Philo and Josephus tell us
how Judaism was spreading over the world.[147] "There is not any city
of the Greeks," says the historian, "nor of the barbarians, nor of any
nation whatsoever, to which our custom of resting on the seventh day
has not been introduced, and where our fasts and our dietary laws are
not observed.... As God Himself pervadeth all the universe, so hath
our law passed through the world." And their testimony is supported by
the frequent gibes against Judaizing Romans in the Roman poets,[148]
and by the explicit statements of Strabo,[149] the famous geographer,
and, more remarkable still, of Seneca, the Stoic
philosopher-statesman. The bitter foe of the Jews, he confessed that
this superstitious pest was infecting the whole world, and that the
conquered people (Judaea had lately been made a Roman province) were
taking their conquerors captive.[150] Philo, with his ardent hope,
looked for the near coming of the time when the worship of the Jewish
God would prevail over the world, and sought to show that the Jewish
law, which is the expression of Jewish belief, and which differs from
all others, not only in the extent of its sway, but in its
unchangeableness, could be universalized to fit its new service. To
this end he interpreted the Mosaic code, which "no war, tyrant,
persecution, or visitation, human or Divine, can destroy: for it is
eternal.
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