Genesis of the Jewish people (3)

Ezra scriber and the priests’ rule
After the fall of the Babylonian Empire, for nearly two centuries "Jewish state" is one of the Iranian Achaemenid States; it has full internal autonomy and engraved its own coins with the title of "Jewish state". During this period, we are faced with a new form of political structure in the land of the Jews: the Jewish state has two governors: one political, the other religious, and both are appointed by the king of Persia. Both are Jewish and religious rulers of the house of Aaron. The origin of this change should be searched in cultural and political space of "Babylonian exile" and a strong connection of the Jewish priests with Babylon and Persia’s Courts, the link which is obvious in the "Book of Daniel" and "Book of Esther".
In the "Book of Ezekiel, which was written by one of the exiled priests in Babylon, embryonic of development of "Judaism" as Jewish racist ideology can be seen.
Unlike Jeremiah whose audience was "Judas" that meant the rulers, the audience of Ezekiel is "Israel" which is the people who are remained in their land. This book is full of terrible curses to the people and fury prophecies with evidence of their humiliation and their bloody end.
Evil abominations of the house of Israel. . . They shall fall by the sword, famine and plague and whoever is left…will die of hunger.
Ezekiel, which his book "Manifesto" should be known as deportees of the aristocracy of Jewish, promises the people of Jerusalem especially to harsh punishment to and warns them that in the not too distant future, former political order will be restored and they will have to tolerate severe situations. Ezekiel calls the people of Jerusalem as "bastards", thus for the first time raises the claim of the "racial purity" of Jews:
Son of man aware Jerusalem of its abominations, and say:. . . your origin and your birth is of the land of Canaan. Amory was your father and your mother was Hata and your birth; your hub was not cut on the day you were born and you were not bathed and were not clean by water.
Ezekiel also calls people of Israel and particularly the inhabitants of Jerusalem as "adultery" and "prostitute". Their "adultery" is betrayal to the Jewish aristocracy and giving them to the Chaldeans. "Jerusalem" is a prostitute adulteress that was intrigued to "Persian riders" and "captains of the Chaldeans" and gave himself to them. The use of "Persian Horsemen" or "Persian horsemen" in the "Book of Ezekiel" represents an active role of Iranian troops and Nebuchadnezzar fighting and conquer of Jerusalem. Ezekiel uses the term of "Persian riders" next to "desirable young men" which describes the appearance of the face of the Iranians who participated in the war against Egypt.
In the "Book of Ezekiel", the Lord (Yahova) appears as exclusively Lord of Jewish people and addressed Jerusalem people as follows:
Was your adultery Little that you killed my sons and gave them up? Yahova, the Lord, says Woe to you, woe to thee.
We do not know that after returning of Jewish aristocracy and priests to Jerusalem, what happened the people of this town, but we know when nobles and priests of the Jews began to rebuild the "Temple of Solomon" by the command of Cyrus, a group of people of the city was opposed with this building. The group is called "enemies of Judah and Benjamin". The reconstruction of the temple began in 539 BC and ended 23 years later, in 516. This long period can be an expression of opposition of people who did not want the revival of to this focus of the Jewish priests and aristocracy’s authority and sabotaged against it. We know that shortly after the beginning of the rebuilding of the Temple, the operation stopped by the command of Cyrus and continued only in the second year of the reign of Darius I (522-486) . Ezra the priest says that shutdown of operation was due to Cyrus’s fears of a revival of "strong king" in Jerusalem which is nothing but a brag.
However, the real and undisputed authority of the Jewish aristocracy in Jerusalem began only after the bloody coup of Mordecai and Esther and killing of opponents of Iran's Jews in the court.
In 458 BC, a man named Ezra the ascribe, whose descent goes to Saduq, the priest of the court of testament of Solomon, and in this way to Aaron, the old chief, entered Jerusalem by the command of Artaxerxes I (465-424), son and successor of Xerxes. He according to this command, took place in the bench of "pontiff" of Jews and "Full ascribe of law of the God of heaven". Thus, Ezra the ascribe built a rule wanting house that until ruled until the end of the Seleucid dynasty and ruled "Jewish state", and until the end of the first century AD was placed as custodian of the "Temple of Solomon" on top of "the Jewish community". The powers that are vested to the Ezra by the King of Iran and his religious attitude are strange and unprecedented:
You, Ezra, according to the judgment of your God, which is in your hand, appoint judges and juries from all who know the laws of your God to judge all the people beyond the river, and teach those who do not know, and anyone who does not obey the law of God and the king judgment on him with no hesitation, whether to kill or to exile, or to confiscation or to imprisonment.
Ezra’s work is "to revive the teaching of God's law and commandments and the statutes" for the people of Israel. Basically it is the time when evil Ezekiel’s promises will be realized. Ezra in his memoirs distinguishes between "exiles" and residents of the Land of Israel and sees the land that was entrusted to them as "uncleanness of nations of the countries". Ezra must be known as the representative of Jewish aristocracy based in Mesopotamia and the Achaemenid court; an aristocracy that is placed at the center of world’s power and wealth that by relying on their own financial and political leverage manages the land of the children of Israel from a distance and by people like Ezra the priest. We should note that Ezra the priest knows the source of his authority in the Achaemenid Court.
We are the creatures… Our God has made us the kings of Persia and gave us new life to build the house of our God and fix its collapses and has given us castle in Judah and Jerusalem.
The type of relationship of Jewish aristocracy based in the court of the Achaemenid with its citizens in the Land of Israel is wonderfully similar to relationship of Europe Jewish plutocracy oligarchy and America in the twentieth century with their citizens in the Palestinian Territories and Israel’s state.
In passages of "Ezra" whispers of "Jewish racism" soars. Ezra at the beginning of settlement in Jerusalem, when is notified of marriage of the people of Israel with other tribes in the absence of aristocracy and Jewish priests, goes hard on them and says:
Princes came to me and said the Israel ... has not separated himself from other nations of the countries, but [Have been treated] in their direction. . Have chosen their daughters for themselves and their sons, and have mixed the holy seed with the nations of the countries and the leaders and rulers have been pioneer in this trespass; and when i heard this, I tore my garment and my robes and pulled my hair and beard and sat down astonished.
He then goes on to ethnically cleanse of the Israel:
You were unfaithful and have taken strange women; you have added Israeli crime. So now praise the LORD, God of your fathers, and do His will and separate yourself from the people of other lands and from strange women.
And he even in new racism style provides a list of those who have married with alienated wife and have infected "the holy seed"!
In our view, this is a new theme and its mood is more like to the era that the rabbi oligarchy saw himself confronted with the risk of extinction of the Jews. "Ezra’s book" should be understood as a new Jewish-themed statement in content which was developed in the first centuries AD. Message and spirit of this book belongs to the period of Talmudic Judaism.
With the collapse of Achaemenid Persia, Alexander the Great and his successors’ reign came to Iran and Jews became citizens of this Hellenistic Empire.
History of the familiarity of the Jews with the habitants of Europe dates back to the eighth century BC, when Greeks began trading with the East Mediterranean Phoenician ports. However, there is no evidence in support of this relationship. In 332 BC, Palestine and the port of Alexandria were conquered by the Macedonian and their rule over the lands of the Mediterranean began. In the year 323, Alexander the Macedonian died and a war broke out among his successors. Finally, in 301, Palestine was occupied by the first Potulmy, Macedonian ruler of Egypt, and until the year 200 BC, it was part of the government of family of Potulmy of Egypt, and then, it was seized by the Seleucid state of Syria.
At the time of the Greeks’ rule country divisions of the Achaemenid era more or less were remained, and also the "Jewish state" with its Greek name became one of the Hellenistic Empire. Greeks recognized the mentioned land as an "ethnic entity" and called its inhabitants as "Jewish". This was a self-ruled state with centrality of Jerusalem that that the Aaron priests’ house hereditary ruled over it, and his political and religious rule included both Jewish and non-Jews habitants of "Jewish state".
Thus, the structure that Ezra the ascribe founded at the time of the Achaemenian Artaxerxes continued during the Hellenistic era. It is clear that the long persistence of this political structure which was coupled with broad authority of the Jewish priests gradually and through the reconstruction of religious traditions and cultural heritage of Israel gave consistency to the foundations of "Judaism" and "Jews". In this sense, the "Jewish religion" was known as a new culture and ethnic ideology as the "Jewish" which was maturing and based on the teachings and traditions of "Judaism".
During this period, the inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem have been reported about 120 thousand people. "Temple of Solomon" was considered as the heart of the city and the main axis of the political structure of the "Jewish state". The significance of this symbol in the development of "the Jews" is so high that Polybius, a Greek historian of the second century BC, calls the Jewish people as a "nation" that have gathered around the "Temple of Solomon". The construction of "Temple of Solomon" was with the help of rich and powerful class of priests who were considered as "political elites" of the "Jewish state", and hence aliens saw "Jewish state" as a land managed by very delicate priests. Besides the class of priests, there was a gentry’s landowner oligarchy. Their most powerful one was the family of Tubyas who were the big landowners and local rulers of south of Gilead. Tubyas members came to power since the Achaemenid dynasty, and apparently are descended from the same family of Tabeyil who was the rival of house of David authority in the late eighth century BC.