Day 223 – The time between: The Hellenistic period

(336 to 165 BC)

“And in his place shall arise a vile person, to whom they will not give the honor of royalty; but he shall come in peaceably, and seize the kingdom by intrigue. With the force of a flood they shall be swept away from before him and be broken, and also the prince of the covenant.” Daniel 11:21-22

With the fall of Persia to Alexander the Great, the era of the Eastern empires came to an end. Western might came to dominate the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Indeed, the Greek Empire became the largest the world had ever seen, extending even into Western India. Although Alexander the Great died young amid suspicious circumstances, his empire continued under the rule of his generals, who split it into four sections. Ptolemy I Soter claimed both Egypt and Israel. Politically, little changed for the Jews under Greek and Ptolemaic rule. Although Jews, both at home and abroad, resisted adapting to Greek religion, they couldn’t escape all aspects of Hellenistic influence and soon began to speak Greek, the trade language of the empire. Their worship came to reflect a Greek preference for aesthetics over content, specifically a group of Hebrews who translated the scriptures into Greek – they were called the Septuagint.

In 198 BC, the Syrian section of the empire overthrew the Egyptian section, and for the first time, Israel came under the rule of a leader who tried to stamp out Judaism completely. Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the Temple, forbade sacrifices to God, outlawed circumcision, forced them to eat unclean food, and cancelled Sabbaths and festival days. Some attempted conciliations with Antiochus, others resisted. These two groups were called the Hellenists and Hasidim (pious ones), forerunners of the Pharisees. Also, a group of people loyal to the high priest emerged, the precursors of the Sadducees.

The conflict finally reached a boiling point when an elderly priest named Mattathias refused to offer a required pagan sacrifice. He killed a Syrian officer, fled to the hills, and called faithful Jews everywhere to join him in rebellion. His son, Judas Maccabeus, eventually overcame the Syrians and achieved independence for Israel, its last period of self-rule until the emergence of the modern State of Israel in 1948.

Prayer: Father, what an interesting Hellenistic period where the Pharisees and Sadducees came into existence. Throughout the entire history of Israel and in these in-between periods, Your enemy tried to destroy Your people. Even with this, Lord, You had a plan in motion for Jesus to be the fulfilment of the law and for us to live in freedom in our faith. Amen.