486

480

479

464

459-453

444

432

424

404 401

359

345

338

336

336

333

332

331 330

Xerxes becomes king of Persia upon the death of his father, Darius.
Egypt revolts from Persia, but was at once reduced to submission
by Xerxes.

Battle of Thermopylae, where the Spartans made a heroic stand
against an overwhelming force of Persians.

The Greeks win a great naval victory over Persia at Salamis.
The Greeks defeat the Persians at Plataea, and drive them back
into Asia.

Artaxerxes I succeeds to the throne of Persia upon the death of
Xerxes.

Athens sent an army against Memphis to aid Egypt in throwing off
the Persian yoke. Though successful at first, the Persian
general Megabyzus after a six years' war expelled the Greeks
and subdued Egypt.

Nehemiah, cupbearer to Artaxerxes, leads an expedition to Jerusalem
and rebuilds the walls of the city, over which he was appointed
governor.

Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem after a visit to Babylon.

Ezra leads an expedition from Babylon to Jerusalem and institutes
a religious reform, based upon a new revision of the Mosaic
law.

Artaxerxes I dies and Xerxes II, his son, becomes king of Persia.
Xerxes II after a few weeks is slain by Sogdianus, his half-brother,
who seizes the throne.

Sogdianus in turn is slain by Ochus, another half-brother of Xerxes
II, who ascended the throne as Darius II (Notus).
Darius II dies and is succeeded by his oldest son Artaxerxes II.
Cyrus, the younger brother of Artaxerxes II, leads an army, including
10,000 Greek mercenaries, against Babylon but is defeated and
slain. (The story of the return of the Greeks is told by
Xenophon in The Anabasis.)

Artaxerxes III (Ochus) succeeds his father upon the Persian throne.
The Jews join the Phoenicians and Egyptians in a revolt against
Persia, which is put down by Bagoses, the Persian general, who
oppressed Judah for seven years.

Artaxerxes III is poisoned by Bagoses, who placed the king's young
son, Arses, upon the throne.

Arses is in turn slain by Bagoses, who gave the throne to Darius III,
a great-grandson of Artaxerxes II.

Alexander the Great becomes king of Macedonia.

Alexander defeats a great Persian army in the battle of the Granicus.
Darius hopelessly beaten by Alexander in the battle of Issus.
Alexander conquers Egypt.

Alexander again defeats Darius at Gaugamela.

Alexander pursues Darius into Media, where the latter is slain by
his own soldiers, and the Persian Empire comes to an end.

CHAPTER XII

EZEKIEL, THE MAN OF VISIONS

To the surrounding nations and to us who have followed its story, the siege and fall of Jerusalem seemed the closing chapter in the history of the Hebrew people. Not so however to the prophets of Jehovah. In righteous dissatisfaction with their present, they were ever beholding in imagination a new and better future and bending themselves under the burden of bringing it to pass.

We must now retrace our steps in point of time to 597 B.C. when the first great company of Hebrews passed out of the gates of Jerusalem and started upon their weary march of eight or nine hundred miles to the city of Babylon. In that company was the

king, Jehoiachin, and with him all the princes and noble families of Jerusalem, as well as skilled craftsmen and tradesmen, in all a company numbering about ten thousand men, women, and children. Nebuchadnezzar and his predecessors had too long trusted the fidelity of the Hebrew kings. In the selection of these his captives he assured himself that there remained in the city of Jerusalem no strong leaders of noble, or even of common blood of sufficient ability to organize a revolt. We have already followed the vacillations of the weak king Zedekiah and his courtiers, and know that, while Nebuchadnezzar underrated the tenacity with which the humblest Hebrews clung to their ideal of an independent state, he was not mistaken in the character of the men whom he left in the city. Henceforth the blood and brawn of the Hebrew people were no longer in Palestine, but in Babylon. There by the "river Chebar," a long navigable canal which intersected a rich tract of land between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers, south and east of the city of Babylon, in the midst of fertile plains, was planted the colony of Hebrews.

The term "captive" does not rightly describe the relation of the Hebrews in Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar. He was a wise and

I See chap. xi of this book, p. 153, and II Kings 24:10-18.

not ungenerous ruler. He sought to disable the smaller states which were his by conquest, rather than to oppress them. His building operations are among the most famous of the ancient world. He rebuilt Babylon on a magnificent scale, and made it a city of splendor and delight. Among the Hebrews in the colony by the Chebar, prosperity reigned just in proportion to the industry and ability of the individuals. Were we considering the literature of the Hebrews primarily we should also see that, stimulated by the intellectual atmosphere of Babylon and the emotions aroused by their new situation, as well as by the relief from pressing political responsibilities, the Hebrews themselves developed great literary activity. In this period were produced a large number of the greatest masterpieces of their literature as well as a new revision of their national history and their law code. Those who had been leaders in Jerusalem had doubtless the opportunity to lead in the life of this community, and we may easily imagine after a few years of residence a thriving colony, whose prosperity was the greater because so closely related to the city of Babylon.

But external prosperity does not always reflect peace of mind. The Hebrews could not yet easily think of their God as accessible in a foreign land. The prophets of Jehovah had but recently declared that worship was acceptable to him only in his temple at Jerusalem. There seemed to the less loyal Hebrews but one alternative, and that, to accept the gods of Babylon and seek protection and prosperity from them. Moreover the Babylonian religion was all-pervasive and alluring. It entered into every act of business or social life. Contracts and legal agreements made even with Hebrews were bound by oaths in the name of the gods of

1 Masterpieces of literature: It can hardly be that all the literature of this period has come down to us. The Book of Job which is a dramatic poem dealing with the problem "Why do the righteous suffer?" may have been written during this period, as well as many of the most beautiful of the Psalms.

2 Law Code: This version of the Hebrew law may be found in the Book of Leviticus. It contains a rewriting of the laws which had been previously presented in Deuteronomy, and additional laws for use in the new city of Jerusalem when the people should return to it, for it was in confident anticipation of this event that the law was prepared. To this book, as to Deuteronomy, the name of Moses was attached as representing the great lawgiver of Israel's early days. See note on Deuteronomy, p. 141.

כי כת

העלתי מארץמץ יקראו שיוז מבית עבריס פריתיך | דאו של שמעימטון ואשלחלפניך אתמש" וֹמִייער ער האשמת אחרומריס עמי זכר רשע אצרותרשע אמויעץ בלק מלך ואיפתרון לעומת האלה מאב ומה עוד את ז במאונירשעובכיסאכן בלעסבובער מורן מרמו אשר עשיריה שטיסוער הגלגל למעורעת צדקותיזוז שקרולשונם מידי מר אקלסיהוה אלף בפיוס וגם אני החליתי אלהיכרוס ואקו הכותר השמסי על בעלות בעגליםבנישנה חטאתך אתה תאכל קציוזוזיבאלפי ולאתשבעוישחר בן אילים ברבבות נחלי. בקרבך ותשג ולאתפליט שמזהאתו בכורי פשע ואשרתפלטלחרב אתו אתחתור עולאתקצ

אס עשותמשפטואתנת

אלזזיך

שמן ותירוש ולא תשווה .

יז וישמרחקות עברי

חקרו נעלכת עסן וכל מעשו בית אחאב קוֹל ולמממעצורם למען

PASSAGE FROM MICAH, SHOWING HEBREW TEXT USED IN BABYLONIA