Synopsis of Jewish History / From the Return of the Jews from the Babylonish Captivity, to the Days of Herod the Great - H. A. Henry

CONTENTS.

[CHAPTER I.]	PAGE.
Of the return of the Jews from the Captivity of Babylon, and the rebuilding of the City of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple	9
[CHAPTER II.]
Of the state of the Jews in the days of Ezra the Scribe	15
[CHAPTER III.]
Of the affairs of the Jewish Nation during the days of Nehemiah	23
[CHAPTER IV.]
Of the state of the Jewish Nation under the Persian and the Grecian Monarchies	37
[CHAPTER V.]
Of the affairs of the Jewish Nation under Ptolemy Soter, Ptolemy Philadelphus and Ptolemy Philopater, Kings of Egypt	43
[CHAPTER VI.]
Of the Jewish affairs under Antiochus the Greek, Seleucus, and Antiochus Epiphanes, Kings of Syria	48
[CHAPTER VII.]
Of the state of the Jewish Nation in the days of Mattathias the Priest, the father of the valiant Maccabees	55
[CHAPTER VIII.]
The Government of the Jewish Nation under the Maccabees, or as they were otherwise called, the Asmoneans, this being the family name	62
[CHAPTER IX.]
Of the Jewish affairs under the conduct of the posterity and successors of Simon the Maccabee	79
[CHAPTER X.]
Of the Government of Herod the Great and his posterity over Israel	96
[PART SECOND.]
[CHAPTER I.]
The Assideans	111
[CHAPTER II.]
The Pharisees	113
[CHAPTER III.]
The Sadducees	117
[CHAPTER IV.]
The Samaritans	120
[CHAPTER V.]
The Essenes	123
[CHAPTER VI.]
The Herodians	125
[CHAPTER VII.]
The Galileans or Gaulonites	127
[CHAPTER VIII.]
The Karayeem or Karaites	129
[CHAPTER IX.]
Of the Synagogues among the Jews	133
[CHAPTER X.]
Of the origin and introduction of Prayer among the Jews	138
[CHAPTER XI.]
Of the Ureem and Thumeem	147
[CHAPTER XII.]
Of the Mishna or Oral Law	152
[CHAPTER XIII.]
Of the Gemara-Completion, usually styled the Talmud	169
[CHAPTER XIV.]
Appendix	172

CHAPTER I.

Of the Return of the Jews from the Captivity of Babylon, and the Rebuilding of the City of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple.

In fulfilment of the prophecies of Jeremiah and the other prophets, Israel and Judah were carried into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in the days of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah; and as predicted by the prophets of the Lord, the bondage continued during seventy years.

This banishment was inflicted as a just punishment on the people for their repeated misconduct and impiety towards the Gracious God, and for their direct opposition to the constant exhortations and unceasing warnings of the Almighty, through the medium of his inspired and holy prophets.

The seventy years of captivity being ended, God put it into the mind of Cyrus, king of Persia, again to restore Israel to their own land and possessions, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah, which was pronounced by him above one hundred years previously. Accordingly Cyrus permitted the Jews to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple. He also restored to them the golden and silver vessels which were used for divine service in the former temple built by king Solomon.