When Herod the Great died, his i^olicy of getting material benefit for the nation at tlie cost of its religious ideals was continued by the priests, who exercised the highest civil as well as religious functions. They constituted the majority of the Sanhedrin, which, as tlie supreme court of appeal, professedly represented the remnant of Jewish in- dependence. But it represented no cause so truly as the vested interests of an order dejiendent first on the favour of Herod, and tlien on the pleasure of Kome. Thus in the name of a bastard inde- pendence, which meant that they had leave to grow rich and their country leisure to grow out- wardly splendid, they opposed any national move- ment which might provoke the Romans to take away not only the nation, but also ' our jilace ' (Jn 11''^). It was, e.g., the high priest Joazar who checked the threatened revolt in A.D. 7 on the taking of the census by Quirinius. There were even some of the Pharisees who, whether because they were satisfied with the measure of religious liberty accorded under the Imperial administration, or because they shut their eyes to the facts (Jn 8^^), or because they saw in the foreign yolce the dis- cipline of God, resented any movement towards national independence ; and perhaps it was some of these who associated themselves with the Herodians in Mt 221".
2. 'lo-patiX, Xaos. — But while the independence of the Jewisli people was irretrievably mutilated, and tlie State as a geographical or governmental entity about to perish, the other note of national exist- ence, viz. tin If)/ as focussed in the word Xaos, was very completely realized. Indeed, as the outer husk decayed, tlie inner shell grew the harder and tougher. The succession of Pharisees and scribes proved a far surer defence tiian the dynasty of David. The soul of Judaism was not devoured even by the omnivorous influences of Greek cul- ture. The first steps in this movement were taken by Ezra and Nehemiah, who put an end to mixed marriages among those who had returned from the Exile. The race was adulterated, however, even so late as B.C. 125, when the Idumseans, being de-
feated by Hyrcanus, submitted to circumcision. And in respect to language, tlie Jews of the Dis- persion spoke Greek, and read the Scriptures therein ; while ' the people of the land ' under- stood Aramaic only (Ac 21^"). Religiously, however, the nation was undivided after the Exile, feeling itself to be the special property and instrument of (iod (Mt 2« 3^ Lk l''«, Jn 8^^). Tliis unity was expressed not only by the rite of circumcision (Jn 7-^), but also by the keeping of the Sabbath (Mk 3^), the abstinence from unclean foods, and the worship, without images, of one only God. And these distinctions were guarded by a multitude of observances, which called into requisition the school of scribes trained in the principles of the Pharisees.
But although the scribes claimed to sit in the seat of Moses (Mt 23-), their authority was not recognized in what may be called tlie outer circles of Judaism. The Samaritans declined to follow the national Church in its later developments. Hence they were referred to with contempt (Jn 8^") as outsiders (Lk 17'*), because of their par- ticular objection to the religious monopoly of Jerusalem (Lk 9", cf. Jn 4'"'). lint for all that, they were counted Jews, though grudgingly, as heretics — ' the foolish people who dwell in Siclieni ' (Sir 50^^'- )> ^Htl were proud of the Israelite strain in their blood (Jn 4'-). More than that, their doc- trinal shortcomings received some countenance in high places ; for ' the Sadducees say only what is Avritten is to be esteemed as legal . . . the tradi- tion of the fathers needs not to be observed ' (Jos." A7it. XIII. X. 6).
Taken as a whole, however, in despite of the home-land being ]ienetrated under Herodian and priestly influence with Hellenistic speech and culture, and although, what Avith Essenes on the one hand, and Samaritans on the other, they did not all keep step, the people preserved such unity that they became, if not politically independent, socially isolated. On the one hand, their exemption from military service, from Sabbath employment, and their refusal of market food, drew out the dis- like of the populace and the contempt of the cul- tured classes, so that they were regarded as ' haters of mankind.' On the other hand, the word ^dvi], meaning the nations outside the Law of the chosen Xaos, gathered more and more of moral connotation, as it passed through the meanings of ' Gentile,' 'heathen,' and finally 'sinners' (Mt 26'^5 . (.f. Gal 2'^). The sj'mbol of this rejuvenated Judaism was still the Temple, whither the tribes went up at the national festivals ; but its rallying-point was the synagogue, where men were instructed in the Law and Hope of Israel, and where the Pharisees ruled supreme. Their rivals, the Sadducees, had no in- fluence beyond the aristocratic circles at Jerusalem, in the Hellenized cities, and perhajjs in Samaritan villages ; and though they had a large place in the Sanhedrin, they had to com2)ly with Pharisaic watchwords.
Thus the national life was knit from within, and ruling functions were exercised through officers of the synagogue, such as TrpeajSvTepoi (Mt 21-^ 26^^), irpGjTOL (Lk 19"'''), ypafxfxaTfis (Mk 9'^), or pofiLKoi (Lk 10-^). Although Palestine was not politically the mistress of her own territories, she was religiously the mother of a people throughout the Empire. The Jews of the Dispersion could but rarely visit the Temple, and they read the Scriptures in the Greek tongue ; but in their separate communities they maintained the precepts as to Sabbath rest and clean food under the protection of Roman governors and the Emjieror (cf. Ac 18'-"'^). The Jews could say with Josephus, ' Even if we were deprived of wealth, of towns and of other pos- sessions, the Law remains to us for ever. And no