=The struggle between Judaism and Hellenism.=--This meant that the old religion of Jehovah was in danger of being forgotten not only in Babylonia and other lands but even in Judaea and Jerusalem. Many Jews quite fell in love with the new art and learning of the Greeks. They learned the Greek language, gave their children Greek names, such as "Jason," for example, instead of "Joshua." A gymnasium was built in Jerusalem where Jewish lads learned to exercise and play games after the Greek style. Many of them tried to hide the fact that they were Jews, and too often they ceased to worship Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and offered sacrifices to Zeus and other Greek divinities. =The beginnings of the Pharisees.=--Other Jews fought against all these new ideas and fashions. They became more strict than ever in their observance of the peculiar customs and regulations of the Jewish law. It was at this time that the beginnings of the party of the Pharisees came into existence, of which we read in the New Testament. The word "Pharisee" means "one who is kept apart, or separate"; that is, one who holds aloof from the heathen and from heathen customs. They were the men who "when they come from the market place, eat not, except they bathe themselves." They might have touched some heathen person in the street which they thought made them ceremonially unclean. In the earlier days the Pharisees were called "Hasideans," or "the pious." It was right, of course, that these men should struggle to keep their religion alive. The great religious truths of the prophets were worth more to the world than all the art and wisdom of the Greeks. But the result of the struggle was an even greater scorn on the part of the Hebrews for all men who were not Jews. STUDY TOPICS 1. Read Esther 9. 5, 11-16. What kind of patriotism does this passage express? 2. Compare the following laws in Deuteronomy: 10. 18-19 and 14. 21. Can you explain the inconsistency? 3. What national characteristics do hatred and contempt of other nations lead to? 4. What is the danger from continually hurling bad names at foreigners, such as "Greasers," "Chinks," and so on? CHAPTER XXVI A BROAD-MINDED AND NOBLE PATRIOTISM