. It is to be observed, that some fowls live mostly in the
water, others partly on land and partly on water, while a third sort live
altogether on land. This diversity countenances the opinion of many of the
ancients, that they were made partly out of the water, or of both mixed
together. [15] The words in the text are, And God created great whales. But this
expression must not be confined to the whale alone; it undoubtedly implies fish
of an enormous size, of which there are various species, that differ both in
their form and magnitude. ADAM The omnipotent Creator having made these abundant
preparations, crowned his work with the formation of the grand object, Man, for
whose use they were designed. He said, Let us make man in our own image, after
our likeness.[16] And, to show that the creature he was now about to form should
be the master-piece of the creation, and (under his auspices) have supremacy
over the whole, he further says, and let him have dominion over the fish of the
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth,
and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. In the formation of
man's body, God made choice of the dust of the earth, after which, having
infused into him an immortal spirit, or, as the text says, breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, he became a living soul.[17] [16] What a noble and
majestic expression was this, and how consistent with the nature of that
Almighty. Being by whom it was spoken! In the formation of other creatures, God
says, Let the earth or the waters bring them forth; but here (as if man was to
be made only a little lower than the angels) he says, Let us make him in our
image--that is, let us make him like our self; let us endue him with all those
noble faculties that will raise him above the animal creation, and make him not
only to bear our image in the lower world, but also qualify him for the
enjoyment of those blessings that are to be found at our right hand, to the full
extent of eternity. [17] Josephus says, that after God had created man, he
called him Adam, which in the Hebrew signifies red from the earth with which he
was made being of that color. As soon as Adam began to experience the
consciousness of his existence and intellectual endowments, he would very
naturally direct attention to the animals around him, desirous of knowing
whether his relation to them was one of security and peace. To relieve his mind
of any disquieting apprehensions, be was assured by the Creator that they all
were to be subject to his authority. As a pledge of such authority, they were
moved to appear before him, that he might give them such names as would
distinguish their species and indicate their natures.[18] [18] The great poet,
Milton, on this occasion, expresses himself as follows: “As thus he spake, each
bird and beast, behold Approaching, two and two ; these cowering low With
blandishment; each bird stooped on his wing I named them as they passed, and
understood Their nature, with such knowledge God endued My sudden apprehension!”
EVE On perceiving that all these animals appeared in pairs, Adam would, as may
be supposed, desire and expect to find a companion kindred to himself, and
fitted to be a partner and help-meet. To meet this want God took one of his
ribs, and created a woman, whom the man named, and gladly recognized as one with
himself. “This,” said he, “is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh,”
language which referred to the nearness of the conjugal relation, as a
partnership of love. It thus was intimated that the marriage bond was to be
regarded as indissoluble.[19] [19] The general name for woman, in the Hebrew
tongue, is Issa; but this woman, being the first, was (after the fall) called
Eve, which signifies the mother of human kind. SEVENTH DAY This was certainly
the last act [20] of the whole creation, which, by the almighty power of God,
was made perfect in the space of six days; at the close of which the great
Creator took a survey of the whole, and pronounced it good, or properly adapted
to the uses for which it was intended. The next day (which was the seventh from
the beginning of the creation)[21] God set apart as a time of solemn rest from
his labors. He blessed and sanctified it; and to impress mankind with a just
sense of his infinite wisdom, power, and goodness, ordered it ever after to be
kept sacred.[22] [20] Though the sacred historian does not, in a particular
manner, mention the formation of Eve till some time after that of Adam, yet it
is not in the least to be doubted but they were both created on the same day.
This, indeed, evidently appears from the relation of the works of the sixth day,
Genesis 1:27, where, after the words, God created man in his own image, are
added, male and female created he them. [21] It is not directly ascertained at
what time or season of the year the world was made; but, from the trees being
laden with fruit (of which history informs us our first parents did eat), it is
most reasonable to suppose that it was at or near the autumnal equinox. [22]
Thus was the seventh day appointed by God, from the very beginning of the world,
to be observed as a day of rest by mankind, in memory of the great benefits
received in the formation of the universe. It has been a question, among the
learned, whether any sabbath was observed before the promulgation of the law by
Moses; but the most judicious commentators agree that Adam and Eve constantly
observed the seventh day, and dedicated it in a peculiar manner to the service
of the Almighty; and that the first Sabbath, which Philo (one of the most
ancient writers) calls the birth-day of the world, was celebrated in Paradise
itself which pious custom, being transmitted from our first parents to their
posterity, became in time so general that the same Philo calls it the universal
festival of mankind. When Adam first beheld the fair partner of his life, who
was presented to him by her Almighty Creator, he was struck with a secret
sympathy, and, finding her of his own likeness and complexion, he exclaimed with
rapture,[23] This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh. He easily
foresaw that the love and union which were now to take place between them were
to be lasting. The Divine Hand which conducted the woman to Adam did it in the
light of a matrimonial father; and having joined them together, he pronounced
this benediction, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth; intimating,
that, as he had given them dominion over every part of the creation, they, by
being themselves fruitful in the procreation of children, might live to see the
earth replenished with a numerous progeny. THE GARDEN OF EDEN To facilitate the
intended happiness of our first parents, the Almighty Creator had provided for
their residence a most delightful spot called Eden,[24] which was watered by an
extensive river divided into four streams. It was furnished with all kinds of
vegetables, among which were two remarkable trees, one called the Tree of
Life,[25] and the other the Tree of Knowledge,[26] by the latter of which Good
and Evil were to be distinguished. Into this earthly paradise did the Almighty
conduct Adam and Eve, giving them orders to take care of the garden, and
superintend the plants. He granted them permission to eat of the fruit of every
tree, except that of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This he strictly
charged them not even to touch, on the penalty of incurring his displeasure, and
thereby entailing upon themselves and their descendants, mortality, diseases,
and death. With this small restraint God left them in the garden of Eden, where
everything was pleasing to the sight, and accommodated to their mutual
enjoyment. [24] There is probably no subject on which such a diversity of
opinions has been entertained as concerning the site of the Paradise in which
the progenitors of mankind were placed. Mohammedans even believe that it was in
one of the seven heavens from which Adam was cast down upon the earth after the
fall, “Some,” says Dr. Clarks, “place it in the third heaven, others in the
fourth; some within the orbit of the moon, others in the moon itself; some in
the middle regions of the air, or beyond the earth's attraction some on the
earth, others under the earth, and others within the earth.” Every section of
the earth's surface has also, in its turn, had its claim to this distinction
advocated. From this mass of conflicting opinions we shall select the two which
have been supported by the most eminent authorities, and which seem to have the
strongest probabilities in their favor. It has been assumed that in whatever
situation, otherwise probable, the marks by which Moses characterizes the spot
are to be found, there we may suppose that we have discovered the site of
Paradise. In fixing the first probability, the all but unquestionable fact that
the known rivers Euphrates and Tigris are mentioned as two of the four rivers of
Eden, is of the greatest importance; and therefore the most exact inquirers have
not sought for the spot at any point distant from those rivers. The Euphrates
and Tigris being thus identified with two of the rivers of Eden, there has
remained a great latitude in the choice of a site for the garden, some looking
for it near the source of those rivers, and others seeking it in the low and
flat plains through which they flow in the lower part of their course. The first
position places Eden in Armenia, near the sources of the four great rivers
Euphrates, Tigris (Hiddekel), Phasis (Pison), and the Araxes (Gihon). The
similarity of sound between Phasis and Pison is considered to strengthen this
opinion, as does also the similarity of meaning between the Hebrew name Gihon
and the Greek Araxes, both words denoting swiftness. One consideration that
induced a preference for this site is, that the advocates of this opinion
considered “heads,” as applied to the rivers which went forth from the garden,
to mean “sources,” which would therefore render it natural to look for the
terrestrial paradise in a mountainous or hilly country, which only could supply
the water necessary to form four heads of rivers. But others, those who would
fix the site toward the other extremity of the two known rivers, reckon it
sufficient, and indeed more accordant with the text, to consider the four heads”
not as sources, but as channels--that is, that the Euphrates and Tigris united
before they entered the garden, and after leaving it divided again, and entered
the Persian gulf by two mouths ;thus forming four channels, two above and two
below the garden, each called by a different name. “The river or channel,” says
Dr. Wells. “must be looked upon as a highway crossing over a forest, and which
may be said to divide itself into four ways, whether the division be made above
or below the forest.” With this view, some writers are content to take the
present Shat-ul-Arab (the single stream which is formed by the confluence of the
Tigris and Euphrates, and which afterward divides to enter the gulf) as the
river that went through the garden; but as Major Rennell has shown that the two
great rivers kept distinct courses to the sea until the time of Alexander,
although at no great distance of time afterward they became united, other
writers are contented to believe that such a junction and subsequent divergence
did, either in the time or Moses or before the deluge, exist in or near the
place indicated. The deluge must have made great changes in the beds of these
and many other rivers, amid inferior agencies have alone been sufficient greatly
to alter the ancient channels of the Tigris and Euphrates. This is not only
rendered obvious by an inspection of the face of the country, but the memory of
such events is preserved by local traditions, and they are even specified in the
writings of the Arabian geographers and historians. Thus, then, of the two most
probable conjectures, one likes the terrestrial Paradise in Armenia, between the
sources of the Euphrates, Tigris, Phasis, and Araxes; and the other identifies
the land of Eden with the country between Bagdad and Bussorah; and, in that
land, some fix the garden near the latter city, while others; more prudently,
only contend that it stood in some part of this territory where an ancient
junction and subsequent separation of the Euphrates and Tigris took place. [25]
This tree is supposed to have been so called from its having in it a virtue not
only to repair the animal spirits, as other nourishment does, but likewise to
preserve and maintain them in the same equal temper and state wherein they were
created; that is to say, without affecting the party who used it with pain,
disease, and decay. [26] There are various opinions concerning the nature and
properties of the Tree of Knowledge, which was forbidden to our first parents.
Some think it had a baneful quality, directly opposite to that of the Tree, of
Life; while others imagine it is thus called by the sacred historian, because,
directly after Adam and Eve had eaten of it, they became sensible of the good
they had lost, and the evil they had incurred, by their disobedience. Thus fixed
in the most beautiful situation, possessed of innocence, devoid of guilt. and
free from care, the happiness of our first parents appeared complete:
“Perfection crowned with wondrous frame, And peace and plenty smiled around;
They felt no grief, they knew no shame, But tasted heaven on earthly ground.”
TEMPTATION But, alas! their bliss was transient, their innocence fleeting, and
their exemption from care very short. All animals at this time were social in
their tempers, except the serpent,[27] who was equally subtle and envious. This
malignant creature, viewing the felicity of the first pair with those painful
sensations which are natural to depravity of heart, determined to allure them
from their innocence, and stimulate them to the crime of disobedience. In
consequence of this infernal design, he began by persuading Eve to taste the
prohibited Tree of Knowledge, telling her,[28] that, by so doing, both herself
and her husband would immediately be sensible of the difference between Good and
Evil, acquire much additional happiness, and even not be inferior, in point of
wisdom, to God himself. [27] It is generally thought that this was the work of
Satan, who, to effect his purposes, assumed the figure of a serpent. [28] The
narrative of the temptation has been regarded by some interpreters as
allegorical, because the power of speech and the faculty of reason are ascribed
to the serpent. But the whole narrative, of which this is a part, is clearly
historic; and as the sacred writer would not be likely to mix the allegorical
and the historical in his record, the conclusion is very evident that the
literal interpretation of the narrative is the true one, and that the presence
and the agency of a real serpent must be considered as a matter of fact. Of
course it will be conceded that the utterance of words was supernatural. There
is clear evidence, however, of the agency of a higher power concealed under the
serpent's form--a malignant spirit of evil--that used the serpent in executing
his malevolent design.-Ed. FALL Unhappily the artifices of the serpent
prevailed. Eve gazed on the tempting fruit till her appetite was inflamed; its
beautiful hue made her fancy it a most delicious food; and she at length
sacrificed her duty to gratify her curiosity. She stretched forth her
presumptuous hand, took of the baneful fruit, and ate her own destruction.
“_______________She plucked, she ate; Earth felt the wound, and nature from her
seat, Sighing through all her works, gave sign of woe That all was lost.”
Pleased with the taste of the fruit, and fancying herself already in possession
of that additional happiness the serpent had promised her, she flew to Adam, and
enticed him to participate in her crime. “_______________He scrupled not to eat
Against his better knowledge-- Earth trembled from her entrails, as again In
pangs, and Nature gave a second groan Sky lowered, and muttering thunder, some
sad drops Wept, at completing of the mortal sin.” Remorse, the natural
consequence of guilt, now opened their eyes to each other's nakedness. No longer
shielded by innocence from shame, they were mutually shocked at the reciprocal
indecency of their appearance; and they sewed fig-leaves together and made
themselves aprons. That is, they tied or twisted together the broad leaves of
the fig-tree, so as to form a girdle for the loins, being prompted by the
impulse of shame to the expedient of an artificial covering for their persons.
SHAME While they were in a state of innocence, they no sooner heard the voice of
God approach them, than they ran with ecstasy to meet him, and with humble joy
welcomed his gracious visits; but now their Maker was become a terror to them,
and they a terror to each other. Their consciences painted their transgression
in the blackest colors, all hope was banished, and nothing remained but horror
and despair. When, therefore, after their transgression, they heard the voice of
the Lord in the garden, instead of running to meet him as before with
cheerfulness and joy, they flew to the most retired part of it, in order to
conceal themselves from his sight. But the Almighty soon called them from their
dark retreat; and, after a short examination, they both acknowledged their
guilt. The man attempted to excuse himself by laying the blame on the woman, and
pleaded her persuasions as the cause of his criminality. The woman endeavored to
remove the crime from herself to the serpent; but the Almighty thought proper to
make all three the objects of his distributive justice. As the serpent had been
the original cause of this evil, God first passes sentence on him, which was,
that (instead of going erect as he did before the fact) he should ever after
creep on his belly, and thereupon become incapable of eating any food, except
what was mingled with dust. The woman was given to understand that she had
entailed upon herself sorrow from conception, pain in childbirth, and subjection
to her husband. The punishment of Adam consisted in a life of perpetual toil and
care,[30] in order to keep in due subjection those passions and appetites, to
gratify which he had transgressed the divine command. [30] The words in the text
are, in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread; which Implies that labor
alone should produce what, if he had not transgressed, nature would have
spontaneously bestowed. EVICTION FROM EDEN The awful decree being thus solemnly
pronounced, as well on the author of the offence, as the offenders themselves,
the Almighty, to enhance their sense of the crime, and the tokens of his
resentment, expelled the guilty pair from the blissful regions of paradise,
after which he placed at the east end of the garden a guard of angels, in order
not only to prevent their re-entrance, but to secure the forbidden fruit from
the unhallowed hands of polluted mankind. Thus, by this original pollution, fell
our first parents, who, from the happiest condition that can be conceived,
plunged themselves into a state of wretchedness, and thereby entailed misery on
their descendants.


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  CHAPTER 12: FAMILY OF ADAM--UNIVERSAL DEPRAVITY--THE FLOOD
========================================================================

FAMILY OF ADAM--UNIVERSAL DEPRAVITY--THE FLOOD BIRTH OF CAIN AND ABEL In the
space of two years after the expulsion of our first parents from Paradise, the
human race was increased by Eve's being delivered of two sons, the first of whom
she called Cain,[31] and the latter Abel.[32] As these two brothers were of
different dispositions, so, when they grew up to years of maturity, they
followed different employments. Abel, the younger was just in his dealings, and
amiable in his temper. Firmly believing that God saw all his actions, and knew
their motives, he carefully avoided offending his beneficent Maker, and, in the
simplicity of a shepherd's life, took a pleasure in practicing all the social
virtues. On the contrary, Cain was perversely wicked, and avariciously craving.
His attention was principally directed to husbandry; but with all the benefits
arising from cultivation, he was perpetually dissatisfied at what the earth
produced, and, from his natural vile disposition, was guilty of the first murder
ever committed. [31] As soon as Eve was delivered of her first child, she cried
out, in a transport of joy, I have gotten a man from the Lord: being persuaded
that this son was the promised seed mentioned by the Almighty to the sentence he
passed on the serpent: I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between
thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
In consequence of this persuasion, Eve called her first son Cain, which
signifies possession or acquisition. [32] The word Abel, in the Hebrew language,
signifies vanity, and, according to some, was given him as an intimation of the
little esteem his mother had for him in comparison of her first-born. THE
SACRIFICES It was customary, even in the infancy of the world, to make
acknowledgments to God by way of oblation. This being agreed on by these two
brothers, Cain offered the produce of his husbandry, and such fruits as nature
bestowed by the assistance of art. Abel's oblation consisted of the milk of his
herds, and the firstlings of his flocks. The Almighty was pleased to prefer the
latter, being the simple productions of nature, to the former, which, no doubt,
he considered as the interested offerings of laborious avarice.[33]This
preference raised the resentment of Cain, whose soul was so impressed with
hatred toward his brother, that he even showed it in his countenance. [33] The
reason why the offering of Abel was preferred to that of Cain, is given in the
Epistle to the Hebrews Hebrews 11:4 “By faith Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain” It was faith that made his offering more
acceptable. As Abp. Magee has remarked, “His faith was especially superior, as
being not directed to God alone, but also to the great Redeemer, promised
immediately after the fall, whose expiatory death was typified by animal
sacrifice; by offering which Abel evinced his faith in the great sacrifice of
the Redeemer prefigured by it. Such faith was what Cain wanted His offering was
a mere recognition of God as a Creator and Benefactor, such as any unrighteous
man might offer--Ed. The Almighty, knowing the secrets of Cain's heart,
condescended, in his great goodness, to expostulate with him to the following
effect: “That his respect to true goodness was impartial, wherever he found it;
and that, therefore, it was purely his own fault that his offering was not
equally accepted: that piety was the proper disposition for a sacrificer, and
that if herein he would emulate his brother, the same tokens of divine
approbation should attend his oblations: that it was madness in him to harbor
any revengeful thought against his brother, because, if he proceeded to put them
into execution, a dreadful punishment would immediately follow.” MURDER OF ABEL
This kind admonition from the Almighty had so little effect upon Cain, that,
instead of being sensible of his fault, and endeavoring to amend, he grew more
and more incensed against his brother, and at length formed the resolution of
gratifying his revenge by depriving him of his existence. But it was not long
before Cain was called to an account for this horrid deed. The all-seeing God,
from whom no secrets can be hid, appeared before him, and demanded the reason of
his brother's absence. Sensible of the enormity of his crime, Cain attempted to
reply; but guilt, for a time, tied his tongue. At length, in faltering accents,
he tried to evade what he did not dare positively to answer. He pretended to be
surprised at not having seen his brother for some time; and likewise observed,
that he was neither the guardian of Abel, nor empowered to watch his motions. On
this the Almighty charged Cain, in direct terms, with the murder of his brother;
and, after expressing to him the atrociousness of the crime, and how much it
cried to heaven for vengeance, proceeded to pass sentence on him. “Now,” says
he, “art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy
brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground it shall not
henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be
in the earth.” The wretched criminal, struck with the severity of this
denunciation, convinced of the atrocious nature of his offence, and deploring
the misery of his situation, exclaimed, “My punishment is greater than I can
bear.” He was apprehensive of meeting with worse evils than his sentence really
imported; and that he should riot only feel the miseries of banishment, but
likewise be subjected to the loss of his life by the hands of his
fellow-creatures. But, to ease his mind in this last respect, the Almighty was
pleased to declare to him, that whoever should slay him, vengeance should be
taken on them seven fold. He likewise set a particular mark on him, whereby he
might escape his supposed danger; for it was the divine intent to punish him by
the prolongation of his life, during the remainder of which he should be loaded
with infamy, and under all the horrors of a guilty conscience. GENEALOGY OF CAIN
In consequence of the divine sentence, Cain left his parents and relations, and
went into a strange country. He was banished from that sacred spot where the
Almighty had given frequent manifestations of his glorious presence; and though
by the divine decree no person was permitted to hurt him, yet the consciousness
of his own guilt made him fearful of everything he saw or heard. After wandering
about a considerable time through different countries, he at length settled with
his family in the land of Nod. Here he lived for a course of years, in which
time his descendants being greatly increased, in order to keep them together, he
built a city, and called it after the name of his son Enoch, which, in the
Hebrew tongue, signifies a dedication. From the loins of Cain, in regular
succession; came Lamech, the son of Methuselah, who introduced polygamy by
marrying two wives, the one named Adah, and the other Zillah. Among the children
by the former of these wives he had two sons, namely, Jabal and Jubal, the first
of whom made great improvements in the management of cattle, and the other
invented the psaltery, and first gave melody to music. By Zillah he had
Tubal-Cain, who was celebrated for his great strength, excelled in martial
exercises, and first discovered the art of forging and polishing metals. Lamech
had likewise a daughter called Naamah (which denotes fair and beautiful), who is
supposed to have been the first person that found out the art of spinning and
weaving. BIRTH OF SETH Having said thus much of Cain and his posterity, we must
now return to our primitive parents, Adam and Eve. The death of the righteous
Abel and the banishment of Cain afflicted them to the heart; and they continued
some time in the deepest lamentation. At length the Almighty was pleased to
alleviate their affliction by a promise that they should have another son, who
should be a comfort and consolation to them in their old age. Accordingly, in
the proper course of time, Eve was delivered of another boy, whom they called
Seth, which signifies substitute, or appointed, because God was pleased to send
him instead of “Abel, whom Cain slew.” At this time Adam was one hundred and
thirty years old, after which he lived eight hundred years, and beget several
other children, both sons and daughters. SETH'S POSTERITY The male posterity of
Adam, in the line of Seth, was as follows-- When Seth was one hundred and five
years old, he had a son named Enos, in whose days the sacred historian informs
us that men began to institute stated forms and ceremonies in the worship of
Almighty God. After the birth of Enos, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years,
so that the whole of his life was nine hundred and twelve years. Enos, at the
age of ninety, had a son, whom he named Cainan; after which he lived eight
hundred and fifteen years; in the whole nine hundred and five. Cainan, when
seventy, had a son named Mahalaleel; after which he lived eight hundred and
forty years; in all nine hundred and ten. Mahalaleel, when sixty-five, had a son
named Jared; after which he lived eight hundred years; in all eight hundred and
sixty-five. Jared, when one hundred and sixty-two, had a son named Enoch;[34]
after which he lived eight hundred years; in all nine hundred and sixty-two.
[34] Of all the posterity of Adam, the most remarkable is Enoch, who, for his
distinguished piety and virtue, was exempted from mortality, being immediately,
that is, without passing through the valley of the shadow of death, translated
to the heavenly mansions. Enoch, when sixty-five, had a son named Methuselah;
after which he lived three hundred years; in all three hundred and sixty-five.
Methuselah, when one hundred and eighty-seven, had a son named Lamech; after
which he lived seven hundred and eighty-two years; in all nine hundred and
sixty-nine. Lamech, when one hundred and eighty-two, had a son named Noah; after
which he lived five hundred and ninety-five years; in all seven hundred and
seventy-seven. And Noah, when five hundred years old, had three sons, Shem, Ham,
and Japheth; from whom the world was replenished after the general deluge. This
is the genealogy which Moses gives us of the posterity of Adam, in the line of
Seth; and if we consider the prodigious length of men's lives in this age, the
strength of their constitutions from a temperate life, and the advanced years in
which they beget children, the number of inhabitants previous to the flood must
have been very immense. The descendants of Seth, and those of Cain, lived
separate for a considerable time, the former despising the latter on account of
their natural cruelty. The Sethites, who adhered to the service of God, and
diligently attended to their religious duties, were styled the “Sons of God;” in
distinction to which the descendants of Cain, who led profligate and impious
lives, were termed the “sons and daughters of men.” After the death of Adam,[35]
the Sethites retired from the plain some they had hitherto resided, to the
mountains opposite paradise; and, for some time, continued to live in the fear
of God, and to preserve the strictest rules of piety and virtue. in the course
of time, the descendants of Cain, who were now become very numerous, spread
themselves over all that part of the country which had been left by the
Sethites, even to the confines of the mountains where Seth had fixed his abode;
and here they continued that abandoned course of life they had followed before
their removal. [35] The sacred historian does not inform us at what exact period
Adam paid the debt of nature, nor in what place his remains were deposited. The
ancient Arabians tell us that he was buried at Hebron, in the cave of Machpelah,
which Abraham, many ages after, bought for a burying-place for himself and
family. They likewise say that when Adam found his end approaching, he called
his son Seth, and the other branches of his numerous family, to whom he gave a
strict charge that they should always live separate, and have no manner of
intercourse with the impious family of the murderer Cain. DEPRAVITY OF THE RACE
By this close connection, the Sethites had frequent opportunities of seeing the
daughters of Cain, who being exceeding beautiful, they were so captivated with
their charms, that they entered into nuptial alliances with them; and from this
intercourse were born men of a very gigantic size, who were no less remarkable
for their daring wickedness, than for their bold and adventurous undertakings.
Thus did the example of the wicked family of Cain prevail, and, by degrees,
destroy all the remains of religious duties in the posterity of Seth. The
righteous Noah used his utmost efforts to convince them of the enormity of their
conduct; but all his admonitions were in vain: the bent of their thoughts had
taken another turn, and their whole study and contrivance was, how to gratify
their inordinate passions. NOAH ORDERED TO BUILD THE ARK This universal
depravity of mankind so offended the Almighty, that, as the sacred historian
informs us, he “repented that he had made man on the earth”[36] and, as a proper
punishment for their offences, thought of destroying not only the whole of the
human race (Noah and his family excepted), but also the brute creation, which he
had formed for the use of ungrateful man. But before the Almighty fixed the
resolution of executing his design, he thought proper to give one chance to the
principal objects of his resentment, which was, that it, in the space of one
hundred and twenty years, they should forsake their evil ways, repent, and
reform, his mercy should be at liberty to interpose and reverse their doom. This
he communicated to his servant Noah, who, for his great justice and piety, had
found favor in his sight; and for which his family (consisting only of eight
persons) were to be exempted from the general destruction. [36] This expression
must not be taken in the literal sense of the words, for God is not the son of
man that he should repent; but it is a figurative expression, and adapted to our
apprehensions. The meaning, therefore, is, that as all men were corrupt, and
turning a deaf ear to his preacher Noah, the Almighty was determined to destroy
man whom he had created. DESCRIPTION OF THE ARK Notwithstanding the merciful and
beneficent promises of the Almighty, yet such was the corrupt state of mankind
at this time, and so lost were they to every sense of virtue, that they still
prosecuted their vicious courses, and subjected themselves to the consequences
of the divine displeasure. Finding, therefore, that all lenity and forbearance
tended to no purpose, except to make them more bold and licentious, God at
length made known to his servant Noah his awful determination of involving them,
and the earth they inhabited, in one general destruction, by a flood of water.
He likewise assured him that as he had, in a particular manner, testified his
fidelity to his Maker, he would take care to preserve him and his family,
together with such other creatures as were necessary for the restoration of
their species from the general calamity. To effect this, he gave him orders to
make an ark, or large vessel of gopher-wood,[37] and, that it might be secured
from the violence of the waves, to pitch it both within and without. The form
and dimensions of this building are thus described by the sacred historian: “And
this is the form which thou shalt make it of: the length of the work shall be
three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it
thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou
finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof;
with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.”[38] [37] When we
consider that rpk and kuparisso" have the same radical consonants, we are at
once led to select a species of cypress as the “gopher-wood,” or rather the
gopher-tree in question. The wood of the cypress possesses an unrivalled fame
for its durability, and its resistance to those injuries which are incident to
other kinds of wood. The divine appointment had doubtless a reason founded in
the nature of things, and no better reason can be found than the matchless
excellence of the wood recommended. The compact and durable nature of the
cypress rendered it peculiarly eligible for sacred purposes: hence we find it
was employed in the construction of coffins among the Athenians, and mummy-cases
among the Egyptians. The cupressus sempervirens, a straight and elegant tree of
the cone-bearing family, seems therefore to have the best title to the credit of
having furnished the material for the most important vessel that was as ever
constructed. [38] There is much difference of opinion about the form of the ark.
The common figures are given under the impression that it was intended to be
adapted to progressive motion: whereas no other object was sought than to
construct a vessel which should float for a given time upon the water. For this
purpose it was not necessary to place the ark in a sort of boat, as in the
common figures; and we may be content with the simple idea which the text gives,
which is that of an enormous oblong box, or wooden house, divided into three
stories, and apparently with a sloping roof. The most moderate statement of its
dimensions makes the ark by far the largest of vessels ever made to float upon
the water. As the measurements are given, the only doubt is as to which of the
cubit measures used by the Hebrews is here intended. It seems that the standard
of the original cubit was the length of a man's arm from the elbow to the end of
the middle finger, or about eighteen inches. This was the common cubit; but
there was also a sacred cubit, which some call a hand's breadth (three inches)
larger than the common one; while others make the sacred cubit twice the length
of the common. The probability is, that there were two cubit measures beside the
common; one being of twenty-one inches, and the other of three feet. Some
writers add the geometrical cubit of nine feet. Shuckford says we must take the
common or shortest cubit as that for the ark; and Dr. Hales, taking this advice,
obtained the following result: “It must have been of the burden of 42,413 tons.
A first-rate man-of-war is between 2,200 and 2,300 tons; and, consequently, the
capacity or stowage of eighteen such ships, the largest in present use, and
might carry 20,000 men, with provisions for six months, besides the weight of
1,800 cannon and all military stores. It was then by much the largest ship ever
built.” Having received these instructions from God, Noah, in obedience to the
divine command, immediately set about the arduous work, which he finished,
according to God's direction, seven days before the rain began to fall, having
been encouraged so to do by an assurance from his Maker, that though he meant to
destroy the world in general, yet he would establish his covenant with him. The
ark being finished, the Almighty commanded Noah to take into it “every living
thing of all flesh,” both cattle and beasts of the field,” birds and fowls of
the air, and reptiles of all kinds; of the unclean only one pair each, but of
the clean, seven pair. That he should likewise make a proper provision of food
for the different animals; and, having placed them in their respective
apartments, should then enter the ark himself, taking with him his wife,
together with his sons and their wives. THE DELUGE All things being adjusted
agreeably to the divine direction, Noah entered the ark, with his family, in the
six hundredth year of his age; and on the seventeenth day of the second month
(which was seven days after his entrance) the whole face of nature began to wear
a gloomy aspect, and to appear as if the earth was to be finally dissolved, and
all things return to their primitive chaos. The windows or cataracts of heaven
were opened, and the earth was overspread with a dreadful inundation. In vain
did sinful mortals seek for protection, or endeavor to shelter themselves from
the common destruction; for mountains and valleys were soon alike, and every
refuge was banished their sight. For forty days and nights did the rain continue
to fall, without the least intermission; when at length the ark began to float,
and, in process of time, was elevated above the highest mountains. A dismal
scene now presented itself! the earth, with all its beautiful variety of nature
and art, was no more! nothing appeared to the sight but a watery desert,
abounding with wrecks of the once lovely creation.[39] [39] The Deluge--From the
Original by Nicholas Poussin--Several great masters have treated this subject,
but none of their productions have acquired the celebrity of our engraving by
Poussin. All others have chosen but partial scenes or episodes--either the
beginning or the end--of this terrible infliction. Poussin alone has ventured to
embody the whole of this all-engulfing cataclysm, and show its frightful
catastrophe; he alone has dared to render that tremendous sentence: “All flesh
died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and
of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man.” The air is
laboring with the full-swollen clouds; the rain descends in torrents; the sun,
obscured, throws but a dim and feeble light; the overwhelming floods have long
confounded the bill; with the plains, and already reached the summits of the
highest mountains. The foaming waves in the centre of the awful scene, rolling
in irresistible volumes, dash against the rock the frail bark of one who had
vainly leaped thereon to find a refuge, and now raises his imploring hands to
inexorable Heaven, in front a family are still struggling to escape their fate;
while the ark floats away in the distance. Never was execution more adapted to
its subject--abounding in gloomy and terrific images, presented with appalling
truth. This chef d'oeuvre was the last labor of Poussin: he finished it in 1664,
at the age of 70, and died to the following year. The Almighty having thus
avenged himself of a sinful world, and reflecting upon Noah, and the poor
remains of his creatures in the ark, caused a drying north wind to arise, the
flood-gates of heaven to be stopped, and the falling of the waters to cease; by
which means the deluge began to abate, and the waters gradually subsiding, in
process of time the earth again appeared. MOUNT ARARAT The Flood The first
discovery Noah made of the cessation of the flood was, from the ark resting on
the mountains of Ararat.[40] This was about the beginning of May, and about the
middle of the following month the tops of the mountains appeared. But Noah (who,
no doubt, was glad to see the appearance of anything substantial after so long a
confinement), wisely considering, that though the mountains were visible, the
valleys might be yet overflowed, waited forty days longer before he attempted
any further discovery. At the expiration of that time, opening the window of the
ark, he let go a raven, supposing that the scent of dead bodies would allure him
to fly a considerable distance. Encouraged by the absence of the raven for seven
days, he let fly a dove, which, finding no resting-place, returned to its old
habitation. Seven days after he sent out the same bird, which then returned with
an olive-branch in its mouth, a happy certainty that the waters were removed
from the place where the olive-tree stood. Still, however, determined not to be
too hasty, he remained in the ark seven days more, when sending out the dove a
third time, and she not returning he concluded that the waters were entirely
withdrawn. In consequence of this he made the necessary preparations for leaving
the ark; but, mindful of God's directions, ventured not forth till fifty-five
days after, in order that the earth might be properly dry for his reception.
Having, at the expiration of that period, received God's positive command to
leave the ark, he accordingly came out of it on the twenty-seventh day of the
second month, bringing with him every creature that had been retained for
replenishing the earth. Thus ended Noah's long and melancholy confinement,
which, from the time of his entering the ark to that of his leaving it, amounted
exactly to one solar year. [40] It is generally admitted that the mountain on
which the ark rested lies in Armenia; although there are some who contend that
it must be sought in Cashgar, on the extension eastward of the great Caucasian
chain. The investigations of recent Biblical critics have, however, tended to
strengthen the original conviction in favor of the Armenian mountain. The
particular mountain to which people of different nations and religions concur in
awarding this distinction is situated in N. lat. 39° 30', and E. long. 44° 30',
in the vast chain of Taurus, and nearly in the centre between the southern
extremities of the Black and the Caspian seas. Its summit is elevated 17,260
feet above the level of the sea, and is always covered with snow, as indeed is
the whole mountain, for three or four months in the year. It is a very grand
object, being not merely a high summit in a chain of elevated mountains, but
standing as it were apart and alone, the minor mountains, which seem to branch
out from it and decline away in the distance, being so perfectly insignificant
in comparison, that the sublime effect of this most magnificent mountain is not
at all impaired, or its proportions hidden by them. This great mountain is
separated into two heads, distinguished as the Great and Little Ararat, which
perhaps accounts for the plural expression, “mountains,” of the text. The heads
form distinct cones, separated by a wide chasm or glen, which renders the
distance between the two peaks 12,000 yards. One of them is much smaller than
the other, and forms a more regular and pointed cone: it is also much lower, and
its summit is clear of snow in summer. The Armenians, who have many religious
establishments in its vicinity, regard the mountain with intense veneration, and
are firmly persuaded that the ark is still preserved on its summit. The first
thing Noah did, after quitting the ark, was to erect an altar, on which he
offered sacrifices to God, for his great goodness in preserving him and his
family from the general destruction. The Almighty, knowing the purity of Noah's
intentions, was so well pleased with his conduct, that he gave him his divine
assurance that he would never more “curse the ground for man's sake,” nor should
the earth ever be again destroyed by a general deluge. In confirmation of this,
he appointed a bow[41] to appear in the heavens as a token, and which was now to
be the ratification of the truth of his promise. [41] “I do set my bow in the
cloud”--The rather equivocal sense of the word “set” in English has occasioned a
very mistaken impression, which has led to some cavils, which the use of the
more proper word “appoint” would have prevented. As it stands, it has been
understood to say that the rainbow was at this time first produced: whereas, as
its appearance is occasioned by the immutable laws of refraction and reflection,
as applied to the rays of the sun striking on drops of falling rain, we know
that the phenomenon must have been occasionally exhibited from the beginning of
the world, as at present constituted. Accordingly, the text says no more than
that the rainbow was then appointed to be a token of the covenant between God
and man. Our engraving is a view of Mount Ararat, from the hills above Erivan,
drawn by A W Calcatt from a sketch made on the spot by J. Morier, Esq. Having,
by this divine promise, eased the mind of Noah, who was fearful of a second
deluge, the Almighty, after blessing him and his sons, granted them many
singular privileges, such as far exceeded those he had bestowed on our primitive
parents. Before the flood, mankind had no other food than vegetables; but now
the Almighty, after giving Noah and his sons the same dominion over the creation
as he had done Adam, permitted them to kill any creatures they thought proper
for food, only with this restriction, that they should not eat “the blood
thereof.” This restraint was certainly laid by God to prevent the shedding of
human blood, against which he denounces the following sentence: “Whoso sheddeth
man's blood, byman shall his blood be shed.” With these grants and promises, God
gave the same encouragement to Noah and his family that he did to our first
progenitors, by telling them to “be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the
earth.” Mount Ararat, from the hills above Ervian

“And the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat”--Genesis 7:4 Though the deluge
had destroyed all the inhabitants of the earth (except what were retained in the
ark for forming the new world), yet the vegetable part of the creation still
existed, and, in a short time, by the genial warmth of the sun, again appeared
in all its glory. NOAH'S INTOXICATION Previous to the flood, Noah had directed
his attention to husbandry,[42] and the earth having now resumed its former
appearance, he betook himself to the same employment. Among other improvements,
he planted a vineyard, and, prompted by natural curiosity to taste the fruit of
his own labor, invented a machine for extracting the juice from the grape.
Pleased with the taste of the liquor, and being unacquainted with the strength
of it, he unwisely gave a loose to indulgence, and, by drinking too freely,
became quite intoxicated. In consequence of this, he laid himself down to sleep
in his tent, where, either from the rusting of the wind, or the discomposure of
his body, he was uncovered on that part which natural modesty teaches us to
conceal. [42] It is conceived that Noah considerably advanced agriculture by
inventing more suitable implements than had previously been in use. We find no
grounds for this conjecture in the text; but it is by no means unlikely that the
demand upon his mechanic ingenuity in the construction of the ark had qualified
him for improving the agricultural implements previously in use. This
circumstance produced the first instance of human degeneracy after the flood.
The old world was destroyed for the wickedness of its inhabitants, and therefore
it might have been expected that the new world would have been filled with
people of a better disposition: but, as in the ark there were unclean as well as
clean beasts, so in the family of Noah there were two good sons and one
naturally wicked, the two former being Shem and Japheth, and the latter Ham. The
unseemly situation of Noah, from his intoxication, was first discovered by this
wicked son, who, instead of covering his father's nakedness and concealing his
shame, exposed his weakness, and made him the subject of his scorn and derision.
But his brothers were far from being pleased with his conduct: possessed of
filial piety, and moved at the indecent posture of their aged parent, they no
sooner saw him than they ran and fetched a garment, and immediately covered that
nakedness which their pious modesty would not permit them to behold. CANAAN'S
CURSE When Noah recovered from the stupefaction into which the wine had thrown
him, and was informed of the unworthy manner in which his son Ham had treated
him, he cursed his race, in the person of Canaan, his grandson: “Cursed,” said
he, “be Canaan: a servant of servants shall he be to his brethren.” On the
contrary, reflecting how respectfully his other two sons behaved, he rewarded
their pious care with giving each his blessing; all which, in process of time,
was fulfilled in their posterity. These are all the particulars given us by the
sacred historian relative to Noah, except that he lived three hundred and fifty
years after the deluge, and paid the debt of nature at the age of nine hundred
and fifty. At what exact period he died we are not informed, neither the place
of his interment; but, according to oriental tradition, his remains were
deposited in some part of Mesopotamia.


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  CHAPTER 13: CALL OF ABRAHAM--MIGRATION--BIRTH OF ISHMAELAT THE CLOSE OF THE PRECEDING CHAPTER, WE OB...
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CALL OF ABRAHAM--MIGRATION--BIRTH OF ISHMAELAt the close of the preceding
chapter, we observed that Terah, the father of Abram, left his native pace, in
order to go into the land of Canaan. It is here to be observed, that his conduct
in this respect certainly arose from divine direction, the Almighty having
thought proper to select this family out of the rest of mankind, by making Abram
“Father of the faithful,” or worshippers of the true God. CALL OF ABRAHAM It is
evident that God had revealed himself to Abram, previous to his removal from Ur,
as appears from the account of the inspired penman: “The Lord had said unto
Abram,”[51] etc., Genesis 12:1. He had commanded him to leave the country in
which he resided, and to travel into another he should point out to him. He
likewise promised to make him father of a mighty people, and in him to bless all
the families on the earth. [51] In what manner God revealed himself to Abram,
the sacred historian has not told us. It was probably by a voice from the
Shechinah, or symbol of the Divine presence; for St. Stephen expressly says:
“The God of Glory appeared unto him before he dwelt in Charran.” Acts 7:2.
Abram, fully persuaded, in his own mind, of the truth of the divine promise
(though he knew not the difficulties that might attend his removal, nor even the
country in which he was to settle), immediately after the decease of his father,
prepared himself to go to the land which God should appoint, and, by a strict
attention to the divine commands, prove at once his faith and obedience. LOT AND
SARAI Accordingly, taking with him his nephew Lot, his wife Sarai, and the rest
of his family, together with all his effects, he set out on his journey, which
he prosecuted with all convenient expedition, till he came (by the divine
guidance) into the land of Canaan.[52] Desirous of making, some survey of the
country, he stopped in the plain[53] of Moreh, not far from the city of
Shechem,[54] then inhabited by the Canaanites. Here he erected an altar, in
order to pay his devotions to God, who was so well pleased with his conduct,
that he gave him fresh assurances of his favor and protection, and that, in
process of time, the whole land in which he then dwelt should be possessed by
his descendants. [52] This country fell to the lot of Canaan, the son of Ham, to
which he gave his own name. Canaan was about 200 miles long, and nearly 80
broad, lying along the eastern border of the Mediterranean sea. David and
Solomon governed several provinces beyond the limits of Canaan, which enlarged
their kingdom, 1 Kings 4:21-24. Canaan was bounded on the north by the mountains
of Lebanon in Syria, on the east by Arabia Deserta, on the south by the
wilderness of Arabia Petra and Idumea, and on the west by the land of the
Philistines and the Mediterranean sea. Besides the name of its first possessor,
Canaan has been variously denominated as the Land of the Hebrews, Genesis 40:15;
Palestine, Exodus 15:14, the Land of Promise, Hebrews 11:9; the Land of Israel,
Judah, Judea, the Holy Land, Zechariah 2:12. Canaan has been the theater of the
most extraordinary transactions which have ever taken place under the Divine
government upon earth. This is the country where the chief patriarchs walked
with God--where the theocracy of Israel was established--where the prophets
received most of their divine inspirations--where the temple of Jehovah was
erected under his special direction--where the incarnate Son of God accomplished
the work of human redemption--and where the apostles were miraculously endowed
with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, to fulfil their commission as ambassadors for
Christ to invite sinners of all nations into the kingdom of Messiah for the
blessings of pardon, purity, and immortality, in the eternal glory of God.
Canaan, in the times of David and Solomon, contained a population of about
5,000,000; but now it has only about 1,500,000 inhabitants. Since the
destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, it has been the scene of strange
revolutions, especially during the crusades, profanely called holy wars: it now
forms two wretched provinces, Acre and Damascus, under the miserable government
of pachas, subject or tributary to the sultan of Turkey. The population consists
of Turks, Syrians, Bedouin Arabs, Copts, Druses of Lebanon, Roman, Armenian, and
Greek Christians, and Jews. [53] The Septuagint and most other versions call it
the Oak of Moreh, from a large oak that grew on it; but our translation renders
it plain. [54] This city, after the ruin of Samaria by Shalmaneser, was the
capital of the Samaritans; and Josephus says it was still so in the time of
Alexander the Great. It was situated ten miles from Shiloh, forty from
Jerusalem, and fifty-two from Jericho. After staying some time in the plains of
Moreh, Abram removed with his family into the more mountainous part of the
country, situated between Bethel and Ai. Here he likewise erected an altar, that
he might not be deficient in the discharge of that duty which he was conscious
of owing to his great and omnipotent benefactor. ABRAHAM GOES TO EGYPT From
Bethel he proceeded farther to the south; but was interrupted in his progress by
a dreadful famine, which raged with great violence throughout the whole country.
In consequence of this, he formed the resolution of going to Egypt, that being
the only place where relief could be obtained under such calamities.[55] [55] It
appears from this circumstance, that Egypt had been soon formed into a kingdom
after mankind were dispersed by the confusion of languages. Its first name was
Mizraim, which signifies straightness; it being closed on the north by the
Mediterranean sea, on the west and south by mountains, and on the east by the
Red sea, or Indian gulf. Nicolaus Damascus, a heathen author, says, that Abram
went out of Chaldea into Canaan, now called Judea, but, in consequence of a
great famine raging there, he removed to Egypt, in which were abundance of all
kinds of provisions. SARAI THE SISTER Being apprized of the natural libertinism
of the Egyptians, Abram was exceeding anxious concerning his wife Sarai, fearing
lest her extraordinary beauty might provoke their lascivious attention. Though
she was at this time in the sixty-sixth year of her age,[56] yet she still
retained those personal charms which, in that country, might endanger the life
of him who should pass for her husband. After some deliberation, Abram concluded
that the safest way would be for her to conceal her marriage; upon which
communicating his fears to Sarai, and she approving of his plan, it was mutually
agreed between them, that wherever they took up their residence, instead of his
wife, she should pass for his sister. [56] It may appear somewhat strange that
Sarai should have such personal charms at so advanced an age: but it must he
remembered that as in those days they were longer lived than at present, so
their charms were proportionally durable. The apprehensions that Abram had
formed were soon verified, after his arrival in Egypt. The distinguished charms
of his wife attracted the notice of several principal Egyptians, and she soon
became the subject of popular conversation. The king, being informed of her
beauty, was excited to gratify his curiosity by the sight of so amiable a
stranger. Accordingly, Sarai was, by his order, conducted to court, and placed
in the apartments allotted for his concubines. Here she remained several days,
during which Abram (her supposed brother) was treated with great civility, and
on her account (though the king had not yet seen her) complimented with many
valuable presents. A feeling mind may, in some degree, conceive the distress
each party must naturally be susceptible of on this trying occasion. Sarai was a
beautiful woman, in the power of a loose and vicious monarch, and destitute of
all protection but from the hands of the Almighty. While her husband, who should
be the only guardian of her person, dare not own her as his wife, lest the rage
of lust and strength of power should deprive him of his existence. GOD'S
PROTECTION OF SARAI To relieve them from this distressed situation, the Almighty
was pleased to interpose in their behalf: and, in order to deter Pharaoh[57] and
his nobles from any dishonorable attempts on Sarai, he suddenly afflicted them
with various diseases and bodily infirmities. Not being able to account for this
singular circumstance, they at length suspected that it was occasioned by the
confinement of Sarai, who, instead of being the sister of Abram, must certainly
be his wife. In consequence of these suspicions, the king sent for Abram, and
expostulated with him on his misconduct, in having spread a false report, which
might have been attended with a breach on his wife's chastity. After saying this
he ordered him immediately to quit his kingdom, permitting him to take not only
his own effects, but the presents that had been made him in consequence of his
supposed sister. [57] What this king's name was, or indeed any of the Egyptian
monarchs, can not be ascertained. The name Pharaoh was a title of dignity common
to all, in the same manner as that of Caesar assumed by the Roman Emperors.
ABRAM RETURNS TO CANAAN The famine in Canaan, which had occasioned Abram to go
into Egypt, was happily ceased; so that his leaving the place was not only in
conformity to the king's command, but agreeable to his own inclinations. Abram
directed his course the same way he had come, and on his arrival at Bethel,
where he had erected an altar, he offered on it a sacrifice of thanks to God for
his happy escape from Egypt, and safe return into the land of Canaan. ABRAHAM
AND LOT SEPARATE Abram and his nephew Lot had hitherto lived with great
unanimity on the same spot; but their families and possessions being now greatly
increased, inconveniences took place. They found themselves particularly
distressed for want of provision for their cattle, which, probably, arose partly
from the late famine, and partly from the great number of Canaanites, who
possessed the most fertile parts of the land. This want of pasture-ground
occasioned frequent disputes between the herdsmen of Abram and those of Lot; so
that the former, fearing lest the contention which prevailed among the servants
might end in a rupture between themselves, resolved, in a friendly manner, to
propose a separation from Lot. In doing this, such was his great prudence and
condescension, that, though superior in every respect to his nephew, he gave him
his choice of settlement in that part of the country he should best approve.
“If,” says he, “thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or,
if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.” This generous and
friendly proposition was readily agreed to by Lot, who, after taking a view of
the country, chose the plains near Sodom and Gomorrah, which, being watered by
the streams of Jordan,[58] was not only pleasant, but exceedingly fertile. [58]
This river, being the principal stream of Palestine, has acquired a distinction
much greater than its geographical importance could have given. It is sometimes
called “the river,” byway of eminence, being in fact almost the only stream of
the country which continues to flow in summer. The river rises about an hour and
a quarter's journey (say three or three miles and a quarter) northeast from
Banias, the ancient Caesarea Philippi, in a plain near a hill called
Tel-el-kadi. Here there are two springs near each other, one smaller than the
other whose waters very soon unite, forming a rapid river, from twelve to
fifteen yards across, which rushes over a stony bed into the lower plain, where
it is joined by a river which rises to the northeast of Banias. A few miles
below their junction the now considerable river enters the small lake of Houle,
or Semechonitis (called “the waters of Merom” in the Old Testament). This lake
receives several other mountain-streams, some of which seem to have as good
claim to be regarded as forming the Jordan with that to which it is given in the
previous statement; and it would perhaps be safest to consider the lake formed
by their union as the real source of the Jordan. After leaving the lake, the
river proceeds about twelve miles to the larger lake, called by various names,
but best known as the Sea of Galilee: after leaving which, it flows about
seventy miles farther, until it is finally lost in the Dead or Salt sea. It
discharges into that sea a turbid, deep, and rapid stream, the breadth of which
is from two to three hundred feet. The whole course of the river is about one
hundred miles in a straight line, from north to south; but. with its windings,
it probably does not describe a course of less than one hundred and fifty miles.
The Jordan leaving the Lake

These matters being adjusted, Abram and Lot parted, the former continuing at
Bethel, and the latter retiring to the spot he had chosen for his future
residence. Some time after Lot's departure, the Almighty, ever mindful of his
faithful servant Abram, again appeared to him in a vision, and not only renewed
the promise he had before made, of enlarging his posterity, but, bidding him
cast his eyes round the kingdom, confirmed the gift of all the land which he
beheld, to him and his descendants. These divine assurances were acceptably
received by Abram, who, desirous of seeing the different parts of the country
promised to his posterity, removed from Bethel, and took up his residence in the
plain of Mamre, at a small distance from Hebron. Here (as was his usual custom,
wherever he pitched his tent) he erected an altar, in order to discharge his
religious duties, by offering sacrifices to the Lord. ABRAHAM SETTLES AT MAMRE
In a short time after Abram had settled himself at Mamre, by the natural
affability of his temper, and the respect shown him on that account, he acquired
the intimacy and friendship of some of the most considerable Canaanites,
particularly three, named Mamre, Aner, and Eschol; the former of whom was of
such importance as to give name to the country in which he lived. LOT RESCUED
This alliance was not only agreeable to Abram, but, in the course of time,
proved infinitely serviceable, as will appear from the following circumstances.
Chederlaomer, king of Elam, had for some years held five petty princes (of which
number the king of Sodom was one) in a tributary subjection to him. Weary with
this subjection, they at length determined to shake off the yoke they had so
long borne; to effect which they confederated together, and, joining their
respective forces, prepared themselves to march against their oppressor. The
king of Elam, being informed of their intentions, resolved, if possible, to
frustrate their designs. He accordingly raised a powerful army, and, in
conjunction with three other kings, his allies, immediately advanced to meet the
enemy. The revolted kings, seeing him at a distance, took the field, with a firm
resolution of trying the fate of a pitched battle. The place allotted for
determining the dispute was the valley of Siddim, which was full of pits of
bitumen, or soil of a clayey nature. For some time the victory appeared
doubtful; but at length the five tributary kings were put to the route: one part
of their army was entirely cut to pieces, and the other fled to the neighboring
mountains, leaving their cities a prey to the conquerors. Lot, who happened at
this time to reside in Sodom, was involved in the calamity of the city, being
not only plundered of all his possessions, but carried away among the rest of
the captives. One of the soldiers belonging to the vanquished, happening to make
his escape, immediately hastened to Abram, to whom he related the particulars of
the battle, and the hapless fate of his nephew. The faithful patriarch, anxious
for Lot, determined to pursue the victors, and, if possible, not only rescue
him, but the whole of the captives. He accordingly armed all his own servants,
the number of whom amounted to three hundred and eighteen, and, accompanied by
his three friends and associates, Mamre, Eschol, and Aner, set out in pursuit of
the victors, whom, after a march of about seventy leagues, he overtook near Dan.
Availing himself of the covert of the night, he put his forces into proper
disposition, and immediately charged the enemy on all quarters. So sudden and
vigorous an attack on an army fatigued with a late engagement, and reveling in
the spoils of conquest, had the desired effect, for Abram, in a short time,
obtained a complete victory. Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam, was, among many
others, slain, and his whole army being routed, Abram's victorious party pursued
them as far as Hobah, a small place situated near Damascus. The enemy, from the
great consternation into which they had been thrown, by the suddenness of the
attack, fled so precipitately, that they left behind them not only the captives,
but likewise the booty of which they had possessed themselves. The whole of
these fell into the hands of Abram, and among them his nephew Lot, who, being
thus happily recovered, returned, with all his substance, to his former
habitation. Abram having, by this conquest, signalized both his valor and
fidelity, was highly caressed by those whose cause he had so gallantly espoused.
The first person who came to congratulate him on the occasion was the king of
Sodom, who, in thankful acknowledgment of the benefits received from his
important services, offered him all his booty which he had retaken belonging to
him, desiring only the restoration of those prisoners who were his subjects. But
Abram's righteous soul disdained to take advantage of the unfortunate; and
therefore, after reserving to his associates that part of the plunder to which
their services entitled them, he restored to the king both his subjects and
property, evincing, through the whole of his conduct, the most distinguished
fidelity, intrepid courage, and inflexible justice. MELCHISEDEC The next person
who congratulated Abram on his success was Melchisedec,[59] king of Salem, who,
on his return from the battle, accommodated both him and his men with a
refreshment of bread and wine which he had provided on the occasion. Being a
priest as well as king, he first blessed Abram for being the instrument of so
public a deliverance, and then the Almighty, for having given him such uncommon
success; in return for which, the victorious patriarch presented him with the
tenth part of the spoils he had taken from the enemy. [59] Who this
extraordinary person was, has been a subject of great dispute; but the most
rational opinion is that he was one of the princes of Canaan, who on account of
his great piety and goodness, was called Melchizedek, which, in the Hebrew
language, signifies King of Righteousness. As Abram had now acted in the public
capacity of a warrior, and might reasonably expect that the kings whom he had
routed would recruit their scattered forces, and prepare for a second attack, he
was fearful of the consequences. But the Almighty, in order to fortify his mind
against all disagreeable apprehensions, even from the most potent princes of the
earth, appeared to him in a vision, and informed him that he had undertaken his
defence, and would ever reward his faithfulness. “Fear not,” says he, “Abram, I
am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” ABRAHAM'S FORMAL COVENANT WITH
GOD Hitherto the pious patriarch had listened to God's promises without the
least shadow of distrust; but on this fresh assurance he ventured, for the first
time, to expostulate with his great protector, not knowing how these things
could possibly be accomplished, while himself continued without an heir to his
body, and that, to all appearance, he must be obliged to leave his substance to
Eleazar his steward. The troubles of Abram on this head were soon removed by the
beneficence of the Almighty, who told him that not his servant, but a son of his
own, begotten of his body, should be his heir, and that from him should descend
a race as “innumerable as the stars in heaven.” Abram was so encouraged by this
joyful intelligence, that he ventured to beg of God that he would be pleased to
give him some sensible token whereby he might be assured of so distinguished a
blessing. The Almighty thought proper to comply with his request, and that they
might enter into a formal covenant on the occasion, ordered him to take a
heifer, a goat, and a ram, each of three years old, together with a pigeon and a
turtle-dove, and offer them up as a sacrifice. The pious patriarch readily
obeyed the divine command, and, having killed the beasts, cut them in halves,
laying each opposite to the other; but the fowls he left whole. After doing
this, he walked between the dissected bodies, making his solemn vows to God of
perpetual obedience to his will; and then sat himself down to prevent birds of
prey from injuring the sacrifice. About the time of sunset Abram fell into a
deep sleep, during which it was revealed to him that he was not to expect an
immediate accomplishment of the divine promise; for though himself was to die in
peace, and at a good old age, yet his posterity were, after that, to sojourn and
be afflicted in a strange country, for the space of four hundred years; after
which the Almighty would not only punish their oppressors, but would likewise
safely establish them in the land he had promised. After this revelation Abram
soon awoke, and while he was reflecting on what he had heard, the Almighty, in
confirmation of the assurances he had given him, and as a ratification of his
part of the covenant, caused the symbol of his divine presence to appear before
him. It consisted of a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, which passed between
the divided pieces of the victims, and totally consumed them. HAGAR Sarai, the
wife of Abram, desired a son no less fervently than her husband. But she had
been considered barren before she left Mesopotamia; she was now seventy-five
years of age; and she had waited ten years since their hearts were first
gladdened by the promise of an heir. She therefore thought the case was hopeless
as regarded herself; and began to reflect that, although a son had been promised
to Abram, it had not been said, and did not necessarily follow, that this son
should be the fruit of her own womb. Explaining these views to the patriarch,
she prevailed upon him to resort to a custom of the time, of which there are
still some traces in the East, under which the man takes a secondary wife, whose
children become his undoubted heirs, equally with any other children he may
have; and if the woman is the slave or attendant of the chief wife, or is
provided by the chief wife, the children are, in a legal point of view,
considered hers: and, in the same point of view, the condition of the actual
mother remains unchanged, though in practice it necessarily sustains some
modification from the operation of the feelings arising from the connections
which are formed, especially when her children are grown up. The female whom
Sarai proposed to Abram as her substitute was her own handmaid, a woman of
Egypt, named Hagar, who may be supposed to have been one of the female slaves
whom the king of Egypt gave to the patriarch.[60] [60] It is not unlikely that
Hagar had been given to Sarai as her personal attendant while she was in
Pharaoh's harem, and that she was allowed to retain her as such when she
departed. ISHMAEL In due time it was known that Hagar had conceived, and the
prospect of becoming the mother of Abram's long-promised heir had a mischievous
effect upon her mind, leading her to treat her mistress with disrespect. Sarai,
through whose preference and management all this had been brought about, was
stung to the quick by this treatment, and complained of it to Abram with some
sharpness, insinuating that, without some encouragement from him, Hagar durst
not be so impertinent to her. The patriarch himself, respecting the rights of
his wife, and displeased at Hagar's presumption (which those who know anything
of Oriental women of her class, will believe to have been very coarsely and
offensively manifested), reminded Sarai that the Egyptian was still her
bond-servant, and that her authority was sufficient to prevent or punish the
treatment of which she complained. Being thus assured that he would not
interfere, Sarai proceeded to a more unsparing exercise of the powers with which
she was invested, than the raised spirits of the Egyptian bondmaid could brook;
and she therefore fled, directing her course towards her own country. It is a
terrible and perilous thing for a woman, alone and on foot, to pass the desert
which lies between the land of Canaan and Egypt; and we know not how one might
do it and live. Nor did Hagar accomplish this enterprise; for she was as yet but
upon the borders of the desert, and was tarrying for refreshment and rest by a
well of water, when an angel of God appeared to her, and persuaded her to return
and submit herself to her mistress; encouraging her to obedience by the
assurance that the child she then bore in her womb would prove a son, whom she
was directed to name Ishmael (God attendeth), because the Lord had attended to
her affliction. She was also assured that this son should be the parent of a
numerous race; and that while in his character, as typifying that also of his
descendants, he should be wild and fierce as the desert ass--his hand against
every man, and every man's hand against him he should never be expelled or
rooted out from the domain which God would give to him.[61] Thus instructed and
encouraged, Hagar returned to her master's camp in the valley of Mamre; and in
due season brought forth a son, to whom, in obedience to the angel's direction,
Abram gave the name of Ishmael. [61] This is the best interpretation we can give
to the expression, “and in the face of all his brethren shall he dwell.” ABRAM
CHANGED TO ABRAHAM At this time Abram was eighty-six years of age; and lest, in
the excess of his joy, he should mistake this child for the heir of the promises
which had been made him, about thirteen years after, the Almighty again appeared
to him in a vision, and renewed his former covenant; to ratify which he was
pleased to institute the rite of circumcision, by commanding that every male
child, of eight days old, whether born in the house or bought with money, should
be circumcised, on the penalty of being cut off from the benefits of the
covenant. As a further mark of his divine respect, he changed our patriarch's
name from Abram to Abraham, and his wife's from Sarai to Sarah; and to complete
his happiness, again promised that he should yet have a son by her. Women of
Egypt--lower class

SARAH PROMISED TO HAVE A SON Though this promise gave great satisfaction to
Abraham, yet his mind was agitated on account of Ishmael, his first-born, for
whom he had a most paternal affection. He was suspicious that, on the birth of a
child by the free woman, he might be deprived of that descended from the
bond-woman; and therefore, falling prostrate on the ground, he began to
intercede with God in behalf of Ishmael: “O,” says he, “that Ishmael might live
before thee!” But the Almighty thought proper to remove his fears, by assuring
him that the great blessings in the covenant were not designed for Ishmael, but
for a son to be born of Sarah, which should happen within the course of the
year, and that his name should be called Isaac. That he might not, however, seem
wholly to neglect his request for Ishmael, he promised to “make him a great
nation,” and the father of twelve princes; but at the same time told him, that
the covenant made should only be established in the son begotten of Sarah.
CIRCUMCISION This was the whole substance of the vision; and as soon as it was
ended, Abraham delayed not (according to the divine command) to circumcise
himself, his son Ishmael, and all the males in his family. And this ordinance
the Hebrews have ever since very religiously observed.[63] [63]
Circumcision--the cutting off the small skin of the prepuce, as the rite was
enjoined upon Abraham with the male part of his family, to be the sign of the
covenant of God with the patriarch, when he renewed to him the promise of the
Messiah (Genesis 17:10-26). Physicians have regarded circumcision as medically
beneficial; and it was practised by the Arabians, Israelites, and Saracens, the
descendants of Abraham; but especially by the Israelites, to whom it was
ordained as the initiatory ordinance of the Hebrew church. This, however, with
all the Levitical ceremonies, was abolished by the perfect mediation of Christ
(Acts 15:1-24; Colossians 3:11). The Israelites are called the circumcision, and
the Gentiles the uncircumcision. Romans 4:9. Circumcision of the heart: this is
the thing signified by the original ceremony, the cutting off of every evil
affection by the renewal of the soul in holiness to secure devotedness of heart
in the true service of God as promised by Moses, Php_3:3; Colossians 2:11;
Deuteronomy 10:16.


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  CHAPTER 14: DESTRUCTION OF SODOM--BIRTH OF ISAAC--HIS MARRIAGESODOM AND GOMORRAH
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DESTRUCTION OF SODOM--BIRTH OF ISAAC--HIS MARRIAGESODOM AND GOMORRAH The great
wealth of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah had introduced luxury, which, as
usual, soon produced licentiousness. The fatal consequences of this were,
irreverence to God, inhospitality to strangers, and the indulgence of the most
abominable vices. These enormities highly offended the Almighty, who, in order
to punish the people, denounced his vengeance both against them and their
country. But, previous to the execution of the fatal sentence, he thought proper
to intimate his intentions to his faithful servant Abraham. ABRAHAM'S
HOSPITALITY At this time the pious patriarch resided at Mamre; and as he was
sitting one day at the door of his tent, he saw at a distance three persons,
whom he took for travelers. Being naturally of a hospitable disposition, when
they came up to him he arose from his seat, and, in a polite manner, asked them
to partake of such refreshment as his habitation afforded. His civility being
accepted, an entertainment was immediately prepared for the unknown guests,
which being set before them, they, to all appearance seemed to eat. While they
were at table, one of them inquired after Sarah, and being told she was in the
tent, he then addressed himself to Abraham, and assured him that he had still in
remembrance the case of his wife Sarah, who, before the end of the year, should
certainly be delivered of a son. From this circumstance Abraham was convinced
that these three visitors were messengers from heaven, and that one of them was
the peculiar representative of the Almighty. SARAH TOLD SHE WOULD HAVE A SON
Sarah had listened attentively to the discourse that had passed between her
husband and his guests; but, considering the advanced age both of herself and
him, she regarded not their prediction, and even laughed within herself at the
improbability of such an event. This disrespectful behavior being observed by
the stranger, he, in an angry tone, asked her the reason of it. Struck with
terror, she attempted to deny it; upon which he dismissed her with this gentle
reproof: that it was exceedingly wrong in her to mistrust what he had said,
since “nothing was impossible with God.” ABRAHAM HEARS OF PENDING DESTRUCTION
This finished the conversation, immediately after which the three guests
prepared themselves to depart, and Abraham, understanding they were going
towards Sodom, courteously offered to attend them some part of the way. As they
journeyed together, God was pleased to manifest his peculiar regard to Abraham,
in foretelling the dreadful judgment he intended to inflict on Sodom and the
neighboring cities, which instance of his kindness was founded upon an assurance
that he would command not only his children, but his household also, to
persevere in the true fear and worship of their divine Creator. ABRAHAM
PETITIONS FOR SODOM This intelligence was communicated to Abraham by one of the
angels (the immediate representative of God), the other two having gone before
with great haste, to reach, as soon as possible, the place of their destiny. So
melancholy a piece of news greatly afflicted Abraham, who, from an assurance of
the divine favor, ventured to intercede in behalf of those wicked people. Not
doubting but the supreme and equitable Judge of the earth would listen to mercy,
he begged of him not to punish the innocent with the guilty. He made five
petitionary propositions, lessening the supposed number of pious inhabitants in
Sodom from fifty to ten, earnestly beseeching of God that, could even so small a
number be found, he would, on their account, withdraw his avenging rod, and
avert the impending danger. This request being granted, the angel departed, and
Abraham returned home, happy in the thought of having received such peculiar
manifestations of the divine love. LOT'S HOSPITALITY In the mean time, the two
other guests, who went before (and were, indeed, the ministering angels whom God
had appointed to execute his judgment on the Sodomites), pursued their journey
towards the city, whither they arrived in the evening. Lot happened at this time
to be sitting at the gate of the city; as soon, therefore, as he saw the angels,
he arose, and, after proper salutations, invited them to his house, in order to
refresh themselves. For some time the divine messengers declined the offer; but
at length, from the strength of Lot's importunities, they were prevailed on to
accept the invitation. LOT THREATENED It being soon rumored about the city that
Lot had strangers with him, great numbers of the vile inhabitants assembled
together, and, surrounding the house, commanded him, in a peremptory manner, to
deliver them up. Lot thought at first to appease them by mild and soft words;
and, therefore, stepping out of the house, and shutting the door after him, he
begged of them not to offer any insult to his guests, who had committed
themselves to his care and protection. This not having the desired effect, in
order to appease their rage, and, if possible, to preserve the laws of
hospitality inviolate, he offered to give up his two virgin daughters to their
discretion. But so abandoned were these wretches to wickedness, and so deaf to
every remonstrance, that they even refused this offer, and threatened Lot with
very severe treatment, if he did not immediately comply with their request.
RIOTERS BLINDED Finding Lot was resolute, and totally disregarded their threats,
they determined to effect that by force which they could not obtain by any other
means. Accordingly, pressing forward, they attempted to break open the door; but
the divine messengers prevented their design. By an exertion of supernatural
power, they forced their way out of the house, took in their host, and then,
shutting the door, struck the rioters with a temporary blindness; so that, not
being able to find the house, they were obliged to desist from their diabolical
intentions. All things being now quiet, the two angels acquainted Lot with the
purport of their embassy. They told him they were come to execute the divine
vengeance on that execrable place and its neighborhood; and therefore, if he had
any friends for whose safety he was concerned, to acquaint them of their danger,
that thereby they might escape the general destruction. In the city were two
young men, who had been betrothed to Lot's daughters, to whom he immediately
repaired, and informed them of the approaching event, at the same time advising
them, for their safety, to leave the place and go with him; but, instead of
listening to his advice, they totally despised it, and profanely ridiculed the
idea of the threatened destruction. LOT COMPELLED TO LEAVE In the morning, soon
after daylight, one of the angels, observing Lot not to prepare for his
departure with that expedition he knew to be necessary, rather chastised him for
his conduct. The cause of this delay certainly arose from hopes that the
dreadful sentence against those wretched people might be reversed; but his hopes
were in vain, for, instead of ten righteous persons, that Abraham had
capitulated for, more than four, and all those of Lot's family (himself
included), were a appointed to escape the dreadful judgment. Knowing, therefore,
the necessity of immediate departure, the angel took Lot, his wife, and his two
daughters by the hands, and conducted them out of the city. The divine messenger
told him to make all the expedition possible, and, to avoid the common ruin,
pursue his course to the neighboring mountains. Lot, observing the mountains to
which he was directed were at a considerable distance, began to despair of
reaching them in a proper time, and therefore entreated the angel that he might
be permitted to escape to a small city, not far from Sodom, then called Bela,
but afterward Zoar. This request was granted, and that city, on their account,
escaped the general destruction. Before the angel left them, he urged them to
make all possible haste, as the divine commission could not be put in execution
till they were safely arrived at the place of their destination. He likewise
enjoined them not, upon any account whatever, to look behind them, but to keep
their eves fixed on the place allotted for their refuge. LOT'S WIFE BECOMES SALT
Having said this the angel departed, and Lot, with his family, pursued their
journey toward Zoar. After traveling some way, Lot's wife, either from
forgetfulness of the prohibition, or out of respect to the place of her
habitation, indiscreetly looked back. This misconduct was attended with the most
fatal consequences: she was immediately turned into a pillar of salt,[64]and
became a standing monument of the vengeance of the Almighty on disobedient and
obstinate offenders. [64] She was overwhelmed and smothered in the spray of the
igneous and saline matters which filled the air; and which, gathering and
hardening around her, left her incrusted body with some resemblance to a mass of
rock salt. DESTRUCTION OF PLAIN Lot and his daughters, strictly observing the
divine injunction, hastened toward Zoar, whither they had no sooner arrived,
than the vengeance of the Almighty began to appear in all its horrors. The angry
heavens poured down showers of liquid fire[65] and in a short time the whole was
reduced to a state of irreparable destruction. [65]The examination of the
agencies which it pleased God to employ in effecting this great overthrow is a
subject which need not interrupt the present narrative. It suffices now to
mention, that the destruction was sudden and overwhelming, and not only did it
overthrow and devour the cities of the plain, and all the inhabitants, and all
the growth of the ground, and every living thing, but it cut off the Jordan in
its course, and absorbed the very plain itself: the surface of which, once
blooming like another Eden, no man has beheld since that day; but, instead
thereof, a bitter, sulfurous and fetid lake, the Lake of Death, which has from
that hour to this, remained one of the wonders of the earth. The following brief
description of the Dead sea (See engraving), will, we hope, be read with
interest-- The celebrated lake, which occupies the site of Sodom and Gomorrah,
is variously called in Scripture the Sea of the Plain (Deuteronomy 3:17), being
situated in a valley with a plain lying to the south of it, where those cities
once flourished, with the other cities of the plain: the Salt sea (Deuteronomy
3:1; Joshua 15:5), from the extremely saline and bitter taste of its waters; the
Salt sea eastward (Numbers 34:3), and the East sea (Ezekiel 47:18; Joel 2:20),
from its situation relatively to Judæa. At present it is called Bahret-Lout, or
the sea of Lot. By Josephus and other writers, it was called the Lake
Asphaltites, from the abundance of bitumen found in it. The most familiar name,
the Dead sea, is in allusion to the ancient tradition, erroneously but generally
received, that no animal can exist in its stagnant and hydro-sulphuretted
waters, which, though they look remarkably clear and pure, are nauseous in the
extreme. A chemical analysis of one hundred grains of the water gave the
following results as to the substances, and proportions of them, which it holds
in solution-- Cloride of lime, 3.920 Magnesia, 10.246 Soda, 10.360 Sulphate of
lime, .054 From this analysis it will readily be concluded that such a liquid
must be equally salt and water. The acrid saltness of its waters, indeed, is
much greater than that of the sea: and the land which surrounds this lake, being
equally impregnated with that saltness, refuses to produce any plants, except a
few stunted thorns, which wear the brown garb of the desert. Bodies sink or
float upon it in proportion to their specific gravity: and although the water is
so dense as to be favorable to swimmers, no security is found against the common
accident of drowning. This sea, when viewed from the spot where the rapid Jordan
daily discharges into it 6,090,000 tons of muddy water, takes a southeasterly
direction visible for ten or fifteen miles, when it disappears in a curve toward
the east. The expanse of the Dead sea, at the embouchure of the Jordan, has been
supposed not to exceed five or six miles: though the mountains, which skirt each
side of the valley of the Dead sea, are apparently separated by a distance of
eight miles. The mountains on the Judæan side are lower than the mountains of
Moab, on the Arabian side. The latter chain at its southern extremity is said to
consist of dark granite, and of various colors. The shores at the northern
extremity are remarkably flat, and strewed with vast quantities of driftwood,
white and bleached by the sun, which is brought down by the swelling of Jordan.
It is not certainly known whether there has been any visible increase or
decrease in the waters of the Dead sea. Some have imagined that it finds a
subterraneous passage to the Mediterranean, or that there is a considerable
suction in the plain which forms its western boundary; but Dr. Shaw has long
since accounted for it, by the quantity which is daily evaporated. As the Dead
sea advances toward the south, it evidently increases in breadth. Its dimensions
have been variously estimated by different travelers. Pliny states its total
length to be one hundred miles, and its greatest breadth twenty-five: the Jewish
historian Josephus, who measured this lake, found that in length it extended
about five hundred and eighty stadia, and in breadth one hundred and fifty;
according to our standard, somewhat more than seventy miles by nineteen. With
this measurement nearly coincides the estimate of Dr. Shaw, who appears to have
ascertained its dimensions with accuracy, and who computes its length to be
about seventy-two English miles, and its greatest breadth about nineteen.
Whoever has once seen the Dead sea, will ever after have its aspect impressed
upon his memory: it is in truth a gloomy and fearful spectacle. The precipices,
in general, descend abruptly into the lake, the surface of which is generally
unruffled, from the hollow of the basin (in which it lies) scarcely admitting
the free passage necessary for a strong breeze. It is, however, for the same
reason, subject to whirlwinds or squalls of short duration A profound silence,
awful as death, hangs over the lake: its shores are rarely visited by any
footstep, save that of the wild Arab; and its desolate but majestic features are
well suited to the tales related concerning it by the inhabitants of the
country, who hold it in superstitious dread, and speak of it with terror. We can
not forbear subjoining the lively account which Mr. Stephens gives of the “water
of the Dead sea:” “From my own experience I can almost corroborate the most
extravagant accounts of the ancients. 1 know, in reference to my own specific
gravity, that in the Atlantic and Mediterranean I can not float without some
little movement of the hands, and even then my body is almost totally submerged;
but here, when I threw myself upon my back, my body was half out of the water.
It was an exertion even for my lank Arabs to keep themselves under. When I
struck out in swimming it was extremely awkward, for my legs were continually
rising to the surface, and even above the water. I could have lain and read
there with perfect ease. In fact I could have slept; and it would have been a
much easier bed than the bushes at Jericho. It was ludicrous to see one of the
horses: as soon as his body touched the water, he was afloat, and turned over on
his side: he struggled with all his force to preserve his equilibrium; but the
moment he ceased moving, he turned over on his side again, and almost on his
back, kicking his feet out of water and snorting with terror. The worst of my
bath was, after it was over, my skin was covered with a thick glutinous
substance, which it required another ablution to get rid of; and after I had
wiped myself dry, my body burnt and smarted as if it had been turned round
before a roasting fire. My face and ears were encrusted with salt; my hairs
stood out, each particular hair on end, and my eyes were irritated and inflamed,
so that I felt the effects of it for several days. In spite of all this,
however, revived and refreshed by my bath, I mounted my horse a new man.” The
Dead Sea

WICKEDNESS OF LOT'S DAUGHTERS When Lot beheld the dreadful calamity that had
befallen the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, he began to think himself not safe in
Zoar; he therefore withdrew to the mountains to which he was first directed,
and, for want of a proper habitation, lived for some time with his daughters in
a cave. In his caverned retreat a new and unexpected evil befell Lot. His
daughters, like all eastern women, and especially all women of Bedouin
parentage, looked upon the possession of children as the best and brightest hope
of their existence; but they saw none on earth whom they might expect to marry.
They knew not that any of their father's family and connections existed, to
become their husbands; and the example of their sisters, who had perished in
Sodom with their husbands, made them afraid, if willing, to entertain the notion
of a marriage with Canaanitish husbands. They therefore most wickedly managed,
on two successive nights, to intoxicate their father with wine, and in that
condition, and without his clear knowledge of what was done, to procure issue by
him. A son to each daughter was the result of this transaction. The eldest
daughter gave to her son the name of Moab (“from a father”), and the younger
called hers Ben-Ammi (“son of my people”), which latter name, intimating the
mother's satisfaction in the fact that the child was a son of her own race,
corroborates the view we have taken of the motives by which the women were
influenced, and which seems to us far preferable to the notion that they
supposed that all the inhabitants of the earth, except their father and
themselves, were destroyed in the overthrow of Sodom. We do not see how it is
possible that they could have entertained any such impression. Be this as it
may, the sons which were born to them were the progenitors of the Moabites and
Ammonites--nations well known in a later age for their enmity to the house of
Israel. Thus much of Lot, of whom the sacred history takes no further notice. We
now proceed to consider the peculiar dispensation of Providence with respect to
his faithful servant Abraham. ABRAHAM MOVES TO GERAR At the time of the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the pious patriarch resided at Mamre; but as
soon as he beheld that fatal catastrophe, struck with a proper sense of the
Divine vengeance, and the great power he had over his creatures, he removed
thence to the southward, and took up his residence in Gerar, one of the
principal cities in Palestine. On his first entering this place, he had recourse
to the same policy he had before practised when in Egypt, and an agreement was
made between him and his wife that they should pass for brother and sister.
Abimelech,[66] the king of Gerar, supposing this to be their real affinity, and
being captivated with the person of Sarah, who, though far advanced in years,
possessed some distinguished charms, ordered her to be brought to his palace,
with an intent of making her his concubine. But the Almighty warned him in a
dream from committing the iniquitous act, by assuring him, that if he took to
his bed a woman, whose husband was a prophet, his conduct should be punished
with immediate death. [66] The kings of Gerar were generally called by the title
of Abimelech, in the same manner as those of Egypt were called by that of
Pharaoh. ABRAHAM REBUKED A SECOND TIME In consequence of this, Abimelech sent
for Abraham, whom he severely reprimanded for having endeavored to impose on
him, by calling her his sister whom he knew to be his wife.[67] In excuse for
the fiction Abraham alleged he did it for his own safety, being apprehensive
that, had it been known she was his wife, he might, in order to possess her,
have robbed him of his existence. He farther said, that the report he had given
of her being his sister was not, in fact, a falsity, for though she was not born
of the same woman, yet she was begot by the same man. [67] Abraham's
Equivocation--This was not a subject which the fertile fancies of Abraham's
rabbinical descendants were likely to leave unimproved. Accordingly, we have a
Talmudical story, which tells us that, on approaching Egypt, the patriarch put
Sarah in a chest, which he locked up, that none might behold her dangerous
beauty. “But when he was come to the place of paying custom, the collectors
said, 'Pay us the custom.' And he said, 'I will pay the custom.' They said to
him, 'Thou carriest clothes.' And he said, 'I will pay for the clothes.' Then
they said to him, 'Thou carriest gold;' and he answered them, 'I will pay for my
gold.' On this they said to him further, 'Surely then bearest the finest silk;'
and then he replied, 'I will pay custom for the finest silk.' Then said they,
'Certainly it must be pearls that thou takest with thee;' and he only answered,
'I will pay for pearls.' Seeing that they could name nothing of value for which
the patriarch was not willing to pay custom, they said. 'It can not be but that
then open the box, and let us see what is within.' So they opened the box, and
the whole land of Egypt was brightly illumined by the luster of Sarah's beauty.”
This apology pacified the king, who not only restored Abraham his wife, but also
gave him many valuable presents, with full permission to settle himself in any
part of his dominions. GOD'S PROTECTION OF SARAH AGAIN The Almighty had not only
threatened the king with death should he violate the chastity of Sarah, but also
afflicted him and all the women belonging to him with a kind of impotence.
Abraham, therefore, in return for Abimelech's civility, prayed to God to remove
these imperfections, which he being pleased to grant, the king's disability left
him, and the queen, with the rest of the women belonging to him were restored to
their natural fertility. BIRTH OF ISAAC Soon after this the Divine promise (made
by the Almighty to Abraham) was fulfilled. The time appointed was now elapsed,
and Sarah brought forth a son, whom Abraham, agreeably to the sacred injunction,
called Isaac;[68] and on the eighth day he was circumcised. [68] The word Isaac
implies laughter, and alludes to the smile of disbelief which appeared in
Sarah's countenance when the angel informed her that she should become pregnant.
HAGAR AND ISHMAEL BANISHED Sarah having long considered Ishmael as the
presumptive heir of her family, had reared and continued to treat him with the
most affectionate tenderness. But on the birth of Isaac she became apprehensive
with respect to his inheritance, imagining, that in case of Abraham's death,
Ishmael's superiority of years would give him every advantage over her own son.
Stimulated by such fears, she resolved to get rid of Ishmael, and it was not
long before an opportunity offered for accomplishing her design. Though Sarah
was far advanced in life (being now upward of ninety years old) yet, by the
Divine power, nature was completely perfect.[69] She was bountifully supplied
with food for her infant son, whom she suckled herself, and at the usual time
weaned him. On this joyful occasion Abraham made a great feast, in the height of
which Sarah observed that Ishmael treated her son with derision and contempt.
Enraged at this circumstance, as soon as the guests were gone, she communicated
the particulars to her husband, and importuned him to turn both Ishmael and his
mother from their habitation, intimating, that the son of a bond-woman had no
title to that heirship which solely belonged to her son Isaac. The good old
patriarch now found himself in a very intricate situation. He loved Ishmael, and
was lothe to part with him. Not knowing, therefore, in what manner to proceed on
so trying an occasion, he applied himself to God, who was pleased to confirm
what Sarah had requested. At the same time the Almighty promised Abraham that be
would make Ishmael (because he was his son) a populous nation, though his
portion and inheritance was not to be in that land which was all along designed
for the descendants of Isaac. Thus was it determined, by the Divine appointment,
that Hagar should once more become a wanderer; nor could the fondness of Abraham
for his son Ishmael prevent her fate: it was the Lord's command, nor durst the
patriarch refuse to obey. Early in the morning, therefore, Abraham, calling
Hagar to him, told her she must leave his house, and that her son must be the
partner of her banishment. Hagar was of course greatly surprised at this sudden
command, but finding her master absolute, she was obliged to submit. That she
might not be distressed for want of proper refreshment, he supplied her with a
quantity of provisions, together with a large bottle of water, having done which
he gave her a final dismission. [69] Primitive Longevity--We need not remind the
reader that the age of man before the deluge made a near approach to a thousand
years, but, after that event, rapidly declined to the present standard (which it
had certainly reached before the time of David), at which it has remained,
unaffected but by local influences. Many reasons have been given for the
antediluvian longevity, and for the subsequent abridgment of human life; but
they all fail in some point or other, excepting that which, proceeding on the
observation that air is the agent by which, under all circumstances, the
duration of life is most affected, infers that the superior purity of the air
before the deluge--or, more properly, its superior fitness for the conservation
of the living principle in man--was the operating cause of the long duration of
antediluvian life; and that the gradual but quick contraction of man's life,
which afterward took place, was probably owing to some signal deterioration,
caused by the deluge, in the wholesome properties of the primitive air. How the
deluge may have produced such a change is another question, into which we need
not enter. At the time this history opens, the duration of life was about
threefold that to which it ultimately fell; and, notwithstanding the gradual
abridgment which took place, it remained twofold till about the time of the
departure of the Israelites from Egypt. Terah himself died at the age of 205,
which must have seemed but a reasonable old age, as it is considerably within
the age attained by any of his ancestors, except his own father Nahor, who died
prematurely at 148 years of age. But the operation of the abridging influence is
best shown by figures, thus: Noah lived 950 years; Shem, 600; Arphaxad, 438;
Salah, 433; Eber, 464; Peleg, 230; Reu, 239; Serug, 230; Nahor, 148; Terah, 205.
Here we see that Noah, nearly two thirds of whose life had passed before the
deluge, lived as long as an antediluvian; whereas his son Shem, most of whose
life passed after the deluge, has one third of the average duration of
antediluvian life struck off from his. His son Arphaxad was born two years after
the flood, and therefore may be taken to represent the first generation of
entire postdiluvians, whose term of life is made one third shorter than that of
the semi-antediluvians, and (in two generations) is reduced to one half that of
the pure antediluvians. A rest at this point of reduction was allowed for three
generations, after which the existing term of life was again halved, reducing it
to a quarter of the antediluvian term. After three more generations, another
reducing process commenced, not, as before, by abrupt halving of the previous
term of life, but by a gradual reduction, which in about 500 years reduced the
previous term of 230-240 years to about one half, or 120 years; and in about 500
years more, we find that this term also has been nearly halved and brought down
to the present standard; or at that time it is that David said: “The days of our
years are threescore years and ten: and if by reason of strength they, be
fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow.” Psalms 90:10. The
progress of the abridgment may be illustrated by a few more figures. Abraham
died at the age of 175, being 40 years less than his father's age; and yet he is
said to have died “in a good old age; an old man and full of years.” In like
manner, Isaac, who lived to 180, is said to have been “old and full of days.”
And if these expressions do not embody the ideas of a writer who, from living in
a later day, when the term of man's life was much shortened, naturally
considered these as extreme old ages, we should be entitled from them to
concludes was probably true after all--that a man was in those days called old
with reference to the age at which his contemporaries, rather than his
predecessors, died. The patriarchs were very sensible that the term of life was
undergoing abridgment. Thus, when Jacob stood before the Egyptian king, and was
asked his age, he replied: “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred
and thirty years: few and full of evil have the days of the years of my life
been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers
in the days of their pilgrimage.” He lived to 147 years. His son Levi lived to
137 years; and another of his sons, Joseph, only to 110 years. Amram, the son of
Levi, lived to exactly the same age as his father; and Moses and Aaron, the two
sons of Amran, both lived to 120. Our information of the steps by which life
declined to “threescore years and ten” before the time of David, is less
distinct. But we principally wish to remind the reader of the probability--or
rather the moral certainty--that the seasons of life, its childhood, youth,
maturity, and age, were distributed over the whole period of life however long,
in much the same proportions as at present; so that the prime and old age
commenced later and ended later than under a more abridged term of life. Thus,
we should not suppose, that when the term of life was 140 years, a man of
seventy was constitutionally older than one of thirty-five is now. This seems so
obvious as to require little argument; and we are not disposed to discuss the
question even were argument needed. But we may just observe that there is not
wanting much positive proof in favor of this view. Thus we see those whose ages
when their eldest son was born is recorded, are only in one instance under
thirty--and that one instance is in the case of a man (Terah's father) whose
whole age little exceeded half the average of his time. We see, also, that none
of the Hebrew patriarchs had a son before he was forty. And when we take into
account the general disposition to early marriages in the East, this may show
that the age of manhood was reached much later than it has been since; and the
activity and vigor, mental and bodily, which these same persons evince at an age
far passing the present extreme term of life, shows that constitutional old age
began late in proportion. The admiration which the beauty of Sarah excited when
she was nearly seventy years of age, also affords a strong corroborative
Illustration. The subject is one of considerable interest, and deserves a more
attentive consideration then it can here obtain. HAGAR AND ISHMAEL WAIT TO DIE
After travelling some days in the dreary wilderness of Beersheba, her provisions
grew short, and her bottle of water was quite exhausted. It unfortunately
happened that Ishmael was at this time in a high fever, and Hagar not being able
to get water to quench his thirst, there was little hope of his existing much
longer. Thus distressed, she knew not what to do, but at length, to shelter her
son in some degree from the violent heat of the weather, she placed him under a
tree, and retired at some distance, that she might not be a spectator of the
dying pangs of her beloved Ishmael. A melancholy scene now took place: the
feeble tongue of the child begged relief from its tender parent, whose woes were
doubled by her inability to give it the least assistance; his pressing demands
could only be answered by a flow of tears, and the only prospect before them was
despair and death. But the ears of boundless mercy are ever open to the cries of
distress, and the Lord of Omnipotence is ever ready to relieve the indigent.
HAGAR SHOWN A WELL While Hagar was lamenting her direful situation, a Divine
agent appeared before her, and, for her present relief, directed her to a well
of water which she had not before perceived. Having filled the bottle, she gave
some of the water to Ishmael, who was greatly refreshed with it, and, in a few
days, so far recovered from his illness as to be able, with his mother, to
pursue their journey. Hagar's intentions were, at first, to have gone into
Egypt, but she now altered her mind, and fixed her abode in the wilderness of
Paran, where Ishmael (whose health and strength were now greatly increased) in a
short time became so expert an archer, that he was able to obtain a sufficiency
of provisions both for himself and mother. ISHMAEL'S DESCENDENTS When Ishmael
grew up to the years of maturity, his mother, who was an Egyptian, married him
to a woman of her own country. By this woman he had twelve sons,[70] whose
descendants dispersed themselves in that part of the country situated between
Havilah and Shur, that is, in several parts of Arabia Petra, the western part
whereof, toward Egypt, is, in scripture, called Shur, and the eastern part,
toward the Persian gulf, Havilah. [70] The names of these sons were as follow:
Nebajoth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadar, Tema, Jetur,
Naphish, and Kedemah: “twelve princes according to their nations” Genesis 25:13;
&e. BEERSHEBA COVENANT In the meantime, Abraham continued to reside in the land
of Palestine; and as his riches and power every day increased, Abimelech grew
jealous of him, being fearful that he might, sometime or other, endeavor to
supplant him in the government. To prevent this, by the advice of his general
Phicol, he formed a solemn league of friendship with Abraham, and thereby
removed those fears which, for some time, had given him great uneasiness. A
dispute had arisen between the servants of Abimelech and those of Abraham,
relative to a well, which the latter had dug; but after a proper explanation,
the matter was adjusted to the satisfaction of all parties, the well being
declared the property of Abraham.[71] [71] It may perhaps, at first view, appear
strange that a dispute of any consequence should have arisen on account of a
well of water but it must be remembered, that, in those hot and dry countries, a
well of water was an inestimable treasure, and the digging it a work of
prodigious labor, which arose from the rockiness of the soil, and the great
depth it was necessary to dig before they could find a spring. The place where
Abimelech and Abraham entered into this solemn covenant was, thenceforth, called
Beersheba.[72] Here Abraham intending to end his days, should it be the will of
Providence for him so to do, planted a grove[73] for a place of worship, and in
it erected an altar, that he might not be anywise deficient in the discharge of
his religious duties. [72] The word Beer, in the Hebrew language, signifies a
well, and Sheba an oath, so that the Jews called it the Well of the Oath;
because of the oath that Abraham and Abimelech had made at that place. [73]
Worship in Groves (See Engraving)--The use of groves as places of primitive
worship is natural and easily understood, though it could only have arisen in an
early state of society, or be preserved where society remained in a primitive
condition. It was the thought of a people who had not made any advances in
architecture--who dwelt in tents or in huts--and who, while they did not feel
that these dwellings were unsuitable or inadequate for themselves, could not but
be sensible that they were so unimpressive, that it seemed revolting to
associate with them, in any more formal service of worship, the idea of that God
who fills all nature, and of whose grandeur they had no unworthy notions. They
therefore preferred to seek intercourse with him, and to render him their
service amid the vastness of his own creation, and under the shadow of those
ancient woods, which insensibly inspire us with awe, and fill us with
reverential feelings, which turn and vent themselves upon whatever has been
customarily before the mind as the proper object of its reverence. Happy when
that object is God!--as it was to the patriarchs. There is no doubt that men had
this use for groves, almost universally, before any temples existed; but it is
not so clear to us that, as some suppose, groves were used for religious
purposes, before even altars were known. But Noah constructed an altar as soon
as he left the ark; and this use of groves must, therefore, have been
antediluvian, if it existed before altars: and this is certainly more than we
know. It is certain, however, that, under the operation of the ideas we are
tracing, altars were placed in the groves; and the next step was probably to
build a hut near at hand to contain the implements of sacrifice; and when men
had begun to build in their groves, the idea of a chapel or oratory for use in
inclement weather, and when the trees were, in winter, bare of foliage, would
naturally have been suggested. When, at last, the increased resources of
constructive art, coupled with a weaker and more humanized idea of God, led men
to entertain the bold idea of rearing fabrics--”temples made with hands”--which
might make impressions on the mind worthy of his worship and service, the
influence of old habits and old associations still operated. Most nations took
care, when in their power, to plant groves around these buildings, for the most
part with an enclosing ditch, hedge, or wall; and these groves were not only
consecrated to the gods in whose honor the temples in the midst of them had been
built, but were themselves places of sanctuary for criminals who fled to them
for refuge. As to the corruptions which became, in the end, associated with
groves, and which led Moses to prohibit them very strictly, and to command that
the groves which were found, in the land of Canaan, consecrated to idols, should
be cut down, another opportunity will be afforded us of considering this part of
the subject. Meanwhile, we only wish to call attention to the point alluded to
in the text, respecting some points of analogy in this matter between the
practices and the ideas of the patriarchs and those of the Celtic Druids. Among
them we seem to find preserved, down to a late date, many of the ideas and
practices which equally belong to the patriarchal ages, and which are doubtless
to be regarded as relics of the religion which was common to all men in the
first ages, and which they carried with them to the several places of their
dispersion. In process of time these primitive institutions were in almost every
country woefully corrupted, or, indeed lost, in various modifications of
ceremony, idolatry, and unbelief. The Hebrew patriarchs doubtless exhibit in
purity the religion of anterior ages, and what had been the sole religion of
mankind; and thus he who studies the history of religious notions and practices
is supplied with a test which enables trim to ascertain the traces of this
primitive religion, which may have been preserved in different and distant
nations. Now, we know not of any people who preserved, mixed with many and awful
corruptions, so many traces of this ancient religion as existed in the Druidical
institutions and religion of the Celtes. It is true they had idols, and that
many wild notions were entertained, end many horrid rites practised by them;
but, amid all, they behe ved in one supreme Being, to whom all other gods were
far inferior. His symbol was the oak, and him, exclusively, they worshipped amid
the groves. They never had images of him, or erected temples to him; and
Tacitus, speaking of the Senones, who were a branch of the Celtes, and had the
same religion, tells us that its principle consisted in the acknowledgment that
the Deity whom they worshipped in the groves, the God without name, was he who
governed all things, on whom all things depended, and whom all beings were bound
to obey. There are other resemblances which would render our position more clear
if we could bring them into one view. But the purpose of the present note does
not require this; and we need only now observe that these remarkable analogies
between the patriarchal (or say the Hebrew) and Druidical religions are late
discoveries of our own day; but the antiquity and wisdom of the Druidical
religion, and its conformities with that of the Jews, were adduced so long ago
as the time of Celsus, in opposition to what that writer was pleased to consider
the novelties of the gospel. ABRAHAM TO SACRIFICE ISAAC The Almighty, in his
wise Providence, had, in divers instances, and on many occasions, put Abraham's
faith and obedience to the test; but now he resolved to try him in the tenderest
point, in which every tie of parental affection bound him, and to give up which
required a degree of resignation uncommon to the best of men. He is required, by
his God, to sacrifice his son--to embrue[74] his hands in the blood of his
darling offspring. [74] Rare word meaning to stain, especially with blood
Ishmael was now no more to him; he had parted with him at the divine command,
and had transferred his affections solely on Isaac; and this son, this only son,
who had been given him by Divine promise, and in whom all his future
expectations of happiness centered, must fall a victim by the unalterable decree
of Heaven. Hard task to flesh and blood! Severe trial to human nature! But if
the flesh shuddered, the spirit was absolute: God commands--the patriarch obeys.
Early therefore, the next morning, Abraham arose, and, without giving any notice
to his family, prepared himself for the appointed business. He sat out,
accompanied only by his son Isaac, and attended by two servants, who led an ass
laden with provisions, together with the wood, instruments, and other things
necessary for the sacrifice. After travelling three days he came within sight of
the spot God had appointed for the dreadful scene, which was a particular
mountain in the land of Moriah. Here he ordered his servants to stop with the
ass, while he and his son went to a spot at some distance to perform their
religious duties. Abraham having laden his son with the wood and other materials
for a burnt-offering, they proceeded on their journey. The harmless Isaac,
ignorant of the design of his pious and affectionate parent, went cheerfully on
with him, and the good old patriarch, relying on the faithfulness of the Divine
promise, overcame the strugglings of a natural affection, which might have
retarded his compliance with the will of God, and proceeded with a resolution
worthy the father of the faithful. As they approached near the appointed place
for executing the awful injunction, Isaac recollecting that a proper victim (the
most essential requisite for the sacrifice) was wanting, innocently asked his
father, where was the lamb for the burnt-offering? Such a question, at such a
time, was enough to have startled any heart less firm than Abraham's; but, fixed
in the resolution to obey the divine command, he coolly replied, “My son, God
will provide one himself.” Being now arrived at the spot which the Almighty had
directed, the first thing Abraham did was to erect an altar; after which, having
prepared the instruments, and laid the wood in order, he embraced his son, and
then bound him. Here the sacred historian, like a great painter, hath drawn a
veil over the sorrow of Abraham, and the resignation of Isaac, that the
imagination of the reader might paint to him more forcibly the struggles of the
parent, and the agonies of the son, than words can possibly express. ISAAC
RESCUED Every preparation being now made, Abraham, taking up the knife,
stretched forth his hand to give the finishing stroke to the life of his son;
when, behold! God is satisfied with the faith and obedience of the father, and
the piety and resignation of the son. The voice of a heavenly messenger is
suddenly heard, saying unto Abraham, “Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do
thou anything unto him.” The uplifted arm was now withheld, and the fatal blow
happy averted. The divine sound intimated, that the Almighty neither delighted
in human sacrifices, nor wished to make a father the murderer of a son whom he
had bestowed on him as a peculiar favor; but that the command had been given to
try if his obedience to God exceeded his feelings as a man, and if his natural
affections could submit to his religious duties. Cromlech at Plas Newydd
Druidical Circle--Jersey When the divine voice ceased, the pious patriarch,
turning his eyes from the dear, though intended victim, beheld a ram fastened by
his horns in a thicket. Convinced in his mind that this was the gracious
substitute of Providence, he immediately flew to it with raptures, and having
slain it with that knife which was intended for the destruction of his son,
brought it to the altar and presented it (instead of the before destined Isaac)
as a burnt-offering, to his great and benevolent benefactor. This infallible
token of Abraham's obedience was so satisfactory to the Almighty, that he was
pleased to renew his gracious promise to him with enlarged abundance; and even
to confirm the same by a solemn oath. “By myself have I sworn, for because thou
hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.”
Having thus complied with the will of God, and received a most convincing
testimony of the divine approbation, Abraham and Isaac returned to the servants,
and they all went joyfully together to Beersheba, at that time the place of
Abraham's residence. In memory of this singular transaction, the pious patriarch
called the place where it happened, “Jehovah-jirah,” in allusion to the answer
he gave to his son's question, “God will provide himself a lamb.” SARAH DIES
When Abraham returned home, he received the agreeable intelligence of the
increase of his family, namely, that Milcah, his brother Nahor's wife, had
brought him a numerous issue.[75] But the joy he received on this account was
soon damped by a circumstance which happened in his own family, namely, the loss
of his wife Sarah, who died at Kirjath-arba (afterward called Hebron), in the
one hundred and twenty-seventh year of her age. [75] The names of the children
of Nahor, by Milcah, were as follows: Huz, Buz, Kemuel, Cheshed, Hazo, Pildash,
Jidlaph, and Bethuel. The last of these begat Rebecca, who was afterward the
wife of Isaac. SARAH BURIED IN MACHPELAH At the time of Sarah's death, Abraham
was at Beersheba; but he no sooner heard of the melancholy event than he
immediately repaired to Hebron, in order to perform the last offices due to his
departed wife. As he was a stranger in the country, and had no land there of his
own, he could not give her honorable interment without first obtaining the
consent of the people. He therefore addressed himself to a general assembly of
the principal inhabitants, entreating them to allow him the liberty of burying
his wife in their country. This request being readily granted, Abraham bowed to
the assembly in acknowledgment for the favor; after which he told them he should
be glad to purchase a piece of ground as a sepulcher for himself and family, and
begged of them to entreat Ephron, the prince of the country, to sell him the
cave of Machpelah. This request being likewise granted, and application made to
Ephron, he generously offered the patriarch not only the cave, but also the
whole field in which it stood, as a burying place. Abraham acknowledged the
bounty of the offer; but as he had ever acted on a principle of strict justice,
he desired the prince to fix a price on the field; and that, on such condition,
he would take possession of it for the purposes intended. The prince, finding
the patriarch resolute, asked four hundred shekels (a sum greatly beneath its
real value). The purchase was made before all the people of Hebron, and the
field, together with the cave, was formally assigned over to Abraham and his
heirs for ever. This matter being adjusted, Abraham, after the usual ceremonies
of mourning were over, buried his wife in the cave he had then purchased, and in
which his own remains were afterward deposited. SERVANT SENT FOR A WIFE FOR
ISAAC Abraham, being now far advanced in years, and apprehending he had not much
longer to live, was desirous of seeing his own son Isaac married, and settled in
the world, before his departure out of this transitory life. He therefore called
to him his household steward, an old and trusty servant, to whom he related his
intention of marrying his son; and obtained from him an oath,[76] that (in case
he died first) he should procure a wife for him among his own kindred, and not
from the daughters of the Canaanites. Having obtained this solemn oath, Abraham
told his servant to go into Mesopotamia, which was the place of his nativity,
and there choose a wife, out of his own kindred, for his son Isaac. On receiving
these orders, the servant asked him this question: “If,” says he, “the woman
refuse to follow me into the land of Canaan, must I return and fetch thy son to
her?” The patriarch immediately answered in the negative, as no consideration
could prevail on him to suffer his son to return to a land which he himself had
left on account of the inhumanity and idolatry of its inhabitants. To encourage
the servant in the prosecution of his intended expedition, Abraham assured him
that a heavenly messenger would conduct him to the place whence he should bring
a wife unto his son; and that if the woman pitched on should refuse to follow
him, he should be free from the oath he had taken, and be considered as having
properly discharged the business with which he was entrusted. [76] The great
anxiety of the patriarchs to secure the marriage of their sons to women of their
own clan or family appears everywhere, and is even indicated in the precise
mention which is made of marriages which took place against this regulation-as
an the cases of Ishmael and Esau. Such a desire has always prevailed wherever
the distinction of clans or tribes has been strongly marked, for the sake of
keeping up its property, blood, and peculiar feelings, and of compacting its
union and influence;; and these ordinary motives acquired increased intensity in
the instance of the Hebrew patriarchs in consequence of the general idolatry or
superstition into which all the surrounding nations had fallen, and which alone
would have sufficed to preclude intermarriages with them. This consideration;
separately from any other, has always prevented the Jew from forming matrimonial
connections with any but the daughters of Israel. Their law forbade such
marriages in the strictest manner; and we shall find instances of there being
severely punished, and of the deep disgust which they inspired. They were
neither to take the females of other nations, nor give their own females to them
(Deuteronomy 7:3-4); and the reason was, “For they will turn away thy sons from
following me.” While this principle inhibited marriages with other nations,
there was another law which preserved the integrity of property in the
respective tribes, by directing that daughters having any inheritance should not
marry out of the tribe of their father, (Numbers 36). “So shall not the
inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe.” These
principles, taken from the subsequent laws of the Hebrews, afford the best
explanation of the conduct of the patriarchs with regard to the marriages of
their sons. Among the Bedouin Arabs there is no regulation precluding the
intermarriages of different tribes; but in practice a man seldom takes a wife
from any other tribe than his own; and still more rarely although there is no
national or religious difference, will a Bedouin give his daughter in marriage
to the inhabitant of a town, or to a cultivator or artisan. Some tribes never do
so; but others are rather less strict. So, as Ward informs us, among the Hindus,
the parents who find employment at a. distance from their original homes, always
marry their children in their own country and among their old acquaintance.
These matters being settled, Eliezer (for that was the name of this trusty
servant) set out on his embassy, attended by a number of servants and camels,
agreeably to the importance of his business, and the dignity of the person by
whom he was employed. After undergoing great fatigue, both from the badness of
the roads and the want of water, this trusty servant, with his attendants,
reached Mesopotamia, and repaired to Haran,[77] a city belonging to his master's
brother Nahor. When he had arrived near the entrance of the city, he stopped at
the public well (whither it was customary for the young women of the place to
come every morning and evening for water), in order to refresh the camels.[78]
[77] “CHARRAN,” as given by St. Stephen, is the proper reading of this name, and
is, therefore, different from the name of Abram's brother, which is truly spelt
Haran. The site of this place is very questionable. Most writers on scriptural
geography identify it with the place called Charæ by the Greeks and Romans, and
renowned in history for the defeat of Crassus. But we are inclined to think that
this identification is scarcely compatible with that which finds Ur in Urfah;
for not only is this Charran in the same plain with Urfah, but is actually, at
almost all times, visible from it, being distant not above eight hours' ride to
the south; so that a removal to this distance hardly corresponds with the
historical intimations which refer to it. There are three other sites to which
different writers refer the Charran of our history. One is Oruros, on the
Euphrates, about fifty miles below the embouchure of the Chaboras; the second is
Haræ, about twenty miles to the east-northeast of Palmyra; and the third, Caræ,
about thirty-eight miles northeast from Damascus. All these places would,
however, be out of the way in proceeding from Urfah to the land of Canaan,
excepting the one near Damascus, which, on many grounds, we should hold to offer
the preferable claim, were it not that the account of Jacob's journey to the
same place expressly informs us that Haran was in Mesopotamia, on which ground
the site, with the mention of which we commenced this note, must still be held
to have a little the preference, notwithstanding the objections which apply to
it, as none of the others answer to this condition. We think it very likely that
the site of Ur, and more than likely that the site of Haran, are yet to be
found. [78] Water is usually drawn in the evening, and frequently in the cool of
the morning also. Fetching water is one of the heaviest of the many heavy duties
which devolve upon the females in the East, and one which the most sensibly
impresses us with a sense of their degraded condition. The usage varies in
different counties. Among the Arabs and other nomads, and also in many parts of
India, it is the exclusive employment of the women, without distinction of rank.
But in Turkey and Persia the poorer women only are subject to this servile
employment, respectable families being supplied daily by men who make the
supplying of water a distinct business. The tents of the Bedouins are seldom
pitched quite near to the well from which they obtain their water; and if the
distance is not more than a mile, the men do not think is necessary that the
water should be brought upon the camels: and, unless there are asses to be
employed on this service, the women must go every evening, sometimes twice, and
bring home at their backs long and heavy leathern bags full of water. The wells
are the property of tribes or individuals, who are not always willing that
caravans should take water from them; and in that case, a girl is sometimes
posted at the well to exact presents from those who wish to have water. It is
not likely that Abraham's servant travelled without a leathern bucket to draw
water, and it is therefore probable that he abstained from watering his ten
camels until he should have obtained permission. The women, when they are at the
wells in the evening, are generally obliging to travelers, and ready to supply
such water as they may require for themselves or their beasts. The women of
towns in Turkey and Persia have seldom far to go, except under peculiar
circumstances in the situation or soil of the place, or quality of its water.
Their water-vessel depends much upon the distance; if rather far, a skin will
probably be preferred as most convenient for carrying a good quantity; but if
near, an earthen jar will often be chosen. The present well seems to have been
quite near the town, and we concur in the translation which renders Rebecca's
vessel “a pitcher.” The word (kad) is different from that (chemitz) rendered
“bottle” in the narrative of Hagar's expulsion; and is the same word used to
describe the vessels in which Gideon's soldiers concealed their torches, and
which they broke to produce a crashing and alarming noise. The women contrive to
draw an enjoyment even out of this irksome duty, as it affords the best
opportunity they have of meeting and talking together, and of displaying their
finery to each other. They by no means appear to the worst advantage, as to
dress, at the wells; and this circumstance shows that Abraham's servant might
there, without any incongruity, invest Rebecca with the ornaments he had
brought. To a traveler in the East, the best opportunities of making his
observations on the females will occur in the evening at the wells. Eliezer was
aware of this, and regarded the opportunity as favorable for his purpose. It
appears that the unmarried females even of towns went unveiled, or only
partially veiled, on ordinary occasions, in these early times. Now all go
veiled; and the more extended use of the veil in modern times has probably, in
one respect, operated favorably for the women, by exonerating those in families
decently circumstanced from the very heavy duty of fetching water, the proper
management of the veil being scarcely compatible with the performance of this
laborious office. Accordingly we find that this duty devolves more exclusively
on the females, without distinction of rank, in those Asiatic countries or
tribes where the women are not obliged to veil their faces, as in India, and
among the Arabian and other nomad tribes. We have already noticed the Arabian
usage. In consequence of the modifications which we venture to think that the
extended use of the veil has produced among the inhabitants of towns west of the
Indus, it is perhaps in India we are to look for the most precise parallels to
the patriarchal customs. Accordingly we find, that in many parts of India, women
of the first distinction draw water daily from the public wells. They always
fetch it in earthen jars carried upon their heads. Sometimes two or three jars
are carried at once, one upon the other, forming a pillar upon the bearer's
head. As this necessarily requires the most perfect steadiness, the habit gives
to the females a remarkably erect and stately air. It seems that it is a
distinction to carry the jar on the shoulder; and Forbes, in his “Oriental
Memoirs,” relates an anecdote of an intelligent native who, when this highly
interesting passage was read to him, inferred that Rebecca was of “high caste,”
from her carrying the pitcher on her shoulder. The text, however, does not
necessarily imply that she carried the jar erect upon her shoulder, but quite as
probably means that it was carried at the back, the handle being held over the
shoulder by the hand or leathern strap. Having been properly instructed by his
master in the fear of God, and being sensible of the importance of the business,
as well as fearful of not executing it to his master's satisfaction, he made a
mental prayer to God, beseeching him to direct him, by a certain sign, to a
proper object of choice for his young master. He had no sooner solicited this
divine assistance than his request was immediately complied with, and the sign
given was, that she who, at his desire, permitted him to drink of her water,
would be the person appointed by God for the wife of his servant Isaac. ELEAZAR
MEETS REBECCA Soon after this, Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel, came to the
well, with her pitcher, for water; after she had filled it, the servant (having
taken notice that she was exceedingly beautiful) accosted her in a very humble
manner, begging that she would give him a draught of the water, he being
exceedingly thirsty: Rebecca readily consented, and not only gave him to drink,
but also went several times to the well to fetch water for the refreshment of
his camels.[79] [79] “The pastoral poetry of classical antiquity, which has been
imitated more or less in all nations, has rendered us familiar with the idea of
females of birth and attractions acting as shepherdesses long after the practice
itself has been discontinued and the employment has sunk into contempt. When
nations originally pastoral settled in towns, and adopted the refinements of
life, the care of the sheep ceased to be a principal consideration, and
gradually devolved upon servants or slaves, coming to be considered a mean
employment, to which the proprietor or his household only gave a general and
superintending attention. The respectability of the employment in these
patriarchal times is not evinced by our finding the daughter of so considerable
a person as Laban engaged in tending the flocks, for in the East all drudgery
devolves upon the females; but by our finding the sons of such persons similarly
engaged in pastoral duties, which in Homer also appears to have been considered
a fitting employment for the sons of kings and powerful chiefs. We are not aware
that at present, in the East, the actual care of a flock or herd is considered a
dignified employment. Forbes, in his “Oriental Memoirs,” mentions, that in the
Bramin villages of the Concan, women of the first distinction draw the water
from wells, and tend the cattle to pasture, “like Rebecca and Rachel.” But in
this instance it can not be because such employments have any dignity in them,
but because the women are obliged to perform every servile office. So, among the
Bedouin Arabs, and other nomad nations, the immediate care of the flocks
devolves either upon the women or the servants; but most generally the latter,
as the women have enough to occupy them in their multifarious domestic duties.
However, among some tribes, it is the exclusive business of the young unmarried
women to drive the cattle to pasture. “Among the Sinai Arabs,” says Burckhardt,
“a boy would feel himself in suited were any one to say, 'Go and drive your
father's sheep to pasture;' these words, in his opinion, would signify, 'You are
no better than a girl.'” These young women set out before sunrise, three or four
together, carrying some water and victuals with them, and they do not return
until late in the evening throughout the day they continue exposed to the sun,
watching the sheep with great care, for they are sure of being severely beaten
by their father should any be lost. These young women are in general civil to
persons who pass by, and ready enough to share with them their victuals and
milk. They are fully able to protect their flocks against any ordinary
depredation or danger, for their way of life makes them as hardy and vigorous as
the men. This propitious occurrence highly delighted Abraham's servant, who,
after paying some general compliments to her beauty and benevolence, made
inquiry concerning her family and relations. To which the lovely virgin replied,
that she was the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, and kinswoman to
Abraham. Camels This intelligence gave fresh spirits to the faithful messenger,
who was now convinced that God approved of the alliance between Rebecca and
Isaac. He therefore presented to her a pair of gold ear-rings, and some other
female ornaments, requesting her to accept them as a token of his esteem for her
virtues, and a grateful return for her distinguished condescension. As it grew
late, and he had valuable property about him, he entreated permission, for that
night, to reside at the house of her relations. Rebecca, is a most engaging
manner, permitted him this convenience, but begged that she might previously
apprize the family of so unexpected a visitor. Accordingly, having accepted the
presents, she immediately hastened home, leaving Eliezer full of contemplation
and acknowledgments to the divine favor for the happy incident. As soon as
Rebecca entered the house, her brother Laban, observing the bracelets on her
arms, asked her by what means she had obtained such costly ornaments. Rebecca
acquainted him with every particular that had happened, from her going out till
her return; upon which Laban immediately went to the well, where finding Eliezer
and his attendants, he brought them home with him, and ordered proper provision
to be made both for him and his retinue. As soon as Eliezer had paid the
necessary compliments to Rebecca's family, he informed them of the nature of his
embassy, the great success that had attended him in his journey, and the
fortunate incident of his meeting Rebecca without the city. He likewise gave
them an ample account of the state of his master's family; of the wealth and
prosperity wherewith God had blessed him; of the son and heir which he had given
him in his old age; and of the large expectances which this heir had, not only
from the prerogative of his birth, but from the donation and entail of all his
father's possessions. Having thus minutely related every particular relative to
his embassy, he demanded an immediate answer, saying, till that was obtained, he
could not, with any satisfaction, take the least refreshment. LABAN APPROVES OF
MARRIAGE PLAN From the very singular circumstances that had occurred in the
course of Eliezer's journey, Laban and Bethuel[80] were of opinion that Divine
Providence was materially concerned in the whole affair. Concluding, therefore,
that it would be exceedingly wrong to refuse Eliezer's request, they readily
consented, and told him he might take Rebecca to her intended husband as soon as
he thought proper. [80] This Bethuel could not be the father of Rebecca,
because, had that been the case, it would have been improper to have had Laban
either named before him, or to have given answer to Abraham's messenger when his
father was by; and, therefore, since Josephus makes the damsel tell Eliezer that
her father had been dead long ago, and that she was left to the care of her
brother Laban, this Bethuel (who is here named after Laban, and never more taken
any notice of during the whole transaction) must have been some younger brother
of the family. This business being settled, the trusty servant presented Rebecca
with jewels of silver and gold, and fine raiment, which he had brought with him
for the purpose. He likewise gave some, considerable presents[81] to her mother
and the rest of the family; and the remainder of the evening was dedicated to
mirth and festivity. [81] Dr. Shaw, who resided many years in the East, tells
us, that among the Arabians, the person who settles a marriage contract, first
adorns the espoused person with jewels, and then makes presents to her
relations, according to their rank. He adds, that, on such occasions, it is
expressly stipulated what sum of money the husband shall settle on the wife;
what jewels she shall wear; how many suits of raiment she shall have; and,
lastly, how many slaves shall be allowed to attend her. ELIEZAR LEAVES WITH
REBECCA Early in the morning, Eliezer, being impatient to acquaint his master
with the success of his embassy, desired to be dismissed. This request greatly
surprised the family, who, influenced by natural affection, desired that Rebecca
might be permitted to tarry with them a few days, to take, perhaps, a last
farewell. But the diligent and faithful steward would admit of no delay; upon
which, the matter being referred to Rebecca herself, she agreed to go with him
whenever he thought proper. Accordingly, the necessary preparations being made,
and the bridal blessing bestowed, she took her leave, attended by her nurse
(whose name was Deborah) and other servants appointed on the occasion. When
Eliezer came within some distance of his master's house, it happened that Isaac
was then walking in the fields, meditating on the beauties of nature, and the
beneficence of that Being who formed the creation. Seeing at a distance his
servants and camels on the road, he hastened to meet them, anxious to know the
result of Eliezer's embassy. As he approached near, Rebecca asked who he was;
and being informed, she immediately alighted from her camel, threw a veil[82]
over her face, and waited to receive the first compliments of her intended
husband. [82] Whether veiled before or not, she now “covered herself”--her whole
person--with the ample enveloping veil with which brides are still conducted to
the bridegroom. Rosenmuller, in illustration of this passage, quotes an ancient
father (Tertullian) who, with an express reference to the same text, observes,
as a custom still existing in his time, that the heathen brides were also
conducted to their husbands covered with a veil. It is still all but universal
in the East, and it will be observed that it is used, not only by the females
whose faces are always concealed both before and after marriage, but by those
who display part or the whole of their faces on ordinary occasions. It is in
fact, the indispensable costume for the occasion. Whether the bridal veil was
distinguished from other veils does not appear; but we observe that one of red
silk or muslin is affected by the Persians on such an occasion, although the
ordinary veils are white or blue; and Dr. Russell, in his account of a Maronite
marriage, observes that the bride's veil was of the same color. Thus we see that
Rebecca, by enveloping her person in a veil, put herself into the costume usual
for a bride when conducted to the tent or house of her husband. ISAAC MARRIES
REBECCA When Isaac came up to Rebecca, he addressed her with great respect, and
immediately conducted her to his mother's tent, which had been previously fitted
up for her reception, and designed for her future habitation. A few days after
they were joined in wedlock, and Isaac grew so fond of her, that his mind was
greatly relieved from that perturbation with which, for three years, it had been
loaded, for the loss of his affectionate mother. Such was the pious regard
children had for their parents in those days; and such was the amiable example
set by Isaac for all who should follow! ABRAHAM'S ADDITIONAL FAMILY Some time
after Isaac's marriage, his father, though far advanced in life, yet still
possessing great strength of constitution, made an addition to his family, by
taking another wife, whose name was Keturah, and by whom he had six sons. But,
lest they should interfere with Isaac in his inheritance of Canaan, as they grew
up he portioned them off, and sent them towards the east, where, settling in
Arabia and Syria, they became, in time, the rulers of different nations. ABRAHAM
DIES These are the last circumstances mentioned by the sacred historian,
relative to the great patriarch Abraham, who at length, worn out with bodily
infirmities, quietly gave up the ghost, in the one hundred and seventy-fifth
year of his age, leaving behind him a name famous to all posterity. He was
buried by his two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, in the cave of Machpelah, where,
about forty years before, he had deposited the remains of his beloved Sarah.
ISHMAEL DIED Ishmael, the eldest son of Abraham, though not his heir, lived many
years after his father. He died at the age of one hundred and seven, leaving
behind him twelve sons.[83] [83] The Ishmaelites--We know, not whence the
strange opinion arose that the whole Arabian nation is descended from Ishmael,
and that, consequently, the names of the Ishmaelites and Arabs are co-extensive,
unless from the Chaldee and Arabic paraphrasts, and from other Jewish writers,
whose historical authority, at all times of the least possible value, becomes a
perfect nullity when open to any obvious influence, such as the wish to
represent Abraham as the father of so great and wide-spread a nation as the
Arabians. The whole testimony of the oriental writers, and all the inferences
deducible from the sacred narrative, are opposed to this conclusion. The
Arabians have a history anterior to Ishmael; and it would be preposterous to
suppose, that Arabia, even to its deserts, was not occupied before his time.
According to the Arabian writers, Arabia was occupied a few generations after
the flood by the successive settlement within it of variously descended tribes,
all of whom ultimately gave way to the races from which the present Arabs claim
to be descended, either from being destroyed by them or lost in them. These
latter proceed from two stocks, of which the most ancient is that of Kahtan, the
same who in the Bible is called Joktan, a son of Eber; and the other that of
Adnan, who descended in a direct line from Ishmael. To the posterity of the
former is given the distinguishing title of eminence, al Arab al Araba,
(equivalent to “a Hebrew of the Hebrews” among the Jews), that is, the genuine
or pure Arabs: while those of Ishmael receive that of al Arab al Mostáreba,
meaning naturalized or mixed Arabs. But some writers, who wish to be more
precise, apply the first and most honorable title to the most ancient and lost
tribes to which we have alluded, while the descendants of Kahtan obtained the
name of Motáreba, which likewise signifies mixed Arabs, though in a nearer
degree than Mostáreba; those who acknowledged Ishmael for their ancestor
(through Adnan) being the more distant graft. Considering the origin of Ishmael,
it is no wonder that those supposed to be descended from him should have no
claim to be admitted as pure Arabs; but as he is alleged to have contracted an
alliance with the Jorhamites (descended from Jorham, a son of Kahtan), who
possessed Hejaz, by marrying the daughter of their emir Modad, whence, and by
subsequent intermarriages his descendants became blended with them into one
nation, their claim to be regarded as Mostáreba is beyond dispute. There is
considerable uncertainty in the descents from Ishmael to Adnan, which is the
reason why the Arabs have seldom attempted to trace their genealogies higher
than the latter, whom they therefore look on as the founder of their tribes. The
account of this Adnan does not commence, however, till 122 B.C.; so that the
uncertainties extend over a period of about 1800 years. This is a very awful
circumstance at the first view, but the line of descent is not compromised by
it, notwithstanding. The uncertainties refer merely to the numbers and names of
the generations which fill the interval, and arise from the contracted manner in
which genealogies, extending over a long series of ages, were necessarily kept.
Thus they do not specify all the generations from A to Z, in this way--“Z, the
son of Y; Y, the son of X; X, the son of W,” and so on up to A: but knowing it
to be a matter of perfect notoriety and unquestionable truth that Z is descended
from some eminent ancestor, say S, and that it is equally notorious and
unquestionable that the remote ancestor of this S was M, and that M was
descended from G, and G from A--they may omit the intermediate ancestors,
through whom Z descended from S, and S from M, and M from G, and G from A, and
state the matter thus: “Z, the son of S, the son of M, the son of G, the son of
A;” and thus it may occur that not only the names but even the numbers of the
generations between A and Z may, in the course of time, become involved in great
uncertainty through their not being given in detail in the genealogies, while
the truth yet remains certain and unquestionable that Z is descended from A
through G, M, and S. Hence, it is not questioned that Adnan is descended from
Ishmael, and a certain number, eight or ten, of illustrious names are mentioned
to mark out the line of descent, while the names of the mass of intermediate
ancestors is lost, and even the numbers of their generations may be a subject of
fair dispute without the main question being touched. It is, therefore,
surprising to see some able writers so much in the dark as to imagine, that,
because the Arabian writers give us only some eight of ten names to mark the
line of descent, they were absurd enough to suppose that that eight or ten
generations sufficed to cover the long interval between Ishmael and Adman. We
have dwelt on this subject the rather because this Arabian manner of proceeding
suffices to clear up some difficulties which the Hebrew genealogies offer. It
must not be inferred that the Arabs undervalue the descent from Ishmael in
comparison with that from Kahtan, on account of their applying to it a less
honorable designation. This is by no means the case; for, on the contrary, they
set a high value, like the Jews, on the privilege of being descended from
Abraham; and this distinction is, in the eyes of the modern Arabs, greatly
enhanced by the circumstance that Mohammed belonged to this race, and gloried in
being descended from Ishmael and Abraham. Of the personal history of Ishmael the
Arabians give a highly embellished account, which it is not necessary this place
to repeat. In those circumstances which seem most entitled to consideration, as
not incompatible with his scriptural history, we are somewhat inclined to
suspect that they apply to him actions and events which really belong, if they
are at all real, to some of his descendants. For instance, that Ishmael ever was
in Hejaz, or formed any important connections there, seems to us very doubtful;
but there is nothing in this that might not be very probably true of one of his
descendants, after the tribe had increased, and had formed alliances among the
Arabs of the Kahtan races. We therefore attach little weight to the statement of
his marriage to the daughter of the king of the Jorhamites, though we should not
be prepared to doubt it merely on the ground that the scripture tells us that he
married an Egyptian woman, since his Arabian wife might have been the second. In
fact, much that the Arabians tell us about Ishmael proceeds on the grievous
misconception that Abraham himself lived in Hejaz, and that there all the events
of his later history took place. The account of the descent of numerous Arabian
tribes from Ishmael is not open to the same doubts of difficulty, and is,
indeed, so clear in itself, and so universally acknowledged, that the object of
the present note has not been to prove this, but to indicate the historical
certainty that all the Arabians could not, and did not, claim to be descended
from him.


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  CHAPTER 15: LIFE OF ISAAC--FORTUNES OF HIS FAMILYESAU AND JACOB'S BIRTH
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LIFE OF ISAAC--FORTUNES OF HIS FAMILYESAU AND JACOB'S BIRTH When Isaac married
Rebecca, he was forty years old, and lived with her nearly twenty years before
she had issue. He had been so long uneasy on this account, that he at length
prayed to God to grant him an heir, who being pleased to listen to his request,
bestowed that blessing he had so earnestly wished for, and the long barren
Rebecca now conceived, to the great satisfaction both of herself and husband.
After Rebecca had been pregnant some months, the struggles of the children (for
she had twins within her) gave her such pain and uneasiness, that she began, in
a manner, to wish herself not with child. Unable to account for the cause of her
extreme pains, she went to consult the divine oracle, and received for answer,
that the two children, which she then bore, should be the heads of two different
nations, and that they would long contest for superiority; but that, in process
of time, the glories acquired by the elder would be eclipsed by the more
resplendent transactions of the younger. When the time of Rebecca's delivery
arrived, the child that first entered the world was covered all over with red
hair,[84] for which reason his parents called him Esau; and the other came so
close after him, that he took hold of his heel with his hand, and was therefore
called Jacob, to denote (what he afterward proved) the sub-planter of his
brother. [84] This expression, according to some commentators, is taken two
ways, namely, either that Esau was, at his birth, covered with red hair, or that
the color of his skin was red, like a coat of red hair. He was called Esau, from
the word Eschau, which in the Hebrew language, signifies a hair-cloth; as Jacob
was named from Hekel, the heel, and signifies a supplanter, or one that taketh
hold of, or trippeth up another's heels. As these two children grew up, they
became very different in their tempers, and when they arrived at the age of
maturity, followed different employments. Esau, the elder, being strong and
active, delighted in the chase, and thereby frequently plying his father with
venison, obtained his particular affection; while Jacob, who was of a more
courteous disposition, by staying at home in the tent, and employing himself in
family offices, became the favorite of his mother. ESAU SELLS HIS BIRTHRIGHT
Esau having one day greatly fatigued himself with hunting, returned home just at
the time his brother Jacob had prepared a mess of pottage[85] for his own
refreshment, Esau, being almost spent with hunger, was so struck with the looks
of the pottage, that he anxiously begged of his brother to let him participate
of the repast. But Jacob (who was probably so instructed by his mother) refused
to comply with his request, unless on the following conditions; namely, that he
would immediately make over to him his birth-right. Esau reflecting on the
danger to which he was daily subject, from the nature of his employment, set no
great value on what Jacob required; and the latter, perceiving his disposition
to comply (that he might have the right more firmly conveyed to him), proposed
his doing it by way of oath. Notwithstanding the singularity of the request,
Esau complied with it, and the bargain being made, he ate very greedily of the
food prepared by his brother: Thus did the unthinking Esau dispose of his
birth-right, with all the privileges[86] belonging to it, for so simple a thing
as a mess of pottage. [85] The edam, or red pottage, was prepared, we learn from
this chapter, by seething lentils (adashim) in water; and subsequently, as we
may guess from a practice which prevails in many countries, adding a little
manteca, or suet, to give them a flavor. The writer of these observations has
often partaken of this self-same “red pottage,” served up in the manner just
described, and found it better food than a stranger would be apt to imagine. The
mess had the redness which gained for it the name of edom; and which, through
the singular circumstance of a son selling his birthright to satisfy the
cravings of a pressing appetite, it imparted to the posterity of Esau in the
people of Edom. The lentil (or Lens esculenta of some writers, and the Ervum
lens of Linnaeus) belongs to the leguminous or podded family. The stem is
branched, and the leaves consist of about eight pairs of smaller leaflets. The
flowers are small, and with the upper division of the flower prettily veined.
The pods contain about two seeds, which vary from a tawny red to a black It
delights in a dry, warm sandy soil. Three varieties are cultivated in
France--”small brown,” “yellowish,” and the” lentil of Provence” In the former
country they arc dressed and eaten during Lent as a haricot; in Syria they are
used as food after they have undergone the simple process of being parched in a
pan over the fire. [86] It should be understood, that previously to the
establishment of a priesthood under the Law of Moses, the first-born had not
only a preference in the secular inheritance, but succeeded exclusively to the
priestly functions which had belonged to his father, in leading the religious
observances of the family, and performing the simple religious rites of these
patriarchal times. The secular part of the birthright entitled the firstborn to
a “double portion” of the inheritance; but writers are divided in opinion as to
the proportion of this double share. some think that he had one half, and that
the rest was equally divided among the other sons; but a careful consideration
of Genesis 47:5-22, in which we see that Jacob transfers the privilege of the
first-born to Joseph, and that this privilege consisted in his having one share
more than any of his brethren, inclines us to the opinion of the Rabbins, that
the first-born had merely twice as much as any other of his brethren. It is
certainly possible, but not very likely, that in the emergency, Esau bartered
all his birthright for a mess of pottage; but it seems more probable that Esau
did not properly appreciate the value of the. sacerdotal part of his birthright,
and therefore readily transferred it to Jacob for a trifling present advantage.
This view of the matter seems to be confirmed by St. Paul, who calls Esau a
“profane person,” for his conduct on this occasion; and it is rather for
despising his spiritual than his temporal privileges, that he seems to be liable
to such an imputation. ISAAC MOVES TO GERAR Isaac, at this time, lived at
Beersheba, but a dreadful famine happening in the land of Canaan, he resolved
(as his father Abraham had done on a similar occasion) to avoid its consequences
by retiring to Egypt. He accordingly proceeded as far as Gerar, a city belonging
to the Philistines. But here he was interrupted in his intended journey by the
interposition of the Almighty, who in a dream, charged him not to go into Egypt,
but to tarry in the country where he then was; and at the same time assured him,
that he would not only secure him from the danger of the famine, but, in
performance of the oath which he had sworn to his father Abraham, would cause
his descendants (to whom he would give the whole land of Canaan in possession)
to multiply exceedingly. ISAAC'S RUSE IS DETECTED In conformity to the divine
command, Isaac determined to fix his residence at Gerar, where he made use of
the same stratagem his father had formerly done in the same place, and from the
same motive. Fearful lest the charms of his wife Rebecca might attract the
particular notice of some of the city, and thereby endanger his own safety, it
was agreed between them, that, instead of his wife, she should pass for his
sister. This deception succeeded for a time, but at length was discovered by
Abimelech[87] the king, who, from a window, observed such familiarities pass
between them, as convinced him they were man and wife. [87] This Abimelech was
probably the son of him with whom Abraham had formerly made a covenant. It Is
reasonable to suppose that Abimelech was only a title commonly used for the
kings of the Philistines, in the same manner as Caesar was by the Roman
emperors, and Pharaoh for the kings of Egypt. In consequence of this discovery,
Abimelech sent for Isaac, whom he accused of dissimulation, telling him, that
from the freedom he had observed between him and Rebecca, he was sure she was
his wife; and that the imposition he had endeavored to lay on the people might
have been attended with consequences disgraceful to himself. Isaac, conscious of
the justness of the accusation, did not attempt to disprove the charge, but
urged, in vindication of his conduct, that he did it to preserve that life,
which, otherwise, he thought in the most imminent danger. This apology was
admitted by Abimelech, who not only forgave him the offence, but immediately
issued an edict, that whoever should presume to offer any injury either to him
or his wife, should be punished with death. ISAAC'S PROSPERITY Having received
these tokens of friendship from Abimelech, Isaac thought himself happy under his
protection, and, intending to make Gerar his fixed place of residence, employed
himself in husbandry, and the rearing of flocks, for the future support of
himself and family. The great success that attended his endeavors, by means of
his beneficent Creator, soon raised the envy and indignation of the Philistines.
In the space of one year only, during his, residence at Gerar, so prolific was
the land he sowed that, to the great astonishment of his neighbors, it yielded
him a hundred fold. THE PHILISTINES ENVY This so irritated the Philistines,
that, in order to oblige him to leave the country, they filled up the wells
which had been formerly dug by his father's servants; and Abimelech himself, to
satisfy the resentment of the people, ordered him to quit Gerar, telling him,
that as he had sufficiently improved his fortune under his protection, he might
now give the like opportunity to others, by leaving the place, and retiring to a
more distant part of the country. THE WELLS Finding to what a degree the people
were incensed against him, Isaac, to preserve his property, as well as secure
his person, left the place, and retired to the valley of Gerar, which was at
some distance from the city, and where Abraham had formerly fed his cattle.
Having settled himself here, he opened the wells (which had been dug by his
father and filled up by the Philistines) and called them by their ancient names.
In the course of their labors, Isaac's servants discovered a new well of fine
springing water; but a dispute arising between them and some neighboring
herdsmen, the latter claiming the well as found upon their ground, Isaac
resolved to leave the place; and by way of perpetuating the circumstance called
it Esek, which, in the Hebrew language, signifies contention. Removing someway
farther, Isaac's servants dug another well, which being likewise claimed by the
Philistines, he was obliged to relinquish it, and therefore, called the place
Sitnah, which signifies enmity.[88] [88] The cause of these differences seems to
have been, that a question arose whether wells dug by Abraham's and Isaac's
people within the territories of Gerar belonged to the people who digged them,
or to those who enjoyed the territorial right. The real motive of the opposition
of the people of Gerar, and their stopping up the wells made by Abraham, seems
to have been to discourage the visits of such powerful persons to their
territory; for otherwise the wells would have been suffered to remain on account
of their utility to the nation. Stopping up the wells is still an act of
hostility in the East. Mr. Roberts says that it is so in India, where one person
who hates another will sometimes send his slaves in the night to fill up the
well of the latter, or else to pollute it by throwing in the carcases of unclean
animals. The Bedouin tribes in the country traversed by the great
pilgrim-caravan which goes annually from Damascus to Mecca, receive presents of
money and vestments to prevent them from injuring the wells upon the line of
march, and which are essential to the very existence of the multitudes who then
traverse this desert region. However, of all people in the world, none know so
well as the Arabs the value of water, and the importance of wells, and hence
they never wantonly do them harm. They think it an act of great merit in the
sight of God to dig a well; and culpable in an equal degree to destroy one. The
wells in the deserts are in general the exclusive property either of a whole
tribe, or of individuals whose ancestors dug them. The possession of a well is
never alienated; perhaps because the Arabs are firmly persuaded that the owner
of a well is sure to prosper in all his undertakings, since the blessings of all
who drink his waterfall upon him. The stopping of Abraham's wells by the
Philistines, the re-opening of them by Isaac, and the restoration of their
former names--the commemorative names given to the new wells, and the strifes
about them between those who had sunk them and the people of the land--are all
circumstances highly characteristic of those countries in which the want of
rivers and brooks during summer renders the tribes dependant upon the wells for
the very existence of the flocks and herds which form their wealth. It would
seem that the Philistines did not again stop the wells while Isaac was in their
country. It is probable that the wells successfully sunk by Isaac did not
furnish water sufficient for both his own herds and those of Gerar, and thus the
question became one of exclusive right. Such questions often lead to bitter and
bloody quarrels in the East; and it was probably to avoid the last result of an
appeal to arms that Isaac withdrew out of the more settled country toward the
desert, where he might enjoy the use of his wells in peace. Being quite tired
out with repeated insults from the Philistines, in order to prevent the like in
future, he removed to the most distant part of their country. Here he dug
another well; and not meeting with any opposition, he called it Rehoboth, which
signifies enlargement, because his flocks had now room to feed and range the
country in search of fresh pasturage “for now,” said he, “the Lord hath made
room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” ISAAC RETURNS TO BEERSHEBA
After residing a short time on this spot Isaac returned to Beersheba, where, on
the very night of his arrival, the Almighty was pleased to appear to him in a
vision, promising him his favor and protection, and that he would bless him, and
multiplyhis seed, for the sake of his faithful servant Abraham. In grateful
acknowledgment of this repeated instance of the divine goodness, Isaac,
intending to continue here, first built an altar for religious worship, and then
ordered his servants to clear out the well which had been formerly dug by his
father. Great officer on a Journey

ABIMELECH'S TREATY Isaac had not long returned to Beersheba, when Abimelech,
touched with a sense of the unworthy treatment he had received, both from him
and his subjects, as well as fearing his just resentment, should he become
powerful hereafter, thought it most prudent to avoid future trouble, by
endeavoring either to renew the old league which had been formerly made with his
father Abraham, or to enter into a new one. Accordingly, taking with him the
chief of his nobility, together with the captain-general of his forces, he went,
in great pomp, to Beersheba, in order to pay honor and respect to Isaac. At the
first interview Isaac, to show that he still retained a sense of the injuries he
had formerly done him, received his visit very coolly, and, with apparent rise,
asked, how he came to offer respect to a person, for whom, by his conduct and
behavior, he had long discovered an utter aversion? Abimelech, conscious of his
error, made the best excuse the nature of the case would admit. He told him he
had long been convinced that the divine favor attended him in all his
undertakings, and that he might not be thought to oppose God, he was come to
renew the covenant between his people and Abraham's posterity, and was ready to
engage in the same conditions and obligations. Isaac, being naturally of a quiet
and easy disposition, readily admitted this apology from Abimelech, whom, with
his attendants, he entertained with great liberality. The articles for a treaty
of friendship were agreed on that same evening, and the next morning confirmed
by a solemn and mutual oath; after which Abimelech took his leave, and returned
home. BEERSHEBA WELL RE-DUG Soon after the departure of Abimelech, the servants
of Isaac informed him, that, in the well they had been clearing out, and which
formerly belonged to Abraham, they had found a spring of most excellent water.
This event happening on the same day that the league of friendship had been
confirmed between Isaac and Abimelech, he called it (as his father had done
before on a similar occasion) Beersheba, the well of the oath, “i.e. the well
wherein water was delivered, on the day that Abimelech and I entered into a
treaty of peace, and ratified the same with the solemnity of an oath.” ESAU'S
HEATHEN WIVES A circumstance now occurred, which gave great uneasiness both to
Isaac and his wife. Their two sons were arrived at the age of forty, and Esau
had taken two wives from among the Hittites, one of whom was Judith, the
daughter of Beeri, and the other Bashemath, the daughter of Elon, both women of
respectable families in Canaan. These marriages he had contracted without his
parents' privity, knowing that his father had determined not to form any
alliance with the idolatrous Canaanites. Rebecca was so incensed at Esau's
conduct, that the little affection she before had for him, was now entirely
alienated; but such was the power of natural affection in Isaac, and such his
over-fondness for an obdurate and perverse son, that knowing the error past
repair, he made a virtue of necessity, and forgave what he could not remedy.
Isaac, becoming very old,[90] imperfect in his eyesight, and apprehensive that
his dissolution was near at hand, resolved to bestow that parental benediction
on his son Esau, which he had long intended. Accordingly, calling him one day to
his private apartment, he first related the occasion of his sending for him, and
then desired him to take his hunting instruments, to go into the fields, kill
some venison,[91] and dress it to his palate, that his spirits might be
refreshed, and his mind properly disposed, for giving him that solemn blessing
which should crown his future prosperity. [90] Isaac was at this time 137 years
old, so that there is no wonder he should be imperfect in his sight. It appears
that he was still ignorant of Esau having sold his birth-right; for he loved him
as his first-born son, and designed to bestow on him the blessing. [91] Venison:
was the principal article of food, in these early ages, next to vegetables, and
it is very likely the aged patriarch longed for some. According to all the
accounts we have of the people in the Eastern countries, they had always a feast
prepared before they bestowed their blessing on their first-born son. REBECCA
GETS JACOB THE BLESSING While Isaac was relating his intentions to Esau, Rebecca
had so planted herself as to hear all that passed. She, therefore, determined,
if possible, to deprive him of the intended blessing, and, by stratagem, get it
conferred on her favorite son Jacob. As soon, therefore, as Esau was well gone,
Rebecca, calling her son Jacob, told him what she had heard, namely, that his
father was going to bestow a benediction, which was final and irrevocable, on
his brother; but that, if he would listen to, and follow her directions, she
doubted not of getting the honor bestowed on him. Jacob promising to pay a
strict obedience to whatever his mother should command, she ordered him to go
immediately to the flocks, and bring two kids, with which, she said, she would
make savory meat, such as should resemble venison, and be agreeable to the
palate of his father. Jacob made some hesitation at complying with this
injunction, intimating, that if his father should discover the deception,
instead of a blessing, he would pronounce on him a curse. As a farther ground of
objection, he observed, that, as Esau was remarkably hairy, and he naturally
smooth, his father, to supply the defect of sight, might handle him, in which
case a discovery must unavoidably follow. But these objections bore no weight
with Rebecca, who, determined to put her design into execution, told him,
whatever bad consequences ensued, she would take all upon herself: “Upon me,”
said she, “be thy curse, my son; only obey my voice.”[92] [92] From a
circumspect view of Rebecca's conduct throughout the whole of this affair, it
appears, evident that she had been made acquainted with the Divine will
concerning the channel in which the grand promise was to pass. She therefore
resolved to do her part toward preventing the ill effects of Isaac's partial
fondness for his eldest son Esau, who had already indicated so unworthy a
disposition. To this end she incites her son Jacob (as it appears) to an act of
deceit, and, being confident of the propriety of her conduct, absolves him from
all guilt or blame. The expression, “Upon me be thy curse, my son,” is as much
as to say, I will warrant thee success; I am so fully persuaded of the rectitude
of the proceeding, that I fear no evil from it, but will readily bear it all if
any happens. A stronger proof than this cannot be given of Rebecca's full
confidence in the propriety of her proceeding. Indeed, it does not appear that
the least blame is laid upon Rebecca for her conduct: on the contrary, Isaac
himself confirms the blessing which Jacob had by her means acquired; whence we
must necessarily conclude that she acted upon right motives, and with a full
persuasion of the Divine pre-appointment and approbation. Many particular
circumstances, if we were fully informed of the state of the family, might
possibly be urged in her behalf, but this alone is sufficient to vindicate her
from all blame. She had certainly been pre-informed that Jacob should have the
pre-eminence, and therefore she acted religiously in preventing her husband from
any endeavor to counteract the Divine will. Let it, however, be observed, that
her case is so peculiar that it can not be drawn into example; and, detached
from that important and discriminating circumstance of God's will revealed to
her, her conduct would, unquestionably, be deemed blamable. Jacob, being thus
encouraged by his mother, threw off his diffidence, and going to the fold,
brought with him, as he was directed, two fat kids. Rebecca immediately killed
them, and taking the choicest parts, dressed them in such manner, by the
assistance of savory sauce, as to make the whole strongly resemble venison.
Having thus prepared the food, she dressed Jacob in his brother's best attire,
and covering his hands and neck with the skins of the kids, gave him the dish,
ordering him immediately to take it to his father. Jacob, agreeably to his
mother's directions, went with the food to Isaac's apartment, which he had no
sooner entered, than the good old man (not being able to distinguish objects
from the imperfection of his sight) with surprise asked, who he was. To which
Jacob replied, “I am Esau, thy first-born: I have punctually obeyed thy command;
arise, therefore, and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.” Isaac,
astonished at the haste with which his desire was executed; inquired of him how
it happened that he had so quickly got the venison? To this he answered,
“Because the Lord thy God brought it to me.” Being, however, still diffident as
to his person, Isaac ordered him to approach near, that, by feeling him, he
might be convinced whether or not it was really and verily his son Esau. Jacob
accordingly went close to his aged father, who, feeling the hairy skin on his
hands and neck, exclaimed, with great surprise, “The hands are the hands of
Esau, but the voice is the voice of Jacob.” He then put the question to him
forcibly, saying, “Art thou my very son Esau?” To which Jacob, without the least
hesitation, answered, “I am.” The good old man, being now satisfied, arose from
his couch, ate of his son's pretended venison, and drank a cup or two of wine;
after which he bid him come near that he might bestow on him the promised
blessing. The scent arising from Jacob's garments gave great satisfaction to
Isaac. He smelt, and praised them: “The smell of my son,” said he, “is as the
smell of a field, which the Lord hath blessed.”[93] He then, in a kind of
ecstasy of pleasure, embraced and kissed his pretended first-born; and, after
wishing him all heavenly and earthly blessings,[94] at length dismissed him.
[92] It is evident, from mention being here made of the smell of Jacob's
garments, that the people in the most early times perfumed their clothes,
especially when they approached a person of superior rank; and this custom is
still preserved in most parts of Asia. The comparison between the smell of the
garments and that of the field is very just; for in the Eastern countries, where
they have a long continuance of drought, nothing can be more sweet and
delightful than the scent arising from a field after a refreshing shower. [93]
The prayer which Josephus makes Isaac offer up to God on this occasion is to the
following effect--“Eternal and Supreme Being! Creator of all things! thou hast
already showered down innumerable favors on my family and promised still greater
blessings in future. Ratify, O Lord, those gracious assurances, and despise not
the prayers of infirm age. Protect this child from all calamities; grant him
length of days, peace of mind, and as much wealth as may appear consistent with
his happiness here. In fine, render him, O Lord the dread of his enemies, and
the glory of his family and friends.” JACOB'S DECEPTION DISCOVERED A short time
after Jacob had left his father's tent, Esau entered it, and, bringing with him
the venison he had been directed to prepare, invited his aged parent, in the
same dutiful manner his brother had previously one, to arise, and eat of it.
Isaac, surprised at this address, hastily asked, “Who art thou?” On being
answered that it was his elder son Esau, he appeared, for some time,
thunderstruck; but at length recovering himself, he asked, who, and where, that
person was, who had been with him before, and taken away the blessing, which he
neither could nor would revoke. When the disappointed Esau heard these words
from his father, he exclaimed, in the bitterness of his soul, “Bless me, even me
also, O my, father.” Isaac then told him that his brother Jacob had, by
stratagem, obtained that blessing he had designee for him; upon which Esau
complained of his double perfidy, first, in artfully obtaining his birth-right,
and then in robbing him of his father's benediction. He wept bitterly for some
time, and then pathetically asked his father if he had not in reserve a blessing
for him, repeating the importunate request, “Bless me, even me also, O my
father.” Isaac, no doubt, was greatly grieved to hear the lamentations of Esau
for so great a loss; but what could he do? he had already bestowed the choicest
of his blessings on Jacob, and as they were gone he could not recall them. At
length, however, in order to pacify the afflicted Esau, he told him that his
posterity should become a great people and live by dint of the sword; and that
though they might become subject to the descendants of Jacob, yet in process of
time they would shake off their yoke, and erect a dominion of their own.[95]
[95] The Edomites, of Idumaeans (the descendants of Esau), were, for a
considerable time, much more powerful than the Israelites, who were descended
from Jacob, till, in the days of David, they were entirely conquered. See 2
Samuel 8:14. After this they were governed by deputies, or viceroys, appointed
by the kings of Judah, and for along time were kept in total subjection to the
Jews. In the days of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, they expelled their viceroy
and set up a king of their own (see 2 Kings 8:20), which fulfilled the latter
part of Isaac's prophecy. For some generations after this they lived independent
of the Jews; and, when the Babylonians invaded Judea, they not only took part
with them, but greatly oppressed the inhabitants after their departure. Their
animosity against the descendants of Jacob evidently appears, indeed, to have
been hereditary; nor did they ever cease, for any considerable time, from broils
and contentions, till, at length, they were conquered by Hyrcanus, and reduced
to the necessity either of embracing the Jewish religion or quitting their
country. Preferring the former, they were intermixed with the Jews, and became
one nation, so that in the first century after the birth of Christ the name of
Idumaean was totally annihilated. ESAU VOWS REVENGE When Esau came coolly to
reflect on the loss he had sustained by the artifices of his brother, he
resolved, as soon as a proper opportunity should offer, to be revenged on him.
The respect he had for his father laid a restraint on the execution of his
design. As Isaac was far advanced in years, and exceedingly infirm, Esau
imagined his existence was of short duration, and therefore: determined to wait
till his father's death, immediately after which he resolved to put a period to
the life of his brother. Esau having accidentally dropped some hints of his
design, they soon came to the ears of his mother, who, anxious for the future
welfare of her favorite Jacob, acquainted him with the, horrid intentions of his
brother. She told him that the most prudent method he could take would be to
absent himself till his brother's anger was in some degree abated; and that the
most proper place for him to fly to was the house of his uncle Laban in
Mesopotamia: that thither he might retire for a time, and as soon as she found
his brother's resentment was assuaged, she would not fail to recall him. She
said the thoughts of separating gave her great affliction, though nothing in
comparison with the misery she must feel; should she in one day be robbed of
them both--of him, by the hands of his brother; and of his brother, by the hand
of justice. JACOB TOLD TO LEAVE HOME Jacob, who ever listened to and obeyed the
counsel of his mother, was very ready to comply with her proposal; but at the
same time was unwilling to depart without the consent of his father, which, in
this case, he was fearful of obtaining. Rebecca soon hit upon a stratagem to
remove this seeming difficulty. She immediately repaired to Isaac, to whom she
complained of the great concern under which she labored on account of Esau
having taken wives from among the daughters of the Hittites. She then intimated
her fears lest Jacob should follow his example; to prevent which she earnestly
recommended that he might be sent to Mesopotamia, and there choose a wife from
among her own kindred. Though Isaac was unacquainted with the drift of his
wife's complaint, yet, being a pious man, and knowing that the promise made to
Abraham, and renewed in him was to be completed in the issue of Jacob, he
readily assented to Rebecca's proposal. Calling, therefore, his son Jacob, he
first bestowed on him his blessing, and then strictly enjoined him never to
marry a Canaanitish woman. To prevent so improper an alliance, he ordered him to
go to his uncle Laban, in Mesopotamia, and provide himself with a wife from his
family. Jacob promised to obey his father's orders, upon which the good old man,
after repeating his blessing, dismissed him. ESAU MARRIES ISHMAEL'S DAUGHTER
When Esau understood that his father had again blessed Jacob, and sent him into
Mesopotamia to avoid marrying any of the daughters of Canaan, he began seriously
to reflect on his own misconduct, and to lament having, by the indiscreet
alliances he had formed, incurred the displeasure of his aged parents. To
reinstate himself, therefore, if possible, in his father's esteem, he took a
third wife, whose name was Mahalath, the daughter of his uncle Ishmael. This
marriage certainly took place both from duty and affection; but, unfortunately
for Esau, it was not attended with the wished-for consequences. JACOB'S DREAM
Early the next morning, after Jacob received his father's charge and blessing,
he left Beersheba, and proceeded on his journey toward Haran. Determined
strictly to obey his father's commands, he traveled the most private ways he
could find, shunned the houses of the Canaanites, and, when night came on, took
up his lodging in the open air, near a place called Luz, having only the
spangled sky for his canopy, and a hard stone for his pillow. Notwithstanding
the uneasiness of his situation, he slept soundly, during which he dreamed that
he saw a ladder set upon the earth, the top of which reached to heaven, and on
the rounds of it were a number of angels, some ascending and others descending.
On the summit of the ladder appeared the Almighty, who promised him all those
privileges he had before done to Abraham and his father Isaac; and that,
wherever he went, he might be assured of the divine protection. “Behold I am
with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring
thee again into this land: for I will not leave thee until I have done that
which I have spoken to thee of.”[96] [96] There is something very noble and
sublime in the representation of this vision. The ladder which reached from
earth to heaven is a proper image of the providence of God, whose care extends
to all things in heaven and on earth. The angels are represented ascending and
descending on this mysterious ladder, because these ministering spirits are
always active in the execution of the wise designs of Providence, and appointed
the special guardians of the just: they ascend to receive, and descend to
execute, the commands of God. And, lastly, by the representation of the Divine
Majesty appearing above the ladder, is meant, that though the conduct of
Providence is often above the reach of human comprehension, yet the whole is
directed by infinite wisdom and goodness; and though in this vale of misery we
can see only a few lower steps of the ladder, nearest to the earth, yet it hath
a top that reacheth unto heaven: and were it possible for us to trace the chain
of causes and effects to their source, we should see them gradually ascend
higher and higher, till they terminate at length in the Supreme Being, the first
and proper cause of all, who presides over and directs the complicated scheme of
Providence, from the creation of the world to the consummation of all things.
Certainly nothing could have been a more seasonable relief to Jacob, of filled
his heart with greater joy, than the pleasing assurance, that though he was an
exile from his native country, and wandering alone over the solitary wastes, yet
he was still in the presence of his Maker whose powerful arm would constantly
protect him from all dangers, and under whose wings he should be absolutely
safe. BETHEL This dream made such an impression on Jacob's mind, that, as soon
as he awoke, he paid an awful reverence to the place, and after a short
contemplation of what had passed, thus exclaimed: “This is none other than the
house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” Having said this, he arose, and
taking the stone which had been substituted for a pillow, he set it upright,
poured oil on it, and, in pious commemoration of the vision, called the pace
“Bethel,” which, in the Hebrew language, signifies “the house of God.”[97] [97]
Nothing can be more natural than this act of Jacob, for the purpose of marking
the site and making a memorial of an occurrence of such great interest and
importance to him. The true design of this humble monument seems to have been,
however, to set this anointed pillar as an evidence of the solemn vow which he
made on that occasion. This use of a stone, or stones, is definitely expressed
in Genesis 31:48. Mr. Morier, in his “Second Journey through Persia,” notices a
custom which seems to illustrate this act of Jacob. In travelling through
Persia, he observed that the guide occasionally placed a stone on a conspicuous
piece of rock, or two stones one upon another, at the same time uttering some
words which were understood to be a prayer: for the safe return of the party.
This explained to Mr. Morier what he had frequently observed before in the East,
and particularly on high roads leading to great towns, at a point where the
towns are first seen, and where the oriental traveler sets up his stone,
accompanied by a devout exclamation in token of his safe arrival. Mr. Morier
adds: “Nothing is so natural, in a journey over a dreary country, as for a
solitary traveler to set himself down fatigued, and to make the vow that Jacob
did: 'If God will be with me, and keep me in the way that I go, and will give me
bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I may reach my father's house in
peace,' etc., then will I give so much in charity; or, again, that, on first
seeing the place which he has so long toiled to reach, the traveler should sit
down and make a thanksgiving, in both cases setting up a stone as a memorial.”
The writer of this note has himself often observed such stones without being
aware of their object, until happening one day to overturn one that had been set
upon another, a man hastened to replace it, at the same time informing him that
to displace such stones was an act unfortunate for the person so displacing it,
and unpleasant to others. The writer afterward observed, that the natives
studiously avoided displacing any of these stones, “set up for a pillar,” by the
way-side. The place now pointed out as Bethel contains no indication of Jacob's
pillar. The Jews believe that it was placed in the sanctuary of the second
temple, and that the ark of the covenant rested upon it; and they add, that
after the destruction of that temple, and the desolation of Judaea, their
fathers were accustomed to lament the calamities that had befallen them over the
stone on which Jacob's head rested at Bethel. The Mohammedans are persuaded that
their famous temple at Mecca is built over the same stone. Previous to his
departure from this memorable spot, in order to bind himself more strongly to
the service of God, he made a most solemn vow to the following effect: “That if
he would protect and prosper him in his journey, provide him with common
necessaries in his absence, and grant him a happy return to his father's house,
to him alone would he direct his religious worship; in that very place where the
pillar stood, on his return, would he make his devout acknowledgments, and offer
unto him the tenth[98] of whatever he should gain in the land of Mesopotamia.”
[98] This is the second place in which we find mention of the tenth, or tithes,
solemnly consecrated to God. Jacob promises to give them in return for his
prosperous journey, as his grandfather Abraham had given them in return for his
victory over the confederate princes. JACOB MEETS RACHEL After making this
solemn vow, the pious traveler proceeded on his journey, and at length arrived
at Haran. As he came near the town he saw some shepherds with their flocks not
far from a well, which was covered with a large stone. Of these shepherds, he
made inquiry concerning Laban and his family, and was informed that they were
all well, and that it would not be long before Rachel, his daughter, would be
there with her flock. Scarce had he received this intelligence when the damsel
arrived with her fleecy care, immediately on which Jacob, as a token of respect,
rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well,[99] and watered the sheep in
her stead; which done, he saluted her, wept for joy, and told her to whom he
belonged. [99] Wells are still sometimes covered with a atone or otherwise, to
protect them from being choked up by the drifted sand ; and it was probably to
prevent the exposure of the well by too frequently removing the stone, that the
shepherds did not water their flocks until the whole were assembled together;
for it is not to be supposed that they waited because the united strength of all
the shepherds was requisite to roll away the stone, when Jacob was able singly
to do so. When the well is private property, in a neighborhood where water is
scarce, the well is sometimes kept locked, to prevent the neighboring shepherds
from watering their flocks fraudulently from it; and even when left unlocked,
some person is frequently so far the proprietor that the well may not be opened
unless in the presence of himself or of some one belonging to his household.
Chardin, whose manuscripts furnished Harmer with an illustration of this text,
conjectures, with great reason, that the present well belonged to Laban's
family, and that the shepherds dared not open the well until Laban's daughter
came with her father's flocks. Jacob, therefore, is not to be supposed to have
broken the standing rule; or to have done anything out of the ordinary course;
for the oriental shepherds are not at all persons likely to submit to the
interference or dictation of a stranger. He however rendered a kind service to
Rachel, as the business of watering cattle at a well is very tiresome and
laborious. Elated at this incident, Rachel, leaving Jacob at the well,
immediately hastened home, and acquainted her father with what had happened.
Laban was so transported at the arrival of his sister's son, that he fled with
all expedition to the spot, and, after cordially, embracing him, conducted him
to his house. Jacob, after receiving some refreshment, told his uncle the
occasion of his leaving home, and related the most material incidents that had
happened in the course of his journey. Laban was sufficiently satisfied of the
truth of his nephew's relation, and, from the singular circumstances that
attended his excursion, was convinced that he was under the immediate care and
protection of Divine Providence. JACOB BEGINS EMPLOYMENT WITH LABAN After being
a few days with his uncle, Jacob, detesting an inactive life, applied himself to
business, by assisting Laban in the care of his flocks, and such other matters
as pertained to his interest. Having thus employed him, with great diligence,
for the space of a month, his uncle one day entered into private conversation
with him, and, among other things, told him he neither expected nor thought it
reasonable that he should have his labor for nothing, and therefore, as he
intended staying with him for some time, desired him to name such wages as would
satisfy him for his services. JACOB CONTRACTS TO MARRY RACHEL Jacob hesitated
for some time what answer to give to this request, but at length, thinking on
the charms and graces of the beautiful Rachel, who had already captivated his
heart, he proposed serving him seven years, on condition of having, at the
expiration of that time, Rachel for his wife. Laban readily consented to this
proposal, and Jacob as readily entered on his service. The flattering prospect
of possessing so amiable a partner, after the seven years, and the endearments
of her pleasing company during the time, rendered that interval of waiting
apparently short and light. JACOB MARRIES LEAH AND RACHEL When the time of
Jacob's servitude had expired, he required Laban to fulfill his contract, by
giving him his daughter Rachel in marriage. Laban seemingly assented, and on the
occasion, invited all his friends and neighbors to the solemnization of the
nuptials. But Laban, desirous of retaining Jacob longer in his service, had
projected a scheme for that purpose, the execution of which gave great
uneasiness to his nephew. After the entertainment was over, and the company
retired, Laban caused Leah, his eldest daughter, to be conducted to Jacob's bed,
instead of the beautiful Rachel, to whom he was contracted. When daylight
appeared in the morning, and Jacob discovered the deception,[100] he immediately
arose, and going to Laban, expostulated with him on the impropriety of his
conduct. Laban, who had prepared an answer for the occasion, told him, in a
magisterial tone, that it was an unprecedented thing in that country (and would
have been deemed an injury to her sister) to marry the younger before the elder;
“but” (continued he, in a milder tone), “if you will fulfill the nuptial week
with your wife, and consent to serve another seven years for her sister, I am
content to take your word for it, and to give Rachel to you as soon as the seven
days” (or nuptial week for Leah) “have expired.” [100] As all marriages in the
East were solemnized in the evening, or rather at midnight, and as the bride was
veiled, so it was no difficult matter to impose on Jacob, who did not expect any
such deceit. Dr. Shaw tells us that in the Levant the bride is brought home in
the dark to her husband, and being introduced to the harem or apartment for the
women, her mother goes and conducts the bridegroom to her; but he does not see
her till the next morning. This unfair treatment greatly perplexed Jacob, but
his distinguished affection for Rachel made him resolve to obtain her, however
dear the purchase He therefore readily consented to his uncle's secondary terms,
and when the nuptial ceremonies for Leah were over, he likewise took Rachel in
marriage. LEAH'S SONS The distinguished charms of Rachel, in preference to those
of Leah, made Jacob pay the greatest respect to the former; but his happiness
was greatly curtailed by Leah's having four sons[101] even before Rachel had
conceived. This circumstance particularly affected Rachel, who, in a fit of
melancholy, one day told her husband that unless he gave her children she should
certainly die with grief. “Give me,” said she, “children, or else I die.”[102]
[101] The names of these sons were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. Reuben
signifies a son given by Divine regard; Simeon implies, God hath heard or
considered me; Levi signifies joined: and Judah, praise or thanksgiving. [102]
This expression furnishes us with a lively picture of human folly in general. If
children are to parents like a flowery chaplet, whose beauties blossom with
ornament, and whose odors breathe delight, death or some unforeseen misfortune
may find means to entwine themselves with the lovely wreath. Whenever our souls
eagerly long after some inferior acquisition, it may be truly said, in the words
of our Divine master, “Ye know not what ye ask.” Does Providence withhold the
thing we long for? It denies in Mercy, and only withholds the occasion of our
misery, if not the instrument of our ruin. With a sickly appetite we often
loathe what is wholesome, and hanker after our bane. Where the imagination
dreams of unmingled sweets, there experience frequently finds the bitterness of
woe. BILHAH'S SONS Jacob was greatly vexed at this speech of his beloved wife,
who seemed to lay the whole fault of her sterility to him. He therefore sharply
rebuked her in words to the following effect: “That it was not in his power to
work miracles; that the want of children was agreeable to the divine will; and
that such uneasy and discontented behavior was the way to prevent, rather than
obtain, such a favor.”[103] [103] It is not to be wondered at that such a man as
Jacob should be offended at an expression made use of by his beloved wife,
which, in its own nature, was little better than blasphemy. To say, “Give me
children,” was certainly a high indignity offered to the majesty of Heaven, as
none but God can give being to any creature whatever. This answer greatly
mortifying Rachel, she resolved to supply the defect of herself by the same
means that had been practised by her grandmother Sarah. She accordingly made a
preposition to Jacob that he should take her handmaiden Bilhah as a concubinary
wife, and that if she should bear children they should be accounted hers. Jacob
assented to this proposal, and, in the proper course of time, Bilhah was
delivered of a son, whom Rachel named Dan, which, in the Hebrew language,
signifies “judging.” Within a twelve month after this Bilhah bore another son,
whom Rachel called Naphtali. ZILPAH'S SONS By this time Leah imagined she had
done bearing children, and, therefore, to imitate her sister's policy, she gave
her maid (named Zilpah) to Jacob, by whom she had likewise two sons, the one
named Gad, and the other Ashur. LEAH HAS MORE SONS Reuben, the eldest son of
Jacob, was now arrived at years sufficient to be trusted by himself, and
wandering one day in the fields, about the time of wheat harvest, he happened to
meet with some mandrakes,[104] which he brought home and presented to his mother
Leah. Pleased with the sight of what the boy had brought, Rachel desired Leah to
give her a part; but instead of complying with her request, she gave her this
forbidding answer: “That having robbed her of her husband's affections, she
could not expect to have any part of her son's present.” Notwithstanding this
contemptuous answer, Rachel was determined, if possible, to obtain some of the
mandrakes, to do which she thought of inducing Leah to comply with her request
by a method, which above all others, was most likely to prove effectual. It
happened to be her turn that night to enjoy the company of .her husband; and,
therefore, in order to obtain her ends, she told Leah, if she would oblige her
with some of her son's mandrakes, she would waive her pretensions for that
night, and resign the right of her husband's bed to her. This proposition being
approved of by Leah, the agreement was accordingly made; and as soon as Jacob
came home she related what had passed, and asked him to confirm the bargain.
Jacob readily assented, and Leah enjoyed his company that night, the consequence
of which was that she conceived again, and had a fifth son, whom she called
Issachar, which signifies hire or reward. After this she had another son, whom
she named Zebulon; and the last of all, a daughter, called Dinah. [104] The
Hebrew word dudaim, here rendered “mandrakes,” has occasioned so much discussion
as to evince clearly enough that we know nothing about it. Calmet has an
exceedingly long note on this word in his “Commentaire Littéral stir la Genèse,”
in which he states the different opinions which had in his time been entertained
as to the plant really intended by the dudaim. Some think that “flowers,” or
“fine flowers,” in general, are intended; while others fix the sense more
definitely to “lilies,” “violets,” or “jessamines.” Others reject flowers, and
find that figs, mushrooms, citrons, the fruit of the plantain or banana, or a
small and peculiarly delicious kind of melon, are intended. A great number
adhere to the “mandrake,” which has the sanction of the Septuagint, the Chaldee,
the Vulgate, and of many learned commentators. Hasselquist, the naturalist, who
travelled in the Holy Land to make discoveries in natural history, seems to
concur in this opinion. Calmet, however, is disposed to contend, that the citron
is intended; and his arguments deserve the attention of those who are interested
in the question. The claims of the plantain, and of the delicate species of
melon to which we have alluded, have been strongly advocated since Calmat's
time. RACHEL'S SON JOSEPH Rachel had long lamented not having issue of her own
body; but at length it pleased God to remove her troubles on that head by giving
her a son. As soon as she found she had conceived; she exclaimed, with the most
expressive joy, “God hath taken away my reproach;”[105] and when the child was
born she called his name Joseph, which, in the Hebrew language, signifies
increase. [105] Many reasons concur to render the possession of sons an object
of great anxiety to women in the East. The text expresses one of these reasons.
Sons being no less earnestly desired by the husband than by the wife, a woman
who has given birth to sons acquires an influence and respectability, which
strengthen with the number to which she is mother. To be without sons is not
only a misfortune, but a disgrace to a woman; and her hold on the affections of
her husband, and on her standing as his wife, is of a very feeble description.
Divorces are easily effected in the East. An Arab has only to enunciate the
simple words, ent taleka--”thou art divorced”--which, in whatever heat or anger
spoken, constitute a legal divorce. JACOB NEGOTIATES FOR WAGES Soon after the
birth of Joseph the appointed time of Jacob's last servitude being expired, he
bean to entertain thoughts of returning to his own country, and accordingly
begged his uncle to dismiss him and his family. But Laban, who had found by
experience no small advantage from his services, entreated him to stay a little
longer, promising, at the same time, that if he would comply with his request,
he would give him whatever wages he should think proper to ask. In answer to
this, Jacob reminded him of the great increase of his substance since it had
been under his care, and that he now thought it high time to make some provision
for himself and family; so that therefore he was resolved to return to Canaan,
unless he could point out to him some method whereby he might improve his
fortune, and not longer waste his time in humble servitude. Laban could not bear
the thoughts of parting with Jacob, and therefore again pressed him hard to
stay, at the same time offering him his own terms. After some farther
controversy, Jacob at length consented to stay with his uncle, on the following
conditions: that they should pass through the whole flock both of sheep and
goats, and having separated all the speckled cattle from the white, the former
should be committed to the care of Laban's sons, and the latter to the care of
Jacob; and that whatsoever spotted or brown sheep or goats should, from that
time forward, be produced out of the white flock (which he was to keep) should
be accounted his hire. Laban readily consenting to this proposal, the flocks
were accordingly separated. The spotted cattle were delivered into the custody
of Laban, while the rest were committed to the care of Jacob; and to prevent any
intercourse between them, they were placed three days journey apart. JACOB'S
PROSPERITY Whether it was from his own observation on the power of fancy in the
time of conception, or (what seems much more likely) from the interposition of
divine wisdom in furnishing him with the idea; but so it was that he pursued a
very extraordinary method to improve his own stock, and at the same time lessen
that of Laban. He took rods or twigs of the green poplar, hazel and chestnut
trees, and striping off part of the rinds in streaks, caused some of the white
to appear on the twigs. These twigs he placed in the watering troughs when the
cattle came to drink, at the time in which they usually engender; so that by
seeing the speckled twigs they might conceive and bring forth speckled cattle.
He also took particular care to place the twigs before the fattest and most
healthy, and to avoid putting any before those that were weak and sickly; by
which means he might not only obtain for himself the greater number, but also
the choicest and most valuable. This scheme succeeded to his utmost wishes, and
in a short time he became exceeding rich and powerful. But the extraordinary
increase of his property exposed him to the envy, not only of Laban, but also
his sons, the former of whom treated him with great coolness, and the latter
frequently accused him of having procured to himself a good estate out of their
fortunes. JACOB TOLD TO LEAVE LABAN Jacob, finding himself envied by his uncle
and kinsmen, had some thoughts of leaving them, and retiring, with his family
and effects, into his own country. This design was, in a short time, ultimately
resolved on, in consequence of the Almighty appearing to him in a vision, and
ordering him to return to the land of Canaan. Though Jacob was fully resolved to
obey the divine command, yet he thought it most prudent, previous to his
departure, to hold a consultation with his two principal wives, namely, Leah and
Rachel, in order to obtain their consent. Accordingly, sending or them into the
field (which, from its privacy he thought the most proper place for the
business) he told them, that for some time past he had observed their father had
treated him with great coolness and indifference, and even sometimes with marks
of displeasure, though he was not sensible of any just cause for such behavior.
He appealed to them concerning his industry and fidelity, and the injustice of
their father toward him, first, in having deceived him, and afterward in having
so often changed his wages.[106] He observed, that God had turned all their
father's devices to his advantage, had taken away his cattle, and given them to
him. He then told them, that the Lord appeared to him in a dream reminding him
of the solemn vow he had made at Bethel, in his journey to Mesopotamia, and that
he had commanded him to return to the land of Canaan. [106] It is to be
observed, that when Laban found Jacob so successful in the produce of his
flocks, he repented of his bargain, and several times altered the agreement,
which God, as many times, turned to Jacob's advantage. JACOB FLEES FROM LABAN
Leah and Rachel, having listened with great attention to what Jacob had said,
readily agreed to go with him; and by all means recommended his paying a strict
obedience to the divine command. In consequence of this, Jacob, having made the
necessary preparations for his departure, set his wives and children upon
camels, taking the advantage of his father-in-law's absence (who was gone to
shear his sheep, and which likewise gave Rachel the opportunity of stealing away
his images[107] he set out upon his journey, taking with him all his cattle, and
other property, he had acquired during his stay at Haran. [107] The Hebrew word
which we render images is teraphim, a kind of penates, or household-gods which
they worshipped as symbols of the Deity and consulted as oracles--hence Laban
calls them his gods. These teraphims were afterward known by the name of
talisman, as they are to this day in most parts of India. Some think those of
Laban represented angels, who were supposed to declare the mind of God. Rachel
might steal them either for their curiosity or worth; but it is most probable
she still retained a tincture of her father's superstition, and designed to make
them the objects of her worship in Canaan; for it appears (Genesis 35:4) that
Jacob, when he made a thorough reformation in his house, caused them to be taken
from her, and buried them under the oak which was by Shechem. The following is a
list of the idols mentioned in scripture: Adram-melech, Isaiah 37:38; Anamelech,
2 Kings 17:31; Ashtaroth, Judges 2:13; Baal, Numbers 22:4; Baalam, 1 Samuel 7:4
(plural of Baal); Baal-berith, Judges 8:33; Baal-peor, Numbers 25:3; Beelzebub,
2 Kings 1:2; Bel, Isaiah 46:1; Calf, Exodus 32:4; Castor, Acts 28:11; Chemosh, 1
Kings 11:7; Dagon, Judges 16:23; Diana, Acts 19:24; Jupiter, Acts 14:12; Milcom
or Molech, 1 Kings 11:5-7; Moloch, Leviticus 18:21; Nebo, Isaiah 15:2; Nergal, 2
Kings 17:30; Nibhaz, 2 Kings 17:31; Nisroch, 2 Kings 19:37; Pollux, Acts 28:11;
Remphan, Acts 7:43; Rimmon, 2 Kings 5:18; Sheshach, Jeremiah 51:41;
Succoth-benoth, 2 Kings 17:30; Tammuz, Ezekiel 8:14; Tartak, 2 Kings 17:31;
Teraphim, Judges 17:5.) Jacob had proceeded on his journey three days before
Laban received intelligence of his flight, in which time he passed the
Euphrates, and having gained the mountains of Gilead, he there stopped, in order
to refresh himself and attendants, who by this time were become greatly fatigued
with travelling. LABAN'S PURSUIT Laban no sooner heard that his nephew had
absconded, than he immediately pursued him with a mind fully bent on revenge.
But in this he was checked by the interposition of the Almighty, who, appearing
to him the same night in a vision, threatened him severely if he committed any
hostility or violence against his servant Jacob. In consequence of this when
Laban came up with his nephew at Mount Gilead, he only expostulated with him on
his want of respect in stealing away his daughters, and thereby preventing them
from taking their leave as became his children, or departing in a manner
consistent with their rank and dignity. He added that such conduct might have
exposed him to his most severe resentment, and that he might have sustained much
injury from him who was by far the he most powerful. That, indeed, would have
pursued measures of revenge, had he not been diverted therefrom by the immediate
prohibition of God himself. In answer to this Jacob reminded his uncle of the
cheat he had put upon him, in making him serve so long for a woman he did not
love; the altering of the agreement so many times made between them relative to
the sheep; and, lastly, his late strange behavior to him and his family. All
these, and many more, he said, were but ill requitals for his care and
diligence, as well as the blessings which God had heaped on him for his sake.
LABAN'S IDOLS Laban had still another thing to lay to Jacob's charge, namely,
the stealing of his gods. Fired with resentment at this accusation, Jacob (who
knew nothing of Rachel's having taken them) desired him to make the most
diligent search for them throughout his family, assuring him, at the same time,
that on whomsoever they should be found, that person should immediately be put
to death. In consequence of this Laban proceeded to search the different tents,
and having examined those of Jacob, Leah, and her handmaids, without effect, he
went to the tent of Rachel, who, conscious of her crime, and fearful of the
consequences should she be detected; had just concealed the images in the
camel's furniture, on which she sat herself down to rest. Having taken this
precaution, she pleaded as an excuse for not arising to salute him, that she was
exceedingly ill, and that to move then might greatly increase her complaint.
This excuse was readily admitted by her father, who, after searching every other
part of the tent without effect, departed. When Laban acquainted Jacob with his
bad success, the latter upbraided him, in very severe terms, for his unjust
suspicions. He then recounted the great services he had done him during a number
of years, and concluded with these words, “Except the God of my father had been
with me, surely thou hadst sent me away empty.” Laban, conscious that Jacob's
charge was most justly founded, made not the least attempt to vindicate his
conduct; but, waiving the argument, assumed an air of respect for Jacob, and a
fondness for his wives and children; and, in order to remove all further
animosity, proposed a treaty of alliance between them, and to erect a monument
which should be a standing witness of the same to future ages. THE LABAN-JACOB
TREATY This proposition being agreed to, and the covenant signed, they
accordingly raised a pillar or heap of stones,[108] as a memento of the
circumstance; and then took mutual oaths that neither should invade the property
of the other. A particular injunction was likewise laid on Jacob, that he should
use his wives and children with all becoming tenderness and affection. [108] The
heap of stones raised by Laban and Jacob in memory of this covenant was called
Gilead, which, in the Hebrew language, signifies a heap of witnesses. This
circumstance, in after ages, gave name to the whole country thereabout, which
lies on the east of the Sea of Galilee, being part of that ridge of mountains
which ran from mount Lebanon southward on the east of the Holy Land, and
included the mountainous region called, in the New Testament, Trachonitis. The
covenant being thus ratified, and sacrifices offered up on the occasion, Jacob
entertained his brethren that night in as magnificent manner as the nature of
his situation would admit. The next morning Laban took leave of Jacob and his
family, and each departed for their respective habitations. Jacob had been
favored with a heavenly vision in his way from Canaan to Mesopotamia; and the
Almighty was pleased to favor him again with the like token of his protection on
his return. As he was proceeding on his journey, there appeared before him a
body of heavenly messengers, which he no sooner saw than he broke out into the
following exclamation: “This is God's host;” from which additional mark of
divine protection, he called the place Mahanaim.[109] The Hebrew word Mahanaim
signifies two hosts or camps, because the angels appeared tike two armies drawn
up on either side for his protection, according to that beautiful expression of
the Psalmist, “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him,
and delivereth them.” Psalms 34:7. The place called Mahanaim was situated
between Mount Gilead and the brook Jabbok. it was after ward one of the
residences of the Levites, and one of the strong places belonging to David.
Mountains of Seir

JACOB PREPARE TO MEET ESAU Though Jacob had the greatest reason to rely on the
protection of the Almighty, yet, as he drew near the confines of Edom, and
within the reach of his incensed brother Esau (whom he had highly provoked and
concerning the abatement of whose resentment--he had received no account from
his mother, though so long absent), he thought it most prudent to send a message
to him, in order to allay his anger, and, if possible, regain his fraternal
affection. He accordingly sent messengers to Esau, whose residence was at Mount
Seir,[110] otherwise called the country of Edom, whither he had settled himself
soon after his marriage with the daughter of Ishmael. [110] The term “Mount
Seir,” or rather the mountains of Seir, must be understood with considerable
latitude. It was applied indefinitely to that range of mountains which under the
modern names of Djebal, Shera, and Hasma, extends from the southern extremity of
the Dead sea to the gulf of Akaba. The reader will recollect the “Ghor,” or
valley, extending in the same direction, which we have had frequent occasion to
mention, and which is supposed to have formed the continued channel of the
Jordan before its waters were lost in the Dead sea. Now the mountains of Seir
rise abruptly from this valley, and form a natural division of the country,
which appears to have been well known to the ancients. The plain to the east of
the hilly region which these mountains form, is much more elevated than the
level of the Ghor, on he west of the same mountains; in consequence of which,
the hills appear with diminished importance is viewed from the eastern or upper
plain. This plain terminates to the south by a steep rocky descent, at the base
of which begins the desert of Nedjed. It is to a part of this upper plain, and
to the mountains which constitute its western limit, that, as Burckhardt thinks,
the name of Arabia Petræa, or the Stony, was given by the ancients; the
denomination being, however, extended northward, so as to include the eastern
plain with the mountains which form the eastern boundary of Palestine so far
north as the river Jabbok. Speaking of this region, Burckhardt says: “It might
well be called Petræa, not only on account of its rocky mountains, but also of
the elevated plain, which is so covered with stones, especially flints, that it
may with great propriety be called a stony desert, although susceptible of
culture. In many places it is overgrown with herbs, and must once have been
thickly inhabited, for the traces of many ruined towns and villages are met with
on both sides of the Hadj route between Maan and Akaba, as well as between Maan
and the plains of the Haouran, in whidirection there are many springs. At
present, all this country is desert, and Maan is the only inhabited place in
it”--(“Travels in Syria;” different parts of which have been analysed to furnish
this geographical statement.) The mountains themselves are described by is same
traveler as chiefly calcareous, with an occasional mixture of basalt. The
mountainous region which they form, of course, differs from the plain which
skirts it on the east. The climate is very pleasant. The air is pure; and
although the heat is very great in summer, the refreshing breezes which then
prevail prevent the temperature from becoming suffocating. The winter, on the
other hand, is very cold deep snow falls, and the frosts sometimes continue to
the end of March. This mountainous country is adequately fertile, producing
figs, pomegranates, apples, peaches, olives, apricots, and most European fruits.
The region has been in all times noted for the salubrity[invigorating] of its
air; and Burckhardt observes, there was no part of Syria in which he saw so few
invalids. The message Jacob sent to his brother was to the following effect:
that during his residence in Mesopotamia he had acquired prodigious wealth, and
that as he was now on his return to his native country, he thought proper to
notify his arrival to him, and at the same time to implore his favor and
friendship. The messengers, having discharged their embassy, returned, and gave
Jacob such an account as greatly alarmed him. They brought no direct answer from
Esau, and only told their master that his brother was coming to meet him at the
head of four hundred men. Jacob, concluding that the design of this mighty
retinue was to act against him in a hostile manner, was greatly perplexed, and
at a loss in what manner to proceed. He knew, on the one hand, that the number
of his people was too small to engage with that of his brother; and, on the
other hand, that his baggage was too heavy for flight. At length he came to this
conclusion: to divide his company into two bands; so that, if Esau should fall
upon one, he might have the chance of escaping with the other. JACOB PRAYS FOR
SAFETY Such was the plan laid down by Jacob; but as he well knew, from former
experience, that his safety depended upon the divine protection, independent of
all human creatures, he, in this critical juncture, addressed himself to God in
a very humble and submissive prayer, the substance of which was to the following
effect: “O thou eternal Majesty of heaven, whom my father worshipped, and who
alone art the object of my prayer, permit an unworthy creature to repeat thy own
promise to thee. When my family began to increase, thou wast graciously pleased
to order me to return to my native country; and, to encourage me, thou
promisedst that thou wouldst protect me. What an infinite condescension, O my
God, to a poor unworthy creature! The least of all thy mercies is too good for
me; and yet thou hast been pleased to show me the greatest. When I crossed
Jordan, I had nothing besides my staff; but in thy goodness thou hast caused my
family and substance to increase so, fast, that I am now possessed of great
riches. O God, thou promisedst to make my seed a great nation; and although I
know thou couldst suffer them to be killed, and raise them up from the dead,
yet, O most merciful Father, be pleased still to preserve them, and suffer not
my enraged brother to destroy them; I know that thy promise is truth itself, and
I will cheerfully trust in thee.” JACOB PREPARES A GIFT FOR ESAU After having
thus humbly and earnestly implored the guidance and protection of the Almighty,
Jacob determined to pursue another measure in order to appease the anger of his
brother, which he imagined to be no less severe than when he left Canaan.
Imagining that Esau might consider his first message as an empty piece of
formality, he resolved, as he had already informed him of the great wealth of
which he was possessed, to send him a very liberal present. He accordingly
selected from his stock the following articles, namely; two hundred she-goats
and twenty he-goats; two hundred ewes and twenty rams; thirty milch camels with
their, colts; forty swine and ten bulls; twenty she-asses and ten foals. These
being divided into separate droves, he ordered the servants to keep a proper
space between them, and strictly charged them, whenever they should meet his
brother, to present each to him separately, and to tell him that they were
presents sent by Jacob to his lord Esau. JACOB WRESTLES AN ANGEL Jacob, having
dismissed his servants with this present to his brother, arose early next
morning, and, before daylight, sent his wives and children, together with all
his substance, forward on their journey, staying himself for some time behind. A
short time after the departure of his family and children, being alone, he was
accosted by an angel, who, appearing in the shape of a man, began to wrestle
with him, which exercise they continued till break of day. The contest was
certainly unequal, notwithstanding which, the angel permitted Jacob to prevail;
but, to convince him that he did not obtain the victory by means of his own
strength, and how easily himself could have made a conquest, he touched the
sinews[111] or hollow of his thigh, which was immediately put out of joint.
[111] This was the sinew or tendon that keeps the thigh-bone in the socket, not
only in the human species, but also in the brute creation; and from this
circumstance, even to the present time, the Jews will not eat that part. In the
Misnah, one of their books of directions concerning religious ceremonies, they
have a whole chapter prescribing the manner in which it is to be cut out of the
beast when killed; and it is further enjoined that they shall not eat the sinews
of the hips of any animal whatever. JACOB'S NAME CHANGED TO ISRAEL The angel
then asked Jacob his name, and on being answered, he told him he should
hereafter be called Israel,[112] which signifies “a man that has prevailed with
God.” After saying this, the angel blessed Jacob, and then departed. In
consequence of so singular a circumstance, Jacob called the place where it
happened Peniel, which signifies the “face of God,” being confident that it must
have been a divine agent with whom he had been contending. [112] The words in
the text are--“Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel.” This
expression clearly evinces the mis-translation of some passages in the
scriptures, it being certain that the patriarch was frequently after called
Jacob. But this seeming contradiction will be easily adjusted, by substituting
the words not only for “no more:” in which case the sense will read thus: Thou
shall not only be called Jacob, but also Israel--the latter of which names was
at length established in Jacob's descendants. JACOB AND ESAU MEET Soon after the
angel disappeared, Jacob, though lame, made what haste he could to join the
company. Having come up with them, they proceeded with great expedition on their
journey; but they had not travelled far before Jacob discovered his brother
Esau, attended by a considerable body of men, coming toward him. Alarmed at the
sight of so powerful a retinue, Jacob immediately divided his family into three
companies, placing them at equal distances from each other. The two
maid-servants and their sons went first; Leah and her children next; and Rachel
and Joseph (the latter of whom was now about six years old) in the rear, while
himself led the van. As soon as Jacob approached his brother, he showed his
respect to him by bowing seven times to the ground. Esau, filled with the
tenderest sense of fraternal affection, at once removed his brother's fears and
compliments by running to him with eager joy, falling on his neck, and most
cordially embracing him. He wept over him for some time; after which, seeing his
wives and children prostrate themselves before him in the order Jacob had placed
them, he returned their civilities with the like tenderness he had done his
brother's. Thus was revenge turned into love and pity; and Esau, who once
thirsted for his brother's blood, dissolves into tears of joy, and melts with
the softest endearments of love and friendship. Thus transported with this happy
interview, Esau surveyed his brother's possessions with pleasure, and expressed
his satisfaction at the great success he had met with during his residence in
Mesopotamia. He kindly acknowledged the presents Jacob had sent him, but begged
he would excuse his accepting them, because they would be superfluous to him,
who had already great abundance. Jacob, however, pressed him so earnestly, that
he at length agreed to accept them; to make some recompense for which, Esau
invited him to Seir, and offered to accompany him the remaining part of the
journey. Though Jacob had no design of accepting this offer, yet he did not
choose to make a direct refusal. He therefore represented to Esau the tenderness
of his children and flocks, and that they could not travel with such expedition
as would be agreeable to him. He begged they might not confine him to their slow
movements, but that he would return home his own pace, and he would follow with
as much expedition as possible. Esau then offered to leave him a number of men
to guard and conduct him into his territories; but this compliment Jacob
likewise thought proper to decline, upon which, after saluting each other, they
parted. Esau returned immediately to Seir, and expected that his brother would
follow him; but Jacob turned another way, and coming to a spot which struck his
fancy, he resolved (at least for a time) to settle in it; in consequence of
which he built a house for his family, as also proper conveniences for the
reception of his cattle. JACOB SETTLES IN SHECHEM After staying here some time,
Jacob removed to Shechem, and having purchased a piece of ground of Hamor, the
prince of the country, he there pitched his tents, intending to make it his
fixed place of residence. He also erected an altar, and called it
El-alohe-Israel, which signifies “the great or mighty God of Israel.” DINAH
DISGRACED Jacob might probably have lived at this place a considerable time, had
it not been for an occurrence of a very singular nature. His daughter Dinah, who
was at this time about sixteen years of age, and very beautiful in person, being
desirous of seeing the dresses and ornaments of the women of that country,
rambled abroad from her mother's tent, in order to gratify her curiosity. Young
Shechem, the son of Hamor (the king of the country), happening to see her, was
so captivated with her charms, that, unable to restrain the force of his
passion, he determined, if possible, to possess her. He diligently watched her
for some time, till at length, taking the opportunity of her being alone, he
suddenly seized on her, and, by mere dint of violence, obtained his wishes.
Tents But notwithstanding this dishonorable act, Shechem was still so enamored
with Dinah's charms, that he most earnestly wished to marry her; and strongly
solicited his father to intercede with her friends in his behalf, and to form a
treaty with them for that purpose. Jacob was soon informed of the depredation,
made on his daughter's chastity, and though greatly incensed at so unjustifiable
a proceeding, he resolved not to take any notice of it till, his sons (who were
then abroad) came home. Accordingly, on their arrival, he told them the injury
their sister had sustained, and by whom; upon which their resentment was raised
to the greatest height, and they vowed severely to revenge the dishonor thus
thrown upon their family. THE BROTHERS' REVENGE In the mean time, Shechem having
prevailed with his father to use his interest in obtaining for him the beautiful
Dinah, they both went together to make the proposal to Jacob, whose sons were
with him at the time of their arrival. After the first salutations were over,
Hamor, addressing himself to Jacob, told him the great affection his son had for
his daughter Dinah, and earnestly entreated him that he would give her to him in
marriage. He at the same time proposed that Jacob's family should intermarry
with his people, and offered them the privilege of settling and trading in any
part of his dominions they thought proper. To strengthen this proposal, young
Shechem promised to give Dinah as large a dowry, and her relations as costly
presents, as they should desire. In short, he offered them whatever advantages
they should please to nominate, bidding them only name their terms, and they
should be granted to the uttermost, provided they would but give him Dinah in
marriage. These were certainly very fair offers, and such as evinced that
Shechem was desirous of making some recompense for the injury he had done his
beloved Dinah. But, instead of accepting these proposals, the treacherous sons
of Jacob, who only meditated the most bloody revenge, made the following reply:
“That it was not lawful for them to contract an affinity with an uncircumcised
nation, but that, if they and their people would consent to be circumcised (as
they were), they would then agree to the terms proposed.” Shechem was so
enamored with Dinah, and Hamor so fond of his son, that, notwithstanding the
singularity of this proposal, they readily agreed to it. Accordingly leaving
Jacob and his son, they immediately repaired to the city, and having convened a
general assembly of the inhabitants, they told them “that the Israelites were a
wealthy, peaceable, and good-natured people; that they might reap many great
advantages from them, and, in process of time, by intermarrying with them, might
make all their substance (which was very considerable) their own; but that this
could not be done without a general consent to be circumcised.” Captivated with
the prospect of great wealth, and influenced by the powerful interest both Humor
and his son had among them, they unanimously assented to the proposal; and on
that very day every male of them was circumcised. THE SHECHEMITES SLAUGHTERED
This circumstance furnished Simeon and Levi (the sons of Jacob and brother to
Dinah, by the same mother) with an opportunity of wreaking that revenge on the
Shechemites which they had privately resolved on for the violation of their
sister's chastity. Sensible of the great pain the Shechemites felt in
consequence of circumcision, they determined to take advantage of it, by
attacking them at a time when they in knew they must be totally incapable of
making the least resistance. Accordingly, on the third day[114] after the
operation (having properly armed themselves for the purpose), they went (unknown
to their father) into the city, and suddenly falling on the inhabitants, put
every male to the sword Hamor and his son not excepted. They then searched the
king's palace, where, finding their sister Dinah, they immediately brought her
away; after which they plundered the houses of the city, took both women and
children captive, and possessed themselves of what property they could, as well
in cattle as in other articles; and such things as they could not take with
them, they totally destroyed.[115] [114] This was the time, according to most
physicians, when fevers generally attended circumcision, occasioned by the
violent inflammation of the wound. The Jews themselves observe, that the pain
was much more severe on the third day than at any other time after the
operation. [115] Though the sacred historian only mentions Simeon and Levi to
have been the perpetrators of this horrid act of cruelty, yet there is not the
least doubt but they had considerable assistance. They, indeed, are only
mentioned because, being own brothers to Dinah both by father and mother, and
consequently more concerned to resent the injury done to her honor, they are
made the chief contrivers and conductors of it. It is, however, reasonable to
imagine, that the rest of Jacob's sons, who were old enough to bear arms, as
well as the greatest part of his domestics, were engaged in the execution of
this wicked exploit; because it is scarcely conceivable how two men alone should
be able to master a whole city, to slay all the men in it, and take all the
women captives, who, do this occasion, may be supposed more than sufficient to
have overpowered them. When Jacob (who was totally unacquainted with these
unjustifiable proceedings till after they had taken place) first heard of them,
he was greatly incensed against his sons, and very severely reprimanded them for
committing so treacherous and barbarous an action. But Simeon and Levi paid
little attention to their father's rebuke; on the contrary, such were their
ideas of the crime committed in the violation of their sister's chastity, that
they intimated to him the resentment they had shown was but just for so base an
injury. JACOB RETURNS TO BETHEL It is not to be wondered at that this violent
outrage, committed in the capital of the Shechemites, should exasperate the
whole people of the country against the Israelites. This seems to have been the
reason why the Almighty, soon after the transaction happened, commanded the
patriarch to remove to Bethel, the place which he had dedicated to his immediate
service. Though the sons of Jacob had wholly destroyed one colony of the
Canaanites, yet there were great numbers bordering on the spot, who, either in
their own defence, or in revenge for the cruel and unjust treatment of their
countrymen, might give the good patriarch much disquiet, if not totally destroy
him and his family. His omnipotent Creator, therefore, in order to secure him
from danger, ordered him to go to Bethel,[116] there to fix his residence, and
erect an altar to the same God who appeared to him when he fled from the
presence of his brother Esau. [116] Bethel--The following brief but interesting
notice of the site of Bethel has lately been afforded by Professor Robinson,
After telling us that the site now bears the name of Beit-in, he proceeds to
state that--”It lies just east of the Nablous road, forty-five minutes northeast
of Bireh. Here are ruins of very considerable extent, and among them the
foundations of several churches, lying on the point of a low hill between two
shallow wadys; which unite below, and run off southeast into a deep and rugged
valley. This was evidently a place of note in the early Christian ages, and
apparently also in the days of the Crusades. It is now entirely uninhabited;
except that a few Arabs, probably from some neighboring village, had pitched
their tents here for a time. In the western valley we spread our carpets, and
breakfasted on-the grass within the limits of what was once an immense
reservoir. We obtained here from the Arabs batter of excellent quality, which
might have done honor to the days when. the flocks' of Abraham and Jacob were
pastured on these hills”--Biblical Repository. April, 1839, p. 420. The obedient
and pious Jacob hesitated not to comply with the divine command. but, previous
to his setting about the business, he thought it necessary to make a reformation
in his family, and cleanse it from the pollutions that might be offensive in so
sacred a place. To effect this, he strictly charged not only his own family, but
all that belonged to him, to bring out their idols, or strange gods, then clean
themselves,[117] and change their garments, telling them they must go with all
expedition to Bethel, the house of their God. [117] The Hebrew word, which we
translate clean, properly signifies, the washing of the body with water. As
there is some analogy between external cleanliness and purity of mind, it may
denote the cleansing of the soul by repentance from all those impurities whereby
a man becomes morally polluted in the sight of God. In which view, this rite of
washing the body with water was used as a sign of inward purification, not only
among the idolatrous heathens, but also by the worshippers of the true God, both
before and under the law. “Wash ye, make ye clean, put away the evil of your
doings from before mine eyes,” Isaiah 1:16. And as men should at all times have
their souls adorned with this inward purity, so especially when they approach
their Maker to the duties of his immediate worship. It was, therefore, highly
commendable in Jacob, on this solemn occasion, to enjoin all under his care to
cleanse and purify themselves particularly from idolatry, and from those guilty
stains lately contracted by shedding innocent blood, as they would otherwise be
unfit to hold an intercourse with their God; as if he had said, “Put off your
sordid apparel, especially those garments in which you were so lately defiled
with blood, and put on your cleanest raiment, as an emblem of your being
divested of all impure affections, and clothed with those internal graces and
pious dispositions, which are the ornament of the soul, and render it comely in
the sight of God. They readily obeyed the patriarch's orders, and delivered up
to him not only their idols,[118] but also their ear-rings,[119] all of which
Jacob buried in a deep hole under an oak[120] near Shechem. [118] The greater
part of these idols belonged to the Shechemites; but among them were those which
Rachel and stole from her father Laban, and which she had probably worshipped
(unknown to her father) during her stay at Shechem. [119] The ear-rings and
other jewels worn by these people were consecrated to the honor of that idol
whom they worshipped; and on them were engraven some figures. The reason of
their wearing them was, to preserve them (as they thought) from any danger or
misfortune; and from this act of idolatry we may suppose arose the custom among
the papists of wearing the relics and images of their saints. [120] The oak here
mentioned seems to have been the place where these servants of Jacob, who had
strange gods, used to meet; and certainly no place could be more proper for
burying their idols than the spot on which they had worshipped them. Jacob,
having thus cleansed his family from impurities, set out with them on his
journey to Bethel. In order to ensure their safety, the Almighty; ever mindful
of his promise to his chosen people, struck such a terror into the people,
belonging to the country through which they passed, that, notwithstanding the
provocation given by the massacre at Shechem, not a single person presumed to
interrupt them, and they travelled to their destined place without the least
molestation. No sooner did Jacob arrive at Bethel,[121] than, agreeably to the
divine command, he erected an altar, which he called El-beth-el; and on which he
performed the very vow he had before made when on his journey from Canaan to
Mesopotamia. [121] According to the sacred historian (though he does not mention
any time) it appears that soon after Jacob's arrival at Bethel, Deborah
(Rebecca's nurse) died there. What age she was we are not informed: but it is
certain she must have been very old, as she came with Rebecca from Mesopotamia,
when she was married to Isaac. Her remains were deposited beneath an oak (as was
the custom in those days) called Allon-bachuth, from which the Jews have a
tradition that Rebecca died on the same day with her nurse, that word, in the
Hebrew language, signifying mourning. A short time after Jacob had performed
this act of worship, the Almighty was pleased to appear to him again, and to
give him fresh assurances of his design to multiply his posterity, and to bestow
on him the inheritance of the land of Canaan. As a lasting monument of this
additional mark of the divine favor, Jacob erected a pillar of stone, which he
consecrated with the usual form, by pouring on it wine and oil. BENJAMIN'S BIRTH
AND DEATH OF RACHEL After being some time at Bethel, Jacob, urged, by filial
affection; resolved to leave it, in order to pay a visit to his ancient father
at Mamre. Accordingly, taking with him his family, they set out on their
journey, intending to stop that night at Ephrath (afterward called Bethlehem), a
small place not far distant from Bethel. But before they could reach the
intended spot Rachel fell suddenly in labor, and having very severe pangs, the
midwife, in order to encourage her, bid her not fear, for she would have another
son. She was indeed delivered of a boy, but expired immediately after, having
but just a moment's space of time to give him the name of Benoni, which
signifies “the son of my sorrow.” But Jacob, unwilling to increase the
remembrance of so melancholy a circumstance, called him Benjamin, that is, “the
son of my right ht hand,” or “my strength;” intimating thereby his peculiar
affection for this last pledge of his beloved wife. The remains of Rachel were
deposited at the place where she died, and in order to perpetuate her memory,
Jacob erected a monument of stone[122] over her grave, which the sacred
historian tells us was extant in his days. [122] We have no doubt that the
original erection by Jacob was merely the most tall and shapely stone which
could be found in the neighborhood. The site seems always since to have been
marked by some sepulchral erection or other. That which now exists is such as
those with which sheikhs and other persons of note are honored. Its date we can
not, find, but it is certainly modern. The structure which the travelers of the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries figure and describe, had the same general
shape, but it was open, in arches, on all sides. The best figure of it is in
“Amico's Trattato delle Piante e Immagini di Sacr. Edifizi di Terra Santa,”
1620. And this was not very ancient; for the travelers of the thirteenth century
(as Brocard) describe Rachel's sepulcher as a pyramidal monument. REUBEN'S SHAME
But this was not the only misfortune that attended Jacob on his journey to
Mamre. After travelling some way farther, in order to refresh himself and
family, he stopped and pitched his tents on a pleasant spot, at some distance
from the tower of Edar.[123] During, his stay here his eldest son Reuben, having
taken a liking to Bilhah (the concubinary wife which Rachel had given to Jacob),
made no scruple of defiling her. Though Jacob took no notice of this
disagreeable circumstance at the time it occurred, yet he was greatly afflicted
in his mind, and retained a painful sense of it even to his dying day, as is
evident from a reproachful hint he gave him a short time before his death.[124]
[123] Some commentators are of opinion, that by the tower of Edar is meant the
field near Bethlehem where those shepherds were keeping their flock to whom the
angels appeared, and gave information of the birth of our Savior. Among others,
one reason which induces them to think so is because the word Edar in the Hebrew
tongue, signifies a flock: so that what is here called the tower of Edar should
be rendered the tower of the flocks. Others are of opinion that by the tower of
Edar is to be understood some place near Jerusalem; it being spoken of by the
prophet Micah as the place or stronghold of the daughters of Sion. See Micah
4:8. [124] See Genesis 49:4 JACOB VISITS HIS FATHER Though these aggravated
griefs sat heavy on Jacob's mind, yet he continued his resolution of visiting
his aged parent. He accordingly pursued his journey, and at length came to
Mamre, the place of his father's abode. It is not to be doubted but, at their
first meeting, a reciprocal affection displayed itself, as each must be happy in
the sight of the other after so long an absence. ISAAC DIES With this
circumstance the sacred historian concludes the life of Isaac, who, as he
informs us, paid the debt of nature in the one hundred and eightieth year of his
age, being five years older than his father Abraham. He had been very infirm,
and almost blind, for a considerable time; but was always respectable for his
piety, tranquillity, and submission to the will of Heaven. He was buried by his
two sons, Esau and Jacob, in the cave of Machpelah, which Abraham purchased of
Ephron as a burying-place for his family: It is to be observed that the death of
Isaac is here mentioned by way of anticipation, it being certain that he lived
some years after Jacob's return from Mesopotamia.


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  CHAPTER 16: HISTORY OF JOSEPH--JACOB AND FAMILY REMOVED TO EGYPTJOSEPH'S PARTY COLORED COAT
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HISTORY OF JOSEPH--JACOB AND FAMILY REMOVED TO EGYPTJOSEPH'S PARTY COLORED COAT
The pious Jacob had not long enjoyed the company of his aged father, after his
return from Mesopotamia, before a circumstance occurred which gave him great
unhappiness. Joseph was his beloved child, as being the son of his dear departed
Rachel, besides which, he particularly attracted the attention of his father
from his very extraordinary genius. In consequence of these circumstances,
Jacob, as a token of his peculiar love to his favorite Joseph, gave him clothes
much richer than he did the rest; and, among others, one coat which was made of
a changeable or party colored stuff.[125] This naturally raised the envy of his
brothers; besides which, they had for some time considered him as a spy, because
he had told his father of some indiscretions committed by the sons of Bilhah and
Zilphah, with whom he was most conversant, by frequently assisting them in the
care of their flocks. From these circumstances they treated Joseph with
contempt, withheld from him the common offices of civility, and made it their
constant study to perplex and torment him. [125] This party-colored tunic of
Joseph has occasioned some speculation; but it would seem that the real point of
interest has not been noticed. It would be desirable to know whether the art of
interweaving a piece in various colors was at this time discovered or not.
Judging from the information which this text gives, it would seem not; for the
word which is constantly rendered “colors” may, as in the marginal reading, with
more than equal propriety be rendered “pieces;” which makes it probable that the
agreeable effect resulting from a combination of colors was obtained by
patchwork in the first instance, and in after times by being wrought with a
needle. The value and distinction attached to such variegated dresses show that
they were not common, and were worked by some elaborate process. This continued
long after in the time of David, such a dress was a distinction for a king's
daughter (2 Samuel 13:18); and in Judges 5:30, we see ladies anticipating the
return of a victorious general with “a prey of divers colors, of divers colors
of needlework on both sides.” We may, therefore, infer that in these times
people generally did not wear variegated dresses, the common use of which must
have been consequent on the discovery of the art of interweaving a variegated
pattern in the original texture, or of printing it subsequently. Except in
Persia, where a robe is usually of one color, most Asiatic people are partial to
dresses in which various patterns are interwoven in stripes or flowers; and
party-colored dresses have necessarily ceased to form a distinction. The most
remarkable illustration of this text which we have seen is given by Mr. Roberts,
who states that in, India it is customary to invest a beautiful or favorite
child with “a coat of many colors,” consisting of crimson, purple, and other
colors, which are often tastefully sewed together. He adds; “A child being
clothed in a garment of many colors, it is believed that neither tongues nor
evil spirits will injure him, because the attention is taken from the beauty of
the person to that of the garment.” JOSEPH'S DREAMS But what completed the envy
and resentment of Joseph's brethren, or, rather, produced an irreconcilable
hatred, was his innocently relating to them two dreams, the explanations of
which seemed to portend his own future greatness. The substance of the first of
these dreams was, that “as he was binding sheaves with his brethren in the
field, his sheaf arose and stood upright, while their sheaves round about fell
down, and, as it were, made obeisance to his.” This dream being considered by
his brethren as an indication of his pride and ambition, their malice was
greatly increased, but still more so when they heard the substance of the second
dream. “Behold,” says he, “the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made
obeisance to me.” When Joseph related this last dream his father was present, on
which the good old man, either to appease the anger of his other sons, or check
that presumption which in young minds so naturally arises from good omens,
reprimanded him in these words: “Shall I and thy brethren come to bow down
ourselves to thee to the earth?” But though Jacob thought proper to reprimand
his son Joseph, for the reason here assigned, yet, in his own mind, he thought
there was something very ominous in the dreams, and that they were predictions
of events that would some time or other come to pass. After Joseph had related
these dreams to his brethren (notwithstanding the reprimand given him by his
father), instead of their hatred being abated, they grew every day more and more
exasperated; so that they resolved at length to cut him off, and only waited for
a convenient opportunity for effecting their purposes. JOSEPH SENT TO SHECHEM
Some time after this, Jacob, having purchased some laud near Shechem, sent all
his sons (Joseph excepted) to keep their flocks there. After being absent a long
time, and no intelligence received of them by Jacob, he was very anxious for
their welfare, fearing lest the inhabitants of the land should revenge on them
the loss of their countrymen, who had been put to death by Jacob's sons. To
remove these disagreeable apprehensions, he ordered Joseph to go to Shechem, and
inquire after the health and welfare of his brethren, and return with all
convenient expedition. Joseph, in obedience to his father's commands, set out
for Shechem, which was about sixty miles distant from the place where his father
now dwelt. When he came within sortie distance of Shechem, he happened to meet a
stranger, of whom he made inquiry after his brethren. The stranger told him they
had removed from Shechem some time, and were gone to a place called Dothan.[126]
Joseph accordingly hastened to Dothan; and no sooner did his brethren see him
approaching than their old malice revived, and they determined to embrace this
opportunity of destroying him. “Behold” (says one of them to the rest), “this
dreamer come. Come now, therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some
pit, and we will say some evil beast has devoured him; and we shall see what
will become of his dreams.” [126] This place is mentioned as a “city” in 2 Kings
6:13-15. Eusebius says it was twelve miles south of Samaria. That it was
somewhere north of Shechem would appear from the present text. What is meant by
the “pit” into which Joseph was cast is an exhausted cistern, or reservoir, in
which the rain-water is collected, and of which there are many in Palestine.
Many of them are found to be empty in summer, the supply of water they contain
being often soon exhausted: Dr. Richardson thus mentions the place which is
pointed out as the scene of the affair recorded in this chapter: “Having cleared
the intricate defiles of this part of the country, we got upon an extensive open
field which bore an abundant crop of thistles, and on which several herds of
black cattle were feeding. This, by some, is supposed to be the scene of the
infamous conspiracy of which the liberty of Joseph was the temporary victim. A
little farther on we arrived at Gib Youssouff, or the pit into which Joseph was
cast by his brethren, being a ride of three hours and forty minutes from
Mensura. Here there is a large Khan for the accommodation of travelers, and a
well of very excellent water, and a very comfortable oratory for a Muslim to
pray in.” This place is about two and a half or three days' journey from
Shechem, which is nearly equal to the distance between Hebron and Shechem; so
that the distance from Hebron to Dothan, if this be Dothan, was about five or
six days' journey, which, as Dr. Richardson observes, “is a long way for the
sons of Jacob to go to feed their herds, and a still farther way for a solitary
youth like Joseph to be sent' in quest of them.” But we do not consider this
distance too great, particularly as we know the place was somewhere, beyond
Shechem. Indeed the doctor himself admits that it is a very likely place,
particularly as it lies in what is still one of the principal roads from the
Haouran and Mount Gilead to Egypt. Speaking of the same neighborhood (Nablous or
Shechem), Dr. Clarke says: “Along the valley we beheld a company of Ishmaelites
coming from Gilead, as in the days of Reuben and Judah, 'with their camels,
bearing spicery, and balm, and myrrh,' who would gladly have purchased another
Joseph of his brethren, and conveyed hum as a slave to some Potiphar in Egypt.
Upon the hills around, flocks and herds were feeding as of old; nor, in the
simple garb of the shepherds of Samaria, was there anything to contradict the
notions we may entertain of the appearance formerly exhibited by the sons of
Jacob.” He adds, that the morning after his arrival at Nablous, he met caravans
coming from Grand Cairo, and noticed others reposing in the large olive
plantations near the gates. JOSEPH CAST INTO A PIT This horrid design would
certainly have been carried into execution had it not been for the interposition
of Reuben, who used the most forcible arguments to dissuade them from
embruing[127] their hands in the blood of their brother. As they were, however,
determined to show some instance of their resentment, Reuben proposed that they
should cast Joseph into the next pit, with a design, no doubt, of taking him out
privately and conveying him safe to his father. This proposition being approved
of by the rest of the brethren, as soon as Joseph came tip to them they
immediately seized him, and, after taking off his party-colored garment, threw
him into a pit, which at that time happened to, be dry. As soon as this was done
Reuben withdrew, in order to contrive some means for rescuing his brother, while
the rest, insensible of remorse for the deed they had committed, sat down and
regaled themselves with such provisions as the place afforded. They were
satisfied in their minds that their base ends would soon be answered, and that
Joseph must inevitably perish in the pit for the want of food. But the eye of
Omnipotence beheld his distress, and interposed in his behalf; for as Reuben had
already been the means of preventing his immediate death, so Judah now became
the means of delivering him out of the pit. [127] Rare Word--to stain, and
impregnate with blood JOSEPH IS SOLD AS A SLAVE It happened that while they were
regaling themselves they espied at a distance a caravan of Ishmaelites, who were
travelling from Mount Gilead into Egypt with spices and other merchandise.[128]
The sight of these furnished Judah with a thought in what manner he might secure
his brother Joseph from certain death, and at the same time answer their ends by
getting him totally removed. As the caravan approached, he urged the iniquity of
being instrumental to the destruction of their own brother, by which they would
contract an eternal stain of guilt. He therefore advised them to sell him to the
Ishmaelites, by which means they would not only save his life, but likewise
promote their own interest. This proposal being universally approved of, Joseph
was taken out of the pit, and sold to the merchants for twenty pieces of silver;
and the merchants, on their arrival in Egypt, sold him again to Potiphar, one of
the king's chief officers, and captain of his guards. [128] Midianites being
also mentioned as denominating this company, we may infer that it was a mixed
caravan, and principally composed of Ishmaelites and Midianites. We might call
them generally “Arabians,” as the Chaldee does. “Here;” says Dr. Vincent, “upon
opening the oldest history to the world, we find the Ishmaelites from Gilead
conducting a caravan loaded with the apices of India, the balsam and myrrh of
Hadramaut; and in the regular course of their traffic proceeding to Egypt for a
market. The date of this transaction is more than seventeen centuries before the
Christian era, and notwithstanding its antiquity, it has all the genuine
features of a caravan crossing the Desert at the present hour.” (Commerce and
Navigation of the Ancients, vol. ii., p. 262.) We cannot at this moment enter
into the question, which Dr. Vincent assumes, that the Arabians had already
become the medium of communication between India and Egypt. As, the subject
divides itself into two parts, the commerce of the Arabians and that of the
Egyptians, we postpone the former, and confine ourselves to a few remarks on the
latter. Dr. Vincent calls the Egyptians, with great propriety, the Chinese of
antiquity; and the analogy between the two people might form a subject for very
interesting discussion. In the present text we see a caravan of foreigners
proceeding to Egypt, their camels laden with articles of luxury; whence it is an
obvious inference that Egypt had then become what it is always recorded to have
been, the centre of a most extensive land commerce--the great emporium to which
the merchants brought gold, ivory, arid slaves from Ethiopia, incense from
Arabia, spices from India, and wine from Phoenicia and Greece: for which Egypt
gave in exchange its corn, its manufactures of fine linen, its robes, and its
carpets. In after-times, the merchants of tire west. of Greece and Rome,
resorted to Egypt for its own products, and for the goods brought thither by the
oriental merchants. But none of this was done by Egyptians themselves. We never,
either in ancient or modern times, read of Egyptian caravans. This doubtless
arose in a great degree from the aversion which in common with all people who
observe a certain diet and mode of life prescribed by religion) they entertained
to any intercourse with strangers, and which reminds us continually of the
restrictive policy of the Japanese in some respects, and of the religious
prejudices of Hindoos and strict Mohammedans. Thus, it was a maxim among the
Egyptians not to leave their own country, and we have ample evidence that they
rarely did so, except in attendance upon the wars and expeditions of their
sovereigns, even when their restrictive policy and peculiar customs became
relaxed under the Greek and Roman rulers of the country, “They waited,” says
Goguet, after Strabo, “till other nations brought them the things they stood in
need of, and they did this with the more tranquillity, as the great fertility of
their country in those times left them few things to desire. It is, not at all
surprising that a people of such principles did not apply themselves to
navigation until very late.” Besides, the Egyptians had a religious aversion to
the sea, and considered all those as impious and degraded who embarked upon it.
The sea was, in their view, an emblem of the evil being (Typhon), the implacable
enemy of Osiris; and the aversion of the priests in particular was so strong,
that they carefully kept mariners at a distance, even: when the rest of the
nation began to pay some attention to sea-affairs. But besides their religious
hatred to the sea, arid political aversion to strangers, other causes concurred
in preventing the cultivation of maritime commerce by the Egyptians. The country
produces no wood suitable for the construction of vessels. Therefore, when the
later Egyptians and the Greek sovereigns began to attend to navigation, they
could not fit out a fleet till they had obtained a command over the forests of
Phoenicia, which gave occasion to bloody wars between the Ptolemies and the
Seleucidae for the possession of those countries. The unhealthiness of the
Egyptian coast, and the paucity of good harbors, may also be numbered among the
circumstances which operated, with others, in preventing attention to maritime
affairs. Moreover, all the nations who in those times traded in the
Mediterranean were also pirates, who made it a particular branch of their
business to kidnap men from the coasts; and it was therefore natural that a
people who had no vessels with which to oppose them or retaliate upon them,
should allow them no pretence to land upon their shores. The indifference of the
Egyptians to foreign commerce is demonstrated by the fact that they abandoned
the navigation of the Red sea to whatever people cared to exercise it. They
allowed the Phoenicians, the Edomites, the Jews, the Syrians, successively, to
have fleets there and maritime stations on its shores. It was not until toward
the termination of the national independence that the sovereigns of Egypt began
to turn their attention to such matters. The parts of Lower Egypt were
ultimately opened to the Phoenicians and Greeks, by Psammeticus, about 658 years
B.C. His son, Necho, for the purpose of facilitating commerce, attempted to
unite the Mediterranean and Red sea, by means of a canal from the Nile; but
desisted after having lost 100,000 workmen. This work was completed by the
Persians, but turned out to be of little practical benefit, either from the
failure of the eastern channel of the Nile, or from being choked by the sands
drifted from the desert. Failing in this project, Necho contrived to pay great
attention to navigation He caused ships to be built both on the Mediterranean
and Red sea, and interested himself in maritime discovery, with a view to the
extension of the commercial relations of Egypt. He sent on a voyage of discovery
those Phoenician mariners who effected the famous circumnavigation of Africa,
sailing from the Red sea, and, after doubling the Cape of Good Hope, returning
by the Mediterranean. The maritime power of Egypt increased thenceforward, the
clearest proof of which may be found in the fact, that in the reign of Necho's
grandson, Apries, the Egyptian fleet ventured to give battle, and actually
defeated so experienced a naval power as that of the Phoenicians. The race of
sailors which arose were, however, considered as the lowest and most impure of
the castes into which the Egyptian people were divided. In the next reign, that
of Amasis, the sacred Nile was at last opened to the foreign merchants.
Naucratis, a city of Lower Egypt, on the Canopean arm of the Nile, near the site
afterward occupied by Alexandria, was assigned to such Greek traders as chose to
settle in Egypt. The commercial states of Greece were also permitted to found
temples or sanctuaries, in certain places, for the accommodation of their
travelling merchants, and which might also serve as staples arid marts for the
merchandise which they should send into Egypt. This concession was found to have
a most favorable operation upon the prosperity of Egypt and in its ultimate
consequences combined with other causes in working a great change in the
character and habits of the population, which thenceforward became progressively
modified by an infusion of Greek manners and ideas. Such concessions were not in
the first instance made without limitations. The Greeks were obliged to enter
the Canopean branch of the Nile, and were required to land at Naucratis. If by
any accident a ship entered at any other mouth of the river it was detained, and
the captain was obliged to swear that he had been compelled to enter against his
will. He was then compelled to sail back for Naucratis; and if this was
prevented by the winds, he was required to discharge his cargo, and to send it
round the Delta (more inland) in the small vessels in which the Egyptians
navigated the Nile. This restriction must have ceased soon after, when the
country was subdued by the Persians, and all the mouths of the Nile were equally
thrown open. Its subjection to the Persians does not seem to have materially
interfered with the growing maritime commerce of Egypt. But Herodotus, who was
there in this period remarks on the characteristic singularity which the
Egyptians had carried into their marine and trade Their ships were built and
armed after a fashion quite different from that observed by other nations and
their ridging and cordage were arranged in a manner that appeared very singular
and fantastic to the Greeks. After all, the Egyptians were not themselves a
people addicted to maritime commerce. The Greek rulers of Egypt indeed changed
the entire system of Egyptian trade, and the new capital, Alexandria, became the
first mart of the world, while the ancient inland capitals, which had arisen
under the former system, sunk into insignificance. But it was the Greeks of
Egypt, not the Egyptians, who did this. “They became,” says Dr. Vincent, “the
carriers of the Mediterranean, as well as the agents, factors, and importers of
oriental produce: and so wise was the new policy, and so deep had it taken root,
that the Romans, upon the subjection of Egypt, found it more expedient to leave
Alexandria in possession of its privileges, than to alter the course of trade,
or occupy it themselves” (The facts combined in this sketch of Egyptian trade,
etc., have been drawn from the works of Vincent, Heeren, Reynier, Goguet,
Rennel, and Hales.) JACOB IS DECEIVED BY SONS Reuben, who was absent while this
circumstance happened, came soon after to the pit, in order to assist his
brother in making his escape; but, astonished at not finding him there, he ran
hastily to his brethren, rent his clothes, and upbraided himself in the cause of
his being lost: “The child,” said he, “is not, and whither shall I go?” In
short, he bewailed himself to such a degree, that his brethren, in order to
mitigate his grief, told him in what manner they had disposed of him; upon which
Reuben, finding it impossible now to recover him, joined with the rest, in
forming a tale for their father which might take from them all suspicion of
their being instrumental to the loss of his beloved Joseph. To effect this
purpose, they killed a kid, and dipping Joseph's coat into the blood, took it to
their father, telling him they had found it in the field, and were fearful it
was their brother's. “This,” said they, “have we found; know now whether it be
thy son's coat, or no.” The good old patriarch no sooner saw the coat, than he
was convinced to whom it belonged, and not suspecting that any human hand could
be guilty of such an unnatural cruelty as to murder him, concluded that he had
been unhappily devoured by some wild beast. This loss was the most severe he had
ever sustained. When his beloved Rachel died, it was in a natural way; but
Joseph (according to his present apprehension) is, by a savage animal,
barbarously torn in pieces before his time. His grief, therefore, knew no
bounds; he rent his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned or his beloved son
many days: nay, so excessive was his affliction, that when his children in
general endeavored to comfort him, it availed nothing, and all the answer he
made them was, that he could only cease to mourn when he should follow him in
the path of mortality.[129] [129] What an affecting idea is here conveyed to the
mind of the reader! The hoary patriarch rends his clothes, covers his aged body
with sackcloth, and refuses to be comforted. Thus Achilles in Homer expresses
his grief. on receiving the news of Patroclus' death. “__________With furious
hands he spread The scorching ashes on his graceful head; His purple garments,
and his golden hairs, Those he deforms with dust, and these with tears”--Pope
JUDAH'S SONS MARRY TAMAR In conformity to the sacred historian, we must here
make a short digression from the farther transactions of Joseph, in order to
admit some occurrences which are materially connected with the history, and,
therefore, must not be suffered to pass unnoticed.[130] [130] Though the past
and following events seem to be connected by the sacred writer, yet the marriage
of Judah certainly took place long before Joseph was sold into Egypt; and, in
all probability, a short time after Jacob's return from his uncle Laban. Some
time before Joseph was sold into Egypt, Judah (his father's son by Leah), who
had been the means of saving his brother's life, married a Canaanitish woman,
named Shuah, by whom he had three sons, viz., Er, Onan, and Shelah. In process
of time, when Er, his eldest son, grew up to years of maturity, he took him a
wife whose name was Tamar; but Er, being; naturally of a very wicked
disposition, the Almighty was pleased to cut him off before he had any children
by his wife. In consequence of this Judah (agreeably to the custom of the
country) advised Onan, his second son, to marry his brother's widow in order to
preserve the succession of his family. Onan seemingly obeyed his father's
orders, but not brooking the thoughts that any of his children should inherit
his brother's name (which must have been the case had Tamar borne him any) he
took a very wicked method of avoiding it for which offence he was (as his
brother had been before him) punished with sudden death. Shelah, the third son,
being as yet too young for marriage, Judah desired his daughter-in-law Tamar to
retire to her father's house, and there remain a widow, till his son became a
proper age, at which time he would make him her husband. Tamar obeyed her
father-in-law's commands, and waited till Shelah was come to man's estate; but
finding no signs of his intending to fulfill his promise, she determined on
revenge for her disappointment, which she effected by the following stratagem.
JUDAH AND TAMAR INCEST Shuah, Judah's wife, had been some time dead, and as soon
as the usual time of mourning was expired, he went, accompanied by a particular
friend, to Timnath, in order to participate of the accustomed amusements of
sheep-shearing. Tamar, having received previous intelligence of his intended
excursion, and the time of his going, threw off her widow's habit; and dressing
herself like a courtesan, she threw a veil[131] over her face, and then placed
herself between two ways through one of which she knew Judah must necessarily
pass in his road to Timnath. [131] That veils were not peculiar to harlots, but
worn by the most modest women in those times, there is not the least doubt: yet
as harlots were not then allowed to enter into cities, they usually sat in the
public ways, and covered their faces with a veil, in order to conceal their
infamy; and some assert that the veils they wore differed from those used by
modest women. Tamar assumed that character, most probably, to engage Shelah, who
was her betrothed husband, and who she might expect would come with his father;
but, being disappointed of him, she gratified Judah, in order to be again taken
into the family. As soon as Judah saw her he took her to be what she appeared,
and accordingly, in a very familiar manner, paid his addresses to her. Previous,
however, to any farther intimacy, she insisted upon having some reward for her
compliance, which he readily agreed to, and promised to send her a kid; but she
having a farther design upon him, demanded a pledge for the performance of his
promise, which was, his signet,[132] his bracelet, and his staff. Judah readily
complying with this request, they retired together, the consequence of which was
that Tamar soon after proved with child. Agreeably to the promise made by Judah
to Tamar, previous to their intercourse, the former sent his friend Hirah (for
that was his name) with a kid to redeem his pledge; but when he came to the
place the woman was gone, nor could he, upon the strictest inquiry, learn that
any such person as he described had been ever there. This circumstance greatly
perplexed Judah, who, upon cool reflection, thought it most prudent to let her
go with the pledges, fearing; if he should make farther search after her, it
might injure his reputation. About three months after this Judah received
intelligence that his daughter-in-law had played the harlot, and that she was
certainly with child. Enraged at her incontinence, he ordered her to be brought
forth, and, according to the laws of the country, publicly burnt.[133] [133] It
may appear strange that Judah should have such authority as to order this
punishment to be inflicted on his daughter-in-law Tamar. But it is to be
observed that the ancients supposed every man to be judge of chief magistrate in
his own family; so that, though Tamar was a Canaanite, yet, as she married into
Judah's family, and brought disgrace upon it, she necessarily lay under the
cognizance of him, who may be supposed, from what followed, to have suspended
the sentence, till he had made farther inquiry into the nature of her offence.
Tamar, instead of being alarmed at this dreadful sentence pronounced against
her, only sent the pledges to Judah, and with them this message: “That the man
to whom those belonged was the very person by whom she was with child.” Judah,
struck with confusion at the sight of the pledge he so well knew, and reflecting
on the injury he had done Tamar in not fulfilling the promise of giving her his
son in marriage, he acknowledged her to be less culpable in the whole affair
than himself. “She hath,” said he, “been more righteous than I.”[134] Tamar's
ends were answered in this stratagem, for Judah immediately took her home to his
house, but never after had any intercourse with her. [134] He does not say Tamar
was more holy or chaste, but more righteous or just; that is, Judah, not keeping
his promise in marrying her to Shelah, provoked her to lay this trap for him,
resolving since he would not let her have children by Shelah, she would have
them by him. Thus, though she maybe deemed more wicked--in the sight of God, she
appeareth more just in the opinion of Judah. When the time of Tamar's delivery
came, she was brought to bed of twins, whose births were attended with these
singular circumstances. One of them having put forth his hand, the midwife
immediately tied around it a scarlet thread, in order to distinguish him as the
first-born; but the child having withdrawn its hand, the other made its way, and
came first into the world. This occasioned his name to be called Pharez, which
signifies “breaking forth:” the other was called Zarah, which implies “he
ariseth,” alluding to the sign he gave of his coming, by putting forth his hand.
What farther circumstances occurred, after this, relative to Tamar, we are not
informed; but it is reasonable to suppose that she continued the remainder of
her life in the house of Judah, and that she lived the whole time in a state of
widowhood. Having, with the sacred historian, mentioned the before-mentioned
particulars relative to Judah and his family, we shall, in like manner, now
resume the history of Joseph, and relate the various adventures and enterprises
that befell him during his residence in Egypt. JOSEPH MADE MANAGER OF POTIPHAR
ESTATE From the time that Joseph had first admission into Potiphar's family, he
conducted himself with the greatest diligence and fidelity. By his faithful
services he so obtained the favor of his master, that, after some time, he not
only dismissed him from every laborious employment, but made him superintendent
of his whole property and committed the charge of his house solely to his care
and direction. Joseph being then appointed principal manager of his master's
affairs, both within doors and without, the Lord was pleased to bestow a
blessing on the house of the Egyptian; who, by means of Joseph, flourished
exceedingly, and being sensible of the cause of his very singular success, daily
increased in his good offices toward his faithful servant. Thus circumstanced,
Joseph had reason to hope for a comfortable life, though sold to slavery; and to
expect, in time, his liberty, as a reward for his truth and fidelity. But it
pleased the Almighty farther to exercise his faith and patience, in order to
prepare him for a still brighter display of his grace and goodness toward his
chosen people. JOSEPH'S TEMPTATION AND FIDELITY Joseph was now about
twenty-seven years of age, of a comely form, beautiful complexion, and winning
deportment. These united charms not only engaged the attention, but also excited
the love of his master's wife, who, when all tacit tokens to draw the youth into
an indulgence of her unlawful flame failed, was so fired by her eager passion,
that she broke through every rule of decency, and, in plain terms, courted him
to her bed. But how great was her surprise when, instead of a ready compliance,
as she probably expected, she found herself not only denied, but likewise
severely reprimanded for her dissolute and illegal passion! “Behold,” said he,
“my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all
that he hath to my hand. There is none greater in this house than I; neither
hath he kept back anything from me, but thee, because thou art his wife: how
then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”[135] [135] This
answer was truly noble, and is highly worthy of imitation: it speaks a mind
whose passions are in subjection to the ruling principle of reason and
conscience; a mind that had the most delicate sentiments of honor, and the most
lively impressions of religion. His honest heart startles at the thought of
committing so foul a crime as adultery; and the ingratitude and breach of trust
with which it would have been accompanied in him, present it to his mind in the
blackest colors; so that these virtuous sentiments concurring with his awful
reverence of the Supreme Being, who beholds and judges all like actions of the
sons of men, enabled him to repel this violent assault with the utmost horror
and indignation. This is an example of the greatest probity and inflexible
integrity; an example worthy of the highest commendation. Joseph was then a
servant in a strange country: he was tempted by an imperious woman: if he
complied, he would be sure of concealment and rewards; he would be sure to enjoy
his place, and be advanced; it he resisted, he must expect to be accused and
treated as a criminal, be deprived of his place, of his liberty, of his fame,
and perhaps of his life too. These are weighty considerations; but he prefers
chains, ignominy, and even death itself, to the crime of committing so heinous
action and sinning against God. But this repulse, sufficient to have filled with
shame a mind not entirely lost to honor and virtue, had no effect on this lewd
woman, who determined still, if possible, to obtain her ends. After making
several other fruitless attempts, at length a favorable opportunity offered for
accomplishing her wishes. It happened one day that Potiphar was engaged abroad
on some particular business, and all the servants, except Joseph, were employed
about their work in the adjoining fields. In the course of the day (having
properly prepared herself for the purpose) Joseph's mistress called him to her
apartment, which he had no sooner entered than she addressed herself to him in a
language calculated to steal the soul from virtue, and melt the coldest
continence into the warmest desires. But Joseph's integrity was not to be
shaken. Though her arguments were enforced with all the blandishments of art,
they made Egyptian Females--official dresses not the least impression on him. On
the contrary, he again expostulated with her on the heinousness of the crime,
begging her not to desire him to commit an act which must be destructive to him
and disgraceful to her. But all his reasonings were of none effect: instead of
her passion being allayed it was farther inflamed, and at length, breaking
through all decency, she caught him by his cloak, and attempted to compel him to
compliance. He struggled with his mistress for some time, and finding he had no
other way of escaping, he slipped himself from his garment, which he left in her
hand, and precipitately fled. JOSEPH ACCUSED AND IMPRISONED Fired with
resentment at the supposed indignity, and fearful of the disgrace that would
attend the discovery of her shameful passion, she resolved to shield herself by
laying a malicious accusation against Joseph. Accordingly, she began by making,
a most horrid outcry, which immediately brought in all the servants who were
within hearing to her assistance. As soon as they entered the room she showed
them Joseph's cloak, and at the same time thus vehemently exclaimed: “See,” said
she, “he hath brought in a Hebrew unto us to mock us: he came in unto me to liee
with me.” And farther to engage them in her cause when the affair should come to
examination, she craftily added: “And I cried with a loud voice, and when he
heard it, he left his garment with me and fled.” Having then prepared the
servants to confirm her declaration, she laid the cloak by her, in order to
produce it as an evidence against Joseph when his master should return.” By the
time Potiphar came home she had dressed up the story so well, and expressed the
pretended indignity put upon her by the Hebrew[136] servant (as she called him)
with such an air of resentment, that he made no doubt of the truth of her tale.
The credulous husband, little suspecting his wife's treachery, was particularly
prepossessed with the circumstance of the cloak, and therefore, without making
the least inquiry into the merits of the cause, immediately committed Joseph to
the king's prison. [136] She did not call Joseph by his own name, but that of
the people to whom he belonged. This she did in order to increase her husband's
rage against him, the Egyptians and Hebrews being, at this time, inveterate
enemies to each other. Though the innocent Joseph was thus persecuted, in
consequence of his base and treacherous mistress, and was thereby bereft both of
friends and relations, yet he was not without that divine Friend who had
hitherto protected him. He had not been long in prison before his virtuous and
obliging deportment gained him the peculiar favor of the keeper, insomuch that
he not only entrusted him with the management of the affairs belonging to the
prison, but also with the custody of the prisoners themselves. JOSEPH INTERPRETS
A CUP-BEARER'S DREAM Some time after Joseph's confinement, it happened that two
persons of note (namely, the king's cup-bearer and his chief baker) were, for
some offence or other,[137] committed to the same prison, and being delivered to
the care of Joseph, he attended them in person, and by that means an intimacy
between them was soon established. [137] Some authors are of opinion, that the
crime of which these men were accused was that of having embezzled the king's
treasure; but the Targum says, they had attempted to poison him. Whatever were
theft crimes, they must have been very great persons with respect to their
birth; for, according to Diodorus Siculus, none but the sons of the chief
priests were admitted into those offices. Joseph, going one morning to their
apartment, as he was accustomed to do, found them both in a very pensive and
melancholy situation. On inquiring the cause of this sudden change, they told
him that each had (the preceding night) a very extraordinary dream; and that
they were uneasy on account of being in a place where they could not have a
person to interpret them. To allay their superstitious humor in trusting to
diviners and soothsayers, Joseph told them that the interpretation of dreams did
not depend upon rules of art; but, if there was any certainty in them, it must
proceed from a divine inspiration. Having said this, he desired that each would
relate the particulars of what he had dreamed, and he would give them his
opinion with respect to the interpretation. The cup-bearer told his dream first,
the substance of which was as follows: “That in his sleep he fancied he saw a
vine with three branches, which, all on a sudden, budded, then blossomed, and at
length brought forth ripe grapes: that he held Pharaoh's cup in his hand,
pressed the juice into the same, and gave it to the king, who, as usual, took it
and drank.” This dream Joseph interpreted thus: “The three branches,” said he,
“denote three days, within which Pharaoh will restore thee to thy place, and
thou shalt, as usual, give him to drink, according to the duties of thy office.”
He then told the cup-bearer that, if his interpretation proved true, he hoped he
would, in his prosperity, remember him, and recommend his case to the king,
since the truth was, he had been fraudulently taken from his own country, and
thrown into prison, without having. been guilty of the least offence. JOSEPH
INTERPRETS A BAKER'S DREAM The baker, hearing so happy an interpretation of the
cup-bearer's dream, was the more ready to relate his, which was to this effect:
“That while, as he thought, he had on his head three wicker baskets, in the
uppermost of which were several kinds of baked meats for the king's table, the
birds came, and ate them out of the basket.” The interpretation Joseph gave of
this dream was, “that the three baskets (even as the three branches had done)
signified three days; but that, in the space of that time, the king, having
inquired into his conduct, and found him guilty, would order him to be first
beheaded, and afterward his body to he hanged on a gibbet, for the fowls of the
air to devour his flesh.”[138] [138] It may appear strange that the sacred
historian should mention the baker's being first beheaded, and afterward hanged.
But it is to be observed that this practice was common at that time. Hence
Jeremiah says, “princes were hanged up by their hands,” intimating that their
heads had been previously cut off. See Lamentations 5:12. Also 1 Samuel 31:9-10.
As Joseph had foretold, so it came to pass; for, three days after this, the
cupbearer was restored and the baker hanged. The cup-bearer, however, proved
very ungrateful to Joseph, in not using the least endeavors to get his
releasement, and he might probably have continued in prison the remainder of his
life, had it not been for the following incident. PHARAOH'S DREAM When Joseph
had been more than two years in prison, it happened that Pharaoh the king had in
one night two very portentous dreams, which gave him the more uneasiness,
because none of the Egyptian Magi[139] (whom he consulted the next morning)
could give him the least explanation of their meaning. While the king was in
this state of perplexity on account of his dreams, he received some agreeable
intelligence from his cup-bearer, who, recollecting Joseph, told him that while
he and the chief baker were under his majesty's displeasure in prison, each of
them, in the same night, had a dream, which a young man, a Hebrew, then in
prison with them, interpreted exactly; and as the events happened; and that, in
his opinion, he had a talent that way much superior to any that had been
hitherto consulted. [139] The magicians, or interpreters of dreams, were, at
that time, a regular body of people in Egypt, and always consulted with respect
to their pretended knowledge of future events. Their method of interpretation
was from an attentive consideration of the symbols or images that appeared in
the dream. Thus, the best they could pretend was no more than conjecture; but
they always gave their answers to whatever questions they were asked in such
ambiguous words that they could hardly be detected. JOSEPH INTERPRETS PHARAOH'S
DREAM Pharaoh was so pleased with this intelligence, and so anxious to have his
dreams explained, that he immediately dispatched a messenger to the prison, with
orders, to bring Joseph before him. Accordingly, after having shaved himself,
and put on his best attire, he left the prison, and being conducted to the
palace, was immediately introduced to the king, who, after a short time, related
to him his dreams as follows “That, as he was walking on the banks of the
river,[140] he saw seven fat kine come out of it, and feed on the meadow; after
which seven others, exceeding lean, and frightful to behold, came also to the
river, and devoured the seven fat kine. That after this he dreamed again, and
fancied he saw seven full ears of corn, proceeding all from the same stalk,
which were, in like manner with the kine, devoured by seven others that were
blasted and withered.” [140] The river here mentioned was the Nile, so much
celebrated in ancient history. This river has its rise in Numidia, and after
running many miles northward through a country scorched with the violent heat of
the sun, it enters Upper Egypt with great force, and passes over a cataract or
broken rock. Hence it continues its course still north, and receiving the
addition of many other rivers, it falls over another cataract, and then
continues its course to the Lower Egypt as far as Grand Cairo, after which it
divides itself into three branches, in the form of the Greek letter D, and then
empties itself into the Mediterranean sea. Once every year it overflows the
greater part of Lower Egypt, and from that proceeds either scarcity or plenty.
If the water rises too high, scarcity ensues, because it lies too long on the
ground; and if too low, then there is not a sufficiency to fertilize the soil.
When the king had finished relating his dreams, Joseph (after giving him to
understand that it was by the assistance[141] of God alone he was enabled to be
an interpreter of dreams) told him “that the seven kine and seven ears of corn
signified the same thing, and the repetition of the dream only denoted the
certainty of the event that, therefore, as the lean kine seemed to eat up the
fat, and the withered ears of corn to consume the full and flourishing; so,
after seven years of great plenty, other seven years of extreme famine would
succeed, insomuch that the remembrance of plenty would be lost throughout the
land of Egypt.” [141] The answer Joseph gave the king when he first asked him to
interpret his dreams was exceeding modest, and much of the same nature with that
given by Daniel to King Nebuchadnezzar. See Daniel 2:28-29. He elevates the
monarch's mind to the first cause of the dreams which so troubled him, and
engages his attention by making him hope he should give him an answer, of which
God himself was the author: “It is not,” says he, “in me; God shall give Pharaoh
an answer of peace.” Which was as much as to say “I have no more skill than
those already consulted; from God atone the interpretation must proceed; and he,
I trust, will give a favorable one to your dreams.” JOSEPH'S ADVICE TO PHARAOH
After Joseph had thus interpreted the king's dreams, he advised him to improve
the hints given in them, by appointing some wise and prudent person over his
whole kingdom, who should take care to build granaries and appoint officers
under him in every province, and that these officers should collect and lay up a
fifth part of each plentiful year's produce, that a proper supply might be had
during the succeeding years of famine. This careful and prudent advice was
highly approved of by the king, who, struck with the extraordinary foresight and
sagacity of Joseph, did not long hesitate in fixing on the person thus
recommended; for, turning first to his subjects, and then to Joseph, he thus
respectively addressed them: “Can we,” says he, “find such a one as this is? a
man in whom the Spirit of God is. Forasmuch as God has showed thee all this,
there is none so discreet and wise as thou art: thou shalt be over my house; and
according to thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be
greater than thou.” JOSEPH APPOINTED CHIEF DEPUTY Having said this, Pharaoh
appointed Joseph his deputy over the land of Egypt, and immediately invested him
with the ensigns of that high station. He took the ring from his own finger, and
put it on Joseph's; caused him to be clothed in a robe of fine linen, and put a
golden chain about his neck. He ordered him to ride in the chariot next to his;
and that wherever he went heralds should go before, to give notice of his coming
to the people, who should show their subjection to him by bending the knee as he
passed. JOSEPH MARRIES PRINCE'S DAUGHTER Pharaoh having thus bestowed on Joseph
the greatest power and highest honors, in order to attach him more strongly to
his interest, and make him forget the very thoughts of ever returning to his own
country, changed his name from Joseph to Zaphnath-paaneah;[142] soon after which
he procured him an honorable alliance, by marriage, with Asenath, the daughter
of Potipherah, priest, or prince of On.[143] [142] The generality of
interpreters are of opinion, that this is a Coptic word, and implies a revealer
of secrets, alluding to Joseph's having interpreted Pharaoh's dreams. It was
customary, at this time, for princes to give foreigners a new name, to denote
their naturalization, to take away all invidious distinction, and declare them
worthy of their most intimate favor and protection. [143] On was a famous city
in Egypt, situated between the Nile and the Arabian gulf, about twenty miles
from Memphis, the metropolis of the kingdom. Here was celebrated an annual
festival, in honor of the sun, from which it was afterward called Heliopolis.
The word we translate priest may signify one who ministers at the altar, or one
who governs in civil affairs: priests were anciently the chef men of the kingdom
for kings themselves were priests. Joseph's prediction began now to be
fulfilled; and the plenteous years having commenced, he entered upon the duties
of the high office with which he had been invested. He made a progress
throughout the whole kingdom, built granaries in all the principal places, and
appointed proper officers to collect and lay up the stipulated quantity of
provisions. The same method he invariably pursued every season of the fruitful
years, till at length he had amassed such quantities of corn as even to exceed
computation. JOSEPH'S TWO BOYS During the seven years of plenty, Joseph had two
sons by his wife Asenath, the first of whom he called Manasseh, intimating that
God had made him forget all his toils; and the other he called Ephraim, because
he had made him fruitful in the land of his affliction. THE SEVEN YEARS OF
FAMINE BEGIN The seven years of plenty being expired, those of dearth commenced,
according to Joseph's prediction, and the famine was not only spread throughout
the land of Egypt, but also the neighboring countries. But, through Joseph's
provident care, under the blessing of Divine Providence, Egypt was so well
furnished with provisions, as not only to supply its own inhabitants, but also
foreigners, with bread and other necessaries of life. The king referred all who
applied to him for these articles, to Joseph, who opened the storehouses, and
sold to the Egyptians and others, in such quantities, and at such rates, as
seemed to him most just and equitable. The famine having penetrated as far as
the land of Canaan, and particularly affected that part of the country where
Jacob resided, he, hearing there was corn to be bought in Egypt, sent ten of his
sons thither for that purpose. On their arrival they were directed to apply to
Joseph for an order, whom they no sooner approached, than they bowed themselves
before him,[144] as a token of reverence to his dignified office. [144] This
manner of salutation was common in their own country, but not in use among the
Egyptians: a sufficient proof that Jacob's family had little or no acquaintance
with the inhabitants of the neighboring kingdoms. But by using the customary
form of their family, they fulfilled the dreams of Joseph (as far as they had
any relation to themselves) and no doubt brought those dreams to Joseph's
remembrance. JOSEPH'S BROTHER'S COME FOR FOOD Joseph, at first sight, knew his
brethren, but did not choose, at present, to make himself known to them,
intending to take this opportunity of punishing them for the ill-treatment he
had received at their hands. The better to effect his purpose, instead of
speaking to them himself, he appointed an interpreter, who, by his directions,
with a severe look and angry tone of voice, asked them, whence they came. They
answered, “From the land of Canaan to buy provisions;” upon which he charged
them with being spies, who came thither for no other purpose but to discover the
weakness of the country. They replied, that they came with no other intent than
purely to buy corn for their numerous family; and that they were all the sons of
one man,[145] who once, indeed, had twelve, but that the youngest was left at
home, and the next to him was dead. [145] This part of their answer was
certainly very pertinent, as it was not probable that a father would have sent
his sons, and much less all of them, in one company, upon so dangerous an
expedition: nor, that one particular person, or family, would have formed a
design against so capital a kingdom as that of Egypt. JOSEPH IMPRISONS HIS
BROTHERS But Joseph still insisted they were spies, and, to put their honesty to
the test, made this proposition: “That, since, as they said, they had a younger
brother at home, some one of them should be dispatched to bring him, while the
rest should be kept in confinement till his arrival; and if they did not assent
to this he should consider them in no other light than that of spies and
enemies. Having said this, he ordered them all to prison, there to remain till
they should give a proper answer to the matter proposed. On the third day of
their confinement, Joseph sent for them again, and, showing a more pleasant
countenance than he had yet done, told them, by means of his interpreter, that
as himself feared God, and was desirous of acting justly by them, he was
unwilling that their family should want provision, or that they, themselves
should suffer, if innocent. He therefore proposed, “That one of them should be
confined as a hostage for the rest, while they returned with corn for the
family; and that, when they came again, and brought their youngest brother with
them, the one confined should be immediately released, and all of them
considered as men of honesty and integrity.” JOSEPH'S BROTHERS KNOW WHY THEY ARE
PERSECUTED Being reduced to a state of extremity, and knowing it was in vain to
remonstrate with one, under whose immediate power they were, they unanimously,
though no doubt with reluctance, agreed to this proposal. The interpreter was at
this time absent, and, supposing no one else understood their language, they,
imagining their present distressed situation was a punishment for their cruel
treatment of their brother, began, in Joseph's presence, to condemn each other
for their barbarous conduct. “Justly,” said they, “do we now suffer for our
cruelty to our brother, to whom we refused mercy, though he begged it in the
anguish of his soul; therefore God is just in sending upon us this distress.”
Reuben, who was not so culpable as the rest, told them, that all this mischief
might have been prevented had they listened to his counsel, and not acted so
inhumanly to their innocent brother, for whose sake it was no more than what
they might expect, that vengeance, at one time or other, would certainly
overtake them. SIMEON HELD IN PRISON Though Joseph could counterfeit the
stranger in his looks, his mien, and his voice, yet he still retained the
brother in his heart. The confusion and distress of his brethren awakened all
his fraternal tenderness, and he was obliged to withdraw from their presence to
give a vent to his passions. In a short time, however, he returned, and, after
commanding Simeon[146] to be bound in their presence, he sent him to prison.
Having done this, he set all the rest at liberty, and ordered the officer who
distributed the corn, to supply them with what they wanted, and, at the same
time, unknown to them, to put each man's money into the mouth of his sack. [146]
The Jewish Rabbis say, that Joseph determined to retain Simeon rather than any
other, because it way he who threw him into the pit. This tradition is far from
being improbable. It is certain that Reuben was desirous of saving Joseph, and
Judah inclined to favor him; so that if Simeon had joined with them, their
authority might have prevailed over the rest to save him. We may add to this,
that Simeon was a violent man as is evident from his barbarous treatment of the
Shechemites; and that Joseph might think proper to detain him as it would least
afflict his father. These orders being punctually obeyed, they set out for
Canaan, and at the close of their first day's journey, met with a circumstance
they little expected. One of them opening his sack to give his ass provender,
observed his money in the mouth of it, which, on examination, appeared to be the
case with all the rest. This unexpected event gave them great uneasiness, and,
looking confusedly at each other, they exclaimed, “What is this God hath done
unto us?” They imagined it to be a plot concerted by the viceroy of Egypt, and
that he intended, on their return, to make them slaves, by accusing them of
theft. JACOB TOLD OF DIFFICULTIES IN EGYPT Prosecuting their journey, they at
length arrived at the habitation of their venerable parent, to whom they related
all the particulars of their journey into the land of Egypt. They informed him
of the treatment they had received from the viceroy: that he had accused them of
being spies, and that they had no method of clearing themselves, but by leaving
Simeon bound in prison, as a pledge, till they should return with Benjamin, on
which terms alone their innocence could be justified. The good old patriarch was
sensibly affected at these melancholy tidings, and, in the affliction of his
soul, thus complained: “That one way or other, he had been deprived of his
children; that Joseph was dead, Simeon was left in Egypt, and now they were
going to take Benjamin from him likewise, which were things too heavy for him to
bear.” Reuben, finding his father thus unhappily circumstanced, in order to
mitigate his affliction, told him he need not be apprehensive of any danger from
the absence of Benjamin. He begged that he would put him under his protection,
and at the same time assured him, that if he did not bring him safe back, he
would readily agree to the loss of his own two sons for such defect. But this
proposal had little weight with Jacob, and, instead of assuaging his grief, only
contributed to augment it. Resolved, therefore, not to trust Benjamin with them,
he answered Reuben as follows: “My son,” said he, “shall not go down with you,
for his brother is dead, and he is left alone; if mischief befall him by the way
in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the
grave.”[147] [147] Nothing can be more tender and picturesque than these words
of the venerable patriarch. Still affected with the remembrance of his beloved
Rachel, he can not think of parting with Benjamin, the only remaining pledge of
that love, now Joseph, as he supposes, is no more; for, by her, he had only
these two sons. We here seem, as it were, to behold the gray-headed venerable
parent pleading with his sons; the beloved Benjamin standing by his side;
impatient sorrow in their countenances, and, to his, all the feeling anxiety of
paternal love. In this state of doubt and perplexity did they spend their time,
till the famine every day increasing, and their stock of provisions being nearly
consumed, Jacob told his sons to go again into Egypt for a fresh supply; but at
the same time took no notice of their obligation to the viceroy to bring with
them their youngest brother. Jacob's sons, knowing their departure without
Benjamin would not only argue to them the greatest folly and rashness, but also
expose them to the resentment of the viceroy, and, at the same time, thinking it
impossible to obtain their father's consent were reduced to the utmost dilemma.
Reuben had already tried his efforts in vain; Judah, therefore, now addressed
him in more positive terms, urging at once the absolute and indispensable
necessity of taking Benjamin with them, “as the viceroy had most solemnly
declared they should not so much as see his face, if, on their return, he was
not with them.” Jacob, being now put to his last shifts for the preservation of
his favorite son Benjamin, knew not how to act, and, in the fulness of his soul,
reproved his sons for having informed the viceroy they had a brother. In answer
to this Judah told him, that what was said upon that head proceeded from the
simplicity of their hearts; that he inquired so minutely into their
circumstances and family, that they could not possibly avoid giving the
information he required; and added, that they had little suspicion of his making
so singular a demand. JACOB PERSUADED TO LET BENJAMIN GO TO EGYPT Judah, finding
his father waver a little in his resolution, repeated the necessity of their
going again into Egypt, and pressed him to consent to give up their brother
Benjamin, solemnly promising that, at the hazard of his own life, he would take
care, and return him safe into his hands. “Send the lad,” said he, “with me, and
we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and those, and
also our little ones: I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require
him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the
blame for ever.” From the strong importunities of Judah, and a proper reflection
on the necessity of affairs, Jacob was at length induced to comply, and
therefore delivered up to them his son Benjamin. But before their departure he
advised them, since it must be so, to take a double quantity of money with them,
lest there should have been some mistake made in the other that was returned,
and the price of what they had already bought demanded. He likewise told them to
take some such presents as the country afforded, and what they imagined would be
most acceptable to the viceroy. Having said this, he entreated Heaven for their
safety, and then dismissed them with an aching heart, though fully resolved to
acquiesce in Gods good Providence, whatever might be the event. On their arrival
in Egypt, they immediately went to the king's principal granaries, and presented
themselves before Joseph, who, seeing their brother Benjamin with them, gave
orders to his steward to conduct them to his house, where he designed they
should that day dine with him. They now began to have disagreeable
apprehensions, fearing this might be a contrivance against them on account of
the money which was returned in their sacks. They, therefore, before they
entered the house, acquainted the steward with the whole affair; and, to
demonstrate their honesty, told him, that besides the money which they found
returned, they had brought more with them to buy a fresh quantity of provision.
The steward, having been let into the secret, and perceiving the concern they
were in, desired them not to make themselves in the least uneasy. He told them,
that what they found in their sacks they ought to look upon as a treasure sent
from Heaven: he owned that he himself had fairly received their money, and gave
them assurance that they would never hear more of it. To convince them that they
might rely on what he said, he left them a short time, and then returned with
their brother Simeon unbound: after which he acquainted them that they were that
day to dine with his master; and, in the meantime, showed them all the tokens of
civility due to welcome guests. JOSEPH INVITES BROTHERS TO DINNER As the time
was near at hand that Joseph was to come home to dinner, his brethren took care
to have their present ready; and, on his entering the apartment, they gave it
him in the most humble and submissive manner. He saluted them with the greatest
cordiality, and made anxious inquiry concerning the health and welfare of their
aged father. To which they submissively replied: “Thy servant, our father, is in
good health; he is yet alive.” Though Joseph addressed his brethren in general
terms, his attention was principally fixed on his brother. Benjamin, who was
most near and dear to him. After inquiring of the rest if he was the youngest
brother whom they had mentioned, without waiting for an answer, he saluted him
in these words, “God be gracious unto thee, my son.”[148] His passions were now
raised to such a pitch, that, unable to contain the flood of tears that was
ready to flow from his eyes, and fearing lest he should discover himself too
soon, he retired into an adjoining apartment, and there gave a loose to his
fraternal emotions. After a short time, having dried up his tears, and washed
his face, that it might not appear he had wept, he returned to the company, and
gave immediate orders for the provision to be served up. [148] Joseph was the
only brother of Benjamin by his mother Rachel. His calling him son, therefore,
was only appellation of courtesy used by superiors in saluting their inferiors,
whom they styled sons, with respect an to themselves, as fathers of the country.
In the room where the entertainment was provided were three tables; one for
Joseph alone, on account of his dignity; another for his Egyptian guests, who
would never eat with the Hebrews,[149] and a third for his brethren. [149] The
dislike which the Egyptians took to the Hebrews did not arise, as some have
imagined, from the latter eating animal food, but from their low degree in life,
being shepherds, an employment, which, though esteemed by the Hebrews, was
despised by the Egyptians. These last were all placed in exact order according
to their seniority, a circumstance which greatly surprised them, for, not
knowing their brother Joseph, they could not conceive by what means he had
obtained so perfect a knowledge of their respective ages. During the
entertainment Joseph behaved in the most courteous manner, not only to his
brethren, but to the whole company. He sent from his own table[150] messes to
each of his brothers; but with this difference, that the one sent to Benjamin
was five times larger than any of the rest. [150] It was the custom among the
ancients for all the provision to be placed on one table, and the master of the
feast to distribute to every one his portion. This was another mystery they
could not account for; however, they made themselves easy for the present, and
enjoyed the repast which had been so bountifully prepared for them. JOSEPH'S
BROTHERS PREPARE TO LEAVE EGYPT The entertainment being over, Joseph's brethren
took their leave, and made the necessary preparations for setting off, the next
morning, to the land of Canaan, pleased with, the thoughts of what had passed,
and the satisfaction their aged parent would receive on their safe arrival. But
Joseph had one more fright for them still in reserve. He ordered his steward,
when he filled their sacks with corn, to return their money (as he had done
before) but into Benjamin's sack not only to put his money, but the silver cup
likewise, out of which himself was accustomed to drink.[152] [152] Joseph
ordered this cup to be privately put into Benjamin's sack, in order to make a
farther trial of his brethren's temper, and to see whether, moved with envy,
they would give up Benjamin, or endeavor to assist him in his danger. It is not
likely (as some have thought) that he really designed to have made a pretence
for detaining Benjamin; or that he could be ignorant of his father's warm
affection to his youngest son. BENJAMIN HAS JOSEPH'S CUP This being done, early
the next morning they proceeded on their journey toward Canaan; but they had not
got far when Joseph ordered his steward to pursue them, and upbraid them with
ingratitude in having so basely requited his master's civility as to steal away
his cup. The steward did as he was commanded, and having overtaken them, accused
them of theft. Conscious of their innocence, they were not in the least affected
at the charge. As a test of their integrity they reminded the steward of their
bringing back the money which they found in their sacks in their former journey;
and to obviate every suspicion of their being guilty of the accusation laid
against them, they offered to stand search under the severest penalties: “With
whomsoever of thy servants,” said they, “it may be found, let him die, and we
also will be my lord's bondmen.” The steward took them at their word, but
softened the penalty, by fixing it, that the person on whom the cup should be
found should be his servant, and the rest considered as blameless. Impatient to
prove their innocence, every one hastily unloaded his beast, and, as they opened
their sacks, the steward searched them; when behold, to their great astonishment
and surprise, the cup was found in the sack belonging to Benjamin. It was to no
purpose for the poor youth to say anything in his defence: upon such a
demonstration none would believe him. As they were all concerned in the
disgrace, they rent their clothes, and, without attempting even to palliate the
fact, loaded their asses, and, in a mournful manner, returned to the city.
Joseph had remained at home in expectation of their return, and no sooner did
they approach his presence than they immediately prostrated themselves before
him. Joseph, without giving them time to speak a word in their defence, charged
them with the fact, and reprimanded them for their folly in committing a theft,
which it was totally out of their power to conceal. “What deed,” says he, “is
this ye have done? Wot ye not, that such a man as I can certainly divine.”[153]
[153] This was as much as to say, “You see by my office that I am one of the
great ministers of state, while the other diviners are preferred only from the
college of priests. As I am, therefore, so superior to them, could you be
insensible that it was in my power to divine, or detect your robber?” JUDAH BEGS
JOSEPH'S MERCY In the midst of a general horror, Judah, in a very humble tone,
addressed himself to Joseph in words to this effect: “We have nothing to offer
in our defence; God hath detected our iniquity, and we must remain slaves with
him in whose sack the cup was found.” But Joseph interrupted him by declaring,
that he could by no means do such injustice; for that he only who stole the cup
should be his slave, while the rest, whenever they pleased, were at full liberty
to return to their father. Judah, encouraged by finding the viceroy somewhat
softened, presumed farther to address him, which he did in the most submissive
and pathetic terms. He acquainted him with the whole case between them and their
father, in relation to their bringing Benjamin into Egypt, to take away the
suspicion of their being spies. He very feelingly described their father's
melancholy situation for the loss of his son Joseph; the extreme fondness he had
for his son Benjamin; the difficulty they were under to prevail with him to
trust him with them, insomuch that himself was forced to become security for his
safe return; and that, if he should go home without him, his father's life was
so wrapped up in the child, that he would certainly die with grief. To prevent,
therefore, so melancholy a scene, he offered himself as an equivalent for his
brother. “I pray thee,” said he, “let thy servant abide, instead of the lad, a
bondman to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren; for how shall I go
up to my father, and the lad be not with me?” JOSEPH REVEALS HIMSELF This moving
speech, and generous offer, so operated on the passions of Joseph, that he could
no longer contain himself: the force of nature shook his frame, and obliged him
to throw off all disguise. Ordering, therefore, the, rest of the company to
depart, that he might discover himself with more affectionate freedom, they were
no sooner gone, than he burst into a flood of tears, and, looking earnestly at
his brethren, pathetically exclaimed, “I am Joseph; doth my father yet
live?”[154] [154] There is certainly a distinguished beauty in this
interrogation; and the transition is finely wrought. The soul of Joseph was so
full of filial affection for his father, that, before he had finished his
sentence, he required after him, though but a short time before, they had told
him he was alive. And how must such an abrupt declaration affect his brothers!
No wonder they were dumb for sometime with astonishment, and unable to answer
the question asked. Conscious guilt, at the very name of that Joseph whom they
had so unnaturally treated, struck them dumb, as they now dreaded the power he
had of resenting the injuries they had done him. But brotherly love overcame
resentment, and banished every desire of revenge. Joseph, observing their
confusion, bid them, in the most endearing manner, approach nearer to him; when
he assured them, that he was the very brother they had sold into Egypt, and
though he had assumed, the dignity becoming his office, he still retained the
tenderness of a brother. To remove all further apprehensions of danger, he told
them, that their selling him into Egypt, was directed by an unforeseen
Providence; and that they had no reason to be angry with themselves for doing
it, since they were no more than the instruments in God's hand to bring about
what his wise purpose had determined. That himself had no reason to resent it,
since, by that means, he had been advanced to the honor and dignity of being
governor of all Egypt. And, lastly, that neither his father, nor any of his
family, ought to murmur at it, since God appointed this method for the
preservation of their lives.[155] [155] These passages point out to us the very
noble and just ideas which Joseph entertained concerning the providence of God:
but, besides this, we may observe a peculiar generosity and tenderness of temper
in this apology to his brethren, wherein he endeavors to remove every uneasy
apprehension from their minds. Good hearts are always averse to giving pain; the
same benevolence of disposition which make them zealous to diffuse happiness,
makes them tender of inflicting a momentary smart. Joseph was unwilling that his
brethren should feel any alloy to their satisfaction which the present event
afforded; and therefore he turned, as it were, from their view the very thought
and remembrance of their former unnatural behavior to him, and directed their
attention to reflections which were equally comfortable and important. JOSEPH
INSTRUCTS HIS BROTHERS Having said this, he told them that there were yet five
years of the famine to come, and therefore he would advise them to hasten home,
and, as soon as possible, bring their father, together with all the family, into
Egypt. As an inducement for them to leave their own country; he desired them,
from him, to address their father to this effect: “that God had made him lord of
all Egypt, and that therefore he must not defer coming; for he would provide
Goshen[156] for the place of his habitation, and there would he carefully
nourish not only him but all his family.” He acknowledged that this relation
must, of course, appear strange to his father; but that he certainly would not
doubt the testimony of so many eyewitnesses; and above all, that he would not
fail to believe what was told him by his favorite son Benjamin. He then threw
himself upon Benjamin's neck, kissed him, and wept for joy; and having a little
recovered himself, he treated all the rest with like tenderness. His brethren
being thus convinced that a perfect reconciliation had taken place between them,
took courage, and conversed with him in a manner very different to what they had
done previous to this happy discovery. [156] This was the most fruitful part of
all Lower Egypt, especially for pasturage; and therefore the most commodious for
those who were brought up shepherds and accustomed to a pastoral life. Besides
this, it was very conveniently situated, being but a small distance from the
city where Pharaoh kept his court. The rumor had reached the king that Joseph's
brethren were come; and it is a pleasing evidence of the esteem in which he was
held, and the regard which he had conciliated, that a domestic incident which
was calculated to be a satisfaction to him, was highly agreeable to Pharaoh and
all his court. The monarch sent for him, and authorized him to express the
kindest attentions toward them, and the utmost anxiety for their welfare. He, as
well as Joseph, saw that it would be best for them to come to Egypt, and he had
the consideration to direct that the they should be well supplied with
provisions on the way, and that they should be furnished with carts,[157] in
which the aged Jacob, with the women and young children, might pass from Canaan
to Egypt with more comfort, than by the more ordinary means of conveyance. [157]
Carts--The Egyptians had no chariots, except perhaps war chariots, suited to
bear such a journey as this, and they would have been most unsuitable for the
present purpose. Besides, the word for a chariot is different from that which is
here employed, although a wheel-carriage of some kind or other is certainly
indicated. To indicate that carriage, we have taken the word “cart,” as
preferable, upon the whole, to that of “wagon”--partly as being less definite.
But it does not appear that the Egyptians had any carts, or any wheeled
carriages save chariots of war, and light curricles for civil use. The Nile and
the numerous canals offered such facilities for carriage and conveyance by
water, that the use of carts and wagons does not appear to have been thought of.
Carts are indeed represented in the paintings and sculptures of that ancient
country; but not as being in use among the Egyptians themselves, but by a people
with whom they are at war, apparently a nomad people of Asia, and who are
represented as escaping, in their carts. Now, we infer, that as the Egyptians
had no carts of their own, those which were sent for Jacob were such as they had
either taken in war from a people by whom they were used, or had been left
behind by the intrusive shepherd-race. As having been used by a pastoral people,
they would seem to the king particularly suitable for the removal of a pastoral
family. In connection with preceding statements, and with the conjecture just
offered, it deserves to be noticed, that the next instance of carts which occurs
in the scriptural history is found among the Philistines. 1 Samuel 6:7. The
first of our engravings represents the only kind of wheel-carriage now used in
Syria, and that chiefly for agricultural purposes. The second represents the
carts of the Tartar nomads of Central Asia, whose usages offer many remarkable
resemblances to those of the patriarchs and the early pastoral races with which
early Bible history makes us acquainted. It is little to be wondered at that
Joseph should very readily obey the king's commands. Accordingly, he furnished
them with a proper number of carts for bringing their family and substance,
together with a sufficient quantity of provision for their journey as well home
as back again. He sent his father a present, consisting of ten asses laden with
the choicest dainties Egypt afforded. To his brethren he gave each changes of
raiment, but to Benjamin he gave five changes, together with three hundred
pieces of silver. Having done this, Joseph dismissed his brethren, giving them,
at the same time, a strict charge that they should not fall out by the way.[158]
[158] Joseph was no stranger to the temper's of his brethren, and therefore
thought proper to reprove them in this gentle manner. Probably he suspected they
might accuse each other with the cruelty they had exercised toward him, or throw
envious reflections on Benjamin, because to had been eminently distinguished
above the rest. JACOB REVIVES AFTER FAINTING Thus supplied, and thus
circumstanced, the sons of Jacob, with hearts full of joy, prosecuted their
journey to Canaan. As soon as their aged father saw them, his drooping spirits
revived, more especially when he beheld his sons Benjamin and Simeon, whose
return he had little expected. But when they informed him that his son Joseph
was likewise alive, and described the great pomp and splendor in which he lived,
the good old patriarch was affected indeed; and, unable to bear so much good
news at once, fainted in their arms. When Jacob came again to himself, his sons
showed him the presents sent by Joseph, together with the carts that were to
carry him and his family into Egypt. The sight of these, with many particulars
they related of their brother Joseph, revived his spirits; his doubts and fears
vanished, and, in an ecstasy of joy, he exclaimed, “It is enough! Joseph, my
son, is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.” The necessary
preparations being made, Jacob and his family left Hebron and proceeded on their
journey toward Egypt. It might be supposed that the old man's anxiety to see so
dear a son, and for whom he had so long mourned, would have made him proceed
with the greatest expedition; but parental affection gave way to religious
duties. Being desirous of making proper acknowledgments to God for the benefits
already received, as well as to implore his farther protection, he stopped at
Beersheba, and there offered up sacrifices to the Lord. The reasons of his
choosing this spot on the present occasion were, because it was the place where
Abraham and Isaac had lived so long: and at the same time it was in the way to
Egypt, being the utmost boundary of Canaan toward the south. On the evening of
the same day that Jacob had performed his religious duties at Beersheba, the
Almighty appeared to him in a vision, bidding him not fear to go down into
Egypt, since he would be with him and protect him, and in due time, bring his
posterity out of it to take possession of the promised land. That as to himself,
he should live near his beloved Joseph, die in his arms, and have his eyes
closed by his hand.[159] [159] It must certainly have given great consolation to
good old Jacob to find, from the promise of God, that Joseph was to attend him
on his death-bed, and to close those eyes that had often assisted him in
contemplating the beauties of nature. The custom of closing the eyes of persons
departed is very ancient, and they were usually the nearest and dearest friends
who performed his last office. Modern Syrian Carts, of ancient form Carts of the
Tartar Nomads

Encouraged by this divine promise, Jacob left Beersheba, and cheerfully pursued
his journey toward Egypt, his sons taking with them their children and wives in
the carts which Joseph had sent for the purpose. They likewise took with them
all their cattle and goods; and the whole number of souls descended from Jacob's
loins amounted to three score and ten. JOSEPH MEETS JACOB As soon as they came
to the borders of Egypt (and not far from the land of Goshen) Jacob dispatched
his son Judah before them, in order to acquaint Joseph with their arrival. This
intelligence was very agreeable to Joseph, who immediately ordered his chariot
to be got ready, and, with a retinue suitable to his high station, hastened to
meet his father, whom he congratulated on his safe arrival at a place where it
was in his power to make him happy and comfortable during the remainder of his
life. Words can not describe the expressions of filial duty and paternal
affection that took place on this occasion. Tears of joy plentifully flowed on
both sides. While the son was contemplating the goodness of God in bringing him
to the sight of his aged parent, the father, on the other hand, thought all his
happiness on earth completed in this interview; and, therefore, in the fullness
of his soul. he exclaimed, “Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because
thou art yet alive.” These mutual endearments being over, and Joseph having paid
his respects to the whole family, he told his father and brethren that he would
go before and acquaint the king with their arrival. As he imagined Pharaoh would
be desirous of seeing some of them, he gave them this caution: that in case he
should ask of what occupation they were, their answer should be, that they were
shepherds, as their ancestors, for many generations, had been before them. By
these means, he told them, he might secure the land of Goshen for their
residence, which was not only one of the most pleasant parts of Egypt, but the
best calculated for feeding their flocks and herds. Besides this, he said, there
would be another material advantage, namely, that it would be a happy retreat
from the insults of the Egyptians, who were known to have an utter detestation
to those who followed a shepherd's life. JOSEPH'S FAMILY MEETS PHARAOH Having
given this caution, Joseph took with him five of his brothers, and after
previously informing Pharaoh that his father and family were arrived at Goshen,
presented them before the king. Pharaoh received them with great courtesy, out
of respect to Joseph, and, among other questions, asked them of what occupation
they were. They answered (agreeably to the directions given them by Joseph) that
they were shepherds, as their ancestors, for many generations before, had been:
that want of pasturage for their cattle, and sustenance for themselves, had made
them leave Canaan, and they humbly beseeched his majesty that they might be
permitted to settle in the land of Goshen, that part of the country being best
adapted for the purposes of their employment. Pharaoh readily granted their
request, and moreover told Joseph, that if any of his brethren were remarkable
for their activity and knowledge, he might, if he thought proper, appoint them
as superintendents over the royal shepherds. Joseph's project having so far
happily succeeded, he, soon after, introduced his aged parent to Pharaoh, who
after receiving him in a very courteous manner, among other questions, asked him
his age. Jacob answered, he was a hundred and thirty; upon which the king
expressing some surprise from his appearing so strong and healthy, Jacob farther
told him, that his life was not, as yet, near so long as some of his ancestors,
nor did he look so well as those who were much farther advanced in life, which
was owing to the great troubles and perplexities under which he had long
labored. Some other questions being asked, and the answers given, Jacob, after
wishing the king health and prosperity, took his leave, and returned to Goshen,
where Joseph took care to supply him and his family with such an abundance of
necessaries as made them insensible of the general calamity. While Jacob and his
family were thus happily circumstanced, by means of the power and affection of
Joseph, the Egyptians were in the utmost distress. The dreadful effects of the
famine appeared more and more every day, and Joseph keeping up the corn at a
very high price, in a short time all the money was brought into the king's
coffers. When their money was gone, they were all (except the priests who were
furnished from the king's stores) obliged to part with their cattle, their
houses, their lands, and, at length, even their liberty, for provision.[160]
[160] Whatever those may think who have endeavored to depreciate the conduct of
Joseph, it is certain that there was no injustice in Joseph's making the
Egyptians pay for the corn which he had bought with Pharaoh's money, and laid up
with great care and expense. In demanding their cattle, he had most probably a
view to save them; for, as they had not corn for themselves, they could much
less have it for their cattle; and, therefore, this was the only way to preserve
the lives of both, and to prevent that waste of the corn which must have been
made if they had had the keeping and feeding of the cattle themselves, and it is
highly probable that he returned them their cattle after the famine, when they
were fixed again in their several habitations--otherwise it would have been
hardly possible for them to support their families and carry on their business.
The Sultan on his throne

All these Joseph purchased of the people in the king's name, and for the king's
use, and, to let them see that the purchase was in earnest, and that their
liberties and properties were now become the king's, he removed them, from their
former places of abode, into different, and very distant parts of the kingdom.
In any other person such conduct might have been considered as arising from an
immoderate zeal for absolute power in the king, and an advantage unjustly taken
of the necessities of the people; but so Joseph managed the matter as to gain
the approbation both of prince and people. When the seventh and last year of the
famine was come, he told them they might expect to have a crop the ensuing year;
for that the Nile would overflow its banks, and the earth bring forth her fruits
as usual. Having made this known, he distributed fresh lands, cattle, and corn
to the people, that they might return to their tillage as before; but this he
did on the following condition: that thenceforth the fifth part of all the
produce of their lands should become the property of the king. “Behold,” says
he, “I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh. Lo, here is seed for
you, and ye shall sow the land. And it shall come to pass in the increase, that
you shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own for
seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your household, and for
food for your little ones.” EGYPTIAN APPRECIATION TO JOSEPH To these conditions
the people willingly consented, imputing the preservation of their lives to
Joseph's care: “Thou hast saved,” said they, “our lives; let us find grace in
the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.” From this time it
passed into a law, that the fifth part of the produce of the land of Egypt
(except what belonged to the priests) should become the property of the crown.
JACOB GROWS WEAKER While Joseph was en enjoying the fruits of his great success
and policy, his family at Goshen (whom he failed not frequently to visit) became
not only numerous, but exceeding wealthy. The seven years of famine were
succeeded by great plenty, the earth resuming its former fertility, and the
whole land abounding in all the usual productions of nature. Seventeen of these
years of plenty did Jacob live to see, at the expiration of which nature's lamp
grew dim, and life was nearly exhausted; his decayed spirits warn him of his
approaching fate, and each drooping faculty beats an alarm to death. When Jacob
found himself thus circumstanced, he sent for his son Joseph, whom he addressed
in words to the following effect: “Though the desire of seeing a son so dear to
me as you are raised to the height of Egyptian glory, joined to the raging
famine which then visited our land, made me willingly come down into this
strange country; yet Canaan being the inheritance which God promised to Abraham
and his posterity, and where he lies interred with my father Isaac, and some
other of our family, in the ground which he purchased of the inhabitants for
that purpose; my last and dying request to you is, that you will not suffer me
to be buried here, but swear to see me carried to Machpelah, and there deposited
with my ancestors. Your great power with the king will easily obtain that favor,
which is the last I have to ask.” Joseph not only promised, but likewise swore,
strictly to fulfill his father's request; upon which the good old man was so
perfectly satisfied, that, after thanking his son for these fresh assurances of
his fidelity, he bowed himself in acknowledgment to God, who, besides all his
other mercies, had given him this last token of his protection, in assuring him,
by Joseph's promise and oath, that he should be removed from Egypt into the
promise land. Joseph, having thus satisfied his father in this particular, took
his leave, but not without giving a strict charge to those who attended him,
that, upon the very first appearance of danger, they should immediately send for
him. He had been but a short time at court, before a messenger arrived with the
dismal intelligence that his father was near expiring; upon which, taking with
him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, he hastened with all expedition to visit
him. A soon as the feeble patriarch understood that his son Joseph had arrived,
it immediately raised his sinking spirits, and he became so far revived as to be
able to sit upright in his bed. Desiring his favorite Joseph to approach near
him, he began with recapitulating all the glorious promises which God had
formerly made him concerning his posterity possessing the land of Canaan; and
after mentioning the death of Rachel, together with the place where her remains
were deposited,[161] . he spoke to the following effect: “How tenderly I loved
my dear Rachel, all my family can testify; but this farther proof I now give you
of my affection to her. You have two sons born in a foreign country and who,
according to the usual order of inheritance, should have only the portion of
grandchildren in the division of the promised land; but, from this day forward,
they shall be esteemed my sons, and, as heads of two distinct tribes (for they
shall not be called the tribe of Joseph, but the tribes of Ephraim and
Manasseh), receive a double portion in that allotment. But it must not be so
with the other sons which you may beget after these: they must come in only for
the portion of grandchildren. And to you in particular I bequeath that tract of
land which, by the force of arms, I took from the Amorites.”[162] [161] It is
probable that Jacob here mentioned to Joseph the place of Rachel's interment, in
hopes that he might, at some convenient opportunity, remove her ashes to the
cave of Machpelah [162] There are many particulars in the lives of the
patriarchs, and of others, which are not at all mentioned in scripture; and
there are some instances of a transient reference to facts of this kind, to
things which have been said and done, but are never related. Of this kind, it is
reasonable to suppose, is the passage in question; at least, we have no mention
in scripture of any portion of land taken from the Amorites by Jacob. All,
therefore, which can be said upon the subject must be mere conjecture; of which
the most probable is, that the parcel of ground near Shechem, which Jacob
purchased of Hamor, is here meant, and which, probably, he took or recovered, by
force of arms, from the Amorites, who, it seems, had seized on it after his
removal to another part of Canaan. JACOB BLESSES EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH During the
time Jacob was thus talking with Joseph concerning himself and children, he had
not observed that Joseph's sons were with him, but spoke of them as if they had
been absent. At length, turning to Joseph, and observing (as he thought)
somebody with him (though he could not discern who it was, on account of his
eyes being dim with age), he asked who he had with him. To which Joseph replied,
his sons Ephraim and Manasseh, and at the same time, with great reverence, bowed
himself to the ground. Jacob was greatly rejoiced at this intelligence, and
immediately ordered them to be brought near, that he might bestow on them his
blessing. Joseph obeyed his father's commands, and placed the children according
to the order of their age, that is, Manasseh, as being the first-born, on the
right, and Ephraim on the left: but Jacob, crossing his hands, laid his right
(which carried with it the preference) upon the younger, and his left upon the
elder of them. Joseph, observing this, and supposing it to proceed from a
mistake, was going to rectify it; but his father told him that what he did was
by divine direction, and therefore made Ephraim, not only the first in
nomination, but gave him a blessing much more extensive than that conferred on
his elder brother. JACOB'S LAST WORDS This conversation was hitherto private,
being only between Jacob and his favorite son Joseph. But the good old
patriarch, finding his dissolution near at hand, ordered all his sons to be
brought before him, that, while he lead strength to speak, he might take his
last farewell, and not only distribute his blessing among them, but likewise
foretell what should happen to them and their posterity to future times.
Accordingly, all Jacob's sons being brought before him, he addressed them
separately; beginning with Reuben, the eldest. “Reuben,” says he, “thou art my
first-born; and, by right of primogeniture, entitled to many privileges and
prerogatives in superiority over thy brethren; but, for the crime of incest in
polluting thy father's bed, both thou and thy tribe are totally degraded from
the privileges of birthright.” Having said this to Reuben, he next addressed
himself to Simeon and Levi conjunctively; telling them, that for their impious
massacre of Hamor and his people, their tribes should be ever separate, and
dispersed among the rest. “I will divide them,” says he, “in Jacob, and scatter
them in Israel.”[163] [163] This prophecy was literally fulfilled; for the
Levites were scattered throughout all the other tribes, and Simeon had only a
part of the land of Judah for his residence. Jacob, then turning to Judah,
prophesied of him to this effect: That to his tribe should the sovereignty
belong, and they should be situated in a very fruitful country that from his
name should the whole nation of the Jews derive their appellation; and that the
form of government which he then instituted should remain among them until the
coming of the Messiah.[164] [164] The words in the text run thus--Judah, “thou
art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy father's children shall bow down
before thee. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from
between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the
people be.” Many commentators have written largely on this remarkable prophecy
related by Jacob to his son Judah. From the time that our first parents ate of
the forbidden fruit, we have seen that the promised seed was, one age after
another, more and more circumscribed, although its salutary effects were to be
the same. It is first called the seed of the woman; it is next consigned over to
Seth; Shem, the younger son of Noah, gets the preference; afterward Abraham is
made choice of; from Isaac, the son of Abraham, it goes to his second son Jacob;
and here Jacob, by the spirit of prophecy, conveys it to the posterity of Judah.
There are several things to be attended to in this remarkable prophecy, and such
as are of the utmost importance for us to know. First, we are told that Judah's
brethren should praise him, and that his hand should be in the neck of his
enemies. This was remarkably fulfilled in the local situation of the tribe of
Judah; for their being so near the Arabians, obliged them to be continually on
their guard; and as they were for the most part successful, so it may be justly
said that the hand of Judah was in the neck of his enemies, and that his
brethren praised him for standing up in their defence. Secondly, it is here said
that his father's children should bow down before him, and certainly nothing was
ever more literally fulfilled. David, in whose family the royal sovereignty was
placed, was of the tribe of Judah, and to him all the other tribes bowed down.
But the prophecy conveys a further idea, namely, that from Judah, according to
the flesh, the Messiah should come, to whom all nations should bow down; and in
the book of Revelations he is called the lion of the tribe of Judah. Thirdly,
“the scepter shall not depart from, Judah,” etc.; by which we are to understand
that there should never be one wanting to sway the regal scepter, or exercise
sovereign authority in the tribe of Judah, till that glorious and Divine Person
came, whose kingdom was to have no end, and to whom the people were to be
gathered; for the Messiah is, in many places of scripture, called the “desire of
all nations.” Such is the nature of this remarkable prophecy; and now, in order
to prove the concurring authenticity of the Mosaic and Gospel history, let us
see in what manner it has been fulfilled. During the time of Joshua's wars with
the Canaanites, the tribe of Judah was more distinguished for its valor than the
others; and it appears, from the book of Judges, that they were always the most
forward to engage with the common enemy. When it is said that “the scepter shall
not depart from Judah,” it implies that it should depart from all those of the
other tribes who should enjoy it. Thus it departed from the tribe of Benjamin on
the death of Saul; and it is well known that the ten tribes were carried away
captive, and incorporated with other nations, while that of Benjamin put itself
under the protection of Judah. From the time of David till the taking of
Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, Judah exercised the regal authority; and although
ten of the tribes, who followed the idolatry of Jeroboam, had kings, yet they
were for the most part subject to those of Judah. It is true, the Jews were also
carried captive to Babylon; but during the seventy years they were in that
country, they were so far from being treated as slaves, that they were allowed
to build houses, and lived in such affluence, that many of them refused to
return to their own country when permission was granted them. When Cyrus, the
emperor, issued his orders for them to return to the land of Judea, they had
rulers among them, for they were expressly mentioned in the royal proclamation.
It is certain, that after returning from their captivity they were not so free
as before because they were frequently oppressed by the Persians, Greeks, and
Romans; but, for all that, they live as a distinct people, under their own laws
and government. It continued to be the same under the Asmodean princes; and it
is well known that Herod the Great married Mariamne, the last female of that
line; and in the latter end of his reign the Messiah was born. It is true, the
Romans, in some cases, deprived them of the power of judging in cases of
treason; but, notwithstanding, we find, in the cases of our Savior and the
apostle Paul, that the Roman prætors or governors never proceeded to judge a
criminal till he was condemned by the rulers of the people. The learned Dr. Shaw
says, the blessings given to Judah were very different from all those bestowed
on the other tribes. The mountains in Judea abound with so much wine, oil, and
milk, that one is surprised at the fertility of a place which, at a distance,
has the appearance of barrenness. Grapes and raisins are sent annually in great
quantities from Hebron to Egypt, besides several other sorts of fruit. From
these observations, will not the impartial reader declare that this prophecy has
been literally fulfilled? and is not the present melancholy state of the Jews a
striking proof of its authenticity? Till the Messiah came, they had a regal
government; but, because they rejected him, they are now scattered up and down
through all nations, without being permitted to enjoy the privileges of any
nation whatever. Surely this should convince us that no human testimony can
overthrow the evidence brought in support of the Mosaic and Gospel histories. Of
Zebulun, Jacob prophesied that his tribe should be planted near the seacoasts,
and have harbors convenient for shipping;[165] and of Issachar, that his should
prove a pusillanimous people, and be lovers of inglorious ease more than of
liberty and renown.[166] [165] It is remarkable that Zebulun is mentioned by
Jacob before Issachar, who was the eldest; but this distinction, it is probable,
arose from his great superiority and merit. Zebulun's portion of the country was
likewise very preferable to Issachar's; for, besides the advantage he had in
common with him, and that our Lord chiefly resided in his tribe, and was thence
called a Galilean, he is here promised a seacoast, with harbors commodious for
ships. If Jacob had been- present at the division of the promised land, he could
hardly have given a more exact description of Zebulun's lot; for it extended
from the Mediterranean sea on the west to the lake of Tiberias, or sea of
Galilee, on the east. [166] Of all the tribes of Israel, that of Issachar was
distinguished for being the most indolent. That part of the country which fell
to their share was exceeding fertile; but that fertility only served to enervate
[lacking of manly courage and resolution] the people, so that when they were
invaded by foreign enemies, they soon became an easy prey to them, and were
often obliged to pay tribute. Jacob, having predicted the fate of, and bestowed
his blessings on, the children descended from Leah, proceeds next to those of
his two concubinary wives. He began with Dan, the son of Bilhah, whose
posterity, he foretold (though descended from a handmaid), should have the same
privileges with the other tribes, become a politic people, and greatly versed in
the stratagems of war.[167] Of Gad's posterity he foretold, that they should be
frequently infested with robbers, but should overcome at last.[168] Of Asher's,
that they should be situated in a pleasant and fruitful country;[169] and of
Naphtali's, that they should spread their branches like an oak, and multiply
exceedingly.[170] [167] The word's in the text are, “Dan shall be a serpent by
the way, an adder in the path; that biteth the horse's heels so that his rider
shall fall backward.” It is to be observed, that the part of Canaan which the
descendants of Dan inhabited was noted for serpents of a particular species, who
were so cunning that they used to lie in wait to bite the feet of passengers.
This very justly alluded to the disposition of Dan's descendants, who, when
engaged in war, frequently did more execution by craft and stratagem than by
force of arms. It is the opinion of the Jews that the prophecy of Dan's
destroying his enemies by cunning Was more particularly fulfilled, when Sampson,
who was of that tribe, pulled down the temple. Which crushed himself and the
Philistines to death, see Judges 16:20. [168] The tribe of Gad had their portion
of land on the frontiers of the Jewish territories, so that they were
continually exposed to the incursions of the bordering Arabs; but, in the course
of time, they became so expert in war, that they always repulsed them. [169] The
tribe of Asher possessed that part of the country which reached from Zidon to
Mount Carmel: it was so beautiful and fertile a spot, that it not only abounded
with all kinds of provisions, but also with the choicest fruits, and most
luxuriant productions of the earth. [170] In the territories allotted to the
tribe of Naphtali was the country of Gennesaret; which (Josephus says) was
looked upon as the utmost effort of nature in point of beauty. It was also
remarkable for producing some of the best wines in all Palestine. In one part of
the prophecy, as related by Moses, it is said, “Naphtali is a hind let loose;”
the meaning of which is, that the people should be exceeding swift in the
pursuit of their enemies, which, indeed, was the case, in a very peculiar
manner, with this tribe. Jacob, having now done with those children begotten on
Leah and his concubinary wives, next directs his attention to the sons of his
beloved Rachel. Turning himself to Joseph, he first took some notice of his past
troubles, and then set forth the future greatness of his descendants; after
which he bestowed his benediction on him in words to the following effect: “The
Lord,” says he, “even the God of thy fathers,. shall bless thee with the dew of
heaven and with the fatness of the earth, with the fruit of the womb,” that is,
with a numerous posterity, “and with plenty of all sorts of cattle. May all the
blessings promised to me and my forefathers be doubled upon Joseph's head; may
they out top and outstretch the highest mountains; and prove to him more
fruitful and more lasting than they.”[171] [171] The fruitfulness promised to
Joseph in the great increase of his posterity was exemplified in the prodigious
number of his twofold tribe, Ephraim and Manasseh. At the first numbering of the
tribes, these produced 72,700 men capable of bearing arms. (See Numbers
1:33-35.) And at the second numbering, 85,200 (Numbers 26:34-37), which by far
exceeded the number of either of the other tribes. The only one now remaining to
receive Jacob's blessing was his youngest son Benjamin, who, no doubt, from
having been a great favorite with his father, expected a suitable distinction
from the rest of his brethren; but, whether Jacob foresaw that no extraordinary
merit or happiness would attend this tribe, or that it should afterward be
blended with that of Judah, and consequently share the blessing of that tribe so
it was that he only prophesied of him that his descendants should be of a fierce
and warlike disposition; and, “like a ravenous wolf, should shed the blood of
their enemies, and in the evening divide the spoil.”[172] [172] History
sufficiently justifies the truth of this prediction relative to the tribe of
Benjamin, for they alone maintained a war with all the other tribes, and
overcame them in two battles, though they had sixteen to one. It must, however,
be observed, that the comparison does not only respect mere valor and fortitude
in defending themselves, but also fierceness in making wars and depredations
upon others. But what is chiefly to be regarded in this prophecy is, that the
tribe of Benjamin should continue till the final destruction of the Jewish
polity. For since the natural morning and evening can not with the least
propriety be here understood, and as the Jewish state is the subject of all
Jacob's prophecy, we must consider the morning and the night as the beginning
and final period of that state; and, consequently, that the tribe of Benjamin
would exist till Shiloh came. And this prophecy was fully accomplished; for,
upon the division, of the kingdom after Solomon's death, the tribe of Benjamin
adhered to that of Judah, and formed one people with it; continued to share the
same fortune, and by that means existed till the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Romans, which happened many years after the other ten tribes were no longer a
people. The good old patriarch having thus (by divine direction) foretold the
fate of his descendants, he bestowed his blessing on each of his sons
separately; after which he reminded them all (but more especially Joseph, that
it was his most earnest request they would bury him among his ancestors, in the
cave of Machpelah, which had been purchased by Abraham, and where not only the
remains of him and his wife Sarah were deposited, but likewise those of Isaac
and Rebecca, and where he had also buried his wife Leah. Having given this last
charge, the pious Jacob laid himself gently down in his bed, a short time after
which he calmly resigned his soul into the hands of Him who gave it. He died in
the one hundred and forty-seventh year of his age, during the last seventeen of
which he resided in Egypt. JACOB'S DEATH The loss of so good a father must
undoubtedly be very afflicting to the whole family, but none of them expressed
their grief with such filial affection as the pious Joseph, who could not behold
his aged parent's face, though dead, without kissing and bathing it with his
tears. Having thus given vent to his passions, and some-what recovered himself,
he ordered the physicians (according to the custom of the country) to embalm his
father's body, and then set about making the necessary preparations for his
funeral. JACOB IS BURIED IN MACHPELAH The time that Jacob's family mourned for
their father was seventy days, during which Joseph never appeared at court, it
being improper for him so to do on such an occasion. In consequence of this, he
requested some of the officers about the king to acquaint him that his father,
previous to his death, had enjoined him, upon oath, to bury him in a sepulcher
belonging to their family, in the land of Canaan; and that therefore he begged
permission that he might go and fulfill his last commands; after which he would
return to court with all convenient expedition. Pharaoh not only complied with
Joseph's request, but (in compliment to him and his family) gave orders that the
chief officers of his household, together with some of the principal nobility of
the kingdom, should attend the funeral; who, joined with his own, and his
father's whole family, some in chariots and others on horseback, formed one of
the most pompous processions ever seen on a similar occasion. On their arrival
in the land of Canaan they halted at a place called “the threshing-floor of
Atad,”[173] where they continued seven days mourning for the deceased. The
Canaanites, who inhabited that part of the country, observing the Egyptians
mixing themselves in these obsequies, were astonished, and imagining them to be
the principals concerned in the funeral lamentation, could not forbear
exclaiming, “This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians!” whence they called
the name of the place Abel-Mizraim, which signifies “the mourning of the
Egyptians.” [173] This place is supposed to have been situated about two leagues
from Jericho, on the other side of the Jordan, and about fifty miles from
Hebron. This solemnity being ended, they proceeded on their journey; and at
length, arriving at the field of Machpelah, they deposited the remains of Jacob
in the cave with his ancestors, after which the whole company returned in solemn
procession to Egypt. During the life of Jacob, Joseph's brethren thought
themselves secure; but now their aged father was no more, their former fears
returned, and suggested to them the just revenge Joseph might yet take for the
great injuries he had received from their hands. In consequence of this, they
held a consultation together in what manner to proceed for their own security;
the result of which was to form a message (purporting to have been delivered by
Jacob), and send it to their brother. This was accordingly done, and the
substance of the message was to the following effect: “Thy father commanded,
before he died, saying, Thus shall ye say to Joseph: Forgive, I pray thee now,
the trespass of thy brethren and their sin; for they did evil unto thee; but
pardon them, not only for my sake, but because they are the servants of the God
of thy father.” When Joseph read this message, such was his compassionate and
forgiving temper, that he could not refrain from weeping. To remove, therefore,
the fears and apprehensions of his brethren, he immediately sent for them, and,
receiving them with the same kind affection as when their father was alive,
excused the actions they had formerly committed to his prejudice in the most
obliging manner; and, in order fully. to remove their ill-founded fears,
dismissed them with the assurance that they should always find in him a constant
friend and an affectionate brother. JOSEPH'S LAST DAYS AND DEATH Though Joseph
lived fifty-four years after his father's death, yet the sacred historian does
not mention any farther particulars of him except the following; namely, that he
lived to see himself the happy parent of a numerous offspring in his two sons,
Ephraim and Manasseh, even to the third generation; during which time, it is
reasonable to suppose, he continued in high favor with his prince, and in a
considerable employment under him. When Joseph grew old, and found his death
approaching, he sent for his brethren, and, with the like prophetic spirit that
his father Jacob had done, told them that God, according to his promise, would
not fail bringing their posterity out of Egypt into the land of Canaan. At the
same time he made them swear, that when it should please God thus to visit them,
they should not forget to carry his remains with them, that they might be
deposited in the burial-place of his ancestors. The pious Joseph, having thus
bound his brethren by oath to convey his remains to his native land, soon after
departed this life, in the one hundred and tenth year of his age. In compliance
with the injunction laid, his brethren had the body immediately embalmed, put
into a coffin, and carefully secured, till the time should come when the
prediction was to be fulfilled of their leaving Egypt, and possessing the land
of Canaan. Thus have we finished the life of the great patriarch Joseph, who is
certainly one of the most distinguished characters to be met with either in
sacred or profane history. Eelauts in Persia

JOSEPH'S CHARACTER To enliven what has already been said of him, we shall
conclude this chapter with some general reflections and observations on the
whole of his conduct; and likewise point out some of the most distinguished
writers, whose accounts of him justly corroborate that given by the sacred
historian. It is observable that Moses is more diffuse on the history of Joseph,
than on that of any other of the patriarchs: indeed, the whole is a master-piece
of history: there is not only in the manner throughout such a happy, though
uncommon mixture of simplicity and grandeur (which is a double character so hard
to be united as is seldom met with in compositions merely human), but it is
likewise related with the greatest variety of tender and affecting
circumstances, which would afford matter for reflections useful for the conduct
of almost every part and stage of the life of man. Consider him in whatever
point of view or to whatever light you will, he must appear amiable and
excellent, worthy of imitation, and claiming the highest applause. You see him
spoken of in the sacred books with the highest honor; as a person greatly in the
favor of God, and protected by him wherever he went, even in so extraordinary a
manner as to become the observation of others--as one of the strictest fidelity
in every trust committed to him--of the most exemplary chastity and honor, that
no solicitations could overcome--of the most fixed reverence for God, in the
midst of all the corruptions of an idolatrous court and kingdom--of the noblest
resolution and fortitude, that the strongest temptations could never subdue--of
such admirable sagacity, wisdom, and prudence, that made even a prince and his
nobles consider him as under divine inspiration--of that indefatigable industry
and diligence which made him successful in the most arduous attempts--of the
most generous compassion and forgiveness of spirit, that the most malicious and
cruel injuries could never weaken or destroy--as the preserver of Egypt and the
neighboring nations, and as the stay and support of his own father and
family--as one patient and humble in adversity--moderate in the use of power and
the height of prosperity--faithful as a servant, dutiful as a son, affectionate
as a brother, and just and generous as a ruler over the people--in a word, as
one of the best and most finished characters, and as an instance of the most
exemplary piety and strictest virtue.


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  CHAPTER 17: LIFE AND MISSION OF MOSES-DEPARTURE FROM EGYPTOPPRESSION OF THE HEBREWS
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LIFE AND MISSION OF MOSES-DEPARTURE FROM EGYPTOPPRESSION OF THE HEBREWS The
distinguished happiness which the descendants of Jacob had possessed during the
power invested in their great protector Joseph, was, after his death, materially
interrupted by the accession of a new king to the throne of Egypt. This monarch
beheld, with a jealous eye, not only the prosperity, but also the great
increase, of the Israelites, and began to fear that, in case of an invasion,
they might possibly take part with the enemy, and thereby divest him of his
regal dignity. In consequence of these conjectures Pharaoh summoned a council of
his principal nobility, to whom he stated the absolute necessity of taking some
measures to lessen not only the power, but also the great increase of the
Israelites, who were to be considered as strangers in the land where they now
dwelt, and, in time, might be prejudicial to the public weal. The council agreed
in opinion with the king; upon which it was resolved not only to impose heavy
taxes on them, but to confine them likewise to the hard labor of bearing
burdens, digging clay, making bricks, and building strong fortresses in
different parts of the kingdom; by means of which their spirits would be sunk,
their bodies impoverished, and the great increase that had for some time taken
place among them in a great measure stopped.[174] [174] In our engraving on the
previous page the woman in the foreground is employed in baking bread at the
very usual kind of oven--a hole in the ground. The other women are weaving. Both
are the principal employments of women among the pastoral tribes, and were such
among the Hebrews. It will be remembered that the hangings for the tabernacle
were woven by the women, in the wilderness. No sooner was this resolution formed
than it was carried into execution. The wretched Israelites were set about the
laborious employ to which they were assigned, and that they might not be
negligent in the execution of their business, taskmasters were set over them,
whose natural dispositions were so cruel, that they did all in their power to
make their lives truly miserable. But such was the goodness of God in behalf of
the poor Israelites, that Pharaoh's project was far from succeeding to his
wishes; for the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied. This so
aggravated the king, and increased his jealousy to such a degree, that, in order
to obtain his purposes, he hit upon another expedient. He sent for two of the
most eminent of the Egyptian midwives (whose names were Shiphrah and Puah), to
whom he gave a strict charge, that whenever they were called to do their office
to any Hebrew woman, if the child were a male they should privately strangle it,
but if a female, they might let it live. The midwives, touched with the cruelty
of this injunction, and fully satisfied in their minds that it was better to
obey God than man, paid no regard to Pharaoh's orders, but saved both male and
female alike. Irritated at their disobedience, the king sent for them, and
reprimanded them for their conduct in very severe terms; but they excused
themselves by telling him that the Hebrew women were so much stronger to their
constitutions than the Egyptians, and so lively, that they were generally
delivered before they could reach them. PHARAOH ORDERS ALL MALE BABIES TO BE
DROWNED The judicious as well as humane conduct of the Egyptian midwives was
very acceptable to God; but Pharaoh was highly incensed against them,
considering the excuse they made as a mere evasion. He therefore determined not
to trust them any longer, but to try another expedient, which might more
effectively answer the intended purposes, and totally extirpate the whole male
race of the Hebrews. To accomplish this end, he issued out an edict,[175]
commanding that every male born among the Israelites should be thrown into the
river and drowned, but that all the females should be saved. [175] It is the
opinion of most commentators, and the learned in general, that this inhuman
edict was so abhorred by the Egyptians, that they scarce ever put it in
execution; and that it was recalled immediately after the death of the king who
enacted it; which time Eusebius and others place in the fourth year after the
birth of Moses. It is not to be wondered at that so barbarous an edict should
greatly afflict the already distressed Israelites, and that they should concert
various methods whereby they might secure their offspring from the consequences
of so inhuman a decree. That methods of this nature were used, will appear from
the following circumstances. MOSES IS BORN Some years before this cruel edict
was published, one Amram, of the house of Levi, married a woman named Jochebed,
of the same tribe. The first child they had was a daughter, whom they called
Miriam, and about four years after she was delivered of a son, whom they named
Aaron. In the time of this cruel persecution Jochebed was delivered of another
son, who being a child of most exquisite beauty, she was particularly anxious
for the reservation of its life. MOSES IS HIDDEN IN ARK In hopes of
accomplishing her wishes, she concealed the child in her house for three
months;[176] but, not being able to secrete him any longer, and fearful that he
would fall into the hands of those appointed to drown the male children, she at
length resolved to commit him to the Providence of God. Accordingly, having made
a little ark or boat of rushes,[177] and well plastered it, both within and
without, with pitch or bitumen, she put the child into it, and going privately
down the river, left it among the flags by the bank, placing his sister Miriam
at a proper distance to observe the event. [176] Josephus, in speaking of this
circumstance, relates the following story: “That Amram, finding his wife with
child, and fearing the consequences of the king's edict, prayed earnestly to God
to put an end to that dreadful persecution; and that God appeared to him and
told him, that he would, in due time, free his people from it, and that the son,
who shortly would be born unto him, should prove the happy instrument of their
glorious deliverance, and thereby eternize his own name.” That this made him
conceal him as long as he could, but fearing a discovery, he resolved to trust
him to the care of Providence, arguing to this effect: that if the child could
be concealed (as it was very difficult to do and hazardous to attempt) they must
be in danger every moment, but as to the power and veracity of God, he did not
doubt of it, but was assured, that whatever he had promised he would certainly
make good; and with this trust and persuasion he was resolved to expose him.
[177] Though his ark, or boat, is said to have been made with rushes, it is most
probable that it was formed with flags of the tree papyrus, of which the
Egyptians made their paper, and which grew particularly on the banks of the
Nile. Clemens Alexandrinus expressly says, that the vessel was made of papyrus,
the product of the country: and his assertion is confirmed by several other
profane writers. MOSES IS FOUND But the Providence of God soon interposed in
behalf of the helpless infant. A short time after the mother had left it,
Pharaoh's daughter;[178] attended by the maids of honor, came to the river to
bathe herself, and seeing the basket at some distance, she ordered one of her
attendants to go and bring it out of the flags. Her orders were immediately
obeyed, upon which, no sooner did she uncover the child than it made its
mourning complaint to her in a flood of tears. This circumstance, joined to the
extraordinary beauty of the infant, so moved her heart with compassion, that
(notwithstanding she perceived it was one of those children whom her father, in
his edict, had ordered to be drowned) she determined to preserve it, and
declared her intention of having it brought up under her direction. [178]
Josephus calls this princess Thurmuthis; and from him Philo, who adds, that she
was the king's only daughter and heir; and that being some time married without
having issue, she pretended to be big with child, and to be delivered of Moses,
whom she owned as her natural son. That he was esteemed so is evident, from what
the Apostle to the Hebrews says, namely, “That when Moses was grown up, he
scorned to be thought the son of Pharaoh's daughter.” See Hebrews 11:24. By this
time Miriam, the child's sister, had mixed herself with the attendants of the
princess, and observing with what tenderness she looked upon her brother, and at
the same time hearing her intimate her desire of procuring a proper nurse for
it, she very officiously offered her service to procure one. The princess
accepted this offer, and ordered her to go immediately and bring the person with
her, and she would wait her return. Accordingly, the girl hastened with all
expedition to the mother, and soon bringing her to the place, the princess
delivered the child into her hands, ordering her to take the utmost care of it,
and at the same time told her, that whatever expenses attended the rearing of
it, she would defray. This, no doubt, was a welcome bargain to the mother, who,
taking the child home with her, nursed it openly, her fears being removed by
having a royal protection for its security. MOSES IS ADOPTED AND EDUCATED When
the child was of a proper age, his mother took him to court, in order to show
him to the princess. The graces of his person, joined to the beautiful yet noble
simplicity of his countenance, so engaged her attention, that she adopted him as
her own son, and gave him the name of Moses.[179] That he might be perfectly
accomplished, she kept him constantly at court, where he was instructed in all
the learning and discipline, both civil and military, used among the Egyptians,
and in every only respect treated in a manner becoming the dignity of a prince
of the blood.[180] [179] The word Mo, in the Egyptian language signifies water,
and yses, saved; so that the name Moses was very suitable to the circumstance of
his being saved from perishing in the water. [180] It is uncertain at what age
Moses was delivered to the princess. It is, however, reasonable to suppose that
his parents had so well instructed him in their religion, and taken such care to
let him know both what relation they bore to him, and what hope they had
conceived of his being designed by heaven to be the deliverer of his nation;
that he had made no other use of his education, which the princess gave him,
than to confirm himself more and more against the superstitions and idolatry of
the Egyptians; and to make himself fit to answer those ends, for which, by
Providence, he seemed designed. MOSES AVENGES HIS PEOPLE Moses continued to live
in Pharaoh's court till he arrived at the age of maturity, when he resolved to
leave it, and associate himself with his persecuted brethren the Israelites.
Observing their wretched state of servility, and the cruel manner tit which they
were treated by their merciless taskmasters, he was greatly affected; and to
such a degree was his indignation raised, that, seeing one day an Egyptian treat
a Hebrew in a very cruel manner, he immediately stepped up to his assistance,
and, not perceiving any person near, slew him, and buried his body in the
sand.[181] [181] We may reasonably suppose that the Egyptian whom Moses slew,
through indignation at his brethren's wrongs, was one of the task-masters. It
has been questioned how far this action of Moses was justifiable. Le Clerc
observes, that, as the Egyptian king authorized the oppression of the
Israelites, it was fruitless to apply to him for redress of their grievances.
The civil magistrate, who ought to have protected injured innocence, was himself
become the oppressor; and, consequently, the society, being degenerated into a
confederacy, in oppression and injustice, it was as lawful to use private force
and resistance, as against a band of robbers and cut-throats. However, we are to
remember, that the Divine hand was to all this: and that thus the way was
preparing for the grand deliverance of Israel from Egyptian oppression. As he
was walking out the next day he met with two Hebrews, in strong contest with
each other; upon which he admonished them to consider that they were brethren,
and endeavored to decide the quarrel between them. But he who was the aggressor,
instead of listening to his advice, treated it with contempt, and upbraided him
with having been guilty of murder in killing an Egyptian. MOSES FLEES TO MIDIAN
Moses (little suspecting that any one had seen the transactions of the preceding
day) was greatly alarmed at this circumstance, being apprehensive as it was
known by one, it would circulate from him among the multitude, and that it could
not be long before it reached the ears of Pharaoh, in which case it might be
attended with the most fatal consequences. To remove, therefore, these
disagreeable apprehensions, and secure himself from all danger, he resolved to
leave Egypt, which he accordingly did, and fled into the land of Midian,[182] a
beautiful and fertile country situated to the east of the Red sea. [182] Midian
is supposed to be that part of Arabia Petræa, which bordered on the land of
Goshen, and whose metropolis (calls Petra) was situated not far from Mount
Horeb. It is generally agreed that the people of this country originated from
Midian, the fourth son of Abraham by Keturah, from whom they were called
Midianites. This was the happy spot where majesty, guarded only by rural
innocence, submitted to the humble office of a shepherd, and a crook, instead of
a scepter, graced the hand of the peaceful monarch. Here Jethro (the principal
man of the country), in quality both of prince and priest, enjoyed the blessings
of a quiet reign, and whose daughters (laying aside the distinction of their
birth) took more delight in the innocent employment of tending their father's
flocks, than in all the gayeties of a luxurious court. MOSES HELPS WOMEN
SHEPHERDS In the plains of Midian was a well to which it was common for all the
neighboring people to drive their flocks to water. Moses, having reached this
spot, and being greatly fatigued, after quenching his thirst with the water, sat
himself down to rest. He had not been long here before the seven daughters of
Jethro came to draw water for their flocks; but they had no sooner filled their
vessels than some rude shepherds, who came on the like errand, being resolved to
have their turn first served, violently seized on the water drawn by the
damsels, and thereby greatly frightened them. Moses, disapproving of such ill
conduct in the men, interposed in behalf of the women, and, obliging the
shepherds to retire, drew more water for them, and gave it to their flocks. The
damsels, in the most engaging manner, made their acknowledgments to him for his
services, after which they took leave and hastened home. Jethro expressed, great
surprise at the quickness of his daughters' return; upon which they informed him
that they had met with a stranger at the well, who not only assisted them, but
likewise protected them from the insults of several rustics, who had forcibly
taken from them the water they had drawn for their cattle. After hearing this
story, and not seeing the person who had thus gallantly defended them, Jethro
reprehended his daughters for being guilty of ingratitude and incivility, and
asked what had become of the generous stranger. They answered they had left him
at the well, upon which he ordered them immediately to return, and invite him
home. MOSES AS SHEPHERD MARRIES. The daughters obeyed their father's command,
and Moses being introduced into the house of Jethro, he treated him with every
mark of the most distinguished respect. And so pleased was Moses with the
courteous reception he met with, that, after a short time, he expressed his
willingness to take up his abode with him and become his shepherd. Jethro very
readily accepted this proposal, and, to attach Moses the more strongly to his
interest, gave him his daughter Zipporah in marriage. By this wife he had two
sons, the eldest of whom he called Gershom, which signifies a “stranger,”
alluding to his own condition in that country. The younger he called Eleazar,
which signifies “God is my help,” in grateful acknowledgment of God's having
delivered him from the hands of Pharaoh. After Moses had been some few years in
Jethro's family, the king of Egypt, who was upon the throne at the time he left
the country, died; but this was not productive of the least benefit to the
persecuted Israelites; his successor was no less a tyrant than himself, and
their miseries, instead of being mitigated, were daily increased. At length
their complaints reached heaven; the Almighty, remembering the covenant which he
had made with their forefathers, looked upon them with an eye of compassion; and
having resolved, in his secret providence, to make Moses the principal
instrument in bringing about their deliverance, he began to prepare him for so
distinguished an undertaking. As Moses was one day attending his father-in-law's
sheep, they happened to stray much farther than usual, upon which he followed
them as far into the desert as Mount Horeb. He had no sooner arrived here than
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a
bush. So uncommon a sight greatly startled Moses, but what increased his
astonishment was the continuance of the bush unconsumed, notwithstanding it
appeared to be wholly encompassed with flames. THE BURNING BUSH After reflecting
some time on this extraordinary circumstance, Moses resolved to approach nearer
the bush, in order, if possible, to discover the cause of its seeming to burn
and yet appearing not to be in the least damaged. But the Almighty, to prevent
his irreverent approaches, and to strike the greater awe and sense of the divine
presence into him, called out of the bush, and forbade him drawing near; and, to
make him still more sensible of the sacredness of the place, commanded him to
take off his sandals, because the ground on which he stood was holy. Moses
immediately obeyed the divine order, upon which the Almighty discovered himself
to him in these words: “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” The frightened Moses was struck with such
reverence of the divine Majesty, and fear of the effects of his presumption,
that he immediately fell on the ground and covered his face, being unable to
sustain the refulgency[183] Radiance of the divine presence. MOSES COMMISSIONED
When Moses had a little recovered himself, the Almighty, in words to this
effect, addressed him: “I have seen,” said he, “the affliction of my people
which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters: for
I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of
their oppressors, and to conduct them to the promised land, a land flowing with
milk and honey. Thee have I chosen to be the instrument in this great work:
therefore be of good courage, for I will send thee to Pharaoh, to demand liberty
of him for my people the children of Israel.” Moses had long laid aside all
thoughts of attempting to rescue his brethren, the Israelites, from their
thralldom; nor had he any opinion of his own abilities, should he make the
attempt, to succeed in so difficult an undertaking. Wherefore, when the Almighty
proposed the thing to him, he endeavored to excuse himself, by urging his
meanness and insufficiency to take upon him the character of a divine
ambassador. “Who am I,” said he, “that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I
should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?” But this difficulty the
Almighty removed, by assuring him that he would be with him, and assist him in
every step he took; that he would enable him, however perplexed and arduous the
task, to accomplish it; and for a token of his veracity herein, told him that
within a small compass of time he should see those very people, who were now in
slavery, set free and worshipping him on that very mountain. Still unwilling to
undertake the task, Moses desired to know what he should say to the people, and
by what name he was to call the person who sent him on the message. To which the
Almighty replied, that he should tell him it was an eternal, independent,
self-existing Being, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by which name he had
ever gone, and by which he would continue to go, to all eternity. He then
ordered him to go into Egypt, where, on his arrival, he should first assemble
together the chief of the Israelites, and acquaint them with his business; after
which he should go directly to the king, and demand of him their liberty, at
least for three days, that they might retire into the wilderness, in order to
sacrifice to their God. This request, he told Moses, the king would not at first
grant, but in the end he would be glad to consent, when he should see the divine
power displayed in a variety of miracles which would take place on sundry
occasions. “I will exert myself,” said he, “in many miraculous operations on him
and his subjects, and at last he shall permit you to depart; but you shall not
go way empty, for ye shall be loaded with the spoils of the Egyptians.” It might
be thought that such solemn assurances, even from the mouth of God himself,
would have been sufficient to have gained a ready compliance; but Moses, either
from the ideas he entertained of the difficulty of the enterprise, or from
diffidence of his own abilities, was still desirous of declining the task, and
objected, that when he came into Egypt the people would probably doubt his word,
and consider him as an impostor. This objection God immediately removed by
showing him a miracle. Asking him what he had in his hand, he replied, a rod;
upon which the Almighty ordered him to throw it on the ground, which he had no
sooner done than it was immediately turned into a serpent. Moses, frightened at
this sudden change of his rod, attempted to run away; but God, to encourage him,
bid him take it up by the tail, which he had no sooner done than it resumed its
former shape; and to convince him, at the same time, that he should not want
credit with the Israelites, he gave him a commission to perform the same miracle
before them when he should get into Egypt. Still farther to remove Moses'
scruples, the Almighty was pleased to give him another instance of his great and
distinguished power. He ordered him to put his hand into his bosom, which he
accordingly did, and on pulling it out, it was covered all over with leprosy. He
then told him to put his hand into his bosom again, which he likewise did, and
on taking it out the leprosy was gone, and it became as clean as at first. This
miracle he likewise commissioned Moses to show the Israelites; and moreover, to
arm him sufficiently beyond all doubt, he was pleased to empower him with a
third miracle. “If,” says he, “they will not believe these two former, thou
shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon dry land, and the water
shall become blood.” Notwithstanding these solemn and repeated assurances of the
Divine aid, favor, and protection, Moses still endeavored to waive the important
office, urging as a farther plea that he wanted eloquence, the great
qualification of an ambassador; and that since God had condescended to talk to
him, he was much more deficient in his speech than before. But this obstacle the
Almighty was likewise pleased to remove, by putting Moses in mind of his
omnipotence. “Who,” said he, “hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or
deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I
will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.” Hitherto Moses had
some shadow of pretence for his unwillingness to go into Egypt; but now, all his
objections being answered, he, in very plain terms desired to be excused from
the enterprise, and begged of God that he would be pleased to appoint some other
person in his stead. So long as Moses had anything to plead in excuse for not
going, God heard him patiently, and graciously condescended to remove his
doubts; but, when all this was done, and he at length gave an absolute refusal,
the Almighty was greatly displeased, though at the same time he did not display
any instance of his resentment. On the contrary, he resumed Moses' last
objection (which he had already answered in general), and showed him, in a more
particular manner, how he should supply that defect: “Is not,” said he, “Aaron,
the Levite, thy brother? He is eloquent, and I will appoint him to meet thee.
Tell him what I have said; and be assured that I will always assist you both,
and direct you what to say. He shall be the orator, and thou shalt be to him
instead of God. And to strengthen thy commission, and give thee credit among thy
people, take this rod in thy hand, for with it shalt thou be enabled to perform
many miracles.” Every obstacle being removed, and the most evincing
demonstrations of a miraculous power, together with the protection of Divine
Providence, given to Moses, he was at length prevailed on to accept the
commission. He accordingly went first to his father-in-law, Jethro, and, without
telling him the occasion, requested permission to go and visit his brethren, who
were then in the land of Egypt. ZIPPORAH CIRCUMCISES ELIEZER Jethro readily
consented to Moses' request; upon which, taking his wife and children with him,
he proceeded on his journey. He had not, however, gone far, when an angel
appeared to him, and with a stern countenance, and flaming sword in his hand,
threatened to kill him, because, either from the persuasions of his wife or from
his own neglect, he had not yet circumcised his younger son Eleazar. As soon as
Zipporah understood the cause of the Divine displeasure, she immediately took an
instrument made of a sharp flint, and with it circumcised the child; which being
done, the angry vision, after giving signs that God was appeased,
disappeared.[185] [185] The best interpretation that can be given of this
extraordinary circumstance is, that Moses having deferred the circumcision of
his youngest son (perhaps in compliance to his wife), God was peculiarly
offended with him for such neglect; not only because Moses knew that no child
could be admitted a member of the Jewish community, nor be entitled to the
blessings of God's covenant with those people, without circumcision; but also
because his example was of the greatest consequence: for who would have regarded
the law, if the law-giver himself had neglected it? Zipporah, therefore,
conscious of her husband's danger, as well as of her own negligence, immediately
performed the office herself; in consequence of which the cause being removed,
God's anger also ceased; and he suffered Moses to pursue his journey. Zipporah
is supposed to have performed the office, because Moses was in too great a
consternation to do it himself. MOSES AND AARON MEET While Moses was on his
journey to Egypt, Aaron, by a Divine revelation, was informed thereof, and
ordered to go and meet him in the wilderness. Aaron obeyed the Divine command,
and met his brother at a small distance from Mount Horeb. After mutual embraces
and endearments, Moses opened to him the purport of his commission, the
instructions he had received from God, and the miraculous works he was empowered
to perform. The two brothers, being thus joined in the same commission (though
Moses was the sovereign), repaired with all expedition to Egypt. Immediately on
their arrival they called an assembly of the chief elders of the Israelites, to
whom Aaron declared the message which God had sent by Moses; while the latter,
to confirm the truth of his divine mission, wrought the several miracles which
God had appointed in the presence of the whole assembly. In consequence of this,
they all appeared fully convinced that he was a true prophet come from the God
of their fathers, who had at length commiserated their afflictions, and sent him
now to deliver them from their bondage; and, with this persuasion, they all
knelt down and worshipped God. PHARAOH DENIES REQUEST A few days after this,
Moses and Aaron went to Pharaohs court, and, having obtained admission to the
king, requested of him that he would permit the Israelites to go three days'
journey into the wilderness, in order to perform a solemn service to the Lord
their God. But the haughty tyrant not only refused complying with their request,
but most impiously arraigned the divine prerogative, and called in question the
existence of the only wise and true God in these presumptuous words: “Who is the
Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord,
neither will I let Israel go.” PHARAOH STEPS UP REQUIREMENTS Pharaoh suspected
that the Israelites had a design of revolting from his service, and that they
had been laying schemes to get out of his dominions. This to him was an argument
that they had too much leisure time from business, and that the most effectual
way to check their contrivances would be to curtail their vacant hours; he
therefore ordered greater tasks and more work to be laid on them. He reprimanded
Moses and Aaron for going among the people and interrupting them in their
employments; and strictly charged the task-masters not to allow them any more
straw, and yet to exact the same tale of bricks from them without abatement. The
task-masters acquainted their under-officers with this severe injunction, who
immediately communicated it to the people, and they were accordingly forced to
wander about the country to seek for straw, the task-masters, at the same time,
exacting from them their usual number of bricks; and when they were unable to
perform their task, the under-officers, who were Israelites, and whom the
task-masters had set over them, were called to account and punished. Not knowing
whence this unreasonable severity proceeded, whether from the royal edict or the
rigor of the task-masters, the under-officers addressed the king himself, and,
in the most humble manner, laid their grievances before him. But so far were
they from receiving any redress, that the answer returned them was--that “the
king would have his edict fully executed, and insisted on having their full
number of bricks, though he was resolved not to allow them any straw.” This
answer greatly afflicted the poor Israelites, insomuch that they were almost
driven to despair. On their return from the king they happened to meet Moses and
Aaron, and supposing them to be the cause of the additional burden laid on them,
expressed their grief and resentment in words to this effect: “That they had
taken care to infuse an odium into the king against them, and given him a
plausible handle to destroy them, which they wished to God might fall on their
own heads.” MOSES' PRAYER TO GOD These bitter expressions greatly afflicted
Moses, who, retiring to a private place, addressed himself to God in this humble
expostulation: “Why,” said he, “O Lord, hast thou thus afflicted the people? For
since I spoke to Pharaoh in the name, he hath treated them with more severity
than before, and they are more unlikely to be delivered than ever.” The great
concern Moses had for the oppression of the Israelites was certainly the cause
of his forgetting the promise which God had given him, as also what he had
foretold relative to the perverseness of Pharaoh. But, notwithstanding this, the
Almighty was pleased to give him fresh assurances of his divine intentions of
removing the Israelites from the state of bondage: “I am the Lord,” said he,
“the Almighty God, that appeared unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Was I not known
to them by my name Jehovah? Be assured that I the Lord, who made a covenant with
them to give their posterity the land of Canaan, have heard their complaints and
remembered my promise. Therefore, say thus to the children of Israel, I am
Jehovah, who exist only of myself, and give existence to all beings. Tell them I
will deliver them from the Egyptian slavery, with the power of my Almighty arm,
and inflict heavy judgments on them that oppress them. Nor will I only deliver
you all from this bondage, but I will take you under my immediate protection: ye
shall be my people, and I will be your God. I am Jehovah, the Lord, that
promiseth this, and that can and will do it.” Encouraged by this gracious and
divine declaration, Moses immediately repaired to the Israelites, to whom he
delivered his message as God had commanded. But such was their affliction of
mind, in consequence of the increase of their servitude, and which they
attributed to have arisen from him, that they paid no attention to what he said.
They were prejudiced against him, and rather looked upon him as an enemy then as
one who was desirous of procuring their enlargement. The Almighty, fully
resolved to pursue the ends of his Providence, again commanded Moses to go to
the king of Egypt and demand the liberty of the Israelites. Having been so
roughly dismissed from Pharaoh's presence before, and so unkindly, rejected by
the Israelites, Moses endeavored to decline the errand by drawing an argument
from each circumstance: “Since,” says he, “the children of Israel, thine own
people, would not hear me, though what I offered was so much to their advantage,
how can I expect that so wicked a prince as Pharaoh is should pay any attention
to so insignificant a person[186] as I am, and in a matter so much to his loss?”
[186] It is remarkable, that in the text Moses here calls himself an
uncircumcised person, or rather a man whose lips had not been circumcised. See
Exodus 6:12. By this we are to understand, that he meant no more than that he
was not possessed of that fluency of speech which was necessary on so important
an occasion. The word circumcised is phraseologically used by the Hebrews on
several occasions, as when they call any one uncircumcised in heart, mind, or
tongue, they mean no more than that the person spoken of is not so perfect in
these particulars as might be wished. Besides, as circumcision was the first and
greatest sacrament among them, so uncircumcision was esteemed the greatest
scandal and disgrace. The phrase therefore, naturally and clearly expresses the
humble opinion Moses had for himself, his unfitness for such an office, and his
inability to persuade or prevail with so haughty a monarch as Pharaoh. To remove
this objection, the Almighty was pleased to address himself to Moses in words to
this effect: “Consider,” said he, “I have made thee as a God[187] to Pharaoh and
Aaron, thy brother, shall be thy interpreter, or orator. Thou shalt tell him all
that I have commanded thee, and ye shall demand of Pharaoh the deliverance of my
people. And that thou mayest not be discouraged by a repulse, as before, take
notice that Pharaoh shall give no credit to what thou sayest, that I may thereby
show my power and wonders to him and his people, and deliver the children of
Israel by the strength of my hand. For since Pharaoh has begun to harden his
heart in contemptuously treating me and abusing my people, I will now permit him
to go on in his obstinate humor, that I may exert my power in miraculous
operations in the land of Egypt. Therefore, when ye come into Pharaoh's
presence, and he shall demand a miracle of you, to convince him of the truth of
your mission, thou shall direct Aaron to cast his rod on the ground before
Pharaoh, and it shall be turned into a serpent.” [187] The word here translated
a God, signifies a prince, a counsellor, or governor; and as Moses was to work
many wonders in the land of Egypt, so there is no doubt but Pharaoh would look
upon him as a person endued with supernatural power. It was then beginning to
grow common with the heathen nations, particularly the Egyptians, to rank their
great men among the number of their gods; and, therefore, when the Lord here
speaks to Moses, he does not say that he made him an object of worship, but only
that he would endue him with so much power, that the Egyptians would look upon
him as a God. AARON'S ROD BECOMES A SERPENT In consequence of these
instructions, Moses and Aaron went again to the king, and repeated their demand
of his dismissing the Israelites. Pharaoh desired them to show him some miracle,
whereby he might be induced to believe, that the God, of whom they had so much
spoken, had really sent for them. Upon this Aaron threw down his rod, which had
no sooner touched the ground, than it was changed into a living serpent. Though
Pharaoh was somewhat surprised at this incident, yet he was determined, if
possible, to make it appear of no great importance. To effect this, he sent for
his principal magicians, whom he ordered to try, if, by their magical arts, they
could cause the like transmigration. They obeyed the king's commands, and, to
his great satisfaction, their attempts succeeded. They threw down their rods,
which were immediately changed into serpents, only with this remarkable
circumstance, that Aaron's rod swallowed up (while in the figure of a serpent)
all those of the magicians, after which it resumed its accustomed form. It might
have been supposed, that this would have been sufficient to have convinced the
proud monarch of the superior power of the God of Israel; but his heart was so
averse to the thoughts of parting with the Hebrews; that it did not in the least
affect him. THE NILE BECOMES BLOOD As this miracle made no impression on the
obstinate tyrant, the Almighty resolved to make use of more forcible scourges,
and to afflict the Egyptians with such a succession of plagues as should compel
them to dismiss the long-enslaved Israelites. Having observed to Moses, that
Pharaoh's heart was hardened, he ordered him to take the rod, which had been
turned into a serpent, and (in company with his brother Aaron) to throw himself
in the way of Pharaoh, at his usual time of coming to the banks of the river
Nile. That as soon as he saw the king, he should again demand of him the liberty
of the Israelites; and that if he still continued obstinate, as a farther sign
that they were messengers from God, he should give the rod to Aaron, who, by
striking it on the water, should immediately change it into blood. In obedience
to the divine command, Moses, at the time appointed, went to the bank of the
river, soon after which the king arriving, he accosted him in words to this
effect: “That he was sent from the Almighty God of the Hebrews, to demand the
release of the Israelites, and that if he did not comply with his request, but
still remained obstinate, his God should not only afflict him for his
perverseness, but bring down the most heavy judgments on his people.” The
infidel prince, regardless of the order of God, by these two appointed
missionaries, still persisted in his resolution (so little did the first miracle
operate on his mind) of detaining the Israelites, and continuing them in their
wretched state of bondage. Finding all remonstrances in vain, Moses delivered
his rod to Aaron, who, striking the water with it, as God had commanded him, it
changed into blood, and so continued for the space of seven days, by means of
which the fish were suffocated, and the inhabitants compelled to dig for water
to allay their thirst. As it was known that Moses received his education among
the Egyptians, Pharaoh concluded, that all this was performed by magic skill.
Wherefore, calling for his magicians, he put them upon the like trial; who,
taking some water out of the wells they had dug, so artfully changed its color,
as to make it appear like blood. Though this was but a delusion, yet Pharaoh was
satisfied in his own mind that what Moses and Aaron had done was not the effect
of any supernatural power, but a mere trick of art; and therefore still resolved
not to permit the departure of the Israelites. FROGS But the Almighty was
pleased to display still farther miracles before this impious and obstinate
tyrant. When the seven days were expired, and the waters had resumed their
natural qualities, Moses, at the command of God, accosted Pharaoh again, and
renewed his solicitations for the delivery of the Israelites, threatening, on
his refusal, to bring upon the land such prodigious numbers of frogs, as should
visit him and his subjects in their most private recesses. Pharaoh, regardless
of these threats, defied him; upon which Moses ordered Aaron to take his rod,
and stretch forth his hand with it over the rivers, which in an instant affected
all the waters of Egypt, that, not waiting for the slow productions of nature,
the animated streams unburdened themselves upon the land in shoals of frogs,
which immediately invaded all parts of the country, and infested even the royal
palace itself.[188] [188] This plague of the frogs, as well as that of the water
being changed into blood, was excellently adapted to subvert the superstitions
of Egypt, and to demonstrate the over-ruling power of the Almighty; for as the
bank of the river Nile was the grand scene of the magical operations of the
Egyptians, in which blood and frogs made a principal part of the apparatus; so,
by commanding that river to produce such an infinite multitude of these
creatures to annoy them, God, with wonderful propriety, adapted their
chastisement to the nature of their crimes: for frogs were not only the
instruments of their abominations, but likewise the emblems of those impure
demons whom they invoked by their incantations. The obstinate and perverse king
had again recourse to his magicians, who, by their mimic power, so deluded
Pharaoh as to make him believe they had wrought the like miracle. This hardened
his heart for a time; but the loathsome plague continuing, and pursuing his
people wherever they went, he was at length forced to apply to Moses and Aaron,
to whom he promised that the Israelites should have their liberty, provided
their God would remove so infestuous a plague. “Entreat the Lord,” said he,
“that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the
people go that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord.” Moses demanded the time
when this should be put to an issue, upon which the next day was conjunctively
agreed on. Accordingly, Moses, in order to fulfill his part of the contract,
after leaving Pharaoh, retired to a private place, and, addressing himself to
God, humbly besought him to remove the plague of the frogs from the land of
Egypt. The Almighty was pleased to listen to Moses' solicitations: the frogs
soon died, which the people gathered together in heaps; but they were so
numerous, that before they could be removed, the scent, which was exceeding
obnoxious, spread itself throughout the whole country. River Nile, under its
usual appearance As Moses had now fulfilled his part of the contract, he
naturally expected that Pharaoh would have performed his; but the impious
monarch, vainly imagining that the artillery of divine vengeance was now
exhausted, unfaithfully broke his word, and still reused to let the Israelites
depart. LICE This breach of promise so offended the Almighty, that he resolved
to treat the haughty tyrant in a more severe manner than he had hitherto done.
As yet God had given him previous notice of the judgments he intended to
denounce, that he might have the opportunity of escaping them; but now, without
giving him the least intimation of his design, he commanded Moses to direct
Aaron to stretch out his rod, and strike the dust with it, that it might become
lice throughout all the land of Egypt. Aaron had no sooner obeyed the divine
command, than the animated dust was immediately turned into swarms of vermin,
which not only infested the human species, but also the beasts of the field.
Pharaoh again had recourse to his magicians, who (though they had faintly
imitated the former plaques) now attempted this in vain: they owned their art
outdone, and acknowledged this to be the inimitable work of a divine hand. FLIES
But notwithstanding this, Pharaoh's heart was so hardened, that he would not pay
the least attention to the solicitations of Moses; upon which the Almighty was
pleased to give him another summons, in words to this effect: “Rise up,” says he
to Moses, “early in the morning, and meet Pharaoh as he comes to the river: tell
him, Thus saith the Lord: let my people go, that they may serve me, or I will
send swarms of flies upon thee and thy people, which shall fill their houses,
and cover the face of the earth. And that thou mayest know, that this is brought
as a judgment upon thee and thy subjects, for oppressing my people, I will, on
that day, separate the land of Goshen, in which my servants dwell, from the rest
of Egypt, that the flies shall not molest them.” Moses, in conformity to the
divine command, delivered this message to Pharaoh, whose obstinacy and
perverseness were so great, that he still refused the Israelites to depart. In
consequence of this, the next day, clouds of swarming insects filled the air,
which in numberless troops descended to the earth, and, with their unusual
noise, surprised and affrighted the wretched inhabitants. All attempts to remove
this dreadful calamity proved vain and fruitless; their most private recesses
could not secure them from the poisonous stings of these obnoxious animals, and
a succession of painful misery, invaded them on all sides. The magicians beheld,
with confusion, this direful plague, and no more attempted to offer any
imitation. A general horror was spread throughout the whole country, and every
part echoed with the cries of tortured men and cattle. Not being able longer to
endure this dreadful calamity, and finding no likelihood of its being removed,
the obstinate Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and, in a sullen dissatisfied
tone, bade them go and sacrifice to their God; but with this injunction, that
they should not pass beyond the bounds of Egypt. He was desirous of obtaining
relief, but, at the same time, was unwilling to part with a people, from whose
slavery he had reaped such great advantage. Being a stranger to the true God, he
did not conceive that the Israelites could not acceptably sacrifice to their God
while under Egyptian bondage. Moses, desirous of convincing rather than
inflaming, the infidel prince, prudently answered: “We can not sacrifice to our
God in this land, for that would be an affront to the Egyptians,[189] and they
will be revenged on us. Permit us, therefore, to avoid their resentment, by
going three days' journey into the wilderness, where we can sacrifice to our God
in the manner he hath commanded.” [189] The meaning of this expression is, that
the animals which they were to sacrifice to the Lord, being those which were
worshipped by the Egyptians, it would be such an affront and abomination to
them, as would endanger the lives of the Israelites. Herodotus tells us, that
the Egyptians esteemed it a profanation to sacrifice any kind of cattle except
swine, bulls, calves, and geese; and that heifers, rams, and goats (the usual
sacrifices of the Israelites), were, by them, held sacred. It is, therefore, no
wonder that the Israelites should wish to offer up their sacrifices in a place
detached from the sight of the Egyptians, justly suspecting, that had they not,
it might have been attended with fatal consequences. In reply to this, the
haughty monarch said, “If nothing else will serve you but to go into the desert,
I will let you go; but remember, it must not be far. And in return for this
concession, I desire you will entreat your God to remove the plague.” Moses
promised to intercede for him, but at the same time cautioned him to be sincere
in what he said, and not violate his engagements as he had before done. Leaving
Pharaoh, Moses retired to a proper place, where he addressed himself to God,
beseeching him to remove the plague of the flies. His prayers were accordingly
heard, and the insects soon took their flight. But this obstacle was no sooner
removed, than the haughty tyrant reassumed his former obstinacy, and
peremptorily forbid the Israelites worshipping their God in the way and manner
he had directed. MURRAIN This additional provocation so incensed the Almighty
against Pharaoh, that he again sent Moses to him with this message: “Tell him,”
said he, “Thus saith the God of the Hebrews, let my people go, that they may
serve me, or be assured I will visit all thy cattle that are in the field with a
grievous murrain; and to make thee still more sensible of in Omnipotence, I
will, by a wonderful distinction, preserve the cattle of my people, while I
destroy those of the Egyptians.” Pharaoh paid no more attention to this message
than he had done to the former, in consequence of which, the very next day, this
awful threat was most severely executed. The generous horse loathed his full
manger and loved pastures, and sunk beneath his rider; the ass and camel could
no longer support their burdens, or bear their own weight; the laboring ox fell
dead before the plough; the harmless sheep died bleating, and the faithful dogs
lay gasping by them. Though this was certainly a most horrid spectacle, yet it
made not the least impression on the hardened Pharaoh, who still resolved to
brave Heaven with his impious perverseness. Remembering what Moses had said of
the preservation of the Israelites' cattle, he sent to Goshen to learn how it
had fared with them, and was assured that not one of their cattle had died, or
received the least infection. This circumstance was certainly sufficient to have
convinced him that it was no casualty, but a direct judgment upon him, seeing
that it exactly answered the divine prediction. But notwithstanding this, his
heart was so callous, that he still preserved the resolution of not suffering
the Israelites to depart. SORES These means proving ineffectual, the Almighty,
in order to make some impression on the mind of this impious monarch, determined
to afflict him and his people with a plague, and that without giving him the
least notice of his intentions. He accordingly commanded Moses and Aaron to take
ashes of the furnace, and throw them into the air in the presence of Pharaoh.
This was accordingly done, upon which the ashes soon spread the dire contagion,
and the tainted air infected the Egyptian blood with its pernicious influence.
The most inveterate bites and ulcers appeared on their flesh, and their whole
constitution became a noisome spring of sores. So universal was this plague,
that even the magicians (who, it is probable, would willingly have once more
tried their skill) were affected, and that in such manner, that they dared not
appear in public. HAIL Pharaoh's obstinacy, which before proceeded from an
implacable hatred to the chosen people of God, now arose from the mere hardness
of his heart, and notwithstanding he must be sensible that the present plague
was the immediate effect of a divine and supernatural direction, yet he
continued firm in his resolution of detaining the Israelites. But the Almighty,
determined to make some impression on him, rendered the very powers of Heaven
subservient to his divine purpose, giving this charge to his servant Moses:
“Go,” says he, “early in the morning, to the king of Egypt, and tell him, that
I, the God of the Hebrews, demand the liberty of my people, that they may
worship me; which; if he refuse, he may be assured that I will shower my plagues
upon him and his people; and I will make him know that I am the only God on
earth. Say farther to him: If, when lately I smote the cattle with a murrain, I
had smitten thee and thy people with pestilence, thou hadst been cut off from
the earth. But I have reserved thee to show my power, and by the judgments I
shall inflict will I make known my name to all the world. Oppress not, nor
detain my people; for if thou dost, to-morrow, by this time, unless thou
submitteth thyself, I will send such a storm of hail from heaven upon Egypt as
never was known since it has been a nation. And that thou mayest not lose what
cattle the murrain left, which being not in the field escaped that plague, send
thy servants, and let them drive them under shelter; for upon every man and
beast, which shall be found in the field, the storm shall fall, and they shall
surely die.” So careless, as well as impious, was Pharaoh, that even this
declaration would not make him submit, though, his own life, as well as those of
his people, was in imminent danger. But some of them, who had been witnesses of
the dreadful wrath of God, made a prudent use of the divine caution, and,
housing their cattle in time, they were preserved from the general destruction.
The appointed time being come, Moses, in obedience to the divine command, waved
his rod in the air, which soon began to murmur in imperfect sounds, till the
full charged clouds, with impetuous force, burst and discharged themselves in
such horrid peals of thunder, as to sake the whole frame of nature. This was
succeeded by a stormy shower of hail, which covered the ground with the
scattered remains of trees, and houses, and the dead bodies of men and beasts.
Nor did the divine vengeance stop here: the heavens discharged a body of liquid
fire, which, darting on the ground, glided over the waters, and filled every
place with the most dreadful horror. The haughty tyrant began now to be
impressed with those sensations to which he had hitherto been a stranger. Seeing
all nature, as he imagined, ready to dissolve, he melted into penitence, and,
sending for Moses and Aaron, confessed himself guilty. “I have sinned this
time,” said he; “the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Entreat
the Lord that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you
go, and ye shall stay no longer.” Moses promised to comply with this request,
but at the same time assured him, he knew there was no sincerity in his heart;
and that his seeming repentance was only the effect of his fright. Moses,
however, in conformity to his promise, addressed himself to the Almighty
beseeching him to remove the plague; which was no sooner done, than his
prediction was verified: for, when Pharaoh found the storm was ceased, and all
was calm and serene, his fears totally vanished, his perverseness returned, and
he resolved still to keep the Israelites in a state of bondage. LOCUSTS The
Almighty was now pleased to make another trial, and to send his servant Moses to
apprize the haughty and perfidious tyrant of his intentions. The message he
delivered to Moses was prefaced by his reasons (as, indeed, he had done before)
why he permitted Pharaoh to continue in his obstinacy; the substance of which,
together with the message itself, was to this effect: “I have,” says he,
“hardened Pharaoh's heart, and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these
my wonders before them, and that thou mayest tell, in the hearing of thy sons,
and the Israelites to succeeding generations, what omens I have wrought in
Egypt, that ye may all know that I am the Lord, the Almighty Jehovah. Wherefore,
go to Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Why dost
thou persist in thy obstinacy? Let my people go, that they may serve me, or I
will bring the locusts into thy land to-morrow, which shall come in such swarms,
as to cover the surface of the earth, and devour all the products of it that
have escaped the former plagues. And this shall prove such plague as none of thy
predecessors ever saw.” This message Moses carefully delivered to Pharaoh in the
presence of his nobles, and, not receiving any answer to it, he retired. As soon
as he was gone, Pharaoh's courtiers, still sensibly impressed with the late
calamities, and fearful that he was about to call down more plagues upon them,
very roughly accosted their king, desiring him to let the Israelites go and
serve their God, lest, for his obstinacy, not only him self, but also the whole
people of his kingdom, should be totally destroyed. The importunity of Pharaoh's
courtiers prevailed more than God's threats and judgments. He immediately
dispatched a messenger after Moses and Aaron, who accordingly returning, he told
them they might go and serve their God; but under this limitation, that it
should only be the men, for that all the women and children should be left
behind. This, however, would not do for Moses: he insisted that all the
Israelites should go, both old and young, sons and daughters; nay, and their
flocks and herds; “for,” said he, “we must hold a feast to the Lord, and all
must be at it.” Pharaoh considered this demand as not only peremptory, but
insolent: he therefore bade them look to it, and consider well what they
insisted on; after which, in a very threatening manner, he dismissed them. This
repulse occasioned another judgment to be inflicted on the miserable subjects of
an infidel king; for Moses, by the divine command, stretched out his hand, with
the rod in it, and immediately a scorching wind blew all that day and the
succeeding night; the consequence of which was, the next morning there appeared
endless legions of locusts, which, in a short time, so devoured the fruits of
the earth, that it became, as it were, quite naked: the happy productions
arising from the fertile Nile, and all that bountiful nature afforded, were
carried off by these airy pillagers, and nothing appeared but horror and
desolation throughout the land of Egypt. The hardened Pharaoh was more sensibly
affected at this plague, than he had been at any of the former. He plainly saw
that the destruction of the fruits of the earth must be succeeded by the
destruction of man and beast. Wherefore, sending for Moses and Aaron, he, in a
more suppliant manner, addressed them in words to this effect: “I have, indeed,
offended Jehovah your God, in refusing to obey his command, and you, in so often
breaking my word with you: forgive me this offence, and entreat your God to
avert this judgment, that I and my people perish not by devouring famine.”
Moses, once more compassionating the case of the justly afflicted king,
addressed himself to the Almighty in his behalf, and the locusts, by the force
of a strong westerly wind, were driven into the Red sea. But this plague was no
sooner removed than Pharaoh's obstinacy and contempt of God's commands returned,
and he again refused the departure of the Israelites. DARKNESS All these methods
to reduce Pharaoh to an obedience of the Divine command proving ineffectual, the
Almighty commanded Moses to stretch forth his hand toward heaven, that there
might be a universal darkness, such as before had never been known, throughout
the land of Egypt. Moses obeyed the Divine command, immediately on which such
solid and thick clouds of darkness invaded the sky, that nature seemed at once
to be involved in one dreadful eclipse: the sun no longer enlightened the lower
world with his cheerful beams; the moon, with the stars, no more illuminated the
air; and so dismal was the aspect of all things, that nature appeared as if
about to return to her original chaos. This dreadful scene of horror lasted
three days, and the haughty Pharaoh was so affected at it, that though he had
long stood immoveable against the threats and judgments of God, yet he now,
fearing a universal dissolution, and frightened at the continual terror of this
long night, began seriously to relent, and sending for Moses, thus addressed
him--“Ye may go,” said he, “with your little ones, and serve the Lord; but, for
my security, I would have you leave your flocks and herds behind.” But this not
being absolutely consistent with the Divine command, Moses would not accept it.
He told Pharaoh that it was the express command of their God to remove with all
their substance; and that they knew not in what manner they were to offer
sacrifice to their God, nor should they till they came into the wilderness. The
haughty tyrant, incensed at the non-compliance of Moses to what he esteemed a
distinguished indulgence, commanded him to be gone, and, with great austerity,
told him if he ever appeared before him again, it should cost him his life.
FIRST-BORN DIE Moses promised Pharaoh he should never again see his face; but,
by the Divine command, he once more visited him, and that with a message more
severe than any he had yet delivered. “Tell him,” says the Almighty to Moses,
“in the hearing of his people, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out
into the midst of Egypt. And all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die,
from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the
first-born of the female servant that is behind the mill;[190] and all the
first-born of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of
Egypt, such as was never before, nor shall be again. But the children of Israel
shall not be in the least affected, that ye may know the distinction made by the
Lord between you and them. And all thy servants shall come down unto me, saying,
Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee; and after that will I go out
myself.” [190] It was usual for the lowest slaves to be employed in the drudgery
of the mill; and therefore the prophet Isaiah uses this idea, to express the
abject state of slavery to which Babylon should be reduced: “Come down, and sit
in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon: sit on the ground, take the
mill-stones and grind meal.” Isaiah 57:1-2. Dr. Shaw observes, that most
families in those countries still grind their wheat and barley at home, having
two portable mill-stones for that purpose; the uppermost whereof is turned round
by a small handle of wood, or iron, which is placed in the rim. When the stone
is large, or expedition is required, then a second person is called in to
assist; and, it is usual for the women alone to be concerned in this employment,
who seat themselves over against each other, with the mill-stones between them.
We may see not only the propriety of the expression in this verse, of sitting
behind the mill, but the force of another, Matthew 24:41, that “Two women shall
be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken and the other left.” Moses
delivered this message to Pharaoh in the manner he had been commanded. But the
haughty tyrant defied his threats, and still persisted in his obstinacy that the
Israelites should not depart from Egypt; upon which Moses, finding him
inflexible, turned away and left him. PASSOVER Previous to the carrying of this
last sentence into execution, the Almighty instructed Moses and Aaron in what
manner to direct the people to prepare the passover, which was to be a feast in
commemoration of their departure out of Egypt, and was to be held on the day
preceding that event.[191] The directions which, by the Divine command, Moses
gave to the people on this occasion, were to the following effect: that every
family of Israel (or, if the family was too small, two neighboring families
joining together) should, on the tenth[192] day of the month, take a lamb, or
kid, and having shut it up till he fourteenth day, then kill it. That the lamb,
or kid, should be a male not above a year old, and without any manner of
blemish: that, when they killed it, they should catch the blood in a vessel,
and, with a bunch of hyssop dipped in it, sprinkle the side posts of the outer
door, after which they should not stir out of the house till the next morning.
In the meantime, they were to eat the lamb, or kid (dressed whole and without
breaking a bone of it), neither raw nor sodden, but roasted, with unleavened
bread and bitter herbs; that if there was more than they could dispense with,
they were to bury it; and, lastly, that the posture in which they were to eat it
was to be in a hurry, with their clothes[193] on their shoulders and their
staves in their hands, as if they were just upon the point of going to depart.
[191] These directions given by the Almighty to Moses are introduced by the
following passage: “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it
shall be the first day of the first month of the year to you.” The Jews, like
most other nations, began their year, before this event, about the autumnal
equinox, in the month Tifri, after their harvest and vintage: but that which was
their first month, now became their seventh; as the month of Abib, which answers
principally to our March, was, by God's appointment, and in commemoration of
this their deliverance, constituted the first month of their sacred year. Abib
signifies the green corn; and the month was so named, because, about this time,
the corn in those countries began to ripen. [192] The passover, or feast was to
be celebrated on the fourteenth day of the month, so that four days were allowed
previous to its being held in after-times the Jews did not begin their
preparations till the thirteenth, or the day preceding the passover: but here,
they are ordered to prepare on the tenth day of the month, not only because this
being the first time of the celebration of the passover, they might require more
time to prepare for a ceremony entirely new, but because, being to depart from
Egypt suddenly, and in great haste, they might be perfectly ready, and have no
hindrance to make them neglect any part of the duty enjoined. [193] These
clothes were slight thin garments, resembling those which the Arabs now wear,
and which they call hykes. “These hykes,” says Dr. Shaw, “are of various sizes,
and of different qualities and fineness. The usual size of them is six yards
long and two broad. It serves them for a complete dress in the day; and, as they
sleep in their raiments, as the Israelites did of old (Deuteronomy 24:13) it
serves likewise for their bed and covering at night.” The tremendous night was
not long delayed. While the Jews were celebrating this newly instituted
feast--at midnight--the destroying angel went forth in a pestilence, and smote
all the first-born in the land of Egypt--“from the first-born of Pharaoh, that
sat on his throne, to the first-born of the captive that lay in the dungeon; and
all the first-born of cattle.” And there was a great cry in Egypt--lamentation
and bitter weeping--for there was not a house in which there was not one dead.
BORROWED JEWELS The effect of this dreadful blow was exactly such as Moses had
foretold. The king, his nobles, and the Egyptian people, rose in sorrow from
their beds that night. The shrieks of the living, with the groans of those about
to die, breaking in upon the stillness of the night--the darkness of which must
greatly have aggravated the horror and confusion of that hour--made the people
fancy they were all doomed to destruction, and that the work of death would not
cease till they had all perished. The king himself was filled with horror and
alarm. Without truly repenting his obduracy, he bitterly lamented its effects.
It appeared to him that the only method of arresting the progress of the
destruction was to send the Hebrews instantly away--in the fear that every
moment they tarried would prove the loss of a thousand lives to Egypt. He
therefore sent to Moses and Aaron by that very night--that hour--to tell them,
“Get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go
and serve the Lord as ye said; take also your flocks and herds, and begone; and
bless me also.” And the Egyptian people also, says the scriptural narrative,
were urgent upon them, to send them away in haste; for they said, “We are all
dead men.” In their anxiety to get them off, lest every moment of their stay
should prove the last to themselves or those dear to them, the Egyptians would
have done anything to satisfy and oblige them. This favorable disposition had
been foreseen from the beginning, and the Hebrews had been instructed by Moses
to take advantage of it, by borrowing ornaments of precious metal--“Jewels of
gold and jewels of silver,” with rich dresses, from the Egyptians. On the
principle that, “all that a man hath he will give for his life,” there can be no
doubt but that, under circumstances which made them consider their own lives in
jeopardy, and when the losses they had sustained were calculated to make their
finery seem of small value in their sight, the Egyptians were quite as ready to
Ornaments of Egyptian Females lend as the Hebrews to borrow. The women also were
authorized to borrow from the Egyptian females: and we may easily believe that
their exertions added much to the large amount of valuable property which was
extracted from the fears of the Egyptians. With whatever understanding these
valuable articles were given and received, the ultimate effect is, that in this
final settlement, the Hebrews received something like wages-though, as such,
inadequate-for the long services they had rendered to the Egyptians.[194] [194]
The “Borrowed” Jewels--Much learning and labor have been bestowed on
explanations of this transaction. The most general improvement which has been
suggested is, that we should assign the sense of “ask,” or “demand,” to the word
which most versions translate into “borrow:” and the meaning will then be, that
the Hebrews availed themselves of the consternation in which they saw the
Egyptians, to demand these valuable articles, in compensation for the long
service they had rendered. In this explanation one little circumstance is
forgotten, which is, the probability that these precious articles were obtained
from persons who had never any direct benefit from, or interest in, their
services. It seems to us that not so much as is commonly supposed is gained by
this alteration. We prefer to adhere to the more received view of the case;
because that seems more in agreement with all the circumstances which surround
the transaction. The explanation proceeds on the notion that the Israelites had
avowed their intention to escape; for had it been presumed that they intended to
return, it would have been a piece of the grossest and most fatal madness in
them to “demand” this valuable property from the Egyptians in a compulsory
manner. But their intention to withdraw altogether was never avowed while they
were in Egypt. Moses never avowed it. Even when rather closely pressed on the
subject, he persisted, at least by implication. that there was no other object
than that of holding a feast to Jehovah at the distance of three days, journey
into the wilderness, and the ulterior intention was not distinctly avowed by the
move which was made from “Etham on the edge of the wilderness.” Thus, therefore,
only being the avowed object of the Israelites, it must have seemed perfectly
natural to the Egyptians that they should wish to appear as richly attired as
possible at the great feast they were about to celebrate; and as natural, that
they should borrow such articles as they, in their state of bondage and poverty,
did not possess. The consternation they were in at the death of their
first-born, and their haste to get the Hebrews away, precluded much
deliberation. By the time the Israelites moved from Etham there had been leisure
for reflection, and they manifested their sense that the substance with which
they parted on that occasion had only been lent, by the haste which they made to
recover it, as soon as they became assured that the Hebrews intended to escape.
ISRAEL DEPARTS EGYPT So eager were the Egyptians to get them off, that, between
persuasions, bribery, and gentle compulsion, the whole body had commenced its
march before daybreak, although it was not till midnight that the first-born had
been slain. They had no time even to bake the bread for which the dough was
ready; and they were, therefore, obliged to leave it in their dough bags, Which
they carried away, wrapped up in their clothes, with the view of preparing their
bread when an opportunity might be offered by their first halt. Hurried as they
were, they forgot not the bones of Joseph, which they had kept at hand, and now
bore away with them. On they marched, driving before them their cattle and their
beasts of burden laden with their moveables and tents; and themselves, some,
doubtless, riding on camels, some on asses; but, from the great number of these
required for the women and the children, most of the men doubtless marched on
foot. Thus, laden with the spoils of Egypt, they went on their way rejoicing,
leaving the Egyptians to the things which belong to mourning and the grave. We
are told that the number of the Israelites who on this eventful night commenced
their march was “about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and
children.” The description of “men on foot” denotes, as elsewhere appears, men
fit to bear arms, excluding therefore not only those who are too young, but
those who are too old for such service. As this prime class of the community is
usually in the proportion of one fourth of the whole population, the result
would give nearly two millions and a half as the number of the posterity of
Jacob. This number is so very high, that it has seemed incredible to many. We
must confess, that it is difficult to realize the presence of so vast a host
with their flocks and herds, and to form an idea of the immense area they would
cover, were only standing-room given to them, much more where encamped under
tents--and when we further consider the length and breadth of their moving body
on a march, as well as the quantities of water they would require, we may be
tempted to conclude that a much smaller number would amply justify the promises
of God, and would render many circumstances in the ensuing portion of their
history more easy to be understood. Besides this, the ancient manner of notation
afforded temptations and facilities for the corruption of numbers, whence it
happens that the most disputed texts of Scripture, are those in which, as the
copies now stand, there are palpable contradictions, are those which contain
numerical statements. We are not insensible to these considerations, and have
endeavored to assign them all the weight which they are entitled to bear. But
seeing that the present number, high as it is, has some support from collateral
evidence, and from Departure from Egypt the considerations to which we have
already adverted, and, above all; reflecting that the present number is a
positive circumstance, whereas all alteration could only be conjectural,[195] we
deem it the best and safest course to take the number as we find it in the
present copies of the Pentateuch. But besides the descendants of Jacob, there
was a large “mixed multitude,” which went out of Egypt on this occasion. Who
they were is not clearly stated; but it would appear that the mass was formed of
foreign slaves, belonging to the principal persons among the Hebrews, with a
good number, probably, belonging to the Egyptians, who were glad to take the
opportunity of escaping with the Israelites. Besides this, there were manifestly
a considerable number of Egyptians of the poorer class, who perhaps expected to
better their condition in some way, or had other very good reasons for leaving
Egypt: indeed, as it did not turn out that the Israelites were anything the
better for their presence, we are free to confess that we think it likely they
were chiefly such thieves, vagabonds, adventurers, and debtors, as could no
longer stay safely in Egypt. [195] So conjectural that while some strike off one
cipher, reducing 600,000 to 60,000, others are not content without taking off
two, thus reaching the certainty to the very convenient and manageable number of
6,000 Another conjecture has been that the 600,000 includes all the population,
and not merely the men fit to bear arms; but this is precluded by the terms of
the text, “besides women and children.” The circumstance that Moses was so well
acquainted with the number of the Israelites before they left Egypt, intimates
that an account of their numbers had not long before been taken by the
Egyptians. That ingenious people employed very early, if they did not invent,
the practice of taking a census of what is called the effective part of the
population; and from them, unquestionably, the Israelites, under the direction
of Moses, adopted this useful custom. In all such enumerations, in ancient
times, the women and children were not included, and their number is never
stated. But probably they were able to form an estimate of the proportion which
the numbered part of the population bore to the whole; although their
conclusions in this matter must have been more uncertain than our own, which
have been found on repeated actual enumerations of portions of the entire
population which were never included in the ancient enumerations. STARTING POINT
OF ESCAPE The point from which the Hebrew host started on their march was
Rameses, one of the “treasure cities” which they had built for Pharaoh in the
land of Goshen, and which seems to have become the chief place in the territory
they occupied. The difficulties in tracing their march begin at the very first
stage. There are two preliminary questions, satisfactory information on which
would much assist us in understanding the early part of their journey. The first
is, the situation of Rameses, from which they started; and the second, the point
to which their journey was, in the first instance, directed. On the first point
no very satisfactory information can be obtained. It is, indeed, not quite clear
that any particular locality is intended, or whether the land of Goshen, in the
large indefinite sense, may not be denoted by “the land of Rameses.” But some
information is reflected upon the first by the answer to the second of these
questions, which answer is, that the destination which was in the first instance
contemplated, was doubtless the wilderness of Sinai. The land of Goshen appears
most evidently to have bordered on, if it did not include, part of the tract
over which the nearest and most convenient road to the peninsula of Sinai from
the banks of the Nile has always passed. This is nearly the line in which, in
after ages, a canal was made connecting the Nile with the Gulf of Suez; and
that, while it is the nearest route, it is the only one which offers a supply of
water, is a consideration which doubtless as much recommended it in ancient
times to those going from Egypt to Sinai or Arabia, as it does now recommend it
to the great caravan of pilgrimage which yearly journeys from Cairo to Mecca.
The route of this caravan is the same, as far as the head of the Gulf of Suez,
as one would take which proceeds to the Desert of Sinai. We shall therefore
presume that this was the route taken. If the Hebrews were to have gone direct
to take possession of the Promised Land, their nearest road would have been “by
the way of the Philistines;” that is, by the usual route from Egypt to Gaza. But
the Philistines were unquestionably the most powerful and warlike people then in
Palestine, and there was already some ill blood between them and the Israelites,
and would be likely to offer a most formidable opposition to them at the very
first step of their progress. The Hebrews were in fact altogether unfit to face
such enemies, or any enemies whatever: they were not yet even fit to be a
nation; and therefore, instead of being at once led to their promised heritage,
it was the divine will that they should be conducted into the desert, there to
be trained, disciplined, and instructed, so as to fit them for their future
destinies. Moses knew that their first destination was the wilderness of Sinai;
for when the Lord appeared to him in Horeb, it was announced that the bondaged
children of Abraham should be brought to worship God in that very mountain.
CLOUD & FIRE The Hebrews left Rameses and proceeded on their way. And now it
appeared that the Lord provided against their going astray, by placing a
miraculous column of cloud to go before them by day and mark out heir road;
while by night it became a column of fire, and gave light to all the camp. This
was important, also, as evincing that Moses was not acting by his own authority,
and that, however highly he was entitled to their confidence and respect, they
had a more unerring Guide and a more exalted Protector. Their first day's
journey brought them to Succoth. We relinquish the notion which we once
entertained that Succoth may have been at or near the place (Birket el Hadj, or
Pilgrim's Pool) where the great pilgrim caravan encamps and makes its final
arrangements for its journey. We think it, upon the whole, more likely that the
point from which the Hebrews departed in the first instance may have been in
that neighborhood. Succoth, therefore, must be sought somewhere about a day's
journey in the direction toward Suez. The name denotes tents or booths, and it
is useless to seek its site, as the name appears only to denote a place where
caravans passing that way usually encamped. Adjeround

WILDERNESS JOURNEY Their next resting-place of which we are told was “Etham, on
the edge of the wilderness.” But in this, as in other cases, we are not to
suppose that the places which are named are the only places at which they
rested; and in the present instance the distance may suggest that this Etham was
the third rather than the second encampment. The halting-places of caravans are
in these desert regions so much determined by the presence of wells, that, in
connection with the circumstance of it being situated “on the edge of the
wilderness,” there is not much difficulty in concluding that Etham is
represented by the modern Adjeroud, which forms the third stage of the pilgrim's
caravan, and where there is an old fortress, a small village, and copious well
of indifferent water. This place is about eleven miles to the northwest of Suez.
The neighborhood seems indeed to be on the edge of the wilderness: for what M.
du Bois-Ayme says of Bir-Suez (which he identifies with Etham) is true also of
Adjeroud, that, in effect, it appears to be toward the extremity of the desert:
for hence the sea is seen to make a bend to the west, and by joining the high
chain of Mount Attaka to terminate the desert to the south. The journey to this
point had been for the most part over a desert, the surface of which is composed
of hard gravel, often strewed with pebbles. They had now arrived near the head
of the Red sea, and also, as we suppose, at the limit of the three days' journey
into the wilderness for which they had applied. It is therefore evident that
their next move must decide their future course, and convey to the Egyptians a
clear and decisive intimation of their intentions. If they designed to do as
they had all along declared to be their only wish, they would stay at this
place, and proceed to celebrate the feast to Jehovah, of which so much had been
said: but, if they intended to escape altogether, they would resume their
journey, and, passing by the head of the Red sea, strike off into the desert.
And here God, who knew that the king of Egypt had so far recovered his
consternation that he was determined to pursue and drive them back, if they made
any move indicating an intention to escape, directed a move which must have been
most unexpected to all parties, and which could not to any indifferent spectator
have seemed the result of the most gross and fatal infatuation. About the head
of the Gulf of Suez a desert plain extends for ten or twelve miles to the west
and north of the city of that name. On the west this plain is bounded by the
chain of Attaka, which comes down toward the sea in a northeasterly direction.
Opposite Suez this chain is seen at a considerable distance, but, as we advance
southward, the mountains rapidly approach the sea, and proportionately contract
the breadth of the valley; and the chain terminates at the sea; and seems, in
the distant view, to shut up the valley at Ras-el-Attaka, or Cape Attaka, twelve
miles below Suez. But, on approaching this point, ample room is found to pass
beyond; and on passing he and we find ourselves in a broad alluvial plain,
forming the mouth of the valley of Bedea. This plain is on the other or southern
side nearly shut up by the termination of another chain of these mountains,
which extend between the Nile and the western shore of the Red sea. Any further
progress in this direction would be impossible to a large army, especially when
encumbered with flocks and herds, and with women, children, and-baggage; and
this from the manner in which the rocks, the promontories, and the cliffs
advance on the western shore. And, besides, any advance in this direction would
be suicidal to a body desiring to escape from Egypt, as they would have the Red
sea between them and Arabia Proper, and could only get involved among the plains
and valleys which separate the mountain chains of Egyptian Arabia. The valley of
Bedea, which opens to the Red sea in the broad plain to which we have brought
the reader, narrows as it proceeds westward toward the Nile. It forms a fine
roadway between the valley of the Nile and the Red sea, and, as such, has in all
ages been one of the most frequented routes in all the country, being traversed
by all parties and caravans which desire to proceed from the neighborhood of
Cairo, on places to the south of Cairo, to Suez, or to places lying beyond the
head of the gulf. Now, the Hebrew host being at Etham, and their next step
thence being of the utmost importance they were directed, not--as might
obviously have been expected--to pass round the head of the gulf into the Sinai
peninsula, but to proceed southward, between the mountains of Attaka and the
western shore of the gulf, and, after Suez passing the Ras-el-Attaka, to encamp
in the plain into which the valley of Bedea opens. The more thoroughly any one
makes himself acquainted with the topography of this region, the more obvious
and reasonable, we are persuaded, will seem to him this explanation of the
text--“Turn and encamp before Pi-ha-hiroth [the mouth of the ridge], between
Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon: before it ye shall encamp by the
sea.” As the names Migdol and Baal-zephon are not now recognizable anywhere
about the head of the gulf,[196] no facts or inferences can be deduced from
them; but an important confirmation is derived from the circumstance that we are
told that, in consequence of the move which was made, the Hebrew host were shut
up between the sea and the mountains, without any means of escape, unless
through the sea, when the retreat in the rear was cut off. [196] Migdol was
probably a tower, as the name imports, and may seem to have been on the
mountains which hem in the valley. Baal-zephon, meaning the Northern Baal or
Lord, would seem to have been a town or temple situated somewhere in the plain
of Medea, or over against it on the eastern shore of the sea. Many have thought
they found cause to wonder at this extraordinary movement, which placed the
Hebrews in a position of such inextricable difficulty, forgetting that this was
the very purpose of God, that the prospect of an extraordinary advantage might
tempt the Egyptians on to their own destruction, and bring them within the reach
of those agencies by which God intended, to act against them. The wonder which
the reader may feel is exactly the wonder which the king of Egypt felt, and by
which he was led on to his ruin. The movement was made; and the thousands of
Israel encamped in the plain of Bedea. EGYPTIAN PURSUIT The days which had
passed had given the Egyptians time to recover from some portion of their panic;
and their first feeling of unmixed horror and alarm gave place to considerable
resentment and regret, on the king's part, that he had so suddenly conceded all
the points which had been contested between him and Moses, and had allowed them
all to depart; and as for his subjects, such of them as had a profitable
interest in the labors of the Israelites would, to some extent, join in the
king's feelings, as soon as their bondsmen took any course to intimate that they
intended to escape; and the same intimation would not fail to alarm those who
had “lent” to the Hebrews their “jewels of silver and jewels of gold,” and who
by this time had found leisure to think that they had too easily parted with
their wealth. Thus it seems that the course which the Israelites might take
after their arrival at Etham was regarded with much anxiety by the Egyptians,
who took care to be informed of all their movements. When, therefore, the king
heard not only that they had taken a decisive move from Etham, but, through some
astonishing infatuation, had so moved as to become “entangled in the land,” and
“shut in by the wilderness,” he hastened to avail himself of the extraordinary
advantage which they had placed in his hands. “He made ready his chariot, and
took his people with him.” He mustered not less than six hundred chariots, which
are said to be “all the [war] chariots of Egypt.” This is in correspondence with
the sculptures, which show that the Egyptians made great use in war of such
chariots as our engraving exhibits. A large body of infantry[197] was also
assembled, and the pursuit commenced. Their light, unencumbered march was no
doubt much more quickly performed than that of the Israelites to the same place.
[197] These must be intended by “his army,” as distinguished from his “chariots
and horsemen.” Our engraving, (see p161) composed from Egyptian sculptures and
paintings, shows Egyptian soldiers with the equipments and arms of different
corps. The man in the foreground with the round studded shield is, however, not
an Egyptian, but belongs to a nation, the soldiers of which are often seen
fighting as auxiliaries along with those of Egypt. A native Egyptian soldier, if
he has any shield, has it round at the upper end and square at the lower. The
charioteer in the background is known to be a king by his head dress. One of the
citations in Eusebius from the lost history of Manetho, the Egyptian priest,
says: “The Heliopolitans relate that the king with a great army, accompanied by
the sacred animals, pursued after the Jews, who had carried off with them the
substance of the Egyptians.”[198] “Præp. Evang.” lib x. cap. 27. This takes
notice of two facts not mentioned by Moses, but not at all disagreeing with his
statement, namely, that, for their protection against the God of Israel, the
Egyptians took with them their sacred animals, by which means the Lord executed
judgment upon the [bestial] gods of Egypt, as had been foretold (Exodus 12:12);
and then that to recover the substance which the Hebrews had “borrowed” was one
of the objects of the pursuit. Ancient Egyptian War Chariot

We do not agree with those who think that the king of Egypt came upon the
encamped Hebrews through the valley of Bedea, in the plain at the mouth of which
they were encamped. As he was so glad to find how they had “entangled themselves
in the land” he was not likely to take a course which would deprive him of all
the advantages derivable from their apparent oversight. This he would do by
coming upon them through the valley of Bedea; for this would have left open to
them the alternative of escaping from their position by the way they entered
whereas, by coming the same way they had come, he shut up that door of escape,
and, if they fled before him, left them no other visible resource but to march
up the valley of Bedea, back to Egypt, before the Egyptian troops. That this was
really the advantage to himself which the king saw in their position, and that
it was his object to drive them before him back to Egypt through this valley, or
to destroy them if they offered to resist, we have not the least doubt; and it
is unlikely that he would take any road but that which would enable him to
secure these benefits. The Egyptians, being satisfied that they had secured
their prey, and that it was impossible for their fugitive bondsmen to escape but
by returning to Egypt, were in no haste to assail them. They were also,
themselves, probably wearied by their rapid march. They therefore encamped for
the night--for it was toward evening when they arrived--intending, probably, to
give effect to their intentions in the morning. As for the Israelites, the sight
of their old oppressors struck them with terror. There was no faith or spirit in
them. They knew not how to value their newly found liberty. They deplored the
rash adventure in which they had engaged; and their servile minds looked back
with regret and envy upon the enslaved condition which they had so lately
deplored. Moses knew them well enough not to be surprised that they assailed him
as the author of all the calamities to which they were now exposed. “Is it
because there were no graves in Egypt,” said they, “that thou hast taken us away
to die in the wilderness? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt,
saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better
for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” This is one
specimen of a mode of feeling and character among this spiritless and perverse
people of which Moses had seen something already, and of which he had soon
occasion to see much more. One might be disposed to judge of their feelings the
more leniently, attributing them to the essential operation of personal slavery
in enslaving the mind, by debasing its higher tones of feeling and character,
did we not know that the same characteristics of mind and temper constantly
broke out among this remarkable people very long after the generation which knew
the slavery of Egypt had passed away. CROSSING THE RED SEA Moses did not deign
to remonstrate with them or to vindicate himself. It seems that the Divine
intention had been previously intimated to him; for he answered, with that usual
emphasis of expression which makes it a pleasure to transcribe his words: “Fear
ye not: stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to
you this day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day ye shall see no more
again for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”
They were pacified by this for the present; but there is good reason to suspect,
that if measures of relief had long been delayed, they would have given up Moses
and Aaron to the Egyptians, and have placed themselves at their disposal. But
measures of relief were not long delayed. When the night was fully come, the
Lord directed Moses to order the people to march forward to the sea; on their
arriving at which, the prophet lifted up his rod upon the waters, over which
instantly blew a powerful east wind, by which they were divided from shore to
shore, so that the firm bottom of hard sand appeared; offering a dry road in the
midst of the sea, by which they might pass to the eastern shore. At that
instant, also, the pillar of fire which had gone before the Hebrews to guide
them on their way was removed to their rear, and, being thus between them and
the Egyptians it gave light to the former in their passage, while it concealed
their proceedings and persons from the latter.[199] [199] According to a
well-known optical effect, by which we can see by night all that stands between
us and the light, but nothing that lies beyond the light. No doubt the pillar
gave good light to the Egyptians themselves, but did not enable them to see the
Israelites. In like manner the Israelites, doubtless, could not see the
Egyptians. A little attention to a matter so perfectly obvious would have spared
us some speculations, such as that which gives the pillar a cloudy side and a
flaming side, etc. It thus happened that some time passed before the Egyptians
discovered that the Israelites were in motion. When they made this discovery,
the king determined to Ancient Egyptian Soldiers follow. It is by no means clear
that they knew or thought that they were following them into the bed of the sea.
Considering the darkness of the night, except from the light of the pillar, with
the confusion of ideas and indistinct perceptions of a people who had not been
on the spot long enough to make particular observations, and most of them
probably roused from sleep to join in the pursuit, it seems likely that they
felt uncertain about the direction, and supposed that they were following some
accustomed route by which the Israelites were either endeavoring to escape or to
return to Egypt. They may even have thought they were going up the valley of
Bedea, although that actually lay in an opposite direction. Anything, however
improbable, seems more likely to have occurred to them than that they were
passing through the divided sea. By the time the day broke and the Egyptians
became aware of their condition, all the Hebrews had safely reached the other
side and all or nearly all the Egyptians were in the bed of the gulf; the van
approaching the eastern shore, and the rear having left the western. The moment
of vengeance was come. They found themselves in the midst of the sea, with the
waters on their right hand and on their left, and only restrained from
overwhelming them by some power they knew not, but which they must have
suspected to have been that of the God of the Hebrews. The marine road, ploughed
by the multitudes which went before them, became distressing to them; their
chariot-wheels dragged heavily along, and very many of them came off from the
cars which they supported. The Lord also began to trouble them with a furious
warfare of the elements. The Psalmist more than once alludes to this. He
exclaims: “The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee, and were afraid:”
and then speaks as if every element had spent its fury upon the devoted heads of
the Egyptians. The earth shook; the thunders rolled and most appalling
lightnings--the arrows of God--shot along the firmament; while the clouds poured
down heavy rains, “hailstones, and coals of fire.”[200] It deserves to be
mentioned that this strife is also recorded by the Egyptian chronologer, who
reports, “It is said that fire flashed against them in front.” [200] Psalms
18:13-15. By this time the pursuers were thoroughly alarmed. “Let us flee,” said
they from the face of Israel, for Jehovah fighteth for them against the
Egyptians.” But at that instant the Lord gave the word, Moses stretched forth
his hand over the sea and the restrained waters returned and engulfed them all.
This stupendous event made a profound impression upon the Hebrew mind at large.
From that day to the end of the Hebrew polity, it supplied a subject to which
the sacred poets and prophets make constant allusions in language the most
sublime. Its effect upon the generation more immediately concerned was very
strong, and although they were but too prone to forget it, was more abiding and
operative than any which had yet been made upon them. When they witnessed all
these things, and soon after saw the carcases of those who had so lately been
the objects of such intense dread to them, lying by thousands on the beach,
“they feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and his servant Moses.” SONG OF
TRIUMPH In the sublime song which Moses composed and sang with the sons of
Israel in commemoration of this great event--their marvellous deliverance and
the overthrow of their enemies--he, with his usual wisdom, looks forward to
important ulterior effects, to secure to the Hebrews the benefit of which may
not improbably have formed one of the principal reasons for this remarkable
exhibition of the power of Jehovah, and his determination to protect the chosen
race. These anticipations, which were abundantly fulfilled, are contained in the
following verses: “The nations shall hear this and tremble; Anguish shall seize
the inhabitants of Palestine. Then shall the princes of Edom be amazed: And
dismay shall possess the mighty ones of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan
shall melt away; Fear and terror shall fall upon them: Through the greatness of
thine arm They shall become still as a stone, Until thy people pass over
[Jordan], O Jehovah, Until thy people pass over whom thou hast redeemed.” On
this occasion the first instance is offered of a custom, learned most probably
in Egypt, and ever retained by the Hebrew women, of celebrating with dances and
View of Ain Mousa timbrels every remarkable event of joy or triumph. They were
now led by Miriam the sister of Moses and Aaron; and they seem to have token
part as a chorus in the song of the men, by answering-- “Let us sing unto the
Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously, The horse and his rider hath he thrown
into the sea.” As the timbrels of the women were doubtless Egyptian, and the
dresses of those of superior rank were probably Egyptian also, we have
considered that a similar dance of females, from Egyptian sources, would form a
satisfactory illustration. It will appear, from the opinion we have been induced
to entertain respecting the place in which the Israelites encamped, and from
which they departed, on the western shore of the gulf, that we concur with those
who regard Ain Mousa[201] as the place, on the eastern shore, where they came up
from the bed of the sea, and where they witnessed the overthrow of their
oppressors. That the site is thus distinguished in the local traditions of the
inhabitants of Sinai, the name alone suffices to indicate; and, although undue
weight should not be attached to such traditions, it would be wrong entirely to
disregard them when they support or illustrate conclusions otherwise probable.
We shall, however, content ourselves with adding, descriptively, that a number
of green shrubs, springing from numerous hillocks, mark the landward approach to
this place. Here are also a number of neglected palm-trees grown thick and bushy
for want of pruning. The springs which here rise out of the ground in various
places, and give name to the spot, are soon lost in the sands. The water is of a
brackish quality, in consequence, probably, of the springs being so near the
sea; but it is, nevertheless, cool and refreshing, and in these waterless
deserts affords a desirable resting-place. The view from this place, looking
westward, is very beautiful, and most interesting from its association with the
wonderful events which it has been our duty to relate. The mountain chains of
Attaka, each running into a long promontory, stretch along the shore of Africa;
and nearly opposite our station we view the opening--the Pi-ha-hiroth--the
“mouth of the ridge,” formed by the valley in the mouth of which the Hebrews
were encamped before they crossed the sea. On the side where we stand, the
access to the shore from the bed of the gulf would have been easy. And it
deserves to be mentioned, that not only do the springs bear the name of Moses,
but the projecting head-land below them, toward the sea, bears the name of Ras
Mousa. Thus do the Cape of Moses and the Cape of Deliverance look toward each
other from the opposite shores of the Arabian gulf, and unite their abiding and
unshaken testimony to the judgments and wonders of that day in which the right
hand of Jehovah was so abundantly “glorified in might.”[202] [201] The Fountains
of Moses. [202] As Egypt has been the grand scene of the very important
transactions related in this chapter, it may not be improper to close it with a
few observations on its learning, language, religion, idolatry, etc. Egypt (that
binds or troubles), an ancient country of Africa, peopled by Mizraim, a son of
Ham, the son of Noah, from whom it received its name, and the Arabs still call
it Mesr. Egypt is about six hundred miles long, and from one hundred to three
hundred broad: it lies at the northeast corner of Africa, bounded on the north
by the Mediterranean sea, on the east by the isthmus of Suez and the Red sea,
which divide it from Asia, on the south by Abyssinia, and on the west by Libya.
Egypt was divided into two districts, Upper Egypt, or Thebias, and Lower Egypt,
or the Delta. The river Nile, running through the whole length of the land, from
north to south, abounds with fish, crocodiles, and hippopotami ; and, by its
annual overflowing, the country became one of the most fruitful in the world, so
that its majestic waters formed the glory of the king of Egypt, Ezekiel 29:3-5.
Egypt was, at an early period, famous above every other country, for its
progress in the arts and sciences, Acts 7:22; 1 Kings 4:29-30, attracting
thither the most celebrated philosophers and historians of Greece, to complete
their studies. Pythagoras, Herodotus, Plato, and many others, sought instruction
in Egypt, among its celebrated sages; yet idolatry was carried to such a height,
by the wisest instructors of that country, that the Egyptians made gods for
their religious worship, not only of the sun and moon, but of their various
beasts, oxen, sheep, goats, and cats, and even of leeks, onions, and diseases,
and of monsters having no existence, except in their own disordered
imaginations. Divine prophecy has been strikingly illustrated in the history of
Egypt, Ezekiel 29:8-15. Nebuchadnezzar conquered it, as foretold by the prophet;
then it became subject to Persia; and in succession to the Greeks, Romans,
Saracens, Mamaluke-slaves, and Turks. Napoleon Bonaparte conquered it in 1798,
in the hope of acquiring India; but the French were expelled by the British, who
delivered it up to the Turks…. It has, therefore, had no prince of its own; and
it has been “the basest of kingdoms:” the decrees of Heaven have been
accomplished, and they will yet be fulfilled, in the triumphs of Christianity,
Isaiah 11:9-16. Egypt still abounds with vast monuments of its former grandeur:
the ruins of it ancient cities and temples attest its magnificence, riches, and
populousness. The tombs of its kings, the stupendous pyramids alone, evince
these things: the largest of three of them, situated a few leagues from Cairo,
the site of the celebrated Memphis, according to the recent measurement of a
French engineer, forms a square, each side of whose base is seven hundred and
forty-six feet, covering more than thirteen acres of land: the perpendicular
height of it is five hundred and forty-six feet; and it contains 6,000,000 of
tons of stone, sufficient to build a wall ten feet high, and one foot thick,
eighteen hundred miles in length! These prodigious monuments of the ancient
glory of Egypt, at ones confirm and illustrate the truth and divinity of the
Holy Scriptures. Dance of Females, with Timbrels


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  CHAPTER 18: ISRAELITES IN THE WILDERNESS--SINAI--TABERNACLE--SACRIFICES
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ISRAELITES IN THE WILDERNESS--SINAI--TABERNACLE--SACRIFICES MARAH The
Israelites, having acknowledged their thankfulness to God for his beneficent
protection in delivering them out of Egyptian bondage, Moses conducted them from
the Red sea into the desert of Shur or Etham. Here they travelled three days
without finding any water, which, to so great a number of people, and in so hot
a country, must have been very afflicting. At length, they came to a place
called Marah, where they found some water; but, on tasting it, they could not
drink it, on account of its being so exceeding bitter. This disappointment
inflamed their thirst, and increased their dissatisfaction, insomuch that they
began to murmur against Moses, asking him what they should drink? Moses was
sensible of the calamity under which they labored; and, fearful lest they
should, by their future murmurings, provoke the Almighty to punish them, he
addressed himself to God in their behalf, who no sooner heard the complaint,
than he was pleased to remove it. He ordered Moses to make use of the wood of a
certain tree, which, as soon as it was thrown into the water, changed its
offensive quality and became sweet. ELIM AND PALM TREES From Marah the
Israelites proceeded to Elim, where they found not only plenty of water, but
also great numbers of palm or date trees,[203] the fruit of which being ripe
supplied them with food. Here it may be supposed they made some stay; for when
they left the place it was the fifteenth day of the second month, which was just
a month from the day of their departure: from Egypt. [203] Palm-Tree (Seep 167
Engraving), a tall, fruit-bearing, shadowy tree, whose fruit is the date: it
arrives at perfection in about thirty years, and thus continues about seventy
years, bearing fifteen or twenty clusters of dates, each cluster weighing from
fifteen to twenty pounds. Exodus 15:27. The palm-tree is held in great
estimation by the inhabitants of Arabia, Egypt, and Persia, on account of its
adaptation to various valuable purposes. The Arabs celebrate its three hundred
and sixty uses to which the different parts maybe applied they used the leaves
for making ropes, sacks, mats, hats, sandals, and other things; and many people
subsist almost entirely on its fruit. Palm-branches were carried as tokens of
victory or joy (Leviticus 23, John 12:13); and the beauty of this tree is made
an emblem of the active virtues of a Christian. Psalms 92:12. WILDERNESS OF SIN
On their removal from Elim they proceeded to the wilderness[204] of Sin,
situated between Elim and Mount Sinai. Here again they fell into a general
murmur against Moses and Aaron, on account of the barrenness of the place, and
the scarcity of provisions. “Would to God,” cried they, “we had died by the hand
of the Lord in the land of Egypt, where we had plenty of bread and meat; for now
ye have brought us into this desert, where we must perish with famine.” [204]
Wilderness, a desert, or uncultivated tract of land. Exodus 14:3; 1 Kings 19:15,
Acts 21:38. The northwestern part of Arabia was almost wholly uncultivated; and
hence Moses calls it “a terrible and a waste-howling wilderness” Deuteronomy
1:19. Paran, Sin, and Sinai, were deserts in that dangerous country. Several
wildernesses or small deserts existed in Canaan; as “the wilderness of Judea.”
famous for the ministry of John the Baptist. Matthew 3:1. QUAIL AND MANNA The
Almighty, to convince these murmuring people of his divine power and protection,
was pleased to inform them by the mouth of Moses, that he would take care to
supply them with food from heaven, and it was not long before his beneficent
promise was fulfilled. On that very evening he caused such a number of quails to
fall among them, as almost covered their camp, by which they were plentifully
supplied with the article of flesh. The next morning, as soon as the dew was
gone, they found the surface of the earth covered with little white round
things, resembling, in shape, the coriander seed. The Israelites, astonished at
so singular a circumstance, said one to another, “What is this?” Upon which
Moses answered, “It is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.” And
thence they gave it the name of Manna. As this was the bread designed by the
Almighty for the Israelites during their stay in the wilderness, and as they
were strangers to its qualities, he was leased to give them the following
directions in what manner they were to manage it for the intended purposes. That
it was to be gathered by measure, an omer for every head, according to the
number of each family; but this direction some persons slighting, and gathering
above the portion allowed, fund their quantity miraculously lessened, while the
more moderate had theirs increased. That it was to be gathered fresh every
morning, all of which should be consumed the same day. This precept was likewise
not observed by some, who, keeping apart till the next morning, found, upon
examination, that it stunk, and was so putrefied as to be totally useless.
Palm-Tree in the Sinai Mountains

That, on the seventh day (which was the Sabbath) there could not be any found;
and therefore, on the sixth, they should gather a double portion, which being
laid up against the ensuing day, should be perfectly sweet and wholesome. Such
were the directions given by God to the Israelites for the use of this
miraculous bread, on which they were chiefly supported for forty years. And in
order to perpetuate the remembrance of it, and that their posterity might see on
what God had fed them while in the wilderness, he appointed an omer of it to be
put into a pot, and to be carefully preserved for that purpose. Thus did the
Almighty supply the wants of the discontented Israelites in the most ample
manner; and farther to convince them of his peculiar favor and regard, directed
their marches from place to place, and appointed their respective encampments.
REPHIDIM Leaving the desert of Sin, and proceeding on their journey, they came
to a place called Rephidim, where they struck their tents and encamped. Here
they were again distressed for water, upon which they fell into their old way of
distrusting God's providence, and murmuring against Moses; but on this occasion
they were much more mutinous and desperate than ever. It was in vain for Moses
to endeavor to persuade them to be patient, and wait the will of God: this only
inflamed them the more, and at length their rage arose to such a height, that
they threatened to stone him. WATER FROM HOREB Moses, not knowing what to do in
order to appease the rage of the people, addressed himself to God, who was
pleased to dissipate his fear, .by promising to signalize that place by a
miraculous supply of water, as he had lately done another by a miraculous supply
of food. “Go,” said he, “on before the people, and take with thee of the elders
of Israel: and thy rod wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand and
go. Behold I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shall
smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, and the people shall
drink.” Moses did as he was commanded, and no sooner had he smitten the rock
with his rod, than water in abundance gushed out from several places at the same
time, which joining in one common stream ran down to the camp at Rephidim, by
which the people were immediately supplied, and their thirst being quenched,
their rage against Moses instantly ceased.[205] This station, however, on
account of the infamous mutiny of the people, and their distrust of God, Moses
(as a caution and remembrance to them in future) called Massah and Meribah,
which in. the Hebrew language, signifies temptation and contention. [205]
Pretended Rock of Moses--We are indebted to Professor Robinson's invaluable work
(“Biblical Researches in Palestine”) for the following interesting extract; “We
came to the rock which they say Moses smote, and the water gushed out. As to
this rock, one is of a loss whether most to admire the credulity of the monks or
the legendary and discrepant reports of travelers. It is hardly necessary to
remark, that there is not the slightest ground for assuming any connection
between this narrow valley and Rephidim; but on the contrary, there is
everything against it. The rock itself is a large isolated cube of coarse red
granite, which has fallen from the eastern mountain. Down its front, in an
oblique line from top to bottom, runs a seam of a finer texture, from twelve to
fifteen inches broad, having in it several irregular horizontal crevices,
somewhat resembling the human mouth, one above another. These are said to be
twelve in number; but I could make out only ten. The seam extends quite through
the rock, and is visible on the opposite or back side; where also are similar
crevices, though not so large. The holes did not appear to us to be artificial,
as is usually reported, although we examined them particularly. They belong
rather to the nature of the seam; yet it is possible that some of them may have
been enlarged by artificial means. The rock is a singular one; and doubtless was
selected, on account of this very singularity as the scene of the miracle.”
JOSHUA AGAINST THE AMALEKITES A short time after this singular circumstance
happened, and while the Israelites were yet encamped at Rephidim, they were one
day suddenly alarmed at the approach of an army of the Amalekites. Moses
reflecting a little on this unexpected circumstance, ordered Joshua[206] (a
valiant young man who was always about him) to draw out a party of the choicest
men in the camp, and early the next morning, to give the enemy battle. [206]
This is the first mention made of Joshua, who makes so distinguished a figure in
the subsequent part of the sacred history; in which he is frequently styled the
servant of Moses. Joshua obeyed the command of Moses, who the next morning,
accompanied by Aaron and Hur, went to the top of an eminence, whence they might
have a view of the engagement. Moses took with him his rod, and while he held it
up during the battle, the Israelites prevailed; but when, through weariness, his
hand began to drop, the Amalekites had the better. Aaron and Hur, observing
this, took a stone, on which they sat Moses, and, placing themselves on each
side, supported his hands, in one of which was the rod, and the other uplifted
to God. This they continued to do till the going down of the sun, in which time
the Amalekites were routed, and every man put to the sword. Summit of Mount
Sinai This distinguished success, in their first martial enterprise, gave great
encouragement to the Israelites; and that so remarkable an action might be
transmitted is posterity, God commanded Moses to record it in a book, that
Joshua, the general might thereby be animated to future services; “for,” said
he, “I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”[207]
As a memorial of this victory, Moses erected an altar on the spot, and offered
sacrifice to the Lord. The name he gave it was Jehovah-Nissi, which signifies
“the Lord is my banner.” [207] Amalek, or Amalekites, a very ancient people,
supposed to have descended from Ham, Genesis 14:7; Numbers 24:20; but especially
the posterity of Esau's grandson: they were powerful in Arabia, and cherishing
the hatred of Esau against Jacob, they endeavored to cut off Israel in the
desert, but they were defeated by Joshua, Exodus 17:8-16. For this wickedness
God doomed them to be extirpated, Numbers 24:20; 1 Samuel 15:1-33. MOUNT SINAI
Soon after the defeat of the Amalekites, Moses left Rephidim, and proceeded with
all his people toward Mount Sinai,[208] where God at first appeared to him in
the burning bush, and not far whence dwelt Jethro, his father-in-law. [208]
Mount Sinai. There are several peaks, each of which has been claimed by
different travelers as the memorable mount on which the Ten Commandments were
delivered to Moses from God. Prof. Robinson, assigns very satisfactory reasons
for the conclusion, that the modern Horeb of the monks, viz., the N.W, and lower
face of the Jebel Mousa, crowned with a range of magnificent cliffs, the highest
point called Sufsafeh, overlooking the plain er Rahah is the scene of the giving
of the Law, and that peak the mountain into which Moses ascended. Here is found
such a conjunction of mountain and plain, all meets the requirements of the
Sinaitic narrative. The plain here referred to, according to Robinson, was two
miles in length, and nearly two-thirds of a mile broad. “I know not;” he
remarks, “when I have felt a thrill of stronger emotion than when in first
crossing the plain, the dark precipices of Horeb rising in solitary grandeur
before us, I became aware of the entire adaptedness of the scene to the purposes
for which it was chosen by the great Hebrew legislator.” Vide Smith's Bible
Dictionary--Ed. JETHRO'S VISIT Jethro having heard of all that God had done for
Moses and his people, and understanding they were now near him, he took his
daughter Zipporah (Moses' wife) with their two sons, Gershom and Eliezar, and
went to the Israelites' camp, where, after mutual salutations and embraces,
Moses entertained his father-in-law with a particular account of everything that
had happened to him during his absence. In return, Jethro offered up solemn
praises to God, and joined with Moses and the rest of the elders of Israel in
sacrifices, and such other rejoicings as were thought proper on the occasion.
During Jethro's stay in the camp, he took notice of the great weight of business
under which Moses labored, in hearing the complaints, and determining the
differences, of so great a body of people; and therefore, being a wise and
experienced man himself, he advised his son-in-law to appoint certain
subordinate officers, properly qualified, men of sincerity and abilities, such
as feared God and hated covetousness, to be rulers; some over thousands, some
over hundreds, some over fifties, and some over tens, who should hear and
determine all trifling disputes among the people, and refer the greater and more
weighty causes only to him; assuring him that if, with God's approbation, he
followed this advice, it would prove advantageous both to him and the people.
Moses, highly approving of this salutary advice from his father-in-law,
immediately put it in practice, soon after which Jethro took his leave, and
returned to his own habitation. MOSES ASCENDS MOUNT SINAI It was three months
after the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, when they encamped in the
wilderness of Sinai, near the mount of God. They had not been long here before
the Almighty summoned Moses to come up to him on the mount. Moses readily
obeying the Divine command, the Almighty charged him to remind the Israelites of
the many wonders he had wrought in their favor, and to assure them that
(notwithstanding their frequent murmurings and distrust of his providence) if,
for the future, they would become obedient to his laws, he would still look upon
them as his peculiar people, a favorite nation, and a royal priesthood. Moses
having communicated this gracious message from the Almighty to the elders, and
they to the people, they unanimously answered, that whatsoever the Lord had
commanded, or should afterward command, they would strictly and obediently
perform. With this answer Moses ascended the mount, and after making it known to
the Almighty, he commanded him to direct the people to cleanse and purify
themselves two days, for that on the third he should come down upon the mountain
and make a covenant with them. He likewise gave him a strict charge to set
boundaries about the foot of the mount, which none should attempt to pass under
the severest penalties. These orders were strictly obeyed, and every preparation
made conformable to the Divine injunctions. On the third day, early in the
morning, the people saw the mountain surrounded with a thick cloud, out of which
proceeded such dreadful peals of thunder and flashes of lightning, as filled
them with horror and amazement. ASSEMBLY AT MT. SINAI The first sounding of the
trumpet was the signal for the people to approach the mountain; upon which, as
soon as it began, Moses brought them out of the camp, and conducted them as near
to the mount as the barrier would permit. Here they beheld an alarming sight
indeed: the whole surface of the mount was covered with fire and smoke, while
the foundation of it seemed to tremble and shake under them. In the midst of
this dreadful scene the trumpet was heard to sound louder and louder, and the
claps of thunder and flashes of fire were more frequent and violent. At length,
on a sudden, the most solemn silence took place; and, after a short pause, the
Almighty was heard (from the midst of the fire and smoke which yet continued) to
pronounce the Law of the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments;[209] which is, indeed,
a complete system of the moral part of the Jewish institutes, and, in few but
very significant words, comprehends the duty of mankind to God, themselves, and
their neighbor. [209] The Ten Commandments--Though the ten commandments were
given to the Jews particularly, yet the things contained in them are such as all
mankind from the beginning were bound to observe; and therefore under the Mosaic
dispensation they, and the tables on which they were engraven, and the ark in
which they were put, were distinguished from the rest of God's ordinances by a
peculiar regard, as containing the covenant of the Lord. And though the Mosaic
dispensation be now at an end, yet concerning these moral precepts of it, our
Savior declares, that one jot or tittle shall in nowise pass from the law till
all be fulfilled.” To comprehend the full extent of these commandments it will
be requisite to observe the following rules. Where any sin is forbidden in them,
the opposite duty is implicitly enjoined: and where any duty is enjoined, the
opposite sin is implicitly forbidden. Where the highest degree of any evil is
prohibited, whatever is faulty in the same kind, though in a lower degree, is by
consequence prohibited. And where one instance of virtuous behavior is
commanded, every other, that hath the same nature, and the same reason for it,
is understood to be commanded too. What we are expected to abstain from, we are
expected to avoid, as far we can, all temptations to it, and occasions of it;
and what we are expected to practise, we are expected to use all fit means that
may better enable us to practise it. All that we are bound to do ourselves, we
are bound on fitting occasions to exhort and assist others to do when it belongs
to them; and all that we are bound not to do, we are to tempt nobody else to do,
but keep them back from it as much as we have opportunity. The ten commandments,
excepting two that required enlargement, are delivered in a few words; which
brief manner of speaking hath great majesty in it. But explaining them according
to these rules--which are natural and rational in themselves, favored by ancient
Jewish writers, authorized by our blessed Savior--we shall find that there is no
part of the moral law but may be fitly ranked under them. When the Divine voice
ceased, the people, astonished at what they saw and heard, removed farther from
the camp: and, in the height of their fear and surprise, addressed themselves to
Moses, beseeching him that, for the future, he would speak to them in God's
stead, and whatever he enjoined they would obey, because, were they again to
hear the dreadful voice of God, they should certainly die with horror and
astonishment. Moses was far from being displeased at this request, as it evinced
the reverence and respect they entertained, first, to the Divine Being, and next
to himself. To ease their minds from the great terror they had felt, he assured
them that all this wonderful scene was not exhibited to them with a design to
create in them any slavish fear, but a filial confidence and submission to such
laws as the Divine wisdom should hereafter think fit to enjoin. ADDITIONAL LAWS
Having said this to the people, Moses again ascended the mountain, where (in
addition to the Decalogue) he received from God several other laws, both
ceremonial and political; the whole of which were calculated with a wise design
to preserve the people in their obedience to God; to prevent their intermixture
with other nations, and to advance the welfare of their commonwealth, by
securing to all the members of it a quiet enjoyment of their lives and
properties.[210]

[210] These laws the reader will find in the Book of Exodus beginning at the
twenty-first chapter. and ending at the twenty-third, both inclusive. When Moses
had received these additional laws, he returned from the mount, and immediately
erected an altar to God, on which he offered up burnt and peace offerings.
Having written down the last laws delivered to him by God, he caused them to be
read to all the people, and exacted a solemn promise from them that they would
keep them faithfully. He then confirmed the covenant, by sprinkling the altar,
the book, and the people, with the blood of the victims slaughtered on the
occasion; and, to perpetuate the remembrance of this alliance between God and
his people, he ordered twelve pillars to be raised near the altar, according to
the number of the twelve tribes. Having delivered these laws to the people, and
offered sacrifices to God, Moses took Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of
Israel, some part of the way toward the mountain, where, without incurring the
least hurt, they were vouchsafed a prospect of the divine presence. Here Moses,
having committed the care of the people to these elders, left them, and taking
only Joshua with him, proceeded toward the mount, on arriving at which he left
Joshua, and ascended it alone. No sooner had Moses reached the summit of the
mount, than the whole was covered with a thick cloud, and the glory of the Lord
appeared upon it, like a devouring fire, in the sight of the children of Israel.
On the seventh day God called to Moses, upon which he entered the midst of the
cloud, and there continued for the space of forty days and forty nights.
TABERNACLE DESCRIBED During this long stay of Moses in the mount, he received
instructions from God in what manner the tabernacle should be made, wherein he
intended to be worshipped. He described to him the form of the sanctuary, the
table of the show-bread, the altar of frankincense, the altar of
burnt-offerings, the court of the tabernacle, the basin to wash in, the ark, the
candlestick, and all the other sacred utensils. He gave him the form of the
sacerdotal vestments, and taught him how the priests were to be consecrated;
what part of the oblation they were to take, and in what manner the perpetual
sacrifice was to be offered. He appointed the two chief men who were to be the
builders of the tabernacle, namely, Bezaleel, of the tribe of Judah, and
Aholiab, of the tribe of Dan. Having done this, and recommended a strict
observation of the Sabbath, the Almighty gave Moses the two tables of stone, on
which were written, with his own hand (at least by his own direction), the ten
great Commandments, which were the sum and substance of their moral law. GOLDEN
CALF The long absence of Moses during his stay in the mount occasioned great
murmurings among the people in the camp, who, giving their ruler over for lost,
assembled themselves in a riotous manner about Aaron's tent, demanding him to
make some gods to go before them. Astonishing as this demand was, yet such was
the weakness of Aaron, and such his want of courage, that, instead of
expostulating the matter with them, he not only tamely submitted to their
request, but even contributed to their idolatry. He ordered them to take the
golden ear-rings from their wives and children and bring them to him: having
done this, he converted them into the figure of a molten calf,[211] with which
the people were so well pleased that they unanimously exclaimed, “This is thy
God, O Israel, that brought thee out of the land of Egypt.” [211] It is the
opinion of most commentators, that the reason why they worshipped the figure of
a calf, rather than any other creature was, from the corruptions they had
learned among the Egyptians. These people worshipped their idol Apis or Serapis,
in a living bull, as likewise an image made in the form and similitude of a bull
with a bushel on his head, in memory as some say, of Pharaoh's dreams, and
Joseph's wise management in measuring out the corn to the people during the
seven years' famine. When Aaron saw with what satisfaction the people received
their golden god (as if possessed with the same idolatrous spirit), he built an
altar before it, and proclaimed a solemn feast to be held the succeeding day.
But it proved rather a feast of reveling and luxury, than one arising from
religious motives; for after they had made their oblations and peace-offerings,
they sat down to eat and drink, and spent the whole day, in feasting, dancing,
and other imprudent amusements. While the wanton Israelites were thus
idolatrously reveling in the camp, Moses was in conversation with God on the
mount, little suspecting so sudden a change in a people, who had so lately and
solemnly entered into a covenant of obedience to all that God should command.
But he from whom no secrets can be hid was instantly apprized of this sudden
revolt: “Go, get thee down,” said he: “for thy people, whom thou broughtest out
of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. I know them to be an obstinate people,
therefore intercede not for them, but see me express my resentment in their
destruction; and to thee will I transfer the blessings I intended for them, and
of thee will I make a great nation.” But so far was Moses from seeking his own
interest in the destruction of the people, that he threw himself at the feet of
the Lord, and interceded for their pardon with so much importunity, that the
Almighty was at length, in some measure, appeased, and Moses had reason to
imagine that he would not inflict on them the punishment he lead intended.
TABLETS BROKEN Happy in having obtained this pardon for the Israelites, Moses,
taking with him the two tables on which were written the laws, hastened from the
mount, and at the bottom of it found Joshua, who had been waiting his return. As
they proceeded on toward the camp, Joshua, hearing the noise of people shouting,
observed to Moses, that there was the sound of war in the camp. But Moses, who
knew the cause of it, told him that the noise was not like that which was either
common to victory, or those who cried for quarters; but like the noise of those
who rejoiced on some other occasion. As soon as they approached the camp Moses
saw the golden calf, and the people “dancing before it; at which he was so
incensed, that, in the violence of his rage, he threw the tables on which the
law was written against a stone on the ground; and they were broken to pieces.
He then took the idol calf and melted it, after which, grinding it into a
powder, and mixing it with water (in order to make them more sensible of their
folly in worshipping that for a god which was to pass through their bodies), he
obliged them to drink it.[212] [212] Destruction of The Golden Calf.-As there is
not the least question but that all which was known to the Hebrews of the
metallurgic arts at this early time, had been acquired in Egypt, the making of
the golden calf may be taken in evidence, amply confirmed by their existing
monuments, of the very great skill in those arts which the Egyptians had
attained. But the destruction of the same image, in the manner described, is a
still more striking evidence of this. The art of thus treating gold was a
secret, probably but known to Moses, in virtue of his perfect acquaintance with
all the sciences which the Egyptians cultivated. Goguet, remarking on the
subject, observes that those who work in metal know that this is an exceedingly
difficult operation. “Commentators have been much perplexed to explain how Moses
burnt the golden image, and reduced it to powder. Most of them offer only vain
and improbable conjectures. But an able chemist has removed every difficulty on
the subject, and has suggested this simple process as that which Moses employed.
Instead of tartaric acid, which we employ for a similar purpose, the Hebrew
legislator used natron, which is very common in the East. (Stahll. Vitull.
aureus, in Opusc. Chym.. Phys., Medic, p. 585.) The Scripture in informing us
that Moses made the Israelites drink this powder, shows that he was perfectly
acquainted with all the effect of his operation. He wished to aggravate the
punishment of theil disobedience; and for this purpose no means could have been
more suitable: for gold, rendered potable by the process of which have spoken,
is of a most detestable taste.” (“Origine des Lois,” epoq.ii. liv. ii. chap.
14.) To this, from Goguet, it may be well to add that the operation of the acid,
which acts upon gold is much assisted by the metal being previously heated. In
this we see the reason why Moses cast the golden image into the fire in the
first instance. Having inflicted this punishment on the people, Moses proceeded
to chastise Aaron for having suffered such idolatrous acts to be practised. But
all the excuse he could make was, that the people became so turbulent that, for
his own safety, he was compelled to comply with their demand. CAMP PURGED OF
EVIL-DOERS But Moses' business was to take vengeance on the idolaters; and,
therefore, leaving his brother Aaron, he went into the midst of the camp, and
called such to his assistance as had not been concerned in the late rebellion:
“Let those,” said he, “who are for the Lord, join themselves with me.” In
consequence of this, all the sons of Levi (who were totally exempt from the
general guilt) immediately repaired to Moses, who ordered them to take their
swords, go through the camp, and kill all the ringleaders of this idolatrous
defection, together with their adherents, without paying any respect to age or
quality, friendship or consanguinity. The Levites strictly obeyed the orders of
Moses, and the number slain on that day was about three thousand men. For this
laudable zeal and ready obedience Moses blessed the family of Levi, assuring
them that by thus shedding the blood of their idolatrous brethren, without favor
or distinction, they had obtained the approbation of the Lord, who would
certainly not fail of rewarding them for it hereafter.[213] [213] This
prediction was afterward fulfilled: for, on the institution of the priesthood,
the Levites were appointed to the honor and emoluments of that office, though in
subordination to that of Aaron and his posterity. This severe punishment
inflicted on the idolatrous delinquents struck a terror throughout the whole
camp. The next day Moses, in a very solemn manner, reproved them for their
ingratitude and folly; but at the same time promised them that he would go again
up to the mount, and try how far his prayers would prevail with the divine mercy
to avert the punishment which they had so justly deserved. Moses, agreeably to
his promise, returned to the mount, and acknowledged to the Lord the great sin
committed by his people. At the same time he besought forgiveness for them with
that earnestness and concern, that he prayed God to blot him out of his book
rather than not pardon them. But this was inconsistent with the divine justice,
and therefore God gave him this short answer: “Whosoever hath sinned against me,
him will I blot out of my book.” The divine wrath being in a great measure
appeased at the intercession of Moses, the Lord commanded him to lead the people
to the place he had appointed; but at the same time let him know he was not
willing to go with them, because, being a stiff-necked people, they might
provoke him to consume them on the way. To show, however, that he had not quite
forsaken them, he told Moses that he would send his angel before them to drive
out the inhabitants of the promised land, that he might perform the oath which
he had made to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This was very
afflicting news to the Israelites, who now plainly perceived that God's
withdrawing his immediate presence from them was the consequence of their
rebellion; upon which they very grievously mourned, and, to show their
humiliation, laid aside the ornaments they were accustomed to wear. But Moses,
still to humble them the more, and to show them how highly they had offended God
by their wicked apostasy, took a tent, and pitching it at some distance without
the camp called it “the tabernacle of the congregation,” intimating that the
Lord was so highly offended with them for their idolatry that he had removed
from them, and would no longer dwell among them, as he had hitherto done. Soon
after Moses repaired to the tabernacle, which he had no sooner entered than it
was surrounded by the cloudy pillar, which had so much assisted the Israelites
in their departure from Egypt. This additional token of the divine wrath made
the people particularly attentive to the motions of Moses; and therefore when he
went out of the camp to the tabernacle they rose up, and stood every man at his
tent door, looking after him till he had got in. And when they saw the cloudy
pillar, which they knew was a token of God's presence, they all fell down and
worshipped. While Moses was in the tabernacle he was visited by God, who
permitted him, in a very familiar manner, to converse with him; which favor
Moses improved to the advantage of the people, endeavoring, with the greatest
importunity, to obtain a reconciliation between them and their justly offended
God. A short time after this the Almighty commanded Moses to prepare two new
tables of stone, like the former which he had broken, and to come up alone with
them in the morning to Mount Sinai; “and I,” said he, “will write in those
tables the words: that were in the first.” THE NEW TABLETS Moses strictly obeyed
this command, and, early in the morning, repaired to Mount Sinai with the two
tables, where, prostrating himself before the divine Majesty, he with the
greatest fervency besought him to pardon the sins of the people. The Almighty
was pleased to listen to his request, at the same time promising that he would
make a covenant with his people on these conditions: That they should keep his
commandments; that they should not worship the gods of the Canaanites; that they
should make no alliances with the people of that country; that they should have
no strange gods; and that they should strictly keep the sabbath, the passover
and other festivals ordained by the law. For forty days and nights did Moses at
this time continue (as he had done before) on Mount Sinai, without either eating
or drinking, at the expiration of which he returned to the people, bringing with
him the two tables of the law. By the long converse he had held with God, his
face had contracted such a luster that the people were not able to approach him;
and therefore whenever he talked with them he covered his face with a veil, but
took it off when he went into the tabernacle to receive the divine commands.
TABERNACLE BUILT Agreeably to the instructions Moses had received from God
during his last stay on the mount, he called the people together, and informed
them that it was the Lord's will to have a tabernacle built for the performance
of religious worship; and that he had commanded him to speak to them to bring in
their offerings, which were to consist of such articles as were necessary for
accomplishing the work.[214] These offerings: were not to be exacted, but the
people were to present them voluntarily; and so desirous were they of making
some atonement for their past sins, that they soon brought in more than was
requisite, so that Moses was obliged to cause proclamation to be made to
restrain their liberality. [214] The directions given at this time were the same
with those which Moses received on his first going up to the mount; but, by
reason of the people's transgression in idolizing the calf, they were not then
delivered to them. Having thus obtained a sufficient collection of all kinds of
materials, Moses placed them in the hands of Bezaleel and Aholiab, the two great
artists in building, whom God had before made choice of; and so expeditious were
they in executing the work that, in less than six months, the tabernacle, with
all its rich furniture, was entirely completed; and of which the following is an
accurate description: Setting up of the Tabernacle

TABERNACLE The tabernacle was formed somewhat like a tent, though much larger,
and the whole was covered with curtains and skins. It was divided into two
parts--the one covered, and properly called the tabernacle; and the other open,
called the court. The covered part was again divided into two other parts, one
of which was called the “holy of holies,” and the curtains belonging to it were
made of embroidered linen of several colors. There were ten curtains,
twenty-eight cubits long and four broad: five curtains together made the two
coverings, and the other five, being joined to these, covered the whole
tabernacle. Above the rest were two other coverings, the one of goat's hair, the
other of sheep-skins. These veils or coverings were laid on a square frame of
planks resting on bases. There were forty-eight large planks, each a cubit and a
half wide and ten cubits high, twenty of them on each side, and six at one end
to the westward, and one on each corner: each plank was borne on two silver
bases; they were let into one another, and held by bars running the length of
the planks. The east end was open, and only covered with a curtain. The holy of
holies was parted from the rest of the tabernacle by a curtain made fast to four
pillars, standing ten cubits from the end. The whole length of the tabernacle
was thirty-two cubits; the upper curtain which hung on the north and south sides
was eight cubits in length, and that on the east and west four cubits. COURTYARD
The court was a spot of ground a hundred cubits long and fifty in breadth,
enclosed by twenty columns, each of them twenty cubits high and ten in breadth,
covered with silver, and standing on copper bases five cubits distant from each
other, between which there were curtains drawn and fastened with hooks. At the
east end was an entrance twenty cubits wide, covered with a curtain hanging
loose. ARK The ark was in the sanctuary; it was a square chest made of
shittim-wood, two cubits and a half long, and one cubit and a half wide and
deep. It was covered with gold plates, and had a gold cornice which bore the
lid. On the sides of it were rings, to put poles through to carry it. The
covering was all of gold, and called the propitiatory or mercy-seat. There were
two cherubims on it, which covered it with their wings; the tables of the law
were in the ark, which was therefore called the ark of the testimony, or of the
covenant. TABLE The table was made of cedar covered with gold, two cubits long,
one to breadth, and one and a half in height. About the edge of it was an
ornament; it stood on four feet, and had wooden bars plated with gold to carry
it on. On it was laid the offering or show-bread (which was changed every day),
six loaves at each end, with incense over them. It was not lawful for any but
the priests to eat of that bread. MENORAH The candlestick was of pure gold, had
seven branches, three on each side and one in the middle: each branch had three
knobs like apples, and-three sockets in the shape of half almond-shells: that in
the middle had four. On each branch was a gold lamp, and there were gold
snuffers and nippers to dress them. ALTARS There were two altars: one for the
burnt-offerings; five cubits long and wide, and three in height, with the figure
of a seraphim at each corner. It was hollow, covered both within and without
with brass plate, and open both at top and bottom. In the midst of it was a
copper grate, standing on four feet, a cubit and a half high, and fastened with
hooks and rings. On this grate were bound the offerings, for the performance of
which-there was every necessary article; such as kettles, ladles, tongs, hooks,
etc. The altar for incense was but one cubit in length and breadth, and two
cubits high. It was plated with gold, and over it was a crown of the same metal.
This altar was in the sanctuary with the ark, but that for burnt-offerings was
placed on the north side of the tabernacle. On a pillar in the court was a large
copper basin, with several cocks for the water to run out, that those who
ministered might conveniently wash their hands previous to the discharge of
their priestly function. HIGH PRIEST GARMENTS The vestments of the high-priest
were, the breast-plate, the ephod, the robe, the close coat, the mitre, and the
girdle. The ephod, the robe, and the close coat, were of fine linen, and covered
the whole body from the neck to the heels. Over all was a purple tunic, a
vestment larger and finer wrought, but not reaching so low, the bottom of which
was ornamented with the representation of pomegranates and bells. The ephod
consisted of two bands made of gold thread, and fastened to a kind of collar
which hung down both before and behind from each shoulder, and, meeting served
as a girdle to the tunic or vestment. On the shoulders were two large precious
stones, which joined the front and hind parts of the ephod, and on them were
marked the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, six on each. The breastplate
was made of the same materials as the ephod, to which it was fastened with gold
chains. It was a square ornament, very thick, and covered the whole breast. The
girdle was likewise made of the same materials with the ephod. The mitre was
made of fine flax, and covered the head; and in the front was a gold plate, on
which were carved these words: HOLINESS TO THE LORD. These were the solemn
ornaments belonging to the high-priest: the others were only a simple tunic or
vestment, a linen mitre, and a girdle. They had all garments made of linen and
cotton, which were fastened at the waist, whence they reached down to about the
middle of the legs. Such was the form of the tabernacle, and such the vestments
appointed for the high-priest; the whole of which, as soon as completed, was
presented to Moses for his inspection and approbation. Having viewed them
attentively, and found that all was done as the Lord had commanded, he first
praised God, and then bestowed his benediction on the people, for having so
diligently attended to the divine injunction. Probable Form of the Table of
Shew-bread (after Bernard Lamy) Priests removing the Old, and placing the New

All things being now ready, on the first day of the first month,[215] in the
second year . [215] MONTH, a space of four weeks, or the period of the
revolution of the moon. Genesis 29:14. The Israelites reckoned their time by
months, of which they had two series: one for civil purposes, commencing the
year in their month Ethanim, the seventh of the sacred year (1 Kings 8:2),
computing from the creation of the world, and answering to our September; the
other for their sacred purposes in their festivals, commencing the year in their
month Abib, the seventh of the civil year, computing from the redemption from
Egypt (Exodus 12:2-18), and answering to our March. The following table exhibits
the order of the Jewish months, with the principal religious festivals of the
Israelites and Jews:

HEBREW MONTHS|Nearly corresponding with our months of|Sacred Year Months|Civil
Year Months|SACRED FESTIVALS and Memorable Days| Abib, or Nisan, Exodus 12:2-18;
Esther 3:7|March|1st|7th|14th. Paschal Lamb killed 15th. Passover 16th.
First-fruits of barley harvest presented to the LORD 21st. Last day of the
Passover| Zif, or Iyar, 1 Kings 6:1|April|2nd |8th || Sivan, Esther 8:9|May|3rd
|9th |6th. Pentecost First-fruits of wheat offered to the LORD| ||||| Tammuz,
Ezekiel 8:14|June|4th |10th || Ab|July|5th|11th|| Elul Nehemiah 6:15|August|6th
|12th|9th. Solomon's Temple taken by the Chaldeans, and the second Temple
afterward by the Romans| Ethanim, or Tisri, 1 Kings 8:2|September|7th|1st|1st.
Feast of Trumpets 10th. Day of Atonement 15th. Feast of Tabernacles 22nd. Last
day of the feast| ||||| Marchesvan, or Bul, 1 Kings 6:38|October|8th|2nd||
Chisleu, Zechariah 7:1|November|9th|3rd|25th. Feast of the Dedication of the
second Temple| ||||| Tebeth, Esther 2:16|December|10th|4th|| Sebat, Zechariah
1:7|January|11th|5th|| ||||| Adar, Esther 3:7 Ve-Adar, or Second Adar, is here
added when necessary|February|12th|6th|14th and 15th. Feast of Purim, Esther
9:18-21| Costume of the High Priest after the departure of the Israelites from
Egypt, the tabernacle was, by God's immediate command, set up, and all its rich
furniture disposed in the proper places that had been appointed. But no sooner
was this done, than the pillar of the cloud (which is called the Glory of the
Lord) covered the whole, so that Moses himself, for some time, was not able to
enter it. The Almighty, at length, promising Moses to enter the tabernacle, gave
him instructions (which he communicated to the people in what manner (according
to this new institution) he was to be worshipped by sacrifices and oblations;
what festivals were to be observed, and how celebrated; what meats were
forbidden; what the instances of uncleanness were; and what the degrees of
consanguinity prohibited in marriage. SACRIFICES The creatures appointed to be
offered in sacrifice were of five sorts, namely, oxen, lambs, goats, doves, and
young pigeons, all of which were to be males and without blemish. The person who
presented the offering was to do it at the altar, laying his two hands on the
head of the creature, and then cutting its throat. The blood was to be received
in a basin, and with it the priest was to sprinkle the vessels and corners of
the altar, throwing the principal part at the foot of it. The victim was to be
flayed, cut in pieces, and laid on the altar, where, either the whole, or some
part of it (according to the several sorts of sacrifice), was to be burnt.
Libations were likewise added to the sacrifices. All the wine, or flour, offered
with the victims, was called effusion, or pouring out. There was to be also a
separate offering of fine flour and oil, baked on an iron, or in a pan, and
sprinkled with oil and frankincense. The sacrifices were of four sorts, namely,
1. The burnt-offering, every part of which was to be consumed by fire on the
altar, after washing the feet and entrails. 2. The peace-offering, of which only
the inward fat or tallow was to be burnt on the altar, made up with the liver
and kidneys, and the tails of the lambs. The breast and the right shoulder
belonged to the priests, the rest to him who offered the sacrifice. 3. The
sacrifice of sin, committed either wilfully or ignorantly. In this the priest
was to take some of the blood of the victim, dip his finger in it, and sprinkle
seven times toward the veil of the sanctuary. The same parts of the victim were
to be burnt on the altar in this as in the former sacrifice; the rest, if the
sacrifice was offered for the sin of the high-priest, or for the people, was to
be carried without the camp to be burnt there, with the skin, the head, the
feet, and the bowels. If it was for a private person, the victim was to be
divided, one half to the priest, and the other to him who offered the sacrifice.
4. The sacrifice of oblation was to consist either of fine flour, or incense, or
cakes of fine flour and oil baked, or the first-fruits of new corn. With the
things offered were always to be oil, salt, wine, and frankincense, the latter
of which was to be thrown into the fire. Of the other things offered the priest
was to take the whole, one part of which he was to burn, and the other to
convert to his own use. With respect to their festivals, the first and grand one
to be observed was the Sabbath, which they were to keep in the strictest manner,
dedicating it wholly to rest, and not doing any kind of business whatever.
FEASTS The passover was likewise to be observed with great solemnity. It was to
begin on the fourteenth day of the March moon; and for the seven days it lasted
they were to eat only bread unleavened. The first day after the Passover they
were to offer new ears of corn; and on the fifteenth day was to be held another
feast, called the harvest festival, on which they were to offer in thanksgiving
two loaves made of new wheat, as the first-fruits of the harvest. The first day
of the seventh month (which was the first of the civil year) was also to be held
as a very solemn festival, in remembrance of the departure of the Israelites
from Egypt. On the tenth of the same month was to be kept the feast of
expiation, on which day the priests were to go into the sanctuary, and offer two
goats, one of which was to be there given up as a solemn sacrifice for sin; but
the other was to be carried, not only out of the tabernacle, but with out the
camp, also, and was therefore to be called the scape-goat. On the fifteenth of
the same month was to begin the feast of tabernacles, which was to last eight
days, being kept as a memorial that the Israelites had been accustomed to live
in tents. The whole time was to be spent in mirth, and each day the people were
to walk round the altar with boughs in their hands. The High Priest on the Day
of Atonement, and a Levite

MEAT With respect to animal food they were to be very careful in making a proper
distinction between beasts that were clean, and those that were otherwise, it
being lawful for them to eat the first, but not the last. Two qualifications,
were required for reckoning a beast clean, which were, that it should have a
cloven foot, and that it should chew the cud; so that it was unlawful for them
to eat swine's flesh, or rabbit, and hares, the former not chewing the cud, and
the latter not having cloven feet. All birds of prey were forbidden; and it was
unlawful for them to eat blood, or the flesh of beasts strangled. LEPROSY Among
the laws relative to uncleanness, leprosy was to be reckoned the greatest, of
the nature and quality of which the priest was to judge, and to dispose of the
party as he should think proper. Some uncleannesses were to be removed by
washing their garments and bodies, and others by offering up sacrifices.
MATRIMONY The laws relating to matrimony were principally these. They were
forbidden to marry strange women. One man might have several wives; but the
persons with whom it was not allowed to contract matrimony were, the father,
mother, mother-in-law, sister by the father or mother's side, son's or
daughter's daughter, father's wife's daughter, father or mother's sister, uncle,
daughter-in-law, brother's wife, wife's sister or daughter, or grandson or
granddaughter. It was, however, not only lawful, but a command enjoined, that
the brother should marry the brother's widow, provided he died without issue.
AARON AND SONS ANOINTED Moses, having communicated these, and some other
ordinances, to the people, proceeded next, agreeably to the divine command, to
constitute his brother Aaron high-priest, and to fix the order of priesthood in
his son and their posterity. In the execution of this ceremony Moses robed them,
anointed their heads with oil, and made them offer sacrifices for sin. The
function of the priests in general, was, to offer sacrifice to the Lord, but the
high-priest's was of a particular nature. He was to go once a year, on the day
of expiation, into the sanctuary, clad in his priestly garments, there to burn
incense before the ark, and sprinkle the blood of the offering seven times with
his finger. All the tribe of Levi were appointed to assist the priests in the
services of the tabernacle; and to the whole were appointed particular
allowances for their subsistence. But if any, either of the priests or Levites,
had any bodily imperfection, they were to be excluded from the function, but, at
the same time, permitted to enjoy the rights and privileges of their birth. The
obligations they lay under were these: they were not to drink any wine, or any
other intoxicating liquors, when they were to officiate in the tabernacle: they
were not to marry a woman who had been divorced or prostituted; and lastly, they
were not to attend funerals, unless those of their own fathers, mothers, sons,
daughters, brothers, or maiden sisters. FIRST BURNT OFFERING FOR ISRAEL On the
eighth day after Aaron had been appointed to the office of high-priest, he
offered his first burnt-offering for himself and the people. This was very
acceptable to the Almighty, who was pleased to testify his approbation by
sending fire upon the altar, which consumed the offering in the sight of the
people, who, with loud shouts and acclamations, expressed their joy for so
singular a circumstance, and prostrated themselves on the ground in humble
adoration before the Divine Majesty. NADAB AND ABIHU DIE The fire thus
miraculously kindled was, by the divine command, to be kept perpetually burning,
and no other to be used in all the oblations to be made to God. But Nadab and
Abihu, two of Aaron's sons, forgetful of their duty, took their censers, and
putting common fire in them, laid incense thereon, and offered strange fire
before the Lord. For this flagrant violation of the divine command, the Almighty
was so offended, that, as a just punishment, he immediately struck them dead
with lightning. To strike a terror into the rest of the priestly order, and
deter them from disobedience to the commands of God, Moses ordered the people to
take their dead bodies from the sanctuary, and carry them out of the camp in the
same condition they found them. He likewise charged Aaron and the rest of his
sons, not to mourn for Nadab and Abihu, in shaving their heads, or rending their
clothes; but that they should leave those marks of mourning to the rest of the
people, from whom they ought to distinguish themselves in this, as well as in
other points, in reverence to that holy anointing, whereby they had been
consecrated to the Lord, and thereby separated from their brethren. BLASPHEMY
PUNISHED A short time after the melancholy circumstance last related, another
awful proof was given of the danger of incurring the displeasure of the
Almighty. This was exemplified in the case of one, whose mothers name was
Shelomith, an Israelitish General View of the Mountains of Sinai woman of the
tribe of Dan, but whose husband was an Egyptian, but supposed to have become a
proselyte to the house of Israel. This young man quarreled with another, and a
battle ensuing, Shelomith was worsted. Fired with resentment at being conquered,
he in the height of his passion, cursed and blasphemed the name of the Lord;
upon which being apprehended and brought before Moses, he ordered him into
custody till he should know from the Lord what punishment to inflict on him for
his transgression. Though the third command in the Decalogue forbade the taking
of God's name in vain, yet this blasphemous cursing being an offence of a higher
nature, against which no positive law was yet provided, Moses had recourse to
the Lord, who was pleased to tell him thus: “Bring forth,” says he, “him that
cursed without the camp, and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his
head,[216] and let all the congregation stone him.” [216] This way of laying
hands on the heads of criminals may seem to arise from several causes. 1. That
they were witnesses of the fact, and that the person condemned suffered justly;
protesting, that If he were innocent they desired that his blood might fall on
their own heads. 2. They put their hands on the head of the criminal in token of
an expiatory sacrifice; for idolatry, blasphemy, and such grievous crimes, if
they were not punished, they expected would attract a guilt, not only on the
witness, but the whole nation which by the death of the criminal, as by a
victim, might be expiated. 3. That the criminal was the just cause of his own
death. In obedience to the divine command, Moses ordered the sentence to be
immediately put in execution; and a law was thereon made, that whosoever should,
from that time, blaspheme the name of the Lord, whether he was an Israelite, or
a stranger, should be stoned to death.


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  CHAPTER 19: ENCAMPMENT OF ISRAELITES--MURMURINGS--KORAH'S SIN
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ENCAMPMENT OF ISRAELITES--MURMURINGS--KORAH'S SIN CENSUS OF SOLDIERS While the
Israelites lay encamped in the wilderness of Sinai, the Almighty ordered Moses,
assisted by Aaron, and the heads of the respective tribes, to make a general
muster of the people, in order to ascertain the number of those who were able to
carry arms. This was accordingly done, when the number of true born Israelites
appeared to be 603,550 men exclusive of the tribe of Levi. These were, by the
express command of the Almighty, exempted, being designed for the peculiar
service of the tabernacle, not only to take charge thereof, and of all the
vessels belonging to it, but likewise to take it down upon every remove, to
guard it safe on the way, and to put it up again at such places as should be
appointed for encampment. CAMPING LAYOUT The Israelites being thus mustered,
Moses and Aaron, by the express command of God, appointed the manner of their
encampment, which was not only to take place now, but to be continued ever
after, as follows: The whole body was divided into four grand camps, each
consisting of three tribes, under one standard, and so placed as entirely to
enclose the tabernacle. The standard of the camp of Judah was first. It
consisted of the tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulon, (the sons of Leah), and
was pitched on the east side of the tabernacle, toward the rising of the sun. On
the south side was the standard of the camp of Reuben, under which were the
tribes of Reuben and Simeon (the sons of Leah likewise), and of Gad, the son of
Zilpah, Leah's maid. On the west side was the standard of the camp of Ephraim,
under which were the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin. On the north
side was the standard of the camp of Dan, under which were the tribes of Dan and
Naphtali (the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maid), and of Asher (the son of Zilpah).
Between the four great camps and the tabernacle, were four lesser camps,
consisting of the priests and Levites, under whose immediate care and protection
the tabernacle was placed. On the east side were encamped Moses and Aaron, with
Aaron's sons, who had the charge of the sanctuary. Bedouin Encampment in a
Valley near Sinai On the south side were the Kohathites, a part of the Levites,
descended from Kohath, the second son of Levi. On the west side were the
Gershonites, another part of the Levites, descended front Gershon, Levi's eldest
son. On the north side were planted the Merarites, the remaining part of the
Levites who descended from Merari, Levi's youngest son. Such was the manner of
the encampment of the Israelites, being the only regular description of one
which the Bible contains; but, from incidental allusions, we may gather that the
camps which the Hebrews in after-times formed in their military operations,
differed in several respects from the present, the admirable arrangement of
which is easily perceived, although some difference of opinion exists as to a
few of the details. The diagram above will exhibit the apparent order better
than a verbal description, however minute. It is thus seen that the camp was
formed in a quadrangle; having on each side three tribes under one general
standard. How these tribes were placed with regard to each other is not very
clear; some fix the leading tribe in the center, and the two others on each
side; but the description seems rather to indicate that the leading tribe
extended along the whole exterior line, and that the two other tribes pitched
beside each other, within. The only other alternative seems to be, to suppose
that the two minor tribes also extended in full line, the last tribe mentioned
in each division, being the innermost. The collective encampment enclosed a
Valley of Sinai large open square, in the center of which stood the tabernacle.
The position which the tabernacle thus occupied still remains the place of honor
in grand oriental camps and is usually occupied by the tent of the king or
general. The distance between it and the common camp was indicative of respect;
what the distance was we are not told, except by the Rabbins, who say that it
was two thousand cubits, and apparently ground this statement upon Joshua 3:4.
The interval was not however wholly vacant, being occupied by the small camps of
the Levites, who had the charge and custody of the tabernacle, and pitched their
tents around it; the tents of Moses, Aaron and the priests, occupying the most
honorable place, fronting the entrance to the tabernacle, or rather to the court
which contained it. The Jewish writers say that the circumference of the entire
encampment was about twelve miles; a statement which would seem sufficiently
moderate when we recollect the hollow square in the center and consider the vast
extent of ground required for the tents of two millions of people. This regular
and admirable arrangement of so vast a host, under their ensigns, around the
tabernacle, must have given a most striking and impressive appearance to the
camp, as viewed from the hills. We know the effect which the view of it produced
upon one person, who did view it from the hills, and then broke forth in
rapture, exclaiming, “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob! and thy tabernacles, O
Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as the trees of lign-aloes which
the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters.” (Numbers 24:5-6.)
MARCHING ORDER The encampment being thus formed, the next consideration was, to
regulate the mode of marching, which was accordingly done as follows: Whenever
they were to decamp (which was always to take place as soon as the pillar of the
cloud left the tabernacle) the trumpet was to be immediately sounded, and, upon
the first alarm, the standard of Judah being raised, the three tribes which
belonged to it were to set forward. On the movement of these the tabernacle was
to be taken down with all convenient expedition, and the Gershonites and
Merarites were to attend the wagons with the boards and staves belonging to it.
This being done, a second alarm was to be given by the trumpet, on which the
standard of Reuben's camp was to advance with the three tribes belonging to it.
After these were to follow the Kohathites, bearing the sanctuary, which, because
it was more holy, and not so cumbersome, as the pillars and boards of the
tabernacle, was not to be put into a wagon, but carried on their shoulders. Next
was to follow the standard of Ephraim's camp, with the tribes belonging to it;
and, last of all, the other three tribes, under the standard of Dan, were to
bring up the rear. PRAYER BEFORE MOVING A short, time after these matters were
adjusted, the pillar of the cloud gave the Israelites a signal to decamp. On
their beginning to move, agreeably to the order prescribed, Moses addressed
himself to God. “Rise,” said he, “Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and
let them that hate thee flee before thee. And when the ark of the covenant (by
which they were directed when to stop) rested, he added “Return, O Lord, unto
the many thousands of Israel.” COMPLAINTS MET WITH FIRE After marching for three
days in the wilderness of Sinai, the Israelites began to complain of the
fatigues of their journey, and to relate their grievances, with great asperity,
to Moses. This so offended the Almighty, that he sent down fire from heaven,
which destroyed all those who were situated in the extreme parts of the camp.
The rest were so terrified at this circumstance, that they immediately applied
to Moses, at whose intercession the fire ceased, but, in remembrance of the
incident, he called the place Taberah, which, in the Hebrew language, signifies
burning. But this instance of the divine power had little effect on the
dissatisfied Israelites. They made heavy complaints for want of flesh for food;
and intimated to Moses how much happier they were when in the land of Egypt,
where, though in a state of bondage, they could possess a variety of articles
necessary for the preservation of life. SEVENTY ELDERS APPOINTED Moses had often
heard them murmur, and patiently borne with it, but now that they were grown so
numerous, and the greatness of their numbers demanding still more care and
vigilance to govern them than what came from the assistance of the magistrates
appointed by the advice of his father-in-law Jethro, he became exceedingly
uneasy, and, in an address to God, represented the great and heavy burdens under
which he labored, in having the management of so numerous and dissatisfied a
people. No sooner did the Almighty hear the complaints of his faithful servant,
than he immediately gave him relief, by ordering him to choose seventy men from
among the elders of Israel, and to bring them with him to the tabernacle of the
congregation. “There,” said he, “I will come down and talk with thee, and I will
give them a portion of the same. spirit with which I have inspired thee; and
they shall bear the burden of the people with thee.” In conformity to the divine
command, Moses selected seventy of the elders, sixty eight of whom he conducted
to the tabernacle, whither they had no sooner arrived, than the Almighty was
pleased to fulfill his promise, by inspiring them with the like kind of spirit
he had given to Moses, and by which they were enabled to prophesy. Nay, so
extensive was this inspiration, that though the other two came not out with the
rest to the tabernacle, but remained in the camp, yet they received the same
impression of the spirit with the rest, and, in like manner, prophesied. This
circumstance so surprised a certain young man in the camp that he immediately
hastened to the tabernacle, to acquaint Moses that Edad and Medad (which were
the names of the two elders left behind) were prophesying in the camp: Joshua
(who was totally unacquainted with the operations of the Lord by his spirit) was
likewise greatly surprised, and, thinking it a derogation of his master,
likewise ran to the tabernacle, and advised Moses to restrain them from that
power which only belonged to himself. But Moses reproved him for his conduct in
these words: “Dost thou,” said he, “envy them on my account? Would to God that
all the Lord's people were inspired, and that they might be endued with the
spirit of prophecy!” MURMURINGS GET INTENSE The murmurings of the people for
want of flesh still continued, and to such a height did their fury arise, that
they beset Moses' tent on all sides, and, in the most tumultuous manner,
demanded of him to relieve their necessities. Thus circumstanced Moses applied
himself to God, to whom he intimated the little probability there was of
supplying so numerous a body of people with the article requested. The Almighty
was pleased to promise that he would remove this evil; and at the same time
gently rebuked Moses in these words: “Is the Lord's hand,” said he, “waxed short
thou shall see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.” QUAILS
FALL FROM HEAVEN It was not long before this divine promise was fulfilled; for
the Almighty causing a south wind to arise, it drove prodigious quantities of
quails from the seacoast to within a mile of the camp, which being taken by the
people, they feasted on them in the most greedy manner. But God soon called them
to a dreadful account for their insolent demand of flesh, and their distrust of
his providence: for while they were regaling themselves with these dainties, he
visited them with a severe plague, of which great numbers died, and were buried
on the spot where they fell. In consequence of this circumstance the place was
called Kibroth-Hattaavah, which signifies the graves or sepulchers of lust and
concupiscence. AARON AND MIRIAM REBEL From this pace the Israelites marched to
Hazeroth, where they had not been long, before another circumstance occurred of
a very disagreeable nature. Aaron and his sister Miriam, observing the great
power their brother Moses had over the people, and that God chiefly made use of
him in the delivery of his sacred oracles, began to look upon him with an eye of
envy. To give some color to their conduct, they pretended to fall out with him,
on account of his having married a foreigner, whom they contemptuously called an
Ethiopian; and, to lessen his importance, and at the same time enlarge their
own, they added, “What, hath the Lord spoken only to Moses? hath he not spoken
also by us?” Moses saw the discontent of his brother and sister; but considering
it only as a personal pique, took no notice of it. The Almighty, however, being
greatly offended at their conduct, thought proper to interpose, and convince
them that such behavior to his faithful servant was of the most heinous nature,
and should not pass unnoticed. Ordering, therefore, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, to
attend at the door of the tabernacle, he sharply rebuked the two latter for
their insolence, asking them, how they, durst speak against his servant Moses?
“You,” said he to Miriam, “have shared in the prophetic office, and to you have
I declared my will in dreams and visions; but with Moses I have conversed more
familiarly, and I will speak face to face with him, and show him as much of my
glory as he is capable of seeing.” Thus Moses had the secret satisfaction of
finding himself justified by his divine protector; but Aaron, to his great
confusion, beheld his sister Miriam made a dreadful example of God's anger. She
was suddenly afflicted with a most dreadful and inveterate leprosy; upon which
Aaron, addressing himself to Moses, acknowledged the sin they had committed,
begged pardon, and solicited him to intercede with God in behalf of his sister,
that the leprosy might be removed, and her former health restored. Moses, who
was naturally of a meek disposition, and ever ready to pardon an injury offered
to himself, made no hesitation at complying with Aaron's request. His
intercession had the desired effect: the Almighty was pleased to promise that
the evil should be removed; but as the offence was of a public nature, he
ordered her to be turned out of the camp for seven days, in the manner of a
common leper, in order to deter others from committing the like seditious
practices. Soon after Miriam's return to the camp, the Israelites removed to the
desert of Paran; whence, after several encampments, they reached Kadesh-Barnea,
situated on the frontiers of the land of Canaan. TWELVE SPIES On their arrival
at this place, Moses, by the divine command, selected twelve men, one from each
tribe, whom he ordered to go as spies into the promised land, to take a view of
the country. He charged them to make a diligent examination into the strength of
its cities and inhabitants, the nature and fertility of its soil, and the
principal articles it produced, some of the latter of which he told them to
bring with them on their return. ABUNDANT AND LARGE FRUIT With these
instructions the twelve spies set forward on their journey, and proceeded from
the entrance of the country on the north, to its extremity on the south. In
their way back they passed through a valley remarkable for its fertility in
vines, and therefore called the valley of Eschol, which signifies a cluster of
grapes. Attracted by the beauty of the fruit, they determined to preserve some
and carry it to the camp. They cut down a branch, on which was only one cluster
of grapes, but of such an immoderate size, that they were obliged to lay it on a
pole, and carry it between two of them. Nor was this the only product of this
happy soil: the golden fig and beautiful pomegranate adorned the trees, and a
variety of other fruits (of which they took samples with them) loaded the
luxuriant branches. SPY REPORT The spies having, in the compass of forty days,
taken a view of the whole country of Canaan, returned to the camp of the
Israelites; and, after showing them the fruits of the land, gave them an account
of the observations they had made in the course of their journey. “We have
been,” said they, “in the country to which you sent us. It is a fertile and
plentiful land; but the inhabitants of it are powerful. There are great cities
with strong walls. We have seen those men of the race of Anak, warlike men, and
of a gigantic stature. The Amalekites inhabit the south part of the land; the
Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites, the mountains; and the Canaanites, the banks
of the river Jordan.” JOSHUA AND CALEB'S REPORT The people were highly pleased
with that part of the account relative to the fertility of the country; but when
they reflected on its strength, with the size and number of its inhabitants,
they were greatly alarmed, and expressed their fears at being brought to a place
where they were in the most imminent danger. But Caleb and Joshua (two of the
twelve who were sent to view the country) endeavored to remove their fears, by
saying, “Let us make ourselves masters of the country, for we are strong enough
to conquer the inhabitants.” This had the desired effect, and might have
produced happy consequences, had it not been for the cowardly disposition of the
other ten, who, perceiving that the account given by Caleb and Joshua had fired
the people with a design of becoming the possessors of the country by a speedy
conquest, began to retract from their former accounts, to paint matters in the
worst light, and to represent it as a thing impossible, both by reason of the
strength of its fortified towns, and the valor and gigantic stature of the
inhabitants. PEOPLE REFUSE TO ENTER LAND This cowardly representation defeated
all the arguments used by Caleb and Joshua in favor of the enterprise. The
Israelites, one and all, cried out they could never hope to overcome such
powerful nations, in comparison of which they looked on themselves as mere
grasshoppers and reptiles. In short, their murmurings grew to such a height by
the next morning, that a return to Egypt was thought more advisable than to face
such an enemy; and they went so far as to deliberate on a proper person who
should reconduct them into the land of their former thralldom. This perverseness
of the people greatly afflicted Moses, who, finding them bent on their own ruin,
and fearful that some dreadful consequence would follow, prostrated himself on
the ground (as did also his brother Aaron) in the presence of the whole Bedouins
collecting Fruits in Palestine assembly, and besought of God that he would be
merciful in his judgments on the people for their sin and ingratitude. Caleb and
Joshua expressed their grief by rending their clothes; and endeavored, in the
most forcible manner, to convince the people that their fears were ill founded,
and that they might, by putting their trust in God, overpower their enemies, and
make themselves masters of the promised land. “The land” (said they) “that we
pass through is indeed a rich and fertile land, abounding with all things
necessary for life. If we please the Lord he will bring is into this land, and
give it us. Do not, therefore, by rebelling against him, forfeit his promise and
protection. Nor be afraid of the people of the land, whom we shall as surely
conquer as we eat our food, and with as much ease. The Lord is with us, and we
have nothing to fear.” But so far was this speech from making any impression on
the perverse and obstinate Israelites, that, in a tumultuous manner, they called
out to stone Caleb and Joshua; and which they would certainly have done, had not
the glory of God at that instant visibly appeared before all the people, in the
tabernacle of the congregation. MOSES INTERCESSION As soon as Moses saw this he
prostrated himself before the Lord, who, being highly incensed against the
Israelites for their perverse conduct, threatened to send a pestilence that
should totally extirpate them, and at the same time told Moses that he would
make him a prince of a more numerous and powerful nation. The pious Moses (as he
had several times done before) became again an intercessor for the people. He in
the most earnest manner solicited the Almighty to pardon their offences, and
represented the consequences that might follow should he totally destroy them:
the substance of his solicitations and observations was in words to this effect:
“O thou everlasting Jehovah, who appearedst to Abraham, to Isaac, and Jacob, and
who wast graciously pleased to promise that their children should inherit the
land of Canaan, look in mercy on this people, whom neither promises will
encourage, nor threatenings deter from disobeying thee. O Lord, turn away thy
fierce anger, for thou art a God of mercy, and I will trust in thee to spare
this wicked, this rebellious people.” ISRAELITE ADULTS TO DIE These arguments
and expostulations in some measure averted the divine vengeance, the Almighty
promising Moses not to put his first design into execution. But as the
ingratitude and infidelity of the people bad become intolerable (notwithstanding
God's constant care in providing against their wants, screening them from their
enemies, and preserving them from all dangers, he declared that not one of those
who had murmured, from twenty years old an upward, should ever enter the
promised land; out that they should wander with their children about the
wilderness for the space of forty years, in which time they should all pay the
debt of nature, and that their children should have those possessions which, had
they not been so disobedient, they might have enjoyed themselves. As for the ten
false spies, who were the immediate authors of this defection, they were all
destroyed by a sudden death, and became the first instances of the punishment
denounced against the body of the people. Caleb and Joshua, who had not only
done their duty in giving a faithful account of their observations, but also
endeavored to remove the ill-concerted intentions of the people, were preserved.
For this their conduct they received the divine approbation, as also a promise
that they should live to enter and inherit the promised land. LATE CHANGE OF
HEART When Moses related these particulars to the people their tempers were
greatly altered, and they expressed their uneasiness for the offence they had
committed by putting on the deepest mourning. Supposing that their forwardness
now would make some atonement for their former cowardice, they assembled
themselves together the next morning, and offered to go on the conquest. “We are
ready,” said they, “to go to the place whereof the Lord has spoken to us.” But
this offer, instead of arising from any natural courage, took place only from a
presumptuous rashness. This Moses well knew, and therefore endeavored all he
could to dissuade them from so ill judged an enterprise. He told them it was
contrary to God's express command, and therefore could not prosper; that by
their late undutiful behavior they had forfeited his assistance and protection,
without which it was impossible for them to succeed; and that, as the Amalekites
and Canaanites had gained the passes of the mountains before them, every attempt
must prove abortive. ISRAEL'S DEFEAT But all this admonition had no weight with
the obstinate Israelites. Notwithstanding the ark of the covenant was not with
them, notwithstanding Moses, their general, was not at the head of them; yet out
they marched to the top of the mountains, where, the enemy surprising them, they
were immediately thrown into the greatest disorder, prodigious numbers were
slain, and the rest obliged to save themselves by flight; nor did they stop till
they came to a place called Hormah. Though it was but eleven days' journey hence
to Kadesh-barnea, yet, for their disobedience, they were so interrupted as to be
nearly two years in getting to the place whence they came. PENALTY FOR SABBATH
DISRESPECT Many remarkable circumstances occurred during the stay of the
Israelites in the wilderness. The first recorded by the sacred historian is an
instance of the divine severity on a man who, by a post-fact law, was adjudged
to be stoned to death for violating the Sabbath, by gathering sticks on that
day. Though a particular injunction had been laid on the people to keep this
commandment in the strictest manner, yet no penalty had been annexed to the
violation of it. The people, therefore, who brought the offender before Moses,
were ordered to keep him in custody till he should know the divine pleasure
concerning Sabbath-breakers. The Almighty was pleased to return for answer, that
such transgressors should be stoned to death; upon which the offender was
immediately conducted out of the camp, and the sentence executed. KORAH'S
REBELLION The next material circumstance that occurred was a violent rebellion
raised by Korah, great-grandson of Levi, and consequently one of the heads of
that tribe. This ambitious person, having long envied Aaron, on account of him
and his family being raised to the highest office in the priesthood, and to
which he thought himself had an equal title, was always caballing against him,
till at length he had brought over two hundred and fifty eminent persons to his
interest, among whom were Dathan and Abiram, two of the chiefs of the tribe of
Reuben. As soon as Korah thought matters properly ripe for an open rupture, he
appeared at the head of the faction, and publicly upbraided Moses and Aaron with
an unjust ambition, in usurping that power to themselves of which he thought
himself entitled to a part; and that the arbitrary measures they pursued were
injurious to the people, by depriving them of their just and natural liberties.
This strange and unexpected address so surprised Moses, that he immediately
prostrated himself on the ground, in which situation he lay for some time.[218]
At length he arose, and, with great steadiness and magnanimity, informed them
that the next day the Lord would decide the controversy, and would make it
appear who were his servants, who were holy, and who the proper persons to be
admitted into his divine presence. He then, with his usual calmness and serenity
of mind, argued the matter with them, and, in the most mild manner, rebuked them
for the impropriety of their conduct. He was rather more severe on Korah (who
was the author of the defection) than the rest; and concluded with addressing
them conjunctively in words to this effect: “Hear me” (says he), “ye sons of
Levi. Is it a matter of so light concern, that the God of Israel hath
distinguished you from the rest of Israel, to admit you to the more immediate
service of the tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation and minister to
them? Is not this an honor sufficient to satisfy your ambitions spirit, but that
ye must aim at the priesthood too? This is the cause of your clamors; and for
this ye have moved the people to sedition. But, be assured, whatever ye may
pretend against Aaron, this insult is against the Lord, as it is against his
dispensations that ye murmur and conspire.” [218] It is very reasonable to
imagine, that Moses (who was well acquainted with the gracious and ready
assistance of God in time of need) was, during the time of his being on the
ground, applying himself to the Lord for protection against this mutinous body
of people. And it is likewise reasonable to imagine, that while he lay in this
humble posture God appeared to him, and gave him comfortable advice in what
manner he should conduct himself; as he soon after spoke to them with great
courage, and to vindicate himself, put the matter between him and them upon
trial the next day. Dathan and Abiram were at some distance when Moses thus
talked with the rest of the conspirators; and therefore, supposing they had been
drawn into the plot at the instigation of Korah, he sent for them privately,
with a design of arguing the matter with them in the mildest terms. But instead
of a civil answer, he received the following haughty message: “Is it” (said
they) “a matter of so small moment, that thou hast brought us out of a land
which flowed with plenty, to kill us in the desert? Thou affectest dominion, and
wouldst make thyself prince over us also. Notwithstanding thy fair promises,
thou hast not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, nor given
us any inheritance of fields and vineyards; but when we were ready to take
possession of the promised land, thou didst turn as back into this barren
desert, to repeat the fatigues and hardships we had before undergone. We will
not come.” These unjust reproaches highly provoked Moses, but, instead of
returning any ill language to them, he addressed himself to God, saying:
“Respect not thou their offering: I have not taken one ass from them, neither
have I hurt one of them.” He then summoned Korah and all his companion to meet
him and Aaron the next day at the tabernacle, and to bring with them their
censers ready prepared with incense to appear before the Lord. Accordingly,
early the next morning, Moses and Aaron went to the tabernacle, whither Korah
also repaired at the head of his party, with each man a censer to his hand, and
attended by a prodigious multitude of people, who, in all probability, went as
spectators of this singular contest. The first thing that attracted their
attention was the amazing splendor that issued from the cloud over the
tabernacle, from which God called to Moses and Aaron, ordering them to withdraw,
that he might inflict that punishment on the rebellious crew they justly
deserved. Moses and Aaron, knowing that the multitude who attended on this
occasion did it only to gratify their curiosity, and at the same time lamenting
that they should equally suffer with the wicked Korah and his party, prostrated
themselves before God, and interceded for their protection. “O God” (said they),
“thou God of the spirit of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be angry
with all?” Their prayers were no sooner offered than heard; and the Almighty,
being pleased to listen to their solicitation, commanded them to tell the people
to withdraw. Frightened at the amazing splendor that issued from the cloud, they
readily obeyed this order, and retired at some distance from the tents of Korah
and his two principal associates, Dathan and Abiram, who stood in a daring
manner near their own tents, attended by their wives and families. As soon as
the multitude had retired to a proper distance, Moses addressed them in words to
this effect: “By this” (said he) “you shall know that the Lord has commissioned
me to do what I have done, and that I have undertaken nothing of my own head. If
these men” (meaning Korah and his party) “die the common way of nature, or be
visited as other men, then take it for granted the Lord hath not sent me; but if
he deal with them after a strange and unusual manner, and the earth, opening her
mouth, swallow them up alive, then shall ye understand that these men have
provoked the Lord.” EARTH SWALLOWS REBELS No sooner had Moses spoken these words
than the earth was suddenly convulsed, and the surface of it opening, Korah and
his two adherents, Dathan and Abiram, together with their families and
substance, were all swallowed up alive, and, the grouted closing on them, they
perished. When the people who stood round them saw their dismal fate they were
greatly frightened, and cried out, “Let us fly, lest the earth swallow us up
also.” In the mean time God, to punish the rest of these rebellious people, who
had profanely attempted to offer incense contrary to the law, sent down fire
from heaven and destroyed the whole two hundred and fifty men that had joined
with Korah. CENSERS MADE INTO ALTAR COVER To perpetuate the memory of this
judgment, as well as to deter, for the future, any but the sons of Aaron from
presuming to burn incense before the Lord, Moses, by the divine command, ordered
Eleazar, Aaron's son, to gather up the censers of the dead, and to have them
beat into broad plates as a covering for the altar, assigning this as a reason:
“That it might be for a memorial to the children of Israel, that no stranger, or
any that was not of Aaron's family, should presume to offer incense before the
Lord, lest he died the death of Korah and his company.” It might have been
supposed that so dreadful a punishment would, at least for some time, have kept
the Israelites within the bounds of their obedience; but no sooner were they
recovered from their fright than they again began to murmur, and to accuse Moses
and Aaron with having (as they called the late mutineers) murdered people of the
Lord.” MOSES BEGS TO SPARE ISRAEL Moses and Aaron, well knowing the turbulent
temper of the people, and fearing they might proceed to some violent outrage,
took sanctuary in the tabernacle, which they had no sooner entered than the
Almighty commanded them to withdraw from the rest of the congregation, for that
in a short time he would destroy them. In consequence of this, Moses and Aaron
immediately prostrated themselves on the ground, and earnestly implored of God
to spare the people; but, early as they were in their supplication, the divine
vengeance was before them, for the Almighty, provoked by the repeated rebellions
of the people, had already sent a pestilence among them. PLAGUE STOPPED As soon
as Moses observed this, he ordered Aaron to take a censer, put fire and incense
in it from the altar, and hasten to the congregation to make atonement for the
sins of the people. Aaron did as Moses commanded, and standing between the dead
and the living, he prayed for some time, and the plague ceased. But
notwithstanding the very short time this calamity lasted, yet with such violence
did it rage, that the number carried off by it amounted to fourteen thousand and
seven hundred persons. AARON'S ROD BUDS Though God had thus in two instances
punished the people for their wickedness, yet, knowing that the minds of many of
them were, by the insinuations of Korah and his accomplices, still prejudiced
against Aaron and his family, on account of their being invested with the
priesthood, he was pleased to put an end to all controversy on this head by the
following miracle. He commanded Moses to take a rod from each tribe, and to
write upon it the name of the prince of that tribe to whom it belonged, and to
write Aaron's name on that of the tribe of Levi; that, when this was done, he
should lay up the twelve rods in the tabernacle, before the ark of the
testimony, until the next morning, when some miraculous change should be seen
that would determine in whose family the priesthood should be established.
Moses, who never failed paying an immediate obedience to the divine command, did
as he was ordered; and going next morning to the tabernacle, brought out the
twelve rods in the presence of all the people. Eleven of the rods were in the
same state as when he put them into the tabernacle, but the twelfth (which
belonged to Aaron) had a very different appearance, for it had not only budded,
but likewise blossomed, and bore ripe almonds. A convincing proof to the people
that God had singled out Aaron and his family to the priestly office. In memory
of this remarkable decision, God ordered Aaron's rod to be laid up in the ark of
the covenant, that, by the people's seeing it, they might not again rebel, but
remain satisfied with those whom he had been pleased, in so distinguished a
manner, to appoint to the priestly office. After the establishment of the
high-priest's office in Aaron and his family, the Israelites moved about, from
one place to another, in the wilderness, but chiefly about the mountains of
Idumaea, until God, by shortening the period of human life, had taken away
almost all that generation, “of whom he had sworn in his wrath,” as the Psalmist
expresses it, Psalms 95:11, “that they should not enter into his rest.” And,
indeed, great reason had he to be angry with them, since, during the remainder
of their peregrination,[219] they were guilty of many more murmurings than Moses
has thought proper to record, which, nevertheless, are mentioned, with no small
severity, by other inspired writers. See Psalms 106:25; 1 Corinthians 10:10.
[219] extensive travel. MIRIAM DIES As the time, however, of their entrance into
the land of Canaan drew near, they advanced into the wilderness of Sin, and
pitched their camp at Kadesh,[220] where Miriam,[221] sister to Moses and Aaron,
died, and was buried. [220] This was not Kadesh-Barnea, the station or
encampment of the Israelites on the confines of the northern part of Canaan; but
another Kadesh, situated on the confines of Idumaea and not far from the Red
sea. [221] Miriam was the eldest of the three, and was nearly a hundred and
thirty years old. Eusebius assures us, that in his time her tomb was found at
Kadesh, a small distance from Petra, the capital of Arabia Petra. Several of the
ancients are of opinion that she died a virgin, and that she was the legislatrix
and governess of the Israelitish women, as Moses was the legislator of the men.
The Israelites had not been long at Kadesh, before they were greatly distressed
for water, upon which (as they had before done on similar occasions) they
exclaimed, with great vehemence, against Moses and Aaron, saying, “Why have ye
brought the Lord's people into the wilderness to kill them and their cattle? Why
did you persuade us to leave the fertile land of Egypt to bring us into this
barren place, which affords neither water to quench our thirst, nor fruits to
satisfy our hunger? Would to God we had perished with our brethren before the
Lord.” MOSES STRIKES THE ROCK AGAIN The impatience and dissatisfaction of the
Israelites greatly perplexed Moses and Aaron, who, as was their usual custom on
such occasions, addressed themselves to God, beseeching him to remove the
present distresses of the people. The Almighty was pleased to listen to their
request: he ordered Moses to take his rod, and, with the assistance of Aaron,
assemble the people together; which having done, he should speak to the rock in
their sight, and it should immediately produce abundance of water. Agreeably to
these orders, Moses and Aaron assembled the people before the rock, who, no
doubt, readily attended in expectation of having those grievances removed of
which they had so greatly complained. Hitherto Moses had paid an exact and
absolute obedience to all the commands God had enjoined him; but now (however it
happened) he made some deviation from his instructions, and thereby committed
the greatest miscarriage of his whole life. He was ordered to speak to the rock
before the people; but, instead of so doing, he spoke to the people, saying,
“Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?” In doing this,
he expressed impatience and heat of spirit, which were in direct opposition to
that humility he had hitherto possessed. This conduct of Moses was highly
offensive to God, as appeared from his first striking the rock without its
having the least effect. However, on striking it a second time, the water issued
from it in great abundance, and not only the people, but likewise the cattle,
were plentifully supplied with that necessary article they had so much wanted.
MOSES REPROVED Though this was the first time that Moses had made the least
deviation from the divine injunctions, yet it pleased the Almighty to make him
sensible of his fault, and to inflict a punishment on him for his disobedience.
Considering Aaron also as concerned with him in the transgression, he denounced
this sentence against them conjunctively. “Because,” said he, “ye believed me
not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall
not bring this congregation into the land, which I have given them.” From this
unhappy accident, the place was called Meribah, which, in the Hebrew language,
signifies, chiding or strife. EDOM REFUSES PASSAGE Though Moses had committed
this offence, and received the divine chastisement, yet he still preserved the
command and government of the people. Intending to decamp from Kadesh, as a
necessary precaution in order to secure the safety of the people, he sent
messengers to the king of Edom (upon whose borders they then were) requesting
permission to pass through his territories, assuring him that they would not
commit any hostilities, nor give the least molestation to any of his subjects.
But the haughty Edomite was so far from granting his request, that he came out
with a. powerful army to oppose him; upon which Moses, after decamping from
Kadesh, took another way, and marched to Mount Hor, near the borders of Edom,
where they pitched their tents, and for some time encamped. ELEAZAR MADE HIGH
PRIEST The time now drawing near, that the Israelites were to penetrate the
promised land (into which the Lord had told Aaron he should not enter because of
his transgression at Meribah), God gave Aaron notice that his dissolution was
near at hand, that he might the more properly prepare himself for so awful an
event. As a necessary introduction, the Almighty commanded Moses to take Aaron,
and Eleazar his son (who was to succeed him in the office of high-priest), and
conduct them to the top of the mount, where he should strip Aaron of his
priestly garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son. AARON DIES Moses having
obeyed these commands, Aaron, in a very short time after, gave up the
ghost;[222] and when the people heard that he was dead, they mourned for him
thirty days. [222] He was buried on the spot where he died, it being the ancient
custom to bury persons of eminence in high places. See Joshua 24:30; Judges 2:9.
This event happened in the fortieth year after the Israelites left Egypt, on the
first day of the fifth month, which answers to our July, at which time Aaron was
one hundred and twenty-three years of age. See Numbers 33:38-39.


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  CHAPTER 20: FIERY SERPENTS--BALAAM--APPROACH TO CANAAN--DEATH OF MOSES
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FIERY SERPENTS--BALAAM--APPROACH TO CANAAN--DEATH OF MOSES ARAD COMES AGAINST
ISRAEL While the Israelites lay encamped near Mount Hor,[223] Arad, one of the
kings of Canaan, who dwelt in the south, being informed of their situation, and
that they intended visiting his dominions, went out with a considerable army to
interrupt their progress. Accordingly, coming up with them, an engagement took
place, in which the Israelites were worsted, and some of them made prisoners.
[223] This name seems to have been anciently borne by the whole range of Mount
Seir, and, when superseded by the latter denomination, continued to be preserved
in the name of the particular summit on which Aaron died. Topographical
probabilities concur with local traditions in identifying this Mount Hor with
the high mountain which rises conspicuously above the surrounding rocks in the
vicinity of Petra, the ancient capital of the Edomites or Nabathæans, which is
in a valley (Wady-Mousa) that cuts the range of Seir about halfway between the
Gulf of Akaba and the Dead sea, but rather nearer to the former than to the
latter. This mountain, whose rugged pinnacle forms a very striking feature in
one of the most interesting scenes in the world, is of very difficult and steep
ascent, which is partly artificial, rude steps or niches being in some places
formed in the rock. Dr. Macmichael, who visited the spot in 1818, in company
with Mr. Bankes and Captains Irby and Mangles, says that it took his party one
hour and a half to ascend its almost perpendicular sides. If this were really
Mount Hor, as there seems little reason to doubt, the high-priest, before he lay
down and died on that mountain, must have been able to mark out with his eye
much of that wild region in which the Israelites had, for so many long years,
wandered to and fro. From its summit, Mount Sinai might clearly be distinguished
in the south; while the boundless desert, marked by so many wonderful
transactions, in which he had borne a conspicuous part, spread its wide expanse
before him on the west. The supposed tomb of Aaron is enclosed by a small modern
building, crowned with a cupola, such as usually cover the remains of Moslem
saints. At the time of the above visit, this spot formed the residence of an old
Arab hermit, eighty years of age, the one half of which he had lived upon the
mountain, from which he seldom descended, and where he chiefly subsisted through
the charity of the native shepherds. He conducted the travelers into the
building, and showed them the tomb, which lay at the further end of the
building, behind two folding leaves of an iron grating. This monument, which is
about three feet high, is patched together with fragments of stone and marble,
and covered with a ragged pall. On the walls near the tomb are suspended beads,
bits of cloth, leather, and yarn, with paras and similar articles, left as
votive offerings by the Arabs. The old Arab lighted a lamp of butter, and
conducted the travelers to a grotto or vault underneath, which is excavated in
the rock, but contains nothing remarkable. The Arabs are in the habit of
offering sacrifices to Haroun (Aaron), generally of a goat. When, however, they
make a vow to slaughter a victim to him, they do not go to the top of the
mountain, but think it sufficient to complete their sacrifice at a spot from
which the cupola of the tomb is visible in the distance; where, after killing
the animal, they throw a heap of stones over the blood that flows to the ground,
and then feast on the carcase. The services thus rendered to the tomb of Aaron
afford a striking picture of the debasing superstitions into which the Arabs
have fallen. Burckhardt, who, in his Moslem character, sacrificed a goat, says,
that while he did so his guide gave utterance to such exclamations as the
following: “O, Haroun; look upon us! it is for you we slaughter this victim. O,
Haroun, protect us and forgive us! O Haroun, be content with our good
intentions, for it is but a lean goat. O, Haroun, smooth our paths: and praise
be to the Lord of all creatures!” Mount Hor

ISRAEL WINS SECOND ATTACK In consequence of this repulse, the Israelites made a
vow to God, promising, if he would deliver these people into their hands, they
would utterly destroy their cities. Their divine protector was pleased to listen
to their request; for, upon their engaging the Canaanites a second time, they
obtained a complete victory, took possession of their cities, and put all the
inhabitants to the sword. ISRAEL MURMURS Elated with this success the Israelites
decamped from Mount Hor, and took their, route by the Red sea, marching round
Edom, through which they had been refused a passage by the king of the country.
As the way was long, the passes difficult, and the country barren, they,
forgetting their late success, and reflecting only on the present
inconveniences, relapsed into their old humor of murmuring, and heavily
complained both against God and Moses. “Wherefore,” said they, “have ye brought
us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is
there any water, and our soul loatheth this light bread.” DEADLY SNAKE ATTACK As
a punishment to the Israelites for this fresh instance of their impiety and
distrust, God sent among them prodigious numbers of fiery serpents, whose stings
were so venomous, that those who were bit by them died; and by this plague,
great numbers of the Israelites, in a very short space of time, were carried
off. This dreadful calamity so alarmed the people, that they flew to Moses for
protection, acknowledging the offence they had committed, and beseeching him to
intercede with God in their behalf. Moses, pitying their distress, readily
complied with their request; upon which the Almighty was pleased to order him to
make a serpent of brass resembling those by which they were afflicted, and to
set it up on a high pole; telling him, at the same time, that such as were
bitten, if they looked up to this serpent, should be healed. Moses obeyed the
divine command, and though the serpents did not cease biting, that the people
might be more sensible of their transgression, yet, on looking up to the brazen
serpent, the force of the sting lost its effect, and the person afflicted soon
recovered. SIHON ATTACKS ISRAEL The Israelites, after making various marches and
encampments, between the countries of Moab and Ammon, without committing the
least hostility, at length came to the borders of that part of the country
inhabited by the Amorites. Hence Moses sent ambassadors to Sihon their king,
requesting permission to pass through his country, and promising, at the same
time, not to commit any depredation, or give him the least disturbance. The
Amorite prince, fearful of admitting so formidable a body into the heart of his
kingdom, positively denied the Israelites a passage; and thinking it better
policy to attack than be attacked, gathered what force he could, and marched out
to give them battle. They met near a place called Jahaz, when a desperate
engagement ensued, in which the Amorites were totally defeated, and the whole
body put to the sword. The Israelites pursuing their conquests made themselves
masters of the most considerable places belonging to the Amorites, particularly
Heshbon, which, with the villages about it, Sihon had before taken from the
Moabites. ISRAEL TAKES BASHAN From Heshbon the Israelites marched toward Bashan
(taking several other places in their way belonging to the Amorites,
particularly a large city called Jaazer) where the giant Og, another king of the
Amorites, resided, and who, on the approach of the Israelites, drew out his
gigantic troops in order to give them battle. Fearful lest the Israelites should
be discouraged at the sight of this formidable army, Moses, by the command of
God, bade them be of good spirits, and not entertain the least apprehensions of
danger, for that God would deliver them into their hands, and they should make
as easy a conquest over them as they had done over King Sihon. ISRAEL TAKES THE
AMORITES Animated at this intelligence, the Israelites marched with all
expedition against the Amorites, whom they attacked with such success as to
obtain a complete victory, and not only the whole of the people, but likewise
King Og and his sons, were put to the sword. They then seized on the principal
parts of the country, and utterly destroyed the inhabitants, reserving only the
cattle and spoil of the cities, as they had done before in the case of Sihon.
MOAB WORRIED Encouraged by these successes, the Israelites marched to the plains
of Moab, and encamped on the bank of the river Jordan, nearly opposite to
Jericho. The approach of these victorious strangers struck a terror among the
people wherever they went, and the fame of their late success against the
Amorites threw Balak, the king of Moab, and all his people, into the most
dreadful consternation. Balak, knowing himself too weak to engage the mighty
force of Israel himself, formed a strong alliance with his neighbors the
Midianites, and a consultation was held between the heads of each, what steps
should be taken to avoid the common danger, and to secure themselves against
these bold invaders. BALAAM ASKED TO CURSE ISRAEL The result of this
consultation was, that messengers should be sent to Balaam, a noted magician,
who lived at Pethor, a city of Mesopotamia, to invite him by bribes to come to
Moab, and, by cursing the Israelites, prevent their proving successful in that
part of the country. In consequence of this determination, a select number of
the principal people, both of Moab and Midian, were dispatched to Balaam with
many valuable presents, and with orders that they should, if possible, bring him
with them to Moab, that, by his enchantments and curses, he might destroy the
power of the Israelites, and thereby secure them from every kind of danger.
ISRAEL COULD NOT BE CURSED As soon as these deputies arrived at Pethor they
delivered their message to Balaam, who desired them to tarry with him that
night, for that he could not give them any answer till he had consulted the
Lord. The Almighty, knowing the secrets of Balaam's heart, asked what men they
were that were with him. To which he replied, “They are some whom the king of
Moab hath sent to me, to let me know that there is a people come out of Egypt
which cover the face of the earth; and to desire me to come to him and curse
them, in hopes that he may then be able to overcome them and drive them away.”
To this God made answer, “Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the
people, for they are blessed.” Not daring to disobey the divine command, Balaam
arose early in the morning, and going to the deputies, dismissed them, saying,
“Be gone to your own country, for the Lord refuseth to give me leave to go with
you.” BALAAM COMPELLED AGAIN The deputies, on their return to Moab,
misrepresented Balaam's answer to the king; for, instead of telling him that God
had refused to let him come, they told him that Balaam himself had refused to
come. In consequence of this, Balak, suggesting that either the number and
quality of his messengers did not answer Balsam's ambition, or the value of the
presents his covetousness, resolved, if possible, to remove this obstacle by
gratifying both. He accordingly dispatched the chiefs of his nobility to Balaam,
sending by them much more considerable presents than before, and at the same
time this message: “Let nothing,” said he, “hinder thee from coming to me; for I
will promote thee to very great honor, and give thee whatsoever thou start ask,
if thou wilt but come and curse this people.” Balaam, being naturally of a very
avaricious disposition, accepted the presents from the deputies, but evaded
complying with their request, by assuring them that he durst not, on any account
whatever, counteract the divine will. However, in order to amuse and flatter
them with expectations, he desired them to tarry a little while he made farther
inquiries of the Lord, and, if he thought proper to admit his going, he would
readily attend them. BALAAM'S PRESUMPTION The Almighty had at first given Balaam
a positive answer, and it was certainly the highest disobedience and presumption
to attempt the reversing it again a farther application. However, blinded by
covetousness and ambition, he again addressed himself to God, who (provoked at
his obstinacy and presumption) was pleased to give him this answer: “If the
men,” said he, “come to call thee, rise up and go with them; but yet the word
which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do.” BALAAM'S TALKING ASS With this
permission Balaam arose in the morning, and, saddling his ass, set forward with
the messengers on their journey to Moab. On the road he was met by an angel with
a drawn sword in his hand, whom, though he perceived not, his ass plainly saw,
and being startled, turned aside in order to avoid him. With some difficulty
Balaam beat his ass into the road again, soon after which the angel placed
himself in a narrow passage between two walls which enclosed a vineyard. The
ass, who was equally startled as before, not knowing how to avoid the angel, ran
against one of the walls and crushed Balaam's foot, upon which he was so
provoked that he beat him with great severity. At length the angel removed, and
fixed himself in a place so very narrow that there was no possibility of passing
him; upon, which the ass made a full stop and fell beneath his rider. This
enraged Balaam still more; and as he was beating the poor animal in the most
unmerciful manner, God was pleased to give the ass the faculty of speech, who
expostulated with his master on his severe treatment in words to this effect:
“What,” said he, “have I done to thee, that thou shouldest beat me these three
times?”--“Because,” said Balaam, “thou hast deserved it in mocking me: had I a
sword in my hand I would kill thee.” The ass replied, “Am I not thine ass, upon
which thou hast been accustomed to ride ever since I was thine; did I ever serve
thee so before?” BALAAM SEES THE ANGEL While Balaam was thus conversing with his
ass, God was pleased to open his eyes, and let him see the angel standing in the
way, with a naked sword in his hand. Terrified at so unexpected a sight, Balaam
fell on his face, acknowledged his offence, asked pardon for it, and offered, if
his journey was displeasing to God, immediately to return. That his journey was
displeasing to the Almighty he certainly could not be ignorant, because, in his
first address, God had expressly interdicted his going. He was pleased, however,
to suffer him to proceed, that some kind of advantage might be raised out of
this man's wickedness, and to make him, who was hired to curse, the instrument
of pronouncing a blessing on his people. BALAAM AT MOAB CAPITAL When Balak heard
that Balaam was on the road, he went himself to receive him on the confines of
his dominions. As soon as Balak saw him, he in a friendly manner blamed him for
not coming at his first sending, which Balaam excused on account of the
restraint that had been laid upon him by the Almighty. Balak then conducted him
to his capital, where he that day publicly entertained him in the most sumptuous
manner; and the next morning conducted him to the high places consecrated to the
idol Baal, whence he might take an advantageous view of the camp of the
Israelites. BALAAM BLESSES ISRAEL After being here some short time, Balaam
ordered seven altars to be erected, and seven oxen, together with the like
number of rams, to be prepared for sacrifice. Balaam, having offered an ox and a
ram on each altar, left Balak to stand by the sacrifices, while himself withdrew
at some distance to consult the Lord. On his return he addressed the king, in
the presence of the whole company, in words to this effect: “Thou hast caused
me, O king,” said he, “to come from out of the mountains of the cast to curse
the family of Jacob, and bid defiance to Israel. But how shall I curse those
whom God hath not cursed? and how shall I defy those whom the Lord hath not
defied? From the tops of the rocks I see their protector, and from the hills I
behold him. Behold, this people shall be separated to God, and distinguished
from all other people in religion, laws, and course of life: they shall not be
reckoned among the nations.” He then set forth the great prosperity and increase
of the Israelites, and concluded by wishing that his lot, both in life and in
death, might be like unto theirs. “Let me die,” said he, “the death of the
righteous, and let my end be like his.” View in the Land of Moab

BALAK ALARMED AT BALAAM Balak, alarmed as well as incensed at these words, which
were quite contrary to what he had expected, passionately said to Balaam, “What
hast thou done? I sent for thee to curse mine enemies; but, instead thereof,
thou hast blessed them.” Balaam excused himself by urging the necessity of his
instructions, from which, he said, it was not in his power at that time to make
the least deviation. BALAAM AT PISGAH Not discouraged at this rebuff, Balak,
thinking that a change of place might produce a change of fortune, or better
success, conducted Balaam to the top of Mount Pisgah, in order to try whether he
could thence fulfill his wishes by cursing the Israelites. Balaam, willing to
please the king, had seven other altars erected here, and a bullock and ram
offered on each. As soon as the sacrifices were ready he withdrew, as before, to
consult the Lord, from whom he received fresh instructions. On his return to
Balak and his attendants, the king, big with expectation of the result, asked
what the Lord had spoken. Balaam, with the most serious countenance and solemn
tone of voice, answered as follows: “Consider,” said he, “O Balak, thou son of
Zippor, consider that God, who hath already blessed Israel, and forbidden me to
curse them, is not like a man that he should renounce his promise, or repent of
what he does. Hath he promised, and shall he not perform? or hath he spoken, and
shall he not make it good? Behold, I have received commission to bless, and he
hath blessed, and I can not reverse it. He does not approve of afflictions or
outrages against the posterity of Jacob, nor of vexation or trouble against the
posterity of Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is in
him. God hath brought them out of Egypt; he hath, as it were, the strength of a
unicorn. Surely no enchantment can prevail against Jacob, nor any divination
against Israel. So that, considering what God will work this time for the
deliverance of his people, all the world shall wonder and say, What hath God
wrought, who hath put his people out of the reach of fraud or force, and turned
the intended curse into a blessing! And to show their future strength and
success, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift themselves up as a
young lion. They shall not he down until they eat of the prey, and drink of the
blood of the slain.” BALAAM TAKEN TO PEOR Balak was so mortified at this speech
that, in the height of his passion, he forbade Balaam either to bless or curse;
but after his indignation was somewhat abated he changed his mind, and desired
him to make a farther trial at another place. Accordingly, Balaam was conducted
to the top of Mount Peor, where fresh altars were raised and fresh sacrifices
offered; but. all to no purpose. Balaam well knew the positive will of God in
this case was to bless, and not to curse. He did. not therefore, as before,
retire for farther instructions, but, casting his eyes on the tents of the
Israelites, thus exclaimed: “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy
tabernacles, O Israel!” He then, in proper and significant metaphors, foretold
their extent, fertility, and strength, and that “those that blessed them should
be blessed, and those that cursed them should be cursed.” BALAK BLAMES BALAAM
Balak, enraged to hear Balaam, whom he had sent for to curse the Israelites,
thus three times successively bless them, could no longer contain himself, but,
clasping his hands together, bade him haste and be gone, since, by his folly, he
had both abused God and defrauded himself., “I thought,” said he, to have
promoted thee to great honor, if thou hadst answered my design in cursing
Israel; but the Lord hath hindered thy preferment.” BALAAM CURSES REGION Balaam,
in excuse, made use of the same arguments he had done before, namely, that he
could not run counter to the divine commands, but must speak what the Lord had
put into his mouth. He then, in expectation of obtaining some reward from the
king, notwithstanding he had not answered the purposes for which he was sent,
offered to advertise him of what the Israelites would do to his people in
subsequent ages; which being accepted by Balak, he prophesied as follows: “That
a star should come forth from Jacob, and a rod from Israel; that it should smite
the chiefs of Moab, and destroy the children of Seth; that Edom should fall
under its power; that the Amalekites should be totally destroyed, and the
Kenites made captives.” BALAAM SEEKS TO SEDUCE ISRAEL Having said this Balaam
left the king, but without receiving any reward, as he had expected, for his
predictions. Vexed at this disappointment, and considering the Israelites as the
occasion of it, he determined to wreak his vengeance on them. He knew that their
prosperity depended on their strict observance of the divine laws, and that
there was no way to bring a curse on them but by seducing them from their duty.
To accomplish, therefore, his wicked design, he advised both the Moabites and
Midianites to send their daughters into the camp of the Israelites, that they
might first entice the people into lewdness, and then into idolatry; by doing of
which they would infallibly be deprived of that divine assistance that had
hitherto protected them. SOME ISRAELITES BECOME HEATHEN This wicked stratagem,
being highly approved of by the Moabites and Midianites, was immediately put
into execution, and in some measure attended with the wished for success. Many
of the Israelites were deluded by these strange women, not only to commit
whoredom with them, but also idolatry, by assisting at their sacrifices, and
worshipping their gods, even their god Baal-peor. These offences were highly
displeasing to God, who, as a punishment on the people, commanded Moses to take
the chiefs of those who had worshipped Baal-peor, and hang them up in the sight
of the people, without paying respect either to friendship or kindred. This was
accordingly done, and the number that suffered was about one thousand. But the
divine justice did not stop here, for those who had committed whoredom were
visited with a dreadful plague, which in a short time carried off no less than
twenty-four thousand persons. ISRAEL REPENTS These severe punishments opened the
eyes of the sinful Israelites, who assembled at the door of the tabernacle, and,
with the most expressive sense of affliction, bewailed their folly and
wickedness in suffering themselves to have been deluded by a strange people who
were their mortal enemies. ZIMRI'S INSOLENCE While the whole congregation were
thus situated at the door of the tabernacle, they were surprised with an
instance of the most unparalleled boldness and depravity in one of the chiefs of
the tribe of Simeon, named Zimri, who, in the sight of Moses and all the people,
brought with him a young Midianitish princess, named Cozbi, into the camp, and,
with all the actions of gallantry, conducted her to his tent. This impious as
well as insolent behavior particularly engaged the attention of Phinehas, the
son of Eleazar the high-priest, who, fired with a just indignation, suddenly
arose, and taking a javelin in his hand, ran to Zimri's tent, and put a period
to their lives, by running them both through the body at the same instant.
PHINEHAS' REWARD After this zealous act of Phinehas, the plague, which God lead
sent among the people for their lewdness and impiety, ceased. And Phinehas not
only received the highest commendation for his conduct among the people, but
also from God, who was pleased to appoint a perpetual settlement of the
priesthood on him and his posterity. MIDIANITES ATTACKED The disorders among the
Israelites being thoroughly quelled, and the offenders punished, Moses by the
direction of God, proceeded to take vengeance on the Midianites, who, by their
conduct, had been the authors of the late calamities among the people. He
ordered a detachment to be made out of 12,000 choice men, a thousand out of each
tribe, whom he sent against the Midianites. Among them was the zealous Phinehas,
who took with him the ark, together with the sacred trumpets, the latter of
which were to be blown, during the time of action, to animate the people. BALAAM
KILLED The army of the Israelites was but small compared with the great numbers
they had to oppose; but God, who put them on the expedition, was pleased to
crown their attempts with such success, that conquest took place wherever they
went. They vanquished five kings, whom, with their men, they put all to the
sword. Among the slain was the wicked prophet Balaam,[224] who, though he had
before escaped the sword of the angel, could not now avoid the common danger,
but fell a victim to his own baseness. [224] It is evident, from this
circumstance, that if Balaam did return to his own country when he left Balak,
he did not continue long there; but it is much more probable that he never did
return, but dwelt with the princes of Midian, in order to give them counsel.
ISRAEL IS VICTORIOUS In every city where the Israelites made a conquest, they
destroyed not only the fortified places but likewise all the buildings, took all
the women and children prisoners, and seized on their cattle, flocks, and goods.
The Israelites, having thus vanquished their enemies, and loaded themselves with
the spoils of conquest, returned in triumph to the camp, where they were met by
Moses, Eleazar the high-priest, and all the elders of the different tribes, who
congratulated them on the occasion, and the people testified their joy by the
loudest acclamations. MIDIANITE VIRGIN GIRLS SPARED But when Moses saw the women
captives, remembering what damage they had done by alluring the Israelites into
idolatry, he thought it unsafe that their lives should be spared. He therefore
ordered that all those who had ever known man, together with all the male
children, should be put to the sword, and none but virgins be saved alive. These
orders were accordingly executed, and (as a proof of the importance of the
victory) the number of virgin captives amounted to two and thirty thousand.
After this Moses gave orders that the conquerors should abide seven days without
the camp, and that both the soldiers and spoils should pass through the
ceremonies of a legal purification. SPOILS DIVIDED When the time of purification
was expired, Moses, by the command of God, took an account of the whole booty
that had been taken from the Midianites. This he divided into two equal parts,
one of which he gave to the soldiers who had taken it, and the other half to the
rest of the people who stayed at home. Out of the division given to the soldiers
he ordered a five hundredth part to be paid as a tribute to Eleazar the
high-priest, as a heave-offering to the Lord; and out of the other part allotted
to the people, a fiftieth, both of persons and beasts, to be given to the
Levites. The plunder of cattle and flocks consisted of 670,500 sheep, 72,000
oxen, and 61,000 asses, besides a great quantity of rich goods and ornaments.
And, what makes the victory still more miraculous is, that not one man among the
Israelites was slain in the battle, as appeared from the report afterward made
on a general muster of the whole that went out to war. THE OFFICER'S EXPIATORY
OFFERING The officers of the army were sensible that, in saving the Midianitish
women, they had committed a great transgression. They therefore presented a
prodigious quantity of jewels, and other rich spoils, both as an expiatory
offering to atone for their offence, and in gratitude to God's goodness for
having given them so great and signal a victory. REQUEST TO SETTLE The
Israelites were now in possession of all that part of the country which lay on
the east side of the river Jordan. It was a very fertile spot, and stored with
good pasturage, in consequence of which the tribes of Reuben and Gad, together
with the half-tribe of Manasseh, requested of Moses that they might be permitted
to settle there, it being particularly commodious for the feeding of their
flocks and cattle. Moses, thinking this request arose from their pusillanimity,
and that they were desirous of continuing in a country ready gained, and thereby
avoid giving their assistance in farther conquests, was exceeding angry, and
blamed them for offering a proposal so discouraging to the rest of the tribes.
They told him they had no other reason for wishing to continue where they were
than what they had already advanced, and that though they were desirous of
settling there with their families, yet they wished not to decline the fatigues
of war. They promised, in the most solemn manner, that a quota should go with
the army into the land of Canaan, and contribute all the assistance they were
able in reducing that country which had been so long promised, and that when
these matters were accomplished, and not till then, would they desire to return
to their families in the plains of Moab. On this reason, and on these promises,
Moses told them their request should be granted. MOSES GIVES LAST DIRECTIONS As
the Israelites were now in the neighborhood of Canaan, and the time very near of
their entering that country to take possession of it, Moses called a general
assembly of the people, to whom he enumerated the several stations and removes
they had made from the time of their leaving the land of Goshen in Egypt, till
their arrival in the plains of Moab. He then, by the direction of God, pointed
out the limits of what they were to conquer, and appointed the distribution of
the whole among the different tribes to be by lot, assigning the chief
management of it to Eleazar the high-priest, and Joshua, the general of his
army. CITIES OF REFUGE In the division of the country Moses assigned forty-eight
cities, together with their suburbs, to be inhabited by the Levites, and withal
ordered, that six of them should be made cities of refuge, whither the innocent
manslayer, who had killed his neighbor by chance, might betake himself, and
where he should remain in safety till the death of the high-priest, when he was
at full liberty to go where he pleased with equal safety as when in the city of
refuge. At the same time Moses made all proper provision that the willful
murderer should certainly be put to death. But in this, and all other capital
cases, he made it a law that none should be convicted upon the evidence of any
single person. A law was likewise made, that every daughter who should possess
an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel should be married to one
of the tribes of his father, that so the Israelites might every one enjoy the
Mountains of Ebal and Gerizim inheritance of his father, and the inheritance not
to be transferred to another tribe. This was grounded on a law made before,
which empowered daughters to inherit land where the heirs male should be
deficient; and was the case of the daughters of Zelophehad (a descendant of
Manasseh, the son of Joseph), who, by this additional law, were required to
marry within the family of their father's tribe. MOSES REITERATES THE LAW The
forty years' travels of the Israelites being now nearly expired, Moses,
considering that the then generation were either sprung up since the law was
given at Mount Sinai, or too young to remember and understand it, thought proper
to repeat the whole to them, that they might not be deficient in performing
those duties so religiously enjoined. Accordingly, on the first day of the
eleventh month, and in the fortieth year from their departure out of Egypt
(being then encamped on the plains of Moab, by the banks of the river Jordan)
Moses called all the people together, to whom he briefly related all that had
befallen their fathers since the time of their leaving Egypt; the gracious
dealings of God with them; their continual murmurings and rebellions against
him; and the many severe judgments that followed thereupon, even to his own
exclusion from the promised land. He then gave them a summary of all the laws
which the divine goodness had calculated for their happiness; and, after
repeating the Decalogue almost word for word, he reminded them of the solemn and
dreadful manner in which it was delivered from Mount Sinai, and of the manifold
obligations they lay under to a strict observance of it. He encouraged them to
be faithful to God, by assuring them, that, if they kept his commandments, they
should not fail of having innumerable blessings heaped on them; but at the same
time he threatened them with all manner of calamities if they departed from
them. He then, in the name of the Lord, renewed the covenant which their fathers
had made with God at Mount Horeb; commanded them to proclaim, on the mountains
of Gerizim and Ebal,[225] beyond Jordan, blessings on such as observed the
covenant, and curses on those who broke it and to erect an altar there, on which
should be written, in legible characters, the terms and conditions of the
covenant. [225] These two mountains (of which we give a beautiful and correct
representation, see p205), are so near each other, that they are only separated
by a valley of about two hundred paces wide, in which is situated the town of
Shechem. They are much alike in length, height, and form: their figure is
semicircular, and on the side of Shechem they are so steep, that there is not
the least shelving; they are at most about half a league in length. But
notwithstanding they are so much alike in the particulars mentioned, they are
very different in one instance; namely, Ebal is desolate and barren, whereas
Gerizim is beautiful and fruitful. These, and several other directions relative
to their future conduct in the land of Canaan, did Moses not only deliver to the
people by word of mouth, but likewise ordered them to be written in a book,
which he committed to the care and custody of the Levites, who, by God's
appointment, laid it up on the side of the ark, there to remain a witness
against the people should they afterward rebel. THE SONG OF REMEMBRANCE Such was
the care and concern of Moses for the future welfare of the people: and that
they might never want a proper fund of devotion; he composed a song, or poem,
which he not only repeated to them, but likewise gave orders that they should
all learn by heart. In this song he expressed, in a very elegant manner, the
many benefits which God had bestowed on his people; their ingratitude and
forgetfulness of him, the punishment wherewith he had afflicted them; and the
threats of greater judgments, if they persisted in provoking him by a repetition
of their follies. The whole of this beautiful song runs from the first verse of
the thirty-second chapter of Deuteronomy to the forty-third. MOSES CLIMBS ABARIM
The time was now near at hand when a period was to be put to Moses' earthly
peregrinations. The Almighty had before told him, that he should not conduct the
people into the promised land because of his error at the waters of Meribah: he
therefore now commanded him to go up to the mountains of Abarim,[226] and there
take a view of the land of Canaan, which he had promised to his forefathers,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and farther told him, that after he had so done, he
should die there, as his brother Aaron had done on Mount Hor. [226] These
mountains were situated in the country of the Moabites, between the two rivers
Arnon and Jordan, and commanded a most extensive prospect of the land of Canaan.
One part of these mountains was distinguished by the name of Nebo, as appears
from Deuteronomy 32:49, but if we compare this with Deuteronomy 34:1, we shall
find that Nebo and Pisgah were one, and the same mountain. If, therefore, there
was any distinction between the names it was probably this, that the top of the
mountain was more peculiarly called Pisgah, which signifies to elevate or raise
up, and, therefore, may very properly denote the top or summit, of any mountain.
Not far from Nebo was Beth-peor, which was probably so called from some deity of
that name worshipped by the Moabites. Moses humbly submitted to the will of the
Almighty, and, as a necessary preparation to the execution of this last command,
took a solemn farewell of the people, bestowing a prophetic blessing on each
tribe, in like manner as Jacob had done a short time previous to his death.
Ancient Syrian Chief addressing the People

JOSHUA COMMISSIONED The Almighty had before appointed Joshua to succeed Moses in
his commission; and to prevent any disputes after his death, Moses first laid
his own hands Joshua, and then presented him to Eleazar the high-priest, who, in
a solemn form of admission, and in the presence of all the people, accepted him
as leader and general of the Israelites; after which Moses gave Joshua some
instructions relative to his office, and one more especially which concerned his
consulting God, by way of Urim and Thummim,[227] on matters of emergency. [227]
Urim and Thummim, signifying lights and perfections, formed the oracle of God
put into the sacred breastplate of judgment of Aaron, by which the Divine will
was to be sought on solemn occasions: but while learned men have offered many
and various conjectures, it is not agreed what they were, as it is not fully
declared by Moses, Exodus 28:30; Leviticus 8:8. Josephus supposes that they were
the twelve precious stones of the breastplate, on which were engraven the names
of several tribes of Israel, Exodus 28:15-21; and that God gave answers to the
high-priest inquiring before the most holy place, by an extraordinary glory
illustrating the letters: but others are of opinion that they were given by an
audible voice from the Shekinah, in the cloud of glory over the mercy-seat,
Psalms 80:1. This oracle, it is believed, was not used during the life of Moses,
as God spake to him directly, Exodus 33:11; Numbers 7:89; and afterward only in
national difficulties, by the high-priest only, and not for any private person,
Numbers 27:21; Joshua 7:6-15. This sacred instrument is supposed to have been
destroyed with the temple of Solomon if not before; as the Jews acknowledge that
it did not exist in the second temple, Ezra 2:13, Nehemiah 7:65. The rabbins
indeed say, that it continued in use only under the tabernacle, 1 Samuel 28:6 :
they have a maxim that the Holy Ghost spoke to Israel under the tabernacle by
Urim and Thummim; under the first temple by prophets; and after the captivity of
Babylon, by the Bath-kol, or Daughter of the voice; meaning a voice from heaven,
as at the baptism, and transfiguration of Christ, Matthew 3:17; 2 Peter 1:17.
MOSES DIES Having adjusted these matters, Moses, in conformity to the divine
command, retired to Pisgah, the most elevated situation on Mount Nebo, directly
opposite to Jericho, whence he might take a full view of the country, which God
had promised to Abraham's posterity. At this time he was a hundred and twenty
years of age, notwithstanding, which, his natural strength and vigor were not
abated, nor had his eyesight in the least failed him. He was, therefore, able to
survey the beauteous prospect which the delightful plains of Jericho, and the
fair cliffs and lofty cedars of Lebanon, afforded him; and having done this for
some time, he at length resigned his soul into the hands of seraphim, who were
waiting to convey it to a more happy Canaan than that which he had been
surveying. The Almighty was pleased to pay the funeral honors to the remains of
this great prophet himself, by burying him in a valley in the land of Moab
opposite to Beth-Peor, and that in so secret a manner, that the place of his
interment was never yet discovered. Thus died the illustrious and pious Moses,
the most eminent servant of God; and the great conductor of his chosen people,
who, as soon as they knew of his death, lamented the loss of him with the
greatest solemnity, weeping and mourning for him in the plains of Moab for
thirty days.


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  CHAPTER 21: JOSHUA BECOMES LEADER--CONQUEST OF CANAAN
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JOSHUA BECOMES LEADER--CONQUEST OF CANAAN JOSHUA ENCOURAGED BY GOD On the death
of Moses, Joshua, being appointed to succeed him in the government of the
Israelites, was installed into the kingly office by Eleazar, the high-priest,
and with the universal approbation of the people. To encourage him in the great
work he had to undertake, the Almighty expressly commanded him (as he had done
his servant Moses) to lead the people over the Jordan, telling him that every
place on which they should tread should be their own, and that no man should be
able to stand against him: that in like manner as he had been with Moses, so he
would be with him, and that he might be assured he would never forsake him.
ISRAEL ORDERED TO PREPARE TO CROSS JORDAN Encouraged by these divine assurances,
Joshua ordered[228] the officers to proclaim throughout the camp, that within a
few days they should pass the Jordan, in order to possess the land which the
Almighty had promised them, and that therefore they should provide themselves
with proper necessaries on the occasion. He then called together the leaders of
the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, whom he reminded
of the promises they had made to Moses, and entreated them, not only for his
sake, but also their own, to fulfill their engagements. They faithfully promised
to comply with his request, and that they would be equally obedient to him as
they had been to his predecessor. [228] See the Engraving (p207)--The costume is
Egypto-Syrian--that is Egyptian, with such modifications as the Syrians appear
to have given it in adopting it from the Egyptians. It has been very carefully
studied. SPIES SENT TO JERICHO Opposite to Joshua's camp stood the city of
Jericho, which of course must be the first place, he would have to attack after
passing the river Jordan. As a necessary precaution, he sent two spies to take a
view of the strength and situation of that city, and to learn the disposition of
the inhabitants. They accordingly entered Jericho, and being considered as
strangers come thither to gratify their curiosity, were permitted to perambulate
the streets without the least molestation. On the close of the day they took up
their residence in the house of a woman named Rahab, where, after refreshing
themselves, they retired to rest. RAHAB HIDES THE SPIES In the meantime,
information had been given the king that there were two spies in the city, and
that they had concealed themselves in the house of Rahab. On this the king
immediately dispatched proper officers to seize them; but Rahab (who had been
previously informed of it), before their arrival, had secreted the two spies
under some stalks of flax on the roof of the house. When the messengers arrived
and related their business, Rahab told them there had been such people at her
house, but she knew not who they were, nor whence they came; that a short time
after dark, and before the gates of the city were shut, they departed; and, as
they could not be got far, it would be no difficult matter to overtake them. The
messengers, believing Rahab's story, left her, and immediately set out in
pursuit of the spies. RAHAB'S FAMILY PROMISED SAFETY As soon as they were gone,
Rahab uncovered her guests, told them what had passed, and pointed out the great
danger to which she had exposed herself and family for their protection. In
return for this kindness, she exacted from them an oath, that when the city
should be invested by the Hebrews, they should preserve her and her relations
from the general destruction. To effect this, they told her that when she found
the city attacked, to shut herself up with her family in her house, and that, in
order to distinguish it from the rest, she must hang a scarlet thread to the
door, which signal should be communicated to the general, who would, no doubt,
give such directions as to secure her from all danger. This being agreed on,
Rahab, for the better security of her guests, let them down into the street by a
rope fastened to the window, so that they made their escape unperceived. She
advised them immediately to fly to the mountains, and there conceal themselves
for three days, in which time the messengers, finding their endeavors
ineffectual, would relinquish the pursuit. SPIES MAKE REPORT The two spies took
Rahab's advice, and the consequences turned out as she had predicted; for, after
two days' search, the messengers, despairing of success, gave over the pursuit
and returned to Jericho. At the close of the third day the two spies left the
mountains, crossed the Jordan, and arriving safe at the camp of Joshua, gave him
a faithful account of their expedition; adding, that for certain the Lord had
delivered the country into their hands, for the people were quite dispirited at
the name of the Israelites. JOSHUA'S INSTRUCTIONS TO CROSS JORDAN Pleased with
this intelligence, Joshua, early the next morning, left Shittim, and conducted
his army within a small distance of the place where it was intended they should
cross the river Jordan. Here he communicated to every tribe the order to be
observed in their march. He told them that when they saw the ark of the Lord
carried by the priests, the whole army should then move and follow it, that they
might know the way by which they were to go; and that they should leave a space
of two thousand cubits between them and the ark. That when the priests were got
into the middle of the channel, they should there stand still till the whole
multitude were got safe on the opposite shore; and, to prepare themselves
properly for this remarkable passage, they were all enjoined to sanctify
themselves, by washing their clothes, avoiding all impurities, and abstaining
from matrimonial intercourse the preceding night. He also, by the direction of
the Almighty, appointed twelve men (one out of each tribe) to choose twelve
stones from the middle of the river where the priests were to stand with the
ark, and there to set them up (that they might be seen from each side of the
river when the waters were abated) as a monument of this great miracle; and to
take twelve others with them to be erected on the land for the like purpose.
JORDAN'S FLOW STOPPED Having given these necessary orders, early the next
morning, which was the tenth day of the first month, the whole army proceeded on
their march. The priests with the ark went first; and as soon as they touched
the river with their feet, the rapidity of the stream abated; the waters above
went back, and rose on heaps for a considerable distance, while those below
continued their course the contrary way, so that there was a passage opened
about sixteen miles for the Israelites to pass. The priests stood with the ark
in the middle of the channel till the whole multitude had got on the other side,
when, having raised the twelve stones as Joshua had commanded, they left the bed
of the river, on which the waters immediately returned and resumed their natural
course. ISRAEL CAMPS AT GILGAL The Israelites, having by this miraculous passage
gained the plains of Jericho, encamped in a place afterward called Gilgal,[229]
where Joshua erected the twelve stones, which had been brought from the Jordan,
as a monument to posterity of the Almighty's interposition in assisting them to
pass that river. [229] This place received its name from the rite of
circumcision, which had been long disused, being here renewed. It lay about two
miles to the northeast of Jericho, and St. Jerome tells us, that in his time it
was greatly venerated by the inhabitants. This extraordinary event being soon
circulated through the adjacent parts of the country, the people were filled
with the greatest amazement; and when the kings of the Amorites (who were on the
west side of the Jordan) and the kings of the Canaanites (who inhabited those
parts next the sea) heard of it, their hearts sunk for fear, and their courage
failed them. CIRCUMCISION RENEWED Soon after Joshua had encamped his army, God
commanded the rite of circumcision (which had been neglected for almost forty
years) to be renewed, that the people might be properly qualified to partake of
the ensuing passover.[230] This order being obeyed, the Lord said unto Joshua,
“This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt [i. e. uncircumcision] from
off you, wherefore the name of the pace is called Gilgal [i. e. rolling] unto
this day.” [230] This was the third time of their celebrating that festival. The
first was at their departure out of Egypt; and the second at their erecting the
tabernacle at the foot of Mount Sinai. MANNA CEASES As the Israelites were now
arrived in a country where there was a sufficiency of corn for unleavened bread,
God insisted upon the observance of his ordinances, and resolved that all things
should now go in a regular way. He therefore ceased to supply them any longer
with manna, but left them for the future to enjoy the products of the promised
inheritance. ANGEL OF LORD MEETS WITH JOSHUA Joshua, previous to his marching
his army against Jericho, went from the camp alone, in order to reconnoiter the
city, and to discover which would be the most advantageous way of approaching
it. While he was making his observations, on a sudden there appeared before him
a person resembling a man, but with a luster in his face that indicated he was
more than mortal. In his hand he held a flaming sword, and his whole appearance
far surpassed anything of human nature. Undaunted at this unusual sight, Joshua
advanced toward him, and demanding of what party he was, the vision replied, of
the host of the Lord,[231] of which he was captain and guardian. On this answer,
Joshua immediately threw himself prostrate on the ground, when the vision, after
ordering him to loose the sandals from his feet, proceeded to instruct him in
what manner he would have the siege carried on, that the Canaanites might see it
was not the arm of flesh alone by which they would be defeated. The instructions
Joshua received were these: that for-six successive days the whole army should
march round the city, with seven priests before the ark, having in their hands
trumpets made of rams' horns. That on, the seventh day, after the army had gone
round the city seven times, upon signal given, the priests were to blow their
trumpets as loud as possible, and the people, on a sudden, to set up a great
shout; at which instant the walls of the city should fall to the ground; and
they might walk into it without the least obstruction. [231] It is the opinion
of the best commentators, both ancient and modern, that the person here called
the captain of the Lord's host, was no other than an angel, or messenger from
God, who was pleased in this manner to appear to Joshua, both to encourage and
direct him. ISRAEL LAYS SIEGE ON JERICHO Having received these orders from the
Divine messenger, Joshua returned to the camp, and early the next morning
marched with his whole army against Jericho.[232] [232] Jericho, “the city of
palm trees” (Deuteronomy 34:3), derives all its importance from history. Though
now only a miserable village, containing about thirty wretched cottages, which
are inhabited by half-naked Arabs, it was one of the oldest cities in Palestine,
and was the first place reduced by the Israelites on entering the Holy Land. It
was raised to the ground by Joshua, who denounced a curse on the person who
should rebuild it, Joshua 6:20-26. Five hundred and thirty years afterward this
malediction was literally fulfilled upon Hiel of Bethel, 1 Kings 16:34, who
rebuilt the city, which soon appears to have attained a considerable degree of
importance. There was a school of the prophets here in the days of Elijah and
Elisha, both of whom seemed to have resided much here. In the vicinity of
Jericho there was a large but unwholesome spring, which rendered the soil
unfruitful, until it was cured by the prophet Elisha, 2 Kings 2:21. In Ezra
2:34, and Nehemiah 7:36, we read, that three hundred and forty-five of the
inhabitants of Jericho, who had been carried into captivity, returned to Judea
with Zerubbabel, and in Nehemiah 3:2, we find them at work upon the walls of
Jerusalem. Jericho appears to have continued in a flourishing condition during
several centuries. In the time of our Savior it was inferior only to Jerusalem
in the number and splendor of its public edifices, and was one of the royal
residences of Herod misnamed the Great, who died there. It was situated in the
hollow or bottom of the extensive plain called the “Great Plain,” (which
circumstance marks the propriety of the expression “going down to Jerusalem,” in
Luke 10:30), and is about nineteen miles distant from the capital of Judea. In
the last war of the Romans with the Jews, Jericho was sacked by Vespasian, and
its inhabitants were put to the sword. Subsequently re-established by the
emperor Hadrian, A.D. 138 it was. doomed at no very distant period to experience
new disasters: again it was repaired by the Christians, who made it an episcopal
see; but in the twelfth century it was captured by the Mohammedans, and has not
since emerged from its ruins. Of all its magnificent buildings there remains
part of only one tower, the dwelling from governor of the district, which is
seen in the middle of our engraving, and which is traditionally said to have
been the dwelling of Zacchaeus the publican, who dwelt at Jericho (Luke 19:1-2).
The steep mountainous ridge in the background of our engraving is called the
mountain of Quarantania, and is supposed to have been the scene of our Savior's
temptation, Matthew 4:1-10. Here Dr. Shaw is of opinion that the two spies of
Joshua concealed themselves, Joshua 2:16. This mountain commands a distinct and
delightful view of the mountains of Arabia, and of the Dead sea, and of the
extensive and fertile plain of Jericho. According to Mr. Maundrell, Quarantania
is a most miserable, dry, and barren place, consisting of rocky mountains so
torn and disordered, as if the earth had here suffered some great convulsion. On
the left hand, looking down a steep valley, as he passed along, he saw ruins of
small cells and cottages, the former habitations of hermits who had retired
thither for penance and mortification; for which purpose a more comfortless and
abandoned place could not be found in the whole earth. The particular
mountainous precipice, whence “all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of
them” were shown to Jesus Christ, is, as the evangelist describes it, “an
exceeding high mountain” Matthew 4:8, and in its ascent not only difficult but
dangerous. It has a small chapel at the top, and another about half way down,
founded on a projecting part of the rock. Near the latter are several caves and
holes, excavated by the hermits, in which they kept their fast of Lent in
imitation of that of Jesus Christ. The Plain of Jericho The place was strong,
well provided, and full of inhabitants, who had retired into it, and seemed
resolved to make a vigorous defence. JERICHO'S WALLS FALL But Joshua had an
irresistible force on his side. He strictly obeyed the orders he had received,
and the promises made him were amply fulfilled; for, on the seventh day, as soon
as the people shouted, after going round the city seven times, the walls
suddenly fell to the ground. In consequence of this, the Israelites immediately
entered the place, and put every living creature to the sword, except Rahab and
her relations, who, being preserved as had been directed by Joshua, agreeably to
the promise made by the spies, were placed without the camp of the army. In the
city were found great quantities of gold, silver, and brass, the whole of which
was of immense value, and being gathered together as Joshua had ordered, he
presented it to the priests, to be deposited in the sacred treasury. Having
destroyed all the inhabitants, Joshua ordered the city to be set on fire, which
was accordingly done, and the whole reduced to a heap of ashes. He likewise
denounced a heavy curse on any person who should ever after attempt to rebuild
it. That whoever should take upon him to lap the first stone might be punished
by the loss of his eldest son; and whoever should finish the work, his youngest.
ACHAN HIDES LOOT Notwithstanding Joshua had taken the greatest precaution to
prevent private plunder in the taking of Jericho, yet one Achan, of the tribe of
Judah, committed a violent depredation, by taking to himself the rich cloak of
the king of the Canaanites, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold
of fifty shekels. He secreted these treasures in a pit he had dug in his tent,
foolishly supposing the fact would be no more noticed by God than it was known
by his companions. But in this he soon found himself mistaken. AI DEFEATS ISRAEL
About twelve miles from Jericho (to the east of Bethel) was a small city called
Ai, which Joshua knowing to be neither populous nor well defended, he detached a
small body of men to take it. But they did not find the conquest so easy as they
had imagined; for no sooner did they approach the place than the inhabitants
immediately sallied out upon them, and having slain some, the rest were so
frightened that they betook themselves to flight, and were pursued by the enemy
within a small distance of their own camp. This defeat, though small, struck a
universal damp on the spirits of the people: and Joshua, in particular, was so
afflicted that he had recourse to the Almighty, who told him there was a latent
cause of his displeasure among the people: that some of them had taken of the
accursed thing, and also of those things which were devoted to the Lord, and,
instead of bringing them to the treasury of God, had concealed them for their
own use. He likewise told Joshua that no success could attend the house of
Israel till the accursed thing was removed; and discovered to him the means
whereby the offender might be discovered and properly punished. JOSHUA FINDS
ACHAN'S SIN Agreeably to the Divine instructions, Joshua, early the next
morning, set about the business of discovering the thief, who had brought so
great an evil on the people. For this purpose, he ordered all the tribes to
assemble before the altar, where, first casting lots among the tribes, it
appeared the thief belonged to that of Judah. They then proceeded from tribe to
family, from family to household, and from household to particular persons; when
the criminal was at length discovered to be Achan, who, on Joshua's admonition,
made an ample confession of the whole. “I have,” says he, “sinned against the
Lord God of Israel; for when I saw among the spoil a royal garment and two
hundred shekels of silver, with a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, my
covetousness prompted me to take them; which I did, and hid them in the earth in
the midst of my tent.” On this frank confession, Joshua sent messengers to
examine Achan's tent, who, finding the treasures, brought them away and laid
them before the people. The offender being thus fully convicted, they took him,
together with his family (whom they considered as accomplices in his crime), his
cattle, tent, and all his movables, and conducted them to a neighboring valley
(called from that time, in allusion to this man's name, the valley of Achor),
where they were first stoned to death, and their bodies afterward reduced to
ashes. They likewise burnt all their goods and utensils, and erected over the
whole a pile of stones, to perpetuate the memory of the crime, and to deter
others from committing the like offence. AI DEFEATED The Divine vengeance being
appeased by the sentence executed upon Achan, God commanded Joshua to make
another attempt on the city of Ai, assuring him that he should be no less
successful than he had been in the attack on Jericho. As an encouragement to the
soldiers, he allowed them the plunder of the city and cattle, and, in order the
more easily to facilitate the conquest, particularly enjoined Joshua to place a
party of men in ambuscade near the city. Agreeably to these instructions, Joshua
selected thirty thousand men, out of which he sent away by night five thousand
to conceal themselves between Bethel and Ai, who, on a signal given by him
(which was to be the holding up of a spear with a banner upon it), were
immediately to enter the city and set it on fire. Early the next morning, Joshua
marched with his army before the north part of the city. As soon as the king of
Ai perceived him, he immediately sallied out of the town with his troops,
followed by the greater part of the inhabitants, all of whom had been so elated
with their former success, that they did not doubt of soon making an easy
conquest. They accordingly fell on the Israelites with great fury, who at the
first onset gave way, and retreated a considerable distance from the city. But
this was only a feint to draw the enemy into the plain; and therefore, as soon
as Joshua saw that by this stratagem the city was pretty well emptied, he gave
the signal to the ambuscade, who; finding it defenseless, immediately entered
and set it on fire. The ascent of the smoke convinced Joshua that his men had
got possession of the place; upon which he suddenly turned about and faced the
enemy, who, little expecting the Israelites would rally, were so surprised that
they began to think of retreating, to the city. But when they saw it all in
flames, and the party who had set it on fire just going to fall upon their rear,
they were so dispirited that they could neither fight nor fly; in consequence of
which they were all cut to pieces by the Israelites, who, immediately marching
to the city, put all they found in it to the sword: the whole number, men,
women, and children, slain that day, amounted to twelve thousand. The king of Ai
being taken prisoner, was ordered to be hung on a gibbet till sunset; after
which his body was taken down and buried under a great heap of stones near the
entrance of the city. The cattle and spoil taken from the enemy were (according
to the Divine appointment) divided among the soldiers, who so effectually
destroyed the city as to leave it a mere heap of rubbish. THE LAW ENGRAVED IN
STONES As Joshua was now but a small distance from the mountains of Gerizim and
Ebal, he bethought himself of the command, which had been given him by Moses,
relative to the reading of the law (with the blessings and curses thereunto
annexed), from those two mountains. He accordingly went to Mount Ebal, where he
erected an altar, on which he offered up sacrifices to God for his late
victories. He likewise caused an abridgment of the law, or some of the most
remarkable parts of it, to be engraven on stones; and afterward read the whole
of it to the people, as had been commanded by Moses. GIBEONITE DECEPTION The
great success of Joshua against the cities of Jericho and Ai, and the dreadful
slaughter made among the inhabitants, had so alarmed the kings of the respective
provinces on that side the river Jordan, that they confederated together, and
entered into a league for their mutual defence. But the Gibeonites, foreseeing
the destruction that awaited them, and being apprehensive that all resistance
would be in vain, resolved to make a peace with the Israelites, which they
effected by the following stratagem: They selected a certain number of artful
men, who were instructed to feign themselves ambassadors come from a very
distant country, in order to obtain a league with the people of Israel. To make
this story appear plausible, they were dressed in tattered garments, with old
clouted shoes on their feet; and their provision consisted of dry musty bread,
which they carried in old sacks, with some wine in bottles, all tarnished and
torn. In this woeful-appearing plight they arrived at Gilgal, the place where
the army of the Israelites was at this time encamped. Being introduced to
Joshua, they told him, that from the many miracles which God had wrought for the
Israelites in the land of Egypt, and the wonderful successes wherewith he had
blessed their arms against every power that had opposed them in coming to that
place, their states and rulers had sent them, from a very remote country, to
form a league of friendship with them, and that on such conditions as were
customary with their forefathers. They then pointed to their garments, which
they solemnly assured Joshua were quite new when they sat out on their journey,
but that the length of it had reduced them to the state in which they then
appeared. This stratagem had the desired effect: The plausible story of these
feigned ambassadors gained such credit with the Israelites, that they entered
into an amicable alliance with them; and Eleazar, the high-priest, with the
princes of the respective tribes, solemnly ratified the treaty, the whole
multitude assenting to the oaths made by their leaders. When the business was
over, the Gibeonites took their leave, and hasted home with the glad tidings of
their successful expedition. GIBEONITES MADE SLAVES Three days after the
departure of these ambassadors, the whole plot was discovered, when it appeared
that the Gibeonites were inhabitants of Canaan, and that they resided at a small
distance from Jerusalem. This discovery greatly alarmed Joshua, who immediately
sent for their governors, and reproached them for having practised such a
deception; to which they replied, that they were compelled to do it to their own
defence, as they knew they should otherwise share a similar fate with the
inhabitants of Jericho and Ai. Joshua was desirous of having the league
cancelled; but as it was confirmed by a solemn oath, this could not be done,
without incurring the divine displeasure. It was therefore resolved, in order to
appease the people, that, as a punishment for the imposition, the Gibeonites
should ever after be kept in a state of bondage, by being made hewers of wood
and drawers of water. This sentence they received without the least murmur,
humbly acquiescing in whatever was thought proper to be imposed upon them by the
Israelites. CONFEDERATES GATHER AGAINST GIBEONITES When the confederate princes
(who were five in number, the principal of whom was Adonizedek, king of
Jerusalem) heard of the separate treaty made by the Gibeonites, and the artful
manner in which it was obtained, they resolved to be revenged on them for their
desertion of the common cause. Accordingly they joined all their forces, and
marched toward the city of Gibeon, with a firm resolution of totally destroying
it. When they came within a small distance of the place, they pitched their
tents, intending to begin the attack early the next morning. In the meantime the
Gibeonites (not daring to trust to their own strength) dispatched a messenger to
Joshua, imploring his immediate assistance, as they must otherwise inevitably
fall into the hands of the Canaanites. JOSHUA'S IMMEDIATE RESPONSE AND VICTORY
Joshua lost no time in complying with their request. He immediately set out with
his army, and after marching the whole night, arrived, the next morning, at the
spot where the enemy were encamped. The appearance of so formidable an army, and
so unexpected, had such an effect on the Canaanites, that on Joshua's making an
attack they immediately gave way, and were entirely routed, many being killed,
and the rest betaking themselves to a precipitate flight. God had all along
encouraged Joshua by promising him success; and therefore, as the confederate
forces were endeavoring to escape, there fell a most violent storm of hail, the
stones of which were so large that more people were destroyed by them than what
fell by the sword. Joshua was so desirous of totally extirpating the Canaanites,
and so elevated with the manifest interposition of the Almighty, that while he
was in chase of them, he begged, in the most fervent manner, that the sun and
moon might stand still till he had accomplished his wishes. Notwithstanding the
singularity of this request, God was pleased to grant it; so that this was the
most memorable day that ever happened, the Almighty condescending to alter the
course of nature to answer the purposes of man. The confederate kings, finding
themselves closely pursued, and likely to be either slain, or made captives,
concealed themselves in a cave, near Makkedah, a city belonging to the tribe of
Judah; intelligence of which being given to Joshua, he ordered the mouth of the
cave to be blocked up, and a guard placed over it, to prevent their escape. In
this situation they remained till Joshua returned from pursuing the fugitives,
when he ordered the cave to be opened, and the kings to be brought forth, and
hung upon trees till the evening. This was accordingly done, when their bodies
were taken down, and thrown into the cave; so that the place they had chosen for
their sanctuary became their sepulcher. SOLDIERS RETURN TO CAMP GILGAL After
this signal victory, Joshua proceeded to the southern parts of Canaan; in which,
having soon reduced the most considerable places, and put the inhabitants to the
sword, he returned, with his victorious army, to the camp at Gilgal. NORTHERN
CONFEDERACY FORMS The great fame of Joshua being now spread throughout Canaan,
several princes of the northern parts, at the instigation of Jabin, king of
Hazor, confederated together, and raised a great army to engage the Israelites,
which they encamped at Berothah, a city of the Upper Galilee, not far from the
waters of Merom. This, however, did not in the least intimidate Joshua, who, in
pursuance of the instructions which God had given him (namely, that he should
not only destroy them, but also their horses and chariots), immediately took the
field, marched toward the enemy, and fell so suddenly on them, that they were
totally routed, and, except some few who escaped into the country, were all put
to the sword; after which he ham-strung their horses and burnt their chariots.
Jabin, king of Hazor, who had been at the head of the confederacy, and was taken
prisoner, he put to death, and ordered his city to be burnt to the ground; but
the other cities whose inhabitants were slain in the action, he left standing,
and gave the cattle and plunder to the soldiers. DISTANT PARTS OF CANAAN TAKEN
After defeating this powerful army, Joshua pursued his route to the most distant
parts of Canaan; and, by degrees, subdued all the inhabitants of the country. He
slew all their kings, who were thirty-one in number, together with the Anakims,
or giants, of whom he left none remaining, except in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.
Joshua, having now extended his conquests as far as he thought necessary at
present, resolved to divide the country he had taken among the nine tribes and a
half who were yet unprovided for, and to dismiss the two tribes and a half
(namely, those of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh) who had assisted
him in the wars, and whose habitations had been settled by Moses on the east
side of the river Jordan. THE LAND SURVEYED AND DIVIDED In consequence of this
resolution, Joshua appointed commissioners to take a survey of the captured
land, and ordered them to report the state of it with all expedition. These
messengers having executed their commission, returned, at the expiration of
seven months, to Joshua, to whom, having delivered their report, he, assisted by
Eleazar the high-priest, the elders, and the princes of the respective tribes,
divided the whole country into equal portions, for which (according to God's
direction) each tribe cast lots; but as some of the tribes were larger, and some
territories richer than others, he took care to adjust the proportion of land to
the largeness of the tribe, and the number of families in each; so that,
notwithstanding they cast lots, the divisions were all made as equal as
possible. As soon as Joshua had thus divided the country on the west side of the
Jordan, he took up his residence at a small place near Shiloh, where after the
wars the tabernacle was set up, that he might have the opportunity, as occasion
should offer, of consulting the divine oracle. THE AUXILIARY TRIBES DISMISSED
After being here a few days, Joshua assembled together the auxiliaries (namely,
the tribes of Reuben and Gad, with the half-tribe of Manasseh), and gave them an
honorable dismission. “He acknowledged the great services they had done him in
his wars with the Canaanites, and highly applauded their courage and fidelity.
He exhorted them, as they were now going to be separated from the tabernacle, to
be diligent in their duty to God, and to bear always in mind those laws which he
had given them by his servant Moses. He advised them to distribute a share of
the riches booty they had got among their brethren on the other side the Jordan;
because, though they did not partake of the troubles of the war, they had
nevertheless been of infinite service in protecting their families during their
absence.” With these acknowledgments and exhortations together with many sincere
wishes for their prosperity, Joshua dismissed them, and they immediately
departed for their own country. ALTAR RAISED EAST OF JORDAN As soon as these two
tribes and a half arrived on the opposite side of the river Jordan, they erected
an altar near the place where they and their brethren had miraculously passed
over, not for any religious use, but as a memorial to succeeding generations,
that though they were parted by the river, they were of the same descent and
religion, and held an equal right to the tabernacle at Shiloh, and to the
worship of God performed there, as their brethren on the other side the Jordan.
This had like to have proved of fatal consequences, for the latter, either from
being misinformed, or misapprehending the intent of the altar being erected,
fell into a violent rage, considering them as apostates from the true religion;
and, in order to punish them, assembled their forces at Shiloh, with a
resolution of immediately declaring war against them. But before they proceeded
to these extremities, their rulers advised them to suspend the execution of
their wrath till they had sent a deputation in order to know their reason for
building such an altar. This being agreed to, they sent Phinehas, the son of
Eleazar, with ten princes, one out of each tribe, to expostulate with them on
their conduct. On their arrival Phinehas accosted them in very severe terms,
charging them with idolatry and rebellion against the Lord. PHINEHAS' SPEECH He
reminded them of the calamities which God had formerly sent upon them for their
worship of Baal-peor; and that, if he had been so severe upon them for the
offence of one man (namely, Achan only) what might they not expect, when two
tribes and a half were going to make a general revolt? He then concluded by
saying, “If ye have done this from any apprehension that the land ye possess on
this side the Jordan is unclean, or less holy than ours, because the tabernacle
is on our side, return and settle among us where the tabernacle resteth; but by
no means rebel against the Lord, nor us, in building you an altar, besides the
altar of the Lord.” ALTAR TO DEMONSTRATE FAITHFULNESS The Reubenites, Gadites,
and Manassites, concerned to hear the ill opinion which their brethren had
conceived of them, protested their innocence of any idolatrous intention, and
made a solemn appeal to God, that so far were they from setting up an altar in
opposition to his, that the only design of the structure they had raised was, to
perpetuate their right to the service of the tabernacle, and to secure it to
their latest posterity. From this answer the deputies were fully convinced that
the accusation laid against their brethren was totally groundless, and instead
of having committed a crime, that they had only given an instance of their
sincere attachment to their religious duties. The deputies, therefore, after
taking a friendly leave, returned to Shiloh, and having communicated the
particulars of all that had passed to the people, they expressed the greatest
satisfaction at the result of the embassy; and the angry thoughts of war were
immediately changed into peace and brotherly affection. On the other hand, the
Reubenites and their brethren, to prevent any future jealousy, or suspicion,
called the altar they had erected Ed, intending it as a standing witness (for so
the word signifies) that though they lived at a distance from the rest of their
brethren, yet they had all but one origin, and one God, who was the common God
and father of all Israel. This matter being adjusted, and the Israelites quietly
settled in the possession of their conquests on both sides the river Jordan,
Joshua disbanded his forces, and retired to Shechem. JOSHUA'S FAREWELL CHALLENGE
No particular occurrence took place from this period till the death of Joshua,
which happened about twenty years after. He was at this time far advanced in
years, and finding his dissolution near at hand, he convened a general assembly
of the princes and magistrates, with as many of the common people as could be
gathered together. As soon as they were met, he harangued them in a very
pertinent discourse on the great benefits and protection they had received from
the hand of Providence. He pointed out to them in what manner he had preserved
them, even in the midst of dangers; and that he hadn't only relieved them in all
their wants and distresses, but had removed them from the most abject, to the
most prosperous situation in life. In gratitude to so great a protector and
benefactor, he exhorted them to a faithful observance of his laws, and invited
them to renew their covenant with God, which their forefathers had made. This
being done in very ample and significant terms, he recorded the covenant in the
book of the law, and set up a great stone under an oak, near a place of
religious worship, as a testimony against them, should they ever after deny
God's service. JOSHUA DIES A short time after this Joshua paid the debt of
nature, in the one hundred and tenth year of his age. He was buried at
Timnathserah, in Mount Ephraim, which city, on the division of the land among
the tribes, was given to him by the Israelites, as an acknowledgment for the
great services they had received from his administration. ELEAZAR DIES Much
about the same time died Eleazar, the high-priest, who was likewise buried in
one of the hills of Ephraim, which had been given him by the Israelites, and
which afterward descended to Phinehas, his son, and successor in the priesthood.
These two funerals, so near the same time and place, reminded the Israelites of
the bones of Joseph, which, at his request, had been brought out of Egypt, but
not yet interred. They therefore took this opportunity of performing the funeral
obsequies of their great progenitor in Shechem, where Jacob had purchased a
piece of ground of the sons of Hamor, and which afterward became the inheritance
of Joseph's posterity.


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  CHAPTER 22: WARS--IDOLATRY--STORY OF RUTH--DEBORAH'S HEROISM--GIDEON
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WARS--IDOLATRY--STORY OF RUTH--DEBORAH'S HEROISM--GIDEON ISRAEL CONTINUALLY
RETURNS TO IDOLATRY From Joshua to Samuel (a period of about four hundred and
seventy-four years) the condition of the Israelites varied according as the
fundamental law of the state was observed or transgressed, exactly as Moses had
predicted, and as the sanctions of the law had determined. HEATHEN FRIENDSHIPS
The last admonitions of Joshua, and the solemn renewal of the covenant with
Jehovah, failed to produce all the effect intended. That generation, indeed,
never suffered idolatry to become predominant, but still they were very
negligent with respect to the expulsion of the Canaanites. Only a few tribes
made war upon them, and even they were soon weary of the contest. They spare
their dangerous and corrupting neighbors, and, contrary to express statute, were
satisfied with making them tributary. They even became connected with them by
unlawful marriages, and then it was no longer easy for them to exterminate or
banish the near relatives of their own families. The Hebrews thus rendered the
execution of so severe a law in a manner impossible, and wove for themselves the
web in which they were afterward entangled. Their Canaanitish relatives invited
them to their festivals, where not only lascivious songs were sung in honor of
the gods, but fornication and unnatural lusts were indulged in as part of the
divine service. These debaucheries, then consecrated by the religious customs of
all nations, were gratifying to the sensual appetites; and the subject of
Jehovah too readily submitted himself to such deities, so highly honored by his
connections, and worshipped in all the neighboring nations. At first, probably,
a symbolical representation of Jehovah was set up, but this was soon transferred
to an idol, or was invoked as an idol by others. Idolatrous images were
afterward set up, together with the image of Jehovah, and the Israelites fondly
imagined that they should be the more prosperous if they rendered homage to the
ancient gods of the land. The propensity to idolatry, which was predominant in
all the rest of the world, thus spread itself among the chosen people like a
plague. From time to time idolatry was publicly professed, and this national
treachery to their king, Jehovah, always brought with it national misfortunes.
REPEATED SPIRITUAL CYCLE However, it does not appear that any form of idolatry
was openly tolerated until that generation was extinct, which, under Joshua, had
sworn anew to the covenant with Jehovah. After that the rulers were unable or
unwilling any longer to prevent the public worship of pagan deities. But the
Hebrews, rendered effeminate by this voluptuous religion, and forsaken by their
king, Jehovah, were no longer able to contend with their foes, and were forced
to bend their necks under a foreign yoke. In this humiliating and painful
subjection to a conquering people, they called to mind their deliverance from
Egypt, the ancient kindnesses of Jehovah, the promises and threatenings of the
law: then they forsook their idols, who could afford them no help--they returned
to the sacred tabernacle, and then found a deliverer who freed them from their
bondage. The reformation was generally of no longer duration than the life of
the deliverer. As soon as that generation was extinct, idolatry again crept in
by the same way, and soon became predominant. Then followed subjection and
oppression under the yoke of some neighboring people, until a second reformation
prepared them for a new deliverance. Between these extremes of prosperity and
adversity, the consequences of their fidelity or treachery to their divine king,
the Hebrew nation was continually fluctuating until the time of Samuel. Such
were the arrangements of Providence, that as soon as idolatry gained the
ascendancy, some one the neighboring nations grew powerful, acquired the
preponderance, and subjected the Hebrews. Jehovah always permitted their
oppressions to become sufficiently severe to arouse them from their slumbers, to
remind them of the sanctions of the law, and to turn them again to their God and
king. Then a hero arose, inspired the people with courage, defeated their
enemies, abolished idolatry, and reestablished the authority of Jehovah. As the
Hebrews, in the course of time, became more obstinate in their idolatry, so each
subsequent oppression of the nation was always more severe than the preceding.
So difficult was it, as mankind were then situated, to preserve a knowledge of
the trite God in the world, although so repeatedly and so expressly revealed,
and in so high a degree made manifest to the senses.[233] [233] Jahn, b. iii.
sect 20 After this general view of the whole period above referred to, we may
proceed to the historical details from which that view is collected. ADONI-BEZEK
CAPTURED Soon after the death of Joshua, and while the contemporary elders still
lived, the Israelites made some vigorous and successful exertions to extend
their territory. The most remarkable of these exertions was that made by the
tribe of Judah, assisted by that of Simeon. They slew ten thousand Canaanites
and Perizzites in the territory of Bezek, the king of which, Adoni-bezek
(literally, “my lord of Bezek”), contrived to make his escape; but he was
pursued and taken, when the conquerors cut off his thumbs and great toes. Now
this, at the first view, was a barbarous act. It was not a mode in which the
Hebrews were wont to treat their captives; and the reason for it--that it was
intended as an act of just retaliation, or, as we should say, of poetic
justice--appears from the bitter remark of Adoni-bezek himself--“Three score and
ten kings, having their thumbs and great toes cut off, gathered their meat under
my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me.” This proves that, as we have
already on more than one occasion intimated, the war practices of the Israelites
especially in the treatment of their captives--were not more barbarous, and, in
many respects, less barbarous, than those of their contemporaries; and that even
their polished neighbors, the Egyptians, were not in this respect above them.
Adoni-bezek died soon after at Jerusalem, to which place he was taken by the
conquerors. They at this time had possession of the lower part of that town, and
soon after succeeded in taking the upper city, upon Mount Zion, which the
Jebusites had hitherto retained. They sacked it and burned it with fire. But as
we afterward again find it in the occupation of the Jebusites, down to the time
of David, it seems they took advantage of some one of the subsequent oppressions
of Israel to recover the site and rebuild the upper city. Eleazar the
high-priest, as we have seen, did not long survive Joshua; and the remnant of
the seventy elders, originally appointed by Moses to assist him in the
government of the nation, soon followed them to the tomb. While these venerable
persons lived, the Israelites remained faithful to their divine king and to his
laws. But soon after their death the beginnings of corruption appeared. A timely
attempt was made to check its progress by the remonstrances and threatenings of
a prophet from Gilgal. But although they quailed under the rebuke which was
there administered, the effect was but temporary. The downward course which the
nation had taken was speedily resumed; and it is strikingly illustrated by some
circumstances which the author of the book of Judges has given in an appendix
contained in the last five chapters of that book, but which we shall find it
more convenient to introduce here in their proper chronological place. MICAH AS
EXAMPLE OF IDOLATRY The history of Micah furnishes a very interesting example of
the extent to which even Israelites, well disposed in the main, had become
familiarized with superstitious and idolatrous practices, and the curious manner
in which they managed to make a monstrous and most unseemly alliance between the
true doctrine in which they had been brought up, and the erroneous notions which
they had imbibed. A woman of Ephraim had, through a mistaken zeal, dedicated a
large quantity of silver (about five hundred and fifty ounces) to the Lord,
intending that her son should make therewith a teraph, in the hope that by this
means she might procure to her house the blessings of One who had absolutely
forbidden all worship by images. Her son Micah knew not of this sacred
appropriation of the money, and took it for the use of the house. But on
learning its destination, and hearing his mother lay her curse upon the
sacrilegious person by whom she supposed it had been stolen, he became alarmed,
and restored her the silver; and received it again from her with directions to
give effect to her intention. This he did. He provided a teraph, and all things
necessary to the performance of religious services before it, including
vestments for a priest. He set apart one of his own sons as priest, until he
should be able to procure a Levite to take that character. He had not long to
wait. It would seem that the dues of the Levites were not properly paid at this
time; for a young Levite, who had lived at Bethlehem, felt himself obliged to
leave that place and seek elsewhere a subsistence. Happening to call at Micah's
house, he gladly accepted that person's offer to remain and act as priest for
the recompense of his victuals, with two suits of clothes (one probably
sacerdotal), and eleven shekels of silver. Micah was delighted at this
completion of his establishment, and, with most marvellous infatuation, cried,
“Now I know Jehovah will bless me, seeing I have a Levite to be my priest.”
Things went on tranquilly for a time. But it happened that the tribe of Dan
could not get possession of more than the hilly part of its territory, as the
Amorites retained the plain, which was the most rich and valuable part. They
therefore sought elsewhere an equivalent territory which might be more easily
acquired. Having ascertained that this might be found in the remote but wealthy
and peaceable town and district of Laish, near the sources of the Jordan, a body
of six hundred men was sent to get possession of it. From the persons they had
previously sent to explore the country, they had heard of Micah's establishment;
and so far from manifesting any surprise or indignation, they viewed the matter
much in the same light as Micah did himself. They envied him his idol and his
priest, and resolved to deprive him of both, and take them to their new
settlement. They did so, notwithstanding the protests and outcries of the owner:
and as for the Levite, he was easily persuaded to prefer the priesthood of a
clan to that of a single family. His descendants continued long after to
exercise the priestly office, in connection with this idol, at Dan, which was
the name the conquerors gave to the town of Laish: and it is lamentable to have
to add, that there is good reason to suspect that this Levite was no other than
a grandson of Moses. BENJAMIN BRINGS CIVIL WAR It would seem that the tribe of
Benjamin had much the start of the other tribes in the moral corruption, in the
infamous vices, which resulted from the looseness of their religious notions,
and from the contaminating example of the heathen, with whom they were
surrounded and intermixed. A Levite of Mount Ephraim was on his way home with
his wife, whom he was bringing back from her father's house in Bethlehem; and,
on the approach of night, he entered the town of Gibeah, in Benjamin, to tarry
till the next morning. As the custom of the travelers was, he remained in the
street till some one should invite them to his house. But in that wicked place
no hospitable notice was taken of them until an old man, himself from Mount
Ephraim, but living there, invited them to his home. In the night that house was
besieged by the men of the place, after the same fashion and for the same
purpose as that of Lot had been, when he entertained the angels in Sodom. The
efforts of the aged host to turn them from their purpose were unavailing; and,
as a last resource, the Levite, in the hope of diverting them from their
abominable purpose, put forth his wife into the street. She was grievously
maltreated by these vile people until the morning, when they left her. She then
went and lay down at the door of the house in which her lord lay; and when he
afterward opened it--she was dead. The Levite laid the corpse upon his beast and
hastened to his home. There was a rather mysterious custom, in calling an
assembly, by sending to the different bodies or persons which were to compose
it, a portion of a divided beast (see 1 Samuel 11:7); and it then became awfully
imperative upon the party which received the bloody missive to obey the call
which it intimated. To give a horrible intensity to the custom in this case, the
Levite--a man of obviously peculiar character--divided his wife's body into
twelve parts, and sent one portion to each of the tribes of Israel. The
horror-struck tribes, on receiving their portion of the body, and hearing the
statement which the messengers, delivered, agreed that such a thing, had not
before been heard of in Israel, and hastened to the place of meeting, which; was
Mizpeh. In the great audience there assembled, the Levite declared his wrongs;
which, when they had heard, the thousands of Israel vowed not to return to their
homes until they had brought the offenders to condign punishment. And to express
the earnestness of their purpose, they appointed one tenth of their whole number
to bring in provisions for the rest, that the want of victuals might not, as
often happens in Oriental warfare, oblige them to disperse before their object
was accomplished. But, in the first instance, they sent messengers throughout
the tribe of Benjamin, explaining the occasion of their assembling, and
demanding that the offenders should be delivered up to justice. This the
Benjamites were so far from granting that the whole tribe made common cause with
the people of Gibeah, and all its force was called out to repel any attempt
which the other tribes might make against them. Considering that the force of
the eleven tribes amounted to four hundred thousand able men, whereas the
Benjamites could bring together no more than twenty-six thousand, the hardihood
of this resistance is well worthy of remark, if it does not, make out the claim
of the Benjamites to that character for indomitable courage which they appear to
have acquired. Probably the influence of that acknowledged character upon their
opponents, together with their own peculiar skill in the use of the sling,
formed their main reliance. Among them were seven hundred left-handed men who
could sling stones to a hair's breadth and not miss. ISRAELITES CONSULT GOD The
Israelites committed one fatal oversight in this undertaking. Although the
affair was of such grave importance, they neglected to consult their divine
King, without whose permission they ought not to have supposed themselves
authorized to act as they did. They first decided on war, and then only
consulted him as to the manner it should be conducted. The consequence was that
they were twice defeated by the Benjamites, who sallied from the town of Gibeah
against them. Corrected by this experience, they applied in a proper manner to
learn the will of their King; and then the victory was promised to them. AMBUSH
AGAINST BENJAMIN In their next attempt the Israelites resorted to the same
familiar stratagem of ambuscade and of pretended flight, when the besieged
sallied forth against them, as that whereby the town of Ai had been taken by
Joshua, and with precisely the same result. Eighteen thousand Benjamites, “men
of valor,” were “trodden down with ease” by the vast host which now enclosed
them. The rest endeavored to escape to the wilderness, but were all overtaken
and destroyed, with the exception of six hundred who found shelter among the
rocks of Rimmon. The conquerors then went through the land, subjecting it to
military execution. They set on fire all the towns to which they came, and put
to the sword the men, the cattle, and all that came to hand. BENJAMIN ALMOST
EXTINCT But when the heat of the conflict and execution had subsided, the
national and clannish feelings of the Israelites were shocked at the reflection
that they had extinguished a tribe in Israel. It was true that six hundred men
remained alive among the rocks of Rimmon; but it was not clear how the race of
Benjamin could be continued through them, as, at the very commencement of the
undertaking, the Israelites had solemnly sworn that they would not give their
daughters in marriage to the Benjamites. They had now leisure to repent of this
vow; although, with reference to the vile propensities exhibited by the people
of Gibeah, it was quite natural that in the first excitement such a vow should
have been taken. WIVES FOUND FOR BENJAMIN But now they were sincerely anxious to
find means of repairing their error, and to provide the survivors with wives,
that the house of Benjamin might not be wholly lost. It was found that the
summons whereby the tribes had been assembled had been unheeded by the men of
Jabesh-Gilead, whereby they had exposed themselves to the terrible doom which
the very act of summons denounced against the disobedient. That doom was
inflicted, save that all the virgins were spared to be wives for the Benjamites.
But as these were still insufficient, the unprovided Benjamites were secretly
advised to he in wait in the vineyards near Shiloh, when they attended the next
annual festival at the tabernacle; and when the young women of the place came
out in dances, as at such times they were wont, they might seize and carry off
the number they required. The men followed this advice. And when the fathers and
brothers of the stolen maidens began to raise an outcry, the elders, by whom the
measure had been counselled, interposed to pacify them, and persuaded them to
over look the matter, in consideration of the difficulties by which the case was
surrounded The Benjamites then returned to their desolated cities, and rebuilt
and re-occupied them as they were able. But from this time Benjamin was the
least, although not the least distinguished, of all the tribes. OTHNIEL At
length (B.C. 1572) the idolatries and demoralization of the Israelites had
become so rank, that a fiery trial was judged necessary for their correction. A
king named Cusban-risbathaim, reigning in Mesopotamia, had extended his power
far on this side the Euphrates. He now advanced into Canaan, and, either by
victory or menace, rendered the Hebrews tributary. They remained under severe
bondage for eight years. At the end of that time, Othniel--that relative of
Caleb who has already been mentioned--was incited to put himself at the head of
the people and attempt their deliverance. The garrisons which the Mesopotamians
had left in the country were suddenly surprised and slain; the armies of Israel
again appeared in the field, and, although at first few in number, they fought
at every point the troops opposed to them; and when their numbers were increased
by the reinforcements which poured in from all quarters on the first news of
probable success, they hazarded a general action, in which they obtained a
complete victory over the Mesopotamians, and drove them beyond the
Euphrates.[234] [234] This paragraph is partly from Josephus, whose account is
here in agreement with, while it fills up, the brief notice which the Book of
Judges offers. Othniel remained the acknowledged judge, or regent, of the divine
king for forty years. During his administration, the people remained faithful to
their God and king, and consequently prospered. But when the beneficial control
which Othniel exercised was withdrawn by his death, they fell again into
idolatry and crime, and new afflictions became needful to them. EHUD The
instruments of their punishment, this time, were the Moabites. By a long peace,
this nation had recovered from the defeats which they had suffered from the
Amorites before the time of Moses; and, perceiving that the Israelites were not
invincible, Eglon, the king of Moab, formed, a confederacy with the Ammonites
and Amalekites, and, with this help, made an attack upon them--probably under
the same pretences which we shall find to have been employed on a subsequent
occasion. He defeated the idolatrous Hebrews in battle, subdued the tribes
beyond Jordan, and the southern tribes on this side the river; and established
himself in Jericho, which he must have found a convenient post for intercepting,
or at least checking, the communications between the eastern and western tribes.
At that place the conquered tribes were obliged to bring him presents, or, in
other words, to pay a periodical tribute. This subjection to a king who resided
among them was still more oppressive than that from which they had been
delivered by Othniel; and it continued more than twice as long--that is, for
eighteen years. This oppression must have been particularly heavy upon the tribe
of Benjamin, as it was their territory to which Jericho belonged, and which was
therefore encumbered by the presence of the court of the conqueror. It was
natural that those whose necks were the most galled by the yoke, should make the
first effort to shake it oft Accordingly, the next deliverer was of the tribe of
Benjamin. His name was Ehud, one of those left-handed men--or rather, perhaps,
men who could use the left hand with as much ease and power as the right--for
which this tribe seems to have been remarkable. He conducted a deputation which
bore from the Israelites the customary tributes to the king. It seemed that men
with weapons were not admitted to the king's presence: but Ehud had a two-edged
dagger under his garment; but as he wore it on the right side, where it is worn
by no right-handed man, its presence was not suspected. When he had left the
presence and dismissed his people, Ehud went on as far as the carved images
which had been placed at Gilgal. The sight of these images, which the Moabites
had probably set up by the sacred monument of stones which the Israelites had
there set up, seems to have revived the perhaps faltering zeal of the Benjamite,
and he returned to Jericho and to the presence of the king, and intimated that
he had a secret message to deliver. The king then withdrew with him to his
“summer-parlor,” which seems to have been such a detached or otherwise
pleasantly-situated apartment as are still usually found in the mansions and
gardens of the East, and to which the master retires to enjoy a freer air, and
more open prospects, than any other part of his dwelling commands, and where
also he usually withdraws to enjoy his siesta during the heat of the day. It is
strictly a private apartment, which no one enters without being specially
invited; and accordingly it is said of this, that it was an apartment “which he
had for himself alone.” As the king sat in this parlor, Ehud approached him,
saying, “I have a message from God to thee.” On hearing that sacred name, the
king rose from his seat, and Ehud availed himself of the opportunity of burying
his dagger in his bowels. The Benjamite then withdrew quietly, bolting after him
the door of the summer-parlor; and as such parlors usually communicate by a
private stair with the porch, without the necessity of passing into or through
the interior parts of the mansion, there was nothing to impede his egress,
unless the porters at the outer gate had seen cause for suspicion. The
scripture, as is frequently the case, mentions this as, an historical fact,
without commendatory or reprehensive remark; and we have no right to infer the
approbation which is not expressed. No doubt Ehud's deed was a murder; and the
only excuse for it is to be found in its public object, and in the fact that the
notions of the East have always been, and are now far more lax on this point
than those which Christian civilization has produced in Europe. There all means
of getting rid of a public enemy, whom the arm of the law can not reach, are
considered just and proper. No one can read a few pages of any oriental history
without being fully aware of this; and it is by oriental notions, rather than by
our own, that the act of Ehud must, to a certain extent, be judged. The servants
of Eglon supposed that their lord was taking his afternoon sleep in his
summer-parlor, and hence a considerable time elapsed before his assassination
was discovered. In the meantime, Ehud was able to make known the death of the
king, and to collect a body of men, with whom be went down to seize the fords of
the Jordan, that the Moabites in Canaan might neither receive reinforcements
from their own country nor escape to it. Confounded by the death of their king,
they were easily overcome. All who were on this side the Jordan, ten thousand in
number, were destroyed--not one escaped. This deliverance secured for Israel a
repose of eighty years, terminating in the year B.C. 1426, being 182 years after
the passage of the Jordan. At or toward the end of this period of eighty years,
a first attempt was made by the Philistines to bring the southern tribes under
their yoke. But they were unable to accomplish their design, having been
repulsed on their first advance, with the loss of six hundred men, by Shamgar
and other husbandmen, who fought with ox-goads,[235] being then employed in the
cultivation of the fields. [235] “At Khan Leban the country people were now
everywhere at plough in the fields in order to sow cotton. Twas observable that
in plowing they used goads of an extraordinary size; upon measuring of several,
I found them to be about eight feet long, and, at the bigger end, six inches in
circumference. They are armed at the lesser end with a sharp prickle for driving
the oxen; and at the other end with a small spade or paddle of iron, strong and
massy, to clear the plough from the clay that encumbers it in working. May we
not hence conjecture that it was with such a goad as one of these that Shamgar
made that prodigious slaughter? I am confident that whoever should see one of
these implements will judge it to be a weapon not less fit, perhaps fitter, than
a sword for such an execution. Goads of this sort I always saw used hereabouts,
and also in Syria: and the reason is because the same single person both drives
the oxen and also holds and manages the plough, which makes it necessary to use
such a goad as is described above to avoid the incumbrance of two
instruments”--Maundrell, 110. RUTH It is about this time that the story of Ruth,
which occupies a separate book in the Hebrew scriptures, is placed by Usher and
other chronologers. Being episodical, and only slightly connected with the
historical narrative, we can not follow the details of this beautiful story; but
the intimations of the state of society, and of the manners and ideas of the
times, which it contains, are, even historically, of too much importance to be
overlooked. The scene of the principal part of the story is in Bethlehem of
Judah. A famine in the land drives an inhabitant of this town, with his wife and
two sons, to the land of Moab, which, in consequence of the victories under
Ehud, seems to have been at this time in some sort of subjection to the
Israelites. The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's Naomi, and the sons were
called Mahlon and Chilion. The woman lost her husband and two sons in the land
of Moab, but the childless wives of her sons, who had married in that land,
remained with her. One was called Summer Parlor on the Nile

Orpah, and the other Ruth. At the end of ten years, Naomi determined to return
home, but, with beautiful disinterestedness, exhorted the widows of her two sons
to remain in their own land with their well-provided friends, and not go to be
partakers of her destitution. Orpah accordingly remained: but nothing could
overcome the devoted attachment of Ruth to the mother of her lost husband. To
the really touching representations of Naomi, her still more touching reply was,
“Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following thee: for whither
thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be
my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be
buried; the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and
me.” This strong and unmistakable expression of most beautiful and true
affections, could not be repelled by Naomi. They took their homeward way
together. It was barley harvest when Naomi and Ruth arrived at Bethlehem. Ruth,
anxious to provide in any little way for their joint subsistence, soon bethought
herself of going forth to seek permission to glean in some harvest field. It
happened that the field where she asked and obtained this permission, from the
overseer of the reapers, belonged to Boaz, a person of large possessions in
these parts. Boaz himself came in the course of the day, to view the progress of
the harvest. He greeted his reapers, “Jehovah be with you;” and they answered
him, “Jehovah bless thee.” His attention was attracted toward Ruth, and he
inquired concerning her of his overseer, who told him that this was “The
Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the land of Moab,” and related
how she had applied for leave to glean after the reapers. Boaz then himself
accosted her, and kindly charged her not to go elsewhere, but to remain in his
fields, and keep company with his maidens till the harvest was over. He had
enjoined his young men not to molest her. If she were athirst she might go and
drink freely from the vessels of water provided for the use of the reapers. Ruth
was astonished at all this kindness, and fell at his feet, expressing her thanks
and her surprise that he should take such kind notice of a stranger. But he
said, “It has been fully shown me, all that thou hast done to thy mother-in-law,
since the death of thy husband; and how thou hast left thy father and thy
mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou
knowest not heretofore. Jehovah recompense thy deed: and a full recompense be
given to thee from Jehovah, the God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come
to trust.” She answered, “Let me find favor to thy sight, my lord, for that thou
hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid,
though I be not like one of thine handmaidens.” When the meal-time of the
harvest people came round, Boaz invited her to draw near and eat of the bread,
and dip her morsel in the vinegar with them. He also handed her some new corn
parched, which was considered rather a luxury, and therefore Ruth reserved part
of it for Naomi. All these little incidents, beautifully descriptive of the
innocent old customs of harvest time, bring strongly before the mind of one who
has studied the antiquities of Egypt, the agricultural scenes depicted in the
grottoes of Eleithuias, in which so many of the usages of Egyptian agriculture
are represented. There we see the different processes of cutting with the
reaping hook, and of plucking up the stalks; gleaners; water refrigerating in
porous jars (placed on stands) for the refreshment of the reapers; the reapers
quenching their thirst; and women bearing away the vessels in which drink has
been brought to them at their labor. When Ruth returned home in the evening with
the result of her day's gleaning an ephah of barley-Naomi was anxious to know
how it happened that her labors had been so prosperous: and when she heard the
name of Boaz, she remarked that he was a near kinsman of the family; and advised
that, according to his wish, Ruth should confine her gleaning to his fields. So
Ruth gleaned in the fields of Boaz, until the end not only of the barley, but of
the wheat harvest. When the harvest was over, Naomi, who was anxious for the
rest and welfare of the good and devoted creature who had been more than a
daughter to her, acquainted her with what had lately engaged her thoughts. She
said that Boaz was so near of kin that he came under the operation of the
levirate law, which required that when a man died childless, his next of kin
should marry the widow, in order that the first child born from this union
should be counted as the son of the deceased, and inherit as his heir. It was,
therefore, no less her duty than a circumstance highly calculated to promote her
welfare, that Boaz should be reminded of the obligation which devolved upon him.
Market at Gate But as it was not wished to press the matter upon him, if he were
averse to it, it was necessary that the claim should, in the first instance, be
privately made. In such a case, Ruth, a stranger very imperfectly acquainted
with the laws and habits of the Israelites, could only submit herself to Naomi's
guidance. She told Ruth that Boaz was engaged in winnowing his barley in the
thrashing-floor; which, of course; was nothing more than a properly leveled
place in the open air. Naomi conjectured he would rest there at night, and told
Ruth to mark the spot to which he withdrew, and advance to claim the protection
he was bound to render. All happened as Naomi had foreseen. Boaz, after he had
supped, withdrew to sleep at the end of the heap of corn; and after he had lain
down, Ruth advanced and placed herself at his feet: and when he awoke at
midnight, and with much astonishment, asked who she was, she answered, “I am
Ruth, thy handmaid: take therefore thy handmaid under thy protection, for thou
art a near kinsman.” Those who, measuring all things by their own small and
current standards, regard as improper or indelicate this procedure of one “Who
feared no evil, for she knew no sin,” need only hear answer of Boaz to be
satisfied. “Blessed be thou, of Jehovah, my daughter .... And now, my daughter,
fear not: for all my fellow-citizens do know that thou art a virtuous woman.” He
added, however, that there was a person in the town more nearly related to her
deceased husband; and on-him properly the levirate duty devolved: but if he
declined it, then it fell to himself, and he would certainly undertake it. It
being too late for Ruth to return home, Boaz desired her to remain in the
thrashing-floor for the night. Early in the morning he dismissed her, after
having filled her veil with corn to take to Naomi. In those times, and long
after, it was customary to transact all business of a public nature and to
administer justice in the gates. When there was little use of written documents,
this gave to every transaction the binding obligation which the presence of many
witnesses involved; and thus also justice was easily and speedily administered
among the people, at the hours when they passed to and fro between the fields
and the city. And such hours were, for this reason; those at which the judges
and elders gave their attendance in the gates. Boaz therefore went up to the
gate; and requested ten of the elders, there present, to sit down with him as
witnesses of what was to take place. When the “near kinsman” passed by, he
called him to sit down with them. He then questioned him as to his willingness
“to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.” This he was not willing
to do, “lest he should mar his own inheritance.” and therefore he was glad to
relinquish his prior claim to Boaz, which he did by the significant action of
drawing off his own shoe and giving it to him. This action was usual in all
transactions of this nature, and it may well be interpreted by the familiar
idiom which would express Boaz as being made, by this act and with reference to
this particular question, to stand in the shoes of the person who had
transferred to him his rights and duties. Boaz then declared all the people
there present at the gate to be witnesses of this transfer, and they responded,
“We are witnesses.” After this Boaz took Ruth to be his wife; and the fruit of
this union was Obed, the grandfather of David, of whom, according to the flesh,
came the Savior of the world. From the repose which this narrative offers, one
turns reluctantly to renewed scenes of war, oppression, and wrong. DEBORAH It
may be doubted that the authority--such as it was--of any of the judges extended
over all the tribes. Hardly any of the oppressions to which the Israelites were
subject appear to have been general, and in most cases the authority of the
judge appears to have been confined to the tribes he had been instrumental in
delivering from their oppressors. There is, for instance, not the least reason
to suppose that tie authority of Ehud extended over the northern tribes, which
had not been effected by the oppression of the Moabites, from which he delivered
the south and east. The eighty years of good conduct which followed this
deliverance, is therefore only to be understood as exhibited by the tribes which
were then delivered. The northern tribes, and in some degree those of the center
and the west, were meanwhile falling into those evil practices, from which it
was necessary that distress and sorrow should bring them back. And therefore
they were distressed. The northern Canaanites had, in the course of time,
recovered from the effects of that great overthrow which they sustained in the
time of Joshua. A new Jabin, reigning like his predecessor in Hazor, by the lake
Merom, rose into great power. His general, Sisera, was an able and successful
warrior; and his powerful military force contained not fewer than nine hundred
of those iron-armed chariots of war which the Israelites regarded with so much
dread. With such a force he was enabled, for the punishment of their sins, to
reduce the northern tribes to subjection, and hold them tributary. Considering
the character of the power which now prevailed over them, there is reason to
conclude that this was the severest of all the oppressions to which Israel had
hitherto been subject. The song of Deborah conveys some intimations of their
miserable condition. The villages and open homesteads, which were continually
liable to be pillaged, and the inhabitants insulted and wronged by the
Canaanites, were deserted throughout the land, and the people found it necessary
to congregate in the walled towns. Travelling was unsafe; in consequence of
which the high-ways were deserted, and those who were obliged to go from one
place to another, found it necessary to journey in bye roads and unfrequented
paths. At the places to which it was necessary to resort for water, they were
waylaid and robbed, wounded, or slain: and, to crown all, they were disarmed;
among forty thousand in Israel, a shield or spear was not to be found. The
details of this picture are exactly such as are offered by the condition of any
oppressed or subjugated population, at this day, in the east. The government
itself maybe content with its tribute; but it will be obliged to wink at,
because unable to prevent, the far greater grievances, the exactions, robberies,
insults, woundings, deaths, to which the people are subjected by the inferior
officers of government, by bands of licentious soldiers, and by an adverse and
triumphant populace--all of whom look upon them as their prey and spoil, as
things made only to be trampled on. Such oppression the Israelites endured for
twenty years. They then remembered that, to them, trouble was the punishment of
sin; and that there was one able and willing to deliver them, if they would but
turn themselves unto him. They did turn, and their deliverance was certain from
that hour. In those days a pious and able woman, well acquainted with the divine
law, became an important person in Israel. Her name was Deborah, and she abode
under a palm tree in the southern part of Ephraim. Her high character for piety
and wisdom occasioned the Israelites to resort to her for counsel and for
justice; and it is not unlikely that her salutary influence contributed to move
the people to that repentance which prepared the way for their deliverance. When
their punishment had thus wrought its intended object, the divine king made
known to the prophetess his intention to deliver the house of Israel from its
bondage; but seeing that she, as a woman, could not personally lead the
Israelites to battle, she sent to a person of the tribe of Naphtali, named
Barak, and communicated to him the instructions she had received. These were,
that he should bring together, at Mount Tabor, ten thousand men of the tribes of
Naphtali and Zebulun, and with them give battle to the forces of King Jabin.
Barak, being fully aware of the difficulty of assembling and arming a
respectable force, and recollecting the greatness of that power he was to
oppose, rather shrunk from the enterprise. He, however, offered to undertake it,
if Deborah would afford him the benefit of her influential presence, but not
else. She consented; but, to rebuke the weakness of his faith, she prophesied
that Sisera--the fearsome captain of King Jabin's host--should not be slain in
fight with him, or be taken captive by him, but should fall by a woman's hand.
They went into the north together, and the required number of men from Naphtali
and Zebulun readily obeyed their call and marched to Mount Tabor. These two
tribes had probably been selected on the ground that they were likely to engage
more readily in this service, in consequence of their vicinity to the
metropolitan seat of the oppressing power having rendered the yoke of servitude
more galling and irritating to them than to the other tribes. JAEL KILLS SISERA
As soon as Jabin's general, Sisera, heard of the Hebrew force assembled on Mount
Tabor, he brought forth his nine hundred chariots, and assembled his whole arm I
not doubting to surround and cut in pieces a body of men so comparatively small.
The Hebrews were in general much afraid of war-chariots, to drawn battles in
open plains they were unaccustomed, and the disparity of numbers was in this
instance very great. Yet, encouraged by the assurances of victory which Deborah
conveyed, Barak did not await the assault of Sisera, but marched his men down
from the mountain into the open plain, and fell impetuously upon the adverse
host. In Oriental warfare the result of the first shock usually decides the
battle, and the army is lost which then gives way or has its ranks broken. So it
was now. At the first shock the vast army of Sisera was seized with a panic
terror. The soldiers threw away their arms, and sought only how they might
escape; while the chariots, drawn by terrified horses, impeded the retreat of
the fugitives, and added to the confusion and the loss. The carnage among the
Canaanites was horrible; and, besides those who perished by the sword, vast
numbers of them were swept away by the sudden over flow of the river Kishon.
Sisera himself fled in his chariot across the plain of Esdraelon; but, fearing
that his chariot rendered him too conspicuous, he dismounted and continued his
flight on foot. At last he came to a nomad encampment, belonging to Heber the
Kenite, one of the descendants of those of the family and clan of Jethro, who,
with the brother-in-law of Moses, entered the land of Canaan with the
Israelites, and enjoyed the privilege of pasturing their flocks in its plains.
Heber was from home, but his wife knew the illustrious fugitive, and offered him
the protection of her tent. This, as the Kenites had been neutral in the war,
Sisera did not hesitate to accept. He knew that the tent of a Bedouin, and
especially the woman's portion of it, was a sanctuary, which the owner would
sooner perish than allow to be violated, and that infamy worse than death
awaited him who allowed injury to befall the guest or fugitive who was admitted
to its shelter. Being athirst, Sisera asked for water; but instead of this she
gave him sour milk--the best beverage an Arab tent contains, and the refreshing
qualities of which are well known to those who have travelled in the East. This,
with his fatigue, disposed Sisera to sleep. As he slept, the thought occurred to
Jael (that was the woman's name) that the greatest enemy of the now victorious
Israelites lay helpless before her; and that it was in her power to win great
favor from the victors, by anticipating the almost certain death which awaited
the chief captain of Jabin's host. Having no weapon, she took a mallet and one
of the long nails by which the tent cords are fastened to the ground, and
stealing softly to the place where he lay, she smote the nail into his temple,
pinning his head to the ground. Barak, passing that way soon after, in pursuit,
was called in by Jael, and he beheld the redoubled Sisera dead at his feet slain
ignominiously by a woman's hand. He might then have pondered whether, had Sisera
been the victor and himself the fugitive, the same fate might not have been his
own. When we reflect that “there was peace between Jabin, king of Hazor, and the
house of Heber the Kenite,” and that it was in the knowledge that he deserved no
wrong at their hands, that Sisera accepted the shelter which Jael offered; and
when, moreover, we consider that the emir, Jael's husband, had no interest in
the result, save that of standing well with the victorious party, it will be
difficult to find any other motive than that which we have assigned-the desire
to win the favor of the victors--for an act so grossly opposed to all those
notions of honor among tent dwellers on which Sisera had relied for his safety.
It was a most treacherous and cruel murder, wanting all those extenuations which
were applicable to the assassination of King Eglon by Ehud. The time is gone by
when commentators or historians might venture to justify this deed. Our extended
acquaintance with the East enables us to know that those Orientals whose
principles would allow them to applaud the act of Ehud, would regard with horror
the murder, in his sleep, of a confiding and friendly guest, to whom the sacred
shelter of the tent had been offered. That Deborah, as a prophetess, was enabled
to foretell the fall of Sisera by a woman's hand, does not convey the divine
sanction of this deed, but only manifests the divine foreknowledge and that the
same Deborah, in her triumphant song, blesses Jael for this act, only indicates
the feeling, in the first excitement of victory, of one who had far more cause
to rejoice at the death of Sisera than Jael had to inflict it. DEBORAH'S SONG
The triumphant song of Deborah has attracted great and deserved attention as a
noble “specimen of the perfectly sublime ode.” The design of this ode seems to
be twofold, religious and political: first, to thank God for the recent
deliverance of Israel from Canaanitish bondage and oppression; and, next, to
celebrate the zeal and alacrity with which some of the tribes volunteered their
services against the common enemy; and to censure the lukewarmness and apathy of
others who stayed at home, and thus betrayed the public cause; and, by this
contrast and exposure, to heal those fatal divisions among the tribes which were
so injurious to the public weal. It consists of three parts--first, the
exordium, containing an appeal to past times, where Israel was under the special
protection of Jehovah, as compared with their late disastrous condition; next, a
recital of the circumstances which preceded and those that accompanied the
victory; lastly, a fuller description of the concluding event, the death of
Sisera, and the disappointed hopes of his mother for his triumphant return. The
admired conclusion is thus-- “The mother of Sisera gazed through the window,
Through the lattice she, lamenting, cried, 'Why is his chariot so long in
coming?[236] Wherefore linger the steps of his steeds?' Her wise ladies answered
their mistress, Yea, she returned answer to herself-- 'Have they not sped, and
are dividing the spoil? To every chief man a damsel or two? To Sisera a spoil of
various colors, A spoil of various-colored embroidery, A spoil of
various-colored embroideries for the neck.'-- So let thine enemies perish, O
Jehovah! But let they who love thee become As the sun going forth in his
strength.”[237] [236] The original is highly figurative; “Why is his chariot
ashamed to come?” [237] “The first sentences exhibit a striking picture of
maternal solicitude, and of a mind suspended and agitated between hope and fear.
Immediately, impatient of delay, she anticipates the consolations of her
friends; and, her mind being somewhat elevated, she boasts with all the levity
of a fond female-- 'Vast in her hopes and giddy with success.' Let us here
observe how well adapted every sentiment, every word, is to the character of the
speaker. She makes no account of the slaughter of the enemy, of the valor and
conduct of the conqueror, of the multitude of the captives, but 'Burns with a
female thirst of prey and spoils.' Nothing is omitted which is calculated to
attract and engage the passions of a vain and trifling woman, staves, gold, and
rich apparel. Nor is she satisfied with the bare enumeration of them, she
repeats, she amplifies, she heightens every circumstance; she seems to have the
very plunder in her immediate possession; she pause and contemplates every
particular. To add to the beauty of this passage, there is also an uncommon
neatness in the versification; great force, accuracy and perspicuity in the
diction; and the utmost elegance in the repetitions, which, notwithstanding
their apparent redundancy, are conducted with the most perfect brevity. In the
end, the fatal disappointment of female hope and credulity, tacitly insinuated
by the unexpected apostrophe-- 'So let thine enemies perish, O Jehovah!' is
expressed more forcibly by this very silence of the person who was just
speaking, that it could possibly have been by all the powers of language”-Lowth.
From the animadversions[238] which this ode contains, it is easy to collect that
only those tribes which were actually subject to the oppression, and even only
those on which the oppression the most heavily fell, were willing to disturb
themselves by engaging in warlike operations against the oppressor. It does not
appear that the southern tribes and the tribes beyond Jordan were directly
affected by the subjugation of the northern tribes; and even of those under
tribute, the tribes more remote from the seat of King Jabin seem to have been
more at ease than the others. All these were loath to come forward on this
occasion; and, in general, we find that, among the Hebrews of this early period,
there was little if any of that high-spirited and honorable abhorrence of a
foreign yoke, which is, under God, the surest safeguard of a nation's
independence. It was not the yoke itself they hated, but its physical weight
upon their shoulders; and that weight must be very heavy before they could be
roused to any great effort to shake it from them. The iron which entered their
souls in Egypt still rusted there. [238] Harsh criticisms or disapprovals These
sectional divisions--or rather this want of a general and sympathizing union
among the several members of the house of Israel--were the obvious secondary
cause of the miseries and oppressions under which different portions of that
great body did from time to time fall; and this disunion itself was the natural
and inevitable result of the neglect of the law, as a whole, and especially of
those provisions which were, in their proper operation, admirably calculated to
keep the tribes united together as one nation. It would be ridiculous to say
that the theocratic policy was a failure. That which was not fairly and fully
tried can not be said to fail. Ruin to the people did not come from the system
itself: and that ruin did come from the neglect of its conditions, rather shows
how well that system was calculated to form a happy and united people. FORTY
YEARS OF PEACE The victory of Deborah and Barak over Sisera gave to Israel a
long repose from the aggressions of the nations west of the Jordan; for although
their peace began again to be disturbed after forty years (in 1336 B.C.), the
invasion was then from the east. At the latter end of the forty years which
followed the victory over Sisera, the Israelites had again relapsed into their
evil and idolatrous habits. This was particularly the case of the tribes beyond
Jordan, whose repose had been of longer duration than that of the western
tribes, for it does not appear that the oppressions of King Jabin had extended
to them. FOREIGN INSURGENCE Their punishment was this time particularly heavy,
and came from an unexpected quarter. The pastoral tribes dwelling on the borders
of the land and in the eastern deserts--the Midianites, Amalekites, with other
tribes of Arabia--came swarming into the land “like locusts,” with countless
flocks and herds, and pitching their tents in the plains and valleys. Arriving
by the time the products of the soil began to be gathered in, they remained
until the final ingatherings of the year, when the advance of winter warned them
to withdraw into their deserts. Thus their cattle grew fat upon the rich
pastures of the land, while those of Israel were starved; and the men themselves
lived merrily upon the grain which the Hebrews had sowed, and upon the fruits
which they had cultivated: and as, besides this deprivation of the sustenance
for which they had labored, such lawless crews are always ready for any kind of
great or small robbery and exaction, the Israelites were obliged to abandon the
open country, and to resort to the walled towns, to entrench themselves in
strongholds, and even to seek the shelter of the caves among the mountains. Even
those who ventured to remain in occupation of their own allotments, were afraid
to have it known that they had in their possession any of the produce of their
own fields. All this while it does not appear that there was any open war, or
any military operations. The invaders bore all before them, and had entirely
their own way, by the mere force of the intimidating impressions which their
numbers created. Countries or districts bordering on the desert are still
subject to similar visitations, where the local government is not strong enough
to prevent them, or where the preoccupation of the border soil by Arabs in the
state of semi-cultivators, does not form an obstacle (as it does not so always)
to the incursions of pure Bedouins. Down to a very recent date the very country
east of the Jordan, which suffered the most on the present occasion, suffered
much from the periodical sojourn and severe exactions of the Bedouin tribes.
MIDIANITE INCURSIONS These incursions of the Midianites were repeated for seven
years. By this time the oppression had become so heavy that the Israelites,
finding by bitter experience the insufficiency of all other help, cried to Him
who had delivered them of old: their cry was heard. A prophet was commissioned
to point out to them that their disobedience had been the cause of their
sufferings, and to give to them the promise of a new deliverance. GIDEON CALLED
BY GOD The hero this time appointed to act for a deliverance of Israel, was
Gideon of Manasseh. His family was exposed to the general suffering occasioned
by the presence of the Bedouin tribes,-so much so, that having retained
possession of some corn, they dared not thrash it out for use in the ordinary
thrashing-floor, but, to conceal it from the knowledge or suspicion of the
invaders, were obliged to perform this operation silently and secretly, in so
unusual a place as the vineyard, near the wine-press. The thrashing-floors were
watched by the Midianites at this time, when the harvests had been gathered in;
but no regard was paid to the vineyards, as the season of ripe grapes was far
off. Gideon was engaged in this service when “the angel of Jehovah” appeared to
him standing under an oak which grew there. When apprized of his vocation to
deliver Israel, the modest husbandman would have excused himself on the ground
of his wanting that eminence of station which so important a service appeared to
demand; and when silenced by the emphatic “I will be with thee” from his
heavenly visitant, he still sought to have some certain tokens whereby he might
feel assured, and be enabled to convey the assurance to others, that his call
was indeed from God. Accordingly, a succession of signal miracles were wrought
to satisfy his mind and to confirm his faith. The refection of kid's-flesh and
bread, which the hospitable Gideon quickly got ready for the stranger, was, as
he directed, laid upon a rock before him, and when he touched it with the end of
his staff, a spontaneous fire arose by which it was consumed, as a sacrifice,
and at the same time the stranger disappeared. After this, at the special desire
of Gideon, “a sign” of his own choosing was granted to him. A fleece which he
laid upon the thrashing-floor (in the open air) was saturated with dew, while
the soil around was all dry; and again, condescending to his prayer, the Lord
was pleased to reverse this miracle, by exempting the fleece alone from the dewy
moisture which bespread the ground; Gideon was satisfied. GIDEON DESTROYS
HEATHEN TEMPLES Yet the family from which the deliverer was chosen was not less
tainted by the sins than visited by the punishments of Israel; for Joash, the
father of Gideon, had erected an altar to Baal, at Ophrah, the town of his
residence, at which the people of that place rendered their idolatrous services
to that idol. This altar Gideon was directed to destroy, and in its place to
erect, over the rock on which his offering had been consumed, an altar to
Jehovah. It would seem that Joash himself was brought back to his fealty to
Jehovah by the first of the miracles we have related, of which, probably, Gideon
was not the sole witness: for when the men of Ophrah, early in the following
morning, arose to render their worship to Baal, and, finding his altar
overthrown, demanded the death of Gideon, his father stood forward to vindicate
his conduct. He undauntedly retorted the sentence of death against the idolaters
themselves, for their apostasy from Jehovah. By demanding the punishment of
Gideon for his act against Baal, they recognized in fact the fairness of the
punishments denounced by the law against those individuals of cities which
turned away from Jehovah to serve other gods; and this, coupled with the
derision of Joash at the impotency of Baal to vindicate or avenge his own cause,
so wrought upon the people of that place, that they were among the foremost to
gather to him when he sounded the trumpet of war. He then sent messengers
throughout his own tribe of Manasseh (oil both sides the Jordan), as well as
through those of Asher, Naphtali, and Zebulon. And so cheerfully was the call
obeyed, that Gideon soon found himself at the head of thirty-two thousand men.
With this force Gideon marched to the mountains of Gilboa, where he found vast
multitudes of the enemy encamped before him in the plain of Esdraelon. This fine
plain had probably been before their favorite resort; but they seem to have
congregated there in unusual numbers as soon as they heard of Gideon's
preparations. And now that the people might have no cause to attribute their
deliverance to their own numbers and prowess, it pleased the divine King of
Israel to reduce this important army to a mere handful of spirited men. In the
first place, Gideon was directed to proclaim liberty for all who now, in sight
of the enemy, were fearful and faint-hearted, to return to their own homes. This
proclamation, according to the law (Deuteronomy 20:8), ought in all cases to
have been made; but it seems that from some reason or other (perhaps either from
ignorance of the law, or from supposing that it was not intended to apply to
such a case as the present), it would not have been made by Gideon without the
special command which he received. Such a law, or practice, however
inapplicable, or even ruinous, it might prove under the military systems and
tactics of modern Europe, was well calculated to act beneficially in the warfare
of those early times; for as everything then depended on the individual courage
and prowess of those engaged, “the faint-hearted” were more likely to damage
than assist those on whose side they appeared; as their conduct was tolerably
certain to bring about results fatal to themselves, and discouraging to their
more valorous companions. In the present instance the result was, that although
the men composing the army of Gideon had come forward voluntarily, above two
thirds of them were so intimidated in the actual presence of danger, that they
took advantage of this permission to depart to their own homes. Of the
thirty-two thousand, only ten thousand remained with Gideon. Yet as these were
men of valor, as evinced by their determination to remain, room for
vain-glorious boastings was still left, and therefore Gideon was informed that
the number was still too large, and that a further reduction must be made. The
process of this second selection was very curious. All those were dismissed who,
in drinking at the watering-place, stooped down to drink in large draughts of
water at the surface; but those who merely “lapped” the water, or took it up in
the hollow of their hands to drink, were retained. The different methods of
drinking have been supposed to have distinguished the self-indulgent--from the
more manly and active men. The latter--those who took up the water in their
hollowed hands--were but three hundred out of the ten thousand; and these were
declared sufficient for the enterprise. SURVEY OF MIDIANITE CAMP The night after
this, Gideon, with his faithful follower Phurah, went down to the camp of the
enemy, in consequence of an intimation that he would there hear matter for his
encouragement. What he heard was one soldier, just awakened, telling a dream to
his companions. He had dreamed that he saw a barley-cake roll down from the
hills to the Midianitish camp, where it overthrew the first tent to which it
came. The interpretation which the other gave was--“This is none other than the
sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel, into whose hand God
delivereth Midian and the whole camp.” Several facts are indicated by this
incident; such as the stress generally laid upon dreams in that age, as
indicative of contingent results--the honor attached to the office of, spy, as
one of danger, and which was therefore, as in the Mosaic age, as assigned to, or
undertaken by, the very chief persons in the army--and the truly Oriental want
of sentinels and pickets, even in the face of the enemy. This indeed may have
been noticed on many former occasions; and to this astonishing neglect of a
precaution which seems to us so obvious and so simple, may be attributed the
facility and success of those sudden surprises of which we so often read in the
military history of those early ages. GIDEON'S COMPANY ATTACKS Gideon no sooner
heard the dream and its interpretation than he understood find accepted the
sign. He returned to his own small band, and proceeded to carry into immediate
execution a remarkable stratagem which had already been suggested to him. He
divided his three hundred men into three companies. Every man was provided with
a trumpet in one hand, and in the other a pitcher containing alighted lamp. They
were then stationed in silence and darkness at different points on the outside
of the enemy's camp. Then, on a signal given by Gideon, all the three companies,
at the same instant, blew their trumpets, exposed their lamps, broke the
pitchers which had concealed them, and then continued shouting, “The sword of
Jehovah and of Gideon!”[239] The terrible din and crash which thus suddenly
broke in upon the stillness of midnight, with the equally sudden blaze of light
from three hundred lamps, which illumined its darkness, struck an instant panic
into the vast host of Midian, suggesting to them that the lamp-bearing
trumpeters (whose numbers must have been greatly magnified in the confused
apprehension of men just awakened) were but the advanced guard of the Hebrew
host whom they were lighting to the attack on the camp. They therefore fled in
all directions, through the openings between the three companies. In their
midnight flight, not doubting that the Hebrews had fallen upon them, they
mistook friends for foes, and vast multitudes of them perished by each other's
swords. The survivors, in their further flight, came up with the several parties
which had been dismissed by Gideon to their homes, and these committed a
terrible slaughter among the fugitives. Gideon also sent messengers desiring the
Ephraimites to seize the various fords of the Jordan, between the two lakes, and
thereby prevent the escape of any of the fugitives eastward, which was the
direction they would naturally take. In this terrible overthrow no less than one
hundred and twenty thousand of the various tribes of “the children of the east”
perished; and so completely were the Midianites subdued, that from that time
they were never able “to lift up their heads any more.” [239] The hint of this
watchword was taken from the interpretation of the Midianitish soldier's dream,
“the sword of Gideon,” to which Gideon, with equal piety and modesty, prefixed,
“the sword of Jehovah.” THE BATTLE FINISHED A remnant of fifteen thousand,
headed by their emirs, Zebah and Zalmunna, managed to escape across the river
(probably before the Ephraimites had seized the fords), and having reached a
distance where they deemed themselves safe from further pursuit, they ventured
to encamp. But Gideon himself, with his faithful three hundred, continued the
pursuit even to that distance--even into the land of the tent-dwellers -and
falling suddenly upon the camp, which lay carelessly secure, the already scared
Midianites were completely overthrown. The two emirs themselves were taken alive
and brought before Gideon. He had formed, for those times, the singularly
generous intention to spare their lives; but when he gathered, from their own
lips, that they had created a case of blood-revenge between himself and them, by
putting to death, near Mount Tabor, his brethren, “the sons of his own
mother,”[240] he, as the legal avenger of their blood, slew these emirs with his
own hand. [240] The emphasis lies in the probability that his father had
children by other wives than Gideon's mother. To be her children, therefore,
constituted a far dearer tie than to be his father's children in the general
sense. GIDEON'S CHARACTER Gideon seems to have been a man eminently qualified
for the high and difficult station to which he was called. Firm even to
sternness, where the exhibition of the stronger qualities seemed necessary, and
in war “a mighty man of valor,” we are called upon in his case, more frequently
than in any other which has occurred, to admire his truly courteous and
self-retreating character, and that nice and difficult tact--difficult, because
spontaneously natural--in the management of men, which is a rarer and finer
species of judgment, and by which he was intuitively taught to say the properest
word, and do the properest deed at the most proper time. This is the true secret
of his ultimate popularity and influence, which much exceeded that enjoyed by
any judge before him. Some instances of the qualities which we have indicated
have already appeared, and others will presently occur. EPHRAIM OFFENDED The
Ephraimites who had guarded the Jordan, having performed all that their duty
required, hastened to join Gideon in the pursuit of the Midianites. They met him
on his return, and laid before him the heads of Oreb and Zeeb,[241] two emirs of
Midian, whom they had taken and slain. This tribe of Ephraim, which was, after
that of Judah, the most important in Israel, was exceedingly jealous of its
superiority, and was, therefore, not a little annoyed that an obscure Abiezrite
should have undertaken so great an enterprise as that now happily completed,
without consulting them. They now took occasion to remonstrate with him sharply
on the subject, but were soon pacified by his modest and good-tempered answer.
“How little have I done now in comparison with you,” he said. “Is not the
gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? God hath
delivered up the; princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and what have I been able to
do in comparison with you?” Gideon knew what Solomon taught long after, “A soft
answer turneth away wrath.” [241] The names mean crow and wolf. It would seem
that the chiefs of the Midianites (like the North American Indians) took the
names of animals as significant of qualities to which they aspired. GIDEON'S
IDOLATRY When he had crossed the Jordan in pursuit of the fugitives, he was
anxious to obtain for his small band”--faint, yet pursuing”--refreshments from
the town of Succoth, which he passed, and afterward from that of Peniel; but he
was in both cases refused. The inhabitants seem to have been fearful of bringing
upon themselves the vengeance of the Midianites, to whom they had for seven
years been subject, and against whom they held it to be very unlikely that he
would succeed with so small a force. They not only refused, but added insult to
injury. Instead of chastising them on the spot, he coolly told both that he
would do so on his return; and he now kept his promise. Coming upon Succoth by
surprise, before the sun was up, he took the chief persons of Succoth, and, as
he lead threatened, scourged them to death with thorns and briars. Of Peniel he
made a still severer example, for he beat down the fortress-tower of that city,
and put to death the men belonging to it. The Israelites, in the warmth of their
gratitude, offered to make Gideon their king, and to continue the crown to his
descendants. This proposal, which clearly shows how unmindful the Israelites had
become of the great political principle of the theocracy with which they were so
unwarrantably ready to dispense, was nobly rejected by Gideon, who replied to it
in the true spirit of the theocracy: “I will not reign over you, neither shall
my son rein over you; Jehovah, he shall reign over you.” But while thus alive to
the true political character of the Mosaic institutions, he was not equally
cognizant of the religious obligations of that system. When he was called to his
great work at Ophrah, he had been instructed to build an altar on the rock on
which his offering had been accepted, and himself to offer sacrifices there.
This probably led him to conclude that it would be right to form a religious
establishment at that spot, for the worship of God by sacrifice. A more perfect
acquaintance with the principles of the law would have taught him otherwise.
However, to this object he applied the produce of the golden ear-rings of the
Midianites, which, at his special request (not unlike that of Aaron, Exodus
32:2), were cheerfully granted to him by the army as his share of the spoil. The
weight being one thousand seven hundred shekels, the gold thus obtained must
have been worth upward of fifteen thousand dollars of our money; and the “ephod”
which he is described as having made with it, probably included not only “the
priests' dress,” as the word signifies, but a regular sacerdotal establishment
in his own town, where sacrifices might be constantly offered. For this purpose
such a sum as he applied to it must have been fully requisite. It has been
disputed whether Gideon himself, officiated as priest, or, like Micah, engaged a
Levite for that purpose. The latter seems the more likely supposition, unless
from having been once directed to offer sacrifice, Gideon concluded he had a
superior claim to discharge that office. However well intended this
establishment may have been in the first instance, this was a most mistaken and
dangerous step, resembling, in its principle, the establishment which the
Danites had formed in the north. It infringed upon the peculiar claims of
Shiloh, the seat of the Divine Presence; and the result of these and all
attempts to form separate establishments affords ample illustration of the
design with which the formal worship of God by sacrifice was confined to one
particular locality, It proved “a snare to Gideon and his family,” in worshiping
the true God in an improper manner. It became popular to “all Israel;” who
resorted to Ophrah to render that worship and service which was due only at the
sacred tabernacle; and, with the predisposition to idolatry, it is not wonderful
that, free at this place from the restraint and supervision which the worship at
Shiloh imposed, the service at this place soon became associated with idolatrous
ideas and objects, until at last it degenerated into rank idolatry after the
death of Gideon. He survived and ruled Israel forty years after his victory over
the Midianites, and during all this time the tranquillity of Israel appears to
have been undisturbed.


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  CHAPTER 23: MURDER OF GIDEON'S SONS--JEPHTHAH'S VICTORY--SAMSON
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MURDER OF GIDEON'S SONS--JEPHTHAH'S VICTORY--SAMSON GIDEON'S SEVENTY SONS Gideon
left no less than seventy sons by his numerous wives, besides one spurious son
called Abimelech, by a concubine (whom Josephus calls Drumah) who belonged to
Shechem. A bastard among seventy legitimate sons was not likely to be pleasantly
circumstanced when his father was dead, and it is not surprising that he soon
withdrew from among them to his mother's relations at Shechem. They seem to have
been persons of some consideration in that place. ABIMELECH KILLS HIS BROTHERS
After the death of Gideon, the history, without stating the fact, seems to
require us to suppose that his sons had been invited to take the government, or
to share it among them; and that they, actuated by the same noble, because
disinterested regard for the principles of the theocracy which had influenced
their father, had declined the offer. But Abimelech, “a bold, bad man,” was of a
different spirit. He soon saw the advantage which he might take of the existing
posture of affairs. Prompted by him, his uncles and other maternal connections
suggested to the chief people of Shechem his willingness to undertake the charge
which the people generally were anxious to see in the hands of a son, or some of
the sons, of Gideon. They suggested whether it were not much better that one man
should reign over them, than that they should be subject to all the sons of
Gideon, seventy persons in number; and if the government of one man was to be
desired, who had so strong a claim to their preference and attachment as one so
closely connected with them as Abimelech? These suggestions had their weight
upon the leading men of Shechem, particularly the consideration that he was
“their brother.” They supplied him with money out of the treasury of
Baal-berith, whose worship seems to have been that to which the Israelites were
at this time the most inclined. The sum was not large,[242] but it served him to
hire a set of unprincipled men, prepared for any undertaking he might propose.
And, with the usual short-sightedness of wicked men, thinking to concentrate in
his own person the attachment of the Israelites to the house of Gideon, as well
as to extinguish that which was likely to be the most active opposition he would
have to encounter, Abimelech marched his troop to Ophrah, where he put to death
all his brethren, the sons of Gideon, with the exception of the youngest, named
Jotham, who managed to escape. This is the first example of a stroke of
barbarous policy which has since been very common in the history of the East. In
the first instance it had the effect he intended; for on his return to Shechem,
the people of that place assembled and anointed Abimelech king, close to a
pillar of stone that stood near that town--perhaps the same which Joshua had set
up there as a memorial of the covenant with God. [242] Seventy shekels of
silver, about equal to forty dollars of our money. But proper allowance must be
made for a great difference in the real value of money, although the precise
amount of that difference can not be stated. JOTHAM'S PARABLE When Jotham was
made acquainted with this, he repaired secretly to the neighborhood of Shechem;
and, taking advantage of some festival which brought the inhabitants together
outside the town, he appeared suddenly on a cliff overlooking the valley in
which they were assembled, and, in a loud voice, called their attention to his
words. He then delivered that earliest and very fine parable which represents
the trees as making choice of a king: The olive refused to leave its oil, the
fig-tree its sweetness, and the vine-tree its wine, to reign over the trees
(thus intimating the refusal of Gideon's sons); but the upstart bramble
(representing Abimelech) accepts, with great dignity, the offered honor, and
even proposes the conditions of its acceptance. These are exquisitely satirical,
both in their terms and in their application--“If ye truly intend to anoint me
king over you, come, take shelter under my shadow; and if not, let fire come out
of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.” That they might be at no loss
to understand his meaning, Jotham gave the obvious “moral,” in which he included
a bitter rebuke of the ingratitude of the people to their deliverer, all whose
sons, save himself, they had slain; together with an intimation, which proved
prophetic, of the probable result. He then fled with all haste, in fear of
Abimelech; and ultimately settled beyond his reach, at Beer, in the tribe of
Benjamin. Gaza

GAAL'S BRIEF TERM Abimelech reigned three years in Shechem, during which he so
disgusted the men by whom he had been raised to that bad eminence on which he
stood, that they expelled him from their city. In return, he, with the aid of
the desperate fellows who remained with him, did his utmost to distress the
inhabitants, so that at the season of vintage they were afraid to go out into
their vineyards to collect their fruits. Hearing of these transactions, one Gaal
went over to Shechem with his armed followers and kinsmen, to see how they might
be turned to his advantage. We know not precisely who this person was; or whence
he came; but there are circumstances in the original narrative which would
suggest that he was a Canaanite, descended from the former rulers of Shechem,
and that his people also were a remnant of the original Shechemites. He came so
opportunely, that the people very gladly accepted his protection during the
vintage. In the feats which followed the joyful labors of that season, Gaal, who
seems to have been a cowardly, boasting fellow, spoke contemptuously of
Abimelech, and talked largely of what he could and would do, if authority were
vested in him. This was heard with much indignation by Zebul, one of the
principal magistrates of the city, who lost no time in secretly sending to
apprize Abimelech how matters stood, and advised him to show himself suddenly
before the city, when he would undertake to induce Gaal to march out against
him. Accordingly, one morning, when Zebul and other principal persons were with
Gaal at the gate of the city, armed men were seen descending the hills. Zebul
amused Gaal tilI they came nearer, and then, by reminding him of his recent
boastings, compelled him to draw out his men to repel the advance of Abimelech.
They met, and no sooner did Gaal see a few of his men fall, than, with the rest,
he fled hastily into the city. Zebul availed himself of this palpable exhibition
of impotence, if not cowardice, to induce the people of Shechem to expel Gaal
and his troop from the town. Abimelech, who was staying at Arumah, a place not
far off, was informed of this the next morning, as well as that the inhabitants,
although no longer guarded by Gaal, went out daily to the labors of the field.
He therefore laid ambushes in the neighborhood; and when the men were come forth
to their work in the vineyards, two of the ambushed parties rose to destroy
them, while a third hastened to the gates to prevent their return to the town.
The city itself was then taken, and Abimelech caused all the buildings to be
destroyed, and the ground to be strewn with salt, as a symbol of the desolation
to which his intention consigned it. The fortress, however, still remained, and
a thousand men were in it. But they, fancying that it was not tenable, withdrew
to “the strong-hold of the temple of Baal-berith,” which had the advantage of
standing in a more elevated and commanding position. This, it will be noted, is
the first temple which we read of in scripture. On perceiving this, Abimelech
cut down the bough of a tree with his battle-axe, and bore it upon his shoulder,
directing all his men to do the same. The wood was deposited against the
entrance and walls of the strong-hold, and, when kindled, made a tremendous
fire, in which the building and the thousand men it contained were destroyed.
ABIMELECH KILLED To follow up this victory, Abimelech marched against Thebez,
another revolted town. As before, he took the town itself with little
difficulty, but all the people had shut themselves up in the tower or fortress,
which offered a more serious obstacle. However, Abimelech advanced to the door
with the intention of burning it down, when a woman threw a large stone from the
battlements above. It fell upon him, and broke his scull; and mindful, even in
that bitter moment, of that principle of military honor which counts death from
a woman's hands disgraceful, he hastily called to his armor-bearer to thrust him
through with his sword, that it might not be said a woman slew him. But the
disgrace which he desired to avoid attached for ever to his name; for it was
always remembered to his dishonor that a woman slew him. TOLA After Abimelech,
Tola, of the tribe of Issachar, but dwelling in Mount Ephraim, governed the
people for twenty-three years. JAIR'S OPULENCE He was succeeded by Jair, a
Gileadite (of eastern Manasseh), who judged Israel twenty-two years. His
opulence is indicated by his being the owner of thirty villages, which
collectively bore the name of Havoth-Jair (Jair's villages), and that he had
thirty sons, all of whom he could afford to mount on young asses. In those days
horses and mules were not in use among the Hebrews. Their place was not
unworthily substituted by the fine breed of asses which the country afforded;
and to possess as many as thirty of these, young and vigorous, and fit for the
saddle (implying the possession of many more, older and of inferior condition),
was no questionable sign of wealth. AMMONITES CONQUER ISRAEL As the
administration of these two judges was peaceable, the notice of them is confined
to a few lines; the chief design of the sacred historian being to record the
calamities which the Israelites drew upon themselves by their apostasies to the
idolatries of the surrounding nations, and their providential deliverances upon
their repentance and return to their God and king. After the calm of these
administrations, they multiplied their idolatries; and in punishment for this,
they were brought under a servitude to the Ammonites, which continued for
eighteen years, and was particularly severe upon the tribes beyond Jordan,
although the southern and central tribes on this side the river--Judah,
Benjamin, and Ephraim--were also subdued. ISRAEL CRIES TO GOD Corrected by
calamity, the Israelites put away their idols, and cried to God for pardon and
deliverance. In reply to their suit, they were reminded of the deliverances
which they had already experienced, notwithstanding which they had repeatedly
turned to serve other gods. Their prayer was therefore refused, and they were
told, “Go and cry to the gods that ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the
time of your tribulation.” Their reply to this was very proper: “We have sinned:
do thou to us whatever seemeth good unto thee; only deliver us, we pray thee,
this time.” And forthwith they rooted out the remains of idolatry from among
them, and worshipped Jehovah with such singleness and zeal that “his soul was
grieved for the misery of Israel.” JEPHTHAH There was a man called Jephthah, who
was, like Abimelech, the spurious son of a man who had a large family of
legitimate children. When the father died, the other sons expelled Jephthah from
among them, saying, “Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house, for thou art
the son of a strange woman.” As this last phrase generally denotes a foreigner,
or one not of Israel, this treatment, although very harsh, was less unjust,
under the peculiar circumstances of the Hebrew constitution, than might at the
first view appear; for it was a strong point of the Mosaic policy to discourage
all connection with foreigners (necessarily idolaters); and nothing was better
calculated to this end, for a people like the Hebrews, than the disqualification
of the progeny of such connections from receiving a share in the inheritance.
RAIDER JEPHTHAH MADE GENERAL On this Jephthah withdrew into “the land of Tob,”
toward the borders of the desert: and as he had before this found opportunities
of establishing a character for spirit and courage, he was soon joined by a
number of destitute, and idle young men, who were led by inclination, or more
imperative inducements, to prefer the free life he led to the sober habits which
a settling community requires. Besides, from pastoral societies, such as those
beyond Jordan, the step into the free life of the desert is much shorter than it
would be among a more agricultural people. It is really useless to attempt to
consider Jephthah's troop otherwise than as a set of daring, careless fellows,
acting as men do at the present day act in the east under similar circumstances,
and brought together. Being without any other means of subsistence, they
unquestionably lived by a sort of robbery, as we should call it now, examples of
which are found in all rude states of society, and to which, in such states of
society, no one dreams of attaching disgrace. They lived doubtless by raids, or
plundering excursions, into the neighboring small states, driving off the
cattle, and faking whatever came to their hands; and we may from analogy
conclude that they waylaid and levied black-mail upon caravans, when composed of
parties which they had no reason to treat with favor. Their point of honor
probably was, to abstain from any acts against their own countrymen; and this
exception existing, the body of the Israelites must have regarded the
performances of Jephthah and his troop with favor, especially if, as is likely,
they were thorns in the sides of the Ammonites, and took pleasure to annoy, in
their own quarters, the enemies of Israel. However this may be, the courage and
conduct of Jephthah became so well known by his successful enterprises, that
when, after their repentance, the tribes beyond Jordan determined to make a
stand against the Ammonites, but felt the want of a leader, they agreed that
there was no known person so fit as Jephthah to lead them to battle. The chiefs
of Gilead, his native district, therefore went in person to the land of Tob, to
solicit this already celebrated person to undertake the conduct of the
expedition. They were rather harshly received. “Did ye not hate me,” said the
hero, “and expel me from my father's house? and why do ye come to me now, when
ye are in distress?” They, however, continued to press him, and intimated that,
as had been usual in such cases, the government of, at least, the land of
Gilead, would be, the reward, of his success. This was very agreeable to
Jephthah, who forthwith accompanied them to Mizpeh, where this agreement was
solemnly ratified, and all things necessary for conducting the war were
regulated. JEPHTHAH FIGHTS AMMONITES By the time Jephthah had organized his
forces in Mizpeh, the Ammonites, taking alarm, had assembled a numerous army in
Gilead. Although, from his previous habits of life, we should hardly have
expected it from him, we find the Hebrew general commencing the war with much
more than usual attention to those formalities which are judged necessary to
render the grounds of quarrel manifest. He sent ambassadors to the king of the
Ammonites, requiring to know why he had come to fight against the Hebrews in
their own land. The king, in reply, alleged that he came to recover the land
taken from his ancestors by the Israelites, on their way from Egypt, and of
which he, therefore, required peaceable restitution. Jephthah in his reply gave
a fair and clear recital of the whole transaction which had put these lands into
the possession of the Hebrews, and he refused to surrender them on the following
grounds: 1. He denied that the Ammonites had any existing title to the lands,
for they had been driven out of these lands by the Amorites before the Hebrews
appeared; and that they (the Hebrews) to overcoming and driving out the
Amorites, without any assistance from or friendly understanding with, the
Ammonites, became entitled to the territory which the conquered people occupied;
2, that the title of the Israelites was confirmed by a prescription of above
three hundred years, during which none of Ammon or of Moab had ever reclaimed
these lands; and--3, as an argumentum ad hominem, he alleged that the God of
Israel was as well entitled to grant his people the lands which they held as was
their own god Chemosh, according to their opinion, to grant to the Ammonites the
lands which they now occupied. This admirable and well-reasoned statement
concluded with an appeal to Heaven to decide the justice of the cause by the
event of the battle which was now inevitable. JEPHTHAH'S DECISIVE VICTORY The
result was such as might be expected. Jephthah defeated the Ammonites with great
slaughter, and reduced the nation to subjection. JEPHTHAH'S VOW But not joy to
exalt and gladden his heart, but a bitter grief to rend it deeply, awaited the
victor on his return to Mizpeh. Feeling, perhaps, that he had not, like former
deliverers, been expressly and publicly called and appointed by God to the work
he had undertaken, he had sought to propitiate Heaven by a vow, that if allowed
to return to his home in peace, whatsoever first came forth to meet him should
be offered as a burnt-offering to Jehovah. Jephthah had no child, save one
daughter, a virgin, beautiful and young. And she when the news came of his great
victory, and of his return to triumph and peace went forth at the head of her
fair companions to meet her glorious father, dancing joyously to their timbrels
as he drew nigh. Here, then, was the object of his vow--his cherished
daughter--the only object in the world which could call forth those kindly
sympathies and tendernesses which lurk deep within even those natures which have
been the most scarred and roughened in the storms of life. The desolated father
rent his clothes, crying, “Alas! my daughter, thou hast brought me low indeed!
... for I have opened my mouth to Jehovah and I cannot reverse it.” Then,
understanding the nature of his vow, that noble maiden, mindful only that Israel
was delivered, and impressed with the solemn obligation which that vow imposed,
sought not to turn her father from his purpose, or encouraged him to seek those
evasions which others have since discovered for him. With unexampled magnanimity
she cried, “My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth to Jehovah, do with me
according to that which thou hast spoken for as much as Jehovah hath taken
vengeance for thee upon thine enemies, upon the Ammonites.” All she desired was
that she might be allowed for two months to wander among the mountains, with her
companions, to bewail that it was not her lot to be a bride and mother in
Israel. At the end of that time Jephthah “did with her according to his vow.”
DAUGHTER SACRIFICED It is much to be regretted that the reluctance of the sacred
writer to express in plain terms the dreadful immolation which we believe to be
thus indicated, has left the whole matter open as a subject of dispute. The
early Jewish and Christian writers (including Josephus) made no question that
Jephthah, under a most mistaken notion of duty, did, after the manner of the
heathen, really offer his daughter in sacrifice; but the ingenuity of modern
criticism has discovered the alternative that she was not immolated on the
altar, but was devoted to perpetual virginity in the service of the tabernacle.
It must be confessed that the subject is one of such difficulty, as to render it
hard to reach a positive conclusion. But on anxiously considering the question,
we are sorry to feel constrained to adhere to the harsher alternative. The
Victor Greeted

There was no institution among the Jews under which practical effect could be
given to the alternative which modern interpretation has provided; and even had
not this been the case, there was at the time that this devotement to the
tabernacle must have taken place, no access to the tabernacle from the east; for
Jephthah was about that time waging a bitter war with the tribe of Ephraim, in
whose territory, at Shiloh, the ark was situated. This posture of affairs would
preclude him from receiving from the priests those instructions and
remonstrances which would have prevented that piteous immolation which he deemed
his vow to require. We are persuaded that the more thoroughly any one makes
himself acquainted with the spirit of the time, the state of religion, the
nature of the ideas which then prevailed, the peculiarities of the
ecclesiastical polity among the Hebrews, and the character of Jephthah
himself--the more strong will be his conviction that the infatuated hero really
did offer his daughter in sacrifice, and the greater will the difficulty seem of
providing any other alternative. The opinion of the Jews themselves is also
entitled to some weight; and at a time when they abhorred the idea of human
sacrifices, they not only state it as an unquestionable fact that this sacrifice
did take place, but ascribe the deposition of the line of Eleazar from the
high-priesthood, and the substitution of that of Ithamar, to the circumstance
that the existing pontiff did not take measures to prevent this stain upon the
annals of Israel. We must consider how long the minds of the Israelites had been
saturated with notions imbibed from the surrounding heathen, which implies the
neglect, and consequent ignorance, of the divine law; and that among those ideas
and practices that of the superior efficacy of human sacrifices occupied a
prominent place. We may also reflect that a rough military adventurer, like
Jephthah, had been even more than usually exposed to contaminating influences:
such persons are also usually found to be superstitious, and are seldom capable
of apprehending more than certain broad and hard features of such higher matters
as are presented to their notice. Jephthah knew that human victims were
generally regarded as in a peculiar degree acceptable to the gods; and as
historical facts are in general more familiarly known than dogmas, it was
probably unknown to him that human sacrifices were abhorrent to Jehovah, while
he was certain to know that Abraham had been expressly commanded by God himself
to offer his beloved Isaac upon the altar; and although the completion of this
act was prevented, it would be remembered that the patriarch obtained high
praise because he had not withheld even his only and well-loved son from God.
That Jephthah made such a vow at all, corroborates the view we take of his
character. It was superstitious; and it implies his imperfect knowledge of the
law, which would have apprized him of various alternatives which would render
the fulfillment of his vow incompatible with obedience to the law. But to such a
mind the literal accomplishment of a vow--whatever its purport--will appear the
first of duties; and in the fulfillment of such a vow as this, it would seem
that the greater his own anguish, the more deeply the iron entered into his own
soul, the more meritorious, and the more acceptable to God, the act of the
offerer was deemed. VIRGIN COMMEMORATION DAY The virgins of Israel instituted an
anniversary commemoration of four days, which they spent in celebrating the
praises and bewailing the fate of Jephthah's daughter. EPHRAIM DEFEATED The
misunderstanding with Ephraim, to which we have incidentally alluded, was
similar to that which the tact of Gideon had averted on a former occasion. That
haughty and overbearing tribe had been called to the war in the first instance,
but refused to take part in the enterprise: but when that enterprise proved
successful, they were astonished and mortified that Israel had been delivered by
the Gileadites without their assistance. They then assembled tumultuously, and
with many contemptuous and abusive expressions toward the Gileadites in general,
and toward Jephthah in particular, they threatened to burn his house over his
head, because he had not called them to the last derisive action. The conqueror
stated the matter as it actually happened; for his rough nature would not permit
him to smooth down their ruffled plumes, as Gideon had done on a similar
occasion. And then, finding that they were still bent on mischief, he called out
the Gileadites, who were highly exasperated at the reflections which had been
cast upon them as “fugitives of Ephraim”--a base breed between Ephraim, and
Manasseh. A battle took place, in which the Ephraimites were signally defeated.
They had crossed over to the eastern side of the Jordan, and, after the victory,
the Gileadites hastened to seize the fords of that river, to intercept those of
the fugitives who attempted to return to their homes. But as Israelites of all
the tribes were constantly passing the river, a test was necessary to
distinguish the Ephraimites from the others. It is remarkable that the test
chose was that of pronunciation. When any man approached to cross the river, he
was asked, “Art thou an Ephraimite?” If he answered “No,” they said, “Then, say
Shibboleth” (water-brooks); but if he were really an Ephraimite, he could not
pronounce the sh, but gave the word as “.ibboleth;” and was slain on the spot.
This incident is curious, as showing that lingual differences had already arisen
by which particular tribes could be distinguished. In like manner a Galilean
was, in the time of Christ, known at Jerusalem by his speech. JEPHTHAH DIES In
this disastrous affair the loss of the Ephraimites amounted to forty-two
thousand men. Such a success could be no matter of triumph to the unhappy
Jephthah. His troubled life was not long protracted. He died after he had judged
Israel six years, B.C. 1247. THREE JUDGES After Jephthah follow the names of
three judges, the silence of the record concerning whose actions may be
understood to indicate a period of tranquillity and ease. These were Ibzan, of
Bethlehem in Ephraim; for seven years; Eton, a Zebulonite, for ten years; and
Abdon, an Ephraimite, for eight years. Under the repose of these
administrations, however, the Hebrews again insensibly relapsed into idolatry.
For this they were brought under a rigorous servitude to their western foes, the
Philistines, which (in its full rigor) lasted for forty years. This people had
so recruited their strength since the days of Shamgar, that they now take a very
conspicuous place in the Hebrew history, forming by far the most powerful and
inveterate enemies the Israelites had yet encountered. They continued much
longer than any other power had done to wield the weapon by which the iniquities
of Israel were chastised; for it was not until the time of David that the
deliverance was completed. When we read of the corrupt state of the nation at
large, it would be a grievous error to infer that all had departed from God.
There are various intimations that, in the worst times, not a few families were
to be found religious and well regulated, and which maintained among themselves
the faith of the one only God, and followed with exactitude all the requirements
of the law. Thus, at a later day, when the prophet deemed that he was himself
the only one by whom Jehovah was acknowledged, God himself knew that there were
in Israel seven thousand persons whose knees had not been bowed to Baal. (1
Kings 19:18.) But although these were the salt of Israel, they could not
preserve the mass from such putrefaction as required that it should be cast
forth and trodden under foot. SAMSON BORN And now, about the same time that the
Israelites were cast forth to be trodden under foot by the Philistines, it
pleased their offended King, while with the one hand he punished his revolted
subjects, to provide with the other for the beginnings of their deliverance at a
future day. For about that time the angel of Jehovah appeared to the wife of
Manoah, a Danite, who had been barren, and promised her a son, who was to be a
Nazarite (a person consecrated to God) from the womb, and that in time he should
begin to deliver Israel from the yoke of the Philistines. SAMSON'S STRENGTH
Accordingly, the woman gave birth in due season to a son, on whom the name of
Samson was bestowed. As the child grew, it became manifest that the most
extraordinary bodily powers had been given to him: while, to prevent undue
exaltation of spirit from the consciousness of superior powers, it was known to
him that his gifts had no necessary dependence on the physical complication of
his thews[244] Muscles or strength and sinews, but on his condition as a
Nazarite, and on the unshorn hair which formed the sign and symbol of that
condition. It is from the twentieth year of his age, which was also the
twentieth of the bondage to the Philistines, that we are to date the
commencement of Samson's vindictive administration. He proved to be a man of
ungovernable passions; but, through the influence of his destiny to begin the
deliverance of Israel, it was so ordered that even his worst passions, and even
the sorrows and calamities which these passions wrought upon himself, were made
the instruments of distress and ruin to the Philistines. SAMSON SEEKS MARRIAGE
The fact that the territory occupied by the tribe of Dan, to which Samson
belonged, immediately adjoined the country of the Philistines, in consequence of
which he became well-acquainted with that people, ministered occasion for most
of his operations against them. And first--in the Philistine town of Timnath,
Samson had seen a young woman with whom he was so well pleased, that he resolved
to obtain her for his wife. But as such matters were always adjusted between the
parents of the respective parties, he went home and desired his father and
mother to secure this woman for him. His parents would much have preferred that
his choice had fallen on one of the daughters of his own people; but, seeing his
determination was fixed, they yielded, and went back with him to Timnath. It was
on this journey that Samson gave the first recorded indication of the prodigious
strength with which he was endowed, by slaying, without any weapon in his hands,
a young and fierce lion by which he was assailed. SAMSON'S RIDDLE At Timnath the
proposals of his parents were favorably received by the parents of the damsel
Samson sought in marriage. It was necessary, by the customs of the time and
country, that at least a month should pass between such a proposal and the
celebration of the marriage. At the expiration of this time, Samson, again
accompanied by his parents, went down to Timnath to claim his bride. On the way
he turned aside to see what had become of the carcass of the lion he had slain
on the former journey. In that climate the carcasses of animals left dead upon
the ground are speedily devoured by jackals and vultures, and other beasts and
birds which feed on carrion. Even insects contribute largely to this service.
Accordingly, Samson found only the clean skeleton of the lion, partially covered
with the undevoured hide. In the cavity thus formed a swarm of bees had lodged
and deposited their honey. At wedding-feasts it was at that time usual for the
young men then assembled together to amuse themselves by proposing
riddles--those who were unable to solve the riddle incurring a forfeiture to him
by whom it was proposed, who himself was liable to a similar forfeiture if his
riddle were found out. The adventure with the lion suggested to Samson the
riddle which he proposed--“Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the
fierce came forth sweetness.” For three days they vainly tried to discover the
meaning of this riddle; and at last, rather than incur the heavy forfeiture of
“thirty shirts and thirty suits of raiment,” they applied to the bride, and
threatened destruction to her family if she did not extract from her husband the
required solution, and make it known to them. He was very unwilling to tell her,
declaring that even his father and mother were ignorant of it. But she put in
practice all the little arts by which women have ever carried their points with
men usually weak--as Samson was, with all his corporal strength--and by her
tears, and reproaches of his want of love and confidence, she so wearied him
that he at length gave her the information she desired. The guests were
consequently enabled, within the given time, to answer--“What is sweeter than
honey? What is fiercer than a lion?” But Samson was well convinced that the wit
of man could never have discovered the true solution without a knowledge of the
circumstances, which they could only have obtained by tampering with his wife.
He exclaimed indignantly--“If ye had not ploughed with my heifer, ye had not
found out my riddle!” He did not, however, as he might have done, refuse the
payment of the forfeiture he had thus unexpectedly incurred; but to obtain it he
went and slew thirty of the Philistines near Askelon, and gave their raiment to
the persons who had expounded his riddle. He then returned to his own home,
without again seeing his wife, with whose conduct he was deeply disgusted.
SAMSON'S REVENGE But after some time his resentment subsided, and he went down
to Timnath to revisit his wife, with a present of a kid. But he found that in
the mean time she had been given in marriage to a man among the Philistines, who
in former times had been his most dear and familiar friend, and whom, in that
character, he had chosen to set as his paranymph,[245] or brideman,[246] at the
wedding. The incensed hero rejected with indignation the offer of the father to
give him his youngest daughter in lieu of the woman he had married; and
regarding, probably, the treatment he had received as in some degree resulting
from the insolence of superiority, and from the contempt in which the
Philistines held the people they had so long held in subjection, he considered
himself justified in avenging his own injuries upon the Philistine nation, as
part and parcel of the wrongs his nation suffered. This mode of taking his
revenge was no less remarkable than effective. He obtained three hundred
jackals, and tying them together, with a firebrand between their tails, let them
loose. The affrighted animals, being so bound as to be obliged to run side by
side, hastened for shelter to the fields of standing and ripened corn, which, at
that dry season, when the corn was ripe, was easily kindled into a blaze. As the
tortured jackals took different directions, the conflagration was very
extensive; nor was it confined to the standing corn, but wrought much damage
among the olive-grounds and vineyards, and consumed the corn which had been cut
down and heaped for the thrashing-floor. [245] A man that goes with the groom to
fetch the bride to the groom's house. [246] Bestman PHILISTINE REACTION When the
Philistines understood the immediate cause of this act of hostility on the part
of Samson, they went and burned his wife and her father's house with fire; thus
punishing them for that breach of faith to which they were first led by the fear
of this very punishment. If this act was intended to appease Samson, it had not
that effect; for it did not prevent him from taking an opportunity which offered
of discomfiting, with much slaughter, a considerable number of men belonging to
that nation. He then withdrew to a strong rock called Etam, in the tribe of
Judah. To that place he was pursued by a large body of Philistines, whose
presence occasioned great alarm to the Judaites. But when they understood that
Samson individually was the sole object of this incursion, they most shamefully
undertook of themselves to deliver him up to his enemies. Accordingly, three
thousand of them went up to him, feeling assured that he would not act against
his own people. They told him they were come to bind him, and to put him into
the hands of the Philistines. It strikingly illustrates the opinion Samson had
of his own countrymen--an opinion which the circumstances justified--that before
he consented to be bound, he obliged them to swear that they would not kill him
themselves. He then allowed them to bind him securely with two new ropes, and to
take him down to the Philistines. When he was led to their camp they raised a
triumphant shout against him. As he heard that shout, “the Spirit of Jehovah
came mightily upon him;” he burst his strong bands asunder as easily as if they
had been tow burnt with fire, and seizing the jawbone of an ass which lay at
hand, he flew upon the Philistines, and, with no other weapon, routed the whole
thousands which had come against him, slaying many of their number. They only
lived who fled. As Milton makes the hero observe-- “Had Judah that day join'd,
or one whole tribe, They had by this possess'd the towers of Gath, And lorded
over them whom now they serve; But what more oft, in nations grown corrupt, And
by their vices brought to servitude, Than to love bondage more than liberty,
Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty; And to despise, or envy, or suspect,
Whom God hath of his special favor raised As their deliverer? If he aught begin,
How frequent to desert him, and at last To heap ingratitude on worthiest
deeds”--Samson Agonistes. SAMSON CARRIES GAZA GATES Proudly confident in his
strength, Samson was not deterred from going again among the Philistines, as
soon as a motive occurred in the indulgence of that blind passion which had
already brought him into much trouble, and which was destined to be his ruin. He
went to Gaza, to visit a harlot of that place. His arrival was soon known, and
although this was a different state from that which had been the scene of his
former exploits, the authorities of the place were too sensible of the
importance of destroying this implacable enemy of their nation, to neglect the
advantage which his folly had placed in their hands. The city gates were closed
to prevent his escape; and a strong guard was placed there to surprise and kill
him in the morning. Samson, however, anticipated their plan; and, rising at
midnight, he went boldly to the gate, forced it from its place, and, by way of
bravado, carried it off entire, posts, bars, and all, to the top of a hill on
the way to Hebron. The guards were too much astonished and terrified to molest
or pursue him. DELILAH After this Samson did not again venture into the
territory of the Philistines, but sought at home the indulgence of those
blinding passions which make the strongest weak. “He loved a woman in the vale
of Sorek,” so celebrated for its vines. Her name was Delilah, and she was
probably of Israel, although Josephus, to save the credit of his countrywomen,
makes her a Philistine. The Philistines themselves took an anxious interest in
all the movements of Samson, and were soon acquainted with this new
besotment,[247] Infatuation of which they prepared to take advantage. A
deputation, consisting of a principal person from each of the five Philistine
states, went up the valley to the place where he was. And now, we observe, it
was not their object to get possession of his person while he retained all his
strength, but to ascertain how that strength might be taken from him. They were
well persuaded that a strength so greatly exceeding all they knew or had ever
heard of, and to which that possessed by the few descendants of Anak who lived
among them could not for an instant be compared, must be supernatural--the
result of some condition which might be neutralized, or of some charm which
might be broken. They therefore offered Delilah the heavy bribe of eleven
hundred shekels of silver from each of their number (amounting altogether to 687
..) to discover the secret of his great strength, and to betray him into their
hands, that they might bind and afflict him. Samson amused her by telling her of
certain processes whereby the weakness of other men would be brought upon him;
but each time the imposition was detected, by her putting the process to the
proof. Then she continued to worry him by such trite but always effective
reproaches as, “How canst thou say 'I love thee,' when thy heart is not with me?
for thou hast deceived me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy
great strength lieth.” Thus day by day she pressed him and urged him, until his
soul was vexed unto death,” and at last he told the whole truth to her--that he
was a Nazarite from his birth, and that if he left that state by cutting off his
hair, which had never yet been shorn or shaven, his extraordinary strength would
depart from him. Delilah saw by his earnestness that he had this time told her
the truth. Accordingly, she sent for a man, who, while the hero slept with his
head upon her lap, shaved off the luxuriant tresses of his hair. His strength
departed from him: but he knew it not; and when aroused from his sleep by the
approach of the Philistines to seize him, he thought to put forth his wonted
power and destroy them all; but his listless arms refused to render him their
wonted service, and he knew, too late, that “Jehovah had departed from him.”
PHILISTINES CAPTURE SAMSON The Philistines took and bound him; and, to complete
his disablement, put out both his eyes--a mode of rendering a public enemy or
offender incapable of further offence, of which this is the first historical
instance, but which has ever since been much resorted to in the kingdoms of the
East.[248] They then took him down to Gath, and binding him with fetters of
brass, employed him to grind in the prison-house. [248] This barbarous
infliction is however, now--under the operation of those humanizing influences
which are insensibly pervading the East--the course of being discontinued. It
was formerly more common in Persia than in any other country; but it became
comparatively rare under the late king; and we believe that no instance has yet
occurred in which the present monarch has resorted to it SAMSON'S STRENGTH
RETURNS Nothing could more clearly than this deprivation evince the miraculous
nature of the superhuman strength with which Samson had been for special
purposes invested. Samson himself had known this before; but now, weak, blind,
bound, “disglorified,” and degraded to a woman's service,[249] he had occasion
and leisure to feel it; and in his “prison-house” he probably learned more of
himself than he had known in all his previous life. Nor was this knowledge
unprofitable. He felt that although he had begun to deliver Israel, this
employment of the gifts confided to him had rather been the incidental effect of
his own insensate passions, than the result of those stern and steady purposes
which became one who had so solemnly been set apart, even before his birth, to
the salvation of his country. Such thoughts as these brought repentance to his
soul; and as by this repentance his condition of Nazariteship was in some sort
renewed, it pleased God that, along with the growth of his hair, his strength
should gradually return to him. [249] Grinding is almost invariably performed by
women in the East. PHILISTINES PRAISE DAGON Fatally for the Philistines, they
took the view that, since the strength of Samson had been the gift of the God of
Israel, their triumph over him, evinced that their own god, Dagon, was more
powerful than Jehovah. This raised the matter from being a case between Samson
and the Philistines, to one between Jehovah and Dagon; and it thus became
necessary that the divine honor should be vindicated. An occasion for this was
soon offered under aggravated circumstances. The Philistines held a feast to
Dagon, their god, who, as they supposed, had delivered their enemy into their
hands. In the height, of their festivity they thought of ordering Samson himself
to be produced, that the people might feed their eyes with the sight of the
degraded condition of one who had not long since been their dread. The assembled
multitude greeted his appearance with shouts of triumph, and praised their god
who had reduced “the destroyer of their country” to be their bond-slave. After
having been for some time exposed to their mockeries and insults, the blind hero
desired the lad who led and held him by the hand, to let him rest himself
against the pillars which sustained the chief weight of the roof of the temple,
upon which no less than three thousand persons had assembled to view the
spectacle, and celebrate Dagon's sacrifices. Thus placed, Samson breathed the
prayer-- Supporting Pillars of Eastern Buildings

SAMSON'S PRAYER “O Lord Jehovah, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I
pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the
Philistines for my two eyes.” Saying this, he grasped the pillars with his
mighty arms, and crying, “Let me die with the Philistines!” he bowed himself
with such prodigious force that the pillars gave way, and then the roof fell in,
destroying with one tremendous crash all who were above it and below it. Thus
those whom Samson slew at his death were more in number than those he slew in
his life. SAMSON WORKS ALONE “It is remarkable that the exploits of Samson
against the Philistines were performed singly, and without any co-operation from
his countrymen to vindicate heir liberties: whether it was that the arm of the
Lord might be the more visibly revealed in him, or that his countrymen were too
much depressed by the severity of their servitude to be animated by his example.
They seem also to have feared him almost as much as they did the Philistines.
Else why should three thousand armed men of Judah have gone to persuade him to
surrender himself to the Philistines, when, with such a leader, they might
naturally expect to have been invincible? or why, when he destroyed [routed?] a
thousand Philistines with so simple a weapon, did he not join in pursuit of the
rest? So true was the prediction of the angel to his mother, that he should only
begin to deliver Israel.”[250] Hales. ii 108. SAMSON DIES It scarcely appears
that Samson exercised any authority in the tribes; but to carry on the
historical time, he is counted as one of the judges, and his administration is
computed at forty years, ending by his death, in the year 1222 B.C.


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  CHAPTER 24: ELI--DEFEAT OF ISRAEL--ADMINISTRATION OF SAMUEL
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ELI--DEFEAT OF ISRAEL--ADMINISTRATION OF SAMUEL Samson was the last of the
military heroes stirred up to deliver Israel from its oppressors. The two that
followed, Eli and Samuel, were men of peace--the one a priest, and the other a
Levite. THE HIGH PRIEST GOVERNS ISRAEL In the absence of a person specially
called and appointed to deliver and judge the people, the civil government, by
the principles of the theocracy, devolved on the high-priest, as the vizier of
the great king, having access to his presence, and being the interpreter of his
will. It is not easy to see that Samson exercised the civil government over any
of the tribes. And although, therefore, in order to carry on the succession of
times, it is convenient to say that at his death the government devolved on the
high-priest, yet, in fact, there is little reason to question that the
high-priest exercised as much authority before as after. But, in such times as
these, that authority was but small, and chiefly, as it would appear, judicial,
particularly in adjusting disputes between persons of different tribes. The
heads of the several tribes seem to have considered themselves fully competent
to manage their internal affairs; and their divided allegiance to Jehovah
involved the political evil, that the authority of the general government was
proportionably weakened, and the cohesion of the tribes in the same degree
relaxed. Subject to this preliminary observation, the high-priest may, for
historical convenience, be considered the successor of Samson. It is remarkable
that functionaries so important, in the theory of the Hebrew constitution, as
the high-priests, are scarcely noticed in the history of the Judges. From
Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, to Eli, a high-priest is not mentioned on any
occasion, nor would even their names be known but for the list in Chronicles (1
Chronicles 6:4-16), where the order is thus given: Abishua, Bukki, Uzzi,
Zerahiah, Meraioth. ELI IS PRIEST DUE TO CHANGE IN LINEAGE In the person of Eli,
a change in the line of succession to this high office took place, as he was the
first of the race of Ithamar, the second son of Aaron. But as the line of his
elder son Eleazar was not extinct, and as the cause of the change is not
assigned, some difficulty has been experienced in accounting for it. The Jews,
as we have seen, suppose that it was because the existing pontiff had not taken
measures sufficiently active to prevent Jephthah from sacrificing his daughter.
But if in the absence of all positive information, a conjecture might be
hazarded, we would suggest the probability that the last pontiff of Eleazar's
line died leaving no son old enough to take the office, and that it then (as
afterward in the succession to the kingdom) devolved on his adult uncle or
cousin of the line of Ithamar. Such a course resorted to in temporal
successions, to avoid the evils of a minority and regency, must have been much
more necessary in the case of the high-priesthood. That the change took place in
some such natural and quiet way, seems to afford the most satisfactory
explanation of the silence of the record of a matter of such importance. ELI
LACKS STERNNESS Eli was a good and pious man, estimable in private life for his
many virtues and the mildness of his character; but he was greatly wanting in
those sterner virtues which became his public station, and which were indeed
necessary for the repression of wickedness, and the punishment of the wrong
doer. As he grew old, he devolved much of his public duty upon his sons Hophni
and Phinehas, two evil-disposed men, who possessed the energy their father
lacked, without any of his virtues. Even in their sacred ministrations at the
tabernacle, their conduct was so shamefully signalized by rapacity and
licentiousness, that the people, through their misconduct, were led to abhor the
offering of Jehovah. All this became known to Eli; but, instead of taking the
immediate and decisive measures which became his station, he contented himself
with a mild and ineffective remonstrance. This weakness of Eli was justly
counted a sin in that venerable person; and a prophet was commissioned to warn
him of the evil consequences, which were no less than the exclusion of his race
from the pontificate to which he had been advanced. But even this could not
rouse the old man to the exertion which became his station; but he seems rather
to have acquiesced in this judgment as a thing not to be averted. SAMUEL RAISED
AT TABERNACLE The next reproof which this remiss judge received was through an
unexpected channel. At the tabernacle, in personal attendance upon the
high-priest, was a, boy, a Levite, who having been the child signally granted in
answer to the many prayers of Hannah, his previously barren mother, was by her
consecrated from the womb, as a Nazarite, to Jehovah. In consequence of this,
combined with his Levitical character, he had been left at the tabernacle as
early as he could be separated from his mother's care, to render such services
there as his tender years allowed. His name was Samuel: and as his pious mother
came to Shiloh yearly with her husband to celebrate the passover (bringing with
her a dress for her son), she had the delight of perceiving that he, growing up
under the shadow of the altar, conducted himself with such propriety and
discretion, that he stood very high in the favor of God and man. That he was
thus, from his very infancy, constantly before the eyes of the people when they
attended at the tabernacle, doubtless went far to prepare the way for that
influence and station which he ultimately attained. SAMUEL WARNED OF ELI'S
FAMILY It was the thirty-first year of Eli's administration, when Samuel, then
twelve years of age, lay on his bed at night, that he heard a voice calling him
by his name. He supposed that it was Eli who had called; he hastened to him, but
found that it was not so. This was repeated three times; and at the third time,
Eli, concluding that it was the Lord who had called the lad, instructed him to
answer, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.” Samuel obeyed; and the Voice
then delivered to him, as an irrevocable doom, the former denunciations against
Eli's house, “because his sons had made themselves vile, and he restrained them
not;” declaring that he would “do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of
every one that heareth it shall tingle.” In the morning, the lad, being pressed
by Eli, delivered to him the message he had received. But even this only gave
occasion for the further manifestation of the passive virtues of his character.
“It is Jehovah,” he said; “let him do what seemeth to him good.” SAMUEL MADE
PROPHET After this, matters went on for some time much as they had done. Eli's
sons pursued their old courses, making themselves still more vile; and their
father, though now well aware of the doom which hung over himself and them, took
no measures in the hope to avert it. But as Samuel grew, the word of the Lord
again came to him from time to time, and all Israel knew that he was established
to be a prophet of Jehovah. ARK TAKEN TO THE BATTLEFIELD Thus passed ten years,
at the end of which the threatened judgments began to be inflicted upon the
house of Eli. At that time the Israelites rashly, and without consulting their
Divine king, embarked in a war with the Philistines. In the forty years since
the death of Samson, this people had recruited their strength, and recovered the
courage of which they appear to have been for a season deprived by the
astounding calamity which swept away so many of their chiefs and nobles. In the
first engagement the Israelites were defeated, with the loss of four thousand
men' On this they sent to Shiloh for the ark of the covenant, not doubting of
victory under its protection. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, attended
into the camp. On its arrival there, “all Israel shouted with a great shout, so
that the earth ran again.” On hearing this, and being apprized of its cause, the
Philistines were filled with consternation; and the manner to which their alarm
was expressed affords a very clear intimation of the effect which had been
produced on their minds, by the wonders which Jehovah had wrought for the
deliverance and protection of Israel. “Woe unto us!” they cried; “who shall
deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that smote
the Egyptians with all the plagues of the wilderness.” The procedure itself did
not strike them as strange, for it was not unusual among ancient nations to take
their gods to their wars; and the ark, with its cherubim, the Philistines
supposed to be the god of the Hebrews. They did not question the existence of
that God, or his special care for his people; neither did they deny his power,
of which, indeed, they were afraid. They allowed Jehovah to be the god of the
Hebrews, in the same sense in which they regarded Dagon to be their own god. It
was his universal and exclusive power that they denied, or rather did not
recognize. PHILISTINES CAPTURE THE ARK Notwithstanding their alarm, the
Philistines did not give way to despair; but like a brave people, which they
were always, the imminence of the danger only stimulated them to the more
strenuous exertions for victory. They cried to one another: “Be strong, and quit
yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye become not servants unto the
Hebrews, as they have been to you! Quit yourselves like men, and fight!” They
fought: and the victory was given to them, to punish the Hebrews for their
misdoings, and for having engaged in this war without consulting their King, as
well as to teach them that undue confidence in the ark itself was a
superstition, if not an idolatry, apart from a due reliance on God himself,
whose footstool only the ark was. Thirty thousand men of Israel fell in the
battle and pursuit; the guilty sons of Eli were among the slain, and the ark
itself was taken. ELI DIES Eli, blind and old, remained at Shiloh, anxiously
expecting news from the camp; “for his heart trembled for the ark of God;” and
that he might be in the way of receiving the earnest rumors from the war, he sat
watching by the wayside. One day he heard an outcry in the town, which had been
occasioned by the news brought by one of the fugitives from the battle. This
man, with his clothes rent and dust upon his head, soon came before the
high-priest and gave to him the tidings, that Israel fled before the
Philistines--that there had been a great slaughter-that his two sons, Hophni and
Phinehas, were slain--and that the ark of God was taken! No sooner had the last
words passed the lips of the messenger, than the high-priest fell backward from
off his seat; and being old and heavy, his neck was broken in the fall. Soon
after the news of all these calamities was carried to the wife of Phinehas; on
hearing which she was taken with the pains of labor, and died, after she had
looked upon the son to whom she gave birth, and given him the sad name of
Ichabod (Inglorious); for she said, “The glory is departed from Israel; for the
ark of Jehovah, the God of Israel, is taken.” These incidents serve to evince
the depth of that astonishment and grief with which the loss of the ark was
regarded. ARK TROUBLES PHILISTINES The Philistines soon found that they had
small cause to rejoice in the glorious trophy they had won; and most
convincingly was it made known to them that the Israelites had been defeated for
the punishment of their sins, which rendered them unworthy of their God's
protection, and not through his want of power to save. The Philistines certainly
considered that they had taken captive the god of the Hebrews, and could, on the
principles of pagan idolatry, hardly fail to attribute it to the superior power
of Dagon, their own god. Yet they still must have had a very salutary dread of
the God of Israel; and while they could not but regard the ark as the proudest
of their trophies, it was probably more with the view of propitiating him, by
associating him with their own god, than by way of insult, that they deposited
the conquered ark in the temple of their Dagon at Azotus. But God disdained this
dishonoring alliance; and twice the Philistines found their idol overthrown, and
the second time broken to pieces, before the ark of God. And further to
demonstrate his power in such a way as might include a. punishment for their
idolatry and for the abominations connected with it, the Lord smote the people
of the place with Ethiopian Car drawn by Oxen Indian Car drawn by Oxen
hemorrhoids, or the piles, with a mortal destruction. The land also swarmed with
jerboas, whereby the products of the fields were consumed. Attributing these
calamities to the presence of the ark, they sent it to Gath, where it remained
until the pressure of the same inflictions compelled them to send it from them.
It was taken to Ekron, another of the five metropolitan cities of Philistia. The
Ekronites received it with terror, crying, “They have brought round to us the
ark of the God of Israel to slay us and our people.” They therefore, in an
assembly of “the lords of the Philistines,” proposed that the ark should be sent
back to its own place in the land of Israel. This was determined; nor was the
determination too soon, for already the hand of God was so heavy upon Ekron,
that “the cry of the city, went up to the heavens.” And that it might be sent
away with all honor, the diviners, who were consulted as to the best means of
giving effect to the intention which had been formed, counseled that five golden
hemorrhoids, and five golden mice, one from each of the Philistine states,
should be deposited in a coffer beside the ark, as a trespass-offering: for even
thus early the custom had come into use of making votive offerings representing
the instruments of affliction, or of the parts afflicted, to the god to whom the
infliction or the cure was attributed. That they might give the glory to the God
of Israel, and not harden their hearts as did the Egyptians, and thereby bring
upon themselves the punishments of that people, were the reasons by which this
course of conduct was enforced. And they are remarkable as showing the effect,
even at this remote date, upon the neighboring nations, of the wonders of
judgment and deliverance which had been wrought in the land of Egypt. ARK SENT
ON CART To testify all possible respect, the ark was placed in a new car, to
which were yoked two kine, whose necks had never before been subjected to the
yoke. Their calves were tied up at home; and, by the advice of the priests, it
was concluded to leave the cows free to take their own course: if the animals
went away from their calves to the land of Israel, it was to be inferred that a
right judgment had been formed of the cause from which their calamities
proceeded; but if not, they might conclude that it had been the result of
natural causes. From such incidents the heathen were even thus early accustomed
to conjecture the will of their gods. In this case, no sooner were the kine set
free than they turned their backs upon their young, and took the road toward the
town of Bethshemesh in Judah, being the nearest city of the Levites toward the
Philistine frontier. It was the time of the wheat-harvest, when the people of
the town were abroad in the valley reaping the fruits of their fields. They
beheld the ark advancing with great gladness; and when the kine stopped of their
own accord, near a great stone, in a field belonging to one Joshua, the Levites
who were present detached them from the car, and offered them up in sacrifice
upon that stone before the ark. And the stone being thus consecrated by
sacrifice, the ark was removed from the car and deposited thereon. The five
lords of the Philistines, who Monumental Pillars in Syria had followed the car
to the borders of Bethshemesh (which was twelve miles distant from Ekron), and
who had stood witnessing these proceedings, now returned home, well convinced
that it was the hand of the God of Israel by which they had been smitten. The
ark had been in their hands seven months. ELEAZAR GIVEN THE HOLY ARK The
adventures of the ark, and its constant exposure to their sight, begat in the
Bethshemites a familiarity toward it, inconsistent with the respect due to
Jehovah, and which it was highly necessary to repress. When therefore their
familiarity went so far that they ventured to raise the cover of the ark, to
gratify their curiosity with a view of its contents, sixty of their
number--principal persons of the place--were smitten with death. On this the
people cried, with great consternation, “Who is able to stand before this holy
God, Jehovah? and to whom shall he go from us?” They decided to invite the
people of Kirjath-jearim to take the ark away. They did so, and deposited it in
the house of Abinadab “upon the hill.” This person set apart his son Eleazar to
take the charge of it--to preserve it from pollution, and to keep all things
clean and orderly about it. Thus it remained about eighty-two years. Why it was
not returned to Shiloh does not very clearly appear. Probably no command on the
subject was given; and from the experience which the Israelites now had of the
jealousy with which its sanctity was guarded, they were afraid to remove it with
out express orders. Besides, at this time the people were again far gone into
idolatrous practices, which made them comparatively indifferent about the ark;
and it is not unlikely that the reaction of the sentiment of astonishment and
grief with which its loss had been regarded, did much to impair that veneration
of which it had been the object. Add to this that they had been without the ark
for seven months, in the course of which they had accustomed their minds to the
want of it, and had learned to regard it as less essential to them than it had
before seemed. The tabernacle still remained at Shiloh, which continued to be
the seat of the appointed ministrations, until it was removed, in the reign of
Saul, to Nob, probably to consequence of the destruction of Shiloh in the
Philistine war (1 Samuel 14:3; Jeremiah 7:12-14). For their idolatries and
alienation, the Hebrews were punished by twenty years continuance (including the
seven months of the ark's absence) of their subjection to the Philistines.
SAMUEL GIVEN CIVIL GOVERNMENT It is usually stated that Samuel succeeded Eli. He
was then little more than twenty years of age; and although, as his years
advanced, he doubtless acquired much authority among the people from the
influence of his character and position, there is no evidence that it was any
other than that which prophets usually exercised. It rather appears from the
text that it was after the twenty years of further servitude to the Philistines,
that Samuel was publicly called to assume the civil government. SAMUEL CALLS FOR
DEDICATION TO GOD At the end of these twenty years the people “lamented after
the Lord,” or repented of the sins by which they had alienated themselves from
him, and were disposed to return to their allegiance. Samuel then came forward
in his prophetic character, and promised them deliverance from the Philistines,
if they would put away the strange gods--the Baals and Ashtaroths (representing
the sun and moon), and devote them selves to the exclusive service of Jehovah.
His directions were followed; and he then convened an assembly of all Israel at
Mizpeh, here they held a solemn fast and humiliation for their sins, and poured
out water before Jehovah, as expressive of their despondency or grief. And to
testify their good intentions for the future, the prophet himself was there
invested by them with the authority of a “judge.” THE PHILISTINES ATTACK ISRAEL
The Philistines took umbrage at this great assembly in Mizpeh, which, they
rightly judged, boded no good to the continuance of their dominion. They
assembled their forces and marched to that place to disperse the congregation.
The people, not being prepared for war, were filled with alarm on the approach
of their enemies, and besought Samuel to cry to Jehovah for them, that he might
save them from the hand of the Philistines. Samuel did so with great
earnestness; and he was in the act of offering up a lamb as a burnt-offering,
when the Philistines drew near to battle. The prayers of the prophet were then
answered by a terrible storm of thunder and lightning, by which the enemy were
alarmed and confounded, while the Israelites, recognizing the sign, were inspire
inspired with sudden and indomitable courage. They fell impetuously upon the
force they had so lately dreaded, and slew vast numbers of them, chasing the
remainder as far as Betchcar. In memory of this great victory, Samuel set up a
memorial-stone, and gave it the name of Ebenezer (the help-stone), saying,
“Hitherto Jehovah hath helped us.” PEACE IN REGION UNDER SAMUEL This very
brilliant victory broke the spirit of the Philistines for many years. They were
obliged to restore all their conquests from the Israelites; and, for many years
to come, they kept carefully within their, own territories, and abstained from
any hostile acts against the Hebrews. Their example was followed by the other
neighbors of Israel, which hence enjoyed the felicity of a profound peace during
the entire period of Samuel's sole administration. SAMUEL AS JUDGE This
excellent judge administered justice regularly to the tribes in his annual
circuit, which he took to the places of sacred stones at Bethel, Gilgal, and
Mizpeh, and constantly at his own place of abode at Ramah, where he built an
altar to Jehovah. This was probably by the divine permission or direction, at
least for the present, as God had not yet given any declaration where the ark
was to be fixed. SAMUEL'S SONS The sole administration of Samuel lasted twelve
years; dating it, as we do, from the end of the Philistine servitude, and not
from the death of Eli. Near the close of this period, when the prophet was
“growing old and gray-headed,” being sixty-four years of age, he appointed his
sons, Joel and Abiah, to act for him at Bethel and Beersheba. But they walked
not in the steps of their father. “They turned aside after lucre, and took
bribes, and perverted judgment.” ISRAEL WANTS A KING This misconduct of his
sons, with his own advancing age, and the seemingly unsettled state in which the
government would be left at his death, were among the causes which at this time
induced the elders of Israel to resort to Samuel at Ramah, and to demand of him
that a king should be appointed to reign over them, as in other nations. ISRAEL
WANTS REGULAR JUSTICE The causes which we have just stated, together with the
regular administration of justice to which Samuel had accustomed them,
occasioned the demand, it would seem, at this particular time; but there were
deeper causes which would unquestionably have brought them to this point ere
long, if it had not now. These causes have been well discriminated by Jahn.
ISRAEL WANTS UNITY This able writer justly refers the frequent interruptions to
the welfare of the Hebrew state under-the judges to--“1. The effeminacy and
cowardice of the people; and, 2, to the disunion and jealousy of the tribes, who
never assisted each other with the requisite zeal and alacrity. But as this
effeminacy arose from the vices of idolatry, and their cowardice from a want of
confidence in Jehovah; so the disunion and jealousy of the tribes, though
selfishness was the immediate cause, arose from a disposition to neglect their
divine king, and not to consider themselves as the united and only people of
Jehovah. This disposition; if it did not originate from, was at least very much
heightened by the multiplication of deities. Thus both these causes of their
misfortunes owed their origin to idolatry, that great cause of all their
calamities, so often mentioned in the sanctions of the law. Thus the people, by
increasing their gods, enervated themselves, and prepared for themselves those
sufferings and chastisements by which they were again to be brought back to
their King, Jehovah.” ISRAEL WANTS PROTECTION FROM THREATS He proceeds to
observe that “These causes of national misfortune were all in operation at the
time of Samuel, and threatened to produce after his death still greater
calamities. The tribes beyond the Jordan had formidable enemies in the Ammonites
and the southern tribes in the Philistines, while the northern tribes stood
aloof from the dangers of their more exposed countrymen. The latter seems to
have been the principal reason why the rulers in general assembly requested a
king. The tribes in southern Palestine and beyond the Jordan were the most
earnest for this change in the government; they feared that the death of Samuel
would leave them without a supreme magistrate, and that the nation being again
disunited, they should be left to their fate. The degeneracy of Samuel's sons,
who had been appointed subordinate judges, or deputies, increased their
apprehensions. They, therefore, strenuously insisted on their demand. “Nay, but
we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations.” They had
reason to hope that a king invested with supreme authority might be able to
unite the power of the whole nation and protect each tribe with the collected
strength of all; that under him the affairs of government would be more promptly
administered and necessary aid more readily afforded; that if he were a man
devoted to Jehovah, he could more effectually repress or prevent idolatry, and
thus place the welfare of the state on a more solid foundation. They might
imagine themselves justified in this request as Moses had taken it for granted
that the nation would eventually have a king, and the same thing had been
promised to their great progenitor Abraham. It conduces greatly to the honor of
the Hebrews that they attempted this change in their constitution, not by their
own power, but in accordance with the principles of the theocracy; they
requested it of their king, Jehovah, by the intervention of a prophet, and they
effected it without bloodshed--a manifest proof that the time of the fudges was
neither what is usually understood by a 'barbarous' nor an 'heroic age.'” SAMUEL
WARNS OF DANGERS But as all the objects which they desired to realize were
attainable under the theocracy, were they but faithful to its principles and
engagements; and as the unseen king, Jehovah, would necessarily be obscured by a
subordinate, visible monarch, he, by means of Samuel, gave the rulers to
understand his disapprobation of their request; and at the same time represented
to them the burdens they would have to bear under a king, especially how easily
he might be led to imitate other oriental monarchs, and to disregard the law of
Jehovah. The picture which was then drawn by Samuel exhibits in a lively manner
the character of the monarchies which at that time existed in the east, and
enables us to ascertain that, whatever changes may have taken place in
particular states, the monarchical principle as it then existed has been
preserved to this day in its full vigor in the east. This is so true, that there
is no royal usage mentioned by Samuel which may not be illustrated and explained
from the modern sovereignties of that part of the world. The statement must have
seemed the more effective from the implied contrast to the mild and gentle
character of that service which the Lord, as king of Israel, had required.
Samuel reminded them that their kings would soon fall into the state of other
monarchs, to support which the heaviest exactions upon their persons and estates
would become necessary. He would take their young men and employ them as
charioteers and horsemen, and even (according to the Egyptian custom) as runners
before and about his chariot. A standing army would deprive them of the valuable
services of their young men; and if this were not enough, the king of a future
day would “take them to till his ground and to make his instruments of war and
the furniture of his chariots.” In like manner the daughters of Israel, who
should marry and bring up children; would be largely taken to minister to the
luxury of the court as “confectioners and bakers.” Nor would he much scruple to
take the chosen and best of their male and female slaves, as well as their
laboring cattle, and “put them to his own work.” And then to support his
expenses, the heaviest exactions would be necessary, and although the kingly
tenth were already appropriated to Jehovah, the divine king, not the less would
their human king exact his kingly dues; thus, in fact, rendering their burdens
greater than those of any other nation. A clear intimation was also given them
of the danger to which their landed possessions would be ultimately exposed
under the form of government which they so much desired. For the expression, “He
will take the best of your fields, and of our vineyards, and of your
olive-yards, and give them to his servants,” manifestly refers to the fact that,
inasmuch as their true king, Jehovah, was the sovereign proprietor of the soil,
and as such had long before distributed the whole in inalienable estates among
the people, whatever human king they might have, would necessarily stand in the,
then and there, peculiar position, being only a civil governor, and not, like
the neighboring king, also the territorial sovereign; and that hence, wanting
the means of providing for his family and servants which other kings possessed,
he would be tempted to avail himself of all kinds of pretences to dispossess
them of the lands which they held from their divine king. “His servants ye will
become,” concludes the prophet. “And ye shall cry out in that day because of the
king that ye have chosen: but Jehovah will not hear you in that day.”
ARISTOCRACIES END IN MONARCHIES The purpose of the people was, however, too
firmly fixed to be shaken even by this discouraging representation. An
acquiescence in their demand was therefore reluctantly conceded, probably, as
Jahn conjectures, “because the desired change was requested of the invisible
King in a lawful manner, through the mediation of his prophet, and because, in
the present disposition of the nation, it might be effected without bloodshed.
If the remark of Polybius be in all cases true, that 'all aristocracies and
democracies terminate at last in monarchy,'[253] this change must have taken
place in some future time, and perhaps might have been attended with civil war.
[253] Hist. lib. v. 6-7 RULES FOR ISRAEL'S KING “By this alteration of the
constitution the theocracy was indeed thrown somewhat into the shade, as it was
no longer so manifest that God was the king of the Hebrews. Still however, as
the principles of the theocracy were interwoven with the Runners attending a
Chariot fundamental and unchangeable laws of the state, their influence did not
entirely cease, but the elected king was to act as the viceroy and vassal of
Jehovah. On this account Moses had already established the following regulations
(Deuteronomy 17:14-20): “1. That the Hebrews, whenever they adopted the
monarchical form of government, should raise only those to the throne who were
chosen by Jehovah himself. As monarchs (called kings of kings) were accustomed
to appoint sub-kings, or viceroys, in the several provinces of their dominions,
so was the king of the Hebrews to be called to the throne by Jehovah, to receive
the kingdom from him, and in all respects to consider himself as his
representative, viceroy, and vassal. On this occasion the will of Jehovah was to
be made known by a prophet, or by means of Urim and Thummim, and the viceroy
elect was to prove himself an instrument of God by protecting the commonwealth
against its foes. The succession of the royal house was to depend on the will of
God, to be made known by his prophets. “2. Moses had likewise ordained that the
new king should be a native Israelite. Thus foreigners were excluded from the
throne, even though they should be proposed by false prophets; for, being
heathens, they might transgress the fundamental law of the state by the
introduction of idolatry; or, at least, it might be difficult for them to rule
in all respects as the vassals of Jehovah. This regulation had reference merely
to free elections, and was by no means to be understood; as it was explained by
Judas of Galilee (Acts 5:37) and the Zealots during the last war with the
Romans, that the Hebrews were not to submit to these foreign powers, under whose
dominion they were brought by an all-directing Providence. On the contrary,
Moses himself had predicted such events, and Jeremiah and Ezekiel earnestly
exhorted their countrymen to surrender quietly to the Chaldeans.” SAUL ELECTED
KING Upon such conditions the choice of a king was permitted, according to law;
and in the year 1110 B.C., 538 years after the exodus, the first election took
place. Saul, the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, went forth about this
time with a servant to seek some strayed asses belonging to his father. For
three days the search was fruitless; and then finding himself near Ramah, the
stated residence of Samuel, he resolved to go and consult him; for it was known
to all Israel that nothing was hidden from the man of God. According to the
still subsisting custom of the East, no one could, with: the least propriety,
present himself before a man in authority, and still less before a person of so
sacred a character as Samuel bore, without some present, however small, in token
of his respect and homage. But although the toil and travel-stained stranger who
appeared before the prophet could only lay before him the worth of seven-pence
halfpenny in silver, he was received with particular notice and honor; for it
had been specially revealed to Samuel that on that day and at that hour the
destined king of Israel would present himself before him. The prophet assured
Saul that his father had found the asses, and began now to be anxious about his
son. Nevertheless, he urged him to stay with him over the night, and partake of
a feast which he had provided; at the same time conveying to him a slight
intimation of the splendid fortunes which were in store for him; to which, with
modest self-withdrawment, Saul replied, “Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest
of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the
tribe of Benjamin? Wherefore then speakest thou so to me?” Part of this must be
attributed to the Oriental forms of self-detraction; for although Benjamin was
certainly the smallest of the tribes-as it had not recovered the serious blow
inflicted by aft the other tribes-it appears from the history that the family of
Kish was of some consideration in Benjamin. In consequence of the intimation he
had previously received, Samuel had against this time prepared an entertainment,
to which thirty principal persons of the place had been invited. Samuel
conducted the stranger to the room in which these guests were assembled, and led
him to the corner seat of honor; and when the meat was served, directed the most
honorable joint-the shoulder-to be set before him. SAUL ANOINTED KING Being
summer, the bed for Saul was made on the house-top; and before he lay down,
Samuel communed with him there, probably to ascertain his sentiments and
character, and to acquaint him with the true nature of that form of kingly
government which he was destined to establish. Early in the morning the prophet
called Saul to depart, and walked forth with him. After a time Samuel directed
the servant to pass on before; and then the prophet, desiring Saul to stand
still, that he might show him the purposes of God, produced a vial of oil, and
poured it upon his A Meeting near Mount Tabor head, thus anointing him “captain
over the Lord's inheritance.” He then kissed him, and to confirm his faith,
proceeded to tell him all the incidents that would occur to him during his
journey home, and to encourage him, under the sense he entertained of his own
inferior claims to such a distinction, assured him that on the way, and through
the divine influence, the needful qualifications should grow upon him, so that
he should seem to receive another[254] heart and to become another man. [254]
Another, not new; a distinction which, from the Scriptural acceptation of the
word new, together with the after conduct of Saul, it may be important to note.
SAUL ENCOURAGED BY INCIDENTS On his way home all happened to Saul which the
prophet had foreshown; and some of the incidents are too illustrative of the
manners of the time to pass unnoticed. In the plain of Tabor he was met by three
men who were proceeding to the place of sacred stones in Bethel, to worship God
there. One of them carried three kids, intended as a sacrifice for each of their
number; another had three loaves of bread; and the third a leather bottle of
wine, all evidently intended to be used with the flesh of the kids in an
offering-feast. They gave Saul the salutation of peace--such as travelers give
each other by the way--probably the usual “Peace be unto thee!” which is no
other than the common Salam aleikoom of the modern East; and they gave him two
of the three loaves of bread which they had with them. SAUL AMONG THE PROPHETS
As Saul went on to Gibeah in Benjamin, which seems to have been called “the hill
of God,” either because there was here a “high-place” consecrated to the worship
of God, or because it was the seat of a “school of the prophets,” or a kind of
college where young men were instructed in the duties of religion, in the
knowledge of the law, in psalmody, and other religious exercises. Or it may have
been so called for both these reasons, for both existed. As Saul drew nigh he
perceived a company of these prophets returning from the high-place where they
had been to worship; and as they went they sang the praises of God to the sound
of the psaltery, the tabret, the pipe, and the harp. As they drew nigh the
Spirit of God came upon him, as Samuel had predicted, and he became as another
man. He joined the prophets, and sang the raises of God with them. And when
those to whom he was known (for this was in his own tribe and neighborhood)
witnessed this sudden endowment of the untaught husbandman they were much
astonished, and said one to another, “What is this that is come unto the son of
Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” Whence this last expression passed into
a proverb, applied to one found in society with which his previous habits had
not prepared him to mingle. It may be seen, however, that this incident would
serve in a very conspicuous manner to direct attention to the person and
character of Saul. SAUL PROCLAIMED KING Samuel, in parting from Saul, had
appointed a future meeting at Gilgal, to which place of sacred stones he
convoked all Israel for the election of a king. As on other occasions, the
choice of God was to be manifested by lot, which would also tend to prevent
jealousies and the suspicion of partiality on the part of Samuel. In the usual
manner of successive indications, the tribe of Benjamin was taken by the lot
from the several tribes; then the family of Matri from the families of that
tribe; then the house of Kish from the family of Matri; and, lastly, Saul from
the household of Kish. But Saul was not to be found. Well assured of the result,
he had not formed one in the assembly, but had, from modesty, kept himself apart
among the baggage. When his retreat was discovered, he was led forward into the
midst of the congregation; and the mass of the people observed with complacency
that the elected king was of most noble presence, in the full prime of life,
comely and tall, being higher by the head and shoulders than any of those among
whom he stood. On such a man, in a rude age, when personal qualities are the
most valued, the suffrages of all men would have centered, regarding him as
pointed out by nature for rule and dominion. And so far did this feeling operate
even on Samuel, that with evident pride that, since there must be a king, the
divine choice had fallen on one who must seem in the eyes of all men so well
qualified to dignify his high office, he thus proclaimed him to the people: “See
ye him whom Jehovah hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the
people.” And the people, responding to that feeling, raised at once the shout of
recognition, “Long live the king!” In concluding the present chapter, we are
reluctant to withhold from the reader the very interesting survey which Jahn has
taken of the office of the judges, and of A Musical Procession the condition of
Israel under their administration. This survey is embodied in the ensuing
paragraphs, but having modified several passages to suit them to the views which
we have ourselves developed, we abstain from giving them the form of a direct
quotation. JUDGES WERE CIVIL LEADERS From what has been already said respecting
the judges and their achievements, we can ascertain, with a tolerable degree of
certainty, the nature of their office. Most of them, indeed, had been at the
head of armies, and delivered their country from foreign oppression: Eli and
Samuel, however, were not military men. Deborah was judge before she planned the
war against Jabin; and of Jair, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon, it is at least uncertain
whether they ever held any military command. Judges are mentioned in the Mosaic
law, in connection with the high-priest, as arbiters of civil controversies,
without any allusion to war. (Deuteronomy 17:9.) In like manner, the judges who
were appointed over Tyre after King Baal were certainly not military officers,
for the city was at that time tributary to Babylon. The command of the army can
therefore be scarcely considered as the peculiar distinction of these
magistrates. But as in ancient times the duties of a judge were reckoned among
the first and most important duties of a ruler, so the Hebrew judges appear to
have been appointed for the general administration of public affairs, and the
command of the army fell to them as the supreme executive officers. In many
cases, it is true, military achievements were the means whereby men elevated
themselves to the rank of judges; but our inquiry is, not how the office was
obtained, but for what purposes it was instituted. It may, however, be proper to
recollect that Jephthah and Samuel, and, for aught that appears, Jair, Elon,
Ibzan, and Abdon, were raised to this office by the free, unsolicited voice of
the people. JUDICIAL OFFICE The office of these judges or regents was held
during life, but it was not hereditary, neither could they appoint their
successors. This arrangement might seem to be attended with the disadvantage
that at the death of a judge the supreme executive authority ceased; but on
consideration it will appear that these civil functions devolved on the
high-priest, or rather were inherent to his high office, and were called into
operation in the absence of any person more especially appointed to exercise
them. And, without this, the apparent disadvantage would be more than
counterbalanced by its preventing a degenerate heir or successor from giving to
idolatry the support of his influence. This authority was limited by the law
alone; and in doubtful cases they were directed by the sacred Oracle (Numbers
27:21). They were not obliged in common cases to ask advice of the ordinary
rulers; it was sufficient that they did not remonstrate against the measures of
the judge. In important emergencies, however, they convoked a general assembly
of the rulers, over which they presided and exerted a powerful influence. They
could issue orders, but not enact laws; they could neither levy taxes nor
appoint officers, except perhaps in the army. Their authority extended only over
those tribes by whom they had been elected or acknowledged; for, as has been
before remarked, several of the judges presided over separate tribes. There was
no salary attached to their office, nor was there any income appropriated to
them, unless it might be a larger share of the spoils, and those presents which
were made to them as testimonials of respect (Judges 8:24). They had no external
marks of dignity, and maintained no retinue of courtiers, though some of them
were very opulent. They were not only simple in their manners, moderate in their
desires, and free from avarice and ambition, but noble and magnanimous men, who
felt that whatever they did for their country was above all reward, and could
not be recompensed; who desired merely to promote the public good, and chose
rather to deserve well of their country than to be enriched by its wealth. This
exalted patriotism, like everything else connected with politics in the
theocratic state of the Hebrews, was partly of a religious character; and those
regents always conducted themselves as the officers of God; in all their
enterprises they relied upon him, and their only care was that their countrymen
should acknowledge the authority of Jehovah, their invisible King (Judges 8:22,
et seq.; comp. Hebrews 11). Still they were not without faults, neither are they
so represented by their historians; they relate, on the contrary, with the
utmost frankness, the great sins of which some of them were guilty. They were
not merely deliverers of the state from a foreign yoke, but destroyers of
idolatry, foes of pagan vices, promoters of the knowledge of God, of religion,
and of morality; restorers of theocracy in the minds of the Hebrews, and
powerful instruments of divine Providence in the promotion of the great design
of preserving the Hebrew constitution, and by that means of rescuing the true
religion from destruction. PERIOD MOSTLY PROSPEROUS By comparing the periods
during which the Hebrews were oppressed by their enemies with those to which
they were independent and governed by their own constitution, it is apparent
that the nation in general experienced much more prosperity than adversity in
the time of the judges: their dominion continued four hundred and seventy-two
years; but the whole period of foreign oppression amounts only to one hundred
and thirty-one years, scarcely a fourth part of that period. Even during these
years of bondage the whole nation was seldom under the yoke at the same time,
but, for the most part, separate tribes only were held in servitude; nor were
their oppressions always very severe; and all the calamities terminated in the
advantage and glory of the people, as soon as they abolished idolatry and
returned to their king, Jehovah. Neither was the nation in such a state of
anarchy at this time as has generally been supposed. There were regular judicial
tribunals at which justice could be obtained; and when there was no supreme
regent, the public welfare was provided for by the high-priest and the ordinary
rulers of the tribes. (Rth_4:1-11; Judges 8:22; 1 Samuel 4:1.) These rulers, it
is true, were jealous of each other, and their jealousies not infrequently broke
out into civil war; but the union of the state was never entirely destroyed.
They were not always provided with arms (Judges 5:8; 1 Samuel 13:19); but yet,
when united under their king, Jehovah, they gained splendid victories. They were
not sufficiently careful to repress idolatry, but they never suffered it to
become universally predominant. The sacred tabernacle was never entirely
deserted and shut up, nor was it ever polluted by the rites of heathen
superstition. These times would certainly not be considered so turbulent as
barbarous, much less would they be taken, contrary to the clearest evidence and
to the analogy of all history, for an “heroic age,”[256] It is thus
characterized by Heeren and other writers. if they were viewed without the
prejudices of preconceived hypothesis. It must never be forgotten that the book
of Judges is by no means a complete history. It is, in a manner, a mere register
of diseases, from which, however, we have no right to conclude that there were
no healthy men, much less that there were no healthy seasons; when the book
itself, for the most part, mentions only a few tribes in which the epidemic
prevailed, and notices long periods during which it had entirely ceased.
Whatever maybe the result of more accurate investigation, it remains undeniable
that the history of the Hebrews during this period perfectly corresponds
throughout to the sanctions of the law; and they were always. prosperous when
they complied with the conditions on which prosperity was promised to them; it
remains undeniable that the government of God was clearly manifested, not only
to the Hebrews, but to their heathen neighbors, that the fulfilling op the
promises and threatenings of the law were so many sensible proofs of the
universal dominion of the divine King of the Hebrews; and, consequently, that
all the various fortunes of that nation were so many means of preserving the
knowledge of God on the earth. The Hebrews had no sufficient reason to desire a
change in their constitution, since all that was necessary was that they should
observe the conditions on which national prosperity had been promised to them.


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  CHAPTER 25: SAUL'S REIGN--HIS WARS--DAVID ANOINTED KING
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SAUL'S REIGN--HIS WARS--DAVID ANOINTED KING SAUL NOT COMPLETELY ACCEPTED The
election of Saul, though generally approved, did not meet with universal
acceptance. In one point of view, the choice of a person belonging to a neutral
and powerless tribe was calculated to obviate the rivalries of the two great
tribes of Ephraim and Judah, who probably both thought that they had the better
right to the distinction, but neither of whom were likely to agree that the
other should have had it. But, on the other hand, Saul himself was not likely to
derive the more respect from this neutral and politically insignificant position
which prevented the mutual jealousies of these great rivals. But seeing that the
tribe of Benjamin was, from its geographical position, closely connected with,
and in some degree dependant on that of Judah, it is more probable that the
dissentients, “the children of Belial,” who despised Saul, and said, “How shall
this man save us?” were of the haughty and turbulent tribe of Ephraim. Samuel
left it to the people themselves to settle the money price they were to pay for
their new luxury; and, although he had foreshown the exactions which the regal
state would in the end render necessary, it was not his object to give his
sanction to that which he had announced as a contingent evil. Besides the
external organization of the new government was left to be developed by
circumstances, the prophet having only cared to secure the principles. Saul was
left to grow into his position and its privileges, while Samuel continued to
administer the civil government: for it is to be borne to mind that Samuel
continued to judge Israel all the days of his life, which did not terminate
until thirty-eight years after the election of Saul, who himself outlived the
prophet but two years. The position of Saul was, therefore, for the greater part
of his reign, chiefly that of a military leader, while Samuel continued to
discharge the civil part of the regal office, to which it was probably obvious
that Saul was not competent. The kingdom, properly speaking, was not
established, not developed under Saul, but only begun with him. And this it is
necessary to understand, if we would clearly apprehend the growth of that
monarchical principle which was only planted with Saul. After his election at
Gilgal, the king returned to his own home at Gibeah, where such “presents” were
brought him by the people as oriental kings usually receive, and which form no
inconsiderable portion of their ordinary revenue. As the product of these
offerings was probably more than adequate to the present wants and expectations
of the king, who as yet assumed no regal state, the question as to the permanent
support of the kingly government was not yet pressed upon the attention of
either the people or the king. The discontented parties, however, “brought him
no presents.” Saul took no notice of their insults, but wisely “held his peace.”
SAUL CHALLENGES AMMONITES Very soon after Saul's election, the Ammonites, under
their king Nahash, marched into the old disputed territory beyond Jordan, and
laid siege to the important city of Jabesh Gilead. The inhabitants, avowing
their impotence, offered to submit to the condition of paying tribute to the
Ammonites; but the insulting and barbarous king refused to receive their
submission on any other terms than that the right eye of every one of them
should be extinguished, that they might remain as so many living monuments of
his victory. Here again was a barbarity of which the Israelites were never
guilty, even in thought. The people of Jabesh Gilead were so distressed that
they dared not absolutely refuse even these merciless conditions, but besought a
grace of seven days for deliberation. This they did with the hope that the
tribes on the other side the river might, in the interval, be roused by the news
to appear for their deliverance. Nor was their hope in vain. Saul no sooner
received the intelligence than he at once and decidedly stood up in his position
of a hero and a king, claiming the obedience of the people, whom he summoned to
follow him to the deliverance of Jabesh Gilead. This call was readily obeyed;
for it ran in the names of Saul and Samuel, and was conveyed in that imperative
and compulsory form, which it was not, under any circumstances, judged safe to
disobey. For he hewed a yoke of oxen in pieces, and sent the pieces by the hands
of swift messengers to all Israel, calling them, by all the penalties of that
well-known and dreaded sign, to follow him. All Israel obeyed with one consent.
All the men, of age to bear arms, quitted their several labors, and hastened
from all parts to the plain of Bezek, where Saul numbering his army, found it to
consist of three hundred and thirty thousand men, of whom thirty thousand were
of Judah, which seems rather an inadequate proportion for so large a tribe. It
being already the sixth day, Saul sent to apprize the citizens of Jabesh Gilead
of the help which was preparing for them, and which they might expect to receive
on the morrow, being the very day they were to surrender their eyes to the
Ammonites. Accordingly, in the morning, the king, having marched all night,
appeared before Jabesh, at the head of his army, invested the camp of the
Ammonites, and falling upon them on three different sides, overthrew them with a
great slaughter. So complete was the rout, that those who escaped were so broken
and dispersed, that no two could be found together. SAUL ADMIRED OVER VICTORY
Saul in this action displayed a large measure of those heroic qualities which
the ancient nations most desired their monarchs to possess. Considering all the
circumstances, the promptitude and energy of his decision, the speed with which
he collected an immense army and brought it into action, and the skill and good
military conduct of the whole transaction, there are probably few operations of
the Hebrew history which more recommend themselves to the respect and admiration
of a modern soldier. Its effect was not lost upon the people, who joyfully
recognized in their king the qualities which have generally been held most
worthy of rule; and so much was their enthusiasm excited, that they began to
talk of putting to death the small minority who had refused to recognize his
sovereignty. But Samuel interposed to prevent an act unbecoming a day in which
“God had wrought salvation in Israel.” So harsh a proceeding would also have
been rather likely to provoke than allay the disaffection of the leading tribes.
SAMUEL INVITES ARMY Samuel then invited the army, which comprehended in fact the
effective body of the Hebrew people, to proceed to Gilgal, there solemnly to
confirm the kingdom to Saul, seeing that now his claims were undisputed by any
portion of the people. This was done with great solemnity, and with abundant
sacrifices of peace and joy. SAMUEL ASKS FOR THUNDERSTORM But lest this
solemnity, which was obviously designed to remind the people of their continued
dependence on Jehovah, should be construed into an approbation and sanction of
all their proceedings, the prophet took this public occasion of reminding them
that their proceeding had been most unpleasing to their Divine King; although,
if they maintained their fidelity to him and to the principles of the theocracy,
some of the evil consequences might be averted. He also neglected not the
opportunity of justifying his own conduct and the purity of his administration.
He challenged assembled Israel to produce one instance of oppression, fraud, or
corruption, on his part, while he had been their sole judge; and in that vast
multitude not one voice was raised to impugn his integrity and uprightness. He
then proceeded to remind them of their past transgressions, in forgetting or
turning astray from their God, with the punishments which had invariably
followed, and the deliverances which their repentance had procured; showing
them, by these instances, the sufficiency of their Divine Sovereign to rule
them, and to save them from their enemies, without the intervention of an
earthly king, whom they had persisted in demanding. And he assured them that,
under their regal government, public sins would not come to be visited with
public calamities. To add the greater weight to his words, and to evince the
divine displeasure, the commissioned prophet called down thunder and rain from
heaven, then at the usual season of wheat harvest, when the air is usually, in
that country, serene and cloudless. On this the people were greatly alarmed at
the possible consequences of the displeasure they had provoked, and besought
Samuel to intercede for them. The prophet kindly encouraged them to hope that if
they continued to trust faithfully in God, all would yet be well; and he assured
them of continued intercession on their behalf, and of his services as a civil
judge or teacher--for that the omission would be a sin on his own part. SAUL'S
ARMY Saul, now fully established as king, dismissed his numerous army; but he
retained three thousand of their number, two thousand of which he stationed at
Michmash and Bethel, under his own immediate orders, while the other thousand
were at Gibeah of Benjamin, under his eldest son Jonathan. Josephus says that
these formed the body-guard of himself and his son. If so, he began very soon to
act “like the kings of the nations” and to fulfill one part of the predictions
of Samuel as to the course which the kingdom was likely to take. Even supposing
(as we rather do) that he retained this force to be in readiness for the smaller
military operations which he had in view, it is evident that he had already
taken the idea of a standing army, the nucleus of which this body of three
thousand men maybe deemed to have formed. At all events, it may seem as an early
indication of Saul's subsequently besetting public sin, of forgetting his
properly vice-regal character, and his subordination to the Divine King. It was
assuredly a new thing in Israel, and does savor somewhat of a distrust of God's
providence, by which the peculiar people had hitherto been protected and
delivered in every time of need; as well as of an affectation of that
independent authority which “the kings of the nations” took to themselves.
However, as the character of Saul seems to be held generally in more disesteem
than the writers of his history intended, we shall not impute blame to him where
the Scripture does not; but are ready to allow that, under all the
circumstances, the measure was prudent and proper; for it appears that an enemy
was then actually present in the country, whose expulsion the king had then in
view. There were garrisons of the Philistines in the land. How this came to pass
is not very clear. It would seem, however, that in resigning their conquests
after their last defeat, they had retained some hill fortresses, from which they
knew the Hebrews would find it difficult to dislodge them; and that when they
recovered from the blow which was then inflicted upon their power, they
contrived, by the help of this hold which they had in the country, to bring the
southern tribes (at least those of Judah and Benjamin) under a sort of
subjection. Thus when Saul was returning home after having been privately
anointed by Samuel at Ramah, and met the sons of the prophets at Gibeah, we
learn that at that place was “a garrison of the Philistines.” And now we further
learn that the Hebrews had in fact been disarmed by that people. According to
that jealous policy of which other examples will ultimately be offered, they had
even removed all the smiths of Israel. lest they should make weapons of war; to
consequence of which the Hebrews were obliged to resort to the Philistines
whenever their agricultural implements needed any other sharpening than that
which a grindstone could give; and as this was an unpleasant alternative, even
these important instruments had been suffered to become blunt at the time to
which we are now come; and so strict had been the deprivation of arms that, in
the military operations which soon after followed, no one of the Israelites,
save Saul and his eldest son, was possessed of a spear or sword. JONATHAN SLAYS
PHILISTINES This was the state of southern Palestine, where Jonathan, acting
doubtless by the orders of his father, attacked and overcame with his thousand
men the Philistine garrison in Gibeah. Encouraged by this success, Saul caused
open war to be proclaimed, by sound of trumpet, against the Philistines, and to
assert his authority over the tribes beyond Jordan, who were but too apt to
regard their interests as separate from those of the other tribes, and who might
think themselves exempt from taking part in a war against a people whose
oppressions had not extended to themselves--Saul directed the proclamation to be
made not only “throughout all the land,” but in a special manner it included
“those beyond Jordan.” They did not disobey; but came with other Israelites,
from all quarters, to the standard of the king at Gilgal. The people generally,
though destitute of proper military weapons, were much inspirited by the success
of Jonathan, and by their confidence to the now tried valor and military conduct
of the king. PHILISTINE ATTACK Meanwhile the Philistines were not heedless of
this movement among the Israelites. No sooner did they hear of the defeat of
their garrison in Gibeah than they assembled a formidable force, which seemed
sufficient to overwhelm all opposition. It was composed of three thousand
chariots of war, six thousand horsemen, and “people as the sand upon the
seashore for multitude.” The enthusiasm of the disarmed Israelites evaporated in
the presence of this powerful force; and the army of Saul diminished every day,
as great numbers of the men stole away to seek refuge in caves, in woods, in
rocks, to towers, and in pits. SAUL'S SHAMEFUL INDEPENDENCE Saul had exhibited
his inability of understanding his true position, or his disposition to regard
himself as an independent sovereign, by entering upon or provoking this war
without consulting, through Samuel or the priest, the divine will. Although not
formally so declared, it was the well-understood practice of the Hebrew
constitution, that no war against any other than the doomed nations of Canaan
would be undertaken without the previous consent and promised assistance of the
Great King. Yet Saul, without any such authority, had taken measures which were
certain to produce a war with the Philistines. He probably thought that the
aggressions of the Philistines, and their existing position as the oppressors of
Israel, and their intrusion into the Hebrew territory, made his undertaking so
obviously just and patriotic as to render a direct authorization superfluous, as
its refusal could not be supposed: nor are we quite sure that in this he was
mistaken. Be this as it may, Samuel was not willing that such a precedent should
be established; and therefore he had appointed to meet Saul on a particular day
at Gilgal, “to offer burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and to show him what
he should do,” that is, both to propitiate the Lord, as on other occasions, and
to advise Saul how to act in carrying on the war. On the appointed day Samuel
did not arrive as soon as the king expected. The prophet probably delayed his
coming on purpose to test his fidelity and obedience. Saul failed in this test.
Seeing his force hourly diminishing by desertions; and in the pride of his
fancied independence, considering that he had as much right as the Egyptian and
other kings to perform the priestly functions, he ordered the victims to be
brought, and offered them himself upon the altar. This usurpation of the
priestly office by one who had no natural authority as an Aaronite, nor any
special authorization as a prophet, was decisive of the character and the fate
of Saul. If the principles of the theocracy were to be preserved, and if the
political supremacy of Jehovah was at all to be maintained, it was Rama
indispensably necessary that the first manifestation by the kings of autocratic
dispositions and of self-willed assumption of superiority to the law, should be
visited by severe examples of punishment; for if not checked in the beginnings,
the growth would have been fatal to the constitution. It will hence appear that
the punishments which Saul incurred for this and other acts manifesting the same
class of dispositions, were not so disproportioned to his offences, or so
uncalled for by the occasions of the state, as some persons have been led to
imagine. SAUL'S APOLOGY TO SAMUEL Saul had scarcely made an end of offering his
sacrifices before he was apprized of the approach of Samuel, and went forth to
meet him. The apology he made to the prophet for what he had done,-that his
force was diminishing, and that he was afraid that if he delayed any longer the
Philistines would fall upon him before sacrifices had been offered to
Jehovah-showed little of that reliance upon the Divine King, which every Hebrew
general was expected to manifest; and but little anxiety to receive these
prophetic counsels which Samuel had promised to deliver. Under nearly similar
circumstances, how different was the conduct of Gideon, who gained immortal
honor by these theocratic sentiments which enabled him to leave to his
successors a memorable example of confidence in God! Samuel saw through the
hollowness of Saul's apology, and warned him that by such sentiments as he
entertained, and such conduct as he manifested, he was rendering himself
unworthy to be the founder of a royal house, inasmuch as he could not-become a
pattern to his successors; and that by persevering in such a course he would
compel the appointment of one more worthy than himself to reign over Israel, and
to be the father of a kingly race. Samuel then retired from Gilgal, leaving Saul
to carry on, as he saw best, the war he had undertaken. SAUL'S RETREAT On
numbering his remaining force, Saul found that but six hundred men remained with
him. With a less force than this, enemies as formidable as the Philistines had
in former times been defeated. But Saul, entirely, overlooking, or distrusting,
that divine assistance which every Hebrew leader in a just war was entitled to
expect, and regarding only the disparity of his force, felt that it would be
imprudent to engage or oppose so vast an army with a mere handful of
disheartened men. He therefore retired from the field, and threw himself into
the reconquered fortress of Gibeah. On discovering his retreat, the Philistines
sent three powerful detachments in different directions to ravage the country,
while the main body of their army still remained encamped near Michmash.
JONATHAN'S SURPRISE ATTACK In this extremity, an entire change was wrought in
the aspect of affairs through the daring valor of Jonathan. Accompanied only by
his armor-bearer, he withdrew secretly from the camp, and, by climbing, opened
himself a passage to one of the outposts of the Philistines, upon the summit of
a cliff, deemed inaccessible, and therefore not very strongly guarded; and
penetrating to the enemy by so new and unexpected a path, he killed the advanced
piquets, and supported by his follower, slew all whom his hand encountered, and
bore disorder and alarm into the camp of the Philistines, then much weakened by
the detachments we have mentioned. The cries which arose from this part of the
camp confounded and terrified the more distant parts; so that, aware of the
presence of an enemy, which yet did not appear to them, they turned their arms
against one another, and destroyed themselves with the blind fury of despairing
men. The clamor which arose in the Philistine camp was heard by the Israelites.
Saul at first was willing to go through the form of consulting the Lord by urim;
but the confusion increasing in the Philistine camp, he deemed it a time for
action rather than counsel; and directing the priest to forbear, he hastened to
join his valiant son, whose absence was now known, and to whom this disorder was
rightly attributed. The enemy were already flying in all directions, and Saul,
with his small band, committed terrible havoc upon the fugitives. While thus
engaged, his force increased with still greater rapidity than it had previously
diminished: for not only did the Hebrew captives take the opportunity of making
their escape and joining their king, but great numbers came forth from their
lurking places to join in the pursuit; so that Saul soon found himself at the
head of six thousand men. The rash and inconsiderate king, in his determination
to make the most of his advantage, laid an interdictive[257] curse upon any of
his people who should taste food until the evening. Not only were the pursuers
weakened and exhausted by the strict abstinence thus enjoined, but Jonathan,
unaware of this interdict, unwittingly transgressed it by tasting a little wild
honey which he met with in his way through a forest. [257] prohibitive command
SAUL ORDERS MEAT PROPERLY PREPARED In the evening, the famished people, being
then released from the interdict, flew ravenously upon the prey of cattle, and,
in their impatience, began to devour the raw and living flesh. This being a
transgression of the law which forbade meat not properly exsanguinated[258] to
be eaten, Saul, who was really rather zealous to observe the law when it did not
interfere with his own objects, interposed, and ordered the meat to be properly
and legally slaughtered and prepared for food. [258] bloodless THE PEOPLE SPARE
JONATHAN The people being now refreshed, Saul proposed to continue the pursuit
during the night, but deemed it prudent first to consult the Lord through the
priest. No answer was given. This Saul interpreted to intimate that his solemn
interdict had been transgressed; and, again unreasoning and rash, he swore that
even were the transgressor his own son Jonathan, he should surely be put to
death. It was Jonathan: the lot determined this. His father told him he must
die; but the people, full of admiration of the young prince, protested that not
a hair of his head should suffer damage, and thus saved his life. SAUL FIGHTS
NEIGHBORS This campaign, although concluded without a battle, was not the less
productive of durable advantage. The glory which Saul acquired by it
strengthened his authority among his own people, and henceforth no enemy to
which he could be opposed seemed invincible to him. We see him, indeed, waging
war, in turn, against Moab, Ammon, and Edom, and against the Amalekites and the
Philistines; and in whatever direction he turned his arms, he obtained the
victory and honor. Valiant himself, he esteemed valor in others; and whenever he
discovered a man of ability and courage, he endeavored to draw him near to
himself, and to attach him to his person. The qualities most prized by Saul were
eminently possessed by his own cousin Abner, and he became “captain of the
host,” or generalissimo of the army of Israel. SAMUEL TELLS SAUL TO FIGHT
AMALEKITES The several expeditions of Saul against the enemies of Israel took
up, at intervals, the space of five or six years. During these years, Samuel,
without further interference in political affairs, continued to watch the civil
interests of the people, and to administer justice between them. The authority
which he still preserved in Israel was very great, and probably not considerably
less than it had been at any former time. About the tenth or eleventh year of
Saul's reign, God made known to the prophet that the iniquity of the Amalekites
had now reached its height, and that the time was fully come when the old
sentence of utter extermination should be executed. Saul was charged with its
execution; and his commission, as delivered to him by Samuel, was expressed in
the most absolute terms, and left the king no option to spare aught that
breathed. Under this supreme order, the king made a general call upon all the
tribes, which brought together an army of two hundred thousand men, among whom
there were but ten thousand men of Judah. The deficiency of that tribe in
supplying its due proportion is probably not noticed by the historian on this
and on a former occasion, without some object; and that object probably was to
convey the intimation that since the scepter had been of old promised to that
tribe, it was discontented at the government of Saul, and less hearty than the
other tribes in its obedience. The king led his army into the territory of
Amalek. There he made the most able disposition of his forces, seized the most
favorable positions, and then turned his advantages against the enemy. A general
action followed, in which the Israelites were victorious, and they pursued the
Amalekites to their most distant and last retreats. AGAG TAKEN ALIVE Agag, the
king, was taken alive with all his riches. Blinded by his ambition and his
avarice to the danger of acting in defiance of a most positive and public
command from God himself, Saul determined to spare the life of Agag, and to
preserve the more valuable parts of all the booty from destruction; but with a
most insulting or weak mockery of obedience, “all that was vile and refuse they
utterly destroyed.” He then led home his triumphant army, and paused in the land
of Eastern Carmel,[259] where he erected a monument of the most important and
distant expedition in which he had hitherto been engaged. He then passed on to
Gilgal. Samuel came to him there soon after his arrival, and at once charged him
with his disobedience. Saul behaved with a degree of confusion and meanness
which we should scarcely have expected from him, and which the consciousness of
wrong-doing only can explain. He affirmed and persisted that he had obeyed the
Divine command, when everything before and around him evinced that he had not.
In the end he confessed that he had acted wrong; but then excused himself by
laying one part of it on the zeal of the people to sacrifice the best of the
cattle to Jehovah, and part to his own fear of restrain, them from it. It was a
great grief to Samuel to hear the king of Israel betray such meanness of soul,
in palliating[260] an unjustifiable action; and, conceding the truth of the
latter statement, he asked with severity, “Hath Jehovah as much delight in burnt
offerings and in sacrifices as in obedience to his voice? Behold, to obey is
better than sacrifice; and to hearken than the fat of rams.” He then continued
authoritatively, as a prophet, to announce his rejection from being the founder
of a royal house, as the fixed purpose of the Divine King whose imperative
commands he had publicly; disobeyed, or assumed a power of dispensing with, to
such an extent as suited his convenience. It would be wrong to consider this as
the sole actor omission for which this rejection was incurred. It was but one of
many acts by which he indicated an utter incapability of apprehending his true
position, and in consequence manifested impositions and conduct utterly at
variance with the principles of government which the welfare of the state,
indeed, the very objects of its foundation, made it most essential to maintain.
Unless the attempts at absolute independence made by Saul were checked, or
visited with some signal mark of the divine displeasure, the precedents
established by the first king were likely to become the rule to future
sovereigns. And hence the necessity, now at the beginning, of peculiar
strictness, or even of severity, for preventing the establishment of bad rules
and precedents for future reigns. [259] On the southwestern borders of the Dead
sea, and which we call “Eastern Carmel” to distinguish it from “Mount Carmel,”
which lies westward, on the Mediterranean. [260] Trying to lessen the
seriousness of something SAUL TEARS SAMUEL'S ROBE Saul at first betrayed more
anxiety about present appearances than ultimate results; and he entreated Samuel
to remain, and honor him in the sight of the people, by joining with him in an
act of worship to Jehovah. Samuel refused; and as he turned to go away, the king
caught hold of the skirt of his robe to detain him, with such force, that the
skirt was rent off. “So hath God,” said the prophet, “rent from thee, this day,
the kingdom of Israel, and given it to thy neighbor who is better than thee. Nor
will he who gives victory to Israel lie or repent; for he is not a man, that he
should repent.” The expression which we have here particularly indicated was
probably intended and understood as a further rebuke for the triumphal monument
which Saul had erected in Carmel, and whereby he seemed to claim to himself that
honor for the recent victory which, under the principles of the theocracy, was
due to God only. Samuel, however, complied with the earnest wish of the king,
and returned with him to the camp. There acting on the stern injunction which
Saul had neglected, the prophet commanded the king of the Amalekites, by whose
sword many mothers in Israel had been made childless, to be put to death. When
the prophet and the king separated, the former proceeded to his usual residence
at Ramah, and went no more to see Saul to the day of his death. Yet as he had a
great regard for a man who, with all his faults, had many good natural qualities
which would well have fitted him for rule in a simple human monarchy, and who,
moreover, was faithful and even zealous for Jehovah, as his God, however
deficient in obedience to him as his king, the prophet continued long to mourn
greatly for him, and to bewail the doom which it had been his painful duty to
declare. SAMUEL TOLD TO ANOINT NEW KING After fifteen years, the Lord rebuked
Samuel for this useless repining, and commanded him to proceed to Bethlehem,
there to anoint the man worthier than Saul, whom he had chosen to fill his
forfeited place, and to become the founder of a royal house. This was a delicate
mission; for Samuel knew enough of Saul to fear that he would not scruple to put
even himself to death if the fact came to his, knowledge. He therefore veiled
his real, object under the form of a public sacrifice, which, in his prophetic
character, he had a right to enjoin. That he still retained his authority as
civil judge is evinced by the alarm which his unexpected visit occasioned to the
elders of Bethlehem, who “trembled” at his coming, for fear it should be not
“peaceably,” but in judgment. SAMUEL ANOINTS DAVID. The family to which Samuel
was sent was that of Jesse, the grandson of Boaz and Ruth, and, as such, a
person of consideration in that place. Jesse was the father of eight sons, all
of whom were present in Bethlehem, save the youngest, David by name, who was
abroad with his father's flock. The whole family was invited by the prophet to
be present at his sacrifice. Samuel knew that the destined king was to be found
among Jesse's sons, but knew not as yet for which of them that distinction was
intended. Still influenced by those general prepossessions in favor of such
personal qualities as he had formerly beheld in Saul with complacency and
admiration, Samuel no sooner beheld the commanding and stately figure of Jesse's
eldest son, Eliab, than he concluded that “the Lord's anointed was before him.”
For this he received the striking rebuke, “Look not on his countenance, or on
the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for Jehovah seeth not as
man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but Jehovah looketh on the
heart.” It further appeared that no one of the other sons of Jesse then present
was the object of the divine choice. On this, Samuel, with some surprise, asked
Jesse whether he had other sons; and learning that the youngest, a mere youth of
fifteen years old, was abroad in the fields, he caused him to be sent for. When
he arrived, Samuel was struck by his uncommonly handsome appearance, especially
by a freshness of complexion unusual in that country, and by the singular fire
and beauty of his eyes. The divine choice was at once intimated to him, “Arise,
anoint him, for this is he!” As in the case of Saul himself, this precious
anointing was significant only of the divine intention and choice. As Saul had
returned to his fields, so David returned to his flock. The path to the throne
was to be opened by circumstances which did not yet appear. The anointing was
the sign and seal of an ultimate intention. For the present David was not more a
king, nor Saul less one, than before. SAUL BECOMES MOODY The doom of exclusion
had been pronounced upon Saul at a time when he was daily strengthening himself
on the throne, and increasing in power, popularity, and fame; and when his
eldest son, Jonathan, stood, and deserved to stand, so high in the favor of all
the people, that no man could, according to human probabilities, look upon any
one else as likely to succeed him in the throne. But when the excitement of war
and victory had subsided, and the king had leisure to consider and brood over
the solemn and declaredly irrevocable sentence which the prophet had pronounced,
a very serious effect was gradually produced upon his mind and character; for he
was no longer prospered and directed by God, but left a prey to his own gloomy
mind. The consciousness that he had not met the requirements of the high
vocation to which, “when he was little in his own sight,” he had been called,
together with the threatened loss of his dominion and the possible destruction
of his house, made him jealous, sanguinary,[261] and irritable, and occasionally
threw him into fits of the most profound and morbid melancholy. This is what, in
the language of scripture, is called “the evil spirit that troubled him.” That
it was not a case of demoniacal possession, as some have been led by this form
of expression to suppose, is obvious from the effects to which we shall
presently advert. Nor was it needful; for, as acting upon the character of man,
earth contains not a more evil spirit than the guilty or troubled mind abandoned
to its own impulses. [261] bloodthirsty DAVID PLAYS MUSIC FOR KING SAUL Not long
after David had been anointed by Samuel, the mental malady of Saul gathered such
strength--the fits of his mad melancholy became so long and frequent, that some
remedial measures appeared necessary. Remembering that Saul had always been
remarkably sensible to the influence of sweet sounds, it occurred to his friends
that it might be attended with good effects, were an able musician retained at
court, to play before the king, when his fits of gloom and horror came upon him.
Saul himself approved of this advice, and directed that a person with the
suitable qualifications should be sought. This reminded one of the courtiers how
skilfully and sweetly he had heard the youngest son of Jesse play upon the harp;
and in mentioning this to the king he also took occasion to commend David as a
young man of known valor, prudent in conduct, and very comely in his person.
From this and other corroborative circumstances, it is easy to perceive that
music was now, and much earlier, cultivated by the Hebrews as a private
accomplishment and solace. It formed their most usual relaxation, and divided
their time with the labors of agriculture and the care of flocks. The report
which he had heard engaged Saul to send to Jesse, demanding his son David. The
old man accordingly sent him to court, together with such a present to the king
as the customs of the age--and of the east in all ages, required as a homage. It
consisted of a quantity of bread, a skin bottle of wine, and a kid. DAVID GAINS
VALUABLE KINGDOM TRAINING Thus, in the providence of God, an opening was made
for David, whereby he might become acquainted with the manners of the court, the
business of government, and the affairs and interests of the several tribes, and
was put in the way of securing the equally important advantage of becoming
extensively known to the people. These were training circumstances for the high
destinies which awaited him. Saul himself, ignorant that in him he beheld the
“man worthier than himself,” on whom the inheritance of his throne was to
devolve, contributed to these preparations. He received the youthful minstrel
with fervor; and, won by his engaging disposition and the beauties of his mind
and person, not less than by the melody of his harp, became much attached to
him. The personal bravery of David, also, did not long remain unnoticed by the
veteran hero, who soon elevated him to the honorable and confidential station of
his armor-bearer--having obtained Jesse's consent to allow his son to remain in
attendance upon him. His presence was a great solace and relief to Saul; for
whenever he fell into his fits of melancholy, David played on his harp before
him; and its soft and soothing strains soon calmed his troubled spirit, and
brought peace to his soul. DAVID AND THE GIANT In the twenty-six years which had
passed since the signal overthrow of the Philistines at Michmash, that people
had recruited their strength, and at last[262] deemed themselves able to wipe
out the disgrace they then incurred, and to recover their previous superiority
over the Israelites. They recommenced the war by invading the territory of
Judah: Saul marched against them; and the two armies encamped in the face of
each other, on the sides of opposite mountains which a valley separated; While
thus stationed the Hebrews were astonished and terrified to behold a man of
enormous stature, between nine and ten feet high, advance from the camp of the
Philistines attended by his armor-bearer. His name was Goliath. He was arrayed
it complete mail, and armed with weapons proportioned to his bulk. He stood
forth between the hosts, and, as authorized by the Philistines, who were
confident that his match could not be found, proposed, with great arrogance of
language, that the question of tribute and servitude should be determined by the
result of a single combat between himself and any champion which might be
opposed to him. The Israelites were quite as much dismayed at the appearance of
Goliath, and at the proposal which he made, as the Philistines could have
expected, or as the Philistines themselves would have been under the same
circumstances. No heart in Israel was found stout enough to dare the encounter
with this dreadful Philistine; nor was any man then present willing to take on
his single arm the serious consequences of the possible result. Then finding
that no one of riper years or higher pretensions offered himself to the combat,
David presented himself before Saul, whom he attended as his armor bearer, and
said, “Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight
with this Philistine.” But Saul told him that he was unequal to such a contest,
“For thou art but a youth, but he a man of war from his youth.” The reply of
David was equally forcible and modest--“Thy servant tended his father's flock;
and when there came a lion or a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock, then I
pursued him and smote him, and snatched it from his mouth; and if he rose
against me; I caught him by the beard, and smote him, and slew him. Both lions
and bears hath thy servant smitten, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be
like one of them. Let me go and smite him, and take away the reproach from
Israel; for who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the hosts
of the living God?” He added, “Jehovah who delivered me from the power of lions
and bears will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul had been too
little accustomed to this mode of speaking and feeling not to be struck by it.
Although he had himself not been prone to exhibit military confidence in God, he
perceived that such a confidence now supplied the only prospect of success; he
therefore said, “Go; and may Jehovah be with thee!” He would fain have arrayed
him in his own complete armor; but David rejected this as an encumbrance, and
stepped lightly forward in his ordinary dress, and without sword or shield, or
spear, having only in his right hand a sling--with the use of which early
pastoral habits had made him familiar--and in his left a little bag, containing
five smooth pebbles picked up from the small brook that there meandered and
still meanders through the valley of Elah.[263] The giant was astonished, and
felt insulted that a mere youth should be sent forth to contend with so fearsome
a champion as himself; and availing himself of the pause which the ancient
champions were wont to take to abuse, threaten, and provoke each other, he
cried, “Am I a dog, that thou comest against me with staves?” He then cursed him
by his god, and, like the old Homeric heroes, threatened to give his flesh to
the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field. David's reply, conceived in
the finest and truest spirit of theocracy, at once satisfies us that we behold
in him the man fit to reign over the peculiar people. “Thou comest to me with a
sword, and with a spear, and with a shield; that come to thee in the name of the
Lord of hosts, the God of the hosts of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day
will Jehovah deliver thee into my hand; and I will take thy head from thee, and
I will give thy carcass, and the carcasses of the host of the Philistines, this
day to the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that the whole
earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know
that Jehovah can save without sword or spear; for the battle is Jehovah's, and
he will deliver you into our hands.” On this the enraged giant strode forward;
and David hastened to fit a stone to his sling; and he flung it with so true an
aim that it smote the Philistine in the only vulnerable part that was not cased
in armor, his forehead, and buried itself deep in his brain. He then ran and cut
off the monster's head with his own sword, thus fulfilling the prediction he had
just uttered. A few minutes after he had gone forth, he returned, and laid the
head and sword of the giant at the feet of Saul. [262] B.C. 1080, five years
after the anointing of David. [263] “We entered the famous Terebinthine vale,
renowned for centuries as the field of the victory gained by David over the
uncircumcised Philistine. Nothing has occurred to alter the face of the country.
The very brook out of which David chose the five smooth stones has been noticed
by many a thirsty pilgrim journeying from Jaffa to Jerusalem, all of whom must
pass it in their way. The ruins of goodly edifices, deed, attest the religious
veneration entertained in later periods for this hallowed spot; but even these
are now become so insignificant that they are scarcely discernible, and nothing
can be said to interrupt the native dignity of this memorable scene”--Clarke.
PHILISTINES DEFEATED The overthrow of their champion struck a panic into the
Philistines. They fled, and were pursued, with great slaughter, even to their
own country, by the Israelites, who then returned and plundered their camp.
DAVID HONORED The honor which David won by this splendid achievement was too
great for his safety. Saul could not but feel that the sort of spirit by which
the youthful hero had been actuated was precisely that which on many preceding
occasions he himself ought to have manifested, and for not doing which the doom
of exclusion had been pronounced against him. The feeling that David was really
the hero of the recent fight, was also not pleasant to one so jealous of his
military glory. And when the women came forth from their towns to greet the
returning conquerors with their instruments of music, and sang responsively to
their tabrets and their viols-- “Saul has smitten his thousands, But David has
his ten thousands slain,” the indignation of the king was provoked to the
utmost. “To me,” he said, “they have ascribed but thousands, and to David tens
of thousands: what more can he have but the kingdom?” It would therefore seem
that this preference of David to him by the women in their songs first suggested
to him the possibility that he was the man, worthier than himself, who was
destined to succeed him and to supersede his descendants: and the notion having
once occurred, he probably made such inquiries as enabled him to conclude or to
discover that such was the fact. His knowledge of it appears soon after; and we
know that from this time forward David became the object, not merely of his envy
and jealousy, but of his hatred and dislike. Yet he was afraid, if he as yet
wished, to do him any open injury; but as he could not bear him any longer in
his former close attendance about his person, he threw him more into the public
service, intrusting to him the command of a thousand men. From his subsequent
expressions and conduct, it seems likely that the king expected that the
inexperience of youth might lead David into such errors in this responsible
public station as would either give him occasion to act against him, or would
seriously damage his character with the people. But if such were his views, they
were grievously disappointed. In his public station “David behaved himself
wisely in all his ways, for Jehovah was with him;” and the opportunity which was
given him only served to evince his talents for business and his attention to
it; and, consequently, to increase and establish that popularity among the
people which his character and exploits had already won. And so it was, that the
dislike and apprehensions of Saul increased in proportion to the abilities and
discretion which David evinced, and to the popularity which he acquired. DAVID'S
VICTORY FOR MICHAL The king was under, the full operation of those feelings,
which as yet he durst not avow, when he happened to learn that his daughter
Michal had become attached to David. This was far from displeasing him, as he
thought it gave him an opportunity of entrapping the son of Jesse to his own
destruction. He promised her to him; but on the condition of so difficult an
enterprise against the Philistines, as he fully expected would ensure his death.
But David, always victorious, returned in a few days with more numerous pledges
of his valor than the king had ventured to demand; and he was then married to
Michal who could not with any decency be refused to him. In some subsequent
actions against the Philistines, with whom a desultory warfare was still carried
on, David displayed such courage and military skill as greatly increased his
renown in Israel, and increased in the same proportion the animosity of Saul.
His hate became at last so ungovernable, that he could no longer confide the
dark secret to his own bosom, or limit himself to underhand attempts against the
life of Jesse's son. He avowed it to his son Jonathan and to his courtiers,
charging them to take any favorable opportunity of putting him to death. He knew
not yet of the strong attachment which subsisted between Jonathan and
David--that his noble son, rising far above all selfishness, pride, or envy,
loved the son of Jesse even “as his own soul.” He heard the command with horror,
and apprized David of it counseling him to hide himself until he should have an
opportunity of remonstrating on the subject privately with the king. This he did
with such effect, displaying services and fidelity of David with such force,
that the better reason of Saul prevailed for the time, and he solemnly swore to
make no further attempt against his life. SAUL THROWS JAVELIN But not long
after, all the evil passions of Saul were again roused by the increased renown
which David obtained, by a splendid victory over the Philistines. He had scarce
returned to court before he had a narrow escape of being pinned to the wall by a
javelin which the king threw at him in one of those fits of frenzied melancholy
which the son of Jesse was at that moment endeavoring to sooth by playing on his
harp. DAVID ESCAPES HOUSE David then withdrew to his own house. But the king had
now committed himself, and henceforth threw aside all disguise or restraint. He
sent some of his attendants to watch the house; and David would undoubtedly have
been murdered the next morning, had not his faithful wife managed his escape
during the night, by letting him down in a basket through one of the windows. In
the morning, when the man demanded admittance with the intention of slaying her
husband, Michal told them he was very ill and confined to his bed; and in proof
of it showed them the bed. By this means Michal's artifice was discovered, and
her father was so enraged, that for her own safety, she made him believe that it
was to save her own life she had consented to it. MICHAL GIVEN TO ANOTHER As the
only revenge then in his power, Saul took away Michal, and gave her in marriage
to another; and the story which she had made up, that David had put her in fear
of her life, probably precluded her from making that strenuous opposition which
she might otherwise have done. DAVID JOINS PROPHETS David himself escaped to
Ramah, where he acquainted Samuel with all the king's behavior to him. Samuel
took him to Naioth, which seems to have been a kind of school or college of the
prophets, in the neighborhood of Ramah, over which Samuel presided. Saul soon
heard where he was; and so reckless was he now become, and so madly bent on his
murderous object, that he would not respect even this asylum, but sent
messengers to bring David to him. These, when they beheld the company of
prophets, with Samuel at their head, “prophesying,” or, singing hymns, fell into
an ecstasy, and “prophesied” in like manner. The same happened to a second and a
third party. At last Saul determined to go himself; and in his rage he probably
intended to slay Samuel also for sheltering David. Indeed, that the youth had
gone to Samuel, and was sheltered by him, must have confirmed his conviction
that David was his appointed successor, if he did not yet know, as he probably
did, that the son of Jesse had actually been anointed by the prophet. But no
sooner had the king beheld what had so strongly affected his messengers, than he
also, as had happened to him in his happier days, “prophesied,” and lay in an
ecstatic trance, divested of his outer garment, all that day and night. DAVID
AND JONATHAN MEET This gave David an opportunity to leave the neighborhood; and
he repaired to Gibeah, where the king resided, and where Jonathan then was, to
seek a private interview with that valuable friend. Jonathan thought himself
fully acquainted with all the intentions of his father, and would not believe
that he really designed the death of David. But the latter was well assured of
it; and thought that Saul, having become acquainted with their friendship, had
concealed his full purpose from Jonathan. It was, however, agreed between them,
that the conduct of the king on an approaching occasion should be deemed to
determine his ultimate intentions; and that meanwhile David should keep himself
concealed. The two friends then walked forth into the fields. Jonathan then
avowed to David his conviction that he, and not himself was the destined
successor of Saul; and, with rare generosity of spirit and Throwing a Javelin
Escape from a Window abandonment of self, he expressed his cheerful assent to
this, and only desired to receive the pledge of David that, if himself alive
when he became king, protection should be granted to him from the designs which
evil men might entertain; and that if not himself living, kindness should be
extended to his family for his sake. This was a matter in which he might be
allowed at this time to feel more than usual, anxiety, as it appears, from a
comparison of dates, that a son, Mephibosheth, had lately been born to him.
Reciprocally, he would pledge himself to protect the life of David, to the
extent of his power, from the designs of Saul and his other enemies These things
they swore before God to each other, and entered together into a covenant of
peace and love. JONATHAN AND DAVID PART It seems that by this time Saul lived in
considerable state. At the recurrence of the new moons, he was accustomed to
entertain his principal officers at meat. Such a feast was now near at hand; and
it appears that Saul, who knew that David had returned to Gibeah, expected that,
notwithstanding what had passed, he would make his appearance at this feast, as
it would seem that non-attendance was regarded as an offensive neglect. Most
probably the king thought that David might regard the attempt which had been
made upon his life as mere frenetic[264] impulse, not indicative of any
deliberate intention against him. The first day of the feast, the place which
belonged to David at the king's table was vacant; but Saul then made no remark,
thinking the absence might be accidental--But when the son of Jesse made no
appearance on the second day, the king put some questions to Jonathan, who
excused David's absence, alleging that it was by his permission and consent. On
this Saul broke forth into the grossest abuse of Jonathan, and assuring him that
his succession to the throne could never be secure while David lived, concluded
with, “Wherefore now send for him; for he shall surely die.” And when Jonathan
ventured to remonstrate, “Wherefore shall he be slain? What hath he done?” the
maddened king threw his javelin to smite him. That he could thus treat his own
son, on whom, in fact, all the hopes that remained to him were centered, lessens
our wonder at his behavior to David, and at the other acts of madness of which
he was guilty. By this Jonathan knew that the king really intended to destroy
his friend. He therefore took his bow and went forth, attended by a lad, as if
to shoot in the field where David lay hid; for it had been agreed upon between
them that the manner in which the arrows were shot, and the expressions used by
the archer to the lad who collected the arrows after they had been discharged,
was to be a sign intimating to David the course he was to take; thus preventing
the danger which might accrue to both from another interview. But when the
unfavorable sign had been given, which he knew would render his friend a
fugitive, Jonathan could not resist the desire again to commune with him before
he departed. He therefore sent away the lad, and as soon as he was gone “David
arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face toward the ground,
and three times did obeisance; and they kissed each other, and wept one with
another, with great lamentation.” [264] excessively agitated and put into a rage
TRIP TO PHILISTINE COUNTRY After taking leave of Jonathan, David took his
journey westward, with the intention of putting himself beyond the reach of
Saul, by going to the land of the Philistines, who were not at that time in
actual hostilities with the Israelites, and with whom alone the enmity of Saul
was not likely to operate to his disadvantage. In his way, attended by a few
young men who were attached to him, he came to the town of Nob, belonging to the
priests, about twelve miles from Gibeah, and in the neighborhood of Jerusalem
and Anathoth. To this place the tabernacle had at this time been removed. We are
not made acquainted with the precise occasion of its removal from Shiloh; but it
was probably consequent upon the destruction of that town in the war with the
Philistines. At this place he was received, as his rank and renown demanded, by
the high-priest Ahimelech, whose surprise at seeing him he thought himself
obliged to dispel, by the false and unseemly pretence that he had been sent by
the king on private business of importance. But taking notice of the presence of
one Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of Saul's shepherds, by whom he doubted not that
he should be betrayed, he represented to Ahimelech that his business was urgent,
and begged that he would supply some refreshment to himself and his men, after
which he would continue his journey. The high-priest had nothing to offer but
bread which had lain a week on the table of showbread in the sanctuary; and
although by the priests only this might lawfully be eaten, he was induced by the
alleged urgency of the occasion to give it to David and his men. David afterward
Eastern Forms of Obeisance inquired for weapons; and was told there were none
but the sword of Goliath, which, as a pious memorial of the victory over that
proud blasphemer, had been deposited to the tabernacle. This, at his desire, was
brought to him, and having girded it on, he took leave of Ahimelech, and
continued his journey till he reached the Philistine city of Gath, where he
presented himself or was brought before Achish, the king of that place, or
rather of the state of which that place was the denominating metropolis. It does
not appear that David intended himself to be known; or if so, anticipated a more
favorable reception: for when he found that he was recognized, and that the
courtiers ominously represented him as that David to whom the maidens of Israel
had in their songs ascribed the slaughter of tens of thousands of Philistines,
and thousands only to Saul, dreading the result of such recollections, David
feigned himself mad, with such success that Achish exclaimed, “Lo, ye see the
man is mad; why have ye brought him to me? Have I need of madmen, that ye have
brought this one to play the madman in my presence? Shall such a one come into
my house?” DAVID ESCAPES PHILISTINES He was therefore allowed to go where he
pleased. He delayed not to avail himself of this advantage, and hastened into
the territory of his own tribe of Judah, where he found shelter in the cave of
Adullam. He was here joined by his parents and family, who probably deemed
themselves unsafe in Bethlehem; and as soon as his retreat became known in the
neighborhood, his reputation attracted to him a considerable number of men
hanging loose upon society, as in the somewhat analogous case of Jephthah. To
understand some of their future operations under David, it is quite necessary to
give them just that character, and no other, which they bear in the Scriptural
record, which states that “Every one in distress, every one in debt, and every
one discontented, flocked to him; and he became chief over them, and there were
with him about four hundred men.” DAVID GOES TO MOAB From Adullam David took an
opposite direction to that which he had first followed, and went into the land
of Moab. Here he was well received; for the king consented to take the parents
of the outcast under his protection, until the dawning of better days. They
therefore remained among the Moabites until the troubles of their son ended with
the life of Saul. But, although he might himself have found greater safety in
that land, it was important to his future interests that he should return to his
own country, that his conduct, adventures, and persecutions, there might keep
him alive in the minds of the people. He did not himself plan anything with
reference to the destination intended for him ultimately; but God, who best knew
by what agencies to effect his purpose, sent the prophet Gad to command him to
return into the land of Judah. He obeyed, and found shelter in the forest of
Hareth. DOEG KILLS THE PRIESTS Saul soon heard of David's return and the place
of his retreat, and was greatly troubled; for, as his safety could not be the
object of this move from the security which Moab afforded, he inferred that he
had returned with the intention of acting offensively and vindictively against
him when occasion or advantage offered. He therefore called together the
officers of his court; and as there was not, as yet, any building or palace in
which such assemblies could be held, the king sat upon a bank, under a tamarisk
tree, with a spear in his hand.[265] It seems that the persons present were
chiefly Benjamites; and Saul, speaking as one distrustful of their fidelity,
appealed to their selfish interests, asking on what grounds they, as Benjamites,
could hope to be bettered by the son of Jesse; and complained that there were
plots between him and his own son Jonathan, of which they knew, but that they
were not sorry for him, nor would give any information to him. On this Doeg, the
Edomite, informed him of the assistance which David had received at Nob from the
high priest; but omitted to state, if he knew, the certainly false grounds on
which that assistance had been claimed by David and given by the priest; and
added (which was not true) that Ahimelech had “inquired of God” for him. On
hearing this, Saul was highly enraged, and immediately sent for Ahimelech and
all the priests of his family that were at Nob. When they arrived, the king
fiercely charged him with his participation in what his jealous imagination
tortured into a conspiracy, of David against him. Ahimelech declared that he had
entertained him merely as the king's son-in-law, and one employed on the king's
business, and denied that he had consulted the sacred oracle on his behalf; but
Saul, without listening to his statement, commanded his followers to slay them
all. A dead stillness followed this order; and, finding that no one moved to
obey it, the frantic king turned to Doeg and commanded him to fall upon them.
The unscrupulous Edomite was ready to his obedience; and although the Israelites
then present had refused to stain their own hands with the blood of the most
sacred persons in the land, they had not sufficient spirit or principle to
interpose in their behalf, but stood by and saw them slaughtered by Doeg and his
myrmidons.[266] Not fewer than eighty-five priests fell in this horrid massacre;
and immediately after, Doeg, by Saul's order, of course, proceeded to Nob, and
slew all that lived in it--man, woman, child, and beast. This was a further
development of that judgment upon the house of Eli which had been pronounced of
old; this was that deed in Israel of which it had been predicted that “both the
ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.” The only individual of the
family of the high-priest who escaped was Abiathar, one of his sons. This person
repaired to David, who was deeply afflicted at the intelligence which he
brought, and desired him to remain with him. [265] The spear was obviously used
by him not more as a weapon than as a scepter. As such it is several times
mentioned The earliest scepters were, in fact, spears to many ancient nations
[266] follower who carries out orders without question DAVID PROTECTS KEILAH
Soon after this, David heard that a party of Philistines had come up against the
border-town of Keilah, with the view of taking away the produce of the harvest
which the people of that town had lately gathered in. He greatly desired to
march his troop to the relief of that place; but his men, who, as might be
expected from their character, were by no means distinguished for their courage
or subordination, declined so bold an enterprise. At last, a distinct promise of
victory from the sacred oracle, consulted by Abiathar, who acted as priest,
encouraged their obedience. They went and obtained a complete victory over the
Philistines, delivering Keilah from the danger by which it was threatened. This
and other instances of David's readiness, in his own precarious situation, to
employ his resources against the enemies of his country, must have tended much
to raise his character among the people, and to keep him before the public eye.
DAVID LEAVES KEILAH He now entered and remained in the town he had relieved,
which Saul no sooner understood than he exclaimed, “God hath delivered him into
my hand; for he is shut in by entering into a town that hath gates and bars;”
and he delayed not to call together a powerful force, which he marched to
besiege that place. But David, being apprized by the oracle that the people of
Keilah, unmindful of their obligation to him, would deliver him up to the king
if he remained there until his arrival, withdrew from the place at the head of a
force now increased to six hundred men. When Saul heard this, he discontinued
his march against Keilah. JONATHAN MEETS DAVID David now sought shelter in the
eastern part of Judea, toward the Dead sea. There were strong posts and obscure
retreats to that quarter, among the mountains and the woods, to which he
successively removed; as the motions of Saul dictated; for the king, now openly
bent on his destruction, hastened to every place to which he heard that the son
of Jesse had retreated, hunting him “like a partridge in the mountains.” He was
for some time in different parts of the wilderness of Ziph. He was sheltered by
a wood in that wilderness, when Jonathan, becoming acquainted with his place of
retreat, went to him, “to encourage him to trust in God.” He said to him, “Fear
not, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king
over Israel, and I shall be next thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth.”
Again the friends renewed their covenant before Jehovah, and parted--to meet no
more. There is really nothing in all history finer than this love of Jonathan to
David; it was, as the latter himself found occasion to describe it, “Wonderful,
passing the love of women!” It was a noble spirit with which the son of the king
held close to his heart, and admitted the superior claims of, the man destined
to supersede him and his in the most splendid object of human ambition, which,
on ordinary principles, he might have considered his just inheritance. But his
were not ordinary principles, such as swayed the mind and determined the conduct
of his father. His were the true principles of the theocracy, whereby he knew
that Jehovah was the true king of Israel, and cheerfully submitted to his
undoubted right to appoint whom he would as his regent, even to his own
exclusion; and, with generous humility, was the first to recognize and admire
the superior qualities of the man on whom it was known that his forfeited
destinies had fallen. Yet lest, in our admiration of Jonathan's conduct, human
virtue should seem too highly exalted, it may be well to remember that the
hereditary principle in civil government was as yet without precedent among the
Hebrews, with whom sons had not yet learned to look to succeed their fathers in
their public offices. None of the judges had transmitted their authority to
their sons or relatives: and the only instance in which an attempt had been made
(by Abimelech) to establish this hereditary principle had most miserably failed.
But the friendship of Jonathan and David is a passage in the history of the
Hebrew kingdom from which the mind reluctantly withdraws. If it occurred in a
fiction, it would be pointed out as an example of most refined and consummate
art, that the author represents to us in such colors of beauty and truth the
person he intends to set aside, and allows him so largely to share our
sympathies and admiration with the hero of his tale. SAUL SURROUNDS DAVID Not
long after this, some inhabitants of Ziph went to Gibeah and acquainted the king
with the quarter in which David lay hid. Saul was so transported with joy at the
news, that he heartily blessed them as the only people who had compassion upon
him in his trouble; for by this time, if not before, it seems that his morbid
fancy had fully persuaded him that David was really engaged in a conspiracy to
take his life, and pace the crown upon his own head. But David had timely
intelligence that his retreat was betrayed, and withdrew southward into the
wilderness of Moan. But Saul pursued him thither, and, with the design to
surround him, was already on one side of the mountain, on the other side of
which David lay, when he was providentially called off by intelligence of a
sudden incursion into the country by the Philistines. He went and repulsed them;
and then, at the head of three thousand men, returned to follow upon the tracks
of Jesse's son--so inveterately was he now bent upon his fell purpose. DAVID
CUTS SAUL'S ROBE Meanwhile David had removed to the district of Engedi, toward
the southwestern extremity of the Dead sea, the caverns and rocky fastnesses of
which offered many secure retreats. Saul pursued him into this region, and one
day entered a large cave, to repose himself during the heat of the day. Now it
happened that David and his men were already in this cave; but, being in the
remote and dark inner extremity, were unperceived by the king; but he, being
between them and the light which entered at the cave's mouth, was seen and
recognized by them. As he lay asleep, David's men joyfully congratulated him
that his enemy was now completely in his power. But they knew not what manner of
spirit was in the son of Jesse. “Jehovah forbid,” he said to them, “that I
should do this thing to my master, the anointed of Jehovah, to stretch forth my
hand against him; for the anointed of Jehovah is he;” and the men were with
difficulty restrained by these words from putting the king to death. But that he
might know how completely his life had been in the hands of the man whose life
he sought, David went and cut off the skirt of his mantle. Saul at length arose,
and left the cave, and went his way. David went out and called after him, “My
lord, the king!” When Saul turned, David bowed himself reverently toward the
earth, and proceeded in the most respectful terms to remonstrate against the
injustice with which he had been treated, and the inveteracy with which he was
pursued. He charitably imputed the designs laid to his charge to the suggestions
of evil-minded men; and, in proof of their utter groundlessness, related what
had happened in the cave, and produced the skirt to show how entirely the king's
life had been in his power. Saul's naturally good feelings were touched by this
generous forbearance from one who knew that his own life was then sought by him.
“Is that thy voice, my son David!” he cried, and his softened heart yielded
refreshing tears, such as he had not lately been wont to shed. That which had
been in David a forbearance resulting from the natural and spontaneous impulse
of his own feelings, seemed to the king an act of superhuman virtue, which
forced upon him the recognition that he was indeed that “worthier” man to whom
the inheritance of his crown had been prophesied. Rendering good for evil was a
new thing to him; and now, in the regard and admiration which it excited, he
freely acknowledged the conviction he entertained--“And now, behold, I know well
that thou wilt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be
established in thy hand. Swear now, therefore, to me, by Jehovah, that thou wilt
not cutoff my seed after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my
father's house.” The anxiety of the king, and even of Jonathan, on this point,
seems to show (what has already appeared in the case of Abimelech) that it was
even then, as it ever has been until lately, usual for oriental kings to remove
by death all those whose claims to the throne might seem superior or equal to
their own, or whose presence might offer an alternative to the discontented: the
intense horror with which the Hebrews regarded the prospect or fear of
genealogical extinction, also contributes to explain the anxiety which both Saul
and Jonathan felt on this point more than on any other. David took the oath
required from him; Saul then returned to Gibeah, and David, who had little
confidence in the permanency of the impression he had made, remained in his
strongholds. SAMUEL DIES Very soon after this, Samuel died, at the advanced age
of ninety-two years (B.C. 1072), after he had judged Israel fifty years, that
is, twelve years alone, and thirty-eight years jointly with Saul; for there is
no doubt that he retained his authority as civil judge to the end of his life.
The death of this good man was lamented as a common calamity by all true
Israelites, who assembled in great numbers to honor his funeral. He was buried
in the garden of his own house at Ramah. NABAL AND ABIGAIL As David immediately
after removed much further southward, even “into the wilderness of Paran,” it
would seem that, having no confidence in Saul's fits of right feeling, he was
fearful of the consequences of the absence of that degree of moral restraint
upon him which had existed while the prophet lived. The southern country offers,
in the proper season, excellent pastures, away to which those of Judah, who had
“large possessions of cattle,” were wont to send their flocks during a part of
the year. The advantage offered by the free use of these open pastures was,
however, in some degree counterbalanced by the danger from the prowling Arab
tribes with which they sometimes came in contact. David probably supported his
men during the eight months of his stay in this region by acting against those
tribes, and making spoil of their cattle. And as their hand was against every
man, it was natural that every man's hand should be against them; the rather, as
we may be sure, from their general conduct, that they lost no occasions of
oppressing or plundering the people inhabiting, or pasturing their flocks, along
or near the southern frontier. Thus the presence of David's troop was, for that
reason, a great advantage to the shepherds, as he had by this time secured
sufficient control over his men to oblige them to respect the property of the
Israelites. And this was, at least in the feelings of the people, no small thing
in a body of men living abroad with swords in their hands, and obliged, as they
were, to collect their subsistence in the best way they could. Among those who
were advantaged by this, none were more so than the shepherds of Nabal, a man of
large possessions in Carmel. When David returned northward, he heard that Nabal
was making great preparations for the entertainment of his people during the
shearing of his three thousand sheep; and being then greatly pressed for
provisions, he sent some of his young men to this person to salute in
respectfully in his name, and to request some small supply out of the abundance
he had provided. Now in point of fact, according to all usage, Nabal ought to
have anticipated this request, as soon as he learned that one who had protected
his property in the wilderness was then in his neighborhood. But Nabal was
“churlish and evil in all his manners, and irritable as a dog.” This character,
his insulting answer to the message fully supported--“Who is David? and who is
the son of Jesse? There be many servants now-a-days that break away, every man
from .has master. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh, which
I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men whom I know not whence they
be?” When this answer was brought back to David, he was highly enraged, and
ordered his men to gird on their swords; and, with four hundred of them (leaving
two hundred to protect the baggage), he set forth with the rash and cruel
purpose of destroying the churl and all that belonged to him. The provocation,
although very great, and not likely to be overlooked by a military man, was
certainly not such as to justify this barbarous design. Its execution was,
however, averted by Abigail, the wife of Nabal, who is described as “a woman of
good understanding, and beautiful in form.” Those shepherds who lead been in the
wilderness with the flocks, and were sensible of the value of that protection
which David's troop had rendered, greatly disapproved of their master's conduct.
They therefore reported the whole matter to their mistress, who appears to have
had that real authority in the household which a woman of sense always has had
in the house of even a brutal fool. She concurred in their apprehensions as to
the probable consequences, and with a promptitude which bears out the character
given to her, decided on the proper steps to avert them. While Nabal was eating
and drinking, even to drunkenness, at the feast, she made up an elegant and
liberal present, consisting of two hundred loaves of bread, two skin bottles of
wine, five measures of parched corn, five sheep ready dressed, two hundred
clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs; and, having placed all this
on asses, the set forth with suitable attendance to meet the enraged hero. She
soon met him Presents to a Bedouin Chief and his men, on full march to Carmel;
and after rendering him her most respectful homage, she spoke to him with such
fine tact and prudence, that his passion grew calm under her hand; and she
convinced him that the deed which he contemplated would cause the weight of
innocent blood to lie heavy on his conscience in after days. Being thus made to
feel that he had allowed the bitterness of “a blockhead's insult”[267] to sink
too deeply in his soul, he felt really thankful that his fell purpose had been
interrupted--“Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel,” he said, “who sent thee
this day to meet me; and blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, who hast
kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine
own hand.” [267] “Fate never wounds more deep the gen'rous heart Than when a
blockhead's insult points the dart.” Johnson NABAL DIES Abigail returned to her
husband, and the next day acquainted him with the steps she had taken, and the
imminent danger into which his churlishness had brought him, and his. The view
which was presented to his mind of the evil which had hung over his head struck
him with such intense dread and horror, that in a few days he died of a broken
heart. When this came to the ears of David, who had been much charmed by the
good sense and beauty of Abigail, he sent to her, and she consented to become
his wife. He had previously married Ahinoam of Jezreel, after Saul had given
Michal to another. Polygamy was not expressly forbidden by the law; neither did
it receive any sanction therefrom. It was a matter of existing usage with which
the law did not interfere; although it discouraged the formation, by the kings,
of such extensive harems as the kings of the East have been wont to possess: and
both David and his son Solomon had ample occasion to lament those besotting
passions which led them to neglect this injunction, as well as to learn that
there is in this matter an obvious social law which can not with impunity be
transgressed. DAVID TAKES SAUL'S SPEAR Soon after this David removed to his
former place of shelter, in the wilderness of Ziph. While he remained there,
Saul justified the doubts which the son of Jesse, who well knew his character,
entertained of the continuance of his good resolutions; for he again came to
seek him at the head of three thousand men. But this only gave David another
opportunity of evincing the true and generous loyalty of his own character. For
one night, while the king lay asleep in the midst of his men, with his spear
stuck in the ground at his head, to mark the station of the chief, David entered
his camp, attended by Abishai (brother to the subsequently celebrated Joab),
and, without being noticed, penetrated to the very spot where the king lay.
Abishai thought this a fine opportunity of ending all their troubles with the
life of their persecutor; and begged David to permit him to transfix the
sleeping king with his spear. But, to the pious hero, “a divinely appointed
king,” although his enemy, was a sacred person. To lay violent hands on him, and
to open a way to the throne by regicide, was a crime which he justly abhorred.
What God had promised him he was willing to wait for, till He who had promised
should deliver it to him in the ordinary course of his providence.”[268] He
therefore checked the misdirected zeal of Abishi, and withdrew with him, taking
away the spear which was planted at Saul's head, and the vessel of water which
stood there for his use. David then went and stationed himself at the edge of an
opposite cliff overlooking the camp of Saul, and calling by name to Abner, the
cousin and chief commander of the king, told him he was worthy of death for the
careless manner in which he guarded the royal person. As he went on reproaching
Abner, Saul, as he expected, recognized his voice, and guessing that he had
again been spared when in his power, called out, “Is that thy voice, my son
David?” and was answered, “It is my voice, my lord, O king!” David then
proceeded with much energy, but in the most respectful language, to remonstrate
against the treatment he received, and produced the evidence of the spear and
water-jug, as evincing the value of the king's life in his eyes. The result was
the same as it had been on a similar occasion before: Saul's heart was touched.
He acknowledged that he had “acted foolishly, and erred exceedingly;” and after
blessing David, returned to Gibeah. [268] Jahn, i. 103. DAVID GOES TO ZIKLAG
David had before this formed the intention of again withdrawing to the
Philistines; for in his remonstrance with Saul he had laid the responsibility of
this measure upon his persecutors--If Jehovah hath stirred thee up against me,
let him accept an offering; but if they be the children of men, accursed be they
before Jehovah, for they now drive me out from abiding in the inheritance of
Jehovah.” He must not he allowed, however, thus easily to rid himself of the
responsibility of so ill-advised and desperate an expedient, in which he
neglected to ask counsel of God, but followed the impulse of his own
apprehensions; and from the natural and obvious consequences of which he could
only escape by acts of equivocation, hypocrisy, and ingratitude, which do no
honor to his name. However, we are to regard David, in all this portion of his
life, as a learner, as one who was in the course of being trained to rule
wisely, by various disciplines, distresses, and errors; for even the errors of
conduct into which men fall, by having placed themselves in a false position
through too confident a reliance on their own judgment, are not among the least
profitable experiences which they obtain, and which go toward the ripening of
their minds. But, undoubtedly, it had been better for David, and more becoming,
had he remained in his own country, relying upon the protection of that good
Providence by which he had hitherto been preserved. On reaching Gath, with his
six hundred men, David was well received by the king, who appears to have been
the same Achish in whose presence he had formerly played the madman. The Hebrew
chief soon took occasion to request the Philistine king to assign him some town
in which he might reside apart with his people; and the king, with generous and
unsuspecting confidence, made over to him, to his full and exclusive possession,
the small border town of Ziklag, which was situated not far from the brook
Besor. Here he resided one year and four months, or until the death of Saul.
From this place he undertook excursions against the ancient predatory enemies of
Israel, the Amalekites, the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, who roved about in
Arabia Petræa, on the seacoast as far as Pelusium, and on the southern frontier
of the tribe of Judah. In all these excursions he utterly destroyed man, woman,
and child, and took possession of the cattle and apparel, of which their wealth
consisted. The exterminating character which he gave to this warfare was to
prevent the Philistines from learning that he had been acting against their
allies and friends; and he always pretended to Achish that his expedition had
been against the Israelites and their allies, by which he established himself
firmly to the confidence of that king. For the cool manner in which the son of
Jesse poured out innocent blood to cover a deliberate and designing falsehood,
we have no excuse to offer. He must bear the blame for ever. DAVID DISMISSED
FROM PHILISTINE BATTLE In those days the Philistine states joined their forces
for war against Israel; and David, having by his pretences impressed upon Achish
the conviction that he now detested his own people, and was detested by them,
was driven to the dreadful alien native of either taking the field with the
Philistines and fighting against his brethren, or else of appearing ungrateful
to Achish, and perhaps of occasioning the destruction of his family and himself.
But from this difficulty he was extricated by the not unreasonable jealousy of
the other Philistine princes, who expected he might turn against them in the
battle in order to reconcile himself to his master. Achish was much hurt at such
suspicions against one on whom he so perfectly relied, but was reluctantly
obliged to dismiss him from the expedition. DAVID FINDS ZIKLAG DESTROYED On
returning to Ziklag, David found the city pillaged and reduced to ashes. The
Amalekites, Geshurites, and Gezrites, had taken the opportunity of his absence
in another direction thus to avenge themselves for his former inroads upon them.
They did not, however, retaliate to the full extent; for although “they took the
men and women who were in it captive, they slew not any, either great or small,
but carried them away.” David's two wives were among the captives. His men were
frantic at the loss of their families and substance, and at first talked of
stoning their leader, whom they regarded as at least the remote cause of this
calamity. But they were at last appeased, and set out in pursuit of the
spoilers, notwithstanding the fatigue occasioned by their previous march. Two
hundred of the men were unable to proceed farther than the brook Besor; and
David, leaving them there, continued the pursuit with the remaining four
hundred. On their way they fell in with a man half dead with illness, hunger,
and thirst. Having refreshed him with food and drink, they learned that he was
an Egyptian, a slave to one of the part they pursued; but that having fallen ill
three days before, his master had left him--to live or die, as might happen--and
that since then no bread or water had passed his lips. He gave an account of the
operations of the horde; and, when pressed, agreed to conduct the Hebrew party
to the spot at which he knew that they intended to repose. When that spot was
reached, the nomads were enjoying themselves in full security, as they supposed
themselves beyond the reach of pursuit, and could not know that David would have
returned to Ziklag so soon. They were thus easily overthrown; and not only did
the Hebrews recapture all that they had taken, but gained besides so
considerable a booty, that David was enabled to send presents to all the rulers
in Judah who were favorable to his cause. DAVID RECOVERS PROPERTY The four
hundred men who had continued the pursuit were unwilling to share the additional
spoil with the two hundred who had tarried by the brook Besor, although willing
to restore their own property to them. But David took the opportunity of
establishing the useful principle that all the persons engaged in an expedition
should share equally, whatever part they took in it; or, in other words, that
those whose presence protected the baggage should be equally benefited by a
victory with those who went to the fight. GOD ABANDONS SAUL The present campaign
of the Philistines against the Israelites was one of those large operations
which nations can in general only undertake after long intervals of rest. There
seems, indeed, during the reign of Saul, to have been always a sort of
desultory[269] and partial warfare between the two nations; but it had produced
no measure comparable to this, which was intended to be decisive, and was
calculated to tax to the utmost the resources of the belligerents. When Saul
surveyed, from the heights of Gilboa, the formidable army which the Philistine
had brought into the plain of Esdraelon--that great battle-field of nations--his
heart failed him. Presentiments of coming events cast deep shadows over his
troubled mind. He sought counsel of God. But God had forsaken him--left him to
his own devices--and answered him not, “either by dreams, or by Urim, or by
prophets.” [269] lacking a definite plan or purpose Bedouins with Captives and
Spoil

SAUL GOES TO A WITCH The crimes of Saul arose from his disloyalty to Jehovah, in
his reluctance to acknowledge him as the true king of Israel. But as his God he
worshipped him, and had no tendency toward those idolatries by which so many
subsequent kings were disgraced. All idolatry and idolatrous acts were
discouraged and punished by him. In obedience to the law (Deuteronomy 18:10-11),
he banished from the land all the diviners and wizards he could find. But now,
in his dismay, he directed his attendants to find out a woman skilful in
necromancy, that he might seek through her the information which the Lord
refused to give. One was found at Endor, a town not far from the camp in Gilboa;
and to her he repaired by night, disguised, with two attendants, and desired her
to evoke the spirit of Samuel, that, in this dread emergency, he might ask
counsel of him. Whatever might be the nature of the woman's art, and her design
in undertaking to fulfill his wish--whether she meant to impose on Saul by
getting some accomplice to personate Samuel, who had only been dead two years,
and whose person must have become well known to the Israelites during his long
administration--or whether she expected a demoniacal spirit to give him an
answer, it appears from a close examination of the text, that, to the great
astonishment of the woman herself, and before she had time to utter any of her
incantation, the spirit of Samuel was permitted to appear, in a glorified form,
and ominously clad in that mantle in which was the rent that signified the
rending of the kingdom from the family of Saul. When the figure appeared, the
king knew that it was Samuel, and bowed himself to the ground before him. From
that awful and passionless form he heard that the doom declared long since was
now to be accomplished--tomorrow Israel should be given up to the sword of the
Philistines--to-morrow Saul and his sons should be numbered with the dead. At
these heavy tidings the king fell down as one dead, for he had touched no food
that night or the preceding day, and was with difficulty restored to his senses,
and refreshed by the woman and his attendants. SAUL AND JONATHAN DIES The next
day all that had been foretold was accomplished. Israel fled, before the
Philistine archers; and Saul and his sons, unable to stem the retreating
torrent, fled also. The three sons of the king, Jonathan, Abinadab, and
Melchi-shua, were slain. Saul himself was grievously wounded by the archers; and
that he might not fall alive into the hands of the Philistines, and be subjected
to their insults, he desired' his armor-bearer to strike him through with his
sword; and when that faithful follower refused, he fell upon his own sword: and
the example was followed by the armor-bearer, when he beheld his lord lying dead
before him. “So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his
men, that same day together.” SAUL DESECRATED The next day, when the Philistines
came to collect the spoils of the slain; they found the bodies of Saul and his
three sons. The indignity with which they treated the remains of these brave men
has no previous example. They cut off their heads, and hung their bodies to the
wall of the town of Bethshan, near the Jordan. Their heads and armor they sent
into Philistia, as trophies of their triumph, by the hand of the messengers who
were dispatched to publish it in their temples and their towns. The bodies of
Saul and his sons were soon stolen away by night from the wall of Bethshan, by
some valiant men of Jabesh, on the opposite side of the river, where a grateful
remembrance was cherished of the king's first military exploit, whereby the
people of that town were delivered from the loss of their liberty and their
eyes. To preclude any attempt at the recovery and continued insult of the
bodies, the people burnt them, and buried the collected bones and ashes under a
tamarisk-tree.


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  CHAPTER 26: DAVID'S REIGN--HIS CONQUESTS--PURPOSE TO BUILD A TEMPLE
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DAVID'S REIGN--HIS CONQUESTS--PURPOSE TO BUILD A TEMPLE AMALEKITE SLAIN--DAVID
MOURNS OF SAUL On the third day of David's return to Ziklag a man arrived in
haste, with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head, and laid at the feet of
David the crown and armlet which Saul had worn. He told, truly, that Israel had
fled before the Philistines, and that Saul and his sons were slain; but thinking
to win royal rewards from the son of Jesse, he boasted that he had slain Saul
with his own hand. The truth was probably that he had found the body of Saul in
the night after the battle, and had taken from it the royal insignia which he
brought to David. His expectations were grievously disappointed; for David,
believing his statement, caused him to be put to death, as who had not feared to
slay the Lord's anointed. The man was an Amalekite. David mourned and fasted-for
the desolation of Israel, and he lamented the death of his beloved Jonathan, and
even of Saul, in a most affecting and beautiful elegy, which we may here
introduce as a specimen of the poetical compositions of one whose rank among the
poets of the Hebrews is fully equal to that which he occupies among their
kings--[270] [270] The version now given is that of Boothroyd, altered in some
of the lines. “O, antelope of Israel! pierced on thy high place! How are the
mighty fallen' Tell it not in Gath, Publish it not in the streets of Askelon,
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, Lest the daughters of the
uncircumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Gilboa, on you be no dew, Nor rain, nor
fields of first-fruits; Since there bath been vilely cast away, The shield of
the mighty, the shield of Saul, The armor of him anointed with oil. From the
blood of the slain, From the fat of the mighty. The bow of Jonathan was not held
back, Nor did the sword of Saul return in vain. Saul and Jonathan! In mutual
love were they in life united, And in their death they were not separated,
Swifter than eagles, stronger than lions were they! Ye daughters of Israel weep
over Saul, Who clothed you pleasantly in scarlet, And put golden ornaments upon
your robes. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of battle! O Jonathan, slain
on thy own mountains! I am grieved for thee, O Jonathan, my brother! Very dear
to me wast thou: Wonderful was the love to me, Surpassing the love of women How
are the mighty fallen! And the weapons of war perished!” That he mourned even
for Saul, will only be attributed to hypocrisy by those who are themselves
incapable of such magnanimity, and are determined to forget that David, during
the life of his persecutor, always respected him as a king appointed by God, and
twice spared him when he had his life completely in his power. JUDAH AWARDS
DAVID WITH THRONE With the approbation of the Lord, whom he consulted, David now
removed, with his family and friends, to Hebron, where the rulers of the tribe
of Judah, with views altogether theocratical, awarded the scepter to him, as one
whom God had already designated as king. David was at this time thirty years of
age. ISHBOSHETH KING OF ISRAEL But no other tribe concurred with Judah in this
important step. On the contrary, all the other tribes elected Saul's only
surviving son, Eshbaal, as he was originally named (1 Chronicles 8:33), but
nicknamed Ishbosheth (a man of shame) from his weakness and incapacity, which,
it would appear, saved his life, by precluding him from being present at the
battle in which his brothers perished. This measure was probably promoted by
that radical jealousy between the tribes of Judah and Ephraim, which prevented
the latter (which took the lead among the other tribes) from concurring in the
appointing a king of the rival tribe, or indeed from heartily sympathizing in
any measure which that tribe originated. But the prime agent in this schism was
Abner, the commander of the army, who had drawn off the remnant of the defeated
army to the other side the Jordan, and there, at Mahanaim, proclaimed Ishbosheth
king. Abner was a bold and able, but unprincipled man; and doubtless expected to
govern in the name of his feeble nephew. And he did so. ABNER KILLS ASAHEL For
two years no hostile acts between the two kingdoms took place. But war was at
length provoked by Abner, who crossed the Jordan with the intention to subdue
the tribe of Judah to the authority of Ishbosheth. David sent Joab to meet him;
and the opposing forces met near the pool of Gibeon. But the men on each side
felt that they were all Israelites, and were reluctant to fight against each
other. The two generals, therefore, thought of a device which has often been
employed in the east, and elsewhere, to excite tribes or nations to battle, when
relationship or other causes made them reluctant or wanting in zeal. Twelve men
on each side were matched to fight against each other between the two armies;
and so well were they matched that they no sooner came within reach of one
another, than each man seized his antagonist by the head and sheathed his sword
in his body, so that they were all killed upon the spot. This kindled the
opposing forces, and a desperate and most sanguinary battle followed. It ended
in the defeat of Abner, who was himself obliged to flee for his life. As he fled
he was singled out by Joab's brother Asahel, “who was as swift of foot as any
antelope of the field;” and he pursued him, without allowing himself to be drawn
aside by other objects. He was close at the heels of Abner, when the latter
looked back, and finding who it was, he became most anxious to avoid such a
blood-feud as would arise between him and Joab, in case he slew his brother,
even in his own defence. He therefore entreated Asahel to turn back that he
might not be compelled to smite him to the ground. But finding that he was still
pursued, and that it was impossible to outstrip his pursuer, he struck at him
with the hinder point of his spear,[271] and with such force that the weapon
passed through him and came out behind. The pursuit of Abner and the other
fugitives was continued by Joab and his other brother Abishai until sunset, by
which time they were got as far as the hill of Ammah. Here the Benjamites
(always valiant, and jealously attached to the house of Saul) rallied again
under Abner, and posting themselves on the rising of the hill, stood prepared to
make a stout defence; but their general, who was weary of fighting, called to
Joab, and begged him to put a stop to the slaughter of his brethren, whose
destruction could not but cause bitterness in the end. Although Joab had
determined to continue the pursuit all night, he had the sense to hearken to his
advice, and caused the trumpet to sound a retreat. After this, Abner and his men
took the way to Mahanaim, and Joab returned to Hebron. Abner lost three hundred
and sixty men in thus action, while on David's side only nineteen were killed.
The war having thus commenced was continued for several years; but it appears to
have been a small irritating warfare, which never came to any important or
decisive engagement between the opposing parties. It was, however, attended with
this result, that the cause of David was gathering strength every day, while the
house of Saul daily became weaker and weaker. Indeed, it seems to have required
all the great talents of Abner to keep the kingdom of Ishbosheth together. [271]
The spear is armed at the tower end with a pointed iron, whereby it is stuck
into the ground when the owner is in repose.

Hebron The Pursuer slain

ABNER OFFERS DAVID ALL ISRAEL Meanwhile David reigned prosperously in
Hebron.[272] [272] Hebron is an ancient city of Palestine, situated in the heart
of the hill-country of Judea, about twenty-seven miles southwest from Jerusalem.
Originally it was called Kirjath-Arba, or the city of Arba, “which Arba was a
great man among the Anakims” (Joshua 14:15). In the vicinity of this place
Abraham abode, after he parted with Lot (Genesis 13:18), and bought a field with
a cave in which to bury his dead (Genesis 23:3-20). Besides Abraham and Sarah,
his son Isaac, his grandson Jacob, with their wives Rebekah and Leah, and his
great grandson Joseph, were severally interred here (Genesis 23:19). When the
Hebrews invaded Palestine, Hebron was the residence of a king (Joshua 12:10)
named Hoham, who confederated with four other Canaanitish kings against Israel;
but they were all discomfited and destroyed by Joshua (Joshua 10:3-4). After
which the city, being taken, was assigned to Caleb (Joshua 19:6-11) agreeably to
a promise given him by Moses (Numbers 13:30-33). Subsequently it was made a city
of refuge, and given to the priests (Joshua 21:11). Afterward, when David
succeeded Saul on the throne of Israel, he selected Hebron for his royal
residence, and continued there until Jerusalem was captured from the Jebusites
(2 Samuel 2:1; 1 Chronicles 12-13). On the division of the kingdom under
Rehoboam, Hebron fell to the share of the king of Judah (2 Chronicles 11:10). He
increased the number of his wives to six, by all of whom sons were born to him
in that place. In this small kingdom his good and prosperous government,
together with the knowledge that he had been divinely appointed to reign over
all Israel, appears insensibly to have inclined the other tribes toward him, by
which, more even than by war, his cause gathered that strength which that of
Ishbosheth lost. Abner was fully sensible that without himself the kingdom of
his nephew would fall to pieces, or rather pass quietly into the hands of David.
He rated his services at their full value; and although we do not ourselves see
cause to suspect, as some have done, that he contemplated taking the crown to
himself, it is certain that he was not disposed to consider himself responsible
to the king for his conduct, or to allow any of his proceedings to be questioned
by him. Now Ishbosheth had heard that Abner carried on a criminal intercourse
with one of Saul's concubines, named Rizpah: and as according to the usages of
the East, the concubines of a deceased sovereign became the property of the
successor in so strong and peculiar a sense, that such an act as that imputed to
Abner might be interpreted into a design upon the crown,[273] or at least was an
insulting encroachment upon the peculiar rights of royalty, even the timid
Ishbosheth was roused to question Abner on the subject. It is not very clear
whether the charge was true or false; but it is clear that this overbearing
personage was astonished and disgusted that the king should dare to question any
part of his conduct. He rose into a towering passion: “Am I who, against Judah,
have to this day shown kindness to the house of Saul, thy father, and to his
brethren and to his friends, and have not delivered thee into the hands of
David, such a dog's head that thou chargest me to-day with a fault concerning
this woman? God do so to Abner, and more also, if, as Jehovah hath sworn to
David, I do not so to him, by transferring the dominion of the house of Saul,
and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to
Beersheba.” From this it seems that even Abner knew that he had acted against a
higher duty, in setting up Ishbosheth in opposition to David; but this can not
justify the grounds on which he now declared his intention to act against him.
What he had said was no vain threat, although he was probably willing afterward
that the son of Saul should take it for an unmeaning outbreak of passion. He
sent messengers to David to enter into a treaty with him, under which he would
engage to use his great influence in bringing all Israel to acknowledge him as
king; and after this he found a pretence for going himself unsuspectedly to
Hebron to complete the agreement and arrange the steps to be taken. David had
sent to Ishbosheth to desire him to restore to him his wife Michal, whom Saul
had given to another. He had a perfect right to make this demand, if so
inclined--the rather as she had thus been disposed of against her own wish; but
we may suppose that he was particularly induced to reclaim her at this juncture,
in consideration of the satisfaction the measure was likely to give to those
attached to the family of Saul. As this claim was doubtless supported by Abner,
it was granted; and having obtained an order to demand her from her present
husband, that personage himself undertook to escort her to David. From this
transaction it would seem that the war had latterly been allowed to die away,
although without any concession or treaty having been made on either side. That
he was escorting the daughter of Saul to David, proved to Abner a favorable
opportunity, on his way, of explaining his present sentiments to the elders of
the tribes through which he passed; especially to those of Benjamin, which was
naturally the most attached to the house of Saul, while his own influence in it
was the greatest. He dwelt strongly on the public benefits which might be
expected from the government of one who had been expressly nominated by Jehovah
to the kingdom; and such a presentation, coming from such a quarter, coupled
with the favorable dispositions toward David which had grown up during his reign
in Hebron, was attended with such effect, that Abner was authorized to make
overtures to him in behalf of the tribes which had hitherto adhered to the house
of Saul. [273] See instances of this in the case of Absalom (2 Samuel 20:23) and
Adonijah, 1 Kings 2:13-25 Abner was received with great distinction and royally
feasted by David; and after the business on which he really came had been
settled to his satisfaction, he departed with the intention of inducing the
tribes to concur in giving David a public invitation to take the crown of
Israel. JOAB KILLS ABNER Joab had been absent from Hebron during this visit of
Abner; but he returned immediately after Abner had departed, and was deeply
displeased when he learned what lead occurred. Through the energy of his
character, his abilities and experience in the affairs of peace and war, his
influence and popularity with the army which was under his command, and his
unquestioned devotion to the interests of David, this man had great authority
with the king. His standing, indeed, in the kingdom of Judah, had much
resemblance to that of Abner in the other kingdom; nor were their characters
altogether unlike. In the points of difference, the advantage was on the side of
Abner; for his experience in military and public affairs was larger, from which,
together with his near relationship to Saul and his son, and the high stations
he had occupied under them, his influence with the people was far greater than
that which Joab or any other man in Israel could pretend to; and hence his
greater power at this time of rendering essential services to the king of Judah.
Abner and Joab also served very different masters; and thus it happened that
while Abner was, in the public eye, the greatest man in the kingdom of Israel,
Joab was in that of Judah only the greatest man next to David. Upon the whole,
Abner was the only man in the country of whom Joab had cause to be afraid, and
by whom it was likely that his own influence would be superseded in case the two
kingdoms were united through his instrumentality. It was probably more from such
considerations than any other that his displeasure at the intercourse between
David and Abner arose. He went instantly to the king, and reproached him for
allowing himself to be imposed upon by the able uncle of Ishbosheth, declaring
his belief that the true object of his visit was to obtain such information
concerning his state and resources as he might afterward employ against him. He
then went out and sent a messenger after Abner to call him back in the name of
the king. As he returned, Joab took care to meet him near the gate, and drew him
aside as if to speak to him privately, and while he was entirely unguarded and
unsuspicious, gave him a treacherous stab, of which he instantly died. The
history describes this as an act of blood-revenge for the death of his brother
Asahel by the hand of Abner; and while allowing him the full benefit of this
motive, it is hard to believe that envy and jealousy sharpened not the dagger of
the avenger. It must be conceded, nevertheless, that the existence of a
blood-feud between them extenuated if it did not justify the art of Joab in the
eyes of all Israel It was, in fact, according to the strict ideas of that
barbarous institution, the imperative duty of Joab to shed the blood of Abner,
who had slain his brother; and that Abner himself knew that the death of Asahel
would be attended with this result, is evinced by his anxiety to avoid the fatal
necessity of slaying his pursuer; for if the man-slayer is known, the avenger is
not bound to make any distinction as to the circumstances under which his
relative is slain: and at the present day, the one who slays another in battle
is pursued by the avenger equally with the murderer. The extent to which the law
of Moses had interfered with this custom only provided for the safety of the
man-slayer while to a city of refuge. Hebron was a city of refuge; and if Joab
had slain Abner within that city, the law would have allowed David to treat him
as a murderer. This Joab knew; and hence his meeting Abner at the gate, and
drawing him aside before he entered the city. These details we judge necessary,
to show that those who most suffered from the death of Abner, and abhorred the
manner in which it was inflicted, knew that his offence was not punishable by
the king or by the law; and hence that it was not merely the rank and influence
of Joab which prevented David from calling him to account for this barbarous
deed. Perhaps he could not have punished Joab in any case; but it is important
to know, that in the present case the law, custom, and public opinion, did not
require or permit him to do so. BLOODY SONS OF ZERUIAH The resentment of David
was nevertheless very great. Like other eastern sovereigns, he must have been
impressed with the evils of this custom of blood-revenge, and the extent to
which it interfered with good government; nor was he insensible to the insult
offered to himself, in the present and other instances, by “the sons of
Zeruiah,” Joab and Abishai, and the high hand with which they wrought their own
will. “I am this day weak,” he said, “though an anointed king; and these men,
the sons of Zeruiah, are too stubborn for me. Jehovah will reward the evil-doer
according to his evil deeds.” As it was of the highest importance to him that he
should be clear of any suspicion of having had any part in the death of Abner,
he publicly, “before Jehovah,” declared himself guileless of the blood which had
been shed, and invoked the full burden of that blood on Joab and on his house.
He ordered a public act of solemn mourning, in which he himself took a prominent
part: and at the funeral he followed the body, as chief mourner, to the grave,
where he stood weeping, and where he lamented, in elegiac[274] verse, over the
prince and great man who had that day fallen in Israel. [274] resembling an
elegy This conduct of David tended still further to satisfy and conciliate the
tribes attached to the house of Saul; and by them the murder of Abner was never
imputed to him. Indeed, the event must, at the time, have seemed to himself and
others anything but advantageous for his cause. But we, who have his whole
history before us, can see that the manner in which he ultimately became king
over all Israel, by the free and unsolicited choice of the tribes, was more
honorable and safe to him, and more becoming his divine appointment, than the
same result brought about through the exertions of Abner, whose conduct, as
between David and Ishbosheth, must have seemed very equivocal, and could, at the
best, have been but “traitorously honest.”[275] [275] Bishop Hall. ISHBOSHETH
MURDERED When Ishbosheth heard of Abner's death (without being aware of the plot
in which he was engaged), he felt that the right arm of his kingdom's strength
was broken. Others felt this also: and the conviction that the son of Saul could
not govern the troubled kingdom without Abner, grew stronger every day among the
tribes, and directed their eyes to David as the only person under whom they
could expect to realize the benefits the nation had expected to enjoy under a
regal government. This feeling, this tendency of the nation toward David, was
perceived, even in the court of Ishbosheth; and two of his officers, brothers,
determined to anticipate the course which events were taking, by the
assassination of their master, expecting by this act to deserve high rewards and
honors from the king of Judah. Accordingly, they stole into his chamber, while,
according to the universal custom of the East, he slept there during the mid-day
heat. They pierced him as he slept, and then took off his head, with which they
escaped unperceived, as at that time of the day most of the people were asleep.
The murderers sped to Hebron, and laid the head of Saul's son at the feet of
David, with the words, “Behold the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul thine
enemy, who sought thy life. Jehovah hath this day avenged my lord the king of
Saul and of his seed.” Astounding to them was the answer--“As Jehovah liveth,
who hath redeemed my soul out of every distress! if, when one told me, saying,
Behold, Saul is dead, thinking that he brought good tidings, I took hold of him
and slew him at Ziklag, when he expected that I should have given him a reward
for his tidings--how much more when wicked men have slain a just person in his
own house, upon his own bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hand,
and destroy you from the earth?” And with these words he commanded his
attendants to remove them to an ignominious death. The head of Ishbosheth he
ordered to be deposited in the sepulcher of Abner. MEPHIBOSHETH The kingdom of
Israel was now without even the appearance of a head, nor was there any
remaining member of the family of Saul whom the most zealous adherents of that
fallen house could dream of supporting in opposition to David. Saul had indeed
left some sons by concubines, but they were living in obscurity, and even their
existence was scarcely known to the people. Jonathan also had left one son, but
he was a mere boy and lame. He was five years old when Saul and his sons
perished in the battle of Gilboa, and he became lame from a fall which he
received when his nurse fled with him, as soon as the tidings of that overthrow
were brought to the house of Saul and Jonathan. His name was Mephibosheth.
ISRAEL CROWNS DAVID KING David had reigned seven years and a half in Hebron,
when, after the deaths of Abner and Ishbosheth, the crown of all Israel seemed
to devolve upon him, as naturally as by an act of succession. It was probably
the result of a unanimous decision in a great council of the eleven tribes, that
those tribes sent an embassy to David in Hebron to invite him to assume the
general government of the nation. This they did on the grounds of, 1, his
military claim, as one who had often led them to victory in the days of Saul;
and, 2, of his theocratical claim, as one who had been expressly nominated by
God to govern Israel. By this we see that the people were on this occasion
careful to recognize the theocracy, since they rested their preference of him on
his having been nominated to the kingdom by Jehovah, and having proved himself
worthy of it during the reign of Saul. The studious avoidance of all notice of
the seven years in which the tribes had been separately ruled seems to intimate
a desire that this measure should be formally regarded as following the death of
Saul. David intimated his readiness to receive the honor designed for him, and
to accede to the conditions on which the crown was to be held. The rulers of the
eleven tribes, therefore, at the head of large bodies of the best trained men in
the several tribes, described as “men that could keep rank,” who were chosen to
represent the whole of their several tribes in the great national act of
inauguration, repaired to Hebron to make David king. The number amounted to not
less than three hundred and forty thousand, and the enumeration in the book of
Chronicles (I Chronicles12:23, ad fin.) is accompanied with several remarks,
which the scantiness of our information concerning the distinctive character of
the tribes makes interesting. It appears that many members of the tribe of Judah
had adhered to the house of Saul, and abode within its dominions; for, on the
present occasion, six thousand eight hundred men of that tribe, armed with
shield and spear, came with the others to submit to David. There were seven
thousand, one hundred Simeonites of valor. The Levites sent four thousand six
hundred; and there were three thousand, seven hundred priests, headed by
Jehoiada, the son of Benaiah; besides whom came Zadok at the head of twenty-two
chiefs of his father's house. This Zadok, of the old pontifical line of Eleazar,
is the same who was long after made sole high-priest by Solomon, to the final
exclusion of the house of Eli; but, on the present occasion, he is particularly
noticed as “a young man, mighty in valor,” which shows--as indeed appears in the
history--that the pursuits of the Levites, and even of the Aaronites, were not
exclusively of an ecclesiastical and civil nature. From Benjamin came three
thousand men; but the greater part of this tribe held back, still cherishing a
lingering and futile attachment to the house of Saul, the rule of which had
given to the tribe a flattering pre-eminence, which it was unwilling to
relinquish. The half-tribe of Manasseh on this side the Jordan sent eighteen
thousand men; and the proud tribe of Ephraim testified its concurrence by
sending twenty-eight thousand. From Issachar came only two hundred men; but
these were the chief persons in the tribe, the whole of which was at their back,
and would have been in attendance if required. To them is given the marked
character of being men of political prudence and sagacity, who knew better than
most men how Israel ought to act under the present and other circumstances, and
whose support was therefore of great value to David. From Zebulon came not fewer
than fifty thousand men, skilled in the use of all warlike weapons, and “not
double-hearted,” with respect to the object for which they came. Naphtali
furnished one thousand captains, and with them thirty-seven thousand men, armed
with shield and spear. Dan supplied twenty-eight thousand six hundred able
warriors, and Asher forty thousand. The tribes beyond Jordan, Reuben, Gad, and
the half-tribe of Manasseh, sent, collectively, one hundred and twenty thousand
warlike men. One obvious remark, arising from the survey of these numbers, is
the comparative largeness of the proportions furnished by the remoter tribes, to
the north and beyond Jordan This is, perhaps, explained by the absence in those
tribes of any pretensions for themselves, and of any strong attachment for the
house of Saul, which could interfere with the heartiness of their recognition of
the claims of David; together with the operation of the principles which gives
to a prophet and great man the least degree of honor in and near his own
home.[276] [276] Of this Fuller seems to have given a satisfactory explanation.
“How this comes to pass let others largely dispute. We may, in brief, conclude,
it is partly because their cradles can be remembered, and those
swaddling-clothes once used about them, to strengthen them while infants, are
afterward abused against them, to disgrace them when men, and all the passages
of their youth repeated to their disparagement; partly because all the faults of
their family (which must be many in a numerous alliance) are charged on the
prophet's account. Wherefore that prophet who comes at the first in his full
growth from a far foreign place (not improving himself among them from a small
spark to a fire, to a flame, but, sun-like, arising to perfect luster), gains
the greatest reputation among the people. Because, in some respects, he is like
Melchisedec, 'without father, without mother, without descent,' while the
admiring vulgar, transported with his preaching, and ignorant grant of his
extraction on earth; will charitably presume his pedigree from heaven, and his
breeding well as calling to be divine.” ISRAEL FEASTS DAVID'S CROWNING With this
vast body, the flower of the Hebrew nation, and representing the whole of it,
“David made a league before the Lord,” which can be construed to have no other
meaning than that which has already been indicated in the case of Saul, that he
bound himself by oath to observe the conditions on which he received the
scepter, which are now unknown. He was then anointed king, and received the
homage of his new subjects; and the whole was terminated by a feast to all the
multitude assembled at Hebron, supplies for which were liberally sent in by all
the neighboring tribes, “on asses, on camels, on mules, and on oxen,” and
consisted of meat, meal, figs, raisins, wine, oil, oxen, and sheep, in great
abundance. “For there was great joy in Israel.” DAVID TAKES JERUSALEM The first
act of David's reign was to undertake the reduction of the fortress of Jebus, on
Mount Zion, which had remained in the hands of the natives ever since the days
of Joshua, and which, as Josephus reports,[277] had been, from its situation and
its fortifications, hitherto deemed impregnable. The Jebusites, therefore,
ridiculed the attempt, and appear to have placed the lame and the blind on the
walls, in derision, as fully sufficient to keep him out. But from the lower
city, which was already in the possession of the Israelites, there was “a
gutter,” or subterraneous communication, with the fortress, by which David
introduced a party of men and took “the stronghold of Zion.” In the operations
of this siege such ability and conduct were displayed by Joab, that he was
appointed to the same chief command of the armies of Israel which he had
previously held in the separate kingdom of Judah. The fact that his rule was
likely, under all circumstances, to find the most zealous supporters in his own
tribe of Judah, probably disinclined him to remove from its borders; and he
determined to make his new conquest the metropolis of his empire. A more central
situation, with respect to all the tribes, would have placed him in the hands of
the Ephraimites, whose cordiality toward a Judahite king might well be
suspected, and in whom little confidence could be placed in times of danger and
difficulty. Similar considerations have dictated the choice of a very
inconveniently situated capital to the reigning dynasty of Persia. But although
better sites for a metropolitan city might have been found in the largest extent
of Palestine, there were not better within the limits to which, for the reasons
indicated, the choice of David was confined. That the site is overlooked from
the Mount of Olives, although a great disadvantage in the eyes of modern
military engineers, was of little consequence under the ancient systems of
warfare, and could not countervail the peculiar advantages which it offered in
being enclosed on three sides by a natural fosse of ravines and deep valleys,
and terminating in an eminence, which, while strong in its defenses from
without, commanded the town within, and was capable of being strongly fortified.
The united influence of all these considerations appears to have determined the
preference of David for a site which was open to the serious objection, among
others, of being so remote from the northern tribes as to render the legal
obligation of resort to it three times every year a more burdensome matter to
them than it need have been had a more central situation been chosen. [277]
Josepus, Antiq. v. 2 and Joshua 15:63 It is supposed that David first gave the
name of Jerusalem (“the possession of peace”) to the city, but this is not quite
certain. On Mount Zion he fixed his residence, and erected a palace and other
buildings, and it was on this account called, the city of David.” This strong
part of the whole metropolis ever after remained what may be called the royal
quarter of the town. WATER OF BETHLEHEM The Philistines had good reason to dread
the consequences of the consolidation of all the power of the Hebrew tribes in
hands of such tried vigor as those of David, and they deemed it prudent to set
upon him before he had time to establish himself firmly in his kingdom. Their
measures were so well planned, and so secretly executed, that they appeared
suddenly, in great force, in the heart of Judea, and took the king's native town
of Bethlehem before he was able to make any resistance. Indeed, the danger of
his position was so urgent, that he was obliged to withdraw, for present safety,
with some attached followers, to his old retreat in the cave of Adullam. It was
here that he happened to express a longing desire for a drink of water from that
well of his native town at which the thirst of his younger days had often been
assuaged. Hearing this, three of his most valiant and devoted men, Joab,
Jashobeam, and Eleazar, secretly departed, and, breaking through the host of the
Philistines, which was encamped along the valley of Rephaim, brought him the
precious fluid for which they had periled their lives. But when the king
received it he would not drink, but poured it out as a libation to Jehovah. Soon
after this, David, encouraged by a favorable answer from God, fell upon the
Philistines, and so effectually discomfited them in two different onsets, that
they were never after able to make head against him or any of his successors.
Thus was one of the most irritating thorns in the side of Israel most
effectually removed. DAVID MOVES ARK And now, when David had a respite from war,
about the tenth year of his reign,[278] he thought of the ark of God, which had
so long remained in the house of Abinadab at Kirjath-jearim, and contemplated
its removal to Jerusalem, that the place which had now become the capital of the
human kingdom, might also become the capital of the invisible King. The design
being received with approbation by the elders and chiefs of Israel whom he
consulted, the king prepared for its execution, by dispatching messengers
throughout all Israel, to summon all the priests and Levites, and to invite as
many of the people as were so disposed to attend the solemnity. He also prepared
a tabernacle[279] to receive the ark on its arrival. Accordingly, at the
appointed time, the ark was removed from the house of Abinadab, upon a new cart,
attended by David and his court, by a large body of priests and Levites, who
sang and played on various instruments of music, and by a numerous concourse of
people from all parts of the kingdom. On the irregularity of removing it on a
cart, we have already had occasion to remark. This irregularity gave occasion to
an accident, attended with such fatal consequences as threw an effectual damp
upon the joy of the solemnity: for the cart being at one place much shaken by
the oxen, the officious Uzzah, the son or grandson of Abinadab, was struck dead
upon the spot for putting forth his hand to stay the ark, none but the priests
being warranted to touch it under pain of death. (Numbers 4:15.) This event
struck David and the people with such consternation, that the intention of
taking the ark to Jerusalem was relinquished, and it was left in the house of a
Levite named Obed-edom, near which the circumstance occurred. But about three
months after, hearing that the blessing of Jehovah had very evidently rested on
the house in which the ark lay, the king hastened to complete his design. He
perceived the former improprieties, and directed that the priests should now
bear the ark upon their shoulders; and the whole solemnity was placed under the
direction of Chenaniah, the chief of the Levites, who was found to be best
acquainted with the proper observances. This was a great day in Israel. Nothing
was omitted by which the occasion could be honored. In the presence of that
sacred symbol of the Divine King, David laid aside his royal mantle, and
appeared in such a garb as the Levites wore, with and before whom he went, as
one of them; and as they sang and played the triumphant song which he had
composed for the occasion, he accompanied them with his renowned harp, and
danced to the joyful sounds it gave forth. Michal, the daughter of Saul, beheld
this from a window, when the procession was approaching its destination; and
she, imbued with some of the royal notions which had been fatal to her father
and his house, despised him in heart for acting so far beneath what she
conceived to be the dignity of the king of Israel: and when he came home, she
could not refrain from allowing vent to this feeling. The reply of David was
spirited and proper, declaring that it was before Jehovah, the true king of
Israel, that he had laid aside the king, and made himself one with the people.
And if this were to be vile, as she deemed, “I will yet be more vile than thus,
and will be base in mine own sight.” [278] Counting from his first becoming king
over Judah only. [279] The old tabernacle, made in the wilderness, with the
altar, and all the sacred utensils, were, as it appears, at Gibeon; why David
erected a new tabernacle, instead of removing the former, does not clearly
appear; but it is probable that it was too large for the place within his new
palace, which, for the present, he intended it to occupy. REGULAR WORSHIP AND
SINGING David now instituted a regular and orderly attendance upon the ark and
its tabernacle. But the regular services of religion were still performed at
Gibeon, where the old tabernacle and altar remained, and which was still
therefore the place of concourse to the nation at their great festivals. Here
the priests rendered their services, under Zadok. The solemn removal of the ark,
and its dignified repose in the city of David, were well calculated to make an
impression upon the multitudes who were present on that occasion, and awaken
their slumbering zeal for Jehovah. These favorable and becoming dispositions the
king wished to confirm and strengthen, and for that end made suitable
regulations in the services of the priests and Levites, and this especially by
animating and instructive psalms, which were composed partly by himself, and
partly by other gifted persons. They were sung not only by the Levites at all
the sacrifices, but also by the people while on their way to the national altar,
to attend the feasts. A very precious collection of these compositions has been
preserved to our own day in the book of Psalms, which has in all subsequent ages
ministered much edification and comfort to a large portion of mankind. By such
instructive means David, without coercive measures, brought the whole nation to
forget their idols, and to worship Jehovah alone; and thus also their religion
became honorable, even in the eyes of foreigners, and acceptable to many of
them. The above is the first occasion on which Zadok is mentioned as
high-priest. But after this, throughout the reign of David, he and Abiathar are
often named separately or together, as both bearing that character--a singular
innovation, resulting probably from circumstances over which the king had little
control. It seems likely that after Saul had slain the priests of Ithamar's line
at Nob he restored the pontificate to the line of Eleazar, in the person of
Zadok; while David and his people, during his wandering and his reign in Judah,
had been accustomed to look to Abiathar, the escaped son of Ahimelech, as the
high-priest; and that, on his accession to the throne of Israel, he found the
people so accustomed to regard Zadok as high-priest, that he thought it proper
and prudent to recognize him in that character, without depriving Abiathar of
the consideration he had previously enjoyed. If this explanation be correct,
Zadok would have had this advantage over Abiathar, that he had actually
discharged the regular functions of the high-priesthood at the tabernacle, which
the other had never an opportunity of doing. It is probably on this account,
that wherever the two names occur together, that of Zadok is placed first. PLANS
FOR A TEMPLE About five years after this, and the fifteenth of David's reign,
when the king had finished and inhabited his palace of cedar, “and God had given
him rest from his enemies round about,” he meditated a design of building a
temple to Jehovah, in place of the temporary tabernacle which he had provided.
This design he mentioned to the prophet Nathan, to whom it seemed so obviously
proper, that he gave it much commendation and encouragement. But the night
following, a message from God to David was delivered to him. This message
declared it seemly that the temple of God should be built by a man of peace; but
his life had been spent in warfare, and he had shed much blood. He was therefore
directed to leave the accomplishment of his plan to his son and successor, whose
reign should be one of peace. Nevertheless it was well for David that this
intention had been formed; for the Lord, to testify his approbation of this and
other evidences of his zeal, and of his attachment to the principles of the
theocracy, promised to make his name “as great as the names of the great ones
who are on the earth;” and, far beyond this, the Lord promised “to build him a
house,” by establishing the succession in his house, and by granting to his
posterity an eternal kingdom. The gratitude with which this promise was received
by David seems to show he had some conception of its extensive import. He went,
and seating himself most reverently on the ground before the ark, poured forth
the strong expression of his gratitude. ISRAEL BECOMES POWERFUL As the
Israelites were always victorious in war while they were faithful to their God
and to the principles of the theocracy, so now the arms of David prospered in
whatever direction they were turned. Indeed, it is scarcely until his reign that
the national character of the Hebrews can be deemed to have recovered of the
wounds which it had received in Egypt; and we find among them little military
skill, and as little valor or fortitude. But from this time forward, trained to
war and victory by David, they may be recognized as a truly courageous people,
possessing among them as much military skill, science, and discipline, as any
other nation of the same rank and age could claim. The neighboring and rival
nations had soon cause to learn that a new king reigned in Israel. The time was
come for the old enemies, who had so often inspired the Israelites with dread,
to be afraid in their turn; and even the more distant foreign princes, whose
assistance they procured, had cause to repent of provoking an enemy more
puissant than themselves. It was now the turn of the Philistines to receive the
yoke to which they had accustomed Israel. Attacked in their own country, and
beaten on all hands, they were brought under tribute and subjection. The
Moabites were more heavily dealt with: to secure his conquest, David thought it
necessary to act with a severity not usual with him; for he put to death one
half of those who were taken with arms in their hands: and although it was then,
or had been not long previously, usual for the nations to put all the armed men
to death, this deed strike us as harsh, from comparison with the milder general
character of David's own warfare, and can only be explained by reference to some
peculiar circumstances with which we are unacquainted. DAVID'S TERRITORIAL REIGN
In the ancient promises to the Hebrews, the limit to which, in their palmy
state, their victorious arms should extend, had been as clearly defined as the
limit of their own proper territory. And the distinction here incidentally
mentioned, between the limit of the proper country destined for their own
occupation, and that of the subject territory which should be acquired, is of
considerable importance, and should not be overlooked or confounded as it often
has been. The limit of conquest was fully reached by David. Eastward this limit
was to extend to the Euphrates. Of the kings who reigned in the intermediate
country, one of the most powerful was Hadadezer, king of Zobah. This sovereign,
whose dominion extended eastward to the Euphrates, was defeated by David in the
first battle, and lost twenty thousand infantry, seven thousand horsemen with
their horses, and one thousand chariots of war. Of the chariots, the king of
Israel preserved a hundred, with horses for them; but, mindful that the law of
the kingdom forbade the accumulation of horses, all the others were destroyed.
The Syrians of Damascus, who were allies (perhaps tributaries) of Hadadezer, and
came to his assistance, shared his fate. Hadad, their king, was vanquished, with
the loss of twenty-two thousand men, and David brought his territory under
subjection to his scepter. These two victories carried the eastern limit of his
conquests to the Euphrates. Josephus adduces the testimony of a native
historian, Nicolaus of Damascus, in confirmation of the testimony which the
Hebrew writers have left. From this it seems that the kingdom, of which Damascus
was the capital, had grown very powerful under this Hadad, who might, indeed, be
considered as its actual founder; but after various engagements with King David,
was finally overthrown in a great battle near the Euphrates, in which he
performed deeds worthy of his high name Josephus himself, in conformity with the
Scriptural account, relates that after David had reduced to his obedience
Damascus and all Syria, having strong garrisons in every place where they seemed
necessary, he returned in triumph to Jerusalem, where he consecrated to God the
golden shields which had been borne by the royal guard of Hadadezer, from whose
cities he also brought much spoil of brass for the service of the future temple.
While David was engaged in these victories, the southern frontier of his
conquests was, according to ancient promises, extended southward to the Red sea.
This was the work of Joab's valiant brother, Abishai, who defeated the Edomites
in “the Valley of Salt,” at the southern extremity of the Dead sea, and then
carried his victorious arms into the mountains, the enclosed valleys, and the
rocky wildernesses of Mount Seir, leaving garrisons to secure the advantages he
had gained. SUBJECT STATES David was too well acquainted with the law, to
attempt to incorporate any of these conquests as integral parts of the Hebrew
territory. He appears in most cases to have left the internal government of the
conquered states in the hands of the native princes, who were required to render
annually a certain amount of tribute, consisting, for the most part, of such
articles as their country afforded in the most abundance, or which they had the
best means of procuring or producing. The delivery of such tribute from subject
states, under the name of presents, was anciently, as it is now, an occasion of
great pomp and ceremony, which, on another occasion, we shall more particularly
notice. The obedience of the more distant conquests was secured by garrisons,
which do not seem to have been judged necessary in those nearer countries which
the mere vicinity of the conquering power might sufficiently control. KING OF
KINGS Thus David literally became a “king of kings,” and his fame extended into
far countries. Some states which had been at hostilities with the states
conquered by him sent splendid embassies, with valuable gifts, to congratulate
him on his successes. Among these, Toi, the king of Hamath, upon the Orontes,
who had been at war with Hadadezer, is particularly mentioned. He sent his own
son Joram “to salute and bless” King David, and to deliver costly gifts, such as
vessels and utensils of gold, silver, and fine brass. All the surplus wealth
thus acquired from the states he conquered, or from those which sought his
friendship and alliance, was treasured up by him for the great work which he had
so much at heart, and which his son was destined to execute. ALLIANCE WITH TYRE
But of all David's' foreign alliances, the earliest and most valuable was that
with Hiram, king of Tyre. This had been formed very soon after David had taken
Jerusalem and defeated the Philistines, and seems to have been sought by Hiram;
for it will be remembered that David was famous in the closely neighboring
states before he became king; and no doubt not only his eminent public
qualities, but his remarkable personal history, was familiar not less to the
Phoenicians than to the Philistines. And although an enterprising commercial and
skilful manufacturing nation, like them, would be disposed to look down upon a
people so inferior to themselves as the Hebrews in the finer and larger arts of
social life, military talents and success, and such heroic qualities as the
character of David offered, have never yet failed to be appreciated, wherever
found. Hiram “was ever a lover of David,” and the offered alliance must have
been the more gratifying to him as it came before “David acquired a name, and
[before] his fame went out into all lands, and the Lord brought the fear of him
upon all nations.” This alliance was one of mutual advantage. Tyre possessed but
a narrow strip of maritime territory, the produce of which, if sedulously
cultivated, would have been very inadequate to the supply of its teeming
population and numerous fleets. But, besides this, the absorbing devotion of the
Phoenicians to commerce and the arts rendered them averse to the slow pursuits
of agriculture, the products of which they could so much more easily obtain by
exchange against the products of their foreign traffic and their skill. To them
therefore it was a most invaluable circumstance, that behind them lay a country
in the hands of a people who had none of the advantages which were so much
prized by themselves, but who had abundance of corn, wine, oil, and cattle, to
barter for them. An alliance cemented by such reciprocal benefits, and
undisturbed by territorial designs or jealousies, was likely to be permanent;
and we know that it tended much to advance the Hebrews in the arts which belong
to civilized life, and to promote the external splendor of this and the ensuing
reign. In the present instance Hiram supplied the architects and mechanics, as
well as the timber (hewn in Lebanon), whereby David was enabled to build his
palace of cedar, and to undertake the other works which united the upper and
lower cities. and rendered Jerusalem a strong and comely metropolis.
MEPHIBOSHETH In the midst of his success and glory, the memory of Jonathan was
still very dear to David. He caused inquiry to be made whether any of his family
remained, “to whom he might show kindness;” he then first heard of his lame son
Mephibosheth, and caused him to be conducted to Jerusalem. The afflicted young
man was received with great kindness by the king; who restored to him the lands
which had belonged to Saul for the support of his household, but desired that he
would himself be a constant guest at the royal table, even as one of the king's
own sons. This generoustreatment, with the continued kindness which he afterward
received, won entirely the open heart of Jonathan's son. He became strongly
attached to the person and interests of David, whose higher qualities he
regarded with admiration and reverence. Rock Valley in Mount Seir The Entrance
to a Tomb is shown on the left, and the Remnants of an Amphitheater in the
distance GOVERNMENT ORGANIZED It was probably in the period of peace and glory
which followed the victories of David over all the enemies of Israel, that he
employed himself in the organization of the government. The very important part
which he took in giving to all the departments of the government the form and
character which he desired it to bear in future times, has, it seems to us, been
rather overlooked and undervalued. For, in truth, David was the real founder of
the Hebrew monarchy; and in that character his great abilities appear not less
prominently than in the various other endowments by which he was so eminently
distinguished from the mass of mankind. AMMONITE FOLLY AND WAR During the days
of his adversity, when persecuted by Saul, David had been treated by Nahash the
king of Ammon with some kindness, of which he cherished a very grateful
remembrance. When, therefore, he heard of his death, he sent an embassy to
condole with the new king, Hanun, upon the loss of his father, and to
congratulate him upon his peaceable succession. But this prince was led by his
courtiers to regard the ambassadors as spies, and dared to give them such
treatment as was then, and would be at this day in the East, regarded as the
most ignominious which any men could receive. He caused their beards to be
shaved, and their long garments to be cut short at their buttocks, and in this
condition sent them away. When David, heard of this grievous insult to him
through his ambassadors, he was filled with indignation. He sent messengers to
meet these personages, and to relieve them from the necessity of appearing at
his court in their present degraded condition, by directing them to remain at
Jericho until the renewed growth of their beards might enable them to appear
without shame. As the insult was too gross to be allowed to pass unpunished,
David ordered Joab to march with an imposing force against the Ammonites.
Meanwhile that people had not been idle; but, fully aware of the probable effect
of their ungenerous conduct, and not confiding in their own strength, they
engaged the assistance of some of the neighboring princes of Syria--in fact,
“hired” them as mercenaries, being the first example of the kind which history
offers. The force thus obtained from four Syrian princes amounted to
thirty-three thousand men, who came and encamped before Medeba in the land of
Ammon. The force of the Ammonites themselves marched out of the town when the
army of Israel appeared. Joab with his usual address hastened to prevent the
junction of the two armies, and himself turned against the Syrians, while his
brother Abishai kept the Ammonites in check. The Syrians were speedily put to
flight by Joab; and when the Ammonites saw this, they also fled before Abishai,
and hastened into the city. SYRIAN AND ASSYRIAN DEFEAT In a second campaign,
David himself marched against a powerful army, composed not only of the Syrians,
but of Assyrians from beyond the Euphrates, whose assistance had been procured
by Hadadezer, who seems now to have determined on a last and grand effort to
recover and secure his independence. This formidable army was under the command
of Shobach, the general of Hadadezer, and were encamped at Helam, near the
Euphrates, where David found them. In the terrible battle which ensued the
Israelites were victorious; and that day they destroyed 700 chariots, 7,000
horse, and 40,000 foot, being about half the force which the Syrians on both
sides the river had been able to bring into the field. By this decisive victory
the Syrian nations were completely subdued, and the Ammonites were henceforth
left to their own resources. The next campaign against that nation David left to
the conduct of Joab, remaining himself at Jerusalem. Joab marched into the land
of Ammon, and, after ravaging the country, laid siege to the metropolitan city
of Rabbah, or Rabbath-Ammon,[280] which for some time held out against him.
[280] The site of the ancient capital of the Ammonites was first indicated by
Seetzen, and has since been visited by various travelers. The original names of
this town, which existed in the time of Moses, Ammon, and Rabbath-Ammon, was for
a time observed by that of Philadelphia, which it took from Ptolemy
Philadelphus, by whom it was rebuilt. That any portions of the ruins are of
earlier date than this rebuilding by him, it would be absurd to expect; and most
of them are obviously of later date, and may, for the most part, be referred to
the period of the Roman domination in Syria. The present natives of the country
now know nothing of the name of Philadelphia, but give to the site its original
name of Ammon. The very precise manner in which the prophecies applicable to the
city have been fulfilled, gives to the place more interest than it could
historically claim, although even that is not inconsiderable. The description
which is the most available for our purposes is that which Lord Lindsay has
given. In transcribing it, however, we omit the account of the ruins, which,
although of high interest in themselves. are not such as the purpose of the
present work requires us to describe: The scenery waxed drearier and drearier,
as, at ten hours and a half from Jerash, we descended a precipitous stony slope
into the valley of Ammon, and crossed a beautiful stream called Mount Ammon. It
has its source in a pond a few hundred paces from the southwest end of the town,
and, after passing under ground several times, empties itself into the Zerka
(Jabbok). The valley is bordered at intervals by strips of stunted grass, often
interrupted; no oleanders cheered the eye with their rich blossoms; the hills on
both sides were rocky and bare, and pierced with excavations and natural caves.
Here, at a turning in the narrow valley, commences the antiquities of Ammon. It
was situation on both aides the stream. The dreariness of its present aspect is
quite indescribable. It looks like the abode of death. The valley stinks with
dead camels. One of them was rotting in the stream and, although we saw none
among the ruins, they were absolutely covered in every direction with their
dung. That morning's ride would have convinced a skeptic. How runs the prophecy?
'I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites for flocks; and ye
shall know that I am the Lord!' “Nothing but the croaking of frogs and screams
of wild birds broke the silence, as we advanced up this valley of desolation.
Passing on the left an unopened tomb (for the singularity in these regions is
where the tomb has not been violated), several broken sarcophagi, and an
aqueduct, in one spot full of human sculls, a bridge on the right, a ruin on the
lea, apparently the southern gate of the town, a high wall and lofty terrace,
with one pillar still standing, the remains probably of a portico, we halted
under the square building supposed by Seetzen to have been a mausoleum, and,
after a hasty glance at it, hurried up the glen in search of the principal
ruins, which we found much more extensive and interesting than we expected, not
certainly in such good preservation as those of Jerash, but designed on a much
grander scale. Storks were perched in every direction on the tops of the
different buildings; others soared at an immense height above us.” Then follows
a more detailed account of the ruins, the predominant architectural character of
which is indicated by the very fine specimen inserted in our text. By far the
best and most ample description of the whole is that which has been given by
Buckingham, in his “Travels among the Arab Tribes,” 67-81. After his
description, Lord Lindsay resumes: “Such are the relics of the ancient Ammon, or
rather of Philadelphia, for no building there can boast of a prior date to that
of the change of name. It was a bright cheerful morning, but still the valley is
a very dreary spot, even when the sun shines brightest. Vultures were garbaging
on a camel, as we slowly rode back through the glen, and re-ascended the akiba
by which we entered it. Ammon is now quite deserted, except by the Bedouins who
water their flocks at its little river. We met sheep and goats by thousands, and
camels by hundreds, coming down to drink, all in beautiful condition. How--let
me again cite the prophecy--how runs it? 'Ammon shall be a desolation!--Rabbah
of the Ammonites ... shall be a desolate heap!--I will make Rabbah a stable for
camels, and the Ammonites a couching place for Rocks; and ye shall know that I
am the Lord!'” Ruins of Ammon

BATHSHEBA There was little in this war to occasion much anxiety in the king, who
remained quiet at Jerusalem, where, in an evil and unguarded hour, his
inordinate desires brought him very low, and entailed much anguish and sorrow on
his future reign. One afternoon the king arose from his mid-day sleep, and
walked on the terraced roof of his palace,[281] from the commanding height of
which he unhappily caught a view of a woman bathing. This was the beautiful
Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, who was then serving under Joab at the
siege of Rabbah. The king sent for her, and she became with child by him.
Afflicted at this event, which was so calculated, by betraying the adulterous
bring upon the woman the ignominious death which the law demanded, if the
husband should think proper to demand her punishment, David sent to desire Joab
to send him to Jerusalem, as if with news of the war, hoping that his presence
about this time would screen, or at least render doubtful, the effects of his
own crime. But Uriah, either, as he professed, thinking the gratifications of
home inconsistent with the obligations of his military service, or suspecting
the fidelity of his wife, avoided her during his stay, and remained publicly
among the king's attendants. Disappointed in this device by the proud honor or
caution of Uriah, the king concluded that the life of Bathsheba and his own
character could only be secured by his death. This therefore he contrived, in
concert with the unprincipled Joab, in such a manner as to make him perish by
the sword of the Ammonites, although this could not be effected without
involving several other men in the slaughter. David concluded his complicated
crime by sending back to Joab, through the messengers who brought this
intelligence, a hypocritical message of condolence: “Let not this trouble thee,
for the sword devoureth one as well, as another.” And then, to fill up the
measure of his successful guilt, he openly took Bathsheba to wife, after the
days of her mourning were expired; and she bore him a son. [281] There have been
many grave remarks and sermons upon the consequences of idleness, as exemplified
in this instance, and so forth. Now there is no idleness in the case, or
anything to blame David for, but the sin into which he fell. It is quite true
that, if he had not been at Jerusalem, and if he had not walked on the roof of
his palace after sleep, this thing would not have happened to him; but this is
no more than the obvious truth that if a man were doing one thing another thing
would riot have been done, which is as applicable to every human act as to that
of David. We are told that he ought not to have been at Jerusalem, but at the
head of his army. Now this is more than we know. It is, perhaps, rather
creditable to David that he knew that a king had more important duties than to
lead forth his armies in person on every occasion. He was doubtless ready, if
there had been adequate occasion; but the result proved that Joab was fully
equal to the service on which he was engaged; and the king could probably more
easily find one to command the army, than to conduct the civil government in his
own absence, according to his own plans and designs. Those must have singular
notions of an oriental monarchy who suppose that David had grown indolent
because he remained in his metropolis; for there are few men whose ordinary home
duties are more arduous and laborious than those of most eastern kings; and we
know, from a subsequent event, that David actually undertook in his own person
more labor than he was able adequately to sustain. Then, as to his afternoon
sleep and subsequent walk: the idleness of this has seemed unquestionable. But
this is the ignorant inference of people who sleep outright by night for eight
or nine hours, and then marvel to see others sleepful while they are wakeful,
without considering that these others have slept but five hours at night, rose
at daybreak, and have discharged half the duties of the day before they commence
their own. In warm climates the cool morning hours are highly favorable to
exertion, and therefore the orientals rise early to employ them, to compensate
for which, and to obtain the total quantity of sleep which nature requires, they
he down again during the heat of the day, when, if they were awake, the relaxing
warmth would make exertion difficult. Taken in all, the orientals do not sleep
more, if as much, as we do; but they find it convenient and suitable to have two
short sleeps instead of a single long one and for this they do not deserve to be
considered indolent. Joab doubtless slept as soundly in his camp this afternoon
as David in his palace. NATHAN'S REPROOF But the deed which David bad done with
so much privacy, thinking to escape human detection, “displeased Jehovah; and he
sent Nathan the prophet to reprove him.” This he did with much tact, in a
well-known and beautiful tale of oppression and distress,[282] so framed that
the king did not at the first perceive its application to himself; and which
worked so powerfully upon his feelings that his anger was kindled against the
man “who had no pity,” and he declared not only that he should, as the law
required, make a fourfold restitution, but, with a severity beyond the law of
the case, pronounced a sentence of death upon him. Instantly the prophet
retorted, “Thou art the man!” In the name of the Lord, he authoritatively
upbraided him with his ingratitude and transgression, and threatened him that
the sword which he had privily employed to cut off Uriah should never depart
from his own house, and that his own wives should be publicly dishonored by his
neighbor. [282] “There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other
poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: but the poor man had
nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished rip; and it
grew up together with him and with his children; and it ate of his own morsel
and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him like a
daughter. Now a traveler came to the rich man, and he spared to take of his own
flock and of his own herd to dress for the traveler that had come to him; but
took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that had come to him”--2
Samuel 12:2-4. DAVID'S BABY DIES Convicted and confounded, David instantly
confessed his guilt--“I have sinned against Jehovah!” and for this speedy
humiliation, without attempting to dissemble or cloak his guilt, the Lord was
pleased to remit the sentence of death which he had renounced on himself, and to
transfer it to the fruit of his crime. The child died; and the Rabbins remark
that three more of David's sons were cut off by violent deaths, thus completing
as it were the fourfold retaliation for the murder of Uriah, which he had
himself denounced. DAVID'S FALL “The fall of David is one of the most
instructive and alarming recorded in that most faithful and impartial of all
histories, the Holy Bible. And the transgression of one idle and unguarded
moment pierced him through with many sorrows and embittered the remainder of his
life, and gave occasion for the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme on account of
this crying offence of “the man after God's own heart.” When he only cut off the
skirt of Saul's robe, his heart smote him for the indignity thus offered to his
master; but when he treacherously cut off a faithful and gallant soldier, who
was fighting his battles, after having defiled his bed, his heart smote him
not--at least we read not of any compunction or remorse of conscience till
Nathan was sent to reprove him. Then, indeed, his sorrow was extreme; and his
Psalms, composed on this occasion, express in the most pathetic strains the
anguish of a wounded spirit, and the bitterness of his penitence. (See Psalms
31) Still the rising again of David holds forth no encouragement to sinners who
may wish to shelter themselves under his example, or flatter themselves with the
hope of obtaining his forgiveness; for though his life was spared, yet God
inflicted upon him those temporal punishments which the prophet had denounced.
The remainder of his days were as disastrous as the beginning had been
prosperous.[283] [283] Hales, ii. 341-343 These things happened about the
eighteenth year of David's reign, and the forty-eighth of his age. RABBAH TAKEN
Soon after this, Joab, always zealous for the honor and credit of his master,
though not himself an unambitious man, sent to acquaint David that he had taken
the royal quarter of the city of Rabbah; and as this contained the sources from
which the rest was supplied with water, it was not possible that it could much
longer hold out. He therefore desired that the king would come with a suitable
reinforcement and carry the town, that his might be the glory of bringing the
war to a conclusion. David did so. The spoil taken in this metropolis was
immense; and among it was the crown of the king, of gold set round with jewels,
and worth a talent of gold, which may be reckoned at nearly thirty thousand
dollars. This was “set upon David's head;” but whether as appropriating it to
his own future use as king of Israel, or as the act of a conqueror to denote the
transference to himself of that sovereignty over Amnon which the native princes
had hitherto enjoyed, is not quite evident. It is certain that such of this
cruel and arrogant people as were taken in Rabbah were treated with unusual
severity--not, indeed, by their being put to torturing deaths, as the ambiguous
terms of the text have suggested, but by their being reduced to personal
servitude, and devoted to the most laborious employments which existed among the
Hebrews, being such as those of sawing and cleaving wood, of harrowing the
ground, and of laboring in the brick-fields. SOLOMON BORN This was prosperity;
as was, not long after, the birth of another son from Bathsheba. This son was
Solomon, who, long before his birth, and long before his mother was known to
David, had been pointed out by name as “the man of peace,” who was to succeed
him in the throne, and through whom his dynasty was to reign in Israel. AMNON'S
RAPE But the commencement of the evils threatened upon the house of David was
not long withheld. Amnon, the eldest of his sons, conceived a violent passion
for his half-sister, Tamar, the full sister of Absalom. By a feigned sickness,
he procured her presence in his house, and delayed not to declare to her his
criminal desires; and finding that he could not persuade her to compliance, he
by force effected her dishonor. Then, passing suddenly from a criminal excess of
love to an equal excess of hate, he expelled her ignominiously from his house.
Tamar, in her grief, rent her virginal robe and threw dust upon her head, and
sought the asylum of her brother Absalom's house; for, according to the ideas of
the East, the son of the same mother is, more than even the father, the proper
person to protect a female and to redress her wrongs. No man could be more
haughty and implacable than Absalom; but he was also deeply politic: and while
he received the unhappy Tamar with tenderness, he desired her to conceal her
grief, seeing that a brother was the cause of it, and to spend her remaining
days in retirement in his house. He made no complaint on the subject, and, young
as he was, so well concealed his deep resentment, that even Amnon had not the
least suspicion of it. When the news of this villainous fact came to the ears of
David, it troubled him greatly; but being greatly attached to Amnon, as being.
his eldest son and probable successor in the throne, he neglected to call him to
account or to punish him for his transgression. This, we may be sure, increased
the resentment of Absalom, and perhaps laid the foundation of his subsequent
alienation from, and dislike to, his father. ABSALOM AVENGES TAMAR Absalom
waited two years before he found an opportunity of giving effect to his long and
deeply-cherished purposes of vengeance. It seems that David allowed separate
establishments to his sons very early. We find before that both Amnon and
Absalom had separate houses, and now we learn that Absalom (and doubtless his
brothers) had a distinct property to support his expenses. For at this time he
was about to hold a grand sheep-shearing feast in Baal-hazor, to which he
invited the king and all his sons. As Absalom had hoped, David declined, on the
ground of the expense which his presence would occasion to his son; but all the
princes went, and among them, and the chief of them, was the eldest, Amnon. Now
Absalom felt that the day of his vengeance was come; and while he received his
company with distinction, and royally entertained them, he gave secret orders to
his servants to fall upon Amnon, and slay him, even at the table, on a given
signal from himself. This was done. Amnon was slain while his heart was warm
with wine; on which the other princes, expecting perhaps the same fate, made all
haste to get to their mules, and fled to Jerusalem. Their arrival relieved the
king from the horror into which he had been plunged by a rumor that all his sons
had been slain; but still his indignation and grief were very great. Absalom
himself fled the country, and found refuge with his maternal grandfather,
Talmai, the king of Geshur, with whom he remained for three years. WIDOW'S TALE
During this time the grief of David for the murder of Amnon was gradually
assuaged, and his heart insensibly turned with kindness toward Absalom, to whom
he always had been much attached, and who was now his eldest son, and who might
seem to have the more claim on his indulgence and sympathy on account of his
exclusion from the succession to the throne, to which by birth he deemed himself
entitled. Joab was not slow to perceive the turn which the king's feelings were
taking, and was desirous of bringing about a reconciliation between David and
Absalom; but not daring to speak openly to the king himself, in the first
instance, he engaged a shrewd woman of Tekoah to come before the king with a
fictitious tale of distress, which, as in the case of Nathan's story, might be
made instructively applicable to the circumstances. The woman played her part to
admiration; but when she began to make her application, the king at once guessed
that she had been prompted by Joab; and this being admitted by the woman, the
king turned to that personage, who was present all the time; and, glad that what
was secretly his own desire was thus made to appear a concession to the urgent
request of that powerful servant, he said, “Behold, now, I grant this request;
go, then, and bring back the young man Absalom.” He accordingly came back to
Jerusalem, but his father declined to see him on his return; and he remained two
years in Jerusalem without appearing before the king. Flight of the king's sons

ABSALOM RETURNS HOME At the end of that time, Absalom was again, through the
interference of Joab, admitted to the presence of his father, who embraced him
and was reconciled to him. ABSALOM'S DILEMMA It would seem that during his
retirement Absalom had formed those designs, for the ultimate execution of which
he soon after began to prepare the way: this was no less than to deprive his
father of his crown. As David was already old, Absalom would probably have been
content to await his death, but for peculiar circumstances. If David properly
discharged his duty, he must have led his sons to understand, that although the
succession to the throne had been assured to his family, the ordinary rules of
succession were not to be considered obligatory or binding, inasmuch as the
Supreme King possessed and would exercise the right of appointing the particular
person who might be acceptable to him. In the absence of any contrary
intimation, the ordinary rules might be observed; but, according to the
principles of the theocratical government, no such rules could be of force when
a special appointment intervened. It was already known to David, and could not
but be known or suspected by Absalom, that not only he but some other of the
king's sons were to be passed over by such an appointment, in favor of Solomon
to whom, by this time, the king probably began to pay attention as his
successor. The fact that even the ordinary law of primogeniture, as applied to
the government, had not yet been exemplified among the Hebrews, must have tended
to increase Absalom's uncertainty of his own succession to his father. Besides,
in contending for the crown while his father lived, he had but one competitor,
and that one fondly attached to him; whereas, if he waited until his father's
death, he might have many vigorous competitors in his brothers. These, or some
of them, were probably the considerations in which the designs of Absalom
originated. But these designs were not merely culpable as against his own
father, but as an act of rebellion against the ordinations of the theocracy,
since they involved an attempt to appropriate by force that which God had
otherwise destinated, or which at least was to be left for his free appointment.
The ultimate success of Absalom would, therefore, have utterly subverted the
theocratical principle which still remained in the constitution of the Hebrew
state. At the first view, such an enterprise, against such a man as David, and
by his own son, must have seemed wild and hopeless. But in the contest between
youth and age--between novelty and habit--between the dignity and authority of
an old king, and the ease and freedom of one who has only popularity to seek,
the advantages are not all in favor of the old governor. Besides, it seems that
there was much latent discontent among the people, arising in a considerable
degree from that very confidence in the justice and wisdom of the king by which
his throne ought to have been secured. It is the duty of an oriental king to
administer justice in his own person, and that duty is not seldom among the
heaviest of those which devolve upon him. This grew in time to be so sensibly
felt, that ultimately among the Hebrews, as in some oriental and more European
states, the king only undertook to attend to appeals from the ordinary
tribunals. But under the former state of things, the people will rather bring
their causes before a just and popular king than to the ordinary judges; and he
in consequence is so overwhelmed with judicial business, that there remain only
two alternatives--either to give up all his time to these matters, to the
neglect of the general affairs of the nation, or else to risk his popularity by
fixing a certain time every day for the hearing of causes, whereby some of the
suers must often wait many days before their causes can be brought under his
notice. This hindrance to bringing a case immediately before the king is
calculated to relieve him by inducing the people to resort to the inferior
judges, from whom prompt justice might be obtained; but, on the other hand it is
well calculated to endanger his popularity with the unthinking multitude, who
deem their own affairs of the highest importance, and attribute to his neglect
or indolence the delay and difficult which they experience. David made choice of
the latter alternative, and suffered the inevitable consequences. Absalom was
not slow to perceive the advantage this was to him, or to neglect the use which
might be made of it. He had other advantages: he was an exceedingly fine young
man, admired by all Israel for his beauty, and particularly celebrated for the
richness and luxuriance of his hair. This was no small matter among a people so
open as were the Hebrews to receive impressions from the beauty, or tallness, or
strength of their public men. It was also, probably, a great advantage to
Absalom, as against David, and which would have availed him against any of his
brothers, had any of them been older than himself, that he was maternally
descended from a race of kings. When, even in our own day, we see the
conventional rights of primogeniture set aside, in the East, in favor of the son
of a nobly-descended mother,[284] we can not suppose this consideration without
weight among the Israelites in the time of David. [284] In Persia, Abbas Meerza,
the father of the king, was, on account of the noble descent of his mother,
nominated by his father to succeed him in the throne, in preference to an elder
son whose mother was a merchant's daughter. ABSALOM CAMPAIGNS FOR THRONE Soon
after the reconciliation with his father, Absalom began to live with great
ostentation, taking upon him much more state than his station as the eldest son
of the crown required, and more probably than his father exhibited as king. He
had chariots, and a guard of horsemen, and never appeared in public but attended
by fifty men. This, by contrast, the more enhanced the condescension and
affability which his purposes required him to exemplify. It was his wont to make
his appearance very early in the morning, in the way that led to the palace
gate; and when any man who had a lawsuit came to the king for judgment, Absalom
would call to him and inquire with much apparent interest from what town he
came, and the nature of his suit before the king; he would then condole with him
on the state of affairs which made it so difficult to obtain redress and
justice, and would wind up with the passionate exclamation, “Oh that . were made
judge in the land, that every man who hath any suit or cause might come unto me,
and . would do him justice!” And then when any man passing by came to make his
obeisance to the king's son, Absalom would put forth his arms, and take hold of
him, and embrace him like a brother. “And after this manner,” says the
narrative, “did Absalom to all Israel who came to the king for judgment:thus
Absalom stole away the hearts of the men of Israel.” And it is important to
note, that the men whose hearts he thus “stole away,” were inhabitants of all
the different parts of the land, who would afterward carry to their several
homes the impressions they had received. ABSALOM DECLARED KING At last, four
years after his reconciliation to his father, Absalom judged his plans ripe for
execution; he therefore obtained the king's permission to go to Hebron, under
the pretence of offering there a sacrifice which he had vowed during his
residence at Geshur. At this place he had appointed the chiefs of his party to
meet him, while others, who were dispersed through all the tribes, were ordered
to proclaim him king, as soon as they heard the signal given by the sound of the
trumpet. At his arrival in Hebron, he sent for Ahithophel,[285] who readily
came; and the defection of that great politician, who had been the chief of
David's counselors, and whose reputation for wisdom was so great that his
opinion on most subjects was respected as that of an oracle, gave much strength
to the cause of Absalom, and attracted to Hebron numbers of influential men from
all quarters of the land. [285] The Jews suppose that Ahithophel was the
grandfather of Bathsheba, and that he had been alienated from David by his
conduct toward her, and by the murder of her husband. But this is doubtful.
DAVID FLEES HIS THRONE Alarmed at this formidable rebellion so close to him,
David hastily took flight with his family and servants, leaving ten of his
concubine-wives in charge of the palace. He paused outside the town to survey
the faithful few who were prepared to follow his fortunes. Among them were the
high-priests, Zadok and Abiathar, with the priests and Levites bearing the ark.
These David directed to return with the ark into the city: “If I shall find
favor in the eyes of Jehovah, he will bring me back, and show me both it and his
habitation. But if he thus say, 'I have no delight in thee,' behold, here am I,
let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.” From this and other expressions,
similarly humbled and resigned to the dispensations of Providence, it appears
that he recognized in this unnatural conspiracy against him a portion of the
judgments which the prophet had been authorized to denounce against him for his
iniquities in the matter of Uriah and Bathsheba. David also pointed out to the
high-priests that they might render him much service by remaining in the city,
from which they might secretly transmit intelligence and advice to him through
their sons, Ahimaaz and Jonathan. The whole of the two corps of body-guards (the
Cherethites and Pelethites), as well as the six hundred Gathites, were ready to
attend the king. The last-named body appear to have been native Philistines of
Gath, whom David had attached to his service after the conquest of their
country, and who had perhaps become proselytes.[286] [286] Some, however, think
it was a band of native Israelites, called Gathites in memory of the six hundred
men who composed the band of followers who accompanied him when he sought refuge
the second time in Gath and in which indeed the members of that body had been
incorporated, and were replaced as they died off. But there is no good reason
why such a body should be named from Gath rather than from other places or
circumstance in which their history connected them with David. Besides, he
obviously speaks to Ittai, their leader, as to a foreigner, who, with “his
brethren,” could hardly be expected to incur distress for his sake. The king
attempted to dissuade Ittai, their leader, from attending him with his men,
apparently feeling that, as foreigners and mercenaries, they might be rather
expected to attach themselves to the rising fortunes of Absalom. But the answer
of Ittai was decisive: “As Jehovah liveth, and as my lord the king liveth,
surely in what place my lord shall be, whether in death or life, there also will
thy servant be.” HUSHAI SENT TO STOP AHITHOPHEL Having taken this melancholy
review of his followers, the king went on, “by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and
wept as he went up, barefoot, and with his head covered; and all the people that
were with him covered every man his head, weeping as they went up,” in token of
extreme sorrow and humiliation. They had scarcely reached the summit before
David was joined by an old and attached friend named Hushai, who had been one of
his council, and who came with his clothes rent and dust upon his head, resolved
to share in the misfortunes of his king. But David, well convinced of his
attachment, did not think it fit to take him with his train, but rather begged
him to go and join himself to Absalom, where he might render much better service
by thwarting the counsels of Ahithophel (of whose defection he had just heard),
and by conveying to him, through the two high-priests, information of whatever
resolutions the revolters might take. Hushai readily accepted this office, and
acquitted himself in it with such consummate tact and zeal, as not a little
contributed to the final overthrow of Absalom and his party. ZIBA'S TREACHERY In
his further progress David was joined by Ziba, the steward of Mephibosheth, who
brought with him some necessary refreshments, and falsely and treacherously
reported that his master remained behind, in the expectation that the turn which
affairs were taking might result in the restoration of the house of Saul in his
person. David, sensibly hurt at this treatment from one who owed so much to his
kindness and gratitude, hastily told Ziba henceforth to regard as his own
property the lands he had hitherto managed for Mephibosheth. Immediately after,
an incident occurred to confirm the impression he had thus received; for near
Bahurim, a village not far on the eastern side of Olivet, he was encountered by
one of Saul's family, named Shimei, who dared to throw at him and his people
volleys of stones, accompanied by the grossest abuse and bitterest imprecations
against David as the author of all the wrongs and misfortunes of the house of
Saul, which he said were now in the course of being avenged. All this unexpected
insult David bore with meekness and patience; for when Abishai desired
permission to punish the man on the spot, the king refused: “Behold,” he said,
“my son, that came forth out of mine own bowels, seeketh my life, how much more
now this Benjamite? Let him alone, and let him curse; for Jehovah hath bidden
him. It may be that Jehovah will look upon mine affliction, and requite me good
for his cursing this day.” ABSALOM PUBLICLY RAPES Absalom delayed not to march
to Jerusalem. He was surprised and gratified to find there Hushai, the old
friend of his father, and gave him a place in his council. In that council the
voice of Ahithophel was still paramount and decisive. Perceiving that many held
back or wavered from the apprehension that Absalom would hardly go to the last
extremities against his father, and that possibly they might become the victims
of another reconciliation between David and his son, this wily and unprincipled
statesman advised that Absalom should not delay to remove this apprehension by
such an act as would, in the sight of all the people, commit him beyond all hope
of a pardon or reconciliation to the bad cause in which he was engaged. This
was, that he should rear a pavilion on the top of the palace (to render it
conspicuous from afar), into which he should, “in the sight of all Israel,”
enter to the concubine-wives whom David had left in charge of the palace. This
atrocious counsel was followed by Absalom, who thus unintentionally accomplished
Nathan's prophecy. HUSHAI COUNTERACTS AHITHOPHEL The next advice of Ahithophel
was that not a moment should be lost in crowning the success of the rebellion by
the death of the king, without allowing him time to bring his resources into
action. To this end he offered himself to pursue him at the head of twelve
thousand men: “And I shall come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and
terrify him; and while all the people who are with him flee, I will smite the
king only. And I will bring back all the people unto thee, as a bride is brought
to her husband (for only one man's life thou seekest); and the whole people
shall have peace.” This really sagacious advice was much approved by Absalom,
who perhaps considered that the guilt would rest upon Ahithophel; and to the
other counsellors it also seemed good. Hushai was absent: and as a high opinion
of his prudence was entertained, Absalom sent for him, and then told him what
Ahithophel had advised, and asked whether he thought that advice good. Hushai at
once saw that David was lost, if this plan were not frustrated. He therefore,
with great presence of mind, adduced several specious arguments against it, and
in favor of delay; dwelling upon the known valor of David and his friends, and
the serious consequence of any check or failure in the first attack. The least
repulse at such a juncture might be fatal to the cause of Absalom. The awe in
which they all stood of the military talents and courage of the old king gave
such effect to these suggestions, that the counsel of Hushai was preferred to
that of Ahithophel. Of all this Hushai apprized the high-priests, and desired
them to convey the information to David through their sons, together with his
advice that not a moment should be lost in passing to the country beyond Jordan.
This message was conveyed to David with some danger and difficulty by Jonathan
and Ahimaaz, who had remained in concealment at Ain Rogel, outside the city.
Neither the information nor advice was lost upon the king, who instantly marched
to the Jordan, and passed over with all his people, so that by the morning light
not one was left in the plain of Jericho. Absalom's Sepulcher

AHITHOPHEL SUICIDE The far-seeing Ahithophel deemed the cause of Absalom to be
lost, when he knew that the counsel of Hushai was to be followed. His pride also
could little brook the neglect of the advice which be had given, and which he
had been used to see so reverently regarded. On both accounts, he abandoned the
cause. He went to big own home; and while he was still wise enough to set his
affairs in order, was mad enough to hang himself. DAVID TO MAHANAIM David
established himself at the town of Mahanaim, which, it will be remembered, had
been the royal seat of Ishbosheth, and which appears to have been chosen by him,
and now by David, on account of the strength of its fortifications. To that
place several principal persons of the country, who were well affected to the
cause of David, brought a timely supply of provisions for himself and his men,
together with tents, beds, and other necessary utensils. An aged person of
Gilead, named Barzillai, particularly distinguished himself by his liberality on
this occasion to the exiled king. ABSALOM DEFEATED When Absalom heard that his
father was at Mahanaim, he crossed the Jordan with an army, and encamped in the
land of Gilead. His army was under the command of Amasa, his cousin.[287] [287]
Zeruiah, the mother of Joab and Abishai, was a sister of David; Abigail, the
mother of Amasa, was another sister. Whence Joab, Abishai, and Amasa, were all
nephews of David, and cousins of Absalom; whence also it happened that
commanders of the opposite armies were sisters' sons. See 1 Chronicles 2:16-17.
But 2 Samuel 17:25, makes Abigail the grandmother of Amasa. David, on his part,
reviewed his force, which was but a handful of men as compared with the large
host which Absalom brought into the field. He divided it into three battalions,
the command of which he gave to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai the Gathite, intending
himself to command the whole in person. But his people, aware that his valued
life was principally sought, would not hear of it, but insisted on his remaining
behind at Mahanaim, with a small reserved force. As the rest of his adherents
marched out at the gate, David, who stood there, failed not to charge the
commanders, in the hearing of the men, for his sake to respect the life of
Absalom. ABSALOM KILLED A most sanguinary action was soon after fought in the
forest of Ephraim, wherein the rebel army was defeated, with the loss of twenty
thousand men, slain in the battle-field, besides a great number of others who
perished in the wood and in their flight. Absalom himself, mounted upon a
mule,[288] was obliged to flee from a party of David's men toward the wood,
where the boughs of a thick oak having taken hold of his bushy hair, in which he
took so much pride, the mule continuing its speed, left him suspended in the
air. The pursuing soldiers, seeing him in this state, respected the order of the
king, and forbore to smite him; but Joab, who happened to learn what had
occurred, ran and struck three darts through his body. “Whatever were Joab's
crimes, among them disloyalty was not to be reckoned. And now he gave the most
unequivocal proof of his unshaken fidelity, in knowingly incurring the king's
displeasure, to rid him of an obstinate rebel against his own father, whom no
forgiveness could soften and no favors could bind, for whom Joab himself had so
successfully interceded, and was likely therefore to have been otherwise well
disposed toward Absalom from the mere circumstance of having served him.”[289]
[288] As he had for civil state plenty of horses and chariots, this shows that
the Hebrews had not yet come to use either in war. [289] Hales, ii. 349.
ABSALOM'S TOMB As the death of Absalom ended the cause of war, Joab caused the
trumpet to sound a retreat, to stop the carnage. The body of Absalom was taken
down, and cast into a large pit, and covered with a heap of stones. This was not
the end or the sepulcher expected by this ambitious man, when he reared for
himself a fair monument “in the king's dale,” supposed the valley of
Jehoshaphat, to keep his name in remembrance, because he had no sons, and
therefore called it by his own name. In what manner we may venture to connect
with Absalom the monument which now appears in the valley of Jehoshaphat bearing
his name, is a matter on which a few words may be said in a note to this
page.[290] The partisans of Absalom were no sooner acquainted with the death of
their popular chief than they fled, every man to his own home. [290] Absalom's
Sepulcher,--Of the monument represented in the engraving, a very good and
satisfactory account has been given by Mr. Wilde, whose description we shall
here transcribe-- “Descending to Gethsemane, we continued our course through the
valley of Jehoshaphat by those remarkable monuments denominated the sepulchers
of the patriarchs, which have been described, as well as drawn with great
accuracy by most writers on Palestine. They are placed on the eastern side of
Kidron, nearly opposite the southern angle of the present wall, and are some of
the rarest and most extraordinary specimens of sepulchral architecture in
existence. They are hewn out of the solid rock, with temple-like fronts. Some of
them are enormous masses separated from the rest of the rock, and left standing
like so many monolithic temples--monuments that record as well (if not more so)
the labor and ingenuity of their constructors as those to whose memory they have
been erected. The names assigned to these tombs are Jehoshaphat, James,
Zechariah, and Absalom. This latter is the most elegant and tasteful piece of
architecture in Judea, indeed, I might almost add, in the East, and viewed from
the valley beneath, it is one of the most beautiful tombs that I have ever seen
in any country. It consists of a mass of rock twenty-four feet square, separated
from the rest, and standing in a small enclosure that surrounds three of its
sides; it has four pilasters with Ionic capitals on each front, the two outer
ones being flat, while those in the center are semicircular; the frieze is
ornamented with tri-glyphs. The upper part is composed of several pieces, and
surmounted by a small spire terminating in a bunch of leaves. There is a hole in
the back immediately beneath the architrave [a part that rests on the
capitals--RCM] through which I was enabled to climb into its interior. As the
door by which it was entered was concealed, this opening was formed, in all
probability, for the purpose of rifling the sepulcher of its contents. Within,
it presents the usual form of eastern tombs, having niches at the sides for
bodies. The general opinion of antiquaries is, that the Grecian architecture
exhibited on the exterior of this rock is no test of the date of its
construction; and, that it was added in later times, and a similar workmanship
is visible in the other neighboring tombs. To it may be referred that rebuke of
our Lord to the Pharisees, regarding their garnishing the sepulchers of the
prophets. The tradition is, that this pillar, of which we have an account in the
book of Samuel, was erected by Absalom. 'Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken
and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale; for he said, I
have no son to keep my name in remembrance; and he called the pillar after his
own name; and it is called unto this day Absalom's Place.' Josephus also informs
us that 'Absalom had erected for himself a stone marble pillar in the king's
dale, two furlongs distant from Jerusalem, which he named Absalom's Stand,
saying, that if his children were killed, his name would remain by that pillar.'
I see no reason to doubt the tradition regarding this monument, although the
historian has stated it to be a greater distance from the city than we now find
it; but this is an error into which he often falls. In confirmation of its
supposed origin I may add that it has ever been a place of detestation to the
Hebrews; and every Jew who passes it by throws a stone at it to this day, so
that a large cairn has formed round its base. “The style of the whole of these
four sepulchers, but especially the two I have more particularly noticed, is
very peculiar, and is totally different from other tombs in this neighborhood.
An inspection of them would lead us to believe that, at the time of erection,
the Hebrews had not quite forgot the lessons on architecture which their
forefathers had learned in Egypt. Around these mausolea, upon the sides of the
rocks, and the slopes of Mount Olivet, there are hundreds of plain flat
gravestones belonging to the Jews. All these have Hebrew inscriptions, some of
which a Hebrew scholar resident in the city informed me were dated a short time
subsequent to the Christian era”--Wilde's “Narrative of a Voyage.” p. 325-327.
Race of Messengers

DAVID GETS NEWS Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok the high-priest, besought Joab to be
allowed to bear the tidings of the victory to the king. But as Joab knew that
David would regard as evil any tidings that included the death of his son, he,
out of regard to Ahimaaz, refused his permission, but sent Cushi with the news.
The other, afterward persisting in his request, was allowed to go also; and he
went with such speed that, he outran Cushi, and was first to appear before the
king, who sat at the gate of Mahanaim, anxiously awaiting tidings from the
battle. The king and the father had struggled hard within him; the father
conquered; and now his absorbing desire was to know that Absalom was safe. Aware
of this feeling, Ahimaaz contented himself with reporting the victory, leaving
to Cushi the less pleasant news; and he, when plainly asked, “Is the young man
Absalom safe?” answered, with much discretion, “The enemies of my lord the king,
and all that rise against thee to do thee evil, be as that young man is.” On
hearing this, “the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the
gate; and as he went, thus he said, 'O my son Absalom! my son, my son Absalom!
would to God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!'” And thus he
remained in the chamber over the gate, with his head covered like a mourner,
wailing for his son, and oblivious to all things else. JOAB REBUFFS DAVID His
faithful adherents, who, by venturing their lives for him against fearful odds,
had that day restored him to his throne, returning weary to the city, where they
deserved to be greeted with thanks and praises, and triumphal songs, were quite
confounded to learn this conduct of the king, and slunk into the town like
guilty people--even like defeated men rather than conquerors. As very serious
consequences might arise from this state of feeling, Joab went in to the king,
and reproved him very sharply for his un-kingly conduct and untimely wailing, so
calculated to discourage his truest friends, and insisted that he should go
forth and show himself to the people, and speak kindly to them; “For,” said he,
“if thou go not forth, not a man will remain with thee this night; and this will
be worse to thee than any evil that hath befallen thee from thy youth until
now.” The king could see the prudence of this counsel; and, therefore, curbing
his strong emotion, he went down to the gate and sat there; on hearing which the
people hastened to present themselves before him, and all was well. DAVID
RETURNS TO HIS THRONE It might seem the obvious consequence of his victory, that
David should repass the Jordan at the head of his conquering army, and resume
his throne at Jerusalem. But the mass of the people had chosen another for their
king, and by that act had virtually, to the extent of their power, deposed
himself; and in such a case it would appear that the civil principles of the
constitution required that he should, in a certain sense, be re-elected to the
crown by the people, before he was entitled to regard himself as king over any
but such as had continued to recognize him in that character. He therefore
remained beyond Jordan until the tribes should decide to recall him. It seems
there was a general disposition among the people to do this; they blamed one
another for their rebellion against the king, and their remissness in recalling
him; but all seemed to shrink from taking the first step in the matter. Judah,
from its more intimate relations with David, might be expected to give the
example; but Judah had been the headquarters of the rebellion; and it appears
that Jerusalem was in the occupation of Amasa, who, from the extent to which he
had committed himself in Absalom's rebellion, might judge his case desperate,
and hence use all his influence to prevent the king's return. This state of
affairs being understood by David, he sent to the high-priests, who were still
in Jerusalem, charging them to remind the elders of Judah of the obligation
which seemed peculiarly to devolve upon them, and also to gain in over Amasa by
the offer to make him captain of the host in the place of Joab. This was
attended with the desired result; and the elders of Judah sent back the answer,
“Return thou, and all thy servants.” On receiving this invitation, the king
marched to the Jordan; and the men of Judah, on their part, assembled at Gilgal,
to assist him over the river, and to receive him on his arrival. Among these,
and foremost among them, were a thousand men of Benjamin, headed by Shimei, and
including Ziba with his fifteen sons and twenty servants. No sooner had the king
passed the river in a ferry-boat,[291] than Shimei threw himself at his feet,
acknowledged his former crime, but trusted that it would be forgiven in
consideration of his being the first in all Israel (except Judah) to come
forward with a powerful party, to promote his restoration. In consideration of
this circumstance, and, what was a greater merit and benefit--that his party was
from the tribe of Benjamin--it would have been a most ungracious act had the
king been inexorable. He therefore pardoned him freely, although some of his
officers were for putting him to death. For the like reason, probably--that is,
for fear of disgusting the valuable party to which he belonged, and in which he
had much influence--the king dared not entirely recall from Ziba the grant of
Mephibosheth's lands which he had hastily made to him. When the son of Jonathan
came to the Jordan to meet the king, he made it clear to him that he had been
slandered by his steward, who had purposely neglected to provide him with the
means of escape from Jerusalem when he purposed to join the king in his exile;
so that, in consequence of his lameness, he had been obliged to remain behind;
but, during his stay, had remained in retirement, and, as a mourner, had neither
dressed his feet, trimmed his beard, nor changed his clothes. Under the
circumstances, the king could only say, “Thou and Ziba divide the land;” to
which the reply of Mephibosheth was worthy of the son of the generous Jonathan,
“Yea, let him take all, since my lord the king is come again to his own house in
peace.” [291] The first and only time we ever read of a ferry-boat on the
Jordan. The interpretation is, however, rather doubtful. Some make it a bridge
of boats. Many interpreters prefer the sense of the Septuagint and Syriac,
which, instead of, “And there went over a ferry-boat to carry over the king's
household, and to do what he thought good,” read, “And these (the men of Judah
and Benjamin) went over the Jordan before the king, and performed the service of
bringing over the king's household, and in doing what he thought good. BARZILLI
The rich old man of Gilead, Barzillai, who had so liberally ministered to the
wants of David during his exile, came down to the Jordan to see him over. The
king would fair have persuaded him to accompany him to Jerusalem, that he might
have an opportunity of rewarding his services; but Barzillai returned the
touching reply, “How long have I to live that I should go up with the king to
Jerusalem? I am this day eighty years old, and can I discern between good and
evil? Can thy servant taste what I eat, or what I drink? Can I hear any more the
voice of singing-men and singing-women? Why then should thy servant be yet a
burden to my lord the king? Let thy servant just go over Jordan with the king;
and then let thy servant, I pray thee, return, that I may die in my own city,
near the grave of my father and my mother.” He however, recommended the fortunes
of his son Chimham to the care of the king, who accordingly took that person
with him to Jerusalem. SHEBA'S REBELLION From the result, we may doubt the
wisdom of the separate appeal which David had made to his own tribe of Judah,
inasmuch as his more intimate connection with that tribe, by birth and by having
reigned over it separately for seven years, required the most cautious policy on
his side, to prevent his appearing to the other tribes as the king of a party.
Now, when he had crossed the Jordan, people from all the tribes flocked to him
to join in the act of recall and restoration. But when they came to consider of
it, the other tribes were not willing to forgive Judah for having been
beforehand with them; or, in other words, that, instead of inviting them to join
with themselves in the act of recall, the elders of Judah, by acting
independently had enabled themselves to exhibit the appearance of more alacrity
and zeal in the king's behalf, putting the other tribes to an unfavorable
position by comparison. They alleged also their claim to be considered, on the
ground that the ten tribes had tenfold the interest in the kingdom to that which
the single tribe of Judah could claim. The answer of that tribe was the most
impolitic and provoking that could be made. They alleged that seeing the king
was of their own tribe, “their bone and their flesh,” they had a right to take a
peculiar and exclusive interest in his recall. This quarrel grew so hot, as to
strengthen the natural disposition of the tribes to regard David as the king of
the Judahites; and but a slight impulse was wanting to induce them to leave him
to his own party. This impulse was supplied by one Sheba, of the discontented
tribe of Benjamin, who, perceiving the state of feeling, blew the trumpet, and
gave forth the Hebrew watchword of revolt, “To your tents, O Israel!” and, in
the name of the tribes, disclaimed all further interest in David, and bade
defiance to his adherents. The effect of this move, perhaps, exceeded his
expectation. On a sudden he saw himself at the head of all the tribes, except
that of Judah, which had occasioned this defection, and which was left almost
alone to conduct the king from the Jordan to Jerusalem. JOAB DISMISSED AS
GENERAL This circumstance, perhaps, supplied to David an additional motive for
performing his secret promise of making Amasa captain of the host; as that
person appears to have been high in favor with the tribes. But most readers will
feel displeased that Joab should at this juncture--after the brilliant displays
which he had so lately afforded of his loyalty, courage, and prudence--be
displaced in favor of the rebel leader; and even if judged by the principles of
the East, that every stroke of policy by which something may be gained, is a
good stroke, whatever interests or honor it sacrifices--even judged by this
rule, the policy of this operation may very much be doubted, as, indeed, David
himself had soon occasion to suspect. In fact, we agree with Hales, that in this
David “seems to have acted rather ungratefully and unwisely, justifying Joab s
reproach (on a former occasion), 'thou lovest thine enemies and hatest thy
friends.' But the old grudge and jealousy which he entertained against 'the sons
of Zeruiah,' who were above his control, and too powerful to be punished, as in
Abner's case, combined with Joab's disobedience of orders in killing Absalom,
which he could never forget, nor forgive, to the day of his death, seem to have
got the better of his usual temporizing caution and political prudence.” AMASA
STOPS SHEBA'S REVOLT Amasa, the new captain of the host, failed to assemble the
forces of Judah, to act against Sheba, within the time which the king had
appointed. Whether this arose from want of zeal or ability in him, or from the
disgust of the Judahites at the removal of Joab from an office which he had
filled with great distinction for twenty seven years, we know not. The king was
in consequence obliged to order Joab's brother, Abishai, to take the command of
the royal guards, and pursue Sheba without delay, before he could get into the
fenced cities; for that otherwise he might raise a rebellion more dangerous than
Absalom's. On this occasion Joab went with Abishai as a volunteer, followed by
the company which formed his private command, for his zeal for his king and
country rose paramount above his sense of the disgrace which had recently been
inflicted on him. But when Amasa, with the force he had collected, joined them
at Gibeon to take the command, Joab, under the pretext of saluting him as his
“brother,” slew him, just as in a former time he had slain Abner. He then took
the command himself, causing proclamation to be made--“He that favoureth Joab,
and he that is for David, let him follow Joab.” He then pursued Sheba, besieged
him in a town to which he had fled, demanded his head from the inhabitants, and
crushed the rebellion. He then returned triumphant to Jerusalem, self-reinstated
in his former station, of which David dared no more to deprive him. FAMINE AND
GIBEONITE VENGEANCE About the thirty-fourth year of David's reign[292] commenced
a grievous famine, which continued for three successive years. When the sacred
oracle was consulted, it declared that this was on account of the un-atoned
blood of the Gibeonites, whom Saul, in despite of the ancient treaty between
that people and the Israelites, had cut off. This circumstance is not mentioned
in the history of Saul; but, from the circumstances, it may perhaps be collected
that Saul, finding the difficulty, to which we have adverted more than once, of
forming a landed property for his family, where the land was already inalienably
parceled out among the people, had, under pretence of zeal for the interests of
his own people, formed the design of utterly destroying the Gibeonites, and, as
far as he was able, executed that design, giving their lands and wealth to his
relatives, by the survivors of whom they were still possessed. As it therefore
appeared that the calamity which punished this breach of national faith could
only be averted through satisfaction being rendered to the remnant of the
Gibeonites, David sent to learn what satisfaction they required. They, actuated
by the powerful principles of revenge for blood, to which we had such frequent
occasion to advert, refused to take “silver or gold,” that is, a blood-fine,
from the house of Saul, but demanded that execution should be performed upon
seven members of that house. Seven members of Saul's family were accordingly
sought out and given up to them. These were, two sons of Saul by his concubine
Rizpah, and five grandsons by his eldest daughter Merab; Mephibosheth (who
appears to have been the only other member of the family) was held back by
David, on account of the covenant between him and Jonathan. The Gibeonites took
these persons, and, after having slain them, hanged up their bodies upon a hill.
This was against the law, which forbids that a body should be kept hanging after
the going down of the sun on the first day. How long they thus remained, is not
stated; but the famine had been occasioned by drought, and they hung there until
the rains of heaven fell upon them. It was then made known to David that Rizpah,
the mother of two of them, had spread sackcloth for herself upon the rock, and
had there remained to protect the bodies from the birds of the air and the
beasts of the field. Touched by this striking instance of the tenderness of
maternal affection, David not only directed the bodies of these persons to be
taken down, but he went (or sent to Jabesh Gilead, to remove from under the oak
in that place, the bones of Saul and Jonathan, and deposit them, with all
respect, in the family sepulcher at Kelah in Benjamin, together with the remains
of these unhappy members of their house. [292] So Hales; but some think that
although the history relates the event in this place, it actually occurred to
the early part of David's reign. And there are scone very probable reasons for
this conclusion. David has been censured by some writers for consenting to the
demand of the Gibeonites; but the reader must perceive that the demand of the
Gibeonites was one which the king could not refuse. They might have accepted the
blood-fine; but this was optional with them, and they were perfectly entitled to
refuse it, and to demand blood for blood. That the persons who were slain had
themselves no hand in the crime for which they were punished, is more than we
know; it is most likely that they were active parties in it, and still more that
they reaped the profits of it. But even were this not the case, it is a
well-known principle of blood-avengement that the heirs and relatives of the
blood-shedder are responsible for the blood in their own persons, in case the
avenger is not able to reach the actual perpetrator. That David had any interest
in getting rid of these persons is equally absurd and untrue, for they made no
pretensions to the crown themselves, nor did others make such pretensions for
them. Even when the cause of Saul's house was most in want of a head, none of
these persons appeared to advance their claims, nor did the warmest partisans of
the cause dream of producing any of them in opposition to David. DAVID ALMOST
KILLED Now that the Israelites had been weakened by two rebellions and three
years of famine, the Philistines deemed the opportunity favorable for an attempt
to shake off their yoke. They therefore renewed the war about the thirty-seventh
year of David's reign, but were defeated in four engagements, and finally
subdued. In all these engagements the Philistines exhibited their old passion
for bringing gigantic champions into the field. In the first of these
engagements, David himself, notwithstanding his years, shrunk not from the
combat with the giant Izbi-benob; but he waxed faint, and was in danger of being
slain, had not the brave and trusty Abishai hastened to his relief, and killed
the gigantic Philistine. After this the people would no more allow David to go
forth in person to battle, “lest he should quench the light of Israel.” This war
completely extinguished the gigantic race to which Goliath had belonged. CENSUS
The numbering of the people was one of the last and most reprehensible acts of
the reign of David. In itself, an enumeration of the population might be not
only innocent but useful; it was the motive by which the deed was rendered evil.
This motive, so offensive to God, was obviously supplied by the design of
forcing all the Israelites into military service, with a view to foreign
conquests; a design not only pitiable in so old a man, but in every way
repugnant to both the internal and external polity of the theocratical
government. That the census was not, as in former times, taken through the
priests and magistrates, but by Joab, as commander-in-chief, assisted by the
other military chiefs, sufficiently indicates the military object of the census;
and if they were accompanied by the regular troops under their command, as the
mention of their “encamping” leads one to suspect, it may seem that the object
was known to and disliked by the people, and that the census could only be taken
in the presence of a military force. Indeed the measure was repugnant to the
wishes of the military commanders themselves, and was in a peculiar degree
abhorrent to Joab, who saw the danger to the liberties of the people, and gave
it all the opposition in his power, and undertook it reluctantly, when he found
the king adhered to his purpose with the obstinacy of age. ISRAEL PUNISHED FOR
CENSUS At the end of nine months and twenty days, Joab brought to the king the
return of the adult male population, which was 900,000 men in the ten tribes of
Israel, and 400,000, in round numbers, in the tribe of Judah alone; being,
together, 1,300,000. But the tribes of Levi and Benjamin were not included in
this account; for Joab did not finish the enumeration, probably in consequence
of some indications of the Divine displeasure in the course of it. According to
usual proportions, the entire population of Israel at this time (without
including these two tribes) could not well have been less than 5,200,000. The
same marks of the Divine displeasure which prevented the completion of the
census were probably those which awakened the slumbering conscience of David
when the return was presented to him. He confessed before God that he had
sinned, and prayed to be forgiven. The next morning it was made known to him,
through the prophet Gad, that he had sinned indeed, and that his sin was not of
such a nature as, with a due regard to the public principles of the government,
could be allowed to pass without signal punishment. The choice of punishment was
offered to him: seven years of famine, three months to be pursued by his
enemies, or three days of pestilence. The humbled monarch confessed the choice
to be hard, but fixed on the latter alternative, as the more equal punishment,
and such as seemed more immediately under the direction of Heaven. Accordingly,
Jehovah sent a pestilence, which in the course of two days destroyed 70,000 men,
from Dan to Beersheba. It was then beginning to visit Jerusalem, when God was
pleased to put a stop to it, at the earnest prayer of David. He beheld the
commissioned angel stand in the thrashing floor of Araunah, a chief person among
the Jebusites, as one preparing to destroy. And then he and the elders of
Israel, all clad in sackcloth, fell upon their faces, and the king cried--“Is it
not I that commanded the people to be numbered? Even I it is that have sinned
and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? Let thy hand,
I pray thee, O Jehovah, my God, be on me, and on my father's house; but not on
thy people that they should be plagued.” This noble prayer was granted as soon
as uttered. Through the prophet Gad, he was commanded to erect an altar, and
offer sacrifices on that spot of ground where he had seen the destroying angel
stand. The king accordingly bought the thrashing-floor from Araunah (who would
willingly have given it free of cost) for fifty shekels of silver.[293] He then
hastened to erect an altar, and to offer thereon burnt-offerings, and
peace-offerings; and a miraculous fire which descended from the heavens and
consumed the victims gave manifest proof of the Divine complacency, and so
sanctified the spot as to point it out for the site of the future temple. The
plague was stayed. [293] As this was little more than thirty dollars of our
money, and paid not only for the thrashing-flour, but for all that was upon
it--cattle and implements--it seems to show that the value of the precious
metals among the Hebrews at this time was much higher than it is now with us it
is, however, possible that Araunah merely set a nominal price to satisfy the
delicacy of the king, who would not sacrifice to God at the cost of other
people. There is an apparent contradiction between the account in 2 Samuel
24:24, and 1 Chronicles 21:25, which says that David gave Araunah 600 shekels of
gold by weight (which would be no less than $6,000 of our money); but this may
be removed by the very probable supposition that after David knew, by the
acceptance of the altar erected on the spot, that the temple was to be built in
this place, be made a further purchase of a sufficient site for the additional
and much larger sum just named. ADONIJAH SEEKS THRONE David was now advancing
toward seventy years of age, and it appeared, from the declining state of his
health, that his latter end could not be far off. This made Adonijah, his eldest
surviving son, determine to take measures to secure the throne, which, had it
been hereditary, would naturally have devolved to him. He doubtless knew that
the crown had been assigned to his younger brother Solomon, and felt that this
was perhaps his only opportunity of asserting what he conceived to be his
natural rights. Adonijah was a very handsome man, and he had not at any time
been balked or contradicted by his father, many of whose sorrows arose from his
excessive indulgence of his children. He now, in apparent imitation of Absalom,
set up a splendid retinue, and courted popularity among the people; and he
succeeded in drawing over to his party Joab, who now at last forsook his old
master, and Abiathar the high-priest, who had shared all his fortunes. One day,
when matters seemed ripe for the further development of his designs, he made a
grand entertainment at Ain Rogel, the fountain in the king's garden, to which he
invited all the king's sons, with the significant exception of Solomon, and the
principal persons in the state, with the exception of those who were known to be
in Solomon's interest. There he was proclaimed king in the usual form--“Long
live the king Adonijah!”--by the powerful party assembled. SOLOMON ANOINTED KING
In this important emergency, Nathan the prophet sent Bathsheba to inform the
king of these proceedings, and afterward came to himself and confirmed her
account. By both he was reminded of his previous declarations that Solomon was
to be his successor in the throne. The old king was roused to his wonted energy
by this intelligence. He instantly appointed Nathan the prophet, Zadok the
priest, Benaiah, and his own guards the Cherithites and Pelethites, who
continued faithful, to take Solomon, and conduct him, mounted on the king's own
mule, to the fountain of Gihon, and there to anoint and proclaim him king. The
ceremony was thus attended with every circumstance which could give it authority
in the eyes of the people, as indicating the intention of the king, which, it
was now well known, was according to the will of God. There was the mule, which
none but David had ever been seen to ride, and which, he having habitually
ridden, none but a king might ride; there was the prophet who could only
sanction that which he knew to be the will of God; there was Zadok, with the
holy anointing oil from the tabernacle; and there were the guards, whom the
people had been accustomed to see in attendance only on the king. The whole
ceremony was also directed to take place on one of the most public and
frequented roads leading from Jerusalem. The people were adequately impressed by
all these considerations and circumstances; they heartily shouted, “Long live
King Solomon!” The earth was, as it were, rent with the rejoicing clamor, mixed
with the sounds of trumpets and of pipes. The party of Adonijah heard the noise;
and when informed of the cause, they were all so struck with consternation at
the promptitude and effect of this counter-move, that they dispersed
immediately, and slunk away every man to his own house. Adonijah, seeing himself
thus forsaken, and dreading nothing less than immediate death, fled to the
refuge of the altar (erected on the thrashing-floor of Araunah). Solomon, being
informed of this, sent to tell him that, if by his future conduct he proved
himself a worthy man, he would not hurt a hair of his head, but at the same time
assured him that any future instance of a disloyal intention would be fatal to
him. On leaving the altar, Adonijah went and rendered his homage to the new
king; after which he was ordered to retire to his own house. DAVID CONVENES
COUNCIL The waning spark of David's life gleamed up once again before it finally
expired. He availed himself of this to call a general assembly of the nation to
ratify the coronation of Solomon, and to receive the declaration of his views
and designs. The aged king was able to stand up on his feet as he addressed the
assembly at considerable length. Perceiving from the revolts of Absalom and
Adonijah, into which last some of his own staunchest friends had been drawn,
that the principle of primogeniture was likely to interfere very seriously with
the trite doctrine of the theocracy, he was careful to point out how the scepter
had been assigned to Judah, not the firstborn of Jacob; and in the tribe of
Judah, to the family of Jesse, not the first or most powerful of that tribe; and
of the eight sons of Jesse, to David the youngest; and of the sons of David, to
Solomon, at a time when there were living three (if not four[294]) older than
he. He then proceeded to state the reasons which had prevented him from building
to the Lord that temple which he had designed; and since his great work had been
reserved for the peaceable reign of his son, he solemnly exhorted him and the
nation to erect that temple according to the model which he had himself
supplied, and to contribute liberally themselves toward it, in addition to the
ample stores and materials which in the course of his reign he had been enabled
to provide. He concluded with a most noble and devout thanksgiving to the Lord
for all the mercies which he had shown to himself and to his people: and this,
with the rest of his conduct on this occasion, shows that, whatever were now the
bodily infirmities of the aged king, his better faculties were still in their
prime. [294] Chileab, the son of Abigail, is not historically named. The
probability is that he died early. SOLOMON ANOINTED AGAIN Solomon was now again
anointed king in the presence, and with the sanction of the assembly, by Zadok,
who himself was now declared and recognized as sole high-priest, Abiathar being
deposed from his participation in that dignity on account of his having gone
over to Adonijah. It is impossible not to see in all this a strenuous assertion
by David of the theocratical principles of the constitution, which rendered
conclusive and final an appointment which the Divine King had made, or might
make; and for this he deserves the more honor, as there is good reason to think
that, for himself merely as a father, he would quite as soon have seen Absalom
or Adonijah on the throne as Solomon. Of Abiathar it was quite necessary to make
an example; for, as high-priest, he of all men ought to have been sensible of
the obligation of the divine appointment, the maintenance of which had now
become one of the most marked and grand prerogatives of Jehovah as king of the
Hebrews, and the one which was calculated to keep his superiority present to the
minds of the people. If this prerogative were allowed to be contemned by the
high-priest, who should be its most strenuous supporter, the people would not be
likely to hold it in much respect. The enthusiasm manifested by the king for the
object which for many years past he had so much at heart, kindled a
corresponding zeal in the people, who presented liberal offerings for the great
work which Solomon was destined to execute. The following day was spent as a
high festival. Holocausts of numerous steers, and rams, and lambs, were offered
to Jehovah, and also abundant peace-offerings, on which the people feasted with
great gladness, before they departed to their homes. This was, in fact, the
coronation-feast of Solomon. He, being now twice anointed, and formally
recognized by the people, mounted the throne of his father, and administered the
government while David still lived. WARNING ABOUT JOAB It was not, however, long
before David felt that his last hour approached. He then sent for his son, to
give to him his last counsels. He first of all recapitulated the gracious
promises which God had made to him and his posterity, and then reminded Solomon
that these promises were only, in their first and obvious sense, to be
understood as conditional, and depending upon their observance of the divine
law; so that they might expect their prosperity to rise and fall in proportion
to their obedience. He then proceeded to advise him as to the course he should
take with reference to certain persons whom his own history has brought
conspicuously under the notice of the reader. The predominating influence of the
sons of Zeruiah had, throughout his reign, been very galling to himself, and he
advised his son not to incur the same grievance, or to submit to it. As to Joab,
he had, through policy, been pardoned for his part in Adonijah's rebellion, as
David himself had, from like reasons, been compelled to overlook the crimes of
which he had been guilty--such as the murders of Abner and Amasa; yet, should he
again offend, Solomon was advised to bring him to condign[295] punishment, by
which he would strike terror into evil doers, and, more than by any other act,
evince the strength and firmness of his government. [295] Fitting or appropriate
punishment WARNING ABOUT SHIMEI The pardon which Shimei had asked, beside the
Jordan, with a thousand men at his back, could not well have been refused, and
David had no wish to annul it; but, aware of the character of this disaffected
and dangerous Benjamite, he cautioned Solomon against him, and advised to keep
him under his eye in Jerusalem, and watch him well that he might have no
opportunity of stirring up seditions among the tribes; and should his conduct
again offer occasion, David counselled the young king not to spare him, but at
once rid his kingdom of so suspicious and malevolent a character. David appears
to have survived the coronation of Solomon about six months; for, although he
reigned seven years and six months over Judah, and thirty-three years over all
Israel, yet the whole duration is reckoned only forty years in 2 Samuel 5:4-5; 1
Chronicles 29:27. The interval he seems to have employed in the development, for
the benefit of his son, of those plans and regulations which had long before
been formed and considered in his own mind, and to which the due effect was
afterward given by his son. These are fully stated in the first five chapters of
the second book of Chronicles. DAVID DIES David was seventy years of age when
“he slept with his fathers." At that time certainly the period of human life was
reduced to the present standard; for, in recording his death at this age, the
historian says, "He died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor." He
was buried in a stately tomb, which, according to a touching custom, still
prevalent in the East, he had prepared for himself, in that part of the city (on
Mount Zion) which he had covered with buildings, and which was called after him,
“the city of David.”


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  CHAPTER 27: SOLOMON'S ACCESSION--BUILDS THE TEMPLE--HIS COMMERCE
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SOLOMON'S ACCESSION--BUILDS THE TEMPLE--HIS COMMERCE SOLOMON AND HIS POWER On
the death of David, his son Solomon, who had been declared by him king of
Israel, with the divine approbation, succeeded to the throne, to the universal
satisfaction of the people. This event took place when he was about twenty years
of age, and in the year 1030 B.C. Never monarch ascended the throne with greater
advantages, or knew better how to secure and improve them. Under David the
kingdom had been much extended, and brought under good regulations. The arms of
the Hebrews had for so many years been feared by all the neighboring nations, so
that the habit of respect and obedience on their part offered to the new king
the reasonable prospect, confirmed by a divine promise, that his reign should be
one of peace. Now, the predominant tribe of Judah lay as a lion and as a
lioness, which no nation ventured to rouse up (Genesis 49:9; Numbers 23:24). The
Hebrews were the ruling people, and their empire the principal monarchy of
Western Asia. From the Mediterranean sea and the Phoenicians to the Euphrates,
in its nearer and remoter bounds--from the river of Egypt and the Elanitic gulf
to Berytus, Hamath, and Thapsacus, all were subject to the dominion of Solomon;
nor were the tribes which wander in northern Arabia, eastward to the Persian
gulf, unconscious of his rule. At home the Canaanites had not, as we have seen,
been either entirely expelled or annihilated; but they had become obedient and
peaceable subjects, and, which was of importance to an eastern king, liable to
services which no king dared to impose upon the Israelites themselves. John
calculates that their whole number may have been about four or five hundred
thousand, since ultimately one hundred fifty-three thousand were able to render
socage[296] to the king. The warlike and civilized Philistines, the Edomites,
Moabites, and Ammonites, the Syrians of Damascus, and some tribes of the nomadic
Arabians of the desert, were all tributary to him. The revenues derived from the
subject states were large; and the wealth in the royal treasures great beyond
calculation: and the king had the enterprise and talent to open new sources
through which riches were poured into the country from distant lands. Nor were
the prospects and promises with which this reign opened frustrated in its
continuance. “Peace gave to all his subjects prosperity; the trade which he
introduced brought wealth into the country, and promoted the sciences and arts,
which there found an active protector in the king, who was himself distinguished
for his learning. The building of the temple and of several palaces introduced
foreign artists, by whom the Hebrews were instructed. Many foreigners, and even
sovereign princes, were attracted to Jerusalem, in order to see and converse
with the prosperous royal sage. The regular progress of all business, the
arrangements for security from foreign and domestic enemies, the army, the
cavalry, the armories, the chariots, the palaces, the royal household, the good
order in the administration, and in the service of the court, excited as much
admiration as the wisdom and learning of the viceroy of Jehovah. So much was
effected by the single influence of David, because he scrupulously conformed
himself to the theocracy of the Hebrew state.”[297] [296] Land tenure by
agricultural service or payment of rent [297] Jahn, b. iv. sect. 33. Such is the
argument to the history of Solomon's reign, to the details of which we now
proceed. SON OF KING AND KINGDOM Although Solomon was not the first-born, nor
even the eldest living son of David, but succeeded to the throne through the
special appointment of the Supreme King Jehovah, there was one circumstance
which, from the usual notions of the Orientals, could not but be highly
favorable to him, even had all his elder brothers been alive. Amnon had been
born before his father became king, and Absalom and Adonijah while he was king
of Judah only; while Solomon was born when his father was king over all Israel,
and lord over many neighboring states. And in the East there is a strong
prejudice in favor of him who is the son of the king and of the kingdom, that
is, who is born while his father actually reigns over the states which he leaves
at his death. Thus, therefore, if at the death of David, Amnon and Absalom had
been alive, as well as Adonijah and Solomon, there might have been a contest
among them on these grounds--Amnon would have claimed as the eldest son of
David; Absalom would probably have disputed this claim on the ground, first,
that he was the first-born after David became a king; and, secondly, on the
ground that his mother was of a royal house: this claim could not have been
disputed by Adonijah; but he would have considered his own claim good as against
Amnon, on the one hand, and as against Solomon on the other. But Solomon might
have claimed on the same ground as the others against Amnon; and against Absalom
and Adonijah, on the ground that their father was only king of Judah when they
were born, but king of all Israel at the time of his own birth. And this claim
would, in fact, have been but a carrying out of the principle on which Absalom
and Adonijah are supposed to oppose Amnon; and in this claim there would have
seemed so much reason to an Oriental, that, apart from all other considerations,
we doubt not it would have found many adherents in Israel; and we have no doubt
that it did operate in producing a more cheerful acquiescence in the preference
given to Solomon. ADONIJAH'S TREACHERY Soon after the death of his father,
Solomon discovered a new plot of Adonijah's, so deeply laid and carefully
veiled, that he even ventured to make the king's own mother, Bathsheba, an
acting though unconscious party in it. And here it may be proper to observe,
that in eastern countries, where polygamy is allowed, or not forbidden, by the
law, and where the kings have numerous wives and concubines, there is no dignity
analogous to that which the sole wife of a sovereign occupies in Europe. In
fact, there is no queen, in the proper sense of the word, as applied to the
consort of a king. But the mother of the king (and, next to her, or instead of
her, the mother of the heir apparent) is the woman of the greatest influence and
highest station in the state, and the one whose condition is the most queenly of
any which the East affords. According to this view, Bathsheba--during the latter
part of David's reign, as mother of the heir apparent, and during at least the
early portion of Solomon's reign, as mother of the king--was, in fact, queen of,
Israel; whence in both periods we find her taking a part in public affairs,
which, however slight, is such as none but a woman so placed could have taken.
The first manifestation of Adonijah's design was to endeavor to procure
permission to espouse Abishag, one of the wives of his father, whom he had taken
in his last days and had left a virgin. He had the address to interest Bathsheba
in his object, and to get her to propose the subject to the king, although part
of what he said to her as an inducement was well calculated to awaken her
suspicions: “Thou knowest,” said he, “that the kingdom was mine, and that all
Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign; howbeit, the kingdom is
turned about, and is become my brother's, for it was his from the Lord.” Great
Mogul on his Throne

ADONIJAH AND JOAB SLAIN The king was seated on his throne when Bathsheba
appeared before him to urge the suit of Adonijah. He rose when he beheld her,
and owed to her; after which he caused a seat to be brought and placed at his
right hand for her. She then made “the one small petition” with which she was
charged. The king instantly saw through the whole; and knew enough of the
several parties to feel assured (or actually knew) that the measure had been
prompted by Joab and Abiathar, or that at least they were parties to the
ulterior design. According to what we have already stated respecting the widows
of a deceased king, it is obvious that Solomon recognized in this insidious
demand a plan formed to accredit the former pretensions of Adonijah. He
therefore answered warmly, “And why dost thou ask Abishag, the Shunammite, for
Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is mine elder brother, even for
him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” By this he
clearly intimated that he considered Joab and Abiathar as parties in this new
plot, and, as such, liable to the punishments which he proceeded to inflict.
Adonijah he ordered to be put to death, as one whom it was no longer safe to
pardon. On receiving this news, Joab justified the suspicions (if not more) of
the king, by fleeing for refuge to the sanctuary of the altar--a plain act of a
guilty conscience. When this was told to Solomon, he ordered Benaiah to go and
put him to death. Benaiah went, and ordered him, in the king's name, to come
forth. This he refused, saying, “Nay, but I will die here!” either to the hope
that Solomon would so far regard the altar as not to slay him, or that he would
die there in the hope that God, whose altar it was, would be gracious to him.
This being a new case, in which Benaiah liked not to act on his own
responsibility, he returned to report the matter to the king, who, with great
firmness, and with a freedom from superstition which shows how well he
understood the letter and spirit of the law, said, “Do as he hath said, and slay
him there, and bury him, that thou mayest take away the innocent blood, which
Joab shed, from me and from the house of my father.” So Joab was slain at the
altar, and buried in the garden of his own house to the wilderness. Benaiah, who
had been his executioner, was made commander-in-chief in his room. It appears
that in the Hebrew kingdom, as in some other ancient and in some modern states,
it was the duty of the king's chief officer to execute his sentence upon high
offenders. Howdah of an Indian Prince

ABIATHAR SLAIN As to Abiathar, who had before joined Adonijah, and was no
stranger to the more recent intrigue, he had shared the fate of Joab, if the
king had not been mindful of his early and long-continued attachment to David,
and respected the sacred character he bore. He was commanded to withdraw to his
estate in Anathoth, and no longer presume to exercise his sacerdotal functions.
Thus was the house of Eli finally degraded in the person of Abiathar, and the
house of Eleazar completely restored in the person of Zadok. SHIMEI SLAIN This
affair reminded Solomon of the necessity of keeping watch over another
disaffected person, Shimei, as counselled by David. He therefore ordered him to
fix his residence in Jerusalem, which he engaged him by oath not to leave,
forewarning him that the breach of this engagement would be at the expense of
his life. Of this Shimei was properly mindful for two years; but then he was
induced to leave the city, and event as far as Gath (a suspicious quarter) in
pursuit of two runaway slaves. He was therefore, on his return, consigned to the
sword of Benaiah. SOLOMON MARRIES EGYPTIAN DAUGHTER By the removal of these
dangerous persons, Solomon felt his throne secured to him. He then sought an
alliance worthy of the rank to which his kingdom had attained. The nearest
power, from an alliance with which even he might derive honor, was that of
Egypt. He therefore demanded and received the daughter of the reigning Pharaoh
in marriage. His new spouse was received by the king of Israel with great
magnificence, and was lodged in “the city of David,” until the new and splendid
palace, which he had already commenced, should be completed. That Solomon should
thus contract an alliance, on equal terms, with the reigning family of that
great nation which had former held the Israelites to bondage, was, to the
ordinary point of view, a great thing for him, and shows the relative importance
into which the Hebrew kingdom had now risen. The king is in no part of Scripture
blamed for this alliance, even in places where it seems unlikely that blame
would have been spared had he been considered blameworthy; and as we know that
the Egyptians were idolaters, this absence of blame may intimate that Solomon
stipulated that the Egyptian princess should abandon the worship of her own
gods, and conform to the Jewish law. This at least was what would be required by
the law of Moses, which the king was not likely (at least, at this time of his
life) to neglect. Nor need we suppose that the royal family of Egypt would make
much difficulty in this; for, except among the Israelites, the religion of a
woman has never in the East been considered of much consequence. Solomon
returning to Jerusalem

SOLOMON WORSHIPS AT TABERNACLE Solomon, soon after, sought by his example to
restore the proper order of public worship. At Gibeon was the tabernacle and
altar of Moses, and there, notwithstanding the absence of the ark, the symbol of
the divine presence, the Shechaniah, still abode. This therefore was, according
to the law, the only proper seat of public worship, and the place to which the
tribes should resort to render homage to the Great King. Therefore, at one of
the religious festivals, the king repaired to Gibeon, accompanied by all his
court, the officers of his army, and the chiefs and elders of his people, with a
vast multitude of the people. There, in the midst of all the state and ceremony
of the holy solemnities, the king presented, to be offered on the brazen altar,
a thousand beasts, as a holocaust. This solemn act of homage from the young king
was acceptable to God, who in the following night manifested himself to hint in
a dream, and promised to satisfy whatever wish he might then form. Instead of
expressing the usual desires which animate kings, as well as others, for wealth,
and glory, and length of days, Solomon expressed his sense of the difficulties,
to one so young, of the high station to which he had been called; and, humbly
conscious of his lack of the experience required to conduct well the affairs of
his large empire and numerous people, he prayed for wisdom--nothing but wisdom:
“I am but a youth: I know not how to go or to come in. And thy servant is in the
midst of thy people, whom thou hast chosen, a great people, that can not be
numbered nor counted for--multitude. Give, therefore, thy servant an
understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and
evil: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?” This request which
Solomon had made was highly pleasing, to God. That which he had asked was
promised to him in abounding measure-wisdom such as none before him had ever
possessed, or should possess in future times: and since he had made so excellent
a choice, that which he had not asked should also be given to him--riches and
honors beyond all the kings of his time, and, beside this, length of days, if he
continued in obedience. Solomon awoke; and feeling within himself that
illumination of mind and spirit which assured him that his dream had indeed been
oracular and divine, he returned with great joy to Jerusalem. THE CASE OF TWO
HARLOTS Soon after this, the discharge of those judicial duties which engage so
much of the attention of eastern kings, gave him an opportunity of displaying so
much discernment as satisfied the people of his uncommon endowments, and his
eminent qualifications for his high place. This was his celebrated judgment
between the two harlots who both claimed a living child, and both disclaimed one
that had died; in which he discovered the rightful owner of the living child by
ailing forth that self-denying tenderness which always reigns in a mother's
heart.[298] This produced the very best effect among all the people; for,
generally, nothing is better understood and appreciated, popularly, than an
acute and able judicial decision of some difficult point in a case easily
understood, and by which the sympathies are much engaged. [298] See the original
narrative in 1 Kings 3:16-28 LEBANON TIMBER TRANSPORT The preparations for the
temple had from the first engaged the attention of Solomon. Among the first who
sent to congratulate him on his succession was Hiram, king of Tyre, who has
already been named as an attached friend and ally of David. The value of the
friendship offered by this monarch was fully, appreciated by Solomon, who
returned the embassy with a letter, in which he opened the noble design he
entertained, and solicited the same sort of assistance in the furtherance of it,
as the same king had rendered to his father David, when building his palace.
Hiram assented with great willingness, and performed the required services with
such fidelity and zeal, as laid the foundation of a lasting friendship between
the kings, and to the formation of other mutually beneficial connections between
them. The forests of the Lebanon mountains only could supply the timber required
for this great work. Such of these forests as lay nearest the sea were in the
possession of the Phoenicians among whom timber was in such constant demand that
they had acquired great and acknowledged skill in the felling and transportation
thereof, and hence it was of much importance that Hiram consented to employ
large bodies of men in Lebanon to hew timber, as well as others to perform the
service of bringing it down to the seaside, whence it was to be taken along the
coast in floats to the port of Joppa, from which place it could be easily taken
across the country to Jerusalem. This portion of the assistance rendered by
Hiram was of the utmost value and importance. If he had declined Solomon's
proposals, all else that he wanted might have been obtained from Egypt. But that
country was so far from being able to supply timber, that it wanted it more than
almost any nation. HIRING OF SKILLED ARTISANS Solomon also desired that
Phoenician artificers of all descriptions should be sent to Jerusalem,
particularly such as excelled in the arts of design, and in the working of gold,
silver, and other metals, as well as precious stones; nor was he insensible of
the value and beauty of those scarlet, purple, and other fine dyes, in the
preparation and application of which the Tyrians excelled. Men skilled in all
these branches of art were largely supplied by Hiram. He sent also a person of
his own name, a Tyrian by birth, who seems to have been a second Bezaleel; for
his abilities were so great, and his attainments so extensive and various, that
he was skilled not only in the working of metals, but in all kinds of works in
wood and stone, and even in embroidery, in tapestry, in dyes, and the
manufacture of all sorts of fine cloth. And not only this, but his general
attainments in art, and his inventive powers, enabled him to devise the means of
executing, and to execute, whatever work in art might be proposed to him. This
man was a treasure to Solomon, who made him overseer not only of the men whom
the king of Tyre now sent, but of his own workmen, and those whom David had
formerly engaged and retained in his employment. PAYMENT OF SERVICES In return
for all these advantages, Solomon engaged on his part to furnish the king of
Tyre yearly with 2,500 quarters of wheat, and 150,000 gallons of pure olive oil,
for his own use, beside furnishing the men employed in Lebanon with the same
corn quantities, respectively, of wheat and barley, and the same liquid
quantities of wine and oil. Josephus informs us that the correspondence on this
subject between Solomon and Hiram, copies of which are given-by him as well as
in the books of Kings and Chronicles, were in his time still preserved to the
archives of Tyre. TEMPLE FOUNDATION LAID Three years were spent to preparation;
but at last all was ready, and the foundation of this famous temple was laid id
in the fourth year of Solomon's reign (1027 B.C.), in the second month, and
finished to the eleventh year and eighth month; being a space of seven years and
six months. Many elaborate treatises have been written on this magnificent
structure, but no satisfactory result has been obtained therefrom. This may
arise from a mistaken reference to classical ideas and models, and from the
scanty knowledge we possess of ancient and modern oriental architecture. Hence
it is that modern commentators and illustrators of Scripture have generally
shrunk from the subject; and hence the many conjectural plans which have been
exhibited as illustrative of this far-famed building, must be looked upon as
inconclusive. The only safe ground we have to go upon is Scripture, whence our
account shall be derived, and, for the most part, in the sacred historian's own
language. DAVID UNABLE TO BUILD TEMPLE We learn, from the history of David, that
when he was raised to the throne of Israel, he piously resolved to erect a
temple to the honor of Jehovah. Thus, in one of his beautiful psalms, he says:
“Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions how he swore unto the Lord, and
vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob; surely I will not come into the tabernacle
of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or
slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, a habitation for
the mighty God of Jacob,” Psalms 132:1-5. Because, however, David was a man of
war, God, by his prophet Nathan, intimated to him that while he approved of his
design, he nevertheless should not be permitted to build him a house; but, at
the same time, he gave him a promise that his son and successor should fulfill
his pious intention, see 1 Chronicles 17. DAVID PREPARATIONS The good monarch
acquiesced in the Divine will; and, to enable his son to perform so glorious a
work, he himself commenced preparations, and we find him, in his last moments,
instructing Solomon in God's promises, and in his duty in building the temple,
at the conclusion of which he states what material he had prepared for the
undertaking: “Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the
Lord a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand-thousand talents of
silver; and of brass and iron without weight, for it is in abundance: timber
also and stone have I prepared; and thou mayest add thereto. Moreover there are
workmen with thee in abundance, hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all
manner of cunning men for every manner of work. Of the gold, the silver, and the
brass, and the iron, there is no number. Arise, therefore, and be doing, and the
Lord be with thee”--1 Chronicles 22:14-16. David, moreover, gave to Solomon “the
pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof,
and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlors thereof, and of the
place of the mercy seat, and the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of
the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round about, of the
treasuries of the house of God and of the treasuries of the dedicated things;
also for we courses of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the
service of the house of the Lord, and for all the vessels of service in the
house of the Lord. He gave of gold by weight for things of gold, for all
instruments of all manner of service; silver also for all instruments of silver
by weight, for all instruments of every kind of service: even the weight for the
candlesticks of gold, and for their lamps of gold, by weight for every
candlestick, and for the lamps thereof: and for the candlesticks of silver by
weight, both for the candlestick, and also for the lamps thereof, according to
the use of every candlestick. And by weight he gave gold for the tables of
showbread, for every table; and likewise silver for the tables of silver: also
pure gold for the flesh-hooks, and the bowls, and the cups; and for the golden
basins he gave gold by weight for every basin; and likewise silver by weight for
every basin of silver: and for the: altar of incense refined gold by weight; and
gold for the pattern of the chariot of the cherubim, that spread out their
wings, and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord. All this, said David,
the Lord made me to understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the
works of this pattern. And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good
courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed, for the Lord God, even my God,
will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast
finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord. And, behold, the
courses of the priests and the Levites, even they shall be with thee for ail the
service of the house of God: and there shall be with thee for all manner of
workmanship every willing skilful man, for any manner of service: also the
princes and all the people will be wholly at thy commandment,” 1 Chronicles
28:11-21. SOLOMON COMMISSIONS HIRAM The youthful monarch was not unmindful of
his royal parent's charge. No sooner was he seated peaceably on his throne, than
we find him addressing Hiram king of Tyre in these words: “Thou knowest how that
David my father could not build a house unto the name of the Lord his God for
the wars which were about him on every side, until the Lord put them under the
soles of his feet. But now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, so
that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent. And, behold, I purpose to
build a house unto the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spake unto David my
father, saying, Thy son whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall
build a house unto my name. Now therefore command thou that they hew me
cedar-trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants: and unto
thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint:
for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber
like unto the Sidonians,” 1 Kings 5:3-6. NO HAMMERING ON SITE In this request,
as we have already stated, Hiram, who was the friend of Solomon, complied, and
the building was commenced, in the four hundred and eighteenth year after the
children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt. There were employed, in
the construction of this building, one hundred and eighty-three thousand men,
including Hebrews and Canaanites; and though everything was made ready ere it
came to the spot, so that, in the language of Holy Writ, “there was neither
hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in
building” 1 Kings 6:7. The site on which the temple was built was Mount Moriah,
“where the Lord a appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had
prepared in the threshingfloor of Oman the Jebusite” 2 Chronicles 2:1. TEMPLE
BUILDING The description which the sacred historian gives of the building is as
follows “And the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, the length thereof
was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height
thereof thirty cubits. And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty
cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house ; and ten
cubits was the breadth there of before the house. And for the house he made
windows of narrow lights” (or windows broad within and narrow without). “And
against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls
of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made
chambers round about: the nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the
middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without
in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests rotund about, that the beams
should not be fastened in the walls of the house. The door for the middle
chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs
into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third. So he built the
house and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar. And
then he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high: and they rested
on the house with timber of cedar. And he built the walls of the house within
with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house, and the walls of the ceiling:
and he covered them on the inside with wood, and covered the floor of the house
with planks of fir. And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both
the floor and the wails with boards of cedar: he even built them for it within,
even for the oracle, even for the most holy place. And the house, that is the
temple before it, was forty cubits long. And the cedar of the house within was
carved with knops [gourds] and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone
seen. And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of
the covenant of the Lord. And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in
length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof:
and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.
So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by
the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold. And the
whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house; also the
whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold. And within the oracle
he made two cherubim of olive-tree, each ten cubits high. And five cubits was
the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from
the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other were ten
cubits. And the other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubim were of one
measure and one size. The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was it
of the other cherub. And he set the cherubim within the inner house: and they
stretched forth the wings of the cherubim, so that the wing of the one touched
the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall ; and
their wings touched one another in the midst of the house. And he over laid the
cherubim with gold. And he carved all the walls of the house round about with
carved figures of cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers within and without.
And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without. And for
the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive-tree: the lintel and
side-posts were a fifth part of the wall. The two doors also were of olive-tree;
and he carved upon them carvings of cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers,
and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubim, and upon the
palm-trees. So also made he for the door of the temple-posts of olive-tree, a
fourth part of the wall. And the two doors were of fir-tree: the two leaves of
the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.
And he carved thereon cherubim and palm-trees, and open flowers: and covered
them with gold fitted upon the carved work. And he built the inner court with
three rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar-beams” 1 Kings 6. HIRAM'S PILLARS
In the next chapter we read of two remarkable pillars connected with the porch.
Speaking of Hiram, whom Solomon had caused to be fetched from Tyre, to aid in
the erection of the temple, the sacred historian says: “He was a widow's son of
the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; and
he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning, to work all works in
brass. And he came to King Solomon, and wrought all his work. For he cast two
pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece; and a line of twelve cubits
did compass either of them about. And he made two chapiters of molten brass, to
set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of the one chapiter was five
cubits, and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits: and nets of
checkerwork and wreaths of chain-work, for the chapiters which were upon the top
of the pillars; seven for the one chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter.
And he made the pillars, and two rows round about upon the one network, to cover
the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates: and so did he for the
other chapiter. And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of
lily-work in the porch four cubits. And the chapiters upon the two pillars had
pomegranates also above, over against the belly which was by the network: and
the pomegranates were two hundred in rows round about upon the other chapiter.
And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right
pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin” (which may be read, “it shall
stand”); “and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz”
(which may be read, “in strength,”) thus forming a kind of sentence, “It shall
stand in strength”), 1 Kings 7:14-21. The reader will find other interesting
details concerning the temple to the concluding verses of this chapter, and in
the parallel chapters, 2 Chronicles 3-6; 1 Chronicles 22-29; and 1 Kings 7-8.
TEMPLE DEDICATED The temple, with all things destined for its service, and every
arrangement connected with it, being completed; its dedication was celebrated
the year after, with a magnificence worthy of the object and the occasion. All
the chief men in Israel were present--the heads of tribes, and paternal chiefs,
together with multitudes of people from all parts of the land. The priests, if
not the Levites, also attended in full force, the succession of the courses
being afterward to commence. God himself was pleased to manifest his presence
and his complacency by two striking miracles: At the moment when the ark of the
covenant, having been brought in high procession from its former place in “the
city of David,” was deposited in the holy of holies, the numerous Levitical
choirs thundered forth their well-known song--sent to the heavens by their
united voices, and by the harmonious concord of a thousand instruments--“Praise
Jehovah! for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever!” Suddenly, as at the
consecration of the first tabernacle, the house of God was covered with a thick
cloud, which filled it, and which enveloped all the assistants in such profound
obscurity that the priests were unable to continue their services. This was a
manifest symbol that God had accepted this as his house, his palace; and that
his Presence had entered to inhabit there. It was so understood by Solomon,
whose voice rose amidst the silence which ensued. “Jehovah said that he would
dwell in the thick darkness. I have assuredly built for thee a house to dwell
in, a settled place for thee to abide in forever!” The king stood on a brazen
platform which had been erected in front of the altar; and now, turning to the
people, he explained the origin and object of this building. After which “he
spread forth his hands toward the heavens” to address himself to God. The prayer
he offered on this occasion is one of the noblest and most sublime compositions
in the Bible. It exhibits the most exalted conceptions of the omnipresence of
God, and of his superintending providence; and dwells more especially on his
peculiar protection of the Hebrew nation, from the time of its departure from
Egypt, and imploring pardon and forgiveness for all their sins and
transgressions in the land, and during those ensuing captivities which, in the
same prophetic spirit that animated the last address of Moses, he appears to
have foreseen. Nothing can be finer than that part of his long and beautiful
address, in which, recurring to the idea of inhabitance which had been so
forcibly brought before his mind, he cries, “But will God indeed dwell on the
earth? Behold the heaven, and the heaven of heavens can not contain thee; how
much less this house that I have builded!” The king had no sooner concluded his
prayer than a fire from the heavens descended upon the altar and consumed the
burnt-offerings. All the Israelites beheld this prodigy, and bent their faces
toward the earth in adoration, and repeated with one voice the praise which was
the most acceptable to him: “He is good; his mercy endureth for ever!” By these
two signs the sanctuary and the altar received the same acceptance and
consecration which had been granted in the wilderness to the tabernacle and the
altar there. SACRIFICES RESUMED After this the sacrifices were resumed, and
countless victims were offered. During two consecutive weeks the people
celebrated this great solemnity with unabated zeal. It was the year of jubilee,
which had probably been chosen as a season of general joy and leisure; and hence
the unusually great concourse to Jerusalem. In this year the jubilee feast was
followed by that of tabernacles, which explains the duration of this great
festival beyond the seven days in which public festivals usually terminated. On
the last day of the second feast, the king blessed the people, and dismissed
them to their homes, to which they repaired, “joyful and glad of heart for all
the good which Jehovah had done for David his servant, and for Israel his
people.” SOLOMON'S PALACES Solomon having thus worthily accomplished the
obligation imposed upon him by his father, felt himself at liberty to build
various sumptuous structures, and undertake various works suited to the honor of
his crown and the dignity of his great kingdom. All that can be said with
reference to these will be little more than an amplification of his own
statement on the subject: “I raised magnificent works; I built for myself
houses; I planted for myself vineyards; I made for myself gardens and groves,
and planted in them fruit-trees of every kind; I made also pools of water,[299]
to water therewith the growing plantations. I bought men-servants and
women-servants, and had servants born in my house; I possessed also herds and
Rocks in abundance, more than any had before me in Jerusalem ; I collected also
silver and gold, and precious treasure from kings and provinces; I procured
men-singers and women-sinners, and the sweetest instruments of music, the
delight of the children of men. Thus I became great, and possessed more than any
who had been before me in Jerusalem,” (Ecclesiastes 2:3-9). [299] Solomon's
Pools--The pools of Solomon are situated about one hour's distance to the south
of Bethlehem: and to them the king of Israel is supposed to refer in
Ecclesiastes 2:4-6, where, among other magnificent works executed by him, he
enumerates vineyards, gardens, orchards, and pools. These pools are three in
number, of an oblong quadrangular form, cut out of the native rock, and are
covered with a thick coat of plaster in the inside, and supported by abutments
the workmanship through-out, like everything Jewish, is more remarkable for
strength than beauty. They are situated in a most secluded situation, at the
south end of a small valley, in the midst of mountains; and are so disposed on
the sloping hill, that the water in the uppermost pool flows into the second,
and thence into the third. That on the west is nearest to the source of the
spring which supplies it with water, and is stated by Dr. Richardson to be 480
feet long; the second is about 600 feet, and the third about 660 feet in length.
The breadth of them all is nearly the same; but no traveler, ancient or modern,
has ascertained their depth. The pools communicate freely with each other, and
are capable of containing a great quantity of water, which they discharge into a
small aqueduct that conveys it to Jerusalem. This aqueduct was constructed all
along on the surface of the ground, and framed of perforated stones let one into
another, with a fillet round the cavity, so framed as to prevent leakage, and
united to each other with so firm a cement that they will sometimes sooner break
than endure a separation. These pipes were covered, for greater security, with a
case or layer of smaller stones, which were laid over them in a very strong
mortar. “The whole work,” says Maundrell, “seems to be endued with such absolute
firmness, as if it had been designed for eternity. But the Turks have
demonstrated, in this instance, that nothing can be so well wrought but they are
able to destroy it. For of this strong aqueduct, which was carried formerly five
or six leagues with so vast expense and labor, you now see only here and there a
fragment remaining.” The fountain whence these pools principally derive their
waters is at the distance of about one hundred and forty paces from them. This,
the friars of Bethlehem are fully persuaded, is the “sealed fountain” to which
Solomon compares his bride (Solomon's SS 4:12). In confirmation of their
opinion, they pretend a tradition, that King Solomon shut up these springs, and
kept the door of them sealed with his signet, in order that he might preserve
the waters for his drinking in their natural freshness and purity. Nor was it
difficult thus to secure them as they rise under ground, and there is no avenue
to them but by a little hole, like the mouth of a narrow well. Through this hole
you descend directly, though not without some difficulty, for about four yards,
when you arrive in a vaulted room, forty-five feet in length and twenty-four in
breadth, adjoining to which there is another room of the same kind, but somewhat
less. Both these rooms are covered with handsome stone arches, of great
antiquity, which Maundrell thinks may be the work of Solomon. Below these pools,
at the distance of more than half a mile, is a deep valley, enclosed on each
side by lofty mountains, which the monks of Bethlehem affirm to be the “enclosed
garden” alluded to in Solomon's SS 4:12. Whether this conjecture (for it is no
more than a conjecture) be well founded or not, Maundrell thinks it probable
enough that the pools may be the same with Solomon's, there not being the like
supply of excellent spring water to be met with anywhere else throughout
Palestine. But if Solomon made the gardens in the rocky round now assigned for
them; it may be safely affirmed, that he demonstrated greater power and wealth
in finishing his design than he did wisdom in selecting the place for it. The
Pools of Solomon

LEBANON PALACE Of the royal buildings to which allusion has been made, our more
particular information is respecting the palace which the king built for
himself, another for “Pharaoh's daughter,” and the house of the forest of
Lebanon.” It is difficult, from the brief intimations which the scriptural
history offers, to form a clear or connected idea of these buildings. The
description of Josephus, although more precise, does not supply this deficiency;
but by its assistance we may make out that the two palaces, for himself and the
princess of Egypt, were not separate buildings, but, as the existing
arrangements in oriental palaces would suggest, a distinct part, or wing, of the
same building. It may assist the matter to understand that an oriental palace
consists, for the most part, of a series of open quadrangles, with distinct
appropriations, and each surrounded with buildings suitable to its
appropriation. In fact, they are distinct buildings, connected only by
communicating doors, similar in their general plan to each other, but differing
much in size and workmanship. The quadrangle into which the gate of entrance
opens usually contains the state apartments and offices; principally the hall in
which the sovereign gives audience, sits in judgment, and transacts all public
business. Hence the court is very often called “the gate,” of which we have a
familiar instance in the Ottoman Porte, and of which examples are found in
scripture with reference to the courts of the Hebrew, Babylonian, and Persian
kings.[300] Now, from the description of Josephus, it would appear that the
palace, as a whole, consisted of three quadrangles, of which that in the center
contained the hall of audience and justice, and other state apartments, while
that on the right hand formed the king's palace of residence, and that on the
left was the palace of the Egyptian princess. The only point on which we are in
doubt, is, whether the three quadrangles were on a line with each other, or that
the one which contained the public halls was in advance of the others; for in
this way, equally with the other, the palaces of the king and queen might be
respectively described as to the right and left of the public building. There
are some who think that “the house of the forest of Lebanon” was the same as
this front or public portion of the whole pile; nor should we like absolutely to
deny this, although it seems more probable that it was a royal residence in the
neighborhood of Jerusalem, deriving its name either from the number of cedar
pillars which supported its galleries and halls, of from the plantations by
which it was surrounded. These structures were, for the most part, built with
immense blocks of squared stones, and the whole was fitted up with cedar; while
the nobler rooms and galleries were lined with slabs of costly polished marble
to the floor, and were above enriched with sculptures (on the wall), and
apparently with paintings (on the plaster), especially toward the ceiling, all
of which we may conclude to have been very much in the style of similar things
among the Egyptians, whose palaces were decorated after the same style. And if
we have rightly interpreted Josephus to intimate that there were three ranges of
ornaments in the principal rooms--polished slabs at the bottom, sculpture above,
and painting toward the top, it would be very easy to show how the same ideas
and distributions are retained in the palaces of the modern East, where, above
basement slabs of looking-glass, are wrought recesses, and carvings, and
arabesques, and ornaments of stucco (sculpture being interdicted); while toward
the ceiling much highly-colored painting is displayed. If we may credit
Josephus, “barbaric pearl and gold” were not wanting among the materials which
contributed to the decoration of the more splendid apartments. The historian is
at a loss for words to express the full conception, which the traditions of his
fathers bad conveyed to his mind, of the splendors of Solomon's palatial
buildings: “It would be an endless task,” he says, “to give a particular survey
of this mighty mass of building; so many courts and other contrivances; such a
variety of chambers and offices, great and small; long and large galleries; vast
rooms of state, and others for feasting and entertainment, set out as richly as
could be with costly furniture and gildings; besides, that all the service for
the king's table were of pure gold. In a word, the whole palace was in a manner
made up, from the base to the coping, of white marble, cedar, gold and silver,
with precious stones here and there intermingled upon the walls and ceilings.”
[300] 2 Samuel 15:2; Esther 2:19; Daniel 2:49. Compare Matthew 16:18; see also
Xenop. Cyrop. I. 3: viii. 3. The descriptions in the Greek writers of the
Persian courts in Susa and Ecbatana; the tales of the early travelers in the
East about the kings of Samarcand or Cathay; and even the imagination of the
oriental romancers and poets, have scarcely conceived a more splendid pageant
than Solomon, seated on his throne of ivory, receiving the homage of distant
princes who came to admire his magnificence, and put to the test his noted
wisdom. This throne was of pure ivory, covered with gold; six steps led up to
the seat, and on each side of the steps were twelve lions carved. All the
vessels of his palace were of pure gold--silver was thought too mean: his armory
was furnished with gold; two hundred targets and three hundred shields of beaten
gold were suspended in the house of Lebanon. Josephus mentions a body of archers
who escorted him from the city to his country palace, clad in dresses of Tyrian
purple, and their hair powdered with gold dust. But, enormous as this wealth
appears, the statement of his expenditure on the temple, and of his annual
revenue, so passes all credibility, that any attempt at forming a calculation on
the uncertain data we possess, may at once be abandoned as a hopeless task. No
better proof can be given of the uncertainty of our authorities, of our
imperfect knowledge of the Hebrew weights of money, and, above all, of our total
ignorance of the relative value which the precious metals bore to the
commodities of life, than the estimate, made by Dr. Prideaux, of the treasures
left by David, amounting to eight hundred millions--nearly the capital of the
national debt of England. HIRAM GIVEN CITIES Our inquiry into the sources of the
vast wealth which Solomon undoubtedly possessed, may lead to more satisfactory,
though still imperfect, results. The treasures of David were accumulated rather
by conquest than by traffic. Some of the nations he subdued, particularly the
Edomites, were wealthy. All the tribes seem to have worn a great deal of gold
and silver in their ornaments and their armor; their idols were often of gold,
and the treasuries of their temples perhaps contained considerable wealth. But
during the reign of Solomon, almost the whole commerce of the world passed into
his territories. The treaty with Tyre was of the utmost importance; nor is there
any instance in which two neighboring nations so clearly saw, and so steadily
pursued, without jealousy or mistrust, their mutual and inseparable interests.
On one occasion only, when Solomon presented to Hiram twenty inland cities which
he had conquered, Hiram expressed great dissatisfaction, and called the
territory by the opprobrious name of Cabul. The Tyrian had perhaps cast a
wistful eye on the noble bay and harbor of Acco, or Ptolemais, which the prudent
Hebrew either would not or could not--since it was part of the promised
land--dissever from his dominions. So strict was the confederacy, that Tyre may
be considered the port of Palestine, Palestine the granary of Tyre. Tyre
furnished the ship-builders and mariners; the fruitful plains of Palestine
victualled the fleets, and supplied the manufacturers and merchants of the
Phoenician league with all the necessaries of life. SHIPPING This league
comprehended Tyre, Aradus, Sidon, perhaps Tripolis, Byblus and Berytus; the
narrow slip of territory which belonged to these states was barren, rocky, and
unproductive. The first branch of commerce, into which this enterprising people
either admitted the Jews as regular partners, or at least permitted them to
share its advantages, was the traffic of the Mediterranean. To every part of
that sea the Phoenicians had pursued their discoveries; they had planted
colonies, and worked the mines. This was the trade to Tarshish, so celebrated,
that ships of Tarshish seem to have become the common name for large merchant
vessels. Tarshish was probably a name as indefinite, as the West Indies in early
European navigation, properly speaking, it was the south of Spain, then rich in
mines of gold and silver, the Peru of Tyrian adventure. Whether or not as early
as the days of Solomon--without doubt to the more flourishing period of
Phoenicia; before the city on the mainland was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and
insular Tyre became the emporium--the Phoenician navies extended their voyages
beyond the pillars of Hercules, where they founded Cadiz. Northward they sailed
along the coast of France to the British isles southward along the African
shore; where the boundaries of their navigation are quite uncertain, yet
probably extended to the gold coast. The second branch of commerce was the
inland trade with Egypt. This was carried on entirely by the Jews. Egypt
supplied horses in vast numbers, and linen yarn. The valleys of the Nile
produced flax in abundance; and the yarn, according to the description of the
prudent housewife in the Proverbs, was spun and woven by the females in
Palestine. The third, and more important branch, was the maritime trade by the
Red sea. The conquests of David had already made the Jews masters of the eastern
branch of this gulf. Solomon built or improved the towns and ports of Elath and
Ezion-geber. Hence a fleet, manned by Tyrians, sailed for Ophir, their East
Indies, as Tarshish was their West. They sailed along the eastern coast of
Africa, in some part of which the real Ophir was probably situated. When the
Egyptians under Necho, after the declension of the Israelitish kingdom, took
possession of this branch of commerce, there seems little reason to doubt the
plain and consistent account of Herodotus, that the Tyrians sailed round the
continent of Africa. The whole maritime commerce, with eastern Asia, the
southern shores of the Arabian peninsula, the coasts of the Persian gulf, and
without doubt some parts of India, entered, in the same manner, the Red sea, and
was brought to Elath and Ezion-geber. COMMERCE Besides this maritime traffic the
caravan trade by land engaged a full share of Solomon's attention. By the
possession of a southern frontier stretching across from the Elanitic gulf to
the Mediterranean, the land traffic between Egypt and Syria lay completely at
his mercy. He felt this, and through some arrangement with his father-in-law the
king of Egypt, be contrived to monopolize it entirely in his own hands. It
appears that what Syria chiefly required from Egypt were linen fabrics and yarn,
for the manufacture of which that country had long been celebrated; also
chariots, the extensive use of which in Egypt has already been pointed out; and
horses, of which that country possessed a very excellent and superior breed, if
we may judge from the numerous fine examples which the paintings and sculptures
offer. All this trade Solomon appears to have intercepted and monopolized. He
was supplied by contract, at a fixed price, with certain quantities adequate to
the supply of the Syrian market, which, after retaining what he required for
himself, his factors sold, doubtless at a high profit, to the different kings of
Syria. The price was doubtless arbitrary, and dependant on times and
circumstances; but the contract price at which the chariots and horses were
supplied by the Egyptians to the Hebrew factors happens to be named--six hundred
silver shekels for a chariot, and one fourth of that sum, or one hundred and
fifty shekels, for a horse. Tadmor (Palmyra)

CARAVAN TRADE This was not the only land traffic which engaged the notice of
Solomon. His attention was attracted to the extensive and valuable caravan trade
which, from very remote ages, coming from the farther east, and the Persian
gulf, proceeded to Egypt, Tyre, and other points on the Mediterranean, by the
Euphrates and across the great Syrian desert. The habitable points of that
desert, even to the great river, were now under the dominion of the Hebrew king,
and even the Bedouin tribes by whom it was chiefly inhabited were brought under
tribute to him, and were kept in order by the dread of his great name. Under
these circumstances, Solomon was in nearly as favorable a position for taking a
part in this trade as in the land traffic between Egypt and Syria. But the
measures which he took were different, and more specially adapted to the
circumstances of the case. They were less coercive, and dealt more in the offer
of inducements and advantages. And the reason is obvious; for although the
ordinary track of the great caravans lay through his territories, it was in the
power of its conductors to alter that track so as to pass northward beyond the
limits of his dominion; but this would have produced such expense, trouble and
delay, that it would have been referable to maintain the old route even at the
expense of some check and inconvenience. Whether the measures of Solomon were
felt to be such, we do not know; they were possibly deemed by the caravan
merchants and by the Hebrews, as mutually advantageous, although the ultimate
purchasers, who could be no parties in this arrangement, possibly regarded them
in a different light. The plan of Solomon was to erect in the very heart of the
desert an emporium for this important trade. The route of a caravan is so
directed as to include as many as possible of the places at which water may be
found. At the most important of these stations, where water, and by consequence
palm-trees, was found in the most abundance, the Hebrew king built a city and
called it Tadmor[301] (a palm-tree), whence its Greek name of Palmyra. But Greek
and Roman names never fixed themselves in the soil of Syria, and the ruins of
the city bear, to this day, among the natives, the primitive name of Tadmor.
Here the caravans not only found water as before, but every advantage of shelter
and rest, while by this establishment Solomon was enabled more effectively to
overawe the tribes, and to afford protection to the caravans from the predatory
attempts and exactions of the Bedouins. Here the caravan merchants would soon
find it convenient to dispose of their commodities, and leave the further
distribution of them, to the nations west of the desert, either to the factors
of Solomon, or to private merchants,-for we do not know to what extent the king
found it advisable to have this trade free to his own subjects. It may be that
private persons among his subjects, or even foreigners from the west, were not
prevented from here meeting and dealing with the eastern merchants; but from the
general--and with our present lights, we must say short-sighted--policy of
Solomon's commercial doings, it may be inferred that he monopolized such
advantages in this trade as he deemed safe or prudent. At the least, it must be
presumed that he derived a considerable revenue, in the way of customs, from
such merchandise as did not pass into the hands of his own factors; and this,
however advantageous to the king, may have been felt by the caravan merchants
but as a reasonable equivalent for the protection they enjoyed, and their
freedom from the exactions of the Bedouins. Much of this, which we have stated
as probably connected with the foundation of this city of the desert, is not
stated in scripture: but it is deducible from the improbability that without
strong inducements a city would have been founded in such a situation, and from
the detection of these inducements in the commercial enterprises of Solomon,
with the illustration applied to the particular instance, which is derivable
from the fact that the wealth and glory in which the Palmyra of a later day
appears, was due entirely to the circumstance that its position made it an
emporium for the caravan trade of the desert. In fact, that it was such at a
long subsequent date, and that its very existence depended on its being such,
illustrates and justifies that intention in its foundation which, on the
strongest circumstantial evidence, we have ventured to ascribe to Solomon. [301]
In the Ketib of 1 Kings 9:18 it is put Tamar, the proper word for a palm-tree,
showing that Tadmore has the same meaning, and probably that the . is merely
introduced for euphony. SPICE TRADE Besides these branches of commerce, “the
traffic of the spice merchants” is mentioned among the sources from which wealth
accrued to Solomon. In what form this profit was derived is not distinctly
intimated. From the analogy of his other operations, we might conclude that he
bought up the costly spices and aromatics brought by the spice caravans of
southernmost Arabia, which must needs pass through his territories; and that
after deducting what sufficed for the large consumption of his own nation, he
sold the residue at an enhanced price to the neighboring nations. As it is
certain that, from his own wants merely, an act of trade must have taken place
between him and these caravans, this seems the more obvious conclusion,
although, without this, he may have derived an important item of profit from
this trade by levying customs upon it in its passage through his dominions.
MONARCHIAL COMMERCE Such, as far as they can be traced, were the commercial
operations of Solomon. It is quite easy now, and in a commercial country like
our own, to see that these operations were, for the most part, based on wrong
views and principles, inasmuch as however they might tend to the aggrandizement
of the king, they could confer little solid and enduring benefit on the nation.
But in the East, where the king is the state, and becomes himself the center of
most public acts, he is seldom found to take interest in commerce, but from
regarding it as a source of emolument to the state, by his direct and personal
concern therein. The king himself is a trader, with such advantages resulting
from his position, as inevitably exclude the private merchant from the field in
which he appears. He is inevitably a monopolist; and a sovereign monopoly is, if
not an evil, at least not a benefit to the people, whatever wealth it may seem
to bring into the country. The river, however noble, gives fertility only to the
banks which hem it in; and it, is only when its waters are drawn off in their
course, and exhausted into a thousand channels, that they bless and glorify the
wide country around. Solomon, in his book of Ecclesiastes, acquaints us with
many “vanities” and “sore evils” which he saw “under the sun;” but from this
statement we do not learn that he ever became conscious of the very great vanity
and most sore evil of a rich king over a poor people, or of the system which
makes the king rich while the people remain comparatively poor. ANNUAL TRIBUTES
OF FOREIGN STATES Large revenues were derived from the annual tributes of the
foreign states, which were now subject to the Hebrew scepter, or over which it
exercised a more or less stringent influence. The kings and princes of such
states appear to have sent their tribute in the form of quantities of the
principal articles which their country produced, or was able to procure; as did
also the governors of the provinces not left under the native princes. Besides
the regular tax or tribute derived from countries more or less closely annexed
to the Hebrew kingdom, there were more distant states which found it good policy
to conciliate the favor of Solomon, or to avert his hostility by annual
offerings, which, under the soft name of “presents,” formed no contemptible item
of the royal revenue. Of that revenue one item is mentioned in rather singular
terms: “All the earth sought to Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put
into his heart. And they brought every man his present, utensils of silver, and
utensils of gold, and garments, and armor, and spices, horses and mules, a rate
year by year.” Here the terms “presents,” and “a rate year by year,” have a
degree of opposition at the first view, which seems to require us to suppose
either that those great men who had once resorted to Jerusalem to hear the
wisdom of Solomon, and to behold the manifestation of it in the ordering of his
court and kingdom, not only brought with them the presents which the usages of
the East rendered the necessary accompaniments of such visits, but that they
continued to send from their several lands yearly gifts of compliment to him. Or
else, that the desire of thus complimenting the monarch whom God had so
eminently gifted, furnished a decent pretence to those who had other reasons for
rendering a real tribute to him. The latter interpretation is that which we
prefer. And it is certain that in the case of the only royal visit which is
particularly described-that of the queen of Sheba--only such presents as she
brought with her are named, and no “rate year by year” is intimated. Ethiopia
was too remote to be within reach of the influences which may have determined
the monarchs of nearer nations to make their “presents” to Solomon a yearly
payment. The articles mentioned in the extract just given, together with those
named in other places, enable us to form some idea of the display which these
annual or occasional renderings of tributes and of traffics must have offered.
It has been the fashion of the East to make a show of such offerings by their
being taken in procession to the palace of the king by the persons, arrayed in
their varied costumes, by whom they were brought to the country. To this custom
we have more than once had occasion to allude in the course of the present work.
Many were the spectacles of this sort which must have delighted the eyes of the
Israelites during the splendid reign of Solomon: There are paintings of. Egypt,
and sculptures of Persia, which enable us to form some idea of these imposing
exhibitions, which indeed are in strict correspondence with those which the
courts of the East have still preserved. Of the representations to which we
allude, the former is no less interesting and instructive from the details which
it offers, than venerable from its high antiquity. It is at Thebes; represents
the ambassadors of four nations bringing their tributes to Thothmes III, whose
reign Sir J.G. Wilkinson ascribes to the time of the departure of the Israelites
from Egypt. The general effect of this curious scene may be estimated from the
annexed engraving, although in this attempt to embody the ideas which it offers,
it has been necessary to omit many of the details which are included in the
extensive original subject. It is remarkable that the classes of articles
brought by the foreigners are all such as would be included in the classes of
products rendered to Solomon. The articles vary with the country and costume of
the nation by which they are brought. We see principally gold and silver money
in rings; vases and other utensils of the same metal, of very various and often
truly elegant shapes; baskets containing sealed bags, probably of jewels;
baskets of fruits, carefully packed and covered with leaves to preserve their
freshness; growing plants, in one instance we see a shrub transported in a
growing state: it is enclosed with the mould in which it grows, in a kind of
open case, which is carried between two men suspended from a pole, the ends of
which rest on their shoulders. Then there are elephants' teeth, and beams of
ebony and other valuable woods; and, besides the skins of various animals,
particularly leopards, there is a most interesting exhibition of various living
animals conducted to the king. Tribute Bearers

Among these are giraffes, various well-distinguished species of apes and
monkeys, leopards,and even bears. There were also oxen, of a different breed to
that common in the country, as were probably the horses, which also figure in
the procession, and which, with chariots, form perhaps the most remarkable
objects of the whole, as being brought to a country which itself abounded in
horses and chariots; but the horses were probably desirable to the Egyptians as
of a foreign breed, and the chariots as a curious foreign manufacture. Upon the
whole, a more striking and appropriate illustration of this part of Solomon's
glory can not well be imagined. Baalbee

EXPENDITURES The wealth which flowed into the royal treasury from these various
sources appears to have been freely disbursed by Solomon in enriching his
buildings, in extending their number, and in the ordering of his court and
kingdom. Besides the buildings which have already been pointed out, various
public structures were built by him in Jerusalem, which city he also enclosed by
new walls, fortified with strong towers. Other important towns (as Gaza) were
fortified, and new ones built in different parts of the country. Besides Tadmor,
which has already engaged our notice, Baalath is named among the towns built by
him; and this is supposed by many to be no other than the afterward celebrated
city of Baalbec, in the great valley of Coele-Syria. It was from these various
sources of wealth, that the precious metals and all other valuable commodities
were in such abundance-that, in the figurative language of the sacred historian,
silver was in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar-trees as sycamores. SOLOMON'S
MAGNIFICENCE Solomon was not less celebrated for his wisdom than his
magnificence. The visits of the neighboring princes, particularly that of the
queen of Sheba (apart of Arabia Felix), were to admire the one, as much as the
other. Hebrew tradition, perhaps the superstitious wonder of his own age,
ascribed to Solomon the highest skill in magical arts, and even unbounded
dominion overall the invisible world. More sober history recognizes in Solomon
the great poet, naturalist, and moral philosopher of his time. His poetry,
consisting of one thousand and five songs, except his epithalamium, and perhaps
some of the Psalms, has entirely perished. His natural history of plants and
animals has suffered the same fate. But the great part of the book of Proverbs
and Ecclesiastes (perhaps more properly, reckoned as a poem) have preserved the
conclusions of his moral wisdom. SOLOMON DIES The latter book, or poem, derives
new interest, when considered as coming from the most voluptuous, magnificent,
and instructed of monarchs, who sums tip the estimate of human life in the
melancholy sentence--Vanity of vanities! vanity of vanities! It is a sad
commentary on the termination of the splendid life and reign of the great Hebrew
sovereign. For even had not this desponding confession been extorted by the
satiety of passion, and the weariness of a spirit, over-excited by all the
gratifications this word can bestow--had no higher wisdom suggested this
humiliating conclusion--the state of his own powerful kingdom, during his
declining years, might have furnished a melancholy lesson on the instability of
human grandeur. Solomon, in his old age, was about to bequeath to his heir, an
insecure throne, a discontented people, formidable enemies on the frontiers, and
perhaps a contested succession. He could not even take refuge in the sanctuary
of conscious innocence, and assume the dignity of suffering unmerited
degradation; for he had set at defiance every principle of the Hebrew
constitution. He had formed a connection with Egypt--he had multiplied a great
force of cavalry--he had accumulated gold and silver--he had married many
foreign wives. His seraglio was on as vast a scale as the rest of his
expenditure--he had seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines. The
influence of these women, not merely led him to permit an idolatrous worship
within his dominions, but even Solomon had been so infatuated, as to consecrate
to the obscene and barbarous deities of the neighboring nations, a part of one
of the hills, which overlooked Jerusalem--a spot almost fronting the splendid
temple, which he himself had built to the one Almighty God of the universe.
Hence clouds on all sides gathered about his declining day. Hadad, one of the
blood-royal of the Edomite princes, began to organize a revolt in that province,
on which so much of the Jewish commerce depended. An adventurer seized on
Damascus, and set up an independent sovereignty, thus endangering the
communication on from Tadmor. A domestic enemy, still more dangerous, appeared
in the person of Jeroboam, a man of great valor, supported by the prophet
Ahijah, who foretold his future rule over the ten tribes. Though forced to fly,
Jeroboam found an asylum with Shishak, or Sesac, the Sesonchosis of Manetho, who
was raising the kingdom of Egypt to its former alarming grandeur; and not
withstanding his alliance with Solomon, made no scruple against harboring his
rebellious subject. Above all, the people were oppressed and dissatisfied;
either because the enormous revenues of the kingdom were more than absorbed by
the vast expenditure of the sovereign; or because the more productive branches
of commerce were interrupted by the rebellions of the Edomites and Damascenes.
At this period likewise, Solomon departed from the national, though iniquitous
policy of his earlier reign, during which he had laid all the burdens of labor
and taxation on the strangers, and exempted the Israelites from every claim but
that of military service. The language held to Rehoboam, on his accession, shows
that the people had suffered deeply in the arbitrary exactions of the king, who,
with the state and splendor, had assumed the despotism of an oriental monarch.
Hence the decline of the Jewish kingdom, supported rather by the fame of its
sovereign, than by its inherent strength, was as rapid as its rise. Solomon died
after a reign of forty years, and with him expired the glory and the power of
the Jewish empire.


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  CHAPTER 28: REVOLT OF TEN TRIBES--JEROBOAM--REHOBOAM--AHAB
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REVOLT OF TEN TRIBES--JEROBOAM--REHOBOAM--AHAB REHOBOAM ANNOUNCES TAX INCREASES
The effects of the arbitrary policy and inordinate expense which had prevailed
in the court of Solomon during the last years of his reign, began to appear as
soon as his death was announced. The rulers of the tribes assembled at the city
of Shechem, in the tribe of Ephraim--which tribe, it will be remembered, was
always disposed to regard with strong jealousy the superiority of Judah. Here
they wished to enter into a new stipulation with the heir to the throne--a
precaution which had been neglected under the excitement and extraordinary
circumstances which attended the accession of Solomon. If Rehoboam had been
wise, the place which had been chosen for this congress, and the presence of
Jeroboam--who had hastened from Egypt when he heard of Solomon's death, and took
a prominent part in the present matter--were circumstances, which among others,
might have apprized him that the occasion was one of no ordinary moment, and
required the most careful and skilful management. Rehoboam was not equal to this
crisis; for when the rulers demanded, as the condition of their submission, that
he should abrogate a portion of the burdens which his father had imposed upon
them, he failed to discern what might be gained by a ready and cheerful
concession, and required three days on which to deliberate on their demand. In
this time he decided to reject the counsel of the older and more prudent
counsellors, who enforced the necessity of compliance with this demand; and
chose rather to adopt the advice of the young and headstrong courtiers--warm
advocates of the royal prerogative--who exhorted him to overawe the
remonstrants[302] by his majesty, and to drive them back like yelping dogs to
their kennels. Accordingly when the three days had expired, his fatal and
foolish answer was, that his little finger should be heavier upon the nation
than his father's loins; and that whereas his father had only chastised them
with whips, he would chastise them with scorpions. Nothing could more clearly
than this answer evince the unfitness of Rehoboam for the crisis which had now
occurred, and his utter ignorance of the spirit which was in Israel; while it at
the same time indicates the arbitrary notions of the royal prerogative which he
found occasion to imbibe during the later years of his father's reign. [302]
Those who argue against or oppose. TEN TRIBES WITHDRAW On receiving this answer
ten of the tribes instantly renounced their allegiance to the house of David,
and chose Jeroboam for their king. Two of the tribes, Judah and Benjamin, alone
adhered to Rehoboam, Judah had the good reason that the family of David was of
their tribe; and both these tribes were advantaged by the presence of the
metropolis on their respective borders, and had necessarily derived peculiar
benefits from that profuse expenditure of the late king of which the other
tribes had cause to complain. Thus was the great and powerful empire which David
had erected, and which Solomon had ruled, already divided into two very unequal
parts. Jeroboam had ten of the tribes, and his dominion extended over the
tributary nations eastward, toward the Euphrates; while Rehoboam only retained
the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which are henceforth, from their strict
identity of interest to be regarded as one tribe, under the name of Judah. To
this division belonged also the subject territories of Philistia and Edom. But
notwithstanding the more than equal figure which this kingdom makes in the
further history of the Hebrew nation, it may be well to bear in mind that what
is henceforth to be called the kingdom of Judah, ruled by the house of David,
formed not above a fourth part of the dominions of Solomon. TAX COLLECTOR KILLED
Rehoboam was not disposed to submit quietly to this proceeding. At first,
affecting to suppose that his authority over the ten tribes would still be
recognized, he sent, at the usual season, the officer who was “over the tribute”
to collect the taxes which had been exacted in the last years of his father's
reign. But the people rose, and testified their indignation and defiance by
stoning this obnoxious personage to death. On this Rehoboam resolved to attempt
to reduce the revolted tribes to his obedience by force of arms, and collected a
large army for that purpose. But when the prophet Shemaiah announced to him the
Lord's command to relinquish this enterprise, he manifested some sense of his
true position by disbanding his army. This, it must be allowed, was a signal
example of submission, and may intimate that when thus reminded of it he became
sensible of the propriety of the requisition. No definite treaty of peace was,
however, concluded, and the frontiers of the two kingdoms continued to present a
hostile aspect. PRICE OF IDOLATRY In the preceding history we have seen that
Jehovah, from the time of Moses to the death of Solomon, always governed the
Hebrews according to the promises and threatenings which he delivered from Mount
Horeb. If they deviated from the principle of worshipping Jehovah as the only
true God, that is, if they revolted from their lawful king, he brought them by
suitable chastisements, to reflect on their obligations, to return to Jehovah,
and again to keep sacred the fundamental law of their church and state. The same
course we shall find pursued in the government of the two kingdoms. If the
monarchs of both had viewed the late great revolution, the sundering of the
empire, as a consequence of the idolatrous and unlawful practices of Solomon's
court, as a warning (for such it really was) to them not to break the
fundamental law of the state, but to govern their subjects according to the law,
and to treat them as the subjects of Jehovah; then both kingdoms might have
enjoyed uninterrupted prosperity. Even Jeroboam, though he had received no
promise of an eternal kingdom, as David had, yet the assurance was given him
that if he obeyed the law as David did, the throne should long continue in his
family. (1 Kings 11:37-38; 2 Chronicles 11:1-4.) But as the kings of both
kingdoms often disregarded the fundamental laws of the commonwealth--by idolatry
rebelled against their divine sovereign, carried their disorders so far, and
treated their subjects in such a manner, that they are aptly described by Isaiah
and Ezekiel (Isaiah 56:9; Ezekiel 34) under the image of wicked shepherds--there
arose a succession of prophets, who, by impressive declarations and symbolic
actions, reminded both rulers and subjects of their duties to Jehovah, and
threatened them with punishment in case of disobedience. Even the rebellious
backslidings from God which more particularly distinguished the kingdom of
Israel, did not prevent Jehovah from governing the kingdom according to his law.
We shall see in the sequel how he exterminated, one after another, those royal
families who not only retained the arbitrary institutions of Jeroboam, and
tolerated and patronized idolatry, with its concomitant vices, but even
introduced and protected it by their royal authority. The extermination of the
reigning family he announced beforehand by a prophet, and appointed his
successor. We shall see that the higher their corruptions rose, so much the more
decisive and striking were the declarations and signs made to show the
Israelites that the Lord of the universe was their Lord and King, and that all
idols were as nothing when opposed to him. Even Naaman, the Syrian,
acknowledged, and the Syrians generally found to their sorrow, that the God of
the Hebrews was not a mere national god, but that his power extended over all
nations. The history represents a contest between Jehovah, who ought to be
acknowledged as God, and the idolatrous Israelites; and everything is ordered to
preserve the authority of Jehovah in their minds. At last, after all milder
punishments had proved fruitless, these rebellions were followed by the
destruction of the kingdom, and the captivity of the people, which had been
predicted by Moses, and afterward by Ahijah, Hosea, Amos, and other prophets
(Deuteronomy 28:36; 1 Kings 14:15; Hosea 9; Amos 5). Ancient Egyptian Worship

DAVID'S THRONE We shall also find that the divine Providence was favorable or
adverse to the kingdom of Judah, according as the people obeyed or transgressed
the law; only here the royal family remained unchanged, according to the promise
given to David. We shall here meet indeed with many idolatrous and rebellious
kings, but they were always succeeded by those of purer mind, who put a stop to
idolatry, re-established theocracy in the hearts of their subjects, and, by the
aid of prophets, priests, and Levites, and the services of the temple, restored
the knowledge and worship of God. Judah, therefore, although much smaller than
Israel, continue her national existence one hundred and thirty-four years
longer; but at last, as no durable reformation was produced, she experienced the
same fate as her sister kingdom, in fulfillment of the predictions of Moses and
several other prophets. The following account of the two kingdoms, therefore,
should be viewed as that of a real theocracy; and thus, as a continued execution
of the determination of God, that the true religion should be preserved on the
earth. In this view it certainly deserves our most attentive study.[303] [303]
The above, is adopted, with some abridgment, from Jahn, book v. sect. 35.
SHECHEM MADE CAPITAL Shechem being one of the most important towns in his own
tribe of Ephraim, was made by Jeroboam the metropolis of the new kingdom. He had
also a summer residence at Tirzah,[304] in the tribe of Manasseh, which,
therefore, seems in the history to share the metropolitan dignity with Shechem.
[304] From the manner in which it is mentioned, Tirzah must have enjoyed a very
fine situation, and have made a fair appearance ; but even its site is not now
known, and that it was in Manasseh is little more than a conjecture. It had been
one of the royal cities of the Canaanites (Joshua 12:24). JEROBOAM ESTABLISHES
IDOLATRY The new king, little regarding the unconditional promises which had
been made to him, applied himself to such operations of human policy as might
tend to establish his kingdom, and confirm its separation from that of Judah.
Viewing them as measures of policy in the abstract, the praise of much political
sagacity and foresight need not be denied to their author; and it is certain
that they were successful in promoting the object he had in view. But they were,
in his peculiar position, as a king in Israel--that is, a vicegerent of Jehovah,
not only improper, but in the highest degree criminal; for they involved an
interference with matters far above the prerogative of Jehovah's vassal, and the
abrogation of institutions which the Supreme King had established as essential
to the good government and subordination of his kingdom, with the introduction
of other institutions of a nature abhorrent to the Mosaic law, and of a tendency
against which that law had most jealously guarded the people. Jeroboam is
therefore to be regarded, not as gratuitously and from abstract reference of
evil, leading the people into wrong courses; but as being careless whether the
course he took were good or evil, so that it tended, in his judgment, to the
security of his kingdom; for he had failed to learn that hard truth--that
implicit obedience to the behests of his Almighty superior, not tortuous courses
of political expediency, offered the true security of his peculiar kingdom.
Jeroboam was much annoyed at the obligation which the law imposed, of the resort
of all the Israelites three times a year to Jerusalem. He clearly perceived that
this concourse and frequent meeting of all the tribes to the same place, and for
the same object, was a strong uniting circumstance among them; and he feared
that the continuance of this usage might ultimately tend to the reunion of the
several kingdoms under the house of David. Undoubtedly it was an awkward
circumstance that the subjects of one king should be obliged thus often to
resort to the metropolis of a neighboring and unfriendly monarch; and still
more, that his own kingdom should be drained of a considerable portion of its
wealth for the support of a service which was exclusively confined to the now
adverse metropolis, and for the maintenance of priests and Levites whose
services were rendered at Jerusalem, in the presence and under the authority of
the rival sovereign. This was a state of things for which, it must be allowed,
Jeroboam was under strong and natural inducements to seek a remedy. His duty was
to have trusted that God, who had promised to continue his kingdom if he were
obedient, and who had, indeed, already interposed his authority to prevent
Rehoboam from warring against him, would provide a remedy for these
difficulties, or take measures to prevent the consequences which he apprehended.
But Jeroboam wanted that trust in God which it behooved the vassal of Jehovah to
exhibit; and he applied himself to devise measures of his own to meet these
exigencies. The measures which he took were so bold and decisive, that they at
once took root, and became in their development so interwoven with the political
constitution of the country, that even the more pious successors of this king in
the throne of Israel did not venture to abolish them, or re-establish the
authority of the fundamental law. CALVES IN DAN AND BETHEL Under the pretence
that Jerusalem was too distant for the resort of his subjects, he established
two places of resort at the opposite extremities of his kingdom, the one in the
north, at Dan, and the other in the south, at Bethel. Both of these places, it
will be remembered, had been previously places of public resort--Bethel as a
place of sacred stones, and Dan on account of the ephod and teraphim which the
Danites had reft[305] from Micah and established at that place. Then, to give
this resort an object, he established at these places golden or gilded calves,
in unquestionable imitation of the Apis and Mnevis of the Egyptians, among whom
he had spent the years of his exile. We are not at all to suppose that he
intended to introduce the worship of other gods. These images were doubtless
intended as symbols of Jehovah; and the worship rendered before them was held to
be in his honor. But on account of the danger of idolatry, the use of all 'such
symbols had been interdicted by the fundamental law of the state; and the use in
particular of this very symbol of a golden calf, to which, from Egyptian
contaminations, the Israelites were (as Jeroboam must have known) more attached
than to any other, had in former times brought signal punishment upon the
Hebrews in the wilderness. It was, then, not the worship of other gods, but the
worship of the true God in an irregular, dangerous, and interdicted manner,
which constituted the crime of Jeroboam, who “sinned and made Israel to sin.”
[305] Robbed, carried or torn away LEVITES REJECT IDOLATRY Nor did the
irregularities end here. Jeroboam made his system a complete one. He not only
changed the place of concourse to the people, but also altered the time,
directing that all the festivals should be observed a month later than the law
commanded, an alteration by which considerable confusion must have been at first
produced, as the law had appointed these festivals with a reference to the
seasons of the year. For this new worship, temples and altars were erected at
Dan and Bethel, and to its support the tithes and other sacerdotal dues accruing
within the ten tribes were directed; thus at once cutting off the greater part
of the income of the establishment of Jerusalem. It is probable that this wealth
might still have been retained by the Levites whose cities were within the
limits of the kingdom, and by such of the Aaronic priests as might have chosen
to conform to the new order of things. But to the eternal honor of this
much-calumniated[306] body, they all refused to sanction these proceedings, or
to take any part in such violation of the Divine law; in consequence of which
they not only forfeited the dues which had afforded them subsistence in the ten
tribes, but found it prudent and necessary to abandon also the cities which
belonged to them in those tribes, and withdraw into the kingdom of Judah. There
they were cheerfully received, although the two tribes forming that kingdom,
thus became burdened with the whole charge which had hitherto been shared among
twelve tribes. This fact is very valuable, as showing that the Levitical tribe
had conciliated, and was entitled to, the esteem and respect of the people. In
the end many persons belonging to the other tribes, who disapproved of
Jeroboam's innovations, and were disposed to maintain their own fidelity to the
spirit of the Mosaical institutions, followed the example of the Levites, and
withdrew into the kingdom of Judah. It is not necessary to point out how
seriously these migrations lessened the true strength of Jeroboam's kingdom, and
increased that of his rival. [306] Maligned, falsely accused or spoken of
Jeroboam was thus left to establish a new priesthood for his new worship.
Priests, were accordingly appointed from all the tribes indiscriminately; but as
to the important office of high-priest, his prudence and ambition suggested its
annexation to the crown, as was the case in Egypt and some other heathen
countries. ALTAR CRACKS Jehovah was not slow in manifesting his displeasure at
these proceedings. At one of the periodical feasts (that of tabernacles) the
time for which had been altered by him, Jeroboam was discharging the priestly
act of offering incense on the altar at Bethel, when a prophet of God from Judah
appeared on the spot, and denounced destruction upon this altar, to be executed
by a future king of Judah, Josiah by name and, in proof of his mission,
announced that it should even now receive such a crack that its ashes should be
scattered abroad. Hearing this, the king stretched forth his hand to seize the
prophet, when his arm stiffened in the act, and could not be again drawn back,
until the prophet himself interceded with God for him. At the same time the
altar was rent, and the ashes strewed abroad, as the prophet had said. PROPHET
KILLED BY LION This message seems to have produced no good effect either on the
king or the people; and this may have been partly owing to the misconduct of the
prophet himself; for after having publicly declared that he was forbidden to eat
or drink in Bethel, or to make any stay there, he allowed himself, after having
departed, to be imposed upon and brought back, and to be feasted in Bethel, by a
sort of Balaamite prophet; for which he was slain by a lion on his return home,
and his body was brought back and buried in Bethel. As the prophet had thus
acted against his own avowed orders, and had in consequence been destroyed with
manifest marks of the Divine displeasure, the occasion was doubtless taken to
diminish the credit and effect of the mission with which he had been charged.
JEROBOAM'S DOOM FORETOLD Jeroboam lived to see three kings upon the throne of
Judah. There arose a skirmishing warfare between the two kingdoms in the latter
years of Rehoboam; and in the reign of his successor the war was brought to a
great pitched battle, the result of which was adverse to Jeroboam. In the latter
years of his reign, the prophet Ahijah; who had originally communicated the
Divine appointment to him, was commissioned to denounce the death of his most
hopeful son, Abijah, about whose sickness the wife of Jeroboam went to consult
him in disguise. The prophet, though blind with age, knew her by the prophetic
impulse which came upon him; and he not only told her this, but declared the
approaching destruction of Jeroboam's race by a succeeding king of Israel, and
also announced the ultimate captivity of the tribes of Israel beyond the
Euphrates for their manifold iniquities. JEROBOAM DIED Jeroboam himself died in
the year 968 B.C., after a reign of twenty-two years. BAASHA TAKES THRONE His
son Nadab ascended the throne in the second year of Asa, king of Judah. He
reigned two years, during which he adhered to the system of his father and at
the end of which an intimate of his own, named Baasha, of the tribe of Issachar,
conspired against him and slew him as he was laying siege to Gibbethon, a
fortress which the Philistines retained in their possession. According to the
policy of the East, Baasha having slain the head of the house of Jeroboam,
hastened to destroy all its other members, who might prove disturbers of his
safety in the throne. Thus was the denunciation of the prophet Ahijah against
the house of Jeroboam speedily accomplished. ASA PAYS SYRIANS FOR WAR The
government of Baasha proved not only offensive to God, but oppressive to the
people, on both which grounds great numbers of the subjects of this kingdom
sought repose in that of Judah. It was probably partly in consequence of the
alarm which this constant migration of his people produced, that Baasha entered
into a skirmishing warfare with Asa, king of Judah, and ultimately laid siege
to, and took the town of Ramah, seven miles to the north of Jerusalem, which he
began to rebuild and fortify, with the view of leaving a garrison in it to check
the communication with Jerusalem, and to become a point from which excursions
might be made into the kingdom of Judah. This bold proceeding occasioned much
alarm in Judah; but instead of opposing it by force of arms, King Asa collected
all the gold he could find in his own treasury, and that of the temple, and sent
it to Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, to induce him to make a diversion in his
favor. Accordingly the Syrians fell upon the north of Israel, and took all the
fenced cities of Naphtali; which obliged Baasha to relinquish his enterprise in
the south, and march to the defence of his own territories. BAASHA DIES Time
only confirmed Baasha in the evil courses which had proved the ruin of the house
of Jeroboam; in consequence of which a prophet, named Jehu, the son of another
prophet called Hanani, was sent to declare for his house the same doom which he
had himself been the agent of inflicting upon that of Jeroboam. Baasha died in
966 B.C., after a reign of twenty-three years. ZIMRI TAKES CROWN After the death
of Baasha, Israel became the prey of a series of sanguinary revolutions. His son
Elah remained only two years on the throne, at the expiration of which he was
assassinated during a feast by one of his generals, of the name of Zimri, who
then assumed the crown. Zimri, during the few days of his reign, found time to
extirpate the whole family of his predecessor, thus accomplishing upon the house
of Baasha the doom which the prophet had declared. ZIMRI DIES The army, which
was engaged against the Philistines, no sooner heard of the murder of their king
than they declared in favor of Omri, their own commander, and proclaimed him
king. This new king immediately marched with all his forces against his rival,
and used such diligence that he shut him up in the summer capital of Tirzah.
Zimri made no resistance, but fled to his harem, which he set on fire, and
perished in the flames. He had reigned only seven days; and this signal and
speedyend gave occasion to the proverb in Israel, “Had Zimri peace, who slew his
master?” Samaria

Omri had another competitor: for while the army had elected him, a portion of
the people, equally disgusted at the deed of Zimri, had made Tibni king. The
kingdom was thus split into factions, and it was only after a civil war of six
years that the faction of Omri prevailed, and Tibni was put to death. Omri
reigned above five years after this. He was more guilty before God than any of
his predecessors, for he appears to have taken pleasures to turn into actual
idolatry that which under the former kings had only been an irregular and
interdicted form of worship and service. Finding some disadvantages in the
situation of Tirzah, however pleasant, for a metropolis, Omri purchased a hill
of a person called Samar for two talents of silver ($3,750), and built thereon a
city, which, after the name of the previous owner of the site, he called
Samaria,[307] and made it the capital of his dominion. So well was the situation
chosen, that the city remained the metropolis of the kingdom while the kingdom
endured, and was still a place of importance when the Hebrews ceased the second
time to be a nation. There are some respects in which its site is deemed by
travelers preferable to that of Jerusalem. [307] Samaria--The text to which this
note is appended sufficiently indicates the origin of Samaria. It remained the
capital of Israel until the ruin of that kingdom by the Assyrians, after which
it became the chief seat of the people whom the king of Assyria planted in the
desolated country, and who are hence, in the subsequent history, known by the
name of Samaritans. Between them and the restored Jews there was always a bitter
and not always bloodless enmity, which subsisted down to the extinction of the
Hebrew commonwealth. The town was utterly destroyed by Hyrcanus, the king-priest
of the Jews, in the year 129 B.C.; and in this state it remained until the time
of Herod the Great, who, being much pleased with its situation, rebuilt it in a
very beautiful manner, and gave it the name of Sebaste, a Greek word equivalent
to the Latin Augusta, in honor of the Emperor Augustus. Under this name it
continued to flourish until the Jews were finally expelled from Palestine by the
Emperor Adrian, after which the place went gradually to decay; and at present
the inhabited part of the site forms a mean and miserably poor village, named
Subusta, containing not more than thirty dwellings. “The situation,” says Dr.
Richardson, “is exceedingly beautiful, and strong by nature--more so, I think,
than Jerusalem. It stands on a fine large insulated hill, compassed all round by
a broad deep valley; and when fortified, as it is stated to have been, by Herod,
one would have imagined that in the ancient system of warfare nothing but famine
could have reduced such a place. The valley is surrounded by four hills, one on
each side, which are cultivated in terraces to the top, sown with grain, and
planted with fig and olive trees, as is also the valley. The hill of Samaria
itself, likewise, rises in terraces to a height equal to any of the adjoining
mountains.” The first view of the place, even in its present state, is highly
imposing. And there are sufficient remains of Herod's city to enforce the
impressions which the history of the site has prepared the mind to receive.
These, however, consist chiefly of numerous limestone columns, still standing,
on the upper part of the hill, but without their capitals. Hardy counted eighty
that were standing, besides many that lay prostrate. There are also some remains
of fortifications; but the most conspicuous ruin is that which appears in the
cut on. This was a large church, attributed to the Emperess Helena, and said to
have been built over the dungeon in which John the Baptist was confined and
afterward beheaded by order of Herod. This cave or dungeon is still pointed out;
besides which there are under the church several vaults, which probably opened
into the sides of the hill. The building itself is in a very elaborate but
fantastic style of architecture; the columns used in which are of no known
order, although the capitals approach nearer to the Corinthian than to any
other. The east end, with its pentagonal projection, is nearly perfect,
confirming a remark of Maundrell, that if any portion of a church is let
standing in these parts it is sure to be the eastern end. OMRI DIES After his
reign of eleven completed years, counted as twelve in the Scriptures, because he
had entered on the twelfth, Omri died in the year 931 B.C., being the
thirty-ninth year of Asa king of Judah.


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  CHAPTER 29: JUDAH, FROM B.C. 990 TO B.C. 929
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JUDAH, FROM B.C. 990 TO B.C. 929 REHOBOAM'S KINGDOM Except in its first act, the
commencement of Rehoboam's reign was not blameworthy, nor, as it respects his
separate kingdom, un-prosperous. In those days the wealth and welfare of a state
were deemed to consist in a numerous population; and of this kind of strength
the kingdom of Judah received large additions by migration from that of Israel,
through the defection of the Levitical body, and the discontent with which a
large and valuable portion of the population regarded the arbitrary innovations
of Jeroboam. It may indeed be, in a great degree, imputed to this cause, that,
although so much inferior in territorial extent, the kingdom of Judah appears
throughout the history of the two kingdoms to be at least equal to that of
Israel. The Walls of Jerusalem, and part of the Valley of Jehoshaphat

2 Samuel 15:23-30;[308] 2 Kings 18:17-18 [308] The Kidron runs through the
Valley of Jehoshaphat. REHOBOAM'S LIFESTYLE Rehoboam, seeing that he had an
adverse kingdom so near at hand, employed the first years of his reign in
putting his dominions in a condition of defence. He built and fortified a
considerable number of places in Judah and Benjamin, which he stored well with
arms and victuals, and in which he placed strong garrisons. For three years he
remained faithful to the principles of the theocracy, and received a full
measure of the prosperity which had been promised to such obedience. But when he
beheld himself, as he deemed, secure and prosperous in his kingdom, his
rectitude, which appears never to have been founded on very strong principles,
gave way. It was not long before the acts which stained the later years of his
father were more than equaled by him. Not only was idolatry openly tolerated and
practised, but also the abominable acts, outrageous even to the mere instincts
of morality, which some of these idolatries sanctioned or required. Thus the
abominations of Judah very soon exceeded those of Israel. And we shall,
throughout the historical period on which we have entered, observe one very
important distinction in the religious (which, according to the spirit of the
Hebrew institutions, means also the political condition of the two kingdoms.
Israel rested with tolerable uniformity in a sort of intermediate system between
the true religion and idolatry, with enough of elementary truth to preserve some
show of fidelity to the system; and enough of idolatry and human invention to
satisfy the corrupt tendencies of the age and country. Hence, while on the one
hand it never, under its best kings, reached that purity of adherence to the
Mosaical system which was sometimes exemplifies in the sister kingdom, so, on
the other, it never, or very rarely, fell to those depths of iniquity to which
Judah sometimes sunk under its more wicked and weak kings. For Judah, resting on
no such intermediate point as had been found in Israel, was in a state of
constant oscillation between the extremes of good and evil. REHOBOAM'S MOTHER In
the case of Rehoboam, the loose principles which prevailed at the latter end of
his father's reign, together with the fact that the mother, from whom his first
ideas had been imbibed, was an Ammonitess, may partly account for the extreme
facility of his fall. Indeed, with reference to the latter fact, it may be
observed that among the kings there is scarcely one known to be the son of a
foreign and consequently idolatrous mother, who did not fall into idolatry; a
circumstance which is sufficient alone to explain and justify the policy by
which such connections were forbidden. EGYPTIAN INVASION The chastisement of
Rehoboam and his people was not long delayed. It was inflicted by the Egyptians,
who, in the fifth year of Rehoboam, invaded the land under Shishak their king,
in such strong force as intimated the expectation of a more formidable
resistance than was encountered; or rather, perhaps, was designed to shorten the
tear by overawing opposition. There were twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand
horsemen, and a vast body of infantry; the latter composed chiefly from the
subject nations of Lybia and Ethiopia. Shishak took with ease the fenced cities
on which Rehoboam had placed so much reliance; and when he appeared before
Jerusalem, that city appears to have opened its gates to him. Here he reaped the
first-fruits of that rich spoil, from the gold of the temple and of the palace,
which supplied so many subsequent demands. In the extremity of distress, while
the city was in the hands of an insulting conqueror, who stripped the most
sacred places of their costly ornaments and wealth, the king of Judah and his
people turned repentantly to God, and implored deliverance from his hand. He
heard them, and inclined Shishak to withdraw with the rich spoil he had gained,
without attempting to retain permanent possession of his conquest. Astonished
himself at the facility with which that conquest had been made, this king
despised the people who had submitted so unresistingly to his arms, and,
according to the testimony of Herodotus,[309] cited by Josephus himself, he
erected, at different points on his march home, triumphal columns, charged with
emblems very little to the honor of the nation which had not opposed him. [309]
Herodotus, i. 105. Although it is difficult to assign a specific reason, beyond
a conqueror's thirst for spoil, for this invasion of the dominions of the son by
a power which had been so friendly to the father, it does not strike us, as it
does some writers, that the difficulty is increased by the fact of the
matrimonial alliance which Solomon had formed with the royal family of Egypt.
Rehoboam was born before that alliance was contracted, and he and his mother
were not likely to be regarded with much favor by the Egyptian princess or her
family. Indeed it would seem that she had died, or her influence had declined,
or her friends deemed her wrong, before the latter end of Solomon's reign; for
it is evident that the king of Egypt, this very Shishak, was not on the most
friendly terms with Solomon, since he granted his favor and protection to the
fugitive Jeroboam; whose prospective pretensions to divide the kingdom with the
son of Solomon forms the only apparent ground of the distinction with which he
was treated. This circumstance may direct attention to what appears to us the
greater probability, that the expedition was undertaken at the suggestion of
Jeroboam, who had much cause to be alarmed at the defection of his subjects to
Rehoboam, and at the diligence which that king employed in strengthening his
kingdom. The rich plunder which was to be obtained would, when pointed out, be
an adequate inducement to the enterprise. REHOBOAM'S FAMILY The severe lesson
administered by this invasion to Rehoboam and his people was not in vain, for we
read no more of idolatrous abominations during the eleven retraining years of
this reign. In consequence, these were rather prosperous years for the kingdom;
and, save a few skirmishes with the king of Israel, we learn of no troubles by
which it was, during these years, disturbed. But, like his father, Rehoboam
“desired many wives.” His harem contained eighteen wives and sixty concubines--a
number which, we can not doubt, was much opposed to the notions of the Hebrew
people, although it seems rather moderate as compared with the establishment of
Solomon, or those which we still find among the kings of the East. Of all his
wives, the one Rehoboam loved the most was Maachah, a daughter (or
grand-daughter[310] of Absalom. Her son, Abijah, he designed for his successor
in the throne: to ensure which object, he made adequate provision for his other
sons while he lived, and prudently separated them from each other; by dispersing
them through his dominions as governors of the principal towns. This policy was
successful; for although this king had twenty-eight sons, besides three-score
daughters, his settlement of the crown was not disputed at his death. This event
took place in the year 973 B.C., in the eighteenth year of his reign. [310] This
lady is mentioned in three places, and in all of them the name of her father is
differently given. In 1 Kings 15:2, it is “Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom;”
in 2 Chronicles 11:20, “Maachah, the daughter of Absalom;” and in 2 Chronicles
13:2, “Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.” The Jews believe that Absalom
the son of David is intended. This does not appear quite certain; but if so we
may take their explanation that Maachah was the daughter of Tamar, the daughter
of Absalom; in which case, the comparison of texts will intimate that Uriel
married Tamar, and Maachah was their daughter, which consequently makes her the
grand-daughter of Absalom and daughter of Uriel. This, upon the whole, seems,
more probable than that the several names, Abishalom, Absalom, and Uriel, all
point to the same person as the father of Maachah.) ABIJAH'S DEFENSE AND SPEECH
Abijah, otherwise called Abijam, succeeded his father, and the first public act
of his short reign appears to justify the preference which had been given to
him. Jeroboam, whose policy it was to harass and weaken the house of David, and
to render the two kingdoms as inimical to each other as possible, thought the
succession of the new king, young and inexperienced, a favorable opportunity for
an aggressive movement. He seems therefore to have made a general military levy,
which amounted to the prodigious number of eight hundred thousand men. Abijah
when he heard of this formidable muster was not discouraged, but, although he
could raise only half the number of men, tools the field against his opponent.
They met near Mount Zemarim, on the borders of Ephraim. The armies were drawn
out in battle array, when Abijah, who was posted on an elevated spot, finding
the opportunity favorable, beckoned with his hand, and began to harangue
Jeroboam and the hostile army. His speech was good, and to the purpose; but it
does not seem to us entitled to the unqualified praise which it has generally
received. He began with affirming the divine right of the house of David to
reign over all Israel, by virtue of the immutable covenant by which Jehovah had
promised to David that his posterity should reign for ever. Consequently he
treated the secession of the ten tribes as an unprincipled act of rebellion
against the royal dynasty of David, and against God--an act whereby the crafty
Jeroboam, with a number of vain and lawless associates, had availed themselves
of the weakness and inexperience of Rehoboam to deprive the chosen house of its
just rights. This statement doubtless embodies the view which the house of
David, and the party attached to its interests, took of the recent event. They
regarded as a rebellion what was truly a revolution; and which, although, like
other revolutions, it had its secret springs (as in the jealousy between the
tribes of Ephraim and Judah),was not only justifiable in its abstract
principles, but on the peculiar theory of the Hebrew constitution: for it had
the previous sanction and appointment of Jehovah, as declared to both parties;
and, in its immediate cause, sprung from a most insulting refusal of the
representative of the dynasty to concede that redress of grievances which ten
twelfths of the whole nation demanded, and which it had a right to demand and
obtain before it recognized him as king. However, a king of Judah could not well
be expected to take any other than a dynastic and party view of this great
question: and that such, necessarily, was the view of Abijah is what we have
desired to explain, as the generally good spirit of his harangue has disposed
hasty thinkers to take the impression which he intended to convey. With more
justice, Abijah proceeded to animadvert[311] on the measures--the corruptions
and arbitrary changes--by which Jeroboam had endeavored to secure his kingdom;
and, with becoming pride, contracted this with the beautiful order in which
according to the law of Moses, and the institutions of David and Solomon, the
worship of Jehovah was conducted by the Levitical priesthood in that “holy and
beautiful house” which the Great King honored with the visible symbol of his
inhabitance. He concluded: “We keep the charge of Jehovah our God; but ye have
forsaken him. And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his
priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel,
fight not against Jehovah the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper” (2
Chronicles 13:11-12). [311] to make observations and criticisms. JUDAH WINS THE
BATTLE By Jeroboam this harangue was only viewed as an opportunity for executing
a really clever military operation. He secretly ordered a body of men to file
round the hill, and attack the Judahites in the rear, while he assailed them in
front. This maneuver was so well executed, that Abijah, by the time he had
finished his speech, perceived that he was surrounded by the enemy. The army of
Judah raised a cry of astonishment and alarm, and a universal panic would in all
likelihood have ensued. But the priests at that instant sounded their silver
trumpets, at which well-known and inspiriting signal the more stout-hearted
raised a cry for help to Jehovah, and rushed upon the enemy; and their spirited
example raised the courage and faith of the more timid and wavering. The host of
Israel could not withstand the force which this divine impulse gave to the arm
of Judah. Their dense mass was broken and fled, and of the whole number it is
said not fewer than five hundred thousand were slain--a slaughter, as Josephus
(Antiq. viii. 11, 3) remarks, such as never occurred in any other war, whether
it were of the Greeks or the barbarians.[312] This would still be true if the
number had been much smaller. “In numbers so large,” Jahn (book v., sect. 36)
remarks, “there may be some error of the transcribers; but it is certain that
after this defeat the kingdom of Israel was considerably weakened, while that of
Judah made constant progress in power and importance. We must here mention, once
for all, that, owing to the mistakes of transcribers in copying numerals, we can
not answer for the correctness of the great numbers of men which are mentioned
here and in the sequel. When there are no means of rectifying these numbers, we
set them down as they occur in the books.” Such also is our own practice. [312]
With reference to the high numbers which occur here, Dr. Hales observes: “The
numbers in this wonderful battle are probably corrupt, and should be reduced to
forty thousand, eighty thousand, and fifty thousand (slain), as in the Latin
Vulgate of Sixtus Quintus, and many earlier editions, and in the old Latin
translation of Josephus: and that such were the readings in the Greek text of
that author originally. Vignoles judiciously collects from Abarbanel's charge
against Josephus of having made Jeroboam's loss no more than fifty thousand men,
contrary to the Hebrew text.” See Kennicott's Dissertations, vol. i., p. 533,
and vol. ii., p. 201, etc., 564. To this we may add the remark of Jahn, in which
we more entirely concur. ABIJAH TAKES BETHEL This great victory was pursued by
Abijah, in the re-taking and annexation to his dominion of some border towns and
districts, some of which had originally belonged to Judah and Benjamin, but
which the Israelites had found means to include in their portion of the divided
kingdom. Among these towns was Bethel; and this being the seat of one of the
golden calves, the loss of it must have been a matter of peculiar mortification
to Jeroboam, and of triumph to Abijah. ABIJAH'S IDOLATRY The reign of Abijah was
not by any means answerable to the expectations which his speech and his victory
are calculated to excite. We are told that “he walked in all the sins of his
father,” and that “his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God;” by which it
would appear that he did not take sufficient heed to avoid and remove the
idolatries and abominations which Solomon and Rehoboam had introduced or
tolerated. He died in 970 B.C., after a reign of three years, leaving behind him
twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters, whom he had by fourteen wives. ASA
DESTROYS IDOLATRY The son who succeeded him was named Asa. He was still very
young, and the affairs of the kingdom appear for sometime to have been
administered by his grandmother, Maachah, whose name has already been mentioned.
Asa, for his virtues, his fidelity to the principles of the theocracy, and the
prosperity and victory with which he was in consequence favored, takes place in
the first rank of the kings of Judah. He enjoys the high character that “his
heart was perfect with Jehovah all his days: and he did that which was right
with Jehovah, as did his father David.” His first cares were directed toward the
utter uprooting of the idolatries and abominations which had been suffered to
creep in during the preceding reigns. He drove from his states the corrupters of
youth, and with an unsparing hand he purged Jerusalem of the infamies which had
long harbored there. The idols were overthrown and broken in pieces, and the
groves which had sheltered the dark abominations of idolatry were cut down: even
his grandmother, Maachah, he deprived of the authority--removing her from being
queen--which she had abused to the encouragement of idolatry; and the idols
which she had setup he utterly destroyed. By thus clearing them from defiling
admixtures, the pure and grand doctrines and practices of the Mosaical system
shone forth with a luster that seemed new in that corrupt age. Again the priests
of Jehovah were held in honor by the people; and again the temple, its past
losses being in part repaired by the royal munificence, was provided with all
that suited the dignity of the splendid ritual service there rendered to God;
for Asa was enabled to replace with silver and gold a portion of the precious
things which Shishak had taken from the temple, and which Rehoboam had supplied
with brass. ASA'S ARMY Ten years of prosperity and peace rewarded the pious zeal
of the king of Judah. In these years much was done by him to strengthen and
improve his kingdom, especially in repairing and strengthening the fortified
towns, and in surrounding with strong walls and towers many which had not
previously been fortified. We are also informed that “Asa had an army of three
hundred thousand out of Judah, who bore shields and spears; and of two hundred
and eighty thousand out of Benjamin, who bore shields and spears: all these were
men of valor.” This and other passages of the same nature, describing the
immense military force of the small kingdoms of Judah and Israel (even setting
aside those which labor under the suspicion of having been altered by the
copyists), appear to intimate that the general enrollment for military service
which David contemplated, but was prevented from completely executing, was
accomplished by later kings. It is always important to remember, however, that
the modern European sense of the word army, as applied to a body of men
exclusively devoted to a military profession, is unknown to the history of this
period; and in the statement before us we are to see no more than that the men
thus numbered were provided with weapons (or that the king had weapons to arm
them), and were, the whole or any part of them, bound to obey any call from the
king into actual service. ZERAH'S INVASION An occasion for such a call occurred
to Asa after ten years of prosperity and peace. His dominions were then exposed
to a most formidable invasion from “Zerah the Cushite,” with a million of men
and three hundred chariots.[313] It is beyond the range of probability, from the
state of Egypt at this time, in the reign of Osorkon I,[314] who succeeded
Sheshonk (or Shishak), that an army under Zerah should have marched through
Egypt from the Ethiopia south of the cataracts of the Nile. It must therefore be
concluded that the army was composed of the Cushites (or Ethiopians) of Arabia,
the original seat of all the Cushites; and as the army was partly composed of
Libyans, who, if this supposition be correct, could not well have passed from
Africa through the breadth of Egypt on this occasion, it may, with very
sufficient probability, be conjectured that they formed a portion of the Libyan
auxiliaries in the army with which Shishak invaded Palestine, twenty-five years
before, and who, instead of returning to their own deserts, deemed it quite as
well to remain in those of Arabia Petra, and in the country between Egypt and
Palestine. And this explanation seems to be confirmed by the fact, which appears
in the sequel, that they held some border towns (such as Gerar) in this
district. The flocks and herds, and the tents of the invading host, sufficiently
intimate the nomad character of the invasion. [313] Josephus gives nine hundred
thousand infantry and one hundred thousand cavalry, which some would reduce by
striking off a cipher from each number. A merely conjectural emendation is,
however, so difficult and hazardous, that it is better to retain the original
numbers, even when doubtful. In the present instance we may refer to what has
just been said as to the distinction between the armies of that time and our
own. And if Asa in his contracted territory was able to call out above five
hundred thousand men, there is no solid reason why it should be impossible to
the Cushite nomads, among whom every man was able to use arms, to bring double
that number together. There must always be a vast difference in numbers between
the army that must be kept and paid permanently, and that which may be raised by
a general call upon the adult male population to a warlike enterprise, and only
for the time of that enterprise. The army of Tamerlane (as we call him) is said
to have amounted to one million six hundred thousand men, and that of his
antagonist Bajazet to one million four hundred thousand. Laonic. Chalcocond. de
rebus Turc 1. iii. p. 98, 102. [314] His name is so given in the monuments, but
in ancient writers it is Osorthon. ASA'S VICTORY This emergency was met by Asa
in the true spirit of the theocracy. Fully conscious of the physical inadequacy
of his force to meet the enemy, he nevertheless went forth boldly to give them
battle, trusting in Jehovah, who had so often given his people the victory
against far greater odds, and to whom he made the public and becoming appeal--“O
Jehovah, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many or with them that
have no power: help us, O Jehovah, our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name
we go against this multitude. O Jehovah, thou art our God; let not man prevail
against thee.” The consequence of this proper manifestation of reliance upon
their Omnipotent King was a very splendid victory over the Cushites. They were
defeated in the great battle of Mareshah,[315] in the valley of Zephathah, and
fled before the army of Judah, which commenced a vigorous pursuit, attended with
great slaughter. The Ethiopians and Libyans fled toward their tents and to Gerar
and other towns, which some of them (we have supposed the Libyans) occupied on
the border land toward Philistia. Here the conquerors found a rich spoil of
cattle from the camps of the nomads, and of goods from the towns. On their
triumphal return, they were met by the prophet Obed, who excited the piety and
gratitude of the king and his army by reminding them to whom the victory was
really due, even to Jehovah; and he called to their remembrance the privilege
they enjoyed, as contrasted with the kingdom of Israel, in the marked and
beneficent protection and care of their Great King, and hinted at the duties
which resulted from the enjoyment of such privileges. This was attended with
very good effects; and in the warmth of his gratitude for the deliverance with
which he had been favored, Asa prosecuted his reforms with new vigor. He rooted
out every remnant of idolatry, and engaged the whole people to renew their
covenant with Jehovah. [315] This was a town fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chronicles
11:8). It was the birthplace of the prophet Micah. It appears that the effect of
the manifest tokens of the divine favor which Asa received, especially in the
great victory over Zerah, was felt in the neighboring kingdom, and induced large
numbers of the subjects of Baasha to migrate into his dominions. A constant and
large accession of men, induced by such considerations, and by revived
attachment to the theocracy, was calculated to give, and did give, a vast
superiority of moral character to the kingdom of Judah. It was probably, as
intimated in the last chapter, this tendency of his most valuable subjects to
migrate into Judah, which induced Baasha to take the town of Ramah, and fortify
it for a frontier barrier. The measure which Asa took on this occasion, of
hiring the king of Syria to forego his previous alliance with Baasha, and cause
a diversion in his own favor by invading the kingdom of Israel, was effectual as
to the recovery of Ramah; for the death of Baasha, the following year, prevented
him from resuming his designs. Asa availed himself of the materials which Baasha
had brought together for the fortification of Ramah, to fortify the towns of
Geba and Mizpeh. This advantage was, however, dearly purchased by the treasure
of the temple and the palace which he was obliged to squander, to secure the
assistance of the Syrians; and still more, by the displeasure of God, who
denounced this proceeding as not only wrong in itself, but as indicating a want
of that confidence in him through which he had been enabled to overthrow the
vast host which the Cushites brought against him. This intimation of the Divine
displeasure was conveyed to the king by the prophet Hanani, and was received by
Asa with such resentment that he put the messenger in prison. Indeed, he appears
to have grown increasingly irritable in the later years of his reign, in
consequence of which he was led to commit many acts of severity and injustice.
But for this some allowance may be made in consideration of his sufferings from
a disease in his feet, which appears to have been the gout. With reference to
this disease, Asa incurs some blame in the Scriptural narrative for his resort
to “the physicians instead of relying upon God;” the cause of which rather
extraordinary censure is probably to be found in the fact that those physicians
who were not priests or Levites (in whose hands the medical science of the
Hebrews chiefly rested) were foreigners and idolaters, who trusted more to
superstitious rites and incantations than to the simple remedies which nature
offered. With all these defects, for which much allowance may be made, Asa bears
a good character in the Scriptural narrative, on account of the general
rectitude of his conduct, and of his zealous services in upholding the great
principles of the theocracy. ASA DIES Asa died in the year 929 B.C., in the
second year of Ahab, king of Israel, and after a long and, upon the whole,
prosperous reign of forty-one years. He was sincerely lamented by all his
subjects, who, according to their mode of testifying their final approbation,
honored his remains with a magnificent funeral. His body, laid on a bed of
state, was burned with vast quantities of aromatic substances: and the ashes,
collected with care, were afterward deposited in the sepulcher which he had
prepared for himself on Mount Zion. The burning of the dead, as a rite of
sepulture,[316] had originally been regarded with dislike by the Hebrews. But a
change of feeling to this matter had by this time taken place; for the practice
is not now mentioned as a new thing, and had probably been some time previously
introduced. Afterward burning was considered the most distinguished honor which
could be rendered to the dead, and the omission of it, in the case of royal
personages, a disgrace (See 2 Chronicles 16:14; Jeremiah 34:5; Amos 6:10). But
to later days the Jews conceived a dislike to this rite; and their doctors
endeavored, in consequence, to pervert the passages of Scripture which refer to
it, so as to induce a belief that the aromatic substances alone, and not the
body, were burnt. [316] Ritual process of putting a corpse in a grave


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  CHAPTER 30: ISRAEL, FROM B.C. 931 TO B.C. 895
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ISRAEL, FROM B.C. 931 TO B.C. 895 AHAB AND JEZEBEL Ahab, the son of Omri,
mounted the throne of Israel in the year 931 B.C., being the thirty-eighth year
of Asa, king of Judah. This king was, throughout his reign of twenty-two years,
entirely under the influence of his idolatrous and unprincipled wife, Jezebel, a
daughter of Ethbaal, or Ithobalus, king of Tyre. Hitherto the irregularities
connected with the service before the golden calves, as symbols of Jehovah, had
formed the chief offence of Israel. But now Ahab and Jezebel united their
authority to introduce the gods of other nations. The king built a temple in
Samaria, erected an image, and consecrated a grove to Baal, the god of the
Sidonians. Jezebel, earnest in promoting the worship of her own god, maintained
a multitude of priests and prophets of Baal. In a few years idolatry became the
predominant religion of the land; and Jehovah, and the golden calves as
representations of him, were viewed with no more reverence than Baal and his
image. It now appeared as if the knowledge of the true God was forever lost to
the Israelites; but Elijah the prophet boldly stood up, and opposed himself to
the authority of the king, and succeeded in retaining many of his countrymen in
the worship of Jehovah. The greater the power was which supported idolatry, so
much the more striking were the prophecies and miracles which directed the
attention of the Israelites to Jehovah, and brought disgrace upon the idols, and
confusion on their worshippers. The history of this great and memorable struggle
gives to the narrative of Ahab's reign an unusual prominence and extent in the
Hebrew annals; and although a writer studious of brevity might at the first view
be disposed to omit, as episodical, much of the history of Elijah the
Tishbite,[317] a little reflection will render it manifest that the prominence
given to the history of this illustrious champion for the truth, was a designed
and necessary result from the fact that the history of the Hebrew nation is the
history of a church; and that although the history of this great controversy
might be omitted or overlooked by those who erroneously regard the history of
the Hebrews merely as a political history, in the other point of view it becomes
of the most vital importance. [317] He is introduced as “Elijah the Tishbite, of
the inhabitants of Gilead.” It is probable therefore that the designation of
“Tishbite” is from some town in Gilead, which can not now be clearly
ascertained. ELIJAH ANNOUNCES DROUGHT The first appearance of Elijah is with
great abruptness to announce a drought, and consequent famine, for the
punishment of the idolatry into which the nation had fallen; and that this
calamity should only be removed at his own intercession. He apprehended that the
iniquities of the land would bring down upon it destruction from God; and he
therefore prayed for this lesser visitation, which might possibly bring the king
and people to repentance. ELIJAH HIDDEN AND NOURISHED After such a denunciation,
it was necessary that the prophet should withdraw himself from the presence and
solicitations of the king, when the drought should commence, which it did,
probably about the sixth year of Ahab. Accordingly, obeying the directions of
the divine oracle, he withdrew to his native district beyond Jordan, and hid
himself in a cave by tiny brook Cherith; where the providence of God secured his
support by putting it into the hearts of the Arabs encamped in the neighborhood,
to send him bread and meat every morning and evening; and the brook furnished
him with drink, until “the end of the year,” or beginning of spring, when it was
dried up from the continued drought. OBADIAH It was probably under the
irritation produced by the first pressure of the calamity, that Jezebel induced
the king to issue orders for the destruction of all the prophets of Jehovah.
Many of them perished: but a good and devout man, even in the Palace of
Ahab--Obadiah, the steward of his household--managed to save a hundred of the
number by sheltering them in caverns, where he provided for their maintenance
until, probably, an opportunity was found for their escape into the kingdom of
Judah. WIDOW'S PROVISION When the brook of Cherith was dried up, the prophet was
then directed the by Divine Voice to proceed westward to Sarepta, a town of
Sidon, under the dominion of Jezebel's father; where he lodged with a poor
widow, and was miraculously supported with her and her family for a considerable
time, according to his own prediction--“that her single barrel of meal should
not waste, nor her single cruse of oil fail, until that day when Jehovah should
send rain upon the earth.” While he remained at this place, the prophet, by his
prayers to God, restored to life the son of the widow with whom he lodged. Here
he stayed until the end of three years from the commencement of the drought,
when he was commanded to go and show himself to Ahab. That king had meanwhile
caused the most diligent search to be made for him in every quarter, doubtless
with the view of inducing him to offer up those intercessions through which
alone the present grievous calamity could terminate. But at this time, having
probably relinquished this search as hopeless, the attention of the king was
directed to the discovery of any retraining supplies of water which might still
exist in the land. He had, for the purposes of this exploration, divided the
country between himself and Obadiah; and both proceeded personally to visit all
the brooks and fountains of the land. Obadiah was journeying on this mission,
when Elijah, who was returning from Sarepta, met him, and commissioned him to
announce his arrival to Ahab. The king, when he saw the prophet, reproached him
as the cause of the national calamities--“Art thou he that troubleth Israel?”
But the prophet boldly retorted the charge upon himself and his father's house,
because they had forsaken Jehovah and followed Baal. He then secured the
attention of the king by intimating an intention of interceding for rain; and
required him to call a general assembly of all the people at Mount Carmel, and
also to bring all the prophets or priests of Baal,[318] and of the groves. Baal
was the supreme male divinity of the Phoenician and Canaanitish nations. The
plural, Baalim, to frequently found in the Old Testament. The word in Hebrew
means Master, Owner, Possessor. The worship of this idol was practiced from
[318] a very remote antiquity among the Moabites and Midianites, and through the
influence of these nations the Israelites were seduced to the worship of this
god, which became extensively prevalent in the times of the kings--Ed ELIJAH
CHALLENGES BAAL There, in the audience of that vast assembly, Elijah reproached
the people with the destruction of the prophets of Jehovah, of whom, he alleged,
that he alone remained, while the prophets of Baal alone were four hundred and
fifty, fed at the table of Jezebel; and then he called them to account for their
divided worship--“How long halt ye between two opinions? If Jehovah be the God,
follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” The people intimated their
uncertainty by their silence to this appeal; on which the prophet, fully
conscious of his unlimited commission, proposed a solemn sacrifice to each, and
“the God that answereth by fire (to consume his sacrifice) let him be the God.”
As this was a fair trial of Baal's supposed power in his own element, the most
zealous of his worshippers could make no objection to it, and the proposal was
approved by all the people. Accordingly, when Baal answered not the earnest and
ultimately maddened invocations of his prophets--but Jehovah instantly answered
the prayer of Elijah, by sending fire (as on former occasions) to consume the
victim on the altar, although it had previously been inundated with water by the
direction of the prophet--then the people, yielding to one mighty impulse of
conviction, fell upon their faces, and cried, “Jehovah, he is the God! Jehovah,
he is the God!”--thus also expressing that Baal was not the God, and rejecting
him. To ratify this abjuration of Baal, Elijah commanded them to destroy his
priests; and this, in the enthusiasm of their re-kindled zeal for Jehovah, they
immediately did, at the brook Kishon, which had been the scene of Barak's
victory over the Canaanites. RAIN COMES Immediately after this sublime national
act of acknowledgment of Jehovah and rejection of Baal, the prophet went up to
the top of Carmel, and prayed fervently for rain seven times; the promise of
which (speedily followed by fulfillment) at last appeared in the form of “a
little cloud like a man's hand,” rising out of the Mediterranean sea--a
phenomenon which, in warm maritime climates, is not the unusual harbinger of
rain. This remarkable transaction may be ascribed to the tenth year of Ahab's
reign. ELIJAH FLEES Elijah was now compelled to fly for his life, to avoid the
threatened vengeance of Jezebel for the destruction of her prophets. He fled
southward, and when he had travelled nearly 100 miles, from Samaria to
Beersheba, he left his servant and went alone a day's journey into the
wilderness. There he sat, for rest and shelter, under the scanty shade which a
broom-tree offered, the mighty spirit by which he had hitherto been sustained,
gave way, and he prayed for death to end his troubles. “It is enough:” he cried,
“now, O Jehovah, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers!” To
strengthen his now sinking faith, and reward his sufferings in the cause of the
God of Israel, whose honor he had so zealously vindicated, the prophet was
encouraged by an angel to undertake a long journey to “the mount of God,” Horeb,
where the Divine presence had been manifested to Moses, the founder of the law;
and of which a further manifestation was now probably promised to this Great
champion and restorer of the same law. On this mysterious occasion the angel
touched him twice, to rouse him from his sleep, and twice made him eat of food
which he found prepared for him. In the strength which that food gave, the
prophet journeyed (doubtless by a circuitous route) forty days, until he came,
it is supposed, to the cave where Moses was stationed, when he saw the glory of
Jehovah in “the cleft of the rock.” GOD COMMISSIONS ELIJAH There he heard the
voice of Jehovah calling to him, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” The prophet,
evidently recognizing that voice, said, “I have been very zealous for Jehovah,
the God of Hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown
down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword, and I only am left; and
they seek my life to take it away.” Then the voice commanded him to go forth,
for Jehovah was about to pass by. The first harbinger of the Divine presence was
a great and strong wind, which rent the mountain and brake the rock in pieces;
but Jehovah was not in that wind. Then followed an earthquake; but Jehovah was
not in the earthquake. This was succeeded by a fire; but Jehovah was not in the
fire. After this, came “a still, small Voice;” and when the prophet heard it, he
knew the Voice of God, and, reverently hiding his face in his mantle, he stood
forth in the entrance of the cave. The Voice repeated the former question, “What
doest thou here, Elijah?” to which the same answer as before was returned. The
Voice, in reply, gently rebuked the prophet for his crimination of the whole
people of Israel, and his discouraging representation of himself as the only
prophet left. “I have yet left to me seven thousand men, in Israel, who have not
bowed the knee to Baal.” He was further instructed to return by a different
route, by the way of Damascus ; and, by the way to anoint or appoint Elisha to
be his own successor, and (either by himself or Elisha), Hazael to be king of
Damascene-Syria, and Jehu to be king of Israel--as the chosen ministers of
Divine vengeance upon the house and people of Ahab. ELISHA COMMISSIONED Of the
three, Elisha was the only one to whom Elijah himself made known this
appointment. Elisha was the son of Shaphat, an opulent man of Abel-maholah, in
the half-tribe of Manasseh, west of the Jordan. The prophet found him plowing
with twelve yoke of oxen, when, by a significant action, still well understood
in the East, that of throwing his own mantle upon him, he conveyed the
intimation of his prophetic call. That call was understood and obeyed by Elisha;
and after having, with the prophet's permission, taken leave of his parents, he
hastened to follow Elijah, to whom he ever after remained attached. AHAB
ATTACKED It is singular that the first formal alliance between the kingdoms of
Israel and Judah took place during the reigns of two princes of such opposite
characters as Ahab in Israel, and Jehoshaphat in Judah. But it was so: and in
forming it, and in cementing it by the marriage of his eldest son Jehoram to
Athaliah the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, he doubtless acted from very
ill-considered policy, and laid in a great store of disasters for himself and
his house. It is unfortunate that we are unacquainted with the motives which led
to this most unhappy connection. A close and intimate union between the two
kingdoms could not but be, to itself, a political good; and the error of
Jehoshaphat probably lay in this fact by itself, without taking due account of
that evil character of Ahab and his house, and that alienation of his people
from God, which were calculated to neutralize, and actually did far more than
neutralize, the natural advantages of such alliance. The marriage took place in
the fifteenth year of Ahab's, and the thirteenth of Jehoshaphat's reign. Not
long after this, Ahab had cause to be alarmed at the designs of Ben-hadad, the
king of Damascene-Syria, which kingdom had been gathering such strength, while
that of the Hebrews had been weakened by divisions and by misconduct, that ever
the subjugation of Israel did not seem to Ben-hadad an enterprise to which his
ambition might not aspire. To this end he made immense preparations: he claimed
the united aid of all his tributary princes, thirty-two in number, and
ultimately appeared with all his forces before Samaria, to which he laid siege.
He first summoned Ahab to deliver up all his most precious things; and,
compelled by dire necessity, the king of Israel consented. But Ben-hadad was
only induced by this readiness of yielding, to enhance his terms, and sent
further demands, which were so very hard and insulting, that the spirit of Ahab
was at last roused, and, supported by the advice of his council, he determined
to act on the defensive. Soon after a prophet came with the promise of victory
over the vast host of the Syrians, by means of a mere handful of spirited young
men who were particularly indicated. BEN-HADAD FLEES The confidence of the
Syrians was so great that they led a careless and jovial life, thinking of
little but of indulgence in wine and good cheer, of which the king himself set
the example. In the midst of these feasts, a body of two hundred and thirty-two
men was seen to leave the city, and advance toward the camp. Ben-hadad, when he
heard of it, quietly ordered them to be taken alive, whether they came for peace
or for war. But suddenly these men fell upon the advanced sentinels, and upon
all who were near them; and the cries and confusion of so many persons, taken as
it were by surprise, were instrumental in creating a general panic among the
vast Syrian host. Drawn himself by the irresistible movement, Ben-hadad fled on
horseback, with all his army; and the troops of Israel (7,000 in number), which
attended the motions and watched the effect of the sally of the brave two
hundred and thirty-two, closely pursued the flying Syrians, and rendered the
victory complete. BEN-HADAD ATTACKS AGAIN The prophet who foretold this victory
now apprized Ahab that Ben-hadad would renew his attempt the ensuing year. This
took place accordingly. The Syrians came in equal force as before, and, as they
thought, with wiser counsels. The kingdom of Damascene-Syria was mostly a plain;
whereas the kingdom of Israel, and the site of Samaria, in particular, was
mountainous. Rightly attributing their defeat to the God (or, as they chose in
their idolatrous ignorance, to say the gods) of Israel, they reasoned that he
was a god of the hills, and therefore among the hills more powerful than their
gods, who were gods of the valleys and the plains. Instead, therefore of going
among the hills as before, they would now fight in the plains, where they could
not doubt of success. This reasoning, however absurd it now seems to us and did
then seem (such were their privileges) to all enlightened Israelites, was in
strict and philosophical accordance with the first principles of idolatry and
the general system of national and local deities. But such a view being taken by
them it became necessary to Jehovah to vindicate his own honor and assert his
omnipotence by their overthrow. For this reason he delivered this vast host that
covered the land into the hands of the comparatively small and feeble host of
Israel. The Syrians were cut in pieces; 100,000 of their number were left dead
upon the field of battle, and the rest were entirely dispersed. Ben-hadad, with
a large number of the fugitives, sought refuge in Aphek; but by the sudden fall
of the wall of that fortified town, 27,000 of his men were crushed to death, and
the place was rendered defenseless. Nothing was now left to him but to yield
himself up to Ahab. That monarch, weak and criminal by turns, received the
Syrian king into his friendship, and formed an impious alliance with him,
regardless not only of the law, but of the honor of God, who had given him the
victory, and had delivered for punishment into his hands this blasphemer and
enemy of his Great Name. For this he was in the name of Jehovah, severely
rebuked and threatened by one of “the sons of the prophets,” by the way-side; in
consequence he withdrew to his palace “heavy and displeased.” Terrace
Cultivation

NABOTH'S VINEYARD The history of Ahab affords one more, and the last, interview
between him and Elijah. This was about nine years after the band solemnity at
Mount Carmel, and the nineteenth of Ahab's reign. At that time the king took a
fancy to enlarge his own garden by taking into it an adjoining vineyard which
formed part of the patrimonial estate of a person named Naboth. He made him the
fair offer of its value in money, or to give him some other piece of land of
equal value. But Naboth, considering it a religious duty to preserve “the
inheritance of his fathers,” declined on any terms to alienate it. The reason
was good, and ought to have satisfied the king. But he received the refusal like
a spoiled child; he lay down upon his bed, and turned away his face to the wall,
and refused to take his food. When his wife heard this she came to him, and
having learned the cause of his grief, she said indignantly, “Dost thou not now
govern the kingdom of Israel; Arise, eat food, and let thine heart be cheerful;
the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite, I will give to thee.” Accordingly, she
procured Naboth to be put to death under the form of law. At a public feast he
was accused by suborned witnesses of blasphemy, for which he was stoned to
death, and his estates confiscated to the king. Jezebel then went to Ahab,
apprized him of what had happened, and told him to go down and take possession
of the vineyard. It is clear that if he did not suggest, he approved of the
crime, and proceeded with joy to reap the fruits of it. But in the vineyard of
Naboth, the unexpected and unwelcome sight of Elijah the prophet met his view.
Struck by his own conscience, he cried, “Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?” To
which Elijah replied, “I have found thee, because thou hast sold thyself to work
evil in the eyes of Jehovah.” He then proceeded to denounce the doom of utter
extermination upon himself and his house for his manifold iniquities; and then,
with reference to the immediate offence, he said, “Hast thou slain and also
taken possession? Thus saith Jehovah, In whatsoever place the dogs licked up the
blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick up thy blood, even thine. And concerning
Jezebel, Jehovah hath also spoken, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel under the
wall of Jezreel. Him who dieth of Ahab in the city shall the dogs eat; and him
that dieth in the fields shall the fowls of the air, eat.” We are immediately
reminded, however, that this terrible doom, although now denounced, as following
this crowning deed of guilt, was really a consequence of this and all the other
iniquities of Ahab's reign; for it is added, “Now there had been none like to
Ahab, who, stirred up by Jezebel his wife, sold himself to work wickedness in
the eyes of Jehovah. And he committed great abominations by going after vile
idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom Jehovah cast out before the
Israelites.” AHAB REPENTS When Ahab heard the heavy doom pronounced against him
by the prophet, “he rent his clothes (in token of extreme grief), and put
sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went
mournfully.” This conduct found some acceptance with God, who said to Elijah,
Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? Because he humbleth himself
before me? I will not bring the evil in his days, but in his son's days will I
bring this evil upon his house.” From the judicial sentence specially applicable
to the case of Naboth, there was, however, no dispensation; as it behooved the
Divine king to demonstrate that he still possessed and exercised the authority
of supreme civil governor, and that the kings were responsible to him and
punishable by him. This was signally shown in the sequel. MICAIAH THE PROPHET
Israel was now at peace with Syria, but it had not recovered possession of all
the places which had at different times been lost to that power. Of these,
Ramoth Gilead, beyond Jordan, was one which, from its proximity and importance,
Ahab was particularly anxious to regain possession. He therefore resolved to
expel the Syrian garrison from that place; and as he was aware that the attempt
would be opposed by the whole power of the Syrian kingdom, he claimed the
assistance of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, which that prince, with the
facility of disposition which formed the chief defect of his excellent
character; very readily granted. Nevertheless, when the preparations were
completed, Jehoshaphat, unsatisfied by the assurances of success which Ahab's
own “prophets” had given, desired that some other prophet of Jehovah should be
consulted. This request was more distasteful to Ahab than he liked to avow.
“There is yet one man,” he said, “Micaiah,[319] the son of Imlah, but him I
hate, because he prophesieth not good concerning me, but evil.” He was, however,
sent for; and although the messenger had strongly inculcated upon him the
necessity of making his counsel conformable to the wishes of the king; and the
predictions of his own prophets, the undaunted Micaiah boldly foretold the fatal
result of the expedition. At this the king was so much enraged, that he ordered
him to be kept in confinement, and fed with the bread and the water of
affliction until he returned in peace. “If thou return at all in peace,”
rejoined the faithful prophet, “then Jehovah hath not spoken by me.” [319]
Josephus and other ancient Jews understood that this Micaiah was the same
prophet who had rebuked Ahab for his alliance with Ben-hadad. SYRIA ATTACKS
Ben-hadad, the king of Syria, repaid the misplaced kindness of Ahab by the most
bitter enmity against his person; and he gave strict orders to his troops that
their principal object should be his destruction. Ahab seems to have had some
private information of this; for he went, himself, disguised to the battle, and
treacherously persuaded Jehoshaphat to appear in all the ensigns of his high
rank.[320] In consequence of this the king of Judah was nearly slain, being
surrounded by the Syrians, who pressed toward the point in which one royally
arrayed appeared. But they discovered their mistake in time, and turned their
attention in another direction. Ahab, with all his contrivance, could not avoid
his doom. A Syrian archer[321] sent forth from his bow an arrow at random.
Guided by the unseen Power which had numbered the days of Ahab, that arrow found
the disguised king, penetrated between the joints of his strong armor, and gave
him his death-wound. He directed his charioteer to drive him out of the battle;
but perceiving that a general action was coming on, he remained, and was held up
in his chariot until the evening, animating his friends by his voice and
presence. After the fall of night had terminated the combat, the king died, and
the army was directed to disperse. The body of Ahab was taken to Samaria, to be
deposited in the family sepulcher; and to mark the literal fulfillment of
Elijah's prophecy, the historian acquaints us that his chariot was washed, and
his armor rinsed in the pool of Samaria, where the dogs licked up the blood that
he had lost. Thus signally, in the mysterious dispensations of Divine
providence, were reconciled the seemingly discordant declarations of the two
prophets, one of whom had foretold his death at Ramoth Gilead, and the other
that dogs should claim his blood in Samaria. [320] Josephus supported by the
Septuagint, says he wore the royal robes of Ahab. [321] Josephus says this was
Naaman, who will soon come again before us. AHAB'S PALACE The history of Ahab is
almost exclusively occupied with the record of his guilt, and we are referred
for information concerning his other public acts to a chronicle which no longer
exists. But it transpires that he built several cities in Israel, and also a
palace, which, from the quantities of ivory with which it was ornamented, was
distinguished as “the ivory palace.” AHAZIAH REIGNS Ahab's death took place in
the year 909 B.C., after a reign of twenty-two years. He was succeeded in his
throne and in his sin by his son Ahaziah. The chief event of his short reign was
the revolt of the Moabites, who, since their subjection by David, had continued
to supply Israel with a rich tribute of flocks and fleeces.[322] Ahaziah himself
having received serious injuries by a fall through a lattice in an upper chamber
of his palace, sent messengers into the land of the Philistines, to consult
Baal-zebub, the fly-god of Ekron, whether he should recover. But they were met
on the way by the prophet Elijah, who sent them back to the king with a
denunciation of death, for his impiety in forsaking the God of Israel and
resorting to strange gods. The messengers knew not the prophet; but when they
described him to the king as a man clad with a hairy garment, and with a
leathern girdle about his loins, he recognized Elijah, and sent an officer with
fifty men to apprehend him. But the prophet, whom they found sitting upon a
hill, called down fire from heaven, which consumed this party, and also a
second; but he went voluntarily with the third, the officer in command of which
humbled himself before him, and besought him. The prophet confirmed to the king
himself his former denunciation of speedy death; and, accordingly, Ahaziah died,
after a short reign of two years, leaving no son to succeed him. This king
maintained the alliance which his father lead established with King Jehoshaphat,
and even persuaded that monarch to admit him to share in his contemplated
maritime expedition to the regions of Ophir, of which there will be occasion to
speak in the next chapter. [322] The annual tribute rendered by the Moabites had
been 100,000 lambs and 100,000 wethers (castrated male sheep) with their wool.
JEHORAM'S REIGN Ahaziah was succeeded by his brother Jehoram. This king, like
his predecessors, “did evil in the sight of Jehovah,” yet not to the same extent
of enormity as they; for although the loose and irregular service of the golden
calves was maintained y him, he overthrew the images of Baal, and discouraged
the grosser idolatries which his father and brother had introduced. ELISHA HAS
ELIJAH'S SPIRIT The first and most urgent care of the new king was to reduce to
obedience the Moabites, who, as just mentioned, lead revolted on the death of
Ahab. As the king of Judah had himself been troubled by the Moabites, he readily
undertook to take a very prominent part in this enterprise, to which he also
brought the support of his own tributary, the king of Edom. The plan of the
campaign was, that the allied army should invade the land of Moab in its least
defensible quarter, by going round by “the wilderness of Edom,” southward of the
Dead sea; which also offered the advantage that the forces of the king of Israel
could be successively joined by those of the kings of Judah and Edom on the
march. This circuitous march occupied led seven days; and toward the end of it
the army and the horses suffered greatly from thirst, probably occasioned by the
failure of the wells and brooks, from which an adequate supply of water had been
expected. Much loss had already been incurred through this unexpected drought,
and nothing less than utter ruin seemed to impend over the allies when they lay
on the borders of Moab, within view of the enemy, which had advanced to meet
them. In this emergency the very proper course occurred to Jehoshaphat of
consulting a prophet of Jehovah. On inquiry it was discovered that Elisha, “who
had poured water on the hands of Elijah”--a proverbial expression from the most
conspicuous act of service in a personal attendant--was the only prophet to be
found in that neighborhood. Full of the faith of his illustrious master, this
faithful disciple of Elijah had beheld the Jordan divide before that prophet,
and had been with him when, up-borne by the whirlwind, he was taken gloriously
away from the earth, in the chariot and horses which glowed like fire, and who
had substituted himself in his mission to work marvels and reprove kings in the
name of Jehovah. Already had the “spirit and power of Elias,” which abode in
him, been manifested to all Israel by the omens he had wrought. The waters of
the Jordan had divided before him, the second time, when smote by the fallen
mantle of Elijah--the bad waters of Jericho had become permanently wholesome at
his word--and to evince the power of his curse, bears from the woods had
destroyed forty-two young men belonging to idolatrous Bethel, who, joining
unbelief to insult, had bade him, in terms of mockery and derision--“Go up, thou
bald head! Go up, thou bald head!”--ascend after his master. ELISHA PROPHECIES
VICTORY The prophet, thus already distinguished, was sought in his retreat by
the three kings. His greeting of Jehoram was severe, “What have . to do with
thee? Get thee to the prophets of thy father and to the prophets of thy mother.”
Nevertheless, but avowedly on the sole account of the good Jehoshaphat, he
interested himself for the salvation of the army, which was in such imminent
danger: and, having consulted the Lord, he promised that on the morrow there
should be such an abundance of water, that the bed of the torrent, near which
the army was encamped, should not be able to contain it; and, more than this, he
also indicated that this should be but the prelude of a signal victory over and
complete ruin of the enemy. All things happened as he had said. In the morning,
at the time of offering sacrifice, the waters descended in such full-flood from
the heights of Edom, that the camp would have been submerged, had not the army,
by the direction of the prophet, previously dug large ditches to receive the
redundant waters. All this was unknown to the Moabites, who, when they arose in
the morning, and, on looking toward the camp of the allies, beheld the lurid
rays of the rising sun reflected from the waters, which now covered the arid
sands of yesterday, doubted not that it was blood which they saw, and formed the
not by any means improbable conclusion that the armies of Israel and Judah had
quarreled with and destroyed each other. They therefore rushed without the least
care or order to the pillage of the camp; but so far from finding it deserted,
they were surrounded and cut in pieces by the armed and now invigorated allies.
The remnant of the army was pursued into the interior of the country by the
conquerors, whose course was blackened by the fire and crimsoned by the sword.
Ultimately they invested the metropolitan city of Kir-haraseth,[323] in which
the king, Mesha, had taken refuge. One part of the walls had already been
destroyed, and the king, seeing he could no longer defend the place, attempted
to break through the besieging host at the head of seven hundred swordsmen. But
failing in this desperate effort, he sought to propitiate his cruel gods by
offering up the frightful sacrifice of his eldest son, the heir of his throne,
in the breach. Seized with horror at this spectacle, the conquering kings
abandoned the siege, withdrew from the country, and returned to their own
states. In taking this step they did not consider, or, perhaps, not care, that
they gave to the horrible act of the Moabite the very effect which he desired,
and enabled him to delude himself with the persuasion that his sacrifice had
been successful, and well-pleasing to the powers of Heaven. [323] The same place
which is otherwise called Rabbath-Moab, and, classically, Areopolis. ELISHA'S
LIFESTYLE In the remaining history of Jehoram's reign, the prophet Elisha
occupies nearly as conspicuous a place as Elijah did in that of Ahab. The
wonders wrought by his hands were numerous; but they were less signal, and less
attended with public and important results--less designed to effect public
objects, than those of his master. Indeed his national acts were less
considerable than those of Elijah; and although he possessed great influence,
and was undoubtedly the foremost man of his age, he wanted those energies of
character, and that consuming zeal which his predecessor manifested; or, perhaps
more correctly, the exigencies of the times were not such as to call for the
exercise of such endowments as had been possessed by Elijah. But although those
of his successor were different in their kind, we know not that, with regard to
the differing time, they were less useful or eminent. In this, and in a thousand
other historical examples--more especially in the history of the Hebrews--we see
men raised up for, and proportioned to, the times in which they live, and the
occasions which call for them. The most eminent of the prophets, since Moses,
was given to the most corrupt time; in which only a man of his indomitable,
ardent, and almost fierce spirit, could have been equal to the fiery and almost
single-handed struggle for God against principalities and powers. Elisha fell in
milder times, and was correspondingly of a milder character, although he was not
found unequal to any of the more trying circumstances which arose during the
period of his prophetic administration. Indeed his conduct on such occasions was
such as to suggest that it was only the milder spirit of the time on which he
fell, precluding occasion for their exercise, that prevented the manifestation
in him of that grander class of endowments which his predecessor displayed. As
it was, Elisha, instead of being like his master, driven by persecution from the
haunts of men to the deserts and the mountains, and reduced to a state of
dependence on the special providence of God, for the bread he ate, and the water
he drank--enjoyed a sufficiency of all things, and lived in honor and esteem
among his countrymen; and even among the purple and fine linen of king's courts,
the rough mantle of the prophet was regarded with respect. In such a history as
the present it is only necessary to report those of his acts which were
connected with, or bore upon, the public history of the nation; yet his more
private acts may be also briefly indicated for the sake of the illustration
which they afford of the spirit and manners of the time. OIL PAYS BAIL The first
of his operations which we read of, after that which connected him with the
deliverance of Israel and the defeat of the Moabites, was an act of benevolence
toward the widow of one of those “sons of the prophets” who had now come under
his supervision. He had died without having the means of satisfying a debt he
lead incurred,[324] in consequence of which the creditor was disposed to
indemnify himself by making bondsmen of her two sons; but on her complaint to
Elisha, he multiplied a small quantity of oil which she possessed, until the
price it brought more than sufficed to pay the implacable creditor. [324] The
Jews think the person was Obadiah, and that his debt was contracted on account
of the expense of maintaining the hundred prophets whom he concealed in caverns.
DEAD CHILD REVIVED The occasions of the prophet frequently led him to visit the
city of Shunem, which being observed by a benevolent woman, she suggested to her
husband that they should prepare a small separate apartment,[325] and furnish it
with a bed, a table, a seat, and a lamp; and that this should be reserved for
his use when he visited Shunem. This was accordingly done, and the prophet
accepted the hospitalities of these good Shunammites. Elisha was very sensible
of their kind attention, and wished to repay it by some substantial benefit. He
sent for the woman, and offered to speak to the king or to the captain of the
host on her behalf. This she declined; and the prophet felt at a loss what to do
for them, until it was suggested by his servant Gehazi that the woman had long
been childless, on which Elisha again sent for her, and as she stood
respectfully at the door, he conveyed to her the astonishing intimation that,
nine months thence, her arms should embrace a son. Accordingly, the child was
born, and had grown up, when one day he received a stroke of the sun on his
head, and died very soon. The mother laid him on the prophet's bed, and actuated
by an undefinable, but intelligible impulse, sought and obtained the permission
of her husband to go to Elisha, who was known to be then at Carmel. Accordingly
an ass was saddled, on which, driven by a servant on foot,[326] she sped to that
place. Elisha saw her afar off, and said to Gehazi, “Behold, yonder is the
Shunammite! Run now, I pray thee, and say to her--Is it well with thee? well
with thy husband? well with the child?” The bereaved mother answered, “Well,”
but pressed on toward the man of God. On approaching him she alighted from her
beast, and threw herself at his feet, on which she laid hold. The officious
Gehazi drew nigh to thrust her away, but Elisha checked him--“Let her alone; for
her soul is troubled within her: although Jehovah hath hidden from me the cause,
and hath not told me of it.” When, in a few broken exclamations, she had made
known the cause of her grief, the prophet gave his staff to Gehazi, with
instructions to go and lay it on the face of the child. But the mother refused
to leave the prophet, and he was induced to rise and return with her. They met
Gehazi on his way back, who told them, “The child is not awaked!” They hasted
on, and the prophet shut himself up with the child. It was not long before he
directed the mother to be called, and presented to her the living boy. [325]
Called in our version “a little chamber in the wall.” It denotes doubtless what
the Arabs still call by the same name (Oleah), which is a small building,
generally at some distance from the house, like a summer-house in our gardens.
[326] It is still the usual practice in the East for a man on foot to lead or
drive the ass on which a woman rides. POISONED STEW Another time, when there was
a dearth in the land, Elisha was at the school of the prophets at Gilgal; and at
the proper time, gave the order to the servants, “Set on the great pot, and
seeth pottage for the sons of the prophets.” When this was dressed, it was found
that a wild and bitter gourd had been gathered and shred into the pot by
mistake. “O man of God! there is death in the pot!” cried the sons of the
prophets, when they began to eat. But Elisha directed a handful of meal to be
cast into the pot, and it was found that all the poisonous qualities of the
pottage had disappeared. NAAMAN CLEANSED In the kingdom of Damascene-Syria, the
chief captain of the host, high in the favor and confidence of the king, was a
person called Naaman, who had the misfortune of being a leper. This, which would
have been a disqualification for all employment and society in Israel, could not
but be a great annoyance and distress to a public man in Syria. When therefore a
little Hebrew girl, who in a former war had been taken captive, and was now a
slave in the household of this personage, was heard to say, “Would to God my
lord were with the prophet, that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his
leprosy!” she was eagerly questioned on the matter, and the result was that the
king of Syria sent Naaman, with a splendid retinue, and camels laden with
presents[327] to Samaria, with a sufficiently laconic letter to the King
Jehoram. “When this letter cometh to thee, thou must recover from his leprosy
Naaman, my servant. Behold, I have sent him with it.” The king of Israel was
utterly confounded when he read this, epistle. He rent his clothes, and cried,
“Am I a god, to kill and to make alive, that this man sendeth to me to recover a
man of his leprosy? Consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh an occasion of
quarrelling with me.” Intelligence of this affair, and of the king's vexation,
was brought to Elisha, who desired that the Syrian stranger might be sent to
him. Accordingly Naaman came with his chariot and horses and imposing retinue,
and stood before the door of Elisha's house. The prophet did not retake his
appearance; but sent out a message directing him to go and bathe seven times in
the river Jordan. The self-esteem of the distinguished leper was much hurt at
this treatment. He expected that Elisha would have paid him personal attention
and respect, and would have healed him by an appeal to his God, Jehovah, and by
the stroking of his hand. He therefore turned and went away in a rage,
exclaiming, “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the
waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean?” His attendants, however,
succeeded in soothing him, and persuaded him to follow the prophet's directions;
and when he rose, perfectly cleansed, from the Jordan, his feelings turned to
conviction and gratitude; he returned to Samaria, and presented himself to the
prophet, declaring his belief that Jehovah was the true and only God, and that
henceforth he would offer burnt-offerings and sacrifices to no other. He would
also have pressed upon his acceptance a valuable present, but this was firmly
declined by Elisha; and when his covetous servant Gehazi, compromised the honor
of God and of his own master, by following the Syrian, to ask a gift in the name
of the prophet, the leprosy from which Naaman had been cleansed was declared by
the prophet to be the abiding portion of him and of his race. [327] The presents
included ten talents of silver, equal to fifteen thousand dollars, six thousand
shekels of gold, equal to sixty thousand dollars, and ten dresses of honor.
These and other miracles wrought by this prophet, fixed upon him personally the
regard and veneration of the people; and while there is reason to think that the
state of manners and of religion was not altogether so bad as it had been under
Ahab, the practices and ideas of their corrupt system of religion was now too
closely interwoven with their habits of life and mind to be easily shaken off.
They rested on their intermediate system. Habit had reconciled even their
consciences to it; and in general, to fall back upon it, after, having strayed
into foreign idolatries, was in their sight a complete and perfect reformation.
And as to the race of Ahab, that was hastening with rapid strides to its doom.
The famine which about this time desolated the land, and the new war with the
Syrians, which was carried on under the very walls of the capital, was met by
the king without any fixed faith, or any determinate rule of conduct; sometimes
he attributed his calamities to Elisha, and vowed his destruction; and at others
he resorted to that same prophet as to his only friend and deliverer. SYRIAN
ARMY BLINDED In this war the Syrians had laid an ambuscade, in which the king
would undoubtedly have perished had not Elisha ensured his safety by discovering
the plan of the enemy to him. This happened more than once; and the Syrian king
at first suspected treachery in his own camp; but being assured that it was
owing to Elisha, “who could tell the king of Israel the words he spoke in his
bed-chamber,” he was much irritated, and, with singular infatuation, dispatched
a column of his best troops to invest the town of Dothan, where the prophet then
abode, in such a manner that his escape seemed impossible to his own terrified
servant. “Fear not,” said Elisha, “for they that are with us are more than they
that are with them;” and then, praying that his eyes might be opened to the view
of “things invisible to mortal sight,” he beheld the mountain full of chariots
and horses, glowing like fire, round about the prophet. At his request, the
Syrian troop was then smitten with blindness, and in that condition he went
among them, and conducted them to the very gates of the hostile metropolis,
Samaria, where their eyes were opened, and he dismissed them in peace, after
inducing Jehoram to give them refreshment, instead of slaying them, as was his
own wish. This generous conduct seems to have had such good effect that the
Syrian hordes for the present abandoned their enterprise, and returned to their
own country. SEVEN YEARS OF FAMINE After this came on a severe famine, of seven
years' continuance, and the evils of it were aggravated by war, for the Syrian
king deemed this season of weakness and exhaustion too favorable for his designs
to be neglected. He marched directly to Samaria, and formally invested that
strong place, which, seemingly, he hoped less to gain by force of arms than by
so blockading it as ultimately to starve it into a surrender; which work, he
knew, was already more than half accomplished to his hands. The siege was
protracted until the inhabitants were driven to the most horrible shifts to
prolong their miserable existence. We are told that an ass's head was sold for
eighty silver shekels, equal to thirty dollars of our money, and the fourth part
of a cab[328] of vetches for five shekels, equal to three dollars of our money.
In this case the extremity of the famine is shown not merely by the cost of the
articles, but by the fact that the flesh of an ass, for which such an enormous
price was now paid, was forbidden by the law,[329] and could not be touched by a
Hebrew under ordinary circumstances. [328] The fourth part of a cab was less
than a pint of our measure. [329] No animal food was allowed but that of animals
which ruminate and divide the hoof. The ass does neither; and was therefore for
food more unclean than even the hog, which does divide the hoof although it does
not ruminate. ELISHA REBUKES UNBELIEF One day as the king was passing along the
ramparts, two women importunately demanded justice at his hands. They had
between them slain, boiled, and eaten the son of one of them, with the
understanding that the son of the other was next to be sacrificed to satisfy
their wants. But the mother of the living son relented, and refused to yield him
to so horrible a fate. This was the injustice of which the mother of the
slaughtered child complained, and for which she clamored for redress. When the
king heard this shocking case, he rent his clothes, which gave the people
present occasion to observe that his inner dress was the sackcloth of a mourner.
He might have remembered that such calamities had been threatened, ages back, by
Moses, as the suitable punishment of such iniquities as those into which Israel
had actually fallen (Deuteronomy 28:52-57). His indignation, however, turned
against Elisha (who had, perhaps, encouraged him to hold out by promises of
deliverance), and he swore that he should lose his head that day, and instantly
dispatched an officer to execute an intention so worthy of the son of Jezebel.
But the messenger was no sooner gone than he relented, and went hastily after
him, to revoke the order, and to excuse himself to Elisha. This moment of right
feeling was the moment in which deliverance was announced. “Thus saith Jehovah,”
said the prophet, when the king stood in his presence, “to-morrow about this
time shall a seah[330] of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of
barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.” This appeared so utterly
incredible to the courtier “on whose arm the king leaned,” that he said,
“Behold, were Jehovah to open windows in heaven, then this thing might be.” To
which the prophet severely retorted, “Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes,
but shalt not eat thereof.” [330] Somewhat more than a peck. FAMINE ENDS In
fact, during the following night, Jehovah caused the Syrians to hear a noise of
chariots and horses, which led them to conclude that Jehoram had contrived to
obtain assistance from the king of Egypt and other neighboring princes; and this
infused into them such a panic terror, that they precipitately raised the siege;
in the belief that they were pursued by a puissant army come to the relief of
Israel, they abandoned the camp with all their baggage and provisions. Toward
the morning, some lepers, who, as such, abode without the town, made up their
minds to go to the camp of the Syrians seeking food; for they concluded that it
was better to risk death by the Syrian sword than to die of famine where they
were. On reaching the camp they found it deserted; and after satisfying their
present wants, and appropriating to their own use some good things from the
spoil, they proceeded to bear their glad tidings to the city. The king was slow
to believe them, and suspected the whole to be a stratagem of the Syrians. Men
were therefore mounted on two of the five only horses now remaining, and sent to
make observations. The report with which they returned was quite conformable to
that of the lepers. The people then left the city, and hastened to pillage the
camp of the Syrians, in which provisions were found in such abundance that a
market was established at the gate of Samaria,[331] where as the prophet had
predicted, a seah of wheat was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for
the same. The officer who refused to believe this prediction was placed by the
king to preserve order at the gate; but so great was the press of the famishing
multitude to obtain corn, that he was thrown down and trodden to death. Thus was
accomplished the other prediction, that he should see the truth of the first
prophecy without enjoying its benefits. [331] It is still not unusual in the
East for the wholesale market for country produce and cattle to be held (for a
short time in the early morning) at the gates of towns. Manufactured goods are
sold and fruits retailed in the bazaars within the towns. WOMEN GETS PROPERTY We
know not precisely how long after this the seven years of famine terminated. Of
these years the hospitable Shunammite had been warned by Elisha, and had
withdrawn to a neighboring country; on which the state assumed the possession of
her lands. After the famine was over, she returned, and came before the king to
petition for the restoration of the property. At that time the servant of Elisha
was engaged in giving the king an account of the various miracles wrought by his
master, and when the woman appeared, he was relating how her son had been
restored to life. The relater then said, “My lord, this is the woman, and this
is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” The king was struck by this
coincidence, and proceeded to question her on the subject, and ended with
directing that not only should the lands be restored to her, but the value of
their produce during the years of her absence. This was a very becoming act,
and, like several other recorded acts of Jehoram, worthy of commendation; but it
is not by particular acts, however laudable, that the sins of a criminal life
can be covered: and the fulfillment of the doom pronounced upon the house of
Ahab was now near at hand. Jehoram was desirous of pursuing his recent advantage
over the still to the extent of taking from them the city of Ramoth in Gilead,
which still remained in their possession. Fortified by an alliance with his
nephew Ahaziah, king of Judah, he therefore declared war against Hazael, whom a
revolution, predicted by Elisha, had placed upon the throne of Damascene-Syria,
in the room of Ben-hadad. Ramoth was invested by the two kings; and before that
place, where Ahab had received his death-wound, Jehoram was also wounded by an
arrow--not mortally, but so seriously that he withdrew to Jezreel to be healed,
leaving the conduct of the siege to Jehu, the son of Nimshi. The king of Judah
also returned to Jerusalem, but afterward proceeded to Jezreel to visit his
wounded relative. JEHU SLAYS AHAB'S HOUSE At this juncture Elisha sent one of
the sons of the prophet to execute the commission, long since entrusted to
Elijah, of anointing Jehu as king of Israel. He arrived at the time when the
chief officers of the army besieging Ramoth were together. He called out Jehu,
and anointed him in an inner chamber, delivering at the same time the
announcement of his call to the throne of Israel, and to be Jehovah's avenger
upon the house of Ahab. No sooner had he done this than he opened the door and
fled. Jehu returned to his companions, as if nothing had happened. But they had
noticed the prophetic garb of the person who had called him out, and it being
the fashion of those days to speak contemptuously of the prophetic calling they
asked, “On what business came this mad fellow to thee?” Jehu affected some
reluctance to tell them; but this made them the more urgent; and when he made
the fact known to them, it was so agreeable to their own wishes, that they
instantly tendered him their homage, and proclaimed him king by sound of
trumpet, and with cries of “Jehu is king!” At his desire, measures were taken to
prevent this intelligence from spreading for the present; in consequence of
which, King Jehoram and King Ahaziah remained at Jezreel, quite unsuspicious of
what had occurred. But one day the watchman announced the distant approach of a
large party; and the king of Israel sent, successively, two messengers to
ascertain whether it came with peaceable designs or not. But as they did not
return, and the watchman having in the meantime ascertained, from his manner of
driving his chariot, that the principal person was Jehu, the two kings went
forth themselves to meet him. They met in the fatal field of Naboth. “Is it
peace, Jehu?” the king inquired of the general; who answered, “What peace as
long as the idolatries of thy mother Jezebel and her sorceries are so many?” On
hearing which, Jehoram cried to the king of Judah, “There is treachery, O
Ahaziah!” and turned his chariot to escape. But Jehu drew his bow with all his
force, and the arrow which he discharged smote the king between the shoulders,
and went through his heart. Jehu directed the body to be taken from the chariot
and left on that ground, reminding Bidkar, his captain, to whom he gave this
order, that they were together in attendance upon Ahab in that very place, when
the prophet Elijah appeared and denounced that doom upon his house, and the
bloody requital in that spot, which was now being accomplished. AHAZIAH DIES
Ahaziah also attempted to escape; but Jehu directed some of his followers to
pursue and smite him in his chariot. They did so, and wounded him: but he
continued his flight till he reached Megiddo, were he died of his wounds. His
body was removed to Jerusalem for sepulture.[332] [332] This is the account
given in the Book of Kings (2 Kings 9:27-29); but another account (2 Chronicles
22:9) says he hid himself in Samaria, where he was discovered and put to death.
From this difference it may seem that some circumstances are omitted, by which
the two accounts might be reconciled. But as we do not know with certainty how
to reconcile them, we have given one of the accounts only in the text, and have
preferred that in Kings, solely because it is that which Josephus has followed.
JEZEBEL DIES Jehu entered Jezreel. The news of what had happened preceded him:
and Jezebel tired her head and painted her eyes, and looked out of a window; and
this she did, we should imagine, not with any view of trying the power of her
allurements upon Jehu--for she was by this time an aged woman--but for state,
and to manifest to the last the pride and royalty of her spirit. As Jehu drew
nigh, she called to him, “Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?” But this was
the day of vengeance and of punishment, and not of relentings; and Jehu looked
up and cried, “Who is on my side, who?” On which two or three eunuchs of the
harem looked out to him. “Throw her down!” was the unflinching command of Jehu.
So they threw her down, and some of her blood was sprinkled upon the wall, and
upon the horses that trod upon her. After this, Jehu went into the palace, and
ate and drank; and he then said, “Go, look after this accursed woman, and bury
her; for she was a king's daughter.” But it was then found that all the body,
except the scull, the feet, and the palms of her hands, had been devoured by
such ravenous dogs as those by which eastern cities are still infested. “This,”
said Jehu, “is the word of Jehovah, which he spake by the mouth of Elijah the
Tishbite, saying, In the district of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of
Jezebel; and the carcass of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field
in the district of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.”
SEVENTY SONS KILLED Ahab had left not fewer than seventy sons, and these were
all in Samaria,[333] which was not only the metropolis but one of the strongest
places in the kingdom; and Jehu, reflecting, probably, on what happened after
the death of Zimri--when two kings reigned, one like himself, a military leader
upheld by the arm, whom a portion of the nation refused to acknowledge, and
adhered to another--apprehended that something similar might again occur. He
therefore wrote to the chief persons of Samaria, and to those who had the charge
of Ahab's children, to sound their intentions. He told them that they were in a
well-fortified city, with troops, chariots, and arms; and that, being thus
circumstanced, they had better set up one of Ahab's sons for king, and fight for
him, letting the crown be the prize of the conqueror. And this, really, was the
only course which men faithful and attached to the dynasty of Omri could have
taken. This the chief persons and guardians of the princes in Samaria were
not--or not to the extent of risking the consequences of civil war, and of
opposition to Jehu. In fact, they were intimidated by his promptitude in action,
and at the manner in which the two kings and Jezebel bad been disposed of; and
there was something calculated to damp their spirits (if they had any) in a
message which showed that Jehu was prepared for the most resolute course they
could take. They replied, “We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt
bid us; we will not make any man king: do thou what is good in thine eyes.”
Jehu's reply was prompt and horribly decisive: “If ye be for me, and will
hearken to my voice, take off the heads of your master's sons, and come to me to
Jezreel by this time to-morrow.” When this letter arrived, the seventy princes
were instantly decapitated, and their heads sent in baskets to Jezreel. When
Jehu heard of their arrival, he, according to a barbarous eastern custom not yet
extinct, directed them to be piled up in two heaps at the entrance of the
city-gate until the morning. In the morning he went out to the assembled people,
and with the evident design of pointing out the extent to which the house of
Ahab wanted any hearty adherents, even among those who might be supposed most
attached to its interests, he said, “Ye are righteous. Behold, I conspired
against my master, and slew him: but who hath slain all these? Now know, that
nothing of the word of Jehovah, which he spoke concerning the house of Ahab,
shall fall to the ground; for Jehovah will do what he spoke by his servant
Elijah.” [333] From the expression that they were “with the great men of the
city, who brought them up,” we infer that, as is still usual in some eastern
countries, the king relieved himself from the charge of their maintenance, by
consigning one young prince to this great person, and another to another, to be
maintained and educated as became their station. This charge is to be received
as an honor and distinction, and is sometimes of ultimate benefit; but on
account of the great expense and inconvenience, it is often received with
dissatisfaction, and many would decline it if they dared. Jehu delayed not to go
to Samaria, and in his way encountered some of the brothers of Ahaziah, the king
of Judah, who, ignorant of the late occurrences, were on their way to visit the
sons of Ahab. Regarding their connection by blood and friendship with the house
of Ahab, Jehu considered them included in his commission to exterminate that
house root and branch. He therefore commanded them to be arrested and slain.
Their number was forty-two. JONADAB JOINS JEHU In his further progress, Jehu met
with Jonadab, the son of Rechab, a pastoral religionist held in high esteem by
the people, and whose influence with them was very great. Jehu, with his usual
tact, at once felt the advantage which the countenance of this person might be
to his cause. He therefore accosted him: “Is thy heart as right with my heart,
as my heart is with thine?” Jonadab answered, “It is”--“If it be,” said Jehu,
“give to me thy hand.” And he gave him his hand, and Jehu took him up into his
chariot, saying, “Come and see my zeal for Jehovah!” They thus entered Samaria
together, where Jehu completed the destruction of the house of Ahab by cutting
off all its remaining members. BAAL WORSHIP DESTROYED In Samaria Ahab had
erected a celebrated temple to the idol Baal. On entering the town Jehu declared
an intention to aggrandize the worship of that god, and render to him higher
honors than he had yet received in Israel. He was therefore determined to
celebrate a great feast in honor of Baal, to which he convoked[334] all the
priests, prophets, and votaries of that idol. The concourse was so great that
the temple was filled from one end to another; and while they were in the midst
of their idolatrous worship, Jehu sent in a body of armed men who put them all
to the sword. The idols, and the implements and ornaments of idol worship, were
then overthrown, broken, or reduced to ashes; and the temple itself was
demolished and turned into a common jakes. But the worship of Baal was far from
being confined to Samaria, and Jehu sought for it in all quarters of the land,
and rooted it out wherever it was found. His conduct in this matter was so well
pleasing to God, that the throne of Israel was, by a special promise, assured to
his posterity unto the fourth generation. [334] To call together. Defile. in
Idumea (Mount Seir), in the road from Palestine to Egypt


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  CHAPTER 31: KINGDOM OF JUDAH FROM B.C. 929 TO B.C. 725
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KINGDOM OF JUDAH FROM B.C. 929 TO B.C. 725 JEHOSHAPHAT A FAITHFUL KING
Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa, began to reign over Judah in the year 929 B.C.,
being the second year of Ahab in Israel. The alliance which he formed with Ahab
has brought him forward, in the preceding chapter, sufficiently to intimate to
the reader the excellent character which he bore. He indeed takes rank among the
most faithful, and therefore most illustrious and wise of the Hebrew kings.
Direct idolatry had been put down by his father, and the first acts of his own
reign were to root out the remoter incentives thereto and instruments thereof.
He destroyed the high places and the groves which his father had spared. Other
kings before him had been satisfied with external operations; but to his
enlightened mind it appeared that effects more deep and permanent might be
secured by acting upon the inner sense of the people, by instructing them fully
in the principles and distinguishing privileges of their theocratic system, and
by rendering those principles operative, as the standards of public and judicial
action, throughout the land. The land had already been purged, as by fire, from
the noxious weeds by which it had been overgrown; and now the king made it his
business to occupy the cleared soil with corn--the staff of life--and with
fruits “pleasant to the eye, and good for food.” INSTRUCTORS IN THE LAW To these
ends the king sent out a number of “princes,” whose rank and influence secured
attention and respect to the priests and Levites who were with them to instruct
the people. They had with them copies of the law: and, in their several bands,
visited all the towns of the country--thus bearing instruction to the very doors
of a people who had become too indolent or too indifferent themselves to seek
for it. So earnest was the king in this object, that he went himself throughout
the land to see that his orders were duly executed. IMPRESSIVE ARMY The
attention of this able king was also directed to the reform of abuses in other
departments of the state, and to the cultivation of the financial and military
resources of his kingdom. The people, rendered happy by his cares, grew
prosperous, and increased in numbers; in the same degree the real power of the
government was strengthened, and was such as inspired the people with
confidence, and their enemies with fear. Edom continued firm in its obedience,
Philistia regularly remitted its presents and tribute-silver, and several of the
Arabian tribes sought his favor, or acknowledged his power, by large yearly
tributes of sheep and goats from their flocks. The men enrolled as fit to bear
arms, and liable to be called into action, was not less than 1,160,000, which is
not far short of the number in the united kingdom in the time of David. Of these
a certain proportion were kept in service. The best of the troops were stationed
at Jerusalem, and the remainder distributed into the fortress and walled towns;
and a strong force was concentrated on the northern frontier, especially in
those lands of Ephraim which Asa had taken from Baasha. New fortresses were
constructed in different parts of the country, and were well garrisoned and
supplied with all the munitions of war. JEHU REBUKES JEHOSHAPHAT The capital
error of this monarch, the alliance he contracted with Ahab in the thirteenth
year of his reign, has already been noticed in the preceding chapter, as well as
the part he took in the battle of Ramoth Gilead, in which Ahab was slain, but
his own life was reserved, notwithstanding the very imminent danger into which
he had fallen. On his return to Jerusalem after this escape, the Divine
dissatisfaction at his conduct was announced to him by the prophet Jehu.
JEHOSHAPHAT'S DISTRICT JUDGES After this he engaged himself in his former
peaceful and honorable undertakings; and gave particular attention to the
administration of justice in his dominions. He established a supreme tribunal
(of appeal probably) at Jerusalem, and placed judges in all the principal cities
of the country. This great improvement relieved the king from the fatigue and
great attention which the exercise of the judicial functions of royalty had
exacted from the earlier kings, while it secured to the suers more prompt
attention than they could by any other means receive. The king was very sensible
of the importance of this step; and, in his anxiety that it should work well,
gave an admirable charge to the judges; the force of which can only be well
appreciated by those who perceive that the counteracting evils which he feared
were precisely those by which the administration of justice in the East is at
this day corrupted and disgraced. “Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for
man, but for Jehovah, who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore now, let the
fear of Jehovah be upon you; take heed and act uprightly; for with Jehovah our
God there is no injustice, no respect of persons, no taking of bribes.” This was
addressed to the judges appointed to the cities. In the address to the judges of
the supreme tribunal at Jerusalem, it is not supposed, by any implication, that
they could be partial or corrupt; and they are only reminded of the duty of
judging according to the Divine law, the causes that came before them. This
tribunal was composed of the most distinguished men among the priests, the
Levites, and the family chiefs. In matters pertaining to religion, this tribunal
was presided over by the high-priest Amariah, but in civil matters, or those in
which the crown was interested, by Zebadiah, “the ruler,” or hereditary chief,
of the tribe of Judah--an interesting indication that the forms of the
patriarchal were not, even yet, entirely lost in those of the regal government.
About the same time the king made another tour through his dominions, from
Beersheba in the south, to Mount Ephraim in the north, seeking to bring back the
people more entirely “to Jehovah the God of their fathers.” In the northern
districts which had been recovered or taken from Israel, the high places of the
Ephraimites were not taken away, because they had not as yet “prepared their
hearts unto the God of their fathers,” as had the Judahites, whose high places
had been taken away at the beginning of this reign. FASTING AND PRAYER THEN
VICTORY The unfortunate expedition with Ahab against Ramoth Gilead being
unsuccessful, tended much to lower Jehoshaphat in the estimation of the
neighboring nations; and thus the alliance with the king of Israel brought its
own punishment. The Ammonites and Moabites, who had been brought into a state of
subjection by David, now began to conceive hopes of deliverance from the yoke
under which they lay. It was their policy, however, not in the first instance to
revolt from the kingdom to which they were immediately subject--that of Israel,
but first to try their strength against the lesser kingdom of Judah. They
therefore invaded that country from the south, by the way of Edom, supported by
some Arabian hordes, which they had engaged in their cause, and who indeed are
seldom loath to engage in any cause by which good prospects of spoil are
offered. The expedition assumed the character of an Arabian invasion, and, as
such, was so expeditious that the invaders had rounded the southern extremity of
the Dead sea, and came to a halt in the famous valley of Engedi, before
Jehoshaphat had the least intimation of their design Taken thus by surprise, he
was much alarmed in the first instance; but by throwing himself unreservedly
upon the protection and help of the Divine King, he ensured the safety of his
kingdom, and tools the most becoming step which it was possible that a king of
the chosen nation could take. He proclaimed a general fast throughout Judah, and
the people gathered together from all quarters to Jerusalem, and stood there in
and around the temple, to cry to God for help. And he heard them: for the spirit
of prophecy fell upon one of the Levites, named Jahaziel, and in the name of
Jehovah he directed that they should march to meet the enemy, whose station be
indicated, not to fight, but to witness their extirpation and to seize the
spoil. As they went forth early in the morning toward the wilderness of Tekoah,
Jehoshaphat exerted himself to keep up the confidence of the people in the
sufficiency of the Divine protection; and as they proceeded, he directed that
the Levitical singers should march in front, and “in the beauty of holiness” (or
in the same habits, and after the same manner as in the temple-service), should
sing the praises of God, saying, “Praise Jehovah! for he is good; for his mercy
endureth for ever.” Surely never, from the beginning of the world, was there
such a march as this against an army of hostile invaders. The event was such as
the prophet had foreshown. It seems that the children of Lot had quarreled and
fought with their Arabian allies; and when they had succeeded in destroying
them, they turned their arms against each other, and fought with
inextinguishable fury until none remained alive on the battle-field. So that
when the Hebrews arrived at the place which the prophet had indicated, many a
beating heart among them was relieved, and all were inconceivably astonished, to
see the wilderness covered with the bodies of the slain--not one had escaped.
The Judahites were three days in collecting an immense spoil of precious metals
and stones, and valuable arms and raiment; and in the end it was found that more
was collected than could betaken away. On the fourth day they returned home to
Jerusalem, before entering which they held a solemn thanksgiving to the valley
of Shaveh, or the King's dale, hence called the valley of Berachah (blessing),
and also the valley of Jehoshaphat. After this they entered the city in
triumphal procession, with music and with singing. The neighboring nations
rightly ascribed this signal deliverance to the God of the Hebrews; and were for
some time inspired with a salutary fear of molesting a people so highly favored.
FAILED NAVY VENTURE The next undertaking of Jehoshaphat was an attempt to revive
the ancient traffic of Solomon, by the Red sea, to the region of gold. For this
purpose he built a navy at his port of Ezion-geber, at the head of the Elanitic
gulf. But, in an evil day, he consented to allow Ahaziah, the king of Israel, to
take part in the enterprise, in consequence of which, as a prophet forewarned
him, his ships were wrecked soon after they left the port. Another expedition
was proposed by the king of Israel: but Jehoshaphat declined, and appears to
have relinquished all further designs of this nature. Josephus informs us that
the ships which had been built were too large and unwieldy; and we may infer
that Jehoshaphat discovered that he could not accomplish an enterprise of this
nature in the want of such skilful shipwrights and able mariners as those with
which the Phoenicians had constructed and manned the ships of Solomon. One of
the last public acts of Jehoshaphat's reign was that of taking part with
Jehoram, king of Israel, in an expedition against the Moabites, who had revolted
after the death of Ahab. Jehoshaphat was probably the more induced to lend his
assistance by the consideration of the recent invasion of his own dominions by
the same people. The circumstances and result of this expedition have been
related in the preceding chapter. The success which was granted to it is
entirely ascribed to the Divine favor toward the king of Judah. JEHOSHAPHAT DIES
Soon after this Jehoshaphat “slept with his fathers,” after he had lived sixty
years, and reigned twenty-five. JEHORAM REIGNS His eldest son, Jehoram, ascended
the throne of Judah in the year 904 B.C., in the thirty-second year of his own
age, and in the third year of the reign of his namesake and relative, Jehoram,
the son of Ahab, in Israel. This, it will be remembered, was the prince who was
married to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. The evil effects of this
connection began now very manifestly to appear, and preponderated over the good
example which the reign of Jehoshaphat had offered. In fact, Athaliah proved her
descent by rivaling her mother, Jezebel, in idolatry, in pride, and in the part
she took in public affairs after the death of Jehoshaphat. And, to complete the
resemblance, she appears to have rendered her husband, as the mere instrument of
her will and purposes, quite as effectual as Jezebel rendered Ahab. JEHORAM
SLAYS HIS BROTHERS It was undoubtedly through her influence that the first act
of Jehoram's reign was to destroy his six brothers, whom Jehoshaphat had amply
provided for, and stationed (as governors, probably) in as many fenced cities of
Judah. With them perished several of the first persons in the state, who had
enjoyed the confidence of the late king, and had been active in promoting his
laudable designs. This evidence of her power redoubled the audacity of the proud
queen; and soon after, idolatry, which had been banished from Judah during the
two preceding reigns, was restored, by public authority, to honor; and the
sedulous endeavors made in the two former reins to reform the religion and
morals of the people gave place to the efforts of new men to corrupt and ruin
all. High places, similar to those in Israel, again appeared upon the hills of
Judah; and the people were seduced and urged into idolatry and its concomitant
abominations. For these things heavy calamities were denounced against Jehoram,
early in his reign, by the prophet Elisha[336] in a letter: and thus did that
great prophet take cognizance of the affairs of Judah also. The evils that he
threatened followed soon. [336] The Masorete text here reads Elijah (2
Chronicles 21:12) instead of Elisha: for Elijah had been translated in the time
of Jehoshaphat. 2 Kings 3:11. JEHORAM DIES The king of Edom, who assisted the
king of Judah and Israel in the war against Moab, had, according to Josephus,
been slain by his revolted subjects, and the new sovereign desired to signalize
his accession, and to propitiate his subjects, by freeing them from the tribute
to which his father had submitted. This essay was not at first successful; but
although once defeated by Jehoram, who still had his father's army under his
command, the Edomites succeeded in throwing the yoke of Judah from off their
necks, according to the prophecy of Isaac to the founder of that nation.[337]
Emboldened by this, the Philistines also rebelled, and, assisted by the Arabs
who bordered on the Cushites, they invaded Judah, plundered and ravaged the
whole country, and even Jerusalem and the royal palace. They led away into
slavery all the women of the king's harem, except Athaliah, who was spared in
anger, and made captive all the royal princes, except Ahaziah, otherwise called
Jehoahaz, the youngest of them all. To consummate all, the king himself was
smitten with an incurable disease in the bowels, from which he suffered for two
years the most horrible torments, and at last, after a reign of eight years,
died without being regretted. The voice of the people denied to his remains the
honors of a royal burial, and a place in the sepulcher of the kings. [337] To
Esau Isaac said--”Thou shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when
thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.”
Genesis 27:40. AHAZIAH REIGNS AND DIES Ahaziah, his youngest son, was twenty-two
years old when he succeeded his father. He reigned only one year; for following
the evil counsels of his mother and the house of Ahab, he foolishly joined
Jehoram of Israel in the war against Hazael king of Syria, the result of which,
with his death, inflicted by Jehu, has been recorded in the preceding chapter.
ATHALIAH SLAYS HER GRANDCHILDREN Not Jehu in Israel thirsted more after the
blood of Ahab's house, than did Athaliah, in Judah, for the blood of her own
children. She had long been the virtual possessor of the supreme power in Judah;
but now she disdained an authority so precarious and indirect, and would reign
alone. As even the most wicked persons seldom shed blood from absolute
wantonness of cruelty, it may be considered that her spirit may have been
rendered unusually savage at this time by the sanguinary proceedings of Jehu in
Israel against the house to which she herself belonged, and in which she had
lost, at one fell swoop, a mother, a brother, and a son, with many other of her
near relatives. It must also have appeared to her that the sort of authority she
had hitherto exercised, first as queen-consort and then as queen-mother, was now
in very great danger; as it might be expected that whichever of her grandsons
succeeded to the throne, he would prefer the counsels and guidance of his mother
to her own. Here then were two powerful motives--dread of losing her power, and
jealousy of being superseded by another woman--bringing her to the atrocious
resolution of destroying all the children of her own son Ahaziah. She little
considered that by this she was fulfilling a part of the mission against the
house of Ahab which Jehu himself could not execute; for through herself the
taint of Ahab's blood had been given to the house of David. Her fell purpose was
promptly executed. All her grandsons were slain in one day, with the exception
of Joash, an infant, who was stolen away by his aunt Jehosheba, the wife of the
high-priest Jehoiada and daughter of the late king Ahaziah, and hidden with his
nurse in one of the chambers of the temple. Thus, in the providence of God, the
royal line of the house of David was preserved from utter extinction. No retreat
could have been more secure than that which was chosen for the infant prince;
for not only were the apartments of the temple under the sole direction of the
priests, and to the innermost of which no others had access; but Athaliah had
put herself out of the way of obtaining information of the fact by her entire
neglect of the temple and the institutions connected with it. And although she
did not, indeed could not, actually put down the temple-worship, her preference
and favor was given to the temple of Baal, and his high-priest, Mattan, was
upheld by her as of equal rank and importance with the high-priest of Jehovah.
ATHALIAH DESPISED Now although the Judahites were but too prone to fall into
idolatry, the good effects of the reforms of Asa and Jehoshaphat, and of the
principles which the latter has been so careful to inculcate, did not so soon
evaporate as to dispose the people generally to approve or concur in the rapid
and decisive measures which Athaliah had taken in establishing the worship of
Baal; and when to this was added their natural abhorrence of the barbarous
massacre which rooted her throne in blood, and their dislike, in common with all
orientals, at the public rule of a woman, we have a sufficient explanation of
the fact that the public feeling was not with queen Athaliah, and that, indeed,
her rule was regarded with such disgust as disposed the people to hail with joy
the advent of their hidden king. JOASH CROWNED Joash remained six years
concealed in the secret chambers of the temple, his existence even, much more
his presence there, being unknown and unsuspected by Athaliah and others, as it
was supposed he had perished in the slaughter of his father's sons. In the
seventh year the high-priest Jehoiada judged that the fit time had arrived for
the disclosure. He therefore made known the secret to some of the chiefs and
military commanders on whom he could depend, and received from them the promise
to concur in the bold act of proclaiming and crowning the rightful king. Joash
was now only seven years of age; but good reason was seen to prefer the regency
of such a man as Jehoiada to the reign of such a woman as Athaliah. The persons
whom Jehoiada had admitted to his confidence went about the country gaining over
the paternal chiefs, and inducing them, as well as the Levites not on duty, to
repair to Jerusalem. When all the adherents thus acquired had come to the
metropolis, the high-priest concerted with them the plan of operations.
According to this it was determined that the partisans of the young prince
should be divided into three bodies, one of which was to guard the prince in the
temple, the second to keep all the avenues, and the third was placed at the gate
leading to the royal palace. The people were to be admitted as usual to the
outer courts. Then the armories of the temple were opened, and the spears,
bucklers, and shields of King David were distributed to these parties, as well
as to the Levites, who were to form an impenetrable barrier around the king
during the ceremony. When all was disposed in this order, the high-priest
appeared, leading by the hand the last scion of the royal house of David. He
placed him by the pillar where the kings were usually stationed, and having
anointed him with the sacred oil, he placed the crown upon his head, arrayed him
in royal robes, and gave into his hands the book of the law, on which the usual
oaths were administered to him. He was then seated on a throne which had been
provided, in doing which he was hailed and recognized by the acclamations of
“Long live the king.” ATHALIAH SLAIN By this time Athaliah had observed some
indications of an extraordinary movement in the temple; and when these rejoicing
clamors broke upon her ear, she hastened thither, and penetrated even to the
court of the priests, where the sight met her view of the enthroned boy,
crowned, and royally arrayed, while the hereditary chiefs, the military
commanders and the Levites, stood at their several stations as in attendance on
their king,-the latter, as was their wont in the temple, blowing their trumpets,
and playing on their various instruments of music. No sooner did Athaliah behold
this, than she rent her clothes, crying, “Treason! treason!” Jehoiada fearing
that the guards would kill her on the spot, and thus pollute the holy place with
human blood, which was most abhorrent to God, directed them to take her outside
the temple courts, and there she was put to death. The king was then conducted
with great pomp to the palace, escorted by all his guard, and there took
possession of the throne of his fathers. BAAL WORSHIP STOPPED Jehoiada, without
any formal appointment, appears to have been recognized, with one consent, as
the guardian of the king and regent of the kingdom. He availed himself of the
favorable dispositions which now existed, to induce the people to renew their
ancient covenant with Jehovah. This precaution had become necessary from the
long continuance of an idolatrous government. Actuated by the impulse thus
received and the enthusiasm thus excited, and led by the priests and Levites of
Jehovah, the people proceeded once more to extirpate the idolatries of Baal.
They hastened to his temple, where they slew the high-priest Mattan before the
altars, and then pulled the whole fabric to the ground. And not only at
Jerusalem, but everywhere throughout the land, the temples, altars, and
monuments of Baal were utterly destroyed. JEHOIADA'S INFLUENCE Jehoiada, being
now at the head of affairs, both religious and civil, applied himself with great
diligence in bringing into an orderly and efficient condition the
administrations of both the court and temple, Those who hid signalized their
zeal in the restoration of the king, or were otherwise distinguished for their
abilities, were appointed to high posts in the state, while the services of the
temple were brought back to the models of David and Solomon. The glory of
restoring the fabric of the temple he reserved for the king, who accordingly, in
the twenty-third year of his reign, thoroughly repaired that famous structure,
after it had been built nearly one hundred and sixty years; and made numerous
vessels of gold and silver for the sacred services, and presented
burnt-offerings continually during the lifetime of Jehoiada, who died at the
great age of one hundred and thirty-seven years. He was honored with a sepulcher
among the kings of the family of David, “because he had done good in Israel.”
ZECHARIAH'S DEATH We may estimate the merits of Jehoiada's administration from
the evil consequences that followed his death. It then appeared that the good
qualities which the king had seemed to manifest were the effects rather of the
right counsels under which he had acted, than of any solid principles of good.
As we have before seen stronger and older men than Joash yielding to the
witcheries of idolatry, which seem so strange to us, we are the less surprised
at the fall of this king. It now appeared what deep root idolatry had taken in
the land during the years of its predominance under Jehoram, Ahaziah, and
Athaliah: and the men of station who had imbibed or had been brought up in its
principles, now reared themselves on high, as soon as the repressive power of
God's high-priest was withdrawn. They repaired to the royal court, and by their
attentions and flatteries so won upon the king that he was at length induced to
give first his tolerance, and then his sanction, to the rank idolatries by which
the two kingdoms had often been brought very low. Against this, Zechariah, the
son of the late high-priest and a near relation to the king, raised his voice,
and predicted the national calamities which would too surely follow; on which
the people rose upon him, and, having received a consenting intimation from the
king, stoned him to death in the very court of the temple. Thus did Joash repay
the deep obligations, for his life and throne, which he owed to the house of
Jehoiada. “The Lord look upon it and require it!”[338] was the prayer of the
dying martyr. And He did require it. That very year, Hazael of Syria, who was
then in possession of Gilead, advanced against Jerusalem, and, although his
force was but small, defeated a large army which opposed him, and entered the,
city, from which he returned with abundant plunder to his own country. The
chiefs who had seduced Joash were slain in the battle; and the king himself, who
had been grievously wounded, was soon after murdered by his own servants, and
the public voice refused the honors of a royal burial to his remains. He reigned
forty years. [338] May not one of the essential differences of the Jewish and
Christian dispensations be illustrated by the last words of two men respectively
eminent in each, and dying under very similar circumstances? “Lord, lay not this
sin to their charge!” was the last cry of the dying Stephen. AMAZIAH'S REIGN
Joash was succeeded on the throne by his son Amaziah, then twenty-five years of
age. The first act of his reign was to punish the murderers of his father: but
it is mentioned that he respected the law of Moses by not including their
children in their doom; and this seems to show that a contrary practice had
previously prevailed. About the twelfth year of his reign, Amaziah took measures
for reducing to their former subjection the Edomites, who had revolted in the
time of Jehoram. Not satisfied with the strength he could raise in his own
kingdom, the king of Judah hired a hundred thousand auxiliaries out of Israel
for a hundred talents of silver. But these were tainted with idolatry: on which
account a prophet was commissioned to exhort Amaziah to forego their assistance,
and dismiss them. By a memorable act of faith, the king at once yielded to this
hard demand, and sent home the Israelites, for whose services he had already
paid. He then gained a decisive victory over the Edomites in the Salt valley, at
the southern extremity of the Dead sea. Ten thousand of the Edomites fell; and
ten thousand more were cast down from the cliffs of their native mountains, and
dashed in pieces.[339] [339] This was probably at or in the neighborhood of
Petra, of Mount Seir. This victory was the ruin of Amaziah, whose conduct had
been hitherto praiseworthy. The idols of Edom, which he brought home among the
spoil, proved a snare to him; and, in the end, he fell to the worship of “the
gods who could not deliver their own people:” for which he was, without effect,
upbraided by a prophet, and threatened with destructions from God. VICTORY OVER
EDOMITES The Israelites whom the king of Judah had dismissed from his army were
filled with resentment at the indignity cast upon them, and probably
disappointed in their hope of a share in the spoils of Edom. To testify their
resentment, and to obtain compensation, they smote and plundered several of the
towns of Judah, on their homeward march, and destroyed many of the inhabitants.
It was probably on this account that Amaziah, elated by his victory over the
Edomites, determined to make war upon Israel. It is singular that, instead of
commencing, as usual, by some aggressive movement or overt act of warfare,
Amaziah sent a formal challenge to the king of Israel, inviting a pitched
battle, in the phrase, “Come, and let us look one another in the face.” The
truly oriental answer of Joash seemed designed to dissuade him from this
undertaking, but was conceived in terms not well calculated to accomplish the
object: “A thistle that was in Lebanon, sent to the cedar of Lebanon, saying,
'Give thy daughter to my son to wife:' and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and
trod down the thistle. Thou sayest, 'Lo! I have smitten the Edomites,' and thy
heart is lifted up. Abide now at home: why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt, so
that thou shouldest fall, and Judah with thee?” But Amaziah was not to be thus
deterred. The two kings met in battle. Amaziah was defeated and taken prisoner,
and his army routed at Beth-shemesh. Joash then pursued his triumphant march to
Jerusalem, which he plundered, and spared not to lay his hands upon the sacred
things of the temple. He also broke down four hundred cubits of the city wall.
He however restored Amaziah to his throne, but took hostages with him on his
return to Samaria. AMAZIAH DIES The life of Amaziah ended in a conspiracy, which
may have been induced by the disgrace which he had brought upon the nation. This
conspiracy was discovered by him, and he hastened to the fortified town of
Lachish. But he was pursued and slain by the conspirators, who brought back his
body “upon horses to Jerusalem,” where a place in the sepulchers of his fathers
was not denied him. He reigned twenty-nine years--B.C. 809. UZZIAH'S SELF
INTERESTS Uzziah, otherwise called Azariah, was only five years old when his
father was slain. The Judahites were in no haste to tender their allegiance to
an infant. They waited until he was sixteen years of age, and he was then
formally called to the throne.[340] “Much favorable influence upon the character
of Uzziah is attributed to the early instruction and subsequent influence of the
wise and holy Zechariah.[341] His adhesion to the principles of the theocracy
secured him prosperity and honor. He paid equal attention to the arts of peace
and of war; and he throve in all the under-takings, whether of war or peace, to
which he put his hand. In the arts which belong to both, he encouraged and
promoted various improvements; and it may be pardoned in an oriental king, if;
in his improvements and undertakings, his own interest and glory was the
inciting motive. It is rare, and in fact difficult, for an oriental monarch
(considering the institutions by which he is surrounded, and the ideas which
press upon him) to contemplate the interests of his people otherwise than as a
contingent effect of undertakings in which his own interests and glory are the
primary motives. So Uzziah performed the good deed of building towers and
digging wells in the desert; but the reason immediately follows: “For he had
many cattle both in the valleys and in the plains.” He also “loved husbandry,”
and planted vineyards; and, accordingly, “he had ground-tillers and
vine-dressers[342] in the mountains and in Carmel.” These were laudable things;
for the people could not but be benefited by them, even though their benefit
were less the immediate intention than the indirect effect. [340] This naturally
accounts for the length of the interregnum (2 Kings 15:1-2; 2 Chronicles 26:1).
Amaziah was slain fifteen years current after the death of Jehoash, king of
Israel (2 Kings 14:17), or fourteen years complete from the accession of
Jeroboam II, his son: and Azariah, or Uzziah, did not begin to reign till the
twenty-fifth of Jeroboam (according to the foregoing correction, instead of the
twenty-seventh year, 2 Kings 15:1), which gives the length of the interregnum
eleven years complete”--Hales. [341] No one will, of course, confound this
person with the prophet of the same name, who lived long after. It is not, in
fact, known who he was. Some conjecture that he was the son of the Zechariah who
was slain in the time of Joash. But we know of no other foundation for this but
the name. The distance of time does not favor the conjecture which identifies
him with the Zechariah of Isaiah 8:2. [342] See p373. The same may even less
doubtfully be said of this king's military organizations and improvements. New
fortifications were built and the old repaired. At Jerusalem not only were the
injuries which the walls had sustained repaired, but the gates and angles were
strengthened with towers; and on these were mounted engines invented by skilful
men, and made under the king's encouragement and direction, for the purpose of
discharging arrows and great stones. It may be doubtful whether these engines
were invented by Hebrew engineers, or successfully copied by them from
foreigners. We have certainly no opinion that the Hebrews had much genius for
mechanical invention; but we are bound to say the antiquities of Egypt, in the
numerous warlike scenes which they represent, do not, as far as we know, contain
any examples of projectile engines: and it must be admitted that in the art of
war many ingenious devices originate with nations not otherwise distinguished
for their inventive faculties. UZZIAH'S MILITARY ENGAGEMENTS Uzziah provided
ample stores of weapons and armor--spears, shields, helmets, breastplates, bows,
and stone-slings--for the numerous body which he enrolled as ready to be called
into action, and which consisted of not less than 307,500 men under 2,600
paternal chiefs. This formed a sort of militia, divided into bands, liable to be
called into actual service by rotation, according to the number required.
Egyptian Vintage and Vine-dressers With this force, and under these
arrangements, Uzziah was enabled to establish and extend his power. He recovered
possession of the port of Elath on the Red sea; he got possession of the
principal Philistine towns, Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. The Arab hordes on the
borders were subdued; and the Ammonites were reduced to tribute. UZZIAH BECOMES
LEPER Elated by all this prosperity, the king of Judah saw not why he should be
precluded from a distinction which other monarchs enjoyed, and which his
neighbor of Israel probably exercised--that of officiating on particular
occasions at the incense-altar, as high-priest. He made the attempt. He went
into the holy place, which none but the priests might lawfully enter, to offer
incense on the altar there; but was followed by the high-priest, Azariah, and by
eighty other priests, who opposed his design, and warned him of his trespass.
The king, made wrathful by this opposition, seized the censer to offer incense;
but in that moment he was smitten with leprosy, the marks of which appeared
visibly on his forehead. On perceiving this, the priests thrust him forth as a
pollution; nay, confounded and conscience-smitten, he hastened to leave the
place.[343] From that day he was obliged to live apart as a leper, and his son
Jotham administered the affairs of the government in his father's name. The year
in which this happened is not well determined; but the whole duration of his
reign was fifty-two years. This is the Iongest reign of any king of Judah, with
the sole exception of Manasseh. Isaiah received his appointment to the prophetic
office in the year that King Uzziah died (B.C. 757); and Amos, Hoshea, and
probably Joel, began to prophecy in his reign. [343] To this prodigy Josephus
adds an earthquake, which, he says, shook the earth with such violence that the
roof of the temple was rent; and one half of a mountain on the west of Jerusalem
fell, or rather slipped, into the valley below, covering the royal gardens.
JOTHAM'S REIGN The death of Uzziah left the kingdom under the same actual ruler,
but exchanged his regency for the sovereignty. Jotham was twenty-five years old
when he began to reign. He was a good and prosperous prince, and during the
sixteen years of his separate reign continued the improvements and plans of his
father. He built several fortresses, and confirmed the subjection of the
Ammonites to his scepter. It was in this reign[344] that the city of Rome was
founded, with the destinies of which the Hebrews were in the end to be so
intimately connected. Jotham died in the year B.C. 741. [344] B.C. 748, or
according to others, 750 or 752, all which dates fell in this reign. AHAZ' REIGN
Ahaz succeeded Jotham when he was twenty years of age. He proved the most
corrupt monarch that the house of David had as yet produced. He respected
neither Jehovah, the law, nor the prophets; he broke through all the salutary
restraints which law and usage imposed upon the Hebrew kings, and regarded
nothing but his own depraved inclinations. He introduced the Syrian idolatry
into Jerusalem, erected altars to the Syrian gods, altered the temple in many
respects, according to the Syrian model, and finally caused it to be entirely
shut up. For these things, adversities and punishments came soon upon him. JUDAH
ATTACKED Pekah king of Israel, and Rezin king of Syria, had formed an alliance
against Judah in the last year of Jotham, which began to take effect as soon as
Ahaz had evinced the unworthiness of his character. The object of this alliance
appears to have been no. less than to dethrone the house of David, and to make
“the son of Tabeal” king in the room of Ahaz.[345] [345] Isaiah 7:5-6. Of this
“son of Tabeal” nothing is known, although much has been conjectured. Some make
it to be Pekah himself, but the interpretation on which it is founded is not
very sound, although the thing itself might not be unlikely. In this war Elath
was taken from Judah by the king of Syria, who restored it to the Edomites. He
also defeated Ahaz in battle and carried away large numbers of his subjects as
captives to Damascus. Pekah on his part was equally successful. He slew in one
day 120,000 men of Judah, and carried away captives not fewer than 200,000 women
and children, together with much spoil, to Samaria. But on his arrival there he
was met by the prophet Obed, and by some of the chiefs of Ephraim. The former
awakened the king's apprehensions for the consequences of the Divine anger on
account of the evil already committed against the house of Judah, and exhorted
him not to add to this evil and to their danger, by reducing the women and
children of that kindred state to bondage. The prophet was vigorously seconded
by the chiefs, who positively declared to the troops, “Ye shall not bring in
hither these captives to increase our guilt before Jehovah. Intend ye to add to
our sin and to our trespass? for our trespass is great, and fierce is the wrath
of Jehovah against Israel.” On hearing this the warriors abandoned their
captives, and left them in the hands of the chiefs, who, with the concurrence
and help of the people, “took the captives, and from the spoil clothed all that
were naked among them, and arrayed and shod them, and gave them to eat and
drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and
brought them to Jericho, the city of palm-trees, to their brethren.” This
beautiful incident comes over our sense as might some strain of soft and happy
music amid the bray of trumpets and the alarms of war. It also proves that, even
in the worst of times, a righteous few were found, even in Israel, who honored
the God of their fathers and stood in dread of his judgments. ISAIAH'S ACCOUNT
The narrative in Isaiah records an unsuccessful attempt of the confederates
against Jerusalem, the proper place of which in the history is not easily found,
but which may appear to have been posterior to the occurrences which have been
related. At the same time, the Edomites and Philistines invaded the south of
Judah, and took possession of several cities of the low country, with their
villages, and occupied them. Thus harassed on every hand, the besotted king
rejected a token of deliverance which Isaiah was commissioned to offer him from
God, under the pretext that he “would not tempt Jehovah,” but in reality,
because he had already chosen another alternative. This was to induce
Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria, to make a diversion in his favor by
invading the kingdoms of Syria and Israel. ASSYRIA'S ATTACK ON ISRAEL AND SYRIA
Pul, the father of this king, was the first Assyrian monarch who took part in
the affairs of the West. By invading Israel, he had made known the power of that
monarchy to Syria and Palestine. Tiglath-Pileser, for his own objects, lent a
willing ear to the suit of Ahaz, who professed himself his vassal, and sent him
a subsidy of all the sacred and royal treasures. He marched an army westward,
defeated and slew Rezin the king of Syria, took Damascus, and sent the
inhabitants away into Assyria--thus putting an end to that monarchy of
Damascene-Syria, which has so often come under our notice. At the same time he
carried away the tribes beyond Jordan--Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh--captives
to Media, where they were planted in Halah, Habor, and on the River Gozan; and
to them he added the other half of the tribe of Manasseh which was seated in
Galilee. Syria, with the countries of Gilead and Bashan, were thus annexed to
the dominions of the Assyrian king, who remained some time at Damascus, settling
his conquests. Ahaz had small cause to rejoice in this alteration, for although
he was delivered from his immediate fears, the formidable Assyrian had now
become his near neighbor, and was not likely to treat him with much
consideration; and in fact the result was that “he distressed Ahaz, and
strengthened him not.” The king of Judah, however, found it prudent to visit
Tiglath-Pileser at Damascus, to congratulate him on his victories, and to tender
his homage. This visit only taught him new fashions of idolatry and sin; which
on his return home he continued to practise apparently until his death, which
took place in B.C. 725, after a disgraceful reign of sixteen years. He was
allowed a grave in Jerusalem; but no place in the sepulcher of the kings was
granted to him.


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  CHAPTER 32: ISRAEL, FROM B.C. 931 TO B.C. 895
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ISRAEL, FROM B.C. 931 TO B.C. 895 AHAB AND JEZEBEL Ahab, the son of Omri,
mounted the throne of Israel in the year 931 B.C., being the thirty-eighth year
of Asa, king of Judah. This king was, throughout his reign of twenty-two years,
entirely under the influence of his idolatrous and unprincipled wife, Jezebel, a
daughter of Ethbaal, or Ithobalus, king of Tyre. Hitherto the irregularities
connected with the service before the golden calves, as symbols of Jehovah, had
formed the chief offence of Israel. But now Ahab and Jezebel united their
authority to introduce the gods of other nations. The king built a temple in
Samaria, erected an image, and consecrated a grove to Baal, the god of the
Sidonians. Jezebel, earnest in promoting the worship of her own god, maintained
a multitude of priests and prophets of Baal. In a few years idolatry became the
predominant religion of the land; and Jehovah, and the golden calves as
representations of him, were viewed with no more reverence than Baal and his
image. It now appeared as if the knowledge of the true God was forever lost to
the Israelites; but Elijah the prophet boldly stood up, and opposed himself to
the authority of the king, and succeeded in retaining many of his countrymen in
the worship of Jehovah. The greater the power was which supported idolatry, so
much the more striking were the prophecies and miracles which directed the
attention of the Israelites to Jehovah, and brought disgrace upon the idols, and
confusion on their worshippers. The history of this great and memorable struggle
gives to the narrative of Ahab's reign an unusual prominence and extent in the
Hebrew annals; and although a writer studious of brevity might at the first view
be disposed to omit, as episodical, much of the history of Elijah the
Tishbite,[317] a little reflection will render it manifest that the prominence
given to the history of this illustrious champion for the truth, was a designed
and necessary result from the fact that the history of the Hebrew nation is the
history of a church; and that although the history of this great controversy
might be omitted or overlooked by those who erroneously regard the history of
the Hebrews merely as a political history, in the other point of view it becomes
of the most vital importance. [317] He is introduced as “Elijah the Tishbite, of
the inhabitants of Gilead.” It is probable therefore that the designation of
“Tishbite” is from some town in Gilead, which can not now be clearly
ascertained. ELIJAH ANNOUNCES DROUGHT The first appearance of Elijah is with
great abruptness to announce a drought, and consequent famine, for the
punishment of the idolatry into which the nation had fallen; and that this
calamity should only be removed at his own intercession. He apprehended that the
iniquities of the land would bring down upon it destruction from God; and he
therefore prayed for this lesser visitation, which might possibly bring the king
and people to repentance. ELIJAH HIDDEN AND NOURISHED After such a denunciation,
it was necessary that the prophet should withdraw himself from the presence and
solicitations of the king, when the drought should commence, which it did,
probably about the sixth year of Ahab. Accordingly, obeying the directions of
the divine oracle, he withdrew to his native district beyond Jordan, and hid
himself in a cave by tiny brook Cherith; where the providence of God secured his
support by putting it into the hearts of the Arabs encamped in the neighborhood,
to send him bread and meat every morning and evening; and the brook furnished
him with drink, until “the end of the year,” or beginning of spring, when it was
dried up from the continued drought. OBADIAH It was probably under the
irritation produced by the first pressure of the calamity, that Jezebel induced
the king to issue orders for the destruction of all the prophets of Jehovah.
Many of them perished: but a good and devout man, even in the Palace of
Ahab--Obadiah, the steward of his household--managed to save a hundred of the
number by sheltering them in caverns, where he provided for their maintenance
until, probably, an opportunity was found for their escape into the kingdom of
Judah. WIDOW'S PROVISION When the brook of Cherith was dried up, the prophet was
then directed the by Divine Voice to proceed westward to Sarepta, a town of
Sidon, under the dominion of Jezebel's father; where he lodged with a poor
widow, and was miraculously supported with her and her family for a considerable
time, according to his own prediction--“that her single barrel of meal should
not waste, nor her single cruse of oil fail, until that day when Jehovah should
send rain upon the earth.” While he remained at this place, the prophet, by his
prayers to God, restored to life the son of the widow with whom he lodged. Here
he stayed until the end of three years from the commencement of the drought,
when he was commanded to go and show himself to Ahab. That king had meanwhile
caused the most diligent search to be made for him in every quarter, doubtless
with the view of inducing him to offer up those intercessions through which
alone the present grievous calamity could terminate. But at this time, having
probably relinquished this search as hopeless, the attention of the king was
directed to the discovery of any retraining supplies of water which might still
exist in the land. He had, for the purposes of this exploration, divided the
country between himself and Obadiah; and both proceeded personally to visit all
the brooks and fountains of the land. Obadiah was journeying on this mission,
when Elijah, who was returning from Sarepta, met him, and commissioned him to
announce his arrival to Ahab. The king, when he saw the prophet, reproached him
as the cause of the national calamities--“Art thou he that troubleth Israel?”
But the prophet boldly retorted the charge upon himself and his father's house,
because they had forsaken Jehovah and followed Baal. He then secured the
attention of the king by intimating an intention of interceding for rain; and
required him to call a general assembly of all the people at Mount Carmel, and
also to bring all the prophets or priests of Baal,[318] and of the groves. [318]
Baal was the supreme male divinity of the Phoenician and Canaanitish nations.
The plural, Baalim, to frequently found in the Old Testament. The word in Hebrew
means Master, Owner, Possessor. The worship of this idol was practiced from a
very remote antiquity among the Moabites and Midianites, and through the
influence of these nations the Israelites were seduced to the worship of this
god, which became extensively prevalent in the times of the kings--Ed. ELIJAH
CHALLENGES BAAL There, in the audience of that vast assembly, Elijah reproached
the people with the destruction of the prophets of Jehovah, of whom, he alleged,
that he alone remained, while the prophets of Baal alone were four hundred and
fifty, fed at the table of Jezebel; and then he called them to account for their
divided worship--“How long halt ye between two opinions? If Jehovah be the God,
follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” The people intimated their
uncertainty by their silence to this appeal; on which the prophet, fully
conscious of his unlimited commission, proposed a solemn sacrifice to each, and
“the God that answereth by fire (to consume his sacrifice) let him be the God.”
As this was a fair trial of Baal's supposed power in his own element, the most
zealous of his worshippers could make no objection to it, and the proposal was
approved by all the people. Accordingly, when Baal answered not the earnest and
ultimately maddened invocations of his prophets--but Jehovah instantly answered
the prayer of Elijah, by sending fire (as on former occasions) to consume the
victim on the altar, although it had previously been inundated with water by the
direction of the prophet--then the people, yielding to one mighty impulse of
conviction, fell upon their faces, and cried, “Jehovah, he is the God! Jehovah,
he is the God!”--thus also expressing that Baal was not the God, and rejecting
him. To ratify this abjuration of Baal, Elijah commanded them to destroy his
priests; and this, in the enthusiasm of their re-kindled zeal for Jehovah, they
immediately did, at the brook Kishon, which had been the scene of Barak's
victory over the Canaanites. RAIN COMES Immediately after this sublime national
act of acknowledgment of Jehovah and rejection of Baal, the prophet went up to
the top of Carmel, and prayed fervently for rain seven times; the promise of
which (speedily followed by fulfillment) at last appeared in the form of “a
little cloud like a man's hand,” rising out of the Mediterranean sea--a
phenomenon which, in warm maritime climates, is not the unusual harbinger of
rain. This remarkable transaction may be ascribed to the tenth year of Ahab's
reign. ELIJAH FLEES Elijah was now compelled to fly for his life, to avoid the
threatened vengeance of Jezebel for the destruction of her prophets. He fled
southward, and when he had travelled nearly 100 miles, from Samaria to
Beersheba, he left his servant and went alone a day's journey into the
wilderness. There he sat, for rest and shelter, under the scanty shade which a
broom-tree offered, the mighty spirit by which he had hitherto been sustained,
gave way, and he prayed for death to end his troubles. “It is enough:” he cried,
“now, O Jehovah, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers!” To
strengthen his now sinking faith, and reward his sufferings in the cause of the
God of Israel, whose honor he had so zealously vindicated, the prophet was
encouraged by an angel to undertake a long journey to “the mount of God,” Horeb,
where the Divine presence had been manifested to Moses, the founder of the law;
and of which a further manifestation was now probably promised to this Great
champion and restorer of the same law. On this mysterious occasion the angel
touched him twice, to rouse him from his sleep, and twice made him eat of food
which he found prepared for him. In the strength which that food gave, the
prophet journeyed (doubtless by a circuitous route) forty days, until he came,
it is supposed, to the cave where Moses was stationed, when he saw the glory of
Jehovah in “the cleft of the rock.” GOD COMMISSIONS ELIJAH There he heard the
voice of Jehovah calling to him, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” The prophet,
evidently recognizing that voice, said, “I have been very zealous for Jehovah,
the God of Hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown
down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword, and I only am left; and
they seek my life to take it away.” Then the voice commanded him to go forth,
for Jehovah was about to pass by. The first harbinger of the Divine presence was
a great and strong wind, which rent the mountain and brake the rock in pieces;
but Jehovah was not in that wind. Then followed an earthquake; but Jehovah was
not in the earthquake. This was succeeded by a fire; but Jehovah was not in the
fire. After this, came “a still, small Voice;” and when the prophet heard it, he
knew the Voice of God, and, reverently hiding his face in his mantle, he stood
forth in the entrance of the cave. The Voice repeated the former question, “What
doest thou here, Elijah?” to which the same answer as before was returned. The
Voice, in reply, gently rebuked the prophet for his crimination of the whole
people of Israel, and his discouraging representation of himself as the only
prophet left. “I have yet left to me seven thousand men, in Israel, who have not
bowed the knee to Baal.” He was further instructed to return by a different
route, by the way of Damascus ; and, by the way to anoint or appoint Elisha to
be his own successor, and (either by himself or Elisha), Hazael to be king of
Damascene-Syria, and Jehu to be king of Israel--as the chosen ministers of
Divine vengeance upon the house and people of Ahab. ELISHA COMMISSIONED Of the
three, Elisha was the only one to whom Elijah himself made known this
appointment. Elisha was the son of Shaphat, an opulent man of Abel-maholah, in
the half-tribe of Manasseh, west of the Jordan. The prophet found him plowing
with twelve yoke of oxen, when, by a significant action, still well understood
in the East, that of throwing his own mantle upon him, he conveyed the
intimation of his prophetic call. That call was understood and obeyed by Elisha;
and after having, with the prophet's permission, taken leave of his parents, he
hastened to follow Elijah, to whom he ever after remained attached. AHAB
ATTACKED It is singular that the first formal alliance between the kingdoms of
Israel and Judah took place during the reigns of two princes of such opposite
characters as Ahab in Israel, and Jehoshaphat in Judah. But it was so: and in
forming it, and in cementing it by the marriage of his eldest son Jehoram to
Athaliah the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, he doubtless acted from very
ill-considered policy, and laid in a great store of disasters for himself and
his house. It is unfortunate that we are unacquainted with the motives which led
to this most unhappy connection. A close and intimate union between the two
kingdoms could not but be, to itself, a political good; and the error of
Jehoshaphat probably lay in this fact by itself, without taking due account of
that evil character of Ahab and his house, and that alienation of his people
from God, which were calculated to neutralize, and actually did far more than
neutralize, the natural advantages of such alliance. The marriage took place in
the fifteenth year of Ahab's, and the thirteenth of Jehoshaphat's reign. Not
long after this, Ahab had cause to be alarmed at the designs of Ben-hadad, the
king of Damascene-Syria, which kingdom had been gathering such strength, while
that of the Hebrews had been weakened by divisions and by misconduct, that ever
the subjugation of Israel did not seem to Ben-hadad an enterprise to which his
ambition might not aspire. To this end he made immense preparations: he claimed
the united aid of all his tributary princes, thirty-two in number, and
ultimately appeared with all his forces before Samaria, to which he laid siege.
He first summoned Ahab to deliver up all his most precious things; and,
compelled by dire necessity, the king of Israel consented. But Ben-hadad was
only induced by this readiness of yielding, to enhance his terms, and sent
further demands, which were so very hard and insulting, that the spirit of Ahab
was at last roused, and, supported by the advice of his council, he determined
to act on the defensive. Soon after a prophet came with the promise of victory
over the vast host of the Syrians, by means of a mere handful of spirited young
men who were particularly indicated. BEN-HADAD FLEES The confidence of the
Syrians was so great that they led a careless and jovial life, thinking of
little but of indulgence in wine and good cheer, of which the king himself set
the example. In the midst of these feasts, a body of two hundred and thirty-two
men was seen to leave the city, and advance toward the camp. Ben-hadad, when he
heard of it, quietly ordered them to be taken alive, whether they came for peace
or for war. But suddenly these men fell upon the advanced sentinels, and upon
all who were near them; and the cries and confusion of so many persons, taken as
it were by surprise, were instrumental in creating a general panic among the
vast Syrian host. Drawn himself by the irresistible movement, Ben-hadad fled on
horseback, with all his army; and the troops of Israel (7,000 in number), which
attended the motions and watched the effect of the sally of the brave two
hundred and thirty-two, closely pursued the flying Syrians, and rendered the
victory complete. BEN-HADAD ATTACKS AGAIN The prophet who foretold this victory
now apprized Ahab that Ben-hadad would renew his attempt the ensuing year. This
took place accordingly. The Syrians came in equal force as before, and, as they
thought, with wiser counsels. The kingdom of Damascene-Syria was mostly a plain;
whereas the kingdom of Israel, and the site of Samaria, in particular, was
mountainous. Rightly attributing their defeat to the God (or, as they chose in
their idolatrous ignorance, to say the gods) of Israel, they reasoned that he
was a god of the hills, and therefore among the hills more powerful than their
gods, who were gods of the valleys and the plains. Instead, therefore of going
among the hills as before, they would now fight in the plains, where they could
not doubt of success. This reasoning, however absurd it now seems to us and did
then seem (such were their privileges) to all enlightened Israelites, was in
strict and philosophical accordance with the first principles of idolatry and
the general system of national and local deities. But such a view being taken by
them it became necessary to Jehovah to vindicate his own honor and assert his
omnipotence by their overthrow. For this reason he delivered this vast host that
covered the land into the hands of the comparatively small and feeble host of
Israel. The Syrians were cut in pieces; 100,000 of their number were left dead
upon the field of battle, and the rest were entirely dispersed. Ben-hadad, with
a large number of the fugitives, sought refuge in Aphek; but by the sudden fall
of the wall of that fortified town, 27,000 of his men were crushed to death, and
the place was rendered defenseless. Nothing was now left to him but to yield
himself up to Ahab. That monarch, weak and criminal by turns, received the
Syrian king into his friendship, and formed an impious alliance with him,
regardless not only of the law, but of the honor of God, who had given him the
victory, and had delivered for punishment into his hands this blasphemer and
enemy of his Great Name. For this he was in the name of Jehovah, severely
rebuked and threatened by one of “the sons of the prophets,” by the way-side; in
consequence he withdrew to his palace “heavy and displeased.” Terrace
Cultivation

NABOTH'S VINEYARD The history of Ahab affords one more, and the last, interview
between him and Elijah. This was about nine years after the band solemnity at
Mount Carmel, and the nineteenth of Ahab's reign. At that time the king took a
fancy to enlarge his own garden by taking into it an adjoining vineyard which
formed part of the patrimonial estate of a person named Naboth. He made him the
fair offer of its value in money, or to give him some other piece of land of
equal value. But Naboth, considering it a religious duty to preserve “the
inheritance of his fathers,” declined on any terms to alienate it. The reason
was good, and ought to have satisfied the king. But he received the refusal like
a spoiled child; he lay down upon his bed, and turned away his face to the wall,
and refused to take his food. When his wife heard this she came to him, and
having learned the cause of his grief, she said indignantly, “Dost thou not now
govern the kingdom of Israel; Arise, eat food, and let thine heart be cheerful;
the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite, I will give to thee.” Accordingly, she
procured Naboth to be put to death under the form of law. At a public feast he
was accused by suborned witnesses of blasphemy, for which he was stoned to
death, and his estates confiscated to the king. Jezebel then went to Ahab,
apprized him of what had happened, and told him to go down and take possession
of the vineyard. It is clear that if he did not suggest, he approved of the
crime, and proceeded with joy to reap the fruits of it. But in the vineyard of
Naboth, the unexpected and unwelcome sight of Elijah the prophet met his view.
Struck by his own conscience, he cried, “Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?” To
which Elijah replied, “I have found thee, because thou hast sold thyself to work
evil in the eyes of Jehovah.” He then proceeded to denounce the doom of utter
extermination upon himself and his house for his manifold iniquities; and then,
with reference to the immediate offence, he said, “Hast thou slain and also
taken possession? Thus saith Jehovah, In whatsoever place the dogs licked up the
blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick up thy blood, even thine. And concerning
Jezebel, Jehovah hath also spoken, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel under the
wall of Jezreel. Him who dieth of Ahab in the city shall the dogs eat; and him
that dieth in the fields shall the fowls of the air, eat.” We are immediately
reminded, however, that this terrible doom, although now denounced, as following
this crowning deed of guilt, was really a consequence of this and all the other
iniquities of Ahab's reign; for it is added, “Now there had been none like to
Ahab, who, stirred up by Jezebel his wife, sold himself to work wickedness in
the eyes of Jehovah. And he committed great abominations by going after vile
idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom Jehovah cast out before the
Israelites.” AHAB REPENTS When Ahab heard the heavy doom pronounced against him
by the prophet, “he rent his clothes (in token of extreme grief), and put
sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went
mournfully.” This conduct found some acceptance with God, who said to Elijah,
Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? Because he humbleth himself
before me? I will not bring the evil in his days, but in his son's days will I
bring this evil upon his house.” From the judicial sentence specially applicable
to the case of Naboth, there was, however, no dispensation; as it behooved the
Divine king to demonstrate that he still possessed and exercised the authority
of supreme civil governor, and that the kings were responsible to him and
punishable by him. This was signally shown in the sequel. MICAIAH THE PROPHET
Israel was now at peace with Syria, but it had not recovered possession of all
the places which had at different times been lost to that power. Of these,
Ramoth Gilead, beyond Jordan, was one which, from its proximity and importance,
Ahab was particularly anxious to regain possession. He therefore resolved to
expel the Syrian garrison from that place; and as he was aware that the attempt
would be opposed by the whole power of the Syrian kingdom, he claimed the
assistance of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, which that prince, with the
facility of disposition which formed the chief defect of his excellent
character; very readily granted. Nevertheless, when the preparations were
completed, Jehoshaphat, unsatisfied by the assurances of success which Ahab's
own “prophets” had given, desired that some other prophet of Jehovah should be
consulted. This request was more distasteful to Ahab than he liked to avow.
“There is yet one man,” he said, “Micaiah,[319] the son of Imlah, but him I
hate, because he prophesieth not good concerning me, but evil.” He was, however,
sent for; and although the messenger had strongly inculcated upon him the
necessity of making his counsel conformable to the wishes of the king; and the
predictions of his own prophets, the undaunted Micaiah boldly foretold the fatal
result of the expedition. At this the king was so much enraged, that he ordered
him to be kept in confinement, and fed with the bread and the water of
affliction until he returned in peace. “If thou return at all in peace,”
rejoined the faithful prophet, “then Jehovah hath not spoken by me.” [319]
Josephus and other ancient Jews understood that this Micaiah was the same
prophet who had rebuked Ahab for his alliance with Ben-hadad. SYRIA ATTACKS
Ben-hadad, the king of Syria, repaid the misplaced kindness of Ahab by the most
bitter enmity against his person; and he gave strict orders to his troops that
their principal object should be his destruction. Ahab seems to have had some
private information of this; for he went, himself, disguised to the battle, and
treacherously persuaded Jehoshaphat to appear in all the ensigns of his high
rank.[320] In consequence of this the king of Judah was nearly slain, being
surrounded by the Syrians, who pressed toward the point in which one royally
arrayed appeared. But they discovered their mistake in time, and turned their
attention in another direction. Ahab, with all his contrivance, could not avoid
his doom. A Syrian archer[321] sent forth from his bow an arrow at random.
Guided by the unseen Power which had numbered the days of Ahab, that arrow found
the disguised king, penetrated between the joints of his strong armor, and gave
him his death-wound. He directed his charioteer to drive him out of the battle;
but perceiving that a general action was coming on, he remained, and was held up
in his chariot until the evening, animating his friends by his voice and
presence. After the fall of night had terminated the combat, the king died, and
the army was directed to disperse. The body of Ahab was taken to Samaria, to be
deposited in the family sepulcher; and to mark the literal fulfillment of
Elijah's prophecy, the historian acquaints us that his chariot was washed, and
his armor rinsed in the pool of Samaria, where the dogs licked up the blood that
he had lost. Thus signally, in the mysterious dispensations of Divine
providence, were reconciled the seemingly discordant declarations of the two
prophets, one of whom had foretold his death at Ramoth Gilead, and the other
that dogs should claim his blood in Samaria. [320] Josephus supported by the
Septuagint, says he wore the royal robes of Ahab. [321] Josephus says this was
Naaman, who will soon come again before us. AHAB'S PALACE The history of Ahab is
almost exclusively occupied with the record of his guilt, and we are referred
for information concerning his other public acts to a chronicle which no longer
exists. But it transpires that he built several cities in Israel, and also a
palace, which, from the quantities of ivory with which it was ornamented, was
distinguished as “the ivory palace.” AHAZIAH REIGNS Ahab's death took place in
the year 909 B.C., after a reign of twenty-two years. He was succeeded in his
throne and in his sin by his son Ahaziah. The chief event of his short reign was
the revolt of the Moabites, who, since their subjection by David, had continued
to supply Israel with a rich tribute of flocks and fleeces.[322] Ahaziah himself
having received serious injuries by a fall through a lattice in an upper chamber
of his palace, sent messengers into the land of the Philistines, to consult
Baal-zebub, the fly-god of Ekron, whether he should recover. But they were met
on the way by the prophet Elijah, who sent them back to the king with a
denunciation of death, for his impiety in forsaking the God of Israel and
resorting to strange gods. The messengers knew not the prophet; but when they
described him to the king as a man clad with a hairy garment, and with a
leathern girdle about his loins, he recognized Elijah, and sent an officer with
fifty men to apprehend him. But the prophet, whom they found sitting upon a
hill, called down fire from heaven, which consumed this party, and also a
second; but he went voluntarily with the third, the officer in command of which
humbled himself before him, and besought him. The prophet confirmed to the king
himself his former denunciation of speedy death; and, accordingly, Ahaziah died,
after a short reign of two years, leaving no son to succeed him. This king
maintained the alliance which his father lead established with King Jehoshaphat,
and even persuaded that monarch to admit him to share in his contemplated
maritime expedition to the regions of Ophir, of which there will be occasion to
speak in the next chapter. [322] The annual tribute rendered by the Moabites had
been 100,000 lambs and 100,000 wethers (castrated male sheep) with their wool.
JEHORAM'S REIGN Ahaziah was succeeded by his brother Jehoram. This king, like
his predecessors, “did evil in the sight of Jehovah,” yet not to the same extent
of enormity as they; for although the loose and irregular service of the golden
calves was maintained y him, he overthrew the images of Baal, and discouraged
the grosser idolatries which his father and brother had introduced. ELISHA HAS
ELIJAH'S SPIRIT The first and most urgent care of the new king was to reduce to
obedience the Moabites, who, as just mentioned, lead revolted on the death of
Ahab. As the king of Judah had himself been troubled by the Moabites, he readily
undertook to take a very prominent part in this enterprise, to which he also
brought the support of his own tributary, the king of Edom. The plan of the
campaign was, that the allied army should invade the land of Moab in its least
defensible quarter, by going round by “the wilderness of Edom,” southward of the
Dead sea; which also offered the advantage that the forces of the king of Israel
could be successively joined by those of the kings of Judah and Edom on the
march. This circuitous march occupied led seven days; and toward the end of it
the army and the horses suffered greatly from thirst, probably occasioned by the
failure of the wells and brooks, from which an adequate supply of water had been
expected. Much loss had already been incurred through this unexpected drought,
and nothing less than utter ruin seemed to impend over the allies when they lay
on the borders of Moab, within view of the enemy, which had advanced to meet
them. In this emergency the very proper course occurred to Jehoshaphat of
consulting a prophet of Jehovah. On inquiry it was discovered that Elisha, “who
had poured water on the hands of Elijah”--a proverbial expression from the most
conspicuous act of service in a personal attendant--was the only prophet to be
found in that neighborhood. Full of the faith of his illustrious master, this
faithful disciple of Elijah had beheld the Jordan divide before that prophet,
and had been with him when, up-borne by the whirlwind, he was taken gloriously
away from the earth, in the chariot and horses which glowed like fire, and who
had substituted himself in his mission to work marvels and reprove kings in the
name of Jehovah. Already had the “spirit and power of Elias,” which abode in
him, been manifested to all Israel by the omens he had wrought. The waters of
the Jordan had divided before him, the second time, when smote by the fallen
mantle of Elijah--the bad waters of Jericho had become permanently wholesome at
his word--and to evince the power of his curse, bears from the woods had
destroyed forty-two young men belonging to idolatrous Bethel, who, joining
unbelief to insult, had bade him, in terms of mockery and derision--“Go up, thou
bald head! Go up, thou bald head!”--ascend after his master. ELISHA PROPHECIES
VICTORY The prophet, thus already distinguished, was sought in his retreat by
the three kings. His greeting of Jehoram was severe, “What have . to do with
thee? Get thee to the prophets of thy father and to the prophets of thy mother.”
Nevertheless, but avowedly on the sole account of the good Jehoshaphat, he
interested himself for the salvation of the army, which was in such imminent
danger: and, having consulted the Lord, he promised that on the morrow there
should be such an abundance of water, that the bed of the torrent, near which
the army was encamped, should not be able to contain it; and, more than this, he
also indicated that this should be but the prelude of a signal victory over and
complete ruin of the enemy. All things happened as he had said. In the morning,
at the time of offering sacrifice, the waters descended in such full-flood from
the heights of Edom, that the camp would have been submerged, had not the army,
by the direction of the prophet, previously dug large ditches to receive the
redundant waters. All this was unknown to the Moabites, who, when they arose in
the morning, and, on looking toward the camp of the allies, beheld the lurid
rays of the rising sun reflected from the waters, which now covered the arid
sands of yesterday, doubted not that it was blood which they saw, and formed the
not by any means improbable conclusion that the armies of Israel and Judah had
quarreled with and destroyed each other. They therefore rushed without the least
care or order to the pillage of the camp; but so far from finding it deserted,
they were surrounded and cut in pieces by the armed and now invigorated allies.
The remnant of the army was pursued into the interior of the country by the
conquerors, whose course was blackened by the fire and crimsoned by the sword.
Ultimately they invested the metropolitan city of Kir-haraseth,[323] in which
the king, Mesha, had taken refuge. One part of the walls had already been
destroyed, and the king, seeing he could no longer defend the place, attempted
to break through the besieging host at the head of seven hundred swordsmen. But
failing in this desperate effort, he sought to propitiate his cruel gods by
offering up the frightful sacrifice of his eldest son, the heir of his throne,
in the breach. Seized with horror at this spectacle, the conquering kings
abandoned the siege, withdrew from the country, and returned to their own
states. In taking this step they did not consider, or, perhaps, not care, that
they gave to the horrible act of the Moabite the very effect which he desired,
and enabled him to delude himself with the persuasion that his sacrifice had
been successful, and well-pleasing to the powers of Heaven. [323] The same place
which is otherwise called Rabbath-Moab, and, classically, Areopolis. ELISHA'S
LIFESTYLE In the remaining history of Jehoram's reign, the prophet Elisha
occupies nearly as conspicuous a place as Elijah did in that of Ahab. The
wonders wrought by his hands were numerous; but they were less signal, and less
attended with public and important results--less designed to effect public
objects, than those of his master. Indeed his national acts were less
considerable than those of Elijah; and although he possessed great influence,
and was undoubtedly the foremost man of his age, he wanted those energies of
character, and that consuming zeal which his predecessor manifested; or, perhaps
more correctly, the exigencies of the times were not such as to call for the
exercise of such endowments as had been possessed by Elijah. But although those
of his successor were different in their kind, we know not that, with regard to
the differing time, they were less useful or eminent. In this, and in a thousand
other historical examples--more especially in the history of the Hebrews--we see
men raised up for, and proportioned to, the times in which they live, and the
occasions which call for them. The most eminent of the prophets, since Moses,
was given to the most corrupt time; in which only a man of his indomitable,
ardent, and almost fierce spirit, could have been equal to the fiery and almost
single-handed struggle for God against principalities and powers. Elisha fell in
milder times, and was correspondingly of a milder character, although he was not
found unequal to any of the more trying circumstances which arose during the
period of his prophetic administration. Indeed his conduct on such occasions was
such as to suggest that it was only the milder spirit of the time on which he
fell, precluding occasion for their exercise, that prevented the manifestation
in him of that grander class of endowments which his predecessor displayed. As
it was, Elisha, instead of being like his master, driven by persecution from the
haunts of men to the deserts and the mountains, and reduced to a state of
dependence on the special providence of God, for the bread he ate, and the water
he drank--enjoyed a sufficiency of all things, and lived in honor and esteem
among his countrymen; and even among the purple and fine linen of king's courts,
the rough mantle of the prophet was regarded with respect. In such a history as
the present it is only necessary to report those of his acts which were
connected with, or bore upon, the public history of the nation; yet his more
private acts may be also briefly indicated for the sake of the illustration
which they afford of the spirit and manners of the time. OIL PAYS BAIL The first
of his operations which we read of, after that which connected him with the
deliverance of Israel and the defeat of the Moabites, was an act of benevolence
toward the widow of one of those “sons of the prophets” who had now come under
his supervision. He had died without having the means of satisfying a debt he
lead incurred,[324] in consequence of which the creditor was disposed to
indemnify himself by making bondsmen of her two sons; but on her complaint to
Elisha, he multiplied a small quantity of oil which she possessed, until the
price it brought more than sufficed to pay the implacable creditor. [324] The
Jews think the person was Obadiah, and that his debt was contracted on account
of the expense of maintaining the hundred prophets whom he concealed in caverns.
DEAD CHILD REVIVED The occasions of the prophet frequently led him to visit the
city of Shunem, which being observed by a benevolent woman, she suggested to her
husband that they should prepare a small separate apartment,[325] and furnish it
with a bed, a table, a seat, and a lamp; and that this should be reserved for
his use when he visited Shunem. This was accordingly done, and the prophet
accepted the hospitalities of these good Shunammites. Elisha was very sensible
of their kind attention, and wished to repay it by some substantial benefit. He
sent for the woman, and offered to speak to the king or to the captain of the
host on her behalf. This she declined; and the prophet felt at a loss what to do
for them, until it was suggested by his servant Gehazi that the woman had long
been childless, on which Elisha again sent for her, and as she stood
respectfully at the door, he conveyed to her the astonishing intimation that,
nine months thence, her arms should embrace a son. Accordingly, the child was
born, and had grown up, when one day he received a stroke of the sun on his
head, and died very soon. The mother laid him on the prophet's bed, and actuated
by an undefinable, but intelligible impulse, sought and obtained the permission
of her husband to go to Elisha, who was known to be then at Carmel. Accordingly
an ass was saddled, on which, driven by a servant on foot,[326] she sped to that
place. Elisha saw her afar off, and said to Gehazi, “Behold, yonder is the
Shunammite! Run now, I pray thee, and say to her--Is it well with thee? well
with thy husband? well with the child?” The bereaved mother answered, “Well,”
but pressed on toward the man of God. On approaching him she alighted from her
beast, and threw herself at his feet, on which she laid hold. The officious
Gehazi drew nigh to thrust her away, but Elisha checked him--“Let her alone; for
her soul is troubled within her: although Jehovah hath hidden from me the cause,
and hath not told me of it.” When, in a few broken exclamations, she had made
known the cause of her grief, the prophet gave his staff to Gehazi, with
instructions to go and lay it on the face of the child. But the mother refused
to leave the prophet, and he was induced to rise and return with her. They met
Gehazi on his way back, who told them, “The child is not awaked!” They hasted
on, and the prophet shut himself up with the child. It was not long before he
directed the mother to be called, and presented to her the living boy. [325]
Called in our version “a little chamber in the wall.” It denotes doubtless what
the Arabs still call by the same name (Oleah), which is a small building,
generally at some distance from the house, like a summer-house in our gardens.
[326] It is still the usual practice in the East for a man on foot to lead or
drive the ass on which a woman rides. POISONED STEW Another time, when there was
a dearth in the land, Elisha was at the school of the prophets at Gilgal; and at
the proper time, gave the order to the servants, “Set on the great pot, and
seeth pottage for the sons of the prophets.” When this was dressed, it was found
that a wild and bitter gourd had been gathered and shred into the pot by
mistake. “O man of God! there is death in the pot!” cried the sons of the
prophets, when they began to eat. But Elisha directed a handful of meal to be
cast into the pot, and it was found that all the poisonous qualities of the
pottage had disappeared. NAAMAN CLEANSED In the kingdom of Damascene-Syria, the
chief captain of the host, high in the favor and confidence of the king, was a
person called Naaman, who had the misfortune of being a leper. This, which would
have been a disqualification for all employment and society in Israel, could not
but be a great annoyance and distress to a public man in Syria. When therefore a
little Hebrew girl, who in a former war had been taken captive, and was now a
slave in the household of this personage, was heard to say, “Would to God my
lord were with the prophet, that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his
leprosy!” she was eagerly questioned on the matter, and the result was that the
king of Syria sent Naaman, with a splendid retinue, and camels laden with
presents[327] to Samaria, with a sufficiently laconic letter to the King
Jehoram. “When this letter cometh to thee, thou must recover from his leprosy
Naaman, my servant. Behold, I have sent him with it.” The king of Israel was
utterly confounded when he read this, epistle. He rent his clothes, and cried,
“Am I a god, to kill and to make alive, that this man sendeth to me to recover a
man of his leprosy? Consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh an occasion of
quarrelling with me.” Intelligence of this affair, and of the king's vexation,
was brought to Elisha, who desired that the Syrian stranger might be sent to
him. Accordingly Naaman came with his chariot and horses and imposing retinue,
and stood before the door of Elisha's house. The prophet did not retake his
appearance; but sent out a message directing him to go and bathe seven times in
the river Jordan. The self-esteem of the distinguished leper was much hurt at
this treatment. He expected that Elisha would have paid him personal attention
and respect, and would have healed him by an appeal to his God, Jehovah, and by
the stroking of his hand. He therefore turned and went away in a rage,
exclaiming, “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the
waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean?” His attendants, however,
succeeded in soothing him, and persuaded him to follow the prophet's directions;
and when he rose, perfectly cleansed, from the Jordan, his feelings turned to
conviction and gratitude; he returned to Samaria, and presented himself to the
prophet, declaring his belief that Jehovah was the true and only God, and that
henceforth he would offer burnt-offerings and sacrifices to no other. He would
also have pressed upon his acceptance a valuable present, but this was firmly
declined by Elisha; and when his covetous servant Gehazi, compromised the honor
of God and of his own master, by following the Syrian, to ask a gift in the name
of the prophet, the leprosy from which Naaman had been cleansed was declared by
the prophet to be the abiding portion of him and of his race. [327] The presents
included ten talents of silver, equal to fifteen thousand dollars, six thousand
shekels of gold, equal to sixty thousand dollars, and ten dresses of honor.
These and other miracles wrought by this prophet, fixed upon him personally the
regard and veneration of the people; and while there is reason to think that the
state of manners and of religion was not altogether so bad as it had been under
Ahab, the practices and ideas of their corrupt system of religion was now too
closely interwoven with their habits of life and mind to be easily shaken off.
They rested on their intermediate system. Habit had reconciled even their
consciences to it; and in general, to fall back upon it, after, having strayed
into foreign idolatries, was in their sight a complete and perfect reformation.
And as to the race of Ahab, that was hastening with rapid strides to its doom.
The famine which about this time desolated the land, and the new war with the
Syrians, which was carried on under the very walls of the capital, was met by
the king without any fixed faith, or any determinate rule of conduct; sometimes
he attributed his calamities to Elisha, and vowed his destruction; and at others
he resorted to that same prophet as to his only friend and deliverer. SYRIAN
ARMY BLINDED In this war the Syrians had laid an ambuscade, in which the king
would undoubtedly have perished had not Elisha ensured his safety by discovering
the plan of the enemy to him. This happened more than once; and the Syrian king
at first suspected treachery in his own camp; but being assured that it was
owing to Elisha, “who could tell the king of Israel the words he spoke in his
bed-chamber,” he was much irritated, and, with singular infatuation, dispatched
a column of his best troops to invest the town of Dothan, where the prophet then
abode, in such a manner that his escape seemed impossible to his own terrified
servant. “Fear not,” said Elisha, “for they that are with us are more than they
that are with them;” and then, praying that his eyes might be opened to the view
of “things invisible to mortal sight,” he beheld the mountain full of chariots
and horses, glowing like fire, round about the prophet. At his request, the
Syrian troop was then smitten with blindness, and in that condition he went
among them, and conducted them to the very gates of the hostile metropolis,
Samaria, where their eyes were opened, and he dismissed them in peace, after
inducing Jehoram to give them refreshment, instead of slaying them, as was his
own wish. This generous conduct seems to have had such good effect that the
Syrian hordes for the present abandoned their enterprise, and returned to their
own country. SEVEN YEARS OF FAMINE After this came on a severe famine, of seven
years' continuance, and the evils of it were aggravated by war, for the Syrian
king deemed this season of weakness and exhaustion too favorable for his designs
to be neglected. He marched directly to Samaria, and formally invested that
strong place, which, seemingly, he hoped less to gain by force of arms than by
so blockading it as ultimately to starve it into a surrender; which work, he
knew, was already more than half accomplished to his hands. The siege was
protracted until the inhabitants were driven to the most horrible shifts to
prolong their miserable existence. We are told that an ass's head was sold for
eighty silver shekels, equal to thirty dollars of our money, and the fourth part
of a cab[328] of vetches for five shekels, equal to three dollars of our money.
In this case the extremity of the famine is shown not merely by the cost of the
articles, but by the fact that the flesh of an ass, for which such an enormous
price was now paid, was forbidden by the law,[329] and could not be touched by a
Hebrew under ordinary circumstances. [328] The fourth part of a cab was less
than a pint of our measure. [329] No animal food was allowed but that of animals
which ruminate and divide the hoof. The ass does neither; and was therefore for
food more unclean than even the hog, which does divide the hoof although it does
not ruminate. ELISHA REBUKES UNBELIEF One day as the king was passing along the
ramparts, two women importunately demanded justice at his hands. They had
between them slain, boiled, and eaten the son of one of them, with the
understanding that the son of the other was next to be sacrificed to satisfy
their wants. But the mother of the living son relented, and refused to yield him
to so horrible a fate. This was the injustice of which the mother of the
slaughtered child complained, and for which she clamored for redress. When the
king heard this shocking case, he rent his clothes, which gave the people
present occasion to observe that his inner dress was the sackcloth of a mourner.
He might have remembered that such calamities had been threatened, ages back, by
Moses, as the suitable punishment of such iniquities as those into which Israel
had actually fallen (Deuteronomy 28:52-57). His indignation, however, turned
against Elisha (who had, perhaps, encouraged him to hold out by promises of
deliverance), and he swore that he should lose his head that day, and instantly
dispatched an officer to execute an intention so worthy of the son of Jezebel.
But the messenger was no sooner gone than he relented, and went hastily after
him, to revoke the order, and to excuse himself to Elisha. This moment of right
feeling was the moment in which deliverance was announced. “Thus saith Jehovah,”
said the prophet, when the king stood in his presence, “to-morrow about this
time shall a seah[330] of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of
barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.” This appeared so utterly
incredible to the courtier “on whose arm the king leaned,” that he said,
“Behold, were Jehovah to open windows in heaven, then this thing might be.” To
which the prophet severely retorted, “Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes,
but shalt not eat thereof.” [330] Somewhat more than a peck. FAMINE ENDS In
fact, during the following night, Jehovah caused the Syrians to hear a noise of
chariots and horses, which led them to conclude that Jehoram had contrived to
obtain assistance from the king of Egypt and other neighboring princes; and this
infused into them such a panic terror, that they precipitately raised the siege;
in the belief that they were pursued by a puissant army come to the relief of
Israel, they abandoned the camp with all their baggage and provisions. Toward
the morning, some lepers, who, as such, abode without the town, made up their
minds to go to the camp of the Syrians seeking food; for they concluded that it
was better to risk death by the Syrian sword than to die of famine where they
were. On reaching the camp they found it deserted; and after satisfying their
present wants, and appropriating to their own use some good things from the
spoil, they proceeded to bear their glad tidings to the city. The king was slow
to believe them, and suspected the whole to be a stratagem of the Syrians. Men
were therefore mounted on two of the five only horses now remaining, and sent to
make observations. The report with which they returned was quite conformable to
that of the lepers. The people then left the city, and hastened to pillage the
camp of the Syrians, in which provisions were found in such abundance that a
market was established at the gate of Samaria,[331] where, as the prophet had
predicted, a seah of wheat was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for
the same. The officer who refused to believe this prediction was placed by the
king to preserve order at the gate; but so great was the press of the famishing
multitude to obtain corn, that he was thrown down and trodden to death. Thus was
accomplished the other prediction, that he should see the truth of the first
prophecy without enjoying its benefits. [331] It is still not unusual in the
East for the wholesale market for country produce and cattle to be held (for a
short time in the early morning) at the gates of towns. Manufactured goods are
sold and fruits retailed in the bazaars within the towns. WOMEN GETS PROPERTY We
know not precisely how long after this the seven years of famine terminated. Of
these years the hospitable Shunammite had been warned by Elisha, and had
withdrawn to a neighboring country; on which the state assumed the possession of
her lands. After the famine was over, she returned, and came before the king to
petition for the restoration of the property. At that time the servant of Elisha
was engaged in giving the king an account of the various miracles wrought by his
master, and when the woman appeared, he was relating how her son had been
restored to life. The relater then said, “My lord, this is the woman, and this
is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” The king was struck by this
coincidence, and proceeded to question her on the subject, and ended with
directing that not only should the lands be restored to her, but the value of
their produce during the years of her absence. This was a very becoming act,
and, like several other recorded acts of Jehoram, worthy of commendation; but it
is not by particular acts, however laudable, that the sins of a criminal life
can be covered: and the fulfillment of the doom pronounced upon the house of
Ahab was now near at hand. Jehoram was desirous of pursuing his recent advantage
over the still to the extent of taking from them the city of Ramoth in Gilead,
which still remained in their possession. Fortified by an alliance with his
nephew Ahaziah, king of Judah, he therefore declared war against Hazael, whom a
revolution, predicted by Elisha, had placed upon the throne of Damascene-Syria,
in the room of Ben-hadad. Ramoth was invested by the two kings; and before that
place, where Ahab had received his death-wound, Jehoram was also wounded by an
arrow--not mortally, but so seriously that he withdrew to Jezreel to be healed,
leaving the conduct of the siege to Jehu, the son of Nimshi. The king of Judah
also returned to Jerusalem, but afterward proceeded to Jezreel to visit his
wounded relative. JEHU SLAYS AHAB'S HOUSE At this juncture Elisha sent one of
the sons of the prophet to execute the commission, long since entrusted to
Elijah, of anointing Jehu as king of Israel. He arrived at the time when the
chief officers of the army besieging Ramoth were together. He called out Jehu,
and anointed him in an inner chamber, delivering at the same time the
announcement of his call to the throne of Israel, and to be Jehovah's avenger
upon the house of Ahab. No sooner had he done this than he opened the door and
fled. Jehu returned to his companions, as if nothing had happened. But they had
noticed the prophetic garb of the person who had called him out, and it being
the fashion of those days to speak contemptuously of the prophetic calling they
asked, “On what business came this mad fellow to thee?” Jehu affected some
reluctance to tell them; but this made them the more urgent; and when he made
the fact known to them, it was so agreeable to their own wishes, that they
instantly tendered him their homage, and proclaimed him king by sound of
trumpet, and with cries of “Jehu is king!” At his desire, measures were taken to
prevent this intelligence from spreading for the present; in consequence of
which, King Jehoram and King Ahaziah remained at Jezreel, quite unsuspicious of
what had occurred. But one day the watchman announced the distant approach of a
large party; and the king of Israel sent, successively, two messengers to
ascertain whether it came with peaceable designs or not. But as they did not
return, and the watchman having in the meantime ascertained, from his manner of
driving his chariot, that the principal person was Jehu, the two kings went
forth themselves to meet him. They met in the fatal field of Naboth. “Is it
peace, Jehu?” the king inquired of the general; who answered, “What peace as
long as the idolatries of thy mother Jezebel and her sorceries are so many?” On
hearing which, Jehoram cried to the king of Judah, “There is treachery, O
Ahaziah!” and turned his chariot to escape. But Jehu drew his bow with all his
force, and the arrow which he discharged smote the king between the shoulders,
and went through his heart. Jehu directed the body to be taken from the chariot
and left on that ground, reminding Bidkar, his captain, to whom he gave this
order, that they were together in attendance upon Ahab in that very place, when
the prophet Elijah appeared and denounced that doom upon his house, and the
bloody requital in that spot, which was now being accomplished. AHAZIAH DIES
Ahaziah also attempted to escape; but Jehu directed some of his followers to
pursue and smite him in his chariot. They did so, and wounded him: but he
continued his flight till he reached Megiddo, were he died of his wounds. His
body was removed to Jerusalem for sepulture.[332] [332] This is the account
given in the Book of Kings (2 Kings 9:27-29); but another account (2 Chronicles
22:9) says he hid himself in Samaria, where he was discovered and put to death.
From this difference it may seem that some circumstances are omitted, by which
the two accounts might be reconciled. But as we do not know with certainty how
to reconcile them, we have given one of the accounts only in the text, and have
preferred that in Kings, solely because it is that which Josephus has followed.
JEZEBEL DIES Jehu entered Jezreel. The news of what had happened preceded him:
and Jezebel tired her head and painted her eyes, and looked out of a window; and
this she did, we should imagine, not with any view of trying the power of her
allurements upon Jehu--for she was by this time an aged woman--but for state,
and to manifest to the last the pride and royalty of her spirit. As Jehu drew
nigh, she called to him, “Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?” But this was
the day of vengeance and of punishment, and not of relentings; and Jehu looked
up and cried, “Who is on my side, who?” On which two or three eunuchs of the
harem looked out to him. “Throw her down!” was the unflinching command of Jehu.
So they threw her down, and some of her blood was sprinkled upon the wall, and
upon the horses that trod upon her. After this, Jehu went into the palace, and
ate and drank; and he then said, “Go, look after this accursed woman, and bury
her; for she was a king's daughter.” But it was then found that all the body,
except the scull, the feet, and the palms of her hands, had been devoured by
such ravenous dogs as those by which eastern cities are still infested. “This,”
said Jehu, “is the word of Jehovah, which he spake by the mouth of Elijah the
Tishbite, saying, In the district of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of
Jezebel; and the carcass of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field
in the district of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.”
SEVENTY SONS KILLED Ahab had left not fewer than seventy sons, and these were
all in Samaria,[333] which was not only the metropolis but one of the strongest
places in the kingdom; and Jehu, reflecting, probably, on what happened after
the death of Zimri--when two kings reigned, one like himself, a military leader
upheld by the arm, whom a portion of the nation refused to acknowledge, and
adhered to another--apprehended that something similar might again occur. He
therefore wrote to the chief persons of Samaria, and to those who had the charge
of Ahab's children, to sound their intentions. He told them that they were in a
well-fortified city, with troops, chariots, and arms; and that, being thus
circumstanced, they had better set up one of Ahab's sons for king, and fight for
him, letting the crown be the prize of the conqueror. And this, really, was the
only course which men faithful and attached to the dynasty of Omri could have
taken. This the chief persons and guardians of the princes in Samaria were
not--or not to the extent of risking the consequences of civil war, and of
opposition to Jehu. In fact, they were intimidated by his promptitude in action,
and at the manner in which the two kings and Jezebel bad been disposed of; and
there was something calculated to damp their spirits (if they had any) in a
message which showed that Jehu was prepared for the most resolute course they
could take. They replied, “We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt
bid us; we will not make any man king: do thou what is good in thine eyes.”
Jehu's reply was prompt and horribly decisive: “If ye be for me, and will
hearken to my voice, take off the heads of your master's sons, and come to me to
Jezreel by this time to-morrow.” When this letter arrived, the seventy princes
were instantly decapitated, and their heads sent in baskets to Jezreel. When
Jehu heard of their arrival, he, according to a barbarous eastern custom not yet
extinct, directed them to be piled up in two heaps at the entrance of the
city-gate until the morning. In the morning he went out to the assembled people,
and with the evident design of pointing out the extent to which the house of
Ahab wanted any hearty adherents, even among those who might be supposed most
attached to its interests, he said, “Ye are righteous. Behold, I conspired
against my master, and slew him: but who hath slain all these? Now know, that
nothing of the word of Jehovah, which he spoke concerning the house of Ahab,
shall fall to the ground; for Jehovah will do what he spoke by his servant
Elijah.” [333] From the expression that they were “with the great men of the
city, who brought them up,” we infer that, as is still usual in some eastern
countries, the king relieved himself from the charge of their maintenance, by
consigning one young prince to this great person, and another to another, to be
maintained and educated as became their station. This charge is to be received
as an honor and distinction, and is sometimes of ultimate benefit; but on
account of the great expense and inconvenience, it is often received with
dissatisfaction, and many would decline it if they dared. Jehu delayed not to go
to Samaria, and in his way encountered some of the brothers of Ahaziah, the king
of Judah, who, ignorant of the late occurrences, were on their way to visit the
sons of Ahab. Regarding their connection by blood and friendship with the house
of Ahab, Jehu considered them included in his commission to exterminate that
house root and branch. He therefore commanded them to be arrested and slain.
Their number was forty-two. JONADAB JOINS JEHU In his further progress, Jehu met
with Jonadab, the son of Rechab, a pastoral religionist held in high esteem by
the people, and whose influence with them was very great. Jehu, with his usual
tact, at once felt the advantage which the countenance of this person might be
to his cause. He therefore accosted him: “Is thy heart as right with my heart,
as my heart is with thine?” Jonadab answered, “It is”--“If it be,” said Jehu,
“give to me thy hand.” And he gave him his hand, and Jehu took him up into his
chariot, saying, “Come and see my zeal for Jehovah!” They thus entered Samaria
together, where Jehu completed the destruction of the house of Ahab by cutting
off all its remaining members. BAAL WORSHIP DESTROYED In Samaria Ahab had
erected a celebrated temple to the idol Baal. On entering the town Jehu declared
an intention to aggrandize the worship of that god, and render to him higher
honors than he had yet received in Israel. He was therefore determined to
celebrate a great feast in honor of Baal, to which he convoked[334] all the
priests, prophets, and votaries of that idol. The concourse was so great that
the temple was filled from one end to another; and while they were in the midst
of their idolatrous worship, Jehu sent in a body of armed men who put them all
to the sword. The idols, and the implements and ornaments of idol worship, were
then overthrown, broken, or reduced to ashes; and the temple itself was
demolished and turned into a common jakes. But the worship of Baal was far from
being confined to Samaria, and Jehu sought for it in all quarters of the land,
and rooted it out wherever it was found. His conduct in this matter was so well
pleasing to God, that the throne of Israel was, by a special promise, assured to
his posterity unto the fourth generation. [334] To call together. Defile in
Idumea (Mount Seir), in the road from Palestine to Egypt


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  CHAPTER 33: KINGDOM OF JUDAH FROM B.C. 929 TO B.C. 725
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KINGDOM OF JUDAH FROM B.C. 929 TO B.C. 725 JEHOSHAPHAT A FAITHFUL KING
Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa, began to reign over Judah in the year 929 B.C.,
being the second year of Ahab in Israel. The alliance which he formed with Ahab
has brought him forward, in the preceding chapter, sufficiently to intimate to
the reader the excellent character which he bore. He indeed takes rank among the
most faithful, and therefore most illustrious and wise of the Hebrew kings.
Direct idolatry had been put down by his father, and the first acts of his own
reign were to root out the remoter incentives thereto and instruments thereof.
He destroyed the high places and the groves which his father had spared. Other
kings before him had been satisfied with external operations; but to his
enlightened mind it appeared that effects more deep and permanent might be
secured by acting upon the inner sense of the people, by instructing them fully
in the principles and distinguishing privileges of their theocratic system, and
by rendering those principles operative, as the standards of public and judicial
action, throughout the land. The land had already been purged, as by fire, from
the noxious weeds by which it had been overgrown; and now the king made it his
business to occupy the cleared soil with corn--the staff of life--and with
fruits “pleasant to the eye, and good for food.” INSTRUCTORS IN THE LAW To these
ends the king sent out a number of “princes,” whose rank and influence secured
attention and respect to the priests and Levites who were with them to instruct
the people. They had with them copies of the law: and, in their several bands,
visited all the towns of the country--thus bearing instruction to the very doors
of a people who had become too indolent or too indifferent themselves to seek
for it. So earnest was the king in this object, that he went himself throughout
the land to see that his orders were duly executed. IMPRESSIVE ARMY The
attention of this able king was also directed to the reform of abuses in other
departments of the state, and to the cultivation of the financial and military
resources of his kingdom. The people, rendered happy by his cares, grew
prosperous, and increased in numbers; in the same degree the real power of the
government was strengthened, and was such as inspired the people with
confidence, and their enemies with fear. Edom continued firm in its obedience,
Philistia regularly remitted its presents and tribute-silver, and several of the
Arabian tribes sought his favor, or acknowledged his power, by large yearly
tributes of sheep and goats from their flocks. The men enrolled as fit to bear
arms, and liable to be called into action, was not less than 1,160,000, which is
not far short of the number in the united kingdom in the time of David. Of these
a certain proportion were kept in service. The best of the troops were stationed
at Jerusalem, and the remainder distributed into the fortress and walled towns;
and a strong force was concentrated on the northern frontier, especially in
those lands of Ephraim which Asa had taken from Baasha. New fortresses were
constructed in different parts of the country, and were well garrisoned and
supplied with all the munitions of war. JEHU REBUKES JEHOSHAPHAT The capital
error of this monarch, the alliance he contracted with Ahab in the thirteenth
year of his reign, has already been noticed in the preceding chapter, as well as
the part he took in the battle of Ramoth Gilead, in which Ahab was slain, but
his own life was reserved, notwithstanding the very imminent danger into which
he had fallen. On his return to Jerusalem after this escape, the Divine
dissatisfaction at his conduct was announced to him by the prophet Jehu.
JEHOSHAPHAT'S DISTRICT JUDGES After this he engaged himself in his former
peaceful and honorable undertakings; and gave particular attention to the
administration of justice in his dominions. He established a supreme tribunal
(of appeal probably) at Jerusalem, and placed judges in all the principal cities
of the country. This great improvement relieved the king from the fatigue and
great attention which the exercise of the judicial functions of royalty had
exacted from the earlier kings, while it secured to the suers more prompt
attention than they could by any other means receive. The king was very sensible
of the importance of this step; and, in his anxiety that it should work well,
gave an admirable charge to the judges; the force of which can only be well
appreciated by those who perceive that the counteracting evils which he feared
were precisely those by which the administration of justice in the East is at
this day corrupted and disgraced. “Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for
man, but for Jehovah, who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore now, let the
fear of Jehovah be upon you; take heed and act uprightly; for with Jehovah our
God there is no injustice, no respect of persons, no taking of bribes.” This was
addressed to the judges appointed to the cities. In the address to the judges of
the supreme tribunal at Jerusalem, it is not supposed, by any implication, that
they could be partial or corrupt; and they are only reminded of the duty of
judging according to the Divine law, the causes that came before them. This
tribunal was composed of the most distinguished men among the priests, the
Levites, and the family chiefs. In matters pertaining to religion, this tribunal
was presided over by the high-priest Amariah, but in civil matters, or those in
which the crown was interested, by Zebadiah, “the ruler,” or hereditary chief,
of the tribe of Judah--an interesting indication that the forms of the
patriarchal were not, even yet, entirely lost in those of the regal government.
About the same time the king made another tour through his dominions, from
Beersheba in the south, to Mount Ephraim in the north, seeking to bring back the
people more entirely “to Jehovah the God of their fathers.” In the northern
districts which had been recovered or taken from Israel, the high places of the
Ephraimites were not taken away, because they had not as yet “prepared their
hearts unto the God of their fathers,” as had the Judahites, whose high places
had been taken away at the beginning of this reign. FASTING AND PRAYER THEN
VICTORY The unfortunate expedition with Ahab against Ramoth Gilead being
unsuccessful, tended much to lower Jehoshaphat in the estimation of the
neighboring nations; and thus the alliance with the king of Israel brought its
own punishment. The Ammonites and Moabites, who had been brought into a state of
subjection by David, now began to conceive hopes of deliverance from the yoke
under which they lay. It was their policy, however, not in the first instance to
revolt from the kingdom to which they were immediately subject--that of Israel,
but first to try their strength against the lesser kingdom of Judah. They
therefore invaded that country from the south, by the way of Edom, supported by
some Arabian hordes, which they had engaged in their cause, and who indeed are
seldom loath to engage in any cause by which good prospects of spoil are
offered. The expedition assumed the character of an Arabian invasion, and, as
such, was so expeditious that the invaders had rounded the southern extremity of
the Dead sea, and came to a halt in the famous valley of Engedi, before
Jehoshaphat had the least intimation of their design Taken thus by surprise, he
was much alarmed in the first instance; but by throwing himself unreservedly
upon the protection and help of the Divine King, he ensured the safety of his
kingdom, and tools the most becoming step which it was possible that a king of
the chosen nation could take. He proclaimed a general fast throughout Judah, and
the people gathered together from all quarters to Jerusalem, and stood there in
and around the temple, to cry to God for help. And he heard them: for the spirit
of prophecy fell upon one of the Levites, named Jahaziel, and in the name of
Jehovah he directed that they should march to meet the enemy, whose station be
indicated, not to fight, but to witness their extirpation and to seize the
spoil. As they went forth early in the morning toward the wilderness of Tekoah,
Jehoshaphat exerted himself to keep up the confidence of the people in the
sufficiency of the Divine protection; and as they proceeded, he directed that
the Levitical singers should march in front, and “in the beauty of holiness” (or
in the same habits, and after the same manner as in the temple-service), should
sing the praises of God, saying, “Praise Jehovah! for he is good; for his mercy
endureth for ever.” Surely never, from the beginning of the world, was there
such a march as this against an army of hostile invaders. The event was such as
the prophet had foreshown. It seems that the children of Lot had quarreled and
fought with their Arabian allies; and when they had succeeded in destroying
them, they turned their arms against each other, and fought with
inextinguishable fury until none remained alive on the battle-field. So that
when the Hebrews arrived at the place which the prophet had indicated, many a
beating heart among them was relieved, and all were inconceivably astonished, to
see the wilderness covered with the bodies of the slain--not one had escaped.
The Judahites were three days in collecting an immense spoil of precious metals
and stones, and valuable arms and raiment; and in the end it was found that more
was collected than could betaken away. On the fourth day they returned home to
Jerusalem, before entering which they held a solemn thanksgiving to the valley
of Shaveh, or the King's dale, hence called the valley of Berachah (blessing),
and also the valley of Jehoshaphat. After this they entered the city in
triumphal procession, with music and with singing. The neighboring nations
rightly ascribed this signal deliverance to the God of the Hebrews; and were for
some time inspired with a salutary fear of molesting a people so highly favored.
FAILED NAVY VENTURE The next undertaking of Jehoshaphat was an attempt to revive
the ancient traffic of Solomon, by the Red sea, to the region of gold. For this
purpose he built a navy at his port of Ezion-geber, at the head of the Elanitic
gulf. But, in an evil day, he consented to allow Ahaziah, the king of Israel, to
take part in the enterprise, in consequence of which, as a prophet forewarned
him, his ships were wrecked soon after they left the port. Another expedition
was proposed by the king of Israel: but Jehoshaphat declined, and appears to
have relinquished all further designs of this nature. Josephus informs us that
the ships which had been built were too large and unwieldy; and we may infer
that Jehoshaphat discovered that he could not accomplish an enterprise of this
nature in the want of such skilful shipwrights and able mariners as those with
which the Phoenicians had constructed and manned the ships of Solomon. One of
the last public acts of Jehoshaphat's reign was that of taking part with
Jehoram, king of Israel, in an expedition against the Moabites, who had revolted
after the death of Ahab. Jehoshaphat was probably the more induced to lend his
assistance by the consideration of the recent invasion of his own dominions by
the same people. The circumstances and result of this expedition have been
related in the preceding chapter. The success which was granted to it is
entirely ascribed to the Divine favor toward the king of Judah. JEHOSHAPHAT DIES
Soon after this Jehoshaphat “slept with his fathers,” after he had lived sixty
years, and reigned twenty-five. JEHORAM REIGNS His eldest son, Jehoram, ascended
the throne of Judah in the year 904 B.C., in the thirty-second year of his own
age, and in the third year of the reign of his namesake and relative, Jehoram,
the son of Ahab, in Israel. This, it will be remembered, was the prince who was
married to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. The evil effects of this
connection began now very manifestly to appear, and preponderated over the good
example which the reign of Jehoshaphat had offered. In fact, Athaliah proved her
descent by rivaling her mother, Jezebel, in idolatry, in pride, and in the part
she took in public affairs after the death of Jehoshaphat. And, to complete the
resemblance, she appears to have rendered her husband, as the mere instrument of
her will and purposes, quite as effectual as Jezebel rendered Ahab. JEHORAM
SLAYS HIS BROTHERS It was undoubtedly through her influence that the first act
of Jehoram's reign was to destroy his six brothers, whom Jehoshaphat had amply
provided for, and stationed (as governors, probably) in as many fenced cities of
Judah. With them perished several of the first persons in the state, who had
enjoyed the confidence of the late king, and had been active in promoting his
laudable designs. This evidence of her power redoubled the audacity of the proud
queen; and soon after, idolatry, which had been banished from Judah during the
two preceding reigns, was restored, by public authority, to honor; and the
sedulous endeavors made in the two former reins to reform the religion and
morals of the people gave place to the efforts of new men to corrupt and ruin
all. High places, similar to those in Israel, again appeared upon the hills of
Judah; and the people were seduced and urged into idolatry and its concomitant
abominations. For these things heavy calamities were denounced against Jehoram,
early in his reign, by the prophet Elisha[336] in a letter: and thus did that
great prophet take cognizance of the affairs of Judah also. The evils that he
threatened followed soon. [336] The Masorete text here reads Elijah (2
Chronicles 21:12) instead of Elisha: for Elijah had been translated in the time
of Jehoshaphat. 2 Kings 3:11. JEHORAM DIES The king of Edom, who assisted the
king of Judah and Israel in the war against Moab, had, according to Josephus,
been slain by his revolted subjects, and the new sovereign desired to signalize
his accession, and to propitiate his subjects, by freeing them from the tribute
to which his father had submitted. This essay was not at first successful; but
although once defeated by Jehoram, who still had his father's army under his
command, the Edomites succeeded in throwing the yoke of Judah from off their
necks, according to the prophecy of Isaac to the founder of that nation.[337]
Emboldened by this, the Philistines also rebelled, and, assisted by the Arabs
who bordered on the Cushites, they invaded Judah, plundered and ravaged the
whole country, and even Jerusalem and the royal palace. They led away into
slavery all the women of the king's harem, except Athaliah, who was spared in
anger, and made captive all the royal princes, except Ahaziah, otherwise called
Jehoahaz, the youngest of them all. To consummate all, the king himself was
smitten with an incurable disease in the bowels, from which he suffered for two
years the most horrible torments, and at last, after a reign of eight years,
died without being regretted. The voice of the people denied to his remains the
honors of a royal burial, and a place in the sepulcher of the kings. [337] To
Esau Isaac said--”Thou shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when
thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.”
Genesis 27:40. AHAZIAH REIGNS AND DIES Ahaziah, his youngest son, was twenty-two
years old when he succeeded his father. He reigned only one year; for following
the evil counsels of his mother and the house of Ahab, he foolishly joined
Jehoram of Israel in the war against Hazael king of Syria, the result of which,
with his death, inflicted by Jehu, has been recorded in the preceding chapter.
ATHALIAH SLAYS HER GRANDCHILDREN Not Jehu in Israel thirsted more after the
blood of Ahab's house, than did Athaliah, in Judah, for the blood of her own
children. She had long been the virtual possessor of the supreme power in Judah;
but now she disdained an authority so precarious and indirect, and would reign
alone. As even the most wicked persons seldom shed blood from absolute
wantonness of cruelty, it may be considered that her spirit may have been
rendered unusually savage at this time by the sanguinary proceedings of Jehu in
Israel against the house to which she herself belonged, and in which she had
lost, at one fell swoop, a mother, a brother, and a son, with many other of her
near relatives. It must also have appeared to her that the sort of authority she
had hitherto exercised, first as queen-consort and then as queen-mother, was now
in very great danger; as it might be expected that whichever of her grandsons
succeeded to the throne, he would prefer the counsels and guidance of his mother
to her own. Here then were two powerful motives--dread of losing her power, and
jealousy of being superseded by another woman--bringing her to the atrocious
resolution of destroying all the children of her own son Ahaziah. She little
considered that by this she was fulfilling a part of the mission against the
house of Ahab which Jehu himself could not execute; for through herself the
taint of Ahab's blood had been given to the house of David. Her fell purpose was
promptly executed. All her grandsons were slain in one day, with the exception
of Joash, an infant, who was stolen away by his aunt Jehosheba, the wife of the
high-priest Jehoiada and daughter of the late king Ahaziah, and hidden with his
nurse in one of the chambers of the temple. Thus, in the providence of God, the
royal line of the house of David was preserved from utter extinction. No retreat
could have been more secure than that which was chosen for the infant prince;
for not only were the apartments of the temple under the sole direction of the
priests, and to the innermost of which no others had access; but Athaliah had
put herself out of the way of obtaining information of the fact by her entire
neglect of the temple and the institutions connected with it. And although she
did not, indeed could not, actually put down the temple-worship, her preference
and favor was given to the temple of Baal, and his high-priest, Mattan, was
upheld by her as of equal rank and importance with the high-priest of Jehovah.
ATHALIAH DESPISED Now although the Judahites were but too prone to fall into
idolatry, the good effects of the reforms of Asa and Jehoshaphat, and of the
principles which the latter has been so careful to inculcate, did not so soon
evaporate as to dispose the people generally to approve or concur in the rapid
and decisive measures which Athaliah had taken in establishing the worship of
Baal; and when to this was added their natural abhorrence of the barbarous
massacre which rooted her throne in blood, and their dislike, in common with all
orientals, at the public rule of a woman, we have a sufficient explanation of
the fact that the public feeling was not with queen Athaliah, and that, indeed,
her rule was regarded with such disgust as disposed the people to hail with joy
the advent of their hidden king. JOASH CROWNED Joash remained six years
concealed in the secret chambers of the temple, his existence even, much more
his presence there, being unknown and unsuspected by Athaliah and others, as it
was supposed he had perished in the slaughter of his father's sons. In the
seventh year the high-priest Jehoiada judged that the fit time had arrived for
the disclosure. He therefore made known the secret to some of the chiefs and
military commanders on whom he could depend, and received from them the promise
to concur in the bold act of proclaiming and crowning the rightful king. Joash
was now only seven years of age; but good reason was seen to prefer the regency
of such a man as Jehoiada to the reign of such a woman as Athaliah. The persons
whom Jehoiada had admitted to his confidence went about the country gaining over
the paternal chiefs, and inducing them, as well as the Levites not on duty, to
repair to Jerusalem. When all the adherents thus acquired had come to the
metropolis, the high-priest concerted with them the plan of operations.
According to this it was determined that the partisans of the young prince
should be divided into three bodies, one of which was to guard the prince in the
temple, the second to keep all the avenues, and the third was placed at the gate
leading to the royal palace. The people were to be admitted as usual to the
outer courts. Then the armories of the temple were opened, and the spears,
bucklers, and shields of King David were distributed to these parties, as well
as to the Levites, who were to form an impenetrable barrier around the king
during the ceremony. When all was disposed in this order, the high-priest
appeared, leading by the hand the last scion of the royal house of David. He
placed him by the pillar where the kings were usually stationed, and having
anointed him with the sacred oil, he placed the crown upon his head, arrayed him
in royal robes, and gave into his hands the book of the law, on which the usual
oaths were administered to him. He was then seated on a throne which had been
provided, in doing which he was hailed and recognized by the acclamations of
“Long live the king.” ATHALIAH SLAIN By this time Athaliah had observed some
indications of an extraordinary movement in the temple; and when these rejoicing
clamors broke upon her ear, she hastened thither, and penetrated even to the
court of the priests, where the sight met her view of the enthroned boy,
crowned, and royally arrayed, while the hereditary chiefs, the military
commanders and the Levites, stood at their several stations as in attendance on
their king,-the latter, as was their wont in the temple, blowing their trumpets,
and playing on their various instruments of music. No sooner did Athaliah behold
this, than she rent her clothes, crying, “Treason! treason!” Jehoiada fearing
that the guards would kill her on the spot, and thus pollute the holy place with
human blood, which was most abhorrent to God, directed them to take her outside
the temple courts, and there she was put to death. The king was then conducted
with great pomp to the palace, escorted by all his guard, and there took
possession of the throne of his fathers. BAAL WORSHIP STOPPED Jehoiada, without
any formal appointment, appears to have been recognized, with one consent, as
the guardian of the king and regent of the kingdom. He availed himself of the
favorable dispositions which now existed, to induce the people to renew their
ancient covenant with Jehovah. This precaution had become necessary from the
long continuance of an idolatrous government. Actuated by the impulse thus
received and the enthusiasm thus excited, and led by the priests and Levites of
Jehovah, the people proceeded once more to extirpate the idolatries of Baal.
They hastened to his temple, where they slew the high-priest Mattan before the
altars, and then pulled the whole fabric to the ground. And not only at
Jerusalem, but everywhere throughout the land, the temples, altars, and
monuments of Baal were utterly destroyed. JEHOIADA'S INFLUENCE Jehoiada, being
now at the head of affairs, both religious and civil, applied himself with great
diligence in bringing into an orderly and efficient condition the
administrations of both the court and temple, Those who hid signalized their
zeal in the restoration of the king, or were otherwise distinguished for their
abilities, were appointed to high posts in the state, while the services of the
temple were brought back to the models of David and Solomon. The glory of
restoring the fabric of the temple he reserved for the king, who accordingly, in
the twenty-third year of his reign, thoroughly repaired that famous structure,
after it had been built nearly one hundred and sixty years; and made numerous
vessels of gold and silver for the sacred services, and presented
burnt-offerings continually during the lifetime of Jehoiada, who died at the
great age of one hundred and thirty-seven years. He was honored with a sepulcher
among the kings of the family of David, “because he had done good in Israel.”
ZECHARIAH'S DEATH We may estimate the merits of Jehoiada's administration from
the evil consequences that followed his death. It then appeared that the good
qualities which the king had seemed to manifest were the effects rather of the
right counsels under which he had acted, than of any solid principles of good.
As we have before seen stronger and older men than Joash yielding to the
witcheries of idolatry, which seem so strange to us, we are the less surprised
at the fall of this king. It now appeared what deep root idolatry had taken in
the land during the years of its predominance under Jehoram, Ahaziah, and
Athaliah: and the men of station who had imbibed or had been brought up in its
principles, now reared themselves on high, as soon as the repressive power of
God's high-priest was withdrawn. They repaired to the royal court, and by their
attentions and flatteries so won upon the king that he was at length induced to
give first his tolerance, and then his sanction, to the rank idolatries by which
the two kingdoms had often been brought very low. Against this, Zechariah, the
son of the late high-priest and a near relation to the king, raised his voice,
and predicted the national calamities which would too surely follow; on which
the people rose upon him, and, having received a consenting intimation from the
king, stoned him to death in the very court of the temple. Thus did Joash repay
the deep obligations, for his life and throne, which he owed to the house of
Jehoiada. “The Lord look upon it and require it!”[338] was the prayer of the
dying martyr. And He did require it. That very year, Hazael of Syria, who was
then in possession of Gilead, advanced against Jerusalem, and, although his
force was but small, defeated a large army which opposed him, and entered the,
city, from which he returned with abundant plunder to his own country. The
chiefs who had seduced Joash were slain in the battle; and the king himself, who
had been grievously wounded, was soon after murdered by his own servants, and
the public voice refused the honors of a royal burial to his remains. He reigned
forty years. [338] May not one of the essential differences of the Jewish and
Christian dispensations be illustrated by the last words of two men respectively
eminent in each, and dying under very similar circumstances? “Lord, lay not this
sin to their charge!” was the last cry of the dying Stephen. AMAZIAH'S REIGN
Joash was succeeded on the throne by his son Amaziah, then twenty-five years of
age. The first act of his reign was to punish the murderers of his father: but
it is mentioned that he respected the law of Moses by not including their
children in their doom; and this seems to show that a contrary practice had
previously prevailed. About the twelfth year of his reign, Amaziah took measures
for reducing to their former subjection the Edomites, who had revolted in the
time of Jehoram. Not satisfied with the strength he could raise in his own
kingdom, the king of Judah hired a hundred thousand auxiliaries out of Israel
for a hundred talents of silver. But these were tainted with idolatry: on which
account a prophet was commissioned to exhort Amaziah to forego their assistance,
and dismiss them. By a memorable act of faith, the king at once yielded to this
hard demand, and sent home the Israelites, for whose services he had already
paid. He then gained a decisive victory over the Edomites in the Salt valley, at
the southern extremity of the Dead sea. Ten thousand of the Edomites fell; and
ten thousand more were cast down from the cliffs of their native mountains, and
dashed in pieces.[339] [339] This was probably at or in the neighborhood of
Petra, of Mount Seir. This victory was the ruin of Amaziah, whose conduct had
been hitherto praiseworthy. The idols of Edom, which he brought home among the
spoil, proved a snare to him; and, in the end, he fell to the worship of “the
gods who could not deliver their own people:” for which he was, without effect,
upbraided by a prophet, and threatened with destructions from God. VICTORY OVER
EDOMITES The Israelites whom the king of Judah had dismissed from his army were
filled with resentment at the indignity cast upon them, and probably
disappointed in their hope of a share in the spoils of Edom. To testify their
resentment, and to obtain compensation, they smote and plundered several of the
towns of Judah, on their homeward march, and destroyed many of the inhabitants.
It was probably on this account that Amaziah, elated by his victory over the
Edomites, determined to make war upon Israel. It is singular that, instead of
commencing, as usual, by some aggressive movement or overt act of warfare,
Amaziah sent a formal challenge to the king of Israel, inviting a pitched
battle, in the phrase, “Come, and let us look one another in the face.” The
truly oriental answer of Joash seemed designed to dissuade him from this
undertaking, but was conceived in terms not well calculated to accomplish the
object: “A thistle that was in Lebanon, sent to the cedar of Lebanon, saying,
'Give thy daughter to my son to wife:' and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and
trod down the thistle. Thou sayest, 'Lo! I have smitten the Edomites,' and thy
heart is lifted up. Abide now at home: why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt, so
that thou shouldest fall, and Judah with thee?” But Amaziah was not to be thus
deterred. The two kings met in battle. Amaziah was defeated and taken prisoner,
and his army routed at Beth-shemesh. Joash then pursued his triumphant march to
Jerusalem, which he plundered, and spared not to lay his hands upon the sacred
things of the temple. He also broke down four hundred cubits of the city wall.
He however restored Amaziah to his throne, but took hostages with him on his
return to Samaria. AMAZIAH DIES The life of Amaziah ended in a conspiracy, which
may have been induced by the disgrace which he had brought upon the nation. This
conspiracy was discovered by him, and he hastened to the fortified town of
Lachish. But he was pursued and slain by the conspirators, who brought back his
body “upon horses to Jerusalem,” where a place in the sepulchers of his fathers
was not denied him. He reigned twenty-nine years--B.C. 809. UZZIAH'S SELF
INTERESTS Uzziah, otherwise called Azariah, was only five years old when his
father was slain. The Judahites were in no haste to tender their allegiance to
an infant. They waited until he was sixteen years of age, and he was then
formally called to the throne.[340] Much favorable influence upon the character
of Uzziah is attributed to the early instruction and subsequent influence of the
wise and holy Zechariah.[341] His adhesion to the principles of the theocracy
secured him prosperity and honor. He paid equal attention to the arts of peace
and of war; and he throve in all the under-takings, whether of war or peace, to
which he put his hand. In the arts which belong to both, he encouraged and
promoted various improvements; and it may be pardoned in an oriental king, if;
in his improvements and undertakings, his own interest and glory was the
inciting motive. It is rare, and in fact difficult, for an oriental monarch
(considering the institutions by which he is surrounded, and the ideas which
press upon him) to contemplate the interests of his people otherwise than as a
contingent effect of undertakings in which his own interests and glory are the
primary motives. So Uzziah performed the good deed of building towers and
digging wells in the desert; but the reason immediately follows: “For he had
many cattle both in the valleys and in the plains.” He also “loved husbandry,”
and planted vineyards; and, accordingly, “he had ground-tillers and
vine-dressers[342] in the mountains and in Carmel.” These were laudable things;
for the people could not but be benefited by them, even though their benefit
were less the immediate intention than the indirect effect. [340] “This
naturally accounts for the length of the interregnum (2 Kings 15:1-2; 2
Chronicles 26:1). Amaziah was slain fifteen years current after the death of
Jehoash, king of Israel (2 Kings 14:17), or fourteen years complete from the
accession of Jeroboam II, his son: and Azariah, or Uzziah, did not begin to
reign till the twenty-fifth of Jeroboam (according to the foregoing correction,
instead of the twenty-seventh year, 2 Kings 15:1), which gives the length of the
interregnum eleven years complete”--Hales. [341] No one will, of course,
confound this person with the prophet of the same name, who lived long after. It
is not, in fact, known who he was. Some conjecture that he was the son of the
Zechariah who was slain in the time of Joash. But we know of no other foundation
for this but the name. The distance of time does not favor the conjecture which
identifies him with the Zechariah of Isaiah 8:2. [342] See p373. The same may
even less doubtfully be said of this king's military organizations and
improvements. New fortifications were built and the old repaired. At Jerusalem
not only were the injuries which the walls had sustained repaired, but the gates
and angles were strengthened with towers; and on these were mounted engines
invented by skilful men, and made under the king's encouragement and direction,
for the purpose of discharging arrows and great stones. It may be doubtful
whether these engines were invented by Hebrew engineers, or successfully copied
by them from foreigners. We have certainly no opinion that the Hebrews had much
genius for mechanical invention; but we are bound to say the antiquities of
Egypt, in the numerous warlike scenes which they represent, do not, as far as we
know, contain any examples of projectile engines: and it must be admitted that
in the art of war many ingenious devices originate with nations not otherwise
distinguished for their inventive faculties. UZZIAH'S MILITARY ENGAGEMENTS
Uzziah provided ample stores of weapons and armor--spears, shields, helmets,
breastplates, bows, and stone-slings--for the numerous body which he enrolled as
ready to be called into action, and which consisted of not less than 307,500 men
under 2,600 paternal chiefs. This formed a sort of militia, divided into bands,
liable to be called into actual service by rotation, according to the number
required. Egyptian Vintage and Vine-dressers With this force, and under these
arrangements, Uzziah was enabled to establish and extend his power. He recovered
possession of the port of Elath on the Red sea; he got possession of the
principal Philistine towns, Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. The Arab hordes on the
borders were subdued; and the Ammonites were reduced to tribute. UZZIAH BECOMES
LEPER Elated by all this prosperity, the king of Judah saw not why he should be
precluded from a distinction which other monarchs enjoyed, and which his
neighbor of Israel probably exercised--that of officiating on particular
occasions at the incense-altar, as high-priest. He made the attempt. He went
into the holy place, which none but the priests might lawfully enter, to offer
incense on the altar there; but was followed by the high-priest, Azariah, and by
eighty other priests, who opposed his design, and warned him of his trespass.
The king, made wrathful by this opposition, seized the censer to offer incense;
but in that moment he was smitten with leprosy, the marks of which appeared
visibly on his forehead. On perceiving this, the priests thrust him forth as a
pollution; nay, confounded and conscience-smitten, he hastened to leave the
place.[343] From that day he was obliged to live apart as a leper, and his son
Jotham administered the affairs of the government in his father's name. The year
in which this happened is not well determined; but the whole duration of his
reign was fifty-two years. This is the Iongest reign of any king of Judah, with
the sole exception of Manasseh. Isaiah received his appointment to the prophetic
office in the year that King Uzziah died (B.C. 757); and Amos, Hoshea, and
probably Joel, began to prophecy in his reign. [343] To this prodigy Josephus
adds an earthquake, which, he says, shook the earth with such violence that the
roof of the temple was rent; and one half of a mountain on the west of Jerusalem
fell, or rather slipped, into the valley below, covering the royal gardens.
JOTHAM'S REIGN The death of Uzziah left the kingdom under the same actual ruler,
but exchanged his regency for the sovereignty. Jotham was twenty-five years old
when he began to reign. He was a good and prosperous prince, and during the
sixteen years of his separate reign continued the improvements and plans of his
father. He built several fortresses, and confirmed the subjection of the
Ammonites to his scepter. It was in this reign[344] that the city of Rome was
founded, with the destinies of which the Hebrews were in the end to be so
intimately connected. Jotham died in the year B.C. 741. [344] B.C. 748, or
according to others, 750 or 752, all which dates fell in this reign. AHAZ' REIGN
Ahaz succeeded Jotham when he was twenty years of age. He proved the most
corrupt monarch that the house of David had as yet produced. He respected
neither Jehovah, the law, nor the prophets; he broke through all the salutary
restraints which law and usage imposed upon the Hebrew kings, and regarded
nothing but his own depraved inclinations. He introduced the Syrian idolatry
into Jerusalem, erected altars to the Syrian gods, altered the temple in many
respects, according to the Syrian model, and finally caused it to be entirely
shut up. For these things, adversities and punishments came soon upon him. JUDAH
ATTACKED Pekah king of Israel, and Rezin king of Syria, had formed an alliance
against Judah in the last year of Jotham, which began to take effect as soon as
Ahaz had evinced the unworthiness of his character. The object of this alliance
appears to have been no. less than to dethrone the house of David, and to make
“the son of Tabeal” king in the room of Ahaz.[345] [345] Isaiah 7:5-6. Of this
“son of Tabeal” nothing is known, although much has been conjectured. Some make
it to be Pekah himself, but the interpretation on which it is founded is not
very sound, although the thing itself might not be unlikely. In this war Elath
was taken from Judah by the king of Syria, who restored it to the Edomites. He
also defeated Ahaz in battle and carried away large numbers of his subjects as
captives to Damascus. Pekah on his part was equally successful. He slew in one
day 120,000 men of Judah, and carried away captives not fewer than 200,000 women
and children, together with much spoil, to Samaria. But on his arrival there he
was met by the prophet Obed, and by some of the chiefs of Ephraim. The former
awakened the king's apprehensions for the consequences of the Divine anger on
account of the evil already committed against the house of Judah, and exhorted
him not to add to this evil and to their danger, by reducing the women and
children of that kindred state to bondage. The prophet was vigorously seconded
by the chiefs, who positively declared to the troops, “Ye shall not bring in
hither these captives to increase our guilt before Jehovah. Intend ye to add to
our sin and to our trespass? for our trespass is great, and fierce is the wrath
of Jehovah against Israel.” On hearing this the warriors abandoned their
captives, and left them in the hands of the chiefs, who, with the concurrence
and help of the people, “took the captives, and from the spoil clothed all that
were naked among them, and arrayed and shod them, and gave them to eat and
drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and
brought them to Jericho, the city of palm-trees, to their brethren.” This
beautiful incident comes over our sense as might some strain of soft and happy
music amid the bray of trumpets and the alarms of war. It also proves that, even
in the worst of times, a righteous few were found, even in Israel, who honored
the God of their fathers and stood in dread of his judgments. ISAIAH'S ACCOUNT
The narrative in Isaiah records an unsuccessful attempt of the confederates
against Jerusalem, the proper place of which in the history is not easily found,
but which may appear to have been posterior to the occurrences which have been
related. At the same time, the Edomites and Philistines invaded the south of
Judah, and took possession of several cities of the low country, with their
villages, and occupied them. Thus harassed on every hand, the besotted king
rejected a token of deliverance which Isaiah was commissioned to offer him from
God, under the pretext that he “would not tempt Jehovah,” but in reality,
because he had already chosen another alternative. This was to induce
Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria, to make a diversion in his favor by
invading the kingdoms of Syria and Israel. ASSYRIA'S ATTACK ON ISRAEL AND SYRIA
Pul, the father of this king, was the first Assyrian monarch who took part in
the affairs of the West. By invading Israel, he had made known the power of that
monarchy to Syria and Palestine. Tiglath-Pileser, for his own objects, lent a
willing ear to the suit of Ahaz, who professed himself his vassal, and sent him
a subsidy of all the sacred and royal treasures. He marched an army westward,
defeated and slew Rezin the king of Syria, took Damascus, and sent the
inhabitants away into Assyria--thus putting an end to that monarchy of
Damascene-Syria, which has so often come under our notice. At the same time he
carried away the tribes beyond Jordan--Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh--captives
to Media, where they were planted in Halah, Habor, and on the River Gozan; and
to them he added the other half of the tribe of Manasseh which was seated in
Galilee. Syria, with the countries of Gilead and Bashan, were thus annexed to
the dominions of the Assyrian king, who remained some time at Damascus, settling
his conquests. Ahaz had small cause to rejoice in this alteration, for although
he was delivered from his immediate fears, the formidable Assyrian had now
become his near neighbor, and was not likely to treat him with much
consideration; and in fact the result was that “he distressed Ahaz, and
strengthened him not.” The king of Judah, however, found it prudent to visit
Tiglath-Pileser at Damascus, to congratulate him on his victories, and to tender
his homage. This visit only taught him new fashions of idolatry and sin; which
on his return home he continued to practise apparently until his death, which
took place in B.C. 725, after a disgraceful reign of sixteen years. He was
allowed a grave in Jerusalem; but no place in the sepulcher of the kings was
granted to him.


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  CHAPTER 34: ISRAEL FROM B.C. 895 TO B.C. 719--HEZEKIAH--JERUSALEM BURNT
========================================================================

ISRAEL FROM B.C. 895 TO B.C. 719--HEZEKIAH--JERUSALEM BURNT JEHU REIGNS Jehu,
having executed his avenging mission upon the house of Ahab, and overthrown the
idolatries of Baal, ascended the throne of Israel in the year B.C. 895. IDOLATRY
PERMITTED There was a point beyond which Jehu was not prepared to go in his
boasted zeal for Jehovah. He was ready to punish and discountenance all foreign
worship; but it was no part of his policy to heal the schism between Judah and
Israel, by abolishing the separate and highly irregular establishment, for the
worship of Jehovah, before the symbolic golden calves, which Jeroboam had
established, and which all his successors had maintained. The vital root
therefore remained in the ground, although the branches had been topped off. It
also appeared, ere long, that the foreign idolatries of Ahab and Jezebel had
acquired too much prevalence to be entirely extirpated by any coercive
reformation. As soon as the heat of that reformation had cooled, such idolatries
again gradually stole into use, although no longer with the sanction or favor of
the government. TERRITORY LOST For these things the kingdom of Israel was in the
latter days of Jehu allowed to be shorn of the provinces beyond Jordan. That
fair country was ravaged, and its fortresses seized by Hazael, king of Syria,
who, without any recorded opposition from the king of Israel, appears to have
annexed it to his own dominions. JEHU DIES Jehu died in B.C. 867, after a reign
of twenty-eight years. JEHOAHAZ REIGNS He was succeeded by his son Jehoahaz, who
reigned seventeen inglorious years. He followed the latter course of his father,
and the people followed their own course. The same kind of punishment was
therefore continued. The Syrians were still permitted to prevail over Israel,
until, at length, Jehoahaz had only left, of all his forces, ten chariots, fifty
horsemen, and ten thousand infantry; for “the king of Syria had destroyed the
rest, and trampled on them like dust.” By these calamities the king was at last
awakened to a sense of his position and his danger: he made supplication to
Jehovah with tears; and therefore his latter days were favored with peace. He
died in 850 B.C. JOASH REIGNS AND ELISHA DIES Joash his son, began to rein in
the thirty-seventh year of his namesake, Joash king of Judah. Josephus gives
this king a good character, which the sacred historian does not confirm. From
looking at the few incidents of his life which it has been deemed worth while to
preserve, we may reconcile these statements by discovering that he was in his
private character a well-disposed, although weak man; while as a king he made no
efforts to discourage idolatry or heal the schism which the establishment of the
golden calves had produced. In his days Elisha the prophet fell sick of that
illness of which he died. When the king heard of his danger, he went to visit
his dying bed, and wept over him, crying, “O my father! my father!--the chariot
of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!” As the idolatrous generation was now
becoming extinct, and the good dispositions of Joash himself were recognized,
the dying prophet was enabled to assure him, by a significant symbol, of three
victories over the Syrians. Accordingly, Joash was enabled to keep them in
check, and in the end to gain the ascendancy over them, so as to recover from
Ben-hadad the possessions of which his own father had been deprived by the
father of that Syrian king. Joash reigned seventeen years. JEROBOAM II REIGNS
AND JONAH MINISTERS In the year 834 B.C., Jeroboam II succeeded his father, whom
he appears to have much resembled in character and proceedings. He began badly;
and Josephus says that he engaged in various absurd foreign undertakings which
proved very injurious to the nation. He was probably improved by ripening years;
for the prophet Jonah was commissioned to promise him the complete recovery of
the former dominions of the state. A great victory over the Syrians accordingly
restored to him all the ancient divisions of Israel, from Hamath to the borders
of the Dead sea. His signal success over Amaziah the king of Judah has been
recorded in the preceding chapter. Upon the whole, the reign of Jeroboam II may
be regarded as a brilliant one, considering the evil days on which the history
has now fallen. In fact, it would not be easy to point to any king of the
separate kingdom of Israel whose reign was more prosperous. The prophet Jonah,
named in the preceding paragraph, is the same whose reluctant mission to
Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, is related in the book which bears
his name. “The king of Nineveh,” whose humiliation with that of his people
averted the doom impending over “that exceeding great city,” is supposed to have
been the predecessor of Pul, whom the history will speedily bring before us.
Jonah's remarkable mission appears to have taken place about the year 800 B.C.,
at the latter end of the reign of Jeroboam, who died in 793 B.C., after a reign
of forty-one years. ZECHARIAH REIGNS There was a delay in calling his son
Zechariah to the throne. Jeroboam II began to reign in the fifteenth year of
Amaziah king of Judah, and reigned forty-one years (2 Kings 14:23); he died,
therefore, in the sixteenth year of Uzziah king of Judah; but his son Zechariah
did not succeed him until the thirty-eighth of Uzziah (2 Kings 15:8), which
produces an interregnum of not less than twenty-two years. During this period
great internal commotions prevailed, which more than compensated the absence of
foreign war. Kings were suddenly raised to the throne, and as suddenly removed,
agreeably to the representation which the prophet Hoshea gives of the state of
the kingdom. The same representation also proves that at this period very gross
corruptions of religion and of morals prevailed. Even the ultimate call of
Zechariah to the throne had scarcely any effect in allaying these disturbances,
and he was himself slain by Shallum in the sixth month of his reign. He was the
last king of the house of Jehu: and thus was fulfilled the prediction that the
family of Jehu should only retain the throne to the fourth generation. SHALLUM
REIGNS Shallum, whose deed in slaying Zechariah was performed with the sanction
and in the presence of the people, ascended the vacant throne in the year 771
B.C. But on receiving intelligence of this event, Menahem, the general of the
army, marched against the new king, and having defeated and slain him in battle,
after a reign of but thirty days, mounted the throne himself: and through his
influence with the army, he was enabled not only to retain his post, but to
subdue the disturbances by which country had of late years been distracted. In
doing this he proceeded with a degree of barbarity which would have been
scarcely excusable in even a foreign conqueror (Joseph. Antiq. ix. 11, sec. 1).
MENAHEM REIGNS It was in the time of Menahem that the Assyrians under Pul made
their first appearance in Syria. Their formidable force precluded even the show
of opposition from the king of Israel, who deemed it the wiser course to
purchase peace from the Assyrian king at the price of a thousand talents of
silver.[346] This sum he raised by the unpopular measure of a poll tax of fifty
shekels each upon sixty thousand of his wealthiest subjects. This is the first
instance in either kingdom of money raised by taxation for a public object. In
the kingdom of Judah such exigencies were met from the treasury of the temple,
or of the crown; and probably there were, in ordinary times, analogous resources
in Israel, but which we may readily conclude to have been exhausted in the
recent troubles and confusions in that kingdom. Professor Jahn considers that
the government of Israel had by this time become wholly military, in which
conclusion we are disposed to acquiesce, although from other intimations than
those to which he adverts. [346] Almost one million eight hundred thousand
dollars, by the present value of this quantity of silver. PEKAHIAH REIGNS After
a reign of ten years Menahem died in 760 B.C., and was succeeded by his son
Pekahiah, who, after a short and undistinguished reign of two years, was slain
by Pekah, the commander of the forces, who placed himself on the throne. The
alliance of Pekah with Rezin the king of Syria, against the house of David, has
been recorded in the preceding chapter, as well as the consequences which
resulted from the resort of Ahaz king of Judah to the protection of
Tiglath-pileser, the new king of Assyria, who overran Gilead and Galilee, and
removed the inhabitants to Assyria and Media. After a reign of twenty years,
Pekah received from Hoshea the same doom which he had himself inflicted upon his
predecessor. This was in 738 B.C., being in the third year of the reign of Ahaz
in Judah. HOSHEA REIGNS It appears that although Hoshea is counted as the next
king, he was not immediately able to establish himself on the throne, but that
an interregnum, or period of anarchy, of ten years' duration, followed the
murder of Pekah.[347] Thus, although the kingdom of Israel was now enclosed
within very narrow boundaries, and surrounded on the north and east by the
powerful Assyrians, it could not remain quiet, but was continually exhausting
its strength in domestic conspiracies and broils. [347] “Pekah, king of Israel,
began to reign in the fifty-second year of Uzziah (2 Kings 15:21; 2 Chronicles
26:3); and in the twentieth year of his reign was slain by Hoshea (2 Kings
15:30) in the third year of the reign of Ahaz king of Judah (2 Kings 16:1); but
Hoshea did not begin to reign until the twelfth year of Ahaz (2 Kings 17:1), or
the thirteenth current (2 Kings 16:10); consequently the second interregnum in
Israel lasted 13-3=10 years”--Hales. ASSYRIANS DEPORT ISRAELITES From this
struggle the regicide Hoshea emerged as king. He proved a better ruler than most
of his predecessors. He allowed the king of Judah (Hezekiah) to send messengers
through the country inviting the people to a great passover which he intended to
celebrate at Jerusalem, nor did he throw any obstacles in the way of the persons
disposed to accept the invitation. He had a spirit which might have enabled him
to advance the power and interests of the country under ordinary circumstances;
but now, doomed of God, the kingdom was too much weakened to make the least
effort against the Assyrian power. When therefore Shalmaneser, the new Assyrian
king, invaded the country, he bowed his neck to receive the yoke of a tributary.
This yoke, however, he found so galling that ere long he took measures for
shaking it off. He made a treaty with “So,” or Sabaco[348] king of Egypt, and on
the strength of it ventured to seize and imprison the Assyrian officer appointed
to collect the tribute. Upon this, Shalmaneser laid siege to Samaria, and after
three years gained possession of that city and destroyed it. During all this
time the king of Egypt made no attempt to come to the assistance of Israel, as
Isaiah had from the beginning predicted, in language of strong reprehension
against this alliance (Isaiah 30:1-7). The fall of Samaria consummated the
conquest of the country by the Assyrians. Hoshea was himself among the captives,
and was sent in chains to Nineveh; but what afterward became of him is not
known. Considerable numbers of the principal Israelites, during the war, and at
its disastrous conclusion, fled the country, some to Egypt, but more into Judea,
where they settled down as subjects of Hezekiah, whose kingdom must have been
considerably strengthened by this means. [348] This So, or Sabaco of profane
authors--Sabakoph on the monuments--was an Ethiopian who ruled in Egypt, and
whose right to the crown of which may have been (in part, at least) derived from
marriage, although Herodotus represents him solely as an intrusive conqueror.
His name occurs at Abydus; and the respect paid to his monuments by his
successors may be considered to imply that his reign was not a wrongful
usurpation. According to a piece of oriental policy of which modern examples
have been offered, Shalmaneser removed from the land the principal inhabitants,
the soldiers, and the artisans to Halab, to the river Habor (Chebar in Ezekiel),
to Gozan, and to the cities of the Medes. On the other hand, colonists were
brought from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and seated in
Samaria. It appears also the other colonists were afterward sent into the
country by Esarhaddon. These people mingled with the Israelites, who still abode
in the land, and were all comprehended under the general name of Samaritans,
which was derived from the city of Samaria. At first all of them were
worshippers of idols; but as wild beasts increased in their depopulated country,
they were much disturbed by lions. According to the notion, respecting national
and local gods which then prevailed in the world, it is not strange that they
attributed this calamity to the anger of the god of the country on account of
their neglect of his worship. Accordingly, an Israelitish priest was recalled
from exile, in order to instruct these idolaters in the worship of Jehovah as a
national Deity. He settled at Bethel, where one of the golden calves had
formerly stood; and afterward the Samaritans united the worship of Jehovah with
the worship of their own gods. We will follow the expatriated Israelites into
the places of their captivity; but, first, it is necessary that our attention
should be turned to the affairs of Judah, which the mercy and long-suffering of
God still continue to spare.


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  CHAPTER 35: JUDAH, FROM B.C. 725 TO B.C. 586
========================================================================

JUDAH, FROM B.C. 725 TO B.C. 586 HEZEKIAH REIGNS Hezekiah was twenty-five years
of age when he succeeded his father, Ahaz, in the kingdom of Judah. He was a
most pious prince, and thoroughly imbued with the principles of the theocracy.
He testified the most lively zeal for the service and honor of Jehovah; while,
as a king, he was disposed to manifest the most unreserved reliance on him, and
subservience to him, as Sovereign Lord of the Hebrew people. He therefore won
the high eulogium that “there was none like him among all the kings of Judah
after him, nor any that were before him.”[349] [349] 2 Kings 18:1-5. Such,
however, must be understood as popular forms of describing superior character;
for the same is said, in the same terms, of his own great grandson, Josiah.
Sepulcher of the Kings [350] [350] The Sepulcher of the Kings--It would be
rather difficult to prove that the ancient sepulcher which now bears this name
is really that to which there are such frequent allusions in the history of the
kingdom of Judah. But it would be equally difficult to disprove it. The
situation is not unsuitable, nor the internal arrangements unbecoming such a
distinction. And if any difficulty were to be started with reference to the
architectural character of the sculptured exterior, it might very easily be
answered that this was added at a period long subsequent to the original
construction of the tomb. It might also be added, that if this be not the
Sepulcher of the Kings, no other sepulcher now existing near Jerusalem is
entitled to compete that distinction with it. Upon the whole, this is a matter
on which one would not like to give a decided opinion; but apart from this
matter, the sepulcher in question is of great interest from the very complete
example which it offers of the ancient sepulchers. The Sepulcher of the Kings,
so called, is situated nearly a mile to the north of the northwestern gate
(Damascus-gate) of the present city, but appears to have been only just outside
the northwestern angle of the ancient wall. These splendid remains differ from
most other rock-carved sepulchers in not being cut in the side of a hill, but
beneath a level spot of ground approached by a narrow path, which leads to a
square enclosure, hewn out of the limestone stratum, of about fifteen or twenty
feet deep. A wall of the natural rock separates this from an inner square court,
which opens into it by a round arch. On the southern side of this court (which
is covered with rubbish and brambles) is a very handsome square portico, with a
beautifully-carved architrave--forming probably the most complete specimen of
Hebrew sculpture that now exists. The frieze is adorned with a regulus,
tri-glyphs, vine-leaves, and other floral embellishments, while the center is
charged with an immense cluster of grapes. A pilaster at either end still
remains, and in all probability there were anciently two columns in the centre,
now destroyed. The face of the rock within the portico is smooth, and presents
no appearance of openings, but a low doorway on the left hand leads into a large
square antechamber, hewn out of the solid rock. There are no niches, or places
for sarcophagi in this apartment, but a series of small chambers branch off on
each of its three sides. These are, for the most part, oblong crypt, with ledges
on either side for holding the bodies or coffins. The doors of those chambers
have attracted much and deserved attention: they are made of single stones or
slabs, seven inches thick, sculptured in panels, so as exactly to resemble doors
made by a carpenter at the present day, the whole being completely smoothed and
polished, and of the most accurate proportions. These doors turned on pivots, of
the same stone, which were inserted in sockets above and below. There are no
troughs or soroi in any of the chambers, but simply ledges on the sides, for
bodies or coffins. A low door and a flight of steps lead down into another suite
of chambers, of similar form and construction. In these are found some fine
sarcophagi of unsurpassed elegance in form and ornament. Each of them consists
of two half cylinders of white marble, excavated within, and which, when placed
together, resemble the shaft of a beautiful pillar. The bottom part is
comparatively plain; but the lid, or upper part, is covered with the most
elaborately carved foliage in basso-relievo, traced in vines, roses, and lily,
work. The groove, or cavity, for the body, which is principally hollowed out
from the bottom part, is about two feet broad, and a foot deep--a sufficiently
large space to contain the body of an ordinary-sized person. The ends also of
these sarcophagi are carved; and the general form and appearance might suggest a
resemblance to the large carriage-trunks of former days. The niches for the
sarcophagi form the segment of a dome, being somewhat differently shaped from
some of those in the upper chambers. Above the place of each coffin is a small
niche, apparently designed to contain a lamp. This account of the Royal
Sepulchers is abridged and slightly altered from a longer description in Dr.
Wilde's Narrative, ii. 298-301. The Rev. J.D. Paxton is another recent traveler,
who has given a very clear description of these sepulchers, the exterior of
which is represented in our engraving, at page 351. from a drawing by Mr.
Arundale.

TEMPLE WORSHIP RESTORED He began his reign by the restoration of the true
religion and the abolishment of idolatry throughout his dominions. In the very
first month he opened the doors of the temple, which his father had closed, and
restored the worship and service of God in proper order and beauty. In
extirpating idolatry he was not content, with the abolition of its grosser
forms, but sought out the more native and intimate superstitions which were
incentives thereto. The altars illegally erected to Jehovah, which former kings
had spared, were by him overthrown. The brazen serpent, which Moses had made in
the wilderness, and which was preserved in the temple, came in time to be
regarded as a holy relic, to which at last a sort of superstitious worship was
paid, and incense burned before it. This was not unnatural, considering the
history of this relic, combined with the fact that ophiolatry was then, and
before and after, a very common superstition in Egypt and other countries. It
nobly illustrates the vigor of Hezekiah's character, and of an entire freedom
from superstition, of which it is difficult now to appreciate the full merit,
that he spared not even this certainly interesting relic, but broke it in
pieces, and instead of nahash, “a serpent,” called it contemptuously nehushian,
“a brazen bauble.” PASSOVER REVIVED Much attention was also paid by Hezekiah to
the dignified and orderly celebration of the festivals, which formed so
conspicuous a feature in the ritual system of the Hebrews. The passover in
particular, which had fallen into neglect, was revived with great splendor, and,
as noticed in the last chapter, Hezekiah sent couriers through the kingdom of
Israel to invite the attendance of the Israelites. His object was so obviously
religious only, without any political motives, that the last king of Israel
offered no opposition: and indeed a kingdom so nearly on the point of being
absorbed into the great Assyrian empire, had small occasion to concern itself
respecting any possible designs of Hezekiah. The Israelites were therefore left
to act as their own dispositions might determine. The couriers went on from city
to city proclaiming the message, and delivering the letters with which they were
charged. In these the king of Judah manifested great anxiety to induce the
Israelites--“the remnant who had escaped out of the hands of the kings of
Assyria”--to return to Jehovah, and by that return avert that utter destruction
which seemed to impend over them. The great body of the Israelites received the
invitation with laughter and derision; but in Zebulon and Asher some were found
“who humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.” Like David, his great model,
Hezekiah made provision for the instruction and moral improvement of the people,
by the public singing of the Psalms in the temple, and by a new collection of
the moral maxims of Solomon. HEZEKIAH'S BLESSINGS For his righteous doings the
Lord was with Hezekiah, and prospered him in all his reasonable undertakings. He
extended the fortifications and magazines throughout the country; he supplied
Jerusalem more plentifully with water by means of a new aqueduct; and the
Philistines, who had penetrated into the southern parts of Judea in the reign of
his father, were conquered by his arms. The possession of the kingdom of
Damascene-Syria, and the entire conquest of Israel, rendered the kings of
Assyria all-powerful in those countries. Phoenicia was the next to experience
the force of their arms. The Tyrians only (according to the citation which
Josephus adduces from their own historian Menander) refused to receive the
Assyrian yoke. They fought and dispersed the fleet which the subjugated
Phoenicians had furnished for the ulterior objects and remoter enterprises of
Shalmaneser. To avenge this act, the Assyrian king left his troops for five
years in the Tyrian territory, where they grievously distressed the citizens of
Tyre, by cutting off all access ophiolatry to the river and aqueduct from which
the town obtained its water. It was the death of Shalmaneser, apparently, which
induced the Assyrians to abandon the siege. ASSYRIAN TRIBUTE STOPPED It was
probably the same occasion, together with an undue reliance upon his
fortifications, and too much confidence derived from the success which had
attended the small wars in which he had been engaged, which led Hezekiah into
the same temerity which had been the ruin of Hoshea. He discontinued the tribute
to the Assyrians which had been imposed upon his father, and by that act threw
off the yoke which Ahaz had voluntary taken on himself. SENNACHERIB'S INVASION
In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, the new king of Assyria, named Sennacherib,
came a large army to reduce the kingdom of Judah to obedience, as well as to
invade Egypt, on account of the encouragement which “So,” the king of that
country, had given to Hoshea to revolt, by promises of assistance, which he
proved unable to render. Such promises appear to have been renewed to Hezekiah,
to induce him to give trouble and employment to a power of which the Egyptians
had good cause to be jealous. But the new king Sethos (Se-pthah, priest of
Pthah), who had been a priest, considering the services of the soldiers
unnecessary to the security of a kingdom entrusted to the protection of the
gods, treated the military caste with much indignity, and much abridged their
privileges, in consequence of which they refused, when required, to march
against the Assyrians. HEZEKIAH SUBMITS Hezekiah, disappointed of the assistance
which he had expected from Egypt,[351] and observing the overwhelming nature of
the force put in action, delayed not to make his submissions to Sennacherib,
humbly acknowledging his offence, and offering to submit to any tribute which
the king might impose upon him. The desire of the Assyrian not to delay his more
important operations against Egypt, seems to have inclined him to listen
favorably to this overture. He demanded three hundred talents of silver, and
thirty talents of gold; and this was paid by Hezekiah, although to raise it he
was compelled to exhaust the royal and sacred treasures, and even to strip off
the gold with which the doors and pillars of the temple were overlaid. [351]
That he had expectations from that quarter, and that such expectations were
known to the Syrians, appears from Rabshakeh's advice to him--“Not to trust upon
the staff of that bruised reed, Egypt (upon which if a man lean it will break
and pierce his hand);” 2 Kings 18:17-35. SENNACHERIB RETURNS Sennacherib
received the silver and gold; but after he had taken Ashdod, one of the keys of
Egypt, he began to think it would be unsafe in his invasion of that country to
leave the kingdom of Judah unsubdued in his rear. He therefore determined to
complete the subjugation of Judah in the first place--the rather as his recent
observations, and the humble submission of Hezekiah, left him little reason to
expect much delay or difficulty in this enterprise. He soon reduced all the
cities to his power except Libnah and Lachish, to which he laid siege, and
Jerusalem, to which he sent his general Rabshakeh with a very haughty summons to
surrender. Many blasphemous and disparaging expressions were applied to Jehovah
by the heathen general. By this he was, as it were, bound to vindicate his own
honor and power; and, accordingly, the prophet Isaiah was commissioned to
promise the king deliverance, and to foretell the destruction of the Assyrian
host: “Lo! I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor, and shall
return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own
land,” 2 Kings 19:7. The rumor by which Sennacherib was alarmed and interrupted,
was no other than the report which was spread abroad that Tirhakah the
Ethiopian, king of Upper Egypt, was marching with an immense army to cut off his
retreat. He then determined to withdraw; but first sent a boasting letter to
Hezekiah, defying the God of Israel, and threatening what destructions he would
execute upon the nation on his return. But that very night an immense proportion
of the Assyrian host, even one hundred and eighty thousand men, were struck dead
by “the blast” which the prophet had predicted, and which has, with great
probability, been ascribed to the agency of the simoom, or hot pestilential
south wind, which we may have another occasion to notice. Sennacherib returned
to Nineveh, and in the exasperation of defeat he behaved with great severity to
the captive Israelites. But his career was soon closed. Fifty-two days after his
return he was slain, while worshipping in the temple of the god Nisroch, by his
two eldest sons. Thus the prophecy of Isaiah was in every point accomplished.
The parricides[352] fled into Armenia, leaving the steps of the throne clear for
the ascent of the third son, whose name was Esarhaddon. This great blow so
weakened the Assyrian monarchy as not only to free the king of Judah from his
apprehensions, but enabled the Medes and Babylonians to assert their
independence. [352] Those who murder their parents HEZEKIAH'S LIFE EXTENDED The
same year Hezekiah fell sick--apparently of the plague--and he was warned by the
prophet Isaiah to prepare for death. The king was afflicted at these tidings;
and turning his face to the wall (as he lay in his bed), to be unnoticed by his
attendants, he besought the Lord, with tears, to remember him with favor. His
prayer was heard; and the prophet, who had not yet left the palace, was charged
to return and acquaint Hezekiah that, on the third following day, he should
resume his customary attendance at the temple; and not only that, but that
fifteen years should be added to his life. In confirmation of this extraordinary
communication, the king desired some miraculous sign; and accordingly the shadow
of the style upon the dial of Ahaz went backward ten degrees. The event
corresponded to these intimations. The prolongation of life was the more
important and desirable to Hezekiah, as at that time there was no direct heir to
the crown. These circumstances, together with the signal deliverance from
Sennacherib, not only cured the people of the idolatry which Ahaz had
introduced, and retained them for some time to their fidelity to Jehovah, but
excited the curiosity and admiration of the neighboring nations.
Merodach-Baladan, the king of Babylon, sent an embassy to congratulate the king
on his deliverance from the Assyrians (through which Merodach himself had been
enabled to establish his independence in Babylon), and upon his recovery from
his illness, as well as to make particular inquiries respecting the miracle by
which it was accompanied, and which must have been of peculiar interest to a
scientific people like the Babylonians. Hezekiah appears to have been highly
flattered by this embassy from so distant a quarter. The ambassadors were
treated with much attention and respect, and the king himself took pleasure in
showing them the curiosities and treasures of his kingdom. That he had treasures
to show, seems to signify that he had recovered his wealth from the Assyrians,
or had enriched himself by their spoil. The sacred historian attributes
Hezekiah's conduct on this occasion to “his pride of heart,” involving an
appropriation to himself of that glory which belonged only to Jehovah. Although,
therefore, his conduct did not occasion the doom, it gave the prophet Isaiah
occasion to make known to him that the treasures of his kingdom were the
destined spoil, and his posterity the destined captives of the very nation whose
present ambassage had produced in him so much unseemly pride. This was in every
way a most remarkable prediction; for Babylon was then an inconsiderable
kingdom, and the people almost unknown by whom the prediction was to be
fulfilled. Hezekiah received this announcement with true oriental
submission--satisfied, he said, if there were but peace and truth in his own
days. The remainder of Hezekiah's reign, through the years of prolonged life
which had been granted to him, appears to have been prosperous and happy. To no
other man was it ever granted to view the approach of death with certain
knowledge, through the long, but constantly shortening, vista of years that lay
before him. At the time long before appointed, Hezekiah died, after a reign of
twenty-nine years, B.C. 725. MANASSEH REIGNS Manasseh was but twelve years of
age when he lost his father, and began to reign. The temptations which
surrounded him, and the evil counsels which were pressed upon him, were too
strong for his youth. He was corrupted; and it seemed the special object of his
reign to overthrow all the good his father had wrought in Judah. The crimes of
all former kings seem light in comparison with those which disgraced his reign.
He upheld idolatry with all the influence of the regal power, and that with such
inconceivable boldness, that the pure and holy ceremonies of the temple service
were superseded by obscene rites of an idol image set up in the very sanctuary;
while the courts of God's house were occupied by altars to “the host of heaven,”
or the heavenly bodies. He maintained herds of necromancers, astrologers, and
soothsayers of various kinds. The practice which was, of all others, the most
abhorrent to Jehovah, the king sanctioned by his own atrocious example; for he
devoted his own children, by fire to strange gods, in the blood-stained valley
of Ben-Hinnom. Wickedness now reigned on high, and as usual persecuted
righteousness and truth; so that, by a strong but significant hyperbole, we are
told that innocent blood flowed in the streets of Jerusalem like water.
ESARHADDON RISES IN POWER While these things were transacting in Judah,
Esarhaddon, the king of Assyria, was consolidating his power, and endeavoring to
reunite the broken fragments of his father's empire. It was not until the
thirtieth year of his reign that he recovered Babylon, the affairs of which
appear to have fallen into great disorder after the death of Merodach-Baladan,
if we may judge from the occurrence of five reigns and two interregnums of ten
years, all in the course of the twenty-nine years which preceded its reduction
again under the Assyrian yoke. When Esarhaddon had sufficiently re-established
his authority, and settled his affairs in the east, he turned his attention
westward, and determined to restore his authority in that quarter, and to avenge
the disgrace and loss which the Assyrians had sustained in Palestine. This
intention constituted him Jehovah's avenger upon the king and nation of Judah,
for the manifold iniquities into which they had by this time fallen. MANASSEH
DEPORTED Esarhaddon entered Judah in great force, defeated Manasseh in battle,
took him alive, and sent him in chains to Babylon, together with many of his
nobles and of the people. They were sent to Babylon probably because Esarhaddon,
to prevent another defection, made that city his chief residence during the last
thirteen years of his reign. It was probably on the same occasion that he
removed the principal remaining inhabitants of Israel, and replaced them by more
colonists from the East. MANASSEH PRAYS In the solitude of his prison at
Babylon, Manasseh became an altered and a better man. The sins of his past life,
and the grievous errors of his government were brought vividly before him; and
humbling himself before the God of his fathers, he cried earnestly for pardon,
and besought an opportunity of evincing the sincerity of his repentance. The
history makes mention of his prayer, as having been preserved; and the Apocrypha
contains a prayer which purports to be that which he used on this occasion. This
it would be difficult to prove; but the prayer itself is a good one, and
suitable to the occasion. MANASSEH RESTORED His prayer was heard, and the
opportunity which he sought was granted to him. Esarhaddon gave way to the
suggestions of a more generous policy than that by which he had been at first
actuated. He released the captive from his prison, and after having, we may
presume, won him over to the interests of Assyria, and weaned from the national
bias in favor of an Egyptian alliance, sent him home with honor. Unquestionably,
he remained tributary to the Assyrian monarch, and his territory was probably
considered as forming a useful barrier between the territories of Assyria and of
Egypt. On his return, Manasseh applied himself with great diligence to the
correction of the abuses of his former reign. He also fortified the city of Zion
on the west side by a second high wall (or, perhaps, he only rebuilt and carried
to a greater height the wall which the Assyrians had thrown down), and
endeavored as far as possible to restore the weakened kingdom to a better state.
He died in B.C. 696, after a protracted reign of fifty-five years; and, mindful
of the first iniquities of his reign, a place in the Sepulcher of the Kings was
denied him, but he was buried in his own garden. AMON'S REIGN Amon the son of
Manasseh was twenty-five years of age when he ascended the throne of Judah. He
had been born after the repentance and restoration of his father, yet the first
ways of Manasseh, and not the last, were those which he chose to follow. He
revived the idolatries which had been suppressed; but the full development of
his plans and character was interrupted by a conspiracy, in which he perished
after a short reign of two years. B.C. 639. JOSIAH'S REIGN Josiah was but eight
years old at the death of his father; and during his minority the affairs of the
government were administered by the high-priest Joachim and a council of elders
at Jerusalem. The young king profited well by the excellent education he
received under the tutelage of the high-priest. After a minority of eight years
he assumed the government, and proceeded to act with far greater vigor against
the idolatries of the land than the regent had ventured to exercise. He not only
destroyed every form of idolatry which he was able to detect, but overthrew the
altars illegally erected to Jehovah, and corrected the other irregularities
which had in previous times been tolerated. In the course of these purgations,
which were conducted by the king in person, he came to Bethel, and there
(according to the prediction made nearly four centuries before, which had
mentioned him by name) he defiled the altar which Jeroboam had erected before
the golden calf in that place, by burning thereon the disinterred bones of dead
men--the bones of the worshippers. And it was thus that the idolatrous altars
were defiled by him throughout the land. The zeal of the king took him beyond
the limits of his own kingdom into the land of Israel, which he traversed even
to its remoter parts, uprooting idolatry and all its adjuncts, wherever he came.
For this rather remarkable proceeding out of his own kingdom there are different
ways of accounting. The most probable seems to be that in restoring Manasseh to
his throne, the king of Assyria had extended his authority (for the purpose of
internal government) over the neighboring territory. His favor and confidence,
continued to Josiah, agrees with and helps to explain some other circumstances.
THE LAW FOUND When these operations were completed, measures were taken for a
thorough repair of the temple. While this was in progress, the high-priest,
Hilkiah, discovered the autograph copy of the Law, written by the hand of Moses,
which had been deposited in or beside the ark of the covenant in the sanctuary.
By his direction Shaphan, the chief scribe, read therefrom in the audience of
the king, who no sooner heard that part which contains the prophecies of Moses
against the nation, foretelling the captivities and destructions which should
befall it for its iniquities, than Josiah knew by signs not to be mistaken, that
the predicted calamities were imminent, for the iniquities had been rife, and
the doom could not but soon follow; already, indeed, by the captivity of Israel,
it had been half accomplished. It was for this that the king rent his
garments.[353] He delayed not to send to Huldah the prophetess, “who dwelt in
the college at Jerusalem,” to learn from her the real intentions of Jehovah, and
the sense in which these alarming denunciations were to be understood. She
confirmed the obvious interpretation--that the unquenchable wrath of God would
ere long be poured out upon Judah and Jerusalem, consuming, or bringing into
bondage, the land, the city, the temple, the people, the king--but adding, for
the king himself, that because of the righteousness which had been found in him,
he should be gathered to his grave before those evil days arrived. [353] It is
quite evident that the king had never before read or heard these denunciations
of the law, which seems hard to account for, when we consider that copies of the
law do not appear to have been scarce, the rather as, no great while before,
many copies had been made under the direction of Hezekiah. It has been suggested
that the book in common use, and even that used by kings and priests, was some
abstract, like our abridgment of the statutes, which contained only matters of
positive law, omitting the promises and threatenings. The king being impatient
to know the contents, the scribe begins to read immediately; and as the books of
the times were written upon long scrolls, and rolled upon a stick, the latter
part of Deuteronomy would come first in course; and there the scribe would find
those terrible threatenings whereby the king was so strongly affected. See
Deuteronomy 28. PASSOVER CELEBRATED By these disclosures new zeal for the Law
was kindled in the heart of Josiah. The very same year, he caused the passover
to be celebrated with great solemnity, in which not only the people of Judah,
but the remnant of the Hebrew race which the Assyrians had left in the land of
Israel, joined. There had been no such passover since the foundation of the
kingdom. JUDAH AND EGYPT To understand the circumstances which led to the death
of King Josiah, it is necessary to view correctly the position of his kingdom,
as a frontier barrier between the two great kingdoms of Assyria and Egypt, whose
borders, by the conquests of the former power were, and had for some time been,
in close and dangerous approximation. It is obvious that, from the first, the
political game of Western Asia in that age lay between Egypt and Assyria, the
former power being the only power west of the Euphrates which could for an
instant be expected to resist or retaliate the aggressive movements of the
latter. There was little question that the rich and fertile valley of the Nile
might tempt the cupidity[354] or the ambition of the Assyrians. It was therefore
the obvious policy of the kings of Egypt to maintain the kingdoms of Israel and
Judah, as a barrier between their country and the Assyrians, and it was the
equally obvious policy of the latter to break that barrier down. Hence Hoshea in
Israel had been encouraged by Sabaco to assert his independence, with a promise
of support, which there is reason to believe that the Egyptian king was less
unwilling than unable to render. The fall of Israel, as it weakened the barrier,
could not but be a matter of regret to the Egyptians, and it would still be
their desire to strengthen the hands of the kings of Judah. In this position it
became a question at Jerusalem, as it had been in Samaria, whether the
forbearance of the Assyrians should be purchased by submission, or that reliance
should be reposed on the support of Egypt in opposition to that great power. The
kings and people seem to have been generally well disposed “to lean upon Egypt,”
not more from habit and ancient intercourse, than from the perception that it
was clearly the interest of that country to support them against the Assyrians.
But when it had happened more than once that Egypt, after having encouraged them
to shake off the Assyrian yoke, was unable (we can not believe unwilling) to
render the stipulated assistance at the time it was most needed, and left them
exposed to the tender mercies of the provoked Assyrians, the prophets raised
their voice against a confidence and an alliance by which nothing but calamity
had been produced, and encouraged unreserved and quiet submission to the
Assyrian yoke. Even Hezekiah however, as we have seen, was induced by the
prospect of support from Egypt, to throw off his dependence on Assyria. The
consequent invasion of Judah by Sennacherib was so obviously threatening to
Egypt, that Sethos (the king who then reigned in Lower Egypt) could only have
been prevented by the state of affairs in his own dominion from rendering the
assistance which he had led the king of Judah to expect. But, as already stated,
this very unwarlike person--a priest by education and habit--had so offended the
powerful military caste by abridgments of their privileges, that they refused to
act, even in defence of the country. But when Tirhakah, the Ethiopian, who ruled
in Upper Egypt, heard of the threatened invasion by Sennacherib, he marched
against him; and the Scriptural account would imply that the mere rumor of his
approach sufficed to induce the Assyrians to contemplate a retreat, which was
hastened by the singular destruction in his army by the pestilential
simoom.[355] This solitary example of assistance from Egypt, although from an
unexpected quarter, may be supposed to have strengthened the predilection of the
king and people of Judah toward the Egyptian alliance; and it was almost
certainly with the concurrence of Egypt that Manasseh allowed himself to incur
the wrath of the Assyrians. But during his imprisonment at Babylon he would seem
to have acquired the conviction that it was his best policy to adhere to his
Assyrian vassalage; and we may conclude he was not released without such oaths
and covenants as his awakened conscience bound him to observe. He was probably
restored to his throne as a sworn tributary, or as being bound to keep the
country as a frontier against Egypt. The conduct of Josiah renders this the most
probable conclusion. [354] Sir J.G. Wilkinson alleges, we know not on what
authority, that Sennacherib was fought and beaten by Tirhakah, and attributes to
the jealousy of the Memphites the version of the affair given to Herodotus, by
which he considers the truth to be disguised and the glory of Tirhakah obscured.
This version is, that the Assyrians actually invaded Egypt; and Sethos being
unsupported by the military, was induced by a dream to march against the enemy
at the head of an undisciplined rabble of artisans and laborers. While the two
parties were encamped opposite each other, near Pelusium, a prodigious number of
field mice visited the Assyrian camp by night and gnawed to pieces their quivers
and bows, as well as the handles of their shields, so that, in the morning,
finding themselves without arms, they fled in confusion, losing great numbers of
their men. This is the story which Sir J.G. Wilkinson regards as invented by the
Memphites to withdraw from Tirhakah the credit of the Assyrian overthrow, which
was really his work. But from the cast given to the story, we are very much more
disposed to believe that it is rather a version of the extraordinary overthrow
which the Assyrians sustained by night in Palestine, and which the Egyptians
desired to appropriate to their own country and their own gods. Or may it not be
that, seeing the Hebrews alleged their God to be the Creator of the world, the
Egyptians considered him the same as Phtah, the creator in their mythology, and
whose priest Sethos had been? This seems to us very likely, the rather as it is
difficult without this supposed identity to account for a circumstance in a
following reign, when Necho expected to influence the pious Josiah by telling
that God had sent him (Necho) to war against the Assyrians. [355] Extreme greed
JOSIAH ATTACKS THE EGYPTIANS The Assyrian power got involved in wars with the
Medes and Chaldeans, by which its attention was fully engaged and its energies
weakened. Egypt, on the other hand, united under one king, had been
consolidating its strength. Pharaoh Necho, the king of that country, thought the
opportunity favorable to act aggressively against the Assyrians, and to that end
resolved to march and attack this old enemy on his old frontier. Carchemish, an
important post on the Euphrates, and the key of Assyria on the western side, was
the point to which his march was directed. He passed along the seacoast of
Palestine, northward, the route usually followed by the Egyptian kings when they
entered Asia. Josiah being apprized of this, and mindful of his relation to
Assyria, and of his obligation to defend the frontier against the Egyptians,
assembled his forces and determined to impede, if he could not prevent, the
march of Necho through his territories. When the Egyptian king heard that Josiah
had posted himself on the skirts of the plain of Esdraelon--that great
battlefield of nations--to oppose his progress, he sent messengers to engage him
to desist from his interference, alleging that he had no hostile intentions
against Judah, but against an enemy with whom he was at war, and warning Josiah
that his imprudent interference might prove fatal to himself and his people. But
these considerations had no weight with Josiah, against what appeared to him a
clear case of duty. He resisted the progress of the Egyptian army with great
spirit, considering the disproportion of numbers. He himself fought in disguise;
but a commissioned arrow found him out, and inflicted a mortal wound in the
neck. He directed his attendants to remove him from the battle-field. Escaping
from the heavy shower of arrows with which their broken ranks were overwhelmed,
they removed him from the chariot in which he was wounded, and placing him in “a
second one that he had,” they conveyed him to Jerusalem, where he died. Thus
prematurely perished, at the age of thirty-nine, one of the best and most
zealous kings who ever sat upon the throne of David. His zeal in his vocation,
as the over-turner of idolatry, must have been much stimulated by the knowledge
that he had been pre-ordained, by name, to this service, many centuries before
his birth. We know not why the last act of his life should be deemed blameworthy
by many who in other respects think highly of his character and reign, Was it
not rather noble and heroic in him to oppose the vast host of Necho, in
obedience to the obligation which his family had incurred to the Assyrian kings,
and in consideration of which his grandfather, his father, and himself, had been
permitted to exercise the sovereign authority in the land? The death of Josiah
was lamented by the prophet Jeremiah in an elegiac[356] ode, which has not been
preserved. [356] Mournful lament Intent upon his original design, Necho paused
not to avenge himself upon the Judahites for the opposition he had encountered,
but continued his march to the Euphrates. JEHOIAKIM MADE KING Three months had
scarcely elapsed, when, returning victorious from the capture of Carchemish and
the defeat of the Assyrians, he learned that the people had called a younger son
of Josiah, named Jehoahaz or Shallum, twenty-three years old, to the throne,
overlooking his elder brother. Displeased that such a step had been taken
without any reference to the will of their now paramount lord and conqueror, he
sent and summoned Jehoahaz to attend on him at Riblah, in the land of Hamath;
and having deposed him and condemned the land to pay in tribute a hundred
talents of silver and a talent of gold, he took him as a prisoner to Jerusalem.
On arriving there, Necho made Eliakim, the eldest son of Josiah, king in the
room of his father, changing his name to Jehoiakim, according to a custom
frequently practised by lords paramount and masters toward subject princes and
slaves. The altered name was a mark of subjection. Then taking the silver and
gold which he had levied upon the people, Necho departed for Egypt, taking with
him the captive Jehoahaz, who there terminated his short and inglorious career,
according to the prophecy of Jeremiah--Jeremiah 22:10-12. JEHOIAKIM'S IDOLATRY
Jehoiakim, the eldest son of Josiah, was twenty-five years old when he began to
reign. He reigned eleven years, and by his idolatries and misgovernment proved
himself worthy of the throne of Ahaz and Manasseh. Early in his reign he was
called to repentance by the prophet Jeremiah, who publicly, at the feast of
tabernacles, in the ears of the assembled nation, denounced, in the name of
Jehovah, the severest judgments against king and people, including the
destruction of the city and the temple. For this he was seized as a seditious
person, worthy of death; but he was acquitted by the nobles, and on this and
other occasions screened by some persons of influence, who had been in power in
the good times of Josiah. BABYLON RETAKES AREA Meanwhile the war in the east
approached its termination. The allied Medes and Babylonians--the former under
Cyaxares, and the latter under Nabopolassar--besieged the last Assyrian king in
Nineveh. The siege was turned into a blockade; and Nabopolassar, already
assuming the government of the empire which had fallen from the enfeebled hands
of the Assyrians, dispatched his son Nebuchadnezzar westward, with an adequate
force, to chastise the Egyptians for their late proceedings, and to restore the
revolted Syrians and Phoenicians to their obedience. In these different objects
he completely succeeded.[357] Carchemish (Jeremiah 47:2) he recovered from the
Egyptians, and Jehoiakim was compelled to transfer his allegiance from Necho to
the Babylonian. This was in the first year of his reign; in the second Nineveh
was taken and destroyed by the allies. The conquering Medes were content to have
secured their independence and avenged their wrongs, and left to the conquering
Chaldeans the lion's share of the spoil. Babylon now became the imperial
capital; but Nabopolassar himself, the founder of the great Chaldea-Babylonian
empire, died almost immediately after the fall of Nineveh, and the young hero in
the west was called to fill the glorious throne which his father had set up.
[357] Berosus in Egypt, Antiq. x. 11, 1 JEHOIAKIM REBELS The absence of
Nebuchadnezzar in another quarter seemed to the king of Egypt a favorable
opportunity of recovering his foreign conquests. He therefore undertook another
expedition against Carchemish (Jeremiah 46:2); and as Jehoiakim, in Judea,
renounced, about the same time, his sworn allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar, there is
much reason to conclude that he was encouraged to this step by the Egyptian
king. This measure was earnestly but ineffectually reprobated by the prophet
Jeremiah, who foretold the consequences which actually followed. EGYPT CHASTISED
BY NEBUCHADNEZZAR Nebuchadnezzar, who was certainly the greatest general of that
age, did not allow the Egyptian king to surprise him. He met and defeated him at
Carchemish, and then, pursuing his victory, stripped the Egyptian of all his
northern possessions, from the river Euphrates to the Nile, and this by so
strong an act of repression that he dared “come no more out of his own land.”
JUDAH CHASTISED BY NEBUCHADNEZZAR The king of Judah now lay at the mercy of the
hero whose anger he had so unadvisedly provoked. Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to
Jerusalem, and took it. He committed no destructions but such as were the direct
effect of his military operations and, with a leniency very rare in those days,
he refrained from displacing Jehoiakim from his throne. He was content to
indemnify himself by the spoils of the temple, part of the golden ornaments and
vessels of which he took away; and with removing to Babylon some members of the
royal family, and sons of the principal nobles. These would serve as hostages,
and at the same time help to swell the pomp and ostentation of the Babylonian
court. Among the persons thus removed was Daniel and his three friends, whose
condition and conduct will soon engage our notice, as part of the history of the
captivity. It must be evident that the leniency exhibited on this occasion by
Nebuchadnezzar, may be ascribed to his desire to maintain the kingdom of Judah
as a barrier between his Syrian dominions and Egypt; for since Egypt had become
aggressive, it was no longer his interest that this barrier should be destroyed.
JEHOIAKIM REBELS AGAINST BABYLON AGAIN The court at Jerusalem soon again fell
into much disorder. The king turned a deaf ear to all wise counsel and all
truth, as delivered by the prophet Jeremiah, and listened only to the false
prophets, who won his favor by the flattering prospects which they drew, and by
the chimerical[358] hopes which they created. The final result was, that this
prince again had the temerity to renounce his allegiance to the Babylonian, to
whose clemency he owed his life and throne. [358] Wildly imaginative JEHOIAKIM
REJECTS GOD'S PROPHETS This occurred in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, B.C. 604,
which it is important to note, as it is from this date that the “seventy years”
of the Babylonish captivity is with the greatest apparent propriety dated
(Jeremiah 25:11; 2 Chronicles 36:21-23). This period of seventy years of exile
was foretold by Jeremiah;[359] and it is most remarkable, that, from whichever
of the more marked points these seventy years be commenced, we are brought at
the termination to some one equally marked point in the history of the
restoration and re-settlement of the nation. [359] Dated from this point, the
seventy years expired in B.C. 536; the year that Cyrus took Babylon, and issued
a decree for the return of such of the Jews as chose, throughout his dominions,
to their own land (Ezra 3:1); and this agrees with the account of Josephus, “in
the first year of Cyrus, which was the seventieth (to ebdomhkoston) from the day
of the removal of our people from their native land to Babylon,” etc. (Ant. xi.
1, 1); for from B.C. 605 to B.C. 536 was sixty-nine years complete, or seventy
years current. Hales, to whom we are indebted for this conclusion, thinks that
it affords a satisfactory adjustment of the chronology of this most intricate
and disputed period of the captivity, and that in it “all the varying reports of
sacred and profane chronology are reconciled and brought into harmony with each
other.” Jehoiakim was not at all reformed by the calamity which had befallen his
house and country. It only served to increase the ferocity of his spirit. This
reign, therefore, continued to be cruel, tyrannical, and oppressive, and, still
more and more, “his eyes and his heart were intent on covetousness, oppression,
and the shedding of innocent blood.” Of this an instance is found in the case of
the prophet Urijah, “whom he slew with the sword, and cast his dead body into
the graves of the common people,” because he prophesied of the impending
calamities of Judah and Jerusalem (Jeremiah 22:13-16). For these things the
personal doom of Jehoiakim was thus pronounced by Jeremiah-- “…Thus saith
Jehovah, Concerning Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Israel-- They shall not
lament for him, saying, Ah, my brother! nor {for the queen}, Ah, sister! They
shall not lament for him, saying, Ah, Lord! nor {for her}, Ah, her glory! With
the burial of an ass shall he be buried, Drawn forth and cast beyond the gates
of Jerusalem”--(Jeremiah 22:18-19). For this prophecy the prophet was cast into
prison, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. The following year, acted upon by that
strong constraint to deliver the word entrusted to him, which he himself so
forcibly describes,[360] [360] “Thou didst persuade me, Jehovah, and I was
persuaded; Thou wast stronger than I, and didst prevail. I am every day the
object of laughter; Every one of them holdeth me in derision. For whensoever I
speak-- If I cry out of violence, and proclaim devastation, The word of Jehovah
is turned against me, Into reproach and disgrace continually. But when I say, I
will not make mention of it, Neither will I speak any more in his name; Then it
becomes in my heart as a burning fire, Being pent up in my bones: I am weary
with refraining, and can not [be silent]”--Jeremiah 20:7-9. Jeremiah dictated to
his friend and follower, the scribe Baruch, another prophecy, to the same effect
as the former, but couched in stronger language, declaring the ruin which
impended, through the Babylonian king, unless speedy and strong repentance
intervened to avert the doom. The roll, thus written, Baruch was sent to read
publicly to the people assembled from all the country on account of a solemn
fast for which public opinion had called. Baruch accordingly read it in the
court of the temple, in the audience of all the people assembled there. He
afterward, at their request, read it more privately to the princes. They heard
it with consternation, and determined to make its contents known to the king.
Baruch was directed to go and conceal himself, and the roll was taken and read
to the king, who was then sitting in his winter apartment, with a brazier of
burning charcoal before him. When, he had heard three or four sections, the king
kindled into rage, and taking the roll from the reader, he cut it with the
scribe's knife, and threw it into the fire, where it was consumed. He also
ordered the prophet and his friend to be put to death; but this was averted by
the kind providence of the Almighty Master whom they served. The undaunted
prophet directed Baruch to rewrite the prophecy which had been burnt, with
additional matter of the same purport; while to Jehoiakim himself the terrible
message was sent: “Thus saith Jehovah, Concerning Jehoiakim, king of Judah-- He
shall have none to sit upon the throne of David; And his dead body shall be cast
out, In the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost”--Jeremiah 36:30. The
end of this miserable man doubtless corresponded with these predictions,
although the historical narrative of that event is involved in some obscurity
and apparent contradiction. The statement we shall now give appears to be the
only one by which, as it appears to us, all these difficulties can be
reconciled. It is evident that if Jehoiakim did not again revolt, his conduct
was at least so unsatisfactory to the king of Babylon, that he sent an army
against Jerusalem, containing some Chaldean troops, but composed chiefly from
the surrounding subject nations, as the Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites. In
what manner they performed their mission we know not, but according to the
figurative description which Ezekiel (Ezekiel 9:5-9) gives of Jehoiakim as a
rapacious “lion's whelp,” we learn that “the nations from the provinces set
about him on every side, and spread their net over him, and he was taken in
their pit; and they secured him with chains, and brought him to the king of
Babylon.” Nebuchadnezzar was then probably at Riblah, at which place the eastern
conquerors appear to have usually held their court when in Syria. He bound the
captive king “with fetters {intending} to carry him to Babylon” (2 Chronicles
36:6); but took him first to Jerusalem, where he appears to have died before
this intention could be executed; and the prophecies require us to conclude that
his body was cast forth with indignity, and lay exposed to the elements and
beasts of prey, which is what is intended by “the burial of an ass.” JECONIAH
THEN ZEDEKIAH REIGN The preceding invaders appear to have been contented with
securing the person of Jehoiakim, and taking him to Nebuchadnezzar; for when
they had departed with their royal captive, the people made his son Jeconiah
(otherwise Jehoiachin and Coniah) king in the room of his father. He was then
(B.C. 597) eighteen years of age, and had barely time to manifest his bad
disposition, when Nebuchadnezzar himself, who was displeased at this
appointment, appeared before Jerusalem. It would seem that he was admitted
without opposition; but Jeconiah was, nevertheless, held a close prisoner. The
money which remained in the royal treasury, and the golden utensils of the
temple, were collected and sent as spoil to Babylon; and the deposed king, and
his whole court, seven thousand soldiers, one thousand artisans, and two
thousand nobles and men of wealth, altogether, with wives and children,
amounting probably to 40,000 persons, were sent away into captivity to the river
Chebar (Chaboras) in Mesopotamia. Thus only the lower class of citizens and
peasantry were left behind. The future prophet, Ezekiel, was among the captives;
and Mattaniah, the remaining son of Josiah, and brother of Jehoiakim, was made
king of the impoverished land by Nebuchadnezzar, who, according to the custom in
such cases, changed his name to Zedekiah, and bound him by strong and solemn
oaths of allegiance. Remains of the Ancient Port of Sidon

ZEDEKIAH REBELS AGAINST BABYLON The Hebrews who remained in Judah continued
however to cherish dreams of independence from the Chaldeans--impossible, under
the circumstances in which WesternAsia was then placed, or possible only through
such special interventions of Providence as had glorified their early history,
but all further claim to which they had long since forfeited. Even the captives
in Mesopotamia and Chaldea were looking forward to a speedy return to their own
land. These extravagant expectations were strongly discouraged by Jeremiah in
Jerusalem, and by Ezekiel in Mesopotamia; but their reproofs were not heeded,
nor their prophecies believed. Accordingly, Zedekiah, who seems not to have been
ill-disposed, otherwise than as influenced by evil counsellors, was led openly
to renounce his allegiance, in the ninth year of his reign. The temerity of this
act would be astonishing and unaccountable, were it not that, as usual, the
renunciation was attended by an alliance with the king of Egypt, Pharaoh
Hophra--the Apries and Vaphres of profane authors--who indeed had acquired a
prominence in this quarter which might make the preference of his alliance seem
a comparatively safe speculation. Apries, in the early part of his reign, was a
very prosperous king. He sent an expedition against the Isle of Cyprus; besieged
and took Gaza (Jeremiah 47:1) and the city of Sidon; engaged and vanquished the
king of Tyre; and, being uniformly successful, he made himself master of
Phoenicia, and part of Palestine; thus recovering much of that influence in
Syria which had been taken from Egypt by the Assyrians and Babylonians. SIEGE OF
JERUSALEM From the result it is evident that, on receiving the news of this
revolt of one who owed his throne to him, and whose fidelity to him had been
pledged by the most solemn vows, Nebuchadnezzar resolved no longer to attempt to
maintain the separate existence of Judah as a royal state, but to incorporate it
absolutely, as a province, with his empire. An army was, with little delay,
marched into Judea, and laid immediate siege to Jerusalem. Jeremiah continued to
counsel the king to save the city and temple by unreserved submission to the
Chaldeans, and abandonment of the Egyptian alliance; but his auditors, trusting
that the Egyptians would march to the relief of the place, determined to
protract the defence of the city to the utmost. The Egyptians did, in fact,
march to their assistance; but when Nebuchadnezzar raised the siege of Jerusalem
and advanced to meet them, they retreated before him into Egypt, without
hazarding a battle. The withdrawal of the Chaldean forces from Jerusalem, with
the confident expectation that they would be defeated by the Egyptians, filled
the inhabitants with the most extravagant joy, and quite reversed--and so
evinced the hollowness of--the slight acts of repentance and reformation which
the apparent urgency of danger had produced. Their short-lived joy was
terminated by the reappearance of the Chaldeans before the city. They prepared,
however, to make a vigorous, or at least a protracted defence, for they well
knew that, after so many provocations, little mercy was to be expected from
Nebuchadnezzar, and they were probably acquainted with the fell purpose which
that great monarch appears to have formed. In the account of this siege much
notice is taken of the respective works, the forts, the towers, etc., of the
besiegers and the besieged. This may throw some light on the state to which the
art of attacking and defending towns had then attained. JERUSALEM DESTROYED The
siege was continued until the eleventh year of Zedekiah (B.C. 586), eighteen
months from the beginning, when the Chaldeans stormed the city about midnight,
and put the inhabitants to the sword, young and old, many of them in the very
courts of the temple. The king himself, with his sons, his officers, and the
remnant of the army, escaped from the city, but were pursued by the Chaldeans,
and overtaken in the plain of Jericho, and carried as prisoners to
Nebuchadnezzar, who was then at Riblah in the province of Hamath. The Babylonian
king upbraided Zedekiah for his ingratitude and breach of faith, and ordered a
terrible punishment to be inflicted on him. To cut off all future hope of
reigning in his race, he ordered his sons to be slain before his eyes; and then,
to exclude him from all hope of ever again reigning in his own person, he
ordered that the last throes of his murdered children should be his last sight
in this world. His eyes were put out--a barbarous mode of disqualifying a man
for political good or evil, with which the governments of the East still
continue to visit those whose offences excite displeasure, or whose pretensions
create fear. The blind king was then led in fetters of brass to Babylon, where
he died. Thus were fulfilled two prophecies, by different and distant prophets,
which by their apparent dissonance had created mirth and derision in Jerusalem.
Jeremiah had told the king, after the return of the Chaldean army to the siege,
that he should surely be taken prisoner; that his eyes should see the king of
Babylon, and that he should be carried captive to Babylon, and that he should
die there, not by the sword, but in peace, and with the same honorable
“burnings” with which his fathers had been interred;[361] while Ezekiel had
predicted that he should be brought captive to Babylon, yet should never see
that city, although he should die therein.[362] [361] Jeremiah 32:4-5. [362]
Ezekiel 12:13. Nebuchadnezzar appears to have been dissatisfied at the only
partial manner in which his purposes against Judah had been executed. He
therefore sent Nebuzaradan, the captain of his guard, with an army of Chaldeans
to Jerusalem. The temple and the city were then burnt to the ground, and all the
walls demolished, while all the vessels of brass, silver, and gold, which had
been left before, and all the treasure of the temple, the palace, and the houses
of the nobles, were taken for spoil; and of the people none were left but the
poor of the land to be vine-dressers and husbandmen. This was about a month
after the city was first taken. SABBATICAL YEAR DESOLATION Thus was the land
made desolate, that “she might enjoy her sabbaths,” or the arrearage of sabbatic
years, of which she had been defrauded by the avarice and disobedience of the
people. That these sabbatic years, being the celebration of every seventh year
as a season of rest, even to the soil which then lay fallow, amounted to not
less than seventy, shows how soon, and how long, that important and
faith-testing institution had been neglected by the nation. The early
predictions of Moses,[363] and the later one of Jeremiah,[364] that the land
should enjoy the rest of which it had been defrauded, is very remarkable, when
we consider that, as exemplified in Israel, it was not the general policy of the
conquerors to leave the conquered country in desolation, but to replenish it by
foreign colonists, by whom it might be cultivated. [364] 2 Chronicles 36:21.
[365] Leviticus 26:34 GEDALIAH MADE GOVERNOR Nebuchadnezzar made Gedaliah, a
Hebrew of distinction, governor of the poor remnant which was left in the land.
Gedaliah was a well-disposed man, of a generous and unsuspecting nature, who was
anxious to promote the well-being of the people by reconciling them to the
Babylonian government. In this design he was assisted by Jeremiah, who had been
released from prison when the city was taken, and was treated with much
consideration by the Babylonian general, to whose care he had been recommended
by Nebuchadnezzar himself. Nebuzaradan indeed offered to take him to Babylon and
provide for him there; but the prophet chose rather to remain with his friend
Gedaliah, who fixed his residence at Mizpeh beyond Jordan. THE REFUGE IN EGYPT
As soon as the Babylonian army had withdrawn, those nobles and warriors returned
who had saved themselves by flight in the first instance. Among these was
Ishmael, a prince of the royal family, who, jealous of the possession by
Gedaliah of the government to which he considered that his birth gave him the
best right, formed a conspiracy to take away his life. This was intimated to the
governor, but he treated it as an infamous calumny upon Ishmael, which generous
confidence was rewarded by his being murdered, with all the Hebrews and
Chaldeans at Mizpeh who were attached to him, by that bad man and his
dependants. The vengeance of the Chaldeans was now to be dreaded, and therefore
Ishmael and all his followers fled toward the country of the Ammonites (who had
promoted the designs of Ishmael). They attempted to take with them the king's
daughter and the residue of the people; but these were recovered by Johanan and
other officers, who pursued them, so that Ishmael escaped with only eight men to
the Ammonites. Johanan and the others were fearful of the effects of the
resentment of the Chaldeans for the massacre of which Ishmael had been guilty.
They therefore determined to take refuge in Egypt with all the people. This
intention was earnestly opposed by Jeremiah, who, in the name of Jehovah,
promised them peace and safety if they remained; but threatened death by
pestilence, famine, and sword, if they went down to Egypt. They went, however,
and compelled Jeremiah himself to go with them; and it is alleged by tradition
that they put him to death in that country for the ominous prophecies he
continued to utter there. NEBUZARADAN INVADES Nebuzaradan soon after arrived in
the country with the view of avenging the murder of Gedaliah and the massacre of
the Chaldeans who were with him: but the country was so thin of inhabitants, in
consequence of the secession to Egypt, that he could find no more than seven
hundred and forty-five persons in the land, whom he sent into captivity beyond
the Euphrates. Thus signally was the long predicted depopulation of the land
completed; and although nomadic tribes wandered through the country, and the
Edomites settled in, some of its southern parts, yet the land remained, on the
whole, uninhabited, and ready for the Hebrews, whose return had as much been the
subject of prophecy as their captivity had been. For the clearer apprehension of
the facts which have been stated, it will be desirable to trace the further
operations of the Babylonians in those quarters. NEBUCHADNEZZAR TAKES WHOLE
REGION The year after the conquest of Judea, Nebuchadnezzar resolved to take a
severe revenge upon all the surrounding nations which had solicited the
Judahites to a confederacy against him, or had encouraged them to rebel,
although they now, for the most part, rejoiced in their destruction. These were
the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, Arabians, the Sidonians, Tyrians, and
Philistines; nor did he forget the Egyptians, who had taken a foremost part
inaction or intrigue against him. This had been foretold by the prophets. It had
been foretold that all these nations were to be subdued by Nebuchadnezzar, and
were assigned to share with the Hebrews the bondage of seventy years to that
power. Some of them were conquered sooner and some later; but the end of this
period was the common term for the deliverance of them all from their bondage to
Babylon. TYRE TAKEN After Nebuchadnezzar had subdued the eastern and western
states in his first campaign, he commenced the siege of the strong city of old
Tyre, on the continent, in the year B.C. 584, being two years after the
destruction of Jerusalem. This siege occupied thirteen years, a fact which
illustrates, perhaps, not so much the strength of the place as the vitality of a
commercial state. This is, however, only to intimate that during this period the
city was invested by a Chaldean army; for many other important enterprises were
undertaken and accomplished during the same period. It was during the siege that
Nebuzaradan marched into Judea to avenge the murder of Gedaliah and the
Chaldeans, as was just related. EGYPT TAKEN Before Tyre was taken, the
inhabitants, having the command of the sea, fled with all their effects to the
insular Tyre in its neighborhood; so that the Chaldean army found but little
spoil to reward their long toil and patience in the siege. This had been
foretold by the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 29:18-20), but although Nebuchadnezzar
and his army were to obtain “no wages for the great service they had served
against Tyre,” in the long course of which “every head was made bald and every
shoulder peeled,” yet as a compensation they were promised the plunder of “the
land of Egypt, her multitude, her spoil, and her prey.” Accordingly, in the
spring of the year B.C. 570, after the war with Tyre was finished,
Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt, and, from a concurrence of weakening circumstances
in that country, was enabled to overrun the whole country from Migdol, its
northern extremity, near the Red sea, to Syene, the southern, bordering upon
Ethiopia. This he also subdued, together with the other auxiliaries of the
Egyptians. The reigning king was the same Pharaoh-Hophra, or Apries, who was on
the throne at the time Jerusalem was besieged, and whose faint and abortive
motion to relieve his allies has been recorded. This proud and haughty tyrant
was reduced to vassalage; and so wasted and depopulated was the land by the
invaders, that it lay comparatively desolate for forty years. The king was
himself soon after defeated and captured by his discontented and revolted
subjects, under Amasis, who was made king, and who was reluctantly compelled by
the clamors of the soldiers to inflict death upon his predecessor. Amasis was
confirmed in the throne by the Assyrian king.


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  CHAPTER 36: THE CAPTIVITY--DANIEL--BELSHAZZAR--DARIUS
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THE CAPTIVITY--DANIEL--BELSHAZZAR--DARIUS SURVEY OF ISRAEL'S FAILURE Before we
enter upon the historical details of the period which now opens, it is proper to
take a rapid survey of the principles developed in the history through which we
have passed, and to indicate the consequences which are exhibited in the portion
that lies before us. In the commencement of the work, we have stated, in general
terms, the leading design of the selection of the Hebrew race, and of their
settlement in the land of Canaan as a distinct and peculiar people, and
separated from all other nations by the peculiar institutions which were given
to them. That they were appointed to be “stewards of the mysteries of God,” is
the substance of the considerations stated there andenforced in subsequent
passages. The history itself shows under what forms and obligations the
stewardship was imposed, and how unfaithfully its duties were discharged; and we
are come to the punishments which that unfaithfulness incurred. Collecting Dung
for Fuel And did that unfaithfulness render the promises and designs of God of
no effect? Nay, much otherwise; but rather tended to illustrate the more
strongly his Almightiness, by the accomplishment of all his designs, in spite
of, and even through, the reluctance, the improbity, and the treachery of the
instruments he employed. They might have worked his high will with great
happiness and honor to themselves; but since they did not choose this, they were
compelled to work that will even by their misery and dishonor. It was not in the
power of the instruments to frustrate the intentions of Jehovah; they only had
power to determine whether that will should be accomplished with happiness or
with misery to themselves, and, in consequence, somewhat to vary the mode in
which those designs were exhibited and fulfilled. ISRAEL'S DEPENDENCE ON MAN The
main cause of the personal and national failure of the Israelites, as
instruments of a design which was accomplished notwithstanding their misdoings,
is by no means of difficult detection. Politically considered, it may be
resolved into what has been in all ages and countries the leading cause, of
calamity and miscarriage--a reliance upon men and upon individual character,
which at best is but temporary and fluctuating, rather than upon institutions
which are permanent and unchanging. In these, every needful amelioration is an
abiding good; whereas the existence of a good king, or judge, or priest, is at
the most but “a fortunate accident,” contingent on that most feeble thing, the
breath of man. Nothing had been wanting to fortify their peculiar position by
institutions admirably suited to their destined object, and made more
impregnable by numerous sanctions and obligations than any other institutions
ever were, or ever can, indeed, with any propriety, be made, by any authority
short of that infinite wisdom by which the Hebrew institutions were established.
Thus the nation was placed in the peculiarly advantageous position--which many
enlightened nations have struggled for and sought after in vain--that their
happiness, their prosperity, their liberties, were not dependant on the will of
any men or set of men, but rested on firm institutions which were as obligatory
upon the chiefs of the land as upon the meanest of the people. BLIND FOLLOWERS
OF LEADERS But this was a new thing on the earth, and the Hebrew nation seemed
utterly incapable of appreciating its value; and, indeed, what oriental nation
is there, at this advanced day, by which the value of so precious a gift would
be duly appreciated? They rested always on men; they always wanted leaders. And
as they were led they followed: if their leaders were good and just men, they
did well; if evil men, not well. They turned their back upon institutions, and
threw themselves upon the accidents of human character--and they fared
accordingly. This preference occurs everywhere in the history of this people,
and is with peculiar prominence evinced in their determination to have “a king
to rule them like the nations;” in the ease with which Jeroboam was enabled to
establish a schismatical worship in ten of the tribes; and in the facility with
which, even to Judah, the people followed the examples offered by their kings.
With reference to this point, the character so frequently given to Jeroboam when
the sacred writers have occasion to mention his name, as “Jeroboam, the son of
Nebat, who sinned, and made Israel to sin,” has always seemed to us frightfully
emphatic and significant. TENDENCY TO IDOLATRY AND PUNISHMENT Had the ancient
Hebrews adhered to their institutions, it was impossible for them, as a
political body, not to have fulfilled their special vocation in the world. But
having, by the neglect of those institutions (which, among other benefits,
secured the absence of idolatry and its concomitant vices), done all that in
them lay to frustrate the very objects for the promotion of which existence had
been given to them, they made it necessary that God should accomplish his own
objects, not, as desired, by their welfare and by the confusion of their
enemies, but by their misery and destitution. It was left him to demonstrate his
almightiness--his supreme power over all the “gods” which swarmed the world, not
by overthrowing with his strong hand all the enemies who rose against them, and
by maintaining them in the land he had given them, against the old conquerors by
whom great empires were thrown down, but by making these very nations the
instruments of his punishments, upon the chosen people. And this was
accomplished under such peculiar circumstances of manifest intention and
instrumentality, that the conquerors themselves were brought to acknowledge the
supremacy of Jehovah, and that they had been but the blind agents of his will.
The strong and marked interference to prevent “the great kings” from engrossing
to themselves the merit or glory of their victories, and from despising the God
of the people who, for their sins, had been abased at their footstool, even
extorted from these proud monarchs the avowal that they had received all their
crowns and all their kingdoms from “the most high God,” whom the Hebrews
worshipped. Now this and other results of the destitution of the Hebrews as
strongly, and perhaps more strikingly, sub-served the great object of keeping
alive in the world the knowledge of a supreme and universal governor and
creator, as by maintaining the Hebrews in Palestine. Indeed, that this great
truth was diffused among, and impressed upon, the conquering nations by the
captivity of the Hebrews--that “the Lord's song” was not sung utterly in vain in
a strange land, by the captives who wept when they remembered Zion under the
willows and beside the waters of Babylon--in short, that they received some salt
which kept them from utter putrefaction, some leaven which wrought vitally in
them and prepared them for the revelations which the “fulness of times”
produced--is evinced by the history of Daniel, by the edicts of Nebuchadnezzar,
of Darius, and, above all, of Cyrus, and may even be traced in the tradition
which ascribes the doctrines and important reforms of Zoroaster to his
intercourse with the Jewish captives and prophets at Babylon. GOD'S WORD WAS
PRESERVED Thus, although they had forfeited the high destiny of preserving and
propagating certain truths as an independent and sovereign people, the
forfeiture extended only to their own position, for the truths entrusted to them
were still preserved and diffused through the instrumentality of their bondage
and punishment. This was true even in the times posterior to their restoration
to their own land. We have been anxious to make these remarks, lest the facts of
the history should seem to intimate that the divine intention in the
establishment of the Hebrew commonwealth was frustrated by the perversity of the
people which rendered the subversion of that commonwealth necessary. Having, as
we trust, shown that there is no room for this conclusion, it may seem better to
reserve such further remarks as may tend to develop the spirit of the ensuing
history, for the natural connection with the record of the circumstances in
which they are involved. We now therefore proceed to record the captivities of
Israel and of Judah. CAPTIVITY IN PERSIAN PROVINCE When Jerusalem was destroyed,
one hundred and ninety-four years had elapsed since the Israelites of Galilee
and Gilead had been led away captive into Assyria; one hundred and thirty-three
years since Shalmaneser had removed the ten tribes to Halah, and Habor by the
river Gozan, and to Hara and other cities of Media; and ten years since
Nebuchadnezzar had banished some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem to the river of
Chebar. The determination of the sites to which the Israelites were removed is a
matter of some interest, but one which, in a work like the present, does not
require any large investigation. The interest lies in the means thus given of
determining the district to which the Israelites were expatriated; and it is
sufficient for us to state that all the investigations which have yet been
instituted, and all the information which has yet been acquired, concur in
referring all these names (excepting, of course, the river Chebar) to that
northwestern part of the present Persian empire which formed the ancient Media.
It is, indeed, remarkable that the only other cities whose names occur in the
history of the captivity of the ten tribes, are Rhages and Ecbatana, which we
know to have been important cities of Media, in both of which it appears that
the expatriated Israelites were settled in considerable numbers. DISPLACED
CITIZENS UNDER POLITICAL REGIMES Even this much it is important to learn;
because of itself it throws much light upon the policy of the Assyrian
conquerors, and upon the position which the removed Israelites ultimately
occupied. Media was then subject to the Assyrian empire, although still chiefly
occupied by the native Medes; it seems, therefore, to have been the policy of
the Medes to remove the inhabitants of one conquered country to another
conquered country with the view of weakening the separate interest or
nationality of both, and of promoting such a fusion of races and nations as
might tend to realize tranquillity and permanence to the general empire. From
this allocation of the expatriated Israelites in Media results the important
fact that, whereas Judah was always subject to the conquering nation, Israel was
only so for a short time, as the Medes, among whom they were placed, were not
long in asserting their independence of Assyria, which empire they (with the
Babylonians) ultimately subverted, and continued independent of the great
Babylonian empire which succeeded, and to which the captives of Judah were
subject, So, then, the relations of the ten tribes were with the Medes, not with
the Assyrians or Babylonians, and their relations with the Medes were not, and
were necessarily far better than, those between captives and conquerors. It does
not appear how the Medes could regard them, or that they did regard them,
otherwise than as useful and respectable colonists whom the common oppressor had
placed among them, and whose continued presence it was desirable to solicit and
retain. It is hard to call this a captivity; but since it is usually so
described it is important to remark that the captivity of the ten tribes and
that of Judah was under different, and independent, and not always friendly,
states. There is a vague notion that since the Babylonians subverted and
succeeded the Assyrians, the Israelites, who had been captives to the Assyrians,
became such to the Babylonians, and were afterward joined in that captivity by
their brethren of Judah; but this, as we have seen, was by no means the case.
The information we possess respecting the condition of the ten tribes, before
and after the fall of Jerusalem, is exceedingly scanty. It is certain that
during the long years which passed before Judah also was carried into captivity,
the expatriated Israelites fully participated in all the extravagant hopes of
their brethren in Judah, and were looking with sanguine expectations for a
speedy restoration to their own land; and the adverse prophecies and
declarations of Ezekiel were as little heeded by them as those of Jeremiah were
at Jerusalem. TOBIT'S ACCOUNT OF CAPTIVE LIFE The apocryphal book of Tobit is
the only source from which any information can be obtained as to the social
position of the expatriated Israelites. We are certainly not among those who
would like to repose much belief in “the stupid story of Tobias and his dog;”
yet the framework of that story is so much in agreement with what we do know,
and is so probable and natural in itself, that it would seem to have been
“founded on facts,” and to have been concocted by one who was intimately
acquainted with the condition and affairs of the Israelites under the Assyrians.
From this it would appear, that many of the captives were stationed at Nineveh
itself, where they would seem to have lived much like other citizens, and were
allowed to possess or acquire considerable wealth. Among these was Tobit, of the
town and city of Naphtali, a man who feared God, as doubtless many other of the
captives did, and who, as far as in his power, squared his conduct by the rules
and observances of the Mosaical law, and acquired such a character for
probity,[365] that the conqueror himself, Shalmaneser, took notice of him, and
appointed him his purveyor. This promotion of one of the expatriated Hebrews is
significant in its indications, as it shows that, as afterward with their
brethren in Babylon, offices of importance and profit were, under the Assyrians,
open to the ambition, or rewarded the good conduct of the Israelites. Tobit
availed himself of his position to visit his brother Israelites in other cities,
to cheer them and to encourage their reasonable hopes and enterprises. He must
have acquired considerable wealth, as he was enabled to deposit ten talents of
silver in the hands of Gabel of Rhages, in Media. That he did this may seem to
imply that the captives stationed in Media were considered more securely
circumstanced than those directly under the eye of the Assyrians. When
Sennacherib returned from his signal overthrow in Palestine, he vented his
ill-humor upon the Hebrew captives, and caused many of them to be put to death,
and their bodies were cast forth to remain unburied beyond the walls of Nineveh.
This was very shocking to the pious Tobit, who made it a practice to inter by
night the bodies of his brethren whom he found unburied. The absence of the
bodies occasioned inquiry, and the truth came to the knowledge of the tyrant,
who would have put him to death; but the good man received timely warning, and
made his escape from Nineveh. The tyrant himself was soon slain by his own sons;
and (another marked instance of promotion) his successor, Esarhaddon, appointed
Achiarcharus, Tobit's nephew, to be his “cupbearer, and keeper of the signet,
and overseer of the accounts.” Through this person Tobit, received permission to
return to Nineveh. But he was reduced to comparative poverty, and total
blindness was soon after added to his misfortunes. His nephew, Achiacharus, was
kind to the family under these circumstances, until Tobit thought proper to
remove into Elymais. There poverty was still their lot; and they were supported
chiefly by the wife, Anna, who took in “woman's work,” and some times obtained
presents from her employers above her actual earnings. [365] Complete and
confirmed integrity At last Tobit, who had returned to Nineveh, bethought him of
the valuable property he had left with Gabel at Rhages, and he sent his son to
reclaim it, after giving him such instructions as shows that travelling was
then, as almost ever since, dangerous in those countries. The romantic
adventures of young Tobias on the journey form the most suspicious part of the
book--perhaps the only suspicious part; for which reason, as well as because it
affords none of the illustration we require; we willingly pass it by. It may
suffice to state that Tobias prospered in his journey. Tobit lived in Nineveh to
the good old age of 158 years, and before his death foretold the approaching
troubles of Assyria and the destruction of Nineveh, and that “for a time peace
should rather be in Media,” to which country he advised his son to withdraw.
Tobias was mindful of his counsel, and withdrew to Ecbatana, where, in due time,
he heard of the destruction of Nineveh by the combined forces of the Medes and
Babylonians. We have already stated the inferences, as to the condition of the
expatriated Israelites, which this narrative opens, although we have no
information as to their condition after the fall of Nineveh and during the
contemporary captivity of Judah. But there is every reason to conclude that
their position under the Medes, when Media became an independent and
well-governed state, was even less disadvantageous and unequal than it had been
when that country was part of the Assyrian empire. DANIEL AND OTHERS DEPORTED We
have brought the history of the kingdom of Judah down to the destruction of
Jerusalem and the desolation, of the country. But the history of the captivity
must take us back to an earlier date, even to the time when Nebuchadnezzar
spoiled the temple of its costly utensils, and sent away to Babylon a number of
young princes and nobles as hostages for the fidelity of the people and their
new king. This was eleven years before the fall of Jerusalem. Among these
captives were Daniel, and his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
These, as tokens of their enslaved condition, received Chaldean names, more
familiar than their own to the organs of the conquering people. Daniel was
called Belteshazzar; Hananiah, Shadrach; Mishael, Meshach; and Azariah,
Abednego. These were, among others of the most promising of the youths; selected
to be educated in the palace for three years, under the charge of the chief of
the eunuchs, in the learning and language of the Chaldeans, to qualify them for
holding offices about the court and in the state. At the end of that time they
were brought before the king to be examined as to their proficiency, when the
young persons named were “found to be ten times better informed in all matters
of wisdom and understanding than all the magi or astrologers that were in the
whole realm.” They were accordingly admitted to a place to that learned body.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM Seventeen years after the destruction of Jerusalem, and
the second year after the devastation of Egypt, when all his enemies were
subdued on every side, and when his rule extended over many nations,
Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, which left a profound impression upon his mind, but
the details of which he was unable to recover when he awoke. He therefore sent
for all the magi and astrologers, requiring that by their occult skill and
pretended influence with the gods, they should not only interpret but recover
the dream he had lost. This they avowed themselves unable to do; whereupon the
enraged and disappointed king commanded them to be massacred. Daniel and his
friends were sought for, to be included in this doom; but Daniel, being informed
of the cause, repaired to the royal presence, and promised that if further time
were allowed, he would undertake that the dream and an interpretation should be
found. To this the king willingly agreed; and the pious youths betook themselves
to fasting and prayer, in the hope that God would enable them to satisfy the
king's demand. Nor was their expectation disappointed. The matter was made known
to Daniel in a vision. He was then enabled to remind the king that he had seen
in his dream a compound image, and to inform him that this image represented
“the things that should come to pass thereafter.” In this compound image, the
head of pure gold denoted Nebuchadnezzar himself, and the succeeding kings of
the Babylonian dynasty; the breast and arms of silver, indicated the succeeding
but inferior empire of the Medes and Persians; the belly and thighs of brass,
the next following empire of the Macedonians and the Greeks, whose arms were
brass; the legs of iron, and the toes partly iron and partly clay, refer to the
Roman empire, which should be as strong as iron, but the kingdoms into which it
would ultimately subdivide, composed of heterogeneous materials, which should be
partly strong and partly weak; and, lastly, the stone smiting the image and
filling the whole earth, denoted the kingdom of Christ, which was to be set up
upon the ruins of these temporal kingdoms and empires, and was destined to fill
the whole earth, and to stand or continue for ever. “Thou art this head of
gold,” said the prophet to the king; but he did not indicate the names and
sources of the succeeding and then non-existing empires with equal distinctness.
But we know them, not only from the order in which they succeed, and from the
characters ascribed to them; but from the subsequent visions of Daniel himself,
in which these empires are distinctly named, and by which the meaning of this
primary vision is gradually unfolded, and which form, together, one grand chain
of prophecy, extending to the end of time, and so clear and distinct, that as
much of them (nearly the whole) as is already fulfilled, and which was once a
shadowing forth of the future, reads like a condensed history of past ages. From
the first, Daniel had disclaimed any peculiar pretensions to wisdom “There is,”
he said, “a God in heaven who revealeth secrets;” and to him he not only
referred all the credit of the interpretation, but plainly told the king that it
was to the appointments of this “God in heaven,” who had the supreme disposal of
all events, that he owed all the kingdoms which he ruled. Here was a grand
instance of that testimony for Jehovah to which, when introducing this chapter,
we had occasion to advert. The king was much struck by it, so that, while he
prostrated himself before Daniel as before a superior, he acknowledged that the
God who could enable him to reveal this great secret was indeed the God of gods
and Lord of kings. Who does not see that it was for the purpose of impressing
this conviction that the dream was given to him, the forgetfulness inflicted,
and the interpretation bestowed on Daniel? DANIEL MADE RULER OVER BABYLON
Nebuchadnezzar was not slow in rewarding the distinguished qualities which the
prophet exhibited. He appointed him ruler over the whole province of Babylon,
and, at the, same time, “chief governor over all the wise men of Babylon”
(Rab-Mag, or Archimagus, Jeremiah 32:3), two of the highest civil and scientific
offices in the state. At his request, also, his three friends were appointed to
conduct under him in the affairs of his provincial government, while he himself
took a high place, if not the first place, in the civil councils of the king.
THE IMAGE OF GOLD AND FURNACE The services of Daniel and his friends proved too
valuable to be dispensed with; but mature deliberation disgusted the king at his
dream and its interpretation, and his pride disposed him to retract the
acknowledgment he had made of the supremacy of the God of a conquered people. It
was, as we apprehend; under this influence that he erected a great image, of
which not the head only, but the whole figure was of gold,[366] to denote the
continuance of his empire, in opposition to his dream; and it was dedicated to
the tutelary god Bel, or Belus, whose power he now considered superior to that
of the God of the Hebrews; whereby, in the most offensive manner, he revoked his
former concession. All men were commanded to worship this, and no other god, on
pain of death: in consequence of which, the three friends of Daniel, who
continued their worship of Jehovah, with their faces turned toward Jerusalem,
and took no notice of the golden, image, were seized, and cast into an intensely
heated furnace. But by the special and manifest interposition of the God they
served, they were delivered without a hair of their heads being injured: by
which fact the king, who was present, was constrained to confess that the God of
the Hebrews, who could after this sort deliver his people, was unquestionably
superior to all others. [360] This was probably the statue of solid gold, twelve
cubits high, which, according to Herodotus, stood in the temple of Belus, until
it was taken away by Xerxes. The height mentioned by Daniel, sixty cubits,
probably included the pedestal or pillars on which it stood, as otherwise its
height would have been disproportionate to its breadth, six cubits.
Nebuchadnezzar manifestly was endowed with many great and generous qualities but
he was spoiled by prosperity, while, by the very aggrandizement which exalted
his pride, he had been fixed into a position which made it necessary to the
Divine glory that he should be brought to, and kept in, the acknowledgment that
in all his acts he had been but an instrument in the hands of the God worshipped
by one of the nations which had received his yoke, and whose superiority at
least, if not his unity, he was required to acknowledge. NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S PRIDE
In another dream he was forewarned of the consequences of his excessive pride.
This dream Daniel unflinchingly interpreted; but whatever effect it might
produce was of no long duration. Twelve months after, while contemplating his
extensive dominion and the splendor to which he had raised the great city of
Babylon, his heart swelled with kingly pride, and he exclaimed, “Is not this
great Babylon, which I have built for the capital of the kingdom, by the might
of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?” While these words were in his
mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, “O king Nebuchadnezzar; to thee
it is spoken: The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from
men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field; they shall make
thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times {years} shall pass over thee, until
thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to
whomsoever he will.” The thing was accomplished that very hour; and in this
state he remained until “his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his
nails like birds' claws.” The meaning of which seems to be that his proud mind
was in that instant shattered, and fell into a kind of monomania, which made him
fancy himself some animal; in consequence of which it was judged necessary by
his physicians to humor his fancy by treating him as such, and by allowing him
within certain limits to act as such. The sequel can not be more emphatically
told than in his own words, as found in an edict, recounting these
circumstances, which he issued on his recovery. “At the end of the days, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned
unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth
for ever and ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom
from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed
as nothing; and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among
the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What
doest thou? At the same time my reason returned; and for the glory of my
kingdom, mine honor and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and
lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty
was added unto me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, and extol, and honor the King
of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment; and those that walk
in pride he is able to abase.” This noble acknowledgment demonstrates our former
argument, that care was taken by Jehovah to maintain his own honor, and to
secure his own great objects, notwithstanding, and indeed through, that bondage
to which sin had reduced his people. EVIL-MERODACH'S REIGN After a long reign of
forty-three years, Nebuchadnezzar died in 561, and was succeeded by his son,
Evil-Merodach. A Jewish tradition[367] reports that this prince behaved so ill,
by provoking a rupture with the Medes, during the distraction of his father,
that Nebuchadnezzar, on his recovery, threw him into prison; and that he there
became acquainted with, and interested in, Jehoiachin, the imprisoned king of
Judah. However this may be, it is certain that one of the first acts of his
reign was to release Jehoiachin from his long imprisonment of thirty-seven
years; and during the remainder of his life he treated him with much distinction
and kindness, giving him a place at his court and table above all the other
captive kings then in Babylon. As, however, the text implies that he died before
his benefactor, who himself survived but three years, the Hebrew king could not
long have outlived his release. Evil-Merodach was slain in a battle against the
united Medes and Persians, who by this time had become very powerful by their
junction and intermarriages. The combined force was on this occasion commanded
by young Cyrus, who had already begun to distinguish himself, and who had been
appointed to this command by his uncle and father-in-law, Cyaxares--“Darius the
Mede” of scripture--king of the Medes. This was in B.C. 558. [367] Noticed by
Jerome on Isaiah 14 BELSHAZZAR'S REIGN Evil-Merodach was succeeded by his son
Belshazzar. The end only of this monarch's reign is noticed in scripture; but
Xenophon[368] gives instances of his earlier conduct in the throne, of which
only a barbarous and jealous tyrant could have been capable. His last and most
heinous offence was the profanation of the sacred vessels belonging to the
Jerusalem temple, which his illustrious grandfather, and even his incapable
father, had respected. Having made a great feast “to a thousand of his lords,”
he ordered the sacred vessels to be brought, that he and his wassailers[369]
might drink wine from them. That there was an intentional insult to the Most
High in this act transpires in the narrative: “They praised the gods of gold,
silver, brass, iron, and stone ; but the God in whose hand was their breath, and
whose were all their ways, they praised or glorified not.” Indeed, to appreciate
fully this act and its consequences, it is indispensably necessary that the mind
should revert to the operations by which the supremacy of Jehovah was impressed
upon Nebuchadnezzar--operations not hid in a corner; and which, together with
the public confessions and declarations of this conviction which were extorted
from that magnanimous king, must have diffused much formal acquaintance with the
name and claims of Jehovah among the Babylonians, with which also the royal
family must have been in a peculiar degree familiar, not only through these
circumstances, but through Daniel, who had occupied high rank at court in the
still recent reign of Nebuchadnezzar, and whose mere presence must constantly
have suggested the means to which his advancement was owing. From this it will
be seen, that, on the principle of operation which we have indicated in the
early part of this chapter, the time was now come for another act whereby
Jehovah might vindicate the honor of his own great Name, and enforce his
peculiar and exclusive claims to the homage of mankind. [368] Cyrop. i. 4. [369]
Alcoholics who love to have wild drinking parties WRITING ON THE WALL Suddenly a
mysterious hand appeared, writing conspicuously upon the wall words of ominous
import, but which no one could understand; for, although they were in the
vernacular Chaldean language, the character in which they were written was the
primitive old Hebrew, which differed totally from the Chaldee, and was the
original from which that which is called the Samaritan character was formed. The
king himself was greatly agitated, and commanded the instant attendance of the
magi and astrologers. They came, but were utterly unable to divine the meaning
of the portentous words upon the wall. This increased the terror of the impious
king, which was at its height when the queen-mother, or rather grandmother[370]
made her appearance. She soothed the troubled monarch, and reminded him of the
services and character of Daniel; indicating him as one “in whom is the spirit
of the holy God; and in the days of thy grandfather light, and understanding,
and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods was found in him;” and therefore one who
was likely to afford Belshazzar the satisfaction which he sought. It was
probably the custom at Babylon (as with respect to the corresponding officer in
other oriental courts) for the arch-magus[371] to lose his office on the death
of the king to whose court he was attached; and that, consequently, Daniel had
withdrawn into private life on the death of Nebuchadnezzar. This will explain
how the king needed to be reminded of him, and how the prophet was in the first
instance absent from among those who were called to interpret the writing on the
wall. [370] So she is called by Josephus, hJ mammh autou; indeed, the part she
took on this occasion is so probable of no one as of the widow of
Nebuchadnezzar. [371] Chief of the magicians DANIEL INTERPRETS THE WRITING
Daniel was sent for: and when he appeared, the king repeated what he had heard
of him; stated the inability of the magicians to interpret the portentous words;
and promised him as the reward of interpretation, that he should be clad in
scarlet,[372] a chain of gold about his neck, and that he should rank as the
third person in the kingdom. The venerable prophet modestly waived the proffered
honors and rewards, as having no weight to induce his compliance--“Thy gifts be
to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; nevertheless I will read the
writing to the king.” But, first, he undauntedly reminded the king of the
experience, and resulting convictions of his renowned grandfather--adding, with
emphasis, “And thou, his grandson, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thy heart,
although thou knewest all this.” He then read the inscription-- [372] It is
singular that in Persia scarlet is at this day the distinctive color of
nobility. A khan, or noble, is known by the scarlet mantle which he wears on
occasions of ceremony. with “MENE|MENE|TEKEL|[PERES]|UPHARSIN.”|
Number|Number|Weight|[Division]|and Divisions| and proceeded to give the
interpretation-- “Mene, God hath numbered thy reign, and “[Mene], hath finished
it [373] “Tekel, Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting. “Peres, Thy
kingdom is divided. “Upharsin, And given to the Mede and the Persian [Darius and
Cyrus].” The king heard this terrible sentence: but made no remark further than
to command that Daniel should be invested with the promised scarlet robe and
golden chain, and that the third rank in the kingdom should be assigned to him.
[373] The repetition merely giving emphasis to the signification, indicating its
certainty and speedy accomplishment. BELSHAZZAR DIES The sacred historian adds,
with great conciseness, “That same night was Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans,
slain.” How, we are not told: but we may collect from Xenophon (Cyrop. lib.
vii.) that he was slain through the conspiracy of two nobles, on whom he had
inflicted the greatest indignities which men could receive. This was in 553
B.C., in the fifth year of his reign. BELSHAZZAR'S REPLACEMENT He was succeeded
by his son, a boy, named Laborosoarchod (Joseph. cont. Apion, i. 20); but as he
was put out of the way in less than a year, he is passed over in Ptolemy's
Canon, as well as in the sacred history, which relates that, as following the
death of Belshazzar, “Darius the Mede took the kingdom.” In fact, the family of
Nebuchadnezzar being extinct, Cyaxares, or (to give him his scriptural name)
Darius, who was brother to the queen-mother, and the next of kin by her side to
the crown, had the most obvious right to the vacant throne; and while his power
was so great as to overawe all competition, the express indication of him by the
prophet in his interpretation of the inscription was calculated to have much
weight with all concerned, and indeed with the whole nation. DANIEL DELIVERED
FROM LIONS Daniel, naturally, came into high favor with Darius, to whose
accession he had so materially contributed. On making out new appointments of
the governors of provinces, the prophet was set over them all: and the king
contemplated a still further elevation for him. This excited the dislike and
jealousy of the native princes and presidents, who determined to work his ruin.
In his administration, his hands were so pure, that no ground of accusation
could be found against him. They therefore devised a plan by which Daniel's
known and tried fidelity to his religion should work his destruction. They
procured from the careless and vain king a decree, that no one should for thirty
days offer any prayer or petition to any god or man save the king himself, under
pain of being cast into the lion's den. The king at once became painfully
conscious of his weak and criminal conduct, when his most trusted servant,
Daniel, was accused before him as an open transgressor of this decree, and his
punishment demanded. Among the Medes and Persians there was a singular restraint
upon despotism--which while at the first view it seemed to give intensity to the
exercise of despotic power, really tended to deter the kings from hasty and
ill-considered decisions, by compelling them to feel the evil consequences with
which they were attended. The king's word was irrevocable law. He could not
himself dispense with the consequences of his own acts. Of this Darius was
reminded: and he saw at once that he was precluded from interfering in behalf of
his friend. It is a beautiful illustration of the great truth, which appears as
the main argument of this chapter, namely, that the glory of God was promoted
among the heathen by the captivity of his people--that the king himself was
already so well acquainted with the character and power of Jehovah, that he
spontaneously rested himself upon the hope, that, although unable himself to
deliver him from this well-laid snare, the God whom Daniel served would
certainly not suffer him to perish. The prophet was cast into the lion's den;
and the mouth thereof was closed with a sealed stone. The king spent the night
sleepless and in sorrow. Impelled by his vague hopes, he hastened early in the
morning to the cavern, and cried in a doleful voice, “O Daniel, servant of the
living God, hath thy God, whom thou servest continually, been able to deliver
thee from the lions?” To the unutterable joy and astonishment of the king, the
quiet voice of Daniel returned an affirmative answer, assuring the king of his
perfect safety. Instantly the cavern was opened, the servant of God drawn forth;
and his accusers were cast in, and immediately destroyed by the savage inmates
of the den. This striking interposition induced the king to issue a
proclamation, to the same ultimate effect as that which Nebuchadnezzar had
issued in a former time. He wrote unto “all peoples, nations, and languages,
that dwell in all the earth,” charging them to “tremble and fear before the God
of Daniel; for he is the God that liveth, and is steadfast for ever, and his
kingdom shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.” It
would not be easy to overrate the importance of the diffusion of such truths as
these through the length and breadth of the Median empire. CYRUS REIGNS It was
the established policy of the Medes and Persians to conciliate the good will of
the subject states, by leaving the practical government in the hands of native
princes. Darius, therefore, as we may collect from Berosus, appointed
Nabonadius, a Babylonian noble, unconnected with the royal family, to be
viceroy, or king under him. This appointment was confirmed or continued by
Cyrus, when he succeeded to the general empire on the death of his uncle, in
B.C. 551. CYRUS TAKES BABYLON During the first years of his reign, Cyrus was too
much occupied in foreign wars to pay much attention to Babylon; and this gave
Nabonadius an opportunity to assert his independence, and to maintain it until
he was at leisure to call him to account. This was not until B.C. 538, when this
great prince marched against Babylon, with the determination to crown his many
victories by its reduction. Nabonadius, on his part, seems to have been
encouraged by his diviners (Isaiah 44:25), to repose much confidence in his own
resources, and in the stability of the kingdom he had established. He ventured
to meet the Persian army on its advance toward the city; but was defeated in a
pitched battle, and driven back to abide a siege within the walls of Babylon.
Still all was not lost; for not only was the city strongly fortified, but a
siege by blockage was likely to be indefinitely protracted, as the town not only
possessed immense stores of provisions, but the consumption of them would be
greatly lessened by means of the large open spaces within the city, in which all
kinds of produce could be raised to a considerable extent. In fact, the siege
continued for two years, and Babylon was then only taken by a remarkable
stratagem. Cyrus observed that the town lay the most exposed on the side of the
river, and therefore he caused a new bed to be dug for its waters; and at an
appointed time, by night, the dikes were cut, and the Euphrates rolled its
humbled stream into this new channel; and the old one, left dry, offered a free
passage to the exulting Persians. Even yet, however, their condition, in the bed
of the river, might have been perilous, and a vigilant enemy might have
surprised them as in a net; but that night a public festival was celebrated in
Babylon, and all there was confusion and drunkenness. From this, as well as from
the little reason to apprehend danger on that side, the gates leading from the
quays into the city were that night left open, so that an easy and unopposed
access was offered to the army of Cyrus, and the king was horror-struck and
paralyzed, as successive messengers arrived in haste from the various distant
quarters of the city, to inform him that the Persians had entered there, and
thus to learn, that, at both extremities at once, great Babylon was taken, B.C.
536. Daniel was still alive, and there is evidence that Cyrus knew and valued
his character. The apocryphal history of Bel and Dragon says that Cyrus
conversed much with him, and honored him above all his friends. But we have
better evidence in effects which, seeing Daniel still lived, may very safely be,
in some degree, referred to the instruction and counsel which the now very aged
prophet was able to give. CYRUS MENTIONED BY NAME IN PROPHECY There is an
important and most striking prophecy by Isaiah (Isaiah 44:24 to Isaiah 45:6) in
which Cyrus is mentioned by name, and his exploits predicted, more than a
century before his birth. To him it is expressly addressed, and in terms of
tenderness and respect, which was never, in any other instance, applied to a
heathen--if it be just to apply that name to Cyrus. In this splendid prophecy
Jehovah calls Cyrus “my shepherd, who shall perform all my pleasure;” and, “mine
anointed.” His victories are foretold, and ascribed to Jehovah; and, in a
particular manner, the taking of Babylon by him is foreshown, even to the
indication of the very peculiar manner in which that conquest was achieved.[374]
[374] “Thus saith Jehovah of his anointed, Of Cyrus, whose right hand I hold
fast, That I may subdue nations before him, And ungird the loins of kings; That
I may open before him the valves, And the gates shall not be shut; I myself will
march on before thee, And will make the crooked places straight, The valves of
brass will I break asunder, And the bars of iron will I hew down. And I will
give to thee the treasures of darkness, And stores deeply hid in secret places;
That thou mayest know that I, Jehovah, That call thee by name, am the God of
Israel For the sake of Jacob my servant, And of Israel my chosen one, I have
even called thee by name I have surnamed thee, yet Me thou knowest not I am
Jehovah, and there is none else; There is no God besides me. I girded thee
though thou hast not known me; That they may know, from the rising of the sun,
And from the west, that there is none beside me. I am Jehovah, and there is none
else: I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create evil I,
Jehovah, do all these things.” And the object of all this--of his existence of
his acts, and even of this prophecy concerning him and them--is declared, with
marked emphasis, to be, that he may be in a condition to restore the captivity
of Judah, and that such convictions might be wrought in him as might incline to
fulfill this his vocation, and to become acquainted with the supreme and sole
power of Jehovah. And the careful reader will not fail to note in this sublime
address to one destined to live in a future generation, not only a clear
assertion of the unity of God, and his universal power and providence, but a
distinct blow at the peculiar superstition of Cyrus and his people--which
consisted in the adoration of two principles--the good and evil, represented by
light and darkness. Hence the emphasis of-- “I form the light, and create
darkness; I make peace, and create evil.” We can easily imagine the impression
which the perusal of these prophecies would make upon the ingenuous mind of this
great man, accompanied by the explanations which Daniel could pour into his
willing ears, and with the further intimation, collected from the prophecies of
Jeremiah respecting the seventy years of the captivity, that the time of the
restoration was then arrived, and himself the long predetermined instrument of
giving effect to the Divine intention. His consciousness of all this is evinced
in the proclamation, which he issued the same year that Babylon was taken. This
proclamation is to be regarded as the final acknowledgment from the conquering
foreign kings of the supremacy of Jehovah, and it was most interesting from the
distinctness with which this acknowledgment is conveyed--“Thus saith Cyrus king
of Persia--Jehovah, the God of the heavens, hath given me all the kingdoms of
the earth; and he hath charged me to build for himself a temple in Jerusalem,
which is in Judah.” In this he manifestly alludes to the charge conveyed in the
prophecy-- “Who [Jehovah] saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd! And he shall
perform all my pleasures; Even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; To the
temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.” CYRUS COMMANDS LIBERTY TO THE JEWS
Accordingly, the proclamation proceeded not only to grant free permission for
such of the seed of Abraham as thought proper to return to their own land, but
also commanded the authorities of the places in which they lived to afford every
facility to their remigration. Before accompanying them on their return, it may
be well to contemplate the results of the circumstances which have been related,
as affecting the position of the captive Jews during the period through which we
have passed. There is certainly nothing to suggest that their condition was one
of abject wretchedness. This is in some degree shown by the high offices enjoyed
by Daniel and his three friends; and by the distinction conferred upon King
Jehoiachin by Evil-Merodach. He not only enjoyed the first rank over all the
kings then at Babylon, but ate at the table of the monarch, and received
allowances corresponding to his rank. While these circumstances of honor must
have reflected a degree of dignity on the exiles, sufficient to protect them
from being ill-treated or despised; we see that there was always some person of
their nation high in favor and influence at court, able to protect them from
wrong, and probably to secure for them important and peculiar privileges. They,
most likely, came to be considered as respectable colonists, enjoying the
peculiar protection of the sovereign. Although Jehoiachin did not long survive
his release from prison, his son Salathiel, and his grandson Zerubbabel
undoubtedly partook in and succeeded to the respect which he received. If the
story in the apocryphal book of Esdras (1 Esdras 3-4) of the discussion before
Darius, in which Zerubbabel won the prize, be a mere fiction, it is still at
least probable that the young prince, although he held no office, had free
access to the court; which privilege must have afforded him many opportunities
of alleviating the condition of his countrymen. It is even not improbable that
(as is implied in the apocryphal story of Susannah, and as the tradition of the
Jews affirm) the exiles had magistrates and a prince from their own number.
Jehoiachin, and after him Salathiel and Zerubbabel, might have been regarded as
their princes, in the same manner as Jozadak and Jeshua were as their
high-priests. At the same time it can not be denied that their humiliation, as a
people punished by their God, was always extremely painful, and frequently drew
on them expressions of contempt. The peculiarities of their religion afforded
many opportunities for the ridicule and scorn of the Babylonians and
Chaldeans--a striking example of which is given in the profanation of the sacred
vessels by Belshazzar. By such insults they were made to feel so much the more
sensibly the loss of their houses, their gardens, and fruitful fields; the
leaving of their capital and temple, and the cessation of the public solemnities
of their religion. (See Jahn, theil ii. band 1, sect. 45, 'Zustand der Hebraer
in dem Exilium.')


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  CHAPTER 37: THE RESTORATION--ARTAXERXES--EZRA--NEHEMIAH
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THE RESTORATION--ARTAXERXES--EZRA--NEHEMIAH GOD HONORED IN SPITE OF ISRAEL'S
DISOBEDIENCE We consider the great argument of the preceding chapter to have
been, that the honor of Jehovah was as adequately maintained, and that the
knowledge of his claim to be the supreme and only God, to have been even more
diffused by the destitution of the Hebrews, than it would even have been by
their continuance in their own land. It also appears very clearly to us, that by
a succession of such operations as those which elicited the public
acknowledgments of Nebuchadnezzar, Darius and Cyrus, and by acts which could not
but be known to many nations, these objects might have been promoted as well
without as by the restoration of the Hebrew people to their own land, and the
re-establishment of the temple service. It may then be asked, why it was
expedient that Judah should be at all restored; and, being restored, why
Israel--the ten tribes--were not? These interesting questions we can not discuss
in the extent which they deserve; but we may suggest, that since, by immutable
promises, the privilege had been secured to the seed of Abraham of upholding the
standard of divine truth in the world, until “the fulness of times,” and since
the nationality of Judah, until then, had been anciently secured by the
guarantee of the Lord's promise, it was necessary that a restricted restoration,
after punishment and correction, should for these purposes take place. This was
all the more necessary, as it was from Judah and from the royal house of David
that, as was well known, he was to spring who was to enlighten and redeem the
world, and to bring in that new creation for which the moral universe groaned as
the times advanced to their completion. For his identity, as the ransomer
promised of old, it was necessary that the dying struggles of the Hebrew
nationality should not be yet permitted to terminate. And further, inasmuch as
the bondage of the Hebrews east of the Euphrates, had tended in no small degree
to advance in that quarter the knowledge of the great preparatory principles of
which the Jews were the commissioned conservators, it remained for the west to
be in like manner allowed to catch such glimmerings of light, as might make the
nations impatient of their blindness, and prepare them to hail with gladness the
future “day-spring from on high.” And this was, in fact, accomplished by the
intercourse of the Hebrews with the western nations--Egypt, Syria, Asia-Minor,
Greece, Rome--in subjection, in conflicts, or in commerce. ISRAEL'S PUNISHMENT
WAS GREATER That Judah was preferred to this vocation, and that the ten tribes
were not nationally or formally restored, must be accounted for by the further
development of a consideration to which the reader's attention was called in the
preceding chapter. The political sins of Judah were there traced to the
disposition to lean rather upon men than upon institutions. The sin of Israel
was even greater, and merited greater severity of punishment. There, not only
was the same disposition exhibited, but the institutions themselves were
corrupted, alienated, tortured from the objects for which they were expressly
framed, and, with most culpable ingenuity, made subservient to the very
circumstances against which they were designed to operate. In Judah, the
building of God was indeed often neglected, often allowed to run to ruin; but it
was not, as to Israel, made the abiding habitation of unclean and evil things.
In Judah, a good king could purge out abuses and correct evils; but in Israel
the tampering with institutions was so effective, that the best kings were
unable to lay an improving finger on them. For these things Israel was thrown
loose from the mercies of God, much sooner than Judah; and the evil had been so
heinous and deeply rooted, that no promise or hope of restoration was held
forth, nor did any take place. DISPERSIONS By the attention which, through the
captivity and consequent dispersion of the Jews among what was then (if we
except Egypt) the most civilized nation of the world, had been directed to the
majesty and providence of Jehovah, we consider that a very important part of the
mission confided to the Hebrews was accomplished; for an impression was made,
the effects of which may without difficulty be traced to the time of Christ,
and, therefore, we are thus brought to a sort of end in the national history of
the Hebrew people. Undoubtedly, the real fall of Jerusalem-was that which was
wrought by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar; the real destruction was that which the
Assyrians worked in the north, and the Babylonians in the south; and the real
dispersion of the race was that which took place in consequence of the Assyrian
and Babylonian captivities. A remnant only was preserved, as necessary for the
remaining objects which have just been indicated; and it is the history of that
remnant which forms the subject of the present chapters. CURED OF IDOLATRY It is
unquestionable that this remnant was highly fitted for its vocation. The large
mass of the Israelites were natives of the land of their exile, in which they
were for the most part so comfortably situated that only those whose religious
zeal and sentiments were above the average warmth, would be likely, or did,
encounter the dangers of the desert and the inconveniences and anxieties of an
unsettled country. The circumstances of the remigration were in fact such as to
attract only those who were in the soundest state of moral health. They were
also cured of all danger of idolatry, and of all disposition to make light of
their own institutions. That the Hebrews as a body profited largely by the
correction which they had received, is unquestionable--so largely indeed that
under temptations as great as any to which they had in former times yielded,
idolatry was ever after their abhorrence. And indeed if, during the period of
the captivity, the proudest heathen were made so seriously attentive to the God
of Israel, much more were the Hebrews likely to be awakened by the same events
to be true to their own God. On this point we copy the remarks of Professor
Jahn-- “Among the Hebrews who, agreeably to the sanctions of the law, were
punished for idolatry by total banishment from their native land, there were
certainly many who did not worship idols; and probably not a few, in consequence
of this national judgment, so often predicted, were brought to reflect on and to
abhor the superstition which had been the cause of so great a calamity. Others,
not wholly relinquishing idolatry, still retained a reverence for Jehovah. They
never, like other transplanted nations, intermingled with the people among whom
they were settled, but continued a peculiar race. There were doubtless
individual exceptions; but the nation as such remained distinct. The
intermingling with pagans, and that entire extinction of the Hebrews as a
peculiar people which must have resulted from it, was promoted by the rite of
circumcision, by the prohibition of many kinds of food allowed among other
nations, by ceremonial impurities, and by various other institutions, designed
to segregate and consequently to preserve the nation. These usages had by time
become a second nature, so that any intimate connection with Gentiles was a
matter of considerable difficulty. The ancient favors of Jehovah, the miraculous
deliverances which he had vouchsafed exclusively to them, and the promises he
had given them for futurity, were not easily forgotten. The fulfillment of so
many prophecies respecting the fall of the Assyrian empire and of the city of
Nineveh, respecting the Babylonian captivity and the destruction of Jerusalem,
must have raised Jehovah to their eyes far above all idols; and the very
punishment they were then suffering was well calculated to awaken reflection,
and thus become a bitter but powerful antidote to their propensity to idolatry.
Many Israelites, therefore, in Assyria and Media (as the book of Tobit
testifies) persisted in the sincere worship of Jehovah; neither could the Jews
in Babylon, and those by the river Chebar, fall easily into idolatry, while such
men as Ezekiel and Daniel were constantly and earnestly reminding them of the
God whom they were bound to serve. “The prophecies of Ezekiel, relating for the
most part to events near at hand, were accomplished before the eyes of the
unbelieving exiles; and every fulfillment was a new proof that Jehovah, the
author of these predictions, was the God and ruler of the world. Thus there were
repeated opportunities to remind this superstitious people of Jehovah their God.
The remarkable prophecy respecting the conquest and destruction of the powerful
city Tyre, which was so speedily accomplished, is particularly worthy of notice.
By such striking accomplishments of the prophecies respecting occurrences near
at hand, the belief of predictions of more distant events was strengthened, and
the eyes of the Hebrews were eagerly directed toward the future.” Thus, and
through the deliverance which Jehovah wrought in behalf of his persecuted
servants--and through the acknowledgments which were extorted from the pagan
monarchs under whose yoke the necks of Israel and Judah were placed--God pursued
them (so to speak) with the efficacious dealings of his providence, with
miracles and prophecies, in order to compel them to preserve the true religion,
and to place them in a situation in which it would hardly be possible for them
to exchange the worship of the creator and governor of the world for the worship
of idols. By the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 20:32-44), Jehovah declares in so many
words that even if the Hebrews desired to become united with the heathen, it
should not be done; and that he would himself find means effectually to prevent
the execution of such a design” (Jahn, ii. 1, sect. 53, Ruckker der zehen
Stamme). RESTORATION TO PALESTINE PROPHECIES That the restoration to Palestine,
which now took place, is, at least primarily, that of which the prophets
delivered such glowing predictions, very few who carefully examine the subject
will find reason to doubt. The more closely the matter is examined, the more
clearly the details of the prophecy will be found to agree with this
fulfillment. We are quite aware that the large terms and forcible expressions
employed by the prophets have led all the Jews and many Christians into the
expectation of a more brilliant and complete restoration than on this occasion
took place. Our undertaking is however to record past events rather than to
undertake the development of prophecies which may be deemed unfulfilled. That
these prophecies have a further meaning beyond the literal and primary purport,
we take to be evinced not only by the glowing language employed, but by the
present condition of the Hebrew nation, “like a column left standing amid the
wreck of worlds and the ruins of nature” ('Trans. of the Parisian Sanhedrin,' p.
68, 1807), in which they manifestly remain awaiting destinies yet to come; but
that these destinies include the restoration and independent and happy
settlement of the nation in Palestine, we hold to be considerably less certain
and less important than has of late years been made to appear. Now, by the
decree of Cyrus, the mountains were made low and the valleys filled for the
return of the Hebrews to their own land. But seeing that only the two tribes of
Judah and Benjamin--conventionally regarded as one tribe--formally returned to
Palestine, it becomes an interesting question, What became of the other ten
tribes? CYRUS FREED ALL ISRAELITES As the invitation of Cyrus was directed to
all the people of Jehovah, and proclaimed throughout his empire, there is every
reason to conclude that not a few of the ten tribes returned to Palestine. Those
who supposed they could improve their condition by removing, would attach
themselves here and there to a caravan of merchants, and proceed to the land of
their fathers. But as they arrived one after another, and in small companies,
their return is not particularly noticed in a history so concise. There might
even have been many Israelites in the first great caravan under Zerubbabel; but,
however this may be, it is highly probable that the Israelites returned in
considerable numbers, as soon as they heard of the settlement of the prosperity
of their brethren in Palestine. Most of these arrivals were probably subsequent
to the close of the Old Testament canonical history, and when the restored
nation had acquired a somewhat settled form. But whether their return were early
or late, it is certain that at least a portion of them did return, for the
history of later periods mentions Israelites as settled in Galilee and Perea
(1Ma_5:9-24) long before the time of Christ. But connecting themselves with the
tribe of Judah, they finally lost the name of Israelites, and all Hebrews were
indiscriminately designated as Jews. MANY STAY BEHIND But since many of the
tribe of Judah chose to remain in the land of their exile, it is reasonable to
suppose that still greater numbers of the Israelites who had lived in those
countries 200 years longer, would feel little inclination to exchange the
comforts they there enjoyed for the uncertain advantages of Palestine. But as
the jealousy between Judah and Israel had now ceased, according to the
predictions of the prophets, those Israelites also who remained in exile joined
themselves to the tribe of Judah, which was in the possession of the temple,
and, consequently, they too received the denomination of Jews. On these grounds
Professor Jahn conceives that all questions and investigations for the purpose
of ascertaining what has become of the ten tribes, and whether it is likely they
will ever be discovered, are superfluous and idle. We are not ourselves quite so
clear that this is the case. We grant indeed that there is no good reason for
expecting to find the remnant of the ten tribes as distinct from the remnant of
Judah; but that traces of the Hebrews of both captivities, without distinction
of tribes, may be found in the countries in which they were so long located,
there is much reason to conclude. We say, in those countries, for the reasons
which prevented them from returning to Palestine were as operative in preventing
their migration in any other direction. Indeed, while the second temple stood,
one would expect that such of them as were disposed to migrate at all, would
return to the land of their fathers, as many of them, no doubt, did. But, apart
from this preference, there was much reason for their remaining in Media; for
the empire which comprehended that country, continued long to be possessed by a
nation which was quite able to protect them and make their homes secure; while
the religion which it professed was more in agreement with that of Moses, and
less revolting to the peculiar notions of the Hebrews, than any other they could
find in the world. It is certain also, that for a long course of ages a large
remnant of the captivity of Judah remained to Babylonia, and this so much
composed of the elite of the nation, as to secure the respect of the Jews who
returned to Palestine and multiplied there--all traces of which estimation of
the Babylonian Jews is not even at this day wholly obliterated; and this fact
would suggest the probability of a similar local fixity of the ten tribes in
Media and Assyria. Indeed the probability is the greater, from the fact that in
those countries, as history proves, they would be much less liable to be
disturbed by wars and troubles than the Jews of Babylonia. It is probably under
such a class of impressions, that the Jews themselves have generally been
disposed to look for traces of the ten tribes in that direction. Nor, as it
would appear, has the search been quite abortive. JEWISH COLONY FOUND BY
BENJAMIN In the twelfth century of Christ, the district referred to on p375 was
visited by the Spanish Jew, Benjamin of Tudela. After speaking of large
congregations of Jews in this quarter, he comes to Amaria [which Major Rawlinson
regards as the same as Halah, now Holwan], where he found 25,000 Jews. “This
congregation forms part of those,” says Rabbi Benjamin, “who live in the
mountains of Chaphton, which amount to more than 100, extending the frontiers of
Media. These Jews are descendants of those who were originally led into
captivity by King Shalmaneser. They speak the Syriac language, and among them
are many excellent talmudic scholars.”[375] Benjamin then gives the history of
the false Messiah, David El Roy, who sprang from the city of Amaria, and whose
romantic history has lately been made familiar to the English public. [375] The
Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela. Translated and edited by A. Asher Berlin,
1840. RAWLINSON'S FIND OF A COLONY Recently, the Rabbi David D'Beth Hillel has
much obscure and dispersed talk about the fragments of the tribes which he found
in the same quarter. But the following statement by Major Rawlinson will give
more satisfaction to the reader-- “If the Samaritan captives can be supposed to
have retained to the present day any distinct individuality of character,
perhaps the Kalhurs, who are believed to have inhabited from the remotest
antiquity those regions around Mount Zagros, preserve in their name the title of
Calah [Halah]. They state themselves to be descended from Roham, or
Nebuchadnezzar, the conqueror of the Jews--perhaps an obscure tradition of their
real origin. They have many Jewish names among them, and, above all, their
general physiognomy is strongly indicative of an Israelitish descent. The Iliyat
of this tribe now mostly profess Mohammedanism; but a part of them, together
with the Gurans, who acknowledge themselves to be an offset of the Kalhurs, and
most of the other tribes of the neighborhood, are still of the 'Ali-Ilahi
persuasion--a faith which bears evident marks of Judaism, singularly amalgamated
with Sabaean, Christian, and Mohammedan legends. The tomb of Baba Yadgar, in the
pass of Zardah, is regarded as their holy place; and this, at the time of the
Arab invasion of Persia, was regarded as the abode of Elias. The 'Ali-Ilahis
believe in a series of successive incarnations of the godhead, amounting to a
thousand and one, Benjamin, Moses, Elias, David, Jesus Christ, Ali, and his
tutor Salman, a joint development, the Imam Husein, and the Haf-tan (the seven
bodies), are considered the chief of these incarnations. The Haf-tan were seven
Pirs, or spiritual guides, who lived in the early ages of Islam, and each,
worshipped as the Deity, is an object of adoration in some particular part of
Kurdistan--Baba Yadgar was one of these. The whole of the incarnations were thus
regarded as one and the same person, the bodily form of the Divine manifestation
being alone changed; but the most perfect development is supposed to have taken
place in the persons of Benjamin, David, and Ali.” Referring to the passage
already adduced from Rabbi Benjamin, the major notices that he appears to have
considered the whole of these 'Ali-Ilahis as Jews, and remarks, “It is possible
that in his time their religion was less corrupted.”[376] [376] Geographica
Journal,' vol. ix. part 1, p. 36 Abandoning this subject for the present, we may
now be allowed to return to the historical narrative. ZERUBBABEL'S CARAVAN All
obstacles being removed, and every facility afforded, Zerubbabel, the grandson
of King Jehoiachin, and Jeshua, a grandson of the high-priest Jozadak, with ten
of the principal elders, prepared themselves for the journey home. The number of
the remnant who joined these heads of the nation was, in round numbers, 50,000,
including 7,337 male and female servants.[377] This large body was composed
chiefly, it would seem, of members of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi,
although the comparatively high number of the re-migrants supports the
probability that a considerable proportion were of the ten tribes. The prophet
Daniel, who must at this time have been about ninety years old, remained at the
court of Cyrus, where he could probably render much more service to his nation
than by returning to Palestine. [377] The number a the congregation was 42,620,
which, with 7,337 servants, makes 49,697 Those who were to return assembled from
all quarters at an appointed place, according to the usual method of collecting
a caravan, furnished with provisions and other things necessary for the journey.
Their camels, horses, and beasts of burden, amounted to eight thousand one
hundred and thirty-six. Zerubbabel, on whom devolved the serious responsibility
of directing this immense caravan, received from Cyrus the sacred vessels of the
temple, and was entrusted with the very large contributions toward the
rebuilding of the sacred edifice made by those of the Hebrew race who chose to
remain behind. Zerubbabel was not only appointed leader or sheikh of the
caravan, but the office of governor of Judea was entrusted to him. This
appointment may probably be attributed not more to the circumstance which
inclined Cyrus to show peculiar favor to the nation, than to the general policy
of the Persian kings in leaving the governments of conquered provinces to native
governors, whenever this could be done with safety. Several months were consumed
in preparations for the journey; and encumbered as they were with baggage and
young children, and therefore obliged to travel slowly, the journey itself
occupied four months. SEVENTY YEARS COMPLETED The “seventy years” of the
captivity were completed by the time they arrived; and they were now to settle
in their own land, governed by their own laws, and forming a distinct
commonwealth. The Persian sovereignty was not a calamity, but a benefit, from
the protection and security which it gave to a colony as yet too weak for
independence. FEAST OF TABERNACLES OBSERVED The people dispersed themselves on
their arrival in search of their native cities and of necessaries for their
families. But in the following month, being the seventh of the Jewish year, they
all assembled at Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of tabernacles. On this
occasion an altar was reared upon the ruins of the temple, and the customary
sacrifices were offered; and on this altar the daily morning and evening
sacrifices were afterward continued. DISAPPOINTMENT OF NEW TEMPLE In the second
month of the second year of their return, the people again assembled at
Jerusalem, to lay the foundation of the temple, the preparations for which,
through the voluntary contributions of the people and the elders, were now
completed. This was a most joyful occasion to all but the old people; and very
loud were the shouts of gladness which were raised: but, loud as were the sounds
of rejoicing, they were neutralized by the wailings of the old people, who had
seen “the holy and beautiful house” in which their fathers praised Jehovah; and
who wept bitterly and loudly at the comparison: for they could perceive that the
edifice would neither be so large, so magnificent, nor so richly ornamented as
the temple of Solomon. It is true, as appears from the record found at Ecbatana
in the time of Darius Hystaspes, that Cyrus, had directed that the temple should
be twice as large as that of Solomon, and that the expense should be defrayed
from the royal treasury. But either the proper officers had neglected to give
effect to these orders, or the Jews were backward to avail themselves of the
full extent of the monarch's bounty, lest they should awaken the envy of the
worshippers of Ormuzd, and expose themselves to their persecutions. From
whatever cause, it is certain that they did not build the temple so large as the
decree of Cyrus allowed (Ezra 4:1-5). SAMARITANS OFFER RESISTANCE The Persian
governors of Syria and Palestine offered no opposition to the settlement of the
Jews in their own country or to their proceedings there. No doubt, therefore,
orders corresponding to the tenor of the decree under which the restoration took
place, had been forwarded to them. This indeed is stated by Josephus, although
such orders, being sent direct to the Persian magistrates, are not noticed by
Ezra. But opposition, persevering and venomous, came from another and probably
unexpected quarter. This was from the colonists whom the Assyrian kings had
planted in the land of Israel, and who had intermarried with the remaining
Israelites, and now formed one people with them under the name of Samaritans. It
does not appear that the Samaritans were, at this time, completely purged of the
idolatries which their fathers had brought from foreign lands; yet the measures
employed to enlighten them with the knowledge of the true God seem gradually to
have produced a considerable effect. The return of the Jews from their seventy
years' captivity so clearly evinced the over-ruling providence of Jehovah; that
the Samaritans were extremely desirous to join in rebuilding his temple and
celebrating his worship: “They said unto the chief of the fathers, 'Let us build
with you; for we seek your God, as ye do; and we have done sacrifice to him
since the days of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, who brought us up hither.'” This
proposal was steadily rejected by the Jews: and, whatever their motives may have
been, it is easy to discern important reasons in consequence of which this
rejection appears to have been subservient to the purposes of the Divine
economy.[378] [378] “The intermixture of the Samaritans with the Jews might have
rendered the accomplishment of the prophecies concerning the family and birth of
the Messiah less clear--might have reintroduced idolatry among the restored
Jews, now completely abhorrent from it, and in various ways defeated the grand
objects of Providence in selecting and preserving a peculiar people. In
consequence of this rejection and the alienation it produced, the Jews probably
became more vigilant in preserving the strictness, and the Samaritans more
jealous in emulating the purity, of the Mosaic ritual. They became hostile, and
therefore unsuspected guardians and voucher of the integrity of the sacred text,
particularly of the Pentateuch. And while the Jews in general, blinded by their
national prejudices, could see in the promised Messiah only a national and
temporal deliverer, the Samaritans appear to have judged of his pretensions with
more justice and success”--(Dean Graves's “Lectures on the Pentateuch,” p. 347
5th Ed. 1839). Finding they could not prevail, the Samaritans used every means
in their power to thwart the enterprise. Their influence at the Persian court
appears to have been considerable, owing perhaps, as Josephus suggests, to their
claiming to be of Median and Persian origin. Through this influence they
managed, during the latter days of Cyrus, who was either absent in foreign wars
or not at leisure to attend to such provincial matters, to oppose such obstacles
to the progress of the work that the people got disheartened, and discontinued
the building. This discouragement continued during the succeeding reigns of
Cambyses and of Smerdis the magian; nor was the work resumed until the second
year of Darius Hystaspes. The proceedings of the Samaritans in this matter
naturally excited the enmity of the Jews; and thus was laid the foundation of
the hatred between the two nations, which new provocations continually
increased, until, at last, all friendly intercourse between them was entirely
discontinued. CYRUS DIES Cyrus died seven years after the restoration of the
Jews. The reigns of Cambyses his son, and of the usurping magian Smerdis (seven
months), occupied together eight years. Darius Hystaspes, one of the seven
nobles who slew the intrusive magian, was elected king, B.C. 521. HAGGAI
CHALLENGES ISRAEL TO REBUILD At Jerusalem, the people had by this time lost
their zeal in a work which had been so much obstructed, and, counting from the
destruction of the former temple instead of from the commencement of the
captivity, they argued that the time for the rebuilding of the sacred edifice
had not yet arrived. But while they erected fine buildings for their own use,
and bestowed much expense and labor on the mere ornamental parts of their own
dwellings, this was obviously a mere pretence, and provoked the severe
reproaches of the prophet Haggai, who attributed to this neglect the drought,
and consequent failure of crops, which had then occurred; and was authorized to
promise the blessings of plenty from the time they should recommence the
building of the temple. And, to neutralize the discouragements arising from the
detractive or sorrowful comparisons of the old men who had seen the temple of
Solomon, he was commissioned to deliver the celebrated prophecy-- “Thus saith
the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, and in a little while, And I will shake the
heavens and the earth, And the sea and the dry land; And I will shake all the
nations, And the Desire of all nations shall come, And I will fill this house
with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,
saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of
the former, saith the Lord of hosts And to this place will I give peace, saith
the Lord of hosts”--Haggai 2:6-9. DARIUS ENDORSES REBUILDING The prophecies of
Zechariah tended to the same objects as those of Haggai; and in consequence of
their forcible representations, the building of the temple was resumed with
rekindled zeal. To this resumption of the work, after so long a suspension, the
Samaritans succeeded in drawing the attention of Tatnai, the Persian
general-governor of Syria, who, being a man of impartial justice, determined to
go himself to Jerusalem to investigate the matter. He there demanded the
authority of the Jewish chiefs for their operations, and was referred by them to
the edict of Cyrus. Tatnai sent a clear and rigidly unbiased report of the
matter to the king, and did not deem it necessary to direct the present
suspension of the work. The reference to the Persian court could not have been
made under more favorable circumstances; for Darius was of a mild and just
character; and, still more, was a devoted admirer of Cyrus, and disposed to pay
the highest respect to his acts and intentions.[379] The king, on receiving the
report of Tatnai, directed a search to be made among the archives of the
kingdom. It was naturally sought at first among the records kept in the treasure
house at Babylon. It was not found there; but a roll containing the edict was
ultimately discovered in the record chamber of the palace at Achmetha
(Ecbatana). It directed not only that the temple should be rebuilt, and of
larger dimensions than before, but that the expenses should be defrayed out of
the royal treasury. The king directed a copy of this edict to be forwarded to
Tatnai, together with a letter, in which he was enjoined not to obstruct the
building, but zealously to forward it, to defray the expenses out of the royal
revenues accruing within his government, and also to furnish the priests with
such animals as were necessary for the sacrifices, with wheat, salt, wine, and
oil, from day to day, for the divine service. “That they may offer sacrifices of
a sweet savor to the God of heaven; and pray for the life of the king and of his
sons.” The letter concluded with an order (apparently leveled at the
Samaritans), that whosoever obstructed the execution of the decree should be
hanged, and their houses demolished: and an imprecation was added on all kings
and people who should attempt to destroy the house of God. [379] Hystaspes, the
father of Darius, was high in the confidence and favor of Cyrus, and he (and
very probably his son) could not but have known so eminent a person as Daniel
when at the court of Susa. Indeed, the wisdom of Daniel appears to have been a
proverb (Ezekiel 28:3). It is remarkable that Hystaspes ultimately succeeded
(under his son) to the very office of archimagus, or master of the magians,
which Daniel had formerly occupied. GOD HONORED IN HEATHEN WORLD This
transaction gives a very favorable idea of the good order and efficient
administration of the Persian government; while the concluding direction affords
another and very important illustration of the honor which Jehovah had obtained
for his name among the heathen through the eastward dispersion of the Hebrews.
Indeed, the edict of Cyrus, which was on this occasion brought to light,
contained such a declaration of reverence for, and dependence on, Jehovah, as
alone could not but have had great weight upon the mind of Darius. It may be
remarked, indeed, that Darius himself was a disciple and supporter of Zoroaster,
the reformer of the magian religion, who is supposed to have profited largely by
his intercourse with the Hebrew captives and prophets in Babylon. TEMPLE
FINISHED Under these favoring auspices, the work proceeded with renewed spirit;
and four years after, being the sixth of Darius (B.C. 516), the temple was
completed. It was dedicated with great solemnity, of which there has ever since
been an annual commemoration in “The Feast of Dedication.” In the following
month the Passover was celebrated in a regular and solemn manner, for the first
time since the restoration. The temple service was then re-established as before
the Captivity; Jeshua, the high-priest, encouraging the other priests and the
Levites by his example to attend to their peculiar duties. Record Chamber

DARIUS DIES PREPARING TO BATTLE The Jews appear to have been undisturbed during
the remainder of the thirty-six years in which Darius reigned. It is possible,
indeed, that some difficulty arose in the latter years of that reign from their
relation to the Persian empire. Darius, whose whole reign was occupied in
foreign and generally successful war, had then extended his operations westward.
After the Persians had lost the battle of Marathon in B.C. 490, Darius made
immense preparations far renewing the war, which kept all Asia in a ferment for
three years: in the fourth Egypt revolted, which occasioned the division of the
army into two, one to act against Greece and the other against Egypt. But just
as all preparations were completed, Darius died, B.C. 485. Now, as the
rendezvous of the army in this expedition against Egypt was in the neighborhood
of the Hebrew territory, it is in every way likely that the Jews were obliged to
participate in its operations; or it is possible that they obtained an exemption
from personal service on condition of supplying the army with provisions. XERXES
COMES TO THRONE Xerxes completed the intentions of his father as to Egypt, which
he succeeded to again bringing under the Persian yoke. His subsequent gigantic
plans and operations against Greece, however important, claim no notice in this
place. As the resources of the empire were on this occasion taxed to the
uttermost, there is no reason to suppose that the Jews were able to avoid
contributing toward this vast undertaking, either by their property or personal
service, or by both. At the commencement of his reign the Samaritans made some
attempt to prejudice him against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. But the
king confirmed in every particular the grants made by his father. Xerxes is the
Ahasuerus of Ezra 4:6 (See also Joseph. Antiq., xi. 4, 8; xi. 5. 1.) ARTAXERXES
REIGNS He was succeeded in B.C. 464. by his son Artaxerxes Longimanus, whose
protracted reign was replete with incidents most important and interesting to
the Jews. At the beginning of it they began regularly to rebuild Jerusalem, and
to surround it by a wall. But they were stopped in their work by an order from
the king, in consequence of a letter of complaint from the principal Samaritan
officers, who described Jerusalem, truly enough, as “a rebellious and bad city;”
and warned him that if the city were rebuilt and fortified, the inhabitants were
sure to prove seditious as in former times, and would be likely to raise up
troubles, and endanger the Persian dominion in that quarter. They appealed to
the archives of the empire to prove that the town had been demolished and
dismantled on account of its rebellion and seditions. The records were
accordingly consulted, and the fact being found as thus stated, the king delayed
not to send a letter authorizing the Samaritan chiefs to stop the work until
further orders. This they forthwith did, and with no, gentle hand.[381] This
opposition of the Samaritans was remarkably well-timed, and hence, in all
probability, its success. Immediately on the death of Xerxes, Egypt had again
revolted from the Persian yoke (Diod. lib. iii.); the Samaritans therefore could
not have chosen a fitter opportunity to carry their point, or a stronger
argument to work upon the king's fears, than the danger that might result from
allowing the Jews to fortify their city. For, strengthened and increased as they
were in the seventy-two years since their return, it might be apprehended that,
as in former times, they would not only themselves follow the example of Egypt
by refusing to pay tribute, but that they might offer serious obstruction to the
Persian army to be employed in the reduction of Egypt, in going or returning
through Palestine. [381] Ezra 4:6-23. The whole passage is referred to this
reign in the text (after Howe and Hales), uncle, the impression that where it
stands in the original narrative it is an historical anticipation, and not in
its proper chronological place. ESTHER BECOMES QUEEN After he had subdued all
his domestic foes and competitors for the crown, Artaxerxes, in the third year
of his reign, celebrated at Susa the general and protracted rejoicing which
usually attended the settlement of a new king on the throne. At a public
banquet, the king, in his cups probably, had the folly to send for the queen,
Vashti, that the banqueters might be witnesses of her extreme beauty. An order
so repugnant to the customs of women, the queen was under the necessity of
disobeying, and disobedience, whatever were the cause, could not be allowed to
pass unpunished. All the sages of Persia held that, to prevent the evil effects
of this example, it was necessary that the queen should be deposed, and that the
act of deposition should be accompanied by a decree that every man should bear
rule in his own house! So Vashti was deposed; and, ultimately, a beautiful
Jewish damsel named Esther was promoted to her place, in the fourth year of
Artaxerxes. An Encampment Tartar or Turkish Courier

EZRA SENT TO JERUSALEM The king had now leisure to turn his attention to Egypt,
and in the course of the expedition to bring that country back to its
subjection, which was happily concluded in the sixth year of his reign. He had
probably sufficient opportunity to become acquainted with the present character
and position of the Jews, and with the claims to his favor which they derived
from the edicts of Cyrus and Darius. At all events, in the seventh year of his
reign, he indicated his knowledge of those edicts and his willingness to enforce
them, by authorizing “Ezra the priest, and a scribe of the Law of the God of
Heaven” to proceed to Jerusalem “to beautify the house of Jehovah,” and to
establish the ecclesiastical and civil institutions with greater firmness and
order than they had yet acquired. His powers were very large. He was
commissioned to appoint judges, superior and inferior, to rectify abuses, to
enforce the observance of the law, to punish the refractory with fines,
imprisonment, banishment, or even with death, according to the degree of their
offences. He was also permitted to make a collection for the service of the
temple among those Hebrews who chose to remain in the land of their exile; and
the king and his council not only largely contributed toward the same object,
but the ministers of the royal revenues west of the Euphrates were charged to
furnish Ezra with whatever (within certain limits) of silver, corn, wine, oil
and salt (without limit) which he might require for the service of the temple.
Such persons of the Hebrew race as thought proper to return with Ezra to their
own land, were permitted and invited to do so. From the whole tenor of this
commission it is evident that the God of the Hebrews was still held in high
respect at the Persian court; and, by a new concession, all his ministers, even
to the lowest nethinim, were exempted from tribute, and thus put on an equality
with the Persians and the Medes. For these favors some writers would assign “the
solicitations of Esther” as the motive. But it is not clear that the king knew
she was a Jewess. It was certainly perfectly competent for Esther to make the
king better acquainted with the claims of the God she served and of the people
to whom she belonged; nor should she be blamed for employing, or the king for
receiving, such influence. But there were other and adequate means through which
“the great king” might acquire this knowledge, at which he certainly arrived. To
the series of splendid acknowledgments extracted from these illustrious monarchs
through the captivity and vassalage of the Jews, let us add that of Artaxerxes,
whose commission to Ezra orders: “Whatsoever is commanded by the God of Heaven
let it be diligently done for the house of the God of Heaven; lest there be
wrath [from Him] against the realm of the king and his sons.” It is worthy of
remark however, that the decree of Artaxerxes was limited to the same
object--the temple--as the edicts of former kings; and that no mention is made
of the walls, from which it appears that the king was not yet prepared to
concede that Jerusalem should be fortified. LEVITES NOT EMIGRATING The
rendezvous of the party gathering for this second caravan was by the river
Ahava, where the number assembled was found to consist of sixty “houses,”
containing one thousand seven hundred and fifty-four (adult?) males, so that,
with women and children, there were probably not less than six thousand persons.
When Ezra surveyed this party it was with much chagrin that he found not one of
the tribe of Levi among them, notwithstanding the exemption from tribute; and it
was not with out difficulty that two families of priests were induced to join
the emigrants. FASTING FOR PROTECTION Considering the treasure with which they
were charged, and the number of helpless women and children of the party, there
was much ground to apprehend danger from the Arabs infesting the desert over
which the caravan must pass, and who then, as now, were wont to assault, or at
least to levy large contributions on caravans too weak or too timid to resist
them. Ezra therefore appointed a special season for fasting and prayer beside
the river, that they might, as it were, throw themselves upon the special
protection and guidance of Jehovah: for, as Ezra ingenuously confesses, “I was
ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to defend us
against the enemy by the way; because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The
hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him, but his power and his
wrath is against all that forsake him.'” Their confidence was not in vain, for
they all arrived safely at Jerusalem after a journey of four months. They set
out on the first month of the seventh year of the king's reign, and reached
their destination on the first day of the fifth month, B.C. 457. Ancient Persian
Cupbearers

HEATHEN MARRIAGES ANNULLED Of all the improvements and regulations which Ezra
introduced into Judea, the book which bears his name only records his exertions
in removing the heathen women with whom matrimonial connections had very
generally been formed by the Jews to such an extent indeed that even the sons of
the high priest Jeshua, and many of the other priests, had fallen into this
grievous error. To annul these marriages, was a measure, however harsh to the
natural affections, indispensably necessary as a security against a relapse into
idolatry. HAMAN'S PLOT TO EXTERMINATE JEWS While Ezra was thus, and by other
means, laboring to raise the character and improve the condition of the Hebrews
in Judea, all the Jews in the Persian dominions were suddenly threatened with
entire extermination. Haman, an Amalekite, and as such, an inveterate foe of the
Hebrew nation, occupied the chief place in the confidence and service of the
Persian king. His paltry pride being irritated by the apparent disrespect of a
Jewish officer, named Mordecai (the uncle of Queen Esther, but not known as
such), he laid a plot for the massacre of the whole nation and the spoliation of
their goods. The book of Esther, to which we must refer the reader, relates at
large the particulars of the plot, and shows how the machinations of the
Amalekite were defeated by the address and piety of Queen Esther, and turned
upon the unprincipled contriver himself, who was destroyed with all his family,
and Mordecai (by virtue of an old and neglected service) promoted to his place.
In the narrative of this transaction, the attention is arrested by the further
illustration, offered in the case of Haman and afterward of Mordecai, of the
distinction and wealth which foreigners and captives--or, at least, persons of
foreign and captive origin--were enabled to attain. The rank is obvious; and as
to the wealth they were allowed to acquire, no more striking illustration can be
afforded than by the fact that Haman, to gratify his barbarous whim, was in a
condition to offer the king a gratuity of ten thousand talents of silver, to
defray the probable deficiency of the royal revenue by the proscription of the
Jews throughout the empire. This the king declined accepting. The amount,
computed by the Babylonish talent, would be upward of two millions sterling; and
this, it appears, was considerably short of the full amount of the Jewish
tribute. THE JEWISH DEFENSIVE VICTORY On this occasion, we also have another
example of the mischievous consequences which might result from the king being
unmindful of the heavy responsibility of caution, which was designed to be
imposed by the well-meant law which precluded his decrees from being changed or
repealed. For when Artaxerxes became convinced of the grievous wrong into which
he had been led in decreeing the massacre of the Jews, it was beyond his power
to recall the order be had issued. All he could do was to dispatch swift
couriers with a counter decree, empowering the Jews to stand upon their defence
when assaulted, with the aid of whatever moral advantage they might derive from
this indication of the present intentions of the king. On the appointed day,
which had been destined to sweep the race of Israel from the face of the earth,
the Jews were by no means wanting to themselves. They repelled their assailants
by force of arms, and that with such effect, that in Susa itself eight hundred
men fell by their hands, and in the different provinces seventy-five thousand.
The slaughter among the Jews themselves is not stated, but must have been
considerable. This great deliverance has ever since been commemorated by the
annual feast of Purim, or of Lots--so called from the lots which were
superstitiously cast by Haman to find a propitious day for the massacre.
NEHEMIAH SENT TO JERUSALEM It was not until the twentieth year of his reign that
Artaxerxes granted the long delayed permission to build the walls of Jerusalem.
It was then obtained at the instance of a Jew named Nehemiah, who held at the
Persian court the high and confidential office of cup-bearer, or butler. He had
become acquainted with the mortifications and insults to which the inhabitants
of Jerusalem were exposed through the defenseless condition of their city; and
the depression of his spirits, in consequence, was too strongly marked on his
countenance to pass unnoticed by the king, who demanded the cause of his
sadness. As it was no ordinary misdemeanor to exhibit sadness in the presence of
“the king of kings,” Nehemiah was much alarmed, but answered, “Let the king live
for ever: why should not my countenance be sad when the city, the place of my
fathers' sepulchers, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?”
The king encouraged him to declare his wishes freely, and the result was that
Artaxerxes consented to dispense with his services at court for a few years, and
gave him the appointment of Tirshatha, or civil governor, of Judea, in
succession to Zerubbabel, whose death about this time might furnish an
additional reason for the appointment (Nehemiah 12:47). This would not interfere
with the commission of Ezra, which was chiefly of an ecclesiastical nature, and
who, by the discharge of his proper function of teaching the law to the people,
would give the new governor important co-operation. Modern Oriental Gate

JERUSALEM'S WALL BUILT Nehemiah was commissioned to build walls and gates to the
town, to erect a palace for himself and future governors, and afterward to
rebuild the city. All this he accomplished with singular zeal, ability, and
disinterestedness, in the course of his administration of twelve years, to which
his leave of absence from the Persian court extended. He had to encounter much
opposition and many threats from the chiefs of the surrounding
nations--Sanballat the Samaritan, Tobiah the Ammonite, the Arabians, and the
remnant of the Philistines. But Nehemiah piously encouraged the people to rely
on Jehovah, and “to fight for their brethren, their sons and their daughters,
their wives and their homes.” And he divided them into two parts, one to fight
and the other to labor and build; and even the builders “with one hand wrought
in the work, and with the other held a weapon.” Thus, by the most noble
exertions, the whole wall, which was distributed in lots among the priests and
chiefs of the people, was finished, with all the towers and gates, in the short
space of fifty-two days. POLITICAL NEED FOR JERUSALEM'S WALLS On the commission
of Nehemiah, Hales, following the acute observations of Howes, remarks: “This
change in the conduct of Artaxerxes, respecting the Jews, may be accounted for
upon sound political principles, and not merely from regard to the solicitations
of his cup-bearer or the influence of his queen. “Four years before, in the
sixteenth year of his reign, Artaxerxes, who, after the reduction of Egypt, had
prosecuted the war against their auxiliaries, the Athenians, suffered a signal
defeat of his forces by sea and land, from Cimon the Athenian general, which
compelled him to make an inglorious peace with them, upon the humiliating
conditions, 1, that the Greek cities throughout Asia should be free and enjoy
their own laws; 2, that no Persian governor should come within three days'
journey of any part of the sea with an army; and 3, that no Persian ships of war
should sail between the northern extremity of Asia Minor and the boundary of
Palestine, according to Diodorus Siculus (lib. xii). Thus excluded from the
whole line of seacoast, and precluded from keeping garrisons in any of the
maritime towns, it became not only a matter of prudence but of necessity to
conciliate the Jews; to attach them to the Persian interest, and detach them
from the Grecians, by further privileges; that the Persians might have the
benefit of a friendly fortified town like Jerusalem, within three days' journey
of the sea, and a most important pass to keep up the communication between
Persia and Egypt; and, to confirm this conjecture, we may remark that in all the
ensuing Egyptian wars, the Jews remained faithful to the Persians; and even
after the Macedonian invasion--and surely some such powerful motive must have
been opposed in the king's mind to the jealousy and displeasure this measure
must unavoidably excite in the neighboring provinces hostile to the Jews, whose
remonstrances had so much weight with him formerly. It was necessary, therefore,
to entrust the important mission to an officer high in former trust and
confidence, such as Nehemiah, whose services at court Artaxerxes reluctantly
dispensed with, as appears from his appointing a set time for Nehemiah's return,
and afterward, from his return again to Persia in the thirty-second year of his
reign.” FAMILIES CHOSEN TO FILL JERUSALEM While the city remained unwalled the
mass of the people had chosen rather to dwell in the country than in a place so
conspicuous and yet so insecure. The walls were built on the old foundations;
and Nehemiah found that although as enclosed within the walls “the city was
large and great,” yet “the people were few therein, and the houses were not
builded.” He therefore caused the people to be registered, and required that one
family in ten (to be chosen by lot) should come to reside in Jerusalem. Those
who, without waiting the decision of the lot, voluntarily offered themselves to
dwell in Jerusalem, were received with peculiar favor. The city was thus
replenished with inhabitants, and the walls with defenders. The walls were
dedicated with great solemnity and joy. And while the governor was thus heedful
of the stone-and-mortar framework of the social system which he desired to
establish, he was by no means negligent of the inhabiting and animating spirit.
He applied himself diligently (assisted by Ezra) to the organization of the
temple-service, and of the civil government; while various abuses, which the
unsettled condition of affairs had engendered, were corrected by him with a firm
and unsparing hand. And to strengthen his authority and influence, and that he
and his government might not be burdensome to the people, this fine-spirited man
declined to receive the usual dues of a governor; but while he travelled with a
great retinue, maintained a large number of servants, and kept open table at
Jerusalem, the heavy charges were entirely borne from his own private fortune,
which must have been very considerable. That he, a foreigner and a captive, was
enabled to accumulate such a fortune, affords another illustration of the
liberality of the Persian government; which also was unquestionably, as far as
the Hebrews at least were concerned, the best and most generous of the foreign
governments, to which they were at any time subjected. HEBREW LETTERING CHANGED
It was during the government of Nehemiah that Ezra, his ecclesiastical
coadjutor, completed his collection and revisal of the sacred books. Traces of
his careful hand may still be detected throughout the historical books of
scripture; and the settlement of the Old Testament canon in nearly its present
shape, may be ascribed to him. Among his labors was the exchange of the old
Hebrew character of writing--with which the people had now become
unacquainted--for the more shapely and generally known Chaldean character, with
which alone the people were now familiar. The difference thus created is not so
great as that which would take place were the Germans to exchange their peculiar
(and not very elegant) character of print for that (the Roman) which prevails
among nearly all other European nations. The Samaritans did not adopt or need
this change in their copies of the Pentateuch; they retained the original
character, which, therefore, has since been known as the Samaritan character. It
was not alone the old Hebrew character of writing, but the language itself,
which had become unintelligible to the mass of the people, who had been born
beyond the Euphrates, and had imbibed the East-Aramaean or Chaldee dialect as a
mother tongue. The old Hebrew was still well known to, and spoken by, educated
persons in their intercourse with each other; but the Chaldee was used in all
the common intercourse of life, since that only was understood by all. It was
not, however, until the time of the Maccabees, that the old Hebrew was
completely displaced by the Chaldee. This last language is but a dialect of the
Hebrew, which fact accounts for the ease with which the Jews fell into the use
of it during the captivity. It however assigned to words essentially the same
such additional or new meanings, and such differing terminations and
pronunciation, that the old Hebrew could be but imperfectly intelligible to
those who understood only the Chaldee. THE LAW READ AND EXPLAINED Accordingly,
when Ezra had finished his revision of the sacred books, and the people thronged
to Jerusalem to hear the authentic law from his lips, it was necessary that some
of the Levites should interpret to the multitude what this excellent person read
in Hebrew from the book. This was a very solemn and interesting occasion. The
people assembled in the open street; and Ezra, raised above the people on a kind
of pulpit made for the occasion, read from the book of the law to an immense
audience, who listened with most rapt attention to the interpretations which the
surrounding Levites gave. It is manifest that the copies of the law had been
scarce, and that it had not been publicly read to the people, for it is manifest
that they heard much on this occasion with which they were not previously
acquainted; and the consciousness of the extent to which the injunctions which
they heard had been neglected by them, filled them with grief, and occasioned
much and loud lamentation, which the Levites allayed with difficulty. Among
other things, they heard of the feast of tabernacles, and found that the time of
its celebration was close at hand. They therefore proceeded forthwith to
manifest their obedience to this law, and they celebrated the feast in a manner
so distinguished that nothing like it had been known since the time of Joshua.
PLEDGE TO FOLLOW GOD Nehemiah and Ezra availed themselves of the favorable
disposition which at this time existed to induce the people to enter into one of
those solemn covenants which we have had frequent occasion to notice in the past
history. This was, however, more specific in its obligations; for the people
pledged themselves: 1, to walk in God's law as given to Moses; 2, not to
intermarry with the people of the land; 3, to observe the sabbath day, and not
to buy or to sell goods thereon; 4, to keep the sabbatical year, and to remit
all debts therein; 5, to pay a tax of a third of a shekel yearly for the service
of the temple; 6, and to render their first-fruits and tithes as required by the
law. NEHEMIAH RETURNS TO OFFICE At the expiration of his twelfth year of office,
when his leave of absence expired, Nehemiah returned to resume his station at
the Persian court. THE PLEDGE VIOLATED When he departed, no person with adequate
authority appears to have been left to carry on or complete his measures. His
salutary regulations, and even the solemn covenant into which the people had
entered, were gradually infringed and violated. The general laxity of principle
and conduct may be estimated from the proceedings of the persons who might have
been expected to offer the brightest examples of knowledge and faithfulness.
Thus the high-priest himself, Eliashib, gave Tobiah the Ammonite (the grand
opponent of Nehemiah) for lodging, even in the temple itself, a large chamber,
which had been used as a store room for the tithes and offerings. This Tobiah,
as well as his son Johanan, had married Jewish women and became allied to the
high priest. One of the grandsons of Eliashib was also son-in-law to Sanballat
the Horonite, another of Nehemiah's great adversaries. The temple service was
neglected; the tithes, appointed for the support of the Levites and the singers,
were abstracted by the high priest and his agents, or withheld by the people;
the sabbath was profaned in every possible way;[382] and marriages with strange
women were frequent among the people. In accounting for the demoralization of
this period, it may not be improper to connect it with the frequent march of
Persian troops through the territory in passing to and from Egypt, which was
frequently in a state of revolt. By this Judea was made to share in the evils of
war, than which nothing is more relaxing of the bonds by which the order of
civil society is maintained. [382] One of the profanations consisted in the
practice of the Tyrians bringing fish to the city for sale on the Sabbath day. A
curious fact. NEHEMIAH RETURNS TO JERUSALEM The tidings of this relapse
occasioned much grief to Nehemiah at the Persian court, and he ultimately
succeeded in obtaining permission to return to Judea. He returned in his former
capacity as governor, and applied himself most vigorously to the correction of
the evils which had gained ground during his absence.[383] His exertions appear
to have been continued for four years, or until the third year of Darius Nothus,
whom Nehemiah designates as Darius the Persian. The end, therefore, of this
eminent person's second reform, which may be taken as the final act in the
restoration and settlement of the Jews in their own land, may be ascribed to the
year B.C. 420. With this year, therefore, the canon of the Old Testament
concludes; for Malachi, the last of the prophets, is alleged by tradition,
supported by every probability of internal evidence, to have prophesied during
this later administration of Nehemiah. Malachi is supposed by many to be the
same as Ezra. [383] The time is uncertain and conjectures vary. Hales makes it
B.C. 424, six years after his return to Persia. LEADERSHIP REFORMS One of the
measures of Nehemiah was to expel the grandson of the high-priest, who had
wedded the daughter of Sanballat, from whom he declined to separate. This act
was attended with important consequences. Josephus informs us that this person's
name was Manasseh; and that, on being expelled from Jerusalem, he went to his
father-in-law Sanballat, who, by his interest with the Persian king, obtained
permission to build a temple upon Mount Gerizim like that, at Jerusalem, and in
which Jehovah was to be worshipped with similar services. Of this establishment
he made Manasseh the high-priest. This, in future, attracted numbers of Jews who
had married strange wives from whom they could not bring themselves to part, or
who had rendered themselves amenable to punishment by other transgressions of
the law. And this, while it tended in a very serious degree to aggravate the
enmity between the two nations, served ere long to correct the remaining
idolatrous practices, and tendencies to idolatry among the Samaritans. Receiving
the account of these matters through Josephus, and other prejudiced writers, it
behooves us to be cautious of receiving all the impressions they intend to
convey. The temple of Gerizim was undoubtedly a schismatical establishment. But
seeing that, on the one hand, the Samaritans were anxious to worship Jehovah
according to the regulations of Moses, while, on the other, the Jews, whether
right or wrong, pertinaciously refused to receive their adhesion to the temple
of Jerusalem, it is difficult to see what other course was left them than to
build a temple for themselves. Besides, the obligation of adhesion to one temple
was imposed only on the seed of Abraham; and the law made no provision for the
case of a people who desired to worship Jehovah, but were repelled by the Jews.
And this very fact may suggest that this repulsion was in itself not legal,
whatever good effects may ultimately have resulted from it. Tomb of Ezra


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  CHAPTER 38: END OF INSPIRED HISTORY 420 B.C--JEWISH HISTORY TO B.C. 163
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END OF INSPIRED HISTORY 420 B.C--JEWISH HISTORY TO B.C. 163 ISRAEL A PROVINCE OF
SYRIA After, Nehemiah, no more separate governors of Judea were sent from
Persia. The territory was annexed to the province of Coele-Syria, and the
administration of Jewish affairs was left to the high-priests, subject to the
control of the provincial governors. This raised the high-priesthood to a degree
of temporal dignity and power, which very soon made it such an object of worldly
ambition, as occasioned many violent and disgraceful contests among persons who
had had the least possible regard for the religious character and obligations of
the sacerdotal office. HIGH COMPETITION FOR THE PRIESTHOOD The history of this
period is obscure and intricate.[384] Facts are few, and some of those which we
possess are hard to reconcile. But there is enough to acquaint us with the
unholy violence and unprincipled conduct of the competitors for the priesthood,
and the sufferings arising from this, as well as from the arbitrary proceedings
of those who succeeded in obtaining that high office. [384] From B.C. 420 to his
advent, the thread of inspired history is discontinued. The historic narrative
of the Hebrew Commonwealth during this intermediate period is derived mainly
from Josephus, Diodorus' Siculus, Polybius, the Maccabees, and fragments of
other ancient writers--Ed. JESHUA'S LINE OF HIGH PRIESTS Jeshua, the high-priest
who returned with Zerubbabel, was succeeded by his son Joachim, and he by his
son Eliashib, who obtains unfavorable notice in the history of Nehemiah's second
administration. He was then old, and died in B.C. 413. He was succeeded by his
son Joiada or Judas, who held the office for forty years, B.C. 413-373.
ARTAXERXES SUCCESSORS Artaxerxes, who died in 423 B.C., left one son by his
queen, and seventeen sons by his concubines. The first was named Xerxes, and,
among the latter, history only knows Sogdianus, Ochus, and Arsites. Xerxes, the
only legitimate son, succeeded; but, after forty-five days, he was slain by
Sogdianus, who mounted the throne. On this, Ochus, who was governor of Hyrcania,
marched thence with a powerful army to avenge the deed. Sogdianus submitted, and
was put to death. Ochus, in ascending the vacant throne, took the name of
Darius, and was surnamed Nothus, or “bastard,” to distinguish him from others of
the name. EGYPT BECOMES INDEPENDENT Of the events of this troubled reign, it is
perhaps only necessary to notice that the Egyptians again shook off the Persian
yoke, and made Amyrtaeus of Sais their king, 413 B.C. With the aid of the
Arabians, they drove the Persians out of Egypt, pursued them as far as
Phoenicia, and maintained their independence sixty-four years. Ochus sent an
army against them without success. The Persian forces marched to Egypt along the
coast, through Judea. This event could not fail to act to the serious detriment
and disquiet of the Jews; but we possess no precise information on the subject.
The Persian army while on its march might have laid waste Idumea, because the
Idumeans had perhaps taken part with those Arabs, who, in conjunction with the
Egyptians, had pursued the Persians into Phoenicia, while the Jews continued
faithful to the Persian government, with which they certainly had no reason to
be dissatisfied. The prophet Malachi appears to allude to these circumstances
(Malachi 1:2-5). ARSACES TAKES THRONE Darius Nothus died in 404 B.C., and was
succeeded by his eldest son Arsaces, who, on his accession, took the name of
Artaxerxes, and was surnamed Memnon, on account of his astonishing “memory.” The
long reign of this monarch was full of striking and important events; but our
notice must be confined to the circumstances connected with Egypt and Phoenicia,
with which the Jews could not but be in some way involved. ARTAXERXES FAILS TO
CONQUER EGYPT Artaxerxes determined to make a vigorous effort to restore the
Persian power in Egypt, and to this end made most extensive preparation,
continued for three years. At last, in 373 B.C., he had equipped a most
formidable expedition by land and sea, which, he confidently expected, would
speedily reduce the strongholds, and firmly establish his authority throughout
the country. But the jealousy between the commanders of the land and sea forces,
prevented that union of purpose and action which was essential to success.
Pelusium was found to be impregnable, and all the fortified towns were placed in
a state of defence. The Persian general, Pharnabazus, therefore, despaired of
making any impression upon them, and advanced into the interior, but being
opposed by the Egyptian king (Nectanebo) with a considerable force, and in
consequence of the want of boats, being constantly impeded in his movements by
the various channels of the rising Nile, he was obliged to retreat and
relinquish the hope of subjecting Egypt to the Persian yoke. EGYPT FAILS TO TAKE
PERSIA The Egyptian king, by whom the Persians were thus repelled, was succeeded
in 369 B.C. by Teos or Tachos, who formed large designs, and made extensive
preparations for acting offensively against the Persian power. He made an
alliance with the Lacedaemonians, and received from them 10,000 auxiliaries
under the command of Agesilaus their king. Both the person and counsels of this
consummate general were treated with considerable disrespect; and the king
persisted in leading his army in person into Phoenicia against the Persians. But
his absence was immediately followed by a powerful conspiracy in favor of his
relative Nectanebo, for whom the army also declared, so that the infatuated
Tacho had no resource but to flee from his own people and throw himself under
the protection of the great and generous king of Persia, whose dominions he had
invaded. REGIONAL BATTLES The Idumeans again suffered much from being mixed up
in the contest between the Persians and Egyptians. Nor can it be supposed that
the Jews escaped without much moral, if not physical injury. It will be
considered that they were exposed to the burdens of a military rendezvous from
377 to 374 B.C.; for at that time there were assembled in their vicinity 200,000
barbarian soldiers, besides 20,000 Greeks; and 300 ships of war, 200 galleys of
thirty rowers, and a great number of store-ships were collected at Acco (Acre).
The invading army of Persia, both in going and returning, took its route along
their coasts, as did afterward the Egyptian army in its invasion of Phoenicia.
These circumstances could not but be attended with very injurious effects; but
upon the whole the Jews may be considered to have enjoyed peace and comfort
during most of the reign of Artaxerxes Memnon, who was a prince of mild and
humane character, and governed with much moderation and prudence, and with
considerable political wisdom. However, in all the provinces, much depended on
the character of the governor or satrap, whose powers, within his province, were
almost regal. Artaxerxes died in 358 B.C., after along reign of forty-six years.
The pen of Xenophon has immortalized the revolt of his younger brother Cyrus, by
which the early part of his reign was much troubled. The retreat of the 10,000
Greeks--who had fought for Cyrus and survived his overthrow and death--under the
conduct of the historian himself, has been more admired and celebrated than most
ancient or modern victories. PERSIAN TAX ON SACRIFICES IMPOSED It was between
the periods of disturbance which have been indicated, namely, in 373 B.C., that
the high-priest Joiada died, and was succeeded by his son Jonathan or Jochanan
(John). About the time of the Egyptian invasion, this person occasioned much
trouble to his nation. His brother Jesus had become so great a favorite with the
Persian governor Bagoses, that he nominated him to the priesthood. When Jesus
came to Jerusalem in that capacity, he was slain by Jonathan in the very temple.
Bagoses no sooner heard of this outrage than he hastened to Jerusalem; and when
an attempt was made to exclude him from the temple as a gentile, and
consequently unclean, he replied with vehemence, “What! am not I as clean as the
dead carcass that lies in your temple?” The punishment which Bagoses imposed for
the murder of Jesus was a heavy tax upon the lambs offered in sacrifice. This
onerous impost was not remitted until the succeeding reign; and it must have
been the more sensibly felt, as the priests had for many years been accustomed
to receive large contributions from the Persian kings toward defraying the
expense of the sacrifices. OCHUS TAKES EGYPT Artaxerxes Memnon was succeeded in
the throne of Persia by his son Ochus. In his reign, among many other
disturbances which we need not mention, the Sidonians, Phoenicians, and Cyprians
revolted, and made common cause with the Egyptians, who still maintained their
independence. After repeated failures of his generals to reduce them, Ochus
himself took the command of the expedition against them. He besieged Sidon,
which was betrayed to him by the king Tonnes; on which the Sidonians in despair
set fire to the city, and burned themselves with all their treasures. Terrified
by this catastrophe of Sidon, the other Phoenicians submitted on the best terms
they could obtain; and among them we may include the Jews, who seem to have
joined the common cause. Being anxious to invade Egypt, Ochus was not
unreasonable in his demands. After having also received the submission of
Cyprus, the king marched into Egypt 350 B.C., and completely reduced it, chiefly
by the assistance of Mentor the Rhodian, and 10,000 mercenary Greeks whom he had
drawn into his service. The Egyptians were treated with a severity more
congenial to the savage disposition of Ochus than was the moderation to which
policy had constrained him in Phoenicia--he dismantled the towns; he plundered
the temples of their treasures and public records; and the ox-god Apis he
sacrificed to an ass--a severe practical satire upon the animal-worship in
Egypt, and not less significant as an act of revenge upon the Egyptians for
their having nicknamed himself The Ass, on account of his apparent inactivity
and sluggishness. Ochus returned in triumph to Babylon, laden with spoil of gold
and silver, and other precious things from the kingdoms and provinces he had
conquered. From this decisive war the humiliation of Egypt may be dated.
Nectanebo II, the last of her native kings, now fled with all the treasures he
could collect into Ethiopia. Thenceforth, even to this day, it has been the
destiny of Egypt only to change masters, as Ezekiel the prophet had foretold
(Ezekiel 29:13-16). SACRIFICIAL TAX LIFTED That the Jews were involved in the
revolt of the Phoenicians has been already intimated. This appears from the fact
that Ochus went from Phoenicia to Jericho, subdued that city, took some of the
inhabitants with him into Egypt, and sent others into Hyrcania to people that
province. But that the disaffection of the Jews was not general, or that, at
least, it was not shared by the inhabitants of Jerusalem, may be inferred from
the fact that this city was not disturbed. Indeed, the Jews owed some gratitude
to Ochus for remitting at his accession the heavy tax[385] which Bagoses had in
the preceding reign imposed. [385] Jahn estimates that it must have produced
50,000 .., perhaps rather too high an estimate. JADDUS BECOMES HIGH PRIEST It
was in the eighteenth year of Ochus (B.C. 341) that the high-priest Jonathan,
whose murder of his brother Jesus had given occasion for the imposition of this
tax, died, and was succeeded by Jaddua or Jaddus. BAGOAS POISONS ROYALTY Ochus,
after having re-established his dominion over all the provinces which had newly
or in former times revolted, abandoned himself to luxurious repose, leaving the
government in the hands of Bagoas, an Egyptian eunuch, and of his general
Memnon, from both of whom he had received important services during the Egyptian
war. But Bagoas could not forgive the ruin of his country, although that had
been the basis of his own fortunes. He poisoned Ochus and destroyed all his
sons, except Arses the youngest. This horrid act was followed by his sending
back to Egypt such of the plundered archives as he could collect. Arses, whom he
had spared, he placed on the throne, expecting to reign in his name. But finding
that the young king contemplated the punishment of the murderer of his father
and his brothers, Bagoas anticipated his intention, and in the third year of his
reign destroyed him and all the remaining members of his family. The eunuch,
whose soul was now hardened to iron by the concurrent and repeated action of
grief and crime, tendered the scepter to Codomanus, the governor of Armenia, a
descendant of Darius Nothus,[386] and who on his accession assumed the name of
Darius, and is known in history as Darius Codomanus, B.C. 335. Bagoas soon
repented of his choice, and plotted the death of this king also; but Darius,
having discovered his design, returned to his own lips the poisoned chalice
which he had prepared for the king. [386] His grandfather was the brother of
Darius Nothus, and his father was the only one of the family who escaped the
massacre with which Ochus commenced his reign. He afterward married and had a
son, who was this Codomanus. The young man lived to obscurity during most of the
reign of Ochus, supporting himself as an astanda, or courier, by carrying the
royal dispatches. He at last had an opportunity of distinguishing his valor by
slaying a Cadustan champion, who, like another Goliath, defied the whole Persian
army. For this gallant exploit he was rewarded by Ochus with the important
government of Armenia. DARIUS' LIFE OF SPLENDER Few kings ever enjoyed greater
advantages than Darius at their accession. He had no competitors or opponents;
his treasures, increased under Ochus by the plunder of many lands, seemed
exhaustless; his dominion appeared well established over all the nations which
abode from the Indus to the isles of Greece, and from the cataracts of the Nile
to the Caucasian mountains; and with all this, the personal bravery of Darius
and his acknowledged merits made him universally respected and admired
throughout his empire. But bright as appeared his star, another had risen before
which his own grew pale and became extinct. ALEXANDER ASCENDS THRONE Alexander,
the son of Philip king of Macedon, ascended the throne when he was only twenty
years of age, in B.C. 335, being the very same year that Darius Codomanus became
king of Persia. It is not necessary in a work of this nature to record the
exploits of this celebrated hero, unless as far as necessary to tarry on the
history of Palestine and the Jews. ALEXANDER SETS OUT TO BATTLE In the spring of
B.C. 334, Alexander arrived at Sestos on the Hellespont, at the head of little
more than thirty thousand foot and five thousand horse, and had them conveyed to
Asia by his fleet of one hundred and sixty galleys, besides transports, without
any opposition from the enemy on their landing. He had with him only seventy
talents, or a month's pay for his army, and before he left home he disposed of
almost all the revenues of the crown among his friends. When asked “what he left
for himself?” he answered, “Hope.” Such was the spirit with which Alexander
invaded Asia. THE PERSIAN ARMY DEFEATED On the fifth day after the passage of
the Hellespont, Alexander met the Persians at the river Granicus in the Lesser
Phrygia, where the governor of the western provinces had assembled an army of
one hundred thousand foot and twenty thousand horse to oppose his passage. By
defeating this great army, Alexander gained possession of the Persian treasury
at Sardis, the capital of the western division of the Persian empire; several
provinces of Asia Minor then voluntarily submitted to him, and in the course of
the summer others were subjugated. In the campaign of the following year (B.C.
333) Alexander subdued Phrygia, Paphlagonia, Pisidia, Cappadocia, and Cilicia.
BABYLON TAKEN Darius, meanwhile, was not remiss in making preparations for a
vigorous resistance to the most formidable enemy the empire had ever seen. His
admiral, whom he had sent with a fleet to make a diversion by a descent upon
Macedonia, died to the midst of the enterprise; and, in an age where so much
depended upon individuals, his death spoiled the undertaking. Darius then
assembled a vast army, which some accounts make four hundred thousand, others
six hundred thousand men, in Babylonia, and led them in person toward Cilicia to
meet Alexander. That hero, on hearing of this movement, hastened forward to
seize the passes of Cilicia. In this he succeeded, and stationed himself at
Issus, where not more than thirty thousand men could march up to the attack. In
this position his flanks were protected, and he could bring his whole army into
action, while the Persians could only bring a number of men equal to his own
into conflict. Darius saw too late how much wiser it had been for him to await
the Greeks in the plains of Damascus. He lost the battle. The vast number of his
soldiers was worse than useless; for the retreat was thus so obstructed, that
more were crushed to death in the eagerness of flight than had been slain by the
weapons of the Greeks. Darius himself escaped with difficulty, leaving his whole
camp, with his own rich baggage, and his mother, wife, and sons, in the hands of
the victor. These last were treated with tenderness and respect by the generous
conqueror. To him this victory opened Syria, Phoenicia, and Egypt. Immediately
after the battle he sent to Damascus, and took all the heavy baggage, equipage,
and treasures of the Persian army, with their wives and children, which had been
left behind in the disastrous expedition to the Syrian straits. ALEXANDER
DEFEATS TYRE For the present, Alexander did not follow Darius, who withdrew
beyond the Euphrates; but, according to his original plan of reducing first all
the maritime provinces of the empire, he marched in the spring of B.C. 332 into
Phenicia. All the states of that country tendered their submission to him,
except Tyre, which, however, was willing to render him barren testimonials of
respect, had he been content with these. The siege of this place was one of the
most splendid of Alexander's operations, and is even at this day regarded with
admiration by military men. Tyre, which since the destruction of the ancient
city by Nebuchadnezzar had been rebuilt upon an island about four hundred
fathoms from the shore, relied upon the aid of Carthage (which was promised by
the Carthaginian ambassadors there resent in the city) and still more upon its
situation, Alexander being destitute of shipping,[387] and on its walls, which
were high and strong, and which were now additionally strengthened. The city was
plentifully supplied with provisions, and fresh supplies could be brought by sea
without any difficulty. But Alexander, with the rubbish of the ancient city,
constructed a causeway from the shore to the island, and in seven months took
the place by storm, although the Tyrians defended themselves bravely. Many of
them fled to Carthage by sea; but of those who remained, eight thousand were put
to the sword, thirty thousand were sold into slavery, and two thousand were
crucified, while the city was plundered and laid in ashes. These barbarities
were committed under the policy of deterring other places from offering
resistance to the conqueror. Thus the prophecy of Zechariah respecting new Tyre
was literally accomplished, as the previous prophecy of Ezekiel against the old
city had been fulfilled in the time of Nebuchadnezzar. Alexander had, however,
enlarged views of commercial policy, which induced him to re-people Tyre from
the neighboring countries; and, improved in its harbors and basins by the very
isthmus which he had made, and by which, consolidated by time, the island has
ever since been connected with the shore, this maritime city was not long in
recovering much of its former greatness. [387] Alexander, after the battle of
the Granicus, had discharged and dismissed his fleet, which was too small to
cope with that of the Persians (collected from Egypt and Phoenicia), and yet too
large for his slender treasury to maintain. He declared that he would render
himself master of the sea by conquering on land--that is, by getting the ports
and harbors of the enemy into his possession. It was in consequence of this
large idea that he persevered in reducing Phoenicia and Egypt before he advanced
into the interior. ALEXANDER THREATENS HIGH PRIEST There is every reason to
conclude that Alexander, when he invaded Syria, summoned all the cities to
surrender, to pay to him their customary tribute, and to furnish his arm with
provisions. Josephus affirms that during the siege of Tyre, a written order of
this description came to Jerusalem, addressed to Jaddua, the high-priest, as the
chief magistrate of the nation. Jaddua replied that he had sworn fealty to
Darius, and could not violate his oath as long as that monarch was living.
Alexander, naturally of a furious and impetuous temper, was highly irritated by
this reply, and threatened that as soon as he had completed the conquest of
Tyre, he would, by the punishment of the Jewish high-priest, teach all others to
whom they were to keep their oaths. ALEXANDER OFFERS SACRIFICE Accordingly, on
his progress to Egypt, after the destruction of Tyre (B.C. 332) he turned aside
from Gaza, which he reduced, to chastise Jerusalem. But he was met at Sapha--an
eminence near Jerusalem, which commanded a view of the city and temple--by a
solemn procession, consisting of the high-priest arrayed in his pontifical
robes, attended by the priests in their proper habits, and by a number of the
citizens in white raiment. This course Jaddua had been commanded to take, in a
vision, the preceding night. When Alexander beheld the high-priest he instantly
advanced to meet him, adored the sacred Name inscribed on his mitre, and saluted
him first. This singular conduct the hero accounted for by observing to those
around him--“I adore not the high-priest, but the God with whose priesthood he
is honored. When I was at Dios in Macedonia, and considering in myself how to
subdue Asia, I saw in a dream such a person, in his present dress, who
encouraged me not to delay, but to pass over with confidence, for that himself
would lead my army and give me the Persian empire. Since therefore I have seen
no other person in such a dress as I now see, and recollect the vision and the
exhortation in my dream, I think that having undertaken this expedition by a
Divine mission, I shall conquer Darius, overthrow the Persian empire, and
succeed in all my designs.” Having thus spoken (to Parmenio) he gave his right
hand to the high-priest, and going into the temple, he offered sacrifice
according to the high-priest's directions, and treated the pontiff and the
priests with distinguished honors. The book of Daniel was then shown to him, in
which it was foretold that one of the Greeks should overthrow the Persian
empire, pleased at which, and believing himself to be the person intended, he
dismissed the multitude. The day after, he caused the people to be assembled,
and desired them to ask what favors they desired; on which, at the suggestion of
the high-priest, they asked and obtained the free enjoyment of their national
laws, and an exemption from tribute every seventh year. He also, by a bold
anticipation of his fortunes, promised that the Jews in Babylon and Media should
enjoy their own laws; and he offered to take with him in his expedition any of
the people who chose to share his prospects. (Joseph. Antiq. xi. 8, 4, 5.) This
story has been much questioned by many writers, as they were at perfect liberty
to do. Nevertheless, as these questioners are of the same class as those who
doubt on the unusual or supernatural details of the sacred history itself, it is
impossible not to see that the animus of objection is essentially the same. We
are therefore disposed to declare our belief in this statement, 1. Because
Alexander had been a clear and conspicuous object of prophecy; and that an
operation upon his mind by dream or vision, was as natural and necessary as in
the cases of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. 2. Because it was as necessary that
the God of the Hebrews should be made known to him as the bestower of empires,
as to the other great conquerors all of whom had been brought to avow it. 3.
Because an operation upon the mind of Alexander, was a natural and necessary
sequel to the operations upon the minds of those former conquerors. 4. Because
the impression described as being made by this dream upon Alexander, and the
conduct which resulted from it, are perfectly in unison with his character and
conduct as described by other historians. 5. Because the Jews actually did enjoy
the privileges which are described as the result of this transaction, and which
it would not otherwise be easy to account for, or to refer to any other origin.
City of Alexandria

SAMARITANS CLAIM TO BE JEWS The Samaritans had early submitted to Alexander, and
sent him auxiliaries at the siege of Tyre; and now seeing the favor with which
the Jews had been treated, they were not at all backward to claim the same
privileges which had been conceded to them; for, as Josephus (with some
asperity) remarks, the Samaritans were always ready to profess themselves to be
Jews, when the sons of Abraham were in prosperous circumstances, and equally
ready to disavow the connection when the Jews were to distress or difficulty.
They also met Alexander in solemn procession, and as they were graciously
received, they also requested exemption from tribute on the sabbatical year,
since they, as well as the Jews, then left their lands uncultivated. But as,
when pressed, they could not give a direct and satisfactory answer to the
question whether they were Jews, Alexander told them he would take time to
consider the matter, and let them know his decision when he returned from Egypt.
It was not his policy to encourage such applications, as others, under the same
or other pretences, might make similar claims of exemption, to the great injury
of the public revenues. The eight thousand Samaritans who had assisted him at
the siege of Tyre he took with him to Egypt, and assigned them lands in the
Thebaid. ALEXANDER RECEIVED IN EGYPT When Alexander reached Egypt, he met with
no opposition. The Persian garrisons were too weak to resist him, and the
natives everywhere hailed him as their deliverer from the Persian bondage. In
fact the Egyptians abhorred the Persians, and liked the Greeks as much as any
foreigners could be liked by them. And the reason is very obvious. The Persians
hated and despised image and animal worship as thoroughly as it was possible for
the Jews to do, and the power of their arms gave them much opportunity for the
exercise of the iconoclastic zeal by which they were actuated. They lost no
opportunity of throwing contempt and ignominy upon the idols and idolaters of
Egypt. But the pliable Greek regarded the same objects with reverence, and had
no difficulty of so adopting them into his own system, or of identifying them
with his own idols, as it enabled him to participate in the worship which the
Egyptians rendered to them. From Egypt Alexander went to visit the temple of
Ammon, in an oasis of the western desert; and at this celebrated temple got
himself recognized as the son of the god (commonly known as Jupiter Ammon)
worshipped there.[388] It is better (with Plutarch) to attribute this to
political motives, than to admit that impression of Alexander's understanding
which the affair is calculated to convey. Alexander had much good sense, as yet
uncorrupted by the extraordinary prosperity which had attended his undertakings;
but he knew that there were millions in the world who would receive the belief
of his heavenly origin as a discouragement to resistance, and as a consolation
in defeat. [388] This god was worshipped under the form of a ram: hence the
ram's horns which appear on the head of Alexander in many figures of him. After
his return from Libya, Alexander wintered at Memphis, and appointed separate and
independent governors of the several garrisoned towns, in order to prevent the
mischief so often experienced by the Persians in intrusting too much power to a
single hand. He prudently separated the financial, judicial, and military
functions, to prevent the oppression of the people by their union; and his
enlightened and comprehensive policy chose the site of a new city, Alexandria,
to be the emporium of commerce for the eastern and western worlds by its two
adjacent seas, the Red sea and the Mediterranean. The great prosperity which the
city ultimately reached, and a considerable share of which it has ever since
retained, affords the best illustration of !he large and sagacious views with
which it was founded. SAMARITANS PUNISHED Early in the spring of B.C. 331,
Alexander prepared to seek Darius beyond the Euphrates. The rendezvous of his
army was appointed at Tyre; in advancing to which Alexander once more passed
through Palestine. During his absence in Egypt, some Samaritans (perhaps enraged
that they had not obtained the same privileges as the Jews) set fire to the
house of Andromachus, whom Alexander had appointed their governor, and he
perished in the flames. The other Samaritans delivered up the culprits to
Alexander, now on his return from Egypt; but they could hardly dare at this time
to remind him of their previous claim (respecting the sabbatic year), which he
had promised to consider, as the conqueror was so highly enraged that, not
satisfied with the punishment of the actual culprits, he removed the Samaritans
from their city, and transferred thither a Macedonian colony. (Curtius, iv. 21.
Comp. Euseb. Chron.) The Samaritans, thus excluded from Samaria, thenceforth
made Shechem their metropolis. This, it will be remembered, was at the foot of
Mount Gerizim, on which the Samaritan temple stood. PERSIA CONQUERED The
operations and victories of Alexander beyond the Euphrates are not so connected
with the history of Palestine as to require to be traced in this work. We
therefore abstain from particular notice of the battle of Arbela, in Assyria
(fought Oct. 1, B.C. 331), which gave Alexander possession of the Persian
throne; the flight of Darius into Media, with the view of raising new levies
there; the prevention of this intention by the speedy pursuit of Alexander; the
further flight of Darius, and his murder by the conspirators, into whose hands
he had fallen, and whom Alexander ultimately overtook and punished. As little
need our attention be detained by his northern and Indian expeditions, full as
they are of interesting circumstances on which it might be pleasant to
expatiate. He returned to Persia in B.C. 324, with a character still great, and
adequate to great occasions; but, upon the whole, very much damaged in its finer
traits, by the intoxication of mind which, but too naturally, his inordinate
successes produced. On his return he inquired into and punished the
mal-administrations of his generals and governors of provinces during his long
absence eastward. The last year of his life he spent in a circuit through the
imperial cities of Persepolis, Susa, Ecbatana, and Babylon, and in forming the
noblest plans for the consolidation and improvement of his mighty empire. These
plans we can not recapitulate; but they are well worth the most attentive study
of those who would realize a just on respecting one of the most remarkable men
the world has produced. The grasp of his mind was perhaps as large as that of
his ambition: and while we regard his plans of universal conquest, and the
sacrifice of human life and happiness which his causeless wars involved, with
the most intense dislike, we have no desire to conceal our admiration of the
many illustrious qualities which his mind exhibited. ALEXANDER REBUILDS TEMPLE
OF BABYLON Alexander arrived at Babylon in B.C. 324, intending to make that city
his future residence, and the capital of his gigantic empire. Hence he was full
of projects for restoring that city to its ancient beauty and magnificence. This
included the rebuilding of the temple of Belus, which the Jewish prophecies had
devoted to destruction, never to be rebuilt. Alexander, nevertheless, actually
commenced this work. The soldiers were employed in turn to remove the rubbish.
The Jews alone refused to render any assistance, and suffered many stripes for
their refusal, and paid heavy fines, until the king, astonished at their
firmness, pardoned and excused them. “They also,” adds their historian
(Hecateaus, in Joseph. contra Apion, i. 22), “on their return home, pulled down
the temples and altars which had been erected by the colonists in their land,
and paid a fine for some to the satraps, or governors, and received a pardon for
others.” ALEXANDER DIES The death of Alexander at Babylon--in the midst of his
prosperity, his excesses, his large plans, and also during his ominous attempt
to rebuild the temple of Belus, and at the early age of thirty-two years--was
calamitous to the Jewish nation. For amid the contests that prevailed among
Alexander's successors--each striving for the mastery, and celebrating his
death, as he himself foretold, with funeral games the most bloody--“evils were
multiplied in the earth” (1Ma_1:19), and the Jews, from their intermediate
situation, lying between the two powerful kingdoms (as they speedily became) of
Syria northward, and of Egypt southward, were alternately harassed by both.
According to the imagery of Josephus, “They resembled a ship tossed by a
hurricane, and buffeted on both sides by the waves, while they lay in the midst
of contending seas.” (Antiq. xi. 3, 3. See Hales, ii. 537.) Every one is
acquainted with the scramble for empire which took place among the generals and
principal officers of Alexander upon his death. It is useless to enter into the
details and trace the results of this struggle in the present work. It is only
necessary that we should disentangle from the complicated web which history here
weaves, such threads as may be found useful in leading on the history of the
Jews and Palestine. THE EMPIRE DIVIDED It was determined that Aridæus, an
illegitimate brother of Alexander, a man of no capacity, should be made king
under the name of Philip, and that a posthumous son of Alexander's, called
Alexander Aegus should be joined to him, Perdiccas being regent and guardian of
the two kings, who were both incapable of reigning. After some deliberation
Perdiccas distributed the governments among the generals and ministers. Some who
had been appointed by Alexander were confirmed in their provinces. The rest are
named below.[389] [389] Polus and Taxiles had India; Sebyrrius, Arachosia and
Gedrosia; Tleopolemus, Caramania; Peucestes, Persia; Python, Media;
Phrataphernes, Parthia and Hyrcania; Stanasor, Aria and Drangiana; Philip,
Bactria and Sogdiana; Arcesilaus, Mesopotamia; Archon, Babylonia; Ptolemy
Largus, Egypt; Laomedon, Syria and Palestine; Philotas, Silicia ; Enmenes,
Paphlagonia and Cappadocia; Antigonius, Pamphylia, Lycia and Greater Phrygia;
Cassander, Caria; Meleager, Lydia; Leonatus, Lesser Phrygia, and the country
around the Hellespont; Lysimachus, Thrace; Antipater, Macedonia; Seleucus,
afterward destined to be the greatest of these names, received the important
office of commander of the cavalry. It was scarcely possible that the authority
of two such kings, vested in a regent, should hold in check the powerful and
ambitious governors of the provinces. Indeed the latter paid them the least
possible regard and attention, and immediately after the assignment of the
provinces, wars broke out not only between the governors themselves, but between
them and the regent. Our plan of confining our notices to the circumstances
which more immediately affected Palestine, leads us first to notice the
combination against the regent Perdiccas, which was formed in B.C. 322 by
Antigonus, Antipater, Leonatus, and Ptolemy, on account of the design which
Perdiccas betrayed of appropriating the crown of Macedonia, of which Antigonus
was himself desirous. Perdiccas, who kept the young kings constantly with him,
was then in Cappadocia. The next spring he, accompanied by the two kings,
marched a large army through Syria into Egypt, to subdue Ptolemy in the first
pace, while Eumenes was left in Asia Minor to prosecute the war against
Antipater and his allies. The result of this expedition was, that Perdiccas was
slain by his own soldiers, who went over to Ptolemy, who was a very able and
popular man, and natural brother to Alexander. Eumenes was, proclaimed an
outlaw, and, ultimately, the regency was undertaken by Antipater, who made some
changes in the governments, appointing Seleucus governor of Babylonia; Antigonus
to be general of Asia, to prosecute the war against the outlawed Eumenes; and
the command of the cavalry he gave to his own son Cassander, who was then with
Antigonus. PTOLEMY TAKES JUDEA The passage of a part of the royal army, through
Judea, in going to and from Egypt, as just related, could not fail to involve
the Jews in some of the miseries of war. But when the same royal army, under
Antigonus, was otherwise employed against Eumenes, Ptolemy, who had become very
powerful, embraced the opportunity to take possession of Judea, Samaria,
Phoenicia and Coele-Syria, which were all easily subjugated by Nicanor his
general. Laomedon the governor was taken prisoner, but contrived to make his
escape. Thus Palestine was partly the theater of this short war; but as Laomedon
could make but a faint resistance, little injury was probably sustained by the
inhabitants; and, since it was their destiny to be a subject people, the
inhabitants were well rewarded for what they then suffered, by passing under the
dominion of so benevolent a prince as Ptolemy Lagus. He went himself to
Jerusalem, as Josephus says, for the purpose of sacrifice in the temple after
the example of Alexander, and on this occasion declared himself master of the
country. To secure his dominions he took a number of the people with him to
Egypt. Among these were several of the Samaritans and several thousand Jews; but
their condition could not be very calamitous, as many of their countrymen soon
followed them of their own accord. PTOLEMY GRANTS JEWS PRIVILEGES Ptolemy was
soon made acquainted with the fidelity with which the Jews had maintained their
allegiance to the Persian kings. This was a rare quality in those times: and
wishing to attach such a people to himself, he restored the privileges they had
enjoyed under Alexander; he employed a part of them to garrison his fortresses;
others he sent to Cyrene, that he might have some faithful subjects in that
newly-acquired territory; and many more were assigned a residence in Alexandria,
with the grant of the same privileges as Alexander had bestowed on the
Macedonian inhabitants of that city. In 316 the puppet-king Aridæus was
privately put to death, by Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great, and in
the same year Alexander Aegeus was imprisoned with his mother Roxana, by
Cassander, governor of Caria; and he also was murdered in B.C. 310. Even this,
however, did not quite put an end to the mockery of dependence and deference;
for it was not until the death of Hercules, the remaining son of Alexander the
Great, by his wife Barsine, that the satraps put on crowns and took the name of
kings. ANTIGONUS TAKES REGION By the year B.C. 315 the turbulent and ambitious
Antigonus had acquired such power as excited the alarm of Seleucus, Ptolemy,
Lysimachus, and Cassander (then governor of Macedonia), who entered into an
allegiance against him. Antigonus himself was not idle, for the year following
he wrested from the grasp of Ptolemy, Palestine, Phoenicia, and Coele-Syria. In
consequence of this Palestine and its vicinity became for three years the
theater of war between Ptolemy and Antigonus, and during that time the Jews must
have suffered much, as their country frequently changed masters. The consequence
was, that many of the inhabitants voluntarily withdrew to Egypt, where, and
particularly at Alexandria, they could enjoy freedom and peace under a mild
government. During these wars Jerusalem does not, however, appear to have been
molested, and was spared when Ptolemy gave up Samaria, Acco (Acre), Joppa, and
Gaza, to pillage. PTOLEMY GAINS REGION It was at the last-mentioned city, Gaza,
that the great battle was fought between Ptolemy and Demetrius (B.C. 312),
which, by the defeat of the latter, threw the country again into the hands of
the satrap of Egypt. In this battle Demetrius had a large force of elephants,
mounted by native Indian riders. But notwithstanding the alarm which they
inspired, they contributed to his defeat through the confusion they produced,
when annoyed and harassed by the prudent measures which Ptolemy took against
them. They were all taken, and most of the Indians slain. ERA OF CONTRACTS
Seleucus had a joint command in this action. He was soon after furnished by
Ptolemy with an inconsiderable force of two hundred horse and eight hundred
foot, with which he might prosecute his own interests, and at the same time
annoy Antigonus in the east. With this handful of men he crossed the desert and
the Euphrates, and paused at Haran to increase his army in Mesopotamia. His
entrance into Babylonia was like a triumphal procession, for the people, mindful
of the justice of his previous administration, and the great qualities of
character and conduct which he had displayed, flocked to his standard in crowds,
and he recovered with the utmost ease not only the city and province of Babylon,
but the whole of Media and Susiana; and he was enabled to establish his interest
to this quarter upon so solid a foundation that it could no more be shaken,
notwithstanding the momentary appearance of success which next year attended an
attempt made by Demetrius to recover Babylon for his father Antigonus. It is
from this recovery of Babylon by Demetrius in October, B.C. 312, twelve years
after the death of Alexander, that the celebrated “Era of the Seleucidae”
commences. It is also called the “Greek” and the “Alexandrian Era;” while the
Jews, because obliged to employ it in all their civil contracts, called it the
“Era of Contracts.” Some nations compute from the spring of the ensuing year:
but that, as some suppose, this arose from the fact that Seleucus was not fully
established until then in the possession of Babylon (after the attempt of
Demetrius) may very well be doubted. It is more natural to resolve the
difference into an adjustment of the era to the different times at which the
year was commenced by different nations--some at the autumnal, and others at the
vernal equinox.[390] [390] It may be doubted whether the Era in its origin had
any real reference to the taking of Babylon, although that even happened to
occur in the year to which its commencement is referred. This Era long continued
in general use in western Asia. The Arabians, who called it the “Era of the
two-horned” (Dilkarnaim), meaning Alexander, did not relinquish it till long
after the Era of the Hegira had been adopted. It is still retained by the Syrian
Christians under the name of the Era of Alexander. Even the Jews, who in the
first instance had been obliged to adopt it from its general use in civil
contracts, employed no other epoch until A.D. 1040, when, being expelled from
Asia by the caliphs, and scattered about in Spain, England, Germany, Poland, and
other western countries, they began to date from the creation, although still
without entirely dropping the Era of the Seleucidae. JEWS MIGRATE TO EGYPT
Meanwhile Demetrius gained an important advantage over the general (Cilles) whom
Ptolemy had dispatched to drive him out of Upper Syria, where he retrained with
the remnant of his army; and on this occasion the victor, following the example
which had lately been set by Ptolemy, directed the prisoners which were taken to
be restored. It is interesting to note the introduction of such civilized
amenities into transactions so essentially savage, and so humiliating to the
just pride of reason, as those which warfare involve and produce. When the news
of this success reached Antigonus (then in Phrygia) he hastened to join his son;
and the aspect of their joint forces was so formidable, that Ptolemy judged it
prudent to evacuate his recent conquests in Syria. Having therefore caused most
of the fortifications of the places he relinquished to be demolished, he
withdrew into Egypt, laden with spoil, and attended by great numbers of Jews,
who were weary of continuing in what seemed likely to become the troubled
battle-ground between the great ruling powers of Egypt and Syria, and chose
rather to avail themselves of the security and ample privileges by which the
wise policy of Ptolemy invited them to settle in Egypt. PETRA INVADED Elated by
his successes, Antigonus conceived the design of reducing to his yoke the
Nabathæan Arabs, who at this time inhabited the mountains of Seir. Availing
himself of the absence of the active population of Petra at a great and distant
fair in the desert, the general Athenaeus sacked that remarkable metropolis, and
departed with immense booty. But overcome with fatigue, the army halted on the
way, and lay carelessly at rest, when it was surrounded and cut in pieces by the
hosts of the returning Nabathæans. Sixty only escaped. Antigonus afterward sent
Demetrius to avenge this loss. But he, advancing to Petra, and perceiving the
hazard and delay of the enterprise, was glad to compound with the people on
terms which bore a show of honor to his father, without being disgraceful to
them. Petra, which was the chief scene of these enterprises, was doubtless the
city, in a valley of Mount Seir, which, after the oblivion of ages, has been
brought to our knowledge and abundantly described by Burkhardt, Mangles,
Laborde, and other travelers. We notice this expedition chiefly for the sake of
recording, that Demetrius on his return by way of the Dead sea, took notice of
the asphalt of that lake, and gave such an account of it to Antigonus as led him
to desire to render it a source of profit to his treasury. He therefore
dispatched the aged historian Hieronymus, with men to collect the asphalt for
the benefit of the government. The Arabs looked on quietly, and offered no
interruption until a large quantity had been collected and preparations were
made for carrying it away; then they came down with six thousand men, and
surrounding those who were employed in this business, cut them in pieces.
Hieronymus escaped. Thus we perceive that the Asphaltic lake, otherwise useless,
had become a source of wealth and object of contention on account of its
bitumen. THE TITLE KING ADOPTED We need not enter into the treaties and wars
between the satraps, during the succeeding years. Antigonus remained in
possession of Syria. In 306 B.C., Demetrius, who had been highly successful in
Greece, invaded the island of Cyprus, and made the conquest of it after
repelling Ptolemy, who came with a fleet to the assistance of his allies. This
conquest was so pleasing to Antigonus that he thereupon assumed the title of
king, and had such confidence in the duty and affection of his excellent son,
that he saluted him (by letter) with the same title, thus making him the
associate of his government. When this was heard in Egypt, the people, out of
their attachment to Ptolemy, saluted him also as king, whereupon Lysimachus in
Thrace, Seleucus in Babylon, and even Cassander in Macedonia, were hailed by the
regal title, by the nations under their rule. This none of them strenuously
forbade or opposed; and although they did not immediately call themselves kings
on their coins and in their edicts, they all did so ere long, with more or less
show of decent reluctance and delay. In those times, however, the kingly title
was very common, and much less of special significance was connected with it
than it has since acquired. PTOLEMY HOLDS OFF ANTIGONUS Elated by this and his
other great successes, Antigonus cast his eyes upon Egypt. In 305 B.C. he
collected in Syria an army of eighty thousand foot, eight thousand horse, and
eighty-three elephants, and marched along the coast of Palestine to Gaza; to
which point Demetrius also repaired by sea, with a fleet of one hundred and
fifty ships of war, and one hundred store-ships. This formidable expedition
failed through mismanagement on their side, met by excellent management and
preparation on the part of Ptolemy. Antigonus retired from the Egyptian frontier
in disgrace, not a little heightened by the avidity with which his own soldiers
embraced the opportunity of escaping from his austere rule to the mild and
paternal sway of the Egyptian king. SELEUCUS TAKES TERRITORY TO INDIA Meanwhile
Seleucus had been consolidating in the east that power which ultimately made him
the greatest of the successors of Alexander. By 303 B.C. he had established his
dominion over all the eastern-provinces to the borders of India, and in that
year was preparing for the invasion of that country, when affairs called his
attention to the west, and he concluded a treaty with the Indian king, from whom
he received five hundred elephants--a fact which we particularly notice as
explaining the frequent presence of that able beast in the subsequent warfare in
Syria and Palestine. Subsequent supplies were afterward obtained from the same
source, in order to keep up this favorite force in the armies of the Syrian
kings.[391] [391] The ancient Egyptians do not appear to have known the
elephant, although quantities of the tooth were brought to the country and to
Palestine. We do not remember to have met with a single instance in which this
animal is described as being figured on the old monuments of that country. Use
of Elephants in war

ANTIGONUS FALLS IN BATTLE At last the several kings, wearied out with troubles
and conflicts which the insatiable and turbulent ambition of Antigonus
occasioned, made common cause against him, Seleucus taking the lead, and
bringing the largest force into the field. The belligerents met and fought a
battle, intended by all to be decisive, at Ipsus in Phrygia, in the year B.C.
301. Antigonus brought into the field between seventy and eighty thousand foot,
ten thousand horse, and seventy elephants; and Seleucus and his confederates had
sixty-four thousand infantry, ten thousand five hundred cavalry, above one
hundred chariots armed with scythes, and four hundred elephants. The courageous
old man, Antigonus, now fourscore and upward, behaved with his usual valor and
conduct, but not with his usual spirit. Seleucus, by an adroit interposition of
his elephants, managed to prevent Demetrius from properly supporting his father
with the cavalry, which he commanded; and the final result was, that Antigonus
fell on the field of battle pierced by many arrows, while Demetrius managed with
a poor remnant of the army to escape to Ephesus. He survived seventeen years,
and took an active part in the affairs of that time, but not so as to bring him
under our future notice. ANTIGONUS TERRITORY DIVIDED This great victory was
followed by a treaty between the four potentates who had weathered the storm
which had raged since the death of Alexander, being Seleucus, Ptolemy,
Lysimachus, and Cassander. Each was formally to assume the royal dignity, and to
govern his provinces with imperial power. The distribution was made on the
principle of each retaining what he already had, and taking his due share of the
empire which Antigonus had lost with life. To Cassander was allotted Macedonia
and Greece; to Lysimachus Thrace, Bithynia, and some of the adjacent provinces;
to Ptolemy, Libya, Egypt, Arabia Petra, Palestine, and Coele-Syria; to Seleucus,
all the rest, being in fact the lion's share-including many provinces in Syria,
Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and the East as far as the frontiers of
India. ISRAEL UNDER PTOLEMY This settlement must have been highly satisfactory
to the Jews, whom it restored to the dominion of Ptolemy, with whose generally
beneficent government, and particular favor to themselves, they had every reason
to be satisfied. The prospects of durable peace, under the shadow of so great a
king, must also have been contemplated with peculiar satisfaction by a people
who suffered so much of the horrors and penalties, without sharing in the
contingent honors and benefits of war. They were not disappointed. Ptolemy, now
relieved from his long conflict, and settled firmly upon his throne, applied
himself with great and laudable diligence to the improvement of his dominions.
One great point of his policy was really to attach to his rule the several
nations which had become subject to it. From this policy sprang the favors which
he showered upon the Jews, and the indulgence with which, notwithstanding their
peculiarities, they were on all occasions treated. The most perfect religious
toleration was established by this eminent monarch, whose interest it was to
harmonize the differences of religious practice and opinion which existed
between his Greek and Egyptian subjects: the religion of the Jews was
comprehended in this indulgence; and their synagogue was as much tolerated and
respected as the temples of Isis and of Jupiter. Ptolemy made Alexandria the
metropolis of his empire, and gave full effect to the intention of its great
founder by taking such measures as ere long rendered it the first commercial
city in the world--This, among others, was a circumstance calculated to attract
the Jews to that city; as, first their long absence from their native
land--during the captivity, and then the troubles of war in that land--troubles
peculiarly unfavorable to the peaceful pursuits and hopes, of agriculture--had
already turned their attention toward commerce. SELEUCUS BUILDS MANY NEW CITIES
Seleucus, between whose territories and those of Ptolemy, Palestine was now
situated, saw the wisdom of the policy followed by the king of Egypt, and
applied himself with great vigor to work it out in his own dominions. In those
dominions many fine cities had been entirely destroyed, and others greatly
injured by the ravages of war. To repair these losses, Seleucus built many new
cities, among which are reckoned sixteen which he, from his father, called
Antakya or Antioch; nine to which he gave his own name; six on which he bestowed
that of his mother Laodicea; six which he called Apamea after his first wife,
and one after his last wife Stratonice. Of all these towns the most celebrated
was the city of Antioch, on the Orontes in Syria, which became the metropolitan
residence of all the succeeding kings, and in a later day, of the Roman
governors; and which has ever since survived, and which still exists, and
retains some relative consequence by virtue of the corresponding decline of all
prosperity and population in the country in which it is found. Its name will
occur very often in the remainder of our narrative. Next to Antioch in
importance was Seleucus on the Tigris, which may in fact be considered the
capital of the eastern portion of the empire. It was situated about fifty miles
north-by-east of Babylon, twenty-three miles below the site of the present city
of Bagdad, and just opposite to the ancient city of Ctesiphon. This city
(founded in B.C. 293) tended much to the final ruin and desolation of Babylon.
Great privileges were granted to the citizens; and on this account many of the
inhabitants of Babylon removed thither; and after the transfer of the trade to
Seleucia, these removals became still more frequent. It was in this manner that
Babylon was gradually depopulated; but the precise period when it became
entirely deserted cannot now be ascertained. It may be interesting to note this,
as many of the eastern Jews were involved in whatever transactions took place in
this quarter, which, from the time of the captivity to this day, has never been
destitute of a large and often influential Jewish population. But now Babylon
itself is not more desolate--is even less desolate--has more to mark it as the
site of a great city of old times, than the superseding Seleucia, which only
received existence in the last days of Babylon. “I have,” says a late
traveler--walked over the ground it occupied, and found the site of the royal
city only marked by the parallel embankments of ancient aqueducts, and by the
consolidated grit and debris which devote to utter barrenness, in this primeval
country, the spots which towns once occupied, as if man had branded the ground
by the treading of his feet.” Antioch

SELEUCUS INVITES MANY JEWS TO SETTLE In his newly-founded towns, it was the
policy of Seleucus to induce as many as possible of the Jews to settle by
important privileges and immunities, such as those which Ptolemy had extended to
them. The consequence was that the Jews were attracted to these spots in such
numbers, and especially to Antioch, that in them they formed nearly as large a
proportion of the inhabitants as at Alexandria itself. In all this, we think it
is not difficult to perceive a further development of the divine plan, which
now, as the times advanced, dictated the dispersion of numerous bodies of Jews
among the Gentile nations--while the nation still maintained in its own land the
standards of ceremonial worship and of doctrine--with the view of making the
nations acquainted with certain truths and great principles, which should work
in their minds as leaven until the times of quickening arrive. SIMON'S WORK IN
ISRAEL During the time of Ptolemy Soter, the prosperity of the Jews was much
strengthened by the internal administration of the excellent high-priest Simon
the just. In 300 he succeeded Onias I, who had in 321 succeeded Jaddua, the
high-priest in the time of Alexander the Great. Simon repaired and fortified the
city and temple of Jerusalem, with strong and lofty walls; and made a spacious
cistern, or reservoir of water, “in compass as a sea.”[392] He is reported to
have completed the canon of the Old Testament by the addition of the books of
Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, Nehemiah, Esther, and Malachi. This is not unlikely, as
also that the book of Chronicles was completed in its present state; for the
genealogy of David in the first book comes down to about the year B.C. 300; and
it may also be remarked that in the catalogue of high-priests as given in
Nehemiah, Jaddua is mentioned in such a manner as to intimate that he had been
for some time dead. The Jews also affirm that Simon was “the last of the great
synagogue:” which some ingeniously paraphrase into “the last president of the
great council, or Sanhedrin, among the high-priests” (Hales, ii: 538); whereas
it seems clear that no Sanhedrin at or before this time existed. And from the
fact that this “great synagogue” is not (like the Sanhedrin) described as being
composed of seventy members, but of one hundred and twenty, among whom were
Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, Nehemiah, and Malachi--it would appear that it rather
denoted the succession of devout and patriotic men who distinguished themselves
after the captivity, by their labors toward the collection and revision of the
sacred books, and the settlement and improvement of the civil and religious
institutions of their country; and of whom Simon, by completing the sacred
canon, became the last. Simon died in B.C. 291, and was succeeded by his son
Eleazar. [392] Ecclusticus 1:1-3. The whole chapter, entitled “The Praise of
Simon the Son of Onias,” is devoted to a splendid eulogium on his deeds and
character. PHILADELPHUS MADE KING Not long after this (B.C. 285), the king of
Egypt, having conceived just cause of displeasure against his eldest son Ptolemy
Keraunus, took measures to secure the succession to his youngest son Ptolemy
Philadelphus. His advanced age warned him that he had no time to lose; he
therefore resigned the diadem to Philadelphus (“the brother-loving”), and
enrolled himself among the royal life-guards. He died two years after (B.C. 283)
at the age of eighty-four, forty years after the death of Alexander. KERAUNUS
KILLED As for Ptolemy Keraunus, he ultimately sought refuge at the court of
Seleucus, by whom he was most kindly received and entertained: but he justified
the ill opinion of him on which his own father had acted by destroying his
benefactor. This was in B.C. 280, only seven months after Seleucus had
consummated the greatness of his empire by the overthrow of Lysimachus, who had
himself previously added the kingdom of Macedonia to his own of Thrace. Thus
Seleucus became the possessor of three out of the four kingdoms into which the
empire of Alexander had, in the defeat of Antigonus, been divided. After his
death, Ptolemy Keraunus managed to seat himself on the Macedonian throne; but
the very next year he was taken prisoner and cut in pieces by the Gauls, who had
invaded Macedonia. SOTER'S REIGN Seleucus was succeeded in what may be called
the throne of Asia by his son Antiochus Soter. This prince, after he had secured
the eastern provinces of the empire, endeavored to reduce the western, but his
general Patrocles was defeated in Bithynia, and the loss of his army disabled
him from immediately prosecuting the claims upon Macedonia and Thrace. Meanwhile
the scepter of Macedonia was seized by the vigorous hands of Alexander Gonatus,
a son of Demetrius Poliorcetes, and consequently a grandson of Antigonus, and to
him Antiochus at length felt himself constrained to cede that country; and the
family of Antigonus reigned there until the time of Perseus, the last king, who
was conquered by the Romans. Antiochus Soter died in B.C. 261 after nominating
as his successor his second son Antiochus Theos (“the God”). This prince was his
son by his mother-in-law Stratonice, whom his too indulgent father had divorced
to please him. SEPTUAGINT The accession of Antiochus II took place about the
middle of the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus in Egypt. This last-named monarch
was quite as tolerant and as friendly to the Jews as his father had been. He was
a great encourager of learning and patron of learned men. Under his auspices was
executed that valuable translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek, called
the Septuagint, from the seventy, or seventy-two, translators said to have been
employed thereon. Eleazar was still the high-priest, and appears to have
interested himself much in this undertaking, and was careful to furnish for the
purpose correct copies of the sacred books. The date of B.C. 278 is usually
assigned to this translation. Thus the Jewish scriptures were made accessible to
the heathen. It is unquestionable that copies of this version, or extracts from
it, found their way in process of time into the libraries of the learned and
curious of Greece and Rome; and there is no means of calculating the full extent
of its operation in opening the minds of the more educated and thoughtful class
among the heathen to the perception of some of the great truths which they could
learn only from that book, and which it was now becoming important that they
should know. It was even a great matter that they should have the means of
knowing clearly what the Jews believed, whatever they may themselves have
thought of that belief. This version soon came into common use among the Jews
themselves everywhere, even in Palestine, the original Hebrew having become a
learned language. Indeed, the quotations from the Old Testament made by the
evangelists and apostles, and even by Christ himself, are generally, if not
always from this version. PEACE REACHED WITH PHILADELPHUS In the third year of
Antiochus a long and bloody war broke out between him and Ptolemy Philadelphus.
The latter king, bending under the weight of years, commanded by his generals,
while Antiochus, in the vigor of youth, led his armies in person. Neither
monarch appears to have gained any very decided advantages over the other; while
we know that much was lost by Antiochus; for while his attention was engaged by
wars in the west the eastern provinces of his vast empire--Parthia, Bactria, and
other provinces beyond the Tigris--revolted from his dominion; this was in B.C.
250, from which the foundation of the Parthian empire may be dated; but it is
perhaps better, with the Parthians themselves, to date it from the ensuing
reign, when they completely established their independence. It is here however
we are to seek the real beginning of the Parthian empire, which was ultimately
destined to set bounds to the conquests of the Romans, and to vanquish the
vanquishers of the world. The immediate result was that Antiochus was obliged,
in the year B.C. 249, to make peace with Philadelphus on such terms as he could
obtain. These were, that he should repudiate his beloved queen, who was his
half-sister, and marry Berenice, a daughter of Philadelphus, and that the first
male issue of the marriage should succeed to the throne. PHILADELPHUS DIES As
Philadelphus on his part gave for the dower of his daughter half the revenues of
Palestine, Phoenicia and Coele-Syria, the Jews may seem to have come partly
under the dominion of Antiochus. But as the king retained the other half in his
own hands, and as the revenues of Judea were always farmed by the high-priest,
the circumstance made no change in their condition. Besides, the arrangement was
too soon broken up to produce any marked effect. These were the important
nuptials between “the king of the north,” and “the daughter of the king of the
south, which the prophet Daniel had long before predicted (Daniel 11:6). It was
only two years after this (B.C. 247) that Philadelphus died; immediately on
which he put away Berenice and restored his beloved Laodicea; but she, fearing
his fickleness, poisoned him, and set her son Seleucus Callinicus (“illustrious
conqueror”) upon the throne (B.C. 246). On this Berenice sought shelter with her
son (the heir by treaty) in the sacred groves of Daphne (near Antioch); but at
the instigation of his mother Callinicus tore her from that sanctuary, and slew
her, with her infant son. Now Berenice was full sister to the new king of Egypt,
Ptolemy III, surnamed Euergetes,[393] who immediately placed himself at the head
of his army to avenge her wrongs. He was eminently successful. He entered Syria,
slew the queen Laodicea, and overran the whole empire, as far as the Tigris on
the east and Babylon on the south.[394] On he marched, from province to
province, levying heavy contributions, until commotions in Egypt obliged him to
abandon his enterprise and return home. On his way he called at Jerusalem, where
he offered many sacrifices, and made large presents to the temple. There is
little doubt but that the high-priest took the opportunity of pointing out to
him those prophecies of Daniel (Daniel 11:6-8) which had been accomplished in
the late events and his recent achievements; and this may probably have been the
cause of his presents and offerings. [393] We may add in a note that this title
(the Benefactor) was conferred on Ptolemy by his Egyptian subjects on his return
from his eastern expedition. He recovered and brought back, with other booty to
an immense amount, 2,500 idolatrous images, chiefly those which Cambyses had
taken away from the Egyptians. When he restored the idols to their temples, the
Egyptians manifested their gratitude by saluting with this title. They were less
prone than the Greeks of Asia to deify their kings. [394] The inscription found
at Adule by Cosmas gives a more extensive range to his operations, affirming
that after having subdued the west of Asia, ultimately crossed the Euphrates,
and brought under his dominion, not only Mesopotamia and Babylonia, but Media,
Persia, and the whole country as far as Bactria. As this needs more collateral
support than it has received, we adopt a more limited statement in the text.
JEWISH HIGH PRIESTS The high-priest of the Jews was then Onias II Eleazar, the
high-priest at the time the Greek translation of the Scriptures was made, died
in B.C. 276, and was succeeded, not by his own son Onias, but by Manasses, a son
of Jaddua. He died in B.C. 250, and Onias III then became high-priest. As usual,
Onias farmed the tribute exacted from Judea by the Egyptians. But growing
covetous as he advanced in years, he withheld, under one pretence or another,
the twenty talents which his predecessors had been accustomed to pay every year
to the king of Egypt as a tribute for the whole people. This went on for
twenty-four years, and, the arrears then amounting to four hundred and eighty
talents, the king deemed it full time to take energetic measures to secure the
payment of this portion of the royal revenues. He sent an officer named Athenion
to demand the payment of what was already due, and to require a more punctual
payment in future, with the threat that unless measures of compliance were
taken, he would confiscate all the lands of Judea, and send a colony of soldiers
to occupy them. The infatuated priest was disposed to neglect the warning and
brave the danger, which filled all the people with consternation. But the evils
which might have been apprehended were averted through the policy and address of
Joseph, the high-priest's nephew, who generously borrowed the money upon his own
credit, paid the tribute, and so ingratiated himself at the Egyptian court that
he obtained the lucrative privilege of farming the king's revenues not only in
Judea and Samaria, but in Phoenicia and Coele-Syria. Seleucus Callinicus, in his
emergencies, had promised to his younger brother Antiochus Hierax, who was
governor of Asia Minor, the independent possession of several cities in that
province, for his assistance in the war with P. Euergetes. But when he had (B.C.
243) obtained a truce of ten years from the Egyptian king, he refused to fulfill
this engagement. This led to a bloody war between the two brothers, in which
Seleucus was so generally unsuccessful that it would appear as if the title of
Callinicus (illustrious conquerer) had been bestowed upon him in derision. He
was however ultimately successful through the losses and weakness which other
enemies brought upon Antiochus Hierax (“the Hawk”--from his rapacity), who was
in the end obliged to take refuge in Egypt, where he was put to death in B.C.
240. Toward the end of this war, Mesopotamia appears to have been the scene of
action; for in that quarter occurred the battle in which eight thousand
Babylonian Jews (subjects of Seleucus) and four thousand Macedonians defeated
one hundred and twenty thousand Gauls whom Antiochus had in his pay (2Ma_8:20).
CALLINICUS AND KERAUNUS DIED S. Callinicus being now relieved from the western
war, turned his attention to the recovery of the eastern provinces which had
revolted in the time of his father. Renewed troubles in Syria prevented any
result from his first attempt in B.C. 236; and in his second, in 230, he was
defeated and taken prisoner by the Parthians, whose king, Arsaces, treated the
royal captive with the respect becoming his rank, but never set him at liberty.
He died in B.C. 226 by a fall from his horse. On this event Seleucus III
inherited the remains of his father's kingdom. This prince was equally weak in
body and mind, and therefore most un-aptly surnamed Keraunus ('thunder'). When a
war broke out in B.C. 223, his imbecile conduct so provoked his generals, that
he was poisoned by their contrivance. Of these troubles and dissensions in
Syria, Ptolemy Euergetes, in Egypt, took due advantage in strengthening and
extending his own empire. In B.C. 222, the year after the murder of Seleucus
III, his reign was terminated through his murder by his own son Ptolemy, who
succeeded him, and who, on account of this horrid deed, was ironically surnamed
Philopator (“father-loving”). P. Euergetes is popularly considered the last good
king of Egypt, which is true in the sense that the succeeding Ptolemies governed
far worse than the first three of that name--all of whom were just and humane
men, and whose reigns were glorious and beneficent. If Euergetes was inferior in
some respects to Lagus and Philadelphus, he was more than in the same degree
superior to his own successors. GREEK INFLUENCE At this time the Jews had for
about sixty years enjoyed almost uninterrupted tranquillity under the shadow of
the Egyptian throne. During this period circumstances led them into much
intercourse with the Greeks, who were their masters and the ruling people in
Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor--and, in fact, in all the country west of the Tigris. A
predominance of Greeks and of Grecian ideas, which has dotted the surface of
westernmost Asia with frequent monuments of Grecian art, was not without much
effect upon the Jews in this period. Among other indications, the increasing
prevalence, in and after this period, of Greek proper names among the Jews, may
be taken. There is ample evidence that the more opulent classes cultivated the
language and imbibed some of the manners of the Greeks. It is also apparent that
some acquaintance with the Greek philosophers was obtained, and made wild work
in Jewish minds. Nothing manifests this more clearly than the rise of the
Sadducees, whose system was nothing more than a very awkward attempt to graft
the negations of Greek philosophy upon the Hebrew creed. It confirms this view,
that the sect of the Sadducees was never popular with the mass of the
nation--but was always confined to those whose condition in life brought them
the most into contact with the notions of the Greeks--the wealthy, noble, and
ruling classes. Priests--even high priests--sometimes adopted the views of this
sect. It has already been stated that the high-priest Simon the Just was counted
as the last of “the great synagogue,” who had applied themselves to the great
work of collecting, revising, and completing the canon of the Old Testament. To
this followed “a new synagogue,” which applied itself diligently to the work of
expounding and commenting upon the completed canon. This school lasted until the
time of Judah Hakkadosh, who to prevent these comments or “traditions” (which
were deemed of equal authority with the text) from being lost, after the
dispersion, committed them to writing, in the Mishna--which, with its comments,
has since constituted the great law-book of the Jews, from which, even more than
from the Scriptures, they have deduced their religious and civil obligations.
The founder and first president of this school, or synagogue, was Antigonus
Socho, or Sochaeus. He (or, according to some accounts, his successor Joseph)
was fond of teaching that God was to be served wholly from disinterested
motives, of pure love and reverence, founded on the contemplation of his
infinite perfections, without regard to the prospects of future reward, or to
the dread of future punishment. This was either misunderstood or wilfully
perverted by some of his scholars, and in particular by Sadoc and Baithos, who
declared their disbelief that there was any future state of reward of
punishment. Perhaps they stopped at this; but the views ultimately embodied in
the creed of the sect which took its name from the first of these persons,
inculcated that the soul was mortal like the body, and perished with it, and
consequently that there was not, nor could be, any resurrection. They also held
that there was no spiritual being, good or bad (Matthew 22:23; Acts 23:8). They
rejected the doctrine of an overruling Providence, and maintained that all
events resulted from the free and unconstrained actions of men. That, like the
Samaritans, they rejected all the sacred books save the Pentateuch, is inferred
from the unsupported authority of it passage of doubtful interpretation in
Josephus.[395] And as there is some evidence to the contrary, it is safer to
conclude that they admitted the authority of the other books, but ascribed to
them an inferior value and importance than to the Pentateuch. But it is certain
that they rejected absolutely the “traditions,” to which such supreme importance
was attached by the mass of the nation. This was a good thing in them; and in
this they agreed with Jesus Christ and his apostles, who were opposed to them
and by them on every other point. In fact, it would seem as if this sect in its
beginning was intended merely as an opposition to the tradition party, which was
likely to be regarded with apprehension by the more open and thinking minds. The
doctrinal errors had no necessary connection with the anti-tradition zeal of the
party, and were probably grafted on it through the speculative tendencies of
some of its original leaders. [395] Antiq. xiii 10, 6. ANTIOCHUS THE GREAT After
the murder of Seleucus Keraunus, who left no son, the kingdom of Syria fell to
his brother Antiochus III, who had been brought up at Seleucia on the Tigris. He
came to Antioch; and his reign was so productive in great events that he
ultimately acquired the surname of “the Great.” He carried on the wars against
the revolted provinces with such success that he soon recovered almost all
Asia-Minor, Media, Persia, and Babylonia. The effeminate character of Ptolemy
Philopator--who was a mean voluptuary, abandoned to the most shameful vices, and
entirely governed by the creatures and instruments of his pleasures--led
Antiochus to contemplate the feasibility of obtaining possession of the valuable
provinces of Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine. Great part of the first of these
provinces, with the city of Damascus, he easily acquired, through the defection
of Theodotian the governor--a brave man rendered a traitor by the desire of
revenge, and by contempt for the character of his master. The campaign was
terminated by a truce for four months, which circumstances made desirable for
both parties before prosecuting the war. Negotiations for a peace were indeed
entered into; but as both parties claimed Syria and Palestine in virtue of the
treaty by which the empire of Alexander was divided after the fall of Antigonus,
the truce expired without anything having been concluded. The war, was therefore
resumed in 218 B.C. Antiochus marched into the disputed territory and carried
all things before him--forcing the passer of Lebanon, he penetrated into
Phoenicia, and after securing the coast, marched into the interior, and brought
under his power all the cities of Galilee; after which he passed beyond Jordan,
and won the ancient territory of the tribes beyond that river, with the
metropolis Rabbath-Ammon, which Ptolemy Philadelphus had fortified, and named
after himself Philadelphia. At the same time, Antiochus subjugated some of the
neighboring Arabs; and on his return threw garrisons into Samaria and some of
the adjacent towns; and at the close of this brilliant campaign, he took up his
winter quarters in Ptolemais (afterward Caesarea). PHILOPATOR SUBJUGATES THE
JEWS These large and repeated losses at length roused all the energies which
Ptolemy was capable of exerting. He forsook his drunken revels, and placing
himself at the head of an army of seventy thousand infantry, five thousand
cavalry, and seventy-three elephants, he marched from Pelusium through the
desert, and encamped at Raphia, a place between Rhinoculura (El Arish) and Gaza.
Antigonus, with the confidence of victory which his recent successes inspired,
advanced to meet him at that place, with an army of sixty-two thousand infantry,
six thousand cavalry, and one hundred and twenty elephants. He was totally
defeated, with such loss that he made no attempt to repair it, but abandoned all
his conquests and withdrew to Antioch. By a peace, concluded soon after, he
relinquished all pretension to the disputed territories. Philopator now
recovered all the former possessions of his crown without striking a blow; for
the cities hastened to emulate each other in renewing their homage to him by
their ambassadors. Among these the Jews, always partial to the Egyptian rule,
were the most forward: and the king was induced to pay a visit to Jerusalem, as
well as to the other principal cities. There he offered sacrifices according to
the Jewish law, and presented gifts to the temple. But, unhappily, the beauty of
the building, and the peculiar order and solemnity of the worship, excited the
curiosity of the king to see the interior. Simon II, who had but lately
succeeded Onias the high-priesthood, remonstrated against this intention,
intimating that it was unlawful even for the priests to enter the inner
sanctuary. Philopator answered haughtily, that although they were deprived of
that honor, he ought not; and pressed forward to enter the sacred place. But
while he was passing through the inner court for that purpose, he was “shaken
like a reed, and fell speechless to the ground,” overcome either by his own
superstitious fears, or, as the historian seems to intimate, by a supernatural
dread and horror cast on him from above. He was carried out half dead, and
speedily departed from the city full of displeasure against the Jewish people.
He therefore commenced a most barbarous persecution against the Jews to Egypt on
his return home. In the first place he caused a decree to be inscribed on brazen
pillars at the palace-gate, that none should enter there who did not sacrifice
to the gods he worshipped--which effectually excluded the Jews from all access
to his person. Execution by Elephants

Then he deprived the Jews in Alexandria of the high civil privileges they had
enjoyed, degrading them from the first to the third or last class of
inhabitants. He also ordered them to be formally enrolled, and that at the time
of their enrollment, the mark of an ivy-leaf (one of the insignia of his god,
Bacchus) should be impressed upon them with a hot iron: if any refused this mark
they were to be made saves; and whoever opposed the decree was to be put to
death. Again, they were tempted to apostasy by the promise of restoration to the
rank of citizens of the first class; but of the many thousands of Jews then at
Alexandria, only three hundred appear to have submitted to the humiliating
condition, and these were held in such abhorrence by the majority of their
countrymen, and were so pointedly shunned, and excluded from the society of
their old associates, that the king, when acquainted with it, was highly
enraged, and regarded this as an opposition to his authority; he vowed to
extirpate the whole nation. To begin with the Jews in Egypt, he ordered them all
to be brought in chains to Alexandria. Having thus brought them all together,
they were shut up in the hippodrome, which was a large enclosure outside the
city, built for the purpose of horse-racing and other pubic amusements, where he
intended to expose them as a spectacle, to be destroyed by elephants. At the
appointed time, the people assembled in crowds, and the elephants were on the
spot; but the effects of a drunken bout, the preceding night, prevented the
attendance of the king, and caused the postponement of the show. The next day, a
similar disappointment proceeded from the same unseemly cause. But on the third,
the king managed to be present, and the elephants were brought out after they
had been intoxicated with wine and frankincense to render them more ferocious.
But they spent their fury, not on the unhappy Jews, but turned upon the
spectators, of whom they destroyed great numbers. This, connected with some
unusual appearances in the air, appeared to the king and his attendants so
manifest an interposition of a Divine Power in behalf of the Jews, that he
instantly ordered them to be set at liberty; and fearful of having provoked the
vengeance of Heaven, he hastened to restore the Jews to their former privileges
by rescinding all the decrees he had issued against them. Now also, his better
reason gaining sway, considering that those who had so signally evinced their
fidelity to their God were not likely to be unfaithful to their king, he
bestowed upon them many marks of his munificence and confidence. Among other
things, he abandoned to their disposal the three hundred apostates, who were
speedily put to death by their offended brethren.[396] [396] It is right to
apprize the reader that the whole of this account of the visit of Philopator to
Jerusalem and its consequences, down to this point, is not in Josephus, but is
given on the sole authority of the author of the third book of Maccabees. In
all, there are five books of Maccabees, of which two only are included in our
Apocrypha. The third, which relates solely to this persecution of the Jews by
Ptolemy Philopator, exists in Greek, and is found in some ancient manuscripts of
the Greek Septuagint, particularly in the Alexandrian and Vatican manuscripts.
There is also a Syriac version of it from the Greek; but it has never been
inserted in the Vulgate, or in our English Bibles, but English translations of
it exist. It appears to have been the work of an Alexandrian Jew; and while we
admit that the book is full of absurdities, and that the authority is of very
little value in itself, yet we think that in the outline facts, as related in
the text, there is so much appearance of probability, and so many small
agreements with the accounts which history has preserved of the manners and
ideas and circumstances of the times, as well as with the character of the king,
that we are disposed to regard it as substantially true. The silence of Josephus
is indeed a suspicious circumstance to which we are willing that due weight
should be given; but it will be noticed by every reader that the history of
Josephus is remarkably brief at this period. EPIPHANES LOSES PALESTINE TO
ANTIOCHUS Ptolemy Philopator in B.C. 205, leaving his crown to Ptolemy
Epiphanes, then a child five years of age. Meanwhile Antiochus III had won the
surname of Great, by his eminent successes in the East, where he restored the
ancient supremacy of the Seleucidae. At the death of Philopator, he had but
recently returned from his eastern wars. He was not slow in perceiving the
advantage which he might take of the infancy of the new king in accomplishing
what had been one of the first objects of his reign. This design again exposed
unhappy Palestine to all the horrors of war. The first campaign put Antiochus in
possession of the standing bone of contention, Syria and Palestine. It is
remarkable that on this occasion the Jews relinquished their usual attachment to
the Egyptian yoke, and took a very decided part with Antiochus. For this many
reasons may be conceived, but none are distinctly known; we have however no
doubt that one of them may be found in the indulgent consideration with which
the Jews of Babylonia and other eastern provinces had been treated by
Antiochus--a fact which could not fail to be known in Palestine and at
Jerusalem. The next year, however, Antiochus having been called away into Asia
Minor, Palestine was speedily' recovered by Scopas, the Egyptian general, who
did not fail to make the Jews aware of his consciousness of the favor to
Antiochus which they had manifested. The Egyptians were, however, soon again
driven out of the country by Antiochus, and on this occasion such important
services were rendered him by the Jews, and, when he came to Jerusalem (B.C.
198), so lively were their demonstrations of joy, that the king, to confirm
their attachment to his government, and to reward their services, granted them
many important favors; and aware that there were no points on which they were
more anxious than in what concerned their city and temple, he declared his
intention to restore the city to its ancient splendor and dignity, and
thoroughly to repair the temple at his own cost; he guarantied the inviolability
of the sacred place from the intrusion of strangers; and by liberal grants, he
made ample provision for the due and orderly performance of the sacred services.
Antiochus also expressed his confidence in the attachment of the Jews by
establishing colonies of them, on very advantageous terms, in Phrygia, Lydia,
and other districts of doubtful fidelity--a circumstance which accounts for the
great number of Jews scattered through those countries at the preaching of the
gospel (1 Peter 1:1; James 1:1). But it was the destiny of Antiochus to come
into contact with the iron power which was ere long to break in pieces all the
kingdoms of the earth, and to make their glory a vain thing. The Romans had
already become great, and began to interfere with their usual haughtiness in the
affairs of the East. The successful termination of the second Punic war had
covered them with renown, and spread their fame far and wide; and already they
had indicated to sagacious persons, by the reduction of Macedonia to the state
of a subject kingdom, the ultimate tendencies of their great and still
increasing power. Antiochus regarded this phenomenon with some apprehension, and
perceiving, at the same time, what appeared advantageous opportunities of
recovering to the north all that had belonged to the first Seleucus, he felt
disposed to bring his southern contest to a conclusion. He therefore temporized
with the Egyptians, whose power he had greatly underrated, and made an offer of
his beautiful daughter Cleopatra in marriage with the young king of Egypt, as
soon as he should become of age; promising, as her dower, to restore the
provinces of Syria and Palestine, which he had wrested from Egypt. The princess
was accordingly betrothed to P. Epiphanies; but the marriage did not actually
take place until B.C. 192, when the young monarch reached the eighteenth year of
his age. ANTIOCHUS REDUCES GREEK TERRITORY BUT NOT ROMANS Antiochus availed
himself of this settlement of affairs to prosecute his other plans. He reduces
the maritime Greek cities of Asia Minor, and crossing the Hellespont, wrested
the Chersonese from the weakened hands of the Macedonian king. This brought him
into direct and fatal collision with the Romans. And here it may be observed
that long before this the political sagacity of Ptolemy Philadelphus had
detected the nascent greatness of the Roman state, and had anxiously cultivated
its friendship. This also had been the policy of his successors; and the
guardians of the young king, when apprehensive of the danger of Antiochus, had
placed him under the guardianship of the republic. When Antiochus had passed
into Europe and taken possession of Thrace, the Romans sent an embassy to
require restitution not only of all he had taken from Philip of Macedon, but of
all that he had taken from their ward the king of Egypt. The Syrian king
answered the requisition as haughtily as it was made; and it was manifest that
an appeal to arms could not be far distant. What brought on the actual conflict
was the passage of Antiochus into Greece, at the invitation of the Aetolians,
who made him their commander-in-chief. In Greece his proceedings were not taken
with that ability which distinguished the earlier part of his career, and in 191
B.C., he was utterly routed at Thermopylae, and compelled to withdraw from
Europe, by the consul Aciltus Glabrio. The marriage of his daughter with Ptolemy
had been completed the year before this at Raphia, but he still retained
possession of the provinces to be ceded,[397] and endeavored to corrupt his
daughter to betray the interests of her husband. But he was disappointed. She
was more attached to Ptolemy than to her father; and, being probably
dissatisfied at his breach of promise, she joined her husband in an embassy to
Rome in 191 B.C., to congratulate the Romans on driving Antiochus out of Greece,
and to assure the senate of the readiness of the king and queen to conform
themselves to its directions. [397] Jerome and Appian say that Antiochus did
surrender these provinces; and Josephus appears to concur with them, intimating
that the revenues were paid to the Egyptian king (Ant. xii. 4, 1). But Polybius
denies it; and this denial is confirmed by the fact that they still remained in
the possession of the sons and successors of Antiochus. ANTIOCHUS IS SLAIN
Antiochus was now driven to seek peace with Rome; but the terms which they
offered were so hard, that he could not bring himself to accept them. In all
human probability he had brought himself into this condition by his inability to
appreciate the value of the advice tendered to him by Hannibal, who, expelled
from Carthage, had in 195 B.C., sought refuge at his court; and who, while he
encouraged his enmity to the Romans, had exhorted him to make Italy the seat of
the war. In 190 B.C., Cornelius Scipio (consul), assisted by his brother
Africanus, passed over into Asia to conduct the war against Antiochus. Under
their able management, it was soon brought to a conclusion, and the Syrian king
was compelled from his capital of Antioch to sue for peace, which he obtained on
very humiliating terms, but not essentially harder than those which he had at
first refused. He relinquished all Asia Minor west of the Taurus: he agreed to
pay all the expenses of the war, estimated at eighteen thousand Euobic talents,
by regulated installments; he was to deliver up his elephants and his
ships-of-war (excepting twelve) to the Romans; and he was to give into their
hands Hannibal and other eminent foreigners, who had sought protection at his
court. The aged Carthaginian and another contrived to make their escape; but the
rest were given up, together with the twelve hostages, for the observance of the
treaty, among whom the king's younger son, Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes was
one. After this Antiochus withdrew to the eastern provinces of his empire, where
he endeavored to collect the arrears of tribute due to him, to defray his heavy
engagements to the Romans. There he was slain, two years after, by the natives
of Elymais in Persia, when he attempted to seize the treasures contained in
their rich temple. This was in B.C. 187, in the fifty-second year of his age,
and the thirty-seventh of his reign. The leading events of his reign had been
foreshown by Daniel (Daniel 11:13-19). ONIAS BECOMES HIGH PRIEST Simon II, who
was high-priest of the Jews at the time of the unhappy visit of Ptolemy IV to
Jerusalem, died in B.C. 195, after an administration of twenty-two years. He was
succeeded by his son Onias III Onias was a person of great piety, and of mild
and amiable disposition--and well worthy of better times than those in which he
lived, and of a better end than it was his lot to experience. During the first
years of his administration, when his excellent intentions received full effect
under the favorable auspices of Antiochus and his successor, “the holy city was
inhabited in all peace, and the laws were kept very well.” The nation was also
at this time held in such high estimation that the sovereigns of the neighboring
countries courted its friendship, and made magnificent offerings to the temple.
And we are persuaded that this was not merely on account of the Jews, but with
the design of honoring and with the hope of propitiating their God, Jehovah,
whose fame was by this time widely extended among the nations, and his power
acknowledged and feared by many of them. PHILOPATOR BECOMES KING Seleucus IV,
surnamed Philopator, the eldest son of Antiochus the Great, succeeded to the
throne of his father, and to the heavy obligations under which he lay to the
Romans. He was as well disposed toward the Jews as his father had been; and
notwithstanding his embarrassments, gave orders that the charges of the public
worship should continue to be defrayed out of his own treasury. But
subsequently, upon the information of Simon--a Benjamite, who was made governor
of the temple, and had quarreled with Onias--that the treasury of the Jerusalem
temple was very rich, and abundantly more than sufficient to supply the
sacrifices and oblations--the king, who was greatly straitened for money, to
raise the money required by the Romans, sent his treasurer Heliodorus to seize
and bring him the reported treasure. Heliodorus concealed the object of his
journey until be reached Jerusalem, when he made it known to the high-priest,
and demanded the quiet surrender of the money. Onias informed him in reply, that
there was indeed considerable treasure in the temple; but by no means of such
large amount as had been reported. Great part of it consisted of holy gifts, and
offerings consecrated to God, and the appropriation of which could not be
disturbed without sacrilege. The rest had been placed there by way of security,
for the relief of widows and orphans, who claimed it as their property; and a
considerable sum had been deposited there by Hyrcanus (the son of that Joseph
who obtained the farming of the revenues from Ptolemy Euergetes, as before
related), a person of great opulence and high rank. He added, that being by
virtue of his office the guardian of this wealth, he could not consent to its
being taken from the right owners, and thereby disgrace his office and profane
the sanctity of that holy place which was held in reverence by all the world.
Determined to fulfill his mission, whatever impression this statement may have
made upon his mind, Heliodorus marched directly to the temple, and was there
vainly opposed by the high-priest and the other ministers of the sacred
services. The outer gates were ordered to be demolished; and the whole city was
in the utmost agonies of apprehension. But when Heliodorus was about to enter,
at the head of his Syrians, he was struck with a panic terror, similar to that
which Ptolemy Philopator had before experienced, and, falling to the ground,
speechless, he was carried off for dead by his guard. Onias prayed for him and
he recovered, and made all haste to quit the city. His plan being thus
frustrated, the guilty Simon had the effrontery to charge Onias himself with
having procured this visit from Heliodorus: some believed it; and in consequence
there arose hostile conflicts between the patties of Onias and Simon, in which
many lives were lost. At last, Onias resolved to proceed himself to Antioch and
lay the whole matter before Seleucus. He was favorably received by the king, who
heard and credited his statements, and, in consequence, decreed the banishment
of Simon from his native country. This was in B.C. 176. In the year following,
Seleucus was induced to send his son Demetrius as a hostage to Rome, to relieve
his own brother Antiochus, who had now been twelve years in that city. Demetrius
had departed, and Antiochus was not come; and the absence of the two who stood
next the throne afforded Heliodorus an opportunity of conspiring against his
master, whom be removed by poison, and himself assumed the government. Antiochus
was visiting Athens, on his way home, when he heard of this. He immediately
applied himself to the old enemy of his father, Eumenes, king of Perganios[398]
(to whom the Romans had consigned the greater part of the territory in Asia
Minor, which they compelled Antiochus the Great to cede) who, with his brother
Attalus, was easily induced to assist him against the usurper. They succeeded,
and their success placed the brother instead of the son of Seleucus upon the
throne of Syria, with the concurrence of the Romans. [398] The founder of the
celebrated library at Pergamos, and the reputed inventor of parchment. JASON
SETS UP GYMNASIUMS FOR JEWS Antiochus IV was scarcely settled on the throne
before Jesus, or, by his Greek name, Jason,[399] repaired to Antioch, and,
availing himself of the penury of the royal treasury, tempted the new king by
the offer of four hundred and forty talents of silver to depose the excellent
Onias III from the high-priesthood, and to appoint himself in his place. He also
obtained an order that Onias should be summoned to Antioch, and commanded to
dwell there. Finding how acceptable money was to the king, Jason offered one
hundred and fifty talents more for, and obtained, the privilege of erecting at
Jerusalem a gymnasium, or place for such public sports and exercises as were
usual among the Greeks, as well as for permission to establish an academy in
which Jewish youth might be brought up after the manner of the Greeks; and also
the important privilege of making what Jews he pleased free of the city of
Antioch. The obvious object of all this was as opposite as possible to that of
the Mosaic institutions. It was intended to facilitate the commixture of the
Jews with foreigners, and to lessen the dislike with which the Greeks were
disposed to regard a people so peculiar and so exclusive. This might have been a
good design under general considerations of human policy, but was calculated to
be most injurious and fatal as respected the Jews, whose institutions designedly
made them a peculiar people, and whatever tended to make them otherwise must
needs have been in counteraction of the great principle of their establishment.
The effects which resulted from the exertions of Jason, after he had established
himself in the high-priesthood, were such as might have been foreseen. The
example of a person in his commanding position drew forth and gave full scope to
the more lax dispositions which existed among the people, especially among the
younger class, who were enchanted with the ease and freedom of the Grecian
customs, and weary of the restraints. and limitations of their own. Such as
these abandoned themselves with all the frenzy of a new excitement, from which
all restraint had been withdrawn, to the license which was offered to them. The
exercises of the gymnasium seem to have taken their minds with the force of a
fascination. The priests neglected their service in the temple to be present at
these spectacles. It is well known that some of these exercises were performed
naked; and it is related that many of the Jewish competitors found means to
efface the marks of circumcision, that they might not be distinguished from
other people. In the Greek cities of Asia, in which Jews were settled, this
became a common practice among those young men who wished to distinguish
themselves in the sports of the gymnasium.[400] We allude to this as a striking
illustration of the extent in which this rite operated in fulfilling its design
of separating the Jews from other people. The year after his promotion, Jason
sent some young men, on whom he had conferred the citizenship of Antioch, to
assist at the games which were celebrated at Tyre (in the presence of Antiochus)
in honor of Hercules. They were entrusted with a large sum of money, to be
expended in sacrifices to that god. But even the least scrupulous of the
high-priest's followers were not prepared to go to this extent with him, and
instead of obeying their instructions, they presented the money to the Tyrians
as a contribution toward the repair of their fleet. [399] Most persons of
consequence had now two names; one native Hebrew name, used among their own
countrymen, and another Greek (as much as possible like the other in sound or
meaning), used in their intercourse with the heathen. [400] To this practice
allusions are made by St. Paul: Romans 2:25; 1 Corinthians 7:18. MENELAUS BUYS
PRIESTHOOD Jason only enjoyed his ill-gotten dignity for three years. His
younger brother Onias, or, by his Greek name, Menelaus, having been sent to
Antioch with tribute, took advantage of the opportunity to ingratiate himself
with Antiochus, and by offering three hundred talents more than Jason had paid,
succeeded in getting himself appointed to the high-priesthood in his room. But
he was repulsed in his attempt to assume that high office, and returned to
Antioch, where he induced the king to establish him by force, by professing for
himself and his associates an entire conformity to the religion of the Greeks.
Jason was in consequence expelled by an armed force, and compelled to retire to
the land of the Ammonites, leaving the pontificate to his still less scrupulous
brother. MENELAUS SLAIN BY THE JEWS Menelaus found that he had over-taxed his
resources in the payment he had agreed to make for his promotion, and in
consequence of the non-payment he was summoned to Antioch by the king. Antiochus
was absent when be arrived, and he soon learned that there was no hope of his
retaining the favor of the king unless the payment was completed. Having
exhausted his own coffers as well as credit, he privately sent to his brother
Lysimachus (whom he had left as his representative at Jerusalem) to withdraw
some of the sacred vessels of gold from the temple, to sell them at Tyre and the
neighboring cities, and send him the amount. This disgraceful affair was not
managed with such secrecy but that it came to the knowledge of his elder
brother, the deposed high-priest, Onias III, who was still residing at Antioch,
much respected by the numerous Jews of that city, before whom he spoke of this
sacrilege in such strong language as threw them into such a state of ferment and
displeasure as was likely to prove dangerous to Menelaus. He therefore, by
bribery, prevailed on Andronicus, the king's deputy at Antioch, to put him to
death. Onias, apprized of these intrigues, had taken refuge in the sanctuary of
Daphne;[401] but was induced to quit it, by the assurances and promises he
received from Andronicus, and was barbarously murdered as soon as he had passed
the sacred bounds. This atrocious deed raised a terrible outcry among the Jews
at Antioch, who hastened to make their complaints to the king on his return to
that city. Antiochus, to do him justice, was much affected, and shed tears, when
he heard them. He promised justice, and performed it; for, after proper
investigation, Andronicus was stripped of his purple, and put to death on the
very spot where Onias had been murdered. Menelaus, the more guilty of the two,
found means to escape the storm which destroyed the agent of his crime, But the
sums of money which were necessary to enable him to maintain his credit, obliged
his brother Lysimachus to resort to such repeated and unheard of exactions,
violence, and sacrilege, that the people of Jerusalem rose against him,
scattered like chaff the three thousand men he had got to defend him, and, when
he himself fled to the treasury of the temple, pursued and slew him there. [401]
This was a grove about three miles from Antioch, which had been made a sanctuary
for criminals and a place of pleasure. In the end the place became so infamous
that no man of character could visit it. JEWISH ELDERS SLAIN Antiochus having
soon after come to Tyre, the Jewish elders sent three venerable deputies thither
to justify this act, and to accuse Menelaus as the author of all the troubles
which had happened in Judea and Antioch. The case which they made out was so
strong, and was heard with so much attention by the king, that Menelaus felt
greatly alarmed for the result. He therefore applied himself to the king's
favorite, Ptolemy Macron, and promised him so large a sum that he was induced to
watch the inconstant temper of the king, and availed himself of an opportunity
of getting him not only to absolve Menelaus, but to condemn the three Jewish
deputies to death. This most unjust and horrid sentence was immediately
executed. This terrible crime shocked the whole nation, and was abhorrent even
to foreigners, for the Tyrians ventured to express their sense of the wrong, by
giving an honorable burial to the murdered men. The ultimate effect was to make
Antiochus himself a sharer in the aversion with which Menelaus was regarded by
the nation: but, at the same time, the paramount influence of that guilty person
with the king seemed to he so clearly manifested, that all further notion of
resisting his authority was abandoned, and he was enabled to resume his station
at Jerusalem. This was greatly facilitated by the presence of the king himself
with a powerful army in the country, for which circumstance we must now proceed
to account. THE PTOLEMY FAMILY It will be remembered that the king of Egypt,
Ptolemy Epiphanes, had been married to Cleopatra, daughter of Antiochus the
Great, and sister of the present Antiochus. Ptolemy was taken off by poison in
B.C. 181, after a profligate and troubled reign of twenty-four years. He left
three children: Ptolemy Philometor, Ptolemy Physcon, and Cleopatra, who was
successively married to her two brothers. PHILOMETOR THE CHILD KING Ptolemy VI,
surnamed Philometor (“mother-loving”), was but a child at the death of his
father, and the government was conducted with ability by his mother Cleopatra.
But she died in B.C. 173, on which the regency devolved on Eulaeus the eunuch,
and Lenaeus, the prime minister--the tutors of the young prince. They
immediately advanced a claim to the possession of Syria and Palestine, on the
ground that they had been secured to Ptolemy Lagus by the partition-treaty of
B.C. 301; and that they had again been given by Antiochus the Great in dowry
with his daughter Cleopatra on her becoming queen of Egypt. Antiochus refused to
listen to such demands; and both parties sent deputies to Rome to argue their
respective claims before the senate. ANTIOCHUS ATTACKS EGYPT When Philometor had
completed his fourteenth year, he was solemnly invested with the government, on
which occasion embassies of congratulation were sent from all the neighboring
nations. Apollonius, the ambassador of Antiochus, was instructed to take the
opportunity of sounding the dispositions of the Egyptian court; and when this
person informed Antiochus that he was viewed as an enemy by the Egyptians, he
immediately proceeded to Joppa, to survey his frontiers toward Egypt, and to put
them in a state of defence. On this occasion he paid a visit to Jerusalem. The
city was illuminated, and the king was received by Jason (who was then
high-priest) with every demonstration of respect. Afterward he returned to
Antioch through Phoenicia. Having completed his preparations for war, Antiochus,
in B.C. 171, led his army along the coast of Palestine, and gave the Egyptians a
signal overthrow at Pelusium. He then left garrisons on the frontier and
withdrew into winter-quarters at Tyre. It was during his stay there that the
deputies arrived to complain of Menelaus, and were put to death, as just
related. In the spring of the next year (B.C. 170) Antiochus undertook a second
expedition against the Egyptians, and attacked them by sea and land. He defeated
them on the frontiers and took Pelusium. After his victory he might have cut the
Egyptian army in pieces, but he behaved with such humanity as gained him great
favor with the Egyptians. At length all surrendered to him voluntarily; and with
a small body of troops he overran all the country except Alexandria, and
obtained possession of the person of the young king, whom he treated with
apparent consideration and regard. AMMONITES THEN ANTIOCHUS ATTACK JERUSALEM
While Antiochus was thus employed, a rumor of his death before Alexandria
reached Palestine, on which the deposed high-priest, Jason, quitted the land of
the Ammonites, and with a party, assisted by friends within, surprised
Jerusalem, massacred the citizens, drove his brother Menelaus into the castle,
and possessed himself of the principality. But he was speedily compelled to quit
the city and country, at the news that Antiochus was alive, and marching with a
powerful army against Jerusalem. After wandering from one place to another, a
fugitive and a vagabond; Jason at last perished miserably, a refugee in the
strange land of Lacedaemonia. The news of this movement had been reported to
Antiochus with such exaggeration as led him to conclude that Judea had revolted;
and being further provoked by hearing that the Jews had made public rejoicings
at the news of his death, he marched in great wrath from Egypt, took Jerusalem
by assault, destroyed eighty thousand persons, plundered the temple of all its
treasures, vessels, and golden ornaments, and carried away one thousand eight
hundred talents to Antioch. ANTIOCHUS LEAVES EGYPT Ptolemy Philometor being now
actually under the power of Antiochus, the people of Alexandria proclaimed his
brother king under the name of Ptolemy Euergetes II; but who was afterward
nick-named Physcon (“big-belly”) on account of his corpulency. This afforded
Antiochus a pretext for returning the next year (B.C. 169) to Egypt with the
declared intention of supporting Ptolemy Philometor in the throne, but with the
real purpose of bringing the whole country under his power. At the end, however,
perceiving that the conquest of Alexandria would be an undertaking of great
difficulty, he withdrew to Memphis, and affected to deliver up the kingdom to
Philometor, and returned to Antioch. But as he retained in his own hands
Pelusium, the key of the kingdom on the side of Syria, his ulterior designs were
transparent to Philometor, who therefore made an agreement with Physcon that
they should share the government between them and resist Antiochus with their
united power, and also that a joint embassy should be sent to Rome to implore
the protection of the republic against their uncle. ANTIOCHUS SUBMITS TO ROME
This brought on a fourth invasion of Egypt by Antiochus (B.C. 168), who now
threw off the mask he had hitherto chosen to wear, and declared himself the
enemy of both the brother kings. He took possession of all the country as far as
Alexandria, and then advanced toward that city. He was within four miles
thereof, when he was met at Eleusis, by the ambassadors which the Roman republic
had sent to adjust these differences. And this they did in the usual summary
manner of that arrogant people. At the head of the ambassadors was Popilius
Laenas, whom Antiochus had known during his thirteen years' residence at Rome.
Rejoiced to see him, Antiochus stretched forth his arms to embrace him. But the
Roman sternly repelled the salute, demanding first to receive an answer to the
written orders of the senate, which he delivered. The king intimated that he
would confer on the matter with his friends, and acquaint the ambassadors with
the result: on which Popilius drew with his staff a circle around the king on
the sand, and said, “I require your answer before you quit this circle.” The
king was confounded; but after a moment of rapid and condensed deliberation, he
bowed his proud head, and said, falteringly, “I will obey the senate!” On which
Popilius, who had hitherto seen only the king of Syria, recognized the friend,
and extended to him his hand. Perhaps this conduct in either party would not
have occurred the year, or even the month before; but the Romans had dust
concluded their war with Perseus, and made Macedonia a Roman province, and the
ambassadors had waited at Delos to learn the issue of this war before they
sailed for Egypt. APOLLONIUS SLAUGHTERS THE JEWS Antiochus obeyed the senate, by
immediately withdrawing his forces from Egypt. On his way homeward, he marched
along the coast of Palestine; and he dispatched Apollonius, his general, with
twenty-two thousand men to vent his mortification and fury upon the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, which, as well as the rest of the province, had for two years been
groaning under the tyranny and rapacity of Philip, the Phrygian governor, “more
barbarous than his master;” and of Menelaus the apostate high priest, “worse
than all the rest.” Apollonius came to Jerusalem, and as his men remained quiet,
and he was himself known as the collector of the tribute in Palestine, and as
such usually attended by an armed force, his hostile intentions were not
suspected by the Jews. All things remained quiet until the Sabbath, on which
day, it was known, the Jews of that age would not fight even in self-defence.
The soldiers were then let loose, and scoured the streets, slaughtering all they
met--who suffered themselves meekly to be slain, none being found who attempted
to stand on their defence. The women and children were spared, to be sold for
slaves. All the streets of Jerusalem, and the courts of the temple flowed with
blood; the houses were pillaged and the city wall thrown down. Apollonius then
demolished all the buildings near Mount Zion, and with the materials
strengthened the fortifications of the citadel, which he furnished with a
garrison and held under his own command. This castle was so situated as to give
the garrison complete command of the temple, and the remains of the people would
no longer visit the sanctuary, or the priests perform the public services of
religion. Accordingly, in the month of June, B.C. 167 the daily sacrifice
ceased, and Jerusalem was soon completely deserted, as the surviving inhabitants
fled to the cities of the neighboring Gentiles. ANTIOCHUS CANCELS ALL OTHER
RELIGIONS An edict was now issued at Antioch, and proclaimed in all the
provinces of Syria, commanding the inhabitants of the whole empire to worship
the gods of the king, and to acknowledge no religion but his--with the declared
object “that all should become one people.” Antiochus was unquestionably a
madman. This is not doubted by any one who has studied the whole of his history,
which it has been no part of our duty to relate: and it is surely not very
necessary to analyze the interior motives of a madman's acts. Hales fancies that
“this general persecution seems to have been raised by Antiochus, not from any
regard to his own religion, but from a regular plan and deep-laid scheme of
plundering the temples throughout his dominions, after he had suppressed their
worship. For the temples were not only enriched by the offerings of the
votaries, but from their sanctity were the great banks of deposit, and the grand
magazines of commerce.” But there was no general persecution, although the edict
was general in its terms. The cities containing the wealthiest temples already
worshipped the gods of Greece; and it must have been known, as proved the fact,
that none of the other pagan nations would make much difficulty in complying
with the royal edict. It must have been known, in fact, that none but the Jews
were likely to oppose themselves to the operation of this decree; and we are
therefore not disposed to look for any deeper cause than the insane abhorrence
which Antiochus had conceived against that people, and which he could not safely
manifest without bringing them into a condition of apparent contumacy, which
might, in some degree, excuse, in the eyes of the heathen, his contemplated
severities against them. JEWS FORCED INTO PAGANISM The pagan generally, as we
have intimated, found no difficulty in complying with the royal edict. The
Samaritans, who were anxious to claim a Jewish origin in the time of Alexander,
now wrote to Antiochus to inform him that they were Sidonians, and offered to
dedicate their temple on Mount Gerizim to Jupiter Xenius, “the defender of
strangers.” Even many Jews submitted to the edict for fear of punishment, and a
still greater number, long attached to the customs of the Greeks, were glad to
avail themselves of the apparent compulsions under which they were now placed.
But the better part of the people fled, and kept themselves concealed. An old
man of the name of Athenaeus was sent to Jerusalem to instruct the Jews in the
Greek religion, and to compel the observance of its rites. He dedicated the
temple to Jupiter Olympius, and on the altar of Jehovah he placed a smaller
altar to be used in sacrificing to the heathen god. This new altar, built by
order of the desolater Antiochus, is what Daniel alludes to when he speaks of
the “abomination that maketh desolate,” or “abomination of desolation.”[402]
This altar was set up on the fifteenth day of the month Cisleu
(November-December), and the heathen sacrifices were commenced on the
twenty-fifth of the same month. Circumcision, the keeping of the Sabbath, and
every peculiar observance of the law was made a capital offence; and all the
copies of the law which could be found were taken away, defaced, torn in pieces,
burned. The reading of it was forbidden; and it is said to have been at this
time that the Jews first took to the public reading in the synagogues, of the
other books of Scripture, as substitutes for the interdicted Pentateuch, which
usage they afterward retained, when the reading of the law was restored. Groves
were consecrated, and idolatrous altars erected in every city, and the citizens
were required to offer sacrifices to the gods, and to eat swine's flesh every
month on the birth-day of the king; and on the feast of Bacchus, the Jews were
compelled to join in the celebration, and to walk in procession crowned with
ivy. Instant death was the penalty of refusal. Among other instances of cruel
punishment at Jerusalem, two women, with their infant children, whom they had
circumcised with their own hands, were thrown from the battlements on the south
side of the temple, into the deep vale below. Officers were sent into all the
towns, attended by bands of soldiers, to enforce obedience to the royal edict.
[402] This is from Jahn, who remarks further, “This interpretation agrees much
better with the literal meaning of the words than that adopted by those who
apply this expression to the erecting of an image to Jupiter Olympius; a mode of
explanation which is at variance with the authority of Josephus and the first
book of Maccabees. Undoubtedly there was an image erected to Jupiter Olympius,
for the pagan religion required it; but this is not the circumstance referred to
by the prophet, in the words which have been quoted.” RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION It
seems that ultimately Antiochus came into Palestine to observe that his orders
had been duly executed; and the history relates that he commanded and
superintended the most horrible tortures of the recusants--particular mention is
made of the martyrdom of Eleazar, in his ninetieth year, for refusing to eat
swine's flesh (2Ma_6:18-31); and of the heroic matron and her seven sons, who
nobly set the royal madman at defiance and professed their belief that “The King
of the World would raise up to everlasting life those who died for his laws;”
and threatening their tormentor that “he should have no resurrection to life,
but receive the lost punishment of his pride through the judgment of God.” Never
before were the Jews exposed to so furious a persecution--indeed it is the first
time in which they can be said to have been persecuted on account of their
religion. It was undoubtedly made instrumental in the then, great mission of the
Jews in calling the attention of the heathen to the great principles of doctrine
of which they had been the special conservators. The mere fact of this
conspicuous persecution for opinion, which was a new thing to the heathen, and
still more the historical results of this persecution, were calculated to draw
the attention of every reflecting mind among the heathen to those religious
peculiarities on behalf of which such numbers of the Jewish people were willing
to peril their lives. MATTATHIAS INITIATES REVOLT The persecution had lasted
about six months, when God raised tip a deliverer for a people whom he had not
yet abandoned, in the noble family of the Hasmoneans. Mattathias was the son of
John, the son of Simon, the son of Asamonias, from whom the family took its
name. He was a priest of the course of Joarib, the first of the twenty-four
courses appointed by David (1 Chronicles 24:7), descended from Phineas, the son
of Eleazar, the elder branch of the family of Aaron (1Ma_2:55). He had five
sons, whose names were Johanan (John), Simon, Judas, Eleazar and Jonathan. He
was one of the principal inhabitants of Modin, a town near the seashore, about a
mile from Joppa (Jaffa), and four miles from Lydda or Diospolis. To this city a
royal officer named Appelles was sent to enforce the edict. With many fair
promises, he endeavored to induce Mattathias, as a leading man in the place, to
set the example of sacrificing to the idol. But the undaunted priest repelled
his offers with indignation and abhorrence, and with a loud voice, in the
hearing of the whole assembly, proclaimed his refusal to sacrifice. At this
juncture a certain Jew passed toward the altar with the intention of
sacrificing, when Mattathias, in obedience to the law, struck him down with his
own hand, as a rebel against Jehovah. This was the earnest-blood of the great
war which followed. Kindled by his own act, the zealous priest and his sons,
assisted by the citizens, whom their daring act emboldened, rushed upon the
commissioner and his retinue, slew them on the spot, and tore town the
idolatrous altar. Alive to the consequences of this deed, Mattathias proclaimed
through the city, “Whosoever is zealous for the law, and a maintainer of the
covenant, let him follow me!” Thus he and his sons fled to the mountains of
Judea. They were only ten in number at first, but were soon joined by many Jews
who were determined to maintain the religion of their fathers. MATTATHIAS
APPROVES SABBATH DEFENCE These conscientious persons were disposed to construe
the obligations of the law all the more rigidly and literally, out of opposition
to the loose principles of those who had joined the Greeks--it being the
tendency of all great struggles to produce extreme parties. They hence held it
to be imperative to abstain from the use of arms on the sabbath day. In
consequence of this a thousand persons, who had taken refuge in a large cave not
far from Jerusalem, allowed themselves to be slaughtered on that day without the
least resistance. This event opened the eyes of Mattathias and his adherents;
who, after mature deliberation, determined that it was not only lawful, but
their duty, to stand on their defence on the sabbath day; although they still
thought themselves bound from voluntarily becoming on that day the assailants.
They took every means of making this resolution known throughout the country, so
that from that time no scruples on the subject were entertained. MATTATHIAS DIES
PURGING THE COUNTRY Meanwhile the party of Mattathias went on steadily
increasing, until it amounted to a considerable body of men, who were prepared
to hazard everything in defence of their religion. This ardor could not long be
restrained, and Mattathias, emerging from his concealment, went with them
throughout the Jewish cities, and everywhere demolished the idolatrous altars,
circumcised the children, slew the apostate Jews and the officers appointed to
execute the decree of Antiochus, recovered many of the copies of the law which
the oppressors had taken away, and gained several important advantages over the
enemy. While engaged in these expeditions the heroic priest died, in the year
B.C. 167. Before his death he appointed his third and bravest son, Judas, to be
military leader; associating with him Simon, his second and most prudent son, as
counselor. Judas is supposed to have derived his celebrated surname of Maccabeus
from a cabalistic word formed of M.C.B.I, the initial letters of the Hebrew text
Mi Chamoka Baalim Jehovah, “Who is like unto thee among the gods, O Jehovah!”
(Exodus 6:11), which letters might have been displayed on his sacred standard:
like the S.P.Q.R. for Senatus populus que Romanus on the Roman ensigns. Roman
Standards The noble war for the rights of opinion commenced by Mattathias was
carried on for twenty-six years by his illustrious sons--counting from the first
stroke at Modin--with five successive kings of Syria. Within this period Judas
and his brothers established the independence of their country and the
aggrandizement of their family, after destroying above two hundred thousand of
the best troops of the Syrian kings. “Such a triumph of a petty province over a
great empire is hardly to be paralleled in the annals of history.” (Hales ii.
551.) APOLLONIUS DEFEATED AND SLAIN The first enterprise of Judas, and his
comparatively small but resolute band, was against Apollonius, whose barbarous
exploits at Jerusalem have lately been recorded. He was at the head of a large
army, but was defeated and slain by Judas, who took his sword, with which he
afterward fought all his life long. SERON DEFEATED The next exploit of Judas was
the defeat of Seron, a Syrian general, with a large host of Graecizing Jews and
apostate Samaritans. The small force with which he achieved this victory was
encouraged by the hero in the words of Jonathan, the son of Saul, “With the God
of Heaven it is all one to deliver with a great multitude or a small company:”
adding the emphatic words, “We fight for our lives and our laws.” This battle
was fought near Betheron. ANTIOCHUS SEEKS FUNDS AND FIGHTS THE JEWS Antiochus
was filed with rage and indignation at these successes of an adversary which
seemed so contemptible, but whose fame had now spread into all the neighboring
nations. He formed large plans of vengeance, but finding these checked by the
exhausted state of his treasury--for he had squandered wealth like a madman as
he was--he resolved to proceed into the eastern provinces to recruit his
finances. His son, the heir of his crown, then about seven years old, he
committed to the care of Lysias, “a nobleman, and one of the blood royal,” and
appointed him regent of all the western provinces, from the Euphrates to Egypt,
and commissioned him to raise and march an army to extirpate the Jews, and to
plant a foreign colony in their room, B.C. 166. The next year Lysias was able to
send a large army of forty thousand foot and seven thousand horse into Judea,
under the command of Nicanor and Gorgias. So confident were they of victory that
Nicanor proclaimed a sale of the captive Jews beforehand, at the rate of ninety
for a talent, or about two pounds sterling a head. This drew a crowd of
merchants from the coast to the Syrian camp at Emmaus, near Jerusalem, to make a
cheap purchase of slaves. This was not a peculiar circumstance; for it was then
usual (according to Polybius) for the march of armies to be attended by
slave-dealers. Under these alarming circumstances Judas and his party assembled
at Mizpeh--that ancient place of concourse--where they fasted and prayed; after
which Judas, in obedience to the law, dismissed all such of his men as had in
the course of the preceding year built houses, betrothed wives, or were planting
vineyards, or were fearful; and this strong act of faith reduced his small army
from six thousand to three thousand men. SYRIAN DEFEAT The Syrian generals
deemed it superfluous to employ their large force against so small a body.
Gorgias, therefore, with a chosen army of five thousand foot and one thousand
horse, marched by night to surprise the army of Judas. But that vigilant
commander was apprized of the design, and determined to take advantage of the
separation of the two generals. He marched therefore early in the evening, and
fell by night upon the camp of Nicanor. Not the least expectation of an attack
being entertained, the whole camp was thrown into confusion, and the soldiers
fled. Three thousand Syrians were slain, and many soldiers and slave-dealers
made prisoners. Early in the morning Gorgias, returning from his abortive march
to Mizpeh, beheld the Syrian camp in flames, which threw his soldiers into such
a panic that they he took themselves to instant flight; but were pressed upon so
vigorously by the conquering Jews, that in all they destroyed that day nine
thousand of their enemies, and wounded many more. Nicanor escaped in the
disguise of a slave to Antioch, declaring his conviction that a mighty God
fought for the Jews. In the camp of the Syrians the latter found great
quantities of gold and silver, including the money which the slave-dealers had
brought to purchase their persons. This victory was celebrated by a feast of
thanksgiving. LYSIAS ALSO DEFEATED On the news of this defeat, the regent Lysias
assembled a larger army of sixty thousand choice infantry, and five thousand
horse, and marched himself at their head, to invade Judea in the south. He
entered Idumea, which name must be understood as distinguishing the more modern
territory of the Edomites, from their older and more southern territory of Edom,
in Mount Seir, which the Nabateans now occupied. Idumea was now, then, confined
to the region west and southwest, of the Asphaltic lake, which had in former
times belonged to the tribes of Simeon and Judah. But after the Captivity it had
been occupied by Edomites from Arabia Petra, the ancient Edom; who made Hebron
their capital, and rebuilt, on their northern frontier, the strong fortress of
Bethsur, or Bethsura, which had been originally built by Rehoboam. (2 Chronicles
11:7.) At this last-named very advantageous post, Lysias encamped, and was there
set upon by the dauntless Judas, who, with only ten thousand men, gained a most
important victory, slaying five thousand men on the spot, and putting the rest
to flight. Observing that the Jews fought like men who were determined to
conquer or die, Lysias did not venture to renew the engagement, and indeed his
soldiers were so disheartened that he was soon obliged to return to Antioch, and
there issue orders that recruits for a new expedition should be raised in
distant countries, B.C. 165. THE TEMPLE REPAIRED This victory made Judas master
of Judea; and he determined to return to Jerusalem, to repair and beautify the
temple, which was then deserted and dilapidated. In the neglected courts of the
Lord's house shrubs were growing “as in the forest or on the mountain.” The
whole host cast ashes on their heads, and cried toward heaven, when they beheld
the desolation of that holy place. The work of restoration was commenced with
ardor; new utensils were provided for the sacred services; the old altar, having
been defiled by idolatrous sacrifices, was taken away, and a new one erected in
its place; and the sacrifices were recommenced precisely three years after the
temple had been dedicated to Jupiter Olympius. A feast of eight days celebrated
this new dedication, and an annual festival was instituted in honor of the
event. The castle on Mount Zion soon, however, proved a serious annoyance to the
people, as it was still in the hands of the Syrians, who lost no opportunity of
disturbing the services of the temple. The army of Judas was too small to allow
him to blockade the castle, but he fortified the temple-mount against their
aggressions with high walls and towers. He also strengthened the important
fortress of Bethsura, to protect the frontier toward Idumea, as it lay about
mid-way between Jerusalem and Hebron. ANTIOCHUS INCAPACITATED ON WAY TO ATTACK
JUDEA When Antiochus Epiphanes received intelligence of the success of the
Jewish arms; and the defeat of the Syrian hosts, he was at Elymias in Persia,
detained by an insurrection occasioned by his plundering the celebrated temple
in which his father Antiochus the Great had lost his life. Transported with
ungovernable passion at the news, he hastened his homeward march to Antioch,
devoting the Jewish nation to utter destruction. But while his mouth uttered the
deep curses and fell purposes of his heart, he was smitten with sore and
remediless torments in his inner parts. Yet on he went, until he fell from his
chariot, and suffered much from the fall. He was then carried on a litter, but
his disease acquired such a loathsome character that his person became an
abhorrence to himself and to all who had occasion to be near him. In a disease
so timed and so peculiar, the proud monarch was led to perceive the hand of God,
and to acknowledge that his barbarities and sacrileges were justly punished by
the torments which he endured and by the death which lay before him. He died
early in the year 164 B.C., and in him perished a man whose wild extravagances
dissolute and undignified character, savage cruelties, and capricious
alternations of temper, abundantly justified the nickname of Epimanes, “madman”
by which in his later years his assumed title of Epiphanes “illustrious” was
ridiculed. EUPATER PUT ON THE THRONE Antiochus V, surnamed Eupator
“well-fathered,” then a child nine years of age, was set up for king by his
guardian Lysias, and his succession received the important sanction of the
Romans; for although Demetrius (the son of Seleucus Philopator), still a hostage
at Rome, and then twenty-three years of age, failed not to urge his claims upon
the attention of the senate, that sage body decided that it was more for the
interests of Rome that a minor should occupy the throne of Syria, than the
ardent and able Demetrius. LYSIAS DEFEATED AND PEACE NEGOTIATED In the year 164
B.C., the war against the Maccabees was renewed by the regent Lysias. He invaded
Judea with an army of eighty thousand foot, eighty elephants, and a large body
of cavalry. He laid siege to Bethsura, but was repulsed by Judas with the loss
of eleven thousand foot, and one thousand six hundred horse, and his whole army
was broken up. This defeat convinced Lysias that the Jews could not be overcome
because of the almightiness of the God by whom they were helped. He therefore
offered them peace, on the condition of their being loyal to the state; on their
acceptance of which, he issued a decree in the name of the king, which allowed
them the free exercise of their own customs and worship, and permitted them to
live according to their own laws. The apostate high-priest Menelaus, who had
been all this while with the Syrians, and had exerted himself in promoting this
peace, was now sent back to the Jews to be reinstated in his pontificate. It is
some importance to note that the Roman ambassadors at the Syrian court used
their efficient aid in obtaining this treaty for the Jews. SYRIANS CONTINUE TO
DISTURB JEWS The peace thus afforded was of no long continuance: for although,
formally, the war with the kingdom had ceased, the governors of the Syrian
provinces were not backward in giving the Jews all the molestation in their
power, and in encouraging such of the neighboring nations as were, from old or
new enmities, disposed to disturb them--such as the Joppites, the Jamnites, the
Arabians, and the Idumeans, all of whom were successively reduced by Judas,
after a bloody warfare, the particulars of which are recorded in 2Ma_10:14-38.
SYRIAN GARRISON ON TEMPLE MOUNT All this time the citadel on Mount Zion,
garrisoned by Syrians and renegade Jews, continued to prove a great annoyance to
the temple worship, which at last proved so intolerable, that Judas was induced
to lay siege to it, after his return from the defeat of Gorgias the governor of
Idumea. But some of the besieged, forcing their way through in a sally, hastened
to the court at Antioch, and complained of the continued hostility of the Jews
to the Syrian government, as evinced by this attempt upon the Syrian garrison;
and by dwelling on this and other matters, contrived to stir up Lysias to
undertake a new war against them. The Syrian army which was raised for this war
in B.C. 163, consisted of one hundred thousand foot, twenty thousand horse,
thirty-two elephants, and three hundred chariots armed with scythes--a
prodigious force in that age, when, on account of the extravagant wages which
soldiers received, it was difficult to keep more than eighty thousand men in the
field. The young king was present in the camp, but of course Lysias was the
actual commander. The Jews did not venture to attack the royal army in the open
field. But while the Syrians laid siege to Bethsura, Judas fell upon them in the
night, slew four thousand of them before they well knew who was among them, and
drew off safely by break of day. The day after, a battle took place, in which
the Syrians lost six hundred men; but Judas, fearing to be surrounded by the
numbers of the enemy, thought proper to retire to Jerusalem, the fortifications
of which he now strengthened and put in a state of defence. In this battle Judas
lost his brother Eleazar. That valiant man perceiving one of the elephants more
splendidly caparisoned than the others, mistakenly supposed it to be that of the
king, and fought his way to it, got under it, stabbed it in the belly, and was
crushed to death by the fall of the huge beast upon him. JERUSALEM SIEGE BROKEN
It being a sabbatic year of rest to the land, Bethsura soon after surrendered
for lack of provisions; and Jerusalem, which was next besieged, must have shared
the same fate, and all the advantages which had been gained appeared now to be
on the point of being lost for ever; when providentially the young king and his
guardian were recalled by a civil war at home, commenced by Philip, who had been
appointed regent by Antiochus Epiphanes before his death, to the exclusion of
Lysias, whose ill success in the former war with the Jews had been highly
displeasing to him. When this intelligence reached the camp, the king and
council hastily concluded a peace with the Jews on the former terms--that they
should be allowed to live according to their own laws. The siege was then broken
up, but the treaty was violated by the Syrians in the demolition of the strong
walls of the mount on which the temple stood. The royal army was then marched
against Philip, who had gotten possession of Antioch, the metropolis, but who
was defeated and slain. MENELAUS EXECUTED Now at last the traitor and apostate
Menelaus met the fate he had long deserved. At the approach of the Syrian army
he had abandoned his countrymen, and had stimulated the operations against them
by his advice and counsel, in the secret hope of being made governor of the
province, if Judas and his party were destroyed. But the intended mischief
recoiled on his own wicked head. On the conclusion of the peace, he was viewed
by the king and regent as the author of all these unhappy wars, and was
sentenced to be suffocated in the ash-tower at Berea;[403] while the office to
which he aspired was given to Judas himself, who was appointed to be chief
governor “from Ptolemais unto the Gerrhenians.” [403] This punishment was
borrowed by the Syrian-Greeks from the Persians. A place was enclosed with high
walls and filled with ashes. A piece of timber was made to project over the
ashes, and on this the criminal was placed. He was liberally supplied with meat
and drink until overcome with sleep he fell into the deceitful heap, and died an
easy death. Only criminals of high rank were thus punished, it being considered
a sort of privileged death. ONIAS BUILDS JEWISH TEMPLE IN EGYPT In the room of
Menelaus, Jachimus, or Alcimus, was nominated to the high-priesthood, to the
exclusion of the rightful claimant, Onias, the son of that Onias who had been
slain at Antioch at the instigation of Menelaus. Upon this disappointment, Onias
retired in disgust to Egypt, where his military and political talents procured
him high favor from Ptolemy Philometor, and he was ultimately empowered to build
a temple and establish a priesthood, for the numerous Jews of Egypt and Cyrene,
at Heliopolis; and which subsisted nearly as long as that of Jerusalem, both
being destroyed in the reign of Vespasian. There can be no question of the
irregularity of this establishment; and although Onias justified it to the Jews
by reference to the text Isaiah 19:18-19, the temple at Jerusalem was always
held in much superior estimation by the Jews even of Egypt, who frequently
repaired thither to worship.


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  CHAPTER 39: MACCABEAN RULE--POMPEY'S INVASION--ROMAN POWER
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MACCABEAN RULE--POMPEY'S INVASION--ROMAN POWER With the promotion of Judas
Maccabeus to be chief governor of Judea, the rule of the Hasmonean dynasty may
be conveniently taken to commence, and the period which that rule embraces may
be suitably introduced in a new chapter. HIGH PRIEST ALCIMUS EXPELLED Alcimus,
the new high-priest, did not long enjoy his dignity, for his profligacy, and his
attempts to revive the heathenish rites, so offended the Jews, that they
expelled him. DEMETRIUS HAS EUPATOR AND LYSIAS SLAIN We have already noticed the
refusal of the Roman senate to support the claim of Demetrius to the crown of
Syria, or to allow him to depart for that country. Subsequently, acting by the
advice of his friend Polybius, the historian he made his escape from Rome, and
landed with a few men, only eight friends and their servants, at Tripolis in
Phoenicia. Here he had the art to make it believed that his wild enterprise was
sanctioned by the Romans; under which persuasion he was joined by several of his
adherents, with whom he advanced toward Antioch. Here the army declared for him,
and secured the persons of Antiochus Eupator and Lysias, and, in proof of their
sincerity, brought them to Demetrius; but he said, “Let me not see their face!”
on which hint they were slain by the soldiers, B.C. 162. ROME ACCEPTS CROWN OF
GOLD In the preceding year one of the Roman ambassadors at the court of A.
Eupator had been slain, while enforcing the treaty with Antiochus the Great, by
destroying all the elephants, and all but twelve of the ships-of-war. Demetrius,
anxious to have his claims recognized by Rome, sent the murderer thither,
together with a present of a crown of gold. The present was accepted by the
senate; but they dismissed the murderer, resolving to take some future occasion
of making the whole Syrian empire responsible for the act. NICANOR SLAIN
ATTACKING MACCABEES When Demetrius was established on the throne of Syria, the
apostate Jews, with Alcimus at their head, gathered around him, and filled his
ears with reports and insinuations injurious to Judas and the party of which he
was the leader. As people naturally listen with pleasure to those who express
conformity of views, it is not wonderful that these traitors gained the
attention of the king, who could as yet know but little of the real state of
affairs in his kingdom. He reappointed Alcimus as high priest, and sent a
considerable military force, under the command of Bacchides, governor of
Mesopotamia, to reinstate him, and to take vengeance upon those whom he had
represented as equally the enemies of himself and the king. As Bacchides,
accompanied by the high-priest, entered the country with professions of peace,
many Jews, relying thereon, put themselves in his power, and were treacherously
slain. After this Bacchides reinstated Alcimus; and intrusting the province to
his charge, and leaving a force that seemed sufficient to support him, he
returned to the king. Judas, who had not appeared in the field against
Bacchides, came forward after he withdrew; and Alcimus, unable to offer any
effectual resistance, again repaired with his complaints to the king. On this
Demetrius, resolving on the utter destruction of the Maccabees, sent a large
army into Judea, under the command of the same Nicanor whom Judas had defeated
five years before. At first he endeavored to entrap the Jewish chief with
friendly professions, but finding Judas too wary to be thus caught, hostilities
commenced, and in a battle fought at Capharsalama, Nicanor was defeated with the
loss of fifty thousand men. He was then forced to seek refuge in the castle of
Mount Zion, until the reinforcements, for which he sent, should arrive from
Syria. These were promptly supplied, and then he hazarded another battle, in
which he was himself slain, and his army cut in pieces. B.C. 160. JUDAS IS SLAIN
Now Judas, having heard of the already extensive conquests of the Romans, and
having become sensible of the great controlling power which they exercised in
the affairs of Western Asia and of Egypt, took the opportunity of the respite
which this victory procured, to send an embassy to Rome, to solicit an alliance
with that great people, and therewith protection from the Syrian government. It
was part of the systematic plan of subjugation practised by that most politic
body, the Roman senate, to grant liberty to those who were under foreign
dominion, that they might detach them from their rulers, and afterward enslave
them when fit opportunity offered.[404] The Jewish ambassadors were therefore
very graciously received; an offensive and defensive alliance was readily
concluded with the Jews; and a letter was immediately after written to
Demetrius, commanding him to desist from persecuting them, and threatening him
with war if he persisted. But before the ambassadors returned, or this letter
had been received, Judas had fallen in a furious conflict with Bacchides, whom
(with Alcimus) the king had sent to avenge the defeat of Nicanor and his host.
With only eight hundred men, the rest having deserted him, Judas charged the
Syrians, defeated their right wing and pursued them to Azotus: but the left
wing, being unbroken, pursued him closely in turn; and after a most obstinate
engagement the greatest of the later Jewish heroes lay dead upon the field. This
was not far from Modin, his native town; and his brothers Simon and Jonathan,
having concluded a truce, were enabled to deposit his remains in the family
sepulcher at that place. [404] This is the drift of Justin's remark with
reference to this very transaction: “A Demetrio cum defecissent Judæi amicitia
Romaporum petita, primi omnium ex Orientalibus libertatem receperunt: facile
tunc Romanis de alieno largientibus” Lib xxxvi. cap. 3. JONATHAN MADE JEWISH
COMMANDER The death of Judas restored the ascendancy to the apostate Jews, and
was followed by a merciless persecution of his adherents. They were thus made
strongly sensible of the want of a head, and therefore they elected Jonathan,
the valiant younger brother of Judas, to be their chief and leader. He led them
into the wilderness of Tekoah, and encamped at the cistern of Aspher. After some
skirmishes with the Arabs in that quarter, Jonathan deemed it advisable to send
the wives and children, and the most valuable property of his party, to the safe
keeping of the friendly Nabateans of Mount Seir, under a convoy commanded by his
brother John. This party was attacked on the way and plundered by the Arabs, and
John himself was killed. For this, Jonathan soon after took a severe revenge
upon the bridal procession at the marriage of one of the princesses of this same
tribe, which he attacked, and slew the greater part, and took their spoils.
JONATHAN ATTACKED BY BACCHIDES After this, Jonathan, the more effectually to
secure to himself from his enemies, withdrew into the marshes formed by the
overflowings of the Jordan, access to which was very difficult. Bacchides,
however, made an attack on the sabbath-day upon the pass leading to the camp,
and carried it by storm. The Jews defended themselves with great valor; but
being oppressed by numbers, they leaped into the overflowing Jordan and swam to
the other side, whither the enemy did not venture to pursue them. The River
Jordan

JUDAS MAKES TREATY WITH ROME It was not without difficulty that Jonathan roused
his adherents to the exertions which they made on this occasion. In fact there
are several indications, at and before this time, that the people were becoming
tired of this long struggle for their religion and liberties, and disposed to
submit to circumstances, for the sake of the quiet of which they had been so
many years deprived. Besides, by this time the original character of the war, as
one of resistance against religious persecution, had somewhat changed. There was
more of politics mixed in it; and with that change, the ardor of the orthodox
Jews appears to have abated. The Syrian government had also become much more
mild since the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, and under favoring circumstances, it
might have been expected that the Jews would without difficulty have obtained
what they sought. It was probably the knowledge of this, as well as from the
consciousness that the breach was not likely to be healed by continued warfare,
that latterly produced so great a reluctance to support the Maccabees, and so
strong a disposition to submit to the Syrians. We may thus account not only for
the circumstance which occasions this remark, but for the readiness of some of
the best supporters of the Maccabees to listen to the fair promises of the
Syrian generals for the desertion of Judas, before his last action, by the great
body of his adherents, and for his comparative inaction on several recent
occasions. To the operation of these circumstances we are also disposed to refer
the anxiety of Judas to conclude a treaty with the Romans. For this step he has
been blamed by some persons, who appear to have inadequately considered the
circumstances. It is not clear to us that if Judas had been aware that the step
he took was likely to lead to the future subjection of the country to the
Romans, he would have been deterred from seeking their alliance. He did not
fight for national independence, which was a moral impossibility, but for the
liberty of conscience. If that had been conceded by the Syrian kings, the Jews
would readily have returned to their political subjection, and were indeed
anxious to do so. If therefore Judas had known the ultimate contingency of
subjection to the Romans instead of the Syrians, there was nothing in that to
deter him, if he felt that the Romans were likely to be more tolerant of the
religious peculiarities of his nation. It is quite true that by the skilful use
of circumstances which ultimately arose, the Jews were enabled to establish a
modified independence--which independence the Romans destroyed. But these
circumstances were not foreseen in the time of Judas, and independence was not
among the objects originally contemplated. It is only in forgetfulness of those
facts that any one can impute blame to Judas for the measure which he
took--which measure, indeed, we cannot trace to have had any grave effect upon
ultimate results. Whether the Jews had offered themselves to the notice of the
Romans at this time or not, they certainly could not long have escaped the
attention of that people, nor, unless events had taken an entirely different
course to that which they actually took, could their subjection to the Roman
yoke have been long postponed. ALCIMUS DIES AND PEACE ENSUES From the Jordan,
Bacchides returned to Jerusalem, and was employed for some time in strengthening
the fortresses of Judea, particularly the citadel at Jerusalem and the important
fortresses of Gazara.[405] The sons of some of the principal persons among the
Jews he took and detained in the citadel as hostages for the good conduct of
their friends. But in the same year Alcimus was seized with a kind of cramp, and
died in much agony, while giving orders for the demolition of the wall which
separated the court of the Gentiles from that of the Israelites, so as to give
the former free access to the privileged part of the temple; and Bacchides,
having nothing to detain him in Judea after the death of the man on whose
account the war was undertaken, withdrew from the country, and allowed the Jews
two years of repose. To what extent this may have been due to the interposition
of the Romans, we have no means of knowing; but the results of the application
to the senate must by this time have been known both at Antioch and in Judea.
Probably the death of Judas, before the return of his ambassadors, went far to
neutralize the immediate effects which might have been expected from this
treaty. [405] There is some doubt respecting this place, which is so often named
in the history of the Maccabees. Some think it the same as Gaza, which indeed is
still called Gazara, and that is certainly a strong circumstance in its favor.
Upon the whole, however, there are several passages in which the place is named
which seem to refer it to the neighborhood of Joppa, and others which can not
without much straining and difficulty be made to apply to Gaza. In one of a set
of unpublished maps by Professor Robinson (for which we are indebted to his
kindness) we find that a site named Yazur occurred in his line of route, three
miles, and a half to the east of Jaffa, and we much more than suspect that this
marks the site not only of the Gazara in question, but also (believing the names
identical) of the Gazer which was one of the royal cities of the old Canaanites,
and the same which the king of Egypt took from the Canaanites, and gave, for a
dower with his daughter, to Solomon. All circumstances appear to agree with this
allocation. BACCHIDES IS DEFEATED AND MAKES PEACE This tranquillity was not
favorable to the designs of the Graecizing Jews, who laid a plot to surprise and
seize Jonathan and his adherents, all in one night, throughout the land, and
prevailed on Bacchides to return with the force under his command to give effect
to their design (B.C. 153). A timely discovery of the plot enabled Jonathan to
damp the ardor of the conspirators by putting to death fifty of the principal of
them. Not, however, feeling himself in a condition to oppose Bacchides in the
field, Jonathan, with his friends and his brother Simon, withdrew to the
wilderness, where they so strongly repaired the dilapidated fortress of
Bethbasi, that they were enabled to maintain a long siege against Bacchides, and
at length to defeat him. This affair wonderfully enlightened the Syrian general,
who now perceived that he had been but the tool of a faction; and, in his
resentment, he put to death several of the persons who had the most actively
stimulated his enterprise. At this juncture, Jonathan sent to him a deputation
with proposals of peace, and Bacchides readily acceded to the terms which were
offered. The treaty being concluded and sworn to by both parties, an exchange of
prisoners took place, and Bacchides withdrew from the land, B.C. 156. Peace
being thus happily restored, Jonathan fixed his residence at the strong post of
Michmash, six miles north-by-east from Jerusalem, where he governed according to
the laws of Moses, and to the extent of his power reformed the public abuses
which had sprung up during the past troubles. BALAS TAKES THRONE FROM DEMETRIUS
About the year B.C. 154, Demetrius Soter retired to a new palace which he had
built near Antioch, and there abandoned himself entirely to luxury and pleasure.
All business and all care was refused admission, and consequently all the
responsibilities and duties of his high office were utterly neglected. Hence
arose great administrative abuses, and these led to discontents, and discontents
to conspiracies, which were eagerly fostered by different neighboring kings,
especially by Ptolemy Philometor, king of Egypt,[406] from whom the island of
Cyprus had been taken by Demetrius. They availed themselves of the services of
Heraclides, who had been banished by Demetrius, and who had since lived at
Rhodes; and now, at the instigation of these kings, he persuaded a young man of
obscure birth, named Balas, to announce himself as the son of Antiochus
Epiphanes, and as such lay claim to the throne of Syria. As soon as he had been
sufficiently tutored in the part he was to act, he publicly advanced his
pretensions, which were acknowledged at once by Ptolemy Philometor, by
Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, and by Attalus, king of Pergamos (B.C. 153). He
was then sent to Rome, together with a true daughter of Antiochus; and although
the senate soon detected the imposture, their old grudge against Demetrius, for
having taken the throne of Syria without their consent, led them to recognize
him, and empower him to raise forces for the recovery of a kingdom in which he
could have had no just pretensions to supersede Demetrius (the son of the elder
brother), even had his alleged birth been true. Balas now assumed the name of
Alexander, and the title of king of Syria. He delayed not to levy troops, and
sailed to Ptolemais (previously Accho), now Acre, in Palestine, where he was
joined by numbers who had become disaffected to Demetrius. That infatuated
person was now fairly roused from his lethargy, and came forth from his
disgraceful retreat--but it was too late. [406] As the transactions in Egypt,
since they were last noticed, have not, up to this point, been necessarily
involved in the current of our history, we have not allowed them to engage our
notice. It may however be briefly indicated in a note, that, after their
junction against Antiochus Epiphanes, quarrels arose between the two brother
kings, Philometor and Physcon, which the Romans endeavored to adjust in B.C 162
by arranging that Philometor should retain Egypt and Cyprus, and that Physcon
should reign in Libya and Cyrene. But they soon again were at variance
respecting Cyprus, which Physcon wanted, but which Philometor resolved to retain
according to the terms of the agreement. Meanwhile, as often happens in such
cases, a third party (Demetrius) stepped it and appropriated to himself the
disputed island Hence the enmity of Philometor to the king of Syria. This
conjuncture of affairs was highly favorable to the interests of the Jews, as,
from the high military character they had now acquired, the rivals vied with
each other in the honors and immunities which they offered for the assistance of
Jonathan and the Jews. First, Demetrius sent a letter appointing Jonathan his
general in Judea, empowering him to levy forces, and promising to release the
hostages. When the contents of this letter were made known, the hostages were
restored by the garrison of the citadel, and the fortresses throughout the
country were given up to him by the Syrian garrisons which Bacchides had left in
them. The citadel and Bethsura indeed still held out, as they were garrisoned by
apostate Jews who had no other resource. Jonathan now removed from Michmash and
fixed his residence at Jerusalem, which he occupied himself in repairing, and in
rebuilding those walls of the temple-mount which Antiochus Eupator had cast
down. JONATHAN MADE HIGH PRIEST On the other hand, Balas, acting probably by the
advice of Ptolemy Philometor (who was well acquainted with the affairs and
interests of the Jews), sent also a letter to Jonathan, in the very commencement
of which he styled him “Brother,” gave him the title and rank of “Friend of the
King,” appointed him to the high-priesthood, and sent him a purple robe and
diadem, thereby creating him Ethnarch, or Prince of Judea. It was in the seventh
month of this same year (B.C. 153) that Jonathan put on the holy robe of the
high-priest, after that high office had been vacant for seven years. DEMETRIUS
SEEKS JUDAH'S LOYALTY Demetrius did not yet despair of outbidding Balas in this
struggle to gain the favor and assistance of Jonathan. The list of the
exemptions, immunities, and privileges which he offered is exceedingly curious,
as showing the extent and minute ramifications of the previous exactions of the
Syrian government; and we have therefore introduced it entire in a note
below.[407] The extravagant generosity of these offers made Jonathan and the
patriots suspicious of their sincerity, and, mindful of the past sufferings they
had experienced through Demetrius, they agreed to espouse the cause of
Alexander. [407] “King Demetrius unto the people of the Jews sendeth greeting.
Whereas ye have kept covenant with us, and continued in our friendship, not
joining yourselves with our enemies, we have heard thereof, and are glad.
Wherefore now continue ye still to be faithful unto us, and we will well
recompense you for the things ye do in our behalf, and will grant you many
immunities, and give you rewards. And now do I free you, and for your sake I
release all the Jews from tributes, and from the customs of salt, and from crown
taxes. And from that which appertaineth unto me to receive for the third part of
the seed, and the half of the fruit-trees, I release it from this day forth, so
that they shall not be taken of the land of Judea, nor of the three governments
which are added thereunto out of the country of Samaria and Galilee, from this
day forth for ever more. Let Jerusalem also be holy and free, with the borders
thereof, both from tenths and tributes. And as for the tower which is at
Jerusalem, I yield up my authority over it, and give it to the high-priest, that
he may set in it such men as he shall choose to keep it. Moreover, I freely set
at liberty every one of the Jews that were carried captives out of the land of
Judea into any part of my kingdom, and I will that all my officers remit the
tributes even of their cattle. Furthermore, I will that all the feasts, and
sabbaths, and new moons, and solemn days, and the three days before the feast,
and the three days after the feast, shall be all days of immunity and freedom
for all the Jews of my realm. Also no man shall have authority to meddle with
them, or to molest any of them in any matter. I will further, that there be
enrolled among the king's forces about thirty thousand men of the Jews, unto
whom pay shall be given, as belongeth to all the king's forces. And of them
shall be placed in the king's strongholds, of whom also some shall be set over
the affairs of the kingdom, which are of trust; and I will that their overseers
and governors be of themselves, and that they live after their own laws, even as
the king hath commanded in the land of Judea. And concerning the three
governments that are added to Judea from the country of Samaria, let them be
joined with Judea, that they may be reckoned to be under one, nor bound to obey
other authority than the high-priest's. As for Ptolemais, and the land
pertaining thereto, I give it as a free gift to the sanctuary. Moreover, I give
every year fifteen thousand shekels of silver out of the king's accounts to the
places appertaining. And all the overplus, which the officers payed not in as in
former time, henceforth shall be given toward the use of the temple. And beside
this, the five thousand shekels of silver, which they took from the uses of the
temple out of the accounts year by year, even those things shall be released,
because they appertain to the priests that minister. And whosoever they be that
flee unto the temple at Jerusalem, or be within the liberties thereof, being
indebted unto the king, or for any other matter, let them be at liberty, and all
that they have in my realm. For the building also and the repairing of the works
of the sanctuary expenses shall be given out of the king's account. Yea, and for
the building of the walls of Jerusalem, and the fortifying thereof round about,
expenses shall be given out of the king's account, as also for the building of
the walls of Judea.” DEMETRIUS IS SLAIN Next year (B.C. 152) both the kings took
the field with their armies, and Demetrius, who, when sober, wanted neither
courage nor conduct, defeated his rival in the first battle; but Alexander
Balas, being reinforced by the kings who had put him forward, was more
successful in a great battle fought the year after, in which Demetrius himself
was slain. JONATHAN MADE GOVERNOR The successful impostor now mounted the throne
of Syria, and married Cleopatra, a daughter of his great friend Ptolemy
Philometor of Egypt, who himself conducted the bride to Ptolemais in Palestine,
where the nuptials were celebrated with great magnificence (B.C. 150). Jonathan
was present on this occasion, and, mindful of the services he had rendered
during the war, both Ptolemy and Alexander treated him with distinguished
honors. He was again presented with a purple robe, and appointed commander or
Meridarch of Judea. AMMONIUS RULES FOR BALAS Alexander Balas, who had manifested
considerable ability during this contest, was no sooner firmly settled on the
throne, than he lapsed into the same errors which had been fatal to his
predecessor. He abandoned the cares of government to his favorite Ammonius, that
he might enjoy a luxurious life undisturbed. This minister put to death all the
members of the royal family he could get into his power. But there still lived
in Cnidus two sons of Demetrius, the elder of whom, Demetrius II, surnamed
Nicator, landed at Cilicia in B.C. 148, and soon collected a great army with
which to assert his right to the crown. He also gained over to his interest
Apollonius the governor of Coele-Syria, whose first proof of attachment to his
new master was to invade Judea, which still adhered to the cause of Alexander.
Jonathan came down from the mountains into the plain of the coast, and after
taking Joppa, before his eyes, defeated Apollonius with terrible loss. Ashdod he
then subdued, and Ashkelon opened wide her gates to receive the conqueror. For
this essential service he received from Alexander a golden clasp or buckle, such
as only members of the royal family might wear; and the town and territory of
Ekron, near the coast, was alsobestowed upon him. The king himself remained shut
up to Antioch, awaiting the succors which he expected from his father-in-law of
Egypt. Philometor came indeed; but having discovered a plot formed against his
life by the favorite Ammonius, and the infatuated Balas refusing to deliver up
that guilty minister, Ptolemy testified his resentment by taking away his
daughter, and bestowing her on Demetrius, whose cause he thenceforth espoused.
This decided the contest. Ammonius was slain by the citizens, and A. Balas only
avoided a similar fate by flight. The character which Ptolemy Philometor bore
among the Syrians for justice and clemency was so high, that they pressed him to
accept the vacant crown. But this he prudently declined, and recommended the
rightful heir to their choice. The next year Alexander appeared again, in a
condition to make one more struggle for the crown. He was defeated, and fled
into Arabia, where an emir, with whom he sought shelter, rendered his name,
Zabdiel, infamous by the murder of his guest, whose head he sent to the king of
Egypt. That monarch himself died the same year (B.C. 146). He left one son, a
child, who was put to death by Physcon, who now reigned sole king of Egypt.
Ashkelon

JONATHAN BESIEGES CITADEL In Judea, Jonathan now employed himself in besieging
the citadel of Jerusalem, which still remained in the hands of the apostate Jews
and the Syrians, and which had so long proved a serious annoyance to the
inhabitants of the city. Complaint of this operation having reached Demetrius,
he cited Jonathan to Ptolemais to answer for his conduct. He went; but left
orders that the siege should be vigorously prosecuted in his absence. He took
with him valuable presents for the king, by which and other means he so won his
favor, that he not only confirmed him in the high-priesthood and all his other
honors, but also ratified the offers of his father, which Jonathan had once
declined for the friendship of Balas. As the citadel still held out, Jonathan
urged the king to withdraw the garrisons from it and from Bethsura; which
Demetrius promised to do, provided the Jews would send a reinforcement to put
down a dangerous disturbance which had broken out at Antioch; for the new king
had already managed, by his gross misconduct and cruelty, to alienate the
affections of both his Syrian subjects and Egyptian allies. The Jews rendered
the required service. But when Demetrius deemed himself secure, and without
further need of them, he behaved with great ingratitude. He demanded all the
taxes, tolls, and tributes which he had promised to remit, and thus succeeded in
alienating the Jews as much as his other subjects. DEMETRIUS DEFEATED Alexander
Balas left a son called Antiochus, whom the Arabian emir Zabdiel had retained in
his hands when he slew the father; and he was persuaded by Tryphon (the former
governor of Antioch under A. Balas) to send the young prince with him to lay
claim to the throne of Syria. Antiochus was joyfully received by the
malcontents, and by the numerous soldiers whom the false economy of Demetrius
had disbanded. In a pitched battle, Demetrius was defeated, his elephants were
taken, and Antioch was lost, B.C. 144. TRYPHON MAKES OFFER TO JONATHAN As soon
as Antiochus VI, surnamed Theos, had been crowned, his guardian Tryphon (for
Antiochus was but a child) wrote in his name to invite the adhesion of Jonathan;
and offered in return to observe faithfully all the promises which Demetrius had
broken, and to appoint his brother Simon the royal governor of the district
extending from the mountains between Tyre and Ptolemais to the borders of Egypt.
These conditions were accepted by Jonathan, who, with the assistance of the
Syrian forces, expelled the hostile garrison from Gaza, Bethsura, and Joppa; but
the citadel of Jerusalem still held out for Demetrius. JONATHAN RENEWS ROME AND
GREEK ALLIANCE With due regard to the past and the future, Jonathan deemed it
advisable at this time to seek a renewal of the alliance with the Romans. The
ambassadors were received at Rome with favor, and dismissed with assurances of
friendship. On their return they (as the ambassadors of Judas had formerly done)
visited the Spartans, and concluded a league with them, under some notion which
the Jews entertained that the Spartans were of the stock of Abraham. TRYPHON
SLAYS JONATHAN AND BALAS Tryphon had contemplated the advancement of the son of
Alexander Balas, merely as a means of intruding himself into the throne of
Syria. Things were now, in his judgment, ripe for the removal of the young king,
and for his own intrusion, when he found that Jonathan was likely to prove an
obstacle to the execution of his design. He therefore invaded Palestine, and had
advanced as far as Bethshan, when, being intimidated by the appearance of
Jonathan with forty thousand men, he pretended that his mission was entirely of
a friendly nature--and that he had entered the country to put him in possession
of Ptolemais. He played this part so naturally that the Jewish hero was
deceived, and dismissed his army, saving three thousand men, two thousand of
whom he left in Galilee, and advanced with the other thousand to take possession
of Ptolemais. He had no sooner entered that city than the gates were shut, his
men cut in pieces, and himself laden with chains. Not long after he was put to
death by the perfidious Tryphon, who next slew his young master and set on his
brows the Syrian crown. SIMON BECOMES HIGH PRIEST The Jews, whose prospects had
lately been so fair, were filled with consternation when they heard of the
captivity and subsequent murder of Jonathan. But Simon, the brother of Jonathan,
who had already been enabled to prove himself a true Maccabee, called them
together in the temple, encouraged them to make a vigorous defence, and offered
to become their high-priest and leader in the room of his brother. He
said--“Since all my brethren are slain for Israel's sake, and I alone am left,
far be it from me to spare my own life in any time of trouble.” The offer was
gladly accepted by the people, and he was unanimously elected to succeed
Jonathan: and, seeing he had sons of high promise, it was decided that the
honors to which Simon was called should be inherited by his descendants. The
form of expression is however remarkable, as showing that some doubts were
entertained as to the strict legality of this procedure. It is said, “The Jews
and the priests were well pleased that Simon should be their governor and priest
[he and his sons] for ever, until there should arise a faithful prophet to show
them what they should do.” MACCABEES IGNORE DIVINE OFFICE REQUIREMENTS We are
free to express our own opinion that the three brothers, Judas, Jonathan, and
Simon, were men of great ability and unquestionable courage; and we believe they
sincerely desired the welfare of their country, and to preserve the purity of
religious worship, to promote which objects they would at any time have shed
their last blood. But we think also that Judas is the only one of the brothers
of whose high moral principle or disinterestedness much can be said. From the
time that Jonathan accepted the high-priesthood, and various personal honors,
from Alexander Balas, it is easy to detect in most of the alternations of policy
a leaning to that course which included the aggrandizement of the family and the
promotion of its chiefs. We do not say or think that they would knowingly have
sacrificed any public object to their own aggrandizement. But the disposition to
seek or prefer that particular good to our country which comprehends honor or
power to ourselves, belongs to a lower class of minds and principles than that
which refuses wealth or power in connection with any public service, lest the
motive of that service might be suspected. It must also be said, that the
disposition of the later Maccabees to play fast and loose between the
competitors for the Syrian crown, and equally to accept the favors which rival
kings offered, when it was impossible to perform equally to both the conditions
which were expected in return, is not entitled to much praise. Had Jonathan and
Simon been perfectly disinterested men, the obvious duty imposed upon them by
the Law would have been to direct the attention of the Jews and of the Syrian
king to Onias, then in Egypt, as the rightful high-priest, of the elder branch
of the family of Aaron, who was unsuspected of any idolatrous taint, and whose
abilities were of no common order: and the promises of the continuance of the
scepter of Judah to the house of David, should have induced Simon, at least,
when affairs were taking a turn favorable to the independence of the nation, to
direct the hopes of Israel toward some able member of that illustrious house.
But it is time to return to follow the course of our narrative. SIMON BURIES
JONATHAN Simon removed the corpse of his illustrious brother from Boscana, in
Gilead, where he was slain, to the family sepulcher at Modin, where he
subsequently erected a noble mausoleum, which was still standing in the time of
Eusebius and Jerome. SIMON NOTIFIES ROME AND GREECE OF EVENTS At the first
opportunity, Simon sent an embassy to Rome and Lacedaemon to announce to the
senate the death of his brother, and his own succession to his dignities, and to
seek a renewal of the alliance. Both nations received the ambassadors with
honor, expressed the usual regret, and the usual congratulations, and readily
renewed the treaty, with the terms of which graven on brass the deputation
returned. SIMON BUILDS DEFENSES The first care of Simon was to put the country
in a state of defence, by repairing the fortresses and furnishing them with
provisions. As the conflict between Tryphon and Demetrius still continued, and
it was the unhappiness of the Jews that their position did not allow them to
remain neutral, there were many sufficient causes to induce them to prefer the
side of Demetrius, notwithstanding the ill-treatment they had formerly received
from him. This personage, although nearly the whole of. Syria was lost to him,
remained in luxurious repose at Laodicea, whither Simon sent ambassadors to him,
with a crown of gold, to treat about the renewal of the former terms of
accommodation. To this Demetrius, in his fallen estate, most gladly agreed,
confirming solemnly all the immunities and privileges specified in his father's
letter to Jonathan, with an act of amnesty for all past offences. These
privileges were so great that they may be said to have raised the nation to a
state of independence. The Jews themselves certainly considered that they were
by this act delivered from the Syrian yoke; and therefore this first year of
Simon's reign (B.C. 143), as high-priest and ethnarch, or, in short, as Prince
of the Jews, they signalized by making it an epoch from which to compute their
times. This era is used on the coins of Simon, as well as by Josephus and the
author of the first book of Maccabees. SIMON TAKES FORTRESSES The next care of
Simon was to reduce the strong fortresses that still held out, Gaza he took, and
expelled the idolatrous inhabitants; and the citadel of Jerusalem, which had so
long been a thorn in the sides of the Maccabees, was compelled by the famine
which a rigorous blockade produced, to surrender in B.C. 142. Aware of the valor
of his son John, Simon made him captain-general of his forces, and sent him to
reside in Gazara on the sea-coast; while he made the temple-mount at Jerusalem
his own residence. This he strongly fortified; and his palace probably stood on
the site which the castle of Antonia afterward occupied. SIMON GAINS FULL HONORS
Having thus gained complete possession of the country, and the rights and
liberties of the nation being established, a great council of the nation was
held at Jerusalem, which testified its gratitude by confirming to Simon all his
honors, and, in more distinct terms than before, entailed them on his
descendants. This decree of the assembly was graven on brass, and fixed to a
monument which was erected in the temple-court. ROME ORDERS ALL TO ACCEPT JEWS
AND FRIENDS Anxious to have the independence conceded by Demetrius recognized by
the Romans, another embassy was sent to the senate, with a present of a shield
of gold, weighing one thousand mince, equal, at the lowest computation, to fifty
thousand pounds sterling. The deputation was well received, and the present
graciously accepted. Their suit was granted, and missions were sent by the
senate to the kings of Egypt, Pergamos, Cappadocia, Syria (Demetrius), and
Parthia, and to all the cities and states of Greece, Asia Minor, and of the
isles in alliance with the Romans, to engage them to treat the Jews as their
friends and allies, B.C. 141. DEMETRIUS LOSES CLEOPATRA TO SIDETES In the same
year Demetrius, whose cause appeared to be lost in the west, was invited to the
east by large promises of support in any attempt he might make to bring back the
Parthians to their allegiance. He was at first successful, but was in the end
surprised and made prisoner by the Parthians. In this war he was assisted by a
body of Jews under the command of John the son of Simon, whose exploits in
Hyrcania procured him the honorary surname of Hyrcanus. As for Demetrius, he was
well treated by the Parthian king, Arsaces V, otherwise called Mithridates; who
indeed first took care to exhibit him in different parts of his empire, but
afterward sent him into Hyrcania, where he treated him with the respect due to
his rank, and even gave him his daughter Rhodoguna in marriage. Meanwhile his
cause in Syria was maintained against Tryphon by his wife Cleopatra, who had
shut herself up, with her children, in Seleucia on the Orontes; and a powerful
force, composed of persons discontented with the government of Tryphon, was
gathering around her, when she heard that her captive husband had married
Rhodoguna. This offended her pride, and was also calculated to weaken her party.
Therefore, from both policy and revenge, she sent to Antiochus, the brother of
Demetrius who was then at Rhodes, and made him the offer of her hand and of the
kingdom. Antiochus VII, who, from his passion for hunting, received the surname
of Sidetes (“the hunter”), eagerly accepted the proposal, and delayed not to
assume the title of king of Syria, although as yet unable to proceed to the
continent, B.C. 141. SIDETES ASKS FOR JEWISH ASSISTANCE TO TAKE SYRIA The next
year (B.C. 140) Antiochus wrote “from the isles of the sea,” being still at
Rhodes, “to Simon the high-priest and ethnarch, and to the people of the Jews,”
announcing his intention of coming speedily to recover the dominions of his
father from the usurper Tryphon; and, to secure their assistance, confirming all
the privileges granted by former kings, together with the royal privilege of
coining money, which seems the only one which former kings had withheld, or
which seemed wanting to complete the sort of secondary independence which they
had by this time acquired. TRYPHON PUT TO DEATH The year after (B.C. 139)
Antiochus landed in Syria to attack Tryphon, with whose tyrannies the people and
even the soldiers had become completely weary. On the appearance of Sidetes he
was deserted by most of his forces, and he therefore fled to Dora (south of
Carmel) on the coast of Palestine. Antiochus pursued and besieged him there; but
he fled by ship to Orthosia, a maritime town of Phoenicia and, again, thence to
Apamea, where he was taken and put to death. Finding with how much more facility
than he had been prepared to expect, the kingdom fell to him, Antiochus, very
soon after his landing, formed the intention of reducing to their former
complete subjection to the Syrian crown, the provinces and cities which had
availed themselves of the troubled reigns of his predecessors to acquire such
independence as the Jews had established. This was an intention which any king
in those times was likely to have formed with reference to privileges so recent,
and so much extorted by temporary emergencies, and by which the power and
dignity of the crown were so seriously impaired. Antiochus probably considered
his own acts more binding than the treaties obtained from the usurper Balas, or
from the distressed Demetrius; yet even his own letter, written in the
expectation of needing the aid which the event proved that he did not require,
was not likely to be considered by him any strong bar to the execution of his
design. SIDETES IS REPULSED BY JUDAH His intentions were indicated on his first
arrival in Palestine, to besiege Tryphon in Dora. Simon then sent two thousand
men to assist him in the siege, with a good supply of warlike stores and
engines, but the king declined to receive them, and sent over to Jerusalem one
of his generals, named Athenobius, with a requisition for the surrender of
Joppa, Gazara, and the citadel of Jerusalem, which belonged to the Syrian crown,
or else to pay five hundred talents for each of the former, and five hundred
more for the arrears of tribute from those cities beyond the limits of Judea, of
which the Jews had gained possession, and on account of ravages which they had
committed in his dominions. This demand was skilfully framed to steer clear of
any points comprehended in the treaties or in the letter of Antiochus himself,
and the demand seems upon the whole as moderate as could be framed consistently
with the intention of retaining some hold upon the country. Writers call the
answer of Simon “wise.” It appears to us rather feeble. He denied that the Jews
held any possessions but what belonged to their fathers, and which they had
found opportunity to recover. With regard to the fortified towns of Joppa and
Gazara, he called attention to the injuries which the people had been
continually receiving from those places, as justifying the measures he had
taken; but he was willing to give the king one hundred talents for the right of
possession. Athenobius returned with this answer to the king, to whom also he
gave a very flaming account of the state and splendor in which Simon lived, and
of the large quantities of gold and silver plate which appeared in his house and
at his table. At this the king was so moved, that he sent an army under
Cendebeus to invade Judea: but he was met and defeated by John Hyrcanus and
Judas, the two sons of Simon; and the Syrians were expelled the country. PTOLEMY
KILLS SIMON The peace purchased by this victory was not of long duration. Simon
availed himself of it to make a tour of inspection through the country, in the
course of which he arrived at Jericho, where he took up his abode in the caste
of his son-in-law Ptolemy, who was governor there. This Ptolemy, desiring to
secure the government to himself, caused the old man and his two sons,
Mattathias and Judas, to be treacherously murdered at an entertainment. He also
sent a party to destroy John Hyrcanus at Gazara; but John had timely warning,
and fled to Jerusalem, where he was readily recognized by the people as the
successor of his father in the high-priesthood, and in the principality of
Judea. Then Ptolemy, against whom the people of Jerusalem shut their gates, fled
to a fortress near Jericho, and thence to Zeno, the prince of Philadelphia
(Rabbath-Amnion), probably to await there the arrival of Antiochus, to whom he
had sent, desiring the assistance of an army to reduce Judea again to the Syrian
yoke. But his name occurs in history no more; whence it is probable that
although Antiochus may have liked the crime, he hated the criminal, and would
afford him no countenance. However, the king marched a large army into Judea in
B.C. 135, and having ravaged the country, advanced to besiege Hyrcanus in
Jerusalem, which was soon reduced to great extremities for want of provisions,
which had been scarce that year. On the approach of the feast of Tabernacles in
autumn, Hyrcanus besought a week's truce for the celebration of the feast; and
this was not only granted by Antiochus, but he furnished the victims required
for sacrifice, which could not be procured within the city. Finally, he
concluded a peace with the Jews, when it was to his power to extirpate them from
the country, and he was exhorted by many to do so, but generously refused. He
was content to dismantle Jerusalem, and to bind them to pay tribute (not for
their proper country, but) for Joppa and other towns beyond the limits of Judea,
which they had either taken by arms or held by the grants of his predecessors.
SIDETES KILLED Four years after (B.C. 131), Antiochus Sidetes marched with a
great army against the Parthians, under the pretence of delivering his brother
Demetrius. Hyrcanus accompanied him in this expedition, and left him victorious
in three battles over the Parthian king Phraates, which put A. Sidetes in
possession of Babylonia, Media, and the other revolted provinces, and confined
the Parthians within the original limits of their own kingdom. But while the
Syrian army was dispersed in winter quarters, the Parthians, assisted by the
natives, conspired against them, and slew them all in one whole day; Antiochus
himself perished in the massacre, and scarcely a man remained to bear back to
Syria the report of the catastrophe. DEMETRIUS TAKES SYRIAN THRONE Upon this
Phraates sent to re-take Demetrius, whom, after having been vanquished in the
former campaign, he had liberated, and sent back to Syria, to create such a
diversion there as might induce Antiochus to relinquish his enterprise. But
Demetrius made such speed that he escaped the pursuit, and, on his re-appearance
in Syria, coupled with the news of the death of his brother, he was enabled to
recover his throne without much difficulty. HYRCANUS SUBDUES REGION Hyrcanus
neglected not to avail himself of the confusion into which the Syrian empire
fell, and the loss of strength which it sustained after the downfall of A.
Sidetes. He got possession of several towns on the sea-coast, and beyond Jordan,
and annexed them to his territories. He also rendered himself more completely
independent; for after this neither he nor his descendants paid any more
tribute, service, or homage to the kings of Syria. Next Hyrcanus invaded
Samaria. He took Shechem, the chief seat of the Samaritans, and demolished the
temple which they had built on mount Gerizim. However, they continued to have an
altar on the spot, on which they have offered sacrifices, according to the
Levitical law, even to this day. After this, Hyrcanus invaded and subdued the
Idumeans, to whom he offered the alternative of either relinquishing their
idolatries and embracing the Jewish religion, or else of leaving the country
into which they had intruded, and seeking a settlement elsewhere. They preferred
the former alternatives, and as proselytes, gradually became so incorporated
with the Jews as to be counted one people with them; and at length the name
itself was lost, or absorbed in that of the Jews.[408] [408] The rabbins indeed
have long spoken and still speak of Edom and the Edomites as existing. But these
are merely feigned and well understood names for denoting, not Edom, but Rome
and Christendom, and not the Edomites, but the Christians of the Roman empire,
and of the states into which that empire broke up, for fear of incurring the
displeasure of the nations among which they dwelt, if they said of them,
with-out disguise, all they wished to say. PHYSCON'S FAMILY AND DEATH The course
of events now again calls our attention to Egypt. That country was still ruled
by Ptolemy Physcon, whose gross and beast-like person bore the very impress of
that cruel and voluptuous character which belonged to him. We gladly hurry over
the revolting theme which his character and conduct offer, merely to mention
that Cleopatra, the sister of the late Philometor and himself, became the wife
of the former, by whom he had a son, and two daughters, both of the name of
Cleopatra. After the death of Philometor, his young son was slain by Physcon,
who also married the widow, his own sister. Of the two daughters, one was that
Cleopatra who was married to Alexander Balas, king of Syria, then to Demetrius
Nicanor, then to Antiochus Sidetes, and after the return of Demetrius became his
wife again. Her sister, the other Cleopatra, was defiled by her uncle Physcon,
who afterward repudiated his wife (her mother and his own sister), and married
this young princess. His oppressions and cruelties toward his subjects were so
severe, that at last they could bear them no longer, but rose against him, and
compelled him to flee to Cyprus. The people then entrusted the government to his
sister and divorced wife, the elder Cleopatra. Her son by him was with his
father at Cyprus, and Physcon, fearing that the son's name might be used to
strengthen Cleopatra on the throne, slew him, and sent his head, feet, and hands
to her, directing that they should be given her in the midst of an
entertainment. In the war which followed, Physcon was victorious, and Cleopatra
in her despair sent to Demetrius of Syria, the husband of her eldest daughter,
offering him the crown of Egypt if he would come with an army to her aid.
Allured by the splendid bribe, Demetrius immediately marched an army through
Palestine into Egypt. But, while he was engaged in the siege of Pelusium,
Antioch and several other of his own cities revolted from him, and he was
obliged to abandon the prospect before him and return the way he came. Cleopatra
then fled to seek protection with her daughter the queen of Syria, who then
resided at Ptolemais in Palestine. Physcon then regained possession of his
throne, which he retained until his death in B.C. 117. SYRIAN MARCHES LIMITED
The passage and return of the Syrian through Palestine could not but be attended
with much annoyance to the Jews, and it may be proper to regard it as in some
measure the cause of the embassy which Hyrcanus sent to Rome the same year (B.C.
128), to solicit the renewal of the treaties into which the senate had entered
with his predecessors, and to complain of the small attention which Antiochus
and Demetrius had paid to its former mandates. The ambassadors were received
with the usual favor by the senate, which readily consented to renew the treaty
which had been concluded with Simon, and which moreover took upon itself to
abrogate the disadvantageous treaty which the Jews had been compelled to make
with A. Sidetes. It also decreed that Hyrcanus should hold the towns of Joppa,
Gazara, and others beyond the limits of Judea, without paying tribute for them
to the Syrian kings; and that the latter should not presume to march armies
through Palestine without permission. This last clause was doubtless intended to
check the enterprises of the kings of Syria against Egypt. Ambassadors were
appointed to see all this executed; and the Jewish deputation were furnished
with money to bear their expenses home. Hyrcanus was too sensible of the
importance of these favors to neglect the expression of his gratitude; and the
next year another embassy was sent to Rome with a present of a cup and shield of
gold, which the senate accepted, and passed another decree confirming the
former. By these treaties, as well as by the unquiet state of the Syrian
kingdom, Hyrcanus was much strengthened in what we may now call his dominions.
DEMETRIUS KILLED Demetrius was one of those men whom even adversity could not
improve. After his restoration, he fell into the same misconduct which had
before occasioned him the loss of his kingdom. His subjects again were alienated
from him; and readily joined a competitor who was brought forward and supported
by P. Physcon, in revenge for the recent attempt of Demetrius to take possession
of his kingdom. The young man put forward on this occasion was the son of a
merchant of Alexandria, and claimed to be the adopted son of Antiochus Sidetes,
or (according to some) of Alexander Balas. He assumed the name of Alexander, but
was nicknamed in derision, Zebinas (“the bought one”). Notwithstanding the
weakness of his pretensions, he easily succeeded in depriving the universally
disliked Demetrius of his kingdom and life, B.C. 126. ZEBINAS RULES PART OF
SYRIA Zebinas was an equitable and popular ruler; but he did not obtain the
whole of the kingdom, as part was retained by Cleopatra--that wife of many
husbands who has so often been named. To strengthen her cause, she caused
Seleucus, her son by Demetrius, to be proclaimed king of Syria, but retained all
power in her own hands; and when in the twentieth year of his age (B.C. 124) he
manifested a desire really to reign, she slew him by a javelin with her own
hands. A. Zebinas, on the other hand, strengthened his cause by an alliance with
John Hyrcanus, who skilfully availed himself of all these troubles to confirm
his independence, and to enlarge his dominion. ZEBINAS DIES AND CLEOPATRA
POISONED Zebinas could not, however, long maintain his position. A very proper
and spirited refusal to do homage to P. Physcon for the crown of Syria, lost him
the support and procured him the enmity of that monarch, who immediately came to
terms with Cleopatra, and furnished her with an army whereby Zebinas was
defeated, and ultimately fell into the hands of Ptolemy, who put him to death.
Thus Cleopatra became mistress of all Syria, her younger son by Demetrius,
Antiochus VIII, surnamed Gryphus (“hook-nosed,” from πγρὺψ, a vulture), being
seated on the throne. Soon after (B.C. 120), finding that Gryphus was also
disposed to claim the power as well as name of king, she prepared poison for
him; but she was detected, and the king compelled his murderous mother to drink
the poisoned cup herself. LATHYRUS MADE KING Ptolemy Physcon died in B.C. 117,
twenty-nine years after his brother Philometor. He left all power in the hands
of Cleopatra, his wife and daughter-in-law--sister of the Syrian queen whose
doom concluded, the last paragraph. Physcon had by her two sons, Lathyrus and
Alexander, and left to Cleopatra the choice of a king from them. She would have
preferred the youngest, Alexander; but the voice of the people compelled her to
appoint Ptolemy Lathyrus. CYZICENUS TAKES PART OF SYRIA Antigonus Gryphus had a
half-brother, whom his mother Cleopatra had borne to Antigonus Sidetes. This
young prince was sent by his mother to be brought up at Cyzicus on the
Propontis, and hence his name of Antigonus Cyzicenus. He soon appeared as a
competitor for the Syrian throne, and after various conflicts the brothers
agreed in B.C. 112 to divide the empire between them. A. Cyzicenus obtained
Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, and fixed his residence at Damascus. Both the kings
were heartless libertines; and their relatively uneasy position gave them too
much employment, in watching and annoying each other, to permit them to
interfere much with the Jews, whose princes well knew how to avail themselves of
such opportunities to aggrandize the power of the nation. HYRCANUS TAKES SAMARIA
AND DIES There is one exception. In B.C. 110 Hyrcanus ventured to besiege
Samaria, the inhabitants of which were not Samaritans, properly so called, but
were descended from the Syro-Macedonian colony, which Alexander planted there
when he rooted out the former inhabitants. The siege was conducted by Hyrcanus
himself, with his two sons Aristobulus and Antigonus. They enclosed the city by
a wall and a ditch, and all supplies being thus completely cut off, the place
was soon reduced to the last extremity from scarcity of food. In this emergency,
the besieged sent to A. Cyzicenus, supplicating his aid. He marched himself to
afford it; but was met on the way by a detachment of the Jewish army under the
command of Aristobulus. In a bloody engagement the Syrians were totally routed,
and A. Cyzicenus himself escaped with difficulty. In the next year (B.C. 109)
Samaria was taken and totally demolished. This victory, with its results, made
Hyrcanus master of all Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, and of several places beyond
their limits; and raised the glory of the Hasmonean princes to its height.
Hyrcanus spent the rest of his reign without foreign wars, and respected by all
the neighboring potentates. He died in B.C. 106, after a reign of thirty years.
ARISTOBULUS TAKES JEWISH NATION Hyrcanus left the principality to his wife; but
Aristobulus, his eldest son, soon possessed himself of the government; and as
his mother refused to lay down her authority, he committed her to prison, where
she perished of hunger. Having established himself in the principality and
high-priesthood, Aristobulus ventured on the very questionable step of assuming
the diadem and regal title. And thus (as seems to have been predicted by
Zechariah 6:9-15) was brought about that state of things, which early existed in
Egypt and other countries, in which the offices of the king and high-priest were
united in the same person. Aristobulus availed himself of the disagreements
between the two kings of Syria to extend his dominions. He subdued Iturea beyond
Jordan, and offered the inhabitants the alternative of circumcision or
expatriation. They preferred the former, and accordingly became Jews, and were
incorporated with the Jewish nation. Aristobulus fell sick during this campaign,
leaving his brother Antigonus to complete the subjection of the country, and the
settlement of its affairs. On the return of the latter to Jerusalem, the king
was taught to regard him as one who aimed at his life and kingdom, and under
that mistaken impression, ordered his death. Discovering his error, he fell sick
and died after a reign of only one year, B.C. 105. JANNEUS TAKES JEWISH NATION
He was succeeded by his brother, the third son of Hyrcanus, Alexander Janneus,
whose Hebrew name was probably Jonathan; as the name of “Jonathan” or “King
Jonathan,” occurs on some coins in the Hebrew, while the reverse has the legend
“King Alexander” in Greek. He had been brought up to Galilee, and from early
childhood he had not been admitted to the presence of his father. Alexander
pursued the policy of his predecessors, of turning to his own advantage the
divisions in the Syrian empire. Nor was he singular in this, for many cities
(Tyre, Ptolemais, Gaza, Dora, and others) had contrived to make themselves
independent. The three last of the cities we have named, A. Janneus desired to
subdue to his own power; which seems to us a very unprincipled design; but it is
difficult to find anything like principle in any public transactions of any
parties in this most unprincipled age. In B.C. 104 he took the field against
Ptolemais, and detached a part of his army against Dora and Gaza. Before this
time (namely, in B.C. 107), Ptolemy Lathyrus had been expelled from Egypt by his
mother, and withdrew to Cyprus, where he reigned up to the date to which we have
now come. To him the beleaguered cities now applied for aid. This he readily
granted, and landed in Palestine with an army of 30,000 men. He was very
successful, defeating Alexander to a pitched battle on the banks of the Jordan,
in which the Jews lost 30,000 men, and then overrunning and furiously ravaging
the country, so that the Hasmonean cause seemed on the brink of utter ruin, when
Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, fearing that the conquest of Palestine by
Lathyrus would be but a step toward the invasion of Egypt, sent an army to the
assistance of Alexander. By this means he recovered his footing, and Lathyrus
was compelled to withdraw to Cyprus, B.C. 101. Alexander had gained none of the
original objects of the war he had so unjustly commenced, and the nation had
suffered greatly. The king soon after paid a visit to the Egyptian queen, to
whom he had been so much indebted. This visit had nearly proved fatal to him.
This ambitious and unscrupulous woman was advised to put him to death and unite
Judea to Egypt: and she was inclining to such suggestions, when the
interposition of Ananias, the Jewish commander of her forces, inclined her to a
more just and generous policy, and she concluded an alliance with Janneus at
Bethshan (Scythopolis). After Cleopatra had returned to her own country,
Alexander began to resume his former projects of reducing to his yoke the towns
and fortresses on his borders-pursuing, in sort, the same needlessly aggressive
policy which had well nigh been his ruin. Gadara he took after a ten months'
siege. He also took the strong fortress of Amathus beyond Jordan; but on his
return he was surprised and defeated with the loss of ten thousand men, by the
prince of Philadelphia, whose treasures had been deposited there, and returned
with disgrace to Jerusalem. He was a Sadducee: this, and his other humiliations,
were therefore matters of high satisfaction to the Pharisees, who had great
influence with the mass of the people, which they employed with much success, to
alienate their affections from Alexander. The king, nothing discouraged, turned
his attention to the towns on his southern border. Raphia and Anthedon he took:
the conquest of Gaza was more difficult; but at last he won it by treachery,
burned it, and massacred the inhabitants, but with so much loss to his own
troops, that he returned with little honor and less spoil to Jerusalem. JANNEUS
PELTED WHILE OFFERING SACRIFICES The long cherished hatred of the Pharisees, and
dislike of the people toward the king, broke out openly in the year B.C. 95. He
was officiating as high-priest at the feast of tabernacles, and was offering
sacrifice upon the great altar, when the people began to pelt him furiously with
the citrons which they bore in their hands at that celebration, at the same time
assailing him with the most opprobrious expressions. In accordance with the
severe principles of the Sadducees, which he had on so many occasions
exemplified, he let loose his guard upon the insurgents, by whom six thousand of
them were cut down, and thus the disturbance was, for the time, allayed with
blood. To prevent such insults in future, he enclosed the priests' court, which
contained the altar and sanctuary, by a wooden partition, which excluded the
approach of the people, and for his greater security, he took into his pay a
body of six thousand foreign mercenaries, who soon became almost his only
support. JANNEUS FAILS After this, A. Janneus turned his attention to the
countries beyond Jordan. In B.C. 94 he made the Arabs of Gilead, and the
inhabitants of Moab, tributary. In B.C. 93 he destroyed the strong fortress of
Amathus, his former enterprise against which had been followed by his defeat, as
lately mentioned. In the next year, while in a campaign against Obodas, the Emir
of the Arabs of Gaulonitis, he fell into an ambush in the mountains near Gadara,
where his army was driven over the precipices and utterly destroyed, and he
himself escaped with difficulty. This disaster embittered the feelings of the
already discontented Pharisees, who were at all times jealous even to madness of
the national honor. A successful and glorious Sadducee they might have borne;
but an unsuccessful one was intolerable. They took up arms, supported by the
masses, and broke out into open rebellion, which they maintained for six years,
and in which, although repeatedly defeated, their refractory spirit remained
un-subdued. At last, after fifty thousand of the malcontents had been destroyed,
besides the loss on the other side, the king, although successful, became weary
of slaughter, and intestine turmoil, and made every effort and declared his
readiness to make any sacrifice for the sake of peace. He sent some of his
friends to the assembled people, to know what he could do to satisfy
them--“Die!” was the answer, given with such vehemence and fury as showed him
that there was no hope of accommodation. The malcontents, on their part, sought
the help of the Moabites and the Arabians of Gilead, whom Alexander had made
tributary, and whose tribute he was now obliged to remit, to prevent their
hostilities. The invitation was then sent to Demetrius Eucerus, king of
Damascus. He gladly accepted the call, and entered Judea with an army of forty
thousand foot and three thousand horse, with which he overthrew Alexander with
the loss of all his Greek mercenaries to a man, B.C. 89. His utter ruin was
inevitable, had it not been that six thousand of the Jews themselves, taking
compassion upon his distress, deserted from the Syrians, and joined him. This so
much alarmed Demetrius, fearing lest the defection should extend, that he
withdrew his forces from the country to employ them against his brother Philip.
The indomitable spirit of Alexander Janneus, and the large resources which he
found in himself, now very conspicuously appeared; for no sooner had the Syrians
departed, than he again got together his broken army, and recommenced operations
with increased vigor and success against his own discontented subjects. In one
great action, fought in B.C. 87, he utterly cut off the greater part of the
insurgent army, and shut up the remainder in Bethone, which he besieged and took
the year after. On this occasion he was guilty of a most barbarous act, for
which the nickname of “Thracian” was justly given to him. He sent eight hundred
of the principal captives to Jerusalem, and there crucified them all in one day
and in one place, and put their wives and children to death before their eyes,
as they hung dying on the crosses; while he sat, feasting with his wives and
concubines, within view of the horrid scene, to glut his eyes with their
torments. Certainly, the existence of a man who could do this was an evil upon
the earth; and it seems alone sufficient to induce a suspicion that there was
good cause for the intense dislike with which he was regarded by the people.
JANNEUS DIES After this Alexander had no more disturbance, and he was enabled to
spend three years in recovering the fortresses which had revolted, and in
reducing the provinces beyond Jordan which had got loose from his dominion,
during the civil war. Returning victorious to Jerusalem in B.C. 82, he abandoned
himself to luxury and reveling, which speedily brought on a quartan[409] ague,
under which he languished for three years, and of which he died in B.C. 78, at
the siege of Ragaba beyond Jordan, in the country of the Gergesenes, in the
forty-ninth year of his age, and the twenty-seventh of his eventful reign. That
reign might be deemed successful in its ultimate results, if judged only by the
enlarged dominion which he left to his successors; for at his death the Jewish
kingdom included Mount Carmel and all the coast as far as Rhinocolura; it
embraced on the south all Idumea; northward it extended to Scythopolis (Bethshan
Mount Tabor; and beyond Jordan it comprehended Gaulonitis, and all the territory
of Gadara, including the land of the Moabites on the south, and extending as far
as Pella on the east. [409] Reoccurs every fourth day. ALEXANDRA TAKES HUSBANDS
POWER Alexander Janneus left the government in the hands of his Queen Alexandra,
influenced doubtless by the recent example of the female reigns in Egypt and
Syria. She was to enjoy the government while she lived, and was to determine
which of her two sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, should succeed her. On the
approach of death, Alexander gave her such counsels as he judged best calculated
to insure her a peaceable reign. Sensible that most of his own troubles had been
produced through the agency of the great control which the Pharisees had
acquired over public opinion, he exhorted her above all things to cultivate
their favor, and to attempt no public measure without their approval. This
advice may have been good; but the motive claims no high commendation. He wished
his wife to reign after him; and to secure that private object he was willing
that all the energies of the government should be sacrificed, and that all the
powers of the state should be thrown into the hands of men whom, whether justly
or not, he despised and hated. He also instructed the queen what course to take
in throwing herself into the hands of the Pharisees. He counselled her to
conceal his death until the capture of the fortress, and then, on the triumphant
return to Jerusalem, she was to convene the heads of the Pharisees, and offer to
be guided entirely by their counsels in the administration of the government:
she was also to lay his dead body before them, and leave it wholly to their
discretion whether to treat it with ignominy or honor. “If thou dost but this,”
concluded the king, “. shall be sure of a glorious funeral, and thou wilt rule
in safety.” Alexandra followed all his directions to a letter; and the event
answered to his prediction. The Pharisees were suddenly appeased, as by a
miracle; they spoke with profound reverence of the king, whose death they had so
often invoked; they lauded to the skies his heroic achievements; and none of all
his predecessors had a funeral nearly as magnificent as that of Alexander
Janneus. The Pharisees, having now the upper hand in the state, proceeded to do
what any successful party would have done in the same circumstances. They
released all the prisoners and recalled all the exiles of their own party and
being thus strengthened by the recovery of the ablest men of their body, they
delayed not to demand justice against the advisers of the crucifixion of the
eight hundred; and certainly, if there were any persons active in advising that
dreadful enormity, they richly deserved punishment. Diogenes, the chief
confidant of the late king, was the first to feel the wrath and vengeance of the
Pharisees, and after he had been cut off, they proceeded to the more obnoxious
of Alexander's advisers. The queen, sore against her will, submitted to all
their demands, to avoid the worse evils of a civil war. HYRCANUS MADE HIGH
PRIEST Queen Alexandra appointed to the high-priesthood her eldest son Hyrcanus,
a person of mild and inactive disposition, ill qualified to take part in the
turmoils of the troubled days in which he was cast. The other son, Aristobulus,
was of a different spirit--with the same impulsive energies of character, and
nearly as unscrupulous, as his father. He burned with indignation at the
degraded, although safe, position which his mother occupied; and in the seventh
year of her reign (B.C. 72) he appeared before her at the head of a large party
of friends of congenial sentiments, and solicited permission either to leave the
country, or to be permitted to retire to the frontier garrison towns, where they
might be secure from the malice of the Pharisees. The queen agreed to the latter
proposal, and put them in possession of all the fortresses, except Hyrcania,
Alexandrium, and Machaerus, where she kept her treasures. Next year Aristobulus
was entrusted with the command of an army sent against Damascus, but he returned
without doing anything memorable, although he was mindful not to neglect the
opportunity of ingratiating himself with the troops. In the year B.C. 69 some
attempts made by Selene (reigning in Ptolemais) to extend her dominions in
Coele-Syria, drew the attention of Tigranes, the Armenian king whom, as already
related, the Syrians had called to reign over them. He came against her with a
large army, subdued Ptolemais, took Selene prisoner, and ultimately ordered her
to be put to death at Seleucia on the Tigris. Her sons were at Rome. While
Tigranes was engaged before Ptolemais, Alexandra sent an embassy with valuable
presents, to obtain his friendship. The rapid progress which the Romans were at
this time making in Asia Minor so strongly called his attention to that quarter,
that he returned a more favorable answer than might have been expected, and
hastened back to his own country. Queen Alexandra died in the same year. On the
death of his mother, the mild and feeble Hyrcanus took possession of the throne.
He reigned only three months. His more enterprising and able brother,
Aristobulus, had obtained possession of most of the fortresses in the kingdom
during the sickness of his mother: the people, also, had by this time grown
weary of the tyranny of the Pharisees, and greatly fearing the possible results
of their ascendancy over such a person as Hyrcanus, readily declared themselves
in favor of his brother: and as the soldiers also deserted to him, Hyrcanus had
no alternative but to resign his crown and mitre to Aristobulus; and he agreed,
with little reluctance, to lead a private life under his protection. “So,” as
Josephus expresses it, “Aristobulus went to the palace, and Hyrcanus to the
house of Aristobulus.” ANTIPATER EXPANDS INFLUENCE An Idumean originally called
Antipas, but better known by the name of Antipater, had by this time become a
great man in Judea. He was high in the confidence of Alexander Janneus, and of
Queen Alexandra, who had entrusted him with the government of his native
province of Idumea. He had amassed considerable wealth, and formed connections
with the Arabs to the east, and with the Gazites and Ashkelonites in the west.
Such a man might expect, under a weak ruler like Hyrcanus, to benefit largely by
the distractions of the country; whereas the firm rule of a man like Aristobulus
was calculated to nip all his budding hopes. This consideration decided him to
take up the cause of the deposed Hyrcanus, whom he gradually drew into the
belief that his brother had designs against his life, and after much
solicitation persuaded him to flee to Petra, and claim the protection of the
Arabian king Aretas. That prince readily espoused his cause, and brought him
back to Judea, with an army of fifty thousand men: and being there joined by
such of the Jews as favored the cause of the elder brother, he gave battle to
Aristobulus, defeated him, and compelled him with the heads of his party, to
take refuge in the temple-mount, and besieged him there, B.C. 66. So great was
the hatred of the besiegers against Aristobulus and his party, that at the feast
of the passover, they would allow no animals for sacrifices to be carried into
the temple, although Aristobulus had given to them over the walls the full sum
they demanded for such permission. TIGRANES BATTLES THE ROMANS The great war of
the Romans in Asia Minor against Mithridates, king of Pontus, is of importance
from its result of bringing all Western Asia under the power of the Romans; but
the circumstances of that war have no such connection with our history as to
require their exhibition in this place. Tigranes was soon involved in this war;
and in B.C. 69 he was obliged to withdraw his forces from Syria to make head
against the Romans nearer home. ASIATICUS SEIZES GOVERNMENT This gave an
opportunity to Antiochus Asiaticus, the son of Selene and A. Eusebes, to seize
the government; and, having contracted an alliance with the Roman general,
Lucullus, he contrived to retain a part of the empire, until the arrival of
Pompey in the East. He arrived to take the command of the Roman armies in the
year B.C. 66. While himself employed in the north against Mithridates and
Tigranes, Pompey sent Scaurus into Syria. While that general was at Damascus, he
received from Aristobulus (then besieged in the temple) an application, with the
offer of four hundred talents if he would come to his aid. The offer of a
similar sum soon after came from Hyrcanus; but the Roman, considering that it
would be easier to frighten away the besieging Nabateans for Aristobulus than to
take so strong a fortress for Hyrcanus, determined to accept the offer of the
former. He accordingly received the money; and three hundred talents were also
given to Gabinius. Scaurus then commanded Aretas to abandon the siege and quit
the country, or expect that the Roman arms would be turned against him. Awed by
this threat, the Arabian king immediately obeyed; but he was pursued and
overtaken in his homeward march by the active Aristobulus, and defeated with
great slaughter. ASIATICUS DENIED POWER BY POMPEY In B.C. 65, Pompey came into
Syria, all the princes of which were prepared to look to him as the arbiter of
their fate. Antigonus Asiaticus humbly sued to be confirmed in his kingdom; but
he was refused, on the pretext that he was too weak to defend the country
against the Jews and Arabs; and that the Romans having overcome Tigranes, Syria
became theirs by right of conquest, and they were not disposed to forego the
rewards of their toils. In the person of Antigonus XI was deposed the last of a
regal dynasty, descended from Seleucus, which had ruled Syria for two hundred
and forty-seven years. His dominions, together with Phoenicia, then passed into
the condition of a Roman province. ARISTOBULUS NOT ACCEPTED BY ROME Twelve kings
and many ambassadors repaired to Damascus to render their homage to the
illustrious Roman, or to receive from him the award of their fate. Aristobulus,
to whom the recognition of his title by the Romans was at this time of great
importance, sent an embassy with the present of a golden vine, valued at five
hundred talents. But as those who saw this vine subsequently in the capitol at
Rome declare that it bore the name of Alexander Janneus, it would seem that he
was not successful in his application, unless, as some imagine, the vine had
been made by Alexander Janneus and placed in the temple, from which it was taken
by his son to be presented to the Romans. POMPEY INDECISIVE ABOUT JEWISH
LEADERSHIP The next year, B.C. 64, Pompey again returned to Damascus from Asia
Minor, with large designs for the southward extension of the Roman power, which
had already been established as far as the Caspian in the north. At that place,
the competing Jewish princes produced their cause before him: Hyrcanus through
Antipater, and Aristobulus through Nicodemus. The delegates were heard, and
dismissed in a friendly manner, with orders that the two brothers should appear
in person. Unfortunately for Aristobulus, his cause was much prejudiced by the
allusion of Nicodemus to the bribes which Scaurus and Gabinius had received,
whereby he provoked the resentment of two persons whose influence with Pompey
was very great. As ordered, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus appeared at Damascus in the
spring of B.C. 63, to plead their own cause before Pompey, and each attended by
multitudes of witnesses to prove the justice of their respective claims. A third
Jewish party, uninvited and undesired by either of the others, also appeared, in
the persons of many Jews of high consideration, who were prepared to plead, and
did plead, against both the brothers, that in order to enslave a free people
they had changed the form of government from pontifical to regal, contrary to
established usage and precedent. Hyrcanus, on his part, rested on his rights as
the elder brother, and complained of the usurpation of Aristobulus: the latter
pleaded the necessity which the imbecile character of Hyrcanus had imposed upon
him. This was precisely the worst plea he could have made; for imbecility of
character was, for their own selfish ends, far from being esteemed a
disqualification by the Romans, in the princes under their control. However,
Pompey did not openly declare his sentiments, but left the matter undecided,
until he should have leisure to come in person to Jerusalem and settle it there.
But Aristobulus, perceiving clearly that the decision would not be in his favor,
withdrew without taking leave, in order to make the requisite preparations, and
he thus rendered his case still more desperate. POMPEY CAPTURES TEMPLE Pompey
was occupied for a time in reducing Aretas and his Nabateans to subjection. This
being elected, he marched against Aristobulus, of whose hostile preparations he
was well apprized. He found him in the frontier fortress of Alexandrium (which
was situated upon the top of a high rock), and well prepared for an attack. On
his arrival, Pompey summoned the Jewish prince to his presence; and Aristobulus,
afraid of irritating him by a refusal, and relying on his honor, came down and
had several interviews with the Roman general, who, in the end, refused to let
him go until he had signed an order for the surrender of all the fortresses to
the Romans. But, resenting deeply this imposition, Aristobulus was no sooner
dismissed than he fled to Jerusalem, and there prepared for a siege. But, when
Pompey approached with his army, his resolution forsook him, as well it might;
and he went forth to meet the Roman, to whom he tendered his submission, and
offered a sum of money to prevent a war. His proposal was accepted; and
Gabinius, one of Pompey's lieutenants, whom there has been previous occasion to
name, was sent with a body of troops to recover the city and receive the money.
But when Aristobulus returned with the Romans, his own party shut the gates
against him and them; on which the captive prince was put in chains. Pompey then
himself marched to Jerusalem, and the party of Hyrcanus, being the most numerous
in the city, and well aware of his favorable dispositions toward them, opened
the gates to him. The party of Aristobulus now withdrew into the temple, which
was by this time a strong fortress, fully resolved to abide the result of a
siege. They held out for three months, and might have done so much longer, but
for the remaining superstition respecting the Sabbath. Pompey being apprized
that, although on that as on any other day they would stand on their defence if
actually attacked, they would not on that day act on the offensive, or disturb
any operations short of actual assault, he sagaciously made use of every Sabbath
in filling up the ditch and planting his engines, in which he experienced not
the least opposition, and this enabled him to make his attacks with more effect
on the other days of the week. At last the temple was taken by assault in the
first year of the 179th Olympiad, ending in B.C. 63, the same year to which C.
Antonius and M. Tullius Cicero were consuls, and on the very day observed with
fasting and humiliation on the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. These
dates fix the year from which the direct rule of the Romans over Judea may be
dated. JUDAH PAYS HEAVY TAXES TO ROME Pompey violated the sanctity of the
temple, by intruding with his principal officers into the holy of holies. He was
not stricken as Ptolemy Philopator and Heliodorus had been, but it has been
remarked by some that he never prospered in any of his subsequent undertakings.
By the Jews, of course, this act was deeply resented. Pompey, however, spared
the sacred treasury, although it contained two thousand talents; and the sacred
utensils, and other articles of great value, were left for the sacred uses to
which they had been devoted. But he ordered the walls of Jerusalem to be
demolished. Hyrcanus he appointed to be high-priest and prince of the country,
on condition that he should submit to the Romans, pay tribute, not assume the
crown, nor seek to extend his territory beyond the ancient limits of Judea. All
the places beyond those limits which the Jews had conquered were also restored
to Syria, which was made a Roman province, and left under the rule of Scaurus as
prefect, with two legions to preserve tranquillity. Thus the Jews, from being
old allies of the Romans, were at once reduced to the condition of a subordinate
principality, and were compelled to pay large tribute to the conquerors.
ARISTOBULUS & TIGRANES HELD IN ROME Pompey returned to Rome laden with the
spoils of conquered nations, and with a long train of royal and illustrious
captives to grace his triumph. Among them were Aristobulus, his two daughters,
and his two sons, Alexander and Antigonus. Alexander escaped by the way, and
returned to Judea. The rest were among the three hundred and twenty-four noble
prisoners who graced the triumph of Pompey in B.C. 61. Pompey was the first to
discontinue the barbarous custom of putting the captives to death in the capitol
after this public exhibition. They were all liberated and sent home at the
public expense, with the exception of Tigranes and Aristobulus„ who were
detained lest they should excite disturbances in their respective countries.


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  CHAPTER 40: ANTIPATER GOVERNOR OF JUDEA--HEROD--BIRTH OF CHRIST
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ANTIPATER GOVERNOR OF JUDEA--HEROD--BIRTH OF CHRIST ANTIPATER GOVERNS OVER
HYRCANUS Although Hyrcanus II had again become the nominal head of the reduced
and, dependant princedom of Judea, Antipater was the actual governor, and
managed all things as he would. ALEXANDER ATTEMPTS TO REBEL In the year 57 B.C.,
Alexander, the eldest son of Aristobulus, who had escaped on the way to Rome,
reappeared in Judea, and soon succeeded in collecting an army of ten thousand
foot and fifteen hundred horse. He seized and garrisoned the strong fortresses
of Alexandrium, Machaerus, Hyrcania, and several others, and thence ravaged the
whole country. Hyrcanus was not in a condition to make head against him: but for
the protection of Jerusalem he was desirous of rebuilding the walls of that
city; but this was forbidden by the jealousy of the Romans, and the prince was
then obliged to apply to them for assistance. Gabinius (the same who had before
been in the country with Pompey), who had lately become proconsul of Syria, sent
some troops into Judea under the command of Mark Anthony, the commander of the
cavalry--who afterward took so conspicuous a gait in the affairs of Rome, while
he prepared to follow himself with a larger army. The Roman general, being
joined by Antipater with the forces of Hyrcanus, defeated Alexander near
Jerusalem, with the loss of three thousand men, and compelled him to seek refuge
in Alexandrium, to which siege was immediately laid. Gabinius, who had now
arrived, perceiving that the reduction of so strong a place would require time,
left a sufficient force to invest it, and with the rest made a progress through
the country. Many cities which he found in ruins, he directed to be rebuilt,
according to the intentions of Pompey:[410] among these was Samaria, which,
after his own name, he called Gabiana, which was not long after changed by Herod
to Sebaste. When he returned to the camp at Alexandrium he was visited by the
mother of the besieged Alexander, who had already offered to capitulate, and
now, by her address and mediation, was allowed to depart on condition that the
fortresses which he held in his power should be demolished, that they might give
no occasion for future revolts. [410] Those were--Scythopolis (Bethshan),
Samaria, Dora, Azotus or Ashdod, Jamnia, Gaza, Anthedon, Raphia, Gamala,
Apollonia, Marissa, and some others. ARISTOCRACY SET UP IN JERUSALEM Gabinius
then went to Jerusalem, and confirmed Hyrcanus in the high-priesthood; but he
took upon him to change the government to an aristocracy, undoubtedly at the
request of the Jews themselves, who had formerly much desired such a change from
Pompey. Hitherto the administration of public affairs had been managed, under
the prince, by two councils, or courts of justice; the lesser, consisting of
twenty-three persons, was instituted in every city, and each of these lesser
councils was subject to the control of the great council, or Sanhedrin,[411] of
seventy-two members, sitting at Jerusalem. Both were suppressed by Gabinius, who
divided the country into five districts, appointing in each an executive council
for its government. These districts will be sufficiently indicated by the names
of the cities in which the respective councils sat--Jerusalem, Jericho, Gadara,
Amathus, and Sepphoris. This, in fact, changed the government into an
aristocracy, for all real power rested in the hands of the several councils,
composed of the principal persons of each district, and the power of the prince
was completely nullified. This form of government continued to the year 44 B.C.,
when Hyrcanus was restored to his former power by Julius Caesar. [411] This is
the first historical notice of such a council. The Jews deem that the council of
seventy elders appointed to assist Moses was afterward constantly maintained,
and that with it we are to identify the Sanhedrin of their later history. But if
such a body had existed, it is impossible but that its presence must have been
indicated, in the long intervening period, on some of the many occasions which
would have called for the exercise of its functions. That the Sanhedrin was
intended as an imitation of the council of the seventy elders, is very possible
and likely; but scarcely any one who has examined the matter closely imagines
that it had any earlier existence than the time of the Maccabees. The
high-priest was usually the president of this tribunal, and there were two
vice-presidents who sat the one on his right hand and the other on his left. The
members were--1. Those who were called “chief priests” in the Gospels. These
were partly priests, who had previously exercised the office of high-priests,
and partly of the heads of the twenty-four classes of priests, who were called
honorarily, high or chief-priests. 2. Elders, being the heads of tribes and of
large groups of allied families. 3. The scribes, or men of learning. It is to be
understood, however, that although all the chief priests had a seat in the
Sanhedrin, only those of the elders and scribes sat there who were elected to
fill up vacancies. There is no reason to doubt the assertion of the Talmudists,
that the Sanhedrin had secretaries and apparitors. The place in which this great
council sat in Jerusalem can not with any certainty be determined. The
Talmudists inform us that the council sat so as to form a semi-circle, of which
the president and two vice-presidents occupied the center. We learn from other
sources that they either sat upon the door, carpets being spread under them, or
upon cushions slightly elevated, with their knees bent and legs crossed as is
still the fashion in the East. Appeals from the municipal councils and other
matters of importance, were brought before this high council. Its powers were
much limited by the Romans; but in the time of Christ it still possessed the
power of trying offenders and of passing sentence; although when the penalty was
high or capital it was necessary that it should be confirmed by the Roman
governor, who also assumed the right or executing as his own the sentence which
he had confirmed. Roman Consul

ARISTOBULUS ESCAPES AND IS RECAPTURED About this time Aristobulus contrived to
escape from his captivity at Rome, with his younger son Antigonus, and returned
to Judea, where his presence excited a revolt. But he was ere long defeated,
taken captive with his son, and sent back to his former prison. The report which
Gabinius sent, however, of the services which the wife of Aristobulus had
rendered in suppressing her son Alexander's insurrection, procured the release
of all the family except Aristobulus himself. ALEXANDER FAILS AGAINST ROMANS In
56 B.C. Gabinius undertook to restore Ptolemy Auletes to the throne of Egypt. He
and Mark Anthony succeeded in this object, in which they received no slight
assistance from Hyrcanus; or rather from Antipater, who eagerly laid hold of
every opportunity of serving and ingratiating himself with the Romans, through
whose favor alone could he hope that his ambitious designs would ever be
realized. By his means the Roman army was most bountifully furnished with
provisions, arms, and money; and measures were taken to dispose the Jews of
Egypt to forward their cause, which they had large means of doing. While the
substantial force of the Romans was absent on this expedition, Alexander; the
son of Aristobulus, got together a large army, with which he contrived to make
himself master of Judea, and massacred all the Romans who had the misfortune to
fall in his way. Several fled to Mount Gerizim, and were there besieged by
Alexander, when Gabinius returned victorious from Egypt. The proconsul
endeavored, through Antipater, to make peace with him; but as, although many had
abandoned him on the approach of the Romans, he was still at the head of thirty
thousand men, he refused to listen to any terms of accommodation. In a battle,
which soon followed, near Mount Tabor, ten thousand of his men were slain, and
the rest dispersed. Gabinius then went to Jerusalem, and settled affairs there
according to the views of Antipater, who had much influence both with him and
Anthony. CRASSUS PLUNDERS TEMPLE In the year 55 the proconsul Gabinius was
recalled, to answer for the venality and extortion of his government. Yet he is
regretted by Josephus as one who was friendly to the Jews; who, however, had to
pay a high price for his friendship. They certainly gained nothing by the
exchange for the new proconsul, who was no other than the wealthy and avaricious
Crassus (the colleague of Pompey and Julius Caesar in the triumvirate), who
procured himself to be invested with unusually large powers, and who, being
consul for that year, embarked for Syria before his consulship expired. Crassus
was bent on an expedition against the Parthians; and he failed not, before his
departure, to plunder the temple at Jerusalem of all the treasures which Pompey
had spared. He took everything that he deemed worth taking, and the value of his
plunder is estimated at ten thousand talents. In the war against the Parthians,
which was entirely unexpected and unprovoked, Crassus was at first successful;
but in the end, he and his son were slain, and the Roman army disgraced, B.C.
53. CASSIUS GOVERNS SYRIA AND JUDAH Cassius, who had commanded a wing of the
Roman army in the battle, conducted a body of five hundred horse safely back to
Syria, the government of which devolved on him until a successor to Crassus
should be appointed. Having, with much ability, so organized the broken
resources of the province as to defend it successfully against the Parthian
invasion of 52 B.C., he afterward marched into Judea, and forced Alexander, who
began raising fresh disturbances as soon as the news of the defeat of Crassus
arrived in Syria, to terms of peace. POMPEY AND CAESAR BATTLE In the civil war
which broke out between Pompey and Caesar, Syria and Palestine were variously
involved. When Caesar passed the Rubicon in 49 B.C., and made himself master of
Rome, he thought that Aristobulus might be useful to his cause against that of
Pompey, which was strong in the east; and therefore sent him into Palestine,
with two legions under his command, to keep Syria in awe. But Pompey's party
contrived to poison him on the way, and thus frustrated the design. His
always-active son, Alexander, had raised forces in expectation of his father's
arrival; but Pompey sent orders to his son-in-law, Q. Metellus Scipio, whom he
had promoted to the government of Syria, to put him to death. He was accordingly
taken, brought to Antioch, tried, and beheaded. ANTIPATER GAINS FAVOR OF ROMANS
In the midst of all the causes of agitation in Judea--from the contests of the
Hasmonean princes--from the different characters of the governors of Syria--from
the march of armies--from the intrigues which divided courts and people in the
quarrel between Pompey and Caesar--Antipater never slept, was never found
wanting to himself. He had availed himself of his power over the feeble Hyrcanus
to make for himself a personal influence and reputation, through the services he
was thereby able to render to the various parties and persons whose friendship
might be useful to him. He was moreover the father of four sons, who understood
and concurred in his view--all of them brave, ambitious, magnificent, full of
spirit and high hopes. One of them, Phasael, was already governor of Jerusalem,
and another, Herod, was governor of Galilee. These, it will be perceived, were
two of the five districts into which the country had been divided by Gabinius.
Thus the family went on gathering strength from day to day, while the Hasmonean
family--through the imbecility of Hyrcanus, and the reverses of Aristobulus and
his sons--sustained a daily loss of power and influence. In the contest between
Pompey and Caesar, Antipater, who was under obligations to the former, was in a
critical and difficult position. But such men as he are never wrong. Their
felicitous instincts enable them to discover the falling cause in sufficient
time to make the abandonment of it a merit with him whose star is rising. Thus
Antipater turned in good time to the side of the new master; and in the Egyptian
campaign rendered important services to Caesar by bringing to his aid the forces
concentrated in Judea, Idumea, and part of Arabia; while in action he displayed
great abilities and courage, which no one knew better than Caesar how to
appreciate and respect. On his return from Egypt, the crown of which he had
fixed on the head of the too-celebrated Cleopatra, the eldest daughter of
Ptolemy Auletes, he went to Jerusalem, and there employed the absolute power he
possessed quite in subservience to the views and wishes of Antipater. In vain
did Antigonus, the surviving son of Aristobulus, appear, and plead that the
lives of his father and brother had been lost in his cause: he was heard coldly,
and dismissed as a troublesome person. Caesar abrogated the aristocratic
government which Gabinius had established ten years before, and confirmed
Hyrcanus in his full powers as high-priest and ethnarch. He ordered the
remission every sabbatic year of the annual tribute payable to the Romans: he
further conceded that the Jews should not, as formerly, be obliged to provide
winter quarters for the Roman troops, or to pay an equivalent in money; and he
granted such further privileges and immunities to the Jews throughout the
empire, that the Roman yoke became very light upon them for a time. Antipater
himself was appointed procurator of Judea for the Romans. The decree in which
these privileges were embodied was engraved on brass, and laid up in the capitol
at Rome and in the temples of Zidon, Tyre, and Ashkelon. Hyrcanus afterward
ventured; by ambassadors sent to Rome, to solicit permission to fortify
Jerusalem, and to rebuild the walls which Pompey had thrown down. This was
granted by Caesar, and immediately executed by Antipater. SANHEDRIN TOLD TO
ACCEPT HEROD Julius Caesar left the government of Syria in the hands of Sextus
Caesar, his relative, who was also well disposed toward the family of Antipater.
The promotion of his son Herod to be governor of Galilee has already been
noticed. He displayed great activity and daring in clearing his province of the
robbers by which it had been infested. But having put the leader of these
banditti, with several of his associates to death, by his own mere authority,
without any form of trial, the jealousy of several of the leading Jews was
awakened, and they obliged Hyrcanus to cite him to Jerusalem to answer for his
conduct before the Sanhedrin. He came arrayed in purple, with a numerous
retinue, and presented to Hyrcanus a letter from Sextus Caesar, commanding him
to acquit Herod under pain of his highest displeasure. The prince, who liked
Herod, was well enough inclined to this before, and the accusers were so damped
by the young man's audacity, as well as by the letter, which also intimidated
the Sanhedrin, that they all sat in awkward silence until one firm and honest
voice, that of Sameas, was heard rebuking the members of the council for their
cowardice and predicting that the day would come when Herod would refuse them
the pardon which they were then all too ready to extend to him. This was
verified in the end. When Sameas had spoken, the Sanhedrin exhibited some
inclination to act; but Hyrcanus adjourned the sitting, and gave Herod a hint to
quit Jerusalem. He repaired to Sextus Caesar at Damascus, and not only obtained
his protection, but received from him the government of all Coele-Syria on
condition of paying a stipulated tribute. On this Herod collected a small army,
and was with difficulty persuaded by his father and his brother Phasael from
marching to Jerusalem, to avenge himself for the insult he considered he had
received in being summoned before the Sanhedrin. THE CAESARS SLAIN The
assassination of Sextus Caesar in Syria, by Bassus, and of Caesar himself at
Rome, by Brutus, Cassius, and their confederates, rekindled the flames of civil
war, and might have prostrated the hopes of one less ductile than Antipater.
Cassius passed over into Syria to secure that important province for the
republic, and was compelled to exact heavy contributions to maintain the large
army he had raised. Judea was assessed at seven hundred talents, one half of
which Antipater commissioned his sons Phasael and Herod to raise, and entrusted
the collection of the other half to Malichus, a Jew, one of the chief supporters
of Hyrcanus. Herod won the favor of Cassius by the promptitude with which he
produced his quota; but Malichus, being more dilatory, would have been put to
death, had not Hyrcanus redeemed him by paying one hundred talents out of his
own coffers. There was something in this affair to kindle the smoldering
jealousy with which Malichus and the heads of the Jewish nation were disposed to
regard the concentration of all the real power of the government in the hands of
an Idumean and foreigner, as they regarded Antipater; and they plotted to
destroy him and all his family. Antipater was poisoned by a glass of wine given
to him at the very table of Hyrcanus: in revenge for which Phasael and Herod
procured Malichus to be put to death by the Roman garrison at Tyre, in obedience
to an order which they obtained from Cassius. HEROD ESPOUSED TO HIGH PRIEST
GRANDDAUGHTER The influence of Antipater over Hyrcanus being now withdrawn, the
adverse party soon succeeded in bringing him over to their views, by directing
his fears toward the overgrown and increasing power of the sons of Antipater.
Felix, the commander of the Roman forces at Jerusalem, was also led into the
same views; for by this time (42 B.C.) Cassius and Brutus had been defeated and
slain at Philippi by Anthony and Octavius. This party was, however, soon
mastered by the brothers, who recovered Masada and all the fortresses of which
it had obtained possession, and even dared to expel Felix from Jerusalem, as the
change of affairs produced by the battle of Philippi, rendered it unlikely that
the now dominant avengers of Caesar would resent the insult offered to one
employed by his slayers. They upbraided Hyrcanus for favoring a party which had
always sought to curb his power, which had been on all occasions supported by
the sagacious and firm counsels of Antipater. A reconciliation was, however,
soon effected, as Herod greatly wished to strengthen his pretensions by a
marriage with Miriam or Mariamne, the beautiful granddaughter of the
high-priest, to whom he was accordingly espoused. ANTIGONUS REBELLION STOPPED
But although the adverse party had been repressed, it was not extinguished; and
it soon found a new head in the person of Antigonus, the surviving son of
Aristobulus, whose unsuccessful application to Caesar has lately been noticed.
Nothing less was now professed than an intention to restore him to the throne of
his father, his claims to which were strongly supported by some neighboring
princes, and even by the Roman governor of Damascus, who had been won by a sum
of money. But when he arrived in Judea with his army, he was totally defeated by
Herod, and compelled for the present to relinquish his purpose. ANTHONY AND
HEROD SOLIDIFY POWER This was the state of affairs (B.C. 41) when, after the
battle of Philippi, Mark Anthony passed into Syria, to secure that important
province for the conquerors. The discontented party sent a deputation to him
soon after his arrival, to complain of the sons of Antipater. But Anthony who
had been already joined by Herod, and had accepted presents from him, was
indisposed toward them, especially when Herod reminded him of the services, well
known to himself, which Antipater had rendered to Gabinius in the expedition to
Egypt. About the same time Anthony received an embassy from Hyrcanus, touching
the ransom of the inhabitants of Gophna, Emmaus, Lydda, Thamma, and some other
places, whom Cassius had sold for slaves because they refused to pay their
portion of the seven hundred talents which he exacted. Anthony granted the
application, and notified his determination to the Tyrians, who had probably
purchased most of these persons, Tyre being a great mart for slaves. Nothing
discouraged by the former neglect, one hundred Jews of the first consideration
repaired to Anthony at Daphne near Antioch, to renew their complaints against
Herod and Phasael. Anthony gave them an audience, and then turning to Hyrcanus,
who was present, asked him, in their hearing, whom he esteemed most able to
conduct the affairs of the government, under himself. Influenced, probably, by
the recent contract of marriage between his grand-daughter and Herod, he named
the two brothers, on which Anthony conferred upon them the rank and power of
Tetrarchs, committed the affairs of Judea to their management, imprisoned
fifteen of the deputies, and would have put them to death, had not Herod
interceded for them. So things were managed in those times. With the usual
pertinency of the nation, the discontented Jews renewed the complaint at Tyre in
a body of a thousand deputies; but Anthony thought proper to treat this as a
tumultuous assembly, and ordered his soldiers to disperse it, which was not done
without bloodshed. Anthony was then on his way to Egypt. Summoned, on his first
arrival in Syria: to appear before him to account for the part she was alleged
to have taken in assisting Cassius, Cleopatra had not in vain exercised upon him
the fascinations by which Caesar had before been subdued. The story of Anthony's
thralldom to this charming but most unprincipled woman, is too familiar to need
more than the slight allusions which the connection of this history requires.
Lost in luxurious ease and dalliance, Anthony wasted much time at Alexandria,
leaving the affairs of Syria and Asia Minor to get into a state of confusion,
satisfying himself that by-and-by he would rouse himself to some great effort
which would set all right. ANTHONY KEEPS SYRIA AND REGION In the spring of the
year B.C. 40 the news from both Syria and Italy compelled the warrior to break
off the enchantment by which he was bound, and to look closely to his affairs.
In Syria, the people disgusted and exhausted by the successive exactions of
Cassius and Anthony, refused to bear them any longer. The people of Aradus
kindled the flame of opposition, by openly resisting the collectors of tribute,
which example was soon followed by others. They united themselves with the
Palmyrenes, and the princes whom Anthony had deposed, and called to the
Parthians for aid. They gladly responded to the call, and entered the country in
great numbers under the command of their king's son Pacorus, and of a Roman
general (Labienus) who had belonged to the party of Pompey. The king with one
division of the army took possession of Syria, while Labienus with another
performed the same service in Syria. Anthony was made perfectly acquainted with
this when he reached Tyre; but the news which he also received from Italy so
much more nearly concerned his personal prosperity, that he immediately embarked
for that country. On his arrival, affairs between him and Octavius wore, for a
time, a threatening aspect. But the opportune death of Anthony's wife Fulvia
allowed an opening for intermarriages between Anthony, Octavius, and Lepidus,
and peace between the triumvirs was for a time restored. They then divided the
Roman empire among themselves. Anthony received Syria and the East, Lepidus
obtained Africa, and Octavius all the West, B.C. 40. ANTIGONUS MADE KING AND
HYRCANUS DISQUALIFIED Meanwhile the Parthians, having made themselves masters of
Syria, as related, began to take part in the affairs of Palestine. Pacorus was
induced by the offer of one thousand talents in money, and five hundred women,
to undertake to place Antigonus on the throne of Judea. To put this contract in
execution he furnished a body of soldiers, under the command of his cup-bearer,
who also bore the name of Pacorus, to assist the operations of Antigonus. The
united force found no effectual resistance until it reached Jerusalem, where the
struggle was protracted without any decisive results. But at length it was
agreed between the real belligerents to admit the Parthian commander within the
city, to act as umpire between them. Phasael (the governor of Jerusalem) invited
him to his own house, and allowed himself to be persuaded that the best course
that could be taken would be for him and Hyrcanus to go and submit the matter in
dispute to the arbitration of Barzapharnes, the Parthian governor of Syria. They
went notwithstanding the dissuasions of the less confiding Herod. Barzapharnes
treated them with great attention and respect, until he supposed that sufficient
time had elapsed to enable Pacorus to secure Herod at Jerusalem, when he
immediately put them in chains, and shut them up in prison. But Herod,
suspecting the treachery of the Parthians, withdrew with his family by night
from Jerusalem, and repaired to the strong fortress of Masada, situated upon a
high mountain west of the Dead sea. On finding that Herod had escaped, the
Parthians plundered the country, made Antigonus king according to their
contract, and departed, leaving Hyrcanus and Phasael in his hands. Phasael,
feeling assured that he was doomed to death, dashed out his brains against his
prison walls: the life of his aged uncle was spared by the nephew; but he cut
off his ears to disqualify him from ever again acting as high-priest, and thus
mutilated, sent him back to the safe keeping of the Parthians, who sent him to
Seleucia on the Tigris. HEROD MADE KING In this seemingly desperate state of his
affairs, for to the great body of the Jews themselves Antigonus appears to have
been more acceptable than he, Herod repaired to Egypt, and took ship at
Alexandria for Rome. He was warmly welcomed by Anthony, by whom he was
introduced to Octavius, who was induced to notice him favorably by the report of
the very great services which Antipater had rendered to his grand-uncle (and
adoptive father) Caesar, in the Egyptian expedition. The object of Herod's
journey was to induce the Romans to raise to the throne of Judea Aristobulus,
the brother of his espoused Mariamne. This Aristobulus was the son of Alexandra,
the daughter of Hyrcanus, by Alexander the eldest son of Aristobulus, so that he
seemed to unite in his person the claims of both branches of the Hasmonean
family. For himself, Herod proposed to govern the country under Aristobulus, as
his father had governed it under Hyrcanus. But Anthony suggested the startling
idea of making Herod himself king of Judea; and noticing the eagerness with
which he grasped at the glittering bait, he undertook, on the promise of a sum
of money, to secure this object for him. He easily induced Octavius to concur
with him; and their joint representations secured the appointment from the
senate. Accordingly, during the consulship of Demetrius Calvinus and Asinius
Pollio, in the one hundred and eighty-fourth Olympiad, in the year B.C. 40, the
man who had a few weeks before been on the point of destroying himself from
sheer despair of his fortunes, was conducted to the Capitol between the two
foremost men in the world, Anthony and Octavius, and there consecrated king,
with idolatrous sacrifices. All this was so soon accomplished, that Herod
departed from Rome seven days after his arrival, and landed at Ptolemais only
three months after his flight from Jerusalem. If the Parthians had still been in
possession of Syria, it would have availed him little to have been made a king
at Rome; but by the time of his return they had already been driven out of Syria
by the Romans, and had withdrawn beyond the Euphrates. ANTIGONUS FAILS SIEGE OF
MASADA Herod diligently applied himself to the collecting such a force as might
enable him, to relieve the friends he had left in Masada, who had all the while
been closely besieged by Antigonus, and were at one time reduced to such
extremities for want of water, that they had fully intended to surrender the
next day, when an abundant fall of rain during the intervening night filled all
the cisterns and enabled them to hold out until Herod came to their relief.
HEROD HAD LITTLE CONTROL OF SOLDIERS Three years elapsed before Herod can be
said to have obtained possession of the throne which the Romans had given to
him. The assistance which the Romans themselves rendered is of questionable
value, as at first the generals appointed to assist him would only act just as
money induced them; and under pretence that the forces wanted provisions,
ravaged the country in such a manner as was well calculated to render his cause
odious to the Jews. One good service to the land was performed in the
extirpation of the numerous bands of robbers which infested Galilee, dwelling
chiefly in the caverns of the hill country, and which were so numerous as
sometimes to give battle to the troops in the open field. They were, however,
pursued with fire and sword, in all their difficult retreats, and after great
numbers had been slain, the rest sought refuge beyond Jordan. JERUSALEM TAKEN BY
SIEGE AND STORM The arrival of Anthony in Syria enabled Herod to obtain more
efficient assistance than before; and, after having subdued the open country,
he, with his Roman auxiliaries, sat down before Jerusalem. During this siege he
consummated his marriage with Mariamne, to whom he had four years before been
betrothed. He was not only passionately attached to this lady, but he hoped that
the affinity thus contracted with the Hasmonean family, which was still very
popular among the Jews, would conciliate the people to his government. The city
held out for six months, whereby the Romans were so greatly exasperated that
when at last (B.C. 27) they took it by storm, they plundered the town and
massacred the inhabitants without mercy. Herod complained that they were going
to make him king of a desert; and paid down a large sum of money to induce them
to desist. Antigonus surrendered himself in rather a cowardly manner to the
Roman general (Sosius), and, throwing himself at his feet, besought his clemency
with so much abjectness, that the Roman repelled him with contempt, addressing
him by the name of Antigona, as if unworthy a man's name. He sent him to
Anthony, who at first intended to reserve him for his triumph; but, being
assured by Herod that while Antigonus lived the Jews generally would not
acknowledge himself as king, or cease to raise disturbances on his behalf and
this representation being backed by a sum of money, Anthony put him to death at
Antioch, by the rods and the axe of the lictor[412] --an indignity which the
Romans had never before inflicted upon a crowned head. Thus ignominiously ended
the dynasty of the Hasmoneans, one hundred and twenty-six years after its
glorious commencement. Herod commenced his reign by cutting off all the heads of
the Hasmonean party, not only to secure himself in the throne, but, by the
confiscation of their property, to enrich his coffers, which were well exhausted
by his profuse expenditure, and by the rapacity of the Romans. In this process
all the members of the Sanhedrin perished, except Pollio and Sameas, which last,
it will be remembered, had predicted this result. The ground on which they were
spared was, that they alone had counselled submission to the course of events,
by surrendering the city to Herod; whereas the others were constantly
encouraging each other and the citizens in the now vain expectation that Jehovah
would, as of old, interpose for the deliverance of his temple.[413] [412] An
officer that carried an ax and rods as insignia of his position. He would attend
the chief magistrates when they were in public, clearing the way, enforcing
respect, catching and punishing criminals [413] This Pollio and Sameas of
Josephus are the famous Hillel and Shammai of the Rabbinical writers--two of the
most eminent of the ancient doctors of the nation. Hillel was of the royal line
of David, being descended from Shephatiah, David's son by Abital (1 Chronicles
3:3). He was born in Babylonia, and came to Jerusalem in the fortieth year of
his age; and for his eminence in the study of the law, he was appointed
president of the Sanhedrin, forty years after, in the eightieth year of his age,
and held that high station for forty years more; and it continued in his family
to the tenth generation. He was succeeded by Simeon, supposed to be the same who
took Christ in his arms when he was presented in the temple (Luke 2:22-35). His
son Gamaliel was president of the Sanhedrin when Peter and the apostles were
summoned before them (Acts 5:34); “at whose feet” the Apostle Paul was “brought
up,” or educated, in the sect and discipline of the Pharisees (Acts 23:3). He
lived until within eighteen years of the destruction of Jerusalem, and in the
Jewish writings is distinguished by the title of Gamaliel the Old. He was
succeeded by Simeon II, who perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. His son
was Gamaliel II, and his again Simeon III. He was succeeded by his son, the
celebrated R. Judah Hakkadosh, or “the holy,” who committed the traditional law
to writing, in the Mishna. His son and successor was Gamaliel III; after him
Judah Gemaricus; after him Hillel II, the ingenious compiler of the present
Jewish Calendar, A.D. 358. Shammai had been a disciple of Hillel, and approached
the nearest to him in learning and eminence of all the Mishnical doctors. He was
vice-president of the Sanhedrin, and disagreed in several points with his master
Hillel was of a mild and conciliatory temper; but Shammai of an angry and fierce
spirit. Hence proceeded violent disputes and contests between the two schools,
which at length ended in bloodshed. At last they were allayed by a fictitious
Bath Col, or voice from heaven, deciding to favor of Hillel, to which the school
of Shammai submitted. See Hales, ii. 593. Persons acquainted with the matters in
controversy between the schools of Hillel and Shammai will find various marked
allusions to them in the Gospels, and although less frequently, in the Epistles.
ANANEL THEN ARISTOBULUS MADE HIGH PRIESTS Herod, sensible that the Jews would
not tolerate his own assumption of the high-priesthood in the room of Antigonus,
designed to render that office politically insignificant, and therefore
appointed it to Ananel of Babylon, an obscure priest, although descended from
the ancient high-priests, and who was entirely without influence or connections
to render him dangerous (B.C. 36). This appointment occasioned confusion in his
own family; for Mariamne his wife, and Alexandra her mother, took umbrage at the
exclusion of her brother Aristobulus--the same youth for whose brows he had
originally designed the diadem which he had himself been induced to assume.
Mariamne was constantly harassing him on the subject; and her mother Alexandra,
a woman of great spirit, went much further, for she complained to Cleopatra,
queen of Egypt, by letter, and had begun to engage the interest of Anthony
himself in the matter, when Herod saw that it was necessary to his domestic
peace and public safety that he should depose Ananel and promote Aristobulus to
his office, who was then but seventeen years of age. He was, however, so
seriously displeased at the bold step which Alexandra had taken, that he ordered
her to be confined in her own palace, and placed around her some of his
confidential servants to watch all her movements. She wrote to Cleopatra,
complaining of this treatment, and in reply was advised to make her escape to
Egypt. Accordingly she arranged that herself and Aristobulus should be placed in
two coffins, and carried by attached servants to the seacoast, where a ship was
waiting to receive them. But their flight was intercepted by Herod, whom,
however, the fear of Cleopatra prevented from treating them with harshness. He,
however, secretly resolved to put Aristobulus out of the way, as a person whose
influence he had great reason to dread. ARISTOBULUS DROWNED This intention was
strengthened when he perceived how dangerously the discharge of his functions
brought under the admiring notice of the Jews this beautiful fragment of the
Maccabean race, in which they were delighted to trace out the noble qualities
and lineaments by which that race had been distinguished. At the feast of
tabernacles Aristobulus officiated at the altar in the splendid robes of the
high-priest, which set off to such advantage the angelic grace and beauty of his
youthful person, that the Jews could not contain themselves, but gave vent to
the most lively demonstrations of their admiration and love. This sealed his
doom. Soon after, Herod engaged Aristobulus, with suitable companions of his own
age, in a variety of sports and entertainments at Jericho. Among other things
they bathed in a lake, where the young men kept immersing Aristobulus, as if in
sport, until he was drowned. Loud were the lamentations of Herod at this most
unhappy “accident.” By these, and by the grand funeral with which he honored the
remains of Aristobulus, and by the trophies with which he surcharged his tomb,
he sought to disguise from the people the real character of this transaction.
But they were not deceived. The deed inspired the whole nation with hatred and
horror, which even his own family shared. As to Alexandra, her emotions were so
overpowering that only the hope of vengeance enabled her to live. HYRCANUS
RETURNS TO JERUSALEM Old Hyrcanus was at this time in Jerusalem. He had been,
and might have remained, very happily situated at Seleucia, where he was treated
by the Jews in that quarter, who were more numerous and more wealthy than those
of Judea, as their king and high-priest; in which point of view he was also
considered and respected by the Parthian king. But when the fears and suspicions
of Herod extended even to him, and, desiring to get him into his power, he sent,
and invited him to come and spend the evening of his days in his own land, and
with his own family, and engaged the Parthian king to permit him to do
so--Hyrcanus, who liked Herod, and had great confidence in his gratitude, could
not be dissuaded by the earnest remonstrances and entreaties of his eastern
friends; but returned to Jerusalem, where he was well received, and until a more
convenient season, treated by Herod with attention and respect. CLEOPATRA GIVEN
COELE-SYRIA Anthony was now again in Syria, and on his arrival had invited
Cleopatra to join him at Laodicea. Alexandra again applied to Cleopatra; and she
took much interest in the matter--not from any strong natural feelings--for she
had herself committed crimes as great, but in the hope of inducing Anthony to
add Judea to her dominions if Herod were disgraced. She therefore brought the
affair under the notice of Anthony; and as he could not but remember that Herod
had originally sought for the murdered youth the crown he now wore himself, he
was induced to summon him to Laodicea to answer for his conduct. Herod was
obliged to obey, and was not without anxiety for the result. He however took
care so to propitiate Anthony beforehand, by the profusion of his gifts, that on
his arrival he was immediately acquitted, and the avarice of Cleopatra was in
some degree appeased by the assignment of Coele-Syria to her, in lieu of Judea,
of which she had always been, and soon again became covetous, B.C. 34. HEROD HAS
MARITAL PROBLEMS Before his departure from Jerusalem, Herod, uncertain of the
result, had left private instructions with his uncle Joseph (who had married his
sister Salome) to put Mariamne to death in case he was condemned, for he knew
that Anthony had heard much of her extreme beauty, and feared that he might take
her to himself, after his death. Joseph had the great imprudence to divulge this
secret to Mariamne herself, representing it, however, as resulting from the
excess of her husband's love to her. But she rather regarded it as a proof of so
savage a nature, that she conceived an unconquerable repugnance toward him. Soon
after a rumor came that he had been put to death by Anthony; on which Alexandra,
who was now also acquainted with the barbarous orders left with Joseph, was
preparing to seek protection with the Roman legion stationed in the city, when
letters from Herod himself, announcing his acquittal and speedy return, induced
them to relinquish their design. The firebrand of the family was Salome, the
sister of Herod, and she failed not to apprize her brother of this intention, as
well as to insinuate that too close an intimacy had subsisted between Mariamne
and Joseph. Salome had been, it seems, provoked to hatred of this highborn lady,
by the hauteur[414] with which she had been looked down upon and treated as an
inferior by her. Although struck with jealousy, the king allowed his deep love
for Mariamne to subdue him, when all her beauty shone once more upon him. He
could only bring himself to question her gently, and was satisfied from her
answers, and from the conscious innocence of her manner, that she had been
maligned. Afterward, while assuring her of the sincerity and ardor of his love
toward her, she tauntingly reminded him of the proof of that which he had given
in his orders to Joseph. This most imprudent disclosure rekindled all the
jealousy of Herod. Convinced that the charge which he had heard was true, he
flung her from his arms; Joseph he ordered to be put to death, without admitting
him to his presence; and although his love for Mariamne at this time restrained
his rage against her, he put her mother Alexandra into custody, as the cause of
all these evils. [414] Haughty manner, arrogance HEROD REPELS CLEOPATRA'S
INTRIGUES The disgraceful history of Anthony in Egypt is familiar to the reader;
and it is only needful to advert to one or two points in which Herod and
Palestine were more or less involved. In B.C. 33 Jerusalem was “honored” with a
visit from Cleopatra, on her return from the banks of the Euphrates, whither she
had accompanied Anthony on his Armenian expedition. Before this she had
succeeded in persuading Anthony--although he steadily refused wholly to
sacrifice Herod to her ambition--to give her the fertile territories around
Jericho, the celebrated balsam afforded by which, together with the palm-tees in
which it abounded, furnished a considerable revenue, the deprivation of which
could not but have given great offence to Herod. The means which this abandoned
woman used, during her stay at Jerusalem, to bring the king under the spell of
those fascinations for which, more than for her beauty, she was celebrated,
added, in his mind, disgust and contempt to the sense of wrong; and although he
received and entertained her with the most sedulous attention and apparent
respect, he had it seriously in consideration whether, seeing she was wholly in
his power, he could safely compass the death of one who had more than once
endeavored to accomplish his own. The dread of Anthony's vengeance deterred him,
and he conducted the queen with honor to the frontiers of her own kingdom, after
having endeavored to propitiate her cupidity by ample gifts. But nothing could
satiate her thirst for gain and aggrandizement, and her plots to gain possession
of Judea were continued, and could hardly have been defeated by a less
accomplished master in her own arts than Herod “the Great.” One time she engaged
Anthony to commit to him a hazardous war on her account with the Arabian king
reigning in Petra, calculating that the death of either of them would enable her
to appropriate his dominions. Herod gained one battle; but he lost another
through the defection of the Egyptian general at a critical moment of the
conflict. Herod was, however, ultimately successful, and won great honor by a
signal and effective victory, which brought the Arabians of Seir under his
dominion. EARTHQUAKE AND ANTHONY DEFEATED BY OCTAVIUS The same year (B.C. 31)
had opened with an earthquake so tremendous as had never before been known in
Judea: it is said that not fewer than thirty thousand persons were either
swallowed up in the chasms which opened in the earth, or destroyed by the fall
of their houses. The confusion and loss which this calamity occasioned greatly
troubled the king, and not long after he found (as far as his own interests were
concerned) a more serious matter of anxiety in the result of the battle of
Actium (Sept. 2d., B.C. 31), when Octavius obtained a decided victory over
Anthony, who fled to Egypt, as his last retreat. Herod did not exhibit any
blameworthy alacrity in abandoning the patron of his fortunes. He sent by a
special messenger to exhort him to put to immediate death the woman who had been
his ruin, seize her treasures and kingdom, and thus obtain means of raising
another army, with which either once more to contend for empire, or at least to
secure a more advantageous peace than he could otherwise expect. But finding
that Anthony paid no heed to this proposal, and neglected his own offers of
service, he thought it was high time to take care of himself, by detaching his
fortunes from one whose utter ruin he saw to be inevitable. Therefore when
Octavius, early in B.C. 30, had come to Rhodes, on his way to Egypt, he went
thither to him. HYRCANUS EXECUTED BY HEROD But before his departure he made such
arrangements as showed, after his own peculiar manner, the sense he entertained
of the serious importance of the present contingencies. He placed his mother,
sister, wives, and children, in the strong fortress of Masada, under the care of
his brother Pheroras. But seeing that Mariamne and her mother Alexandra could
not agree with his mother and sister, he placed them separately in the fortress
of Alexandrium, under the care of a trusty Idumean named Sohemus, with secret
orders to put them both to death, if Octavius should treat him harshly; and
that, in concurrence with Pheroras, he should endeavor to secure the crown for
his children. And, fearful that the existence and presence of Hyrcanus might
suggest the obvious course of deposing himself and restoring the original
occupant of the throne, he was glad of the opportunity of putting him to death,
with the faint show of justice which might be derived from the detected design
of the old man (instigated by his daughter Alexandra), to make his escape to the
Arabian king Malchus, the most active of Herod's foreign enemies, and the son of
that king Aretas who had formerly invaded Judea for the purpose of restoring
Hyrcanus to the throne which his brother had usurped. Hyrcanus was eighty years
of age when he was thus made to experience the heartless ingratitude of the man
who owed life and all things to his favor. HEROD RETAINS CROWN UNDER OCTAVIUS On
his arrival at Rhodes, Herod conducted himself with the tact of no common man.
When admitted to an audience he frankly acknowledged all he had done for
Anthony, and all he would still have done had his services been accepted. He
even stated the last counsel which he had given to that infatuated man; and
having thus enabled Octavius to judge how faithful he was to his friends, he
offered him that friendship which the conduct of Anthony left him free to offer.
Octavius was charmed by this manly frankness; and, mindful of Antipater's
services to Julius Caesar, and of the part which he had himself taken in placing
Herod on the throne, his overtures were received with pleasure, and he was
directed again to take up and wear on his head the diadem which he had laid
aside when he entered the presence. By this significant intimation he was
confirmed in his kingdom; and then and after he was treated with a degree of
consideration not usually paid to tributary kings. HEROD MURDERS WIFE MARIAMNE
Meanwhile Mariamne had, by her address, managed to extract from Sohemus the
acknowledgment of the last directions concerning her which he had received from
Herod. The consequence was that although she concealed her knowledge of the
fact, she received him on his return with coldness and dislike, which offended
him highly; and, presuming on the depth of his affection for her, she continued
long to maintain a degree of haughtiness and reserve which greatly aggravated
his displeasure. After Herod had been fluctuating for a whole year between love
and resentment, Mariamne one day brought matters to a crisis by her pointed
refusal to receive his love, and by her upbraiding him with the murder of her
grandfather and brother. Enraged beyond further endurance, Herod immediately
ordered her confidential eunuch to be put to the torture, that he might discover
the cause of her altered conduct; but the tortured wretch could only say that it
probably arose from some communication which Sohemus had made to her. This hint
sufficed; as he concluded that Sohemus must have been too intimate with her, or
that he would not have revealed the secret with which he had been entrusted.
Sohemus was immediately seized and put to death; Marianne herself was then
accused by Herod of adultery before judges of his own selection, by whom she was
condemned, but with a conviction that their sentence of death would not be
executed. Neither would it, probably, but for the intervention of Cypros the
mother of Herod, and Salome his sister, who, fearing he might relent, suggested
that by delay occasion for a popular commotion in her favor might be given. She
was therefore led to immediate execution, and met her death with the firmness
which became her race, although assailed on the way by the violent and indecent
reproaches of her own mother Alexandra, who now began to be seriously alarmed
for her own safety. She, however, did not long escape; for when Herod fell sick
the next year (B.C. 28), from the poignancy of his remorse and anguish at the
loss of Marianne, she laid a plot for seizing the government; but it was
disclosed to Herod by the officers whose fidelity she endeavored to corrupt, and
he instantly ordered her to be put to death. HEROD AWARDED EXTRA DISTRICTS We
must return to an earlier year, to notice that Octavius passed through Syria on
his way to Egypt, and that Herod went to meet him at Ptolemais, where he
entertained him and his army with the most profuse magnificence. Besides this he
presented the emperor with eight hundred talents, and furnished large supplies
of bread, wine, and other provisions, for the march through the desert, where
the army might have been much distressed for the want of such necessaries. He
accompanied the army himself through the desert to Pelusium. On the return of
Octavius the same way, after the death of Anthony and Cleopatra, and the
reduction of Egypt to the condition of a Roman province, he was received and
entertained with the same truly royal liberality and magnificence, by which he
was so gratified that, in return, he presented Herod with the four thousand
Gauls who had formed the body-guard of Cleopatra, and also restored to him the
districts and towns of which the principality had been divested by Pompey and
Anthony. OCTAVIUS BECOMES AUGUSTUS In B.C. 27, four years after the battle of
Actium, Octavius received from the flattery of the senate the name--or rather
the title which became a name--of Augustus, and with it all the powers of the
state. That he might not, however, seem to assume all the authority to himself,
he divided the empire into two parts, the quiet and peaceable portions he
assigned to the senate, to be governed by consular and praetorian officers;
these were called senatorial; but the turbulent and insecure provinces which lay
on the outskirts of the empire, he reserved for himself; these were called
imperial, and were governed by presidents and procurators. This was one of the
strokes of deep statesmanship which distinguish the history of Augustus Caesar,
for under the appearance of leaving to the senate the most settled and easily
governed provinces, he secured in his own hands the whole military power of the
empire, which was necessarily stationed in the comparatively unsettled imperial
provinces to retain them in subjection--such as Egypt, Syria, Phoenicia,
Silicia, and Cyprus, in the east, and Spain in the west. HEROD EXECUTES
COSTABARUS In the year B.C. 25, Herod found an opportunity of cutting off the
last branch of the Hasmonean race. His turbulent sister Salome, having fallen
out with her second husband Costabarus, the governor of Idumea and Gaza, she
took the liberty of sending him a bill of divorce, in conformity with the Roman
customs, but contrary to the Mosaical law and usage, which confined that
privilege to her husband (Deuteronomy 24:1-2, etc., Matthew 5:31); and she then
returned to her brother, before whom she cunningly ascribed her conduct to the
fact that Costabarus, in conjunction with some chiefs of the Hasmonean party,
had entered into a conspiracy against him. In proof of this, she stated that he
kept to concealment the sons of Babas, whom Herod had, at the taking of
Jerusalem, entrusted to him to be destroyed. The sons of Babas were found in the
retreat indicated by Salome, and put to death; and, taking all the rest for
granted, the king ordered Costabarus and his alleged associates to be
immediately executed. JEWS BEGIN REVOLTING AGAINST HEROD The Hasmonean family
being now extirpated, root and branch, and no person being in existence whose
claims to the throne could be considered superior to his own, Herod ventured to
manifest a greater disregard for the law of Moses, and more attachment to
heathenish customs than he had previously deemed safe. He began by abolishing
some of the ceremonies which the former required, and by introducing not a few
of the latter. He then proceeded to build a magnificent theater in the city, and
a spacious amphitheater in the suburbs, where he instituted public games, which
were celebrated every fifth year in honor of Augustus. In order to draw the
larger concourse on these occasions, proclamation of the approaching games were
made, not only in his own dominions, but in neighboring provinces and distant
kingdoms. Gladiators, wrestlers, and musicians, were invited from all parts of
the world, and prizes of great value were proposed to the victors. These games,
and more especially the combats between men and wild beasts, were highly
displeasing to the Jews; who also viewed with a jealous eye the trophies with
which the places of public entertainment were adorned, regarding them as coming
within the interdiction of idolatrous images by the Mosaical law. In vain did
Herod endeavor to overcome their dislike. Connected with other causes of
discontent, old and new, it increased daily, and at last grew to such a height
that ten of the most zealous malcontents, including one blind man, formed a
conspiracy, and assembled, with daggers concealed under their garments, for the
purpose of assassinating Herod when he entered the theater. They had brought
their minds to a state of indifference to the result; for they were persuaded
that if they failed, their death could not but render the tyrant more odious to
the people, and thus equally work out the object they sought. Nor were they
quite mistaken. Their design was discovered; and they were put to death with the
most cruel tortures. But when the mob indicated their view of the matter--their
hatred of himself, and sympathy with the intended assassins--by literally
tearing the informer in pieces, and throwing his flesh to the dogs, Herod was
exasperated to the uttermost. By torture, he compelled some women to name the
principal persons who were concerned in this transaction, all of whom were
hurried off to instant death together with their innocent families. This
crowning act of savageness rendered the tyrant so perfectly detestable to his
subjects, that be began very seriously to contemplate the possibility of a
general revolt, and to take his measures accordingly. He built new fortresses
and fortified towns throughout the land, and strengthened those that previously
existed. In this he did more than the original inducement required; for Herod
was a man of taste, and had quite a passion for building and improvements so
that in the course of his long reign the country assumed a greatly improved
appearance, through the number of fine towns and magnificent public works and
buildings which he erected. In this respect there had been no king like him
since Solomon; and if he could have reigned in peace, if domestic troubles,
opposition from his subjects, and the connection with the Romans, had not called
into active operation all the darker features of his character, it is easy to
conceive that his reign might have been very happy and glorious. HEROD'S
BUILDING PROGRAM He rebuilt Samaria, or rather completed the rebuilding of it
which Gabinius had begun. His attention seems to have been drawn to its
excellent site, and strong military position; and, from the magnificent scale on
which it was restored, we conceive that he contemplated the possibility of
withdrawing his court to it, in the very likely contingency of being unable to
maintain himself at Jerusalem. He gave the completed city the name of
Sebaste--the name, in Greek, of his great patron Augustus. He also built Gaba in
Galilee, and Heshbon in Perea; besides many others which he called by the names
of the different members of his own family--as, Antipatris, from the name of his
father Antipater; Cypron, near Jericho, after his mother Cypros (who was
descended from an Arabian family, although born at Ashkelon in Palestine); and
Phasaelis, in the plains of Jericho, after his brother Phasael. In most of these
cities he planted colonies of his foreign soldiers, to hold the country in
subjection. To extend his fame, Herod even built numerous splendid edifices, and
made large improvements in cities beyond the limits of his own dominion--such as
gymnasiums at Ptolemais, Tripolis, and Damascus; the city walls at Bibulus;
porticoes, or covered walls, at Tyre, Beyrutus, and Antioch; bazars and theaters
at Zidon and Damascus; an aqueduct at Laodicea on the sea; and baths,
reservoirs, and porticoes, at Ashkelon. He also made groves in several cities;
to others he made rich presents, or furnished endowments for the support of
their games; and by such means his fame was widely spread in the Roman empire.
At Jerusalem Herod built himself a splendid palace, on Mount Zion, the site of
the original fortress of Jebus, and of the citadel which had so much annoyed the
Jews during the Maccabean wars. It was in the Grecian style of architecture, and
two large and sumptuous apartments in it Herod named Caesareum, in honor of the
emperor, and Agrippeum, after his favorite Agrippa. We receive a better idea of
the largeness of Herod's views, however, by his building the town and forming
the harbor at what he named Caesarea. The site had formerly been marked by a
castle called Strato's tower, on the coast between Dora and Joppa. Here he made
the most convenient and safest port to be found on all the coast of Phoenicia
and Palestine, by running out a vast semi-circular mole or breakwater, of great
depth and extent, into the sea, so as to form a spacious and secure harbor
against the stormy winds from the south and west, leaving only an entrance into
it from the north. This soon became a noted point of departure from, and
entrance into, Palestine; and, as such, is often mentioned in the Acts of the
Apostles. It also acquired a new importance as the seat of government after
Judea became an imperial province; Caesarea being then the usual residence of
the procurator. HEROD'S PROVISIONS IN FAMINE In the year B.C. 22, the want of
the usual rains in Syria and Palestine produced a severe famine, which was
followed by a pestilence that carried off great multitudes of the people. Herod
behaved nobly on this occasion. He exhausted his treasury and even the silver
plate of his table in purchasing provisions from Egypt, and in buying wool for
clothing, as most of the sheep of the country had been slaughtered in the
dearth. This bounty was not confined to his own dominions, but extended to the
neighboring Syrians. By this conduct so much of gratitude and kind feeling
toward him was produced; as only the continued and growing tyranny of his
subsequent reign could obliterate. HEROD PREPARES TO MARRY ANOTHER MARIAMNE The
next year Herod contracted a marriage with another Mariamne, the daughter of the
priest Simon. To pave the way for this alliance, the king removed the existing
high-priest, Jesus the son of Phabet, and invested the father of Mariamne with
that once high office. Herod next began to build a castle; which he called
Herodium, on a small round hill, near the place where he repulsed the Parthians,
under the cupbearer Pacorus, when they pursued him on his flight from Jerusalem.
The situation and the protection which the castle offered were so inviting, that
numbers of opulent people began to build themselves houses around, so that in a
short time the spot was occupied by a fair city. Oriental Builders

HEROD HONORED BY AUGUSTUS About this time Herod might be deemed to have attained
the summit of all his wishes. Strong in the favor of the emperor, he was feared,
if not loved, by the people under his rule, and respected by the Roman governors
and by the neighboring princes and kings. Of the favor and confidence of
Augustus he received proofs which were of high value to him. As a reward for his
services in clearing the country of robbers, the valuable districts of
Trachonitis, Auranitis, and Batanea, beyond Jordan, were added to his dominion;
and, what was perhaps more for his personal influence and honor, he was soon
after named the emperor's procurator in Syria, and orders were given to the
governor of that great province to undertake nothing of importance without his
knowledge and advice. Herod also procured from the emperor the dignity of a
tetrarch for his only surviving brother, Pheroras; for Herod himself had given
him a territory in Perea beyond Jordan, with a revenue of one hundred talents,
to order that he might live in a style suitable to his birth, without being
dependant on the king's successor. As some acknowledgment for all these favors,
Herod built a temple of white marble at Paneas (Banias, the sources of the
Jordan), and dedicated it to Augustus. But this act, and others of a similar
character, were so highly offensive to the Jews, that, to pacify them, Herod was
obliged to remit a portion of their tribute. HEROD PLANS TO REBUILD TEMPLE It
seems likely that the reflections made upon his conduct in building heathen
temples first drew his attention to the condition of Jehovah'stemple at
Jerusalem, which in the lapse of time had gone much out of repair, and had
sustained great damage during the civil wars. He was then led to form the bold
design of pulling it down and rebuilding it entirely on a more magnificent
scale. To this he was induced not only from the magnificence of his ideas, his
love of building, and the desire of fame, but also to conciliate the good
opinion of his discontented subjects, and create a new interest in the
continuance of his life and welfare. Herod made his proposal in a general
assembly of the people at Jerusalem, probably at the Passover, in the year B.C.
19, the eighteenth of his reign. The people were much startled by the offer.
They recognized the grandeur of the undertaking, and the need and benefit of it;
but they were fearful that, after he had taken down the old building, he might
be unable or unwilling to build the new. To meet this objection, Herod undertook
not to demolish the old temple until all the materials required for the new one
were collected on the spot; and on these terms his offer was accepted with as
much satisfaction as the Jews were capable of deriving from any of his acts.
Herod kept his word. A thousand carts were speedily at work in drawing stones
and materials; ten thousand of the most skilful workmen were brought together;
and a thousand priests were so far instructed in masonry and carpentry as might
enable them to expedite and superintend the work. After two years had been spent
in these preparations, the old temple was pulled down, and the new one commenced
in the year B.C. 17. And with such vigor was the work carried on, that the
sanctuary, or, in effect, the proper temple, was finished in a year and a half,
and the rest of the temple, containing the outer buildings, colonnades, and
porticoes, in eight years more, so as to be then fit for divine service,
according to the king's intention, B.C. 7. But the expense of finishing and
adorning the whole continued to be long after carried on from the sacred
treasury, until the fatal government of Gessius Florus, in the year A.D. 62.
Hence, during the ministry of Christ (A.D. 28), the Jews said to him, “Forty and
six years hath this temple been in building, and wilt thou erect it in three
days?” (John 2:20.) HEROD'S SONS By the first Mariamne, Herod had two sons,
Alexander and Aristobulus, whom he sent to be educated at Rome, where they
remained three years, under the immediate inspection of Augustus, who had kindly
lodged them in his own palace. Two years after the foundation of the temple,
Herod went to Rome himself, to pay his respects to the emperor, and take back to
Judea his sons, whose education was now complete. He was received with unusual
friendliness by Augustus, and was entertained with much distinction during his
stay. Soon after his return he married the elder of the brothers to Glaphyra,
the daughter of Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, and the younger to Berenice, the
daughter of his own notorious sister Salome. Now it happened that both the young
men inherited a full share of the pride and hauteur of their mother Mariamne,
and were disposed to look down upon all the connections of their father. That
they ever entertained any designs against him is not probable, but it is very
probable, from their conduct, that apart from their respect for him, they deemed
their right to the crown irrefragable, derived from their mother rather than
from him, and, to point of fact, much greater than his own. By corrupting her
own daughter, who was married to one of the brothers, Salome made herself
acquainted with their more private sentiments, and learned that their sympathies
leaned all to the side of their murdered mother, and that in their own domestic
circles they spoke with strong abhorrence of the authors of her undeserved and
untimely death, and lamented the various acts of cruelty of which their father
had been guilty. This was enough to determine Salome to accomplish their ruin,
as she saw clearly that if ever they possessed power, she was likely to suffer
for the part she had taken in compassing the death of Mariamne. She was also
envious of their popularity; for the very same feeling which inclined them to
rest upon their connection with the Hasmonean dynasty, inclined the Jews to
regard them with peculiar interest and favor as the last relics of that
illustrious house. Salome therefore took every occasion of prejudicing Herod
against his sons, and of turning his paternal love and pride into jealousy and
dislike. To this end indeed, little more was needed than to make known to him,
with some exaggeration, the true state of their feelings. The first measure
which Herod took to check the pride of the two brothers was, three years after
his return (B.C. 13), to bring to court his eldest son Antipater, whom he had by
his first wife Doris, while he was in a private station, and whom he had
divorced on his marriage with Mariamne. But this measure, intended to teach them
wholesome caution, only operated in provoking Alexander and Aristobulus to
greater discontent and more intemperate language than before. In fact, they had
almost insensibly become the heads of the Hasmonean party, still very powerful
in the country, and were urged on by the necessities of that position, and by
the conviction that the popular feeling was entirely on their side. As to
Antipater, he had all the ambition of his father with all the artfulness of his
aunt. Openly, he seemed to advocate the cause of the brothers, and to extenuate
their indiscretions, while he took care to surround the king with persons who
reported to him all their sayings with the most invidious aggravations. By this
means the affection with which Herod had regarded the brothers, not only for
their own noble qualities, but for their mother's sake, was alienated from them,
and fixed upon Antipater. Him, the father at length recommended to Augustus as
his successor, and obtained from him authority to leave the crown to him in the
first instance, and afterward to the sons of Mariamne, B.C. 11. The curious
reader will find in Josephus a full account of all the various plots which were
laid by Antipater, assisted by his aunt Salome and his uncle Pheroras, to bring
about the destruction of the young princes. This they at last effected by a
false charge that they designed to poison their father. On this, he brought them
to trial before a council held at Beyrutus, at which the Roman governors
Saturnius and Volumnius presided, and where Herod pleaded in person against his
sons with such vehemence that he, with some difficulty, procured their
condemnation, although nothing could be clearly proved against them but an
intention to withdraw to some foreign country, where they might live in peace.
The time and the mode of putting the sentence into execution were left to the
king's own discretion. This was not until he came to Sebaste, where, in a fit of
rage, produced in the same manner, and through the same agencies as his previous
treatment of these unfortunate young men, he ordered them to be strangled, B.C.
6. In these two unfortunate brothers the noble family of the Hasmoneans may be
said to have become utterly extinct. HEROD OPENS DAVID'S TOMB It was somewhat
before this time that Herod, being greatly in want of money, bethought himself
of opening the tomb of David, having probably heard the story of the treasure
which the first Hyrcanus was reported to have found there. As might be expected,
he discovered nothing but the royal ornaments with which the king had been
buried. JOHN THE BAPTIST IS BORN In the spring of the year B.C. 5 the birth of
the great harbinger, John the Baptist, announced the approach of One greater
than he, whose sandal-thong he, thereafter, declared himself unworthy to loose.
CENSUS AND SYRIAN TAX At and for some time before the date to which we are now
arrived, the relations of Herod with Rome had become more unpleasant than at any
former period. Not long before he put Alexander and Aristobulus to death Herod
had a quarrel with Obadas king of Arabia, which led him to march some troops
into that country, and to the defeat of the banded robbers, against whom chiefly
he acted, and of a party of Arabs who came to their relief. This affair was
reported to Augustus in such a manner as raised his wrath against Herod; and
attending only to the fact that Herod had marched a military force into Arabia,
which Herod's friends could not deny, he, without inquiring into the provocation
and circumstances, wrote to Herod a very severe letter, the substance of which
was, that he had hitherto treated him as a friend, but should henceforth treat
him as a subject. Herod sent an embassy to clear himself; but Augustus
repeatedly refused to listen to them; and so the king was obliged for a time to
submit to all the injurious treatment which the emperor thought proper to
inflict. The chief of these was the degrading his kingdom to a Roman province.
For soon after, Josephus incidentally mentions, that “the whole nation took an
oath of fidelity to Caesar and to the king jointly, except six thousand of the
Pharisees, who, through their hostility to the regal government, refused to take
it, and were fined for their refusal by the king; but the wife of his brother
Pheroras paid the fine for them.” As this was shortly before the death of
Pheroras himself, it coincides with the time of this decree for the enrollment
of which St. Luke (Luke 2:1) makes mention; and we may therefore certainly infer
that the oath was administered at the same time, according to the usage of the
Roman census, in which a return of persons' ages and properties was required to
be made upon oath, under penalty of the confiscation of the goods of the
delinquents. And the reason for registering ages was, that among the Syrians,
males from fourteen years of age and females from twelve, until their
sixty-fifth year, were subject to a capitation or poll-tax, by the Roman law.
This tax was two drachmae a head, or half a stater, equal to thirty cents of our
money.[415] [415] See the case of Christ, and Peter afterward, where “a stater,”
the amount for both, was procured by miracle. Matthew 17:24-27. Cyrenius, a
Roman senator and procurator, or collector of the emperor's revenue, was
employed to make the enrollment. This person, whom Tacitus calls Quirinus, and
describes as “an active soldier and rigid commissioner,”[416] was well qualified
for an employment so odious to Herod and to his subjects, and probably came to
execute the decree with an armed force. By the wary policy of the Romans, to
prevent insurrection as well as to expedite business, all were required to
repair to their own cities. Even in Italy the consular edict commanded the Latin
citizens not to be enrolled at Rome, but all in their own cities. And this
precaution was of course more necessary in such turbulent provinces as Judea and
Galilee.[417] [416] Impiger militiae et acribus ministeriis. [417] For this
clear view of the somewhat perplexed subject of the Census alluded to by St.
Luke, we are indebted to Dr. Hales, from whose excellent “Analysis of
Chronology” we have, indeed, obtained much and various aid in the present
history. JESUS IS BORN The decree was peremptory, and admitted of no delay:
therefore, in the autumn of the year 5 of the popular era Before Christ,[418] a
carpenter of Nazareth in Galilee, by name Joseph, journeyed with his wife Mary,
although she was then large with child, to Bethlehem in Judea, that being their
paternal city, as they were both “of the race and lineage of David.” They were
not among the first comers, and the place was so thronged that they could not
find room even in the lodging-room's of the caravanserai of Bethlehem, but were
obliged to seek shelter in the stables of the same. Here the woman was taken in
labor, and gave birth to a male child. That child, thus humbly born, was the
long-promised “Desire of Nations,” the “Savior” of the World”--JESUS CHRIST. Nor
did he come sooner than he was expected. The Jews expected anxiously, and from
day to day, the Great Deliverer of whom their prophets had spoken; and the
precise fore-calculations of the prophet Daniel had given them to know that the
time of his coming was near. This indeed partly explains the uneasy relations
between Herod and his subjects; and the distaste of the latter to the kingship
which he had taken. For they wanted no king, until their king Messiah should
come to take the throne of his father David, and lead them forth, conquering and
to conquer, breaking the nations in pieces as an iron rod breaks the vessels of
the potter, and bringing all the Gentiles to their feet. Full of these
magnificent ideas of their king Messiah, they failed to recognize the promised
Deliverer, in One who came to deliver them, not from the Romans--but from their
sins; whose kingdom was not to be of this world--and whose reign, not over lands
and territories, but in the hearts of men. [418] That the birth of Christ is
thus given to the autumn of the year five before Christ, is an apparent anomaly,
which may require a few words of explanation. The Era of the Birth of Christ was
not to use until A.D. 532 in the time of Justinian, when it was introduced by
Dionysius Exiguus, a Scythian by birth, and a Roman abbot; and which only began
to prevail in the West about the time of Charles Martel and Pope Gregory II,
A.D. 730. It has long been agreed by all chronologers that Dionysius made a
mistake in placing the birth of Christ some years too late; but the amount of
the difference has been variously estimated, at two, three, four, five, or even
eight years. The most general conclusion is that which is adopted in our Bibles,
and which places the birth of Christ four years before the common era, or more
probably a few months more, according to the conclusion of Hales, which we have
deemed it proper to adopt. The grounds of this conclusion are largely and ably
stated in the Analysis, vol. i., p. 83-93. As to the day--it appears that the
25th of December was not fixed upon till the time of Constantine, in the fourth
century, although there was an early tradition in its favor. It is probable that
it really took place about or at the Feast of Tabernacles (say the autumnal
equinox) of B.C. 5, or at the Passover (say the vernal equinox) of B.C. 4. The
former is the opinion of Hales and others, and the latter of Archbishop Usher
and our Bibles. Nor was he expected only by the Jews. He was the “Desire of
Nations.” There were strong pulsations of the universal heart, in expectation of
some great change, of the advent of some distinguished personage who should
bring in a new order of things, of some kind or other, and who should work such
deeds and establish such dominion as never before existed. It was even expected
that this great personage should issue from Judea; an expectation which was
probably derived from the more distinct anticipations of the Jews, if not partly
from a remote glimpse at the meaning of those prophecies which referred to
Messiah, and which many educated persons must have read in the Greek translation
of the Hebrew Scriptures. But the expectations which the nations entertained
were, like those of the Jews, connected with dreams of a universal temporal
empire, which the expected Messiah was to establish. As, however, they had not
the strong national interest in the expectation of a conquering king, they clung
with less tenacity than the Jews to this notion of his functions, although,
blinded by it, they, were for a while as unable as the Hebrews to recognize the
Anointed of God in the infant of Bethlehem. BETHLEHEM BABIES MURDERED The
prevalence and character of this expectation account for the watchfulness of
Herod, and for the horrible promptitude with which he ordered the massacre of
all the infants of Bethlehem as soon as the inquiries of the Parthian magi gave
him cause to suspect that the King of the Jews had been born there. The census,
which was begun by Cyrenius, was not completed to the extent originally
contemplated, for Herod found means to disabuse Augustus of the impression under
which he had acted, and was restored to the imperial favor and confidence. To
make him some amends the emperor was disposed to have consigned to him the
forfeited kingdom of the Nabateans; but the painful disagreements and atrocities
in the family of Herod were about the same time brought so conspicuously under
his notice, that, with his usual sagacity, he doubted the wisdom of committing
the conquest and government of a new kingdom to an old man who had proved
himself incapable of ruling his own house. HEROD DIVORCES AGAIN We have before
incidentally mentioned the part which was taken by the wife of Pheroras, in
paying the fines of the Pharisees, who refused to take the oath required of all
the people. In consequence of this, many of that powerful body began to whisper
that God would give the kingdom to Pheroras; on which account Herod caused
several Pharisees and some members of his own family to be executed. Further,
regarding the wife of Pheroras as the cause of all this trouble, he very
peremptorily required him to divorce her. His brother replied that nothing but
death should separate him from his wife, and retired in disgust to Perea, in his
own territory beyond Jordan. Thus was quite destroyed the good understanding
which had for so many years subsisted between the two brothers. Blinded by
resentment, Pheroras readily came into the plans of Antipater: and between them
it was settled that Herod should be taken off by poison; that Antipater should
sit on his throne; and that meanwhile he should contrive to be sent to Rome, to
preclude any suspicion of his part in the transaction. This plot would probably
have succeeded but for the death of Pheroras himself, which led to the discovery
of the whole, and even made known to Herod the part which Antipater had taken in
compassing the death of the two sons of the first Mariamne. It appeared also
that the second Mariamne was a party in this conspiracy, in consequence of which
she was divorced, the name of her son was struck out of the king's will, and her
father, the high-priest Simon, was deposed from his office, which was given to
Matthias the son of Theophilus. On these disclosures, Herod managed to get
Antipater back from Rome, without allowing him to become acquainted with what
had transpired. On his arrival he was formally accused before Quintilius Varus,
the prefect of Syria, who was then at Jerusalem, and was imprisoned until the
affair should have been submitted to the judgment of Augustus. TEMPLE EAGLE
DESTROYED Meanwhile Herod, then in the sixty-ninth year of his age, fell ill of
that grievous disease of which he died, and which, by some singular dispensation
of Providence, appears to have been the peculiar lot of tyrannous and proud
sovereigns, and which rendered him wretched in himself and a terror to all
around him. A report got into circulation that his disease afforded no chance of
his recovery, in consequence of which a dangerous tumult was excited by two
celebrated doctors, named Judas and Matthias, who instigated their disciples to
pull down and destroy a golden eagle of large size and exquisite workmanship,
which had been placed over one of the gates of the temple. Scarcely had this
rash act been completed, when the royal guards appeared and seized the two
leaders and forty of their most zealous disciples. Some of them were burnt, and
others executed in various ways by Herod's order. Being suspected of having
privately encouraged the tumult, Matthias was deprived of his high-priesthood,
and the office given to Joazar, the brother of his wife. HEROD'S HEALTH FAILS In
the meantime the disease of Herod became more loathsome and intolerable. It
appears to have been an erosion of the bowels and other viscera by worms, which
occasioned violent spasms and the most exquisite tortures, until he at length
became a mass of putrefaction. Experiencing no benefit from the warm baths of
Calirrhoe beyond Jordan, he gave up all hopes of recovery, and after having
distributed presents among his attendants and soldiers, he returned to Jericho.
His sufferings were not likely to humanize his naturally savage disposition. He
was convinced, by the recent outbreak, that his death would occasion no sorrow
in Israel, and therefore, to oblige the nation to mourn at his death, he sent
for the heads of the most eminent families in Judea, and confined them in
prison, leaving orders with his sister Salome and her husband Alexas to put them
all to death as soon as he should have breathed his last. This sanguinary design
was, however, not executed by them. HEROD DIES At length Herod received full
powers from Rome to proceed against his son Antipater. At this intelligence, the
dying tyrant appeared to revive; but he soon after attempted suicide, and
although prevented, the wailing cries, usual in such cases, were raised
throughout the palace for him, as if he were actually dead. When Antipater, in
his confinement heard these well-known lamentations, he attempted by large
bribes to induce his guard to permit his escape; but he was so universally hated
for procuring the death of the sons of Mariamne, that the guard made his offers
known, and Herod ordered his immediate execution. On the fifth day after, Herod
himself died, shortly before the Passover, in the seventieth year of his age,
and the thirty-seventh from his appointment to the throne. Before his death was
announced, Salome, as if by his order, liberated the nobles confined in the
hippodrome, whose death she had been charged to execute, but dared not, had she
been so inclined. His corpse, under the escort of his life-guard, composed of
Thracians, Germans, and Gauls, was carried with great pomp to Herodium, and
there buried. HEROD'S TEN WIVES Herod had ten wives, two of whom bore him no
children, and whose names history has not preserved. As it is of some importance
to understand clearly the combinations of relationship among his descendants by
these different wives, the details in the note below will not be unacceptable to
the reader.[419] [419] The wives of Herod “the Great” were-- I Doris, the mother
of Antipater. II. Mariamne, the daughter of Alexandra. She had-- 1. Alexander,
who married Glaphyra, the daughter of the king of Cappadocia, by whom he
had--Tigraues, king of Armenia, and Alexander, who married a daughter of
Antiochus king of Comagene. 2. Aristobulus, who married Berenice the daughter of
Salome, the sister of Herod, by whom he had--Herod, king of Chalcis, who
married, first, Mariamne, the daughter of Olympias (sister of Archelaus the
ethnarch); and afterward his niece Berenice, by whom he had Aristobulus,
Berenicicus, and Hyrcanus. The eldest of these, Aristobulus, married Salome (she
whose dancing cost John the Baptist his head), then the widow of the tetrarch
Philip, by whom he had Agrippa, Herod, and Aristobulus. Agrippa I, king of the
Jews, who married Cypros the daughter of (Mariamne's daughter) Salampso, by whom
he had Drusius; Agrippa II, who was at first king of Chalcis, and afterward
tetrarch of Trachonitis; Berenice, whose second husband was her uncle Herod,
king of Chalcis; Mariamne, married first to Archelaus son of Chelcias, and
afterward to Demetrius, alabarch of the Jews at Alexandria, by whom she had
Berenice and Agrippa ; Drusilla, who was first married to Aziz, king of Emesa,
and afterward to Felix the Roman procurator of Judea, by whom she had a son
named Agrippa, who, with his wife, perished in the flames of Vesuvius. The third
son of Aristobulus the son of Mariamne, was Aristobulus, who married Jotape,
daughter to the king of Emesa: and there were two daughters. Herodias, who
married, first, Herod (called Philip in the Gospels), son of Herod the Great by
the second Mariamne, by whom she had Salome (the dancer), and afterward to his
half-brother Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee--both her uncles. Mariamne,
who married her uncle Antipater. 3. The third son of Mariamne was Herod, who
died young while at his studies in Rome. Mariamne had also two daughters-- 4.
Salampso, who married her cousin Phasael, after having been promised to
Pheroras. 5. Cypros, who married Antipater, the son of Salome, sister of Herod
the Great. III. Herod's third wife was Pallas, by whom he had a son, Phasael.
IV. Phaedra, who had a daughter called Roxana, married to a son of Pheroras. V.
Mariamne, daughter of the high-priest Simon. Herod had by her--Herod-Philip, the
first husband of Herodias, by whom he had Salome (the dancing lady), whose first
husband was Philip, and her second Aristobulus, the son of Herod king of
Chalcis. VI. Malthace, a Samaritan woman, who was mother to Archelaus the
ethnarch of Judea, and Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, who married first
a daughter of the Arabian king Aretas, whom he put away, and took Herodias, the
wife of his brother Herod-Philip, who was still living. Malthace had also a
daughter, Olympias, who married Joseph, a nephew to Herod the Great. VII.
Cleopatra, who was the mother of Herod and Philip, tetrarch of Trachonitis,
which last married the noted Salome, daughter of Herod-Philip and Herodias.
VIII. Elphis had a daughter called Salome, married to a son of Pheroras.
ARCHELAUS MADE GOVERNOR, JUDAH IS MADE A PROVINCE Herod was succeeded in the
kingdom of Judea by his son Archelaus, whose evil conduct so displeased the
Romans, that they reduced Judea to the form of a Roman province, ruling it by
procurators or governors, sent and recalled at their pleasure; the power of life
and death was taken out of the hands of the Jews, and vested in a Roman
governor; and the taxes being gathered by the publicans, were paid more directly
to the emperor. HERODS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT As there are several Herods
mentioned in the New Testament, it may not be amiss here to distinguish them,
according to the best authority which can be obtained. 1. Herod the king of
Judea (already noticed), who died while Christ was an infant (See Matthew 2:19).
2. His son, Herod Antipas, the tetrarch[420] of Galilee, who took away his
brother Philip's wife, and beheaded John the Baptist (See Matthew 14:3-10). 3.
That Herod who put the Apostle James to death, and was afterward smitten by the
angel of the Lord with a strange and sudden death (See Acts 12:2, and ver.
20-23). Historians consider him the grandson of the first Herod, and the father
of King Agrippa, before whom Paul made his defence. The almighty Disposer of all
events, at whose nod empires rise and fall, and nations flourish or decay, marks
with undeviating attention, and a retributive hand, not only the sins of a
people, but the turpitude of those who profess to govern. [420] The title and
office of tetrarch had its origin from the Gauls, who having made an incursion
into Asia Minor, succeeded to taking from the king of Bithynia that part of it
which from them took the name of Galatia. The Gauls who made this invasion
consisted of three tribes; and each tribe was divided into few parts, or
tetrarchates, each of which obeyed its own tetrarch. The tetrarch was of course
subordinate to the king. The appellation of tetrarch, which was thus originally
applied to the chief magistrate of the fourth part of a tribe, subject to the
authority of the king, was afterward extended in its application and given to
any governors, subject to some king or emperor, without regard to the proportion
of the people or tribe which they governed. Thus Herod Antipas and Philip were
denominated tetrarchs, although they did not rule as much as the fourth part of
the whole territory. Although these rulers were dependant upon the Roman
emperor, they nevertheless governed the people within their jurisdiction
according to their own choice and authority. They were, however, inferior in
point of rank to the ethnarchs, who, although they did not publicly assume the
name of king, were addressed with that title by their subjects, as was the case,
for instance, with respect to Archelaus. (Matthew 2:22; Jos. Antiq. xvii. 11;
4.)


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  CHAPTER 41: PROPHECIES CONCERNING CHRIST--THEIR FULFILLMENT
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PROPHECIES CONCERNING CHRIST--THEIR FULFILLMENT Having, in the preceding pages,
given an accurate account of every material occurrence related in the sacred
Scriptures, from the creation of the world to the death the prophet Nehemiah,
and thence to the rebuilding of the temple of Jerusalem by Herod, we shall
conclude the Old Testament History by devoting a few pages here to the
prophecies concerning Christ and the Christian Religion. OLD TESTAMENT
SCRIPTURES PREDICT CHRIST'S COMING The coming of a Savior, which was the hope of
Israel and the expectation of the Jews in every age, is frequently foretold
throughout the Old Testament scriptures. They represent it as announced by the
voice of God to the first human pair, and as forming, from the first to the
last, the theme of all the prophets. And, however imperfect a summary view of
such numerous prophecies must necessarily be, a few remarks respecting them
shall be prefixed to the more direct and immediate proofs of the inspiration of
scripture, derived from existing facts, in order that the reader may be rather
induced to search the scriptures to see how clearly they testify of Jesus, than
contented to rest satisfied with the mere opening of the subject. A few of the
leading features of the prophecies concerning Christ, and their fulfillment,
shall be traced as they mark the time of his appearance, the place of his birth,
and the family out of which he was to arise, his life and character, his
sufferings and his death, the nature of his doctrine, and the extent of his
kingdom. THE TIME AND PLACE PREDICTED The time of the Messiah's appearance in
the world, as predicted in the Old Testament, is defined by a number of
concurring circumstances that fix it to the very date of the advent of Christ.
The scepter was not to depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver, to cease from among
his descendents till Shiloh should come (Genesis 49:10). The desire of all
nations, the messenger of the covenant, the Lord whom they sought, was to come
to the second temple, and to impart to it, from his presence, a greater glory
than that of the former (Haggai 2:7-9; Malachi 3:1). A messenger was to appear
before him, the voice of one crying to the wilderness, to prepare his way
(Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1). A specified period--marked, according to similar
computations in the Jewish scriptures, by weeks of years, each day for a year,
was set, from the going forth of the command to restore and to build Jerusalem,
after the Babylonish captivity, unto Messiah the prince (Daniel 9:25). A period
somewhat longer was determined upon the people and upon the holy city (Daniel
9:24). After the Messiah was to be cut off, the people of the prince that should
come were to destroy the city and the sanctuary; desolations, even to the
consummation, were determined, and the sacrifice and oblation were to cease
(Daniel 9:26-27). A king did reign over the Jews in their own land, though the
ten tribes had long ceased to be a kingdom; their national council, the members
of which, as Jews, were lineally descended from Judah, exercised its authority
and power--the temple was standing--the oblation and sacrifice, according to the
law of Moses, were there duly and daily offered up--and the time prescribed for
the coming of the Messiah had drawn to its close--at the commencement of the
Christian era. Before the public ministry of Jesus, a messenger appeared to
prepare his way; and Josephus, in the history of that time, speaks of the
blameless life and cruel death of “John that was called the Baptist,” and
describes his preaching and baptism (Josephus Antiquities, b. 18, c. 5, sec 2).
But every mark that denoted the fulness of the time, and of its signs, when the
Messiah was to appear, was erased soon after the death of Christ, and being
fixed to that single period, those marks could no more be restored again than
time past could return. The time determined on the people and on the holy city,
seventy weeks or four hundred and ninety years, passed away. The tribe of Judah
were no longer united under a king. Banished from their own land, and subjected
to every oppression, there was no more a lawgiver of the tribe of Judah, though
Judah was he whom his brethren were to serve. Of the temple one stone was not
left upon another. The sacrifice and oblation, which none but priests could
offer, altogether ceased when the genealogies of the tribe of Levi were lost,
and when the Jews had no temple, nor country, nor priest, nor altar. Ere
Jerusalem was destroyed, or desolation had passed over the land of Judea, the
expectation was universal among the Jews that their Messiah was then to appear;
and heathen as well as Jewish historians testify of the belief then prevalent
over the whole East that the ancient prophecies bore a direct and express
reference to that period. And the question might now go to the heart of a Jew,
however lothe to abandon the long-cherished hope of his race, how can these
prophecies be true, if the Messiah be not come? or where, from the first words
of Moses to the last of Malachi, can there be found such marks of the time when
Shiloh was to come, or Messiah the prince to be cut off, as pertained to the
period when their forefathers crucified Jesus--a period which closed over the
glory of Judah, and which, in the continued unbelief of the Jews, has not
heretofore left, for nearly eighteen centuries, a bright page in their history
beyond it? CHRIST'S LINEAGE Though the countrymen of Christ when he came would
not receive him, yet it was of the Jews that Jesus was to come; and the human
lineage of the Messiah is as clearly marked in the prophecies as the time of his
appearance. The divinity of the person of the Messiah, and his taking upon
himself the likeness of sinful flesh, is declared in the Old Testament as well
as in the new. He whose name was to be called the wonderful, the counsellor, the
mighty God, was to become a child that was to be born, a son that was to be
given (Isaiah 9:6). It was the seed of the woman that was to bruise the
serpent's head (Genesis 3:15). The line of his descent, according to the flesh,
and the pace of his birth, were expressly foretold. It was in the seed of
Abraham that all the nations of the earth were to be blessed (Genesis 22:18). It
was from the midst of the Israelites, of their brethren, that a prophet like
unto Moses was to arise (Deuteronomy 18:15). And he was to be not only of the
tribe of Judah, (Genesis 49:8, etc.), but also of the house or family of David.
From the root of Jesse a branch was to grow up, on which the spirit of the Lord
was to rest, and to which the Gentiles would seek (Isaiah 11:1-10). It was unto
David that a righteous branch was to arise, a king, whose name was to be called
the Lord our righteousness (Jeremiah 23:5-6). And it was in Bethlehem Ephratah,
in the land of Judah, little as it was among the thousands of Israel, that he
was to come, whose goings forth had been of old, from everlasting (Micah 5:2).
And Jesus is he alone of the seed of the woman, of the descendants of Abraham,
of the tribe of Judah, of the house of David, in whom all the families of the
earth can be blessed; to whom the Gentiles seek, and who, ere the family
genealogies of the Jews were lost, was shown by them to be born of the lineage
of David, and in the town of Bethlehem. THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST The history of
the life of Christ by the four evangelists is simply a record of what he said
and did, and his character is illustrated by his words and actions alone.
Christians have often tried to delineate it; and if in the attempt their
thoughts have harmonized with the divine records, their hearts may well have
then felt as it were the impression of that divine image after which man was at
first created. Even some who never sought to be the champions of the Christian
faith, have been struck with irresistible admiration of the life of its author.
Rousseau acknowledges that it would have been nothing less than a miracle that
such a character, if not real, could ever have been thought of by fishermen of
Galilee. And Lord Byron not only called Christ diviner than Socrates, but he has
no less truly than nobly said, that “if ever God was man, or man God, he was
both.” But the divine character is such that none but a divine hand could draw;
and seeking in the prophecies what the Messiah was to be, we read what Jesus was
while he dwelt among men. “Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is
poured into thy lips, therefore God hath blessed thee for ever. The scepter of
thy kingdom is a right scepter--thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity
(Psalms 45:2). The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of
knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge after the sight of his
eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness
shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. And
righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of
his reins (Isaiah 11:2-5). He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, he shall
gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom (Isaiah 40:11). He
shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets. A
bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench
(Isaiah 42:2-3). Thy king cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation,
lowly, and riding upon an ass (Zechariah 9:9). He hath done no violence, neither
was there any deceit in his lips (Isaiah 53:9). He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth; he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a
sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth (Isaiah 53:7). I
gave my back to the smiters, and my cheek to them that plucked off the hair; I
hid not my face from shame and spitting (Isaiah 50:6). He shall not fail nor be
discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth (Isaiah 42:4). I have set my
face as a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed (Isaiah 50:7). He shall
deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He
shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood
be in his sight. Men shall be blessed in him--all nations shall call him
blessed,” Psalms 72:12. CHRIST'S DEATH The death of Christ was as unparalleled
as his life, and the prophecies are as minutely descriptive of his sufferings as
of his virtues. His growing up as a tender plant (Isaiah 53:2); his riding in
humble triumph into Jerusalem; his being betrayed or thirty pieces of silver
(Zechariah 11:12), and scourged, and buffeted, and spit upon; the piercing of
his hands and of his feet, and yet every bone of him remaining unbroken; the
last offered draught of vinegar and gall; the parting of his raiment, and
casting lots upon his vesture (Psalms 22:18); the manner of his death and of his
burial (Isaiah 53:9), and his rising again without seeing corruption (Psalms
16:10), were all as minutely predicted as literally fulfilled. The last three
verses of the fifty-second (Isaiah 52:13-15) and the whole of Isaiah 53--written
above seven hundred years before the Christian era, and forming, word for word,
a part of the Jewish as well as of the Christian scriptures, prophetically
describe, like a very history of the facts, the sufferings and the death of
Christ; his rejection, by the Jews; his humility, his meekness, his affliction,
and his agony; how his words were disbelieved; how his state was lowly; how his
sorrow was severe; how his visage and his form were marred more than the sons of
men; and how he opened not his mouth but to make intercession for the
transgressors. In direct opposition to every dispensation of Providence which is
registered in the records of the Jews, this prophecy represents spotless
innocence suffering by the appointment of Heaven--death as the issue of perfect
obedience--God's righteous servant as forsaken by him--and one who was perfectly
immaculate bearing the chastisement of many guilty, sprinkling many nations from
their iniquity by virtue of his sacrifice, justifying many by his knowledge, and
dividing a portion with the great, and the spoil with the strong, because he had
poured out his soul unto death. JEWISH SCRIPTURES CONFIRM CHRISTIANITY The
prophecies concerning the humiliation, the sufferings, and the cutting off of
the Messiah, need only to be read from the Jewish scriptures, to show that the
very unbelief of the Jews is an evidence against them, and the very scandal of
the cross a strong testimony to Jesus. For thus it is written, and thus it
behooved Christ to suffer, according to the scriptures. And those things which
God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should
suffer, he hath so fulfilled. That the Jews still retain these prophecies, and
are the means of preserving them and communicating them throughout the world,
while they bear so strongly against themselves, and testify so clearly of a
Savior that was first to suffer and then to be exalted, are facts which give a
confirmation to the truth of Christianity, than which it is difficult to
conceive any stronger. The prophecies that testify of the sufferings of the
Messiah need no forced interpretation, but apply, in a plain and literal manner,
to the history of the sufferings and of the death of Christ. In the testimony of
the Jews to the existence of these prophecies, long prior to the Christian era;
in their remaining unaltered to this hour; in the accounts given by the
evangelists of the life and death of Christ; in the testimony of heathen
authors, and in the arguments of the first opposers of Christianity, from the
mean condition of its author and the manner of his death--we have now more ample
evidence of the fulfillment of all these prophecies than could have been
conceived possible at so great a distance of time. THE INTEREST OF EVERY SINNER
But if there be any truth, the perception and acknowledgment of which should
lead to a sense of its importance, or a feeling of its power, it is surely that
of the cutting off of the Messiah, as making reconciliation for iniquity, or the
death of Christ as a sacrifice for the sins of men. It is not merely the
knowledge of his righteous life, and of his ignominious death, in confirmation
of the word of prophecy, but an interest also in them that every sinner needs.
There exists not the man, except he be alike ignorant of the spirit within him
and of the father of spirits, who could think of standing for himself, to answer
for his sins, in the immediate presence of an all-holy God, and to abide the
scrutiny of omniscience, and the awards of strict unmitigated justice enforced
by almighty power. Nor could man of himself, in whom sin has once dwelt, be ever
meet, whatever his thoughts of immortality might be, for participating in the
holiness or partaking of the happiness of Heaven. And who is there that, even in
the search after divine truth, can pass by Calvary, or cast but a glance toward
it, and there behold in the sufferings of Christ a clear prophetic mark of his
messiahship, without pondering deeply on the guiltiness of sin, which nothing
less than the voluntary death of the Son of God could expiate, and on that
infinite goodness and love which found and gave the ransom, whereby, though
guilt could not be unpunished, the guilty might be saved. And if he reflect upon
the manner in which this vision and prophecy were sealed up, who that has a
heart within him, or that can be drawn with those cords of love which are the
bands of a man, can refrain from feeling the personal application to himself of
the words of Jesus--“I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto
me?” ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEW KINGDOM But the prophecies further present us with
the character of the Gospel as well as of its author, and with a description of
the extent of his kingdom as well as of his sufferings. That he was to make a
full and clear revelation of the will of God, and establish a new and perfect
religion, was frequently and explicitly foretold (Deuteronomy 18:18-19; Isaiah
9:6-7; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 34:23-24). The words of God were to be put
into his mouth, and whoever would not hearken unto him, God would require it of
them. He was to be given for a covenant of the people, for a light of the
Gentiles, to open the blind eyes. His law was to be put in the inward parts, or
to be written not in tables of stone, but in the heart. And the religion of
Jesus is pure, spiritual, perfect, and adapted alike to all. It is a revelation
of the whole counsel of God; it is a law which has to be written on the heart: a
kingdom which is established within. The doctrine of the gospel is altogether a
doctrine according to godliness. This its enemies will not deny, for it is the
cause why they hate it. Its very excellence and perfection is a stumbling-block
to them. There is not a sin which it does not reprobate, nor a virtue which it
does not inculcate. And too pure and perfect it would indeed be for man, were
not reconciliation made for iniquity, and redemption to be found from its
bondage. A REVELATION OF GRACE AND MERCY But the complete revelation of the will
of God, which of itself would have pointed out a highway of holiness that men
could never have reached, was to be accompanied with a revelation also of the
grace and mercy of God, which might well suffice to show that the light was
indeed light from Heaven. And while Jesus gave new commandments unto men, he
announced tidings of great joy, which it never entered into the heart of man to
conceive. In fulfillment of the prophetic character and office of the Messiah,
he published salvation. Never was any anointed like Christ to preach good
tidings to the meek; to bind up the broken-hearted; to proclaim liberty to the
captive, the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to comfort them that
mourn in Zion; to give to those who mourn for sin, or who seek for true
consolation amid the bereavements or any of the evils of life, beauty for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness. And none like him ever proclaimed either the acceptable year of the
Lord, or the day of judgment of our God (Isaiah 61:1-3). What many wise men of
old sought to know, Jesus taught. What they desired to see, he hath revealed.
All that he taught, as well as all that he did and suffered, bore witness of him
as the promised Messiah; and that kingdom has now come nigh which the prophets
saw afar off. THE RESISTANCE TO THE GOSPEL That the gospel emanated from
Judea--that it was rejected by a great proportion of the Jews--that it was
opposed at first by human power--that kings have acknowledged and supported
it--that it has already continued for many ages--and that it has been propagated
throughout many countries--are facts that were clearly foretold, and have been
literally fulfilled. “Out of Zion shall go forth the law; and the word of the
Lord from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3-4; Micah 4:2). He shall be for a sanctuary, but
for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel;
for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Who hath believed our
report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? (Isaiah 8:14). The kings of
the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord
and against his anointed (Psalms 2:2; Matthew 10:17). To a servant of rulers,
kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship. The Gentiles shall come
to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising (Isaiah 49:7-23). The
Gentiles shall see thy righteousness; a people that know me not shall be called
after my name. Behold thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and
nations that know not thee shall run unto thee” (Isaiah 11:10). No one is now
ignorant of the facts, that a system of religion which inculcates piety, and
purity, and love--which releases man from every burdensome rite and from every
barbarous institution, and proffers the greatest of blessings--arose from the
land of Judea, was rejected by the Jews, persecuted by Jews and Gentiles, and
yet has subsisted for many ages, and has been spread into many countries, and is
outwardly owned by kings and by people as the faith of the civilized world. THE
UNIVERSAL EXTENT OF THE GOSPEL The final extension of the gospel over all the
earth is the theme of many prophecies (Isaiah 25:7; Psalms 72:8-17; Hosea 1:10;
Micah 4:1), while it is also clearly implied in others, that a long period was
to elapse before the reign of darkness was to cease, or the veil to be taken off
all nations. After the Messiah was to be cut off, and the city of Jerusalem and
the sanctuary to be destroyed, desolations, even to the consummation, and until
judgment should come upon the desolator, were determined; the children of Israel
were to abide many days without a king, or ephod, or sacrifice; desolations of
many generations were to pass over the land of Judea; Jerusalem was to be
trodden down of the Gentiles, and blindness in part was to happen to Israel,
till the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled; and a great apostasy was to
arise, and to prevail for a long, but limited period, before the stone that was
to be cut out without hands was to become a great kingdom and fill the whole
earth, or the last days should arrive, wherein the mountain of the Lord's house
would be finally established and exalted above all, and all nations flow into it
(Daniel 9:27; Hosea 3:4; Isaiah 61:4; Luke 21:24; Romans 11:25; 2 Thessalonians
2:1-12; Daniel 2:45; Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1). But already, far beyond the
conception of man to have harbored the thought, hath the light which has come
out of Judea enlightened the nations; already have the scriptures been made
known in a tenfold degree more than any other book; long has he been a light to
the Gentiles, and long have kings seen and arisen, and princes rendered worship
to him whom man despised, and whom the Jewish nation abhorred. The Christian
faith made at first its bloodless way throughout the world. And though many a
conspiracy has been formed, and many a bloody warfare waved against it, it not
only stands unsubdued and unshaken after every assault, but the vain rage of its
adversaries has been subservient to its extension and its triumphs. As a matter
of history, the progress of Christianity is at least astonishing; as the
fulfillment of many prophecies, it is evidently miraculous. In closing even this
brief and very imperfect summary of the prophecies relative to the Christian
faith and to its author, are we not authorized to consider ancient prophecy, as
bearing testimony to Jesus as the Savior; the time and the place of the birth of
Christ; the tribe and family from which he was descended; his life, his
character, his sufferings, and his death; the nature of his doctrine, and the
fate of his religion--that it was to proceed from Jerusalem; that the Jews would
reject it; that it would be opposed and persecuted at first; that kings would
nevertheless acknowledge its divine authority; and that it would spread
throughout many a nation, even to the uttermost parts of the earth. Why, then,
were so many prophecies delivered? Why, from the calling of Abraham to the
present time, have the Jews been separated, as a peculiar people, from all the
nations of the earth? Why, from the age of Moses to that of Malachi, during the
space of a thousand years, did a succession of prophets arise, all testifying of
a Savior that was to come? Why, was the book of prophecy sealed for nearly four
hundred years before the coming of Christ? Why is there still, to this day,
undisputed, if not miraculous evidence of the antiquity of all these prophecies,
by their being sacredly preserved, in every age, in the custody and guardianship
of the enemies of Christianity? Why was such a multitude of facts foretold that
are applicable to Christ and to him alone? Why?--but that all this mighty
preparation might usher in the gospel of righteousness, and prepare the way for
the kingdom of God; and that Christians also, in every age, might add to their
“peace and joy in believing” the perfect trust, that however great the promises
of God may be, they still are sure; and that he who spared not his own Son, but
gave him up for us all, will with him also, if his we be, freely give us all
things. And if we ever read a book for any object, ought we not diligently to
search the scriptures, to see how clearly they testify of Christ? And ought not
every word of such testimony to be, like all scripture besides, profitable for
doctrine and for instruction in righteousness? And may it not be profitable “for
reproof and for correction” to all who mind only earthly things--who are eager
to seek after unprofitable knowledge--who could talk, with all volubility, of
the temporal concerns of others or their own--who could expatiate freely,
perhaps, on the properties of a beast, the quality of their food, or the beauty
of a garment--and who, although they have had the Bible constantly beside them,
have, for many a year, remained ignorant of the value of the treasure it
contains, or of the fulness of the testimony which God has given of his son?
None surely would any longer willfully refrain from searching the scriptures to
see how they testify of Jesus, or from seeking the words of eternal life which
may be found in them, were they to lay to heart the thought that the second
coming of Christ to judge the quick and the dead, is as certain as that the
prophetic tidings of his first advent--once heard afar off--have already proved
true. And He Bearing His Cross Went Forth, John 19:17


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  CHAPTER 42: HISTORY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
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HISTORY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT


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  CHAPTER 43: BIRTH OF CHRIST--TEMPTATION--ENTERS ON HIS MINISTRY
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BIRTH OF CHRIST--TEMPTATION--ENTERS ON HIS MINISTRY VALUE OF COMPARING
TESTAMENTS The historical part of the New Testament is contained in the four
Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and, in a very particular manner,
claims the most serious attention of every person, as it conveys to us the
blessed tidings of our recovering that happy state which our first parents
forfeited in paradise. Indeed, the New Testament is the best commentary on the
Old. By a diligent comparison of both together, with all the parallel passages
marked only in the margin of our common bibles, an infinitely greater knowledge
of Scripture will generally be acquired than is commonly either thought of or
believed. The truth is, there is so great a unity in all the parts of the
Bible--such an intimate connection in its matter, phraseology doctrines, facts,
and the like--so many allusions made from one passage to another, that there is
scarcely a question connected with biblical interpretation that may not, by this
means only, be very safely and satisfactorily determined. THE LIGHT OF THE
GOSPELS In passing from the contemplation of Jewish affairs to the glorious
objects presented to our notice in the New Testament, we seem to emerge from
dreary and uncomfortable shades, into the cheerful light of day; and leave,
without regret, a road rendered tedious by Jewish ceremonies, crowded with human
traditions, and encumbered with heathen altars, to pursue the open path marked
out by the reforming hand of the Son of God. From an early period after the fall
of man, a gracious intimation had been given of God's intention to visit the
world by a Divine Person, who should restore sinners from their ruined
condition, destroy the power of death and hell, and lead his followers to
eternal felicity. Promises to this effect were, from season to season, given to
God's chosen people; this great object held a place in all the predictions of
the prophets, and was shadowed forth in all the types and ceremonies of the
Jewish law. The character of this sacred Messenger was drawn with sufficient
clearness, to render him desirable with all the truly pious, and to distinguish
him, when come, to the view of every humble and earnest inquirer. It was about
four thousand years after the creation of the world, and when the Roman empire
having gained the ascendancy over all nations, a universal peace had taken
place; while Augustus Caesar was emperor at Rome, and Herod, by Caesar's
authority, had been made king of Judea; that the period arrived for the
fulfillment of these gracious promises, in the birth of “the Prince of Peace.” A
general expectation seems to have prevailed among the Jews, that about this time
the great Deliverer was to make his appearance; nor are there wanting evidences,
that such an event was looked for, even in the gentile or heathen world. THE
REDEEMER CAME QUIETLY But though the train of divine providence had all along
tended to this object, the appearance of the expected Redeemer, as we shall see,
was not to be marked by earthly pomp. On the contrary, as if God would show his
utter disregard of what poor depraved mortals so highly esteem, “the King of
glory” was to be ushered into the world in the most obscure condition; while
divine honor and heavenly attention were to supply the place of vain and empty
worldly grandeur: the carnal and the high-minded were to be disappointed in
their calculations, while humble, pious souls were to rejoice in his salvation.
ANGEL COMES TO ZACHARIAS As an introduction to the event about to take place, an
angel appeared to a priest named Zacharias (while offering incense in the
temple), informing him that he should have a son, who was to be called John:
that this child should be filled with the Holy Ghost from his birth; and that he
should be the forerunner of the Lord from heaven, in order to prepare his way.
Zacharias, though a righteous man, being, with his wife Elisabeth, far advanced
in years, seemed to hesitate through unbelief; whereupon the angel, declaring
his name to be Gabriel, assured the priest that he should be “dumb, and not able
to speak,” till the fulfillment of this prediction; thus at once confirming the
truth of the message, and chastising the unbelief of Zacharias. AN ANGEL COMES
TO MARY In the sixth month from this period of time, the angel Gabriel was sent
to a virgin of the house of David, whose name was Mary; a poor young woman,
promised is marriage to Joseph, a carpenter, who was likewise of the house of
David; that royal family being, at this time, reduced to a low condition.
Saluting the highly-favored virgin, the angel made known to her that she should
bear a son, whose name should be called Jesus;[421] that God would give him the
throne of David, and a kingdom without end; and that this holy child should be
produced by the power of the Divine Spirit; on account of which he should be
called “the Son of God.” [421] The name Jesus, in Greek, corresponds with
Joshua, in Hebrew; both of them signifying a Savior and Christ is the same in
Greek, with Messiah in Hebrew, i.e. the anointed. This title is given to our
Savior, in allusion to the custom of anointing kings, priests, and sometimes
prophets, with oil; Jesus being anointed to the great office of Redeemer, by the
holy Spirit, which was given him without measure. MARY VISIT'S ELISABETH Shortly
after this wonderful occurrence, Elisabeth was honored by a visit from Mary, who
was her near relation, and both of them, in a divine rapture, rejoiced and
praised God, on account of the approaching visitation of mercy and grace toward
his people. Nor was it long before Zacharias witnessed, in the birth of John,
the fulfillment of the angel's prediction; and having his tongue loosed, he
straightway employed it in divine praises, and in prophesying the dawn of the
gospel-day. AN ANGEL VISITS JOSEPH In the meantime the angel of the Lord
appearing to Joseph in a dream, removed from his mind all suspicion with respect
to the character of Mary his espoused wife; shortly after which, in consequence
of a decree from the Roman emperor, for the taxing (or enrolling) of all his
subjects, in the several cities of their respective families, Joseph and Mary
repaired together to Bethlehem,[422] the city of David, to whose family they
both belonged. The inn at this place being crowded with strangers, these was
found no other accommodation for this humble pair, than a stable; and here the
long-promised infant was born, and, being wrapped in swaddling clothes, was laid
in a manger.[423] [422] A city of Judah, situated on an eminence overlooking
Tekoah, at the distance of nine miles south, and about six miles southwest of
Jerusalem. It was also called Ephrath (Genesis 35:16-19), and Ephratah,
Rth_4:11. Though a city of no great note, it was celebrated as the birth-place
of David (1 Samuel 16:1), and it became famous as the birth-place of the Messiah
(Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:5-8). The village of Bethlehem, in 1784, was supposed to
contain six hundred men capable of bearing arms; but war and tyrannical
government have reduced it to a miserable condition. Mr. Whiting, an American
missionary, visited it in 1834, when it had just suffered severely from
oppressive despotism; and he passed over the ruins of houses and fields that had
just then been demolished, and parks of olive and fig-trees which had been cut
down by order of the pacha, for alleged rebellion and flight. It is now called
Beet-la-hm, and contains about 8,000 professing Christians. [423] There has been
much misconception both as regards the “inn” and the “manger:” for although it
has been rightly apprehended by some recent writers, that the inn must be
understood to answer to the still existing “caravansary” of the East, they have
wanted that practical acquaintance with details, which could alone enable them
to apply their general information effectively to the illustration of the
present passage. In the East there is not, and we have no information or
probability that there ever were, such places of entertainment as was understand
when we speak of “inns.” A person who comes to a town, where he has no friends
to receive him into their houses, seeks accommodation at the caravansary or
khan, where he may stay as long as he pleases, generally without payment; but is
only provided with lodging for himself and beast, if he has any, and with water
from a well on the premises. The room or cell which he obtains is perfectly
bare. He may procure a mat, perhaps, but nothing more: and hence every one who
travels, provided he has a beast, takes with him a rug, a piece of carpet, or
even a mattress (that is, a thick quilt, padded with wool or cotton), or
something of the sort, to form his bed wherever he rests, whether in a town or
country caravansary: but one who travels on foot can not thus encumber himself,
and is well content to make the cloak he had worn by day serve for bed and
bedding at night. It is the same with respect to food: he purchases what he
needs from the town or village in or near which the khan may be situated; and if
he requires a cooked meal, he dresses it himself, for which purpose a traveler's
baggage also contains one or more pots and dishes, with a vessel for water. A
foot traveler dispenses with warm meals; unless by may sometimes be enabled to
procure something ready dressed, in the markets of the more considerable towns
to which he come. In those parts where towns are widely asunder, khans are more
or less dispersed over the open country; and in these, or wherever they are not,
the traveler lives upon the victuals which he has brought with him from the last
inhabited town, in the knowledge that these remote khans offer nothing but
shelter, and that no provisions can be obtained in their neighborhood. These
facts may be found usefully to illustrate those passages of Scripture which
allude to travelling, and to the accommodation of travelers. As to the khans
themselves, they vary considerably in their arrangements and importance; and it
would here answer no illustrative purpose to particularize them all. We shall
therefore merely mention the plan and arrangement which most generally prevail
in such establishments, and of which the others are merely variations: the
rather, as it so happens, that it is from these that we are ourselves best able
to collect what seems a clear understanding of the present text. A khan, then,
usually presents, externally, the appearance of a square, formed by strong and
lofty walls with a high, and often handsome gateway, which offers an entrance to
the interior. On passing through this, the traveler finds himself in a large
open quadrangle, surrounded on all sides by a number of distinct recesses, the
back walls of which contain doors leading to the small cells or rooms which
afford to travelers the accommodation they require. Every apartment is thus
perfectly detached, consisting of the room and the recess in front. In the
latter the occupant usually sits till the day has declined, and there he often
prefers to sleep at night. Besides these private apartments, there is usually in
the center of one or more of these sides of the quadrangle, a large and lofty
hall, where the principal persons may meet for conversation or entertainment.
The floor of all these apartments--the recesses, rooms, and halls, are raised
two or three feet above the level of the court which they surround, upon a
platform or bank of earth faced with masonry. In the center of the court is a
well or cistern, offering to the travelers that most essential of conveniences
in a warm climate--pure water. Many caravansaries are without stables; the
cattle being accommodated in the open area. But the most complete establishments
have very excellent stables, in covered avenues which extend behind the ranges
of apartments--that is, between the back walls of these ranges of building, and
the external wall of the khan; and the entrance to it is by a covered passage at
one of the corners of the quadrangle. The stable is on a level with the court,
and consequently below the level of the building, by the height of the platform
on which they stand. Nevertheless, this platform is allowed to project bend into
the stable, so as to form a bench, to which the horses' heads are turned, and on
which they can, if they like, rest the nose-bags, of hair-cloth, from which they
eat, to enable them to reach the bottom, when its contents get low. It also
often happens that not only thus bench exists in the stable, but also recesses
corresponding to those in front of the apartments, and formed by the side walls,
which divide the rooms, being allowed to project behind into the stable, just as
the projection of the same walls into the great area forms the recesses in
front. These recesses in the stable, or the bench, if there are none, furnish
accommodation to the servants or others who have charge of the beasts: and when
persons find on their arrival that the apartments usually appropriated to
travelers are already occupied, they are glad to find accommodation in tire
stable, particularly when the nights are cold or the season inclement. Now, in
our opinion, the ancient or the existing usages of the East supply no greater
probability than that the Savior of the world was born in such a stable as this.
Not knowing that there were stables to oriental caravansaries, some recent
writers of great information and ability have concluded that our Lord was born
in a place distinct from and unconnected in any way with the “inn”--probably in
a shed or outhouse--perhaps in a cave. The word rendered “manger” has given
occasion to some discussion. The most eminent scholars, since Salmasius, have
held that it means a stable or stall for cattle. The same thing is implied, if
it be understood to mean a manger. This being the case, it is evident from our
description, that the part of the stable could not reasonably have been other
than one of those recesses, or at least a portion of the bench, which we have
mentioned as affording accommodation to travelers under certain circumstances.
If we will have the word to mean “a manger,” with Campbell and others, then we
are to consider that the Orientals have no mangers, but feed their cattle from
hair-bags; a fact which led Bishop Pearce to entertain the strange idea that the
infant Jesus was cradled in such a bag. It can not even be shown that the
classical ancients, although they fed their horses differently from the
Orientals, had any such mangers as ours; but either nose-bags or vessels of
stone or metal. Therefore, if we would retain the word “manger,” we must needs
understand it in the large sense of an eating place, not an eating thing--that
is, the place to which the horses' heads were turned when they ate, or on which
the thing from which they ate rested while they did eat. And this brings us to
the same conclusion as before; for, in the above description, we have shown
that, to the stable, their heads are turned toward the same bench or recesses.
We therefore think that we are fairly entitled to the conclusion which we have
stated. The explanation here given was strongly suggested to the present
writer's mind while himself finding accommodation in a recess of such stables,
when there was “no room” for him in the proper lodging apartments of
caravansaries: and he is disposed to hope that it may be found to obviate the
difficulties which have been discovered in the case before us. Bethlehem

ANGELS TOLD OF JESUS' BIRTH Such were the lowly circumstances under which the
divine Savior made his appearance in our world! But though disregarded by men,
his birth passed not unnoticed nor unsung by angels. The event was made known to
a company of shepherds, by one of these celestial messengers, who was suddenly
joined by a multitude of the heavenly hosts, praising God, and saying, “Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” This
intelligence, thus wonderfully communicated, carried the shepherds in haste to
view the infant, and produced a report which struck with astonishment all who
heard it. SIMEON HOLDS BABY JESUS In conformity with the Jewish law, the child
Jesus was circumcised, at eight days old, and, some time afterward, presented
before the Lord, in the temple at Jerusalem. On this occasion two memorable
testimonies were borne to his character, as the Messiah. Old Simeon, a devout
man, who waited for the consolation of Israel, took the holy infant in his arms,
and blessing God, said, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation!”--while Anna, an
aged widow of great piety, coming into the temple at the same time, “gave thanks
likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption
in Jerusalem.” A STAR APPEARS In the meantime a new and uncommon star had
appeared in the heavens, which served as a signal that the star of Jacob had
arisen upon the world, and as a guide to certain persons called “wise men,” who
came from the east to Jerusalem, to inquire after him who was “born king of the
Jews.” When Herod the king had received information of these things, he
determined, if possible, to crush at once the child whom he considered as the
rival of his family. Accordingly, he requested of the wise men, that when they
had found the object of their search, they should bring him word; that he also
might join in paying him adoration. HEROD'S BLOODY PLAN On leaving Jerusalem,
the eastern sages found, to their joy, that the star which they had seen before
they set out on their journey, had again appeared! It now became their guide to
Bethlehem, and stood over the house where the holy family at this time resided.
Having worshipped the wonderful babe, and, according to the eastern custom, made
an offering of gold, frankincense, and myrrh; and being warned in a dream of
Herod's bloody intention, “they departed into their own country another way.”
The tyrant, thus baffled in his purpose, caused all the children to be destroyed
in Bethlehem and the neighboring country, “from two years old and under;” but
Joseph had received timely notice by an angel, and the heaven-protected infant
was now in Egypt. JESUS AT PASSOVER The death of Herod (who was succeeded by his
son Archelaus) being made known to Joseph, by an angel, he returned with Mary
and the young child, and dwelt in Nazareth, a city of Galilee, where “the child
grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was
upon him.” From this place Joseph, the supposed father, and Mary, the mother of
Jesus, went yearly to Jerusalem, to the feast of the passover. On one of these
occasions, when he was twelve years old, leaving accompanied them to the feast,
he was left behind, on the return of his parents, who travelled a day's journey
under the supposition that Jesus was in company with some of their relations.
When. however, after discovering their mistake, they returned to the city to
make inquiry, he was found in the temple, “sitting in the midst of the doctors,
both hearing them and asking them questions,” while the uncommon wisdom of his
youthful mind astonished all who heard him. “Wist ye not,” said he to his
parents, when they had thus found him, “that I must be about my father's
business?” He then went down with them to Nazareth, and was subject to them;
“increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” JOHN THE
BAPTIST While thus the early part of the life of Jesus was spent at Nazareth in
Galilee, John, who was designed as his forerunner in the ministry, was raised to
maturity in that part of Judea which was called the desert, or the wilderness.
In this retired situation, in the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being
governor of Judea, Herod, tetrarch of Galilee, and Annas and Caiaphas being
high-priests, John received a divine commission; in consequence of which, he
went forth into the country about Jordan, reaching the necessity of repentance
for the remission of sins; exhorting the people to the practice of
righteousness; directing their attention to the Messiah, who was shortly to
follow him; and baptizing all who gave evidence of the power of his doctrine on
their hearts; hence he was called “John the Baptist.” The appearance of this
preacher, who was clothed in raiment of camel's hair, with a leathern girdle
about his loins; the doctrines which he so earnestly inculcated; and the strict
sanctity and self-denial of his life, excited great attention among the people,
and drew crowds to his baptism. In the meantime, to the multitudes who attended
his ministry, he failed not to declare the superiority of the approaching
Messiah; informing the people that while he himself baptized with water only, a
mightier One would come after him, who should baptize with the Holy Ghost. JESUS
BAPTIZED BY JOHN While John was thus employed, Jesus, who had hitherto lived in
retirement, being now about thirty years of age, made his appearance at the
river Jordan, and claimed the ordinance of baptism at the hands of his servant.
On this occasion God was pleased to introduce his Son to the world; for upon his
being baptized, and going up out of the water, the heavens were opened, the Holy
Ghost descended upon him like a dove, and the voice of the eternal Father
proclaimed, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” TEMPTATION OF
JESUS Immediately after this solemnity, Jesus was conducted, by an impulse of
the Holy Spirit, into the wilderness, where, in a state of seclusion from the
world, he spent forty days in fasting and communion with God, as a preparation
for the great work of the ministry, which he was about to undertake. Here he was
assaulted with three powerful temptations from the devil, each of which was
repelled by an appeal to the written word of God. First, he was tempted to turn
stones into bread, that he might thus at once prove his power, as the Son of
God, and allay his hunger. But he answered, “It is written, Man shall not live
by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
Secondly, the devil requested that he would prove himself to be under the
protection of Heaven, by casting himself down from the pinnacle (or battlements)
of the temple; but Christ showed the wickedness of tempting, or rashly presuming
on divine providence, by answering, “It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the
Lord thy God.” Thirdly, he was promised, by this impudent tempter, all the
kingdoms of the world, if he would fall down and worship him to which, with holy
indignation, Jesus answered, “Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou
shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” The infernal
enemy, thus baffled in all his attempts, was compelled to leave the conqueror;
angels came and ministered to his wants; and Jesus went forth from his
retirement, to enter on the glorious work of blessing, reforming, and redeeming
lost man. JOHN AS ELIJAH'S VOICE While the Redeemer was thus secluded from the
world, the report of John's ministry and baptism having excited the notice of
the Jewish council, messengers were sent from that body to learn who this
strange character might be. To their inquiry on this point, John answered, that
he was not the Christ, nor the prophet Elijah (who in their opinion was to
revisit the earth); but that he was as come as “the voice of one crying in the
wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord”--according to the prophecy of
Isaiah; declaring, at the same time, that there was one who had appeared among
the people, the latchet of whose shoes he was not worthy to loose. JOHN
ANNOUNCES JESUS On the next day, Jesus having now returned from the desert, John
saw him approaching, and took occasion to point him out to the people, under the
character of “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world;”
announcing him as the person of whose coming he had before given notice, and
testifying, in plain and positive terms, that he was the Son of God. Again, on
the following day, looking on the divine Savior as he was walking at some little
distance, he repeated his former expression, “Behold the Lamb of God!” in
consequence of which, two of John's disciples attached themselves to Christ, and
became his followers. DISCIPLES AND LORD ATTEND WEDDING One of these disciples
was Andrew; the other, though not named, was probably John, who afterward wrote
one of the gospels, and is distinguished by the title of “the beloved disciple.”
Shortly afterward they were joined by three others, viz., Simon Peter (who is
called Cephas); Philip, of Bethsaida; and Nathanael, of whom Jesus testified
that he was an Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile. With these disciples our
Lord attended a marriage in Cana[424] of Galilee, where he wrought his first
public miracle, by turning water into wine; thus supplying the need of guests,
and confirming the faith of his disciples. Cana of Galilee

MONEY CHANGERS CAST FROM TEMPLE From Cana, Jesus went to Capernaum, a city of
Galilee; and thence, after a short stay, to Jerusalem, where he attended the
feast of the passover, for the first time after his entrance into the ministry.
On this occasion he found the temple occupied as a place of traffic by some who
sold oxen, sheep, and doves, for the sacrifices, and by others who accommodated
the traders by changing money. Filled with holy indignation to see the house of
God thus profaned, he drove them forth from the temple with a scourge of small
cords, pouring out the money of the exchangers, and overturning the tables at
which they were sitting. RULER NICODEMUS COMES TO JESUS The miracles which were
performed by our Lord, during this feast of the passover, induced numbers to
believe in him, and excited the attention of many others. Among these was
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, who made a visit to Jesus by night, in order to
have a private conference with him on the subject of his doctrines and the
nature of that kingdom which had been lately spoken of. In answer, therefore, to
his first address, the great Teacher assured him that it was absolutely
necessary, in order to the enjoyment of the kingdom of God, that a man should be
“born again;” or that such a renewal of the heart should be experienced as might
be termed “a new birth.” Having further informed him that this divine change was
to be effected by the influence of the Holy Spirit, our Lord went on to instruct
him in the doctrine of salvation, by faith in the Son of God; and closed his
discourse by showing the difference between the follower of evil and the
follower of truth--a discourse which, eventually, appears to have made a
salutary impression on the mind of Nicodemus. DISCIPLES BAPTIZE MANY The
passover being ended, Jesus left Jerusalem and went into other parts of Judea,
where he employed his disciples in baptizing, and was followed by great numbers
of people; and when an account of this was brought to John the Baptist, that
faithful herald, so far from being displeased at the rising glory of his Master,
rejoiced in the prospect, and again took the occasion to set forth the superior
excellence of the person and ministry of the Son of God. JOHN IMPRISONED BY
HEROD The course of John was now near its close; for about this time, having
reproved Herod for taking away his brother Philip's wife, he was imprisoned by
the tetrarch, and not long after was, by his order, put to death. A more
particular account of this event will be given hereafter. In the meantime, Jesus
departed from Judea on a journey to Galilee; and passing in his way through the
country of Samaria, he held a conversation with a woman of that country, which
produced a happy change in her character, and through her means many of the
Samaritans were brought to hear his word, and to believe in him as the promised
Messiah. NOBLEMAN'S SON HEALED Arriving in Galilee, he proclaimed “the gospel of
the kingdom of God” to the people, many of whom were disposed to receive the
heavenly message; and being humbly and earnestly applied to by a nobleman in
behalf of his son, who was sick at Capernaum, the compassionate Savior gave the
healing word, and the young man was restored. NAZARETH SEEKS TO MURDER JESUS
While in the country of Galilee (where, we are told, he had come “in the power
of the spirit”), Jesus entered into a synagogue at Nazareth, and stood up to
read. The book of the prophecy of Isaiah was delivered to him, and he opened to
a prediction which pointed immediately to himself. This passage, he declared to
the congregation, was that day fulfilled. But some of his remarks gave such
offence to the Nazarenes, that they violently thrust him out, and led him to the
brow of the mountain on which the city stood, designing to cast him down
headlong from the precipice. This, however, he miraculously avoided, by passing
through the midst of them and going his way. BROTHERS BECOME DISCIPLES Leaving
Nazareth[425] after this outrage, Jesus took up his abode in Capernaum, where he
went on to preach the necessity of repentance as a preparation for that divine
kingdom which was now at hand. Here, as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw
Simon Peter, and Andrew his brother, who were fishermen, and who it seems had
returned for awhile to their former employment. These he now called to become
his constant attendants, as well as James and John, the sons of Zebedee, whom he
found engaged in the same occupation. [425] A city of Zebulon in Galilee, about
seventy miles north of Jerusalem: it stood low in public estimation for the
character of its inhabitants (John 1:46), yet it became famous as the residence
of Jesus until he entered on his ministry (Matthew 1:23, Luke 2:51). Nazareth
still exists with a population of from 3,000 to 4,000, some of whom are
Mohammedans, but mostly of several sects of ignorant and superstitious
professors of Christianity. The Roman Catholics have a church here, called the
“Church of the Annunciation,” the most magnificent of any in the land, except
that at Jerusalem. Pool of Bethesda THE HUGE FISH CATCH These fishermen (who
were henceforward to be employed in catching men) let down their nets at the
direction of Christ, and enclosed such a multitude of fish as struck them with
astonishment and awe; and having brought their vessels to the land, they forsook
all and followed their Master. DEMON CAST OUT The ministry of our Lord at
Capernaum was marked with signal and wonderful instances of his power and
goodness. While he was in the synagogue, there appeared a man in the
congregation possessed with the spirit of a demon, who cried out in a fearful
manner, and acknowledged him to be “the Holy One of God.” At the word of Jesus
the man was straightway released from the fury of this foul spirit. Coming from
the synagogue into the house of Simon Peter, he found the mother of Peter's wife
lying ill of a fever, and taking her by the hand “he rebuked the fever,” which
immediately left her, and she arose restored to health. THE SICK THRONG HIS
HOUSE The fame of these miracles drew together in the evening great numbers of
people, who thronged the house where Jesus had taken up his lodging, bringing
with them those that “were sick with divers diseases,” and “many that were
possessed with devils;” toward all of whom the gracious Savior manifested the
kindness of his heart by delivering them from their various maladies. The voice
of fame, however, did not occasion our Lord to forget the exercises of devotion,
nor did his labors cause him to neglect them; for we are told that, rising up
early the next morning, “he departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”
FAME SPREADS The blessings of the ministry and miracles of Christ were not
confined to Capernaum. “He went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues,
and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and
all manner disease among the people.” His fame also went throughout the country
of Syria, whence they brought the afflicted to experience the effects of his
healing power. “And there followed him,” we are told, “great multitudes of
people, from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea,
and from beyond Jordan.” SERMON ON THE MOUNT But though our Redeemer was thus
compassionate to the bodies of men, to heal their souls and to reform their
conduct was his great object. He availed himself, therefore, of the opportunity
which the vast crowd collected together now afforded to deliver a discourse,
which is generally termed “the sermon on the mount”--a discourse replete with
those heavenly doctrines and precepts which form so distinguishing a character
of his holy religion. FORGIVES SINS On coming down from the mountain, he was
addressed by a man afflicted with the leprosy, in compliance with whose humble
petition Jesus put forth his hand and healed him. Afterward he entered again
into Capernaum, where he was attended by crowds, who came to hear him and to be
cured of their diseases. Among others, a man sick of the palsy was brought
forward, but because of the multitude about the door he was let down on his bed
through the roof of the house. This remarkable instance of faith met the
approbation of our Lord, who pronounced the cure of the sick man by saying,
“Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.” Some of the scribes and
Pharisees who were present on this occasion considered this declaration as
blasphemy; but, to show them that he had indeed the power to forgive sins, Jesus
addressed the paralytic man, saying, “Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way
into thine house.” The word of Christ was immediately obeyed, and “he departed
to his own house, glorifying God.” Shortly after this wonderful event, Matthew
(otherwise called Levi), a publican, or tax-gatherer, was called by Christ to
become his disciple and attendant; and such was the influence of this call that
he immediately left his employment and followed Jesus. MAN HEALED BY POOL The
time of the passover[426] being now again near at hand, Jesus went up to
Jerusalem, in order to be present at the feast. Here he performed a remarkable
cure on a poor afflicted man, who had labored under an infirmity for
thirty-eight years. This helpless creature was lying near a pool, called
Bethesda, to which numbers of diseased persons resorted, on account of a
supernatural virtue produced in the water by the going down of an angel, at
certain seasons, into the pool. The first who stepped in after the stirring of
the water was healed of his disorder: but this poor man, having no one to assist
him at such seasons, still missed the opportunity of a cure. The compassionate
Jesus, however, found him, and administered to him that relief which he sought
in vain at the pool of Bethesda. [426] This is simply called, by the evangelist,
“a feast of the Jews;” though it seems probable that it was the feast of the
passover. SABBATH DAY CENSURE It was the sabbath-day when this act of mercy was
performed; and as the Jews saw the man who had been healed carrying his bed,
they took occasion to find fault, and to persecute Jesus as a breaker of the
Sabbath. This produced a defence on the part of Christ, in which we find him
declaring himself the Son of God--asserting his authority over the living and
the dead--and appealing to undeniable evidences to prove and establish the
divine character to which he laid claim. Not long after this, our Lord again
incurred the censure of the Pharisees for healing on the Sabbath. In a synagogue
in Galilee, he found a man whose right hand was withered: he restored the hand
to soundness, and defended his conduct; but his arguments, though they
confounded his adversaries, served to incense them the more, and they communed
together and took counsel how they might destroy him. TWELVE APOSTLES CHOSEN In
consequence of these malicious designs, Jesus retired to the sea of
Tiberias,[428] where he continued to teach the multitudes that resorted to him,
and to heal all who were diseased. Here too, after having spent a whole night in
prayer on a mountain, he called together his disciples, from among whom he chose
twelve, ordaining them, as apostles, or special messengers, who were to hold the
highest offices in the church, and to whom he gave authority not only to preach
in his name, but to heal diseases and to cast out devils. The names of these
twelve apostles were Simon, surnamed Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and
John, the sons of Zebedee; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew the publican, and
Thomas, surnamed Didymus; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Judas (or Jude) his
brother;[429] Simon the Canaanite, surnamed Zelotes; and Judas Iscariot, who
proved the betrayer of his Master. [428] Reflections at Tiberias--The composure
which came over my feverish spirits at this hour was inexpressibly refreshing: I
laid myself down upon the ground, and, resting my head upon a stone near me,
drew a little coolness from the soil: while the simple train of reflections
which naturally sprung up from the scene around me added much to my enjoyment.
At a great distance to the north, was the mountainous horizon, on the summit of
which stands Safet, glistening with its noble castle. It is not improbably.
supposed that our Savior had this spot in his eye, and directed the attention of
his disciples to it, when he said, “A city that is set on a hill can not be
hid;” for it is in full view from the Mount of Beatitudes as well as from this
place; and, indeed, seems to command all the country round to a great extent.
Tracing, at a glance, the margin of this simple lake, on the opposite or eastern
side, the eye rests on the inhospitable country of the Gadarenes--inhospitable
to this day. But that which awakens the tenderest emotions in viewing a scene
like this, is the remembrance of One who, formerly, so often passed this way;
and never passed without leaving, by his words and actions, some memorial of his
divine wisdom and love. Here, or in this neighborhood, most of his mighty works
were done: and in our daily religious services we have read, with the most
intense interest, those passages of the gospel which refer to these regions.
However uncertain other traditional geographical notices may be, here no doubt
interrupts our enjoyment in tracing the Redeemer's footsteps. Here Jesus called
the sons of Zebedee, from mending their nets, to become “fishers of men.” Here
he preached to the multitudes crowding to the water's edge, himself putting off
a little from the shore in Simon Peter's boat. But there is not now a single
boat upon the lake to remind us of its former use. Yonder, on the right must
have been the very spot where, in the middle of their passage from this side
toward Bethsaida and Capernaum, the disciples were affrighted at seeing Jesus
upon the water-when he gently upbraided the sinking faith of Peter--when he said
to the winds and waves, “Be still!”--and the sweet serenity which now rests upon
the surface is the very same stillness which then succeeded. Here, finally, it
was that Jesus appeared, the third time after his resurrection, to his disciples
(John 21), and put that question to the zealous, backslidden, but repentant
Peter, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?”--one question thrice repeated;
plainly denoting what the Savior requires of all who profess to be his; and
followed up by that solemn charge, “Feed my lambs--feed my sheep.” [429] Called
also Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddeus.


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  CHAPTER 44: MIRACLES--TRANSFIGURATION--BLESSES LITTLE CHILDREN
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MIRACLES--TRANSFIGURATION--BLESSES LITTLE CHILDREN CENTURION'S SERVANT HEALED
Having appointed the twelve apostles to their high office, our Lord, attended by
the whole company of his disciples and a great multitude from different parts,
stood in a plain, and repeated, in substance, a considerable part of his sermon
on the mount, after which he entered into Capernaum, where he restored to health
the servant of a Roman centurion,[430] and then, leaving Capernaum, he entered
into the city of Nain. [430] A captain over a hundred soldiers. JESUS RAISES
CHILD FROM THE DEAD Hitherto we have seen the great Savior of men displaying his
power in healing diseases and expelling demons: we are now to behold him
exercising his authority over death! At the gate of the city of Nain he met a
train of mourners, attending the corpse of a young man, who was the only son of
his mother, and she a widow. Jesus had compassion on the disconsolate parent: he
spoke to her a word of encouragement; and, addressing the corpse as it lay on
the bier, commanded the young man to arise. His word was attended with life: “he
that was dead sat up and began to speak, and he delivered him to his mother.”
JOHN ASKS ABOUT JESUS This astonishing miracle struck the multitude with awe,
and a rumor concerning this great prophet “went forth throughout all Judea, and
throughout all the region round about.” In the meantime, the disciples of John
resorting to their master in prison and giving him an account of these miracles,
he sent two of his disciples to Jesus, with an inquiry whether he was indeed the
expected Messiah. It does not seem probable that this step was taken in
consequence of any doubt in the mind of John; but, for whatever purpose it might
have been intended, our Lord returned an appropriate answer, and then bore his
testimony to the character of this faithful and eminent servant of God. THE LORD
OFFERS REST After an awful warning to the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and
Capernaum--where most of his mighty works had been done--and a gracious
invitation to laboring and heavy-laden sinners, to come and find rest in his
service, our Lord entered into the house of Simon, a Pharisee, being invited by
the owner to eat with him; and here an occurrence took place, which served
further to manifest the abundant grace of the Redeemer's heart. NOTORIOUS SINNER
RECEIVES FORGIVENESS A woman who had been a notorious sinner, but who was now a
real penitent, humbly approached with an alabaster-box of ointment, stooped,
weeping, at the feet of Jesus, and, washing them with her tears, wiped them with
the hairs of her head, and anointed them with the ointment. The condescension of
Christ in suffering this freedom from a person of her character, met the
disapprobation of the Pharisee; but Jesus showed him by a striking parable, the
impropriety of his censure, and pronounced the sins of the penitent woman
forgiven. PREACHING TOUR After this, accompanied by his twelve apostles, “he
went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings
of the kingdom of God.” Certain women also, “who had been healed of evil spirits
and infirmities,” attended him, and assisted in supplying his wants. Among these
was Mary Magdalene, out of whom, we are told, he had cast seven devils. SOME
SINS ARE UNFORGIVABLE Having healed a poor creature who was blind and dumb, and
possessed by a demon, Jesus was accused by the Pharisees, of casting out devils
through Beelzebub, the prince of devils. This wicked and absurd charge he
clearly confuted; and warned them that their sinful malice in thus sinning
against the Holy Ghost, would never be forgiven. Some of the scribes and
Pharisees then required of him a sign from heaven; but he refused to gratify
their vain curiosity; and having delivered many solemn admonitions, and much
divine instruction, he departed to the seaside, where he taught the people in a
series of parables, which he afterward expounded more fully to his disciples.
Lake and Town of Tiberius

JESUS CALMS THE STORM He who had power over demons, diseases, and death, could
also control the winds and the seas. An instance of this occurred, when going on
board a vessel with his disciples, in order to pass over the lake of
Tiberias,[431] there arose a great tempest, and the ship was covered with the
waves. In the midst of the storm, Jesus was asleep in the hinder part of the
vessel; but the disciples, overwhelmed with fear, broke in upon his slumber,
crying out, “Master, master, we perish!” He arose from his pillow, and gently
reproving their want of faith, “rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a
great calm!” [431] Tiberias, one of the principal cities of Galilee, was erected
by the tetrarch Herod Antipas, who gave it this appellation in honor of the
emperor Tiberias. It was this Herod who beheaded John the Baptist (Matthew
14:3-11), and who sought the life of Christ himself (Luke 13:31). He probably
resided in Tiberias, which may be the reason why the Savior never visited this
place. It was situated near the sea of Galilee, on a plain of singular
fertility, which was greatly increased by assiduous cultivation. Josephus
describes this region as a perfect paradise, blessed with a delicious
temperature, and producing the fruits of every climate under heaven, not at
stated periods merely, but in endless succession throughout the year The neglect
of agriculture in modern times has, of course, made it less productive; but the
mildness of the climate, and the richness of the soil, are still extolled by
travelers. When the Romans made war upon the Jews, Tiberias surrendered without
waiting for a siege: on this account the Jews remained unmolested; and after the
destruction of Jerusalem, this city became eminent for its academy, over which a
succession of Jewish doctors presided until the fourth century. In the early
ages of Christianity, Tiberias was an episcopal see; in the seventh century it
was taken by the Saracens under the caliph Omar; and though it passed into the
hands of the Christians during the crusades, the Mohammedans regained the
possession of it toward the close of the fourteenth century. Widely scattered
ruins of walls and other buildings, as well as fragments of columns, indicate
the ancient extent of Tiberias. The stone of these ruins is described by the
Rev. William Jowett as being “very black so that there is nothing about them of
the splendor of antiquity--nothing but an air of mourning and desolation. In
this circumstance they differ so greatly from the magnificent antiquities of
Egypt and Greece, as to leave the most somber impression on the fancy: they are
perfectly funereal.” The modern town of Tiberias, which is delineated in our
engraving, is, by the natives, called Tabaria, or Tabbareeah; it occupies part
of the site of the ancient city, and is situate at a short distance to the east
from the sea of Galilee. It is surrounded with walls and towers, which at first
view are very imposing: on a nearer approach, however, their insignificance is
apparent. A few cannon would put them down in an instant, though to an assault
from the natives they would present, probably, a very long and effectual
resistance. One fourth of the space within the walls is stated by Dr. Richardson
to be unoccupied by house or building; and many parts of the town are in a
ruined and filthy condition. The population has been computed at one thousand
five hundred or two thousand persons; eighty houses are occupied by Christians,
and one hundred and fifty by Turks, but the largest portion (amounting to two
hundred) is tenanted by Jews of all nations, who come here to spend the rest of
their days. On the north side of the town, not far from the lake, there is a
Greek church, the architecture of which exhibits much of the character of those
sacred edifices which were erected by the Emperess Helena: it is said to occupy
the identical spot on which stood the house of the apostle Peter, who,
previously to his becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ, had been a fisherman on
the lake. To the south of Tiberias lie the celebrated hot baths, the water of
which contains a strong solution of chloride of soda (common salt), with a
considerable intermixture of iron and sulfur; it emits a powerful sulfurous
smell. A thermometer placed in different spots where the water gushes out, rose
to the various heights of 131, 132, 138, and 139 degrees of Fahrenheit; in the
bath, where it cools after standing some time, its temperature was 110. An
humble building is erected over the bath, containing mean apartments, on one
side for men, on the other for women: it is much frequented, as a cure for
almost every complaint, particularly by the Jews, who have a great veneration
for a Roman sepulcher excavated in a cliff near the spot, which they imagine to
be the tomb of Jacob. About a mile from the town, and exactly in front of the
lake, is a chain of rocks, in which are distinctly seen cavities or grottoes
that have resisted the ravages of time. These are uniformly represented to
travelers as the places referred to in the gospel history, which were the resort
of miserable and fierce demoniacs, upon one of whom Jesus Christ wrought a
miraculous and instantaneous cure (Matthew 8:28; Mark 5:2-3; Luke 8:37). The sea
of Galilee, which is seen in the back ground of our engraving, derives its name
from its situation on the eastern borders of the province of Galileo; it was
anciently called the sea of Chinnereth, or Chinneroth (Numbers 34:11; Joshua
12:3), from its vicinity to a town of that name. In 1Ma_11:67 it is called the
water of Gennesar, and in Luke 5:1, the lake of Gennesaret, from the neighboring
land of that name. Its most common appellation is the sea of Tiberias, from the
contiguous town of Tiberia, which has seen described in the preceding
paragraphs. This capacious lake is from twelve to fifteen miles in length, and
from six to nine in breadth; along the shore its depth varies, and in some parts
it maybe sixty feet. The water is perfectly fresh, and is used by the
inhabitants of Tiberias to drink, and for every culinary purpose. The waters of
the northern part of this lake abound with delicious fish. It is remarkable that
here is not a single boat of any description on the sea of Tiberias at present,
although it is evident from the gospel history that it was much navigated in the
time of Jesus Christ. The fish are caught partly by the fishermen going into the
water up to their waists, and throwing in a hand-net, and partly with
casting-nets from the beach; the consequence is that a very small quantity only
is taken, in comparison of what might be obtained if boats were employed. This
accounts for the circumstance of fish being so dear at Tiberias, as to be sold
at the same price per pound as meat. Viewed from a height, the water looks, amid
the surrounding mountains, like an immense reservoir; and from the northern part
being covered with volcanic remains, it has been conjectured that this lake was
at one period the crater of a volcano. It has been compared by travelers to Loch
Lomond in Scotland; and, like the lake of Windermere in Westmoreland, it is
often greatly agitated by winds. A strong current marks the passage of the
Jordan through this lake; and when this is opposed by contrary winds, which blow
here with the force of a hurricane from the southeast, sweeping into the lake
from the mountains, a boisterous sea is instantly raised, which the small
vessels of the country (such as were anciently in use) were ill qualified to
resist. Such a tempest is described in Matthew 8:24-26, which was miraculously
calmed by Jesus Christ with a word. The broad and extended surface of this lake,
“covering the bottom of a profound valley, surrounded by lofty and precipitous
eminences, when added to the impression under which every Christian pilgrim
approaches, gives to it a character of unparalleled dignity.” JESUS SENDS DEMONS
TO SWINE Arriving in the country of the Gadarenes (or Gergesenes), on the other
side of the lake, he was met by two men, coming out from among the tombs, who,
though possessed with devils; and raging with madness, cried out, acknowledging
Jesus to be the Son of God. From these unhappy creatures he expelled the
infernal spirits, suffering them, at their own request, to take possession of a
herd of swine, which were feeding near the seaside; whereupon the whole herd ran
violently down into the sea, and perished. GADARENES ASK JESUS TO LEAVE The loss
of the swine, and probably the fear of some other calamity, induced the wicked
Gadarenes earnestly to request that Jesus would leave their country; and thus
they lost the benefits and blessings of his ministry; for he accordingly
departed from the coast of Gadara, and returned to the city of Capernaum.
JAIRUS' DAUGHTER RAISED FROM DEAD While in the house of Matthew, who had made an
entertainment for his master, he received an application from the ruler of the
synagogue, by the name of Jairus, who fell at his feet; begging that he would
come and heal his little daughter, then lying at the point of death. Before he
arrived at the ruler's house, the spirit of the damsel had fled; but Jesus,
taking her by the hand, awoke her from the sleep of death, and restored her to
the astonished and rejoicing parents. JESUS SENDS DISCIPLES OUT BY TWOS After
several other miracles of mercy and goodness, and a considerable time spent in
proclaiming the good news of salvation, in different parts of the country, where
he observed the multitudes as sheep without a shepherd, Jesus determined that
the gospel should be more diffusively published. Accordingly, having called
together his twelve apostles, and addressed them with a discourse filled with
suitable instruction, advice; and encouragement, he sent them forth, by two and
two, to preach the kingdom of God among “the lost sheep of the house of Israel,”
and to work miracles through his power. Thus commissioned, the apostles went
forward into the work; nor did their master remain inactive: “He departed
thence, to teach and to preach” in the different cities of the Jews. JOHN IS
MARTYRED In the meantime John the Baptist had ended his mortal race, having
fallen a sacrifice to the pride of Herod, and the cruelty of his unlawful wife
Herodias. At Herod's birth-night feast, the daughter of this Herodias so pleased
the king, by her expertness in dancing, that he promised, with an oath, to give
her whatsoever she might ask. The occasion was seized by the wicked Herodias,
who instructed her daughter to ask the head of John the Baptist. This was
accordingly done; and the bloody gift was presented to the damsel in a charger.
JESUS FEEDS A MULTITUDE On the return of the twelve apostles, and their report
to Christ, he took them with him to a desert place, there to spend some little
time in retirement. Thither, however, the people quickly followed him; and in
this wilderness, the situation of the multitude drew forth a new instance of the
Redeemer's power and goodness. They were without food, and likely to suffer for
the want of it. But a lad present having five barley loaves and two small
fishes, these were so increased, under the wonderworking hands of Christ, that
five thousand men, besides a number of women and children, were amply supplied,
and twelve baskets were filled with the fragments which remained. This miracle,
so pleasing to the multitude, produced a determination, on their part, to make
Christ a temporal king; but, far from acceding to these views, he dismissed the
crowd, and sending his disciples on before him, in a vessel, he retired to a
mountain, and spent the evening in prayer. CHRIST WALKS ON WATER While Jesus was
thus engaged in secret devotion, the disciples were tossed on the water by a
tempestuous wind. But about the fourth watch of the night (or three o'clock in
the morning), they saw him approaching the vessel, walking on the waves. Struck
with the sight of what appeared to them to be a spirit, “they cried out for
fear.” But Jesus quickly removed their apprehensions; and Peter, in the
forwardness of his heart, obtained leave to meet him on the water. Soon,
however, his fear overpowered his faith, and, beginning to sink, he was
dependant on the hand of his master for deliverance from death. CHRIST IS THE
BREAD OF HEAVEN Landing on the coast of Gennesaret, Jesus was, in a little time,
surrounded by numbers bringing the sick in beds, to be healed. In the meantime,
many of the people who had been miraculously fed by Christ, followed him to the
city of Capernaum. But Jesus taking occasion to reprove their selfish motives,
directed their attention to that food which would nourish the soul; declaring
himself to be the bread of God which came down from heaven, to give life to the
world. The heavenly discourse which he delivered, gave offence to some of his
carnal followers, while it exhibited the only means of restoring lost sinners to
spiritual life and eternal felicity. TO SIDON THEN GALILEE After reproving the
Pharisees for their hypocritical attention to mere external ceremonies, while
they overlooked inward purity and a righteous conduct, we find our Lord
departing into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. Here, at the humble entreaty of a
Syrophenician woman, in behalf of her daughter, who was grievously distressed by
a demon, he delivered the afflicted creature from her calamity; and then,
leaving these coasts, came near to the sea of Galilee, where, for a while, he
rested himself on a mountain. CHRIST FEEDS THE CROWDS AGAIN To this place the
multitudes quickly resorted, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the dumb,
the maimed, and many others, and laying them at the feet of Jesus to be healed.
Here, too, his power and compassion were again manifested, in a miraculous
supply of food; the fainting multitude, to the number of four thousand, beside
women and children, being fed from seven loaves and a few small fishes; and
seven baskets-full of the fragments being afterward gathered up. CHRIST BEGINS
TO WARN DISCIPLES OF HIS COMING SUFFERING From the place above mentioned, Jesus
passed over to Dalmanutha, is the coasts of Magdala, where he was beset by the
Pharisees and Sadducees, who demanded of him a sign from heaven, but met as they
deserved, with a refusal and reproof. Going thence to the city of Bethsaida, he
restored a blind man to sight; after which, we find him visiting the towns of
Caesarea Philippi. In this journey our Lord entered into a private conversation
with his disciples, on the subject of his own person and character; and from
that time began to give them some intimation concerning his approaching
sufferings, and his resurrection from the dead. TRANSFIGURATION The disciples
had heretofore seen their Lord, great indeed in power, but lowly in appearance.
It remained for some of them to witness a splendor in his person, infinitely
transcending the pomp of the greatest earthly king. Taking with him three of his
chosen followers, Peter, James, and John, and ascending a high mountain, for the
purpose of private devotion, it came to pass, while engaged in prayer, that he
was suddenly, and in a glorious manner, transfigured in their presence. His face
shone as the sun, and his raiment became white and dazzling. At the same time
also, appeared two glorified saints, Moses and Elijah, who entered into a
conversation with Jesus, concerning his approaching death, which was to be
accomplished at Jerusalem. It seems to have been the night-season when this
wonderful event took place. The three disciples, fatigued with the labors of the
day, had sunk down to sleep, but awakened with the splendor of the light, they
beheld the glorious scene; while, as it passed off, a bright cloud overshadowed
them, and a voice from the cloud proclaimed, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased; hear ye him!” FISHING FOR TAX MONEY On coming down from the
mountain, the next day after the transfiguration, we find Jesus healing a youth,
who from his childhood had been afflicted with lunacy and a dumb spirit; and
some time afterward, at Capernaum, directing Peter to go to the sea, and take
from the mouth of the first fish which should come to his hook, a piece of
money, for the purpose of paying tribute to the tax-gatherers. VAIN AMBITION OF
THE DISCIPLES In the way to Capernaum, the disciples, not yet fully acquainted
with the spiritual nature of their Master's kingdom, had held some dispute among
themselves, who should be the greatest. Jesus, therefore, knowing what had
passed, took occasion to warn them against a vain ambition; inculcating on their
minds a spirit of genuine humility, as the proper temper to be possessed by his
servants, and pointing out the necessity of renouncing all objects which might
be inconsistent with the service of God, though dear to the feelings, as the
hand, the foot, or the eye, to the body. THE SEVENTY SENT IN PAIRS After
discourse of this sort, and much more, in which our Lord instructed his
disciples in the proper manner of dealing with each other, as members of his
church, and pressed on them a ready disposition toward the forgiveness of
injuries; we find him appointing, in addition to the twelve apostles, seventy
disciples, whom “he sent two and two before his face, into every city and place,
whither he himself would come.” Defile between Jerusalem and Jericho

ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS AGAINST JESUS In the meantime, going up to Jerusalem, to
the feast of tabernacles, Jesus entered into the temple and taught. On this
occasion much division and contention ensued among the people. Some, offended at
his faithful dealing, “sought to take him;” “but his hour was not yet come.”
Some believed in him, as the promised Messiah, and others rejected him. At
length the Pharisees sent chief-priests and officers to apprehend him; but,
overpowered with the force of his words, they returned without him, declaring,
“Never man spake like this man.” RULER ASKS HOW TO GET ETERNAL LIFE After
another instructive lecture, on the following day, and a disputation with the
Jews, we have an account of the return of the seventy disciples to their master,
with the report of their success. While engaged in discourse with these
disciples, a certain lawyer (or expounder of the Jewish laws), came forward, and
with much self-consequence and secret contempt of Jesus, proposed a plausible
question, but with a design to involve him in a difficulty. He begged to be
informed what he must do, for the attainment of eternal life. Had the question
been proposed with an humble and teachable disposition, our Lord would doubtless
have given a direct and explicit answer; but knowing the proud and captious
temper of the scribe, he replied in a way which might tend to humble or silence
him. He therefore referred him to the demands of the law, upon obedience to
which the scribe placed his dependence, assuring him a complete compliance with
those claims, of perfect love to God and man, would secure to him the blessing
desired. “This do, and thou shalt live;” as if he had said “Perform, punctually
and perpetually, without interruption or imperfection, all the injunctions of
the holy and spiritual law of God, and eternal life shall be thine; but,
remember; that the least deviation or defect will ruin thee for ever.”[432]
[432] In this manner, St. Paul speaks (Galatians 3:10), “For as many as are of
the works of the law,” that is, who seek justification by it, “are under the
curse;” for it is written, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all
things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” RULER ASKS ABOUT
NEIGHBORS The scribe, willing to stand on his own defence, and to evade
conviction, proposed another question--“Who is my neighbor?” It should seem that
he, like all others who seek salvation by their own doings, was desirous of
narrowing the demands of the law as much as possible, and reducing the number of
those to whom the duties of love were owing. Our Lord wisely took this occasion
of confuting the prevalent notion that neighbors were only such persons as lived
near each other, or were connected by the ties of blood or religion. He
therefore showed, by a parable, that we ought to extend our kindness to all our
fellow-creatures in distress, of whatever nation or profession, even to those
who have been separated from us by party quarrels and distinctions. Map of the
Holy Land in the Time of Christ

“A certain traveler,” said our Lord, “going from Jerusalem to Jericho,[433] was
set upon by thieves, who not only rifled him of his clothes and money, but so
dangerously wounded him, that they left him almost expiring on the ground. By
chance a priest came that way, and saw the poor wretch weltering in his blood:
but the sight did not affect him, he passed along unconcerned. Next came a
Levite, as void of tenderness and humanity as the priest. At last the groans of
the poor wretch stirred up the curiosity of a Samaritan to see the cause, which
he no sooner discovered, but, moved with compassion, he went to him, raised his
head, recalled his fainting spirits, and closed his gaping wounds with healing
balsams; then mounting him on his own beast he gently conveyed the man to the
first inn, where at his own cost he entertained him while he stayed with him,
and at his departure promised the host to be at whatever further expense should
be incurred.” Our blessed Savior applying this parable to the lawyer, asked him
which he thought was neighbor to the poor traveler. The lawyer replied,
“Undoubtedly he that was kind, and careful of him.” Then says he to the lawyer,
“Go thou and do likewise.” Hereby plainly intimating, that no distance of
country or religion destroyed the true notion of neighborhood, but every person
with whom we converse in peace and charity is that neighbor, whom we are to love
as ourselves. [433] Jericho was at this time a very important city; indeed would
seem from Josephus to have been next in consequence to Jerusalem itself. At this
place also twelve e thousand priests and Levites were stationed, with a view to
the rotation of service at Jerusalem. Hence the peculiar propriety with which
our Lord introduces the priest and Levite as passing this way. The road to
Peres, beyond Jordan; also passed this way, whence it was one of the most
frequented roads of Palestine. How fitly the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was
made the scene of this interesting story, will appear when it is understood that
this road has always been infested by numerous daring and desperate robbers; and
its character is so notorious, even at the present day, in this respect, that
travelers are rarely allowed by the governor of Jerusalem to proceed to Jericho
and the Dead sea without an escort. Josephus intimates, and Jerome says, that
the savage mountainous wilderness through which this road passed had acquired
the name of the bloody way. The monks however have restricted this name or
rather that of the “Valley of Abdonim” (blood), to a small round, grassy valley,
which they have fixed upon as the place where the supposed facts of this parable
took place. That the region is well suited for a scene of robbery and murder
will appear by the following, from Mr. Buckingham: “The whole of this road from
Jerusalem to Jericho is held to be the most dangerous about Palestine, and,
indeed, in this portion of it, the very aspect of the scenery is sufficient, on
the one hand, to tempt to robbery and murder, and, on the other, to occasion a
dread of it in those who pass that way. It was partly to prevent any accident
happening to us at this early stage of our journey, and partly perhaps to calm
our fears on that score, that a messenger had been dispatched by our guides to
an encampment of their tribe near, desiring them to send an escort to meet us at
this place. We were met here accordingly by a band of about twenty parsons, on
foot, all armed with matchlocks, and presenting the most ferocious and
robber-like appearance that could be imagined. The effect of this was heightened
by the shouts which they sent forth from hill to hill, and which were re-echoed
through all the valleys; while the bold projecting crags of rock, and the dark
shadows in which everything was buried below, the towering height of the cliffs
above and the forbidding desolation which everywhere reigned around, presented a
picture that was quite in harmony throughout all its parts. It made us feel most
forcibly the propriety of its being chosen as the scene of the delightful tale
of compassion which we had before so often admired for its doctrine,
independently of its local beauty. In these gloomy solitudes, pillage, wounds,
and death, would be accompanied with double terror from the frightful aspect of
everything around. Here the unfeeling act of passing by a fellow-creature in
distress, as the priest and Levite are said to have done, strikes one with
horror, as an act almost more than inhuman. And here, too, the compassion of the
Good Samaritan is doubly virtuous, from the purity of the motive which must have
led to it, in a spot where no eyes were fixed on him to draw forth the
performance of any duty, and from the courage which was necessary to admit of a
man's exposing himself, by such delay, to the risk of a similar fate to that
from which he was endeavoring to rescue a fellow-creature.” If space allowed, we
should also be glad to transcribe the account width Sir F Henniker gives of his
being stripped naked by the Arabs, and left severely wounded, on this road, in
the year 1820. As this traveler states, a similar circumstance happened to the
monk Brocard (not indeed two hundred years ago, as he says, but), toward the end
of the thirteenth century. Many other testimonies might be collected of the
dangerous character of the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. MARY AND MARTHA Two
sisters, Martha and Mary, who make a considerable figure in the sacred history,
now present themselves to our notice. While, at a certain time, Jesus was
entertained at the house of these pious women, Mary took her seat at the feet of
the divine teacher, in order to receive instruction; while Martha, suffering
herself to be over-anxious in making provision, complained of her sister's
neglect, in not rendering her assistance. It was on this occasion that Christ
gave to Martha that memorable admonition, so worthy of attention from the human
family in general: “Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many
things. But one thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen that good part which
shall not be taken away from her.” A great part of the gospel records, which yet
remain to be noticed, consist in a detail of the discourses delivered by Christ
to his disciples, together with reproofs to the hypocritical scribes and
Pharisees, and a number of interesting parables. A brief notice of the most
remarkable of these objects, as we pass on, is all that the limits of our
history will allow. PRAYER AND HYPOCRISY In answer to the request of his
disciples, we find our Lord giving them instructions on the subject of prayer,
and encouraging them to the exercise of this sacred privilege. When a certain
Pharisee, with whom Jesus dined, found fault because he did not use the ceremony
of the elders, by first washing, he took occasion to expose the vain pretences
and hypocrisy of these people, who, while they were superstitiously nice in
small matters, passed over judgment and the love of God: and warning his
disciples against such principles, he exhorted them not to fear the displeasure
of man, but to stand in awe of him who has power to cast into hell, as well as
to kill the body. COVETOUSNESS Occurrences which, in a religious light, might
appear unimportant, afforded occasion to this heavenly teacher, for the most
important religious instruction. Thus, when one of the company desired him to
interfere in the settlement of an inheritance, Jesus cautioned him, as well as
the congregation in general, to “beware of covetousness;” and, in an impressive
parable, represented the folly and final wretchedness of those who feel secure
of happiness in the possession of earthly plenty, and are disposed to “eat,
drink, and be merry,” while they are “not rich toward God.” Our Lord was now, it
seems, on another circuit through Galilee; where, in one of the synagogues, he
released from her affliction, a woman who had been bowed together with her
infirmity for eighteen years; after which, we are informed of his returning
toward Jerusalem, teaching in the different cities and villages on the way.
WEDDING SUPPER PARABLE Being at the table of one of the Pharisees, in the course
of this journey, Jesus improved the season by the parable of the Wedding Supper;
setting forth, under figures, the rich provision of the gospel, and representing
the various success of his ministers in delivering the gracious invitation to
sinners. On leaving the house, multitudes followed him; and the publicans and
sinners drawing near to hear him, the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees
murmured at his condescension to these people. Our Lord defended his conduct on
this occasion, in three parables, the last of which, called the parable of the
Prodigal Son, is so very interesting and important, that we must not omit a
brief sketch of its contents. PRODIGAL SON PARABLE A certain man is represented
as having two sons; the younger of whom, having received his portion, went into
a distant country, where he “wasted his substance with riotous living.” Reduced
by poverty and famine to a state of wretchedness, he became a keeper of swine,
to a citizen of that country; but happily, in this situation, “he came to
himself,” and took the resolution to try once more the kindness of a father.
Accordingly, he returned, with an humble and penitent confession, to his injured
parent, who received him with joy and feasting, while the elder brother,
murmuring at his reception, refused to unite in the pleasure and festivity of
the day. This parable, which seems evidently to represent, in the person of the
younger brother, the publicans and sinners, and in that of the elder, the
scribes and Pharisees, contains also important instruction for us. In the
younger brother we may see the sad fruits of sin and dissipation, both in
temporal and spiritual point of view, as well as the happy result of a return to
God; while the disposition and conduct of the elder, still serve to mark the
character of the self-righteous, wherever they are found. UNJUST STEWARD PARABLE
The parable of the unjust steward, which follows that of the prodigal, is
intended to admonish us, so to use the possessions of this world (called “the
mammon of unrighteousness”) as to secure the friendship of the distressed,
especially among the friends of Christ; in other words; to use these worldly
things to the glory of God and the good of men. And in the next parable which
comes under our notice, two characters are represented, to their different
states, both in this world and in that beyond the grave. RICH MAN AND LAZARUS
PARABLE This is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus the beggar: the former
living in splendor and plenty, but forgetful of God and religion; the latter
lying, an afflicted outcast, at the rich man's gate, but blessed with the favor
of Heaven. Such was the state of things in this world; but greatly was it
reversed in the other! The beggar dying, “was carried by the angels into
Abraham's bosom,” while, in hell, the rich man lifting up his eyes in torment,
saw the blessedness of the once-afflicted Lazarus. BLIND MAN SEES After just
mentioning the healing of the ten men who were diseased with leprosy; the
parable of the importunate widow, which was designed to encourage us to
perseverance in prayer; and that of the Pharisee and publican, showing the
contrast between proud self-righteousness and humble penitence--we hasten on to
the feast of the dedication, at Jerusalem, where we find our Lord restoring to
sight a man who had been blind from his birth. This miracle, though attested in
the clearest manner, had no effect toward reproving the prejudice and enmity of
the Pharisees. It was wrought on the sabbath day, and this, in their esteem,
afforded some pretext for opposition. They accused Jesus of profaning the
sabbath, and cast the man (who had now become his disciple) out of the
synagogue. This opposition became still more violent, when Christ, in a
discourse held with the Jews, in the porch of the temple, declared, “I and my
Father are one.” They even took up stones to stone him; “but he escaped out of
their hands, and went again beyond Jordan,” where many resorted to him, and
believed on him. CHILDREN BROUGHT We must not omit to mention here, among other
instances of his goodness, the gracious regard shown to helpless infancy, by the
Redeemer; who, when some persons present brought young children to him, that
they might share in his favor, “took them up in his arms, put his hands upon
them, and blessed them.” Then departing thence, he went on to some other place
which he had designed to visit. RICH YOUNG RULER In the way, he was accosted by
a young ruler, who, in an earnest manner, desired to know what he should do to
inherit eternal life. The result of the conversation showed, that this amiable
youth, with all his morality, was incapable of renouncing the world for Christ,
and Jesus improved the serious occasion, by delivering a general caution against
setting the heart on the perishing riches of this world; assuring his disciples,
that those who had forsaken all for him, should, in some sense, be great
gainers, even in this life; and that in the world to come, they should have life
everlasting. LAZARUS RAISED The next event to which we shall here pay attention,
is the resurrection of Lazarus. This man was the brother of Martha and Mary, who
have been already introduced to our notice. Of this little family (who resided
in the town of Bethany), it is testified, that they were all beloved of Jesus.
Yet Lazarus, though loved of hisLord, was sick, and eventually died of his
illness. In the meantime a message from the two sisters had reached the Savior,
mentioning the sickness of his friend; but continuing some time where he was, he
did not reach the house of mourning till four days after the death and burial of
Lazarus. Jerusalem, with its Walls--A northwest View This circumstance, however,
offered no difficulty to him who was “the Resurrection and the Life.”
Accompanied by a train of mourners, and the sisters of the deceased, with whom
he wept on this occasion, he came to the sepulcher; and the stone which covered
the mouth being removed, Jesus, after addressing his heavenly Father, “cried
with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth!” His word was attended with life-giving
power: the grave resigned its prisoner; “and he that was dead came forth,” bound
with grave-clothes, and his head wrapped with a napkin. “Loose him,” said
Christ, and let him go.” From that day forth, the Jews, convinced of his
miraculous power, but still cherishing their enmity against him, “took counsel
together to put him to death.” On this account “Jesus walked no more openly
among the Jews,” till the time appointed for his suffering; but went, with his
disciples, into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim.


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  CHAPTER 45: LAST PASSOVER--ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM--THE AGONY--THE TRIAL
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LAST PASSOVER--ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM--THE AGONY--THE TRIAL JESUS PREPARES TO FACE
DEATH The passover, which now drew near, was the season appointed in the divine
purpose for the death of Jesus Christ--himself the great passover, the atoning
sacrifice for the sins of men. He departed, therefore, from the place of his
retreat, in order to meet the fate which he well knew awaited him, and of which
he informed his disciples in the journey to Jerusalem.[434] [434] Jerusalem
(Northwest View)--“Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, was
mount Zion,” to the heart of every devout Israelite: for thither “the tribes of
the Lord went up to give thanks unto the name of the Lord;” and “there” also
were “set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David” (Psalms 48:2).
Jerusalem is situated near the center of Palestine, among the mountains, about
thirty-seven miles from the Mediterranean sea, and twenty-three from the river
Jordan. The most ancient name of this city was Salem (Genesis 14:18); and it was
afterward called Jebus, from one of the sons of Canaan (Joshua 18:28). Being a
very strong position, it resisted many attempts of the Israelites to subdue it,
until at length it was reduced by David (2 Samuel 5:6-9), after which it
received its present name, and was also called the city of David. After its
destruction by the Chaldeans, Jerusalem was rebuilt by the Jews on their return
from the Babylonish captivity, about the year B.C. 536. They exerted themselves
much, in order to restore its former splendor; and Herod the Great expended vast
sums in its embellishment. At length it was taken, A.D. 72. by the Romans under
Titus, who ineffectually endeavored to save its celebrated temple; the
foundations of which were ploughed up by the Roman soldiers. Thus, agreeably to
the predictions of the prophets, “Zion was ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem
became heaps” (Jeremiah 26:18; Micah 3:12); and, conformably to the prophecy of
Jesus Christ, not one stone was felt upon another which was not thrown down
(Matthew 24:2). As, however, the Jews continued to return, the emperor Hadrian
planted a Roman colony there, and erected a city on part of the former site of
Jerusalem, which he called Aelia Capitolina, and exerted himself to obliterate
all traces both of Judaism and Christianity. But in the reign of Constantine,
the first Christian emperor, it resumed its ancient name, which it has retained
to the present day. Julian the apostate, who, after his father, succeeded to the
throne of his uncle Constantine, endeavored to rebuild the temple; but his
design (and that of the Jews whom he patronized) was frustrated, A.D. 363. An
earthquake, a whirlwind, and a fiery eruption, compelled the workmen to abandon
their design. The subsequent history of Jerusalem may be narrated in few words.
In A.D. 613 it was taken by Cosrhoea, king of Persia, who slew ninety thousand
of the inhabitants; and, to the utmost of his power, demolished whatever the
Christians had venerated. In A.D. 627 the emperor Heraclius defeated Cosrhoea,
and Jerusalem was recovered by the Greeks. The caliph Omar, the third in
succession from Mohammed, was its next conqueror; A.D. 636 he captured It from
the Christians after a siege of four months; and it continued under the caliphs
of Bagdad until A.D. 868, when it was taken by Ahmed, a Turkish sovereign of
Egypt. During the space of 220 years it was subject to several masters, Turkish
and Saracenic; and in 1099 it was taken by the crusaders under Godfrey of
Bouillon, when the standard of the cross was triumphantly displayed upon its
walls, and it again became the capital of a kingdom. The Christian monarchy of
Jerusalem was of short duration. Godfrey was succeeded by his brother Baldwin,
who died in 1118. In the year 1188 Saladin, sultan of the East, captured the
city, which was restored to the Latin princes by Saleh Ismael, emir of Damascus,
and fifty years afterward they lost it to the sultans of Egypt, who held it
until 1382. Selim the Turkish sultan, reduced Egypt and Syria, including
Jerusalem, in 1517; and it still continues under the Turkish dominion, “trodden
down of the Gentiles,” In literal fulfillment of our Lord's prediction. Our
engraving (See p519), exhibits a general view of Jerusalem with the walls. This
city occupies an irregular square between two mites and a half and three miles
in circumference. The walls by which it is surrounded are flanked, at irregular
distances, by square towers, and have battlements all around on their summits,
with loop-holes for arrows or musketry close to the top. The walls appear to be
about fifty feet to height, but are not surrounded by a ditch: within them are
seen crowded dwellings, remarkable in no respect, except being terraced by flat
roofs, and generally built of stone. The large building, with a cupola toward
the left, is the mosque of Omar, the most elegant edifice of the Turks in
Jerusalem. It occupies the site of the great temple of Solomon, and is held in
such profound veneration by the Moslims as to have become forbidden ground to
any Jew or Christian, who, if detected entering its precincts, must either adopt
the Muslim faith or forfeit his life. Two modern travelers, however (the late
Mr. Burckhardt, and M. Badhia under the assumed name of Ali Bey), succeeded in
obtaining a view of the interior of this building, in the garb of Moslems; and
subsequently it was visited and examined in detail, four several times, by Dr.
Richardson, whose skill as a physician had procured for him that extraordinary
privilege. The elevated platform or terrace upon which it stands is bounded by
embankment-walls, and others of ancient construction, forming a level area of
795 feet in length by 750 feet in breath. The two low cupolas toward the right
of our plate indicate the church of the Holy Sepulcher, of the interior of which
a view has been given at p527. It is erected on the site of the magnificent
ancient church which was destroyed by fire some years ago: it has been rebuilt
by various sects of Christians, who have separate portions of the building
allotted to them for the performance of their respective services. The general
plan of the former building is stated to have been preserved with such
exactness, that the descriptions of it given by former travelers are equally
applicable to the modern edifice. The Greek, Armenian, and Latin Christians,
severally have their convents: the principal is that of Saint Salvador, which is
occupied by monks of the Franciscan order, who hospitably entertain pilgrims of
all Christian nations. It will accommodate about two hundred persons, and is so
completely enclosed by lofty walls as to resemble a fortress. The population,
ordinarily resident in Jerusalem, may be stated at 12,000; but it is
considerably increased by the pilgrims who flock thither at certain seasons of
the year, particularly at Easter, when they are crowded into the several
convents. Jerusalem in the Time of Christ

BLIND MEN HEALED On leaving Jericho, where they called on the way, Jesus was
addressed- by two blind men (one of whom was known by the name of Bartimaeus,
the son of Timaeus), who cried out to him, “Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy
on us!” The compassionate Savior restored their sight, and they followed him
with thankful hearts, glorying God. ZACCHAEUS In the crowd which gathered around
Jesus, in passing through Jericho, was a man by the name of Zacchaeus, a chief
man among the publicans, and rich. Being low of stature, he ran before the
multitude, and climbed a sycamore-tree, in order to have a sight of this great
prophet. He was not, however, concealed from the eye of Christ, who called him
down from the tree, and graciously declared, that salvation had come to his
house; while Zacchaeus, under a divine influence, professed his intention to
give half his goods to the poor, and his readiness to restore fourfold to any
person who might have been defrauded by his dealings. MARY WASHES JESUS' FEET
Six days before the passover, Jesus came to Bethany,[435] where, being at supper
in the house of Martha, with his disciples and Lazarus, Mary expressed her holy
affection by pouring on his head an alabaster-box of precious ointment,
anointing his feet also, and wiping them with her hair; and this act Jesus
declared, was the anointing of his body to his approaching burial. [435]
Bethany, as we are informed (John 11:18), was “nigh unto Jerusalem, about
fifteen furlongs off. The place is not mentioned, at least under this name, in
the Old Testament; but it occurs several times in the Talmudical writings. It is
situated to the east of the Mount of Olives, on the road to Jericho. Its
situation is pleasant and somewhat romantic, being sheltered by the Mount of
Olives on the north, and abounding with trees and long grass. It is now a poor
village, inhabited by Arabs; and the cultivation of the adjacent soil is much
neglected. It seems, however, about our Savior's time to have enjoyed some kind
of trade (perhaps in olives, figs, and dates, which abounded in this
neighborhood), as the Jewish writers mention “the shops of Bethany,” which were,
as they inform us, destroyed three years before Jerusalem. Bethany is at present
chiefly noticed on account of its mention in the gospels; and in consequence of
which, it contains a full proportion of the sort of objects to which the
attention of pilgrims is usually directed: these are the tomb of Lazarus, with
the ruins of the house he is supposed to have occupied, and also the houses of
his sisters, and of Simon the leper. That which is shown as the house of Lazarus
is a ruin, the stones of which are very large, and of a solid and somber cast of
architecture, and which the Rev. V. Monroe (Summer's Ramble in Syria, vol. i.,
p. 189) conjectures to have formed part of the convent built by Fulco, king of
Jerusalem. Near these ruins is the alleged tomb of Lazarus, thus noticed by the
same writer: “The exterior doorway of the tomb of Lazarus is formed artificially
of stone-work; but the steep, narrow, and winding staircase which leads below,
is cut in the living rock, as well as the grave itself.” JESUS' TRIUMPHAL ENTRY
Having come to the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples to procure a
colt (the foal of an ass) on which, though never before ridden by man, he made
his entry into the city of Jerusalem; thus fulfilling a prophecy respecting the
Messiah, in Zechariah 9:9. In the meantime, the multitude that surrounded him
spread their garments in the way, and cutting branches from the trees, strewed
them in the road, according to the usual custom of expressing joy, on the
arrival of a great prince. Many also from Jerusalem met him with branches of
palm-trees; while all his disciples and followers united in crying, “Hosanna to
the Son of David!” JESUS WEEPS OVER JERUSALEM The heart of Jesus, however, was
far from being elated with this triumph. “When he was come near, he beheld the
city, and wept over it!” He saw the approaching doom of this devoted place, when
God, in righteous indignation, would give it up to the power of the Roman
armies; and, in a prophecy directed to the city, he foretold that doom. JESUS
EXPELS TRADERS Having entered into the temple, and again expelled the profane
rabble of traders and money-changers, who, it seems, had resumed their
seats,[436] he healed the blind and the lame, who came to him there; though his
wonderful works, and the shoutings of the children in the temple, crying,
“Hosanna to the Son of David,” sorely displeased the chief priests and scribes,
who “sought to destroy him, and could not find what they might do; for all the
people were very attentive to hear him.” [436] It does not appear probable, that
this transaction, recorded so late in two of the evangelists, is the same with
that mentioned by John, so early in the public ministry of Christ. GOD SPEAKS
FROM HEAVEN In the course of his public exercises, Jesus having addressed his
heavenly Father, praying that God would glorify his own name, a voice from
heaven declared, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” This
voice was mistaken by some for thunder; others said an angel had spoken to him;
but Jesus assured them that this voice had come, not on his account, but for
their sakes, that they might profit by this divine testimony. JESUS SPEAKS OF
HIS KINGDOM After many discourses and admonitions delivered to the scribes and
Pharisees, who endeavored, but in vain, “to entangle him in his talk,” as well
as several parables, which we here pass over, we find our Lord, in a prophetic
way, informing his disciples on the subject of the destruction of Jerusalem; the
certainty of that calamitous event, and the circumstances which would attend it.
He foretells also the spread of the gospel; represents, in the parable of the
five talents, and in that of the ten virgins, the state of the visible church on
earth; and closes his discourse with an account of the great day of judgment;
when he, as the king, will sit upon the throne of his glory, and pass on the
righteous and the wicked their final sentence. JUDAS SEEKS TO BETRAY CHRIST We
next take a view of our divine Savior, preparing to eat the last passover with
his disciples; while Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles, makes a bargain
with the chief priests and captains, to betray him into their hands. Thirty
pieces of silver were the price of his master's blood; and from that time “he
sought opportunity to betray him in the absence of the multitude.” LAST SUPPER
At the supper of the passover, which Jesus informed his disciples was the last
he should eat with them on earth, he made a declaration that one of them would
betray him; and intimating to Judas that he was acquainted with his design, the
traitor went out, in order to accomplish his purpose. On this memorable night,
Jesus instituted what is termed the Lord's Supper; giving to his disciples the
bread, in token of his body, broken for his people; and then the wine,
representing his blood, shed for the remission of sins. At this passover too,
our Lord gave a notable example of humble condescension, by girding himself with
a towel, and washing the feet of his disciples. GETHSEMANE Judas being now gone,
Jesus entered on a long discourse fitly adapted to the situation of his
disciples under the melancholy prospect of parting with their Lord. This was
closed by a fervent prayer in their behalf; and then he went out with his
disciples, and, crossing the Brook Kidron, entered into a garden called
Gethsemane,[437] where he had often before retired. Here he gave his disciples
notice of his being about to be taken, even on that night, when they would all
be scattered from him, as sheep when the shepherd is smitten (Zechariah 13:7).
[437] Olive trees now standing in the Garden of Gethsemane--The Garden of
Gethsemane is one of those sacred places in the vicinity of Jerusalem, which is
visited by every Christian pilgrim. This deeply interesting spot is situated
between the foot of the Mount of Olives and the brook Kidron: it was a place
frequently resorted to by Jesus Christ and his Apostles. Thither Judas
proceeded, accompanied by a number of officers, to betray him; and here the
Savior endured his “agony and bloody sweat” (Luke 22:39-49; Matthew 13:36-56;
Mark 14:32-46; John 18:1-12). This garden is surrounded by a coarse low wall, of
a few feet in height, and about the third part of an acre in extent. When Mr.
Catherwood was here in 1834, taking the drawings for his beautiful panorama of
Jerusalem, it was planted with olive, almond, and fig trees. Eight of the olive
trees are so large, that they are said to have been in existence ever since the
time of Jesus Christ. Although we are informed by Josephus that Titus cut down
all the trees within one hundred furlongs of the city; yet it is not Improbable
that these trees (which are unquestionably of very remote antiquity) may have
arisen from the roots of the ancient trees; because the olive is very
long-lived, and possesses the peculiar property of shooting up again, however
frequently it may be cut down. The trees, now standing in the Garden of
Gethsemane, are of the species known to botanists as the Olea Europae: they are
wild olives, and appear pollarded from extreme age, and their sterns are very
rough and gnarled: they are highly venerated by the members of the Roman
communion here, who consider any attempt to cut or injure them as an act of
profanation. Should any one of them, indeed, be known to pluck any of the
leaves, he would incur a sentence of excommunication. Of the stones of the
olives, beads are made, which the monks of the Latin convent regard as one of
the most sacred objects that can be presented to a Christian traveler. At the
upper end of the garden is a naked ledge of rock, where Peter, James, and John,
are said to have slept during the Redeemer's agony; and a few paces thence a
grotto is shown, in which it is reported that he underwent the bitterest part of
his agony, and “his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to
the ground” (Luke 22:44). A small plot of ground, twelve yards long, is
separated as accursed ground being the reputed spot where Judas betrayed his
master with a kiss. The ridiculous gravity with which the precise places are
shown, where the most affecting and important incidents in our Savior's history
occurred, can not entirely destroy the interest we feel, when we imagine
ourselves to be near the spot where the disciples and their Lord so often met to
converse about the things pertaining to his kingdom, and to receive instruction
in the mysterious plan of redemption which was then opening so gloriously upon a
ruined world. The prospect from the Garden of Gethsemane is one of the most
pleasing in the vicinity of Jerusalem. The walls of the city are very distinctly
seen hence, at the extreme edge of a precipitous bank. Through the trees, the
bridge over the Kidron is clearly perceptible; and the Turkish burial-ground is
a marked point, from the tombs being mostly white, with turbans on the top, to
indicate the Moslem faith of the individuals whose remains are there interred.
Olive-Trees standing in the Garden of Gethsemane

PETER WARNED OF PENDING DENIAL This declaration roused the zeal of Peter, who,
too full of confidence, avowed his determination never to forsake his master;
but Christ assured him, that before the cock should crow twice on that night,
Peter would thrice deny that he knew him. The event, as we shall see, proved the
knowledge which Jesus had of Peter's weakness, and served as a warning to him
ever afterward. CHRIST PRAYS IN AGONY And now, taking with him three of his
disciples, Peter, James, and John, and retiring from the rest, Jesus began to
feel that severe anguish of mind, which was the consequence of his taking our
sins, and standing in the place of transgressors. Nor was this all. Having
withdrawn a small distance from the three disciples, he fell on his face in
prayer, and being in an agony, “his sweat was as it were great drops of blood
falling down to the ground.” In this conflict of soul, there appeared an angel
from heaven, strengthening him; after which he returned and joined the company
of his disciples. CHRIST ARRESTED AND TRIED In the meantime, Judas, with a band
of armed men, approached, with lanterns and torches; and giving them the
appointed token, by kissing his master, they took hold on the unresisting Jesus,
and having bound him, they led him away to Caiaphas, the high-priest. After a
mock trial before the Jewish council--where he suffered the most shameful
treatment--he was pronounced worthy of death; but, as the Jews had not now the
power of life and death in their hands, he was sent to Pontius Pilate, the Roman
governor, in order that this sentence might be confirmed. PETER DENIES CHRIST We
must not, however, omit to take notice of Peter, while his master stood
arraigned before the council. While all the other disciples, except John, had
fled, Peter, following at a distance, obtained admittance into the palace of the
high-priest. Here he was three times charged, by some present, with being a
disciple of Jesus, and three times he denied the charge. But when, on the third
denial, the cock crew a second time, “Jesus turned and looked on Peter.” His
heart was immediately smitten; he remembered his Lord's prediction, and “he went
out and wept bitterly.” JUDAS COMMITS SUICIDE In the case of Peter there was
hope; but in that of Judas there was none. When the traitor saw that his master
was condemned, his guilty soul was stung with remorse; “he brought again the
thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,” and declaring that he
had “betrayed the innocent blood,” he cast them down in the temple, and
departing in despair, went and hanged himself.


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  CHAPTER 46: CHRIST'S CONDEMNATION--CRUCIFIXION--RESURRECTION--ASCENSION
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CHRIST'S CONDEMNATION--CRUCIFIXION--RESURRECTION--ASCENSION CHRIST'S TRIAL From
the bar of Pilate, Jesus was passed to Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee--who
happened at that time to be in Jerusalem--and from Herod he was returned to
Pilate. His trial then proceeded; and, notwithstanding the persuasion of the
governor that Jesus was innocent, the voice of the multitude and of the chief
priests prevailed; and Pilate, having scourged him, delivered him up to their
fury. The most cruel indignities followed. They crowned him with thorns, mocked
him, spit upon him, smote him on the head, and ultimately led him away to be
crucified. BARABBAS RELEASED Pilate had, indeed, shown a desire to deliver
Christ from the sentence of condemnation, and, as it was the custom at the
passover, to release a prisoner, he proposed him as the object of favor on this
occasion; but such was the malice of his enemies, that they cried out for the
death of Jesus, and for the release of Barabbas, who was a murderer and a
robber; and such was the time-serving spirit of Pilate, that he could not resist
the wishes of the multitude. CALVARY The place of execution was called Calvary,
a little without the city of Jerusalem, and thither Jesus was conducted, bearing
his cross. It was the third hour of the day (or nine o'clock in the morning)
when, arriving at the place, they crucified Jesus Christ, nailing his hands and
feet to the cross, and raising him up between the heaven, and the earth; while,
full of divine compassion on his murderers, he prayed, “Father forgive them, for
they know not what they do!” At the same time, also, they crucified two
thieves--who had been brought along with Jesus--the one on his right hand, and
the other on his left. CROSS OF CHRIST The cross of Christ is one of the most
interesting objects which can be presented to the Christian reader. An eminent
divine says of it: “Let it be to the Jews a scandal, or offensive to their
fancy, prepossessed with expectations of a Messiah flourishing in secular pomp
and prosperity; let it be folly to the Greeks, or seem absurd to men puffed up
and corrupted in mind, with fleshly notions and maxims of worldly craft,
disposing them to value nothing which is not grateful to present sense or fancy,
that God should put his own beloved Son into so very sad and despicable a
condition; that salvation from death and misery should be procured by so
miserable a death; that eternal joy, glory, and happiness, should issue from
these fountains, of sorrow and shame; that a person in external semblance
devoted to so opprobrious usage should be the Lord and Redeemer of mankind, the
King and Judge of all the world; let, I say, this doctrine be scandalous and
disdainful to some persons tainted with prejudice; let it be strange and
incredible to others blinded with self-conceit; let all the inconsiderate, all
the proud, all the profane part of mankind, openly with their mouth, or closely
in heart, slight and reject it: yet to us it must appear grateful and joyous; to
us it is a faithful and most credible proposition, worthy of all acceptation,
that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, in this way of suffering
for them.” In such a light as this must every true Christian look upon the cross
of his blessed Redeemer. CRUCIFIXION The cruel mode of punishment by crucifixion
appears to have been in use from the earliest recorded period of history.
Possibly it was the invention of some barbarous tribe to prevent the escape of a
captive, by fastening him to a tree; or used to inflict death on an enemy, by
leaving him exposed upon a tree, to be a prey to birds and beasts, or to die of
hunger. In time, however, it was adopted by the most civilized nations of
antiquity. Among the Carthaginians, persons of all ranks, even commanders of
armies, were subject to it: among the Romans, however, it was considered as the
punishment of slaves, and inflicted on that class only. With reference to the
Hebrews, it seems doubtful whether crucifixion was a mode of punishment
practised by them in ancient times. The putting the sons of Saul to death, as
recorded 2 Samuel 21., has been adduced as an argument that it was; and the term
“hanged on a tree,” which is used, Acts 10:39, to describe crucifixion, seems to
favor such a view. Whatever the original form of crosses may have been, we
cannot tell; but in the course of time they were made of two pieces of wood, and
they have been divided by antiquaries into three kinds: 1, the crux decussata,
or cross divided like the letter X, and usually called St. Andrew's cross; 2,
the crux commissa, or joined cross, consisting of an upright piece of timber,
with a transverse piece on the extreme top, at right angles with the first, like
the letter T; and 3, the crux immissa, or let-in cross, in which the transverse
piece of timber is let into the upright, but placed somewhat below the top of
the upright, in this form †. It is the latter cross on which our Savior is
usually represented to have suffered, and though there may not be any absolute
authority for ascertaining the precise form of the cross used on this occasion,
yet the circumstance of an inscription being placed over his sacred head renders
the conjecture probable. CARRYING THE CROSS It is said by St. John, (John
19:17), that Jesus went forth “bearing his cross.” Accordingly, we find painters
representing our Savior bearing the entire cross on which he suffered. This,
however, if we take into consideration the great weight the cross is thought to
have been, from its size, and from its being made of the hardest wood, generally
of oak, could scarcely be possible; and painters themselves have also been
practically sensible of this; for the same painter who represents Christ bearing
his cross, gives a representation of one shorter and more portable, than that
which he exhibits in a painting of the crucifixion. But this, some imagine, may
be correct. They think that the cross which our Savior carried was a
representation of the cross of actual crucifixion; and that it was usual for
prisoners to bear such, to suggest to the people in the streets through which
they were conducted the kind of punishment they were about to undergo. Lipsius,
on the contrary, explains that the heaviest part of the cross, the perpendicular
beam, was either fixed in the ground before, or was ready to be set up when the
condemned person arrived; and he contends. that the part which the prisoner
carried was the large cross-beam to which the arms of the crucified were
fastened. There are others, again, who think that the crosses of the ancients
were not so lofty, large, and massive, as those depicted by painters; and
certainly instruments of such dimensions would be unnecessary for the purpose.
Pone crucem servo, “Put the cross to the slave,” is an expression used by
Juvenal. It is probable, therefore, that it was the real cross which our Savior
carried, and that he was nailed to it before it was raised and fixed in the
ground; which is in accordance with the general opinion. CROSS DROPPED INTO HOLE
The manner in which this was done has been thus graphically described: “When the
malefactor had carried his cross to the place of execution, a hole was dug in
the earth in which it was to be fixed; the criminal was stripped; a stupefying
potion was given him; the cross was laid on the ground; he was distended upon
it, and four soldiers, two on each side, at the same time were employed in
driving four large nails through his hands and feet. After they had deeply fixed
and riveted these nails in the wood, they elevated the cross with the sufferer
upon it; and in order to infix it the more firmly and securely in the earth,
they let it violently fall into the cavity they had prepared to receive it. This
vehement precipitation of the cross must have occasioned a most dreadful
convulsive shock, and agitated the whole frame of the malefactor in a dire and
most excruciating manner. These several particulars were observed in the
crucifixion of our Lord. Upon his arrival at Calvary, he was stripped; the
medicated cup was offered to him; he was fastened to the cross; and while they
were employed in piercing his hands and his feet, it is probable that he offered
to Heaven that most benevolent and affecting prayer for his murderers, 'Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do.'” SIMON CARRIES CROSS Of whatever
size the cross on which our Redeemer paid the penalty of our transgressions
might have been, we learn from St. Mark that it was of great weight. He
intimates to us, in a parallel passage to that of St. John, that the soldiers,
finding that Jesus, exhausted by his sufferings, was no longer able to bear his
cross, laid hold of one Simon, a Cyrenian, who happened to be passing, and
compelled him to bear it for the sufferer (Mark 15:21). The practice of a
prisoner bearing his own cross, at least among the Romans, very probably arose
from the deep disgust and horror with which they looked upon this instrument of
punishment; the prisoner, accordingly, was condemned to bear his own instrument
of torture. GUARDS Previous to crucifixion, it was the custom to scourge the
sufferer, after which he was stripped naked; and it is probable, as we have
seen, that he was laid down on the cross for the purpose of having the nails
driven into his hands and feet; or, as was sometimes the case, of being fastened
to the cross with ropes. The cross was then elevated, and afterward the legs
were broken, and wounds were inflicted with a spear or other sharp instrument,
to hasten death. But this was not invariably done; and as, in the case of its
omission, death would not ensue for a length of time, guards were placed to
prevent the relations and friends from giving them any relief, taking them away
while alive, or removing their bodies after they were dead. Sometimes
crucifixion took place with the head downward; and St. Peter is said to have
suffered death in this way, at his own express desire, deeming himself unworthy
to suffer in the same position with his beloved master. INSCRIPTION In leading
to his death a person condemned to crucifixion, it was usual to carry an
inscription before him, stating the crime for which he suffered. To the charge
of Jesus, no crime could be laid; but to his cross they fastened this
inscription: “This is the King of the Jews,” Luke 23:38. This was written in
three different languages, and the reason which has been given for this is, that
none might be unapprised of its contents. It was written in Greek, which was the
general language of commerce in western Asia, and which would be familiar to
many Jews from Europe, Egypt, and elsewhere; it also was written in the Syriac,
called “Hebrew,” the vernacular language of Palestine; and it was written in
Latin, probably for the use of the Romans, many of whom would assemble at
Jerusalem during the paschal week. To advert to the many passages of holy writ
which point to the cross of Christ as the foundation of a sinner's hope, would
extend our work beyond the assigned limits. It must suffice, therefore, to say,
that it is the sum and substance of the Bible, and that, if we would be saved by
it, we must look to it with an eye of faith, as eagerly and fixedly as the
Israelites of old, when bitten by the fiery serpents, looked to the brazen
serpent--which prefigured the cross--erected by Moses to effect their cure.
There alone is our hope of redemption. Interior of the Church of the Holy
Sepulcher, at Jerusalem The punishment of crucifixion, it has been said, was so
common among the Romans, that, by a very usual figure, pains, afflictions,
troubles, etc., were called crosses. Hence, our Savior says, that his disciples
must take up their cross, and follow him (Matthew 16:24). The cross, therefore,
is the sign of ignominy and suffering, yet it is the badge and glory of the
Christian. Christ is the way we are to follow; and there is no way of attaining
that glory and happiness which are promised in the gospel, but by the cross of
Christ. FAMILY RESPONSIBILITIES While under the agonies of the cross, the
Redeemer manifested his filial affection by committing his mother to the care of
the beloved John; and in the same situation, he gave a signal instance of the
power and freeness of his grace, toward one of the thieves, who hung beside him.
The heart of this poor creature was smitten with conviction and repentance, and,
addressing a prayer to the dying Savior, he received the soul-cheering answer,
“To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” DARKNESS About the sixth hour (or
middle of the day) a supernatural darkness covered the whole land, which
continued till the ninth hour (or three o'clock in the afternoon), when Jesus
cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama, sabachthani!”--that is, “My God, my
God, why hash thou forsaken me!”--thus showing that his soul was in pangs, as
well as his body. After a little space, he cried again with a loud voice, and
commending his spirit into the hands of his Father, “he bowed his head, and gave
up the ghost.” VEIL RENT At this awful event, the veil of the temple was rent in
twain from the top to the bottom; the earth quaked, and the rocks were torn
asunder; the graves, too, of many of the saints were opened, and the dead,
arising, appeared to many in the city of Jerusalem. These fearful tokens gave a
solemn check to the feelings of the multitude that attended, and produced on the
minds of several a conviction that Jesus was the Son of God. SIDE PIERCED Thus
expired this wonderful Sufferer!--a ransom for sinners, a Savior to all who
truly believe in his name. And now, as the next day was the Sabbath of the Jews,
as the bodies were not to remain on the cross on that day, and as they were
making preparation for its approach, they petitioned Pilate that the legs of the
crucified might be broken, and that they might be taken away. The soldiers,
therefore, having broken the legs of the two malefactors, when they came to
Jesus and found that he was already dead, forbore to perform the operation on
him; but one of them, to insure his death, pierced his side with a spear, whence
there issued blood and water. JOSEPH TAKES BODY When the evening was come,
Joseph of Arimathaea, a rich man and a counsellor, and one who “waited for the
kingdom of God,” having begged of Pilate the body of Jesus, took it down from
the cross, and, assisted by Nicodemus, wrapped it in fine linen, with a quantity
of spices, after the Jewish mode of burying. Thus prepared, they laid the sacred
body in Joseph's own new tomb, which was hewn out of a rock, in a garden near at
hand, and rolling a large stone to the door of the sepulcher, they departed.
ROMANS SEAL TOMB At the same time, several pious women who followed Jesus from
Galilee, and who from a distance had beheld the mournful scene of his
sufferings, being present at his burial, and seeing how the body was deposited,
“returned and prepared spices and ointments,” intending after the Sabbath to
visit the sepulcher for the purpose of embalming the body of their Lord. The
chief priests and Pharisees, on their part, took a different course. By the
authority of Pilate, they sealed the stone at the mouth of the tomb, setting
around it a guard of soldiers, to prevent any attempt by the disciples of Jesus
to steal him away, and thus pretend that their Master was risen. EARTHQUAKE
ROLLS STONE AWAY Such was the state of things, till the commencement of the
third day, being the first day of the week. Early in the morning of that day,
Mary Magdalene, with Salome, and another female disciple by the name of Mary,
coming to the sepulcher for the purpose (as before mentioned) of embalming the
body of Christ, found the stone removed from the door. Scenes the most awful and
glorious had just before been exhibited. A great earthquake shook the place; the
angel of the Lord descending from heaven, rolled away the stone and sat upon it;
and while the keepers, struck with terror, became as dead men, Jesus, awaking
from the sleep of death, arose and left the tomb.[438] [438] The
Resurrection--Twice had the sun gone down on the earth, and all as yet was quiet
at the sepulcher: Death held his scepter o'er the Son of God; still and silent
the hours passed on; the guards stood by their posts; the rays of midnight moon
gleamed on their helmets and on their spears; the enemies of Christ exulted in
their success; the hearts of his friends were sunk to despondency and sorrow;
while the spirits of glory waited with anxious suspense to behold the
event--wondering at the depth of the ways of God. At length, the morning star,
arising in the east, announced the approach of light; the third day began to
dawn on the world, when on a sudden the earth trembled to its center, and the
powers of Heaven were shaken; an angel of God descended; the guards shrunk back
from the terror of his presence, and fell prostrate on the ground. His
countenance was like lightning, and his raiment was white as snow; he rolled
away the stone from the door of the sepulcher, and sat on it. But who is this
that cometh from the tomb, with dyed garments from the bed of death? He that is
glorious in his appearance, walking in the greatness of his strength? It is thy
Prince, O Zion! Christian, it is your Lord! He hath trodden the winepress alone;
he hath stained his raiment with blood; but now, as the firstborn from the womb
of nature, he meets the morning of his resurrection. He arises, a conqueror from
the grave; he returns with blessings from the world of spirits; he brings
salvation to the sons of men. Never did the returning sun usher in a day so
glorious! It was the jubilee of the universe! The morning stars sang together,
and all the sons of God shouted aloud for Joy! The Father of Mercies looked down
from his throne in the heavens with complacency; he beheld his world
restored--he saw his work, that it was good. Then did the desert rejoice; the
face of nature was gladdened before him, when the blessings of the Eternal
descended, as the dews of heaven, for the refreshing of the nations. JESUS
APPEARS His first appearance after this great event was to Mary Magdalene, who
stood weeping at the sepulcher when Peter and John, who had made a visit to the
place, had departed. Afterward he appeared to a company of women on their return
from the sepulcher; then to two of the disciples on their way to a village
called Emmaus, a few miles from Jerusalem. The reports, however, of these
witnesses of the resurrection met with but little credit with the rest of the
disciples, till Jesus, on the evening of the same day, presented himself among
them, and confirmed their faith by appealing to his lately wounded hands and
feet. ROMAN LIES In the meantime, the affrighted guards had fled from the
sepulcher and related their tale of wonder to the chief priests, who, alarmed at
the consequences that might follow, hired these wretched creatures to say that
the disciples came by night, and stole away the body of Jesus while they were
asleep. This absurd report was accordingly propagated, and prevailed among the
Jews as a fact. THOMAS' UNBELIEF It is proper we should here take notice of the
case of Thomas, called Didymus, who, not being with the disciples when Jesus
made his appearance among them as above mentioned, declared that he would not
believe in the reality of his resurrection unless he should see and feel the
print of the nails in his hands, and the effect of the wound in his side.
Accordingly about eight days after, when the disciples were all together, Jesus
again appearing among them presented his hands and his side to Thomas, with a
reproof for his unbelief; while the astonished disciple, overpowered with
conviction, exclaimed, “My Lord and my God.” THE GREAT COMMISSION “After these
things, Jesus showed himself again to his disciples at the sea of Tiberias,”
where several of them were employed in fishing, and then, by appointment, he met
the eleven apostles on a mountain in Galilee, where he delivered to them the
great gospel commission, to go forth and “teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;” pronouncing at
the same time, “He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that
believeth not shall be damned.” FORTY DAYS OF FELLOWSHIP Forty days was the time
pre-ordained for our Lord's continuance upon earth after his resurrection. These
days being now almost expired, the apostles, according as they had been ordered,
with some of their select friends, returned to Jerusalem, and there assembled
themselves in a private place, as they had always done after the crucifixion of
their Master. Here our blessed Lord appeared to them for the last time; and
after instructing them in many particulars concerning the kingdom of God, and
the manner in which they were to behave themselves in propagating the doctrine
of the gospel, he put them in mind that, during his abode with them in Galilee,
he had often told them that all things written in the law, the prophets, and the
Psalms, concerning him were to be exactly accomplished. At the same time “he
opened their understandings;” that is, he removed their prejudices by the
operation of his Spirit, cleared their doubts, improved their memories,
strengthened their judgments, and enabled them to discern the true meaning of
the Scriptures. He then reminded them that both Moses and the prophets had
foretold that the Messiah was to suffer in the very same manner he had suffered;
that he was to rise from the dead on the third day as he had done; and that
repentance and remission of sins was to be preached in the Messiah's name among
all nations, beginning with the Jews. He told them that they were to testify
unto the world the exact accomplishment in him of all things foretold concerning
the Messiah; and closed his instructions to them by giving them a particular
charge, that they should not depart from Jerusalem until they had received that
miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost which he had promised and would shortly
send down upon them. He likewise gave them to understand, that after the descent
of the Holy Ghost upon them they would have juster notions of those matters, and
be sufficiently enabled to be the authentic witnesses of his life and actions
throughout the world. ASCENSION After our blessed Lord had thus fortified his
apostles for the important work they were going to undertake, he led them out of
the city to that part of the mount of Olives which was nearest to Bethany. On
their arrival there, he gave them some farther instructions relative to the
measures they were to follow in order to propagate his gospel, after which he
lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was doing this, and his apostles
were placed in an adoring posture, he was parted from them in the midst of the
day, being gradually taken up in a shining cloud, and triumphantly carried into
heaven, where he now sitteth at the right hand of God his Father, “to whom be
honor, glory, and power, for ever and ever. Amen.” EARTHLY LIFE WORK FINISHED In
this illustrious manner did the Great Redeemer of mankind depart, after having
finished the grand work about which he was sent into the world; a work which
angels with joy described was to happen, and which through all eternity to come,
at periods the most immensely distant from the time of its execution, will be
looked back upon with inexpressible delight by every inhabitant of heaven; for
though the minute affairs of time may vanish together and be lost when they are
removed far back by the endless progression of duration, yet this object is such
that no distance, however great, can lessen it. The kingdom of heaven is erected
on the incarnation and sufferings of the Son of God, and therefore no mortal
whatever can forget the foundation on which his happiness stands established;
nor will any fail of obtaining a seat in those mansions, provided he preserves a
proper subjection to Him who reigneth for ever and ever, and whose favor is
better than life itself. REFLECTIONS ON CHRIST'S LIFE It may not be improper, in
this place, to admit a few reflections on the life of the blessed Jesus--a life
the greatest and best that was ever led by man, or was ever the subject of any
history, since the universe was called from its original chaos by the powerful
word of the Almighty. BENEVOLENCE The human character of the blessed Jesus is
entirely different from that of all other men whatever; for whereas they have
selfish passions deeply rooted in their breasts, and are influenced by them in
almost everything they do, Jesus was so entirely free from them, that the most
severe scrutiny can not furnish one single action, in the whole course of his
life, wherein he consulted his own interest only. No; he was influenced by very
different motives: the happiness and eternal welfare of sinners regulated his
conduct; and while others followed their respective occupations, Jesus had no
other business than that of promoting the happiness of the sons of men. Nor did
he wait till he was solicited to extend his benevolent hand to the distressed:
“he went about doing good,” and always accounted it “more blessed to give than
to receive;” resembling God rather than man. He went about doing good;
benevolence was the very life of his soul: he not only did good to objects
presented to him for relief, but he industriously sought them out, in order to
extend his compassionate assistance. CONSISTENCY It is common for persons of the
most exalted faculties to be elated with success and applause, or dejected by
censure and disappointments; but the blessed Jesus was not elated by the one nor
depressed by the other. He was never more courageous than when he met with the
greatest opposition and cruel treatment; nor more humble than when the sons of
men worshipped at his feet. STEADFASTNESS He came into the world inspired with
the grandest purpose that ever was formed, that of saving from eternal
perdition, not a single nation, but the whole world; and in the execution of it,
went through the longest and heaviest train of labors that ever was sustained,
with a constancy and resolution, on which no disadvantageous impression could be
made by any accident whatever. Calumny, threatenings; bad success, with many
other evils constantly attending him, served only to quicken his endeavors in
this glorious enterprise, which he unweariedly pursued even till he finished it
by his death. SUFFERING FOR US The generality of mankind are prone to retaliate
injuries received, and all seem to take a satisfaction in complaining of the
cruelties of those who oppress them; whereas the whole of Christ's labors
breathed nothing but meekness, patience, and forgiveness, even to his bitterest
enemies, and in the midst of the most excruciating torments. The words, “Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do,” uttered by him when his enemies
were nailing him to the cross, fitly express the temper which he maintained
through the whole course of his life, even when assaulted by the heaviest
provocations. He was destined to sufferings here below, in order that he might
raise his people to honor, glory, and immortality, in the realms of bliss above;
and therefore patiently, yea joyfully, submitted to all that the malice of earth
and hell could inflict. He was vilified, that we might be honored; he died, that
we might live for ever and ever. JESUS WAS HOLY To conclude: the greatest and
best men have discovered the degeneracy and corruption of human nature, and
shown themselves to have been nothing more than men; but it was otherwise with
Jesus. He was superior to all the men that ever lived, both with regard to the
purity of his manners, and the perfection of his virtues. He was holy, harmless,
undefiled, and separated from sinners. JESUS WAS SINLESS Whether we consider him
as a teacher, or as a man, “he did no sin; neither was guile found in his
mouth.” His whole life was perfectly free from spot or weakness; at the same
time it was remarkable for the greatest and extensive exercises of virtue. But
never to have committed the least sin, to word or in deed, never to have uttered
any sentiment that could be censured, upon the various topics of religion and
morality, which were the daily subjects of his discourses, and that through the
course of a life filled with action, and led under the observation of many
enemies, who had always access to converse with him, and who often came to find
fault, is a pitch of perfection evidently above the reach of human nature; and
consequently he who possessed it must have been divine. JESUS FILLS OUR HEARTS
Such was the person who is the subject of the evangelical history. If the
reader, by reviewing his life, doctrine, and miracles, as they are here
represented to him, united in one series, has a clearer idea of these things
than before, or observes a beauty in his actions thus linked together, which
taken separately do not appear so fully; if he feels himself touched by the
character of Jesus to general, or with any of his sermons and actions in
particular, thus simply delineated in writing, whose principal charms are the
beauties of truth: above all, if his dying so generously for men strikes him
with admiration, or fills him with joy in the prospect of that pardon which is
thereby purchased for the world: let him seriously consider with himself what
improvement he ought to make of the divine goodness. JESUS PROVIDES IMMORTALITY
Jesus, by his death, hath set open the gates of immortality to the sons of men;
and by his word, spirit, and example, graciously offers to make them meet for
the glorious rewards in the kingdom of the heavenly Canaan, and to conduct them
into the inheritance of the saints in light. Let us, therefore, remember, that
being born under the dispensation of his gospel, we have, from our earliest
years, enjoyed the best means of securing to ourselves an interest in that favor
of God, which is life; and that loving-kindness, which is better than life. LIFE
IS TO LAST ETERNALLY We have been called to aspire after an exaltation to the
felicity of the heavenly mansions exhibited to mortal eyes in the man Jesus
Christ, to fire us with the noblest ambition. His gospel teaches us that we are
made for eternity; and that our present life is to our future existence, as
infancy is to manhood. But as in the former, many things are to be learned, many
hardships to be endured, many habits to be acquired, and that by a course of
exercises, which in themselves though painful, and possibly useless to the
child, yet are necessary to fit him for the business and enjoyments of manhood.
So while we remain in this infancy of human life, things are to be learned,
hardships to be endured, and habits to be acquired, by a laborious discipline,
which, however painful, must be undergone, because necessary to fit us for the
employments and pleasures of our riper existence, in the realms above, always
remembering that whatever our trials may be, in this world, if we ask for God's
assistance, he has promised to give it. Inflamed, therefore, with the love of
immortality and its joys; let us submit ourselves to our heavenly teacher, and
learn of him those graces, which alone can render life pleasant, death
desirable, and fill eternity, with ecstatic joys. NATURE OF FAITH We can not
close the solemn scene of the life of our dear Lord and Savior with greater
propriety than by making a few observations on the nature of his religion and
considering the great benefits which will infallibly result to all, who shall,
by faith, receive and embrace his holy doctrine. FOUNDATIONAL The religion of
Christ is the perfection of human nature, and the foundation of uniform, exalted
pleasure: of pubic order, and private happiness. Christianity is the most
excellent and the most useful institution, having “the promise of the life that
now is, and of that which is to come.” It is the voice of reason; it is also the
Ianguage of scripture: “the ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness, and all her
paths are peace.” And our blessed Savior himself assures us, that his precepts
are easy, and the burden of his religion light. PERMEATION The Christian
religion comprehends all we ought to believe, and all we ought to practise: its
positive rights are few, and perfectly intelligible to every capacity; and the
whole is manifestly adapted to establish in us a proper sense of the great
obligations we lay under both to God and Christ. The gospel places religion not
in abtruse speculation, and metaphysical subtleties; not in outward show, and
tedious ceremony; not in superstitious austerities and enthusiastic visions; but
in purity of heart and holiness of life. The sum of our duty (according to our
great master himself) consists in the love of God, and of our neighbor.
According to St. Paul, in denying ungodliness, and worldly lusts; and in living
soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. According to St. James, in
visiting the fatherless and widow in affliction, and in keeping ourselves
unspotted from the world. This is the constant strain and tenor of the gospel.
This it inculcates most earnestly, and on this it lays the greatest stress. It
may be asked if the Christian religion is only a view of the law of nature, or
merely a refined system of morality? To which we answer, that it is a great deal
more than either. It is an act of grace, a stupendous plan of Providence, for
the recovery of mankind from a state of degradation and ruin, to the favor of
the Almighty, and to the hopes of a happy immortality through a mediator. Under
this dispensation, true religion consists in a repentance toward God, and in
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as the person appointed by the supreme Authority
of heaven and earth, to reconcile apostate man to his offended Creator. And what
hardship is there in all this? Surely none. Nay, the practice of religion is
much easier than the servitude of sin. HELP TO BE HOLY It certainly must be
allowed by all that our rational powers are impaired, and the soul weakened by
sin. The animal passions are strong, and apt to oppose the dictates of the
spirit of God: objects of sense make powerful impressions on the mind. We are,
in every situation, surrounded with many snares and temptations. In such a
disordered state of things, to maintain an undeviating path of duty, cannot be
effected by poor weak man. There are, however, generous aids afforded us to
persevere in the ways of the Lord. The gracious author of nature has planted in
the human breast a quick sense of good and evil; a faculty which strongly
dictates right and wrong; and though by the strength of appetite and warmth of
passion, men are often hurried into immoral practices, yet in the beginning,
especially when there has been the advantage of a good education, it is usually
with reluctance and opposition of mind. What inward struggles precede! What
bitter pangs attend their sinful excesses! What guilty blushes and uneasy fears!
What frightful prospects and pale reviews! “Tenors are upon them, and a fire not
blown consumeth them.” To make a mock at sin, and to commit iniquity without
remorse, requires great length of time, and much painful labor; more labor than
is requisite to attain that habitual goodness which is the glory of the man, the
ornament of the Christian, and the chief of his happiness. The soul can no more
be reconciled to acts of wickedness and injustice, than the body to excess, but
by suffering many bitter pains, and cruel attacks. The mouth of conscience may,
indeed, be stopped for a time, by false principles: its secret whispers may be
drowned by the noise of company, and stifled the entertainments of sense; but
this principle of conscience is so deeply rooted in human nature, and, at the
same time, her voice is so clear and strong, that the sinner's arts will be
unable to lull her into a lasting security. When the hour of calamity arrives,
when sickness seizes, and death approaches the sinner, conscience now constrains
him to listen to her accusations, and will not suffer the temples of his head to
take any rest “There is no peace to the wicked;” the foundations of peace are
subverted, they are at utter enmity with their reason, with their conscience,
and with their God. PEACEFULNESS Not so is the case of true religion. For when
religion, pure and genuine, forms the tempers, and governs the life, conscience
applauds, and peace takes its residence in the breast. The soul is in its proper
state. There is order and regularity both in the faculties and actions.
Conscious of its own integrity, and secure of divine approbation, the soul
enjoys a calmness not to be described. But why do we call this happy frame
calmness only? It is far more than mere calmness. The air may be calm, and the
day overcast with thick mists and clouds. The pious and virtuous mind resembles
a serene day, enlightened and enlivened with the brightest rays of the sun:
Though all without may be clouds and darkness, there is light in the heart of a
pious man. “He is satisfied from himself, and is filled with peace and joy in
believing.” In the concluding scene (the awful moment of dissolution) all is
peaceful and serene. The immortal part quits its tenement of clay, with the
well-grounded hopes of ascending to happiness and glory. REASONABLENESS Nor does
the gospel enjoin any duty but what is fit and reasonable. It calls upon all its
professors to practise reverence, submission, and gratitude to God; justice,
truth, and universal benevolence to men: and to maintain the government of our
own minds. And what has any one to object against this? From the least to the
greatest commandment of our dear Redeemer, there is not one which impartial
reason can find fault with. “His law is perfect; his precepts are true and
righteous, altogether.” Not even those excepted, which require us to love our
enemies, to deny ourselves, and to take up our cross. To forgive an injury is
more generous and manly than to revenge it; to control a licentious appetite
than to indulge it; to suffer poverty, reproach, and even death itself, in the
sacred cause of truth and integrity, is much wiser and better, than, by base
compliances, to make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience. Thus in a storm
at sea, or a conflagration on the land, a man with pleasure abandons his lumber
to secure his jewels. Piety and virtue are the wisest and most reasonable thins
in the world; vice and wickedness the most irrational and absurd. BENEFITS The
all-wise Author of our being hath so framed our natures, and placed us in such
relations, that there is nothing vicious but what is injurious; nothing virtuous
but what is advantageous to our present interest, both with respect to body and
mind. Meekness and humility, patience and universal charity, and grace, give a
joy known to transgressors. The divine virtues of truth and equity are the only
bands of friendship, the only supports of society. Temperance and sobriety are
the best preservatives of health and strength; but sin and debauchery impair the
body, consume the substance, reduce us to poverty, and form the direct path to
an immature and untimely death. JESUS IS OUR EXAMPLE To render our duty easy, we
have the example, as well as the commands, of the blessed Jesus. The masters of
morality among the heathens gave excellent rules for the regulation of men's
manners; but they wanted either the honesty, or the courage to try their own
arguments upon themselves. It was a strong presumption that the yoke of the
scribes and Pharisees was grievous, when they laid “heavy burdens upon men's
shoulders,” which they themselves refused to touch with one of their fingers.
Not thus our great law-giver, Jesus Christ the righteous. His behavior was in
all respects conformable to his doctrine. His devotion toward God, how sublime
and ardent!--benevolence toward men, how great and diffusive! He was in his life
an exact pattern of innocence; for he “did no sin; neither was guile found in
his mouth.” In the Son of God incarnate is exhibited the brightest, the fairest
resemblance of the Father, that heaven and earth ever beheld, an example
peculiarly persuasive, calculated to inspire resolution, and to animate us to
use our utmost endeavors to imitate the divine pattern, the example of “the
Author and Finisher of our faith,” of him “who loved us and gave himself for
us.” Our profession and character as Christians oblige us to make this example
the model of our lives. Every motive of decency, gratitude, and interest,
constrain us to tread the paths be trod before us. THE HOLY SPIRIT DIRECTS We
should also remember that our burden is easy; because God, who “knoweth whereof
we are made, who considereth that we are but dust,” is ever ready to assist us.
The heathens themselves had some notion of this assistance, though guided only
by the glimmering lamp of reason. But what they looked upon as probable, the
gospel clearly and strongly asserts. We there hear the apostle exhorting, “Let
us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we map obtain mercy, and find grace
to help, in time of need.” We there hear the blessed Jesus himself arguing in
this convincing manner: “If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto
your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy spirit to
them that ask him?” We would not here be understood to mean, that the agency of
the spirit is irresistible, and lays a necessitating bias on all the faculties
and affections. Were this the case, precepts and prohibitions, promises and
threatenings, would signify nothing; and duty and oblivion would be words
without a meaning. The spirit assists in a manner agreeable to the frame of
human nature; not controlling the free use of reason, but by assisting the
understanding, influencing the will, and moderating the affections. But though
we may not be able to explain the mode of his operations, the Scriptures warrant
us to assert, that when men are renewed and prepared for heaven, it is “through
sanctification of the spirit,” and “belief of the truth.” How enlivening the
thought!--how encouraging the motive! We are not left to struggle alone with the
difficulties which attend the practice of virtue, in the present imperfect
state. The merciful Father of our spirit is ever near to help our infirmities,
to enlighten the understanding, to strengthen good resolutions, and, in
concurrence with our own endeavors, to make us conquerors over all opposition.
Faithful is he to his promises, and will not suffer the sincere and well
disposed to be tempted above what they are able to bear. What can be desired
more than this? To promote the happiness of his people, everything is done that
is requisite, his grace is all-sufficient, his spirit is able to conduct us
through this vale of tears, to never-fading bliss. RESTORATION We should also
remember, that the great doctrine of the gospel, concerning the propitious mercy
of God to all penitents, through Christ Jesus, greatly contributes to the
consolation of Christians. Let it be granted, that the hope of pardon is
essential to the religion of fallen creatures, and one of its first principles,
yet, considering the doubts and suspicions which are apt to arise in a mind
conscious of guilt, it is undoubtedly a great and inestimable favor, to be
relieved in this respect, by the interposition of Divine assistance. This is our
happiness. We are fully assured, that upon our true repentance, we shall,
“through the mediation of Christ,” receive the “remission of sins,” and be
restored to the same state and favor with our Maker, as if we had never
transgressed his laws. Here the gospel triumphs. With these assurances it
abounds. Upon this head the declaration of our blessed Savior and his apostles
are so express and full, that every one who believes them, and knows himself to
be a true penitent, must banish every doubt and fear, and rejoice with Joy
unspeakable. “Come unto me all ye that labor, and are heavy-laden, and I will
give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). “All manner of site and blasphemy shall be
forgiven unto men” (Matthew 12:31). “Be it known unto you therefore men and
brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins;
and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which we could
not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-39). What grace and favor is
this! Who can dwell upon the transporting theme too long! Now our way is plain
before us, and the burden we are to bear is made comfortably easy. No sins are
unpardonable, if repented and forsaken. GOD'S GENEROUS MERCY Consider this, all
ye who have never yet regarded religion, but pursued a course of vice and
sensuality all your lives long. Though your conduct has been base to the last
degree, your case is not desperate. Far from it. The God whom you have so highly
offended commiserates your errors, is ever ready to extend his pardoning mercy
to his most degenerate creatures, upon their faith and repentance, and “is in
Christ Jesus reconciling the world to himself, not imputing unto [penitent]
sinners their trespasses. Let the wicked [therefore] forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have
mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7.)
ETERNAL LIFE Another particular, which renders the Christian religion delightful
is, its leading us to the perfect, eternal life of heaven. It can not be denied
but that we may draw from the light of nature strong presumptions of a future
state. The present existence does not look like an entire scene, but rather like
the infancy of human nature, which is capable of arriving at a much higher
degree of maturity; but whatever solid foundation the doctrine of a future state
may have had, in nature and reason, certain it is, through the habitual neglect
of reflection; and the force of irregular passions, this doctrine was, before
the coming of our blessed Savior, very much disfigured, and in a great measure
lost, among the sons of men. In the heathen world, a future state of rewards
and, punishments was a matter of mere speculation and uncertainty, sometimes
hoped for, sometimes doubted of, and sometimes absolutely denied. The law of
Moses, though of divine original, is chiefly enforced by promises of temporal
blessings; and, even in the writings of the prophets, a future immortality is
very sparingly mentioned, and obscurely represented, but the doctrine of our
Savior hash “brought life and immortality to light.” In the gospel we have a
distinct account of another world, attended with many engaging circumstances;
about which the decisions of reason were dark and confused. We have the
testimony of the Author of our religion, who was raised from the dead, and who
afterward, in the presence of his disciples, ascended into heaven. In the New
Testament it is expressly declared, that good men, “when absent from the body,
are present with the Lord.” Here we are assured of the resurrection of the body
in a glorious form, clothed with immortal vigor, suited to the active nature of
the animating spirit, and assisting its most enlarged operations and incessant
progress toward perfection. Here we are assured that “the righteous shall go
into life everlasting,” that they shall enter into the heavenly Canaan, where no
ignorance shall cloud the understanding, no vice disturb the will. In these
regions of perfection, nothing but love shall possess the soul; nothing but
gratitude employ the tongue; there the righteous shall be united to an
innumerable company of angels, and to the general assembly and church of the
first-born. There they shall see their exalted Redeemer, at the right-hand of
Omnipotence, and sit down with him on his throne; there they shall be admitted
into the immediate presence of the supreme Fountain of life and happiness, and,
beholding his face, be changed into the same image, from glory to glory. Here
language--here imagination fails us! It requires the genius, the knowledge, the
pen of an angel, to paint the happiness, the blissful scene of the New
Jerusalem, which human eyes can not behold, till this mortal body shall be
purified from its corruption, and dressed in the robes of immortality: “Eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart to conceive, the
joys which God hath prepared for them that love him.” What is the heaven of the
heathens when compared with the heaven of the Christians? The hope, the prospect
of this, is sufficient to reconcile us to all the difficulties that may attend
our progress, sweeten all our labors, alleviate every grief, and silence every
murmur. HUMANISM But why, says the libertine in the gayety of his heart, should
there be any difficulties, or restraint, at all? God hath made nothing in vain.
The appetites he hath planted in the human breast are to be gratified. To deny
or restrain them, is ignominious bondage; but to give full scope to every desire
and passion of the heart, without check or control, is true manly freedom. In
opposition to this loose and careless way of reasoning, let it be considered,
that the liberty of a rational creature doth not consist in an entire exemption
from all control, but in following the dictates of reason, as the governing
principle, and in keeping the various passions in due subordination. To follow
the regular notion of those affections which the wise Creator hath implanted
within us, is our duty; but as our natural desires, in this state of trial, are
often irregular, we are bound to restrain their excesses, and not indulge them,
but in a strict subserviency to the integrity and peace of our minds, and to the
order and happiness of human society established in the world. Those who allow
the supreme command to be usurped by sensual and brutal appetites, may “promise
themselves liberties,” but are truly and absolutely the “servants of
corruption.” To be vicious, is to be enslave. We behold with pity those
miserable objects that are chained in the galleys, or confined in dark prisons
and loathsome dungeons; but how much more abject and vile is the slavery of the
sinner! No slavery of the body is equal to the bondage of the mind; no chains
press so closely, or gall so cruelly, as the fetters of sin, which corrode the
very substance of the soul, and fret every faculty. It must, indeed, be
confessed, that there are some profligates, so hardened by customs, as to be
past all feeling; and, because insensible of their bondage, boast of this
insensibility as a mark of their native freedom, and of their happiness. Vain
men! They might extol with equal propriety the peculiar happiness of an
apoplexy, or the profound tranquillity of a lethargy. LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL Thus
have we endeavored to place, in a plain and conspicuous light, some of the
peculiar excellences of the Christian religion; and hence many useful
reflections will naturally arise in the mind of every attentive reader. It is
the religion of Jesus that hath removed idolatry and superstition, and brought
immortality to light, when concealed under a veil of darkness almost
impenetrable. This hath set the great truths of religion in a clear and
conspicuous point of view, and proposed new and powerful motives to influence
our minds, and to determine our conduct. Nothing is enjoined to be believed but
what is worthy of God, nothing to be practised but what is friendly to man. All
the doctrines of the gospel are rational and consistent; all its precepts are
truly wise, just, and good. The gospel contains nothing grievous to an ingenuous
mind; it debars us from nothing but doing harm to ourselves, or to our
fellow-creatures; and permits us to range anywhere but in the paths of danger
and destruction. It only requires us to act up to its excellent commands, and to
prefer to the vanishing pleasure of sin, the smiles of a reconciled God, and “an
eternal weight of glory.” Surely no man who is a real friend to the cause of
virtue, and to the interest of mankind, can ever be an enemy to Christianity, if
he truly understands it, and seriously reflects on its wise and useful tendency.
It conducts us to our journey's end, by the plainest and securest path; where
the “steps are not straitened, and where he that runneth stumbleth not.”
PRAISING GOD FOR HIS PROVISIONS We ought daily to adore the God of nature for
lighting up the sun, that glorious, though imperfect image of his own
unapproachable luster; and appointing it to gild the earth with its various
rays, to cheer us with its benign influence, and to guide and direct us in our
journeys and our labors. But how incomparably more valuable is that “day-spring
from on high which hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness,
and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace?” Oh
Christians, whose eyes are so happy to see, and your ears to hear, what abundant
reason have you to give daily and hourly praise to your beneficent Creator!
When, therefore, your minds are delighted with contemplating the riches of the
gospel; when you reflect (as you certainly must do) with wonder and joy on the
happy means of your redemption; when you feel the burden of your guilt removed,
the freedom of your address to the throne of grace encouraged, and see the
prospect of a fair inheritance of eternal glory opening upon you; then, in the
pleasing transports of your souls, borrow the joyful anthem of the psalmist, and
say, with the humblest gratitude and self-resignation, “God is the Lord who
showeth us light; bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the
altar.” Adore “God, who first commanded the light to shine out of darkness,”
that by the discoveries of his word, and the operations of his spirit, he hath
“shined in your hearts, to give you the knowledge of his glory, as reflected
from the face of his Son.” Let us, therefore, who live under the gospel, the
most gracious dispensation bestowed by God to mankind, “count all things but
loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord;” and not
suffer ourselves, by the slight cavils of unbelievers, to be “moved away from
the hope of the gospel.” Let us demonstrate that we believe the superior
excellency of the Christian dispensation, by conforming to its precepts. Let us
show that we are Christians in deed and in truth; not by endless disputes about
trifles, and the transports of a blind zeal, but by abounding in those “fruits
of righteousness, which are, through Christ, to the praise and glory of God.”
PLEASURES OF SALVATION From what has been said, we may clearly perceive how
groundless all those prejudices are which some conceive against religion, as if
it were a peevish, morose thing, burdensome to human nature, and inconsistent
with the true enjoyment of life. Such sentiments are too apt to prevail in the
heat of youth, when the spirits are brisk and lively, and the passions warm and
impetuous; but it is wholly a mistake, and a mistake of the most dangerous
tendency. The truth is, there is no pleasure like that of a good conscience; no
real peace but what results from a sense of the Divine favor. This enables the
mind, and can alone support it under all the various and unequal scenes of the
present state of trial. This lays a sure foundation of an easy, comfortable
life, of a serene, peaceful death, and of eternal joy and happiness hereafter:
whereas vice is ruinous to all our most valuable interests; spoils the native
beauty, and subverts the order of the soul; renders us the scorn of man, the
rejected of God, and, without timely repentance, will rob us of a happy
eternity. Religion is the health, the liberty, and the happiness of the soul;
sin is the disease, the servitude, and destruction of it--It will perhaps be
said, that the sons of vice and riot have pleasure in sensual indulgences. This
we allow; but must observe, that it is altogether of the lowest kind--empty,
fleeting, and transient; “like the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the
mirth of the wicked.” It makes a noise and a blaze for the present, but soon
vanishes away into smoke and vapor. On the other hand, the pleasure of religion
is solid and lasting, and will attend us through all, even the last stages of
life. When we have passed the levity of youth, and have lost all relish for gay
entertainments; when old age steals upon us, and stoops toward the grave, this
will cleave fast to us, and give us relief. COURAGE OF SALVATION Clad in this
immortal robe, we need not fear the awful summons of the king of terrors, nor
regret our retiring into the chambers of the dust. Our immortal part will wing
its way to the arms of its Redeemer, and find rest in the heavenly mansions. And
though our earthly part, this tabernacle of clay, returns to its original dust,
and is dissolved--our joy, our consolation, our confidence is, that “we have a
building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Such will
be the happy consequences attendant on all those who strictly adhere to the
Christian religion, and diligently, through the course of their lives, follow
the precepts laid down by their divine Master, the great Savior and Redeemer of
the world.


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  CHAPTER 47: MIRACLES, PARABLES, AND DISCOURSES OF JESUS
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MIRACLES, PARABLES, AND DISCOURSES OF JESUS Our Savior's miracles were
exceedingly numerous, various, and benevolent, in their character, but only a
very small number of them are specifically mentioned. The following is,
therefore, only a list of those more particularly noted of the miracles of
Christ-- Miracles|Places|Record| Water turned into wine|Cana|John 2:1-11| The
Capernaum nobleman's son cured|Cana|John 4:46-54| Surprising draught of
fishes|Sea of Galilee|Luke 5:1-11| Demoniac cured|Capernaum|Mark 1:22-28|
Peter's mother-in-law healed|Capernaum|Mark 1:30-31| Leper healed|Capernaum|Mark
1:40-45| Centurion's servant healed|Capernaum|Matthew 8:5-13| Widow's son raised
from the dead|Nain|Luke 7:11-17| Tempest calmed|Sea of Galilee|Matthew 8:23-27|
Demoniacs of Gadara cured|Gadara|Matthew 8:28-34| Man sick of the palsy
cured|Capernaum|Matthew 9:1-8| Jarius's daughter raised to
life|Capernaum|Matthew 9:18-26| Sight restored to two blind
men|Capernaum|Matthew 9:27-31| Dumb demoniac cured|Capernaum|Matthew 9:32-33|
Woman diseased with issue of blood healed|Capernaum|Luke 8:43-48| Diseased
cripple at Bethesda cured|Jerusalem|John 5:1-9| Man with a withered hand
cured|Judea|Matthew 12:10-13| Demoniac cured|Capernaum|Matthew 12:22-23| Five
thousand fed|Decapolis|Matthew 14:15-21| Canaanite woman's daughter cured|Near
Tyre|Matthew 15:23-28| Man deaf and dumb cured|Decapolis|Mark 7:31-37| Four
thousand fed|Decapolis|Matthew 15:32-39| Blind man restored to
sight|Bethsaida|Mark 8:22-26| Boy possessed of a devil cured|Tabor|Matthew
17:14-21| Man born blind restored to sight|Jerusalem|John 9| Woman of eighteen
years' infirmity cured|Galilee|Luke 13:11-17| Dropsy man cured|Galilee|Luke
14:1-6| Ten lepers cleansed|Samaria|Luke 17:11-19| Lazarus raised from the grave
to life|Bethany|John 11| Two blind men restored to sight|Jericho|Matthew
20:30-34| Fig-tree blasted|Olivet|Matthew 21:18-21| The ear of Malchus
healed|Gethsemane|Luke 22:49-51| Wondrous draught of fishes|Sea of Galilee|John
21:1-14| PARABLES LISTING Parable, a comparison or similitude, ingeniously and
impressively representing moral or religious truth (Matthew 13:3). Jotham's
parable is the most ancient on record (Judges 9:7-15). Our Savior's parables are
most instructive (Matthew 13:33-34); and the following are the principal
recorded-- |Subject of Parable|Place|Record| 1.|Building on rock and
sand|Galilee|Matthew 7:24| 2.|Blind leading the blind|Galilee|Luke 6:39| 3.|Two
debtors|Galilee|Luke 7:41| 4.|Evil spirit returning|Galilee|Matthew 12:43|
5.|Sower and the seed|Galilee|Matthew 13:3| 6.|Tares in the
field|Galilee|Matthew 13:25| 7.|Growth of seed|Galilee|Mark 4:26| 8.|Grain of
mustard-seed|Galilee|Matthew 13:31| 9.|Leaven in meal|Galilee|Matthew 13:33|
10.|Treasure hid in the field|Galilee|Matthew 13:44| 11.|Pearl of great
price|Galilee|Matthew 13:45| 12.|Net cast into the sea|Galilee|Matthew 13:47|
13.|Good householder|Galilee|Matthew 13:52| 14.|Who need a
physician|Galilee|Matthew 9:12| 15.|Bridegroom's attendants|Galilee|Matthew
9:15| 16.|New cloth on an old garment|Galilee|Matthew 9:16| 17.|New wine in old
bottles|Galilee|Matthew 9:17| 18.|Bread of life|Galilee|John 6:32| 19.|What
defiles a man|Galilee|Matthew 15:11| 20.|Lost sheep|Galilee|Matthew 18:12|
21.|The lord and unmerciful servant|Galilee|Matthew 18:23| 22.|Good
Samaritan|Jerusalem|Luke 10:30| 23.|Rich fool|Galilee|Luke 12:16| 24.|Lord and
his servants|Galilee|Luke 12:36| 25.|Barren fig-tree|Galilee|Luke 13:6|
26.|Ambitious guests|Galilee|Luke 14:7| 27.|Great super|Galilee|Luke 14:16|
28.|Hating father and mother|Galilee|Luke 14:26| 29.|Building a
tower|Galilee|Luke 14:28| 30.|Ring going to war|Galilee|Luke 14:31| 31.|Lost
sheep, with additions|Galilee|Luke 15:3| 32.|Lost piece of silver|Galilee|Luke
15:8| 33.|Prodigal son|Galilee|Luke 15:11| 34.|Unjust steward|Galilee|Luke 16:1|
35.|Rich man and Lazarus|Galilee|Luke 16:19| 36.|Master and servant|Galilee|Luke
17:7| 37.|Unjust judge and widow|Jerusalem|Luke 18:1| 38.|Pharisee and
publican|Jerusalem|Luke 18:9| 39.|Sheepfold|Jerusalem|John 10:1| 40.|Good
shepherd|Jerusalem|John 10:11| 41.|Laborers in the vineyard|Beyond
Jordan|Matthew 20:1| 42.|Ten pounds for trading|Jericho|Luke 19:11| 43.|Two
sons|Jerusalem|Matthew 21:28| 44.|Husbandman and vineyard|Jerusalem|Matthew
21:33| 45.|Haughty builders|Jerusalem|Matthew 21:42| 46.|Marriage
feast|Jerusalem|Matthew 22:1| 47.|Wedding garment|Jerusalem|Matthew 22:11|
48.|Budding of trees|Jerusalem|Matthew 22:29| 49.|Wicked
servant|Jerusalem|Matthew 24:44| 50.|Ten virgins|Jerusalem|Matthew 25:1|
51.|Talents for trading|Jerusalem|Matthew 25:14| 52.|Sheep and
goats|Jerusalem|Matthew 25:31| 53.|True vine|Jerusalem|John 15:1| LIST OF
DISCOURSES The following list of the remarkable discourses of Christ will
illustrate his wisdom and his doctrine-- Discourses|Place|Record| Conversation
with Nicodemus|Jerusalem|John 3:1-21| Conversation with the Samaritan
woman|Sychar|John 4:1-42| Discourse in the synagogue|Nazareth|Luke 4:16-31|
Sermon on the mount|Near Nazareth|Matthew 5-7| Ordination charge to the
apostles|Galilee|Matthew 10| Denunciations against Chorazin|Galilee|Matthew
11:20-24| Discourse concerning healing the infirm man at Bethesda|Jerusalem|John
5| Discourse on his disciples plucking ears of corn on the sabbath|Judea|Matthew
12:1-8| Refutation of charge of working miracles by agency of
Beelzebub|Capernaum|Matthew 12:22-37| Discourse on the bread of
life|Capernaum|John 6| Discourse concerning internal purity|Capernaum|Matthew
15:1-20| Discourse against giving or taking offence and forgiving of
injuries|Capernaum|Matthew 18| Discourse at the feast of
tabernacles|Jerusalem|John 7| Discourse on occasion of the
adulteress|Jerusalem|John 8:1-11| Discourse concerning the sheep|Jerusalem|John
10| Denunciation against the scribes and Pharisees|Perea|Luke 11:37-45|
Discourse on humility and prudence|Galilee|Luke 14:7-14| Directions how to
attain heaven|Perea|Matthew 19:16-30| Discourse on the sufferings of
Christ|Jerusalem|Matthew 20:17-19| Denunciations against the
Pharisees|Jerusalem|Matthew 23| Predictions of the ruin of
Jerusalem|Jerusalem|Matthew 24| Discourse of consolation|Jerusalem|John 14-16|
Discourse on the way to Gethsemane|Jerusalem|Matthew 26:31-36| Discourse with
Peter after his resurrection|Galilee|John 21:5-22| Discourse with his disciples
before his ascension|Mount Olivet|Luke 24:50-53| View of Jerusalem--No. II


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  CHAPTER 48: FROM THE ASCENSION TO THE MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN
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FROM THE ASCENSION TO THE MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN HE IS COMING AGAIN The blessed
Savior of the world having fulfilled all things prophesied of his mission here
on earth, and having, in a most solemn manner, taken leave of his disciples,
visibly retired before their eyes to eternal rest in his Father's kingdom. With
hearts full of grief and admiration they deplored the loss of the presence of
their dear-loved Lord, and, with longing eyes, paid their last attendance till
he disappeared. They continued, for some time, fondly looking toward the place
where their Lord was gone, till at length two angels in the shape of men, and
gloriously apparelled, appeared before them, and delivered a message of
consolation to this effect: “Forbear, O Galileans, your further admiration: your
gracious Lord, whom even now you beheld ascending to heaven, shall one day come
to judge the world in as glorious a manner as he now departed from you. He hath
not absolutely left you, but is gone to take possession of that kingdom which he
will continue to govern to the end of the word.” The apostles and disciples of
our Lord (among whom was Mary the mother of Jesus, and some other pious women
who had attended him in his ministry) being greatly comforted by this divine
message, immediately returned to Jerusalem, where they spent their time in acts
of religious worship, assembling daily in a certain upper room, which they had
made choice of for that purpose. MATHIAS CHOSEN AS APOSTLE Peter had thought it
necessary that a proper person should be chosen to supply the place of the
perfidious Judas, that the number of the apostles might be twelve, as was
originally appointed by their Master. To effect this, in one of their assemblies
(which consisted of one hundred and twenty) Peter addressed himself to his
fellow-apostles in a speech which he lead made for the purpose, the substance of
which was to this effect: “Ye know, brethren, what the royal prophet David
(Psalms 41:9) foretold, and which has been punctually fulfilled, concerning
Judas, who was of our society, a fellow-disciple, and an apostle chosen with us.
For a sum of money he betrayed his Master to his enemies, after which, being
troubled for what he had done, he returned the money to the priest, who, not
daring to put it into the treasury, bought a field with it for the interment of
strangers. This fact, and the fate of Judas, were universally known to all that
dwelt in Jerusalem, and therefore the field that was bought with that money was
vulgarly known by the name of the Field of Blood. To Judas, therefore, belongs
that which is mentioned by the holy psalmist (Psalms 69:25), not by way of
execration, but of prediction: that, as he should come to a desperate miserable
end, so the office which he had held with the rest of the twelve, should be
bestowed on another. It is then our duty, according to this prophecy, to make
choice of some one of these persons that are present (and who have continued
with us ever since our Lord undertook the charge and care of us, till his
ascension into heaven) that he may succeed Judas in the apostleship.” The
proposition made by Peter was unanimously approved of by the assembly; upon
which two candidates were immediately nominated, namely, Jonas, surnamed
Barnabas, and Matthias, one of the seventy disciples. The choice of one of these
two was to be determined by lot, previous to which the apostles solemnly invoked
the divine direction in the following words: “Thou, Lord, which knowest the
hearts of all men, show whether of those two thou hast chosen, that he may take
part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas, by transgression, fell”
(Acts 1:24-25). Having said this, they proceeded to draw lots, which happening
to fall on Matthias, he was accordingly elected into the number of the twelve
apostles. PENTECOST The number of the apostles being now complete, on the day of
Pentecost,[439] they all assembled together at their accustomed place, in order
to perform their religious duties. While they were thus employed, a prodigious
noise (much like the rushing of a loud impetuous wind) sudden filled all the
house in which they were, and a kind of fiery vapor, or exhalation, formed in
the figure of a man's tongue; but divided a little at the tip, sat on the head
of each; whereupon they were all immediately filled with the Holy Ghost, and, by
its divine inspiration, were enabled to speak in several different languages.
[439] “This word is derived from the Greek, and signifies the fiftieth, because
the feast of Pentecost was celebrated the fiftieth day after the sixteenth of
the month Nisan, which was the second day of the feast of the Passover
(Leviticus 23:15-16). And for the same reason it is called the feast of Weeks,
because it was observed seven weeks after the Passover (Deuteronomy 16:9). It
was at first instituted in order to oblige the Jews to repair to the temple of
the Lord, there to acknowledge his dominion and sovereignty over all their
labors, and there to render thanks to him for the law, which he gave them on the
fiftieth day after their departure out of Egypt. In like manner, the Christian
Church celebrates the feast of Pentecost fifty days, or seven weeks, after the
Passover, or resurrection of our blessed Savior, to put us in remembrance that
the Gifts of the Spirit were then poured out in a plentiful manner, as the
first-fruits of our Savior's ascension into heaven, and that the Gospel began to
be published by the apostles on the like day that the ancient Law was given to
the Hebrews. GOSPEL IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES At this time there were at Jerusalem
many Jews and proselytes, who had come thither from different parts of the
world, to the celebration of the feast. When these, therefore, were informed of
the great miracle which had taken place with the apostles, and were convinced of
the truth of it by hearing them speak the languages of their respective
countries, they were greatly astonished, and knew not what to make of so
singular an event. Some of them argued among themselves to this effect: “How
have these men, who are natives of Galilee, and have continued all their lives
there, acquired this knowledge? For in our respective languages we hear them
preaching the doctrine of Christ, and the wonderful things God hath wrought by
him. This certainly must imply something of very great moment. But others were
of a different opinion, and, in a scoffing manner, ridiculed the miracle,
attributing the powers possessed by the apostles to arise from inebriation:
“These men,” said they, “are full of new wine.” PETER'S SERMON To destroy this
calumny, and to open the eyes of the yet-deluded and perverse Jews, Peter, in
the name of the rest, addressed the multitude in a most admirable speech, the
substance of which was to the following effect: “Ye men of Judea, and all that
at this time see and hear what the Lord hath done, be assured these things are
not the effect of wine: ye know in your consciences it can not be so, since it
is but the third hour of the day.[440] But this is the completion of a famous
prophecy of Joel, who saith, In the last days I will pour out my spirit upon all
flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see
visions, and your old men shall dream dreams (See Joel 2:28). All ranks and
qualities of men shall receive the effusion of the Spirit of God, and those who
were never brought up in the schools of the prophets, shall be enabled to preach
the gospel of Christ wherever they go. And after that there shall be fearful and
astonishing sights and omens, and many great slaughters in Judea, as forerunners
and prognostics of the destruction which shall befall this people for their
crucifying Christ, and from which the only way to rescue yourselves is, to
repent and acknowledge him, which is the design of this miraculous descent of
the Holy Ghost. Observe and attend, ye men of Israel, for you are chiefly
concerned in this great affair. This Jesus of Nazareth being demonstrated to be
sent from God by the mighty works he did among you, all which you know to be
true; him, I say, being permitted to fall into your hands, you apprehended and
barbarously crucified; him, whom God, by his determinate council, had given to
retrieve you from your lost condition, ye, with profane hands, have slain. This
same Jesus, whom ye thus treated, hath God raised again, delivering him from the
power of death; and, besides many other things, the prophecies concerning him
required that he should not long lie under death. Hear what David the royal
psalmist says: I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right
hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth;
my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the
path of life; in thy presence is fulness of joy, at thy right hand there are
pleasures for evermore. Give me leave, brethren, to speak freely concerning
David, who thus prophesied. He died like other men, had a solemn interment, and
we have his monument this day to show, and whence he never arose. Therefore, he
spake not of himself, but by way of prediction of the Messiah, whom he knew
would infallibly spring from his loins, and be a prince and ruler of his church.
These words of his were prophetic, and literally verified in the resurrection of
Jesus, whose soul did not continue so long in a state of separation as that his
body should be corrupted; and accordingly God raised him up in three days, of
which all we apostles were eye-witnesses. He having, therefore, assumed his
regal state and office in heaven, and God having given him power to send the
Holy Ghost, he hath now punctually fulfilled his promise in sending it on us in
the most extensive manner; one great effect of which yourselves can testify, by
having heard us speak languages which, a short time before, we did not
understand. This great and important truth, therefore, I now proclaim to you,
that God the Father hath raised up that Christ, whom ye Jews have crucified, and
that he now sits on the right hand of him in the kingdom of heaven.” [440] That
is, nine o'clock, the time of morning prayers, to which the Jews generally went
fasting. BAPTISMS This speech, or rather sermon, of Peter's, so wrought upon the
minds of the people,: that they called out most passionately to him, and the
rest of the apostles, requesting their advice what measures they should pursue,
in order to shake off that guilt with which they had been so long loaded. Peter
readily complied with their request, and in a most tender and affectionate
address, told them, that in order to lay aside their infidelity, they must, with
true contrition, acknowledge their sins, enter upon: the Christian profession
with a firm resolution of never falling from it; and that they, must receive
baptism from the apostles, who were thereby empowered to convey remission of
sins to all true penitents. “Repent and be baptized every one of you in, the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all
that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:38-39).
In consequence of this affectionate address, those who were really touched with
what Peter had said immediately renounced their former course of life, and
proved the sincerity of their hearts by receiving baptism. On that day about
three thousand people were converted to the faith of Christ, who continued
assiduous in hearing the apostles teach, and in bringing their goods liberally
for the relief of the distressed. Nor were the converts only impressed with fear
and reverence, but a general surprise took place among all that saw these
strange and early operations of the Holy Ghost, which were still farther
confirmed by several miracles performed by the apostles. LORD'S SUPPER GIVEN The
gospel thus gaining ground, those that received it assembled together for the
service of God, constantly observing the times of public prayers, and receiving
the sacrament of the Lord's supper; they distributed to the necessities of the
poorer sort as freely as God had given them ability, spending their time in acts
of devotion and charity, and exercising works of mercy to all. By the pious
examples of these many others were induced to join them, which gave the apostles
a fruitful harvest of their ministry, and by their repeated exhortations, others
were daily rescued from the wicked and dangerous converse of the perverse Jews,
and heartily embraced the doctrine of Christ. CRIPPLE HEALED After this
wonderful reformation among the people in consequence of Peter's discourses,
that apostle, accompanied by John, went one day to the temple about three
o'clock in the afternoon, which was one of the times generally set apart for
prayer. As they entered in at the gate of the temple toward the east in
Solomon's porch, which was called the beautiful gate, they saw a poor cripple,
who had been lame from his birth, lying there, and begging alms of those who
passed him. As soon as the cripple saw Peter and John, he looked up in their
faces and earnestly begged charity of them; upon which Peter, looking
steadfastly at him, said, “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give
I thee; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” No sooner
were these words spoken than the poor cripple was made whole. His joints became
straight and his nerves strong, so that he went with the apostles into the
temple, “walking, and leaping, and praising God.” PETER'S SPEECH The poor man,
who had sat daily, for a long time, asking alms at the door of the temple, was
universally known by the people, who seeing him walking and praising God, were
amazed at the greatness of the cure; they therefore flocked in great numbers
round the apostles, by whom the poor man kept close, being unwilling to part
with those from whom he had received so distinguished a benefit. Peter,
observing the astonishment of the multitude, and thinking it a convenient
opportunity of increasing the number of his followers, addressed himself to them
in a long and very pertinent harangue, the substance of which was to this
effect: “Ye men of Israel, why do you look upon this cure as a thing strange? Or
why do you attribute anything to us in this matter, as if it were in our power
to perform so great a miracle? The God of our fathers gave this power to Jesus,
whom you delivered to Pilate to be crucified, releasing a known murderer and a
thief, and putting to death him, who came to give life to the world; whom God
hath been pleased to raise from the dead, and make us witnesses thereof. Be
assured, it is by belief in him that this man hath been recovered from his
lameness. The man you all well know, having, for many years, seen him a begging
cripple; and the faith we have in the power of him on whom we believe, hath
wrought the remarkable cure at which you all so greatly wonder. I do imagine,
brethren, that such among you who rejected Christ did it through ignorance, not
knowing him to be the Messiah; and that the like was the case with your rulers.
But by these means the many prophecies in the scriptures, that the Messiah
should be put to death, have been fulfilled. Do you, therefore, amend your
lives, that your past offences may be pardoned, and that, at the second coming
of Christ for the delivery and rescue of the faithful, you may, by repentance,
be admitted into the number of the elect. The Christ you have persecuted, and of
whose resurrection we have been eye-witnesses, hath now entered upon his
sovereignty in Heaven, whereby hath been fulfilled all the prophecies concerning
him, particularly that of Moses, who truly said unto the fathers, A prophet
shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me, and
him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall
come to pass, that every soul which shall not hear that prophet, shall be
destroyed from among the people. And not only Moses, but all the prophets, from
Samuel, as many as have spoken,[441] have foretold the coming of the Messiah,
with the destruction of those who should reject, and the especial mercies to
them that should believe in him. Ye are the particular persons of whom the
prophets foretold, and to whom the promise and covenant which God made with
Abraham (that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed) did
primarily belong. Ye are the heirs of this covenant, and God hath been pleased
to make the first overtures of mercy to you, that ye might receive the gospel of
his beloved Son, and repent of the iniquities which ye have done unto him.” This
was the purport of St. Peter's speech on this occasion; and such was its
efficacy, that it converted so many of his hearers, as to make the whole number
amount to no less than five thousand. [441] The account of the prophets is here
begun from Samuel, because the schools of the prophets were first instituted and
erected by him; and not that there was no prophet before him. The sons of the
prophets spent the greater part of their time in studying the law, and praising
and serving God, and some were sent on messages to the people (for all were not
called to the prophetic office) and therefore it is added, as many as have
spoken; that is, as many out of the schools of the prophets as were Divinely
called to the prophetic office. PETER ARRESTED While Peter was instructing the
people, “the captain of the temple,” at the instigation of the priests and
Sadducees, came with an armed force, suddenly seized the two apostles, and
conducted them to prison. The next morning the great Sanhedrin met, and having
ordered the apostles to be brought before them, demanded by what power they had
wrought that miracle upon the lame man, and who it was that gave them authority
to preach to the people? In answer to these questions, Peter, being endued with
an extraordinary presence of mind and elocution of tongue, spoke to this “Ye
rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, we are this day examined before you
concerning an action, which is so far from being criminal, that it is an act of
special mercy. Be assured, that the miraculous cure performed on the lame man
was wrought by no other means than by invoking the name of Jesus of Nazareth,
whom ye crucified, and God most miraculously raised again. This is he that was
prophesied of under the title of a refuse stone, rejected by you, the chief of
the Jews, and treated with contempt; but is now, by his resurrection, enthroned
in power, and is indeed become the ruler and king of the church, the prime
foundation-stone of the whole fabric. In him alone must salvation now be hoped
for by all; nor can ye expect to be saved unless you readily receive and
heartily embrace his doctrine.” PETER'S TRIAL The council, seeing with what
courage and freedom of speech the apostles behaved themselves, and withal
considering that their education alone could not have raised them above the
capacity of other men (being neither skilled in the learning of the Jews, nor,
as men of distinction, instructed in their laws), they were greatly astonished;
and still more so when they recollected that the two apostles were of those who
had attended Jesus in his lifetime, and saw the man on whom they had wrought the
miraculous cure stand by them ready to attest the truth of it. From these
considerations, they knew not for some time how to act, till at length they
resolved to hold a private conference among themselves, and for that purpose
ordered the apostles to withdraw. As soon as they were gone, the council entered
into debate on the subject, arguing with one another to this effect: “As to the
men, we have nothing to accuse them of; for that they have performed a great
miracle is apparent to many, and the man that was healed is a living witness of
the truth of it. Since, therefore, they have not been guilty of any breach of
our laws, to prevent their further seducing the people (who are too apt to be
led away by them) we will call them in and forbid them, upon severe penalties,
to preach Christ and his gospel any more.” In consequence of this resolution,
the two apostles were called in, and commanded not to talk privately or teach
publicly anything concerning the faith of Christ. But the Christian heroes,
whose commission was from a higher power than any on earth, slighting this
interdict and all their threats, made answer, “That since they had received a
command from Heaven to declare to all nations what they had heard or seen, it
was certainly their duty to obey God rather than them.” This was a fair appeal
to the consciences of their very judges; but their judges, instead of being
satisfied with it, would probably have proceeded to some greater violence, had
not the people's veneration for the apostles put a restraint upon their malice.
All, therefore, that they dared to do was to repeat and enforce their menaces;
having done which, they ordered them to be discharged. THANKSGIVING SERVICE As
soon as the two apostles were dismissed, they returned with great joy to their
brethren, who with infinite satisfaction heard the report of all that had
passed. They then unanimously glorified God, who by his holy prophet David had
foretold what was now come to pass: that the Jews should oppose Christ, say
false things of him, deny and crucify him first, and, when God had raised him
from the dead, oppose the preaching of him; that the princes and governors,
Herod and Pontius Pilate, should combine against him, and the rulers should, in
council, endeavor to suppress the propagation of his doctrine. “And now, Lord,”
said they, “behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants that with all
boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth thy hand to heal, and that
signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.” No sooner
had they concluded their prayer than the house in which they were was shaken
with a mighty wind, in like manner as it had been before on the day of
Pentecost; whereupon they were instantly replenished with fresh measures of the
Holy Ghost, and, notwithstanding all the threats of the Jewish rulers, found
themselves invigorated to preach the gospel of Christ with more boldness and
resolution than ever. ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRE The charity at this time among
believers was very large and extensive. Such as had houses, or possessions of
any kind, sold them, and deposited the money in the hands of the apostles, to be
by them distributed in due proportions according to the necessities of their
brethren. This a certain Levite (a native of Cyprus, called Joses, but by the
apostles surnamed Barnabas, or “the Son of Consolation”) did with great
readiness and singleness of heart, selling the estate of which he was possessed,
and giving the whole produce to the apostles. In imitation of this good man, one
Ananias, with his wife Sapphire, resolved to devote all they had to the service
of the church; in consequence of which they sold their estate: but afterward
altering their minds, jointly agreed to keep some part of the money, intending
thereby to impose upon the apostles. Ananias going first into the presence of
the apostles, with great assurance and seeming cheerfulness, produced the money
and laid it at their feet. But Peter, who by Divine inspiration knew the cheat,
in a holy indignation and abhorrence of so vile an act of sacrilege, reprehended
him in words to this effect: “How, O Ananias, hath Satan persuaded thee thus to
attempt to deceive the Holy Ghost, in purloining part of that which thou hadst
consecrated to God's service and the use of his church? Before thy land was
sold, was it not wholly thine? And when it was sold, didst thou not receive the
full price for it? Was it not then in thy full power to perform thy vow? Thy
iniquitous conduct in concealing a part of the money is not only an injury to
the church, but to God, who knew thy private vow, that it was consecrating of
all, and not this part only which thou hast brought to us.” These piercing
words, together with the horrors of conscious guilt, so impressed the mind and
heart of Ananias, that he fell down dead on the spot, to the great astonishment
and terror of all present, and his body was immediately taken away for
interment. About three hours after, his wife Sapphire went to the assembly, not
in the least suspecting what had happened to her sacrilegious consort. Peter
asked her whether the sum which her husband had brought was the whole for which
their estate was sold. To this she answered in the affirmative; upon which Peter
reprehended her in words to this effect: “How durst you both combine to provoke
God, to try whether he will punish this your impious fraud or not? That you may
see how highly God resents your sacrilegious intentions, behold the men are
coming in who have buried your dead husband, and now they shall do as much for
you.” No sooner, had he spoken these words than Sapphira fell dead at his feet,
and the same persons that had buried Ananias carried her out from the assembly,
and laid her by him. These remarkable instances of the Divine wrath filled all
the converts with fear and trembling, and prevented, in a great measure, that
hypocrisy and dissimulation by which others might have flattered themselves with
deceiving the church. PETER'S SHADOW Miracles of severity were not, however,
much practised by the apostles. Acts of mercy were their proper province, and
healing the diseased and freeing the possessed, a great part of their
employment. In the execution of this business the divine power so far attended
them, that even the shadow of Peter passing by cured the sick, who, to the open
streets, were laid on beds and couches, on purpose to receive the benefit of his
salutary influence. Nor were these marvellous cures confined to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem only, but the people of several neighboring towns and villages
brought thither their sick, their lame, and possessed, all of whom were, by the
apostles, relieved from their respective infirmities. APOSTLES IMPRISONED BUT
ESCAPE The fame of these cures, and the great success which Christianity gained
by the miracles and preaching of the apostles, reaching the ears of the
high-priest, and some others of the Sanhedrin (who were of the sect of the
Sadducees), they were highly incensed against the apostles, and therefore caused
them to be apprehended, and thrown into the common prison. But that very night
they were released from their confinement. The prison-doors, though fastened
with the utmost caution, opened of themselves at the approach of a messenger
from the courts of heaven, who commanded the apostles to leave the dungeon,
repair to the temple, and preach the glad tidings of the gospel to the people.
APOSTLES CONTINUE PREACHING Early the next morning the council again assembled,
and, thinking the apostles were in safe custody, dispatched their officers to
the prison, with orders to bring them immediately before them. The officers
accordingly went to obey their orders, but, behold, when they came to the
prison, they could not find the apostles. In consequence of this they returned
to the council, telling them, that the doors of the prison were shut, indeed,
and the keepers all upon their guard, but as for the persons whom they were sent
for, there was not one of them to be found. This intelligence greatly surprised
the council, who wondered how it could be, that, the prison being shut, and the
guard at the doors, the prisoners should escape. But, while they were in this
state of perplexity, a messenger arrived with news, that the men, whom they had
the night before committed to prison, were then in the temple, preaching and
instructing the people. In consequence of this, the captain of the guard, with
some other officers, immediately went to the temple and entreated the apostles
to go before the council, not daring to offer any violence to them, for fear of
being stoned by the people. APOSTLES TRIED As soon as the apostles appeared
before their judges, the high-priest demanded how they durst presume to preach a
doctrine, which so lately had been interdicted them. To which Peter, in the name
of the rest, returned them an answer to this effect: “We certainly ought to obey
God rather than man. And though you have so barbarously and contumeliously
treated the blessed Jesus, yet God hath raised him up to be a prince and Savior,
to give both repentance and remission of sins. And of these things both we, and
the miraculous power which the Holy Ghost bath conferred on all Christians, are
witnesses.” ELDERS WARNED BY GAMALIEL This answer greatly exasperated the
council, and they began to consult among themselves in what manner they should
punish them. Their first resolution was, to put them to death, but this was
over-ruled by the wise advice of a certain Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a man of
the most distinguished reputation, and universally respected. After ordering the
apostles to withdraw, he advised the council to proceed in the affair with great
caution, lest bad consequences might attend their resolutions. He, told them
that several persons had formerly raised parties, and drawn great numbers of
people after them; but that all their schemes had miscarried, and their designs
rendered abortive, without the interposition of that court. That they would,
therefore, do well to let the apostles alone; for, if their doctrines and
designs were of human invention, they would come to nothing; but if they were of
God, all their powers and policies would be of none effect, and sad experience
would too soon convince them that they had themselves opposed the counsels of
the Most High. APOSTLES ARE BEATEN This speech so far diverted the indignation
of the council, that they changed the sentence (at first designed against the
apostles' lives) into a corporal punishment. They therefore, after remanding
them into court, ordered them to be immediately scourged, which being done, they
strictly charged them not to teach any more in the name of Jesus, and, with this
charge, gave them their liberty. APOSTLES REJOICE OVER SUFFERING But this
punishment and injunction had little effect on the disciples of the blessed
Jesus. They returned home in triumph, rejoicing that they were thought worthy to
suffer in so righteous a cause, and to undergo shame and reproach for so kind
and powerful a Master. Nor could all the opposition of man, blended with the
malice of the power of darkness, discourage them from performing their duty to
God, or lessen their zeal for preaching, both in public and private, the
doctrine of the gospel. DEACONS CHOSEN The great increase of believers, and the
ready access to the common fund for the relief of the poor, made the institution
of another order of men in the Christian church highly necessary. Among the
great number of converts were some Jews, who, by having been long in foreign
countries, had disused the Hebrew, and spoke only, the Grecian tongue, so that
they were considered by the common Jews as if they had been foreigners. These
people complained to the apostles, that, in the distribution of the
charity-money, an undue preference was given to the Hebrew widows, while theirs
were too frequently neglected. In consequence of this complaint the apostles
assembled together the whole multitude of their disciples, when Peter, in the
name of the rest, addressed them in words to this effect: “It is not reasonable
that we should neglect the preaching of the gospel, by undertaking the care of
looking after the poor. Therefore, brethren, do you nominate to us seven men,
who, have shown themselves to be faithful, trusty persons, eminent among you for
wisdom, and other good gifts, that we may appoint (that is, consecrate, or
ordain) to the office of deacons in the church, and entrust them with the care
of distributing to those who want out of the public stock. In the choice of
these, let it be observed, that they be person well versed in the knowledge of
divine matters, that they may give assistance to us occasionally in preaching
the word, and receiving proselytes to the faith, by baptism. And by these means
we shall be less interrupted in our daily employment of praying, and preaching
the gospel.” This proposal was highly satisfactory to the whole assembly, who
immediately nominated seven persons, namely, Stephen, Philip, Prochorus,
Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas. These seven they presented to the twelve
apostles, who, by prayer, and laying their hands on them, ordained them to the
office of deacons.[442] Of these seven, the most eminent for the gifts and
graces of the Holy Spirit was Stephen. He preached the gospel with a noble
courage and resolution, and confirmed it with many public and unquestionable
miracles among the people, insomuch, that by his means the Christian religion
gained ground abundantly. Converts came in apace; and great numbers of the
priests themselves laid aside their prejudices and embraced the gospel. [442]
The names of these seven deacons are all of Greek extract, whence we may infer,
that, very probably, they were all natures of Greece, and that, consequently, by
their designation, the church was desirous to give full satisfaction to the
complaint of those, whose widows had been before neglected. Of the first two of
these, viz., Stephen and Philip, the sacred history has given us a sufficient
account, but of the rest we have nothing certain, except we will admit of what
the Latins tell us of Prochorus, viz., that on .the 9th of August he suffered
martyrdom at Antioch, after having made himself famous for his miracles: of
Nicanor, that on the 10th of January he suffered in the Isle of Cyprus, after
having given great demonstrations of his faith and virtue: of Timon, that on the
19th of April, he was first thrown into the fire, and, when he had miraculously
escaped thence, he was fixed upon a cross at Corinth: of Parmenas, that on the
23d of January he suffered at Philippi, in Macedonia: and of Nicolas, that,
either by design or indiscretion, he gave rise to the infamous sect of
Nicolaitans, and therefore no Christian church has ever yet paid any honor to
his memory. STEPHEN ARRESTED The great zeal of Stephen for propagating the
gospel, and the success that attended his endeavors, soon awakened the malice of
his adversaries, who procured some members[443] of the most learned synagogues,
then in Jerusalem, to dispute with him. But when they found their disputants
baffled, and unable to withstand the force of those arguments with which the
divine wisdom had inspired Stephen, they betook themselves to vile practices.
Having procured some profligate men to accuse him of blasphemy, they caused him
to be apprehended, and, in a tumultuous manner, took him before the Sanhedrin,
in order to obtain a formal sentence against him. [443] As there were people of
all nations, proselytes to the Jewish religion, dwelling at Jerusalem, it is
reasonable to imagine, that they had synagogues, or places appointed for prayer,
for hearing the law, and pious exhortations in their own languages. The Jews
tell us, that there were no less than four hundred and eighty of these in
Jerusalem, which were so many inferior churches, and subordinate to the temple,
as their cathedral. These synagogues very probably were built, and maintained by
the several nations, or degrees of people that resorted to them, and from these
they had their names, as the synagogue of Libertines, that is, of such as were
denizens of Rome, of the Cyrenians, the Alexandrians, etc. But it is to be
observed of these synagogues, that they were not only places of religious
worship, but a sort of colleges of schools likewise, where persons were
instructed in the law and traditions of the Jews, The Jews at this time were
dispersed in several foreign parts, and from these they sent their youth to
Jerusalem to be educated in the synagogue, or college, peculiar to their
respective countries, St. Paul was of the province of Cilicia, and, as it is
reasonable to think that he studied in a college, either belonging to the
country where he was born, or proper to his quality, as a freeman of Rome; there
seems to be no incongruity to supposing, that he might possibly be one, either
of those Libertine or Cilician disputants, who entered the lists with St.
Stephen. STEPHEN'S TRIAL While Stephen stood before the council, the judges, and
all the people then present, beheld a luster and radiance in his countenance,
not unlike the appearance of an angel. This, however, did not so far intimidate
the Sanhedrin as to prevent them from listening to the accusation of the
false-witnesses, who charged him with blasphemy, in foretelling the destruction
of the temple, and the change of the Mosaic rites and ceremonies. “This man,”
said they; “ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and
the law. For we have heard him say, Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place,
and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. STEPHEN'S ORATION The
high-priest, leaving heard the accusation against Stephen, asked him, whether or
not he was guilty of thus prophesying the destruction of the temple, and change
of the Jewish religion? In answer to this question, Stephen made a very grave
and severe oration, the substance of which was to the following effect: “Hearken
unto me, ye descendants of Jacob; the Almighty, whose glory is from everlasting,
appeared to our father Abraham, before he sojourned in Charran, even while he
dwelt in Mesopotamia, commanding him to leave his country and relations, and
retire into a land which he would show him. “Abraham obeyed the divine mandate;
he left the land of the Chaldeans and pitched his tent in Charran; whence, after
his father was dead, he removed into Canaan, even the land you now inhabit; but
he gave him no inheritance in this country, not even so much as to set his foot
upon. He promised, indeed, he would give it him for a possession, which should
descend to his posterity, though at this time he had no child. “God also
indicated to him that his seed should sojourn in a strange land; the people of
which should make them bondmen, and treat them cruelly four hundred years. After
which, he would judge that nation, bring out his people, who should serve him in
this place, as an earnest of which he gave him the covenant of circumcision; and
afterward a son, whom Abraham circumcised the eighth day, calling his name
Isaac, who beget Jacob, and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs. “But these, moved
with envy, sold their brother Joseph into Egypt, where the Almighty protected
him, delivered him from all his afflictions, endued him with wisdom, and gave
him favor in the sight of Pharaoh, the monarch of Egypt, who made him governor
both of his house and. kingdom. “Soon after this exaltation of Joseph, the
countries of Egypt and Canaan were afflicted with a terrible famine, and our
fathers found no sustenance, either for themselves or flocks. But as soon as
Jacob heard the welcome tidings that there was corn in Egypt, he sent our
fathers thither to purchase bread for the people of his household. And in their
second journey, thither, Joseph made himself known to his brethren, and also
informed Pharaoh of his country and relations. After which Joseph's father, with
his whole house, consisting of threescore and fifteen souls, went down into
Egypt, where both Jacob and our fathers died, and were carried to Sychem, and
deposited in the sepulcher purchased of the sons of Emmor, the father of Sychem.
“But as the time for fulfilling the promise made to Abraham approached, the
people multiplied in Egypt, till another king arose, who was not acquainted with
the merits of Joseph, and the great things he had done for that country. This
prince used our fathers with cruelty, and artfully attempted to destroy all the
male children. At this time Moses was born, and being exceeding fair, was
nourished three months in his father's house; but as it was dangerous to conceal
him there any longer, he was hid among the flags on the bank of the river; when
the daughter of Pharaoh found him, and educated him as her own son. “Thus Moses
became acquainted with all the learning of Egypt, and was mighty, both in word
and deed; but when he was forty years old he thought proper to visit his
brethren, the children of Israel; and seeing an Egyptian smite a Hebrew, he
assisted the suffering person, and slew the Egyptian; supposing that his
brethren would have been persuaded that from his hand, with the assistance of
the Almighty, they might expect deliverance; but they conceived no hopes of this
kind. “The next day he again visited them, and seeing two of them striving
together, he endeavored to make them friends: 'Ye are brethren,' said he to
them, 'why do ye injure one another?' But he who did his neighbor wrong, instead
of listening to his advice, thrust him away, saying, 'By what authority art thou
a judge of our actions? Wilt thou kill me as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday?'
“Moses, at this answer, fled from Egypt, and sojourned in the land of Media,
where he begat two sons. And at the end of forty years, the angel of the Lord
appeared unto him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, out of the middle of a bush
burning with fire: this was a sight which surprised Moses; and as he drew near
to view more attentively so uncommon a thing, God called unto him, saying, 'I am
the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob.' At which Moses trembled, and turned aside his face. But the Lord said to
him, 'Put off thy shoes from thy feet, for the place where thou standest is holy
ground. I have long seen the afflictions of my people, which are in Egypt; I
have heard their cries, and am now descended from heaven to deliver them. Come,
therefore, I will send thee into Egypt.' “Thus was that Moses whom they refused
sent by God to be ruler and deliverer, by the hand of the angel who appeared to
him in the bush. Accordingly he brought them out after he had showed signs and
wonders in the land of Egypt, in the Red sea, and in the wilderness, forty
years. It is this Moses that told our fathers, 'A prophet shall the Lord your
God raise up unto you, and your brethren, like unto me. Him shall ye hear.' “And
this prophet is the same who was in the church in the wilderness, with the angel
which spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; the same who
received the lively oracles to give unto us; he whom our fathers would not obey,
but thrust him from them, and were desirous of returning to their state of
bondage commanding Aaron to make them gods to go before them, and pretending
that they knew not what was become of Moses, who delivered them from the slavery
of Egypt. They now made a calf, offered sacrifices to it, and rejoiced in the
work of their own hands. From these idolatrous proceedings they lost that divine
protection which had hitherto attended them as the prophets have recorded. 'O ye
houses of Israel! have you offered unto me slain beasts and sacrifices, by the
space of forty years in the wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of
Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan: figures which ye made to worship them:
I will carry you away beyond Babylon.' “Our fathers were possessed of the
tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, being made according to the pattern
Moses had seen in the mount. This tabernacle our fathers brought in with Jesus
into the possession of the Gentiles; who were driven out by the Almighty, till
the days of David, a favorite of the Most High, and who was desirous of finding
a tabernacle for the God of Jacob; but Solomon built him a house. “We must not,
however, think that the Almighty will reside in temples made with hands, as the
prophet beautifully observed: 'Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool:
what house will ye build me, saith the Lord, or where is the place of my rest?
Hath not my hand made all these things?' “Ye stiff-necked, ye uncircumcised in
heart and ears, will ye for ever resist the Holy Ghost? Ye tread in the paths of
your fathers; as they did, so do you still continue to do. Did not your fathers
persecute every one of the prophets? did not they slay them who showed the
coming of the Holy One, whom ye yourselves have betrayed and murdered? Ye have
received the law by the disposition of angels, but never kept it.” STEPHEN
MARTYRED This speech, but particularly the conclusive part of it, incensed the
council to such a degree against Stephen, that they made use of the most bitter
invectives, and resolved to chastise him by no less a punishment than death. But
Stephen was totally regardless of, what they said or did, having his mind
employed in the delightful prospect of heaven, and the appearance of the blessed
Jesus standing at the right hand of God. The visionary prospect of this heavenly
scene so enraptured his soul, that he could not help communicating it to the
council. “Behold,” said he, “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man
standing at the right hand of God.” On saying these words, the resentment of the
council against him was so ungovernably increased, that raising a loud clamor,
and stopping their ears against all cries for mercy, they immediately dragged
him away without the city, and stoned him to death. While Stephen was undergoing
this punishment, he first devoutly recommended his soul to God, and then
earnestly prayed for his murderers, that the sin they were committing “might not
be laid to their charge;” having done which, he quietly resigned his soul into
the hands of Him who gave it. His remains were decently interred by devout men
(proselytes to the Christian faith) who made great lamentation over him. SAUL
ENLISTS TO PERSECUTE CHRISTIANS Among the many that were enraged against
Stephen, one particular person who had but too great a hand in his death, was a
young man of Cilicia, named Saul. This person, out of his great officiousness to
have Stephen executed, undertook to look to the clothes of the witnesses, who
usually stripped themselves to throw the first stones (as the law directed) at
the person who was to suffer by their evidence. Not satisfied with this, Saul,
out of his passionate concern for the traditions of the ancients, and his
natural inveteracy on that account, against the advocates of the gospel,
resolved to persecute all he could who professed the new religion. He
accordingly applied to the Sanhedrin for a commission for this purpose, which
was no sooner granted than he immediately proceeded to carry it into execution.
Having proper assistance, he broke open houses, seized upon all who looked like
the disciples of Jesus, and unmercifully dragged them to prison, where he caused
them to be scourged and otherwise ignominiously punished. These acts of cruelty
he exercised wherever he went; so that most of the believers, except the
apostles, were forced to leave Jerusalem, and disperse themselves in the regions
of Judea and Samaria, Syria and Phoenicia, Cyrus and Antioch, etc. In
consequence of this, the glad tidings of the gospel (which had till now been
confined to Judea, and many professors of it obliged to hide themselves in
secret places) was preached to the Gentile world, and an ancient prophecy was
fulfilled which says, “Out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the
Lord from Jerusalem.” Thus did the Almighty bring good out of evil, and cause
the malicious intentions of the wicked to redound to his honor and praise.


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  CHAPTER 49: PHILIP THE EVANGELIST--CONVERSION OF SAUL
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PHILIP THE EVANGELIST--CONVERSION OF SAUL PHILIP MOVES TO SAMARIA Among those
who fled from Jerusalem in consequence of the violent persecution by Saul, was
Philip the deacon, the next in order after Stephen. He directed his tour toward
Samaria, preaching the gospel at various places in his way, and at length took
up his residence in that city. His labors here were crowned with success; he
confirmed the doctrine he preached by the performance of many distinguished
miracles, and in a short time was attended by a prodigious number of converts.
In the city lived a person named Simon, who, by his sorcery and magical arts,
had so strangely gained the veneration of the people, that they considered his
diabolical illusions as real operations of the power of God. Simon, seeing great
numbers of his admirers fall off from him, and embrace the doctrine preached by
Philip, pretended to be a convert likewise, and (in hopes of obtaining some
share of the miraculous gifts, which he could not but admire in Philip) was
baptized by him with some others who had embraced the doctrine of Christ. HOLY
SPIRIT CONFERRED ON NEW CONVERTS The great success which attended Philip at
Samaria being made known to the apostles at Jerusalem, they sent Peter and John
to confer the gifts of the Holy Ghost on the new converts. Simon, the magician,
perceiving that a power of working miracles was consequent to all those on whom
the apostles laid their hands, offered to give them money if they would invest
him with a like power. But Peter, knowing the insincerity of his heart, rejected
his offer with scorn and detestation; and severely rebuked him in words to this
effect: “Thy money (said the great apostle) perish with thee. As thy heart is
full of hypocrisy and deceit, thou shalt never be invested with any part of this
divine privilege, for thy design in desiring these gifts is to advance thy own
credit and esteem among men, and not to enlarge the kingdom of Christ. Repent,
therefore, and humble thyself before God for this wicked and impious proposal,
that the thoughts of thy heart may be forgiven thee; for I perceive that thy
temper and disposition of mind is still vicious and corrupt; that thou art yet
bound by the chains of iniquity, and in a state displeasing to God, and
dangerous to thyself.” SIMON BEGS FORGIVENESS This severe rebuke from Peter
greatly affected the mind of Simon; his conscience flew in his face, and he
earnestly entreated the apostles to make intercession for him to the throne of
grace, that the Almighty might pardon his sins, and not inflict on him those
heavy judgments which Peter had intimated were likely to fall on him for his
enormous transgressions. PETER AND JOHN'S PREACHING TRIP The two apostles,
having confirmed the doctrine preached by Philip in Samaria, left that city and
returned to Jerusalem, in their way to which they expounded the doctrine of
Christ in several considerable villages, and were so successful, as to bring
over a prodigious number of sincere proselytes. ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH Soon after
Peter and John left Samaria, Philip received orders from a heavenly messenger to
quit that city, and go southward into the road which led from Jerusalem to Gaza.
Philip immediately obeyed the divine mandate; but he had not travelled far
before he espied a chariot with a splendid retinue, which, on inquiry, he found
belonged to a eunuch, the treasurer of Candace, queen of Ethiopia, who being a
proselyte to the Jewish religion had been to pay his devotions at Jerusalem, and
was then upon his journey home. When Philip approached the chariot he was
directed by the spirit of God to stop and speak to the person within it. This he
accordingly did, and found the treasurer commendably employed in reading a
passage of the prophet Isaiah. Philip, after apologizing for interrupting him,
asked if he clearly understood what he was reading; upon which the treasurer
candidly acknowledged he did not, and be sought him to get into the chariot and
instruct him. Philip readily obeyed, and when he came to examine the passage
which had so much perplexed, and engaged the attention of the treasurer, he
found it to be the following: “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and like a
sheep dumb before the shearer he opened not his mouth; in his humiliation his
judgment was taken away, and who shall declare his generation? For his life was
taken from the earth.” This text the treasurer desired Philip to explain, asking
him whether the prophet spoke this of himself, or of some other person? Philip
took this opportunity of preaching to him the gospel of Jesus Christ, and
clearly pointed out to him that not only the sense of the passage in question,
but likewise several others in the ancient prophets, was fully accomplished in
his person, and the transactions that had taken place during his stay on earth.
EUNUCH BAPTIZED While Philip was expounding the doctrine of Christ to the
Ethiopian, they happened to come unto a certain water; and the eunuch said,
“See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?” And Philip said, “If
thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest.” And he answered and said, “I
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” And he commanded the chariot to
stand still, and they went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and
he baptized him. “And when they were come up out of the water, the spirit of the
Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way
rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus; and passing through he preached in
all the cities, till he came to Caesarea”[444] (Acts 8:36-40). [444] A city and
port of Palestine, on the Mediterranean sea, seventy-five miles northwest from
Jerusalem. The tower of Strato was erected here for the defence of the harbor;
but Herod the Great improved the port by a breakwater, and built the city, which
he called Caesarea, in honor of his patron Augustus, to whom also he erected a
superb temple, adorned with the statue of that emperor. It soon rose to an
extraordinary height of magnificence, and became the residence of the Roman
proconsul; hence the fact of Paul being kept a prisoner for two years at
Caesarea, and that so many things are mentioned as having occurred in relation
to Christians in this great city (Acts 8:40). Our engraving represents the
present condition, merely ruins of Caesarea. SAUL LEAVES FOR DAMASCUS In the
meantime Saul was very active in persecuting the believers of Christ in
Jerusalem and its neighborhood; but such was his fiery zeal against the
faithful, that he resolved to carry his cruelty and resentment still further. He
therefore applied to the Sanhedrin, and obtained a commission from that court to
extend his persecution to Damascus, and to bring such believers as he might find
in that city bound to Jerusalem. CHRIST INTERCEPTS SAUL'S TRIP Saul, pleased
with the horrid power with which he was invested by the Sanhedrin, left
Jerusalem, and prosecuted his journey toward Damascus,[445] being fully resolved
to execute his commission with the strictest severity. But it was the divine
will, in mercy to him as well as those he went to persecute, to frustrate his
intentions. When he came near Damascus, a refulgent light, far exceeding the
brightness of the sun, darted upon him, at which he was greatly amazed and
confounded, falling, together with his horse, prostrate on the ground. This
light was accompanied with a voice, in the Hebrew language, saying, “Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me?” To which Saul replied, “Who art thou, Lord?” He was
immediately answered, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to
kick against the pricks.” As if he had said, “All thy attempts to extirpate the
faith in me will prove abortive, and, like kicking against the spikes, wound and
torment thyself.” [445] The ancient capital of Syria, supposed to be the oldest
city existing in the world: it is situated on the river Barrady, and lies about
160 miles northeast of Jerusalem (Genesis 15:2; 1 Kings 11:24). Tradition says
that Abel was murdered here, and that Abraham was king of Damascus; it is,
however, celebrated in the apostolic history for the conversion of the apostle
Paul (Acts 9:1-22). This city is now called Demesek and contains a population of
about 80,000, or, as some reckon, 150,000, mostly Mohammedans; but about 3,000
are Jews, and about 10,000 are of several denominations of professing
Christians. Damascus is a city of great trade, and therefore important as a
missionary station, especially for the circulation of the Scriptures through a
vast district of Asia. Seventy or eighty minarets, rising above the houses give
a pleasing appearance to the city of Damascus, as represented in our second
engraving. Ruins of Caesarea View of the present City of Damascus

SAUL IS BLINDED Saul was now sufficiently convinced of his folly in acting
against Jesus, whom he was now assured to be the true Messiah. He therefore,
trembling with fear, said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” On which a
voice replied, “Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou
must do.” Those who accompanied Saul were struck with fear and amazement,
wondering that they should hear a voice, and yet see no man speak, while Saul
himself was so dazzled and overpowered by the light, that he quite lost his
eyesight. His companions, therefore, led him by the hand into the city of
Damascus, where he continue three days totally blind, nor did he, in the whole
time, take the least refreshment. ANANIAS SENT TO HEAL SAUL At this time there
dwelt in the city a certain disciple, named Ananias, whom the Lord, in a vision,
commanded to go and find out one Saul of Tarsus (then lodging at the house of
one Judas, a Jew), and, by laying his hands on him, to remove his blindness.
Ananias was startled at the name of the man, and, to excuse himself, alleged his
violent persecutions of the church, and with what a wicked intent he was then
come to Damascus. But to this the vision told him, that he was appointed, by the
Divine Being, to be a powerful instrument in the propagation of the gospel, both
among the Jews and Gentiles, and that, how much soever he had persecuted
Christianity heretofore, he was now to become a zealous defender of it, and even
to die in testimony of its truth. Encouraged with this assurance, Ananias
repaired to the house where Saul was, and, laying his hands on him, delivered a
message to this effect: “That the Lord Jesus, who had appeared to him in his
journey, had sent him not only to restore his eyesight, but likewise to bestow
upon him the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, such as might qualify him for
the ministry to which he was then appointed.” No sooner had Ananias finished his
speech, than thick films, like scales, fell from Saul's eyes, and he received
his sight; immediately after which he was baptized, and continued some days with
the disciples at Damascus, preaching in the synagogues, and proving that Jesus
was the Messiah. SAUL ESCAPES DAMASCUS After staying some time at Damascus, Saul
retired into the neighboring parts of Arabia Petra, where he first planted the
gospel; and, in the beginning of the next year, returned to Damascus. Here he
applied, with the utmost assiduity, to the great work of the ministry, preaching
Christ daily in the synagogues, and confuting all those who argued against his
doctrine. He was, indeed, remarkably zealous in his preaching, and blessed with
a very extraordinary method of reasoning, whereby he undeniably proved the
fundamental points of Christianity. This irritated the Jews to the highest
degree; and at length, after about three years' continuance in the city, they
found means to prevail on the governor of Damascus to have him apprehended, and
confined. But they knew it would be difficult to take him, as he had so many
friends in the city; they therefore kept themselves in continual watch,
searching all the houses where they thought he might conceal himself, and
likewise obtained a guard from the governor, to attend the different gates of
the city, in order to prevent his escape. In this distress his Christian friends
were far from deserting him; they tried every method that offered to procure his
escape; but finding it impossible for him to pass through either of the gates of
the city, they let him down from one of their houses in a basket over the wall,
by which means the cruel designs of his enemies were rendered abortive. SAUL
ACCEPTED BY APOSTLES Saul having thus escaped from his malicious persecutors in
Damascus, repaired to Jerusalem, where, at first, he was but coolly received
among many of the disciples. They were not insensible of his former conduct, and
were therefore doubtful of the sincerity of his heart, till at length Barnabas,
who was privy to the circumstances that had attended him both before and after
his conversion, introduced him to the apostles, and, having clearly related to
them every particular that had passed, they admitted him into their communion.
He continued some time at Jerusalem, during which he preached with great
boldness to the people; and his sermons were so powerful, and disputations with
his opponents so unanswerable, that they, like the Jews at Damascus, formed
designs against his life. But as soon as this was known to the brethren, they
conducted him to Caesarea, whence he set sail to his own city, Tarsus, and
continued, for some years, preaching the gospel with great success in various
parts of Cilicia and Syria. PETER TOURS ISRAEL; HEALS PARALYTIC AND TABITHA The
church, at this time, was free from persecution, and flourished exceedingly,
upon which Peter took the opportunity of making a general visitation to all the
reformed places in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. In his progress he arrived at a
town called Lydda, where he cured one Aeneas of a paralytic disorder, which had
confined him to his bed for eight years; and from this miracle all the
inhabitants of Lydda, as well as a neighboring town called Saron, were prevailed
on to embrace the doctrine of Christ. From Lydda he was entreated by two
messengers to go over to Joppa,[446] on account of one Tabitha, a Christian
woman, venerable for her piety and diffusive charity, who was lately dead. Peter
complied with the request of the messengers, and immediately accompanied them to
Joppa. On his arrival at the house he found the body in an upper chamber ready
prepared for interment, and surrounded by a number of mournful widows, who
showed him the coats and garments wherewith she had clothed them, the monuments
of her liberality. They durst not, however, request him to raise her from the
dead, but by their tears, and great commendations of her charity, sufficiently
testified their wishes that he would do it. Peter was not insensible of their
meaning, and was willing to grant what he knew would give them general
satisfaction. Having, therefore, ordered them to withdraw, he first knelt down,
and prayed for some time, with, great fervency; after which, turning himself to
the body, he said, “Tabitha, arise.” Upon this, the good woman instantly opened
her eyes, and Peter, taking her by the hand, raised her up, and presented her
alive to her friends and relations. This miracle gained Peter a prodigious
number of converts, and encouraged him, for a considerable time, to continue his
abode at Joppa, during which he resided in the house of one Simon, a tanner.
[446] This place occurs, under the name of Japho, in Joshua 19:46; and which is
still preserved in the present name of Jaffa, or Yaffa. It is situated about
forty miles west of Jerusalem, on the shore of the Mediterranean. Its fame, as a
seaport, ascends to the remotest times in history, sacred and profane. In the
former we find it the principal port of Palestine, and the peculiar port of
Jerusalem; being, to fact, the only port in Judea. Hence we find that the
materials obtained from Tyre, for the building of Solomon's temple, were brought
to this port, to be conveyed thence by land to Jerusalem. But although Joppa was
long the port of Judea--as its distance afforded an easy communication with the
capital, while its geographical position opened an extensive trade to all the
coasts and islands of the Mediterranean--it was never a safe or commodious
harbor; and those travelers are mistaken who attribute its present condition to
the neglect of ages. Josephus repeatedly explains its natural unfitness for a
good haven, in nearly the same terms which are employed by modern travelers in
describing its present condition (Antiq. xv. 9, 6; De Bello Jud. iii. 9, 3).
This similarity is noticed by Mr. Buckingham, who himself says: “The port is
formed by a ledge of rocks, running north and south before the promontory,
leaving a confined and narrow space between the rocks and the town. Here the
small trading-vessels of the country find shelter from the south and west winds,
and land their cargoes on narrow wharfs, running along before the magazines.
When the wind blows strong from the northward, they are obliged to warp out, and
seek shelter in the small bay to the northeast of the town, as the sea breaks in
here with great violence; and there is not more than three fathoms of water in
the deepest part of the harbor: so accurately do the local features of the place
correspond with those given of it by Josephus.” Clarke also describes the harbor
as one of the worst in the Mediterranean; so that ships generally anchor about a
mile from the town, to avoid the rocks and shoals of the place. From this
account it will appear that Joppa afforded the only port, though a bad one, for
the important district behind it, inland. The bad state of the ancient roads, or
rather perhaps the absence of any roads, made a near harbor, however
incommodious, of more immediate consequence than a good one at any greater
distance. The coast of Joppa is low; but the town itself is seated on a conical
promontory, jutting out into the sea, and rising to the height of about one
hundred and fifty feet above its level; having a desert coast to the north and
south, the Mediterranean on the west, and fertile plains and gardens behind it,
on the east. The base of the hill is surrounded by a wall, which begins and ends
at the sea, and is fourteen or fifteen feet high, and two or three feet thick;
with towers at certain distances, alternately round and square: being of stone,
it was of sufficient strength to oblige the French army under Bonaparte, to
break ground and erect batteries against it, before a breach could be made. At
present it is in a bad condition, many parts having given way from the violent
rains of about seven years since; so that, if Ibrahim Pacha had been obliged to
besiege it, he would have found the walls ready breached to his hands. On the
land side the town is approached through extensive and richly productive
gardens, by which it is surrounded; the light, sandy soil being very favorable
to the production of various kinds of fruits. These gardens are fenced with
hedges of the prickly-pear, and are abundantly stocked with orange, lemon,
pomegranate, and fig-trees, and with water-melons. The oranges and lemons grow
to a prodigious size; the pomegranate have also a great reputation; and the
water-melons are celebrated over all the Levant for their delicious flavor. The
town itself is thus noticed by Buckingham-- “The town, seated on a promontory,
and facing chiefly to the northward, looks like a heap of buildings crowded as
closely as possible into a given space; and, from the steepness of its site,
these buildings appear in some places to stand one on the other. The most
prominent features of the architecture from without, are the flattened domes, by
which most of the buildings were crowned, and the appearance of arched vaults.
There are no light and elegant edifices, no towering minarets, no imposing
fortifications, but all is mean and gloomy aspect…. The walls and fortifications
have a weak and contemptible appearance, compared even with those of Accho
(Acre); and, as at that place, the entrance is prepossessing, but its interior
disappoints the expectations raised. After passing a gate crowned with three
small cupolas, there is seen, on the right, a gaudy fountain, faced with marble
slabs, and decorated with painted devices, and Arabic sentences in characters of
gold. Passing within, however, the town has all the appearance of a poor
village; and every part of it that we saw was of corresponding meanness.” Many
of the streets are connected by flights of steps. The Muslim part of the town is
very much dilapidated, but the street by the sea-wall is clean and regular.
Beside the citadel on the top of the hill, there is a small fort, near the sea,
on the west, another on the north, and a third near the eastern gate of
entrance; mounting, in all, from fifty to sixty pieces of cannon. The religious
structures are, three mosques, and the Latin, Greek, and Armenian convents. The
population now must be fifteen thousand, mostly Turks and Arabs; the Christians
not being estimated at more than six hundred. Joppa still enjoys a traffic,
which, considering the state of the country, may be called considerable, with
the neighboring coasts. In the way of manufacture it is chiefly noted for its
soap, which is an article of export to Damascus and Cairo, and is used in all
the baths of the principal cities. The delicious fruits of the vicinity are also
largely exported, particularly the melons. There are no antiquities at Joppa,
nor can any be expected in a town which has been so often sacked and destroyed
five times by the Assyrians and Egyptians, to their wars with the Jews: three
times by the Romans; and twice by the Saracens, to the wars of the Crusades. See
the Land and the Book by Thompson. PETER'S VISION During his stay at Joppa, he
one day retired to the top of the house, about noon, to pray. After he had
finished his devotions he found himself hungry, and called for meat; but, while
the people were preparing his dinner, he fell asleep, and beheld, in a vision, a
large sheet, or table-cloth, let down, as it were, by the four corners from
heaven, wherein were creatures of all kinds, clean and unclean; and, at the same
time a voice said to him, “Arise, Peter, kill and eat.” But the apostle, being
tenacious of the rites and institutions of the Mosaic law, declared his aversion
to such a proceeding; upon which the voice rejoined, that what God had
pronounced clean, he ought by no means to account common or unclean. This
representation was made to him three several times, after which the sheet was
taken up, and the vision disappeared. CORNELIUS' INVITATION TO PETER When Peter
awoke he could not help seriously reflecting on the vision he had beheld; and
while he was wondering within himself what might be the event, he was
interrupted by three messengers, who, knocking at the gate, desired to speak
with him. They were accordingly admitted, and as soon as they saw Peter they
acquainted him with their business, which was to the following purport: that
“Cornelius, a Roman, captain of a company in the Italian legion,[447] then at
Caesarea, a person of eminent virtue, piety, and charity, had, by an immediate
command from God, sent to him, begging that he would return with them to give
him some instructions on so important and singular an occasion.” Peter detained
the messengers that night; but the next day he set out with them accompanied by
some of his brethren, and the day following arrived at Caesarea. [447] The
cohort of the Romans, which we call band, was a body of infantry, consisting of
five hundred men, ten of which bands made a legion; and the manner in which the
Romans distinguished and denominated their bands and legions was very various.
Sometimes it was from the order of places, and so they were called the first or
second band, according to their rank and precedency. Sometimes from the
commanders they were under, as the Augustan and Claudian band, etc., because
persons of that name did lead them, Sometimes from their own behavior, as the
Victrix, the Ferrea, the conquering, the iron band, etc., by reason of the great
valor, which, in some sharp engagements, these had shown. Sometimes from the
countries they were chiefly quartered in, as the German and Pannonian band,
etc., and sometimes from the parts whence they were gathered, as this of
Cornelius, is called the Italian band, because it was raised out of that
country, and was a body of forces well known for their gallantry and great
exploits, among the writers of the Roman history. Cornelius, being in
expectation of his coming, had invited his friends and relations to his house,
and as soon as Peter entered, he fell down at his feet to worship him; but the
apostle, rejecting that honor as being due to God alone, raised him up, and then
told the company that, “though they must know it was not lawful for a Jew to
converse (more especially on the duties of religion) with those of another
nation; yet since God had taught him to make no distinction, he very readily
attended their pleasure, and desired to know the occasion of their sending for
him.” Joppa The reply Cornelius made in answer to this was to the following
effect: “Four days ago, being fervently employed in the duties of fasting and
prayer, an angel from the courts of heaven appeared to me, declaring that my
prayers and alms were come up as a memorial before the throne of the Most High;
and at the same time ordered me to send to Joppa for one Simon Peter, who lodged
in the house of a tanner near the seaside, and would give me further information
in the mysteries of salvation. Accordingly I made no hesitation to obey the
heavenly messenger; I sent immediately for thee, and now thou art come, and we
are met together, I desire to hear what instructions thou hast to communicate.”
PETER'S DISCOURSE From this relation of the Roman officer Peter delivered a
discourse to the assembly, which he began by declaring that he perceived plainly
God had made no distinction of persons and people, but that the pious and godly
of all nations were to meet with acceptance. He told them, that peace and
reconciliation between God and man was a doctrine published by the prophets of
old, and of late, since the time of John the Baptist, preached through Galilee
and Judea; that of this peace Jesus of Nazareth was the only Mediator between
God and man, as appeared by the divine powers and graces wherewith he was
invested, and which he constantly exercised in doing good to mankind; that of
his life and actions, more especially of his crucifixion by the Jews, and
resurrection from the dead, of his appearing to his disciples, and even eating
and drinking with them after his resurrection, he and the rest of the apostles
were chosen witnesses; that from him they had received, before his ascension, a
command and commission to publish to all nations, that he was the person, whom
God had ordained to be the great Judge of the world; that all the prophets, with
one consent, bore witness of him; and that whoever believed in his name would
certainly receive the remission of sins. THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES TO THE GENTILE
BELIEVERS While Peter was thus speaking, the Holy Ghost came down upon the whole
audience, and inspired them with gifts and graces, fitting them for several
conditions in the church. The Jews who accompanied Peter, were greatly
astonished to see that the gifts of the Holy Ghost were poured upon the
Gentiles; which being observed by Peter, he told them he knew no reason why
those persons should not be baptized (having received the Holy Ghost) as well as
they. He accordingly gave orders that they should be baptized, which being done,
he stayed with them several days, in order to confirm thorn in the holy faith
they had so happily and earnestly embraced. JEWISH HATRED OF GENTILES The
conduct of Peter on this occasion was considered in various lights by the
brethren at Jerusalem, who being but lately converted to the Christian faith,
were zealously attached to the religious ceremonies of the Mosaic institution,
and therefore most of them severely charged Peter, on his return to Jerusalem,
as being too familiar with the Gentiles. How powerful is the prejudice of
education! The Jews had, for many ages, conceived an inveterate hatred to the
Gentiles, considering them as persons not approved of by the Almighty, who had
chosen the Jews for his peculiar people. The law of Moses, indeed, enjoined them
to be kind to their own nation, in preference to all others; and the rites and
institutions of their religion, and the peculiar form of their commonwealth
rendered them very different from the inhabitants of other countries; a
separation which in after ages they contracted into a much narrower compass.
They were also tenaciously proud of their external privileges in being the
descendants of Abraham; and therefore looked upon the rest of the world as
reprobates, refusing to hold any conversation with them, or even to treat them
with common civility. PETER DEFENDS HIS ACTIONS TO CHURCH It is therefore no
wonder that they were highly displeased with Peter; nor would he, in all
probability, have been able to defend his conduct in a satisfactory manner, had
he not been charged with a peculiar commission from God for extending the
privileges of the gospel to the Gentile world. To satisfy them, however, of the
propriety of his conduct, he first gave them a plain and minute narrative of the
whole affair, together with the occasion of it; and then took occasion from the
whole, to draw this inference: that, “since God had been pleased to bestow on
these Gentiles the same privileges, and marks of conversion, that he had done on
his select disciples, it would have been direct disobedience in him to the
divine will, had he denied them admission into the church, or refused them his
instructions and conversation.” THE CHURCH REJOICES From this representation the
whole audience were perfectly satisfied; and their displeasure against Peter was
turned into praise and thanksgiving to God, for having communicated the same
mercy to the Gentiles as he had done to the Jews; namely, “repentance unto life
eternal.”


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  CHAPTER 50: PERSECUTION BY HEROD--LABORS OF BARNABAS AND SAUL
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PERSECUTION BY HEROD--LABORS OF BARNABAS AND SAUL GENTILE BELIEVERS INCREASE
After the general dispersion which took place in consequence of the martyrdom of
Stephen, and the persecutions that followed, some disciples, who were born in
Cyprus and Cyrene,[448] having traveled through several countries, and hitherto
preached to the Jews only, at length came to Antioch,[449] where, hearing of the
conversion of Cornelius and others, they applied themselves to the Greeks who
lived in that city, and, by the blessing of God, daily made great numbers of
converts. Intimation of this being given to the apostles at Jerusalem, they
dispatched one Barnabas, a pious man, and endued with many excellent gifts, to
assist the disciples, and confirm the believers in that city. [448] This was a
city of great note, and once of such power, as to contend with Carthage for some
preminences. It stood on the western parts of Lybia (properly so called), and,
as it was the principal city, it sometimes gave the name of Cyronaica to the
whole country, which by the sacred writer is periphrastically called Lybia about
Cyrene (Acts 2:10). The city itself is famous in Holy Writ for being the
birthplace of that Simon, whom the Jews compelled to bear our Savior's Cross.
[449] This Antioch (to distinguish it from sixteen other cities, which, in
Syria, and other countries, bore that name) was frequently called Antiochua
Epdaphne, from its neighborhood to Daphne, a village where the temple of Daphne
stood. It was built, as some say, by Antiochus Epiphanes; as others, by Seleucus
Nicanor, the first king of Syria after Alexander the Great, to memory of his
father Antiochus, and was, after that, the royal seat of the kings of Syria. In
the flourishing times of the Roman empire it was the ordinary residence of the
prefect, or governor of the eastern provinces, and was also honored with the
residence of many of the Roman emperors, especially of Verna and Valens, who
spent here the greatest part of their time. As to its situation, it lay both
sides the river Orontes, about twelve miles distant from the Mediterranean sea;
was, in former times, adorned with many sumptuous palaces and stately temples,
and both by Nature and Art fortified even to admiration; but, being taken by the
Saracens, and afterward, by the Turks, it began to grow into decay, and has ever
since been in a desolate and ruinous condition. BELIEVERS NAMED CHRISTIANS The
success of the gospel in so large a place as Antioch, gave great satisfaction to
Barnabas, who, after continuing there some time, and exhorting the people to
hold fast the possession of that faith they had newly embraced, departed thence
to Tarsus, in order to find out Saul, whom he considered, from the fame he had
heard of him as a necessary person to assist him in facilitating the further
promulgation of the gospel. Having found out Saul, he returned with him, in a
short time, to Antioch, where, for the space of a whole year, they daily
resorted to the most public places, preaching and expounding the doctrine of
their great Master; by means of which they soon gained over such a prodigious
number of converts, that in this city the disciples of Jesus were first
distinguished by the honorable name of Christians.[450] [450] Before this they
were called among themselves brethren, saints, disciples, believers, and those
that called on the name of Christ: and among their enemies, Galileans,
Nazarenes, and men of the sect: but now by the conversion of so many heathens,
both in Cesarea and Antioch, the believing Jews and. Gentiles, being all made
one church, this new name was given them, as being more expressive of their
common relation to Christ, their great Lord and Master. HELP SENT TO JERUSALEM
FOR COMING FAMINE The extensive circulation of the gospel at Antioch opened an
intercourse between the Christians of that city and those of Jerusalem. Many
people resorted from the latter place to the former, and among them was one
person named Agabus, who foretold, that there would shortly be a great famine in
many parts of the Roman empire, which accordingly happened in the fourth year of
the reign of the emperor Claudius. In consequence of this prophecy, the
Christians of Antioch determined to make a collection for their brethren in
Judea, which, on the approach of the dearth, they accordingly did, and sent it
to the elders at Jerusalem by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. PETER LED OUT OF
PRISON About this time Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great, in order
to ingratiate himself with the heads of the obstinate Jews, raised a most
violent persecution against the Christians, in the commencement of which be
ordered. James, the son of Zebedee, and brother of John, commonly called “the
Great,”[451] to be put to death. Finding this cruel act was acceptable to the
chief-priests and rulers, he resolved to extend his cruelty to Peter. He
accordingly caused him to be apprehended and put “into prison, designing,
immediately after the feast of the Passover, to bring him forth to the Jews,
and. if they desired it, to have him executed. But the Christians were incessant
in their prayers to God for his safety; nor were their prayers and solicitations
in vain. Herod was persuaded in his own mind, that he should soon accomplish his
design, and sacrifice Peter to the insatiable cruelty of the Jews. But the night
before this intended execution, a messenger from the courts of Heaven visited
the gloomy honors of the dungeon, where he found Peter asleep between two of his
keepers. The angel raised him up, and taking off his chains, ordered him to gird
on his garments, and follow him. Peter obeyed, and having passed through the
first and second watch, they came to the iron gate leading to the city, which
opened to them of its own accord. The angel also accompanied him through one of
the streets, and then departed. On this Peter, who had hitherto been confused,
thinking all that had passed was no more than a dream, came to himself, and
perceived that it was no vision, out that his great and beloved Master had
really sent a messenger from above and released him from prison. He therefore
repaired to the house of Mary, the mother of John, surnamed Mark, where several
disciples were met together, and sending up their prayers to Heaven for his
deliverance. As he stood knocking without, a maid-servant of the house, named
Rhoda, knowing his voice, ran in, and acquainted the company that Peter was at
the door. At first they would not pay any attention to what she said; but on her
persisting in the truth of what she asserted, they concluded that it must have
been his angel. Their doubts, however, were soon removed by the entrance of
Peter, at the sight of whom they were all greatly astonished. Peter beckoning
them to hold their peace, related the whole particulars of his miraculous escape
from prison, and, after ordering them to acquaint James, and the other brethren,
with this good news, withdrew himself to a place of more retirement and
security. [451] He is commonly called the Great to distinguish him from another
of the same name, who was bishop of Jerusalem, and called the Less. He had his
first instruction, together with John, from the Baptist; but how he disposed of
himself after our Lord's ascension does not appear. That he was very zealous and
industrious in propagating the gospel, appears evident from Herod's making
choice of him, for the first sacrifice (after the death of Stephen) to the fury
of the people. Early the next morning the officers went from Herod to the
prison, with orders to bring Peter out to the people, who were gathered together
to behold his execution. But when they came to the prison, they were informed by
the keepers that Peter had made his escape. The officers immediately returned
with this intelligence to Herod, who was so irritated at his being disappointed
in his wicked design, that he commanded the keepers to be put to death, as
supposing them accessory to his escape; after which he left Jerusalem, and
retired to Caesarea. HEROD DIES While Herod was in Caesarea, a misunderstanding
took place between him and the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon, against whom he
was about to declare war. But they, dreading his power (and knowing that in this
time of scarcity their country was in a great measure dependant on Herod's
dominions for its support), sent ambassadors to Blastus, Herod's chamberlain,
requesting him to intercede in their behalf, and, if possible, to bring about an
accommodation. Though Herod was highly displeased with them, yet he so far
listened to his chamberlain as to appoint a day for holding a public conference
with the ambassadors; at which time, being dressed in his royal robes, and
seated on a throne, he made a long harangue on the occasion. The fawning
multitude, thinking to ingratiate themselves in his favor, and please the
tyrant's pride with flattering applause, shouted out, “It is the voice of a god,
and not of a man.” This gratified the pride of Herod, who, assuming to himself
that praise which belonged only to God, was instantly struck by an angel with a
mortification in his bowels, which, in a short time, put a period to his
existence. The tyrant Herod being thus removed, the gospel greatly flourished
and increased, new converts daily thronging to be admitted to the faith. About
this time Barnabas and Saul, having discharged their trust in disposing of the
contributions raised in Antioch for the benefit of the Christians in Jerusalem
and Judea, returned to that city, taking with them John, surnamed Mark,[452] a
person well calculated to assist them in the propagation of the gospel. [452]
his person, who is sometimes called John-Mark, and at other times simply Mark,
or John, is very frequently confounded with the Evangelist St. Mark. he was a
cousin and disciple of Barnabas, and the son of a Christian woman called Mary,
at whose house in Jerusalem the apostles and disciples often assembled. BARNABAS
AND SAUL COMMISSIONED AS MISSIONARIES Barnabas and Saul had not been long
returned to Antioch when God, by some particular inspiration, gave them to
understand, that he had appointed them to carry his word into other places. This
was likewise revealed to the members of the church then at Antioch, who, in
consequence thereof, betook themselves to fasting and prayer, and Simeon,
Lucius, and Manaen (all of whom were endued with the spirit of prophecy), having
laid their hands on them, sent them away to preach the gospel wherever they
might be directed by divine inspiration. SALAMIS On their departure from Antioch
they went first to Seleucia,[453] whence they took shipping for Cyprus, and
began their ministerial office in the city of Salamis,[454] where they preached
in the synagogues, and employed Mark, who was of their company, in several
offices of the church which they could not conveniently attend themselves. [453]
This city lay on the west, or rather a little northwest of the city of Antioch,
upon the Mediterranean sea, and was so called from Seleucus its founder. [454]
This was once a famous city in the isle of Cyprus, opposite to Seleucia, on the
Syrian coast; and, as it was the first place in these parts where the gospel was
preached, it was, in the primitive times, made the see of the primate, or
metropolitan of the whole island. In the reign of the emperor Trajan, it was
destroyed by the Jews, and rebuilt, but, after that, being in the time of
Herodius, sacked, and razed to the ground by the Saracens, it never recovered
its former splendor, though out of its ruins is said to have arisen Famagusta,
which was the chief place of the isle, when the Turks took it from the
Venetians, in the year 1570. PAPHOS AND A MAGICIAN BLINDED From Salamis they
proceeded to Paphos,[455] the residence of Sergius Paulus, the proconsul, or
governor of the island, a man of great wisdom and prudence, but unhappily
seduced by the wicked artifices of Bar-Jesus, an impostor, who styled himself
Elymas, or the magician. The governor being informed of the doctrine preached by
Saul and Barnabas, was desirous of hearing it, and therefore sent to them for
that purpose. They accordingly attended, but while Saul was delivering a
discourse to him and the company present, the sorcerer (who stood by the
pro-consul) used all the arguments he could to prevent his being converted to
the faith. This being observed by Saul, be turned himself to the sorcerer, and
severely, chastised him in words to this effect: “O thou vile sorcerer! Like the
devil, by whom thou workest, thou art an enemy to all goodness. Wilt thou
persist in sorcery, in defiance of the faith of Christ, which comes armed with a
much greater power of miracles than those to which thou falsely pretendest? Thou
shalt soon feel the vengeance of Heaven; for thou that perversely holdest out
against the light of the gospel, shalt lose thy sight, which, by the power of
God, shall, for a time be taken from thee. No sooner had Saul uttered these
words than the sorcerer was struck blind, and implored some of the company to
conduct him to his habitation. This miracle convinced the pro-consul of the
truth of the doctrine he had heard, and he immediately became a convert to the
faith. And from this event it is supposed, by some, that Saul changed his name
to that of Paul,[456] which he ever after retained. [455] Paphos was another
city of Cyprus, lying on the western (as Salamis did on the eastern) track of
the island. It was once famous for having in it a celebrated temple dedicated to
Venus, who, thence, is called, by ancient writers, the Paphian Queen. [456] It
is very observable, that all along, before this circumstance of the apostle's
life, St. Luke calls him by the name of Saul, but ever after by that of Paul.
Hence some imagine, that he assumed that name to himself, in memory of his
converting Sergius Paulus; just as the ancient Roman generals were accustomed to
adopt the names of the provinces which they conquered. St. Austin more than once
asserts, that he took it from a principle of humility, by a small variation
changing his former name (whereby a proud haughty king of Israel was called)
into that of Paulus, which signifies little; and that, in conformity to this, he
calls himself “less than the least of the apostles.” But the most rational
account of the matter seems to be that of Origen, namely, that he, being of
Jewish parentage, and born in Tarsus, a Roman name, had, at his circumcision,
two names given him, Saul, a Jewish, and Paul, a Roman name, and that when he
preached to the Jews, he was called by his Jewish, and when to the Gentiles (as
he did chiefly after this time) by his Roman name, JOHN MARK GOES HOME After
staying some time in the island of Cyprus, Paul and his companions went to Perga
in Pamphylia[457] where Mark (not choosing any longer to prosecute so wandering
a course of life) took his leave, and returned to Jerusalem. [457] Pamphylia was
a province of the lesser Asia, not far from Cyprus. PAUL SPEAKS IN PERGA
SYNAGOGUE From Perga they went to Antioch in Pisidia,[458] where, going into the
synagogue on the sabbath-day, they sat themselves down to hear the performance
of divine worship. After the lessons, one out of the law, and the other out of
the prophets (it being the custom for the Jewish doctors to expound some part of
the scripture for the instruction of the people) the chief persons of the
assembly sent to Paul and his companions, to know whether either of them would
preach a sermon of exhortation to the audience. This was an offer highly
satisfactory to Paul, who, after intimating his acceptance of it, arose, and
delivered a discourse to the people in words to this effect-- [458] This lay a
little to the north of Pamphylia. “Hearken, all ye descendants of Jacob, and ye
that fear the Almighty, to the words of my mouth. The God of Israel made choice
of our fathers, and loved them, when they had no city of their own to dwell in,
but were strangers and slaves in Egypt, bringing them thence with a mighty hand,
and a stretched-out arm; fed them in the wilderness forty years, and would not
suffer his anger to rise against them, though they often provoked him in the
desert. On their arrival in the land he promised their fathers, he destroyed the
nations that inhabited it, and placed them in that fruitful country, dividing it
to them by lot. “When they were settled in the land, he gave them judges during
four hundred and fifty years, till Samuel the prophet. But on their desiring a
king, he placed over them Saul the son of Cis, a Benjamite, who reigned about
forty years. After his death he placed David on the throne of Israel, giving him
this testimony: I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart,
which shall fulfill all my will. And according to his promise the Almighty hath
raised up to the sons of David a Savior Jesus, which is Christ the Lord; the
baptism of repentance having been preached before his coming by John. And as his
forerunner executed his office, he asked his followers, Whom think ye that I am?
You must not mistake me for the Messiah; he will soon follow me; but I am not
worthy to perform the meanest office for him. “To you, therefore, ye descendants
of Abraham, and all others who fear the Almighty; is this word of salvation
sent. For the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and ruler of Israel, being ignorant of
him, and the voices of the prophets, though read every sabbath in their
synagogues, fulfilled their predictions by condemning the immaculate Son of the
Most High. They found, indeed, no fault to him, though they earnestly desired
Pilate that he might be slain. “When everything that had been written by the
prophets concerning him was fulfilled, they took him from the tree, and
deposited his body in the chambers of the grave. But death had no power to
detain him; his almighty Father raised him from the habitations of the dead.
After which he was seen during many days by his disciples who attended him from
Galilee, and were the witnesses chosen by Omnipotence, of these great and
miraculous works. And we now declare unto you glad tidings, namely, that the
promise made by the Almighty to our forefathers, he hath performed to us their
children, by raising Jesus from the dead. The prophet David also said, Thou art
my son, this day have I begotten thee. He also foretold that he should return
from the chambers of the dust, and no more be subject to corruption: I will give
you (said he) the sure mercies of David. And again, Thou shalt not suffer thine
holy one to see corruption. Now this prophecy must relate to the Messiah, for
David himself, after he had swayed the scepter of Israel a certain time, died,
was deposited in the chamber of the grave, and his flesh saw corruption; but the
great Son of David, whom the Almighty raised from the dead, never saw
corruption. “Be it therefore known unto you, men and brethren, that through this
Savior is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. It is by his merits we are
justified from all things, which was impossible by the law of Moses. Be careful,
therefore, lest what was foretold by the prophets come upon you: 'Behold, ye
despisers, and wonder and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which
you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.'” MIXED
REACTIONS AND EVICTION FROM TOWN This discourse was so well received by great
numbers of the people, that when they got out of the synagogue, they besought
Paul that he would deliver it again on the next Sabbath. Paul promised to comply
with their request, which he accordingly did, and on that day almost all the
inhabitants of the city flocked to hear him. This irritated such of the Jews as
were strong enemies to the gospel; nor could they refrain from showing their
malice on the occasion. They several times not only interrupted, but
peremptorily contradicted Paul while he was preaching, and at length uttered
many blasphemous expressions against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. But their
opposition could not daunt the apostles, who boldly answered them as follows:
“It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you; but
seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life,
lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have
set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldst be for salvation unto
the ends of the earth.” When the Gentiles heard this, they were greatly
rejoiced, and glorified the name of God for his beneficent mercy revealed in the
gospel; and all who had any care or thought of the life to come immediately
embraced the doctrine of Christ. This increased the malice and fury of the Jews,
who, by false and artful insinuations, prevailed on some of the more bigoted and
honorable women to bring over their husbands to their party: the consequence of
this was, that Paul and Barnabas were driven out of the city, on leaving which
they shook the dust off their feet, in testimony of the sense they had of the
ingratitude and infidelity of their oppressors. ICONIUM PREACHING From Antioch
Paul and Barnabas went to Iconium, where they entered into the synagogue of the
Jews, and, according to their usual custom, preached to the people; the
consequence of which was that many, both Jews and Greeks, became proselytes to
the Christian religion. From this success the two apostles continued some time
at Iconium, during which the number of converts daily increased, and, to confirm
them in the faith, God added his testimony to their preaching, by enabling them
to work miracles. But though they had gained a considerable number of
inhabitants to the faith, yet there were many who continued in their infidelity:
the whole leaven of Jewish malice began again to show itself, and the
unbelieving Jews, having stirred up the Gentiles against the apostles, at length
prevailed on the multitude to stone them. But the apostles, having timely notice
of their designs, fled from the city to Lystra and Derbe (two other cities in
the province of Lycaonia), where they preached the gospel to the inhabitants, as
also to those who dwelt in the countries adjoining. CRIPPLE HEALED AT LYSTRA
While they were at Lystra, a happy circumstance occurred both for the
promulgation of the gospel, and the conversion of a people who had greatly been
devoted to paganism. As Paul was one day preaching to the multitude, he saw
among them a man who had been lame from his mother's womb, and had never walked.
From the earnest attention which the cripple gave to the discourse, Paul (who
had for some time taken particular notice of him) perceived that he had faith,
and therefore thought proper to add the cure of his body to that of his soul,
knowing that it would not only be beneficial to him, but would likewise confirm
the faith of all who should believe in his doctrine. And that the miracle might
be wrought in the most conspicuous manner, Paul, in the midst of the
congregation, said in an audible voice to the man, “Stand upright on thy feet;”
which words were no sooner pronounced than he arose, “and leaped and walked.”
PAUL AND BARSABAS CALLED GODS The people who beheld this miracle well knew that
it could not be wrought by any human power; but having been initiated in the
superstitious customs of the heathens, they cried out, “The gods are come down
to us in the likeness of men.” Accordingly they called Barnabas Jupiter, on
account of his venerable gravity, and Paul they named Mercurius, “because he was
the chief speaker.” It was not long before the fame of this miracle was spread
throughout the city; in consequence of which almost all the inhabitants gathered
themselves together, and preceded by the priest of Jupiter, and oxen dressed in
garlands, went to the house where the apostles resided, intending to offer
sacrifice before them. But as soon as Paul and Barnabas understood their
intentions, they were greatly affected at their superstitious design; and
rending their clothes to express their grief and abhorrence of the action, ran
out to the multitude, whom Paul addressed in words to this effect: “Ye men of
Lystra, ye are mistaken in the object of your worship; for though we have done
many miracles in the name and by the power of Christ, yet we are no more than
then, and subject to the same passions with yourselves, and preach unto you the
glad tidings of salvation, that ye may forsake the vanities of this world, and
return to the living God, who created the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all
the creatures they contain. This Omnipotent Being suffered all nations formerly
to walk in their own ways, though he never left himself without witness, doing
the greatest good to the children of men; it is he that sendeth rain from
heaven, and crowneth the year with fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with joy
and gladness.” This argument had the desired effect, the people, though with
some difficulty, being persuaded to lay aside their idolatrous intentions. And
surely no argument could be more properly adapted to answer the wishes of the
inspired preacher. Is it possible that any human being can survey the several
arts of the creation, and not discover in every place evident traces of an
infinite wisdom, power, and goodness? Who can survey universal nature, and not
at once see and admire its great Author, who has disposed of all created things
with such order and regularity as to display in the clearest manner his own
power and glory? Behold the sun! how justly is that source of light and heat
placed in the center of the planetary choir, that each may enjoy its destined
share of its prolific beams; so that the earth is not burnt by a too near
approach, nor chilled by the northern blasts from too great a recess, but
impregnated with fruits and flowers by the happy influence of a vital heat, and
crowned with luxuriant plenty by the benign influences of the season. Who can
contemplate the wonderful properties of the air, and not reflect on the Divine
wisdom that formed it? If we survey the earth, we there discover the footsteps
of an Almighty Being, who hath filled it with a great variety of admirable and
useful creatures, all of which are maintained by the bounty of his hand. It is
he that clothes the grass with a delightful verdure, that crowns the year with
his loving kindness, and causes the valleys to stand thick with corn. It is he
that maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains, and herbs for the service of
man. He adorns the lilies of the field, that neither toil nor spin, with a glory
that excels the pomp and grandeur of Solomon's court. He “shut up the sea with
doors,” and said, “Hitherto shalt thou come and no farther, and here shall thy
proud waves be stayed.” It is the Almighty Being that arrests the storm, and
smoothes the tempestuous billows of the deep; that delivereth the mariner from
all his troubles, and bringeth his ship into the desired haven of safety. How
reasonable, therefore, is it that we should worship and adore this Omnipotent,
this kind Creator, and not transfer the honors due to him alone to frail
mortals, much less to dumb idols, the work of men's hands! PAUL STONED After
Paul had performed the miracle on the lame man, he and Barnabas continued to
persevere in the execution of their important commission, declaring, wherever
they went, the glad tidings of salvation to all who believed in the doctrine of
Christ. But the malice of their enemies still pursued them: some inveterate
Jews, who had come from Antioch and Iconium, so exasperated and stirred up the
multitude against them, that they took Paul, whom, just before, they would have
adored, and stoned him; after which they dragged him out of the city, supposing
him to be dead. But when the disciples went to the place where he was (probably
to inter his body) he rose up, and went into the city for that night, and the
next day departed, with Barnabas, to Derbe, where they preached the gospel, and
converted many to the faith. PASTORS ORDAINED IN NEW CHURCHES They did not,
however, continue long at Derbe, but returned to Lystra, Iconium, .and Antioch,
confirming the Christians of those places in the faith, earnestly persuading
them to persevere, and not to be discouraged at those troubles and persecutions
which they must expect would attend the profession of the gospel. And that the
affairs of the church might be conducted with more regularity, they ordained
elders and pastors, to teach, instruct, and watch over them; having done which,
they left them to the protection of the Almighty, to whose care they recommended
them by prayer and fasting. RETURN TO ANTIOCH From Antioch they passed through
Pisidia, and thence went to Pamphylia; and, having preached to the people at
Perga, they went down to Attalia, and returned, by sea, to Antioch in Syria,
whence they had set out on this holy expedition. On their arrival here, they
immediately assembled the church together, and, having given an account of their
success, what miracles God had wrought by their hands, and a large “door of
faith,” he, by their ministry, had opened to the Gentiles, they suspended their
farther travels for the present, and for a considerable time, took up their
abode with the disciples in that city. PAUL AND BARNABAS SENT TO JERUSALEM
During their stay here, the church was greatly disturbed by means of some
persons coming from Judea, who taught the people that there was no salvation
without circumcision, and the observance of other legal ceremonies. This
doctrine was strongly opposed by Paul and Barnabas; in consequence of which,
after many conferences and disputations, it was at length proposed, that the
decision of the matter should be referred to the general assembly of the
apostles at Jerusalem. This the whole church readily agreed to; and having
deputed Barnabas and Paul, together with some others, to go with the message,
they conducted them part of the way, and the two apostles, in passing through
Phoenicia and Samaria; took care to elate what success they had met with in the
conversion of the Gentiles, to the great joy and comfort of all the brethren in
those parts. JERUSALEM COUNCIL CONVENES On their arrival at Jerusalem they were
kindly received by the apostles and elders of the church, to whom, after
reciting the great success they had met with in the propagation of the gospel,
they delivered the message on which they were sent. They told them, that when
the Gentile proselytes, or others uncircumcised, came into the faith, some
Jewish converts, of the sect of the Pharisees, said that such could not be
admitted into the church of Christ without circumcision; that great disputes had
arisen on this head, and that the matter was referred to the church at
Jerusalem. In consequence of this intelligence a council was immediately
summoned to deliberate on the matter, and great disputes took place on the
occasion. At length Peter, rising from his seat, addressed the audience in words
to this effect: “It is well known to you all, that some time since God made
choice of me first to preach the gospel to the Gentiles; and God, who knew the
sincerity of their hearts, testified that they were acceptable to him and fit to
be baptized, bestowing on them the gift of the Holy Ghost, as he had before upon
us, making no difference between us and them. By this one act the matter is
already sufficiently determined. Why then do ye press this thing so contrary to
the will of God? And why would ye wish to impose on the Gentile converts the
performance of the Mosaic law, which belonged not to them, and which we Jews
were so far from being able to perform, that our conduct could not be justified?
It is from the gospel that we expect salvation and justification, through faith
and obedience to Christ, and not by an observation of the Mosaic law: whence it
is plain, that if the Gentiles believe, they have the same way to salvation as
ourselves.” When Peter had concluded his observations, Paul and Barnabas, in
confirmation of what he had said, declared what miracles God had done by them in
the conversion of the Gentiles, which they said was another argument and
testimony from heaven, that no difference ought to be made between them and the
Jews. Upon this James stood up, and spoke to this effect: “Men and brethren,
Peter hath sufficiently demonstrated that it was the will of God the Gentiles
should, without scruple, have the gospel preached to them, and be baptized. And
this is agreeable to what hath been foretold by the old prophets, particularly
Amos: 'In the later days I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of
David which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will
set it up: that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the
Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these
things.' Wherefore it is my conclusion and determination, that we should not
compel those to be circumcised, who from Gentiles turn Christians, but content
ourselves if they believe. We who are Jews need not fear that this will bring a
contempt upon Moses or the laws of the Jews, since the contrary appears by the
Christian practice; for even where those proselytes of the Gentiles are, the
books of Moses are continued among them, being real in the synagogues every
sabbath-day, to signify their respect to the law.” CONCLUSION SENT TO ANTIOCH
This determination being unanimously agreed to, it was next resolved to send
some proper persons with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch, in order that they,
having been present, might give a satisfactory account of the result of the
apostles' embassy. They accordingly made choice of two, namely, Judas, surnamed
Barsabas, and Silas, men of distinguished reputation, and well respected by all
Christians. These, accompanied by Paul and Barnabas, proceeded to Antioch,
taking with them a decree drawn up by the council, which was to this effect:
“Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us, have troubled
you with words, subverting your souls, saying ye must be circumcised and keep
the law; to whom we gave no such commandment: it seemed good unto us, being
assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you, with our beloved
Barnabas and Paul: men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you
the same things by mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to
lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; that ye abstain from
meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from
fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.”
(Acts 15:24-29.) With this decree they immediately repaired to Antioch, whither
they had no sooner arrived, than the Christian converts, both Jews and Gentiles,
assembled together in order to know the issue of their embassy. As soon as they
were met, Paul and Barnabas presented to them the decretal epistle, which they
caused to be read in the hearing of the whole congregation. The contents of the
decree, which were ultimate, gave the highest satisfaction to the Gentile
converts, who greatly rejoiced at finding themselves discharged from the burden
of the law, and confirmed in their Christian liberty. SILAS STAYS WITH PAUL AND
BARNABAS While Judas and Silas were at Antioch (being both men of excellent
gifts in the interpretation of the Scriptures), they employed their time in
confirming believers in the truth of Christianity, and, after a short stay,
were, with all kindness and civility, dismissed by the church, in order to
return to Jerusalem. But Silas, for some reasons, was unwilling to depart so
soon, choosing rather to tarry with Paul and Barnabas. This he accordingly did,
and those three, together with several others of the brethren, employed
themselves in instructing such as had already received the Christian faith, and
in preaching to others who had not yet embraced it. PETER JOINS GENTILE
BELIEVERS Soon after the determination of the council at Jerusalem, Peter went
thence to Antioch, where, using the liberty which the gospel had given him, he
for some time conversed familiarly with the Gentile converts, eating with them,
and living with them in the same manner they did. This he had been taught to do
by the vision of the sheet let down from heaven; this had been lately decreed at
Jerusalem; this he had before practised with regard to Cornelius and his family,
and justified the action to the satisfaction of his brethren; this he had
likewise done after his arrival at Antioch, till some Jewish Christians (still
tenacious of the ceremonial law) coming thither from Jerusalem, Peter, fearful
of offending or displeasing them, withdrew himself from the Gentiles, as if it
had been unlawful for him to hold conversation with uncircumcised persons;
notwithstanding he knew, and was fully satisfied that our blessed Savior had
broken down the wall of partition between the Jew and Gentile. PETER'S
INDISCRETION WITH ZEALOTS Peter, by thus acting against the light of his own
mind and judgment, condemned what he had approved, and destroyed the
superstructure he had before erected: at the same time he confirmed the Jewish
zealots in their gross errors, filled the minds of the Gentiles with scruples,
and their consciences with fears. Paul, who was not ignorant of what pernicious
influence the example of so great an apostle might be, especially when he saw
Barnabas carried away with the stream of his indiscretion, was greatly irritated
at his conduct, and, in the presence of the whole church, severely rebuked him,
for endeavoring to impose that yoke on the Gentiles, which he, though a Jew,
thought himself at liberty to shake off. PAUL AND BARNABAS SPLIT UP A few days
after this Paul and Barnabas resolved to leave Antioch, and visit those places
in which they had some time before planted Christianity among the Gentiles. In
this intended excursion Barnabas proposed taking with them John Mark; but the
proposition was highly disapproved by Paul, on account of Mark's having deserted
them at Pamphylia. In consequence of this, a warm dispute took place between
them, the issue of which was, that they determined to separate.[459] Accordingly
Barnabas, accompanied by Mark, went to Cyprus, which was his native country; and
soon after Paul, having chosen Silas for his companion, set out on his intended
visitation of the several places in which he had before propagated Christianity.
[459] Hence we may learn not only that these great lights in the Christian
church were men of the like passions with us, but that God, upon this occasion,
did most eminently illustrate the wisdom of his providence, by rendering the
frailties of two such eminent servants instrumental to the benefit of his
church, since both of them thenceforward employed their extraordinary industry
and zeal, singly and apart, which till then had been united, and confined to the
same places.


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  CHAPTER 51: PAUL AND SILAS VISIT CHURCHES--PAUL AT ATHENS--IN EPHESUS
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PAUL AND SILAS VISIT CHURCHES--PAUL AT ATHENS--IN EPHESUS TITUS APPOINTED TO
CRETE When Paul left Antioch, after his separation from Barnabas, he and his
companion Silas travelled over the provinces of Syria and Cilicia, confirming
the churches, and leaving with each a copy of the decree, which a short time
before had been passed by the council at Jerusalem. From these parts they sailed
to Crete,[460] where Paul propagated the gospel, and constituted Titus pastor of
the island, leaving him to settle those affairs of the church, which time would
not permit the apostle to do. [460] This was one of the richest and best islands
in the whole Mediterranean sea. It is said at one time to have contained no less
than a hundred considerable towns or cities, whence it had the name of
Hecatompolis. From the goodness of the soil, and temperature of the air, it was
likewise styled Macorios, or the Happy island. At present it is commonly called
Candia, from its principal town, which bears that name. It is situated opposite
the mouth of the Aegean sea, or Archipelago; and while it continued in the hands
of the Venetians was an archbishop's see; great, rich, and populous: but since
it came into the possession of the Turks (which was in the year 1669) it has
lost all marks of its former grandeur. TIMOTHY CHOSEN TO JOIN TEAM From Crete
Paul and Silas returned to Cilicia, and thence went to Lystra. Here they met
with a young man named Timothy, whose father was a Greek, but his mother a
Jewish convert, by whom he had been brought up under all the advantages of a
pious and religious education, especially with regard to the holy Scriptures,
which he had studied with the greatest assiduity and success. This person Paul
designed as a companion of his travels, and a special instrument in the ministry
of thegospel. But knowing that his being uncircumcised would prove a
stumbling-block to the Jew's, he caused him to be circumcised; being willing, in
lawful and indifferent matters, to conform himself to the tempers and
dispositions of all, that he might thereby further succeed in his ministry, and
the sooner establish that doctrine he was sent to propagate. Thyatira

PAUL HEADS TO MACEDONIA After staying a short time at Lystra, they passed
through Phrygia[461] and Galatia,[462] where the apostle Paul was entertained
with the greatest kindness and veneration by the people, who looked upon him as
an angel sent immediately from heaven. Hence he intended to have continued his
progress through the proconsular Asia; but was prohibited from so doing by a
particular revelation. In consequence of this he went to Mysia,[463] and after
attempting in vain to go into Bithynia,[464] proceeded to Troas,[465] where,
soon after his arrival, he had a vision, commanding him to direct his course for
Macedonia.[466] Paul made immediate preparations for obeying these orders, being
fully assured it was the Lord who had called him to preach the gospel in that
country. [461] Phrygia is a province of Asia Minor, having Bithynia to the
north, Galatia to the east, Lycra to the south, and Mysia to the west. The
inhabitants of this country, who are said to have been the inventors of augury,
and other kinds of divination, were anciently more superstitious than the other
Asiatics, as appears from the rites which they used in the sacrifice of Cybele,
and other heathen goddesses. [462] Galatia is a province of Asia Minor, bounded
on the west by Phrygia, on the east by the river Halys, or the north by
Paphlagonia, and on the south by Lyaconia. [463] Mysia is another small province
of Asia Minor, bounded on the east by Phrygia, on the west by Troas, on the
north by Bithynia, and on the south by the river Hermus. [464] Bithynia is
likewise a region of Asia Minor, and received its name from one of its kings,
named Bythinus: but in what age he reigned we are not informed. [465] Troas was
a small country belonging to Phrygia Minor, and situated to the west of Mysia,
upon the Hellespont. It took its name from its principal city, which was a
seaport, and situated about four miles from old Troy. [466] This is a large
province in Greece, and was anciently called Emmathia, but, from the kings of
Macedon, it was afterward called Macedonia, which name it has ever since
retained. PHILIPPI Paul and his companions, having embarked at Troas, sailed to
the island of Samothracia,[467] and, the next day, landed at Neapolis,[468] a
port in Macedonia, whence they travelled to Philippi,[469] a Roman colony, were
they continued some days. [467] Samothracia is a small island in the Aegean sea,
lying to the west of Troas, opposite the coast of Thrace, whence it received its
name. [468] Neapolis was a seaport, and stood very near to Thrace. At first it
belonged to that province, but was afterward taken into Macedonia. [469]
Philippi was one of the chief cities of Macedonia, lying to the west of
Neapolis. It was originally called Dathos, but afterward took its name from
Philip, the famous king of Macedon, who repaired and beautified it. In process
of time it became a Roman colony, and the inhabitants enjoyed the privileges of
Roman citizens, and were governed by the Roman laws. These indulgences were
conferred on them both by Julius and Augustus Caesar, very probably, in memory
of the two great battles that were fought in the plains adjacent, the first
between Julius and Pompey the Great, and the second between Augustus and Mark
Antony on the one side, and Cassius and Brutus on the other. At a small distance
from Philippi the Jews had a proseuche, or place of devotion, which was much
frequented by the devout women of their religion, who met there to pray and hear
the law. In this place Paul and his companions preached the glad tidings of the
gospel, and, by the influence of the Holy Spirit, made many converts. Among
these was a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple in Philippi, but a
native of Thyatira,[470] whom they baptized, with her household; in return for
which she invited them to lodge in her house during their abode in that city.
[470] This ancient city still survives as an inhabited site, under the Turkish
name of Ark-hissar, or the White castle. It can not however compare with the two
other inhabited sites, being greatly inferior to Pergamos, and immeasurably so
to Smyrna. In ancient remains it is poorer than any of the seven. It is situated
about twenty-seven miles to the north of Sardis, and is thus noticed by Pliny
Fisk, the American missionary: “Thyatira is situated near a small river, a
branch of the Caicus, in the center of an extensive plain. At the distance of
three or four miles it is almost completely surrounded by mountains. The houses
are low; many of them of mud or earth. Excepting the motsellim's palace, there
is scarcely a decent house in the place. The streets are narrow and dirty, and
everything indicates poverty and degradation. We had a letter of introduction to
Economo, the bishop's procurator, and a principal man among the Greeks of this
town.... He says the Turks have destroyed all remnants of the ancient church;
and even the place where it stood is now unknown. At present there are in the
town one thousand houses for which taxes are paid to the government” (Memoir of
the Rev. P. Fisk. Boston, Mass. 1828). It appears, from Hartley, that the Greeks
occupy three hundred houses, the Armenians thirty. Each of them has a church.
The town is embosomed in poplars and cypresses. The traveler last named
observes: “The sacred writer of the Acts of the Apostles informs us that Lydia
was a seller of purple in the city of Thyatira; and the discovery of an
inscription here, which makes mention of 'the dyers,' has been considered
important in connection with this passage. I know not if other travelers have
remarked, that even at the present time. Thyatira is famous for dying. In answer
to inquiries on the subject, I was informed that the cloths which are dyed
scarlet here, are considered superior to any others furnished by Asia Minor; and
that large quantities are sent weekly to Smyrna, for the purposes of commerce.”
DEMON CAST OUT OF GIRL As Paul and his companions were one day going, as usual,
to the before-mentioned place of devotion, they were met by a certain damsel,
who was possessed with a spirit of divination, by means of which her masters
acquired considerable advantage. This woman followed Paul and his companion,
crying out, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, which show us the
way of salvation.” Paul, at first took no notice of her, not being willing to
multiply miracles without necessity. But when he saw her following them several
days together, he began to be troubled; and therefore, in imitation of his great
Master (who would not suffer the devil, to acknowledge him, lest his false and
lying tongue should prejudice the truth in the minds of men), commanded the
spirit, in the name of Jesus, to come out of her. Accordingly the evil spirit
obeyed, and at that instant left the damsel. PAUL AND SILAS ARRESTED This
miraculous cure proving a great loss to her masters, who had acquired large sums
from her soothsaying, they were vehemently incensed against the apostles. They
therefore caused Paul and Silas to be apprehended and carried before the
magistrates of the city, to whom they accused them of introducing many
innovations, which were prejudicial to the state, and unlawful for them to
comply with, as being Romans. BEATEN AND IMPRISONED The magistrates, being
concerned for the tranquillity of the state, and fearful of all disturbances,
were very forward to punish the offenders, against whom the multitude testified;
and therefore they commanded the officers to strip them, and scourge them
severely as seditious persons. This was accordingly done, after which they were
committed to close custody, and the jailer, having received a strict charge to
keep them in the utmost security, not only thrust them into the inner prison,
but likewise made their feet fast to the stocks. SINGING AND EARTHQUAKE But
neither the obscure dungeon, nor the pitchy mantle of the night, can intercept
the beams of divine joy and comfort from the souls of pious men. Their minds
ware all serenity; and at midnight they prayed, and sung praises to God so loud,
that they were heard in every part of the prison. Nor were their prayers offered
to the throne of grace in vain: an earthquake shook the foundations of the
prison, opened the doors, loosed the chains, and set the prisoners at liberty.
JAILER IS SAVED This convulsion of nature roused the jailer from his sleep; and
concluding, from what he saw, that all his prisoners were escaped, he was going
to put a period to his life, which being observed by Paul, he hastily called
out, “Do thyself no harm, for we are all here.” The keeper was as much surprised
at this as he had been before terrified at the thoughts of their escape; and
calling for a light, he went immediately into the presence of Paul and Silas,
fell down at their feet, took them from the dungeon, brought them to his own
house, washed their stripes, and then besought them to instruct him in the
knowledge of that God who was so mighty to save. Paul readily granted his
request, telling him, that if he believed in Jesus Christ, he and his whole
house might be saved. Accordingly the jailer, with all his family, were, after a
competent instruction, baptized, and received as members of the Christian
church--How happy a change does the doctrine of the gospel make in the minds of
men! How does it smooth the roughest tempers, and instill in their minds the
sweetest principles of civility and good-nature! He, who put a few moments
before tyrannized over Paul and Silas with the most cruel usage, now treated
them with the greatest respect, and showed them the highest marks of kindness.
MAGISTRATES REBUKED Early the next morning the magistrates (either having heard
what had happened, or reflecting on what they had done as too harsh and
unjustifiable) sent their sergeant to the jailer, with orders immediately to
discharge Paul and Silas. The jailer joyfully delivered the message, and bade
them depart in peace; but Paul, in order to make the magistrates sensible what
injury they had done them, and how unjustly they had punished them without
examination or trial, refused to accept of their discharge, alleging, “that they
were not only innocent persons, but denizens of Rome; that, as they had been
illegally scourged and committed to prison, their delivery should be as public
as was the injury, and attended with a solemn retraction of what they had done.”
The magistrates were greatly terrified at this message, well knowing how
dangerous it was to provoke the formidable power of the Romans, who never
suffered any freeman to be beaten uncondemned. They therefore went to the
prison, and very submissively entreated them to depart without any further
disturbance. This small recompense for the cruel usage they had received was
accepted by the meek followers of the blessed Jesus: they accordingly left the
prison, and retired to the house of Lydia, in which were a great number of
converts. To those they related all that had passed and after some conference
with them, they took their leave and departed. THESSALONICA From Philippi Paul
and his companions travelled toward the west, till they arrived at
Thessalonica,[471] the metropolis of Macedonia. Here Paul preached in the
synagogues of the Jews three sabbath-days successively, proving, from the
predictions of the Old Testament, that the Messiah was to suffer, and to rise
again; and that the blessed Jesus was the Messiah spoken of by the prophets.
Some of his hearers, among whom were several women of rank and quality,
believed, and were converted to the faith, but the greater part of the Jews
disapproved of his doctrine. [471] Thessalonica was anciently called Thesma,
from the sea to which it adjoins. It is the opinion of some that it received the
latter name in memory of the victory which Philip king of Macedon obtained over
the Thessalonians; but others think it took its name from Thessalonica, the wife
of Cassander, and daughter of Philip. It is at present called Salonichi, has a
safe harbor for the benefit of commerce, and is an archbishop's see of the
Grecian church. During their stay at Thessalonica, they lodged in the house of a
certain Christian named Jason, who entertained them very courteously. But the
Jews, in general, were so incensed against them, that they would not suffer them
to continue at rest. They refused to embrace the gospel themselves, and
therefore envied its success, and determined to oppose its progress. Accordingly
they gathered together a great number of lewd and wicked people, who beset the
house of Jason, intending to take Paul, and deliver him up to an incensed
multitude. But in this they were disappointed, he with his companions being
removed thence by the Christians, and concealed in some other part of the city.
This disappointment increased their rage, and they determined to be revenged on
Jason, who had concealed them. Accordingly they seized him, with some others of
the brethren, and carried them before the magistrates of the city, accused them
with disturbing the peace of the empire, and setting up Jesus as a king, in
derogation of the emperor's dignity and authority. In consequence of this
accusation, both the people and magistrates became their enemies; and though
Jason was only accused of harboring Paul and his companions, yet the magistrates
could not be prevailed on to dismiss Jason and his brethren till they had given
security for their future appearance. BEREA As soon as the tumult was over,
those Thessalonians who had been converted sent away Paul and his companions, by
night, to Berea, a city about fifty miles to the south of Thessalonica. Here
also Paul's great love for his countrymen the Jews, and his earnest wishes for
their salvation, excited him to preach to them in particular. Accordingly, he
entered into their synagogue, and explained the gospel to them, proving, from
the scriptures of the Old Testament, the truth of the doctrine he advanced. The
Jews here were of a more ingenuous and candid temper than those of Thessalonica;
and as they heard him, with great reverence and attention, expound the
Scriptures, so they searched diligently, whether his proofs were proper and
pertinent, and consonant to the sense of the text to which he referred. Having
done this, and found everything agreeable to what Paul had advanced, many of
them believed; and some Gentiles (among whom were several women of quality)
following their example, became obedient to the faith. The news of this
remarkable success being carried to Thessalonica, the Jews of that place were so
incensed, that great numbers of them went to Berea, and raised tumults in that
city; in consequence of which Paul, to avoid their fury, was obliged to leave
the place, but Silas and Timothy, who, perhaps, were either less known, or less
envied, remained behind. ATHENS Paul, leaving Berea under the conduct of certain
guides, it was imagined that he designed to retire by sea out of Greece, that
his restless enemies might cease their persecution; but the guides, in
conformity to Paul's direction, conducted them to Athens,[472] where they left
him, after receiving orders to tell Silas and Timothy to repair to him as soon
as possible. [472] Athens was once the most celebrated city for learning of any
in the world. It was situated on a gulf of the Aegean sea, which comes up to the
isthmus of the Peloponnese, or Morea, in that district of Greece called Attica,
and was the parent of that dialect which was esteemed the purest and finest
Greek. Cicero calls it the fountain whence civility, learning, and laws, were
derived to other nations. PAUL CARRIES OUT CAMPAIGN AGAINST POLYTHEISM While
Paul continued at Athens, expecting the arrival of his companions, he walked up
and down to take an accurate survey of the city, which he found wretchedly
overrun with superstition and idolatry. The inhabitants were remarkably
religious and devout, they had a great number of gods whom they adored; false,
indeed, they were, but such as they, being destitute of revelation, accounted
true, and so very careful were they that no deity should want due honor from
them, that they had an altar inscribed, “to the unknown God.”[473] These
superstitious practices greatly afflicted Paul, in consequence of which he
exerted all his endeavors to convert the people. He disputed on the sabbath-day
in the synagogues of the Jews; and, at other times, took all opportunities of
preaching to the Athenians the coming of the Messiah to save the world. [473]
That the Athenians had altars in their public places, without names on them, and
others to unknown gods, is evident from the testimony of Laertius, who informs
us, that when a great plague raged at Athens and several means had been
attempted for the removal of it, they were advised by Epimedies, the
philosopher, to build an altar, and dedicate it to the proper and peculiar god
to whom sacrifices were due; and the Athenians, not knowing by what name to call
him, erected an altar with this inscription: “To the gods of Asia, Europe, and
Africa, to the strange and unknown god;” by which, as some imagine, they
intended the God of the Jews, who had given such wonderful deliverances to his
own people. Athens--The Areopagus

PAUL STANDS BEFORE COURT This doctrine was equally new and strange to the
Athenians; and though they did not persecute Paul as the Jews had done, yet his
preaching Jesus was considered, by the Epicurean[474] and Stoic philosophers, as
a fabulous legend. The generality of the people, however, considered it as a
discovery of some new gods, which they had not yet placed in their temples; and
though they were not unwilling to receive any new deities, yet, as the
Areopagus[475] was to judge of all gods, to whom public worship might be
allowed, they took him before the members of that court to give an account of
his doctrine. [474] The Epicureans among the Greeks and Romans were much the
same as the Sadducees among the Jews; for both denied a divine providence and a
future state. [475] The Areopagus was a celebrated court or senate, where
justice was administered to all ranks of people by judges learned in the law. It
was situated on Mars' hill, an eminence without the city, and many of the
inhabitants of Athens spent much of their time in it, disputing with each other
on speculative points, and asking news concerning the progress of the Roman arms
in different parts of the world. PAUL'S SERMON ON MAR'S HILL Paul, being placed
before the judges of this high assembly, explained the nature of the doctrine he
taught in a very grave and elegant speech, the substance of which was to this
effect: “Ye men of Athens, I am here brought as a prisoner into your supreme
tribunal, as one who sets forth strange doctrines; and yet, from the
observations I have made since I arrived in your city, I find you so much
attached to superstition, that you know not what you worship, nay, that you even
have such a number of idols, that you can not find names for them; for one of
your altars has upon it an inscription to the unknown God. That the true God of
heaven and earth is, in a great measure unknown to you is very evident, and that
is the Being whose works I now publish to you. By him was all nature created;
and as he fills immensity with his presence, so he can not be circumscribed by
temples made with hands. Our worship, as men, can add nothing to his
perfections; for all we have, and all we enjoy, is the unmerited gift of his
inexhaustible bounty. When he created us out of nothing, he appointed that we
should consider ourselves as children of the same common parent; and in the
course of his providence he has so ordered it, that either by nature or
revelation we should use such means as may, in the end, lead us to the knowledge
of himself, and promote our eternal happiness, for he is everywhere present, and
none of our thoughts can be hidden from him. Nay, be not surprised, for one of
your own poets has expressly declared, that we are the offspring of the Supreme
Being, and therefore, we are not to form carnal notions of his perfections, as
if he could be represented in a human shape. It is true, God, in his infinite
mercy, drew a veil over those ages of ignorance; but now he hath made his will
known and, therefore; those who have been long slaves to their lusts and
passions, are commanded to turn from the evil of their ways, in order to obtain
the divine favor. And this is the more necessary, because he hath fixed, by an
unalterable decree, that when the universal frame of nature shall be dissolved,
he will raise mankind from the grave, and reward or punish them according to
their works here below. As a proof of this he has already raised up Christ from
the dead, and, as he has become the first fruits of those who still sleep, so he
has ordered that by him all mankind shall be judged. Such is the doctrine I
deliver unto you, and I leave you to judge whether or not I have acted as an
impostor.” SEVERAL PEOPLE OF NOTE CONVERTED That part of Paul's discourse in
which he mentioned the resurrection, gave great offence to some of the
philosophers, who mocked and derided him; while others, more modest, but not
satisfied with the proofs he had given, gravely said, “We would hear thee again
of this matter.” After this Paul left the court, but not without some success,
for a few of his auditors (among whom were Dionysius, one of the senators, and
Damaris, a lady of considerable rank) believed his doctrine, and attended his
instructions. Thus boldly did this intrepid servant and soldier of Jesus Christ
assert the cause of his divine Master among the great, the wise, and the
learned; and thus did he reason, with the most distinguished strength and
eloquence, on the nature of God, and the manner in which he has commanded his
creatures to worship him even in spirit and in truth. Corinth--View of the
Acropolis

TIMOTHY AND SILAS AT THESSALONICA During Paul's stay at Athens, Timothy and
Silas (according to the orders they had received) came to him from Thessalonica,
with an account that the Christians there had been under persecution from their
fellow-citizens ever since his departure. This gave great uneasiness to Paul,
and at first inclined him to visit them in person, in order to confirm them in
the faith they had embraced. But reflecting on the consequences that might ensue
if he went himself, he sent Timothy and Silas to comfort them, and put them in
mind of what he had before told them, namely, that persecution would be the
constant attendant on their profession. PAUL AT CORINTH After the departure of
Timothy and Silas, Paul, left Athens, and went to Corinth,[476] where he met
with a certain Jew, named Aquila, lately come from Italy, with Priscilla his
wife, because Claudius had made an edict for banishing all the Jews from Rome.
Paul having instructed these two in the Christian faith, took up his lodgings
with them (and made their house his principal place of residence) during his
stay at Corinth. Every sabbath-day he preached in the synagogues, laboring to
convince both Jews and Greeks, that Jesus was the true Messiah. [476] The large
and wealthy city of Corinth was the metropolis of Achaia, and situated upon the
isthmus of the same name, which joins the Peloponnesus to the continent. Its
situation was highly favorable for that commerce which ultimately rendered it
one of the most wealthy and luxurious cities of the world. For, being between
two ports, the one of which was open to the eastern and the other to the western
navigator, while its geographical situation placed it, as it were, in the center
of the civilized world, it became the point where the merchants from the three
quarters of the globe met and exchanged their treasures. It was also celebrated
for the Isthmian games, to which the apostle makes some striking and remarkably
appropriate allusions, in his Epistles to the Corinthians. Nor should it be
unnoticed that in the center of the city there stood a famous temple of Venus in
which a thousand is priestesses of the goddess ministered to licentiousness,
under the patronage of religion. From such various causes Corinth had an influx
of foreigners of all descriptions, who carried the riches and the vices of all
nations into a city, in which the merchant, the warrior, and the seaman, could
enjoy them for his money. Devoted to traffic, and to the enjoyment of the wealth
which that traffic secured, the Corinthians were exempt from the influence of
that thirst for conquest and military glory by which their neighbors were
actuated; hence they were seldom engaged in any war, except for the defence of
their country, or in behalf of the liberties of Greece: yet Corinth furnished
many brave and experienced commanders to other Grecian states, among whom it was
common to prefer a Corinthian general to one of their own or any other state. As
might be expected, Corinth was not remarkably distinguished for philosophy or
science; but its wealth attracted to it the arts, which assisted to enrich and
aggrandize it, till it became one of the very finest cities in all Greece. The
Corinthian order of architecture took its name from that rich and flowery style
which prevailed in its sumptuous edifices--its temples, palaces, theaters, and
porticoes. The Corinthians having ill-treated the Roman ambassadors, their city
fell a prey to the Romans, with all its treasures and works of art, and was
totally destroyed by Mummius. It lay a long while desolate, till it was rebuilt
by Julius Caesar, by whom it was peopled with a colony of Romans; and, favored
by its admirable situation, it was soon restored to a most flourishing
condition. “The ancient manners,” says Hug, “abundantly returned: Acro-Corinth
was again the Isthmian Dione, and an intemperate life was commonly called the
Corinthian mode of life. Among all the cities that ever existed this was
accounted the most voluptuous; and the satirist could only jocularly seem to be
at a loss whether, in this respect, he should give the preference to Corinth or
to Athens.” Corinth still exists as an inhabited town, under the name of
Corantho. It is a long straggling place, which is well paved, and can boast of
some tolerably good buildings, with a castle of some strength, which is kept in
a good state of defence. There are still some considerable ruins, to attest the
ancient consequence of Corinth, and the taste and elegance of its public
buildings. The extensive view from the summit of the high mountain which
commands the town, and which was the Acropolis (Acro-Corinth) of the ancient
city is pronounced by travelers to be one of the finest in the world. I
THESSALONIANS WRITTEN A short time after Paul had been at Corinth, Timothy and
Silas arrived thither from Thessalonica, with the joyful news of the steadfast
adherence of the Christians in that city to the truth of the gospel. This was a
matter of great consolation to Paul, who thereupon wrote his first epistle to
the Thessalonians. In this epistle “he highly applauds their courage and zeal in
the belief of the Christian religion, and exhorts them to a noble constancy and
perseverance amidst their afflictions: he commends them for their charity to the
believers in Macedonia, and gives them many instructions concerning
conversation, and leading a good life: he exhorts them to the practice of all
purity and holiness; to avoid idleness; to be diligent in their callings, and
not immoderate in their grief for the dead; and concludes with instructions to
them concerning the doctrine of the resurrection, the manner of Christ's coming
to judge the world, and the obligation all were under to make a timely
preparation for so solemn an event.” Ruins of the Temple of Diana, at Ephesus

MANY SAVED IN CORINTH After the arrival of Timothy and Silas at Corinth, Paul
preached the doctrine of Christ with fresh ardor to the Jews; but they, instead
of attending to what he said, opposed him, and what they could not conquer by
fair argument, and force of reason, they endeavored to carry by noise and
clamor, blended with blasphemous and opprobrious language. In consequence of
this, Paul, to testify his abhorrence of their behavior, shook his garments, and
told them, that since they were determined to draw down the vengeance of Heaven
upon their own heads, he was absolutely guiltless and innocent, and would
thenceforth address himself to the Gentiles. Accordingly he left them, and
repaired to the house of one Justus, a religious proselyte, where, by his
preaching and miracles, he converted great numbers to the faith, among whom were
some few Jews, particularly Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and two
others of considerable distinction, who, with their families, were baptized, and
admitted members of the Christian church. The modern City of Corinth, viewed
from the Bay

GOD PROMISES PROTECTION TO PAUL Paul was greatly perplexed in his mind on
account of the perverseness and obstinacy of the Jews, and began to despair of
being able to convince them of the impropriety of their behavior, or to bring
them to an effectual discernment of the truth of his doctrine. But he was
encouraged to persevere in the attempt by a heavenly vision, in which he was
told, that notwithstanding the bad success he had hitherto met with, there was a
large harvest to be gathered in that place: that therefore he should not be
afraid of his enemies, but preach the gospel boldly, for that he might be
assured of the divine protection in all his undertakings. In consequence of
this, and in certain hopes of success, Paul continued at Corinth for the space
of one year and six months, teaching the word of God with various success to the
people. GENTILES BEAT THE SYNAGOGUE RULER Some time after Paul had received
encouragement from the heavenly vision, the Jews made a general insurrection
against him, and having taken him into custody, carried him before Gallio, who
at that time was pro-consul of Achaia. The accusation they laid against him was,
that he had attempted to introduce a new religion contrary to what was
established by the Jewish law, and permitted by the Roman powers. But, as Gallio
apprehended that this was a controversy which did not fall under the cognizance
of the civil judicature, he would not have any concern in it, and therefore
ordered his officers to drive them out of the court. Upon this the Gentiles took
Sosthenes, a ruler of the synagogue, and one of Paul's chief accusers, and beat
him publicly before the tribunal; but this did not give the pro-consul the least
disturbance. II THESSALONIANS WRITTEN Paul continued at Corinth some time after
this incident, and before his departure thence, wrote his second epistle to the
Thessalonians. In this epistle “he endeavors to confirm their minds in the
faith, and to animate them courageously to endure persecution from the
unbelieving Jews, a lost and undone race of men, whom the divine vengeance was
ready to overtake: he rectifies the misinterpretation which false teachers had
made of some passages in his former epistle, relative to the day of judgment, as
if it was just at hand, and shows what events (especially that of the coming and
destruction of the man of sin) must precede the approach of that day. Having
craved their prayers in his behalf, and made his request to God in theirs, he
concludes with divers precepts, especially to shun idleness and ill company, and
not to be weary in well doing.” PAUL CELEBRATES THE PASSOVER After Paul had
planted the church of Corinth, he left that city, and taking with him Aquila and
Priscilla, embarked at Cenchrea, whence they sailed to Ephesus. Here he preached
some time in the synagogue of the Jews; but being resolved to attend the
celebration of the Passover at Jerusalem, he set sail for Caesarea, leaving
behind him Aquila and Priscilla, to whom he promised to return (if God would
permit) as soon as possible. From Caesarea Paul proceeded to Jerusalem, and
after having visited the church there, and kept the feast of the Passover, went
to Antioch. Here he stayed some time, and then traversed the countries of
Galatia and Phrygia, taking his course toward Ephesus, and confirming the
new-converted Christians in every place through which he passed. APOLLOS'
SERVICE During the time Paul spent in this large circuit, Providence took care
of the churches of Ephesus and Corinth by means of one Apollos, an eloquent Jew
of Alexandria, and well acquainted with the law and writings of the prophets.
This man, going to Ephesus, though he was only instructed in the rudiments of
Christianity, and John's baptism, yet taught with great courage, and a most
powerful zeal. After being fully instructed in the faith by Aquila and
Priscilla, he passed over into Achaia, being furnished with recommendatory
letters by the churches of Ephesus and Corinth. He was of great service in
Achaia, by watering what Paul had planted, confirming the disciples, and
powerfully convincing many others of the Jews that Jesus was the true and only
Messiah promised in the sacred writings. JOHN'S FOLLOWERS SAVED “While Apollos
was thus employed, Paul returned to Ephesus, where he took up his abode for a
considerable time. The first thing he did after his return was, to examine
certain disciples (in number about twelve) whether they had received the Holy
Ghost since they believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard
whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye
baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily
baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they
should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts
19:3-6). After the apostle had prayed and laid his hands on them, they received
the gift of tongues and other miraculous powers. MANY SAVED IN EPHESUS After
this Paul entered into the Jewish synagogues, in which (for the first three
months) he daily contended and disputed with the Jews, endeavoring, with great
earnestness and resolution, to convince them of the truth of the Christian
religion. But when, instead of meeting with success, he found they were
inflexible in their obstinacy and infidelity, he left the synagogue, and taking
those with him whom he had converted, instructed them, and others who resorted
to him, in the school of one Tyrannus. Here he continued to preach the gospel
two years, by which means the Jews and proselytes had an opportunity of hearing
the glad tidings of salvation; and as miracles were the clearest evidence of a
divine commission, God was pleased to testify the truth of the doctrine Paul
preached, by a variety of miraculous operations, many of which were of the most
peculiar and extraordinary nature; for he not only healed those diseased persons
that came to him, but if handkerchiefs or aprons were only touched by him, and
applied to the sick, or those possessed with evil spirits, they were instantly
cured. EXORCISTS ASSAULTED In the city of Ephesus and its neighborhood were many
vagabond Jews, who went about from one place to the other, pretending to cure
diseases, and cast out devils by their exorcisms. Among these were seven
brothers (the sons of one Sceva, a Jewish priest) who observing with what
facility Paul effected his miraculous cures and dispossessions of evil spirits,
attempted themselves to do the like; and, to add greater force to their
proceedings, instead of the usual form of incantation (which was in the name of
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), they invoked the name of Jesus over a
demoniac. But here it pleased God to make a most distinguished and visible
difference between those who applied this powerful name regularly and with
commission, and others, who, of their own heads, and for ill designs, dared to
usurp it; for the demoniac, falling upon the exorcists, tore off their clothes,
wounded their bodies, and scarce suffered them to escape with their lives.
PUBLIC BURNING OF WITCHCRAFT When this singular event came to be known among the
Jews and Gentiles in Ephesus, they were filled with such a reverential fear,
that none dared to mention the name of Jesus, but with the most profound
respect; and many, who had addicted themselves to the study of magic,
acknowledged their sins, and publicly burnt their books, the value of which was
estimated at no less than fifty thousand pieces of silver. So efficacious was
the gospel of Christ in these parts! PETER IN CHALDEA WRITES I PETER While Paul
was diligently pursuing his ministry at Ephesus, Peter was preaching the gospel
to the Jews in several provinces of the lesser Asia; whence, travelling
eastward, he at length came to the ancient city of Babylon in Chaldea. Here he
stayed some time, and hence wrote his first epistle (which is called a catholic
or general epistle) to the converted Jews who were dispersed in various parts of
Chaldea. Peter introduces this admirable epistle with a solemn thanksgiving to
God for their call to Christianity, whereby they had obtained a lively hope of
an eternal inheritance in heaven; after which he recommends them to the practice
of several virtues, as a means to make their calling and election sure, namely,
“that they should live in a constant worship and fear of God, and imitate their
master Jesus Christ, in holiness and purity; that they should be diligent
hearers of the gospel, and grow up to perfection by it; that they should lead
exemplary lives among the Gentiles, abstaining from carnal lusts, and behaving
themselves with modesty, thereby to convince their enemies that calumnies would
be unreasonable; that they should behave themselves well under their respective
relations, submitting themselves to their governors, whether superior or
inferior to themselves in point of circumstances; that servants should obey
their masters, wives be subject to their husbands, and husbands honor their
wives; that they should all love one another fervently and unfeignedly, bear
afflictions patiently, live in union, and sympathize with each other in their
afflictions. And lastly, that the ministers and pastors of the several churches
should take special care of the flocks committed to their charge; teach them
diligently, and govern them gently, not seeking their own gain and profit, but
the salvation of the souls of the people”--This is the purport of Peter's
epistle to the converted Jews; and the whole is written with a fervor and zeal
truly consistent with the sentiments and abilities of so great an apostle. The
language is simple, and every expression so formed, as to convey a thorough idea
of his meaning to the weakest capacity. All the arguments he makes use of to
teach them patience are drawn from the sacred writings, and are consistent with
the doctrines of true religion.


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  CHAPTER 52: PAUL LEAVES EPHESUS--RETURNS TO JERUSALEM--IS ARRESTED
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PAUL LEAVES EPHESUS--RETURNS TO JERUSALEM--IS ARRESTED Paul, having been at
Ephesus[477] about two years, resolved to return into Macedonia, and after going
thence to Jerusalem, in order to celebrate the feast of Pentecost, to proceed in
his journey, which he had long intended, to Rome. In consequence of these
resolutions, and as a necessary preparation to carry them into execution, he
sent Timothy and Erastus before him into Macedonia, while himself stayed behind
at Ephesus, in order to settle some matters that were necessary to be adjusted
previous to his departure. [477] Ephesus--Ruins of the temple of Diana (See
Engraving)--Ephesus was a celebrated city on the coast of Asia Minor, situated
between Smyrna and Miletus, on the sides and at the foot of a range of mountains
which overlooked a fine plain watered and fertilized by the river Cayster. Among
other splendid edifices which adorned this metropolis of Ionia, was the
magnificent temple of Diana, which was two hundred and twenty years in building;
and was reckoned one of the seven wonders of the world. This edifice having been
burnt by the incendiary Herostratus, B.C. 356, in the foolish hope of
immortalizing his name, it was afterward rebuilt with increased splendor at the
common expense of the Grecian states of Asia Minor. The remains of ancient
Ephesus have been discovered by learned modern travelers, at the Turkish village
of Ayasaluk. The ruins delineated in our engraving comprise all that is supposed
now to exist of this far-famed structure, which in the time of St. Paul had lost
nothing of its magnificence. Here was preserved a wooden statue of Diana, which
the credulous Ephesians were taught to believe had fallen from heaven (Acts
19:35), and of this temple small silver models were made, and sold to devotees
(Acts 19:24). Nero is said to have plundered this temple of many votive images,
and great sums of gold and silver. This edifice appears to have remained entire
in the second century; though the worship of Diana diminished and sunk into
insignificance, in proportion to the extension of Christianity. At a later
period “the temple of the great goddess Diana, whom Asia and all the world”
worshipped (Acts 19:27), was again destroyed by the Goths and other barbarians;
and time has so completed the havoc made by the hand of man, that this mighty
fabric has almost entirely disappeared. During three years' residence in this
city (Acts 20:31), the great apostle of the Gentiles was enabled, with divine
assistance, to establish the faith of Christ, and to found a flourishing
Christian church. Of his great care of the Ephesian community strong proof is
extant in the affecting charge which he gave to the elders, whom he had convened
at Miletus on his return from Macedonia (Acts 20:16-38); and still more in the
epistle which he addressed to them from Rome. Ecclesiastical history represents
Timothy to have been the first bishop of Ephesus, but there is greater evidence
that the apostle John resided here toward the close of his life; here also he is
supposed to have written his Gospel, and to have finally ended his life. The
Ephesian church is the first of the “apocalyptic churches” addressed by the
apostle John in the name of Jesus Christ. “His charge against her is declension
in religious fervor (Revelation 2:4); and his threat in consequence (Revelation
2:5), is a total extinction of her ecclesiastical brightness. After a protracted
struggle with the sword of Rome, and the sophisms of the Gnostics, Ephesus at
last gave way. The incipient indifference censured by the warning voice of the
prophet, increased to a total forgetfulness; till at length the threatening of
the Apocalypse were fulfilled; and Ephesus sunk with the general overthrow of
the Greek empire, in the fourteenth century.” The plough has passed over this
once celebrated city: and, in March 1826, when it was visited by the Rev.
Messrs. Arundell and Hartley, green corn was growing in all directions amid the
forsaken ruins; and one solitary individual only was found, who bore the name of
Christ, instead of its once flourishing church. Where assembled thousands once
exclaimed “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” the eagle now yells, and the jackal
moans. The sea having retired from the scene of desolation, a pestilential
morass, covered with mud and rushes, has succeeded to the waters, which brought
up the ships laden with merchandise from every country. The surrounding country,
however, is both fertile and healthy: and the adjacent hills would furnish many
delightful situations for villages, if the difficulties were removed which are
thrown in the way of the industrious cultivator by a despotic government,
oppressive agas, and wandering banditti. Soon after Timothy and Erastus had left
Ephesus, Paul received information of some disturbances at Corinth, hatched and
fomented by a number of false teachers crept in among the converts of that city,
who endeavored to draw them into parties and factions, by persuading some to be
for Paul, and others for Apollos, the different persons from whom they had
received instructions relative to the Christian faith. In consequence of these
disturbances they committed great disorders, and celebrated the holy sacrament
very irreverently. They were addicted to fornication, and one in particular, had
run into incest, by marrying his father's wife. They were unjust and fraudulent
in their dealings; they went to law at heathen tribunals, and among them were
found some, who were bold and profligate enough to deny the resurrection.
Ephesus

I CORINTHIANS WRITTEN To quell these schisms and factions which had taken place,
and to chastise them in a proper manner for their misconduct, Paul wrote his
first Epistle to the Corinthians, in which he “shows the inequality of Christ's
ministers, and their insufficiency for the work to which they are ordained,
without the Divine assistance; orders the incestuous person to be
excommunicated, lest his example should infect others; blames their litigious
law-suits, as thinking it much better to refer their differences to some of
their own body; propounds the first institution of the sacrament, and a previous
examination of their lives to bring them to a right use of it; and having added
several things concerning a decent behavior both of men and women in their
churches--concerning the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the excellence of charity, the
gift of tongues, and prayer in an unknown language, he proves the truth of the
gospel, and the certainty of a future resurrection, almost to a demonstration.
GALATIANS WRITTEN It was about this time also that Paul wrote his Epistle to the
Galatians. He had received information that, since his departure thence, several
impostors had crept in among them, who strongly insisted on the necessity of
circumcision and other Mosaic rites, and greatly disparaged his authority. Paul
therefore, in this epistle, reproves them with some necessary warmth and
severity for suffering themselves so easily to be imposed upon by the crafty
artifices of seducers. He largely refutes these judaical opinions wherewith they
were infected, and, by several arguments, proves that the slavery of the law
brought a curse with it; was destructive of their Christian liberty, and
incapable of procuring their justification in the sight of God. Among these
reproofs and arguments, however, he intermixes several exhortations full of
paternal and apostolic charity; and, toward the conclusion, gives them many
excellent rules and directions for the conduct of their lives and conversations.
DEMETRIUS INCITES SILVERSMITHS A short time before Paul left Ephesus, a
circumstance occurred which occasioned a general disturbance throughout the
city, and had nearly proved fatal to him and his adherents. In the celebrated
temple of Diana was an image of that goddess, which the idolatrous priests
persuaded the people was made by Jupiter himself, and, dropped down from heaven;
for which reason it was held in great veneration, not only at Ephesus, but
throughout all Asia. In consequence of this, the people procured silver shrines,
or figures of the temple and Diana, of such a size as to carry in their pockets,
either for curiosity or to stir them up to devotion. This proved the source of a
great deal of business to the silversmiths of Ephesus, of whom one Demetrius was
the chief. This man plainly perceiving that Christianity tended to the
subversion of idolatry, and consequently to the ruin of their gainful
employment, called all the artists together, and pathetically represented to
them how inevitably they must be reduced to a state of poverty, if they suffered
Paul to bring their temple and goddess into contempt by persuading people, as he
did, that they were no gods which were made with hands. EPHESUS IS FILLED WITH
TUMULT This speech of Demetrius fired them with a zeal which they could no
longer contain; so that they cried out with one voice, “Great is Diana of the
Ephesians.” They should, indeed, have considered that if their goddess was able
to defend herself against the doctrines preached by Paul, neither she nor the
temple was in any danger; whereas if Paul was able to destroy their gods, it was
in vain for them to resist him. But interest and superstition, meeting in the
minds of a bigoted multitude, admitted of no reason. They were all fired with a
zeal for their goddess, and determined, if they could find Paul, to expose him
to the beasts in the theater, it being customary in those days, at the
celebration of their public games and festivals, to expose such as they deemed
criminals to the ravage of wild beasts for the diversion of the spectators. The
whole city was filled with the tumult; and the crowd, missing Paul; laid hold on
Gaius and Aristarchus, two Macedonians of Paul's company, and hurried them into
the theater, with a design to throw them to the wild beasts. Paul, who was at
this time in a place of security, hearing of the danger to which his brethren
were exposed, was very desirous of venturing after them, in order to speak in
their behalf; but he was at last dissuaded from it not only by the Christians,
but also by the Gentile governors of the theatrical games, who were his friends,
and who assured him that he would only endanger himself without rescuing his
friends. THE TOWN CLERK QUELLS THE VIOLENCE The noise and confusion of the
multitude was now prodigious, most of them not knowing the reason for which they
were come together; and therefore some said one thing, and some another. In this
distraction, Alexander, a Jewish convert, was singled out by the multitude, and
by the instigation of the Jews was going to make his defence, in which doubtless
he would have laid the whole blame upon Paul; but the multitude perceiving him
to be a Jew, and therefore suspecting he was one of Paul's associates, raised
another outcry for near two hours together, wherein nothing could be heard but
“Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” This confusion brought the town-clerk, or
recorder of the city, who kept the register of the games, into the theater, to
suppress, if possible, so uncommon a tumult. Having with great difficulty
obtained silence, he calmly and discreetly told them, “that it was sufficiently
known to all the world what a mighty veneration the inhabitants of Ephesus had
for their great goddess Diana, and the famous image which fell down from
Jupiter, so that there needed not any disturbance to vindicate and assert it;
that they had seized on persons who were not guilty either of sacrilege or
blasphemy against their goddess; that if Demetrius and his company had any just
charge against them, the courts were sitting, and they might enter their
accusation; or if the controversy was about any other matter, there were proper
judicatures to determine it in; that therefore they would do well to be
pacified, having done more already than they could answer, and being in danger
of incurring a severe punishment, if they should be called to an account (as
very likely they might be) for that day's riotous assembly.” This speech had the
desired effect: the multitude were convinced that they had acted very
improperly, and therefore repaired to their respective habitations; and Gaius,
Aristarchus, and Alexander, were released without any hurt. But the escape of
Paul was so remarkable that he mentions it as a remarkable deliverance. “We
had,” says he, “the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in
ourselves, but in God; who raised the dead, who delivered us from so great a
death.” And in another place he tells us, “he fought with beasts at Ephesus;”
alluding either to the design of the enraged multitude of throwing him to the
wild beasts in the theater, though their intention was not executed, or to the
manners of the people, who justly deserved the character of being savage and
brutal to the highest degree. II CORINTHIANS WRITTEN Soon after the tumult was
suppressed at Ephesus, Paul, having called the church together, and constituted
Timothy bishop of the place, took his leave, and departed by Troas to Macedonia,
where, having instructed some and confirmed others in the principles of a sound
faith and holy life, he continued his preaching all over the country, even as
far as Illyricum.[478] During this journey Paul met with many troubles and
dangers; “without were fightings, and within fears:” but God, who comforteth
those that are cast down, revived his spirits by the arrival of Titus, who gave
him a pleasing account of the good effects his epistle had produced at Corinth,
and what great reformation it had wrought among the converts of that city. But,
as several vain-glorious teachers still persisted in their contumacy,[479]
vilifying his authority, and misrepresenting his words and actions; charging him
particularly with levity, in not going there according to his promise; with
severity in his dealings with the incestuous person; with imperiousness in his
writings, abjectness in his person, and some small tincture of irreligion in
overthrowing the Mosaic law (all which he understood from Titus), he thought it
necessary to write a second epistle to the Corinthians. In this epistle “he
excuses his not going directly to Corinth, for fear of occasioning them sorrow,
and giving himself uneasiness, in being obliged to treat with severity those who
had not yet amended their faults. He commends their zeal against the incestuous
person, but now that he had suffered enough for his transgression, allowed them
to be reconciled to him. He justifies his own conduct, vindicates the dignity
and ministry of the gospel, and proves its great excellence above the law. He
declaims against those false teachers who made it their business to traduce and
vilify him, and threatens them with his apostolic authority whenever he shall
arrive among them. He then speaks of himself with some advantage, and though he
mentions his supernatural gifts and revelations, yet seems to glory most in his
extraordinary laborings and sufferings for the gospel. And lastly, he exhorts
them all to the works of penance and mortification, lest when he arrived thither
he should be obliged to exert his authority against offenders; and particularly
cautions them to have their alms in readiness, that they may not be a hindrance
to him when he shall arrive at Corinth.” [478] This is a province of Europe,
lying to the north or northwest of Macedonia, along the Adriatic sea, now called
the gulf of Venice. It was commonly distinguished into two parts; Lyburnia to
the north, where now lies Croatia; and Dalmatia to the south, which still
retains its name. St. Paul tells us, that “from Jerusalem, and round about unto
Illyricum, he had fully preached the gospel of Christ (Romans 15:19). So that he
must have travelled into Syria, Phoenicia, Arabia, Cilicia, Pamphylia, Pisidia,
Lyaconia, Galatia, Pontus, Paphlagonia, Phrygia, Troas, Asia, Caria, Lysia,
Ionia, Lydia, the isles of Cyprus and Crete, Thracia, Macedonia, Thessalia, and
Achaia. So, justly and without ostentation might he say, that in relation to the
other apostles, “he labored more abundantly than them all” (1 Corinthians
15:10). [479] Rebelliousness and insubordination. ROMANS WRITTEN After Paul had
travelled through the principal places in Macedonia and Achaia, confirming those
who had been converted, and bringing over others to the faith, he proceeded to
Corinth, where he took up his residence for the space of three months. During
his abode here he wrote his famous Epistle to the Romans, which he sent by
Phebe, a deaconess of the church of Cenchrea, near Corinth. In this epistle “he
states and determines the great controversy between the Jews and the Gentiles,
relative to the obligation of the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic law, and
those main and material doctrines of Christianity which depend on it, such as
that of Christian liberty, the use of different things, etc. He also points out
the effects of original sin, and the power it has even among the regenerate;
and, through the whole of the epistle, intermixes many admirable instructions
and exhortations to the duties of a holy and religious life such as the
Christian doctrine doth naturally tend to produce.” EUTYCHUS RAISED FROM DEAD
Paul, having gathered considerable alms both in Macedonia and Achaia, resolved
to leave Corinth, in order to carry them into Judea for the relief of the
Christians in those parts. His first intention was to go through Syria, as being
by far the nearest way; but having received information that the Jews of that
country had formed a conspiracy against his life, he altered his course, and
determined to go through Macedonia. Accordingly, leaving Corinth, he proceeded
to Philippi, where he stayed some time, in order to celebrate the feast of the
passover. Hence he took shipping, and in five days landed at Troas, where he
continued a week. On the Sabbath, which was the last day of his staying there,
he preached to the Christians of the place, who had assembled together in order
to receive the sacrament; and, as he intended leaving them the next morning, he
continued his harangue till midnight. The length of his discourse, and the time
of night, caused some of his hearers to be so fatigued as to fall asleep. Among
these was a young man named Eutychus, who, sitting in a higher window, so forgot
himself that he fell thence to the ground, and was taken up dead. This
circumstance being made known to the apostle, he stopped his discourse, and
going to the young man, by prayers to the throne of grace, restored him to life
and health. How indefatigable was this great apostle in doing good! how closely
did he tread in the steps of his great Master, who “went about doing good!” He
preached and wrought miracles wherever he went. Like a master-builder, he either
laid a foundation or raised the superstructure. He was “instant, in season and
out of season,” and spared no pains in endeavoring to secure the eternal welfare
of his fellow-creatures. After performing this miracle, Paul resumed his
discourse, and, having spent the whole night in these holy exercises, early the
next morning he took his leave, and travelled on foot to Assos,[480] whither he
had before sent his companions (among whom was Luke) by sea. From Assos they
sailed to Mitylene;[481] then, passing by Chios,[482] arrived at Samos,[483] and
proceeded to Trogyllium,[484] whence, after staying one day, they went to
Miletus,[485] not putting in at Ephesus, because the apostle was resolved, if
possible, to be at Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost. [480] Assos is a
seaport-town, situate on the southwest part of the province of Troas, and over
against the island Lesbos. By land it is a great deal nearer Troas than it is by
sea, because of a promontory that runs a great way into the ocean, and must be
doubled before we can come to Assos, which was the reason that the apostle chose
rather to walk it. [481] Mitylene was one of the principal cities of the isle of
Lesbos, seated in a peninsula, with a commodious haven on each side, and soon
became so considerable, as to give name to the whole island (at present called
Metelin) many years ago. The island (which is one of the largest in the
Archipelago) was, in former times, renowned for the many eminent persons it had
produced; such as Sappho, the inventress of Sapphic verses; Alcaeus, a famous
lyric poet; Pittacus, one of the seven wise men of Greece; Theophrastus the
noble physician and philosopher; and Arion, the celebrated musician: and the
Turks, who have it now in possession, think it still a place of consequence
enough to deserve a fortress and garrison to defend it. [482] Chios, modern
Scio, is an island in the Archipelago. It lies over against Smyrna, and is not
above four leagues distant from the Asiatic continent. It was celebrated by
Horace for the wine and figs that came thence. It is referred to by St. Paul in
the account of his return voyage from Troas to Caesarea (Acts 20:21). At that
time Chios enjoyed the privilege of freedom. Its length is about 32 miles, and
in breadth it varies from 8 to 18 miles. It has always been celebrated for its
beauty and fruitfulness. In modern times it has been painfully known for the
dreadful suffering of its inhabitants in the Greek war of independence, in 1822.
Before this desolating calamity, it contained one of the best colleges in the
Turkish empire, with professorships in chemistry, rhetoric, mathematics,
geometry, theology, the Turkish, Latin, French, and ancient and modern Greek
languages--Ed. [483] Samos is another isle in the Archipelago, lying southeast
of Chios, and about five miles from the Asiatic continent. It is famous among
the heathen writers for the worship of Juno; for one of the sybils, called
Sybilla Samia; for Pherecydes, who foretold an earthquake that happened there,
by drinking of the waters; and, more especially, for the birth of Pythagoras,
who excelled all the seven wise men, so renowned among the Greeks. It was
formerly a free commonwealth, and the inhabitants were so powerful, that they
managed many prosperous wars against their neighbors; but at present the Turks
have reduced it to such a mean and depopulated condition, that a few pirates
dare land and plunder as they please; so that ever since the year 1676, no Turk
has ventured to live upon it, for fear of being carried into captivity by those
rovers. [484] Trogyllium is a cape, or promontory, on the Asiatic coast,
opposite to Samos, and much below Ephesus, having a town of the same name. [485]
Miletus was a port-town on the continent of Asia Minor, and in the province of
Caria, memorable for being the birthplace of Thales, one of the seven wise men
in Greece, and father of the Ionic philosopher; of Anaximenes, the scholar;
Timotheus the musician, and Anaximenius the philosopher. At present it is
called, by the Turks, Melas: and not far distant from it is the true Meander,
which, though it encircles all the plain it runs through with many pleasing
mazes and innumerable windings, yet, in some places, it goes with such a current
as stirs up the earth and gravel from the bottom, which makes its water not so
clear and crystalline as might be expected. PAUL'S GOOD-BYE TO EPHESUS Soon
after Paul arrived at Miletus he sent to Ephesus, to assemble together the
pastors and elders of the churches in that city. On their arrival, he delivered
to them a very long and pathetic discourse, wherein he reminded them with what
uprightness and integrity, with what affection and humility, and with what great
danger and trouble, he had been conversant among them, and preached the gospel
to them, ever since his coming into those parts: that he had not failed to
acquaint them both publicly and privately, with whatsoever might be profitable
to their souls, urging both Jews and Gentiles to repentance and reformation, and
a hearty reception of the faith of Christ: that now he was determined to go to
Jerusalem, where he did not know what particular sufferings would befall him,
only that he had been foretold by those who were endued with prophetic gifts of
the Holy Ghost, that in every city bonds and afflictions would attend him; but
that he was not concerned at this, being willing to lay down his life whenever
the gospel required it, and fully determined to serve, with the strictest
fidelity, his great Lord and Master. Here he made a short pause, and then
resumed his discourse in words to this effect: “I well know that you will see my
face no more; but for my encouragement and satisfaction, ye yourselves can bear
me witness, that I have not, by concealing any part of the Christian doctrine,
betrayed your souls. And as for yourselves, whom God hath made bishops and
pastors of his church, you should be careful to feed, guide, and direct those
Christians under your inspection, and be infinitely tender of the welfare of
souls, for whose redemption the blessed Jesus laid down his own life. All the
care, therefore, possible for you to use is no more than necessary; for after my
departure heretical teachers will appear in the church, to the great danger of
the souls of men, seeking, by every crafty method and pernicious doctrine, to
gain proselytes to their party, and, by those means, fill the church of Christ
with schisms and factions. Watch ye, therefore, and remember with what tears and
sorrow I have, during three years, warned you of these things. And now I
recommend you to the Divine favor and protection, and to the rules and
instructions of the gospel, which, if properly adhered to, will undoubtedly
dispose and perfect you for that state of happiness which the Almighty hath
prepared for good men in the mansions of eternity. Ye well know that I have from
the beginning dealt faithfully and uprightly with you; that I have not had any
covetous designs, or ever desired the riches of other men; nay, I have labored
with mine own hands, to support myself and my companions: you ought, therefore,
to support the weak and relieve the poor, rather than be yourselves chargeable
to others, according to that incomparable saying of the great Redeemer of
mankind, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'” If we minutely attend to
the whole of this apostle's preaching and writing, we shall find that he
strenuously inculcates not only points of faith, but also practical duties,
without which our faith would be in vain. After Paul had finished his farewell
discourse to the bishops and pastors of Ephesus, he knelt down, and, by way of a
final conclusion, joined with them fervently in prayer; which being over they
all melted into tears, and with the greatest expression of sorrow attended him
to the ship, grieving in the most passionate manner on account of his having
told them that they should see his face no more. PAUL'S GOOD-BYE TO TYRE After
Paul had taken this affecting farewell of the pastors and elders of Ephesus, he
with his attendants left Miletus, and going on board a ship sailed with a fair
wind to Coos.[486] The day after their arrival here, they proceeded to Rhodes,
and from Rhodes[487] to Patara,[488] where meeting with a ship bound for
Phoenicia they went on board, and, passing Cyprus, sailed to Syria, and landed
at Tyre, the place where the ship was to unlade her burden. [486] This was an
island in the Archipelago, lying near the southwest point of Asia Minor, and
having a city of the same name. It was formerly celebrated for the birth of
Hippocrates the famous physician, and Apelles the famous painter; for a stately
temple dedicated to Apollo, and another to Juno; for the richness of its wines,
and for the fineness of a stuff made here, which was perfectly transparent, and
called vestimenta coa. [487] Rhodes lies south of the province of Caria in
lesser Asia; and, among the Asiatic isles, was accounted for dignity next to
Cyprus and Lesbos. It was remarkable among the ancients for the expertness of
its inhabitants in the art of navigation; for a college, in which the students
were eminent for eloquence and mathematics: for the clearness of its air; for
its pleasant and healthy climate, which induced the Roman nobility to make it a
place of their recess; and, more especially, for its prodigious statue of brass,
consecrated to Apollo, or the sun, and called his Colossus. This statue was
seventy cubits high, and stood astride over the mouth of the harbor, so that the
ships sailed between its legs. [488] This is a seaport of Lycia, formerly
beautified with a good harbor, and many temples, whereof one was dedicated to
Apollo. Paul stayed at Tyre seven days, in the course of which he was advised by
some Christians of the place not to go up to Jerusalem. But this advice Paul
would by no means take; upon which the disciples, accompanied by their wives and
children, attended him out of the city, and when they came to the seashore Paul
knelt down and prayed for them in the same manner he had done before at Miletus.
PAUL STAYS WITH PHILIP From Tyre Paul and his companions sailed to
Ptolemais,[489] where they stayed one day, spending their time in conversation
with the disciples of that place. The next day they went to Caesarea, and
visited Philip; one of the seven deacons, who had been sent by the apostles to
preach the gospel in Samaria and other places. This Philip had four virgin
daughters, all of whom were endued with the gift of prophecy; and on this
account, together with Paul's great regard for Philip, he resided at his house
during his stay at Caesarea. [489] A seaport of Syria, between Tyre and
Caesarea. AGABUS WARNS PAUL OF BONDAGE While Paul was at Philip's house, there
came thither a prophet, named Agabus, from Judea. This person, after the manner
of the old prophets (who often prophesied by symbols or significant
expressions), took Paul's girdle, and binding it about his own hands and feet,
said, in the presence and hearing of the whole company, “Thus saith the Holy
Ghost, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owneth this girdle, and
shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.” On the prophet's saying these
words, not only the companions of Paul, but likewise all the Christians present,
were greatly troubled, and earnestly besought him that he would not go up to
Jerusalem. To which Paul replied, “What mean ye to weep, and to break mine
heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the
name of the Lord Jesus.” When the disciples found that Paul's resolution was not
to be shaken, they did not importune him any farther; in consequence of which he
and his companions left Caesarea, and prosecuting their journey arrived safe at
Jerusalem, where they were kindly and joyfully received by the Christians of
that city. PAUL AT JERUSALEM The day after Paul and his companions arrived at
Jerusalem, they went to the house of James the apostle, where the rest of the
bishops and governors of the church were assembled together. After mutual
salutations, Paul gave them a particular account of the success with which God
had blessed his endeavors in propagating Christianity among the Gentiles, for
which they all joined in glorifying God. Having done this, they told Paul that
he was now come to a place in which there were many thousands of Jewish
converts, who were all zealous for the law of Moses, and who had been informed
that he taught the Jews whom he converted to renounce circumcision and the
ceremonies of the law: that as soon as the multitude heard of his arrival, they
would all assemble together to see how he behaved himself in this matter; and
therefore, to prevent any disturbance, they thought it advisable for him to join
himself with four men who were then going to discharge a vow; to perform the
usual rites and ceremonies with them; to be at the charge of having their heads
shaved; and to provide such sacrifices as the law directed: whereby it would
appear that the reports spread of him were groundless, and that himself was an
observer of the Mosaic institutions. PAUL ENDS VOW Paul readily agreed to follow
the advice given him by his brethren; in consequence of which, taking with him
the four persons who were to discharge their vows, he went into the temple, and
told the priests, that, as the time of their vow was now expired and their
purification regularly performed, they were come to make their oblation
according to law. PAUL DRAGGED FROM THE TEMPLE The time of offering these
oblations was seven days, near the close of which certain Jews from Asia (who
had there been strong opposers to Paul's doctrine), finding him in the temple,
began to raise a tumult, and, seizing on him, called to their brethren the Jews
to assist them, declaring that he was the person who had preached doctrines
derogatory to the Jewish nation, and destructive to the institutions of the law
of Moses. This accusation, though absolutely false, occasioned such a universal
disgust among the people to Paul, that they immediately fell on him and dragged
him out of the temple, shutting the doors to prevent his returning into that
holy place. After they had got him out of the temple they treated him with great
indignity, and would certainly have killed him, had not Claudius Lysias, the
commander of the Roman garrison to the castle of Antonia, come with a
considerable force to his assistance. Lysias conducted him to the castle, in the
way to which Paul begged permission to speak to him; but the governor (supposing
him to be an Egyptian, who not many years before had raised a sedition in Judea,
and headed a party of four thousand profligate wretches) seemed to refuse him
that favor, until Paul informed him that he was a Jew of Tarsus, and a freeman
of a rich and honorable city, and therefore humbly hoped that he would not deny
him the privilege of vindicating himself. The governor consenting to this
request, Paul, standing upon the stairs that led into the castle, after making
signs for the multitude to be silent, made a speech to them in the Hebrew
language, the substance of which was to the following effect: PAUL'S SPEECH TO
THE JEWS “Listen, ye descendants of Jacob, to a person of your own religion, and
like yourselves a child of Abraham; born in Tarsus, and brought up in this city,
at the feet of Gamaliel, and fully instructed in the law delivered by Moses to
our forefathers, and formerly as zealous for the temple worship as ye are at
present. “Nay, I persecuted unto death all who believed in Jesus, seizing on all
I could find, both men and women, and casting them into prison. “But as I was
pursuing my journey to execute this commission, and was arrived near Damascus,
there appeared, about midday, a light from heaven shining round about me.
“Terrified at so awful an appearance, I fell to the ground, and heard a voice
saying unto me, 'Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?' To which I answered, 'Who
art thou, Lord?' And the voice replied, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou
persecutest.' “After recovering from the terror with which my mind was filled, I
answered, 'What shall I do, Lord?' And the Lord said unto me, 'Arise, and go
into Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed
for thee to do.' “The brilliancy of the glory deprived me of sight; so that my
companions led me by the hand to Damascus, where one Ananias, a person well
respected by all the Jews of that city, visited me, and said, 'Brother Saul,
receive thy sight.' And in a moment my eyes were opened, and I saw him standing
before me. When he saw that my sight was restored, he said to me, 'The God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, hath appointed thee to know his will, to see the
great Messiah, the Holy One of God, and hear the voice of his mouth; for thou
art chosen to be a witness to all the nations of the earth for those surprising
things thou hast seen and heard. Why, therefore, tarriest thou here any longer?
'Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the
Lord.' “After this glorious vision and miraculous power of the Most High, when I
was returned from Damascus to Jerusalem and offering up my prayers in the
temple, I fell into a trance, and again saw the Great Son of David, who said
unto me, 'Depart quickly from Jerusalem, for the descendants of Jacob will
refuse to believe thy testimony concerning me.' And I answered, 'Lord, they know
how cruelly I used thy saints and followers; that I imprisoned and beat them in
every synagogue whither I went. Nay, when they shed the blood of thy holy martyr
Stephen, I was also one of the spectators; I consented to his death; I even kept
the raiment of those that slew him.' But the Lord replied, 'Depart, for I will
send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.'” THE JEWS' VIOLENT REACTION The Jews had
been very quiet, and paid great attention to Paul's speech till he came to this
part of it: his mentioning the commission he had received to preach the gospel
to the Gentiles, threw them into the most violent outrage, and they cried out
with one voice, “Away with such a fellow from the earth; for it is not fit that
he should live.” And, the more to express their indignation, they threw off
their clothes and cast dust into the air, as though they intended that moment to
stone him. PAUL SPARED A SCOURGING When Lysias, the captain of the guard, found
to what a violent degree the people were incensed against Paul, he ordered him
to be taken within the castle, and that he should be examined by scourging till
he confessed the reason of the uncommon rage shown against him by the
people.[490] Accordingly the lictor bound him, and was going to put the orders
he had received into execution, when Paul asked the centurion who stood by
whether or not it was lawful to scourge a citizen of Rome before any sentence
had been passed upon him. But the centurion, instead of answering his question,
immediately repaired to Lysias, beseeching him to be careful how he proceeded
against the prisoner, because he was a Roman. On this information Lysias went
immediately into the prison, and asked Paul whether he was really a free citizen
of Rome. Being answered in the affirmative, Lysias said he had himself procured
that great privilege by a large sum of money; upon which Paul answered, “But I
was freeborn.”[491] On receiving this account, Lysias commanded the centurion
not to scourge him, being terrified at what he had already done, namely, his
causing to be bound with chains a free denizen of the Roman empire. The next day
he ordered his chains to be taken off; and that he might thoroughly satisfy
himself of the case of so unusual a tumult, convened the members of the
Sanhedrin, before whom he conducted Paul in order to undergo an examination by
that tribunal. [490] As Lysias did not understand Hebrew, he could not tell what
the purport of St. Paul's speech to the people was; but, by their mad and
outrageous behavior, he guessed that he must have said something very provoking,
either against the law or the dignity of their nation, and therefore was willing
to know the truth of it from himself. Scourging was a method of examination used
by the Romans, and other nations, to force such as were supposed guilty to
confess what they had done, what were their motives, and who were accessories to
the fact. [491] It is probable that Paul's father might have been rewarded with
the freedom of the city for his fidelity and bravery in some military service,
emoluments being then conferred, not on those who had most interest with men in
power, but on those who had most merit from their actions. PAUL BEFORE THE
COUNCIL Paul was not in the least terrified at the sight of so considerable and
powerful an assembly. Without waiting for any questions being asked him, looking
earnestly at the council, he coolly said, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all
good conscience before God until this day.”[492] But, however this expression
might tend to show the true state of his mind, Ananias the high-priest was so
offended at it that he commanded those who stood next him to strike him on the
face; at which Paul replied, “God shall smite thee, thou whited wall.”[493] On
this, some of the spectators, looking sternly at Paul, cried out, “Revilest thou
God's high-priest?” In answer to this, Paul told them he did not know that
Ananias was high-priest, not supposing it possible that a person who can give
such unjust orders could be invested with so sacred a character. But, since it
was so, he confessed it was very wrong to revile him, God himself having
commanded that “no man should speak evil of the rulers of the people.” [492] The
apostle, by here using the words “a good conscience,” does not mean a conscience
void of all error and offence, because he owns himself to have been guilty of a
great sin in persecuting the church of Christ (1 Timothy 1:13). His meaning,
therefore, is such a conscience as was consistent with the ideas he entertained
at different periods of his life, namely, before and after his conversion. The
sense, therefore, of this passage may be thus explained: “While I was persuaded
that the Christian religion was false, I persecuted it with the utmost vigor;
but, as soon as I came to perceive its divine institution, I declared for it,
and have ever since maintained it, even to the hazard of my life. The religion
of the Jews I did not forsake out of any hardships that it required, or any
prejudice I had conceived against its precepts; nor did l embrace that of the
Christians upon any other account, than a full conviction of its truth and
veracity. I was a good Jew, in short, as long as I thought it my duty to be so;
and when I thought it my duty to be otherwise, I became a zealous Christian; in
all which God knows the sincerity of my heart, and is witness of my
uprightness.” [493] “A whited wall” was a proverbial expression denoting a
hypocrite of any kind, and the propriety of it appears in this: that as the wall
had a fair outside, but nothing but dirt, or sticks and stones, within, so the
high-priest had the outward appearance of a righteous judge, sitting as one that
would pass sentence according to law, and yet commanding him to be punished for
speaking the truth, and so condemning the innocent, contrary to the law of
nature, as well as that of Moses. Our blessed Savior makes use of a comparison
of the same nature, when he calls the scribes and Pharisees “whited sepulchers.”
It should be observed, in vindication of St. Paul, that his words, “God shall
smite thee,” are a prediction, not an imprecation; and a prediction which
Josephus tells us was fulfilled in a short time; for he was murdered in a
mutiny. Paul, perceiving that the council consisted partly of Sadducees and
partly of Pharisees (in order to elude the malice of his enemies), made open
declaration that he was a Pharisee, even as his father was before him, and that
the great offence taken against him was his belief of a future resurrection.
This declaration threw the whole court in confusion, by exciting the regard of
the Pharisees, who favored the doctrine of the resurrection, and incurring the
resentment of the Sadducees, who strongly opposed it. THE LORD ENCOURAGES PAUL
The dissensions between these two sects on this occasion arose to such a violent
degree, that Lysias, fearing lest Paul should be torn in pieces between them,
commanded the soldiers to. take him from the bar, and re-conduct him to the
castle. This was accordingly done, and to comfort him after all his frights and
fears; God was pleased to appear to him that night in a vision, encouraging him
to constancy and resolution, and assuring him that, as he had borne testimony to
his cause at Jerusalem, so, in despite of all his enemies, he should live to do
the like at Rome. “Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in
Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.” JEWISH ASSASSINATION PLOT
DISCOVERED The next morning the Jews, whose envy and malice were increased
against Paul by the dilatory proceedings of the Sanhedrin, determined to use a
quicker method of putting a period to his life. In order to this, about forty of
the most turbulent among them entered into a wicked conspiracy, which they
ratified with an imprecation never to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.
Having formed this inhuman resolution, they went to the Sanhedrin and acquainted
them with their design, to effect which they advised, that some of the members
should solicit Lysias to bring Paul again before them, under pretence of
inquiring more accurately into his case, and that, before he reached the court,
they would not fail to waylay and dispatch him. PAUL TAKEN TO FELIX This wicked
plot was readily approved of by the Sanhedrin, but its execution was happily
frustrated by Paul's nephew, who, having discovered their intentions, went
immediately to his uncle, to whom he related the whole affair. Paul communicated
the intelligence to Lysias, who immediately commanded two parties of foot and
one of horse, to be ready by nine o'clock, in order to conduct him to Caesarea,
where Felix, the Roman governor, then resided. At the same time Lysias
dispatched a letter to Felix, the substance of which was, “that the person whom
be had sent to him was a freeman of Rome; that the Jews had ill treated him, and
conspired against his life; that the measures he had taken were designed to
secure him from the violence of the multitude; and that he had ordered his
enemies to appear before him at Caesarea, that he might judge what was the cause
of their being so incensed against the person whom he had sent to him under
military protection.” The guards, having received these orders from Lysias,
conducted Paul the same night to Antipatris,[494] and the next morning to
Caesarea. On their arrival there, they immediately gave Lysias's letter to
Felix, who, after having read the contents, asked Paul some questions relative
to the place of his birth, and the manner of his life. Finding, by his answers,
that Paul was a native of Cilicia, Felix told him that as soon as his accusers
came thither from Jerusalem, he would give him a fair and candid hearing; and in
the meantime gave orders that he should be secured in that part of his palace
called Herod's hall,[495] where he should be supplied with every article that
was necessary during his confinement. [494] Antipatris was a city on the borders
of Samaria, near the Mediterranean sea; and situated about thirty-eight miles
from Jerusalem. [495] This was a magnificent palace built by Herod the Great for
his own habitation, whenever he went to Caesarea: and was afterward used by the
Roman governors for the place of their residence, and for the confinement of
some particular persons.


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  CHAPTER 53: PAUL'S DEFENSE--IS SENT TO ROME--HIS SHIPWRECK
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PAUL'S DEFENSE--IS SENT TO ROME--HIS SHIPWRECK TERTULLUS' FALSE ACCUSATION After
Paul had been confined five days at Caesarea, by order of Felix, there came
thither Ananias the high-priest, and several other members of the Sanhedrin,
together with Tertullus, a man of great elocution, and an inveterate enemy to
Paul. Being all assembled before Felix, Tertullus made a long speech, in which
he made use of all the insinuating arts that could arise from human invention to
prepossess the governor in his own favor; having done which he accused Paul “of
being a seditious person, and a disturber of the public peace, who had set
himself at the head of the sect of Nazarenes, and made no manner of scruple to
profane even the temple itself.” This accusation was altogether false,
notwithstanding which it was confirmed by all the members of the Sanhedrin, who
had come from Jerusalem on this occasion. PAUL'S DEFENSE Tertullus having
finished his accusation against Paul, Felix told him that he was now at liberty
to make his defence; upon which Paul addressed himself to the court in words to
this effect-- “I answer this charge of the Jews with the greater satisfaction
before thee, because thou hast for many years been a judge of this nation. About
twelve days since, I repaired to Jerusalem to worship the God of Jacob. But I
neither disputed with any man, or endeavored to stir the people in the
synagogues or the city. Nor can they prove the charge they have brought against
me. “This, however, I readily confess, that after the way which they call
heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers; and according to this faith, I am
careful to maintain a clear and quiet conscience, both toward God and man.
“After I had spent some years in distant countries, I repaired to Jerusalem,
with the alms I had collected in other provinces, for the poor of mine own
nation, and offerings to the God of Jacob. And while I was performing the duties
of religion, certain Asiatic Jews found me in the temple, purified according to
law; but neither attended with a multitude of followers, or the least tumultuous
assembly. It was therefore necessary that these Jews should have been here, if
they had anything to allege against me. Nay, I appeal to those of the Sanhedrin
here present, if anything has been laid to my charge, except the objections of
the Sadducees, who violently opposed me for asserting the doctrine of the
resurrection.” FELIX DELAYS DECISION Felix, having thus heard both parties,
refused to make any final determination till he had more fully advised about it,
and consulted Lysias, the governor of the castle, who was the most proper person
to give an account of the cause of the controversy. In the meantime Felix gave
orders that, though Paul should be kept under a guard, yet his confinement
should be so free and easy, that none of his friends should be hindered from
visiting, or doing him any offices of kindness. PAUL BROUGHT BEFORE FELIX AND
DRUSILLA A few days after this, Felix, being desirous that his wife Drusilla
(who had been a Jewess) should hear Paul, he ordered him to be brought before
them, and gave him permission to speak freely concerning the doctrines of
Christianity. In his discourse he particularly pointed out the great obligation
which the laws of Christ laid on mankind to preserve justice and righteousness,
sobriety and chastity, both toward themselves and others, more especially from
this consideration, namely, the strict and impartial account that must be given,
in the day of judgment, of all the actions of their past lives, and the
consequences that would inevitably follow, either to be rewarded or eternally
punished. This discourse had such an effect on Felix, that he could not help
trembling as he sat on his throne; and as soon as he had a little recovered his
spirits, he abruptly interrupted Paul, by saying, “Go thy way for this time;
when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.” FELIX WAITS FOR BRIBE
FOR PAUL'S RELEASE Felix, no doubt, had sufficient reason to tremble, and his
conscience to be sensibly alarmed at Paul's discourse; for he was a man
notoriously infamous for rapine and violence. He made his own will the law of
his government, practicing all manner of cruelty and injustice. To these bad
qualities he added bribery and covetousness; and therefore often sent for Paul
to discourse with him, expecting he would have given him a considerable sum for
his release, having, in all probability, heard that Paul had taken with him a
large quantity of money to Jerusalem. But finding that no offers were made him,
either by the apostle or his friends, he kept him prisoner two years; when
himself being discharged from his office by Nero, he left Paul in prison, in
order to gratify the malice of the Jews,[496] and engage them to speak the
better of him after his departure from Judea. [496] Felix had greatly
exasperated the Jews by his unjust and violent proceedings while he continued in
the government; and therefore, upon his dismission, he thought to have pacified
them in some measure, by leaving Paul (whom he might have discharged long
before) still in custody, and consequently still liable to become a prey to
their greedy malice. But herein he found himself greatly mistaken; for no sooner
was he removed from his office, than several of the principal Jews of Caesarea
took a journey to Rome on purpose to accuse him, and would certainly have
wrought his ruin, had not his brother Pallas (who was in very distinguished
favor with Nero) interceded for his pardon. FESTUS BECOMES GOVERNOR On the
deposition of Felix the government of Judea was invested in Portius Festus, who,
after staying three days at Caesarea, went to Jerusalem. On his arrival thither,
the high-priest, and other members of the Sanhedrin, exhibited fresh accusations
against Paul, and, in order to his trial, desired that he might be sent for up
to Jerusalem, intending to have him assassinated in the way. But Festus, being
unwilling to grant their request, told them, that he was shortly going himself
to Caesarea, and that if they had any complaint against Paul, they must come
thither and accuse him, when he would not fail to do them justice. PAUL APPEALS
CASE TO CAESAR In consequence of this the Jews followed Festus to Caesarea, and
when he was seated on his throne, they renewed their charge, and produced their
articles against Paul, which were much the same as what they had accused him of
before Felix. But Paul defended himself so well, by making it appear that he had
neither offended against the Jewish laws, nor against the temple, nor against
the emperor, that their charge, for want of sufficient proof, fell to the
ground. Festus, however; being willing to procure the favor of the Jews at his
entrance on the government, asked Paul if he would go and be tried before him at
Jerusalem? But the apostle, well knowing the malice of his enemies, and being
unwilling to trust himself in their power, boldly declared, “as he then stood at
the emperor's judgment-seat, when he ought to have a final trial, if he had done
anything worthy of death, he did not wish to avoid punishment; but that, as he
had not injured any of the Jews, and they could not prove anything against him,
he ought not to be made a victim to their fury; and therefore, as he was a
Roman, he appealed to the emperor himself.”[497] Festus, finding Paul resolute
in maintaining his privilege, conferred for some time with his council, and
then, with some seeming emotion, told him that since he “had appealed unto
Caesar, unto Caesar he should go.” [497] This manner of appealing was very
common among the Romans, and introduced to secure the lives and fortunes of the
people from the unjust encroachments and over-rigorous severities of the
magistrates. Paul well knew he should not have fair and equitable dealings from
the governor, when swayed by the Jews, his sworn and inveterate enemies, and
therefore appealed from him to the emperor; nor could Festus deny his demand.
KING AGRIPPA HEARS PAUL'S CASE A few days after this, King Agrippa (who
succeeded Herod in the tetrarchate of Galilee), with his sister Bernice, went to
Caesarea, in order to pay a visit to the new governor. Festus took this
opportunity of mentioning Paul's case to Agrippa, with the remarkable tumult
that had been occasioned by him among the Jews, and the appeal he had made to
Caesar, the whole of which he related in words to this effect: “That Felix, upon
his parting with the government of Judea, had left a certain prisoner, against
whom some of the chief of the Jews had brought an information, and immediately
demanded judgment, which, according to the Roman law, could not be done without
first hearing the case and bringing the parties together. That to this purpose
he had ordered his accusers to come to Caesarea, but, upon the result, found
that the dispute between them was about matters of religion, and whether a
person called Jesus was really dead or alive. That being himself unacquainted
with such kind of controversies, he had referred the prisoner to the Jewish
Sanhedrin, but that he, declining their judgment, had appealed to Caesar: and
that therefore he kept him still in prison, until he could meet with a
convenient opportunity to send him to Rome.” This account given of Paul by
Festus greatly excited the curiosity of King Agrippa, who intimated his desire
of hearing himself what Paul had to say in his own defence. Accordingly the next
day the king and his sister, accompanied by Festus the governor, and several
other persons of distinction, went into the court with a pompous and splendid
retinue, where the prisoner was brought before them. As soon as Paul appeared,
Festus informed the court “how greatly he had been importuned by the Jews, both
at Caesarea and Jerusalem, to put the prisoner to death as a malefactor; but
having, on examination, found him guilty of no capital crime, and the prisoner
himself having appealed unto Caesar, he was determined to send him to Rome. That
he was willing, however, to have his cause again discussed before so judicious a
person as Agrippa, that he might be furnished with some material particulars to
send with him, as it would be highly absurd to send a prisoner without
signifying the crimes alleged against him.” PAUL'S DEFENSE BEFORE AGRIPPA Festus
having finished his speech, King Agrippa told Paul he was at full liberty to
make his own defence; upon which, after silence being called, Paul, chiefly
addressing himself to Agrippa, spoke to this effect-- “I consider it as a
peculiar happiness, King Agrippa, that I am to make my defence against the
accusations of the Jews, before thee, because thou art well acquainted with
their customs, and the questions commonly debated among them: I therefore
beseech thee to hear me patiently. All the Jews are well acquainted with my
manner of life, from my youth, the greatest part of it having been spent with
mine own countrymen at Jerusalem. They also know that I was educated under the
institutions of the Pharisees, the strictest sect of our religion, and am now
arraigned for a tenet believed by all their fathers; a tenet sufficiently
credible in itself, and plainly revealed in the Scriptures, I mean the
resurrection of the dead. Why should any mortal think it either incredible or
impossible, that God should raise the dead? “I indeed thought myself
indispensably obliged to oppose the religion of Jesus of Nazareth. Nor was I
satisfied with imprisoning and punishing with death itself, the saints I found
at Jerusalem; I even persecuted them in strange cities, whither my implacable
zeal pursued them, having procured authority for that purpose from the chief
priests and elders. “Accordingly, I departed for Damascus with a commission from
the Sanhedrin; but as I was travelling toward that city, I saw at midday, O
king, a light from heaven, far exceeding the brightness of the sun, encompassing
me and my companions. On seeing this awful appearance, we all fell to the earth;
and I heard a voice, which said to me, in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. To which I
answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he replied, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
But be not terrified, arise from the earth; for I have appeared unto thee, that
thou mightest be both a witness of the things thou hast seen, and also of others
which I will hereafter reveal unto thee; my power, delivering thee from the Jews
and Gentiles, to whom now I send thee to preach the gospel; to withdraw the veil
of darkness and ignorance; to turn them from falsehood unto truth, and from the
power of Satan unto God. “Accordingly, King Agrippa, I readily obeyed the
heavenly vision; I preached the gospel first to the inhabitants of Damascus,
then to those of Jerusalem and Judea, and afterward to the Gentiles; persuading
them to forsake their iniquities, and, by sincere repentance, turn to the living
God. “These endeavors to save the souls of sinful mortals exasperated the Jews,
who caught me in the temple, and entered into a conspiracy to destroy me. But by
the help of Omnipotence, I still remain a witness to all the human race,
preaching nothing but what Moses and all the prophets foretold, namely, that the
Messiah should suffer, be the first that should rise from the chambers of the
grave, and publish the glad tidings of salvation, both to the Jews and
Gentiles.” AGRIPPA ALMOST CONVERTED This discourse was conceived in such a light
by Festus, that he thought Paul was delirious, and therefore abruptly told him,
that his too much learning had made him mad. The reply Paul made to this was to
the following purport: “I am far, most noble Festus, from being transported with
idle and distracted ideas; the words I speak are dictated by truth and sobriety;
and I am persuaded that King Agrippa himself is not ignorant of those things;
for they were transacted openly before the world. I am confident, King Agrippa,
that thou believest the prophets; and therefore must know that all their
predictions were fulfilled in Christ.” To this Agrippa answered, “Thou hast
almost persuaded me to become a Christian.” Paul replied, “I sincerely wish,
that not only thou, but also all that hear me, were not almost, but altogether,
the same as myself, except being prisoners.” Upon this the assembly broke up;
and when Agrippa and Festus had conferred together about Paul's case, they
freely owned that the accusation laid against him amounted neither to a capital
offence, nor anything deserving imprisonment; and that, had he not appealed unto
Caesar, he might have been legally discharged.[498] [498] It was the custom of
the Romans that, after a prisoner had appealed unto the emperor, no inferior
judge could either condemn or acquit him. PAUL SHIPPED TO ROME It being now
finally determined that Paul should be sent to Rome, he, and some other
prisoners of note, were committed to the charge of one Julius, a centurion, or
captain of a legion called Augustus's band. Accordingly they went on board a
ship of Adramyttium,[499] and coasting along Asia, arrived at Sidon, where
Julius (who all along treated Paul with great civility) gave him leave to go
ashore and refresh himself. From Sidon they set sail, and came within sight of
Cyprus, and having passed over the seas of Cilicia and Pamphylia, landed at
Myra, a port in Lycia, where the ship finished its voyage. Hence they embarked
on board a ship of Alexandria bound for Italy; and having passed by Cnidus,[500]
with some difficulty made for Salome, a promontory on the eastern shore of
Crete, whence, after many days slow sailing, they arrived at a place called the
Fair Havens, on the coast of the same island. As the season of the year was far
advanced, and sailing in those seas exceedingly dangerous, Paul advised the
centurion to put in here, and winter. But Julius, preferring the judgment of the
master of the ship, and the wind, at that time blowing gently at south, they put
again to sea, in hopes of reaching Phenice, another harbor of Crete, where there
was safe riding, and there to winter. It was not long, however, before they
found themselves disappointed; for the calm southerly gale which blew before,
suddenly changed to a storm and tempestuous northeast wind, which bore down all
before it, so that they were forced to let the ship drive; but, to secure it
from splitting, they undergirded[501] [499] Adramyttium was a seaport to Mysia,
a province of Asia Minor, lying opposite to the isle of Lesbos, and not far from
Troas. [500] Cnidus was a city which stood on a promontory, or foreland of the
same name, in that part of the province of Caria which was more particularly
called Doris. This city was remarkable for the worship Venus, and for the
celebrated statue of that goddess made by the famous artificer Praxiteles. [501]
To strengthen or reinforce by passing a rope, cable or chain around the
underside of an object. it, and to prevent its running aground on the shallows,
threw out a great part of its lading and tackle. PAUL COMFORTS SHIPMATES In this
wretched and dangerous situation did they continue for the space of fourteen
days, during which they saw neither sun nor stars, so that the whole company
(except Paul) began to give themselves up as lost. This being observed by the
apostle, he addressed himself to them in words to this effect: “Had you taken my
advice, and stayed at Crete, you would not have been in this danger; but take
comfort, for we shall suffer no loss but that of the ship. This I can assure you
has been made known to me by a divine messenger, who, appearing to me in the
night, said, Fear not, Paul, for thou must be brought before Caesar, and God
hath, for thy sake, granted life and safety to all them that are with thee in
the ship. Wherefore be of good cheer, for I am confident this vision will be
made good, coming from God, as it certainly doth. But one passage more I
received in this vision, namely, that after shipwreck we shall be cast on a
certain island.” On the fourteenth night, the sailors, thinking they were near
land, sounded, and found themselves in twenty fathoms water, soon after which
they were convinced, by a second sounding, that they were near some coast. But
apprehending that they might strike upon some shelves in the dark, they thought
proper to come to an anchor, till the morning might give them better
information. In the meantime the weather continuing exceedingly boisterous, they
altered their intentions, and not staying for daylight, attempted to save
themselves by getting into the boat. On this Paul told Julius, “that though he
had said no person to the ship should perish, it was upon condition that they
believed and trusted in God for their preservation: that therefore the seamen
should continue in the ship and do their duty, and not endeavor to effect their
escape by the boat; which if they did, they would be all in danger of their
lives.” Upon this the soldiers, to prevent the seamen's design, cut the ropes
that fastened the boat, which was soon driven away by the impetuosity of the
waves. PAUL ENCOURAGES SHIPMATES TO EAT A little before daybreak Paul advised
all the people on board the ship to take some refreshment, because, during the
time of their danger, which had been fourteen days, they had taken but very
little sustenance; and to encourage them to do this, he assured them again, that
“not a hair of their heads should perish.” Having said this, Paul “took bread,
and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it,
he began to eat. Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some
meat.” THE SHIP BREAKS UP In the morning they discovered land, and discerning a
creek which seemed to make a kind of haven, they resolved, if possible, to put
in there; but in their passage unexpectedly fell into a place where two seas
met, and where the forepart of the ship striking upon a neck of land that ran
out into the sea, the hinder part was soon beaten in pieces by the violence of
the waves. When the soldiers saw what was likely to be their fate, they proposed
putting all the prisoners to the sword, lest any of them should swim to land,
and make their escape; but the centurion, who was willing to save Paul, not
approving of this design, gave orders that every one should shift for himself;
the issue of which was, that some by swimming, others fastening to planks, and
others on pieces of the broken ship (to the number of 276 persons) all got safe
on shore. SHIPMATES SWIM TO MELITA The country on which they were cast was (as
Paul had foretold) an island called Melita,[502] now called Malta, situated on
the Lybian sea, between Syracuse and Africa. The natives of the place received
them with great civility and kindness, made fires to dry their wet clothes, and
entertained them with every necessary that was requisite for their distressed
situation. [502] It is well known that the ancient name of Malta was Melita.
This island, being situated midway, as it were, between the continents of Europe
and Africa, has been reckoned sometimes as belonging to the one, and sometimes
to the other. It is, however, rather nearer to Europe than to Africa, being one
hundred and ninety miles from Cape Spartivento, to Calabria, the nearest point
on the continent of Europe; and two hundred miles from Calipia, the nearest part
of Africa; it is, however, only sixty miles from Cape Passaro, in Sicily. The
island is sixty miles in circumference, twenty long, and twelve broad. Near it,
on the west, is another and smaller island, called Goza, about thirty miles in
circumference. Malta has no mountains, nor any very high hills; and it therefore
makes no very conspicuous figure from the sea. There are no ports or bays on the
African side of the island: but several very deep ones on the coast facing
Sicily. The most important of these are the Calle della Melleha, the Porto di S.
Paolo, and the two which are separated by the tongue of land on which stands the
modern capital, Citta Valetta. The more ancient capital, in which, as appears
from his intercourse with the governor, St. Paul remained during his stay, is
situated about the center of the island, upon a hill of moderate elevation,
between which and the bay of St. Paul the ground is more low and level than in
most other parts of the island. The cathedral church of St. Paul, upon the top
of the hill, is supposed by the inhabitants, from old traditions, to occupy the
site on which the palace of Publius, the governor, stood at the time of St.
Paul's visit. There are in this city numerous alleged memorials of the apostle's
sojourn; the process of identifying the spots where St. Paul lodged, and where
he did this and this, being pushed to an extreme, is calculated to annoy even
those who are disposed to acquiesce in the conclusion that the town was really
visited by the apostle of the Gentiles. Malta is naturally a barren rock; but
where some soil has been found, or has been artificially laid, the productive
power is very great, and the produce of a very superior description. The island
does not, however, produce nearly sufficient corn for the sustenance of its
inhabitants, who are obliged to import from abroad the greater part of that
which they consume. But this is partly owing to the extreme populousness of the
island, which in proportion to its extent, contains more inhabitants than any
other country of Europe. The island was originally colonized by the Phoenicians,
from whom it was taken, about 736 years B.C., by the Greek colonists in Sicily,
to whom the island owed the name of Melita, perhaps on account of the excellent
honey for which it has been at all times noted. An island of so much importance
as a maritime and commercial station, was not overlooked by the Carthaginians,
who, about 528 B.C., began to dispute its possession with the Greeks, and after
for a time dividing it with them, made themselves entire masters of it. The
inhabitants of Greek descent, however, renamed, and the Punic, or Phoenician,
and the Greek languages were equally spoken. Malta flourished greatly under the
dominion of Cartilage; but ultimately partook of the disasters which befell that
power. In the first Punic war it was ravaged and seized by the Romans, who
however lost it again, and only became masters of it under the treaty which
placed in their hands (B.C. 242) all the islands between Italy and Africa. The
Romans treated the inhabitants well. They made Melita a municipium, allowing the
people to be governed by their own laws. The government was administered by a
pro-praetor, who depended on the praetor of Sicily, and this office appears to
have been held by Publius at the time of the shipwreck. When the Roman empire
was divided, Malta fell to the lot of Constantine. About the middle of the fifth
century it was seized by the Vandals, and ten years after by the Goths, who had
obtained possession of Sicily. But about a century later (A.D. 553) the island
was united to the lower empire by Belisarius, when sent to wrest Africa from the
Vandals. The inhabitants were not allowed to enjoy the same privileges they had
possessed under the Roman emperor, nor was the Greek government popular; hence
the inhabitants willingly received the Arabs, who about the end of the ninth
century, took the island from the Greeks, and established in it a government
dependant on the emir of Sicily. The Arabs must have become largely mixed with
the population to impress upon it, to the extent they did, their own language
and customs. The present inhabitants have an Arabian aspect, and their language
is an Arabian dialect, easily understood by the native Arabians, and by the
Moors of Africa. Malta was taken from the Arabs by the Normans, in the year
1090. Its subsequent changes of masters need not here be stated, till 1530, when
the emperor Charles V, who had annexed it to his empire, transferred it to the
knights of St. John of Jerusalem, whom the Turks had recently dispossessed of
Rhodes. The glory which Malta acquired in 1563, by the defeat of thirty thousand
invading Turks--the continued distinction which it enjoyed, as a sovereign
state, under the knights--the attention which it engaged, at the commencement of
this century, from its surrender to Bonaparte on his way to Egypt--from its
recovery by the English--and from its being the alleged ground of the memorable
war which terminated at Waterloo; all these are circumstances, in the history of
this celebrated island, too notorious to require more than this brief
indication. PAUL SNAKE BITTEN As Paul was laying a few sticks upon the fire, a
viper, enlivened by the heat, came out of the bundle of wood from which he had
taken them, and fastened upon his hand. When the natives saw this, they
concluded that he must certainly be some notorious murderer, who, though
Providence had suffered to escape the dangers of the sea, had been reserved for
a more public and solemn execution. But when they saw him shake off the venomous
creature into the fire, and no harm ensue, they changed their sentiments, and
cried out that “he was a god.”[503] [503] Hercules was one of the gods whom the
people of this island worshipped; and to him they ascribed the power of curing
the bite of serpents. PAUL HEALS MANY ON ISLAND At a small distance from that
part of the island on which Paul and his company were shipwrecked, lived Publius
the governor, who received and entertained them with great civility and
hospitality for three days. During this time, Paul, being informed that the
governor's father lay dangerously ill of a fever and bloody flux, in
acknowledgment for the favors received from Publius, went to his apartment, and,
after praying some time, laid his hands upon him and healed him. The news of
this miraculous cure was soon spread throughout the island, in consequence of
which such as were afflicted with any disease were brought to Paul, who restored
them to their former health and strength. This increased Paul's fame, and was of
considerable advantage to his companions and fellow-sufferers, who on his
account were highly caressed and entertained; and when they left the island they
received many marks of esteem from the inhabitants, who furnished them with all
necessaries proper for their voyage. Malta

After staying three months at Miletus, they embarked onboard the Castor and
Pollux, a ship of Alexandria bound for Italy. On their arrival at Syracuse,[504]
they cast anchor, and went on shore to refresh themselves. Here they stopped
three days, when they again embarked and sailed for Rhegium,[505] and thence to
Puteoli,[506] where they landed. Finding in this place some Christians, at their
earnest solicitation they continued with them a week, and then set forward on
their journey to Rome. [504] This was a city of Sicily, seated on the east side
of the island, with a fine prospect from every entrance, both by sea and land.
Its port, which had the sea on both sides of it, was almost all of it environed
with beautiful buildings, and all that part of it which was without the city,
was on both sides banked up, and sustained with very fair walls of marble. The
city itself, while in its splendor, was the largest and richest that the Greeks
possessed in any part of the world; for, according to Strabo, it was twenty-two
miles in circumference; and both Livy and Plutarch inform us, that the spoil of
it was equal to that of Carthage. It was called quadruplex, as being divided
into four parts, Acradino, Tyche, Neapolis, and the island of Ortygia. The first
of these contained in it the famous temple of Jupiter; the second, the temple of
Fortune; the third, a large amphitheater, and a wonderful statue of Apollo, in
the midst of a spacious square; and the fourth, the two temples of Diana and
Minerva, and the renowned fountain of Arethusa. About two hundred and ten years
before the birth of Christ, this city was taken and sacked by Marcellus, the
Roman general, and, in storming the place, Archimedes, the great mathematician,
who is esteemed the first inventor of the sphere, and who, during the siege, had
sorely galled the Romans with his military engines, was slain by a common
soldier, while he was intent upon his studies. After it was thus destroyed by
Marcellus, Augustus rebuilt that part of it which stood upon the island, and, in
time, it so far recovered itself, as to have three walls, three castles, and a
marble gate, and to be able to send out twelve thousand horse, and four hundred
ships. But it was totally destroyed by the Saracens, in 884, and scarcely any
vestiges of it are now to be seen. [505] Rhegium, now called Reggio, was a
port-town in Italy, opposite to Messina in the island of Sicily; it is thought
to have this name given it by the Greeks, who suppose that about this place
Sicily was broken off from the continent of Italy by the sea. [506] Puteoli was
a noted town for trade, which lay not far from Naples; it was famous for its hot
baths; and from these baths, or pits of water, called in Latin putei, the town
is said to have taken its name. CHRISTIANS AT ROME MEET PAUL When the Christians
of Rome[507] heard that Paul was on his journey to that city, great numbers of
them went to meet him, some as far as Apiiforum, and others as far as a place
called the Three Taverns. As soon as Paul saw them he was greatly rejoiced, and
thanked God and took courage. They all conducted him in a kind of triumph to the
city, on their arrival at which Julius delivered the rest of his prisoners over
to the captain of the guard; but Paul was permitted to take up his residence in
a private house, with only one soldier to guard him. [507] A city of Italy, the
most celebrated upon earth, and for several centuries the mistress of the world:
it had been a station of the Etrurians, but it was founded by Romulus, at the
head of a banditti, in the reign of King Hezekiah, about A.M. 3251, and B.C.
753, It gradually increased until it extended over seven hills, and ultimately
to cover thirteen; and at the advent of Christ, its inhabitants were supposed to
amount to about two millions. Christianity triumphed at Rome in the apostolic
age, when a flourishing church was formed in that city, whose pastor was
regarded with great respect by, other churches, on account of the importance of
his station, the metropolis of the world, and so near to the palace of the
Caesars. And such was the enmity of the idolatrous priests against the gospel,
that many of the early pastors of the Christian church at Rome suffered
martyrdom for the faith of Christ. Constantine, the emperor, about A.D. 313,
professed his belief in Christianity, and afterward showed his zeal by building
many churches, granting large honors to their ministers, especially dignifying
the senior pastor at Rome. Multitudes now embraced the religion of the emperor;
and ungodly men, for the sake of emolument, aspired to be its ministers:
ceremonies were multiplied, to be performed by prayerless ministers, who thus
daily corrupted its doctrines. Constantine removing the seat of his government
to his new city Constantinople, a path was opened for the ambition of the Roman
bishop, who, by progressive steps, advanced to the predicted elevation, on which
he claimed to be the head of a hierarchy, as pope, or father of the church on
earth, and vicar of Christ--but in the expressive language of apostolic
prophecy, the “man of sin,” the “mystery of iniquity,” and “a beast.” (2
Thessalonians 2:3-8; Revelation 13:1-18.) Rome has greatly declined from its
former glory, having now only about a hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants;
but it abounds with vast monuments of its former grandeur. St. Peter's
cathedral, far larger than St. Paul's cathedral, London, is believed to be the
most magnificent place of worship in the world; and the Vatican, or
winter-palace of the pope, is reckoned to contain twelve thousand five hundred
chambers, halls, and closets. Roman catholics regard the pope, or bishop of
Rome, as the visible head of the whole Christian church, and his decisions in
religion as infallible but every succeeding pope has been an enemy to the
circulation of the Bible. Scarcely anything of pure scriptural Christianity can
be discovered among the mass of superstitions observed in public worship at Rome
and, as the consequence, the morals of the people are the grossest opprobrium to
the name of Christ. PAUL SPEAKS TO JEWISH LEADERS IN ROME After Paul had been at
Rome three days, he sent for the heads or rulers of the Jews in that city, who
being assembled, he addressed himself to them in words to this effect: “Men and
brethren, though I have done nothing contrary to the laws and customs of the
Jews, yet was I by them apprehended and accused before the Roman governor, who,
when he had examined me and found no capital accusation laid by my enemies,
would have discharged me. But the Jews opposing it, I was forced to appeal to
Caesar to get out of their hands, not that I had any complaint to make to him
against my countrymen. And this is the cause of my desiring to speak with you;
for I am imprisoned, as you see, for teaching the belief and expectation of a
future resurrection, which is the result of all the promises of God to the Jews,
and that on which every true Israelite depends.” The answer the rulers made to
this was to the following purport: “We have no letters from Judea that
mentionthee, neither have the converted Jews made any complaint against thee.
But we desire to hear thy opinion more at large; for as concerning this
profession and doctrine of Christianity, we know it is generally opposed by our
brethren the Jews.” Colosse The Houses of the modern Village of Khonas Roman
Officers

Paul readily complied with this request, and a day being appointed, not only the
rulers, but many others of the Jews assembled at his house, to whom he preached
from morning till night, explaining the doctrine of the gospel, and proving,
from the promises and predictions of the Old Testament, that Jesus was the true
Messiah. But his discourse was attended with different success, some of his
hearers being convinced of the truth of what he asserted, while others persisted
in their infidelity. In consequence of this, warm disputes took place between
them; upon which, as they were about to depart, Paul, addressing himself to
those who opposed his doctrine, told them that their unbelief was a strict
fulfillment of what had been predicted by the prophet Isaiah: “Well,” said he,
“spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto
this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and
seeing ye shall see, and not perceive. For the heart of this people is waged
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest
they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with
their hearts, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Be it known,
therefore, unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and
that they will hear it.” After Paul had said this, the whole company departed,
disagreeing among themselves on the subject which had been propounded to them.
PAUL PREACHES DAILY Paul continued to reside in the house he had hired for the
space of two years, during which he employed himself in expounding the doctrine
of the gospel to all who came to him. He preached daily without the least
molestation, and with such success that many people of distinction, some of whom
were of the emperor's court, were converted, and became his constant disciples.
PHILEMON WRITTEN Among others of the apostle's converts at Rome was one
Onesimus, who some time before had been servant to Philemon, a person of
distinction at Colosse.[508] Onesimus, having committed some indiscretion, left
his master, and rambled as far as Rome, where, hearing Paul preach, he conceived
such an idea of the truth of his doctrine that he became a most serious convert.
Paul, however, understanding that he was another man's servant, advised-him to
return to his master, which he readily agreeing to, Paul sent an epistle by him
to Philemon, in which he “earnestly requests that he will pardon him, and,
notwithstanding his former faults, treat him as a brother; promising withal,
that if he had wronged or owed him anything, he himself would not fail to repay
it.” This epistle may be considered as a masterpiece of eloquence in the
persuasive way; for the apostle has therein had recourse to all the
considerations which friendship, religion, piety, and tenderness, can inspire,
to reconcile an incensed master to an indiscreet servant. [508] Colosse, was
situated in the southern part of Phrygia. Though a town of considerable note, it
was by no means the principal one of Phrygia; for when that great province was
ultimately divided into Phrygia Pacatiana and Phrygia Salutaris, it ranked but
as the sixth city of the former division. The town was seated on an eminence to
the south of the Meander, at a place where the river Lycus began to run under
ground, as it did for five furlongs, after which it again gain rose and flowed
into the Meander. This valuable indication of the site of Colosse, furnished by
Herodotus (lib. vii. cap. 30) establishes the truth of the received conclusion,
that the ancient city is represented by the modem village of Khonas, This
village is described by Mr. Arundell as being situated most picturesquely under
the immense range of Mount Cadmus, which rises to a very lofty and perpendicular
height behind the village, in some parts clothed with pines, in others bare of
soil, with vast chasms and caverns. The immense perpendicular chasm, seen in the
view, affords an outlet to a wide mountain-torrent, the bed of which is dry in
summer. The approach to Khonas, as well as the village itself, is beautiful,
abounding in tall trees; from which vines of most luxuriant growth are
suspended. In the immediate neighborhood of the village are several vestiges of
an ancient city, consisting of arches, vaults, squared stones, while the ground
is strewed with broken pottery, which so generally and so remarkably indicates
the sites of ancient towns in the east. That these ruins are all that now remain
of Colosse, there seems no just reason to doubt. PHILIPPIANS WRITTEN The
Christians of Philippi having heard of Paul's imprisonment at Rome, and not
knowing to what distress he might be reduced, raised a contribution for him, and
sent it by Epaphroditus their bishop. This gave great satisfaction to Paul, not
so much on account of the money they had sent, but from its being a proof that
they still retained Christian principles. To encourage them, therefore, to
persevere in the faith of Christ, and to withstand all opposition that might be
made against them by the enemies of the gospel, he returned them an epistle,
“wherein he gives some account of the state of his affairs at Rome; gratefully
acknowledges their kindness to him; and warns them against the dangerous
opinions which the Judaising teachers might vent against them. He likewise
advises them to live in continual obedience to Christ; to avoid disputations;
delight in prayer, be courageous under affliction, united in love, and clothed
in humility, in imitation of the blessed Jesus, who so far humbled himself as to
'become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.'” EPHESIANS WRITTEN
Paul had lived three years at Ephesus, preaching the gospel to the numerous
inhabitants of that city, and was therefore well acquainted with the state and
condition of the place; so that taking the opportunity of Tychicus's going
thither from Rome, he wrote his Epistle to the Ephesians, wherein “he endeavors
to countermine the principles and practices both of the Jews and Gentiles; to
confirm them in the belief and practices of the Christian doctrine; and to
instruct them fully in the great mysteries of the gospel; their redemption and
justification by the death of Christ; their gratuitous election; their union
with the Jews in one body, of which Christ is the head, and the glorious
exaltation of that head above all with creatures both spiritual and temporal;
together with many excellent precepts, both as to the general duties of religion
and the duties of their particular relations.” COLOSSIANS WRITTEN Paul himself
had never been at Colosse; but one Epaphras, who was at that time a prisoner
with him at Rome, had preached the gospel there with good success; and from him
he learned that certain false teachers had endeavored to corrupt the minds of
the Christians in that city. In opposition to this, and to secure the converts
in their faith, he wrote his Epistle to the Colossians, wherein he beautifully
sets forth the Messiah, and all the benefits that will be bestowed on such as
believe in him, as being the image of his Father, the Redeemer of all mankind,
the reconciler of all things to God, and the Head of the Church, which gives
life and vigor to all its members. He commends the doctrine preached to them by
Epaphras, and exhorts them not to be led away by the reasonings of human
philosophy; and concludes with giving them a list of many chief and principal
duties of a Christian life, especially such as respect the relations of husbands
and wives, parents and children, masters and servants. JAMES WRITTEN During the
time Paul was thus laudably employed at Rome, James the apostle, and bishop of
Jerusalem, was dedicating his time, as much as in him lay, to the propagation of
the gospel within his provinces. Considering within himself that it belonged to
him to take care of all the converted among the twelve tribes of Israel,
wherever dispersed, he wrote an epistle to them, the design of which was, “to
confute and suppress a dangerous error then growing up in the church, viz., that
a bare 'naked faith' was sufficient to secure men's salvation, without any
attention to good works; to comfort Christians under the persecutions which were
going to be raised against them by worldly powers; and to awaken them out of
their stupidity when judgments were ready to overtake them.” To this purpose he
inserts in his epistle many excellent exhortations, such as, to bear
afflictions, to hear the word of God, to mortify their passions, to bridle their
tongues, to avoid cursing and swearing, and to adorn their Christian profession
with a good conversation, with meekness, peaceableness, and charity.” JAMES
MARTYRED It was not long after James had written this epistle, before a period
was put to all his labors. The governing part of the Jews, being highly enraged
at the disappointment they had met with in Paul's appealing to Caesar, were now
resolved to revenge it upon James; accordingly, taking the opportunity of the
death of Festus (before the arrival of Albinus his successor) Ananias the
high-priest summoned James, and some others, before the Sanhedrin, who required
them to renounce their Christian faith. Their desire more especially was, that
James should make his renunciation in the most public manner, and therefore they
carried him up to the battlements of the temple, and threatened to throw him
down thence in case he refused complying with their request. But James, instead
of gratifying their desires, began himself to confess, and to exhort others to
confess, the faith of Christ, in the presence of those who came to hear his
recantation; upon which the members of the Sanhedrin were so incensed that they
ordered him to be thrown down headlong from the place where he stood. By this
fall he was greatly bruised, but not quite killed; and therefore having
recovered himself so far as to be able to rise on his knees, he prayed fervently
to Heaven for his persecutors, in the manner of the protomartyr[509] Stephen.
But malice is too diabolical to be pacified with kindness, or satisfied with
cruelty. Accordingly, his enemies, vexed that they had not fully accomplished
their work, poured a shower of stones upon him while he was imploring their
forgiveness at the throne of grace, and one of them, more cruel and inveterate
than the rest, put an end to his misery, by dashing out his brains with a
fuller's club.[510] [509] The first martyr to lay down his life in a cause.
[510] The perpetrators of this barbarous act were considered in the most
detestable light by the sober and just persons among the Jews themselves. Even
their own historian Josephus could not but condemn it, and, as himself
testifies, all the honest and conscientious people of the city remonstrated
against it, both to their king Agrippa, and to the Roman governor Albinus;
insomuch that the high-priest by whose authority it was committed was, in a few
months after, degraded, and anther placed in his stead. Thus did this great and
good man finish his course in the 96th year of his age, and about twenty-four
years after our blessed Savior's ascension into heaven. His remains were
deposited in a tomb which he had caused to be made on the Mount of Olives; and
his brother Simon was, by the general voice of the Christians, appointed his
successor in the bishopric of Jerusalem. The apostle James was a man of
exemplary piety and devotion. Prayer was his daily business and delight: so
constant was he at his devotions that his knees became hard and callous; and so
prevalent in his petitions to Heaven, that, in a time of great drought, he
prayed for rain and obtained it. Nor was his charity to his fellow-creatures
less than his piety toward God; he did good to all, watched over the souls of
men, and made their eternal welfare his constant study. He was of a remarkably
meek and humble temper, honoring what was excellent in others, but concealing
what was valuable in himself. The dignity of the place he so worthily filled,
could not induce him to entertain lofty thoughts of himself above his brethren:
on the contrary, he strove to conceal whatever might place him in a higher rank
than the other disciples of the Lord of Glory. He was the delight of all good
men, and so much in the favor and estimation of the people, that they used to
flock after him, and strive who should touch even but the hem of his garment. In
short, he was a man of so amiable a temper, as to be the wonder of the age in
which he lived; and from the reputation of his holy and religious life, was
styled James the Just.


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  CHAPTER 54: PAUL'S TRAVELS--IMPRISONED AT ROME--IS BEHEADED
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PAUL'S TRAVELS--IMPRISONED AT ROME--IS BEHEADED PAUL RELEASED After Paul had
continued at Rome upward of two years in a state of confinement, he obtained his
liberty, but by what means we have not any account in history.[511] It may be
presumed, that the Jews not having sufficient proof of the accusation they had
laid against him, or being informed that what they alleged was no violation of
any Roman law, they durst not implead him before the emperor; and therefore, of
course, he was permitted to go at large. [511] In consequence of Paul's appeal
unto Caesar, he was conveyed to Rome, there to await his trial. On his arrival,
A.D. 61, he was delivered to the praetorian prefect, whose official business was
to keep in custody all accused persons who were to be tried before the emperor.
By special indulgence he was permitted to remain in “his own hired house,”
instead of being confined within the walls of the praetorian barracks. Still he
was a prisoner under military custody--chained by the arm, both night and day,
to one of the imperial body-guard--and subjected to the caprice of Roman
soldiery. He was, however, permitted to receive all who came to him, and,
without hindrance, to preach boldly the gospel of Christ. For reasons unknown to
us his trial was delayed at least two years. During this time he enjoyed free
intercourse with his friends, and was allowed to occupy a house large enough to
accommodate the congregation which came together to hear his teaching. Nor were
his labors fruitless; for many were converted to the faith through his earnest
ministrations. At the same time he wrote several of his epistles. At length his
appeal came on for hearing before the emperor, Nero, and the trial resulted in
his acquittal. He was pronounced guiltless of the charges brought against him,
and set at liberty. Being again at liberty to prosecute his missionary labors,
he immediately left Rome, first visiting the churches in Asia Minor, and then
extended his labors to other fields. It was not long before the first imperial
persecution of Christianity broke out with cruel violence, in consequence of the
great fire which burnt down almost half of the city. Nero, who was accused of
causing this fire, in order to avert the rage of the populace from himself,
charged the crime on the hated Christians, who had become numerous. But a few
years passed before Paul was again arrested at Nicopolis, as a leader of the
despised sect. It is not known what charges were made against him. He was
hurried to Rome in the winter season, and suffered an imprisonment far more
severe than was his first, four or five years before. He was now not only
chained, but treated as a felon. According to the legends of the mediaeval
Church, Paul was imprisoned in the Mamertine prison, one of the most revolting
prisons of Rome. It seems more probable, as we learn from 2 Timothy 1:16, that
he was again under military custody, though of a severer nature than that of his
former imprisonment. It was not long probably before his trial came on. He made
his defence unassisted by friends He says: “When I was first heard in my
defence, no man stood by me, but all forsook me.” He anticipated that the issue
of his trial would be his condemnation to death. Being a Roman citizen, he was
exempted from the ignominious death inflicted on his martyred brethren, being
executed by decapitation by the sword on the road to Ostia, the port of Rome, in
May or June, A.D. 68--Ed. The Mamertine Prison, Rome The subterranean cell in
which St. Paul and St. Peter are said to have been confined HEBREWS WRITTEN
Paul, having obtained his liberty, left Rome, and travelled into various parts
of Italy, preaching the gospel with different success. In some places he made
many converts, but in others he met with great opposition. Before he left Italy,
he wrote his famous and most elaborate epistle to the Hebrews, that is, to the
converted Jews who dwelt in Jerusalem and its neighborhood. His main design in
this epistle is, “to magnify Christ and the religion of the gospel above Moses
and the Jewish economy, that, by this means, he may the better establish the
converted Jews in the belief and profession of Christianity. To this purpose he
represents our Savior, in his divine nature, far superior to all angels, and all
created beings; and in his mediatorial capacity, a greater lawgiver than Moses,
a greater priest than Aaron, and a greater king and priest than Melchisedec. He
informs them, that the ceremonies, the sacrifices, and the observances of the
law, could have no virtue in themselves, but only as they were types of Jesus
Christ; and being now accomplished in his person, and by his ministry, were
finally and totally abolished. He insists upon the necessity of faith, and, by
the examples of the patriarchs and prophets, proves that justification is to be
had no other way, than by the merits of a dying Savior. And lastly, he lays
before them many excellent precepts for the regulation of their lives;
exhortations to trust and confidence in Christ, in all their sufferings; and
strict cautions against apostasy from his religion, even in the hottest
persecutions.” PAUL GOES TO BRITAIN A short time after Paul had written this
epistle to the Hebrews, he left Italy, and, accompanied by Timothy, prosecuted
his long-intended journey into Spain; and, according to the testimony of several
writers, crossed the sea, and preached the gospel in Britain.[512] What success
he had in these western parts is not known; however after going from one place
to another for the space of eight or nine months, he returned again eastward,
visited Sicily, Greece, and Crete (at the latter of which places he constituted
Titus bishop of the island), and then went into Judea, where we shall for the
present leave him, in order to take some notice of Peter, his fellow-laborer in
the cause of Christ. [512] Clements, in his famous epistle to the Corinthians,
expressly tells us, that being a preacher both to the east and west, he taught
righteousness to the whole world, and went to the utmost bounds of the west: and
Theodoret and others inform us, that he preached not only in Spain, but went to
other nations, and brought the gospel into the isles of the sea, by which he
undoubtedly means Britain, and therefore he else where reckons the Gauls and
Britons among the people whom the apostles, and particularly Paul, persuaded to
embrace the doctrine of Christ. PETER'S TRAVELS In what manner Peter employed
his time after his escape out of prison, we have not any certain account. It is,
however, generally agreed, that about the second year of the emperor Claudius,
he went to Rome, and there continued for some time, till at length that emperor,
taking advantage of some seditions and tumults raised by the Jews, published an
edict for banishing all the Jews from that city; in consequence of which Peter
returned to Jerusalem. After staying some time in the capital of Judea, he
visited the several churches which he had planted in the east, and carried the
glad tidings of the gospel into Africa, Sicily, Italy, and even as far as
Britain, in all which places he brought over great numbers to the Christian
faith. SIMON MAGUS SHOWDOWN Having thus propagated the gospel in the western, as
well as the eastern parts of the world, Peter, toward the latter end of the
reign of Nero, returned to Rome, the Jews, after the death of Claudius, being
permitted to reside in that city with the same freedom as before that emperor
issued his edict for their banishment. On Peter's arrival at Rome, he met with
his fellow-laborer Paul, who had just returned thither from Judea. The two
apostles found the minds of the people strangely bewitched, and hardened against
the doctrines of the gospel, by the subtleties and magical arts of Simon Magus,
whom Peter had severely chastised for his wickedness at Samaria. This monster of
impiety not only opposed the preaching of the apostles, but likewise did all in
his power to render them and their doctrine odious to the emperor. Peter,
foreseeing that the calumnies of Simon and his adherents would be injurious to
the cause of his great Master, thought himself obliged to oppose him with all
his might; and having discovered the vanity of his impostures in several
remarkable instances, he at length worked him up to such a pitch of madness and
desperation, that to give the people an evident demonstration of his having
those supernatural powers he had pretended, he promised that, on such a day, he
would ascend visibly up into heaven. Accordingly, at the time appointed, when
prodigious numbers of people were assembled to behold so extraordinary a sight,
he went up to the summit of a mount, whence he raised himself, and, by the
assistance of some magic arts, seemed as if he was flying toward the regions of
heaven. Peter and Paul, beholding the delusion, had recourse to prayers, and
obtained their petitions of the Almighty, namely, that the imposter should be
soon discovered, for the honor of the blessed Jesus. Accordingly, he fell
headlong to the ground, and was so bruised by the fall, that in a short time he
expired. PETER AND PAUL IMPRISONED The emperor Nero was a professed patron of
magicians, and therefore, when he heard of this event, he was greatly irritated.
He had a particular dislike to the doctrine of Christianity, as being totally
repugnant to the lusts and passions which he indulged; and was highly offended
at Peter for having made so many converts, among whom were several persons of
distinction. In consequence of this, he ordered him and Paul to be apprehended
and cast into prison, soon after which an event occurred, whence he took the
opportunity of showing his resentment to the Jews, and that in the most severe
manner. He issued out an edict, ordering Christian Jews to be persecuted in
every part of his empire; in consequence of which, all orders and degrees of
that people were treated with the greatest contempt and cruelty that could be
invented. PETER AND PAUL ESCAPE But before the burning of the city, and the
persecution commenced against the Christians, in consequence of Nero's edict,
both Peter and Paul made their escape from confinement. Peter continued at Rome,
but Paul left it, and went into Judea, where he stayed some time, after which he
went into Asia, and met Timothy at Ephesus. Hence he paid a visit to the
Colossians, whom he had never before seen, and after staying with them some
time, returned to Ephesus, and excommunicated Hymenaeus and Alexander, for
denying the resurrection of the dead, and other articles of the Christian faith.
From Ephesus he went into Macedonia, but previous to his departure, enjoined
Timothy, whom he had constituted bishop of Ephesus (see 1 Timothy 1:3),
constantly to reside in that city, and to take the charge of all the
pro-consular Asia. I TIMOTHY WRITTEN After Paul had visited several places in
Macedonia, he went to Philippi (see Php_1:25-26), where he stayed some time,
during which he daily preached to the people, made many new converts, and
farther established those who had before embraced the faith in the principles of
Christianity. Before he left Macedonia, he wrote his first epistle to Timothy,
in which “he lays down the duties and qualifications of a bishop, as well in
respect of his ministry, as of his private conversation, and instructs him in
the office of a true Christian pastor.” TITUS WRITTEN Leaving Macedonia, Paul
directed his course to Nicopolis, a populous city situated on a peninsula to the
west of the bay of Actium in Epirus. During his stay here he wrote his epistle
to Titus at Crete; wherein “he describes to him (as he had done to Timothy) the
qualifications which a bishop ought to have, and more especially a bishop of
Crete, where some sharpness and severity were necessary amidst a people of their
perverse and obstinate tempers. He admonishes him not to suffer the flock,
committed to his charge, to be led away by the delusions of Judaism; and lastly,
lays down precepts for people in all conditions of life, even not forgetting
servants, because our blessed Savior has poured out his grace upon all men.” In
the beginning of the spring Paul left Nicopolis, and went to Corinth. After
staying a short time here, he crossed the sea into Asia, and went to Ephesus,
and thence proceeded to Miletum. From Miletum he travelled northward to Troas,
and lodged with Carpus, one of his disciples, where he left his cloak (see 2
Timothy 4:13), some books, and other articles. From Troas he went to Antioch,
Iconium, and Lystra, where he suffered those persecutions and afflictions, of
which he makes mention to Timothy, and thanks God for his deliverance from them
(2 Timothy 3:4). PAUL AND PETER IMPRISONED IN ROME After visiting these and many
other places, Paul went again to Rome, knowing that the persecution which had
taken place in that city, in consequence of the edict issued by Nero, was
somewhat abated. Meeting with Peter, they conjunctively used their utmost
endeavors to instruct the Jews in their synagogues, and to convert the Gentiles
in all public places and assemblies. This, however, soon raised the malice and
indignation of the magistrates, who were still inflamed against the Jews. Nero
was at that time in Greece, and had left Helius to supply his place during his
absence, investing him with exorbitant powers, which he exercised with the most
unbounded rigor. It was a crime sufficient for these two apostles (in the eyes
of Helius) that they were Christians. The particular prejudice he took against
Peter was, his having defeated Simon Magus; and that against Paul, his having
converted one of the emperor's concubines. He therefore ordered them both to be
apprehended and committed to prison, where they spent their time in the most
solemn acts of devotion, and, as opportunity offered, preached the gospel to
their guards and fellowprisoners, among whom it is said they converted Processus
and Martinian, two principal officers of the army. II PETER WRITTEN While they
were in prison, Peter wrote his second general epistle to the converted Jews,
who were dispersed in the several provinces of Asia. In this epistle “he
endeavors, by earnest exhortations, to prevail with them to persevere in the
doctrine which they had received, and to testify the soundness and sincerity of
their faith by a Christian life. He forewarns them of the false teachers that
would shortly spring up among them, foretells their sad and miserable
destruction, and describes them by their odious characters, that they may avoid
them. He vindicates the doctrine of Christ's coming to judgment, which the
heretics of those times denied, that thereby they might encourage men the more
securely to pursue their lewd courses. And lastly, he describes the great and
terrible day of the Lord, when the elements shall melt, and the whole frame of
nature be dissolved, thereby to excite them to become circumspect and diligent,
in order to be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” II TIMOTHY
WRITTEN Much about the same time that Peter wrote this epistle to the converted
Jews in Asia, Paul wrote his second epistle to Timothy, wherein “he informs him
of the near approach of his death, and desires him to come to him before winter,
because most of his companions, upon one affair or other, were departed from
him. He exhorts him to discharge all the duties of a bishop and pastor, suitable
to those excellent gifts he had received, and with a generous contempt of the
world, and worldly things. He admonishes him not to forget the doctrine which he
had taught him, not to be surprised or disturbed at the apostasy of some from
the faith, but to preach the more zealously against such opposers as placed
their confidence in those teachers who left the truth to turn unto fables. And
lastly, he informs him, how, at his first appearing before Helius, all his
companions, for fear of being involved in his punishments, forsook him, but that
the Lord stood by him and strengthened him, to make his preaching more
conspicuous and effectual to the Gentiles.” PETER MARTYRED When the two apostles
had been in confinement several months, the cruel Nero returned from Greece, and
entered his palace at Rome in great triumph.[514] Soon after his return it was
ultimately resolved, that the two apostles should be put to death. Peter, as a
Jew and foreigner, was sentenced to be crucified; and Paul, as a Roman citizen,
to be beheaded. On the 29th of June (as it is generally supposed) these
sentences were put in execution. Peter, after being first scourged, according to
the Roman custom, was taken from the prison, and led to the top of the Vatican
mount, near the Tiber, where he was sentenced to surrender up his life on the
cross. On his arrival at the place of execution, he begged the favor of the
officers that he might not be crucified in the common manner, but with his head
downward, thinking himself unworthy to suffer in the same posture in which his
Lord and Master had suffered before him. This request was accordingly complied
with; and in this manner did the great apostle Peter resign his soul into the
hands of Him who came down from heaven to ransom mankind from destruction, and
open for them the gates of the heavenly Canaan. [514] Subsequently to the
burning of Rome, Nero built himself a glorious palace on Mount Palatine, which
was named the Golden Palace. When the emperor saw it finished, he said, “Now I
am going to be lodged like a man!” This splendid fabric was burnt and rebuilt in
the reign of Commodus; and of the palace so rebuilt, in its present ruined
condition, fringing the mount with its broken arches, a representation is given
in our present engraving, on page 601. It still bears the name of Nero's Palace;
and although of somewhat later origin than the time of St. Paul, it will be
considered interesting from its approximation to his time, and from its
furnishing the only idea attainable from actual remains of the palaces in which
the Roman emperors abode. Ruins of the Palace of Nero

PAUL MARTYRED While Peter was suffering on the top of the Vatican mount, his
fellow-apostle Paul was conducted to a place on the road to Ostia, about three
miles from Rome, in order to undergo the punishment denounced against him by the
cruel Nero. In his way he converted three of the soldiers who were sent to guard
him to his execution, and who, within a few days after, died martyrs themselves.
As soon as Paul arrived at the place of execution, he knelt down, and after
praying for some time with the greatest fervency, cheerfully gave up his neck to
the fatal stroke; quitting this vale of misery in hopes of passing to the
blissful regions of immortality, to the kingdom of his beloved Master, the great
Redeemer of the human race. Thus died these two most eminent apostles of Jesus
Christ, after they had, with indefatigable labor, reaped a glorious harvest of
infinite numbers of souls, and triumphantly propagated salvation through the
then most considerable parts of the world. PETER'S BURIALS The body of Peter,
being taken from the cross, was embalmed after the Jewish manner by Marcellinus
the presbyter, and buried in the Vatican near the Triumphal way. Over his grave
a small church was afterward erected, which being in the course of time
destroyed, his body was removed to the cemetery in the Apian way, two miles
distant from Rome. Here it continued till the time of Pope Cornelius., when it
was reconveyed to the Vatican, where it abode in some obscurity till Constantine
the Great, from the profound reverence he had for the Christian religion, having
rebuilt and enlarged the Vatican to the honor of St. Peter, enriched it with
gifts and ornaments, which in every age increased in Splendor and beauty, till
it became one of the wonders of the world, and in that light was considered for
many years after. PAUL'S BURIAL The remains of Paul were deposited in the Via
Ostiensis, about two miles from Rome. Constantine the Great, at the instance of
Pope Sylvester, built a stately church over his grave, which he adorned with a
hundred marble columns, and beautified with the most exquisite workmanship. In
addition to what has been narrated respecting these two great apostles, some
particulars may be mentioned illustrative of their respective characters. So far
as their personal appearance is concerned, we are left in ignorance. The
creative genius of the artist has attempted an ideal of their forms and
features, but without the aid of historic data. We have, however, data for
sketching moral portraits of these remarkable men. PETER'S CHARACTER First of
St. Peter--With respect to his disposition, if we consider him as a man, there
seems to have been a natural eagerness predominant in his temper, which animated
his soul to the most bold and sometimes rash undertakings. It was this, in a
great measure, that prompted him to be so very forward to speak, and to return
answers sometimes before he had well considered them. It was this that made him
expose his person to the most imminent dangers, promise those great things in
behalf of his master, resolutely draw his sword in his quarrel against a whole
band of soldiers, and wound a servant of the high-priest; nay, he had in all
probability attempted greater things, had not his Lord restrained his
impetuosity, and given a reasonable check to his fury. If we consider him as a
disciple of the blessed Jesus, we shall find him exemplary in the great duties
of religion. His humility and lowliness of mind were remarkable. With what a
passionate earnestness on the conviction of a miracle, did he beg of our
“blessed Savior to depart from him, thinking it unworthy the Son of God to come
near so vile a sinner! When the great Redeemer of mankind, by that amazing
condescension, stooped so low as to wash the feet of his disciples, Peter could
not be persuaded to admit his performing it, thinking it highly improper that so
great a person should submit to such a servile office toward a person so mean as
himself; nor could he be induced to admit of it till his great Master threatened
to deprive him of his favor. When Cornelius the Roman centurion would have
treated him with more than ordinary marks of esteem and veneration, he was so
far from complying with it, that he declared he was nothing more than a mortal
like himself. His love and zeal for his master were remarkable; he thought he
could never express either at too high a rate; venturing on the greatest perils,
and exposing his life to the most imminent dangers. His forwardness to own his
great Master, for the Messiah and Son of the Most High, was remarkably great;
and it was this that drew from his Lord that honorable encomium, “Blessed art
thou, Simon Bar-jona.” But his distinguished courage and constancy in confessing
Christ, even before his most inveterate enemies, was still greater after he had
recovered himself from his fall. How plainly does he tell the Jews that they
were the murderers and crucifiers of the Lord of Glory? Nay, with what an
undaunted courage, with what a heroic greatness of soul, did he tell the very
Sanhedrin, who had sentenced and condemned him, that they were guilty of his
death, and that they had no other way of escaping the vengeance of the Almighty,
but by the merits of that very Jesus whom they lead crucified and put to death.
Lastly, if we consider him as an apostle, as a pastor, or shepherd of the souls
of men, we shall find him faithful and diligent in his office, zealously
endeavoring to instruct the ignorant, reduce the erroneous, strengthen the weak,
confirm the strong, reclaim the vicious, and turn the children of men into the
paths of righteousness. He never omitted any opportunity of preaching to the
people, and spreading the glad tidings of the gospel among the human race; and
so powerful were his discourses, that he brought over many thousands of
converts. How many painful journeys and dangerous voyages did he undertake! With
what unconquerable patience did he endure the greatest trials, surmount every
difficulty, and remove every disposition, that he might circulate and establish
the gospel of his beloved Master! never refusing even to lay down his life to
promote it. Nor was he assiduous only to perform these duties himself; but was
also careful to animate others to do the like, earnestly pressing and persuading
the pastors and governors of the church “to feed the flock of God,” to labor
freely for the good of the souls of men, and not to undertake those offices to
acquire advantages to themselves; beseeching them to treat the flock committed
to their care with lenity and gentleness, and to be themselves shining examples
of piety and religion, the surest method of rendering their ministry successful.
And because it was impossible for him to be always present, to teach and warn
the children of men, he endeavored, by letters, to imprint in their minds the
practice of what they had been taught--a method he tells us he was resolved to
pursue as long as he continued an inhabitant of this world; “thinking it meet,
while he was in this tabernacle, to stir up, by putting them in mind of these
things, that so they might be able, after his decease, to have them always in
remembrance.” Thus lived, thus died Simon Peter, called to be an apostle of
Jesus Christ, and at length to offer up his life in ratification of the doctrine
he delivered and the faith he maintained and propagated. PAUL'S CHARACTER In
respect to the personal appearance of St. Paul, a hint is furnished in 2
Corinthians 10:10, from which it may be inferred that in form he might have been
diminutive and ungraceful, of which notice has been taken in ancient records.
His constitution was weak, and he was often subject to infirmities; but his mind
was strong and he possessed a solid judgment, quick discernment, and prompt
memory, all which were improved by the advantages of a liberal education. His
humility and self-abasement were wonderful; his sobriety and temperance
singularly strict; and his contempt for the world great and generous. His
kindness and charity were remarkable: he had a quick sense of the wants of
others, and a most compassionate tenderness for all who were in distress. To
what place soever he went, it was always one of his first cares to make
provision for the poor, and to stir up the bounty of the rich and wealthy in
their behalf. But his charity to the souls of men was infinitely greater,
fearing no dangers, refusing no labors, going through good and evil report, that
he might gain men over to the knowledge of the truth, take them out of the
crooked paths, and place them in the straight way that leadeth to life eternal.
Nor was his charity to men greater than his zeal to God, laboring, with all his
might, to promote the honor of his Master. When he was at Athens, and saw the
people of that city involved in the grossest superstition and idolatry, and
giving that honor which was due to God alone, to statues and images, his zeal
was fired, and he could not help letting them know the resentment of his mind,
and how greatly they dishonored God, the great Maker and Preserver of the world.
Through the course of an extensive ministry, he never suffered himself to be
interrupted in his endeavors for propagating the gospel by the dangers and
difficulties he met with, or the troubles and oppositions that were raised
against him. This will evidently appear if we take a survey of the trials and
sufferings he underwent; some part whereof are thus briefly summed up by
himself: “In labors abundant, in stripes above measure, in death oft; thrice
beaten with rods, once stoned, thrice suffered shipwreck, a night and a day in
the deep. In journeying often, in perils of water, in perils by his countrymen,
in perils by the heathens, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness,
in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and
painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst; in fastings often; in
cold and nakedness, and besides those things that were without, which daily came
upon him, the care of all the churches.” (2 Corinthians 11:23, etc.) An account,
though very great, yet far short of what he endured. He did not want for
solicitations both from Jews and Gentiles; and might, doubtless, in some
measure, have made his own terms, would he have been false to his trust, and
quitted that way which was then everywhere spoken against. But alas! those
things weighed little with our apostle, who “counted not his life dear unto him,
so that he might finish his course with joy, and the ministry which he had
received of the Lord Jesus.” And therefore, when he found himself under the
sentence of death, he could triumphantly say, “I have fought a good fight, I
have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”


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  CHAPTER 55: BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE APOSTLES
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE APOSTLES In the preceding chapters we have given a
minute detail of the transactions of those two great apostles, Peter and Paul,
as related by the evangelist St. Luke, together with an account of the
persecutions and sufferings of St. Stephen, and St. James the Less, bishop of
Jerusalem. We shall therefore in this chapter proceed to relate the particulars
concerning their fellow-laborers in the cause of Christ; in doing which we shall
begin with the Apostle[515] [515] With the exception of Peter and Paul, the
notices of the lives and labors of the apostles, as contained in the sacred
narrative, are very meager. They were alike commissioned to go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature; and they were all endued with
power from on high, when they received the baptism of the Holy Ghost on the day
of Pentecost. The center of their first field of missionary labor was Jerusalem,
when Peter was the prominent character in the apostolic circle. Thence their
mission extended to Samaria, and the center of their second field of activity
was Antioch, in which Paul was the principal actor to the time of his martyrdom
at Rome. From this time the third period of apostolic missionary agency begins.
From this period, during which the apostles and fellow-laborers were actively
employed in various and distant fields in the Gentile world, very little is
found recorded in the sacred narrative concerning their lives and labors, and
other historic sources are incomplete, and not in all respects reliable. The
historic sketches given in the following chapter are derived, with the exception
of a very few Scripture notices, from the early ecclesiastical writers, as
Nicephorus, Tertullian, Eusebius, and others. Though the verity of some of their
statements lacks authentic confirmation, yet the current traditions, generally
received at the time, doubtless had a basis of historic facts, and may
therefore, be accepted in the main as credible. It is not incredible that
miraculous incidents are contained among these traditionary records, for the age
of miracles continued during the life-time of the apostles. Supernatural
protection and power were promised them by the Savior, as may be seen, Luke
10:19, Mark 16:17-18. It is evident that they regarded the whole world as
embraced in their great commission; and by a mutual arrangement designating
their respective portions of the field, they went forth to their missionary
labors. Such was their zeal and success, that at the close of the first century
Christianity had been preached and embraced in most or all the provinces of the
Roman empire--Ed. ST. ANDREW PREACHES IN SCYTHIA After the ascension of our
blessed Lord into heaven, and the descent of the Holy Ghost on the apostles, to
qualify them for the great business they were about to undertake, St. Andrew was
appointed to preach the gospel in Scythia and the neighboring countries.
Accordingly, he departed from Jerusalem, and first travelled through Cappadocia,
Galatia, and Bithynia, instructing the inhabitants in the faith of Christ, and
continued his journey along the Euxine sea, into the deserts of Scythia. On his
arrival at a place called Amynsus, he was received with great civility by a
distinguished Jew of that town; upon which he went into the synagogue, preached
to them concerning Jesus, and, from the prophecies of the Old Testament, proved
him to be the Messiah and Savior of the world. During his stay here he converted
many to the true faith, having done which, previous to his departure, he
ordained them priests, and settled the times of their public meetings for the
performance of divine worship. Leaving Amynsus, he proceeded to Trapezium, a
maritime city on the Euxine sea, whence, after visiting many other places, he
went to Nice, where he stayed two years, preaching and working miracles with
great success. From Nice he proceeded to Nicomedia, and thence to Chalcedon,
where he took shipping, and sailing through the Propontis, passed the Euxine sea
to Heraclea, and afterward to Amastris; in all which places he met with very
great difficulties, but overcame them by an invincible patience and resolution.
VICIOUS BEATING AT SINOPE From Amastris, Andrew went to Sinope, a city situated
on the Euxine sea, and famous both for the birth and burial of King Mithridates.
The inhabitants of this city were chiefly Jews, who, partly from a zeal for
their religion, and partly from their barbarous manners, were exasperated
against Andrew, and entered into a confederacy to burn the house in which he
lodged. But being disappointed in their design, they treated him with the most
savage cruelty, throwing him on the ground, stamping upon him with their feet,
pulling and dragging him from place to place: some beating him with clubs, and
others pelting him with stones, till at length, apprehending they had entirely
deprived him of life, they cast him out into the fields. But he miraculously
recovered, and returned publicly into the city; by which, and other miracles he
wrought among them, he converted many from the errors of their ways, and induced
them to become disciples of the blessed Jesus. Departing from Sinope, he
returned to Jerusalem, and after staying a short time in his own country, went
again into the province allotted for the service of his ministry, which greatly
flourished through the power of the Divine grace that attended it. He travelled
over Thrace, Macedonia, Thessaly, Achaia, and Epirus,[516] preaching the gospel,
propagating Christianity, and confirming the doctrine he taught with signs and
miracles. At length he arrived at Patrea,[517] a city of Achaia, where he gave
his last and greatest testimony to the gospel of his Divine Master, by
cheerfully sealing it with his blood. [516] Epirus was a province of Greece,
lying along the coast of the Ionian sea, and having for its bounds, Albania on
the north, Thessaly on the south, Achaia on the southeast, and the ocean on the
west. [517] Patrea was situated on a hill near the sea, about ten miles from the
mouth of the gulf Lepanto. The goddess Diana was worshipped here in the most
diabolical manner, having a most beautiful young man and maid, every year,
sacrificed to her, till, by the preaching of St. Andrew, one Eurypilus, a great
man of the place, being converted to Christianity, occasioned that barbarous
custom to be totally laid aside. ANDREW IS MARTYRED It happened that Aegenas,
the pro-consul of Achaia, came at this time to Patrea, where, knowing that many
of the people had abandoned the heathen religion and embraced the gospel of
Christ, he had recourse to every method, both of favor and cruelty, to reduce
the people to their old idolatry. The apostle, whom no difficulties or dangers
could deter from performing the duties of his ministry, addressed himself to the
pro-consul, calmly putting him in mind that, being only a judge of men, he ought
to revere Him who was the supreme and impartial Judge of all, pay him the divine
honors due to his exalted majesty, and abandon the impieties of his idolatrous
worship; observing to him, that if he would renounce his idolatries, and
heartily embrace the Christian faith, he might, with him and the members who had
believed in the Son of God; receive eternal happiness in the Messiah's kingdom.
The pro-consul told St. Andrew, he would never embrace the religion he had
mentioned, and that if he did not sacrifice to the gods (in order that all those
whom he had seduced might, by his example, be brought back to the ancient
religion they had forsaken) he would cause him to be immediately put to death.
The apostle replied, that he saw it was in vain to endeavor to persuade a person
incapable of sober counsels, and hardened in his own blindness and folly, to
forsake his evil ways; and that, with respect to himself, he might act as he
pleased, and if he had any torment greater than another, he might inflict it
upon him; as the stricter constancy he showed in his sufferings for Christ, the
more acceptable he should be to his Lord and Master after his departure from
this wicked world. ANDREW'S SCOURGING This so irritated Aegenas, that he
immediately condemned him to death. Accordingly, after being scourged in the
most unmerciful manner by seven lictors, he was led away to be crucified. As
soon as he approached the cross, he knelt down and saluted it in words to this
effect: “I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been
consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it, and adorned with his members as
with so many inestimable jewels. I therefore come joyfully and triumphantly to
it, that it may receive me as a disciple and follower of him who once hung upon
it, and be the means of carrying me safe to my Master, being the instrument on
which he redeemed me.” ANDREW'S CRUCIFIXION After offering up his prayers to the
throne of grace, and exhorting the people to constancy and perseverance in the
faith he had delivered to them, he was fastened to the cross, on which he hung
two whole days, teaching and instructing the people. In the meantime, great
interest was made with the pro-consul to save his life; but the apostle
earnestly begged of God that he might then depart, and seal the truth of his
religion with his blood. His prayers were heard, and he soon after expired on
the last day of November, but in what year is not certain. ST. ANDREW'S CROSS
The cross on which he was fixed was made of two pieces of timber, crossing each
other in the middle, in the shape of the letter X (which has ever since been
known by the name of St. Andrew's Cross”), and to this he was fastened, not with
nails, but cords, to make his death more painful and lingering. ANDREW'S BURIAL
His body being taken down from the cross; was decently and honorably interred by
Maximilla, a lady of great quality and estate, and whom Nicepborus tells us was
wife to the pro-consul. Constantine the Great afterward removed his body to
Constantinople, and buried it in the great church he had built to the honor of
the apostles. This structure being taken down some hundred years after by the
emperor Justinian, in order to be rebuilt, the body of St. Andrew was found in a
wooden coffin, and again deposited in the same place it had been before, which
was afterward reverenced by all true professors of the Christian religion. ST.
JAMES, THE GREAT PREACHING AT JUDEA, SAMARIA, THEN SPAIN This apostle was
surnamed the Great, to distinguish him from that James (another of the apostles)
who was bishop of Jerusalem. After the ascension of the blessed Jesus he
preached to the dispersed Jews; that is, to those converts who were dispersed
after the death of Stephen. He first preached the gospel in several parts of
Judea and Samaria, after which he visited Spain, where he planted Christianity,
and appointed some select disciples to perfect what he had begun. HEROD ORDERS
HIS DEATH After this he returned to Judea, where he continued preaching in
different parts for some time, with great success; till at length Herod (who was
a bigot to the Jewish religion, and desirous of acquiring the favor of the Jews)
began a violent persecution against the Christians, and to such a degree did his
zeal animate him, that, after a short trial, he ordered James to be put to
death. JAMES IS BEHEADED WITH CONVERTED ACCUSER As he was led to the place of
execution, the officer that guarded him to the tribunal, or rather his accuser,
having been converted by that remarkable courage and constancy shown by the
apostle at the time of his trial, repented of what he had done, came and fell
down at the apostle's feet, and heartily begged pardon for what he had said
against him. The holy man, after recovering from his surprise, tenderly embraced
him. “Peace,” said he, “my son, peace be to thee and the pardon of thy faults.”
Upon which the officer publicly declared himself a Christian, and both were
beheaded at the same time. Thus fell the great apostle St. James, taking
cheerfully that cup of which he had long before told his Lord and Master he was
both ready and willing to drink. ST. JOHN, THE EVANGELIST THE CLOSEST DISCIPLE
Though this apostle was by much the youngest of the whole, yet he was admitted
into as great a share of his Master's confidence as any. He was one of those to
whom our Lord communicated the most private passages of his life; one of those
whom he took with him when he raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead; one
of those to whom he gave a specimen of his divinity in his transfiguration on
the mount; one of those who were present at his conference with Moses and
Elijah, and heard that voice which declared him “the beloved Son of God;” and
one of those who were companions in his solitude, most retired devotions, and
bitter agonies in the garden. GIVEN CARE OF MARY These instances of particular
favor our apostle endeavored in some measure to answer, by returns of particular
kindness and constancy; for though he at first deserted his Master on his
apprehension, yet he soon discovered the impropriety of his conduct: he
therefore went back to seek his Savior; confidently entered the high priest's
hall; followed our Lord through the several particulars of his trial; and at
last waited on him at his execution, owning him, as well as being owned by him,
in the midst of armed soldiers, and in the thickest crowds of his inveterate
enemies. Here it was that our Great Redeemer committed to his care his sorrowful
and disconsolate mother with his dying breath. And certainly our blessed Lord
could not havegiven a more honorable testimony of his particular kindness and
respect to John, than by leaving his own mother to his trust and care, and
substituting him to supply that duty he himself paid her while he resided in
this vale of sorrow. Smyrna

CARED FOR MARY UNTIL HER DEATH When the apostles made a division of the
provinces among them after our Savior's ascension into heaven, in order to
circulate the doctrine of their Lord and Master, that of Asia fell to the share
of St. John, though be did not immediately enter upon his charge, but continued
at Jerusalem till the death of the blessed Virgin, which happened about fifteen
years after our Lord's ascension. SENT TO ASIA After being thus released from
the trust committed to his care by his dying Master, he went into Asia, and
industriously applied himself to the propagation of Christianity, preaching
where the gospel had not then been known, and confirming it where it was already
planted. Many churches of note and eminence were founded by him, particularly
those of Smyrna,[518] Philadelphia, Laodicea, and others; but his chief place of
residence was at Ephesus, where St. Paul had founded a church, and constituted
Timothy its pastor. [518] A city of Asia Minor, about forty miles south of
Ephesus, famous for its having been thought the birthplace of Homer, but more so
as having contained one of the seven churches of Asia specially addressed by
Jesus Christ. (Revelation 1:11.) Polycarp is supposed by some to have been the
angel or bishop of this Christian congregation addressed by John, as he
sustained that office some years afterward, and was martyred here, A.D. 160, at
the age of ninety-five. Smyrna is now the principal emporium of trade in the
Levant; it is called by the Turks Ismir, and the population is estimated to
include 80,000 Turks, 40,000 Greeks, 15,000 Armenians, 10,000 Jews, 5,000
Franks, etc. REVELATION WRITTEN After John had spent several years at Ephesus,
an accusation was laid against him before the emperor Domitian (who had then
begun a persecution against the Christians) as being an asserter of false
doctrine and impiety, and a public subverter of the religion of the empire. In
consequence of this, and in conformity to the orders of Domitian, the pro-consul
of Ephesus sent him bound to Rome, where he met with that treatment which might
have been expected from so barbarous a prince, being thrown into a caldron of
boiling oil. But the Almighty, who reserved him for farther service in the
vineyard of his Son, restrained the heat, as he did in the fiery furnace of old,
and delivered him from this seemingly unavoidable destruction. And surely one
would have thought that so miraculous a deliverance might have been sufficient
to have persuaded any rational man that the religion he taught was from God, and
that he was protected from danger by the hand of Omnipotence. But miracles
themselves were not sufficient to convince this cruel emperor, or abate his
fury. He ordered St. John to be transported to a desolate island in the
archipelago, called Patmos, where he continued several years, instructing the
poor inhabitants in the knowledge of the Christian faith; and here, about the
end of Domitian's reign, he wrote his book of Revelation, exhibiting, by visions
and prophetical representations, the state and condition of Christianity that
would take place in the future periods and ages of the church. Patmos

JOHN RETURNS TO EPHESUS On the death of Domitian, and the succession of Narva
(who repealed all the odious acts of his predecessors, and by public edicts
recalled those whom the fury of Domitian had banished), St. John returned to
Asia, and again fixed his residence at Ephesus, on account of Timothy, their
pastor, having some time before been put to death by the people of that city.
Here, with the assistance of seven other bishops or pastors, he took upon
himself the large diocess of Asia Minor, spending his time in an indefatigable
execution of his charge, travelling from one part to another, and instructing
the people in the principles of that holy religion he was sent to propagate. In
this manner did John continue to spend his time, till death put a period to his
labors, which happened in the beginning of the reign of the emperor Trajan. His
remains were deposited in the city of Ephesus, where several of the fathers
observe that his tomb, to their time, was remaining in a church, which was built
to his honor and called by his name. He was the only apostle who escaped a
violent death; notwithstanding which he is deemed a martyr on account of his
having undergone the mode of an execution, though it did not take effect. He
lived the longest of any of the apostles, being nearly a hundred years of age at
the time of his death. HIS HUMILITY AND FOCUS ON LOVE St. John, having been
brought up to the business of a fisherman, never received a liberal education;
but what was wanting from human art was abundantly supplied by the excellent
constitution of his mind, and that fulness of Divine grace with which he was
adorned. His humility was admirable, always studiously concealing whatever
tended to his own honor. In his epistles he never styles himself either apostle
or evangelist; the title of “presbyter,” or “elder,” is all he assumes, and
probably as much in regard to his age as his office. In his Gospel, when he
speaks of “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” he conceals his own name, leaving the
reader to discover whom he meant. He practised charity to the utmost extent, and
affectionately recommended it to all mankind. This, and the love of our
neighbor, is the great vein that runs through all his writings, more especially
his epistles, wherein he urges it as the great and peculiar law of Christianity,
and without which all pretensions to our blessed Savior are vain and frivolous,
useless and insignificant. When age and the infirmities of nature had rendered
him so weak that he was unable to preach to the people any longer, he was led,
at every public meeting, to the church at Ephesus, were he generally addressed
himself to the people in these words “Little children, love one another.” When
his hearers, tired with the constant repetition of the same thing, asked him the
reason of it, he told them that to love one another was the command of our
blessed Savior. The greatest instance of our apostle's care for the souls of men
is displayed in the inimitable writings he left to posterity; the first of which
in point of time, though he placed last in the sacred canon, is his Apocalypse,
or book of Revelation, which he wrote during his banishment in the island of
Patmos. JOHN'S EPISTLES Next to the Apocalypse, in order of time, are his three
epistles, the first of which is catholic, calculated for all times and places,
containing the most excellent rules for the conduct of a Christian life,
pressing to holiness and pureness of manners, and not to be satisfied with a
naked and empty profession of religion--not to be led away with the crafty
insinuation of seducers; and cautioning them against the poisonous principles
and practices of the Gnostics. The apostle here, according to his usual modesty,
conceals his name, it being of more consequence to a wise man what is said than
who says it. It appears from St. Augustine that this epistle was anciently
ascribed to the Parthians, because in all probability St. John preached the
gospel in Parthia. The other two epistles are but short, and directed to
particular persons; the one to a woman of honorable quality, encouraging her and
her children to charity, to perseverance in good works, and to show no
countenance to false teachers and deceivers. The other epistle is directed to
the charitable and hospitable Gaius, the kindest friend and the most courteous
entertainer of all indigent Christians. Before he undertook the task of writing
his gospel, he caused a general fast to be kept in all the churches throughout
Asia, to implore the blessing of Heaven on so great and momentous an
undertaking. When this was done, he set to work and completed it in so excellent
and sublime a manner, that the ancients generally compared him to an eagle
soaring aloft among the clouds, whither the meek eye of man was not able to
follow him. In respect to the writings of this apostle, it may be said, “Among
all the evangelical writers, none are like St. John for the sublimity of his
speech, and the height of his discourses, which are beyond any man's capacity
fully to reach and comprehend.” This is corroborated by Epiphanius, who says,
“St. John, by a loftiness and speech peculiar to himself, acquaints us, as it
were out of the clouds and dark recesses of wisdom, with the divine doctrine of
the Son of God.” Such is the character given of the writings of this great
apostle and evangelist, who was honored with the endearing title of being the
beloved disciple of the Son of God; a writer so profound as to deserve, by way
of eminence, the character of St. John the Divine. ST. PHILIP UPPER ASIA
ASSIGNMENT In the distribution made by the apostles of the several regions of
the world in which were to preach the gospel after our Lords ascension, the
upper Asia fell to Philip, where he labored with the most indefatigable
diligence to propagate the doctrine of his Master in those arts. From the
constancy and power of his preaching, and the efficacy of his miracles he gained
numerous converts, whom he baptized in the Christian faith, curing at once their
bodies of infirmities and distempers, and their souls of errors and idolatry.
Here he continued a considerable time, and, before he left the place, settled
the churches and appointed Christian pastors over those whom he had converted.
PRAYS DRAGON AWAY After Philip had for several years successfully exercised his
apostolic office in upper Asia, he went to Hierapolis in Phrygia, a city
remarkably rich and populous, but at the same time overrun with the most
enormous idolatry. Philip was greatly grieved to see the people so wretchedly
enslaved by error and superstition; he, therefore repeatedly offered up his
prayers to Heaven in their behalf, till, by his prayers, and often calling on
the name of Christ, he procured the death, or at least the vanishing of a
dragon, or enormous serpent, to which they paid adoration. Having thus
demolished their deity, Philip clearly demonstrated to them how ridiculous and
unjust it was to pay divine honors to such odious creatures: he told them that
God alone was to be worshipped as the great parent of all the world, who, in the
beginning made men after his glorious image, and when fallen from that innocent
and happy state, sent his own Son into the world to redeem them. That, in order
to perform this glorious work, he died on the cross, and rose again from the
dead, and at the end of the world would come again to raise all the sons of men
from the chambers of the dust, and either sentence them to everlasting
punishment, or reward them with everlasting felicity. PHILIP'S MARTYRDOM This
discourse roused them from their lethargy, insomuch that great numbers, being
ashamed of their idolatry, immediately forsook it, and embraced the doctrine of
the gospel. But the success attending Philip's endeavors proved fatal to him.
The magistrates were so incensed at his having obtained such a number of
converts, that they resolved to put an effectual stop to his proceedings. They
accordingly ordered him to be seized, and thrown into prison, whence, after
being severely scourged, he was led to execution, and put to death, the manner
of which, according to some, was by being hanged against a pillar, and,
according to others, by crucifixion. PHILIP'S BURIAL As soon as he was dead, his
body was taken down by Bartholomew, his fellow-laborer in the gospel, and
Mariamne his sister, the constant companion of his travels, and decently
interred in a private place near the city, both of whom, for performing this
friendly office, barely escaped with their lives. The martyrdom of St. Philip
happened about eight years after that of St. James the Great. ST. BARTHOLOMEW
This apostle is mentioned among the immediate disciples of our Lord, under the
appellation of Bartholomew, though it is evident, from divers passages in
Scripture, that he was also called Nathaniel.[520] [520] That Nathaniel and
Bartholomew were only two names for one and the same person, the one his proper
and the other his relative name, is beyond all doubt; but then the question is,
upon what account it was that he had his relative name conferred on him. That
several sects in the Jewish church denominated themselves from some famous
person of that nation (as the Essenes did from Enoch, and the Sadducess from
Sadoc), can not be denied; and therefore, if we may suppose that there were
others who called themselves Tholmaeans, from Tholmai, scholar to Heber, the
ancient master of the Hebrews, who flourished in Debir and Hebron, it will be no
hard matter to make Nathaniel of this order and institution, and thereupon to
give him the name of Bartholomew, i.e., a scholar of the Tholmeans, and so
create him, as he is said to nave been, a doctor of the Jewish law. But an
easier explanation of this matter will appear from this following observations.
That, as the first syllable of his name signifies a son, the word Bar-tholomew
will import no more than the son of Tholomew, or Tholmai, which was no uncommon
name among the Jews. And, that it was a usual thing among them for the son thus
to derive his name, is evident from the instance of Bar-timaeus, which is
interpreted the son of Timaeus (Mark 10:46), and that of Bar-jona (Matthew
16:17) which St. John makes the same with Simon, son of Jonas. (John 21:15).
TIED TO CROSS AND THEN LIBERATED After our Lord's ascension into heaven,
Bartholomew visited different parts of the world, in order to propagate the
gospel of his Master, and at length penetrated us far as the Hither India. Here
he remained a considerable time, and then went to Hierapolis in Phrygia, where
he labored (in conjunction with Philip) to plant Christianity to those parts;
and to convince the blind idolaters of the evil of their ways, and direct them
in the paths which lead to eternal salvation. This enraging the bigoted
magistrates, they sentenced Bartholomew to death, and he was accordingly
fastened to a cross; but their consciences staring them in their faces for the
iniquity they were about to commit, they ordered him to be taken down and set at
liberty. HORRIBLE TORTURE TO DEATH IN ALBANIA In consequence of this our apostle
left Hierapolis, and went to Lycaonia, where he obtained a great number of
converts, whom he instructed and trained up in the principles of the Christian
religion. From Lycaonia he went to Albania, a city on the Caspian sea, a place
miserably overrun with idolatry, from which he labored hard to reclaim the
people. But his endeavors to “turn them from darkness unto light, and from the
power of Satan unto God,” instead of proving effectual, only procured his
destruction. The magistrates were so incensed against him, that they prevailed
on the governor to order him to be put to death, which was accordingly done with
the most distinguished cruelty. It is the general opinion of most writers, that
he was first severely beaten with sticks, then crucified, afterward flayed while
still alive, and lastly, that his head was severed from his body. ST. MATTHEW
GOSPEL WRITER During the first eight years after our blessed Lord's ascension
into heaven, Matthew continued to preach the gospel with great assiduity in
different parts of Judea; after which he left the country of Palestine in order
to convert the Gentile world. But before his departure, at the earnest
solicitation of the Jewish converts in Judea, he wrote the history of the life
and actions of the blessed Jesus, which he left among them as a standing
monument of what he had so often delivered to them in his sermons. MARTYRED IN
ETHIOPIA After Matthew left Judea, he travelled into various parts, but the
particular places he visited are not certainly known. However, after laboring
indefatigably in the vineyard of his Master, he suffered martyrdom at a city
called Nadabar in Ethiopia; but the particular manner of his death is not
certainly known, though it is the general opinion that he was slain with a
halberd. His martyrdom is commemorated by the church on the 21st day of
September. MATHEW'S DRAMATIC CONVERSION St. Matthew was a remarkable instance of
the power of religion, in bringing men to a proper temper of mind. If we reflect
upon his circumstances while he continued a stranger to the great Redeemer of
mankind, we shall find that the love of the world had possessed his heart. But
notwithstanding this, no sooner did Christ call him, than he abandoned, without
the least scruple or hesitation, all his riches; nay, he not only renounced his
lucrative trade, but ran the greatest hazards of displeasing the masters who
employed him, for quitting their service without giving them the least notice,
and leaving big accounts in confusion. Had our blessed Savior appeared as a
secular prince, clothed with temporal power and authority, it would have been no
wonder for him to have gone over to his service; but when he appeared under all
the circumstances of poverty, when he seemed to promise his followers nothing
but misery and sufferings to this life, and to propose no other rewards than the
invisible encouragements of another world, his change appears truly wonderful
and surprising. But divine grace can subdue all opposition. His contempt of the
world was fully manifested in his exemplary temperance and abstemiousness from
all delights and pleasures; insomuch that he even refused the ordinary
conveniences and accommodations of life. He was remarkably modest in the opinion
he entertained of himself, always giving the preference to others, even though
their abilities were not so conspicuous as his own. The rest of the evangelists
are careful to mention the honor of his apostleship, but speak of his former
sordid, dishonest, and disgraceful course of life, only under the name of Levi;
while he himself sets it down with all its circumstances, under his own proper
and common name; a conduct which at once commends the prudence and candor of the
apostle, and suggests to us this useful reflection, that the greatest sinners
are not excluded from divine grace; nor can any, if penitent, have just reason
to despair, when publicans and sinners find mercy at the throne of grace. GOSPEL
IN HEBREW The Gospel which St. Matthew wrote at the entreaty of the Jewish
converts before he left Judea, was penned in the Hebrew language, but soon after
translated into Greek by one of his disciples. After the Greek translation was
admitted, the Hebrew copy was chiefly owned and used by the Nazaræi, a middle
sect between Jews and Christians; with the former, they adhered to the rites and
ceremonies of the Mosaic law, and with the latter, they believed in Christ, and
embraced his religion; and hence this Gospel has been styled, “The Gospel
according to the Hebrews,” and “The Gospel of the Nazarenes.” ST. THOMAS THOMAS
LEADS MAGI TO GOSPEL The apostle Thomas, after our Lord's ascension, continued
to preach the gospel in various parts of Judea; till at length, being
interrupted by the dispersion of the Christian church in Jerusalem, he repaired
into Parthia, the province assigned him for his ministry. He afterward preached
the gospel to the Medes, Persians, Carmans, Hyrcani, Bractarians, and the
neighboring nations. During his preaching in Persia, he is said to have met with
the Magi, or wise men, who had taken that long journey at our Savior's birth to
worship him, whom he baptized, and took with him, as his companions and
assistants in propagating the Gospel. MINISTRY IN ETHIOPIA Leaving Persia, he
travelled into Ethiopia, preaching the glad tidings of the gospel, healing the
sick, and working other miracles, to prove he had his commission from on high.
MINISTRY IN INDIA After travelling through these countries, he entered India,
and went first to Socotora, an island in the Arabian sea, and then to Cranganor,
whence, having converted many from the error of their ways, he travelled farther
into the east. Having successfully preached the gospel here, he returned back to
the kingdom of Coromandel, where, at Malipur, the metropolis of the kingdom, not
far from the mouth of the Ganges, he began to erect a place for divine worship,
but was interrupted by the idolatrous priests, and Sagamo, prince of the
country. However, after he had performed several miracles, he was suffered to
proceed in the work, and Sagamo himself embraced the Christian faith, whose
example was soon followed by great numbers of his friends and subjects. MURDERED
BY BRAHMANS This remarkable success alarmed the Brahmans, who plainly perceived
that their religion would be soon extirpated unless some method could be found
of putting a stop to the progress of Christianity; they therefore resolved to
put the apostle to death. At a small distance from the city was a tomb, whither
St. Thomas often retired for private devotion. Hither the Brahmans and their
armed followers pursued him; and while he was at prayer, they first threw at him
a shower of darts, after which one of the priests ran him through the body with
a lance. His corpse was taken up by his disciples, and buried in the church he
had caused to be erected, and which was afterward improved into a fabric of very
great magnificence. St. Chrysostom says, that St. Thomas, who at first was the
weakest and most incredulous of all the apostles, became, through Christ's
condescension to satisfy his scruples, and the power of the divine grace, the
most active and invincible of them all; travelling over most parts of the world,
and living without fear in the midst of barbarous nations, through the efficacy
of that Almighty power, which can make the weakest vessels to perform acts of
the greatest difficulty and moment. ST. SIMON, COMMONLY CALLED THE ZEALOT SIMON
THE CANAANITE This apostle, in the catalogue of our Lord's chosen disciples, is
styled “Simon the Canaanite,” whence some are of opinion that he was born at
Cana, in Galilee, and it is generally thought that he was the bridegroom
mentioned by St. John, at whose marriage our blessed Savior turned the water
into wine. The name of this apostle is derived from the Hebrew word knah, which
signifies zeal, and denotes a warm and sprightly disposition. He did not,
however, acquire this name from his ardent affection to his Master, and the
desire of advancing his religion in the world, but from his zealous attachment
to a particular sect of religion before he became acquainted with his great Lord
and Master. THE ZEALOTS In order to explain this matter more clearly to the
understanding of our readers, it is necessary to observe, that as there were
several sects and parties among the Jews, so there was one, either a distinct
sect, or at least a branch of the Pharisees, called the sect of the Zealots.
This sect took upon them to inflict punishments in extraordinary cases; and that
not only by the connivance, but: with the leave both of the rulers and people,
till, in process of time, their zeal degenerated into all kinds of
licentiousness and wild extravagance; and they not only became the pests of the
commonwealth in their own territories, but were likewise hated by the people of
those parts which belonged to the Romans. They were continually urging the
people to shake off the Roman yoke and assert their natural liberty, taking
care, when they had thrown all things into confusion, to make their own
advantage of the consequences arising therefrom. Josephus gives a very long and
particular account of them, throughout the whole of which he repeatedly
represents them as the great plague of the Jewish nation. Various attempts were
made, especially by Ananias, the high-priest, to reduce them to order, and
oblige them to observe the rules of sobriety; but all endeavors proved
ineffectual. They continued their violent proceedings, and, joining with the
Idumeans, committed every kind of outrage. They broke into the sanctuary, slew
the priests themselves before the altar, and filled the streets of Jerusalem
with tumults, rapine, and blood. Nay, when Jerusalem was closely besieged by the
Roman army, they continued their detestable proceedings, creating fresh tumults
and factions, and were indeed the principal cause of the ill success of the Jews
in that fatal war. This is a true account of the sect of the Zealots; though,
whatever St. Simon was before, we have no reason to suspect but that after his
conversion he was very zealous for the honor of his Master, and considered all
those who were enemies to Christ as enemies to himself, however near they might
be to him in any natural relation. As he was very exact in all the practical
duties of the Christian religion, so he showed a very serious and pious
indignation toward those who professed religion, and a faith in Christ, with
their mouths, but dishonored their sacred profession by their irregular and
vicious lives, as many of the first professing Christians really did. MAY HAVE
BEEN CRUCIFIED IN BRITAIN St. Simon continued in communion with the rest of the
apostles and disciples at Jerusalem, and at the feast of Pentecost received the
same miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost; so that he was qualified with the rest
of his brethren for the apostolic office. In propagating the gospel of the Son
of God, we can not doubt of his exercising his gifts with the same zeal and
fidelity as his fellow-apostles, though in what part of the world is uncertain.
Some say he went into Egypt, Cyrene, and Africa, preaching the gospel to the
inhabitants of those remote and barbarous countries; and others add, that after
he had passed through those burning wastes, he preached the gospel to the
inhabitants of the western parts, and even in Britain, where, having converted
great multitudes, and sustained the greatest hardships and persecutions, he was
at last crucified, and buried in some part of that island, but the exact place
where is unknown. ST. JUDE APOSTLES USE OTHER NAMES It is very observable of
this apostle that the evangelists commonly call him, not Jude, but either
Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus; the reason of which, in all human probability, is from
the particular dislike they had to the name, which was so nearly similar to that
of the base and perfidious Judas Iscariot, who treacherously sold and betrayed
his Master. SCRIPTURE IS VAGUE ABOUT JUDE Jude was brother to James the Less,
afterward bishop of Jerusalem, being the son of Joseph by a former wife. It is
not known when or by what means he became a disciple of our blessed Savior,
there not being anything said of him till we find him in the catalogue of the
twelve apostles; nor afterward till Christ's Last Supper, when discoursing with
them about his departure, and comforting them with a promise that he would
return to them again, meaning after his resurrection from the dead. OTHER
RECORDS CONFLICT The sacred records are so very short in their accounts of this
apostle, that we must be beholden to other ecclesiastical writers for
information relative to his conduct after the ascension of our blessed Lord into
heaven. Paulinus tells us that the part which fell to his share in the apostolic
division of the provinces was Lybia; but he does not tell us whether it was the
Cyrenian Lybia which is thought to have received the gospel from St. Mark, or
the more southern parts of Africa. But, however that be, in his first setting
out to preach the gospel, he travelled up and down Judea and Galilee; then
through Samaria into Idumea, and to the cities of Arabia and the neighboring
countries, and afterward to Syria and Mesopotamia. Nicephorus adds, that he came
at last to Edessa, where Agabarus governed, and where Thaddeus, one of the
seventy, had already sown the seeds of the gospel. Here he perfected what the
other had begun; and having by his sermons and miracles established the religion
of Jesus, he died in peace: but others say that he was slain at Berites, and
honorably buried there. The writers of the Latin church are unanimous in
declaring that he travelled into Persia, where, after great success in his
apostolical ministry for many years, he was at last, for his freely and openly
reproving the superstitious rites and customs of the Magi, cruelly put to death.
THE EPISTLE St. Jude wrote only one epistle, which is placed the last of those
seven styled catholic in the sacred canon. It has no particular inscription, as
the other six have, but is thought to have been primarily intended for the
Christian Jews in their several dispersions, as were the epistles of the apostle
Peter. In it he informs them that he at first intended to have wrote to them
concerning the “common salvation,” in order to confirm them in their belief;
but, finding the doctrine of Christ attacked on all sides by heretics, he
thought it more necessary to exhort them to stand up manfully in defence of the
“faith once delivered to the saints,” and to oppose those false teachers who so
earnestly labored to corrupt them; and that they might know these the better, he
describes them in their proper colors, and foretells their future if not
impending danger; but, at the same time, he endeavors to exhort them, by all
gentle methods to save them, and to take them “out of the fire” into which their
own folly had cast them. It was some time before this epistle was generally
received in the church. The author indeed, like St. James, St. John, and
sometimes St. Paul, does not call himself an apostle, but only “the servant of
Christ.” But he has added what is equivalent, Jude “the brother of James,” a
character which can only belong to himself and surely the humility of a follower
of Christ should be no objection to his writings. ST. MATTHIAS REPLACED JUDAS
Matthias was one of the seventy disciples whom our blessed Lord made choice of
to assist him in the discharge of his public ministry. After his death, Matthias
was elected into the apostleship, to supply the place of Judas, who was so
struck with remorse at having betrayed his Master, as to put a period to his
existence. STONED AND KILLED IN ETHIOPIA After our Lord's ascension into heaven,
Matthias spent the first year of his ministry in Judea, where he was so
successful as to bring over a prodigious number of people to the Christian
faith. From Judea he travelled into other countries, and, proceeding eastward,
came at length to Ethiopia. Here he likewise made many converts, but the
inhabitants in general being of a fierce and untractable temper, resolved to
take away his life, which they effected by first stoning him, and then severing
his head from his body. ST. MARK MINISTERS IN EGYPT In the dispersion of the
apostles for propagating the gospel in different parts of the world, after our
Lord's ascension into heaven, St. Mark was by Peter sent into Egypt, where he
soon planted a church in Alexandria, the metropolis; and such was his success,
that he converted prodigious multitudes of people, both men and women, to the
Christian religion. St. Mark did not confine himself to Alexandria and the
oriental parts of Egypt, but removed westward to Lybia, passing through the
countries of Marmarcia, Pentapolis, and others adjacent, where, though the
people were both barbarous in their manners and idolatrous in their worship, yet
by his preaching and miracles he prevailed on them to embrace the tenets of the
gospel; nor did he leave them till he had confirmed them in the faith. MARK IS
DRAGGED TO DEATH After this long tour he returned to Alexandria, where he
preached with the greatest freedom, ordered and disposed of the affairs of the
church, and wisely provided for a succession by constituting governors and
pastors of it. But the restless enemy of the souls of men would not suffer our
apostle to continue in peace and quietness; for while he was assiduously
laboring in the vineyard of his Master, the idolatrous inhabitants, about the
time of Easter, when they were celebrating the solemnities of Serapis,
tumultuously seized him, and, binding his feet with cords, dragged him through
the streets and over the most craggy places to the Bucelus, a precipice near the
sea, leaving him there in a lonesome prison for that night, but his great and
beloved Master appeared to him in a vision, comforting and encouraging him under
the ruins of his shattered body. Early the next morning the tragedy began
afresh; and they dragged him about the same cruel and barbarous manner till he
expired. But their malice did not end with his death, for they burnt his mangled
body after they had so inhumanly deprived it of life; but the Christians
gathered up his bones and ashes, and decently interred them near the place where
he used to preach. His remains were afterward, with great pomp, removed from
Alexandria to Venice, where they were religiously honored, and he was adopted
the titular saint and patron of that state. He suffered martyrdom on the 25th of
April, but the year is not absolutely known; the most probable opinion is that
it happened about the end of the reign of Nero. MARK'S GOSPEL His Gospel, the
only writing he left behind him, was written at the entreaty and earnest desire
of the converts at Rome, who, not content with having heard St. Peter preach,
pressed St. Mark, his disciple, to commit to writing an historical account of
what he had delivered to them, which he performed with equal faithfulness and
brevity, and being perused and approved by St. Peter, it was commanded to be
publicly read in their assemblies. It was frequently styled St. Peter's gospel,
not because he dictated it to St. Mark, but because the latter composed it from
the accounts St. Peter usually delivered in his discourse to the people. And
this is probably the reason of what St. Chrysostom observes, that in his style
and manner of expression he delights to imitate St. Peter, representing a great
deal in a few words. ST. LUKE DOCTOR AND PAINTER The Evangelist St. Luke was a
native of Antioch in Syria, and by profession a physician; and it is the general
opinion of most ancient historians, that he was also well acquainted with the
art of painting. PAUL'S COMPANION After our Lord's ascension into heaven, he
spent a great part of his time with St. Paul, whom he accompanied to various
places, and greatly assisted in bringing over proselytes to the Christian faith.
This so endeared him to that apostle, that he seems delighted with owning him
for his fellow-laborer, and in calling him “the beloved physician,” and the
“brother whose praise is in the gospel.” DIED BY HANGING St. Luke preached the
gospel with great success in a variety of places, independent of his assisting
St. Paul. he travelled into different parts of Egypt and Greece, in the latter
of which countries the idolatrous priests were so incensed against him that they
put him to death, which they effected by hanging him on the branch of an
olive-tree. The anniversary of his martyrdom is held on the 18th of October.
WRITINGS TO THEOPHILUS St. Luke wrote two books for the use of the church;
namely his Gospel, and the Acts of the Apostles. Both these he dedicated to
Theophilus, which many of the ancients suppose to be a feigned name, denoting a
lover of God, a title common to all sincere Christians. But others think it was
a real person, because the title of “most excellent” is attributed to him; which
was the usual form of address, in those times, to princes, and other
distinguished characters. LUKE AND ACTS WRITTEN His Gospel contains the
principal transactions of the life of our blessed Redeemer; and in his Acts of
the Apostles, which it is probable he wrote at Rome about the time of Paul's
imprisonment, are recorded the most material actions of the principal apostles,
especially St. Paul, whose activity in the cause of Christ made him bear a very
great part in the labors of his Master; and St. Luke, being his almost constant
attendant, and privy to his most intimate transactions, was consequently capable
of giving a more full and satisfactory account of them than any other of the
apostles. In both these treatises his manner of writing is exact and accurate;
his style noble and elegant, sublime and lofty, and yet clear and perspicuous,
flowing with an easy and natural grace and sweetness, admirably adapted to an
historical design. In short, as an historian he was faithful in his relations,
and elegant in his writings; as a minister, careful and diligent for the good of
souls; as a Christian, devout and pious; and to crown all the rest, he laid down
his life in testimony of the gospel he had both preached and published to the
world. ST. BARNABAS PAUL'S COMPANION After our Lord's ascension into heaven,
Barnabas continued for a considerable time with St. Paul, being his constant
attendant wherever he went. He travelled with him to a great variety of places
in different parts of the world, and was of the most infinite service in helping
him to propagate the gospel of his great Lord and Master. At length, however, a
dispute arose between them while they were at Antioch, the issue of which was,
that Barnabas left Paul at Antioch, and retired to Cyprus, his native country.
BARNABAS STONED TO DEATH After this separation from St. Paul, the sacred
writings give us no account of St Barnabas; nor are the ecclesiastical writers
agreed among themselves with regard to the actions of our apostle, after his
sailing for Cyprus. This, however, seems to be certain, that he did not spend
the whole remainder of his life in that island, but visited different parts of
the world, preaching the glad tidings of the gospel, healing: the sick, and
working other miracles among the Gentiles. After long and painful travels,
attended with different degrees of success in different places, he returned to
Cyprus, his native country, where he suffered martyrdom in the following manner:
certain Jews coming from Syria and Salamis, where Barnabas was then preaching
the gospel, being highly exasperated at his extraordinary success, fell upon him
as he was disputing in the synagogue, dragged him out, and after the most
inhuman tortures, stoned him to death. His kinsman, John Mark, who was a
spectator of this barbarous action, privately interred his body in a cave; where
it remained till the time of the emperor Zeno, in the year of Christ 485, when
it was discovered, with St. Matthew's Gospel, in Hebrew, written with his own
hand, lying on his breast. TIMOTHY PAUL'S DISCIPLE This great assertor of the
cause of Christ was a disciple of St. Paul, and born at Lystra in Lyaconia. His
father was a Gentile, but his mother was a Jewess. Her name was Eunice, and that
of his grandmother Lois. These particulars are taken notice of, because St. Paul
commends their piety, and the good education which they had given Timothy. When
St. Paul came to Derbe and Lystra, about the year of Christ 51 or 52, the
brethren gave such an advantageous testimony of the merit and good disposition
of Timothy, that the apostle took him with him, in order to assist him in
propagating the doctrine of his great Lord and Master. Timothy applied himself
to labor with St. Paul in the business of the gospel, and did him very important
services, through the whole course of his preaching. St. Paul calls him not only
his dearly beloved son, but also his brother, the companion of his labors, and a
man of God. This holy disciple accompanied St. Paul to Macedonia, to Philippi,
to Thessalonica, to Berea; and when the apostle went from Berea, he left Timothy
and Silas there, to confirm the converts. When he came to Athens, he sent for
Timothy to come thither to him: and when he was come, and had given him an
account of the churches of Macedonia, St. Paul sent him back to Thessalonica,
whence he afterward returned with Silas, and came to St. Paul at Corinth. There
he continued with him for some time, and the apostle mentions him with Silas, at
the beginning of the two Epistles which he then wrote to the Thessalonians. Some
years after this, St. Paul sent Timothy and Erastus into Macedonia; and gave
Timothy orders to call at Corinth, to refresh the minds of the Corinthians with
regard to the truths which he had inculcated in them. Some time after, writing
to the same Corinthians, he recommends them to take care of Timothy, and send
him back in peace; after which Timothy returned to St. Paul into Asia, who there
stayed for him. They went together into Macedonia; and the apostle puts
Timothy's name with his own before the second Epistle to the Corinthians, which
he wrote to them from Macedonia, about the middle of the year of Christ 57. And
he sends his recommendations to the Romans in the letter which he wrote from
Corinth the same year. TIMOTHY AT EPHESUS When St. Paul returned from Rome, in
64, he left Timothy at Ephesus to take care of that church, of which he was the
first bishop, as he is recognized by the council of Chalcedon. St. Paul wrote to
him from Macedonia the first of the two letters which are addressed to him. He
recommends him to be more moderate in his austerities, and to drink a little
wine, because of the weakness of his stomach, and his frequent infirmities.
After the apostle came to Rome in the year 65, being then very near his death,
he wrote to him his second letter, which is full of marks of kindness and
tenderness for this his dear disciple; and which is justly looked upon as the
last will of St. Paul. He desires him to come to Rome to him before winter, and
bring with him several things which he had left at Troas. If Timothy went to
Rome, as it is probable he did, he must have been an eyewitness of the martyrdom
of Paul, which happened in the year of Christ 68. TIMOTHY CLUBBED TO DEATH After
Timothy had visited Paul at Rome, he returned to Ephesus, where he continued to
govern the church as its bishop, without the least interruption, for a
considerable time, till at length he fell a victim to the malice of the pagans,
who were his most inveterate enemies. These heathens made a great feast, to the
celebration of which they carried in procession the images of their idols, being
all masked, and armed with clubs and other offensive weapons. Timothy, seeing
the procession, was so irritated at their idolatry and superstition, that he
rushed in among them in order to stop their proceedings; upon which they
immediately fell upon him, and, with their clubs, beat him in so unmerciful a
manner that he soon expired. They left the body on the spot where they had
murdered him, which was removed hence by some of his disciples, and decently
interred on the top of a mountain at a small distance from the city. The Greeks
commemorate his martyrdom on the 22d of January, the day on which it is supposed
he gave up his life in defence of the doctrine he had long labored to propagate;
and during which time he had brought over great numbers of people to embrace the
truth of the Christian religion. TITUS A CONVERTED GENTILE Titus was a native of
Greece, and a Gentile by birth; but was converted to the Christian faith by the
apostle Paul, who, in consequence of his strict adherence to the doctrine of
Christ, calls him his son. St. Jerome tells us that he was St. Paul's
interpreter; and that, probably, because he might write what Paul dictated, or
translate into Greek what he had written in Latin. JERUSALEM CONTROVERSY Soon
after the conversion of Titus, the apostle Paul took him with him to Jerusalem;
which was at the time when he went thither about deciding the dispute then in
agitation relative to the converted Gentiles being made subject to the
ceremonies of the Mosaic law. On their arrival there, some of the people were
desirous that Titus should be circumcised; but this was not only refused by
Titus, but totally objected to by Paul. WORK AT CORINTH After this controversy
was ended at Jerusalem, Paul sent Titus thence to Corinth, in order to adjust
some disputes which had taken place in the church of that city. Titus was
received by the people with the greatest marks of respect; and, from the various
discourses he preached on the occasion, was so successful as effectually to
discharge the business on which he was sent. After staying some time at Corinth,
Titus went thence into Macedonia, in order to inform Paul of the state of the
church in that city. Paul was well pleased with the account he gave, and the
success of his embassy; and intending himself to go to Corinth, desired Titus to
return thither, to make some necessary preparations previous to his departure
for that city. Titus readily undertook the journey, and immediately set off,
carrying with him St. Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians. WORK AT CRETE
Titus was made bishop of the island of Crete, about the sixty-third year after
Christ, when St. Paul was obliged to quit that island, in order to take care of
the other churches. The following year, Paul wrote him to desire, that as soon a
he should have sent Tychicus to him for supplying his place in Crete, he would
come to him to Nicopolis, in Epirus, where the apostle intended to pass his
winter. The subject of this epistle is to represent to Titus what are the
qualities that a bishop should be endued with. As the principal function which
Titus was to exercise in the isle of Crete was to ordain priests and bishops, it
was highly incumbent on him to make a discreet choice. The apostle also gives
him a sketch of the advice and instructions which he was to propound to all
sorts of persons: to the aged, both men and women; to young people of each sex;
to slaves or servants. He exhorts him to keep a strict eye over the Cretans; and
to reprove them with severity, as being a people addicted to lying, wickedness,
idleness, and gluttony. And, as many Jews were in the churches of Crete, he
exhorts Titus to oppose their vain traditions and Jewish fables; and at the same
time to show them that the observation of the law ceremonies is no longer
necessary; that the distinction of meat is abolished; and that everything is
pure and clean to those that are so themselves. He puts him in mind of exhorting
the faithful to be obedient to temporal power; to avoid disputes, quarrels, and
slander; to apply themselves to honest callings, and to shun the company of a
heretic, after the first and second admonition. DIED OF OLD AGE Titus was
deputed to preach the gospel in Dalmatia, where he was situated when the apostle
wrote his second epistle to Timothy. He afterward returned into Crete, from
which it is said he propagated the gospel into the neighboring islands. He died
at the age of ninety-four, and was buried to Crete. The Greeks keep his festival
of the 25th of August, and the Latins on the 4th of January. JOHN MARK DISCIPLE
OF BARNABAS, SON OF MARY John Mark, cousin to St. Barnabas and a disciple of
his, was the son of a Christian woman named Mary, who had a house in Jerusalem,
where the apostles and the faithful generally used to meet. Here they were at
prayers in the night, when St. Peter, who was delivered out of prison by the
angel, came and knocked at the door; and in this house the celebrated church of
Sion was said to have been afterward established. JOHN MARK LEAVES PAUL AND
BARNABAS John Mark, whom some very improperly confound with the Evangelist St.
Mark, adhered to St. Paul and St. Barnabas, and followed them in their return to
Antioch. He continued in their company and service till they came to Perga, in
Pamphylia, but then, seeing that they were undertaking a longer journey, he left
them and returned to Jerusalem. This happened in the year 45 of the common era.
JOHN MARK HELPED PAUL LATER Some years after, that is to say to the year 51,
Paul and Barnabas preparing to return into Asia, in order to visit the churches
which they had formed there, the latter was of opinion that John should
accompany them in this journey: but Paul would not consent to it; upon which
occasion these two apostles separated. Paul went to Asia, and Barnabas with John
Mark to the isle of Cyprus. What John Mark did after this journey we do not
know, till we find him at Rome in the year 63, performing signal services for
St. Paul during his imprisonment. The apostle speaks advantageously of him in
his epistle to the Colossians: “Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, saluteth you.
If he cometh unto you, receive him.” He makes mention of him again in his
epistle to Philemon, written in the year 63, at which time he was with St. Paul
at Rome; but in the year 65 he was with Timothy in Asia. And St. Paul, writing
to Timothy, desires him to bring Marcus to Rome, adding that he was useful to
him for the ministry of the gospel. DEATH UNCERTAIN In the Greek and Latin
churches, the festival of John Mark is kept on the 27th of September. Some say
that he was bishop of Biblis, in Phoenicia. The Greeks give him the title of
apostle, and say that the sick were cured by his shadow only. It is very
probable that he died at Ephesus, where his tomb was very much celebrated and
resorted to. He is sometimes called simply John, or Mark. The year of his death
we are strangers to, and shall not collect all that is said of him in apocryphal
and uncertain authors. CLEMENT SUCCEEDED PAUL IN ROME Clement is mentioned by
St. Paul in his epistle to the Philippians, where the apostle says that
Clement's name is written in the book of life. The generality of the fathers and
other interpreters make no question but that this is the same Clement who
succeeded St. Paul, after Linus and Anaclet, in the government of the church of
Rome; and this seems to be intimated when, in the office for St. Clement's day,
that church appoints this part of the Epistle to the Philippians to be read.
RELUCTANT APOSTLE We find several things relating to Clement's life in the
recognition and constitutions called apostolic; in as those works are not all
looked upon as authentic, though there may be truths in some of them derived
from the tradition of the first ages, little stress is to be laid upon their
testimony. St. Chrysostom thinks that Clement, mentioned by St. Paul in his
Epistle to the Philippians, was one of the apostle's constant fellow-travelers.
Irenaeus, Origin, Clemens of Alexandria, and others of the ancients, assert that
Clement was a disciple of the apostles; that he had seen them and heard their
instructions. St. Epiphanius, Jerome, Rufinus, Bede, and some others, were of
opinion, that as the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul could not be continually at
Rome, by reason of the frequent journeys which they were obliged to make to
other places, and it was not proper that the city of Rome should be without a
bishop, there was a necessity to supply the want of them by establishing Linus,
Anaclet, and Clement, there. The constitutions inform us that Linus was ordained
by St. Paul; Tertullian and Epiphanius say that St. Peter ordained Clement.
Rufinus tells us that this apostle chose St. Clement for his successor. But
Epiphanius believes, that after he had been made bishop of Rome by St. Peter, he
refused to exercise his office till, after the death of Linus and Anaclet, he
was obliged to take upon him the care of the church; and this is the most
generally-received opinion. Peter's immediate successor was Linus; Linus was
succeeded by Anaclet, and Anaclet by Clement, in the year of Christ 91, which
was the tenth of the reign of Domitian. WROTE TO THE CORINTHIANS During his
government over the church of Rome, that of Corinth was disturbed by a spirit of
division, upon which Clement wrote a letter to the Corinthians, which is still
extant, and was so much esteemed by the ancients that they read it publicly in
many churches, and some have been inclined to range it among the canonical
writings. POSSIBLE MARTYR IN NOVEMBER In what manner Clement conducted himself,
and how he escaped the general persecution under the emperor Domitian, we have
not any certain accounts; but we are very well assured that he lived to the
third year of the emperor Trajan, which is the hundredth of the Christian era.
His festival is set down by Bede, and all the Latin martyrologists, on the 23rd
of November, and the Greeks honor him on the 24th and 25th of the same month.
Rufinus and Pope Zozimus give him the title of martyr; and the Roman church, in
its canon, places him among the saints who have sacrificed their lives in the
cause of Christ. Thus have we given the most ample account of the followers of
the blessed Jesus, the persons who spread, and caused to be spread, the light of
the gospel over whole world, removed the veil of ignorance and superstition
drawn over the kingdoms of the earth, and taught us the method of attaining
eternal happiness in the courts of the New Jerusalem. May we all follow their
glorious examples! May we imitate their faith, their piety, their charity, and
their love! Then shall we “pass through things temporal in such a manner that we
shall finally gain the things eternal,” and, though the merits of an all-perfect
Redeemer, be admitted as worthy guests at the marriage supper of the Lamb.


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  CHAPTER 56: NOTICE OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA
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NOTICE OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA THEY TEACH REPENTANCE The sure word of
prophecy has unfolded many a desolation which has come upon the earth; but while
it thus reveals the operation, in some of its bearings, of the “mystery of
iniquity,” it forms itself a part of the “mystery of godliness:” and it is no
less the testimony of Jesus, because it shows, as far as earthly ruins can
reveal, the progress and the issue of the dominion of “other lords” over the
hearts of the children of men. The sins of men have caused, and the cruelty of
men has effected, the dire desolations which the word of God foretold. Signs and
tokens of his judgments there indeed have been, yet they are never to be found
but where iniquity first prevailed. And though all other warnings were to fail,
the sight of his past judgments and the sounding of those that are to come,
might teach the unrepenting and unconverted sinner to give heed to the
threatenings of his word, and to the terrors of the Lord, and to try his ways
and turn unto God while space for repentance may be found, ere, as death leaves
him, judgment shall find him. And may not the desolations which God has wrought
upon the earth, and that accredit his word, wherein life and immortality are
brought to light, teach the man whose God is the world, to cease to account it
worthy of his worship and of his love, and to abjure that “covetousness which is
idolatry,” till the idol of mammon in the temple within shall fall, as fell the
image of Dagon before the ark of the Lord in which “the testimony” was kept?
Pergamos

THEY TEACH JUDGMENT But naming, as millions do, the name of Christ without
departing from iniquity, there is another warning voice that may come more
closely to them all. And it is not only from the desolate regions where heathens
dwelt, which show how holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost; but also from the ruins of some of the cities where churches were formed
by apostles, and where the religion Jesus once existed in its purity, that all
may learn to know that God is no respecter of persons, and that he will by no
means clear the guilty. “He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith
unto the churches.” THEY TEACH CHRIST'S INTERACTION What church could rightfully
claim or ever seek a higher title than that which is given in Scripture to the
seven churches of Asia, the angels of which were the seven stars in the right
hand of Him who is the first and the last--of Him that liveth and was dead, and
is alive for evermore, and that hath the keys of hell and of death; and which
themselves were the seven golden candlesticks in the midst of which he walked?
And who that hath an ear to hear, may not humbly hear and greatly profit by what
the Spirit said unto them? (Revelation 2-3) EPHESUS CHURCH LEFT FIRST LOVE The
Church of Ephesus, after a commendation of their first works, to which they were
commanded to return, were accused of having left their first love, and
threatened with the removal of their candlestick out of its place, except they
should repent (Revelation 2:5). Ephesus is situated nearly fifty miles south of
Smyrna. It was the metropolis of Lydia, and a great and opulent city, and
according to Strabo) the greatest emporium of Asia Minor. It was chiefly famous
or the temple of Diana, “whom all Asia worshipped,” which was adorned with 127
columns of Parian marble, each of a single shaft, and sixty feet high, and which
formed one of the seven wonders of the world. The remains of its magnificent
theater, in which it is said that twenty thousand people could easily have been
seated, are yet to be seen (Acts 19:29). But “a few heaps of stones, and some
miserable mud cottages, occasionally tenanted by Turks, without one Christian
residing there,[521] are all the remains of ancient Ephesus.” It is, as
described by different travelers, a solemn and most forlorn spot. The epistle to
the Ephesians is read throughout the world; but there is none in Ephesus to read
it now. They left their first love, they returned not to their first works.
Their candlestick has been removed out of its place, and the great city of
Ephesus is no more. [521] Arundel's Visit to the Seven Churches of Asia, p. 27.
SMYRNA CHURCH WAS PERSECUTED The Church of Smyrna was approved of as “rich,” and
no judgment was denounced against it. They were warned of a tribulation of ten
days (the ten years' persecution by Diocletian), and were enjoined to be
faithful unto death, and they would receive a crown of life (Revelation 2:8-11).
And, unlike to the fate of the more famous city of Ephesus, Smyrna is still a
large city, containing nearly one hundred thousand inhabitants, with several
Greek churches, and an English and other Christian ministers have resided in it.
The light has indeed become dim, but the candlestick has not been wholly removed
out of its place. PERGAMOS CHURCH HELD FAST The Church of Pergamos is commended
for holding fast the name of the Lord, and not denying his faith, during a time
of persecution, and in the midst of a wicked city. But there were some in it who
held doctrines and did deeds which the Lord hated. Against them he was to fight
with the sword of his mouth; and all were called to repent. But it is not said,
as of Ephesus, that their candlestick would be removed out of its place
(Revelation 2:12-16). This city, the capital of Hellespontic Mysia, was situated
on the right bank of the river Caicus, nearly sixty-four miles to the north of
Smyrna. Its ancient consideration may be inferred from its possessing a library
of two hundred thousand volumes, which Anthony and Cleopatra transferred to
Alexandria. It is also noted as the birthplace of the physician Galen. It still,
in its decline, retains some part of its ancient importance; and, under the name
of Bergamo, contains a population which Mr. Macfarlane estimates at fourteen
thousand, of which there are about three thousand Greeks, three hundred
Armenians, and not quite three hundred Jews; the rest are Turks. The town
consists of small and mean wooden houses, among which appear the remains of
early Christian churches, showing, “like vast fortresses amid barracks of wood.”
Sardis

THYATIRA CHURCH WITH TARES In the Church of Thyatira, like that of Pergamos,
some tares were soon mingled with the wheat. He who hath eyes like unto a flame
of fire discerneth both. Yet, happily for the souls of the people, more than for
the safety of the city, the general character of that church, as it then
existed, is thus described: “I know thy works, and charity, and service, and
faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first”
(Revelation 2:19). But against those, for such there were among them, who had
committed fornication, and eaten things sacrificed unto idols, to whom the Lord
gave space to repent of their fornication, and they repented not, great
tribulation was denounced; and to every one of them was to be given according to
their works. These, thus warned while on earth in vain, have long since passed,
who all are daily hastening, to the place where no repentance can be found and
no work be done. “But unto the rest in Thyatira (as many as have not known the
depths of Satan) I will put upon you, saith the Lord, none other burden”
(Revelation 2:24). There were those in Thyatira who could save a city. It still
exists, while greater cities have fallen. Mr. Hartley, who visited it in 1826,
describes it as “embosomed in cypresses and poplars. The Greeks are said to
occupy three hundred houses, and the Armenians thirty. Each of them has a
church.” SARDIS CHURCH NEEDS REINFORCEMENTS The Church of Sardis differed from
those of Pergamos and Thyatira. They had not denied the faith, but the Lord had
a few things against them, for there were some evil doers among them, and on
those, if they repented not, judgment was to rest. But in Sardis, great though
the city was, and founded though the church had been by an apostle, there were
only a few names which had not defiled their garments. And to that church the
Spirit said, “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art
dead.” But the Lord is long-suffering, not willing that any, should perish, but
that all should come to repentance. And the church Sardis was thus warned: “Be
watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for I
have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how thou hast
received and heard, and hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch,
I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come
upon thee” (Revelation 3:2-3). HISTORY OF SARDIS Sardis, whose ruins now bear
the modified name of Sart, is situated about sixty miles north-northwest from
Ephesus, at the foot of mount Tmolus, and on the river Pactolus, so renowned for
its fabled golden sands. This great and ancient city was the capital of the
kingdom of Lydia, whose monarch, Croesus, when defeated in the plain before this
city of Cyrus, was master of all the nations within the river Halys. This
dominion then passed to the Persians, and Sardis became the residence of the
satrap to whom the government was committed; and being at this time one of the
most splendid and opulent cities of the east, was the chosen resort of the
Persian kings when in this part of their empire. It surrendered quietly to
Alexander, after he had defeated the Persians in the battle of the Granicus.
Sardis continued a great city under the Romans, until the terrible earthquake
which happened in the time of Tiberius. It was, however, rebuilt by order of
that emperor: but subsequent calamities of the same description, with the
ravages and spoliations of the Goths, Saracens, and Turks, have made it an utter
desolation, reducing it to little better than a heap of ruins, in which,
nevertheless, some remains of its ancient splendor may, be detected.
PHILADELPHIA CHURCH FLOURISHES “And to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia
write, These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key
of David, He that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man
openeth--I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no
man can shut it; for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and
hast not denied my name--Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also
will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world”
(Revelation 3:9-10). The promises of the Lord are as sure as his threatenings.
Philadelphia alone long withstood the power of the Turks, And in the words of
Gibbon, “at length capitulated with the proudest of the Ottomans. Among the
Greek colonies and churches of Asia,” he adds, “Philadelphia is still erect: a
column in a scene of ruins” (Ch. 64). “It is indeed an interesting
circumstance,” says Mr. Hartley, “to find Christianity more flourishing here
than in many other parts of the Turkish empire: there is still a numerous
Christian population; they occupy 300 houses. Divine service is performed every
Sunday in five churches.” Nor is it less interesting in these eventful times,
and notwithstanding the general degeneracy of the Greek church, to learn that
the present bishop of Philadelphia accounts “the Bible the only foundation of
all religious belief;” and that he admits that “abuses have entered into the
church, which former ages might endure, but the present must put them down”--It
may well be added, as stated by Mr. Hartley, “The circumstance that Philadelphia
is now called Allah-Shehr, the city of God, when viewed in connection with the
promises made to that church, and especially with that of writing the name of
the city of God upon its faithful members, is, to say the least, a singular
concurrence.” From the prevailing iniquities of men many a sign has been given
how terrible are the judgments of God. But from the fidelity of the church in
Philadelphia of old in keeping his word, a name and memorial of his faithfulness
has been left on earth, while the higher glories promised to those that
overcame, shall be ratified in heaven; and toward them, but not them only, shall
the glorified Redeemer confirm the truth of his blessed words, “Him that
overcome will I make a pillar in the temple of my God;” even as assuredly as
Philadelphia, when all else fell around it, “stood erect,” our enemies
themselves being judges, “a column in a scene of ruins.” Philadelphia

LAODICEA CHURCH LETHARGY “And unto the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans
write, These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning
of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I
would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold
nor hot, I will spew thee out my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich and
increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art
wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy
of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that
thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and
anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see.” (Revelation 3:14, etc.)
All the other churches were found worthy of some commendation, and there was
some blessing in them all. The church of Ephesus had labored and not fainted,
though she had forsaken her first love; and the threatened punishment, except
she repented, was the removal of her candlestick out of its place. A faithless
and wicked few polluted the churches of Pergamos and Thyatira by their doctrines
or by their lives; but the body was sound, and the churches had a portion in
Christ. Even in Sardis; though it was dead, there was life in a few who had not
defiled their garments; “and they shall walk with me in white, said the Lord,
for they are worthy.” But in what the Spirit said to the church in Laodicea,
there was not one word of approval; it was lukewarm without exception, and
therefore it was wholly loathed. The religion of Jesus had become to them as an
ordinary matter. They would attend to it just as they did to other things which
they loved as well. The sacrifice of the Son of God upon the cross was nothing
thought of more than a common gift by man. They were not constrained by the love
of Christ more than by other feelings. They could repeat the words of the first
great commandment of the law, and of the second, that is like unto it; but they
showed no sign that the one or the other was truly a law to them. There was no
Dorcas among them, who, out of pure Christian love, made clothes for the poor.
There was no Philemon, to whom it could be said, “The church in thy house,” and
who could look on a servant as “a brother beloved;” There was no servant who
looked to the eye of his Father in heaven more than to that of his master on
earth, and to the recompense of eternal reward more than to the hireling wages
of a day; and who, by showing all good fidelity, sought to adorn the doctrine of
God his Savior in all things. There was nothing done, as everything should be,
heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men. The power of the world to come, and
of that which now is, hung, as it were, even balanced in their minds; each had
its separate influence and weight, even to a scruple; and they were kept
distinct, as if there should never be any interference between them, or as if
they were to hang in separate scales. This was given unto the world, and that
unto God, as if these Christian men had been full of the faith, that the
revealed will of the Most High had no title to a supreme ascendancy over them,
that all “the deeds done in the body would never be brought into judgment, and
that lukewarmness was requital enough for redeeming love. Their only dread
seemed to be lest they should be righteous overmuch. And for fear of that, which
would have been inconsistent with their character, though not with their
profession, they disregarded the words of one who was wiser than Solomon, and
who had laid down his life for their sakes: they did not strive to enter in at
the strait gate; to be perfect was no purpose of theirs; there was no fight in
their faith, no running in their race, no wrestling in their warfare, no victory
in their work. Yet they could show a goodly form or framework of religion, on
which they had raised many a high hope. Laodicea

They trusted to redemption through Christ, while they were not redeemed from
sin, nor actuated by the love of God. They used the means of grace, but
neglected the end for which that grace had appeared. They were rich, they
thought, and increased with goods, and had need of nothing. But they wanted
zeal; and all they had was nothing worth. Whatever they vainly imagined
themselves to be, the Spirit knew them truly, and told them what they were, even
wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. They had done no evil,
they thought, but they did little good. And they neither felt nor lived as if
they knew that whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Their lukewarmness was worse,
for it rendered their state more hopeless than if they had been cold. For sooner
would a man in Sardis have felt that the chill of death was upon him, and have
cried out for life, and called to the physician, than would a man of Laodicea,
who could calmly count his even pulse, and think his life secure, while death
was preying on his vitals. The character of lukewarm Christians, a
self-contradicting name, is the same in every age. Such was the church of the
Laodiceans. But what is that city now, or how is it changed from what it was?
LAODICEA'S BACKGROUND Laodicea was the metropolis of the Greater Phrygia; and,
as heathen writers attest, it was an extensive and very celebrated city. Instead
of then verging to its decline, it arose to its greatest eminence only about the
beginning of the Christian era. “It was the mother-church of sixteen
bishoprics.” Its three theaters, and the immense circus, which was capable of
containing upward of thirty thousand spectators, the spacious remains of which
(with other ruins buried under ruins) are yet to be seen, give proof of the
greatness of its ancient wealth and population, and indicate too strongly, that
in that city where Christians were rebuked without exception for their
lukewarmness, there were multitudes who were lovers of pleasure more than lovers
of God. The amphitheater was built after the Apocalypse was written, and the
warning of the Spirit had been given to the church of the Laodiceans to be
zealous and repent; but whatever they there may have heard or beheld, their
hearts would neither have been quickened to a renewed zeal for the service and
glory of God, nor turned to a deeper sorrow for sin, and to a repentance not to
be repented of. But the fate of Laodicea, though opposite, has been no less
marked than that of Philadelphia. There are no sights of grandeur nor scenes of
temptation around it now. Its own tragedy may be briefly told. It was lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot; and therefore it was loathsome in the sight of God. It
was loved; and rebuked, and chastened in vain. And it has been blotted from the
world. It is now as desolate as its inhabitants were destitute of the fear and
love of God; and as the church of the Laodiceans was devoid of true faith in the
Savior, and zeal in his service. It is, as described in his Travels by Dr.
Smith, “utterly desolated, and without any inhabitant, except wolves, and
jackals, and foxes.” It can boast of no human inhabitant, except occasionally
when wandering Turkomans pitch their tents in its spacious amphitheater. The
“finest sculptured fragments” are to be seen at a considerable depth, in
excavations which have been made among the ruins. (Arundel's Travels, p. 85.)
And Col. Leake observes, “There are few ancient cities more likely than Laodicea
to preserve many curious remains of antiquity beneath the surface of the soil;
its opulence, and the earthquakes to which it was subject, rendering it probable
that valuable works of art were often there buried beneath the ruins of the
public and private edifices.” A fearful significancy is thus given to the
terrific denunciation, “Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I
will spew thee out of my mouth.” PERSONAL CHALLENGE TO EVERY CHRISTIAN “He that
hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” The
Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. Each church, and each
individual therein, was weighed in the balance of the sanctuary, according to
their works. Each was approved of according to its character, or rebuked and
warned according to its deeds. Was the church itself pure, the diseased members
alone were to be cut off. Was the church itself dead, yet the few names in which
there was life, were all written before God, and not one of those who overcame
would be blotted out of the book of life. All the seven churches were severally
exhorted by the Spirit according to their need. The faith delivered to the
saints was preached unto them all; and all, as Christian churches, possessed the
means of salvation. The Son of man walked in the midst of them, beholding those
who were, and those who were not his. By the preaching of the gospel, and by the
written word, every man in each of the churches was warned, and every man was
taught in all wisdom, that every man might be presented perfect in Christ Jesus.
And in what the Spirit said unto each and all of the churches which he that hath
ears to hear was commanded to hear, the promise of everlasting blessedness,
under a variety of the most glorious representations, was given, without
exception, restriction, or reservation, to him that overcometh. The language of
love, as well as of remonstrance and rebuke, was urged even on the lukewarm
Laodiceans. And if any Christian fell, it was from his own resistance and
quenching of the Spirit; from his choosing other lords than Jesus to have
dominion over him; from his lukewarmness, deadness, and virtual denial of the
faith; and from his own willful rejection of freely-offered and dearly-purchased
grace, sufficient, if sought, and cherished, and zealously used, to have enabled
him to overcome and triumph in that warfare against spiritual wickedness to
which Christ hath called his disciples; and in which, as the finisher of their
faith, he is able to make the Christian more than conqueror. But if such, as the
Spirit described them and knew them to be, were the churches, and Christians
then, what are the churches and what are Christians now? Or rather, we would ask
of the reader, what is your own hope toward God, and what the work of your
faith? If, while Christianity was in its prime, and when its divine truths had
scarcely ceased to reach the ears of believers from the lips of apostles, on
whose heads the Spirit had visibly descended, and cloven tongues, like as of
fire, had sat; if, even at that time, one of the seven churches of Asia had
already departed from its first love; if two others were partially polluted by
the errors in doctrine, and evils in the practice, of some of their members; if
another had only a few names that were worthy, and yet another none; and if they
who formed the last and worst of these, thought themselves rich and increased
with goods, and that they had need of nothing; and knew not that, being
lukewarm, they were wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked;
have you an ear to hear or a heart to understand such knowledge? and do you,
professing yourself a Christian, as they also did, see no cause or warning here
to question and examine yourself, even as the same Spirit would search and try
you, of your works, and charity, and service, and faith, and patience? What is
your labor of love, or wherein do you labor at all for his name's sake, by whose
name you are called? What trials does your faith patiently endure? what
temptations does it triumphantly overcome? Is Christ in you the hope of glory,
and is your heart purified through that blessed hope? To a church we trust you
belong; but whose is the kingdom within you? What principles ever actuate you
which Christ and his apostles taught? here, in your affections and life, are the
fruits of the Spirit--love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,
meekness, temperance? Turn the precepts of the gospel into questions, and ask
thus what the Spirit would say unto you, as he said unto the churches. What the
Spirit said unto primitive and apostolic churches, over which “the beloved
disciple” personally presided, may suffice to prove that none who have left
their first love, if ever they have truly felt the love of Jesus--that none who
are guilty of seducing others into sin and uncleanness--that none who have a
name that they live, and are dead--and that none who are lukewarm, are worthy
members of any Christian communion; and that while such they continue, no
Christian communion can be profitable to them. But unto them is “space to
repent” given. And to them the word and Spirit speak in entreaties,
encouragements, exhortations, and warnings, that they may turn from their sins
to the Savior, and that they may live and not die. But were there one name in
Sodom, or a few in Sardis, that are the Lord's, he knows and names them every
one; and precious in his sight is the death of his saints. Some, on the other
hand, may be sunk into the depths of Satan, though in outward fellowship with a
church, were such to be found, as pure as once was that of Thyatira. Whatever,
therefore, the profession of your faith may be, seek the kingdom of God and his
righteousness; that kingdom which is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost, and that righteousness which is through faith in Christ, who gave himself
for the church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it. And whatever dangers may
then encompass you around, fear not--only believe; all things are possible to
him that believeth. It was by keeping the word of the Lord, and not denying his
faith, by hearing what the Spirit said, that the church of Philadelphia held
fast what they had, and no man took their crown, though situated directly
between the church of Laodicea, which was lukewarm, and Sardis, which was dead.
And dead as Sardis was, the Lord had a few names in it which had not defiled
their garments--Christians, worthy of the name, who lived, as you yourself
should ever live, in the faith of the Lord Jesus--dead unto sin, and alive unto
righteousness; while all around them, though naming the name of Jesus, were dead
in trespasses and sins. Try your faith by its fruits; judge yourself that you be
not judged; examine yourself whether you be in the faith; prove your own self;
and with the whole counsel of God, as revealed in the gospel, open to your view,
let the rule of your self-scrutiny be what the Spirit said unto the churches.
Many prophecies remain which are not here noticed. But were any gainsayers to
ask for more obvious facts and some demonstration of the truth of prophecy,
which your own ears might hear and your eyes see, you have only to hear how they
speak evil of the things that they understand not--how they speak great swelling
words of vanity to allure others, promising them liberty while they themselves
are the children of corruption; you have only to look on these scoffers, and
mockers, and false teachers, who have come in the last times; who walk after
their own lusts, who despise government, who are presumptuous and self-willed,
and who foam out their own shame, to hear and to see the loud and living
witnesses of the truth of God's holy and unerring word. (2 Peter 3:3; Jude
1:13.) Such have been, and such are, the enemies of the Christian faith. Yet it
calls them from darkness to light, and from death to life. Turn ye, turn ye:
why, it asks of these boasters of reason, why will ye die? If you have seen any
wonderful things out of the law of the Lord, and have looked, though from afar
off, on the judgments of God that have come upon the earth, lay not aside the
thought of these things when you lay down this book. Treat them not as if they
were an idle tale, or as if you yourself were not to be a witness--and more than
a witness--of a far greater judgment, which shall be brought nigh unto you, and
shall be your own. If, in traversing some of the plainest paths of the field of
prophecy, you have been led by a way which you knew not of before, let that path
lead you to the well of living waters, which springeth up into everlasting life
to every one that thirsts after it and drinks. Let the words of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ be to you this wellspring of the Christian life. Let the
word of God enlighten your eyes, and it will also rejoice your heart. Search the
Scriptures, in them there are no lying divinations; they testify of Jesus, and
in them you will find eternal life. Pray for the teaching and the aid of that
Spirit by whose inspiration they were given. And above all Christian virtues,
that may bear witness of your faith, put on charity, love to God and love to
man, the warp and woof of the Christian's new vesture without a seam; even that
charity, or love, by which faith worketh, which is the fruit of the Spirit, the
end of the commandment, the fulfilling of the law, the bond of perfectness, and
a better gift and a more excellent way than speaking with tongues, or
interpreting, or prophesying, and without which you would be as nothing, though
you understood all mystery and all knowledge. From the want of this the earth
has been covered with ruins. Let it be ours, and however poor may be your
earthly portion, it will be infinitely more profitable to you than all the
kingdoms of the world, and all their glory. Prophecies shall fall; tongues shall
cease; knowledge shall vanish away; the earth and the works that are therein
shall be burned up; but charity never faileth. If you have kept the word of the
Lord, and have not denied his name, hold that fast which thou hast, that no man
take thy crown. But if heretofore you have been lukewarm, and destitute of
Christian faith, and zeal, and hope, and love, it would be vain to leave you
with any mortal admonition; hear what the Spirit saith, and harden not your
heart against the heavenly counsel, and the glorious encouragement given unto
you by that Jesus of whom all the prophets bear witness, and unto whom all
things are now committed by the Father. “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried
in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be
clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine
eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love I rebuke and
chasten; be zealous, therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and
knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and
will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit
with me in my throne, even as l also overcame, and am set down with my Father in
his throne. He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches.”


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  CHAPTER 57: DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM AS FORETOLD BY CHRIST
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DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM AS FORETOLD BY CHRIST The Jews remain to this day not
only the guardians of the Old Testament scriptures, but living witnesses of the
truth of many prophecies, which, in the first ages of their history, unfolded
their fate until the latest generations. Jewish and heathen historians fully
describe the dreadful miseries which they suffered when all their cities were
laid waste, when Jerusalem itself was destroyed in the seventieth year of the
Christian era, and the remnant of their race, after an almost uninterrupted
possession of Judea by their forefathers for fifteen hundred years, were driven
from their country and scattered throughout the world. A brief detail of the
unparalleled miseries which they then endured may serve to connect their former
history with their subsequent alike unparalleled fate, and to show that the
prophecies respecting the destruction of Jerusalem are as circumstantial and
precise, and were as minutely fulfilled, as those in which their more recent and
present history may be read. The Israelites were chosen to be a peculiar people.
The worship of the only living and true God was maintained among them alone for
many ages, while idolatry and polytheism (or the worship of many gods) otherwise
universally prevailed. But the Father of the universe is no respecter of
persons. A divine law was given to the descendants of Abraham, and blessings and
curses were set before them, to cleave to their race in every age, according as
they would observe and obey the commandments of the Lord, or refuse to hearken
unto his voice, and to do all his commandments and statutes. Their history, and
their continued preservation as a people, is thus an express record and
manifestation of the doings of Providence. To read of their calamities is to see
the judgments of God; and to compare them with the prophecies is to witness the
truth of his word. There were intermingled seasons of prosperity and triumph, or
of oppression and misery, as they enjoyed or forfeited their promised blessings,
throughout the long period that they dwelt in the land of Canaan. But their
punishments were to rise progressively with their sins; and so awfully sinful
were the inhabitants of Jerusalem after the time of their merciful visitation
had passed, and when the dark unbroken era of their miseries began, that
Josephus, their great historian, and the greatest of their generals in their
wars with the Romans, has recorded his opinion that, had they delayed their
coming, the city would have been swallowed up by an earthquake or overflowed by
water, or, as it was worse than Sodom, would have been destroyed by fire from
heaven.[522] The vial of wrath was not poured out till the measure of their
iniquities was full. [522] Josephus History of the Wars of the Jews. book 5,
chap. 13, § 6. Instruments are never wanting for the execution of the purposes
of God; nor, when needful for the confirmation of his word, is there any want of
full testimony that his declared purposes have been fulfilled. There is nothing
similar in history to the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, and to the
miseries which its inhabitants inflicted and brought upon themselves by their
savage barbarity and unyielding obstinacy; nor was there ever any other city or
country of whose destruction, devastation, and misery, there is so clear and
authenticated a detail. Josephus, himself a Jew and an eye-witness of the facts
he relates, gives a circumstantial account of the whole war, which furnishes
complete evidence, not only of the truth of what Moses and the prophets had
foretold, but also of all that in clearer vision, and to the perturbation and
astonishment of his disciples, Christ had explicitly revealed concerning its
then approaching fate. Heathen writers also record many of the facts. The
prophecies from the Old Testament and from the New relative to the siege and
destruction of Jerusalem are so numerous, that the insertion of them at length
would occupy a greater space than can here be devoted to the consideration of
the subject. The reader may peruse them as they are to be found in the written
word: Leviticus 26:14, etc.; Deuteronomy 28:15, etc.; Isaiah 29, etc.; Ezekiel
6:7; Jeremiah 26:18; Micah 3:12; Matthew 21:33, etc.; Matthew 22:1-7; Matthew
24; Mark 13; Luke 20:9-19. They require no other exposition of their meaning.
Exclusive of literal predictions, frequent allusions are interspersed throughout
the Gospels respecting the abolition of the Mosaic dispensation, and the utter
subversion of the Jewish state. A nation of fierce countenance, of an unknown
tongue, and swift as the eagle flieth, were to come from a distant land against
the Jews--to despoil them of all their goods--to besiege them in all their
gates--to bring down their high and fenced walls. They were to be left few in
number--to be slain before their enemies; the pride of their power was to be
broken; their cities to be laid waste, and themselves to be destroyed--to be
brought to nought--to be plucked from off their own land--to be sold into
slavery, and to be so despised that none would buy them. Their high places were
to be rendered desolate--their bones to be scattered about their altars;
Jerusalem was to be encompassed round about--to be besieged with a mount--to
have forts raised against it--to be ploughed over like a field--to become heaps,
and to come to an end. The sword, the famine, and the pestilence, were to
destroy them. The Jews lived fearless of judgments like these, when they dwelt
in peace, and would not listen to the voice of Jesus. They would have no king
but Caesar; and they trusted in the power of the Roman empire as the security of
their state. But He whom they rejected showed how God had rejected them, how
they were filling up the measure of their fathers, and how all these judgments
that had been denounced of old, and others of which their fathers had not heard,
were to be felt by many, and to be all witnessed by some who were living then.
And the Man of sorrows, whose face was set as a flint against his own unequaled
sufferings, and who shed not a tear on his own account, was moved to pity, and
his heart was melted into tenderness, on contemplating the great crimes and the
coming calamities of the wicked, impenitent, and devoted city: “when he beheld
Jerusalem, he wept over it.” The expiration of thirty-six years from the death
of Christ to the destruction of Jerusalem; the death, previous to that event, of
at least two of the evangelists who record the prophecies concerning it; the
manner in which the predictions and allusions respecting the fate of Jerusalem
are interwoven throughout the gospel; the warning given to the disciples of
Christ to escape from the impending calamities, and the annunciation of the
signs whereby they would know of their approach; the dread that was cherished by
some of the earliest converts to the Christian faith that the day of judgment
was then at hand, and which had arisen from the prophecies concerning the
destruction of Jerusalem being closely connected with those relative to the
second coming of Christ and the end of the world (all of which things his
disciples had asked him to reveal); the unanimous assent of antiquity to the
prior publication of the gospel; and the continued truth of the prophecy still
manifested in Jerusalem being yet trodden down of the Gentiles--afford as full a
proof as could now be thought of that the predictions were delivered previous to
the event. No coincidence can be closer in relation to the facts than that which
subsists between the predictions of Jesus and the narrative of the Jewish
historian. Yet, as the reader will doubtless perceive, this coincidence is not
more clear than that which subsists between the testimony of modern unbelievers
and those prophecies which refer to the past and present desolation of Judea:
wars, rumors of wars, and commotions; nations rising against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom; famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places; though
the greatest of human evils that mortals fear were to be but the “beginning of
sorrows”--the heralds of heavier woes. Many false Christs were to appear, and to
deceive many. The disciples of Jesus were to be persecuted, afflicted,
imprisoned, hated of all nations, and brought before rulers and kings for his
name's sake, and many of them were to be put to death. Iniquity was to abound,
and the love of many was to wax cold; but the gospel of the kingdom was to be
preached in all the world. The abomination of desolation was to be seen standing
in the place where it ought not. Jerusalem was to be compassed about with
armies, a trench was to be cast about it, and they were to be hemmed in on every
side. And there were to be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. These
were to be the signs that the end of Jerusalem was at hand. And there was to be
great distress upon the land, and wrath upon the people; the tribulation was to
be such as had never been; and would never be. The Jews were to fall by the edge
of the sword; a remnant was to be led captive into all nations; of the temple,
and of Jerusalem itself, one stone was not to be left upon another; and it was
to be trodden down of the Gentiles till the time of the Gentiles should be
fulfilled. OMENS OF PENDING WAR The omens which preceded the war, as related by
Josephus, are these: COMET OVER JERUSALEM A comet, which bore the resemblance of
a sword, hung over the city of Jerusalem for the space of a whole year. A short
time before the revolt of the Jews, a most remarkable and extraordinary light
was seen about the altar of the temple. It happened at the ninth hour of the
night preceding the celebration of the feast of the passover; and continued
about half an hour, giving a light equal to that of day. Ignorant persons
considered this unusual and wonderful appearance as a happy omen; but those of
superior judgment averred that it was a prediction of approaching war; and their
opinion was fully confirmed by the event. GATES OPEN OF THEMSELVES The eastern
gate of the interior part of the temple was composed of solid brass, and was of
such an immense weight that it was the labor of twenty men to make it fast every
night. It was secured with iron bolts and bars, which were let down into a large
threshold consisting of an entire stone. About the fifth hour of the night this
gate opened without any human assistance; immediate notice of which being given
to the officer on duty, he lost no time in endeavoring to restore it to its
former situation; but it was with the utmost difficulty that he accomplished it.
There were likewise some ignorant people who deemed this to be a second good
omen, insinuating that Providence had thereby set open a gate of blessings to
the people; but persons of superior discernment were of a contrary opinion, and
concluded that the opening of the gate predicted the success of the enemy, and
destruction of the city. CHARIOTS SEEN IN SKY A short time after the celebration
of the feast of the passover, before the setting of the sun, the appearance of
chariots and armed men were seen in the air, in various parts of the country,
passing round the city among the clouds. While the priests were going to perform
the duties of their function, according to custom, in the inner temple, on the
feast of Pentecost, they at first heard an indistinct murmuring, which was
succeeded by a voice, repeating, in the most plain and earnest manner, these
words: “Let us be gone, let us depart hence.” A SON OF ANANIAS But the most
extraordinary circumstance of the whole was this. Some time before the
commencement of the war, and while the city appeared to be in the most perfect
peace, and abounded in plenty, there came to the feast of tabernacles a simple
countryman, a son of one Ananias, who, without any previous intimation,
exclaimed as follows: “A voice from the east; a voice from the west; a voice
from the four quarters of the world; a voice to Jerusalem, and a voice to the
temple; a voice to men and women newly married; and a voice to the nation at
large.” In this manner did he continue his exclamations, in various places
through all the streets of the city; at which some persons of eminence in the
city were so offended, that they ordered him to be apprehended, and severely
whipped. This was accordingly done, but he bore his sufferings not only without
complaint, but without saying a word in his own defence; and no sooner was his
punishment ended, than he proceeded in his exclamations as before. By this time
the magistrates were suspicious (and indeed not without reason) that what he had
said proceeded from the divine impulse of a superior power, that influenced his
words. In consequence of this, they sent him to the governor of Judea, who
directed that he should be whipped with the greatest severity. This order was so
strictly obeyed, that his very bones were seen; notwithstanding which, he
neither wept nor supplicated, but, in a voice of mourning, between each stroke,
exclaimed, “Woe, woe to Jerusalem!” From this very extraordinary behavior, the
governor was induced to interrogate him with respect to his character, and the
places of his birth and residence, and what could prompt him to act as he had
done. He would not, however, make any answer to either of these questions; upon
which the governor found himself under the necessity of dismissing him, as a man
out of his senses. From this period to the commencement of the war, he was never
known either to visit or speak to any of the citizens, nor was he heard to say
any other words than the melancholy sentence, “Woe, woe to Jerusalem.” Those who
daily punished him, received no ill language from him; nor did those who fed him
receive his thanks; but what he generally said to every one was, an ominous
prediction. It was remarked that on public festivals he was more vociferous than
at other times; and in the manner before mentioned he continued for the space of
more than three years; nor did his voice or strength appear to fail him till his
predictions were verified by the siege of Jerusalem. As soon as this event took
place, he went for the last time on the wall of the city, and exclaimed with a
more powerful voice than usual, “Woe, woe to this city, this temple, and this
people and concluded his lamentation by saying, “Woe, woe be to myself.” He had
no sooner spoken these words than, in the midst of these predictions, he was
destroyed by a stone thrown from an engine. CIRCUMSTANCES CAUSING WAR Having
thus mentioned the very singular omens which preceded the destruction of
Jerusalem, as related by Josephus, we shall now proceed to give an account of
the circumstances which occasioned the war, together with its progress, which at
length brought on the final ruin and destruction of the Jewish state. CORRUPTION
OF ALBINUS The commencement of the war was occasioned, partly by the infamous
behavior of Albinus, the Roman governor of Judea, and partly by the
refractoriness of many of the principal people of Jerusalem. Albinus was a man
totally abandoned to every degree of vice. Avarice, corruption, extortion,
oppression, public and private, were equally familiar to him. He accepted bribes
to civil and personal causes, and oppressed the nation by the weight of
arbitrary taxes. If any offender, however atrocious, convicted of robbery or
assault by himself, or any other magistrate, was under sentence of the law, a
friend and a bribe would insure his liberty; and this governor never found any
man guilty who had money to procure his innocence. At this time there was a
strong faction in Jerusalem, who, wishing for a change of government, the most
opulent of them privately compounded with Albinus, in case any disturbance
should happen. There was likewise a set of men who would not be easy while the
state was at peace; and Albinus engaged these in his interest. The leaders of
these mutineers were each attended by daring fellows of their own turn of mind;
but the governor was the most abandoned villain of the whole, and had guards
always ready to execute his orders. The event proved that the injured did not
dare to complain; those who were in any danger of losing part of their property
were glad to compound to save the rest, and the receiver proved the worst of
thieves. In short, there appeared to be no sense of honor remaining; and a new
slavery seemed to be predicted from the number of tyrants then in power, through
the land of Judea. THE WICKEDNESS OF FLORUS Such was the character, and such
were the manners, of Albinus, who, in a short time, was, by order of the emperor
Nero, removed from his office, and Gessius Florus placed in his stead. This,
however, was far from being an advantageous change for the Jews, Florus being so
much more abandoned in his principles than the former as not to admit even of
the least comparison. Albinus was treacherous, but observed a secrecy in his
crimes that had the appearance of modesty; but Florus was so consummate in his
wickedness, that he boasted of his iniquitous behavior, and declared himself the
general enemy of the nation. His conduct in the province he governed was more
like that of an executioner than a governor; for he treated all the people like
criminals, and extended his rapine and tyranny beyond all bounds. He was equally
devoid of compassion, and dead to all sense of honor; cruel to the unfortunate,
and utterly abandoned in cases so enormous that impudence itself would blush at
the recollection of them. He exceeded all the men of his time in making lies and
impositions pass for truth; and was equally artful in discovering new modes of
doing mischief. He gave such encouragement to the sons of rapine and plunder,
that he might as well have proclaimed that every man was at liberty to seize
whatever he could lay his hands on, provided that he himself obtained a share of
the plunder. His avarice was carried to such an extravagant pitch, that the
inhabitants of the province were reduced to degrees of poverty little short of
starving; and many of them left the country in absolute want of the necessaries
of life. JEWISH INSURRECTION The daily oppressions of Florus on the people
throughout the province of Judea irritated them to the most violent degree, and
being fearful lest they should lay a complaint against him before the emperor,
Florus, to avoid the consequences of such a proceeding, resolved to continue his
oppressions till they should enter into open rebellion, whereby his villainous
proceedings would be greatly lessened in the eyes of his master. This had the
desired effect, for the factious party in Jerusalem, who for some time had been
inclined to revolt, encouraging the greater part of the people of that city to
oppose the measures of Floras, an insurrection took place, and a resolution was
formed to oppose the Romans with all their might. AGRIPPA'S WARNING It happened
at this time that King Agrippa was at Jerusalem, and being fearful of the
dreadful consequences that were likely to ensue, he summoned the people
together, and strongly exhorted them to desist from any violent proceedings,
telling them that if they did, it must inevitably prove their destruction. He
advised them to a patient submission to Florus, till another governor should be
appointed by the emperor, who, in all probability, would remove the grievances
under which they then labored. But this, instead of subsiding, only inflamed the
passions of the multitude, who not only made use of the most opprobrious
language, but likewise maltreated the king. In consequence of this, Agrippa left
Jerusalem; previous to which he dispatched messengers to Florus, who was then at
Caesarea, informing him of the manner in which he had been treated, and
requesting that he would immediately send a proper force to repel the
insurgents. JEWISH WAR AGAINST ROMANS No sooner had Agrippa left Jerusalem than
the factious Jews began to carry their design into execution. To this purpose
great numbers of them got privately into the Roman garrison called Masada, where
they surprised the soldiers; every one of whom they put to death, and, in their
stead, substituted a guard of their own people. About this juncture there
happened likewise another commotion in the temple of Jerusalem. A void and
factious young man, named Eleazar (son of the then high-priest), who was at that
time a military officer, persuaded a number of his friends among the priests not
to accept of any offering or sacrifice but from the Jews. This circumstance laid
the foundation of a war with the Romans; for, in consequence of the request of
Eleazar, when the sacrifices of Nero were presented, according to custom, to be
offered up for the success of the people of Rome, they were rejected. So new and
extraordinary a proceeding gave great offence to the high-priest and persons of
distinction, who protested against it, and earnestly recommended the continuance
of so reasonable a custom as that of offering prayers for princes and governors.
But the insurgents, relying on the strength of their numbers, were obstinate for
obedience to their orders; every one who wished for innovation was on their
side, and they considered Eleazar, who was a man of courage, and in office, as
the head of their party. HIGH PRIEST TRIES TO STOP INSURGENCE In consequence of
the great obstinacy of the insurgents, the high-priest, and most eminent of the
Pharisees, assembled together in order to deliberate on the most proper mode of
proceeding at so critical a juncture, being apprehensive that if the tumult was
not, by some means or other, suppressed, it must be attended with the most fatal
consequences. Having consulted for some time, they at length resolved to try
what could be done to appease the passions of the multitude; and for this
purpose they assembled the people before the brazen gate, on the inside of the
temple toward the east. Here they represented to them the rashness of the
enterprise in which they had engaged, and which would certainly involve their
country in a ruinous war. They then adverted to the unreasonable ground of the
dispute, and the evident injustice on which it was founded; they told them that
their ancestors were so far from refusing or forbidding the oblations of
strangers (which they would have deemed a kind of impiety) that they considered
them, in some degree, as a part of their own worship. They likewise mentioned
the presents which had, from time to time, been made by strangers to the temple,
which were still preserved as ornaments in that sacred place, and in remembrance
of those who gave them. They further told them, that the provoking a war with
the Romans would be at least disgraceful, if not ruinous, to Jerusalem; that new
modes of religion would certainly be adopted, as nothing less could be expected
by the interdiction of every sort of people except Jews, from offering oblations
and prayers to God in his holy temple. It was urged that this was such an
inhuman injunction as could not be excused in the case of a private person; but
that it was utterly unpardonable to extend it to the whole people of Rome, and
eventually even excommunicating the emperor himself. It was asked what would be
the consequence if such contempt should be returned, and those who had refused
others the liberty of offering their prayers and oblations, should themselves be
denied the privilege of public worship? They concluded with telling them, that
if they persisted in their obstinacy, the city would be left void of discipline
and every ill consequence would certainly happen, unless they repented of all
the uncharitable things they had done, and made satisfaction, before the emperor
should be informed of their violent proceedings. But all these circumstances
were of none effect; the insurgents, who wished for war rather than peace, were
determined to prosecute their design with the utmost vigor; and in this they
were further encouraged from the conduct of the Levites, who quitted the altar,
and joined themselves to their party. HIGH PRIEST ADVISE LEADERS OF REBELLION
The high-priest and people of rank, finding the populace despised all obedience
to law, and that themselves would probably be the first that would be censured
by the Romans, consulted together what means were the most eligible to take in
order to save themselves and country from destruction. After deliberating for
some time on this head, they at length resolved to send deputies to Florus and
Agrippa, representing the conduct of the people in its true light, and
requesting them to send forces to Jerusalem, in order to put a speedy end to the
rebellion. FLORUS SENDS TROOPS The news of the insurrection at Jerusalem was
highly agreeable to Florus, whose disposition led him to inflame rather than to
endeavor to suppress the war. This was, evidently evinced by his delay in giving
an answer to the deputies, knowing thereby that it would afford the rebels an
opportunity of augmenting their forces. On the contrary, Agrippa consulted only
the general welfare, being desirous of doing all in its power to save both
parties; and by this means to secure Jerusalem in the possession of the Jews,
and bind the Jews in subjection to the Romans. To effect this he dispatched two
thousand auxiliary horse to Jerusalem, under the command of Darius, a very able
and experienced general. On their arrival at the city they were joined by the
rulers and high-priest, together with the rest of the people who wished for
peace. The insurgents had already possessed themselves of the temple and lower
city; and therefore the royal troops immediately seized on the upper city, being
resolved, if possible, to reduce the rebels to subjection. It was not long
before a skirmish took place, and the combatants on both sides made use of their
bows and arrows, with which they galled each other incessantly. The insurgents
made their attacks in the most desperate manner; but the royal forces appeared
to have a superior knowledge of the military art. The principal operation the
latter had in view was to compel the sacrilegious faction to abandon the temple;
while, on the contrary, Eleazar and his adherents labored with equal zeal to get
the upper town into their possession. The contest continued without intermission
for some days, in all which time, though there was a great slaughter on both
sides, not the least advantage was obtained by either. At length, however, the
insurgents, being resolved to engage in the most hazardous enterprise, assaulted
the king's troops with such violence as to throw them into the greatest
confusion and disorder; and this advantage they improved to such a degree, that,
equally overcome by superior numbers and more determined resolution, the royal
troops were obliged to abandon the upper town, of which the rebels immediately
possessed themselves, and thereby became masters of the whole city. Elated with
this success, the insurgents immediately repaired to the house of the
high-priest, which they first plundered, and then reduced to ashes. This being
done, they resolved, in the next place, to set fire to the offices of record,
and consume both them and all their contents. As soon as this was known, the
persons who had the care of those places were so terrified, that they
immediately abandoned their trust, each man seeking his own security by flight;
on which both offices and records were reduced to ashes. The next day after the
insurgents had committed these outrages, they made an attack on the castle of
Antonia, and, after only two days' resistance, made themselves masters of it,
having done which, they burnt the castle, and put all the garrison to the sword.
After this they proceeded to the palace, in which were the troops sent by
Agrippa to suppress the insurrection: they immediately invested the place, and
having divided themselves into four bodies, made an attempt to undermine the
walls; while those within were under the necessity of remaining inactive, as
their strength was insufficient for them to sally forth with any hopes of
success. The assailants continued their operations with great resolution for
several days, till at length the besieged, finding they must either fall by the
sword, or be starved into compliance, deserted the place, and fled for security
to the castles of Hippon, Phasael and Marianne. But no sooner had the soldiers
quitted the place, than the rebels immediately broke in, and unmercifully put to
death every person they met with; having done which, they plundered the palace
of all its valuable furniture, and concluded the outrage by setting fire to the
camp. CESAREAN JEWS KILLED While these things were transacting at Jerusalem, a
most dreadful massacre took place in Caesarea, not less than twenty thousand
Jews being, at the instigation of Florus, put to death by the Romans in one day.
This horrid slaughter so irritated the Jews, that they became universally
outrageous, and, dividing themselves into distinct bodies, dispersed into
different parts, with a full resolution of seeking revenge on their enemies.
They first laid waste a great number of villages in Syria, and then destroyed
several principal cities, among which were Philadelphia, Gibonitis, Garasea,
Pella, and Scythopolis. They then proceeded to Sebaste and Askelon, both of
which places surrendered without opposition. Having effectually reduced these
two fortresses, they next proceeded to Gaza, which they totally destroyed; and,
continuing their ravages, laid waste a great number of villages on the frontiers
of Syria, putting to death all the inhabitants wherever they went. SYRIANS KILL
JEWS IN ALEXANDRIA On the other hand the Syrians wreaked their vengeance on all
the Jews they could find, not only in country places, but in many principal
cities throughout Syria, all of whom they put to the sword. In short the whole
country was in the most deplorable situation, there being, as it were, two
armies in every city; nor was any safety to be expected for the one but in the
destruction of the other. In the city of Alexandria no less than fifty thousand
Jews were put to death by the Romans; and the only places in which the Jews
escaped the general carnage were Sidon, Apamia, and Antioch. SYRIANS KILLED JEWS
OF ANTIOCH Cestius, the governor of Syria, who at this time resided at Antioch,
observing the contempt in which the Jews were held throughout the whole
province, resolved to take advantage of this circumstance, and prosecute the war
against them with the utmost vigor. For this purpose he raised a considerable
army, consisting of the whole twelfth legion which he commanded at Antioch; two
thousand select men from the other legions, and four divisions of horse,
exclusive of the royal auxiliaries, which consisted of two thousand horse and
three thousand foot, all armed with bows and arrows. SYRIANS DESTROY ZABULON
With this formidable army Cestius left Antioch, and proceeded toward Ptolemais,
in his way to which he was joined by a great number of people from different
parts of the country. The first material place he came to was Zabulon, otherwise
called Andron, the most defensible city of Galilee, and by which Judea was
divided from Ptolemais. On his arrival at this place he found that it was amply
stored with all kinds of provisions, but not a single person was to be seen in
the town, the inhabitants having, on his approach, fled to the mountains for
security. In consequence of this Cestius gave his soldiers permission to plunder
the city; which being done, he ordered it to be burnt and leveled with the
ground. He then proceeded to several other places in the neighborhood of
Zabulon, all of which he served in like manner, and then repaired to Ptolemais.
On this occasion the Syrians were so anxious for obtaining of plunder, that they
could not be prevailed on to retire in time; but many of them remained behind,
and, on the retreat of Cestius with the greater part of his forces, the Jews,
taking courage, fell on the plunderers, and nearly two thousand of them were put
to the sword. ROMANS KILL ALL AT JOPPA AND CAESAREA After staying a short time
at Ptolemais, Cestius proceeded to Caesarea, whence he dispatched a division of
his army to Joppa, with orders that, if they could get an easy possession of the
place, they should take it; but if they found that the inhabitants made
preparations to defend it, they should, in that case, wait till the arrival of
the rest of the army. The Romans, however, no sooner arrived at the place than
they immediately laid siege to it, and, with very little difficulty, even made
themselves masters of it. The inhabitants were so far from being able to resist
the attack, that they had not even an opportunity of making their escape; so
that the whole, both men, women, and children, were put to the sword, the number
amounting to not less than eight thousand. The Romans then plundered the city,
and, having reduced it to ashes, they returned to their general at Caesarea. In
the meantime a body of Roman horse made similar destruction in the neighborhood
of Caesarea, where they ravaged the country, killed great numbers of the
inhabitants, took possession of their effects, and then burnt their towns to the
ground. JEWS KILLED IN ANTIPATRIS From Caesarea Cestius departed with his army
to Antipatris, on his arrival at which place he was informed that a great number
of Jews had got into the tower of Aphec whither he sent a number of his troops
to rout them. The Jews, finding themselves totally unable to sustain the shock
abandoned the place to the Romans, who first stripped it of everything that was
valuable, and then set fire to it; having done; which they departed, but not
without destroying several villages in its neighborhood, and putting such of the
inhabitants as could not effect their escape to the sword. JEWS OF LYDDA KILLED
Cestius proceeded with his army from Antipatris to Lydda, in which city he found
no more than fifty men, all the rest being gone to Jerusalem, in order to be
present at the celebration of the feast of tabernacles. The remaining fifty
Cestius ordered to be put to death, which being done, he set fire to the town,
and then proceeded by the way of Bethhoron, to a place named Gabaoh, about fifty
furlongs from Jerusalem, where he encamped his army. JEWS ATTACK ROMANS AT
JERUSALEM The Jews, convinced of the great danger they were in, from the
appearance of formidable an army, laid aside their former scruples with regard
to their sacred day and applied themselves strictly to their arms. Imagining
that their force was now sufficient to cope with the Romans, they made a
desperate sally on the sabbath-day regardless of their ancient prejudices, and,
with a furious uproar, attacked the enemy. On the first charge they put the
front of the Romans into great disorder, and penetrated so far into the main
body of the army, that had it not been for a detachment of foot which remained
entirely unbroken, and a party of horse that unexpectedly came to their relief,
Cestius and his whole army would have been certainly cut to pieces. In this
encounter four hundred of the Roman cavalry were slain, and one hundred and
fifteen of the infantry; while of the Jews there fell a very small number. The
main body of the Jews, retreating in good order, went back into the city; and in
the meantime, the Romans retired toward Bethhoron. A strong party of the Jews
however, under the command of one Gioras, pursued the enemy, several of whom
they killed: they likewise seized a number of carriages, and a quantity of
baggage which they found in the pursuit, all of which they conveyed safe to
Jerusalem. Cestius and his army remained in the field three days after this
action, during which time a party of the Jews was stationed on the adjacent
hills to watch his movements. On the fourth day Cestius advanced with his whole
army, in a regular manner, to the borders of Jerusalem, where many of the people
were so terrified by the faction, that they were afraid to take any step of
consequence: while some of the principal promoters of the sedition were so
alarmed at the conduct and discipline of the Romans on their march, that they
retired from the extremities of the city, and took refuge in the temple. Cestius
in his way to Jerusalem burnt Cenopolis, and a place which was denominated the
wood-market. Thence he advanced to the upper town of the city, and pitched his
camp at a small distance from the palace. While Cestius was thus situated with
his army, Ananus, and several other men among the Jews, called aloud to the
Roman general, offering to open the gates to him; but either through diffidence
or fear of their fidelity, he was so long in considering whether or not he
should accept the offer, that he was at length restrained from it by the people,
who were so irritated at Ananus and his companions, that, they compelled them to
retreat from the walls of the city, and retire to their own houses for
protection. ROMAN ARMY REPULSED AT JERUSALEM After this the Jews, with a view of
defending the walls of the city, repaired to the different turrets, and for five
successive days defended them against all the efforts of the Romans, though they
pushed the attack with the utmost impetuosity. On the sixth day Cestius made an
assault on the north side of the temple, with a select force chosen from his
troops and bowmen; but the Jews discharged such a violent quantity of shot and
stones from the porch and galleries, that the Romans were not only repeatedly
compelled to retire from the severity of the charge, but, for a time, obliged to
abandon the enterprise. JERUSALEM OPENS FOR CESTIUS Being thus repulsed, the
Romans, after some time, had recourse to the following singular invention. Those
in front placing their bucklers against the wall of the city, and covering their
heads and shoulders with them, those who stood next closed their bucklers to the
former, till the whole body was covered, and made the appearance of a tortoise.
The bucklers being thus conjoined were proof against all the darts and arrows of
the enemy; so that the Romans had the opportunity of undermining the walls
without being exposed to danger. The first thing they did was to attempt setting
fire to the gates of the temple, which circumstance so terrified the faction,
that they considered themselves as ruined, and many absolutely abandoned the
town; nor were the quiet party less elevated with joy than the rebels were
depressed by despair. Roman Armies approaching Jerusalem

While things were in this situation the people demanded that the gates might be
opened to Cestius, whom they considered in the light of a friend and preserver.
This was a most favorable opportunity for Cestius, and had he maintained the
siege only a short time longer, the whole town must have submitted. But, not
considering the good disposition of the people in general, or reflecting on the
despair into which the rebels were thrown, as if he had been infatuated, he
suddenly drew off his men, and, contrary to all sense and reason, abandoned the
siege, at a time when his prospects were better than they had been at any former
period. The revolters were so much encouraged at this unexpected circumstance,
that they attacked the rear of Cestius's army, and destroyed great numbers both
of his cavalry and infantry. On the first night after Cestius retreated from the
siege, he took up his residence a camp which he had fortified at a place named
Scopus; and on the following day he continued his march, but was closely pursued
by the Jews, who annoyed him as he went, and destroyed a considerable number of
his troops. On the whole this was a very disastrous attack to the Romans, and
attended with very little loss on the part of the Jews. CESTIUS RETREATS Cestius
having retreated as far as Gabaoh, there encamped with his army, and, during two
days, employed his thoughts in what manner be should direct his future conduct.
On the third day he found that the Jews were so greatly increased in numbers,
that the whole face of the country was covered with them; and that should he
continue any longer at Gabaoh, it must be attended with the most fatal
consequences. He therefore issued orders that the army should be eased of all
their encumbrances, that they might march with the greater expedition; he
likewise directed that all the mules, asses, and other beasts of burden, should
be killed, except only as many as were necessary to carry such weapons and
machines as might afterward be wanted for their own defence. In this situation
the Roman army proceeded toward Bethhoron, Cestius marching at their head. While
they continued in the open country they did not receive any interruption from
the Jews; but as they advanced into hollow ways and defiles, the enemy, who
closely pursued, charged them in front and rear, and discharging repeated
volleys of arrows and darts, prodigious numbers of them were killed. The Romans,
however, with great difficulty, got at length to Bethhoron, under cover of the
night; upon which all the passes near that place were secured by the Jews, in
order to prevent the retreat of their adversaries. JEWISH VICTORY OVER CESTIUS
Cestius, finding in what a disagreeable manner he was surrounded, and that it
would be impossible to retreat within sight of the enemy, devised a scheme to
favor his escape. Having stationed four hundred of his troops on the tops of the
houses, he ordered that they should act the part of sentinels, calling as loud
as they were able to the watches and guards, as if the army was still in its
encampment. While this plan was going forward Cestius collected his troops, with
which he left Bethhoron, and continued to march with them during the whole
course of the night. In the morning, when the Jews found that the place had been
deserted by the main body of the army during the night, they were so enraged,
that they immediately attacked the four hundred Romans who had acted as
sentinels, slew every one of them, and then instantly marched in pursuit of
Cestius; but his troops having obtained a whole night's march on them, and
proceeded with the utmost rapidity on the following day, it was not possible to
overtake them. Such were the hurry and confusion in which the Romans had fled,
that they dropped by the way all their slings, machines, and other instruments
for battery and attack; which being seized by the pursuers, they afterward
turned them to their own advantage. The Jews pursued their enemies as far as
Antipatris; but finding it in vain to continue the pursuit, they carefully
preserved the engines, stripped the dead, collected all the booty they could,
and then returned toward Jerusalem, singing songs of triumph for so important a
victory. In this contest there fell, of the Romans and their auxiliaries, three
hundred and eighty cavalry, and not less than four thousand of the infantry.
Elated with this distinguished success, the Jews, on their return to Jerusalem,
appointed one Joseph, the son of Gorion, a man of great eminence, together with
the high-priest, as governors of the city. They likewise sent commanders into
the different provinces of Judea and Galilee, in order to secure those places
against the power of the Romans. Among others Joseph, or Josephus, the
celebrated, Jewish historian, was sent to take upon him the government of
Galilee, the principal towns to which he immediately ordered to be fortified,
and every necessary preparation made for attacking the enemy, should they
attempt to invade that province. NERO APPOINTS VESPASIAN In the meantime the
emperor Nero, having received intelligence of the defeat of Cestius in Judea,
was thrown into the utmost consternation; but he dissembled his fears, by
ostentatiously asserting that it was owing to the misconduct of his general, and
not to their own valor, that the Jews were indebted for victory; for he imagined
that it would be derogatory to the sovereign state of the Roman empire, and to
his superiority over other princes, to discover a concern at the common
occurrences of life. During this contention between his fear and his pride, he
industriously sought for a man qualified to assume the important task of
chastising the revolted Jews, preserving the east in tranquillity, and the
allegiance of several other nations who had manifested a disposition to free
themselves from the power of the Romans. On mature deliberation, Nero at length
judged Vespasian to be the only man possessed of abilities adequate to the
important enterprise. Vespasian was then arrived to an advanced age, and from
his early years had been engaged in a continued succession of military exploits.
From these considerations, together with his approved courage and fidelity, and
his having sons for hostages of his loyalty, the emperor determined to appoint
him to the command of his army in Syria. In consequence of this resolution
Vespasian, having received his commission from Nero, which he accompanied with
the strongest professions of friendship and fidelity, commanded his son Titus to
lead the fifth and tenth legions into Alexandria, while himself departed from
Achaia, and, crossing the Hellespont, proceeded by land into Syria, where he
assembled all the Roman forces, and the auxiliaries which the princes of the
adjoining places had gathered together. JEWS ATTACK ASKELON In the meantime the
Jews, being transported to the most excessive degree of extravagance by the
conquest they had gained over the Roman army under the command of Cestius,
determined to prosecute the war with the utmost vigor. Accordingly they formed
their best troops into a body, and marched against the ancient city of Askelon,
with a resolution of attempting the reduction of that place, against the
inhabitants of which they had the most implacable enmity. The Jewish army was
under the command of Niger of Perea, Silas, a Babylonian, and John, an Essene,
who were men equally celebrated for valor, and skill in the management of war.
THE JEWS ARE DEFEATED Askelon was surrounded by a wall of surprising strength;
but the whole garrison consisted only of a troop of cavalry and a company of
foot, under the command of an officer named Anthony. The Jews being impatient to
encounter the Romans, marched with the utmost expedition, intending to attack
them by surprise; but Anthony, getting intelligence of their design, stationed
his cavalry without the town, in order to repulse the enemy. The Roman forces
were composed of veteran troops, completely armed, well disciplined, and
perfectly obedient to order. The Jews had the superiority in point of numbers;
but they were indifferently equipped for, and by no means expert in, the art of
war, and the army consisted entirely of infantry. Anthony's troops received the
first charge with great resolution: his horse broke the first ranks of the
adverse army, which were immediately put to the rout: great numbers were crushed
to death by their own people, and wherever they fled they were pursued by the
Romans. The Jews exerted their utmost endeavors to rally their forces; but this
was prevented by the Romans, who pursued the advantage they had gained till ten
thousand of the enemy were slain, among whom were the two generals, John and
Silas. Niger, the surviving general, with the rest of the Jews, most of whom
were wounded, escaped to a town in Idumea, named Sabis. A RUINOUS SECOND ATTACK
The resolution of the Jews, however, was not abated by the terrible defeat they
had sustained; but, founding their hopes of success on the recollection of
former victories, they were animated to a more violent desire of revenge. They
therefore collected together a much more numerous army than before, and
determined to make a second attempt against Askelon, notwithstanding their want
of military skill and discipline, the fatal effects of which they had already
experienced. But all their hopes were soon vanished; for being surprised by an
ambush which Anthony had stationed in the way they were to pass, they were
entirely routed, without being able to form themselves into the order of battle.
Eight thousand Jews were slain on the spot; and the rest, with Niger, their
general, put to flight. Being closely pursued by the Romans, Niger sought refuge
in a castle belonging to the village of Bezedel. This castle was supposed to be
impregnable: and therefore, as the only effectual means of destroying both Niger
and the castle, the Romans set fire to it, after which they departed, triumphing
in the idea that the leader of the Jews must inevitably perish in the flames.
Niger, being sensible that this must be the case, if he continued in his
station, threw himself from the top of the castle into a vault of considerable
depth, where, after three days, he was found alive by his friends, who were
searching for his remains, in order to give them interment. This unexpected
event transported the Jews from a state of despondency into the contrary extreme
of joy; and the preservation of their general, whom they considered as an
instrument essentially necessary in the prosecution of the war, they attributed
to divine interposition. GALILEE CITY WELCOMES ROMAN RULE During these
transactions, Vespasian arrived with his army at Antioch, where King Agrippa,
attended by his troops, was waiting to receive him. Hence he proceeded to
Ptolemais, where the inhabitants of Sepphoris, a city in Galilee, had assembled
on occasion of his expected arrival. These were a well-disposed people and being
conscious of the great power of the Romans, as well as desirous of provision for
their own safety, they acknowledged Cestius Gallus as their governor, previous
to the arrival of Vespasian, binding themselves to act in perfect obedience to
his commands, even against their own countrymen, and at the same time declaring
their allegiance to the state of Rome. They received a garrison from Cestius
Gallus, and solicited Vespasian to grant them a number of cavalry and infantry
sufficient for their defence, in case they should be attacked by the Jews.
Vespasian readily complied with this request; for Sepphoris being the most
extensive and strongest city in Galilee, he judged it expedient to keep so
important a place in a proper state of defence. GALILEE RAVAGED The number of
troops granted by Vespasian to the people of Sepphoris were a thousand cavalry
and six thousand infantry; the whole of which were placed under the command of
Placidus, the tribune. After these troops had been drawn up on the great plain,
the foot, for the security of the city, were quartered within the walls, and the
horse were ordered into the camp. The Roman troops made daily excursions into
the neighborhood, where they committed many acts of violence, and greatly
incommoded[523] Joseph (the governor of Galilee) and his friends. Not satisfied
ravaging the country, they made booty of whatever they could obtain from the
towns, and treated the inhabitants with so much severity that they were under
the necessity of remaining within the walls. [523] Inconvenienced Matters being
thus circumstanced, Joseph exerted his utmost efforts to make himself master of
Sepphoris; but he found it so strongly fortified, that it appeared to be
impregnable, and despairing of success, either by stratagem or force, he
abandoned all further thoughts of the enterprise. This so irritated the Romans,
that they subjected the people to the most terrible calamities of fire and
sword, putting those who attempted resistance to instant death, reducing the
rest to slavery, and making booty of all the property they could find. TITUS
JOINS VESPASIAN In the meantime, Titus repaired to his father Vespasian, at
Ptolemais, taking with him the fifth, tenth, and fifteenth legions, which were
reckoned to be the best disciplined and most courageous of the Roman troops.
These were followed by a troop of horse from Caesarea, with a great number of
auxiliaries, both horse and foot, from other places. The whole army amounted to
sixty thousand, exclusive of the train of baggage, and a great number of
domestics, most of whom, having been trained to the practice of war, were but
little inferior to the soldiers in courage and dexterity. PLACIDUS OVERRUNS
JUDEA During the time Vespasian was with his son Titus at Ptolemais, he ordered
every necessary measure to be pursued for the proper regulation and supply of
his army. In the meantime, Placidus made an excursion into, and overran, the
whole province of Judea, where he took a great number of prisoners, most of whom
he put to death. These were people destitute of courage, but such as possessed a
greater share of intrepidity made a courageous resistance, and secured
themselves in the cities, and other places of strength, which had been fortified
by Joseph. Placidus determined to direct his arms against those places where the
Galileans had fled for sanctuary; and Jotapata being the strongest hold they
possessed, he resolved that his first exploit should be to attempt the reduction
of that place. The inhabitants of Jotapata, however, gaining intelligence of the
design of Placidus, and that he was marching with all expedition against the
place, sallied from the town, in order to give him battle. They attacked the
Romans by surprise, and as the fate of their wives, children, and country,
depended on the issue of the contest, they fought with the most astonishing
bravery, and with such success, that they effectually repulsed the enemy; after
which, Placidus drew off his army. VESPASIAN APPROACH FRIGHTENS JEWISH SOLDIERS
Vespasian, having resolved to make an excursion into Galilee, issued marching
orders to his troops, according to the military discipline of the Romans, and
departing from Ptolemais, encamped his army on the frontiers of Galilee. He
might, indeed, have advanced farther, but his stopping there was designed to
strike a terror into the enemy by the formidable appearance of his army. In this
conjecture he was not deceived, for the news of his approach threw the Jews into
the greatest consternation; and Joseph's followers, who were encamped at some
distance from Sepphoris, deserted their leader, even before the enemy came in
sight. Being thus abandoned, and finding that the spirits of the Jews were
entirely depressed, that the majority of his people had already joined the
enemy, and that the rest seemed inclined to follow their example, he retreated
to Tiberias, accompanied by a few of his people whom he could trust, and who
still maintained their fidelity. GADARA AREA DESTROYED The first place Vespasian
laid siege to after his arrival in Galilee, was the city of Gadara, which, not
having a sufficient number of inhabitants to defend it, he subdued, with very
little difficulty, on the first assault. The natural enmity of the Romans
against the Jews, together with a principle of revenge for their having defeated
Cestius, induced them to put the inhabitants of the town promiscuously to the
sword; and, not satisfied with setting fire to the conquered city, they burnt
and utterly laid waste the neighboring small towns and villages, and subjected
the inhabitants to slavery. JOTAPATA BATTTLE In the meantime, Joseph (the leader
of the Jews in Galilee) left Tiberias, and retired to the strong city of
Jotapata, which gave great encouragement to the Jews of that place. Joseph's
retreat was soon made known to Vespasian by a deserter, who advised the
besieging of Jotapata, observing that, if Joseph could be taken, the war must
inevitably terminate to the disadvantage of the Jews. Pleased with this
information, and hoping to get into his power the person whom he considered as
the most formidable of his enemies, Vespasian dispatched Placidus and Aebutius
(the latter of whom was one of the most celebrated men of the army for bravery
and military skill) with a thousand cavalry, commanding them to environ the city
with the greatest expedition, and, if possible, prevent the escape of Joseph.
The next morning Vespasian issued orders for his whole army to march, and, in
the afternoon of the same day, encamped about seven furlongs to the north of the
city. The Romans being greatly fatigued by their march, did not attempt anything
till the next morning, when they began to assault the city, which was defended
with great bravery. Vespasian ordered the bowmen and slingers to compel the Jews
to desert the walls, while himself, with a body of infantry, began an assault
from an eminence convenient for battering the place; but Joseph, at the head of
the Jews, made so furious an attack on the enemy, that he compelled them to
retreat. The next day the besiegers renewed the assault, and in this action both
parties displayed the most distinguished instances of valor. The Jews were
encouraged by the undaunted firmness and resolution with which, contrary to the
most sanguine expectations, they had sustained the first assault; and the shame
of having been repulsed invigorated the spirits of the Romans. Notwithstanding
the great danger and difficulty of the enterprise, the latter continued to
pursue their attacks with the utmost vigor, while the Jews, regardless of their
great numbers and strength, made frequent sallies against them with considerable
advantage. The city of Jotapata was situated on a rock, and utterly
inaccessible, except on the north, where a part of it stood on the brow of a
mountain. This quarter Joseph caused to be strongly fortified, thereby
precluding the enemy from taking advantage of another mountain by which it was
overlooked, and which, with the other mountains adjoining, so entirely enclosed
the place, that it could only be seen at a very small distance. After several
days' fruitless attempts, Vespasian, finding the place so admirably situated for
defence, and that he had to contend with an intrepid and determined enemy,
assembled a council of his principal officers, in order to debate on the most
proper means of obtaining a victory. The issue of this deliberation was, that a
large terrace should be raised on that side of the city which appeared to be the
least capable of resistance. Accordingly, the whole army was employed in the
work, which they pursued with surprising rapidity, and the utmost efforts of the
Jews to oppose them proved ineffectual. In the meantime Joseph ordered the wall
of the city to be raised in proportion to the advancement of the enemy's works.
The Jews at first declined the undertaking urging the impossibility of pursuing
their business, as they should be continually exposed to the enemy. To remove
these fears, Joseph suggested the following invention, as a defence against
fire, stones, and other weapons. He caused large stakes to be fixed in the
ground, and raw hides of beasts to be stretched upon them, the yielding quality
of which would prevent any material effect from the lances and stones, and at
the same time their moisture would damp the fire of the enemy. The Jews,
thinking themselves secure through Joseph's contrivance, continued indefatigably
industrious in the work both night and day; and they soon erected a wall several
cubits high, on which were formed towers and strong embattlements. Vespasian now
relinquished all hopes of subduing the place by storm; he therefore blocked it
up, flattering himself with the expectation, that by cutting off all
communication, the consequent necessities of the people would perform the
business of the sword, or at least render them incapable of making any
advantageous resistance. There was an abundant supply of corn and all other
necessaries in the town, excepting water, which latter article they only
received from the clouds, there being neither spring nor fountain within the
walls of the city. The prospect of a scarcity of water induced Joseph, who was
determined not to abandon himself to despair, to limit each man to a daily
allowance, in consequence of which a universal discontent prevailed among the
people, This circumstance could not be concealed from the Romans, who, from an
adjacent hill, observed the people assembled to receive their respective
portions, and were otherwise informed of the general discontent which had taken
place on that occasion. Vespasian was in continual expectation of making himself
master of the town; but Joseph, to convince him that he was not likely to
succeed from their distress for want of water, hit upon the following stratagem:
he caused great numbers of wet cloths to be hung upon the battlements, which
were no sooner observed by the Romans, than they concluded a scarcity of water
could not prevail in the town, as in that case they would hardly make use of
such an article in so profuse a manner. In consequence of this, Vespasian no
longer entertaining hopes that the enemy would surrender through want of the
necessaries of life, had again recourse to arms. This proved a circumstance
highly agreeable to the Jews, who, being reduced to the greatest distress,
entertained the most terrible apprehensions of falling miserable sacrifices to
famine, to which they infinitely preferred a glorious death in the field. In the
midst of this distress, Joseph recollected that on the west side of the city
there was a hollow or gutter in a place so little frequented, that it was not
likely to have been observed by the enemy. In consequence of this, he sent
messengers to the Jews without the city, requesting them to cause water and
other necessaries to be conveyed to him through this passage and, as a proper
security to the messengers, he ordered them to be covered with hides of beasts,
and to go on their hands and feet, that, in case of being observed by the watch,
they might be mistaken for dogs and other animals. This scheme had for some time
the desired effect, and an intercourse was maintained between those without the
city and those within, to the great satisfaction of the latter. But at length
the Romans discovered the project, which they effectually destroyed by closely
blocking up the passage, and thereby cutting off all communication whatever.
Joseph now perceived that it would be fruitless to attempt a longer defence of
the city, and therefore he joined with several of the principal men in
suggesting the means of escape. The people, suspecting on what subject they were
met to deliberate, repaired in great multitudes to Joseph, earnestly
supplicating, that as he was the only man from whom they could expect relief, he
would not desert them in their then extremity; observing, that while he was
secure they could not despair of success, and declaring that they could not die
more honorably than while acting in obedience to his commands, They told him
that if it should prove their misfortune to fall into the power of the Romans,
he would acquire the immortal fame of having equally scorned to fly from the
enemy, or desert the people under his protection: that by leaving them he would
manifest a conduct similar to that of a man taking upon him the command of a
ship in temperate weather, and abandoning it in a storm; they likewise added,
that after losing the only man in whom they could place a confidence of success,
they could no longer cherish the hope of relieving their country. Joseph, who
was unwilling to have it believed that his intention was engrossed on the means
of providing for his own safety, told them, that if they were compelled to
surrender, his remaining with them could not possibly operate in their favor;
whereas, if he obtained his liberty, he might be able to draw an army out of
Galilee sufficiently early to raise the siege; and that his continuing in the
city would be productive of unfortunate instead of happy consequences, since the
expectation of making him a prisoner would induce the Romans to continue a
vigorous prosecution of the siege, which they might probably decline if he could
effect an escape. But these arguments, instead of reconciling the multitude,
rendered them still more importunate, and with the most bitter lamentations they
urgently supplicated that he would still continue his protection to them.
Impressed with tenderness and gratitude toward the people, Joseph considered
that if he remained in the town, they would attribute his compliance with their
request to the influence they had over him, and that if he persisted to a
refusal, they might probably detain him by force; and therefore resolved to
share the common danger, he addressed them as follows: “My dear friends and
faithful countrymen, the period is arrived when we are required to exert our
utmost bravery, since in that alone we can place our hopes of safety. If we lose
our lives our reward will be a large share of honor, and our names will be
endeared to the latest posterity.” This address was received with universal
satisfaction by the people, immediately after which Joseph, at the head of the
most courageous of the Jews, assaulted the enemy's guards, whom he compelled to
desert their trenches and retreat to the camp. Joseph and his army now defended
themselves against the power of the Romans with the most astonishing power and
resolution. This they continued to do for the space of forty days, when a
deserter represented to Vespasian the state of the town, informing him that
through the loss of men, and the hard duty which the survivors were obliged
incessantly to perform, the garrison was so reduced that it must necessarily
surrender to a vigorous attack, and more especially if advantage was to be taken
of a favorable opportunity for making the assault by surprise. He likewise
strongly advised the Roman general to attempt the enterprise before daylight,
when the Jews would not be apprehensive of danger, and the vigilance of the
guard abated by fatigue and an inclination to sleep. Vespasian, being sensible
that the Jews possessed a remarkable fidelity to each other, which the most
excruciating torments could not force them to violate, was unwilling at first to
put any confidence in what the deserter had related. He had been witness to a
recent instance of the amazing constancy and resolution of the Jews, in the case
of one of Joseph's people, who being made a prisoner, and interrogated
respecting the state of the city, refused to divulge a single circumstance, and
persisted in that resolution during the most excessive torments, and while he
was undergoing the sentence of crucifixion. Considering, however, that the
information of the deserter might possibly be founded in truth, and that no ill
consequences were likely to ensue from his appearing to believe that to be the
case, Vespasian ordered the man to be secured, and every necessary preparation
to be made for the attack. The Roman array began a silent march at an appointed
hour of the night, which had been previously agreed upon according to the plan
laid down by the deserter. On their arrival at the walls of the town, finding
the sentinels asleep, they immediately dispatched them, and without the least
molestation entered the city, followed by a large body of troops under the
command of the tribune Placidus. Notwithstanding it was open day before the
Romans gained possession of the fort and made themselves masters of the town,
the Jewish army was so exhausted and fatigued by incessant labor and watching,
that they did not entertain the least idea of their danger till the enemy had
actually gained their point; and even those who were awake were almost equal
strangers to the misfortune, as they could not clearly distinguish objects on
account of a thick fog which then prevailed, and continued till the whole Roman
army had gained admittance into the city. The Romans, recollecting the
sufferings they had undergone during the course of the siege, laid aside every
sentiment of humanity and compassion toward the besieged. They threw many of the
Jews from the top of the fort who were instantly killed by the fall, and others,
who had courage enough to make resistance, were either pressed to death by the
immense crowds of the enemy, or forced down precipices, and killed by the ruins
which fell from above. Such of the guards as first observed the city to be taken
fled to a turret on the walls, where they were attacked by the enemy, against
whom, for some time, they made a resolute defence. Being oppressed by numbers,
they offered to capitulate; but their proposals were rejected and the whole put
to the sword. Every Jew who was met by the Romans on that day was put to instant
death; and during some following days they carefully searched for such as had
concealed themselves in private places, all of whom, except women and children,
they destroyed. Having thus obtained a complete victory, Vespasian, withdrawing
his forces from the town, ordered the fortress to be burnt, which accordingly
done, and the whole city laid in ruins. JOSEPH'S CAPTURE The Romans, induced
partly by personal enmity, and partly by an officious zeal to ingratiate
themselves into the favor of their general, assiduously employed themselves in
searching every part of the adjoining country, in order to find out the leader
of the Jews. It was Joseph's fortune to escape through the midst of his enemies,
and to find a deep pit, having a passage leading to a spacious cavern, in which
he discovered forty distinguished Jews who had there taken sanctuary, and were
supplied with sufficient necessaries to last them several days. The enemy being
in possession of the whole adjacent country, Joseph judged it unsafe to venture
abroad by day, and therefore he left his retreat only by night, with a view of
discovering if there remained any probability of effecting an escape; but
finding the enemy exceedingly vigilant, he repeatedly returned to the cavern
despairing of success. On the third day he was betrayed by a woman; in
consequence of which, Vespasian dispatched Paulinus and Gallanicus, two
tribunes, to the place where he was secreted, authorizing them to assure Joseph,
that, on condition of leaving his retreat, he should meet with a kind and
honorable reception. Joseph, conscious that the injuries the Romans had
sustained at his hands entitled him to punishment rather than reward, thought it
unsafe to rely on Vespasian's word of honor, and therefore he declined the
proposal. In consequence of this, Vespasian sent another tribune, named Nicanor,
who had long been intimately acquainted with Joseph, and was in fact his most
sincere friend. Nicanor forcibly expostulated with him on the impropriety of
refusing to comply with Vespasian's request; he represented to him the
generosity and benevolence of the Romans toward those they conquered: that, so
far from Vespasian's entertaining an enmity against him, he highly esteemed him
as being a man of singular intrepidity, and possessed of other eminent virtues;
and that the Roman general must indisputably have favorable views, since he
condescended to propose terms to a man who was already subject to his power.
“Can you imagine,” said Nicanor, “that Vespasian would employ a friend in an
office of treachery, or that I would accept from him so dishonorable a
commission?” Notwithstanding these remonstrances, Joseph, for some time,
declined a compliance; but at length, from the very forcible arguments and
advice of Nicanor, he agreed to submit. In consequence of this, his companions
instantly drew their swords, and threatened, if he surrendered, to put him to
death. Joseph, being apprehensive that they might carry their designs into
execution, was desirous of avoiding so horrid an intention; to effect which he
addressed them as follows: “Why, my good friends, do you suffer yourselves to be
so far transported by the violence of passion as to cherish the idea of
separating the soul and body, which are so intimately united by nature? To fall
by the hand of a victor in a war maintained according to the laws of arms, is
without dispute a glorious fate. I should make no greater difficulty of taking
away my own life than of requesting a Roman to perform that office; but if the
Romans are inclined to show mercy to an enemy, will reason justify that enemy in
having no mercy on himself? No death can be more honorable than of the man who
yields his life to the superior power of an adversary that means to deprive him
of the inestimable blessing of liberty. But the Romans wish not our deaths and
all animosity should now cease, for the cause of our contention is at an end.
The man who rejects life when his duty requires him to preserve it, is as
pusillanimous as he who, in opposition to the dictates of honor, trembles to
meet fate. Is it not from the fear of death alone that we hesitate to yield to
the Romans? Shall we precipitate ourselves into certain destruction for the
purpose of avoiding a threatened danger, which probably may not arrive? If you
conceive that we ought to die to avoid slavery, I must request you to recollect
that we enjoy not liberty in the miserable situation to which we are now
reduced. If you suppose him to be a brave man who deprives himself of life, I
would ask what opinion you would form of the commander of a vessel who during a
calm should sink his ship from an apprehension that a tempest might arise? The
desire of preserving life is a principle implanted in the whole animal creation;
and therefore to deprive ourselves of existence is to violate the order of
nature, and offer a sacrilegious insult to God. If we desire to live, may we not
indulge that desire, since we have given exemplary proofs of our courage and
virtue? But if we are resolved to die, let us fall by the hands of our
conquerors. We shall have no cause for regret if the Romans prove treacherous;
but, on the contrary, we shall resign our lives with pleasure, since we shall
enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that the perfidy of the enemy must necessarily
diminish the glory of their victory, and render them infamous to the latest
posterity.” Joseph imagined that these arguments would have induced the Jews to
relinquish the determination of putting an end to his life; but in this he found
himself mistaken, for instead of appeasing, his address provoked them to the
utmost extravagance of rage; they approached him with their swords drawn,
upbraided him in the most severe terms as being of a contemptibly irresolute
disposition, and threatened him with instant death. Thus situated, Joseph
addressed his companions in the most soothing manner, which seldom fails to gain
respect from those who have been accustomed to obey; he called one by his name,
took another by the hand, and endeavored to engage the attention of the rest by
arguments and such other means as he conceived to be best adapted for obtaining
the end he had in view. Thus, by a singular address in applying to the various
humors and dispositions of his companions, Joseph averted the danger that
threatened him. The rage of the Jews subsided, their esteem and veneration for
their general revived, and they freely gave him his liberty to act as he should
think proper. Being thus relieved from the extremity to which he was reduced by
the Romans on one hand, and by his own countrymen on the other, Joseph
surrendered himself to Nicanor, who immediately conducted him to Vespasian. The
desire of seeing Joseph appear before the Roman general caused prodigious
numbers of people to assemble, some of whom rejoiced to see that he was alive,
while others vented menaces and the most bitter execrations against him. Those
who were sufficiently near to observe his person, recollected the many
extraordinary incidents of his life, and reflecting on his then situation, were
greatly astonished on the comparison. Notwithstanding the inveteracy which the
Roman general had entertained against Joseph, they tenderly compassionated him
in his captivity; but Titus was most particularly affected, for on account of
his advanced age, and the unconquerable dignity of his mind in the most extreme
dangers and distresses, he entertained a great veneration for Joseph, whose
former elevated station and great exploits, together with the humiliating
condition to which he was now reduced, he most seriously considered, and then
proceeded to make some reflections on the chance of war, and the mutability of
human affairs. Those who heard Titus adopted his sentiments; and he greatly
contributed toward the preservation of Joseph, by influencing Vespasian in his
favor. JOSEPH'S PROPHECY Vespasian intimated his intentions of sending Joseph to
Nero, and ordered him to be kept a close prisoner. In consequence of this Joseph
requested to have an audience with Vespasian, which being granted, he was
conducted to the general's apartment, whence every person was dismissed, except
Titus and two of his friends. In the presence of these Joseph, addressing
himself to Vespasian, spoke as follows: “You see me here, sir, your prisoner,
and perhaps you consider me in no other character; but believe me, I am no less
than a messenger sent by Providence to impart to you a matter of the highest
importance.[524] Had I not been charged with this commission, I should have
acted consistent with the character of a Jewish general, and have died rather
than have submitted to be made a prisoner. It is unnecessary to send me to Nero,
since Vespasian is so near succeeding to the empire, which, upon his decease,
will devolve on his son Titus. Let me be kept a prisoner, and guarded with
unremitting circumspection; I only request to remain the prisoner of Vespasian,
who the right of conquest, is become the master of my life and liberty, and
will, in a short time, be advanced to the sovereignty of the Roman empire. If it
shall hereafter appear that I have made use of any artifice to induce you to
repose confidence in an impostor, you will perform an act of justice in
subjecting me to the most severe exemplary punishment.” [524] While Joseph was
with his companions in the cavern, he had a most remarkable vision, in which
were communicated to him the success and grandeur which the Romans should
experience, and the miseries which should attend the Jews. It was likewise
revealed to him that Vespasian should become emperor, and that himself should be
the messenger of that intelligence; and this it was that made him so strenuous
in requesting his companions to spare his life. At first Vespasian considered
Joseph's address as a mere fiction, contrived for the purpose of obtaining his
favor; but experiencing certain indications, and finding them to exactly
correspond with what Joseph had related, his doubts gradually subsided, he gave
full confidence to the prediction. One of the persons who was permitted to be
present at the interview, observed to Joseph, that since he pretended to a
knowledge of future events, he requested to be informed by what means it
happened that he remained ignorant of the destruction of Jotapata, and of his
own captivity. To which Joseph replied, he had predicted to the inhabitants that
the town would be conquered, and himself made a prisoner by the enemy. In
consequence of this reply, Vespasian ordered a secret inquiry to be made among
the Jewish prisoners relative to the truth of what he had asserted; this was
accordingly done, and the Jews confirming every particular related by Joseph,
the general was induced to judge more favorably of what he had foretold
respecting himself. Joseph continued to be guarded with the greatest
circumspection; but the irksomeness of confinement was in a great degree
mitigated, by his being allowed every accommodation and convenience, together
with the particular respect and kindness which he received from Titus. VESPASIAN
WINTERS IN CAESAREA After the conquest of Jotapata, and the total destruction of
that city, Vespasian repaired with his army to Caesarea, where he took up his
winter quarters; but that he might not overburden the inhabitants of that city,
he sent the fifth and tenth legions to Scythopolis. JUDEA CONQUERED Early in the
ensuing spring Vespasian renewed his operations against the Jews. He sent his
son Titus at the head of a considerable army into one part of Judea, while
himself went into another; and between them they reduced the most principal
places in that country, the inhabitants of some of which quietly submitted: but
others, after holding out with the utmost resistance in their power, were
conquered, and great numbers put to the sword. VESPASIAN BECOMES EMPEROR After
these conquests Vespasian returned to Caesarea, where he formed the resolution
of laying siege to Jerusalem; but while he was making the necessary preparations
for this purpose, he received an account of the death of Nero, after a reign of
thirteen years and eight days. In consequence of this intelligence, Vespasian
suspended his preparations for the expedition toward Jerusalem. Finding that
Galba was destined to succeed to the empire, he thought it would not be a
prudent measure to take so important a step without express orders for so doing.
He therefore dispatched his son Titus to wait on Galba, at once to congratulate
him on the succession to the empire, and to take his directions how to act in
the then emergency of affairs. King Agrippa (who was at this time in Caesarea)
being desirous to embark with Titus on this interesting occasion, they set sail
in the same vessel; but while they were on their voyage (which was exceedingly
tedious owing to the contrariety of the wind) and near to Achaia, they received
intelligence that Galba was slain, after having governed only seven months, and
that Otho succeeded him, who reigned only three months. This change in affairs
did not prevent Agrippa from prosecuting his journey from Achaia to Rome; but
Titus sailed thence to Syria, and proceeded with all expedition to his father at
Caesarea. A short time after the return of Titus to Caesarea, Vespasian received
intelligence that a civil war had broke out in Rome, occasioned by Vitellius; a
daring and enterprising man, who, on the death of Otho, had, with the assistance
of a great body of German soldiers, possessed himself of the sovereignty of the
empire. Vespasian was a man who had a just opinion of the respect that should be
shown to superiors, and was as well calculated to obey as to command; but
notwithstanding this, he was greatly chagrined to acknowledge the supreme
authority of him who rather seized the empire as a plunder, than became
possessed of it as an honor. In a word, this astonishing change in the public
affairs affected him to such a degree, that he could no longer entertain any
idea of prosecuting foreign wars, when his country at home was distracted by the
most disagreeable circumstances. Yet, though his indignation on the one hand
urged him to a speedy revenge, yet on the other he was deterred from putting his
design into execution, by the consideration of the difficulties and hazards that
would attend so long a journey in the midst of winter, beside the probability of
many unexpected incidents which might happen before he could arrive in Italy.
While Vespasian was debating this subject in his mind, the officers of his army
(all of whom were thoroughly acquainted with the revolutions which had taken
place in Rome) associated together, and discoursed with the utmost freedom on
the affairs of the state and government. Among other things they exclaimed most
violently against the German soldiers, who were the protectors of Vitellius,
ridiculing them as a band of dissolute and effeminate creatures, who would be
afraid to face even the usual terrors of war. “What,” said they, “shall people
like these dispose of armies, or rather sell them to the highest bidder? Is it
possible for them to imagine that we who have undergone all the fatigue
attending excessive labor, till we are grown old in the use of arms--that we
will ever submit to be governed by an emperor chosen by them, when we have a
prince of our own who is much more worthy of the government? Besides, if we omit
the present opportunity of testifying our gratitude for the numerous obligations
we owe to the generosity of Vespasian, it is not very probable that a similar
prospect of paying him the proper compliment will ever again offer. Exclusive of
these considerations, the personal merit of Vespasian hath as much better
qualified him for the dignity of emperor, than that of Vitellius, as our merits
have qualified us for the choice, beyond that of those who have elected him.
With regard to Vespasian, there can be no debate or competition; for the senate
and people of Rome are entirely in his interest; nor would they even listen to
an insinuation of the licentiousness and debauches of Vitellius being put in
competition with the modest and temperate behavior of Vespasian; for this, in
fact, would be to prefer an abandoned tyrant to an humane prince. After all we
have said, let it be considered what a ridiculous figure we should make, and how
egregiously we should be duped; we, who of all men living, have the greatest
obligations to Vespasian, if the senate themselves should elect him emperor, and
thus take out of our hands the merit of so distinguished an action, while we are
idly debating on the method of proceeding in such an exigency.” SOLDIERS ENDORSE
VESPASIAN To this purpose was the conversation of the officers under Vespasian.
Their first meetings were held in a secret manner; but having publicly declared
their sentiments to the soldiers, all of whom agreed with them in opinion, they
resolved to make choice of Vespasian as emperor, and entreated him to take under
his protection an empire that was shaken to its foundation. Vespasian had for a
long time been the support of the empire; but he was so far from being ambitious
of the dignity of emperor, that he absolutely declined it, declaring that he
chose rather to continue in that line of life to which he had been accustomed,
than accept of the pomp and dignity to which he was invited. But the more
desirous Vespasian was to avoid this compliment, the more earnestly did the
people press his acceptance of it; till at length, on his repeated refusal, they
advanced to him with drawn swords, and threatened his destruction if he any
longer refused accepting an honor of which he was so deserving. Still, however,
for a time, he refused; but at length yielded to an importunity that was not to
be resisted. ALEXANDRIA ENDORSES VESPASIAN The government of the empire was no
sooner accepted by Vespasian, than Mucianus and the other officers joined with
the whole body of the army in requesting that he would immediately march his
forces against Vitellius; but Vespasian thought it would be most prudent first
to bring over to his interest the people of Alexandria, by means of which he
should obtain such advantages as would not only secure himself, but, in all
probability, crown his enterprise with success. Egypt, on account of the
prodigious quantity of corn which it produced, was deemed one of the most
important branches of the empire: wherefore Vespasian was of opinion, that if he
could but possess himself of that country, the people of Rome might be induced
rather to expel Vitellius, than run the risk of starving if they refused so to
do, which would be the natural consequence if they could not obtain proper
assistance from Egypt. These observations being highly approved of by the
officers, Vespasian immediately wrote a letter to Tiberius, the then governor of
Alexandria, informing him that, at the importunity of his soldiers, he had been
prevailed on to take the government into his own hands, and that he thought he
could not act more prudently than to request the favor of his advice and
assistance in the office of administration. Tiberius had no sooner read this
letter than, with the utmost freedom and goodwill, he took an oath of fidelity
to Vespasian, and caused the like to be done by all the inhabitants of the city.
This oath was taken with every possible demonstration of joy and esteem; for
they were previously informed of the good intentions of the new emperor, and
confided in his virtue and honor. Tiberius made a generous use of the power
entrusted to him for the public welfare, and immediately began to make the
necessary preparations for receiving Vespasian. EASTERN EMPIRE SWEARS ALLEGIENCE
Intelligence of Vespasian's being advanced to the dignity of ruling the empire
was propagated with the utmost speed through every part of the eastern country;
and wherever this news arrived, it was so grateful to the people, that the
inhabitants of the several cities kept a holyday on the occasion, and offered up
their prayers that the reign of Vespasian might be long and happy. Several
ambassadors from Syria and other provinces, waited on Vespasian, with
congratulatory addresses on his being appointed to the government of the empire.
Among the rest was Mucianus, the governor of Syria, who gave him the utmost
assurance of the loyalty and affection of the people in general, which they had
testified by cheerfully taking the oath of fidelity to his person and authority.
JOSEPH SET FREE These favorable circumstances struck a deep impression on the
mind of Vespasian, who could not help seriously reflecting that they had less
the appearance of being the work of chance than the immediate effect of a
disposing Providence; and he thought it appeared that he had not been raised to
so distinguished an elevation by the power of fortune, but by divine
interposition. Reflecting on this subject there occurred to his mind several
prophetical hints which had happened in the course of his life, all tending to
the same end. Among the rest he could not but recur to the circumstance of
Joseph having, while he remained a prisoner, and during the life of Nero, called
him by the title of emperor. This singular prediction had great influence on the
mind of Vespasian, and the greater, because the party was still a prisoner:
wherefore sending for Mucianus and others of his officers, he spoke to them of
the singular courage and bravery of Joseph, and how gallantly he had behaved
himself at the siege of Jotapata. After this he mentioned several other
particulars respecting him, and at length adverted to the subject of his
predictions: “Those,” said he, “I at first imagined to be nothing more than
contrivances for his own preservation; but the event has proved that they were
actually the result of divine providence; wherefore, my friends, it would be an
indelible disgrace in me longer to detain, in the abject condition of a
prisoner, the person who first declared to me the news of my advancement.”
Having said this Vespasian instantly sent for Joseph, and, in the presence of
the company, restored him to his liberty. From this instance of gratitude in
Vespasian, his officers formed the most favorable idea of their own situation,
thinking that they, who were his faithful friends and servants, should
experience every indulgence under so kind a master. During this scene Titus was
present, who, in a most submissive manner, hinted to his father, that the single
granting of liberty to Joseph was leaving the generosity of his plan incomplete:
that his chains ought not only to be taken off, but broken, for if that was not
done the dishonor of his imprisonment would remain with him, though his person
was restored to liberty. Vespasian, coinciding in this opinion, gave immediate
orders that his chains should be cut to pieces; which circumstance not only gave
the most extensive freedom to Joseph, but so raised his reputation as a prophet,
that every person was disposed to give credit to any of his future predictions
in as full and ample a manner as they had done to what he had already foretold.
VESPASIAN'S TAKING OF EMPIRE A general council was now held to consider the most
proper measures to be taken in the then exigency of affairs, in which it was
resolved that Titus should prosecute the war against the Jews, and that
Vespasian should go to Alexandria, and use such methods as he thought advisable
for suppressing the disturbances at Rome, occasioned by the usurper Vitellius.
On Vespasian's arrival at Alexandria he was received by the people of that city
with the utmost demonstrations of joy; and measures were instantly concerted for
reducing Vitellius, and quieting the disturbances which then took place at Rome.
For this purpose he dispatched a considerable army of cavalry and foot, under
the command of Mucianus, through Cappadocia and Phrygia, into Italy, being
afraid to trust his troops by sea during the winter season. In the meantime
Antonius Primus (an excellent soldier who had been banished by Nero, but
restored by Galba, a friend to Vespasian) marched at the head of the third
legion to give battle to Vitellius, the latter of whom being informed of his
intentions, sent a strong army under the command of Caecinna to oppose him. As
soon as Caecinna met Antonius (which was on the confines of Italy), he was
struck with terror at the numbers, order, and discipline of his army. He was
totally at a loss how to act: he did not dare to risk a battle, nor could he
think of running away from them; and therefore he chose rather to be considered
as a deserter than a coward. Having assembled his centurions, tribunes, and all
the rest of his officers, he exerted the utmost power of his oratory in a
declaration of the different degrees of merit between Vespasian and Vitellius.
The one he extolled to the highest degree, and depreciated the character of the
other; and all this with a fixed design to prevail on the soldiers of Vitellius
to take part with Vespasian. The speech he made on this occasion was to this
effect: “Vitellius possesses nothing more than the name of an emperor whereas
the claim of Vespasian is not only founded on the strictest equity, but his
person is stamped with the indubitable marks of the imperial character. Besides,
the troops of Vespasian are so numerous and well-chosen, that it will be in vain
for us to think of entering into a contest with him. This being the case, had we
not better now act the same part, as of our own choice and free will, that we
shall other wise be compelled to do through the force of mere necessity? While I
say this, I am certain that Vespasian is able to carry his design into execution
without our aid or assistance; but Vitellius, so far from being able to protect
his adherents, is by no means in a condition to defend himself.” These arguments
were urged with so much zeal that Caecinna obtained the point at which he
labored, and prevailed on his troops to go over to Antonius. But on the
following night Caecinna's people, partly repenting of what they had done, and
partly in fear of the consequence, in case Vitellius should prove successful in
the contest, advanced in a rage, with drawn swords, to dispatch Caecinna, which
they would have certainly done, had not the tribunes strongly interposed in his
favor. Hereupon they desisted from taking away his life, but insisted that, as a
traitor, he should be immediately sent in chains to Vitellius. As soon as
Antonius was informed of this event, he immediately went with a party to attack
them as deserters. For some time they made a faint resistance, but receded on
the first violent attack, and fled toward Cremona. Antonius interposing with his
cavalry between the fugitives and the town, and entirely surrounding them,
destroyed great numbers on the spot, and, pursuing the rest, put the whole to
the sword, except their general Caecinna, whom he set at liberty, and dispatched
to Vespasian with an account of the victory. After this defeat, Antonius marched
with his army toward Rome; information of which being made known to Sabinus, the
brother of Vespasian, he that same night assembled the city guards, and
possessed himself of the capital. On the following day great numbers of persons
of distinguished rank joined his party, among whom was Domitian, brother to
Titus, and younger son to Vespasian. Vitellius paid little regard to the
proceedings of Antonius, the principal view of his resentment being directed
toward Sabinus, and the other persons who had joined with him in the revolt; and
being by nature of a savage and ferocious disposition, but particularly so to
those of distinguished rank, he dispatched a body of his own troops to attack
them. In this enterprise the most singular instances of bravery were displayed
on both sides; but in the end, the troops of Vitellius became victorious.
Domitian, and other Romans of the first rank, made their escape; but the greater
part of the people were destroyed, and the victors, after plundering the temple
of Janus, burnt it to the ground. With respect to Sabinus, he was made prisoner,
and conducted to Vitellius, who ordered him immediately to be put to death. The
next day Antonius arrived with his army, when a desperate battle ensued between
him and the troops of Vitellius. The forces of Antonius being divided, they
engaged in three different parts of the city at the same time, and the contest
was continued for that day without any material advantage on either side. Early
the next morning Mucianus with his army entered Rome, and joining that of
Antonius, the attack was renewed with the utmost vigor, and the troops of
Vitellius being defeated, were all put to the sword. VITELLIUS EXECUTED Thus was
this mighty city taken by her own natural subjects; and as it was fatal to many
thousands, so likewise was it to Vitellius himself, whom the soldiers dragged
out of his palace and (without hearkening to any entreaties, binding his hands
behind him, and throwing a halter about his neck) drew him into the public
Forum, through the main street, called Via Sacra. As he went along, they used
the most opprobrious language, and treated him with the greatest indignity they
could project; they pelted him with dung and filth, and held the point of a
sword under his chin to prevent his concealing his face. At length they
conducted him to the common place of execution, where, with many blows and
wounds, they dispatched him in the 56th year of his age, and after a short reign
of only eight months. Having wreaked their vengeance thus, they dragged his body
from the spot where they had killed him, and threw it into the river Tiber;
after which, they not only made his brother, and only son, but likewise all whom
they met with of his party, victims to their resentment. VESPASIAN ACCEPTED AS
EMPEROR As soon as the fury of this carnage was over, the Roman senate
assembled, and, with unanimous consent, not only declared Vespasian emperor, but
conferred the title of Caesar upon his two sons, Titus and Domitian; nominating
the former to be consul with his father for the ensuing year, and the latter to
be praetor with consular power. They likewise rewarded Mucianus and Antonius,
with several others, for contributing to this happy revolution; and dispatched
couriers to Vespasian, at Alexandria, to tender him their homage and obedience,
and to desire his speedy return to Rome. On this occasion the people made two
festivals, one for their deliverance from the tyranny of Vitellius, and the
other for the happy advancement of Vespasian to the government of the empire.
But it is now time to return to Titus. TITUS GIVEN WAR AGAINST JEWS Before
Vespasian left Judea, he, by the advice of his council, committed the management
of the war against the Jews to his son Titus, well knowing his extraordinary
valor and skill for such an undertaking. Himself had reduced most of the
country, except Jerusalem; but Jerusalem was the capital city, fortified with
three walls on every side, except where it was fenced with deep valleys, having
the castle of Antonia, the temple, the palace of Acra, the towers on Mount Sion,
and several other places almost impregnable; so that great consultation, and a
preparation of many materials, were required to carry on such a siege. TITUS
BEGINS SIEGE AT PASSOVER The inhabitants of Jerusalem had been for a long time
in the most distressed situation, owing to the several parties and factions
which had taken possession of different parts of the city, and were not only
murdering each other, but, in their rage and madness, destroyed such a quantity
of provisions as might have served the city for several months. Jerusalem was
involved to these sad circumstances, when Titus, with a powerful army, and all
kinds of warlike engines, approached, and sat down within six or seven furlongs
of the city, a little before the feast of the passover. By these means he shut
up an infinite number of people who had come from all parts to that solemnity,
which, in a short time, occasioned a great consumption of their provisions. On
the first appearance of so formidable an army, the several factions unanimously
agreed to oppose it; in consequence of which, they sallied out with great
resolution and fury, and putting the Romans to disorder, obliged them to abandon
their camp, and fly to the mountains. But the Jews were at last repulsed, and
driven into the city by Titus, who particularly distinguished himself as a
courageous and expert warrior. TITUS BREACHES WALLS When Titus had properly
placed his engines (which was not done without great opposition), he battered
the outward walls, and, on the third day of May, making a breach, entered and
took possession of the northern quarter of the city, as far as the castle of
Antonia, and the valley of Kidron. Having done this, he gave the besieged all
possible assurances of pardon and civil treatment if they would but submit: but
they, judging his order to be the effect of cowardice, refused to accept of any
terms or conditions whatever. On the fifth day after this Titus broke through
the second wall, and though the besieged made several sallies, and drove him out
again, yet he recovered the place, and possessed himself of the lower city. The
Forum, Rome

JOSEPH OFFERS PEACE ON SURRENDER Though Titus was now thoroughly convinced, in
his own mind, that he could by force of arms easily make a complete conquest of
the city, yet he was willing, if possible, to effect it without any further loss
of blood. He therefore, in the first place, sent a messenger to the Jews,
requesting that they would have so much regard to their own interest as to
surrender a place, of which he could, at any time, make himself master. But this
not answering his wishes, he dispatched Joseph to them, thinking that when they
were addressed by their own countryman, and in a language familiar to them, it
might probably be attended with success. In conformity to the directions given
by Titus, Joseph first walked through several parts of the city, after which,
stopping on an elevated spot, within the hearing of the enemy, he addressed them
in words to this effect: “Countrymen and friends, it is my earnest request, that
if you have any esteem for your lives and liberties, any veneration for your
city, your temple, and your country, you will, on the present occasion, give a
proper testimony of your sensibility, and learn, even from strangers and
enemies, to have a proper regard to your own interest. You may have observed,
that the Romans entertain so great a veneration for sacred things, that they
make a scruple of seizing anything that is holy; and this they do, though they
never presumed to have any share, concern, or interest, in your communion;
whereas you, on the contrary, instead of protecting the religion in which you
were educated, seem conspiring to complete its destruction. Are you not by this
time convinced that, your fortresses being beaten down, and a great part of your
walls left in a defenseless condition, your weakness is sufficiently exposed,
and that it is an absolute impossibility to support yourselves much longer
against so formidable a power as that with which you have to contend? It is
true, that engaging in the cause of liberty is a glorious task, provided it be
undertaken before that liberty is likely to be lost or forfeited; but when the
latter is the case, it is idle to think of attempting to throw it off, and all
further endeavors will rather tend to produce a disgraceful death, than give the
opportunity of preserving a life of honorable freedom. A state of bondage to a
master whom a man of honor would blush to acknowledge his superior, is indeed a
scandalous state; but submission to a people whose authority is acknowledged by
the whole world, is by no means disgraceful. Conscious of this truth, your
ancestors, who were more wise and powerful than you are, were induced to pay
allegiance to the Romans, which they certainly would not have done had they not
been fully convinced that it was the will of Providence they should submit. But
wherefore would you any longer continue a contest that is, in effect, already
decided? For if your walls were yet perfect, and the siege actually raised, so
long as the Romans resolved not to quit the place, you must soon be starved into
submission. Famine has already made great havoc among you, and the calamity will
daily increase, as there is no guarding against the consequence of the
severities of hunger. It will therefore well become you to recollect yourselves,
and take advice while it maybe serviceable to you. The Romans are of a liberal
disposition, and will be ready to forgive all that is past, if you do not
continue to exasperate them till forgiveness would look like weakness. But if
you resist till they storm the city, instead of mercy, you will fatally
experience their resentment from the point of the sword.” These friendly
admonitions made not the least impression on the perverse Jews, who, instead of
paying attention to them, treated Joseph with the utmost contempt, and, had he
not been properly guarded, would have put him to death. In consequence of this,
Titus resolved to proceed with the utmost severity against them. Accordingly,
when any fled from the city (which great numbers were constrained to do on
account of the want of provisions), they were no sooner taken than Titus ordered
them to be scourged and crucified. This, however, he did not do from motives of
cruelty, but with a view of striking terror in the multitude, in hopes that they
would the sooner give up all opposition, and surrender themselves to the
superior force of his arms. BATTERING RAMS DESTROYED Finding every method
ineffectual to bring the Jews to submission, Titus, on the 12th of May, began
four mounts for his battering-rams, two near the castle of Antonia, where he was
in hopes of taking the temple, and two near the monument of John, the
high-priest, were he supposed he might, without much difficulty, break into the
upper city. But in two bold sallies, the besieged ruined and destroyed the
mounts, and, having burnt several battering-rams, and other engines, pressed
forward, and broke into the very camp of the Romans. At length they were
repulsed by Titus, who (in a council of war) resolved to surround the whole city
with a wall, or entrenchment, to hinder the flight of the besieged, and to
prevent all relief from coming into the city, thereby strictly verifying the
words of our blessed Redeemer: “The days shall come upon thee, that thine
enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee around, and keep thee in
on every side.” Luke 19:43. MULTITUDES DIE IN FAMINE This work was executed with
such astonishing celerity, that the whole was finished within the space of a few
days. But it made no impression on the besieged, notwithstanding the famine
began to rage with the most horrid violence, and such a mortality ensued, that
within the space of three months no less than 115,080 carcasses of the poorer
sort were carried to be buried at the public charge, 600,000 were thrown out at
the gates; and when the number of dead bodies increased to such a degree that
they had no place to bury them, they gathered them together in the largest
houses adjoining, and there shut them up. All this time the famine increased to
such a degree, that wives took the meat out of their husbands' mouths, children
from their parents, and mothers from their children; old men were driven from
their meat as persons of no use, and young men tortured to confess where their
provisions lay; sinks and holes were continually raked to find offal for food,
and the very soldiers (who were the last that would want) began to eat girdles,
shoes, hay, and other articles; and, what was worst of all, and the most
shocking to human nature, a woman of quality even boiled her own child with an
intent to eat it. This act appeared so detestable in the eyes of Titus, that
(after having repeatedly offered peace and pardon to the Jews if they would
submit, and as often received a denial) he publicly declared that “he would bury
the abominable crime in the ruins of their country, and not suffer the sun to
shine upon that city, whose mothers eat their own children, and whose fathers,
no less culpable, did, by their obstinacy, reduce them to such an extremity.”
CASTLE BREACHED With this resolution he ordered all the groves to be cut down
within a considerable distance of the city, and, causing more mounts to be
raised, on the first of July he began to batter the wall of Antonia, and, on the
fifth, entered the castle by force, and pursued the flying Jews even to the
temple. Both Titus and Josephus again exhorted them to surrender, but all to no
purpose: they absolutely refused every accommodation, and even boasted that
rather than submit they would glory in enduring the worst of miseries. Titus,
hearing this, in order to make an easy ascent to the temple, ordered the
fortress of Antonia to be razed to the ground, and having seized the north and
west porticoes, or cloisters of the outward range of the temple, he set them on
fire, as the Jews did other porticoes, to hinder the Romans from making their
approaches. TEMPLE IS BURNED On the eighth day of August Titus, perceiving that
the walls of the inner temple were too strong for the battering-rams, and that
the foundation of the gates could not be undermined, was obliged to set fire to
them, yet still with an intent, if possible, to save the temple itself; but it
so fell out that, on the tenth, a certain soldier, contrary to the command of
the general, cast a flaming firebrand through the golden window into the
chambers and buildings on the north side, which immediately set them on fire.
The utmost endeavors were used to prevent the fatal effects of this proceeding,
but to no purpose. The flames spread throughout the whole fabric, and soon
consumed the most beautiful structure that ever was erected; while the Roman
soldiers, pursuing their victory with the most imaginable fury and revenge, cut
to pieces every person they found about the temple, and then set fire to the
rest of the buildings. JERUSALEM COMPLETELY DESTROYED During this state of
general confusion, those who were the chiefs in the sedition, found means to
retire to the upper and strongest part of the city, called Sion, situated upon a
steep rock, where they endeavored to defend themselves to the last. But, Titus
having raised his batteries and made a breach in the wall, they lost all their
courage, abandoned the towers, which were their only strength, and in vain
sought to escape by hiding themselves in vaults and privies, whence both
John[525] and Simon (two principal ringleaders of their different factions) were
dragged out, and the former condemned to perpetual imprisonment, while the
latter was preserved to grace the victor's triumph. [525] This John was the son
of one Levi, and one of the principal men belonging to the city of Grichala.
When Titus laid siege to that place, John, under pretence of surrendering it,
made his escape, and went, with a party of men to Jerusalem, where, joining with
the zealots, and being naturally a crafty man, eloquent in speech, and ambitious
beyond measure, he soon began to assume a sovereign power over the rest, and
became the commander of one faction, as Simon, the son of Gioras did of another.
Simon, having gathered together a great number of robbers and murderers, went
into the mountainous parts of the country, reduced all Idumea, and some places
in Judea, after which he encamped near Jerusalem, and was at length let in by
the citizens to defend them against John, who, at the head of the zealots, did
many cruel and tyrannical actions. So that Simon and his army were in the city,
while John and his adherents were in the temple, fighting and destroying one
another, even while the enemy was at the walls. The Romans, having now gained
the walls, and with shouts of joy placed the colors upon the towers, broke loose
all over the city, and ranged up and down the streets, killing all that fell in
their way without distinction, till the passages were filled up with the
carcasses, and the channels of the city ran down with blood, as if it had been
to quench the fire, which was become, as it were, one general conflagration. To
this fatal end was the famous city of Jerusalem, after a siege of above five
months, reduced, in the second year of Vespasian's reign, and thirty-eight years
of our Lord's crucifixion. In this siege it was computed that 1,100,000
perished, 97,000 were taken captives, beside 237,490 (according to Josephus) who
fell in the wars which preceded it. The greater part of the buildings in the
city being consumed by fire, and the soldiers having neither rapine nor object
left for their rage and indignation to work upon, Titus ordered them to lay the
remaining parts of the city and temple level with the ground: which order was so
punctually executed that (except three towers, which, for their strength and
beauty, were left as monuments to posterity of the once magnificence of the
city) the whole was laid so flat that, when the Romans left the place, it looked
as if it had never been inhabited. While these things were transacting at
Jerusalem, Vespasian, who entered upon, the government in the fifty-ninth year
of his age, was received at Rome with all imaginable joy and triumph by the
people. They considered him as the only person whose virtues and excellences
could recover the languishing state of the empire: nor were they mistaken, for
he began immediately to act in conformity to what they had expected, by
administering justice, and reforming the laws and customs of Rome, honorably
rewarding those who had served him, and pardoning his adversaries with the most
singular clemency. In the meantime the news of the conquest of Jerusalem reached
Rome, which occasioned the greatest rejoicings in that city, the people
universally proclaiming the praises of Titus, who had shown himself so expert a
soldier and commander; and in consequence of this a triumph was decreed both for
him and his father, the latter having conducted the beginning of the war with no
less eclat[526] than the former had finished it. [526] Brilliance. When Titus
returned to Rome he was received with the universal applause of the people, and
within a few days after both the father and son entered upon their triumph,
which was more solemn and magnificent than had ever before been seen in Rome.
Among other rich and glorious spoils were great quantities of gold taken out of
the temple, and the body of the Jewish law, which were exhibited to the view of
the people. This was the first time that Rome ever saw the father and son
triumph together; and as Vespasian built a new temple to Peace, wherein he
deposited most of the Jewish spoils, so Titus had a triumphal arch of great
beauty and magnificence erected to his honor, whereon were inscribed all his
noble exploits against the Jews, and which, as a lasting monument of the impiety
and perverseness of that nation, remains almost entire to this day. Such was the
end of the once famous city of Jerusalem, and such the end of the Jewish polity;
from which time those obstinate and perverse people were no longer a nation, but
have ever since been dispersed and despised throughout the whole face of the
earth.


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  CHAPTER 58: BIBLE CHRONOLOGY
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BIBLE CHRONOLOGY Our Bible Chronology is a subject involved in confusion and
perplexity. Learned men and antiquarians have been laborious in critical
investigations for a solution of the existing difficulties, but have thus far
failed of reaching any very satisfactory results. What has contributed to this
chronological confusion is the fact that the events of sacred history, as
recorded in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, are not given in the order of
their occurrence. Hence, it becomes a more difficult work to adjust our Bible
Chronology. Another source of existing perplexity is the fact that the three
existing versions of Holy Scripture, viz., the Hebrew, the Samaritan Pentateuch,
and the Greek Septuagint, have each a different chronology, showing a
discrepancy of hundreds of years between the creation of man and the birth of
Christ. The greater discrepancy is between the Hebrew version and the Greek
Septuagint. According to Abp. Usher, who adopts the authority of the Hebrew
Scriptures, the period between the creation of man and the birth of Christ is
4004 years. According to Dr. Hales, who advocates the Septuagint chronology,
this period embraces 5411 years, a difference of 1407 years, as compared with
the computation of Usher. Various theories have been adopted for the purpose of
accounting for the chronological discrepancy between the Hebrew version and the
Greek Septuagint. There are plausible reasons for supposing that the translators
of the Septuagint, being Jews, and living in Egypt, corrupted the chronology of
their own Scriptures, influenced by motives of national vanity, in order to
extend the antiquity of their sacred records, and of their nation, so as to
equal, or approximate unto the high antiquity claimed for the Egyptian
chronicles, and the remote date of their national organization. But this is not
the place to discuss the causes of these chronological discrepancies, nor would
such discussion be very satisfactory. It is admitted that, in respect to the
probability of accuracy arising from the state of the text, the Hebrew has the
advantage. That text is, therefore, followed in the authorized version of our
English Bible; and the chronology, as therein given according to the learned
Usher, is accepted as the most reliable of any among the conflicting systems
which different chronologists, ancient and modern, have advocated. It is not
claimed that in existing circumstances entire accuracy as to dates is obtained.
All that can reasonably be expected is an approximation to chronological
accuracy in the dates which are given. In the preparation of the following
table, the general plan adopted is that appended by Dr. Dewar, Principal of the
University at Aberdeen, to his enlarged and improved edition of Stackhouse's
Biblical works, as edited and published in Glasgow, 1842. To make it more full
and satisfactory, it has been supplemented by additions selected from original
sources, and from a variety of chronological articles to which the editor has
had access. The aid furnished by these articles is hereby acknowledged. The
Table, thus prepared, covers the same period as that embraced in the History of
the Bible, to which it is appended. Chronological Tables Note--Such events as
are derived from secular history, are given in italics, to distinguish them
readily from those of Biblical origin, so far as the inspired History extends.


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  CHAPTER 59: FROM THE CREATION TO THE DELUGE
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FROM THE CREATION TO THE DELUGE (according to Usher, as adopted in the English
version of the Bible, 1656 years.)

|B.C.|A.M.| The creation of our first parents|4004|1| The fall of Adam and
promise of a Savior|…|…| The birth of Cain, Adam's eldest son|4001|3| The birth
of Abel, Adam's second son|4000|4| The murder of Abel, and the punishment of
Cain|3876|128| The birth of Seth, son of Adam|3874|130| The birth of Enos, son
of Seth|3769|235| The birth of Cainan, son of Enos|3679|325| The birth of
Mahalaleel, son of Cainan|3609|395| The birth of Israel, son of
Mahalaleel|3544|460| The birth of Enoch, son of Israel|3382|622| The birth of
Methuselah, son of Enoch|3317|687| The birth of Lamech, son of
Methuselah|3130|874| The death of Adam, aged 930 years|3074|930| The translation
of Enoch, aged 365 years|3017|987| The death of Seth, aged 912 years|2962|1042|
The birth of Noah, son of Lamech|2948|1056| The death of Enos, aged 905
years|2864|1140| The death of Cainan, aged 910 years|2769|1235| The death of
Mahalaleel, aged 895 years|2714|1290| The death of Israel, aged 962
years|2582|1422| Noah warned by God of the future deluge, and commanded to build
an ark|2468|1536| The birth of Japheth, eldest son of Noah|2448|1556| The birth
of Shem, second son of Noah|2446|1558| The birth of Ham, third son of
Noah|2444|1560 | Death of Lamech, father of Noah, aged 777 years|2353|1651|
Death of Methuselah, aged 969 years, the oldest man|2348|1656| The same year,
Noah, being 600 years old, the flood comes upon the earth and he enters the ark.


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  CHAPTER 60: FROM THE DELUGE TO THE CALLING OF ABRAHAM, 426 YEARS AND 6 MONTHS
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FROM THE DELUGE TO THE CALLING OF ABRAHAM, 426 YEARS AND 6 MONTHS

|B.C.|A.M.| Noah with his family, etc., leave the ark|2347|1657| The rainbow a
pledge of security|...|...| The birth of Arphaxad, son of Shem|2346|1658| Noah
plants a vineyard, etc.|2341|1663| The birth of Salah, son of
Arphaxad|2311|1693| The birth of Eber or Heber, son of Salah, from whom it was
supposed the Hebrews derived their name|2281|1723| The birth of Peleg, son of
Eber|2247|1757| The building of the tower of Babel, the confusion of languages,
and the dispersion of mankind|2234|1770| Beginning of the Egyptian dynasties,
and the Assyrian monarchy|2233|1771| The birth of Reu, son of Peleg|2217|1787|
The birth of Serug, son of Reu|2185|1819| Early astronomical calculations of the
Babylonians about this time.||| The birth of Nahor, son of Serug|2155|1849| The
birth of Terah, son of Nahor|2126|1878| The death of Nimrod, founder of Babylon,
who is succeeded by Belus|2061|1943| The birth of Haran, son of Terah|2056|1948|
Dynasty of the Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings, in Lower Egypt about this time.||| The
Death of Belus, succeeded by Ninus, as king of Assyria|2035|1969| The death of
Noah, aged 950 years|1998|2006| Beginning of the post-diluvian apostasy|...|...|
The birth of Abram, son of Terah|1996|2008| The death of Ninus, succeeded by his
wife, Semiramis|1987|2017| The birth of Sarai, afterwards wife of
Abram|1986|2018| The death of Semiramis, Queen of Assyria|1945|2059| The call of
Abram from Ur of the Chaldeans to Haran in Mesopotamia, where his father died,
aged 205 years|1917|2083| Mesopotamia, called by the Hebrews Padan-Aram, located
between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, was the first abode of men before and
after the flood.|||


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  CHAPTER 61: FROM THE CALLING OF ABRAHAM TO THE EXODUS OF THE ISRAELITES, 430 YEARS
========================================================================

FROM THE CALLING OF ABRAHAM TO THE EXODUS OF THE ISRAELITES, 430 YEARS

|B.C.|A.M.| Abraham called the second time to leave Haran and go to Canaan,
being 75 years old|1921|2083| Eighteenth Dynasty of Egyptian kings, during which
the Israelites sojourned in Egypt until their exodus under Moses. ||| Abraham
with his wife goes to Egypt|1920|2084| He returns from Egypt to Canaan|...|...|
Abraham and Lot separate, the former going to Mamre, the latter to
Sodom|1920|2084| Chedorlaomer and his allies make war upon the king of Sodom and
take Lot prisoner, but they are pursued and defeated by Abraham|1913|2091|
Melchisedec receives tithes from him and blesses him|...|...| God makes a
covenant with Abraham|...|...| The birth of Ishmael, son of Abraham and
Hagar|1910|2094| God renews his covenant with Abram, changing his name to
Abraham, institutes circumcision, promises Isaac by Sarah his wife|1897|2107|
Abraham entertains angels, is informed by them of the destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah, intercedes for these cities, their overthrow|...|...| Abraham sojourns
in Gerar, where Abimelech, the king, takes Sarah to wife, but restores
her|...|...| The birth of Isaac in the 100th year of Abraham|1896|2108| Abraham
sends away Hagar and her son Ishmael|1892|2112| He is commanded of God to
sacrifice Isaac, his son|1871|2133| Sarah dies at Hebron, aged 127
years|1859|2145| The marriage of Isaac and Rebecca|1856|2148| The birth of Jacob
and Esau, Isaac being 60 years old|1836|2168| Death of Abraham, aged 175
years|1818|2186| Kingdom of Argos founded about this time.||| Bela the first
king of Edom begins to reign|1740|2264| Isaac blesses Jacob, who departs to
Padan-aram|1760|2240| Jacob marries Leah, daughter of Laban|1753|2251| Esau
marries two Canaanitish women|1796|2208| Jacob makes Joseph his favorite, his
dreams, is sold as a slave to Egypt|1728|2276| Joseph cast into
prison|1719|2285| The death of Isaac, aged 180 years|1716|2288| Joseph
interprets Pharaoh's dreams, and is made the first ruler under the
king|1715|2289| Commencement of seven years' famine|1708|2296| Jacob sends his
sons to Egypt to buy corn|1707|2297| He sends them again with Benjamin, when
Joseph makes himself known to them|1706|2298| Jacob and family go down to
Egypt|1706|2298| Jacob having blessed his sons, dies in Egypt, aged
147|1689|2315| The death of Joseph, aged 110 years|1635|2369| Revolution in
Egypt, the shepherd kings expelled, and the Theban dynasty by successive kings
reigns during the sojourn and bondage of the Israelites to their exodus under
Ramses I, B.C. 1491||| The destruction of the male Hebrew children
ordered|1573|2431| Birth of Moses and his adoption by Pharaoh's
daughter|1571|2433| About this time Athens is founded by Cecrops|1556|2448|
Moses kills an Egyptian and flies to Midian|1531|2473| Amenophis, son of Rameses
Miamun, reigns over Egypt|1510|2494 | God appears to Moses in the burning bush,
and sends him to deliver Israel|1491|2513| Pharaoh refuses to release the
Israelites, increases their burdens, is compelled by the plagues inflicted on
his people to let the oppressed people go|1491|2513|


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  CHAPTER 62: FROM THE EXODUS OF THE ISRAELITES TO THEIR ENTRANCE INTO CANAAN, 40 YEARS
========================================================================

FROM THE EXODUS OF THE ISRAELITES TO THEIR ENTRANCE INTO CANAAN, 40 YEARS

|B.C.|A.M.| The Israelites march from Rameses to the Red Sea|1491|2518|
Overthrow of Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea|...|...| Their arrival at
Sinai, the giving of the law, consecration of Aaron and his sons to the
priesthood|...|...| Moses delays to descend from the mount, and the people make
and worship a golden calf; he shows his displeasure by breaking the tables of
the law, destroying the idol, and putting 3,000 idolaters to death|...|...|
Moses is called again to ascend the mount, and receives from God two other
tables of the law|...|...| The tabernacle completed and erected|1490|2512| The
conduct of Miriam and Aaron punished|...|...| From Paran twelve spies are sent
to explore the land of Canaan, their report, the people murmur, they are doomed
to fall in the wilderness|1491|2513| Rebellion of Korah and his company, their
punishment, many thousands of the people perish with the plague on account of
their murmuring|1471|2533| The Israelites arrive at Kadesh, the 40th year of,
their departure from Egypt|1451|2553| Moses, by God's direction, brings water
from a rock|...|...| Death of Aaron at Mount Hor, aged 123 years|...|...| The
plague of fiery serpents, the brazen serpent|...|...| The Israelites enter Moab,
defeat Sihon and Og|...|...| Balaam sent to curse Israel, is constrained to
bless them|...|...| The men of Israel, seduced by the women of Moab and Midian,
and 24,000 consequently perish|...|...| The Israelites arrive at the plains of
Moab|...|...| Moses, informed of his approaching death, recapitulates the laws,
etc., blesses the tribes, ascends Nebo and dies, aged 120|...|...| Joshua
confirmed as his successor, sends spies to Jericho, conducts the people over
Jordan|...|...| Jericho taken, and the inhabitants slain|...|...| About this
time Troy was founded by Seamander, and the Olympic games were first celebrated
at Elis in Greece. |...|...|


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 63: FROM THE ENTRANCE OF THE ISRAELITES INTO THE LAND OF CANAAN TO THE BUILDING OF SOLOMON'S...
========================================================================

FROM THE ENTRANCE OF THE ISRAELITES INTO THE LAND OF CANAAN TO THE BUILDING OF
SOLOMON'S TEMPLE, 447 YEARS

|B.C.|A.M.| Joshua, the successor of Moses, leads the Israelites in the conquest
of Canaan|1451|2553| Disastrous battle at Ai, and its cause|...|...| A division
of the land commenced|1445|2559| The tabernacle set up in Shiloh|1444|2560|
Joshua assembles all Israel, renews their covenant with God, counsels them, and
dies, aged 110 years|1443|2561| Degeneracy of Israel begins to appear|1419|2585|
The war of the Benjamites|1405|2599| Israelites in subjection to the king of
Mesopotamia 8 years|1406|2598| Minos, king of Crete, promulgates his
laws|...|...| Othniel delivers Israel from the king of Mesopotamia, and governs
the people 40 years|1405|2599| Israel is delivered into the hands of Eglon, king
of Moab, whom they serve 18 years|1342|2662| Isthmian games instituted by the
king of Corinth|1326|2678| Ehud slays Eglon, king of Moab, and delivers
Israel|1325|2679| The Israelites relapse into idolatry, are delivered into the
hand of Jabin as the punishment|1305|2699| Deborah and Barak deliver
Israel|1296|2708| The Assyrian empire founded about this time||| Tyre founded by
the Sidonians|1252|2752| Gideon delivers Israel|1245|2759| Tola governs Israel
23 years|1232|2772| Jair succeeds Tola, and governs Israel 22 years|1209|2789|
About this time the Lydian kingdom begins.||| Semiramis marries Ninus|...|...|
Jephthah's exploits and vow|1145|2859| Troy taken by the Greeks about this
time.||| Sampson's exploits, he pulls down the temple|1136|2887| The ark taken
by the Philistines--death of Eli|1141|2863| The Lord reveals himself to Samuel
in Shiloh|1145|2859| Samuel anoints Saul as king of Israel|1095|2909| Saul's
inauguration in Gilgal|...|...| Saul, for his rash sacrifice, is rejected of
God|1093|2911| Samuel is sent to Bethlehem to anoint David|1063|2941| David
slays Goliath|...|...| Death of Samuel, the last of the Judges|1060|2944| David
marries Abigail, formerly wife of Nabal|...|...| Saul is slain on Mount
Gilboa|1056|2948| David anointed king in Hebron|...|...| Abner adheres to the
son of Saul, but is defeated in an action with Joab the general of
David|1658|2951 | David establishes his dominion over all Israel|1048|2956| He
takes the fortress of Zion and calls it the City of David|1047|2957| He brings
the Ark of the Covenant to Zion|1045|2959| He purposes building a temple, but is
directed by Nathan the prophet to leave it to his successor|1044|2960| David
subdues the Philistines and other hostile nations|1040|2964| The adultery of
David, and death of Uriah|1035|2969| David is reproved for his crime by
Nathan|1034|2970| The birth of Solomon|1033|2971| The rebellion of Absalom,
David's son|1021|2983| David numbers the people of Israel, and is
punished|1017|2987| The birth of Rehoboam, son of Solomon|1016|2988| The death
of David, aged 70, according to Josephus|1015|2989| Solomon succeeds to the
throne of Israel|1014|2990| He lays the foundation of the temple|1012|2992|
Lacedemonian kingdom commenced about this time.|||


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 64: FROM BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE TO THE BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY, 400 YEARS
========================================================================

FROM BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE TO THE BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY, 400 YEARS

|B.C.|A.M.| The dedication of the Temple|1003|3001| The death of Solomon and
succession of Rehoboam|975|3029| Revolt of the ten tribes|…|…| Jeroboam, king of
Israel, establishes idolatry|974|3030| The priests and pious Israelites join the
kingdom of Judah|…|…| Shishak, king of Egypt, invades Judea|971|3033| Rehoboam
dies, and is succeeded by Abijah|958|3046| Abijah conquers Jeroboam with great
slaughter|957|3047| Asa succeeds Abijah, who reigns 40 years|955|3049| Jeroboam,
king of Israel, succeeded by Nadab|954|3050| Nadab is slain by Baasha, who
usurps the kingdom|953|3051| Asa conquers Zerah the Ethiopian, who invades
Judea|941|3063| Omri, king of Israel makes Samaria his capital|924|3080| Omri
dies, and is succeeded by his son Ahab|918|3086| Jehoshaphat succeeds his father
Asa, as king of Israel|914|3090| He reforms the religion of his
kingdom|912|3092| Elijah predicts a famine, and is fed by ravens|910|3094| Homer
and Hesiod live about this time.||| Elijah's challenge to the prophets of
Baal|906|3098| Ahab, king of Israel, seizes the vineyard of Naboth|899|3105| He
is slain at Ramoth Gilead, and succeeded by Ahaziah|897|3107| Jehoshaphat
associates with him his son Jehoram in the government of Judah|892|3112|
Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, introduces idolatry into Judah|888|3116| He dies of
an incurable disease, and is succeeded by Ahaziah|885|3119| Jehu slays Jehoram,
and reigns over the kingdom of Israel|884|3120 | Athaliah murders the royal
family, except Joash, and usurps the throne of Judah|…|…| Jehoiada the priest
anoints Joash king, and slays Athaliah|878|3126| Carthage is built by Queen
Dido|869|3188| The Ninevites repent at the preaching of Jonah|862|3142| Joash
orders the repair of the temple|856|3148| Jehu dies, and is succeeded by his son
Jehoahaz|…|…| Zechariah, the priest, son of Jehoiada, is stoned in the temple by
order of Joash|840|3164| Joash, king of Judah, is murdered, and succeeded by
Amaziah|839|3165| Amaziah, elated by his late victories, wages war with
Jehoahash king of Israel, and is taken prisoner|826|3178| Jehoahash dies, and is
succeeded by his son, Jeroboam II|825|3179| Death of Sardanapalus, and fall of
the Assyrian empire|820|3184| Amaziah, king of Judah, is slain, and is succeeded
by Azariah|810|3194| Jeroboam II, after a reign of 41 years, dies|784|3220|
After the death of Jeroboam II an interregnum of 22 years. During his reign
lived and prophesied Jonah, Hosea, and Amos. Zechariah, son of Jeroboam, obtains
the kingdom|773|3231| He is killed by Shallum, who is soon killed by
Menahem|772|3232| Menahem dies, and is succeeded by his son Pekahiah||| Pul,
king of Assyria, invades and subdues Israel|771|3233| Uzziah, for attempting to
burn incense, is smitten with leprosy|765|3239| Pekahiah, successor to Menahem,
is killed by Pekah|755|3249| Macedonian empire begins about this time.|||
Isaiah, Hoses, Amos, and Micah, prophesy|...|...| Rome founded about this
time.||| Ahaz succeeds his father Jotham, 17th year of Pekah|742|3262|
Tiglath-Pilezer invades Israel, and carries away captives to Assyria|740|3264|
Hoshea, having slain Pekah, king of Israel, reigns|730|3274| Tiglath-Pilezer
dies, and is succeeded by Shalmaneser, who invades Israel, and carries captive
the ten tribes|721|3283| Shalmaneser dies, and is succeeded by Sennacherib, who
invades Judah|715|3289| Hezekiah's sickness and miraculous recovery|713|3291|
Sennacherib invades Judah, and is suddenly destroyed|710|3294| His son,
Esarhaddon, succeeds to the throne|706|3298| Hezekiah dies, and is succeeded by
his son Manasseh|694|3310| Esarhaddon makes, himself master of Babylon and
re-unites the Assyrian and Babylonian empires|677|3327| He takes Manasseh
prisoner, and carries him to Babylon|671|3333| Manasseh, on repentance, is
restored to his kingdom|…|...| He dies, and is succeeded by Ammon, his
son|639|3365| Ammon is murdered, and his son, Josiah, reigns|637|3367| Josiah
labors to reform abuses, and restore the true worship of God|630|3374| About
this time Philip succeeds to the throne of Macedon.||| Byzantium is built about
this time.||| Jeremiah begins to prophesy|624|3380 | Nabopolasser reigns in
Babylon 22 years|622|3382| Psammetik I reigns in Egypt about this time||| He is
succeeded by Neko II|609|3395| Josiah is slain in battle against Neko, king of
Egypt, and is succeeded by Jehoahaz|606|3398| Jehoiakim, in whose reign Habakkuk
prophesied, reigns|…|…| Nineveh destroyed by the Medes and Babylonians|612|3392|
Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem, and carries Daniel and his companions into
Babylon|602|3402| From this time, according to the common computation, the 70
years' captivity begins.||| Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and is
consequently promoted to a high office in the government|598|3406| Darius, the
Mede, is born|600|3404| Darius, the Mede, enters on his reign over the
Chaldeans|538|3466| Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, is carried to
Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, with many Jews|598|3406| Ezekiel is called to the
prophetic office|594|3410| Zedekiah, successor of Jeconiah, forms an alliance
with the Egyptian king, Hophra, and revolts against Nebuchadnezzar|592|3412|
Draco, the lawgiver of Athens, lives about this time.||| Ezekiel prophesies in
Babylon|590|3414| Nebuchadnezzar besieges Jerusalem, takes the city, destroys it
with the Temple, carries Zedekiah to Babylon, and sends the remaining
inhabitants of Judea beyond the Euphrates. Thus ended the kingdom of Judah, 388
years from the secession|586|3418| Obadiah prophesies at this time||| Solon, the
lawgiver of Athens, about this time; also Anacharsis, Thales, and Aesop
flourished.|||


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 65: FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST, 586 YEARS
========================================================================

FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST, 586 YEARS

|B.C.|A.M.| Gedaliah is made governor of the people left in Judea, and is
murdered|584|3420| Ezekiel prophesies in Chaldea, and foretells the restoration
of the captive Jews|587|3417| Tyre besieged by Nebuchadnezzar|586|3418|
Nebuchadnezzar erects a golden image, and by a decree requires for it universal
worship|580|3424| Servius Tullus, king of Rome|578|3426| Nebuchadnezzar's dream
of trouble, which Daniel interprets as portending great calamity|570|3434| His
singular insanity and restoration|569|3435| He dies, and is succeeded by his
son, Evilmerodach|562|3442| He releases Jehoiachin from prison|561|3443| He is
slain, and succeeded by Neriglissar|560|3444 | Belshazzar succeeds to the throne
of Babylon|555|3449| Daniel's emblematical vision of four monarchies|…|…|
Croesus, the ally of Belshazzar, conquered by Cyrus, and taken
prisoner|548|3446| Cyrus besieges Belshazzar in Babylon|541|3463| He takes
Babylon, slays Belshazzar, and makes Cyaxares, of Darius, king of
Babylon|538|3466| Daniel, envied by the nobles, is cast into the den of
lions|537|3467| Cyrus succeeds Darius, as king of the Medo-Persian empire, and
ends the captivity of the Jews in Babylon|536|3468| The remnant of the Jews
return to Judea, and begin to restore Jerusalem and the temple|535|3469|
Tarquin, the Proud, succeeds to the Roman throne|534|3470| Cyrus dies, aged 70,
and is succeeded by Ahasuerus|530|3474| Ahasuerus dies in Syria, and Artaxerxes
usurps the Persian throne|522|3482| Artaxerxes is slain, and Darius Hystaspes
succeeds to the throne of Persia|521|3483| Zerubbabel and Joshua encouraged by
Haggai and Zechariah, engage in rebuilding the temple|520|3484| The temple
finished and dedicated|516|3488| Darius invades India|506|3498| The Persians
wage war against the Greeks|500|3504| The Persians defeated with great loss at
Marathon|491|3513| Darius dies, and is succeeded by his son, Xerxes|487|3517|
Xerxes confirms unto the Jews the privileges which had been granted them by his
father|485|3519| Herodotus, the historian, born|484|3520| Consular government
established about this time in Rome.||| Xerxes, having relinquished his war
against the Greeks, is slain, and is succeeded by Artaxerxes, Longimanus, the
Ahasuerus of Esther|464|3540| Artaxerxes (Ahasuerus) being established in the
throne of the empire, makes a great feast, he divorces Vashti, the
queen|462|3542| Esther, the Jewish maiden, is made his queen|458|3546| Ezra is
made governor of Judea and begins a reform|456|3548| First decemvirs[529] at
Rome|454|3550| Haman's plot for the destruction of the Jews defeated|452|3552|
Nehemiah sent as governor of Judea|448|3556| He rebuilds Jerusalem, and reforms
existing evils|444|3560| Ezra collects and arranges a correct edition of the
Scriptures|…|…| Nehemiah, after an absence at the Persian court, returns to
Judea under his second commission|428|3576| Artaxerxes dies, and is succeeded by
his son, Xerxes, who is slain, and Darius Nothus reigns|424|3580| Malachi, the
last of the prophets, prophesies at this time.||| Joiada succeeds his father
Eliashib, as high priest|…|…| Nehemiah, under his last commission, effects
sundry reforms in Judea|409|3595 |


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 66: THE ERA OF INSPIRED HISTORY ENDS ABOUT THIS TIME, AND THE OLD TESTAMENT CANON IS FINISHED
========================================================================

THE ERA OF INSPIRED HISTORY ENDS ABOUT THIS TIME, AND THE OLD TESTAMENT CANON IS
FINISHED

|B.C.|A.M.| Darius Nothus dies, and is superseded by Artaxerxes Mnemon|405|3599|
Socrates, the Athenian philosopher, is condemned to death for refusing to honor
the gods of Athens|400|3604| Aristotle, the renowned philosopher born|384|3620|
Johanan succeeds to the high priesthood of the Jewish people|373|3631| Alexander
II, king of Macedon, is murdered|370|3634| Johanan assassinates his brother
Joshua in the temple, for which crime the nation is fined by the
Persians|366|3638| Alexander the Great born in Macedonia|356|3648| Ochus, king
of Persia, invades Egypt, and subjugates the whole country|350|3654| Philip,
king of Macedon, is slain, and his son, Alexander the Great, succeeds to the
throne|336|3668| He invades Asia, and obtains a victory over Darius|334|3670| He
conquers Asia Minor, and gains a decisive battle with Darius at Issus|333|3671|
He besieges Tyre, visits Jerusalem, conquers Egypt|332|3672| He passes the
Euphrates, obtains another victory over Darius, and destroys the Medo-Persian
empire|331|3673| The Greco-Macedonian empire, after a brief existence, is
divided, on the death of Alexander|323|3681| A Jewish colony formed at
Alexandria, Egypt|320|3684| Onias succeeds Jaddua in the high
priesthood|321|3683| The kingdom of Alexander the Great is divided between four
of his principal generals: Lysimachus, Cassander, Ptolemy, and
Selencus|301|3703| Onias dies, and is succeeded in the priesthood by Simon, the
Just|300|3704| Cassander, who reigned over Macedonia and Greece, dies|298|3706|
Simon, the Just, dies, and is succeeded by Eleazar, his brother, in the high
priesthood|292|3712| Lysimachus adds to his dominions the kingdom of
Macedon|286|3718| Ptolemy Lagus resigns his throne to his son, Ptolemy
Philadelphus, and soon after dies|284|3720| Seleucus, having slain Lysimachus
and seized his dominions, is himself slain by Ptolemy Ceraunus|280|3724|
Antiochus Soter succeeds his father, Seleucus, to the throne of Syria.|279|3725|
The Hebrew Scriptures, by the authority of Ptolemy Philadelphus, are translated
into Greek, and have since been known as the Septuagint|277|3727| Antiochus
Soter dies, and is succeeded by Antiochus Theos|261|3743| Manasseh, the
high-priest, is succeeded by Onias II|250|3754| Ptolemy Philadelphus is
succeeded by his son, Ptolemy Euergetes|247|3757| Antiochus recalls his wife,
Laodice, whom he had divorced in order to marry Berenice, but she poisons him
and Berenice, and places on the throne her son, Seleucus Callinicus|246|3758 |
Ptolemy revenges his sister's death by slaying Laodice|...|…| Demetrius, son of
Antigonus, succeeds to the Macedonian throne|243|3761| Selencus, taken prisoner
by the Parthians, dies, and is succeeded by his son, Seleucus Ceraunus|225|3779|
Regulus, the Roman, taken prisoner|246|3758| Seleucus Ceraunus is poisoned, and
his brother, Antiochus the Great, becomes his successor|223|3782| Ptolemy
Philopater succeeds to the throne of Egypt|221|3783| The Temple of Janus shut
about this time|…|…| Antiochus, having vanquished the forces of Ptolemy, makes
himself master of Phoenicia and Galilee|218|3786| Onias II succeeds his father,
Simon II as high priest|217|3787| Ptolemy Philopater, having gained a victory
over Antiochus, goes to Jerusalem, and attempts to enter the Holy of Holies|…|…|
He dies, and Ptolemy Epiphanes succeeds to his throne|204|3800| Antiochus unites
with the king of Macedon in a plan to divide between them the dominions of
Ptolemy|203|3801| The Egyptians seek the aid of Rome, and M. Emilius Lepidus is
sent to Egypt as an ambassador|201|3803| Hannibal encourages Antiochus to make
war against the Romans|195|3809| Simon II, the high priest dies, and Onias III
succeeds him|…|…| Antiochus marries his daughter Cleopatra, to Ptolemy
Epiphanes, king of Egypt|193|3811| His expedition against the Romans is a
failure, and he is driven back by Lucins Scipio, the Roman general|190|3814|
Antiochus is slain, while attempting to rob a temple, and is succeeded by
Seleucus Philopater|187|3817| Ptolemy Epiphanes, being put to death, is
succeeded by his young son, Philometer|180|3824| Heliodorus attempts to rob the
temple at Jerusalem, but is prevented by supernatural interposition|176|3828|
Antiochus, brother of Selencus Philopater, obtains the kingdom of Syria by
strategy|175|3829| Jason, by a bribe, procures the high priesthood, and thus
causes the removal of his brother, Onias III|…|…| Jason is supplanted in his
office by Menelaus|172|3832| Antiochus gains a great victory over the forces of
Ptolemy, near Pelusium, in Egypt|171|3833| He soon makes himself master of
Egypt|170|3834| Ptolemy Physcon is made king of Egypt|...|…| Antiochus again
invades Egypt, but is compelled to return by the Roman intervention|168|3836|
Enraged by this reverse, he sends Apollonius, one of his generals, to complete
the destruction of Jerusalem|…|…| He commences his persecution of the Jews on
account of their religion; the temple is desecrated|…|…| Mattathias and his sons
take up arms against him|…|…| The kingdom of Macedon is ended by the Roman
power|...|…| The Maccabean brothers suffer martyrdom|167|3837| Judas, son of
Mattathias, obtains splendid victories over the armies of Antiochus
Epiphanes|166|3838| He recovers Jerusalem, and restores the temple
worship|165|3839| Miserable death of Antiochus Epiphanes, and the succession of
his son, Antiochus Eupator, to the throne|164|3840| Demetrius Soter, son of
Seleucus Philopator, escapes from Rome, kills Antiochus, and seizes on the
throne|162|3842| Demetrius Soter sends his general, Nicanor, against the Jews,
who, with his army, was defeated by Judas|161|3843| Judas is slain in battle
with Bacchides, and is succeeded by Jonathan, his brother|…|…| Jonathan is
promoted by Balas to the high priesthood|153|3851| The Hasmonean dynasty is
established in Judea|…|…| Demetrius Soter is slain in battle by Balas, who
succeeds him to the throne of Syria|152|3852| Balas, being slain, is succeeded
by Demetrius-Nicator|145|3859| Ptolemy Philometer dies, and is succeeded by his
brother, Ptolemy Physcon|…|…| Jonathan, after brilliant successes in war against
Demetrius, is treacherously murdered|144|3860| Simon, his brother, becomes his
successor as the leader of the Jews.|…|…| He secures a recognition of the
independence of Judea, and a guarantee for the same from Rome|141|3863| Carthage
is destroyed by Scipio, the Roman|…|…| Antiochus Sidetes is made king of Syria,
Demetrius being held a prisoner by the Parthians|140|3864| Simon and two sons
are murdered by his son-in-law, Ptolemy, governor in Jericho, and is succeeded
by his son, John Hyrcanus|135|3869| Spain becomes a province of Rome|134|3870|
Tiberius Gracchus, a Roman tribune|…|…| Hyrcanus, son of Simon Maccabens, being
invested with the office of high-priest and general-in-chief, establishes his
government firmly in Judea|135|3869| Antiochus Gryphas conquers the usurper
Zebina and ascends the throne|123|3881| Ptolemy Physcon dies, leaving the
kingdom of Egypt in the hands of his queen, Cleopatra|117|3887| Aristobulus and
Antigonus, sons of Hyrcanus, conquer and devastate Samaria|109|3895| Aristobulus
causes his brother, Antigonus, to be killed, and he takes possession of the
government|…|…| Aristobulus dies, and his brother, Alexander Janneus, succeeds
to the government of Judea|106|3898| Jugurtha, the Numidian king, defeated in a
decisive battle with the Romans|…|…| Rome distracted by the Social War, so
called, which cost the lives of 300,000 men|91|3913 | Commencement of the
Mithridatii war|89|3915| Sylla invested with the power of dictator|82|3922|
Janneus dies, and is succeeded by his wife, Alexandra, who makes her son,
Hyrcanus, high-priest|79|3925| Hyrcanus is dispossessed of his office by
Aristobulus|70|3934| Pompey assumes the command of the Roman army, and reduces
Syria to a province|65|3939| Ptolemy Auletes made king of Egypt|…|…| Pompey
supports the claims of Hyrcanus against Aristobulus, and makes Judea
tributary|63|3941| The conspiracy of Cataline, and its exposure by Cicero|…|…|
The first Roman triumvirate instituted|59|3945| Ptolemy Auletes dies, and is
succeeded by his daughter, Cleopatra, and his eldest son|51|3953| Pompey
conquered at the battle of Pharsalia, by Julius Caesar, and soon after is
murdered|48|3956| Antipater appointed by Caesar governor of Judea|47|3957|
Julius Caesar is murdered in the Roman Senate|44|3960| Antipater is poisoned,
and succeeded by Herod and Phasael|43|3961| The Parthians gain possession of
Jerusalem, and place Antigonus, son of Aristobulus, on the throne|40|3964|
Herod, making interest at Rome, is constituted king of Judea|…|…| Herod takes
Jerusalem by siege, and establishes his authority over Judea, which he retains
34 years|37|3964| Octavius conquers Antony, and reduces Egypt to a Roman
province|30|3974| He assumes the name of Augustus Caesar, and becomes emperor of
Rome|27|3977| Herod begins to rebuild the temple|17|3987 |


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 67: FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO THE COMPLETION OF THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
========================================================================

FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO THE COMPLETION OF THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

||B.C.| |Augustus declared Emperor by the Roman Senate|27| |The Septuagint in
general use among the Jews|…| Luke 2:1|Edict of Augustus|5| |Herod plunders the
tomb of David of a great amount of treasure|5| Luke 1|Birth of John the
Baptist|5| Luke 2|Birth of Jesus Christ, before the common era called Anne
Domini|4| Luke 2|Presentation in the Temple|4| Matthew 2|Arrival of the Magi|4|
Matthew 2|Flight into Egypt|4| |Murder of the male infants of Bethlehem by
Herod|3| Matthew 2|Death of Herod, Governor of Judea, at Jericho|3| |Archelaus
succeeds his father in Judea|2| |Birth of Seneca, celebrated rhetorician and
philosopher, at Cordova|A.D. 2| Luke 2|Jesus accompanies Joseph and Mary to
Jerusalem|8| |About this time arose Judas of Galilee|8| |The Roman legions,
under Varus, defeated by the Germans. Varus kills himself.|9| |Marcus Ambivius
made Procurator of Judea|10| |The Temple at Jerusalem polluted by Samaritans,
who entered it by night, and strewed there dead men's bones|14| |Death of the
Emperor Augustus at Nola|14| |Tiberius, emperor|14-37| |Ovid, Roman poet, died
in banishment|17| |Valerius Gratus made Procurator of Judea by Tiberius|18|
|Livy, the illustrious Roman historian, died at Padua|18| |Herod Antipas founds
the city of Tiberius|18| |Strabo, the celebrated Greek historian, born in
Cappadocia|19| Luke 3|John the Baptist begins to preach|26| |Pontius Pilate made
Procurator of Judea by Tiberius|26| Luke 3|Baptism of Christ|27| |Tiberius
banishes all who profess the Jewish religion from Rome|27| John
2|First-appearance of Christ in the Temple|27| Luke 3|Imprisonment of John|27|
John 5|Our Lord's second visit to Jerusalem|27| Matthew 4|Commencement of
Christ's public ministry|27| John 6|Second Passover|28| |Herod marries Herodias,
his brother Philip's wife, in consequence of which a war arose between him and
King Aretas, his wife's father, and Herod was defeated. John the Baptist
pronounced Herod's marriage unlawful, was imprisoned and beheaded in the Castle
of Machaerus|28| John 6|Third Passover|29| Matthew 17|Transfiguration of
Christ|29| John 7|Feast of Tabernacles|29| John 10|Feast of Dedication|29|
Matthew 21|Second Cleansing of the Temple|30| John 13|Last Supper--Fourth
Passover|30| |The Crucifixion|30| |The Resurrection|30| |The Ascension|30| Acts
2|Effusion of the Spirit at Pentecost|30| Acts 3|Cure of the impotent man|30|
|Conversion of five thousand|30| |First attempts of the Sanhedrin to suppress
Christianity|30| Acts 4|Community of goods|30| |Death of Ananias and
Sapphira|30| |Second attempt to suppress Christianity|33| |Advice of
Gamaliel|33| |Appointment of the Seven|35| |Conversion of many Priests|35|
|Disputation with Stephen|37| Acts 7|Martyrdom of Stephen|37| Acts 8|Philip
preaches in Samaria, and baptizes Simon the Sorcerer|37| Acts 9|Saul converted
while on his way to Damascus|37| |Peter and John visit Samaria|37| |Death of
Tiberius, the Roman emperor; Caligula succeeds.|37| |Baptism of the
Ethiopian|37| |Josephus, the Jewish historian, born at Jerusalem|37| |Pilate
recalled by Caligula, and banished|37| |Saul retires to Arabia|38| |Saul returns
to Damascus|38| Acts 9|Saul visits Jerusalem|40| Acts 9|Saul sent to Tarsus|40|
Acts 9|Rest of the Churches|39-41| |Caligula assassinated|41| |Claudius,
emperor|41-54| Acts 10|Conversion of Cornelius|41| |Herod Agrippa, king of all
Palestine|41-44| Acts 11|Disciples at Antioch first called Christians|42| Acts
11|Famine predicted by Agabus|42| Acts 11|First mission of Saul and Barnabas to
Jerusalem|43| |Aulus Plautius, Roman general, invades Britain|48| |Claudius goes
to Britain with reinforcements|43| Acts 12|Martyrdom of James, the son of
Zebedee|48| |Death of Herod Agrippa|48| |Judea a distinct Roman province|44 |
Acts 11|Epistle of James|44| Acts 13|Paul and Barnabas sent forth|45| |Epistle
of Peter|48| |Paul's return to Antioch|48| |Arrival of Peter at Antioch|48|
|London founded|48| Galatians 2|Second mission of Paul and Barnabas to
Jerusalem|50| Acts 15|Council of Apostles and Elders|50| Acts 15|Paul goes with
Silas on his second circuit|51| Acts 16|Paul arrives at Troas|51| Acts 18|Edict
of Claudius against the Jews|51| Acts 17|Paul at Athens|52| Acts 18|Paul at
Corinth|52| |Paul brought before Gallio|52| |First Epistle to the
Thessalonians|52| |Second Epistle to the Thessalonians|53| |Epistle to the
Galatians|53| Acts 18|Paul leaves Corinth for Syria|53| Acts 18|Paul visits
Jerusalem the fourth time after his conversion.|53| Acts 18|Paul visits Galatia
in his route to Ephesus|53| |Claudius poisoned by Agrippina, mother of Nero|54|
|Nero, emperor|54-68| Acts 19|Paul arrives at Ephesus|54| |Armenia Minor reduced
to a Roman province|54| |First Epistle to the Corinthians|56| |Rotterdam in
Holland founded|56| 1 Timothy 1|Paul's visit to Crete|56| |Epistle to Titus|56|
|First Epistle to Timothy|56| |Second Epistle to the Corinthians|57| Acts
20|Paul's second residence at Corinth|57-58| |Epistle to the Romans|58| Acts
20|Paul sails from Philippi for Syria|58| Acts 21|Paul reaches Jerusalem|58|
Acts 24|Felix superseded by Festus|60| Acts 27|Paul sails for Rome|60| |James
the Just, brother of our Lord, stoned|60| Acts 28|Paul arrives at Rome|61|
|Epistle to the Ephesians|61| |Second Epistle to Timothy|61| |Epistle to the
Colossians|61| |Epistle to Philemon|61| |Mark martyred|62| |London burnt--60,000
Britons said to have perished|62| |Epistle to the Philippians|62| |Epistle to
the Hebrews|63| |Rome burnt by order of Nero|64| |Seneca put to death by Nero,
who had been his pupil|65| Acts 28|Second Epistle of Peter|65| |St. Paul
beheaded at Rome|67| |Vespasian invades Galilee|67| |Nero kills himself|68|
|Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, emperors|68-70| |Vespasian, emperor|70-79|
|Jerusalem destroyed by Titus|70| |Titus demolishes the Temple to its
foundations|74| |Julius Agricola completes the conquest of Britain and
Wales|78-85| |Destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii|79| |Pliny the elder killed
by an eruption of Vesuvius|79| |Vespasian dies, and succeeded by Titus|79|
|Coliseum of Vespasian completed|80| |Titus dies, and succeeded by Domitian|81|
|John exiled to Patmos|95| |Domitian slain, and succeeded by Nerva|96| |The
Apocalypse|96| |Nerva dies, and succeeded by Trajan|98| |Death of John about
this time|100| |Pliny, proconsul of Bithynia, sends to Trajan his famous account
of the Christians. Age of Plutarch.|100|


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  CHAPTER 68: SYNCHRONICAL TABLES OF THE KINGS OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL
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SYNCHRONICAL TABLES OF THE KINGS OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL The most difficult part of
sacred chronology is the period from the revolt of the ten tribes to the
destruction of Jerusalem. To harmonize the different reigns of the kings of
Judah and the kings of Israel has been a perplexing task with chronologists. No
man, perhaps, has devoted to this subject more careful and critical study than
Dr. Hales in his Analysis. He speaks of it as the “Gordian knot” of sacred
chronology. He says that the difficulty of harmonizing the reigns of the kings
of Judah and Israel together has principally arisen: 1. From the discordance of
some of the correspondences in the years of their respective reigns, with the
direct lengths of these reigns; and 2. From not critically determining the
duration of the two interregnums or vacancies in the succession of the latter
kings, so as to make them correspond with the former throughout. Dr. Hales has
attempted, as he thinks, successfully, to adjust and harmonize the respective
reigns of the two kingdoms. Without stating the principles on which his
adjustment is based, it will be sufficient to give the results of his critical
labors in the following tables:

Kings of Judah|Length of reigns. Yrs.|Begin-ning of reigns. B.C.|Kings of
Israel|Length of reigns. Yrs.|Begin-ning of reigns. B.C.|
Rehoboam|17|990|Jeroboam|22|990| Abijah|3|973|Nadab|2|968|
Asa|41|970|Baasha|23|966| Jehoshaphat|25|929|Ela|1|943|
Jehoram|8|904|Omri|11|942| Ahaziah|1|896|Ahab|22|931|
Athaliah|6|895|Ahaziah|2|909| Joash|40|889|Jehoram|12|907|
Amaziah|29|849|Jehu|28|895| Interregnum|11|820|Jehoahaz|17|867|
Uzziah|52|809|Jehoash|16|850| Jotham|16|757|Jeroboam II|41|834| Ahaz|16|741|1st
Interregnum|22|793| Hezekiah|29|725|Zechariah and Shallum|1|771|
Manasseh|55|696|Menahem|10|770| Amon|2|641|Pekahiah|2|760|
Josiah|31|639|Pekah|20|758| Jehoahaz|3 mos.||2d Interregnum|10|738|
Jehoiakim|11|608|Hoshea|9|728| Jehoiakin|3 mos.||Samaria taken||719|
Zedekiah|11|597|||| Jerusalem taken||586|||| The Babylonish captivity takes
place under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar.|||The Ten Tribes carried captive into
Assyria by Shalmaneser.||| There is some difference between the chronological
dates of Dr. Hales and those adopted by some other chronologists. Our common
version of the Bible reckons the time of the revolt of the Ten Tribes, and the
beginning of the reigns of Rehoboam and Jeroboam, to be 975 years B.C. The dates
adopted by Jahn, as found in Prof. Stowe's translation, conform to those of the
authorized English version, in which the chronology of Abp. Usher is adopted.
Stackhouse's tables do not differ materially from the same. These discrepancies,
to be expected from the absence of positive Scripture data, are of very little
account, since they do not affect the general results aimed at in chronological
calculations.


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/illustrated-history-of-the-bible/
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