Hellenistic Influence upon the Jews of Palestine
[LITERATURE.—Stade, _Geschichte des Volkes Israel_, II, pp.
273-310 (1888); this part of the work is done by O. Holtzmann;
Toy, _Christianity and Judaism_, pp. 173-214 (1891); Schürer,
II, i. pp. 1-149, German ed. II, pp. 1-267; Swete, _Introduction
to the Old Testament in Greek_, pp. 1-9 (1900); Bousset, _Die
Religion des Judentums im neutestamentlichen Zeitalter_, pp.
448-493 (1903); Hölscher, _Palästina in der persischen und
hellenistischen Zeit_ (1903); Zeller, _Die Philosophie der
Griechen_, III, ii. (1903); Edwyn Bevan, _Jerusalem under the
High-priests_ (1904); M. Friedländer, _Die religiösen Bewegungen
innerhalb des Judentums im Zeitalter Jesu_, pp. 1-168 (1905);
Krüger, _Philo und Josephus als Apologeten des Judenthums_
(1906); Krüger, _Hellenismus und Judenthum im neutestamentlichen
Zeitalter_ (1908); Wendland, _Die Hellenistisch-Römische
Kultur_ ... pp. 187-211. See also the articles “Hellenism” in
the _Encyclopædia Biblica_, and “Griechenthum” in Hamburger’s
_Realencycl. für Bibel und Talmud_.]
I. HELLENISM AND JUDAISM
The influence which Greek thought and culture exercised upon the Jews
and the Jewish religion differed both in its extent and intensity
upon the Jews of Palestine on the one hand, and upon the Jews of the
Dispersion on the other. It will, therefore, be necessary to deal
separately with these two parts of the subject, although a great
deal of what we shall have to say about Hellenistic influence upon
the Jews of Palestine will naturally apply also to the Jews of the
Dispersion.
During the two centuries which preceded the appearance of Alexander
upon the world’s stage, the Jews as a nation had become more and
more the people of the Law. From the time of Ezra onwards this
tendency had increased with ever-growing volume. “Ezra had set his
heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in
Israel statutes and judgements”[19]; his efforts were crowned with
a great measure of success. By this means it was sought to preserve
the Jewish religion and Jewish ethics uncontaminated by external
influences, whether through contact with foreign peoples,[20] or
with those who although they belonged to the Jewish race were not
faithful to the ordinances of the Law.[21] This separation was
successful at first; but with the rise and rapid spread of Hellenism
it became increasingly difficult to maintain, especially as the
influence of the Greek spirit was, with the exception of Egypt,
nowhere stronger than on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean.
“Girt about by a Greek population, the Palestinian Jews, in spite of
Ezra’s admirable organization, could not entirely resist the assaults
of Hellenism. It is probable that not merely the Greek language,
but also Greek philosophy, exerted a charm on some of the clearest
Jewish intellects. But we are within the bounds of acknowledged
fact in asserting that the ardour of Judæan piety, at least in the
highest class, greatly cooled in the age subsequent to Ezra’s, and in
ascribing this to Greek influences.”[22]
Of far-reaching importance to the Jews of Palestine, though only
indirectly, was the battle of Ipsus (B.C. 301); for one of the
results of this battle was that among the territories assigned to
the house of Ptolemy, according to the settlement agreed upon
after the battle, was Palestine (Cœle-Syria); and there followed,
for this country at any rate, a period of comparative peace which
lasted for about a hundred years.[23] It was, in the main, during
this century that the quiet and peaceful process of Hellenization
among the Jews went on. The wise policy, as it was upon the
whole, of the Ptolemys towards the Jews did much to favour this
process. The Jews were placed upon the same footing as the Egyptian
subjects; they were permitted absolute freedom in the exercise of
their religion and religious customs; in political matters also
the Jews found themselves in a position of perfect equality with
their fellow-subjects; indeed, so much were they trusted that they
not infrequently formed garrisons in the royal fortresses; of the
existence, too, of Jewish soldiers in the Ptolemaic armies we have
contemporary evidence.[24] Favourable treatment was also accorded to
the Jews by Seleucus in the northern parts of Syria; they were, for
example, here too granted the privilege of the rights of citizenship.
This kindly treatment which the Jews received would naturally have
had the effect of inclining them favourably towards their rulers; and
this was in itself a not unimportant factor in the new conditions by
means of which Greek culture was exercising its influence upon them.
Again, it was the policy of the Egyptian kings to foster free
intercourse between their Hellenic and Asiatic subjects; the chief
means whereby this was promoted was by planting Greek settlements
in Palestine—following herein the example of Alexander[25]—which
resulted in the rise of a number of new Greek cities in that country;
the Greeks and Macedonians who consequently became settlers there
constituted before long a numerous and influential element in
the population[26]; in many cases they changed a city which had
hitherto been wholly Semitic into one which became predominantly
Greek; examples of this are Raphia, Gaza, Ascalon, Azotus, Cæsarea,
Ptolemais, and others. Nor was this confined to Western Palestine;
many cities in Eastern Palestine as well became centres of Greek
influence. Invariably in cases of this kind the local government of
the city was framed on the Greek model; this meant the independent
organization of large municipal communities which, as Schürer
points out, was of “fundamental importance in the political life
of Palestine; this was,” he continues, “indeed, no novelty in
Palestine, where from of old the large towns of the Philistine and
Phœnician coasts had formed centres of political life. The influence
of Hellenism marks, however, a turning-point in this respect also.
For, on the one hand, it essentially transformed the existing
communities, while, on the other, it founded numerous new ones and
made the municipal communities in general _the basis of the political
organization of the country_ in a far more thorough manner than
before. Wherever Hellenism penetrated—especially on the Philistine
coasts and the eastern boundaries of Palestine beyond the Jordan—the
country districts were grouped around single large towns as their
political centres. Each of such communities formed a comparatively
independent whole, managing its own internal affairs; its dependence
upon the rulers of Syria consisted only in the recognition of
their military supremacy, the payment of taxes, and certain other
performances. At the head of such a Hellenistically organized
community was a democratic senate of several hundred members.”[27]
It cannot be doubted that the organization on Greek models of the
local government of Jewish cities must have brought a new mental
outlook to the Jews. The political assemblies and annual elections
in which each individual took his part must have tended to give to
the Jew a sense of his personal importance such as he is not likely
ever to have experienced before. In the past history of the Jewish
State a _régime_ had obtained in which the ordinary individual was
regarded as of little or no account; the vast bulk of the people took
no part, not even the most humble, either directly or indirectly, in
the conduct of affairs; they had no voice even in the smaller world
of local matters; they were mere ciphers without anything in the
shape of civic responsibility. Individual responsibility had, it is
true, been insisted upon in the domain of religion by Ezekiel[28];
but it was a new _rôle_ that the Jew was now called upon to fill
in this individual capacity. As a member of a community organized
according to Greek ideas he would feel that he had a real part to
play and some contribution to offer for the general welfare; he
would know that his decision would go towards affecting for good
or ill the conditions under which he and his fellows lived. Such a
new experience could not fail to generate in the Jew a new sense of
personal responsibility, a realization of duty towards others, not
only of his own race, and thus develop a wider outlook and a deeper
insight into the world of his surroundings.
Another thing which must have appealed strongly to the imagination
of an oriental people like the Jews, though it would have affected
them in a very different way, was the interest and fascination
afforded by the shows and processions associated with the annual
Greek festivals. That such sights had an alluring effect, and indeed
something more, upon some considerable section of the people is
evident, for the first book of Maccabees shows us that the question
of the adoption of Greek polytheism was first raised in Judæa by
apostate Jews themselves; the passage, to which we shall have to
refer again later, is 1 Maccabees i. 11 f.: “In those days [i.e.,
in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes] came there forth out of Israel
transgressors of the Law, and persuaded many, saying, Let us go and
make a covenant with the Gentiles that are round about us; for since
we parted from them many evils have befallen us. And the saying
was good in their eyes. And certain of the people were forward
herein, and went to the king, and he gave them licence to do after
the ordinances of the Gentiles. And they built a place of exercise
(‘gymnasium’) in Jerusalem according to the laws of the Gentiles; and
they made themselves uncircumcized, and forsook the holy covenant,
and joined themselves to the Gentiles, and sold themselves to do
evil.” It is rightly pointed out that in this the promoters “had no
doubt an eye to tactics in the way they chose to inaugurate their
campaign. A gymnasium would appeal especially to youth; and if the
Jewish youth could be won over to pagan practices, then the future
was theirs.”[29] The gymnasium was, in truth, one of the most potent
means whereby the Greek spirit was fostered, especially among those
entering upon manhood. Mr. Edwyn Bevan writes so interestingly on
this subject and so much to the point, that we cannot refrain from
quoting his words. He says: “The gymnasiums were as much of the
essence of a Greek state as the political assemblies; they expressed
fundamental tendencies of the Greek mind—its craving for harmonious
beauty of form, its delight in the body, its unabashed frankness with
regard to everything natural.... The gymnasiums also served other
by-ends besides the one of bodily training; they were the social
centres in which the life of a Greek youth got those interests which
go with companionship, the spur of common ambitions, and _esprit de
corps_. From the days of Alexander and his successors we find as
a regular institution in Greek cities guilds of young men, called
_epheboi_, attached to the gymnasiums and organized under state
control. A young man might remain in the ranks of the _epheboi_ for
a year. He wore a distinctive uniform, some variety of that Greek
country dress—the dress worn for hunting, riding, travelling—which
consisted of a broad-brimmed hat, _chlamys_ brooched about the
shoulders, and high-laced boots.... In state processions the body of
_epheboi_, wearing sometimes even crowns of gold, formed a brilliant
cluster in the spectacle.”[30] In a large variety of ways, therefore,
in every-day life Hellenism affected and influenced the Jews of
Palestine.
This influence was furthered by the powerful high-priestly party,
“the sons of Zadok”—not that all the members of this party were
necessarily priests—who were the political leaders of the people
and at the same time in favour of Greek culture. The active and
aggressive championship of Hellenism by this party began with the
advent of Antiochus Epiphanes to the Syrian throne in B.C. 175. The
high-priest at this time was Onias III; but he was not a supporter
of Hellenistic influence among his people; he was, therefore, driven
away by his brother Jesus, a thorough-going Hellenist, who changed
his Jewish name for the Greek Jason.[31] The second book of Maccabees
gives us an account of what happened, which may be accepted as
substantially correct; in iv. 7-17, it is said: “But when Seleucus
died, and Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, succeeded to the
kingdom, Jason, the brother of Onias, supplanted his brother in the
high-priesthood, promising in a petition to the king three hundred
and threescore talents of silver, besides eighty talents from another
fund; in addition to which he undertook to pay a hundred and fifty
more, if he was commissioned to set up a gymnasium and ephebeum,
and to register the Jerusalemites as citizens of Antioch.[32] And
when the king had given his assent, Jason at once exercised his
influence in order to bring over his fellow-countrymen to Greek
ways of life ... and seeking to overthrow the lawful modes of life,
he introduced new customs forbidden by the Law; he deliberately
established a gymnasium under the citadel itself, and made the
noblest of the young men wear the petasus.[33] And to such a height
did the passion for Greek fashions rise, and the influx of foreign
customs, thanks to the surpassing impiety of that godless Jason—no
high-priest he!—that the priests were no longer interested in the
services of the altar, but despising the sanctuary, and neglecting
the sacrifices, they hurried to take part in the unlawful displays
held in the _palæstra_ after the quoit-throwing had been announced,
thus setting at nought what their fathers honoured, and esteeming
the glories of the Greeks above all else.”[34] We have quoted
this passage in full as it well illustrates the way in which the
high-priestly party, headed by Jason, furthered the Hellenistic
Movement in Palestine. Mixed motives probably prompted Jason and his
followers in their action; it was certainly to the party’s advantage,
not to say necessity, to be on good terms with the ruling powers;
on the other hand, it is likely enough that they were convinced of
the superiority of Greek culture, and honestly thought that it was
for the good of their people that it should be cultivated; but their
unnecessarily aggressive methods, coupled with the brutal action
of Antiochus in trying to stamp out Judaism altogether, brought an
inevitable reaction; and there followed, as a result, the Maccabæan
revolt which had the effect of obliterating Hellenism, as far as
this was possible, in Palestine.[35] It had, however, become too
deeply ingrained to be altogether eradicated; this will be seen as
we proceed. But it may be pointed out here that one of the signs of
how deep and widespread Hellenistic influence must have been among
the Jews of Palestine is to be seen in the large number of hebraized
Greek words which, as the Hebrew of the Mishna shows, had become
incorporated into the language of the Jews. Schürer has gathered a
great many examples of this, for the examination of which recourse
must be had to his work[36]; here it must suffice merely to indicate
the different departments of life in reference to which these
foreign Greek words became current; they include civil government,
the army, jurisprudence, public institutions such as heathen games,
the theatre, the baths, and public inns, architecture in general,
plastic art, music, writing, trade and industry, the coinage system,
provisions, clothes, furniture and domestic utensils; in addition to
this we find that the formation of many proper names is Greek, and
that multitudes, of Greek words were adapted which express ideas on
many various subjects. Schürer gives the following summary of the way
in which Hellenistic culture affected the every-day life of the Jews
of Palestine: “It fashioned in a peculiar manner the organization
of the state, legislation, the administration of justice, public
arrangements, art and science, trade and industry, and the customs of
daily life down to fashions and ornaments, and thus impressed upon
every department of life, wherever its influence reached, the stamp
of the Greek mind.”[37]
From what has been said it is evident that Hellenistic influence
upon the Jews of Palestine was very marked, for although it is
difficult, perhaps impossible, to trace step by step the progress
of this influence from its inception, we are able to see plainly
enough how profoundly it must have affected the Jews. The question,
however, arises as to whether the religious beliefs of the Jews were
influenced by Hellenism. That a large number of Jews prior to the
Maccabæan struggle gave up their traditional belief in their pursuit
after everything that was Greek is clear from the evidence of the
books of the Maccabees; but the point is rather as to whether Judaism
as a faith was in any way permanently affected by the Hellenistic
spirit. Restricting ourselves at present to Palestinian Judaism we
may say without hesitation that its fundamental tenets remained
untouched; but as regards various beliefs which, in process of
time, became part and parcel of Judaism, it was different; it cannot
be denied that these, of which mention will be made presently, do
witness to the action of extraneous influences, permanent in their
effect, of which Hellenism was one. “In no period,” says Wellhausen,
“was Judaism so fruitful as in this. It was, like Islam, of complex
appearance, full of antinomies, receptive like all that is living,
unsystematic, only to be understood in its historical setting. It was
only practical religion which was ruled by a pedantic spirit and by
strict discipline; in the domain of belief and religious conception a
curious freedom was permitted, although certain fundamental doctrines
were rigorously shielded.”[38] The difficulty of estimating to
what extent Jewish religious thought and practice were affected by
outside influences is very considerable; not less difficult is it to
determine _what_ outside influence had affected a given belief or
custom. We are dealing specifically with Hellenistic influences, but
these could be, and were, exercised both directly and indirectly. It
must be remembered that the conditions under which the Jews lived
during the period with which we are dealing, viz., in the midst
of surrounding nations which had all, more or less, come under
Hellenistic influences, and among whom the development of culture and
religion had been, and was, proceeding apace—it must be remembered
that these conditions were one of the consequences of the Hellenistic
Movement.[39] Further, the question must always be borne in mind as
to whether some eastern _trait_ which was absorbed by Judaism had not
first been assimilated by Hellenism with its strongly syncretistic
tendency, and then taken up by Judaism through this Greek channel.
Even in the cases in which eastern elements were directly taken up
into Judaism, must we not see in such Jewish syncretism at any
rate the indirect result of Hellenistic influence? This readiness
to accept what other religions had to offer was of the essence of
the Hellenistic spirit. As illustrating this latter point we may
mention the subjects of Jewish angelology and demonology; it may be
regarded as certain that the later Jewish idea of angels, the names
of which the Jews themselves describe as originating in Babylonia,
the opposition between good and bad angels, the latter being subject
to a personal head, the dualism between the realms of light and
darkness, in a word, the whole belief in the existence of good and
evil spirits, was due to the influence of Parseeism. In the domain
of eschatology extraneous influences were very marked, though it
is not easy always to decide the quarter from which these came. As
Bertholet says: “Jewish eschatology has become the very meeting-place
of foreign elements. It is especially the merit of Prof. Bousset,
who in general has dealt most successfully with our problem, to have
shown clearly that the expectation of a transcendent æon which,
inaugurated by a universal judgement of the world, replaces the æon
of this present world, differs so widely from the expectation of a
Messianic future which essentially concerns Israel alone and, on the
whole, will only be enacted on the stage of this present earth, that
they cannot have sprung from the same root. And here, considering the
ideas about periods of the world, resurrection, general judgement,
universal conflagration, a new world, and everlasting life, we
have first to take into account influences from Parseeism, mixed
with Babylonian elements, only incidentally Greek ideas....”[40]
Bousset, however, believes that in the domain of Jewish eschatology
Greek influence predominated over that of the east, though he fully
recognizes the influence of the latter.[41] Regarding the Jewish
belief of the immortality of the soul, there can be no doubt that
for this the Jews were indebted mainly to Hellenism, though the
development of this into the doctrine of the resurrection of the
body is Jewish. That the new material thus absorbed became integral
and permanent elements of Judaism is to be seen by their presence in
Rabbinical literature.
But the influence of Hellenistic or other extra-Judaic thought on
the religion of the Jews cannot be restricted to those points of
doctrine on which, as in the case of the ones just enumerated, that
influence was direct. All religious doctrines are so inter-related
that the development or modification of one can scarcely fail to
affect others in one way or another; and this is, above all, true
regarding the doctrine of God. We shall see later that among the
Jews of the Dispersion the doctrine of God was directly affected by
Greek philosophical thought; in the case of the orthodox Judaism of
Palestine this was not so; but there is reason for believing that
_indirectly_ the doctrine of God was, even in Palestinian Judaism,
affected by both Greek and oriental thought. The developed angelology
which became a characteristic of orthodox Judaism had its share
in moulding that conception of divine transcendence which was one
aspect of the Jewish doctrine of God; the teaching concerning those
semi-divine, superhuman beings who act as God’s intermediaries, and
are His agents in carrying out the divine will on earth,[42] is one
which is not unconnected with the developed angelology of later
Judaism; one has only to think of the place and activity assigned to
Michael to realize that this is so.
What has been said is also true of the doctrine of the resurrection
for which Judaism was indebted to Hellenism; here it will suffice to
put the question: How could the doctrine of God _not_ be affected by
belief in immortality? The question will be sufficiently answered by
comparing the Old Testament doctrine of Sheol with the doctrine of
the resurrection.
Further signs of Greek influence are to be discerned in some of the
books of the Old Testament and of the Apocrypha; and the Apocalyptic
Movement must be specially considered. But special chapters will be
devoted to these.
In conclusion, it is necessary to make a brief reference to the type
of Hellenism which grew up in Syria, for this, too, is a matter of
some importance. Attention has already been drawn to the syncretism
which was a characteristic of the Hellenistic period; one of the
results of this was the absorption of many oriental elements by
Hellenism whereby it was affected for the worse; and the Hellenism of
the east became a very different thing from the Hellenism of Greece.
It was especially in Syria that in course of time a degenerate form
of Hellenism prevailed; we have reason to believe, says Bevan, “that
it was just in Syria that Hellenism took a baser form. The ascetic
element which saved its liberty from rankness tended here more than
anywhere else to be forgotten. The games, the shows, the abandonment
of a life which ran riot in a gratification of the senses, grosser
or more refined, these made up too much of the Hellenism which
changed the face of Syria in the last centuries before Christ. ‘The
people of these cities,’ a historian wrote, about a hundred years
before Christ, ‘are relieved by the fertility of their soil from a
laborious struggle for existence. Life is a continuous series of
social festivities. Their gymnasiums they use as baths, where they
anoint themselves with costly oils and myrrhs. In the _grammateia_
(such is the name they give the public eating-halls) they practically
live, filling themselves there for the better part of the day with
rich foods and wine; much that they cannot eat they take away home.
They feast to the prevailing music of strings. The cities are filled
from end to end with the noise of harp-playing.’ Very likely that
picture is over-coloured.... The man who wrote it, Posidonius, a man
of huge literary industry, and a philosopher of the nobler school,
was himself a Syrian Greek; but it cannot be altogether untrue.”[43]
Considerably earlier than this, extraneous influences were already
affecting the Jews, for Hecatæus of Abdera (B.C. 306-283) bears
witness of how many Jews were influenced by foreign ways. He says:
“Under the dominations which were established in later times [he has
been writing about Mosaic times], namely that of the Persians, and
that of the Macedonians who overthrew the Persian rule, the Jews
greatly modified their traditional ordinances through their contact
with strangers.”[44]
Oriental and Hellenistic influences were thus both at work in
influencing the Jews of Palestine in many directions; the fusion of
these two influences took place, and the result was that a debased
form of Hellenism was produced. On the one hand, then, Hellenism,
with the many good qualities which were inherent in it, brought a
beneficial influence to bear upon the Jews of Palestine; but, on the
other hand, its effect, for the reason given, was evil; so that when
the great reaction against Hellenism took place, it was fostered by
ethical as well as religious considerations.
II. THE ESSENES
[LITERATURE.—Lucius, _Der Essenismus in seinem Verhältniss zum
Judenthum_ (1881); Lightfoot, _Colossians_, pp. 349-419 (1884);
M. Friedländer, _Zur Enstehungsgeschichte des Christenthums_, pp.
98-142 (1894); Schürer, II, ii. pp. 188-218, German ed. II, pp.
651-680; M. Friedländer, _Die religiösen Bewegungen_ ..., pp.
114-168 (1905); the articles “Essenes” in Hastings’ _Dict. of
the Bible_ and in the _Jewish Encycl._, by F. C. Conybeare and
Kohler respectively.]
The name Essene is in all probability derived from the Aramaic word
which is the equivalent of the Hebrew _Chassid_ (“Pious”).[45] The
question as to whether any signs of Hellenistic influence are to be
discerned in Essenism is one upon which much difference of opinion
exists among scholars. A massive literature upon the subject exists.
To go into much detail here would be out of the question; we can
only refer to a few points which make it difficult to believe that
Essenism was uninfluenced by Hellenism.[46]
There are, undoubtedly, a number of facts regarding Essene belief and
practice which show how un-Jewish they were in some respects, though,
as Josephus says, they were Jews by race.[47] Philo, who is our
earliest authority regarding the Essenes, says: “In the first place,
these men live in villages, avoiding the towns on account of the
sinfulness that reigns in them; for they know that just as disease
arises through unwholesome air, so, too, incurable infection to the
soul through intercourse.”[48] This withdrawing from the world is
elsewhere extolled by Philo when he speaks of it as characteristic
of those Greeks and barbarians who have dedicated their lives to the
search for wisdom, and “who have turned their backs upon the crowded
market-place and public life in order that they may be able to devote
themselves to meditation in their solitude.”[49] It is unnecessary
to insist upon the fact that withdrawing from the world and seeking
solitude was entirely un-Jewish; the Jews were essentially social
in their habits of life, their whole legislation assumes this, and
their history shows it throughout. It is, therefore, not from the
Jews that the Essenes acquired this characteristic. There are, on the
other hand, ample grounds for believing that among the Greeks and
Orientals examples of this were to be found; it is from one or other
of these, probably from a Greek pattern borrowed from the east, that
the Essenes adopted this.
Again, the Essenes exhibited another very un-Jewish _trait_ in the
position they took up on the question of marriage; the evidence of
Josephus regarding this is as follows: “They neglect wedlock, but
choose out other persons’ children while they are pliable and fit
for learning, and esteem them to be their kindred, and form them
according to their manner of life.”[50] This was quite against Jewish
teaching and practice, though in agreement with Jewish Hellenism,
which looked upon asceticism as the most efficacious, and indeed
indispensable, means of attaining to the vision of God.[51] The
asceticism of the Essenes, both in this and other respects, was an
inevitable result of their dualism. According to their teaching, God
and the world, which is wholly evil, stand opposed in irreconcilable
antagonism; this accounts for their elaborate angelology, for as God
cannot have any immediate intercourse with the evil world, angels
act as His intermediaries. This part of Essene belief is largely
due to Persian influence. Further, Josephus tells us that “the sect
of Essenes affirms that fate governs all things, and that nothing
befalls men but what is according to its determination.”[52] On this
point the Essenes and the Sadducees were at opposite extremes, while
the Pharisees occupied a middle position between the two.
Of great importance was the teaching of the Essenes on the
resurrection. “The opinion is strongly held among them,” says
Josephus, “that bodies are corruptible, and that the matter they
are made of is not permanent; but that the souls are immortal, and
continue for ever, and that they come out of the most subtle air,
and are united to their bodies as to prisons, into which they are
drawn by a certain natural enticement; but that when they are set
free from the bonds of the flesh, they then, as released from a long
bondage, rejoice and mount upward. And their opinion is like that of
the Greeks, that good souls have their habitation beyond the ocean,
in a region that is neither oppressed with storms of rain or snow,
nor with intense heat, but that this place is such as is refreshed by
the gentle breathing of a west wind that is perpetually blowing from
the ocean; while they allot to bad souls a dark and tempestuous den,
full of never-ceasing punishments.”[53] This belief, which Josephus
himself regards as due to Greek influence, is directly opposed to
the doctrine of the resurrection of the body which was a tenet of
orthodox Judaism. Un-Jewish, further, was the fact that the Essenes
would never enter the Temple for fear of becoming contaminated with
the crowds there; so that they did not offer sacrifices; though, on
the other hand, they sent offerings to the Temple.
One last point wherein Essenism was un-Jewish in character was
that in some respects it was a mystery-religion; each community
had a central house around which the brethren of the Order dwelt;
in this house they met for their religious observances; one of
these was a common meal; at this meal special holy garments were
worn, which were put off again when the wearers returned to work;
a priest offered up prayer before and after the meal. Whenever a
new candidate sought admission into the Order he had first to pass
a three years’ noviciate; then, on being admitted, he underwent a
form of baptism, and had to take solemn oaths to obey the rules of
the Order and to keep its secrets; he had also to swear to observe
secrecy regarding the names of the angels in whom the members of the
Order believed. As the Essenes lived entirely for the life to come,
they were much occupied in attempting to penetrate the secrets of the
future; indeed, they were accredited with the faculty of foretelling
the future; Josephus says that they were seldom mistaken in their
predictions, and gives three interesting examples of the correctness
of the prophecies.[54]
In a number of respects, therefore, the Essenes differed
fundamentally in faith and practice from orthodox Judaism; but in
their strict monotheism, in their high respect for the Law of Moses,
especially in the matter of Sabbath observance, and in their frequent
purifications, they were thoroughly Jewish.
While it seems, then, impossible not to recognize in the Essene
Movement to some considerable extent the result of Hellenistic
influence, it is evident that other extra-Jewish influences, namely,
oriental, also had a share in moulding it. Friedländer speaks of
Essenism as “a harmonious blending of the Mosaic and Hellenic
spirit”[55]; perhaps this does not take sufficient account of the
oriental influences whereby Essenism was undoubtedly affected;
at the same time it is certain that Hellenism, with its strongly
syncretistic tendencies, absorbed oriental elements prior to its more
pronounced extension in Palestine, in which case eastern influence
would only have been indirect, while that of Hellenism would have
been the more immediate.
SUMMARY
The separation of the Jews from the outside world which was brought
about through the exertions of Ezra and those who followed him,
and which had the effect of preserving the people from extraneous
influences, was only successful for a limited period of time. For
with the rise and rapid spread of the Hellenistic Movement came the
breaking down of all the barriers which had been so laboriously set
up; and the Jews, like the rest of the world of those days, came
under the sway of this irresistible power, so strongly exercised on
the eastern shores of the Mediterranean.
Hellenistic influence upon the Jews was exercised in an intensive
manner during the century of comparative peace for their country,
which was one of the results of the battle of Ipsus (B.C. 301).
The considerate treatment accorded to the Jews by their rulers
during this period was calculated to help forward the process of
Hellenization. The policy of the Egyptian kings of settling Greeks
and Macedonians in Palestine resulted in the rise of many Greek
cities there. Both in Western and Eastern Palestine civic life was
framed upon the Greek model; a marked individualism among the Jews
was one of the results of this.
Hellenistic influence was exercised, further, by means of the annual
celebrations of the Greek festivals; the gymnasium and all that this
involved became a still greater means for the spreading abroad of
this influence.
The fact that the powerful high-priestly party favoured the
Hellenistic Movement did much to forward it.
Thus, by the time that Antiochus Epiphanes came to the Syrian throne
in B.C. 175 much of what was essentially Hellenistic had become
ineradicably rooted in Jewish modes of life and thought, so much so
that when the great reaction against Hellenism arose in the shape of
the Maccabæan revolt, it was in many directions powerless to effect a
return to the Ezra ideal.
One effect of the deep and widespread influence of the Hellenistic
Movement is to be seen in the large number of Greek words which,
as the Hebrew of the Mishna shows, have been incorporated into the
Hebrew language.
As to Greek influence upon the _religious belief_ of the Jews of
Palestine, it did not directly affect its fundamental tenets; but in
one way or another, in conjunction with other eastern influences,
it did affect Judaism as a faith in some respects. Angelology and
demonology, which Judaism absorbed from the east, were elements the
incorporation of which may so far be regarded as due _indirectly_ to
the Hellenistic Movement in that the Greek spirit inculcated, and
set the example of syncretism, an example followed by the Jews no
less than by other peoples under the sway of Hellenism. In the domain
of eschatology both Greek and Eastern influences affected the Jews;
which of the two was the more powerful is not easily decided. As
regards the belief in the future life of the Jews the signs of Greek
influence are plainly discernible.
This influence cannot be restricted, however, to the points mentioned
because the inter-relation of doctrinal tenets is such that the
development or modification of one dogma affects others; an example
of this is the way in which the later angelology and demonology of
the Jews affected their doctrine of God.
The chapters on “Traces of Greek Influences in the Old Testament
and the Apocrypha” and “The Apocalyptic Movement” should be read in
conjunction with the subject of this chapter.
The Essene Movement was the outcome of mainly Hellenistic, but also
of Eastern, influences.