first; but as the later history shows, the contraction of the monopolistic upper stratum began promptly.

§ 114.-Without attempting to trace this history further we shall close our study of Israel and of oriental civilization with a few additional notices.

We have seen that the return from the Exile did not include all the Jews who had been settled in Babylonia. About eighty years after the first home-coming, a second band of exiles, among whom was Ezra the scribe, crossed the wilderness. A few years later still a Jewish aristocrat and Persian court-functionary, named Nehemiah, obtained the permission of the Persian king to regulate matters in Judah. Armed with governmental powers he appeared in Jerusalem about 445 B. C. An interesting view of economic conditions at that time is found in Nehemiah's book, from which we reproduce the following passage, already quoted in part:

"Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. For there were that said, We, our sons and our daughters are many. Let us get corn, that we may eat and live. Some also there were that said, We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses. Let us get corn, because of the dearth. There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute upon our fields and our vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children. And, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters are brought into bondage already. Neither is it in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards. And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact interest every one of his brother. And I held a great assembly against them. And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and would ye even sell your brethren, and

should they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found never a word. Also I said, the thing that ye do is not good. Ought ye not to walk in the fear of our god, because of the reproach of the heathen, our enemies? And I likewise, my brethren and my slaves, do lend them money and corn on interest. I pray you, let us leave off this interest. Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their fields, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them. Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do, even as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise. Also I shook out my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that performeth not this promise; even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised Yahweh. And the people did according to this promise" (Nehemiah 5: 1-13).

Doubtless a large part of the trouble in this case grew out of the special circumstances wherein the attendance and labor of rich and poor alike were demanded upon the hasty re-building of the Jerusalem wall. But the illustration exhibits universal elements which cannot be ignored; and it throws a lurid light upon the social conditions of the time. Nehemiah was a good and an altruistic man; but his individualistic interpretations and remedies, although they have been on record for more than two thousand years, have not been serviceable to social reform. A further quotation from the same chapter shows Nehemiah more fully in the character of a benevolent and wealthy ruler:

"Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor. But the former governors that

were before me were chargeable unto the people, and took of them bread and wine at the rate of forty shekels of silver. Yea, even their slaves bare rule over the people; but so did not I, because of the fear of God. Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land; and all my slaves were gathered thither unto the work. Moreover there were at my table of the Jews and the rulers an hundred and fifty men, beside those that came unto us from among the heathen that were round about us. Now that which was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days, store of all sorts of wine. Yet for all this I demanded not the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people" (Nehemiah 5: 14-18).

The conditions here illustrated prevailed, not only before the times referred to, but from those days onward into the age of Jesus. Indeed, the same conditions, modified only by the gradual introduction of western ideas and capital, exist in that country today. The social problem had passed from the acute to the chronic form before the Exile; and it was nothing less than chronic after the Exile. The post-Exilic proverbs, wisdom writings, and psalms contain material of importance to the doctrine of cleavage. We cannot cite nor discuss it in full here; and shall make only a few quotations and comments.

The post-Exilic sections of the book of Isaiah yield material which reflects a social condition exactly repeating that of the older times. In the following passages an unknown prophetic writer puts these words into the mouth of Yahweh: "Behold, in your fast-day ye follow your [own] business [i. e., to the neglect of my service], oppressing all your workmen. Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?- None calleth in righteousness and none pleadeth in truth. They trust in vanity, and speak lies. They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. — Their

works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they know not, and there is no judgment in their goings. Judgment is turned away backward, and righteousness standeth afar off. For truth is fallen in the street, and uprightness cannot enter. Yea, truth is lacking; and he that departeth from evil [i. e., ceases to oppress others] maketh himself a prey [to the wicked]" (Isaiah 58:3, 6; 59:4, 6, 7, 8, 14, 15).

In the first appendix to the book of Proverbs, by Agur ben Jakeh, we find a familiar strain: "There is a generation whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men" (Proverbs 30:14).

The introduction to the second appendix lays much emphasis upon judging righteously the cause of the poor and afflicted. The body of the second appendix is a well known picture of the ideal upper-class wife, whose husband sits among the elders and rulers at the city gate. She is a good manager and worker in her household; she carefully orders the tasks of her slaves and hirelings; she is kind to all and gives to the needy poor. But, significantly, this is only a picture of an ideal, for the writer asks, "Who can find such a woman?" (Proverbs 31).

The book of Proverbs itself has much to say about upper and lower classes. Thus: "The rich ruleth over the poor; and the borrower is slave to the lender" (Proverbs 22: 7). "The strong city of the rich man is his wealth. The poverty of the poor is their destruction" (Proverbs 10:15).*

* We must bear in mind that the word translated "poor" does not describe the entire lower class. It makes no reference to the many legal slaves; and refers primarily to free-born Israelites who, by their own or their ancestors' misfortunes, find themselves in the lower, unpropertied class. It is from such as these that the ranks of the poorly paid "hired servants" were doubtless filled.

Observe the complacent theism of the aristocrat who writes: "Thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly heritage" (Psalm 16: 5, 6).

In the apocryphal book, The Wisdom of the Son of Sirach, dating from the second century B. C., we find these words: "What agreement is there between the hyena and a dog? and what peace between the rich and the poor? As the wild ass is the lion's prey in the wilderness: so the rich eat up the poor. As the proud hate humility: so doth the rich abhor the poor" (Sirach 13: 18-20). "The rich hath great labor in gathering riches together; and when he resteth he is filled with his luxuries. The poor laboreth in his poor estate; and when he leaveth off he is still needy" (Sirach 31:3, 4).

The son of Sirach also sets forth his views upon upper and lower classes in the following passage:

"The wisdom of a learned man cometh by opportunity of leisure; and he that hath little business shall become wise. How can he get wisdom that holdeth the plow, and that glorieth in the goad, that driveth oxen, and is occupied in their labors, and whose talk is of bullocks? He giveth his mind to make furrows; and is diligent to give the kine fodder. So every carpenter and workmaster, that laboreth night and day: and they cut and grave seals, and are diligent to make great variety, and give themselves to counterfeit imagery, and watch to finish a work. The smith also sitting by the anvil, and considering the iron work, the vapor of the fire wasteth his flesh, and he fighteth with the heat of the furnaces. The noise of the hammer and the anvil is ever in his ears, and his eyes look still upon the pattern of the thing that he maketh. He setteth his mind to finish his work, and watcheth to polish it perfectly. So doth the potter sitting at his work, and turning the wheel about with his feet, who is always carefully set at his work, and maketh all his work by number.