Page:Light and truth.djvu/148

146 In the reign of Artaxerxes, Malaclii wrote his book, which was the end of vision and prophecy, 397 years B.C., and prophesied the coming of John the Baptist, under the name of Elias.

In the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes, Esdras obtained of the king and his seven counsellors an ample commission, empowering him to return to Jerusalem with all such Jews as would follow him thither, in order to settle the Jewish government and religion agreeably to their own laws. Esdras was descended from Saraia, who was high-priest of Jerusalem, when it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, a very learned and pious man, and was chiefly distinguished from the rest of the Jews by his great knowledge.

Some Jews who came from Jerusalem, having informed Nehemiah of the sad fate of that city, that its walls lay in ruins, its gates were burnt down, and the inhabitants thereby exposed to the insults of their enemies, and made the scorn of all their neighbors; the affliction of his brethren, and the dangers with which they were menaced, made such an impression on his mind as might naturally be expected from one of his piety. One day, as he was waiting upon the king, the latter observing an unusual air of melancholy in Nehemiah's contenance, asked him the cause of it. Nehemiah took this opportunity to acquaint him with the calamitous state of his country; owned that was the subject of his grief, and humbly entreated that leave might be given him to go to Jerusalem, in order to repair the fortifications of it. The kings of Persia his predecessors, had permitted the Jews to rebuild the temple, but not the walls of Jerusalem. But Artaxerxes immediately decreed that the walls and gates of Jerusalem should be rebuilt; and Nehemiah, as governor of Judea, was appointed to put this decree into execution. The king, to do him the greater honor, ordered a body of horse, commanded by a considerable officer, to escort him thither. He likewise wrote to all the governors of the provinces on this side the Euphrates, to give him all the assistance possible in forwarding the work for which he was sent. This pious Jew executed every part of his commission with incredible zeal and activity.

It is from this decree, enacted by Artaxerxes in the