THE BABYLONIAN EXILE.
Nebuchadnezzar's treatment of the Exiles--The Exiles obtain
grants of land--Evil-Merodach favours Jehoiachin--Number of
the Judæan Exiles--Ezekiel's captivity in the first period
of the Exile--Moral change of the People--Baruch collects
Jeremiah's Prophecies and compiles the Histories--The Mourners
of Zion--Proselytes--The Pious and the Worldly--The Poetry of
the Time--Psalms and Book of Job--Nabonad's Persecutions--The
Martyrs and the Prophets of the Exile--The Babylonian
Isaiah--Cyrus captures Babylon--The Return under Zerubbabel.
572-537 B. C. E.
Was it chance, or was it a special design, that the Judæans, who
were banished to Babylonia, were humanely and kindly treated by
the conqueror Nebuchadnezzar? Is there, in fact, in the history
of nations, and in the chain of events, such a thing as chance?
Can we affirm positively that the condition and state of mankind
would have been quite unlike what they now are, if this or that
circumstance had accidentally not occurred? Can we believe that,
whilst firm and unalterable laws govern all things in the kingdom
of nature, the history of nations should be the result of mere
caprice? Nebuchadnezzar's clemency to the people of Judah was of
great importance in the historical development of that nation. The
preservation of the exiles, reduced by much misery to a mere handful,
was mainly due to this kindness. Nebuchadnezzar was not like those
ruthless conquerors of earlier and later days, who took pleasure in
wanton destruction. The desire to build up and to create was as dear to
his heart as conquest. He wished to make the newly established Chaldæan
kingdom great, populous and rich. His capital, Babylon, was to surpass
the now ruined Nineveh. He built a wall round his city, which was nine
miles in circumference, and he added a new town to the old one, on
the eastern side of the river Euphrates. The conquered people, taken
forcibly from their own homes, were transplanted into this new city,
whilst domiciles were given to many Judæan captives in the capital
itself, those in particular being favoured who had freely accepted
Nebuchadnezzar's rule. In fact, so generous was his treatment that
entire families and communities from the cities of Judæa and Benjamin,
with their kindred and their slaves, had the privilege of remaining
together. They were free, and their rights and customs were respected.
The families transplanted from Jerusalem--such as the princes of the
royal house (the sons of David), the descendants of Joab or the family
of Pahath-Moab, the family of Parosh and others, formed each a special
league, and were allowed to govern themselves after the manner of their
family traditions. Even the slaves of the Temple (the Nethinim) and the
slaves of the state, who had followed their masters into exile, lived
grouped together according to their own pleasure.
Most probably the exiles received land and dwelling-places in return
for those which they had forfeited in their own country. The land
divided amongst them was cultivated by themselves or by their servants.
They not only possessed slaves, but also horses, mules, camels, and
asses. As long as they paid the tax on their lands and, perhaps, also a
poll-tax, and obeyed the laws of the king, they were permitted to enjoy
their independence. They probably clung to each other and their common
national memories the more closely, as, like most exiles, they fondly
cherished the hope that their return to their own country would surely
be brought about by some unforeseen event. One other circumstance
greatly helped them. In the Chaldæan kingdom the Aramaic language
predominated, and as it was cognate with Hebrew, the exiles learnt it
easily, and soon made themselves understood by the inhabitants. Even
in those days the Judæans possessed peculiar facility for acquiring
foreign languages. The position of the Judæans in Babylonia after the
death of Nebuchadnezzar (561) was still more favourable.
Nebuchadnezzar's son and successor, Evil-Merodach (Illorodamos) was
utterly unlike his father. He was not courageous, nor did he love
warfare, and he paid little attention to the business of the state.
Judæan youths, from the royal house of David, were to be found at
his court as eunuchs. How often have these guardians of the harem,
these servants of their master's whims, become in turn masters of
their master. The king Evil-Merodach appears to have been under the
influence of a Judæan favourite, who induced him to release the captive
king Jehoiachin, who had been imprisoned for thirty-seven years. The
Babylonian monarch clothed him in royal garments, invited him to the
royal table, and supplied his wants most generously. When Evil-Merodach
held his court with unusual pomp, and assembled all the great men of
the kingdom about him, he raised a throne for Jehoiachin higher than
the thrones of the other conquered kings. He wished all the world to
know that the former king of Judæa was his particular favourite.
This generosity of Evil-Merodach must have extended in some degree to
Jehoiachin's fellow-prisoners, for to many of them greater freedom was
given, whilst others, who had been kept in the strictest captivity on
account of their enmity to Nebuchadnezzar, were released. In fact, it
is possible that Evil-Merodach might have been persuaded to allow the
exiles to return home, with Jehoiachin as king of Judæa, had not his
own death intervened. After a short reign of two years, he was murdered
by his brother-in-law, Neriglissar (560). The dream of returning to
their own country, in which some Babylonian Judæans had indulged, was
thus dispelled. They were soon to learn the hardships of captivity.
One of the many prophecies of the Hebrew seers--namely, that only
a small part of the people should be saved--had been fulfilled.
Insignificant indeed was the remnant. Of the four millions of souls
which the children of Israel numbered in the reign of King David, only
about a hundred thousand remained. Millions had fallen victims to the
sword, famine, and pestilence, or had disappeared and been lost in
foreign lands. But there was another side to the prophecies, which
had not yet been realised. The greater number of the Judæan exiles,
particularly those belonging to the most distinguished families,
unchastened by the crushing blow which had befallen their nation and
their country, persisted in their obstinacy and hardness of heart.
The idolatrous practices to which they had been addicted in their own
country, they continued in Babylon. It was difficult indeed to root
out the passion for idolatry from the hearts of the people. The heads
of the families, or elders, who laid claim to a kind of authority over
all the other exiles, were as cruel and as extortionate in Babylonia
as they had been in Palestine. Regardless of those beneath them, they
did not try to better their condition. They chose the best and most
fruitful portions of the lands assigned to them, leaving the worst to
their subordinates.
Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, the first prophet of the captivity (born
about 620, died about 570) directed his prophetic ardour against the
folly and obstinacy of the exiles. Gifted with simple, yet fiery and
impressive eloquence, with a sweet and impassioned voice, and fully
conscious of the highest ideal of religion and morality that the
Judæans were capable of attaining, he spoke with courage and energy
to his fellow-exiles. At first they treated him roughly (actually
fettering him upon one occasion), but at last he gained their
attention, and they would gather round him when he prophesied.
The elders had often entreated him to foretell the end of that terrible
war whilst it was raging in and about Jerusalem, but he had been
silent. Why should he repeat for the hundredth time that the city,
the nation, and the Temple were to be inevitably destroyed? But when
a fugitive announced to him that the threatened misfortune had become
a reality, he broke silence. Ezekiel first addressed himself to the
conscienceless and heartless elders, who were leading a comfortable
existence in captivity, whilst they were ill-treating their unfortunate
brethren. (Ezekiel, ch. xxxiv.) But also in another direction, he had
to combat a false idea prevailing amongst the exiles. Like the rest of
the prophets, Ezekiel had foretold with absolute certainty the ultimate
return of the Judæans to Palestine, but also their return to a purer
state of morality. Many of the captives, however, in consequence of
their repeated misfortunes, began to despair of the new birth of the
nation, and looked upon it as a mere dream. They said, "Our bones are
dried up, and our hope is lost: we are quite cut off." The greatest of
all evils is for a nation to despair of its future and to give up every
hope. Ezekiel considered it a most important duty to banish this gloom
from the hearts of his people. In a beautiful simile--that of the dry
bones restored to life--he placed before them a picture of their new
birth.
But there was another group of exiles who despaired of the restoration
of the Judæan people. They felt themselves utterly crushed by their
sins. For centuries the nation had tempted the anger of its God by
idolatry and other misdeeds. These sins could not be undone, but must
meet with their inevitable result--the death of the sinner. These
unfortunate people exclaimed, "If our transgressions and our sins be
upon us, and we pine away in them, how then should we live?" But the
prophet Ezekiel also combated this gloomy belief, that sin and its
punishment were inseparably connected, and that crime must necessarily
lead to the death of the sinner. In eloquent words, he laid before the
people his consolatory doctrine of the efficacy of repentance.
Often and in varied terms Ezekiel spoke of the future deliverance
of the exiles, and painted it in ideal colours. So deeply was this
prophet of the exile impressed with the certainty of a return to the
old order of things in his own country, that he actually devised a
plan for the building of a new Temple, and for the ordering of divine
service and of the priesthood. Ezekiel was far from thinking that
such a brilliant and glorious future was near at hand. The ideas,
the feelings, and the actions which he daily observed in the exiles
were not of a kind to justify such a hope. But he and other holy men
helped to make a small beginning. Not long after the death of Ezekiel
and Jeremiah, an unexpected change for the better commenced. The
captivity which, notwithstanding the kind treatment at the hands of
Nebuchadnezzar and his son, was attended with much suffering, but more
especially the influence of their peculiar literature led to a change
in the disposition of the people. In the very midst of the idolatrous
abominations of the kingdoms of Ephraim and Judah, the flowers of a
higher morality had blossomed. "The Spirit of God had dwelt amidst the
uncleanliness of the people." The sublime thoughts of the prophets
and the psalmists, awakened during the course of centuries, had not
vanished into thin air with speech and song, but had taken root in some
hearts, and had been preserved in writing. The priests of the sons
of Zadok, who had never been idolatrous, had brought with them into
captivity the Torah (the Pentateuch); the disciples of the prophets had
brought the eloquent words of their teachers; the Levites had brought
the sublime Psalms; the wise men, a treasure of excellent sayings; the
learned had preserved the historical books. Treasures, indeed, had been
lost, but one treasure remained which could not be stolen, and this
the exiles had taken with them into a strange land. A rich, brilliant,
and manifold literature had been carried into exile with them, and it
became a power that taught, ennobled, and rejuvenated. These writings
were replete with wonders. Had not the prophecy been realised to
the letter, that the land of Israel would spew forth its people on
account of their folly and their crimes, just as it had thrust out the
Canaanites? Had not the menacing words of the prophets come to pass in
a most fearful manner? Jeremiah had prophesied daily, in unambiguous
words, the destruction of the nation, the city, and the Temple. Ezekiel
had foretold the terrible war and subsequent misery, and his words had
been fulfilled; and earlier still, Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, and even Moses
had warned the people that exile and destruction would follow upon the
transgression of the Law. Yet in spite of all their terrible misery,
the people were not entirely annihilated. A remnant existed, small
indeed, and homeless, but this remnant had found favour in the eyes
of the conquerors. It was clear that even in the land of their foes,
God had not entirely rejected them; He did not "utterly abhor them, to
destroy them and break His covenant with them."
Another miracle took place before their own eyes. A part of the
descendants of the Ten Tribes, scattered for more than a century in
the Assyrian provinces, and looked upon as lost, had asserted their
nationality. Though long separated by jealousy and artfully whetted
hate, they approached their suffering brethren with cordial affection.
Those Israelites who had dwelt in the capital of Nineveh had, without
doubt, left that doomed city at the destruction of the Assyrian empire,
and had fled to Babylonia, the neighbouring kingdom. Thus the words
of the prophets were again fulfilled, "Israel and Judah shall dwell
together in brotherly love."
Those who were able to read eagerly studied the rescued manuscripts,
and anxiously sought instruction and consolation in their pages.
The prophecies and words of Jeremiah were especially studied, their
pathetic and elegiac tone being peculiarly adapted to men living
in exile. Jeremiah's writings, which had probably been brought by
Baruch from Egypt, became a popular book. The effect which the living
words, fresh from the prophet's own lips, had failed to produce was
accomplished by the written letter. The spirit of the prophets passed
into the souls of their readers, filled them with hopes and ideals, and
prepared them for a change of mind.
In order to make the conversion a lasting one, the spiritual leaders
of the people chose a new method of instruction. One of them, probably
Baruch, wrote (about 555) a comprehensive historical work for his
readers, relating the events from the creation of the world and the
commencement of Israel as a nation down to the time when Jehoiachin was
released from his prison, and loaded with marks of the royal favour.
This collection embraced the Torah (Law), the Book of Joshua, the
histories of the Judges, of Samuel, Saul and David. To these Baruch
added his own redaction of the history of the Kings from Solomon to
Jehoiachin, whose downfall he himself had witnessed. He gave his own
colouring to these events, in order to demonstrate that the decline of
the kingdom, from the death of Solomon, was owing to the apostasy of
the king and the people.
The historical work that Baruch compiled has no equal. It is simple,
yet rich in matter and instructive, unaffected yet artistic; but above
all things it is vivid and impressive. It was the second national work
of the Babylonian exiles, and they not only read it with interest,
but took it to heart, and listened to its lessons. Levitical scribes
applied themselves to copying it. This literature gave a new heart
to the people, and breathed a new spirit into them. What Ezekiel had
commenced, Jeremiah's disciple, Baruch, continued.
Influenced by the study of these writings, the exiles began to devote
themselves to self-examination. This was followed by contrition for
their constant disobedience and idolatry. Those who were moved to
penitence by the consciousness of their great sins longed to wash away
the bitter past in tears of repentance. They acknowledged that all the
misfortunes that had befallen them were well deserved, for just as "the
Lord of Hosts had purposed to do unto them according to their ways and
according to their doings, so had He dealt with them." Many atoned
sincerely; four days in the year were set apart, at first by a few,
and later on by a large number of exiles, as days of mourning. These
occasions were the anniversaries of Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Jerusalem
in the tenth month, of the conquest of Jerusalem in the fourth month,
of the destruction of Jerusalem in the fifth month, and of Gedaliah's
assassination in the seventh month. At these times it became customary
for the people to fast and lament, wear garments of mourning, sit in
ashes and bow their heads in deep contrition. These days of mourning
heralded the people's awakening; they were signs of repentance, and
the first institution of national anniversaries after the captivity.
This keen feeling of remorse gave birth to a new kind of psalm, which
we may call the Penitential Psalm. Those who had forsaken their evil
ways in turn converted others; former sinners showed other evil-doers
the way to God. The number of the faithful, "those who were eager for
God's word," those "who sought after God," thus gradually increased.
Naturally, the Patient Sufferers (Anavim) formed the nucleus of this
new party. They mourned the destruction of Jerusalem and its former
glory; they were "contrite in heart," and "meek in spirit." They bore
outward signs of mourning, and called themselves "the mourners of
Zion." With them were associated members of noble families, who held
some office or dignity at the Babylonian court. All their thoughts
dwelt upon Jerusalem. They loved the stones of the Holy City, and
longed to see its very ruins, lying in the dust. (Psalm cxx. 14-15.)
The Levite, who, in the name of his companions in captivity, described
so poetically this faithful remembrance of Jerusalem, gave utterance,
in the 137th Psalm, to the sentiments of "the mourners of Zion."
While praying for deliverance or confessing their sins, the mourners
turned their faces towards Jerusalem, as if the place where the Temple
had once stood were still holy, and as if only thence a merciful answer
to their supplications were to be expected. As those "eager for God's
word" would not offer up sacrifices in a strange land, they accustomed
themselves to look upon prayer as a substitute for sacrifice. Three
times a day, a number of persons forming a congregation met for this
purpose. The House of Prayer took the place of the Temple. It was
probably the penitential psalms and the psalms of mourning that were
sung in these houses of prayer, and were composed for them.
The enthusiasm for Jerusalem, for the deliverance from captivity,
and for the Law, was fanned to a brighter flame by the astounding
fact that some of the heathen population accepted the doctrines of
the exiles, and entered into their covenant. Only the enthusiasm of
the exiles could have effected this wonderful phenomenon. Zeal of a
self-sacrificing, self-forgetting nature is a magic power which kindles
enthusiasm. It was comparatively easy, by contrasting the Judæan
doctrine of one sublime, spiritual God with the childish image-worship
of the Chaldæans, to make the latter appear ridiculous. The Judæan,
fully conscious of the majesty of his God, could ill restrain his
derision, or withhold a smile of contempt at the sight of a Babylonian
workman carving an image out of wood, praying to it for help in
adversity, and then kindling with the rest of the material a fire, at
which he warmed himself, or over which he baked his bread and cooked
his meat. In this way many who heard of the great name of the God of
Israel forsook their own false belief, and associated themselves with
a people that professed a totally different religion. These newly-won
proselytes, after their conversion, kept the Sabbath, obeyed the
statutes, and even submitted to the rite of circumcision. This, the
first achievement of the exiles during the Captivity, exercised a
reflex influence upon the Judæans. They began to love their God and
their Law with far greater fervour, as soon as they discovered that
heathens had been won to their side. This regeneration was effected
before two decades had elapsed since the death of the prophets Jeremiah
and Ezekiel.
The now accessible literature, the Torah and the Prophets, was a
rejuvenating fountain, refreshing the spirit and softening the heart.
However, this new spirit, by which the nation was inspired, had to be
tried and tested, and the hour of probation was at hand.
Some of the most distinguished families amongst the Judæans adhered
to their old abominations, and in addition adopted many of the errors
of their heathen neighbours. The giant capital Babylon and the vast
Chaldæan empire exercised a magical charm over those "who stood
highest" among the exiles, tempting them into imitating the Chaldæan
customs, opening a wide horizon before them, and giving them the
opportunity of developing their talents. The products of the soil and
the artistic fabrics of Babylonia, which were eagerly sought after
and largely exported, formed the staples of a flourishing commerce.
Thus the former merchants of Judah were able, not only to continue
their calling, but to follow it more actively. They undertook frequent
journeys for the purpose of buying and selling, and began to accumulate
great riches. In a luxurious country wealth produces luxury. The rich
Judæans imitated the effeminate life of the Babylonians, and even
began to profess their idolatrous beliefs. To ensure the success of
their commercial undertakings, they prepared a table with food for
the god of Good Fortune (Gad), and filled the pitcher of wine for the
goddess of Fate (Meni). So completely did the wealthy exiles identify
themselves with the Babylonians, that they entirely forgot Judah and
Jerusalem, which until lately had been the goal of their desires. They
could not bear to think of their return; they wished to be Babylonians,
and looked with contempt upon the fanatical lovers of their own land.
The two rival parties, which hated each other, were represented, on
the one hand, by men of zeal and piety, and on the other, by men of
worldliness and self-indulgence. The earnest-minded Judæans, who were
full of fervour for their cause, attempted to influence their brethren,
whose religious views and conduct were so widely opposed to their own.
To this effort we are indebted for a new poetical literature which
almost excelled the old. The last twenty years of the Captivity were
more productive even than the times of Hezekiah. The men of genius,
disciples of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who had so thoroughly absorbed the
spirit of their literature that their own souls were brought into
harmony with it, now produced fruitful thoughts of their own, clothed
in elegant forms. An apparently inexhaustible fountain of poetry flowed
once more in a strange land, in the very midst of the sufferings of
captivity. The Hebrew language, so lovingly fostered by the exiles in
their Aramaic home, was the language of their poetic works. New psalms,
maxims of wisdom, and prophetical discourses followed each other in
rapid succession. A poet of that time collected a number of proverbs,
written at a much earlier date, and in the prefatory chapters which
he affixed to them he gave a true picture of the age. He was an acute
observer of human failings and their consequences, and his work is an
eloquent exposition of practical ethics. If he could but bring the
worldly-minded to listen to his teaching, he argued, they might be
induced to abandon their evil ways. The leading idea of this poet is
that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God, and the fear of God,
the safeguard against corruption; sin is folly, and causes the death
of the sinner; even the prosperity of fools kills them, and their
happiness destroys them.--But what reward is there in store for the
pious or the wise who suffer?
To this question our poet, like the psalmists of the exiled
congregation, had no other answer than that "The just will inhabit
the land again, and the pious shall dwell in it once more." But if
this sufficed for the God-fearing people and the mourners of Zion, it
was not sufficient to comfort and satisfy the weak in faith, still
less could it alter the feelings of those who had forgotten the Holy
Mountain, and whose hearts clave to Babylonia. For it was evident
that the sinners enjoyed prosperity, and that those who feared God
and remained true to their ideals were often unhappy and unfortunate.
This discord in the moral order of the world demanded a satisfactory
explanation. Doubts arose as to the justice of God, and as to the truth
of the teachings of the fathers, and these misgivings were bitterly
felt by the Babylonian Judæan community.
A poet undertook the solution of these distressing questions, and
he created a work of art which is ranked among the most perfect
ever conceived by a human mind. This unknown author composed the
book of Job, a work which was to dispel the gloomy thoughts of his
contemporaries. Like the psalms and the proverbs, it also was intended
to convey instruction, but its method was different. In a solemn
but most interesting conversation between friends, the question that
kept the Babylonian community in painful suspense was to be decided.
This dialogue is not carried on in a dry and pedantic way; the author
has made it singularly attractive in form, expression, and poetical
diction. The story of the patient Job, fascinating from beginning to
end, is the groundwork of the dialogue. The arrangement of the poem is
artistic throughout; the ideas that the author wished to make clear
are allotted to different speakers. Each person in the dialogue has a
distinct character and remains true to it. In this way the dialogue is
lively, and the thoughts therein developed command attention.
Meanwhile events took place in Babylonia and Asia Minor that were to
decide the fate of the exiles. Neriglissar, the successor of their
protector, Evil-Merodach, was dead, and had left a minor to succeed
him. But this young prince was killed by the Babylonian nobles, one
of whom, named Nabonad, seized the throne (555). A few years previous
to that date, a Persian warrior, the hero Cyrus, had dethroned the
Median king Astyages, taken possession of his kingdom with its capital,
Ecbatana, and subdued the provinces belonging to it.
The pious and the enthusiasts among the Babylonian Judæans did not
fail to recognise in these events favourable signs for themselves.
They appear to have entreated Nabonad to free them from captivity,
and permit them to return to Judæa. They must have been encouraged to
hope for the realisation of their wishes by the fact that Merbal, a
noble Phœnician exile of the royal house, had been permitted by Nabonad
to return to and rule over his own country, and after his death, his
brother Hiram was allowed to succeed him. It was not improbable,
therefore, that Nabonad would confer the same favour upon his Judæan
subjects. Shealtiel, the son of King Jehoiachin, probably urged this
request upon the usurper, and doubtless the Judæan favourites at the
Babylonian court warmly espoused his cause. But Nabonad was as loth to
let the exiles leave his country as Pharaoh had been of old to dismiss
the Israelites from Egypt. This frustration of their hope, or rather
this discrimination against them, enkindled in the patriotic exiles a
burning hatred of Babylonia and its monarch. The old wounds burst open
anew. Babylon was loathed as Edom had been in former ages. Such violent
hatred was probably not controlled, but found expression in speech
and action. The speedy downfall of this sinful country, teeming with
idolatry and immorality, seemed certain to the Judæans. They followed
with intense interest the warlike progress of the hero Cyrus, because
they foresaw that a conflict was imminent between the Medo-Persian
empire and Babylonia. Cyrus had directed his weapons against the Lydian
kingdom of Crœsus, who had made an offensive and defensive alliance
with Nabonad of Babylonia, and Amasis, king of Egypt. Well aware that
they, in turn, would be attacked, these monarchs tried to gain strength
by alliance. But this served only to incite the Persian conqueror to
destroy the sooner the independence of Babylonia. Did any of the Judæan
favourites at the Babylonian court, or any of the converted heathens
open secret negotiations with Cyrus? The kindness shown later on to the
Judæans by the Persian warrior, and their persecution by Nabonad, lead
to the supposition that such was the case.
Nabonad's persecutions were first directed against the patriotic and
pious exiles; severe punishments were decreed against them, which were
cruelly put into execution. It seemed as if the staunchest of the
nation were to be proved and tried, as Job had been, by suffering.
Upon some, heavy labour was imposed, from which even the aged were
not exempt. Others were shut up in dungeons, or were whipped, beaten,
and insulted. Those who dared speak of their speedy deliverance
through Cyrus were doomed to a martyr's death, to which they submitted
fearlessly.
A contemporary prophet, who witnessed the persecution, or, perhaps,
was one of its victims, described it in harrowing words. Considering
the sufferers as the wards of the people, he speaks of their terrible
anguish as being that of the entire national body:
"He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with grief.... He was oppressed, although he was
submissive, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a
lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is
dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. Through prison and through
judicial punishment was he taken away." (ISAIAH liii. 3, 7.)
The suffering of the Judæans in Babylonia, at that time, closely
resembled the persecution of their ancestors in Egypt. But there was
this difference: in Egypt all Israelites alike were subjected to
slavery and forced labour in the fields and on buildings, whilst in
Babylonia the dungeon and death awaited those exiles only who refused
to abjure their nationality and their religion. Psalm cii., composed
at this time, pictures the sombre mood of one of these victims of
persecution, relieved, however, by the hope of future deliverance. The
Judæans who were threatened with imprisonment and torture followed
the victories of Cyrus with anxious interest. Several prophets now
appeared, who announced, to the consolation of the sufferers, the
downfall of Babylon, and the speedy deliverance of the exiles. Two of
them have left us prophecies that are unsurpassed; indeed, one of those
writers manifested so boundless a wealth of eloquence and poetry, that
his works rank among the most beautiful in literature. When Cyrus at
length commenced the long-planned siege of Babylon, and the anxious
expectations of the exiles had grown harrowing, this prophet, with his
gift of glowing eloquence, uplifted and instructed his people.
If the perfection of a work of art consists in the fact that the ideas
and the language are in true harmony with each other, and that the
latter makes the abstruse thought clear and intelligible, then the
speech or series of speeches of this prophet, whom, in ignorance of
his real name, we call the second, or the Babylonian Isaiah, form an
oratorical work of art without a parallel. Here are combined richness
of thought, beauty of form, persuasive power and touching softness,
poetic fervour and true simplicity, and all this is expressed in such
noble language and warm colouring that, although intended for the
period only in which they were composed, they will be understood and
appreciated in all time.
The Babylonian Isaiah wished to comfort his suffering Judæan brethren,
and, at the same time, to give them a high aim. The suffering Jewish
tribe as well as all those who have minds to comprehend and hearts to
feel, whatever their race and language may be, can find in this prophet
the solution of a problem, the correctness of which history has proven.
He showed how a nation can be small yet great, wretched and hunted to
death yet immortal, at one and the same moment a despised slave and a
noble exemplar. Who was this prophet, at once a great thinker and a
great poet? He says not a word about himself, and there are no records
of his life. The collectors of the prophetical writings, finding that
in eloquence and sublimity his words resembled those of Isaiah, added
them to the prophecies of the older seer, and included them in the same
scroll.
No one could console the sorrowing Judæan community with such sympathy,
or encourage it with such ardour as the Prophet of the Captivity. His
words are like balm upon a burning wound, or like a gentle breeze upon
a fevered brow.
"Comfort ye," he begins, "comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry
unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord's hand double
for all her sins." (ISAIAH xl.)
The exhausted and despairing community was described by this prophet
as a wife and mother who had been rejected, and robbed of her children
on account of her sins, but who still is dear to her husband as the
beloved of his youth. This deserted one he calls "Jerusalem," the
emblem of all that was tender to his soul. He exclaims to the forlorn
mother:
"Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the
hand of the Lord the cup of his fury. Thou hast drunken the
dregs of the cup of trembling and wrung them out.
"There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath
brought forth, neither is there any that taketh her by the
hand, of all the sons that she has brought up.... O thou
afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold I
will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations
with sapphires, and I will make thy windows of agates, and thy
gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of precious stones,
and all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great
shall be the peace of thy children....
"As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, and
ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem."
But where is this consolation to be found? Not in the hope of vain,
worldly glory, not in might and power, but in an all-embracing
salvation. This prophet of the Captivity was the first who clearly
grasped and demonstrated that a creed of general salvation was promised
through Abraham to future generations. The past was to be forgotten and
forgiven; a new social order was to spring up; heaven and earth were
to be re-created. All people from all the ends of the earth would be
included in this universal salvation, and every knee would bend and
every tongue swear homage to the God adored by Israel. It was for this
purpose that Abraham had been called from a distant land, and that his
descendants had been chosen before their birth. God had created the
people of Israel to be His servant among nations, His messenger to all
people, His apostle from the beginning of the world.
The prophet describes this apostolic people in poetry of such
transcendental beauty that it becomes an ideal. And is there any
mission sublimer than that of being the vanguard of the nations in the
path of righteousness and salvation? Was Israel not to be proud of
having been chosen for such a duty? The prophet goes on to say how this
ideal nation was to realise its apostolic mission:
"Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul
delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth
judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor
cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall
he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench; he
shall bring forth judgment into truth." (ISAIAH xlii. 1-4.)
The Law of God was thus to be universally acknowledged, and the
messenger of God was to bring about this acknowledgment by his own
example, in spite of scorn, contempt, and persecution. This, Israel's
recognised mission, the prophet of the Captivity explained briefly,
in words supposed to be spoken by the nation itself (Isaiah xlix.
1-6). He taught that martyrdom, bravely encountered and borne with
gentle resignation, would ensure victory to the law of righteousness,
which Israel, if true to its ideals, was to promulgate. The leading
conception that runs through Isaiah's poetical monologue was thus
expressed by the prophet in the short but effective verse:
"For mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all
peoples." (ISAIAH lvi. 7.)
The fall of the Babylonian empire, with its absurd and immoral
idolatry, and the deliverance of the Judæan community were to be the
first steps in this great work of universal salvation. The fall of
Babylon seemed indeed inevitable to the prophet, so that he spoke of it
as of an accomplished fact, and not as a subject of prophetic vision.
He apostrophized Babylon in a satirical song of masterly perfection
(Is. xlvii.); he derided the astrological science by which the
Babylonian sages boasted that they could raise the veil from the
future; he treated the coarse idolatry of the Chaldæans with more
bitter irony than any of his predecessors had done. He foretold the
siege of the city by Cyrus, and declared that the Persian conqueror
would give freedom to the Judæan and Israelitish exiles; that they
would return to their country and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. The
prophet laid great stress upon these predictions, declaring that in
their realisation Divine Providence would be manifest. Cyrus was but
an instrument of God for furthering the deliverance of Judah and the
salvation of the world.
For the sake of the exiles, the wonders of the exodus from Egypt would
be renewed, every mountain and hill would be made level, springs would
gush forth in the wilderness, and the desert would become a blooming
garden. The exiles would raise Jerusalem from its ruins, and live in
their beloved city in peace and comfort. But in spite of his reverence
for Jerusalem, the prophet declared that the Divine Being was too great
to be pictured as dwelling within a temple, however spacious it might
be, but that each human heart should be a temple dedicated to God.
"Thus says the Lord: The heaven is my throne, and the earth is
my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me; and
where is the place of my rest? For all these things hath mine
hand made, saith the Lord; but to this man will I look, to
him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my
word." (ISAIAH lxvi. 1.)
The exiles, purged and truly pious, adopted this thought, and embodied
it in Solomon's prayer:
"Behold, the heaven of heavens contain Thee not; how much less
a temple." (1 KINGS viii. 27.)
Unfortunately, in spite of the beautiful words of the prophet of the
Captivity, the servant of God declined to accept this apostolic work,
and remained blind and deaf. Instead of making the Law of God beloved,
he made it contemptible, and became contemptible himself.
The ideal and the real being thus at variance with each other, the
prophet felt that his mission was to preach, to exhort, to denounce
and to arouse. The Judæan community in the Captivity was now more
than ever divided into two camps: on the one side were the pious and
patriotic; on the other, the worldly and the callous. The former,
who had become timid and despondent from continued persecution and
suffering, dared not come forward at this anxious time to oppose their
persecutors; they were oppressed by the sorrowful thought that God
had forsaken His people and had forgotten them, whilst their enemies
called out mockingly, "Let the Lord be glorified and we will see your
joy." (Isaiah lxvi. 5.) Now the aim of the great unknown prophet
was to encourage the one class to action, and to move the other to
penitence and improvement. He announced that God's salvation was at
hand, and that if the worldly and selfish persisted in their evil ways,
they would reap the punishment of their sins, whilst the pious would
be rewarded with undimmed happiness. He finally depicted the coming
deliverance and the return, when all the scattered of Judah and Israel
would assemble on the holy mount of Jerusalem.
The king Nabonad and the Babylonian people probably felt less anxiety
about the result of the war between Persia and Babylon than did the
Judæan exiles. For the Judæans were alternating between the highest
hopes and the most desponding fears; the preservation or the downfall
of the Jewish race hung upon the issue of this war. The Babylonians,
on the contrary, looked with indifference, it might be said, upon
all of Cyrus's preparations. But one night, when they were dancing
and carousing at one of their orgies, a large and powerful army
appeared before the bastions of the city. The Babylonians were utterly
unprepared for resistance, and when day broke, Babylon was filled with
the enemy. Thus, as the prophet had foretold, the city of Babylon fell
(539), but the king and the people escaped their predicted doom. Cyrus
was a humane conqueror.
The disgusting idolatry of the Babylonians was uprooted when their city
was taken. The religion of the victorious Persians and Medes was pure
in comparison with that of the Babylonians. They worshipped only two
or three gods, and abhorred the image-worship of the Babylonians, and
perhaps destroyed their idols.
The fall of Babylon cured the Judæan community radically and for all
time of idolatry. For the exiles saw that those highly honoured images
were now lying in the dust, that Bel was on his knees, that Nebo was
humbled, and that Merodach had fallen. The destruction of Babylon
completed the regeneration of the Judæan people, and their hard hearts
became softened. From that time all, even the worldly-minded and the
sinners, clung to their God. For, had they not learned how His word,
spoken by the mouth of His prophets, had been fulfilled? The sufferers
and the mourners of Zion were no longer objects of hatred and contempt,
but were, on the contrary, treated with veneration, and placed at the
head of the community.
No sooner had Babylon fallen than the pious and patriotic party took
steps towards realising the predicted deliverance and return of the
exiles. Cyrus, having taken possession of the throne and of the palace,
declared himself king of Babylonia and the successor of her former
monarchs, dating his reign from the fall of Babylon (B. C. 538). The
servants of the palace, who had crouched and trembled before Nabonad,
now became servants of Cyrus. Amongst them were also eunuchs of the
royal family of Judæa, who had remained true to their faith. They as
well as some converted heathens, who had joined the Judæan community,
tried to obtain from Cyrus the freedom of their fellow-believers.
In this they were probably aided by Zerubbabel, the grandson of King
Jehoiachin. Those Judæans who had been imprisoned on account of the
devotion with which they clung to their faith were set free at once.
But Cyrus went still further, for he permitted the Judæans to return to
their own country, rebuild Jerusalem, and restore the Temple. Together
with Babylon, all the provinces conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, westward
from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean sea, and southward from Lebanon
and Phœnicia to the confines of Egypt, fell beneath Cyrus's sway.
Judæa, therefore, belonged to the Persian kingdom. But what reasons
could have been given to the mighty conqueror for the bold request
that he should allow the Judæans to have an independent government?
And what could have induced Cyrus to grant this request so generously?
Was it the gratification of a momentary caprice, or indifference to
a strip of land, of which he probably knew not even the name, and of
whose historical importance he was certainly ignorant? Or had one of
the Judæan eunuchs, as was afterwards related, described to the Persian
conqueror how a Judæan prophet had foretold his victories, and had
prophesied that he would let a banished people return to their home?
Or was he so deeply impressed by the faith of the Judæans, for which
they had borne so much suffering, that he was induced to favour its
adherents? The true reason for his decision is unknown, but Cyrus not
only granted permission to the Judæans to return to their country, but
he restored to the exiles the sacred vessels belonging to the Temple,
which Nebuchadnezzar had seized and placed as trophies of victory in
the temple of Bel.
As soon as the permission for the return had been granted, a group of
men undertook the organisation of the returning exiles. The leadership
was entrusted to two men of about the same age, and of distinguished
lineage, Zerubbabel, called in Babylon Sheshbazzar, the son of
Shealtiel, and grandson of king Jehoiachin, hence a scion of David's
house, and Joshua, the son of Jehozedek, and grandson of the last
high-priest Seraiah. They were joined by ten men, so that they formed
a company of twelve, representing, to a certain extent, the twelve
tribes. Cyrus invested Zerubbabel with the office of governor or regent
(Pechah) of the province which the exiles were to re-occupy, the
appointment being in reality a stepping-stone to royal honours. All the
Judæans who were to return to their own country addressed themselves to
these leaders.
Compared with those who had once gone out of Egypt, the number of those
who now returned was very small, but still there were more than might
have been expected, 42,360 men, women and children, counting from the
age of twelve. The greater number belonged to the two tribes of Judah
and Benjamin; there were a few Aaronides and Levites. Besides, the
march was joined by some from the other tribes and from other nations,
who acknowledged the God of Israel (Gerim, Proselytes).
The joy of those who were preparing for the exodus from Babylon and the
return to the Holy Land was overpowering. To be permitted to tread the
soil of their own country, and to rebuild and restore the sanctuary
seemed a sweet dream to them. The event caused great sensation amongst
other nations; it was discussed, and considered as a miracle, which the
God of Israel had wrought on behalf of His people. A poem faithfully
reproduces the sentiments that inspired the exiles:
"When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like
them that dream.
"Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with
singing; then said they among the nations, The Lord hath done
great things for them.
"The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad."
(Ps. cxxvi.)
As the patriots were preparing to make use of their freedom to return
to Jerusalem, one of their poets, in Psalm xxiv., bade them reflect
whether they were worthy of this boon. For only the righteous and those
who sought the Lord were to assemble upon God's ground. But who would
dare take on himself the right to pronounce judgment?