“That walk to go down into Egypt, And have not asked at My mouth; To take refuge in the stronghold of Pharaoh, And to take shelter in the shadow of Egypt!” (Isaiah xxx. 2). “Therefore shall the stronghold of Pharaoh turn to your shame, And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your confusion” (_Ibid._ 3). “Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help,...” (_Ibid._ xxxi. 1). “... Both he that helpeth shall stumble, and he that is helped shall fall, And they all shall perish together” (_Ibid._ 3). In the period of the Second Temple, the Hellenists again made frantic efforts to be emancipated by the Greeks. The Jewish Law, which was the life and progress of the nation, was for them the stronghold of Jewish unity and the obstacle in their path. But the more they strove after equality with the Greeks, the more futile seemed their strivings. It was the loss of their faith in God and their nation that made them cast about for another power to deliver them. They preferred the attractions of Hellenic culture to _Hebrew_ morality; Syrian power to the Divine Spirit; the material army of the Seleucides, whose forces they could count and whose weapons they could handle, to the unseen moral power of their nation. This was the sin of the Hellenists. When their success was at its height, they gave themselves with savage energy to the persecution of those of their brethren who remained faithful to their own nationality. With a zeal that far excelled that of the enemy, they hunted to death the innocent followers of the old prophets. But just when this persecuting fury was burning at its hottest, the _Maccabeans_ came forward and exhorted the “captive daughter of _Zion_” to shake herself from the dust. Henceforth they became the blessed messengers of national self-help, and it was their chief joy to sing the glories of the Divine grace which enabled them to be more abundant in works than all others. Was not _Rabbi_ Akiba (50?‒132?) _ben_ Joseph the spiritual hero and martyr, a preacher of self-emancipation? Did not the same idea inspire Judah Halevi [Abu al-Hassan al-Lawi] (1085(6)‒_post_ 1140), Moses _ben_ Nachman Gerondi [RaM-BaN]: Nachmanides: [Bonastruc _da_ Porta] (1194‒1270?), Obadiah (Yareh) (_circa_ 1475‒1500?) _ben_ Abraham Bertenoro, and that splendid host of scholars who endeavoured to re-establish the ordination in Palestine, and to encourage the Jewish settlement, in that country, amidst terrific troubles and dangers, as well as _Don_ Joseph Nasi [João Miguez]――(_circa_ 1510‒1579), Duke of Naxos, who spared no effort to help his brethren to settle in the promised Land?