over which Herod had reigned, to be divided among his three sons. Archelaus succeeded to the largest share, namely, to Judæa Propria, Samaria, and Idumæa. Herod Antipas, called Herod the Tetrarch, who afterwards beheaded John the Baptist, succeeded to Galilee and Peræa, and Philip to Trachonitis and to the neighbouring region of Ituræa. The sons of Herod the Great were not suffered to take the title of king; they were only called ethnarchs or tetrarchs. Besides the countries already mentioned, Abilene, which had belonged to Herod during the latter part of his life, and of which Lysanias is mentioned by St. Luke (0) as tetrarch, and some cities, were given to Salome, a. d. the sister of Herod the Great. Archelaus acted 7. with great cruelty and injustice; and in the tenth year of his government, upon a regular complaint being made against him by the Jews, Augustus banished him to Vienne, in Gaul, where he died.

After the banishment of Archelaus, Augustus sent Publius Sulpitius Quirinius (who, according to the Greek way of writing that name, is by St. Luke called Cyrenius (p), president of Syria,

to

(0) Luke, c. 3. v. I. (p) Three years before the birth of Christ, Augustus issued a decree for the making a general survey of the

Q2

whole

to reduce the countries, over which Archelaus had reigned, to the form of a Roman province; and appointed Coponius, a Roman of the equestrian order, to be governor, under the title of procurator of Judæa, but subordinate to the president of Syria. The power of life and death was now taken out of the hands of the Jews, and taxes were from this time paid immediately to the Roman emperor. Justice was administered in the name and by the laws of Rome; though in what concerned their religion, their own laws, and the power of the high priest, and sanhedrim, or great council, were continued to them; and they were allowed to examine witnesses, and exercise an inferior jurisdiction in other causes, subject to the control of the Romans, to whom their tetrarchs or kings were also subject; and it may be remarked, that "at this very period of time our Saviour (who was now in the twelfth year of his age) being at Jerusalem

with

whole Roman empire, including every dependent state, with the design of raising a general tax. Sentius Saturninus, being then president of Syria, was charged with the execution of this decree in Judæa, and it was to render an account of their property that Joseph and Mary went up to Bethlehem with a multitude of other people; but the tax was not laid or levied till Judæa became a Roman province, subject to Cyrenius, the president of Syria. Vide Prideaux, part 2. book 9.

with Joseph and Mary upon occasion of the
passover, appeared first in the temple in his pro-
phetic office, and in the business of his Father, on
which he was sent, sitting among the doctors of
the temple, and declaring the truth of God to
them (q)." After Coponius, Ambivius, Annius
Rufus, Valerius Gratus, and Pontius Pilate, were
successively procurators; and this was the species
of government to which Judæa and Samaria were
subject during the ministry of our Saviour. Herod
Antipas was still tetrarch of Galilee, and it was he
to whom our Saviour was sent by Pontius Pilate.
Lardner is of opinion that there was no procurator
in Judæa after Pontius Pilate, who was removed
A. D. 36, but that it was governed for a few
years by the presidents of Syria, who occasionally
sent officers into Judæa. Philip continued te-
trarch of Trachonitis thirty-seven years, and died

in the twentieth year of the reign of Tiberius. 37.
Caligula gave his tetrarchy to Agrippa, the
grandson of Herod the Great, with the title of
king; and afterwards he added the tetrarchy
of Herod Antipas, whom he deposed and ba-
nished after he had been tetrarch forty-three
years. The emperor Claudius
him Judæa, 40.
gave
Samaria, the southern parts of Idumæa, and Abi-
lene; and thus at last the dominions of Herod
Agrippa

(q) Home, vol. I. p. 254.

Agrippa became nearly the same as those of his grandfather, Herod the Great. It was this Agrippa, called also Herod Agrippa, and by St. Luke (r) Herod only, who put to death James the brother of John, and imprisoned Peter. He died in the seventh year of his reign, and left a son, called also Agrippa, then seventeen years old; and Claudius, thinking him too young to govern his father's extensive dominions, made Cuspus Fadus governor of Judæa. Fadus was soon succeeded by Tiberius, and he was followed by Alexander Cumanus, Felix, and Festus; but Claudius afterwards gave Trachonitis and Abilene to Agrippa, and Nero added a part of Galilee and some other cities. It was this younger Agrippa, who was also called king, before whom Paul pleaded at Cæsarea, which was at that time the place of residence of the governor of Judæa. Several of the Roman governors severely oppressed and persecuted the Jews; and at length, in the reign of Nero, and in the government of Florus, who had treated them with greater cruelty than any of his predecessors, they openly revolted from the Romans. Then began the Jewish war, which was terminated, after an obstinate defence and unparalleled sufferings on the part of the Jews, by the total destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem (s),

(r) Acts, c. 12. v. I, &c. (s) By Titus, son of Vespasian, emperor of Rome.

by

by the overthrow of their civil and religious po- 70. lity, and the reduction of the people to a state of the most abject slavery; for though, in the reign of Adrian, numbers of them collected together, in different parts of Judæa, it is to be observed, they were then considered and treated as rebellious slaves; and these commotions were made a pretence for the general slaughter of those who were taken, and tended to complete the work of their dispersion into all countries under heaven. Since that time the Jews have no where subsisted as a nation.

BRIEFLY as I have endeavoured to relate the history of the Jews, the period which commences with the close of the antient Scriptures is so little known, that it may be useful to collect the principal facts under one point of view, for the purpose of shewing more clearly the connexion between the Old and New Testaments; and as the nature of the Jewish government appears to be very frequently misunderstood, 'I shall take this opportunity of adding a few observations upon that subject, and shall also subjoin a short account of the land of Canaan, both of which may serve to throw some light upon Scripture history.

The Jews had many revolutions of peace and