Part 8 (1/2)

You remember the great conqueror, Alexander, and how nation after nation had been forced to submit to him, until all the then-known world owned him for its emperor? He built this city, and called it after his own name.

About a hundred years before the days of Antiochus (of whom we read in our last chapter) a company of Jews were living in Alexandria, then a rich and beautiful city, with its stately palaces and temples of white marble, its beautiful gardens, and groves of graceful palm-trees.

After the death of Alexander, the Greek kings of Egypt delighted to live in the new city, and in the old Greek books we can yet read of the splendid processions and festivals held in its streets year by year.

At this time Alexandria drew all the merchants of the world to her markets; and her harbour was constantly filled with s.h.i.+ps laden with silver, amber, and copper; while caravans were arriving daily, bringing jewels and rich silks from China, India, and the cities of the far East.

The Jews of Alexandria were not treated as foreigners, but as good subjects and citizens, by the Greek rulers of Egypt, and therefore as the years pa.s.sed they grew rich and honoured in their beautiful home.

Their children, however, seldom if ever heard Hebrew spoken; for all the Jews of Alexandria, for convenience' sake, spoke Greek like their neighbours.

But, although these Jews lived in a heathen city where they read nothing but Greek books, and heard Greek spoken all day long, they did not forget their G.o.d. They longed as earnestly as ever to hear about Him, and to read in His Book; but what was to be done? Only a few of the elder Jews could read Hebrew, and their children could not understand one word of the language. Must the little ones, therefore, grow up in ignorance of the Word of G.o.d?

This was impossible. Here in the heathen city of Alexandria the Scriptures would be the only safeguard of Jewish boys and girls. 'If the language of our children is Greek, then the Bible must be translated into Greek, so that they all can understand it.' So said these Jewish parents.

This was a wonderful proof of the Bible's living power. The Jews had changed their language and their country. Thousands of the cleverest books ever written were within their reach--for Alexandria had at this time the largest library in the world--yet all this made no difference; without the written Word of G.o.d, they could not exist.

Some writers say that Ptolemy Philadelphus, the king of Egypt of that time, having heard the Jews speak of their Book, and wis.h.i.+ng to have a copy of it to place in his great library, sent all the way to Jerusalem for seventy learned scribes who should translate the Book into Greek.

Now, however, it is believed that the Jews of Alexandria did the work entirely themselves, although their Greek Bible is still called the 'Septuagint'--that is, 'The Scriptures of the Seventy'--in memory of the old tradition.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FRAGMENT OF THE 'SEPTUAGINT'--THE OLD TESTAMENT IN ANCIENT GREEK, THE FIRST WRITTEN TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE EVER MADE]

Gradually, as the years pa.s.sed, the Greek language spread to other nations, until at last it became, as we have seen, the leading language of the world. Even to-day, as you know, this old Greek tongue is taught in many of our schools and colleges, and those who can read it tell us that there is no language so beautiful; none with words so sweet to the ear, nor in which such deep thoughts can be expressed.

Thus we see how G.o.d used the learning of the heathen Greeks to make His Book known to the world!

For hundreds of years the Bible had been a Book for the people of Israel alone; but now, as the time drew near when the Son of G.o.d Himself should come to the world--that the world by Him might be saved--the Scriptures, which had since the days of Moses spoken of His coming, were sent out to the nations by G.o.d Himself in order to prepare the way.

The Jews of old divided all dwellers on the earth into two cla.s.ses: the Jews--that is, themselves; the Gentiles--that is, all the other nations.

But now the wall of separation was to be broken down, and the words of the Prophet Isaiah were to be fulfilled, '_The Gentiles shall come to Thy light._' (Isaiah Ix. 3.)

Now that G.o.d's Holy Word had been translated into Greek, the one language which every man of those days wished to learn, the message could ring through all the Gentile cities: 'A King, a Saviour, is coming; be ready to meet Him!'

So the Scriptures went forth, north, south, east, and west, and we think they reached to that far eastern city in which those three wise men lived who afterwards travelled to Bethlehem, seeking the Messiah, and saying, '_Where is He that is born King of the Jews?_' (Matthew ii.

2.)

The Bible had indeed taken a strong leap forward now!

For long centuries it had been like a tiny stream flowing through a dry land, and reaching only a few people. Now it had become as a river of truth, ever growing deeper and wider, guided by G.o.d in all its wanderings across the earth.

The Bible was now no longer locked up in a language which was already half-forgotten. With this Greek translation its world-wide work had begun!

But while the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures was becoming an open door through which the people of many lands could draw nearer to G.o.d, a second witness to the truth of G.o.d's Book was hidden away in Samaria.

For the Samaritans had their own copies of the Books of the Law, and kept them closely shut up among their own people for hundreds of years.