Egypt.

Babylonia was the scene of an intense commercial activity. The opportunities and allurements of the far-reaching traffic which passed up and down the great rivers and across the neighboring deserts were eventually too strong for the Jews to resist. Hence in Babylonia, as in Egypt, they gradually abandoned their inherited agricultural habits and were transformed into a nation of traders. In the recently discovered records of the transactions of the famous Babylonian banking house which flourished during the earlier part of the Persian period, under the direction of succeeding generations of the Murashu family, are found many familiar Jewish names. These indicate that within a century after the fall of Jerusalem many sons of the exiles had already won a prominent place in the commercial life of that great metropolis.

III. Their Religious Life. With this transformation in their occupation came a great temptation to forget their race and to lose sight of its ideals. The temptation was all the greater because their capital city and temple were in ruins and the belief was widely held that Jehovah had forsaken his land and people and retired to his "mount in the uttermost parts of the north" (Isa. 14:13 Ezek. 1:4). Their actual experiences had proved so fundamentally different from their hopes that there was undoubtedly in the minds of many a dread doubt as to whether Jehovah was able to fulfil his promises. False prophets were also present to mislead the people (Jer. 39:21-23 Ezek. 13:1-7 14:8-10). There is also no indication that the Jews of Babylon ever attempted to build a temple to Jehovah in the land of their captivity. Hence there were no ancient festivals and public and private sacrifices and impressive ceremonials to kindle their religious feelings and to keep alive their national faith. Instead, the imposing religion of the Babylonians, with its rich temples, its many festivals, its prosperous and powerful priesthood, and its elaborate ritual must have profoundly impressed them and led them to draw unfavorable comparisons between it and the simple services of their pre-exilic temple. Nevertheless, in spite of these temptations, there were many who proved themselves loyal to Jehovah. Prayer and fasting and sabbath observance took the place of sacrificial rites. A strong emphasis is laid by Ezekiel on the sabbath. [Sidenote A: Ezekiel 20:12-31; Ezekiel 22:26; Ezekiel 23:38] From this time on it became one of the most important and characteristic institutions of Judaism. Under the influence of the new situation it lost much of its original, philanthropic, and social character and became instead a ceremonial institution. In faithfully observing it the exiles felt that even in captivity they were paying homage to their divine King. The more it took the place of the ancient feasts and sacrifices, the more they forgot that the sabbath was God's gift to toiling man rather than man's gift to God. From the Babylonian exile, also, probably dates that custom of assembling on the sabbath to read the ancient scriptures which represents the genesis of the later synagogue and its service.

IV. The Prophecies of Ezekiel. The priest-prophet Ezekiel was the interpreter, pastor, and guide of the Babylonian exiles. He met their problems and proposed the solutions which became the foundation principles of later Judaism. His prophecies fall naturally into four distinct groups: (1) Chapters 1 to 24, which recount his call and deal with the issues at stake in the different Judean communities in the critical years between the first and second captivities. They represent the prophet's work between the years 592 and 586 B.C. (2) Chapters 25 to 32, include seven oracles regarding Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, and Egypt, the nations which had taken part in the destruction of Jerusalem or else, like Egypt, had lured Judah to its ruin. The complete destruction of these foes is predicted, and chapter 32 concludes with a weird picture of their fate, condemned by Jehovah to dwell in Sheol, the abode of the shades. (3) Chapters 33 to 39 contain messages of comfort and promise to Ezekiel's fellow-exiles in Babylonia and in the distant lands of the dispersion. They are dated between the years 586 and 570 B.C. (4) Chapters 40 to 48 present Ezekiel's plan for the restored temple and service and for the redistribution of the territory of Canaan, and his belief that Judah's fertility would be miraculously increased. This plan is definitely dated in the year 572 B.C., two years before the prophet's death.

V. The Resurrection of the Dead Nation. Ezekiel dealt with the problems of his fellow-exiles concretely and from a point of view which they could readily understand. He fully realized that if the faith of the people was to be saved in this crisis a definite hope, expressed in objective imagery, must be set before them. With the same inspired insight that had prompted Jeremiah to purchase his family estate in the hour of Jerusalem's downfall, Ezekiel saw that Jehovah would yet restore his people, if they would but respond to the demands of this crisis. His message was, therefore, one of hope and promise. In the memorable chapter in which he pictures a valley filled with dry bones, he aimed to inspire their faith by declaring that Jehovah was not only able but would surely gather together the dismembered parts of the nation and impart to it new life and activity. The prophet was clearly speaking of national rather than of individual resurrection. Like Jeremiah, he anticipated that the tribes of the north and south would again be united, as in the days of David, and that over them a scion of the Davidic house would rule as Jehovah's representative. He also assured them that Jehovah would come again to dwell in the midst of his purified and restored people.

VI. The Divine Shepherd. In the thirty-fourth chapter Ezekiel deals with the same theme under a different figure. First he traces the cause of the exile to the inefficiency and greed and oppression of the earlier shepherds, the rulers like Jehoiakim, who had scattered rather than gathered and led the people intrusted to them. Now Jehovah himself, the great Shepherd of the People, will arise and gather his flock, and lead them back to their home and give them a rich pasture. Over them he will appoint a descendant of David, but this prince shall be shorn of his ancient kingly power.

Ezekiel also presents in his characteristic, symbolic form the promise that Jehovah will now fulfil the popular hopes and destroy the wicked foes who have preyed upon his people, and thus vindicate his divine rulership of the world. In one passage Judah's worst foes, the Edomites, represent aggressive heathendom. Again, in a still more impressive picture, suggested by an experience in his own childhood when the dread Scythians swept down from the north, he portrays the advance of the mysterious foes from the distant north under the leadership of Gog (38, 39). When they are already in the land of Palestine, the prophet declares, Jehovah will terrify them with an earthquake, so that in panic they shall slay each other, as did the Midianites in the days of Gideon, until they shall all fall victims of Jehovah's judgment. Ezekiel thus revived in the changed conditions of the exile that popular conception of the day of Jehovah which the earlier prophets had refused to countenance. It was the prophet's graphic way of declaring that Jehovah would prepare the way for the return of his people, if they would but respond when the opportune moment should arrive. Later Judaism, however, and especially the apocalyptic writers, interpreted literally and developed still further this picture of Jehovah's great judgment day until it became a prominent teaching of later Jewish and Christian thought.

Similarly Ezekiel declared that the barren lands of Judah would be miraculously transformed and rendered capable of supporting the great numbers of the exiles who should return. In this respect Ezekiel became the