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42 Is JUDAISM the Religion of Moses?

Is JUDAISM the Religion of

Moses?

This tenth installment reveals the truth about the Jew-
ish sects in Palestine in the days of the Messiah.

Ernest Martin
Part Ten

A LL the sects of Judaism in the New Testament period had their roots within the time of reli-
gious anarchy after the death of Alexander the Great. That was the time the Egyptians and
then the Syrians dominated Palestine.

When these foreign elements came into Palestine, they brought with them their respective
cultures -- their forms of Hellenism. Every phase of life was affected by Hellenism. Nothing es-
caped its influence. That attractiveness of the new culture was overwhelming. The Jews accepted it
almost as readily as any of the countries of the East which had been conquered by Alexander the
Great.

Now let's continue this series.

Sects of Judaism

"Because the Jews represent the major non-Greek element in the eventual fusion it is impor-
tant to observe that their reaction to Hellenism was INITIALLY NO DIFFERENT from that of
other non-Greek peoples" (Goodspeed, The Apocrypha, p. xiv).

The Jews, after the peaceful introduction of Hellenism by the Egyptians, accepted it almost
totally. And not the least affected by this acceptance of Hellenism were former religious beliefs of
the Jews. Changes were made in the Jewish religious services. The foreign influence was so strong
and the religious inclination so weak that the period had been called, as we have before mentioned,
a time of religious anarchy.

The very basis of Hellenism was the philosophy of "free-thinking"; the right of the individ-
ual to think and reason for himself. This philosophy of individualism was accepted by the Jews.
The Jews, like their Egyptian rulers, began to think on their own in regard to the arts, sciences, reli-
gion, etc.

As with Hellenism in Greece, Syria and Egypt, so in Palestine, the INDIVIDUAL and HIS
OPINION became important to the educated. The study of Scripture, when indulged, became more
of a private matter and of individual interpretation, as it is commonly done today, rather than of col-

The Berean Voice March-April 2003