IT was about B.C. 323 that Alexander died from drunkenness, or poison, or both. Immediately there arose great disputing among his followers with regard to the succession to the empire. He was indeed a “mighty king,” but the prophetic word had said, “his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity,” This literally came to pass. Nominally, the succession passed to Aridoeus, Alexander’s idiot brother; actually, the government passed into the hands of the chief commanders of his army, Antigonus, Seleucus, Lysimachus, Cassander, and Ptolemy. With reference to Judaea, it was first of all held by one Laomedon. From him it was seized by Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, called also “Soter,” Saviour. A settlement was only arrived at after continual wars— of course, to the intense suffering of the countries sought for— so that Josephus pathetically remarks about Palestine, that it “underwent the reverse of that denomination of Saviour which he (Ptolemy) had.” By an act of treachery (pretending that he entered Jerusalem on the Sabbath to offer sacrifice, which the Jews religiously allowed) Ptolemy, without trouble, captured the city. He did not, however, follow the too common custom of cruel massacre, though he transported a vast number―(more than a hundred thousand, it is said, ) ―of Jews to Egypt, and, knowing their fidelity to their oaths, he gave them equal privileges with the Macedonians. Indeed, his liberality enticed many of the Jews of their own accord to make their home in Egypt (especially in Alexandria), and so there sprang up that large settlement of Egyptian Greek-speaking Jews (“Hellenists”), whose dialect is embodied in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, which in its turn exercised great an influence over the language and diction of the New.
But Ptolemy was not to retain his hold a Palestine unmolested. Antigonus, a courageous and ambitious general under the late Alexander, wrested Syria, Phœnicia, and Palestine from Ptolemy. A reverse placed Palestine in Ptolemy’s hands, but yet again did Antigonus seize it. Thus for five years he waves of war rolled over desolate Israel, ill about B.C. 301, when a fierce and decisive battle at Ipsus, in Phrygia, ended the strife; Antigonus, with his son, Demetrius, was pitched against Ptolemy, who was confederate with Seleucus, Lysimachus, and Cassander. Victory was on the side of the confederates; Antigonus was slain, and some years after Demetrius fell into the hands of Seleucus, and died a captive.
Ptolemy and his allies had so far beer only “governors.” Antigonus, elated by success, had, some years before his fall at Ipsus adopted the title of “king,” and about this time, by common league, his opponents followed his example. A final subdivision of the Macedonian empire now took place, and each king possessed his newly-apportioned dominions independent of all others. The one “great horn” of Daniel’s vision had become broken, and was succeeded by the four horns which stood up for it, but not in the power of the first. Very exactly had the “Scripture of truth” received its fulfillment Ptolemy was the first king of Egypt of that name; his court was at Alexandria. Seleucus was king of Syria, with Antioch as his capital. Both these kingdoms (as also the other two) were Macedonian, or Grecian, in Language and habits. There was but one world-empire, in the prophetic view, though sub-divided. It is with the two kingdoms here particularly mentioned, that the history of the Jews is for some time to come entirely connected.
In the meantime, Jaddua, the high priest had died, and was succeeded by Onias, the firs, high priest of that name. The latter died the year after the battle of Ipsus (B.C. 300), and was succeeded by his son, the famous Simon, surnamed “the Just,” “because of his piety towards God, and his kind disposition to those of his own nation.” The Jewish mine dwelt affectionately upon his memory. A very elaborate eulogium in his honor will be found in the fiftieth chapter of Ecclesiasticus. He repaired the house of God, and fortified the city and the temple. According to tradition, he was president of the Sanhedrin, and the first of the Rabbis whose teaching after wards constituted the Mishna, or oral law. Many portents of sorrow happened, it is said, when he died. “The sacrifices, which were always favorably accepted during his life, at his death became uncertain or unfavorable. The scapegoat which used to be thrown from a rock, and to be dashed immediately to pieces, escaped (a fearful omen) into the desert. The great west light of the golden chandelier no longer burned with a steady flame: sometimes it was extinguished. The sacrificial fire languished; the sacrificial bread failed, so as not to suffice, as formerly, for the whole priesthood.”
Simon is reported to have completed the work which Ezra began―the canon of the Old Testament. He edited and added the latest of the sacred books, namely, those written by Ezra, or since his time, as the books of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Malachi.
Upon the death (B.C. 291) of Simon the Just, whose infant son was incapable of exercising the priestly office, Eleazar, his brother, took the position. He held office till his death, a period of about fifteen years. Comparative quiet, politically, was the portion of the Jews during his priesthood. This is all the more noteworthy, because the position of that nation, “a weak province, placed between two great conflicting monarchies,” was one which might well have led, as at other times, to uninterrupted distress. But God’s hand was over His people, for His they still were. Their borders were preserved from war, and under the government of the first three Ptolemies peace and plenty abounded.
At the end of a prosperous reign of twenty years, Ptolemy Soter died, and was succeeded (B.100:284) by his son, Ptolemy II., called Philadelphus.
An event of exceeding importance happened during his reign and the administration of Eleazar— the translation of the Scriptures, or, at least, of the Pentateuch, into the Greek tongue, being the first translation ever made of the sacred books. B.C. 277 is the approximate date. It is generally supposed to be called “the Septuagint” (seventy) from a tradition that it was the work of seventy (really, seventy-two) translators, six from each tribe being sent to Egypt for the purpose; or (what seems more probable) it may have been so called because, “in the popular idea, the number of the Gentile nations, of which the Greek (Japheth) was regarded as typical, was seventy.” One of the most far-fetched of the stories concerning this version (that given by Justin Martyr, a Christian writer of the second century) is to the effect that the translators were sent to the Island of Pharos, just of Alexandria, where a number of little cells were built, corresponding to the number of translators. In one of these cells, each man made a version of the Scriptures. No conference together was allowed. Upon comparison afterward, it was found that in all the seventy versions so made, there was not one divergent word! The king was “surprised with admiration,” says Justin. And he exclaims, “These things, O Greeks, are not fables and feigned stories!”
The truth of the matter, as far as it can be ascertained, appears to be this. The first three Ptolemies possessed marked literary tastes, and Ptolemy Soter projected a very fine museum and library in Alexandria. His son inherited his tastes and his scheme, and carried on the work of collection, becoming “literally book-mad.” It is probable that he would wish to enrich his library with those sacred books, which were held in such esteem by his large and prosperous colony of Jews, as well, perhaps, as to serve them by placing the Mosaic law in a more accessible form than in its ancient (and already obsolete) Hebrew tongue. Under his direction the work was carried out, and was the occasion of much rejoicing, the Jews of Alexandria afterward keeping the day of its completion a solemn anniversary. It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of the work, ― “the first apostle to the Gentiles,” as a modern Jewish writer aptly calls it. The version soon gained a very extensive circulation and acceptance, because Greek was the language of the day, and Hebrew was then, as now, a “learned tongue.” There is little doubt that it was the Bible of Christ and His apostles, as it was the Bible of the early Christian Church, to which all appeal was made, both in the ministry of the word, as well as in controversy with the Jews. That certain eloquent Jew of Alexandria, (the birth-place of the version) named Apollos, who was “mighty in the Scriptures,” was beyond doubt, familiar with those Scriptures in their Greek dress. The translation is often quoted in the New Testament, even when it does not exactly represent the Hebrew, as is well known. It was the “Authorized Version” of that day. The Christian fathers, as well as the early Jews, held that, as a translation, it was fully inspired. Thus Irenæus, for example, says expressly that it was made “by the inspiration of God;” while Philo, a famous Jewish writer of Alexandria, says: “We look upon the persons who made this version, not merely as translators, but as persons chosen and set apart by Divine appointment, to whom it was given to comprehend and express the sense and meaning of Moses in the fullest and clearest manner.
Of course, these views cannot be sustained. Excellent as the translation of the Pentateuch is admitted to be, there are yet many errors or intentional deviations from the Hebrew text. But it was, as we have mentioned, the authority to which appeal was made by both Jews and Christians, and so hardly did the Jews find themselves pressed in controversy by Messianic passages, fairly translated by “the Seventy,” that at length another version was made by one Aquila, a proselyte, which it was hoped would better serve the purpose of defending Judaism against the new faith. The later Rabbis declared that the making of the Septuagint was as great a calamity as the making of the golden calf, and that its completion was followed by the terrible omen of an eclipse which lasted three days. Jr.