thereby make different words, and of different significations, and therefore, when put alone, are of an uncertain reading. But it is quite otherwise when they are joined in context with other words; for where the letters joined in the same word do not determine the reading, there the words joined in the same sentence always do. And this is no more than what we find in all other languages, and very often in our own; for we have many equivocal words, which, being put alone, are of an uncertain signification, but are always determined in the context; as, for example, the word let in English, when put alone by itself, hath not only two different, but two quite contrary meanings; for it signifies to permit, and it signifies also to hinder; but it never doth so in the context, but is thereby always so determined, either to the one or to the other, that no one is ever led into a mistake hereby. And the same is to be said of all such words in Hebrew, as, having the same letters, are susceptible of various punctuations. The letters here cannot determine to the punctuation, because they being in each the same, are indifferent to either. But what the letters cannot do, when the word is put alone by itself, that the other words always do with which it is joined in the context. And it is want of attention, or want of apprehension, if any one thoroughly skilled in the Hebrew language makes a mistake herein; which may happen in the reading of any other books whatsoever. And therefore, though the Hebrew Bibles had never been pointed, we need not be sent either to the church of Rome or any where else for the fixing of the readings of it, the letters alone, with the context, being sufficient, when we thoroughly understand the language, to determine us thereto.

There is, in the church of St. Dominic in Bononia, a copy of the Hebrew Scriptures, kept with a great deal of care, which they pretend to be the original copy written by Ezra himself; and therefore it is there valued at so high a rate, that great sums of money have been borrowed by the Bononians upon

r Fini Adriani Flagellum Judæorum, lib. 9, c. 2. Tissardi Ambacei Grammat. Hebræa. Hottingeri Thesaurus Philologicus, p. 115, 513.

the

pawn of it, and again repaid for its redemption. It is written in a very fair character, upon a sort of leather, and made up in a roll, according to the ancient manner, but it having the vowel points annexed, and the writing being fresh and fair, without any decay, both these particulars prove the novelty of that copy. But such forgeries are no uncommon things among the papistical sect.

But, though Ezra's government over all Judah and Jerusalem expired with this year, yet his labour to serve the church of God did not here end; for still he went on as a preacher of righteousness, and a skilful scribe of the law of God, to perfect the reformation which he had begun, both in preparing for the people correct editions of the Scriptures, and also in bringing all things in church and state to be conformed to the rules thereof. And this he continued to do as long as he lived; and herein he was thoroughly assisted and supported by the next governour; who coming to Jerusalem with the same intention, and the same zeal for promoting of the honour of God and the welfare of his people in Judah and Jerusalem, as Ezra did, he struck in heartily with him in the work; so that Ezra went on still to do the same things by the authority of the new governour which he before did by his own. And by their thus joining together in the same holy undertaking, and their mutual assisting each other therein, it exceedingly prospered in their hands, till at length, notwithstanding all manner of oppositions both from within and from without, it was brought to full perfection, forty-nine years after it had been begun by Ezra. Whether Ezra lived so long or not is uncertain: but what he did not live to do was completed by the piety and zeal of his successor; with an account of whose transactions I shall begin the next book.

Anno 445.

a

HE who succeeded Ezra in the government of Judah and Jerusalem, was Nehemiah, a very reArtax. 20. ligious and most excellent person; one that was nothing behind his predecessor, saving his learning and great knowledge in the law of God. He came to Jerusalem in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, and, by a commission from him, suppressed that of Ezra, and succeeded him in the government of Judah and Jerusalem. And he had in that commission, by an express clause therein inserted, full authority given him to repair the walls and set up the gates of Jerusalem, and to fortify it again in the same manner as it was before it was dismantled and destroyed by the Babylonians. He was a Jew, whose ancestors had formerly been citizens of Jerusalem; for there, he saith, was the place of his father's sepulchres. But as to the tribe or family which he was of, no more is said, but only that his father's name was Hachaliah; who seemeth to have been of those Jews, who, having gotten good settlements in the land of their captivity, chose rather to abide in them, than return into their own country, when leave was granted for it. It is most likely, that he was an inhabitant of the city of Shushan; and that it was his dwelling there that gave his son an opportunity of gaining an advancement in the king's palace: for he was one of the cup-bearers of king Artaxerxes, which was a place

a Neh. ii.

b Neh. ii, 1; v, 14. c Neh. ii, 3. d Vide Brissonium de Regno Prefixe, lib. 1, sec. 93.

of great honour and advantage in the Persian court, because of the privilege it gave him of being daily in the king's presence, and the opportunity which he had thereby of gaining his favour, for the obtaining of any petition which he should make to him; and that especially since the times of his attendance always were, when the king was making his heart merry with the wine which he served up unto him; for this is the best opportunity with all men, for the obtaining any boon that shall be desired of them, because they are always then in the best humour of complying. And it was e at such a time that he asked the government of Judea, and obtained it. And by the like advantages of his place, no doubt, it was, that he gained those immense riches which enabled him for so many years,f out of his own private purse only, to live in his government, with that splendour and expense, as will be hereafter related, without burdening the people at all for it. And no doubt it was by the favour of queen Esther, as being of the same nation and people with her, that he obtained so honourable and advantageous a preferment in that court. However, neither the honour and advantage of this place, nor the long settlement of his family out of his country, could make him forget his love for it, or lay aside that zeal which he had for the religion of his forefathers, who had formerly dwelt in it. For though he had been born and bred in a strange land, yet he had a great love for Sion, and an heart thoroughly set for the advancing of the prosperity of it, and was in all things a very religious observer of the law of his God. And therefore, & when some came from Jerusalem, and told him of the ill state of that city, how the walls of it were still in many places broken down, and the gates of it in the same demolished state as when burned with fire by the Babylonians, and that, by reason hereof, the remnant of the captivity that dwelt there lay open, not only to the incursions and insults of their enemies, but also to the reproach and contempt of their neighbours, as a weak and despicable people; and that they were in both these respects in great affliction and grief of heart;

© Neh. ii, 1:

f Neb. v, 14-19.

g Neh. i.

P

the good man, being suitably moved with this representation, applied himself in fasting and prayer unto the Lord his God, and earnestly supplicated to him for his people of Israel, and the place which he had chosen for his worship among them. And, having thus implored the divine mercy against this evil, he resolved next to make his application to the king for the redressing of it, trusting in God for the inclining of his heart thereto; and therefore, when his turn came next to wait in his office, the king observing his countenance to be sad, which at other times used not so to be, and asking the cause thereof, he took this opportunity to lay before him the distressed state of his country; and, owning this to be a cause of great grief and sadness unto him, he prayed the king to send him thither to remedy it; and, by the favour of queen Esther, he had his petition granted unto him: for it being particularly remarked, in the sacred text, that the queen was sitting by the king, when Nehemiah. obtained this grant, it sufficiently intimates that her favour was assisting to him herein. And accordingly a royal decree was issued out for the rebuilding of the walls and gates of Jerusalem, and Nehemiah was sent thither with it, as governour of the province of Judea, to put it in execution. And, to do him the more honour, the king sent a guard of horse with him, under the command of some of the captains of his army, to conduct him in safety to his government. And he wrote letters to all the governours on this side the river Euphrates, to further him in the work on which he was sent; and also gave his order to Asaph, the keeper of his forests in those parts, to allow him as much timber out of them as should be needed for the finishing of it. However, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the Samaritans, and other neighbouring nations round, did all they could to hinder him from proceeding therein. And to this they were excited, not only by the ancient and bitter enmity which those people bore to the whole Jewish nation, because of the different manners and different religions which they were of, but most especially at this time, because of

h Neh. ii.

i Neh. ii, 6.