bounds: Then he carried Aristobulus, with his children, prisoners to Rome; except his eldest son, who escaped.

Note, from this quarrel between Hyrcanus the second, and Aristobulus, the ruin of Jerusalem and Judea must be dated; the final loss of the liberty of the Jews, and the translation of the sovereign authority to the Romans, which had till then descended with the priesthood, and been possessed by the Jews, though often under some tribute to heathen princes.

47 Q. Did Aristobulus, or his sons, ever attempt the recovery of their power and government?

A. Being escaped from prison, they made several vigorous attempts, but without

success.

48 Q. What changes did Jerusalem pass under through these times?

A. Gabinius, a Roman general, marching through Judea, in a little time made a great change in the government, lessened the power of Hyrcanus yet further, altered the constitution of the sanhedrim or jewish senate; but all was restored again shortly afterward by Julius Cæsar: For, at Hyrcanus's request, he gave him leave to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and by a decree of the senate of Rome, the ancient friendship with the Jews was renewed.

49 Q. Where was Antipater all this while, who had excited Hyrcanus to recover the government of Judea?

A. He did many services for Cæsar, in his wars in the neighbouring countries; whereupon he was made his lieutenant in Judea, under Hyrcanus, who was confirmed by Cæsar in the government and high-priesthood: And, at the same time, Antipater procured Phasael, his eldest son, to be made governor of the city of Jerusalem, and Herod his second son, governor of Judea.

Note, This Herod grew up to high power afterward; he was called Herod the Great, and was king of Judea when our Saviour was born.

50 Q. What became of Antipater at last?

A. He was poisoned by one Malichus, a rival, who envied his greatness and power in Judea: But his death was revenged by his son Herod, who was permitted by the Roman general to procure Malichus to be murdered.

51 Q. What further troubles did the Jews meet with about this time?

A. Some parts or other of their nation were continually subject to plunders, sometimes from the Roman generals, for not paying the tribute demanded, or on some other pretences; sometimes by the Parthians, who assisted Antigonus, son of the late king Aristobulus to recover Jerusalem and Judea, in opposition to the united forces of Phasael, and Herod, and Hyrcanus.

52 Q. Did Antigonus ever recover this government?

A. The Parthian general Pacorus, who was at war with the Romans, did by mere treachery get into his custody both Hyrcanus and Phasael, seized Jerusalem, and rifled it, made Antigonus governor of Judea, and delivered up Hyrcanus and Phasael to him in chains; but Herod made his escape.

53 Q. What became of Phasael and Hyrcanus?

A. Phasael beat out his own brains in prison; Hyrcanus's ears were cut off, that being maimed he might be no longer a high-priest; Lev. xxi. 17. and he was sent afar off among the Parthians that he might raise no disturbance against Antigonus.

54 Q. Whither did Herod take his flight?

A. After a little time he went to Rome to represent all these transactions, and he made his complaints with great and unexpected success; for Julius Cæsar being slain in the Roman senate, Mark Antony and Octavius, who was afterward Augustus Cæsar, governed all things there, and they agreed to make Herod king of Judea, with the consent of the senate, hoping it would be for their interest in the Parthian war.

SECTION VIII.

OF THE GOVERNMENT OF HEROD THE GREAT, AND HIS POSTERITY, OVER THE JEWS.

1 QUESTION.

WHAT did Herod do on his receiving this new dignity?

Answer. He returning to Judea, first relieved his mother, who was put in prison by Antigonus, he made himself master of Galilee, he destroyed some large bands of robbers which infested the country thereabout, sheltering themselves in mountains, and the caves of steep and craggy rocks.

2 Q. What artifice did he use in order to attack them?

A. By reason of their dwelling in such hollow caves in precipices, there was no scaling them from below; and therefore to ferret them out of their dens, he made large open chests, and filled them with soldiers, which he let down into the entrances of those caves by chains from engines which he had fixed above, and thus he destroyed great numbers of them.

Note, This country was often annoyed with the remains of these plunderers in the reign of Herod; but he treated them without mercy, and all the country that sheltered them with great rigour, till he restored peace to Galilee.

3 Q. Where was his next march?

A. Into Judea against Antigonus, and after several battles with various success on both sides, at last, by the assistance of the Roman legions, he besieged Antigonus in Jerusalem.

4 Q. Did not Herod himself attend this siege?

A. Yes, but while the preparations were making for it he went to Samaria, and there married Mariamne, a lady of the family of the Maccabees or Asmoneans, the grandaughter of Hyrcanus the Second, a woman of great beauty and virtue, and admirable qualifications, hoping the Jews would more readily receive him for their king by this alliance; and having done this, he returned to the siege.

5 Q. Did he carry this place at last?

A. He took Jerusalem by storm, after six months hard and bloody service in the siege, at which the Romans, being enraged, ravaged the city with blood and plunder, notwithstanding all that Herod could do to prevent it; and having taken king Antigonus there, sent him to Antioch, Herod persuaded Mark Antony by a large bribe to put him to death.

Note, Here ended the reign of the Asmoneans or Maccabees, after that race had held the government one hundred and twenty years. During a great part of this time, as

well as before, the various change of these jewish governors, or the interruption by heathen conquerors, filled the country of Judea with innumerable calamities and desolations, of which Jerusalem itself had a very large share; nor did they cease in the following years.

6 Q. How did Herod begin his reign?

A. As he was forced to make his way to the kingdom through much blood, so he established himself by the same means, putting to death several of the partizans of Antigonus, and among them all the counsellors of the great sanhedrim, except Pollio, who is called Hillel, and Sameas, who is called Shammai; for both of them had encouraged the city to receive Herod; though it was not out of love to him, but merely on this view, that it was in vain to resist him.

Note, This Hillel and Shammai were two very great and eminent teachers among the doctors of traditions in the jewish schools.

7 Q. Who was made high-priest after the death of Antigonus, who was both priest and king?

A. At first Herod made one Ananelus or Ananus high-priest, who was an obscure man, but of the house of Aaron, educated among the Jews afar off in Babylonia, and therefore not so likely to oppose any of Herod's designs in Judea.

8 Q. Did Ananelus continue in the high-priesthood?

A. Herod's beloved wife Mariamne and her mother, being of the race of the Maccabees, were ever teazing him to make Aristobulus, Mariamne's brother, a lad of seventeen years old, high-priest in Ananelus's room, to whom indeed it rather belonged as an heir male of that family: This he at last complied with against his will, but in a very little time he procured him to be drowned, under pretence of bathing.

9 Q. What became of Hyrcanus all this while?

A. Though he had been banished for so many years among the Parthians and Babylonians, yet he returned to Jerusalem upon the advancement of Herod, presuming that the marriage of his grandaughter, and his own former merits toward him, would secure to himself a peaceful old age in his own country under Herod's protection.

10 Q. How did Herod deal with him?

A. He received him at first with all respect, but some time after found a pretence to put him to death, when he was above eighty years of age, lest one time or other, being of the family of the Maccabees or Asmoneans, he should be restored to the kingdom. 11 Q. Besides all these confusions, what other calamity happened to the Jews about this time?

1

A. A terrible earthquake ran through the whole land of Judea, and buried thirty thousand of the inhabitants in the ruin of their houses, in the seventh of Herod's reign; a grievous pestilence followed it in a little time, and a desolating famine a very few years after, at which time Herod was very liberal to the people, but he could not gain their hearty affection.

12 Q. Did Herod maintain his government when his great friend Mark Antony was ruined and vanquished by Octavius?

A. He took care to make early submission to Octavius, he laid aside his diadem when he waited on him, and with open heart he confessed his former friendship for Antony, but he now assured Octavius of the same faithful friendship and obedience, if

he might be trusted: Upon which Octavius, who now assumed the name of Augustus Cæsar, bid him resume his diadem, confirmed him in the kingdom, and was his friend and protector even to his death.

13 Q. Did he then continue to reign in perfect peace?

A. Domestic troubles broke the peace of his mind, threw him into violent grief and rage, which further soured his temper for all his life after.

14 Q. What were these domestic troubles ?

A. He was jealous lest any man should possess so great a beauty as Mariamne his queen after his death, and lest any remains of the family of the Asmoneans should hinder the succession of his own family to the kingdom of Judea; and for these reasons he gave private orders, that in case he died, both his wife and her mother should be put to death: Which dreadful secret being communicated to his queen, she resented it to such a degree, that she would never afterwards receive him: But, notwithstanding all kind addresses and importunities, she perpetually followed him with sharp reproaches of the murder of her relations, by which he secured the crown to himself, and upbraided his mother and his sister with the meanness of their parentage. So that between his excesses of love, and rage, and jealousy, he was so tormented, and so wrought upon by the artifices of his mother and sister Salome, that at last he put his beloved Mariamne to death, under a pretence of an attempt to poison him; and he executed her mother too a little after the daughter for a real plot against his life.

15 Q. Did the death of Mariamne relieve him from this tumult of passions?

A. By no means; for now his love returned with violence, and his grief and vexation, joined with other passions to render him a most miserable wretch, a torment to himself, and outrageous to all about him.

16 Q. What course of life did he follow afterward?

A. He grew more arbitrary and cruel in his government, he put what persons he pleased into the high-priesthood, and turned them out again at pleasure: He made several innovations in the laws, customs, and religion of the Jews, and introduced spectacles of wrestlers, of combats between wild beasts and criminals, &c. in conformity to the heathens, pretending it was all necessary to please Cæsar: And this set the hearts of the Jews much more against him, who were very jealous of their religion and customs. Then thinking it needful for his defence, as well as for his grandeur and glory, he built several strong places and towers within and without Jerusalem, he raised temples in several cities, and dedicated them to Cæsar, who was his great friend; and though sometimes he remitted part of the taxes, and did several beneficent actions to ingratiate himself with the people, it was all in vain, he could not obtain their love.

17 Q. What was his greatest and most considerable attempt to please the people, and to perpetuate his own name?

A. He proposed to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem; for it having now stood near five hundred years, and being so often injured, broken, and repaired, he persuaded the people that a new one should be built with much more magnificence and glory.

18 Q. But could he persuade the Jews to consent that their temple should be demolished, in order to rebuild it?

A. Not till he had assured them that the old temple should remain untouched till all materials were ready to build the new one, which he actually provided at vast expence

and labour in two years time, by employing ten thousand artificers for work, a thousand waggons for carriage, and a thousand priests for direction.

19 Q. Did he fulfil his promise in building this new temple?

A. Yes, he performed the work with prodigious cost and splendour, as it is described by Josephus: It was built of large stones, each twenty-five cubits long, twelve cubits broad, and eight in thickness, which the disciples desired our Saviour to take notice of with wonder; Mark xiii. 1, 2. The sanctuary, that is, the holy place, and the most holy, which were more properly called the temple, were finished in a year and a half, so that divine worship was performed there, and in eight years more he completed the several walls and galleries, and pillars and courts, according to his design.

20 Q. How could it be said then, John ii. 20. "Forty and six years was this temple in building?"

A. It was begun near forty-six years before that passover, when our Saviour being near thirty-one years old, was present at Jerusalem; and though the grand design and plan was executed in nine years and a half, yet Herod and his successors were always building outworks round it, or adding new ornaments to it, even to that very day when Christ was there, and long afterward.

21 Q. When was it dedicated?

A. The same year when it was finished, and on the anniversary day of Herod's accession to the crown; and on this account it was celebrated with a vast number of sacrifices and universal rejoicing.

Note, Within four years after this dedication Jesus Christ our Saviour was born, and was presented there an infant according to the law.

22 Q. Was not this then the third temple of the Jews?

A. No, it was called the second temple still, because though it was built anew from the foundations, yet it was only by way of reparation, it not having been razed and demolished with a ruinous design, nor did it lie in ashes or desolation, as it did when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it.

23 Q. Did Herod do any thing after this in favour of the Jews?

A. When the Jews who were scattered throughout Greece and Asia Minor grew very numerous, and were much disturbed and oppressed by the other inhabitants, Herod procured for them a new establishment of their liberties and privileges, and permission to live in other countries according to their own laws and religion, which had been granted them before by the kings of Syria and by the Romans.

24 Q. What further troubles did Herod meet with in his family?

A. His two eldest sons by Mariamne, viz. Aristobulus and Alexander, whom he had sent to Rome for education, being returned to Jerusalem, in the heat of their youth they frequently expressed their resentments for the death of their mother, and thereby they became obnoxious to the rage of Salome, Herod's sister and favourite: And thus she who had been one great and constant instrument to blow the coals of jealousy and discontent between Herod and his queen, and at last to occasion her death, pursued the same course to make him jealous of some designs of his sons against his life. 25 Q. What issue had these quarrels and jealousies?

A. They continued several years: Plots were invented on both sides; these gave Herod in his old age perpetual disquietudes, suspicions, and fears: But Salome his