Читать книгу A Class-Book of New Testament History онлайн

8 страница из 159

The king of Egypt, however, was not allowed to remain long in undisturbed possession of his prize, and found it disputed with him by Antigonus, one of the most turbulent of the successors of Alexander. Twice the coveted province fell into the hands of his rival, twice Ptolemy managed to recover it, and it was finally adjudged to his share after the decisive battle of Ipsus in Phrygia, B.C.301.

Meanwhile Jaddua had been succeeded in the high-priesthood at Jerusalem by his son OniasI., and he again by Simon the Just, the last of the men of the “Great Synagogue8,” as he was called by the Jews. He superintended the repair of the sanctuary of the Temple, surrounded with brass the cistern or “sea” of the principal court, fortified the city-walls, and maintained the sacred ritual with much pomp and ceremony (Eccles. i. 1–22). He is also said to have completed the Canon of the Old Testament, by adding to it the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, of Chronicles and Esther, as also the prophecies of Malachi9. He died B.C.291.