Antiquities of the Jews — Book 11, Chapter 5

1. Upon the death of Darius, Xerxes his son took the kingdom, who, as he
inherited his father's kingdom, so did he inherit his piety towards God,
and honor of him; for he did all things suitably to his father relating
to Divine worship, and he was exceeding friendly to the Jews. Now about
this time a son of Jeshua, whose name was Joacim, was the high priest.
Moreover, there was now in Babylon a righteous man, and one that enjoyed
a great reputation among the multitude. He was the principal priest of
the people, and his name was Esdras. He was very skillful in the laws of
Moses, and was well acquainted with king Xerxes. He had determined to go
up to Jerusalem, and to take with him some of those Jews that were in
Babylon; and he desired that the king would give him an epistle to the
governors of Syria, by which they might know who he was. Accordingly,
the king wrote the following epistle to those governors: "Xerxes, king
of kings, to Esdras the priest, and reader of the Divine law, greeting.
I think it agreeable to that love which I bear to mankind, to permit
those of the Jewish nation that are so disposed, as well as those of the
priests and Levites that are in our kingdom, to go together to
Jerusalem. Accordingly, I have given command for that purpose; and let
every one that hath a mind go, according as it hath seemed good to me,
and to my seven counselors, and this in order to their review of the
affairs of Judea, to see whether they be agreeable to the law of God.
Let them also take with them those presents which I and my friends have
vowed, with all that silver and gold that is found in the country of the
Babylonians, as dedicated to God, and let all this be carried to
Jerusalem to God for sacrifices. Let it also be lawful for thee and thy
brethren to make as many vessels of silver and gold as thou pleasest.
Thou shalt also dedicate those holy vessels which have been given thee,
and as many more as thou hast a mind to make, and shall take the
expenses out of the king's treasury. I have, moreover, written to the
treasurers of Syria and Phoenicia, that they take care of those affairs
that Esdras the priest, and reader of the laws of God, is sent about.
And that God may not be at all angry with me, or with my children, I
grant all that is necessary for sacrifices to God, according to the law,
as far as a hundred cori of wheat. And I enjoin you not to lay any
treacherous imposition, or any tributes, upon their priests or Levites,
or sacred singers, or porters, or sacred servants, or scribes of the
temple. And do thou, O Esdras, appoint judges according to the wisdom
[given thee] of God, and those such as understand the law, that they may
judge in all Syria and Phoenicia; and do thou instruct those also which
are ignorant of it, that if any one of thy countrymen transgress the law
of God, or that of the king, he may be punished, as not transgressing it
out of ignorance, but as one that knows it indeed, but boldly despises
and contemns it; and such may be punished by death, or by paying fines.
Farewell."

2. When Esdras had received this epistle, he was very joyful, and began
to worship God, and confessed that he had been the cause of the king's
great favor to him, and that for the same reason he gave all the thanks
to God. So he read the epistle at Babylon to those Jews that were there;
but he kept the epistle itself, and sent a copy of it to all those of
his own nation that were in Media. And when these Jews had understood
what piety the king had towards God, and what kindness he had for
Esdras, they were all greatly pleased; nay, many of them took their
effects with them, and came to Babylon, as very desirous of going down
to Jerusalem; but then the entire body of the people of Israel remained
in that country; wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe
subject to the Iomans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till
now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers.
Now there came a great number of priests, and Levites, and porters, and
sacred singers, and sacred servants to Esdras. So he gathered those that
were in the captivity together beyond Euphrates, and staid there three
days, and ordained a fast for them, that they might make their prayers
to God for their preservation, that they might suffer no misfortunes by
the way, either from their enemies, or from any other ill accident; for
Esdras had said beforehand that he had told the king how God would
preserve them, and so he had not thought fit to request that he would
send horsemen to conduct them. So when they had finished their prayers,
they removed from Euphrates on the twelfth day of the first month of the
seventh year of the reign of Xerxes, and they came to Jerusalem on the
fifth month of the same year. Now Esdras presented the sacred money to
the treasurers, who were of the family of the priests, of silver six
hundred and fifty talents, vessels of silver one hundred talents,
vessels of gold twenty talents, vessels of brass, that was more precious
than gold, 8 twelve talents by weight; for these Presents had been made
by the king and his counselors, and by all the Israelites that staid at
Babylon. So when Esdras had delivered these things to the priests, he
gave to God, as the appointed sacrifices of whole burnt-offerings,
twelve bulls on account of the common preservation of the people, ninety
rams, seventy-two lambs, and twelve kids of the goats, for the remission
of sins. He also delivered the king's epistle to the king's officers,
and to the governors of Celesyria and Phoenicia; and as they were under
a necessity of doing what was enjoined by him, they honored our nation,
and were assistant to them in all their necessities.

3. Now these things were truly done under the conduct of Esdras; and he
succeeded in them, because God esteemed him worthy of the success of his
conduct, on account of his goodness and righteousness. But some time
afterward there came some persons to him, and brought an accusation
against certain of the multitude, and of the priests and Levites, who
had transgressed their settlement, and dissolved the laws of their
country, by marrying strange wives, and had brought the family of the
priests into confusion. These persons desired him to support the laws,
lest God should take up a general anger against them all, and reduce
them to a calamitous condition again. Hereupon he rent his garment
immediately, out of grief, and pulled off the hair of his head and
beard, and cast himself upon the ground, because this crime had reached
the principal men among the people; and considering that if he should
enjoin them to cast out their wives, and the children they had by them,
he should not be hearkened to, he continued lying upon the ground.
However, all the better sort came running to him, who also themselves
wept, and partook of the grief he was under for what had been done. So
Esdras rose up from the ground, and stretched out his hands towards
heaven, and said that he was ashamed to look towards it, because of the
sins which the people had committed, while they had cast out of their
memories what their fathers had undergone on account of their
wickedness; and he besought God, who had saved a seed and a remnant out
of the calamity and captivity they had been in, and had restored them
again to Jerusalem, and to their own land, and had obliged the kings of
Persia to have compassion on them, that he would also forgive them their
sins they had now committed, which, though they deserved death, yet, was
it agreeable to the mercy of God, to remit even to these the punishment
due to them.

4. After Esdras had said this, he left off praying; and when all those
that came to him with their wives and children were under lamentation,
one whose name was Jechonias, a principal man in Jerusalem, came to him,
and said that they had sinned in marrying strange wives; and he
persuaded him to adjure them all to cast those wives out, and the
children born of them, and that those should be punished who would not
obey the law. So Esdras hearkened to this advice, and made the heads of
the priests, and of the Levites, and of the Israelites, swear that they
would put away those wives and children, according to the advice of
Jechonias. And when he had received their oaths, he went in haste out of
the temple into the chamber of Johanan, the son of Eliasib, and as he
had hitherto tasted nothing at all for grief, so he abode there that
day. And when proclamation was made, that all those of the captivity
should gather themselves together to Jerusalem, and those that did not
meet there in two or three days should be banished from the multitude,
and that their substance should b appropriated to the uses of the
temple, according to the sentence of the elders, those that were of the
tribes of Judah and Benjamin came together in three days, viz. on the
twentieth day of the ninth month, which, according to the Hebrews, is
called Tebeth, and according to the Macedonians, Apelleius. Now as they
were sitting in the upper room of the temple, where the elders also were
present, but were uneasy because of the cold, Esdras stood up and
accused them, and told them that they had sinned in marrying wives that
were not of their own nation; but that now they would do a thing both
pleasing to God, and advantageous to themselves, if they would put those
wives away. Accordingly, they all cried out that they would do so. That,
however, the multitude was great, and that the season of the year was
winter, and that this work would require more than one or two days. "Let
their rulers, therefore, [said they,] and those that have married
strange wives, come hither at a proper time, while the elders of every
place, that are in common to estimate the number of those that have thus
married, are to be there also." Accordingly, this was resolved on by
them, and they began the inquiry after those that had married strange
wives on the first day of the tenth month, and continued the inquiry to
the first day of the next month, and found a great many of the posterity
of Jeshua the high priest, and of the priests and Levites, and
Israelites, who had a greater regard to the observation of the law than
to their natural affection, 9 and immediately cast out their wives, and
the children which were born of them. And in order to appease God, they
offered sacrifices, and slew rams, as oblations to him; but it does not
seem to me to be necessary to set down the names of these men. So when
Esdras had reformed this sin about the marriages of the forementioned
persons, he reduced that practice to purity, so that it continued in
that state for the time to come.

5. Now when they kept the feast of tabernacles in the seventh month 10
and almost all the people were come together to it, they went up to the
open part of the temple, to the gate which looked eastward, and desired
of Esdras that the laws of Moses might be read to them. Accordingly, he
stood in the midst of the multitude and read them; and this he did from
morning to noon. Now, by hearing the laws read to them, they were
instructed to be righteous men for the present and for the future; but
as for their past offenses, they were displeased at themselves, and
proceeded to shed tears on their account, as considering with themselves
that if they had kept the law, they had endured none of these miseries
which they had experienced. But when Esdras saw them in that
disposition, he bade them go home, and not weep, for that it was a
festival, and that they ought not to weep thereon, for that it was not
lawful so to do. 11 He exhorted them rather to proceed immediately to
feasting, and to do what was suitable to a feast, and what was agreeable
to a day of joy; but to let their repentance and sorrow for their former
sins be a security and a guard to them, that they fell no more into the
like offenses. So upon Esdras's exhortation they began to feast; and
when they had so done for eight days, in their tabernacles, they
departed to their own homes, singing hymns to God, and returning thanks
to Esdras for his reformation of what corruptions had been introduced
into their settlement. So it came to pass, that after he had obtained
this reputation among the people, he died an old man, and was buried in
a magnificent manner at Jerusalem. About the same time it happened also
that Joacim, the high priest, died; and his son Eliasib succeeded in the
high priesthood. 6. Now there was one of those Jews that had been
carried captive who was cup-bearer to king Xerxes; his name was
Nehemiah. As this man was walking before Susa, the metropolis of the
Persians, he heard some strangers that were entering the city, after a
long journey, speaking to one another in the Hebrew tongue; so he went
to them, and asked them whence they came. And when their answer was,
that they came from Judea, he began to inquire of them again in what
state the multitude was, and in what condition Jerusalem was; and when
they replied that they were in a bad state 12 for that their walls were
thrown down to the ground, and that the neighboring nations did a great
deal of mischief to the Jews, while in the day time they overran the
country, and pillaged it, and in the night did them mischief, insomuch
that not a few were led away captive out of the country, and out of
Jerusalem itself, and that the roads were in the day time found full of
dead men. Hereupon Nehemiah shed tears, out of commiseration of the
calamities of his countrymen; and, looking up to heaven, he said, "How
long, O Lord, wilt thou overlook our nation, while it suffers so great
miseries, and while we are made the prey and spoil of all men?" And
while he staid at the gate, and lamented thus, one told him that the
king was going to sit down to supper; so he made haste, and went as he
was, without wishing himself, to minister to the king in his office of
cup-bearer. But as the king was very pleasant after supper, and more
cheerful than usual, he cast his eyes on Nehemiah, and seeing him look
sad, he asked him why he was sad. Whereupon he prayed to God to give him
favor, and afford him the power of persuading by his words, and said,
"How can I, O king, appear otherwise than thus, and not be in trouble,
while I hear that the walls of Jerusalem, the city where are the
sepulchers of my fathers, are thrown down to the ground, and that its
gates are consumed by fire? But do thou grant me the favor to go and
build its wall, and to finish the building of the temple." Accordingly,
the king gave him a signal that he freely granted him what he asked; and
told him that he should carry an epistle to the governors, that they
might pay him due honor, and afford him whatsoever assistance he wanted,
and as he pleased. "Leave off thy sorrow then," said the king, "and be
cheerful in the performance of thy office hereafter." So Nehemiah
worshipped God, and gave the king thanks for his promise, and cleared up
his sad and cloudy countenance, by the pleasure he had from the king's
promises. Accordingly, the king called for him the next day, and gave
him an epistle to be carried to Adeus, the governor of Syria, and
Phoenicia, and Samaria; wherein he sent to him to pay due honor to
Nehemiah, and to supply him with what he wanted for his building.

7. Now when he was come to Babylon, and had taken with him many of his
countrymen, who voluntarily followed him, he came to Jerusalem in the
twenty and fifth year of the reign of Xerxes. And when he had shown the
epistles to God 13 he gave them to Adeus, and to the other governors. He
also called together all the people to Jerusalem, and stood in the midst
of the temple, and made the following speech to them: "You know, O Jews,
that God hath kept our fathers, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in mind
continually, and for the sake of their righteousness hath not left off
the care of you. Indeed he hath assisted me in gaining this authority of
the king to raise up our wall, and finish what is wanting of the temple.
I desire you, therefore who well know the ill-will our neighboring
nations bear to us, and that when once they are made sensible that we
are in earnest about building, they will come upon us, and contrive many
ways of obstructing our works, that you will, in the first place, put
your trust in God, as in him that will assist us against their hatred,
and to intermit building neither night nor day, but to use all
diligence, and to hasten on the work, now we have this especial
opportunity for it." When he had said this, he gave order that the
rulers should measure the wall, and part the work of it among the
people, according to their villages and cities, as every one's ability
should require. And when he had added this promise, that he himself,
with his servants, would assist them, he dissolved the assembly. So the
Jews prepared for the work: that is the name they are called by from the
day that they came up from Babylon, which is taken from the tribe of
Judah, which came first to these places, and thence both they and the
country gained that appellation.

8. But now when the Ammonites, and Moabites, and Samaritans, and all
that inhabited Celesyria, heard that the building went on apace, they
took it heinously, and proceeded to lay snares for them, and to hinder
their intentions. They also slew many of the Jews, and sought how they
might destroy Nehemiah himself, by hiring some of the foreigners to kill
him. They also put the Jews in fear, and disturbed them, and spread
abroad rumors, as if many nations were ready to make an expedition
against them, by which means they were harassed, and had almost left off
the building. But none of these things could deter Nehemiah from being
diligent about the work; he only set a number of men about him as a
guard to his body, and so unweariedly persevered therein, and was
insensible of any trouble, out of his desire to perfect this work. And
thus did he attentively, and with great forecast, take care of his own
safety; not that he feared death, but of this persuasion, that if he
were dead, the walls for his citizens would never be raised. He also
gave orders that the builders should keep their ranks, and have their
armor on while they were building. Accordingly, the mason had his sword
on, as well as he that brought the materials for building. He also
appointed that their shields should lie very near them; and he placed
trumpeters at every five hundred feet, and charged them, that if their
enemies appeared, they should give notice of it to the people, that they
might fight in their armor, and their enemies might not fall upon them
naked. He also went about the compass of the city by night, being never
discouraged, neither about the work itself, nor about his own diet and
sleep, for he made no use of those things for his pleasure, but out of
necessity. And this trouble he underwent for two years and four months;
14 for in so long a time was the wall built, in the twenty-eighth year
of the reign of Xerxes, in the ninth month. Now when the walls were
finished, Nehemiah and the multitude offered sacrifices to God for the
building of them, and they continued in feasting eight days. However,
when the nations which dwelt in Syria heard that the building of the
wall was finished, they had indignation at it. But when Nehemiah saw
that the city was thin of people, he exhorted the priests and the
Levites that they would leave the country, and remove themselves to the
city, and there continue; and he built them houses at his own expenses;
and he commanded that part of the people which were employed in
cultivating the land to bring the tithes of their fruits to Jerusalem,
that the priests and Levites having whereof they might live perpetually,
might not leave the Divine worship; who willingly hearkened to the
constitutions of Nehemiah, by which means the city Jerusalem came to be
fuller of people than it was before. So when Nehemiah had done many
other excellent things, and things worthy of commendation, in a glorious
manner, he came to a great age, and then died. He was a man of a good
and righteous disposition, and very ambitious to make his own nation
happy; and he hath left the walls of Jerusalem as an eternal monument
for himself. Now this was done in the days of Xerxes.