the people that served them.3 They were most hated by the neighbouring nations, particularly the Egyptians. In the eyes of the proud Romans, they were rather an object of contempt. We find, therefore, no attempt, under the dominion of the Romans, to extinguish this hated religion, such as that made by Antiochus Epiphanes, although, once and again, there seems to have been a design to make Roman customs universal in opposition to the national prejudices. This hatred and contempt produced singular stories respecting the origin and history of the Jews,5 as well as absurd notions of their religion; and these in their 3 Cicero pro Flacco, c. 28. Sua cuique civitati religio, Laeli, est, nostra nobis. Stantibus Hierosolymis, pacatisque Judaeis, tamen istorum religio sacrorum a splendore hujus imperii, gravitate nominis nostri, majorum institutis abhorrebat: nunc vero hoc magis, quod illa gens, quid de imperio nostro sentiret, ostendit armis: quam cara diis immortalibus esset, docuit, quod est victa, quod elocata, quod servata. Apion ap. Joseph. contra Apionem, ii. 11. Minucii Felicis Octavius, c. 10. The heathen Caecilius says, Judaeorum solo et misera gentilitas unum -Deum-coluerunt; cujus adeo nulla vis nec potestas est, ut sit Romanis numinibus cum sua sibi natione captivus. Of Apollonius Molon, a rhetorician of Rhodes, B. c. 70, Josephus says (c. Apion. ii. 14), ποτὲ μὲν ὡς ἀθέους καὶ μισανθρώπους λοιδορεῖ, ποτὲ δ ̓ αὖ δειλίαν ἡμῖν ὀνειδίζει καὶ τοὔμταλιν ἔστιν ὅπου τόλμαν κατηγορεῖ καὶ ἀπονοίαν λέγει δὲ καὶ ἀφυεστάτους εἶναι τῶν βαρβάρων. Tacit. hist. v. 5, apud ipsos fides obstinata, misericordia in promptu, sed adversus omnes alios hostile odium, c, 8, despectissima pars servientium-teterrima gens. Diodor. Sic. xxxiv. p. 524. Philostratus in vita Apollonii, v. c. 33. Juven. Sat. xiv. 103. According to Philo (in Flacc. p. 969), there remained among the Egiptians παλαιὰ καὶ τρόπον τινὰ γεγεννημένη πρὸς Ἰουδαίους ἀπέχθεια. Jos. c. Apion. i. 25. τῶν δὲ εἰς ἡμᾶς βλαστ Φημιών ἤρξαντο Αἰγύπτοι-αἰτίας δὲ πολλὰς ἔλαβον του μισεῖν καὶ φθονεῖν caet. The oldest sources of these fables are the fragment of Hecataeus Milesius (doubtless Abderita), in Photius's bibl. cod. 154, and the more malignant representation of the Egyptian Manetho (about 280 B. c., ap. Joseph. c. Apion, i. 26, comp. 14). The saying was afterwards repeated with manfold remodellings by the Egyptian Chaeremon (at the time of Augustus, ap. Jos. 1. c. 32), by Lysimachus (about 100 B. c. ibid. c. 34), Justin (hist. 36, 2), and Tacitus (hist. v. c. 2). Comp. J. G. Müller in the theol. Studien u. Kritiken, 1843, iv. 893. Josephus wrote his two books against Apion in refutation of these calumnies against his countrymen. Particularly concerning the object of their worship. Many, indeed, saw in Jehovah their Zeus or Jupiter: Varro ap. Augustin. de consensu evangel. i. 22. Aristeas de legis divinae interpr. historia, p. 3. τὸν γὰρ πάντων ἐπόπτην καὶ κτίστην θεὸν οὗτοι σέβονται, ἂν καὶ πάντες, ἡμεῖς δὲ μάλιστα, προσονομάζοντες ἑτέρως Ζῆνα. According to another opinion the turn contributed to increase the contempt of which they were the offspring. § 17. CONDITION OF THE JEWS OUT OF PALESTINE. J. Remond Geschichte der Ausbreitung des Judenthums von Cyrus bis auf den gänzlichen Untergang des jüd. Staats, Leipz. 1789, 8. Jost's Gesch. d. Israeliten, Th. 2, S. 262. The Jewish people were by no means confined to Palestine. Only the smaller part of them had availed themselves of the permission of Cyrus to return to their native land, and therefore numbers had remained behind in Babylonia, who, doubtless, spread themselves farther towards the east, so that in the first century they were very considerable, (ovk öxlyai μvpiádes, Jos. Ant. xv. 3, 1.) In Arabia, the kings of the Homerites (about 100 B. C.) had even adopted the Jewish religion, and subsequently it had reached the throne of Adiabene, by the conversion of king Izates, (about 45 A.D. comp. Jos. Ant. xx. 2.) At the building of Alexandria, Alexander the Great brought a colony of Jews to settle there, (Jos. de B. I. ii. 36;) more were brought by Ptolemy Lagi to Egypt, Cyrene, and Lybia, (Jos. Ant. xii. 2, 4); and the Jews were very numerous in these places, (1,000,000, Philo in Flacc. p. 971. In Alexandria twofifths of the population, ibid. p. 973). By trade they soon became rich and powerful. Many Jewish colonists had also been carried into Syria by Seleucus Nicanor, (Jos. Ant. xii. 3, 1), especially to Antioch, where, in after times, a great part of the population consisted of Jews, (Jos. de B. J. vii. 3, 3). Antiochus Jews worshipped the heaven (Juvenal. Sat. xiv. 97, nil praeter nubes et coeli numen adorant). Others thought that they worshipped Bacchus (Plutarch Sympos. iv. Qu. 5, Tacit. hist. 5. 5). According to others, the object of adoration was an ass's head (Apion ap. Jos. c. Ap. ii. 7. Tacit. hist. 5, 4. Plut. 1. c.) According to others, a swine (Plutarch. 1. c. Petronius in fragm.: Judaeus, licet et Porcinum numen adoret, &c.) Comp. the fable of the Jews sacrificing every year a Greek, and eating of his flesh (Joseph. c. Apion. ii. 8). Jo. Jac. Huldrici gentilis obtrectator, s. de calumniis gentilium in Judaeos et in primaevos Christianos. Tiguri 1744, 8. 1 C. E. Varges de statu Aegypti provinciae Romanae I. et II. p. Chr. n. saeculis. Gottingae 1842, 4. p. 18, 39, 46. the Great was the first who sent a Jewish colony to Phrygia and Lydia, (Jos. 1. c.), and from these two countries they had spread themselves not only over the whole of Asia Minor, but also over Greece. The first Jews in Rome had been brought as prisoners of war by Pompey. They afterwards obtained their freedom, (therefore they were styled libertini, Philo de legat. ad Caj. p. 1014, Tacit. ann. ii. 85), received permission from Julius Cæsar to erect synagogues, (Jos. Ant. xiv. 10, 8), and soon occupied the greatest part of the city beyond the Tiber, (Philo. 1. c.) Thus, at the time of Christ, it was not easy to find a country in the whole Roman empire in which the Jews did not dwell, (Strabo, xiv. c. 2, Philo legat. ad caj. p. 1031). All these widely dispersed Jews ( diarropa) considered Jerusalem as their common capital, the sanhedrim of that place as their ecclesiastical supreme court; and sent not only yearly contributions in money, (didpaxua) and offerings to the temple, (Philo de Monarch, lib. ii. p. 822, in Flacc. 971, legat. ad. Caj. 1014, 1023, 1031, Cicero pro Flacc. 12, Tacit. Hist. 5, 5), but also frequently repaired thither to the great festivals, (Philo de Monarch, lib. ii. p. 821), without detriment being done to this common sanctuary by the temple built in Leontopolis (152 B. C.) by Onias.2 They obtained peculiar privileges, not only in the places where they settled as colonists, at the desire of the princes of the country, but Cæsar had allowed them the free exercise of their religion,3 in a series of regulations enacted for the purpose, while he granted them several favours in relation to their law. But these very distinctions merely served to The temple of Onias was as far from causing a schism among the Jews as the dispute between the Pharisees and Sadducees, although the building of it was disapproved by the Palestinian Jews. 3 By this, therefore, their synagogues were put into the class of collegia licita, (see above § 12). Comp. the decree of the Praetors C. Julius ap. Joseph. Ant. XIV. 10, 8. Γάϊος Καίσαρ, ὁ ἡμέτερος στρατηγὸς καὶ ὕπατος, ἐν τῷ διατάγματι κωλύων θιάσους συνάγεσθαι κατὰ πόλιν, μόνους τούτους οὐκ ἐκώλυσεν οὔτε χρήματα συνεισφέρειν, οὔτε σύνδειπνα ποιεῖν· ὁμοίως δὲ κἀγὼ τοὺς ἄλλους θιάσους κωλύων τούτους μόνους ἐπιτρέπω κατὰ τὰ πάτρια ἔθη καὶ νόμιμα συνάγεσθαί τε καὶ ἵστασθαι. So also Augustus, (Philo de legat. ad Cajum. p. 1035, 1036.) 4 Comp. Jos. Ant. XIV. 10, 2 ff. Claudius in his edict, gives briefly what was granted them, and what was required of them, (Jos. Ant. xix. 5, 3) : Ἰουδαίους τοὺς ἐν παντὶ τῷ ὑφ' ἡμᾶς κόσμῳ τὰ πάτρια ἔθη ἀνεπικωλύτως θυλάσσειν,—καὶ μὴ τὰς τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν δεισιδαιμονίας ἐξουθενίζειν. Decreta Romana et Asiatica pro Judaeis ad cultum div.-secure obeun make them still more hated by their fellow-citizens, with whom, therefore, they had frequent quarrels. In the mean time, Judaism had been introduced in many ways among the heathen. It is true that only a few became complete converts to it by submitting to circumcision (proselytes of righteousness);5 but several, particularly women, attached themselves to it for the purpose of worshipping Jehovah as the one true God, without observing the Mosaic law, (proselytes of the gate), which was sufficient for those who were not Jews, according to the opinion of the more liberal Jewish expositors.8 dum-restituta a Jac. Gronovio, Lugd. Bat. 1712, 8. Decreta Romanorum pro Judaeis e Josepho collecta a J. Tob. Krebs, Lips. 1768, 8. Dav. Henr. Levyssohn disp. de Judaeorum sub Caesaribus conditione et de legibus eos spectantibus, Lugd. Bat. 1828, 4. 5 i. e. right, complete proselytes. Of such speaks Tacitus, hist. v. 5: Circumcidere genitalia instituere, ut diversitate noscantur. Transgressi in morem eorum idem usurpant, nec quidquam prius imbuuntur, quam contemnere deos, exuere patriam; parentes, liberos, fratres vilia habere. Juvenal. Sat. XIV. 96 ff.? Quidam sortiti metuentem sabbata patrem, Judaicum ediscunt, et servant, et metuunt jus, A list of existing proselytes is given by Causse in the Museum Haganum, I. 549. 6 So almost all the women in Damascus, Joseph. de B. J. II. 20, 2; so was Fulvia in the time of Tiberius at Rome, νομίμοις προσεληλυθυῖα τοῖς 'Iovdaïkoîs, Ant. XVIII. 3, 5. So were many Judaisers in Syria, de B. J. II. 18, 2, comp. the inscriptions in Hug Einl. in d. N. T. 3te Aufl. II. 339. Act. 13, 50, 17, 4. Comp. Strabo above, § 14, note 7. "T: 7 Such was the name originally given to those who were not Jews, but to whom permission was granted to dwell as sojourners in Palestine, under the condition of observing certain laws, (Levit xvii. 8 ff, 87 7 Exod. xx. 10; Deut. v. 14). But now, under altered circumstances, all heathens who attached themselves to Judaism by the spontaneous observance of those precepts, received the same appellation. These precepts, which, in the opinion of the Jews, were delivered even to Noah, (comp. Genesis ix. 4 ff.), and in him to the whole human race, are said to be seven. 1. A prohibition of idolatry; 2. Blasphemy; 3. The shedding of human blood; 4 Incest; 5. Theft; 6. The command to practise righteousness; 7. To eat no blood, and no animal in which the blood still remains. See Seldenus de jure nat. et gent. lib. 1, c. 10. In the New Testament these proselytes are called φοβούμενοι τὸν θεόν, σεβύ μενοι τ. θ. The school of Hillel, to which Gamaliel, Paul's preceptor, belonged, Others, on the contrary, especially in Rome, which longed after foreign rites, felt themselves attracted not so much by the religion as by the religious ceremonial of the Jews. These indivividuals observed Jewish ceremonies without separating themselves on that account from the heathen forms of worship, kept Jewish festivals, and trusted in Jewish conjurations. There soon appeared, also, Jewish jugglers, who ministered to this heathen superstition as conjurors and soothsayers.". allowed these proselytes a part in the kingdom of the Messiah; the school of Shammai excluded them from it,-both with reference to Ps. ix. 18. See E. M. Roeth epistolam vulgo ad Hebraeos inscriptam non ad Hebraeos sed ad Ephesios datam esse, Francof. ad M. 1836, 8. p. 117, 126 ss. At the conversion of king Izates, Ananias was of the milder, Eleazer of the stricter views, Joseph. Ant. xx. c. 2. The later rabbins follow the opinion of Hillel, as they do in all disputes between these two schools. Othonis lexicon rabbin. p. 243. Roeth, p. 129. 9 On account of many impostors of this kind Tiberius expelled the Jews from Rome, Jos. Ant. xviii. 3, 5. The Jewish festivals were kept by the heathen, Horat. Sat. I. 9, 69: hodie tricesima sabbata: vin' tu Curtis Judaeis oppedere? Nulla mihi, inquam, The women in particular frequented them. Cultaque Judaeo septima sacra Syro (Ovid. Art. Amat. I. 75). cf. Selden de jure nat. et gent. lib. iii. c. 15 ss. Gottl. Wernsdorf de gentilium sabbato, Viteb. 1722, 4. For examples of Jewish conjurers see Acts xix. 13. Joseph. Antiq. viii. 2, 5, (Eleazer, who before Vespasian gave proofs of exorcism). Plinii natur. hist. xxx. c. 2: Est et alia magices factio a Mose et Janne et Jotape Judaeis pendens. Celsus accused the Jews, (Orig. c. Cels. i. p. 21), αὐτοὺς σέβειν ἀγγέλους, καὶ γοητείᾳ προσκεῖσθαι, ῆς ὁ Μωϋσῆς αὐτοῖς γέγονεν ἐξηγητής. In regard to Jewish soothsayes see Juven. Sat. vi. 543: Arcanam Judaea tremens mendicat in aurem, Implet et illa manum, sed parcius. Aere minuto In this way the Jewish names for deity came into the formula of beathen impostors, though at a later period; and were supposed to possess a peculiar magical power in union with the heathen appellations of God, (Origenes c. Cels. iv. p. 183, v. p. 262), and were found on gems; see my remarks in the Theol. Stud. u. Kritiken, 1830, Heft. 2, p. 403. To this influence of Judaism Seneca refers, de superstitionibus (ap. Augustin. de civit. Dei, vi. 11): Cum interim usque eo sceleratissimae gentis consuetudo convaluit, ut per omnes jam terras, recepta sit, victi victoribus leges dederunt. Illi tamen causas ritus sui noverunt, sed major pars populi facit, quod cur faciat ignorat. It might be expected that with this heathen tendency many should make a mere external profes |