Studies in Old Testament History Part 14

THE PROPHETS OF THE CAPTIVITY.

THE PSALMS OF THE CAPTIVITY.

THE REIGN OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR.

THE FALL OF BABYLON.

TENTH STUDY.

The Jewish Province.

From the return of the exiles, B. C. 536, to the final destruction of the Jewish state by the Romans, A. D. 70, the history of the chosen people is closely interwoven with that of the East in general. During most of this time Judea was a subject province, belonging to the great empires which rose and fell in succession. For a brief but brilliant period it was an independent state, with its own rulers. As most of this period comes between the Old and New Testaments its events are less familiar to Bible readers than the other portions of Israelite history.

We therefore give more s.p.a.ce than usual to the facts, only selecting the most important, and omitting all that have no direct relation with the development of the divine plan in the Jewish people.

I. The history divides itself into =FOUR PERIODS=, as follows:

1. =The Persian period=, B. C. 536 to 330, from Cyrus to Alexander, while the Jewish province was a part of the Persian Empire. Very few events of these two centuries have been recorded, but it appears to have been a period of quiet prosperity and growth. The Jews were governed by their high-priests under the general control of the Persian government.

The princ.i.p.al events of this period were:

1.) _The second temple._ (B. C. 535-515.) This was begun soon after the return from exile (Ezra 3. 1, 2, 8), but was not completed until twenty-one years afterward (Ezra 6. 15, 16). It was smaller and less splendid than that of Solomon, but was built upon the same plan.

2.) _Queen Esther's deliverance._ (B. C. 474.) This took place, not in Judea, but in Shushan (Susa), the capital of the Persian Empire. The king referred to as Ahasuerus was probably Xerxes, and the events of Esther's elevation and intercession took place after the defeat of his invasion of Greece. The whole story is in accord with both Persian customs and the character of Xerxes.

3.) _Ezra's reformation._ (B. C. 450.) The coming to Jerusalem of Ezra the scribe was a great event in Israelite history; for, aided by Nehemiah, he led in a great reformation of the people. He found them neglecting their law and following foreign customs. He awakened an enthusiasm for the Mosaic law, aroused the patriotism of the people, and renewed the ancient faith. His work gave him the t.i.tle of "the second founder of Israel."

4.) _The separation of the Samaritans._ (B. C. 409.) For the origin of the Samaritans, see 2 Kings 17. 22-34. They were a mingled people, both in race and religion; but until the captivity were permitted to wors.h.i.+p in the temple at Jerusalem. After the return from Babylon the Samaritans and the Jews grew further and further apart. The Samaritans opposed the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 4. 9-24), and delayed it for many years; and a century later strove to prevent Nehemiah from building the wall of Jerusalem (Neh. 4. 2). Finally they established a rival temple on Mount Gerizim, and thenceforth the two races were in bitter enmity (John 4.

9).

5.) _The completion of the Old Testament canon._ The prophets after the restoration were Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi; but the author of most of the latest books was Ezra, who also arranged the Old Testament nearly, perhaps fully, in its present form. Thenceforward no more books were added, and the scribe or interpreter took the place of the prophet.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE.]

2. =The Greek period.= (B. C. 330-166.) In the year 330 B. C. Alexander the Great won the empire of Persia in the great battle of Arbela, by which the sovereignty of the East was transferred from Asia to Europe, and a new chapter in the history of the world was opened. Alexander died at the hour when his conquests were completed, and before they could be organized and a.s.similated; but the kingdoms into which his empire was divided were all under Greek kings, and were all Greek in language and civilization. Judea was on the border between Syria and Egypt, and belonged alternately to each kingdom. We divide this period into three subdivisions.

1.) _The reign of Alexander._ (B. C. 330-321.) The Jews had been well treated by the Persian kings and remained faithful to Darius, the last King of Persia, in his useless struggle. Alexander marched against Jerusalem, determined to visit upon it heavy punishment for its opposition, but (according to tradition) was met by Jaddua, the high-priest, and turned from an enemy to a friend of the Jews.

2.) _The Egyptian supremacy._ (B. C. 311-198.) In the division of Alexander's conquests Judea was annexed to Syria, but it soon fell into the hands of Egypt, and was governed by the Ptolemies (Greek kings of Egypt) until 198 B. C. The only important events of this period were the rule of Simon the Just, an exceptionally able high-priest, about 300 B.

C., and the translation of the Old Testament into the Greek language for the use of the Jews of Alexandria, who had lost the use of Hebrew or Chaldee. This translation was made about 286 B. C., according to Jewish tradition, and is known as the Septuagint version. It was regarded as an act of sacrilege by the Palestinian Jews to translate their Holy Scriptures into the language of heathens, and for centuries the anniversary of the completion of the Septuagint was observed as a day of humiliation and prayer.

3.) _The Syrian supremacy._ (B. C. 198-166.) About the year 198 B. C.

Judea fell into the hands of the Syrian kingdom, also ruled by a Greek dynasty, the Seleucidae, or descendants of Seleucus. This change of rulers brought to the Jews a change of treatment. Hitherto they had been permitted to live undisturbed upon their mountains, and to enjoy a measure of liberty, both in civil and ecclesiastical matters. But now the Syrian kings not only robbed them of their freedom, but also undertook to compel them to renounce their religion by one of the most cruel persecutions in all history. The temple was desecrated and left to ruin, and the wors.h.i.+pers of Jehovah were tortured and slain, in the vain endeavor to introduce the Greek and Syrian forms of idolatry among the Jews. Heb. 11, 33-40, is supposed to refer to this persecution. When Antiochus, the Syrian king, found that the Jews could not be driven from their faith, he deliberately determined to exterminate the whole nation.

Uncounted thousands of Jews were slaughtered, other thousands were sold as slaves, Jerusalem was well nigh destroyed, the temple was dedicated to Jupiter Olympius, and the orgies of the Baccha.n.a.lia were subst.i.tuted for the Feast of Tabernacles. The religion of Jehovah and the race of the Jews seemed on the verge of utter annihilation in their own land.

3. =The Maccabean period.= (B. C. 166-40.) But the darkest hour precedes the day; the cruelties of the Syrians caused a new and splendid epoch to rise upon Israel.

1.) _The revolt of Mattathias._ In the year 170 B. C. an aged priest, Mattathias, unfurled the banner of independence from the Syrian yoke. He did not at first aim for political freedom, but religious liberty; but after winning a few victories over the Syrian armies he began to dream of a free Jewish state. He died in the beginning of the war, but was succeeded by his greater son, Judas Maccabeus.[L]

2.) _Judas Maccabeus_ gained a greater success than had been dreamed at the beginning of the revolt. Within four years the Jews recaptured Jerusalem and reconsecrated the temple. (The anniversary of this event was ever after celebrated in the Feast of Dedication, John 10. 22.) Judas ranks in history as one of the n.o.blest of the Jewish heroes, and deserves a place beside Joshua, Gideon, and Samuel as a liberator and reformer.

3.) _The Maccabean dynasty._ Judas refused the t.i.tle of king, but his family established a line of rulers who by degrees a.s.sumed a royal state, and finally the royal t.i.tle. In the year 143 B. C. Jewish liberty was formally recognized, and the Maccabean princes ruled for a time over an independent state. Between 130 and 110 B. C. Edom, Samaria, and Galilee were added to Judea. The latter province had been known as "Galilee of the Gentiles" (Isa. 9. 1); but by degrees the foreigners withdrew, and the province was occupied by Jews who were as devoted and loyal as those of Jerusalem.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROMAN EMPIRE]

4.) _The rise of the sects._ About B. C. 100 the two sects, or schools of thought, the Pharisees and Sadducees, began to appear, though their principles had long been working. The Pharisees ("separatists") sought for absolute separation from the Gentile world and a strict construction of the law of Moses, while the Sadducees ("moralists") were liberal in their their theories and in their lives.

4. =The Roman period.= (B. C. 40-A. D. 70.) It is not easy to name a date for the beginning of the Roman supremacy in Palestine. It began in B. C. 63, when Pompey the Great (afterward the antagonist of Julius Caesar) was asked to intervene between two claimants for the Jewish throne, Hyrca.n.u.s and Aristobulus. Pompey decided for Hyrca.n.u.s, and aided him by a Roman army. In his interest he besieged and took Jerusalem, and then placed Hyrca.n.u.s in power, but without the t.i.tle of king. From this time the Romans were practically, though not nominally, in control of affairs.

1.) _Herod the Great._ We a.s.sign as the date of the Roman rule 40 B. C., when Herod (son of Antipater, an Edomite, who had been the general of Hyrca.n.u.s) received the t.i.tle of king from the Roman Senate. From this time Palestine was regarded as a part of the Roman Empire. Herod was the ablest man of his age, and one of the most unscrupulous. He ruled over all Palestine, Idumea (ancient Edom), and the lands south of Damascus.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PALESTINE IN THE TIME OF CHRIST]

2.) _Herod's temple._ Herod was thoroughly hated by the Jews, less for his character than for his foreign birth. To gain their favor he began rebuilding the temple upon a magnificent scale. It was not completed until long after his death, which took place at Jericho about the time when Jesus Christ, the true King of the Jews, was born (Matt. 2. 1, 2).

3.) _The tetrarchies._ By Herod's will his dominions were divided into four tetrarchies ("quarter-rulings," a t.i.tle for a fourth part of a kingdom). Three of these were in Palestine--Archelaus receiving Judea, Idumea, and Samaria; Antipas (the Herod of Luke 4. 19, 20; 23. 7-11) receiving Galilee and Perea; and Philip (Luke 3. 1) having the district of Bashan. About A. D. 6 Archelaus was deposed, and a Roman, Coponius, was appointed the first Procurator of Judea, which was made a part of the prefecture of Syria. The rest of Jewish annals belongs properly to the New Testament history.

II. Through these periods we notice the gradual =PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL=, which was steadily advancing.

1. =There was a political preparation.= Six centuries before Christ the world around the Mediterranean was divided into states, whose normal condition was war. At no time was peace prevalent over all the world at once. If Christ had come at that time it would have been impossible to establish the Gospel except through war and conquest. But kingdoms were absorbed into empires, empires rose and fell by turns, each with a larger conception of the nation than its predecessor. From the crude combination of undigested states in the a.s.syrian Empire to the orderly, a.s.similated, systematic condition of the Roman world was a great advance. Christ appeared at the only point in the world's history when the great nations of the world were under one government, with a system of roads such that a traveler could pa.s.s from Mesopotamia to Spain and could sail the Mediterranean Sea in perfect safety.

2. =There was a preparation of language.= The conquests of Alexander, though accomplished in ten years, left a deeper impress upon the world than any other two centuries of history. They gave to the whole of that world one language, the n.o.blest tongue ever spoken by human lips, "a language fit for the G.o.ds," as men said. Through Alexander Greek cities were founded every-where in the East, Greek kingdoms were established, the Greek literature and the Greek civilization covered all the lands.

That was the language in which Paul preached the Gospel, and in which the New Testament was written--the only language of the ancient world in which the thoughts of the Gospel could be readily expressed. While each land had its own tongue, the Greek tongue was common in all lands.

3. While these preparations were going on there was another in progress at the same time, =the preparation of a race=. We might point to the history of the Israelites from the migration of Abraham as a training; but we refer now to their special preparation for their mission after the restoration, B. C. 536. There was a divine purpose in the division of Judaism into two streams; one a little fountain in Palestine, the other a river dispersed over all the lands. Each branch had its part in the divine plan. One was to concentrate its energies upon the divine religion, to study the sacred books, to maintain a chosen people, whose bigotry, narrowness, and intolerance kept them from destruction; the other branch was out in the world, where every Jewish synagogue in a heathen city kept alive the knowledge of G.o.d, and disseminated that knowledge, drawing around it the thoughtful, spiritual minds who were looking for something better than heathenism. Palestine gave the Gospel, but the Jews of the dispersion carried it to the Gentiles, and each synagogue in the foreign world became the nucleus of a Christian Church, where for the first time Jew and Gentile met as equals.

4. Finally, there was the =preparation of a religion=. The Gospel of Christ was not a new religion; it was the new development of an old religion. As we study the Old Testament we see that each epoch stands upon a higher religious plane. There is an enlargement of spiritual vision between Abraham and Moses; between Moses and David; between David and Isaiah; between Isaiah and John the Baptist. Pharisee and Sadducee each held a share of the truth which embraced the best thought of both sects. The work of many scribes prepared the way for the coming of the Lord, and just when revelation was brought up to the highest level, when a race was trained to apprehend and proclaim it, when a language had been created and diffused to express it, when the world was united in one great brotherhood of states, ready to receive it--then, in the fullness of times, the Christ was manifested, who is over all, G.o.d blessed forever.

Blackboard Outline.

=I. Four Per.= 1. Per. per. 1.) Sec. tem. 2.) Q. Es. del. 3.) Ez.

ref. 4.) Sep. Sam. 5.) Com. O. T. can.

2. Gk. per. 1.) Rei. Alex. 2.) Eg. sup. 3.) Syr. sup.

3. Macc. per. 1.) Rev. Mat. 2.) Jud. Macc. 3.) Macc. dyn. 4.) Ri.

sec.

4. Rom. per. 1.) Her. Cr. 2.) Her. tem. 3.) Tetr.

=II. Prep. Gosp.= 1. Pol. prep. 2. Prep. lan. 3. Prep. rac. 4. Prep.

rel.

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW.

With what history is that of the Jews interwoven during this period?

What was the political condition of the Jews at this time?

What are the four periods of this history?

Who were the rulers of the Jews during the first period?

What building was erected after the return from captivity?

What great deliverance was effected by a woman?