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A. M. 3216. A. C. 758; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4772. A. C. 639. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON.

summoned away, and this premature death of his, as a kind of token of his final retribution. In himself he saw the royal family of David extinct, and all the hopes of having the Messiah born of his race become abortive. He saw the storm that was gathering, and threatening his country with desolation, while there was none of his family to succeed in his throne, and all things were in danger of running into anarchy and confusion; and therefore, having this prospect before his eyes, he might well melt into tears at the apprehensions of his approaching death, which would extinguish all his hopes, and consummate all his fears, in making him go down childless to the grave."

What his distemper was, the Scripture has nowhere expressly told us: the original word denotes an inflammation; but what kind of inflammation it was, or what part of the body it affected, we have no intimation given us: and therefore, being thus left to conjecture, some have thought it an imposthume; others, a plague-sore; and others, a quinsey; being all led in their opinions by what naturalists have told us of the virtue of the medicine that was here applied for the cure, namely, that figs, in a decoction, are good to disperse any inflamma- | tion about the glands, by gargling the throat; and that, in a cataplasm, they wonderfully soften and ripen any hard tumour. But, whatever the quality of the medicine might be, that there was a divine interposition in the whole affair, is evident, both from the speediness of the cure, and the nature of the sign which God gave Hezekiah, in order to convince him of it.

Some very considerable writers would endeavour to persuade us that, before the Babylonish captivity, the Jews had no instruments whereby to measure time, nor any terms in their language whereby to denote the distinct gradation of it; which, were it true, would effectually destroy all that the Scripture relates, both concerning this sun-dial which Ahaz set up, and the famous miracle which was wrought upon it: but who the first inventors of such horological instruments were, it is not so easy a matter to determine.

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glory of their nation, and to lay claim to the invention of every learned science or curious art, pretend that machines of this kind were in use among them many years before they appeared in other nations. To this purpose their historians have observed that in Acantha, a town situate on the Nile, there was every day a large vessel filled with water, which, as it sunk gradually by running out at a small passage, distinguished the several hours of the day; and that all the clepsydræ, or water hour glasses' among the Greeks and Romans, were afterwards formed upon this model.

The Babylonians were a people well versed in all parts of astronomy, and it was from them, as Herodotus observes, that the Greeks had the pole and the gnomon, and the twelve parts of the day. For Anaximander, whom Pliny, by mistake, calls Anaximenes, who first taught them to distinguish time, travelled into Chaldea for the improvement of knowledge, and from thence brought away this useful invention. Anaximan. der, indeed, is said to have flourished about two hundred years after this; but as the Scripture informs us, that there was a good deal of intimacy between TiglathPileser king of Assyria, and Ahaz king of Judah, it is not improbable, that as he was taken with the figure of a strange altar, when he went to visit that prince at Damascus, he might then likewise see some of the sundials, (for sun-dials might be common in Chaldea, though not in other countries,) which Tiglath-Pileser was accustomed to carry along with him, for the mensuration of time, wherever he went; and, being highly delighted with so curious and useful an invention, might either have one made on the spot, or take the model of one to be made at Jerusalem, and set up in his royal palace.

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It is no easy matter to determine of what form the sun-dial was, but, if we may be allowed to gather any thing from the signification of the word mahal, which is always used in this narration, we may, with the learned Grotius, suppose that it was not horizontal, as sun-dials are commonly made, but of a concave hemispherical figure, much like what the Greeks call oxán, and

The Egyptians, who always loved to magnify the that therein was a gnomon of some kind or other, which

'Dioscor. b. i. c. 183; Pliny, b. xxiii. c. 7.

Existence of God, c. 16.

2 See Usher ad A. M. 3291, and Jaquelot. Dissert. i. on the a As the nation was at this time threatened with an assault by the whole force of the king of Assyria; they therefore needed a commander, who united wisdom, courage, and faith, to head them in such an emergency: and if he were removed, and they were left to a disputed succession, and the weakness of an usurped or opposed government, there could be little prospect, but that Jerusalem would share the fate of Samaria. With great earnestness and perseverance, Hezekiah had brought his reformation to a hopeful establishment; but he might fear lest the instability of the people, and the dissensions of the nobles, would subvert all, if he were taken away at this crisis. He therefore desired to live, not for his own sake so much as for that of his family and people, especially for the interests of true religion; and he prayed to that effect, with many tears as well as with great fervency. The Lord knew, and Hezekiah could appeal to him, that he had walked before him in sincerity and uprightness of heart; having used all his authority and influence, with zeal and carnestness, to suppress idolatry and wickedness, and by every scriptural means to promote the worship and service of God; and that he had done what was good in his sight, being an example to his people. The consciousness of his integrity gave him confidence; and he begged the Lord to remember the fruits of grace which had been produced, and to spare him, that he might be yet more fruitful and useful.-Scott's Comment.-ED.

cast its shadow upon the lines engraven in its concavity.
But of what make soever this dial was, we have reason
to believe, that the recess of its shadow was a real mira-
cle, and not the effect of any natural cause, namely,
which
the interposition of a cloud, or any other meteor,
might diverge the rays of the sun to another part of the
dial, for some small space of time.

The account which we have of this event, in the second

3 Herod. b. i., and Strabo b. ii. c. 109.

B. ii. p. 76.

Calmet's Dissert, on the Retrogradation, &c.

b Other authors are of an opinion quite contrary to this. They suppose that, as there is no mention made of any sun-dials in all the works of Homer, and the Jews very probably knew nothing of the division of the day into so many hours till after the time of the captivity, the invention of such machines was subsequent to Hezekiah's days: and therefore, from the word avaßatuous in the Septuagint, which may properly enough be rendered steps or stairs, they infer, that this famous chronometer of king Ahaz, was nothing but a flight of stairs leading up to the gate of the palace, and according to the projection of the sun, marked at proper distances with figures, denoting the division of the day, and not any regular piece of dial work.-Universal Hist. b. i. c 7. But this is too poor a thing to be recorded in history, as the invention or erection of a king, which every person might have done as well as he.

A. M. 3246. A. C. 758; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4772. A. C. 639. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. much greater facility to himself, than any human artificer can cause a machine of his own making to go swifter or slower, by the sole suspension of an heavier or lighter weight.

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book of Kings, makes no mention indeed of the sun's going back, but only of the shadow upon the dial; but, in the book of Isaiah's prophecy, wherein we have this miracle more minutely related, we are told expressly that the sun returned ten degrees,' and from hence Since the Scripture, therefore, in this case, tells us as the opinion of the ancients, both Jews and Christians, plainly, that the sun did recede, as, in the case of has been, that the miracle was wrought, not upon the Joshua, that it did stand still in the firmament of heaven, shadow, a but upon the body of the sun; or "that the we have no other warrant but to take words in their sun," as our excellent archbishop Usher expresses it, literal sense, even though it be attended with some “and all the heavenly bodies went back, and as much was difficulties. These difficulties arise chiefly from the detracted from the next night as was added to this day." opposition of some modern systems of philosophy; but Those who embrace the new philosophy, which places whether it be just and reasonable that revelation should the sun in the centre, and supposes the earth to move conform to philosophy, or philosophy to revelation, round it, have, from their hypothesis, no difficulty in especially when the expressions of Scripture are clear, admitting of this miracle, whether it be said to consist and sentiments of philosophers but mere conjectures, is in the different determination of the rays, or in the retro- a question that need require no long deliberation ; gradation of the body of the sun; because it is the same especially since heavenly bodies, by reason of their vast thing as to all outward effects, whether the earth turn distance, are inaccessible to our utmost sagacity, round the sun, or the sun round the earth: but, in both the greater part of the secrets of nature are not discovercases, there is this difficulty: that the sudden and vio-able by our most indefatigable search after truth. lent motion either of the sun or earth, to make that day and night of no greater length than the rest, would be in danger of shocking or unhinging the whole frame of nature, as it certainly would have done, had it not been guided and directed by the steady and unerring hand of the great Creator of the universe, whose motion he can either retard or accelerate as he pleases, without occasioning any confusion in the order of things, and with

1 Is. xxxviii. 8.

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2 Annal. A. 3291.

3 Calmet's Dissertation on the Retrogradation, &c. a Those who maintain the contrary opinion, namely, that the whole miracle was wrought upon the dial, and occasioned only by the reversion of the sun's beams, while the sun proceeded in its ordinary course, urge in its defence,-That in 2 Kings xx. 9, where this miracle is recorded, mention is only made of the shadow's going back and though, in Isaiah xxxviii. 8, the sun is said to return ten degrees; yet, to put the sun for its beams is a common mode of speech in all languages. That the division of the day into hours, upon which the invention of all horoscopical instruments must depend, was of a later date than this: that Daniel is the first writer in the Old Testament who makes any mention of it: and that there is no Hebrew word, in the compass of the whole

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gave

and

Though at first view we may be apt to think that a sign, which precedes the event, is more significant, because better adapted to our manner of conceiving it, than one which follows after it; yet, upon a nearer examination, we shall find that a sign which is posterior to the event, is not a less, but in some respects, a more convincing proof than the other; especially when the person to whom it is given lives to see both the sign and the event accomplished. The sign which goes before the event proves but one thing, namely, that the event was from God, or that the person who foretold it was divinely inspired; but the sign which is future to the event, manifests these three things: Ist, that the person who foretold it was possessed with the spirit of prophecy: 2dly, that God was the author of the miraculous event which he foretold: and 3dly, that he was the author likewise of the sign which followed the miracle; especially if the sign be miraculous, as it generally is. To apply this now to the case before us. To convince Hezekiah of his approaching deliverance, God him such things for a sign as would not come to pass until language, to denote it. As, therefore, the intent of this miracle was, not to lengthen the day, as that of Joshua's, but purely to his deliverance was accomplished; but then it should put back the shadow upon the sun-dial, this might have well be remembered, that as the people were to be convinced enough been done, say they, by the sole refraction of the sun's that what happened to Sennacherib was not the work of rays, and without giving any interruption to the course of nature. chance, or the effect of natural causes, but immediately This interruption, if the recess and return of the sun, or the earth, if we please, was gradual, must have occasioned great in- inflicted by the hand of God, his prophet was to foretell conveniences to mankind upon earth; since, if the degrees were not only the particulars of what befell him, but such conhorary, or lines of an hour's distance upon the dial-plate, as we sequences, likewise, as would appear not only to be now speak, to make the sun recede ten hours, and after that supernatural, but demonstrations likewise of the divine re-advance ten more, this would have been to prolong that day for twenty hours, which in hot regions, would be enough to power and goodness. To this purpose Isaiah is sent, scorch the people of the hemisphere that the sun was over, and not only to foretell Hezekiah's deliverance, the destrucin colder climates, when it happened to be absent so long, to tion of the Assyrian army, and the death of Sennafreeze the inhabitants to death. On the other hand, this inter-cherib; but, to fortify the people against the apprehenruption, if the sun or earth went back in an instant, and returned sions of another enemy, namely, a grievous famine, as hastily again, must have been seen and felt all the world over, been observed by the astronomers then living, and recorded in the writings of subsequent historians, as well as the sun's standing still in Joshua's time; but, since we find no footsteps of this, on the contrary, by Merodach Baladan's sending to Hezekiah to inform himself about this phenomenon, it is rather evident that the thing had not been observed as far as Babylon, they thence infer that there was no reason for God's putting himself to the expence of so prodigious a miracle, as to make an alteration in the whole fabric of the universe, when a bare refraction of the

sun's rays upon the dial-plate would have answered the end as well-Le Clerc's Commentary; Lowth's Commentary on Isa. xxxviii., and Universal History, b. i. c. 7.

after that Sennacherib was gone, he is ordered to add,
that God would find one means or other to preserve his
people. Though the enemy will destroy all the corn in
the country, yet ye shall eat this year,' says the pro-
phet, such things as ye can meet with:' though the
next year be the year of Jubilee, or Sabbatical year,
which ye are to let the land rest, yet ye shall eat such
things as grow of themselves;' 'God shall take care,
Calmet's Commentary on 2 Kings xix. 29.
⚫ Lowth's Commentary on Isaiah xxxvii. 33.

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A. M. 3246. A. C. 758; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4772. A. C. 639. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON.

one way or other, that ye shall want no provisions these | siderable.
two years; and in the third year there shall be no enemy
to molest you, and therefore sow and reap the fruit of
your labours:' for though ye have been brought low with
losses innumerable and persecutions, yet, in a short time
ye shall be re-established; for the remnant that is
escaped of Judah shall yet again take root downward,
and bear fruit upward.'

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5 For it assured them of the truth and veracity of God's promise, and that he would not suffer them to be destroyed, nor the 'sceptre to depart from Judah,' until the Messiah came. It assured them of his almighty power, in that he could create a new thing in the earth, by making a virgin to conceive, and thereby show himself able to deliver them out of the hands of their most potent enemies; and it assured them likewise of his peculiar favour, in that he had decreed the Messiah should descend from their family, so that the people whom he had vouchsafed so high a dignity, might depend on his promise, and under the shadow of his wings,' think themselves secure.

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CHAP. III.-On the Dial of Ahaz.

SUPPLEMENTAL BY THE EDITOR.

The like may be said of the sign concerning the virgin that was to bear a son, and call his name Immanuel;' though it was some hundred years subsequent to the deliverance which God promised Judah, yet was it of great service to confirm the people in their expectations of it. To this purpose we may observe, that it is not to Ahaz that the prophet addresses himself, (for he, out of a specious pretence of not being willing to tempt God, rejected all signs,) but to the princes of the blood royal; and therefore he says, 1 hear ye now, ye house of David, the Lord himself will give you a sign, a virgin shall conceive.' The original word alma (as several learned men have observed) signifies almost always a Ar the beginning of the world it is certain there was no virgin untainted by a man,—is so rendered by the Sep-distinction of time, but by the light and darkness; and tuagint in this place, and cannot, with any propriety, the whole day was included in the general terms of the denote 3 any indifferent young woman, who should after-evening and morning. The Chaldeans, many ages after wards be married, and have a son. For how can we the flood, were the first who divided the day into hours; imagine that, after so pompous an introduction, the they being the first who applied themselves with any prophet should mean no more at last by a virgin's con- success to astrology. Sun-dials are of ancient use: ceiving,' than that a young woman should be with child? but as they were of no service in cloudy weather and in What! does Isaiah offer Ahaz a miracle, either in the the night, there was another invention of measuring the depth, or in the height above?' and, when he seems to parts of time by water; but that not proving sufficiently tell the house of David that God, of his own accord, exact, they laid it aside for another by sand. The use would perform a greater work than they could ask, does of dials was earlier among the Greeks than the Romans. he sink to a sign that nature produces every day? Is It was above three hundred years after the building of that to be called a wonder, (which implies an uncommon, Rome before they knew any thing of them: but yet surprising, and supernatural event,) which happens con- they had divided the day and night into four and twenty stantly by the ordinary laws of generation? How little hours; though they did not count the hours numerically, does such a birth answer the solemn apparatus which the but from midnight to midnight, distinguishing them by prophet uses to raise their expectation of some great particular names, as by the cock-crowing, the dawn, the matter? Hear ye, O house of Judah,-behold, the Lord mid-day, &c. will give you a sign worthy of himself; and what is that? Why, a young married woman shall be with child. How ridiculous must such a declaration make the prophet! And how highly must it enrage the audience, to hear a man, at such a juncture as this, begin an idle and imper. tinent tale, which seems to banter and insult their misery, rather than administer any consolation under it!

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It is to be observed farther, that, in the beginning of this passage, when God commanded Isaiah to go and meet Ahaz, he ordered him to take with him his son Shear-jashub, who was then but a child. Why the child was to accompany his father, we can hardly suppose any other reason, but that he was to be of use, some way or other, to enforce the prophecy. It is but supposing then that the prophet, in uttering the words, before this child shall be able to distinguish between good and evil,' pointed at his own son, for there is no necessity to refer them to Immanuel, who might then either stand by him, or be held in his arms, and all the difficulty is solved but then the comfort which accrued to the house of David from this seasonable prophecy, was very con

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With respect to the dial of Ahaz, it is said, that the shadow was brought ten degrees backward. Was this miracle occasioned by the sun's going ten degrees back in the heavens, or by the earth's turning upon its axis from east to west, in a contrary direction to its natural course. To me it appears that the miracle was effected by means of refraction. For a ray of light, we know, can be raised or refracted from a right line by passing through a dense medium; and we know also, by means of the refracting power of the atmosphere, the sun, when near rising and setting, seems to be higher above the horizon than he really is; and by horizontal refraction, we find that the sun appears above the horizon when he is actually below it, and literally out of sight: therefore, by using dense clouds or vapours, the rays of light might be refracted from their direct course, ten, or any other number of degrees; so that the miracle might have been wrought by occasioning this extraordinary refraction, rather than by disturbing the course of the earth.

It is owing to refraction that we have any morning or evening twilight: without this power in the atmosphere, the heavens would be as black as ebony in the absence of the sun; and at his rising we should pass in a mo

See Kidder's Demonstration, part 2.

A. M. 3246. A. C. 758; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4772. A. C. 639. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. ment from the deepest darkness into the brightest light; and at his setting, from the most intense light to the most profound darkness, which in a few days would be sufficient to destroy the visual organs of all animals.

CHAP. IV.—Of the Transportation of the Ten
Tribes, and their Return.

NOTHING3 in history is more common, than to see whole nations so changed in their manners, their religion, their language, and the very places of their abode, as that it becomes a matter of some difficulty to find out their first

in the course of their conquests, sweeping every thing before them like a torrent, they compel the vanquished to follow the fate of their conquerors, and to inhabit such countries as were unknown to them before.

That the rays of light can be supernatually refracted, and the sun appear to be where he actually is not, we have a most remarkable instance in Kepler. Some Hollanders who wintered in Nova Zembla in the year 1596, were surprised to find that, after a continual night | original. Large empires swallow up lesser states; and, of three months, the sun began to rise seventeen days sooner than (according to computation deduced from the altitude of the pole, observed to be seventy-six degrees) he should have done; which can only be accounted for by an extraordinary refraction of the sun's rays passing through the cold dense air in the climate. At that time, the sun, as Kepler computes, was almost five degrees below the horizon when he appeared, and consequently the refraction of his rays was about nine times stronger than it is with us.

Never was there a people that had a more ample experience of these unhappy revolutions than the kingdom of Israel, which, upon the revolt of Rehoboam, came to be called 'the kingdom of the ten tribes.' God, by the mouth of his servant Moses, had denounced this judgment upon them, in case of their obstinate disobedience to his law: the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth to the other; and among all these nations, thou shalt find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest.' And accordingly, when by their idolatry, and other grievous impieties, they had provoked God to wrath, and filled up the measure of their iniquity;' in the reign of Pekah king of Israel, he sent Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, who invaded his country, and having overrun great part of it, carried away captive the tribes of Naphtali, Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, from the east side of the

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Now, this might be all purely natural though it was extraordinary, and it proves the possibility of what I have conjectured, even on natural principles; but the foretelling of this, and leaving the going back or forward to the choice of the king, and the thing occurring in the place and time when and where it was predicted, shows that it was supernatural and miraculous. But why maintain, it may be asked, that the event alluded to was effected by refraction? Could not God as easily have caused the sun, or rather the earth, to turn back, as to have produced this extraordinary and miraculous refraction? This is most certain: but, according to our limit-river Jordan; and about twenty years after this, in the ed apprehensions, it seems more consistent with the reign of Hoshea, sent his son Salmaneser against Samawisdom of God to attain an end by simple means than ria, who, after a siege of three years, took it, and carried by those that are complex: and had it been done in the away all the remainder of that miserable people accordother way, it would have required a miracle to inverting to what the prophet Hosea had foretold: Ephraim and a miracle to restore; and a strong convulsion on is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no the earth's surface to bring it ten degrees suddenly back, fruit. My God shall cast them away, because they did and to take it the same suddenly forward. The miracle, not hearken unto him, and they shall be wanderers according to my supposition, was accomplished on the among the nations.' atmosphere, and without in the least disturbing even that; whereas, on the other supposition, it could not have been done without suspending or interrupting the laws of the solar system. The point to be gained was the bringing back the shadow on the dial ten degrees: this might have been accomplished by the means which I have described, as well as by the other; and these means being much more simple, were more worthy the divine choice than those which are more complex, and could not have been used without producing the necessity of working at least double or treble miracles.

It is objected, however, to this view, that Isaiah expressly asserts that the sun returned,' and not merely that that the shadow went backward.' It becomes not erring man even to seem to contradict this assertion. I would only venture to say, with all humility, that as the very same end might have been attained by means of refraction as would have been accomplished by the retrograde motion of the sun; and as the event was unquestionably miraculous on either supposition, I do not see that the adoption of the view of this subject which I have suggested is in any way derogatory to the authority of divine revelation,2

Chap. xxxviii. 8.

2 See Dr Clarke's Commentary on the place.

Such, with very small exception, has been the case of this unhappy people, ever since the time of the Assyrian captivity; and yet, such is their pride and arrogance, that instead of owning the truth, they have devised fables of their living all along in great prosperity and grandeur in some unknown land, as a national and united body, in an independent state, and under monarchies or republics of their own. So, that before we begin to inquire into the real places of their transportation, and some other circumstances thereunto belonging, it may not be amiss to examine a little the merit of these pretensions, and what foundation they have for such mighty boasts.

The author of the second book of Esdras informs us, 7 that the ten tribes, being taken prisoners by Salmaneser, and carried beyond the Euphrates, entered into a resolution of quitting the Gentiles, and retiring into a country never inhabited before, that they might there religiously observe the law, which they had too much neglected in their own land; that to this purpose they crossed the Euphrates, where God wrought a miracle for their sakes, by stopping the sources of that great river,

Calmet's Dissert, on the Ten Tribes, &c.

4 Deut. xxviii. 64, 65.
Hosca ix. 16, 17.

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52 Kings xv. 29.
72 Esdras xni. 40, &c.

A. M. 3246. A. C. 758; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4772. A. C. 639. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON.

and drying up its channel for them to pass over; that of these, as he tell us, was Annas, who, besides his capihaving thus wonderfully passed this river, they proceed-tal Thema, had many other cities, castles, and fortresses, ed in their journey for a year and a half, till they arrived at last at a country called Arsareth, where they settled themselves, and were to continue until the latter days, when God would appoint their return, and work the same miracle in passing the Euphrates that he had done for them before.'

and an extent of ground which could not be travelled over under sixteen days. The other, whose name was Salman, had in his dominions forty cities, two hundred boroughs, and an hundred castles. His subjects, who were all Jews, were three hundred thousand; Tanai, which was his capital, containing an hundred thousand ; and Tilimosa, a strong city situate between two mountains, where he usually resided, as many inhabitants.

Here we have a spacious country of nothing but Jews: but the author, who pretends to have been there, has so mistaken the situation of several places that he mentions, and gives us such fabulous accounts of the manner of the Persians fishing for pearls; of the virtue of the prophet Daniel's tomb; and of some Turks, who had two holes

This is the substance of our author's account: but now, who can believe, that a people so fond of idolatry in their own country, should, in their state of captivity, be so zealous for the observation of the law? Arsareth, we are told, is a city in Media, situate beyond the river Araxes; but if this was the place they betook themselves to for the freer exercise of their religion, what need was there for so very long a peregrination? Or who can suppose that their imperious masters would suffer cap-in the midst of their face, instead of a nose; that a tives, upon any pretence whatever, to retreat in a body, out of their country, and set up a distinct kingdom in another place? In short, this counterfeit Esdras, who seems to have been a Christian, and to have lived about the end of the first, or the beginning of the second century, is not only so inconsistent in his account of this, and several other transactions, but so fond of uncertain traditions, and so romantic and fabulous about the divine inspiration which he boasts of, that there is no credit to be given to what he says, a concerning the retreat of the ten tribes into an unknown land.

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A famous Jewish traveller of the twelfth century, and who seems to have undertaken his travels solely to discover the state of his dispersed brethren, assigns them a large and spacious country, wherein reigned two brothers, descendants of the house of David. The elder

man must be very fond of romances, who can give credit to what seems to be calculated on purpose to flatter the pride of a people, who are still foolishly vain, though under the rejection of Almighty God.

Another Jewish author 3, in his description of the world, has found out very commodious habitations for the ten tribes, and in many places has given them a glorious establishment. In a country which he calls Perricha, inclosed by unknown mountains, and bounded by Assyria, he has settled some, and made them a flourishing and populous kingdom. Others he places in the desert of Chabor, which, according to him, lies upon the Indian sea, where they live, in the manner of the ancient Rechabites, without houses, sowing, or the use of wine. Nay, he enters the Indies likewise, and peoples the banks of the Ganges, the isles of Bengala, the Philippines, and several other places, with the Jews, to whom he assigns 1 Basnag. Hist. of the Jews, b. 6. c. 2. a powerful king, called Daniel, who had three other 2 Benjamin de Tudela's Itiner. page 89. a There is an unfounded opinion, though very ancient, that the kings tributary, and dependent on him. But this is all majority of the ten tribes emigrated to an unknown country. of the same piece, a forged account to aggrandize their The spurious Ezra asserts, "that Salmaneser carried them be- nation, and to make it be believed, that the sceptre is yond the river, and they resolved to separate from the heathen and not departed from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between to seek a spot where they might religiously observe the law, for his feet,' and that Shiloh consequently is not yet come. the violation of which they had been so severely punished." Ezra characterizes the country whither they retired as follows: Manasseh, one of the most famous Rabbins of the last 1. It was uninhabited. (Then they must have sought an unex-age, has asserted the transmigration of the ten tribes plored country.) 2. Its distance was such, that their journey into Tartary, where he assigns them a great province, lasted a year and a half. 3. To reach it they crossed the called Thabor, which in the Hebrew tongue signifies a Euphrates, which God miraculously divided for the passage of the Jews; and Ezra adds, that on their return to Judea God navel, because this Thabor, as he says, is one of the will again perform the same miracle. 4. This country is called middle provinces of Tartary. Ortelius, in his GeograArsareth. But we ask, how could a people completely subdued, phy, is not only of the same opinion, but in confirmation rise in a body and march unresisted through the territory of their of it adds that the ten tribes succeeded the Scythians, proud masters, to establish a kingdom elsewhere? This event happened, if ever, in the thirty-first year of the captivity; but its ancient inhabitants, and took upon them the name of Ezra informs us that they were then in the countries whither Gauthei, because they were zealous for the glory of Salmaneser had carried them captive. Their desire to keep God; that Totaces, the true name of the Tartars, is the law strictly is said to have been their motive; but the Jews Hebrew, and signifies remains, as the tribes dispersed in their dispersions reverenced the law so little, that they adopted the pagan customs and worship. There is a city called in the north were the remains of ancient Israel; that Arsareth beyond the river Araxes, and the Jews are supposed among these people there are several plain footsteps of to have given it this name. But the country whither the ten the Jewish religion, besides circumcision; and from tribes retired, being at a great distance from Media, this cannot them, in all probability, have descended the Jews, that be the Arsareth of Ezra. The route they took is as little known in Poland and Muscovy are found so numerous. as the country to which they emigrated; and hence it is that so many authors severally mention China, Tartary, India, and a second river Sabbatius, as the retreat of the ten tribes; while they all appeal to Ezra as their authority. But the account of Ezra is suspicious for it does not appear from the book of Tobit, that the journey of the tribes was long, or that there was any separation from the heathen, for the more strict observance of the law. On the contrary, Jews were to be found in Susa, Eclatana, Rages, and in the other cities of Media and Assyria, and also on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates.

It cannot be denied, indeed, but that several of the Israelites might pass into Tartary, because Armenia is the only country that parts it from Assyria, whereunto they were primarily carried: but there is no reason for

3 R. Abi Ben Merodoche Peritsful, of Ferrara.

4 Gen. xlix. 10. 5 Basnag. History of the Jews, b. 6. c 3.

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