As a sign that they were
again the people of Jehovah they renewed the covenant with him; it was
a formal treaty, written and signed by the chiefs of the people.
=The Jews.=--The little kingdom of Jerusalem maintained itself for
seven centuries, governed now by a king, now by the high-priest, but
always paying tribute to the masters of Syria--to the Persians first,
later to the Macedonians and the Syrians, and last of all to the
Romans. Faithful to the end to Jehovah, the Jews (their proper name
since the return) continued to live the law of Moses, to celebrate at
Jerusalem the feasts and the sacrifices. The high-priest, assisted by
a council of the elders, preserved the law; scribes copied it and
doctors expounded it to the people. The faithful obliged themselves to
observe it in the smallest details. The Pharisees were eminent among
them for their zeal in fulfilling all its requirements.
=The Synagogues.=--Meanwhile the Jews for the sake of trade were
pushing beyond the borders of Judaea into Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and
even to Italy. Some of them were to be found in all the great
cities--Alexandria, Damascus, Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth and Rome.
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