Hellenism in Israel
Conquests of Alexander the Great
The Hellenistic movement started with the conquests of Alexander the Great. While he was conquering different lands, he was also spreading his beliefs, ways of life, and culture. J. Julius Scott describes culture as, “the total way of thinking and lifestyle which a group of people seeks to pass on from generation to generation.” (1) Some of the most visible of these changes include: “government, city plans, and architecture, styles of clothes, entertainment, and language.” (2) Other changes were not as visible as these but perhaps were as important, if not more important. These involved: “priorities and values, ways of thinking and problem-solving, philosophical systems, religion, and norms of behavior.” (3)
As Alexander the Great conquered territories he would establish colonies that would then become the centers for spreading Hellenism. (4) Alexander, also, encouraged his soldiers to intermarry with the women of the land that he conquered so that this would blend the Greek culture into the culture of that land. (5)
Threats to Israel
The Hellenistic ruler that most affected the Jews was Antiochus IV Epiphanes. He strived to Hellenize all of Judea. The Jews responded to Hellenism in a different way. There were some Jews who accepted Hellenism and its values, while others revolted against the spread of Hellenism. The Jews who revolted against the spread were not exactly fighting against everything the Hellenists stood for but were mainly against the spread of pagan worship.
The Jews saw pagan worship as a huge threat. It was a threat not only to God but also to their way of life. By this time many Jews had adopted an outlook called particularism. Particularism is “the belief not only that the Jews alone were God’s chosen people, but also that this status necessarily required a specific way of life.” (6) The Jews felt that any deviation of this way of life could ultimately hurt their relationship with God. With the exile still in their minds, they did not want to do anything that could be seen as deviating from God’s law.
Common Language
Another change that Hellenism brought to the Jews was a change in the common language. Once the Jews mainly spoke and read in Hebraic and Aramaic but after the spread of Hellenism the common language was Greek. With this change of language came the translation of the Old Testament into Greek, the Septuagint (LXX).
Although the Jews responded differently to the spread of Hellenism there were some obvious changes among most, if not all, of the Jews. A major shift was from the Temple and ceremonies to a strict focus on the moral law. Later when the Temple was rebuilt importance was once again placed upon these, unfortunately, a look at the New Testament makes it obvious that the Jews had become legalistic in their use of the Law. This strict adherence may have stemmed from fear of deviating from the Law again, ultimately ending up with the destruction of the Temple once again. to make sure that they do not deviate from the Law again. A sign of the importance of learning and following the Law was the rise of the synagogues. Even after the Temple was rebuilt the synagogues stayed.
With the Jew’s desire to follow God’s Law came the importance of looking at the impact of the Scriptures. During this time the Jews formed ways of interpreting the Scriptures to understand what the implications of the Scriptures meant to them.
Modern Parallel
The spread of Hellenism affected the Jews in many ways. It affected their thinking, way of life, and their language. A modern-day parallel to this event could be television. Television has shaped our culture’s way of thinking and our way of life. Television has been one of the biggest impacts on our culture in years, just as the spread of Hellenism was one of the biggest impacts on the Jews in the intertestamental period.
Bibliography
1. J. Julius Scott Jr. Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1995), 112.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Thomas D. Leas and David Alan Black, The New Testament its Background and Message, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2003), 13.
5. Ibid.
6. Scott, 118.
