A THOUSAND YEARS OF A NATION'S QUEST
In this course of study we have been tracing the progress of a great
enterprise. A race of people set out in the days of Abraham to seek
the best in life. Did they win or lose, succeed or fail? What did they
achieve, during a thousand years of striving?
SUMMARY OF RESULTS
Looking back over the whole period which we have studied, there are
four short epochs which stand out in bright contrast to long stretches
of darkness as times when the common people had a chance to enjoy some
of the good things of life, or at least had reason to hope that they
might some time gain them for themselves or their children. These were
the times of David, of Josiah, of Nehemiah, and of Simon the Maccabee.
These four men were all able and just leaders. They were all inspired,
to a greater or less extent, by the ideals of Abraham, Moses, and the
great reformer-prophets.
=The long centuries of failure.=--The lives of all four of these men
together, however, do not cover much more than a century. During the
rest of the time, the common people were ground down under oppressors,
either of their own race or foreign conquerors. Generation after
generation of fathers and mothers patiently toiled and struggled and
suffered, in the hope that they might climb just a little higher
toward the sunlight of health and comfort and the higher blessings of
life. Most of them struggled in vain. It is true that a few of the
more fortunate, in each generation, saw some little advance over
earlier generations in the good things of civilization. Such men as
Nicodemus and Zacchæus, in the time of Jesus, lived in better houses,
wore more comfortable clothes, and ate better food than did King David
himself in an earlier, ruder age. But the common people of Jesus' day
were not so well off as even in the days of Abraham. For as wandering
shepherds they were free. Life might be a bitter struggle against wild
beasts and drought and famine. But no haughty masters looked down on
them with contempt, or robbed them of their last farthing in unjust
taxation. Shall we say, then, that as a whole, the great enterprise
was a failure?
THE GREAT ACHIEVEMENT--A TRUE RELIGION
No, the great quest was not a failure, even though it was so far from
a complete success. Out of the long years of struggle and prayer had
come a new religion, not, indeed, understood by many but partly
grasped at least by some, and written down in books so that it could
never be wholly lost. This was a religion of the brotherhood of man
and of a universal Father-God. The four eras of their history when the
common people had been happy were eras when the principles of this
religion had partly prevailed. And these eras still shine out for us
as examples of what that kind of religion means in the life of a
people. And the lives and words of the great prophets, and, greatest
of all, the life of Jesus Christ, are a priceless legacy to us, who
are still continuing the quest which Abraham began.
=The truth which has been revealed to us.=--All men, everywhere, who
are longing and toiling for a better chance for life and happiness
and for knowledge and beauty and love for themselves and for their
children, may now know that they are not without a mighty helper.
There is One who revealed himself, in the history of the people of
Israel and uniquely in Jesus Christ his Son, who still speaks in the
name of all the hungry and thirsty and ragged and sick:
="I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty,
and ye gave me no drink: ... Inasmuch as ye did it not unto
one of these least, ye did it not unto me."=
STUDY TOPICS
1. Of the four short eras of righteousness, in the history of the
Hebrews, in which does it seem to you that the common people made the
greatest gains?
2. What were some of the improvements in civilization which rich or
well-to-do people, in the later centuries of this history, enjoyed, as
compared with the earlier centuries? Study Chapters I and II, VI, VII,
and VIII, and XXII.
3. Compare the earliest religion of the Hebrews with the religion of
the prophets and Jesus. Mention four great discoveries in regard to
the character of God.
REVIEW AND TEST QUESTIONS
1. Describe the daily life of the earliest ancestors of the Hebrews.
2. What valuable characteristic of these people is reflected in the
story of Joseph?
3. What were some of the evils of Babylonian life?
4. What kind of life did Abraham admire judging from the story of Lot?
5. What was the name of the Pharaoh who oppressed the Hebrews?
6. Describe the slavery which the Hebrews were compelled to endure.
What did they have to do?
7. How did Moses succeed in delivering his countrymen?
8. What was the effect of this deliverance on the life and religion of
the Hebrews in after years?
9. Why was it comparatively easy for the Hebrews to get a foothold in
Canaan about B.C. 1200?
10. To what extent was the settlement in Canaan peaceful and to what
extent was it by conquest?
11. What lessons in civilization did the Hebrews learn in Canaan?
12. What moral dangers did they have to fight against there?
13. Why were the Hebrews in the first years after the settlement so
often beaten by their enemies?
14. What was Deborah's most important contribution to the history of
her people?
15. Why did it seem necessary for the Hebrews to have a king?
16. Why were some of the wisest of the Hebrews opposed to the idea of
a king?
17. How did David make the lives of the common people under his rule
more prosperous and happy?
18. Why was Solomon unpopular?
19. Was the disruption of the kingdom of Solomon a mistake, or was it
a blessing?
20. In what way did most of the kings who followed David make
themselves a curse to their subjects?
21. Explain why the Rechabites, Elijah, and others hated Canaanite
civilization and wanted the people to go back to the old nomadic
desert ways.
22. Describe the burnt-offerings of ancient Hebrew religion. What was
the difference between ordinary sacrifices and special "whole
burnt-offerings"?
23. Describe the life of the poor people of Israel in the time of
Jeroboam II and the prophet Amos.
24. How did Amos criticize the religion of burnt-offerings?
25. What false ideas of God did Hosea combat?
26. How did Hosea come to think of God as loving and merciful?
27. How were superstitious ideas about God used by greedy priests and
fortune-tellers in Micah's day to extort money from the people?
28. What did Micah say were the essential things in religion?
29. Why did the Jews in Isaiah's time seek for alliances with foreign
countries?
30. How were these alliances connected with the worship of foreign
gods?
31. What were some of the sayings of Isaiah in which he taught the
lesson of faith in the one true God?
32. What plan did Isaiah devise to educate disciples in his religious
teachings?
33. What was the historical connection between the study circles of
Isaiah and the law-book of Deuteronomy?
34. To what extent did the law-book of Deuteronomy lead to the
practice of the teachings of the prophets?
35. How did this law compromise in the matter of burnt-offerings and
other sacrifices?
36. What did the prophet Jeremiah think of the law-book of
Deuteronomy? Did he favor it or condemn it? Explain.
37. Describe the life of the exiles in Babylon.
38. How did they keep alive their faith in Jehovah?
39. Where else besides Babylonia were large numbers of Hebrew exiles
to be found?
40. With what hopes did the Jews comfort themselves after the
destruction of Jerusalem?
41. In what two ways did Nehemiah help the Jews in Jerusalem to a
happier life?
42. Tell the story of the growing use of prayer and hymn books in the
religious worship of the Jews.
43. Why did many of the Jews become more narrowly prejudiced against
foreigners after the destruction of Jerusalem?
44. What influences tended to make some of the Jews in this period
more broad-minded and friendly toward foreigners?
45. Mention some writings from this period which helped the cause of
the broader patriotism.
46. What two kinds of special schools and teachers grew up among the
Jews?
47. Describe the daily scenes in the group of listeners around one of
the old wise men.
48. What were some weaknesses and faults in the education of the
scribes?
49. What contributions did the Greeks bring to the civilization of the
Jews in Canaan?
50. Why were the Jews specially discontented under the rule of the
Romans?
51. In what four periods of their history were the Jews happiest?
52. How did Jesus fulfill and broaden out the national hopes of the
Jews?
A SHORT LIST OF BOOKS THROWING LIGHT ON HEBREW LIFE AND TIMES
Kent and Bailey: _History of the Hebrew Commonwealth_.
George A. Barton: _Archæology and the Bible_.
Charles Reynolds Brown: _The Story Books of the Early Hebrews_.
Harold B. Hunting: _The Story of Our Bible_.
Crosby: _Geography of Bible Lands_.
_Hastings' One Volume Bible Dictionary_.
* * * * *
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| Typographical errors corrected in text: |
| |
| Page 14: wondering replaced with wandering |
| Page 38: record replaced with records |
| Page 155: 'life itself itself was' replaced with |
| 'life itself was' |
| |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
* * * * *
End of Project Gutenberg's Hebrew Life and Times, by Harold B. Hunting