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had little sympathy with Jewish ideals. The Na-bataeans had pushed the Edomites out of their old territory, and the latter had occupied southern Judaea almost as far as Hebron. These migrations caused unrest and suffering in Judab. The Samaritans, who had apparently spread to the valley of Aijalon, held many of the approaches to the city. The Jewish colony occupied but a small territory about Jerusalem, and in their distress some, as in the days of Manasseh, were seeking reUef in the revival of long-discarded superstitious rites (Is 65"). There were nevertheless some souls of noble faith whose utterances we still cherish among the treasures of our Scriptures. Thus passed the reigns of Darius and Xerxes. Somewhere, whether in Babylonia or Palestine we cannot tell, the priestly Grundschrift — the main body of the Priestly document — was compiled by P2 during this period, about b.c. 450.

Such was the state of affairs when in b.c. 444, Nehemiah, the noble young Jewish cup-bearer of Artaxerxes i., arrived in Jerusalem with a commission from the king to rebuild the walls. The energy with which Nehemiah devoted himself to the erection of the walls, the opposi-tion which he encountered from the surrounding tribes, especially from the Samaritans, who wished to share in the reUgious privileges of the Temple, but whom his narrow conceptions excluded, and the success which attended his labours, are forcibly depicted in Neh 1-7. Before the summer of 444 was over, Jerusalem had a wall as well as a Temple. Nehemiah remained for some years as governor, and then returned to Persia. He came back a second time to the governorship in b.c. 432, and continued in the office for a length of time which we cannot now trace. Perhaps it was until his death, but we do not know when this occurred. During Nehemiah's administration he persuaded the Jews to do away with all foreign marriages; with, it is stated, the aid of Ezra the scribe, he introduced the Pentateuch, so constructed that the Levitical law was its heart and core, and bound the people to observe its provisions (Neh 8. 9); and he completely separated the true Jews from the Samaritans (Neh IS^*"), thus thoroughly organizing the Jewish community in civil and religious affairs. Nehemiah completed what Ezekiel had begun. The whole Levitical ritual was at this time established. The menial offices of the Temple were assigned to Levites, to whom also was committed the singing. This organi-zation a hundred years later was so thoroughly fixed that the Chronicler could attribute it to David. Prob-ably it was at the time of Nehemiah that the first book of the Psalter (Pss 3-41) was compiled. When Nehe-miah died, the Jewish State was not only reconstructed, but was transformed into the Jewish Church.

25 . Late Persian and Early Greek Periods. — After the time of Nehemiah our sources fail us for a considerable period. Only one other gUmpse of the Jewish colony do they afford us before the fall of the Persian empire, and this gUmpse is a somewhat confused one. Josephus (Ant. XI. vii. 1) tells us that the Persian general Bagoas, whom he calls Bagoses, entered the Temple, and op-pressed the Jews seven years, because the high priest John murdered his brother Joshua, a friend of Bagoas, for whom the latter had promised to obtain the high priesthood. Perhaps there was more underlying this than appears upon the surface. Many have supposed, at least, that the action of Bagoas was the result of an attempt on the part of the Jews to regain their independence.

Josephus {Ant. xi. viii. 3 f.) also tells a tale of the fidelity of the nigh priest Jaddua to Darius in., while Alexander the Great was besieging Tyre. Alexander summoned the Jews to aid him, so the story runs, but on the groimd of loyalty they refused. Alexander, after the surrender of Gaza, marched peisonally to Jerusalem to take vengeance upon it. At his ^proach the Jews, clad in wliite, marched out to Scopus. The high priest, wearing his glonous robes of office, led the assemblage, and Alexander seeing them forgot his wrath and saluted the high priest graciously.

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This story is no doubt mere legend. Arrian, for example, declares that the rest of Palestine had submitted before the siege of Gaza. Jerusalem was to Alexander simpl y one Syrian town. It was out of his route, and probably was never visited by him. The one element or truth in the tale is that the mgh priest was the head of the Jewish com-munity.

During the wars that followed the death of Alexander, Judaea must often have suffered. In the struggles between the generals, the armies of Antigonus and Demetrius were at various times in this region. In 312 a great battle was fought near Gaza, and the Jews must have had their share of the hardship and un-certainty which in the shock of empires during those years tried men's souls. Palestine finally fell; however, to the lot of Ptolemy Lagi, who had secured Egypt, and for a century was subject to the Ptolemaic line. Seleucus regarded it as rightfully his, but on account of the help Ptolemy had given him when his fortunes were at a low ebb, he did nothing more than enter a verbal protest, though Sulpicius Severus says {,Sacr. Hist. II. 17) that he exacted 300 talents in tribute from him. The age was a period of migration, and the Jews felt the impulse along with others. During this century large settlements were made by them in Egypt, and probably elsewhere (see Dispersion). In 220 Antiochus the Great gained Palestine for Syria, but in 219 it reverted to Egypt again. Finally, in b.c. 199, he permanently attached it to Syria, and its fortunes were never subject to the Ptolemys again.

The chief connexion with the suzerain power during this period was through the payment of taxes. At one period the Egyptian king became dissatisfied with the high priest's management of the finances and committed them to the care of one Joseph, son of Tobias, who with his sons led for a generation or two spectacular careers (cf. Ant. XII. iv.). At times tribute had to be paid both to Syria and to Egypt.

During this period the head of the Jewish community was the high priest, assisted by a Sanhedrin or council. The reUgious Ufe of the community can only be inferred from the Uterature. An intense devotion to the Law was begotten in the minds of the Jewish people, as is shown by such psalms as the 119th. But the hfe of the community was a varied one. The ' Wisdom ' Uterature was cultivated, and many a passionate psalm attests that a deep reUgious Ufe superior to all forraaUsm was springing up (cf. e.g. Ps 51).

26. The Maccabaean Revolt.— For many years the Hellenic civiUzation, radiating from the many cities founded by the Macedonians, found no welcome among the Uttle Jewish community in Jerusalem. Gradually, however, it penetrated even there, and under the Syrians certain high priests adopted Greek names, and, to court the favour of the Syrian kings, cultivated Hellenic practices. In Jerusalem, where there was a Syrian garrison, Greek culture became popular, gymnasia were estabUshed, and men went so far as to attempt to remove artificiaUy the signs of circumcision. The country towns were more conservative, but possibly even here the movement would have made its way had not Antio-chus IV. determined to force upon the Jews both Greek culture and reUgion. One curious feature of this period consists in the fact that a high priest, Onias III., deposed by Syrian intervention, went to Egypt and estabUshed at LeontopoUs in the nome of HeUopoUs a temple to Jahweh, which existed there for a hundred •years.

In B.C. 168, Antiochus commanded altars to Zeus to be erected throughout the land, and especially in the Temple at Jerusalem. He also directed swine to be offered in sacrifice upon them. The fear of Syrian arms secured wide-spread obedience to this decree. In the Uttle town of Modin, however, an old priest. Mattathias, struck down the officiating priest and raised the standard of revolt. The faithful soon ralUed to