Important, however, as were the results of this earliest dispersion, they were exceeded by those which attended the policy of Alexander and his successors. That great conqueror, as we have seen, removed a great number of Jews to his new city of Alexandria[138], and there conferred upon them many and important privileges, setting an example, which Ptolemy Soter and Philadelphus were alike not slow to follow[139]. To such an extent did the Egyptian Jews increase, that Philo estimates them in his time at little less than 1,000,000, and declares that two of the five districts of Alexandria derived their names from them. From Egypt they quickly spread along the coast of Africa to Cyrene (Acts ii. 10), and the towns of the Pentapolis, and inland to the realms of Candace, queen of Ethiopia (Acts viii. 27).
The Seleucidæ, in their turn, were equally anxious to locate colonies of Jews in the cities which they founded. Seleucus Nicator invited them to his new capital at Antioch[140]; Antiochus the Great removed 2000 Jewish families from Babylon to Lydia and Phrygia[141]. Led on by that love of trade which now began to distinguish them, they soon became numerous in the commercial cities of Western Asia, Ephesus and Pergamus, Miletus and Sardis. The Archipelago furnished a natural bridge whereby to cross over into the countries of Europe and to settle at Philippi (Acts xvi. 12), Berœa (Acts xvii. 10), and Thessalonica (Acts xvii. 1); Athens (Acts xvii. 17); and Corinth (Acts xviii. 4); and the decree of Lucius[142], the consul during the reign of Simon Maccabæus, gives us a vivid idea of the extent to which they spread themselves in every direction, and no less of the power of the Sanhedrin[143] at Jerusalem, to which all Jews, wherever located, were amenable.
At Rome itself they first appeared in the train of captives led up by Pompeius to the Capitol, but their captivity was of no long duration, and under the protection of Julius Cæsar, who reproduced in the West the privileges they had enjoyed under the Ptolemies and Seleucidæ in the East, they quickly multiplied, and not only appropriated a whole quarter in the capital[144], but spread into other towns of Italy. Thus the Nation, whose native land had for centuries been in the centre of the world’s power, civilization, and commerce, now, under the superintending Hand of Providence, was scattered everywhere, East and West, North and South, bearing about with them their peculiar customs and institutions, and diffusing a knowledge of the Law and the Prophets.
(b) Corresponding to this wide diffusion of the Elect Nation was the change which gradually grew up in their vernacular language.
i. The earliest dispersion in Babylonia produced a change in the older Hebrew of Judæa. The language spoken in the days of David and Solomon was gradually exchanged for the Chaldee or “Syrian tongue.” (Comp. 2 K. xviii. 26; Isai. xxxvi. 11; Dan. ii. 4.) And those who returned from the Captivity and settled in Palestine and Syria, used Chaldee Targums or paraphrases for the interpretation of the Old Hebrew Scriptures, and spake kindred Aramæan dialects, and hence were known as the Aramæan Jews.
ii. After the conquests of Alexander, Greek became the language almost of the whole world[145]. It was a Greek speech that Pompeius was reading, preparatory to delivery, when he received his deathblow off the port of Alexandria. It was in Greek that Brutus conversed with his friends on the evening of the battle of Philippi. The mass of the poorer population at Rome were Greek either in descent or speech. The Jews, therefore, dispersed by the Ptolemies and the Seleucidæ over the shores of the Mediterranean, were forced to adopt the Grecian language, and to use the Septuagint translation made at Alexandria, hence their name of Hellenists[146], or “Jews of the Grecian speech,” which we shall find recurring so often in the Acts of the Apostles.
(c) The Rise of Synagogues.
During the captivity, when of course the Temple ritual was suspended, we gather that the devouter Jews were wont to assemble round the prophet Ezekiel and listen to his words and counsel[147] (Ezek. viii. 1; xiv. 1; xxiii. 31). Such meetings Ezra reproduced in Palestine amongst those who returned from Babylon (Ezra viii. 15; Neh. viii. 2; ix. i, &c.), and after the Maccabæan period they spread through every town and village, and in course of time gave rise to buildings called Synagogues, in which they might be held.
i. These Houses of Meeting varied in size according to the town or village in which they were built[148]. They were usually erected on the highest ground available, and so constructed, that a worshipper, when entering, or kneeling in prayer, might have his face towards Jerusalem. Like the ancient Tabernacle, they were divided into two parts by a hanging veil, behind which, at the upper end or that facing Jerusalem, was the ark containing the Book of the Law. Before this veil were the “chief seats,” for which the Pharisees strove so eagerly (Matt. xxiii. 6); a silver lamp always kept burning; and an eight-branched candlestick, only lighted on the greater festivals. About the centre of the building was a raised platform, on which was a desk, where the reader stood to read the lesson or sat down to teach (Acts xiii. 16; Lk. iv. 20). All round were seats, where the men sat on one side, and the women on the other, separated by a low partition[149].
ii. The chief officers of each synagogue were (a) a kind of Chapter or college of elders, presided over by the ruler of the Synagogue (Lk. viii. 41, 49; Acts xviii. 8, 17), who superintended the services, and had the power of excommunication[150]; (b) the Sheliach, or officiating minister, who read the prayers and the Law; (c) the Chazzan, ὑπηρέτης (Lk. iv. 20), a sort of deacon, whose office it was to open the doors, prepare the room for service, maintain order, scourge the condemned; (d) ten men called Batlanim (men of leisure), who attended the week-day as well as sabbath services, and were at once representatives of the congregation, and collectors of alms[151].