The Evangelization Station

THE ALEXANDRIAN CANON

Victor R. Claveau, MJ

In order to understand the differences between the Roman Catholic canon and the Protestant canon of Holy Scriptures, it is necessary to return to the time of Manasseh, King of Judah (698-643 B.C.) and the causes of the Babylonian captivity of the Jews.[1]

Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, grandson of the prophet Isaiah, ascended to the throne at age 12 and reigned for 55 years.[2] His name is derived from the Hebrew (nashah; “he who forgot”), in that he forgot his God and indulged in idolatry, murder, and other abominable acts. After his father’s death Manasseh abolished his father’s religious reform and introduced alien rites into the Temple.[3] Side by side with the bamoth,[4] the idols of Baal and Astarte, of ancient memory reappeared. The astral cult, in which worship was paid to the god Shemesh, “sun”[5], and to the Assyrian goddess Ishtar, was however something new. Altars were set up in the Temple of Jerusalem for these divinities; Assyrian cult was copied with such exactness that, either within the Temple or adjacent to it, pavilions were built for the sacred prostitution of both men and women.[6] The canaanite gods were likewise welcomed, including hungry Moloch, “King,” to whom it seems, Manasseh offered his own son as a holocaust,[7] not on the occasion of some impending misfortune, but solely out of devotion. In fact, in the valley of Hinnom, a place called Tophet (probably “place of abomination”) was set aside in his honor, and ritual burning of children was carried out there.

The ancients described idol-worship in the Valley of Hinnom, the figure of Moloch, and the fences which surrounded it: “Although they made altars to all the heathen gods in Jerusalem, Moloch stood outside the walls of town–in a separate place.”[8]

He was represented by a figure surrounded by seven fences. His face was shaped like a calf, and his hands were stretched out ready to receive whatever was offered to him. His body was hollow, and a fire was kindled within it. When people brought him offerings, they approached him according to the nature of their sacrifice.

Whoever brought a fowl was only allowed to pass through the first fence and sacrifice. The man who brought a goat entered through the second fence; if he brought a sheep he entered the third. A calf allowed a man to enter through the fourth fence; a cow, through the fifth; an ox, through the sixth.

But whoever brought his son as an offering entered through the seventh fence, close to Moloch. The man would kiss his son and then lay him in the arms of Moloch, which were red hot from the fire burning within him. The people used to bring drums and beat them vigorously, so that the cries of the child should not be heard and grieve the father’s heart.

The sages explain why this valley was called Hinnom, because the child groaned (in Hebrew nohem) in its agony.

Others say because the spectators groaned (in Hebrew nohamin) and exclaimed to Moloch: “Let his offering be sweet, pleasing, and fragrant to you!”[9]

Magic, necromancy, and related forms of popular divination[10] also flourished at this time.[11]Manasseh destroyed the Temple altar and set up an idol with four faces, copied from the four figures on the divine throne of Ezekiel, so that from whatever direction a man entered the Temple he saw a face of the idol. He expunged the name of God from the Scriptures and delivered public lectures whose sole purpose was to ridicule the Torah. He committed incest by violating his sister and also sat in judgement on his own grandfather, Isaiah, and condemned him to death for heresy.[12]

Amon, son of Manasseh (642-640 B.C.), became king of Judah at the age of 22. The author of Chronicles considered the “transgressions” of Amon to have been “more numerous” than those of his father.[13] Talmudic tradition considers Amon, in the light of what is said in Chronicles, as the worst of Judah’s kings and concludes that his sins surpassed those of Ahaz and Manasseh. Ahaz, (meaning “YHWH holds fast”) who ruled Judah from 743-727 B.C. is one of the kings who did evil in the eyes of the Lord for practicing ancient Canaanite cults such as the Moloch fire rite (II Chronicles 16:3-4). Ahaz put his seal on the Torah to prevent the reading of it; Manasseh erased the names of God from the Torah and Amon ordered all of the torah scrolls burned. Only one torah scroll, which was found during the reign of Josiah, managed to escape his decree.[14] Josiah, (640-609 B.C.) son of Amon, became king of Judah upon the assassination of his father when he was only eight years old. His reign marked a great national revival, and the author of the Book of Kings in evaluating Josiah says: “Before him there was no king like him . . . nor did any like him arise after him.”[15]

Josiah’s reformative activities are given in two parallel accounts: II Kings 22-23 and II Chronicles 34-35. According to the account of Kings, the reform was motivated by the discovery of “Book of the Torah” in 622 B.C., before that no reformative action had been recorded. Chronicles, on the other hand, tells about three stages of reform. The king’s efforts on behalf of God found little echo with the majority of the people. Though successful in preventing public idolatry, he was deceived by the people. He sent his pious sympathizers to inspect the homes of the people and was satisfied that no idols were found. In reality, the recreant Israelites had fastened half an image on each wing of the doors so that they were not recognizable when the doors were opened, but reappeared when they were closed. Josiah’s death was due to this godless generation. He died in battle against the Egyptians. It is said that no less than 300 arrows pierced the king. In his death agony he uttered no word of complaint, proclaiming, “the Lord is right for I have rebelled against His word.”[16]

II Chronicles describes the effort of God’s prophets to return the people to the ways of the Lord:

 “The Lord,the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place; but they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words, and scoffing at his prophets, till the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, till there was no remedy.

Therefore, he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or age; he gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king and of his princes- all these he brought to Babylon.”[17]

For 100 years the chosen people rebelled against God by idolatry, murder, ritual prostitution and the sacrifice of their children to the god Moloch in the valley of Ben-hinnom. Yahweh the Lord of all life, who abhors human sacrifice, chastised His people.

The reforms of Josiah were not enough to turn aside God’s anger. “Still the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. And the Lord said, ‘I will remove Judah out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.’”[18]

Holy Scripture recounts the invasion of Israel by Nebuchadnezzar (c. 605-562 B.C.), the Babylonian king, in 597 B.C. (II Kgs. 25). In July, 586 B.C., Jerusalem fell for the last time before the Babylonian conquerors and the Temple was destroyed as described in II Chronicles:

 “And they burned down the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious vessels. He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfil seventy years.’[19]

Most of the population was taken into captivity with a few exceptions, some of the country’s poor, vine dressers and farmers were left behind to till the land and a number escaped, many to Egypt (See II Kgs. 25; Jer. 42:14; 43:7). This was the beginning of the dispersion or Diaspora of the Jews. Through the prophet Jeremiah God spoke to the elders, priests, and to the entire nation that had been carried off to Babylon:

“Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer. 29:5-7).

Following Jeremiah’s well-considered advice, the people did not fare badly. The Exile in Babylon was not to be compared to the harsh life of the children of Israel living in the period of Egyptian captivity.

For forty-two years Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylonia, Syria, and Palestine with a strong hand. He was undoubtedly the ablest ruler that Babylon had seen since the great Hammurabi. His ambition was not to conquer new territory, but to make Babylon the strongest and most magnificent city in the entire world. This ambition he fully realized. Huge fortifications were erected at strategic points. Dykes, dams, and basins regulated the water supply, which was drawn from the two great rivers. Great canals intersected the rich alluvial plains between the Tigris and the Euphrates, making possible the vast system of irrigation which extended out even into the Arabian desert to the west of Babylon. Temples and palaces made the interior of the city the wonder and envy of the whole world.

Babylon was an international center of trade, commerce, and industry. “The center of the city, which is full of three- and four-story buildings, is traversed by dead straight streets not only those that run parallel to the river but also the cross streets which lead down to the water side.” Thus, the historian Herodotus described what he himself had seen.[20]

The prideful words of Nebuchadnezzar from the mouth of Daniel did not exaggerate the glory of the city: “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as my royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” (Dan. 4:30).

The various peoples and interests in the great empire were closely consolidated, and the highways of commerce were opened, so that rapid communication was easy, and trade was protected. It is true that the interests of his capital, Babylon, were developed at the expense of other cities of the realm; but all subject peoples who submitted to Nebuchadnezzar’s rule and cooperated in carrying out his far-reaching policy received protection and impartial justice at his hand. Those who foolishly ventured to rebel found in him a harsh and pitiless master.

To the Jews, Babylon was an amazing sight, a center of commerce, trade and bustling activity. Herodotus writes: “Babylon was not only a commercial metropolis, but a religious one, as can be seen from an inscription: ‘Altogether there were 53 temples of the chief gods, 55 chapels of Marduk, 300 chapels for the earthly deities, 600 for the heavenly deities, 180 altars for the goddess Ishtar, 180 for the gods Nergal and Adad and 12 other altars for different gods.’”[21] Polytheism was the rule of the day with worship and ritual extended to public prostitution. Babylon was a cesspool of vice.

“But the most vicious practice of the Babylonians is the following,” wrote Herodotus. “Every woman in the country must take her seat in the shrine of Aphrodite, and once in her life consort with a stranger . . .. And only when she has been with him, and done her service to the goddess, is she allowed to go home: and from then on no gift is great enough to tempt her. All the women who are tall and beautiful are quickly released: but the unattractive ones have to wait for a long time before they can fulfil the law: some of them have to wait three or four years.”[22]

The Jews never forgot the abominable temptations, which were part of the everyday fabric of this society. Down through the centuries until the time of Christ Babylon was for them, “Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earth’s abominations” (Rev. 17:5).

The first great prophet to arise in Babylon was Ezekiel. He had been a priest and had been brought to Babylon in the first captivity of 597 B.C. In the ten years of his exile he followed the happenings at Jerusalem with great trepidation, troubled that the Judeans had not learned from their earlier punishments and continued to turn from the ways of God. In fiery prophecies he warned the sinners of Jerusalem that the wrath of God would burn fiercely against them. When the Temple fell and the great Judean captivity began, it was Ezekiel who turned to comforting his exiled people. He aroused new hope in them for a return to Palestine. In his “Vision of the Dry Bones,”[23] he told the people this powerful story of how their God would one day bring the remnants of Judah together again.

The teachings of Ezekiel were primarily responsible for a religious change. The Jews turned to their religion more strongly than ever before. They studied the Holy Scrolls that had been brought with them out of Judea with a new zeal. Amidst the strange temples of heathen Babylon, they gathered in their little meetinghouses for prayer and study. In these houses of prayer, they found the courage to cling to their God, and to hope for a new life, which would strengthen them in Babylon.

As the Jews were becoming more devoted to their religion, and began to dream of returning to Israel, the yoke of their captivity began to weigh more heavily upon them. The Babylonian kings, either angered by what they considered ingratitude of the Jews, or regarding the refusal of the Jews to worship their gods as an act of treason, began to oppress and persecute them. The Jews began to hate Babylon and eagerly awaited their deliverance.

Psalm 136 describes the travail of the Jews during this period:

By the rivers of Babylon

there we sat and wept,

remembering Zion;

on the poplars that grew there

we hung up our harps. 

For it was there that they asked us,

our captors, for songs,

our oppressors, for joy.

‘Sing to us,’ they said,

‘one of Zion’s songs.’

0 how could we sing

the song of the Lord

on alien soil?

If I forget you, Jerusalem,

let my right hand wither!

0let my tongue

cleave to my mouth

if I remember you not,

if I prize not Jerusalem

above all my joys!

As the prophet had foretold, so it came to pass. The Jews were held in captivity until 539A. D., when Cyrus the King of Persia (reigned 559 to 530 B.C.) triumphantly marched into the city of Babylon. II Chronicles continues the story:

“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord from the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.  Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him! Let him go up.’”[24]

The captivity lasted approximately 70 years. The life expectancy for a person living in that period of history was approximately 40 years (a generation). It is estimated that less than two percent of the people lived beyond 50 years. It is safe to assume that most, if not all, of the Israelites who entered into captivity died in captivity. It is significant to our chronology of events that at the time of the Babylonian captivity the Jews were a Hebrew-speaking people. The Babylonians were a Greek-speaking people. After 70 years of living in a Greek speaking land, most of the Jews no longer spoke Hebrew, but spoke the language of their captors. When King Cyrus freed the Jews he returned to them the sacred vessels and temple furnishings in order that they could rebuild the temple on their return to Israel (Ezra 5:13-15). In the Bible Cyrus is portrayed as an emissary of the God of Israel. His edict allowing the Jews to return to Palestine begins:

“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up’”(II Chr. 36:23).

And so the Lord God freed his people. Although most of the Jews decided to remain in Babylon, Ezra describes those who left:

“The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty, besides their menservants and maidservants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven; and they had two hundred male and female singers”[25]

Finally, free, the Jews set out on the difficult 540-mile journey home. When they reached Jerusalem, they found a city in ruins. In 536 B.C., an altar of sacrifice was erected on the site of the Temple. Worship was reinstated and the foundation stone of the Temple was laid. There were many struggles ahead for the small community. Bad weather and crop failures left the people without adequate food or clothing. The efforts of the returning exiles were for many years limited to basic survival. All this contributed to the delay in rebuilding the Temple as described by Ezra:

“Then this Sh“sh-b|z’zar came and laid the foundations of the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and from that time until now it has been in building, and is not yet finished”[26]

The small group in Jerusalem languished for about sixteen years until in the fall of 520 B.C. Then, under the spiritual headship of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, work on the Temple began anew and continued until its completion in the Spring of 515 B.C., seventy-one years after the first one was destroyed.

A number of Jews did not return to Israel, but went on to Northern Egypt. History records a substantial population in Egypt at the time of Alexander the Great. On the outermost tip of the Nile delta Alexander built the city that was to bear his name. Alexander decreed that the Jews in Egypt were to have the same rights as were accorded to his own people.  This decree led to the city becoming one of the great centers of Jewish life. The ancient historian Philo says that 1,000,000 Jews lived in Egypt. It has been estimated that at that time of Alexander forty percent of the worlds Jews lived in Alexandria. It was the largest concentration of Jews in the world; Rome was second and Jerusalem was third. Once again, it must be remembered that these were Greek speaking Jews.

The First Book of Maccabees continues the story:

“And after Alexander had ruled for twelve years, he died. Then his officers began to rule each in his own place. They all put on crowns after his death, and so did their sons after them for many years; and they caused many evils on the earth”[27]

Alexander the Great, tutored by Aristotle, was the most famous leader/warrior the ancient world had ever seen, died at the age of thirty-three, in Babylon, from an attack of fever.

Alexander’s death created a general confusion among his most trusted cohorts. He who had controlled the vast empire left no successor among his bewildered heirs. His family at the time consisted of Philip Arrhidaeus, his feeble-minded half brother, and his soon to be born son by his widow Roxana. The child became Alexander IV (329-309 B.C.). Rivalries and ambitions that had been held in check under Alexander flared up and destroyed the unity of the empire. Thus, began the period called the Diadochi, or successors. The succession was as follows. There were two kings: the weak-minded Philip and the newly born Alexander IV. A regent and “chiliarch” or first minister was installed to administer the empire. Various regions of the empire were entrusted to Alexander’s most trusted friends. Europe (Greece and Macedonia) was given to Antipater, governor of Macedonia; Antigonus Monophthalmus (Cyclops), greater Phrygia; Leonatus, the part of Phrygia which borders on the Hellespont; Thrace was given to Lysimachus; Eumenes, the secretary of Alexander, got Cappadocia and Ptolemy, who took the name Soter (Savior), received Egypt. This was a short-lived alliance when war broke out among the various factions.

In response to these changes, the surviving Diadochi met in Syria in the year 321 B.C. and decided on a new partitioning of the empire. During the next ten years there were continual intrigues and warring factions. In 310 B.C. Cassander, the son of Antipater, had Alexander IV and his mother put to death. Shortly thereafter, Heracles, an illegitimate son of Alexander the Great was also killed, thus severing any link to the official ruling dynasty. The period of the Diadochi lasted until 301 B.C. Warring continued for the next twenty years or so and in the end, what remained were the kingdoms of Macedonia, of Seleucus in Asia, and that of Ptolemy in Egypt.

We are primarily concerned with the Macedonian or Ptolemaic dynasty which ruled Egypt for approximately 275 years, until about the time of Cleopatra (30 B.C.).

Under the throne name of Soter, Ptolemy I (323-283 B.C.) and his son Ptolemy II Philadelphus (283-245 B.C.) made their capitol city of Alexandria an unsurpassed center for Hellenistic culture and learning, whose fame extended far beyond the borders of their own kingdom, which further attracted emigrants from Israel among others.

Ptolemy Philadelphus took great pride in the fact that the library in Alexandria possessed the finest collections of books in the world. The library was part of the Mouseion (“House of the Muses,” or house of arts and sciences). The Mouseion was a complex of buildings, which housed study rooms, lecture halls, and administrative offices where scholars could do research and teach. Among the scholars who used the library were the mathematicians Euclid and Apollonios of Perga, the geographer Eratosthenis (who first said that the world was round), the astronomer Aristarchos, and the medical researchers Ersistraros and Eudemos.

The library was divided into two parts: the “the library within the palace” (the Brucheion) and the smaller “library outside the palace” (the Serepheum). By 250 B.C., the Brucheion contained 90,000 single volumes and 400,000 volumes containing more than one work; the Serepheum which served the ordinary citizens and students contained 42,800 volumes.

The decline of the Mouseion and library apparently began about 100 B.C., amid wars and civil unrest. It seems that Julius Caesar in the Alexandria War in 48 B.C accidentally burned the Brucheion. The library declined further after the beginning of the Christian era. It was burned again by the Roman Emperor Aurelian in 273 A.D. as he reconquered Egypt. Whatever was left of the library was finally destroyed by the Moslem conqueror Omar in A.D. 645.

  • [1] II Kings. 24:12; 25:1.
  • [2] II Kings 21:1.
  • [3] II Kings 21:3; Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 11 (Israel: Keter Publishing House Jerusalem Ltd., 1972), pp. 853-854.
  • [4] A place where Yahweh was worshiped.
  • [5] II Kings 23:11.
  • [6] II Kings 23:7.
  • [7] II Kings 21:6.
  • [8] Jeremiah 19:11-12.
  • [9] Zev Vilnay, Legends of Jerusalem, The Sacred Land: Vol. 1,) Philadelphia, The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1973), p 271.
  • [11] Giuseppi Ricciotti, The History of Israel, (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1955), Vol. I, p. 388.
  • [12] Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 11, pp. 853-854.
  • [13] II Chron. 33:23.
  • [15] II Kings 23:25; cf. II Kings 18:5.
  • [16] Lamentations 1:18.
  • [17] II Chronicles 15-18.
  • [18] II Kings 23:26-27.
  • [19] II Chronicles 19-21.
  • [20] Werner Keller, et. al., The Bible as History, 2nd Revised Edition, (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1981), p. 290.
  • [23] Ezekiel 37:1-14. 
  • [24] II Chronicles 22-28.

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