" ' The secrei which malice had divined within the Saviour's lifei;irae' (Gwatlcin, Early Church Hist. i. 18).
DISPERSION
DISPEESIOJ^
305
with them everywhere, but ' in the Greek Diaspora . . . strict canonicity was accorded only to the Torah' (ERE ii. 580''). The observance which attracted most notice from their Gentile neighbours was that of the Sabbath rest. On the day of rest all classes of the Diaspora were ' gathered into one,' and felt that they were indeed ' the people cf the God of Abraham.'
That Julius Cessej had regarded them as his friends was not forgotten by those w^ho came after him. It was a precedent that proved of immense advantage to the Jews settled in Rome. The free- dom he granted them in the exercise of their re- ligious customs was endorsed by his grand-nephew Augustus (Jos. Ant. xiv. 10, xvi. S), and, after weathering some dangerous storms, became the settled policy of the Empire. In Roman law, Jewish societies were collegia licita, privileged clubs or gilds. Meetings in their synagogues, or irpotrevxaL, or (ra^jSareia [op. cit. xvi. 6. 2) were not hampered with any troublesome restrictions. They could settle matters pertaining to their law without going to the Roman tribunal (cf. Ac 18^*- '*), and were apparently permitted to inflict punish- ment for what they looked upon as schism or apostasy (Ac 26", 2 Co 11-'^). They had a coinage of their own for sacred purposes [HDB v. 57*). In the region beyond the Tiber, ' in the neighbourhood of the v/harfs where the barges from Ostia were accustomed to unlade' (F. W. Farrar, Life and Work of St. Paul, 1 vol., 1897, p. 585); many of them found employment, or drove a brisk trade. The only occasion on which they were seriously threat- ened with the loss of their privileges occurred under Claudius, who, in the words of the historian, ' ludaeos impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantes Roma expulit ' (Suet. Claud. 25). The meaning of these words is uncertain (HDB iv, 307% v. 98* ; EBi i. 757 ; JE iv. 563 ; Gwatkin, Earlj/ Church Hist. i. 40 ; Z?Am Jntrod. to NT, i. 433), but if they refer to tumults in the Jewish quarter caused by the preaching of the gospel, we may conjecture that Aquila, a Jew ci the Dispersion, had been one of its preachers (Ac 18"^). The edict of Claud- ius was probably found unworkable (Ramsay, St. Paul, 254). This Emperor seems to have been as favourable to the Jews as his predecessors (Jos. Ant. xix. 5. 2, 3).
Long before they had acquired a political status in Rome, a great inward change had been working among the Jews of the Dispersion. As may be in- ferred from the fact already mentioned, that strict canonicity was accorded only to the Torah, they carried abroad with them an intensely legal con- ception of their religion. It was conceived as consisting simply in the observance of a definite code of laws as to worship and life, given by God on Mount Sinai. So long as this conception pre- dominated, their relations with their non-Jewish neighbours were little more tlian ordinary business relations. But as soon as the stimulus exerted by the higher culture of the Greeks was felt, an in- ward change began to work. Habitual intercourse with a people so advanced in civilization could not fail to have its etlect. They were captivated by the freedom and range of Greek thought. Thej' recognized in their philosophical and ethical ideas a manifestation of the Divine Wisdom, There was thus evolved a tendency to tone down what was repellent in Judaism in order to bring their faith into harmony with the Greek mind. Illustra- tions of this tendency are found in the Prophetic and Wisdom literature, in the modification of OT anthropomorphism by the LXX, in the serious attempt of Philo to find the philosophy of Plato and the Stoics in the narratives of Genesis by tlie method of allegorical interpretation [HDB v. 199). The LXX itself was the outcome of the keen de-
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sire to make their religion understood, as well as to guard and preserve it from influences hostile to it. The favourable reception which it met with brought to the front an aspect of their religion yet scarcely apprehended, viz. that it was a re- ligion of hope for mankind. The words of the prophets concerning toe future of the human race began to be read v/ith a more open mind. There it was found that Israel v.'as called to be the mis- sionary to the nations. Many in the Dispersion realized that they were in a specially favoured position for undertaking this missionary duty. In spreading the knowledge of their faith, they laid stress, not upon ritual details, but upon the great central principles of the unity of God, and the cleansing and saving power of His word. As they went on communicating those spiritual prin- ciples to others, they became more spiritual them- selves, and also more expectant of 'the good things to come.' A large number of high-minded Greeks were convinced of the truth cf their doctrine of God. Those whom they won over, the ae^dfievoi or (pofjovfxevoi rbv 6e6i> of the Apostolic Age, were al- ready far on their way to the more complete satis- faction of their spiritual wants that was to be found in Christianity.