9. 7 But the Samaritans, being evil and enviously disposed to the Jews,

wrought them many mischiefs, by reliance on their riches, and by their

pretense that they were allied to the Persians, on account that thence

they came; and whatsoever it was that they were enjoined to pay the Jews

by the king's order out of their tributes for the sacrifices, they would

not pay it. They had also the governors favorable to them, and assisting

them for that purpose; nor did they spare to hurt them, either by

themselves or by others, as far as they were able. So the Jews

determined to send an embassage to king Darius, in favor of the people

of Jerusalem, and in order to accuse the Samaritans. The ambassadors

were Zorobabel, and four others of the rulers; and as soon as the king

knew from the ambassadors the accusations and complaints they brought

against the Samaritans, he gave them an epistle to be carried to the

governors and council of Samaria; the contents of which epistle were

these: "King Darius to Tanganas and Sambabas, the governors of the

Sainaritans, to Sadraces and Bobelo, and the rest of their fellow

servants that are in Samaria: Zorobabel, Ananias, and Mordecai, the

ambassadors of the Jews, complain of you, that you obstruct them in the

building of the temple, and do not supply them with the expenses which I

commanded you to do for the offering their sacrifices. My will therefore

is this, That upon the reading of this epistle, you supply them with

whatsoever they want for their sacrifices, and that out of the royal

treasury, of the tributes of Samaria, as the priest shall desire, that

they may not leave off offering their daily sacrifices, nor praying to

God for me and the Persians." And these were the contents of that

epistle.

CHAPTER 5. How Xerxes The Son Of Darius Was Well Disposed To The Jews;

As Also Concerning Esdras And Nehemiah.

1. Upon the death of Darius, Xerxes his son took the kingdom, who, as he

inherited his father's kingdom, so did he inherit his piety towards God,

and honor of him; for he did all things suitably to his father relating

to Divine worship, and he was exceeding friendly to the Jews. Now about

this time a son of Jeshua, whose name was Joacim, was the high priest.

Moreover, there was now in Babylon a righteous man, and one that enjoyed

a great reputation among the multitude. He was the principal priest of

the people, and his name was Esdras. He was very skillful in the laws of

Moses, and was well acquainted with king Xerxes. He had determined to go

up to Jerusalem, and to take with him some of those Jews that were in

Babylon; and he desired that the king would give him an epistle to the

governors of Syria, by which they might know who he was. Accordingly,

the king wrote the following epistle to those governors: "Xerxes, king

of kings, to Esdras the priest, and reader of the Divine law, greeting.

I think it agreeable to that love which I bear to mankind, to permit

those of the Jewish nation that are so disposed, as well as those of the

priests and Levites that are in our kingdom, to go together to

Jerusalem. Accordingly, I have given command for that purpose; and let

every one that hath a mind go, according as it hath seemed good to me,

and to my seven counselors, and this in order to their review of the

affairs of Judea, to see whether they be agreeable to the law of God.

Let them also take with them those presents which I and my friends have

vowed, with all that silver and gold that is found in the country of the

Babylonians, as dedicated to God, and let all this be carried to

Jerusalem to God for sacrifices. Let it also be lawful for thee and thy

brethren to make as many vessels of silver and gold as thou pleasest.

Thou shalt also dedicate those holy vessels which have been given thee,

and as many more as thou hast a mind to make, and shall take the

expenses out of the king's treasury. I have, moreover, written to the

treasurers of Syria and Phoenicia, that they take care of those affairs

that Esdras the priest, and reader of the laws of God, is sent about.

And that God may not be at all angry with me, or with my children, I

grant all that is necessary for sacrifices to God, according to the law,

as far as a hundred cori of wheat. And I enjoin you not to lay any

treacherous imposition, or any tributes, upon their priests or Levites,

or sacred singers, or porters, or sacred servants, or scribes of the

temple. And do thou, O Esdras, appoint judges according to the wisdom

[given thee] of God, and those such as understand the law, that they may

judge in all Syria and Phoenicia; and do thou instruct those also which

are ignorant of it, that if any one of thy countrymen transgress the law

of God, or that of the king, he may be punished, as not transgressing it

out of ignorance, but as one that knows it indeed, but boldly despises

and contemns it; and such may be punished by death, or by paying fines.

Farewell."

2. When Esdras had received this epistle, he was very joyful, and began

to worship God, and confessed that he had been the cause of the king's

great favor to him, and that for the same reason he gave all the thanks

to God. So he read the epistle at Babylon to those Jews that were there;

but he kept the epistle itself, and sent a copy of it to all those of

his own nation that were in Media. And when these Jews had understood

what piety the king had towards God, and what kindness he had for

Esdras, they were all greatly pleased; nay, many of them took their

effects with them, and came to Babylon, as very desirous of going down

to Jerusalem; but then the entire body of the people of Israel remained

in that country; wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe

subject to the Iomans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till

now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers.

Now there came a great number of priests, and Levites, and porters, and

sacred singers, and sacred servants to Esdras. So he gathered those that

were in the captivity together beyond Euphrates, and staid there three

days, and ordained a fast for them, that they might make their prayers

to God for their preservation, that they might suffer no misfortunes by

the way, either from their enemies, or from any other ill accident; for

Esdras had said beforehand that he had told the king how God would

preserve them, and so he had not thought fit to request that he would

send horsemen to conduct them. So when they had finished their prayers,

they removed from Euphrates on the twelfth day of the first month of the

seventh year of the reign of Xerxes, and they came to Jerusalem on the

fifth month of the same year. Now Esdras presented the sacred money to

the treasurers, who were of the family of the priests, of silver six

hundred and fifty talents, vessels of silver one hundred talents,

vessels of gold twenty talents, vessels of brass, that was more precious

than gold, 8 twelve talents by weight; for these Presents had been made

by the king and his counselors, and by all the Israelites that staid at

Babylon. So when Esdras had delivered these things to the priests, he

gave to God, as the appointed sacrifices of whole burnt-offerings,

twelve bulls on account of the common preservation of the people, ninety

rams, seventy-two lambs, and twelve kids of the goats, for the remission

of sins. He also delivered the king's epistle to the king's officers,

and to the governors of Celesyria and Phoenicia; and as they were under

a necessity of doing what was enjoined by him, they honored our nation,

and were assistant to them in all their necessities.

3. Now these things were truly done under the conduct of Esdras; and he

succeeded in them, because God esteemed him worthy of the success of his

conduct, on account of his goodness and righteousness. But some time

afterward there came some persons to him, and brought an accusation

against certain of the multitude, and of the priests and Levites, who

had transgressed their settlement, and dissolved the laws of their

country, by marrying strange wives, and had brought the family of the

priests into confusion. These persons desired him to support the laws,

lest God should take up a general anger against them all, and reduce

them to a calamitous condition again. Hereupon he rent his garment

immediately, out of grief, and pulled off the hair of his head and

beard, and cast himself upon the ground, because this crime had reached

the principal men among the people; and considering that if he should

enjoin them to cast out their wives, and the children they had by them,

he should not be hearkened to, he continued lying upon the ground.

However, all the better sort came running to him, who also themselves

wept, and partook of the grief he was under for what had been done. So

Esdras rose up from the ground, and stretched out his hands towards

heaven, and said that he was ashamed to look towards it, because of the

sins which the people had committed, while they had cast out of their

memories what their fathers had undergone on account of their

wickedness; and he besought God, who had saved a seed and a remnant out

of the calamity and captivity they had been in, and had restored them

again to Jerusalem, and to their own land, and had obliged the kings of

Persia to have compassion on them, that he would also forgive them their

sins they had now committed, which, though they deserved death, yet, was

it agreeable to the mercy of God, to remit even to these the punishment

due to them.

4. After Esdras had said this, he left off praying; and when all those

that came to him with their wives and children were under lamentation,

one whose name was Jechonias, a principal man in Jerusalem, came to him,

and said that they had sinned in marrying strange wives; and he

persuaded him to adjure them all to cast those wives out, and the

children born of them, and that those should be punished who would not

obey the law. So Esdras hearkened to this advice, and made the heads of

the priests, and of the Levites, and of the Israelites, swear that they

would put away those wives and children, according to the advice of

Jechonias. And when he had received their oaths, he went in haste out of

the temple into the chamber of Johanan, the son of Eliasib, and as he

had hitherto tasted nothing at all for grief, so he abode there that

day. And when proclamation was made, that all those of the captivity

should gather themselves together to Jerusalem, and those that did not

meet there in two or three days should be banished from the multitude,

and that their substance should b appropriated to the uses of the

temple, according to the sentence of the elders, those that were of the

tribes of Judah and Benjamin came together in three days, viz. on the

twentieth day of the ninth month, which, according to the Hebrews, is

called Tebeth, and according to the Macedonians, Apelleius. Now as they

were sitting in the upper room of the temple, where the elders also were

present, but were uneasy because of the cold, Esdras stood up and

accused them, and told them that they had sinned in marrying wives that

were not of their own nation; but that now they would do a thing both

pleasing to God, and advantageous to themselves, if they would put those

wives away. Accordingly, they all cried out that they would do so. That,

however, the multitude was great, and that the season of the year was

winter, and that this work would require more than one or two days. "Let

their rulers, therefore, [said they,] and those that have married

strange wives, come hither at a proper time, while the elders of every

place, that are in common to estimate the number of those that have thus

married, are to be there also." Accordingly, this was resolved on by

them, and they began the inquiry after those that had married strange

wives on the first day of the tenth month, and continued the inquiry to

the first day of the next month, and found a great many of the posterity

of Jeshua the high priest, and of the priests and Levites, and

Israelites, who had a greater regard to the observation of the law than

to their natural affection, 9 and immediately cast out their wives, and

the children which were born of them. And in order to appease God, they

offered sacrifices, and slew rams, as oblations to him; but it does not

seem to me to be necessary to set down the names of these men. So when

Esdras had reformed this sin about the marriages of the forementioned

persons, he reduced that practice to purity, so that it continued in

that state for the time to come.

5. Now when they kept the feast of tabernacles in the seventh month 10

and almost all the people were come together to it, they went up to the

open part of the temple, to the gate which looked eastward, and desired

of Esdras that the laws of Moses might be read to them. Accordingly, he

stood in the midst of the multitude and read them; and this he did from

morning to noon. Now, by hearing the laws read to them, they were

instructed to be righteous men for the present and for the future; but

as for their past offenses, they were displeased at themselves, and

proceeded to shed tears on their account, as considering with themselves

that if they had kept the law, they had endured none of these miseries

which they had experienced. But when Esdras saw them in that

disposition, he bade them go home, and not weep, for that it was a

festival, and that they ought not to weep thereon, for that it was not

lawful so to do. 11 He exhorted them rather to proceed immediately to

feasting, and to do what was suitable to a feast, and what was agreeable

to a day of joy; but to let their repentance and sorrow for their former

sins be a security and a guard to them, that they fell no more into the

like offenses. So upon Esdras's exhortation they began to feast; and

when they had so done for eight days, in their tabernacles, they

departed to their own homes, singing hymns to God, and returning thanks

to Esdras for his reformation of what corruptions had been introduced

into their settlement. So it came to pass, that after he had obtained

this reputation among the people, he died an old man, and was buried in

a magnificent manner at Jerusalem. About the same time it happened also

that Joacim, the high priest, died; and his son Eliasib succeeded in the

high priesthood. 6. Now there was one of those Jews that had been

carried captive who was cup-bearer to king Xerxes; his name was

Nehemiah. As this man was walking before Susa, the metropolis of the

Persians, he heard some strangers that were entering the city, after a

long journey, speaking to one another in the Hebrew tongue; so he went

to them, and asked them whence they came. And when their answer was,

that they came from Judea, he began to inquire of them again in what

state the multitude was, and in what condition Jerusalem was; and when

they replied that they were in a bad state 12 for that their walls were

thrown down to the ground, and that the neighboring nations did a great

deal of mischief to the Jews, while in the day time they overran the

country, and pillaged it, and in the night did them mischief, insomuch

that not a few were led away captive out of the country, and out of

Jerusalem itself, and that the roads were in the day time found full of

dead men. Hereupon Nehemiah shed tears, out of commiseration of the

calamities of his countrymen; and, looking up to heaven, he said, "How

long, O Lord, wilt thou overlook our nation, while it suffers so great

miseries, and while we are made the prey and spoil of all men?" And

while he staid at the gate, and lamented thus, one told him that the

king was going to sit down to supper; so he made haste, and went as he

was, without wishing himself, to minister to the king in his office of

cup-bearer. But as the king was very pleasant after supper, and more

cheerful than usual, he cast his eyes on Nehemiah, and seeing him look

sad, he asked him why he was sad. Whereupon he prayed to God to give him

favor, and afford him the power of persuading by his words, and said,

"How can I, O king, appear otherwise than thus, and not be in trouble,

while I hear that the walls of Jerusalem, the city where are the

sepulchers of my fathers, are thrown down to the ground, and that its

gates are consumed by fire? But do thou grant me the favor to go and

build its wall, and to finish the building of the temple." Accordingly,

the king gave him a signal that he freely granted him what he asked; and

told him that he should carry an epistle to the governors, that they

might pay him due honor, and afford him whatsoever assistance he wanted,

and as he pleased. "Leave off thy sorrow then," said the king, "and be

cheerful in the performance of thy office hereafter." So Nehemiah

worshipped God, and gave the king thanks for his promise, and cleared up

his sad and cloudy countenance, by the pleasure he had from the king's

promises. Accordingly, the king called for him the next day, and gave

him an epistle to be carried to Adeus, the governor of Syria, and

Phoenicia, and Samaria; wherein he sent to him to pay due honor to

Nehemiah, and to supply him with what he wanted for his building.

7. Now when he was come to Babylon, and had taken with him many of his

countrymen, who voluntarily followed him, he came to Jerusalem in the

twenty and fifth year of the reign of Xerxes. And when he had shown the

epistles to God 13 he gave them to Adeus, and to the other governors. He

also called together all the people to Jerusalem, and stood in the midst

of the temple, and made the following speech to them: "You know, O Jews,

that God hath kept our fathers, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in mind

continually, and for the sake of their righteousness hath not left off

the care of you. Indeed he hath assisted me in gaining this authority of

the king to raise up our wall, and finish what is wanting of the temple.

I desire you, therefore who well know the ill-will our neighboring

nations bear to us, and that when once they are made sensible that we

are in earnest about building, they will come upon us, and contrive many

ways of obstructing our works, that you will, in the first place, put

your trust in God, as in him that will assist us against their hatred,

and to intermit building neither night nor day, but to use all

diligence, and to hasten on the work, now we have this especial

opportunity for it." When he had said this, he gave order that the

rulers should measure the wall, and part the work of it among the

people, according to their villages and cities, as every one's ability

should require. And when he had added this promise, that he himself,

with his servants, would assist them, he dissolved the assembly. So the

Jews prepared for the work: that is the name they are called by from the

day that they came up from Babylon, which is taken from the tribe of

Judah, which came first to these places, and thence both they and the

country gained that appellation.

8. But now when the Ammonites, and Moabites, and Samaritans, and all

that inhabited Celesyria, heard that the building went on apace, they

took it heinously, and proceeded to lay snares for them, and to hinder

their intentions. They also slew many of the Jews, and sought how they

might destroy Nehemiah himself, by hiring some of the foreigners to kill

him. They also put the Jews in fear, and disturbed them, and spread

abroad rumors, as if many nations were ready to make an expedition

against them, by which means they were harassed, and had almost left off

the building. But none of these things could deter Nehemiah from being

diligent about the work; he only set a number of men about him as a

guard to his body, and so unweariedly persevered therein, and was

insensible of any trouble, out of his desire to perfect this work. And

thus did he attentively, and with great forecast, take care of his own

safety; not that he feared death, but of this persuasion, that if he

were dead, the walls for his citizens would never be raised. He also

gave orders that the builders should keep their ranks, and have their

armor on while they were building. Accordingly, the mason had his sword

on, as well as he that brought the materials for building. He also

appointed that their shields should lie very near them; and he placed

trumpeters at every five hundred feet, and charged them, that if their

enemies appeared, they should give notice of it to the people, that they

might fight in their armor, and their enemies might not fall upon them

naked. He also went about the compass of the city by night, being never

discouraged, neither about the work itself, nor about his own diet and

sleep, for he made no use of those things for his pleasure, but out of

necessity. And this trouble he underwent for two years and four months;

14 for in so long a time was the wall built, in the twenty-eighth year

of the reign of Xerxes, in the ninth month. Now when the walls were

finished, Nehemiah and the multitude offered sacrifices to God for the

building of them, and they continued in feasting eight days. However,

when the nations which dwelt in Syria heard that the building of the

wall was finished, they had indignation at it. But when Nehemiah saw

that the city was thin of people, he exhorted the priests and the

Levites that they would leave the country, and remove themselves to the

city, and there continue; and he built them houses at his own expenses;

and he commanded that part of the people which were employed in

cultivating the land to bring the tithes of their fruits to Jerusalem,

that the priests and Levites having whereof they might live perpetually,

might not leave the Divine worship; who willingly hearkened to the

constitutions of Nehemiah, by which means the city Jerusalem came to be

fuller of people than it was before. So when Nehemiah had done many

other excellent things, and things worthy of commendation, in a glorious

manner, he came to a great age, and then died. He was a man of a good

and righteous disposition, and very ambitious to make his own nation

happy; and he hath left the walls of Jerusalem as an eternal monument

for himself. Now this was done in the days of Xerxes.

CHAPTER 6. Concerning Esther And Mordecai And Haman; And How In The

Reign Of Artaxerxes The Whole Nation Of The Jews Was In Danger Of

Perishing.

1. After the death of Xerxes, the kingdom came to be transferred to his

son Cyrus, whom the Greeks called Artaxerxes. When this man had obtained

the government over the Persians, the whole nation of the Jews, 15 with

their wives and children, were in danger of perishing; the occasion

whereof we shall declare in a little time; for it is proper, in the

first place, to explain somewhat relating to this king, and how he came

to marry a Jewish wife, who was herself of the royal family also, and

who is related to have saved our nation; for when Artaxerxes had taken

the kingdom, and had set governors over the hundred twenty and seven

provinces, from India even unto Ethiopia, in the third year of his

reign, he made a costly feast for his friends, and for the nations of

Persia, and for their governors, such a one as was proper for a king to

make, when he had a mind to make a public demonstration of his riches,

and this for a hundred and fourscore days; after which he made a feast

for other nations, and for their ambassadors, at Shushan, for seven

days. Now this feast was ordered after the manner following: He caused a

tent to be pitched, which was supported by pillars of gold and silver,

with curtains of linen and purple spread over them, that it might afford

room for many ten thousands to sit down. The cups with which the waiters

ministered were of gold, and adorned with precious stones, for pleasure

and for sight. He also gave order to the servants that they should not

force them to drink, by bringing them wine continually, as is the

practice of the Persians, but to permit every one of the guests to enjoy

himself according to his own inclination. Moreover, he sent messengers

through the country, and gave order that they should have a remission of

their labors, and should keep a festival many days, on account of his

kingdom. In like manner did Vashti the queen gather her guests together,

and made them a feast in the palace. Now the king was desirous to show

her, who exceeded all other women in beauty, to those that feasted with

him, and he sent some to command her to come to his feast. But she, out

of regard to the laws of the Persians, which forbid the wives to be seen

by strangers, did not go to the king 16 and though he oftentimes sent

the eunuchs to her, she did nevertheless stay away, and refused to come,

till the king was so much irritated, that he brake up the entertainment,

and rose up, and called for those seven who had the interpretation of

the laws committed to them, and accused his wife, and said that he had

been affronted by her, because that when she was frequently called by

him to his feast, she did not obey him once. He therefore gave order

that they should inform him what could be done by the law against her.

So one of them, whose name was Memucan, said that this affront was

offered not to him alone, but to all the Persians, who were in danger of

leading their lives very ill with their wives, if they must be thus

despised by them; for that none of their wives would have any reverence

for their husbands, if they, "had such an example of arrogance in the

queen towards thee, who rulest over all." Accordingly, he exhorted him

to punish her, who had been guilty of so great an affront to him, after

a severe manner; and when he had so done, to publish to the nations what

had been decreed about the queen. So the resolution was to put Vashti

away, and to give her dignity to another woman.

2. But the king having been fond of her, did not well bear a separation,

and yet by the law he could not admit of a reconciliation; so he was

under trouble, as not having it in his power to do what he desired to

do. But when his friends saw him so uneasy, they advised him to cast the

memory of his wife, and his love for her, out of his mind, but to send

abroad over all the habitable earth, and to search out for comely

virgins, and to take her whom he should best like for his wife, because

his passion for his former wife would be quenched by the introduction of

another, and the kindness he had for Vashti would be withdrawn from her,

and be placed on her that was with him. Accordingly, he was persuaded to

follow this advice, and gave order to certain persons to choose out of

the virgins that were in his kingdom those that were esteemed the most

comely. So when a great number of these virgins were gathered together,

there was found a damsel in Babylon, whose parents were both dead, and

she was brought up with her uncle Mordecai, for that was her uncle's

name. This uncle was of the tribe of Benjamin, and was one of the

principal persons among the Jews. Now it proved that this damsel, whose

name was Esther, was the most beautiful of all the rest, and that the

grace of her countenance drew the eyes of the spectators principally

upon her. So she was committed to one of the eunuchs to take the care of

her; and she was very exactly provided with sweet odors, in great

plenty, and with costly ointments, such as her body required to be

anointed withal; and this was used for six months by the virgins, who

were in number four hundred. And when the eunuch thought the virgins had

been sufficiently purified, in the fore-mentioned time, and were now fit

to go to the king's bed, he sent one to be with the king every day. So

when he had accompanied with her, he sent her back to the eunuch; and

when Esther had come to him, he was pleased with her, and fell in love

with the damsel, and married her, and made her his lawful wife, and kept

a wedding feast for her on the twelfth month of the seventh year of his

reign, which was called Adar. He also sent angari, as they are called,

or messengers, unto every nation, and gave orders that they should keep

a feast for his marriage, while he himself treated the Persians and the

Medes, and the principal men of the nations, for a whole month, on

account of this his marriage. Accordingly, Esther came to his royal

palace, and he set a diadem on her head. And thus was Esther married,

without making known to the king what nation she was derived from. Her

uncle also removed from Babylon to Shushan, and dwelt there, being every

day about the palace, and inquiring how the damsel did, for he loved her

as though she had been his own daughter.

3. Now the king had made a law, 17 that none of his own people should

approach him unless he were called, when he sat upon his throne and men,

with axes in their hands, stood round about his throne, in order to

punish such as approached to him without being called. However, the king

sat with a golden scepter in his hand, which he held out when he had a

mind to save any one of those that approached to him without being

called, and he who touched it was free from danger. But of this matter

we have discoursed sufficiently.

4. Some time after this [two eunuchs], Bigthan and Teresh, plotted

against the king; and Barnabazus, the servant of one of the eunuchs,

being by birth a Jew, was acquainted with their conspiracy, and

discovered it to the queen's uncle; and Mordecai, by the means of

Esther, made the conspirators known to the king. This troubled the king;

but he discovered the truth, and hanged the eunuchs upon a cross, while

at that time he gave no reward to Mordecai, who had been the occasion of

his preservation. He only bid the scribes to set down his name in the

records, and bid him stay in the palace, as an intimate friend of the

king.

5. Now there was one Haman, the son of Amedatha, by birth an Amalekite,

that used to go in to the king; and the foreigners and Persians

worshipped him, as Artaxerxes had commanded that such honor should be

paid to him; but Mordecai was so wise, and so observant of his own

country's laws, that he would not worship the man 18 When Haman observed

this, he inquired whence he came; and when he understood that he was a

Jew, he had indignation at him, and said within himself, that whereas

the Persians, who were free men, worshipped him, this man, who was no

better than a slave, does not vouchsafe to do so. And when he desired to

punish Mordecai, he thought it too small a thing to request of the king

that he alone might be punished; he rather determined to abolish the

whole nation, for he was naturally an enemy to the Jews, because the

nation of the Amalekites, of which he was; had been destroyed by them.

Accordingly he came to the king, and accused them, saying, "There is a

certain wicked nation, and it is dispersed over all the habitable earth

that was under his dominion; a nation separate from others, unsociable,

neither admitting the same sort of Divine worship that others do, nor

using laws like to the laws of others, at enmity with thy people, and

with all men, both in their manners and practices. Now, if thou wilt be

a benefactor to thy subjects, thou wilt give order to destroy them

utterly, and not leave the least remains of them, nor preserve any of

them, either for slaves or for captives." But that the king might not be

damnified by the loss of the tributes which the Jews paid him, Haman

promised to give him out of his own estate forty thousand talents

whensoever he pleased; and he said he would pay this money very

willingly, that the kingdom might be freed from such a misfortune.

6. When Haman had made this petition, the king both forgave him the

money, and granted him the men, to do what he would with them. So Haman,

having gained what he desired, sent out immediately a decree, as from

the king, to all nations, the contents whereof were these: "Artaxerxes,

the great king, to the rulers of the hundred twenty and seven provinces,

from India to Ethiopia, sends this writing. Whereas I have governed many

nations, and obtained the dominions of all the habitable earth,

according to my desire, and have not been obliged to do any thing that

is insolent or cruel to my subjects by such my power, but have showed

myself mild and gentle, by taking care of their peace and good order,

and have sought how they might enjoy those blessings for all time to

come. And whereas I have been kindly informed by Haman, who, on account

of his prudence and justice, is the first in my esteem, and in dignity,

and only second to myself, for his fidelity and constant good-will to

me, that there is an ill-natured nation intermixed with all mankind,

that is averse to our laws, and not subject to kings, and of a different

conduct of life from others, that hateth monarchy, and of a disposition

that is pernicious to our affairs, I give order that all these men, of

whom Haman our second father hath informed us, be destroyed, with their

wives and children, and that none of them be spared, and that none

prefer pity to them before obedience to this decree. And this I will to

be executed on the fourteenth day of the twelfth month of this present

year, that so when all that have enmity to us are destroyed, and this in

one day, we may be allowed to lead the rest of our lives in peace

hereafter." Now when this decree was brought to the cities, and to the

country, all were ready for the destruction and entire abolishment of

the Jews, against the day before mentioned; and they were very hasty

about it at Shushan, in particular. Accordingly, the king and Haman

spent their time in feasting together with good cheer and wine, but the

city was in disorder.

7. Now when Mordecai was informed of what was done, he rent his clothes,

and put on sackcloth, and sprinkled ashes upon his head, and went about

the city, crying out, that "a nation that had been injurious to no man

was to be destroyed." And he went on saying thus as far as to the king's

palace, and there he stood, for it was not lawful for him to go into it

in that habit. The same thing was done by all the Jews that were in the

several cities wherein this decree was published, with lamentation and

mourning, on account of the calamities denounced against them. But as

soon as certain persons had told the queen that Mordecai stood before

the court in a mourning habit, she was disturbed at this report, and

sent out such as should change his garments; but when he could not be

induced to put off his sackcloth, because the sad occasion that forced

him to put it on was not yet ceased, she called the eunuch Acratheus,

for he was then present, and sent him to Mordecai, in order to know of

him what sad accident had befallen him, for which he was in mourning,

and would not put off the habit he had put on at her desire. Then did

Mordecai inform the eunuch of the occasion of his mourning, and of the

decree which was sent by the king into all the country, and of the

promise of money whereby Haman brought the destruction of their nation.

He also gave him a copy of what was proclaimed at Shushan, to be carried

to Esther; and he charged her to petition the king about this matter,

and not to think it a dishonorable thing in her to put on a humble

habit, for the safety of her nation, wherein she might deprecate the

ruin of the Jews, who were in danger of it; for that Haman, whose

dignity was only inferior to that of the king, had accused the Jews, and

had irritated the king against them. When she was informed of this, she

sent to Mordecai again, and told him that she was not called by the

king, and that he who goes in to him without being called, is to be

slain, unless when he is willing to save any one, he holds out his

golden scepter to him; but that to whomsoever he does so, although he go

in without being called, that person is so far from being slain, that he

obtains pardon, and is entirely preserved. Now when the eunuch carried

this message from Esther to Mordecai, he bade him also tell her that she

must not only provide for her own preservation, but for the common

preservation of her nation, for that if she now neglected this

opportunity, there would certainly arise help to them from God some

other way, but she and her father's house would be destroyed by those

whom she now despised. But Esther sent the very same eunuch back to

Mordecai [to desire him] to go to Shushan, and to gather the Jews that

were there together to a congregation, and to fast and abstain from all

sorts of food, on her account, and [to let him know that] she with her

maidens would do the same: and then she promised that she would go to

the king, though it were against the law, and that if she must die for

it, she would not refuse it.

8. Accordingly, Mordecai did as Esther had enjoined him, and made the

people fast; and he besought God, together with them, not to overlook

his nation, particularly at this time, when it was going to be

destroyed; but that, as he had often before provided for them, and

forgiven, when they had sinned, so he would now deliver them from that

destruction which was denounced against them; for although it was not

all the nation that had offended, yet must they so ingloriously be

slain, and that he was himself the occasion of the wrath of Haman,

"Because," said he, "I did not worship him, nor could I endure to pay

that honor to him which I used to pay to thee, O Lord; for upon that his

anger hath he contrived this present mischief against those that have

not transgressed thy laws." The same supplications did the multitude put

up, and entreated that God would provide for their deliverance, and free

the Israelites that were in all the earth from this calamity which was

now coming upon them, for they had it before their eyes, and expected

its coming. Accordingly, Esther made supplication to God after the

manner of her country, by casting herself down upon the earth, and

putting on her mourning garments, and bidding farewell to meat and

drink, and all delicacies, for three days' time; and she entreated God

to have mercy upon her, and make her words appear persuasive to the

king, and render her countenance more beautiful than it was before, that

both by her words and beauty she might succeed, for the averting of the

king's anger, in case he were at all irritated against her, and for the

consolation of those of her own country, now they were in the utmost

danger of perishing; as also that he would excite a hatred in the king

against the enemies of the Jews, and those that had contrived their

future destruction, if they proved to be contemned by him.

9. When Esther had used this supplication for three days, she put off

those garments, and changed her habit, and adorned herself as became a

queen, and took two of her handmaids with her, the one of which

supported her, as she gently leaned upon her, and the other followed

after, and lifted up her large train [which swept along the ground] with

the extremities of her fingers. And thus she came to the king, having a

blushing redness in her countenance, with a pleasant agreeableness in

her behavior; yet did she go in to him with fear; and as soon as she was

come over against him, as he was sitting on his throne, in his royal

apparel, which was a garment interwoven with gold and precious stones,

which made him seem to her more terrible, especially when he looked at

her somewhat severely, and with a countenance on fire with anger, her

joints failed her immediately, out of the dread she was in, and she fell

down sideways in a swoon: but the king changed his mind, which happened,

as I suppose, by the will of God, and was concerned for his wife, lest

her fear should bring some very ill thing upon her, and he leaped from

his throne, and took her in his arms, and recovered her, by embracing

her, and speaking comfortably to her, and exhorting her to be of good

cheer, and not to suspect any thing that was sad on account of her

coming to him without being called, because that law was made for

subjects, but that she, who was a queen, as well as he a king, might be

entirely secure; and as he said this, he put the scepter into her hand,

and laid his rod upon her neck, on account of the law; and so freed her

from her fear. And after she had recovered herself by these

encouragements, she said, "My lord, it is not easy for me, on the

sudden, to say what hath happened, for as soon as I saw thee to be

great, and comely, and terrible, my spirit departed from me, and I had

no soul left in me." And while it was with difficulty, and in a low

voice, that she could say thus much, the king was in a great agony and

disorder, and encouraged Esther to be of good cheer, and to expect

better fortune, since he was ready, if occasion should require it, to

grant her the half of his kingdom. Accordingly, Esther desired that he

and his friend Haman would come to her to a banquet, for she said she

had prepared a supper for him. He consented to it; and when they were

there, as they were drinking, he bid Esther to let him know what she

desired; for that she should not be disappointed though she should

desire the half of his kingdom. But she put off the discovery of her

petition till the next day, if he would come again, together with Haman,

to her banquet.

10. Now when the king had promised so to do, Haman went away very glad,

because he alone had the honor of supping with the king at Esther's

banquet, and because no one else partook of the same honor with kings

but himself; yet when he saw Mordecai in the court, he was very much

displeased, for he paid him no manner of respect when he saw him. So he

went home and called for his wife Zeresh, and his friends, and when they

were come, he showed them what honor he enjoyed not only from the king,

but from the queen also, for as he alone had that day supped with her,

together with the king, so was he also invited again for the next day;

"yet," said he, "am I not pleased to see Mordecai the Jew in the court."

Hereupon his wife Zeresh advised him to give order that a gallows should

be made fifty cubits high, and that in the morning he should ask it of

the king that Mordecai might be hanged thereon. So he commended her

advice, and gave order to his servants to prepare the gallows, and to

place it in the court, for the punishment of Mordecai thereon, which was

accordingly prepared. But God laughed to scorn the wicked expectations

of Haman; and as he knew what the event would be, he was delighted at

it, for that night he took away the king's sleep; and as the king was

not willing to lose the time of his lying awake, but to spend it in

something that might be of advantage to his kingdom, he commanded the

scribe to bring him the chronicles of the former kings, and the records

of his own actions; and when he had brought them, and was reading them,

one was found to have received a country on account of his excellent

management on a certain occasion, and the name of the country was set

down; another was found to have had a present made him on account of his

fidelity: then the scribe came to Bigthan and Teresh, the eunuchs that

had made a conspiracy against the king, which Mordecai had discovered;

and when the scribe said no more but that, and was going on to another

history, the king stopped him, and inquired "whether it was not added

that Mordecai had a reward given him?" and when he said there was no

such addition, he bade him leave off; and he inquired of those that were

appointed for that purpose, what hour of the night it was; and when he

was informed that it was already day, he gave order, that if they found

any one of his friends already come, and standing before the court, they

should tell him. Now it happened that Haman was found there, for he was

come sooner than ordinary to petition the king to have Mordecai put to

death; and when the servants said that Haman was before the court, he

bid them call him in; and when he was come in, he said, "Because I know

that thou art my only fast friend, I desire thee to give me advice how I

may honor one that I greatly love, and that after a manner suitable to

my magnificence." Now Haman reasoned with himself, that what opinion he

should give it would be for himself, since it was he alone who was

beloved by the king: so he gave that advice which he thought of all

other the best; for he said, "If thou wouldst truly honor a man whom

thou sayest thou dost love, give order that he may ride on horseback,

with the same garment on which thou wearest, and with a gold chain about

his neck, and let one of thy intimate friends go before him, and

proclaim through the whole city, that whosoever the king honoreth

obtaineth this mark of his honor." This was the advice which Haman gave,

out of a supposal that such a reward would come to himself. Hereupon the

king was pleased with the advice, and said, "Go thou therefore, for thou

hast the horse, the garment, and the chain, ask for Mordecai the Jew,

and give him those things, and go before his horse and proclaim

accordingly; for thou art," said he, "my intimate friend, and hast given

me good advice; be thou then the minister of what thou hast advised me

to. This shall be his reward from us, for preserving my life." When he

heard this order, which was entirely unexpected, he was confounded in

his mind, and knew not what to do. However, he went out and led the

horse, and took the purple garment, and the golden chain for the neck,

and finding Mordecai before the court, clothed in sackcloth, he bid him

put that garment off, and put the purple garment on. But Mordecai, not

knowing the truth of the matter, but thinking that it was done in

mockery, said, "O thou wretch, the vilest of all mankind, dost thou thus

laugh at our calamities?" But when he was satisfied that the king

bestowed this honor upon him, for the deliverance he had procured him

when he convicted the eunuchs who had conspired against him, he put on

that purple garment which the king always wore, and put the chain about

his neck, and got on horseback, and went round the city, while Haman

went before and proclaimed, "This shall be the reward which the king

will bestow on every one whom he loves, and esteems worthy of honor."

And when they had gone round the city, Mordecai went in to the king; but

Haman went home, out of shame, and informed his wife and friends of what

had happened, and this with tears; who said, that he would never be able

to be revenged of Mordecai, for that God was with him.

11. Now while these men were thus talking one to another, Esther's

eunuchs hastened Haman away to come to supper; but one of the eunuchs,

named Sabuchadas, saw the gallows that was fixed in Haman's house, and

inquired of one of his servants for what purpose they had prepared it.

So he knew that it was for the queen's uncle, because Haman was about to

petition the king that he might be punished; but at present he held his

peace. Now when the king, with Haman, were at the banquet, he desired

the queen to tell him what gifts she desired to obtain, and assured her

that she should have whatsoever she had a mind to. She then lamented the

danger her people were in; and said that "she and her nation were given

up to be destroyed, and that she, on that account, made this her

petition; that she would not have troubled him if he had only given

order that they should be sold into bitter servitude, for such a

misfortune would not have been intolerable; but she desired that they

might be delivered from such destruction." And when the king inquired of

her whom was the author of this misery to them, she then openly accused

Haman, and convicted him, that he had been the wicked instrument of

this, and had formed this plot against them. When the king was hereupon

in disorder, and was gone hastily out of the banquet into the gardens,

Haman began to intercede with Esther, and to beseech her to forgive him,

as to what he had offended, for he perceived that he was in a very bad

case. And as he had fallen upon the queen's bed, and was making

supplication to her, the king came in, and being still more provoked at

what he saw, "O thou wretch," said he, "thou vilest of mankind, dost

thou aim to force in wife?" And when Haman was astonished at this, and

not able to speak one word more, Sabuchadas the eunuch came in and

accused Haman, and said, He found a gallows at his house, prepared for

Mordecai; for that the servant told him so much upon his inquiry, when

he was sent to him to call him to supper. He said further, that the

gallows was fifty cubits high: which, when the king heard, he determined

that Haman should be punished after no other manner than that which had

been devised by him against Mordecai; so he gave order immediately that

he should be hung upon those gallows, and be put to death after that

manner. And from hence I cannot forbear to admire God, and to learn

hence his wisdom and his justice, not only in punishing the wickedness

of Haman, but in so disposing it, that he should undergo the very same

punishment which he had contrived for another; as also because thereby

he teaches others this lesson, that what mischiefs any one prepares

against another, he, without knowing of it, first contrives it against

himself.

12. Wherefore Haman, who had immoderately abused the honor he had from

the king, was destroyed after this manner, and the king granted his

estate to the queen. He also called for Mordecai, [for Esther had

informed him that she was akin to him,] and gave that ring to Mordecai

which he had before given to Haman. The queen also gave Haman's estate

to Mordecai; and prayed the king to deliver the nation of the Jews from

the fear of death, and showed him what had been written over all the

country by Haman the son of Ammedatha; for that if her country were

destroyed, and her countrymen were to perish, she could not bear to live

herself any longer. So the king promised her that he would not do any

thing that should be disagreeable to her, nor contradict what she

desired; but he bid her write what she pleased about the Jews, in the

king's name, and seal it with his seal, and send it to all his kingdom,

for that those who read epistles whose authority is secured by having

the king's seal to them, would no way contradict what was written

therein. So he commanded the king's scribes to be sent for, and to write

to the nations, on the Jews' behalf, and to his lieutenants and

governors, that were over his hundred twenty and seven provinces, from

India to Ethiopia. Now the contents of this epistle were these: "The

great king Artaxerxes to our rulers, and those that are our faithful

subjects, sendeth greeting. 19 Many men there are who, on account of the

greatness of the benefits bestowed on them, and because of the honor

which they have obtained from the wonderful kind treatment of those that

bestowed it, are not only injurious to their inferiors, but do not

scruple to do evil to those that have been their benefactors, as if they

would take away gratitude from among men, and by their insolent abuse of

such benefits as they never expected, they turn the abundance they have

against those that are the authors of it, and suppose they shall lie

concealed from God in that case, and avoid that vengeance which comes

from him. Some of these men, when they have had the management of

affairs committed to them by their friends, and bearing private malice

of their own against some others, by deceiving those that have the

power, persuade them to be angry at such as have done them no harm, till

they are in danger of perishing, and this by laying accusations and

calumnies: nor is this state of things to be discovered by ancient

examples, or such as we have learned by report only, but by some

examples of such impudent attempts under our own eyes; so that it is not

fit to attend any longer to calumnies and accusations, nor to the

persuasions of others, but to determine what any one knows of himself to

have been really done, and to punish what justly deserves it, and to

grant favors to such as are innocent. This hath been the case of Haman,

the son of Ammedatha, by birth an Amalekite, and alien from the blood of

the Persians, who, when he was hospitably entertained by us, and partook

of that kindness which we bear to all men to so great a degree, as to be

called my father, and to be all along worshipped, and to have honor paid

him by all in the second rank after the royal honor due to ourselves, he

could not bear his good fortune, nor govern the magnitude of his

prosperity with sound reason; nay, he made a conspiracy against me and

my life, who gave him his authority, by endeavoring to take away

Mordecai, my benefactor, and my savior, and by basely and treacherously

requiring to have Esther, the partner of my life, and of my dominion,

brought to destruction; for he contrived by this means to deprive me of

my faithful friends, and transfer the government to others: 20 but since

I perceived that these Jews, that were by this pernicious fellow devoted

to destruction, were not wicked men, but conducted their lives after the

best manner, and were men dedicated to the worship of that God who hath

preserved the kingdom to me and to my ancestors, I do not only free them

from the punishment which the former epistle, which was sent by Haman,

ordered to be inflicted on them, to which if you refuse obedience, you

shall do well; but I will that they have all honor paid to them.

Accordingly, I have hanged up the man that contrived such things against

them, with his family, before the gates of Shushan; that punishment

being sent upon him by God, who seeth all things. And I give you in

charge, that you publicly propose a copy of this epistle through all my

kingdom, that the Jews may be permitted peaceably to use their own laws,

and that you assist them, that at the same season whereto their

miserable estate did belong, they may defend themselves the very same

day from unjust violence, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which

is Adar; for God hath made that day a day of salvation instead of a day

of destruction to them; and may it be a good day to those that wish us

well, and a memorial of the punishment of the conspirators against us:

and I will that you take notice, that every city, and every nation, that

shall disobey any thing that is contained in this epistle, shall be

destroyed by fire and sword. However, let this epistle be published

through all the country that is under our obedience, and let all the

Jews, by all means, be ready against the day before mentioned, that they

may avenge themselves upon their enemies."

13. Accordingly, the horsemen who carried the epistles proceeded on the

ways which they were to go with speed: but as for Mordecai, as soon as

he had assumed the royal garment, and the crown of gold, and had put the

chain about his neck, he went forth in a public procession; and when the

Jews who were at Shushan saw him in so great honor with the king, they

thought his good fortune was common to themselves also, and joy and a

beam of salvation encompassed the Jews, both those that were in the

cities, and those that were in the countries, upon the publication of

the king's letters, insomuch that many even of other nations circumcised

their foreskin for fear of the Jews, that they might procure safety to

themselves thereby; for on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month,

which according to the Hebrews is called Adar, but according to the

Macedonians, Dystrus, those that carried the king's epistle gave them

notice, that the same day wherein their danger was to have been, on that

very day should they destroy their enemies. But now the rulers of the

provinces, and the tyrants, and the kings, and the scribes, had the Jews

in esteem; for the fear they were in of Mordecai forced them to act with

discretion. Now when the royal decree was come to all the country that

was subject to the king, it fell out that the Jews at Shushan slew five

hundred of their enemies; and when the king had told Esther the number

of those that were slain in that city, but did not well know what had

been done in the provinces, he asked her whether she would have any

thing further done against them, for that it should be done accordingly:

upon which she desired that the Jews might be permitted to treat their

remaining enemies in the same manner the next day; as also that they

might hang the ten sons of Haman upon the gallows. So the king permitted

the Jews so to do, as desirous not to contradict Esther. So they

gathered themselves together again on the fourteenth day of the month

Dystrus, and slew about three hundred of their enemies, but touched

nothing of what riches they had. Now there were slain by the Jews that

were in the country, and in the other cities, seventy-five thousand of

their enemies, and these were slain on the thirteenth day of the month,

and the next day they kept as a festival. In like manner the Jews that

were in Shushan gathered themselves together, and feasted on the

fourteenth day, and that which followed it; whence it is that even now

all the Jews that are in the habitable earth keep these days festival,

and send portions to one another. Mordecai also wrote to the Jews that

lived in the kingdom of Artaxerxes to observe these days, and celebrate

them as festivals, and to deliver them down to posterity, that this

festival might continue for all time to come, and that it might never be

buried in oblivion; for since they were about to be destroyed on these

days by Haman, they would do a right thing, upon escaping the danger in

them, and on them inflicting punishment on their enemies, to observe

those days, and give thanks to God on them; for which cause the Jews

still keep the forementioned days, and call them days of Phurim (or

Purim.) 21 And Mordecai became a great and illustrious person with the

king, and assisted him in the government of the people. He also lived

with the queen; so that the affairs of the Jews were, by their means,

better than they could ever have hoped for. And this was the state of

the Jews under the reign of Artaxerxes.

CHAPTER 7. How John Slew His Brother Jesus In The Temple; And How

Bagoses Offered Many Injuries To The Jews; And What Sanballat Did.

1. When Eliashib the high priest was dead, his son Judas succeeded in

the high priesthood; and when he was dead, his son John took that

dignity; on whose account it was also that Bagoses, the general of

another Artaxerxes's army, 22 polluted the temple, and imposed tributes

on the Jews, that out of the public stock, before they offered the daily

sacrifices, they should pay for every lamb fifty shekels. Now Jesus was

the brother of John, and was a friend of Bagoses, who had promised to

procure him the high priesthood. In confidence of whose support, Jesus

quarreled with John in the temple, and so provoked his brother, that in

his anger his brother slew him. Now it was a horrible thing for John,

when he was high priest, to perpetrate so great a crime, and so much the

more horrible, that there never was so cruel and impious a thing done,

neither by the Greeks nor Barbarians. However, God did not neglect its

punishment, but the people were on that very account enslaved, and the

temple was polluted by the Persians. Now when Bagoses, the general of

Artaxerxes's army, knew that John, the high priest of the Jews, had

slain his own brother Jesus in the temple, he came upon the Jews

immediately, and began in anger to say to them, "Have you had the

impudence to perpetrate a murder in your temple?" And as he was aiming

to go into the temple, they forbade him so to do; but he said to them,

"Am not I purer than he that was slain in the temple?" And when he had

said these words, he went into the temple. Accordingly, Bagoses made use

of this pretense, and punished the Jews seven years for the murder of

Jesus.

2. Now when John had departed this life, his son Jaddua succeeded in the

high priesthood. He had a brother, whose name was Manasseh. Now there

was one Sanballat, who was sent by Darius, the last king [of Persia],

into Samaria. He was a Cutheam by birth; of which stock were the

Samaritans also. This man knew that the city Jerusalem was a famous

city, and that their kings had given a great deal of trouble to the

Assyrians, and the people of Celesyria; so that he willingly gave his

daughter, whose name was Nicaso, in marriage to Manasseh, as thinking

this alliance by marriage would be a pledge and security that the nation

of the Jews should continue their good-will to him.

CHAPTER 8. Concerning Sanballat And Manasseh, And The Temple Which They

Built On Mount Gerizzim; As Also How Alexander Made His Entry Into The

City Jerusalem, And What Benefits He Bestowed On The Jews.

1. About this time it was that Philip, king of Macedon, was

treacherously assaulted and slain at Egae by Pausanias, the son of

Cerastes, who was derived from the family of Oreste, and his son

Alexander succeeded him in the kingdom; who, passing over the

Hellespont, overcame the generals of Darius's army in a battle fought at

Granicum. So he marched over Lydia, and subdued Ionia, and overran

Caria, and fell upon the places of Pamphylia, as has been related

elsewhere.

2. But the elders of Jerusalem being very uneasy that the brother of

Jaddua the high priest, though married to a foreigner, should be a

partner with him in the high priesthood, quarreled with him; for they

esteemed this man's marriage a step to such as should be desirous of

transgressing about the marriage of [strange] wives, and that this would

be the beginning of a mutual society with foreigners, although the

offense of some about marriages, and their having married wives that

were not of their own country, had been an occasion of their former

captivity, and of the miseries they then underwent; so they commanded

Manasseh to divorce his wife, or not to approach the altar, the high

priest himself joining with the people in their indignation against his

brother, and driving him away from the altar. Whereupon Manasseh came to

his father-in-law, Sanballat, and told him, that although he loved his

daughter Nicaso, yet was he not willing to be deprived of his sacerdotal

dignity on her account, which was the principal dignity in their nation,

and always continued in the same family. And then Sanballat promised him

not only to preserve to him the honor of his priesthood, but to procure

for him the power and dignity of a high priest, and would make him

governor of all the places he himself now ruled, if he would keep his

daughter for his wife. He also told him further, that he would build him

a temple like that at Jerusalem, upon Mount Gerizzini, which is the

highest of all the mountains that are in Samaria; and he promised that

he would do this with the approbation of Darius the king. Manasseh was

elevated with these promises, and staid with Sanballat, upon a supposal

that he should gain a high priesthood, as bestowed on him by Darius, for

it happened that Sanballat was then in years. But there was now a great

disturbance among the people of Jerusalem, because many of those priests

and Levites were entangled in such matches; for they all revolted to

Manasseh, and Sanballat afforded them money, and divided among them land

for tillage, and habitations also, and all this in order every way to

gratify his son-in-law.

3. About this time it was that Darius heard how Alexander had passed

over the Hellespont, and had beaten his lieutenants in the battle at

Granicum, and was proceeding further; whereupon he gathered together an

army of horse and foot, and determined that he would meet the

Macedonians before they should assault and conquer all Asia. So he

passed over the river Euphrates, and came over Taurus, the Cilician

mountain, and at Issus of Cilicia he waited for the enemy, as ready

there to give him battle. Upon which Sanballat was glad that Darius was

come down; and told Manasseh that he would suddenly perform his promises

to him, and this as soon as ever Darius should come back, after he had

beaten his enemies; for not he only, but all those that were in Asia

also, were persuaded that the Macedonians would not so much as come to a

battle with the Persians, on account of their multitude. But the event

proved otherwise than they expected; for the king joined battle with the

Macedonians, and was beaten, and lost a great part of his army. His

mother also, and his wife and children, were taken captives, and he fled

into Persia. So Alexander came into Syria, and took Damascus; and when

he had obtained Sidon, he besieged Tyre, when he sent an epistle to the

Jewish high priest, to send him some auxiliaries, and to supply his army

with provisions; and that what presents he formerly sent to Darius, he

would now send to him, and choose the friendship of the Macedonians, and

that he should never repent of so doing. But the high priest answered

the messengers, that he had given his oath to Darius not to bear arms

against him; and he said that he would not transgress this while Darius

was in the land of the living. Upon hearing this answer, Alexander was

very angry; and though he determined not to leave Tyre, which was just

ready to be taken, yet as soon as he had taken it, he threatened that he

would make an expedition against the Jewish high priest, and through him

teach all men to whom they must keep their oaths. So when he had, with a

good deal of pains during the siege, taken Tyre, and had settled its

affairs, he came to the city of Gaza, and besieged both the city and him

that was governor of the garrison, whose name was Babemeses.

4. But Sanballat thought he had now gotten a proper opportunity to make

his attempt, so he renounced Darius, and taking with him seven thousand

of his own subjects, he came to Alexander; and finding him beginning the

siege of Tyre, he said to him, that he delivered up to him these men,

who came out of places under his dominion, and did gladly accept of him

for his lord instead of Darius. So when Alexander had received him

kindly, Sanballat thereupon took courage, and spake to him about his

present affair. He told him that he had a son-in-law, Manasseh, who was

brother to the high priest Jaddua; and that there were many others of

his own nation, now with him, that were desirous to have a temple in the

places subject to him; that it would be for the king's advantage to have

the strength of the Jews divided into two parts, lest when the nation is

of one mind, and united, upon any attempt for innovation, it prove

troublesome to kings, as it had formerly proved to the kings of Assyria.

Whereupon Alexander gave Sanballat leave so to do, who used the utmost

diligence, and built the temple, and made Manasseh the priest, and

deemed it a great reward that his daughter's children should have that

dignity; but when the seven months of the siege of Tyre were over, and

the two months of the siege of Gaza, Sanballat died. Now Alexander, when

he had taken Gaza, made haste to go up to Jerusalem; and Jaddua the high

priest, when he heard that, was in an agony, and under terror, as not

knowing how he should meet the Macedonians, since the king was

displeased at his foregoing disobedience. He therefore ordained that the

people should make supplications, and should join with him in offering

sacrifice to God, whom he besought to protect that nation, and to

deliver them from the perils that were coming upon them; whereupon God

warned him in a dream, which came upon him after he had offered

sacrifice, that he should take courage, and adorn the city, and open the

gates; that the rest should appear in white garments, but that he and

the priests should meet the king in the habits proper to their order,

without the dread of any ill consequences, which the providence of God

would prevent. Upon which, when he rose from his sleep, he greatly

rejoiced, and declared to all the warning he had received from God.

According to which dream he acted entirely, and so waited for the coming

of the king.

5. And when he understood that he was not far from the city, he went out

in procession, with the priests and the multitude of the citizens. The

procession was venerable, and the manner of it different from that of

other nations. It reached to a place called Sapha, which name,

translated into Greek, signifies a prospect, for you have thence a

prospect both of Jerusalem and of the temple. And when the Phoenicians

and the Chaldeans that followed him thought they should have liberty to

plunder the city, and torment the high priest to death, which the king's

displeasure fairly promised them, the very reverse of it happened; for

Alexander, when he saw the multitude at a distance, in white garments,

while the priests stood clothed with fine linen, and the high priest in

purple and scarlet clothing, with his mitre on his head, having the

golden plate whereon the name of God was engraved, he approached by

himself, and adored that name, and first saluted the high priest. The

Jews also did all together, with one voice, salute Alexander, and

encompass him about; whereupon the kings of Syria and the rest were

surprised at what Alexander had done, and supposed him disordered in his

mind. However, Parmenio alone went up to him, and asked him how it came

to pass that, when all others adored him, he should adore the high

priest of the Jews? To whom he replied, "I did not adore him, but that

God who hath honored him with his high priesthood; for I saw this very

person in a dream, in this very habit, when I was at Dios in Macedonia,

who, when I was considering with myself how I might obtain the dominion

of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to pass over the sea

thither, for that he would conduct my army, and would give me the

dominion over the Persians; whence it is that, having seen no other in

that habit, and now seeing this person in it, and remembering that

vision, and the exhortation which I had in my dream, I believe that I

bring this army under the Divine conduct, and shall therewith conquer

Darius, and destroy the power of the Persians, and that all things will

succeed according to what is in my own mind." And when he had said this

to Parmenio, and had given the high priest his right hand, the priests

ran along by him, and he came into the city. And when he went up into

the temple, he offered sacrifice to God, according to the high priest's

direction, and magnificently treated both the high priest and the

priests. And when the Book of Daniel was showed him 23 wherein Daniel

declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the

Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended. And as he

was then glad, he dismissed the multitude for the present; but the next

day he called them to him, and bid them ask what favors they pleased of

him; whereupon the high priest desired that they might enjoy the laws of

their forefathers, and might pay no tribute on the seventh year. He

granted all they desired. And when they entreated him that he would

permit the Jews in Babylon and Media to enjoy their own laws also, he

willingly promised to do hereafter what they desired. And when he said

to the multitude, that if any of them would enlist themselves in his

army, on this condition, that they should continue under the laws of

their forefathers, and live according to them, he was willing to take

them with him, many were ready to accompany him in his wars.

6. So when Alexander had thus settled matters at Jerusalem, he led his

army into the neighboring cities; and when all the inhabitants to whom

he came received him with great kindness, the Samaritans, who had then

Shechem for their metropolis, [a city situate at Mount Gerizzim, and

inhabited by apostates of the Jewish nation,] seeing that Alexander had

so greatly honored the Jews, determined to profess themselves Jews; for

such is the disposition of the Samaritans, as we have already elsewhere

declared, that when the Jews are in adversity, they deny that they are

of kin to them, and then they confess the truth; but when they perceive

that some good fortune hath befallen them, they immediately pretend to

have communion with them, saying that they belong to them, and derive

their genealogy from the posterity of Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh.

Accordingly, they made their address to the king with splendor, and

showed great alacrity in meeting him at a little distance from

Jerusalem. And when Alexander had commended them, the Shechemites

approached to him, taking with them the troops that Sanballat had sent

him, and they desired that he would come to their city, and do honor to

their temple also; to whom he promised, that when he returned he would

come to them. And when they petitioned that he would remit the tribute

of the seventh year to them, because they did but sow thereon, he asked

who they were that made such a petition; and when they said that they

were Hebrews, but had the name of Sidonians, living at Shechem, he asked

them again whether they were Jews; and when they said they were not

Jews, "It was to the Jews," said he, "that I granted that privilege;

however, when I return, and am thoroughly informed by you of this

matter, I will do what I shall think proper." And in this manner he took

leave of the Shechemites; but ordered that the troops of Sanballat

should follow him into Egypt, because there he designed to give them

lands, which he did a little after in Thebais, when he ordered them to

guard that country.

7. Now when Alexander was dead, the government was parted among his

successors, but the temple upon Mount Gerizzim remained. And if any one

were accused by those of Jerusalem of having eaten things common or of

having broken the sabbath, or of any other crime of the like nature, he

fled away to the Shechemites, and said that he was accused unjustly.

About this time it was that Jaddua the high priest died, and Onias his

son took the high priesthood. This was the state of the affairs of the

people of Jerusalem at this time.

FOOTNOTES:

1 (return) [ This Cyrus is called God's shepherd by Xenophon, as well as

by Isaiah, Isaiah 44:28; as also it is said of him by the same prophet,

that "I will make a man more precious than fine gold, even a man than

the golden wedge of Ophir," Isaiah 13:12, which character makes

Xenophon's most excellent history of him very credible.]

2 (return) [ This leave to build Jerusalem, sect. 3, and this epistle of

Cyrus to Sisinnes and Sathrabuzanes, to the same purpose, are most

unfortunately omitted in all our copies but this best and completest

copy of Josephus; and by such omission the famous prophecy of Isaiah,

Isaiah 44:28, where we are informed that God said of or to Cyrus, "He is

my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure; even saying to

Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple, Thy foundation shall

be laid," could not hitherto be demonstrated from the sacred history to

have been completely fulfilled, I mean as to that part of it which

concerned his giving leave or commission for rebuilding the city

Jerusalem as distinct from the temple, whose rebuilding is alone

permitted or directed in the decree of Cyrus in all our copies.]

3 (return) [ Of the true number of golden and silver vessels here and

elsewhere belonging to the temple of Solomon, see the description of the

temples, chap. 13.]

4 (return) [ Josephus here follows Herodotus, and those that related how

Cyrus made war with the Scythians and Massagets, near the Caspian Sea,

and perished in it; while Xenophon's account, which appears never to

have been seen by Josephus, that Cyrus died in peace in his own country

of Persia, is attested to by the writers of the affairs of Alexander the

Great, when they agree that he found Cyrus's sepulcher at Pasargadae,

near Persepolis. This account of Xenophon is also confirmed by the

circumstances of Cambyses, upon his succession to Cyrus, who, instead of

a war to avenge his father's death upon the Scythians and Massagets, and

to prevent those nations from overrunning his northern provinces, which

would have been the natural consequence of his father's ill success and

death there, went immediately to an Egyptian war, long ago begun by

Cyrus, according to Xenophon, p. 644, and conquered that kingdom; nor is

there, that I ever heard of, the least mention in the reign of Cambyses

of any war against the Scythians and Massagets that he was ever engaged

in all his life.]

5 (return) [ The reader is to note, that although the speeches or papers

of these three of the king's guard are much the same, in our Third Book

of Esdras, ch. 3. and 4., as they are here in Josephus, yet that the

introduction of them is entirely different, while in our Esdras the

whole is related as the contrivance of the three of the king's guards

themselves; and even the mighty rewards are spoken of as proposed by

themselves, and the speeches are related to have been delivered by

themselves to the king in writing, while all is contrary in Josephus. I

need not say whose account is the most probable, the matters speak for

themselves; and there can be no doubt but Josephus's history is here to

be very much preferred before the other. Nor indeed does it seem to me

at all unlikely that the whole was a contrivance of king Darius's own,

in order to be decently and inoffensively put in mind by Zorobabel of

fulfilling his old vow for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple,

and the restoration of the worship of the "one true God" there. Nor does

the full meaning of Zorobabel, when he cries out, 3 Esd. 4. 41],

"Blessed be the God of truth;" and here, "God is true and righteous;" or

even of all the people, 3 Esd. 4. 41, "Great is truth, and mighty above

all things;" seem to me much different from this, "There is but one true

God, the God of Israel." To which doctrine, such as Cyrus and Darius;

etc., the Jews' great patrons, seem not to have been very averse, though

the entire idolatry of their kingdoms made them generally conceal it.]

6 (return) [ This strange reading in Josephus's present copies of four

millions instead of forty thousand, is one of the grossest errors that

is in them, and ought to be corrected from Ezra 2:61; 1 Esd. 5:40; and

Nehemiah 7:66, who all agree the general sum was but about forty-two

thousand three hundred and sixty. It is also very plain that Josephus

thought, that when Esdras afterwards brought up another company out of

Babylon and Persia, in the days of Xerxes, they were also, as well as

these, out of the two tribes, and out of them only, and were in all no

more than "a seed" and "a remnant," while an "immense number" of the ten

tribes never returned, but, as he believed, continued then beyond

Euphrates, ch. 5. sect. 2, 3; of which multitude, the Jews beyond

Euphrates, he speaks frequently elsewhere, though, by the way, he never

takes them to be idolaters, but looks on them still as observers of the

laws of Moses. The "certain part" of the people that now came up from

Babylon, at the end of this chapter, imply the same smaller number of

Jews that now came up, and will no way agree with the four millions.]

7 (return) [ The history contained in this section is entirely wanting

in all our other copies, both of Ezra and Esdras.]

8 (return) [ Dr. Hudson takes notice here, that this kind of brass or

copper, or rather mixture of gold and brass or copper, was called

aurichalcum, and that this was of old esteemed the most precious of all

metals.]

9 (return) [ This procedure of Esdras, and of the best part of the

Jewish nation, after their return from the Babylonish captivity, of

reducing the Jewish marriages, once for all, to the strictness of the

law of Moses, without any regard to the greatness of those who had

broken it, and without regard to that natural affection or compassion

for their heathen wives, and their children by them, which made it so

hard for Esdras to correct it, deserves greatly to be observed and

imitated in all attempts for reformation among Christians, the contrary

conduct having ever been the bane of true religion, both among Jews and

Christians, while political views, or human passions, or prudential

motives, are suffered to take place instead of the Divine laws, and so

the blessing of God is forfeited, and the church still suffered to

continue corrupt from one generation to another. See ch. 8. sect. 2.]

10 (return) [ This Jewish feast of tabernacles was imitated in several

heathen solemnities, as Spanheim here observes and proves. He also

further observes presently, what great regard many heathens had to the

monuments of their forefathers, as Nehemiah had here, sect. 6.]

11 (return) [ This rule of Esdras, not to fast on a festival day, is

quoted in the Apostolical Constitutions, B. V., as obtaining among

Christians also.]

12 (return) [ This miserable condition of the Jews, and their capital,

must have been after the death of Esdras, their former governor, and

before Nehemiah came with his commission to build the walls of

Jerusalem. Nor is that at all disagreeable to these histories in

Josephus, since Esdras came on the seventh, and Nehemiah not till the

twenty-fifth of Xerxes, at the interval of eighteen years.]

13 (return) [ This showing king Xerxes's epistles to God, or laying them

open before God in the temple, is very like the laying open the epistles

of Sennacherib before him also by Hezekiah, 2 Kings 19:14; Isaiah 37:14,

although this last was for a memorial, to put him in mind of the

enemies, in order to move the Divine compassion, and the present as a

token of gratitude for mercies already received, as Hayercamp well

observes on this place.]

14 (return) [ It may not be very improper to remark here, with what an

unusual accuracy Josephus determines these years of Xerxes, in which the

walls of Jerusalem were built, viz. that Nehemiah came with his

commission in the twenty-fifth of Xerxes, that the walls were two years

and four months in building, and that they were finished on the twenty-

eighth of Xerxes, sect. 7, 8. It may also be remarked further, that

Josephus hardly ever mentions more than one infallible astronomical

character, I mean an eclipse of the moon, and this a little before the

death of Herod the Great, Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 6. sect. 4. Now on these

two chronological characters in great measure depend some of the most

important points belonging to Christianity, viz. the explication of

Daniel's seventy weeks, and the duration of our Savior's ministry, and

the time of his death, in correspondence to those seventy weeks. See the

Supplement to the Lit. Accorap. of Proph. p. 72.]

15 (return) [ Since some skeptical persons are willing to discard this

Book of Esther as no true history; and even our learned and judicious

Dr. Wall, in his late posthumous Critical Notes upon all the other

Hebrew books of the Old Testament, gives none upon the Canticles, or

upon Esther, and seems thereby to give up this book, as well as he gives

up the Canticles, as indefensible; I shall venture to say, that almost

all the objections against this Book of Esther are gone at once, if, as

we certainly ought to do, and as Dean Prideaux has justly done, we place

this history under Artsxerxes Longimanus, as do both the Septuagint

interpretation and Josephus. The learned Dr. Lee, in his posthumous

Dissertation on the Second Book of Esdras, p. 25, also says, that "the

truth of this history is demonstrated by the feast of Purlin, kept up

from that time to this very day. And this surprising providential

revolution in favor of a captive people, thereby constantly

commemorated, standeth even upon a firmer basis than that there ever was

such a man as king Alexander [the Great] in the world, of whose reign

there is no such abiding monument at this day to be found any where. Nor

will they, I dare say, who quarrel at this or any other of the sacred

histories, find it a very easy matter to reconcile the different

accounts which were given by historians of the affairs of this king, or

to confirm any one fact of his whatever with the same evidence which is

here given for the principal fact in this sacred book, or even so much

as to prove the existence of such a person, of whom so great things are

related, but upon granting this Book of Esther, or sixth of Esdras, [as

it is placed in some of the most ancient copies of the Vulgate,] to be a

most true and certain history," etc.]

16 (return) [ If the Chaldee paraphrast be in the right, that Artaxerxes

intended to show Vashti to his guests naked, it is no wonder at all that

she would not submit to such an indignity; but still if it were not so

gross as that, yet it might, in the king's cups, be done in a way so

indecent, as the Persian laws would not then bear, no more than the

common laws of modesty. And that the king had some such design seems not

improbable, for otherwise the principal of these royal guests could be

no strangers to the queen, nor unapprized of her beauty, so far as

decency admitted. However, since Providence was now paving the way for

the introduction of a Jewess into the king's affections, in order to

bring about one of the most wonderful deliverances which the Jewish or

any other nation ever had, we need not be further solicitous about the

motives by which the king was induced to divorce Vashti, and marry

Esther.]

17 (return) [ Herodotus says that this law [against any one's coming

uncalled to the kings of Persia when they were sitting on their thrones]

was first enacted by Deioces [i.e. by him who first withdrew the Medes

from the dominion of the Assyrians, and himself first reigned over

them]. Thus also, lays Spanheim, stood guards, with their axes, about

the throne of Tenus, or Tenudus, that the offender might by them be

punished immediately.]

18 (return) [ Whether this adoration required of Mordecai to Haman were

by him deemed too like the adoration due only to God, as Josephus seems

here to think, as well as the Septuagint interpreters also, by their

translation of Esther 13:12-14, or whether he thought he ought to pay no

sort of adoration to an Amalekite, which nation had been such great

sinners as to have been universally devoted to destruction by God

himself, Exodus 17:14-16; 1 Samuel 15:18, or whether both causes

concurred, cannot now, I doubt, be certainly determined.]

19 (return) [ The true reason why king Artaxerxes did not here properly

revoke his former barbarous decree for the universal slaughter of the

Jews, but only empowered and encouraged the Jews to fight for their

lives, and to kill their enemies, if they attempted their destruction,

seems to have been that old law of the Medes and Persians, not yet laid

aside, that whatever decree was signed both by the king and his lords

could not be changed, but remained unalterable, Daniel 6:7-9, 12, 15,

17; Esther 1:19; 8:8. And Haman having engrossed the royal favor might

perhaps have himself signed this decree for the Jews' slaughter instead

of the ancient lords, and so might have rendered it by their rules

irrevocable.]

20 (return) [ These words give an intimation as if Artaxerxes suspected

a deeper design in Haman than openly appeared, viz. that knowing the

Jews would be faithful to him, and that he could never transfer the

crown to his own family, who was an Agagite, Esther 3:1, 10, or of the

posterity of Agag, the old king of the Amalekites, 1 Samuel 15:8, 32,

33, while they were alive, and spread over all his dominions, he

therefore endeavored to destroy them. Nor is it to me improbable that

those seventy-five thousand eight hundred of the Jews' enemies which

were soon destroyed by the Jews, on the permission of the king, which

must be on some great occasion, were Amalekites, their old and

hereditary enemies, Exodus 17:14, 15; and that thereby was fulfilled

Balaam's prophecy, "Amalek was the first of the nations, but his latter

end shall be, that he perish for ever" Numbers 24:20.]

21 (return) [ Take here part of Reland's note on this disputed passage:

"In Josephus's copies these Hebrew words, 'days of Purim,' or 'lots,' as

in the Greek copies of Esther, ch. 9:26, 28-32, is read 'days of

Phurim,' or 'days of protection,' but ought to be read' days of Parira,'

as in the Hebrew; than which creation," says he, "nothing is more

certain." And had we any assurance that Josephus's copy mentioned the

"casting of lots," as our other copies do, Esther 3:7, I should fully

agree with Reland; but, as it now stands, it seems to me by no means

certain. As to this whole Book of Esther in the present Hebrew copy, it

is so very imperfect, in a case where the providence of God was so very

remarkable, and the Septuagint and Josephus have so much of religion,

that it has not so much as the name of God once in it; and it is hard to

say who made that epitome which the Masorites have given us for the

genuine book itself; no religious Jews could well be the authors of it,

whose education obliged them to have a constant regard to God, and

whatsoever related to his worship; nor do we know that there ever was so

imperfect a copy of it in the world till after the days of Barchochab,

in the second century.]

22 (return) [ Concerning this other Artaxerxes, called Muemon, and the

Persian affliction and captivity of the Jews under him, occasioned by

the murder of the high priest's brother in the holy house itself, see

Authent. Rec. at large, p. 49. And if any wonder why Josephus wholly

omits the rest of the kings of Persia after Artaxerxes Mnemon, till he

came to their last king Darius, who was conquered by Alexander the

Great, I shall give them Vossius's and Dr. Hudson's answer, though in my

own words, viz. that Josephus did not do ill in admitting those kings of

Persia with whom the Jews had no concern, because he was giving the

history of the Jews, and not of the Persians [which is a sufficient

reason also why he entirely omits the history and the Book of Job, as

not particularly relating to that nation]. He justly therefore returns

to the Jewish affairs after the death of Longimanus, without any

intention of Darius II. before Artaxerxes Mnemon, or of Ochus or Arogus,

as the Canon of Ptolemy names them, after him. Nor had he probably

mentioned this other Artaxerxes, unless Bagoses, one of the governors

and commanders under him, had occasioned the pollution of the Jewish

temple, and had greatly distressed the Jews upon that pollution.]

23 (return) [ The place showed Alexander might be Daniel 7:6; 8:3-8,

20—22; 11:3; some or all of them very plain predictions of Alexander's

conquests and successors.]

BOOK XII. Containing The Interval Of A Hundred And Seventy Years.—From

The Death Of Alexander The Great To The Death Of Judas Maccabeus.

CHAPTER 1. How Ptolemy The Son Of Lagus Took Jerusalem And Judea By

Deceit And Treachery, And Carried Many Thence, And Planted Them In

Egypt.

1. Now when Alexander, king of Macedon, had put an end to the dominion

of the Persians, and had settled the affairs in Judea after the

forementioned manner, he ended his life. And as his government fell

among many, Antigonus obtained Asia, Seleucus Babylon; and of the other

nations which were there, Lysimachus governed the Hellespont, and

Cassander possessed Macedonia; as did Ptolemy the son of Lagus seize

upon Egypt. And while these princes ambitiously strove one against

another, every one for his own principality, it came to pass that there

were continual wars, and those lasting wars too; and the cities were

sufferers, and lost a great many of their inhabitants in these times of

distress, insomuch that all Syria, by the means of Ptolemy the son of

Lagus, underwent the reverse of that denomination of Savior, which he

then had. He also seized upon Jerusalem, and for that end made use of

deceit and treachery; for as he came into the city on a sabbath day, as

if he would offer sacrifices 1 he, without any trouble, gained the city,

while the Jews did not oppose him, for they did not suspect him to be

their enemy; and he gained it thus, because they were free from

suspicion of him, and because on that day they were at rest and

quietness; and when he had gained it, he ruled over it in a cruel

manner. Nay, Agatharchides of Cnidus, who wrote the acts of Alexander's

successors, reproaches us with superstition, as if we, by it, had lost

our liberty; where he says thus: "There is a nation called the nation of

the Jews, who inhabit a city strong and great, named Jerusalem. These

men took no care, but let it come into the hands of Ptolemy, as not

willing to take arms, and thereby they submitted to be under a hard

master, by reason of their unseasonable superstition." This is what

Agatharchides relates of our nation. But when Ptolemy had taken a great

many captives, both from the mountainous parts of Judea, and from the

places about Jerusalem and Samaria, and the places near Mount Gerizzim,

he led them all into Egypt, 2 and settled them there. And as he knew

that the people of Jerusalem were most faithful in the observation of

oaths and covenants; and this from the answer they made to Alexander,

when he sent an embassage to them, after he had beaten Darius in battle;

so he distributed many of them into garrisons, and at Alexandria gave

them equal privileges of citizens with the Macedonians themselves; and

required of them to take their oaths, that they would keep their

fidelity to the posterity of those who committed these places to their

care. Nay, there were not a few other Jews who, of their own accord,

went into Egypt, as invited by the goodness of the soil, and by the

liberality of Ptolemy. However, there were disorders among their

posterity, with relation to the Samaritans, on account of their

resolution to preserve that conduct of life which was delivered to them

by their forefathers, and they thereupon contended one with another,

while those of Jerusalem said that their temple was holy, and resolved

to send their sacrifices thither; but the Samaritans were resolved that

they should be sent to Mount Gerizzim.

CHAPTER 2. How Ptolemy Philadelphus Procured The Laws Of The Jews To Be

Translated Into The Greek Tongue And Set Many Captives Free, And

Dedicated Many Gifts To God.

1. When Alexander had reigned twelve years, and after him Ptolemy Soter

forty years, Philadelphus then took the kingdom of Egypt, and held it

forty years within one. He procured the law to be interpreted, and set

free those that were come from Jerusalem into Egypt, and were in slavery

there, who were a hundred and twenty thousand. The occasion was this:

Demetrius Phalerius, who was library keeper to the king, was now

endeavoring, if it were possible, to gather together all the books that

were in the habitable earth, and buying whatsoever was any where

valuable, or agreeable to the king's inclination, [who was very

earnestly set upon collecting of books,] to which inclination of his

Demetrius was zealously subservient. And when once Ptolemy asked him how

many ten thousands of books he had collected, he replied, that he had

already about twenty times ten thousand; but that, in a little time, he

should have fifty times ten thousand. But he said he had been informed

that there were many books of laws among the Jews worthy of inquiring

after, and worthy of the king's library, but which, being written in

characters and in a dialect of their own, will cause no small pains in

getting them translated into the Greek tongue; 3 that the character in

which they are written seems to be like to that which is the proper

character of the Syrians, and that its sound, when pronounced, is like

theirs also; and that this sound appears to be peculiar to themselves.

Wherefore he said that nothing hindered why they might not get those

books to be translated also; for while nothing is wanting that is

necessary for that purpose, we may have their books also in this

library. So the king thought that Demetrius was very zealous to procure

him abundance of books, and that he suggested what was exceeding proper

for him to do; and therefore he wrote to the Jewish high priest, that he

should act accordingly.

2. Now there was one Aristeus, who was among the king's most intimate

friends, and on account of his modesty very acceptable to him. This

Aristeus resolved frequently, and that before now, to petition the king

that he would set all the captive Jews in his kingdom free; and he

thought this to be a convenient opportunity for the making that

petition. So he discoursed, in the first place, with the captains of the

king's guards, Sosibius of Tarentum, and Andreas, and persuaded them to

assist him in what he was going to intercede with the king for.

Accordingly Aristeus embraced the same opinion with those that have been

before mentioned, and went to the king, and made the following speech to

him: "It is not fit for us, O king, to overlook things hastily, or to

deceive ourselves, but to lay the truth open. For since we have

determined not only to get the laws of the Jews transcribed, but

interpreted also, for thy satisfaction, by what means can we do this,

while so many of the Jews are now slaves in thy kingdom? Do thou then

what will be agreeable to thy magnanimity, and to thy good nature: free

them from the miserable condition they are in, because that God, who

supporteth thy kingdom, was the author of their laws as I have learned

by particular inquiry; for both these people, and we also, worship the

same God the framer of all things. We call him, and that truly, by the

name of GREEK, [or life, or Jupiter,] because he breathes life into all

men. Wherefore do thou restore these men to their own country, and this

do to the honor of God, because these men pay a peculiarly excellent

worship to him. And know this further, that though I be not of kin to

them by birth, nor one of the same country with them, yet do I desire

these favors to be done them, since all men are the workmanship of God;

and I am sensible that he is well-pleased with those that do good. I do

therefore put up this petition to thee, to do good to them."

3. When Aristeus was saying thus, the king looked upon him with a

cheerful and joyful countenance, and said, "How many ten thousands dost

thou suppose there are of such as want to be made free?" To which

Andreas replied, as he stood by, and said, "A few more than ten times

ten thousand." The king made answer, "And is this a small gift that thou

askest, Aristeus?" But Sosibius, and the rest that stood by, said that

he ought to offer such a thank-offering as was worthy of his greatness

of soul, to that God who had given him his kingdom. With this answer he

was much pleased; and gave order, that when they paid the soldiers their

wages, they should lay down [a hundred and] twenty drachmas 4 for every

one of the slaves? And he promised to publish a magnificent decree,

about what they requested, which should confirm what Aristeus had

proposed, and especially what God willed should be done; whereby he said

he would not only set those free who had been led away captive by his

father and his army, but those who were in this kingdom before, and

those also, if any such there were, who had been brought away since. And

when they said that their redemption money would amount to above four

hundred talents, he granted it. A copy of which decree I have determined

to preserve, that the magnanimity of this king may be made known. Its

contents were as follows: "Let all those who were soldiers under our

father, and who, when they overran Syria and Phoenicia, and laid waste

Judea, took the Jews captives, and made them slaves, and brought them

into our cities, and into this country, and then sold them; as also all

those that were in my kingdom before them, and if there be any that have

been lately brought thither,—be made free by those that possess them;

and let them accept of [a hundred and] twenty drachmas for every slave.

And let the soldiers receive this redemption money with their pay, but

the rest out of the king's treasury: for I suppose that they were made

captives without our father's consent, and against equity; and that

their country was harassed by the insolence of the soldiers, and that,

by removing them into Egypt, the soldiers have made a great profit by

them. Out of regard therefore to justice, and out of pity to those that

have been tyrannized over, contrary to equity, I enjoin those that have

such Jews in their service to set them at liberty, upon the receipt of

the before-mentioned sum; and that no one use any deceit about them, but

obey what is here commanded. And I will that they give in their names

within three days after the publication of this edict, to such as are

appointed to execute the same, and to produce the slaves before them

also, for I think it will be for the advantage of my affairs. And let

every one that will inform against those that do not obey this decree,

and I will that their estates be confiscated into the king's treasury."

When this decree was read to the king, it at first contained the rest

that is here inserted, and omitted only those Jews that had formerly

been brought, and those brought afterwards, which had not been

distinctly mentioned; so he added these clauses out of his humanity, and

with great generosity. He also gave order that the payment, which was

likely to be done in a hurry, should be divided among the king's

ministers, and among the officers of his treasury. When this was over,

what the king had decreed was quickly brought to a conclusion; and this

in no more than seven days' time, the number of the talents paid for the

captives being above four hundred and sixty, and this, because their

masters required the [hundred and] twenty drachmas for the children

also, the king having, in effect, commanded that these should be paid

for, when he said in his decree, that they should receive the

forementioned sum for every slave.

4. Now when this had been done after so magnificent a manner, according

to the king's inclinations, he gave order to Demetrius to give him in

writing his sentiments concerning the transcribing of the Jewish books;

for no part of the administration is done rashly by these kings, but all

things are managed with great circumspection. On which account I have

subjoined a copy of these epistles, and set down the multitude of the

vessels sent as gifts [to Jerusalem], and the construction of every one,

that the exactness of the artificers' workmanship, as it appeared to

those that saw them, and which workman made every vessel, may be made

manifest, and this on account of the excellency of the vessels

themselves. Now the copy of the epistle was to this purpose: "Demetrius

to the great king. When thou, O king, gavest me a charge concerning the

collection of books that were wanting to fill your library, and

concerning the care that ought to be taken about such as are imperfect,

I have used the utmost diligence about those matters. And I let you

know, that we want the books of the Jewish legislation, with some

others; for they are written in the Hebrew characters, and being in the

language of that nation, are to us unknown. It hath also happened to

them, that they have been transcribed more carelessly than they ought to

have been, because they have not had hitherto royal care taken about

them. Now it is necessary that thou shouldst have accurate copies of

them. And indeed this legislation is full of hidden wisdom, and entirely

blameless, as being the legislation of God; for which cause it is, as

Hecateus of Abdera says, that the poets and historians make no mention

of it, nor of those men who lead their lives according to it, since it

is a holy law, and ought not to be published by profane mouths. If then

it please thee, O king, thou mayst write to the high priest of the Jews,

to send six of the elders out of every tribe, and those such as are most

skillful of the laws, that by their means we may learn the clear and

agreeing sense of these books, and may obtain an accurate interpretation

of their contents, and so may have such a collection of these as may be

suitable to thy desire."

5. When this epistle was sent to the king, he commanded that an epistle

should be drawn up for Eleazar, the Jewish high priest, concerning these

matters; and that they should inform him of the release of the Jews that

had been in slavery among them. He also sent fifty talents of gold for

the making of large basons, and vials, and cups, and an immense quantity

of precious stones. He also gave order to those who had the custody of

the chest that contained those stones, to give the artificers leave to

choose out what sorts of them they pleased. He withal appointed, that a

hundred talents in money should be sent to the temple for sacrifices,

and for other uses. Now I will give a description of these vessels, and

the manner of their construction, but not till after I have set down a

copy of the epistle which was written to Eleazar the high priest, who

had obtained that dignity on the occasion following: When Onias the high

priest was dead, his son Simon became his successor. He was called Simon

the Just 5 because of both his piety towards God, and his kind

disposition to those of his own nation. When he was dead, and had left a

young son, who was called Onias, Simon's brother Eleazar, of whom we are

speaking, took the high priesthood; and he it was to whom Ptolemy wrote,

and that in the manner following: "King Ptolemy to Eleazar the high

priest, sendeth greeting. There are many Jews who now dwell in my

kingdom, whom the Persians, when they were in power, carried captives.

These were honored by my father; some of them he placed in the army, and

gave them greater pay than ordinary; to others of them, when they came

with him into Egypt, he committed his garrisons, and the guarding of

them, that they might be a terror to the Egyptians. And when I had taken

the government, I treated all men with humanity, and especially those

that are thy fellow citizens, of whom I have set free above a hundred

thousand that were slaves, and paid the price of their redemption to

their masters out of my own revenues; and those that are of a fit age, I

have admitted into them number of my soldiers. And for such as are

capable of being faithful to me, and proper for my court, I have put

them in such a post, as thinking this [kindness done to them] to be a

very great and an acceptable gift, which I devote to God for his

providence over me. And as I am desirous to do what will be grateful to

these, and to all the other Jews in the habitable earth, I have

determined to procure an interpretation of your law, and to have it

translated out of Hebrew into Greek, and to be deposited in my library.

Thou wilt therefore do well to choose out and send to me men of a good

character, who are now elders in age, and six in number out of every

tribe. These, by their age, must be skillful in the laws, and of

abilities to make an accurate interpretation of them; and when this

shall be finished, I shall think that I have done a work glorious to

myself. And I have sent to thee Andreas, the captain of my guard, and

Aristeus, men whom I have in very great esteem; by whom I have sent

those first-fruits which I have dedicated to the temple, and to the

sacrifices, and to other uses, to the value of a hundred talents. And if

thou wilt send to us, to let us know what thou wouldst have further,

thou wilt do a thing acceptable to me."

6. When this epistle of the king was brought to Eleazar, he wrote an

answer to it with all the respect possible: "Eleazar the high priest to

king Ptolemy, sendeth greeting. If thou and thy queen Arsinoe, 6 and thy

children, be well, we are entirely satisfied. When we received thy

epistle, we greatly rejoiced at thy intentions; and when the multitude

were gathered together, we read it to them, and thereby made them

sensible of the piety thou hast towards God. We also showed them the

twenty vials of gold, and thirty of silver, and the five large basons,

and the table for the shew-bread; as also the hundred talents for the

sacrifices, and for the making what shall be needful at the temple;

which things Andreas and Aristeus, those most honored friends of thine,

have brought us; and truly they are persons of an excellent character,

and of great learning, and worthy of thy virtue. Know then that we will

gratify thee in what is for thy advantage, though we do what we used not

to do before; for we ought to make a return for the numerous acts of

kindness which thou hast done to our countrymen. We immediately,

therefore, offered sacrifices for thee and thy sister, with thy children

and friends; and the multitude made prayers, that thy affairs may be to

thy mind, and that thy kingdom may be preserved in peace, and that the

translation of our law may come to the conclusion thou desirest, and be

for thy advantage. We have also chosen six elders out of every tribe,

whom we have sent, and the law with them. It will be thy part, out of

thy piety and justice, to send back the law, when it hath been

translated, and to return those to us that bring it in safety.

Farewell."

7. This was the reply which the high priest made. But it does not seem

to me to be necessary to set down the names of the seventy [two] elders

who were sent by Eleazar, and carried the law, which yet were subjoined

at the end of the epistle. However, I thought it not improper to give an

account of those very valuable and artificially contrived vessels which

the king sent to God, that all may see how great a regard the king had

for God; for the king allowed a vast deal of expenses for these vessels,

and came often to the workmen, and viewed their works, and suffered

nothing of carelessness or negligence to be any damage to their

operations. And I will relate how rich they were as well as I am able,

although perhaps the nature of this history may not require such a

description; but I imagine I shall thereby recommend the elegant taste

and magnanimity of this king to those that read this history.

8. And first I will describe what belongs to the table. It was indeed in

the king's mind to make this table vastly large in its dimensions; but

then he gave orders that they should learn what was the magnitude of the

table which was already at Jerusalem, and how large it was, and whether

there was a possibility of making one larger than it. And when he was

informed how large that was which was already there, and that nothing

hindered but a larger might be made, he said that he was willing to have

one made that should be five times as large as the present table; but

his fear was, that it might be then useless in their sacred

ministrations by its too great largeness; for he desired that the gifts

he presented them should not only be there for show, but should be

useful also in their sacred ministrations. According to which reasoning,

that the former table was made of so moderate a size for use, and not

for want of gold, he resolved that he would not exceed the former table

in largeness; but would make it exceed it in the variety and elegancy of

its materials. And as he was sagacious in observing the nature of all

things, and in having a just notion of what was new and surprising, and

where there was no sculptures, he would invent such as were proper by

his own skill, and would show them to the workmen, he commanded that

such sculptures should now be made, and that those which were delineated

should be most accurately formed by a constant regard to their

delineation.

9. When therefore the workmen had undertaken to make the table, they

framed it in length two cubits [and a half], in breadth one cubit, and

in height one cubit and a half; and the entire structure of the work was

of gold. They withal made a crown of a hand-breadth round it, with wave-

work wreathed about it, and with an engraving which imitated a cord, and

was admirably turned on its three parts; for as they were of a

triangular figure, every angle had the same disposition of its

sculptures, that when you turned them about, the very same form of them

was turned about without any variation. Now that part of the crown-work

that was enclosed under the table had its sculptures very beautiful; but

that part which went round on the outside was more elaborately adorned

with most beautiful ornaments, because it was exposed to sight, and to

the view of the spectators; for which reason it was that both those

sides which were extant above the rest were acute, and none of the

angles, which we before told you were three, appeared less than another,

when the table was turned about. Now into the cordwork thus turned were

precious stones inserted, in rows parallel one to the other, enclosed in

golden buttons, which had ouches in them; but the parts which were on

the side of the crown, and were exposed to the sight, were adorned with

a row of oval figures obliquely placed, of the most excellent sort of

precious stones, which imitated rods laid close, and encompassed the

table round about. But under these oval figures, thus engraven, the

workmen had put a crown all round it, where the nature of all sorts of

fruit was represented, insomuch that the bunches of grapes hung up. And

when they had made the stones to represent all the kinds of fruit before

mentioned, and that each in its proper color, they made them fast with

gold round the whole table. The like disposition of the oval figures,

and of the engraved rods, was framed under the crown, that the table

might on each side show the same appearance of variety and elegancy of

its ornaments; so that neither the position of the wave-work nor of the

crown might be different, although the table were turned on the other

side, but that the prospect of the same artificial contrivances might be

extended as far as the feet; for there was made a plate of gold four

fingers broad, through the entire breadth of the table, into which they

inserted the feet, and then fastened them to the table by buttons and

button-holes, at the place where the crown was situate, that so on what

side soever of the table one should stand, it might exhibit the very

same view of the exquisite workmanship, and of the vast expenses

bestowed upon it: but upon the table itself they engraved a meander,

inserting into it very valuable stones in the middle like stars, of

various colors; the carbuncle and the emerald, each of which sent out

agreeable rays of light to the spectators; with such stones of other

sorts also as were most curious and best esteemed, as being most

precious in their kind. Hard by this meander a texture of net-work ran

round it, the middle of which appeared like a rhombus, into which were

inserted rock-crystal and amber, which, by the great resemblance of the

appearance they made, gave wonderful delight to those that saw them. The

chapiters of the feet imitated the first buddings of lilies, while their

leaves were bent and laid under the table, but so that the chives were

seen standing upright within them. Their bases were made of a carbuncle;

and the place at the bottom, which rested on that carbuncle, was one

palm deep, and eight fingers in breadth. Now they had engraven upon it

with a very fine tool, and with a great deal of pains, a branch of ivy

and tendrils of the vine, sending forth clusters of grapes, that you

would guess they were nowise different from real tendrils; for they were

so very thin, and so very far extended at their extremities, that they

were moved with the wind, and made one believe that they were the

product of nature, and not the representation of art. They also made the

entire workmanship of the table appear to be threefold, while the joints

of the several parts were so united together as to be invisible, and the

places where they joined could not be distinguished. Now the thickness

of the table was not less than half a cubit. So that this gift, by the

king's great generosity, by the great value of the materials, and the

variety of its exquisite structure, and the artificer's skill in

imitating nature with graying tools, was at length brought to

perfection, while the king was very desirous, that though in largeness

it were not to be different from that which was already dedicated to

God, yet that in exquisite workmanship, and the novelty of the

contrivances, and in the splendor of its construction, it should far

exceed it, and be more illustrious than that was.

10. Now of the cisterns of gold there were two, whose sculpture was of

scale-work, from its basis to its belt-like circle, with various sorts

of stones enchased in the spiral circles. Next to which there was upon

it a meander of a cubit in height; it was composed of stones of all

sorts of colors. And next to this was the rod-work engraven; and next to

that was a rhombus in a texture of net-work, drawn out to the brim of

the basin, while small shields, made of stones, beautiful in their kind,

and of four fingers' depth, filled up the middle parts. About the top of

the basin were wreathed the leaves of lilies, and of the convolvulus,

and the tendrils of vines in a circular manner. And this was the

construction of the two cisterns of gold, each containing two firkins.

But those which were of silver were much more bright and splendid than

looking-glasses, and you might in them see the images that fell upon

them more plainly than in the other. The king also ordered thirty vials;

those of which the parts that were of gold, and filled up with precious

stones, were shadowed over with the leaves of ivy and of vines,

artificially engraven. And these were the vessels that were after an

extraordinary manner brought to this perfection, partly by the skill of

the workmen, who were admirable in such fine work, but much more by the

diligence and generosity of the king, who not only supplied the

artificers abundantly, and with great generosity, with what they wanted,

but he forbade public audiences for the time, and came and stood by the

workmen, and saw the whole operation. And this was the cause why the

workmen were so accurate in their performance, because they had regard

to the king, and to his great concern about the vessels, and so the more

indefatigably kept close to the work.

11. And these were what gifts were sent by Ptolemy to Jerusalem, and

dedicated to God there. But when Eleazar the high priest had devoted

them to God, and had paid due respect to those that brought them, and

had given them presents to be carried to the king, he dismissed them.

And when they were come to Alexandria, and Ptolemy heard that they were

come, and that the seventy elders were come also, he presently sent for

Andreas and Aristens, his ambassadors, who came to him, and delivered

him the epistle which they brought him from the high priest, and made

answer to all the questions he put to them by word of mouth. He then

made haste to meet the elders that came from Jerusalem for the

interpretation of the laws; and he gave command, that every body who

came on other occasions should be sent away, which was a thing

surprising, and what he did not use to do; for those that were drawn

thither upon such occasions used to come to him on the fifth day, but

ambassadors at the month's end. But when he had sent those away, he

waited for these that were sent by Eleazar; but as the old men came in

with the presents, which the high priest had given them to bring to the

king, and with the membranes, upon which they had their laws written in

golden letters 7 he put questions to them concerning those books; and

when they had taken off the covers wherein they were wrapt up, they

showed him the membranes. So the king stood admiring the thinness of

those membranes, and the exactness of the junctures, which could not be

perceived; [so exactly were they connected one with another;] and this

he did for a considerable time. He then said that he returned them

thanks for coming to him, and still greater thanks to him that sent

them; and, above all, to that God whose laws they appeared to be. Then

did the elders, and those that were present with them, cry out with one

voice, and wished all happiness to the king. Upon which he fell into

tears by the violence of the pleasure he had, it being natural to men to

afford the same indications in great joy that they do under sorrows. And

when he had bid them deliver the books to those that were appointed to

receive them, he saluted the men, and said that it was but just to

discourse, in the first place, of the errand they were sent about, and

then to address himself to themselves. He promised, however, that he

would make this day on which they came to him remarkable and eminent

every year through the whole course of his life; for their coming to

him, and the victory which he gained over Antigonus by sea, proved to be

on the very same day. He also gave orders that they should sup with him;

and gave it in charge that they should have excellent lodgings provided

for them in the upper part of the city.