his commission before the priests and rulers, and without loss of time began his great work; which by the zeal, labour, and courage of that generous and devoted man, with his associates and underworkmen, was completed in two and fifty days, an almost incredibly short space, when not only the magnitude of the work is considered, but the difficulties thrown in the way of it by the vexations, the scoffs, the threats, and even the active opposition of the surrounding enemies of the Jews*. The city being brought to a state of security by the restoration of its walls and gates, Nehemiah both encouraged and obliged a part of the people to build themselves houses, and settle their families in it, he himself setting the example by living there in splendid and almost royal hospitality. So successful were his efforts, that not long after Herodotust compares the city of Cadytis, the name which he gives Jerusalem, to the great and wealthy Sardis, the metropolis of Asia Minor; and in about one hundred years afterwards Hecatæus Abderites, an author cited by Josephust, speaks of Jerusalem, as a fortified * See the highly interesting and I may say affecting account which Nehemiah has given of his severe but successful labours in the fourth chapter of his book. + Thalia, c. 5. Contra Apionem. lib. 1. c. 22. He city of fifty stadia in compass and containing one hundred and twenty thousand men. also briefly describes the temple, with its sanctuary and part of its furniture. The second proclamation, "Cry yet again," announces blessings of wider extent than the former, which went no farther than the rebuilding of the temple and the restoration of the city, "Yet again shall my cities be dispersed* abroad through prosperity." Not only Jerusalem shall be rebuilt and flourish, but "cities," which God graciously acknowledges for his own, shall be dispersed abroad, shall rear their heads on every side throughout the whole country, at once the effect and the indication of prosperity, of the plenty, the superabundance, of the necessaries and comforts of life. Accordingly the author before cited, Hecatæus Abderitest, describes the country of Judea as being spacious and extremely fertile, "and containing many fortresses and villages scattered throughout its extent." But these were only marks, that the prediction was advancing towards its accomplishment. Its actual completion must be referred to the times of the Asmonean princes, to the government of Simon Maccabeus, and especially of his son John Hyrcanus, who during his reign of twenty nine years * See the note ‡, p. 29. ↑ Josephus as before cited. entirely delivered his country from the slavish yoke of the Syrian kings, reduced Samaria and Idumea to subjection, and possessed his dominions in liberty, peace, and prosperity*. This proclamation concludes with a repetition of the assurance and kind encouragements given to Jerusalem in the former, though expressed in somewhat different terms. God will treat Jerusalem with all the favour he had formerly heaped upon her; she shall be again the distinguished object of his choice; "the city of the great king, well known in her palaces as a sure refuge." The completion of the promise is justly referred by Vitringat, Dr. Blaney, and others, to the increase and prosperity of Jerusalem under the government of the Maccabees, who enlarged, improved, and adorned it, strengthened its fortifications, removed the chief means of annoying the temple in case an enemy should get possession of the city, and built themselves a palace and castle. Emboldened by the tranquillity and prosperity of the country in general, the inhabitants ventured to extend the city beyond its ancient boundaries. Josephus tells us, that "overflowing with numbers it gradually crept * See Prideaux's connection, pt. 2, b. 5 & 6. De bello Judaico, lib. 5. c. 4. Hudson. out beyond its walls; and the citizens joining the parts that lay northward of the temple to the hill, went forward to a considerable distance, till they had covered with their habitations a fourth hill, which is called Bezetha." This suburb was afterwards surrounded with a strong wall by Herod Agrippa. Thus did the Lord "comfort Zion and shew that he had again chosen Jerusalem." In elucidating the predictions of the Hebrew prophets, modern expositors have the advantage of comparing them with those of the new testament, and especially of tracing the accomplishment of both in a great variety of events through a long succession of ages. The interpretation before given of the first part of Zechariah's vision has sufficiently illustrated this remark. But at the time when the prophet published the narrative of his vision, such helps were not at hand, and consequently that portion of the first scene, which relates to the horsemen, must then have been found very obscure; and especially so because the threefold division of the equestrian host could not be referred to any three subjects particularly determined to that number and represented under similar emblems in any preceding prophecy. At the same time the interest was |