A Perspective of Antioch in Judaea

 

                                 Ben Sirach 1860 woodcut  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Sira

        An interesting scribe, Ben Sirah, gives us an interesting perspective on life in Jerusalem during a time of Hellenistic acceptance. To begin Armstrong states, that Ben Sirah “gives us some idea of the impact of the Temple liturgy on the faithful when he describes Simon performing the ceremonies of Yom Kippur” ( Armstrong 108). Yom Kippur is the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, observed on the 10th day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei. This holiday is a solemn day of fasting, prayer, and repentance, during which Jewish people seek forgiveness for their sins and strive to reconcile with God and others. During Ben Sirah’s observation of Simon, Armstrong states that “When he emerged, he brought its great sanctity with him out to the people. The sacred aura that seemed to surround Simon is compared amin the sun shining on the golden roof of the temple, to a rainbow amind brilliant clouds, on an olive tree laden with gruit and a cypress soaring toward the heavens” (Armstrong 108).

        While Ben Sirah writes about the holiness of holidays that occurred during this time, there was another perspective he wrote about regarding the Hellenistic rule that had occurred in Jerusalem when Alexander of Macedon defeated Darius III. It is again interesting to see the perspective of a scribe during the time of Antioch in Judaea and again we reference that of ben Sirah. Armstrong states that “Ben Sirah was a conservative. He deployed the materialism that had crept into the city now that so many people had been infected by the mercenary ways of the Greeks” (Armstrong 109). He questioned why the Jews of Jerusalem are studying those of Greek Works and not those of Moses. Unquestionably, Ben Sirah believed in the power of the Torah and its teachings. However, Armstrong states “ And yet, however much Ben Sirah distrusted those Jews who filtered with Gree culture, he was not himself immune to the lure of Hellenism.” 

        The story of Ben Sirah is one of the many examples of how many people during the time of Antioch in Judaea felt about the encroachment of Hellenistic ideals on their land; however, it is all interesting to see that no matter how hard they had tried to reject Hellenistic ideals, they would submit to them some way because of how prevalent it was in their environment.