598 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



dieted in case of disobedience. When brought to tlie king and read 

 in his presence, he was powerfully affected, and determined, if possi- 

 ble, to stem the tide of impending ruin by such salutary measures of 

 reform as the injunctions of the newly-found Scripture seemed most 

 urgently to call for. The concurrence of many critics has identified 

 this scroll, written and published at or about the time when the 

 youthful Josiah succeeded to the throne of his ancestors, with Deu- 

 teronomy, the fifth of the books of Moses. It differs materially from 

 the more recent writings of the Pentateuch. The family of Aaron are 

 not yet exclusively endowed with the priesthood. The priests are all 

 Levites, the Levites all priests. There are, moreover, other vital dif- 

 ferences, into which the limits of this article do not permit us to 

 enter. 1 The date of the composition of Deuteronomy is thus referred 

 to the closing decades of the seventh century b. c. 2 



The princes who succeeded Josiah fell back into the old course, 

 and quite undid the work which had begun with such fair promise. 

 Indeed, little permanent good was to be hoped for in so disordered a 

 condition of political affairs, and from the degenerate rulers who then 

 swayed the helm of state. The fortunes of the kingdom of Judah 

 were swiftly declining, and, but a quarter of a century after the pious 

 Josiah had breathed his last, Nebuchadnezzar burned the Temple of 

 Jerusalem, and carried its inhabitants captive to Babylon. 



Heretofore, with but a brief, brilliant interlude, idolatry had been 

 the court religion of Judah. Early training, long usage, the example 

 of revered ancestors, had endeared its forms and symbols to the affec- 

 tions of the people. Resistance to the innovating prophets was natural ; 

 men being then, as ever, loath to abandon the sacred usages which had 

 come down to them from the distant generations of the past. But, in 

 the long years of the captivity, a profound change came over the spirit 

 of the Hebrew people ; " by Babel's streams they sat and wept ; " by 

 Babel's streams they recalled the memories of their native land, that 

 land which they had lost. It was then that the voices of Jehovah's 

 messengers, which had so earnestly warned them of the approaching 

 doom, recurred to their startled recollection. They remembered the 

 message ; they beheld its fulfillment ; the testimony of the prophets 

 had been confirmed by events ; the one God to whom they testified 

 had revealed his omnipotence in history; and with willing assent the 

 exiles promised allegiance to his commandments in the future. The 

 love of country, the dread of further chastisement, the dear hope of 

 restoration, combined to win them to the purer worship of their Gcd, 

 and, in the crucible of Babylon, the national religion was purged of 

 the last dregs of heathendom. 



1 E. g., the rebellion of Korah is unknown to the author of Deuteronomy. 



2 The language of Deuteronomy attests its late origin. Sixty-six phrases of Deuteron- 

 omy recur in the writings of Jeremiah. Vide Zunz, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgcn- 

 landhcJun Gesel/schaft, xxviii., p. 670. 





