Lampe on Church History: The Church from Babylonian Captivity to the Principate of the Maccabees

I.  The Years of this period, by a rougher calculation, are reckoned at three hundred and seventy.  For, it is evident, that to the Persian Monarchy, from when Cyrus gained control of affairs, to the victory of Alexander the Great over Darius Codomannus, are roughly attributed two hundred and five years, which we thus compute:

Cyrus reigned:  seven years.

Cambyses:  seven years, five months.

Smerdis with Magi Associates:  seven months.

Darius Hystaspes:  thirty-six years.

Xerxes:  15 years.

Artaxerxes Longimanus:  forty-six years.

Xerxes II:  two months.

Sogdianus:  seven months.

Darius II Nothus:  nineteen years.

Artaxerxes II Mnemon:  forty-six years.

Ochus:  twenty-one years.

Arses:  two years.

Darius Codomannus:  four years.

Total:  two hundred and four years, and five months.

This number of years as a general sum agrees with the tile of the Era of Nabonassar exhibited by Ptolemy, who places the beginning of Cyrus in the two hundred and tenth year of the era of Nabonassar, and the translation of the kingdom from Darius to Alexander the Great in the four hundred and seventeenth year of the same era, between which passed two hundred and six years.  Hence, if you remove the space exceeding a year, which passed between the subjugation of Babylon to Cyrus and the death of Cambyses, whom Cyrus succeeded in the Monarchy, the calculation will come to the same total.

Artaxerxes Longimanus

II.  Yet in the calculation of the individual Kings we differ somewhat.  For, to Xerxes Ptolemy assigns twenty-one years, but we only fifteen or sixteen, because Artaxerxes Longimanus appears to us to have reigned with Xerxes for five whole years, which period of five years we in turn add to the years of the reign of Artaxerxes.  This observation helps to a remarkable degree to fix accurately the beginning of the seventy weeks of Daniel, the beginning of which is located at the twentieth year of this Artaxerxes, in comparison with Nehemiah 1:1 and following, which consequently is the same with the four hundred and fiftieth year before the common era of Christ.

III.  Which then of these Persian Monarchs was Ahasuerus, famous for the divorce of Vashti, the marriage of Esther, and the execution of Haman?  It is very doubtful, with some thinking him to be Darius Hystaspes, but others much more likely either Cambyses or Xerxes or Artaxerxes Longimanus.  The last mentioned group follows Josephus as their authority.  Scripture appears to favor the first more than a little.

IV.  From the rule of Alexander over the Persians to the beginning of the era of the Seleucids flowed twenty years, namely, eight before his death and twelve after.  But the principate of Judas Maccabeus began in the one hundred and forty-sixth year of the Greek era of the Seleucids, according to 1 Maccabees 2:70; 3:1, which years, if you join them to the years of the Kings of Persia, you will have three hundred and seventy years and a little more.

V.  The first and most memorable event for the Church in this interval was the return from Babylonian servitude, which was similarly instituted by degrees.  For, with means obtained from Cyrus King of Persia, Zerubabbel and Joshua the High Priest undertake to lead the Jews back to their fatherland, and to engage in religious worship to God:  and, in the following year, with resources gathered, they lay the foundation of the temple.  Having been hindered by the machinations of the Samaritans in the second year of Darius Hystaspes, they resumed the building of the temple with greater zeal, and brought it to completion in the sixth year of the same king;[1] but in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, Ezra, having been conveyed to Jerusalem, restores the city, constitutes the republic, and emends the corrupt manners of the people.[2]  Finally, in the twentieth year of the same Artaxerxes, Nehemiah follows, completes the restoration of the walls of the city,[3] and, with the dedication celebrated joyfully for the increase of the city, emended the manner of the people.[4]

VI.  Among the restored Jews, some from the Ten Tribes also returned, few, if they be compared either with the body of gentiles, or with those returned of Judah, but by divine mercy multiplied greatly thereafter.  These coalesced with the Jews into one people, making use of the same sacred rites.

VII.  The substance of the Jewish Republic, as long as the Persian Kingdom was standing, was in the hands of their Monarchs, who administered Palestine through Satraps.  Under those the High Priests initially with the Ethnarchs, Zerubabbel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, then alone, ruled over the Israelites.  Josephus has preserved a catalogue of them.

VIII.  At the beginning of this period the face of religion was cheerful enough.  There were yet θεόπνευστοι/inspired Men, who confirmed the doctrine of grace and enlarged it with fresh augments, in addition to Ezra and Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, concluding the chorus of Prophets:  to be added to whom are the authors of Chronicles and Esther:  whose writings, preserved in the same ancient Hebrew tongue, even indeed in the very same letters, as it appears, have come down to us.  Moreover, we admit that the codices of Moses and the rest of the Prophets, who lived before these time, were recognized by Ezra and his associates, and that in this manner the Canon of the books of the Old Testament was constituted.  We do not follow the uncertain things concerning the Apocryphal books attached especially to Ezra himself.  But, whether the gift of prophecy ceased with Malachi, or was extended in a certain way, especially through the Bath-Kol,[5] is matter requiring a deeper search.  Doubtful also are those things that are referred to the Men of the Great Synagogue, although we are readily persuaded that the origin of Synagogues pertains to these times.  Towards the end of this period flourished Ben Sirach, or Jesus Siracides.

IX.  The external worship of the Deity, with the temple restored, according to the prescription of the Mosaic Law, was set up, although the Temple did not at all equal that of Solomon in riches and splendor, and various things, even with the Jews themselves admitting it, were wanting in it, which were obtaining the greatest glory for the Temple of Solomon.[6]

X.  Now, although this worship was initially in a sufficiently good condition, with θεοπνεύστοις/inspired Men yet being present (to which perhaps those seven weeks have regard, which Daniel distinguishes from the following sixty-two[7]):  it was nevertheless soon cast into desperate confusion through the impiety of the Priests, who, approaching the helm of state, mixed all things together, the sacred and the profane.  Of the number of these was Jonathan, or Johannes,[8] who killed his brother Joshua:  Jonathan feared that Joshua was going to be appointed to the High Priesthood by Bagoas, the General of Artaxerxes’ armies;[9] and thus he gave cause for the Jews to be sorely punished with tributes and other vexations for seven years:  indeed, Bagoas himself, with the prohibition of the Priests scorned, entered the temple, declaring that he was no more impure than the cadaver that had lain in the temple.

XI.  The same impiety of the Priests gave occasion to a greater schism with the Samaritans.  For, Manasses, brother of the High Priest Jaddua, by a profane marriage with the daughter of Sanballat the Cuthite, prefect of Samaria, incurred the popular odium of his people; he, having been driven away by them, fled to his father-in-law, who, building a rival Temple to that at Jerusalem on mount Gerizim, promised his Pontificate to Manasses, if he should retain his daughter as his wife.  Having been thus inducted, Manasses remained with his father-in-law, and inducted many of the Jews, so that they might follow their fathers.  That religion of the Samaritans was at length purged from idolatry and bent toward the dogmas of the Jews, except that they only accepted the Pentateuch, rejecting the remaining books of the Sacred Codex, denied angels, and observed in different ways certain ceremonies of divine worship.  Wherefore, this temple, for the two hundred years in which it stood, furnished an accursed refuge for despisers of the Jewish law.

XII.  Meanwhile, above all the rest is commended the piety of Simeon, surnamed the Just,[10] who was the grandson of the aforementioned Jaddua and son of Onias, after whom the Rabbis acknowledge all things declined.  Nevertheless, Onias III was also of some reputation, who stood in front of the treasure-chambers against Heliodorus, and restored him, having been smitten by the divine hand, to health through prayers.[11]  He is invited by letters sent from the King of the Spartans to contract friendship with them, which were the first beginnings of the fatal covenants of the Jews with the Gentiles.  Greater commotions soon followed.  For, Jason, by the influence of Antiochus Epiphanes,[12] whom money promised in abundance had drawn to his side, with his brother Onias III cast aside, occupies the High Priesthood;[13] and, so that he might please the King, he, with ancestral customs repudiated, worked to introduce Hellenism, only to be set aside himself after three years by Menelaus.[14]

XIII.  In these impious times comes the rise of the Sadducees as Masters of the Hebrews.  A disciple of Simeon the Just, Antigonus of Sokho, is related to have given occasion for it, whose saying was this:  Be not after the likeness of servants, who serve the Lord with this condition, that they might receive a reward; but be ye after the likeness of servants, who serve the Lord, but without this condition, that they might receive a reward:  and let the fear of God be among you.  These words his disciple, Zadok, construed in the worst sense, as if Antigonus had meant that neither punishments nor rewards were to be expected after death:  that thus he in such profligate times found followers even among the very Priests, is not to be thought very strange.  Their principal error was that they believed that there were no spirits, from which foundation they were denying both the immortality of souls and the resurrection of bodies.  Josephus relates that they also denied the providence of God.[15]  Whether they admitted no others of the sacred books beyond the Pentateuch, or they merely preferred the books of Moses to the rest, is disputed.  Moreover, they were completely rejecting the traditions of the Pharisees, being overly addicted to the letter.  Which perhaps was the occasion of the confounding of the Karaites[16] with the Sadducees.  Having a closer regard to the sect of the Sadducees appear to be the Bœthusians, whose first founder Bœthus is said to have been a fellow-pupil with Zadok under Antigonus, yet to have cherished a more moderate opinion.  But the Zindikæi, a sect of the Persians arising from the school of Zoroaster, ought not to be confounded with the Sadducees.

XIV.  Thus the gates were again opened to divine chastisements.  And indeed the wrath of Alexander the Great was placated by Jaddua, going out to meet him, dressed in the Priestly vestments, with the result that he, entering the city, offered sacrifices to God, and conceded the use of their ancestral laws with a seven years’ immunity from tribute.  But his successors, the Lagides and Seleucids, wearing each other out with continual wars, struck the Jews with grievous wounds time and again, when occasion was given.  Ptolemy Lagus,[17] with Pœnicia and Palestine conquered, entering Jerusalem under the appearance of religion on the Sabbath Day, deported a great number of Jews into Egypt.  Ptolemy Evergetes,[18] fighting against Seleucus Callinicus,[19] exacted twenty talents of annual revenue from the Jews.  And, from the other side, Antiochus the Great,[20] waging war on Ptolemy, whom some think to have been Philopater,[21] others Philometor,[22] entered Judea; and, since he was prohibited to enter into the sanctuary by the High Priest, he led many thousands of Jews to Alexandria in chains, to be cast before wild elephants.

XV.  Yet every atrocity of those was surpassed by the affliction of Antiochus Epiphanes, who, exasperated on account of an expedition infelicitously undertaken against the King of Egypt, and misled by citizens of his own faction, with Jerusalem occupied, poured out his fury upon the inhabitants of whatever sex and age.  Entering the Temple, and even the Holy of Holies, from it chambers he carried away the plunder of one thousand and eighty hundred talents; indeed, with the worship of the true God abrogated, and with Jupiter Olympius substituted at Jerusalem and Jupiter Hospitalis[23] on mount Gerizim, he compelled the Jews to observe the sacred rites of the Gentiles, raging against those resisting with the most savage punishments, until the fortitude of the Maccabees put a stop to the tyranny.

XVI.  But many of the Jews were not touched by these slaughters, because they remained dispersed through many nations in the seats of both Assyrian and Babylonian exile; yet they were sending their gifts continually to Jerusalem, and for the sake of religion were proceeding there to attend upon the sacred feasts.  Now, they erected schools in those places that they were inhabiting, among which are mentioned Nehardea,[24] Sura,[25] and Pumbedita,[26] which, although they received their fame much later, appear to have been founded already at this time.  A vast multitude of those dwelt in Egypt, with some carried off by force by Ptolemy Lagus, with others won over by his indulgence.  They had there a Procurator of their own nation, which was called the Ethnarch and Asaburch.  Thus the way to the calling of the nations was daily made wider, especially when the books of the Old Testament were translated into the Greek language under Ptolemy Philadelphus, as it is claimed,[27] which we admit to have been done by Alexandrian Jews; yet with the fables of Pseudo-Aristeas and others concerning this version rejected.  The race of the Jews also doubtlessly had other Men illustrious for learning in Egypt, among whom flourished Aristobulus under Ptolemy Philometor, a Peripatetic with respect to sect, the Author of a Commentari upon Moses, according to some.[28]

XVII.  At the same time, idolatry grew to immensity, to the extent that even Kings demanded divine honors for themselves before death.  And, since the affairs of the Greeks were flourishing to the greatest possible extent, Greek superstition especially spread itself far and wide.  Ὀφιολατρεία/Serpent-worship especially increased everywhere in memory of the ancient Serpent’s victory over our First Parents.

XVIII.  Among the Philosophers of this age is referred Zoroaster or Zerdust of the Persians, a manifest impostor, drawing many things from acquaintance with the Hebrews, wherewith he ornamented the ancient doctrine of the Magi; founder of the religion of the fire-worshippers, which survives to this day.  But the oracles ascribed to him were perhaps fraudulently introduced by a certain Gnostic.  Pythagoras,[29] who had a unique acquaintance with the Wisemen of the East, and among those, the Hebrews, founded an Italian sect.  His doctrine was carried to the Getæ by Zamolxes.[30]  Socrates followed, who to physical contemplations, in which the Ionic school generally stayed, added moral science; he was put to death by poison on the charge of contempt of the gods.  From the Socratic school diverse others came forth, sects differing to an immense degree, the Cyrenic,[31] Megarian,[32] Stoic, and also the Academic or Platonic, which the Peripatetic or Aristotelian followed, the Epicurean, or, finally the Skeptical or Pyrrhonic.

[1] Ezra 4-6.

[2] Ezra 7-10.

[3] Nehemiah 1-7.

[4] Nehemiah 8-13.

[5] Bath-Kol, daughter of a voice, took on special significance among the Rabbis.  It denotes an audible Divine declaration apart from any additional visible manifestation.  It is distinguished from Prophecy, which included the internal working of God upon the soul, and frequently other Divine manifestations.

[6] See Ezra 3; Haggai 2.

[7] Daniel 9:24-27.

[8] Jonathan was the fifth High Priest after the Babylonian captivity, presiding from c. 410 to 371 BC.

[9] Bagoas died in 336 BC.

[10] Simeon the Just appears to have been High Priest around 300 BC.

[11] Onias III reigned as High Priest from 187 to 175 BC.  Seleucus IV Philopater attempted to plunder the Temple through Heliodorus, one of his officials.

[12] Antiochus Epiphanes was the King of the Seleucid Empire from 175-164 BC.  He is remembered for his attempt to abolish Jewish religious rites, leading to the Maccabean revolt.

[13] Jason was High Priest from about 175 to 172 BC.

[14] Menelaus was High Priest from 172 to 165 BC.

[15] Jewish War, book II, section 8.

[16] The Karaites were a Jewish sect that adhered to the written Scripture, denying the authority of oral and Rabbinic tradition.  This sect appears to have originated in the eighth century AD.

[17] Ptolemy I Soter (c. 367-282 BC) was a Macedonian General under Alexander, and the founder of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt.

[18] Ptolemy III Evergetes was the third Pharaoh of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, reigning from 246 to 222 BC.

[19] Seleucus II Callinicus Pogon was the ruler of the Seleucid Empire from 246 to 225 BC.

[20] Antiochus III the Great was the sixth ruler of the Seleucid Empire, reigning from 223 to 187 BC.

[21] Ptolemy IV Philopater was the fourth Pharaoh of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, reigning from 221 to 204 BC.

[22] Ptolemy VI Philometor was ruler of the Ptolemaic Empire from 180 to 145 BC.

[23] Here, Jupiter is contemplated as the great protector of the laws of hospitality.

[24] The Nehardea Academy was located in Babylonia, near the conjunction of the Euphrates with the Nahr Malka.  It was founded by the great Amoraic sage, Samuel of Nehardea, in the second century AD.

[25] The Sura Academy was located in southern Babylonia.  It was founded by the Amora Abba Arikha, a disciple of Judah ha-Nasi, in 225 AD.  Soon, the reputation of the Sura Academy eclipsed that of Nehardea.

[26] The Pumbedita Academy was founded by Judah bar Ezekiel in the third century AD.  Its influence rivaled that of Sura.

[27] The Letter of Aristeas relates that the Septuagint was produced at the request of Ptolemy Philadelphus (third century BC), king of Egypt, for his library in Alexandria.

[28] Aristobulus lived during the reign of Ptolemy Philometer (second century BC).  He was among the Jewish Alexandrian philosophers, who sought to demonstrate the harmony between Greek philosophical thought and Biblical religion.  His work survives only in fragments.

[29] Pythagoras (582-507 BC) was a Greek philosopher and mathematician.

[30] Zamolxes, apparently a philosopher, was esteemed as a god by the Getæ, a tribe of the Thracians.

[31] The School of the Cyrenaics was founded by Aristippus of Cyrene in the fourth century BC.  The Cyrenaics were empiricist and sensual hedonists, embracing physical pleasure as the ultimate good.

[32] The Megarian School was founded by Euclies of Megara, a pupil of Socrates, in the fourth century BC.  The Megarians identified the Form of the Good with “the One”, and its opposite was thought to be non-existent.