Page 109 - Advanced Biblical Backgrounds Revised

When Alexander died, the entire expanse of his conquered land was up for grabs. Prominent officers
divided, each wanting full control, and ended up dividing all of the empires. All of Alexander’s successors
were Greek. For the sake of this study, the focus will be on Ptolemy and Seleucus. Ptolemy took charge
of Egypt and Seleucus of Mesopotamia.

Ptolemy ruled from Alexandria, a city founded by and named after Alexander the Great himself. While
he was at the apex, power also lay within the Greek aristocracy that settled there. He also convinced the
people that he was the rightful Pharaoh. The Egyptians considered Alexander the Great to be pharaoh,
and since Ptolemy was succeeding Alexander, it was only logical that Ptolemy was now pharaoh. To
validate his move, Ptolemy moved Alexander’s body and buried it in Egypt as per the custom of the
Egyptians. At this time, Judah was under the control of Egypt. This dynasty continued to flourish but
would later be overshadowed by the Seleucids (Seleucus’ line) and much later overpowered by Rome.
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 in the form of a “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 their respective rulers. Of course, the ruler cult presented horrendous problems
for believers of 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. 159

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.” 160

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 the form of a “ruler cult.” For Ptolemies, deifying himself
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 maintaining and 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 the 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

159 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.
160 Ibid., p. 348.

108