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Shibboleth: A Templar Monitor

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Author Topic: Shibboleth: A Templar Monitor  (Read 4002 times)
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Knight of Jerusalem
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« on: December 26, 2008, 11:25:54 pm »

HISTORICAL SKETCH.

The Scriptures inform us that for their own sins, and those of their forefathers, the Jewish people were led into captivity by Nebuzaradan, chief Captain of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. As slaves they tilled the valleys of the Euphrates, and of the Tigris, until Cyrus destroyed the Chaldean dynasty.

During that captivity Zerubbabel, Crown Prince of the House of Judah, and Darius, son of Hystaspes, formed an alliance of friendship which was probably terminated with death only.

One of the first acts of the conqueror Cyrus was the liberation of the Jewish captives; he then permitted them to return to Judea, that they might rebuild the city of Jerusalem and its Temple, which Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed.

The foundation stone of the Second Temple was laid 535 years before Christ; Zerubbabel, the Royal Prince, Joshua, the High Priest, and Haggai, the Prophet, laying the same.

Cyrus died, and his son, Cambyses, succeeded him on the Medo-Persian throne. On complaint of the Cutheans, and other contiguous tribes, Cambyses commanded the work upon the city and Temple to cease. During the nine years that followed, scarcely anything was done on the walls of Jerusalem, or its Temple.

Cambyses died and the Magians seized the throne, from which their usurper was driven with great slaughter, in a little over a year. Then the Seven Great Families of Persia laid hold of the government, and Darius ascended the throne. He appointed Zerubbabel,

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his friend, to be the Governor of the Jews that had returned to Jerusalem under the decree of the great Cyrus, and afterwards made him stand in the royal bed-chamber, as the Guard of his body. There were three of these Guards, and they were chosen because of the monarch's implicit confidence in their loyalty.

Fifteen years after the Jews had laid the foundation of the Second Temple they were forced to call a Grand Council to consult about the state of the country. Cambyses was dead, and the Magian usurper, Smerdis, had been driven from the throne, to give place to Darius, son of Hystaspes, whose favoring of the Jews was believed to be almost as marked as was that of the great Cyrus.

Darius spread a feast at his capital, and invited thereto the Princes of Persia and the Rulers of the Medes. That feast having been thoroughly enjoyed, "they every one departed to go to bed at their own houses, and Darius, the King, went to bed."

The King slept lightly, and awakening he fell into conversation with his three Guards. He suggested, as a part of the festivities of the morrow, that they three engage in a public discussion of some interesting question, as had been the custom on similar occasions from time immemorial, and that he would reward with a princely gift the successful contestant. The King then proposed the following question:

"Whether Wine was not the strongest? Whether Kings were not such? Whether Women were not such, or whether Truth was not strongest of all?"

Esdras makes the Guards suggest both the questions and the prize, but we follow the story as related by Josephus.

Again the King slept, and the Guards prepared for the contest of the morning. When the King arose he sent for the Princes and Rulers to meet him in the Audience Chamber, and witness the contest between his Guards.

This contest began, in time, by one of the Guards declaiming in favor of the strength of Wine, followed by another in favor of the power of the King. Then the Jew, Zerubbabel, contended for the supremacy of Woman, concluding with a noble deliverance in favor of Truth.

The brilliant assembly burst forth into applause when Zerubbabel concluded, and the King awarded him the prize in these words: "Ask for somewhat over and above what I have promised, for I would give it unto you because of your wisdom."

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