Chapter XXII: Part TWO

3. =The Mac-ca-be'an period=, B. C. 166-40. But the darkest hour precedes the day; the cruelties of the Syr'i-ans caused a new and splendid epoch to rise upon Is'ra-el.

1.) _The revolt of Mat-ta-thi'as._ In the year B. C. 170 an aged priest, Mat-ta-thi'as, unfurled the banner of independence from the Syr'i-an yoke. He did not at first aim for political freedom, but religious liberty; but after winning a few victories over the Syr'i-an armies he began to dream of a free Jew'ish state. He died in the beginning of the war, but was succeeded by his greater son, Ju'das Mac-ca-be'us.

2.) _Ju'das Mac-ca-be'us_ gained a greater success than had been dreamed at the beginning of the revolt. Within four years the Jews recaptured Je-ru'sa-lem and reconsecrated the temple. The anniversary of this event was ever after celebrated in the Feast of Dedication (John 10. 22). Ju'das ranks in history as one of the noblest of the Jew'ish heroes, and deserves a place beside Josh'u-a, Gid'e-on, and Sam'u-el as a liberator and reformer.

3.) _The Mac-ca-be'an dynasty._ Ju'das refused the title of king, but his family established a line of rulers who by degrees assumed a royal state, and finally the royal title. In the year B. C. 143 Jew'ish liberty was formally recognized, and the Mac-ca-be'an princes ruled for a time over an independent state. Between B. C. 130 and 110 E'dom, Sa-ma'ri-a, and Gal'i-lee were added to Ju-de'a. The latter province had been known as "Gal'i-lee of the Gen'tiles" (Isa. 9. 1); but by degrees the foreigners withdrew, and the province was occupied by Jews who were as devoted and loyal as those of Je-ru'sa-lem.

4.) _The rise of the sects._ About B. C. 100 the two sects, or schools of thought, the Phar'i-sees and Sad'du-cees, began to appear, though their principles had long been working. The Phar'i-sees ("separatists") sought for absolute separation from the Gen'tile world and a strict construction of the law of Mo'ses, while the Sad'du-cees "moralists") were liberal in their theories and in their lives.

4. =The Ro'man period=, B. C. 40 to A. D. 70. It is not easy to name a date for the beginning of the Ro'man supremacy in Pal'es-tine. It began in B. C. 63, when Pom'pey the Great (afterward the antagonist of Ju'li-us Cae'sar) was asked to intervene between two claimants for the Jew'ish throne, Hyr-ca'nus and Ar-is-to-bu'lus. Pom'pey decided for Hyr-ca'nus, and aided him by a Ro'man army. In his interest he besieged and took Je-ru'sa-lem, and then placed Hyr-ca'nus in power, but without the title of king. From this time the Ro'mans were practically, though not nominally, in control of affairs.

1.) _Her'od the Great._ We assign as the date of the Ro'man rule B. C. 40, when Her'od (son of An-tip'a-ter, an E'dom-ite, who had been the general of Hyr-ca'nus) received the title of king from the Ro'man Senate. From this time Pal'es-tine was regarded as a part of the Ro'man empire. Her'od was the ablest man of his age and one of the most unscrupulous. He ruled over all Pal'es-tine, I-du-me'a (ancient E'dom), and the lands south of Da-mas'cus.

2.) _Her'od's temple._ Her'od was thoroughly hated by the Jews, less for his character than for his foreign birth. To gain their favor he began rebuilding the temple upon a magnificent scale. It was not completed until long after his death, which took place at Jer'i-cho about the time when Je'sus Christ, the true King of the Jews, was born (Matt. 2. 1, 2).

3.) _The tetrarchies._ By Her'od's will his dominions were divided into four tetrarchies ("quarter-rulings," a title for a fourth part of a kingdom). Three of these were in Pal'es-tine: Ar-che-la'us receiving Ju-de'a, I-du-me'a, and Sa-ma'ri-a; An'ti-pas (the Her'od of Luke 3. 1; 9. 7; 23. 7-11) receiving Gal'i-lee and Pe-re'a; and Phil'ip (Luke 3. 1) having the district of Ba'shan. About A. D. 6 Ar-che-la'us was deposed, and a Ro'man, Co-po'ni-us, was appointed the first procurator of Ju-de'a, which was made a part of the prefecture of Syr'i-a. The rest of Jew'ish annals belongs properly to the New Testament history.

II. Through these periods we notice the gradual =Preparation for the Gospel=, which was steadily advancing.

1. =There was a political preparation.= Six centuries before Christ the world around the Med-i-ter-ra'ne-an was divided into states, whose normal condition was war. At no time was peace prevalent over all the world at once. If Christ had come at that time it would have been impossible to establish the gospel except through war and conquest. But kingdoms were absorbed into empires, empires rose and fell by turns, each with a larger conception of the nation than its predecessor. From the crude combination of undigested states in the As-syr'i-an empire to the orderly, assimilated, systematic condition of the Ro'man world was a great advance. Christ appeared at the only point in the world's history when the great nations of the world were under one government, with a system of roads such that a traveler could pass from Mes-o-po-ta'mi-a to Spain and could sail the Med-i-ter-ra'ne-an Sea in perfect safety.

2. =There was a preparation of language.= The conquests of Al-ex-an'der, though accomplished in ten years, left a deeper impress upon the world than any other two centuries of history. They gave to the whole of that world one language, the noblest tongue ever spoken by human lips, "a language fit for the gods," as men said. Through Al-ex-an'der, Greek cities were founded everywhere in the East, Greek kingdoms were established, the Greek literature and Greek civilization covered all the lands. That was the language in which Paul preached the gospel, and in which the New Testament was written--the only language of the ancient world in which the thoughts of the gospel could be readily expressed. While each land had its own tongue, the Greek tongue was common in all lands.

3. While these preparations were going on there was another in progress at the same time, the =preparation of a race=. We might point to the history of the Is'ra-el-ites from the migration of A'bra-ham as a training; but we refer now to their special preparation for their mission after the restoration, B. C. 536. There was a divine purpose in the division of Ju'da-ism into two streams: one a little fountain in Pal'es-tine, the other a river dispersed over all the lands. Each branch had its part in the divine plan. One was to concentrate its energies upon the divine religion, to study the sacred books, to maintain a chosen people, whose bigotry, narrowness, and intolerance kept them from destruction; the other branch was out in the world, where every Jew'ish synagogue in a heathen city kept alive the knowledge of God and disseminated that knowledge, drawing around it the thoughtful, spiritual minds who were looking for something better than heathenism. Pal'es-tine gave the gospel, but the Jews of the dispersion carried it to the Gen'tiles, and in many places synagogues in the foreign world became the nucleus of a Christian church, where for the first time Jew and Gen'tile met as equals.

4. Finally, there was the =preparation of a religion=. The gospel of Christ was not a new religion; it was the new development of an old religion. As we study the Old Testament we see that each epoch stands upon a higher religious plane. There is an enlargement of spiritual being between A'bra-ham and Mo'ses, between Mo'ses and Da'vid, between Da'vid and I-sa'iah, between I-sa'iah and John the Bap'tist. Phar'i-see and Sad'du-cee each held a share of the truth which embraced the best thoughts of both sects. The work of many scribes prepared the way for the coming of the Lord, and just when revelation was brought up to the highest level, when a race was trained to apprehend and proclaim it, when a language had been created and diffused to express it, when the world was united in one great brotherhood of states, ready to receive it--then, in the fullness of times, the Christ was manifested, who is over all, God blessed forever.

Blackboard Outline

I. =Four Per.= (Cont.) 3. Macc. per. 1.) Rev. Mat. 2.) Jud. Macc.
3.) Macc. dyn. 4.) Ri. sec. 4. Rom. per. 1.) Her. Gr.
2.) Her. tem. 3.) Tetr.
II. =Prep. Gosp.= 1. Pol. prep. 2. Prep. lan. 3. Prep. rac. 4. Prep.
rel.

Review Questions

What was the effect of the Syr'i-an persecution? Who
led the Jews in revolt? What great hero arose at this
time? What line of rulers came from his family? What
was the growth of the Jew'ish state at that time? What
sects of the Jews arose? How did Ju-de'a fall under
the Ro'man power? Whom did the Ro'mans establish as
king? What were his dominions? What building did he
erect? How was his kingdom divided after his death?
What finally became of Ju-de'a? Name five ways in
which there was a preparation for the gospel during
this period. What was the political preparation? How
was a language prepared for preaching the gospel to
the world? What race was prepared, and how? What part
had each of the two divisions of the Jew'ish race in
the divine plan? What was the preparation of a
religion for the world?

SIXTEENTH STUDY

The Old Testament as Literature[16]