How the God of the Hebrews became THE GOD of the Western World (Part 2)

 BETWEEN THE TESTAMENTS

The Old Testament narrative concluded with the Jews as the vassals of the Persians. A rudimentary temple had been rebuilt in Jerusalem, and we know that the priestly class had been working hard to restore and preserve the Hebrew religion. In fact, the Hebrew canon closes with some prophecies about what would follow, but the overall impression is that the story has been cut short or is finished.

The New Testament, however, opens with the Romans in control of the Jews' ancient homeland, and a king named Herod reigning over the region as their vassal. We are informed by the gospel accounts that Jesus confronted religious Jews belonging to a group known as Pharisees and another group known as Sadducees. Likewise, we are confronted with a magnificent temple with well-established traditions and rituals.

What happened between the close of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament? Did something transpire in the intervening four hundred years that would suggest the ultimate triumph of the Jewish Scriptures and their God? Unfortunately, most of the people of the Western World (Jews, Christians, secularists and atheists) are largely unfamiliar with the story of the Jewish people during this period - which suggests that nothing happened during this period to change the overall narrative that the Jews were a relatively insignificant people - one of many different nations and peoples subject to the real movers and shakers of history.

Moreover, although that story is a very interesting one (and should be regarded as an essential element in trying to understand the New Testament), the impression that the Jews did not rise to a position of preeminence in the Western World during this period would not be an inaccurate one. Unfortunately, the Old Testament narrative of oppression and dominance of the Hebrews by stronger/mightier nations continued throughout much of this period between the two testaments of the Judeo-Christian canon.

Much of the story of what happened during this four hundred year period is outlined in the seventh, eighth and eleventh chapters of the book of Daniel. However, for those interested in a fuller account of those events, we are forced to consult the apocryphal books of I and II Maccabees and the First Century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews.

The Persians were eventually conquered and replaced by the Macedonian Greeks. The New Revised Standard Version of the first book of Maccabees conveniently summarizes this history for us. We read there: "After Alexander son of Philip, the Macedonian, who came from the land of Kittim, had defeated King Darius of the Persians and the Medes, he succeeded him as king. (He had previously become king of Greece.) He fought many battles, conquered strongholds, and put to death the kings of the earth. He advanced to the ends of the earth, and plundered many nations. When the earth became quiet before him, he was exalted, and his heart was lifted up. He gathered a very strong army and ruled over countries, nations, and princes, and they became tributary to him. After this he fell sick and perceived that he was dying. So he summoned his most honored officers, who had been brought up with him from youth, and divided his kingdom among them while he was still alive. And after Alexander had reigned twelve years, he died. Then his officers began to rule, each in his own place. They all put on crowns after his death, and so did their descendants after them for many years; and they caused many evils on the earth." (see I Maccabees 1:1-9)

For our purposes, we are only concerned with two of the divisions of Alexander's empire: Egypt went to the Ptolemies (who appear in the book of Daniel as the Kings of the South) and Syria went to the Seleucids (who likewise appear in that book as the Kings of the North). For many years, the Ptolemies and Seleucids competed with each other for the right to dominate the homeland of the Hebrews. Eventually, however, a king of the Seleucid Dynasty named Antiochus Epiphanes came to dominate the region, and he was intent on destroying the Jewish religion and making them conform to Greek ways.

The narrative in the first book of Maccabees continues: "After subduing Egypt, Antiochus returned in the one hundred forty-third year. He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with a strong force. He arrogantly entered the sanctuary and took the golden altar, the lampstand for the light, and all its utensils. He took also the table for the bread of the Presence, the cups for drink offerings, the bowls, the golden censers, the curtain, the crowns, and the gold decoration on the front of the temple; he stripped it all off. He took the silver and the gold, and the costly vessels; he took also the hidden treasures that he found. Taking them all, he went into his own land." (see I Maccabees 1:20-24)

From there, the apocryphal books of I and II Maccabees recount the story of how Judas Maccabeus and his brothers rebelled against the Syrian Greeks and eventually established a semi-independent Jewish state. They cleaned out the temple, removed "the abomination of desolation" which Antiochus had placed there during his reign of terror and instituted the Feast of the Dedication (also known as Hanukkah) to commemorate the restoration of Jewish worship centered on the temple. One of Judas' brothers (Simon) was the progenitor of a dynasty of priest-kings (the Hasmoneans) who ruled over the Jews for a hundred years.

Unfortunately, the Hasmoneans grew more corrupt over time and proved unequal to the task of maintaining the independence of their homeland. Indeed, as with the other nations which surrounded the Mediterranean Sea, they eventually succumbed to the expansion of the Roman Empire. In Book 14 of his Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus recounts the story of how the Hasmoneans invited Roman interference in the affairs of their nation and how the Roman General Pompey eventually conquered the territory. Exhausted and defeated, a princess of the now defunct Hasmonean dynasty was forced to marry a loyal ally and servant of the Romans named Herod (known to history by the epithet of "the Great") to give the veneer of legitimacy to his reign when they installed him as their vassal king over the region (see Book 14 of Antiquities).

According to Josephus, it was this Herod who built the temple which appears in the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus Christ. Josephus wrote: "AND now Herod, in the eighteenth year of his reign, and after the acts already mentioned, undertook a very great work, that is, to build of himself the temple of God, and make it larger in compass, and to raise it to a most magnificent altitude, as esteeming it to be the most glorious of all his actions, as it really was, to bring it to perfection; and that this would be sufficient for an everlasting memorial of him..." (see Chapter 11, Book 15 of Antiquities) This was the temple where Jesus was reported to have overturned the tables of the moneychangers.

Finally, Josephus informs us that during this period, many of the followers of the Jewish religion were divided into three sects (Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes) as a reaction to the actions of the Greeks and Hasmoneans. In this connection, it is interesting to note that the narrative contained in the gospels of the New Testament recount a number of confrontations between Jesus and two of these sects (the Pharisees and Sadducees).

Nevertheless, in connection with our overarching theme (How the God of the Hebrews became the God of the Western World), it is interesting to note that the Jews were considered to be a fairly insignificant client state of the Roman Empire at the close of this period. As with the narrative about the Hebrews recorded in the Old Testament, there is nothing in this period that suggests the eventual triumph of the Hebrew God over the gods of the Greeks and Romans. Indeed, the impression of an oppressed and dominated people with little impact on the world beyond their borders is reinforced and strengthened by the story of what happened between the close of the Old Testament and the opening of the New Testament.