Hebrew Life and Times

Jesus Was a Wise Man Rather than a Scribe

When Jesus came he was a teacher more like those more ancient wise men of the city gates. Like them he taught his listeners out of doors by the shores of the lake or on the hillside as well as in the synagogues. He reverenced the Bible, the Law and the Prophets, as God's word, but he listened for that word also in the sights and sounds of the streets and country lanes. He heard his Father's voice as he listened to house wives chatting with their neighbors, or to vineyard keepers hiring harvest hands.

Study Topics

1. Look up in the Bible dictionary under "Scribes" and "Rabbi."

2. What impressions of the scribes do you get from Matthew 7. 28-29, Matthew 15. 1-9, and Mark 12. 28-34?

3. Read Luke 1. 5-6; 2. 25-36. Where and how do you think these good men and women, among whom Jesus was born, got their training?

CHAPTER XXIXToC

NEW OPPRESSORS AND NEW WARS FOR FREEDOM

After the death of Alexander the Great his empire was broken into fragments ruled by those of his generals who were able to snatch these smaller kingdoms for themselves. One of them named Ptolemy seized Egypt. His descendants, known as the Ptolemies, reigned there for centuries. Another, named Seleucus, gained control of the greater part of the old Persian empire. He built the city of Antioch, in northern Syria, naming it after his father Antiochus. His descendants, on the throne of the new kingdom, are known in history as the Seleucids.

The Jews Under Greek Rulers

Canaan at first became part of the kingdom of the Ptolemies, and this continued for about a century. During this period the Jews seemed to have been treated with a fair degree of kindness and justice. At least they were left most of the time in peace. But about B.C. 200, Canaan was taken from the Ptolemies by the Seleucids, and this turned out to be for the Jewish people an unhappy change. In the year 175 B.C., there came to the throne in Antioch a young prince named Antiochus Epiphanes who, like Alexander the Great, thought of himself as a kind of missionary for Greek art and civilization. He became more and more angry because so many of the Jews refused to worship Greek gods. About B.C. 170, he issued a decree that all persons in his dominion must offer sacrifices to Zeus. When the Jews refused they were put to death.

New persecutions.—A terrible persecution was thus begun. A Greek officer would come into a Jewish town or village, set up an altar to Zeus, and summon all the people to join in the sacrifice of worship. As many as possible of those who refused were hunted down and killed. All copies of the Jewish law that could be found were burned. Every month a search was made throughout Judæa to see whether any Jew still had copies of the Scriptures. A heathen altar was set up in the temple at Jerusalem and swine were sacrificed upon it. To the Jews, who were taught to regard swine's flesh as unclean and unholy, nothing could have seemed more horrible.

Of course there were some traitors and renegades. But the great majority of the Jewish people were nobly true to the faith of their fathers. Hundreds and thousands, young and old, allowed themselves to be tortured and slain rather than take part in a heathen sacrifice. Many even of those who had fallen in with some of the evil customs of the Greeks now refused to be known as anything else than faithful Jews, even though it might cost them their lives.

The Maccabean Revolts and Victories

In the midst of this cruel persecution a rebellion flamed up under the leadership of a certain brave old priest named Mattathias. After his death his sons took up the cause. The greatest of them was Judas, who was surnamed Maccabeus, which some have thought meant the Hammerer. The whole family is known as the Maccabees. Under the skillful command of Judas victory after victory was won by his little band of Jewish warriors fighting against great armies of Greek hired soldiers. The city of Jerusalem was cleared of the detested oppressors, all except a garrison that maintained itself in the citadel. The temple was purified and rededicated to Jehovah.

After some twenty years the soldiers from Antioch were driven out altogether and the little Jewish kingdom under Simon, a brother of Judas, was recognized as independent. For nearly a century the descendants of the Maccabees reigned in Jerusalem. Most of them turned out to be greedy and selfish men unworthy of Judas and Simon. Yet during this period the Jews tasted once again something of the joys of freedom.

The Victories of Rome

During the last two centuries before Christ a new empire had been growing up in the west, that of Rome. In the year B.C. 63, two princes of the Maccabean line fell into a quarrel as to which one should be king. There was a civil war, which was ended by the Roman general Pompey, who annexed the country as a province of the Roman Empire. This was the end of the independence of the Jewish nation.

The Herods.—Sometimes Roman provinces were ruled by Roman governors, and at other times they were left to native kings who were allowed to do pretty much as they pleased so long as they paid tribute to Rome. There was a certain Edomite, or Idumean, as the name was pronounced by the Greeks and Romans, who partly by flattery and partly by real ability persuaded Romans to make him king over the whole land of Palestine.

This man is known in the history books as Herod the Great, although he was sadly lacking in true greatness, being fearfully cruel and absolutely selfish. He built many beautiful palaces in various Jewish cities and also rebuilt very beautifully the temple at Jerusalem. He himself had no interest in religion, but he hoped in this way to win back with the Jews some of the popularity which he had lost through his many crimes. It was during his reign that Jesus was born. When Herod died the land was divided among his sons. When Jesus began his public career as a teacher one of these sons, Herod Antipas, was the ruler of the northern part of the country, that is Galilee. Judæa, in the south, and Samaria between Galilee and Judæa, were directly under Roman rule with a Roman governor or procurator.

The Sanhedrin.—To a certain extent even after the Roman conquest the Jews were permitted to govern themselves. There was in Jerusalem a council, or court, of leading priests and rabbis, called the Sanhedrin. There were in it seventy-one members. When any member died the others elected some one to fill the vacancy. All Jews everywhere were supposed to be under the authority of the Sanhedrin. But except in purely religious matters it had little power outside of Judæa. In Judæa, however, this court, or council, decided all questions except those which the Roman procurator reserved for himself. They were not allowed to condemn a criminal to death. So when the Sanhedrin voted to put Jesus out of the way it was necessary to take him before Pilate the Roman procurator and persuade Pilate to ratify the sentence of death. How galling it was to a proud nation like the Jews to be obliged to go to a hated enemy for permission to carry out their decrees we can well imagine; and we shall learn more of it in the next chapter.

Study Topics

1. Look up in the Bible dictionary, Maccabees and Herod.

2. Read Hebrews 11. 32-40. Verses 33-38 are probably in large part a description of the heroic martyrs before the Maccabees.

3. Was the Maccabean rule a failure because it did not last?

4. How did these rulers contribute to the great ends which Jews had always dreamed of.

CHAPTER XXXToC

THE DISCONTENT OF THE JEWS UNDER ROMAN RULE

In spite of the fact that the Jews still had some power of self-government through the Sanhedrin, the great mass of the people hated the Romans with an almost inconceivable fury. The world had never before seen such cruel rulers. The Assyrians had been bad, but the Romans were worse. Think of that form of punishment which they inflicted carelessly every day even for minor crimes—crucifixion! The poor victim was nailed by the hands and feet to a pole and left to hang in agony till death mercifully ended it all. Think of the gladiatorial combats in the city of Rome and in other Roman cities, where every day for centuries slaves or condemned criminals fought each other with swords to the death, or fought with wild beasts while the gloating multitudes looked on in rapture.

Moreover, not only were the Romans very cruel, they had no manners. They were haughty in their bearing and took pains to let conquered people know how thoroughly they were despised.

Roman cruelty in Palestine.—All these qualities were manifested almost at their worst by the Roman rulers in Judæa and Galilee. Jesus speaks of certain Galilæans, "whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices." We know nothing of this incident except what Jesus tells. Evidently, these Galilæans had come as pilgrims to Jerusalem at the time of one of the annual feasts. Possibly they did not salute with sufficient respect the Roman eagles as they passed some squad of Roman soldiers in the street. At any rate, they were taken before Pilate and ruthlessly condemned to the slaughter.

Roman taxes and the Publicans.—Naturally, the thought of paying taxes to such masters was almost unbearable. Yet each adult Jewish man and woman was required to pay a personal or poll tax besides taxes on his property or income. To make matters worse, the Romans were accustomed to hire Jews to collect these taxes, giving these men the right to extort whatever they could, provided the required tribute was paid to Rome. Of course all true Jews hated and despised these Jewish tax-gatherers or publicans even more than they hated and despised the Romans themselves.

Various Parties Among the Jews

There were some respectable Jews, indeed, as well as these tax-collectors, who favored the Romans. There were for example the Sadducees, a group of wealthy and aristocratic men, mostly priests, who formed a sort of political party called by this name. Many of them were members of the Sanhedrin. They were prosperous, and so long as their power was not taken away they sided with the Romans. It was nothing to them that the great mass of their poor fellow countrymen were being brutally and wickedly robbed and ill-treated.

The Pharisees.—We have already spoken of the Pharisees as being "Separatists," that is, the people who were most opposed to any contact with heathen foreigners. Strange to say, most of the Pharisees were opposed to any violent rebellion against the Romans. They believed that God himself would come to the aid of his people. Many books of the class called apocalypses were written during this period of the history in which the writers tried to comfort their readers by prophesying that the Lord would soon descend from heaven with armies of angels or would send his Messiah to drive out the Romans and set up his own kingdom. The word "Messiah" (in Greek, "Christ") means anointed one.

The book of Daniel in the Old Testament is one of the books of this period. Many similar books were written which were not included in the canon of the Scriptures. All of them were written in rather mysterious language—with references to trumpets, vials, seals, beasts with many heads and many horns, and so on. This was to keep their heathen rulers from understanding the real meaning. It would not have been safe openly to predict that in a few years God was going to send all Romans to eternal punishment.

The Zealots.—There were still others among the Jews at this time who were not willing to wait for Jehovah to come down from heaven. They wanted to start a revolution right away. One such man, Judas of Gamala, led a revolt when Jesus was about ten years old in which many Galilæans joined. It was put down by the Romans with their usual cruelty. Very likely the fathers of some of Jesus' boyhood friends in Nazareth of Galilee were crucified as the punishment for taking part in this revolt. Those who sympathized with Judas continued to plot in secret against the hated Roman oppressors. They were called Zealots. One of them became a member of Jesus' band of twelve apostles.

Smoldering Hate Among the People

Whether they were actual plotters against Rome, like the Zealots, or whether they gave their strength to eager prayer to Jehovah for deliverance, the great mass of the common people among the Jews in the time of Christ were burning with a fierce patriotism and with a hatred against their oppressors such as we can scarcely imagine. The century of freedom under the Maccabees had made them all the more impatient of tyranny—and then to find themselves under such unspeakable tyrants as Herod and Pilate!—this was almost unendurable.

The children drank in this spirit with their mothers' milk. Fathers and mothers had constantly to warn their boys and girls not to show their feelings toward Roman officers and soldiers lest some dreadful punishment should befall them. So it went on from year to year, growing constantly worse instead of better. The whole land was like a heap of smoldering leaves. Sooner or later there would be a sudden flare of open flame.

Study Topics

1. Look up in the Bible dictionary "Publicans," "Zealots," and "Sadducees."

2. How do you explain the success of the Romans in tyrannizing the proud Jews for so many years? Consider the part played by the Sadducees.

3. Read Matthew 3. 1-2. Why did John's message arouse such interest and enthusiasm?

CHAPTER XXXIToC

JEWISH HOPES MADE GREATER BY JESUS

This history of the common people of Israel began with certain vague hopes of a happier and nobler way of living for the descendants of Abraham. As the centuries passed these hopes were only very partially realized. But what was more important the Jews came more and more clearly to understand the meaning of their own hopes. Their great teachers helped them to know what they really wanted or ought to want if they would be happy. Moses taught them the first lessons of justice as the foundation of happiness. The great prophets helped them to see that neither happiness nor justice was possible except as they knew and worshiped the true God—not a God of greed and anger to be bribed with sacrifices, but the God of justice and love. A few of the prophets also began to see that such hopes as theirs could not be for Jews alone but must include all mankind.

The Fullness of the Times

The Jews under their Roman masters had come to a time, as we saw in the preceding chapter, when they were wildly expecting an immediate fulfillment of these hopes. The short taste of freedom and happiness which they had enjoyed under Judas and Simon Maccabeus, followed by a tyranny more cruel and distasteful than any which their ancestors had known, made them almost mad with the desire for some kind of a Saviour. And it seemed to them that he must come soon.

The chance for a world-Saviour.—All over the world just at this time there were strange hopes and longings in men's hearts. The Romans had robbed many other nations besides the Jews of their independence. These people had no real nation of their own any longer to live for—and they hated Rome. What was there to make life worth living unless some Redeemer should come from God?

Moreover, it was possible now to think of such a Saviour as a world-Saviour. In the earlier centuries men hardly knew that there was a world outside their own tribe and a few of their neighbors. There were no maps. Only a few could travel, and see for themselves how great a world there really was—and how many nations there were—made up of men like themselves. The common people of Asia scarcely knew that there was a Europe, and the enormous continent of Africa, except for Egypt, did not exist for them. As for what is now called the New World, North and South America, no one knew of its existence.

Preparations for Christianity.—But the Romans built good roads all over the great countries which bordered on the Mediterranean Sea, and many were the travelers who went to and fro upon them. They established one government for all this Mediterranean world. One language came to be understood everywhere—not Latin, the language of the Romans themselves, but Greek. Beyond the boundaries of the empire there were, of course, vast territories. But it was possible now for even the common people to realize that their own village or city or tribe was only a small part of one great world. And for the first time in history there was a chance for some one to take the old Jewish hope of a better and happier Jewish people and change it into a world-hope of a better and happier human race, and to gather a few men and women together and start them working for it.

The Coming of Jesus

In the wonderful providence of God there was born in a manger-cradle just at this moment in history the Baby who was destined to accomplish this miracle; to broaden out to their widest and noblest meanings these hopes which had been handed down from one generation of Jews to another. The story of the life of Jesus will be given in detail in other courses in this series. Here, in a nutshell, is what Jesus did: he helped men to believe in a God who loved all men as his children, whether rich or poor, learned or ignorant, Jews or Gentiles or Samaritans, even the bad as well as the good; for if they were bad, they needed his love to help them to be good. Jesus not only taught this idea of God through his spoken words; he helped men, through his deeds, to understand it. He lived that way, as the Son of such a God. He healed the sick. He fed the hungry. He ate and drank with outcasts. He was everybody's friend.

The inevitable conflict and cross.—Of course Jesus was not able to live that kind of life very long in our kind of world. Very soon he came into conflict with the various kinds of men who enjoyed special privileges of wealth or learning or honor and were not at all willing to share these things in a brotherly way; with the Pharisees, who were considered especially holy and did not want to be brothers to common men, the "people of the land"; with the rich who did not want to be brothers to the poor; with priests who did not want to be brothers to wounded men lying by the side of the Jericho road; with Romans who were afraid the Jews might think brotherhood meant liberty. So after three short years of preaching and healing Jesus was nailed to the cross, praying even as the nails were driven into his hands, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Suppose the Jews had believed in Jesus.—How different the outcome of their history would then have been! Instead of a bloody and hopeless revolt against the Romans, they might have found a way to live at peace with them, receiving from them a more just and humane government; Isaiah, centuries before, showed his people how to get along under the rule of Assyrians. Or, if the Romans had goaded the people to rebel, they might have fought and died gloriously, not merely for their own freedom but in the cause of all the suffering masses in all lands. Thus the whole course of history might have been changed. The four years' war which did break out in A.D. 66, about thirty-six years after Jesus' death, was not that kind of a war. In the course of these four years different factions among the Jews fought each other almost as fiercely as they fought the Romans. The Jews themselves were selfish in their hopes. They were not inspired and strengthened by Jesus' vision of brotherhood. In A.D. 70 the Romans captured the city of Jerusalem and burned the temple. It was never rebuilt. From that day to this the Jews have been a people without a native land.

Carrying Out the Ideas of Jesus

There was, however, after Jesus' death and resurrection, a splendid company of disciples whose lives had been transformed by their acceptance of Jesus as Saviour and Lord, and who were eager to go on carrying out Jesus' plans. None of them thoroughly understood these plans. Indeed, we are only beginning to understand them to-day. But very soon, within a few years after Jesus' death, the wisest of the early apostles, such men as Peter, Barnabas, and Paul, came to see that to carry out Jesus' wishes there needed to be a universal church in which Jews and Gentiles, men of all races, would be included. Within a half century branches of this new world-church had been started in every important city in the Roman empire. At first their meetings were held in synagogues of the Jews of the Dispersion; and it is a pity that all the Jews could not have perceived that these disciples of Jesus were carrying out the hopes of their own prophets, that this Christianity was simply Judaism fulfilled. But many, of course, wanted to keep their religion and their God to themselves as Jews. So there sprang up other buildings everywhere which came to be known as Christian churches rather than Jewish synagogues.

Our task to-day.—In these modern times we are still trying to understand what Jesus wanted and to bring it to pass in reality. We are beginning to see that if all men are indeed sacred to our heavenly Father, then under the leadership of our everliving Christ, a fight is in store for us on behalf of all the millions of our brothers who are blinded by selfishness, haggard from want, embittered by injustice, stunted in soul and mind by ignorance, or tortured by all the agonies of war. If there is to be a better world for any of us, it must be a better world for all of us. It must be "everybody's world."

Study Topics

1. Look up in the Bible dictionary, for further light on the background of Jesus' life, Galilee, Nazareth, Capernaum.

2. Read Matthew 4. 17. Explain why the message of Jesus, like that of John, awakened such a quick response among the people.

3. What did Jesus think of the rule of Rome? Read Matthew 20. 25-27, and Luke 13. 31, 32.

4. In contrast with the Zealots, what was Jesus' plan for winning freedom and happiness, instead of the oppression and misery of Roman rule? Read John 18. 33-38.

CHAPTER XXXIIToC

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:

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 QUESTIONSToC

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.