Long Winter Night of Legalism: The Jewish Battle for Survival

Previous hubs summarized the post exilic Jewish Church during Persian dominion. Now we sail swiftly through the Greek period of rule.

Practically, it was a division between the scribes and priests; and when we consider the occupations of these two classes, their respective spheres of influence, and the tendencies naturally arising out of these, we can imagine how, long before it came to rupture, they fell away from each other in opinion, feeling, and interest.

The priests were the performer of routine religious rites; the scribes were students and teachers of the law. The sphere of the priest's activity was the temple, the scribe's was the synagogue. So there arose a difference in point of popularity; the priests met the people on rare occasions, when they came up to Jerusalem at the seasons of the great feasts; the scribes met them weekly on Sabbath days, when they assembled to offer prayer and hear the Scripture read.

The priests were rulers as well as religious officials. The high priest was the prince of the community, holding the rein of power. Hence, there crept into priestly families and circles aristocratic feelings and a more or less secular spirit. The scribes, on the other hand, became less naturally the representatives of democratic and religious issues. The priests were the leaders in the process of Hellenization, while the scribes were the champions of Jewish law and custom. The aristocratic temper is conservative so we are not surprised then, that the Sadducees, who were the outgrowth of priestly aristocracy, held on to the written law, and kept distant from oral law and dogmas concerning angels and the resurrection.

It was inevitable that the latent tendencies of the two parties would come to the surface under Greek rule. The ruler was near at hand, not far away as in the case of the Persian dominion. The Greek was in the land, dwelling in newly founded cities bearing Greek names, enjoying Greek government, and fostering within them Greek customs. And Greek social life was an aggressive, infectious thing, appealing to the senses, attractive and fascinating to all lovers of pleasure. Greek culture was bright, rich, and beautiful, standing in stark contrast to the poverty of the Semitic world in all that related to art, science, and philosophy.

Now, here was a situation in which the Jewish people could not remain indifferent. They had no choice but to decide either to surrender to the new Western influence, or to resist against it and remain loyal to their Hebrew tradition. What did they decide? Some took the one way, some the other; some Hellenized, some stood loyalty by old Hebrew ways.

In their Greek enthusiasm many Jewish men got their names translated from Hebrew into Greek and did their best to obliterate any physical sign of their connection with the Jewish race. They sacrificed to idols, profaned the Sabbath, and were not content until they had obtained permission from the government to found a gymnasium in Jerusalem. And in this wild, godless movement of apostasy the priests, to their shame, were the ringleaders.

Then came a turn in the tide through the insanity of Antiochus Epiphanes. Noticing how willing many of the Jews, including some of the most influential men of the nation, were striving to become Greeks, he was misled into thinking that the entire nation of Israel were prepared for the wholesale obliteration of everything distinctively Jewish. He issued orders accordingly, the execution of which created a great unexpected reaction.

As it turned out, not only did the scribes and multitudes of people, and not a few among the priests, were prepared to resist the process of denationalization to the death. The hero of the patriotic revolt was none other than Judas Maccabeus, The uprising was initiated by his priest father, Mattathias. He continued the revolt after his father's death and the result was the triumph of the faithful in Israel over their pagan enemies. Jewish independence was procured. It was the passion, faith, and military genius of the Maccabees that culminated in what is presently celebrated by Jews the world over as Hanukkah. Judas Maccabeus is recognized with Joshua, Gideon, and David as one of the greatest warriors in Jewish history.

The war ended, but unfortunately, the union brought about by the dire crisis between priests and scribes also come to an end. Each party once more followed its proper bent. Sadducees and Pharisees struggled for ascendancy, fighting with each other no less violently than they had fought together against the common enemy. Neither could claim to be a worthy representative of the religion of Israel. Like today, ambition played a large place among the ruling motives of their conduct. More or less corrupt in spirit to begin with, they produced in each other, by their party antagonism, ever increasing moral deterioration; until at length, a century and a half after the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, they had become what we see them in the Gospels: utterly opposed to each other in belief and policy, yet alike ungodly in spirit and entirely alien from that divine kingdom whose advent Jesus proclaimed.

In the judgment of many modern day biblical scholars, the time of trouble, which gave to the Jewish people a hero in the person of Judas Maccabeus, also enriched their sacred literature by the addition of the book of Daniel. It is a brightest light in the long winter night of legalism.

(Long Winter Night of Legalism: Intertestamental Period Ends - coming soon).

Reference
1 and 2 Maccabees