Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/235

* JEWS. 209 JEWS. sion to the higher conceptions regarding Yahweh by a proper cult and a regulation of public and private conduct. Codes were worked out, based on the prophets' conceptions of Yahweh, which contain ordinances for the cult, the courts and the general social life. Of these codes, four have been embodied in the present Pentateuch, the oldest of which, the so-called 'Book of the Cove- nant,' dates from the ninth century, and the latest, the 'Priestly Code,' from about the begin- ning of the fifth century. (See Pentateuch.) I'nder the profound impression made upon the south by the destruction of the northern kingdom, an intense religious spirit began to manifest it- self, particularly in .Jerusalem, by that time in every sense the religious centre of the Hebrews, and in the year B.C. 621 one of these codes, the kernel of the present book of Deuteronomy (q.v.) , was ollicialh' adopted by King Josiah. The ap- proaching disaster of the southern kingdom in- tensified the religious spirit of the masses and prepared them for accepting the view taken of the situation by the prophets, who declared that the national calamity in the north was a punish- ment sent by Yahweh. and the approaching disas- ter in the south a proof that Judah, too, had sinned and thereby merited the anger of its God. The Babjlonian exile fulfilled the conditions necessary for carrying back the sins of the people to the very beginnin-.' of existence. The entire past thus became one long chronicle of trans- gression and falling away from Yahweh, and the theorj' arose tracing back the entire religious constitution of the people to a leader, Moses, who had been instrumental in bringing the Hebrews out of Egypt. The Babylonian exile thus marks, in every respect, a turning-point in Hebrew history. It not only si.gnifies the end of the national inde- pendence of the Hebrews, but also the beginning of the movement which led to the creation of a religious community having as its fundamental principle the recognition of a single divine power; but as a corollary to this principle was the ac- knowledgment of the divine law as revealed through Moses. In the Babylonian exile the the- ory was perfected which underlies the 'tradition- al' history of the Hebrews, as in the exile the first steps were taken which ultimately led to a sacred collection of books, recognized by authori- tative bodies, such as the Old Testament accord- ing to the Jewish and Christian canon. The overthrow of the Babylonian kingdom by Cyrus in B.C. 538 was followed by an event which appeared to prove that the era of divine wrath was past. Cyrus, consistently with his policy of conciliation, gave permission to the exiles to return to Palestine and rebuild the temple at •Jerusalem — the only legitimate centre of Yahweh- worship recognized by Deuteronomy, and by all the codes subsequently produced. Vhile the con- dition of the Hebrews in Babylonia during the exilic period was. on the whole, a favorable one, and they developed into prosperous communities, to the religious section the absence of a place where Yahweh could be worshiped was a serious misfortune. The edict of Cyrus raised high the hopes of the zealous devotees of Y'ah- weh. and an era of glory was enthusiastically pre- dicted. The number, however, who at once availed themselves of the permission to return was not large, and for a time the work of rebuilding the temple, in which those who had never quitted Jerusalem assisted, languished. Obstacles of various kinds were interposed, not the least of which was the opposition of those settled around Samaria — remnants of the old northern tribes — ho claimed for the sanctuary at Shechem the sanctity which the Babylonian exiles were anxious to attach exclusively to the temple at Jerusalem. It was not until B.C. 516 that the temple was completed. More important than the rebuilding of the temple was the definite constitution of the Hebrew community at .Jerusalem as a religious body by the promulgation and adoption of the code known as the "Priestly Code,' brought by Ezra from Babylonia, where it was produced about B.C. 500, and through Ezra and Xehemiah formally presented to the community in B.C. 444. This code, embodied in the books of Leviticus and Numbers, represents the final elaboration of the religious principles of the pre-exilie and exilic prophets and Yahweh devotees. It constitutes the Hebrews an essentially religious body; it creates a .Jewish State on a theocratic basis. Everything is made to hinge upon the cult and the law, so that the adoption of this code may be said to mark the real beginning of Jewish history, to which the Babylonian exile and the first attempts at a restoration of the community (i.e. 586-445 B.C.) form the prelude. B. .Jewish History. For Jewish history, the following subdivisions naturally suggest them- selves : { 1 ) From Ezra and Xehemiah to the destruction of .Jerusalem by the Romans, a.d. 70 : (2) from the beginning of the Dispersion of the .Jews to the beginning of the Karaite movement (c.761) ; (3) from the Karaite movement to the culmination of the Spanish Inquisition in the expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1492); (4) from the expulsion from Spain to the beginning of the emancipation movement, which sets in with the French Revolution (1789); (5) the emancipation of the Jews and the modern period marked bj' the reentrance of Jews into the politi- cal and social world. There was comparatively little to disturb the peace of the .Jewish community in .Jerusalem during the century that elapsed between Ezra and the appearance of Alexander the Great. ^^"hile some of the patriotic zealots may have looked forward to an actual restoration of a Hebrew kingdom, the bulk of the people were satisfied with the Persian rule. It is noticeable that the 'Priestly Code,' though embracing civil regulations, makes no provision for a lay chief: and this indifTerence to political independence was probably characteristic of the religious party whose ideals were realized in the constitution of a religious community at the head of which stood the high priest. Perfect freedom was allowed the .Jews in their religious affairs, and to a large measure autonomy in local matters. At times the high priests came into conflict with Persian authority, and occasionally a movement was organized to throw oS the Persian yoke, hut neither these conflicts nor movements assumed serious dimensions. Internal dissensions began to manifest themselves, but it was not until the fourth and third centuries B.C. that they led to serious divisions. The .Jewish settlements in Palestine, as well as in the East .Jordan dis- tricts, increased, and a new feature is presented by the colonists in Babylonia and Egypt, who. while identified with the interests of the country