Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber’s Notes:

Underscores “_” before and after a word or phrase indicate _italics_
in the original text.
Small capitals have been converted to SOLID capitals.
Illustrations have been moved so they do not break up paragraphs.
Footnotes have all been moved to the end of the text.
Antiquated spellings have been preserved.
Typographical errors have been silently corrected.

STORIES OF THE
WARS OF THE JEWS

FROM THE BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY,
TO THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS.

BY
A. L. O. E.

WITH FORTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS.

London:
T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW.
EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK.

1900

Preface.

The works which I have chiefly consulted in compiling the following sketch, have been (in addition to the Holy Scriptures) the books of the Apocrypha, Josephus’ Wars of the Jews, the elaborate writings of Prideaux, and a small volume on the history of the Hebrews, published some years ago in India.

There is no history more fraught with interest, or conveying more important lessons, than that of God’s chosen nation. There are no annals which display instances of more heroic courage, faith, and self-devotion,—alas! of darker apostasy and crime,—than those of the descendants of Abraham.

May the reader rise from the perusal of this brief sketch with a deeper sense of the mercy and justice of God, as revealed in His dealings towards His people; and a fervent prayer for the hastening of that day when the Lord’s gracious promise shall be fulfilled:—

“_I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called, A city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, The holy mountain._”

A. L. O. E.

Introduction.

For the sins of His people the Lord had stricken Jerusalem, and given up Judea into the hands of the heathen. The judgments of God had first fallen on the kingdom of the ten tribes; as they had been foremost in the sin of idolatry, so they had first met its awful punishment. Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, had attacked Samaria (724 B.C.), and after a siege of nearly three years had taken the city, and carried Israel into captivity, with Hoshea its king.

The punishment of the kingdom of Judah had been for some time deferred. While such monarchs as the pious Hezekiah and the faithful Josiah had sat on the throne of their ancestor David, God’s mercy had guarded Jerusalem from her foes; but since the time of these virtuous rulers, tyrants had arisen, who set not God before their eyes; princes and people had combined to break the laws of the Almighty, and despise the counsel of the Most High. The vine which the Lord had brought from Egypt, and had planted and watered with such tender care, had brought forth the _wild grapes_ of rebellion and idolatry. The mandate had not gone forth, “_Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?_” but the Lord had said in His anger, “_I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. And I will lay it waste_” (Isa. v. 5, 6). In 606 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar carried captive to Babylon some of the most illustrious of the children of Judah, and subjected Jehoiakim their king to his power. In 599 B.C., the Assyrian monarch besieged and took Jerusalem, then under the sway of Jehoiachin, and led into bondage that prince and the chief of his people. In 588 B.C., the work of retribution was completed. Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, was taken, a miserable, blinded prisoner, to Assyria; the temple and palaces of Jerusalem were given to the flames, her walls were razed to the ground, and the mourning exiles from Judea, by the waters of Babylon, hung their harps on the willows, and wept.

But though the Lord chastened his people, they were not given over to destruction. At the period at which the following sketch of Jewish history commences, that prophecy which had, seventy years before, been uttered by the inspired Jeremiah was on the point of fulfilment: “_Thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform My good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end_” (Jer. xxix. 10, 11). As a mighty despot had been the instrument, in God’s hand, to chastise a rebellious race, so another powerful monarch was now appointed by Providence to raise the fallen, to restore the exiles; as a “shepherd,” to gather together the dispersed flock of the Lord.

Contents.

I. THE RETURN FROM BABYLON, 13
II. THE HISTORY OF ESTHER, 26
III. CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF ESTHER, 37
IV. THE JEWS UNDER NEHEMIAH, 44
V. ALEXANDER THE GREAT, 54
VI. JUDEA UNDER THE YOKE OF EGYPT, 65
VII. JUDEA UNDER THE YOKE OF SYRIA, 76
VIII. VICTORIES OF JUDAS MACCABEUS, 86
IX. THE DEATH OF JUDAS MACCABEUS, 99
X. REIGNS OF JONATHAN, SIMON, AND JOHN HYRCANUS, 104
XI. STRIFE BETWEEN THE ASMONEAN PRINCES, 115
XII. REIGN OF HEROD THE GREAT, 128
XIII. THE BIRTH OF THE MESSIAH, 139
XIV. DEATH OF HEROD, 148
XV. THE DEATH OF THE MESSIAH, 157
XVI. HEROD AGRIPPA, 161
XVII. COMMENCEMENT OF WAR, 168
XVIII. SIEGE OF JOTAPATA.—FALL OF JERUSALEM, 177
XIX. CONCLUSION, 190

STORIES FROM JEWISH HISTORY.