Innovation and Division
Under the influence of the Greeks
The Persian period came to an end not with a whimper but a bang. Alexander the Great in 331 BCE defeated the Persian forces at Gaugamela and the Persian Empire collapsed into his hands. Alexander who died in 323 BCE left an empire that stretched across Europe in the west to the gates of India in the east. Unlike his onetime tutor Aristotle, Alexander did not believe non-Greeks to be inferiors worthy of being only slaves. He incorporated non-Greeks in his domains and was instrumental in their becoming Greek in thought, dress and behavior if not of parentage. After Alexander’s demise his empire was divided among his generals. Ptolemy taking Egypt and Seleucus Asia (that is from the border of India to Asia Minor). The drive to Hellenization of native populations differed between the Ptolemies of Egypt who were quite willing to blend in with the customs and religion of the native Egyptians. Many temples to the Egyptian gods were founded by the Ptolemies who kept the locals happy. The Seleucids were of different mien and were inclined to encourage the Hellenization of the native populations in their domain. Under the successors of Seleucus this was carried out with some initial success.
One of the now salient characteristics of the “Tribe” was their readiness to adopt the customs of others seeing in it no loss of allegiance to their ancestry. So, we have young priests leaving the sacrificial offerings in the Temple to hurry to a Gymnasium and compete in the athletic sports. This led to a very noticeable differentiation since Greek athletic activity was done in the nude. The Greek infatuation with the uncircumcised penis did not match with the Jewish demand of circumcision. According to our sources there were those Jewish men who tried to recreate a look of a non-circumcised penis so they without hindrance could enter the Greek Games. A civil war broke out between those advancing a vigorous Hellenization program and traditionalists who resisted turning away from ancient practice.
Pietists who would not give battle on the Sabbath soon became martyrs. Sacrificing one’s life to remain true to the faith became a feature of future Judaism, Christianity and Islam. A more pragmatic group under a common priest of Modiin and his sons took up arms against both those renegades of the faith and their Greek supporters.
With the help of support from Rome the rebels were victorious, and the Holiday of Hanukkah is celebrated to this day. It must be pointed out that once independence was won the process of modified Hellenization preceded apace. This was evidenced in the names of Hasmonean rulers such as John Hycranus, Alexander Janneus and Alexandra Salome. The Tribe now experienced what was to be another one of its Hallmarks. There arose different interpretation of how the faith and customs of the people were to be in thought and practice.
The historian of this period Flavius Josephus in the excursus to his “The Jewish War” mentions four philosophies. Rabbi Yochanan bar Nafcha in the Yerushalmi Talmud mentions twenty-four. Somewhere in between those numbers is the truth. These parties did not represent most of the people who went about their daily lives irrespective of the views of others. The significance of these different interpretations of the traditions of the Tribe, however, had greater significance than their numbers would indicate.
The Sadducees who represented the upper classes including the higher hierarchy of the Temple and the ruling Hasmoneans had a more conservative outlook that did not include a belief in any form of life after death. Their interpretation of the ancient scripture was conservative and avoided innovation.
The Pharisees who represented the emerging middle class held to a belief in a parallel commentary to Scripture to which they gave the nomenclature: “The Oral Teaching.” Neither the Sadducees nor the Pharisees constituted a majority of the population. While the Sadducees represented the ruling class, the Pharisees were in competition with other groups for control of the thought and practice of the people. Such were the Essenes who practiced celibacy and ritual purity, perhaps similar to the Therapeutoi mentioned by Philo in Egypt. As we now know from the discovery of the “Dead Sea Scrolls” there were other sects some of which fled to the wilderness around the Dead Sea. Scrolls such as “The War Between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness.” Influenced later Christianity in its beliefs on the “End of Days.”
It was during this period that we have the birth and career of the most influential Jew of all time, he who is known as Jesus of Nazareth. From what we can ascertain from the sources Jesus (Hebrew -Yeshu, short for Yehoshua/Joshua) lived in Nazareth in the Galilee section of Israel. The name derives from “Galil shel Goyim” a section composed of a mixed Jewish and Gentile population in contradistinction to Judah and Jerusalem which were predominately Jewish.
Like the prophets Elijah and Elisha before him Jesus had a reputation for faith healing and miraculous activity. Like them he expanded the supply of food from little to a lot and raised the presumed dead to life. He also unlike the Pharisees in Jerusalem had a profound dislike of non-Jews.
In Matthew 15:21 A Canaanite woman approaches him to heal her daughter. He tells her that he was sent: “only to the lost sheep of Israel.” She kneels before him asking for help. He says: “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to dogs. (So, Jesus compared non-Jews to dogs!) She replied: but Lord, yet even dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” So he replies, Woman great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly. Further in Matthew 23:15:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.”
In Matthew 8:28-34 Jesus frees two demons by setting them in a herd of swine that then jump to their death. The damage done to the livelihood of some Gentile has New Testament scholars doing hoops to avoid the plain meaning of the texts. Beyond that Jesus was circumcised according to Jewish tradition and the event is celebrated in the Roman catholic Church as: “the Feast of Circumcision!” Was there ever in the Greco-Roman world anyone who was circumcised except a Jew!!!! 1 Christian scholars cannot bring themselves to the obvious that Jesus was inimical to Gentiles! The originals of the Gospels of Mark and Matthew were written by authors who considered themselves Jewish. There is no indication in any of the original sayings or teachings of Jesus that he considered himself as anything but being Jewish. The fact that he cried out before he died from Psalm 27:1 “My God, My God why have you forsaken me,” (Matthew 27:46) in the Aramaic translation is proof positive that as a Jew from Galilee Aramaic was his native language. The fact that Jewish authorities were instrumental in his execution by the Romans is no surprise because prophets had been killed by Jewish authorities before him and others fled for their lives (I Kings 19:1-8). Although John the Baptist was later transformed into an Elijah reincarnation, Jesus like Elijah was transported to heaven after his resurrection like Elijah (II Kings 2). The early Christians considered themselves as Jews. Jesus was considered at first as a Jewish Messiah so the attempts at genealogy in the beginning of the Synoptic gospels. Only later was he transformed into a Mediterranean “Savior -God.” The abandonment of Jewish dietary laws and circumcision made the transition into this new version of the faith of the” Tribe” all the easier. This is especially noted that there was no demand for sacrifice an expense that every religion in the Mediterranean world obligated to please their gods. There were many Gentiles who flocked to the synagogues in the days before the destruction of the Second Temple. It was to them that Paul spoke as attested to by his letters to the Greek Cities which had Jewish populations. The divide between Jew and “Jesus Jew” was only cemented around 120 BCE when Rabban Gamliel II had a certain Shemuel HaKatan insert an excoriation of “Nazarenes” in the daily thrice said prayer of the synagogue. 2 Contrast this to the arch Pharisee Hillel: Avot 1:12 “Be disciples of Aaron, loving peace, pursuing peace, loving humanity, and bringing them to Torah (Converting them to the faith of the Jews).”
The same Hillel was of gentle nature. He was approached by a Gentile who wished to convert if he could be taught the whole of Torah (Jewish Law and Custom) while standing on one foot. Hillel replied: “What is hateful to you do not do to the next fellow; the rest is commentary go and learn.” 3
The Jewish population never rested easy under Roman domination. The eagle standards in Jerusalem were a constant reminder that the people were subject to idolators. That did not stop members of the upper class from having access to relationships with prominent Romans. The strangest being that of Berenice daughter of Herod Agrippa I and Titus who was responsible with his father for the destruction of Jerusalem. A sect known as the Sicarii for the Roman dagger (Sica) carried out vigilante attacks against Romans and their Jewish upper class confreres.
The Romans ever on the alert to prevent rebellion crucified Jesus of Nazareth which gave rise to his followers expecting his return to leadership bolstered by the report of his resurrection. This small Jewish group was to become the seed of a worldwide religion.
In 66 CE tensions between Jews and Gentiles in the mixed population of Caesarea boiled over into a general revolt against Roman domination lead by factions of what were known as Zealots.
The resulting war and the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem is vividly and adequately described in “The Jewish War” by Flavius Josephus.
The aftermath of the war was to bring about the most momentous change in Jewish thought and practice.