The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (25 page)

¹¹
See Dan 8:5–8. The vision is of a male goat that viciously destroys a ram with two asymmetrical horns. The ram is identified in Dan 8:20 as the Medo-Persian Empire, which advances northwest and south. The male goat with one conspicuous horn is Alexander the Great, king of Greece (see Dan 8:21). He pushes west with great intensity and speed. The end of Alexander's kingdom is presented as well. The kingdom is split into four horns, and a little horn (most likely Antiochus IV) persecutes Judea.

¹²
See L. L. Grabbe, “Jewish History: Greek Period,” in
Dictionary of New Testament Background
, 570–74. For a broader description of the era, including a great deal of archaeological evidence, see A. M. Berlin, “Between Large Forces: Palestine in the Hellenistic Period,”
BA
60 (1997): 3–43. Greek influence continued unabated through the Ptolemaic and Seleucid dynasties and beyond into the NT era and thereafter.

¹³
Pausanias was immediately killed as well, leaving speculation as to his motives. Suspects include the Persians, Olympias (Philip's ex-wife), and Alexander himself (possibly conspiring with his mother Olympias). See Newsome,
Greeks, Romans, Jews
, 4.

¹⁴
Ibid.

¹⁵
J. L. Berquist,
Judaism in Persia's Shadow: A Social and Historical Approach
(Philadelphia: Fortress, 1995), 125.

¹⁶
The port supplying the Persian navy; see R. D. Milns, “Alexander the Great,”
ABD
1.147.

¹⁷
Josephus,
Ant.
11.337. Most, however, believe that this is fantasy on the part of Josephus or his sources, for Alexander had his mind on the riches of Egypt and would have had no interest in Jerusalem. See Newsome,
Greeks, Romans, Jews
, 6; and A. J. Tomasino,
Judaism Before Jesus: The Events and Ideas That Shaped the New Testament World
(Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity, 2003), 108. Tomasino also denied the trip's veracity as a “trifling detour.”

¹⁸
Milns, “Alexander,” 147.

¹⁹
Tomasino,
Judaism Before Jesus
, 109.

²⁰
Helyer,
Exploring Jewish Literature
, 19, 75–76.

²¹
Milns, “Alexander,” 149. Neither the infant Alexander nor the half brother Philip survived the struggle for supremacy.

²²
Koester,
History, Culture, and Religion of the Hellenistic Age
, 15.

²³
Greek for “successors.” See G. L. Thompson, “Diadochi,” in
Dictionary of New Testament Background
, ed. C. A. Evans and S. E. Porter (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2000), 278–81.

²⁴
D. B. Sandy, “Ptolemies,” in
Dictionary of New Testament Background
, 870–73.

²⁵
After Ptolemy XI, none were in the blood line of Ptolemy I. Even Julius Caesar was hailed as Ptolemy XV due to his relationship with Cleopatra VII, the famous queen. This Cleopatra—thoroughly Greek in spite of Hollywood's portrayal of her—was the last of the Ptolemaic line. She ultimately chose to commit suicide by taking an adder's bite rather than submit to Octavian.

²⁶
See Tomasino,
Judaism Before Jesus
, 116–17; and Horsley,
Scribes, Visionaries, and the Politics of Second Temple Judea
, 37–41.

²⁷
Josephus (
Ant.
12.1–153) connected the freeing of the slaves to Philadelphus's desire to acquire the laws of the Jews and to translate them into Greek for the library at Alexandria. Aristeas, the high priest in Jerusalem, upon the request for the law, granted the petition to free the Egyptian slaves, granting them citizenship.

²⁸
Hence the alternation of the names “Seleucus” and “Antiochus” throughout the Seleucid dynasty.

²⁹
Scott,
Jewish Backgrounds
, 80.

³⁰
For a helpful introduction, see D. W. J. Gill, “Seleucids and Antiochids,” in
Dictionary of New Testament Background
, 1092–93.

³¹
Tomasino,
Judaism Before Jesus
, 127.

³²
B. Witherington III,
New Testament History: A Narrative Account
(Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001), 39.

³³
For a thorough treatment of Jewish history starting with the religious crisis and revolution in 175–164 BC and concluding with the Jewish revolt against Hadrian in AD 132–135, see Schürer,
Jewish History in the Age of Jesus Christ
, 1:125–557.

³⁴
Temples were often the financial centers of the ancient world as well as places of worship. The wealthy often stored sums of money in the temples in hopes that robbers would not dare invoke the wrath of the deity. See J. R. C. Cousland, “Temples, Greco-Roman,” in
Dictionary of New Testament Background
, 1186–88.

³⁵
The practice of religious persecution was practically unheard of in the ancient world. Antiochus's program has thus provoked a good deal of speculation as to the cause and purpose of it. At the end of the day, the only certainty is that the attempt to stamp out Judaism, a religion different from all others in the world, did in fact take place. See S. J. D. Cohen,
From the Maccabees to the Mishnah
, 2d ed. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2006), 22.

³⁶
According to Josephus (
Ant.
12.265), Mattathias was the great-grandson of Hasmoneus. Tomasino,
Judaism Before Jesus
, 140, suggests that he was a gentleman farmer living off his priestly salary and migrating to Jerusalem for the two weeks of service and then returning home.

³⁷
For a selection of readings in the primary sources, see Barrett,
New Testament Background
, chap. 7.

³⁸
Probably from the Hebrew word
maqqebeth
, meaning “hammer.”

³⁹
Cohen,
From the Maccabees to the Mishnah
, 22–23.

⁴⁰
Demetrius was the son of Seleucus IV (Antiochus's brother) who had taken Antiochus's place as a hostage in Rome. See B. Reicke,
The New Testament Era: The World of the Bible from 500 B.C. to A.D. 100
, trans. D. E. Green (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1968), 59.

⁴¹
So Schürer (
Jewish History in the Age of Jesus Christ
, 2:587), who suggested that Jonathan was the person called the “Wicked Priest” in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

⁴²
See J. Sievers, “Hasmoneans,” in
Dictionary of New Testament Background
, 438–42.

⁴³
Josephus called him
philellen
, that is, “Greek-lover” (
Ant.
13.318).

⁴⁴
Josephus (
Ant.
13.379) attributed the switch of allegiance to pity.

⁴⁵
The response was so brutal that years later the author of one of the Dead Sea Scrolls interprets it as the prophecies of Nahum (4QpNah 3.4 i 2). See D. Flusser, “Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes in Pesher Nahum,” in
Judaism of the Second Temple Period
, vol. 1:
Qumran and Apocalypticism
, trans. A. Yadin (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), 223.

⁴⁶
For a survey of the Roman period, see L. L. Grabbe, “Jewish History: Roman Period,” in
Dictionary of New Testament Background
, 576–80.

⁴⁷
For helpful primary source material, see Barrett,
New Testament Background
, 148–55; cf. H. W. Hoehner, “Herodian Dynasty,” in
Dictionary of New Testament Background
, 485–94 (see especially the chart on p. 321 and further bibliographic references on pp. 325–26).

⁴⁸
Dio Cassius,
Roman History
49.2: “These people Antony entrusted to a certain Herod to govern; but Antigonus he bound to a cross and flogged—a punishment no other king had suffered at the hands of the Romans—and afterwards slew him.”

⁴⁹
See T. Mueller, “Herod: The Holy Land's Visionary Builder,”
National Geographic
214/6 (December 2008): 34–59, which also chronicles the discovery of the Herodium, Herod's elaborate tomb. He built temples for his Gentile subjects as well.

⁵⁰
Macrobius,
Saturnalia
2.4. A play on the Greek words for “pig” (
hus
) and “son” (
huios
).

⁵¹
See P. L. Maier, “Herod and the Infants of Bethlehem,” in
Chronos, Kairos, Christos II: Chronology, Nativity, and Religious Studies in Memory of Ray Summers
, ed. E. J. Vardaman (Macon: Mercer Univ. Press, 1998), 169–90.

⁵²
On Herod Antipas, see H. W. Hoehner,
Herod Antipas
, SNTSMS 17 (Cambridge: University Press, 1972); and M. H. Jensen,
Herod Antipas in Galilee: The Literary and Archaeological Sources on the Reign of Herod Antipas and Its Socio-Economic Impact on Galilee
, WUNT 2/215 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006).

⁵³
See Barrett,
New Testament Background
, 155.

⁵⁴
See Matt 22:21: “Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar's”; Luke 2:1: “Caesar Augustus”; Luke 3:1: “Tiberius Caesar.”

⁵⁵
See J. E. Bowley, “Pax Romana,” in
Dictionary of New Testament Background
, 771–75. This is the case whether Jesus' crucifixion is dated to the year 30 or 33, the two major options for dating the crucifixion. See the discussion on the chronology of Jesus' life in chap. 3 below.

⁵⁶
Matt 27:1–65; Mark 15:1–44; Luke 3:1; 13:1; 23:1–52; John 18:29–19:38; Acts 3:13; 4:27; 13:28; 1 Tim 6:13. The famous “Pilate Inscription,” discovered in 1961 in Caesarea, reads as follows:

TIBERIEUM (“To Tiberius”)
[PON]TIUS PILATUS (“From Pontius Pilate”)
[PRAEF]ECTUS IUDA[EA]E (“Governor of Judea”)

^See
Barrett,
New Testament Background
, 155–56; Schürer,
History of the Jewish People
, 1:358; and C. A. Evans, “Pilate Inscription,” in
Dictionary of New Testament Background
, 803–4.

⁵⁷
See Philo,
In Flaccum
1.1; id.,
De Legatione ad Gaium
24; and Eusebius,
Eccl. Hist.
2.5, cited in P. L. Maier, “Sejanus, Pilate, and the Date of the Crucifixion,”
Church History
37 (1968): 3–13.

⁵⁸
See Maier (“Sejanus, Pilate, and the Date of the Crucifixion”) for both a description and an explanation of Pilate's offenses against Jewish sensibilities. See also the discussion and further references in A. J. Köstenberger,
John
, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 524–25.

⁵⁹
Eusebius,
Eccl. Hist.
2.7. But Origen (
Against Celsus
2.34)—and apparently his adversary Celsus—did not know of this report.

⁶⁰
For additional information on these and other Roman emperors see E. Ferguson,
Backgrounds of Early Christianity
, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993), 25–38; and Barrett,
New Testament Background
, chap. 1. See also chap. 20 on the book of Revelation below.

⁶¹
For helpful treatments see H. N. Ridderbos,
When the Time Had Fully Come
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1957); F. F. Bruce,
Commentary on Galatians
, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 194; and R. N. Longenecker,
Galatians
, WBC (Dallas: Word, 1990), 166–70. Longenecker (ibid., p. 167) noted that some view vv. 4–5 as representing a pre-Pauline confession drawn from the proclamation of the early church.

⁶²
Regarding Jesus, see Mark 1:15; 12:6; Luke 1:21. Regarding Peter and the preaching of the early church, see Acts 2:16–36; 3:18. Regarding the Matthean and Johannine fulfillment quotations, see the discussion in chap. 1 above. Regarding Paul, see also Acts 13:27; Rom 3:26; 5:6; Eph 1:10.

⁶³
Longenecker,
Galatians
, 170; cf. John 1:18; Heb 1:1–3.

⁶⁴
See D. Guthrie,
Galatians
, NCBC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974), 113
.

⁶⁵
See the discussion above.

⁶⁶
See Scott,
Jewish Backgrounds
, 307–23; cf. the further discussion of messianism under the heading “Theology” below.

⁶⁷
See especially D. W. Chapman and A. J. Köstenberger, “Jewish Intertestamental and Early Rabbinic Literature: An Annotated Bibliographic Resource,”
JETS
43 (2000): 577–618 (posted at www.biblicalfoundations.org).

⁶⁸
On Targums, see B. D. Chilton, “Rabbinic Literature: Targumim,” in
Dictionary of New Testament Background
, 902–9.

⁶⁹
D. A. deSilva, “Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha,” in
Dictionary of New Testament Background
, 58; see the entire entry on pp. 58–64, including additional bibliographic references.

⁷⁰
The following survey is indebted to B. M. Metzger, “Introduction to the Apocrypha,” in
The Oxford Annotated Apocrypha
, exp. and rev. ed., ed. B. M. Metzger (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1977), xi–xxii. See also Evans,
Ancient Texts for New Testament Study
, 1–8.

⁷¹
On issues related to the canonicity of the OT Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, see N. L. Geisler and W. E. Nix,
A General Introduction to the Bible
, rev. and exp. ed. (Chicago: Moody, 1986), chap. 15.

⁷²
See especially J. K. Elliott,
The Apocryphal New Testament
(New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005); and W. Schneemelcher, ed.,
New Testament Apocrypha
, 2 vols., trans. R. M. Wilson (Louisville/London: Westminster John Knox, 2003). Contrary to B. D. Ehrman (
Lost Scriptures
[New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005] and
Lost Christianities
[New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005]) who followed W. Bauer (
Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerei im ältesten Christentum
[Tübingen: Mohr, 1934]; English translation
Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity
, ed. R. A. Kraft and G. Krodel [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1971]), the NT Apocrypha were not for a time put side by side with the canonical NT writings and only later disqualified by the early Catholic church. See especially D. L. Bock,
The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities
(Nashville: Nelson, 2006); C. A. Blaising, “Faithfulness: A Prescription for Theology,”
JETS
49 (2006): 6–9; P. Trebilco, “Christian Communities in Western Asia Minor into the Early Second Century: Ignatius and Others as Witnesses against Bauer,”
JETS
49 (2006): 17–44; and A. J. Köstenberger and M. J. Kruger,
The Heresy of Orthodoxy
(Wheaton: Crossway, forthcoming).