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• As we shall see in our lesson on The Maccabean Revolt, the Jews actually resisted the Hellenisation process, and actively resisted Greek rule. They rose up against the very idea of learning the Greek language and Greek culture.
• That does not mean, however, that no Jews spoke any Greek. On the contrary, as we shall see in some of our later lessons, pockets of Jews in Israel in the first century had adopted Greek culture and the Greek language, but they were despised as apostate Jews because of it. They are referred to in the New Testament as the Grecian Jews, and the ‘Hebrew’ Jews despised them. In their eyes, the Hellenisation process brought only foreign and unwanted ideas, beliefs and practices into Judaism. The events of the Maccabean Revolt proved that the Greeks would only destroy their religion.