Page 104 - Biblical Backgrounds

Seleucus formed his capital at Antioch (where believers would first be called Christians). His dynasty
later proved to be superior, leading to the time of the Maccabean revolt and the emergence of the
Romans.

Both the Ptolemies and Seleucids employed well-developed military and political strategies in their
governance. At the same time, they engaged a form of “ruler cult” unifying their subjects. In any case,
the “ruler cult” was simply meant to give the subjects a common political ground in their reverence
(worship) of respective rulers. Of course, the ruler cult presented horrendous problems for believers in
all ages—for Daniel’s friends in Nebuchadnezzar’s day (Daniel 3); for the Maccabeans who finally
revolted against Syrian rule and established an independent Jewish state; and for Christians who
suffered great persecution and martyrdom at the hands of the Romans. 151

Religion

Greeks and Macedonians were predominantly polytheistic. They were intensely preoccupied with
mystical gods. “The Greeks always had an unclear distinction between what was human and what was
divine. Their gods were always human—they were simply more powerful human beings and had
immortality.” 152

We have seen in the last section that Alexander might have begun to look at himself as a god, especially
at the peak of his daring venture, or at least many of his admirers thought so of him. His successors
presumably inherited this and raised it into forms of “ruler cult.” For the Ptolemies, deifying themselves
was much simpler, as the Egyptians always considered pharaohs to be divine. Ruler cults helped leaders
maintain loyalty; they didn’t really satisfy the heart needs of people. For the people, the system
maintained a way of keeping in touch with their gods.

The Jews had been under Ptolemy since 301 BCE. There is not enough evidence to suggest that he
subjected them to worship him to an extent that it conflicted with their monotheistic belief in Jehovah.
In fact, one of the Ptolemies, most likely Ptolemy II (285–247 B.C), authorized the translation of the
Jewish scriptures into what would be known as the Septuagint. The seventy translators (hence the name
Septuagint) were to be Jews fluent in both Hebrew and Greek. They were either already living in Egypt
or had to come from Jerusalem. This whole development led many to suspect that this particular
Ptolemy was a follower or at least an admirer of the Hebrew God. However, it is widely accepted that
the translation of the Hebrew scriptures was an effort to enrich the library at Alexandria.

Meanwhile, mystic religions were increasingly growing. The special appeal of the mystery religions lay in
their threefold provision: a personal involvement with a god, an emotional stimulation, and a promise of
a future life—none of which the official cults could offer. Oriental religions had a much wider appeal. We
know these religions as mystery religions because they had secret initiatory rituals into the cults
(mysterion comes from a root meaning “initiate”). 153 Through that, in some mysterious way, the initiate

151 Vos, H. F. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible manners & customs: how the people of the Bible really lived (p.
352). Nashville, TN: T. Nelson Publishers.

152 Ibid., p. 348.

153 Vos, H. F. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible manners & customs: how the people of the Bible really lived (pp.
351–352). Nashville, TN: T. Nelson Publishers.

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