Читать книгу A Thousand Years of Jewish History - Maurice H. Harris - Страница 24

All too soon, in the midst of his ambitions, Alexander died. Conflict among his generals followed, and the great empire was dismembered. In one of the many wars which followed, the Jews showed their religious fidelity by submitting to slaughter rather than defend themselves on the Sabbath day. Finally, the empire was divided into the following four kingdoms: The Greco-Syrian, the Greco-Egyptian, the Thracian and the Macedonian. Greco-Syria, including the greater part of Western Asia, with Persia as its centre, was claimed by one of Alexander's generals named Seleucus. He introduced the Seleucidan era named after him beginning with the year 312. This calendar was used by the Jews when they later came under Seleucidan sway; for this name, too, came to be applied to the kingdom itself. Many Jews were invited to settle in the new capital—Antioch, on its Mediterranean border. The next kingdom fell to Ptolemy Lagos and included Egypt and the adjoining Asiatic lands, one of which was Cælo-Syria, with boundaries from Lebanon to Egypt, really corresponding to Palestine. Thus the Jews first came under the Ptolemaic regime. It will be well to keep these geographical divisions distinctly in mind. The remaining two divisions of the empire, Thrace and Macedonia, hardly enter into this history.

The Jews did not suffer in the change of rule. They were as free as before to live their own life, and with even greater political independence than under Persian rule. The High Priest continued as the head of the Jewish community, the centre of which was still Jerusalem. Alexandria, a seaport named after the conqueror, was made the capital of Greco-Egyptian kingdom. Many Jews settled there, and it gradually became the most important Jewish community outside of Palestine, both intellectually and religiously. If there were Jews in Greek towns, so also were there Greeks in Jewish towns. This meant a mingling of the two races and a lessening of Jewish isolation. Alexander had brought the Greek tongue to the East; it became the international language; and even the commercial interchange of commodities brought necessarily with it an interchange of ideas. The Orient was becoming Hellenized (p. 31).

The first man of achievement to hear from in this epoch was the High Priest, Simon the Just. That he was called "The Just" tells much in a word. Like Aristides the Good he really earned his title. He rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, ravaged by war, and improved the water supply. Ben Sirach (one of the writers of the Apocrypha) speaks of Simon in these words of exalted praise:

How was he honored in the midst of the people

In his coming out of the sanctuary!

He was as the morning star in the midst of a cloud,

And as the moon at the full;

As the sun shining upon the temple of the Most High

And as the rainbow giving light in the bright clouds:

And as the flower of roses in the spring of the year,

As lilies by the rivers of waters,

And as the branches of the frankincense tree in the time of summer;

As fire and incense in the censer,

And as a vessel of beaten gold set with all manner of precious stones;

And as a fair olive tree budding forth fruit,

And as a cypress tree which groweth up to the clouds.

When he put on the robe of honour,

And was clothed with the perfection of glory,

When he went up to the holy altar,

He made glorious the precincts of the Sanctuary.

Here is one of his maxims: "The world rests on three pillars, on the Law, on worship, and on Charity." He took a broad and moderate view of life. When over-zealous souls would wish to impose upon themselves the abnegations of the Nazarite (see Numbers vi) he discouraged such extremes. "Why voluntarily renounce gifts that God in his love has bestowed for our joy?" That voices the spirit of Judaism. It is said that certain wondrous manifestations of Divine grace ceased with his death. These are but legends, but they show how much he was revered and loved.