CHS2

Alexander’s most influential role in history and his most enduring legacy for New Testament background is his promotion of the process of Hellenization.

Koine (“common”) Greek as the lingua franca, or trade and diplomatic language is one of the most important results of Hellenization for the background to the New Testament.

▪ The Israel of Jesus day was trilingual.

oHebrew – read and spoken in religious contexts

oAramaic – the lingua franca prior to Alexander’s conquest—was the language of the common people

oGreek – was the language of trade and government

▪When Alexander died in 323 BC, a power struggle ensued for control of his empire. War and conflict between his four leading generals eventually resulted in the establishment of two great dynasties.

  1. The dynasty of the Ptolemies was centered in Egypt, with Alexandria as its capital.

  2. The dynasty of the Seleucids was centered in Syria, with Antioch as its capital.

Because Israel was strategically located between Syria and Egypt, the nation became caught in a tug-of-war between these two rivals. The Ptolemies gained control of Israel and ruled her for 125 years. The Jews lived in relative peace and prosperity under Ptolemaic rule.

▪ Alexandria, Egypt, the capital of the Ptolemaic Empire, developed into a major center of scholarship and learning.

▪One of the most significant literary achievements of this period was the translation of the Septuagint (abbreviated LXX), the Greek version of the Old Testament.

▪ The Septuagint became the primary Bible of both Jews of the Diaspora and the early Christians.

▪ Diaspora means “dispersion” and refers to Jews who were not living in Israel but were dispersed throughout the rest of the Mediterranean world.

▪Antiochus IV “Epiphanes.”

▪Under Antiochus IV (175 – 163 BC), Israel would face perhaps its greatest threat to survival ever. Antiochus called himself Epiphanes, “manifest one” — a claim to be a god. His erratic behavior, however, earned him the nickname “Epimanes,” meaning “madman.”

▪167 BC - desecrated the temple and suppressed Judaism

the maccabean revolt

Rebellion broke out in the Judean village of Modein, led by an old priest named Mattathias

▪Mattathias died in 166 BC, leaving his son Judas to lead the revolt (166 – 160 BC).

▪Judas’s prowess in battle earned him the nickname “Maccabeus,” meaning “hammer.”

▪164 BC the temple was liberated and rededicated. The celebration is known as Hanukkah

the hasmonian dynasty

After Judas was killed in battle in 160 BC, leadership passed to his brothers, first Jonathan (160 – 143 BC) and then Simon (143 – 135 BC). Simon eventually gained political independence from the Syrians, taking the title “leader and high priest.” He thus established the Hasmonean dynasty (named after Hasmon, an ancestor of Mattathias), a line of priest-kings which would rule Israel until the Roman occupation in 63 BC.

the roman period

63 BC, the Roman general Pompey captured Jerusalem weakened by a power struggle between two Hasmoneans

▪The conquering Romans made Hyrcanus II high priest and ethnarch (“ruler of a people” — a title for a minor ruler).

▪The real power behind the throne, however, lay with Hyrcanus’s advisor, an Idumean named Antipater

▪The Romans made Antipater governor of Judea, and he appointed his sons Phasael and Herod as military governors of Jerusalem and Galilee.

herod the great

Appointed by the Romans king of Judea in 40 BC. But met with protests by the Jews

▪He defeated and executed Antigonus, the last of the Hasmonean rulers.

▪Herod “the Great” ruled as king of the Jews under Roman authority for thirty-three years, from 37 – 4 BC.

the jewish revolt

Various factors that led to the revolt:

1. Traditional conflict between Hellenizers and conservatives

2. Widespread corruption of and oppression by wealthy aristocrats and landowners

3. Severe Roman taxation
4. Heavy-handed Roman suppression of opposition
5. At times incompetent and insensitive Roman administration

Gessius Florus was procurator of Judea while Nero was the emperor. ▪ General Vespasian was sent by emperor Nero to put down the revolt.

He began conquering the cities of Galilee and Judea

  • ▪  Nero died and Vespasian returned to Rome and succeeded Nero as the new emperor.

  • ▪  Titus, son of Vespasian complete the battle for Jerusalem.

  • ▪  In AD 70, after a horrific three-year siege, Jerusalem was taken and the temple destroyed.

pockets of Jewish resistance held out for several years after Jerusalem’s collapse. The last citadel to fall was the mountaintop fortress at Masada in AD 73.

▪To reach it, the Romans built a massive earthen ramp (still visible today).

▪According to Josephus, when the Romans finally breached the walls, they found that the 900 Jewish defenders had committed suicide rather than surrender.

AFTER THE WAR

Judea was reorganized as a Roman province

▪The war had a profound and transforming effect on Judaism.

▪the priestly hierarchy lost its influence and eventually disappeared from history.

▪Study of Torah and worship in the synagogue replaced the sacrificial system as the heart of Jewish religious life.

Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, in the years after the Jewish War established an academy for the study of the law atJamnia (or Jabneh) on the Mediterranean coast.

▪The discussions of this school unified Judaism into a relatively homogenous religious movement centered on the study of the law.

the second jewish rebellion

  • led by Simon bar Koseba, nicknamed “Bar Kokh-ba” (“son of the star”) broke out in AD 132 when the emperor Hadrian banned circumcision and ordered the building of a temple of Jupiter on the Temple Mount.

  • ▪  by AD 135, the rebellion had been crushed by the Roman legions this timeending Israel’s existence as a political state.

  • ▪  Jerusalem was made into a pagan city by the Romans. Jews were forbidden to enter Jerusalem. Circumcision, observance of the Sabbath, and study of the law were banned.

    ▪Not until 1948 would Israel emerge again as a political state.

Contributions of the Greeks and the Romans to world of the

NT

greek contributions

➢Hellenism – Geek culture
➢Consisted of art and literature, sculpture and architecture,

philosophy and religious thought

➢The Greek spirit of inquiry – the desire to search for truth and knowledge as shown in the lives of Greek writers and thinkers (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle), etc.

characteristics of hellenistic period

➢Syncretism of its culture – the combination or fusion of arts, philosophies and faiths. (Greek influence was felt by the people, but in turn, Greek culture was modified).

➢Universalism – one world under the control of Greek culture ➢Individualism – an emphasis on the importance of the

individual as a person

➢Democratization of learning, particularly philosophy. Education was made available to more people

roman contributions

Characteristics of Augustus Reign

➢Pax Romana (Roman Peace)

➢Certainty and safety of life

➢Freedom of ideas

➢Cosmopolitan spirit

the darker side of the greco-roman world

Of course, peace is a relative term, and the Romans enforced this “peace” through the ruthless suppression of revolt. The Roman historian Tacitus quotes the Scottish leader Calgacus on the eve of a battle with the Roman legions:

“Robbery, butchery and rapine they call government; they create a desert and call it peace.”

— Tacitus, quoting the Scottish leader Calgacus’s assessment of the Pax Romana (Life of Cnaeus Julius Agricola, 30)

ROMAN TAXATION

  • ▪  The cost of maintaining the vast Roman Empire was enormous, and Rome imposed a variety of taxes on its citizens.

  • ▪  Publicans, or “tax farmers,” used to oversee the collection. This system was open to great abuse and corruption, since Rome did not generally control the surcharges imposed by their agents.

  • ▪  Zacchaeus is identified in Luke as a “chief tax collector,” probably a tax farmer with authority over other collectors (Luke 19:2).

    ▪ Levi may be a subordinate to a tax farmer (Mark 2:14, par.).

The weight of this taxation could be devastating to a poor craftsman or farmer in Israel. Tax collectors were despised, not only because of their reputation for extortion but also because they worked for the hated Romans.

▪Jesus’ association with tax collectors was an important part of his identification with the sinners and outcasts in Israel.

Sexual immorality –
▪Practice of prostitution (fornication – fornix [vault]) – were slave

girls and undesired infants were usually the victims.
▪Slavery – prisoners of war, etc., harnessed for manual labor

▪Cruel means of punishment –
▪Crucifixion -- method for executing slaves and political criminals ▪Burning at the stake
▪Forcing condemned men to fight as gladiators