Volume III

A Brief Outline of the History of the Principal Prophetic Kingdoms of the East

Vol. III, pp. 1507–1509

From the times of Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets, until the times of Matthew, the first of the New Testament evangelists.

In or about the year 445 b.c. Artaxerxes Longimanus granted a commission to Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and to succeed Ezra in the government of Judea. This monarch was succeeded by Xerxes II.; he, by Sogdianus; and he, by Darius Nothus in the year 423 b.c., about which time Malachi preached reformation, and prophesied to his countrymen of the coming of Messiah. How long Nehemiah continued in the government is uncertain; but it is generally believed that about the year 409 b.c., he renewed and enforced the Mosaic prohibition of marriage between Hebrews and heathens (Ne. 13. 23-31, comp. with De. 7. 2-4); upon which account and occasion one of the sons of Joiada the high-priest, unwilling to part from his heathen wife, retired to Samaria, accompanied with many others who were in the same condition, and there settled under Sanballat his father-in-law, who was governor of that city and district; where, by permission of Darius, a temple was built upon Mount Gerizim; and the son of Joiada, whom Josephus calls Manasseh, was constituted high-priest.

With these particulars the sacred history closes, and what follows, until we arrive at the age of the evangelists, we must derive from Josephus, the Maccabees, Philo-Judæus, and a few scattered fragments of the Greek and Latin writers.

After the death of Nehemiah there is no evidence of any civil governor having been appointed to succeed him in Judea; but it appears to have been subjected to the satrap or. governor of Syria, by whom the high-priests were appointed, and under whom they appear to have exercised both civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction at Jerusalem.

In the year 405 b.c. Artaxerxes Mnemon ascended the Persian throne, whose Syrian satrap, Bagoses, removed Johannan the son of Joiada from the high-priesthood, and appointed his brother Jeshua; whereupon a riot ensued, in which Jeshua was slain in the inner court of the temple. For this act, a heinous crime in itself, and a personal insult to the satrap, he imposed a fine of fifty drachmas upon every lamb offered in sacrifice, which, if all the lambs appointed for the morning, evening, and weekly, monthly, and other fixed solemnities be included, would amount to little more than seventeen hundred pounds. But if to these are to be added all the lambs of the passover, with those of all private sacrifices of vows, peace-offerings, &c., the amount will be much larger. This odious impost lasted, however, only during seven years; for on the death of Artaxerxes Mnemon and the accession of Ochus, in 359 b.c., the governor who succeeded Bagoses either remitted, or ceased to exact it. On the accession of Ochus a considerable portion of western Asia revolted, which revolt having subdued, he entered Judea in the eighth year of his reign, besieged Jericho, took a multitude of captives—part of whom he sent into Egypt—and settled the others on the shores of the Caspian, where, it is said, their descendants continue to reside in large and concentrated numbers till this day; some as Jews, and others as Nestorian Christians.

Nothing farther of importance is distinctly recorded of the Jews till the reign of Darius Codomannus, and the invasion of Asia by Alexander of Macedon, in 334 b.c. Alexander had now entered upon that rapid career of conquest so distinctly foretold by Daniel, and was about to supersede the Persian, and introduce the Grecian monarchy. During his memorable siege of Tyre, the Jews, it appears, continued to furnish supplies to the garrison as fellow-subjects of Persia; but, out of regard for their oath of allegiance to Darius, refused supplies to Alexander. In revenge for this refusal, the moment Tyre was taken, Alexander marched in great wrath to Jerusalem; when Jaddua, the high-priest, in consequence of a dream, went out at the head of his priests—he and they being dressed in the robes which God had directed by the hand of Moses—and accompanied by a multitude of the people dressed in white. This procession advanced to a place called Sapha, which afforded a prospect of the temple and city; and there, in fear and hope, awaited the approach of the conqueror. The moment Alexander beheld the high-priest he advanced to meet him, and instead of anger, as was expected, saluted him with deep religious veneration. To his general Parmenio, who inquired into the cause of this sudden and unexpected transition from anger to amity, Alexander replied, that, when at Dio, in Macedonia, he was anxiously pondering on his contemplated invasion of Persia, this very high-priest, in the same remarkable robes, had appeared to him in a dream, and confidently promised him, in the name of his God, the conquest of Asia; wherefore his homage was not now offered personally to the priest, but to that prescient God whose accredited servant he was. Upon this Alexander entered Jerusalem as a friend, and offered up sacrifices to Jehovah in the temple; after which Jaddua showed him the prophecies of Daniel, promising the speedy conquest of Persia to a king of Greece. These prophecies the ardent mind of Alexander, already flushed with the signal victories of the Granicus and the Issus, was not slow to appropriate; and what before was human calculation and hope, now appeared, as it really was, divine appointment and certainty. At his departure Alexander granted to the Jews, not only perfect religious freedom, but also exemption from taxes every seventh year, during which, according to the law of Moses, their lands must remain uncultivated. Egypt speedily submitted to the conqueror, where, having with great judgment selected the site of a city, he built Alexandria, and settled in it a large multitude of Jews with all the privileges of his Macedonian subjects.

After the death of Alexander, in 323 b.c., his empire was divided according to prophecy into four kingdoms; between two of which, the Egyptian and Syrian, Judea was frequently a subject of sanguinary contest. In 320 b.c. Ptolemy Lagus, afterwards called Soter, took military possession of Judea, and in revenge for the faithful adherence of the Jews to their oath of allegiance to Laomedon of Mytilene, to whom they had been assigned, he carried 100,000 of them captive into Egypt. But there, on considering their loyalty to their former rulers, he treated them with kindness, advancing them to places of power and trust; so that many of their countrymen emigrated to Egypt, and settled in it of their own free will. Judea still continued to be the object of sanguinary wars, being sometimes held by Ptolemy, king of Egypt; sometimes by Antigonus, king of Syria. Ptolemy Soter was succeeded by his son Ptolemy Philadelphus in 284 b.c. He was also a generous friend to the Jews; and in his reign, and under his patronage, was the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures—called the Septuagint—commenced and completed. This was undoubtedly one of the most important events in the history of divine revelation. It transfused the Hebrew, one of the simplest languages, into the Greek, one of the most complex and copious; it settled many important translations, on Jewish authority, previous to any controversy with Christians; it diffused, during a literary and scientific age, an extensive knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures; gave heathen, and consequently unsuspected, testimony to their antiquity and authenticity, and prepared the way for the preaching of the gospel, by

familiarizing the Gentiles with the prophetic authorities, to which our Lord and his apostles were afterwards to appeal.

To Philadelphus succeeded Ptolemy Euergetes, to whom the Jews, it appears, paid an annual tribute of twenty talents.

Ptolemy Philopator, son to the preceding, ascended the throne of Egypt in 221 b.c., and, having defeated Antiochus the Great, came to Jerusalem, and offered many sacrifices in the temple; but being prevented by the high-priest from entering into the holy of holies, he departed from Jerusalem full of wrath against all the Jews; withdrew all the privileges enjoyed by those of Alexandria, and collected a multitude of them into one place to be devoured by wild beasts; when the furious animals turned upon the spectators, and destroyed a great number of them instead of their intended victims.

Ptolemy Epiphanes, an infant, succeeded his father Philopator, in 204 b.c., when Antiochus took possession of Judea, which was retaken by Scopas the Egyptian general, five years afterwards; but who, within another year, was conquered by Antiochus; when Judea peaceably submitted to his authority, and rendered him most essential services. In gratitude for these services, Antiochus ordered Jerusalem to be repaired, and restored to the Jews the privileges originally granted by Alexander.

Seleucus Philopator succeeded Antiochus in the throne of Syria; and, being severely pressed for his tribute to the Romans, and informed by Simon, the governor of the temple, that it contained immense treasures, he sent to seize them; but his messengers, when on the point of entering, were struck with a panic, and fell down, as if dead. Seleucus, after an inglorious reign of eleven years, died in 176 b.c.

Antiochus Epiphanes succeeded to the throne of Syria, and being also pressed for the Roman tribute, deposed the good high-priest Onias, and sold the office to Jason his brother for 360 talents; and afterwards deposed him, and sold it to his brother Menelaus for 660 talents in the year 172 b.c.,—so venal had every office become, and so shamefully had even the high-priests learned 'to make merchandise of God's heritage.'

While Antiochus was carrying on a successful war in Egypt, a false report of his death was spread in Judea; whereupon Jason collected a thousand men, with a view to recover the high-priesthood; surprised Jerusalem; drove Menelaus into the castle, and put to the most cruel deaths all whom he considered his adversaries. Antiochus, being informed of these events, and supposing the whole Jewish nation had revolted, hastened out of Egypt; and, having been told that the citizens of Jerusalem had made great rejoicings at the report of his death, he immediately assailed and took it by storm; slew 40,000; sold as many more for slaves; pillaged the temple of its treasures and furniture to the amount of 800 talents of gold; entered the holy of holies; sacrificed a sow upon the altar of burnt-offerings; and caused the broth of it to be sprinkled all over the temple. He then returned to Antioch, laden with the spoils of Egypt and Judea; leaving one Philip, a very barbarous man, governor of Judea; and continuing the infamous Menelaus in the high-priesthood. After this he twice invaded Egypt; but, on the second occasion, ambassadors from Rome charged him, on the peril of forfeiting their friendship, to withdraw his troops. This memorable interference, so strongly indicating the approaching fall of the third, and the rise and supremacy of the fourth prophetic monarchy, occurred in 168 b.c.

Mad with the disappointment, while marching back through Canaan, he detached above 20,000 men from his army under Apollonius, with orders to destroy Jerusalem, put all the men to the sword, and sell all the women and children for slaves. These barbarous orders were rigorously put in execution upon a Sabbath-day, when all the people were assembled at public worship; and none were permitted to escape but such as could hide themselves in caves, or escape to the mountains by flight. After having sacked the city, fired it in several places, demolished the houses, and pulled down the city walls, the army of Apollonius built, with the ruins, a fortress upon the eminence called Acra, from which they could overlook and command the temple, and sally out and kill any who might dare to meet for worship. After the infuriated monarch had returned to Antioch, he issued a decree, commanding all his subjects to conform to the religion of the Greeks; and sent one Athenæus to initiate the Jews in the doctrines and forms of idolatrous worship, and to punish with death any who refused obedience. Athenæus, upon his arrival at Jerusalem, being supported by the apostate Jews, interdicted all sacrifices to the God of Israel, suppressed all the peculiar observances of the Jewish religion, burned every copy of the law that could be discovered, dedicated the temple to Jupiter Olympius, erected his statue upon the altar of burnt-offerings, and put every one to death who had been found to neglect or contravene the royal decree.

During the persecution raised by this decree, Mattathias, grandson of Asmonæus (from whom the family were called 'the Asmonæans'), had retired from Jerusalem with his five sons, John, Simon, Judas, Eleazar, and Jonathan, and taken refuge in Modin, his native town, in the tribe of Dan. To this place Apelles, one of the king's officers, came in the course of his idolatrous mission, and applied to Mattathias to persuade the people to renounce the worship of Jehovah, and embrace the heathenism of the king; promising to Mattathias royal favour and great riches as the reward of his compliance. This base proposal Mattathias, who was a priest, scornfully rejected; and, in the spirit of Phinehas, slew the first Jew that ventured to approach the idolatrous altar; then, with the assistance of his sons, despatched the commissioner and his whole party; and, putting himself at the head of his family and as many Jews as he could collect, he proceeded to destroy the heathen idols and altars, and retired for safety into the mountains. Here, being joined by numbers of the faithful adherents of the divine law, and especially by those called Assidæans,¹ he emerged from his retreat at the head of a considerable army, with which he marched through the cities of Judah, inflicting judgment upon all apostates and persecutors, pulled down the heathen altars, and, as far as circumstances permitted, re-established the ordinances and worship of Jehovah, b.c. 167. The next year Mattathias died, worn out by old age and fatigue, and was succeeded by his son Judas, surnamed Maccabæus,² who vanquished, in several successive battles, the armies of Antiochus under his local governors and most renowned generals, recovered the temple and purified it, kept the feast of the dedication, and fully restored the divine worship according to the Mosaic ritual. Antiochus was at this time engaged in a war against the Persians and Armenians. who had revolted from him; and, on hearing of the success of the Jews, vowed utterly to extirpate the Jewish nation, and to make Jerusalem their common grave. But while these proud and cruel words were in his mouth, the righteous judgment of God overtook him; for he was seized with a grievous and incurable disease, of which he died b.c. 164.

He was succeeded by his son, Antiochus Eupator, a minor, Lysias being appointed regent, who, galled by the recollection of the defeat he had sustained from Judas, formed a coalition with the Idumeans and other neighbouring nations, for the avowed purpose of extirpating the whole Jewish nation. Maccabæus being informed of this, immediately carried the war into the enemy's country, and for many years proved a terrible scourge to the Idumeans, Syrians, Arabs, and other heathen nations around him, till he was slain b.c. 161. He was succeeded by his brother Jonathan, who, with his brother Simon, continued to manage the affairs of the Jewish nation with great prudence and success, officiating both as high-priests and civil governors. Jonathan, Simon, and his sons Judas and Matthias, having been cruelly murdered, the first by the Egyptian usurper Tryphon, the others by Ptolemy; John Hyrcanus, another son of Simon, succeeded to the high-priesthood and government of Judea b.c. 135. Hyrcanus was a man of great energy; he threw off the Syrian yoke on the accession of Demetrius Nicator b.c. 136, and, during a stormy period, continued not only to maintain his independence, but to enlarge his territory by seizing upon various places in Syria, Phoenicia, and Arabia. He also regained Shechem, destroyed the temple on Mount Gerizim, and extended his conquests over the Idumeans, whom he compelled to embrace the Jewish religion b.c. 129. He also renewed the league with the Romans, which had been first made by his father Simon, and obtained greater advantages than the nation had ever enjoyed since the days of David and Solomon. Under the conduct of his sons Aristobulus and Antigonus, he utterly destroyed Samaria b.c. 109; and after a prosperous administration of thirty years, left the high-priesthood and sovereignty to his eldest son Aristobulus b.c. 107. This prince was the first who, since the captivity, had assumed the crown and title of king. He was succeeded by his brother Alexander Jannæus, who subdued the Philistines, burned Gaza their capital b.c. 97, and compelled them to embrace the Jewish religion. He also subdued the Moabites, Ammonites, and several of the Arabian tribes; and, after a reign of twenty-seven years, died at the siege of Ragaba b.c. 79. He was succeeded by his widow Alexandra, who continued to govern the nation with great prudence during nine years. But she was scarcely dead till Aristobulus, joined by a large party who hated the Pharisees for their tyranny in the administration during the preceding reign, disputed for the crown and high-priesthood against his elder but indolent brother Hyrcanus, and succeeded in dispossessing him after a reign of barely three months. Under these circumstances Aretas the king of Arabia was called to the assistance of Hyrcanus, and besieged Aristobulus in the temple; whereupon Aristobulus calling upon the assistance of

¹ The Jews, after the return from the Babylonish captivity, were customarily divided into the Zadikim, or righteous, who adhered barely to the written law of Moses, and the Chasidim, or pious, who superadded many superstitious and rigorous observances, according to the tradition of the elders. From the former (the Zadikim) were derived the Sadducees, the Karaites, and the sect called Samaritans; and from the latter (the Chasidim) were derived the Pharisees, Essenes, and Assidæans. These Assidæans, or rather Chassidæans, were specially distinguished by their zeal for the temple, upon which account they served greatly to strengthen the hands of Mattathias.

² He is said to have received this name from the initial letters of the Hebrew motto upon his standard, 'Mi Camocha Baëlim Yehowah,' 'Who is like unto thee among the gods, O Jehovah?' Ex. 15. 11.

the Romans, Aretas was compelled to withdraw his army b.c. 65. Hyrcanus, however, on application to Pompey, the Roman general, received a decision in his favour; after which he took Jerusalem, expelled Aristobulus, and seated Hyrcanus in the government—though he would not permit him to assume the royal crown—and converted Judea into a Roman province b.c. 63. Pompey, with several of his officers, also profaned the temple, by entering into the holy of holies; after which it has been often observed. he never prospered. Soon after, Crassus, another distinguished Roman general, when setting forth on his expedition to Parthia, pillaged the temple of above 10,000 talents of silver b.c. 54, and was soon after cut off, with his whole army—another warning to all sacrilegious spoliators of the temple of Jehovah. In the meantime, Julius Cæsar, having prevailed against Pompey, Antipater, a noble and crafty Idumean, so insinuated himself into the favour of Cæsar, that he was made procurator of Judea, while Hyrcanus was reduced to the high-priesthood b.c. 47. After the death of Antipater, his son Herod, called the Great, through favour of Anthony the Roman triumvir, and through much bloodshed, obtained the regal dignity b.c. 40, which kingly dignity was afterwards confirmed by Julius Cæsar b. c. 30. This Herod continued to maintain his power with much ability, though with the most reckless cruelty towards many of his subjects, and especially towards his own family. He built many cities, and, to render himself popular with the Jews, he almost rebuilt the temple. During his reign Jesus was born, and his horrid attempt to murder him in his infancy is recorded by the evangelist Matthew; soon after which murderous though abortive attempt, he died most miserably, racked in body by disease, and tormented in spirit by the recollections of his crimes. The dominions of Herod continued for a short time to be governed by his sons, after which Judea became a Roman province, was placed under the exclusive control of Roman procurators, and even the last shadow of the sceptre departed from Judah; for Shiloh was now come, 'whose right it was.' In the meantime a large number of the Jews continued to occupy Judea, who, being goaded into rebellion, partly by the recollection of their former greatness, partly by the oppressive exactions of the Roman governors, and partly by the stimulus of the most turbulent factions—each bent upon its own aggrandizement and the extirpation of its rival—a war ensued, which terminated in the taking of Jerusalem, the total destruction of the temple, and the final subversion of the Jewish state by Titus, the son of Vespasian, a. d. 79.