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A SYNOPSIS OF JEWISH HISTORY

From the Return of the Jews from the Babylonish Captivity,
to the Days of Herod The Great;

Giving an account of the different Sects of those days; the
introduction and use of Synagogues and Schools; the origin and
introduction of Prayer among the Jews; the Ureem and Thumeem;
the Mishna or Oral Law; the Gemara-Completion, usually styled
the Talmud.

by

REV. H. A. HENRY,

Rabbi Preacher of Congregation Sherith Israel, San Francisco;
Author of Class Book for Jewish youth; of Discourses on the
principles of the belief of Israel, &c., &c.







San Francisco:
Towne & Bacon, Publishers and Printers,
No. 125 Clay Street, corner Sansome.
1859.

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year of the World
5619,--1859, by Towne & Bacon,
for the Author, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of
the United States, for the Northern District of California.




PREFACE.


The design and purpose of this little production will, at a cursory
glance, be self-evident, so that a formal preface seems scarcely
necessary. We have endeavored to furnish a synopsis of useful
information, selected from the history and teachings of the chosen
people of God, in such a manner as to suit the capacity of all
readers, since it is free from all sectarian bias, and therefore may
prove useful to all denominations.

This work consists of two parts. The first part contains a synopsis of
Jewish history, commencing with the return of the Jews from the
Babylonish captivity, down to the days of Herod the Great. The second
division of the work contains an account of the several sects which
sprang up among the Jews before and after the days of the Maccabees.
We have also given a succinct description of the origin and
introduction of Prayer, of the synagogues and schools, of the Ureem
and Thumeem, of the Mishna or Oral Law, of the Gemara or Completion,
usually styled the Talmud, together with some additional remarks in
the last two chapters under the head of appendix.

Should this unassuming little composition lead the reader to seek a
more extended information on the subjects treated, we shall feel
ourselves happy in having been the means of thus exciting the
curiosity of those who desire to peep a little further into the vast
field of sacred literature, and deem our compensation to be fully
realized.

We have compiled in some instances from the writings of others. In
many cases we have also thought for ourselves; but at the same time,
we have embraced the advantages afforded by the writings of others, so
far as we thought them suitable for the undertaking.

In conclusion, we send this work out to the world, such as it is,
aware of its many deficiencies; trusting, at the same time, that
whatever errors may have crept therein will be pointed out by kind
friends, in order to a rectification of the same.

SAN FRANCISCO, February, 1859--5619.




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.

Many of the people of the several tribes availed themselves of this
opportunity to return to the land of their fathers--but so far as
history informs us, it appears that the majority of those who returned
to Jerusalem, consisted chiefly of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin,
together with a number of Priests and Levites. And now it was for the
first time, that they were all united under the title or name of Jews.

The people were led forth under the direction of Zerubbabel, the
grandson of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, who became the governor of the
land by a commission granted at the hands of king Cyrus; and Jeshua,
the grandson of Seraiah, who was slain by Nebuchadnezzar, was
installed high priest.

The people having returned to their own land, the first thing which
occupied their attention was the rebuilding of the temple, for which
purpose they set about making collections, both of money and
materials, and gathering themselves together at Jerusalem, they set up
the altar, and offered sacrifices thereon in gratitude to God for his
goodness in thus restoring them to their own country and possessions.

When the foundation of the new temple was laid, great rejoicings took
place among the people. Yet, many of those who had grown old in the
captivity, and who still had the recollection of the glory and
magnificence of the first temple, mourned and grieved for its loss,
and very much despaired of the second temple ever approaching the
first, in beauty, splendor, or holiness.

The building of the second temple was very much interrupted by the
neighboring people, who manifested great enmity toward the Jews, and
evinced much jealous feeling, when they saw them restored to their own
country, and thus likely to recover their long lost national position
in the world.

Yet, notwithstanding all the difficulties which presented themselves,
and in spite of all the representations made by their enemies, the
Jews were favored with great assistance from the court of Persia, in
order to complete their noble undertaking. And then it was, that after
a period of twenty years interrupted labor, the second temple rose on
the very same spot on which the first noble fabric had adorned the
happy days of the royal Solomon, the son of king David.

In the days of Darius Hystaspes, complaints were made by the enemies
of the Jews, in order to prevent them from continuing the building of
the temple. This prince, considering the interruption to be the result
of the malicious insinuations of the Samaritans and their followers,
instituted an inquiry, and it being found on record at Babylon that
permission had been granted to the Jews by Cyrus to rebuild the temple
at Jerusalem, Darius immediately gave orders that the work should be
continued undisturbed. And in the sixth year of the reign of Darius,
the second temple was completed, and dedicated for divine worship.
Sacrifices were resumed, and offered upon the altar of the Lord as in
former days. Great rejoicings prevailed, and the festival of Passover
was in that year solemnized in great splendor, and with grateful
feelings toward the God of their fathers.

Happy, however, as the people appeared to be in again beholding the
house of God reared and dedicated to his holy worship, they still felt
and saw the deficiency in the one, when compared with the other; for
it must be observed, that in the second temple but few of the glories
remained which had adorned the first temple, so renowned in history
for its beauty, magnificence, and architectural delicacy and elegance.

The temple erected by king Solomon at Jerusalem, was built after the
model of the tabernacle erected in the wilderness. This superb edifice
was completed in about seven years. Its grandeur and magnificence
excited the envy and the curiosity of all the surrounding nations.

The glory of this temple, however, did not consist in the magnitude of
its dimensions alone. The main grandeur and excellency were in its
ornaments, the workmanship being everywhere curiously and exquisitely
wrought by the most expert workmen of the day. But still more
admirable in this majestic building, were those extraordinary works of
divine favor with which it was honored. These, indeed, were
excellencies and beauties derived from a divine source only,
distinguishing and exalting this sacred structure above all others of
mortal invention.

The deficiencies thus complained of and regretted, were five in
number, which formed the principal and most essential ornaments of the
sacred edifice.

FIRST.--The ark of the covenant, and the mercy seat upon it; the
cherubim of gold, and the two tables of stone, on which the decalogue
was inscribed by the finger of God. These were all in their proper
places in the first temple built by king Solomon. It is the generally
received opinion among the learned men of the Jewish nation, that
there was such an ark made, and that the copy of the five books of
Moses, called the Pentateuch--as corrected and revised by the scribe
Ezra--was deposited therein. Hence, it is in imitation of this, that
in the present day, the Jews have in their synagogues throughout all
the habitable globe wherever dispersed, the holy ark in which the
scroll of the law called in Hebrew "Sepher Torah," book of the law, is
deposited.

SECOND.--The Shechinah, divine presence manifested by a visible cloud
of glory hovering over the mercy seat.

THIRD.--The Ureem and Thumeem. These were two sacred signs placed in
the breast-plate of judgment worn by the high priest, who made use of
these signs to consult the will of God, and to ask counsel of him on
such momentous occasions touching the public interest of the nation at
large. The first of these words signifies in the Hebrew, light; the
second, perfection. Of these we shall have to speak more fully in the
course of the work.

FOURTH.--The sacred fire which descended from on high upon the altar,
to consume the daily sacrifices and burnt offerings brought in honor
of the Lord God of hosts.

FIFTH.--The spirit of prophecy; for though the three last prophets,
Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi, lived during the time of the second
temple, yet, after their death, the prophetic spirit ceased to exist
any longer among the Jewish nation.




CHAPTER II.

      Of the state of the Jews in the days of Ezra the Scribe.


Henceforward we are not to look on the Jews, free, rich and glorious,
under the direction of Prophets and warlike Monarchs; they had been
sold as slaves by their conquerors, and dispersed throughout all their
vast and mighty Empires. Some few of the favored, eminent and worthy
characters obtained posts of honor, who distinguished themselves in
the discharge of those duties imposed on them in their several
appointments. Of the great number of the people who had been carried
into captivity, scarcely more than fifty thousand returned to
Jerusalem, and those were principally of the poorer classes, who, it
must be noticed, are in all ages the most religious. The richer
portion of the nation remained behind--and, as proverbial with the
Jews for their charity and fellow feeling, they raised among
themselves a subscription sufficient to enable their brethren to
proceed on their holy pilgrimage.

The proposal made to the Jews was, that they should be governed by
their own laws; but as they became subject to Persia, and
subsequently to Syria and Rome, their privileges, and even the
exercise of their religion, greatly depended on the caprice of their
several conquerors. Immediately on the publication of the edict, the
Chief of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Babylon, with
the Priests and Levites; and as many who retained a love for their
country and a zeal for the honor of their God, were disposed to return
to that once happy land, and now came and signified their intention of
returning. The wealthy portion, and many who formed connections with
them, and were engaged in traffic, or had acquired places and
employments, chose rather to stay and content themselves with raising
a large contribution to supply their brethren with what they could
spare of gold, silver, and other valuables for the Temple.

The book of Ezra informs us of the three great and pious men whom God
raised up to assist the poor Jews, and gives us some particulars of
their return to Jerusalem. Zerubbabel, who built the Temple and the
Altar; Ezra, who reformed and re-established the sacred religion to
its former standard, which, during the captivity had undergone many
changes and innovations; as the people were not in a position at that
time fully to observe it, as it was practised in the palmy days of
their Fathers; and Nehemiah, who built the walls of the City, and ably
assisted Ezra in his good work in introducing and ultimately effecting
a great and solid improvement among the people. This book embraces a
