people, that thereby it might be known with whom a true Israelite might lawfully marry. For neither this law nor any other of the like nature is to be understood to exclude any one, of what nation soever he were, from entering into the congregation as a proselyte, and becoming a member of their church, that would be converted thereto. Neither did any of the Jews ever so interpret it: for they freely received all into their religion that would embrace it, and, immediately on their conversion, admitted them to all the rights, parts, and privileges of it, and treated them in all respects in the same manner as true Israelites, excepting only in the case of marriage. And therefore this phrase in the text, of not entering into the congregation of the Lord, even to the tenth generation, must be understood to include no more than a prohibition not to be married thereinto till then: and thus all the Jewish doctors expound it; for their doctrine as to the case of their marrying with such as were not of their nation is stated by them in manner as followeth :

None of the house of Israel of either sex were to enter into marriage with any gentiles of what nation soever, unless they were first converted to their reli gion, and became entire proselytes to it. And, when they were become thus thorough proselytes, they were not all immediately to be admitted to this privilege of making intermarriages with them; for some were barred wholly from it for ever, others only in part, and some only for a limited time. Of the first sort were all of the seven nations of the Canaanites, mentioned in Deut. vii. Of the second sort were the Moabites and the Ammonites, whose males, they hold, were excluded for ever, but not their females: for the Hebrew text naming an Ammonite and a Moab, ite, in the masculine gender only, they understand it only of the males, and not of the females. And this exception they make for the sake of Ruth; for she, though a Moabitish woman, had been married to two husbands of the house of Israel, the last of which was Boaz, of whom David was descended by her. And

1 Deut. xxiii, 3.

m Maimonides in Issure Biah.

of the third sort" were the Edomites and Egyptians, with whom they might not marry till the third generation. With all others, who were not of the three excepted sorts, they might freely make intermarriages whenever they became thorough proselytes to their religion. But at present, P it being not to be known, who is an Edomite, who an Ammonite, or a Moabite, or who an Egyptian of the race of the Egyptians then mentioned in the text, by reason of the confusions which have since happened of all nations with each other, they hold this prohibition to have been long since out of date; and that now any gentile, as soon as proselyted to their religion, may immediately be admitted to make intermarriages with them. In interpreting the exclusion of the Ammonites and Moabites in the text to be for ever, they seem to exceed the prohibition of the law therein delivered; for there (Deut. xxiii, 3,) it is extended only to the tenth generation. The words are, Even to the tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever. The meaning of which seems plainly to be, that this should be observed as a law for ever, that an Ammonite or a Moabite was not to be admitted into the congregation of Israel, so as to be capable of making marriages with them, till the tenth generation after their becoming proselytes to the Jewish religion. But ten generations, and for ever, being both in the same text, and within the same prohibiting clause, they interpret the former express sion by the latter, and will have it, that so long a prohibition as that of ten generations, signifieth therein tantamount to for ever; and they ground this chiefly upon the text of Nehemiah, which we are now treating of. For here, in the recital of this law, the prohibition is said to be for ever, without the limitation of ten generations. But the words of Nehemiah are plainly an imperfect quotation of what is in the law, and seem to intend no more by that recital, than to

n Dent. xxiii, 8.

o A sister of David's married Ithra, an Ishmaelite, by whom she was mother of Amasa, captain of the host of Israel.

p Maimonides in Issure Biah.

send us to the place in the original text of the law where it is to be perfectly found. And, in all laws in the world, the words of the original text are to be depended upon, for the intention of the law-giver, before any quotations of them, by whomsoever made.

Among other corruptions that grew up during the absence of Nehemiah, one especially to be taken notice of was the neglect of the carrying on of the daily service of the house of God in such manner as it ought. For the tithes, which were to maintain the ministers of the temple in their offices and stations, being either embezzled by the high priest, and other rulers of the temple under him, or else subtracted by the laity, and not paid at all, for want of them the Levites and singers were driven from the temple, every one to his own home, there to seek for a subsistence some other way. This abuse the governour, whose piety led him always to attend the public worship, could not be long without taking notice of; and when he had observed it, and thoroughly informed himself of the cause, he soon provided very effectually for its remedy: for he forthwith made those dues to be again brought into the treasuries of the temple, and forced every man faithfully and fully to pay them; whereby a maintenance being again provided for those that attended the service of the house of God, all was there again restored to its pristine order. And he also took care, that the sabbath should be duly observed, and made many good orders for the preventing of the profanation of it, and caused them all to be effectually put in execution. But, though all these things are mentioned in one chapter, they were not all done at one time; but the good man brought them about as occasions were administered, and as he saw opportunities best served for the successful effecting of them.

In this same year in which we suppose Nehemiah came back again to his government of Judea from the Persian court, that is, in the first year of the 88th Olympiad, was born Plato the famous Athenian philosopher,

q Nehemiah xiii, 10-14. Malachi iii, 8-13.

r Nehemiah xii, 15-23.

Diogenes Laertius in Vita Platonis.

who came nearest to the truth in divine matters of any of the heathens: for he having, in his travels into the East, where he went for his improvement in knowl. edge, conversed with the Jews, and gotten some insight into the writings of Moses, and their other sacred books, he learned many things from them, which others of his profession could not attain unto; and therefore he is said by Numenius to be none other than Moses speaking Greek; and many of the ancient fathers speak of him to the same purpose.

An. 426.

In the sixth year of the Peloponnesian war, the plague broke out again at Athens, and destroyed great numbers of their people. This, Artax. 39. with the other plague that happened four years before, having much exhausted that city of its inhabitants, for the better replenishing of it again, a new law was made to allow every man there to marry two wives. From the time of Cecrops, who was the first planter of Attica, and the founder of the city of Athens in it, no such thing as polygamy was there ever known, or was any man allowed to have any more than one wife, both their law and their usage till now being contrary thereto. But from this time it was allowed for the cause which I have mentioned; and Socrates the philosopher was one of the first that made use of the privilege of it, being then forty-three years old: for he was born in the last year of the 77th Olympiad (which was the year 469 before Christ;) for to Xantippe his former wife, he took another called Myrto; and all the benefit he had by it, was to have two scolds, instead of one, to exercise his patience. As long as they disagreed, they were continually scolding, brawling, or fighting, with each other; and whenever they agreed, they both joined in brawling at him, and often felib on him with their fists as well as with their tongues, and beat him soundly. And this was a very just punishment upon him, for giving countenance, by his

t Josephus contra Apionem, lib. 2. Aristobulus apud Eusebium de Preparatione Evangelica.

u Clem. Alexandr. Strom. 1. Suidas in Navios.

x Vide Menagii Observationes ad tertium Librum Diog. Laertii. segm. 6. y Thucydides, lib. 3. z Athenæus, lib. 13. Diog Laert. in Socrate. b Porphyrius apud Theodoretem.

a Diog. Laert. ibid.

practice, to so unnatural and mischievous an usage. For every where more males than females being born into the world, this sufficiently proves, that God and nature never intended any more than one woman for one man; and they certainly act contrary to the laws of both, that have more than one to wife at the same time. Although the supreme Lawgiver dispensed with the children of Israel in this case, this is no rule for others to act by.

An. 425.

In the seventh year of the Peloponnesian war, Artaxerxes sent an ambassador, called ArtaArtax. 40. phernes, to the Lacedemonians, with letters written in the Assyrian language; wherein, among other things, he tells them, that several ambassadors had come to him from them, but with messages so differing, that he could not learn from them what it was that they would have; and that therefore he had sent this Persian to them, to let them know, that if they had any thing to propose to him, they should, on his return, send with him to his court some by whom he might clearly understand what their mind was. But this ambassador being got on in his way as far as Eion, on the river Strymon in Thracia, he was there taken prisoner about the end of the year, by one of the admirals of the Athenian fleet, who sent him to Athens; where the Athenians treated him with much kindness and respect, thereby the better to reconcile to them the favour of the Persian king.

Artax. 41.

And the next year after, as soon as the seas were safely passable, they sent him back in a ship An. 424. of their own at the public charges, and appointed some of their citizens to go with him as ambassadors from them to the king; but when they were landed at Ephesus, in order to this journey, they there understood that Artaxerxes was lately dead; whereon the ambassadors proceeded no farther, but, having there dismissed Artaphernes, returned again to Athens.

Artaxerxes died within three months after the beginning of the forty-first year of his reign, and was succeeded in his kingdom by Xerxes, the only son that c Thucydides, lib. 4.

e Ctesias. Diod. Sic. lib. 12, p. 319, 322.