ABSTRACT
T He Exile had severely tried the faith of Israel. 1 The sight of those long trains of exiles journeying towards the Euphrates might well raise a doubt whether God was mindful of his covenant with Abraham and with Moses. Indeed, could a God be truly omnipotent who had failed to save his people from such a fate? Was it not rather a proof of the greater might of the gods of Babylon, a proof that they and not Jahweh merited the allegiance of the discerning? On the other hand, if God were really all-powerful, could he also be just? There were Jews who did in fact lose heart and aposta-tized from Jahweh. But during the Exile itself great prophets arose 2 who set themselves to strengthen the backsliders, to dispel the clouds of doubt and discontent, and to proclaim to the exiles the unfailing justice and power of Jahweh. For the sole source of their humiliation lay in themselves, in their unfaithfulness to the Covenant and their tolerance of strange gods; and it was expedient as well as right that they should humble themselves and bow down in contrition before Jahweh who, having pardoned them, would in his own good time shower upon them once more the benefits of his grace and favour.
