(8) The Restoration. (I) The predictions of the prophets regarding the termination of the ex ile came to fulfillment B. C. 538. In that year Cyrus, having conquered Media and Lydia, en tered Babylon, and the map of the world was again transformed. It is not necessary to sup pose that Cyrus was influenced by a special ad miration for the religion of that small fragment of people held captive in his capital province. His motive in permitting the exiles to return to Jeru salem is amply explained by the desire to provide a strong and friendly base of operations in any future trouble with Egypt, and such an opportu nity was offered by the situation of Jerusalem. (See Cvaus.) The royal permission was accord ingly given, a company of Jews numbering nearly fifty thousand was gathered for the journey, and the remaining vessels, brought from the temple at Jerusalem, were placed in their hands (Ezra i : 2). By no means all the exiles came back. Many had grown up in their eastern home and preferred to remain, and among- these not a few even of the priestly class. The company was placed in charge of a Persian officer named Sheshbazzar, but with him was associated a council of leading men, chief among whom were Zerubbabel, the grandson of Jehoiachin, and Joshua, the grand son of the last priest in Jerusalem, who lost his life at the sack of the city. As soon as the cara van reached Jerusalem, an altar was set up on the site of the temple, and the feasts resumed (Ezra iii :2-4). As soon as preparations could be made thc foundations of the new temple wcrc laid (B. C. 534) amid the mingled shouts of the more hopeful and lamentations of those who contrasted thc meager present with the glorious past of the city (Ezra iii:7-12). The work of building was, however, soon interrupted. The descendants of the old Israelites on the north desired a share in thc work. But the exclusive spirit prevailed, and the waiting help was rejected, which fostered a bitterness that hindered the building of the tem ple for many ycars. Two tendencies must have manifested themselves among the people. There was the broader, more tolerant attitude, which looked on other nations with friendliness And would welcome relations with foreigners, for the sake of the ministry of redemption for the worle. with which Israel was charged. Then there was the more narrow and exclusive spirit, that made Jewish particularism the fundamental article in its creed, and was unconscious of any duty to others. The latter attitude could claim the sanc tion of Ezekiel; the former, of the Evangelical Prophecy. In the end the narrow party won. Perhaps this was a necessary phase of the move ment. The narrowing of the channel compelled the deepening of the stream, but the ungracious features of the more conservative and exclusive Judaism were the outcome of this tendency.
(2) After nearly twenty years, the work was resumed under the exhortation of two prophets. Haggai and Zechariah, and after royal aid had been given, brought to completion B. C. 515 (Ezra v:6). But it is evident that conditions were far from satisfactory. The hopes raised by the proph ets werc not being fulfilled. The city was small and poor, and the prospects were disheartening. It could not be that this meager situation was all that God intended for his people. The belief seems to have gained ground that a political crisis was imminent, a breaking up of the empire, by which Judah would profit. The horizon was anx iously scanned for signs of the coming upheaval (Zech. i:to-12). But no crisis came, and in the sinking of heart that hope deferred produced many grew indifferent to all religious obligations. The worship at the temple, while still carried on, was not made the first concern, and poor offerings were presented. It is this situation which is set before us in the anonymous prophecy named from its most suggestive word, "My Messenger" (Mal. iii:r). There was danger of a still deeper
pessimism and despair_ The chicf comfort lay in the company of the faithful who continued in the service of God amid all discouragemcnts (Mal. iii :16-18). (See MALAcut.) The appeal of this prophet, like that of Haggai and Zechariah, is to a renewed devotion to the law and the ritual. No longer are the great sanctions of righteousness and morality made the first concern, hut the Torah and the temple are thc chief consideration Thus the tone of prophccy has changed since the days of Isaiah and the great prophet of the exile, and who could say for the better? (3) It is evident that a new factor had been introduced into the national life just previous to the date of "Malachi." from which assistance was hoped by the religious leaders in Jerusalem And this is found to have been the case. There had been from the time of the first return a bond of sympathy between the Jews in Jerusalem and those who remained in Babylonia. Meantime a company of the latter had been carrying forward the work of expanding the Divine law in the spirit of Ezekiel, and now, when tidings reached them that affairs had approached a serious crisis in the little community in Judea, another company was organized to swell the population of Jerusa kin, and under the leadership of Ezra, a scribe, the first named of that important order which had so much to do with the enlargement, tcaching, and enforcement of the law in the later days, they left Babylon. B. C. 459, to the number of t,7oo. Their leader brought with him the new law (Ezra vii :LI, 25, 26), prepared to put it into operation. (Sec EzRA.) On arrival in Judea Ezra found the work of reform difficult, for the people did not take readily to the legal regulations insisted upon, so much more exacting in some directions than any known before. Ezra was compelled, indeed, to give up thc effort for a timc, and it was not till the arrival of Nehemiah, a Babylonian Jew, who, having obtained a position in the Persian court, requested the vacant governorship of Judea, that the work of reform could be prosecuted with a zeal that was backed up with the royal author ity, and that overcame all opposition. The city was repaired, the walls built. and then at a great gathering of the people, the law was promulgated by Ezra (Ezra viii) to an audience that requested the reading, and that was profoundly impressed by the regulations set forth in the code. The religious education implied in the popular feeling of sin, as compared with the strict demands of the law now proclaimed, is profoundly interesting (Ezra ix:8-12). The law that was brought by Ezra from Babylon, and read to the people, was the Priest Code, of which mention has already been made as the work of priests in Babylon dur ing and after the exile. The particulars in which it most vitally differed from the earlier codes, the Book of the Covenant and Deuteronomy, were its separation of priests from other Levites and its emphasis upon the rules of "holiness," i. e., ceremonial, not moral, purity. The business of this law is to make a holy community in which God may dwell. God is honored by such institu tions as secure a regulation of the external relig ious life of man. The community has a purely religious end. The nation, disappointed in its political hopes, turns now to a purely religious ideal within itself, and seeks there its satisfac tion. The temple became, in a new and deeper sense, the center of Jewish thought and life. Its services and its offices were the most important concerns of the people. Under the direction of Ezra and Nehemiah the exclusive particularism of the more conservative party became triumph ant, and the community was started on the nar row path toward the later Jrdaism.