The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended · Isaac Newton
CHAP. VI.
_Of the Empire of the _Persians_._ _Cyrus_ having translated the Monarchy to the _Persians_, and Reigned seven years, was succeeded by his son _Cambyses_, who Reigned seven years and five months, and in the three last years of his Reign subdued _Egypt_: he was succeeded by _Mardus_, or _Smerdis_ the _Magus_, who feigned himself to be _Smerdis_ the brother of _Cambyses_. _Smerdis_ Reigned seven months, and in the eighth month being discovered, was slain, with a great number of the _Magi_; so the _Persians_ called their Priests, and in memory of this kept an anniversary day, which they called, _The slaughter of the _Magi__. Then Reigned _Maraphus_ and _Artaphernes_ a few days, and after them _Darius_ the son of _Hystaspes_, the son of _Arsamenes_, of the family of _Achæmenes_, a _Persian_, being chosen King by the neighing of his horse: before he Reigned his [479] name was _Ochus_. He seems on this occasion to have reformed the constitution of the _Magi_, making his father _Hystaspes_ their Master, or _Archimagus_; for _Porphyrius_ tells us, [480] that _the _Magi_ were a sort of men so venerable amongst the _Persians_, that _Darius_ the son of _Hystaspes_ wrote on the monument of his father_, amongst other things, _that he had been the Master of the _Magi__. In this reformation of the _Magi_, _Hystaspes_ was assisted by _Zoroastres_: so _Agathias_; _The _Persians_ at this day say simply that _Zoroastres_ lived under _Hystaspes__: and _Apuleius_; _Pythagoram, aiunt, inter captivos Cambysæ Regis _[ex Ægypto Babylonem abductos]_ doctores habuisse Persarum Magos, & præcipue Zoroastrem, omnis divini arcani Antistitem_.
By _Zoroastres_'s conversing at _Babylon_ he seems to have borrowed his skill from the _Chaldæans_; for he was skilled in Astronomy, and used their year: so _Q. Curtius_; [481] _Magi proximi patrium carmen canebant: Magos trecenti & sexaginta quinque juvenes sequebantur, puniceis amiculis velati, diebus totius anni pares numero_: and _Ammianus_; _Scientiæ multa ex Chaldæorum arcanis Bactrianus addidit Zoroastres_. From his conversing in several places he is reckoned a _Chaldæan_, an _Assyrian_, a _Mede_, a _Persian_, a _Bactrian_. _Suidas_ calls him [482] a _Perso-Mede_, and saith that he was _the most skilful of Astronomers, and first author of the name of the _Magi_ received among them_. This skill in Astronomy he had doubtless from the _Chaldæans_, but _Hystaspes_ travelled into _India_, to be instructed by the _Gymnosophists_: and these two conjoyning their skill and authority, instituted a new set of Priests or _Magi_, and instructed them in such ceremonies and mysteries of Religion and Philosophy as they thought fit to establish for the Religion and Philosophy of that Empire; and these instructed others, 'till from a small number they grew to a great multitude: for _Suidas_ tells us, that _Zoroastres gave a beginning to the name of the _Magi__: and _Elmacinus_; that _he reformed the religion of the _Persians_, which before was divided into many sects_: and _Agathias_; that _he introduced the religion of the _Magi_ among the _Persians_, changing their ancient sacred rites, and bringing in several opinions_: and _Ammianus_ [483] tells us, _Magiam esse divinorum incorruptissimum cultum, cujus scientiæ seculis priscis multa ex Chaldæorum arcanis Bactrianus addidit Zoroastres: deinde Hystaspes Rex prudentissimus Darii pater; qui quum superioris Indiæ secreta fidentius penetraret, ad nemorosam quamdam venerat solitudinem, cujus tranquillis silentiis præcelsa Brachmanorum ingenia potiuntur; eorumque monitu rationes mundani motus & siderum, purosque sacrorum ritus quantum colligere potuit eruditus, ex his quæ didicit, aliqua sensibus Magorum infudit; quæ illi cum disciplinis præsentiendi futura, per suam quisque progeniem, posteris ætatibus tradunt.
Ex eo per sæcula multa ad præsens, una eademque prosapia multitudo creata, Deorum cultibus dedicatur. Feruntque, si justum est credi, etiam ignem cœlitus lapsum apud se sempiternis foculis custodiri, cujus portionem exiguam ut faustam præisse quondam Asiaticis Regibus dicunt: Hujus originis apud veteres numerus erat exilis, ejusque mysteriis Persicæ potestates in faciendis rebus divinis solemniter utebantur. Eratque piaculum aras adire, vel hostiam contrectare, antequam Magus conceptis precationibus libamenta diffunderet præcursoria. Verum aucti paullatim, in amplitudinem gentis solidæ concesserunt & nomen: villasque inhabitantes nulla murorum firmitudine communitas & legibus suis uti permissi, religionis respectu sunt honorati_. So this Empire was at first composed of many nations, each of which had hitherto its own religion: but now _Hystaspes_ and _Zoroastres_ collected what they conceived to be best, established it by law, and taught it to others, and those to others, 'till their disciples became numerous enough for the Priesthood of the whole Empire; and instead of those various old religions, they set up their own institutions in the whole Empire, much after the manner that _Numa_ contrived and instituted the religion of the _Romans_: and this religion of the _Persian_ Empire was composed partly of the institutions of the _Chaldæans_, in which _Zoroastres_ was well skilled; and partly of the institutions of the ancient _Brachmans_, who are supposed to derive even their name from the _Abrahamans_, or sons of _Abraham_, born of his second wife _Keturah_, instructed by their father in the worship of ONE GOD without images, and sent into the east, where _Hystaspes_ was instructed by their successors.
About the same time with _Hystapes_ and _Zoroastres_, lived also _Ostanes_, another eminent _Magus_: _Pliny_ places him under _Darius Hystaspis_, and _Suidas_ makes him the follower of _Zoroastres_: he came into _Greece_ with _Xerxes_, and seems to be the _Otanes_ of _Herodotus_, who discovered _Smerdis_, and formed the conspiracy against him, and for that service was honoured by the conspirators, and exempt from subjection to _Darius_. In the sacred commentary of the _Persian_ rites these words are ascribed to _Zoroastres_; [484] ‛Ο Θεος εστι κεφαλην εχων ‛ιερακος. ‛ουτος εστιν ‛ο πρωτος, αφθαρτος, αιδιος, αγενητος, αμερης, ανομοιοτατος, ‛ηνιοχος παντος καλου, αδωροδοκητος, αγαθων αγαθωτατος, φρονιμων φρονιμωτατος· εστι δε και πατηρ ευνομιας και δικαιοσυνης, αυτοδιδακτος, φυσικος, και τελειος, και σοφος, και ‛ιερου φυσικου μονος ‛ευρετης. _Deus est accipitris capite: hic est primus, incorruptibilis, æternus, ingenitus, sine partibus, omnibus aliis dissimillimus, moderator omnis boni, donis non capiendus, bonorum optimus, prudentium prudentissimus, legum æquitatis ac justitiæ parens, ipse sui doctor, physicus & perfectus & sapiens & sacri physici unicus inventor_: and the same was taught by _Ostanes_, in his book called _Octateuchus_. This was the Antient God of the _Persian Magi_, and they worshipped him by keeping a perpetual fire for Sacrifices upon an Altar in the center of a round area, compassed with a ditch, without any Temple in the place, and without paying any worship to the dead, or any images. But in a short time they declined from the worship of this Eternal, Invisible God, to worship the Sun, and the Fire, and dead men, and images, as the _Egyptians_, _Phœnicians_, and _Chaldæans_ had done before: and from these superstitions, and the pretending to prognostications, the words _Magi_ and _Magia_, which signify the Priests and Religion of the _Persians_, came to be taken in an ill sense.
Then Reigned _Xerxes_, two months, and _Sogdian_ seven months, and _Darius Nothus_, the bastard son of _Artaxerxes_, nineteen years wanting four or five months; and _Darius_ died in summer, a little after the end of the _Peloponnesian_ war, and in the same Olympic year, and by consequence in _May_ or _June_, _Anno Nabonass._ 344. The 13th year of his Reign was coincident in winter with the 20th of the _Peloponnesian_ war, and the years of that war are stated by indisputable characters, and agreed on by all Chronologers: the war began in spring, _Ann._ 1. Olymp. 87, lasted 27 years, and ended _Apr._ 14. _An._ 4. Olymp. 93. The next King was _Artaxerxes Mnemon_, the son of _Darius_: he Reigned forty six years, and died _Anno Nabonass._ 390. Then Reigned _Artaxerxes Ochus_ twenty one years; _Arses_, or _Arogus_, two years, and _Darius Codomannus_ four years, unto the battel of _Arbela_, whereby the _Persian_ Monarchy was translated to the _Greeks_, _Octob._ 2. _An. Nabonass._ 417; but _Darius_ was not slain untill a year and some months after.
I have hitherto stated the times of this Monarchy out of the _Greek_ and _Latin_ writers: for the _Jews_ knew nothing more of the _Babylonian_ and _Medo-Persian_ Empires than what they have out of the sacred books of the old Testament; and therefore own no more Kings, nor years of Kings, than they can find in those books: the Kings they reckon are only _Nebuchadnezzar_, _Evilmerodach_, _Belshazzar_, _Darius_ the _Mede_, _Cyrus_, _Ahasuerus_, and _Darius_ the _Persian_; this last _Darius_ they reckon to be the _Artaxerxes_, in whose Reign _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_ came to _Jerusalem_, accounting _Artaxerxes_ a common name of the _Persian_ Kings: _Nebuchadnezzar_, they say, Reigned forty five years, 2 _King._ xxv. 27. _Belshazzar_ three years, _Dan._ viii. 1. and therefore _Evilmerodach_ twenty three, to make up the seventy years captivity; excluding the first year of _Nebuchadnezzar_, in which they say the Prophesy of the seventy years was given. To _Darius_ the _Mede_ they assign one year, or at most but two, _Dan._ ix. 1. to _Cyrus_ three years incomplete, _Dan._ x. 1. to _Ahasuerus_ twelve years 'till the casting of _Pur_, _Esth._ iii. 7. one year more 'till the _Jews_ smote their enemies, _Esth._ ix. 1. and one year more 'till _Esther_ and _Mordecai_ wrote the second letter for the keeping of _Purim_, _Esth._ ix.
29. in all fourteen years: and to _Darius_ the _Persian_ they allot thirty two or rather thirty six years, _Nehem._ xiii. 6. So that the _Persian_ Empire from the building of the Temple in the Second year of _Darius Hystaspis_, flourished only thirty four years, until _Alexander_ the great overthrew it: thus the _Jews_ reckon in their greater Chronicle, _Seder Olam Rabbah_. _Josephus_, out of the sacred and other books, reckons only these Kings of _Persia_; _Cyrus_, _Cambyses_, _Darius Hystaspis_, _Xerxes_, _Artaxerxes_, and _Darius_: and taking this _Darius_, who was _Darius Nothus_, to be one and the same King with the last _Darius_, whom _Alexander_ the great overcame; by means of this reckoning he makes _Sanballat_ and _Jaddua_ alive when _Alexander_ the great overthrew the _Persian_ Empire.
Thus all the _Jews_ conclude the _Persian_ Empire with _Artaxerxes Longimanus_, and _Darius Nothus_, allowing no more Kings of _Persia_, than they found in the books of _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_; and referring to the Reigns of this _Artaxerxes_, and this _Darius_, whatever they met with in profane history concerning the following Kings of the same names: so as to take _Artaxerxes Longimanus_, _Artaxerxes Mnemon_ and _Artaxerxes Ochus_, for one and the same _Artaxerxes_; and _Darius Nothus_, and _Darius Codomannus_, for one and the same _Darius_; and _Jaddua_, and _Simeon Justus_, for one and the same High-Priest. Those _Jews_ who took _Herod_ for the _Messiah_, and were thence called _Herodians_, seem to have grounded their opinion upon the seventy weeks of years, which they found between the Reign of _Cyrus_ and that of _Herod_: but afterwards, in applying the Prophesy to _Theudas_, and _Judas_ of _Galilee_, and at length to _Barchochab_, they seem to have shortned the Reign of the Kingdom of _Persia_. These accounts being very imperfect, it was necessary to have recourse to the records of the _Greeks_ and _Latines_, and to the Canon recited by _Ptolemy_, for stating the times of this Empire. Which being done, we have a better ground for understanding the history of the _Jews_ set down in the books of _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_, and adjusting it; for this history having suffered by time, wants some illustration: and first I shall state the history of the _Jews_ under _Zerubbabel_, in the Reigns of _Cyrus_, _Cambysis_, and _Darius Hystaspis_.
This history is contained partly in the three first chapters of the book of _Ezra_, and first five verses of the fourth; and partly in the book of _Nehemiah_, from the 5th verse of the seventh chapter to the 9th verse of the twelfth: for _Nehemiah_ copied all this out of the Chronicles of the _Jews_, written before his days; as may appear by reading the place, and considering that the Priests and Levites who sealed the Covenant on the 24th day of the seventh month, _Nehem._ x. were the very same with those who returned from captivity in the first year of _Cyrus_, _Nehem._ xii. and that all those who returned sealed it: this will be perceived by the following comparison of their names. The Priests who returned. The Priests who sealed. _Nehemiah._ _Ezra_ ii. 2. _Nehemiah._ _Serajah._ _Serajah._ * _Azariah._ _Jeremiah._ _Jeremiah._ _Ezra._ _Ezra._ _Nehem._ 8. * _Pashur._ _Amariah._ _Amariah._ _Malluch_: or _Melicu_, _Neh._ _Malchijah._ xii. 2, 14. _Hattush_. _Hattush._ _Shechaniah_ or _Shebaniah_, _Shebaniah._ _Neh._ xii. 3, 14. * _Malluch._ _Rehum_: or _Harim_, _ib._ 3, _Harim._ 15. _Meremoth._ _Meremoth._ _Iddo._ _Obadiah_ or _Obdia_. * _Daniel._ _Ginnetho_: or _Ginnethon_, _Ginnethon._ _Neh._ xii. 4, 16. * _Baruch._ * _Meshullam._ _Abijah._ _Abijah._ _Miamin._ _Mijamin._ _Maadiah._ _Maaziah._ _Bilgah._ _Bilgai._ _Shemajah._ _Shemajah._ _Jeshua._ _Jeshua._ _Binnui._ _Binnui._ _Kadmiel._ _Kadmiel._ _Sherebiah._ שרביה. _Shebaniah._ שבניה. _Judah_: or _Hodaviah_, _Hodijah._ _Ezra_ ii. 40. & iii. 9. Ωδουια; _Septuag._
The _Levites_, _Jeshua_, _Kadmiel_, and _Hodaviah_ or _Judah_, here mentioned, are reckoned chief fathers among the people who returned with _Zerubbabel_, _Ezra_ ii. 40. and they assisted as well in laying the foundation of the Temple, _Ezra_ iii. 9. as in reading the law, and making and sealing the covenant, _Nehem._ viii. 7. & ix. 5. & x. 9, 10. Comparing therefore the books of _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_ together; the history of the _Jews_ under _Cyrus_, _Cambyses_, and _Darius Hystaspis_, is that they returned from captivity under _Zerubbabel_, in the first year of _Cyrus_, with the Holy Vessels and a commission to build the Temple; and came to _Jerusalem_ and _Judah_, every one to his city, and dwelt in their cities untill the seventh month; and then coming to _Jerusalem_, they first built the Altar, and on the first day of the seventh month began to offer the daily burnt-offerings, and read in the book of the Law, and they kept a solemn fast, and sealed a Covenant; and thenceforward the Rulers of the people dwelt at _Jerusalem_, and the rest of the people cast lots, to dwell one in ten at _Jerusalem_, and the rest in the cities of _Judah_: and in the second year of their coming, in the second month, which was six years before the death of _Cyrus_, they laid the foundation of the Temple; but _the adversaries of _Judah_ troubled them in building, and hired counsellors against them all the days of _Cyrus__, and longer, _even until the Reign of _Darius_ King of _Persia__: but in the second year of his Reign, by the prophesying of _Haggai_ and _Zechariah_, they returned to the work; and by the help of a new decree from _Darius_, finished it on the third day of the month _Adar_, in the sixth year of his Reign, and kept the Dedication with joy, and the Passover, and Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Now this _Darius_ was not _Darius Nothus_, but _Darius Hystaspis_, as I gather by considering that the second year of this _Darius_ was the seventieth of the indignation against _Jerusalem_, and the cities of _Judah_, which indignation commenced with the invasion of _Jerusalem_, and the cities of _Judah_ by _Nebuchadnezzar_, in the ninth year of _Zedekiah_, _Zech._ i. 12. _Jer._ xxxiv. 1, 7, 22. & xxxix. 1. and that the fourth year of this _Darius_, was the seventieth from the burning of the Temple in the eleventh year of _Zedekiah_, _Zech._ vii. 5. & _Jer._ lii. 12. both which are exactly true of _Darius Hystaspis_: and that in the second year of this _Darius_ there were men living who had seen the first Temple, _Hagg._ ii. 3. whereas the second year of _Darius Nothus_ was 166 years after the desolation of the Temple and City. And further, if the finishing of the Temple be deferred to the sixth year of _Darius Nothus_, _Jeshua_ and _Zerubbabel_ must have been the one High-Priest, the other Captain of the people an hundred and eighteen years together, besides their ages before; which is surely too long: for in the first year of _Cyrus_ the chief Priests were _Serajah_, _Jeremiah_, _Ezra_, _Amariah_, _Malluch_, _Shechaniah_, _Rehum_, _Meremoth_, _Iddo_, _Ginnetho_, _Abijah_, _Miamin_, _Maadiah_, _Bilgah_, _Shemajah_, _Joiarib_, _Jedaiah_, _Sallu_, _Amok_, _Hilkiah_, _Jedaiah_: these were Priests in the days of _Jeshua_, and the eldest sons of them all, _Merajah_ the son of _Serajah_, _Hananiah_ the son of _Jeremiah_, _Meshullam_ the son of _Ezra_, &c. were chief Priests in the days of _Joiakim_ the son of _Jeshua_: _Nehem._ xii. and therefore the High Priest-hood of _Jeshua_ was but of an ordinary length.
I have now stated the history of the _Jews_ in the Reigns of _Cyrus_, _Cambyses_, and _Darius Hystaspis_: it remains that I state their history in the Reigns of _Xerxes_, and _Artaxerxes Longimanus_: for I place the history of _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_ in the Reign of this _Artaxerxes_, and not in that of _Artaxerxes Mnemon_: for during all the _Persian_ Monarchy, until the last _Darius_ mentioned in Scripture, whom I take to be _Darius Nothus_, there were but six High-Priests in continual succession of father and son, namely, _Jeshua_, _Joiakim_, _Eliashib_, _Joiada_, _Jonathan_, _Jaddua_, and the seventh High-Priest was _Onias_ the son of _Jaddua_, and the eighth was _Simeon Justus_, the Son of _Onias_, and the ninth was _Eleazar_ the younger brother of _Simeon_.
Now, at a mean reckoning, we should allow about 27 or 28 years only to a Generation by the eldest sons of a family, one Generation with another, as above; but if in this case we allow 30 years to a Generation, and may further suppose that _Jeshua_, at the return of the captivity in the first year of the Empire of the _Persians_, was about 30 or 40 years old; _Joiakim_ will be of about that age in the 16th year of _Darius Hystaspis_, _Eliashib_ in the tenth year of _Xerxes_, _Joiada_ in the 19th year of _Artaxerxes Longimanus_, _Jonathan_ in the 8th year of _Darius Nothus_, _Jaddua_ in the 19th year of _Artaxerxes Mnemon_, _Onias_ in the 3d year of _Artaxerxes Ochus_, and _Simeon Justus_ two years before the death of _Alexander_ the Great: and this reckoning, as it is according to the course of nature, so it agrees perfectly well with history; for thus _Eliashib_ might be High-Priest, and have grandsons, before the seventh year of _Artaxerxes Longimanus_, _Ezra_ x. 6. and without exceeding the age which many old men attain unto, continue High-Priest 'till after the 32d year of that King, _Nehem._ xiii.
6, 7. and his grandson _Johanan_, or _Jonathan_, might have a chamber in the Temple in the seventh year of that King, _Ezra_ x. 6. and be High-Priest before _Ezra_ wrote the sons of _Levi_ in the book of _Chronicles_; _Nehem._ xii. 23. and in his High-Priesthood, he might slay his younger brother _Jesus_ in the Temple, before the end of the Reign of _Artaxerxes Mnemon_: _Joseph. Antiq._ l. xi. c. 7. and _Jaddua_ might be High-Priest before the death of _Sanballat_, _Joseph._ _ib._ and before the death of _Nehemiah_, _Nehem._ xii. 22. and also before the end of the Reign of _Darius Nothus_; and he might thereby give occasion to _Josephus_ and the later _Jews_, who took this King for the last _Darius_, to fall into an opinion that _Sanballat, Jaddua_, and _Manasseh_ the younger brother of _Jaddua_, lived till the end of the Reign of the last _Darius_: _Joseph._ _Antiq._ l. xi. c. 7, 8. and the said _Manasseh_ might marry _Nicaso_ the daughter of _Sanballat_, and for that offence be chased from _Nehemiah_, before the end of the Reign of _Artaxerxes Longimanus_; _Nehem_. xiii. 28. _Joseph._ _Antiq._ l. xi. c. 7, 8. and _Sanballat_ might at that time be _Satrapa_ of _Samaria_, and in the Reign of _Darius Nothus_, or soon after, build the Temple of the _Samaritans_ in _Mount Gerizim_, for his son-in-law _Manasseh_, the first High-Priest of that Temple; _Joseph._ _ib._ and _Simeon Justus_ might be High-Priest when the _Persian_ Empire was invaded by _Alexander_ the Great, as the _Jews_ represent, _Joma_ fol. 69. 1. _Liber Juchasis.
R. Gedaliah_, &c. and for that reason he might be taken by some of the _Jews_ for the same High-Priest with _Jaddua_, and be dead some time before the book of _Ecclesiasticus_ was writ in _Hebrew_ at _Jerusalem_, by the grandfather of him, who in the 38th year of the _Egyptian_ Æra of _Dionysius_, that is in the 77th year after the death of _Alexander_ the Great, met with a copy of it in _Egypt_, and there translated it into _Greek: Ecclesiast._ ch. 50. & _in Prolog._ and _Eleazar_, the younger brother and successor of _Simeon_, might cause the Law to be translated into _Greek_, in the beginning of the Reign of _Ptolemaus Philadelphus_: _Joseph._ _Antiq._ l. xii. c. 2. and _Onias_ the son of _Simeon Justus_, who was a child at his father's death, and by consequence was born in his father's old age, might be so old in the Reign of _Ptolemæus Euergetes_, as to have his follies excused to that King, by representing that he was then grown childish with old age. _Joseph._ _Antiq._ l. xii. c. 4. In this manner the actions of all these High-Priests suit with the Reigns of the Kings, without any straining from the course of nature: and according to this reckoning the days of _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_ fall in with the Reign of the first _Artaxerxes_; for _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_ flourished in the High Priesthood of _Eliashib_, _Ezra_ x. 6. _Nehem._ iii.
1. & xiii. 4, 28. But if _Eliashib_, _Ezra_ and _Nehemiah_ be placed in the Reign of the second _Artaxerxes_, since they lived beyond the 32d year of _Artaxerxes_, _Nehem._ xiii. 28, there must be at least 160 years allotted to the three first High-Priests, and but 42 to the four or five last, a division too unequal: for the High Priesthoods of _Jeshua_, _Joiakim_, and _Eliashib_, were but of an ordinary length, that of _Jeshua_ fell in with one Generation of the chief Priests, and that of _Joiakim_ with the next Generation, as we have shewed already; and that of _Eliashib_ fell in with the third Generation: for at the dedication of the wall, _Zechariah_ the son of _Jonathan_, the son of _Shemaiah_, was one of the Priests, _Nehem._ xii. 35, and _Jonathan_ and his father _Shemaiah_, were contemporaries to _Joiakim_ and his father _Jeshua_: _Nehem._ xii. 6, 18. I observe further that in the first year of _Cyrus_, _Jeshua_, and _Bani_, or _Binnui_, were chief fathers of the _Levites_, _Nehem_. vii. 7. 15. & _Ezra_ ii. 2. 10. & iii. 9. and that _Jozabad_ the son of _Jeshua_, and _Noadiah_ the son of _Binnui_, were chief Levites in the seventh year of _Artaxerxes_, when _Ezra_ came to _Jerusalem_, _Ezra_ viii.
33. so that this _Artaxerxes_ began his Reign before the end of the second Generation: and that he Reigned in the time of the third Generation is confirmed by two instances more; for _Meshullam_ the son of _Berechiah_, the son of _Meshezabeel_, and _Azariah_ the son of _Maaseiah_, the son of _Ananiah_, were fathers of their houses at the repairing of the wall; _Nehem._ iii. 4, 23. and their grandfathers, _Meshazabeel_ and _Hananiah_, subscribed the covenant in the Reign of _Cyrus_: _Nehem._ x. 21, 23. Yea _Nehemiah_, this same _Nehemiah_ the son of _Hachaliah_, was the _Tirshatha_, and subscribed it, _Nehem._ x. 1, & viii. 9, & _Ezra_ ii. 2, 63. and therefore in the 32d year of _Artaxerxes Mnemon_, he will be above 180 years old, an age surely too great. The same may be said of _Ezra_, if he was that Priest and Scribe who read the Law, _Nehem._ viii. for he is the son of _Serajah_, the son of _Azariah_, the son of _Hilkiah_, the son of _Shallum_, &c. _Ezra_ vii. 1. and this _Serajah_ went into captivity at the burning of the Temple, and was there slain, 1 _Chron._ vi. 14. 2 _King._ xxv. 18. and from his death, to the twentieth year of _Artaxerxes Mnemon_, is above 200 years; an age too great for _Ezra_.
I consider further that _Ezra_, chap. iv. names _Cyrus_, *, _Darius_, _Ahasuerus_, and _Artaxerxes_, in continual order, as successors to one another, and these names agree to _Cyrus_, *, _Darius Hystaspis_, _Xerxes_, and _Artaxerxes Longimanus_, and to no other Kings of _Persia_: some take this _Artaxerxes_ to be not the Successor, but the Predecessor of _Darius Hystaspis_, not considering that in his Reign the _Jews_ were busy in building the City and the Wall, _Ezra_ iv. 12. and by consequence had finished the Temple before. _Ezra_ describes first how the people of the land hindered the building of the Temple all the days of _Cyrus_, and further, untill the Reign of _Darius_; and after the Temple was built, how they hindered the building of the city in the Reign of _Ahasuerus_ and _Artaxerxes_, and then returns back to the story of the Temple in the Reign of _Cyrus_ and _Darius_; and this is confirmed by comparing the book of _Ezra_ with the book of _Esdras_: for if in the book of _Ezra_ you omit the story of _Ahasuerus_ and _Artaxerxes_, and in that of _Esdras_ you omit the same story of _Artaxerxes_, and that of the three wise men, the two books will agree: and therefore the book of _Esdras_, if you except the story of the three wise men, was originally copied from authentic writings of Sacred Authority.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.