The Makers and Teachers of Judaism | Page 9

Zadok,
Isaiah, Hosea, Nathan, Ethan, Zechariah, Shallum, Uriah, and
Shemaiah. They indicate that by the earlier part of the Persian period a
large and wealthy colony of Jewish traders and bankers was established
on this island. They appear to have lived in a community by themselves,
but in the heart of the city, side by side with Egyptians, Persians,
Babylonians, Phoenicians, and Greeks, whose property In some cases

joined their own. The Jews had their own court which ranked equally
with the Persian and Egyptian law courts. Even native Egyptians, who
had cases against the Jews, appeared before it. The names of Arameans
and Arabs also appear in its lists of witnesses. From these
contemporary documents it is clear that the Jews of upper Egypt
enjoyed great privileges and entered freely into the life of the land.
Ordinarily they married members of their own race; but the marriage of
a Jewess with a foreigner is also reported. He appears, however, to have
been a proselyte to Judaism, Another Jewess married an Egyptian and
took oath by the Egyptian goddess Sati, suggesting that she had
nominally at least adopted the religion of her husband. One Hebrew
also bears the suggestive name of Hosea, the son of Petikhnum (an
Egyptian name meaning _Gift of the god Khnum_).
VIII. The Temple of Yahu at Elephantine. These Aramaic legal
documents also contain many references to Yahu (the older form of
Yahweh or Jehovah), the god worshipped by the Jews, and to Yahu's
temple situated on King's Street, one of the main thoroughfares of the
city. These references have been signally confirmed by a most
remarkable letter recently discovered by the Germans at this site. It was
written in November of the year 408 B.C., by the members of the
Jewish colony at Elephantine to Bagohi (the Bagoas of Josephus), the
Persian governor of Judah. It states, among other things, that "Already
in the days of the kings of Egypt our fathers had built this temple in the
fortress of Elephantine. And when Cambyses (529-522 B.C.) entered
Egypt he found this temple built, and, though the temple of the gods of
Egypt were all at that time overthrown, no one injured anything in this
temple." It further states that recently (in the year 411 B.C.), in the
absence of the Persian governor in Egypt, the foreigners in Elephantine
had stirred up a certain minor official to instruct his son, who was
commander of a neighboring fortress, to destroy the Jewish temple.
The Aramaic letter was intended to be sent, together with rich gifts, to
influence the powerful Persian governor of Judah, Bagohi, to issue an
order permitting the Jews to rebuild their temple. From this letter we
learn that the temple of the God Yahu was built of hewn stone with
pillars of stone in front, probably similar to those in the Egyptian
temples, and had seven great gates built of hewn stone and provided
with doors and bronze hinges. Its roof was wholly of cedar wood,

probably brought from the distant Lebanon, and its walls appear to
have been ceiled or adorned with stucco, as were those of Solomon's
temple. It was also equipped with bowls of gold and silver and the
other paraphernalia of sacrifice. Here were regularly offered
cereal-offerings, burnt-offerings, and frankincense. The petitioners also
promised that, if the Persian officials would grant their request, "we
will also offer cereal-offerings and frankincense and burnt-offerings on
the altar in your name, and we will pray to God in your name, we and
our wives and all the Jews who are here, if you do thus until the temple
is built. And you shall have a portion before the God Yahu, the God of
Heaven, from every one who offers to him burnt-offerings and
sacrifices."
Historical students have long been familiar with the fact that late in the
Greek period the Jews of Egypt built a temple to Jehovah at
Leontopolis, in the Delta (cf. Section CXV:iii); but these recent
discoveries open an entirely new chapter in Jewish history. They
indicate that probably within a generation after the destruction of the
Jerusalem temple, in 586 B.C., the Jewish colonists in Egypt built for
themselves far up the Nile, and possibly at other points in this land of
their exile, a temple or temples to Jehovah; that they remained loyal to
God and the institutions of their race; and that in the midst of
cosmopolitan Egypt they preserved intact their racial unity. In the light
of these discoveries it is also clear that because of their character and
numbers and nearness to Palestine the Jews of Egypt, even at this early
period, were a far more important factor in the life and development of
Judaism than they have hitherto been considered. These discoveries
also afford definite grounds