At the time of the foreign rule old men had spoken of the King and Saviour who was to make the chosen people great and mighty.

Expounders of the Scriptures had from generation to generation consoled those who were waiting and longing.

Men had grown impatient under the intolerable foreign oppression, and a national desire and a religious expectation such as had never before been known in so high a degree had manifested itself.
And lo! strange rumours went through the land.

As the south wind of spring blows over Lebanon, melts the ice, and brings forth buds, so were the hearts of men filled with new hope.

A man out in the wilderness was preaching a new doctrine.