J E W. 
?93 
Kings of Judalt. 
3019 Rehoboam, the Ton and fucceflor of Solomon, reigned 
feVenteeu years. 
304.5 Abijam, three years. 
304.9 Afa, forty-one years. 
3090 Jeholhaphat, twenty-five years. 
3115 Jehoram, four years. 
3119 Ahaziah, one year. 
3120 Athaliali, his mother, reigned fix years. 
3126 Joalh was.fet upon the throne by Jehoiada the liigh- 
prieft; he reigned forty years. 
3165 Amaziah, twenty-nine years. 
5194 Uzziah, otherwife called Azariah, reigned tvventy- 
feven years, to the year 3221 : then, attempting to 
offer incenfe in the temple, he was ftmck with a 
leprofy, and obliged to quit the government ; he 
lived after this twenty-fix years, and' died in 324.6. 
324.6 Jotham his foil took upon him the government in 
the year of the world 3221. He reigned alorje in 
3246, and died in 3262. 
3262 Ahaz fucceeded Jotham; he reigned fixteen years.. 
3273 Kezekiah, twenty-eight years. 
3306 Manafi'eh, fifty-five years. 
3361 Amon, two years. 
3363 Jofiah, thirty-one years. 
3394 Jehoahaz, three months. 
3394 Eliakirn, or Jehoiakim, eleven years. 
J405 Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah, reigned three months and 
tendays. 
§405 Mattaniah, or Zedekiah, reigned eleven years, from 
3405 to 3416. In the laft year of his reign, Jeru- 
1'alem was taken, the temple burnt, and Judah car¬ 
ried into captivity, beyond the Euphrates. The 
kingdom of Judah lafted 388, years, or, from the 
crowning of Saul, 506 years. 
From the Captivity to the final Destruction of 
Jerusalem. 
For the hiftory of the Jews after the captivity, we have 
more ample materials; fince to the canonical books of 
Ezra, Nehemiah, the apocryphal hiftory of the Maccabees, 
and Jofephus, we can add the coinciding teftimony of 
many profane authors and hiftorians. 
The beginning of the captivity is not dated from the 
year <jf the world 3416, when, as ftated above, Jerufalem 
was burnt, and the kingdom of Judah entirely ruined ; 
but about eighteen years before, namely, in the fourth 
year of the reign of Jehoiakim, A.M. 3398. This reckon¬ 
ing is neceffary in order to make the edict of Cyrus for 
the reftoration of the Jews, fall in the 70th year from that 
beginning, at which time it was predifted the captivity 
iliould ceafe. Not to enter into a difpute about dates, we 
proceed to Hate, that about the year of the world 3468, 
or 536 before Chrift, Cyrus the Great, king of Perfia,.hav¬ 
ing conquered Babylon and almoft all the weftern parts 
of Afia, perceiving the defolate and ruinous condition in 
which the province of Paleftine lay, formed a deiign of 
•reftoring the Jews to their native country, and. permitting 
them to rebuild Jerufalem and re-eftabliln their worlhip. 
For this purpofe he ilfued out a decree, in the firft year of 
•his reign over all thole countries, by which the Jews were 
allowed not only to return and rebuild their city, but to 
take with them ail the Ikcred veflels which Nebuchadnezzar 
had brought away, and engaged to defray the expence of 
building the temple lrimfelf. This offer was gladly em¬ 
braced by the more zealous Jews of the tribes of Judah, 
.Benjamin, v and Levi ; who accordingly let out, under the 
direction of Shelhbazzar, or Zerubbabel, the grandfon of 
•king Jehoiachin, Jofhua the high-prieff, and others, to 
the number of 42,360, and 7337 fervants of heathen ori¬ 
gin; but, as the particulars mentioned by-Ezra amount 
but to 29,818-, and thole by.Nehemiah to 31,031, it feems 
the overplus, of about 12,000, were of the remains of the 
■ten tribes. The lifts of Ezra and Nehemiah are different 
dn many particulars; but the one might be the lift of fuch 
Vol.X. No.716. 
as gave in their names to return, and the other the lift of 
them that actually returned ; for, vaft numbers of the Jews, 
who had agreeable fettlements, remained in Babylon. 
In 534 B.C. the foundations of the temple were laid, 
and matters leehied to go on prolperoufly, when the un¬ 
dertaking was fuddenly obftrufted by the Samaritans. 
Thefe came at firft exprefting an earned defire to afiift in 
the work, as they worfliipped the fame God with the Jews 5 
but the latter refufed their afliftance, as.they knew they 
■were not true Ifraelites, but the defcenffants of thofe hea¬ 
thens who had been tranfplanted into the country of the 
ten tribes after their captivity by Shalmanezer. This re- 
fufal proved the fource of all that bitter enmity which af¬ 
terwards took place between the Jews and Samaritans j 
and the immediate confequence was, that the latter made 
all the oppofition in their'power to the going on of the 
work. At laft, however, all obltacles were furmountecj; 
and the temple was finilhed, as related in the books of 
Ezra and Nehemiah. The laft of thefe chiefs died about 
409 B. C. after having reilored the Jewilh worlhip to its 
original purity, and reformed a number of abufes which 
took place immediately on its commencement. 
But, though the Jews were now reitored to the free ex- 
ercife.of their religion, they were neither a free nor a pow¬ 
erful people, as they had formerly been. They were few in 
number, and their country only a province of Syria, fub- 
ject to the kings of Perfia. The Syrian gqvernors con¬ 
ferred the adminiftration of affairs upon the high-priefts j 
and their accepting this office, and thus deviating- from 
the law of Moles, mull: be confidered as one of the chief 
caufes of the misfortunes which foon after befel the 
people, becaufe it made room for a fet of men who af- 
pired at this high office merely through ambition or ava¬ 
rice, without either zeal for religidn or love for their 
country. It befides made the high-priefthood capable of 
being difpofed of at the pleafure of the governors, where¬ 
as the Mofaic inftitution had fixed it unalienably in the 
family of Aaron. Of the bad effefts of this practice a fa¬ 
tal inftance happened in 373 B. C. Bagofes, governor of 
Syria, having contracted an intimate friendfhip with Je- 
fhua-, the brother of Johanan the high-prieft, promifed to 
raife him to the pontifical office a few years after his bro¬ 
ther had been inyefted with it. Jefliua came immediately 
to Jerufalem, and acquainted his brother with it. Their 
interview happened in the inner court of the temple ; and, 
a fcuffle enfuing, Jefliua was killed by his brother, and 
the temple thus polluted in the molt lcandalous manner. 
The confequence to the Jews was, that a heavy fine was 
laid on the temple, which was not taken off till feven 
years after. 
About A. M. 3546, the Jews veiy narrowly efcaped the 
ruin deviled by Haman. ( About 3653, Darius Ochus 
king ot Perfia, who is by fome pretended to be the hul- 
band of Either and matter of Haman, ravaged part of Ju¬ 
dea, took Jericho by force, and carried off a great number 
of prifoners ; part of which he lent into Egypt, and the 
reft he tranfported to Hyrcania, on the fouth of the Caf- 
pian fea. When Alexander was in Canaan, about 3670, 
he was at firft provoked with their adherence to the Per- 
lians; but, if we believe Jofephus, their folemn fubmif- 
fion, with their high-prielt at their head, entirely pacified 
him. He cauled a great number of victims to be offered 
for his fuccefs to the God whom they worfliipped. He 
confirmed to them all their privileges; and, having built 
Alexandria, he fettled vaft numbers of them there, en¬ 
dowed with the fame privileges as his own Macedonians. 
. Whether this ftory, which we haye already noticed 
under the article Jerusalem, p. 779, but more fully un¬ 
der Jaddu*a, p. 670,0!' this volume, deferves credit or not 
(for the whole tranlhction is not without reafon called iu 
queftion by fome), it is certain that the Jews were much 
favoured b)’ Alexander; but with him their good fortune 
teemed alfo to expire. The country of Judea, being iituated 
between Syria and Egypt, became fubjeft to all the revo¬ 
lutions and wars which the ambitious fucceffors of Alex- 
• - 9 Q audar 
♦ 
