The Age Of The Maccabees (Illustrated) - Plot & Excerpts
THE CONDITION OF PALESTINE FROM THE RETURN TO THE ACCESSION OF ANTIOCHUS THE GREAT. THE vitality of the Jewish patriotic spirit seems to have been preserved throughout the period of the Exile. There was a continuous faith in the prophecies that within the space of about two generations the banished would return and take up the broken thread of national existence in their own land. It is true that comparatively few availed themselves of Cyrus's permission. The descendants of the captives made by Babylonian conquerors preferred, as far as the majority were concerned, not to renounce the ties they had formed within the great city in Mesopotamia. But the enthusiasm of those who accompanied Zerubbabel across the wide plains which lay between them and Judea, is plainly marked in later Biblical literature! It was clearly impossible that such shrunken numbers should attempt to spread themselves over the whole of the land which once was theirs, or even over Judea. Perhaps it was not altogether a misfortune that they were thus compelled to concentrate their strength, and support each other's courage in the difficulties which faced them.
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