Mordecai went from the palace dressed in purple and fine linen, and with a crown on his head, and the people of Shushan were greatly pleased that the king had made so good a man his chief minister. The Jews were hopeful and happy, and everywhere received the king's decree with tokens of gladness.

And on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month the Jews armed themselves, and gathered together in every city to defend themselves; and they won a victory over all those who came out to harm them.

On the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month they rested from fighting, for God had saved Esther and her people from the hands of those who meant to destroy them.

And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews, telling them to keep the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the twelfth month as a time of gladness and feasting, and of praise and thanksgiving to God. And this feast-which was called The Feast of Purim-is kept by the Jews to this day.

CHAPTER XXX.

REBUILDING THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM.

WHEN Artaxerxes was king over Persia, Nehemiah, who was a Jew was his cup-bearer. The business of a cup-bearer was to carry the wine-cup to the king when he wanted to drink.

While Nehemiah was in the king's palace, some Jews came there, and Nehemiah asked them concerning the Jews that had returned there from Persia and concerning Jerusalem. He was told that they were in great affliction and reproach, that the wall of the city was broken down and the gates burned with fire.

Nehemiah, on hearing this, sat down and wept and mourned, and fasted and prayed that God would grant him mercy in the sight of King Artaxerxes, and that he might be willing to let him go to Jerusalem to build up the walls of the city.

One day when Nehemiah handed the king the wine-cup he looked sad, and the king asked him, Why is thy face sad, seeing thou art not sick? There must be some trouble on your heart.

Nehemiah answered, Let the king live forever. Why should not my countenance be sad when Jerusalem, the city where my fathers are buried, lies waste, and its gates burned with fire?

The king said, For what dost thou make request? Nehemiah lifted his heart in prayer to God before he spoke, and then said to the king, If it please thee, I pray thee send me to Jerusalem that I may build up the walls.

And the king said (the queen also sitting by him), For how long shall thy journey be? And when wilt thou come back? And when Nehemiah made known his plans to the king, he allowed him to go. Nehemiah also said, If it please the king let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river Euphrates, that they may help me on my journey, and a letter also unto Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give timber to make beams for the walls and gates of the city.

And the king granted Nehemiah's request because the Lord inclined him to do so.

When Nehemiah started on his journey the king sent captains of the army and horsemen to protect him. Nehemiah gave the letters to the governors which the king had written to them, and then went on to Jerusalem.

One night Nehemiah rose up secretly, lest his enemies should know it, and went out to examine the walls of the city and see if they were in the condition he was told they were.

It was all true; the walls were in ruins as he had been told. Then Nehemiah said to the people, Ye see the distress that we are in. Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates are burned with fire. Let us build up the wall, that we be no more a reproach.

Nehemiah told the Jews how God had disposed the heart of the king towards him, and they were strengthened for the work and said, Let us rise and build. And they began to build the wall.

When Sanballat heard that the wall was about to be built, he despised the Jews and laughed them to scorn, saying, What do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?

Tobiah the Ammonite, who stood by Sanballat, said, What they build if a fox go up he shall even break down their stone wall. But the Jews continued their work till the wall had risen to half its height all round the city.

Then Sanballat and Tobiah and many others formed a conspiracy and planned to fight against the Jews, and prevent the building of the wall. They meant to surprise the Jews when at work upon the wall and to slay them.

But the Jews heard of this, and Nehemiah placed men behind the wall, armed with swords and spears and bows. And he told the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people not to be afraid of their foes, but to remember that the Lord was strong and would fight for them and their families.

When the enemies of the Jews heard that their plans were known to the latter, and that they were armed and ready to meet them, they did not force the attack.

From that time half of Nehemiah's men built the wall, and the other half stood armed with spears, shields, bows, and arrows. The builders had swords at their sides, and even those that bore burdens used one hand in the work and with the other held a weapon. A trumpeter also stood near Nehemiah to give the alarm in case the enemy appeared when the people were all assembled in one place.

They worked hard from morning till evening, none of them taking off their clothes, except to wash them.

In spite of all the difficulties from enemies without and troubles among themselves, the Jews finished the building of the Jerusalem wall.

The troubles among themselves were caused by the oppression of the usurers. The people who were poor complained of this to Nehemiah and said that they had not only to buy bread but to pay the king's tribute money also. They were compelled, on account of all this, to borrow money and make their sons and daughters servants.

Nehemiah rebuked the usurers who oppressed the people, and made them restore their vineyards and olive-yards and houses.

When the wall was finished it was dedicated. The priests and Levites and the people went up on top of the wall in two companies; one company went one day and the other went the next, the priests sounding the trumpets and the Levites

playing on instruments and singing praises to God until they met. Then they all went to the temple, where they offered up sacrifices and burnt-offerings with great joy.

Nehemiah was determined to have order in the city, and he set rulers over it. He commanded the gates to be set up and gave them in charge to the parties who were to keep them closed at night.

Others were to be watchmen by turns to give notice of the approach of enemies. This was necessary because the city was large and had not many people living in it, and enemies might scale the walls and conquer the city.

The reason there was not a large population was that the Jews wanted to live in cities where there was much business, and where they could make money.

Because there were so few inhabitants Nehemiah took the list of the Jews that came up with Zerubbabel, and he numbered them all and sent word to the different families, begging that one in every ten would come to Jerusalem and live there. And many flocked to the city at his request.

On the first day of the seventh month the people assembled to worship the Lord. Ezra brought out of the temple the book in which the laws of Moses were written. And he stood on a pulpit of wood and opened the book, and read out of it to the old and to the young, from morning until evening, and the priests and the Levites gave the meaning of it so that the people understood it.

When they heard the laws they remembered their disobedience and sins and mourned and wept.

But the Levites said that day was to be one for rejoicing instead of weeping, and told them to go to their houses and eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and make presents to the poor.

So the people did as the Levites told them. On the second day the people assembled again, and Ezra continued to teach them more out of the law. He showed them from it that they should keep the feast of tabernacles. They should go up on the mountains and bring olive branches, pine branches, myrtle branches, and palm branches, and make tents of them.

So the people cut down the branches and made the tents on the flat roofs of their houses, in their yards, in the courts of the temple, and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they lived in these tents instead of in their houses during the seven days of the feast.

And there was universal joy, for no such feast had been kept since the days of Joshua, who led the children of Israel into the promised land. The people, soon after they had