me according to the "greatness of thy

mercy.

23¶ In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab:

24 And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and "could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.

25 And I contended with them, and 'cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.

26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over

17 Or, multitude. 18 Heb. had made to dwell with them.

all Israel: "nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin.

27 Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives?

28 And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me.

29 Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.

30 Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed the wards of the priests and the Levites, every one in his business;

31 And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.

19 Heb. they discerned not to speak. 20 Heb. of people and people. 21 Or, reviled them. 221 Kings 11. 1, &c. 23 Heb. for the defilings.

Verse 1. "For ever."-See the notes on Deut. xxiii. 3.

4. "Eliashib...was allied unto Tobiah."-It seems that the enemies of Israel, having failed in their open hostility to the Jews, had now taken a different ground, and made overtures of friendship and alliance, in order either to seek their overthrow by underhand means, or to share in whatever advantages the Jews held in possession or prospect. In this they seem to have succeeded; for the two most notorious adversaries of the Jews formed matrimonial connections with distinguished Jewish families. Tobiah himself married the daughter of Shecaniah, the son of Arah, of a family (apparently of note) that came from captivity with Zerubbabel; and his son Johanan had obtained to wife the daughter of Meshullam, who was one of the chief managers, under Nehemiah, of the rebuilding of the city wall. (Ezra ii. 5; Neh. iii. 4, 30, and vi. 18.) It also appears from verse 28, that even the grandson of the high priest had become the son-in-law of Sanballat, that other noted enemy of the Hebrews. It is noticed in chap. vi. 17, 18, that in consequence of these alliances, Tobiah, in particular, had much written correspondence with the Jews, many of whom were his sworn supporters.

5. "Had prepared for him a great chamber.”—Considering how strict the regulations were which excluded aliens from the sacred precincts, this profanation was so very gross that it is difficult to account for it otherwise than by supposing that, as the Temple services were discontinued, and the priests and Levites discontinued their attendance, the Temple had come to be looked upon as a common public building, part of which might be made into a dignified residence for so important a person as Tobiah when he came to Jerusalem.

6. “ All this time was not I at Jerusalem.”—Chronologers differ very much as to the duration of his absence. Some think he had been away only a year, others five years, others eight. We incline to prefer the longer period, because it seems evident that a considerable time must have elapsed to allow for the growth of the grievous corruptions which this chapter records.

15. "Treading wine presses."-There are many interesting allusions in Scripture to the culture of the vine and to the processes by which its fruit was made into wine. The intimations, so far as can be ascertained, correspond very completely with the representations often repeated in the paintings of ancient Egypt, and with the existing usages of the East. From the former we have taken a few cuts, which certainly furnish the most instructive and authentic illustrations that can now be obtained. They are taken from a series in Rosellini (I Monumenti dell' Egitto'), in which the whole process is exhibited, from the gathering of the grapes to the storing of the wine. Our cuts exhibit the processes by which the juice was expressed, and to which we shall at present confine our attention.

"Treading" is invariably mentioned in Scripture as the process by which the juice was pressed from the grapes; and the press is described not as a moveable utensil, but as being dug or built. So in the paintings of Egypt and in existing usage, the wine-press is either dug in the ground and lined with masonry, or built upon the ground; and the hollow being filled with grapes, the men get in and tread upon them, the expressed juice being discharged by a spout into another receptacle prepared for the purpose. The first cut (next page,) exhibits a most complete and beautiful specimen of the constructed wine-press of this kind, and explains many Scriptural references. It is square-something like an altarthe upper part being made hollow to receive the grapes. The treaders stand in them more than ancle deep. The juice, as expressed, is seen to come out at two spouts and fall into as many vats. As these spouts are not on the same level, while the discharges from them are simultaneous, it is probable that the press has a false bottom pierced with holes, and a true one below, with a spout from each. The whole is enclosed within a beautiful frame-work, the use of which is to sustain the ropes by which the men hold on. In other representations of humbler treadings, where the grapes seem to be placed in a hollow dug in the ground, the men hold by a single rope stretched horizontally between the tops of two upright poles. It appears, Jer. xxv. 33 ("He shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes") and xlviii. 33 ("None shall tread with shouting ") that the Hebrew wine-pressers cheered their labour by joyful acclamations (the proper meaning) as they jumped upon the grapes. The processes here described are in principle so similar to those now in use in the East, that the latter do not require specific notice. The custom of treading grapes, at least in the first instance, still exists in different parts of Europe. Mr. Cyrus Redding (History and Description of Mo

n Wines," notices its existence in some of the islands of the Greek Archipelago, at St. Lucar in Spain, in Italyeast in Calabria—and in some of the north-eastern departments of France. He adds, "In some parts of France a urer, with sabots, treads the grapes out, as they come from the vineyard, in a square box having holes in the tom, and placed over a square vat. The mark is then removed, and he proceeds with fresh grapes until the vat eath is full. Sometimes they are squeezed out in troughs, by men who get into the vats and use both sabots and ds at once (pp. 26, 27). It is highly probable that such humbler processes were employed by those Hebrews who no extensive vineyards, but cultivated some vines and made wine with their produce.

There is no notice in Scripture, so far as we recollect, of any other or after process for obtaining the juice in the first ance, or for extracting what remained in the mark after the treading process. If the Jews had none such, they ably mixed it with water, and thus obtained a wine of inferior quality. But it is probable that treading, although principal, was not the only process known among them. Most nations had probably some other besides (see derson's Hist. of Ant. and Mod. Wines,' p. 38), and if so, they could not have had anything more simple than t is shown in the other Egyptian processes which our remaining cuts exhibit. From these, however, it does not clearly appear whether the method is employed to extract juice that remained in the mark after being trodden, or different process for pressing the fresh grapes in the first instance. Every probability is in favour of the former ion; but the engravings themselves seem to exhibit baskets of perfect grapes being subjected to this process, and therefore we must conclude them to be, unless we supposed that the mark is intended, although the grapes be esented, as perhaps the artists felt that the mark could not be, by them, so represented as not to be mistaken for thing else. However this may be, we see that the substance to be pressed (whether perfect grapes or grapes already len) is put into a sort of bag, apparently made of flags or rushes. This bag is sometimes suspended horizontally in me, but not always, and, whether so or not, is twisted round by means of strong staves or handspikes; the juice h is squeezed out being received into a vessel placed underneath. The third cut exhibits the bag in its last state ompression, which is so complete as to show that the juice must have been very completely extracted. The last s connected with the preceding, exhibiting persons employed in carrying grapes to replenish the exhausted press. ›bserve a number of large heaped baskets or buckets, from which a man supplies smaller buckets, which boys carry their heads to the press, where they deposit the contents in other large buckets, and return with their small y ones for more. What makes us the rather think that, although perfect grapes are represented, those that have already trodden are intended, is that there is here an intermediate process-the substance is deposited in large ets, and thence conveyed to the press; whereas, when the process of supply is connected with treading, we see Tapes brought at once from the vine to the wine-press, without any intermediate deposit.

CONVEYING GRAPES TO THE WINE-PRESS.

THE BOOK

ESTHER.

6 Where were white, green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of 16 And Memucan answered before the marble: the beds were of gold and silver, king and the princes, Vashti the hath queen Or, violet. Or, of porphyry, and marble, and alabaster, and stone of blue colour. 4 Heb. wine of the kingdom. Heb. according to the hand of the king. Or, eunuchs. 7 Heb. good of countenance. 8 Heb. which was by the hand of his eunuchs. 9 Ezra 7. 14. 10 Heb. what to do.