Palestine, or, the Holy Land Part 3

It was in this reign that the limits of Jewish power attained their utmost reach, comprehending even the remarkable district of Palmyrene, a s.p.a.cious and fertile province in the midst of a frightful desert. There were in it two princ.i.p.al towns, Thapsacus and Palmyra, from the latter of which the whole country took its name. Solomon, it is well known, took pleasure to adding to its beauty and strength, as being one of his main defences on the eastern border; and hence it is spoken of in Scripture as Tadmor in the wilderness. Josephus calls it Thadamor; the Seventy recognise it under the name of Theodmor and Thedmor; while the Arabs and Syrians at the present day keep alive the remembrance of its ancient glory as Tadmor, Tadmier, and Tatmor. But of Solomon's labours not one vestige now remains. The inhabitants having revolted from the Emperor Aurelian, and pledged their faith to an adventurer called Antiochus, or Achilles, who had a.s.sumed the purple, this splendid town was attacked and razed to the ground. Repenting of his hasty determination, the Roman prince gave orders that Palmyra should be immediately rebuilt; but so inefficient were the measures which he adopted, or so imperfectly was he obeyed in their execution, that the city in the desert has ever since been remarkable only as a heap of magnificent ruins. The first object that now presents itself to the traveller who approaches this forlorn place, is a castle of mean architecture and uncertain origin, about half an hour's walk from it, on the north side. "From thence," says Mr. Maundrell, "we descry Tadmor, enclosed on three sides, by long ridges of mountains; but to the south is a vast plain which bounds the visible horizon. The barren soil presents nothing green but a few palm trees. The city must have been of large extent, if we may judge from the s.p.a.ce now taken up by the ruins; but as there are no traces of its walls, its real dimensions and form remain equally unknown. It is now a deplorable spectacle, inhabited by thirty or forty miserable families, who have built huts of mud within a s.p.a.cious court which once enclosed a magnificent heathen temple."[40]

The despotism exercised by Solomon created a strong reaction, which was immediately felt on the accession of his son Rehoboam. This prince, rejecting the advice of his aged counsellors, and following that of the younger and more violent, soon had the misfortune to see the greater part of his kingdom wrested from him. In reply to the address of his people, who entreated an alleviation of their burdens, he declared, that instead of requiring less at their hands he should demand more.

"My father made your yoke heavy, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." Such a resolution, expressed in language at once so contemptuous and severe, alienated from his government ten tribes, who sought a more indulgent master in Jeroboam, a declared enemy of the house of David. Hence the origin of the kingdom of Israel, as distinguished from that of Judah; and hence, too, the disgraceful contentions between these kindred states, which acknowledged one religion, and professed to be guided by the same law. Arms and negotiation proved equally unavailing, in repeated attempts which were made to reunite the Hebrews under one sceptre; till, at length, about two hundred and seventy years after the death of Solomon, the younger people were subdued by Shalmaneser, the powerful monarch of a.s.syria, who carried them away captive into the remoter provinces of his vast empire.[41]

Our plan does not admit a minuter detail of the sacred history than may be readily found in the pages of the Old Testament. Suffice it therefore to observe, that Jerusalem soon ceased to be regarded by the Israelites as the centre of their religion, and the bond of union among the descendants of Abraham.

Jeroboam had erected in his kingdom the emblems of a less pure faith, to which he confined the attention of his subjects; while the frequent wars that ensued, and the treaties formed on either side with the Gentile nations on their respective borders, soon completed the estrangement which ambition had begun. Little attached to the native line of princes, the Israelites placed on the throne of Samaria a number of adventurers, who had no qualities to recommend them besides military courage and an irreconcilable hatred towards the more legitimate claimants of the house of David. The following list will give a condensed view of the names, the order, and the length of the reigns which belong to the sovereigns of Israel, from the demise of Solomon down to the extinction of their kingdom by the arms of a.s.syria:--

Years B.C.

1. Jeroboam 22 990 2. Nadad 2 968 3. Baasha 23 966 4. Ela 1 943 5. Zimri and Omri 11 942 6. Ahab 22 931 7. Ahaziah 2 909 8. Jehoram or Joram 12 907 9. Jehu 28 895 10. Jehoahaz 17 867 11: Jehoash or Joash 16 850 12. Jeroboam II 41 834 1st Interregnum 22 793 13. Zechariah and Shallum 1 771 14. Menahem 10 770 15. Pekahiah 2 760 16. Pekah 20 758 2d Interregnum 10 738 17. Hoshea 9 728 --- --- Samaria taken 271 719

It appears to have escaped the notice of the greater number of commentators, that the separation of interests, which in the days of Rehoboam produced a permanent division of the tribes, had manifested itself at a much earlier period. In truth, it is extremely doubtful whether the union and co-operation between the northern and the southern communities, which was meant to be accomplished by the inst.i.tution of monarchy, were ever cordial or efficient. There is no doubt, at least, that the two parties differed essentially in their choice of a successor to Saul; for, while the people of Judah invited David to the supreme power as their annointed sovereign, the suffrages of Israel were unanimous in favour of Ishbosheth, the son of the deceased king. We may therefore conclude, that the exactions of Solomon were the pretext rather than the true cause of the unfortunate dismemberment of the Hebrew confederation, which in the end conducted both sections of it by gradual steps to defeat and captivity.

The kingdom of Judah, less distracted by the pretensions of usurpers, and being confirmed in the principles of patriotism by a more rigid adherance to the law of Moses, continued during one hundred and thirty years to resist the encroachments of the two rival powers, Egypt and a.s.syria, which now began to contend in earnest for the possession of Palestine. Several endeavours were made, even after the destruction of Samaria, to unite the energies of the Twelve Tribes, and thereby to secure the independence of the sacred territory a little longer. But a pitiful jealousy had succeeded to the aversion generated by a long course of hostile aggression; while the overwhelming hosts, which incessantly issued from the Euphrates and the Nile to select a field of battle within the borders of Canaan, soon left to the feeble councils of Jerusalem no other choice than that of an Egyptian or an a.s.syrian master.

In the year six hundred and two before the Christian era, when Jehoiakim was on the throne of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, who already shared with his father the government of a.s.syria, advanced into Palestine at the head of a formidable army. A timely submission saved the city as well as the life of the pusillanimous monarch. But after a short period, finding the conqueror engaged in more important affairs, the vanquished king made an effort to recover his dominions by throwing off the Babylonian yoke. The siege of Jerusalem was renewed with greater vigour on the part of the invaders, in the course of which Jehoiakim was killed, and his son Coniah ascended the throne. Scarcely, however, had the new sovereign taken up the reigns of government, when he found it necessary to open the gates of his capital to the a.s.syrian prince, who carried him, his princ.i.p.al n.o.bility, and the most expert of his artisans, as prisoners to the banks of the Tigris.

The nominal authority was now confided to a brother or uncle of the captive king, whose original name, Mattaniah, was changed to Zedekiah by his lord paramount, who considered him merely as the governor of a province. Impatient of an office so subordinate, and instigated, it is probable, by the emissaries of Egypt, he resolved to hazard his life and liberty for the chance of reconquering the independence of his crown. This imprudent step brought Nebuchadnezzar once more before the walls of Jerusalem. A siege, which appears to have continued fifteen or sixteen months, terminated in the final reduction of the holy city, and in the captivity of Zedekiah, who was treated with the utmost severity. His two sons were executed in his presence, after which his eyes were put out; when, being loaded with fetters, he was carried to Babylon and thrown into prison.

The work of demolition was intrusted to Nebuzar-adan, the captain of the guard, who "burnt the house of the Lord and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire. And the army of the Chaldees that were with the captain of the guard brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about. The rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the King of Babylon, with the remnant of the mult.i.tude, did the captain of the guard carry away. But he left the poor of the land to be vine-dressers and husbandmen."[42]

The kings who reigned over Judah from the demise of Solomon to the destruction of the first temple are as follows:--

Years B.C.

1. Rhehoboam 17 990 2. Abijah 3 973 3. Asa 41 970 4. Jehoshaphat 25 929 5. Jehoram or Joram 8 904 6. Ahaziah 1 896 7. Queen Athaliah 8 895 8. Joash or Jehoash 40 889 9. Amaziah 29 849 Interregnum 11 820 10. Uzziah or Azariah 52 809 11. Jotham 16 757 12. Ahaz 18 741 13. Hezekiah 29 725 14. Mana.s.seh 55 696 15. Amor 2 641 18. Josiah 31 639 17. Jehoahaz 3 months 18. Jehoiakim 11 608 19. Coniah or Jehoiachin 3 months 20. Zedekiah 11 597 --- --- Jerusalem taken 404 586

The desolation inflicted upon Jerusalem by the hands of her enemies excited the deepest sorrow, and gave rise to the most gloomy apprehensions in regard to the future. Considering themselves under the special protection of Jehovah, the inhabitants could not by any means be induced to believe that the throne of David would be overturned by the armies of the heathen. It was in vain that Jeremiah, at the imminent peril of his life announced the approaching judgment, a.s.suring the monarch and his princes that the King of Babylon would certainly besiege and lay waste their holy city, unless the evil were averted by an immediate change of manners. All his remonstrances were greeted with contempt; and at length the prophet had to bewail the misery which thus overtook his people, and the varied sufferings, the contumely, and the degradation, which they were doomed to endure in the land of their conquerers. "How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! How is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, is become tributary! She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks!

Judah is gone into captivity; she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest."[43]

These sentiments, although applied to a later period, are beautifully expressed by a modern poet, to whom was granted no small share of the pathetic eloquence of the prophetic bard whose words have just been quoted.

"Reft of thy sons, amid thy foes forlorn, Mourn, widowed Queen, forgotten Sion, mourn!

Is this thy place, sad city, this thy throne, Where the wild desert rears its craggy stone, While suns unbless'd their angry l.u.s.tre fling, And wayworn pilgrims seek the scanty spring?

Where now thy pomp which kings with envy viewed, Where now thy might which all those kings subdued?

No martial myriads muster in thy gate; No suppliant nations in thy Temple wait; No prophet bards, thy glittering courts among, Wake the full lyre, and swell the tide of song.

But lawless Force and meager Want are there, And the quick-darting eye of restless Fear; While cold Oblivion, 'mid thy ruins laid, Folds his dark wing beneath thy ivy shade."[44]

The seventy years which were determined concerning Jerusalem began, not at the demolition of the city by Nebuzar-adan, the captain of the guard, but at the date of the former invasion by his master, in the reign of Jehoiakim, when the a.s.syrians carried away some of the princes, and among others Daniel and his celebrated companions, as captives, or perhaps as hostages for the good conduct of the king. The event now alluded to took place exactly six centuries before the Christian era; and hence the return of the Jews to the Holy Land must have occurred about the year 530 prior to the same great epoch. But as their migration homeward was gradually accomplished under different leaders, and with various objects in view, their historians have not thought it necessary to enter into particulars; and hence has arisen a certain obscurity in the calculations of divines respecting the commencement, the duration, and the end of the Babylonian captivity.

The tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who now const.i.tuted the whole Jewish nation, brought back with them to Palestine the ancient spirit of hostility towards the Israelitish kingdom, the people of which they were pleased to cla.s.s under the general denomination of Samaritans; an impure race, descended from the eastern colonists sent by Shalmaneser to replace the Hebrew captives whom he removed to Halah and Habor and the cities of the Medes. In this way they roused an opposition, and created difficulties which otherwise they might not have experienced during their erection of the second Temple. The countenance of the Persian court itself was occasionally withdrawn from men, who appeared to acknowledge no affinity with any other order of human beings, and who seemed determined to exclude from their country, as well as from their religious rites and privileges, all who could not establish an immaculate descent from the father of the faithful. For this reason, the sympathy which is so naturally excited in the breast of the reader in behalf of the weary exiles, who sat down and wept by the waters of Babylon with their thoughts fixed on Zion, is very apt to be extinguished when he contemplates the bitter enmity with which they rejected the kind offices of their ancient brethren amid the ruins of their metropolis.

The names of Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, and Ezra occupy the most distinguished place among those worthies who were selected by Divine Providence to conduct the restoration of the chosen people. After much toil, interruption, and alarm, Jerusalem could once more boast of a temple which, although dest.i.tute of the rich ornaments lavished upon that of Solomon; was at least of equal dimensions, and erected on the same consecrated ground. But the wors.h.i.+pper had to deplore the absence of the Ark, the symbolical Urim and Thummim, the Shechinah or Divine Presence, and the celestial fire which had maintained an unceasing flame upon the altar. Their Sacred Writings, too, had been dispersed, and their ancient language was fast becoming obsolete. To prevent the extension of so great an evil, the more valuable ma.n.u.scripts were collected and arranged, containing the Law, the earlier Prophets, and the inspired Hymns used for the purpose of devotion. Some compositions, however, which respected the remotest period of their commonwealth, especially the Book of Jasher and the Wars of the Lord, were irretrievably lost.

Under the Persian satraps, who directed the civil and military government of Syria, the Jews were permitted to acknowledge the authority, of their own high-priest, to whom, in all things pertaining to the law of Moses, they rendered the obedience which was due to the head of their nation.

Their prosperity, it is true, was occasionally diminished or increased by the personal character of the sovereigns who successively occupied the throne of Cyrus; but no material change in their circ.u.mstances took place until the victories of Alexander the Great had laid the foundations of the Syro-Macedonian kingdom in Western Asia, and given a new dynasty to the crown of Egypt. The struggles which ensued between these powerful states frequently involved the interests of the Jews, and made new demands upon their allegiance; although it is admitted, that as each was desirous to conciliate a people who claimed Palestine for their unalienable heritage, the Hebrews at large were, during two centuries, treated with much liberality and favour. But this generosity or forbearance was interrupted in the rein of Antiochus Epiphanes, who, alarmed by the report of insurrections, and hara.s.sed by the events of an unsuccessful war in Egypt, directed his angry pa.s.sions against the Jews. Marching at the head of a large force, he attacked Jerusalem so suddenly that no means of defence could be used, and hardly any resistance attempted. Forty thousand of the inhabitants were put to death, and an equal number condemned to slavery.

Not satisfied with this punishment, he proceeded to measures still more appalling in the eyes of a Jew. He entered the Temple, pillaged the treasury, seized all the sacred utensils, the golden candlestick, the table of shew-bread, and the altar of incense. He then commanded a great sow to be sacrificed on the altar of burnt offerings, part of the flesh to be boiled, and the liquor from this unclean animal to be sprinkled over every part of the sacred edifice; thus polluting with the most odious defilement even the Holy of Holies, which no human eye, save that of the high-priest, was ever permitted to behold.

A short time afterward, being the year 168 before the epoch of Redemption, he issued an edict for the extermination of the whole Hebrew race, against whom he had again conceived a furious dislike. This commission was intrusted to Apollonius,--an instrument worthy of so sanguinary a tyrant,--who, waiting till the Sabbath, when the people were occupied in the peaceful duties of religion, let loose his soldiers upon the unresisting mult.i.tude, slew all the men, whose blood deluged the streets, and seized the women as captives. He first proceeded to plunder and then to dismantle the city, which he set on fire in many places. He threw down the walls, and built a strong fortress on the highest part of Mount Sion, which commanded the Temple and all the adjoining parts of the town. From this garrison he hara.s.sed the inhabitants of the country, who, with fond attachment, stole in to visit the ruins, or to offer a hasty and perilous wors.h.i.+p in the place where their sanctuary had stood. All the public services had ceased, and no voice of adoration was heard within the holy gates, except that of the profane heathen calling on their idols.[45]

But the persecution did not end even with these furious expedients.

Antiochus next issued an order for uniformity of wors.h.i.+p throughout all his dominions, and sent officers everywhere to enforce the strictest compliance. In the districts of Judea and Samaria, this invidious duty was intrusted to Athenaeus, an old man, whose chief recommendation appears to have been his intimate acquaintance with the doctrines and usages of the Grecian religion. The Samaritans are said to have conformed without scruple, and even to have permitted their temple on Mount Gerizim to be regularly dedicated to Jupiter, in his character of the Stranger's Friend.

Having so far succeeded, the royal envoy turned his steps to Jerusalem, where, at the point of the sword, he prohibited every observance connected with the Jewish faith; compelling the people to profane the Sabbath, to eat swine's flesh, and to abstain, under a severe penalty, from the national rite of circ.u.mcision. The Temple was consigned by consecration to the ceremonies of Jupiter Olympius; while the statue of that deity was erected on the altar of burnt-offerings, and sacrifice duly performed in his name. Two women, who had the initiatory ordinance enjoined by the Mosaical law performed on their children, were hanged to a conspicuous part of the city with their infants suspended round their necks; and many other cruelties were perpetrated, the very atrocity of which precludes them at once from popular belief and from the pages of history. Neither age, nor s.e.x, nor profession saved the proscribed Jew from the horrors of a violent death. From Jerusalem, too, the persecution spread over the whole country; in every city the same barbarities were executed and the same profanations introduced. As a last insult, the feasts of the Baccha.n.a.lia, the license of which, as they were celebrated in the later ages of Greece, shocked the severe virtue of the older Romans, were subst.i.tuted for the national festival of tabernacles. The reluctant Hebrews were forced to join in these riotous orgies, and carry the ivy, the insignia of the G.o.d. So nearly were the Jewish nation and the wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah exterminated by the double weapons of superst.i.tion and violence![46]

But this savage intolerance produced in due time a formidable opposition.

To a sincere believer death has always appeared a smaller evil than the relinquishment of his faith; and, in this respect, no people ancient or modern have shown more resolution than the descendants of Abraham. The severities of Antiochus, which had inflamed the resentment of the whole Jewish people, called forth in a hostile att.i.tude the brave family of the Maccabees, whose valour and perseverance enabled them to dispute with the powerful monarch of Syria the sovereignty of Palestine. Judas, the ablest and most gallant of five sons, put himself at the head of the insurgents, whose zeal, more than compensating for the smallness of their numbers, carried him to victory against large armies and experienced generals.

Making every allowance for the enthusiastic description of an admiring countryman, who has recorded the exploits of the Maccabaean chiefs, there will still remain the most ample evidence to satisfy every candid reader, that in all the great battles the fortune of war followed the standard of the Jews.

But the victorious Maccabees, who had delivered their country from the oppression of foreigners, encountered a more formidable enemy in the factious spirit of their own people. Alcimus, a tool of the Syrians, a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of high-priest, and in virtue of his office claimed the obedience of all who acknowledged the inst.i.tutions of Moses. In this emergency Judas courted the alliance of the Romans, who willingly extended their protection to confederates so likely to aid their ambitious views in the East; but before the Republic could interpose her arms in his behalf, the Hebrew general had fallen in the field of battle.

This distinguished patriot was succeeded by his brother Jonathan, who, though less celebrated as a warrior, had the good fortune to restore the drooping cause of his countrymen, and even to establish their rights on the footing of independence. Profiting by a sanguinary compet.i.tion for the throne of Syria, he consented to employ his power in favour of Alexander Balas, on condition that, in return for so seasonable an aid; he should be allowed to a.s.sume the pontifical robe as ruler of Judea. Hence the origin of the Asmonean princes, who, uniting civil with spiritual authority, governed Palestine more than a hundred years.

But Jonathan fell the victim of that refined policy to which he was mainly indebted for his elevation. He left the sovereign priesthood to his brother Simon, who, wisely abstaining from all interference in the disputes which embroiled Egypt and Syria, directed his whole attention to the improvement of the Jewish kingdom. To secure the tranquillity which had been so dearly purchased he cultivated a more intimate connexion with Rome; remitting, from time to time, such valuable tokens of his respect as could not fail to make an impression on the venal minds of those aspiring chiefs who already contended for the empire of the world in that celebrated capital. But a conspiracy, originating in his own house, and fomented by the agents of Antiochus, put an end to the life of Simon and of his eldest son, who had earned considerable reputation in the command of armies. The duty of avenging his death and of governing a distracted country devolved upon his younger son, afterward well known in history by the name of John Hyrca.n.u.s.

The unhappy circ.u.mstances under which he succeeded to power compelled him to submit for a time to the condition of va.s.salage; but no sooner had Antiochus Sidetes fallen in the Parthian war, than John shook off the yoke of Syria, and exercised the rights of an independent sovereign. He even extended his sway beyond the Jordan, reducing several important towns to his obedience; though the achievement which most gratified his Jewish subjects was the capture of Shechem, followed by the demolition of the temple on Gerizim, so long regarded as the opprobrium of the Hebrew faith.

At a later period he made himself master of Samaria and Galilee, when, to gratify still farther the vindictive grudge which yet rankled in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of his people, he destroyed the capital of the former, and debased it to the condition of a stagnant lake. Nor was his attention confined to foreign conquest. He strengthened the fortifications of Jerusalem, and built the castle of Baris within the walls which surrounded the hill of the Temple,--a stronghold, that at a future period attracted no small degree of notice under the name of Antonia.

The government was enjoyed during a brief s.p.a.ce by Aristobulus, the son of Hyrca.n.u.s, whose reign was only distinguished by the most painful domestic calamities. The throne was next occupied by Alexander Jannaeus, a man of ign.o.ble birth, but of a warlike and very ambitious temper. The distracted state of the neighbouring countries induced him to take the field, with the view of reducing several towns on the coast of the Mediterranean,--an undertaking which finally involved him in the troubled politics of Egypt and Cyprus. In process of time, the severity of his measures, or the meanness of his extraction, rendered him so unpopular at Jerusalem that the inhabitants expelled him by force of arms. A civil war of the most sanguinary nature raged several years, during which the insurgents invited the a.s.sistance of Demetrius Euchaerus, one of the kings of Syria. This measure seems to have united a large party of Jews, who were equally hostile to the dominant faction within the city, and to the ally whom they had called to their aid. Alexander, after having repeatedly suffered the heaviest losses, saw himself again at the head of a powerful army, with which he resolved to march against the rebellious capital. He inflicted a signal punishment upon such of the unfortunate citizens as fell into his hands; ordering nearly a thousand of them to be crucified, and their wives and children to be butchered before their eyes.

Having fully re-established his power to the remotest parts of Palestine, the victorious high-priest, now drawing towards the close of his days, gave instructions to his wife for the future government of the country.

Alexandria, a woman of a vigorous mind, held the reins of civil power with great steadiness, while her eldest son, Hyrca.n.u.s the Second, was decorated with the sacred diadem as the head of the nation. But, unhappily, the commotions which had disturbed the reign of her husband were again excited, and once more divided the people into two furious parties.

Aristobulus, the younger son of Jannaeus, gave his countenance to the body who opposed his brother, and at length threw off his disguise so completely as to aspire to supreme power in defiance of the rights of birth and of a legal invest.i.ture. Hyrca.n.u.s, who was far inferior to his ambitious relative in point of talent and resolution, would probably, after the death of their mother, have been unable to keep his seat on the throne, had he not received the powerful aid of Antipatar, a son of Antipas, the governor of Idumea. Both sides were making preparation for an appeal to arms, when the Romans, who had already overrun the finest parts of Syria, advanced into the province of Palestine in the character at once of umpires and of allies.

Pompey readily listened to the claims of the two compet.i.tors, but deferred coming to an immediate decision; having resolved, as it afterward appeared, that neither of the kinsmen should continue any longer to possess the civil and military command of Judea. Aristobulus, impatient of delay, and having no confidence in the goodness of his cause, had recourse to arms, and at length shut himself up in Jerusalem. The Roman general issued orders to his lieutenant Gabinius to invest the holy city; which, after a siege of three months, was taken by a.s.sault at a great expense of human life.

Many of the priests who were employed in the duties of their office fell victims to the rage of the soldiers; while others, unable to witness the desecration of their Temple by the presence of idolaters, threw themselves from the rock on which that building stood. Induced by curiosity, the rival of Caesar imitated the profane boldness of Antiochus, penetrating into the Holy of Holies, and examining all the instruments of a wors.h.i.+p which differed so much from that of all other nations. But Pompey was more politic, or more generous than the Syrian monarch; for although he found much treasure in the sanctuary as well as many vessels of gold and silver, he carried nothing away. He expressed much astonishment that, in a fane so magnificent, and frequented by Jews from all parts of the earth, there should be no material form, statue, nor picture to represent the Deity to whose honour it was erected. Having, in order to satisfy the scruples of the people, ordered a purification of the Temple, he renewed the appointment of Hyrca.n.u.s to the high priesthood, but without any civil power; while in respect to the more turbulent Aristobulus, he resolved to exercise the right of a conqueror, by sending him and his two sons to Rome, that they might swell the train of his approaching triumph.

The escape of one of these young men, and afterward of the father himself, rekindled the flame of war in Palestine. But the Romans under Gabinius and the celebrated Mark Antony, speedily subdued the hasty levies of Aristobulus, and completely re-established the ascendency of the Republic in all the revolted districts. In the civil war which ensued, Antipater, who still directed the affairs of the weak-minded Hyrca.n.u.s, paid his court so successfully to the dominant faction as to obtain for his master the protection of Caesar, and for himself the procurators.h.i.+p of Judea. Raised to this commanding eminence, he named Phasael, his eldest son, governor of Jerusalem, and confided to the younger, the artful and unscrupulous Herod, the charge of Galilee.

But there still remained an individual belonging to the family of Aristobulus, who, having found refuge among the Parthians, led a powerful army of that people into Syria, and finally invested Jerusalem. The invaders, after obtaining possession of the city, deprived Hyrca.n.u.s of the priesthood and Phasael of his life; the barbarian soldiers, meantime, committing pillage on all cla.s.ses, both within the walls and in the adjoining country. Herod, warned by his less fortunate relative in the capital, had fled to Rome, with the view, it is said, of recommending the interests of another Aristobulus, a grandson of Hyrca.n.u.s, and brother of the beautiful Mariamne, to whom he himself was already betrothed. Octavius and Antony, however, thought it morn expedient for their rising empire that Herod should wear the va.s.sal crown of Judea in his own person, rather than see it placed on the head of an inexperienced youth; and as the son of Antipater was about to unite himself with a descendant of the Asmonean princes, it was considered that the claims of each family would be thereby fully satisfied.

The reign of Herod, who, to distinguish him from others of the same name, is usually called the Great, was no less remarkable for domestic calamity than for public peace and happiness. Urged by suspicion, he put to death his beloved wife,[47] her mother, brother, grandfather, uncle, and two sons. His palace was the scene of incessant intrigue, misery, and bloodshed; his nearest relations being even the chief instruments of his worst sufferings and fears. It was, perhaps, to divert his apprehensions and remorse that he employed so much of his time in the labours of architecture. Besides a royal residence on Mount Zion, he built a number of citadels throughout the country, and laid the foundations of several splendid towns. Among these was Cesarea, a station well selected both for strength and commerce, and destined to become, under a different government, a place of considerable importance.

But the impurity of his blood as an Idumean, and his undisguised attachment to the religion of his Gentile masters, created an obstacle to a complete understanding with his subjects, which no degree of personal kindness, or of wisdom and munificence in the conduct of public affairs, could ever entirely remove. At length he determined on a measure which, he hoped, would at the same time employ the people and ingratiate himself with the higher cla.s.ses--the rebuilding of the temple in its former splendour and greatness. The lapse of five hundred years, and the ravage of successive wars, had much impaired the structure of Zerubbabel. As it was necessary to remove the dilapidated parts of the edifice before the new building could be begun, the Jews looked on with a suspicious eye; apprehensive lest the king, under pretence of doing honour to their faith, should obliterate every vestige of their ancient sanctuary. But the prudence of Herod calmed their fears; the work proceeded with the greatest regularity, and the nation saw, with the utmost joy, a fabric of stately architecture crowning the brow of Mount Moriah with glittering ma.s.ses of white marble and pinnacles of gold. Yet during this pious undertaking the Jewish monarch maintained his double character; presiding at the Olympic games, granting large donations for their support, and even allowing himself to be nominated president of this pagan festival.[48]

As he advanced towards old age his troubles multiplied, and his apprehensions were increased, till, at length, four years anterior to the common era of Christianity, Herod sank under the pressure of a loathsome disease. He was permitted by the Romans so far to exercise the privileges of an independent prince as to distribute by will the inheritance of sovereignty among the more favoured of his children; and in virtue of this indulgence he a.s.signed to Archelaus the government of Idumea, Samaria, and Judea, while he bestowed upon Antipas a similar authority over Peraea and Galilee.

But the young princes required the sanction of the Roman emperor, whom they both regarded as their liege lord; and with that view repaired to the capital of Italy. The will of the late king was acknowledged and confirmed by Augustus, who was moreover pleased to give to Herod Philip, their elder brother, the provinces of Auranitis, Trachonitis, Paneas, and Batanea.

Achelaus, the metropolis of whose dominions was Jerusalem, ruled in quality of ethnarch about nine years; but so little to the satisfaction either of his master at Rome or of the people whom he was appointed to govern, that at the end of this period he was summoned to render an account of his administration at the imperial tribunal, when he was deprived of his power and wealth, and finally banished into Gaul. Judea was now reduced to a Roman province, dependent on the prefecture of Syria, though usually place under the inspection of a subordinate officer, called the procurator or governor. Thus the sceptre pa.s.sed away from Judah, and the lawgiver descended from the family of Jacob ceased to enjoy power within the confines of the Promised Land.

No reader can require to be reminded, that it was at this epoch, in the last year of the reign of Herod, the Messias was born, and conveyed into Egypt for security. The unjust and cruel government of Archelaus, for which, as has just been related, he was stripped of his authority by the head of the empire, was probably the cause why the holy family did not again take up their residence in Judea, but preferred the milder rule of Antipas. When Joseph "heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of G.o.d in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth."[49]

The first thirty years of the Christian era did not pa.s.s away without several insurrections on the part of the Jews, and repeated acts of severity and extortion inflicted upon them by their stern conquerors.

The commotion excited by Judas, called the Gallilean, is regarded by historians as one of the most important of those ebullitions which were constantly breaking forth among that inflammatory people, not only on account of its immediate consequences, but for the effects produced on the national character, in regard to the speculative tenets connected with tribute and submission to a heathen government.

Upon the exile of Archelaus, the prefecture of Syria was committed to Publius Sulpicius Quirinius. This commander is mentioned in the Gospel of St. Luke by the name of Cyrenius, and is described as the person under whom the taxing was first made in that province. Hence we may conclude, that the enrolment which took place at the birth of our Saviour was merely a census, comprehending the numbers, and perhaps the wealth and station of the several cla.s.ses of the people.

It was about the twenty-sixth year of our epoch that Pontius Pilate was nominated to the government of Judea. Ignorant or indifferent as to the prejudices of the Jews, he roused among them a spirit of the most active resentment, by displaying the image of the emperor in Jerusalem, and by seizing part of their sacred treasure for the purposes of general improvement. As the fiery temper of the inhabitants drove them, on most occasions, to acts of violence, he did not hesitate to employ force in return; and we find, accordingly, that his administration was dishonoured by several acts of military execution directed against Jews and Samaritans indiscriminately. His severity towards the latter people finally led to his recall and disgrace about the year 36, when Vitellius, the father of the future emperor of the same name, presided over the affairs of the Syrian province.

The plan of our work does not permit us to do more than allude to the great event which took place at Jerusalem under the auspices of Pilate.