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scholar and philosopher Philon concerning the Logos
(Word). It is well known that the conquest of Palestine
and the foundation of Alexandria by Alexander the Great
opened up, for the first time, a new epoch for culture
and civilization. It was then that the disciples of Moses
(pbuh) met with those of Epicurus, and the mighty impact
of the spiritual doctrines of the Bible on the materialism
of the Greek paganism took place. The Greek art and
philosophy began to be admired and studied by the
Jewish doctors of the law both in Palestine and in
Egypt, where they had a very numerous community.
The penetration of the Greek thought and belles-lettres
into the Jewish schools alarmed their priests and learned
men. In fact, Hebrew was so much neglected that the
Scriptures were read in the Alexandrian Synagogues
in the Septuagint Version. This invasion by a foreign
knowledge, however, moved the Jews to make a better
study of their own law, and to defend it against the
inauspicious new spirit. They endeavoured, therefore,
to find a new method for the interpretation of the Bible
in order to enable the possibility of a rapprochement
and reconciliation of the Biblical truths with the
Hellenic thought. For their former method of a literal
interpretation of the law was felt to be unworkable and
too weak to stand against the fine reasoning of Plato
and Aristotle. At the same time, the solid activities of
the Jews and their profound devotion to their religion
often aroused against themselves the jealousy and
hatred of the Greeks. Already, under Alexander the
Great, and Egyptian priest, Manetho, had written libels
or calumnies against Judaism. Under Tiberius, too, the
great orator Apion had resuscitated and envenomed the
insults of Manetho. So that this literature poisoned the
people who, later on, cruelly persecuted the believers
in the one true God.