242 



JEWS. 



\\ i !i tlirii- assistance, he defeated the Syrians, 

 took Jeru--alem, and restored the Mosaic worship 

 (165 B. C.) A new epoch of glory and renown for 

 the Jews begins under the government of the Mac- 

 cabees, three brothers of this family of heroes 

 Jiulas, Jonathan, and Simon bore successively the 

 dignity of high-priest, and completed their deliver- 

 ance from the Syrian yoke. Simon, whom the 

 gratitude of the nation had created a prince, left to 

 his son, John Hyrcanus (135 B. C.), an independent 

 kingdom, secured by an alliance with the Romans. 

 The latter extended it by his victories over the Idu- 

 nueans and Samaritans, and confirmed it by the esta- 

 blishment of the high council, or sanhedrim. The 

 reign of Hyrcanus was distinguished for the progress 

 of civilization and the increasing prosperity of the 

 nation. In his time also arose the sects of Pharisees, 

 Sadducees, and Essenes, (q. v.) His son Judas Aris- 

 tobulus, received the royal dignity (105 B. C.), and 

 the Jewish state appeared to be in the way to recover 

 the power and splendour of David's time, since 

 Alexander Jannaei:s,the successor of Aristobulus, took 

 Gaza, in a successful war against Egypt ; but the 

 above-mentioned sects gave rise to civil dissentions. 

 After the death of queen Salome (70 B.C.), who 

 was ruled by the Pharisees, the succession was dis- 

 puted by her sons Hyrcanus and Aristobulus. The 

 war between the brothers introduced foreign umpires 

 into the country. Pompey conquered Judasa (63 B. 

 C.), according to the Roman policy, for the weak 

 Hyrcanus. This result of the contest put an end to 

 the new freedom of the Jews. Jerusalem lost its 

 walls, the kingdom its new conquests, the nation its 

 independence, and the family of the Asmoneans (the 

 illustrious, a title borne by the Maccabees), its royal 

 /i^nity. Hyrcanus was made high-priest and eth- 

 narch, and each Jew became a tributary to the 

 Romans. It was in vain that the sons of Aristobulus 

 endeavoured by repeated insurrections, to restore the 

 former state of things. The Roman power kept the 

 people in chains, and a false friend (Antipater of 

 Idumaea) introduced himself, as a Roman procurator, 

 into the family of Hyrcanus, to effect its ruin. While 

 the Asmoneans were struggling for independence, 

 Herod, Antipater's son, was securing the kingdom 

 for himself at Rome. Antigonus, son of Aristobulus 

 II., who had maintained himself five years in Jerusa- 

 lem, by the assistance of the Parthians, was expelled 

 by the new king Herod (q. v.) 35 B. C., and the last 

 of the Asmoneans was put to death. The reign of 

 this foreign king, who acquired the name of the 

 Great by maintaining himself amidst many difficulties, 

 was of no advantage to the country. The doubtful 

 character of his faith made the chief men, who were 

 dependent on him, indifferent to their ancient reli- 

 gion, and the murders which he committed in his 

 own family, as well as the unceasing oppression ol 

 the Romans, filled the people with general discontent. 

 The divine worship constantly degenerated more and 

 more into empty forms, and the licentiousness of the 

 court contaminated all ranks of the nation. Such 

 was the situation of the Jews and of Judaism when 

 Christ was born. Herod survived this great event 

 to stain his last days by the murder of the children o 

 Bethlehem; but neither he and his successors, nor 

 the councils of the Pharisees, could avert the fate o 

 the Jews. Under the feeble princes who succeedec 

 Herod, the country soon came to be treated merely 

 as a Roman province. Oppressed by the procura 

 tors, precluded from the exercise of their religion 

 the infuriated people broke out into a rebellion (A 

 D. 66) which terminated in the total destruction o 

 the Jewish state. September 7, A. D. 70, Titu 

 took Jerusalem by assault, burned the temple, demo 

 lished the city, and sold into slavery, or drove int 



exile, all the inhabitants who escaped death. About 

 1 10,000 Jews perished during the siege, and at the 

 destruction of Jerusalem. There was no suffering 

 which tliis nnliappy people did not undergo. Those 

 Jews who had taken refuge in the mountains and the 

 ruins, were compelled, after many unsuccessful efforts, 

 to abandon their country, now changed into a barren 

 desert. 



The remnants of the nation, scattered over all the 

 earth, still possessed advantages which could belong 

 to no other people in similar unhappy circumstances. 

 Their natural ingenuity and industry, the strength of 

 their religious zeal, the literary treasures of their holy 

 writings, secured to them every where admittance and 

 success, and preserved their national character. They 

 found proselytes and old believers hi all countries of 

 the Roman empire, and in the East, as far as the Gan- 

 ges, where those who had settled, during the Babylo- 

 nish captivity, had greatly multiplied. Egypt, and 

 tie northern coast of Africa, were filled with Jewish 

 olonies, and in the cities of Asia Minor, of Greece 

 nd Italy, were thousands enjoying the rights of citi- 

 ens. Thus, by their mutual connexions, and by 

 heir holy books, they became the involuntary instru- 

 ments of the propagation of Christianity, which but 

 ew of their own number embraced. They were not 

 equired to receive it by the Roman emperors. Under 

 he emperor Julian, they ventured to make prepara- 

 ions for a new temple in Jerusalem, which had been 

 ebuilt by Adrian, under the name of ^Elia Capito- 

 'ina. Although this attempt failed, they derived 

 2[reat advantages from their sanhedrim, revived at 

 Hberias, and their patriarchates (presidencies of the 

 sanhedrim), which were established one at Tiberias, 

 or the Western Jews (429), the other for the Jews 

 >eyond the Euphrates, first, at Malialia, afterwards at 

 iagdad. The former was hereditary, the latter, 

 elective by the sanhedrim at Bagdad. The incum- 

 >ent of the latter, which subsisted till 1038, was 

 called aichmalotarch (prince of the captivity.) These 

 wo patriarchates became points of union, and their 

 flourishing academies in the East served as semi- 

 naries for their learned rabbins. One of the works 

 >f these scholars was the collection of the traditionary 

 expositions of the Old Testament, and additions to 

 t, which was begun, A. D. 200, by rabbi Juda the 

 Holy (Hakkadosh;, completed A. D. 500, and re- 

 ceived, under the name of the Talmud, as a rule of 

 faith, by the scattered communities of Jews. It 

 requires that wherever twelve adults reside together 

 in one place, they shall erect a synagogue; and, 

 since the destruction of the temple had put an end to 

 sacrifices, they are to serve the God of their fathers 

 by a multitude of prayers, and little formalities, 

 amidst the daily occupations of life. This book of 

 law allows usury, treats agriculture and grazing with 

 contempt, requires the strictest separation from other 

 people, commits the government to the rabbins, as the 

 teachers and nobles, and inculcates a corrupt moral 

 system, which has degraded the character of the 

 great mass of this unfortunate people, rendered them 

 dangerous to those among whom they live, and ob- 

 structed their naturalization, even where they enjoy 

 the greatest privileges. This applies to the Rabbin- 

 ites (that is, the followers of the Talmud), to which 

 sect nearly all the European Jews belong. The sect 

 of the Caraites, who reject the Talmud, and hold to 

 the law of Moses only,are less numerous, and are found 

 chiefly in the East, in Turkey and Eastern Russia. 

 During the decline of civilization in Europe, where 

 the Jews had settled as colonists, even under the 

 Romans, and had penetrated as far as Gaul and 

 Germany, owing to the slave-trade, they preserved, 

 a certain degree of civilization by means of their 

 schools, which, during the confusion consequent on 



