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to a regular order and system. The number of these edifices soon multiplied to an astonishing degree; and the testimony of an eminent Jewish writer* is borne out by the fact, that wherever any of the people were found there they were accustomed to build a synagogue. An instance of this fact is given by the author of the third book of Maccabees, who lived in the reign of Ptolemy Philopater, and who states, that the Jews in Egypt were no sooner delivered from an imminent danger that threatened them, than they erected a place for prayer in the vicinity of Alexandria. The Jewish affirmation that about the time of the Saviour there were four hundred and eighty synagogues in Jerusalem alone, is incredible; but they must have been extremely numerous: and from a passage in the book of the Acts, (Acts vi. 9.) it appears that they were specifically provided in that great metropolis for the Jewish inhabitants of distant countries and cities, who might have occasion to resort to the temple.

What consequences followed the institution of synagogue worship?

Most momentous were the consequences of the introduction, the establishment, and extensive prevalence of synagogue worship. It must be evident to the most superficial reader of Jewish history, that a most extraordinary change took place in the dispositions of this wonderful people at the period of the captivity. Instead of an inveterate propensity to the total neglect of the law and to the grossest and most abominable idolatries of the besotted nations around them, they exemplified, from that period, a decided, an unconquerable, an unappeasable detestation of every description of paganism, and a veneration, amounting even to superstition, for the Mosaic records and institutions. To what is this change to be attributed? To ascribe it to a mere alteration of national character, is preposterous. And most unreasonable is it to suppose that it could originate in terror excited by the tremendous judgments of the destruction of their city, the subversion of their temple, and their captivity in a foreign land. For the preceding pages have shown,

⚫ Maimonides, 1 Teph. c. ii. s. 1.

that notwithstanding the most tremendous judgments -judgments, involving the death of a whole generation, with two exceptions, in the wilderness-judgments sometimes inflicted by the miraculous and appalling agency of the Omnipotent-judgments, in which they were oppressed by the yoke of foreign servitude, affrighted by raging pestilence, wasted by pining famine, ruined by foreign invasion, and ravaged by all the horrors of war-they still continued and that too in spite of prophetic warnings, awful threatenings, and alluring mercies, to practice the ferocious, the sanguinary, the senseless, the loathsome rites of the worship of the worst idols ever placed upon the pedestals of pollution by inventive depravity and diabolical delusion. This great and, otherwise, unaccountable change is to be ascribed to the system of synagogue worship-to the system by which the great matters of the law were ORALLY exhibited at regular and frequent intervals to the same system in fact, which, refined by the gospel, and ennobled by the example of the Son of God, has been the grand instrumentality by which the illustrious victories of eternal truth have been achieved over the sin and misery of man, and by which the light of mercy shall soon be diffused to the remotest and to the most benighted regions of the world.

Describe the final separation of the Samaritans and the Jews.

There were two inveterate enemies of the Jews while Ezra and Nehemiah were engaged in their exertions for the benefit of the people, Sanballat the Horonite, governor of Samaria, and Tobiah the Ammonite. While Nehemiah was in Persia after his first visit to Judæa, obtaining a renewal of his commission, Eliasheb the high-priest, was so shamefully negligent of the covenant which had lately been ratified against illicit and promiscuous connexions, that he had suffered his grandson Manasseh to marry the daughter of Sanballat, and had permitted Tobiah to occupy apartments in the temple. When Nehemiah returned, he found it necessary with a strong hand immediately to apply an adequate remedy to the disgraceful evil. Manasseh, being unwilling to comply with the terms

of the covenant and the regulations of the law, was expelled from the city; he repaired with several apostate Jews who had been partakers of his crime, to Samaria; Sanballat received them with open arms; a temple was built upon mount Gerizim; Manasseh was instituted high-priest; the altar of the Samaritans was reared in opposition to that of the Jews; the sanctity of Gerizim, was maintained to be superior, both from divine appointment and ancient usage, to that of Zion; and the Samaritans from this period were held in such abhorrence by the Jews, that they were always treated as the degraded of men and the accursed of God. From this period the Jews recoiled with horror from any "dealings with the Samaritans." John iv. 9.

SECTION IV.

THE PERSIAN AND MACEDONIAN GOVERNMENT.

AFTER the death of Nehemiah, what change took place in the government of the Jews, and what were the consequences?

THE death of Nehemiah was followed by a decisive change in the government of the Jews. Judæa became subordinate to the Persian governors of Syria, who usually delegated the administration to the highpriests of Jerusalem. This arrangement became a source both of calamities and crimes; and the men who aspired to this high sacerdotal office, being animated rather by ambition and avarice, than by piety and patriotism, soon entailed the most melancholy misfortunes on their country. A most flagrant instance of the perversion of the high-priesthood, and of the wickedness to which it led, was soon presented to view.

What flagrant instance of the perversion of the highpriesthood was soon afterwards exhibited in Jerusalem?

Joiada was succeeded in the high-priesthood by Johanon his son. Jeshua the brother of the pontiff,

was highly esteemed and honoured by Bagoses the governor of Syria under the Persian king. The friendship of Bagoses induced him to promise the pontifical office to Jeshua or Jesus, while Johanan was yet living; and Jeshua repaired to Jerusalem, backed by the authority of the Satrap, to make good his claim. The brothers met in the inner court of the temple; Johanan was as resolute to retain, as the intruder was to acquire, his office; before the very symbols of the presence of the Almighty, the brothers quarA. C. 424. relled; they fought; and Jeshua was killed upon the spot. Bagoses was justly indignant at so enormous a crime; he hastened to Jerusalem; he upbraided the Jews in the severest terms for transforming into a slaughter-house, the temple of their God; he determined to enter the holy place to ascertain the death of his favourite and friend; he was told that his presence would be profanation; "What!" said he, “is my living body not more pure than the dead carcass of him ye have slain in the temple?" He forced his way into the sacred edifice; he took full cognizance of the deed of blood; and imposed a heavy fine upon the temple, which was not taken off, until the death of Artaxerxes, seven years afterwards, changed the posture of affairs.

To what danger were the Jews exposed in the reign of Ochus?

The restless insubordination of the Jews soon after the occurrence which has just been narrated, placed them on the very brink of destruction. In the reign of the Persian king Ochus, the Sidonians and some of the Phoenicians, resented the oppressive exactions of the governors by a general rebellion, by a defensive alliance with the Egyptians, and by the introduction of a body of Grecian auxiliaries for their defence. In this rebellion the Jews appear to have been concerned. For after Ochus had reduced Sidon to ashes, and inflicted a terrible punishment upon his disobedient subjects, he besieged and took Jericho, a great number of the Jews were carried away as captives, some were taken in the train of the conqueror when he marched into Egypt, and others were sent away into the provinces which bordered upon the Caspian Sea.

Was the peculiar protection of God still extended over the Jews?

The extraordinary interventions of the Providence of God for the protection and preservation of the Hebrew nation, were not limited to the age of their judges and the government of their kings. The great object of the divine dispensations, the revelation of the Messiah was yet to be accomplished; the existence of the Jews, and the preservation of their religion and polity were, from the promises which were to be fulfilled, essential to the development of the glorious design; and they were still the peculiar people of God, separated and distinguished from the nations of the earth, not only by their peculiar sacred and civil institutions, but by the visible interposition and superintendence of the Most High.

What extraordinary exemplification of this truth occurred?

One of those mighty revolutions occurred, which amidst the disruption of empires and the demolition of thrones, change the geography, and give a new impulse to the destinies, of the globe. Alexander the Great, the unconscious instrument of fulfilling the prophecies, and accomplishing the purposes of God, commenced his career of conquest and triumph. At the banks of the Granicus, and in the defiles of Cilicia, the trembling multitudes of the Persians disappeared before the valour and discipline of his Macedonian veterans. After the victory of Issus, and the subjugation of Syria, he threatened, he besieged, he captured, he destroyed, the rich commercial city of Tyre, the emporium of the nations, the queen of the Mediterranean. The high-priest of the Jews had refused to furnish him with provisions, pleading his oath to the fidelity to the government of the unfortunate Darius. The incensed and haughty warrior had no sooner accomplished the destruction of Tyre and the carnage of the Tyrians, than he commenced his march to Jerusalem, determined to punish the ob- A. C. 332. stinacy of the Jews, with the subversion

of their city and the extermination of its inhabitants. Jaddua the high-priest, exhorted the people to cast

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