Alexander the Great (332 B.C.)
Once the Jews had repatriated back into their land and had completed rebuilding the Temple and had begun reinstituting their sacrificial system of worship, they were able to maintain their ancestral identity, even though under foreign rule. That remained true until the military campaign of Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. which ushered in the Hellenistic period. Greece, at that time, had a rich and diverse culture (especially in the arts and sciences) reaching back as far as a thousand years.1 This culture would make its impact upon Judaism in various ways. Not only were there at least two different attitudes among the Jews interacting against each other, the Hellenistic culture complicated matters even more. Some of the Jews openly adopted this new "modernism" of that day and made accommodations to their cultic observances that clearly reflected the Greek culture. This was highly offensive to the more orthodox-minded Jew who wanted to remain more of a purist and sought to repel this pagan cultural tide. Hence, these two groups evidenced open antagonism toward each other.
To understand how this developed even further click here:
Maccabean Revolt (167-164 B.C.).
Notes
1James D. Newsome, Greeks, Romans, Jews: Currents of Culture and Belief in the New Testament World (Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1992): 336.
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