Page images
PDF
EPUB

TABLE V.

SUCCESSION OF THE HIGH PRIESTHOOD

FROM THE CAPTIVITY, TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. (NEH. xii. 10. PRIDEAUX, LEWIS, &c.)

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

bribe to Antiochus Epphanes; but was himself deposed for a higher bribe given by [ONIAS, his brother, who took the Greek name of Menelaus, and fell into apostacy; selling the golden vessels of the Temple, to raise money for his own purposes. Possessing none of the virtues of his predecessors in the office, he himself conducted Antiochus Epiphanes into the Holy of Holies, and connived at the plunder. He was at length put to a violent death, and was succeeded by [JACIMUS, OF ALCIMUS, of

Died B. C.

MACCABEAN

37. MATTATHIAS, a priest of the course of Jehoiarib, 1 Chron. xxiv. 7; revolted against Antiochus, and purged the public worship of idolatry,

38. JUDAS MACCABEUE, his son, recovered the Sanctuary; dedicated vessels and utensils from his spoils; and restored the public worship; which continued till the final destruction of the Temple. He first made a league with the Romans; and died nobly in battle, fighting against superior numbers,

39. JONATHAN, his brother. He broke through the rule of

Yrs. of H

Pthood.

[blocks in formation]

the family of Aaron, but not of the race of High Priests. He conformed to the Grecian worship, and died a violent death,

[ONIAS, son of Onias III., who should have succeeded his father, was an exile in Egypt, where he built a Temple, of which he was made High Priest, and which remained till the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem. [According to Josephus B. xx. ch. 11, an interval of seven years followed the death of Jacimus; during which there was no High Priest.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

MACCABEAN KINGS,

either exercising, or conferring on others, the office of High Priest

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

106 1

79 27

his wife,

[ALEXANDRA, succeeded; and made HYRCANUS, his son, High Priest. He resigned the Crown and Priesthood to Aristobulus, his brother,

-was restored by Pompey on his taking Jerusalem, to the High Priesthood; but not to the Crown; which was given

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

him afterwards by Cæsar. He
was degraded,

and murdered B. C. 30.

45. ARISTOBULUS, his brother, deposed by Pompey, and afterwards poisoned,

46. ANTIGONUs, his son, deprived by the Romans, and murdered,

47. HEROD, called "the Great," an Idumean, married the grandaughter of Hyrcanus; made Aristobulus High Priest; but afterwards murdered him: re-built the Tem16 ple, and dedicated it with great pomp. He died miserably,

48. ARCHELAUS, his son, deposed by the Romans, A. D. 8,

[blocks in formation]

The sacred office of the High Priesthood was now considered as an object of worldly interest only-was sought by intrigues-and purchased with bribes ;-and the reigning Princes conferred it on the most unworthy characters, for the basest of purposes.-The Levitical Church,-polluted and degraded,-was fast mouldering into ruins; and the Jewish economy touched upon its dissolution. Judah "married the 'daughter of a strange God."-Mal. ii. 11.-Her Princes were "like wolves, ravening the prey to shed blood, and to destroy "souls to get dishonest gain."-Ezek. xxii. 27.—“The heads "judged for reward, and the Priests taught for hire."—Micah, iii. 11-they "put no difference between the holy, and pro"fane;" and "hid their eyes from the Sabbaths."-Ezek. xxii. 26.-They "polluted the sanctuary;"-Zeph. iii. 4— and "committed murder by consent."-Hos. vi. 9.-And thus

while "the Priests forgot the Law,”—the " people were de"stroyed for lack of knowledge."-Hos. iv. 6-they " robbed "God" in the " tithes, and offerings," " even the whole "nation."-Mal. iii. 8.-Therefore God" poured out his in

dignation upon them, and consumed them with the fire of "his wrath."-Ezek. xxii. 31.-Zion" was plowed as a field; "Jerusalem became heaps, and the MOUNTAIN OF THE HOUSE, "as the high places of the forest."—Micah, iii. 12.

The House of Israel torn by contending factions, and reduced to the lowest ebb, by internal dissensions, broke out in insurrection against the Roman government. This led to their final overthrow. Vespasian, and his son Titus, besieged, and, after a desperate resistance, took Jerusalem, A. D. 70—when, notwithstanding the express orders, and the care of the latter to the contrary, the Temple was burnt, and utterly destroyed; so that, in fulfilment of our Lord's prediction,-Luke, xix. 44 --not one stone was left upon another. The conqueror deposited the spoils in the Temple of Peace, at Rome; and commanded the Jewish tribute of half a shekel, heretofore paid for the support of their Temple, to be paid to the Capitol. The number of prisoners taken during the war amounted to 97,000 -and those who perished, were more than a million.

The hierarchy now dissolved,-the government annihilated, --and the people dispersed, and scattered over the face of the earth, the House of Israel found itself, in fulfilment of prophecies long before pronounced,-Hosea, iii. 4-Deut. xxviii. 37—Jeremiah, xxv. 9. 18—“ without a king—and without a prince-and without a sacrifice-and without an image"and without an ephod;66 PERPETUAL DESOLATION,'

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

AN ASTONISHMENT, A PROVERB, AND A BYE-WORD AMONG 66 ALL NATIONS ;"- AS IT IS AT THIS DAY!"

SVI. On the Origin, &c.

VI. ON THE ORIGIN AND EXTENSION OF
IDOLATRY.

HAD not the experience of every age established the fact of the prevalence of idolatrous worship, and every country borne unhappy testimony to its sad influence, when the heart of man, once estranged from God, became "desperately wicked" in the progress of error, the monstrous extent to which the practice was carried, and the abominable rites that have been adopted, would appear altogether incredible. But superstition blended with ignorance had an ample field to indulge in, and was therefore ever multiplying the objects of senseless adoration; and every passion finding a gratification, rather than a restraint, in the speedily complex system, the madness extended itself over as well the most polished nations, as the ruder people, whom they affected to call “barbarians.”

The first deviation from the worship of the true God as practised in Paradise, and communicated through the family of Seth, originated in Chaldea, where lived Terah, the father of Abraham, said to have been a maker of images; and Laban, whose "images" or "Gods," Rachel purloined. (See ante p. 12.) and where was "Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and abominations of the earth. Rev. xvii. 5.Babylon-a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken." Jer. li. 7.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

In the dawning of astronomy, the first study, probably, to which the human mind directed itself in a pastoral age, when the contemplation of the brilliant host of Heaven, opened a boundless field to the imagination, the simple shepherd experienced the natural progress from astonishment to veneration, and was soon led to worship "the creature more than the creator."

H

« PreviousContinue »