A.M. 3547. and I gathered out of Israel chief men to go up with me." (Chap. vii. B.C. 457. 28.) Some have pretended that the first six chapters were given, A passage not by Ezra, but by some preceding writer; but their reasons are sufficiently futile, while the authenticity of the whole may be considered as fully established from the most ancient testimonies. This valuable book is a continuation of the Jewish history, from the period at which the Chronicles come to a close, and the connection of the two histories is obvious by the commencing verses of the book of Ezra, which contain a repetition of the concluding part of the Chronicles. Passing over the sad season of the captivity, the book begins with declaring that God had already begun his design of causing the city and temple of Jerusalem to be rebuilt, by disposing Cyrus to promote that great event. It relates the fulfilment of several prophecies, in the release which Cyrus granted in the first year of his dominion in Babylon, and in the return of the people, now first called Jews, after a captivity of seventy years. A list is then furnished of the leaders of numbers of the captives who returned under Zerubbabel. Ezra says, that the whole number amounted to 42,360, but the separate numbers which he mentions are only 29,818 persons; a discrepancy which, perhaps, may be sufficiently accounted for by supposing that he omits some individuals who are viewed collectively, as those of the ten tribes, or those who had lost their register. It is not unlikely, moreover, that the text has in some instances, been corrupted. This list in question evinces the great diminution which the Jewish nation had suffered by war and captivity; so that the Jewish writers persist in affirming, that it was only the dregs of the people that returned. The narration proceeds to notice the erection of a temporary altar and service, and the laying of the foundation of their holy temple; and the lamentations of those who recollected the magnificence of Solomon's temple, are forcibly depicted; also the opposition of the Samaritans, and others, whose proffered services were refused, the final completion and dedication of the temple, A.M. 3489, and the celebration of the passover. Justin Martyr, in his Dialogue with Trypho, distinctly asserts that the ancient Hebrew copies contained the following passage, which the Jews expunged: "Ezra said to the people, This passover is our Saviour and our refuge; and if you will be persuaded of it, and let it into your hearts, that we are to humble him in a sign, and afterwards shall believe in him, this place shall not be destroyed for ever, saith the God of hosts; but if you will not believe in him, neither hearken to his preaching, ye shall be a laughing-stock to the Gentiles.' Ezra proceeds, at his seventh chapter, to relate his own return with the Jews to Jerusalem; describes the impiety of the people; his earnest supplications; their repentance, and separation from their Assyrian wives and offspring; enumerating the names of the transgressors, and even the priests and rulers who had broken the A.M. 3547. law respecting marriage, with an impartiality which alike evinces B.C. 457. the faithful historian and the determined reformer. The book of Ezra, from the eight verse of the fourth chapter, to the twenty-seventh verse of the seventh chapter, is written chiefly in the Chaldee dialect, which was at that period the prevalent language throughout Assyria, Babylonia, and Persia. As this part of the history contains letters and decrees originally produced in that language, there was an evident propriety in retaining it, because the Jews, having recently returned from captivity, were probably as much, or even more familiar with the Chaldee than with the Hebrew. Nehemiah has been supposed to intimate, by certain expressions in his eighth chapter, (viii. 2, 8,) that the law was not universally understood; the meaning of which might be, that some of them had forgotten the Hebrew language during the captivity. the canon. Ezra has always been held in the highest estimation by his own countrymen, both as a priest and as a prophet; and many have been of opinion, that he is the same person as the prophet Malachi of the canon, the common appellation by which he is distinguished being his proper name, and the latter, which signifies an angel, or messenger, being assigned him, with reference to his peculiar office as the restorer of the Jewish religion to its primitive purity. To him, both Ezra's Jews and Christians, by an uniform and united tradition, have attri- labours on buted the honour of collecting, arranging, and publishing the sacred code, which has been called the canon of Scripture, comprising such writings as we are bound to receive as authentic and inspired. He is believed to have himself composed in addition, the greatest part, if not the whole, of the book which passes under his name, the two books of Chronicles, and the book of Esther. These, together with those of Nehemiah and Malachi, were only classed with the other sacred writings fifty years afterwards, when, subsequently to the suspension of the prophetic spirit, the books of Scripture were finally closed by Simon the Just and the great synagogue. This subject has been often discussed, and the importance of it being abundantly obvious, the present section appears the proper place to enter a little further into the consideration of it. We may therefore state, that some of the Christian fathers have strenuously maintained that the Scriptures were entirely lost during the Babylonish captivity, and that Ezra consequently re-wrote them by an express revelation. Such were the sentiments of Irenæus, Tertullian, Opinions of Clemens Alexandrinus, and Basil. But this is grossly fabulous, the fathers and was clearly derived from the fourteenth chapter of the second apochryphal book of Esdras, a composition which has been falsely imputed to Ezra. It is moreover dangerous, since he who is thus affirmed to have restored them, might be much sooner suspected of forgery than a host of independent writers. It is certain that king Josiah and Hilkiah caused copies to be taken of the law, which respecting it. A.M. 3547. they found in the temple, in the schools of the prophets, or in other B.C. 457. places. Hence, though copies of the law had become excessively 11, 13. 66 scarce, the people of God were then favoured with the opportunity of obtaining them for their use. Although the original of the law was burnt at the destruction of the temple, within a few years, there must have been many copies still remaining in private hands, from the preceding circulation of them. We are certain that Daniel possessed a copy in Babylon, because he has given a quotation from the law, and refers to the prophecies of Jeremiah, which, had he never seen Daniel ix. 2, them, must of course have been impossible. In the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, because we have sinned against him. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth." Actual task of Ezra. The existence of the Sacred Code is further obvious, from the expression in the eighteenth verse of the sixth chapter of Ezra, where it is stated, that the Priests and Levites were settled in their office, according as it is written in the book of Moses; and in the eighth chapter of Nehemiah, at the first verse, the people called upon Ezra to bring the book of the laws of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel; expressions which sufficiently indicate their being extant at the time. In addition to these citations, let it be recollected that the Jews had always been notorious for their extreme jealousy upon the subject of their inspired writings; never admitting as sacred, till after the most scrupulous and rigid examination, a book, a sentence, or a line: to imagine, therefore, that any Priest, as Ezra, could by his single authority and influence, palm upon the nation as divine, or as the ancient and long-written law, what was simply his own invention, or, to say the best, his own recollections, or even the fruit of his direct inspiration, without our hearing more of such an important claim; or, to say, that such a person, so naturally qualified to write in the various modes of history, poetry, and prophecy, and occupying so important a station in the Jewish Church, yet could at the same moment be so morally disqualified as actually to impose fabrications as facts, attaching other and ancient names to his own, that is, that he could produce the compositions of a great and good, and even inspired man, though a bad one,—each, or any of these, were too manifestly absurd to be a tenable position. The question therefore is, What did Ezra actually accomplish? and the reply is, he collected, arranged, and published the books which constituted the Sacred Code. By comparing together the A.m. 3547. different copies he would be able to obtain both from private and B.C. 457. public depositories, upon his return from Jerusalem, he would detect the discrepancies which had arisen from the ignorance or carelessness of transcribers, and, disposing the several books in their proper order, issue a correct edition up to the age in which he lived. It would naturally become a part of the labour which, under the influence of a divine inspiration, he accomplished, to exchange certain obsolete phrases for such as were in current use: and, in a few necessary cases, to furnish some additions to the original text, either to elucidate or complete the history, and, finally, to substitute the Chaldee letters for the Hebrew. That Ezra was the principal agent in thus settling the Scripture Canon, we have not only the concurrent testimony of the ancient Jews and the earliest Christians, but the corroborating consideration that had he not been able to obtain copies, he could not have executed the commission of the Persian king, as recorded in the book of Ezra, chap. vii. 25, 26, “And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye them that know them not. And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or unto banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment. Hebrew The Canonical Scriptures were anciently divided into three parts, Final state comprising the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa. The of the latter division comprehends the Psalms, the Proverbs, the book of Canon. Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. According to this arrangement, the Old Testament consisted of twenty-two books, corresponding to the letters of the alphabet, to which were added Ezra and Nehemiah. The five books of the law are divided by the Jews into fifty-four sections; and they believe that this division was conformable to the divine intimation to Moses upon Mount Sinai. It is, however, with more probability, attributed to Ezra, who is also supposed to have sub-divided the sections into verses called pesukim. The most received opinion is, that this invention was intended for the convenience of the Chaldee interpreters. synagogues. To this period many have assigned the origin of the Jewish Origin of synagogues. Ezra, after issuing an edition of the law and the the prophets, which he had with so much pains rendered correct, appointed the Levites and other scribes most distinguished for their acquaintance with these invaluable records, to read and expound them to the people, who were at first collected together, as at the time when Ezra first read the law, in some capacious street or opening of the city. The inconvenience of such an attendance at all seasons of the year, naturally suggested the propriety of erecting temporary A.M. 3547. sheds or tabernacles, and, at length, more substantial edifices for B.C. 457. public service. In the midst of them was placed a desk or pulpit, Nehemiah. for the purpose of reading and expounding, in imitation of that which Ezra is stated to have used; and, at the upper end, or opposite the door, was a chest containing the book of the law, wrapped in an embroidered cloth. Probable, however, as this statement may be considered, some have thought it not unlikely that the Jewish synagogues existed previous to the captivity, while others, particularly Basnage, (Lib. V. ch. 4,) have referred them to the more recent date of the Asmonæan dominion. NEHEMIAH. NEHEMIAH, who succeeded Ezra in the administration, in the A.M. 3559. twentieth year of the reign of Ahasuerus, was the son of Hachaliah, B.C. 445. and a person of great excellence and exalted piety. Babylon is represented as the place of his birth, and tradition assigns his descent to the tribe of Judah. It is believed, and apparently with good reason, that he was not the same person who is mentioned by Ezra as having returned with Zerubbabel from the Babylonish captivity; since no less than ninety-two years intervened between the first year of Cyrus and the twentieth of Artaxerxes Longimanus, and consequently, if they were the same persons, Nehemiah must have been, at least, one hundred years old, a supposition wholly incompatible with his long journey from Shushan to Jerusalem, and with those great exertions and activity during a government of twelve years. His admirable qualities and distinguished family recommended him to the office of cup-bearer to the king, which was not only a situation of great honour, but of extraordinary emolument; for it appears that Nehemiah acquired so much wealth as to be enabled to live in his government in expensive splendour by means of his own private purse. The tirshatha, (Ezra ii. 63, and Neh. vii. 65,) was the general term, in the Persian and Chaldean languages, appropriated to the royal deputies and governors. Cup-bearer at Shushan. The office of cup-bearer gave Nehemiah an intimate and daily access to the king, which afforded the opportunity of conciliating his favour, and of course obtaining any purpose which he might have at heart. That he would not improperly, or for any unjustifiable ends, avail himself of this privilege, is plainly deducible from his character; and on the other hand it cannot be questioned that there is a certain and legitimate use of station and of influence which does not derogate from the dignity of real worth, and which, in certain cases, may essentially conduce to the welfare of individuals or the happiness of mankind. Such was precisely the fact in the present instance. When it became his turn to wait, in the regular discharge of his office, the king noticed a very considerable alteration in his general appearance; he remarked that his countenance seemed to be remarkably beclouded, as if with anxious care, and that all his |