Charles Foster Kent

“ Let us raise up the ruin of our people
And let us fight for our people and the sanctuary;
So they gathered together and came to Mizpeh, opposite Jerusalem; for in Mizpeh there was a place of prayer for Israel. And they fasted that day, and put sackcloth and ashes on their heads and tore their clothes, and spread out the book of the law—one of those in which the heathen had been painting images of their idols. And they brought the priests' garments with the first-fruits, and the tithes, and they cut the hair of the Nazirites who had accomplished their days. ”

“ Behold, I set my face against you for evil to cut off the remnant of Judah in the land of Egypt, and they shall fall by the sword and by famine; they shall die, small and great, and they shall be an object of execration, of astonishment, of cursing, and of reproach. For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, so that none of the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to reside there, shall escape or be left to return to the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return ”

“ As he approached the ascent of Bethhoron, Judas went forth to meet him with a small company. But when they saw the army coming to meet them, they said to Judas, How shall we, few as we are, be able to battle against so great a multitude? and we are faint also, having tasted no food to-day. Then Judas said, It is an easy thing for many to be shut up in the hands of a few; and with Heaven it is equally easy to save by many or by few; for victory in battle does not depend upon the size of an army, but from Heaven comes the strength. ”

“ And to men there shall be no other house where men may learn of the world to be than that which God hath given for faithful men to honor; for mortals shall call it the temple of the mighty God. And all pathways of the plain and rough hills and high mountains and wild waves of the deep shall be easy in those days for crossing and sailing; for perfect peace for the good shall come on earth. ”

“ Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, although they are burned? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was with him, and he said, 'Even that which they are building, if a fox should go up on it, he would break down their stone wall!' Hear, O our God—for we are despised—and turn back their reproach upon their own head and give them up as an object of spoil in a land of captivity, and cover not their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out from thy sight, for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders. ”

“ In the light of the new situation and his enlarged acquaintance with the world the prophet then proceeds to define the task that awaits his people. While he does not break entirely away from the popular expectation that the scattered exiles would yet be restored to Jerusalem to participate in the universal kingdom that was there to be established, he fully appreciates the larger significance of Israel's mission. He recognizes that it is worldwide. He sees that the Jewish race is called not merely to receive honors and material blessings but also to serve suffering and needy mankind. ”

“ And Satan answered Jehovah, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down on it. And Jehovah said to Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil; and he still remains steadfast in his piety, although thou incitest me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered Jehovah, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. ”

“ It is difficult to find in all history a more pitiable sight than Herod in his old age, hated by most of his subjects, misled by the members of his own family, the murderer of those whom he loved best, finding his sole satisfaction in putting to death his son Antipater, who had betrayed him, and in planning in his last hours how he might by the murder of hundreds of his subjects arouse wide-spread lamentation. ”

“ Thus these visions reveal the hopes that inspired certain of the Jewish race in its period of supreme trial: the belief that Jehovah through his angel would speedily overthrow the power of the heathen persecutor, that he would establish a universal kingdom in which his own people should have chief place, and finally that even the bonds of death would not hold those who had died for the law. Thus at last out of this struggle Judaism emerged with a new-found faith in individual immortality. ”

“ Thus saith Jehovah, 'I have returned to Zion,
And will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem;
And Jerusalem shall be called, "The City of Truth;"
And the mountain of Jehovah of hosts, "The Holy Mountain."
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts:
'Old men and old women shall again sit in the broad places of Jerusalem,
Each man with his staff in his hand because of old age. ”

“ In the face of opposition from the leaders of his race, from the multitudes that gathered about him, and even from the disciples who loved and followed him, he proclaimed that the kingdom of God would not come by observation, but that its growth would be natural and gradual like that of the mustard seed, that it was not external but within the hearts of men, that membership in that kingdom depended not upon the arbitrary will of God, but upon men's acting in accord with that will in the every-day relations of life. ”

“ The practical teachers of Israel looked with suspicion upon the subtleties of the different Greek philosophical schools. On the other hand, the homely, domestic joys of the average Jew and his intense devotion to the service of the temple and to the faith of his fathers seemed contemptible to those familiar with the brilliant, voluptuous life of the Hellenic cities. Hellenism protested against the narrowness, barrenness, and intolerance of Judaism; Judaism protested against the godlessness and immorality of Hellenism. ”

“ Thus the Maccabean dynasty, which had risen in glory, went down in shame, a signal illustration of the eternal principle that selfish ambitions and unrestrained passions in an individual or family sooner or later bring disgrace and destruction. While the siege of Jerusalem was still in progress, Herod went north to Samaria and there consummated his long-delayed marriage with Mariamne, the daughter of Hyrcanus, thus in part attracting to himself the loyalty which the Jews had bestowed so lavishly and disastrously upon the unworthy sons of Alexander Janneus. ”

“ In the light, however, of the oldest records it is clear that the revival of the Judean community in Palestine was gradual and at first far from glorious. The Jews were a broken-hearted, poverty-stricken, persecuted people, still crushed by the great calamity that had overtaken their nation. The general return of the exiles was only a dream of the future, and, despite the general permission of Cyrus, the temple at Jerusalem still lay in ruins. ”

“ And as for death, if it come with glory, they regard it as better than immortality. They think also, like the Greeks, that the good have their habitation beyond the ocean in a region that is never oppressed by storms of rain or of snow, or with heat, and that this place is refreshed by the gentle breath of the west wind that is continually blowing from the ocean; while they allot to the bad a dark and cold den which is never free from unceasing punishment. ”

“ Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and kindness, let not all the affliction seem little before thee, that hath come on us, on our kings, our nobles, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and on all thy people, since the days of the kings of Assyria to this day. However thou art just in all that has come upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly, neither have our kings, our nobles, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law nor heeded thy commands and thy testimonies with which thou didst testify against them. ”

“ The character of Herod is comparatively easy to understand, for it is elemental and one that constantly recurs in history. We in America are familiar with this type which is represented by our unscrupulous captains of industry or political bosses—energetic, physically strong, shrewd, relentless toward all who threaten to thwart their plans, skilful in organization, not troubled about the rightness of their methods, provided they escape the toils of the law, able to command men and successfully to carry through large policies. ”

“ And I said to them, 'We ourselves have, according to our ability, redeemed our fellow-countrymen the Jews, who have been sold to the heathen; and would you yourselves sell your fellow-countrymen, and should they sell themselves to us?' Then they were silent and could not find a word to say. Therefore I said, 'The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies? For I also, my kinsmen and my servants, lend them money and grain. ”

“ The early Christians who perished for their faith were inspired by the example of their Master and by the hope of blessed, individual immortality. To the Jews of the Greek period, however, the great calamity that overtook them came as a sudden and unexpected blow. No clear hope of immortality at first inspired them, for, like Ben Sira and the earlier teachers of the race, the majority of them probably regarded the life beyond death as a passionless existence in the land of darkness. Even the expectation of family or racial immortality seemed denied by the dark outlook. ”

“ And God said to Jonah, Is it well for thee to be angry about the gourd? And he said, It is well for me to be angry, even to death! And Jehovah said, Thou carest for a gourd, for which thou hast not troubled thyself, nor hast thou brought it up—a thing that came in a night and hath perished in a night. Shall I, indeed, not care for the great city, Nineveh, in which there are one hundred and twenty thousand human beings who know not their right hand from their left; besides much cattle?
[Sidenote: Eccles. 1:12-18] I, Koheleth, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. ”

“ Job in his sharp retorts makes clear the Inapplicability of the arguments and the limitations of the dogmas which they constantly reassert. In the concluding speeches of Jehovah the author with masterly skill takes Job out of his little circle into the larger world of nature, and brings him face to face with the evidences of Jehovah's might, wisdom, and gracious rulership of the great universe and of the complex life of those who inhabit it. Above all, Job learns to know God, not through the testimony of others, but by direct personal experience, and this knowledge begets humility and trust. ”

“ For thy sanctuary is trodden down and profaned, and thy priests are in sorrow, and humiliation. And now the heathen have assembled together against us to destroy us. Thou knowest what plans they are making against us. How shall we be able to stand before them, except thou be our help? ”

“ The Lord himself is his King, and the hope of him who is strong in the hope of God. And he shall have mercy upon all the nations that come before him in fear. For he shall smite the earth with the word of his mouth, even for evermore. He shall bless the people of the Lord with wisdom and gladness. He himself also is pure from sin, so that he may rule a mighty people, and rebuke princes and overthrow sinners by the might of his word. ”

“ In this respect the contemporary rulers of the Roman Empire set an example which he was not slow to follow. His Idumean and Arabian blood coursed hot and fierce through his veins. It was an age when moral standards were exceedingly low, and Herod never learned to rule his passions. The Oriental institution of the harem gave him full license, and he lived and loved as he fought and reigned—vehemently. Such a man is especially susceptible to the weaknesses and crimes that come from jealousy, and the influences of his family and court intensified these fatal faults. ”

“ Ben Sira vaguely recognized this, and sought to reconcile these two types of civilization; but in the second century B.C. men were chiefly aware of the glaring contrasts. Compared with the splendor of the life in the Greek cities that of the orthodox Jews seemed crude and barbarous. The intense horror with which the Jews viewed every form of idolatry led them to reject all forms of art. Their hatred of sensuality and immorality led them to regard with aversion the sports and exercises of the gymnasium and the attendant licentiousness. ”

“ The ethical ideals thus concretely set forth were never fully realized in Israel's troubled history; but they remain as valid and commanding to-day as they were far back in the Babylonian period. The abolition of all the insignia of war, the high sense of official responsibility, the protection of the weak by the strong, and the reign of perfect peace and harmony throughout all the earth are the goals for which all earnest, consecrated souls in every age and race are striving. ”

“ The position of the Jewish patriots was both perilous and tragic. A ring of hostile peoples pressed them closely on every side. The Jews were the victims of centuries of wrong and hatred. Those residing in the neighboring lands also suffered from this widespread and bitter hostility. Among all the peoples of southwestern Asia they had no allies except the Nabateans, an Arabian people that had driven the Edomites from their home on Mount Seir. The only bond that bound them to this ambitious heathen race was the common hatred of the Syrians. ”

“ The destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. resulted in a mighty Transformation of the life and thought of Israel. It marked the final Overthrow of the old Hebrew kingdoms, and the gradual rise of that new and important factor in human history known as Judaism. For over three centuries the Jews who survived the great catastrophe were helpless under the rule of the great world powers which in succession conquered southwestern Asia. For the great majority of the Jewish race it represented the beginning of that long exile which has continued until the present. ”

“ It is not difficult to appreciate the reasons which influenced Herod to begin the rebuilding of the temple. Chief among these was doubtless the desire to win still further the approval of his master Augustus. It is also a characteristic of a man of Herod's type to seek to gain popular approval by the munificence of his public gifts. Throughout his reign he was painfully aware of the suspicions of his Jewish subjects. He trusted, and the event proved the wisdom of his judgment, that he might conciliate them by giving them that about which their interest most naturally gathered. ”

“ Then Apollonius gathered the heathen together and a great army from Samaria to fight against Israel. And when Judas learned of it, he went out to meet him, and defeated and slew him; and many fell mortally wounded, while the rest fled. And they captured their spoils, and Judas took the sword of Apollonius, with which he fought all his days. ”