Page 312 - Bible History

THE JEWS IN BABYLON AND PE .SIA UNDER CYRUS 285
found favor in thy sight, 0 king, and if it please thee, give me my life, for which I ask, and the life of my people, for we are given up to be destroyed. We have an enemy whose cruelty in uences the king." The king was surprised to hear these words and asked her what enemy had power to do such things. Esther an­
swered, ''Aman is our wicked enemy.''
Then the king ordered Aman to be hanged on the
very gibbet which he had prepared for Mardochai. The Jews were delivered from death and Mardochai was given the position which Aman had held.
3. ESDRAS AND NEHEMIAS RESTORE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP IN JERUSALEM
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During the reign of Artaxerxes I, there lived in E
Babylon a priest whose name was Esdras. He asked permission of the king to gather together as many pilgrims as he could persuade to join him and to go back to Jerusalem. The king granted this permission and at the same time allowed him to take up a collec- tion among the Jews of Babylon. In addition, he prom- ised to give him a large sum of money, as well as much oil and wheat out of the revenues that he himself had received from the land of Juda.
The donation that Esdras received from the king was to be used for the restoration of the rites and cere­ monies of the Temple. The king likewise gave Esdras
full authority to correct any abuses which had crept in among the people. Esdras left Babylon at the head of six thousand Jews. They traveled four months be­ fore they reached Jerusalem.