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the Babylonian yoke in 606 B.C. From this time they remained in bondage to Babylon for
seventy years, until 536 B.C. In 587 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, destroyed the
Temple which Solomon had built at Jerusalem, and carried the chief of the Jews to Babylon.
The Book of Ezra tells us that, when the seventy years' subjection to Babylon spoken of
by the Prophet Jeremiah1 was ended, God delivered them by turning the heart of
Cyrus, King of Persia, who had become ruler of Babylonia and many other lands, to give
them permission to return to Palestine. The account of the restoration of the Temple and
the rebuilding of Jerusalem is given in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. But when the Jews
rejected the promised Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Gospels relate, He predicted
that terrible punishment would fall upon them, and that Jerusalem and the Temple would be
destroyed.2 In accordance with this and with Moses' prediction,3 the
Romans destroyed the city and the Temple in A.D. 70. From that time to this the Jews have
never had a king or a country of their own, but have ever remained scattered over all the
earth, often most cruelly oppressed. Not yet are the days of their "tribulation"4
ended.
From the Bible we gather that the Divine purpose in thus dealing with the Children of
Israel and in commanding historians and prophets to record the most important events in
their history was threefold: (1) To show the Jews themselves (and in later times all other
nations) that the heart of man is so prone to rebellion that, in spite of God's great
mercy and the bestowal of so many blessings and the continual guidance which He had
vouchsafed by His holy prophets, it was yet possible for men to forget the True God, and
at last to fall into idolatry. (2) To teach the Israelites that release from sin and from
the dominion of man's carnal
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desires cannot be gained through the mere knowledge of the commandments of God or
through the formal observance of outward rites and ceremonies, but that something more
than this is necessary; so that thus there might gradually spring up in their hearts a
desire and longing for the Saviour who had been promised in the Law (Torah) and the
Prophets,1 and that they might feel their need of Him. (3) That the Gentiles,
having learnt how God had dealt with the Israelites and what a lofty revelation of His own
Nature He had in His mercy made them, by showing kindness to them and revealing His
Justice and His Holiness and the Moral Law, might come to know that their idols were
nothing, and that the God of Israel was the One True God, Creator of Heaven and Earth;
that thus the Gentiles also might be led to desire to serve Him and receive the light and
salvation which the promised Saviour of the World should bring when, in accordance with
prophecy, He should be born of David's progeny2 in the town of Bethlehem.3
Besides the books which we have already mentioned as containing the history of God's
dealings with the Children of Israel, there are others which contain instruction in God's
will, and also prayers, praises, and thanksgivings to God Most High, as well as prophecies
of events which were future at the time when they were first uttered, though many of them
have since been fulfilled. Among these are the Book of Job, the Psalms, the Proverbs, the
Books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the twelve Minor Prophets. Although much
of each Prophet's teaching was primarily intended for the warning and encouragement of the
people of his own time, yet all of them by their teaching and prophecies were preparing
the way for the advent of the promised Saviour, whose future coming had been Divinely
announced to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. From these prophecies those who were
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