SEVENTH PERIOD.

FROM THE CESSATION OF PROPHECY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT TO ITS FULFILMENT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.

(A period embracing about four centuries.)

§ 112. Characteristic Features of this period.—(The Apocrypha.) 1. DURING a period of more than 400 years, extending from Malachi to John the Baptist, concerning whom the former prophesied, the voice of Prophecy was not heard; the appearance of a true prophet (popτns notós "a faithful prophet," 1 Mac. 14: 41) was most earnestly desired. The chosen people, after having received the instructions and been subjected to the discipline appropriate to the season of youth, had attained a mature age; the task was now imposed on them of proceeding onward without the advantage of receiving special directions and aid in all cases, and of producing evidences of the degree to which they had been benefited by their past experience and knowledge. The laws of Moses and the predictions of the prophets were adapted to be both a light unto their path, and a staff in their hands by these they were effectually secured against the destructive influences of heathenism. After this deadly foe had been subdued and the struggle had terminated, the people were once more placed in possession of political independence, in order that they might perform their appointed task without meeting with obstacles in any direction. The present period is also remarkable as constituting Israel's missionary age. It was a judgment inflicted upon the chosen people of God when they were carried away captive to a heathen land; but, according to the course which God frequently adopts, this judgment was attended with gracious gifts, of which, in the present case, pagans were the recipients. It was designed that a knowledge of Israel's faith and Israel's hopes should be imparted to the latter, and that an avenue to salvation in Christ should be opened to them also. Thus, too, even the hesitation of the Israelites to leave the land of captivity, although not proceeding from worthy motives (§ 108. 1), was rendered subservient to the divine plan of salvation.

And even if Israel did not understand this great call to engage in missionary efforts, nevertheless, its object was attained through the circumstance that the dispersed Jews erected Synagogues in all places, in which the Law and the Prophets were read and expounded, and that free access to the services was granted to the heathen.

2. The results of the rigorous discipline of the Captivity were salutary in other respects. Not only did every trace of the former tendency of the Israelites to adopt pagan customs and introduce idolatry, disappear, but the latter were henceforth regarded with detestation. Nevertheless, other tendencies were gradually developed in the character of the people, which ultimately not only led them to reject the great salvation that had been promised, and for which preparations had been made during a period of 4000 years, but also influenced them to deny and to kill the Holy One and the Just. (Acts 3:14, 15.) These characteristic features were, on the one hand, an untheocratic seclusion or reserve, an inflated national pride, irrational and carnal Messianic hopes, a frantic reliance on their own works and their own righteousness, and a foolish inclination to overrate trivial acts and undervalue weighty matters (Matt. 23: 23, 24); they were seen, on the other hand, in that Sadducean unbelief which treated the precious promises and hopes of the fathers with mockery alone. (§ 115.) But while the mass of the people were thus ripening for final destruction, all true Israelites steadily beheld these promises, sincerely hoped for their fulfilment, and found deliverance and salvation in the Saviour who appeared on earth.

OBS.-The author whose writings constitute the chief source whence the history of this period is derived, is the Jewish historian Josephus; materials are also occasionally furnished by the Apocrypha and by Greek and Roman writers of profane history. As the gift of prophecy was now withdrawn, the writings which originated during this period among the people of the covenant, cannot be regarded as the Word of God. They are accordingly called the Apocrypha, that is, concealed writings, because they cannot, like the writings of the prophets, be placed on the candlestick of the Church, and serve as an infallible divine light unto our path. They were, however, written by devout and enlightened men of the old covenant,

and, therefore, they may be read with advantage, as Luther says, although they are not free from error; as sources of history, and as witnesses of the religious views of their age, they are worthy of great esteem. The following belong to the collection:-1. The book of Judith; the history of a devout Jewish widow, who by her courage delivered Bethulia, when it was besieged by Holofernes, who is styled the chief captain of Nabuchodonosor. (¿ 103. 2, Oвs.) — 2. The Wisdom of Solomon; an imitation of Solomon's Proverbs, by an author whose name is unknown.-3. The book of Tobit; the history of a devout Jew, a captive of the Assyrians (? 102. 2, Obs. 2); descriptive of the blessings which flow from the religious education of children.-4. The Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus; it contains many wise and excellent sayings resembling Solomon's Proverbs.-5. The book of Baruch; it contains exhortations addressed to the people in reference to the Babylonian captivity; Baruch appears as a cotemporary of Jeremiah in chapters 32, 36, 43 and 45 of that prophet.-6. Two books of the Maccabees; the contents are of an historical character. (? 114.)—7. The rest of the chapters of the book of Esther; a supplement to the canonical book.-8. The history of Susanna, the history of the destruction of Bel and the Dragon in Babylon, the Song of the three holy children in the furnace; these portions are all supplementary to the history of Daniel.—9. The Prayer of Manasses. (? 103. 2.)— Josephus, the Jewish historian, was the son of a Jewish priest, and during the war with the Romans (? 117), commanded a portion of the Jewish forces. He wrote a history of that war, as well as a history of the Jews, extending to the reign of Nero; the latter work bears the title of "Jewish Antiquities."

§ 113. The Jews and the third Great Monarchy.

1. Alexander the Great, whom Daniel had seen in his visions (ch. 8), as a he-goat, advancing with such impetuosity that he touched not the ground, had been delayed seven months in his rapid and victorious career, by the siege of Tyre. During the siege, he sent to Samaria and Judea, and required the people to furnish him with additional troops, and supplies of food. Samaria was willing to obey, but Jaddua, the high-priest, who had sworn fealty to the Persians, refused to furnish the required aid. After the fall of Tyre, Alexander proceeded, as Josephus relates, to Jerusalem, thirsting for revenge. The people fasted and prayed;

the high-priest, clad in his pontifical robes, and the priests and Levites in white attire, formed a solemn procession, and marched forth to meet the conqueror. Alexander's wrath was instantly appeased; he kindly saluted the high-priest, gave him his hand, and adored the name of Jehovah inscribed on the plate of gold which was attached to the diadem of the high-priest. He explained to his attendants that a man similarly apparelled had appeared to him in Macedonia in a dream, announcing that his God had given to him (Alexander) dominion over all Asia.-Alexander entered the city of Jerusalem in peace, offered sacrifice, read Daniel's predictions respecting himself, and departed after granting valuable privileges to the city.

OBS.- Alexander occupies a very important position in the history of the development of the kingdom of God. He made Alexandria the centre of the commerce of the world, and the source of a new period of the culture of the human mind; it combined in amity the energies both of oriental and occidental nations. The numerous colonies which were founded, and the active trade which prevailed, maintained a very intimate intercourse of these nations with each other. The Greek language became the language of the world. Thus it was through the course which Alexander pursued that the fulfilment of the conditions approached, on which depended the speedy extension to all parts of the world of that salvation which was prepared for all people in the seed of Abraham.

2. After the death of Alexander, B. c. 323, Palestine came into the possession of Laomedon, one of his generals; but it was soon afterwards, B. c. 320, wrested from him by Ptolemy Lagi. As Onias II., the high-priest, had resolved to adhere faithfully to Laomedon, Ptolemy attacked Jerusalem on a Sabbath-day, and took the city without meeting with resistance; political considerations, however, induced him to treat the Jews with great gentleness and humanity. He removed 100,000 Jews to Egypt, and granted them the same rights which the Macedonians enjoyed. He frequently employed them, on account of their approved fidelity, when he garrisoned fortified places. In the year B. c. 314, Antigonus took possession of Palestine, but, after he lost his life in a battle near the city of Ipsus, the country reverted to the Ptolemies, and remained a hundred years in their

power. During this period, the condition of the Jews was peaceful and happy. It was only towards the close of the dominion of the Ptolemies that the circumstances of the Jews again assumed an unfavorable character.

OBS.-The highest tribunal in Jerusalem was the Great Council (Synedrium or Sanhedrin), composed of seventy members, who decided all causes according to the laws of the fathers, and had the right of judging in capital cases. As all monarchs endeavored to induce the Jews to settle in their new colonies by granting to these the most valuable privileges, the latter were gradually dispersed over the whole world. They built Synagogues in all places, and in these, pagans found an opportunity to become acquainted with Israel's faith and hopes. The Greek language gradually became the native language of the scattered Jews (the Jews of the diaspora or dispersion), who derived the name of Hellenists from that circumstance, and formed a connecting link between Judaism and heathenism. Hence the want of a Greek version of the Old Testament was felt. Ptolemy Philadelphus is said to have caused this translation to be made for the large library which he had recently founded; it derives its name, Septuagint (that is, seventy interpreters), or simply, the LXX, according to an old legendary tale, from the circumstance that 72 scribes from the city of Jerusalem, confined in separate cells in the island of Pharos, translated the Hebrew Scriptures, and that their respective translations agreed word for word!-During the reign of Philometor, B. c. 180-145, Onias the priest, who had emigrated to Egypt, even built a temple in Leontopolis in Egypt, according to the model of the temple of Jerusalem, but of smaller proportions; it was destroyed by the Romans during the reign of the emperor Vespasian.

3. Antiochus the Great of Syria took possession of Palestine by force in the year 203 B. C.; after the possession of the country had, during several decades of years, been contested by the Ptolemies and the Seleucida respectively, the latter finally prevailed. Antiochus also granted the Jews many privileges, and amply secured their religious liberty. His son and successor, however, Seleucus Philopator, caused the temple of Jerusalem to be plundered (2 Macc. ch. 3), for the purpose of obtaining money, and his successor, Antiochus Epiphanes, was guilty of unexampled cruelties in attempting to compel the Jews to adopt the customs and the religion of the Greeks. He conquered Jerusalem in the