The Martyrdom of Man by Winwood Reade (mini ebook reader .TXT) π
The Egyptians were islanders, cut off from the rest of the world by sand and sea. They were rooted in their valley; they lived entirely upon its fruits, and happily these fruits sometimes failed. Had they always been able to obtain enough to eat, they would have remained always in the semi-savage state.
It may appear strange that Egypt should have suffered from famine, for there was no country in the ancient world where food was so abundant and so cheap. Not only did the land produce enormous crops of corn; the ditches and hollows which were filled by the overflowing Nile supplied a harvest of wholesome and nourishing aquatic plants, and on the borders of the des
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the highway between the Euphrates and the Nile, obtained a place in the
Asiatic world. The minds of the citizens became elevated and refined,
and that reflection of their minds which they called Jehovah assumed a
pure and noble form: he was recognised as the one God, the Creator of
the world.
During all these years Moses had been forgotten, but now his code of
laws (so runs the legend) was discovered in a corner of the temple, and
laws of a higher kind adapted to a civilised people were issued under his
name. The idols were broken, the foreign priests were expelled. It was in
the midst of this great religious revival that Jerusalem was destroyed, and
it may well be that the law which forbade the Jews to render homage to a
foreign king was the chief cause of their contumacy and their dispersal. It
was certainly the cause of all their subsequent calamities: it was their
loyalty to Jehovah which provoked the destruction of the city by the
Romans: it was their fidelity to the law which brought down upon them
all the curses of the law.
The reformation in the first period had been by no means complete: there
had been many relapses and back-slidings, and they therefore readily
believed that the captivity was a judgment upon them for their sins. By
the waters of Babylon they repented with bitter tears; in a strange land
they returned to the god of their fathers and never deserted him again.
Henceforth religion was their patriotism. Education became general:
divine worship was organised: schools and synagogues were established
wherever Jews were to be found.
And soon they were to be found in all the cities of the Eastern world.
They had no land, and therefore adopted commerce as their pursuit; they
became a trading and a travelling people, and the financial abilities which
they displayed obtained them employment in the households and
treasuries of kings.
The dispersion of the Jews must be dated from this period and not from
the second destruction of the city. When Cyrus conquered Babylon he
restored to the Jews their golden candlesticks and holy vessels, allowed
them to return home, and rendered them assistance partly from religious
sympathyβfor the Jews made him believe that his coming had been
predicted by their prophetsβand partly from motives of policy. Palestine
was the key to Egypt, against which Cyrus had designs, and it was wise to
plant in Palestine a people on whom he could rely. But not all the Jews
availed themselves of his decree. The merchants and officials who were
now making their fortunes by the waters of Babylon were not inclined to
return to the modest farmer life of Judea. Their piety was warm and
sincere, but it was no longer combined with a passion for the soil. They
began to regard Jerusalem as the Mohammedans regard Mecca. The
people who did return were chiefly the fanatics, the clergy, and the
paupers. The harvest, as we shall find was worthy of the seed.
Beneath the Persian yoke the Jews of Judea were content, and paid their
tribute with fidelity. They could do so without scruple, for they identified
Ormuzd with Jehovah, took lessons in theology from the doctors of the
Zend-Avesta, and recognised the Great King as GodΒ΄s viceroy on earth.
But when the Persian empire was broken up Palestine was again tossed
upon the waves. The Greek kings of Alexandria and Antioch repeated
the wars of Nebuchadnezzar and Necho. Again Egypt was worsted, and
Syria became a province of the Graeco-Asiatic empire. The government
encouraged emigration into the newly conquered lands, and soon
Palestine was covered with Greek towns and filled with Greek settlers.
Judea alone remained like an island in the flood. European culture was
detested by the doctors of the law, who inflicted the same penalty for
learning Greek as for eating pork. They therefore resisted the spread of
civilisation, and Jerusalem was closed against the Greeks.
In the Hellenic world toleration was the universal rule. An oracle at
Delphi had expressed the opinion of all when it declared that the proper
religion for each man was the religion of his fatherland. Governments,
therefore, did not interfere with the religious opinions of the people, but
on the other hand the religious opinions of the people did not interfere
with their civil duties. We allow the inhabitants of the holy city of
Benares to celebrate the rites of their pilgrimage in their own manner, and
to torture themselves in moderation, but we should at once begin what
they would call a religious persecution if they were to purify the town by
destroying the shops of the beef-butchers and other institutions which are
an abomination in their eyes. Antiochus Epiphanes was by nature a
humane and enlightened prince; he attempted to Europeanise Jerusalem;
he could do this only by abolishing the Jewish laws; he could abolish
their laws only by destroying their religion; and thus he was gradually
drawn into barbarous and useless crimes of which he afterwards repented,
but which have gained him the reputation of a Nero.
At first, however, it appeared as if he would succeed. The aristocratic
party of Jerusalem were won over to the cause. A gymnasium was
erected, and Jews with artificial foreskins appeared naked in the arena.
Riots broke out. Then royal edicts were issued forbidding circumcision,
and keeping of the Sabbath, and the use of the law. A pagan altar was set
up in the Holy of Holies, and swine were sacrificed upon it to the
Olympian Jove. The riots increased. Then a Greek regiment garrisoned
the city; all new-born children that were found to be circumcised were
hurled with their mothers from the walls; altar pork was offered as a test
of loyalty to the elders of the Church, and those who refused to eat were
put to death with tortures too horrible to be described. And now the Jews
no longer raised riots: they rebelled. The empire was at that time in a
state of weakness and disorder, and under the gallant Maccabees the
independence of Judea was achieved. Yet it is only in adversity that the
Jews can be admired. As soon as they obtained the power of self-government they showed themselves unworthy to possess it, and in the
midst of a civil war they were enveloped by the Roman power, which had
extended them its protection in the period of the Maccabees. The senate
placed Herod the great, an Arab price, upon the throne.
Herod was a man of the world, and his policy resembled that of the
Ptolemies in Egypt. He built the Temple at Jerusalem and a theatre at
Caesarea, in which city he preferred to dwell. The kingdom at his death
was divided between his three sons: they were merely rajahs under the
rule of Rome, and the one who governed Judea having been removed for
misbehaviour, that country was attached to the proconsulate of Syria. A
lieutenant-governor was appointed to reside in the turbulent district to
collect the revenues and maintain order. The position of the first
commandant whom Russia sends to garrison Bokhara will resemble that
of the procurator who took up his winter quarters at Jerusalem.
Those Jews of Judea, those Hebrews of the Hebrews, regarded all the
Gentiles as enemies of God; they considered it a sin to live abroad, or to
speak a foreign language, or to rub their limbs with foreign oil. Of all the
trees, the Lord had chosen but one vine; and of all the flowers but one
lily; and of all the birds but one dove; and of all the cattle but one lamb;
and of all the builded cities only Sion; and among all the multitude of
peoples he had elected the Jews as a peculiar treasure, and had made them
a nation of priests and holy men. For their sake God had made the world.
On their account alone empires rose and fell. Babylon had triumphed
because God was angry with his people; Babylon had fallen because he
had forgiven them. It may be imagined that it was not easy to govern
such a race. They acknowledged no king but Jehovah, no laws but the
precepts of their holy books. In paying tribute they yielded to absolute
necessity, but the tax-gatherers were looked upon as unclean creatures; no
respectable men would eat with them or pray with them; their evidence
was not accepted in the courts of justice.
Their own government consisted of a Sanhedrin or Council of Elders,
presided over by the High Priest. They had power to administer their
own laws, but could not inflict the punishment of death without the
permission of the procurator. All persons of consideration devoted
themselves to the study of the law. Hebrew had become a dead language,
and some learning was therefore requisite for the exercise of this
profession, which was not the prerogative of a single class. It was a
rabbinical axiom that the crown of the kingdom was deposited in Judah,
and the crown of the priesthood in the seed of Aaron, but that the crown
of the law was common to all Israel. Those who gained distinction as
expounders of the sacred books were saluted with the title of rabbi, and
were called scribes and doctors of the law. The people were ruled by the
scribes, but the scribes were recruited from the people. It was not an idle
casteβan established Churchβbut an order which was filled and refilled
with the pious, the earnest, and the ambitious members of the nation.
There were two great religious sects which were also political parties, as
must always be the case where law and religion are combined. The
Sadducees were the rich, the indolent, and the passive aristocrats; they
were the descendants of those who had belonged to the Greek party in the
reign of Antiochus, and it was said that they themselves were tainted with
the Greek philosophy. They professed, however, to belong to the
conservative Scripture and original Mosaic school. As the Protestants
reject the traditions of the ancient Church, some of which have doubtless
descended viva voce from apostolic times, so all traditions, good and bad,
were rejected by the Sadduccees. As Protestants always inquire
respecting a custom or doctrine, βIs it in the Bible?β so the Sadduccees
would accept nothing that could not be shown them in the law. They did
not believe in heaven and hell because there was nothing about heaven
and hell in the books of Moses. The morality which their doctors
preached was cold and pure, and adapted only for enlightened minds.
They taught that men should be virtuous without the fear of punishment
and without the hope of reward, and that such virtue alone is of any
worth.
The Pharisees were mostly persons of low birth. They were the
prominent representatives of the popular belief, zealots in patriotism as
well as in religionβthe teaching, the preaching, and the proselytising
party. Among them were to be found two kinds of men. Those Puritans
of the Commonwealth with lank hair and sour visage and upturned eyes,
who wore sombre garments, sniffled through their noses, and garnished
their discourse with Scripture texts, were an exact reproduction, so far as
the difference of place and period would allow, of certain Jerusalem
Pharisees who veiled their faces when they went abroad lest they should
behold a woman or some unclean thing; who strained the water which
they drank for fear they should swallow the forbidden gnat; who gave
alms to the sound of trumpet, and uttered long prayers in a loud voice;
who wore texts embroidered on their robes and bound upon their brows;
who followed minutely the observances of the ceremonial law; who
added to it with their traditions; who lengthened the
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