They were usually raised above any private house (except where there was an interdiction from the civil power), because the Jews have a notion that it is a dishonour to God to have his house inferior, nay, so much as equal, to those of men; and in whatever city this happens, they threaten it with a speedy destruction. They are always roofed and covered over; and by this means distinguished from the proseuchia (or places of prayer) which are common in the fields, and open to the heavens. In the midst of them is a desk or pulpit, made very probably in imitation of that which, as we read, Ezra made use of, from whence the book or roll of the law is read very solemnly, and from whence both he that expounds it, and he that preaches to the congregation at any time, always delivers himself, at the upper end of the synagogue; and over against the door, which ever stands to the west, there is a chest, or press, wherein the book of the law is kept, wrapped in a fine embroidered cloth, and (what is uncommon in our churches) the women are separated from the men, and seated in a gallery enclosed with lattices.

"Every town in which there were ten batelnim, i. e. ten persons of full age and free condition, always at leisure on week-days, as well as on Sabbaths, to attend on divine service, was thought large enough to have a synagogue built in itself, otherwise it was not; because the Jewish notion is, that less than such a number could not make a congregation, and without a congregation no part of the synagogue service could be performed. But as their notion was, further, that any person, gentile as well as Jew, might be permitted to erect a synagogue, because the holiness of the place, as they thought, consisted not so much in the fabric, as in its being set apart and dedicated to holy uses; it thence came to pass, that though there were but few at first, yet in process of time they became so numerous that in our Saviour's time there was no town in Judea but what had one or more in it; that in Tiberias, a city of Galilee, there were no less than twelve; and (if we may credit the Jews) four hundred and eighty in Jerusalem. The buildings were constructed much after the manner of our parish churches; had over the door or entrance this inscription written, This is the gate of the Lord! the righteous shall enter into it; and upon the walls within were there such

like sentences, 'Remember thy Creator;''Keep thy foot when thou goest into the house of the Lord;' Silence is commendable in time of prayer;' and 'Prayers without attention are like a body without a soul.' In the synagogueservice, the first office was prayer: their prayers at first were but very few, but have since increased to a very large bulk, which makes the synagogue-service very long and tedious. What they reckon the most solemn part of the prayers are those which they call Shemoneh Eshreth, i. e. the eighteen prayers which, according to them, were composed and instituted by Ezra and the great synagogue; and therefore they enjoin all that are at age, of what sex or condition soever, either in private or public, to repeat them three times a day, and on every synagogue-day they offer them up with the greatest solemnity in the public assemblies. These prayers, however, are but of the same nature as the Lord's Prayer in our public service, i. e. the fundamental and principal part; for besides these, they have some prayers going before, some following after, and others interspersed between them, which makes their liturgies very tedious, and justifies our Saviour's finding fault with their long prayers.

"In the synagogue-service there are three things that are read, the Shema, the Law, and the Prophets. The Shema consists of three portions of Scripture: the first is from the beginning of the fourth verse of the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy to the end of the ninth verse; the second, from the beginning of the thirteenth verse of the ninth chapter of Deuteronomy to the end of the twenty-first verse; and the third, from the beginning of the thirtyseventh verse of the fifteenth chapter of Numbers to the end of the chapter. And because the first of these portions in the Hebrew Bible begins with the word Shema, i. e. hear, the reading of the whole is called the reading of the Shema; which, next to their saying of the Shemoneh Eshreth, or the famous eighteen prayers, is reckoned the most solemn part of their religious service. The five books of the law were divided, as some say by Moses himself, into fifty-four sections, because in their intercalated years (when a month was added to the year), there were fifty-four Sabbaths, and so a section being read every Sabbath-day, completed the whole in the space of a year; but when the year was not

thus intercalated, those who had the direction of the synagogue-worship reduced the sections to the number of Sabbaths, by joining two short ones several times into one; because they held themselves obliged to have the law, from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Deuteronomy, read over in this manner every year.

"In the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes when the reading of the law was prohibited, in the room of the fiftyfour sections of it the Jews substituted fifty-four sections of the prophets, which were ever after continued; insomuch that when the reading of the law was again restored by the Maccabees, the section which was read every Sabbath out of the law served for the first lesson, and the section out of the prophets for the second, for that is the meaning of St. Paul standing up to preach after the reading of the law and the prophets; i. e. after the first lesson out of the law and the second lesson out of the prophets. "The exposition of the law and the prophets went along with the reading of them; for after that the Hebrew language had ceased to be the mother-tongue of the Jews, and the Chaldee grew up into use instead of it, the custom of the synagogue was that one should first read a paragraph of the Scripture to the people in the Hebrew tongue, and then another interpreted it in the Chaldee, which they better understood. And this seems to suggest the reason why these sections of Scripture came to be divided into verses, viz. that by this means the reader might certainly know how much he was to read, and the interpreter how much he was to interpret at every interval."

"After that the reading and expounding were over, any person of learning and knowledge in the Scriptures might address himself to the people upon what moral or divine subject he thought proper; only we may observe that this was a compliment usually paid to strangers; and therefore, when St. Paul and his company came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the place of Divine worship on the Sabbathday, after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation to the people, say on.' From what has been said it appears that ministration of the synagogue-service was not confined to the sacerdotal order; for the priests were consecrated only

to the service of the temple, which was widely different from this, as consisting chiefly in the offering up of sacrifices and oblations; but to this in the synagogue any one that by learning was qualified for it was admitted."

"The first of the kind are those whom the Scriptures in the New Testament call Archisynagogi, rulers of the synagogue; but how many of these belonged to each synagogue we cannot tell, because they are mentioned in the plural number in respect of the same synagogue. Next to them (and perhaps one of them) was the minister of the synagogue, whose business it was to offer up to God the public prayers of the congregation; and being for this purpose delegated, as it were, by them to God, is therefore in the Hebrew language called Shalliach Zibba, i. e. the angel of the church or congregation; from whence the name of the bishops of the seven churches mentioned in the Revelations is manifestly borrowed. Next to this angel of the church were the deacons and inferior ministers of the synagogue, called in the Hebrew Chazanim, or overseers, who were the rulers of the synagogue, had the charge and oversight of all things in it, and kept the books of the Holy Scriptures, the liturgies, and utensils, which they brought forth and carried away again as there was occasion. And next to these overseers was the interpreter, whose office it was to recite in Chaldee the lessons (as they were read in Hebrew) to the congregation; and because a great deal of skill in both languages was requisite for such an undertaking, whenever the rulers of the synagogue found a person fit for this purpose they maintained him by a salary, and so made him a standing minister among them."

We need only add to this account that the constitution of synagogues, from whatever cause it might arise, proved of the greatest service to the Jews after their captivity. Many instances of partial apostacy occurred, it is true, to the last; but the people at large, being thus regularly instructed in the law, ceased to look with an eye of favour upon idolatry; and more than once suffered grievous persecutions rather than renounce the religion of their ancestors

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CHAPTER IX.

General View of the State of Asia Minor and Egypt, during the Interval between the Death of Nehemiah and the Birth of Christ.

B. c. 420.

WITH the reforms introduced by Nehemiah into the admi nistration of the affairs of Judea ends what in strict propriety of speech deserves to be styled the History of the Old Testament, to connect which with the events immediately preceding the introduction of Christianity into the world belongs rather to the chronicler of the Hebrews as a nation than to the biblical historian. Nevertheless, that our readers may obtain a more accurate understanding of that stupendous scheme which restored to fallen man his forfeited immortality, we will endeavour in this chapter, with as much perspicuity as our narrow limits will permit, to describe the principal occurrences, civil as well as religious, which took place in Judea and the countries intimately connected with it, between the close of Nehemiah's government and the birth of the Redeemer.

While Nehemiah was ably discharging his duty as civil governor of Judea the imperial crown became the prize of more than one bold usurper, passing within the space of eight months from Xerxes to Sogdianus, and from Sogdianus to Ochus, who thenceforth assumed the name of Darius Nothus. These were all the sons of Ahasuerus, the two former only being legitimate; but Xerxes having been murdered by Sogdianus, Ochus under pretence of avenging his brother's death slew him in his turn and seized the throne. His reign, which began B. C. 423, and lasted till 404, was turbulent and uneasy. The Egyptians revolted from him and maintained their independence; he involved himself rashly and unwisely in the affairs of Greece by assisting the Lacedæmonians to crush the strength of Athens; and he was compelled to put to death his own brother in consequence of his heading a rebellion, which was not suppressed without difficulty. He swayed the