Canaan. After the carrying away of the ten tribes into captivity, the two remaining tribes were most commonly known by the name of Jews, [Judæi] so called from the tribe of Judah, which remained in possession of the regal authority, and out of which the Messiah was to be born: Perhaps this name was not given to them till after their return from the Babylonish captivity.

Never did any nation receive more extraordinary favours from the hand of God, and never did any one render itself more unworthy of them. God had no sooner brought them out of Egypt with a strong hand and a stretched out arm, but their ingratitude appeared by their idolatry and continual murmurings in the desert. When the descendants of these rebels were put in possession of the land of promise, they followed the steps of their forefathers, turned idolaters, and proceeded to that unbridled licentiousness, as to prefer anarchy before the government of God's own establishing. God delivered them up frequently to the fury of their enemies, as a punishment for their crimes, and to make them see the error of their ways. He raised up from time to time deliverers, which were so many forerunners of the great Redeemer of mankind. Uneasy at having God for their king, and weary at being governed by his judges, they demanded a king to judge them like other nations; fulfilling thereby, though undesignedly, the purposes of the Almighty, who had ordained that the Messiah should be born of a royal family. They obtained their request, and yet made an ill use of that favour. After the death of David, who was a type of the Messiah, and to whose family God had annexed the regal authority, because out of it was the Christ to be born, ten tribes revolted against Rehoboam, and chose for their king Jeroboam, of the tribe of Ephraim; a revolt permitted by God as a punishment for Solomon's idolatry.

This schism, which lasted above two The captivity

of the

hundred years, ended at last in the captivity tribes. ten of the ten tribes" which were carried away A. c. 718, (r) 2 Kings xvii. 6, 7,

tioned by St Luke' was of the tribe of Aser. St. Matthew says that JESUS CHRIST Went and preached in the borders of Zabulon and Nepthalim, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, the land of Zabulon, and the land of Nepthalim hath seen great light. It may indeed be said that the tribe of Judah and the remains of that of Benjamin took possession of these countries after their return from the captivity. But this opinion cannot well be reconciled with the contemptuous manner with which the Jews treated the Galileans, and their extreme aversion for the least mixture with the Gentiles. It is manifest from the whole tenor of the gospel, and the testimony of Josephus", that though the Galileans professed the Jewish religion, and had some dealings with the Jews, yet that they were looked upon by the latter as persons of quite a different character from themselves. It is moreover evident from the same authors, that Galilee was a very populous country, which could not possibly have been, if it had been peopled only by colonies sent thither from the tribe of Judah, whose country was large enough to hold them all. It is then very probable, that the cities of Galilee were peopled with such of the ten tribes, as remained in the land, or had returned thither from several parts, upon different occasions.

of the tribe of

The tribe of Judah did not continue The captivity more faithful to God, than Samaria, the Judah. metropolis of the kingdom of Israel, had done. Accordingly they were alike severely punished for their disobedience, by being" often delivered into the hands of their enemies, and at last all carried away captive by Nebuchadnezzar in the 19th year of his reign. Nebuzaradan, the captain of his guard, having taken and destroyed the city and temple of Jerusalem, carried away Zedekiah the last king

A. c. 606.

598.

588.

(e) Luke ii. 36. (ƒ) Matt. iv. 13. 15. 16. (g) Joseph. de Bell. Jud. 1. iii. c. 2. (h) 2 Chron. xxiii. 2. xxxvi. 6. 17. 2 Kings xxiv. xxv. Jer. lii.

of Judah, captive to Babylon, with such as survived their unhappy country, excepting some of their poorest, whom he left to dress and till the ground. Their number must notwithstanding have been pretty considerable. For they are styled a people; they inhabited several towns; and Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah, a very famous man, for their governor, since all the Jews, who had fled for refuge among the Moabites, Ammonites, Idumæans, and other neighbouring nations, came and implored his protection. As soon indeed as this president had been barbarously murdered by the treachery of Ishmael, the greater part of them being afraid of falling into the hands of the Chaldeans, went down into Egypt; though God had given them an express prohibition to the contrary by his Prophet Jeremiah, because he was desirous of keeping together these remains of Judah.

A. C. 580.

However this be, after the captivity of Babylon had lasted seventy years, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah, it ended with the empire of the Chaldeans, which was destroyed by Cyrus the founder of the Persian monarchy. This prince being moved thereto by God, in a special manner, signalized the first year of his reign over the Babylonians, by his edict in favour of the Jews; fulfilling thereby the prophecy of Isaiah', which, as Josephus pretends", Cyrus himself had read. Thus much is plain from scripture", that he acknowledges, it was by God's order, he set the Jews at liberty, and caused the city and temple of Jerusalem to be rebuilt. However, this work was but just begun during the life-time of Cyrus, wholly taken up with his war against the Massagetæ, wherein he fell. It was afterwards interrupted and stopped for several years, under the reigns of some of Cyrus's successors, by the treachery and calumnies of the Samaritans or Cuthæans, the professed and perpetual enemies of the

(í) Jer. xli. xlii. xliii. '(k) Jer. xxix. 10. (7) Isa. xliv. 28. xlv. 13. (m) Jos. Ant. Jud. 1. xi. c. 1. (n) 2 Chron. xxxvi. 22, 23. Ezra i. 1,2. (0) Ezra iv.

Jews. So that the temple could not be finished till the reign of Darius the son of Hystaspes", nor Jerusalem rebuilt till the time of Artaxerxes his successor, according to the opinion of the most famous_Chronologers. About these times prophesied Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, the last of the prophets, with whose writings the Jewish canon ends. This is necessary to observe in relation to the New Testament, because neither the sacred authors, nor JESUS CHRIST, have quoted any other books but what were in that canon.

The Jews after their return from the Babylonish captivity, remained in subjection to the kings of Persia, till the time of Alexander the Great. Though they were tributary to them, yet they enjoyed the free exercise of their religion, and were governed by kings of their own nation. Josephus relates that Alexander the Great being highly incensed against the Jews, because they had refused him assistance, had resolved to go and lay siege to Jerusalem; but that as he was marching towards it, his anger was immediately turned into a reverent awe at the sight of Jaddus the high-priest, who came out to meet him in his pontifical robes, and that he granted the Jews all the privileges they required of him. We are not indeed obliged to give credit to all the fine things Josephus hath advanced in this part of his history. But thus much is certain, from that time the Jews began to hellenize; that the Greek tongue, spoken by the Macedonians, became more common among them; and that they also embraced some of the opinions of the Greek philosophers, as the transmigration of souls, for instance. We find some steps of this notion even in the New Testament, as in St. Luke xvi. 23, where there is an account of the abode of departed souls, conformable to the Grecian Philosophy, and in St. John ix. 2, where we find an allusion to the pre-existence, and

(p) Ezra vi. vii. Euseb. Chron. (q) Josephus Antiq. Jud, 1. xi. c. 8. (r) See Euseb. Chron. et Præpar. Evang. vii. 14. and viii. 10.

transmigration of souls. It is moreover evident from the apocryphal writings, from Philo', Josephus", and the Thalmudists, that the Jews, especially the Pharisees, had learned and followed the Grecian Philosophy, ever since their conversing with the Greeks under Álexander the Great, the Ptolemies and Seleucidæ his successors, who reigned in Egypt and Syria. After the death of this illustrious monarch, the administration of the common-wealth of Israel came into the hands of the highpriests, and was sometimes protected, and at other times oppressed by the kings of Egypt and Syria its neighbours, who became successively masters of it. Ptolemy Lagus* king of Egypt and successor of Alexander the Great, surprised Jerusalem, and carried several thousands of Jews with him prisoners into Egypt, where they were followed by several others, who were induced to go thither, upon account of the great trust which Ptolemy reposed in them. Ptolemy Philadelphus had a great kindness for them, and gave several thousands leave to return into their own country. They underwent very great hardships, during the long and continued wars between the kings of Egypt and Syria. But their religion and state never were in so great danger, after their return from the Babylonish captivity, as under Antiochus Epiphanes. What a terrible persecution that cruel and impious prince raised against them, is so well known, that we need not give an account of it here; nor of the valour and heroic zeal of the Maccabees, who then freed them from it. A few years after, the regal authority and the priesthood were united in Aristobulus, the son of Hyrcanus", who had shaken off the yoke of the Macedonians, destroyed the temple of Gerizim, sacked several towns in Syria, and forced the Idumeans to be circumcised, for which reason they were thence-forward looked upon as Jews. We may

A. C. 170.

(s) Wisdom vii. 17. (t) Philo passim. (u) Jos. de Bell. Jud. 1. ii. 12. (x) Jos. Antiq. Jud. 1. xii. c. 1. (y) Jos. Antiq. Jud. 1. xiii. c. 19.