4. What were some of the arguments of the Samaritans against the temple at Jerusalem? 5. What were some of the arguments of the Jews against the temple on Mount Gerizim?

6.

What facts can we infer about

the Chronicler "? 7. What was one of his chief purposes in writing his history? 8. What Old Testament books were written by him? 9. How did he modify the history as told in the books of Kings?

10. How did he attempt to refute the Samaritan charge that the Jerusalem priests were descended from foreigners who had intermarried with Jews after the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadrezzar?

11. From what trustworthy record did the Chronicler copy his account of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem?

12. Where is this part of his narrative to be found?

CHAPTER XXVIII

TWO KINDS OF PATRIOTISM

THE STORIES OF ESTHER AND JONAH

Among the later writings of the Old Testament are two stories which breathe a typically Jewish spirit of intense patriotism. They represent, however, very different kinds of patriotism, and different ideas regarding the true place of Israel among the nations.

We will look first at the book of Esther. The heroine of this story, after whom the book is named, was a beautiful Jewess, living in Persia among the Jewish exiles, in the home of her uncle Mordecai. By a strange turn of fortune, this maiden, Esther, became the queenconsort of Ahasuerus, the Persian king. Now at that time the king had a wicked prime minister named Haman, who in his arrogance required all common men to do obeisance before him whenever they were in his presence. There was one man, however, among the king's subjects, who refused to do homage before him, and that was Mordecai, the Jew, Esther's uncle. Haman was greatly enraged, and secured from the weak and cruel despot Ahasuerus, an infamous decree to put to death on a certain day, not only Mordecai, but all the Jews in all the empire of Persia. Of course, neither the king nor Haman were aware that Esther was related to Mordecai, or even that she was a Jewess. Haman further planned a special vengeance on Mordecai, and erected a special scaffold about ninety feet high on which to hang him.

In the meantime, however, Mordecai had told Esther of the dastardly plot against their people, and urged her to intercede with the king. "Who knowest," he said,

"but that thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this." Esther replied that to go into the king's presence uninvited might mean death; nevertheless she promised to take the risk, and "if I perish, I perish." Her adventure proved a success.

Through her skill and tact she won the king over to her side and against Haman. The latter was hanged on the very scaffold he had built for Mordecai, and Mordecai was made prime minister in his place. As for the Jews they were given permission to defend themselves and kill their enemies. So when the day came on which they were to be massacred, they were the slayers and not the slain.

The germ of this story was probably derived originally from the Babylonians, who told it at their New Year's celebration. In its Babylonian form, it was a story about the gods Marduk and Ishtar. The Jews during their exile in Babylonia adopted the Babylonian New Year's feast, calling it the feast of Purim. They also continued to tell the old Babylonian story, only changing the god Marduk and the goddess Ishtar into human beings Mordecai and Esther.

In its present form, however, the story is not a mere popular tale but a fascinating patriotic romance, told with a purpose, by a man of remarkable literary talent. He lived in a time when the Jews were suffering an unusual degree of persecution from the Greek authorities. This aroused in him, in turn, a passionate hatred for the enemies of his people. There is much in the story, as he tells it, which falls below our Christian ideals. It is not pleasant to read his account of how many thousands were slain by the Jews. On the other hand, we can condone such feelings to some extent, when we consider the cruel tyranny which provoked them. The unselfish courage of Esther is nobly portrayed and there is something manly too in Mordecai's steadfast refusal to be a servile, fawning courtier before Haman. We may imagine

that the author of our story was very much such a man as Mordecai.

THE BOOK OF JONAH

The author of the story of Jonah was a prophet. He had remarkable gifts as a teacher and preacher. Like the author of Esther, he had travelled in foreign lands. It is probable that he had lived in Egypt. There was a large colony of Jews at that time in Alexandria, the new capital of Egypt which had been built by Alexander the Great and named for himself. At any rate, this man had come into contact with foreigners. He had seen their vices and sins. He knew their selfishness, deceitfulness, and injustice. But he was a believer in the teachings of the second Isaiah and instead of holding aloof from these people he made friends with them and told them in their own language about the religion of the one God, Jehovah, and about his holy and righteous laws. Most of his fellow Jews, however, criticized him sharply for these things. "Why do you associate with these Gentile dogs?" they said to him. Do you not know their vile and wicked deeds? Have they not persecuted the people of Israel? Has not Jehovah pronounced the sentence of death upon them all, through the prophet Ezekiel?" (See Ezek. 38-39.) To this he would answer, "Yes, I know their evil deeds; but perchance they will repent, if we tell them of Jehovah and His commands. Then it will not be necessary for Him to destroy them." This brought forth a reply which deeply shocked our prophet. "We do not want them to repent. We do not want Jehovah to forgive them.' It was this attitude of his fellow Jews which led him to write the story of the prophet Jonah.

THE STORY OF JONAH, AND ITS MESSAGE

The word of Jehovah, he says, came to the prophet Jonah, bidding him to go to the city Nineveh, and preach to the people there. But Jonah disobeyed Jehovah.

Going down to Joppa on the coast of Palestine, he took passage in a ship which was setting sail for Tarshish, an ancient Phoenician colony in Spain. In other words, instead of going to Nineveh, he was trying to go as far in the opposite direction as possible. But Jehovah sent a storm upon the sea, and the ship was in danger of being destroyed. The sailors were therefore obliged to throw Jonah overboard, as being the cause of the storm. Now Jehovah had prepared a great fish, so the story goes, which swallowed Jonah, and after three days threw him out again on the shore. Thus Jonah had another chance to obey Jehovah's command, and this time he went to Nineveh, and cried in the streets of the city: "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed." The result was a great revival in the city of Nineveh. The people there, both small and great, repented of their wicked deeds, and besought God's mercy. The king himself joined in, and put on sackcloth" and proclaimed a fast. So when Jehovah saw that the Ninevites had truly and sincerely repented, he forgave them, and did not destroy the city. But strange to say, this displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city."

While Jonah was thus sulking in his booth, or hut, like a spoiled child, Jehovah caused a certain plant called a kikayon, or castor-oil tree, to grow up near by. In our English version it is called a gourd. And Jonah became fond of the graceful plant with its welcome shade. It seemed like a friend to him in his bitterness. But on another day Jehovah sent a worm to gnaw at the roots of the plant and it withered away. And now Jonah was even more angry at Jehovah than before. Then God said to Jonah, in substance, You were fond of the gourd, which was but a wild plant, growing up and Derishing in a day, and you were sorry to see it die.