CHAPTER II. THE CONDITION OF PALESTINE FROM THE RETURN TO THE ACCESSION OF ANTIOCHUS THE GREAT. THE HE vitality of the Jewish patriotic spirit seems to have been preserved throughout the period of the Exile. There was a continuous faith in the prophecies* that within the space of about two generations the banished would return and take up the broken thread of national existence in their own land. It is true that comparatively few † availed themselves of Cyrus's permission. The descendants of the captives made by Babylonian conquerors preferred, as far as the majority were concerned, not to renounce the ties they had formed within the great city in Mesopotamia. But the enthusiasm of those who accompanied Zerubbabel across the wide plains which lay between them and Judea, is plainly marked in later Biblical literature.‡ It was clearly impossible that such shrunken numbers should attempt to spread themselves over the whole of the land which once was theirs, or even over Judea. Perhaps it was not altogether a misfortune that they were thus compelled to concentrate their strength, and support each other's courage in the difficulties which faced them. They were recruited by many of their nation, who actually within their country or in its immediate neighbourhood had waited patiently the fulfil * Jer. 25. 11, 12; 29. 10. + See p. 1. See Stanley, Jewish Church, iii. pp. 78 f., London, 1875-76. ment of their patriotic hopes. Proselytes also were not wanting in the building-up of the community. In many points their religious life had undergone a change during the years of exile. The first and most prominent of these changes consisted in the disappearance of idolatry and the abhorrence of its memories. That reformation, which both prophetic denunciations and the efforts of such kings as Hezekiah and Josiah had been able only very partially to effect, had been once and for ever accomplished. After they had come to be familiar during the years of captivity with idol worship as practised at Babylon, this form of sin disappeared from the Jewish nation. On the other hand, even as early as the time of the prophet Malachi, there are found traces of the sceptical and discontented spirit, whose existence is dealt with in a more developed form in the Book Koheleth (Ecclesiastes). The problem involved in the prosperity of the wicked presented difficulties which, as we can see, both in the Persian and Greek periods, keenly tried men's faith in an over-ruling Providence. The saying of men of Malachi's day "Everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delighteth in them," and "Where is the God of judgment ?”† finds its echo in the words of the Preacher, “All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness."‡ Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas, must have represented the attitude of many minds, which failed to accept the faith expressed in the concluding words of the book last quoted, "Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. * Mal. 2. 17; comp. 3. 13-18. + Ibid. Eccles. 7. 15. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” * To the Exile also we may with some confidence trace the beginnings at any rate of that rule which the individual conscience came to have among the more spiritually minded members of the race. Such narratives as those of Daniel or of Susannah shew that when they were written there was an audience to be appealed to, who would not fail to sympathise with the resolve to risk life itself in faithful adherence to duty. Again, prayer assumed a new position. This feature is illustrated in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah † as well as Daniel and elsewhere. With the enforced suspension of sacrificial offerings during the Captivity, the more spiritual forms of worship acquired a prominence, which they retained after the Return. Synagogue services were established here and there as need arose. In Jerusalem there was now joined with the animal and other offerings in kind, a ritual consisting of psalms and prayers, the latter doubtless for a time at least unrestricted by any hard-and-fast form. Moreover, almsgiving acquired prominence. He that displayed this form of charity was considered to have thereby so amply acquitted himself of his religious obligations that his gifts became worthy of being described by the word "Righteousness,"§ without further qualification. Once more, the Jewish outlook upon the world, hitherto so narrow, became somewhat less circumscribed. They were now re-established, not so much upon a national as upon a religious basis. They are henceforward "Judeans," but the word has * Eccles. 12. 13, 14. Dan. 6. 10; 9. 3. + Ezra 9.6; Neh. 1.4; 2. 4; 4.9; comp. chap. 9. SPY often rendered (e.g., Deut. 6. 25; 24. 13; Ps. 24. [Greek 23] 5) in LXX. by denμoovvn: so the Aramaic form 773 in both LXX. and Theod. of Dan. 4. 24 [Eng. 27]. Jos. Ant. xi. 5. 7. not a strictly racial significance. It does not exclude a willingness to embrace all who would receive their faith and unite with them in worship of Jehovah. The Exile had so far familiarised them with the thought of the extent of humanity, that they were ready to picture to themselves the acceptance of their religion by the other kingdoms of the earth.* The impression made upon the Jewish mind through the wealth and luxury affected by the higher classes in Babylon is manifest from the description of the king's palace in the Book of Esther.t The signal honour with which the Jews treated that book may indeed be ascribed to its relation of the overthrow of their would-be oppressors, and the triumph secured them by an overruling Providence working through the good fortune and resolution of a Jewish maiden. But it also shews the pleasure which they felt in dwelling upon the description of the magnificence exhibited in the appointments and surroundings of an Oriental court. 66 The purity of the Persian mode of worship, the absence of all grossness in the way of sacrificial offering, and the identification of Truth with the Deity in the Zoroastrian creed, had an undoubted effect upon the Judaism of post-captivity days. The elaborate purificatory rites, characteristic of later Judaism, arose in large measure from customs which had become familiar to the nation during its sojourn in Babylon. The veneration for the holy fire which was kindled from the sacred naphtha fountains of Persia by the Caspian Sea, penetrated into the Jewish traditions in the story that, when Nehemiah rekindled the consecrated fire of the Temple from the stones of the altar, he called it naphthar,' giving it a Hebrew meaning, 'a cleansing,' though many call it 'nephi.'"+ *See Stanley, op. cit., iii. 41 ff. + Esth. 1. 6, 7. Stanley, op. cit., iii. 184. See 2 Macc. 1. 36, and Smith's Dict. of Bible, ii. 465. $ 7551. B The development of the Jewish doctrine of angels at this period of their history may also be connected with Persian influences. In that country's faith the hierarchy of celestial intelligences had been set forth with much elaborateness. But although the two religions thus had much in common, the Jewish teaching on the subject possessed a decided advantage in leading the way towards the light to be thrown upon angelic offices by Christian revelation. In the Persian religion there seems little, if any, trace of an interest taken by angels in the affairs or the well-being of men; while such books as Daniel * and Tobit † shew heavenly guardians appointed for the surveillance and protection alike of individuals and of states. It is, however, specially worthy of note in this connexion that the dualism which was so prominent a feature of the Zoroastrian religion fails to find a counterpart in Jewish teaching. The rival powers of good and evil are never placed by the latter on anything like a footing of equality. Satan is represented as subordinate in position, though having in some sort access to the courts of heaven; and as making his assaults upon the human race only by permission of a higher power. The words of the LORD'S message, "I form the light . . . and create evil" express the attitude of the Jew in this matter in direct antagonism to that of the worshipper of Ormuzd, who gave co-ordinated powers to Ahriman. The "adversary," the opposer of God and man, was the main idea in the mind of the Jew, when he thought of an evil agency as personified; not the one who makes calumnious accusations, not the " slanderer (diáßoros), but the power which, within the limits allowed him by the Most High, makes for unrighteousness. But the characteristic which penetrated most deeply into the national life of the post-exilic people was the reverence * Dan. 8. 15, 16; 10. 5, etc. + Tobit 3. 17, etc. Is. 45. 7. |