CHAPTER XXVI LITERATURE OF THE EARLY MACCABEAN ERA (168 to about 135 B.C.) WHEN Palestine was incorporated in the Syrian kingdom by Antiochus the Great (198 B.C.),1 the influence of the degenerated Greek civilization of Antioch became dominant in Jerusalem; the Judaism that had survived Babylonian exile seemed doomed to disintegrate under the pervasive influence of Greek athletics, theatres, and gay religious festivals. Antiochus Epiphanes, who succeeded to the Syrian throne, was not satisfied with the progress Hellenistic civilization was making among his Jewish subjects and determined to root out completely all the rites and usages which made in any way an heterogeneous element in his kingdom. He forbade the observance of Sabbath and circumcision, ordered all copies of the Law burned, and all Jews to worship the Greek gods; horrible torture and death were the only alternatives. The temple was polluted by vile orgies of the Syrian soldiers, and an altar of Zeus, the "abomination of desolation," set upon the great altar of Jehovah, with swine's flesh used in sacrifice. Such measures could have but one result; they kindled into life all the loyalty to the law that had been developed under the Nehemiah-Ezra reform. The roll of martyrs became long and glorious; many fled to the caves of the wilderness, where a thousand were found and killed unresisting on a Sabbath day. Then the fires leaped forth in the Maccabean revolt, begun (168 B.C.) by an aged priest Mattathias and continued by his sons, at first under the leadership of Judas called Maccabeus. This son of Mattathias proved himself, not only one of the most devoted patriots, but one of the cleverest strategists of military history. With his growing band of heroic followers, he entrapped and cut 1 See p. 351 f. to pieces army after army sent to put down the revolt. Now he caught the enemy in a narrow defile where predominant numbers were of no avail; again, when their forces were divided attempting a night surprise in the mountains, his whole band swept down upon their unsuspecting camp in the open plain. The story, told with majestic simplicity two generations later, in 1 Maccabees, is one of the most thrilling of history. By December, 165 B.C., Judas was able to cleanse the polluted precincts of the temple and restore the daily worship of Jehovah, never again to be intermitted till the priests fell, calmly conducting sacrifices at the altar, while their temple burned, in 70 A.D. Religious liberty secured, many of the more fanatical religionists deserted Judas, failing to understand the necessity of political independence. Four years later, with diminished forces, the great leader met his death in hopeless battle. The Maccabean brothers carried forward the struggle, until, through keen diplomacy, taking advantage of the strifes of the many claimants to the Syrian throne, they obtained recognition of independence, twenty years after the death of Judas. The Maccabean state retained independence till the coming of Pompey in 63 B.C. The death of the last of the brothers of Judas Maccabeus in 135 B.C. marks the point to which we carry our survey of the history. That the struggle and victories of the Maccabees called forth lyrics of prayer and praise from faithful worshippers of Jehovah, we cannot question; some of these, as noted in the previous chapter, are believed to have found entrance into the book of Psalms. If that collection had not been already edited as a whole, we should expect to find more songs from the Maccabean age included. Beautiful psalms written in the next century, and traditionally ascribed to Solomon, form a separate collection that was never included in the national hymnal.1 Out of the darkness of Antiochus's persecution came such cries for vengeance and deliverance as Psalm 79.2 1 An excellent English edition of this later product of Israel's psalmody, edited by Ryle and James, is published by the Cambridge University Press and, in America, by Macmillan and Company, under the title "Psalms of the Pharisees, or Psalms of Solomon." 2 While the nucleus of this psalm is probably earlier, it was expanded to meet the conditions of the later era. O God, the nations are come into thine inheritance; Thy holy temple have they defiled; They have laid Jerusalem in heaps. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be food unto the birds of the heavens, The flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; And there was none to bury them. We are become a reproach to our neighbors, A scoffing and derision to them that are round about us. Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that know thee not, And laid waste his habitation. Remember not against us the iniquities of our forefathers: For we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name; Be known among the nations in our sight. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee: According to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to death; And render unto our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom Their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord. So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture Will give thee thanks for ever: We will show forth thy praise to all generations. When victory had come to Judas, there were outpourings of praise. Rejoice in Jehovah, O ye righteous: Praise is comely for the upright. Give thanks unto Jehovah with the harp: Sing praises unto him with the psaltery of ten strings. Sing unto him a new song; Play skilfully with a loud noise. For the word of Jehovah is right; And all his work is done in faithfulness. He loveth righteousness and justice: The earth is full of the lovingkindness of Jehovah. And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. Let all the earth fear Jehovah : Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.1 The most characteristic literature growing out of the persecution and struggle for freedom were the great apocalypses Daniel and Enoch 83-90. The growth of apocalypse 2 is one of the most distinctive and interesting phases of Israel's literary history. Apocalypse is a direct outgrowth of prophecy, a branch whose appearance announces the dwindling or death of the parent stem.3 The new branch is first clearly seen in Ezekiel where two great characteristics of the fully developed apocalypse are prominent : fantastic symbolism and the picture of a great day when the nations shall be gathered against Israel and when, in his people's last extremity, Jehovah will destroy their enemies and vindicate his power. This conception could not develop as a mere monopodial branch of prophecy, for the prophetic and apocalyptic conception of life are eternally contradictory. One conceives the hope of the future as an inward transformation, bringing nation and individual into willing harmony with God; the other trusts in a manifestation of external power to destroy the wicked and leave the righteous. From Ezekiel's time forward the apocalyptic elements of prophecy increase. Zechariah adopts Ezekiel's symbolism, while 1 Psalm 33 seems best assigned to this time. The opening lines are given above. 2 Translated into Latin-English by "revelation," and meaning etymologically uncovering. 3 It offers an example of sympodial branching, by which the "branch virtually becomes the trunk, and the real trunk or ascending portion is reduced to a mere twig, or may ultimately fail of support altogether and disappear through atrophy."-Ward, Pure Sociology, p. 72. Ezekiel 38-39. retaining much of the genuine spirit of prophecy; Joel takes both the form and thought, converting the older prophetic symbol of peace into a call to war, and picturing the nations as gathered together against Israel, to be cut down by Jehovah, for his people's deliverance and his own vindication. Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears; let the weak. say, I am strong. Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Jehovah. Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, tread ye; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. And Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but Jehovah will be a refuge unto his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am Jehovah your God, dwelling in Zion my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.1 Joel cannot conceive a day when Egypt and Assyria shall worship with Israel; for him the peace and perpetuity of Jerusalem demand the desolation of her neighbors. Though true prophecy had not fully disappeared in the fourth century B.C., the spirit of apocalypse was fast becoming ascendant. The late oracles appended to Zechariah (chapters 9-14, especially 12-14) show still further development of apocalyptic tendencies. Behold, a day of Jehovah cometh, when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall Jehovah go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the mount of Olives shall be 1 Joel 3 9-17. |