Page 159.—_Manasseh became high-priest._] It must be observed that Nehemiah only says that one of the sons of Joiada the high-priest was son-in-law to Sanballat, but does not call him Manasseh. Josephus, under the reign of Darius Codomannus, (Ant. xi. 7, 8.) relates the marriage of Manasseh, grandson of Joiada, with the daughter of Sanballat, and his being appointed high-priest of the newly-built temple in Gerizim. As there is a difference of between seventy and eighty years between the date of Scripture and that of Josephus, some (see Hudson’s note on Josephus, Ant. xi. 7.) suppose two Sanballats, having daughters married to sons of the Jewish high-priests. This cheap but dangerous expedient of multiplying historical personages is justly rejected by Prideaux, Conn. An. 409. Page 161.—_Alexander acknowledged the merits of Israel._] The narrative of Alexander’s expedition to Jerusalem is contained in Jos. Ant. xi. 8. According to him, Alexander, while occupied in the siege of Tyre, ordered Jaddua the high-priest to send him supplies, and as he refused on the ground of having sworn allegiance to Darius, Alexander, incensed at the refusal, set out as soon as he had finished the sieges of Tyre and Gaza to punish the Jews. He had advanced as far as Sapha, on his way to Jerusalem, when he was met by the high-priest and the whole sacerdotal order. On seeing the name of Jehovah, which was inscribed on the high-priest’s tiara, Alexander prostrated himself before him; and when Parmenio asked him how he, whom the rest of mankind adored, should prostrate himself before the Jewish pontiff, he replied that he recognised in his figure and vestments the person who had appeared to him in a dream before he left Macedonia, and had encouraged him to undertake the expedition, by assuring him that he should overturn the throne of Darius. Accompanying the high-priest to Jerusalem, he was shown by him the prophecy of Daniel, in which it was clearly marked that he should overthrow the Persian monarchy. Before he left the city, he promised to the Jews that they should be governed by their own laws and exempted from tribute every seventh year.