“Judaism" Is it the Old Testament Religion?
Part 7
IN THE LAST INSTALLMENT WE LEARNED WHEN THE EGYPTIANS AND FINALLY THE SYRIANS CAUSED VIOLENT CHANGES AMONG THE JEWS IN PALESTINE, THE AUTHORITY OF THE SOPHERIM, THE RIGHTFUL TEACHERS OF THE LAW OF MOSES WAS TAKEN AWAY!
We hear nothing more of any of its members outside of Simon the Just, the High Priest who died in 270 B.C. Simon is describes as the last remnant of the group. What happened to the remainder of these teachers is not known. We now continue with period of history when "Hellenism" spread. Here is how Egyptian tradition replaced the law of Moses in the second century before Jesus' birth
"The series of wars over the control of Palestine between the Egyptians on the south and the Syrians on the north--both under Greek domination--created great political and religious disorder with Palestine. The land was attacked by invading armies no less than four time between 330 B.C. and 301 B.C. In the latter year, the land finally succumbed to the rulership of Ptolemy of Egypt" (M. Margolis, History of the Jewish People, pg. 128).
During the early part of this period of Egyptian domination Simon the Just, the last survivor of the Sopherim died (270 B.C.). With his death a dark cloud passes over all the religious life of the Jews. We are informed by Lauterbach, the learned Jewish scholar, "That Jewish tradition know of no religious teacher who taught any form of religion from the death of Simon the Just until about the year 190 B.C." (Rabbinic Essay, pg. 196). "This silence would have been impossible, if there had been any official activity of the teachers in those years" (ibid. pg. 196).
This means that for a period of nearly one hundred year, approximately the time of Egyptian rule, there was no record of any religious activity among the Jews!! This is the only period in the history of the Jews in Palestine of which nothing is recorded. We do not know what caused this lack of records, but we do know that one of the major reasons was the influence of Hellenism--the culture of the Greeks---as propagated by the Egyptians.
Hellenism---the philosophy of life was exerted upon all peoples subject to the Egyptians! All persons within the Egyptian territories were to follow the dictates of the government in this matter. If any person did not follow Hellenism--the government would take the matters into their own hands and compel the people to do their biding.
Alexander the Great had left the conception of Hellenizing the whole of his empire. His reason was strictly political. He fancied that all his subject, being Hellenists, would represent a unified empire, not one of diverse ideas and philosophies, constantly causing troubles with bickering and strife. Alexanders successors saw that the continued dissemination of Hellenism would work to their advantage. Ptolemy--Alexander successor in Egypt carried on the campaign of preaching this Greek culture to his subject and the Jew did not escape its influences.
"It was impossible to avoid its influence. The Greek language was the language of commerce and social intercourse generally, and it became a matter of necessity to acquire fluency in Greek" (Herford, Talmud and Apocrypha, pg. 77). By constantly hearing and speaking Greek, it was natural that the Greek language would become known, and in many cases begin to be practiced among the Jews. "There was no escape from that influence (Hellenism). It was present everywhere, in the street and the market, in the everyday life and all phases of social intercourse" (ibid, pg. 77).
The Jews, of all people conquered by Alexander the Great and his various successors, were seemingly the least likely to adopt the Greek culture, but the very novelty of it, the variety of its new interests and pleasures made it exceedingly attractive to the majority of the Jews!
Of course not every individual was attracted to Hellenism, but everyone was affected by it, some to a limited and some became outright Hellenists. "It is safe to say that no one, high or low, who was living in Judea in the period which includes the whole of the third and the beginning of the second century B.C. wholly escaped the influence of Hellenism" (Ibid, pg. 77).
The most affected by this new culture, rather ironically, were the leaders of the Jews--the chief priests themselves. Most of the other influential Jews, also fell under the sway of Hellenism. In effect all the intellectually able individuals, who should have been leading the common people towards the observance of the Law of God, were following after the culture of Hellenism, as preached by the Egyptians. This is the reason no religious teacher of the Law is mentioned by the Jewish histories as having existed during this period of Egyptian domination. Because the Jews were completely surrounded by the teachings of Hellenism, they incorporated it into their daily lives. They had no real teaching in the Law of God, because their leaders were completely devoted to Hellenism.
What was the natural result of this teaching? Lauterbach give us the answer: "There prevailed a state of religious anarchy, wherein the practical life of the people was not controlled by the law of the fathers as interpreted by the religious authorities, nor were the activities of the teachers carried on in an official way by an authoritative body. This chaotic state of affairs lasted for a period of about eighty years..." (Rabbinic Essays, pg. 200). See also Herford, Talmud and Apocrypha, page 57.
THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING JUDAISM!
The recognition of this religious anarchy among the Jews is the veritable key that explains the reason why the Judaism of Christ's day arose. Had this religious anarchy not occurred there would have been no Judaism for Christ to contend with. If the Sopherims had continued teaching the Law of God, then Christ would have come to a people who were fully obeying the Laws. But instead, we find a people who were practicing Judaism--the religions of the Jews---not the religions of God as taught by Moses!
The knowledge of this religious anarchy gives us a Key to unlock the doctrines and teachings of Judaism. History prove that Judaism evolved out of and was directly guided by, the inherited principles of pagan life acquired during that religious anarchy. The very foundation of Judaism, its underlying principles, though later covered with a veneer of the Law of Moses, have their origin within this period of religious chaos.
Let's consider how this period of religious confusion under the influence of the Egyptians brought about these significant changes in the Jews' manner of living! How did the new laws and customs come into Jewish teachings. Because Hellenism was being taught throughout the known world, there was no way to escape its influence. Two known historians of this period, Lauterbach and Herford were fully aware of the chaotic conditions which existed in this period of Hellenism.
"During the seventy or eighty years of religious anarchy, many new practices had been gradually adopted by the people" (Rabbinic Essays, pg. 206). Herford adds: "in the absence of authoritative guidance, the people had gone their own way, new customs had found a place amongst old religious usages...new ideas had been formed under the influence of Hellenism which had permeated the land for more than a century, and there had been no one to point out the danger which thereby threatened the religious life of the people" (Talmud and Apocrypha, pg. 64, 65).
There must have been a few Jews endeavoring, in a limited way to observe the Sabbath and perhaps the Sacred festivals, but many of the Jews rejected the use of Scripture and its teachings. "The people who had now been in contact with Greek culture..acquired new ideas and became familiar with new views of life, other than those which they had been taught by their teachers in the name of the law of the fathers. The rich and influential classes accepted Greek ideas and followed Greek customs. The leaders of the people were no longer guided by the laws of the father, nor was the life of the people controlled solely by the laws and customs of the fathers as contained in the Torah" (Lauterbach, Rabbinic Essays, pg. 194).
Even the scattered Jews were affected. This condition of general religious anarchy among the Jews was not limited to Palestine. The Hellenistic culture had been spread wherever the Jews lived--
throughout civilized Asia and in many parts of Europe. New ideas and customs everywhere supplanted the ones they had been taught under the Sopherim. The luxuries and the extravagant habits of the Hellenists were attractive to the rich and influential Jews and the acquiring of Hellenism's new manners for everyday living and public communication became an economic necessity for the common Jews.
Many Jews enjoyed the new culture, the new types of learning and philosophies of thought that came with it. The Greek philosopher, the Greek artists and the Greek man of letters became figures of great respect and admiration to the majority of Jews--especially of the learned classes.
Anything Hellenistic became the object of imitation. The older customs were looked upon as relics of antiquity that, if they were to be observed at all, had to be greatly modified according to the new methods of interpretation promoted by Hellenism!!
"Greek culture, Greek literature were thrown open to the people of Asia and it pressed into its pale the native literature, including the Scriptures, but these in the new daylight looked poor and unformed: now those who wrote must write Greek, those who thought must think on the lines of Greek science and philosophy" (Bevan, Jerusalem Under the High Priests, pg. 37).
"Virtually everything was changed to conform to this new way of life. Even the Scripture, when read, was interpreted in the new light of Hellenism" (Liberman, Hellenism in Jewish Palestine, pg. 62-64). The people abandoned the simple teachings of Scripture and modified or disregarded them, and in its place substituted the new customs and practice of Hellenism.
It is not at all amazing that within the space of a short one hundred years that such a change could take place. The same thing happened in the Christian world in the century following 1850 with the introduction of evolution and higher criticism. Notice what is happening today, a short 13 years after Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong died, the True Church of God has been scattered, and the Worldwide Church of God no longer believes that we have to keep the Seventh Day Sabbath Holy as commanded by God, and now we know they are no longer the True Church of God. It is easy to see how fast the truth is lost when you stop following the very Word of God!!
At the beginning of Egyptian rule in Palestine, many thousands of Jews were carried captive to Egypt by Ptolemy I. Under Ptolemy II these Jews gained their freedom. Ptolemy II was inclined to favor the Jews as a whole and his kind treatment prompted many Jews to accept Hellenism even more. As a result many thousand of other Jews chose to migrate from Palestine to Egypt. In a short time there were so many Jews in Alexandria, Egypt that a full quarter of the city was Jewish! Those Jews who went to Egypt abandoned the Hebrew language and completely adopted Greek.
It was during this time of religious anarchy in Palestine and Egypt, that the Old Testament was corrupted and then translated into Greek. It was called the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament. Tradition has it that Ptolemy II wanted to have a translation of the Jewish Scriptures made for his library. In the course of time, certain Jewish scholars were invited by Ptolemy II to accomplish this task. Thus, the Septuagint Version was born.
Needless to say, this translation abounds in Hellenistic interpretations. The version was rejected by later Jews as totally unacceptable because of its variations from the original, inspired and authoritative Palestinian Hebrew text and because of its inclination to "improve" the text in order to please or displease as the case may be its Gentile reading audience. The translators of this Version thought nothing of adding to the text or taking away from it whole verses and even whole chapters! No wonder later Jews renounced this product of Egypt which was translated during the time of religious anarchy!!
Christ and the Apostles did NOT use the Septuagint!
It has often been assumed that the Septuagint Version, instead of the original Hebrew Text, was the Old Testament of the early Christian Church. This is not true!
It can be shown quite plainly that Christ did not set the example of using the Septuagint Version. "It was His custom to quote from the original Hebrew scrolls (Luke 4:16-17). Christ referred to three divisions of the Hebrew Bible as: THE SCRIPTURE, (Luke 24:44-45)---the Septuagint Version did not contain these three divisional designations" (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol 1, pg. 555).
Some scholars endeavor to maintain that the apostles used the Septuagint Version, however we are informed by Collett, (The Scripture of Truth, pg. 142-143), that 263 direct quotations from the Old Testament, 88 are verbal quotations that agree with the Septuagint. Does this prove the apostles use this Version? IT DOES NOT!!
"It is important to note that the Jews of Palestine, because of the variations in the Septuagint from the original Hebrew text, regarded the day the Septuagint was translated as a great calamity equal to the worship of the golden calf" (Sopherim, i, 7). For an extensive discussion on these variations, see Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol IX, pg. 533-554.
(To be continued in the next issue of the Prove All Things). Information for this article was taken from the Good News Magazine, June 1961, published by Ambassador College. We encourage you to read the original article titled "Is Judaism the Law of Moses?"
It is not the Church of God, In Truths, intention to degrade the Jewish people. It is our intention to show and prove that Judaism is not the religion of the Old Testament, just as Catholicism is not the true religion of Jesus Christ.
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