listened to the schemes of rebellion,--for all the nations of Palestine
were either conquered or invaded by the Chaldeans, and wished to shake
off the yoke. Nebuchadnezzar lost faith in Zedekiah; and being irritated
by his intrigues, he resolved to attack Jerusalem while he was
conducting the siege of Tyre and fighting with Egypt, a rival power.
Jerusalem was in his way. It was a small city, but it gave him
annoyance, and he resolved to crush it. It was to him what Tyre became
to Alexander in his conquests. It lay between him and Egypt, and might
be dangerous by its alliances. It was a strong citadel which he had
unwisely spared, but determined to spare no longer.
The suspicions of the king of Babylonia were probably increased by the
disaffection of the Jewish exiles themselves, who believed in the
overthrow of Nebuchadnezzar and their own speedy return to their native
hills. A joint embassy was sent from Edom, from Moab, the Ammonites, and
the kings of Tyre and Sidon, to Jerusalem, with the hope that Zedekiah
would unite with them in shaking off the Babylonian yoke; and these
intrigues were encouraged by Egypt. Jeremiah, who foresaw the
consequences of all this, earnestly protested. And to make his protest
more forcible, he procured a number of common ox-yokes, and having put
one on his own neck while the embassy was in the city, he sent one to
each of the envoys, with the following message to their masters: "Thus
saith Jehovah, the God of Israel. I have made the earth and man and the
beasts on the face of the earth by my great power, and I give it to whom
I see fit. And now I have given all these lands into the hands of
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to serve him. And all nations shall
serve him, till the time of his own land comes; and then many nations
and great kings shall make him their servant. And the nation and people
that will not serve him, and that does not give its own neck to the
yoke, that nation I will punish with sword, famine, and pestilence, till
I have consumed them by his hand." A similar message he sent to Zedekiah
and the princes who seemed to have influenced him. "Bring your necks
under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, and ye shall live.
Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, Ye shall not
serve the king of Babylon. They prophesy a lie to you." The same message
in substance he sent to the priests and people, urging them not to
listen to the voice of the false prophets, who based their opinions on
the anticipated interference of God to save Jerusalem from destruction;
for that destruction would surely come if its people did not serve the
king of Babylonia until the appointed time should come, when Babylon
itself should fall into the hands of enemies more powerful than itself,
even the Medes and Persians.
Jeremiah, thus brought into direct opposition to the false prophets, was
exposed to their bitterest wrath. But he was undaunted, although alone,
and thus boldly addressed Hananiah, one of their leaders and himself a
priest: "Hear the words that I speak in your ears. Not I alone, but all
the prophets who have been before me, have prophesied long ago war,
captivity, and pestilence, while you prophesy peace." On this, Hananiah
snatched the ox-yoke from the neck of Jeremiah, and broke it, saying,
"Thus saith Jehovah, Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar
from the neck of all nations within two years." Jeremiah in reply said
to this false prophet that he had broken a wooden yoke only to prepare
an iron one for the people; for thus saith Jehovah: "I have put a yoke
of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they shall serve the king
of Babylon.... And further, hear this, O Hananiah! Jehovah has not sent
thee, but thou makest this people trust in a lie; therefore thou shalt
die this very year, because thou hast spoken rebellion against Jehovah."
In two months the lying prophet was dead.
Zedekiah, now awe-struck by the death of his counsellor, made up his
mind to resist the Egyptian party and remain true to Nebuchadnezzar, and
resolved to send an embassy to Babylon to vindicate himself from any
suspicion of disloyalty; and further, he sought to win the favor of
Jeremiah by a special gift to the Temple of a set of silver vessels to
replace the golden ones that had been carried to Babylon. Jeremiah
entered into his views, and sent with the embassy a letter to the exiles
to warn them of the hopelessness of their cause. It was not well
received, and created great excitement and indignation, since it seemed
to exhort them to settle down contentedly in their slavery. The words
of Jeremiah were, however, indorsed by the prophet Ezekiel, and he
addressed the exiles from the place where he lived in Chaldaea,
confirming the destruction which Jeremiah prophesied to unwilling ears.
"Behold the day! See, it comes! The fierceness of Chaldaea has shot up
into a rod to punish the wickedness of the people of Judah. Nothing
shall remain of them. The time is come! Forge the chains to lead off the
people captive. Destruction comes; calamity will follow calamity!"
Meanwhile, in spite of all these warnings from both Jeremiah and
Ezekiel, things were passing at Jerusalem from bad to worse, until
Nebuchadnezzar resolved on taking final vengeance on a rebellious city
and people that refused to look on things as they were. Never was there
a more infatuated people. One would suppose that a city already
decimated, and its principal people already in bondage in Babylon, would
not dare to resist the mightiest monarch who ever reigned in the East
before the time of Cyrus. But "whom the gods wish to destroy they first
make mad." Every preparation was made to defend the city. The general of
Nebuchadnezzar with a great force surrounded it, and erected towers
against the walls. But so strong were the fortifications that the
inhabitants were able to stand a siege of eighteen months. At the end of
this time they were driven to desperation, and fought with the energy
of despair. They could resist battering rams, but they could not resist
famine and pestilence. After dreadful sufferings, the besieged found the
soldiers of Chaldaea within their Temple, a breach in the walls having
been made, and the stubborn city was taken by assault. The few who were
spared were carried away captive to Babylon with what spoil could be
found, and the Temple and the walls were levelled to the ground. The
predictions of the prophets were fulfilled,--the holy city was a heap of
desolation. Zedekiah, with his wives and children, had escaped through a
passage made in the wall, at a corner of the city which the Chaldeans
had not been able to invest, and made his way toward Jericho, but was
overtaken and carried in chains to Riblah, where Nebuchadnezzar was
encamped. As he had broken a solemn oath to remain faithful, a severe
judgment was pronounced upon him. His courtiers and his sons were
executed in his sight, his own eyes were put out, and then he was taken
to Babylon, where he was made to work like a slave in a mill. Thus ended
the dynasty of David, in the year 588 B.C., about the time that Draco
gave laws to Athens, and Tarquinius Priscus was king of Rome.
As for Jeremiah, during the siege of the city he fell into the power of
the nobles, who beat him and imprisoned him in a dungeon. The king was
not able to release him, so low had the royal power sunk in that
disastrous age; but he secretly befriended him, and asked his counsel.
The princes insisted on his removal to a place where no succor could
reach him, and he was cast into a deep well from which the water was
dried up, having at the bottom only slime and mud. From this pit of
misery he was rescued by one of the royal guards, and once again he had
a secret interview with Zedekiah, and remained secluded in the palace
until the city fell. He was spared by the conqueror in view of his
fidelity and his earnest efforts to prevent the rebellion, and perhaps
also for his lofty character, the last of the great statesmen of Judah
and the most distinguished man of the city. Nebuchadnezzar gave him the
choice, to accompany him to Babylon with the promise of high favor at
his court, or remain at home among the few that were not deemed of
sufficient importance to carry away. Jeremiah preferred to remain amid
the ruins of his country; for although Jerusalem was destroyed, the
mountains and valleys remained, and the humble classes--the
peasants--were left to cultivate the neglected vineyards and cornfields.
From Mizpeh, the city which he had selected as his last resting-place,
Jeremiah was carried into Egypt, and his subsequent history is unknown.
According to tradition he was stoned to death by his fellow-exiles in
Egypt. He died as he had lived, a martyr for the truth, but left behind
a great name and fame. None of the prophets was more venerated in
after-ages. And no one more than he resembled, in his sufferings and
life, that greater Prophet and Sage who was led as a lamb to the
slaughter, that the world through him might be saved.
JUDAS MACCABAEUS.
DIED, 160 B.C.
RESTORATION OF THE JEWISH COMMONWEALTH.
After the heroic ages of Joshua, Gideon, and David, no warriors
appeared in Jewish history equal to Judas Maccabaeus and his brothers in
bravery, in patriotism, and in noble deeds. They delivered the Hebrew
nation when it had sunk to abject submission under the kings of Syria,
and when its glory and strength alike had departed. The conquests of
Judas especially were marvellous, considering the weakness of the Jewish
nation and the strength of its enemies. No hero that chivalry has
produced surpassed him in courage and ability; his exploits would be
fabulous and incredible if not so well attested. He is not a familiar
character, since the Apocrypha, from which our chief knowledge of his
deeds is derived, is now rarely read. Jewish history resembles that of
Europe in the Middle Ages in the sentiments which are born of danger,
oppression, and trial. As a point of mere historical interest, the dark
ages that preceded the coming of the Messiah furnish reproachless
models of chivalry, courage, and magnanimity, and also the foundation of
many of those institutions that cannot be traced to the laws of Moses.
But before I present the wonderful career of Judas Maccabaeus, we must
look to the circumstances which made that career remarkable
and eventful.
On the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity there was among
them only the nucleus of a nation: more remained in Persia and Assyria
than returned to Judaea. We see an infant colony rather than a developed
State; it was so feeble as scarcely to attract the notice of the
surrounding monarchies. In all probability the population of Judaea did
not number a quarter as many as those whom Moses led out of Egypt; it
did not furnish a tenth part as many fighting men as were enrolled in
the armies of Saul; it existed only under the protection afforded by the
Persian monarchs. The Temple as rebuilt by Nehemiah bore but a feeble
resemblance to that which Nebuchadnezzar destroyed; it had neither
costly vessels nor golden ornaments nor precious woods to remind the
scattered and impoverished people of the glory of Solomon. Although the
walls of Jerusalem were partially restored, its streets were filled with
the débris and ruins of ancient palaces. The city was indeed fortified,
but the strong walls and lofty towers which made it almost impregnable
were not again restored as in the times of the old monarchy. It took no
great force to capture the city and demolish the fortifications. The
vast and unnumbered treasures which David, Solomon, and Hezekiah had
accumulated in the Temple and the palaces formed no inconsiderable part
of the gold and silver that finally enriched Babylonian and Persian
kings. The wealth of one of the richest countries of antiquity had been
dispersed and re-collected at Babylon, Susa, Ecbatana, and other cities,
to be again seized by Alexander in his conquest of the East, then again
to be hoarded or spent by the Syrian and Egyptian kings who descended
from Alexander's generals, and finally to be deposited in the treasuries
of the Romans and the Byzantine Greeks. Whatever ruin warriors may make,
whatever temples and palaces they may destroy, they always spare and
seize the precious metals, and keep them until they spend them, or are
robbed of them in their turn.
Not only was the Holy City a desolation on the return of the Jews, but
the rich vineyards and olive-grounds and wheat-fields had run to waste,
and there were but few to till and improve them. The few who returned
felt their helpless condition, and were quiet and peaceable. Moreover,
they had learned during their seventy years' exile to have an intense
hatred of everything like idolatry,--a hatred amounting to fanatical
fierceness, such as the Puritan Colonists of New England had toward
Catholicism. In their dreary and humiliating captivity they at length
perceived that idolatry was the great cause of all their calamities;
that no national prosperity was possible for them, as the chosen people,
except by sincere allegiance to Jehovah. At no period of their history
were they more truly religious and loyal to their invisible King than
for two hundred years after their return to the land of their ancestors.
The terrible lesson of exile and sorrow was not lost on them. It is true
that they were only a "remnant" of the nation, as Isaiah had predicted,
but they believed that they were selected and saved for a great end.
This end they seemed to appreciate now more than ever, and the idea that
a great Deliverer was to arise among them, whose reign was to be
permanent and glorious, was henceforth devoutly cherished.
A severe morality was practised among these returned exiles, as marked
as their faith in God. They were especially tenacious of the laws and
ceremonies that Moses had commanded. They kept the Sabbath with a
strictness unknown to their ancestors. They preserved the traditions of
their fathers, and conformed to them with scrupulous exactness; they
even went beyond the requirements of Moses in outward ceremonials. Thus
there gradually arose among them a sect ultimately known as the
Pharisees, whose leading peculiarity was a slavish and fanatical
observance of all the technicalities of the law, both Mosaic and
traditional; a sect exceedingly narrow, but popular and powerful. They
multiplied fasts and ritualistic observances as the superstitious monks
of the Middle Ages did after them; they extended the payment of tithes
(tenths) to the most minute and unimportant things, like the herbs which
grew in their gardens; they began the Sabbath on Friday evening, and
kept it so rigorously that no one was permitted to walk beyond one
thousand steps from his own door.
A natural reaction to this severity in keeping minute ordinances, alike
narrow, fanatical, and unreasonable, produced another sect called the
Sadducees,--a revolutionary party with a more progressive spirit, which
embraced the more cultivated and liberal part of the nation; a minority
indeed,--a small party as far as numbers went,--but influential from the
men of wealth, talent, and learning that belonged to it, containing as
it did the nobility and gentry. The members of this party refused to
acknowledge any Oral Law transmitted from Moses, and held themselves
bound only by the Written Law; they were indifferent to dogmas that had
not reason or Scriptures to support them. The writings of Moses have
scarcely any recognition of a future life, and hence the Sadducees
disbelieved in the resurrection of the dead,--for which reason the
Pharisees accused them of looseness in religious opinions. They were
more courteous and interesting than the great body of the people who
favored the Pharisees, but were more luxurious in their habits of life.
They had more social but less religious pride than their rivals, among
whom pride took the form of a gloomy austerity and a self-satisfied
righteousness.
Another thing pertaining to divine worship which marked the Jews on
their return from captivity was the establishment of synagogues, in
which the law was expounded by the Scribes, whose business it was to
study tradition, as embodied in the Talmud. The Pharisees were the great
patrons and teachers of these meetings, which became exceedingly
numerous, especially in the cities. There were at one time four hundred
synagogues in Jerusalem alone. To these the great body of the people
resorted on the Sabbath, rather than to the Temple. The synagogue,
popular, convenient, and social, almost supplanted the Temple, except on
grand occasions and festivals. The Temple was for great ceremonies and
celebrations, like a mediaeval cathedral,--an object of pride and awe,
adorned and glorious; the synagogue was a sort of church, humble and
modest, for the use of the people in ordinary worship,--a place of
religious instruction, where decent strangers were allowed to address
the meetings, and where social congratulations and inquiries were
exchanged. Hence, the synagogue represented the democratic element in
Judaism, while it did not ignore the Temple.
Nearly contemporaneous with the synagogue was the Sanhedrim, or Grand
Council, composed of seventy-one members, made up of elders, scribes,
and priests,--men learned in the law, both Pharisees and Sadducees. It
was the business of this aristocratic court to settle disputed texts of
Scripture; also questions relating to marriage, inheritance, and
contracts. It met in one of the buildings connected with the Temple. It
was presided over by the high-priest, and was a dignified and powerful
body, its decisions being binding on the Jews outside Palestine. It was
not unlike a great council in the early Christian Church for the
settlement of theological questions, except that it was not temporary
but permanent; and it was more ecclesiastical than civil. Jesus was
summoned before it for assuming to be the Messiah; Peter and John, for
teaching false doctrine; and Paul, for transgressing the rules of
the Temple.
Thus in one hundred and fifty or two hundred years after the Jews
returned to their own country, we see the rise of institutions adapted
to their circumstances as a religious people, small in numbers, poor but
free,--for they were protected by the Persian monarchs against their
powerful neighbors. The largest part of the nation was still scattered
in every city of the world, especially at Alexandria, where there was a
very large Jewish colony, plying their various occupations unmolested by
the civil power. In this period Ewald thinks there was a great stride
made in sacred literature, especially in recasting ancient books that we
accept as canonical. Some of the most beautiful of the Psalms were
supposed to have been written at this time; also Apocalypses, books of
combined history and revelatory prophecy,--like Daniel, and simple
histories like Esther,--written by gifted, lofty, and spiritual men
whose names have perished, embodying vivid conceptions of the agency of
Jehovah in the affairs of men, so popular, so interesting, and so
religious that they soon took their place among the canonical books.
The most noted point in the history of the Jews in the dark ages of
their history, for two hundred years after their return from Babylon and
Persia, was the external peace and tranquillity of the country,
favorable to a quiet and uneventful growth, like that of Puritan New
England for one hundred and fifty years after the settlement at
Plymouth,--making no history outside of their own peaceful and
prosperous life. They had no intercourse with surrounding nations, but
were contented to resettle ancient villages, and devote themselves to
agricultural pursuits. They were thus trained by labor and
poverty--possibly by dangers--to manly energies and heroic courage. They
formed a material from which armies could be extemporized on any sudden
emergencies. There was no standing army as in the times of David and
Solomon, but the whole people were trained to the use of military
weapons. Thus the hardy and pious agriculturists of Palestine grew
imperceptibly in numbers and wealth, so as to become once more a nation.
In all probability this unhistorical period, of which we know almost
nothing, was the most fruitful period in Jewish history for the
development of great virtues. If they had no heathen literature, they
could still discuss theological dogmas; if they had no amusements, they
could meet together in their synagogues; if they had no king, they
accepted the government of the high-priest; if they had no powerful
nobles, they had the aristocratic Sanhedrim, which represented their
leading men; if they were disposed to contention, as so many persons
are, they could dispute about the unimportant shibboleths which their
religious parties set up as matters of difference,--and the more minute,
technical, and insoluble these questions were, the fiercer probably grew
their contests.
Such was the Hebrew commonwealth in the dark ages of its history, under
the protection of the Persian kings. It formed a part of the province of
Syria, but the internal government was administered by the
high-priests. After the return from exile Joshua, Joachim, and Eliashib
successively filled the pontifical office. The government thus was not
unlike that of the popes, abating their claims to universal spiritual
dominion, although the office of high-priest was hereditary. Jehoiada,
son of Eliashib, reigned from 413 to 373, and he was succeeded by his
son Johanan, under whose administration important changes took place
during the reign of Artaxerxes III., called Ochus, the last but two of
the Persian monarchs before the conquest of Persia by Alexander.
The Persians had in the mean time greatly degenerated in their religious
faith and observances. Magian rites became mingled with the purer
religion of Zoroaster, and even the worship of Venus was not uncommon.
Under Cyrus and Darius there was nothing peculiarly offensive to the
Jews in the theism of Ormuzd, which was the old religion of the
Persians; but when images of ancient divinities were set up by royal
authority in Persepolis, Susa, Babylon, and Damascus, the allegiance of
the Jews was weakened, and repugnance took the place of sympathy.
Moreover, a creature of Artaxerxes III., by the name of Bagoses, became
Satrap of Syria, and presumed to appoint as the high-priest at Jerusalem
Joshua, another son of Jehoiada, and severely taxed the Jews, and even
forced his way into the Holy of Holies, the innermost sanctuary of the
Temple,--a sacrilege hard to be endured. This Bagoses poisoned his
master, and in the year 338 B.C. elevated to the throne of Persia his
son Arses, who had a brief reign, being dethroned and murdered by his
father. In 336 Darius III. became king, under whom the Persian monarchy
collapsed before the victories of Alexander.