immediately to be taken out of the den, and at the same time commanded that all those who had accused Daniel, with their wives and children, should be cast into the same den, which was immediately done, and the lions seized and tore them in pieces, before ever they came to the bottom of the Den. The providence of God appearing so visibly in the preservation of Daniel, the king published a proclamation, "That in all parts of his do66 minions, men should fear and tremble before the God "of Daniel, for he is the living God, and abideth for ever. "His kingdom shall not perish, and his dominion shall "always endure. He delivereth and rescueth, and work"eth signs and wonders in heaven and earth, who hath "delivered Daniel from the power of the lions."

Daniel lived not only all Darius's reign, which was seventeen years, but also in the reign of Cyrus, the first Persian monarch. In whose third year, he had that extraordinary vision, relating more especially to the latter times of the Jewish state, mentioned in the tenth, eleventh and twelfth chapters. Which is the last account the sacred text gives of him; which is also silent as to his death, though he is said by others to have died a natural death in the land of the Chaldeans, and to be honourably buried there; being laid by himself in the royal sepulchre. But however this might be, it is certain, he lived to enjoy the high satisfaction of seeing liberty granted for the return of his captive brethren, and for rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem.

There are two stories in the Apocrypha, which some add to the book of Daniel, making that of Susanna's being accused by the two elders, who were convicted by Daniel, to be the thirteenth chapter of Daniel's prophecy ; and, according to the Latin, the fourteenth chapter is the discovery which Daniel made to the king of Babylon, of the idol's not eating the meat that was set before him in his temple, as the priests of that false god persuaded that prince; as also the destruction of the dragon, which the Babylonians adored, and which Daniel caused to burst, As to the time of these two stories, the first is said to hapin the reign of Astyages, who being called the last king

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of the Medes, must be that Darius the Mede, who slew Belshazzar, and took Babylon, and whom Cyrus immediately succeeded. As to Darius the Mede's being called Astyages, it is as reasonable to suppose him to be the king in whose reign the history of Susanna is related, as to allow that he was called by other names; for he is by the Babylonians called Nabonides, by Herodotus, Labynet, and by the Greeks, Darius Mediss. As to the history of Daniel's discovering the cheat of Bell's priests, and bursting the dragon, by the latter part of it, which mentions his being cast into the lions' den against the king's inclination, it seems to be the same story with what we have related in the text of Daniel's being cast into the lions' den, and his deliverance from thence; with some addition of circumstances in the beginning, and want of others in the end; and it being said in this history in the Apocrypha, that it happened in Cyrus's reign, there must be a mistake in the transcriber, and Cyrus is put for Darius; for in Dan. vi. the text says positively, that action of Daniel's was in the reign of Darius, who had promoted Daniel.

In the first year of the reign of Cyrus* the Persian, it pleased the Lord so to touch the heart of that prince (according to what had been foretold by the prophet Jeremiah) that he published an edict, giving leave to all the Jews to return to their own country, to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple, to worship their God, to take

Cyrus. This was that Cyrus, of whom the prophet Isaiah, about two hundred years before the birth of that prince, thus speaketh: (Isaiah xliv. 28.) « He saith to Cyrus, Thou art my shepherd, and he shall perform all my desire, saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be surely laid." This Cyrus being already king of the Medes and Persians, resolving to unite the Babylonian monarchy to his own, marched towards that city with his army; took Shushan, or Susa, and routed Nabonides in battle. After this defeat of Nabonides, or Darius the Mede, Cyrus besieged and took Babylon, by which he became master of all the east; which till then had been divided into several monarchies.

Jeremiah. See ch. xxix. v. 10.

with them their gold, their silver and their goods, and beasts for sacrifice. The Jews, who had long wished for that happy day, prepared to set forward; and Zorobabel, a prince of Judah, whom Cyrus had appointed to be their governor, led them to their own country, consisting of near fifty thousand souls. They took along with them all the vessels and utensils of the temple, which had been carried to Babylon in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, which were restored to them by express order from Cyrus.

When Zorobabel, and those under his conduct, were come into Judea, they met at Jerusalem, to undertake the re-building of the temple. The foundations of which they laid, offered sacrifices, and made solemn prayers to God; and kept the several feasts appointed by the law. It was in the second month of the second year of their return from the captivity, that they laid the foundation of the temple, which was begun with all the solemnity and magnificence that the circumstances of time and place would admit: but some of the ancients, who had seen the first temple, before Nebuchadnezzar caused it to be demolished, burst into tears, when they saw, by the foundation of this, how much inferior* it was likely to prove.

Whilst they were proceeding with the temple, the Samaritans, who were planted in several cities of Israel in the room of those Israelites that Salmanasser, king of Assyria had long before carried away captives, hearing that the people of Judah had begun to build the temple, came to the governor Zorobabel, and desired to join with them in the work, alledging, that they served the same

Inferior. The Jews say that the second temple wanted five things, which were the chief glory of the first, viz. the Ark and its Furniture; the Shecinah, or cloud of the Divine Presence; the Holy Fire; the Urim and Thummim, and the Spirit of Prophecy. But these were probably not the reasons of that mourning which was made by the ancient Jews when the foundation was laid, but their consciousness that a few poor tributaries would never be able to erect an edifice at all equal to that which was built by the munificence of David and Solomon.

God as the people of Judah did. But the Governor and the chiefs of the families of Israel would by no means allow them to have any share in this work, fearing that they, who were idolaters, notwithstanding they pretended to worship the God of Israel, might profane the temple with idolatry. This refusal so exasperated the Samaritans, that, from that moment, they made it their business to obstruct the carrying on the work. Notwithstanding which, the Jews proceeded, till the Samaritans having, by bribes, corrupted some persons about the king, put a stop to it, which continued till the reign of Darius. †

Cyrus, the Persian, having taken the city of Shushan, in the territory of Babylon, it was, by his successors, made the residence of the Persian monarchs. Here it was that Ahasuerus solaced and regaled himself after his Egyptian expedition, inviting all the princes and governors of his provinces to an entertainment of an hundred and fourscore days; after which he invited the inferior people with the rest, to another feast which continued seven days. Nor was this feasting only among the men, but also among the women; for Vashti the queen had provided a banquet for the ladies in the palace. On the last day of this feast, the king in a frolic, determined to

Stop. This stop to the building of the temple may be supposed to have been in Cyrus's time, Esdr. iv. 5.

Darius. This must be Darius Hystaspis, and the Darius, in whose second year the building was carried on, was Darius Nothus, in whose time the prophets Haggai and Zechariah prophesied, and not before; see Esdr. v. 1. Indeed if it were not for cotemporary occurrences, the variety of names given to several kings, would so confound the chronology, that it would be impossible to reduce it to any certainty. For Cambyses the son of Cyrus is called Ahasuerus. To him the Samaritans sent letters to stop the building of the temple. They likewise sent to Magus on the same account. This prince had possessed himself of the Persian empire after the death of Ahasuerus; and would not permit the Jews to rebuild their city or temple. He is likewise by historians called by several names, being in Esdr. iv. 7, called Artaxerxes.

present his queen, who was very beautiful, in a public manner, to his numerous guests, and sending his seven chamberlains to attend her, he ordered that she should appear with the crown on her head.

The haughty queen disdaining to be made a public spectacle, refused to obey the king's command, which so incensed him, that, consulting how to punish her for this public affront, it was agreed, that lest this act of the queen should be brought into a precedent, she should be deposed for her contumacy, and that a collection of the fairest women should be made for the king to take his choice of them.

This last proposal accorded with the inclinations of the luxurious monarch; and among the crowd of beauties who were brought to court, none pleased the eye of this amorous prince like the fair Esther,* She was of the Jewish race, niece to Mordecai, of the tribe of Benjamin. This virgin having lost her parents, lived at Shushan with her uncle, at the time when queen Vashti was deposed. Esther's native beauty, and sweet disposition, so engaged the fond king, that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti, whom he had deposed. At the celebration of his nuptials he made a feast to all his court, which, in honour to his new queen, he called Esther's feast, and for her sake not only made presents to his guests, but remitted the tribute of all his provinces.

Esther. As to the author of the book of Esther, it is uncertain who he was. Some have thought it was written by Mordecai, because the book takes notice, that Mordecai wrote letters to all the Jews on the fourteenth and fifteenth of the month Adar; but it is not said, that he wrote all the history. It is more likely, that the great synagogue caused it to be composed, to preserve the memory of that signal event, and give an account of the original of the feast of lots, Esth. iii. 7, and afterwards added it to the number of the sacred books: it was first written in Hebrew, as we have it in the nine first chapters of St. Jerom's version. Some Grecian Jew afterwards made additions, which have been inserted, in their proper places, in the Greek version, and placed all together by St. Jerom, at the end of the book, from the twenty-fourth verse of the tenth chapter.