THE enemies of the Jews, who were principally the Samaritans, no sooner found that the temple was being rebuilt, than they resolved to hinder the progress of the work. But having, as it would seem, no pretext for an open attack, they determined to seek one. They came therefore to Zerubbabel, and proposed to unite with the Jews in building the temple, alleging that they wor shiped the God of Israel in the same manner as his people; and had done so since the time that Esarhaddon had brought them up to dwell in the land. You may not perhaps remember the origin of these people; therefore I shall briefly refer to it, as related in the seventeenth chapter of the second Book of Kings. you

In the reign of Hoshea, the last king of Israel, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against Samaria, and after a siege of three years, succeeded in taking the city. As Hoshea, by secret conspiracy, had previously shown himself unworthy of being left to govern the land, as a tributary king, Shalmaneser resolved to carry him and his people into captivity, and to repeople Samaria by colonies from other parts of his dominions." He accordingly" brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim; and placed them in the cities of Samaria, instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof." Though the Lord had thus" removed Israel out of his sight,” for their sins, and caused the heathens to possess their land, his own honour was to be vindicated among the latter,

who very probably considered him as a God of little power, since his professed worshipers had fallen into the hands of their enemies. At their first coming into Samaria," they feared not the Lord, therefore the Lord sent lions among them." This terrible visitation they attributed to their neglect of the God of the land, and therefore sent to the king of Assyria (Esarhaddon) to know what they ought to do. The king commanded one of the priests of Israel to go up and dwell in the land, to teach these new inhabitants "the manner of the God of the land." One of the priests accordingly went up, and dwelt in Bethel, to instruct the people, who from that time offered sacrifices to the Lord God, but did not renounce their former superstitions. "They feared the Lord, and served their own gods," each according to the rites of the nation from whence they came. This mixed kind of worship seems to have been more hateful to the Jews, after their return, than absolute heathenism; it is not therefore surprising, that the pious Zerubbabel, and his council, rejected the proposed alliance with disdain. This was the occasion the Samaritans were seeking, and their alleged motive for open hostility. Not satisfied, however, with their efforts to interrupt the builders, they endeavoured to put a stop to the work altogether, by obtaining a public edict to that effect. They hired counsellors at the court of Persia, to make injurious representations to the king; and as Daniel was very probably dead at this time,* his enemies would not be backward in supporting the views of the Samaritans against the Jews. These proceed ings seem to have been under hand during the reign of Cyrus, whose regard for Daniel, and whose belief in

the prophecies of the Lord God, were too well known, to allow of a hope that he would in any way counteract his own edict. This prince died in the seventh year after the Jews' return, and was succeeded by his son Cambyses, who is called Ahasuerus by Ezra. He was of a very different character to his father; and having neither the same motives for showing favour to the Jews, nor the same tender regard for the welfare of his subjects in general, the Samaritans considered him a proper instrument to be wrought on for their revengeful and malicious purposes. No longer constrained to use secret measures, they wrote a letter against Jerusalem, to the king, the tenor of which, while it exalted their own grateful loyalty, represented the Jews as a rebellious people, who were rebuilding their city in order to fortify themselves therein, that they might shake off the authority of the Persians, and cease to pay them tribute. In support of their accusation they referred the king to the Babylonish annals, that he might see and know that the city was a rebellious city; and plainly told him that the rebuilding of it would occasion him the loss of all his provinces west of the Euphrates. This letter had all the effect the Samaritans could desire; and the king's answer giving them authority to put a stop to the building, was by them taken triumphantly to Jerusalem, and carried into effect with the utmost rigour. Cambyses, in the fourth year of his reign, invaded Egypt; and partly by stratagem and the treachery of Phanes, who revolted from the king of Egypt, and went over to the Persians, and partly by force of arms, he subdued the whole of that country, and annexed it to the Persian empire. Psammenitus, the king of Egypt, was at first treated with some consideration by the victor; but en

deavouring to regain his authority, he was put to death. This conquest of Egypt was a farther fulfilment of the - prophecies respecting that kingdom, which had been successively desolated by civil war, and the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, and which was now reduced to the low rank of a province. According to the same predictions, it was again to become a kingdom, but it was to be the "basest of kingdoms," and such we shall find it to be, as we pursue the course of its history. Cambyses died in Syria, on his return from Egypt, in the third year after his invasion of that country, and in the eighth of his reign. He had undertaken expeditions into Ethiopia and Hammonia, in both of which he had entirely failed.

The successor of Cambyses was Smerdis the Magian, an impostor, who, as you probably know, obtained the crown by his resemblance to Smerdis, the brother of Cambyses, whom the latter had caused to be murdered. The reign of this usurper was of short duration; for his imposture being fully discovered, seven Persian nobles conspired against him, and having put him to death, elected one of their number to be king of Persia ; as there were no male descendants of Cyrus, to whom the kingdom could devolve by right of inheritance. The name of this monarch elect was Darius Hystaspes, the same who is mentioned by Ezra,* and by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. Though the prohibition of Cambyses, by which the Jews had been restricted from building, ceased at his death, they did not avail themselves of that circumstance to resume their labours. They were probably dispirited by the hinderances they had met with; and disappointed that they had not obEzra iv. 24.. + Haggai i. 1. + Zech. i. 1.

tained by miracle, that success which the Lord is generally pleased to accord in the use of means; even when the undertakings of his people are of a spiritual nature. In this supine state they continued till the second year of Darius, when the weight of national depression was increased by the prospect of famine. The spirit of prophecy, which had been withheld since the time of Daniel, was now mercifully restored. Haggai and Zechariah were both sent to them in this year; the former in the sixth month, the latter in the eighth. Haggai was commissioned to arouse them from their negligence: to call upon them to "consider their ways ;" and to inform them that the barrenness of their land was a judgment from God, because they had finished their own houses, and were dwelling at ease in them, regardless of his glory. This message was accompanied by a command to proceed with the building; and a promise that the Lord of Hosts would take pleasure in it, and would be glorified. } It is worthy of remark, that during the whole time the Jews were prohibited by the Persian monarchs from building the temple, no command was sent to them from God to continue it. They were not to prosecute even a good work by means of insurrection; but to seek the peace of the nation to whom God had subjected them, and embrace the earliest opportunity of proceeding in their work, when they could do it lawfully. Zerubbabel and Jeshua, with all the people, immediately gave heed to the word of the Lord by Haggai, and resumed the building. Their prompt obedience was graciously regarded by the Lord, who sent an encouraging message by the prophet, to assure them of his presence and assistance; and the fulfilment of this promise was quickly experienced; for," the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerub