CHAPTER IV

Traces of Greek Influence in the Old Testament and in the Apocrypha

[LITERATURE.—See the books cited in the footnotes.]

I. REFERENCES TO THE GREEKS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

There are some few passages in the Old Testament which witness to a knowledge of the Greeks on the part of the Jews; these may be briefly alluded to by way of introduction.

The Hebrew form for the land of the Ionians, or Greeks, is _Javan_; this is mentioned, though without further detail, in Genesis x. 2; 1 Chronicles i. 5, 7. As early as the eighth century B.C. the Greeks pressed forward to the east.[91] Again, in the lamentation for Tyre (Ezek. xxvii. 13) it is said: “Javan, Tubal and Meshech, they were thy traffickers; they traded with the persons of men and vessels of brass for thy merchandise” (cp. also verse 9). This subject is referred to again in Joel iii. (Heb. iv.) 6-8, in a woe pronounced against Tyre and Zidon, and the Philistines: “The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the sons of the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border ...”; these last words, “far from their border,” suggest that the reference is to the Greek colonies in the far west. From the fifth century B.C. onwards Syrian slaves, among whom Jews must be reckoned, were much sought after by the Greeks.[92] In Isaiah xxiv. 14, 15 it is probable that “the songs of praise which the Jews in far countries raise in honour of Jahweh were the result of Alexander the Great’s victorious march through Asia Minor in B.C. 334.”[93] Mention is made of Javan in Isaiah lxvi. 19, it is there reckoned among those nations to whom the glory of Jehovah shall be declared; according to Zechariah ix. 13-15, on the other hand, Judah and Ephraim are to be Jehovah’s instruments for the punishing of the sons of Javan. And, once more, in Daniel viii. 21, x. 20, xi. 2, there are references to the Græco-Macedonian empire. In addition to these there are two or three references to the Greeks in the Septuagint which are not without significance. In Isaiah ix. 12 (11) it is said that Syria from the east and the Hellenes from the west are the destroyers of Israel; in the Hebrew text “Philistines” stands for “Hellenes,” which is doubtless the right reading; but the Septuagint rendering is of interest as showing that, when the translation was made, the real danger for the Jews was the Greek nation. The same belief evidently underlies the Septuagint form of Jeremiah xxvi. (= xlvi. in the Hebrew) 16: “Let us arise and let us return to our people, to our fatherland, from the face of the Hellenic sword”; the Hebrew, which has again the correct reading, has “the oppressing sword” instead of “the Hellenic sword.” The same substitution for the Hebrew word occurs again in the Septuagint of Jeremiah xxvii. (= l. in the Hebrew) 16.

These practically exhaust the actual references to the Greeks in the Old Testament; but traces of Greek influence are probably to be discerned in other directions.

This influence is obvious in those cases, though they are but few in number, in which Greek words are adapted; this occurs only in the Book of Daniel, where a few Greek words for musical instruments appear in an aramaized form, viz., _psantērîn_, _symphōnia_, in Daniel iii. 5, and _kaithros_ in iii. 7 (cp. also iii. 10, 15); the form of the word _psantērîn_ is interesting, because “this form alongside of the Greek _psaltērion_ proves the influence of the Macedonian dialect which substituted _n_ for _l_.”[94]

II. TRACES OF GREEK INFLUENCE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

The question as to the existence or otherwise of Hellenistic influence in certain other books of the Old Testament is a difficult one upon which much diversity of opinion exists among scholars.

We turn first to the Psalms. The majority of scholars are agreed that a number of the Psalms belong to the Greek and Maccabæan eras,[95] and if this is so the possibility of Greek influence being discerned in them must be recognized. It is always precarious to base conclusions upon what is assumed to be the political situation depicted in any particular psalm; but considerations of another character may well indicate the _age_ to which a psalm in all probability belongs; for example, that the conditions which form the background of many of the Psalms are those brought about through contact with Hellenism during the period of the Ptolemaic and Seleucid rule is proved by the fact that in a number of them a plaintive cry, or vehement denunciation, is uttered not only on account of the domination of the heathen, but also because within the Jewish community itself a religious cleft has occurred; so that a distinction is made between those of Israel who are faithful to the Law, and those who are renegades and who are, therefore, classed with the Gentiles.[96] When it is realized that there is no period in Jewish history, excepting that just referred to, during which conditions such as these obtained, it will be granted that there is ample justification for assigning the Psalms in question to the Greek period. We agree, therefore, with Friedländer in his belief that the conflict between the god-fearing, pious Israelites, and the godless, with which these Psalms are full, really reflects the attitude of the champions of the old orthodoxy, which was founded by Ezra, towards the rising tide of Hellenism.[97] Hellenistic influence, as reflected in certain of the Psalms, therefore, is only to be seen with certainty in that these witness to a state of affairs within the community of Israel brought about by the spread of the Greek spirit.[98]

In the next place we look at the Proverbs. Here it is the first nine chapters with which we are concerned; there is a general consensus of opinion among modern scholars that these chapters form the latest portion of the book. The marks of Hellenistic influence are briefly as follows: Firstly, _individualism_; Wisdom cries, for example, in viii. 4:

Unto you, O men, I call, And my voice is to the sons of men.

Again in ix. 4-6 she cries:

Whoso is simple let him turn in hither; As for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat ye of my bread, And drink of the wine which I have mingled. Leave off, ye simple ones, and live, And walk in the way of understanding.

Here, and in other similar passages, it is the individual who is of importance, not the nation, as in earlier days.

Secondly, _universalism_; Wisdom says (viii. 15, 16):

By me kings reign, And princes decree justice. By me rulers rule, And nobles, even all the judges of the earth.

There is here no restriction to the rulers of the Jewish nation; Wisdom is for all men, and her sway is worldwide for those who will have her:

I love those that love me; And those that seek me diligently shall find me (viii. 17).

A third mark of Hellenistic influence is the _allegorical form_ which appears in this book, and especially in the first nine chapters[99]; the most striking example of this is the “strange woman” spoken of in