Evening star., 1927-11-13
The Jewish Prophets.

1n0 O0WiSn KEOptictSs
TIME temple brought into the re.
ligion of the Jews a centraliza-
II ton of power that reflected
i the consolidation Of the mon
archy. Though it could not
have accommodated Solomon's wives,
II was enough to require heavy taxa
ton of the middle classes and severe
labor from the manual workers or
Jerusalem. BY the time it was com
plete the gap between the poor ana
the rich had grown so wide as to pre-
cipitate one of the historic crises In
the ancient war of owners and owned
The poor were ground down by the
state. by landlords and by priests.
while the rich grew richer every year
as trade increased between Phoenlc1a
and the Red Sea.
In this clash Of social forces the
Temple played timidly neutral role
or leaned to the side Of royalty and
wealth. The evolution Of theology
among the clergy Jagged behind the
natural development of moral ideas
among the people; this is one of the re-
current theme of history and the Sc
cret Of the mortality OF creeds. 1ahveh
was still a tribal god; the Jews wor'
SHIPPED him while making no pretense
that he was also the god of other
lands; they loved him as the modern
populace loves a pugilist-becaus
they thought him. a better fighter
than the rest. They did not care that
he was lin the words of Hobhouse)
"half a barbaric chief, half an Or1en.
tai despot," or Gn Remains 5udgmenO
"capricious, cruel, greedy, lrascloie,
loving even human sacrifices" (cf. z
Samuel. xxi.6f); or that he stole ana
lied and killed men for lying or for
touching the Holy Of Holes to save 1t
from falling to the earth; or that TO
gain his ends he slew whole nations
and committed atrocities beyond the
cruelty of a man. 1t was 1or tnem
that he had done all this, and they
loved him all the more for II. Nothlle
Is so popular as despotlsm.
Meanwhile. the Hebrews Of Judah.
the southern half of Palestine. had
retained the old simple life OF herdlng
fiocks and tilling the soil. After the
death of Solomon (955 B. C) they sepa-
rated from Israel and formed state
Of their own, with Jerusalem as tnelf
capital. The division did not merely
weaken the Jews in the face of the
voracious empires that surrounded
them. It brought to a sharper point
t, t conflict between the country ana
the town, which groans like a tug'of'
war through the pages OF history.
Jerusalem had become a city or com.
merce and industry, Of luxury ana
slums. and all about 1t were peasants
envious of this luxury and caught 'as
in our own day) in the tolls of a thou
sand middle men. It was to voice
the protests of these peasants that
the prophets came.
These prophets were not fortune
tellers; they did not predict the future
except as threatening an evil issue 70
cotemporary injustice and greed.
Nor were they priests; they bore the
same relation to the prophets or rabbi
of the temple that Schopenhauer and
Nietzsche bore to the professors or
philosophy in nineteenth-century Ger
many. mo prophet am I, no prophets
son am T." warns Amos, first OF the
great line: he was only shepherd,
who had come up from simple Bethle-
hem and found the cruel industrialism
of the capital an abomination. So he
stood in the gate" (on the street cor
ner, as we should say and denounced
the rich men OF the city and the
wealthy priests Of the temple with
powerful and touching eloquence.
Woe to them that are at ease in
Zion = that lie upon beds or
ivory, and stretch themselves upon
their couches. torasmucn'
therefore as your treading is upon
the poor, and ye take from him
burdens of wheat: yet have built
houses Of hewn stone. but ye shall
not dwell in them; ye have planted
pleasant vineyards. but ye shall not
drink wine of them. Therefore
the Lord saith: "Woe unto you that
desire the day OF the Lord! to what
end is 1t for you? -. hate,
despise your feast days.
Though ye offer me burnt offerings.
will not accept them. =. Take
thou away from me the noise OF
thy songs: for I will not hear the
melody of the viols. But let judg.
ment run down as waters, and
righteousness as q mighty stream.
(v.11, vi.1.21)
~ y
Here is a glorious language and po-
etry; and when you reflect that 1t is
part Of the Oldest written literature In
the world-part Of that same Bible, OF.
Books (Gr. biblia), which gives us also
the Oldest connected historical nara
tives, and the poetry OF Ruth and the
Psalms and tho song OF Solomon--you
begin to understand what o debt we