A new chapter in the history of the commonwealth commences with Nehemiah's journey to Jerusalem, or rather this event completes the chapter begun by Ezra. Nehemiah left the city of Susa with a large retinue, accompanied by an armed escort. As he travelled through the former dominion of the Ten Tribes, he presented his credentials to the various officials, and thus Sanballat and Tobiah were apprised of the object of his journey, and naturally felt that they were on the eve of a war. It was disappointing to them to see that a Judæan, the favourite of Artaxerxes, one who would devote himself to the protection of his persecuted brethren, had been appointed governor of the land. When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he secluded himself for three days. He wished, first of all, to become acquainted with the scene of his duties, and with the people with whom he would come into contact. Meanwhile, he devoted himself to the establishment of a kind of court, for he possessed a princely fortune, and he made a princely display. He kept the reason of his sojourn secret, and did not even divulge it to the leaders of the community, for he did not trust them. One night he rode forth secretly to examine the extent of the injury sustained by the walls, and to devise a plan for repairing them. He then summoned the leading men of the community, and announced, to their amazement, that King Artaxerxes had given him complete power, not only to rebuild the walls, but to govern the country, and that it was his intention to wipe out the disgrace and misery that had fallen upon them. He found the assembled Judæans ready, heart and soul, to help him. Even those who had intermarried with the strangers, and were on a friendly footing with them, evinced their approbation. But Nehemiah had imposed a heavy task upon himself. He was to reorganise a disjointed commonwealth, whose members, through fear, weakness, selfishness, and a variety of motives, had not sufficient courage to face real danger. Nehemiah's first care was to fortify Jerusalem; he himself superintended the work of building the fortifications, and made it less arduous by a careful division of labour. But the task of rebuilding was necessarily a tedious one. The repudiated proselytes, headed by Sanballat and Tobiah, whose every hope of alliance with the Judæans had been cut off by Nehemiah's words, "Ye shall have no portion, no right, no memorial in Jerusalem," manifested as much zeal in disturbing the work, as he did in accomplishing it. They artfully tried to make the Persians suspect Nehemiah of treason, and of having conceived the ambitious scheme of making himself king of Judæa. Then they endeavoured to discourage the workmen by deriding them, and by declaring that the walls were weak enough for a jackal to break through them. When the walls had risen to half their destined height, the enemy secretly determined upon an attack. Nehemiah, however, had armed some of his own people, as well as