CHRISTIANITY -- BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT -- "Search for the Real Parents of My Soul!"

CHRISTIANITY -- BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT

“Search for the Real Parents of My Soul!”

James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.

© September 23, 2014

Just who were the Pharisees, and where did their religious doctrines originate?  In the Old Testament?  If so, why did Jesus so strenuously oppose their ideas?  Is the Bible – both Old and New Testament – a house divided? 

An examination of the period between the Testaments shows that while men may be divided, the Bible is one continuous story.  Now, as mentioned earlier, this is not a theological study.  Nor is this an attempt to prove or disprove the divinity of Jesus or the essence of Christianity.  That said it is important to note that Christianity didn’t just suddenly happen.

Unfortunately, many professing to be Christians suffer from the mistaken notion that Jesus came to do away with His Father’s religion, that is, the religion of the Old Testament.  His own words belie this:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets.  I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill (Mathew 5:17).

It would appear that part of the problem has to do with the interpretation of the Pharisees, and other religionists of the period as representatives of the revelation given to Moses – God’s Old Testament religion.

The Bible shows that the One who later became Jesus, the Christ, was the Lord of the Old Testament:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made (John 1:1, 3; Ephesians 3:9; Hebrews 1:2).

Given this as source reference, then The Babylonian captivity or exile refers to the time period in Israel’s history when Jews were taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. 

It is an important period of biblical history as the captivity/exile and the return and restoration of the Jewish nation were fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

God used Babylon as His agent of judgment against Israel for their sins of idolatry and rebellion against Him. There were several different times during this period (607-586 B.C.) when the Jews were taken captive by Babylon. With each successive rebellion against Babylonian rule, Nebuchadnezzar would lead his armies against Judah until they laid siege to Jerusalem for over a year, killing many and destroying the Jewish temple, taking captive many thousands of Jews, leaving Jerusalem in ruin.

As prophesied in Scripture, the Jewish people would be allowed to return to Jerusalem after 70 years of exile. That prophecy was fulfilled in B.C. 537, and the Jews were allowed by King Cyrus of Persia to return to Israel and begin rebuilding the city and Temple. The return under the direction of Ezra led to a revival among the Jewish people and the completion of the Temple.

Under the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II, the Babylonian Empire spread throughout the Middle East, and around 607 B.C., King Jehoiakim of Judah was forced into submission, becoming a vassal to Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 24:1).

It was during this time that Nebuchadnezzar took captive many of the finest and brightest young men from each city in Judah, including Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

After three years of serving Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiakim of Judah rebelled against Babylonian rule and once again turned to Egypt for support. After sending his army to deal with Judah’s revolt, Nebuchadnezzar himself left Babylon in B.C. 598 to deal with the problem.

Arriving in Jerusalem around March of B.C. 597, Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem, taking control of the area, looting it, and taking captive Jehoikim’s son, Jehoiachin, his family, and almost all of the population of Judah, leaving only the poorest on the land (2 Kings 24:8-16).

At that time, Nebuchadnezzar appointed King Zedekiah to rule as his representative over Judah, but after nine years and still not having learned their lesson, Zedekiah led Judah in rebellion against Babylon one final time (2 Kings 24–25).

Influenced by false prophets and ignoring Jeremiah’s warnings, Zedekiah decided to join a coalition that was being formed by Edom, Moab, Ammon and Phoenicia in rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 27:1-3). This resulted in Nebuchadnezzar again laying siege to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem fell in July B.C. 586, and Zedekiah was taken captive to Babylon after seeing his sons killed before him and then having his eyes plucked out (2 Kings 25). At this time, Jerusalem was laid to waste, the temple destroyed and all the houses burned. The majority of the Jewish people were taken captive, but, again, Nebuchadnezzar left a remnant of poor people to serve as farmers and vine dressers (2 Kings 25:12).

The books of 2 Chronicles and 2 Kings deal with much of the time leading up to the fall of both the Northern Kingdom and Judah. They also cover the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the beginning of the Babylonian captivity.

Jeremiah was one of the prophets leading up to the fall of Jerusalem and the exile.  Ezekiel and Daniel were written while the Jews were in exile. Ezra deals with the return of the Jews as promised over 70 years before by God through the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah. The book of Nehemiah also covers the return and rebuilding of Jerusalem after the exile was over.

The Babylonian captivity had one very significant impact on the nation of Israel when it returned to the land.  It would never again be corrupted by the idolatry and false gods of the surrounding nations. A revival among Jews took place after the return of the Jews to Israel and the rebuilding of the temple. We see those accounts in Ezra and Nehemiah as the nation would once again return to the God who had delivered them from their enemies.

Just as God had promised through the prophet Jeremiah, God judged the Babylonians for their sins, and the Babylonian Empire fell to the armies of Persia in B.C. 539, once again proving God’s promises to be true.

The seventy-year period of the Babylonian captivity is an important part of Israel’s history for which Christians should be familia. Like many other Old Testament events, this historical account demonstrates God’s faithfulness to His people, His judgment of sin, and the surety of His promises.

The last three authors of the Old Testament Ezra, Nehemiah and Malachi lived and worked in the Jewish community that had returned to Judea after the Babylonian captivity (Durant, 1944).  They were largely successful in bringing people to an awareness of God. 

Through their influence, a body of priests was set up to guide the people in matters of religion.  This came to be known as the “Great Assembly,” or “Synagogue,” but also as the “Knesset Hagedolah” (Latourette, 1953).  

The Knesset was instrumental in guiding the Jewish people to living in accordance with God’s Law during the Persian dominance (Graetz, 1894).  Because of this act of faith and perseverance, God granted His people special protection and the privilege of a series of miracles at the coming of Alexander the Great from Macedonia in B.C. 330.

A NEW WAY OF LIFE -- HELLENISM 

At his death, Alexander’s empire was divided into four parts (Daniel: 8:22).  Judea was first passed under the rule of the Ptolemy’s of Egypt, and later to the Seleucidae of Egypt.  Both of these were Macedonian (i.e., Greek dynasties) and were exponents of the pagan, or Gentile way of life known as “Hellenism” (Hamilton, 1963)

                                                                       

The division of Alexander’s Empire, B.C. 303, following his death in B.C. 323, found his successors competing for his throne.  After numerous battles and shifts of allegiances, the empire was divided up among five of Alexander’s generals:

Kingdom of Lysimachus

Kingdom of Cassander

Kingdom of Antigonus

Kingdom of Ptolemy

Kingdom of Seleucus

The rivalry for power continued, however, and after the defeat of Antigonus at the Battle of Ipsus in B.C. 301, there were four kingdoms. The wars lasted until B.C. 281, and resulted in the establishment of three main kingdoms: Egypt, Asia Minor, and Macedonia. 

Although the unity of the empire was gone, Greek civilization continued to spread throughout this region.      

The basic philosophy behind Hellenism was: everyman had the right to think for himself on any matter as long as there was not a real departure from the customs that were Greek.

             

This philosophy, freedom of thought or individualism, resulted in a myriad of confusion and ambiguity, contradictory beliefs and opinions as to how a Greek should behave in everyday life.  

Everyman was allowed his own ideas about science and art, law and religion.  So varied were these opinions, even among Greek scholars, that individuals took pride in contending with them and with each other.  Not only did Greeks challenge those supposedly most wise and knowing, but the very definitions of “wisdom” and “knowledge.”

With the encouragement of Greek rulers, Hellenism spread rapidly into the Ptolemaic Empire, and Judea was by no means bypassed. 

THE SYNAGOGUE NO LONGER IN AUTHORITY

Within only a score of years after the coming of the Greeks, the Synagogue, or Great Assembly disappeared from history as an organized body having religious control over the Jewish people.  It is not known exactly how the Greeks dismissed this authoritative religious body from its official capacity and function as teachers of the Law, but it is known that it ceased to exist.

Without the religious guidance of the Synagogue, many Jews began to follow Greek customs and ideas as the Hellenistic culture swept across Judea.

With the change from Persian to Greek rule (remember, the Ptolemics were Greeks), Hellenism made its influence felt, and came pouring like a flood into a country which had known nothing of it.  There was no escape from its influence.  It was present everywhere, in the street and the marketplace, in the everyday life and all the phases of social intercourse (Herford, 1933).

Much of this Hellenistic influence came from the numerous Greek cities which were established under the Ptolemy’s.  Most of these were on the Mediterranean seacoast, or on the east side of Jordan.

With the Synagogue removed from the scene and this new culture substituted for the Law of God, the Jews began to become Hellenistic with little evidence of protest.  It was as if the Jews had lost their guidance system and way to understanding the Law.  Except for a few isolated teachers here and there, Jews now lacked a moral compass and the familiar authority of the Synagogue.

After a few years of this influence, the Jewish people came literally to a state of utter religious confusion.  Some endeavored to keep a form of the Scriptural teachings, but Hellenism was everywhere, and became so overwhelming that it was almost impossible to adhere to the Laws of Moses.

Nearly everything that was Greek was antagonistic to the Laws of God, and, without the religious guidance of the Synagogue, many Jews became tolerant of Hellenistic innovations, and as time progressed, to adopt many Greek ideas and customs as their own.

ONE-HUNDRED-YEARS OF PTOLEMAIC RULE SETS IN

After a series of battles with the Syrians, Ptolemy I, the Greek king of Egypt, took firm control of Judea in B.C. 301.  His descendants retained that control for the next one-hundred-years, or until B.C. 198.

This one-hundred-year period of Greek-Egyptian dominance is important in the religious history of the Jews.  This is the same period in which many significant changes began to take place in Jewish religious life.  Indeed, it would be impossible to understand Christianity without attending to Jewish roots in this Hellenistic period:

During the comparatively quiet rule of the Ptolemy’s, Greek ideas, customs and morality had been making peaceful conquests in Palestine (Kent, 1940).  There was little resistance to these inroads.  We are informed by Dr. Jacob Lauterbach, a Jewish scholar, that Jewish tradition knows of no religious teacher who taught any form of religion from the death of Simon the Just (B.C. 270) until the year B.C. 190 (Lauterbach, 1951).

“This would have been impossible,” writes Lauterbach, “if there had been any official activity of the teachers in these years.” 

But there were none.  Whole generations of Jews, came and went, offering no great resistance to the new customs which were encouraged by the commercial and educational exchange taking place between Jews, Greeks and Hellenistic Egyptians.  In fact, thousands of Jews migrated to Egypt during this period.  By the end of the Ptolemaic rule, there were over one million Jews in Egypt, out of a total population of about seven million (Lauterbach, 1951).

A prime example of Hellenistic influence is the pagan concept of the immortality of the soul.  This doctrine was widely publicized in the writings of the pagan Greek philosopher Plato (Plato, 1956).  For our purposes here, however, it is mentioned only to represent the organizational bridge between the Old and New Testament.  To wit:

The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body is speculation nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture.  The belief in the immortality of the soul came to the Jews from contact with Greek thought and chiefly through the philosophy of Plato, its principal exponent, who was led to it through Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries in which Babylonian and Egyptian views were strangely blended (Jewish Encyclopedia).

THE COMING OF THE SELEUCIDS

In B.C. 198, the Seleucid kingdom of Syria conquered Judea and drove out the Egyptians.  Like the Ptolemy’s, the Seleucids were also of Greek origin, and equally Hellenistic in culture and perspective. 

At first, conditions in Judea remained much the same as they had been during the reign of the Ptolemy’s.  The Seleucid ruler, Antiochus III, was favorably disposed toward the Jews.  Conditions rapidly changed, however, with the coming to the throne of Antiochus Epiphanes in B.C. 175.

Shortly after he ascended to the throne, there was contention among several of the priests of Jerusalem for the exalted office of High Priest.  Jason, the brother of the reigning High Priest, persuaded Antiochus to transfer the office to him by offering a large sum of money to the King.

Jason was of a Hellenistic persuasion and was followed in this manner by many in the Jewish community.  A passion for Greek costumes, Greek customs, and Greek names (Jason’s Hebrew name was Joshum) seized the people.   Large numbers of Jews were enrolled as citizens of Antioch, the capital of Syria.  Many even endeavored to conceal the fact that they had been circumcised. 

To demonstrate that he had left all the traditions of his race and people behind, Jason sent a rich present for sacrifices in connection with the great festival at Tyre in honor of the god Hercules (Kent, 1940).

Three years after Jason assumed office, Menelaus (Hebrew name, Onias) offered Antiochus a larger bribe than Jason’s, and was named as High Priest.  Because of this, Jason fled beyond Jordan to the Ammonites for refuge (McClintock and Strong, 1939). 

Many of the Jews thought Jason had been unjustly removed from office.  People began to take sides, some for Jason, others for Menelaus.  Fighting broke out between the two groups.  Both factions were decidedly Hellenistic with the symbolic Jewish authority of the High Priest seemingly lost in the struggle.

Jason’s forces won out and Menelaus fled to Antioch.  King Antiochus was furious when he learned his authority had been usurped with the reappointment of Jason as High Priest, which was taken as an act against his government.

At that time, Antiochus was planning to conquer Egypt.  When that failed, due to the intervention of the Romans, he decided to take his anger out on the rebellious Jews of Jerusalem who defied his authority by displacing his High Priest, Menelaus, with Jason.

Antiochus, while feigning peace, proceeded to take the city of Jerusalem.  He then polluted the Temple by burning swine’s flesh on its altar, and erected a statue of Jupiter of Olympus in the Holy Place.  This had been prophesized by Daniel (Daniel 11:29-31).  The king's men then plundered the Temple of all objects of value and issued a proclamation forbidding Jews to worship God or in any way to practice their religion.

To put this in perspective, despite the severity of this decree, there were many Hellenistic Jews who nonetheless accepted its draconian cruelty without protest.  Many so inclined were priests and Levites, the more privileged in the Jewish community.  The majority of Jews, however, were poor, and had never shown much interest in things religious, but now were forbidden to behave as Jews, denied the ritualistic practice of Jewish diet, the custom of circumcision, and other aspects of Jewish culture that gave them identity as Jews.  Adding insult to injury, they were required to worship Hellenistic idols.  That was simply too much.

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P.S. NEXT THE MACCABEAN REVOLT