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The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended by Isaac Newton

I >> Isaac Newton >> The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended




In the sacred commentary of the _Persian_ rites these words are ascribed to
_Zoroastres_; [484] [Greek: Ho Theos esti kephalen echon hierakos. houtos
estin ho protos, aphthartos, aidios, agenetos, ameres, anomoiotatos,
heniochos pantos kalou, adorodoketos, agathon agathotatos, phronimon
phronimotatos; esti de kai pater eunomias kai dikaiosynes, autodidaktos,
physikos, kai teleios, kai sophos, kai hierou physikou monos heuretes.]
_Deus est accipitris capite: hic est primus, incorruptibilis, aeternus,
ingenitus, sine partibus, omnibus aliis dissimillimus, moderator omnis
boni, donis non capiendus, bonorum optimus, prudentium prudentissimus,
legum aequitatis ac justitiae parens, ipse sui doctor, physicus & perfectus &
sapiens & sacri physici unicus inventor_: and the same was taught by
_Ostanes_, in his book called _Octateuchus_. This was the Antient God of
the _Persian Magi_, and they worshipped him by keeping a perpetual fire for
Sacrifices upon an Altar in the center of a round area, compassed with a
ditch, without any Temple in the place, and without paying any worship to
the dead, or any images. But in a short time they declined from the worship
of this Eternal, Invisible God, to worship the Sun, and the Fire, and dead
men, and images, as the _Egyptians_, _Phoenicians_, and _Chaldaeans_ had
done before: and from these superstitions, and the pretending to
prognostications, the words _Magi_ and _Magia_, which signify the Priests
and Religion of the _Persians_, came to be taken in an ill sense.

_Darius_, or _Darab_, began his Reign in spring, in the sixteenth year of
the Empire of the _Persians_, _Anno Nabonass._ 227, and Reigned 36 years,
by the unanimous consent of all Chronologers. In the second year of his
Reign the _Jews_ began to build the Temple, by the prophesying of _Haggai_
and _Zechariah_, and finished it in the sixth. He fought the _Greeks_ at
_Marathon_ in _October_, _Anno Nabonass._ 258, ten years before the battel
at _Salamis_, and died in the fifth year following, in the end of winter,
or beginning of spring, _Anno Nabonass._ 263. The years of _Cambyses_ and
_Darius_ are determined by three Eclipses of the Moon recorded by
_Ptolemy_, so that they cannot be disputed: and by those Eclipses, and the
Prophesies of _Haggai_ and _Zechariah_ compared together, it is manifest
that the years of _Darius_ began after the 24th day of the eleventh
_Jewish_ month, and before the 24th day of _April_, and by consequence in
_March_ or _April_.

_Xerxes_, _Achschirosch_, _Achsweros_, or _Oxyares_, succeeded his father
_Darius_, and spent the first five years of his Reign, and something more,
in preparations for his Expedition against the _Greeks_: and this
Expedition was in the time of the Olympic Games, in the beginning of the
first year of the 75th Olympiad, _Callias_ being _Archon_ at _Athens_; as
all Chronologers agree. The great number of people which he drew out of
_Susa_ to invade _Greece_, made _AEschylus_ the Poet say [485]:

[Greek: To d' asty Souson exekeinosen peson.]
_It emptied the falling city of _Susa_._

The passage of his army over the _Hellespont_ began in the end of the
fourth year of the 74th Olympiad, that is in _June_, _Anno Nabonass._ 268,
and took up a month; and in autumn, after three months more, on the 16th
day of the month _Munychion_, at the full moon, was the battel at
_Salamis_; and a little after that an Eclipse of the Moon, which by the
calculation fell on _Octob._ 2. His first year therefore began in spring,
_Anno Nabonass._ 263, as above: he Reigned almost twenty one years by the
consent of all writers, and was murdered by _Artabanus_, captain of his
guards; towards the end of winter, _Anno Nabonass._ 284.

_Artabanus_ Reigned seven months, and upon suspicion of treason against
_Xerxes_, was slain by _Artaxerxes Longimanus_, the son of _Xerxes_.

_Artaxerxes_ began his Reign in the autumnal half year, between the 4th and
9th _Jewish_ months, _Nehem._ i. 1. & ii. 1, & v. 14. and _Ezra_ vii. 7, 8,
9. and his 20th year fell in with the 4th year of the 83d Olympiad, as
_Africanus_ [486] informs us, and therefore his first year began within a
month or two or the autumnal Equinox, _Anno Nabonass._ 284. _Thucydides_
relates that the news of his death came to _Athens_ in winter, in the
seventh year of the _Peloponnesian_ war, that is _An._ 4. Olymp. 88. and by
the Canon he Reigned forty one years, including the Reign of his
predecessor _Artabanus_, and died about the middle of winter, _Anno
Nabonass._ 325 _ineunte_: the _Persians_ now call him _Ardschir_ and
_Bahaman_, the Oriental Christians _Artahascht_.

Then Reigned _Xerxes_, two months, and _Sogdian_ seven months, and _Darius
Nothus_, the bastard son of _Artaxerxes_, nineteen years wanting four or
five months; and _Darius_ died in summer, a little after the end of the
_Peloponnesian_ war, and in the same Olympic year, and by consequence in
_May_ or _June_, _Anno Nabonass._ 344. The 13th year of his Reign was
coincident in winter with the 20th of the _Peloponnesian_ war, and the
years of that war are stated by indisputable characters, and agreed on by
all Chronologers: the war began in spring, _Ann._ 1. Olymp. 87, lasted 27
years, and ended _Apr._ 14. _An._ 4. Olymp. 93.

The next King was _Artaxerxes Mnemon_, the son of _Darius_: he Reigned
forty six years, and died _Anno Nabonass._ 390. Then Reigned _Artaxerxes
Ochus_ twenty one years; _Arses_, or _Arogus_, two years, and _Darius
Codomannus_ four years, unto the battel of _Arbela_, whereby the _Persian_
Monarchy was translated to the _Greeks_, _Octob._ 2. _An. Nabonass._ 417;
but _Darius_ was not slain untill a year and some months after.

I have hitherto stated the times of this Monarchy out of the _Greek_ and
_Latin_ writers: for the _Jews_ knew nothing more of the _Babylonian_ and
_Medo-Persian_ Empires than what they have out of the sacred books of the
old Testament; and therefore own no more Kings, nor years of Kings, than
they can find in those books: the Kings they reckon are only
_Nebuchadnezzar_, _Evilmerodach_, _Belshazzar_, _Darius_ the _Mede_,
_Cyrus_, _Ahasuerus_, and _Darius_ the _Persian_; this last _Darius_ they
reckon to be the _Artaxerxes_, in whose Reign _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_ came to
_Jerusalem_, accounting _Artaxerxes_ a common name of the _Persian_ Kings:
_Nebuchadnezzar_, they say, Reigned forty five years, 2 _King._ xxv. 27.
_Belshazzar_ three years, _Dan._ viii. 1. and therefore _Evilmerodach_
twenty three, to make up the seventy years captivity; excluding the first
year of _Nebuchadnezzar_, in which they say the Prophesy of the seventy
years was given. To _Darius_ the _Mede_ they assign one year, or at most
but two, _Dan._ ix. 1. to _Cyrus_ three years incomplete, _Dan._ x. 1. to
_Ahasuerus_ twelve years 'till the casting of _Pur_, _Esth._ iii. 7. one
year more 'till the _Jews_ smote their enemies, _Esth._ ix. 1. and one year
more 'till _Esther_ and _Mordecai_ wrote the second letter for the keeping
of _Purim_, _Esth._ ix. 29. in all fourteen years: and to _Darius_ the
_Persian_ they allot thirty two or rather thirty six years, _Nehem._ xiii.
6. So that the _Persian_ Empire from the building of the Temple in the
Second year of _Darius Hystaspis_, flourished only thirty four years, until
_Alexander_ the great overthrew it: thus the _Jews_ reckon in their greater
Chronicle, _Seder Olam Rabbah_. _Josephus_, out of the sacred and other
books, reckons only these Kings of _Persia_; _Cyrus_, _Cambyses_, _Darius
Hystaspis_, _Xerxes_, _Artaxerxes_, and _Darius_: and taking this _Darius_,
who was _Darius Nothus_, to be one and the same King with the last
_Darius_, whom _Alexander_ the great overcame; by means of this reckoning
he makes _Sanballat_ and _Jaddua_ alive when _Alexander_ the great
overthrew the _Persian_ Empire. Thus all the _Jews_ conclude the _Persian_
Empire with _Artaxerxes Longimanus_, and _Darius Nothus_, allowing no more
Kings of _Persia_, than they found in the books of _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_;
and referring to the Reigns of this _Artaxerxes_, and this _Darius_,
whatever they met with in profane history concerning the following Kings of
the same names: so as to take _Artaxerxes Longimanus_, _Artaxerxes Mnemon_
and _Artaxerxes Ochus_, for one and the same _Artaxerxes_; and _Darius
Nothus_, and _Darius Codomannus_, for one and the same _Darius_; and
_Jaddua_, and _Simeon Justus_, for one and the same High-Priest. Those
_Jews_ who took _Herod_ for the _Messiah_, and were thence called
_Herodians_, seem to have grounded their opinion upon the seventy weeks of
years, which they found between the Reign of _Cyrus_ and that of _Herod_:
but afterwards, in applying the Prophesy to _Theudas_, and _Judas_ of
_Galilee_, and at length to _Barchochab_, they seem to have shortned the
Reign of the Kingdom of _Persia_. These accounts being very imperfect, it
was necessary to have recourse to the records of the _Greeks_ and
_Latines_, and to the Canon recited by _Ptolemy_, for stating the times of
this Empire. Which being done, we have a better ground for understanding
the history of the _Jews_ set down in the books of _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_,
and adjusting it; for this history having suffered by time, wants some
illustration: and first I shall state the history of the _Jews_ under
_Zerubbabel_, in the Reigns of _Cyrus_, _Cambysis_, and _Darius Hystaspis_.

This history is contained partly in the three first chapters of the book of
_Ezra_, and first five verses of the fourth; and partly in the book of
_Nehemiah_, from the 5th verse of the seventh chapter to the 9th verse of
the twelfth: for _Nehemiah_ copied all this out of the Chronicles of the
_Jews_, written before his days; as may appear by reading the place, and
considering that the Priests and Levites who sealed the Covenant on the
24th day of the seventh month, _Nehem._ x. were the very same with those
who returned from captivity in the first year of _Cyrus_, _Nehem._ xii. and
that all those who returned sealed it: this will be perceived by the
following comparison of their names.

The Priests who returned. The Priests who sealed.

_Nehemiah._ _Ezra_ ii. 2. _Nehemiah._

_Serajah._ _Serajah._

* _Azariah._

_Jeremiah._ _Jeremiah._

_Ezra._ _Ezra._ _Nehem._ 8.

* _Pashur._

_Amariah._ _Amariah._

_Malluch_: or _Melicu_, _Neh._ _Malchijah._
xii. 2, 14.

_Hattush_. _Hattush._

_Shechaniah_ or _Shebaniah_, _Shebaniah._
_Neh._ xii. 3, 14.

* _Malluch._

_Rehum_: or _Harim_, _ib._ 3, _Harim._
15.

_Meremoth._ _Meremoth._

_Iddo._ _Obadiah_ or _Obdia_.

* _Daniel._

_Ginnetho_: or _Ginnethon_, _Ginnethon._
_Neh._ xii. 4, 16.

* _Baruch._

* _Meshullam._

_Abijah._ _Abijah._

_Miamin._ _Mijamin._

_Maadiah._ _Maaziah._

_Bilgah._ _Bilgai._

_Shemajah._ _Shemajah._

_Jeshua._ _Jeshua._

_Binnui._ _Binnui._

_Kadmiel._ _Kadmiel._

_Sherebiah._ [Hebrew: shrbjh]. _Shebaniah._ [Hebrew: shbnjh].

_Judah_: or _Hodaviah_, _Hodijah._
_Ezra_ ii. 40. & iii. 9.
[Greek: Odouia]; _Septuag._

The _Levites_, _Jeshua_, _Kadmiel_, and _Hodaviah_ or _Judah_, here
mentioned, are reckoned chief fathers among the people who returned with
_Zerubbabel_, _Ezra_ ii. 40. and they assisted as well in laying the
foundation of the Temple, _Ezra_ iii. 9. as in reading the law, and making
and sealing the covenant, _Nehem._ viii. 7. & ix. 5. & x. 9, 10.

Comparing therefore the books of _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_ together; the
history of the _Jews_ under _Cyrus_, _Cambyses_, and _Darius Hystaspis_, is
that they returned from captivity under _Zerubbabel_, in the first year of
_Cyrus_, with the Holy Vessels and a commission to build the Temple; and
came to _Jerusalem_ and _Judah_, every one to his city, and dwelt in their
cities untill the seventh month; and then coming to _Jerusalem_, they first
built the Altar, and on the first day of the seventh month began to offer
the daily burnt-offerings, and read in the book of the Law, and they kept a
solemn fast, and sealed a Covenant; and thenceforward the Rulers of the
people dwelt at _Jerusalem_, and the rest of the people cast lots, to dwell
one in ten at _Jerusalem_, and the rest in the cities of _Judah_: and in
the second year of their coming, in the second month, which was six years
before the death of _Cyrus_, they laid the foundation of the Temple; but
_the adversaries of _Judah_ troubled them in building, and hired
counsellors against them all the days of _Cyrus__, and longer, _even until
the Reign of _Darius_ King of _Persia__: but in the second year of his
Reign, by the prophesying of _Haggai_ and _Zechariah_, they returned to the
work; and by the help of a new decree from _Darius_, finished it on the
third day of the month _Adar_, in the sixth year of his Reign, and kept the
Dedication with joy, and the Passover, and Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Now this _Darius_ was not _Darius Nothus_, but _Darius Hystaspis_, as I
gather by considering that the second year of this _Darius_ was the
seventieth of the indignation against _Jerusalem_, and the cities of
_Judah_, which indignation commenced with the invasion of _Jerusalem_, and
the cities of _Judah_ by _Nebuchadnezzar_, in the ninth year of _Zedekiah_,
_Zech._ i. 12. _Jer._ xxxiv. 1, 7, 22. & xxxix. 1. and that the fourth year
of this _Darius_, was the seventieth from the burning of the Temple in the
eleventh year of _Zedekiah_, _Zech._ vii. 5. & _Jer._ lii. 12. both which
are exactly true of _Darius Hystaspis_: and that in the second year of this
_Darius_ there were men living who had seen the first Temple, _Hagg._ ii.
3. whereas the second year of _Darius Nothus_ was 166 years after the
desolation of the Temple and City. And further, if the finishing of the
Temple be deferred to the sixth year of _Darius Nothus_, _Jeshua_ and
_Zerubbabel_ must have been the one High-Priest, the other Captain of the
people an hundred and eighteen years together, besides their ages before;
which is surely too long: for in the first year of _Cyrus_ the chief
Priests were _Serajah_, _Jeremiah_, _Ezra_, _Amariah_, _Malluch_,
_Shechaniah_, _Rehum_, _Meremoth_, _Iddo_, _Ginnetho_, _Abijah_, _Miamin_,
_Maadiah_, _Bilgah_, _Shemajah_, _Joiarib_, _Jedaiah_, _Sallu_, _Amok_,
_Hilkiah_, _Jedaiah_: these were Priests in the days of _Jeshua_, and the
eldest sons of them all, _Merajah_ the son of _Serajah_, _Hananiah_ the son
of _Jeremiah_, _Meshullam_ the son of _Ezra_, &c. were chief Priests in the
days of _Joiakim_ the son of _Jeshua_: _Nehem._ xii. and therefore the High
Priest-hood of _Jeshua_ was but of an ordinary length.

I have now stated the history of the _Jews_ in the Reigns of _Cyrus_,
_Cambyses_, and _Darius Hystaspis_: it remains that I state their history
in the Reigns of _Xerxes_, and _Artaxerxes Longimanus_: for I place the
history of _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_ in the Reign of this _Artaxerxes_, and not
in that of _Artaxerxes Mnemon_: for during all the _Persian_ Monarchy,
until the last _Darius_ mentioned in Scripture, whom I take to be _Darius
Nothus_, there were but six High-Priests in continual succession of father
and son, namely, _Jeshua_, _Joiakim_, _Eliashib_, _Joiada_, _Jonathan_,
_Jaddua_, and the seventh High-Priest was _Onias_ the son of _Jaddua_, and
the eighth was _Simeon Justus_, the Son of _Onias_, and the ninth was
_Eleazar_ the younger brother of _Simeon_. Now, at a mean reckoning, we
should allow about 27 or 28 years only to a Generation by the eldest sons
of a family, one Generation with another, as above; but if in this case we
allow 30 years to a Generation, and may further suppose that _Jeshua_, at
the return of the captivity in the first year of the Empire of the
_Persians_, was about 30 or 40 years old; _Joiakim_ will be of about that
age in the 16th year of _Darius Hystaspis_, _Eliashib_ in the tenth year of
_Xerxes_, _Joiada_ in the 19th year of _Artaxerxes Longimanus_, _Jonathan_
in the 8th year of _Darius Nothus_, _Jaddua_ in the 19th year of
_Artaxerxes Mnemon_, _Onias_ in the 3d year of _Artaxerxes Ochus_, and
_Simeon Justus_ two years before the death of _Alexander_ the Great: and
this reckoning, as it is according to the course of nature, so it agrees
perfectly well with history; for thus _Eliashib_ might be High-Priest, and
have grandsons, before the seventh year of _Artaxerxes Longimanus_, _Ezra_
x. 6. and without exceeding the age which many old men attain unto,
continue High-Priest 'till after the 32d year of that King, _Nehem._ xiii.
6, 7. and his grandson _Johanan_, or _Jonathan_, might have a chamber in
the Temple in the seventh year of that King, _Ezra_ x. 6. and be
High-Priest before _Ezra_ wrote the sons of _Levi_ in the book of
_Chronicles_; _Nehem._ xii. 23. and in his High-Priesthood, he might slay
his younger brother _Jesus_ in the Temple, before the end of the Reign of
_Artaxerxes Mnemon_: _Joseph. Antiq._ l. xi. c. 7. and _Jaddua_ might be
High-Priest before the death of _Sanballat_, _Joseph._ _ib._ and before the
death of _Nehemiah_, _Nehem._ xii. 22. and also before the end of the Reign
of _Darius Nothus_; and he might thereby give occasion to _Josephus_ and
the later _Jews_, who took this King for the last _Darius_, to fall into an
opinion that _Sanballat, Jaddua_, and _Manasseh_ the younger brother of
_Jaddua_, lived till the end of the Reign of the last _Darius_: _Joseph._
_Antiq._ l. xi. c. 7, 8. and the said _Manasseh_ might marry _Nicaso_ the
daughter of _Sanballat_, and for that offence be chased from _Nehemiah_,
before the end of the Reign of _Artaxerxes Longimanus_; _Nehem_. xiii. 28.
_Joseph._ _Antiq._ l. xi. c. 7, 8. and _Sanballat_ might at that time be
_Satrapa_ of _Samaria_, and in the Reign of _Darius Nothus_, or soon after,
build the Temple of the _Samaritans_ in _Mount Gerizim_, for his son-in-law
_Manasseh_, the first High-Priest of that Temple; _Joseph._ _ib._ and
_Simeon Justus_ might be High-Priest when the _Persian_ Empire was invaded
by _Alexander_ the Great, as the _Jews_ represent, _Joma_ fol. 69. 1.
_Liber Juchasis. R. Gedaliah_, &c. and for that reason he might be taken by
some of the _Jews_ for the same High-Priest with _Jaddua_, and be dead some
time before the book of _Ecclesiasticus_ was writ in _Hebrew_ at
_Jerusalem_, by the grandfather of him, who in the 38th year of the
_Egyptian_ AEra of _Dionysius_, that is in the 77th year after the death of
_Alexander_ the Great, met with a copy of it in _Egypt_, and there
translated it into _Greek: Ecclesiast._ ch. 50. & _in Prolog._ and
_Eleazar_, the younger brother and successor of _Simeon_, might cause the
Law to be translated into _Greek_, in the beginning of the Reign of
_Ptolemaus Philadelphus_: _Joseph._ _Antiq._ l. xii. c. 2. and _Onias_ the
son of _Simeon Justus_, who was a child at his father's death, and by
consequence was born in his father's old age, might be so old in the Reign
of _Ptolemaeus Euergetes_, as to have his follies excused to that King, by
representing that he was then grown childish with old age. _Joseph._
_Antiq._ l. xii. c. 4. In this manner the actions of all these High-Priests
suit with the Reigns of the Kings, without any straining from the course of
nature: and according to this reckoning the days of _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_
fall in with the Reign of the first _Artaxerxes_; for _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_
flourished in the High Priesthood of _Eliashib_, _Ezra_ x. 6. _Nehem._ iii.
1. & xiii. 4, 28. But if _Eliashib_, _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_ be placed in the
Reign of the second _Artaxerxes_, since they lived beyond the 32d year of
_Artaxerxes_, _Nehem._ xiii. 28, there must be at least 160 years allotted
to the three first High-Priests, and but 42 to the four or five last, a
division too unequal: for the High Priesthoods of _Jeshua_, _Joiakim_, and
_Eliashib_, were but of an ordinary length, that of _Jeshua_ fell in with
one Generation of the chief Priests, and that of _Joiakim_ with the next
Generation, as we have shewed already; and that of _Eliashib_ fell in with
the third Generation: for at the dedication of the wall, _Zechariah_ the
son of _Jonathan_, the son of _Shemaiah_, was one of the Priests, _Nehem._
xii. 35, and _Jonathan_ and his father _Shemaiah_, were contemporaries to
_Joiakim_ and his father _Jeshua_: _Nehem._ xii. 6, 18. I observe further
that in the first year of _Cyrus_, _Jeshua_, and _Bani_, or _Binnui_, were
chief fathers of the _Levites_, _Nehem_. vii. 7. 15. & _Ezra_ ii. 2. 10. &
iii. 9. and that _Jozabad_ the son of _Jeshua_, and _Noadiah_ the son of
_Binnui_, were chief Levites in the seventh year of _Artaxerxes_, when
_Ezra_ came to _Jerusalem_, _Ezra_ viii. 33. so that this _Artaxerxes_
began his Reign before the end of the second Generation: and that he
Reigned in the time of the third Generation is confirmed by two instances
more; for _Meshullam_ the son of _Berechiah_, the son of _Meshezabeel_, and
_Azariah_ the son of _Maaseiah_, the son of _Ananiah_, were fathers of
their houses at the repairing of the wall; _Nehem._ iii. 4, 23. and their
grandfathers, _Meshazabeel_ and _Hananiah_, subscribed the covenant in the
Reign of _Cyrus_: _Nehem._ x. 21, 23. Yea _Nehemiah_, this same _Nehemiah_
the son of _Hachaliah_, was the _Tirshatha_, and subscribed it, _Nehem._ x.
1, & viii. 9, & _Ezra_ ii. 2, 63. and therefore in the 32d year of
_Artaxerxes Mnemon_, he will be above 180 years old, an age surely too
great. The same may be said of _Ezra_, if he was that Priest and Scribe who
read the Law, _Nehem._ viii. for he is the son of _Serajah_, the son of
_Azariah_, the son of _Hilkiah_, the son of _Shallum_, &c. _Ezra_ vii. 1.
and this _Serajah_ went into captivity at the burning of the Temple, and
was there slain, 1 _Chron._ vi. 14. 2 _King._ xxv. 18. and from his death,
to the twentieth year of _Artaxerxes Mnemon_, is above 200 years; an age
too great for _Ezra_.

I consider further that _Ezra_, chap. iv. names _Cyrus_, *, _Darius_,
_Ahasuerus_, and _Artaxerxes_, in continual order, as successors to one
another, and these names agree to _Cyrus_, *, _Darius Hystaspis_, _Xerxes_,
and _Artaxerxes Longimanus_, and to no other Kings of _Persia_: some take
this _Artaxerxes_ to be not the Successor, but the Predecessor of _Darius
Hystaspis_, not considering that in his Reign the _Jews_ were busy in
building the City and the Wall, _Ezra_ iv. 12. and by consequence had
finished the Temple before. _Ezra_ describes first how the people of the
land hindered the building of the Temple all the days of _Cyrus_, and
further, untill the Reign of _Darius_; and after the Temple was built, how
they hindered the building of the city in the Reign of _Ahasuerus_ and
_Artaxerxes_, and then returns back to the story of the Temple in the Reign
of _Cyrus_ and _Darius_; and this is confirmed by comparing the book of
_Ezra_ with the book of _Esdras_: for if in the book of _Ezra_ you omit the
story of _Ahasuerus_ and _Artaxerxes_, and in that of _Esdras_ you omit the
same story of _Artaxerxes_, and that of the three wise men, the two books
will agree: and therefore the book of _Esdras_, if you except the story of
the three wise men, was originally copied from authentic writings of Sacred
Authority. Now the story of _Artaxerxes_, which, with that of _Ahasuerus_,
in the book of _Ezra_ interrupts the story of _Darius_, doth not interrupt
it in the book of _Esdras_, but is there inferred into the story of
_Cyrus_, between the first and second chapter of _Ezra_; and all the rest
of the story of _Cyrus_, and that of _Darius_, is told in the book of
_Esdras_ in continual order, without any interruption: so that the _Darius_
which in the book of _Ezra_ precedes _Ahasuerus_ and _Artaxerxes_, and the
_Darius_ which in the same book follows them, is, by the book of _Esdras_,
one and the same _Darius_; and I take the book of _Esdras_ to be the best
interpreter of the book of _Ezra_: so the _Darius_ mentioned between
_Cyrus_ and _Ahasuerus_, is _Darius Hysaspis_; and therefore _Ahasuerus_
and _Artaxerxes_ who succeed him, are _Xerxes_ and _Artaxerxes Longimanus_;
and the _Jews_ who came up from _Artaxerxes_ to _Jerusalem_, and began to
build the city and the wall, _Ezra_ iv. 13. are _Ezra_ with his companions:
which being understood, the history of the _Jews_ in the Reign of these
Kings will be as follows.

After the Temple was built, and _Darius Hystaspis_ was dead, the enemies of
the _Jews_ in the beginning of the Reign of his successor _Ahasuerus_ or
_Xerxes_, wrote unto him an accusation against them; _Ezra_ iv. 6. but in
the seventh year of his successor _Artaxerxes_, _Ezra_ and his companions
went up from _Babylon_ with Offerings and Vessels for the Temple, and power
to bestow on it out of the King's Treasure what should be requisite; _Ezra_
vii. whence the Temple is said to be finished, _according to the
commandment of _Cyrus_, and _Darius_, and _Artaxerxes_ King of _Persia__:
_Ezra_ vi. 14. Their commission was also to set Magistrates and Judges over
the land, and thereby becoming a new Body Politic, they called a great
Council or Sanhedrim to separate the people from strange wives; and they
were also encouraged to attempt the building of _Jerusalem_ with its wall:
and thence _Ezra_ saith in his prayer, that _God had extended mercy unto
them in the sight of the Kings of _Persia_, and given them a reviving to
set up the house of their God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and
to give them a WALL in _Judah_, even in _Jerusalem__. _Ezra_ ix. 9. But
when they had begun to repair the wall, their enemies wrote against them to
_Artaxerxes_: _Be it known_, say they, _unto the King, that the _Jews_
which came up from thee to us, are come unto _Jerusalem_, building the
rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, and joined
the foundations_, &c. And the King wrote back that the _Jews_ should cease
and the city not be built, until another commandment should be given from
him: whereupon their enemies _went up to _Jerusalem_, and made them cease
by force and power_; _Ezra_ iv. but in the twentieth year of the King,
_Nehemiah_ hearing that the _Jews_ were in great affliction and distress,
and that the wall of _Jerusalem_, that wall which had been newly repaired
by _Ezra_, _was broken down, and the gates thereof burnt wth fire_; he
obtained leave of the King to go and build the city, and the Governour's
house, _Nehem._ i. 3. & ii. 6, 8, 17. and coming to _Jerusalem_ the same
year, he continued Governor twelve years, and built the wall; and being
opposed by _Sanballat_, _Tobiah_ and _Geshem_, he persisted in the work
with great resolution and patience, until the breaches were made up: then
_Sanballat_ and _Geshem_ sent messengers unto him five times to hinder him
from setting up the doors upon the gates: but notwithstanding he persisted
in the work, until the doors were also set up: so the wall was finished in
the eight and twentieth year of the King, _Joseph._ _Antiq._ l. xi. c. 5.
in the five and twentieth day of the month _Elul_, or sixth month, in fifty
and two days after the breaches were made up, and they began to work upon
the gates. While the timber for the gates was preparing and seasoning, they
made up the breaches of the wall; both were works of time, and are not
jointly to be reckoned within the 52 days: this is the time of the last
work of the wall, the work of setting up the gates after the timber was
seasoned and the breaches made up. When he had set up the gates, he
dedicated the wall with great solemnity, and appointed Officers _over the
chambers for the Treasure, for the Offerings, for the First-Fruits, and for
the Tithes, to gather into them out of the fields of the cities, the
portions appointed by the law for the Priests and Levites; and the Singers
and the Porters kept the ward of their God_; Nehem. xii. _but the people in
the city were but few, and the houses were unbuilt_: _Nehem._ vii. 1, 4.
and in this condition he left _Jerusalem_ in the 32d year of the King; and
after sometime returning back from the King, he reformed such abuses as had
been committed in his absence. _Nehem._ xiii. In the mean time, the
Genealogies of the Priests and Levites were recorded in the book of the
_Chronicles_, in the days of _Eliashib_, _Joiada_, _Jonathan_, and
_Jaddua_, until the Reign of the next King _Darius Nothus_, whom _Nehemiah_
calls _Darius_ the _Persian_: _Nehem._ xii. 11, 22, 23. whence it follows
that _Nehemiah_ was Governor of the _Jews_ until the Reign of _Darius
Nothus_. And here ends the Sacred History of the _Jews_.

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