into better feeling, he instanced his own conduct; for by a generous forbearance, he had ever since his arrival lived on his own means; he had exacted neither money nor corn, the usual appointments of all governors, and had even kept an open table at his own charge, at which 150 persons were daily entertained; and this magnificent hospitality he maintained during the whole twelve years of his government. Overpowered by his rebuke, and awed by his authority, the priests and nobles consented to renounce their unlawful gains, and took a solemn oath to restore the lands and money they had taken from the poor. In the ancient mode of expressing contempt and reprobation, Nehemiah gathered together the folds of his robe, and then shaking it out, “thus, he exclaimed, shall every man be shaken out from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this promise!" "And all the congregation said Amen, and praised the LORD." The reform was salutary, and we hear no more of these usurious exactions for a length of time.

Having completed the building of the walls, for which he had received his commission, Nehemiah returned to Persia to give an account of what he had done, and left Hanani and Hananiah in charge of the city during his absence; strictly enjoining upon them the utmost vigilance, as their enemies might surprize them while the people within the city were as yet few in num

ber. Nehemiah was well received by Artaxerxes, who gave him a new commission, with which he quickly returned to Jerusalem, and resumed the government.

Much still required reform; his first object was to people the city, now occupying its former extended site, and therefore but thinly inhabited: he persuaded the princes to build houses in Jerusalem, and their example was quickly followed by the rich, as the city was now a safe residence, defended by walls and gates, and no longer exposed to the attacks of the Samaritans and Ammonites. This not sufficing to fill the town, every tenth man was drawn by lot, and obliged to settle in Jerusalem, with his family. In this manner the city soon resumed a portion of its former greatness, so that Herodotus a few years later compares it to Sardis, the capital of Asia Minor. In making these dispositions it was necessary to know the tribes to which each family belonged, as well for the apportioning of the lands, as to prevent any who were not Levites or Priests, from officiating in the Temple. Having found a register with the names of such as came up with Zerubbabel, Nehemiah added to it the names of those who had followed since, while he expunged from it the names of those

*This journey of Nehemiah immediately after completing the walls, is not to be confounded with his return to Persia twelve years later, at the close of his first administration. (See Prideaux.)

families which had become extinct, or had deserted to the Samaritans, and thus it happens that the names and numbers in the register in Ezra, and those in the seventh chapter of Nehemiah, are in some parts different.*

CHAPTER XXXV.

EZRA READS THE LAW TO THE PEOPLE: THE SACRED BOOKS COLLECTED AND REVISED; THE ORIGIN AND FORM OF SYNAGOGUE WORSHIP.

NEHEMIAH having now provided for the safety of the city, it remained to instruct the people in the law, which had been neglected during the long years of their captivity. Since their return, although the services of the temple were resumed, no provision was made for reading the Book of the Law to the people; nor indeed could the uneducated understand it, as Hebrew had ceased to be the spoken language.

The Jews in the time of Ezra being mostly born in Chaldea, the common people spoke the Chaldean tongue, more or less corrupted, which henceforth became the current language of Judea. Also the written character of the ancient

* The names of Nehemiah and Mordecai which occur in the list of those who came up with Zerubbabel, are not the Mordecai and Nehemiah which our history gives account of, but others, men of note doubtless, and perhaps members of the Great Synagogue.

Hebrew was become obsolete, and the Chaldean character was generally used instead; and thus the written law itself, if in the hands of the unlearned, would have been a dead letter and unintelligible. But while Nehemiah had been so vigorously and ably conducting the civil government of the nation, Ezra had been no less beneficially employed in preparing a perfect copy of the sacred books,* correcting any errors which might have crept into the text, rejecting all writings of less than fully acknowledged authority, and himself bringing up the history to his own time, by compiling the two books of Chronicles, and composing the memoir of his own government, and probably assisting in writing that of Nehemiah, and the story of Esther. In this arduous work, he was aided by the members of the Great Synagogue; by which title is designated the council of learned and pious Jews who assisted Zerubbabel in the settling and ordering all affairs, on the return of the Jews from the captivity, and whose office continued under Ezra and Nehemiah, until after the time of Alexander the Great. The Jews reckon 120 members of the Great Synagogue; not all contemporary, as some erroneously pretend, but following partly in succession from Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who are counted amongst them, (though they all probably

*See Prideaux. The whole of what follows, we borrow from the full and learned discussion of the subject by Dean Prideaux. See his Connexion of the Old and New Testament, vol. 1.

remained in Babylon,) to Simon the Just, who was High Priest, and died thirty years after the death of Alexander the Great.

The work of Ezra consisted first, in collecting as many copies of the law as could be procured, and carefully comparing them with one another to ascertain the true reading, and correct the mistakes of transcribers. Secondly, he collected all the inspired and authentic books of Scripture, and disposed them in their proper order, and settled the canon of the Old Testament up to his own time. These books he divided into three parts. 1st The Law, 2nd the Prophets, and 3rd the Hagiographa, or holy writings. According to Josephus, the Law contained the five books of Moses, from Genesis to Deuteronomy. The Prophets contained, 1. Joshua, 2. Judges with Ruth, 3. Samuel, 4. Kings, (both books in one,) 5. Isaiah, 6. Jeremiah, with his Lamentations, 7. Ezekiel, 8. Daniel, 9. the Twelve Minor Prophets, 10. Job, 11. Ezra, 12. Nehemiah, 13. Esther: The Hagiographa contained, 1. Psalms, 2. Proverbs, 3. Ecclesiastes, 4. Song of Solomon. This division made the books twenty-two in number, to correspond with the letters of the Hebrew Alphabet.

This order has since been somewhat altered. The Law remains the same, but the Prophets are sub-divided into the former and the latter prophets. In the former are placed Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. In the latter, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve