Syene in the land of Pathros, the biblical equivalent of upper Egypt.
Syene is apparently represented by the modern Egyptian city of Assuan,
just below the first cataract of the Nile. In Ezekiel 29:10 Migdol and
Syene mark respectively the northern and southern boundaries of Egypt.
Recent excavations on the northern end of the island of
Elephantine,^{(111)} which lies in the Nile opposite Assuan, have
revealed the presence of a large Jewish colony at this point, which
flourished during the earlier part of the Persian period and was
probably established soon after the fall of Jerusalem. The island is
one of the garden spots of the Nile valley. The ruins of the ancient
city cover a low-lying hill on the southern end, which is here fully
three-quarters of a mile across from east to west. On the east across
the river are the heights of Assuan. The view to the south is toward
the rocky cataract of the Nile. On the west, across the river, extends
the brown, rocky desert.
=Results of the Excavations.= The importance of the ancient town lay
in its position at the head of uninterrupted navigation. From here the
caravans set out for Nubia and the upper Nile and for the oases in the
east. The town was built of Nile mud bricks, with little houses and
narrow streets, and was evidently once the home of a large and dense
population. On the western side have been discovered contracts written
on papyri in Aramaic, which indicate that here was a large Jewish
colony living on a practical equality with the Egyptians, Phœnicians,
Babylonians, and Persians, who constituted the population of this
ancient metropolis. Familiar Jewish names appear in these contracts,
which record the sale of land and houses. An Aramaic letter bearing
the date 408 B.C. has also been discovered directed to Bagohi, the
Persian governor of Palestine. From these contracts and this letter it
appears that during the earlier part of the Persian period there was
within the city of Elephantine a Jewish temple of Jahu (Jehovah),
surrounded by strong walls and protecting gates. At this Jewish
sanctuary regular offerings were presented to Jehovah and the
religious customs of the homeland were thus preserved in the very
heart of the old heathen city.
=Transformation of the Jews into Traders.= It is significant that the
Jewish colonists in Egypt were settled in four commercial centres.
Trade was the chief occupation open to them. Hence the shepherds and
farmers of Judah were soon transformed into traders and merchants.
Widely scattered as they were, at each important city there were
colonies of Jews. In time these were organized into great mercantile
companies which, through their agents and branch houses, controlled
more and more of the trade of the ancient East. The Jew of to-day is
the product of those centuries of commercial training which began with
the Babylonian period.
=Home of the Exiles in Babylonia.= In deporting the Jewish captives
from Palestine to Babylonia, Nebuchadrezzar evidently followed the
longer, more northern route, through Riblah and Hamath, across the
Euphrates at Carchemish, and thence southward through Mesopotamia.
Instead of scattering the Jewish exiles throughout the empire, he
settled them in a colony on the Chebar River, which is evidently
identical with the Khabaru Canal. According to recently discovered
inscriptions, this canal ran eastward from Babylon to the ancient
sanctuary of Nippur. This region was in the northern part of the great
alluvial plain between the Tigris and the Euphrates and was
intersected in every direction by canals, which were used both for
irrigation and commerce. To escape the spring floods the villages were
built on low mud mounds, in many cases ruins of earlier cities. The
prophet Ezekiel, who was the pastor and spiritual adviser of the
exiles in Babylon, lived at a village named after the mound on which
it was built, Tell Abib. Two other similar village mounds were called
Salt Hill and Forest Hill. Ezekiel describes their new home as "a land
of traffic, a city of merchants, a fruitful soil, beside many waters."
=Their Life in Babylonia.= In certain psalms are found the echo of the
homesickness and longing for their native hills which filled the
hearts of the Jewish exiles. But the fruitful soil of Babylonia was a
partial compensation for what they had lost. The active commercial
life of Babylon, as that of Egypt, developed within them the latent
Semitic genius for trade. At first they were evidently settled as a
community by themselves, a little Judah in the heart of the great
empire. Here they lived in accordance with their laws, under the
rulership of their elders, building houses, planting gardens, and
rearing up families, as Jeremiah advised in the letter which he wrote
them (Jer. 29). The result was that the majority of the Jews in the
east became so attached to their new homes that few were found later
who would undertake the arduous journey of fifteen hundred miles to
return to the stony hills of Judah. For a great majority of those who
were exiled or who fled from Judah in connection with the first and
second captivity there was no return, even though opportunities were
repeatedly offered.
=Condition of the Jews in Palestine.= The third centre of the Jewish
race was Judah itself. Even though Jerusalem was destroyed and its
population scattered, the majority of the shepherds and peasants of
Judah never left their homes. The captives who were deported by the
Babylonians appear to have been taken almost entirely from the capital
city. Those who remained in Palestine were probably placed under the
rule of the governor of the so-called "Province beyond the River." The
title evidently originated in Babylon, for it was the designation of
the territory which lay west of the Euphrates and included Syria as
well as Palestine. Without organization and the protection of a native
ruler the fortunes of the Jewish peasants must have been indeed
pitiable. The book of Lamentations contains references to the pitiless
persecutions and the frequent forays to which they were subject.
Whenever the local government was weakened, Judah was the object of
attack from every quarter. On the north were the Samaritans, who could
never completely forget their hereditary rivalry with the southern
tribes. At this time the Samaritan territory apparently extended
southward so as to include the cities of Gibeon and Mizpah. On the
east the Ammonites had at last succeeded in pushing their boundaries
westward to the Jordan, and in occupying the fruitful hills and
valleys of southern Gilead. East of the Dead Sea the Moabite territory
evidently extended northward to that recently occupied by the
Ammonites. In southern Judah the Edomites, pushed northward by the
advance of a strong Arab race, known as the Nabateans, had seized not
only the South Country but the old capital, Hebron, and the territory
to the east and west. On the southwest they occupied the important
city of Mareshah and the adjacent Philistine lowlands.^{(108)}
[Illustration: THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN PALESTINE DURING THE PERSIAN
AND GREEK PERIODS.
M-N CO.
]
=Extent of the Jewish Territory.= The Jews were therefore almost
entirely confined to the Judean highlands. Their outposts on the
southwest were Keilah and Bethzur, on the west Zanoah, which
guarded the entrance to the Valley of Sorek, and Netophah, the modern
Beit Nettif, which guarded the entrance to the Valley of Elah. The
northern boundary ran within five or six miles of Jerusalem. To the
northeast the Jews appear to have held the city of Jericho and the
neighboring Plain of the Jordan. Thus the cultivated Jewish territory
was little more than twenty-five miles in length and breadth and
included the least desirable land of all Palestine.
=Evidence That There Was No General Return of Exiles in 536 B.C.= The
overthrow of the Chaldean Empire by Cyrus in 538 B.C. gave the Jews of
Babylon an opportunity to return, for the Persian king reversed the
policy of the Assyrians and the Babylonians and aimed to develop the
resources and loyalty of each of the many peoples in his great empire.
There is no evidence, however, that more than a handful of the Jews in
the east improved this opportunity. Cyrus also adopted the policy of
appointing native princes as local governors. A scion of the royal
house of David was placed over the little sub-province of Judah. This
appointment gave the Jews a local government that undoubtedly
attracted to the homeland many refugees from Ammon and Moab and
especially from the land of Egypt. But the sermons of the contemporary
prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, indicate clearly that those who
constituted the rank and file of the Judean community and rebuilt the
temple were the people of the land and that a general return of the
exiles was an event, still in the future, for which they ardently
longed.
=The Rebuilding of the Temple.= Even during the Babylonian period
sacrifices were offered at the great altar of native rock that had
stood in front of Solomon's temple. Perhaps even before Cyrus gave
full permission to the native peoples to rebuild their cities and
temples a few had come back to find homes among the desolate ruins of
Jerusalem. It was a small, struggling, and discouraged community to
whom Haggai in 520 B.C. addressed his stirring message. His call to
rise and rebuild the temple met with an immediate response. He was
also seconded by the encouraging words of his contemporary,
Zechariah. The rebellions that were then shaking the great Persian
Empire to its foundations encouraged the Jews to hope that the
opportune moment had arrived to reinstate Zerubbabel. Inspired by
these hopes, the temple-building progressed rapidly. The stones for
the repair of the walls were apparently found on the temple hill. The
timbers for the gates were cut from the hills about Jerusalem, which
at this time were, at least in part, covered with trees. By 516 B.C.
the work was completed and the Jewish race again had a common
religious sanctuary at which to worship.
=Discouragement and Hopes of the Jews.= The hopes of re-establishing
the Hebrew kingdom under a Davidic ruler were, however, completely
dashed to the ground. Darius succeeded in putting down the many
rebellions and in thoroughly reorganizing the Persian Empire. At this
time the descendants of David disappear from Israel's history. For a
generation or two the Judean community was overwhelmed with
discouragement, for it was the victim of foes from without and of its
corrupt and greedy rulers within, who enslaved the people and seized
their land. It is not clear what aroused the spirit of the discouraged
Judean community. Possibly it was the divinely inspired vision of the
great prophet, whose immortal songs are preserved in the fortieth and
following chapters of the book of Isaiah. He appears to have been a
citizen of Jerusalem, and to the ancient capital city his message is
primarily addressed. It was a call, however, to all the scattered
remnants of the race to return and do their part in realizing Israel's
noble destiny. It was a summons to voluntary, self-sacrificing
service. It interprets the discouragements, the calamities, and the
ignominies which were then the lot of his race, not as the result of
Jehovah's disfavor, but as a supreme opportunity, if nobly improved,
to demonstrate to the world the character of the God whom they
worshipped and the saving power of the faith which they cherished.
=Nehemiah's Response to the Call to Service.= Before there could be a
general return of the exiles it was necessary that the walls of
Jerusalem be rebuilt, and this required resources, influence at the
Persian court, and, above all, an energetic, able leader. In sending a
deputation to Nehemiah, the royal cupbearer of Artaxerxes, the
Palestinian Jews showed great wisdom. At the head of this deputation
was Hanani, a kinsman of Nehemiah. The scene of this memorable
interview was in the royal palace at Susa, the capital of the Persian
Empire. The huge ruins of the ancient city, fully eight miles in
circumference, have revealed to the modern excavator its magnificence
and beauty. It is possible that the unknown author of the immortal
chapters in the latter part of the book of Isaiah was a member of the
deputation from Jerusalem. Nehemiah records how profoundly he was
moved by the recital of the misfortunes that had overtaken the city of
his forefathers. The spirit and message of Isaiah 40-55 pervade the
prayer of Nehemiah, recorded in the first chapter of his memoirs. One
Jew, at least, was found responsive to the divine call to service.
Improving a favorable opportunity, he secured permission to go back
and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. A royal escort and letters to the
governor of the province beyond the river prepared the way. His
journey from Susa lay along the southern side of the Elamite mountains
and thence beside the Tigris, through Mesopotamia by one of the great
highways which led from northern Syria to Palestine.
=Conditions in the Jewish Community.= Nehemiah has given a vivid
description of conditions as he found them in Judah. The active foes
of the community were Sanballat, the Horonite, whose native town was
apparently either Upper or Lower Beth-horon, a certain Tobiah, who had
intermarried with the high-priestly family of Jerusalem, and Geshem,
an Arabian. Sanballat appears to have been at the head of the
Samaritans, Tobiah of the Ammonites, and Geshem of certain Arabian
tribes, that probably had already gained a foothold in Palestine. The
Judean community had been so long preyed upon by its greedy rulers,
led by the high priest and his followers, that Nehemiah found it
necessary, as a preliminary, to institute certain drastic social
reforms. Like an ancient prophet he preached to the rulers and, by his
own example and authority, succeeded in influencing them to set free
their countrymen whom they had enslaved, to restore to them their
ancestral fields and vineyards, and to promise never again to seize
them unjustly.
=Preparations for Rebuilding the Walls.= Nehemiah's chief work,
however, was the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. In accordance
with the royal grant, he was allowed to cut timber for the gates in
the king's park, which was probably the so-called Gardens of Solomon,
south of Jerusalem, near Etam. Under Nehemiah's direction the working
forces were carefully organized. Work was begun on all parts of the
wall at once and different groups of workmen were assigned to definite
sections of the wall. While half of the people worked, the other half
stood by with their weapons, ready to repulse an attack. Inspired by
Nehemiah's energetic personality and by the constant danger of attack,
the work progressed so rapidly that at the end of fifty-two days the
walls were restored.
=Character of the Data.= The detailed account of the building of the
walls and of their solemn rededication furnishes the clearest picture
extant of ancient Jerusalem. This account is supplemented at almost
every point by the thorough excavations carried on along the line of
the western, southern, and eastern walls, chiefly under the direction
of the Palestine Exploration Fund. The reconstruction thus rendered
possible is especially valuable, for Nehemiah simply restored the
walls of the pre-exilic city. With the exception of the northern wall,
which is covered by the buildings of the modern city, the
reconstruction is reasonably certain at every point.
[Illustration: THE JERUSALEM OF NEHEMIAH.]
=The Walls and Towers on the North.= The account begins with the
rebuilding of the Sheep Gate, which apparently stood immediately north
of the temple (see map opposite p. 203) and was the way by which the
sacrificial animals were brought to the sanctuary. Immediately to the
west of this gate the native rock extends northward almost on a
level.^{(56)} Hence at this point were built two strong guarding
towers, standing apparently on the site occupied in Roman times by the
famous Tower of Antonia. In the days of the divided Hebrew kingdoms,
the upper end of the Tyropœon Valley, immediately west of the temple
area, had been enclosed within the city walls. In Zephaniah 1:11 it
was called, because of its peculiar shape, The Mortar. Elsewhere it
bears the name of The Second Quarter (II Kings, 22:14, Zeph. 1:10).
Through this low depression of the Tyropœon Valley ran the main street
of the city. It passed through the Fish Gate which opens in the north
to the great highway leading to Samaria. The Fish Gate was probably so
named because in the adjoining market quarter the fishmongers sold
their fish, which were doubtless brought in early times, as in the
Roman period, from the Sea of Galilee. The exact course of the
northern wall from this point is not entirely clear, for the ground
over which it runs is nearly level and is to-day covered with
buildings. The importance of this wall and the difficulty of
completely restoring it is shown by the proportionately large number
of workmen detailed by Nehemiah to repair it. It probably ran in a
southwesterly direction to the Corner Gate, which was also called the
Gate of the Old Wall. From this point it would seem that Nehemiah
constructed a straight wall to the Ephraim Gate, which corresponds to
the western Jaffa Gate of modern Jerusalem.
=On the West.= Immediately south of the Ephraim Gate the city was
especially liable to assault. Here a broad, or double wall was
constructed. The remainder of the western wall^{(57)} has been traced
by excavations. It ran due south along the brow of the western hill to
a corner tower which measured forty-five feet each way and rose twenty
feet from an outer ledge of rock. At this point the wall turned
obliquely to the southeast, running to the Valley Gate, where it
turned due east. The ancient Valley Gate was only eight feet ten
inches wide on the outside. Its lower sockets are still in position.
The wall on the east was nine feet thick. To the west of the Valley
Gate was a tower the base of which measured about forty-five feet in
each direction. This was probably the Tower of the Furnaces, so named
because near by the potters baked their jars (_cf._ Jer. 18:2-4,
19:1-6).
=On the South.= From the Valley Gate to the Tyropœon Valley the wall
is built along the rapidly descending slope.^{(55)} The comparatively
few men assigned to this section indicated that it was practically
intact. Where it crossed the lower Tyropœon Valley it was flanked on
the outside with six buttresses, resting on a foundation wall about
twenty feet thick. The main street, leading down the Tyropœon Valley,
has been traced from the southern end of the city to a point opposite
the temple area. It varied from twenty-five to fifty feet in width and
was paved and provided with a curb. Where it ascended the hill there
were broad, low, rock-cut steps, adapted to use by beasts of burden as
well as by foot-passengers. Opposite the southern end of the present
temple area the main street branched eastward toward the Ephraim Gate.
On the east side of the Pool of Siloam were rock-cut steps, probably
the stairs referred to in Nehemiah 3:15 and 12:37, which led up to
Ophel. The King's Pool was in the extreme southeastern part of the
city, south of the Pool of Siloam, from which it received its waters,
but enclosed within the ancient city wall. To the north of this was
apparently the King's Garden.
=On the East.= Along the eastern side of Ophel the wall runs on the
brow of the steeply descending hill above the Virgin's Fount in the
Kidron Valley. There is no gate in this long section of the wall until
the tower is reached which is described in Nehemiah as the "Tower that
Stands Out." Just above this was the Water Gate, the most important
western exit from the city. From this the road led down into the
Kidron Valley and on to the Virgin's Fount, whose waters probably gave
the gate its name. This gate and the Horse Gate, a little farther to
the north, led into the official part of the city. Here on the upper
part of Ophel, to the south of the original temple area, were the
palace and armory. At the northeastern corner of the city was the
Gate of the Guard, where one of the companies that took part in the
dedication of the walls, in the days of Nehemiah, stopped before
entering the sanctuary. Here excavations have disclosed massive
masonry and the course of the original wall, which at this point turns
to the northwest. It follows the slope of the native rock, which
descends suddenly on the north to the ravine leading up from the
Kidron Valley. Inside the walls, between the Gate of the Guard and the
Sheep Gate, were the bazaars where the people could purchase those
things which were needful for their offerings.^{(112)}
=Significance of Nehemiah's Work.= In rebuilding the walls, Nehemiah
prepared the way for that general return of the Jews, which is implied
in the seventh chapter of Nehemiah and confirmed by the later facts of
history. The story of Ezra is a late tradition regarding one of these
return movements. Nehemiah, in reorganizing the method of distributing
the temple dues to the priests and Levites, in discountenancing
foreign marriages, in enforcing the Sabbath law, and in providing for
the support of the temple, laid the foundations for the institution of
the new priestly law and the reorganization of the ceremonial service,
which is associated with his name. Nehemiah was thus the restorer of
that new Jewish state which rose on the ruins of the old.
=Extension of Jewish Territory to the Northwest.= Shut in on the south
by the Edomites and on the east by the Dead Sea and Jordan valley, the
Jewish community naturally expanded toward the northwest. In doing so
it followed the great highways, which ran northwestward from Jerusalem
out upon the Philistine Plain. By virtue of the new life and strength
infused into the Judean community by Nehemiah, it was able to cope
with the Samaritan community and to push its boundaries northward.
Within two or three centuries the arable Jewish territory was nearly
doubled and included such important cities as Ai, Bethel, and Timnath
in the north, and Ajalon, the Horons, Modein, as well as Ono and Lod,
the later Lydda, far out on the Philistine Plain.
=Development of Judaism During the Latter Part of the Persian Period.=
The Babylonian and Persian age as a whole was for the Jews a period of
overwhelming calamity and discouragement, and yet during the latter
part of this era scattered remnants of the race began again to restore
the temple and capital city. During this era the foundations of
Judaism were laid along the lines first outlined by Ezekiel. The
priests and scribes succeeded to the earlier authority of the kings
and prophets. Loyalty to the law and ritual took the place of the
ancient loyalty to the king and state. Judaism, helpless and exposed
to the attacks of its powerful foes, stood apart from the rest of the
world, finding its joy more and more in worship, in trust in Jehovah,
and in the noble ideals and hopes that are voiced in the psalms and
wisdom writings of this period.
[Illustration: MAP OF PALESTINE, CONTAINING PLACES FOR MACCABEAN
PERIOD.
THE M.-N. CO., BUFFALO, N. Y.
]
XXI
THE SCENES OF THE MACCABEAN STRUGGLE
=Alexander's Conquests.= The Persian Empire, founded as a result of
the conquests of Cyrus and the organizing ability of Darius, after two
centuries had become weak, corrupt, and ready for conquest. On the
other hand, the Greek civilization, which had been developing for
centuries in the little land of Hellas and the coast lands of the
Ægean, demanded an outlet that it might expand naturally (_cf._ p.
10). At this critical moment in the world's history, Alexander, the
Macedonian, animated by the lust for adventure and by an ambition to
make the world more glorious by disseminating Greek art and culture,
set out on his eastern campaigns. Within less than a decade he carried
the standards and culture of Greece across southwestern Asia beyond
the banks of the Indus. After a year of active campaigning in Asia
Minor, he completed its conquest in 333 _B.C._ at the great battle of
Issus at the northeastern end of the Mediterranean. With the exception
of the cities of Tyre and Gaza, which were captured only after
prolonged sieges, the people of Palestine readily submitted to the new
conqueror. Egypt likewise proved a comparatively easy conquest. By 331
B.C. Alexander was able to turn eastward, and at the great battle of
Arbela, which was fought that year on the plains near the Tigris, he
broke the power of Persia and advanced to seize its eastern
possessions.