Ezra likewise arranged, that in places too far
from Jerusalem for people to come weekly to worship at the Temple, there
should be synagogues, or places of meeting for prayer, though of course
not for sacrifice. There, every Sabbath day, eighteen prayers were
appointed to be said, and lessons from the Scripture were read aloud and
explained. In their exile, the Jews had forgotten their Hebrew tongue,
and learnt to speak Chaldean, so that after the Law was read in their
own language, a scribe stood up to translate and explain it, and thus
they were saved from forgetting the Scripture, as they had done in
the time of Josiah, and from resorting to groves and high places for
worship. Idolatry was so thoroughly purged out of them, that they never
returned to it; and their hope of the Messiah was kept alive, though
they had no new prophets.
They enjoyed quiet and peace for many years; and most of the Jews who
were settled in other countries--in Persia, Babylon, and Egypt--came
from time to time to keep the feasts, and make offerings; while those
settled near enough kept the three yearly pilgrimages to Jerusalem,
singing, as it is believed, the beautiful psalms called in the Bible
the Songs of Degrees, as the parties from towns and villages went up
together in procession towards the Hill of Sion.
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