[Sidenote:  (Jos.  Ant.  XI, 8:2d-g)] Then Manasseh went to his father-in-law, Sanballat, and told him that, although he loved his daughter, Nicaso, he was not willing to be deprived on her account of his priestly dignity, since it was the greatest dignity in their nation and had always continued in the same family.  Thereupon Sanballat promised him not only to preserve for him the honor of his priesthood but also to procure for him the power and dignity of a high priest and to make him governor of all the places which he himself ruled, if he would retain his daughter as his wife.  He also told him that he would build him a temple like that at Jerusalem upon Mount Gerizim, which is the highest of all the mountains in Samaria.  Moreover he promised that he would do this with the approval of Darius, the king.  Manasseh, being elated with these promises, remained with Sanballat, thinking that he would gain a high priesthood as the gift from Darius, for Sanballat was then well advanced in years.  Now there was a great disturbance among the people of Jerusalem because many of the priests and Levites were entangled in such marriages, for they all revolted to Manasseh, and Sanballat offered them money and distributed among them land for cultivation and dwelling places also.  He did all this in order in every way to gratify his son-in-law.

I. Prosperity of the Judean Community.  Behind their restored walls the Jews of Jerusalem enjoyed a sense of security and peace that had not been theirs since the days of Josiah.  At last they were free to develop the limited resources of little Judah and gradually to extend their territory northwestward over the fertile plain of Sharon.  At the most their numbers and territory were small.  The memories of their glorious past and their hopes for the future were their chief inspiration.  The belief that in supporting faithfully the service of the temple and in conforming to the definite demands of the ritual they were winning Jehovah’s favor was to them an unfailing source of comfort and thankfulness.  In the rich services of the temple and in the contemplation of Jehovah’s character and deeds they found true joy.  These feelings are expressed in certain of the psalms, as, for example, Psalm 36, which probably comes from this period.  In their weakness they looked up in confidence and gratitude to Jehovah who ruled supreme in the heavens, and who was able and eager to preserve those who “put their trust in the shadow of his wings.”  Their one prayer was that his loving-kindness would continue to protect them.

II.  The Growth of the Psalter.  Nehemiah’s work apparently gave an impulse not only to the development of the law and the temple ritual, but also inspired poets to voice their own feelings and those of the community in certain of the psalms now found in the Psalter.  It also encouraged them to collect the earlier religious songs of their race.  The result of their work is the first edition of the Hebrew Psalter.