JEWS 



3150 



JEWS 



known as the Prophets, who, first appearing in 

 the northern kingdom in the ninth century, ex- 

 tended their influence throughout the north 

 and south. These Prophets set up a new re- 

 ligious ideal. Instead of regarding the national 

 deity known as Yahweh merely as the protector 

 of his people, they pictured him as a power 

 ruling by self-imposed laws of righteousness 

 and demanding that his followers should regu- 

 late their lives according to high ethical stand- 

 ards. When the Hebrews dispossessed the 

 Canaanites they adopted many of the religious 

 customs of the country. Against these customs, 

 so far as they involved crude and materialistic 

 conceptions of a divine protector, the Prophets 

 protested, until finally the many sanctuaries, 

 originally sites of Canaanitish worship, which 

 had become centers of the Yahweh cult, were 

 boldly denounced as illegitimate and the claim 

 set up that Jerusalem alone, in which the cult 

 had been purified of its objectionable ele- 

 ments, should be regarded as the place in which 

 Yahweh could be properly worshiped. This 

 revolutionary movement set in during the last 

 half of the seventh century, and by the time 

 the destruction of Jerusalem took place the. 

 reformation of the religion in the hands of the 

 Prophets had advanced to such a point as to 

 insure the continuation of the religious ideals 

 of the Prophets, even though the national life 

 was crushed. 



The Hebrew Prophets are the real founders 

 of the religion known as Judaism, and it was a 

 natural corollary which expanded the national 

 Yahweh into a Jehovah of universal sway, 

 father of all mankind, whose control is not lim- 

 ited to any particular country or people. 



During the Exile, and more particularly dur- 

 ing the century after a semblance of national 

 independence had again been instituted, though 

 under the control of Persian governors, the 

 religious ideas of the Prophets further devel- 

 oped until the time was reached when the Jews 

 became the standard-bearers of a monotheistic 

 religion, with ethical and spiritual ideals that 

 placed it far above the religious standards pre- 

 vailing in other countries. But as the religion 

 grew in spirituality and in strength, the political 

 life of the Jews (as we should now call them) 

 steadily declined. True, Babylonia itself fell 

 in the year 538 B. c., but the Persians, who, un- 

 der Cyrus, then came into control, continued 

 the traditions and the policy of both Assyria 

 and Babylonia, though that policy was carried 

 out in a more beneficent and wiser manner and 

 worked less harm to subject peoples. 



Cyrus dreamed of a world empire, as did 

 Ashurbanapal of Assyria and Nebuchadnezzar 

 of Babylonia, before him. Anxious to con- 

 ciliate the Jews, he allowed them a certain 

 measure of freedom. In accordance with this 

 policy he permitted the Jews who had been 

 carried to Babylonia to return to their country, 

 and even granted a form of self-government of 

 the country, though under the supervision of a 

 Persian governor. To the pious Jews Cyrus 

 became a deliverer, but chiefly because he 

 allowed the rebuilding of the religious center 

 of the people, the Temple at Jerusalem. 



The Dispersal. The Persian rule came to an 

 end in 332 B. c. when Alexander the Great over- 

 threw the empire founded by Cyrus. After the 

 death of Alexander, Palestine fell under the 

 control first of the Ptolemies of Egypt and 

 then of governors of the Seleucid kingdom. 

 Only a semblance of political independence was 

 permitted the Jews, and soon serious difficulties 

 arose because of the fear on the part of the 

 more pious Jews of complete assimilation be- 

 tween Jews and Greeks. The reaction against 

 this tendency led to a short period of political 

 independence under the control of a family 

 known as the Maccabees. Internal quarrels, 

 however, and the coming of the Romans soon 

 put an end to any attempts at Jewish inde- 

 pendence, and in the year 70 B. c. the city was 

 destroyed by Titus. The result was a gradual 

 dispersion of the Jews throughout the Roman 

 Empire, though it must be borne in mind that 

 ever since the earlier destruction by Nebuchad- 

 nezzar, in the year 586 B. c., this movement 

 had really been going on. Indeed, several 

 centuries before our era there were large settle- 

 ments of Jews in Southern as well as in North- 

 ern Egypt, and, in particular, in the district 

 around Alexandria. The Jews, too, at the time 

 of the beginning of the current era had settled 

 in large numbers in Assyria, throughout Asia 

 Minor and had crossed over to Italy. The final 

 extinction of political independence, however, 

 lent a further stimulus to the dispersion, and in 

 time Jerusalem became but a sacred memory 

 and an ideal hope to the great bulk of the Jews 

 scattered throughout the world. 



The Jews encountered strange vicissitudes 

 the lands to which they came. In Egypt tl 

 attained considerable prominence and weall 

 which lasted for several centuries. Large 

 onies of Jews gathered in Italy and then spr 

 to Spain. At the same time settlements wf 

 made in Northern Africa, and during Mohai 

 medan supremacy in that section and in Spain 



