D. Falk, 2002
1. Jewish Identity
1.1. Jewish Writings under Ptolemaic Rule
1.1.1. Qohelet (Ecclesiastes)
[Hebrew Bible, 3rd c. BCE, a book of “wisdom” by a wisdom teacher who writes partly under the guise of Solomon. It reflects aristocratic Jewish piety in Judea under Ptolemaic rule.]
Eccl 3:1 (RSV) For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
9 What gain has the worker from his toil?
10 I have seen the business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time; also he has put eternity into man’s mind, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; 13 also that it is God’s gift to man that every one should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil. 14 I know that whatever God does endures for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has made it so, in order that men should fear before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.
16 Moreover I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. 17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time for every matter, and for every work. 18 I said in my heart with regard to the sons of men that God is testing them to show them that they are but beasts. 19 For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts; for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. 21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down to the earth? 22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should enjoy his work, for that is his lot; who can bring him to see what will be after him?
4:1 Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. 2 And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive; 3 but better than both is he who has not yet been, and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.
4 Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. . . .
4:13 Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king . . .
5:1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know that they are doing evil. 2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven, and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few.
5:4 When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. 5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.
5:8 If you see in a province the poor oppressed and justice and right violently taken away, do not be amazed at the matter; for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. 9 But in all, a king is an advantage to a land with cultivated fields.
10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money; nor he who loves wealth, with gain: this also is vanity. [RSV]
1.1.2. Ben Sira (or Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus)
[Jewish Apocrypha, ca 180 BCE. A collection of wisdom sayings by an aristocratic teacher from Jerusalem and reflects many features of Jewish piety and society under Ptolemaic and early Seleucid rule]
[Prologue by his grandson] . . . my grandfather Jesus, after devoting himself especially to the reading of the law and the prophets and the other books of our fathers, and after acquiring considerable proficiency in them, was himself also led to write something pertaining to instruction and wisdom, in order that, by becoming conversant with this also, those who love learning should make even greater progress in living according to the law
1:1 All wisdom is from the Lord . . .
1:4 Wisdom was created before all other things . . .
4:5 Do not avert your eye from the needy . . .
4:9 Deliver him who is wronged from the hand of the wrongdoer; and do not be fainthearted in judging a case. 10 Be like a father to orphans, and instead of a husband to their mother . . .
10:1–4 A wise magistrate will educate his people, and the rule of an understanding man will be well ordered. 2 Like the magistrate of the people, so are his officials; and like the ruler of the city, so are all its inhabitants. 3 An undisciplined king will ruin his people, but a city will grow through the understanding of its rulers. 4 The government of the earth is in the hands of the Lord, and over it he will raise up the right man for the time (RSV)
[His description of the ideal ruler may be a veiled critique of Ptolemaic rulers]
13:4 A rich man will exploit you if you can be of use to him, but if you are in need he will forsake you.
31:5–8 He who loves gold will not be justified, and he who pursues money will be led astray by it. 6 Many have come to ruin because of gold, and their destruction has met them face to face. 7 It is a stumbling block to those who are devoted to it, and every fool will be taken captive by it. 8 Blessed is the rich man who is found blameless, and who does not go after gold. (RSV)
35:1–10 He who keeps the law makes many offerings . . . and he who gives alms sacrifices a thank offering . . . 4 Do not appear before the Lord empty-handed . . . The sacrifice of a righteous man is acceptable . . . Glorify the Lord generously, and do not stint the first fruits of your hand
35:16–17 He whose service is pleasing to the Lord will be accepted, and his prayer will reach to the clouds. 17 The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds . . .
36:1–22 [A Prayer for Israel]
Have mercy upon us, O Lord, the God of all, and look upon us,
2 and cause the fear of thee to fall upon all the nations.
3 Lift up thy hand against foreign nations
and let them see thy might. . . .
7 Rouse thy anger and pour out thy wrath;
destroy the adversary and wipe out the enemy.
8 Hasten the day, and remember the appointed time,
and let people recount thy mighty deeds. . . .
11 Gather all the tribes of Jacob,
and give them their inheritance, as at the beginning.
12 Have mercy, O Lord, upon the people called by thy name,
upon Israel, whom thou hast likened to a first-born son.
13 Have pity on the city of thy sanctuary,
Jerusalem, the place of thy rest.
14 Fill Zion with the celebration of thy wondrous deeds,
and thy temple with thy glory. [RSV]
1.1.3. Tobit
[Jewish Apocrypha, 4th or 3rd c. BCE. It tells the fictional story of a Jewish family exiled in Assyria following the Assyrian conquest of Israel in 722 BCE. It reflects many features of popular Jewish piety in Judea under Ptolemaic rule.]
1:1 I, Tobit, walked in the ways of truth and righteousness all the days of my life, and I performed many acts of charity to my brethren and countrymen who went with me into the land of the Assyrians, to Nineveh. . . .
5 All the tribes that joined in apostasy used to sacrifice to the calf Baal, and so did the house of Naphtali my forefather. 6 But I alone went often to Jerusalem for the feasts, as it is ordained for all Israel by an everlasting decree. Taking the first fruits and the tithes of my produce and the first shearings, I would give these to the priests, the sons of Aaron, at the altar. 7 Of all my produce I would give a tenth to the sons of Levi who ministered at Jerusalem; a second tenth I would sell, and I would go and spend the proceeds each year at Jerusalem; 8 the third tenth I would give to those to whom it was my duty, as Deborah my father’s mother had commanded me, for I was left an orphan by my father. 9 When I became a man I married Anna, a member of our family, and by her I became the father of Tobias.
10 Now when I was carried away captive to Nineveh, all my brethren and my relatives ate the food of the Gentiles; 11 but I kept myself from eating it, 12 because I remembered God with all my heart. . .
16 In the days of Shalmaneser I performed many acts of charity to my brethren. 17 I would give my bread to the hungry and my clothing to the naked; and if I saw any one of my people dead and thrown out behind the wall of Nineveh, I would bury him. 18 And if Sennacherib the king put to death any who came fleeing from Judea, I buried them secretly. . . . Then one of the men of Nineveh went and informed the king about me, that I was burying them; so I hid myself. When I learned that I was being searched for, to be put to death, I left home in fear. 20 Then all my property was confiscated and nothing was left to me except my wife Anna and my son Tobias.
[Tobias becomes blind and prays to God. At the same time, a young woman named Sarah, a relative, is plagued by a demon named Asmodeus who has killed every one of her 7 husbands on their wedding night. She to prays to God.]
3:16 The prayer of both was heard in the presence of the glory of the great God. 17 And Raphael was sent to heal the two of them: to scale away the white films of Tobit’s eyes; to give Sarah the daughter of Raguel in marriage to Tobias the son of Tobit, and to bind Asmodeus the evil demon . . .
[Tobit gives advice to his son Tobias, who is setting out on a journey]
4:5 “Remember the Lord our God all your days, my son, and refuse to sin or to transgress his commandments. . . . 7 Give alms from your possessions to all who live uprightly, and do not let your eye begrudge the gift when you make it. . . . 10 For charity delivers from death and keeps you from entering the darkness; 11 and for all who practice it charity is an excellent offering in the presence of the Most High. 12 “Beware, my son, of all immorality. First of all take a wife from among the descendants of your fathers and do not marry a foreign woman . . .
[Tobias meets an angel, who instructs him in the making of a magic potion]
5:4 . . . he found Raphael [the angel of healing], who was an angel, 5 but Tobias did not know it. . . .
6:1 Now as they proceeded on their way they came at evening to the Tigris river and camped there. 2 Then the young man went down to wash himself. A fish leaped up from the river and would have swallowed the young man; 3 and the angel said to him, “Catch the fish.” So the young man seized the fish and threw it up on the land. 4 Then the angel said to him, “Cut open the fish and take the heart and liver and gall and put them away safely.” 5 So the young man did as the angel told him; and they roasted and ate the fish. And they both continued on their way until they came near to Ecbatana. 6 Then the young man said to the angel, “Brother Azarias, of what use is the liver and heart and gall of the fish?” 7 He replied, “As for the heart and liver, if a demon or evil spirit gives trouble to any one, you make a smoke from these before the man or woman, and that person will never be troubled again. 8 And as for the gall, anoint with it a man who has white films in his eyes, and he will be cured.” . . .
10 The angel said to the young man, “Brother, today we shall stay with Raguel. He is your relative, and he has an only daughter named Sarah. I will suggest that she be given to you in marriage, 11 because you are entitled to her and to her inheritance, for you are her only eligible kinsman. 12 The girl is also beautiful and sensible. Now listen to my plan. I will speak to her father, and as soon as we return from Rages we will celebrate the marriage. For I know that Raguel, according to the law of Moses, cannot give her to another man without incurring the penalty of death, because you rather than any other man are entitled to the inheritance.”
13 Then the young man said to the angel, “Brother Azarias, I have heard that the girl has been given to seven husbands and that each died in the bridal chamber. 14 Now I am the only son my father has, and I am afraid that if I go in I will die as those before me did, for a demon is in love with her, and he harms no one except those who approach her. So now I fear that I may die and bring the lives of my father and mother to the grave in sorrow on my account. And they have no other son to bury them.”
15 But the angel said to him, “Do you not remember the words with which your father commanded you to take a wife from among your own people? Now listen to me, brother, for she will become your wife; and do not worry about the demon, for this very night she will be given to you in marriage. 16 When you enter the bridal chamber, you shall take live ashes of incense and lay upon them some of the heart and liver of the fish so as to make a smoke. 17 Then the demon will smell it and flee away, and will never again return. And when you approach her, rise up, both of you, and cry out to the merciful God, and he will save you and have mercy on you. Do not be afraid, for she was destined for you from eternity. You will save her, and she will go with you, and I suppose that you will have children by her.” When Tobias heard these things, he fell in love with her and yearned deeply for her.
7:1 When they reached Ecbatana and arrived at the house of Raguel, Sarah met them and greeted them. They returned her greeting, and she brought them into the house. . . . 8 They received them very warmly; and they killed a ram from the flock and set large servings of food before them . . .
8:1 When they had finished eating, they escorted Tobias in to her. 2 As he went he remembered the words of Raphael, and he took the live ashes of incense and put the heart and liver of the fish upon them and made a smoke. 3 And when the demon smelled the odor he fled to the remotest parts of Egypt, and the angel bound him. [RSV]
1.1.4. 3 Maccabees
[Jewish Apocrypha, 2nd or 1st c. BCE; but describes conditions of the Jews under the reign of Ptolemy IV (221–204 BCE), and seems to reflect at least a nugget of historical information, although the story is very much embellished with legend]
3 Mac 1:6 (RSV) Now that he had foiled the plot, Ptolemy [IV Philopater] decided to visit the neighboring cities and encourage them. 7 By doing this, and by endowing their sacred enclosures with gifts, he strengthened the morale of his subjects.
8 Since the Jews had sent some of their council and elders to greet him, to bring him gifts of welcome, and to congratulate him on what had happened, he was all the more eager to visit them as soon as possible. 9 After he had arrived in Jerusalem, he offered sacrifice to the supreme God and made thank-offerings and did what was fitting for the holy place. Then, upon entering the place and being impressed by its excellence and its beauty, 10 he marveled at the good order of the temple, and conceived a desire to enter the holy of holies. 11 When they said that this was not permitted, because not even members of their own nation were allowed to enter, nor even all of the priests, but only the high priest who was pre-eminent over all, and he only once a year, the king was by no means persuaded. 12 Even after the law had been read to him, he did not cease to maintain that he ought to enter, saying, “Even if those men are deprived of this honor, I ought not to be.” 13 And he inquired why, when he entered every other temple, no one there had stopped him. . . .
16 Then the priests in all their vestments prostrated themselves and entreated the supreme God to aid in the present situation and to avert the violence of this evil design, and they filled the temple with cries and tears; 17 and those who remained behind in the city were agitated and hurried out . . . crowded together at the most high temple. 21 Various were the supplications of those gathered there because of what the king was profanely plotting. 22 In addition, the bolder of the citizens . . . shouted to their fellows to take arms and die courageously for the ancestral law, and created a considerable disturbance in the holy place; and being barely restrained by the old men and the elders, they resorted to the same posture of supplication as the others. . . .
2:25 When he [Ptolemy] arrived in Egypt, he increased in his deeds of malice . . . 27 He proposed to inflict public disgrace upon the Jewish community, and he set up a stone on the tower in the courtyard with this inscription: 28 “None of those who do not sacrifice shall enter their sanctuaries, and all Jews shall be subjected to a registration involving poll tax and to the status of slaves. Those who object to this are to be taken by force and put to death; 29 those who are registered are also to be branded on their bodies by fire with the ivy-leaf symbol of Dionysus, and they shall also be reduced to their former limited status.” 30 In order that he might not appear to be an enemy to all, he inscribed below: “But if any of them prefer to join those who have been initiated into the mysteries, they shall have equal citizenship with the Alexandrians.”
31 Now some, however, with an obvious abhorrence of the price to be exacted for maintaining the religion of their city, readily gave themselves up, since they expected to enhance their reputation by their future association with the king. 32 But the majority acted firmly with a courageous spirit and did not depart from their religion; and by paying money in exchange for life they confidently attempted to save themselves from the registration. 33 They remained resolutely hopeful of obtaining help, and they abhorred those who separated themselves from them, considering them to be enemies of the Jewish nation, and depriving them of common fellowship and mutual help . . .
3:1 When the impious king comprehended this situation, he became so infuriated that not only was he enraged against those Jews who lived in Alexandria, but was still more bitterly hostile toward those in the countryside; and he ordered that all should promptly be gathered into one place, and put to death by the most cruel means. 2 While these matters were being arranged, a hostile rumor was circulated against the Jewish nation . . . that they hindered others from the observance of their customs. 3 The Jews, however, continued to maintain good will and unswerving loyalty toward the dynasty; 4 but because they worshiped God and conducted themselves by his law, they kept their separateness with respect to foods. For this reason they appeared hateful to some . . .
[Ptolemy issues a decree against the Jews. This decree is fictional, but at least reflects the perceived threat the Jewish community felt from their neighbors during times of unrest]
12 “King Ptolemy Philopator to his generals and solciers in Egypt and all its districts . . . 25 Therefore we have given orders that, as soon as this letter shall arrive, you are to send to us those who live among you, together with their wives and children, with insulting and harsh treatment, and bound securely with iron fetters, to suffer the sure and shameful death that befits enemies. . . . 27 But whoever shelters any of the Jews, old people or children or even infants, will be tortured to death with the most hateful torments, together with his family. 28 Any one willing to give information will receive the property of the one who incurs the punishment, and also two thousand drachmas from the royal treasury, and will be awarded his freedom. 29 Every place detected sheltering a Jew is to be made unapproachable and burned with fire, and shall become useless for all time to any mortal creature.” . . .
[In another legendary aspect of the story, the Jews are miraculously saved, and Ptolemy comes to acknowledge the superiority of the Jewish God; the Jews then exact revenge on fellow Jews who had compromised with the Greeks, and celebrated the day as a festival (compare the Esther story)].
7:14 And so on their way they punished and put to a public and shameful death any whom they met of their fellow-countrymen who had become defiled. 15 In that day they put to death more than three hundred men; and they kept the day as a joyful festival, since they had destroyed the profaners . . . [RSV]
1.1.5. Judith
[Jewish Apocrypha, 2nd c. BCE. It tells a legendary story set during the time of the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar’s attack on a Judea; it reflects many features of popular piety during the Greek period]
4:1 By this time the people of Israel living in Judea heard of everything that Holofernes, the general of Nebuchadnezzar the king of the Assyrians, had done to the nations, and how he had plundered and destroyed all their temples; 2 they were therefore very greatly terrified at his approach, and were alarmed both for Jerusalem and for the temple of the Lord their God. 3 For they had only recently returned from the captivity, and all the people of Judea were newly gathered together, and the sacred vessels and the altar and the temple had been consecrated after their profanation. 4 So they sent to every district of Samaria, and to Kona and Beth-horon and Belmain and Jericho and to Choba and Aesora and the valley of Salem, 5 and immediately seized all the high hilltops and fortified the villages on them and stored up food in preparation for war — since their fields had recently been harvested. 6 And Joakim, the high priest, who was in Jerusalem at the time, wrote to the people of Bethulia and Betomesthaim, which faces Esdraelon opposite the plain near Dothan, 7 ordering them to seize the passes up into the hills, since by them Judea could be invaded, and it was easy to stop any who tried to enter, for the approach was narrow, only wide enough for two men at the most. 8 So the Israelites did as Joakim the high priest and the senate of the whole people of Israel, in session at Jerusalem, had given order. 9 And every man of Israel cried out to God with great fervor, and they humbled themselves with much fasting . . .
6:18 Then the people fell down and worshiped God, and cried out to him, and said, 19 “O Lord God of heaven, behold their arrogance, and have pity on the humiliation of our people, and look this day upon the faces of those who are consecrated to thee. . . .
8:1 At that time Judith heard about these things . . . 4 Judith had lived at home as a widow for three years and four months. 5 She set up a tent for herself on the roof of her house, and girded sackcloth about her loins and wore the garments of her widowhood. 6 She fasted all the days of her widowhood, except the day before the sabbath and the sabbath itself, the day before the new moon and the day of the new moon, and the feasts and days of rejoicing of the house of Israel. 7 She was beautiful in appearance, and had a very lovely face; and her husband Manasseh had left her gold and silver, and men and women slaves, and cattle, and fields; and she maintained this estate. 8 No one spoke ill of her, for she feared God with great devotion.
8:9 When Judith heard the wicked words spoken by the people against the ruler, . . . she sent . . . to summon . . . the elders of her city. 11 They came to her, and she said to them,
“Listen to me, rulers of the people of Bethulia! What you have said to the people today is not right; you have even sworn and pronounced this oath between God and you, promising to surrender the city to our enemies unless the Lord turns and helps us within so many days. 12 Who are you, that have put God to the test this day, and are setting yourselves up in the place of God among the sons of men? . . . 18 For never in our generation, nor in these present days, has there been any tribe or family or people or city of ours which worshiped gods made with hands, as was done in days gone by — 19 and that was why our fathers were handed over to the sword, and to be plundered, and so they suffered a great catastrophe before our enemies. 20 But we know no other god but him . . .” . . .
9:1 Then Judith fell upon her face, and put ashes on her head, and uncovered the sackcloth she was wearing; and at the very time when that evening’s incense was being offered in the house of God in Jerusalem, Judith cried out to the Lord with a loud voice, and said, “. . . 9 Behold their pride, and send thy wrath upon their heads; give to me, a widow, the strength to do what I plan. 10 By the deceit of my lips strike down the slave with the prince and the prince with his servant; crush their arrogance by the hand of a woman. . . . 14 And cause thy whole nation and every tribe to know and understand that thou art God, the God of all power and might, and that there is no other who protects the people of Israel but thou alone!”
10:1 When Judith had ceased crying out to the God of Israel . . . she . . . 4 . . . made herself very beautiful, to entice the eyes of all men who might see her. . . . 6 Then they went out to the city gate of Bethulia. . . 10 . . . Judith went out, she and her maid with her; and the men of the city watched her until she had gone down the mountain and passed through the valley and they could no longer see her.
11 The women went straight on through the valley; and an Assyrian patrol met her 12 and took her into custody, and asked her, “To what people do you belong, and where are you coming from, and where are you going?” She replied, “I am a daughter of the Hebrews, but I am fleeing from them, for they are about to be handed over to you to be devoured. 13 I am on my way to the presence of Holofernes the commander of your army, to give him a true report; and I will show him a way by which he can go and capture all the hill country without losing one of his men, captured or slain.” 14 When the men heard her words, and observed her face — she was in their eyes marvelously beautiful — they said to her, 15 “You have saved your life by hurrying down to the presence of our lord. Go at once to his tent; some of us will escort you and hand you over to him. 16 And when you stand before him, do not be afraid in your heart, but tell him just what you have said, and he will treat you well.” 17 They chose from their number a hundred men to accompany her and her maid, and they brought them to the tent of Holofernes. . .
12:10 On the fourth day Holofernes held a banquet . . . And he said to Bagoas, the eunuch who had charge of his personal affairs, “Go now and persuade the Hebrew woman who is in your care to join us and eat and drink with us. 12 For it will be a disgrace if we let such a woman go without enjoying her company, for if we do not seduce her she will laugh at us.” . . . 14 And Judith said, “Who am I, to refuse my lord? Surely whatever pleases him I will do at once, and it will be a joy to me until the day of my death!” 15 So she got up and arrayed herself in all her woman’s finery, and her maid went and spread on the ground for her before Holofernes the soft fleeces which she had received from Bagoas for her daily use, so that she might recline on them when she ate.
16 Then Judith came in and lay down, and Holofernes heart was ravished with her and he was moved with great desire to possess her; for he had been waiting for an opportunity to deceive her, ever since the day he first saw her. 17 So Holofernes said to her. “Drink now, and be merry with us!” 18 Judith said, “I will drink now, my lord, because my life means more to me today than in all the days since I was born.” 19 Then she took and ate and drank before him what her maid had prepared. 20 And Holofernes was greatly pleased with her, and drank a great quantity of wine, much more than he had ever drunk in any one day since he was born.
13:1 When evening came, his slaves quickly withdrew, and Bagoas closed the tent from outside and shut out the attendants from his master’s presence; and they went to bed, for they all were weary because the banquet had lasted long. 2 So Judith was left alone in the tent , with Holofernes stretched out on his bed, for he was overcome with wine.
3 Now Judith had told her maid to stand outside the bedchamber and to wait for her to come out, as she did every day; for she said she would be going out for her prayers. And she had said the same thing to Bagoas. 4 So every one went out, and no one, either small or great, was left in the bedchamber. Then Judith, standing beside his bed, said in her heart, “O Lord God of all might, look in this hour upon the work of my hands for the exaltation of Jerusalem. 5 For now is the time to help thy inheritance, and to carry out my undertaking for the destruction of the enemies who have risen up against us.”
6 She went up to the post at the end of the bed, above Holofernes head, and took down his sword that hung there. 7 She came close to his bed and took hold of the hair of his head, and said, “Give me strength this day, O Lord God of Israel!” 8 And she struck his neck twice with all her might, and severed it from his body. 9 Then she tumbled his body off the bed and pulled down the canopy from the posts; after a moment she went out, and gave Holofernes head to her maid, 10 who placed it in her food bag.
Then the two of them went out together, as they were accustomed to go for prayer; and they passed through the camp and circled around the valley and went up the mountain to Bethulia and came to its gates. 11 Judith called out from afar to the watchmen at the gates, “Open, open the gate! God, our God, is still with us, to show his power in Israel, and his strength against our enemies, even as he has done this day!” . . .
16:1 Then Judith began this thanksgiving before all Israel, and all the people loudly sang this song of praise. . . .
“ . . . 17 Woe to the nations that rise up against my people!
The Lord Almighty will take vengeance on them in the day of judgment;
fire and worms he will give to their flesh;
they shall weep in pain for ever.”
18 When they arrived at Jerusalem they worshiped God. As soon as the people were purified, they offered their burnt offerings, their freewill offerings, and their gifts. 19 Judith also dedicated to God all the vessels of Holofernes, which the people had given her; and the canopy which she took for herself from his bedchamber she gave as a votive offering to the Lord. 20 So the people continued feasting in Jerusalem before the sanctuary for three months, and Judith remained with them. [RSV]
1.1.6. Book of Watchers, 1 Enoch 1–36
[Jewish Pseudepigrapha. The work known as 1 Enoch is a collection of five apocalyptic writings (revelations, dreams, visions) concerning the obscure character Enoch. The Book of Watchers is a visionary explanation of the curious story in Genesis 6 about angels raping humans and producing giants. In the Book of Watchers, this story is presented as the source of evil in the world, resulting in violence and warfare. This may be a commentary on the evil that the author sees in his day, as the the Diadochoi fight over Alexander’s empire and the Jewish people feel powerless against the staggering might of these Hellenistic rulers; the message is that it is demonic power behind these mighty armies–their days are numbered and they will destroy themselves]
6:1 And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto 2 them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: ‘Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men 3 and beget us children.’ And Semjaza, who was their leader, said unto them: ‘I fear ye will not 4 indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.’ And they all answered him and said: ‘Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations 5 not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.’ Then sware they all together and bound themselves 6 by mutual imprecations upon it. And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn 7 and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And these are the names of their leaders: Samlazaz, their leader, Araklba, Rameel, Kokablel, Tamlel, Ramlel, Danel, Ezeqeel, Baraqijal, 8 Asael, Armaros, Batarel, Ananel, Zaqlel, Samsapeel, Satarel, Turel, Jomjael, Sariel. These are their chiefs of tens.
7:1 And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms 2 and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. And they 3 became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed 4 all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against 5 them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and 6 fish, and to devour one another’s flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.
8:1 And Azazel taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all 2 colouring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they 3 were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjaza taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, ‘Armaros the resolving of enchantments, Baraqijal (taught) astrology, Kokabel the constellations, Ezeqeel the knowledge of the clouds, Araqiel the signs of the earth, Shamsiel the signs of the sun, and Sariel the course of the moon. And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven . . .
9:1 And then Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel looked down from heaven and saw much blood being 2 shed upon the earth, and all lawlessness being wrought upon the earth. . . .
10:4 . . . the Lord said to Raphael: ‘Bind Azazel hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness
10:9 And to Gabriel said the Lord: ‘Proceed against the bastards and the reprobates, and against the children of fornication: and destroy [the children of fornication and] the children of the Watchers from amongst men [and cause them to go forth]: send them one against the other that they may destroy each other in 10 battle . . .
(Translation R. H. Charles, from http://www.ccel.org/c/charles/otpseudepig)
1.2. The Septuagint: Jewish Scriptures in Greek
1.2.1. The Septuagint. Letter of Aristeas
[Jewish Pseudepigrapha, 2nd c. BCE. The Letter of (Pseudo) Aristeas, written under the pseudonym of Aristeas and embellished with legend, tells of the translation of the Jewish Scriptures into Greek during the time of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, Greek ruler of Egypt 283–246 BCE)]
(1) Since I have collected Material for a memorable history of my visit to Eleazar the High priest of the Jews . . . I have attempted to draw up a clear exposition of the matter for you, for I perceive that you possess a natural love of learning . . .
(9) Demetrius of Phalerum, the president of the king’s library, received vast sums of money, for the purpose of collecting together, as far as he possibly could, all the books in the world . . . “More than two hundred thousand, O king, and I shall make endeavour in the immediate future to gather together the remainder also, so that the total of five hundred thousand may be reached. I am told that the laws of the Jews are worth transcribing and deserve a place in (11) your library.” “. . . The books of the law of the Jews (with some few others) are absent from the library. They are written in the Hebrew characters and language and have been carelessly interpreted, and do not represent the original text as I am (31) informed by those who know; for they have never had a king’s care to protect them. It is necessary that these should be made accurate for your library since the law which they contain, in as much as it is of divine origin, is full of wisdom and free from all blemish . . . ”
(33) . . . the king ordered a letter to be written to Eleazar on the matter . . .
(35) “King Ptolemy sends greeting and salutation to the High Priest Eleazar. Since there are many Jews settled in our realm who were carried off from Jerusalem by the Persians at the time of their (36) power and many more who came with my father into Egypt as captives . . . when I ascended the throne, adopted a kindly attitude towards all (37) my subjects, and more particularly to those who were citizens of yours – I have set at liberty more than a hundred thousand captives . . .
I have determined that your law shall be translated from the Hebrew tongue which is in use amongst you (39) into the Greek language, that these books may be added to the other royal books in my library. It will be a kindness on your part and a regard for my zeal if you will select six elders from each of your tribes, men of noble life and skilled in your law and able to interpret it, that in questions of dispute we may be able to discover the verdict in which the majority agree, for the investigation is of the highest possible importance. I hope to win great renown by the accomplishment of this (40) work. I have sent Andreas, the chief of my bodyguard, and Aristeas – men whom I hold in high esteem – to lay the matter before you and present you with a hundred talents of silver, the firstfruits of my offering for the temple and the sacrifices and other religious rites. If you will write to me concerning your wishes in these matters, you will confer a great favour upon me and afford me a new pledge of friendship, for all your wishes shall be carried out as speedily as possible. Farewell.’ . . .
(172) And Eleazar, after offering the sacrifice, and selecting the envoys, and preparing many gifts for the (173) king, despatched us on our journey in great security. . . . (176) When they entered with the gifts which had been sent with them and the valuable parchments, on which the law was inscribed in gold in Jewish characters, for the parchment was wonderfully prepared and the connexion between the pages had been so effected as to be invisible, the king as soon (177) as he saw them began to ask them about the books. And when they had taken the rolls out of their coverings and unfolded the pages, the king stood still for a long time and then making obeisance about seven times, he said: ‘I thank you, my friends, and I thank him that sent you still more, and (178) most of all God, whose oracles these are.’ . . .
(301) Three days later Demetrius . . . assembled them in a house, which had been built upon the sea-shore, of great beauty and in a secluded situation, and invited them to carry out the work of translation, since everything that they needed for the purpose (302) was placed at their disposal. So they set to work comparing their several results and making them agree, and whatever they agreed upon was suitably copied out under the direction of Demetrius. . . . And as is the custom of all the Jews, they washed their hands in the sea and prayed to God and then devoted themselves to reading and (306) translating the particular passage upon which they were engaged, and I put the question to them, Why it was that they washed their hands before they prayed? And they explained that it was a token that they had done no evil (for every form of activity is wrought by means of the hands) since in their noble and holy way they regard everything as a symbol of righteousness and truth.
(307) As I have already said, they met together daily in the place which was delightful for its quiet and its brightness and applied themselves to their task. And it so chanced that the work of translation was completed in seventy-two days, just as if this had been arranged of set purpose.
(308) When the work was completed, Demetrius collected together the Jewish population in the place where the translation had been made, and read it over to all, in the presence of the translators, who met with a great reception also from the people, because of the great benefits which they had (309) conferred upon them. They bestowed warm praise upon Demetrius, too, and urged him to have the whole law transcribed and present a copy to their leaders. (310) After the books had been read, the priests and the elders of the translators and the Jewish community and the leaders of the people stood up and said, that since so excellent and sacred and accurate a translation had been made, it was only right that it should remain as it was and no (311) alteration should be made in it. And when the whole company expressed their approval, they bade them pronounce a curse in accordance with their custom upon any one who should make any alteration either by adding anything or changing in any way whatever any of the words which had been written or making any omission. This was a very wise precaution to ensure that the book might be preserved for all the future time unchanged. (312) When the matter was reported to the king, he rejoiced greatly, for he felt that the design which he had formed had been safely carried out. The whole book was read over to him and he was greatly astonished at the spirit of the lawgiver. And he said to Demetrius, ‘How is it that none of the historians or the poets have ever thought it worth their while to allude to such a wonderful (313) achievement?’ And he replied, ‘Because the law is sacred and of divine origin. And some of those who formed the intention of dealing with it have been smitten by God and therefore desisted from (314) their purpose.’ He said that he had heard from Theopompus that he had been driven out of his mind for more than thirty days because he intended to insert in his history some of the incidents from the earlier and somewhat unreliable translations of the law. When he had recovered (315) a little, he besought God to make it clear to him why the misfortune had befallen him. And it was revealed to him in a dream, that from idle curiosity he was wishing to communicate sacred truths to common men, and that if he desisted he would recover his health. I have heard, too, from the lips (316) of Theodektes, one of the tragic poets, that when he was about to adapt some of the incidents recorded in the book for one of his plays, he was affected with cataract in both his eyes. And when he perceived the reason why the misfortune had befallen him, he prayed to God for many days and was afterwards restored. (317) and after the king, as I have already said, had received the explanation of Demetrius on this point, he did homage and ordered that great care should be taken of the books, and that they should (318) be sacredly guarded.
(Translation R. H. Charles, from http://www.ccel.org/c/charles/otpseudepig/aristeas.htm)
1.2.2. Critique of Septuagint. Bavli Megillah 9a–b
[This passage expresses Rabbinic criticism of the Septuagint]
I must say therefore, ‘Scrolls of the Scripture may be written in any language, and our Rabbis permitted them to be written in Greek’. They permitted! This would imply that the First Tanna forbade it! What I must say therefore is, ‘Our Rabbis permitted them to be written only in Greek’. And it goes on to state, ‘R. Judah said: When our teachers permitted Greek, they permitted it only for a scroll of the Torah’.
This was on account of the incident related [in a baraita] in connection with King Ptolemy, as it has been taught: ‘It is related of King Ptolemy that he brought together seventy-two elders and placed them in seventy-two [separate] rooms, without telling them why he had brought them together, and he went in to each one of them and said to him, Translate for me the Torah of Moses your master. God then prompted each one of them and they all conceived the same idea and wrote for him,
[Here follow a number of cases in which the translation of the Elders did not follow the Hebrew Massoretic text. We do not find all these variants in our texts of the Septuagint.]
• “God created in the beginning,” [Gen 1:1; instead of “In the beginning God created”; the purpose of this change was apparently to prevent the idea of two divinities being read into the text, i.e., ‘In the beginning’ and ‘God’. See Rashi]
• “I shall make man in an image and likeness,” [Gen 1:26; instead of “Let us make . . . in our image”; to avoid any implication of multiple gods]
• “And he finished on the sixth day . . . and rested on the seventh day,” [Gen 2:2; instead of “and he finished on the seventh day’, which might be taken to imply that some work was done on the seventh day.]
• “Male and female he created him” (but they did not write ‘created them’) [Gen 5:2; the change indicates the creation of a single hermaphrodite being instead of two persons, one male and one female],
• “Come let me descend and confound their tongues,” [Gen 11:17; instead of “us”; to avoid any implication of multiple gods]
• “And Sarah laughed among her relatives”; [Gen 18:12; instead of “to herself”; the change is to explain why Sarah was rebuked and Abraham was not: Sarah doubted publicly, while Abraham doubted to himself]
. . .
• “And the abode of the children of Israel which they stayed in Egypt and in other lands was four hundred years,” [Exod 12:40; the phrase “and in other lands” was added because calculations of biblical chronology make it impossible that the Israelites spent 400 years in Egypt]
. . .
They also wrote for him [Ptolemy]
• ‘the beast with small legs’ and they did not write ‘the hare’ [Lev 11:16; Deut 14:17], because the name of Ptolemy’s wife was hare, lest he should say, “The Jews have jibed at me and put the name of my wife in the Torah.”
[modified from Soncino Classics translation]
1.3. Jewish Writings under Seleucid Rule
1.3.1. Daniel 11
[Hebrew Bible, ca 165 BCE. The book of Daniel contains several “apocalypses”—writings that give a theological interpretation of history in the form of dreams, visions, or angelic visitations. In Daniel 11, the seer describes the rise of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, his desecration of the Temple and persecution of the Jews, the collaboration of some “apostate” Jews, and the early resistance movement. The seer expresses his faith that God will judge Antiochus and destroy him. This “vision” was written about 165 BCE—after Antiochus’ desecration of the Temple but before his death in 164 BCE]
(RSV) In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given; he shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 22 Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, and the prince of the covenant also. 23 And from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully; and he shall become strong with a small people. 24 Without warning he shall come into the richest parts of the province; and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his fathers’ fathers have done, scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time. 25 And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army; but he shall not stand, for plots shall be devised against him. 26 Even those who eat his rich food shall be his undoing; his army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain. 27 And as for the two kings, their minds shall be bent on mischief; they shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail; for the end is yet to be at the time appointed. 28 And he shall return to his land with great substance, but his heart shall be set against the holy covenant. And he shall work his will, and return to his own land.
29 “At the time appointed he shall return and come into the south; but it shall not be this time as it was before. 30 For ships of Kittim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant. He shall turn back and give heed to those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the continual burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. 32 He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant; but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. 33 And those among the people who are wise shall make many understand, though they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder, for some days. 34 When they fall, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery; 35 and some of those who are wise shall fall, to refine and to cleanse them and to make them white, until the time of the end, for it is yet for the time appointed.
36 “And the king shall do according to his will; he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished; for what is determined shall be done. 37 He shall give no heed to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by women; he shall not give heed to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all. 38 He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these; a god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. 39 He shall deal with the strongest fortresses by the help of a foreign god; those who acknowledge him he shall magnify with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price.
40 “At the time of the end the king of the south shall attack him; but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through. 41 He shall come into the glorious land. And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites. 42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall follow in his train. 44 But tidings from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go forth with great fury to exterminate and utterly destroy many. 45 And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him. [RSV]
1.3.1. Baruch
[Jewish Apocrypha, 2nd c. BCE, Baruch is an example of the type pious literature that flourished among Jews during the Hellenistic period. It is presented as though it was written by Baruch, the assistant to Jeremiah, in the 6th c. BCE, reflecting on the destruction of Jerusalem, but it was probably written in the second century BC, using the event of the exile to reflect on the crises Jews faced under the Greeks.]
Bar 1:1 (RSV) These are the words of the book which Baruch . . . wrote in Babylon, 2 in the fifth year, on the seventh day of the month, at the time when the Chaldeans took Jerusalem and burned it with fire. 3 And Baruch read the words of this book in the hearing of Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and in the hearing of all the people who came to hear the book, 4 and in the hearing of the mighty men and the princes, and in the hearing of the elders, and in the hearing of all the people, small and great, all who dwelt in Babylon by the river Sud.
5 Then they wept, and fasted, and prayed before the Lord; 6 and they collected money, each giving what he could; 7 and they sent it to Jerusalem to Jehoiakim the high priest, the son of Hilkiah, son of Shallum, and to the priests, and to all the people who were present with him in Jerusalem. . . .
10 And they said: “Herewith we send you money; so buy with the money burnt offerings and sin offerings and incense, and prepare a cereal offering, and offer them upon the altar of the Lord our God; 11 and pray for the life of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and for the life of Belshazzar his son, that their days on earth may be like the days of heaven. 12 And the Lord will give us strength, and he will give light to our eyes, and we shall live under the protection of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and under the protection of Belshazzar his son, and we shall serve them many days and find favor in their sight. 13 And pray for us to the Lord our God, for we have sinned against the Lord our God, and to this day the anger of the Lord and his wrath have not turned away from us. 14 And you shall read this book which we are sending you, to make your confession in the house of the Lord on the days of the feasts and at appointed seasons.
15 “And you shall say: `Righteousness belongs to the Lord our God, but confusion of face, as at this day, to us . . . because we have sinned before the Lord, . . .
2:11 “`And now, O Lord God of Israel, who didst bring thy people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and with signs and wonders and with great power and outstretched arm, and hast made thee a name, as at this day, 12 we have sinned, we have been ungodly, we have done wrong, O Lord our God, against all thy ordinances. 13 Let thy anger turn away from us, for we are left, few in number, among the nations where thou hast scattered us. 14 Hear, O Lord, our prayer and our supplication, and for thy own sake deliver us, and grant us favor in the sight of those who have carried us into exile; 15 that all the earth may know that thou art the Lord our God, for Israel and his descendants are called by thy name. . . .
3:1 “`O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, the soul in anguish and the wearied spirit cry out to thee. 2 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned before thee. . . . 7 For thou hast put the fear of thee in our hearts in order that we should call upon thy name; and we will praise thee in our exile, for we have put away from our hearts all the iniquity of our fathers who sinned before thee. 8 Behold, we are today in our exile where thou hast scattered us, to be reproached and cursed and punished for all the iniquities of our fathers who forsook the Lord our God.”
. . . [RSV]
1.3.2. Jubilees
[Pseudepigrapha, 2nd c. BCE. Jubilees retells the story of Genesis and Exodus (1–12) from the perspective of an angel who is transmitting the revelation from God to Moses, for Moses to write down. It includes many extra-biblical traditions, but is particularly concerned with proper observance of the Torah according to the author’s understanding, and especially matters having to do with:calendar and festival days, intermarriage, sacrifices, food laws.]
THIS is the history of the division of the days of the law and of the testimony, of the events of the years, of their (year) weeks, of their Jubilees throughout all the years of the world, as the Lord spake to Moses on Mount Sinai when he went up to receive the tables of the law and of the commandment, according to the voice of God as he said unto him, ‘Go up to the top of the Mount.’
3:30–31. Nudity.
And to Adam alone did He give (the wherewithal) to cover his shame, of all the beasts and cattle. 31 On this account, it is prescribed on the heavenly tablets as touching all those who know the judgment of the law, that they should cover their shame, and should not uncover themselves as the Gentiles uncover themselves.
6:32–38. 364-day calendar.
And command thou the children of Israel that they observe the years according to this reckoning- three hundred and sixty-four days, and (these) will constitute a complete year, and they will not disturb its time from its days and from its feasts; for everything will fall out in them according to their testimony, and they will not leave out any day nor disturb any feasts. 33 But if they do neglect and do not observe them according to His commandment, then they will disturb all their seasons and the years will be dislodged from this (order), and they will neglect their ordinances. . . . lest they forget the feasts of the covenant and walk according to the feasts of the Gentiles after their error and after their ignorance. 36 For there will be those who will assuredly make observations of the moon -how (it) disturbs the seasons and comes in from year to year ten days too soon. 37 For this reason the years will come upon them when they will disturb (the order), and make an abominable (day) the day of testimony, and an unclean day a feast day, and they will confound all the days, the holy with the unclean, and the unclean day with the holy; for they will go wrong as to the months and sabbaths and feasts and jubilees. . . .
23:17–23. The sins of Israel.
For all have done evil, and every mouth speaks iniquity and all their works are an uncleanness and an abomination, and all their ways are pollution, uncleanness and destruction.
Behold the earth shall be destroyed on account of all their works, and there shall be no seed of the vine, and no oil; for their works are altogether faithless, and they shall all perish together, beasts and cattle and birds, and all the fish of the sea, on account of the children of men.
And they shall strive one with another, the young with the old, and the old with the young, the poor with the rich, the lowly with the great, and the beggar with the prince, on account of the law and the covenant; for they have forgotten commandment, and covenant, and feasts, and months, and Sabbaths, and jubilees, and all judgments.
And they shall stand <with bows and> swords and war to turn them back into the way; but they shall not return until much blood has been shed on the earth, one by another.
And those who have escaped shall not return from their wickedness to the way of righteousness, but they shall all exalt themselves to deceit and wealth, that they may each take all that is his neighbour’s, and they shall name the great name, but not in truth and not in righteousness, and they shall defile the holy of holies with their uncleanness and the corruption of their pollution.
And a great punishment shall befall the deeds of this generation from the Lord, and He will give them over to the sword and to judgment and to captivity, and to be plundered and devoured.
And He will wake up against them the sinners of the Gentiles, who have neither mercy nor compassion, and who shall respect the person of none, neither old nor young, nor any one, for they are more wicked and strong to do evil than all the children of men.
And they shall use violence against Israel and transgression against Jacob,
And much blood shall be shed upon the earth,
And there shall be none to gather and none to bury.
30:7. Intermarriage.
And if there is any man who wishes in Israel to give his daughter or his sister to any man who is of the seed of the Gentiles he shall surely die, and they shall stone him with stones; for he hath wrought shame in Israel; and they shall burn the woman with fire, because she has dishonoured the name of the house of her father, and she shall be rooted out of Israel.
(Translation R. H. Charles, from http://www.ccel.org/c/charles/otpseudepig/jubilees.htm)
1.4. Diaspora
1.4.1. Conversion of the House of Adiabene. Josephus, Antiquities 20:17–19
ABOUT this time it was that Helena, queen of Adiabene, and her son Izates, changed their course of life, and embraced the Jewish customs, and this on the occasion following: Monobazus, the king of Adiabene, who had also the name of Bazeus, fell in love with his sister Helena, and took her to be his wife, and begat her with child. But as he was in bed with her one night, he laid his hand upon his wife’s belly, and fell asleep, and seemed to hear a voice, which bid him take his hand off his wife’s belly, and not hurt the infant that was therein, which, by God’s providence, would be safely born, and have a happy end. This voice put him into disorder; so he awaked immediately, and told the story to his wife; and when his son was born, he called him Izates. . . .
Now, during the time Izates abode at Charax-Spasini, a certain Jewish merchant, whose name was Ananias, got among the women that belonged to the king, and taught them to worship God according to the Jewish religion. He, moreover, by their means, became known to Izates, and persuaded him, in like manner, to embrace that religion; he also, at the earnest entreaty of Izates, accompanied him when he was sent for by his father to come to Adiabene; it also happened that Helena, about the same time, was instructed by a certain other Jew and went over to them. . . .
4. And when he perceived that his mother was highly pleased with the Jewish customs, he made haste to change, and to embrace them entirely; and as he supposed that he could not he thoroughly a Jew unless he were circumcised, he was ready to have it done. But when his mother understood what he was about, she endeavored to hinder him from doing it, and said to him that this thing would bring him into danger; and that, as he was a king, he would thereby bring himself into great odium among his subjects, when they should understand that he was so fond of rites that were to them strange and foreign; and that they would never bear to be ruled over by a Jew. This it was that she said to him, and for the present persuaded him to forbear. And when he had related what she had said to Ananias, he confirmed what his mother had said; and when he had also threatened to leave him, unless he complied with him, he went away from him, and said that he was afraid lest such an action being once become public to all, he should himself be in danger of punishment for having been the occasion of it, and having been the king’s instructor in actions that were of ill reputation; and he said that he might worship God without being circumcised, even though he did resolve to follow the Jewish law entirely, which worship of God was of a superior nature to circumcision. He added, that God would forgive him, though he did not perform the operation, while it was omitted out of necessity, and for fear of his subjects. So the king at that time complied with these persuasions of Ananias.
But afterwards, as he had not quite left off his desire of doing this thing, a certain other Jew that came out of Galilee, whose name was Eleazar, and who was esteemed very skillful in the learning of his country, persuaded him to do the thing; for as he entered into his palace to salute him, and found him reading the law of Moses, he said to him, “Thou dost not consider, O king! that thou unjustly breakest the principal of those laws, and art injurious to God himself, [by omitting to be circumcised]; for thou oughtest not only to read them, but chiefly to practice what they enjoin thee. How long wilt thou continue uncircumcised? But if thou hast not yet read the law about circumcision, and dost not know how great impiety thou art guilty of by neglecting it, read it now.” When the king had heard what he said, he delayed the thing no longer, but retired to another room, and sent for a surgeon, and did what he was commanded to do.
He then sent for his mother, and Ananias his tutor, and informed them that he had done the thing; upon which they were presently struck with astonishment and fear, and that to a great degree, lest the thing should be openly discovered and censured, and the king should hazard the loss of his kingdom, while his subjects would not bear to be governed by a man who was so zealous in another religion; and lest they should themselves run some hazard, because they would be supposed the occasion of his so doing.
5. But as to Helena, the king’s mother, when she saw that the affairs of Izates’s kingdom were in peace, and that her son was a happy man, and admired among all men, and even among foreigners, by the means of God’s providence over him, she had a mind to go to the city of Jerusalem, in order to worship at that temple of God which was so very famous among all men, and to offer her thank-offerings there. So she desired her son to give her leave to go thither; . . . he sent great sums of money to the principal men in Jerusalem.
[adapted from Whiston translation, http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/]
1.4.2. Philo’s Embassy to Caesar.
[Philo, ca. 20 BCE-50 CE, describes a pogrom against the Jews in Alexandria ca 35 CE, and his participation in a delegation to complain to the Emperor Gaius in 37-41 CE to seek more secure rights for the Jewish community in Alexandria]
(132) But as the governor of the country, who by himself could, if he had chosen to do so, have put down the violence of the multitude in a single hour, pretended not to see what he did see, and not to hear what he did hear, but allowed the mob to carry on the war against our people without any restraint, and threw our former state of tranquillity into confusion, the populace being excited still more, proceeded onwards to still more shameless and more audacious designs and treachery, and, arraying very numerous companies, cut down some of the synagogues (and there are a great many in every section of the city), and some they razed to the very foundations, and into some they threw fire and burnt them, in their insane madness and frenzy, without caring for the neighbouring houses; for there is nothing more rapid than fire, when it lays hold of fuel . . . (134) . . . All the synagogues that they were unable to destroy by burning and razing them to the ground, because a great number of Jews lived in a dense mass in the neighbourhood, they injured and defaced in another manner . . .
349) . . . the moment that we entered into the presence of the emperor [Gaius] we perceived, from his looks and from the state of agitation in which he was, that we had come not before a judge but before an accuser, or rather I should say before the open enemy of those whom he looked upon as opposed to his will;
353) for said he, “You are haters of God, inasmuch as you do not think that I am a god, I who am already confessed to be a god by every other nation, but who am refused that appellation by you.” . . .
(357) “Grant,” said he, “that all this is true, and that you did sacrifice; nevertheless you sacrificed to another god and not for my sake; and then what good did you do me? Moreover you did not sacrifice to me.” . . .
361) . . . he then asked a very important and solemn question; “why is it that you abstain from eating pig’s flesh?” . . . [they are laughed at]
(362) And when we made answer that, “different nations have different laws, and there are some things of which the use of forbidden both to us and to our adversaries;” . . . [it is made into a joke]
(363) Being joked with and trifled with and ridiculed in this manner, we were in great perplexity. . . .
(367) And he took compassion on us, and turned his mind to pity. And he becoming pacified merely said, ‘These men do not appear to me to be wicked so much as unfortunate and foolish, in not believing that I have been endowed with the nature of God;” and so he dismissed us, and commanded us to depart.
1.4.3. Legal Rights of Jews. Josephus Antiquities 14.213–16, 256–64
[Purported decrees by Julius Caesar about the Jews, ca. 47 BCE. Even if these are not authentic, they show the civil rights that Jews regarded as important.]
“Julius Caius, praetor [consul] of Rome, to the magistrates, senate, and people of the Parians, sendeth greeting. The Jews of Delos, and some other Jews that sojourn there, in the presence of your ambassadors, signified to us, that, by a decree of yours, you forbid them to make use of the customs of their forefathers, and their way of sacred worship. Now it does not please me that such decrees should be made against our friends and confederates, whereby they are forbidden to live according to their own customs, or to bring in contributions for common suppers and holy festivals, while they are not forbidden so to do even at Rome itself; . . . Accordingly, when I forbid other Bacchanal rioters, I permit these Jews to gather themselves together, according to the customs and laws of their forefathers, and to persist therein. . . .
The decree of those of Halicarnassus. “. . . we have decreed, that as many men and women of the Jews as are willing so to do, may celebrate their Sabbaths, and perform their holy offices, according to Jewish laws; and may make their proseuchae [house of prayer] at the sea-side, according to the customs of their forefathers; and if any one, whether he be a magistrate or private person, hindereth them from so doing, he shall be liable to a fine, to be applied to the uses of the city.”
The decree of the Sardians. “This decree was made by the senate and people, upon the representation of the praetors: Whereas those Jews who are fellow citizens, and live with us in this city, have ever had great benefits heaped upon them by the people, and have come now into the senate, and desired of the people, that upon the restitution of their law and their liberty, by the senate and people of Rome, they may assemble together, according to their ancient legal custom, and that we will not bring any suit against them about it; and that a place may be given them where they may have their congregations, with their wives and children, and may offer, as did their forefathers, their prayers and sacrifices to God. Now the senate and people have decreed to permit them to assemble together on the days formerly appointed, and to act according to their own laws; and that such a place be set apart for them by the praetors, for the building and inhabiting the same, as they shall esteem fit for that purpose; and that those that take care of the provision for the city, shall take care that such sorts of food as they esteem fit for their eating may be imported into the city.”
The decree of the Ephesians. “When Menophilus was prytanis, on the first day of the month Artemisius, this decree was made by the people: Nicanor, the son of Euphemus, pronounced it, upon the representation of the praetors. Since the Jews that dwell in this city have petitioned Marcus Julius Pompeius, the son of Brutus, the proconsul, that they might be allowed to observe their Sabbaths, and to act in all things according to the customs of their forefathers, without impediment from any body, the praetor hath granted their petition. Accordingly, it was decreed by the senate and people, that in this affair that concerned the Romans, no one of them should be hindered from keeping the sabbath day, nor be fined for so doing, but that they may be allowed to do all things according to their own laws.”
(Whiston translation, from http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/ant-14.htm]
1.4.4. Influence of Diaspora Jews. Josephus Antiquities 14.110–18
And let no one wonder that there was so much wealth in our temple, since all the Jews throughout the habitable earth, and those that worshipped God, nay, even those of Asia and Europe, sent their contributions to it, and this from very ancient times. Nor is the largeness of these sums without its attestation; nor is that greatness owing to our vanity, as raising it without ground to so great a height; but there are many witnesses to it, and particularly Strabo of Cappadocia, who says thus: “Mithridates sent to Cos, and took the money which queen Cleopatra had deposited there, as also eight hundred talents belonging to the Jews.” Now we have no public money but only what appertains to God . . .
Strabo [says]: “There were four classes of men among those of Cyrene; that of citizens, that of husbandmen, the third of strangers, and the fourth of Jews. Now these Jews are already gotten into all cities; and it is hard to find a place in the habitable earth that hath not admitted this tribe of men, and is not possessed by them; and it hath come to pass that Egypt and Cyrene, as having the same governors, and a great number of other nations, imitate their way of living, and maintain great bodies of these Jews in a peculiar manner, and grow up to greater prosperity with them, and make use of the same laws with that nation also. Accordingly, the Jews have places assigned them in Egypt, wherein they inhabit, besides what is peculiarly allotted to this nation at Alexandria, which is a large part of that city. There is also an ethnarch allowed them, who governs the nation, and distributes justice to them, and takes care of their contracts, and of the laws to them belonging, as if he were the ruler of a free republic . . .” And this is what Strabo says.
[adapted from Whiston translation, http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/]
1.4.5. The Temple at Leontopolis. Josephus, Antiquities 13.62–73
(62) BUT then the son of Onias the high priest, who was of the same name with his father, and who fled to king Ptolemy, who was called Philometor, lived now at Alexandria, as we have said already. When this Onias saw that Judea was oppressed by the Macedonians and their kings, out of a desire to purchase to himself a memorial and eternal fame he resolved to send to king Ptolemy and queen Cleopatra, to ask leave of them that he might build a temple in Egypt like to that at Jerusalem, and might ordain Levites and priests out of their own stock. The chief reason why he was desirous so to do, was, that he relied upon the prophet Isaiah, who lived above six hundred years before, and foretold that there certainly was to be a temple built to Almighty God in Egypt by a man that was a Jew. Onias was elevated with this prediction, and wrote the following epistle to Ptolemy and Cleopatra: “Having done many and great things for you in the affairs of the war, by the assistance of God, and that in Celesyria and Phoenicia, I came at length with the Jews to Leontopolis, and to other places of your nation, where I found that the greatest part of your people had temples in an improper manner, and that on this account they bare ill-will one against another, which happens to the Egyptians by reason of the multitude of their temples, and the difference of opinions about Divine worship. Now I found a very fit place in a castle that hath its name from the country Diana; this place is full of materials of several sorts, and replenished with sacred animals; I desire therefore that you will grant me leave to purge this holy place, which belongs to no master, and is fallen down, and to build there a temple to Almighty God, after the pattern of that in Jerusalem, and of the same dimensions, that may be for the benefit of thyself, and thy wife and children, that those Jews which dwell in Egypt may have a place whither they may come and meet together in mutual harmony one with another, and he subservient to thy advantages; for the prophet Isaiah foretold that “there should be an altar in Egypt to the Lord God; and many other such things did he prophesy relating to that place” (Isaiah 19:19).
And this was what Onias wrote to king Ptolemy. Now any one may observe his piety, and that of his sister and wife Cleopatra, by that epistle which they wrote in answer to it; for they laid the blame and the transgression of the law upon the head of Onias. And this was their reply: “King Ptolemy and queen Cleopatra to Onias, send greeting. We have read thy petition, wherein thou desirest leave to be given thee to purge that temple which is fallen down at Leontopolis, in the Nomus of Heliopolis, and which is named from the country Bubastis; on which account we cannot but wonder that it should be pleasing to God to have a temple erected in a place so unclean, and so full of sacred animals. But since thou sayest that Isaiah the prophet foretold this long ago, we give thee leave to do it, if it may be done according to your law, and so that we may not appear to have at all offended God herein.”
So Onias took the place, and built a temple, and an altar to God, like indeed to that in Jerusalem, but smaller and poorer. I do not think it proper for me now to describe its dimensions or its vessels, which have been already described in my seventh book of the Wars of the Jews. However, Onias found other Jews like to himself, together with priests and Levites, that there performed Divine service. But we have said enough about this temple.
[adapted from Whiston translation, http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/]
1.4.6. Therapeutae. Philo, Contemplative Life
1 … those who have embraced the speculative life … they are called therapeutae … either because they profess an art of medicine … or else because they have been instructed by nature and the sacred laws to serve the living God …
2 Now this class of persons may be met with in many places, for it was fitting that both Greece and the country of the barbarians should partake of whatever is perfectly good; and there is the greatest number of such men in Egypt, in every one of the districts, or nomes, as they are called, and especially around Alexandria; and from all quarters those who are the best of these therapeutae proceed on their pilgrimage to some most suitable place as if it were their country, which is beyond the Maereotic lake …
… the houses of these men thus congregated together are very plain … And in every house there is a sacred shrine which is called the holy place, and the house in which they retire by themselves and perform all the mysteries of a holy life, bringing in nothing, neither meat, nor drink, nor anything else which is indispensable towards supplying the necessities of the body, but studying in that place the laws and the sacred oracles of God enunciated by the holy prophets, and hymns, and psalms, and all kinds of other things by reason of which knowledge and piety are increased and brought to perfection …
They have also writings of ancient men, who having been the founders of one sect or another, have left behind them many memorials of the allegorical system of writing and explanation, whom they take as a kind of model, and imitate the general fashion of their sect; so that they do not occupy themselves solely in contemplation, but they likewise compose psalms and hymns to God …
But on the seventh day they all come together as if to meet in a sacred assembly, and they sit down in order according to their ages with all becoming gravity …
[Thatcher translation, adapted from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/philo-ascetics.html]
1.5. Jewish Inscriptions
Ross S. Kraemer, 1995 http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/courses/rs135/samples.html
1.5.1. Prayer for revenge. CIJ 725. Funeral inscription from Rheneia (an island off Delos).
[dated to the second to first centuries BCE; translation from van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs 149]
I call upon and pray to God the Most High, the Lord of the spirits and of all flesh, against those who have teacherously murdered or poisoned the poor Heraclea, who died untimely, and who have unjustly shed her innocent blood; may the same happen to them who have murdered or poisoned her and to their children, Lord, you who see everything, and you, angels of God, for Whom every soul humiliates itself on this day with supplications, (hoping) that you revenge her innocent blood and settle your account with them as soon as possible.
1.5.2. A Noble Woman. BS II 183. Funeral inscription from Beth She’arim.
[second half of the third century CE. Translation from van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs 153]
This tomb contains the dwindling remains of Karteria,
preserving forever the illustrious memory of a noble woman.
Zenobia brought her here for burial, fulfilling thus her mother’s request.
For you, most blessed of women, your offspring,
whom you bore from your gentle womb, your pious daughter
–for she always does actions praiseworthy in the eyes of mortals —
built this monument, so that even after the end of life’s term
both of you may enjoy again new and indestructible riches.
1.5.3. Mother of the Synagogue. CIJ 523.
[Latin inscription carved on a sarcophagus, no longer extant. Believed to come from a Jewish catacomb in Rome. Date unknown. Translation from Leon, The Jews of Ancient Rome, 341.]
Veturia Paulla F (?), consigned to her eternal home, who lived 86 years, 6 months, a proselyte of 16 years, named Sara, Mother of the Synagogues of Campus and Volumnius. in peace her sleep.
1.5.4. Rufina, Archisynagogos. CIJ 741.
[Marble plaque from Smyrna (modern Izmir, Turkey). Greek. Probably second century C.E.]
Rufina, Ioudaia [Jewish woman/Jewess], head of the synagogue, built this tomb for her freed slaves and the slaved raised in her house. No one else has the right to bury anyone (here). Anyone who dares to do so will pay 1500 denaria to the sacred treasury and 1000 denaria to the Jewish people. A copy of this inscription has been placed in the (public) archives.
1.5.5. Patroness to Synagogue. CIJ 738. Synagogue dedication.
[A Greek inscription from Ionia in Asia Minor (Turkey), probably third century C.E. Translation Kraemer, Maenads, Martyrs, Matrons, Monastics: A Sourcebook on Women’s Religions in the Greco-Roman World 60]
Tation, daughter of Straton, son of Empedon, having erected the assembly hall and the enclosure of the open courtyard with her own funds, have them as a gift to the Jews. The synagogue of the Jews honored Tation, daughter of Straton, son of Empedon, with a golden crown, and the privilege of sitting in the seat of honor.
1.5.6. Horaia Epitaph. CIJ/CPJ 1509.
[Egypt, 1st century B.C.E. Horai’s husband and daughter died only days before her.]
This is the tomb of Horaia, wayfarer. Shed a tear. The daughter of Nikolaos, who was unfortunate in all things in her thirty years. Three of us are here, husband, daughter, and I whom they struck down with grief. (My husband died) on the 3rd, then on the 5th my daughter Eirene, to whom marriage was not granted. I then with no place or joy was laid here after them under the earth on the 7th of Choiak. But stranger, you have dearly all there is to know from us to tell all men of the swiftness of death. In the 10th year, Choiak 7.
1.5.7. Arsinoe Epitaph. CIJ/CPJ 1510. Egypt, 1st century B.C.E
This is the grave of Arsinoe, wayfarer. Stand by and weep for her, unfortunate in all things, whose lot was hard and terrible. For I was bereaved of my mother when I was a little girl, and when the flower of my youth made me ready for a bridegroom, my father married me to Phabeis, and Fate brought me to the end of my life in bearing my firstborn child. I had a small span of years, but great grace flowered in the beauty of my spirit. This grave hides in its bosom my dhaste body, but my soul has flown to the holy ones. Lament for Arsinoe. In the 25th year, Mechir 2.
1.5.8. Rachelis Epitaph. CIJ/CPJ 1513. Egypt, 1st century B.C.B.
Citizens and strangers, all weep for Rachelis, chaste, friend of all, about thirty years old. Do not weep vainly empty (tears?) for me. If I did live but a short allotted span, nevertheless I await a good hope of mercy. And Agathokles, about 38 years old.
1.5.9. Arsinoe Epitph. CIJ/CPJ 1530. Egypt, 1st century B.C.E.
The speaking stele
“Who are you who lie in the dark tomb? Tell me your country and birth.”
“Arsinoe, daughter of Aline and Theodosios. The famous land of Onias reared me.”
“How old were you when you slipped down the dark slope of Lathe?”
“At twenty I went to the sad place of the dead.”
“Were you married?”
“I was.”
“Did you leave him a child?”
“Childless I went to the house of Hades.”
“May earth, the guardian of the dead, be light on you.”
“And for you, stranger, may she bear fruitful crops.”
In the 16th year, Payni 21.
1.6. Philo
1.6.1. Literal and Symbolic. On the Migration of Abraham, 89–93
89 There are some who, regarding laws in their literal sense in the light of symbols of matters belonging to the intellect, are over punctilious about the latter, while treating the former with easy-going neglect. Such men I for my part should blame for handling the matter in too easy and off-hand manner: they ought to have given careful attention to both aims . . .
90 As it is, as though they were living alone by themselves in a wilderness, or as though they had become disembodied souls . . . they explore reality in its naked absoluteness. These men are taught by the sacred word to have thought for a good repute, and to let go nothing that is part of the customs fixed by divinely empowered men greater than those of our time.
91 It is quite true that the Seventh Day is meant to teach the power of the Unoriginate and the non-action of created beings. But let us not for this reason abrogate the laws laid down for its observance, and light fires or till the ground or carry loads . . . It is true also that keeping of festivals is a symbol of gladness of soul and of thankfulness to God, but we should not for this reason turn our backs on the general gatherings of the year’s seasons.
92 It is true that receiving circumcision does indeed portray the excision of pleasure and all passions, and the putting away of the impious conceit, under whiche the mind supposed that it was capable of begetting by its own power: but let us not on this account repeal the law laid down for circumcisiong. Why, we shall be ignoring the sanctity of the Temple and a thousand other things, if we are going to pay heed to nothing except what is shown us by the inner meanings of things.
93 No, we should look on all these outward observances as resembling the body, and their inner meanings as resembling the soul. It follows that, exactly as we have to take thought for the body, because it is the abode of the soul, so we must pay heed to the letter of the laws. If we keep and observe these, we shall gain a clearer conception of those things of which these are the symbols . . .
[translation by Colson, Loeb]
1.6.2. Law of Moses. Philo, Creation 1
OF other lawgivers, some have set forth what they consider to be just and reasonable, in a naked and unadorned manner, while others, investing their ideas with an abundance of amplification, have sought to bewilder the people, by burying the truth under a heap of fabulous inventions. But Moses, rejecting both of these methods, the one as inconsiderate, careless, and unphilosophical, and the other as mendacious and full of trickery, made the beginning of his laws entirely beautiful, and in all respects admirable, neither at once declaring what ought to be done or the contrary, nor (since it was necessary to mold beforehand the dispositions of those who were to use his laws) inventing fables himself or adopting those which had been invented by others.
[translation by Thatcher, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/philo-creation.html]
1.6.3. Creation. Philo, Creation 1
1 . . . And his [Moses’] exordium, as I have already said, is most admirable, embracing the creation of the world, under the idea that the law corresponds to the world and the world to the law, and that a man who is obedient to the law, being, by so doing, a citizen of the world, arranges his actions with reference to the intention of nature, in harmony with which the whole universal world is regulated. Accordingly no one, whether poet or historian, could ever give expression in an adequate manner to the beauty of his ideas respecting the creation of the world; for they surpass all the power of language, and amaze our hearing, being too great and venerable to be adapted to the senses of any created being. . . .
7 Moses says also, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth:” . . . In the first place therefore, from the model of the world, perceptible only by intellect, the Creator made an incorporeal heaven, and an invisible earth, and the form of air and of empty space . . .
Then he created the incorporeal substance of water and of air, and above all he spread light, being the seventh thing made; and this again was incorporeal, and a model of the sun, perceptible only to intellect . . .
8 . . . none of those things which are perceptible to the external senses is pure. . . .
10 The incorporeal world then was already completed, having its seat in the Divine Reason: and the world, perceptible by the external senses, was made on the model of it . . .
[translation by Thatcher, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/philo-creation.html]
1.6.4. God as Creator. Philo, Creation 2
. . . some men, admiring the world itself rather than the Creator of the world, have represented it as existing without any maker, and eternal; and as impiously and falsely have represented God as existing in a state of complete inactivity, while it would have been right on the other hand to marvel at the might of God as the creator and father of all, and to admire the world in a degree not exceeding the bounds of moderation.
But Moses, who had early reached the very summits of philosophy, and who had learnt from the oracles of God the most numerous and important of the principles of nature, was well aware that it is indispensable that in all existing things there must be an active cause, and a passive subject; and that the active cause is the intellect of the universe. . . .
[translation by Thatcher, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/philo-creation.html]
1.6.5. True Worship. Philo, Worse 20–21
20. Even if one experiences lustrations and purifications, he defiles his mind while he cleanses his body. Again, even if from abundant wealth he founded a temple and provided it with lavish endowment and expenditures, or (if) he makes offerings and does not cease to sacrifice young bulls or to decorate the shrine with costly votive offerings,…he still will not be inscribed with the pious. 21 For he has wandered from the way of piety. Thinking (religion) to be ritual instead of holiness, he offers gifts to him who cannot be flattered, who welcomes genuine service [therapeia] but hates the counterfeit. The genuine (worship) is when the soul brings plain Truth as its only sacrifice.
[translation by Mahlon Smith, http://religion.rutgers.edu/iho/allegory.html#interpretation]
1.7. Compromise
1.7.1. Dositheus. 3 Maccabees 1:3
Dositheus, known as the son of Drimylus, a Jew by birth who later changed his religion and apostatized from the ancestral traditions . . .
1.7.2. Revenge. 3 Maccabees 7:10–16
(RSV) Upon receiving this letter the Jews did not immediately hurry to make their departure, but they requested of the king that at their own hands those of the Jewish nation who had willfully transgressed against the holy God and the law of God should receive the punishment they deserved. 11 For they declared that those who for the belly’s sake had transgressed the divine commandments would never be favorably disposed toward the king’s government. 12 The king then, admitting and approving the truth of what they said, granted them a general license so that freely and without royal authority or supervision they might destroy those everywhere in his kingdom who had transgressed the law of God. 13 When they had applauded him in fitting manner, their priests and the whole multitude shouted the Hallelujah and joyfully departed. 14 And so on their way they punished and put to a public and shameful death any whom they met of their fellow-countrymen who had become defiled. 15 In that day they put to death more than three hundred men; and they kept the day as a joyful festival, since they had destroyed the profaners. 16 But those who had held fast to God even to death and had received the full enjoyment of deliverance began their departure from the city, crowned with all sorts of very fragrant flowers, joyfully and loudly giving thanks to the one God of their fathers, the eternal Savior of Israel, in words of praise and all kinds of melodious songs.
1.7.3. Philo on “Rebels”
[Philo describes Jews who abandoned their “ancestral customs” for social advantage.]
Philo, Virtues 182. The proselytes become at once temperate, continent, modest, gentle, kind, humane, serious, just, high-minded, truth-lovers, superior to the desire for money and pleasure, just as conversely the rebels from the holy laws are seen to be incontinent, shameless, junjust, frivolous, petty-minded, quarrelsome, friends of falsehood and perjury, who have sold their freedom for dainties and strong liquor … thus ministering to the delights of the belly and the organs below it . . . [Loeb translation]
Philo, Moses 1.31. “… they … look down on their relations and friends and set at naught the laws under which they were born and bred, and subvert the ancestral customs … by adopting different modes of life … [Loeb translation]
1.8. Syncretism?
1.8.1. 2 Maccabees 12:39–45
(RSV) On the next day, as by that time it had become necessary, Judas and his men went to take up the bodies of the fallen and to bring them back to lie with their kinsmen in the sepulchres of their fathers. 40 Then under the tunic of every one of the dead they found sacred tokens of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. And it became clear to all that this was why these men had fallen. 41 So they all blessed the ways of the Lord, the righteous Judge, who reveals the things that are hidden; 42 and they turned to prayer, beseeching that the sin which had been committed might be wholly blotted out. And the noble Judas … took up a collection … and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering … Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.
1.8.2. Temple of Pan inscriptions.
[Jewish inscriptions at the Temple of Pan, El-Kanais, Egypt. 1st or 2nd c. BCE]
CIJ ii 1537:
Bless God. Theodotos son of Dorion, the Jew, returned safely from overseas.
CIJ ii 1538:
Praise God. Ptolemy, son of Dionysios, the Jew.
[Translation from Horbury and Noy, Jewish Inscriptions of Greaeco-Roman Egypt, 207–10]
1.8.3. Jewish Magic
Jewish magic was very highly respected in the ancient world, so much that one often finds magical incantations on amulets, magic bowls and magical papyri invoking the God of the Hebrews and names of various angels from Jewish tradition (e.g., among the corpus of Greek magical papyri, PGM IV.3007-86).
PMich 3, 155 (=inv. 193) = PGM LXXI
Great heavenly one who turns the universe, the God who is, Iaô, Lord, ruler of all, ablanathalaabla, grant, grant me favor. I shall have the name of the great God in this amulet; and protect me from every evil thing, me whom NN bore, NN begot.
[Iao is an attempt to transliterate the Hebrew Divine Name YHWH into Greek]
Translation and picture: http://www.lib.umich.edu/pap/magic/rb.display.html