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→III. Ethics
To state that the Jewish religious ethical outlook comprised all three of the above ethical ideas may surprise those of the modern era. In our age it is common for a citizen to have varying ethical goals individually, politically, and religiously. Compounding this complication is the problem of locating one's "community": is it one's religion, one's neighborhood, one's online virtual community?
Of course, none of these questions were a problem for the Jewish people of the Hellenistic era. They did have their own problems with a large, dispersed population outside Judea and the occasional misunderstandings and rhetorical attacks. And among the Jewish people themselves there were many solutions given both political and religious. Still, despite their diversity when more severe situations came upon them they were, admirably, able to handle them. As the Maccabean uprising demonstrated, for instance, they were hardly without recourse to militia-like activity when the need arose. And as Philo's ''Embassy to Gaius'' attests, they were not without diplomatic means to try to make good their need to maintain their religious heritage.
But whether these responses came in literary, political, or military form one thing about the Jewish people shines through in all these conflicts, and that is the adaptability within their limits to best their adversaries. Whereas some writers, past and present, may see a stubbornness in the Jewish people of this time, can we not see a higher quality of loyalty and devotion?
