HISTORICAL INTERIM BETWEEN RESTORATION OF JUDAH AND COMING OF MESSIAH.

SPECIAL TEXT: "M. K. B. I." (Maccabees) "Mi-Kamoka Baelim, Ihovah"—"who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods?"—MOSES.

NOTES.

1. History from Ezra to Messiah: "While the Historical Books of the Bible close with Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, it is thought proper to carry the historical period through to the birth of Messiah by this tenth lesson. This for completeness in the outlines of the history of Israel given in the historical books of the Bible, plus the Apocrypha. Also because of the importance of this too much neglected historical period, without a knowledge of which very much of the New Testament may not be understood. 'The New Testament,' says Prof. J. V. Bartlett, in the "Bible Treasure," "takes much for granted. Hence, in reading the Gospels, one is often forced to ask: What is the exact point of so and so? We want, in fact, to become as one of Christ's fellow-countrymen; and this means steeping our thought in the story of the long years which lie between the times of Ezra and those of Jesus the Christ. They must cease to be to us 'ages of silence,' if we are to see just what is meant by 'the tradition of the elders,' or to feel the full force of much that is found in the Sermon on the Mount. The whole period of more than four centuries falls into four epochs—the Persian, the Greek, the Maccabean and the Roman." (Bible Treasury, p. 189.)

2. Historical Summary of Interval Between Old and New Testament: The following notes are abridged from Oxford Bible Helps, Summary of this Historical Period (p. 15), which summary itself is taken chiefly from Josephus' Antiquities and the Books of the Maccabees.

3. The Persian Period—537-330 B. C.: "Ezra and Nehemiah left a settled form of government in Palestine, the center of which was Jerusalem. Here was established a council of elders and priests, who formed an ecclesiastical court, interpreting the law, and enforcing its observance. These were called the "Great Synagogue." They were to the new settlement after the captivity what the 'elders that overlived Joshua' (Josh. xxiv: 31) were to the Israelites who came out of Egypt. It was the Jewish theory that the law was given in a two-fold form, viz., the written and the oral; the former consisting of brief official enactments, the latter of more copious details. With the former code, immutably formalized by God, they said the latter was orally taught to Moses on Mount Sinai by the same Divine Author, as the authoritative interpretation thereof, with the command to commit the one to writing, but to transmit the other only by word of mouth. This oral law was repeated by Moses to Joshua, who handed it on to the elders who succeeded him, and they to the prophets, who, in their turn, passed it from one to another till it reached Jeremiah, who, through the medium of Baruch, conveyed it to Ezra, and he to the Great Synagogue, whom Nehemiah also supplied with a library of all the sacred books he could collect (II Mac. ii: 13). This body of elders lasted about 150 years, when it expired in its last survivor, the High Priest Simon the Just (B. C. 291). * * * * Ezra and Nehemiah also set up synagogues in country towns, as places of worship on the Sabbath, and schools of instruction and for theological discussion during the week. Attached to each was a body of 'rulers,' who were both civil magistrates and ecclesiastical presbyters. During all this time [two hundred years] Palestine was subject to Persia, and formed only part of a province under the Satrap of Syria, these elders administering the government with the high priest as their responsible head."

4. Greek Period—330-167 B. C.: "After the victories of Alexander the Great over Persia, he took possession of Syria, allowing the Jews to retain self-government and their own religion; and when he built Alexandria, he invited thither many Jews, giving them equal rights with the rest of his subjects. On Alexander's death at an early age, his empire was divided amongst his four generals, and Syria was allotted to Egypt under Ptolemy Lagos, who transplanted many more Jews to the new colony at Alexandria (B. C. 320), and gave them many privileges, so that they built a temple [at Jerusalem], and restored the ritual of Solomon's time, until Alexandria became the center and metropolis of those Jews who had migrated to Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy, and who are called in the Acts of the Apostles "Grecians" ( Hellenists). They were more lax in morals, liberal in views, and less exclusive than the "Hebrews" of Jerusalem. They used the Greek language, and eventually (B. C. 285) accepted as their scripture the Septuagint translation, instead of the Hebrew original. It was at this period that Simon the Just was high priest at Jerusalem, and by his wise administration strengthened their position, and brought them peace and prosperity."

5. The Maccabees—B. C. 198: "After a series of contests Palestine was taken from Egypt by Antiochus the Great, annexed to Syria, and divided into five provinces, viz., Judea, Samaria, Galilee (W. of Jordan), Peraea, and Trachonitis (E. of Jordan). From this time, owing to its position between the two great powers Egypt and Syria, this country became a frequent prey to both, until Antiochus Epiphanes took Jerusalem (B. C. 170), foully polluted the temple, and compelled the Jews to sacrifice to idols. He erected the statue of Jupiter on the altar of burnt-offering, committed all books of scripture to the flames, and prohibited the worship of God. The high priests, corrupted by Greek licentiousness, prepared the way for declension, and encouraged the adoption of foreign customs. But the attempt to finally stamp out Judaism produced a recoil. It culminated in the attempt of Antiochus to force the Jews publicly to eat the flesh of swine sacrificed on God's altar to the honor of Jupiter. One aged scribe refused, was followed by a mother and her seven sons, who all suffered martyrdom with the extremes of torture. This was followed by Mattathias, a priest of the Asmoaean family, who killed both a renegade Jew, when about to offer idolatrous sacrifice, and the royal officer who presided. Aided by his five sons, he rallied the faithful round him, threw down the heathen altars, fled to the mountains and raised the standard of liberty, on which were inscribed M. K. B. I., the initials of their Hebrew war-cry, Mi-Kamoka Baelim, Ihovah, 'Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods?" (Exodus xv: 11), from which the insurgents got the name of 'Maccabees,' whence the eldest son and successor of Mattathias is known in history as Judas Maccabaeus. Under him they were victorious. Antiochus died of a loathsome disease, stricken by God. The Maccabees recovered Jerusalem, purified the temple, and restored its worship, holding for eight days (in December, B. C. 165) the first "Feast of Dedication," which continued to be annually observed to our Lord's time (John x: 22.)"

6. The Roman Period: "The Maccabean family continued to hold the main sway over the people, who retained their local customs, but were obliged to make terms with the Romans, under whose protection they retained considerable freedom. Although the Israelites were scattered over many countries, Jerusalem was still their religious and political center, and in its temple alone were sacrifices offered, and to it flowed the poll-tax of half a shekel from Jews all over the world. The Roman government acknowledged and confirmed their independent local administration, as a peculiar "imperium in imperio," by the following decrees: (B. C. 47.) Julius Caesar (for services in Alexandrine war) gave to Hyrcanus and his heirs all rights accorded to high priests by law or courtesy; all doubtful questions to be referred to him personally. Also, to Hyrcanus, his heirs and Ethnarch, the privilege of being patroni of all Jews that were aggrieved; hence all Jews throughout the world had a direct appeal to Caesar through the high priest, whose ambassadors had everywhere a free passage. Also, exemption from all tribute every seventh year, 'because they neither sow nor reap.' Also, peculiar liberty to 'meet and assemble together, and comport themselves according to the custom of their fathers, and their own laws.' (B. C. 44). On the death of Caesar and Hyrcanus, all the edicts of the former, whether recorded in the Treasury or not, were confirmed by the senate, in the Consulate of Dolabella and Antony. Thus the Jews, wherever they lived, were exempt from taxation at certain times, free from military service, allowed to maintain their peculiar customs, and looked to their high priest in Jerusalem as their ecclesiastical and civil superior in all that related to religious or ceremonial observances. But, for maintenance of order and general political government, a Roman official, supported by military organization, presided over all Syria. This official at first was one allied to both interests, and to whom was delegated the nomination to the high priesthood, viz., Herod the Great (B. C. 37), an Idumaean by birth, but descended from a Philistine slave. By aid of Roman troops he deposed the last Asmonaean prince, Antigonus, married his niece Mariamne (granddaughter of Hyrcanus, the high priest), and became a nominal sovereign, subject to Roms." (Oxford Bible Helps, p. 15.)

Footnotes

1. The Books of the Maccabees are to be found in the Douay Bible with this explanatory note: "It is not known who was the author of these books. But as to their authority: though they are not received by the Jews, saith St. Augustine, City of God, I. 18. c. 36, they are received by the church: who, in settling her canon of the scriptures, chose rather to be directed by the tradition she had received from the Apostles of Christ, than by that of the Scribes and Pharisees." (Introduction to the First Book of Maccabees, Douay Bible, p. 1128.)