GREEK. The Greek tongue is the original language of almost all the Books in the New Testament, except St. Matthew. All the Evangelists wrote in Greek, as did also St. Luke, St. Paul, St. Peter, St. James and St. Jude; but excepting St. Luke, the sacred Authors of the New Testament have followed the way of writing used by Hellenists, that is to say, Grecizing Hebrews, and blending abundance of idioms and turns peculiar to the Syriac and Hebrew language, very different from the turn and spirit of the Greek tongue; almost as if a man should translate a French discourse into Latin, and keep to the genius of the French language. Of such an one it might be said, that he speaks Latinum, but not Latinè. From the reign and conquests of Alexander the Great, Greek was the common language of almost all the East, and generally used in their commerce with other people. And as the sacred Authors had principally in view the conversion of the Jews, who were scattered in the several Provinces of the East, it was very natural for them to write to them in Greek.
In the Books of the Maccabees, lingua 2 Macc. vii. 8, 27.patria signifies the Syriac and Hebrew languages, in opposition to the Greek, which was that of King Antiochus’s Officers who persecuted the Jews.
As there were generally people of all Nations, and even of all Religions, at the solemn Festivals of the Jews in Jerusalem, Pilate ordered the Inscription on our Saviour’s Cross, signifying the motive of his condemnation, to be in Hebrew, John xix. 20. Luke xviii. 38.Syriac, Greek and Latin; because these were the languages most generally known in the Roman Empire, and particularly in Palestine.
Hence it was likewise, that at this time many Jews had two names, one Greek, the other Hebrew; others grecized their Hebrew name, and gave it at least a Latin termination. For example, of Jesus they made Jason; of Saul or Saulus, Paulus. St. Peter was called in Hebrew, Simon or Simeon, and in Greek, Petros. St. Thomas went by this name, which was Hebrew, and by that of Didymus, which signifies the same thing in Greek. Salome was called likewise Alexandra, which signifies much the same thing.
In the Books of the Maccabees, the word Greeks is used commonly for Gentiles 2 Macc. xi. 24.and Idolaters. For example, We understand that the Jews would not consent to our Father, for to be brought unto the custom of the Greeks; to embrace the worship of the Greeks, and their Idolatry. 2 Macc. iv. 15.And in another passage, the Priests despised the honours of their own Nation, and sought after those of the Greeks. Patrios quidem honores nihil habentes, Græcas glorias optimas arbitrabantur. The honour of the Priesthood and its functions did not affect them, they aspired to those which were obtained in publick games, &c.
By the Kingdom of the Greeks, is meant that of Alexander the Great, and of the Kings of Syria and Egypt, his successors. 1 Macc. i. 11.And the Year of the Greeks, mentioned in the Maccabees, is the Æra of the Seleucidæ, which begins in the year of the World 3692, in the first year of the 177th Olympiad, and the 312th of the Vulgar Æra, or 308th before the true Epoch of our Saviour’s birth. But it is to be observed, that Josephus, the Jews, and the Author of the first Book of Maccabees, begin the Æra of the Seleucidæ in the month Nisan, which is the first of the Jewish Ecclesiastical Year, and answers to the Moon of March; whereas the Author of the second Book of Maccabees supposes the beginning of it to be in the month Tizri, which answers to the Moon of September: and herein the Greeks and Arabians agree with him. But the Chaldæans compute it from the spring of the year following: so that they place the beginning of the Year of the Greeks six months backwards, and the Jews anticipate it six months.