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THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



for yourselves and for your children. For, behold, the days are 

 coming in the which they will say, Blessed are the barren, and 

 the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. 

 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Pall on us ; and 

 to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in the green, 

 tree, what shall be done in the dry ? ' ' 



Little did those who heard these words understand the full 

 and terrible meaning of them. Little could they have thought, 

 experienced though they were in national calamities, how sweep- 

 ing and complete was the destruction in store for their beloved 

 Zion. Thirty-seven years passed after the crucifixion ; men 

 remained who had not " tasted death," though they had listened 

 to the words of the Baptist and of Christ, and had been present 

 probably at the martyrdom of some of the chief apostles ; the 

 generation that had cried "Crucify him! Crucify him!" was 

 yet living in Jerusalem ; many of those who had shouted, " His 

 blood be on us and on our children ! " were yet alive to bear the 

 burden they had clamoured to be laid upon them. Thirty-seven 

 years, and the Fifth Legion was encamped on the Mount of 

 Olives ; the spot on which the crucifixion took place was held 

 by the guards of Titus ; and the Roman army, sixty thousand 

 strong, encompassed Jerusalem round about, had cast theii 

 trenches about it, and closed it in on every side. 



In the last paper on the subject of the Jews, a sketch was 

 attempted of the Jewish history down to the time when the 

 Jews fell under the Persian yoke. Under Persian rule the people 

 lived in comparative comfort, their religion respected, their laws 

 and customs allowed, and their independence permitted to a 

 very considerable extent. So long as they acknowledged the 

 foreign supremacy, paid their tribute, and kept the imperial 

 peace, they were allowed to go on much as before, save that they 

 had no king, and, till Cyrus ruled, were detained in Babylonia. 

 Theologically they reverted to their former position, in which 

 God was their King, while they ever looked forward to the 

 coming of the Messiah who should shake the yoke of bondage 

 from off their necks, and, re-seated on the throne of David, 

 govern the Jewish nation, which was then to be the greatest in 

 all the earth. So mild and equable was the Persian rule, that 

 Cyrus (B.C. 536) issued a decree authorising the return of the 

 exiles to their country. Upwards of fifty thousand persons, 

 under the command of Zerubbabel, grandson of the last King of 

 Judah, thus returned, and re-established themselves in Jerusa- 

 lem. This city they had to rebuild, and to renew the temple 

 which Nebuchadnezzar had razed to the ground. Joyfully they 

 set to work, and bravely they persevered, till the holy city once 

 more rose from its ruins, and the Temple, over which three years 

 were spent by them, was again the glory of Judaea. Succeeding 

 princes Darius Hystaspes, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes continued 

 to manifest towards the Jews the same liberal policy which 

 Cyrus inaugurated. Under the last-named prince, who is called 

 in Scripture Ahasuerus as well as Artaxerxes, the people were 

 in jeopardy of their national existence by reason of the malice of 

 Haman ; but saved from this danger through the intercession 

 of Queen Esther, they received from the Persian king the most 

 astonishing concessions. Ezra was allowed to return to Jeru- 

 salem with as many of the remaining exiles as chose to accom- 

 pany him, and there to rule, both in matters of state and of 

 religion, according to his own discretion. He restored the 

 ancient services in the Temple, re-organised the whole Jewish 

 polity, and during the thirteen years of his official life conferred 

 many signal benefits upon his countrymen. In the year B.C. 445 

 Nehemiah, once cupbearer to the King of Persia, succeeded Ezra. 

 He fortified the city, and strengthened its great natural de- 

 fences, without causing jealousy to spring up in the minds of 

 those at home, who saw also about this time the manifold 

 dangers, especially on the side of Greece, which threatened the 

 empire, and were not over-careful what was done in an outlying 

 province like Judaaa. After Nehemiah's death the province was 

 included in. the government of Syria, and the high priests ad- 

 ministered the law in Jerusalem under the eye of Persian 

 satraps. 



Alexander the Great, when he overthrew the Persian empire, 

 received the Jews to favour ; but after his death, and the sub- 

 division of his kingdoms, there came a period of trouble and 

 loss, which reminded the Jews of the days when Nebuchad- 

 nezzar made havoc of them. In the struggles which ensued 

 between Alexander's generals for the mastery, Jerusalem 

 suffered dreadfully ; a hundred thousand captives were sent 



into Egypt and Libya, and great numbers of the unfortunate 

 people were slaughtered at the storming of their city. Between 

 Syrian and Egyptian and Greek, the Jews had an exceedingly 

 bad time of it. Internal divisions, fomented by religious dissen- 

 sions, weakened them still further, and under Antiochus, the 

 Greek king of Syria, their sufferings culminated in the rebellion 

 of Jason (B.C. 170). This man having been a renegade high 

 priest, had been ousted at the instance of Antiochus, and a 

 report having reached Jerusalem that Antiochus was dead in 

 Egypt, Jason took the opportunity to rise in rebellion. An- 

 tiochus was not dead, but returning to Judaea, put Jason to 

 flight, and marching upon the metropolis, took signal vengeance 

 for what had been done. Forty thousand of the inhabitants 

 were slain, and as many more sold into slavery. The Holy of 

 Holies was entered ; a sow, the unclean animal, was sacrificed 

 in mockery on the altar ; and every part of the Temple was 

 sprinkled with the water in which the creature had been boiled, 

 in very wantonness of profanation. The image of Jupiter was 

 set up in the midst of the inner court, and all who would not 

 worship it were tortured till they died or adored. The observ- 

 ance of the Sabbath was forbidden ; the rite of circumcision was 

 proscribed ; and those Jews who fled into the mountains and 

 deserts rather than face the fury of persecution, were hunted 

 out by the Syrian soldiers, and whenever caught were put to 

 death. 



Mattathias, of the Asmonean family, and of the high priest 

 class, was witness of a forced attempt at sacrifice to Syrian 

 idols, on the part of some Jews. The poor wretches were driven 

 to sacrifice at the point of the sword, but Mattathias, disgusted 

 at the profanation about to be offered, drew his sword, and slew 

 his renegade countrymen. Instantly the other Jews present 

 turned upon their oppressors, and having punished them, fled 

 with Mattathias and his sons to the hills, where they were 

 speedily joined by all who had courage left to lift hand against 

 the Syrian. A regular war began. Mattathias, ably seconded 

 by his sons, Judas and Jonathan, fought many decisive actions 

 with the enemy, worsting him, and died just as he was contem- 

 plating the subjugation of Jerusalem itself. Judas Maccabseus, 

 his son, took the command, and after several great victories, 

 took possession of Jerusalem, which he restored, and purified 

 the Temple. In a tremendous battle with the Syrians Judas 

 was slain, but his brother Jonathan succeeded to the command, 

 and by his ability and prowess induced the Syrian monarch to 

 agree to a treaty, by which, Jonathan being high priest, the 

 province of Judaaa remained in a state of quasi-independence. 

 So it remained for nearly a century, the Asmonean princes 

 (descendants of Mattathias) holding the supremacy, though 

 frequently falling out among themselves, and destroying one 

 another. About the year B.C. 75 there was a disputed succes- 

 sion. Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, brothers, each claimed the 

 throne, and appealed to Pompey, who had just ended his war 

 with the King of Pontus, Mithridates. Hyrcanus was but a 

 tool in the hands of Antipater, an Idumsean, who had become a 

 proselyte, and aspired to the high priesthood ; and this man, in 

 concert with the Romans, arranged that Hyrcanus should be 

 nominal head, while all real power was in the hands of Anti- 

 pater. So things came about, and as a reward for the services 

 which Antipater rendered to Julius Caesar in his struggle with 

 Pompey, Herod, the Idumaean's second son, was made governor 

 of Galilee. This was the same Herod who some years later, 

 through the favour of Mark Antony, was made King of Judsea, 

 and was married to Mariamne, a princess of the Asmonean 

 house. 



The tyrannical and cruel conduct of Herod is well attested, 

 if by nothing else, by the Massacre of the Innocents, to ensure 

 that he who was announced as the future King of the Jews 

 should not survive ; but he murdered also the high priest 

 Hyrcanus, his own wife, and several of his own sons, and did 

 other brutal things which stamped him for the fiend he was. 

 After his death his sons, unable to agree among themselves, 

 unable also to hold in hand the provinces committed to them, 

 were deposed, and Judaaa was made an integral portion of the 

 Roman empire, under a procurator, the first being Pontius 

 Pilate, who entered upon his government about A.D. 20. 



The great event of Pilate's administration was the death of 

 our blessed Lord. By that act, the Jews, who voluntarily 

 assumed the responsibility, filled up the measure of their wrath, 

 and testifying that they were the children of those who killed 



