Judaism: From the Second Temple to the Rabbis
Yahweh as a God of history |
| history the development of God's relationship with his people |
| Kingdom of David and Solomon |
A key moment in time: Ezra and the Torah |
| The Torah is the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible |
| Exodus and return to Canaan (13th c BCE) |
| Judges: no centralized government |
| ark of the covenant in Shiloh |
| United monarchy (c. 1025 BCE) |
| made Jerusalem religious and political center |
| moved the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant from Shiloh |
| contained tabernacle and the ark of the covenant |
| Problems with Solomon's rule |
| despite reputatuion for wisdom, he alenated the northern tribes |
| expelled northern high priest |
| Division of kingdom (926 BCE) |
| South: Judah (line of David) |
| God addresses his people through prophets |
| Hope for a restored kingdom under a Davidic king |
| bringing their versions of the sources of the Torah |
| Destruction of Temple (586 BCE) |
| final compilation of Torah & other historical books |
Second Temple period (520 BCE - 70 CE) |
| first scriptural reference to the existence of the Torah |
| rule by priests and the religious elite, under |
| Hellenistic Kingdoms: 332-164 BCE |
| Antiochus IV of Syria (160s BCE) |
| forbade religious practices |
| placed images of Baal (including swine!) in Temple |
| resulted in Maccabean revolt, producing the |
| Hasmonean Kingdom (164-63 BCE) |
| Hasmoneans both kings and high priests |
| gradually became venal and corrupt |
| Roman rule or clientship (63 BCE to 7th c CE) |
| Herod the Great (from 30s BCE) as client |
| rebuilt the Temple (beginning 19 BCE) |
| Destruction of the Temple (70 CE) |
| end of Second Temple period |
| Sacrificial worship of Yahweh ceased forever |
| Both Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism a response to this event |
| Defining period for the development of both religions |
Shift from "Yahweh acting in history" to the Law |
| less immanent, more transcendant |
| believed to include traditions that go back to Moses |
| memorized, handed down and elaborated |
| a large variety of religious groups and "Judaisms" |
| Sadduccees: well-off, conservative |
| Pharisees: innovative, more focus on oral law |
| Essenes: withdrew from society to the desert |
New Religious Ideas during the Second Temple period |
| teaching about last or final things |
| esp. the end of the world |
| a cosmic cataclysm followed by a new age |
| anthology of many apocalypses |
| Zoroastrian Influence (Persian) |
| Zoroaster (11th or 10th c BCE) |
| dualistic: gods of good and evil |
| history finite, ending in |
| end of age of darkness, beginning of age of light |
| belief in personal afterlife |
| Moshiah (MSYH) "Annointed One" |
| Originally a king or priest |
| Second Temple period: the one who would restore the Davidic kingdom |
| human, national, political |
| Pharisaic concept: ruler of entire world |
| human, descended from David |
| Essenes: a priestly Moshiah descended from Aaron |
| Often coupled with belief in an eschatological prophet |
| Concept of God's justice seen in Genesis to Kings and the prophets, replaced by |
| concept of God's vengeance in apocalyptic literature |
| Other new religious ideas |
| Personification of good and evil |
| as God becomes less personal, evil becomes more personal |
| angels and archangels as intermediaries between God and man |
| not accepted by some groups, eg. Sadducees |
| Tension between "Hellenizers" and conservatives |
| entire culture Hellenized to some extent |
| eg,. names of Jason and Menelaus, two high priests in 2nd c BCE |
| architecture of Herod's Temple |
| Hellenistic influence especially strong in norhern Palestine |
| as much as half the population non-Jewish |
Two positive products of the impact of Hellenistic culture on Judaism |
| the Pentateuch (and Joshua to Kings?) |
| translated by "72" scholars from Palestine in Alexandria |
| under the patronage of the Ptolemies in 3rd c BCE |
| process indicates that the intellectual elite was bilingual |
| other parts of scripture added later |
| gave Greek-speakers easy access to the scriptures |
| made the development of the synogogue in the diaspora possible |
| enabled penetration of Judaist beliefs into other cultures |
| version of the scriptures cited in NT |
| Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE- 50 CE): first theologian in Jewish history; wrote in Greek |
| a mixture of Platonism and Stoicism |
| 3. the interpretation of the Pentateuch according to the vocabulary of Alexandrian philosophical thought |
| strong adherent of two beliefs central to later Rabbinic thought |
| 1. Moses wrote the first 5 books |
| 2. there was an oral tradition that went all the way back to Moses |
| the Rabbinical doctrine of the "Dual Torah" |
| frequently used allegory: |
| viewed elements of scripture as both historically real |
| and as Platonic types of various forms of truth |
| eg., temple as a cosmic representation of the unity of the one god who is Truth |
| the truth of Moses was revealed before the Greek philosophers lived |
| who therefore borrowed from Moses! |
| influence on later Christian thought |
| first discovered in 1947 by two Arab shepherds |
| near Qumran, home of the Essenes |
| attribution of entire collection to the Essenes is probably wrong |
| a wide variety of religious thought represented in these texts |
| These texts demonstrate that |
| 1. the concept of a canon, a Bible, was unknown in this period |
| second most copied non-canonical text in the collection |
| however, some texts more authority than others |
| 2. despite the Temple establishment and a core of shared beliefs |
| Second temple Judaism included a wide variety of religious cultures |
| widely used in late Second Temple period |
| fragments found in five of the eleven Qumran caves |
| the most copied non-canonical text in the collection |
| otherwise survived only in an Ethiopic translation |
| known to Paul and the author(s) of Luke and Acts |
| claimed to be dictated directly to Moses by God |
| thus presents itself as superior to, and a substitute for, the Torah! |
| 1. to effect a shift from the lunar to a solar calendar for determining feasts |
| 2. to explain the origin of evil |
| "Mastema" a Satan-figure who |
| plots the testing of Abraham |
| began in the 2nd c BCE or earlier |
| appear to have been flexible and open to new ideas |
| the resurrection of the dead |
| the judgment of the individual |
| interested in Halach, the proper interpretation of the Torah |
| attempted to get to the true spirit of the Torah |
| very concerned with dietary rules |
| developed the oral law as a Second Torah |
| primary rivals of early Christians |
| two groups probably had much in common |
| Shammai (50 BCE to 30 CE) |
| presented a stricter, more conservative approach to the law |
| member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling judicial and ecclesiastical council |
| beginning with Gamaliel the Elder (20 to 50 CE), the first teacher to be called rabban, 'teacher or master' |
| the leaders of the Sanhedrin were intellectual and philosophical descendent of Hillel |
| leaders of only two groups, the Pharisees and the Christians, survived the razing of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple |
| dilemma: how to worship God in a Temple-based religion that has no Temple? |
| ordinary believers must live as if their own homes were the Temple |
| reason for extraordinary emphasis on dietary laws and saying the proper prayers in the proper way: |
| just as priests had to be ritually pure to enter the temple |
| so now believers had to be ritually pure in their everyday lives |
| emphasis is on study of Torah, practice of the commandments, and good deeds |
| transforms each believer into a rabbi, and thus into a saint |
| the written law, given to Moses by God at Sinai, and written down by Moses |
| created by God "in his image" |
| the oral law, given to Moses by God, passed down orally from one teacher to the next |
| derived from the oral law, and thus viewed as part of the revealed will of God |
| Mishnah 'that which is to be learned by repetition' |
| laws governing everyday life |
| compiled as a text by end of 3rd c CE |
| Talmud: commentaries on and elaboration of the Mishnah |
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