her brethren in Israel, as one may conclude from her later record. The destruction of the temple seems to have aroused a more or less sincere desire to return to the worship of Jehovah, and the way was consequently opened for its rebuilding and for their return to Canaan. It would seem, however, that the tendency towards any general or sustained restoration of the worship of the true God of Israel was soon smothered by the cold ecclesiasticism and stern application of the letter of the Mosaic law, such as prevailed after the captivity, and which laid the mantle of severity and formalism upon the gentler impulses which true religious feeling should call forth. Judaism exalted the form of religion in place of its spirit, and magnified the importance of external observances, until the Jewish thought became spiritually benumbed and unresponsive to any glow of divine inspiration. Thus while it is true that the Jews came out of their Babylonian captivity, and have since maintained their identity, they entered a spiritual exile from which even the coming of the Messiah was unable to recall them, and which still holds them as completely as does the national exile in the case of Israel.

This spiritual exile of the Jews is not the least important or interesting aspect of Israel's captivity, and of the breach between Joseph and Judah. It will probably be found that the spiritual exile of Judah and the national exile of Joseph will end at approximately the same time; and that when Ephraim and Manasseh awaken to their national inheritance in Israel, Judah will awaken to see her spiritual inheritance and freedom in the "Son of David." To lose the sense of one's racial identity is not more obscuring than to lose the perception of man's spiritual identity as the son of God. The dense ritualism of the Judaic religion, with the mystifying influence of a localized and tribal Jehovah, so beclouded the spiritual perception that when the Messiah came the Jews were unable to see him except as an impostor, showing how effectually they had been driven into exile by their false concept of Deity.

But while the nature of the captivity and exile of Israel and Judah is thus contrasted, it will be found equally true of the latter that the sufferings and persecutions which have attended her dispersion will serve to grind out the rebellious unbelief which has held her in bondage, and prepare her thought to welcome the things which belong to her peace. And who can say that it may not be Israel's opportunity to lead Judah into the vision of the long expected Christ! The indications are that the exile of both Israel and Judah has about spent itself, and that we are on the eve of the realization of reunited Israel, and the world's recognition of the reign upon the earth of her divine King.

We cannot consistently close this chapter without noting some of the remarkable events which Daniel records of the Babylonian captivity. The escape of the three young Hebrews from the fiery furnace, and of Daniel from the lions, are among the most familiar of Bible incidents, and furnish additional proofs of the Divine omnipresence when men are ready to acknowledge and understand it. The failure of the attempt to destroy these young men because of loyalty to their God illustrates the impotence of evil to interfere with His creation and government. The calm and steadfast refusal of these Jews to forswear their allegiance to the God of Israel, in face of what appeared certain death, is perhaps the most sublimely heroic incident of the Old Testament records. So clearly did they realize the divine power to annul the material law of fire that it was impressed upon the vision of the king as a fourth figure in the flames, described by him as like "a son of the gods" (Isaac Leeser's translation).

Here again was a demonstration of man's spiritual sovereignty over matter, a demonstration so intimately associated with Israel's history and development. If it were true that man is formed of dust, and therefore in subjection to material conditions, these three Hebrews would have been as helplessly at the mercy of the fire as other mortals, even as men today are taught to believe

themselves helpless to overcome adverse physical conditions, as if the God of Israel were no longer a factor in preserving the lives of men. The Scriptures plainly show that it was the mission of Israel to bring to human consciousness the perception of spiritual law, based upon man's indestructible sonship with God, and which is capable of nullifying the operation and effect of what is called material law. It were well if those who are attempting, and very properly so, to establish Israel's identity in the present day, took more account of these things; for as surely as Israel began with the first human perception of man's spiritual being as the son of God, and gave proofs of this truth all along the way, so will she be judged and tested in the last days.

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My God," said Daniel, "hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me," -and what did he mean by "my" God, if it were not that the God declared and revealed in Israel was the preserver and not the destroyer of men? Isaiah gives a vision of the time when the supremacy of Spirit will be so understood that the lion will lie down with the lamb, showing that the unthinking cruelty of the beast, and the unthinking cruelty of material laws, never were a part or a feature of God's creation, and will disappear with human progress.

Surely, it must be in these things that we shall find the true glory of Israel, and her true identity, and not in great number, material prosperity, military dominion, or political supremacy. What can be more applicable to this whole subject than these words of the prophet Jeremiah: "Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me."

J

CHAPTER XVII

"THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES"

Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from Me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the Lord. - JER. 51:53.

These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.

But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. - Dan. 7:17, 18.

ESUS' statement, that "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21:24), directs the attention of Christians as well as Jews to this subject. In Weymouth's translation the passage is rendered, " until the appointed times of the Gentiles have expired." This prophetic statement clearly referred to a definite period, which apparently began before and would continue after the events of the age in which it was spoken. One might well ask, What are the times of the Gentiles to which Jesus referred, and what is their prescribed course or "appointed times"?

There seems little doubt that Jesus was thinking of the duration of Gentile world-dominion, spoken of in the book of Daniel, which began approximately with the taking of the Jews to Babylon, an event which completed the captivity of Israel. It is not the present purpose to enter into the details of the prophetic dates outlined in Daniel; suffice it to say that the "seven times" mentioned therein as passing over Nebuchadnezzar is interpreted by many writers as defining the period indicated by our Master. Prophetic time is usually reckoned on the year-day plan, with a year of 360 days; and a "time" is understood as a year of such days, or 360 years of actual time. Thus the "seven times" would be equivalent to 2520 years,

and are therefore due to end sometime in the near future, if they are not, as some contend, already ended. The conquest of Jerusalem by British troops in 1917, and the recent establishment of an English protectorate over Palestine, naturally point to the probability that the times of the Gentiles, at least in their external aspect, have about run their course.

In chapters 10 and II of Genesis we have the first Scriptural account of the division of the human family into races and peoples, and although, as time went on, these increased through self-division, they retained the characteristics of their root origin. Later on in the Scriptures, mankind were more broadly divided into Israelites and Gentiles, and these two divisions of humanity continued to flow side by side, one as an almost insignificant rivulet and the other a mighty stream, with Israel spiritually in the ascendancy. The Assyrian and Babylonian conquests and deportations of the Israelites inaugurated the period spoken of by Jesus as the times of the Gentiles, or the times when national types of thought foreign to Israel would have dominion over the Land of Promise and over the people of the covenant.

After the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, the name Babylon became a symbol or a synonym in the prophetic writings for all that was inimical to the spiritual life and freedom of Israel. The original of this word in the Hebrew is Babel, or confusion. We read in Genesis 10 that Nimrod, the reputed first king of Babel, was the son of Cush and the grandson of Ham. Ovid, an early Roman poet, as quoted in Hislop's The Two Babylons, represents Janus, the "god of gods," or the beginning of gods, as saying, "The ancients called me Chaos." Authorities may be found in the same work for the following statements regarding the origin of Babylon and her line of kings. In the Chaldee, chaos is said to be the pronunciation of Cush; thus it would seem that Ham's firstborn corresponded with Belus or Bel, the mythological founder of Babylon, since Bel signifies "the Confounder." Thus if Janus, as is claimed, is