The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

III. Historical Background of Jewish Captivities and Decline

We would stress the point that, as the setting for the crucial developments that come within the field of our quest, it is essential that we have the historical background of the successive Jewish captivities and final decline clearly before us. Let us therefore go back to the sixth century B.C. CFF1 640.3

1. SUBJUGATION BY BABYLON, THEN BY PERSIA

In 587 B.C., the Jewish nation, having steadily declined since the days of Solomon, was nearly annihilated at the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of the first Temple ⁷ and Jerusalem and the remnant were carried into captivity in Babylon. ⁸ In Babylon, however, Nebuchadnezzar permitted the Hebrew exiles to retain much of their freedom and to preserve their religous faith and practices. CFF1 640.4

Picture 2: Paul in Prison:
Paul the Apostle Protrayed the Immortalization of the Redeemed at the Resurrection Attendant Upon the Second Advent.
Page 641

Then in 539 the Persian leader Cyrus conquered Babylon, and in his first year as king of Babylon he issued a decree permitting the Jews to return to Palestine. The second Temple was constructed in Jerusalem, under Zerubbabel, and completed in 515 B.C. Ezra, and later Nehemiah, returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the city walls and restored the observance of the law. CFF1 641.1

2. SYRIAN OPPRESSION AND MACCABEAN REVOLT

Darkness then fell upon Palestinian affairs. The seclusion was broken in 332 B.C. by the appearance at Jerusalem of Alexander the Great. But after his death Palestine fell under the rule of the Ptolemies (323-c. 200), and the Jews became the object of contention between the rival dynasties of the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucids of Syria. CFF1 641.2

After Judea fell into the hands of Syria, a Hellenizing process made rapid progress among the Jews. But under Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164/63), the struggle between the Hellenic and Hebraic influences came to the fore. Judaism was declared illegal, the observance of its religious practices was made a capital offense, and the Jews were compelled to worship idols. CFF1 641.3

Under the revolt beginning in 168 B.C., Judas Maccabaeus and his brothers resisted by force of arms and effective bargaining. The Syrians were finally compelled to give independence to the Jews. Simon Maccabaeus was voted high priest and ethnarch (or ruler) in 141/40 B.C.—these positions then becoming hereditary. CFF1 641.4

3. ROME’S DOMINANCE, JERUSALEM’S DESTRUCTION, AND THE DIASPORA

A dispute among rival brothers over the throne led to the invoking of the help of Rome in 65 B.C. As a result Pompey marched on Jerusalem and ended Judea’s independence in 63 B.C. When Antipater was poisoned Herod assumed authority, and was eventually made king of Judea (40 B.C.) by appointment of the Roman Senate. He gained control of Palestine in 37 B.C., and began rebuilding the Temple. Because murder and outrage marked his reign he was hated by the Jews. CFF1 641.5

Picture 3: Rome:
Rome in the Heyday of Its Power Was the Scene of the Rise and Spread of the Christian Faith, With Its Message to Man of Life Only in Christ.
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After his death Palestine was divided among his sons. And after a decade Emperor Augustus annexed Judea and Samaria as a Roman province, ruled over by a procurator. But the country seethed with discontent and rebellion, fomented by the Jewish Zealots in Galilee. This was roughly the period of Philo and Josephus. CFF1 642.1

Under Pontius Pilate, Jesus was crucified in A.D. 31. For a brief period Emperor Claudius reunified Palestine under the kingship of Agrippa, grandson of Herod. Then most of it was again put under procurators. Because of subsequent misgovernment the people were incited to revolt, and by A.D. 66 the Jews rebelled, and open warfare broke out against the Romans. In A.D. 70 the Temple was destroyed by Titus, and soon all Palestine was in Roman hands. Judea’s independence was buried under the ruins of the city and the Temple. After Simon bar Cocheba’s rebellion (A.D. 132-135), Jerusalem was made a Gentile city, and barred to the Jews. Such was the historical panorama. CFF1 642.2

Next note the impact of the captivities of the Jews upon their thinking as regards the nature and destiny of the soul. CFF1 643.1