This period represents the culmination and fruition of the divine Influences at work in Israel's early history. It was during this period that Judaism was born and attained its full development, Israel accepted the absolute rule of the written law, and the scribes succeeded the earlier prophets and sages. Out of the heat and conflict of the Maccabean struggle the parties of the Pharisees and Sadducees sprang into existence and won their commanding place in the life of Judaism. Hence this period is the natural historical introduction to the study of the birth and early development of Christianity. It is also the link that binds the revelation found in the Old Testament to that of the New. The volume of literature coming from this period is so vast that it has been necessary to abridge it at many points in order to utilize that which is most valuable. This has been done by leaving out those passages which are of secondary origin or value, and by preserving at the same time the language and logical thought of the original writers. In the verbose and voluminous writings of Josephus the resulting text is in most cases far clearer and more useful; for the repetitious clauses found in the original often obscure the real thought of the writer. No apology or explanation is required for the use of such apocryphal writings as I Maccabees, Ben Sira, the Wisdom of Solomon, or Josephus's histories, for these are required to bridge the two centuries which intervene between the latest writings of the Old Testament and the earliest writings of the New. They make it possible to study biblical history as an unbroken unit from the days of Moses to the close of the first Christian century, and thus concretely to emphasize the significant but often the forgotten fact that God was revealing himself unceasingly through the life of his people, and that the Bible which records that revelation consists not of two disconnected parts but is one book. To two of my former students, the Reverend Harold B. Hunting and Ralph H. Pierce, I am under obligation for valuable aid and suggestions in preparing this volume for press. C.F.K. YALE UNIVERSITY, _October_, 1911. CONTENTS THE EXILE AND REVIVAL OF THE JUDEAN COMMUNITY Section XCI. THE JEWS IN PALESTINE AND EGYPT Lam. 2:1-10, 5:1-18, Jer. 43:3-12, 44:1-14, 28. I. The Significance of the Destruction of the Hebrew State.--II. The Book of Lamentations.--III. Authorship and Date of the Book.--IV. Its Real Character.--Numbers and Fortunes of the Jews Who Remained in Palestine.-- VI. Fortunes of the Jews in Egypt.--VII. The Jewish Colony at Elephantine. --VIII. The Temple of Jahu at Elephantine. Section XCII. EZEKIEL'S MESSAGE TO HIS SCATTERED COUNTRYMEN. Ezek. 37, 40:1, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21b, 44-47, 41:1-8a, 43:1-9, 44:9-16, 23, 24, 45:1-8. I. The Home of the Exiles in Babylon.--II. Their New Conditions and Occupations.--III. Their Religious Life. IV. The Prophecies of Ezekiel.--