general, who after a long siege took the city Babylon, and the kingdom was translated to Darius the Mede, the emperor of the Medes and Persians; verses 30, 31.

24 Q. Did Daniel lose his preferment by the change of the kingdom?

A. No; for Darius set Daniel over all the hundred and twenty princes, and made him first of the three presidents; Dan. vi. 1—3.

25 Q. How did the envy of the presidents and princes persecute him on this occasion?

A. They knew that Daniel would pray to his God, and they persuaded king Darius to sign a decree, that if any man should ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days besides of the king himself, he should be cast into the lions den; verses 4—9.

26 Q. What did Daniel do when he heard of this decree?

A. He went to his house, and the windows being open toward Jerusalem, he prayed to his God three times a day, according to his custom; verse 10.

27 Q. What was the consequence of this?

A. Though the king himself was sorry for his decree, and tried all means to save Daniel, yet his enemies prevailed to have him cast into the den of lions, because the laws of the Medes and Persians were not to be altered; verses 11-17.

28 Q. Wherein did the king further shew his concern for Daniel?

A. He passed the night without music or sleep, he went early to the lions den in the morning, and found Daniel safe to his great joy; for God had shut the mouths of the lions, that they did him no hurt; verses 18-23.

29 Q. Wherein did king Darius manifest his resentment against the enemies of Daniel?

A. He cast them with their wives and children into the den of lions, who broke all their bones immediately; verse 24.

30 Q. What special regard did Darius shew to the true God on this occasion?

A. He sent a decree through all nations, that men should fear the God of Daniel ;

verse 25.

31 Q. What are the other most remarkable things in the history of Daniel?

A. The visions which he saw, the excellent prayer which he made for the restoration of the Jews from captivity, and the other prophecies which were given him by angels.

32 Q. What were some of his visions and prophecies?

A. Emblems and representations of the four monarchies of the world, and of the kingdom of Christ; and predictions concerning future events among the Jews, and other nations of the earth; some of which are expressed so plainly, that the enemies of the Bible suppose them to be written after those events came to pass; chap. vii. and viii. and xi.

33 Q. What remarkable answer did Daniel receive to this excellent prayer of his, for the restoration of the Jews?

A. The angel Gabriel was ordered to fly swiftly, and to inform him of his own acceptance with God, of the commandment of the kings of Persia to rebuild the holy city, of the time of the coming and the death of the Messiah, to take away the sins of men, and of the second destruction of Jerusalem; Dan. ix. 20-27.

34 Q. What other eminent prophecies did Daniel receive by his converse with angels?

A. Besides the various events relating to this world, he had some predictions concerning the christian church, and its troubles, and the period of them; concerning the resurrection of the dead, everlasting life, and everlasting punishment; chap. xii. 1—13.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE HISTORY OF ESTHER.

1 QUESTION.

WHO was Esther?

Answer. A beautiful young jewish virgin, whose ancestors were carried captive by the king of Babylon, in the days of Jeconiah king of Judah; Esther ii. 5, 6.

2 Q. Where was she educated?

A. She was brought up in Shushan, the palace of the king of Persia, by Mordecai her first cousin, for her father and mother were dead; verse 7.

3 Q. To what honour was she advanced?

A. King Ahasuerus took her into his royal house, and made her queen in the room of his former queen Vashti; verses 16, 17.

Note, This Ahasuerus is supposed by Dr. Prideaux, and that with great probability, to be that second Artaxerxes, king of Persia, who was called Longimanus, and who, perhaps, being influenced by Esther and Mordecai, gave a decree for Ezra to promote the building of the temple at Jerusalem, after the captivity in Babylon; See chap. xiii, questions 9 and 13.

4 Q. What was the occasion of Vashti's disgrace?

A. When the king had made a most magnificent feast for all his nobles and princes, he sent for Vashti, to shew the princes her beauty, and to grace the festival, but she refused to come; Esther i. 10—12.

5 Q. What service did Mordecai do for the king, which laid a foundation for his future advancement?

A. He gave information against two of the chamberlains who had conspired against the king, upon which they were tried and hanged; Esther ii. 21-23.

6 Q. Who was made the king's chief favourite a little after this time?

A. Haman of the seed of Agag the Amalekite; Esther iii. 1, 2.

7 Q. Wherein did Mordecai offend Haman?

A. He refused to bow before him, and do reverence to him, as the king's servants did at court; verse 2.

8 Q. How did Haman attempt to revenge himself?

A. By persuading the king to send orders to destroy all the Jews that were in all his dominions; verses 6—15.

9 Q. What did Mordecai do on this occasion?

A. He desired Esther the queen to venture into the king's presence, though she were not called, in order to petition the king for the lives of her people the Jews; Esther iv. 4—9. 10 Q. Did Esther comply with his request?

A. Though she knew it was death by the law to venture into the king's presence, unless he held out his golden sceptre to her, yet having first fasted and prayed to God three

days, and appointed the Jews in Shushan to fast and pray, she ventured to approach the king; Esther v. 1.

11 Q. What success did queen Esther find?

A. The king held out his golden sceptre to her, and promised to grant her request, even to the half of his kingdom; Esther v. 1-3.

12 Q. What was Esther's first request to the king?

A. That the king and Haman would come to a banquet which the queen had prepared for them; which request also she repeated the next day; Esther v. 3—8.

13 Q. How was Haman employed on that day?

A. He rejoiced at the invitation that Esther gave him, and set up a gallows for Mordecai fifty cubits high, expecting that at his desire the king would order Mordecai to be hanged thereon; verses 9-14.

14 Q. How did the king pass the time that night?

A. He could not sleep, and he had the book of records read to entertain him, wherein was written Mordecai's information of the conspiracy against the king; Esther vi. 1, 2. 15 Q. What effect had this on the king?

A. When he enquired and found that Mordecai had received no recompence for his faithfulness, he ordered Haman to array him in royal apparel, to set him on the king's own horse, and do the highest honours to him in a public procession through the city; verses 6-11.

16 Q. In what remarkable hour did Haman receive this order from the king?

A. At that very time when he was come to court to speak to the king, to hang Mordecai on the gallows he had set up; verses 4, 5.

17 Q. When the king and Haman were come to the banquet, what was queen Esther's further request?

A. That the nation of the Jews, which were her kindred, might be delivered from the general massacre that Haman had contrived for them; Esther vii. 1—7.

18 Q. What change of affairs ensued on this petition to the king?

A. The king commanded Haman to be hanged on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai, he put Mordecai into Haman's place at court, and sent orders throughout his dominions for the Jews to defend themselves; Esther vii. 9, 10. and viii. 1-17.

19 Q. Why was not the order for the slaughter of the Jews rather reversed?

A. Because what is written in the king's name, and sealed with his ring, could not be reversed according to the laws of the government; verse 8. and God ordered it thus in his providence for the public destruction of their enemies.

20 Q. How did the Jews defend themselves in the day designed for their general slaughter?

A. They slew seventy-five thousand of those that rose up against them, and the ten sons of Haman among the rest; Esther ix. 1-16.

21 Q. What memorial of this great deliverance was preserved amongst the Jews? A. All the Jews agreed, by and with the authority of Esther and Mordecai, to keep the fourteenth and fiteenth day of the month Adar, every year, as a day of thanksgiving for this salvation; verses 20-32.

22 Q. What was the name of this festival?

A. These two days were called the days of purim, from pur, which signifies a lot, because Haman had cast lots in a superstitious manner, to find out what month or day

was the most lucky to execute his bloody device against the Jews; Esther ix. 26, 27. and iii. 7.

23 Q. How does this history appear to be a true account of things, since there is not the least hint who was the writer of it, nor is the name of God in it?

A. Because it is delivered down to us among the sacred writings by the Jews themselves, who were the keepers of the oracles of God; Rom. iii. 2. and because this feast of purim is observed by the Jews to this day, in memory of this deliverance.

The end of the Histories of the Old Testament.

CHAPTER XIX.

A CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE GOVERNMENT AND CHURCH OF THE JEWS, FROM THE END OF THE OLD TESTAMENT TO THE TIMES OF CHRIST.

INTRODUCTION.

THE learned Dr. Prideaux hath written two large and valuable volumes, which he calls "The Connection of the History of the Old and New Testament;" where he gives us an account of all the most credible things that he can find in ancient historians, relating to the Jews and their customs, as well as their history, during that period of time between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New; he intermingles also a large collection of historical matters relating to Persia, Babylon, Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, Rome, and all the more known and remarkable nations of the earth, wherein the great affairs of the four monarchies of the world were transacted. This renders his work a little too tedious to those who expected nothing more than a mere continuation of the jewish history to the times of our Saviour.

Now it is only a very brief abstract of the history of the Jews which I endeavour here to set before the reader, that he may gain a little acquaintance with the affairs of the Jews, or the church of God from the days of Nehemiah, when scripture history ends, to the beginning of the gospel, and the times of Christ. A great part of it must be taken originally from Josephus, the jewish historian, and from the books of Maccabees, which I have consulted on this occasion; but I have borrowed much further light and assistance from Dr. Prideaux in this matter, whose laborious collection from heathen writings, and his judicious determination in many dubious points, have rendered his work more complete and accurate, and mine more easy.

SECTION I.

OF NEHEMIAH'S FURTHER REFORMATION, SYNAGOGUES, TARGUMS, SAMARITANS, PROSELYTES, &c.

Note, this Chapter being so long, the Questions of each Section shall be numbered apart.

1 QUESTION.

WHAT further reformation did Nehemiah make in Israel?

Answer. It is reported by the Jews, that he himself, together with Ezra the scribe,

having found a great want of the knowledge of the law among the people, did, about this time, appoint the reading of the law in the several towns and cities: And on this occasion, it is supposed, that synagogues began to be built throughout the land, or at least to be restored and renewed, if there had been any built before.

2 Q. Where were these synagogues to be built?

A. According to the account which the Jews have given us, they might be built in any town wheresoever they could find ten persons of full age, and of such condition and easy circumstances of life, as to be always at leisure to attend the service.

3 Q. What was the service performed in the synagogues?

A. Prayers and praises to God, reading the holy scriptures, and preaching and expounding them.

4 Q. In what manner were the scriptures expounded?

And

A. The Jews and their posterity having lost much of their own language in Babylon, did not so well understand the scriptures in the Hebrew tongue: And therefore when Ezra read the law to the people, the sense was given to them in Chaldee by many levites who stood by, and caused them to understand the reading; Nehem. viii. 4—8. this manner of reading the scripture, verse by verse, and translating it into the Chaldee, with some little paraphrase upon it, was the manner of expounding used in the ancient synagogues.

Note 1. This was the original of the jewish targums, which word in Chaldee signifies an interpretation: For when synagogues were multiplied among the Jews, beyond the number of able interpreters, it became necessary that such translations of the Hebrew into Chaldee should be made for the use of the teachers and the people; and that in private families also, as well as in synagogues. There were anciently many of these targums, or translations, or expositions, and that upon different parts of scripture, and of different sorts, as there were also many different versions of the scripture into Greek, in following ages, for the same purposes. Several of these targums are lost, through length of time; but the chief of those which remain to this day, is the targum or Chaldee paraphrase of Onkelos, upon the law of Moses; and the targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel upon the prophets; both which some learned men suppose to be written before Christ, and are, by the Jews, valued as equal to the Hebrew text. As for the Jerusalem targum, it is an exposition upon the law, and others are on different parts of scripture; but they are all of less esteem, and of much later date: But neither the one nor the other of the targums were much known to the primitive christian writers, though these expositions greatly favour the christian cause.

2. Among the Jews, the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, &c. are sometimes called the former prophets; and the book of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets, are called the latter prophets; but they are all called the prophets: Thus the law and the prophets make up the whole Bible.

3. That there are in Daniel two hundred verses of the Bible written originally in Chaldee, and sixty-seven in Ezra, and one verse in Jeremiah, viz. chapters x. and xi. And some suppose, for this reason, there is no targum on Daniel and Ezra; neither, indeed, is there on Nehemiah, though that book be called Hebrew.

5 Q. What were the times appointed for this service in the synagogue?

A. Two days in the week, besides the sabbath, and their other festivals: The law being divided into so many sections or lessons as there are weeks in their year, they read