GOD SPEAKS TO HIS CHILDREN

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40. The Jewish people

The families that returned from exile in Babylon had their homes in the land of the tribe of Judah, in and around Jerusalem. They became the core of the Jewish people. They wanted to live as their fathers had done. But nothing was the same any more. The Babylonians had brought foreign settlers into Jerusalem and its surroundings. They lived according to their own customs and served their own gods.

The walls which had protected Jerusalem had been torn down. The temple which Solomon had built was a heap of rubble. The Jews rebuilt their houses and the walls around Jerusalem. In the second year after their homecoming they laid the foundation stone for the second temple.

The Jews were living once more in their own land. But this land was now part of the great realms of foreign kings. They sent their soldiers, their tax-collectors and their governors to Jerusalem. There were times when these foreigners tried to turn the Jews away from the faith of Abraham; times when a foreign king would try to force all those who belonged to his kingdom to live and believe according to his ways and to serve his gods.

During these centuries the priests in Jerusalem gathered together all the sacred writings and traditions. All this time the devout people adhered to all the laws and instructions. They gained a new understanding of God and his Covenant. They hoped for the King, the Redeemer, whom God had promised to his people. They were persecuted and tortured. But even as they faced death they declared their faith in the living God, who can rescue his own people through death from death.

(Ezra; Neh; Macc)

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