or GREECE, both names occurring in the English Scriptures. The
boundaries of the country which received this name differed under the
different governments which ruled over it. Thus the Greece of the Old
Testament is not exactly the same as that of the New: the former
including Macedonia, Thessaly, Epirus, Hellas or Greece Proper, and the
Peloponnesus or Morea; while the latter excludes Macedonia, Thessaly,
and Epirus. But the Romans, in the time of the Apostles, had, in fact,
made two divisions of these countries. The first, which was that of
Macedonia, included also Thessaly and Epirus; and the other, that of
Achaia, all the rest of Greece, which is, properly speaking, the Greece
of the New Testament. But the term _Greek_ admits of a larger
interpretation, and applies not only to the inhabitants of Greece
Proper, but to those of Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, over nearly the
whole of the former of which countries, and great part of the two
latter, Grecian colonies and the Grecian language had extended
themselves. In fact, in the two books of the Maccabees, and in those of
the New Testament, the word _Greek_ commonly implies a Gentile.
2. The Scripture has but little reference to Greece till the time of
Alexander, whose conquests extended into Asia, where Greece had hitherto
been of no importance. Yet that some intercourse was maintained with
these countries from Jerusalem, may be inferred from the desire of
Baasha to shut up all passage between Jerusalem and Joppa, which was its
port, by the building of Ramah; and the anxiety of Asa to counteract his
scheme, 1 Kings xv, 2, 17. Greece was certainly intended by the Prophet
Daniel under the symbol of the single-horned goat; and it is probable
that when he calls Greece Chittim, he spoke the language of the Hebrew
nation, rather than that of the Persian court. After the establishment
of the Grecian dynasties in Asia, Judea could not but be considerably
affected by them; and the books of the Maccabees afford proofs of this.
The Roman power, superseding the Grecian establishments, yet left traces
of Greek language, customs, &c, to the days of the Herods, when the
Gospel history commences. By the activity of the Apostles, and
especially by that of St. Paul, the Gospel was propagated in those
countries which used the Grecian dialects: hence, we are interested in
the study of this language. Moreover as Greece, like all other
countries, had its peculiar manners, we are not able to estimate
properly an epistle written to those who dwell where they prevailed,
without a competent acquaintance with the manners themselves, with the
sentiments and reasonings of those who practised them, and with the
arguments employed in their defence by those who adhered to them.
boundaries of the country which received this name differed under the
different governments which ruled over it. Thus the Greece of the Old
Testament is not exactly the same as that of the New: the former
including Macedonia, Thessaly, Epirus, Hellas or Greece Proper, and the
Peloponnesus or Morea; while the latter excludes Macedonia, Thessaly,
and Epirus. But the Romans, in the time of the Apostles, had, in fact,
made two divisions of these countries. The first, which was that of
Macedonia, included also Thessaly and Epirus; and the other, that of
Achaia, all the rest of Greece, which is, properly speaking, the Greece
of the New Testament. But the term _Greek_ admits of a larger
interpretation, and applies not only to the inhabitants of Greece
Proper, but to those of Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, over nearly the
whole of the former of which countries, and great part of the two
latter, Grecian colonies and the Grecian language had extended
themselves. In fact, in the two books of the Maccabees, and in those of
the New Testament, the word _Greek_ commonly implies a Gentile.
2. The Scripture has but little reference to Greece till the time of
Alexander, whose conquests extended into Asia, where Greece had hitherto
been of no importance. Yet that some intercourse was maintained with
these countries from Jerusalem, may be inferred from the desire of
Baasha to shut up all passage between Jerusalem and Joppa, which was its
port, by the building of Ramah; and the anxiety of Asa to counteract his
scheme, 1 Kings xv, 2, 17. Greece was certainly intended by the Prophet
Daniel under the symbol of the single-horned goat; and it is probable
that when he calls Greece Chittim, he spoke the language of the Hebrew
nation, rather than that of the Persian court. After the establishment
of the Grecian dynasties in Asia, Judea could not but be considerably
affected by them; and the books of the Maccabees afford proofs of this.
The Roman power, superseding the Grecian establishments, yet left traces
of Greek language, customs, &c, to the days of the Herods, when the
Gospel history commences. By the activity of the Apostles, and
especially by that of St. Paul, the Gospel was propagated in those
countries which used the Grecian dialects: hence, we are interested in
the study of this language. Moreover as Greece, like all other
countries, had its peculiar manners, we are not able to estimate
properly an epistle written to those who dwell where they prevailed,
without a competent acquaintance with the manners themselves, with the
sentiments and reasonings of those who practised them, and with the
arguments employed in their defence by those who adhered to them.