Page:Essays ethnological and linguistic.djvu/200

188 out all the Persian dominions to return. Their sacred vessels were restored to them, they had ample means granted them to proceed happily on their way, and every facility to rebuild their cities and their temple. Under such circumstances we cannot but suppose that there would be very few indeed who would not avail themselves of the favour shown them. Of those who were carried away, the greater portion no doubt consisted of males, and consequently their numbers would not increase very considerably in their state of bondage. Baruch, in his prayer at Babylon, says, "Let thy wrath turn from us; for we are but a few left among the heathen, where thou hast scattered us." (Ch. ii. v. 13.) And he refers to the threat long before expressed by Moses as then fulfilled: "If ye will not hear my voice, surely this very great multitude shall be turned into a small number among the nations where I will scatter them." (v. 29.) Though still many thousands in number then, the captives were yet nevertheless few in proportion to what they might have been under other circumstances, and this consideration must be taken into account when estimating the relative numbers of those who were carried away and of those who returned.

Bearing then in mind that the numbers of one captivity alone are given as 10,000 captives, and taking that as a criterion by which to judge of the extent of the others, we may compare the number of those carried away and of those who returned as nearly equal, showing therefore that the great majority of the true Israelites must have then actually returned to their own land. When they were enumerated on the occasion of the first return under Zerubbabel, we learn "that the whole congregation together was 42,360, besides their servants and their maids, of whom there were 7337." (Ezra, ii. ver. 64.) In this passage it is not clear whether the "whole congregation" included the males only, or the whole population. Josephus gives the numbers of males and females separately, though the eleventh book of his work, in which this narrative is contained, may be considered of doubtful authenticity. It seems to bear evident traces of having been wrongly dealt with, as it contains much apocryphal matter, and in more than one respect is inconsistent with itself. In the early part it gives a statement of numbers as 42,462, nearly agreeing with that in Ezra, but immediately after starts into another narrative, the same in substance as that given in the apocryphal book of Esdras, both totally and palpably erroneous. Instead of placing the restoration under Zerubbabel in the reign of Cyrus, he now places it in the reign of Darius, and although he had just previously