ews_ in the beginning of the Reign of his successor _Ahasuerus_ or
_Xerxes_, wrote unto him an accusation against them; _Ezra_ iv. 6. but in
the seventh year of his successor _Artaxerxes_, _Ezra_ and his companions
went up from _Babylon_ with Offerings and Vessels for the Temple, and power
to bestow on it out of the King's Treasure what should be requisite; _Ezra_
vii. whence the Temple is said to be finished, _according to the
commandment of _Cyrus_, and _Darius_, and _Artaxerxes_ King of _Persia__:
_Ezra_ vi. 14. Their commission was also to set Magistrates and Judges over
the land, and thereby becoming a new Body Politic, they called a great
Council or Sanhedrim to separate the people from strange wives; and they
were also encouraged to attempt the building of _Jerusalem_ with its wall:
and thence _Ezra_ saith in his prayer, that _God had extended mercy unto
them in the sight of the Kings of _Persia_, and given them a reviving to
set up the house of their God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and
to give them a WALL in _Judah_, even in _Jerusalem__. _Ezra_ ix. 9. But
when they had begun to repair the wall, their enemies wrote against them to
_Artaxerxes_: _Be it known_, say they, _unto the King, that the _Jews_
which came up from thee to us, are come unto _Jerusalem_, building the
rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, and joined
the foundations_, &c. And the King wrote back that the _Jews_ should cease
and the city not be built, until another commandment should be given from
him: whereupon their enemies _went up to _Jerusalem_, and made them cease
by force and power_; _Ezra_ iv. but in the twentieth year of the King,
_Nehemiah_ hearing that the _Jews_ were in great affliction and distress,
and that the wall of _Jerusalem_, that wall which had been newly repaired
by _Ezra_, _was broken down, and the gates thereof burnt wth fire_; he
obtained leave of the King to go and build the city, and the Governour's
house, _Nehem._ i. 3. & ii. 6, 8, 17. and coming to _Jerusalem_ the same
year, he continued Governor twelve years, and built the wall; and being
opposed by _Sanballat_, _Tobiah_ and _Geshem_, he persisted in the work
with great resolution and patience, until the breaches were made up: then
_Sanballat_ and _Geshem_ sent messengers unto him five times to hinder him
from setting up the doors upon the gates: but notwithstanding he persisted
in the work, until the doors were also set up: so the