LIBRAT UNIVERSITY CALIFORN

THIS Book was evidently written by persons who were themselves present at the transactions recorded in it, the narrative being in the first person. It also bears upon the face of it every character of natural simplicity, and contains more particulars of time, persons and places, than could have been introduced by any other. But as the writer of the first six chapters was at Jerusalem in the reign of Darius Hystaspis, and that of the last four in that of Artaxerxes Longimanus, at the distance of sixty years, it is not probable that they were the same person. The latter was, no doubt, Ezra, and as he describes himself so particularly at the beginning of the seventh chapter, it is the more probable that what he wrote begins at that place, and that he copied the preceding part from some earlier writer.

CHAP. I. 1. That a person of the name of Cyrus was to deliver the Jews from their captivity, was foretold by Isaiah, (Chap. xliv. 28; xlv. 1,) long before Cyrus was born, and probably even while the Babylonians, who carried the Jews captive, were themselves subject to the Assyrians; and it was now verified, as it had been foretold by Jeremiah, [Chap. xxv. 12,] seventy years after the Captivity, in the reign of Jehoiakim.

2. This decree of Cyrus was probably made in consequence of Daniel (who was in great favour with him) shewing him the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah; and Daniel himself might draw the form of it; though two decrees of Nebuchadnezzar, and one of Darius the Mede, contain the same sentiments; acknowledging the supremacy of the God of the Jews, as did Hiram, king of Tyre, in his letter to Solomon, and other Heathens, on various occasions; and

* Vol. II.

this was not inconsistent with their worshipping inferior deities. Cyrus here ascribes all power in heaven and earth to the God of the Jews, that it was from him that he received his empire, and that it was his will that he should restore the Jews, and rebuild the Temple.

4. This was exhorting all his subjects to give every assistance in their power to the Jews, and indeed all the Israelites, wherever they were dispersed through his extensive empire; which comprehended Assyria and Media, whither the ten tribes had been carried captive. He did not doubt but that the richer Jews would contribute largely to the work.

7. These vessels had not been applied to any common use, but had been deposited in some temple, though Belshazzar had ordered them to be produced at his profane banquet.

8. Sheshbazzar is only another name* for Zerubbabel, the prince of the Jews, as appears from Chap. iii. 18; v. 14, 16. Daniel and many other persons had new names given to them.

11. The vessels enumerated were only two thousand four hundred and ninety-nine.† But these might be those of a larger size. We find no such apparatus for the use of any Heathen temple; and this circumstance must have struck the Heathens of those times with great respect.

II. 1. This province was that which is called (Chap. v. 8) the province of Judea; for it was now a province of the Persian empire.

2. Had Ezra been of this number, his name would, no doubt, have been inserted. Zerubbabel, whose name stands the first in this catalogue, was the governor, and Jeshua was the high-priest. This Mordecai must have been a different person from the Mordecai in the book of Esther.

3. This is an account of the number of persons descended from some noted ancestor, who either actually returned, or gave their names as ready to return. There is another catalogue of them in Nehemiah vii.; but the names and numbers are sometimes different. Since, however, they are in general arranged in the same order, they were, no doubt, originally the same, as copied with some variations from the same original.

20. In Neh. vii. 25, it is Gibeon. They were probably

"The Persian name. Compare Haggai i. 14; ii. 2." Wall, II. p. 265. ↑ 5469, Esdras ii. 13. 5100, Josephus, B. xi. Ch. i. Sect. iii.

from that city; and this may be the case with respect to other names that occur in this catalogue, being those of places, and not of men. Some of them are evidently so.

35. All that have been hitherto enumerated, were of the tribes of Judah or Benjamin.

36. Jedaiah is mentioned, 1 Chron. xxiv. 7, as a principal person among the priests.

45. The number under each of these names is not mentioned; but the sum total is given ver. 58.

55. These were probably persons of different nations, who had been employed by Solomon in the building of the Temple, and his other works, whose descendants continued in the country on the same terms with the Nethenims, with whom they are classed (ver. 58). That they did not dislike their situation, is evident from the number of them that returned to it. They were more than the Levites and the singers.

59. These might be of the ten tribes, who had been so long from their own country, that they could not give a distinct account of their descent.

62. The priests were more particularly careful to preserve their genealogies, as they were entitled to peculiar distinction: but many of them must have been lost when Jerusalem was taken and burned, and they were hurried away in much confusion to a distant country. There were also some women whom the priests were not allowed to marry, and their offspring were accounted impure. All these were now rejected from the rank of priests, and probably classed with the Levites.

63. This Tirshatha was probably the same with Zerubbabel, the Jewish governor, under the king of Persia; since Nehemiah had afterwards the same title, (Chap. viii. 9; x. 1). He gave sentence that all those who could not clearly prove their descent from Aaron, should be excluded from the priesthood, till some one should arise who should be authorized by God to decide in the case. From this it is evident, that there was no such oracle to have recourse to at this time. Indeed, we do not find any answer given by urim and thummim, or in the presence of the high-priest clothed with the ephod, after the time of David. A divine interposition of this kind will be absolutely necessary at the return of the Jews from their present dispersion; their genealogies being now much more uncertain. And yet, according to Ezekiel, [xlvii. 13,] not only the priests, but the descendants of all

the tribes, will be distinguished, and separate portions of the country assigned them.

64. This was a small number, compared with that of those who remained dispersed in different parts of the Persian empire, though they were more than were carried away by Nebuchadnezzar. The amount also of all the preceding numbers is no more than twenty-nine thousand eight hundred and eighteen; but the rest were probably a mixed multitude of other tribes, and of those who could not prove their descent.

65. It appears from this, and as some think from 1 Chron. xxv. 5, 6, that the women, as well as men, were employed as singers in the Temple.

67. It is evident from these circumstances, that the generality of those who returned were of the poorer sort. They who were at their ease, though in a foreign country, would be more inclined to continue where they were.

70. There were probably some of all the twelve tribes present; and it appears from Chap. vi. 17, that they offered twelve he-goats at the dedication of the Temple.

III. 1. It appears from Chap. vii. 9, that the journey from Babylon to Jerusalem took them four months. They probably, therefore, set out in the spring; and so the Feast of Tabernacles, [ver. 4,] which is in the seventh month, would be the first that they could assemble to celebrate.

3. The first thing necessary to be done, was the erecting of the altar; for after this the daily sacrifices, which was the most essential part of the national religion, might commence. This, therefore, they immediately set about, notwithstanding their apprehension of disturbance from the neighbouring nations. It was probably erected on the situation of the former altar; since the new Temple stood in the same place with the old one, and the foundation of the eastern wall, built by Solomon, from the bottom of the valley that separated it from the Mount of Olives, existed in the time of Josephus, who gives a particular description of it.

6. As there was no temple, nor, as far as appears, any tabernacle, erected, they could not regularly observe the day of expiation, which required the high-priest to go into the holy of holies.*

10. They had not probably at this time any other instruments than cymbals.

11. They sung the psalm which has this response, and in this probably all the people joined.