[46. The Return from Babylon]
Cyrus, king of Persia, took Babylon, and permitted the Jews to return to the land of their fathers. He gave them back all the vessels of gold and silver from the temple that had been carried away by Nebuchadnezzar. The 70 years were then at an end. Those who went away were 42,360. Zerubbabel, a chief of the house of David, led them to Jerusalem. In the second year after their return they began to build a new temple on Mount Moriah, where the temple of Solomon had stood. The Samaritans wished to build the temple with them; but the Jews would not permit it, as they did not regard them as right brethren. The Samaritans therefore hindered the work for many years. But then the prophets Haggai and Zechariah arose and encouraged the people, and the temple was finished; but it was not so magnificent as Solomon’s temple.—The Samaritans built a temple for themselves on Mount Gerizim.
Several years after this, Ezra, of the tribe of Levi, came to Jerusalem and exhorted the people not to sin any more against the Lord by marrying heathen women. (Book of Ezra.)
The walls of Jerusalem were not yet rebuilt. When Nehemiah, cup-bearer to the king of Persia, heard of this he begged leave to go to Judea. The king made him governor of Judea, and he got the walls of the city built in fifty-two days, even though the Samaritans tried to hinder him. (Book of Nehemiah.)
[47. The Maccabees]
Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia, took Palestine, formerly belonging to the king of Persia, as well as all the other kingdoms of the latter. When Alexander died his great empire was divided, and the Jews came first under Egypt and after that under Syria and were oppressed in every way. At last the Syrian king, Antiochus Epiphanes, sought to compel them to live as the heathens. Many renounced their faith and sacrificed to the gods. But many also continued firmly in the faith and chose rather to die than to turn from the law of the Lord. Seven brothers were successively scourged and tormented to death. The mother stood by and looked on and admonished them not to turn from the Lord. At last the mother also was killed. (2 Macc. 7.)
At this time there lived in Judea a priest by the name of Mattathias. He would not sacrifice to the idols, but fled with his sons to the mountains, and those who feared God gathered about him. When he died his son Judas Maccabaeus[[2]] became the leader. He was brave as a young lion; he defeated the Syrians, took Jerusalem and purged the temple.—The Maccabees ruled over the country for 103 years. Then the powerful Romans, whose home country was Italy, came and conquered the country. The Roman emperor Augustus made Herod king of Judea. Herod who is called the Great, was an Edomite. He was very suspicious and cruel and killed a great many innocent people, even his own wife and three of his sons. He wished to flatter the people, and decorated the temple magnificently; but the people turned their hearts from him.—During his reign the fulness of time had come, and our Savior Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, as the prophet Micah had foretold.
[48. Jonah]
The Lord said unto the prophet Jonah: Go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim that it shall be destroyed, for its sins are great. But Jonah went aboard a ship to flee over the sea. The Lord sent a tempest, so the ship was at the point of sinking. The sailors said one to another: Let us cast lots to see whose fault it is that such evil befalls us. The lot fell on Jonah, and they cast him into the sea; and it was calm. The Lord sent a great fish that swallowed Jonah, and he was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. The Lord commanded the fish, and it cast Jonah up on land. The Lord now spoke a second time to Jonah: Go to Nineveh and proclaim what I shall bid thee. Jonah went into Nineveh and cried: In 40 days Nineveh shall be destroyed! The people repented, and the king put off his royal garments and clothed himself in sack cloth and ashes. God repented of the evil He had spoken, and He spared Nineveh. Then Jonah murmured and said: Did it not go as I thought while I was in my country, and would flee over the sea? For I knew that Thou art a God merciful and slow to anger, and repentest of evil.
Jonah had gone outside the city and remained there to see what would become of the city. The Lord let a plant spring up to give shade for his head, and Jonah was fond of the plant. In the morning the Lord prepared a worm, and it stung the plant, so it withered. And there came a sultry east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, and he said: It is better for me to die than to live. Then said the Lord: Thou hast pity on the plant for which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow, because it withered; and should not I have pity on Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than twelve times 10,000 persons that cannot discern between their right and their left hand, and also much cattle? (The Book of Jonah.)