18
The Desire of Ages
nations. The Jews looked upon Jerusalem as their heaven, and they
were actually jealous lest the Lord should show mercy to the Gentiles.
After the return from Babylon, much attention was given to re-
ligious instruction. All over the country, synagogues were erected,
where the law was expounded by the priests and scribes. And schools
were established, which, together with the arts and sciences, professed
to teach the principles of righteousness. But these agencies became
corrupted. During the captivity, many of the people had received hea-
then ideas and customs, and these were brought into their religious
service. In many things they conformed to the practices of idolaters.
As they departed from God, the Jews in a great degree lost sight
of the teaching of the ritual service. That service had been instituted
by Christ Himself. In every part it was a symbol of Him; and it had
been full of vitality and spiritual beauty. But the Jews lost the spiritual
life from their ceremonies, and clung to the dead forms. They trusted
to the sacrifices and ordinances themselves, instead of resting upon
Him to whom they pointed. In order to supply the place of that which
they had lost, the priests and rabbis multiplied requirements of their
own; and the more rigid they grew, the less of the love of God was
manifested. They measured their holiness by the multitude of their
ceremonies, while their hearts were filled with pride and hypocrisy.
With all their minute and burdensome injunctions, it was an impos-
sibility to keep the law. Those who desired to serve God, and who tried
to observe the rabbinical precepts, toiled under a heavy burden. They
could find no rest from the accusings of a troubled conscience. Thus
Satan worked to discourage the people, to lower their conception of
the character of God, and to bring the faith of Israel into contempt. He
hoped to establish the claim put forth when he rebelled in heaven,—
that the requirements of God were unjust, and could not be obeyed.
Even Israel, he declared, did not keep the law.
While the Jews desired the advent of the Messiah, they had no true
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conception of His mission. They did not seek redemption from sin,
but deliverance from the Romans. They looked for the Messiah to
come as a conqueror, to break the oppressor’s power, and exalt Israel
to universal dominion. Thus the way was prepared for them to reject
the Saviour.
At the time of the birth of Christ the nation was chafing under the
rule of her foreign masters, and racked with internal strife. The Jews