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 JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
THE ROBERT E. COWAN COLLECTION 
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 C P. HUNTINGTON 
 
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SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY 
 
 FKOM THE KKTI'KM OF TJfK JKW8 FROM THE 
 
 BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY, 
 
 To THK DAYS OF 
 
 HEROD THE 
 
 Giving an account of the different Sects of those days ; the Introduction 
 
 and use of Synagogues and Schools ; the origin and introduction of 
 
 Prayer among the Jews ; the Urecm and Thumecm ; the 
 
 Mishnaor Oral Law; the Gemara-Completion, usually 
 
 styl.-il the Talmud. 
 
 BY Rv. H. A. HENRY, 
 
 Rabhl Prraehrr of Conptftloo Shorfth Tmd. Pn FniMbeo ; Author of OM Book for Jrvkh romh : 
 
 Of DboOUfM* OB the ptiAdplM Of U- boltof Of IWWl. *., *C. 
 
 SAN FRANGISCO: 
 
 It. \VNKfc BACON, PUBLISHERS AND PRINTERS, 
 
 No. 12ft Clay Street, corner Sansome. 
 
 1859. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year of the World 5819,-18W, by 
 
 for the Author, to the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, 
 for the Northern District of California. 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE design and purpose of this little production will, at a 
 cursory glance, be self-evident, so that a formal preface seems 
 scarcely necessary. We have endeavored to furnish a synopsis 
 of useful information, selected from the history and teachings of 
 the chosen people of God, in such a manner as to suit the capac- 
 ity of all readers, since it is free from all sectarian bias, and 
 therefore may prove useful to all denominations. 
 
 This work consists of two parts. The first part contains a 
 synopsis of Jewish history, commencing with the return of the 
 Jews from the Babylonish captivity, down to the days of Herod 
 the Great. The second division of the work contains an account 
 of the several sects which sprang up among the Jews before and 
 after the days of the Maccabees. We have also given a succinct 
 description of the origin and introduction of Prayer, of the syna- 
 gogues and schools, of the Ureem and Thumeem, of the Mishna 
 or Oral Law, of the Gemara or Completion, usually styled the 
 Talmud, together with some additional remarks in the last two 
 chapters under the head of appendix. 
 
 Should this unassuming little composition lead the reader to 
 seek a more extended information on the subjects treated, we 
 shall feel ourselves happy in having been the means of thus excit- 
 ing the curiosity of those who desire to peep a little further into 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 the vast field of sacred literature, and deem our compensation 
 to be fully realized. 
 
 We have compiled in some instances from the writings of 
 others. In many cases we have also thought for ourselves ; but 
 at the same time, we have embraced the advantages afforded by 
 the writings of others, so far as we thought them suitable for the 
 undertaking. 
 
 In conclusion, we send this work out to the world, such as it is, 
 aware of its many deficiencies ; trusting, at the same time, that 
 whatever errors may have crept therein will be pointed out by 
 kind friends, in order to a rectification of the same. 
 
 SAX FRANCISCO, February, 18595619. 
 

 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PACK. 
 
 Of the return of tint Jews from the Captivity of Babylon, and the rebuild- 
 ing of the City of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Of the state of the Jews in the days of Ezra the Scribe i.s 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Of the affairs of the Jewish Nation during the day of Nehemlah 2: 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Of the state of the Jewish Nation under the Persian and the Grecian Mon- 
 archies :t7 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Of the affairs of the Jewish Nation under Ptolemy Hoter, Ptolcuiv Phila- 
 delphus and Ptolemy Philopatcr, Kings of Egypt 43 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Of the Jewish affairs under Antlochus the Greek, Seleucus, and Antiochus 
 Eplphanea, Kings of Syria 4-i 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Of the state of the Jewish Nation in the days of Mattathias the Priest, the 
 father of the valiant Maccabees .65 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 ClIAl'TKR VIII. 
 
 The Government of the Jcwtah Nation uniler tlie Ma - they 
 were otherwise called, the Asmoncans, this being the family mum w 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Or the Jewish affairs under the conduct of the posterity and successors of 
 Simon the Maccabee 7!i 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Of the Government of Herod the Great and his posterity over Israel w 
 
 SECO3STID. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Pharisee* 113 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 TheBadducecs 117 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Samaritans IM 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 TheKsscnes W 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Herodlans 125 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Galileans or Gaulonltes 127 
 
 CHAPTER VTJI. 
 
 The Karayeem or Karaites 129 
 
CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Of the Synagogues among the Jews 133 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Of the origin and introduction of Prayer among the Jews 138 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Of the Ureem and Thumeem 147 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Of the Mishn* or Oral Law ... . . 152 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Of the Gemara-Completion, usually styled the Talmud 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Appendix .. 172 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Of the Return of the Jews from the Captivity of Babylon, and the Rebuilding 
 of the City of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple. 
 
 IN fulfilment of the prophecies of Jeremiah and 
 the other prophets, Israel and Judah were carrie'd 
 into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 
 in the days of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah ; and 
 as predicted by the prophets of the Lord, the bond- 
 age continued during seventy years. 
 
 This banishment was inflicted as a just punishment 
 on the people for their repeated misconduct and im- 
 piety towards the Gracious God, and for their direct 
 opposition to the constant exhortations and unceasing 
 \variiings of the Almighty, through the medium of 
 his inspired and holy prophets. 
 
 The seventy years of captivity being ended, God 
 put it into the mind of Cyrus, king of Persia, again 
 to restore Israel to their own land and possessions, 
 thus fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah, which was 
 pronounced by him above one hundred years previ- 
 ously. Accordingly Cyrus permitted the Jews to 
 return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple. He 
 B 
 
10 SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 also restored to them the golden and' silver vessels 
 which were used for divine service in the former 
 temple built by king Solomon. 
 
 Many of the people of the several tribes availed 
 themselves of this opportunity to return to the land 
 of their fathers but so far as history informs us, it 
 appears that the majority of those who returned to 
 Jerusalem, consisted chiefly of the tribes of Judah 
 and Benjamin, together with a number of Priests and 
 Levites. And now it was for the first time, that 
 they were all united under the title or name of Jews. 
 
 The people were led forth under the direction of 
 Zerubbabel, the grandson of Jehoiachin, kinj; of 
 Judah, who became the governor of the land by a 
 commission granted at the hands of king Cyrus ; and 
 Jeshua, the grandson of Seraiah, who was slain by 
 Nebuchadnezzar, was installed high priest. 
 
 The people having returned to their own" land, the 
 first thing which occupied their attention was the 
 rebuilding of the temple, for which purpose they set 
 about making collections, both of money and mate- 
 rials, and gathering themselves together at Jerusalem, 
 they set up the altar, and offered sacrifices thereon 
 i tude to 6od for his goodness in thus restoring 
 them to their own country and possessions. 
 
 When the foundation of the new temple was laid, 
 great rejoicings took place among the people. Yet, 
 many of those who had grown old in the captivity, 
 ami who still had the recollection of the glory and 
 magnificence of the first temple, mourned and grieved 
 for its loss, and very much despaired of the second 
 
RETURN OF THE JEWS FROM BABYLON. 11 
 
 temple ever approaching the first, in beauty, splendor, 
 or holiness. 
 
 The building of the second temple was very much 
 interrupted by the neighboring people, who mani- 
 fested great enmity toward the Jews, and evinced 
 much jealous feeling, when they saw them restored 
 to their own country, and thus likely to recover their 
 long lost national position in the world. 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding all the difficulties which pre- 
 sented themselves, and in spite of all the representa- 
 tions made by their enemies, the Jews were favored 
 with great assistance from the court of Persia, in 
 order to complete their noble undertaking. And 
 then it was, that after a period of twenty years inter- 
 rupted labor, the second temple rose on the very 
 same spot on which the first noble fabric had adorned 
 the happy days of the royal Solomon, the son of 
 king David. 
 
 In the days of Darius Hystaspcs, complaints were 
 made by the enemies of the Jews, in order to prevent 
 them from continuing the building of the temple. 
 This prince, considering the interruption to be the 
 result of the malicious insinuations of the Samaritans 
 and their followers, instituted an inquiry, and it being 
 found on record at Babylon that permission had been 
 granted to the Jews by Cyrus to rebuild the temple 
 at Jerusalem, Darius immediately gave orders that 
 the work should be continued undisturbed. And in 
 the sixth year of the reign of Darius, the second 
 temple was completed, and dedicated for divine 
 worship. Sacrifices were resumed, and offered upon 
 
\'2 SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 the altar of the Lord as- in former days. Great 
 rejoicings prevailed, and the festival of Passover was 
 in that year solemnized in great splendor, and with 
 grateful feelings toward the God of their fathers. 
 
 Happy, however, as the people appeared to be in 
 again beholding the house of God reared and dedi- 
 cated to his holy worship, they still felt and saw the 
 deficiency in the one, when compared with the other ; 
 for it must be observed, that in the second temple but 
 few of the glories remained which had adorned the 
 first temple, so renowned in history for its beauty, 
 magnificence, and architectural delicacy and elegance. 
 
 The temple erected by king Solomon at Jerusalem, 
 was built after the model of the tabernacle erected 
 in the wilderness. This superb edifice was completed 
 in about seven years. Its grandeur and magnifi- 
 cence excited the envy and the curiosity of all the 
 surrounding nations. 
 
 The glory of this'temple, however, did not consist 
 in the magnitude of its dimensions alone. The main 
 grandeur and excellency were in its ornaments, the 
 workmanship being everywhere curiously and exquis- 
 itely" wrought by the most expert workmen of the 
 day. But still more admirable in this majestic build- 
 ing, were those extraordinary works of divine favor 
 with which it was honored. These, indeed, were 
 excellencies and beauties derived from a divine 
 source only, distinguishing and exalting this sacred 
 structure above- all others of mortal invention. 
 
 The deficiencies thus complained of and regretted, 
 
RETURN OP THE JEWS FROM BABYLON. 13 
 
 were five in number, which formed the principal and 
 most essential ornaments of the sacred edifice. 
 
 FIRST The ark of the covenant, and the mercy 
 seat upon it ; the cherubim of gold, aad the two 
 tables of stone, on which the decalogue was inscribed 
 by the finger of God. These were all in their 
 proper places in the first temple built by king Solo- 
 mon. It is the generally received opinion among 
 the learned men of the Jewish nation, that there was 
 such an ark made, and that the copy of the five 
 books of Moses, called the Pentateuch as corrected 
 and revised by the scribe Ezra was deposited 
 therein. Hence, it is in imitation of this, that in 
 the present day, the Jews have in their synagogues 
 throughout all the habitable globe wherever dispersed, 
 the holy ark in which the scroll of the law called in 
 Hebrew " Sepher Torah," book of the law, is 
 deposited. 
 
 SECOND. The Shechinah, divino presence mani- 
 fested by a visible cloud of glory hovering over the 
 mercy seat. 
 
 THIRD. The Ureem and Thumeem. These were 
 two sacred signs placed in the breast-plate of judg- 
 ment worn by the high priest, who made use of these 
 signs to consult the will of God, and to ask counsel 
 of him on such momentous occasions touching the 
 public interest of the nation at large. The first of 
 these words signifies in the Hebrew, light ; the 
 second, perfection. Of these we shall have to speak 
 more fully in the course of the work. 
 
 FOURTH. The sacred fire which descended from 
 
1 1 SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 on high upon the altar, to consume the daily sacri- 
 fices and burnt offerings brought in honor of the 
 Lord God of hosts. 
 
 FIFTH. .The spirit of prophecy ; for though the 
 three last prophets, Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi, 
 lived during the time of the second temple, yet, 
 after their death, the prophetic spirit ceased to exist 
 any longer among the Jewish nation. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Of the state of the Jews in the days of Ezra the Scribe. 
 
 HKXCEFORWARD we are not to look on the Jews, 
 free, rich and glorious, under the direction of Proph- 
 ets and warlike Monarchs ; they had been sold as 
 slaves by their conquerors, and dispersed throughout 
 all their vast and mighty Empires. Some few of 
 ^;he favored, eminent and worthy characters obtained 
 posts of honor, who distinguished themselves in the 
 discharge of those duties imposed on them in their 
 several appointments. Of the great number bf 
 the people who had been carried into captivity, 
 scarcely more than fifty thousand returned to Jeru- 
 salem, and those were principally of the poorer 
 classes, who, it must be noticed, are in all ages the 
 most religious. The richer portion of the nation 
 remained behind and, as proverbial with the Jews 
 for their charity and fellow feeling, they raised 
 among themselves a subscription sufficient to enable 
 their brethren to proceed on their holy pilgrimage. 
 
 The proposal made to the Jews was, that they 
 should be governed by their own laws ; but as they 
 
16 MNorSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 became subject to Persia, ami subsequently to Syria 
 ami Rome, their privileges, and even the exercise of 
 their religion, greatly depended on the caj.rice of 
 their several conquerors. Immediately on the pub- 
 lication of the edict, the Chief of the tribes of 
 Judah and Benjamin assembled at Babylon, with the 
 Priests and 1 as many who retained a 
 
 love for their country and a zeaMbr the honor of 
 their God, were disposed to return to that once happy 
 land, and now came and signified their intention of 
 returning. The wealthy portion, and many who 
 formed connections with them, and were engaged in 
 traffic, or had acquired places and employments, 
 chose rather to stay and content themselves with 
 raising a large contribution to supply their brethren 
 with what they could spare of gold, silver, and 
 other valuables for the Temple. 
 
 The book of Ezra informs us of the three great 
 and pious men whom God raised up to assist the 
 poor Jews, and gives us some particulars of their 
 return to Jerusalem. Zerubbabcl, who built the 
 Temple and *the Altar ; Ezra, who reformed and 
 re-established the sacred religion to its former stand- 
 ard, which, during the captivity had undergone many 
 changes and innovations ; as the people were not in 
 a position at that time fully to observe it, as it was 
 practised in the palmy days of their Fathers ; and 
 Nehemiah, who built the walls of the City, and ably 
 assisted Ezra in his good work in introducing and 
 ultimately effecting a great and solid improvement 
 among the people. This book embraces a period of 
 
THE JEWS IN THE DAYS OF EZRA. 17 
 
 about one hundred and forty-six years, and the acts 
 thereof were accomplished during the reigns of six 
 successive Persian Monarchs, viz : Cyrus, Darius, 
 Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes, Darius the second, and a 
 second Artaxerxes. About eighty years after their 
 establishment, Ezra obtained a full commission from 
 Artaxerxes to succeed Zerubbabel, the present Vice- 
 roy, and return to Jerusalem, with as many of the 
 nation as were willing to go with him ; and there to 
 regulate and reform all matters of Stifte, and restore 
 the worship of the true God among his people in 
 the city of Jerusalem. 
 
 The high reputation of Ezra in the Court of 
 Persia, may be imagined by the nature of the com- 
 mission granted to him by the King, who addressed 
 him as the Priest of the Law of the God of Heaven ; 
 and declared to him as his decree, that whosoever 
 felt desirous to go up to Jerusalem were permitted 
 to do so freely and safely ; and furthermore, that 
 they should take with them presents direct from the 
 King himself, as a proof of his sanction and appro- 
 bation. In the middle of March, about the year of 
 the World 3540, Ezra set out on his journey, and 
 pitched his tents on the banks of the river Ahavah, 
 where he waited till his companions had assembled 
 together, from whom he selected a number of Priests 
 and Levites to assist him on the journey. 
 
 As soon as Ezra had collected about him a large 
 body of people, he issued a proclamation for a 
 general fast and days of thanksgiving, to implore 
 tho blessing and protection of God. He then pro- 
 
18 SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 cecded on hia jouiney, and arrived safely with all 
 his company at Jerusalem in the middle of the month 
 of July, being about four months after he had set 
 out for Jerusalem. 
 
 Having arrived at Jerusalem, Ezra convened all 
 the Elders of the people, before whom he laid o]>i-n 
 his Commission and had it publicly read to all the 
 people. He then delivered up to the Treasury and 
 the Priests, all the presents which hud been made 
 by the Persiaa Monarch and his Nobility ; also the 
 presents of those Jews who preferred to remain at 
 Babylon. 
 
 Ezra then appointed Judges and Magistrates, and 
 gave each of them their Commission, empowering 
 them to enforce the Laws as laid down for the gen- 
 eral government of the people. 
 
 Ezra maintained the supremo authority under his 
 Commission from the Persian Court, during thirteen 
 years, occupying himself with the faithful discharge 
 of every part of his sacred duty, with unfeigned and 
 pious zeal and assiduity. And still it seems that 
 Ezra had not power or influence enough fully to 
 accomplish by himself, his noble and praiseworthy 
 enterprise. 
 
 About this time it was that Nehemiah, of whom 
 we shall speak in the following Chapter, succeeded 
 Ezra as Governor or Viceroy, and he brought with 
 him a new Commission, with fresh power and 
 authority from the Persian Court. 
 
 Ezra, now with a graceful and pious conde- 
 scension, assumed a subordinate statipn. He acted 
 
THE JEWS IN THE DAYS OF EZRA. 19 
 
 as President to the Sanhedrin, the Grand Council of 
 the Elders, and employed the whole of his time in 
 reforming the Temple service, which had been sadly 
 abused during the long captivity, and succeeded in 
 restoring all its former rites and discipline. He 
 carefully examined all the sacred Books, revised and 
 corrected them. He then divided and fixed the 
 number of Books to twenty-four, such as are now in 
 use among the Hebrew Nation, called the Old 
 Testament. Ezra was learned and well versed in 
 them all ; his high station and authority enabled 
 him to collect the best copies from which to take the 
 standard. In addition to all this, Ezra being himself 
 inspired, and zealous in the sacred cause, and 
 favored as he was with the valuable assistance of 
 the three later Prophets, Haggai, Zachariah and 
 Malachi, no doubt exists in the hearts of the Jewish 
 Nation that the Bible now in their possession, is the 
 same which existed in the days of the great Patriot 
 i<r his God and his Religion, the inspired Ezra. 
 
 One of the strongest proofs that the Jews aro 
 correct in this respect is, that recent travelers have 
 stated in all their journals, that wherever they met 
 with Jews and their Synagogues .they found a uni- 
 formity in the Scroll of the Law as read in the 
 Jewish Church ; besides, if we take into our con- 
 sideration that Moses either wrote himself, or had 
 written, thirteen copies of the Pentateuch, one of 
 which he gave to each of the twelve Tribes, and 
 the other he deposited in the Ark to remain there, 
 in obcMlicnce to God's command in Deuteronomy, 
 
20 SYNOPSIS OF .n:\visii HtSTOftT. 
 
 Chap, xxxi: 26, it is not at all surprising that the 
 Jews have the original law in their possession, as 
 han led down from Moses, the Divine Legislator. 
 
 When Nehemiah was established in his new Gov- 
 ernment, Ezra being relieved from the public duties 
 and affairs of the State, now employed himself in 
 expounding the Scriptures to the people, from morn 
 till noon ; and that he might be properly heard and 
 understood, he had a platform fixed in one of the 
 widest streets in the City. Ezra, himself, was raised 
 upon the middle of the platform, and on each side of 
 him stood the Priests, who .were assistants and 
 interpreters; and as Ezra read the Law in the 
 Hebrew, the Priests explained it to the people in 
 the Chaldee language, which had become familiar to 
 them ia consequence of their l&ng sojourn in the 
 great City of Babylon. In thiS way it was, that all 
 the people of the Holy City, as well as those who 
 came from very distant parts, especially on the Festi- 
 vals and'Holy days, could thus have the Bible and the 
 Law explained to them, and their duty fully recom- 
 mended to them every day, or at least regularly 
 every Sabbath. 
 
 It must here be noticed, that all those Jews who 
 had settled themselves in Alexandria arid all the 
 Grecian Provinces, had the Bible interpreted to 
 them in the Greek language, after that the ]>il>le 
 had been translated into that language. From this 
 circumstance it arose that those of the people who 
 used the Greek language in the Synagogues, were 
 
THE JEWS IN THE DAYS OF EZRA. 21 
 
 called Hellenists, to distinguish them from those 
 who continued the use of the Chaldee language. 
 
 The last work which- Ezra performed, was, the 
 restoring to the people the sacred service of the 
 Temple, according to the original and usual form 
 before the captivity. He revised and amended the 
 Jewish Liturgy, adding many new prayers and forms 
 of Thanksgiving composed since the return from 
 Babylon, on the blessings of Liberty and freedom 
 from bondage. This pious and truly religious man 
 composed also the service used at the dedication of 
 the new Temple ; and he carefully arranged all 
 the Psalms and Hymns chanted on that occasion by 
 the Priests and the Levites, in the house of God. 
 Many of the prayers above noticed, are still extant 
 among the Jewi-h Nation, of which we shall have 
 to speak in a future Chapter. 
 
 Ezra as a Priest, a Preacher of righteousness, 
 and a skilful Scribe of the Law of God, umveariedly 
 continued the reformation he had begun. He spent 
 almost the whole of his time in preparing correct 
 editions of the Holy Scripture as during the cap- 
 tivity at Babylon, many copies had been lost, and 
 many of them had been destroyed by the enemy 
 those which remained were chiefly in the hands of 
 private individuals. Ezra, therefore, carefully ex- 
 amined these copies, and corrected those errors 
 winch may have been made, probably through the 
 carelessness of the various transcribers. 
 
 It is stated, that in the Church of Saint Dominic, 
 in Bononia, or Bologna, in Italy, there is a copy of 
 
12 SYNOPSIS OF .1 1.UIMI HISTORY. 
 
 the Law, kept with great care, said to be written by 
 Eira himself, upon leather made up into a roll 
 according to the ancient manner, and in the same 
 form as used now among the Israelites of the present 
 day. This very eminent, pious and good man, may 
 traly be said to be a second founder of the Jewish 
 Church and State a character highly esteemed, 
 honored and beloved zealous for his God, and 
 anxious only for the happiness and welfare of his 
 people. 
 
 Ezra had now been some years succeeded by his 
 i.and coadjutor Nehemiah, whom K/.ra had 
 oriirmally introduced at the Court of Persia : ami to 
 whom he had rendered every assistance in his power 
 to enable him to discharge his mission with credit to 
 himself, and satisfaction to the Government ly whom 
 he was engaged. 
 
 Ezra continued to employ the remainder of his 
 life in the religious affairs of his Nation. There is 
 some doubt entertained as to the place where he 
 died some suppose that he died and was buri-d in 
 Jerusalem others again assert that in his old a in- 
 returned to the Court of Persia, and died there 
 at the advanced age of one hundred and twenty 
 years. Ezra brings down the history of his Nation 
 to the twentieth year of Ahasuerus, the then reign- 
 ing .King of Persia 
 
CHAPTER -III. 
 
 Of the affairs of the Jewish Nation during the days of Xi-hoiniiih. 
 
 This great and good man stands a noble example 
 and instance of a zealous and disinterested patriot 
 in the cause of religion and its Divine author. 
 
 Nehemiah was the son of Ilechaliah, who was 
 one of the captive Jews- carried in early life to 
 Shushan, the metropolis of Persia. He had l>een 
 fortunate in obtaining an appointment in the Persian 
 Court, and he chose rather to continue in his office 
 at 'Court, than to return with his countrymen to 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 Nehemiah was born at Shushan. He was a man 
 of public spirit, learning and piety. He was ap- 
 pointed Cup-bearer to the King of Persia. In this 
 office he obtained the royal favor, which made him 
 much beloved at Court ; and he thus became a man 
 of great influence, and in the possession of considera- 
 ble wealth. Nehemiah had never seen Jerusalem, 
 although his ancestors had lived and died there ; lie, 
 however, had at all times expressed himself kindly 
 disposed towards his brethren, though strangers to 
 
SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 him, and he anxiously wished for an opportunity to 
 -e the influence of his high position for their 
 benefit 
 
 Nchemiah was taking a walk one t>\ onini: near Shu- 
 shan, and seeing some travelers who a] -inured to be 
 strangers going toward the city gates, curiosity led 
 him to listen to their conversation, which was held in 
 Hebrew, lie saluted the strangers, an<l en<niired of 
 them from what country they came ? Jerusalem, was ' 
 the reply. Anxious to know something of his people, 
 he entered deeply into conversation with the stran- 
 gers, and earnestly sought all the information 
 respecting his brethren in Jerusalem. He It arm -<1 
 from the travelers that the walls of the City 
 were broken down, and that the people were con- 
 stantly being annoyed and plundered by the riotous 
 banditti* who infested the neighborhood; that there 
 was no possibility of preventing these outrages, and 
 that every morning the roads were strewed with the 
 dying and the dead. 
 
 Nehemiah was so affected at the account of this 
 deplorable situation of his brethren, that he burst 
 forth into tears, and prayed fervently to God in 
 their behalf. While thus engaged and agitated in 
 mind, orders came from the Palace informing Nehe- 
 miah that the King demanded his presence. The 
 King observing sorrow depicted in the countenance 
 of his favorite Nehemiah, enquired the cause, in 
 which enquiry, the Queen who was present, also 
 joined, and seemed solicitous to know the reason of 
 his apparent grief. The King kindly asked Nehe- 
 
THE JEWS IN THE DAYS OF NEHEMIAIT. 25 
 
 miah what was the cause for sorrow and tears? 
 Nehemiah, encouraged by this favorable opportunity, 
 explained to the King the cause of his. grief, and 
 related to him that which he had previously heard 
 from the passing travelers. He then stated to the 
 King that Jerusalem was the City of his ancestry ; 
 that the walls and gates were broken down by its 
 enemies, and that all its inhabitants were being 
 murdered by the robbers who infested the place. 
 Nehemiah closed his sorrowful tale by presenting a 
 petition to the King, praying that he might be com- 
 missioned to go to Jerusalem, and be empowered to 
 repair the walls of the City. 
 
 The King in reply, said to Nehemiah, " Dry up 
 your tears and be cheerful ; your petition shall be 
 granted, and an order shall be given to assist you in 
 your noble and" praiseworthy undertaking." The 
 King then issued out immediate orders to Sanballat, 
 and other officers of his Court, to furnish Nehemiah 
 with money from the Royal Treasury, and every 
 necessary material to carry out the proposed object. 
 Nehemiah overflowing with joy and gratitude, fell 
 down on his face and poured out his soul in thanks 
 and praises to his Monarch for his inimitable good- 
 ness towards himself and his people. The King 
 then granted to Nehemiah leave of absence from 
 the Court, to fulfil the mission he had thus 
 undertaken. 
 
 Nehemiah set out immediately, for Babylon, and 
 took with him a sufficient number of men to accom- 
 pany him on his journey, together with a troop of 
 
I'SIS OF -.n: Wisn HISTORY. 
 
 which the King had given hhy as an escort. 
 Thus equipped, Nehemiah and all his company 
 arrived safely at the Holy City, Jerusalem. He 
 he/e shut- himself up three whole days in religious 
 .devotion and pious meditation. The three days 
 being ended, Nchomiah went forth towards evening 
 to examine the Citv and its walls. The ivport he 
 had received from the travelers whom he saw at 
 Shushan, proved to he quite true. 
 
 .: day Nehemiah assemhled all the Klders 
 and heads of the people, and made known to them 
 his commission, and likewise his object in coming to 
 Jerusalem. He then requested their co-operation, 
 in order to fulfil the task he had imposed upon him- 
 self. The people readily assented to all which the 
 good man proposed to them, and thus enabled him 
 to complete the work in repairing and fortifying the 
 walls. He engaged a numerous body of inechanies 
 and their families, and diligently presided daily over 
 the work himself, until the whole was completed. 
 
 The work being ended, and all in -good order, 
 uiah with true piety arid religious zeal, caused 
 a Dedication to be solemnized by the Priests and the 
 Levites, in gratitude to Almighty God, by whose 
 mighty power and parental care alone, the people 
 had thus far gained a victory over their unrelenting 
 persecutors'. 
 
 In the execution of this work, Nehemiah exhibited 
 great courage, and exposed himself to many dangers 
 and insults. He kept a body guard about him to 
 protect him from the attacks of the enemy, and 
 
THE JEWS IN THE DAYS OF NEHEMIAH. 27 
 
 personalty superintended the building of the walls. 
 He made the laborers work in armour ; both th 
 mason and his man carried swords, with shields lying 
 at their side, while trumpeters were placed at certain 
 distances, to sound the alarm at the approach of the 
 enemy. Nehemiah was once told of a conspiracy 
 formed against him, by assassins who had determined 
 to kill him, and his friends advised him to take refuge 
 in the Temple, but Nehemiah nobly replied : 
 " Should such a man as I flee ? Who is there, 
 being as I am, would go into the Temple to save his 
 life? I will not go in!" 
 
 The walls of the City having been finished, which 
 was the extent of the Commission granted to Nehe- 
 miah, he went back to Shushan to obtain further 
 orders ; and during his temporary absence, lie 
 entrusted the care of his Government and the City, 
 to two of his brothers. 
 
 On the return of Nehemiah to Jerusalem, he set 
 about fortifying the City, and beautifying the 
 Temple. It was at this time that Ezra the Scribe 
 delivered his public Lectures, as related in the 
 history of that great man. 
 
 Nehemiah zealously and diligently corrected all* 
 the abuses and disorders in the State, as fur as his 
 influence and authority enabled him. lie now culled 
 upon all the people for contributions- to beautify und 
 adorn the Temple, and for the support of its service ; 
 and in order to set a good example, he very liberally 
 gave from his own purse a thousand drachms of 
 gold, fifty dishes, and two hundred and fifty-two 
 
28 SYNOPSIS OF JEAVIMl HISTORY. 
 
 dresses for the Priests. He further arranged that 
 flie Priests and the Levites should be near the 
 Temple, so that they should at all times be regular 
 in their attendance at Divine Worship ; for which 
 purpose, Nehemiah had houses built in the imme- 
 diate neighborhood of the Temple. 
 
 Nehemiah kept a princely table, a splendid equip- 
 age, and a train of servants, altogether at his own 
 ense exacting no tribute whatever from any one, 
 but pviiiL r himself liberally, wherever it was required. 
 Thus with the highest honor, credit and generosity, 
 ' he completed the period of his Commission. 
 
 Nehemiah had now presided as Governor during 
 twelve years ; and therefore, according to his prom- 
 ise, he returned to the Court of Persia. After five 
 years residence at Shushan, Nehemiah obtained 
 permission to return to Jerusalem, and resume his 
 office as Governor. On his return he found great 
 depravity and corruption among the people, both in 
 the Church and the State. The people had sadly 
 neglected the service in the Temple they had 
 profaned the Sabbath by making it a day of traffic, 
 and following their usual avocations as on the other 
 Mays of the week. 
 
 Nehemiah immediately assembled all the Mag- 
 istrates and other ojpcers of the State, and severely 
 rebuked them for suffering the people to commit such 
 outrages against their Holy Religion. He then 
 ordered that the gates should be closed on every 
 Friday, from sun set, until Saturday ev.enjng after 
 dark by which "means all traffic was suspended 
 
THE JEWS IN THE DAYS OF NEHEMIAH. 29 
 
 and then it was, that the people were again brought 
 into the practice of keeping the Sabbath Holy, and 
 abstaining from all worldly matters during that 
 sacred day. 
 
 Nehemiah strenuously persisted in his good work, 
 by enforcing the observance of the Mosaic Law 
 throughout the length and breadth of the land ; he 
 had Lectures delivered daily in Jerusalem, in the 
 hearing of all the people, and the Pentateuch ex- 
 pounded in a language familiar to all the people. 
 This practice was first carried out in the open streets, 
 (as already noticed in the former Chapter,) or in 
 the public market places, as found most convenient, 
 until such time when arrangements could be made 
 for the establishment of Schools and Synagogues 
 suitable for such purposes. These Schools were, 
 however, not built nor in full action until some time 
 after the death of this venerable and pious man. 
 
 Nchemiah is supposed to be the last Governor of 
 the Jews sent from the Court of Persia. The 
 Government of Judea was afterwards conducted by 
 the High Priests, till the days when Alexander the 
 Great had totally ruined the Persian Empire. 
 Nehemiah lived till he became very far advanced 
 in years, happy in the love of his people, and in the 
 success of his honest and disinterested labors. 
 He recorded his own history, in which his name is * 
 transmitted to posterity with delight to all who read 
 of his zeal, and his religious devotion to the welfare 
 and improvement of his poor suffering brethren in 
 Jerusalem. 
 
SYNOPSIS OF .IK WISH HISTORY. 
 
 This truly pious and zealous patriot had hi* 
 recompense in this world, by the satisfaction lie had, 
 in seeing his good work carried out according to his 
 ardent wishes and anxious desires. He, together 
 with his cotemporary, the good Ezra, of whom AVC 
 d ready spoken, were devoted to the cause of 
 true religion ; they were not actuated by any 
 worldly selfishness, or literary fame, for they only 
 endeavored to restore the people to the original pure 
 : the Temple, such as was commanded and 
 practised by Moses and the Elders, and the subse- 
 quent generations, without any attempt on their 
 part to introduce new laws for the government <>{' 
 the Synagogue or Temple worship ; and hence they 
 succeeded in their noble and pious undertaking. 
 A bright example to all those whom God Almighty 
 in his wisdom may be disposed to select as Priests or 
 Chiefs over the people, to see that naught but the 
 true spirit of religion be preached and practised 
 among the people, to the honor and glory of Him 
 wb so graciously condescended to give his people a 
 code of laws for their guidance and instruction, in 
 every stage of existence. Nehemiah has trans- 
 mitted a name and reputation to all generations, 
 more honorable and- durable than the Grecian Pillar, 
 or ^Jie Roman Statue. His liberality, disinterested- 
 ness, courage and industry his affectionate feelings 
 and love for his country will live in the hearts of his 
 people forever and ever. 
 
 Before we close this Chapter, we must briefly 
 notice some events of deep interest and importance 
 
THE JEWS IN THE DAYS OF NEHEMIAH. 31 
 
 to the Jews, which took place in Persia, during the 
 days of Nehemiah. In the third year of the reign 
 of Ahasuerus, King of Persia, the whole Nation of 
 the Jews were in great danger of being destroyed 
 through the wicked misrepresentations of a haughty 
 and irtfperious Minister of the Persian Court ; this 
 was Haman, a descendant of Amalek, who was at 
 all times a dire enemy of the Jewish race. The 
 malicious designs of this crafty Amalekite, were 
 frustrated by the inscrutable ways of an all-wise 
 Providence, who never forsakes the good and' the 
 just, in the hour of distress. The King of lYr-iu 
 made a great Feast for his Captains and nobles, 
 after which, he made another Feast for all the 
 people who were found in the Metropolis of Shu- 
 shan. On the seventh day of this banquet, the 
 King commanded his Queen Vashti to appear in the 
 grand chamber before all the company who v 
 then assembled. It being contrary to the laws of 
 lYrsia for ladies to be seen in public assemblies, the 
 Queen refused to do the King's bidding. This 
 refusal of the Queen greatly incensed the King ; and 
 having consulted his Council as to the mode neces- 
 sary to be adopted on this occasion, the King at 
 their advice, removed Vashti from the Court, and 
 deprived her of all her regal glory. When the 
 King began to reflect on his hasty decree, he became 
 disconsolate, and sorely regretted the loss of his 
 favored Vashti. His friends and counsellors seeing 
 this change in the King's manners, divined the 
 cause, and endeavored to divert him therefrom, by 
 
32 OPSI8 OF JEWI>1I HISTORY. 
 
 advising and recommend inn; him to select for himself 
 another Queen, in the place of Vashti. The Kin-, 
 on reflection, approved the advice, and. accordingly 
 issued a Commission, throughout all his dominions, 
 to select the most celebrated beauties that could in- 
 found, and present them at court, from whom the 
 Kin-; might select one as his future Queen. 
 
 Among the many ladies thus presented to the 
 Persian Monarch, was a beautiful Jewess, nflmed 
 Esther, an orphan of both parents. She was brought 
 up and educated under the kind care of her cousin 
 Mordecai, a man of rank among the Jews, who 
 was at that time living in the Capital of Persia. 
 
 The King, on seeing Esther, was so charmed with 
 her personal appearance, the elegance of her deport- 
 ment, and her exquisite beauty, that he immediately 
 resolved to crown her as the future Queen of Persia ; 
 and accordingly in the seventh ye;ir f his reiirn, 
 the nuptials were celebrated in great pomp and 
 magnificence. 
 
 Esther now being at the Palace of the Persian 
 rdecaT considered it his duty to be m -ur 
 her, in order to watch over her as he did in the <i 
 of her youth and for this purpose he took \\\> his 
 station in one of the King's gates. This enabled 
 him to know all that was passing, without being par- 
 ticularly observed by those who frequented the 
 Court. About this time a conspiracy was formed 
 nst the life of the King, by two of his attendants. 
 M'rdecai, having discovered the plot, made known 
 the same to the King ; an investigation took place, 
 
THE JEWS IN THE DAYS OF NEHEMIAII. 33 
 
 and the charge being fully sustained, the criminals 
 were both executed, and the facts registered, in the 
 Persian records ; but no other reward was given to 
 Mordecai for his services. 
 
 The King's Prime Minister, Ilaman, had con- 
 tracted a strong antipathy against Mordecai, who 
 refused to .pay homage to him in the manner he hud 
 exacted from all the King's household. Not content 
 to punish Mordecai alone, for his supposed want of 
 respect to Hainan's dignity, he resolved to extir- 
 pate the whole race from off the face of the earth ; 
 and in order to accomplish this atrocious design,- 
 Haman represents to the king that the Jews were a 
 people different from the rest of the king's subjects, 
 and very disobedient to his laws. The king relying 
 on the truth of the statement made by his favorite 
 minister, and he offering to pay into the king's 
 treasury 10,000 talents of silver to pay necessary 
 expenses, the king gave him the power to do as he 
 thought proper ; and Haman accordingly appointed 
 a day for the total extermination of the whole Jewish 
 nation. This affair took place in the twelfth year of 
 the king's reign, and about five years after Ezra 
 had received his commission to go to Jerusalem. 
 
 Up to this period, none knew, not even the king 
 himself, that queen Esther was a Jewess, for her 
 cousin Mordecai had particularly enjoined her not to 
 divulge her kindred, nor her nation. Strictly did 
 Esther obey her cousin in everything that he con- 
 jured her ; and the result was that her obedience to 
 lii in, who was her second father and her natural 
 c 
 
"i ,i! \\ i-i! 
 
 ^uunlian, proved to be ..ributinu; i-au.-v 
 
 of he; :ii the Sole instrument in preventing 
 
 her nation tVoia 1 :y externnniiu-d. 
 
 all that had passed in 
 
 :;co to this decree, sent a in. [ueen 
 
 r of aH that had oecunvd, and 
 
 tiiii her to ^> to : ;ind petition him to 
 
 u hearing thj 
 
 news felt sorely grirved, and was at a lss lnw to 
 
 . that the laws of the Medes 
 
 onli- 
 
 on, on 
 
 hin_r th- Ki!i_ r without 
 
 ealled to .-3 he should emide- 
 
 nal <>f 
 
 loasure. lessago to her 
 
 cousiii . him th 
 
 such an undcrt ;; to which he rcpl'n-d, that it 
 was not her own personal safety that was in pi 
 
 urity of a whole race, wh<> \\rn- unjustly 
 condemned to perish hy the vilr artilies -.s !' an arro- 
 gant and aiuhi;' - feeling the ! ; 
 
 inade to herhy Monh- 
 :he risk of her own liie, to save her } 
 and to her great joy and ast t, tlie ui- 
 
 the king beheld her in the court, he kindly extended 
 the sign of mercy, and r a favorable recep- 
 
 tion. Esther, encourage* 1 by thi- 
 
 her husband the intentions and plot of 
 
 ndemned t (> 
 death. - dccai was favorably admitted into the 
 
THE JEWS IN THE DAYS OF NEHEMIAH. 35 
 
 king's household as the relative of the queen. The 
 king, by another royal edict, published throughout 
 all his dominions, that the Jews should be empowered 
 on the day named by Haman for their destruction, 
 to stand on their own defense ; and as this decree 
 became known all over the land to be the real wishes 
 of the sovereign, and Hainan being no more, it pro- 
 ved serviceable to the poor Jews, and fully answered 
 all that could have been expected ; but yet, not 
 without great slaughter among the people during the 
 various conflicts and battles which took place on the 
 day appointed. In these conflicts, the Jews stand- 
 ing only on their own defense, slew upwards of 
 severity-five thousand of their enemies, who rose up 
 against them. It is in commemoration of this signal 
 deliverance from their enemies, that the feast of 
 1'uriin is celebrated annually among the Jews through- 
 out the world. 
 
 Without referring to any particular cause, there 
 is no doubt that the influence of Esther, and that >f 
 Mordecai, who became high in honor, and a favorite 
 at the court of Persia, must have proved very bene- 
 ficial to the Jews in general, and especially those 
 who were in Jerusalem. Mordecai being now in 
 power, promoted all his kindred to posts of honor, 
 dignity and emolument ; and through his influence, 
 many of his countrymen became wealthy and pros- 
 perous. Here we may observe how the overruling 
 providence of God is signally displayed. Mordecai 
 retained his influence with the king, being the next 
 in the administration ; he was beloved and revered 
 
36 SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 by all his brethren, whose happiness and welfare were 
 his constant study. 
 
 It is stated, that in a place called Amdam, in 
 Persia, the tombs of both Mordecai and Esther are 
 still to be seen, and are highly prized by all the 
 Jews living in Persia and the adjacent countries. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Of the stato of the Jewish Nation under the- Persian and the Grecian 
 Monarchies. 
 
 After the death of Nehemiah, Judea became sub- 
 jected to those whom the Kings of Persia made 
 Governors of Syria. These governors placed the 
 regulation of affairs under the control of the high 
 priest, who had all the sacred authority, as well as 
 civil power, vested in him, but still he was under the 
 direction of the governor of Syria. This arrange- 
 ment, however, was frequently interrupted by the 
 different governors and princes, from time to time, 
 who occasionally appointed other persons, not of the 
 family of the priests, to officiate in such sacred office. 
 
 It is recorded in the book of Nehemiah, that 
 when Johannan, the son of Jehoiada, had been in 
 possession of the royal priesthood during many 
 years, Bagoses, the governor of Syria, appointed 
 Jeshua the younger brother of Johannan to depose 
 him, and take the priesthood to himself. This 
 caused considerable disturbance and dissatisfaction ; 
 a tumult arose in the inner court of the Temple, and 
 Jeshua was slain there by his brother. 
 
38 >isis OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 Bagoses, the governor of Syria, incensed at such 
 opposition to hi< \ie\\ >. immediately entered the 
 inner court of the Temple, in defiance of tlic re- 
 monstrance of ' . \\lio explained t> him that 
 he was unclean, and therefore unfit to enter the- holy 
 edifice. In reply, Bagoses proudly remarked M that 
 he was purer than the dead carcass of him whom 
 they had slain there :" and a* a punishment tor this 
 outrage, he imposed a heavy fine for every lamb that 
 was offered throughout the year. 
 
 About this period the Jews were most miracu- 
 lously saved from the threatened oppression ami 
 resentment of Alexander the Great, king of Mace- 
 donia, in ' sho had marched toward the city 
 in \\ith a powerful army, determined to 
 t the people for refusing to assist him in the 
 siege of Tyre. 
 
 At the time when Alexander declared war against 
 the people of Tyre, they were so wholly occupied ai 
 merchants that they had entirely neglected all agri- 
 cultural pursuits, and consequently had to be supplied 
 with provisions by their immediate neighbors. Judea 
 was at this time the place from which they were 
 mostly furnished with all that they required. Alex- 
 ander was necessarily compelled to seek provisions 
 from the same source, and accordingly sent his 
 orders to that effect. The Jews had previously 
 declared their allegiance to Darius, and considered 
 that they were bound in faith not to acknowledge 
 any new power during his lifetime, and therefore 
 refused to obey tjie command of the proud Mace- 
 
JEWS UNDER PERSIAN AND CREEK MONARCIIS. 39 
 
 donian. Alexander, being then in the zenith of his 
 gl'ry, having been so eminently successful in his 
 late wars, considered that every nation was bound to 
 submit to him, and that he durst not be contradicted. 
 The refusal of the Jews in this respect, greatly 
 incensed Alexander ; he marched towards Jerusa- 
 lem determined to punish the Jews, as he had the 
 Syrians, for not obeying his commands* The Jews, 
 fearing the consequences of the Emperor's pow.-r, 
 which was certainly great at that time, iVlt severely 
 the dilemma into which they were thus innocently 
 involved : and as usual wilh the chosen people of i"d 
 when in distress they hud no other course to adopt 
 but to rely on the protection of Him who hud at all 
 tiuh i.'d to their call, in the hour of trouble. 
 
 For this purpose all Jerusalem w< : to- 
 
 ,'.T in prayer and supplication, and ollering addi- 
 tional sacrifices in the Temple imploring the mercy 
 of Clod in their great distress. The high priest 
 then gave instructions that the gates of the city 
 should be thrown open, and that all the priests should 
 be clad in their official robes, (he himself being atti- 
 red in his pontifical habiliments,) and that all the 
 elders and heads of the nation should go forth to 
 meet the conqueror in grand procession. On the 
 approach of Alexander to the city, and beholding 
 this imposing scene, he was smitten with profound 
 awe and religious veneration, lie saluted the high 
 priest and tenderly embraced him entered the city 
 in the most friendly manner, declaring himself the 
 friend and protector of Israel. The Syrians and 
 
40 >1*S1S OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 Phoenicians, who being tho enemies of the Jews, 
 were in expectation that the Emperor would wivuk 
 ngeance on them and destroy them as In- had 
 those of Tyre, surprised and disappointed at this sud- 
 den change of the Emperor's conduct, naturally 
 enquired into the cause ; to which Alexander replied, 
 that while at Macedonia he had a dream, in which 
 he saw the figure of the same hi_rh j.rie.-t, div 
 his sacerdotal robes, encouraging him to pursue his 
 expedition against the Persians, and promising him 
 success ; which was fully realized beyond his most 
 sanguine expectations. In the person of the present 
 high priest, he saw the same figure \\hich had ap- 
 peared to him at Dio, and therefore he concluded 
 that his success was mainly attributable to th 
 of God ; and that, in the person of the high priest, 
 he paid adoration to God in gratitude for the favor 
 thus conferred upon him. 
 
 \ander, thus pacified, enquired 'of the Jews 
 what favor they had to ask of him, which was in his 
 power to grant ; to which they replied, the privilege 
 of being governed by their own laws, and to have 
 no obstruction in following the religion of their fore- 
 fathers, which was more dear to them than all 
 worldly distinctions. This request was" accordingly 
 granted; and further, as a mark of Alexander's 
 favor, they were to be exempt from paying tribute or 
 taxes during the seventh year, because in that year 
 they neither sowed nor reaped their land. 
 
 Alexander then requested the high priest to have 
 a golden image of his likeness placed between the 
 
JEWS UNDER PERSIAN AND GREEK MONARCHS. 41 
 
 porch and the altar, as a memorial of his visit. 
 The high priest in reply to the Emperor, explained to 
 him that according to the Jewish law, it was forbidden 
 to have any image or likeness set up in the house of 
 God, which was exclusively devoted to the worship 
 of Him who is the sole ruler" of the universe. But, 
 said the high priest, we will make a greater memo- 
 rial for you, which shall descend to ages yet to 
 come ; that all the male children which shall be 
 born unto the priests during the coming year, shall 
 be named after your imperial majesty, in honor of 
 your illustrious condescension and clemency on this 
 momentous occasion. 
 
 The king expressed himself highly pleased with 
 this promise of the high priest, and in token of his 
 approbation presented a considerable amount of gold 
 for the use of the Temple service. Alexander then 
 retired, -well satisfied with all that -had transpire! : 
 and on leaving the Temple, he declared in a very 
 fervent tone, " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, 
 the God of this house." 
 
 Alexander, on leaving Palestine, marched into 
 Egypt, over which he made an easy conquest, as the 
 people having heard of his success, immediately 
 surrendered ; and thus he became master of that 
 country. He built the city of Alexandria, and 
 peopled it with different nations, among whom were 
 many Israelites, "who enjoyed the same privileges 
 with the rest of his subjects. 
 
 In the following spring, Alexander became perfect 
 master of the whole of the Persian Empire ; he then 
 c* 
 
42 SYNOPSIS OF JEW! Ml HISTORY. 
 
 made war with India and concurred it. Elated with 
 
 -s in all his enterprises, he indulged in all the 
 
 96fl of life, and within five years from this time 
 
 he died from the effects produced by sueh an extrav- 
 
 mode of life. A short time after his death, 
 
 the Empire was divided* among four of Alexander's 
 
 generals, and then the Jewish nation fell into the 
 
 of Ptolemy Soter, who became master of 
 
 Egypt, Arabia, Gael Syria, and Palestine of Judea, 
 
 these countries being his share of the division of the 
 
 Empire of Alexander. 
 
 The kings of Egypt and Syria being constantly at 
 war with each other, and desirous of rnlaririm: 
 their dominions, the Jews were at a loss whose cause 
 to support, as they were called upon by all parties. 
 This placqfi them in extreme difficulties, being in 
 danger on both sides, and consequently 'badly ti 
 ty both parties in power. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Of tlu- affairs of the Jewish Nation under Ptolemy Sotcr, Ptolemy 
 riiilaJclplms, and Ptolemy Phllopatcr, Kings of Egypt. 
 
 Ptolemy Soter signified his intention to make 
 Alexandria, in Egypt, his capital city. Il< 
 suaded many of the Israelites to settle there, with 
 the promise that the same privileges granted them 
 by Alexander, should be continued to them. This 
 boon induced numbers of Jews to settle in Alex- 
 andria. 
 
 A remarkable story is told of one Mossolam, a 
 Jew, who was one of those who followed Ptolemy at 
 this time. This Mossolam was one of a Jewish 
 troop of horse, who were advised by some soothsayer 
 to stand still at the sight of a bird which appeared 
 in the air, and that the people should follow the 
 direction of this bird, either to go one way or the 
 other, as that bird took its flight ; to test the truth 
 of which, this Mossolam shot the bird with his 
 arrow, and the bird fell dead at his feet. He then 
 declared aloud to the people, " How could that poor 
 bird foretell our fortune, which knew nothing of its 
 
I I SYNOPSIS OP JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 own ?" Ilis object was, in this expression, to expose 
 the superstition of the heathens, so prevalent in 
 those days. 
 
 Ptolemy Soter established a college of K;unl 
 men, at Alexandria, in Egypt, and commenced a 
 library there, which Ptolemy Philadelphia, his 
 youngest son and successor, improved to one hun- 
 dred thousand volumes. It is stated that this prince 
 ordered the Pentateuch to be translated into the 
 Greek language, that the Gentiles might be enabled 
 to read it ; this was accordingly done, and placed in 
 the great library, as we shall read hereafter. 
 
 This college of learned men was encouraged, and 
 the library increased under the several Ptolemys till 
 it contained seven hundred thousand books. This 
 circumstance made Alexandria the place of residence 
 and resort for learned men during several ages. It 
 happened, unfortunately for posterity, that one half 
 of this famous library was burnt by Julius Caesar in 
 his Alexandrian war, and the balance was finally 
 destroyed by the Saracens, in the year 042 of the 
 Christian era. 
 
 Ptolemy gained the favor of the Jews, by paying 
 a ransom of one hundred thousand of their country- 
 men, who had been taken captive and made slaves in 
 Egypt. Having thus ingratiated himself into their 
 good opinions, he proposed the translation of the 
 Pentateuch above mentioned, in the following man- 
 ner : he selected six Elders out of . each tribe, 
 making the number of seventy-two ; these he invited 
 to his court, and engaged them to perform the task, 
 
THE JEWS UNDER THE KINGS OF EGYPT. 45 
 
 which was accordingly done and approved by him ; 
 and in token of his approbation, he very liberally 
 rewarded them for their labors. This translation is 
 known by the name of the Septuagint so called 
 from the circumstance of there having been seventy- 
 two learned men employed for that purpose. The 
 Septuagint is, however, by no means considered a 
 correct translation, there being many incongruities 
 contained therein ; the rendering of many passages 
 being at variance with the original Hebrew. Tho 
 translation of the prophets, etc., into Greek, was 
 made many years later, in the days of Antiochus 
 Epiphanes ; this completed the translation of the 
 whole of the Old Testament. 
 
 When Ptolemy Philopater reigned over Egypt 
 and Syria, he ' persisted in offering up sacrifices in 
 gratitude to the God of Israel, for his success against 
 Antiochus the Great, the successor of Seleucus, 
 king of Syria. The Jews naturally opposed this 
 measure, and were consequently persecuted because 
 of their strict adherence to their religion. 
 
 The kings of Syria and Egypt, in order to annoy 
 the Jews, would force themselves into the holy 
 Temple, and burn sacrifices upon the altar. It is 
 related of Ptolemy Philopater that he insisted on 
 entering even the holy of holies. The priests and 
 the levites, and all the people, assembled together 
 in prayer and supplication to the Almighty, to assist 
 them in preventing the sanctuary from being polluted 
 by the heathen. It happened that, when the king 
 was about to enter the holy Temple, he was smitten 
 
"PS1S OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 with such terror and confusion of mind, that he \\as 
 removed from the holy ])lacc almost lifeless. 
 
 kini;, on his recovery from this attack, which 
 I was caused by the prayers of the people, 
 was determined to be revenged on the whole Jewish 
 nation ; for which purpose, he went to Alexandria, 
 and commanded that all the >hould sacrifice 
 
 to his idols. The peoph nil refused to do so, 
 
 on which account he deprived them of all the privi- 
 leges which had been granted to them by Alexander 
 the Great. He then directed that every Jew should 
 be marked with an ivy leaf, (the same beini: the 
 badge of his idol Bacchus,) burned in their flesh 
 with a hot iron; and further, that all those \sli<> 
 resisted this infliction, should either be made slaves 
 r put to death. Some few of the "poor Jews reluct- 
 antly obeyed the king's mandate, in order to prevent 
 the tl punishment ; but many thousands of 
 
 them stood firm hi the religion of their fathers, and 
 suffered all the persecutions of the tyrant, rather 
 than forsake the God who had wrought so many 
 miracles in their behalf. 
 
 Ptolemy, vexed to find that the people would not 
 sacrifice to his idols, and that they submitted to 
 every degradation rather than forsake their God, 
 resolved to be revenged, and threatened to destroy 
 and annihilate the whole of the nation; and this 
 he attempted to do, by issuing an order that all the 
 Jews who lived in and about Egypt, should be 
 brought to Alexandria in chains, and there to be 
 red by his elephants. The Jews were brought 
 
THE JEWS UNDER THE KINGS OF EGYPT. 47 
 
 to the place of execution, where the elephants were 
 made drunk with wine and frankincense, and then 
 let loose among the people ; but instead of falling 
 upon . the Jews, they turned their rage upon the 
 spectators who came to witness the scene, and 
 destroyed great numbers of them, leaving the Jews 
 unhurt. 
 
 The king on seeing his plans frustrated, began to 
 reflect, and to be convinced that the God of Israel 
 would protect his people from their enemies ; and 
 fearing that he would become the victim of the 
 vengeance of a justly offended God, he immediately 
 revoked his cruel decree, and restored to the people 
 all their former privileges. Those, however, who 
 had forsaken their God and abandoned their religion 
 by sacrificing to his idols, were delivered into the 
 hands of their enemies, and many of them were put 
 to death. 
 
 How just are the dispensations of Provid 
 and how secure is man under the most perilous cir- 
 cumstances, while he puts his trust in his God and 
 remains firm to the true worship of Him who is ever 
 watchful of the safety of his faithful and trustworthy 
 followers. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Of the Jewtah affair* under AnUochiu the Greek, Seleacot, and AnUocboi 
 Eplphne, Kings of ByrU. 
 
 After the death of Ptolemy Philopater, Ptolemy 
 Epiphaoes came to the throne. The Jews, having 
 experienced severe persecutions at the hands of the 
 Ptolemys, surrendered to the power of Antiochus 
 the Great, King of Syria ; and when he came to 
 Jerusalem, the people went out to meet him in great 
 procession, and very graciously welcomed him to their 
 
 Antiochus, flattered by this mark of their attention 
 granted them the same privileges as he had done to 
 their brethren who had settled themselves in Babylon 
 a if I Mesopotamia. He had at all times expressed 
 himself satisfied with the conduct of the people, 
 having found them on all occasions true and loyal 
 subjects. 
 
 Antiochus, wishing to show his confidence in the 
 Jews, and with a view of encouraging them, sent 
 many of them from Babylon to Lower Asia, to guard 
 and protect his forts and garrisons, and allowed them 
 
THE JEWS UNDER THE KINGS OF SYRIA. 49 
 
 good settlements ; hence many of the Jewish nation 
 peopled that part of the country. At the death of 
 Antiochus, his son, Seleucus Philopater, succeeded 
 him. In his day, Simon, a Bcnjamite, was made 
 Governor -of the Temple. He had some difference 
 with Onias, the high priest, who was a very good 
 man. Simon, however, not succeeding in his expec- 
 tations with the high priest, reported to Appolonius, 
 the Governor of the Province under Seleucus, that 
 great treasures were deposited in the Temple ; upon 
 which information Heliodorus, the treasurer, was sent 
 to seize them. 
 
 Heliodorus accordingly repaired to the Temple to 
 make this seizure. When he entered the Templo he 
 found the priests and all the people engaged in 
 solemn prayer to Almighty God, imploring his divine 
 assistance in their present distress. The scene which 
 thus presented itself to him at that moment so pow- 
 erfully affected him, that he fell prostrate before the 
 Lord of Hosts, whose power he publicly acknowl- 
 edged, and resolved not to interfere with the people 
 of God, as he called them, and immediately left the 
 city. 
 
 Antiochus Epiphanes succeeded his brother Seleu- 
 cus in the kingdom of Syria. When seated on the 
 throne, Jason, the brother of Onias the high priest, 
 bribed Antiochus with a large sum of money to de- 
 prive Onias of the priesthood and to banish him to 
 Aiitioch ; at the same time Jason wished to have the 
 priesthood conferred on him ; not, as it is supposed, 
 that he wished to have it as a religious office, but be- 
 
M .n:\vi-n in>r<n;v. 
 
 91 him I'lkcAiM' ttith tlu> ] -wor of 
 
 -vrmii.-;.- chua received the bribe; 
 
 ied Ouias to Antioch, a .!>i>oiutcd Jason 
 
 to the otti i priest. 
 
 i -on became 1: ; huv 
 
 Jerusalem for training up youth ac- 
 eordini: t> tlu of tbc Greeks, and induced 
 
 to forsako the religious customs and 
 usages of their 1' s and to conform in 
 
 things t> toms and ceremonies 
 
 as. Some few years after Jason had lucn in 
 mmissioiud h -us to^ ( , to 
 
 tlie c< to j>ay tlic annual trilmto n 
 
 lus took advantage of th rtunity, an I 
 
 .be than his bruthrr liad 
 -;!; ..... 1. 
 
 Antiochus made no scruplo in the matter, and ac- 
 cepted the money thus offered by Mrn.-l:ms: and 
 gave instructions to bis secretary to make out a 
 commission in favor of M.-nclaus, who return. -d tri- 
 umphantly to Jerusalem, deposed his brother Jason, 
 and placed himself in the office of the priesth 
 
 being in office, abused the power and 
 rity vested in him, and conducted himself in a 
 manner much worse than his brother whom he had 
 deposed. He stole some of the golden vessels from 
 the Temple, impoverished the country, and by de- 
 grees he managed to enslave the whole of Judea, 
 and overturned all that was left of her religion and 
 h'.T freedom. He then vi- -ch, whore he 
 
 met his brother Onias, who rebuked him for his mis- 
 
THE JEWS UNDER THE KINGS OF SYRIA. 51 
 
 conduct both towards him and the people in general. 
 Menelaus, chagrined at his brother's rebuke, adopted 
 means by which Onias was put to death. During 
 this time, Lysimachus, who had been appointed by 
 Menelaus to officiate as his deputy during his absence, 
 stripped the temple of many of its most costly ves- 
 sels. He also committed many other sacrilegious acts ; 
 this occasioned a great tumult and confusion among 
 the people, which ended in considerable bloods' 
 and in which conflict the deputy himself fell a victim. 
 
 This circumstance led to a false report IK-HILT in- 
 dustriously circulated, that Antiochus had fallen in 
 the affray. Jason, availing himself of this confusion, 
 headed an army of resolute and desperate men ; re- 
 paired to Jerusalem which he assaulted ; suco 
 cd in putting to flight his brother Menelaus with 
 his party, and committed great havoc among those 
 who opposed him. Jason, however, was in the end 
 defeated; his party routed ; he himself perished in 
 some strange land, and it is supposed even without 
 the usual rites of burial. 
 
 Antiochus hearing of this affair, and imagining 
 that Judea had revolted, gave immediate orders to 
 his "soldiers to repair to Jerusalem and to kill young 
 and old without any reserve. The soldiers obeyed 
 their cruel master in so unmerciful a manner, that in 
 less than three days upwards of forty thousand souls 
 were slain ; thousands taken into captivity, and sold 
 as slaves to the several neighboring nations. 
 
 Antiochus then entered the holy Temple, stripped 
 it of all the sacred vessels still remaining the altar 
 
52 SYNOPSIS OP JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 of incense the golden table and the golden candle- 
 stick. 
 
 He then destroyed all the beautiful decorations of 
 the House of (rod, robbed the noble edifice of all its 
 treasures, and impiously polluted the holy of holies. 
 And to further satiate his cruel revenge, he sacrificed 
 a sow on the altar of burnt offerings, and scattered 
 its fragments over every part of the Temple. The 
 tyrant then departed, leaving the city of Jerusalem 
 overwhelmed in sorrow and in mourning. The streets 
 were strewed with the dying and the dead. The 
 cries and lamentations of the orphan and the widow 
 deplored the loss of their natural protectors and 
 their property, which the tyrant carried away with 
 him to enrich his unholy possessions. 
 
 Some time after, Antiochus sent his general Ap- 
 pollonius to collect the annual tribute to which the 
 Jews were subject, and at the same time com- 
 manded him at the head of a thousand men, to attack 
 the city of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, while the 
 people were all engaged in their religious worship in 
 the Temple. 
 
 Appollonius fully executed the mandate of his 
 cruel master. He slew the priests and the Levitcs 
 while at their sacred duties, together with numbers 
 of the private citizens ; led the women and children 
 into captivity ; destroyed all their houses ; built a 
 castle near the Temple, and placed a troop of men 
 as guards to watch and annoy those few Jews who 
 still remained in the city. 
 
 Not yet satisfied, the cruel tyrant issued a decree 
 
THE JEWS UNDER THE KINGS OF SYRIA. 53 
 
 throughout all his dominions to suppress every reli- 
 gion excepting the worship of the idols, he himself 
 had set up, and to which alone he paid his adoration. 
 Ho forbade the Jews to perform the initiatory rite 
 on their male children, and prevented them from 
 offering any more sacrifices in the Temple to the God 
 of Israel. He then set up an image upon the altar, 
 and sacrificed to it, and called it the Temple of Jupi- 
 ter Olympus. He compelled the people to offer up 
 the flesh of swine, and other unclean beasts, and 
 even to eat of them. He forced the Jews to profane 
 the sabbath, and cruelly persecuted all such who did 
 not strictly conform to his wishes ; rendering the posi- 
 tion of the poor Jews pitiable in the extreme, and 
 ' probably unequalled by any othor nation in the annals 
 of the world. Antiochus then ordered all the books 
 of the law, and other books used for worship, to be 
 destroyed ; and to effectually carry out his cruel edict, 
 officers were appointed to search every house, and 
 every person was examined on oath as to the 
 possession of any Hebrew books or tablets. By this 
 means not a copy of the law was to be seen among 
 the poor Jews. Notwithstanding all these persecu- 
 tions, there were found numbers of the people who 
 defied the power of the merciless king ; and putting 
 their trust in the God of Israel, would not defile 
 themselves with the idolatrous worship then imposed 
 on them, and break the law of God. Sad to relate, 
 that daily and hourly these people who adhered to 
 their religion, were put to the sword and other tor- 
 ments, to compel them to act in obedience to the 
 
>H HIM'ORY. 
 
 king's orders. Their love for their religion was 
 greater Uiun the pleasures of this world, and in sup- 
 port of that religion they sacrificed th-:r own lives 
 and those of their wives and children. 
 
 In the next and following chapters we shall inform 
 our readers of the manner in which the L->rd raised 
 up champions in Israel, who valiantly and bravely 
 resented the injuries inflicted on their countrymen, 
 and zealously fought the battles of the Lord : the 
 success which ensued, together with the total <h -li-at 
 of their enemies, and the punishment which awaited 
 yrant Antiochus and his army. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 <l ihc state of the Jewish Nation in the days of Mattathia* tlu Friest, 
 the father of the valiant Maccabcc*. 
 
 Iii the days of the tyrant Antiochus, who so 
 frightfully and cruelly persecuted the Jcus, bb 
 lived at Modiu a very learned, pious, and noblo 
 priest; he was of the family of the Asmoncans, 
 named Mattathias. This zealous and brave man 
 was one of the first who was determined to oppose 
 the future progress of Antiochus. Mattathias, who 
 was known to be a man of considerable influence 
 among his brethren, was highly complimented by 
 the king's officers, and tempted by them to comply 
 with the reijuest of the king to renounce the Jewish 
 religion arid embrace that of the heathen. The priest 
 boldly and fearlessly rejected their entreaties ; and 
 in the hearing of all the people he declared that no 
 consideration whatever should induce him, or any of 
 his family, to forsake his God and his holy religion ; 
 they would continue to walk in the sacred path of 
 their fathers, and that no king on earth could be 
 found to compel them to adopt any heathen worship. 
 
56 SYNOPSIS OK jr.W!<H HISTORY. 
 
 This bold declaration of the valiant priest, creat- 
 ed great sensation among the people and some of 
 them fearing the torments threatened to he inflicted 
 on all such who refused to obey the king's orders, 
 consented to offer sacrifices on the altar set up fur 
 heathen worship; this altar was placed at Modin. 
 The priest, zealous in the cause of his religion, was 
 determined to be avenged of this outrage commit ted 
 by some of his brethren ; he exhorted the people in 
 general, not to be led away by the acts of these 
 apostates, but to remain true to their holy faith, and 
 that he and his family would pour out their life's 
 blood for their sacred cause. 
 
 At this time a Jew presented himself at the altar, 
 and sacrificed to the idol there erected. Matta- 
 thias, fired by religious zeal, fell upon the apostate 
 and slew him on the spot. His sons, actuated by the 
 same religious spirit, slew the king's chief officer 
 and his men who enforced his wicked commands. 
 They then destroyed both the altar and the images, 
 declaring aloud to all their brethren, " -Ye who are 
 zealous for the cause of the Lord and His religion, 
 follow us ! Follow, follow !" The priest then col- 
 lected together all the members of his family, and 
 took up his abode in the neighboring mountains. 
 Many of the Jws followed this example, and fled 
 some to the deserts, some to the mountains, and 
 there assembling together, formed themselves into a 
 little army bold, resolute, zealous and brave in 
 their just and noble cause. 
 
 .The king's troops pursued them, and attacked 
 
THE JEWS IN THE DAYS OF MATTATHIAS. 57 
 
 them on the Sabbath .day. The people unwilling to 
 profane the Sabbath, made no resistance, unani- 
 mously declaring, " Let us rather die in innocence 
 than triumph in guilt." The enemy taking advan- 
 tage of this, slew them in great numbers. The 
 venerable Mattathias grieved at seeing his brethren 
 so cruelly and innocently murdered, made a decree, 
 (having previously consulted his brother priests,) 
 and published it throughout the land, that it should 
 be lawful, should it be found requisite, for the people 
 to defend themselves against their enemies, in the 
 event of their being attacked, on the Sabbath day. 
 This resolution was adopted and followed in all the 
 subsequent wars, under the direction of their able 
 and pious champions. 
 
 When Antiochus heard of this bold and daring 
 resolution, so much beyond his expectations, he 
 perpetrated the most frightful cruelties on every 
 Jew who would not forsake his religion. On this 
 occasion happened the martyrdom of the venerable 
 and pious Eleazer, a priest of great learning, probity 
 and zeal in the cause of religion. At the advanced 
 age of ninety years, this poor man was led forth to 
 the scaffold, and was desired to make a public decla- 
 ration that he would renounce his religion that he 
 should eat swine's flesh in the presence of all the 
 people, as a proof of his conversion. With resolute 
 firmness, and becoming resentment, the venerable 
 priest refused to comply with the wishes of the 
 tyrant, and preferred death rather than forsake the 
 religion of the one true God. 
 D 
 
58 SYNOPSIS OF .11 .WISH 
 
 At this period it occurred, th:it ;i mother mid her 
 
 BOM \\.-re se.'iirjrd in order to com] id them to 
 eat swine's flesh. Both the mother and her sous 
 publicly declared their resolution to die under ilio 
 hands of the executioner, rather than trans^r.-ss the 
 .laws of God. The tyrant then ordered their limits 
 to be cut off, their tongues to be cut out, and the 
 
 : their heads to be stripped off with the hair; 
 
 all which wase\ e "f the mother, 
 
 Iclren to suffer their tortures 
 
 bravely in the cause of their religion. She soothed 
 
 afflictions by the tenderest affections, 1- 
 ing them to t i. and not the tyrant and 
 
 .try to endure the torment, in the hj,e and 
 expectation of a happy and glorious resurrect inn, 
 where she would meet them again in mercy, and 
 under the protection of an all gracious father, who 
 never forsakes the truly righteous. The mother 
 having witnessed the sufferings of all her sons, 
 martyrs to the cause of their religion, shared the 
 same sad fate, and under similar torments was ush- 
 
 into eternity. 
 
 tt a noble example to parents of the present 
 day to watch over the conduct of their children, and 
 exert all the means in their power to induce them to 
 walk in the path of virtue ; to inculcate in them 
 true religion, and not suffer them to think so lightly 
 of the precepts of the Lord for it must be admitted 
 
 lie apathy evinced in the present day by all 
 classes of society, is the sole contributing cause of 
 the infidelity so prevalent amongst us. If we are 
 
THE JEWS IN THE DATS OP MATTATHIAS. 59 
 
 asked what is the cause of this infidelity, the 
 answer is, the Holy Bible is not studied sufficiently, 
 either privately or publicly ; and not being under- 
 stood, is consequently rejected by thousands of those 
 who . grow up in ignorance ; hence, in the hour of 
 distress, they have nothing to console them, as in 
 olden times, as exhibited in the history before us. 
 
 During this time, Mattathias who still remained 
 concealed in the mountains, encouraged his brethren 
 to remain firm in their cause. He spoke so em- 
 phatically to them that he gained their confidence, 
 in consequence of which, great numbers declared 
 themselves true to the noble enterprise before 
 them. Those who more particularly were devoted 
 to the cause, were such as were called chasicl 
 or pious ; of this sect we shall have to speak in a 
 future chapter, and therefore we shall proceed with 
 our narrative, in which we shall see the result of 
 true piety and honest zeal in the defence of upright 
 principles. 
 
 Mattathias and his party then marched, well 
 armed, through all the towns and villages, destroyed 
 all the altars and places of worship belonging to the 
 heathens. They then circumcised all the male 
 children, who had been neglected in this matter in 
 consequence of the edict passed by the tyrant Anti- 
 ochus. In this affair they met with very strong 
 opposition, and in their defence they committed 
 great slaughter among their enemies. They succeed- 
 ed on this occasion in recovering many copies of the 
 law, which had been hid at the tune the mandate 
 
60 SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 was issued to destroy all the copies of the law, or 
 any other Hebrew manuscripts which might be found 
 among the people. The venerable and pious priest 
 had now grown grey in the service, and appeared to 
 be fast approaching the verge of the grave. Sensi- 
 ble of his position, Mattathias assembled together all 
 his children, together with his friends, and on his 
 death bed he thus addressed them : 
 
 44 My sons, be ye valiant and zealous in the cause 
 44 1 have so long advocated expose your lives in its 
 44 defence, and hereafter you will share the glorious 
 44 reward of your perseverance. Let me, says the 
 44 dying man, bring to your memory the spirit, the 
 44 noble spirit and pious zeal of your ancestors, to 
 44 animate your hope, and to encourage your steady 
 44 reliance on the power and protection of. your all- 
 44 gracious God. Thus inspired, my dear chiUhvn, 
 44 and thus determined to defend your laws, your 
 ft liberties, and .your religion, you will not, you 
 44 cannot fail of success. My son Simon has proved 
 44 himself a man of wisdom, follow his advice as a 
 44 father, and as a counselor. Judas, your brother, 
 44 is well known for his courage and valorous conduct, 
 " let him be your general, let him head your army 
 44 and lead you to the battle-field. My sons, may 
 44 God Almighty ever protect you and prosper you in 
 44 all your righteous undertakings, and crown all your 
 44 laudable efforts with success." 
 
 After this tender and affectionate interview, this, 
 his last and farewell advice to his sons, Mattathias 
 in a good old age expired, and was honorably buried 
 
THE JEWS IN THE DAYS OF MATTATHIAS. 61 
 
 at Modin, in the sepulchre of his ancestors beloved 
 and esteemed by all who knew him in life, and 
 revered and lamented by all who attended his mortal 
 remains to the grave. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Tb OoTemoMOt of the Jewbh nation under the Maccabecu, or aa they 
 wen othenrbe called, the Aunoncaiu, thU being the family name. 
 
 Judas, at the dying request of his father, and 
 with the full consent of his brothers, took upon hiin- 
 ?rlf the command of the forces, and at once erected 
 his standard. Judas is henceforth called Ju<la> 
 Maccabees, because he chose for the motto of his 
 banner in the field of battle, the sentence from the 
 song of Moses, Exodus, chap, xv : " Who is like 
 unto thee, amongst the powers, oh Lord!" In 
 Hebrew the initials of the words in the sentence 
 form the word " Mochbee." Hence it is, that all 
 those who fought under the banner of Judas, were 
 called " Maccabees" and all of that race were 
 known by that name. 
 
 Judas and his brethren achieved many very val- 
 iant deeds, in defending the cause of the holy law, 
 and the holy religion of the God of Israel, of which 
 they were the bold champions. Judas was success- 
 ful in gaining the many battles he fought with 
 Antiochus : and to encourage his army to fight 
 
 
THK JEWS UNDER THE MACCABEES. 63 
 
 bravely, he exhorted them to put their trust in God 
 and that they would conquer. This inducement held 
 out to the army, appears to have produced the 
 desired effect. 
 
 The tyrant Antiochus, seeing their repeated suc- 
 cess, became resolute and determined to be avenged 
 of his powerful opponents, the Maccabees. To 
 effectuate this, he adopted the following stratagem : 
 when he went into Persia to gather the tribute of the 
 countries round about, he left Lysias with half his 
 army, with express orders to destroy and root out all 
 the Jews from their land. 
 
 Lysias proved as cruel as his master ; he collected 
 numerous forces and encamped near Jerusalem ; his 
 army consisted of forty thousand foot, and seven 
 thousand horse. Encouraged by the hope of suc- 
 cess on the part of Lysias, a body of merchants, 
 about a thousand in number, repaired. to the place of 
 action, provided with large quantities of gold and 
 silver, with the full expectation of buying the captive 
 Jews for slaves. Whilst the enemy contemplated a 
 complete victory, Judas and his brethren gathered 
 themselves together unto Mizpah ; here they fasted, 
 put on sackcloth, and prayed to God to help them in 
 their great distress. They opened the book of the 
 law before God, where the heathens had polluted it 
 by painting their images which they worshiped. 
 They then sounded the trumpets and prepared for 
 battle, resolved to a man to die in defence of their 
 country and their religion. The result of this zeal 
 and courage on the part of Judas, proved successful ; 
 
64 MNOPSIS OF JEWIMl II I -TORY. 
 
 Judas and his army put to flight and destroyed sev- 
 eral large forces which Lysiashad sent against thorn. 
 Th.-v drove the enemy out of Jerusalem, and almost 
 out of the land of Judea, and succeeded in possess- 
 ing themselves of a largo booty, both from the army 
 and the merchants, who expected to become their 
 masters. 
 
 Judas and his party, grateful to heaven for this 
 great and glorious success over such powerful ene- 
 mies, immediately repaired to Mount Sinn, where 
 they saw the sanctuary of Xod made desolate, de- 
 serted and neglected ; even the altar was polluted, 
 the gates and walls thrown down, the courts of the 
 Temple, the beautiful edifice itself bedecked, not 
 with sweet or odoriferous herbs, but with wild shrubs 
 and grass which the hand of time had allowed to 
 grow on that sacred spot. What a heart-rending 
 scene for the pious Judas and his followers ! Griev- 
 ed at beholding such a devastation of God's holy 
 place, they fell on their faces, rent their clothes, and 
 made great lamentations; at the same time implor- 
 ing the aid of heaven to repair the loss thus 
 sustained. 
 
 Judas and his party diligently applied themselves 
 to repair the Temple, and to restore the worship of 
 God. They selected some of the good priests to 
 purify the sanctuary ; they removed the altar, which 
 had been profaned by the heathens, and built a new 
 one as the law directs. They then made some new 
 vessels for the use of the Temple, from the gold 
 which they had taken from the enemy in the late 
 
THE JEWS UNDER THE MACCABEES. 65 
 
 battle. The regular order of divine worship was 
 again introduced, and sacrifices offered up according 
 to the law of Moses. 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable, and worthy of our 
 attention, that that very day three years, on which 
 the heathen had profaned the altar by offering up 
 unclean beasts, the Temple was dedicated with great 
 rejoicings and grateful acknowledgments to God, 
 which continued during eight days. It was on this 
 occasion that Judas and his brethren ordained that 
 this feast of dedication should be celebrated annually 
 on the return of this period, with mirth and gladness, 
 together with praises and thanksgiving to God. 
 This feast of dedication is known among Israelites 
 by the name " Honucha" Hebrew word for dedica- 
 tion. The fact related is, that when Judas and his 
 men had purified the Temple, a very small lamp of 
 consecrated oil was miraculously found, capable of 
 furnishing sufficient to supply all the established 
 holy lights in the Temple during eight days, until a 
 fresh portion could be procured. This circumstance 
 occurred about two years after Judas had the chief 
 command, and upwards of three years after the city 
 and the Temple had been laid desolate by Appollo- 
 nius. History informs us, that the holy worship in 
 the Temple continued with little interruption from 
 the heathen, until the destruction of the Temple by 
 the Romans, though Jerusalem itself was often in the 
 power of its enemies. 
 
 Notwithstanding the success achieved by Judas 
 and his party, they were much annoyed by their 
 
66 SYNOPSIS OF jr. wisn HISTORY. 
 
 enemies, from the fact that the fortress built by 
 Appoionius still remained in the hands of the heath- 
 ens. It stood on Mount Acra, a rising ground 
 faring the Tempta The heathens placed themselves 
 here to annoy the Jews, on their going to, and re- 
 turning from the Temple. Judas finding that he 
 could not drive out the enemy at once, endeavored 
 to prevent these annoyances by building up Mount 
 Sion with high walls and strong towers, lie also 
 placed guards there to protect the priests and the 
 people when they went t the Temple, with the view 
 of preventing the Gentiles from invading the 
 lary . 
 
 Though Judas and his men continued the Temple 
 worship, they were still in constant warfare. The 
 neighboring nations were all jealous of the success 
 gained by the Jews, and dissatisfied that they had 
 restored the sacred worship in the Temple of the 
 Lord. To show their displeasure they attacked the 
 Jews on all sides; war ensued, and fierce battles 
 were fought, in most of which Judas proved victori- 
 ous, sustaining but little loss in his army. 
 
 Judas, encouraged by such success, which he 
 always acknowledged to be from the hand of God, 
 and not from his own power, led forth his army 
 against Georgius, a general of Antiochus, as also 
 against the Idumeans, who had in their turn proved 
 vexatious to the Jews. In these attacks Judas lost 
 many of his men, but nevertheless proved victorious. 
 Judas was a noble and valiant general ; his policy 
 was at all times to encourage his men by inducing 
 

 THE JEWS UNDER THE MA.CCABEES. 67 
 
 them to put their trust in God, who had done so 
 much for their ancestors, and instilling in their 
 minds the belief that he would continue his pro- 
 tection to them as long as they were inclined to act 
 righteously to each other. During this time, Antio- 
 chus was visiting Persia in order to receive his 
 tribute from the people of that country and plunder 
 the Temple of Diana, erected at Elymosf which was 
 said to contain great riches in gold and silver, and a 
 very valuable armory. The people of Persia having 
 gained intelligence of the king's intention, boldly 
 defended the Temple of their idol, and succeeded in 
 totally defeating the enemy. 
 
 Antiochus enraged at this discomfiture, and at 
 the reports he had received of the defeat of his 
 generals in Judea, resolved to march toward Jeru- 
 salem, and threatened to make the whole city as one 
 grave, in which to bury all the Jews then in the 
 Holy Land. How far this wicked man succeeded in 
 his cruel resolve, the following facts will show ; they 
 need no comment on our part, to prove that it was 
 the finger of God that was directing all that befel 
 Antiochus, and other persecutors of mankind. It is 
 generally supposed by historians, that the same dis- 
 aster which befel the tyrant Antiochus, was visited 
 on many persecutors of God's people, both in former 
 and latter times hence supporting our views on the 
 subject, that Heaven ordained all that had happened. 
 Whilst on his journey, Antiochus was smitten with 
 an incurable plague ; his chariot was upset, and he 
 was seriously hurt. He was then carried to a 
 
STKOI--I- MI .M-. \VISII 
 
 small town on the road side, put to bed, in which ho 
 lingered for some time, 8ufterin<j the most excrucia- 
 agonies of body, ami torments of mind, until he 
 died. On liis death-lied, Antioehus showed gn 
 contrition of mind for the crimes which he had per- 
 }>ctratcd against God and man. The heathens de- 
 clared that it was a punishment inflicted for his 
 intended sacrilege of the Temple of Diana ; but the 
 ish historians acijuaint us, that the tyrant himself 
 imputed bis sufferings as a punishment for the 
 cruelties towards Israel, and the impieties he practi- 
 sed against the Lord and his holy Temple. Thus 
 ended the life of this great and relentless tyrant. 
 
 The pleasing tidings of the death of the tyrant 
 having reached the ears of Judas, he was encoura^rd 
 to besiege the garrison of the Syrians, in the town 
 of Acra, in which enterprise he succeeded by a 
 stratagem which will be hereafter related. 
 
 At the death of Antiochus Epiphanes, his son 
 Autiochus Eupator became his successor. He proved 
 to be no better than his father, whose footsteps he 
 followed by persecuting the Jews wherever found 
 throughout his empire. Autiochus Eupator com- 
 menced his career by bringing a vast army against 
 Judas, consisting of one hundred thousand foot, 
 twenty thousand horse, thirty-two elephants, and 
 three hundred armed chariots of war. Judas's army 
 being so small, compared with that of the enemy, 
 encouraged his men by the watchword which he 
 issued among them: "Victory is of the Lord." 
 Animated by the hope of success, they managed to 
 
THE JEWS UNDER THE MACCABEES. 69 
 
 surprise the enemy at night, and slew upwards of 
 four thousand of them, and then made a safe retreat 
 to Jerusalem. In this encounter, Eleazer, one of the 
 brothers of Judas, evinced great courage ; he saw 
 one of the elephants raised much higher than the 
 rest. Supposing that the king himself must be 
 mounted thereon, he ran through the camp, made 
 his way to the beast, and thrust him through with 
 his spear. The wound proving mortal, the beast 
 with his heavy burthen fell down and crushed Elea- 
 zer to death. 
 
 Antiochus Eupator's army then marched to Jeru- 
 salem under the command of Lysias, and besieged 
 the sanctuary. During this siege, the Jews suffered 
 much from the want of provisions. They were on 
 the point of surrendering to the enemy, when, by 
 the providence of the Almighty, they were strangely 
 released from the impending danger. It happened 
 that Lysias, the general, heard that the city of 
 Antioch was seized by one Philip, a favorite of the 
 late king, who had taken upon himself the govern- 
 ment of Syria; Lysias, *on this account, persuaded 
 the present king to declare peace with the Jews, to 
 which proposal he readily consented. 
 
 About this time Demetrius, the cousin of Antio- 
 chus, became king in his place, under the following 
 circumstances : Demetrius was the son of Seleucus 
 Philopater, the eldest brother of Antiochus Epipha- 
 nes ; at his death, Seleucus endeavored to persuade 
 the Romans to assist him in obtaining the kingdom of 
 Syria, but without success. Being disappointed in 
 
70 SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 his expectations, Demetrius wont to Syria and there 
 induced the people to believe that the Romans had 
 sent him. On the strength of this report, Amioehus 
 Kujvator, and his general, Lysias, wero seized by 
 their own soldiers, and put to death by order of 
 Demetrius. 
 
 Demetrius being seated on the throne, one Alci- 
 mus, a descendant of the tribe of Aaron, applied to 
 him to be assisted in procuring the appointment of 
 high priest, to which office he had been raided by the 
 late king, Antiochus Eupator. Alcimus bad been 
 refused by the Jews, he having complied with the 
 heathen superstition in the time of the persecution, 
 in order to gain favor with the kin;: and his generals. 
 Judas and his party, now, as before, strenuously 
 opposed the appointment of Aicimus, though strongly 
 recommended by Demetrius. This opposition to his 
 wishes, induced Demetrius to send one Bacchides to 
 enforce the command of the king, but to no pur- 
 pose. Demetrius then selected Nicanor, who was 
 master of his elephants, as the future governor of 
 Judea, with instructions to kill Judas, and bring the 
 people under still greater subjection. Nicanor was 
 at first unwilling to make war against Judas, but 
 being urged on by the king, he pursued it with fresh 
 fury ; he boldly declared his intention to demolish 
 the Temple at Jerusalem, and build one on the same 
 spot in honor of the idol Bacchus. Nicanor was slain 
 in the battle, and his army entirely routed by Judas 
 and his party. Judas, desirous of making an 
 example of this wicked man, for his blasphemous 
 
THE JEWS UNDER THE MACCABEES. 71 
 
 words which he uttered against the Temple of the 
 Lord, cut off the head and right hand of Nicanor, and 
 placed them in a conspicuous situation on one of the 
 towers in Jerusalem. Judas then gave orders that a 
 day should be annually appointed as a day of thanks- 
 giving, in memory of this victory, which was called 
 Nicanor' s day. This day is not however celebrated 
 as a holiday among the Jews in the present genera- 
 tion ; it has been discontinued for 'many ages past. 
 At this period the Romans were growing great 
 and powerful ; Judas, aware of the danger likely to 
 result from such power, deemed it advisable for the 
 good of his country to propose a league with the 
 Romans, to which they readily consented, and ac- 
 knowledged the Jews as their friends and allies. 
 Demetrius then received orders not to interfere with 
 the Jews any more. Unhappily for Judas and his 
 people, before the orders had reached Demetrius, ho 
 had already despatched Bacchides a second time to 
 avenge the course of Nicanor, who had been slain, 
 and to insist on establishing Alcimus in the priest- 
 hood. This circumstance proved very unfortunate 
 for both Judas and his countrymen. Judas having 
 but three thousand men with him, was overpowered 
 by the strong forces of Bacchides ; so little chance 
 was there of success on the part of Judas, that 
 many of his men deserted him through fear and 
 fright. Judas, brave and valiant to the last in 
 defence of his country's cause, and scorning to flee 
 even for his life, fell a victim to the fury of the 
 enemy. 
 
72 SYNOPSIS OP JKW18H HISTniM . 
 
 The death of Judas created great excitement 
 among the people, and sorely depressed their spirits. 
 They became absorbed in sorrow an.l in irrief for the 
 loss of their noble chieftain. The people had fallen 
 into such a state of lethargy, that they became an 
 easy prey to the tyrant fiacchides, who, taking 
 advantage of this state of things, committed great 
 havoc among the people, and put to the sword all of 
 Judas's friends and companions on whom he could 
 lay hand. 
 
 Alcimus also availed himself of this opportunity, 
 and exercised his authority in the office of the 
 priesthood. He introduced into the worship of the 
 Temple, imitations of heathen idolatry, and gave 
 orders that the sanctuary should be thrown open, 
 with equal freedom and liberty, both to Gentiles and 
 to Jews. Alcimus, however, did not long prosper in 
 his wicked career; in a very short time he was 
 struck with palsy, deprived of his speech, and ulti- 
 mately died in great anguish of mind and torment 
 of body. 
 
 After the death of Judas Maccabees, his brother 
 Jonathan was unanimously appointed by the people 
 as their leader. Jonathan was ably assisted by his 
 brother Simon ; they both bravely resisted the many 
 inroads made upon them by their enemies. Bac- 
 chides finding himself so powerfully opposed, sued 
 for peace, which was granted on condition that he 
 should restore all the captive Jews, depart from 
 Judea forever, and in no way molest the people of 
 that country. These conditions were cheerfully 
 
THE JEWS UNDER THE MACCABEES. 73 
 
 accepted by Bacchides, who left Judea in peace and 
 in tranquility. 
 
 Jonathan, happy in having restored peace, con> 
 menced to govern his people under the old Jewish 
 polity ; he resumed all the rites and ceremonies of 
 the Jewish religion, and succeeded in obtaining the 
 confidence of his people by the zeal which he evinced 
 in the performance of the duties of his office. 
 
 After the death of Alcimus, the office of high priest 
 remained vacant seven years, when a man call- 
 ing himself Alexander, appeared, and declared that 
 he was a son of Antiochus Epiphancs. He seized 
 the kingdom of Africa, and solicited Jonathan to join 
 him against Demetrius, who had proved himself a 
 formidable enemy of the Jews. As an inducement 
 to Jonathan, Alexander made the following propo- 
 sals to him : That Jonathan should be constituted 
 both the Governor and the High Priest of the Jews, 
 and be called the king's friend and counselor. 
 
 Jonathan considering these proposals likely to prove 
 beneficial to his people, and there not being any one 
 else for the priesthood, consulted them on the 
 subject, and with their unanimous consent he accept- 
 ed the offer made by Alexander. 
 
 At the following Feast of Tabernacles, Jonathan 
 was duly installed in his new office, and vested with 
 the sacerdotal robes usually worn by the high priests. 
 Being thus dignified, he joined Alexander, and pro- 
 ceeded to battle against Demetrius, whose army was 
 totally routed, and he himself, slain on the battle 
 field. 
 
74 SYNOPSIS OP JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 It is said that from this time forward the hHi 
 
 O 
 
 hood continued in the family of the Asmone- 
 ans or Maccabees, till the days of Herod, who chan- 
 .: from an office of inheritanee to an arbitrary 
 appointment. Herod apjxiinted those whom he 
 pleased, withou 1 ivf. n n<v to merit or ability. This 
 practice was continued until the total extinction of 
 the priesthood at the final destruction ..( the Temple 
 by the Romans. 
 
 Jonathan succeeded by his judicious conduct, in 
 
 Dg for his people their possessions, with free 
 
 icope to exercise all their ivli/ious rites, without any 
 
 interruption from tlu-ir neighbors. He occasionally 
 
 d his assistance to those of the nation^ who 
 
 proved kind to him, by which means the bond of 
 
 friendship became strongly cemented between both 
 
 parties. 
 
 Like most great men, Jonathan had his enemies : 
 _: them was one Tryphon, who sought to possess 
 the kingdom of Syria, and by whose treachery, 
 Jonathan was made prisoner in Ptolemais, and was 
 afterwards cruelly murdered, together with his two 
 sons. 
 
 The death of Jonathan and his two sons caused 
 great lamentations among the people. Being in con- 
 stant fear of their enemies, and now without a 1< 
 they were at a loss what to do. In this dilemma 
 they applied to Simon, the only surviving brother of 
 Judas, to become their chief. Simon consenting to 
 become their general, a council of war was called, 
 at which meeting he- was unanimously appointed and 
 
THE JEWS UNDER THE MACCABEES. 75 
 
 vested with power equal to his predecessors. Simon 
 having been regularly installed into his new office, 
 commenced his career by addressing his brethren in 
 the following manner : 
 
 " You, my countrymen, are not ignorant how 
 bravely my father, brothers, and myself, have fought 
 in defence of our laws and our religion, our Temple 
 and our people. They have sacrificed their lives in 
 that glorious cause ; I, only I, survive to maintain it. 
 God forbid I should value my life at a higher price 
 than they did theirs. Behold me 'then as they 
 were, to glory in this undertaking, to die in defence 
 of our nation, our Temple, our wives and our 
 children." " Take courage my friends ; the Lord 
 is with us, and success will crown our righteous in- 
 tentions. " 
 
 Simon at the request of the people, then assumed 
 the sacred office of the priesthood. 
 
 Having now entered into his new office, he pro- 
 cured the dead bodies of his brother Jonathan and 
 his two sons, and buried them with great honors in 
 the sepulchre of his fathers at Modin, and erected 
 a stately monument to their memory. 
 
 Simon then repaired the fortresses and the walls 
 of the city, which had been destroyed by their ene- 
 mies, built for himself a very splendid mansion, and 
 made Jerusalem his place of residence, where he 
 held his court. The Jews were still annoyed by the 
 garrison on the tower of Acra, when they went to 
 and returned from the Temple. Simon succeeded 
 in shutting up the enemy so closely in the tower that 
 
76 SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 many perished from famine, which made the survi- 
 vors surrender the tower. Simon being in possession 
 of the tower, he, with the sanction of the people, 
 pulled it down, and lowered the mount in such a way 
 so that it could no more be made available for the 
 purpose of annoying the people when assembled at 
 their worship in the Temple. 
 
 Simon now turned, his attention to the repairs of 
 the sanctuary. He enforced a rigid observance of 
 the laws of God, and successfully introduced peace 
 and unanimity of feeling among the people. The 
 nation at large, sensible of the good conduct of their 
 leader, convened a general meeting of all the elders, 
 priests and magistrates at Jerusalem. 
 
 At this meeting it was unanimously resolved, that 
 the office of Governor of the nation, and that of the 
 high-priesthood, should be henceforth vested perma- 
 nently in Simon and his posterity after him, so 
 that the said office should be hereditary in his 
 family for ever. It was further decreed that 
 an account of the noble deeds of Simon and his 
 family should be engraven on a tablet, and placed in 
 the Temple as an everlasting memorial, and that a 
 copy of the same should be placed on the records in 
 Judea. This excellent priest was held in such lii;:h 
 estimation by all the surrounding nations, that the 
 Romans sought his friendship, entered into a cove- 
 nant with him, and conferred on him many honors. 
 
 The king of Syria followed the example of the 
 Romans, and entered into a similar covenant with 
 Simon. 
 

 THE JEWS UNDER THE MACCABEES. 77 
 
 The king of Syria, however, was not true to his 
 covenant, he having after a time invaded Judea. 
 Simon assisted by his two eldest sons, bravely de- 
 fended themselves, and drove the enemy away with 
 great discomfiture. 
 
 Simon continued to maintain a high reputation in 
 his office for about eight years. He was at all times 
 employed in providing for the comfort and welfare of 
 his people. Simon now set out to examine into the 
 affairs of his country, accompanied by his two sons, 
 Judas and Mattathias. Having arrived at Jericho, 
 they were invited by Ptolemeus, the son-in-law of 
 Simon, to a banquet which he had prepared for them. 
 Simon readily accepted this polite invitation of his 
 relative, not suspecting in the least any treachery on 
 the part of Ptolemeus, who had already concerted 
 his plans with the court of Syria to destroy his 
 father-in-law and his two sons who w.ere then with 
 him. While the guests were indulging at the ban- 
 quet, Simon and his two sons were- inhumanly mur- 
 dered by order of Ptolemeus. He then dispatched 
 a party to the residence of John, another son of 
 Simon, who was captain of the forces at Judea, with 
 orders to murder him also. John fortunately gained 
 intelligence of all that had occurred at Jericho to 
 his father and brothers, as also the plot laid for him. 
 He courageously and bravely defended himself, and 
 cut to pieces the enemy. 
 
 John then fled to Jerusalem for safety. Ptoleme- 
 us followed him, and arriving at the same time, they 
 both presented themselves at different gates. From 
 
78 SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 the respect the people had for Simon and his ances- 
 tors, John was received by the people with open 
 arms, whilst the murderer of Simon and his two sons, 
 was repulsed with all his followers. Jlm was then 
 unanimously appointed to succeed his father, both in 
 the government and the priesthood. He was then 
 surnamed Hyrcanus, and henceforward known by the 
 name of John Hyrcanus. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Of the Jewish affaire under the conduct of the posterity and successors of 
 Simon the Maccabce. 
 
 Antiochus Sidetes, being informed of the death of 
 Simon, and being invited by Ptolemeus, invaded 
 Judea again, besieged Jerusalem, and reduced 
 Hyrcanus and the Jews to the last extremity of 
 famine. Ilyrcanus then sued for peace, which was 
 granted on the condition of paying certain tributes 
 to the king, and removing the fortifications of Jeru- 
 salem. A few years after, Antiochus died, which occa- 
 sioned great confusion among the surrounding na- 
 tions ; Hyrcanus took advantage of this to enlarge his 
 territories, by seizing some neighboring towns round 
 about Judea, and renounced all further dependence 
 on the kings of Syria. Ilyrcanus then renewed the 
 friendship originally made by his father with the 
 Romans, who assisted him in being released from the 
 tribute paid to the Syrians ; at the same time he 
 received a compensation from them for former inju- 
 ries done by them to the Jews. 
 
 It was at this time that the Edomites, or Idum- 
 
 X^TB R Alfyr 5 *^ 
 
 OP THE ^ 
 
 f UNIVERSITY 1 
 
 
 
80 8TNOPSI3 Or JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 eans, lived on the south side of Judea. Hyrcanus 
 proposed to them either to embrace Judaism or leave 
 the country. The Edoraites readily acquiesced, and 
 became Jews. They ultimately became so incorpo- 
 rated among the Jews, that in less than two centuries 
 scarcely any trace or character was left to signalize 
 the Edomite nation. 
 
 Hyrcanus's power being thus increased by the 
 ad-lit ion of these Edomites, he turned his attention 
 to the Samaritans. He marched with his army and 
 took Shechem, which was then the chief seat of .the 
 Samaritan sect; he destroyed their Temple whirh 
 Sanballat had built for them on Mount Gerizim. The 
 Samaritans, however, continued to keep the altar 
 there, and to offer sacrifices thereon. 
 
 Hyrcanus became master of Samaria, ruled in 
 Judea, in Galilee, and in some of the adjacent 
 towns ; he proved himself one of the noble princes 
 of his age ; he, with great perseverance, preserved 
 both the Jewish church and the state from the 
 power of their enemies, throughout a long and tedi- 
 ous government. He was so highly esteemed among 
 the people, that they believed him to be a prophet, 
 from the fact that he had predicted one or two 
 things which eventually came to pass. He built the 
 castle Bari* on a rock about fifty cubits high, outside 
 the square of the Temple ; this was used as the 
 palace of the Asmonean princes in Jerusalem, and 
 here the sacred robes of the high priest were de- 
 posited when they were not in use. 
 
 Toward the close of his life, Hyrcanus experienced 
 
UNDER THE SUCCESSORS OF THE MACCABEES. 81 
 
 severe troubles ; his claim to the priesthood was 
 questioned by a bold and daring man, one of the 
 Pharisees, of whom we shall speak hereafter in 
 the course of the work, as also of the different other 
 sects which sprang up in those days. 
 
 Hyrcanus, supposing that this bold man repre- 
 sented the whole body of the Pharisees, without 
 even inquiring into the matter, immediately re- 
 nounced the Pharisees, and rashly joined the sect 
 called Sadducees. This hasty conclusion of Hyrca- 
 nus, considerably lessened that love and esteem in 
 which the people had previously held him. The 
 Pharisees felt indignant at the conduct of Hyrcanus 
 in this instance ; and forgetting all former favora 
 received at his hands, proved very ungrateful toward 
 him. They became arrogant and mutinous, which 
 caused Hyrcanus entirely to desert their party, and 
 even refused to meet them any more. Many civil 
 broils and troubles ensued, which sorely embittered 
 the declining life of Hyrcanus, an.d he died during 
 the following year. 
 
 Hyrcanus had been in office nearly thirty years, 
 during which time his wisdom and counsel at home, 
 and his bravery and conquests abroad, marked his 
 reign one of glory and happiness. The common- 
 wealth recovered more of its glory during his gov- 
 ernment, than at .any other period since the return 
 from Babylon. It is generally supposed that his 
 death was hastened by the troubles which began to 
 surround him. 
 
 Hyrcanus had five sons ; the eldest, named 
 E 
 
82 MNOPSIS OF .11 \YIMI IIIMQRT. 
 
 Aristobulus, succeeded his father as high priot 
 and governor in Jud. hen took upon himself 
 
 the title of king, which had fallen into disuse since 
 the Babylonish captivi; 
 
 Aristobulus did not follow the good example of 
 his noble father. We are informed how ho became 
 the murderer of his mother ; it having hem ivp<. 
 that she laid claim to the government. Three of his 
 brothers he put into close confinement, and the 
 fourth, who was even his favorite, he had put to 
 death owing to a false report hemi: raised that he 
 would oppose him in the government. 
 
 Aristobulus now fixed his household and other 
 affairs, according to his own wishes. He then put 
 himself at the head of his army, attacked and sub- 
 dued the Itureans who lived on the north-east of tin- 
 land of Galilee. Having the people thus in his 
 power, he compelled them to embrace the Jewish 
 religion, which they did out of fear, and thus became 
 mixed among the people of Israel. In the midst of 
 all these victories, Aristobulus was taken sick and 
 brought to Jerusalem. Antigonus, one of his broth- 
 ers, acted in his &:< 
 
 Aristobulus continued dangerously sick, and there 
 appeared but little hope of his recovery. This being 
 apparent to the king's courtiers, who were jealous of 
 Antigonus, they endeavored to persuade the king 
 that his brother was not faithful to him. In this 
 intrigue they were supported by the queen. 
 
 On the return of Antigonus to Jerusalem, he 
 repaired to the Temple, there to return thanks to 
 
UNDER THE SUCCESSORS OF THE MACCABEES. 83 
 
 God for his success, and to pray for the recovery of 
 his sick brother. Whilst thus piously engaged, it 
 was represented to the king that his brother was 
 attempting to usurp the government, which the king 
 too readily received as truth, from the statements 
 previously made to him, and gave orders for his 
 brother to appear in the sick chamber. Antigo- 
 nus obeyed, and attended in full uniform. The 
 kin" then desired him to unrobe. This command 
 
 O 
 
 was given in such a tone, as to assure him that a 
 refusal would be considered as treason, and punished 
 accordingly. 
 
 Antigonus retired, much degraded and sorely 
 perplexed as to the cause. The queen, who, wo 
 have already noticed was in the conspiracy, then 
 wrote to him that the king had changed his mind and 
 that he wished to see him in his uniform, having 
 been told of the beauty of his armour. Antigonus 
 accordingly repaired in full dress to the palace, and 
 on his way to the king's chamber, he was slain by the 
 guard. This assassination of Antigonus, caused 
 the king to reflect with keen remorse, both on 
 account of this murder, as well as that of hia 
 mother. His mind became sorely agitated, which 
 brought on a vomiting of blood, so that he died in 
 great agony of both body and mind. 
 
 Thus ended the life of him, who is handed down 
 to posterity as one of the most wretched beings 
 recorded in the annals of Jewish history ; and it is 
 worthy of notice how God punishes the wicked. He 
 who had shed so much innocent blood, that his own 
 
84 SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 blood was made to flow from him until he breathe -.1 
 
 his last ; an example as well as a warning to those 
 
 who were in the service of this wicked man. and who 
 
 the same sinful career as their cruel 
 
 A ristobulus was succeeded by his brother Alex- 
 ander ; he began his reign by putting his brother to 
 death, because of some attempt to supplant him in 
 the government. Alexander immediately set about 
 arranging all matters relating to the home depart- 
 in* nt. and then commenced to attack his neighbors 
 around him without any reserve. 
 
 At this time Ptolemy Lathyrus was heir to the 
 crown of Egypt; Alexander behaved very deceit- 
 fully toward him, which caused much enmity and ill 
 feeling to exist on both sides ; and the result was, a 
 very severe battle between them, near the river 
 Jordan. Alexander and his army were completely 
 routed, with the loss of about thirty thousand 
 men. 
 
 There is a very cruel and barbarous action charg- 
 ed to Lathyrus on this occasion. On the evening 
 after the victory, he marched his men from the field 
 of battle to take up quarters in the adjacent villages, 
 which were all crowded with the wives and children 
 of the vanquished army. He gave orders to kill all 
 of them, without any distinction ; their bodies to be 
 cut in pieces and boiled in cauldrons. It is suppos- 
 ed that he did this with a view of creating terror 
 among all the surrounding nations, and to cause a 
 belief that his men fed on human flesh. After this, 
 
UNDER THE SUCCESSORS OF THE MACCABEES. 85 
 
 Lathyrus ranged at liberty all over the country, 
 plundering and destroying it in a very lamentable 
 manner ; for Alexander after this battle, was not in 
 a condition to resist him. 
 
 In this dilemma, Alexander fortunately met with 
 assistance from Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt. 
 Cleopatra, fearing lest Lathyrus, her eldest son, 
 should become possessed of Judea, and might be 
 induced to take Egypt out of her hands, agreed 
 with her youngest son to support Alexander. 
 
 Alexander, encouraged by such offers of support, 
 resumed his courage, besieged many places, and 
 gained the fortress of Gadara and Anathus, toward 
 Galilee, together with much treasure ; but he was 
 surprised by Theodorus, prince of Philadelphia, who 
 had laid up that treasure there, with the loss of ten 
 thousand men. Yet being a man of courage and 
 diligence, Alexander assembled his men and suc- 
 ceeded in taking the city of Gaza from the Phil- 
 istines, who were entirely defeated by his army. 
 He took possession - of the chief cities, and made 
 them part of his own dominions. The Philistines 
 being thus subdued, were glad to embrace Judaism 
 as a protection from further inroads. It appears to 
 have now become a custom with the Asmonean 
 princes to impose their religion on all the conquered, 
 leaving them no other choice but to become prose- 
 lytes or to be banished. 
 
 Alexander was not, however, well supported by 
 his own people, many of them being opposed to him. 
 
86 SYNOPSIS OP JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 These were chiefly of the Pharisees, who were verv 
 numerous and influential, and were supported hy a 
 
 .re body of their class, who \\ n rxcited to such 
 a degree, th:it they insulted Alexander, while at the 
 altar performing the duties de\ -Ivim: upon him as 
 high priest. 
 
 Alexander, enraged at such conduct by his own 
 people, sought to bo revenged, and appointed his 
 own body guard from the heathen nations, fearing 
 to trust himself in the hands of his own people. 
 This act brought on a civil war which lasted six 
 years ; it was the cause of much grief and calamity 
 throughout the land, and occasioned the death of 
 about fifty thousand people. Though Alexander 
 gained many victories over his enemies, yet he be- 
 came much weakened from their continual attacks : 
 he at length sued for peace, offering the people to 
 grant them whatever they would reasonably desire. 
 But so embittered were the people against him, that 
 they declared nothing would satisfy them but his life. 
 This reply on their part, aggravated the cause, and 
 the war was continued still more rigorously on both 
 sides. As all mundane affairs must have an end, 
 Alexander after having encountered many severe 
 conflicts, at last gained one great battle, which con- 
 cluded this protracted war. Numbers of his ene- 
 mies fell victims to his fury, while others were 
 driven to the city of Bethome, and there were 
 ged. Alexander having taken the place, he 
 had eight hundred of the people carried to Jerusa- 
 lem, and there had them all slain in one day, 
 
UNDER THE SUCCESSORS OF THE MACCABEES. 87 
 
 together with their wives and children. This act of 
 Alexander's terrified the Jews to such an extent that 
 they never again attempted any insurrection. We 
 cannot however refrain from observing here, that 
 however provoked Alexander might have been, he 
 justly merited by this cruel conduct the reproach of 
 after ages ; - such conduct being incompatible with 
 his dignified station as high priest, in whose heart 
 nought but peace and humanity should ever find 
 place. 
 
 Alexander, like most cruel monarchs after having 
 satiated thoir lust for blood, gave himself up to 
 very inordinate luxuries, which in the end produced 
 an attack of ague, very severe in its character. 
 This disease ultimately proved fatal to Alexander, 
 who died in the camp while he was besieging a castle 
 of the Gerasenes beyond Jordan. Alexander reign- 
 ed twenty-seven years ; he left two sons, Hyrcanus 
 and Aristobulus ; he bequeathed the government to 
 his wife Alexandra, during her life time, and to be 
 disposed of at her death to which of her sons she 
 pleased. Alexandra in a flood of tears, expressed 
 to her dying husband her justly apprehended diva -I 
 of the Pharisees, who had grown into a powerful 
 party at that time in Jerusalem. Alexander listened 
 to his wife with considerable emotion, while he 
 employed his last moments in contriving an expedi- 
 ent for the removal of her fears. The dying man 
 then addressed his wife in the following words : 
 
 " Alexandra, you are not unacquainted with the 
 " cause of our mutual enmity. I am well convinced 
 
s ^ rsis OF .IK wisn 
 
 " that your security and happiness, when 1 am dead. 
 44 must rise or fall, as you make them your friends or 
 44 your foes. 1 y.u, therefore, to keep my 
 
 44 death a secret from the army, till they have taken 
 k - the fort, then lead them in triumph to Jerusalem ; 
 44 carry my body with you, and aa soon as you arrive 
 44 assemble the heads and the leaders of that party, 
 44 and lay it before them ; tell them you submit it 
 44 wholly to them, after the injuries it had done them, 
 44 to give it burial, or cast it ignominiously on the 
 44 highway ; as for your part, you are devoted to 
 44 them, they shall always be your first advisors, at 
 "the head of your counoil ; you will do nothing 
 44 without their consent and approbation ; begin 
 44 instantly to show them some marks of your favor 
 44 and friendship, upon which they will order my 
 44 body a royal burial, and they will support you and 
 44 your sons in the peaceful enjoyment of the kinn- 
 "dom." 
 
 Alexandra followed the advice of her husband, 
 and kept his death a secret from the world, till the 
 castle was taken. She then led the army back to 
 Jerusalem, and gave the body of her deceased hus- 
 band to the Pharisees, to act with it as they pleased, 
 at the same time declared herself ready to be guided 
 by them in the management of all the affairs of the 
 ment. This declaration on the part of Alex- 
 andra, gained for her the confidence of the Phari- 
 sees, who granted to her late husband an honorable 
 funeral. 
 
 Alexandra thus enjoying the good opinion of the 
 
UNDER THE SUCCESSORS OF THE MACCABEKS. 89 
 
 Pharisees, assumed the government, enlisted herself 
 under their banner, and became firmly and peaceably 
 settled on the throne ; she then invested Hyrcanus, 
 her eldest son, with the office of high priest. 
 Alexandra, at the request of a party of the Phari- 
 sees, gave her consent to punish all the persons who 
 had counselled her late husband to behave so cruelly 
 to the mass of the people ; these men were in their 
 turn put to death by the Pharisees. The queen was 
 induced to adopt this medium in order to prevent any 
 further civil wars ; the evil consequences of which 
 she had so sadly experienced, and which, there- 
 fore, she was so desirous to avoid. 
 
 Alexandra having reigned nine years, died in the 
 seventy-third year of her age ; leaving by her will, 
 the whole of the government to her eldest son, Hyr- 
 canus, who was then the high priest. He is known 
 in history by Hyrcanus the second. He was bred 
 and trained in the schools of the Pharisees, and 
 consequently influenced by their tutorage. 
 
 Hyrcaims did not long enjoy his new office. Aris- 
 tobulus, his younger brother, perceiving that the 
 people and the army were weary of the administra- 
 tion of the Pharisees, raised an army against his 
 brother Hyrcanus, and marched them on to the plains 
 of Jericho. A desperate battle was fought, Hyrca- 
 nus was put to flight, and the remainder of his forces 
 joined those of Aristobulus. Hyrcanus in this 
 dilemma, went to Jerusalem, shut himself up with a 
 small party in the citadel, and appeared happy to 
 accept any terms in order to procure peace. 
 
00 il \\ is n HISTORT. 
 
 Aristobulus then deprived his brother of both the 
 regal and pontifical dignities, coramandini: the same 
 to be resigned to him, which havin- horn <l<>ne, Hyr- 
 i-.is was expelled the capital, and compelled to re- 
 tire into private life. Hyrcanus, being of a peaceful 
 disposition, made no resistance, although he had 
 enjoyed his regal honors but three months. 
 
 Aristobulus then ascenl -1 the throne of his fat her, 
 but he did not prove so happy on it as he had anti- 
 cipated, as we shall learn from the following circum- 
 stance. An Idumean named Antipatcr, who was 
 brought up in the court of Alexander with 1 lyreanus, 
 advised him to seek assistance at the hands of Aretas, 
 the king of Arabia, and not quietly suffer himself to 
 be so easily vanquished. Hyrcanus, acting on the 
 advice of Antipater, applied to Aretas, who immedi- 
 ately headed an army to espouse the cause of Hyr- 
 canus. An obstinate battle took place in which 
 Aristobulus was totally defeated, driven into the 
 mountains, and there sorely besieged. 
 
 At this time there lived at Jerusalem, a very pious 
 man named Onias. He was so much esteemed and 
 beloved by the people for his true piety and virtue, 
 that it was generally believed, that at the instance 
 of this good man's prayers, the Almighty had sent 
 rain from heaven in a season of great drought. The 
 people imagining that he possessed a similar power 
 in cursing as well as blessing, prayed to him to curse 
 Aristobulus and all his party. This good man weary 
 of their importunities, and anxious if possible to 
 satisfy their wishes, raised his hands towards heaven 
 
IM)ER THE SUCCESSORS OF THE MACCABEES. 91 
 
 in prayer, of which the following is said to be a 
 copy: 
 
 " God of the universe, since those that are with 
 us are thy people, and they that are besieged in the 
 Temple are thy priests, I pray that thou wouldst 
 hear the prayers of neither of them against each 
 other." 
 
 The multitude, disappointed at the good man's 
 prayer, cruelly murdered him on the spot. 
 
 This circumstance tended to increase the enmity 
 between both parties, and provoked a warfare be- 
 tween the two brothers and their parties. 
 
 The two brothers ultimately agreed with each 
 other to lay the matter before Pompey, the Roman 
 general, for his decision. The mass of the people, 
 however, were not satisfied with this plan of appeal- 
 ing to the Roman general, and declared that they 
 would not be ruled by princes, but by God's, priests. 
 The appeal was made to Pompey, who did not feel 
 disposed to give an immediate decision. Aristobu- 
 lus availed himself of this opportunity, and prepared 
 himself for a fresh war. Pompey hearing this, im- 
 mediately seized Aristobulus in one of his castles, 
 and confined him in prison. He then marched his 
 army in front of Jerusalem ; a division within weak- 
 ened its power, the two opposite parties contending. 
 At length Hyrcanus's party prevailed and threw open 
 the gates of the city. The adherents to Aristobu- 
 lus retreated and fortified themselves in the Temple, 
 and on Mount Moriah. Pompey and his army 
 marched through the city, and laid close Beige to the 
 
SYNOPSIS < JEWISH BOTOBT, 
 
 Temple. The Jews held out for three months ; at 
 length a huge tower was thrown down, and a hivaeh 
 was made largo enough for an assault ; the place was 
 taken sword in hand, anil so li, the battle, 
 
 that more than twelve thousand persons were slain. 
 
 It has heen remarked by historians, "how is it 
 possible that so strong a place could have been taken 
 in so short a time ?" The cause of this easy victory 
 on the part of the Romans was, in consequence of 
 the Jews having suffered the enemy to prepare their 
 war machines on the Sahbath day undisturbed, not- 
 withstanding the agreement made in the days of 
 Judas Maccabees, that they should defend themselves 
 if attacked on the Sabbath day. 
 
 Pompey then entered the holy edifice, and being 
 overawed by some religious prepossession, refrained 
 from defiling any of the sacred vessels, nor did he 
 attempt to touch about two thousand talents of gold, 
 which were laid up for the service of God's Holy- 
 Temple. On the contrary, Pompey ordered the 
 Temple to be purified, and on the very next day, its 
 usual services were resumed. Thus an end was put 
 to the very serious quarrel and contention between 
 the two brothers. 
 
 It* may be worthy of notice, that though this 
 Roman general was not disposed to plunder the 
 sacred property of the Temple on this occasion, yet 
 it escaped not foe avarice and covetousness of 
 another Roman general. Crassus, when he became 
 Governor of Judea instead of Gabinius, plundered 
 the Temple, and carried off the solid beams of gold, 
 
UNDER THE SUCCESSORS OF THE MACCABEES. 93 
 
 magnificent vessels, utensils and golden tables, and 
 all the beautiful hangings, which adorned the Holy 
 of Holies. This wicked man's sacrilege did not pass 
 unpunished, for when he was in an engagement with 
 the Parthians, he was defeated, and met with his 
 death, and as a mark of infamy, his head was cut 
 oft', and molten gold was poured down his throat, to 
 show to the people how much benefit the gold was to 
 him which he took from the holy Temple. 
 
 Pompey now demolished the walls of Jerusalem, 
 slew many of the chief supporters of Aristobulus, 
 and restored Hyrcanus to the office of high priest, 
 and made him also the Governor, but under tribute 
 to the Romans. 
 
 Aristobulus and his sons were carried" prisoners to 
 Rome, whence they escaped after a time, and made 
 several attempts to regain their former position, but 
 without success. 
 
 It may fairly be concluded that in consequence of 
 the civil broils between Aristobulus and his brother 
 Hyrcanus, the Jewish nationality became very much 
 shaken, and ultimately produced the total ruin of 
 both Jerusalem and the whole of Judea. At this 
 time the regal power was arrested, and enjoyed by 
 the Romans. The sovereign authority had hitherto 
 descended with the priesthood ; although at different 
 periods already mentioned, the Jews were subject to 
 the several strange powers who had become their 
 masters. 
 
 The enemies of the Jews did not seem to be satis- 
 fied with their already degraded state; but every 
 
'.M STNOl'SIS OF .ir.Wlsn HT8TOBT. 
 
 exertion must be made to crush them still more, by 
 even preventing them from attending and i .raving to 
 the God of their fathers. This infliction appears to 
 f>een far more grievous to the nation at lar^e, 
 than all the worldly persecutions which could possihlv 
 have been invented against them. 
 
 After a short time. (I.ihinius, a Roman general, 
 passed through Judca on an expedition, lie took 
 upon himself to reduce the power of Ilyreanus, and 
 made new arrangements relating to the Sanhedrim or 
 Jewish Senate. 
 
 All these differences were however, very happily 
 settled in a short time by Julius Caesar, \\h<. \\hen 
 Emperor of Rome, listened to the petition of Hyrca- 
 nus, and granted him permission to rebuild the walls 
 of Jerusalem. This enabled Hyrcanus to resume 
 the former friendship between the Jews and the 
 Romans, who passed a unanimous decree in their 
 favor. 
 
 During this time, Antipater, who had encouraged 
 Hyrcanus in the recovery of the government of 
 Judea, was in the employ of Julius Caesar. Anti- 
 pater was appointed Lieutenant of Judea, by Julius 
 Caesar, under Hyrcanus, who was now in full power 
 both in the government and the priesthood. The 
 eldest son of Antipater was made Governor of Jeru- 
 salem, while his second son Herod, was made Gover- 
 nor of Judea. This Herod became after a time, great 
 in power, as we shall hereafter read of him. He 
 was called Herod the Great, and became King of 
 Judea. Antipater did not long enjoy his office. 
 
UNDER THE SUCCESSORS OF THE MA.CCABEES. 95 
 
 Malichus, who envied him his position, had Antipa- 
 ter poisoned. Herod having discovered this, ob- 
 tained permission of the Roman, general to have 
 Malichus captured and put to death as a murderer. 
 
 Pacorus, the Parthian general, was at this time at 
 war with the Romans. By some treachery or other, 
 Hyrcanus, and his eldest son Phasael, camo into 
 the custody of Pacorus ; Jerusalem was taken, and 
 Antigonus appointed Ruler in Judea. Hyrcanus 
 and his son were delivered over to him in chains 
 and made prisoners. Herod, however, had made 
 his escape. Phasael, weary of his existence in 
 prison, put an end to his own life. Hyrcanus had 
 both his ears lopped off, in order to disqualify him 
 for the priesthood ; he was then banished the country 
 to prevent him appearing against Antigonus. 
 
 Herod, in the mean time, repaired to Rome, to 
 lodge his complaint, and fully to report all that had 
 happened. Herod was well received by Mark An- 
 tony and Octavius, who governed Rome at that time, 
 owing to the death of Julius Caesar, who was slain 
 in the Senate House at Rome. 
 
 Herod's report having been properly accredited, 
 he was immediately appointed King of Judea, ly 
 full consent of the Roman Senate. 
 
C IIAPTER X. 
 
 Of the Gorcminmt of Hcnxl the Great and hit posterity over Israel. 
 
 od, having received his appointment, returned 
 to Judea. The first thing which engaged his atten- 
 tion, was the releasing of his mother, who had been 
 imprisoned by Antigonus. Herod now declared war 
 against Antigonus, and with the assistance of the 
 Roman legions, he besieged Antigonus in Jerusalem. 
 
 While preparations were being made to carry on 
 the siege, Herod went to Samaria, and there man-inl 
 Mariamne, the grand-daughter of Hyrcanus the 
 second, a descendant of the valiant and noble race 
 of the Asmoneans. Mariamne was a lady of exqui- 
 site beauty and great virtue, and thus highly calcu- 
 lated to dignify the lofty position she was about to 
 fill as a queen hi Israel. She inherited all the piety 
 and goodness of her ancestors, who were justly es- 
 teemed ornaments to the Jewish nation. Herod, 
 sensible of this, was the more anxious for the alliance, 
 in the hope of endearing himself to the great body 
 of the people. 
 
 Herod, successful in his suit, returned to the siege 
 
GOVERNMENT OF HEROD THE GREAT. 97 
 
 at Jerusalem, and took it by storm after six months' 
 hard struggle. Antigonus was taken prisoner by 
 the Romans, who sent him to Antioch ; he was after- 
 wards put to death by Mark Antony, at the instance 
 of Herod the Great. 
 
 The death of Antigonus concluded the race of the 
 Maccabees, who had held the government about one 
 hundred and twenty years. 
 
 The possession of Jerusalem, together with the 
 death of Antigonus, established Herod upon the 
 Jewish throne. 
 
 Herod commenced his reign in bloodshed, as the 
 only way open to establish himself. The parti/ans 
 of Antigonus fell easy victims to Herod's cruelty. 
 These were all the counselors of the great Sanhedrim, 
 excepting the two celebrated and learned divines and 
 disputants, Hillel and Shamai. These two influen- 
 tial men induced the people to receive Herod as their 
 King, not for the love they entertained for him, but, 
 because they foresaw the mischief which would have 
 resulted from any opposition on their part. Herod 
 now appointed one Ananelus, a descendant of the 
 house of Aaron as the high priest. He was not of 
 very high rank, but rather of obscure origin, trained 
 far off in Babylon ; he was therefore suited for 
 Herod, as not likely to oppose any of his designs 
 which lie might form in Judea. 
 
 Mariamne, the wife of Herod, considering that the 
 priesthood belonged to her family, prevailed on her 
 husband to remove Ananelus, and place her brother 
 in his stead. The <|iicen's brother was at this time 
 
98 STNOPSI8 OF JEWISH 
 
 only seventeen years of age ; still, he was appointed 
 hiirh priest ly Herod, because of his wife's imp'rui- 
 nitk-s. though much against his own will. 
 
 Hyrcanus, who was in banishment among the 
 Parthians iluring many years, hearing of the advanee- 
 mcnt of Herod, and his marriage with his grand- 
 daiiirhter, felt a desire to return to Jerusalem, anti- 
 cipating a kind welcome at the hands of Herod, 
 on account of the family alliance which now so closely 
 united them. 
 
 anus, arriving at Jerusalem, was receivi 
 Herod with all the appearance of pleasure and 
 faction. But a short time after, Herod faneied that 
 Hyrcanus, being of the Asmoncan family, mi -lit 
 one day or other, take the kingdom from him, al- 
 though Hyrcanus was now upwards of eighty years 
 >d therefore invented some pretext, and 
 had the old Hyrcanus put to death. 
 
 About this season, a very alarming earthquake 
 shook the whole country of Judea, and destroyed 
 about thirty thousand of the inhabitants, together 
 with their houses and their property. Shortly after, 
 a very destructive pestilence infested Judea, and 
 swept away many of the people. A few years later 
 a grievous famine pervaded the land, on which occa- 
 sion Herod behaved very liberally to the people, in 
 order to gain their affections ; but in this he was 
 disappointed. 
 
 It was just at this period that Mark Antony and 
 Octavius, the two brave Romans, fell into a disagree- 
 ment with each other. The result proved in favor of 
 
GOVERNMENT OF HEROD THE GREAT. 99 
 
 Octavius, by whom Mark Antony was vanquished 
 and entirely ruined. 
 
 Mark Antony was the true and tried friend of 
 Herod, who being now fearful of the power of Octa- 
 vius, sought to appease him by making a servile sub- 
 mission to him. Herod accordingly waited on Octa- 
 vius in humble attire, having laid aside his royal 
 diadem, and with a free and open countenance, con- 
 fessed his sincere regard and friendship for Murk 
 Antony in former days ; but now he wished to de- 
 clare his perfect obedience to the will and wishes of 
 Octavius, if such trust would be reposed in him at 
 his hands. 
 
 Octavius, allured by the flattery and cringing tone 
 of Herod, recived his declaration of obedience in tho 
 most polite manner, and requested him immediately 
 to return, resume the crown, and ascend the throne. 
 He then fully established Herod in his kingdom, and 
 remained his friend during his life-time. 
 
 The history of Herod's life will lie found over- 
 shadowed by crimes of the blackest dye. Avarice, 
 envy, jealousy and pride ; these had so great an 
 effect upon his wicked mind and cruel heart, that no 
 redeeming quality existed in the breast of this hate- 
 ful tyrant. 
 
 Herod was now visited by severe domestic troubles, 
 which disturbed his peace of mind, and produced in 
 him great irritability of temper, violent grief and 
 rage throughout the remainder of his life. 
 
 It will be recollected thut Mariamne was one of 
 the most beautiful women in Judea. Herod, fearful 
 
100 ^NOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORT. 
 
 lest at his death any other man should possess so 
 great a I -canty as his <|iicen f and lest any branch of 
 the Asinoncau family should become master of Judea, 
 and thus deprive his u\\n lawful heirs of their ri^lit 
 to the crown, gave secret instructions, that if his 
 th should be before that of Mariamne, that both 
 she and her mother should be immediately put to 
 death. 
 
 This cruel and inhuman decree of Herod reached 
 the ears of the Queen, who from that very day re- 
 jected him for ever, and upbraided him with the 
 murder of her relations, and that by such means 
 alone he had obtained the crown. She further 
 resented his wicked designs, by heaping bitter re- 
 proaches on his mother and sister, in reference to 
 the obscurity of their birth and parentage. Herod's 
 conscience becoming tormented, he implored his 
 Queen by all kind and affectionate importunities, 
 but without effect. M:\riamne seemed resolved to 
 punish Herod for his wicked intentions. She would 
 not yield to his entreaties, and positively determined 
 to discard him for ever. This conduct of the Queen 
 so enraged Herod, that acting on the advice of his 
 mother and sister Salome, he slew his beautiful and 
 innocent Mariamne, and to palliate this outrageous 
 cruelty, alleged that she had attempted to poison 
 him, and that he only acted in self defense. It was 
 not long before the mother shared the same fate as 
 her daughter at the hands of her relentless son-in- 
 law. The death of Mariamne was not easily forgot- 
 ten by Herod. It preyed on his mind so violently, 
 
GOVERNMENT OF HEROD THE GREAT. 101 
 
 that he became one of the most miserable wretches 
 in existence. His love for his Queen whom he had 
 so atrociously put to death, produced extreme grief 
 and vexation of spirit which rendered him truly 
 wretched. He became more arbitrary and despotic 
 in his government ; he appointed those whom he 
 wished to favor, as high priests, and deposed them as 
 frequently, to satisfy his unruly passions and caprice 
 of temper. 
 
 He introduced innovations into the religious ob- 
 servances of the Temple, in direct opposition to the 
 will of the people, who remonstrated with him on the 
 mischief which would result therefrom. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the arguments advanced to 
 dissuade him from such wicked and impious conduct, 
 Herod obstinately adopted the practices and customs 
 of the heathen nations, under the false pretext of 
 pleasing and gratifying the wishes of Caesar. 
 
 IK- rod's Conduct in this respect, brought upon him 
 the hatred of the people ; who being jealous at all 
 times lest their ancient and holy religion should in 
 any way be infringed upon, regarded him with sus- 
 picious distrust. Herod becoming sensible at last of 
 the disrepute into which he had fallen, and fearful of 
 the consequences thereof, sought to protect himself 
 by building several strong towers in and about Jeru- 
 salem. He then built temples in the different places 
 and dedicated them to Caesar, who was at that time 
 his great friend. 
 
 Herod finding that the hatred of the people 
 toward him did not abate, then sought to appease 
 
102 8THOPS18 OF JEWISH BISTORT. 
 
 them, by proposing to pull down the old Temple and 
 build up a new one in its stead, far superior in every 
 degree to the one then in existence. In order to 
 induce the people to second his views, he pointed out 
 the necessity of a new Temple, since the old one had 
 undergone many repairs, owing to the frequent out- 
 rages which had been committed against it. 
 
 The people were, however, not disposed to listen 
 rod's proposal to remove the old Temple until 
 he had assured them that it should remain uutom h< d 
 till all the requisites for the new building should bo 
 ready and prepared to be set up. Herod, hein^ on 
 this occasion, earnest in his intentions, executed all 
 that the people requested of him, at an enormous 
 out lav of both labor and material. To carry out 
 his plans he employed nearly ten thousand of the 
 best mechanics under the direction of about one thou- 
 sand priests. At the expiration of two years, the 
 new Temple rose in all its glory and splendor, at an 
 immense labor and cost, as fully described by the 
 faithful historian Joseph us, who says it was 
 the most magnificent and beautiful structures that 
 ever adorned the country of Judea. 
 
 When completed, the Temple was dedicated for 
 divine worship on the anniversary day of Herod's 
 ascension to the throne. The occasion was celebra- 
 ted with a large number of sacrifices after the 
 ancient custom, and amidst great rejoicings and pub- 
 lic festivities. 
 
 It has been asked why this new Temple, built by 
 Ilerod, was not called the third Temple ? The reply 
 
GOVERNMENT OF HEROD THE GREAT. 103 
 
 is, that though it was built anew from the foun- 
 dation, yet it was only by way of reparation, it not 
 having been destroyed by the enemy as in the days 
 of Nebuchadnezzar ; nor did it lay in ashes, and re- 
 main desolate, as the first Temple. It is therefore 
 still designated by the name of the second Temple. 
 
 Herod having completed this work to the satis- 
 faction of the people, was anxious to further secure 
 thc'ir good opinion ; he therefore procured for such 
 of his people who were scattered in Greece and 
 Asia Minor, a renewal of their privileges, and per- 
 mission to live in other countries, according to their 
 own laws and religion, which had been granted 
 them before by the kings of Syria, and by the 
 Romans. 
 
 IK- rod was not permitted to enjoy that peace of 
 mind which he anticipated ; he was visited with 
 domestic troubles which he little expected, but which 
 he richly deserved. Aristpbulus and Alexander, 
 the two eldest sons of Mariamne, who were educated 
 at Rome, now returned to Jerusalem. These youths 
 deeply lamented the loss of their mother, and 
 often reflected with sorrow on her untimely death, 
 and they gave vent to their feelings by pub- 
 lic demonstrations of their resentment for the 
 death of their injured parent. These expressions 
 being repeatedly and loudly declared, were very 
 disagreeable to the ears of Salome, the sister of 
 Herod, who was instrumental in the death of Mari- 
 amne. Salome being wickedly disposed, and proba- 
 bly fearing the vengeance of the two youths, 
 
104 SYNOPSIS OF .1 i:\visii 11I-TOUY. 
 
 endeavored to rouse the jealousy and anger of 
 Herod against his sons, by persuading him tli.it they 
 
 1 'letting against his life. This intelligence 
 
 I disputes and quarrels between the lather 
 and the two sons, which lasted many years, and 
 caused Herod much annoyance and fear during the 
 remainder of his old age. Salome, by her crafty 
 
 i, ultimately succeeded in ellcctin^ the execu- 
 tion of the two sons by an edict from Herod, and the 
 
 >n to the same at the hands t)f AU.L 
 Caesar. It must be observed that Herod had l>rcn 
 already married to one Doris, previous to his alliance 
 with Mariamne. By this wife ho had a son named 
 Antipater, who had been actively engaged with 
 Salome in procuring the death of the two sons of 
 this said Herod. 
 
 When Herod was displeased with his two sons, he 
 placed Antipater in some post of honor ; and now 
 that they were dead, jie intended that Antipater 
 should succeed in the kingdom. Antipater eager to 
 obtain tbe crown, conspired to poison his lather. 
 This being detected, he was sentenced and con- 
 demned to be executed, by and under the directions 
 of Augustus Csesar, and with Herod's approbation. 
 This was the third son whom Herod pat to death. 
 In the seventieth year of his age, and five days after 
 the death of Antipater, Herod himself died by a 
 dreadful complication of diseases. He was attacked 
 by fever and ulcerated bowels, in which excrucia- 
 ting pain he lingered for some time, till he died. 
 No doubt the extreme pains which he suffered, were 
 

 GOVERNMENT OF HEROD THE GREAT. 105 
 
 inflicted as a punishment for his enormous cruelties, 
 and the multiplied iniquities of his whole life. 
 
 On his death-bed, Herod, considering that the 
 extreme hatred the people had for him would pre- 
 vent them from lamenting his loss, and that his death 
 would no doubt cause much rejoicing in the land, 
 was determined even in his last moments to be wick- 
 ed and cruel. To effect this, he convened a meeting 
 of all the principal Jews, from all parts of the king- 
 dom, on pain of death, to appear at Jericho where 
 he then lay. He ordered them all to be shut up 
 prisoners, and then commanded his sister Salome and 
 her husband, his chief confidants, that they should 
 have them all put to the sword by the soldiery, for 
 this, said he, " will provide mourners for my funeral 
 all over the land." 
 
 Herod died, but his orders were not attended to, 
 for Salome, although wicked, hesitated to commit so 
 horrid a deed as the murder of so many innocent 
 persons, and therefore as soon as Herod was dead, 
 she released all the prisoners. 
 
 At Herod's death, his son Archelaus succeeded 
 him in the government of Judea, nearly ten years, 
 during which time he was guilty of many acts of 
 cruelty and tyranny, for which he was ultimately 
 deposed by the Roman emperor, and banished to an 
 obscure place in France. The Romans being so dis- 
 pleased with the evil practices and bad government 
 of Archelaus, they reduced Judea to a Roman prov- 
 ince, to be ruled by a Roman procurator or governor, 
 who was sent thither and removed therefrom at 
 F 
 
106 PSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 pleasure. It was now that the power of life and 
 death was taken out of the hands of the Jews, and 
 placed in that of the Roman governor ; and from 
 that time all taxes wepe gathered by the publicans, 
 and paid directly to the Roman emperor. 
 
 This new regulation very much annoyed the peo- 
 ple ; for the Pharisees, and all those under their influ- 
 ence, considering it unlawful to acknowledge a 
 heathen for their king or governor, looked upon their 
 tax-gatherers with greater detestation than any of 
 those kings or go t' former days, appointed 
 
 to rule over them, and who were of their own nation 
 or religion. True, Herod was an Idumean by birth, 
 yet all the Idumeans having embraced the Jewish, 
 religion, he was so far counted a lawful governor, 
 that the people did not scruple to pay him their 
 taxes. The Romans followed the plan adopted by 
 Herod in the appointment of the hi^h priests, and 
 the removing of Ihem as often as they pleased, to 
 answer their own purposes. 
 
 In this way the affairs of the Jews were carried on 
 for some years, when about this period Christianity 
 was ushered into the world ; which caused much rage 
 and persecution to take place among the Jews, until 
 at last they were driven to such extremities, and 
 thus exposed to the furious and formidable army of 
 the Romans, who were then great in power ; and the 
 Jews were thus so weakened by the continued in- 
 roads made upon them, that they fell an easy prey 
 to the enemy. The city of Jerusalem was utterly 
 demolished, the beautiful Temple desecrated and 
 
GOVERNMENT OF HEROD THE GRKAT. 107 
 
 finally destroyed, and about eleven hundred of the 
 people perished in the conflict. The country all 
 round became desolate ; the streets overflowing with 
 human blood, terrified the few of the poor Jews who 
 still survived, so that they fled for their lives, and 
 were scattered all over the face of the globe. Thus 
 ended the Jewish polity ; from that time up to the 
 present, the Jewish nation has been disper 
 throughout the known world ; seeking protection 
 under those governments where they may chance to 
 fix their residence. In concluding this portion of the 
 work, we venture the following few remarks : 
 
 From the time when the Jews returned from the 
 Babylonish captivity, both the Temple service and 
 the general affairs of the nation at large, appear to 
 have been in an unsettled atate. Oppressed and 
 persecuted by the various powers near and about 
 Judea ; the continued civil broils among themselves ; 
 the tyranny and cruelty of their own kings and 
 priests, all tended to keep them in a state of confu- 
 sion and disorder : yet worse still, was the neglect of 
 God's holy laws, and the introduction of heathen 
 rites and customs, by which the pure religion of 
 their ancestors became polluted. Add to this the 
 innovations which were permitted to creep in upon 
 the sacred worship of God, and the party feeling 
 which strengthened such on the one hand, and the 
 furious opposition on the other this had the effect 
 of preventing the nation from possessing that peace 
 of mind and happiness which they would have 
 otherwise enjoyed, owing to those glorious prophetic 
 
108 SYNOPSIS OF jr. WISH HISTORY 
 
 predictions which made such_an impression on them, 
 and which promised nought but real comfort and 
 divine peace on their release from Babylonish 
 captivity. 
 
 h is therefore to be concluded that there is a 
 period yet to come,*which shall bring together again 
 all the scattered flock of Israel, to the Holy Land of 
 fheir fathers. Then will they be convinced of their 
 past errors, and the. sins committed by their fathers 
 of old, whose wickedness brought down upon them 
 the just vengeance of an offended God. Then will 
 all the blessings reserved for the righteous, be con- 
 ferred upon them in that day* as foretold by the 
 prophet Zephaniah : 
 
 ' At that time will I bring you again, even in the 
 time that I gather you,; for I will make you a name 
 and a praise among all the people of the earth, 
 when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, 
 saith the Lord." 
 
 END OP PART I. 
 
fart 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE SEVERAL SECTS WHICH SPRAM. I \' 
 
 AMONG THE JEWS BEFORE AND AFTEB THE 
 
 DAYS OF THE MACCABEES. 
 
 

CHAPTER I. 
 
 The AssMeans. 
 
 After the spirit of prophecy had ceased among 
 the Jews, and there being no inspired persons to whom 
 they could apply as formerly, they fell into religious 
 doubts and disputes. This caused different opinions 
 to exist among them, and divided them into sects 
 and parties ; such as the Pharisees, the Sadducees, 
 and the Essenes, who were the principal, and sup- 
 posed to have arisen out of the Assideans. 
 
 The Assideans are called by some " Chasidim," or 
 pious. They were a religious society among the 
 Jews, whose chief and distinguishing character ap- 
 pears to have been to support the honor of the Tem- 
 ple, and observe punctually the traditions of the 
 Elders. e In the apocryphal books of the Maccabees, 
 we meet with the word " asidaioi," which no doubt 
 is derived from the Hebrew word chasidim. This 
 sect is supposed to date their origin either during 
 the captivity, or shortly after the restoration of the 
 nation. Being of a pious and religious character, 
 they were the first who adhered to Mattathias, and 
 
11-' SYNOPSIS OF jr.Wl^ll HISTORY. 
 
 afterwards to his son Judas Maccabees, in defense of 
 their religion and i of G<xf They proved 
 
 themselves zealous in their cause, as -stated in the 
 following passage : " There came to Mattathias, a 
 company of Assideans, who were mighty men of 
 Israel, even all such as were voluntarily dr 
 unto the law." They were not however, considered 
 j\ distinet religious sect from the rest of their breth- 
 ren; hut they were devoted to their ancient religion 
 and the service of the Temple, the supporting of the 
 sacrifices, the relief of the poor, and the general 
 benefit of all their co-religionists. Our views on the 
 subject may be considered correct, as Josephns. who 
 wrote in those times, and concerning those aiVairs, 
 does not mention any such sect being distinctly 
 marked frm the general body of the people. We 
 may therefore safely adopt the opinions of those who 
 consider the appellation given them in the book of 
 til-- Maccabees, to be no more tliaii used in our days 
 to pious and religious men, who are designated saints 
 or holy men. 
 
CHAPTER IT. 
 
 The 1'bartece*. 
 
 This sect derived their name from the Hebrew 
 word " Perusheem," which signifies separation, and 
 so called because of their being separated from the 
 body of the people in point of their religious con- 
 duct. They considered themselves more than ordi- 
 narily holy, and more strict in the observance of their 
 religious precepts and ceremonies. It is not quite 
 certain at what time the Pharisees first made their 
 appearance ; yet there is no doubt, that like all the 
 other sects among the Jews, they were not known in 
 any way, until some time after the death of Malachi, 
 the last of the prophets, when the spirit of prophecy 
 ceased to exist among Israel. Josephus, who was 
 himself of this sect, speaks of it as flourishing in the 
 days of Johnathan the high priest. In the days of 
 John Hyrcanus, a high priest of the Asmonean race, 
 they became very numerous and influential. It is 
 generally admitted that the Pharisees were more de- 
 vout than their brethren, and appear to have excelled 
 F 
 
114 SIS OK JI.WIMI HISTORY. 
 
 in the knowledge of the law, and to have been more 
 skillful in their interpretation of the same. 
 
 The principal doctrines of this sect were as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 They held sacred all the traditions of the elders 
 in those days, and considered the laws of the Rab- 
 bins, as contained in the said traditions, equally bind- 
 ing upon them as the w^ten law. They were of the 
 belief that the written law could not fee properly un- 
 derstood without the explanation of the oral law, 
 which removed the apparent difficult passages in the 
 written law. They were guided by the conviction 
 that both were derived from the same fountain, as 
 handed down by the tradition from father to son. 
 They further believed, that when Moses was with 
 God on the mount during forty days, he received 
 from him both laws the one in writing, the other 
 traditionary, which contained the sense and explana- 
 tion of the former. That Moses having returned 
 to his tent, taught the same to Aaron, then to his 
 sons, afterwards to the seventy elders, and lastly to 
 all the people. That the same was further continued 
 throughout every generation until their day, and 
 that consequently they considered their system the 
 only true one, in order to the understanding of the 
 law and the performance of its precepts. This sect 
 became the most numerous of all the others, since 
 their doctrines were supported by the scribes and 
 expounders of the law, who were the most competent 
 judges in those days, and hence the best calculated 
 to guide the people in all their religious duties. 
 
THE PHARIS 115 
 
 The Pharisees were, therefore, much respected 
 and highly esteemed by the general class of the 
 people, who followed their example in the perform- 
 ance of all their religious observances, and because 
 they would not encourage any innovations to be made 
 in their religion or temple worship. They were very 
 particular in the performance of all the ceremonial 
 part of their religion, considering form and custom 
 to be the great contributing cause to the cementing 
 more firmly the principles upon which th$ Jewish 
 religion is based, and that frequent changes in reli- 
 gious affairs tend materially to weaken, but not to 
 strengthen, the cause. 
 
 They maintained the belief in the resurrection of 
 the body at least of the good and the future re- 
 
 rds and punishments to all men in an eternal state 
 of retribution, believing that every soul is immortal. 
 They ascribed some things to fate> but held that 
 other things were left in man's own power ; that all 
 things were decreed by divine power, yet not so as 
 to take away the freedom of man in the discharge of 
 those duties which he is expected to perform in this 
 life, in order to obtain the promised happiness of an 
 hereafter. 
 
 The religion of the Jew in the present day, is that 
 which was practised by the sect called Pharisees, 
 and is in general use among all the descendants of 
 Israel, wherever they may be dispersed throughout 
 the earth. There are some few exceptions, in those 
 who have seceded, and have set up a standard for 
 themselves ; but they are few in number, and not 
 
raia 
 
 very significant in the scale of Judaism. The prin- 
 ciple which they so strenuously advocate is a mere 
 change in the formulae of prayer, and the mode of 
 synagogue worship, under the idea of conciliating 
 entiles, by whom they are surrounded. The 
 belief in the coming of the Messiah, and the ivsur 
 rection of the dead, as also the restoration of Israel 
 to the promised land, is not in the least invalidated. 
 The Jews in general look forward with anxious hope 
 for the forthcoming of that period in which all this 
 shall come to pass, as so frequently foretold by the 
 prophets in the various ages in which they flourished. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Sadducees. 
 
 THE Sadducees derive th$ir name from the He- 
 brew word " Tzaddukeem," so called from Zadok, 
 who was a pupil of Antigonus, the son of Socho, 
 president of the Sanhedrim, upwards of two thousand 
 years ago. This sect arose from the following cir- 
 cumstance. 
 
 Antigonus taught in his school the doctrine that 
 44 Man ought to serve God from pure love, and not 
 in a servile manner, either out of fear of punishment 
 or the hope of reward." 
 
 Zadok, not comprehending the spiritual idea of this 
 doctrine, concluded that there would not be any 
 future state of reward or punishment ; and, accord- 
 ingly, taught and propagated this false doctrine after 
 the death ,pf his preceptor, Antigonus. 
 
 This sect believed in the written law as handed 
 down from the time of Moses ^ but not in the oral 
 or traditional law. They rejected all the traditions 
 maintained among the Pharisees. They not only 
 denied the resurrection of the body, but even the 
 
118 >PS1S OK .M:\VIMI IIISTORV. 
 
 existence of the soul after its departure' from the 
 body here on earth. They ignored the idea-enter- 
 tained of divine decrees, and held the b^icf that 
 man is absolute master of his own actions, with the 
 full privilege of acting as he pleases, either for good 
 or evil. That God does not in anywise influence his 
 creatures in the doing the one or the other ; that 
 man's prosperity or adversity in life depends entirely 
 on his own acts, and that both are respectively the 
 result of either his wisdom or his folly. The Sad- 
 ducees received the Pentateuch as divine ; but not 
 the other books of th% old testament. In the days 
 of Josejihus, the celebrated Jewish historian, the 
 Sadducees were not Very numerous, but supposed to 
 have been the most wealthy among the people ; and 
 the more opulent joined them. We can easily rec- 
 oncile this to our minds, as we observe in our times 
 that the rich and the great are apt to prefer the 
 pleasures and enjoyments of this life to any expect- 
 ancy in a future state of existence. Hence they 
 are found ready aud willing to embrace such a sys- 
 tem of religion as enables them 'to follow their own 
 inclinations. 
 
 These men do not wish to tax their minds with any 
 uneasy reflections on the subject of retribution, or of 
 the world to come, when they shall be called to ac- 
 count for their past conduct in this life. 
 
 The Sadduccees were, however, not tolerated 
 among the mass of the people, in consequence of 
 their assertions, precepts, and doctrines, which were 
 
THE SADDUCEES. 119 
 
 held by the community at large as impious, and, 
 therefore, injurious to the happiness of society. 
 
 At the destruction of Jerusalem, this sect "became 
 very insignificant their name became nearly for- 
 gotten for many years and subsequently the name 
 was applied to the sect called Karaites, whom we 
 shall notice hereafter, in reproach and disgrace. 
 
CH A i'TER IV. 
 
 THE Samaritans were originally heathens, consist- 
 ing of persons from the several nations, to whom the 
 king of Assyria gave the lands and cities of the 
 Israelites when they were made captives by the said 
 monarch. 
 
 This sect was called Samaritans from the fact of 
 their having been settled in the city of Samaria, the 
 metropolis of the kingdom of Israel. When these 
 people were first carried to Samaria, they adopted 
 the idolatrous worship and customs of the surround- 
 ing nations from among whom they came. 
 
 History informs us that Samaria was infested with 
 lions, which the "people supposed to be a judgment 
 from heaven for their idolatrous and superstitious 
 practices. 
 
 The king of Assyria being of the same opinion 
 with the rest of the people, sent a Jewish priest to 
 instruct them in the Jewish religion, and to put away 
 their idolatry. 
 
 Notwithstanding the instruction they received 
 
THE SAMARITANS. 121 
 
 from the Jewish priest, these people could not easily 
 be weaned from their old practices ; and, therefore, 
 to conciliate all parties, as they" supposed, they made 
 up among themselves a system embracing the prin- 
 ciples of both the Jewish' and the heathen religion. 
 
 At the return of the Jewish nation from the 
 Babylonish captivity and after the rebuilding of 
 the temple at Jerusalem the religion of the Samar- 
 itans underwent a revision, and an alteration in many 
 points, under the following extraordinary circum- 
 stances. 
 
 One of the sons of Jehoiada, the high priest, mar- 
 ried the daughter of Sanballat, the Horonite, con- 
 trary to the Mosaical law, which prohibits the inter- 
 marriage of the Israelite with any of the other 
 nations. 
 
 Nehemiah in his day zealously endeavored to re- 
 form the people among whom this innovation had 
 spread itself to an alarming extent. He compelled 
 all those men who had married strange women to 
 repudiate them. 
 
 Manasseh, unwilling to obey the order of Nehc- 
 miah, together with many others who acted in con- 
 cert with him, left Jerusalem with their wives, and 
 settled themselves under the protection of Sanballat, 
 the governor of Samaria. 
 
 From that time onward, the worship of the Samar- 
 itans came much nearer to that of the Jews. At a 
 later date, they obtained permission from Alexander 
 the Great, to build a temple on Mount Gerizim, near 
 the city of Samaria, in imitation of the temple at 
 
I "2 '2 SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 Jerusalem, where they followed the same system of 
 worship, with some few exceptions. 
 
 *This sect hears some affinity to the Saddiu-ivs ii 
 being the prevailing opinion am<5ng the learned, that 
 they rejected^ll other sacivil writings excepting tlu 
 five books of Mo.- . 
 
 This circumstance created a stronir hatred be 
 the Samaritans and the original Jews. It was con- 
 sidered in those days a great reproach among the 
 Jews to be designated a Samaritan. So violent was 
 the animosity on botb sides, that the one would not 
 in any way associate with the other, nor even per- 
 form any acts of civility to each other, and thus all 
 friendly intercourse ceased among them. 
 
 The Samaritans, as well as the Sadducees, are 
 sometimes called hy the Jewish Rabbins, " Cutheem." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Esseiies. 
 
 THIS sect is supposed to have first appeared a 
 short time before the days of the Maccabees, when 
 the faithful among the Jews, at least those who were 
 the most scrupulously religious, had to flee from the 
 power of their cruel enemies, and take up their 
 abode in the deserts and in caves. Living in such 
 retreats, many of them became so habituated to re- 
 tirement, that they preferred to remain so even in 
 later days, when they might have again appeared in 
 public. In this way it was, that they formed them- 
 selves into recluses. 
 
 Although this sect has not been noticed in the 
 scripture history of the Jews, still they formed a 
 considerable party ameng them, as mentioned by 
 Josephus. The Esseiies appear to have been rathej 
 peculiar in their mode of living. They loved to be 
 in solitude and retirement, and were devoted to a 
 contemplative life. They were singular in their 
 piety, humility, and devotion. It is supposed by 
 some of the ancient writers, that among this sect it 
 
124 SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 was that the Hebrew philosophy and metaphysics 
 chiefly flourished, because they showed but little 
 regard for worldly pleasures as wealth, honors, or 
 vain-glories. They were remarkable for their pa- 
 tience, moral conduct, and for their strict observance 
 of the Sabbath according to the law of Moses. 
 
 They were exemplary in their manner of worship, 
 for thcty would not speak of any worldly affairs after 
 the sun had risen, until they had performed their 
 religious duties as customary in those days. In the 
 present day, nothing is known of this sect; the prob- 
 ability is, that in the lapse of time, they became 
 mixed up among the rest of their brethren in their 
 various dispersions throughout the world. 
 
 From the account given of the doctrines of this 
 sect by Philo and Josephus, that they believed in 
 the immortality of the soul ; that they held the 
 scripture in great reverence ; they offered no sacri- 
 fices, but sent presents for the support of the temple 
 at Jerusalem. 
 
 Their quiet, pious habits, rendered them remark- 
 able. They remained neutral amidst all the political 
 changes, and were thus respected by all parties of 
 their own nation, as wall as those of the heathens. 
 They lived chiefly in Palestine and in Egypt. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Hcrodlans. 
 
 Tin: Herodians were considered by some to be a 
 political party, and by others, a religious sect. Jo- 
 sephus appears to have passed over this sect in 
 silence, which leads us to suppose that he did not 
 consider them very formidable. The opinion, how- 
 ever, of most ecclesiastics, is, that they derived their 
 name from Herod the Great, and that they were 
 distinguished from the Pharisees, and other Jews, 
 by their agreeing with Herod's scheme in putting 
 himself and his dominions under the power of the 
 Romans, and complying with many of the heathen 
 usages and customs. 
 
 In their zeal for the Roman authority, they were 
 directly opposite to the Pharisees, who considered it 
 unlawful to submit to, or to pay taxes to, the Roman 
 emperor. - The Pharisees encouraged this opinion, 
 because they were forbidden by the law of Moses to 
 set over them a stranger to be their king. The 
 Herodians were also distinguished, having adopted 
 some of the idolatrous worship of the heathens, 
 
126 SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 whjch had been introduced among them by Herod 
 the Great, when he built a temple in honor of Caesar, 
 m;ir the head of the river Jordan; and erected a 
 <icent theatre at Jerusalem, in which he intro- 
 duced the pagan games, and placed the figure of a 
 golden eagle over the gate of the holy temple. 
 
 Herod also furnished the temples, which he reared 
 in the several places out of Judea, with images for 
 idolatrous worship, in order to gain favor with the 
 emperor of Rome ; though, at the same time, to the 
 Jews he pretended to do it in opposition to his own 
 will, but in obedience to the imperial ordinance. I n 
 all these schemes the Herodians acquiesced, ami 
 encouraged their master in his work of iniquity. 
 
 It is also probable, from some account in ancient 
 history, that the Herodians were chiefly of the sect 
 of the Sadducees, who were very lax in the perform- 
 ance of their religious duties. This sect was, how- 
 ever, after a very few years, lost in oblivion, and up 
 to the present day, nothing more is known of them. 
 

 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Galileans, or Gaulonltos. 
 
 A SECT among the ancient Jews, so called from 
 their founder or leadejr, Judas of Galilee. It is sup- 
 posed that this party seceded from the Pharisees, 
 and formed themselves into a new sect. 
 
 This Judas, considering it to be improper for his 
 countrymen to pay tribute to strangers, excited them 
 to oppose^he edict of the emperor, Augustus, who 
 had decreed that a census should be taken of all his 
 subjects. 
 
 He declared his reason for this opposition to be, 
 that God alone should be honored as the supreme 
 master, and not any earthly monarch. This Judas 
 was in company with one Zadoc. a Sadducee, and 
 they publicly taught that such taxation was forbidden 
 by the law of Moses. The tumults which they ex- 
 cited were, however, for a time suppressed ; but 
 their disciples were active in propagating this doc- 
 trine. This caused a secession from the body of the 
 Pharisees, declaring it to be unlawful to pay for 
 infidel princes. In all other respects, they held the 
 
128 BYirOHfa OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 same doctrine as the original Pharisees ; but apart 
 from them, they performed the duties of sacrifices, 
 and all other forms of worship peculiar among tin MM 
 in those days. 
 
 It is generally supposed that this sect of Galileans 
 ultimately embodied among themselves most of the 
 other sects which appeared at that time ; and it is 
 even credited, that the zealots, particularly men- 
 tioned at the seige of Jerusalem, were of this faction. 
 
 
CHAFER VIII. 
 
 The Karaycein, or Karaites. 
 
 THE Karaites trace their pedigree from the ten 
 tribes who were carried away captive by Salmanas- 
 sar, and settled themselves in Tartary. They derive 
 their name from the word Kara, which signifies 
 scripture, they having adhered to the scripture only 
 as the rule of their faith and religion. Hence they 
 were called Karayeem. They reject the Talmud 
 and the Mishna, as also all other traditions, and 
 confine themselves strictly to the written law the 
 word of God, as they term it and content them- 
 selves with the literal sense of the text, which admits 
 of no comment, according to their opinions. The 
 translation of the bible in use among them, is in the 
 Turkish language, which in all probability proceeds 
 from their constant intercourse with the Mahorn- 
 edans. 
 
 During the time of the celebrated Hillel, and his 
 cotemporary, Shammai, who were the president and 
 vice president of the Sanhedrm of those days, the 
 disciples of these two eminent divines became divided, 
 
130 SYNOPSIS OP JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 and formed two parties. They were in constant dis- 
 putes, owing to the different opinions entertained by 
 each party on the several religious subjects. Those 
 who were of the same opinion as the Karaites, agreed 
 with the school of Shaimnoi ; whilst those who were 
 zealous advocates for tradition, joined the school of 
 Ilillcl. Though the name Karaites be thus modern, 
 this sect boasts of their high antiquity ; for they say 
 they are the true followers of Moses and the pro- 
 phets, as they undoubtedly are, on account of their 
 adhering so closely to the scripture. 
 
 This sect differs from the rest <f the Jews in this 
 respect they expound the scripture, after its hav- 
 ing been read in the synagogue in Ilehrew, in the 
 language of the country in which they dwell; and 
 they read most of their prayers after the same man- 
 ner, both in private and in public. At Constanti- 
 nople, where many of them are living, their transla- 
 tion is in modern Greek; whereas, in Caffa, it is in 
 the Turkish language. They are found chiefly in 
 the Crimea, Lithuania, and Persia, at Damascus, 
 Constantinople, and Egypt. 
 
 They are proverbial for honesty and integrity, and 
 said to be men of great learning, piety, and true 
 religious principles. 
 
 Their doctrines chiefly are as follow : 
 
 They believe in the immortality of the soul, and 
 in rewards and punishments hereafter. They be- 
 lieve, also, with the rest of Israel, that the Messiah 
 is yet to come, with the same hope and fervency of 
 spirit as all Jews of the present day. 
 
THE KARAYEEM, OR KARAITES. 131 
 
 They are exemplary in their observance of the 
 Sabbath, and the festivals, according to the strict 
 letter of the law, as contained in the bible. 
 
 The celebrated traveler, Benjamin of Tudela, who 
 made himself famous in the twelfth century, visited 
 all the synagogues in the east, where he became ac- 
 quainted with all the customs, manners, and cere- 
 monies of the different parties. He relates that he 
 met some Karaites at Damascus, in Syria, and in 
 Egypt ; that they all appear to have adopted one 
 uniform mode of worship and religious practices ; 
 that they met with great encouragement in the 
 Ottoman empire, owing to their unanimity of feeling 
 in synagogue worship, and their general conduct in 
 religious affairs. In Constantinople, where they are 
 pretty numerous, they hold an equal position. It 
 was here that Elijah ben Moses composed his astro- 
 nomical tables for the capital of the Ottoman empire. 
 It was here, also, that the learned Rabbi, Judah 
 Alpoka, the noted Karaite, published his work, the 
 " Gate of Judah," in which he deplores the unfortu- 
 nate state of his sect, which, he says, had lost, by 
 plunder and other persecution, about three hundred 
 volumes of books, composed in Arabic by their doc- 
 tors, arid translated into Hebrew. 
 
 This historian further informs us, that this sect is 
 to be found in Syria, and as far to the east as Nine- 
 veh, from which place, some years ago, one of the 
 Karaites came to Frankfort, in Germany. He 
 brought with him some books, which he valued at a 
 very high price. He then visited Poland, Muscovy, 
 
SYNOPSIS OP JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 and Lithuania, where many of them arc residing at 
 this day. This proves to us the folly of the vulgar 
 notion, that this sect are extinct in the west. Doubt- 
 less, there are still many Karaites in these countries 
 who trace their origin from the Tartars. . 
 
 Our historian further informs us that, in the course 
 of his travels, he met in Damascus two hundred 
 Karaites, four hundred Samaritans, and about three 
 thousand Pharisees, and that none of these sects 
 would intermarry ; and consequently, they remain to 
 this day distinct and separate, so far as regards their 
 religious intercourse and forms of worship. In all 
 other respects, however, they are friendly with each 
 other, and mix together in society as citizens of the 
 world. 
 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Of the Synagogues among the Jews. 
 
 THE term synagogue signifies simply an assem- 
 blage of persons, which name was applied to places 
 or houses in which the people met for religious wor- 
 ship. Among the Israelites of old, the word syna- 
 gogue was used in its primary sense ; as when they 
 speak of the great synagogue, or the court of the 
 seventy elders, which was instituted in the days of 
 Moses, the legislator, to superintend the political 
 affairs of the nation. The number of seventy be- 
 came, in later days, increased to one hundred and 
 twenty. 
 
 Synagogues were originally instituted as chapels 
 of ease, for the convenience of those persons who 
 lived far distant from the temple, and could not, 
 therefore, attend regularly to divine service. In the 
 later ages of*the Jewish state, synagogues became 
 very numerous, even in Jerusalem', where the temple 
 stood. 
 
 The silence of the old testament respecting syna- 
 gogues, and the absence of any other authentic 
 
134 SYNOPSIS OP JEWISH T1ISTORY. 
 
 account, have induced most historians to conclude 
 that synagogues were not generally in use before the 
 Babylonish captivity. 
 
 It appears to be the current opinion of many wli> 
 have written on the subject, that synagogues were 
 first built during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. 
 They directed that in every town and city through- 
 out the land, where ten men could be assembled, 
 synagogues should be erected for divine worship, 
 which consisted of prayers and praises, readinir tin* 
 scripture, and expounding the same, in the language 
 of the country in which the people lived. 
 
 The Israelites having, during their long captivity 
 in Babylon, neglected the study of the Hebrew lan- 
 guage, which was their vernacular, the result proved 
 that the bible became less understood by them. It 
 was on this account that Ezra read the law to the 
 people in Hebrew, and the meaning of the text was 
 given in Chaldee by the Levites ; and thus it was, 
 that the people were enabled to comprehend the true 
 ami proper meaning of that portion of the law when 
 read publicly every Sabbath in the synagogue. 
 Hence the origin of preaching in the synagogue, 
 which was considered one of the objects for which 
 the synagogue was instituted. 
 
 After the Babylonish captivity, the erection of 
 synagogues among the Israelites proved of great 
 utility to the people in general, as the* frequent public 
 reading of the law was the only means of preserving 
 the true religion of the Jew, and of diffusing the 
 knowledge of the holy law of God. It cannot be 
 

 OF THE SYNAGOGUES AMONG THE JEWS. 135 
 
 denied, that it had been partially forgotten during 
 the long and severe captivity ; that many of the 
 rites and ceremonies had fallen into disuse, in conse- 
 quence of the many cruel persecutions which were 
 inflicted upon the people, which unfitted them for the 
 performance of God's holy law. 
 
 The regulations for divine service were as follow. 
 Two days in each week, besides the Sabbath and 
 other festivals, were appointed for this service in the 
 synagogue, viz: Mondays and Thursdays. The 
 hours for the daily prayers were at the time of the 
 morning and evening sacrifices. These hours were 
 devoted to prayer in the temple as well as in the 
 synagogues, as also to private devotion in the res- 
 pective homes of the- people. . 
 
 In addition to these two seasons of prayer, the 
 ancient Hebrews prayed at the hi-ginning of the first 
 iii_ilit u.itrh, while the evening sacrifice was still 
 burning on the altar : as we find recorded of king 
 David in the book of psalms, who prayed morning, 
 noon, and evening. It is also mentioned of Daniel, 
 that he prayed three times a, day. 
 
 The priests and the Levites were devoted to the 
 service of -the temple ; but in the service of the 
 various synagogues, persons of any tribe were ap- 
 pointed, if found competent, by the elders who were 
 the rulers of the synagogue. 
 
 The synagogues were also used in olden times as 
 courts of justice, more especially in ecclesiastical 
 affairs. The great council of the nation, called the 
 Sanhcdrin, whose department was in the temple at 
 
186 SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISToKV. 
 
 Jerusalem, was \ t >tc.l with the power of deciding 
 n life and death. Its authority extended \ < r 
 all the synagogues in Judea, as also over all other 
 places, where the people resided near .Jerusalem. 
 The great synagogue consisted of one hundred and 
 
 . among whom wore the three later 
 
 prophets, Higai, '/aeharia, and Malaehi. 'Phis con- 
 clave continued in succession till the days of Simon, 
 the just, the hiirh priest in Jerusalem, who was the 
 last of this school. He was designated the just, be- 
 cause of his devotion and unfeigned piety to his God, 
 and his upright conduct towards his fellow ereatun <. 
 This conclave were zealously en.ra;red in restoring 
 ly religion of Israel to its former excellence, 
 which had underpin- many corruptions during the 
 captivity and other persecutioas which the people 
 endured suhsequent to that period. They puMishrd 
 correct copies of the bible, and taught the same to 
 the people, in order that they should understand the 
 which they professed to follow. 
 
 Then it was that the worship of the synagogue 
 consisted of three parts the reading of the scrip- 
 ture, prayer, and preaching. By the scripture, is 
 understood the pen ta tench, portions from the pro- 
 phets, and Ilagiographa. The pentateuch is divided 
 into fifty-two portions, for the fifty-two weeks in the 
 year ; one of these portions is read every Sahhath 
 till the whole pentateuch is finished; in addition 
 to the reading of the law, a chapter from the. pro- 
 phets is read, which dates its origin to the following 
 fact. 
 
OF THE SYNAGOGUES AMONG THE JEWS. 137 
 
 In those days, when Antiochus Epiphanes de- 
 stroyed all the books in the possession of the Jews, 
 he prohibited also the reading of the weekly portions 
 of the law on the Sabbath. The elders then, as a 
 substitute, selected chapters from the prophets, cor- 
 responding, in some measure, with the context of 
 the weekly portions of the law. This practice u;i> 
 continued until Judas Maccabees had conquered An- 
 tiochus, when the reading of the law was resumed. 
 To commemorate this event, the practice of reading 
 the said portions of the prophets, on Sabbaths 
 and festivals, has been continued among the Jews, 
 and is now in use in all Jewish orthodox synagogues. 
 
 Under the head of synagogues, we must notice 
 that the Jews had schools wherein the children were 
 taught to read the law ; as, also, academies, in which 
 the rabbins and doctors made comments on the law, 
 and taught the traditions to their pupils. These 
 academies were furnished with many tutors, of whom 
 one was appointed as" president, and under whose 
 name the academy was denominated. Of this char- 
 acter, were the two famous schools of Hillel and 
 Shammai, as also the school of the celebrated rabbi, 
 Gamliel, whom we shall have to introduce to the 
 notice of the reader hereafter, when we speak of the 
 compilers of the Mishna and the Talmud. The sub- 
 ject of prayer will form the contents of the next 
 chapter. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Of the origin and IntrvOactkM of Prayer among the Jews. 
 
 Tin-: bible informs us that, even in tbe earliest ages 
 of the world, there existed in the human breast a 
 spontaneous bursting forth of grateful feeling towards 
 God, the benefactor of mankind. 
 
 The first specimen we meet with is in the days of 
 Seth, the third son of Adam. " Then began men 
 44 to call upon the name of the Lord. 1 * The 
 same expression is used in the history of the pa- 
 triarch Abraham, who built altars and prayed to 
 God. His example was followed by Isaac and 
 Jacob, and their immediate descendants. This 
 44 calling on the name of the Lord," is what we now 
 understand by the term prayer. 
 
 From the several verses in Genesis, which speak 
 of the prayers offered up by the patriarchs, the Tal- 
 mud infers that the morning prayer was first intro- 
 duced by Abraham, afternoon prayer by Isaac, and 
 that of the evening by Jacob ; and, therefore, it is 
 concluded that prayer was, from the earliest period, 
 held as a regular and stated duty. 
 
PRAYER AMONG THE JEWS. 139 
 
 After the release of the Israelites from Egyptian 
 bondage, they were initiated into a holy communion 
 by divine revelation on Mount Sinai. The mode of 
 worship then, consisted of regular daily sacrifices, as 
 described in the bible ; additional offerings for festi- 
 vals, or propitiatory, as those offered for sins and 
 transgressions. These last were always accompanied 
 with suitable prayers and confessions. 
 
 In this manner, the sinner had to make confession 
 when he brought an offering in expiation of his sins. 
 On the day of atonement, when the high priest pre- 
 sented the offering to the Lord, he had to make con- 
 fession on behalf of himself and the congregation. 
 
 In Deuteronomy, chapter the twenty-sixth, fifth 
 verse, we find a particular form of thanksgiving and 
 confession to be used by the people, when they offered 
 up the first ripe fruits to the Lord in the temple at 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 All other addresses to the Almighty appear to 
 have arisen as occasions required. Of this class, we 
 find several instances, such as Moses, Joshua, Han- 
 nah, Hezekiah, and others. 
 
 Nothing, however, more clearly points out the fact 
 where prayer become an established custom, than 
 the devout and emphatic prayer to the Almighty by 
 kin^ Solomon, at the dedication of the temple at 
 Jerusalem, which he had raised to the honor and 
 glory of the God of Israel. 
 
 The language used by the royal sage on that occa- 
 sion, so strongly proves the assertion that prayer 
 became an established custom, that we cannot re- 
 
SYNOPSIS OF JBWIM1 
 
 frain from introducing to the reader the following 
 extra 
 
 44 That thine eyes may be open toward this house, 
 u night and day, even toward the place of \>hich 
 44 thou hast said, my name shall lo there : that thou 
 44 maycst hearken unto the prayer which thy servant 
 " shall make toward this place. And hearken thou 
 44 to the supplication of this servant, an<l of thy 
 44 people Israel, when they shall pray toward this 
 44 place ; and hear thou in heaven, thy dwelling place, 
 k4 and when thou nearest, forgive." 
 
 The royal sago then proceeds to particularize the 
 nature of prayers most likely to be used ; as private 
 injuries, national subjugation, want of rain, tainine, 
 or pestilence, even the prayer of a stranger not of 
 the people of Israel, &c. Surely, a specimen such 
 as this, must prove an established custom. amon^ 
 them to consider it a duty to pray to God for favors 
 conferred, and solicit his protection in the hour of 
 trouble and distress. 
 
 The temple at Jerusalem was certainly the conse- 
 crated place of regular prayer and sacrifices, for all 
 Israelites who were within its reach; yet, as many 
 lived at too great a distance from this sacred spot, 
 private devotion was no doubt regularly practiced 
 among them. We can trace, in history, many ac- 
 counts of the existence of places purposely devoted 
 to daily prayer and regular worship. The prophets, 
 of whom we read, at Damascus, Shiloh, Bethel, and 
 Jericho, had, no doubt, a regular form of prayer ; 
 
PHAYKH AMONG THK JEWS. 141 
 
 for, at Jericho, there was an assemblage called the 
 sons of the prophets. 
 
 After the destruction of the first temple, the 
 Jewish nation was driven to Babylon, and from there 
 they became scattered about the neighboring heathen 
 countries. The occasions for prayer and supplica- 
 tion must have increased in such a state of slavery 
 and persecution. Hence their addresses to the 
 Almighty must have become more sincere and more 
 constant. The reflection on their former state in 
 society, compared with that in which they were now 
 placed, must have caused in the people a strong 
 feeling of devotion, leading on to the use of regular 
 and earnest prayer. Then it was, that prayer was 
 the sole solace of the people, while under such per- 
 secution. 
 
 The prophet Daniel suffered himself to bo cast 
 into the lions' den, because he persisted in praying 
 three times a day towards .Jerusalem, in defiance 
 of the king's edict, which prohibited any person from 
 worshipping any other God but the idol set up by the 
 king. 
 
 In the days of Daniel, it is found that the pure 
 Hebrew used by the Israelites had become much 
 corrupted by the intermixture of the Chaldce and 
 other languages, with which they became conversant 
 by their being so closely united with the strange 
 nations. This caused the holy tongue to be in a 
 great measure forgotten. Nehemiah complains of 
 this, and says: "Their children spake half in the 
 "speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in tin; Ian- 
 
142 SYNOPSIS OF JKWISII HISTORY. 
 
 of the Jews,, but according to the 
 " of the several people." 
 
 Ezra, the scribe, who lived in those days, looked 
 on this matter with considerable grief. He was 
 fearful that the people would entirely neglect their 
 holy worship on account of the want of a proper 
 knowledge of the sacred language. And he further 
 saw the consequences would be, that when the people 
 did pray, they would fail to select proper expressions 
 to convey their feelings and sentiments. K/.ra. there- 
 fore, in conjunction with his conclave, collected, com- 
 posed, and compiled the prayers in the pure and 
 original Hebrew. They were so arranged as to be 
 suitable for any occasion of private and public devo- 
 tion, both for the morning and the afternoon, in 
 uce to the regular daily sacrifices offered up in 
 the temple. Also, an additional form of prayer, 
 called " Moosoph " in Hebrew, for those days on 
 which the additional sacrifices had been often -d ; 
 such as Sabbaths, festivals, and the new moon ; also, 
 for the evening sacrifice which burned all night on 
 the altar ; likewise, the Nengelah, or concluding 
 prayer of the day of atonement. These are the 
 prayers which have been handed down to the pos- 
 terity of the Jews throughout the known world. 
 
 Ezra and his conclave, who performed this great 
 work, were called " the men of the great assembly 
 " or synagogue." The Talmud, Maimonides, and 
 other eminent Jewish authorities, inform us that this 
 synod was composed of one hundred and twenty 
 persons of great piety and learning, among whom 
 
PRAYER AMONG THE JEWS. 143 
 
 were the prophets, Hagai, Zacharia, Malachi, Ezra, 
 Nehemiah, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaria, together 
 with many other great men, whom we shall notice 
 hereafter. 
 
 These prayers were in daily use among the people 
 during the second temple ; for in the Mishna, when 
 speaking of the order observed in the daily sacrifices 
 in the temple, it is stated that the prefect who gave 
 the instructions, regularly said to the officiating 
 priests, " repeat ye one blessing," which they did ; 
 then the ten commandments, and the shemang. li<* 
 again said, " repeat ye with the people these bleas- 
 " ings," which they did, many of which are in daily 
 use among all orthodox Jews. Besides, as we have 
 before noticed, many Israelites lived at great" 
 distances from the temple, and, therefore, it is 
 not reasonable to suppose that God's chosen propl.- 
 should be altogether without some regular formulae 
 of prayer. 
 
 Any person who examines the prayers in daily 
 use among the Israelites, must become sensible of 
 their excellence, and the grateful expressions and 
 high wrought admiration in which they are composed. 
 They are adapted to every situation in life, whether 
 in sorrow or in joy ; in grief or in mirth. No one \vho 
 views the wondrous creation ; no one possessed of the 
 slightest spark of gratitude for favors bestowed ; nor 
 he who looks forward with hope for relief in the hour 
 of distress, or sickness, can possibly have any lan- 
 guage better suited to his feelings, under any circum- 
 stances, and on every occasion. 
 
 Of -' 
 
"1 .il \VI>M HISTORY, 
 
 Nothing, perhaps, has tended so much to keep 
 Israel distinct from every other nation in the world, 
 as their religious customs and observances ; but 
 more especially so, their lan-ua^, the sacre.l original, 
 in which the Lord of hosts manifested himself to his 
 favorite creature; the language in which they j-ray, 
 and which, in truth, is the only ivlic f their former 
 glory and paternal heritage. It is the continuance 
 of praying in the Hebrew, which forms, as it were, 
 a communion for their disbursed brethren, from 
 whatever country or clime they may migrate, and 
 constitute themselves into a congregation ; a language 
 peculiarly their own venerable for its antiquity, and 
 sacred from its first promulgation, as brini: the 
 true channel of divine revelation. 
 
 The reader will please understand that our observ- 
 ations', as well as the historical accounts, can only 
 have reference to those prayers and supplications 
 which were composed for the Jew by the men of the 
 great synagogue, as already explained. Alas ! that 
 any innovation should have been suffered to mar the 
 beauty of those holy compositions ! 
 
 There are many more of a sacred character, such 
 as known by the name of " Peyutem," or poetical 
 compositions, which are read in the synagogue on 
 the festivals and other special days. These are 
 of much later date, and have been introduced, from 
 time to time, into the Jewish liturgy, by men eminent 
 fur their learing, piety, and devotion. They were 
 written under peculiar circumstances of distress and 
 persecution, during the varied dispersion of the 
 
PRAYER AMOXG THE JEWS. 145 
 
 nation, more especially in the eleventh and twelfth 
 centuries. 
 
 It was then that the Jews found consolation in the 
 dark storm of persecution, in pouring out their souls 
 in prayer and religious devotion, which they did 
 spontaneously on the different occasions which pre- 
 sented themselves. Their extempore effusions were 
 so characteristic of their pitiful situation, that they 
 made an indeliMe impression upon the minds, not only 
 of their composers, but also upon those to whom they 
 were recited. To commemorate such events, these 
 compositions were committed to writing. In honor 
 to the authors, the several congregations among 
 whom these pious men lived, introduced them 
 into the festival prayers, and other marked days. 
 These Jiave become embodied in the regular festival 
 and Sabbath prayer book, and have been in constant 
 use among the German and Polish Jews up to the 
 present day. The Portuguese Jews, however, have 
 an entire different formula. Theirs is more ancient 
 than either the German or Polish. It is wrth notice, 
 though strange, indeed, that the German Jews, who, 
 in a great measure, omit the recital of these Peyu- 
 tem, were the very people aim nig whom they \\civ 
 principally composed. It is, however, not our pro- 
 vince to discuss here the expediency of such pro- 
 ceedings : we have only to treat of facts ; the reader 
 can judge for himself. 
 
 Some few exceptions, however, exist. Many 
 of the Peyutem, above mentioned, claim a much 
 earlier date, and are from the pen of some of 
 
146 SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 the most holy men of the ancient race of Israel. 
 These compositions will le found in the additional 
 service of new year and day of atonement ; also, 
 those prayers called propitiatory as the ASV/r< //<>//*, 
 recited previously to and during the penitential days. 
 They have in all ages been admired tor their beauty 
 of diction, and sublimity of language, and are highly 
 calculated to inspire the reader with profound awe 
 aeration, when a i linn to his creator. 
 
 It remains DOW only for the Hebrew laniruuge to 
 become a primary object of study among all el; 
 so that they may learn to appreciate tl,.- hcuuty of 
 God's own language, and thus to be prepared with 
 devotion whenever engaged in prayer, either in 
 private or in public. If such were the case, those 
 who labor in the good cause would be fully repaid, 
 when, by their exertions, they should succeed in 
 awakening the dormant feelings of the negligent to 
 such a duty of prayer as may be acceptable t<> ih- 
 creator of mankind. Then will the intelligent mind 
 become sensible of the excellence of the ancient 
 and holy liturgy of the chosen people of God. 
 
 
 
' 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Of the Ureein and Ihumeem. 
 
 " AND thou shalt put in the breast-plate of judg- 
 " ment the Ureem and Thumeem." Exodus, 28, 30. 
 What the Ureem and Thumeem were is not distinct- 
 ly explained in the bihlr. 
 
 That they were not the twelve precious stones 
 contained in the breast-plate, as some have errone- 
 ously imagined, is quite clear ; for .we do not find 
 that God directed Moses to make the Ureem and 
 Thumeem, as he did when he said, " And thou shalt 
 " make the breast-plate," &c., &c. 
 
 It is plain from the text itself, that they were 
 something in addition to the breast-plate, and put 
 therein, after it was finished, by Moses himself; and 
 therefore God says, " And thou shalt put into the 
 " breast-plate of judgment the Ureem and Thu- 
 " meem." 
 
 From this fact, it is evident that there was some- 
 thing additional placed in the breast-plate by Moses ; 
 and for this reason, it is supposed that it was mudo 
 double, that it might the more conveniently hold 
 
1 IS SYrfOPSIS OF JRWT8H HISTORY. 
 
 them. It now remains to inquire what (he Ureem 
 and Thumeem in reality were, and what the particu- 
 lar use of them. As to the former, there are vari- 
 ous opinions among the learned. Many celebrated 
 Christian divines have ventured many erroneous 
 definitions on the subject. According to the opin- 
 ions of the most erudite and pious I lrl> ivw doctors 
 and rabbins, the following appears to be the most 
 reasonable view of the case. 
 
 It was, say the rabbins, the Tetragrammaion, ot 
 ineffable name of the Deity, which Moses was com- 
 manded to place in the breast-plate, and was conse- 
 crated to holy purposes. It was vested with divine 
 power to give an oracular reply from God to any 
 counsel being asked of him by the high priest, dur- 
 ing the time in which he wore it. Now, as the ans- 
 wer came immediately from God, it was therefore 
 properly designated " asking counsel of God.'* As 
 to the Ureem and Thumeem, it was especially to ask 
 counsel of God on such momentous occasions only, 
 in relation to the Jewish nation. 
 
 In the Mishna of YoomaJi are explained three 
 express conditions necessary to be observed in the 
 asking of counsel by the Ureem and Thumeem. 
 
 FIRST. Concerning the person inquiring. He 
 must not be a private person. He must be either 
 the king, the president of the Sanhedrin, who pre- 
 sided over the whole nation, the general of the army, 
 or some other noble prince, or governor in Israel. 
 
 SECOND. Concerning the nature of the question. 
 It must not be respecting the affairs of private per- 
 
OF THE UREEM AND THUMEEM. 149 
 
 sons ; but such only as relate to the public interest 
 of the whole nation, either of church or state. 
 
 THIRD. Concerning the person who presents the 
 question. He must be the high priest, clothed in his 
 pontifical robes, and his breast-plate with the Ureem 
 and Thumeem. 
 
 The learned Maimonides observes in his celebrated 
 work, " Moreh Nevoocheem," or a " guide to the 
 "perplexed" part second, chapter forty-five, that 
 the Ureem and Thumeem was a degree of the divine 
 inspiration. Speaking of the different degrees or 
 orders of prophecy, he says : " And thus every high 
 " priest who inquired by the Ureem and Thumeem 
 " was of this order, as already mentioned." 
 
 The divine presence rested on him, and he spoke 
 by the holy spirit, that is, he delivered his answers 
 with the assistance of the holy inspiration. Accord- 
 ing to this opinion, it was but one degree below the 
 spirit of prophecy. All the learned and eminent 
 men among the Jews say, that the manner of asking 
 counsel, and receiving the answer thereto, was as 
 follows. 
 
 The person who inquired did not make the request 
 in an audible tone ; but in such a way as one who is 
 at his devotion pronounces the words, sufficiently 
 loud to be heard by none but himself. 
 
 The question being made, the priest looked into 
 the breast-plate, and on perceiving some letters on 
 the stone of the same glistening, he, by combining 
 them together, obtained the answer. We shall best 
 
150 SYNOPSIS OF JKWISH HISTORY. 
 
 exemplify the foregoing by the following passage from 
 the book of Judges. 
 
 44 Now, after the death of Joshua, it came to pass 
 44 that the children of Israel asked the Lord, saying, 
 44 who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, 
 44 to fight against them." The reply was: " Ye- 
 Huda Yangalch," or "Judah shall go up ;" for 
 as soon as the question was propounded, the priest 
 looked into the breast-plate, and seeing the name of 
 Judah appear prominent, he was assured that Judah 
 was the tribe. The priest looked airain, and beheld 
 the Yod shine, the Xg-ain from the name of Sinn <>n : 
 thru the Lamed from another name, and the Hek 
 from another ; these four letters being put together 
 made the word " Yangaleh," which signifies, " He 
 44 skall go vp." When the priest found that no 
 more letters glistened, he knew immediately that the 
 answer was completed. Hence the reason why they 
 are called Uireem, which signifies Light, from the 
 shining of the letters ; and Thumeem, or perfection, 
 as the answer was thus complete and perfected. 
 
 This fact distinguished the Jewish oracles from the 
 pretended heathen oracles, which were always deliv- 
 ered in an enigmatical and ambiguous manner. The 
 Jewish oracles were always clear and explicit, never 
 falling short of perfection, either in the manifestation 
 or the certainty of the truth thereof. 
 
 During the existence of the second temple, the 
 Ureein and Thumeem were not consulted ; for when 
 the ark and coverlid, the cherubim and the two 
 tables of stone, disappeared at the destruction of the 
 
OF THE URKEM AND THUMEEM. 151 
 
 first temple, the breast-plate with the Ureem and 
 Thumeem shared the same fate. Notwithstanding 
 that on the return of the Jews to Jerusalem, they 
 had the pontifical robes, with the breast-plate with 
 four rows of stones, engraved with the names of the 
 tribes of Israel ; yet no question was ever asked, and 
 consequently no communication ever received from 
 the Ureem and Thumeem. Two reasons are as- 
 signed for this. 
 
 FIRST. Because the said Ureem and Thumeem 
 were instituted to ask counsel of the Lord of such 
 things which concerned all the tribes of Israel, and 
 the common interest of the whole nation. Now, 
 there being at that time the tribes of Judah and 
 Benjamin only, these oracles could not be consulted, 
 the common interest of the nation having then 
 ceased. 
 
 SECONDLY And possibly the principal reason, 
 was, that the Tetragramnmloi^ or ineffable name 
 of the Deity, which Moses put between the folds of 
 the breast-plate, was wanting. This being the most 
 important part, and the very essence of the whole- 
 when the cause ceased, the effect also ceased. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Of the MUhna, or Oral Law. 
 
 THB Pentateuch, or written law, was communi- 
 cated by God to Moses, aiid by him to the people of 
 Israel at different times, and adapted to the various 
 eatooa, places and circumstances during the forty 
 yean' sojourn me nt in the wilderness. 
 
 The mode adopted in instructing the Israelites in 
 the wilderness in the divine law was as follows : 
 Every passage or chapter of the written law, whether 
 historical or preceptive, was written by Moses, as 
 received from God himself, which he placed before 
 his council or senate, called, afterwards, Sanhedrin, 
 as well as before the whole body of the people. This 
 council consisted of seventy elders, or senators, the 
 most learned and pious among the nation, of whom 
 Moses was the president. Every chapter of the law 
 was explained by Moses according to the oral tradi- 
 tion, which he received coeval with the written law. 
 The agreement of these two was proved in such a 
 way as to show that the oral law is the true and 
 genuine spirit and sense of the Pentateuch ; that 
 
OF THE MISHNA, OB ORAL LAW. 153 
 
 they are so intimately and inseparably connected 
 with each other as to be considered as one and indi- 
 visible. 
 
 Aaron, the high priest, was honored with the ap- 
 pointment of repeating, for the instruction of the 
 people, all the learning taught by his brother Moses. 
 Aaron was succeeded by his sons. Then came the 
 elders who gathered together all the Israelites and 
 placed them in their several academies for the study 
 of the law. Every individual of Israel was permit- 
 ted to make memoranda of the oral law, in order 
 to assist the memory, for personal and private con- 
 venience, but the public instruction was taught orally. 
 This oral tradition was transmitted from Moses down 
 to the days of the celebrated Rabbi, Judah the 
 Prince, son of the learned Simqn the Just, about a 
 hundred and fifty years after the destruction of the 
 second temple. After the death of Moses, Joshua 
 the son of Nun, his successor, taught the said law in 
 his Sanhedrin, and delivered it to the elders who suc- 
 ceeded him ; and in like manner the tradition of the 
 Mishna was successively transferred from generation 
 to generation, and was concluded by Rabbi Judah, 
 above named, who flourished in the reign of the Em- 
 peror Antoninus, Ijy whom he was honored with the 
 title of Prince, and invested with a supremacy of 
 power for his office. It was generally believed in 
 those days that there never rose up in Israel any 
 man like unto him, in whom so much piety, wealth 
 and glory were united. 
 
 It was in consequence of his extreme pierty and 
 H 
 
SYNOPSIS OK JBWIMI HI>TORT. 
 
 devotion to spiritual purposes only, and divesting 
 himself of all worldly cares and pleasures, that he 
 was designated Rabbinu Hakodesh. or the il,.ly 
 Rabbi. This pious man, acting as president of the 
 Sanhedrin, consulted his colleagues, who, perceiving 
 the decline of literature, such as contained in the 
 oral law at that period, and fearful of the 00099- 
 quences thereof to tl.< nation at large, took into their 
 serious consideration the necessity of adopting some 
 plan by which such tradition should not he entirely 
 forgotten. They saw and felt that the many sufferings 
 and persecutions inflicted upon their co-religion ists 
 would ultimately be the cause of the loss of that 
 knowledge which was so dear to them as God's own 
 people. That it would be impossible for future gen- 
 erations to understand the practical part of the divine 
 precepts as embodied in the Pentateuch. It was 
 therefore with holy zeal that they judged it \ 
 to collect and conij.il.- all the oral tradition explana- 
 tory of the written law and commit the same to 
 writing, in order that it should he handed down to 
 posterity. This is die same Mishna. now in exist- 
 ainong the Jews at this day. It is written in 
 short sentences and aphorism- n. -rally consid- 
 
 ered to be in pure Hebrew, with some few exceptions. 
 It contains full elucidations of the Pentateuch, as 
 admitted by the most eminent Jewish doctors of all 
 ages, who testify that without such elucidations the 
 written law would have remained a sealed book to 
 the world at large. 
 
 In the following chapter we shall treat of the Gc- 
 
OF THE MISHNA, OR OEAL LAW. 155 
 
 mara, or Completion, usually called the Talmud, the 
 same being a commentary on the Mishna. 
 
 For the present, we shall content ourselves by lay- 
 ing before our readers a succinct account of the con- 
 tents of the Mishna. 
 
 The Mishna is divided into six general heads, 
 called in Hebrew, Sedoreem, orders or classes. The 
 first is styled Zeroeem, which signifies seeds, and is 
 subdivided into eleven sections. 
 
 FIRST BEROCHOUT, OR BLESSINGS. This sec- 
 tion treats of the laws directing the order of pray- 
 ers and thanksgivings for the produce of the earth, 
 and for all other benefits conferred on man by the 
 beneficent creator ; with the consideration as to time 
 and place when they are to be said or repeated. 
 
 SECOND PYOH, OR CORNER. This section treats 
 of those laws which direct the leaving of the corner 
 of the field, as the portion for the benefit of the poor, 
 as commanded in the book of Leviticus. 
 
 THIRD DEMAI, OR DOUBTFUL. This treats of 
 such tilings of which there exists some doubt, as to 
 tithes having been paid for them, the Israelites not 
 being allowed to eat of anything until it had been 
 tithed. 
 
 FOURTH TERUMOUS, OR OBLATIONS. This sec- 
 tion points out such things of which a portion was to 
 be set apart as devoted to the use of the priests. 
 
 FIFTH SHEVINGIS, OR SEVENTH. This section 
 explains the laws of the seventh year, called the 
 Sabbatical year, during which period the land was to 
 remain at rest, and lie fallow ; and during which 
 
156 SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 time all debts were remitted and obligations can- 
 celed. 
 
 SIXTII KILLAYIM, OR MIXTURES. This portion 
 lays down the laws which prohibit the mixing or 
 joining of things together of an opposite or different 
 nature or species ; as, the sowing of various kinds of 
 seeds in one and the same spot of ground ; or sufl.T- 
 ing cattle of different kinds to engender; or t In- 
 grafting a scion of one species of plant on the stock 
 of another of a different character. 
 
 SEVENTH M ANU SIRE REESHOUN, OR FIRST Trim:. 
 This section signifies the first tithes, and treats of 
 the laws of the said tithes which shall be apportioned 
 to the Levites. 
 
 EIGHTH MANGSIRE SHYNEE, OR SECOND TITIII :>. 
 This treats of the laws of the second tithes, which 
 were to be taken up to Jerusalem, and there to be 
 eaten, or to be redeemed, and the produce expended 
 at Jerusalem in peace offerings. 
 
 FIFTH CHALAH, LOAF, OR CAKE. This section 
 speaks of the laws relative to setting apart a cake of 
 dough for the priests ; of the description of dough 
 the cake should be, and what kind of dough was 
 prohibited from being used for the purpose. 
 
 Ti .NTH ORLAH, OR UNCIRCUMCISED. This sec- 
 tion explains the law touching the illegality of eat- 
 ing the fruit of any tree until the fifth year of its 
 growth. As follows : During the first three years 
 of its bearing fruit, it must not be eaten ; the fourth 
 year it was holy to the Lord ; and on the fifth year, 
 it was permitted to be eaten by the owner thereof. 
 
OF THE MISHNA, OR ORAL LAW. 157 
 
 ELEVENTH BICKUREEM, OR FIRST RIPE FRUITS. 
 This section treats of the manner in which the first 
 ripe fruits were to he offered up in the holy temple at 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 The second general head or class is called Seder 
 Moedy or order of festivals. It is so denominated 
 because it treats of all those laws which were made 
 concerning festivals and days of solemn observance. 
 This second class is divided into twelve sections. 
 
 FIRST SABBATH, OR REST. This is so called be- 
 cause it treats of all the laws respecting the Sab- 
 bath. This division contains twenty-four chapters. 
 
 SECOND EYRUVEEN, OR MIXTURES, OR ASSOCIA- 
 TIONS. This section shows in what manner food 
 might be conveyed from house to house on the Sab- 
 bath day. All the inhabitants of the court or place 
 in which the association was formed, were allowed so 
 to do. It also explains the rules laid down for any 
 journey to be made on the Sabbath. 
 
 THIRD PESOCHIM, OR PASSOVER. This portion 
 treats of all the laws, customs, and ceremonies, to 
 be observed at the offering up of the paschal lamb 
 on the eve of the festival of Passover. 
 
 FOURTH SHEKOLEEM, OR SHEKELS. This treats 
 of the half shekels, which every Israelite, whether 
 rich or poor, was bound to pay every year towards 
 defraying the expenses of the daily sacrifices offered 
 up on the altar in Jerusalem. 
 
 FIFTH YOUMOH, OR DAY. This section treats of 
 the great and solemn day of atonement ; pointing out 
 the ceremonies of the day, and the duties of the 
 
-Y \OP9I8 OF .irwisn III9TOUT. 
 
 high priest on that holy occasion. It also si.raks of 
 the sacrifices which were to be offered up as expia- 
 tions for the sins of the people. 
 
 OH, OR TABERNACLE. This portion 
 treats of the feast of tabernacles. It points out in 
 what manner the tabernacle should be built ; the use 
 of the palm tree, the citron, the myrtle, and the 
 willow of the brook, which were ordered to be taken 
 and used on the said festival. 
 
 SEVENTH YOUM Touv, OR FESTIVAL. It is 
 called, also, Bytsoh, or Egg, being the word with 
 which it commences. This section contains the laws 
 and regulations for the due observance of the festi- 
 vals of the Lord. It points out what work may, or 
 may not, be lawfully done on any of the festivals 
 which are called holy days of convocation, on which 
 all manual labor or traffic is prohibited. 
 
 EIGHTH ROUSH HASHONO, OR NEW YEAR. This 
 treats of the laws and solemnities of the sacred day 
 of the new year ; such as the sounding of the shour 
 phar or cornet ; of the prayers and regular service 
 of that holy occasion. It describes, also, the cere- 
 mony for the observance at the appearance of the 
 new moon, by which all the holy days were regulate*! 
 by the Sanhedrin during the existence of the second 
 temple. 
 
 NINTH TANGANEES, OR FAST. This division 
 treats of the different fasts held throughout the year, 
 and the manner in which they are to be observed by 
 every Israelite. These fasts are held on different 
 occasions for various reasons, and purposes ; such as 
 
OF THE MISHNA, OR ORAL LAW. 159 
 
 days of repentance, humiliation, and of calamity and 
 misfortune which befel the nation in the several ages 
 of persecution. 
 
 TENTH MEGILLOH, OR ROLL OF THE BOOK OF 
 ESTHER. This section treats of the feast of Purira, 
 and directs how the roll shall be written and read on 
 this festival. It speaks of many other rules and 
 regulations to be observed on this feast, which com- 
 memorates the miraculous deliverance of the Jewish 
 people from the hands of the wicked Ilaman, who 
 contemplated the destruction of the whole nation. 
 It also treats of the laws concerning the synagogue, 
 and the reading of the holy law on the several days 
 of solemn and religious observance throughout the 
 year. 
 
 Kl.KVI'N Til MOED KOTON, OR LESSER FESTIVALS. 
 
 This treats of such work as may or ciay not be dono 
 . the middle days of the passovcr and taVrna- 
 cle holidays. It is, therefore, called Moed Koton, 
 as the middle days of the said festivals are consid- 
 ered less holy than the first and last two days. It 
 contains, also, the laws regulating the conduct of 
 mourners. 
 
 TWELFTH HAGIGAH, OR FESTIVAL OFFERINGS. 
 This section specifies the laws relating to the offer- 
 ings made on the different festivals ; the description 
 of the persons ; how they are to be qualified, and in 
 what manner they are to appear before the Lord on 
 the three great festivals in every year, when all the 
 Israelites that possibly could, were expected to be in 
 attendance at the holy city of Jerusalem. 
 
I' ;H -r\oPSI8 OF .ir\vi>li HISTORY. 
 
 The thiftl general head, or class, is called No- 
 sheem, or women. This is subdivided into seven 
 sections. 
 
 FIRST YKVOMOUS, OR MARRIAGE. This section 
 is so called, as it treats of the laws by which one 
 brother is expected to marry the relict of his de- 
 ceased brother. It shows how, and when, the obli- 
 gation shall take place ; the duties and the ceremo- 
 nies to be observed at the performance of the same. 
 
 SECOND KBSUVOUS, OR DOCUMENTS. This 
 speaks of the laws relating to marriage contracts, 
 and dowries, and of estates, whether real or personal, 
 which may fall to some married women ; how the 
 same shall be disposed of, by, or allotted to, the said 
 party or parties. 
 
 THIRD NKDOREEM, OR Vows. This treats of 
 such vows which, when made, become binding, and 
 by What persons such vows shall be made ; how vows 
 are considered null and void, since the husband has 
 the power of confirming or annulling the vows of his 
 wife. This law is very particularly specified, as to 
 how such may be done ; and the class of vows which 
 fall under the control of the husband, and those 
 which do not. 
 
 FOURTH NOZEER, OR NAZARITE. This section 
 treats of those laws which guide the different classes 
 of Nazarites who take upon themselves the vows of 
 abstinence. 
 
 FIFTH SOTAH, OR TO TURN ASIDE. This treats 
 of the enactments relating to trials occasioned 
 through jealousy between man and wife ; the nature 
 
OF THE MISHNA, OR ORAL LAW. 161 
 
 of the punishment inflicted on the woman, if it be 
 proved that she had been guilty of the crime of 
 adultery. 
 
 SIXTH GITTEN, OR LETTER OF DIVORCE. This 
 treats of the laws of divorce. It explains when, and 
 under what circumstances, a divorce may be granted. 
 It directs also all the formulae to be used and ob- 
 served in all cases of divorce. 
 
 SEVENTH KEDUSHEEN, OR BETROTHING. This 
 treats of the laws, customs, and ceromony of betroth- 
 ing ; the forms, rites, and regulations to be observed 
 at the solemnization of the marriage according to the 
 laws of Moses and Israel. 
 
 The fourth general head, or class, ia called Nezee- 
 keen, or Damages. This class is divided into eight 
 sections ; the first of which is again subdivided into 
 three separate sections, as follow. 
 
 FIRST BOVOH KAMMA, OR FIRST GATE. This 
 first section treats of all such damages, which may 
 be recovered for injuries done, either by man or 
 beast. 
 
 SECOND BOVOH MEZIAII, OR MIDDLE GATE. 
 This treats of the laws of usury. It explains what 
 is, and what is not, considered an act of usury. It 
 speaks also on matters of special trust ; of letting or 
 hire, and such like transactions between man and 
 man. 
 
 THIRD BOVOH BOSROH,- OR LAST GATE. This 
 treats of the laws relating to commerce, copartner- 
 ship, buying and selling ; also, the laws of inherit- 
 ance, and the right of succession. 
 
 H* 
 
I.'!' 
 
 \\I-1! HISTORY. 
 
 The above three sections are called by the Talmud 
 and Mishna, gates, because, in the East, the courts 
 of law were held within the gates of the city. 
 
 SECOND SA M 1 1 \ > K i : i : .v, OR SENATE. This speaks 
 of the great senate, as also of the minor courts of 
 judicature ; of the causes for trial, and the nature of 
 the punishment inflicted for the several crimes ; the 
 four kinds of death, as the penalty for capital offenses. 
 It describes, also, MTV minutely, the mode to bo 
 adopted by the Judges in the examination of wit- 
 
 TIIIRD MACCOUS, OR Pi-xisHMKXT. This por- 
 tion treats more especially of that u l.irh may con- 
 stitute false testimony, or inadmissible evidence ; the 
 laws relative to the forty stripes inflicted on the de- 
 linquent ; the reason why the rabbins directed that 
 only thirty-nine stripes should be inflicted instead of 
 forty, as stated in the lille ; also, the manner in 
 which the said punishment should be administered. 
 It relates, likewise, the regulations to be observed 
 by such persons who were compelled to seek shelter 
 in the cities of refuge. 
 
 FOURTH SHEVUNGOUS, OR OATHS. This section 
 explains the laws to be observed in the administra- 
 tion of an oath ; in what cases an oath shall or shall 
 not be submitted to the contending parties ; who 
 shall or who shall not be considered qualified to take 
 the oath. 
 
 FIFTH ADOTOUS, TESTIMONIES OK EVIDENCES. 
 This treats of the decisions of the many important 
 cases, collected from the evidence and testimony o 
 
OF THE MISHNA, OR ORAL LAW. 163 
 
 
 
 the most eminent and learned rabbins and doctors of 
 the great Sanhedrin of olden times. 
 
 SIXTH AVOUDOH ZOROH, OR IDOLATRY. This 
 section is so called, as it treats of all manner of idol- 
 atry. It is also entitled the " the worship of the 
 planets" It explains the manner and form of the 
 different modes of worship, as practised by the idol- 
 atrous nations, with the view of preventing the Is- 
 raelite from becoming contaminated by them. 
 
 SEVENTH Ovous, OR FATHERS. This section 
 contains the history of those holy fathers who, in 
 their respective ages, successively received by tradi- 
 tion the oral law ; from the days of Moses, the great 
 lawgiver, down to the period when it was compiled 
 ami committed to writing by the celebrated rabbinu 
 Hakodesh. It contains, also, many of the wise say- 
 ings, aphorisms, and moral maxims of the learned 
 men, and is therefore Called the " Ethics of the 
 fathers." 
 
 EIGHTH HOUROYOUS, OR PRECEPTS. This sec- 
 tion is so called, because it treats of the punishment 
 and penalty to be inflicted on those who should pre- 
 sumptuously act against, or teach anything in opposi- 
 tion to, the decrees and decisions of the great Sanhe- 
 drin at Jerusalem. 
 
 The fifth general head, or class, is called Kodo- 
 sheem, or holy things. It is subdivided into eleven 
 sections. 
 
 FIRST ZEVOCIIEEM, OR SACRIFICES. This sec- 
 tion treats of the order to be observed in offering up 
 tli<- rattir fr sacrifices, and points out their nature 
 
164 SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 and quality. It also relates the time and the place ; 
 and specifies by whom they were to be killed ami 
 brought up as an offering upon the altar of the Lord. 
 
 SECOND MINITUOUS, OR MEAT OFFERING. 
 This portion treats of the oblations of oil, flour, and 
 wine, proper for each offering ; and of the two \\ai\v 
 loaves, which were to bo made of fine flour, such as 
 were offered up, on the festival of pentecost. 
 
 THIRD CUOOUN, OK PROFANE. This section 
 points out that which is clean, and that which is un- 
 clean ; what may and what may not be lawfully 
 eaten ; and the law which prohibits the killing of the 
 dam and its young, both in one day. It also shows 
 the law prohibiting the eating of the " sinew which 
 shrank ;" and the law forbidding the taking of the 
 dam with its young. It, moreover, embraces the 
 laws appertaining to the killing of cattle and fowl for 
 domestic use ; and who mrfy, and who may not, be 
 permitted to kill the animals for food to be eaten by 
 Israelites. 
 
 FOURTH BBCUOUROUS, OR FIRST BORN.- This 
 section treats of the laws relating to the first born of 
 both man and cattle ; pointing out in what manner, 
 and at which period, they were to be redeemed, 
 either with money, or brought up as an offerin.ir t 
 the Lord. It speaks also of the tithes of all manner 
 of cattl*-. 
 
 FIFTH EYRACHIN, OR VALUATION, OR ESTIMA- 
 TION. This section treats of the manner in which, 
 things devoted to the Almighty arc valued, so that 
 they may be redeemed and applied to ordinary pur- 
 
OF THE MISHNA, OK ORAL LAW. 1(5.") 
 
 poses ; as also how the priest shall value a field, de- 
 voted or sacrificed to the Lord by its owner. 
 
 SIXTH TEMUROH, OR EXCHANGE. This portion 
 explains how far it may be lawful to exchange one 
 sacred thing for another ; as, whether an animal 
 which had been consecrated as an offering to be sac- 
 rificed to the Lord might be exchanged. In most 
 cases, where an animal had been consecrated to the 
 Lord, and then exchanged, both the animal and its 
 substitute became sacred. 
 
 SEVENTH KERISUS, OR EXCISIONS. This sec- 
 tion relates to offenses which, if wantonly committed, 
 were punished by the offender being cut off from 
 among the people, called Kohrice. It points out, at 
 the same time, what offenders were liable to this 
 punishment. It likewise explains how those who had 
 offended through accident, had to bring a sin or tres- 
 pass offering. 
 
 EIGHTH MENGELOH, OR TRESPASS. This portion 
 treats of the nature of the trespass made by con- 
 verting such things which have been consecrated and 
 devoted to holy 'purposes, to profane or unholy mat- 
 ters. 
 
 NINTH TOMBED, OR CONTINUAL OFFERINGS. 
 Herein are specified the daily sacrifices, and the de- 
 scription as to how, and in what manner, they were to 
 be offered upon the altar of the Lord. 
 
 TENTH MIDDOUS, OR DIMENSIONS. This book 
 is so called, because it speaks of the dimensions and 
 proportions of the temple. It desciibes the mount 
 on whiclv, the temple stood, and the full extent of the 
 
166 MMM'SIS OF .)! \\1M1 !ll>In;\. 
 
 outer court. This was considered requisite to be 
 known; for whoever had become unclean, from any 
 circumstance whatever, was prohibited i'n>m cnti-rin^ 
 the temple on pain of excision. 
 
 in KONBEM, OR NESTS. This section 
 speaks of the birds, such as pigeons or tiirtle-<l.,v(>s, 
 which were brought as offerings by the poor, instead 
 of the more expensive, which they were unable to 
 bring. The smaller value was equally acceptable to 
 the God of mercy and kindness. 
 
 The sixth general head, or class, is entitled Ta- 
 harous, or purifications. It is divided into twelve 
 sections. 
 
 ^r KYLKKM, OR VESSELS, UTKNSM.S. This 
 book is so called, because it treats of the pollutions 
 incident to vessels, and how they are to be pnriiie<l 
 from such uncleanness. It treats also of the man- 
 ner in which garments of every description may be 
 purified, in the event of their becoming polluted or 
 defiled by uncleanness of any kind. 
 
 SECOND OHOLOUS, OR TEXTS. This section 
 treats of the manner in which houses become pol- 
 luted ; the nature of such pollutions ; and how far 
 those who enter such dwellings may thereby become 
 contaminated, and how they may be purified. 
 
 THIRD NEOOIM, OR PLAQUES, OR DISEASES. 
 This book explains all the laws relative to the plague 
 of leprosy ; whether on man or beast, dwellings or 
 garments. It shows how and in what manner infec- 
 tion took place ; and how the things or persons so 
 afflicted may become purified. 
 
OF THE MISHNA, OR OR4L LAW. 167 
 
 FOURTH POROH, OR HEIFER. This section 
 speaks of the laws relating to the red heifer ; how 
 the said heifer should be burned to ashes, in order to 
 make the water for purification ; and in what man- 
 ner all defilements, contracted by the touch or con- 
 tact of a dead body, could be purified by means of 
 the ashes of the red heifer. 
 
 FIFTH TAHAROUS, OR PURIFICATIONS. This 
 portion treats of all those laws pertainin.ir to such de- 
 filements which may be contracted otherwise than 
 by the touch of a dead body ; and of the manner 
 prrrification may, and can take place. 
 
 SIXTH MIKVOOUS, OR BATHS. This section 
 treats of the laws and regulations for baths to be 
 used for purification by ablutions ; of all persons who 
 may have from any cause whatever become unclean. 
 Herein is also specified the manner in which the 
 bath should be constructed, and the quantity of 
 water required for every ablution. 
 
 SEVENTH NIDDOH, OR SEPARATION. This por- 
 tion explains all the laws 'relating to the pollutions 
 and purifications of women after child-birth, and on 
 every occasion of uncleanness. 
 
 EIGHTH MACHSHEREEN. This section ex- 
 plains in what manner seed or fruit became suscep- 
 tible of defilement or pollution through the admixture 
 of liquids. 
 
 NINTH ZOBEEM, OR ISSUES. This portion treats 
 of the laws relating to the impurities arising from the 
 issues of the body ; and points out how and when 
 they are deemed unclean ; and how and in what 
 
168 SYNOPSIS OF .U.UIMI HI>TiKV. 
 
 manner either persons or things may become affected 
 by their pollution. 
 
 Mil TlBBUL YOUM, OR PURIFICATION OF A 
 
 DAY. This portion speaks of persons who may be- 
 come unclean, and require ablution to purify them ; 
 which purification cannot be considered complete 
 until the sotting of the sun on the same day when 
 the purification shall take place. 
 
 ELEVENTH YODOYEBM, OR HANDS. This sec- 
 tion treats of the laws and regulations for cleansing 
 the hands from any uncleanness; and the custom 
 and ceremony to be observed in washing the hands 
 on the different occasions. 
 
 TWELFTH UKTSEEM, OR STALKS. This last 
 section is so called, because it explains how tin- 
 touching of the stalks of any sort of fruit may con- 
 vey pollution to the fruit itself. 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF THE FOREGOING MISHNA. 
 
 No. 1. Seder Zeroeem contains 11 sections. 
 
 No. 2. Seder Moed contains 12 sections. 
 
 No. 3. Seder Nosheem contains 7 sections. 
 
 No. 4. Seder Nezekeen contains 10 sections. 
 
 No. 5. Seder Kodosheem contains. ... 11 sections. 
 No. 6. Seder Taharous contains 12 sections. 
 
 Total.. ..63 sections. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Of the Ocmara, or Completion, which Is usually styled Talmud. 
 
 IN the foregoing chapter we described the manner 
 in which the Mishna was compiled, together with its 
 contents, from its first delivery by Moses till the 
 time of its being committed to writing by Rabbi 
 Judah the Prince. We shall now proceed in regu- 
 lar order to explain what the Talmud is, and how it 
 was composed by the several learned men among the 
 Jews both in Jerusalem and in Babylon. 
 
 The compilation of the Talmud ranks among the 
 most ancient Hebrew writings. It consists of two 
 distinct heads the Mishna and the Gemara, and 
 both together form the Talmud. 
 
 The Mishna, as already explained, chiefly contains 
 the oral or traditional laws transmitted down to pos- 
 terity from the time of Moses the Lawgiver, to that 
 of Rabbi Judah the Prince or Nassi. 
 
 The Gemara consists of expositions and comments 
 on the Mishna, as also various other subjects con- 
 nected with Jewish literature, and more especially 
 Jewish theology. It contains also treatises on moral 
 
li"" SYNOI'SI* nl .1K.WISH HISTORY. 
 
 philosophy, ftfthftOB, mathematics astronomy and ehro- 
 ., and many other hranehes <>f the dilVerent 
 sciences known in those days. The (iemara or ex- 
 positions on the Mislma was commenced in the days 
 of the Rabbins, Gamaliel and Simeon, the two sons 
 of Kahlii Judah tlu- li it the year 8980 tf 
 
 the creation, and was completed and compiled into 
 one body by Rav Ashi, President, and Haviny, Vice 
 President, who are considered the aetual compilers 
 of the Babylonian Talmud. This took place ahout 
 
 The authors of the Talmud in general are styled 
 Amooroim, dictators, as they dictated the several 
 explications of the Mishna, as <i in the dif- 
 
 ferent schools, and which are all found in the Tal- 
 mud. The comments and cxpositi -n- are known by 
 the name of Gemara, which signifies completion, be- 
 cause therein is fully ex] lained all the traditional 
 'nes of the Jewish law and its religion. The 
 Mishna is the text, the Gemara the comment, or 
 glossary, and both together form the Talmud. 
 
 There are two Talmudim. The first is styled 
 Talmud Yerushalmi, or Jerusalem Talmud. This 
 was compiled by Rabbi Jochanan in five sedorim or 
 divisions. This Talmud does not contain the whole 
 of the Mishna. It was completed about the year 
 4060. The second Talmud is called Talmud Bahly, 
 or Babylonian Talmud, which was completed about 
 two hundred years after the other Talmud. The 
 Talmud Yerushalmi is the least esteemed of the two, 
 and consequently less studied and quoted by the 
 
THE TALMUD. 171 
 
 learned among Israel. It is the Babylonian Talmud 
 which is usually studied and consulted in all points 
 of jurisprudence, as connected with all religious af- 
 fairs, both in, and out, of the synagogue. It is there- 
 fore to be understood, that whenever the Talmud is 
 simply notified, it means the Babylonian Talmud ; as 
 the other Talmud is never quoted, unless particularly 
 and expressly mentioned. 
 
 The Talmud Bably is arranged in the following 
 order. The Mishna forms the text, and the Geinara 
 is annexed as the comment or glossary. The same 
 order is observed as with the Mishna, although it 
 must be observed that the Gemara appears only on 
 thirty-six sections, whereas the whole of the Mishna 
 contains sixty-three sections, a.s explained in the fore- 
 going chapter. The order of the Talmud is as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 No. 1. Seder Zeroecm contains 1 section. 
 
 No. 2. Seder Moed contains . . . . . 11 sections. 
 
 No. 3. Seder Nosheem contains 7 sections. 
 
 No., 4. Seder Nezekeen contains 8 sections. 
 
 No. 5. Seder Kodosheem contains 8 sections. 
 
 No. 6. Seder Taharous contains % 1 section. 
 
 Total . . . 36 sections. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 II wnra given a brief description of the Mishna 
 and the Talmud, and their contents, we now <lin <-t 
 the attention of the reader to the following observa- 
 tions, as a summary to the preceding two chu: 
 
 The Pentateuch, or Jive Books of Moses, is gen- 
 erally understood by the terra " written law," and 
 the Talmud as the oral or traditional law. The oral 
 law was handed down from Moses to Joshua, from 
 the elders to the prophets, and from them to -the 
 Great Synod, which consisted of one hundred and 
 twenty of the most learned men of the age, and in 
 like manner from time to time, until the days of 
 Rabbi Judah, already mentioned. This great man, 
 seriously contemplating the state of his nation as 
 regarded their religious affairs, and perceiving that 
 those who were learned in the law were gradually 
 diminishing in number, feared that the knowledge 
 of the oral law might ultimately be forgotten, and 
 with it the essential portion of the law of Moses. 
 
APPENDIX. 173 
 
 In the true spirit of devotion and piety, this Rabbi 
 collected all the doctrines and precepts which had 
 been taught orally, down to that period, and with 
 the assistance of his pious colleagues, committed 
 them to writing, and arranged them in the order of 
 the Mishna, as already described. After the Mish- 
 na had been written, and presented to the nation at 
 large, it was received by them with a general and 
 unanimous consent. It was universally approved, 
 and was held by them as an authentic document, de- 
 livered to Moses by the Almighty, while on the 
 mount, as an explanation of the written law. The 
 prevailing opinion among the people then was, that 
 the Mishna had been handed down by tradition, and 
 they were confirmed in such opinion by the convic- 
 tion that the same had been taught to them in their 
 youth in the virious schools and academies which 
 were establislied for snch purposes. It was then 
 considered expedient by the learned in those days, 
 that some further explanation should be given, in or- 
 der to render the Mishna more intelligible to the gen- 
 eral class of readers. 
 
 With this view, some of the most eminent among 
 the Jewish doctors, taught in the schools the oral law 
 together with the signification thereof, and in this way 
 they illustrated all the most abstruse and difficult 
 passages by useful and instructive commentaries. 
 These illustrations and glossaries increased from time 
 to time, which formed the Talmud, such as it is at 
 present in the possession of the Israelites. It 
 abounds with aphorisms and ethics, which were in- 
 
174 feTNOrSIS OK .IK WISH HISTORY. 
 
 troduccd ly the Rabbins and Doctors who composed 
 tlmud, in the course of their discussions. It 
 was in this manner, that they supported the opinions 
 advanced by them on the various subjects upon which 
 they treated. These subjects were frequently illus- 
 trated by moral tales and allegories, such hi-in^ the 
 tutelar system prevalent among most of the oriental 
 nations in those days. 
 
 In the said Talmud the Rabbins taught also the 
 various arts and sciences, such as known in those 
 times, although it may be conceded that they may 
 not have reached to such perfection as in the present 
 enlightened age ; nevertheless the principle was known 
 by the Israelites of old, and practically applied by 
 them as far as necessity demanded. It is well known 
 that astronomy, geometry, architecture, physics, nat- 
 ural philosophy, as well as many of the other sciences, 
 were in high cultivation both before and after the 
 Babylonian captivity. 
 
 The building of the tabernacle in the wilderness 
 the beautiful temple of Solomon, the superb edifice 
 erected by Herod the Great, may certainly be ad- 
 vanced as specimens of the science of architecture, 
 in which must naturally be included that of geometry. 
 It cannot be denied that the Jews were also famous 
 in hydraulics, aqueducts, etc., military tactics and 
 war implements, engineering, agriculture, etc. 
 
 That astronomy was successfully cultivated by the 
 Israelites of old, is proved by the perpetual chrono- 
 logical calendar which was formed and brought to per- 
 fection in the days of the Talmudical doctors. This 
 
OF TBB 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 AI'I'KXDIX. ii5 
 
 calendar is composed both of the lunar and solar rev- 
 olutions. Though it may riot be strictly the province 
 of this chapter to treat upon this subject, the reader 
 will excuse the digression, in order to introduce a 
 short extract of this calculation to show the basis upon 
 which the same is founded, and prove that a know- 
 ledge of astronomy existed in those days, by the 
 teachers of the Talmud. According to the Mosaic 
 Law, the Israelites are directed to calculate the year 
 and compute their holy days according to the lunar 
 year. Twelve lunar, t/mnli*'iil r&oUtiwi& r i. e. 29 
 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 3 seconds, compose 
 one simple year. Thus we make sometimes 353, 
 854 . : "">5 days, allowing for fractions. Yet the / 
 tern of 10 days, 21 hours, 11 minutes and 20 seconds, 
 in which the solar year exceeds the lunar, might be 
 the cause, that the holy days would be removed from 
 their respective seasons, which would l>e the case, 
 when calculating by the lunar only. So that in a 
 period of seventeen years the feast of Passover would 
 be in the autumn instead of the spring, and the tea>i 
 of tabernacle in spring instead of the autumn. On 
 this account it was that the Jewish ehronologiststook 
 care to remedy this defect, by forming alternately, 
 sometimes to compose the year of thirteen lunar 
 months, as 383, 384, 385 days, for which reason they 
 adopted a period of 19 years, in which they formed 
 seven complete years, as the 3, 6, 8, 11, 14 t , 17, 
 19, complete of thirteen lunar months, and the inter- 
 val twelve years, simple, of twelve lunar months 
 only ; and in this periodical calculation of 19 years, 
 
176 SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 accorclin.i: to the above rotation of twelve simple and 
 seven complete years, the lunar and solar years then 
 agree, without any variation whatever.* Hence it is 
 that the Jewish calculation is very exactly and astro- 
 nomically contrived, for it has never failed since its 
 first introduction, now nearly fifteen centuries. This 
 is a sufficient proof that the science of astronomy 
 was known to the ancient Israelites. 
 
 We have already stated, that the Talmud contains 
 many allegories, aphorisms, ethics, etc., which, it 
 must be observed, are not to be interpreted in their 
 iteral sense, but as being intended to convey some 
 moral and instructive lesson, such being the system 
 peculiar to oriental nations. This system not having 
 been clearly understood by many of the Jews and 
 Gentiles in both ancient and modern times, has led to 
 the belief that the whole of the Talmud, as it now 
 exists, is of divine origin. Now in justice to the 
 authors of the Talmud, it must be stated, that they 
 never intended to convey any such idea ; their object 
 was simply to render their discussions and disserta-' 
 tions intelligible to their coreligionists of those days, 
 and that it should be carefully handed down to pos- 
 terity. With this view it was, that the compilers of 
 the Talmud left the work in its original and genuine 
 state, with all the arguments and disputations as given 
 by the authors in the various ages, so that they might 
 not be charged with having interpolate* 1 it with ideas 
 of their own, foreign to the views and intentions of 
 
 Sec the end of the book for an explanation of the Jewish months and 
 
APPENDIX. 177 
 
 the original authors of the work. This is sufficient 
 to show that the whole of the Talmud never was con- 
 sidered by the learned, as having a divine origin ; but 
 those portions of the Mishna, illustrative of the writ- 
 ten law, as already explained, were received as di- 
 vine, having been successively transmitted by oral 
 tradition, from Moses to Rabbi Judah, the Prince, 
 and by him placed before the world and handed 
 down unalloyed to succeding generations. In com- 
 ing ages, the learned among Israel, desirous that the 
 study of the Talmud should not be entirely lost, have 
 added comments and glossaries, in order to render 
 the work as easy as possible to the comprehension of 
 the student. The Talmud contains, not, as has been 
 said, the narrow-minded sentiments of bigots, but 
 the devout and conscientious discussions of men 
 deeply impressed with the love of divine providence, 
 and anxious to inculcate that love in others by pre- 
 cept and observation. 
 
 It was wisely remarked by the celebrated Luzzato, 
 u that the ancient Rabbies were the incorrupt report- 
 ers of the ceremonials and rites of the Jews, and no 
 innovators ! that they did not attempt to grasp a 
 subject they could not comprehend, nor seek to hide 
 by sophistical arguments, eloquently clothed, a truth 
 that was apparent." No! for, says the Venetian 
 sage, they spoke of things to the study of which 
 their whole lives had been devoted, and their piety 
 gave weight to their opinions. 
 
 We are aware, however, that we are open to 
 severe criticisms ; but we trust that our remarks may 
 I 
 
17ft ftlYOFSIt <> JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
 her shock the ear of the more enlightened por- 
 tion of tlu- .Jewish nation, nor incur the displeasure 
 of those, who still believe it to be a crime to urge a 
 word respecting this time honored production. Much 
 has been said on this subject. Whilst some have 
 labored incessantly to enforce the divinity of the 
 Talmud others again, either from prejudice or 
 other unholy motives, have set at nought the onthv 
 composition, and condemned it as useless in the 
 present age. How far the latter may be justified in 
 the promulgation of such sentiments, may be easily 
 ascertained by a glance at Judaism at the present, 
 in view of the .-trite and contention between the 
 Orthodox and the Reform, with but little benefit to 
 Judaism in general. The reader will look " on this 
 
 ire and on that" and decide for himself. 
 We might quote many authorities of high stuml- 
 ing among the Jewish literati, such as existed 
 formerly In the schools of Jamnia, Tiberias, Surah, 
 Pombeditha, etc. ; and in subsequent ages, those 
 unrivalled Luminaries that appeared in Spain and 
 France, Germany and Poland, who have recom- 
 mended the study of the Talmud as a guide to the 
 perfect understanding of the holy writings. On the 
 present occasion we prefer citing that which ha* 
 been said of its merits by other divines, differing 
 from the Jew in faith. 
 
 A celebrated Christian divine of the Catholic 
 church who flourished in the fourth century, Aurclio 
 Augustino, in a work called "The City of Go<l." 
 makes the following remarks : 
 
APPENDIX. 179 
 
 " For, indeed, that nation, that people, that state, 
 " that republic, the Israelites, to whom was given 
 " the eloquence of God, in no way confounded the 
 " pseudo-prophets with their true prophets. But 
 " by a unanimous consent, and differing in nothing 
 " among themselves, they recognized the latter as 
 " the depositaries of the sacred writings, and con- 
 "sidered them the authors. These true prophets 
 " wore philosophers, that is, lovers of wisdom: being 
 u themselves wise men, they were theologians, pro- 
 " phets, and teachers of probity and piety. Whoever 
 " therefore lives and grows wise according to their 
 " doctrines, lives and grows wise not according to 
 " the doctrines of men, but according to the doc- 
 " trine* of God, who spoke through them." 
 
 "He farther states, that as the love of virtue, 
 " with which these philosophers were deeply imbued, 
 u is the foundation of true belief, and the basis of all 
 " religion, so their works, coming from so pure, so 
 " enlightened, and so pious a source, are entitled to 
 " be received, not only by Jews, but by men of all 
 " creeds, as guides to the true knowledge of God 
 " and to that state of spiritual bliss, which it should 
 " be our sole aim in this life to attain," for which 
 reason, in his first book, " De Arcanis Catholicce 
 Veritatis" he strongly urged the propriety of hav- 
 ing the Talmud translated into Latin, that it might 
 be studied in the schools of Italy. 
 
 Peter Galatino, a learned Franciscan monk, who 
 flourished in the early part of the sixteenth century, 
 was known to be a great persecutor of the Jews. 
 
180 MNOPSIS OF JEWISH II 1> in m. 
 
 Yet in speaking of the sacred writings and Jewish 
 literature in general, he expressed himself nearly in 
 the following terms: That he regarded the Talmud 
 as a divine work, and that he considered every ] art 
 of it as perfect, and adorned with exeellent moral in- 
 ritruetion, adapted both for the guidance of our aetive 
 and contemplative life, and entitled on account of its 
 inspired authors, to he regarded as a work of extreme 
 piety and goodness. 
 
 The above quotations are worthy of consideration. 
 Let those Jews then, wh would attempt to cast a 
 slur upon the Talmud, look for one moment at these 
 remarks, and pause while reflecting, that they were 
 made by Catholics, ere they proceed in their attacks 
 upon a work which could command such expressions 
 from those whose religion was so widely difV 
 but whose reason could not refuse to yield to the 
 cogent proofs the divine book in itself contained. 
 
OF THE JEWISH MONTHS AND YEARS. 
 
 TIME is the duration of things ; it is divided into 
 years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes 1 , and sec- 
 onds. A year is the space of twelve months, which 
 is the time the sun takes in passing through the 
 twelve signs of the Zodiac. The Zodiac is a circle 
 showing the earth's yearly path through the heav- 
 ens. On this circle are marked the twelve signs, 
 which are numbers of stars, reduced by the fancy 
 of men into the form of animals, and from these 
 forms they take their name. A month is the time 
 the moon occupies in going round the earth. There 
 are two kinds of months, Lunar and Solar. Lunar 
 months are calculated by the moon ; solar months 
 are reckoned by the sun. The Hebrews make use 
 of lunar months which consist alternately of twenty- 
 nine and thirty days. The sacred volume directs 
 them to make their computations by lunar months. 
 The plan adopted by them at this day is that which 
 was so admirably arranged by the celebrated and 
 learned Rabbi Hillel, the Prince. The difference 
 between the solar and the lunar months would occa- 
 sion, in a period of seventeen years, the passover t . 
 
182 MNOPSIS OF JEIWSH HISTORY. 
 
 occur in the autumn month called Tishrcc, in- 
 stead of Neson, the spring month ; and thus the 
 feast of tabernacles would be in Neson instead of 
 Tishree. To avoid such imperfections in their calcu- 
 lations, the Rabbins have arrangi-d that every thirl 
 year shall consist of thirteen lunar months instead of 
 twelve. This additional month is called an inter- 
 calary month, and the year in which it occurs is 
 called leaj> year. By this arrangement it will be 
 found that, in the course of nineteen years, there 
 are seven leap years, as follow : 
 
 The third, sixth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth, sev- 
 enteenth, and nineteenth. The moon was more re- 
 garded by the Jews than the sun, because by the 
 new moon all their festivals and fasts were regulated. 
 The new moon was always the beginning of the month. 
 Persons were appointed to watch its first appearance 
 and represent the same to the Sanhedrin, who imme- 
 diately made it known to the whole of the nation. 
 The new moon was celebrated by the sound of trum- 
 pets, and an extra sacrifice was offered in the holy 
 temple. 
 
 The ancient Jews had originally no particular 
 names for their months. It is found occasionally in 
 the Bible that names were given to some of the 
 months. These names were made use of as descrip- 
 tive of the season in which such month occurred ; as 
 we find by Moses the legislator, who called the name 
 of the first month Abib, it being the spring time of 
 the year. The present names of the Hebrew months 
 are Chaldaic, and are said to have first been made 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 use of by the nation during the captivity of Babylon. 
 History informs us that these names were used both 
 by the Chaldeans and the Persians. The Jews al- 
 ways reckon their day from evening to evening, 
 because, in the account of the creation of the world 
 the evening is mentioned before the morning ; 
 and thus it is that the Sabbaths, festivals and fasts 
 commence from the previous evening. They have 
 no particular names in Hebrew for the days of the 
 week ; they are called first, second, third, fourth, 
 fifth, sixth, and the seventh is called Sabbath. 
 
 The term week owes its derivation to the Hebrew 
 word Shovuang, which signifies seventh, on which 
 day God rested from his labors. In former times 
 the Jews had three sorts of weeks : 
 
 First Weeks of Days, which were reckoned from 
 Sabbath to Sabbath. Second Weeks of Years, 
 which were reckoned from one sabbatical year to an- 
 other. The sabbatical year happened every seventh 
 year. This year was called Shemittah, or year of 
 release. Third Weeks of seven times seven years, 
 or forty-nine years, and the fiftieth year was called 
 the year of Youvile, or Jubilee. The Jubilee was 
 celebrated on the day of atonement, and was pro- 
 claimed by the sounding of rams' horns and seven 
 trumpets. The Jubilee allowed the same privileges 
 as the sabbatical year. On both these occasions the 
 ground was not cultivated, but suffered to lie at 
 rest, in order to recruit its fruitful powers. All He- 
 brew slaves were set at liberty, and all lands or 
 houses, that may have been sold or pledged, returned 
 to the original owners. 
 
1 > I SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH niSTORT. 
 
 
 
 It is thus plainly shown that the sabbatical year 
 was evidently appointed to inculcate humanity, fel- 
 low-feeling, and brotherly love. At these periods 
 the sovereignty of the Almighty was publicly ac- 
 knowledged by the restoration of all property to its 
 original and proper owner ! Brotherly love was ex- 
 ercised by setting at liberty all bondsmen : thus 
 showing that all men are equal in the eyes of the 
 the Lord ; and humanity was promoted by the care 
 which was taken of the poor and the stranger. 
 
PRAYER IX BEHALF OF THE UNITED STATES OF 
 AMERICA. 
 
 The following prayer is read in the Synagogue in 
 Lodge street, Cincinnati, on Sabbaths and festivals, 
 the same having been composed by the Rev. H. A. 
 Henry, Minister of the said Synagogue, at the re- 
 quest of the Board of Trustees of the congregation, 
 as a substitute for the Hebrew prayer formerly used 
 by them, in accordance with the custom and practice 
 of the various European congregations. 
 
 PttAYEK. 
 
 Almighty God and Supreme Governor of the Uni- 
 verse. Thou who art enthroned on high, and con- 
 descendest to look down on earth, ! bless and 
 prosper in thine abundant goodness, this happy 
 country this land of freedom which thou hast 
 destined to be our resting-place the United States 
 of America. Grant, Lord, that virtue, truth, 
 charity and mercy may flourish in these States. ! 
 bless the inhabitants of this land ! Grant that nought 
 but peace and happiness may surround them both at 
 home and abroad. Deliver them from all dangers 
 
l*i- ^ NOPSIS OF .n:\visn iii>roR. 
 
 and misfortunes ! Endue them with the spirit of 
 love and affection for each other, that they may 
 live as brethren, as the children of the Universal 
 Father of all mankind for ever and ever. 
 
 Pour forth, Lord, thy blessings toward their 
 excellencies the President and the Vice-President of 
 the Tnited States. May they be favored with health 
 aod vigor, and may all their efforts for the well-doing 
 of the people prove prosperous. May righteousness 
 and justice flourish in their days. ! banish all 
 errors from their minds, and fashion their hearts 
 according to thy infinite and gracious providence. 
 
 ! shed thy grace, God, upon the Governor of 
 this State, and the Mayor and Common Council of 
 this City. Teach them to judge the people truly. 
 Instruct them in the path they should tread, that 
 their administration may prove wise, steady and pros- 
 perous. 
 
 Send forth thy salvation, Lord, into this City, 
 and unto all its inhabitants. ! spread over them 
 thy pavilliou of peace, and remove from them all 
 sorrows all troubles protect them and shield them 
 from all harm. Incline their hearts unto wisdom and 
 piety, that they may serve thee in holiness of life 
 and purity of soul. 
 
 And we, thy chosen people, Israel ! ! satisfy us 
 with thy goodness ! Let us also rejoice in thy galva- 
 tion! Guide us, Lord, by thy unerring Provi- 
 dence, that we may find grace in thy sight, and 
 favor in the eyes of the world. may our daily 
 supplications ascend thy throne of Grace, that we 
 
APPENDIX. 187 
 
 may live in peace with all mankind, and seek the 
 welfare of the land where thou in thy mercy hast 
 directed our course. In their days, and in our days, 
 may Judah be saved, Israel dwell in comfort, and 
 the Redeemer come unto Zion ! ! may such be 
 thy Divine Will, and let us say Amen. 
 
 OFTWB 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
UAKV 
 
 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
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 MA? 1 1917 
 19 1917 
 
 REC'D LD 
 
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