SPREAD OF THE JUDÆAN RACE, AND OF JUDAISM.
Distribution of the Judæans in the Roman Empire and in
Parthia--Relations of the various Judæan Colonies to the
Synhedrion--Judæan Bandits in Naarda--Heathen Attacks upon
Judaism--Counter Attacks upon Heathenism by Judæan Writers--The
Judæan Sibyls--The Anti-heathen Literature--The Book of
Wisdom--The Allegorists--Philo's Aims and Philosophical
System--Proselytes--The Royal House of Adiabene--The Proselyte
Queen Helen--The Apostle Paul--His Character--Change in
his Attitude towards the Pharisees--His Activity as a
Conversionist--His Treatment of the Law of Moses--The Doctrines
of Peter--Judaic-Christians and Heathen-Christians.
40.49 C. E.
Round the very cradle of the Judæan race there had rung prophetic
strains, telling of endless wanderings and dispersions. No other people
had ever heard such alarming predictions, and they were being fulfilled
in all their literal horror. There was hardly a corner in the two great
predominant kingdoms of that time, the Roman and the Parthian, in which
Judæans were not living, and where they had not formed themselves into
a religious community. The shores of the great midland sea, and the
outlets of all the principal rivers of the old world, of the Nile, the
Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Danube, were peopled with Judæans. A
cruel destiny seemed to be ever thrusting them away from their central
home. Yet this dispersion was the work of Providence and was to prove
a blessing. The continuance of the Judæan race was thus assured.
Down-trodden and persecuted in one country, they fled to another, where
the old faith, which became ever dearer to them, found a new home.
Seeds were scattered here and there, destined to carry far and wide the
knowledge of God and the teachings of pure morality. Just as the Greek
colonies kindled in various nations the love of art and culture, and
the Roman settlements gave rise in many lands to communities governed
by law, so had the far wider dispersion of the oldest civilized people
contributed to overthrow the errors and combat the sensual vices of the
heathen world. In spite of being thus scattered, the members of the
Judæan people were not completely divided from one another; they had a
common center of union in the Temple of Jerusalem and in the Synhedrion
which met in the hall of hewn stone, and to these the dispersed
communities clung with loving hearts. Towards them their looks were
ever fondly directed, and by sending their gifts to the Temple they
continued to participate, at least by their contributions, in the
sacrificial worship. From the Synhedrion they received their code of
laws, which they followed the more willingly as it was not forced
upon them. The Synhedrion, from time to time, sent deputations to the
different communities, both far and near, to acquaint them with the
most important decisions.
The visits paid to the Temple by the Judæans who lived out of
Palestine, strengthened the bond of unity, and these visits must have
been of frequent occurrence, for they necessitated the creation of
many places of worship in Jerusalem where the various foreign Judæans
met for prayer. The capital contained synagogues of the Alexandrians,
Cyrenians, Libertines, Elymæans, and Asiatics. One can form some
idea of the vast numbers of Judæans existing at that period if one
considers that Egypt alone, from the Mediterranean to the Ethiopian
boundary, contained nearly a million. In the neighboring country
of Cyrenaica, there were likewise many Judæans, some having been
forcibly transplanted thither from Egypt, whilst others were voluntary
emigrants. In many parts of Syria, and especially in its capital,
Antioch, the Judæans formed a considerable portion of the population.
The kings of Syria who succeeded Antiochus Epiphanes had reinstated
them in all their rights, of which the half-insane Epiphanes had robbed
them. One of these kings had even given them some of the utensils taken
from the Temple, and these were preserved in their synagogue. About ten
thousand Judæans lived at Damascus, and one of their nobles was made
ethnarch over them by the Nabathæan king, Aretas Philodemus, just as in
Alexandria one of their most distinguished members was elected chief of
the community. To the great capital of the world, Rome, the point of
attraction for the ambitious and the grasping, the discontented and the
visionaries, the Judæans returned in such masses after their expulsion
by Tiberius, that when the Emperor Claudius determined, from some
unknown cause, upon expelling them again, he was only deterred, by fear
of their great numbers, from endeavoring to carry out his intention.
Meanwhile he forbade their religious meetings. Towards the end of his
reign, however, on account of some disturbances occasioned by a certain
Christian apostle, Chrestus, they were probably, but only in part,
banished from Rome.
Even greater than in Europe, Syria and Africa was the number of Judæans
in the Parthian Empire. They were the descendants of former exiles,
who owned large tracts of country in Mesopotamia and Babylonia. Two
youths from Naarda (Nahardea on the Euphrates) called Asinaï (Chasinaï)
and Anilaï (Chanilaï) founded in the vicinity of that town a robber
settlement, which spread terror along the bordering countries. Just
as Naarda and Nisibis became the central points for the countries of
the Euphrates, there arose in every land a central nucleus from which
Judæan colonies spread themselves out into neighboring lands, from Asia
Minor on the one side, towards the Black Sea on the other, towards
Greece and the Islands. Athens, Corinth, Thessalonica, and Philippi
contained Judæan communities. There is no doubt that from Rome Judæan
colonies went forth westward to the south of France and Spain.
The effect produced by the Judæans upon the heathens was at first
repellent. Their peculiar mode of living, their dress and their
religious views, caused them to be considered as strange, enigmatical,
mysterious beings, who at one moment inspired awe, and at another
derision and contempt. So thorough was the opposition between the
Judæans and the heathens that it manifested itself in all their
actions. Everything that was holy in the eyes of the heathens
was looked upon with horror by the Judæans, whilst objects of
indifference to the former were considered sacred by the latter. The
withdrawal of the Judæans from the repasts enjoyed in common by their
fellow-citizens, their repugnance to intermarriages with the heathens,
their abhorrence of the flesh of swine, and their abstinence from warm
food on the Sabbath, were considered as the outcome of a perverse
nature, whilst their keeping aloof from intimate intercourse with
any but their own coreligionists was deemed a proof of their enmity
towards mankind in general. The serious nature of the Judæans, which
prevented their participation in childish amusements and mimic combats,
appeared to those around them the sign of a gloomy disposition, which
could find no pleasure in the bright and the beautiful. Superficial
persons, therefore, regarded Judaism only as a barbarous superstition,
which instilled hatred towards the generality of men, whilst the more
thoughtful and discerning were filled with admiration by the pure and
spiritual worship of one God, by the affection and sympathy which bound
the Judæans together, and by the virtues of chastity, temperance and
fortitude which characterized them.
Paganism, with the immoral life which sprang from it, stood revealed in
all its nakedness to the keen sight of the Judæans. The dreary idolatry
of the heathen, with its fabulous mythology which made divine nature
even lower than the human, the madness which allowed wicked emperors
to be worshiped as gods, the sensuality which had prevailed since the
fall of Greece and the closer connection of the Romans with demoralized
nations, the daily spectacle of evil lives and broken marriage
vows, the bacchanalian intoxication of superstition, unbelief, and
bestialities, fostered the pride of the Judæans in their own spiritual
and intellectual possessions, and urged them to make the superiority of
Judaism over heathenism manifest. In places where the Grecian language
facilitated exchange of thought, as in Egypt, Asia Minor and Greece,
there was considerable mental friction between the Judæans and the
heathens. Judaism, as it were, summoned paganism to appear before the
tribunal of truth, and there placed its own sublime faith beside the
low, degrading forms of belief of its adversary.
The Judæans were deeply anxious to impart the burning convictions that
filled their hearts to the blind, deluded heathens, and to attain that
object, their religion being hated by the latter, some of the most
cultivated among the Judæans had recourse to a sort of pious fraud,
by which heathen poets and soothsayers were made to bear witness to
the beauty and grandeur of Judaism. Skilful imitations in verse,
enunciating Judæan doctrines, were placed by Judæan-Grecian writers in
the mouth of the mist-shrouded singer Orpheus, and introduced among
the strains of Sophocles, the tragic poet who had celebrated the
all-powerful gods. When Rome had extended her empire far and wide,
and the legends of the prophetic Sibyls had become known through
many lands, Judæan poets hastened to make the latter stand sponsors
to tenets and views which they durst not proclaim themselves, or
which, if given in their own name, would have obtained no hearing.
In an oracular form the Sibyl was made to reveal the deep meaning of
Judaism, to stir the hearts of the people by pictures of the awful
result of infidelity to God, and to offer to nations engaged in bloody
conflict the olive branch of peaceful amity, opening out to them bright
prospects of the happier times, predicted by the Seers, to those
who believed in the eternal God of Judaism; and the Sibyl spoke in
prophetic strains of the glorious future, when all the nations of the
earth would rejoice in the blessings of the Messianic kingdom.
"Unhappy Greece, cease proudly to exalt thyself; offer prayers
for help to the immortal and lofty One, and take heed of thy
ways. Serve the mighty God, so that thou also mayest find thy
portion among the good when the end will have come and the day
of judgment, according to the will of God, will rise up before
man. Then will the teeming earth give abundantly to mortals
the fairest fruits of the vine and the olive and choicest
nourishing seeds. Also sweet honey dropping from heaven, and
trees with their fruit, and fat sheep. Likewise oxen and lambs
and the kids of the goat. For them rivers of milk will flow,
sweet and white. The cities will be filled with merchandise,
the earth will be rich, and there will be no more war or
fearful sound of fighting. Nor will the earth, loud groaning,
quake and be rent. War will cease, and there will be no drought
upon the lands, no more famine or fruit-destroying hail. But
great peace will reign over all the world, and to the end of
time each king will be the other's friend, and under one law
will the people of the whole world be governed by the Eternal
God, enthroned in the starry heavens--one law for all weak,
pitiable men; for He is one God, and there is no other, and the
wicked He will cast into the flames."
The aim of a long series of prose writings of the Judæan-Grecian school
was to set forth the futility and defects of paganism on the one hand,
and on the other to display Judaism in its most favorable light, and
thus to induce the heathen to become acquainted with the tenets of the
latter. Heathen kings who had been convinced that idolatry was empty
and vain, and that by Judaism, on the contrary, truth was revealed were
pointed out as examples.
"The Book of Wisdom" was even more decided and vigorous in its
denunciations of paganism than the Sibylline writings. Its unknown
author gave with philosophical acumen, but in a poetical garb, a
truthful exposition of idolatry, showed it to be the cause of vice and
immorality, and then, in marked contrast to these dark shadows, made
Judaism shine with increased purity and luster. It was the wisdom of
Judaism, embodied, as it were, in the wise King Solomon, that presented
these views, and in his name, turning to the monarchs of the earth
(the Roman governors), rebukes their shameless self-deification. "Love
righteousness, ye rulers of the earth," exclaims the Wisdom of Solomon,
"recognize the Lord in goodness, and seek Him in simplicity of heart"
(Book of Wisdom, i. 1). According to this author, the invention of
idols was the cause of lasciviousness, and leads to the destruction
of life. Idolatry did not exist from the beginning, neither will it
last forever. It arose through the vanity and ignorance of man, and
would endure but a short time. A father, suddenly plunged into deepest
grief by the death of a child, perhaps made for himself an image of
the latter; by degrees he worshiped the lifeless figure as a god, and
insisted upon the observance by his dependants of mystical rites in
its honor. In the course of time this godless practice became law, and
images, by the order of despots, received the worship of the people. In
the absence of the monarch, when he could not be personally adored by
his subjects, the tyrant was flattered by the incense offered to his
image. The ambition of the artist also fostered the growth of idolatry
among the ignorant masses. To please the potentates of the earth he
strove to make his images as beautiful as possible, and the public,
dazzled by the splendor and grace of the work, worshiped as gods those
whom they previously reverenced as men. Such beautiful productions of
art became a snare to those whom misfortune or tyranny had enslaved,
and induced them to deify carved stone and wood, and to bestow on them
the uncommunicable name of God. Not alone do the people err in their
religious creed, but they live in constant strife with one another
and call it peace; infanticide is celebrated as a rite, they observe
dark, mysterious ceremonies, and are guilty of unchastity. Each one
plays the part of spy on the other, or wounds his friend in his dearest
honor. All, without distinction, thirst for blood, love plunder, and
practice cunning, perjury, deceit, ingratitude, and every description
of impurity. For the worship of vain idols is the beginning, cause,
and end of every evil thing. "For health he calleth upon that which is
weak, for life prayeth to that which is dead, for aid humbly beseecheth
that which hath least means to help" (Book of Wisdom, xiii. 18).
After the author has thus shown the vanity of idolatry, he attempts to
describe the fundamental truths of Judaism:
"There is no God but Him whom the Jews adore. Divine wisdom
preserved the first-born, saved the righteous (Noah) from the
flood, upheld the righteous (Abraham) in innocence before God,
delivered the holy seed (the Judæan people) from the oppression
of the nations, filled the soul of the servant of God (Moses),
who appeared before kings with terrible signs and wonders.
Israel is the upright one whom God has chosen. He possesses the
knowledge of the Divine Being, and may call himself the Son of
God, who in His mercy sustains and upholds him."
These righteous ones will have eternal life. When Israel is persecuted
by the rulers of the earth, because his path lies apart from theirs,
and he condemns their godless ways, turns from them as unclean, and
calls God his Father; when the nations of the earth torture him and put
him to a shameful death--these are only trials imposed by God on His
chosen one, to prove him and make him worthy of His grace. He tries him
like gold in the furnace, and accepts him as a pure offering. Israel
shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their
God shall reign forever.
"Then will the upright one stand firmly before his oppressors.
They will be troubled with great fear; they will be amazed
at his glorious salvation, and repenting they will say,
'This was he whom we had in derision, and of whom we made a
laughing-stock. Ignorantly we accounted his life madness, and
his end to be without honor. And now he is numbered among the
children of God and his lot is among the saints. We strayed
from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness did not
shine for us.' Israel was the instrument through which God
gave the world the undying light of the law. In all things did
the Lord magnify His people and glorify them; He abandoned
them not, but assisted them in every time and place." (Book of
Wisdom.)
Like the Babylonian Isaiah, the Alexandrian-Judæan sage contemplated
his ideal in Israel, of whom a noble mission was required, and who
would hereafter shine in glory.
Whilst the Alexandrian Judæans were absorbed in Grecian literature
and philosophy, and were using that melodious language as a weapon
against paganism and the immorality it fostered, they were carried
beyond the object they had in view. Their desire was to make Judaism
acceptable to the cultivated Greeks, but in following out that design
it was, in some degree, lost to themselves. Greek conceptions had so
completely taken possession of their thoughts that at last they came
to find in the teachings of Judaism the current speculations of the
Greeks. The faith that they had inherited was, however, still dear
to them, and they managed, through sophistical means, to deceive
themselves into a belief of the genuineness of their exposition. The
Holy Scripture could not, indeed, always offer apposite passages to
the prevailing philosophy, but the Judæan-Alexandrian authors knew how
to help themselves out of that difficulty. They followed the example
of Greek writers, who found their own views of the world in the poems
of Homer, or put them there, and to accomplish that feat, employed a
peculiar kind of sophistical word-pictures. Thus the Judæan thinkers
of that period, in their interpretations of the Holy Scriptures, had
recourse to allegory, and instead of the plain, natural meaning
of a work, often gave it a different and seemingly higher import.
Starting with the assumption that the Scriptures cannot always receive
a literal explanation without the divine glory's being tarnished and
many biblical characters being degraded, they resorted to the arts of
allegory and metaphor. This method became so general that even the
masses lost all pleasure in the simple stories of the Holy Scriptures,
and took more delight in artificial explanations than in the plain
lessons and sublime laws of their sacred books. The pious men, who
were wont to explain the Scriptures on the Sabbath, were obliged, in
compliance with the taste of the time, to allegorize both the history
and the lessons contained in them. One result of this method was the
indifference that manifested itself among the cultivated Judæans of
Alexandria to the practice of the religion of their fathers. Allegory
undermined the ramparts that fenced the Law. If the latter was only the
garment in which philosophical ideas were robed, if the Sabbath was
merely intended to record the power of uncreated divinity, and the rite
of circumcision was only meant to show the necessity of placing a curb
on the passions, it would be sufficient to understand and adopt the
ideas underlying those forms. Of what use would be the practice of the
latter? From indifference to the practice of the laws to the desertion
of Judaism itself there was only one step, and thus can be explained
the apostasy to paganism of some Judæans who were unable to withstand
the difficulties and constant pressure they had to encounter. It was
also among the Alexandrian Judæans that the conflict between science
and faith first appeared.
The indifference towards Judaism was combated, indeed, by many who had
not wholly given themselves up to Greek culture. Philo, the greatest
genius which Alexandrian Judaism produced, opposed the lukewarm spirit
and the feelings of contempt which had grown up against the practice of
the Law. In his elevated and inspired diction he urged the obligation
of adhering to the letter of the Law, and induced his co-religionists
to regard it again with love and reverence. Philo indeed shared some
of the errors and prejudices of his contemporaries, but with his clear
intelligence, he soared above the mists which enthroned them. He
likewise made exaggerated use of the allegorical method employed by
his predecessors, and agreed with them in applying it to the entire
Pentateuch, or at least to the greater part of its history and laws.
To carry out this metaphorical line of scriptural interpretation he
devised symbolic numbers, explained Hebrew by Greek words, and from
one and the same sentence deduced different and opposite conclusions.
To Philo allegorical exposition became almost a necessity. Had he not
already found it in use, he would doubtless have invented it.
He wished to give the sanction of Holy Writ to the great thoughts
which were partly the productions of his own rich mind, partly adopted
from the philosophical schools of the Academy, the Stoics and the
Neo-Pythagoreans. Sharing, and indeed, surpassing in perversity the
allegorical explanations he found in vogue, he departed from them
just in that essential point which told against the necessity of the
practice of the Law, and in that lay his chief importance. He expresses
himself with decision and force against those who, satisfied with the
spiritual meaning contained in the Law, are indifferent to the Law
itself. He calls them superficial and thoughtless, acting as though
they lived in a desert, or as incorporeal beings who knew neither
of town nor village nor dwelling, or who, in fact, entertained no
intercourse with human beings, despising what is dear to mankind,
and seeking only abstract spiritual truths. The holy word, however,
while teaching us to seek out diligently the deepest spiritual meaning
of the Law, does not cancel our obligation of adhering to customs
introduced by inspired men who were in all things infinitely greater
than ourselves. Shall we, because we know the spiritual meaning of the
Sabbath, neglect its prescribed observance? "Shall we," he exclaims,
"make use of fire on the Sabbath, till the ground, carry burdens, plead
in courts of justice, enforce the payment of debts, and, in fact,
transact all our usual daily business? Shall we, because a festival
symbolizes the peace of the soul, and is intended as an expression of
gratitude to God, cease to observe the festival itself? Or shall we
give up the rite of circumcision now that we are acquainted with its
symbolic significance? In that case we should likewise renounce our
reverence for the sanctity of the Temple and abandon many religious
observances. But, on the contrary, both the inner truth contained in
the Law, and the Law itself, should be equally prized--the one as the
soul, the other as the body. Just as we take care of the body, looking
upon it as the habitation of the soul, so also should we value the
letter of the Law. By strict observance of the Law we shall attain a
clearer insight into its deepest meaning, and shall likewise escape the
remarks and reproaches of the people."
It is in the Hebrew Scriptures, according to Philo, that the most
profound wisdom is contained. All that is taught by the sublimest
philosophy the Judæans found in their precepts and customs--the
knowledge of the eternal God, the vanity of idols, and the universal
laws of humanity and kindness. "Is not the highest honor due," he
exclaims, "to those laws which teach the rich to share their wealth
with the needy, which console the poor by enabling them to look forward
to the time when they will no longer beg at the rich man's door, but
will have recovered their alienated property; for, at the opening
of the seventh year, prosperity would return again to the widow and
the orphan, and would restore to well-being those whom fortune had
disinherited?"
In opposition to the abuse hurled against Judaism by a Lysimachus and
an Apion, Philo brings forward the spirit of humanity which breathes
through the Judæan Law, and which affects even the treatment of animals
and plants. "And yet, though Judaism is founded in truth on love, these
miserable sycophants accuse it of misanthropy and egotism." In order
to ensure a better comprehension of the Judæan ethics by the cynics
and lawbreakers of his own race, as also by the Greeks, who had only a
false conception of Judaism, Philo arranged his writings so that they
should form a kind of philosophical commentary on the Pentateuch, with
the further object that the truths of Judaism might be brought within
the province of philosophy.
But if, on the one hand, Philo stood firmly on Judæan ground, on the
other he was no less imbued with the dogmas of the Grecian schools,
which ran counter to the former, and he seems to have been equally
swayed by the spirit of Judaism and that of Greece. Vainly he attempted
to bring the contradictory ideas into harmony. They were so completely
opposed from their very inception that they could not be reconciled. To
solve the difficulty between the conflicting views of a creating God
and a perfect deity who does not come into contact with matter, Philo's
system takes a middle course. God created first the spiritual world of
ideas, which were not merely the archetypes of all future creations,
but at the same time active powers which formed the latter. Through
these spiritual powers which surround God like a train of servitors,
He works indirectly in the world. Spiritual power acting, as it were,
intermediately between God and the world is, according to Philo, the
Logos, or creative reason, the divine wisdom, the spirit of God, the
source of all strength. In Philo's more mystical than philosophical
description, the Logos is the first-born son of God, who, standing on
the border-land of the finite and infinite, links both together. He
is neither uncreated like God, nor created like the things that are
finite. The Logos is the prototype of the universe, the delegate of
God, whose behests it communicates to the world, the interpreter who
reveals His will and constantly accomplishes it, the archangel who
shows forth his works, the high priest and intercessor between the
world and God. Early Christianity made use of this doctrine of the
Logos in order to assume a philosophic aspect.
The princely philosopher of the house of the Alabarchs combated
the Greek and Roman paganism, steeped in vice and bestiality. His
exposition of the Judæan Law was designed to darken still more, by
comparison with the pure light of Judaism, the shadows of idolatry, the
sexual looseness, frivolity, vanity and corruption which existed in the
Grecian-Roman world. He tried to show how false were the accusations
hurled against Judaism, and to make known the sublime grandeur and
beauty of its tenets. His principal works were written for his own
people and co-religionists, though he frequently addressed those who
stood outside that circle. Against the few laws of humanity which the
Greeks boasted to have possessed from ancient times, as, for example
that of granting fuel to any one requiring it, or of showing a wayfarer
the right path, Philo could have no difficulty in enumerating a long
array of benevolent duties contained in Scripture or transmitted by
word of mouth. At the head of unwritten laws he placed Hillel's golden
saying, "What is hateful to yourself do not unto others." Judaism does
not merely forbid any one to refuse fire or water, but commands that
what the poor and feeble require shall be given to them. It prohibits
the use of false weights and measures, the coinage of false money. It
does not allow children to be taken from their parents, or wives to
be separated from their husbands, even when they have been legally
acquired as slaves. Even towards animals the duty of mercy is impressed
upon man. "What, in comparison to these," he cries to the Greeks, "are
the few laws descending from primeval times, of which you boast so
much?"
In the following tone of mockery Philo answered malicious accusations
against the Lawgiver:
"Yes, verily, Moses must have been a sorcerer, not only to have
preserved a whole people, and supplied them abundantly whilst
they were journeying through many nations, exposed to the
danger of hunger and thirst, and ignorant of the way they were
pursuing, but likewise to have made them, in spite of their
mutinous spirit, which often broke out against himself, docile
and pliant."
Of the three great moralists who followed each other within a century,
Hillel the Babylonian, Jesus of Nazareth, and Philo the Alexandrian,
it was the last who in all things, great and small, upheld most
strenuously the glory of Judaism. He was superior to them likewise
in beauty of style and in depth of thought, whilst he was animated
with equally fervent convictions. The first two simply created an
impulse, but it was through their disciples that their ideas, variously
transformed, were introduced into a larger circle; whereas Philo,
by his own eloquent writings, made an important and lasting effect.
His works were perhaps read by cultivated heathens even more than by
Judæans, though all were affected by the warmth and glow which pervaded
everything he wrote about God, Moses, and the spirit of the Law.
Philo and the Alexandrian sages continued to promote the great work
of the prophets Isaiah, Habakkuk and Jeremiah, and laid bare all the
unreasonableness, the instability, the perversion and immorality
of the heathen religions. The transparent, shimmering ether with
which the Greeks invested Olympus, these writers resolved into mists
and vapors. Greeks and Romans, who felt deeply on the subject, were
moved to turn with contempt from a religion which not only gave so
unworthy a representation of the Divinity, but actually seemed to
sanctify immorality by the example set before them in the history
of their deities. Like most oriental people, the heathens felt the
need of religion, and those who were searching for true and elevated
teaching embraced Judaism, which was daily being brought more and more
home to them in the Greek translations of Judæan writings through
Greek-Alexandrine literature, and also through intercourse with
cultivated Judæans.
During the last ten years which preceded the destruction of the Judæan
State, there were more proselytes than there had been at any other
time. Philo relates from his own experience that in his native country
many heathens, when they embraced Judaism, not only changed their faith
but their lives, which were henceforth conspicuous by the practice
of the virtues of moderation, gentleness and humanity. "Those who
left the teachings in which they had been educated, because they were
replete with lying inventions and vanities, became sincere worshipers
of the truth, and gave themselves up to the practice of the purest
piety." Above all, the women, whose gentle feelings were offended by
the impurity of the mythological stories, seemed attracted towards the
childlike and sublime scenes in Biblical history. The greater part of
the women in Damascus were converted to Judaism, and it is related that
in Asia Minor there were also many female proselytes. Some over-eager
Judæans may have traveled with the intention of making converts, as was
proved in the story of the Roman patrician Fulvia.
It was by similar zeal for conversion that the Judæan faith was
introduced into an Asiatic court, the members of which remained
steadfast adherents to Judaism during several generations. Adiabene,
a province on the banks of the Tigris, situated where once lay the
Assyrian kingdom, was governed by a royal pair, Monobaz and Helen.
It was a small, but not unimportant state, and although it touched
the great domains of Rome and Parthia, it had been able to hold its
independence during some centuries. Monobaz had many children, the
offspring both of Helen and of other wives, but the youngest of all,
Izates, was the favorite of both parents. In order that he should not
suffer from the jealousy which that favoritism had caused among the
elder brothers, Monobaz sent him to the court of a neighboring king,
of the name of Abinerglus (Abennerig), who was so greatly pleased with
the young prince confided to his care, that he gave him his daughter in
marriage. A Judæan merchant by the name of Anania traded at this court,
and whilst he showed his merchandise to the princesses, he dilated at
the same time upon the tenets of Judaism with such success that he
converted them to his faith. Izates, whose wife, Samach, was one of the
converts, became interested in Anania, discoursed with him, and became
a sincere adherent of Judaism, which he openly embraced in the year 18
C. E. His mother, the queen Helen, had also, without the knowledge of
her son, been won over to Judaism. The deep impression which the Judæan
precepts had made upon the royal converts was proved when the throne
became vacant. The dying Monobaz passed over his eldest sons and named
Izates as his successor. When Helen related her husband's wishes to the
nobles of Adiabene, they suggested that the elder brothers should be
put to death, and thus prevent a civil war, to which their hatred and
jealousy might not improbably give rise. But Helen, softened by her
conversion to Judaism, would not follow this sanguinary advice, and
only kept the brothers in confinement, with the exception of her eldest
son, Monobaz II, to whom she confided the regency. When Izates arrived
at the capital of Adiabene, and had, according to his father's last
testament, received the crown from the hand of Monobaz, he considered
it an unmanly act of cruelty to leave his brothers to languish in
confinement, and he sent them as hostages into honorable banishment,
some to Rome and some to the Parthian capital.
Once on the throne, Izates intended to adopt Judaism, and even to
submit to the rite of circumcision, but he was dissuaded from doing so
by his mother, and by his physician, also named Anania, who, being an
Hellenic Judæan, represented to him that the latter was not essential.
Izates felt reassured for the time; but another Judæan, a Galilæan
of the name of Eleazar, and a strict follower of the Law, came to
his court and offered a contrary opinion. Eleazar, seeing the king
engrossed in reading the Pentateuch, probably a Greek translation,
could not help observing that to belong to the Judæan faith it was
not sufficient to read the Law, but it was necessary also to practise
its precepts. Thereupon Izates, and, according to some authorities,
also his elder brother Monobaz, secretly submitted to the rite of
circumcision. The queen-mother had anticipated dangerous results from
so decided a step, but they were not immediately forthcoming. Not only
was there perfect peace after the accession of Izates, but he was so
much respected that he was chosen to be arbitrator between the Parthian
king Artaban and the rebellious nobles of that monarch.
Some time later, when several of the king's relations avowed their
conversion to Judaism, some of the nobles of Adiabene formed a
conspiracy, and secretly induced Abia, the king of Arabia, to declare
war against him. Izates, however, was successful, and Abia killed
himself in despair. The nobles then conspired with Vologeses, the king
of Parthia, to make war against their king, who had been faithless
to the religion of his forefathers. This war, however, which might
have been most calamitous for Izates, Vologeses was prevented from
undertaking, and henceforth his reign, which lasted about thirty
years, continued undisturbed. Queen Helen, fired by the enthusiasm of
the Judæan faith, desired to visit Jerusalem, and, accompanied by her
son, she accomplished this long journey in about the year 43. Izates
sent five of his own sons to Jerusalem to learn the religion and the
language of the Hebrews.
How grand and joyous must have been the welcome offered by the
inhabitants of Jerusalem to a queen come from the far distant East
with the sole view of paying homage to their God and His Law! Was not
the word of prophecy fulfilled before their very eyes, that the second
Temple should be greater than the first, inasmuch as the heathens
should come and worship the one God?
Helen soon had the opportunity of appearing as the benefactress of the
people. A famine prevailed which created great distress in the country,
and the poorer classes especially suffered severely. Queen Helen sought
to relieve them by bringing from Alexandria and Cyprus whole ship-loads
of wheat and figs, which she distributed among the starving people
(48 C. E.). Abundant means were given her by Izates to carry out her
generous impulses. Her offering to the Temple consisted of a golden
shell-shaped portal for the door of the inner Temple, to receive and
reflect the first rays of the morning sun, and thus announce the break
of dawn to the officiating priests.
The piety and benevolence of the proselyte Helen were long remembered
with love and gratitude by the nation. She survived her son Izates,
who died at the age of fifty-five (55 C. E.); he is said to have left
twenty-four sons and the same number of daughters. He was succeeded
by his elder brother, Monobaz II, who declared himself also to be a
firm adherent to Judaism. When Helen died, Monobaz caused her remains,
as well as those of his brother, to be removed to Jerusalem, and to
be buried within the magnificent tomb which she had constructed there
during her lifetime. This mausoleum, which was about thirty stadia
north of Jerusalem, had beautiful pillars of alabaster, and was
considered a great work of art. Helen had built a palace in the lower
part of the town, and her granddaughter, the Princess Grapte, erected
another in that part of Jerusalem known as Ophla. Monobaz, who also had
his palace in Jerusalem, had golden vessels made for use in the Temple
on the Day of Atonement. The people of Adiabene remained firm friends
of the Judæan nation, and were always ready to give their powerful help
in times of danger.
This leaning towards Judaism, evinced by so many religiously inclined
heathens, was utilized by the teachers of the Nazarene creed. They took
advantage of and worked upon this enthusiasm, and thus laid the first
step to their future conquest of the world.
Two Judæans, both coming from countries where the Greek language was
spoken, Saul of Tarsus (known as Paul) and Jose Barnabas of Cyprus,
declared their intention of proselytizing the heathen. They thus
widened the sphere of the small community, and raised it from being
an insignificant sect of Judaism to the position of a distinct and
separate religious body, but in order to do so they were obliged to
change its original character and purpose.
During the short decade following the death of its founder the small
community had been augmented by Essenes and some Judæan inhabitants
of Greek countries. The former, who had hitherto lived in a mystic
land of visions and trusted to miraculous intervention for the arrival
of the kingdom of heaven, may have seen their dreams fulfilled in
the advent of Jesus. The Essenes, who had no families, were obliged
to augment their numbers from without. They could only add to
the community by dint of mystical persuasions, and, as believing
followers of Jesus, they continued their propaganda and attracted new
adherents from the lower classes, whom the leaders of the Pharisees
had neglected or avoided. Their untiring zeal incited the activity of
the first Christians, who had been awaiting, not so much an increase
of believers, as the speedy re-appearance of Jesus, enthroned in the
clouds of heaven. Apostles were now sent out from Jerusalem, where
they were chiefly established, to propagate the belief that Jesus
was the true Messiah. In order, however, to gain many converts, a
greater power of oratory was required than the simple fishermen and
mechanics of Galilee possessed. This want was supplied by the addition
of Greek-speaking Judæans. From Asia Minor, Egypt, Cyrene, from the
islands of Crete and Cyprus, there was an annual pilgrimage of Judæans
to Jerusalem at the time of the Passover festival. Besides men of
piety and enthusiasts, there were adventurers, seekers after novelty,
and beggars, ignorant of the Law. Of these pilgrims, numbers eagerly
adopted the new faith. Many adventurers among the Greek Judæans were
easily persuaded to accept the doctrine of the community of goods,
which the Ebionite Christians had retained from their Essene origin,
and which found great favor with these homeless wanderers. All those
who possessed any property sold it to increase the contents of the
general treasury, and those who were utterly impecunious lived without
any cares in the community. These Greek Judæans, who had learnt from
their heathen neighbors the art of speaking on every subject, and
even of veiling almost meaningless expressions in an attractive and
persuasive manner, presented the new religion in an attractive form.
They were best adapted to become the preachers and missionaries. When
converted themselves, they used all their efforts to convert others.
The Greek element soon predominated over the Galilæan, Ebionite and
Essene elements, of which the community had previously been composed.
These Greek Judæans, who had never been taught the Law in the schools
of Jerusalem and were, indeed, generally ignorant of its tenets,
transgressed them, sometimes unwillingly, but at times intentionally.
When taken to task they justified their actions by the belief which
they entertained in the Messianic character of Jesus, who, they
alleged, had also put aside the authority of the Law. In Jerusalem,
still considered as the holy city, each practice and observance was
made a matter of deep importance. People began to suspect that the
Nazarenes, who spoke in foreign tongues, were introducing innovations
and endeavoring to bring the Law into contempt, and the disciples of
Jesus were thenceforth watched, and their utterances in the synagogues
and in the market-places were carefully noted. Amongst those who were
most fanatical against the Nazarenes was Saul of Tarsus, a zealous
follower of the Pharisaic school, who held that no edict of either
the oral or the written Law might be tampered with. As he spoke Greek
himself, he was able to measure the boldness of the utterances of the
Judæan-Christian Greeks who were in Jerusalem, and his indignation was
great against them. One of these Greeks, of the name of Stephen, was
particularly violent in his attacks, and had recklessly spoken against
the holiness of the Law and the Temple. It appears that Saul proclaimed
him to be a blasphemer, and that he was stoned, whether after a
judicial trial or by an angry populace is not known. After that time
the Nazarenes were viewed with still greater suspicion, and were called
upon to defend themselves; and again it was Saul who watched the
proceedings of these Greek adherents of the new sect, and caused them
to be brought up for trial. They were imprisoned, and those who were
found guilty of contempt of the Law by their belief in the Messianic
attributes of Jesus were not punished by death, but were sentenced
to be scourged. The foreign Nazarenes, terrified by this severity,
hastened away from Jerusalem and dispersed in various Greek towns
in which there dwelt Judæan communities, among whom they continued
their work of proselytizing. Those followers of Jesus, however, who,
notwithstanding their new faith, did not deny the holiness of the
Law, remained unmolested. Their three leaders, James, a brother or a
relation of Jesus, Kephas or Peter, and John, son of Zebedee, lived at
Jerusalem without fear of persecution.
The other Nazarenes zealously continued the work of conversion in
foreign places. Homeless themselves, they endeavored to introduce into
their circle of followers the doctrine of the community of goods, which
would enable them to live on from day to day without care or thought
for the morrow. They were particularly attracted towards the towns of
Antioch and Damascus, where they found a large field for their labors
in the Greek-speaking community of men and women. The half-educated
multitude listened eagerly to the words of messengers who announced
that a heavenly kingdom was at hand, and to enter it they must accept
only baptism, and the belief that Jesus was the Messiah who had
actually appeared, had been crucified, and had risen again.
Soon these two Greek cities saw a Nazarene community settling within
their walls, who seemed to be Judæans, who lived according to Judæan
rule, who prayed, sang psalms, and ended their songs of praise with
the customary "Amen"; but who yet showed certain signs of forming a
new sect. They assembled together at a meal which they called Agape,
spoke the blessing over the wine, drank after one another from the same
vessel, broke their bread in remembrance of the last hours of Jesus,
and gave each other, men and women indiscriminately, the kiss of peace.
Then, in convulsive excitement, some arose and prophesied, others spoke
in strange tongues, whilst others again effected miraculous cures in
the name of Jesus. An unnatural and highly wrought state of enthusiasm
prevailed in these Greek-Nazarene circles, which would probably have
been deemed ridiculous, and would have evaporated in time; in short,
Christianity might have died a noiseless death, if Saul of Tarsus had
not appeared, and given it a new direction, a great scope, and thereby
imparted to it vital powers and vigor. Without Jesus, Saul would not
have made his vast spiritual conquests, but without Saul, Christianity
itself would have had no stability.
Saul (born in Tarsus in Cilicia, at the beginning of the Christian
epoch, and belonging to the tribe of Benjamin) had a very remarkable
nature. Weak and fragile in body, he was possessed of a tenacity which
nothing could daunt. He was excitable and vehement, could not endure
any opposition to his opinions, and was one-sided and bitter in his
treatment of those who differed from him in the slightest degree. He
had a limited knowledge of Judæan writings, and was only familiar
with the Scriptures through the Greek translation; enthusiastic and
fanciful, he believed in the visions of his imagination and allowed
himself to be guided by them. In short, Saul combined a morbid and an
iron nature; he seemed created to establish what was new, and to give
form and reality to that which seemed impossible and unreal.
He had persecuted the Greek Nazarenes, hunted them out of their
haunts of concealment to give them over to punishment, because they
had seceded from Pharisaic Judaism. But that did not suffice. Hearing
that some of them were established in Damascus, he followed them
thither with all zeal, intending, with implacable persecuting zeal, to
exterminate the community. But his disposition towards them suddenly
changed. In Damascus many heathens, particularly many of the female
population, had gone over to Judaism. The conversion of the royal house
of Adiabene had caused much excitement. Saul had probably himself
witnessed the great triumph of Judaism, the entry of Queen Helen, the
Princes of Adiabene and their retinue into Jerusalem. She probably
stayed in Damascus on her journey, and there must have received the
thanks of the Judæan inhabitants of that city. These events must
have made a deep impression on Saul, and may have given rise to the
thought: Had not the time foreseen by the prophets now arrived, when
every nation should recognize the God of Israel, bow down and swear
allegiance to Him alone?
If he was occupied with these thoughts he must also have been prepared
to wrestle with many doubts to which they gave rise. Would it be
possible to convert the heathen world if the Law were to bind them with
its trammels, if they were to be forced to observe the Sabbath and
the festivals, to keep the dietary laws, to distinguish between the
clean and the unclean, and even to submit to circumcision? Should the
heathen be required to follow even the severe Pharisaic ordinances?
In that case it would be impossible that other nations should enter
the Judæan community. But, on the other hand, could not the Law be
abrogated for the sake of the heathens, and might they not merely be
taught the knowledge of God and a loftier morality? Yet, as the whole
law originated from God, by whom it was revealed, and who had expressly
commanded that it should be fulfilled, how could it be set aside? A
saying of his teachers may then have occurred to Saul, that the Law
was only binding until the time of the Messiah, and that as soon as
the Redeemer came its importance and significance would cease. If the
Messiah had really appeared, then all the difficulties that surrounded
the conversion of the heathen would disappear. This train of thought
engrossed the mind of Saul. His nervous temperament and imaginative
nature easily dispelled all doubts, and he believed firmly and truly
that Jesus had made himself manifest to him. Much later he said of
the vision which had appeared: "If it were in the flesh I know not,
if it were supernatural I know not, God knows; but I was carried up
beyond the third heaven." This is not very reliable evidence to an
actual fact. Legend has adorned this conversion, which was of such
great importance to Christianity, in a fitting manner. It describes
Saul traveling to Damascus, and his path illumined by a great light.
Beholding this light, he is said to have fallen in terror to the earth,
and to have heard a voice, which called to him, "Saul, Saul, why dost
thou persecute me?" Blinded by the vision, he reached Damascus; and
after an interview with a Christian, who advised him to be baptized,
the scales at length fell from his eyes.
With the certainty that he had actually beheld Jesus, another doubt
was banished from Saul's mind, or a different Messianic point of
view was revealed to him. Jesus had certainly died--or rather had
been crucified--but, as he appeared to Saul, he must have risen from
the dead; he must have been the first who had been brought to life
again, and had therefore confirmed the fact that there would be a
Resurrection, which fact had been a matter of contention between the
various schools: and Jesus had also thereby announced the advent of
the kingdom of heaven, of which, as the prophet Daniel had predicted,
the resurrection of the dead was to be the forerunner. Thus the former
Pharisee of Tarsus was firmly convinced of three things--that Jesus
had arisen; that he was the true Messiah who had been predicted; and
that the kingdom of heaven, the period of the resurrection, was near,
and that the then existing generation, or rather the true believers
in Jesus, would soon witness its arrival. This belief led to further
results. If the Messiah had already appeared, or if Jesus were actually
the Christ, then the Law was of itself abrogated, and the heathens
could participate in the blessing of Abraham, without observing the
Law. This belief acted as an incentive to Saul. He felt himself called
upon to convert the depraved world of heathendom, and, through Christ,
to lead it back to the Father of all. No time was allowed to elapse
between the inception of this idea and its realization. Assuming the
name of Paul, he joined the Nazarenes of Damascus, who were not a
little astonished that their persecutor had now become their colleague,
and was seeking to make fresh converts.
Paul found many opportunities for converting in Damascus, as a strong
feeling in favor of Judaism prevailed there, and the sacrifice
incumbent on its followers alone kept many aloof. The newly-converted
Apostle could render this step easier, as he relieved them of all
duties to the Law by means of a belief in Jesus. He does not, however,
seem to have found a warm reception for his faith, resting as it did on
sophistry, even amongst his own countrymen. His theory that the whole
Law might be set aside was probably not considered as quite acceptable.
The people also seem to have felt distrust of their former persecutor.
In short, Saul-Paul could not maintain his ground in Damascus, and
fled to Arabia (Auranitis), where Judæan communities also existed.
When, however, he returned to Damascus for the second time, and his
coreligionists had acquired greater confidence in him, he could indulge
his love of proselytism. But his brusque, inconsiderate manner, and
his assertion that the Law was no longer in force, aroused the Judæan
community of Damascus against him. The Judæan ethnarch of the town, who
had been appointed or confirmed by Aretas Philodemus, sought to take
him prisoner. His companions saved him, by lowering him in a basket
from a window in the wall. Thus he escaped from those who rightly
considered him as the destroyer of Judaism. He returned to Jerusalem
three years after his conversion. He felt that there was a wide
difference between himself and the Galilæan Christians, and that he
would not be able to make terms with them. Paul was filled with the one
thought, that the blessing for all generations, the promise (evangel)
made to Abraham that he should be father of many nations, and that
the wealth of the heathen should belong to the children of Abraham,
was now finally to be realized, and that he (Paul) was called upon to
effect this work. He wished to put an end to the difference between the
Judæans and the Greeks, between slaves and freemen, and to make all
brothers in the covenant of Abraham--as the seed of Abraham--according
to the promise given in by-gone years. This was the glad message which
he brought to the people; it was a far-reaching thought, of which
the Ebionites in Jerusalem and the so-called main Apostles had no
understanding.
After a short stay in Jerusalem, Saul, accompanied by his disciple,
the Cyprian Joseph Barnabas, repaired to Cilicia, Paul's native
place, and traversed Asia Minor and Macedonia to Achaia. There his
endeavors were crowned with marvelous results. He founded in various
places Greek-Christian communities, especially in Galatia, in Ephesus,
Philippi, and Thessalonica, and in the town of Corinth. This result
may partly be laid to the credit of Judaism; for when Paul wished to
win over the heathens, he had to unfold to them the glorious past of
the Judæan nation, in order to speak of Jesus. He also had to contrast
the pure belief in God with the wild practices of heathendom. He found
a susceptibility for the pure teachings of Judaism among the heathen.
Not a few felt disgust at the mythological stories of the gods and
the deification of human beings. The remembrance was yet fresh in
their memories how all nations of the Roman kingdom, with unexampled
abjectness, had dedicated altars to the monster Caligula, and had
recognized and worshiped him as a god. Despairing and pure spirits
sought a God to whom they might elevate themselves, but they did not
find him. Now Paul had come and brought them this God, surrounded,
it is true, with wonderful stories, which, however, pleased them, on
account of the mythological strain in them. The heathen nations could
better comprehend the "Son of God" than the "Messianic Redeemer." The
wide-spread disease of immorality, which was rife throughout the Roman
empire, rendered the Judæan teachings acceptable and proper. Paul's
orations, delivered with the fire of enthusiasm, and uttered by one
who threw his whole soul into his words, could not fail to make an
impression on the better-disposed and purer-minded heathens. To this
was added the fear of the approach of the end of the world, which Paul,
through his firm belief in the resurrection and reappearance of Jesus,
had transformed into the hope that the dead would arise, in refulgent
form, at the trumpet-call, and that the living would be carried up into
heaven in a cloud.
Thus Paul appealed to the imagination of many heathens in his apostolic
wanderings from Jerusalem to Illyria. At first he aroused only people
of the lower classes, slaves, and especially women, by his glad
tidings. To the cultivated Greeks the Christianity which Paul preached,
based on the so-called resurrection of Jesus, appeared as a ridiculous
absurdity. The Judæans were naturally displeased with him. Paul's chief
topics, on which he dilated to the heathens whom he wished to convert,
were the Judæan nation, Judæan writings, and the Judæan Law; without
these his preaching about a Messiah or salvation had no foundation.
The Greeks must have been told about Israel and Jerusalem, or his
words would have fallen on deaf ears. He, therefore, could only resort
to those towns where Judæan communities dwelt, from whom the heathen
nations had received some faint notion of the history and doctrines of
Judaism.
Paul's efforts were directly aimed at destroying the bonds which
connected the teachings of Christ with those of Judaism. He therefore
inveighed against the Law, as it proved a hindrance to the reception of
heathen proselytes. He asserted that it was detrimental to the pursuit
of a higher spiritual life and to following the way of truth. Paul not
only disapproved of the so-called ceremonial laws of Judaism, but also
of those relating to morality. He affirmed that without laws men would
not have given way to their evil desires. "Thou shalt not covet" had
first aroused covetousness; thus through the Law the knowledge of sin
had arisen. Man is sensual and inclined to sin, for flesh is weak and
inclined to resist the Law. Paul set up a new teaching. He maintained
that man had only become sensual, weak and sinful because the first
man had sinned. Adam's fall had given birth to an inextinguishable
hereditary sin, and by this means death had come upon humanity. The
Law was not able to overcome this hereditary sin. In order to destroy
sin and death, God had made a special dispensation. He had given up
the Messiah, His son, to death, and again re-animated him, and he
had become the second Adam, who was to obliterate hereditary sin,
to conquer death, and establish everlasting life. Thus the Redeemer,
instead of bringing about the redemption of nations from the yoke
imposed on them, had redeemed them from sin.
Paul therefore conceived Christianity to be the very opposite of
Judaism. The one was founded on law and compulsion, the other owed
its origin to freedom and grace. Jesus or Christianity had brought
about the holy state foretold by the prophets. The ancient times had
departed, and a new state of things had arisen; the old covenant
(Testament) must yield to the new one; Abraham himself had not
been judged as just through the Law, but through faith. Thus Paul
sophistically explained the Scriptures. From the Law it is to be
inferred that whosoever does not abide by it, and refuses wholly and
entirely to comply with its precepts, stands under a curse. The great
service which Jesus had rendered was that he had delivered all men
from this curse, for through his means the Law had been set aside. How
could the Judæans submit to this open desecration of the Law of Sinai
for which their forefathers had suffered death, and for which, but a
short time since, under Caligula, they had determined to sacrifice
their lives? It is not to be wondered at that they rose against the
man who despised the Law, and persecuted him. They, however, contented
themselves with flogging Paul when he fell into their hands, but they
left his life unharmed; five times, as he himself relates, he was
chastised with thirty-nine strokes. Not only the Judæans but also the
Nazarenes, or Judæan Christians, were incensed against Paul for his
attack on the Law, and by this means dissension and schisms arose
in the midst of young Christianity. Peter, or Kephas, who came as a
messenger to the Judæans, taught a Christianity which differed from
that of Paul, and that of the other Apostles who sought to make
converts amongst the heathen; whilst Apollos from Alexandria, and a
certain Chrestus preached another version.
The Judaic Christians saw with terror the fruits of the ceremonial
freedom preached by Paul in the communities founded by him in Corinth
and Ephesus, where every species of vice and immorality was rife. Other
Apostles, therefore, followed Paul, and proclaimed his teachings full
of error and misrepresentation, and maintained that the Law of Judaism
was binding on Christians, as it was only by this Law that the lower
passions could be held in check. In Antioch a violent quarrel arose
between Paul and the Judaic-Christian Apostle. Peter, who till then had
disregarded the dietary laws and eaten at one table with the heathens,
was censured by the leaders of the severe party of the Apostle James,
and was now obliged to acknowledge his fault, and to speak openly
against Paul's contempt of the Law. Paul, on the other hand, reproached
him with hypocrisy. The influence of the severe, Law-loving Judaic
Christians was, however, so great that all the Judæan Christians of
Antioch gave up eating at the tables of the heathen, and their example
was even followed by Barnabas, the disciple of Paul.
Racial feelings also helped to widen the breach between the two
parties. The Greek Christians despised the Judaic Christians in the
same way as the Hellenes had looked down upon the Judæans. Paul sent
out violent epistles against the adherents of the Law, and laid a
curse on those who preached salvation in a manner differing from his
own. These did not spare him either, and related how he had loved
the daughter of a high priest; how, on being despised by her, he had
in disgust written against circumcision, the Sabbath, and the Law.
Thus, within barely thirty years after the death of its founder,
Christianity was split into two parties, namely, a Judaic-Christian
and a heathen-Christian sect. The Judaic Christians remained attached
to the foundations of Judaism, compelled their converts to adhere to
the Law, and clung to Jerusalem, where they awaited the return of
the Messiah. The heathen Christians, on the other hand, separated
themselves more and more from Judaism, and took up an inimical position
towards it.