is far greater than we ordinarily think. Her name is synonymous in Jewish religious tradition with a hateful captivity. Yet in truth that very captivity was one of the greatest blessings that ever came to the Jewish race. But further than this may be mentioned some of the things Babylon gave the ancient world, and which then came down to us. Her genius was original. From her came the alphabet, the water-clock, the art of brick-making and glazing, of boring, polishing and cutting gems; the weaving of textile fabrics; the earliest knowledge of the stars and planets; the science of grammar, a system of law, the value of an exact chronology, music and painting and sculpture, architecture and systems of drawings and irrigation. That old Babylonian civilization was the mother of the world's culture and civilization. There was evil and superstition and the splendor of unrivalled and ancient. power. To-day all this has passed from the sight of man. Huge, ill-shaped mounds rise from the level wastes along the great river, and only the voice of the night bird and prowling beast is heard. But the influence of that marvellous civilization of the past is still felt. It has become part of our modern life, and we do well to remember what the present owes to those generations which centuries ago passed forever from the earth.

Educational Effect of the Exile

Lesson Passage: Psalm 137.

The following discussion of the educational effect of the Exile on the life of the Jewish race represents the views of several modern writers. Let the teacher read carefully the 41st and 42nd Lectures of Dean Stanley in his History of the Jewish Church. No one has presented this important period with more simplicity and charm. The topics covered by the following extracts are suggested for the convenience of the reader.

I. The Fate of the Exiles. "Respecting the fate of the later groups of Exiles, there is no direct evidence. Their offences were so much more heinous in the eyes of the Conquerors than those of the Jews deported in 597 B. C., that their leaders were put to death (II Kings 25:19-21). From this fact it may be inferred that slavery was the price with which many of the survivors redeemed their lives. Ezekiel, commenting in 585 B. C. upon the fate of the scattered people, declares that the day is coming when Jehovah will break the bars of their yoke and deliver them out of the hand of those who have made bondsmen of them (34:27). It is significant that while the references to forced labor and persecution are rare in the literature of the first part, they become very common in the latter part of the Babylonian exile. The author of Isaiah 14 assures his race that 'It shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give rest from your labor, and from your trouble, and from the hard service which men

laid upon you, that you shall take up this taunt-song against the king of Babylon, and say: "How is the oppressor stilled-the raging stilled!" (verses 3 and 4). The great prophet of the Exile condemns the Babylonians because they 'showed no compassion; upon the aged they made their yoke heavy' (Isa. 47:6). Although the language is highly poetical, there must have been a painful basis of fact in his pictures of the woes experienced by his race under the degenerate rule of Nebuchadnezzar's successors: It is a people robbed and plundered; snared are all of them in holes and hid in prison houses; they are become a prey, and there is none to rescue; a spoil and none who says, Restore' (Isa. 42: 22)."-KENT.

II. How They Made Up for the Loss of the Temple. "Meanwhile, however, religion had to adapt itself to the circumstances of the time. The loss of the Temple services was supplied by meetings on the banks of rivers or canals, where common prayer was offered, and the necessary acts of ceremonial purification could be performed. In course of time fixed forms of prayer came into use, and buildings were erected for worship. At a later period public reading of the Law became customary, and since the sacrificial system was necessarily in abeyance, its place was taken by such rites as could easily be practised at a distance from Palestine, e.g., circumcision, fasting, and rigid observance of the Sabbath. These ordinances were devoutly cherished by the exiles, and henceforth acquired peculiar importance as being distinctive marks of Jewish faith and nationality." -KENT.

III. Literary Activity. "The Exile also gave birth to a consciousness of the unique value of Israel's sacred writings. As we have already noticed, the foundation of

a canon of Scripture was laid when the book discovered in the Temple (621) was officially promulgated and accepted as the basis of a national reformation. Then came the Exile, when a period of enforced inactivity and religious reflection succeeded an era of disaster and tumult. The result was that the Jews learned to find a new interest in the history of their nation: the sacred records were diligently collected and carefully studied, and more than one school of writers devoted itself to the task of compiling, revising, and editing afresh the literary' monuments of the past. It is indeed possible to distinguish two main groups of literati to whose labors the Old Testament Scriptures owe to a great extent their present form. On the one hand, historians of the Deuteronomic school, i.e., those whose views of history and conceptions of Jehovah were moulded by the peculiar teaching of Deuteronomy, began to gather together into a connected historical work the extant documents that related to the earlier history of Israel. Their work seems to have been gradually brought to completion at different times and by many different hands. The result however may be seen in the narrative portions of the Pentateuch and in the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings (the so-called 'former prophets'). The circumstances under which they were compiled explain the peculiar character of these historical books, which may be regarded as forming collectively a kind of systematic attempt to justify Jehovah's dealings with His people. The calamities of the nation are uniformly regarded by this school of writers as being the due reward of its sins, especially of its frequent lapses into idolatry."

IV. The Work of the Priests. The other chief school of Exile writers was priestly. We must remember that

where sacrifice was impossible the occupation of the priesthood was virtually gone. Members of the priestly caste, however, found a new outlet for their energies in literary work. They devoted themselves to codifying the ancient 'law of holiness,' and of compiling that elaborate exposition of Israel's laws and early history which is commonly called the 'priestly code.' This was not a new law, but a kind of detailed account of the immemorial practices and customs connected with the worship of the national sanctuary."-OTTLEY.

V. The Psalms. "The psalms, like the priestly law, represent the fruitage of prophecy. Conditions during and after the Exile were particularly favorable for the production of lyric poetry. The Book of Lamentations and the half lyrical writings of the authors of Isaiah 40 to 66 are significant illustrations of this fact. In Babylon also the Jews probably became familiar with the penitential psalms of their conquerors, many of which resemble very closely those of the Hebrew Psalter. If the Exile gave the first strong impetus to psalm-writing, the Persian period fostered it, and must be regarded as the background of a large number of the psalms in our present collection. In this form the repressed feelings of the faithful found expression. Their disappointments, their longings, their hatreds, as well as their joys, were all voiced in psalms. Song service also formed an increasingly important element in the worship of the second Temple, and therefore created a great demand for liturgical literature. The dedication of the Temple, the rebuilding of the walls, the institution of the priestly law, and the persecutions of Ochus, each called forth psalms which reveal the inner life