affirmed that the synagogue of Shafyâthîb, near Nehardaa, had been built
by King Jehoiachin with stones brought from the ruins of the temple at
Jerusalem. These communities enjoyed a fairly complete autonomy, and
were free to administer their own affairs as they pleased, provided that
they paid their tribute or performed their appointed labours without
complaint. The shêkhs, or elders of the family or tribe, who had played
so important a part in their native land, still held their respective
positions; the Chaldæans had permitted them to retain all the
possessions which they had been able to bring with them into exile, and
recognised them as the rulers of their people, who were responsible to
their conquerors for the obedience of those under them, leaving them
entire liberty to exercise their authority so long as they maintained
order and tranquillity among their subordinates.**

* Ezek. iii. 15. The Chebar or Kebar has been erroneously
identified with the Khabur; cuneiform documents show that it
was one of the canals near Nipur.

** Cf. the assemblies of these chiefs at the house of
Ezekiel and their action (viii. 1; xiv. 1; xx. 1).

How the latter existed, and what industries they pursued in order to
earn their daily bread, no writer of the time has left on record. The
rich plain of the Euphrates differed so widely from the soil to which
they had been accustomed in the land of Judah, with its bare or sparsely
wooded hills, slopes cultivated in terraces, narrow and ill-watered
wadys, and tortuous and parched valleys, that they must have felt
themselves much out of their element in their Chaldæan surroundings.
They had all of them, however, whether artisans, labourers, soldiers,
gold-workers, or merchants, to earn their living, and they succeeded in