and earth, the earth was as yet unformed. In Greek, the translation offers creatio ex nihilo, in which God creates something from nothing: »In the beginning, God created …« (Gen. 1:1). This embrace of Hellenistic cosmogony marks a strategy of engagement with the broader world, imbibing what it has to offer, while emphasizing the distinctiveness of that culture in its Jewish iteration.
In these volumes, our primary concern is to perceive Jewish history, literature, and life as living—and still evolving—expressions of the immense creative contribution of Jewish religion to the lasting achievements of global intellectual and cultural history. Therefore, while we explore the vicissitudes of the Jewish past, we have eschewed the »lachrymose theory« of that history, which sees Judaism as merely one disaster following another. Instead, we offer three volumes that celebrate a long and complex history of Judaism in all its manifestations and expressions of life—which while not free from terrible sorrows and destruction, nevertheless also notes triumphs and progress.
Since antiquity, Judaism has continually endeavoured to ascertain its existence and the obligatory character of its election. Therefore, a broad survey presents important Jewish documents of faith and literary works over the past two millennia, which show the fascinating diversity and liveliness of Jewish religion.
And finally, our third volume seeks to describe and analyze the rich and important cultural contributions of Judaism: what it shares with other religions and cultures, and what makes it distinctively Jewish.
In the next thirty chapters, each written by recognized authorities in his or her field, we offer our range of views of Judaism. Let us start »in the beginning.«
Judaism, Hellenism, and the Maccabees
Hermann Lichtenberger
50 Years of Martin Hengel’sJudentum und Hellenismus, 1969145 Years Judaism and Hellenism 1974
1 The Hellenization of Ancient Judaism—Preliminary Notes
The Hellenization of ancient Judaism was a process that took place over a long period of time, from the beginning of the 4th century onwards, and largely without conflict, until a crisis situation came to a dramatic climax in the time of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–164 BCE) (2 Macc 4:13), leading to resistance and revolt. At this point the practice of Jewish religion in Jerusalem seemed in doubt. Hellenismos is a polemical term coined in 2 Maccabees (2:13) as a counterpart to the term Ioudaismos (2 Macc 2:21; 8:1; 14:38). The fight for the uniqueness of the God of Israel and his worship in Jerusalem, called the »Maccabean War,« did not lead to a general suppression of Hellenistic education, culture, technology, and way of life. The Maccabean/Hasmonean rulers were Hellenistic High priests, and from 103 BCE also Hellenistic kings. It was only in their minting of coins that they took account of the prohibition of human iconography.2
The narrow focus on the few years between 167 and 164 BCE and the recovery of the Temple of Jerusalem as the exclusive place of worship of the God of Israel is rightly countered with the point that, as the Dead Sea scrolls show, Judaism in the 3rd to 1st centuries BCE was occupied with other matters than confrontation with Hellenism.3 Other contentious issues included the calendar and the points mentioned in 4QMMT. »So we have to say that no Qumran text certainly deals with the events under Antiochus IV, nor does any Qumran text show signs of a confrontation between Judaism and Hellenism.«4 This means, however, that a Hellenization had already taken place from the late Persian or early Hellenistic period onwards and also that in many areas it was accepted without conflict. Hengel is even able to show this for Qumran and the community of the yahad. 5
2 Judaism and Hellenism in the Land of Israel/Judea—»Palestinian Judaism« as »Hellenistic Judaism«6
2.1 The reception of Greek/Hellenistic culture in Judea7
Greek language
The final establishment and dissemination of the Koinē was probably the most valuable and the most permanent fruit of Alexander’s expedition.8
Greek became the primary language of writing not only in Egypt. Thus, among the two thousand or so documents of Zenon correspondence, just a few are Demotic, and none Aramaic.9 The triumphant march of Greek was unstoppable in Palestine, and it stood alongside Aramaic, which had been introduced in Persian times. The two letters of Tobias of the 10th of Xandikos of the 29th year of Ptolemy II (12 May 257 BCE) to Apollonius are written »in a beautiful large hand, no doubt by a Greek scribe.«10 Joseph, son of Tobias, became chief Ptolemaic tax farmer in Syria and Phoenicia. A legendary encounter took place between Aristotle and a Jew from Coele Syria, who »not only spoke Greek, but had the soul of a Greek,«11 but this is a witness to the period around 300 BCE. The oldest Greek inscription in Jerusalem can be found at Jason’s grave from the time of Alexander Jannai (103–76 BCE) with its call to enjoy life.12
A clear indication of the adoption of Greek is found in Greek names. In the 3rd century BCE this occurred more frequently in Egypt than in Palestine, and the sources are more plentiful there as well.13 This changed in the time of the Maccabees, when the three High priests bore Greek names: Yeshua-Jason, Menelaus, and Elyakim-Alkimos.14
Greek education and training
»The Hellenistic period was a period of education.«15 Paideia became the door-opener for Greek culture and for participation in it in the full sense. Attendance at a gymnasium provided not only sporting and physical training but also musical, philological, and mythological education, which were given »canonical« expression in the Homerian epics.
The establishment of a gymnasium by the High priest Jason in Jerusalem—possibly immediately after Antiochus IV’s accession to power in 175 BCE—is the first attestation of a gymnasium in the land of Israel/Palestine (1 Macc 1:14f.; 2 Macc 4:9–14; Josephus, Ant. 12.251).
Precisely what Jason really had in mind when he gained approval for the establishment of a gymnasium, by means of substantial sums of money, is a matter of scholarly dispute. This will be discussed in the context of the Maccabean Revolt. In its content, it was a matter of renunciation from a Jewish paideia as found, for instance, in the book of Sirach. With ephebeia as a condition of membership of the polis of the Antiochenes of Jerusalem, a step was taken from educational competency to political.
Greek literature and philosophy in Jewish Palestine
As works of Judean literature and historiography, Martin Hengel includes the works of the so-called Anonymous Samaritan (Pseudo-Eupolemus) and Eupolemus, as well as Jason of Cyrene.16 The Anonymous Samaritan, transmitted by Alexander Polyhistor as from Eupolemus and passed on by Eusebius Praep. ev. IX 17.2–9,17 clearly betrays a Samaritan author, as he moves Melchizedek (Gen 14) to Mount Gerizim (Praep. ev. IX 17.5–6). It is clear that he uses the LXX and is familiar with the punishment of Pharaoh for taking Sarah from Abraham, as mentioned in 1QGenApoc 20.17. Nonetheless, it is not appropriate to count him as one of the Greek-writing authors in Judea.18 Jason of Cyrene was »not a real Palestinian«19 and apparently gained his elevated Greek education in Alexandria. He wrote a five-volume work in the style of Greek pathetic historiography on the background and history of the Maccabean uprising under Judas (ca. 175–160 BCE), which the author of 2 Maccabees claims to have abridged as a single book.20 Whether the latter wrote in Judea or in the (Egyptian) diaspora is a matter of controversy.21 Finally, there is Eupolemus,22 a chronicler of history from Adam to his own day (Demetrius I, 162–150 BCE) and probably identical to the Eupolemus whom Judas Maccabee sent on a diplomatic mission to Rome in 160 BCE (1 Macc 8:17f.; 2 Macc 4:11). He used the LXX but also knew the Hebrew text.23 Moses was the »first sage« (Praep. ev. IX 26.1), who gave the Jews writing and the laws. The Phoenicians took writing from the Jews, and the Greeks from the Phoenicians. The account of Israel’s history is marked by »true inner commitment«