fect, restoring the soul,
The judgments of Jehovah are true and altogether just.
By them is thy servant warned; in keeping them is great reward.

They emphasized not merely external acts and words, but inner motives.
In character and in conduct they were noble products of that religion
which Israel had inherited from the past. By them were probably treasured
stories such as are found in the first chapters of the book of Daniel. The
detailed references in chapter 2 to the marriage of Antiochus Theos and
the daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus in 248 B.C. and to the murder of
Antiochus by his former wife Laodicea, together with the absence of
allusions to subsequent events, indicate that these stories were probably
committed to writing somewhere between 255 and 245 B.C. Their aim was
clearly to emphasize the supreme importance of fulfilling faithfully the
demands of the law, even in the face of bitter opposition and persecution,
and the certainty that Jehovah would deliver those who were loyal to him.
Their teachings were especially adapted to inspire the tried and tempted
Jews of the dispersion, who were sorely persecuted by the heathen among
whom they lived. The dramatic picture of men who dared face the fiery
furnace or the hungry lions rather than depart from the demands of the law
undoubtedly proved a great inspiration to the Jews of the Greek period.

III. The Disciples of the Prophets. Throughout the centuries that
followed the destruction of Jerusalem the great ethical prophets of the
pre-exilic period had never been without spiritual disciples. They
faithfully studied and applied in their own lives the principles laid down
by their earlier guides. Although the influence of the contemporary
prophets constantly waned, yet the spirit of those earlier champions of
the faith lived in the hearts of their followers. In many of the psalms
of the Psalter Amos and Isaiah and Jeremiah speak in terms adapted to the
changed problems of the Jews of the Greek period. In Psalm 46 the trust in
Jehovah which Isaiah advocated has become a living force in the life of
the Psalmist and of the class in behalf of which he spoke. In the
background one hears the march of the multitude armed by Alexander for
world-conquest and the din of conflict as army met army; but over all
stands Jehovah, protecting his sanctuary and people, supreme in the lives
of men and nations. The narrow, nationalistic, messianic hopes have long
since been abandoned,