CHAPTER II

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.