The Jews who did return, had great difficulties to overcome; but at length they built a Second Temple, which was dedicated b.c. 515. Under the governance of Ezra and Nehemiah, the Jews served the Lord in the land of their fathers; but soon they again fell into grievous sin, though they were never more guilty of idolatry: that crime which principally caused their captivity. So far the Bible has given us the history of the people of God.
From other histories we learn, that Alexander the Great, who became king of Macedonia b.c. 336, conquered Persia and all the countries in any way dependent upon her: Judæa, of course, amongst the rest. The remarkable vision which made Alexander treat the Jews with kindness has been mentioned (iii. 425). After the death of this monarch, b.c. 323, Judæa became in some sort dependent upon Syria; and we have already seen how severely the Jews suffered during the next 153 years, from the wars and fightings going on continually between Syria and Egypt. The cruelty and oppression of the Syrian princes became intolerable; and, after Antiochus Epiphanes had taken Jerusalem, b.c. 170, the Lord in mercy raised up the family of Maccabæus, to deliver the Jews from his tyranny.
Under the Maccabæan princes, the Jews fought successfully against the enemies of their religion. Judæa gradually recovered from its desolation and misery, and again became prosperous; whilst the pure worship of the One True God was once more the established religion of the nation. But after the death of John Hyrcanus (iii. 481), b.c. 107, enemies without, and divisions and troubles amongst themselves, again filled Judæa with confusion.
In b.c. 63, Judæa became, like so many other countries, a province of Rome; and we have seen how the Romans appointed governors or kings, and even high priests also. The Government of Rome itself underwent a great change about this time: the Republic, or Commonwealth, which had lasted 479 years, from the Expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus, b.c. 509, now came to an end, and Octavius Augustus Cæsar was chosen as the first Emperor, b.c. 27.
Octavius Augustus had ruled the vast dominions of Rome as Emperor for twenty-seven years, when that event took place, destined to affect in the most momentous manner all races and kindreds of men: even the Birth of Jesus Christ, the long-promised Messiah. When our blessed Lord was twenty-nine years old, that is, in a.d. 29, He began to teach publicly amongst the Jews. Octavius Augustus was no longer Emperor of Rome at this time; he had died when Jesus was fourteen years old, and had been succeeded by Tiberius.
Although a small number of the Jews owned and received Jesus Christ as the expected Messiah, He was rejected by the nation in general: and after His crucifixion, the Jews tried in every way to oppose His Apostles, and prevent the spreading of Christianity. We have read their punishment in the destruction of Jerusalem, a.d. 70, and the dreadful sufferings which came upon the unhappy Jews, and forced them to scatter themselves through all lands, hoping to find safety—a hope too often disappointed, and that constantly through their own fault.
The history of the Jews has thus been traced to the close of the first century after the Birth of Christ, that is, to a.d. 100.
It will now be advisable to give a slight sketch of their history, from that date until the present time. Unhappily there are many thousand Jews who profess still to expect the promised Messiah; refusing to believe that Jesus of Nazareth, in Whom all the prophecies of their Scriptures have been so literally and exactly fulfilled, was indeed the Messiah, of Whom Moses and the prophets did write.
May the Lord take away their blindness, and bring them into the one fold, under the one Shepherd, Jesus Christ.