Page 105 - Biblical Backgrounds

established communion with a god or goddess and obtained a promise of living in bliss with the deity
beyond the grave. Most of these religions were predominantly Eastern and polytheistic. Their gods were
mythological. Jehovah, on the other hand, historically revealed Himself and was personally involved with
the Jews.

Alexander the Great sat under the great philosopher Aristotle. It is not surprising, therefore, to see
philosophy and science rise with Hellenization. Greeks started divorcing the explanation of things from
religion. In science, they began to attempt to answer questions on the origin of matter and carry out
various computations, especially geographical ones. In philosophy, they brought about a growing belief
that reason or intellect, rather than revelation or the gods, should serve as a guide to living. This
propagated naturalism. However, there was a distinction between those in the Ancient Near East and
the Greeks. For the Easterners, nature was personal (indwelt by a divine) and society was connected to
it. For the Greeks, nature was impersonal (in other words, it is all there is).

In any case, the naturalistic thought patterns of the Greeks eventually impacted Jewish thought.
Hellenistic ways, as they developed in Ptolemaic Egypt, affected Jews living in Egypt and those in
Palestine during the long period when the Ptolemies ruled Palestine. The non-supernaturalistic or
materialistic views of New Testament Sadducees and those they succeeded are a case in point. 154

For a traditional Jew of the day, nature is indeed impersonal, but it is not all there is. Beyond nature is a
transcendent God who has created and chosen to reveal Himself to His creation. Moreover, among all
other peoples, only the Jews held to moral absolutes—commands to observe a code of conduct with
details on what to follow or avoid. They alone had a concept of a totally holy or righteous God, who
exemplified the standard of conduct He expected human beings to attain.

Social Backgrounds

Among other Greek-centered cities, Alexandria was increasingly becoming the hub of Hellenization. The
Jews did not escape the pan-Hellenism that engulfed the region. When Ptolemy captured Jerusalem in
301 BCE, he enslaved many Jews and carried them off to Alexandria. Josephus notes that many of the
captives were treated like Greek citizens and occupied respected ranks in Alexandrian culture
(Antiquities 1.9–10). Thus, a diverse and sizable Jewish Diaspora was present in the heart of Hellenism
from early on (Antiquities 12:7–8). 155

In most of the Hellenized territories, a social distance often existed between the Greek aristocracy or its
sympathizers and the regular local people. This was not exceptional for the Jewish people. They faced
enormous pressure to assimilate into the more sophisticated and compromised Greek way of life.
The Jews in diaspora, particularly those in Alexandria, embraced Hellenism and attempted to influence
those in Judah. They embraced Hellenism to the point that they allowed it to replace Judaism, which
they deemed confining and backwards. A prime example is Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish philosopher
who began to interpret the Torah, considering Greek philosophy. Hellenism began to be deemed as a

154 Ibid. p. 350.

155 Simmons, W. (2016). Alexander the Great. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C.
Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

103