THE HEBREWS
ORIGIN OF THE HEBREW PEOPLE
=The Bible.=--The Jews united all their sacred books into a single
aggregation which we call by a Greek name the Bible, that is to say,
the Book. It is the Book par excellence. The sacred book of the Jews
became also the sacred book of the Christians. The Bible is at the
same time the history of the Jewish nation, and all that we know of
the sacred people we owe to the sacred books.
=The Hebrews.=--When the Semites had descended from the mountains of
Armenia into the plains of the Euphrates, one of their tribes, at the
time of the first Chaldean empire, withdrew to the west, crossed the
Euphrates, the desert, and Syria and came to the country of the Jordan
beyond Phoenicia. This tribe was called the Hebrews, that is to say,
the people from beyond the river. Like the majority of the Semites
they were a race of nomadic shepherds. They did not till the soil and
had no houses; they moved from place to place with their herds of
cattle, sheep, and camels, seeking pasturage and living in tents as
the Arabs of the desert do to this day. In the book of Genesis one has
a glimpse of this nomad life.
=The Patriarchs.=--The tribe was like a great family; it was composed
of the chief, his wives, his children, and his servants. The chief had
absolute authority over all; for the tribe he was father, priest,
judge, and king. We call these tribal chiefs patriarchs. The principal
ones were Abraham and Jacob; the former the father of the Hebrews, the
latter of the Israelites. The Bible represents both of them as
designed by God to be the scions of a sacred people. Abraham made a
covenant with God that he and his descendants would obey him; God
promised to Abraham a posterity more numerous than the stars of
heaven. Jacob received from God the assurance that a great nation
should issue from himself.
=The Israelites.=--Moved by a vision Jacob took the name of Israel
(contender with God). His tribe was called Beni-Israel (sons of
Israel) or Israelites. The Bible records that, driven by famine, Jacob
abandoned the Jordan country to settle with all his house on the
eastern frontier of Egypt, to which Joseph, one of his sons who had
become minister of a Pharaoh, invited him. There the sons of Israel
abode for several centuries. Coming hither but seventy in number, they
multiplied, according to the Bible, until they became six hundred
thousand men, without counting women and children.
=The Call of Moses.=--The king of Egypt began to oppress them,
compelling them to make mortar and bricks for the construction of his
strong cities. It was then that one of them, Moses, received from God
the mission to deliver them. One day while he was keeping his herds on
the mountain, an angel appeared to him in the midst of a burning
bush, and he heard these words: "I am the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, the God of Jacob. I have seen the affliction of my people which
is in Egypt, I have heard their cry against their oppressors, I know
their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hands of
the Egyptians and to bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey,
to the place of the Canaanites.... Come now therefore and I will send
thee unto Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children
of Israel, out of Egypt."[41] The Israelites under the guidance of
Moses fled from Egypt (the Exodus); they journeyed to the foot of
Mount Sinai, where they received the law of God, and for an entire
generation wandered in the deserts to the south of Syria.
=Israel in the Desert.=--Often the Israelites wished to turn back. "We
remember," said they, "the fish which we ate in Egypt, the cucumbers,
melons, leeks, and onions. Let us appoint a chief who will lead us
back to Egypt." Moses, however, held them to obedience. At last they
reached the land promised by God to their race.
=The Promised Land.=--It was called the land of Canaan or Palestine;
the Jews named it the land of Israel, later Judea. Christians have
termed it =the= Holy Land. It is an arid country, burning with heat in
the summer, but a country of mountains. The Bible describes it thus:
"Jehovah thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of
water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills, a
land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and
pomegranates; a land of oil olive and honey, wherein thou shalt eat
bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it." The
Israelites according to their estimate were then 601,700 men capable
of bearing arms, divided among twelve tribes, ten descended from
Jacob, two from Joseph; this enumeration does not include the Levites
or priests to the number of 23,000. The land was occupied by several
small peoples who were called Canaanites. The Israelites exterminated
them and at last occupied their territory.
THE RELIGION OF ISRAEL
=One God.=--The other ancient peoples adored many gods; the Israelites
believed in but one God, immaterial, who made the world and governs
it. "In the beginning," says the book of Genesis, "God created the
heavens and the earth." He created plants and animals, he "created man
in his own image." All men are the handiwork of God.
=The People of God.=--But among all mankind God has chosen the
children of Israel to make of them "his people." He called Abraham and
said to him, "I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy
seed after me ... to be a God unto thee and to thy seed." He appeared
to Jacob: "I am God," said he to him, "the God of thy father; fear not
to go down into Egypt, for I will make of thee there a great nation."
When Moses asks his name, he replies, "Thou shalt say to the children
of Israel, The Lord, the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, the God of Jacob hath sent me unto you. This is my name
forever."
=The Covenant.=--There is, then, a covenant between the Israelites and
God. Jehovah (the Eternal) loves and protects the Israelites, they are
"a holy nation," "his most precious jewel among all the nations." He
promises to make them mighty and happy. In return, the Israelites
swear to worship him, to serve him, to obey him in everything as a
lawgiver, a judge, and a sovereign.
=The Ten Commandments.=--Jehovah, lawgiver of the Israelites, dictated
his precepts to Moses on Mount Sinai amidst lightnings and
thunderings. They were inscribed on two tables, the Tables of the Law,
in these terms:
"Hear, O Israel, I am Jehovah, thy God, who brought you out of the
land of Egypt, from the land of bondage." (Then follow the ten
commandments to be found in the twentieth chapter of the book of
Exodus.)
=The Law.=--Beside the ten commandments, the Israelites are required
to obey many other divine ordinances. These are all delivered to them
in the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, and constitute
the Law of Israel. The Law regulates the ceremonies of religion,
establishes the feasts--including the Sabbath every seven days, the
Passover in memory of the escape from Egypt, the week of harvest, the
feast of Tabernacles during the vintage; it organizes marriage, the
family, property, government, fixes the penalty of crimes, indicates
even foods and remedies. It is a code at once religious, political,
civil and penal. God the ruler of the Israelites has the right to
regulate all the details of their lives.
=Religion has made the Jewish People.=--The Israelites did not receive
with docility the government of God. Moses on his death-bed could say
to the Levites in delivering to them the book of the law, "Take this
book that it may be a witness against you, Israel, for I know thy
rebellion and thy stiff neck" (Deut. xxxi. 27). "During my life you
have been rebellious against the Lord, and how much more after my
death." During these centuries some of the Israelites, often the
majority of the nation, had been idolaters. They became similar to the
other Semites of Syria. Only the Israelites who remained faithful to
God formed the Jewish people. It is the religion of Jehovah which has
transformed an obscure tribe into the holy nation, a small nation, but
one of the most significant in the history of the world.
THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL
=The Judges.=--Once established in Palestine the Hebrews remained
divided for several centuries. "In those days," says the Bible, "there
was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own
eyes." Often the Israelites forgot Jehovah and served the gods of
neighboring tribes. Then "the anger of the Lord was kindled against
the Israelites, and he delivered them into the hands of their
enemies." When they had repented and had humbled themselves, "the Lord
raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those that
spoiled them." "But it came to pass that at the death of the judge
they corrupted themselves anew ... bowing themselves to other gods."
These judges--Gideon, Jephthah, Samson--were warriors who came in the
name of Jehovah to free the people. Then they fell at once into
idolatry again and their servitude was repeated.
=The Kings.=--At last the Israelites were wearied and asked of Samuel,
the high-priest, that he would give them a king. Samuel unwillingly
placed Saul at their head. This king should have been the ready
servant of the will of God; he dared to disobey him, upon which the
high-priest said to him, "Thou hast rejected the word of the Lord and
the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel." A war-chief,
David, was set in his place. He defeated all the enemies of Israel,
captured from them Mount Zion, and transferred his capital thither.
This was Jerusalem.
=Jerusalem.=--Compared with Babylon or Thebes, Jerusalem was a poor
capital. The Hebrews were not builders; their religion prevented them
from raising temples; the houses of individuals were shaped like cubes
of rock which may be seen today on the sides of Lebanon in the midst
of vines and fig-trees. But Jerusalem was the holy city of the
Hebrews. The king had his palace there--the palace of Solomon, who
astonished the Hebrews with his throne of ivory; Jehovah had his
temple there, the first Hebrew temple.
=The Tabernacle.=--The emblem of the covenant between God and Israel
was a great chest of cedar-wood furnished with rings of gold, which
contained the tables of the Law. This was borne before the people on
high feast-days; it was the Ark of the Covenant. To preserve this ark
and necessary objects of worship, Moses is said to have made the
Tabernacle--a pavilion of wood covered with skins and hangings. It was
a portable temple which the Hebrews carried with them until they could
erect a true temple in the promised land.
=The Temple.=--The Temple of Jerusalem, built at last under Solomon,
was divided into three parts:
1.--To the rear, the Holy of Holies, in which rested the ark of
the covenant; the high-priest only had the right to enter here,
and that but once a year.
2.--In the middle, the Holy Place, in which were kept the altar of
incense, the candle-stick with the seven arms, the table of
shew-bread; the priests entered to burn incense and to present the
offerings.
3.--At the front, the Court open to the people, where the victims
were sacrificed on the great altar.
The Temple of Jerusalem was from the first the centre of the nation;
from all Palestine the people came to be present at the ceremonies.
The high-priest who directed the worship was a person sometimes of
greater power than the king.
THE PROPHETS
=Disasters of Israel.=--Solomon was the last king who enjoyed great
power. After him ten tribes separated themselves and constituted the
kingdom of Israel, whose inhabitants worshipped the golden calves and
the gods of the Phoenicians. Two tribes only remained faithful to
Jehovah and to the king at Jerusalem; these formed the kingdom of
Judah (977).[42] The two kingdoms exhausted their energies in making
war on each other. Then came the armies of the Eastern conquerors;
Israel was destroyed by Sargon, king of Assyria (722); Judah, by
Nabuchodonosor (Nebuchadrezzar), king of Chaldea (586).
=Sentiments of the Israelites.=--Faithful Israelites regarded these
woes as a chastisement: God was punishing his people for their
disobedience; as before, he delivered them from their conquerors. "The
children of Israel had sinned against Jehovah, their God, they had
built them high places in every city, they imitated the nations around
them, although the Lord had forbidden them to do like them; they made
them idols of brass; they bowed themselves before all the host of
heaven [the stars], they worshipped Baal. It is for this that Jehovah
rejected all the race of Israel, he afflicted them and delivered them
into the hands of those that plundered them."
=The Prophets.=--Then appeared the prophets, or as they were called,
the Seers: Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel. Usually they came from
the desert where they had fasted, prayed, and given themselves to
meditation. They came in the name of Jehovah, not as warriors in
judgment, but as preachers. They called the Israelites to repent, to
overthrow their idols, to return to Jehovah; they foretold all the
woes that would come upon them if they did not reconcile themselves to
him. They preached and uttered prophecies at the same time.
=The New Teaching.=--These men on fire with the divine spirit found
the official religion at Jerusalem mean and cold. Why should they,
like the idolaters, slaughter cattle and burn incense to the honor of
God? "Hear the word of Jehovah," says Isaiah: "To what purpose is the
multitude of your sacrifices? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams
and of the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of
bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats.... Bring no more vain
oblations, your incense is an abomination to me.... When ye spread
forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you ... for your hands
are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean ... cease to do evil,
learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the
fatherless, plead for the widow.... Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow." In place of sacrifices, the prophets
would set justice and good works.
=The Messiah.=--Israel deserved its afflictions, but there would be a
limit to the chastisement. "O my people," says Isaiah in the name of
Jehovah, "be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a
rod ... after the manner of Egypt ... for yet a very little while and
the indignation shall cease ... and the burden shall be taken away
from off thy shoulder." The prophets taught the people to look for the
coming of Him who should deliver them; they prepared the way for the
Messiah.
THE JEWISH PEOPLE
=Return to Jerusalem.=--The children of Judah, removed to the plain of
the Euphrates, did not forget their country, but sang of it in their
chants: "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept
when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the
midst thereof, for there they that carried us away required a song ...
saying, 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion.' How shall we sing the
Lord's song in a strange land?" After seventy years of captivity,
Cyrus, victor over Babylon, allowed the Israelites to return to
Palestine. They rebuilt Jerusalem, reconstructed the temple, restored
the feasts, and recovered the sacred books. As a sign that they were
again the people of Jehovah they renewed the covenant with him; it was
a formal treaty, written and signed by the chiefs of the people.
=The Jews.=--The little kingdom of Jerusalem maintained itself for
seven centuries, governed now by a king, now by the high-priest, but
always paying tribute to the masters of Syria--to the Persians first,
later to the Macedonians and the Syrians, and last of all to the
Romans. Faithful to the end to Jehovah, the Jews (their proper name
since the return) continued to live the law of Moses, to celebrate at
Jerusalem the feasts and the sacrifices. The high-priest, assisted by
a council of the elders, preserved the law; scribes copied it and
doctors expounded it to the people. The faithful obliged themselves to
observe it in the smallest details. The Pharisees were eminent among
them for their zeal in fulfilling all its requirements.
=The Synagogues.=--Meanwhile the Jews for the sake of trade were
pushing beyond the borders of Judaea into Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and
even to Italy. Some of them were to be found in all the great
cities--Alexandria, Damascus, Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth and Rome.
Dispersed among the Gentiles, the Jews were strenuous to preserve
their religion. They raised no temples, for the law prevented this;
there could be but one Jewish temple, that at Jerusalem, where they
celebrated the solemn feasts. But they joined themselves together to
read and comment on the word of God. These places of assembling were
called Synagogues, from a Greek word signifying meetings.
=Destruction of the Temple.=--The Christ appeared at this moment. The
Jews crucified him and persecuted his disciples not only in Judaea but
in every city where they found them in any number. In the year 70 A.D.
Jerusalem, in revolt against the Romans, was taken by assault, and all
the inhabitants were massacred or sold into slavery. The Romans burnt
the temple and carried away the sacred utensils. From that time there
was no longer a centre of the Jewish religion.
=Fortunes of the Jews after the Dispersion.=--The Jewish nation
survived the ruin of its capital. The Jews, scattered throughout the
world, learned to dispense with the temple. They preserved their
sacred books in the Hebrew tongue. Hebrew is the primitive language of
Israel; the Jews since the return from Babylon no longer spoke it, but
adopted the languages of the neighboring peoples--the Syriac, the
Chaldean, and especially the Greek. The Rabbis, however, instructed in
the religion, still learned the Hebrew, explained it, and commented on
the Scripture.[43] Thus the Jewish religion was preserved, and,
thanks to it, the Jewish people. It made converts even among the
Gentiles; there were in the empire proselytes, that is, people who
practised the religion of Jehovah without being of the Jewish race.
The Christian Church, powerful since the fourth century, commenced to
persecute the Jews. This persecution has endured to this day in all
Christian countries. Usually the Jews were tolerated on account of
their wealth and because they transacted all banking operations; but
they were kept apart, not being permitted to hold any office. In the
majority of cities they were compelled to wear a special costume, to
live in a special quarter,[44] gloomy, filthy, unhealthy, and
sometimes at Easter time to send one of their number to suffer insult.
The people suspected them of poisoning fountains, of killing children,
of profaning the consecrated host; often the people rose against them,
massacred them, and pillaged their houses. Judges under the least
pretext had them imprisoned, tortured, and burned. Sometimes the
church tried to convert them by force; sometimes the government exiled
them _en masse_ from the country and confiscated their goods. The Jews
at last disappeared from France,[45] from Spain, England, and Italy.
In Portugal, Germany, and Poland, and in the Mohammedan lands they
maintained themselves. From these countries after the cessation of
persecution they returned to the rest of Europe.
FOOTNOTES:
[41] Exodus iii, 1-10.
[42] There is much uncertainty regarding the chronology of this
period.--ED.
[43] The Talmud is the accumulation of these commentaries.
[44] The Jewish Quarter at Rome was called the Ghetto. This name has
since been applied to all Jewish quarters.
[45] Except at Avignon, on the domains of the Pope, and in
Alsace-Lorraine.