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nezzar; the temple, and all the buildings, were destroyed by fire; and this famous city became a heap of ruins, and nearly the whole nation was sent captive to Babylon. Gedaliah was made governor over the few people that were left; and many of those, who had fled during the siege of Jerusalem into the neighbouring countries, returned soon after, and were encouraged by Gedaliah to establish themselves in Judæa, upor condition of paying tribute to the king of Babylon (t). The kindness and liberality with which Gedaliah treated these poor people, induced some of their rulers to confess that Ismael, one of their brethren, and of the royal family, had determined to murder Gedaliah at the desire of the king of the Ammonites; and they offered to kill Ismael privately, if they received his permission. Gedaliah would not listen to this proposal, nor did he believe the accusation, and was soon after murdered by Ismael at a feast, to which he had purposely invited him. Upon this occasion most of the people, fearing that the king of Babylon would avenge the death of Gedaliah, went and settled in Egypt, contrary to the express advice of Jeremiah, who declared, upon divine authority, that

they

(t) It appears that many of the ten tribes, as well as the people of Judah, returned now, and afterwards, and were gradually incorporated under the same government.

they might remain with safety in Judæa, but
would suffer the punishments they had seen in-
flicted upon their brethren, if they fled for pro-
tection to Egypt, which was soon to be con-
quered by the king of Babylon. Accordingly,
about four years after the destruction of Jeru-
salem, Nebuchadnezzar, having possessed himself
of Cole-Syria, and reduced the Ammonites and
Moabites under subjection, went against Egypt,
slew the king (u), and subdued the kingdom.
Many of the Jews, who had taken refuge there,
were put to death; a small remnant only re-
turned to Judæa, and, as no new inhabitants were
sent thither by the king of Babylon, as there had
been by the king of Assyria into Samaria, after
the captivity of the ten tribes of Israel,
"the
land lay desolate" for the allotted time.

When the kingdom of Judah had been seventy years in captivity, and the period of their affliction was completed, Cyrus, under whom were 536. united the kingdoms of Persia, Media, and Babylon, issued a decree, permitting all the Jews to return to their own land, and to rebuild their temple at Jerusalem. This decree had been expressly foretold by the prophet Isaiah (v), who called upon Cyrus by name, above a hundred years before

(u) Pharaoh-Hophra, or Apries.
(v) Isaiah, c. 44. v. 28. c. 45. v. I.

before his birth, as the deliverer of God's chosen people from their predicted captivity. Though the decree issued by Cyrus was general, a part only of the nation took advantage of it. The number of persons who returned at this time was 42,360, and 7,337 servants. They were conducted by Zerubbabel and Joshua. Zerubbabel, frequently called in Scripture Shashbazzar, was the grandson of Jeconias, and consequently descended from David. He was called "the prince of Judah," and was appointed their governor by Cyrus, and with his permission carried back a part of the gold and silver vessels, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple of Jerusalem. The rest of the treasures of the temple were carried thither afterwards by Ezra. Joshua was the son of Josedec the high priest, and grandson to Seraiah, who was high priest when the temple was destroyed. Darius, the successor of Cyrus, confirmed this decree, and favoured the re-establishment of the people. But it was in the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus, called in Scripture Ahasuerus, that Ezra obtained his commission, and was made governor of the Jews in their own land (r), which government he held thirteen years:

(x) About 1,500 Jews returned from Babylon with Ezra, and great numbers now returned from the neighbouring nations.

years then Nehemiah was appointed with fresh powers, probably through the interest of queen Esther; and Ezra applied himself solely to correcting the canon of the Scriptures, and restoring and providing for the continuance of the worship of God in its original purity.

The first care of the Jews, after their arrival in Judæa, was to build an altar for burnt offerings to God; they then collected materials for rebuilding the temple, and all necessary preparations being made, in the beginning of the second year after their return under Zerubbabel, they began to build it upon the old foundations. The Samaritans, affirming that they worshipped the God of Israel, offered to assist the Jews; but their assistance being refused, they did all in their power to impede the work; and hence originated that enmity, which ever after subsisted between the Jews and Samaritans. The temple, after a variety of obstructions and delays, was finished and dedicated, in the seventh year of king 515. Darius, and twenty years after it was begun. Though this second temple, or as it is sometimes called, the temple of Zerubbabel, who was at this time governor of the Jews, was of the same size and dimensions as the first, or Solomon's temple, yet it was very inferior to it in splendor and magnificence; and the ark of the covenant,

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the Shechinah, the holy fire upon the altar, the Urim and Thummim, and the spirit of prophecy, were all wanting to this temple of the remnant of the people. At the feast of the dedication, offerings were made for the twelve tribes of Israel, which seems to indicate that some of all the tribes returned from captivity; but by far the greater number were of the tribe of Judah, and therefore from this period the Israelites were generally called Judæi or Jews, and their country Judæa. Many, at their own desire, remained in those provinces where they had been placed by the kings of Assyria and Babylon. The settlement of the people, "after their old estate," according to the word of the Lord, together with the arrangement of all civil and ecclesiastical matters, and the building of the walls of Jerusalem, were completed by Ezra and Nehemiah (y). But we soon after find Malachi, the last of the prophets under the old Testament (%), reproving both priests

(y) Manasseh, a priest, the brother of Jaddua, the high priest of Jerusalem, who had married the daughter of Sanbållat, the governor of Samaria, was banished by Nehemiah, and went to Samaria, with a number of other refractory Jews, and was made high priest of the temple on Mount Gerizim.

(z) The cessation of prophecy had been previously

threatened

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