70 THE TRUE POSITION OF THE HEBREWS 



marauders, not to be treated with respect when they 

 were captured. As the Philistines weakened, how- 

 ever, a not very scrupulous adventurer named David 

 led a successful revolt and founded the kingdom of 

 Israel (about the year 1,000 B.C.). 



It must have been still a small and poor kingdom 

 in the days of Solomon, and for several centuries it 

 had the usual troubled and unimportant history of 

 such small kingdoms, especially if they lay in the 

 path of the imperialist powers. Assyria conquered 

 it, and, when Assyria fell, Babylon succeeded to the 

 suzerainty. In 586 b.c. the Israelites refused tribute, 

 and they were carried off to the famous captivity in 

 Babylon which completed their education in civiliza- 

 tion. In the fifth century the priests recovered great 

 power among the diminished and demoralized people, 

 and it was then that the Old Testament (apart from 

 a few later additions) was compiled. We need add 

 only that they were now under Persian as well as 

 Babylonian influence, and that in the third century 

 Greek influence also came to humanize their stern 

 creed. 



I have run over the history of the Jews, as modern 

 scholars generally have reconstructed it, not with 

 any intention of belittling their contribution to civili- 

 zation, but in order to appreciate it correctly. When 

 one looks over their whole history the Jews have 

 proved one of the most remarkable of the nations we 

 pass in review. The Hittites and Babylonians and 

 Assyrians, the Phoenicians, and Philistines, Cretans, 

 Lydians, and Phrygians, have perished. The Egyp- 

 tians, Persians, Arabs, and Greeks survive only as 

 relatively feeble peoples. But the Jews, scattered 

 over the world, have a power and wealth that it 



