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We saw in the previous article that Philo and others claimed a Jewish ancestry for the wisdom of the Pagan Mysteries. These Hellenized Jews portrayed Paganism and Judaism as essentially parts of the same religious tradition.
Answer for yourself: Why is this fact, that Hellenized Jews claimed a Jewish origin for Pagan philosophies and Pagan religious ideas, so crucial and important?
This justified the Hellenized Jews to introduce multiple Pagan concepts and philosophies into Judaism and we end up with a religious synthesis that departs from normative Judaism, Moses, and the Prophets! The final reality of this is that the concepts of the Jewish Messiah will change drastically. Instead of a human being from the loins of David who is anointed by YHWH into a Cosmic Godman who comes to earth as the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy. This amalgamation of Egyptian Mysteries, Greek Philosophy, and Judaism finds its ultimate expression with the later translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. This falsified Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Septuagint, become the foundation for all Christian Old Testaments and every quote in the New Testament which is applied to "the Jesus" of the New Testament.
In the second century, the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek under the influence of Platonic philosophy. The legend that Ptolemy I and Demetrius Phalerion sponsored the translation of the Septuagint is a fiction created in the middle of the second century in a letter by Pseudo-Aristeas. Also legendary is that 72 separate Jewish scribes turned out 72 versions that were unanimous in their faithful translation of the sacred texts. In fact the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek was made in parts over two centuries: the Pentateuch over the course of the third century, Isaiah and Jeremiah during the first half of the second century, and Psalms and the rest of the prophets during the second half of the second century (J. Marlowe, The Golden Age Of Alexandria, 1971, p. 83). The Greek translation, which we have inherited as the Christian Old Testament, updated and reinterpreted Jewish scripture in line with Greek culture, Greek philosophy and Pagan religions. It modernized its geographical picture of the world, adapted some passages to appeal to the prevailing political climate in Alexandria, and changed details of the Law of Moses to fit the current legal practices of Egypt. It removed offensive anthropomorphisms, elucidated words that are obscure in the original in the light of Greek concepts, but most important than all, it added allusions to Greek mythology, and made its philosophy harmonious with Platonic doctrines. (Hengel, op. cit., p. 96).
Answer for yourself: What are the staggering implications that we must realize from this synthesis of paganism with Judaism as we find in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek?
The Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures incorporated many religious tenants of Dionysus and blended them with Jewish Messianic ideas and this become the foundation for all Christian Old Testaments and later quotes as found in the New Testament as applied to Jesus! Dionysus, the dying/rising Godman is recast as Jesus!
Hellenized Jews also wrote a number of new spiritual texts which demonstrate the interpenetration of Jewish and Pagan ideas. Hengel writes of the material composed between the Old and New Testaments, "Almost all the Jewish literature from this period that has come down to us is essentially religious and political propaganda." Written mostly in Greek, using Greek rhetorical flourishes, it presents a Judaism that is often indistinguishable from Paganism (M. Hengel, Jews, Greeks, and Barbarians, 1980, p. 51).
These new spiritual texts which were written between the Jewish Old Testament and the Christian New Testament are known as the "intertestamental" works.
The Letter of Aristeas was written c. 130 B.C.E. by an Alexandrian Jew but attributed to an Aristeas who had lived over a century earlier. (W. Barnstone, The Other Bible, 1984, p. 243). The Letter of Aristeas, for example, equates Jehovah and Zeus, and argues for harmony between Jews and Greeks, who are portrayed as sharing one culture and one vision of the Good Life.
The Books of Enoch also draws on Pagan motifs. These scriptures were attributed to the ancient Jewish Patriarch Enoch, but in the hands of Hellenized Jews he becomes a grand mythological figure, equated with the legendary Egyptian sage Hermes Trismegistus. 1 Enoch, written in the second century B.C.E., reinvents the Old Testament figure as an image of the Greco-Egyptian Hermes, a divine scribe, astronomer, and messenger of God. Just as Hermes wrote 365 books, so Enoch is said to have written 366 books and lived 365 years. Barnstone describes 1 Enoch as representing "the development of that side of Judaism to which historically Christianity in large measure owes its existence." In the middle of the first century an Alexandrian Jew wrote 2 Enoch, which presents Enoch as a Messiah of the "invisible God" (W. Barnstone, The Other Bible, 1984, p. 485).
One scholar notes:
In their wondrous and transcendent poetic vision, these documents contain universal stories and preoccupations which relate them to other great myths of the ancient world (Ibid.).
This inter-testamental "Wisdom Literature" no longer divides humanity into Jews and Gentiles, but rather into the "wise and foolish." It stresses spiritual piety rather than obedience to the Laws of Moses and portrays Jehovah not as a Jewish god, but as Lord of the whole Earth. Written in the first few centuries BCE, these works include Ecciesiastes, Ecciesiasticus, Odes of Solomon, and Psalms of Solomon. Wisdom is often personified as a female aspect of the Lord, and there are numerous references to the "Son of Man," who also appears in the second-century Book of Daniel.
Jews even created their own version of the Pagan Sibylline Oracles. The original Pagan oracles were attributed to the Sibyl, a prophetess believed to be centuries old who, in a state of ecstasy, spoke the words of God. Sometime in the second century BCE, an Alexandrian Jew invented a Jewish Sibyl and composed her sayings in perfect Greek hexameters. The Jewish Sibylline Oracles circulated widely throughout the Roman Empire (W. Barnstone, The Other Bible, 1984, p. 501 ff).
Jewish inter-testamental literature often personifies wisdom as "Sophia," as did the ancient Pagans. As a modern scholar notes, this personification of Jewish wisdom (see Proverbs) "is entirely Greek and has no counterpart in orthodox Jewish theology" (J. Marlowe, The Golden Age of Alexandria, 1971, p. 243). Another scholar explains, "The personification of this Hellenistic cosmos and feminine counterpart to, or consort of, Jehovah generally drew upon the characteristic traits of the Hellenistic goddesses and especially upon the imagery of the wisest of the goddesses, Isis. Even as the Hellenistic goddess of the cosmos opposed and was opposed by chaotic Tyche/Fortuna, so the Jewish Sophia, the cosmic principle of order, was opposed by the figure of "the foolish woman" or Folly, the cosmic principle of disorder. This antithetical structure is recounted in the biblical book of Proverbs concerning two sisters, Folly and Wisdom" (L.H. Martin, The Hellenistic Religions, Oxford Univ. Press, 1987, p. 108).
The Jewish Sophia appears from as early as the third century B.C.E., when she is described as Jehovah's consort in the Book of Proverbs (Martin, op. cit., 108-9, quoting Proverbs Chap. 3 v 19).
Three centuries later, echoing Pagan Mystery doctrines, the Jewish philosopher Philo wrote of Moses as "the child of parents incorruptible and wholly free from stain, his father being God, who is likewise Father of all, and his mother Sophia, through whom the universe came into existence." For Philo, as for the Gnostics, Sophia is the "Mother of the Logos" (W.R. Inge, Christian Mysticism, 1899, p. 84).
The central role given to the Divine Feminine by the Pagan philosophers, the Hellenized Jews of the inter-testamental period and later by the Gnostics, is strong evidence for a direct line of evolution linking these three traditions together Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, The Jesus Mysteries, Harmony Books, 1999, p. 181-182).
Above I have patiently laid out by the hands of multiple scholars how the Hellenized Jews wanted to integrate the wisdom of the Pagan Mysteries with their own spiritual traditions and did so through not only the falsification of the Hebrew Scriptures when translated into Greek where pagan religious ideas were incorporated into the Greeks translation but as well the continued synthesis of Judaism and pagan philosophy and religious ideas.
Answer for yourself: Did these Hellenized Jews create a specifically Jewish version of the Gentile Pagan Mysteries and is this unique religious synthesis to be found in the later depiction of Jesus in the New Testament? The answer is "yes" but we still need more proof to satisfy any doubters.
The clues we need to answer this question are found in the works of Philo of Alexandria (20 BCE-40 CE), a well-respected Jewish leader and famous Jewish philosopher.
J. Marlowe in The Golden Age Of Alexandria, on page 241, states that Philo is "The last and greatest representative of the Alexandrian-Jewish tradition of Hellenistic Judaism" Following violent riots in Alexandria between Jews and Greeks in 38 CE, Philo was chosen as an ambassador to Rome by the Jewish community. He only visited Jerusalem once in his life, contrary to Jewish Law, which demanded thrice-yearly attendance. From the evidence of his writings he did not know Hebrew.
Philo was devoted to his native Judaism, but was also thoroughly Hellenized and obsessed with Pagan philosophy. He writes of philosophers as an international brotherhood of world citizens who "dwell in the cosmos as their city," looking after all alike, and eulogizes:
Such men, though comparatively few in number, keep alive the covered spark of Wisdom secretly, throughout the cities of the world, in order that Virtue may not be absolutely quenched and vanish from our human kind. (W. Kingsland, The Gnosis, 1937), p. 106).
Among the ancients, Philo particularly revered Pythagoras and his follower Plato, whom he called "the great" and "the most sacred." The Christian philosopher Clement of Alexandria refers to Philo as "the Pythagorean." Clement of Alexandria, in Stromata, 1.15.72 and 2.19.100, twice calls Philo "the Pythagorean" even though he knows that he is "Judaeus." Like all followers of Pythagoras, Philo was well versed in music, geometry, and astrology, as well as Greek literature from every age. J. Marlowe in The Golden Age Of Alexandria, on page 243 states that "Philo had undoubted faith that a study of mathematics and astronomy would lead to a perception of spiritual realities." Also, like other Pythagoreans, he was immersed in the mysticism of the Pagan Mysteries.
Philo uses what he calls "the method of the Mysteries" to reveal Jewish scriptures as allegories encoding secret spiritual teachings (W.R. Inge, Christian Mysticism, 1899, p. 355). Philo interprets the "historical" story of Moses and the Exodus as a mystical metaphor for the path that leads through this world to God. The guide on this journey is the familiar Pagan figure of the "Logos."
Answer for yourself: Would this "mystical metaphor" of Philo, as taken from the Exodus and the life of Moses as the Old Testament way to God, later become the foundation for the New Testament story of "the Christ" and Jesus?
Answer for yourself: Is this Philo "allegory" of the path to God, as taken from the Old Testament, used as a "pattern" for a similar path to God in the New Testament but told through the life of Jesus? Yes it is as we shall quickly see.
For Philo, as for the sages of the Mysteries, the Logos is "the only and beloved Son of God (W.R. Inge, Christian Mysticism, 1899, p. 355). Philo, like his Pagan counterparts, is unconcerned with the name given to the Logos: "And many names belong to the Logos, for he is called the Name of God, and the Man after his image" (T.R. Wallis, Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, 1992, p. 244). Like the sages of the Mysteries, he teaches that the wonders of the visible world are designed to lead humans to the experience of mystical union with God (J. Gregory, The Neoplatonists, 1987, p. 26). There are many resemblances between the thoughts of Philo and Plotinus, including the view that the goal of human life is the vision of God. All of these ideas were inherited from the Pagan Mysteries to which, as one modern scholar remarks, "Philo's works prove a notable indebtedness."
Philo did not only adopt the philosophy of the Mysteries, but claimed to be an initiate himself - but not of the Pagan Mysteries, however (H.R. Willoughby, Pagan Regeneration, 1929, Chapter 9, "The Mysticism of Philo"): "Philo acknowledged that he had been initiated into the sacred mysteries by Moses. He did not shrink from speaking of himself as a hierophant and he urged others to serve in a similar capacity for the uninitiated." He encouraged Jews not to participate in Pagan initiations, as they had their own specifically Jewish Mysteries: the Mysteries of Moses! (H.R. Willoughby, Pagan Regeneration, 1929, Chapter 9, p. 255 ff). Willoughby states that Philo "followed mystery practices by laying upon his disciples the charge of secrecy. Those who were adepts in the lore of his cult were regarded as an esoteric group, and he addressed them with formulas that were familiar to mystery initiates." Philo laid down the rule that none of "Moses' Disciples" might be initiated into Pagan cults as there were Mysteries in their own religion to which they ought to aspire. According to Philo, Moses was the great initiator, "a hierophant of the ritual and teacher of divine things." Philo also calls himself a hierophant and initiator in the Jewish Mysteries (Ibid., 256). In Life of Moses, 2.71, Philo says that God initiated Moses on the mountain. In The Giants, p. 54, he says that Moses thereafter became a hierophant.
He writes of "teaching initiation to those initiates worthy of the most sacred initiations." As in the Pagan Mysteries, his initiates formed a secret mystical sect and were required to be morally pure. As in the Pagan Mysteries, they were sworn to never reveal the "veritably sacred Mysteries" to the uninitiated, lest the ignorant should misrepresent what they did not understand and in so doing expose the Mysteries to the ridicule of the vulgar.
For Philo, initiation was the entrance to a new world, an invisible country, the world of ideas where "the purified mind could contemplate the pure and untainted nature of those things which are invisible and only discernible by the intellect As in the Pagan Mysteries, the purpose was for the initiate to become transformed into a divine being through the experience of religious ecstasy. In the manner of the Mysteries, Philo writes of enthousiazein (being divinely inspired), korubantian (being mystically frenzied), bakeuein (being seized by divine madness), katechesthai (being possessed by the deity) and ekstasis (ecstasy). J. Marlowe, in The Golden Age Of Alexandria, on page 249, shares with the reader that he regards Philo as "the precursor of Gnosticism, of Neoplatonism, and of Christian mysticism."
We have seen irrefutable proof of the synthesis of Judaism with Greek philosophy and the Mystery Religions. In so doing we come to find the alteration of prior Jewish concepts held sacred in the Hebrew Scriptures whereby they and their intended meanings were altered by Hellenized Jewish scribes when translating the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. We saw the synthesis of the dying/rising God-man, Dionysus, with Judaism and that many of these "mysteries" were incorporated into the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures in order to overcome anti-Semitism and blend pagan philosophy and Greek ideas with the ancient Jewish religion. It will be these religious tenets which will become the foundation for an Alexandria, Judaism, which will carry a historic influence not only in Egypt, but in Palestine and the Greek world through the spread of the Greek language and the Greek Old Testament. In this unique religious synthesis of Judaism and Pagan philosophy and Mystery Religions the concept of the dying - rising God-man becomes intertwined with the religious concepts of the Jewish Messiah. We see these ideas spread not only with the Therapeutae but with the Essenes of Alexandria, Egypt, and Palestine. In Acts 6 we finds these same "Essene Priest" join the "Jesus Movement" in Palestine and with them come these novel ideas which they apply to the Jewish Messiah. The Jewish Messiah through such Essene writings as the Book of Enoch, and others, becomes a transformed Dionysus and this reshaped Messianic "identity" is later woven into the Jewish store of Jesus as we find in the New Testament. In so doing the "mystery" revealing the path to God as seen with the Moses of the Hebrew Scriptures is presented through the depiction of Jesus in the New Testament. We will see this much more clearly when we examine the Exodus allegory. In closing understand that it will be these "believers" who will fashion the religion known as "Christianity" today. Let us continue to investigate the identity of these earliest Christians as our focus now moves from Alexandria, Egypt, to Jerusalem.
Now let us continue our study.