conversation with the Ammonites and Moabites; and the people accordingly separated from the mixed multitude. But the case of mixed marriages with the heathen had taken such deep root that Nehemiah found it a difficult matter to eradicate it for which cause, he in nothing expressed a warmer zeal than against these forbidden marriages, which were made between the Jews and other nations, and which he well knew had in former ages betrayed the Israelites into idolatry and other abominations; the fatal consequence of which he was at this time the more active to prevent. Finding, therefore, that they had not so thoroughly reformed as they promised, and that there were among them some Jews who had married wives of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab; whose children, he observed, spake a language half Ashdodite and half Jewish, but neither perfectly, he debated with them on the unreasonableness of this mixed marriage, and the visible consequence of it in the broken mongrel speech of their children, who in time would quite forget their native language. This he argued warmly with them, and they so insolently defended themselves, that he was provoked to curse them; and they persisting, he smotet some of them; and being incensed to the last degree, he plucked their hair off, and made them swear by the Lord that they should not any more mix in marriage with the heathen nations: "For, said he, did not Solomon, king of "Israel, sin by doing these things? Though there was

Curse. We are not to ascribe this to extreme anger or private resentment; but he acted as the minister of God, in declaring the curses of his word against such atrocious and hardened transgressors.

Smote. This was usual among the Jews, their malefactors being buffeted either by the lictors or the mob. See Matt. xxvi. 67.

Hair. The depriving the head of its natural ornament was a special punishment among the ancients; as among the Athenians it was part of the punishment for adulterers; and Nehemiah seems to have inflicted this as a punishment on them for their wantonness and luxury; which he did in this manner, that the guilty might see their liberty changed into a state of slayery. For baldness was a symbol of servitude, as hair was of liberty, and it so continues among the eastern

"no king among the heathen like unto him; though "he was beloved of his God, who made him king over "all Israel; yet he was betrayed by strange women to "commit idolatry. Is it reasonable then that we should "imitate your example, to do this great evil, to transgress against our God, in marrying strange wives ?” And to shew himself an impartial judge in his administration, he made no distinction of quality or condition among them, for he punished all alike, whom he found guilty; an instance of which was one of the sons of Jojada, the son of Eliashib the high-priest; who having married the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite, was by Nehemiah's command expelled the city. Then praying to God to do justice on those that defiled the priesthood, and violated the covenant between the priests and Levites, and the Lord, he proceeded to purge the place from all profanation of strangers, appointing the priests and Levites their several apartments and offices, setting out the wood for the offering, and taking care of the first-fruits.

In this happy condition did this good man leave the Jews; but notwithstanding his pious care and pains to reform them, they soon after his death returned to their former wicked courses, as appears by the expostulatory reproaches of Malachi ;* whom the Lord not long after

nations, and in China, particularly since their subjugation to the Tartars, to this day.

It was likewise a token of mourning, see Isaiah xv. 2, and Ezek. xxvii. 37. But, in general, baldness was a mark of extreme ignominy among the Jews. Yet in this case here, Neh. xiii. 25, it may look like a symbol of purgation, which was used by the Levites, Lepers, and foreign women taken in war, before they were Joined in marriage with the Jews.

* Malachi. He was one of the three prophets whom God raised up for the comfort of the Jews after the captivity, and was the last of those, of whom we have any writing, or mention in the Old Testament. After him there was none till John Baptist was sent, which was either a token of God's wrath, or an admonition, that they should with more fervent desire look for the coming of the Messiah.

commissioned to reprove them. He having at first demonstrated the particular esteem of God to the house of Israel in preferring them to that of Esau, taxes them with their ingratitude, and neglect of his worship, but more especially his priests, whom he charges with irreligious and profane approaches to the altar; with corrupting the covenant of Levi, and by giving an ill example in themselves, they had occasioned many to fall from the law. After which he threatens to judge them for all their sins, particularly for marrying with the heathen, and mocking God with their vain shews and pretences of religion, whilst they were notoriously guilty of sorcery, adultery, perjury, and oppression. He charged the people with sacrilege, in detaining the tithes and of ferings; which being a part of the law, and appropriated to the maintenance of the priests and Levites, could not be detained without manifest violence and injustice; for which he severely reproached them. After this he gives a hint of God's calling the Gentiles; promising the coming of the messenger of the covenant, whom they all desired. "Then," says he,† "shall the offerings of Judah "and Jerusalem be acceptable unto the Lord, as in old "times." And for the comfort of the good and pious, who had persevered in their duty, and stedfastly believed God's word; he declared, that God would not forget his

Preferring. Here in Malachi, i. 3, God is said to have hated Esau, and in other places the word hate is used in a severer sense than the original allows. For translators should have considered, that the word, which here and elsewhere on the same occasion, is rendered to hate, signifies also to love less, or to take less care of a thing, and not to intend any injury. And that it is thus to be taken here, appears from a parallel text in St. Matth. x. 37, where our Saviour says, " He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." Therefore it is but reasonable to translate the words of the apostle St. Paul, Rom. i. 13, taken out of Malachi i. 3, I have loved Jacob more than Esau; because God's dealing towards the Edomites does not shew any real hatred against them, but only that he favoured them less than the descendants of Jacob.

He. See Malachi, iii. 4.

promise to their fathers, but would in his own good time fulfil it; assuring them, that when that day should come, the proud, and all that had done wickedly, should be ut terly extirpated: but those, that had feared the Lord, should enjoy prosperity and all manner of plenty then promising them victory in those days over their enemies, whom they should trample as dust under their feet, he bids them remember the law of Moses, the servant of the Lord, which he gave him in mount Horeb. And at last, as a pledge of the completion of all that he had promised concerning the coming of the Messiah, he tells them the Lord would send Elias* the prophet before that great and terrible day, the happy effect of which should be, the turning the hearts of the fathers to their children, and of the children to their fathers.

* Elias. That is, St. John Baptist; who is here called Elias, because he came in the spirit of Elias, Luke i. 17, Matth. xi. 14, and xvii. 11, 12, as Elias did before, to correct the depraved manners, and corrupt doctrine of the Jews, sparing neither prince nor people, but reproving both with equal zeal and fervour.

† Turning. That is, should reconcile those that are at variance, and settle all in unanimity and concord. For from the time of the Maccabees to the coming of Christ, Judea had not only been worried with foreign enemies, but civil discords occasioned by the different sects that were among them; the most prevalent on either side being those of the Sadducees and Pharisees; which threw that nation, and especially the city of Jerusalem, into terrible convulsions, and which the prophet literally foretold (see Micah vii. 6, according to the text here in Malachi, iv. 6. Besides, this was very justly adapted to the character of the Messiah, who is by the prophet Isaiah called the Prince of peace; and answerably to that character, at his birth, the world enjoyed profound peace and tranquillity.

A

COMPLETE

HISTORY

OF THE

Holy Bible.

BOOK THE SEVENTH.

The continuation,* from the death of Nehemiah, to the birth of Christ.

GOD having withdrawn his Spirit from the prophets, left the Jews to govern themselves according to their own laws, which for a time they did, enjoying their religion in full liberty, having High-priests, in whom the chief government was vested; but they remained subject to the dominion of the Persians, so long as that empire continued.

Continuation. From the death of Nehemiah to the birth of our Saviour Christ, among the various computations, there are reckoned at least four hundred years; in which time many and great revolutions happened in the Jewish state, and the church of God underwent very great and heavy persecutions, both from the Greeks and Romans. The account of which we must take partly from the Apochryphal books of the Maccabees, and partly from Josephus and other historians, to continue the series of history to our Saviour's time. As for the alterations of the Greek government over Judea, by the Egyptians, Syrians, and Romans, they were literally foretold by Daniel, ch. xi.