e that the Passover moon rose in
Jerusalem, so that they and their absent friends might keep the feast
together at the very same time. They did this in a very curious and
interesting way. As soon as the watchers on the Mount of Olives saw the
moon rising, they lighted a beacon fire, other fires were already
prepared on a succession of hilltops, reaching all the way from
Jerusalem to Babylon. As soon as the light was seen on Olivet the next
fire was lighted, and then the next, and the next, till in a very short
time those Jews who sat by the waters of Babylon saw the signal, and
joined in the Passover rejoicing with their friends hundreds of miles
away in Jerusalem. It showed them that they were not forgotten, and it
helped them to join in the prayer and the praise of those who were in
their father-land.

But the Samaritans annoyed the Jews and spoilt this beautiful old
custom, by lighting false fires on other mountains, on wrong days, and
at wrong hours, and thus confusing those who were watching by the
beacon-fires. After a time, so many mistakes were made by means of these
false signals, that the Jews were compelled to give up the system of
beacon-fires altogether, and to depend on the slower course of sending
messengers.

We have now come to the end of Nehemiah's story, and we have, at the
very same time, come to the end of the history of the Old Testament. For
if all the historical books were arranged chronologically, Nehemiah's
book would come the very last in the series. Nothing more is told us in
the Book of God of this world's history, until St. Matthew takes up the
pen and writes an account of the birth of the expected Messiah. Yet
between the Book of Nehemiah and the Gospel of St. Matthew there is an
interval of 400 years, years which were full of interest in Jewish
history, but of which we are told nothing in the Bible story.

There was one prophet who lived in the time of Nehemiah, and whose book
is a commentary on the book of Nehemiah. The prophet Malachi was living
in Jerusalem at this very time, and if we look at his book we shall see
that mention is made of many things of which we are told in the Book of
Nehemiah. For instance, if we turn to Mai. iii. 8, 9, 10, we shall find
the very words which the prophet spoke to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
at the time when the temple store-house was empty, and when the people
had ceased to bring their tithes and offerings, and to give God the due
proportion of t