The life and work of St. Paul

A HAETYSDOM AND A RETEIBUTION. 173
leaders of the Church of Antioch. Indeed, it is said that the alms were
handed over, not to the Apostles, but to the Elders. It is true that Elders
may include Apostles, but the rapid and purely monetary character of the
visit, and the complete silence as to further details, seem to imply that this
was not the case.
The Church of Antioch was not the sole contributor to the distresses of
Jerusalem. If they helped their Christian brethren, the Jews found benefactors
in the members of an interesting household, the royal family of Adiabene,
whose history is much mingled at this time with that of Judaea, and sheds
instructive light on the annals of early Christianity.
Adiabene, once a province of Assyria, now forms part of the modern Kurdistan.
Monobazus, the king of this district, had married his sister Helena, and
by that marriage had two .sons, of whom the younger, Izates, was the favourite of
his parents. 1 To save him from the jealousy of his other brothers, the king and
queen sent him to the court of Abennerig, king of the Charax-Spasini, who gave
him his daughter in marriage. While he was living in this sort of honourable
exile, a Jewish merchant, named Hananiah, managed to find admission into
the harem of Abennerig, and to convert some of his wives to the Jewish faith.
In this way he was introduced to Izates, of whom he also made a proselyte.
Izates was recalled by his father before his death, and endowed with the
princedom of Charrae; and when Monobazus died, Helena summoned the
leading men of Adiabene, and informed them that Izates had been appointed
successor to the crown. These satraps accepted the decision, but advised
Helena to make her elder son, Monobazus, a temporary sovereign until the
arrival of his brother, and to put the other brothers in bonds preparatory
to their assassination in accordance with the common fashion of Oriental
despotism. 2
Izates, however, on his arrival, was cheerfully acknowledged by
his elder brother, and set all his other brothers free, though he sent them as
hostages to Rome and various neighbouring courts. I shall subsequently
relate the very remarkable circumstances which led to his circumcision. 3 At
present I need only mention that his reign was long and prosperous, and that
he was able to render such important services to Artabanus, the nineteenth
Arsacid, that he received from him the kingdom of Nisibig, as well as the
right to wear the peak of his tiara upright, and to sleep in a golden bed
privileges usually reserved for the kings of Persia. Even before these events,
Helena had been so much struck with the prosperity and piety of her sou,
that she too had embraced Judaism, and at this very period was living
in Jerusalem. Being extremely wealthy, and a profound admirer of Jewish
iustitutious, she took energetic measures to alleviato the severity of tho
famine ; and by importing large quantities of corn from Alexandria, and
of dried figs from Cyprus, she was happily able to save many lives. Her
1
Josephus (Antt. xx. 2, 1) attributes this partiality to a prophetic dream.
3 Hence we are told that
" '
King ' Mumbaz made golden handles for the vessels used
In the Temple on the Day of Atonement " ( Yoma, 37 a).
3
Infra, p. 429.