From what has been said it is evident that Hellenistic influence upon the Jews of Palestine was very marked, for although it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to trace step by step the progress of this influence from its inception, we are able to see plainly enough how profoundly it must have affected the Jews. The question, however, arises as to whether the religious beliefs of the Jews were influenced by Hellenism. That a large number of Jews prior to the Maccabæan struggle gave up their traditional belief in their pursuit after everything that was Greek is clear from the evidence of the books of the Maccabees; but the point is rather as to whether Judaism as a faith was in any way permanently affected by the Hellenistic spirit. Restricting ourselves at present to Palestinian Judaism we may say without hesitation that its fundamental tenets remained untouched; but as regards various beliefs which, in process of time, became part and parcel of Judaism, it was different; it cannot be denied that these, of which mention will be made presently, do witness to the action of extraneous influences, permanent in their effect, of which Hellenism was one. “In no period,” says Wellhausen, “was Judaism so fruitful as in this. It was, like Islam, of complex appearance, full of antinomies, receptive like all that is living, unsystematic, only to be understood in its historical setting. It was only practical religion which was ruled by a pedantic spirit and by strict discipline; in the domain of belief and religious conception a curious freedom was permitted, although certain fundamental doctrines were rigorously shielded.”[38] The difficulty of estimating to what extent Jewish religious thought and practice were affected by outside influences is very considerable; not less difficult is it to determine _what_ outside influence had affected a given belief or custom. We are dealing specifically with Hellenistic influences, but these could be, and were, exercised both directly and indirectly. It must be remembered that the conditions under which the Jews lived during the period with which we are dealing, viz., in the midst of surrounding nations which had all, more or less, come under Hellenistic influences, and among whom the development of culture and religion had been, and was, proceeding apace—it must be remembered that these conditions were one of the consequences of the Hellenistic Movement.[39] Further, the question must always be borne in mind as to whether some eastern _trait_ which was absorbed by Judaism had not first been assimilated by Hellenism with its strongly syncretistic tendency, and then taken up by Judaism through this Greek channel. Even in the cases in which eastern elements were directly taken up into Judaism, must we not see in such Jewish syncretism at any rate the indirect result of Hellenistic influence? This readiness to accept what other religions had to offer was of the essence of the Hellenistic spirit.