The picture of the just man here is surely a very remarkable one. It is dramatically put into the mouth of Glaucon, and part of it is by him attributed to those who commend injustice; but these are but literary forms; the picture is Plato’s own. It is his ideal of the just man; and the extraordinary thing is his belief, here stated so plainly, that a man whose heart is perfectly set on righteousness may be so completely misunderstood by those around him, as to be regarded by them as utterly unjust, and may in consequence be subjected to the extremest torture and the most shameful death.
No one can doubt that it was the death of his master that led Plato to perceive the great truth to which he here gives such energetic expression. The charges against Socrates were a complete inversion of the truth: his reverence was called impiety; his brilliant work for the character of the youth of his day brought him the charge of baneful corruption. From his tragic end Plato learned that the good man who brings new truth is very likely to be completely misunderstood and to be classed with the worst wrong-doers.
CHAPTER III.
THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH.
The history of Israel is unique in the annals of the nations. In size scarcely worthy of regard, in politics only for one brief reign of any serious account, with no special genius for art or war, for speculative thinking or scientific research, failing to keep even their racial unity in the day of their greatest strength, torn in pieces by every conqueror, deported out of their own land, and even after their return kept in subjection by other imperial races, finally stripped of their temple and sacred city by the Romans, and shattered into fragments, this feeble people has yet set its name high beside Greece and Rome, has given the world the only book which all the world reads,[[139]] and the religion which has produced Western civilization.
The one duty of which the best spirits in Israel were conscious throughout the history of the people was faithfulness to Jehovah. Indeed the whole consciousness of the race might be summed up in two phrases: Jehovah is the God of Israel, and, Israel is the people of Jehovah. War, government, philosophy, art might be for other peoples: Israel’s one duty was to serve her God, religion the sole activity of her spirit.
The relation between Jehovah and Israel was a peculiarly tender one;—“When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt,”[[140]] says Jehovah by the mouth of one of His prophets. As Israel was Jehovah’s son, he had to be taught, trained, disciplined. The history of the people, then, is simply the record of Jehovah’s dealings with them in this process of loving and patient training.
Israel’s education was chiefly in the hard school of experience, in national disaster and disgrace, in national recovery and victory. But not in events alone: Jehovah spoke His will out clearly through a series of most remarkable men known as the Prophets. What is most noticeable in these men is the directness and the certainty of the message they brought from Jehovah to His people. Usually it was criticism and condemnation, with a definite declaration of coming punishment; but now and then it was comfort and consolation, with the promise of speedy help and relief.
It would be most interesting to trace the history in detail and to watch how the people were led step by step to fuller and clearer knowledge of God, but we must not stay for that here. We need only say sufficient to enable readers to understand the circumstances in which the great prophecy which we wish to discuss came to be uttered.
The people were slaves in Egypt. They were brought out under Moses; and in the peninsula of Sinai a Covenant was made between them and Jehovah, which laid the foundation of their religion and their national life. Joshua was their leader in the conquest of Palestine, an event which probably took place in the thirteenth century B. C. During the first two centuries of their residence in the land they had no settled form of government, but acknowledged as their rulers from time to time certain great personalities known as Judges. Towards the end of the eleventh century the pressure of the Philistines led to the establishment of a monarchy. Saul knit the people together; David built up a petty empire; Solomon gave his attention to commerce and internal organization.
But after these three reigns the nation fell in two. From 937 B. C. onward for two centuries, instead of one state there are two rival kingdoms, the northern called Israel and the southern Judah. The great events of these centuries occur in Israel. Through the prophets Elijah and Elisha the people were taught that Jehovah would never consent to be one among many gods: They must worship Jehovah alone. Later, Amos prophesied that Jehovah would bring about the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, because the people would not live righteously. They offered God sacrifices, while He demanded righteous conduct between man and man. But they could not believe that Jehovah would destroy His own chosen people: “How can we believe that He will destroy the only people in all the world that He has made Himself known to?” Swift comes the answer, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”[[141]] Israel had had greater privileges than any other people; therefore Israel had a deeper responsibility, and would receive a severer punishment. In 722 B. C. the Assyrians overthrew Israel, and carried away 27,290 of the leading inhabitants and settled them in Mesopotamia and Media.[[142]] The prophecy of Amos was thus literally fulfilled.