Septuagint has, ẻπì Tòv σTÚλOV, "by the pillar." See 2 Kings xxiii. 3. The Vulgate reads, in tribunali suo.

XXXV. 8, 9. "Small cattle." These two italic words are rendered in the Septuagint by πрóßата, and in the Vulgate by pecora.

xxxv. 11. Two italic words, "the blood," in this passage are preserved by the Septuagint and the Vulgate.

XXXV. 21. "I come." This italic word is found in the ancient versions.

xxxvi. 8. "And that which was found in him." These words are wanting in the Greek, Syriac, and Arabic versions.

xxxvi. 22, 23. It is certain that the two last verses of this chapter are an abbreviated and abrupt interpolation from the first chapter of Ezra, which commences with the decree of Cyrus for the rebuilding of the temple. They are quite out of character in Chronicles, and moreover want a part of the third verse, together with the whole of the fourth, as recorded in the book of Ezra.

ᎬᏃᎡᎪ .

Chap. i. ver. 7 to end. The sum total of the sacred vessels restored by Cyrus does not tally with the details. The following is the list corrected by Kennicott:

The contributions likewise in weights and measures of gold and silver, as well as garments, for the service of the temple, disagree largely in their amounts, which may have arisen from the donations not having been all presented at the same time, and by the same parties. Compare Ezra ii. 68, 69 with Neh. vii. 70-72. These offerings have been nearly adjusted by Dr. Wall from a comparison of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin texts.

The shekel in weight was 9 dwts. 24 grs., in value 2s. 33d.; a talent was 113 lbs. 10 oz. 1 dwt. 10 grs., being worth in silver 3127. 3s. 9d., and in gold 54757. 6s.; the maneh 2 lbs. 3 oz. 6 dwts. 10% grs., worth 57. 14s. Ožd., according

to the scale of Mr. Horne. There are also perplexities which are seemingly inextricable attending the reconcilement of Ezra with Nehemiah in the amounts given by each of them on the return of the Jewish captives from Babylon. The proper names in these books are so mangled that they require especial revision. In the reign of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglathpileser or Arbaces carried away the two tribes and a half of Israelites, B.c. 740, invading the eastern and northern parts of the land. The remaining seven and a half western tribes were exiled by Shalmanezar his son in the reign of Hoshea, B.C. 721, who replaced his Assyrian subjects in their stead. The two tribes of Judah and Benjamin were removed by Nebuchadnezzar, the principal deportations being in the first and nineteenth years of his reign, B.c. 605, when the period of seventy years' captivity is dated, and B.C. 586, when the temple was burned, and the palaces of the city were razed to the ground. According to the chronology of Usher, which is that of our Bible, the first return, related in the second chapter of Ezra, was after the decree of Cyrus for the rebuilding of the temple, B.C. 536, and the sum total was 42,360, besides men-servants and maid-servants amounting to 7337, and 200 singing men and women, horses, mules, camels, and asses. This decree is stated to have been confirmed by that of Darius B.C. 519; and there was another made by Artaxerxes B.C. 457, when there returned an additional number of 1754, which are noted by one historiographer, but not by the other. No public decree was made in the twentieth year of the king last named, B.C. 445, which has been erroneously inferred by the marginal annotator of Bagster's Bible, and by some others, but verbal permission only was given to Nehemiah the cup-bearer at the royal table, and letters dimissory to the provincial governors. Of the first return the total

given in the seventh chapter of Nehemiah is the same as that in the second chapter of Ezra. Both of them also insert a catalogue of the Jewish families in their genealogical order, with a number annexed to each; but the particular names and numerical items described by Ezra do not uniformly correspond with those of Nehemiah, and neither of them in the aggregate with 42,360, the nominal amount above mentioned, about one-tenth of whom became at first the occupants of Jerusalem after it was rebuilt. Judæa may be supposed to have retained nominally the former territorial division of its tribes then and under the Maccabean princes, till it was partitioned into tetrarchies by the Romans, when it lost its pristine character. The defalcation in number under consideration, amounting to more than 10,000 in the catalogues of Ezra and Nehemiah, may have been caused in no small measure by a certain portion who had entered their names on the Babylonish muster-roll staying behind; others failed in ascertaining their pedigrees; while some died on their journey homeward; and there were afterwards additions to the list; but still there is some confusion in the accounts, which cannot be altogether reconciled to each other from the present information furnished by Kennicott and other Hebraists. It is improbable that the Hebrew system of notation should have undergone a material, if possibly some change, with which we are unacquainted, being like the Greek alphabetical, while at the same time our Roman process of numeration by figures and ciphers was discovered in the east, and to the Arabians Europe is indebted for arithmetical knowledge after Bagdad had supplanted Alexandria as the seat of oriental literature, and for algebraic signs of quantities, as a more expeditious medium of mental elaboration. These privileged persons consisted principally

of the two tribes, together with stragglers, being a portion of the ten tribes, who multiplied during seventy years, amassed wealth, and preferring alienation to residence in their own land, about в.c. 40 possessed cities and districts in Assyria. In estimating the population of a country it is usual to allow about 200 to every square mile, which would amount in Palestine to 2,200,000 souls, including some foreigners, according to Major Rennell. That of cities and towns would of course be more dense; and that of ancient Rome, during its most flourishing period, is reckoned to have been greater than of London in our own days. Josephus states that his whole nation were exiled; but probably only classes, such as the priesthood, civil judges, warriors, merchants, men of letters, artisans, and a promiscuous multitude, leaving agricultural labourers to till their native soil, and the paupers of the people. It would not have been the policy of an Assyrian monarch to transport, feed, and clothe unprofitable masses. Before their captivity, and after their return from it, the Jews must have migrated beyond the confines of the Holy Land into that part of Syria called the Hauran, Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, Libya, and Idumea; and the Jewish population who were addressed by the apostle James as the twelve scattered tribes, must be therefore estimated accordingly. It is evident that they were expatriated Jews, who were present on the memorable day of Pentecost. Many of them flocked into Judæa, and visited Jerusalem at the several seasons of their chief festivals. At the present time the Jews are not fewer in number than from four to five millions.

i. 8, 11. "And numbered them unto Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah." Dr. Wall considers that this is a Persian name for "Zerubbabel."