History of the Jews, Vol. 1 (of 6)

"God led them by the right path, and brought them to the place of their longing." (Psalm cvii. 7, 30.)

When the travellers approached the land of their passionate desire, after a march of four or five months, their joy must have been overwhelming. The prophecies that had been uttered, the hopes they had cherished, the visions they had indulged in were realised. Meanwhile their happiness was not undimmed. The Holy City, the chief object of their longing, was desolate. A great part of the country was inhabited by strangers; in the north were the Samaritans, or Cuthæans, in the south, the Idumæans. But these races were soon obliged to give place to the descendants of Judah, who, with the tribe of Benjamin, returned to their ancient dwelling-places. The beginning of the new Judæan commonwealth was indeed humble and small. The people could not occupy the whole of the country which had once constituted the kingdom of Judah. A population of 40,000 was not numerous enough to settle a large territory. The colony was thus compelled to group itself round the capital at Jerusalem. This concentration of forces was, in some respects, advantageous, inasmuch as the whole population, being thus brought near to the capital, could take part in all its affairs. But, though the extremely confined territory of the new colony, and the small number of members in the community were calculated to depress the lofty hopes that their prophets in Babylonia had awakened, and fill the arrivals with gloom, unexpected circumstances arose to reinspire them with energy. From many countries to the east, west, south, and north, from Egypt, Phœnicia, and even from the Greek coasts and islands, whither they had gone of their own free will or had been sold as slaves, Judæan exiles streamed back to crowd like children around their resurrected mother, Jerusalem. These new Jewish arrivals were accompanied by large numbers of strangers, both "great and small," illustrious and obscure, who collected round them. They were received with rejoicing, for they all acknowledged the God of Israel, and were ready to follow His laws. These new proselytes not only added strength to the young community, but also inspired the settlers with greater self-reliance, who, with their own eyes, saw the words of the prophets fulfilled.

At the approach of the seventh month, in which, according to law and custom, various festivals occur, the elders of the families among all classes in Jerusalem assembled, and, marching under the command of their two leaders, the governor Zerubbabel and the high-priest Joshua, they proceeded to perform the first act of reconstruction – they erected an altar of stone. This altar was to be the nucleus of the Temple, the building of which was, for the present, impossible.

While the altar was dedicated with joyous and solemn ceremonies, the leaders were making preparations for the erection of this great and important edifice, which was to be the spiritual centre of the new commonwealth. The rich gifts which they had brought with them enabled them to hire labourers and artisans, and, as in the days of King Solomon, cedar trees were procured from Lebanon; stone was brought from the mountains, and after enough had been quarried and shaped, steps were taken to lay the foundations of the Sanctuary. Not only Zerubbabel and Joshua, but also the heads of families, and a large number of the people were present at this ceremony, which was performed with great solemnity. The Aaronides again appeared in their priestly garments, sounding their trumpets; the Levites of the house of Asaph chanted songs of praise, thanking the Lord whose mercy endures for ever; and the people burst forth into a loud transport of joy. Yet there mingled with the jubilant notes the voice of regret that the new Temple was smaller and less magnificent than the old.

Jerusalem, so long mourned and wept over, began to rise from her ruins. The joyful enthusiasm called forth by the re-building of the city was, however, soon to be damped; the honeymoon of the young commonwealth waned rapidly, and anxious cares began to disturb its peace. Close to the boundaries of Judæa lived the mixed tribe of Samaritans or Cuthaæns. These people had in part accepted the doctrines taught them by an Israelitish priest at Bethel, but they had also retained many of their own idolatrous practices. Quite unexpectedly, some of the Samaritan chiefs came to Jerusalem, with the request that they might be allowed to help in re-building the Temple, and also that they be received into the Judæan community. This seemed so important a matter to the Judæans, that a council was convoked to discuss the subject. The decision was against the Samaritans. Zerubbabel informed the Samaritan chiefs that their people neither would nor could be permitted to join in the re-building of the Temple. This decision was of great import for the entire future of the new commonwealth. From that day the Samaritans began to develop a hostile spirit against the Judæans, which seemed to show that they had been less anxious to take part in the temple-service than to injure the community and to obstruct the re-building of the Temple. On the one hand, they tried to make those Judæans with whom they came in contact lukewarm towards the project of building the Temple, and, on the other, they persuaded Persian officials to interfere with its execution, so that the work ceased for fully fifteen years. Again the Jews found themselves suffering evils similar to those which they had experienced after their first entry into Canaan. The neighbouring tribes envied them their strip of land, – on all sides they encountered hostility. They were powerless to defend themselves, for they lacked the means for carrying on war.

In these untoward circumstances the members of the community gave their first thought to themselves, and not to the general welfare. The richest and most distinguished persons built large and splendid houses, using, it seems, the building materials designed for the Temple. Bad harvests, drought, and hail disappointed the hopes of the agriculturists. Much was sown and little reaped; there was hardly sufficient to satisfy the hunger of the people, and to clothe them, and "whoever earned money put it into a purse full of holes." Still worse was the moral deterioration caused by this physical distress. The people did not relapse into idolatry; they were radically cured of that evil; but selfishness gained the upper hand, and the members of the community often treated one another most harshly. This state of things contrasted sadly with the new-born hopes of the people, and damped the courage of some even of the nobler spirits.

The death of Cambyses (521) and the succession of Darius, the third Persian king (521–485), led to a change favourable to Judæa. Darius, differing from his predecessor, was, like Cyrus, a mild and generous ruler. An apocryphal tradition tells us that Zerubbabel went to Persia and there found favour in the eyes of Darius on account of his wisdom. As a proof of his favour, Darius sent Zerubbabel back to Jerusalem with permission to rebuild the Temple at the king's expense. But, in reality, the task was not so easily accomplished. When the death of Cambyses put an end to the wars which had been disturbing the peace of neighbouring provinces, Zerubbabel and Joshua intended doubtless to proceed with the building. But the people, that is to say, the heads of families, exclaimed: "The time has not yet come to rebuild the Temple." It required the fiery enthusiasm of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to set the work in motion. These prophets harangued the people frequently during several successive months (from Elul to Kislev 520), encouraging and rebuking and, at the same time, prophesying a glorious future. At last they roused the people to recommence their work. In four years (519–516) the building was finished, and the Sanctuary was consecrated, amid great rejoicing, just before the Feast of Passover.

Seventy years had passed since the destruction of the Temple of Solomon by Nebuchadnezzar, when the entire nation assembled at Jerusalem for the consecration of the second Temple, henceforth to be the centre and loadstar of the community. Three weeks later the Feast of Passover was celebrated by the whole congregation of Israel, as well as by those who had in sincerity joined its faith. However, although the young community was imbued with the spirit of the Law and of the prophets, and although the people anxiously strove for unity, there arose differences of opinion not easy to smooth over, and liable to produce friction. The people had two leaders: Zerubbabel, of the royal house of David, and Joshua, the high-priest, of Aaronide descent. One was at the head of the secular, the other, of the spiritual power. It was impossible to prevent the one power from occasionally encroaching upon the jurisdiction of the other. A circumstance in Zerubbabel's favour was the people's allegiance to the royal house of David, and he was a living reminder of a glorious past, and a pledge for an equally brilliant future, as foretold by the prophets. The prophet Haggai had called him the chosen favourite of God, His precious Signet-ring. But this in itself was an obstacle. It gave the enemies of the Judæans the opportunity to charge the community with the purpose of proclaiming him as the successor of David to the throne. On the other hand, the prophet Zechariah had proclaimed that the high-priest Joshua should wear the crown, ascend the throne, and effect the realisation of the Messianic hopes. In this way he gave the preference to the high-priest, producing tension and divisions. Peace could only be restored by the withdrawal of one of the two leaders: their joint rule could not fail to be the occasion of excitement and irritation. A choice had to be made between the two, and Zerubbabel was obliged to give way, the high-priest being more necessary than the king's son. It is probable that Zerubbabel left Jerusalem and returned to Babylon, and thus the house of David retreated into the background.

After Zerubbabel's withdrawal, the leadership of the community was put into the hands of the high-priest Joshua, and after his death into those of his son Jehoiakim. Was this change a desirable one? True, no evil is reported of the first two high-priests, nor do they seem to have done anything specially praiseworthy towards uplifting and strengthening the community. The supreme command over the people does not seem to have been given to the high-priest, but to have been vested in a governor or administrator (Pechah), appointed over Judæa either by the Persian kings or by the satraps of Syria and Phœnicia. This official does not appear to have lived in Jerusalem, but to have visited the city from time to time, where, seated on a throne, he heard and decided disputes, but not infrequently rather caused dissensions and aggravated existing bad feelings, in order to raise complaints against the Judæans. For, as some Judæans nourished the hope, held out by the prophets, that Judah might yet become a mighty power, to whom kings and nations would bow, the suspicion that the people were plotting a defection from Persia was not removed with the retirement of Zerubbabel. Accusations on that ground commenced directly after the death of Darius, in the reign of his successor, Xerxes (Ahasuerus, 485–464). The enemies of the Judæans, particularly the Samaritans, did not fail to draw the governor's attention to the disloyalty of the Judæans, and thus caused unfavourable decrees to be issued against them at court. Added to this, the successive governors tried to oppress the landowners by excessive demands. The position of the Judæans in their own country, which they had entered with such buoyant hope, grew worse and worse in the second and third generations.

In order to free themselves, on the one side at least, from these constant troubles, the most distinguished Judæan families took a step that led in the end to mischievous complications. They approached the neighbouring peoples, or received the advances of the latter, in a friendly spirit, and as a proof of the sincerity of their feelings, they began to form connections by marriage. As in the days when the Israelites first occupied the land of Canaan, in the time of the Judges, the necessity for friendly intercourse with neighbouring tribes led to mixed marriages, so during the second occupation of Palestine by the Israelites, similar relations led to similar results. But the circumstances differed, inasmuch as the Canaanites, Hittites, and other original dwellers in the land practised abominable idolatry, and infected the Israelites with their vicious customs, while the new neighbours of the Judæan commonwealth, particularly the Samaritans, had given up idolatry, and were longing earnestly and sincerely to take part in the divine service at Jerusalem. They were, in fact, proselytes to the religion of Judæa; and were they always to be sternly repulsed? The principal Judæan families determined to admit the foreigners into the community, and the high-priest, of that time, either Jehoiakim or his son Eliashib, was ready to carry these wishes into effect. Marriages were therefore contracted with the Samaritans and other neighbouring people, and even some members of the family of the high-priest formed such connections.

The leader of the Samaritans at that time was Sanballat, a man of undaunted strength of will and energy of action, clever, cunning, audacious and persevering. He was an honest proselyte, who believed in the God of Israel, and desired to worship in His Temple; but he determined, as it were, to take by storm the kingdom of Heaven. If he were not allowed a part in it voluntarily, he would seize it by force or by cunning.

But not only the Samaritans, also the Moabites and the Ammonites were among the people anxious to maintain friendly relations with the Judæans. Tobiah, the leader of the Ammonites, was doubly allied to Judæan families. He had married a daughter of the noble family of Arach, and a distinguished man, Meshullam, the son of Berechiah, had given his daughter in marriage to Tobiah's son. But mixed marriages with Ammonites and Moabites were specifically prohibited by the Law, until the tenth generation after conversion.

The leaders of the Judæan community, the high-priest and others, who were not quite prepared to violate the law, doubtless eased their consciences by some mild interpretation of the text. But not all were so pliable. A small number of the noblest families had kept themselves pure from mixed marriages, which they deplored as an infraction of the law and as a cause of deterioration of the Judæan race. More especially the singers, who were the cultivators and preservers of the Hebrew language and of its ancient, venerated literature, kept themselves clear of mixed marriages. They may have raised their voices against the pliability of their co-religionists, against this blending with the stranger, but, as they were in the minority, their voices were not heeded. But when a leading authority appeared in Jerusalem from the land of exile, the minority cried out loudly against what had taken place, and a complete reaction followed, from which disagreeable complications necessarily ensued.

It is but rarely the case that historical reformations are made with such suddenness that the contemporary witnesses of the change are themselves affected by it, and are reminded at every turn that old things have passed away, and that a new order has arisen. In general the people who live during an important historical crisis are not aware of the changes occurring in themselves, in their opinions, their customs, and even in their language. Such a change, imperceptible at first, but complete and effectual, took place in the Judæans during the first half of the fifth century. This transformation did not proceed from the community of Judæa, but from those who remained in the land of exile; it soon, however, penetrated to the mother-country, and impressed its stamp upon her.

In Babylonia, the land of the captivity, there had remained a considerable number of the descendants of the exiles, either from material considerations, or for other reasons. But they had been touched by the unbounded enthusiasm of their co-religionists, and they had shown their sympathy by rich gifts and fervent wishes. The Babylonian Judæans laid great stress upon maintaining their own peculiarities and their own nationality. They kept themselves apart from all their neighbours, married only members of their own nation, and were guided by the inherited Law as their rule of life. Their absence from the mother-country served but to make them obey the more strictly the behests of the Law, which thus formed the bond of union that bound them together as members of one community. They could not offer sacrifices, nor keep the observances connected with the Temple service, but all the more scrupulously did they cling to those customs that were independent of the sanctuary, such as the Sabbath, the Holy Days, circumcision, and the dietary laws. Without doubt they had houses of prayer, where they assembled at stated times. Even the Hebrew tongue they cultivated to such an extent at least that it could not become a strange language to them, although they employed the Aramaic or Chaldaic in their intercourse with their neighbours and among themselves. They obtained a correct knowledge of the Hebrew from the scriptures which they had brought with them, and which they made the object of careful study. They gave particular heed to that portion of these scriptures to which, heretofore, little or only occasional attention had been paid, namely the Pentateuch, with its code of laws and observances. During the time of the captivity, the writings of the prophets had chiefly been read, because they possessed the greater power of consolation. But as soon as it was necessary to give reality to the hopes and sentiments which the prophets roused and nursed, and to stamp life with a peculiar religious and moral character, the Book of the Law was sought out and consulted. The Torah, or Law, so long neglected in its own home, now received due honour and attention on a foreign soil. The Sabbath, for instance, was kept far less strictly in Jerusalem than in the Babylonian-Persian community. This ardour for the exact carrying out of the Law and its observances found its embodiment in Ezra, who was the cause of that momentous change in the history of the nation which endowed it with a new character. He did not stand alone, however, but found many who were in accord with him.

This man, who was the creator of the new religious and social order of things, seemed, by reason of his birth, specially called to kindle unwonted enthusiasm for the Torah; for he was a descendant of high-priests. It was his ancestor Hilkiah who had found the book of Deuteronomy in the Temple, and, by giving it to King Josiah, brought about great changes. He was also the great-grandson of that high-priest, Seraiah, who was slain by the command of Nebuchadnezzar, and whose sons carried the Book of the Law to Babylon. Ezra had, therefore, the opportunity of occupying himself with the study of this book. But he gave it more attention than either his ancestors or his relatives had done. After he had read and studied it with care, he determined that it should not remain a mere dead letter, but that it should be realised in the daily life of the people. He began by applying it to himself, carefully obeying the laws regarding dress, diet, and particularly those bearing upon the festivals. Then he assumed the post of teacher to his brethren; he expounded the Law, brought it nearer to their understanding, and urged them to follow it in every detail. The Law was to him an emanation of the Deity, revealed to Israel by Moses; he placed it higher, infinitely higher, than the writings of the other prophets, for the first prophet and law-giver was the greatest of all. Convinced of the Divine inspiration of the Law of Moses, and glowing with zeal to make its authority paramount, he found no difficulty in infusing his own belief and his own zeal into the Judæans of Babylonia and Persia. He soon acquired an honoured position amongst them, his word gained authority, and he was more eagerly listened to than the prophets had been. Ezra may have known that the Law was but negligently followed in Judæa, and he thought that, by visiting that country, he might awaken in his fellow-believers a perception of its true worth. Or he may have been impelled by a strong impulse to settle in Jerusalem, in order to comply with the religious duties pertaining to the Temple and the sacrifices. As soon as he had determined upon the journey, he invited those members of his faith who might be willing to join him. The number that responded was a considerable one, including over 1,600 men, together with women and children, of distinguished families, who had remained in the land of captivity. Amongst them was a great-grandson of Zerubbabel, a descendant of the house of David. Those who could not take part in the emigration gave Ezra rich gifts of gold, silver, and precious vessels for the Temple. It is an astonishing circumstance that King Artaxerxes (Longimanus) also sent presents for the sanctuary in Jerusalem, and that many Persian nobles followed his example. It is evident that at this time the God of Israel had many earnest worshippers amongst the Persians and other nations, and that from "sunrise to sunset His name was glorified and reverenced among the peoples." Not only did Artaxerxes grant Ezra permission to journey with his brethren to Jerusalem, but he also gave him letters to the satraps of the countries through which he passed, and to the authorities of Palestine. He would also have sent an escort to protect the travellers from hostile tribes, but Ezra declined it, assuring the king that the God to whom they prayed would protect them.

The arrival of Ezra with his numerous companions must have caused much surprise in Jerusalem (459–458). They came provided with letters from the king, laden with gifts, and imbued with enthusiastic feelings. Without doubt, Ezra's name as an instructor and expounder of the Law had already penetrated as far as Judæa, and he was received with every mark of consideration. No sooner had he assumed the ecclesiastical function, than the men of strong convictions who condemned intermarriages with the surrounding peoples brought their complaints before him. Ezra was dismayed when he heard of these occurrences. The representatives of the people and of the Temple had, in contempt of the Law, connected themselves with the heathen. Ezra held this to be a terrible sin. For the Judæan or Israelitish race was in his eyes a holy one, and suffered desecration by mingling with foreign tribes, even though they had abjured idolatry. According to Ezra's reading of the Law, heathens who had accepted the Law might enter into the community; they were, however, not to be put upon a footing of equality with Israelites by birth, but were to live as a group apart. The Gibeonites, in former days the slaves of the Temple, who had accepted the Israelitish doctrines more than a thousand years before, were still kept distinct, and were not permitted to intermarry with the Israelites; and in Ezra's opinion, the new proselytes from the heathen nations were to be treated in a similar manner. The connection with them ought not to be of an intimate character; such was Ezra's opinion, based, not on ancestral pride, but on religious and social grounds. Some dim presentiment warned him that the reception of proselytes or half-proselytes into the community – of such elements as had not been tried and proved in the furnace of suffering, as the seed of Abraham had been – would give undue preponderance to the foreign element, and would destroy all the moral and religious advantages which the Judæans had acquired. This fear seized upon his whole soul; he rent his clothes, plucked the hair from his head and beard, and refusing all nourishment, sat until the afternoon, sorrowing and desolate because of this danger which threatened the life of the nation. Then he entered the court of the Temple, and throwing himself upon his knees, he poured forth a confession full of deep contrition, lamenting that the people had not improved by their bitter experiences, but had relapsed into their former evil ways. This keenly-felt penitence, uttered amid sobs and tears, powerfully affected the bystanders, men, women and children, who had been attracted by the sight of the kneeling sage. They burst into passionate weeping, as if their tears could obliterate the dark pages in their history. One of those present, Shechaniah, touched by sympathy, uttered a weighty suggestion: "Let us make a covenant to put away all the strange wives, and such as are born of them." Ezra seized upon the idea at once; he rose and demanded that the heads of the families, who were present on that occasion, swear before the Sanctuary, and by their God, that they would repudiate their foreign wives and their children. That moment was to decide the fate of the Judæan people. Ezra, and those who thought as he did, raised a wall of separation between the Judæans and the rest of the world. But this exclusiveness was not strictly in agreement with the letter of the Law, for Ezra himself, with all his knowledge, was not able to point out any passage in the Torah, implying that mixed marriages were forbidden when contracted with those who acknowledged the God of Israel.