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A. M. 3841. A. C. 163, OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 5247. A. C. 164. 1 MAC.v.1.JOS. HIST.b.xii.c.14.END OF MAC.JOS.HIST.b.xü.c.19.

of present and temporal happiness put a restraint upon their appetites, and kept them within the bounds of their duty. And for the same reason, they were not without their expectations of a Messias to come. Nay, upon this subject they argued with more consistency than the other Jews did. For confining all their hopes to the present state of things, and looking upon him as a temporal king and deliverer only, they had a more than ordinary interest and concern in his appearance in their lifetime, that thereby they might reap the fruits of his conquests, and enjoy the happiness which the prophets had promised during his reign. Their number was the fewest of all the sects of the Jews; but they were men of the best quality and greatest estates: and as all those who were of the greatest power and riches, were cut off in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, it is generally supposed that this whole sect then perished with them, a

mystical way of interpretation, made a considerable figure: but at length the school of Hillel, by the determination of a voice from heaven, as was pretended, carried it against the school of Shammai, so that the Karraites were quite absorbed, till they appeared again about the sixth century after Christ.

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At this time the Talmud, a vast voluminous book, which contained all the traditions of the Jewish church, was published, and a great deal of deference and veneration was required to be paid to it: but when men of learning and judgment came to look into it, and found it, as it is, stuffed with trifling and incredible stories, they rejected its authority, as not deserving their belief, and betook themselves wholly to such as were of undoubted credibility, the writings of the law and the prophets.' In consequence of which there arose two parties, one standing up for the Talmud and its traditions, and the other disavowing both, as containing, ia their opinion, the inventions of men, and not the doctrines and commands of God. Those who stood up for the Talmud and its traditions were chiefly the rabbins and their followers, from whence their party had the name of rabbinists, and the others, who were for the scripture only, were again called Karraites; under which two names the controversy was at that time carried on between them, and so continues even to this day. Among all the Jewish doctors, these Karraites are justly accounted the most learned set of men; but their

The Jews, who were carried captive into Egypt, though they kept themselves clear from the idolatry of the country, did nevertheless, about the time of Ptolemy Philometer, fall into their method of handling divinity, and were not a little fond of their allegorical interpretations. This mystical treatment of the scriptures alarmed others, who, from the word Kara, 2 which signifies to read, obtained the name of Karraites, that is, such as adhered to the text, and were literal expounders of scripture. Josephus indeed takes no notice of any people of this denomination; but his silence is no argu-number, in these western parts especially, is but small, ment against their existence, because we find him omissive in other particulars of the like nature. The Herodians, for instance, a sect well known in the gospel, and remarkable for their political as well as doctrinal principles, he makes no mention of, and might therefore well pass by the Karraites, who, having no peculiar tenets, but only that of teaching and expounding the law according to its literal sense, could not well be discriminated by the name of any particular sect. These Scripturists, as they were called, when they came to be headed by Shammai, a learned doctor of the law, who about an hundred years before our Saviour Christ, opened a great school against Hillel, who was for the

'Basnage's History of the Jews, b. ii. c. 9.

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Lamy's Introduction, b. i. c. 9.

Prideaux's Connection, anno 37.

a This is not true. The sect of the Sadducees was not extin

guished; it was much reduced by the destruction of Jerusalem, and by the dispersion of the Jews; but it revived afterwards. At the beginning of the third century it was so formidable in Egypt, that Ammonius, Origen's master, thought himself obliged to write against them; or rather against the Jews, who tolerated the Sadducees, though they denied the fundamental points of their religion. The emperor Justinian mentions the Sadducees in one of his edicts, banishes them out of his dominions, and condemns them to the severest punishments, as a people that

maintained atheistical and impious tenets. Annas or Ananus,

a disciple of Juda, son of Nachman, a famous rabbin, about A. D. 755, declared himself, it is said, in favour of the Sadducees, and strenuously protected them against their adversaries. They had also a celebrated defender in the twelfth century in the person of Alpharagius, a Spanish rabbi. Gazor Tornich, David, p. 125. There are still Sadducees in Africa, and other places, who deny the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection of the body; but few declare themselves for these opinions. Some have confounded the Sadducees with such as hold the metempsychosis, and with the defenders of the two principles, that is, the Manichees; but it is certain these sects are different from the Sadducees.-Taylor's Calmet, 4to. -ED.

About the middle of the last century there was a particular account taken of them, wherein it appeared that in Poland there were 2000; at Caffa in Crim-Tartary, 1200; at Cairo, 300; at Damascus, 200; at Jerusalem, thirty; in Babylon, 100; and in Persia, 600, which, in all, amount to no more than 4430; a small number in comparison of the bulk of the nation, which is of the party of the rabbinists.

The Pharisees were so called from the Hebrew word Pharas, which signifies to separate; because the prevailing passion, or rather ambition, of this sect was, to distinguish and separate itself from the rest of the people, by a greater degree of holiness and piety, but accompanied with very much affectation and abundance of vain observances. 5 At what time this sect began first to appear, is no easy matter to determine. Josephus makes mention of them in the government of Jonathan, an hundred and forty years before Christ, as a very powerful body of men at that time; nor is it improbable, that their origin was somewhat earlier, and that, as soon as the Sadducees discovered their principles to the world, these men of different sentiments might not long after rise up in opposition to them: for it is evident from the character which the Jewish historian gives of them, that, in the main articles of their belief, they were entirely repugnant to the Sadducees. 6 The Pharisees believe in a fate, says he, and attribute all things to it, but nevertheless they acknowledge the freedom of man; but how they made these two apparent incompatibles consist together, is no where sufficiently explained. They teach, that God will one day judge the

Calmet's Dictionary under the word. 'See Lamy's Introduction, and Prideaux's Connection. Josephus on the Jewish Wars, b. ii. c. 12.

Jews were, in the time of our Saviour and his apostles, called scribes, but especially those, who by their skill in the law and divinity of the Jews, were advanced to sit in Moses' seat, either as judges in their sanhedrim, or teachers in their schools or synagogues. Both their name and profession began immediately after the Babylonish captivity, about five hundred years before the birth of Christ; for Ezra himself was one of the first. They were a body of the most learned men of the nation, and chiefly of the sect of the Pharisees, though some of them might possibly be Karraites, or Anti-traditionists, as it seems to appear from one of them asking our Saviour, which was the first commandment of all, and being so highly pleased with his answer.

A.M.3841.A.C.163; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A.M.5247.A.C.164.1 MAC.v.1. JOS. HIST. b. xii. c. 14-END OF MAC.JOS. HIST. b. xii. c. 19. world, and punish or reward men according to their merits. They maintain, that souls are immortal, and that, in the other world, some will be shut up in an eternal prison and others sent back again; but with this difference, that those of good men shall enter into the bodies of men, those of wicked men into the bodies of beasts; which exactly agrees with the famous transmigration of Pythagoras. Their adherence to the law was so exact, that, for fear of violating the least precept of it, they scrupulously observed every thing that had the least relation to it, even though the law had neither commanded nor forbidden them. Their zeal for the traditions of the elders was such, that they derived them from the same fountain with the written word itself, pretending that Moses received both of them from God on Mount Sinai, and therefore ascribing an equal authority to both. They had a notion, that good works were meritorious; and therefore they invented a great number of supererogatory ones, upon which they valued themselves more than upon a due observance of the law itself. Their frequent washings and ablutions, their long prayers in public places, their nice avoidance of reputed sinners, their fasting and great abstinence, their penance and mortification, their minute payment of tithes, their strict observance of the sabbath, and ostentatious enlargement of a phylacteries, were all works of this kind; which nevertheless gained them such esteem and veneration, that while the common people loved, the greater ones dreaded them, so that their power and authority in the state was considerable, though generally attended with pernicious consequences, because their hearts were evil: for notwithstanding their show of mighty zeal and great austerity, they were in reality, no better than what our Saviour calls them, vain and ostentatious, spiteful and malicious, griping and voracious, lovers of themselves only, and despisers of others; insomuch, that it was hard to say which was most predominant in them, their insatiable avarice, their insupporta-pounding it in the ears of the people. ble pride, or abominable hypocrisy.

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In conjunction with the Pharisees, the Scribes are often mentioned in the Scriptures of the New Testament. They were not however any particular sect, but a profession of men of divers kinds, following literature. For generally all that were any way learned among the

Mat. vi. 5, &c.

2 Luke vii. 39. 3 Mat. xxiii. 23. 4 Chap. xii. 2. 5 Chap. xxiii. 5. a The word phylactery, in the Greek, signifies a place to keep any thing in; in the Hebrew, it is called tephillim, which signifies prayers, because the Jews wear their phylacteries chiefly when they go to their devotion. It is a common opinion, that these phylacteries were long pieces of parchment, whereon were written certain passages out of Exodus and Deuteronomy, which they tied to their foreheads and left arm, in memory of the law; but a late explainer of the Jewish customs assures us, that they were parchment cases, formed with very great nicety, into their proper shapes: that the case for their head had four cavities, into each of which they put a piece of parchment rolled up, wherein were written some sections of the law; but that which was for the arm, had but one cavity, and into it they put one piece of parchment, wherein four passages of Scripture were written. (Lamy's Introduction, b. i. c. 16.) The whole of this custom is founded on Exod. xiii. 9. and Deut. vi. 8; but the words are only metaphorically to be understood, as a command to have God's laws perpetually before our eyes, and his deliverance always in remembrance. It cannot be denied, however, that these phylacteries were generally worn by the Jews in our Saviour's time, and were not disused so late as St Jerome's.— Lamy's Introduction.

Those who were descended from the stock of Levi, were usually called scribes of the clergy; but such as were sprung from any other tribe, were named scribes of the people. The business of the latter was to take care to preserve the purity of the text in all the bibles which they copied out, and to see that no corruption was crept into the original. It was not held proper for every vulgar pen to transcribe the great mysteries of the law, and therefore this peculiar order of men was appointed to that purpose; but they did not so entirely apply themselves to it, as not to take in many other matters both of civil and religious concern, being public notaries in the sanhedrim and courts of justice, as well as registers in the synagogues. The office of the scribes of the clergy was to teach in public, and instruct the people, by expounding to them the law in their sermons and set discourses; by which practice they grew into such repute in the Jewish state, that it was hard to say, whether the Pharisees or they were held in the greater veneration: for what the Pharisees gained among the common people by their pretences to extraordinary sanctity, these more justly obtained by their zeal for the written word, in preserving it from the dangers of corruption, and ex

It is supposed, with a good deal of probability, that the sect of the Essenes began about 150 years before Christ, and during the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, when great numbers of Jews were driven into the wilderness, where they inured themselves to a hard and laborious course of living. Why we find no mention made of them in all the New Testament, the probable reason may be, that the major part of them lived in Egypt at a considerable distance from Judea, which at this time was infested with such persecutions and intestine broils, as were abhorrent to their retired and hermitic course of life, which, as it secluded them from all places of great resort, might make them less curious to inquire after our Saviour's person and doctrine, thinking, very probably, that if he was really the Messiah, he would not fail to seek and find out them; but that if he was not, he had already enemies enough to oppose him, without their leaving the solitary and contemplative life they were accustomed to, merely to bear testimony against him. Philo, who gives a full account of these people, tells us that they were called Essenes, from the Greek word "otos, which signifies holy, and that there were two sorts of them: some who, living in society and marrying, though with a great deal of wariness and circumspection, lived

6 Mark xii. 28, &c.

A. M. 3841. A. C. 163; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A.M.5247. A.C. 164. 1 MAC.v.1.JOS. HIST.b.xii.c.14-END OF MAC JOS.HIST b.xü.c. 19.

infinitely short of the beings whose names they assumed, and, upon that account, falling into great disesteem, in a very short time a they dwindled into nothing.

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in villages, and applied themselves to husbandry and gross instance, was immediately excluded, and never reother innocent trades and occupations, and were there- ceived again without the deepest humiliation and repenfore called practical; but others who, living a kind of tance. And if such was the religion and manner of life monastic life, gave themselves wholly up to meditation, of the Essenes, we have less reason to be surprised, at and were therefore called the contemplative Essenes : our finding some authors so much extolling their courage but however they differed in their manner of life, they were and magnanimity upon several occasions, as persons both of the same belief, and followed the same maxims. who, under distresses and persecutions, suffered death, They had not indeed the like traditions with the Pha- and the most grievous torments, even with joy and cheerrisees, but as they were allegorists, they had several fulness, rather than say or do any thing contrary to the mystical books which served them for a rule in explaining law of God. They are said, however, to have greatly the sacred writings, all of which, contrary to the Saddu- degenerated from their primitive purity of life and doccees, they acknowledged and received. They believed that trine. In the time of Trajan and the reign of Justinian, God governs the world, but by such an absolute predes- though they were known under the pompous title of tination of every thing, as allowed mankind no liberty of" angels or angelic persons," yet were they found to come choice in all their actions. They acknowledged a future state, thinking that the souls of good men went into the Fortunate Islands, while those of the wicked were shut up in subterraneous places; but as for the resurrection of There was another sect among the Jews, mentioned the body, and the soul's returning to it again after they in the gospels, which, though of later original, may not were once parted, of this they had no manner of notion. improperly be considered in this place, and that is the All practical religion they reduced to these three kinds. Herodians, who, in their main principles, were not 1, The love of God; 2, the love of virtue; and, 3, the love very different from the Sadducees. They sprang up, no of mankind. 1, Their love of God expressed itself in doubt, in the time of Herod the Great, some twenty or accounting him the author of all good, and, consequent-thirty years before Christ, and had their denomination ly, applying to him every morning and night for the blessings they wanted: in their abstaining from swearing, from lying, and all other sins that are abhorrent to his nature; and in their strict observance of the sabbath, and all other holy rites, except sacrificing; for though they sent their gifts to the altar, yet they themselves went not thither, presuming that the sanctity of their lives was the purest and most acceptable sacrifice to God that they could offer. 2, Their love of virtue was shown in the government of their passions, their refraining from pleasures, their contempt of riches, their abstinence in eating, their continence, their patience, the simplicity of their speech, and the modesty of their carriage. And, 3, their love of mankind appeared in their great benevolence and strict justice; their charity to the poor, and hospitality to strangers; and there needs no other proof of their love to one another, than the union in which they lived. For they had the same houses, the same provisions, the same habits, the same tables; their gains were put in the common stock; they divided the care of the sick among them; and honoured the elder men of their society with the same reverence, as if they had been their fathers.

This strictness and regularity of theirs gave them an eminent character, and made it a matter of no small consequence to be admitted into their society. For when, after a due course of probation, any one presented himself for that purpose, they bound him under the most solemn vows and protestations, "To love and worship God, and do justice to all men; to profess himself an enemy to the wicked, and a friend to the lovers of virtue; to keep his hands from theft, and all fraudulent dealings, and his soul unpolluted with the desire of unjust gain; not to usurp upon his inferiors, nor distinguish himself from them by any ornaments of dress or apparel; not to conceal any of the mysteries of religion from his brethren, nor to disclose any to the profane, though it were to save his life; but to preserve the doctrine he professed, the books that were written of it, and the names of those from whom he had it." This was the form of admission into their communion which whoever violated in any

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from him; but upon what account is not so well agreed. The common opinion is, that they looked upon Herod as the promised Messiah: but it is a very improbable thing, that any Jew should, in the time of our Saviour's ministry, above thirty years after the death of Herod, hold him to have been the Messiah, when they had found no one of those particulars which they expected from the Messiah performed by him, but rather every thing quite contrary. Others therefore suppose, that they were called Herodians, because they constituted a sodality, or club, as we call it, in honour of Herod at Jerusalem, as there were several in Rome in honour of their emperors, c But, since the earliest of these sodalities in Rome were not instituted till after the death of Augustus, who outlived Herod sixteen years and upwards, this could be no pattern or foundation for the institution of the like in memory of Herod, who died so long before.

Basnage's History of the Jews, b. ii. c. 13.

2 Mat. xxii. 16; Mark iii. 16; viii. 15; xii. 13. 3 Scaliger in Animadver. ad Eusebii Chron. et Casaubon. Exercit. &c.

a Some indeed are of opinion, that these Essenes did renounce Judaism, and were converts to Christianity; and that such among them as were called Therapeuta became monks, and founder of the Christian church in Alexandria. But though it were formed into that order by St Mark, who was the first seems not unlikely, that some of this sect might be converted, yet, that the main body of them should embrace Christianity, and so he lost in the societies of Christian hermits, is far from being probable; especially since we find no traces of any such institution as monkism till after the beginning of the second century, when these ascetics, who had formerly fled from persecution, finding the sweets of their retirement and solitude, began to multiply, and so erected themselves into bodies.-Prideaur's Connection, anno 107; and Basnage's History of the Jews, b. i.

c. 13.

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b Accordingly St Mark (chap. viii. 15.) calls that the leaven of Herod,' which Christ styles the leaven of the Sadducees," Mat. xvi. 6.

stituted in honour of Augustus, Adrian, and Antoninus, and the e Such were the Augustales, Adrianales, Antonini, &c. conrest of the emperors, after their death.-Prideaux's Connection, anno 107.

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A. M. 3841. A. C. 163; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 5247. A. C. 164. JOS. HIST. b. xiii. c. 19-END OF b. xv. Herod, no doubt, came into the government with great | themselves to any torments, or even to death itself. opposition, and, as he was by birth a foreigner, and had | Judas indeed perished, and all, as many as obeyed made his entrance with much blood, his title was not ac- him, were dispersed for a while;' but in the time of the knowledged by the greater part of the Jews, especially Jewish wars they gathered again, and soon became a as long as Antigonus was alive. Those, therefore, that faction strong and considerable enough to put every would own his title and espouse his interest, might, for thing in confusion. They affected the title of zealots, this reason, perhaps, go under the name of Herodians; says Josephus, as if their undertakings had been good but this seems not to be the whole of the matter. Our and honourable, even while they outdid the very worst blessed Saviour cautions his disciples against the of men in wickedness. They looked upon themselves, leaven, that is, against the evil and erroneous tenets, of | indeed, as the true successors of Phinehas, s who, out of Herod; which seems to imply, that Herod himself was zeal for the honour of God, did inmediate execution the author of some false notions, which constituted a par- upon Zimri and Cosbi, for which he received the divine ticular sect differing from the other sects of the Jews; thanks and approbation. And, in imitation of him, these and that his followers, imbibing these principles from men took upon them to execute judgment upon such as him, had the denomination of Herodians. 2 Forasmuch, they called notorious offenders, without staying for the then, that Herod, the better to secure his possession ordinary formalities of law. And, therefore, they made of the throne, had put himself under the Roman protec- no scruple of robbing, and plundering, and killing the tion, contrary to an express precept of the law; and, principal of the nobility, under pretence of their holding to ingratiate himself with the great men at Rome, built correspondence with the Romans, and betraying the temples, and erected images in them for idolatrous wor- liberty of their country. At last, joining with the Iduship, excusing himself to the Jews, that all this he did mæans, they committed all manner of outrage, seized on purely in compliance to the commands he was necessi- the temple, and profaned the sanctuary, and slew many tated to obey, and might probably lay it down for a of the high priests themselves. So that, when Jerusalem maxim in religion, that, in case of compulsion, it was came to be besieged, they were perpetually raising lawful to submit to unjust injunctions; there is no wontumults and distractions within, which ended at last in der at all that some bold men should rise up to justify the destruction of their city and temple, and the total the king's practice, and, by the royal permission, call | dissolution of their state. themselves by his name, whose distinguishing tenet might probably be, "That although they professed the Jewish religion, and abominated idolatry in their hearts, yet, to humour the Romans, and make themselves easy with their governors, it was not unlawful to comply sometimes with their demands, and, at least outwardly, to become occasional conformists." This is the leaven | you. of the Herodians, which our Saviour cautions his disciples against; but it was not of long continuance in the Jewish church for Herod Antipas having lost his credit at Rome, and being deposed and banished out of Judea, the sect that was instituted by his father, and supported

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These were the several sects, which, much about this period of time, sprang up in the Jewish church; and, if the like differences in opinion have since appeared in the Christian, it is no more than what the Spirit of God hath foretold: "For there must be heresies among you, that they who are approved may be made manifest among

SECT. V.

by his favour and countenance, could not support itself CHAP. I.-From the Death of John Hyrcanus, to the after his disgrace.

Birth of Jesus Christ

THE HISTORY

Another sect, mentioned by Josephus ' as rising after this time, was that of Judas of Galilee: for when Archelaus, son of Herod the Great, was sent into banishment, and Judea reduced to a Roman province, Judas, “a| native of Galamala, took occasion from some new exactions, to exhort his countrymen to shake off the Roman yoke; pretending, that to pay tribute to any foreign | was Absalom. power was a shameful badge of their slavery. An aversion to the Roman dominion, and an hatred of the publicans, who had the care of receiving the taxes and tributes, was natural enough to all the Jews; but they, whose zeal led them to join Judas, and form a particular sect, valued themselves upon their holiness and justice, because they would not acknowledge any other sovereign but God; and, rather than submit to the dominion of | there starved to death. man, or give him the title of Lord, they chose to subject

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Hyncanus, when he died, left five sons: Aristobulus, Antigonus, and Alexander, were the three first; who the fourth was, we no where read; but the name of the fifth father, both in the pontificate and principality of the Aristobulus, as eldest, succeeded his nation, and, as we said before, was the first in Judea, since the Babylonish captivity, who put on a diadem, and assumed the title of a king; but he was a man of a bloody and suspicious disposition. His own mother, because, in virtue of his father's will, she claimed some share in the sovereignty, he first cast into prison, and the like confinement, except Antigonus, who was his All his brothers he put under great favourite, and, at first, shared in the government with him but he soon cooled in his affections, and at last had him put to death; though in this piece of cruelty the instruments about him were more to blame than he.

7 Of the Jewish War, b. iv.

8 Num. xxv. 13. 91 Cor. xi. 19.

A. M. 3897. A. C. 107, OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 5305. A. C. 106, JOS. HIST. b. xiii. c. 19-END OF b. xv. As soon as he was settled in the throne, he engaged, slew him; but, no sooner was the fact committed, than in a war with the Ituræans; a and having subdued the Aristobulus severely repented it. greatest part of them, he forced them to become prosylytes to the Jewish religion, in the same manner as his father had done to the Idumæans: but returning sick from the war to Jerusalem, he left his brother behind him to finish it, which accordingly he did with success; and so, returning in triumph, at a time when the feast of tabernacles was celebrating, he went directly to the temple, as did the guards that attended him, with his armour on, to pay his devotions to God.

The queen, and the courtiers of her party, who envied the interest which Antigonus had with the king, were always buzzing in his ears such stories as they thought would excite his jealousy; and now they come and tell him, "That it was high time for him to look to himself; that his brother was gone into the temple in an equipage not becoming a private man; and that, in all probability, it would not be long before he could come with a troop of his armed soldiers, and execute his wicked design against him."

This representation made some impression upon Aristobulus, so that he sent to his brother to put off his armour, and immediately come to him, concluding that if, pursuant to his orders, he came unarmed, there was no mischief intended, but that if he did otherwise, there might be something in what the queen had suggested; and therefore placing his guards in a subterraneous passage, which led from the palace to the temple, and through which his brother was to come to the king's apartment, he ordered them, that, if he came unarmed, they should let him pass, but if otherwise, they should instantly fall upon him, and dispatch him.

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The queen, knowing this, prevailed with the messenger whom Aristobulus sent to bid his brother come unarmed, to tell him, on the contrary, that the king being informed of a very beautiful suit of armour which he had brought with him from the wars, was minded to see how it became him, and therefore desired him to come in it; which accordingly he did, suspecting no ill. When he came to the place where the guards were posted, they, seeing his armour on, executed their orders, and immediately

a Ituræa, the country where these people dwelt, was part of Calo-Syria, bordering upon the north-east part of the land of Israel, and lying between the inheritance of the half tribe of Manasseh beyond Jordan, and the territories of Damascus. It is the same country that is sometimes called Auronitis, and had its name from Itur, one of the sons of Ishmael, (Gen. xxv. 15.) who, in our English version, is wrongfully called Jetur.-Prideaux's Connection, anno 107.

For the sense of the loss of a good brother brought to his remembrance the murder of his mother, and his conscience flew in his face for both at once. The anxiety of his mind increased the distemper of his body; so that, finding no ease for the one, and no cure for the other, in the utmost agonies of guilt, and with many bitter accusations of himself, he gave up the ghost, and, after a reign of no more than one year, was succeeded by his brother Alexander Jannæus.

Ever since his father's death, he had been kept in prison by the late king; but, upon his decease, his widow Salome released him, and his other two brothers, from their confinement; so that, being now on the throne, and having discovered that the elder of these brothers had formed a design to supplant him, he caused him to be put to death; but the other, who was called Absalom, desiring to live quietly, and in a private condition, he took into his favour, and under his protection.

As soon as he had settled his matters at home, he led forth his forces to make war with the people of Ptolemais; and, having vanquished them in a pitched battle, shut them up in the city, and laid close siege to it. This place, and Gaza, together with the tower of Straton, and the fortress of Dura, which Zoilus possessed, were the only places on the coast, which were not under Alexander's dominion; and, therefore, dividing his forces, with one part he besieged Ptolemais, and employed the other in ravaging the territories of Zoilus, and those of Gaza, In the mean time, the besieged had sent to Ptolemy Lathyrus, the expelled king of Egypt, who reigned then in Crete, to come to their relief; but afterwards, bethinking themselves better, they came to a resolution, which they communicated to Ptolemy, to trust to their own strength, rather than admit of any auxiliaries.

Ptolemy however was already set to sea, when he heard this news; and therefore proceeding in his voyage, and landing his army in Phoenicia, he advanced towards Ptolemais; but the people in the town would neither receive his messengers, nor send him any answer, so that he was in no small perplexity what course to take, when

e Aristobulus was a great favourer of the Greeks, for which reason he was called Philellen, and the Greeks indeed had an equal favour for him: for, as Josephus tells us out of Strabo, one of their historians has left his character of him: That he was a prince of equity, and had in many things been very benef cial to the Jews, in that he had augmented their territories, and ingrafted into the Jewish state part of the nation of the Ituræans;" but the actions of his short reign show him to have been a man of a quite different disposition.-Prideaux's Connection, anno 106.

When Hyrcanus built the palace of Baris, he caused this passage, which led from thence to the temple, to be made, that upon all occasions he might have a ready communication with it: and as over this passage there was a turret, or tower of the d This Ptolemy Lathyrus, by his mother Cleopatra, was made palace, called Straton's tower, Josephus tells us a very remark- king of Egypt: by his affecting to reign without her, he so far able story concerning it, namely, that one Judas, an Essene, incurred her displeasure, that she procured his expulsion by this having foretold that Antigonus should, that very day, be slain in artifice. Some of her favourite eunuchs she caused to be wounded; Straton's tower, which he took to be a town so called, lying on and then bringing them out into the public assembly of the Alexthe sea coast, and two days' journey from Jerusalem; and seeing andrians, she there pretended, that they had suffered this from Antigonus come into the temple, he fell into a great passion, and Lathyrus, in defence of her person against him, and thereupon began to exclaim against truth itself, as supposing his prediction accused him of having made an attempt upon her life; and by impossible now to be fulfilled; but, while he was in this agony, this means she so far incensed the people, that they rose in a news being brought, that Antigonus was slain in that part of the general uproar against him, and would have torn him in pieces, subterraneous gallery which was directly under the turret called had he not fled for his life. Hereupon Cleopatra sent for AlexStraton's tower, the Essene rejoiced in the comfort and satisfac-ander, her younger son, who, for some time had reigned in tion of having his prophecy verified, at the same time that every one else was lamenting the murder of this young prince.-Jewish Antiq. b. 12. c. 19.

Cyprus, and having made him king of Egypt, forced Lathyrus to be content with Cyprus, upon his brother's leaving it.-J. b. xxxix. c. 4.

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