God, was not all austerity. Nor was its product the only literature available in its time. Outside the scholarly and clerical circles the Jewish people had a goodly store of works of quite different tenor, in which their thought could move with more genial freedom. tan Zealot Before we go on to mention these, however, we must needs give some further consideration to the two books Ezra: Book which, as already noted,1 are thought to have of the Puri- been originally included in the Chronicles, namely, Ezra and Nehemiah. Much of the substance of Ezra has been referred to and used in our study of Ezra as scribe and scholar.2 We need here only to add something about the book that bears his name, and how it fits into the Biblical plan. The Book of Ezra is essentially the continuation of the Book of Chronicles. There is no gap between the two. Beginning with the decree of Cyrus's first year, permitting the Jewish exiles to return to their home, the author repeats in full what the Chronicles, quoting at end, left in the middle of a sentence (Ezra i, 1-4; cf. 2 Chron. xxxvi, 22, 23). From this he goes on, in characteristic chronicler style, accompanying his narrative with names, numbers, documents, and statistics, to tell (chaps. i-vi) the story of the return, the setting up of the great altar, and the building of the Temple with its survival of difficulties, until in the year 516 B. C. "the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy" (Ez. vi, 16). Up to this point the history is the priestly account, accurate no doubt as to externals, but conceived in the spirit of more than two centuries later, when the Jewish commonwealth had become a Jewish hierarchy. Its contrast in tone and atmosphere with the writings of Haggai and Zechariah, which deal 1 See above, p. 404. 2 See section of that topic, pp. 379–384 above. with the same period, is impressive. The prophets whose enthusiasm had brought about the rebuilding (cf. Ezra v, 1; vi, 14) had predicted a house filled with Jehovah's glory (cf. Hag. ii, 7-9) and a land friendly and attractive to all outside nations (cf. Zech. ii, 11; viii, 20-23). In the Book of Ezra there is no suggestion of this state of things. The compiler, describing only the ceremonial aspects of the event, provides it with a fully organized priesthood and clergy, as if this had survived the captivity intact. "And they set the priests in their divisions," he writes, "and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the book of Moses" (Ezra vi, 18). Thus he assumes a cultus in complete running order as soon as the Temple service, after seventy years' abeyance, is resumed. All this, as we see, is quite in keeping with the Chronicle history. It reflects a culture wherein the church sense has eclipsed the secular, or, in other words, has developed a full-orbed legalism. And this result must have been the growth of many years of religious and educative discipline. It is not until fifty-eight years later, however, that Ezra, with his numerous company of men "who were teachers (viii, 16), appears on the scene, and not until seventy-two years that he actually is called upon to read this "book of Moses" to the people (see Neh. viii). With the seventh chapter the distinctive Ezra narrative begins, telling of the letter of permission he secured from King Artaxerxes, and of his sense of the grace and honor thus done him. At this point the history incorporates the autobiographic notes of Ezra himself; which notes, extending from vii, 27, to ix, 15, give no longer a later commentary (midrash) but the contemporary impression, the actual state of things. Of the laxity and insincerity into which the priestly service had by this time fallen a contemporary prophet, Malachi, as we have seen, bears indignant witness.1 Of the scandal of 1 See above, pp. 364–366. mixed marriages which must needs be dealt with before he could find free inlet for his book of law, Ezra's own words give account. His well-nigh fanatical behavior on making the discovery, and his too rash and drastic measures to right the wrong, have already been considered.1 Such frenzied conduct reveals not the prophetic largeness and liberalism but the puritan narrowness, intent on strict obedience to priestly and Levitical tradition; it awakens to a degree that race pride and exclusiveness which to the prophets seemed a danger to be watched and guarded.2 One does not feel drawn to such a character; there is lack of sympathy and tolerance; it is the character of the puritan zealot. We ought not to dismiss it, however, without a glance at the other side. His autobiographic record reveals it as it were between the lines. It is with an outburst of tender piety, in his gratitude for the King's gracious decree (vii, 11-26), that the autobiography opens: "Blessed be Jehovah, the God of our fathers, who hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of Jehovah which is in Jerusalem; and hath extended lovingkindness unto me before the king, and his counsellors, and before all the king's mighty princes" (vii, 27, 28). It is with a noble courage and faith that with his treasure-bearing company he sets out unarmed and unprotected for Jerusalem; "for," he says, "I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken unto the king, saying, 'The hand of our God is upon all them that seek him, for good (viii, 22). It is a sincere self-identification with his people that prompts the notable prayer of contrite confession when he has been shocked by the corrupt state of things (ix, 5–15). If a man like this must be stern and exacting, it is not from hardness or blindness; it is because he is deeply sensible of the far-reaching issues at stake. 1 See above, p. 380. 2 See above, p. 328. Nehemiah: The story of Ezra is not all told, not even its most important part is told, in the Book of Ezra. As has already been noted, he could not accomplish the errand that had brought him from Babylon until his Patriotic Ad- publication of the Mosaic law could be made ministrator with approval and authority, an opportunity for which he had to wait twelve years.1 The sequel, supplying the intervening events, is told in a succeeding work, the Book of Nehemiah, which originally was doubtless a continuation of Ezra and the concluding section of the Chronicler's religious history. Of this Chronicle account, tracing the Temple service and ritual from earliest times, the reading of the Levitical law (Neh. viii, 1-12), followed by a week of festival (viii, 13-18), a day of fasting and confession (ix), and confirmed by a solemn covenant (x), would be the natural culmination. It marked the point where the civic and the religious administrations, united under one revered constitution, could work harmoniously together, each supplying what the other lacked. It is from the settled sense of this situation, long the established order of things, that the Chronicler compiles his epitome a century and a half later, when Judaism has matured the promise of its birthday.2 An Engaging Autobiography The Book of Nehemiah is more than a mere factual and annálistic continuation of Chronicles. It acquires a unique literary interest from the generous amount of autobiographical material that it incorporates. All the intimate experiences and events in which he was the protagonist — the royal authority brought from Susa where he was cupbearer to the Persian king, the speedy rebuilding of the walls, the wise handling of craft without and graft within the city, the suppression of Sabbath abuse and trade, the flaming wrath against alien marriages in priestly circles are told in artless, modest, yet self-respecting style There is nothing else like it in in Nehemiah's own words. 1 See above, p. 380. 2 Cf. above, pp. 381-383. the Old Testament; Ezra's personal notes (Ez. vii, 27-ix, 15), which come nearest, being rather of the mission than of the man. The way in which the Chronicler in places has overlaid the account with his own matter sometimes confuses the sequence of events; but one quite ignores this on entering into the limpid charm of Nehemiah's self-revealing journal intime. If for no other reason, the comprehensive Chronicle history as a cultus product may be accounted well worth while for allowing two of the most patriotic and selfeffacing men in all the Hebrew annals, Ezra and Nehemiah, thus to speak out for themselves what is in their heart. It makes the real inwardness of the noblest Judaism no more remote but near and intimate, as clerical and academic annals cannot do. NOTE. Nehemiah's autobiographical notes, as indicated by the first person, extend from i, I, to vii, 5, at which point a genealogy intervenes which is virtually a repetition of Ezra ii; and the first person is not resumed until chapter xiii, where on his second visit to Jerusalem (cf. xiii, 6) he vindicates the law. The passage viii, 9–12, ought to be added to the account of Nehemiah, though not in his words. It is remarkable that, though their respective services to their country's welfare were coöperative and complementary, there is nothing to indicate that Ezra and Nehemiah were personally acquainted with each other. III. REACTIONS AND ALLEVIATIONS These clerical and academic annals, as represented in the books of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, show us that by the time the Chronicler wrote, in the third century B.C., the night of legalism, with its chill austerities, its restrictive atmosphere, had indeed settled down over the tractable mind of Judaism. The Temple system held the undisputed monopoly of public allegiance and sentiment. This régime, though not genial, was of course not all bad; and at any rate it made the Mosaic religion a thing stanchly articulate and distinctive. Like later Puritan eras of which we have |