Preface
The Jews were the first race to find words to express the deepest human emotions, especially the feelings produced by bodily or mental suffering, anxiety, spiritual despair and desolation, and the remedies for these evils produced by human ingenuity—hope, resolution, confidence in divine assistance, the consciousness of innocence or righteousness, penitence, sorrow and humility.
The notion of human life being sacred, because created in God’s image, was the central precept of Jewish ethics, and it determined the provisions of Jewish criminal codes from the earliest times. But the sages and their successors worked out the implications of this doctrine in ingenious detail. Everything came from God, and man merely had the temporal use of these gifts: thus he must, for instance, farm the land industriously and with a view to its use by future generations. But these gifts included man’s own body. Hillel the Elder taught that man therefore had a duty to keep his body fit and healthy. Philo, like many influenced by Greek notions, separated the body and soul in moral terms and even referred to the body as an emotional, irrational ‘plotter’ against the rational soul. But mainstream, rabbinical Judaism rejected a body-soul dichotomy, just as it rejected the good powers/evil powers of gnosticism. Body and soul, it taught, were one and jointly responsible for sin, therefore jointly punishable. This became an important distinction between Christianity and Judaism. The Christian idea that, by weakening the body through mortification and fasting, you strengthened the soul, was anathema to Jews.
The Torah and its superstructure of commentaries formed a moral theology as well as a practical system of civil and criminal law. Judaism is not so much about doctrine—that is taken for granted—as behaviour;the code matters more than the creed.
In Mosaic Jewish theology, man is made in God’s image, and so his life is not just valuable, it is sacred. To kill a man is an offence against God so grievous that the ultimate punishment, the forfeiture of life, must follow; money is not enough (the life of a rich man wouldnt be spared because of his assets). The horrific fact of execution thus underscores the sanctity of human life. Under Mosaic law, then, many men and women met their deaths whom the secular codes of surrounding societies would have simply permitted to compensate their victims or their victims’ families. But the converse is also true, as a result of the same axiom. Whereas other codes provided the death penalty for offences against property, such as looting during a fire, breaking into a house, serious trespass by night, or theft of a wife, in the Mosaic law no property offence is capital. Human life is too sacred where the rights of property alone are violated. It also repudiates vicarious punishment: the offences of parents must not be punished by the execution of sons or daughters, or the husband’s crime by the surrender of the wife to prostitution. Moreover, not only is human life sacred, the human person (being in God’s image) is precious. Whereas, for instance, the Mid-Assyrian code lists a fierce series of physical punishments, including facial mutilation, castration, impalement and flogging to death, the Mosaic code treats the body with respect. Physical cruelty is reduced to the minimum. Even flogging was limited to forty strokes, and must be carried out ‘before the face’ of the judge, ‘lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee’. The fact is, the Mosaic code was far more humane than any other, because, being God-centred, it was automatically man-centred also.
The Jews are sometimes accused of not understanding freedom as well as the Greeks, but the truth is that they understood it better, grasping the point that the only true freedom is a good conscience—a concept St Paul carried from Judaism into Christianity. The Jews thought sinfulness and virtue were collective as well as individual.. The Bible showed repeatedly that a city, a community, a nation, earned both merit and retribution by its acts. The Torah bound the Jews together as one body and one soul.
The notion of man’s basic right to roam freely was very deep in Judaism, another reason why it was the first society of antiquity to reject slavery. But if a man was free physically, he was certainly not free morally. On the contrary, he had all kinds of duties to the community, not least the duty of obedience to its duly constituted authorities. Therefore Man was seen both as an individual, with rights, and as member of a community, with obligations. No system of justice in history has made more persistent and on the whole successful efforts to reconcile individual and social roles—another reason why the Jews were able to keep their cohesion in the face of otherwise intolerable pressures. Society required that there should be equality before the law. Also the obligation to pay communal taxes was religious as well as social. Moreover, philanthropy was an obligation too, since the word "zedakah" meant both charity and righteousness. A Jew must always bear witness and protest against evil, especially great public sins of the powerful crying to God for vengeance. But precisely because the duty to protest against another’s sin is so important, false and malicious accusations are particularly abhorrent. To destroy a man’s reputation wilfully and unjustly is one of the worst of sins.
The notion of strict justice was never enough. The Jews were the first to introduce the concept of repentance and atonement, which became a primary Christian theme also. The Bible repeatedly refers to the ‘change of heart’—‘Turn ye even to me with all your heart,’ as the Book of Joel puts it, and ‘Rend your hearts and not your garments.’ In the Book of Ezekiel the injunction is ‘Make ye a new heart.’ The Law and the courts sought to go beyond restitution to bring about reconciliation between the contending
The idea of peace as a positive state, a noble ideal which is also a workable human condition, is another Jewish invention. It is one of the great motifs of the Bible, especially of its finest book, Isaiah. The Mishnah laid down: ‘Three things sustain the existence of the world—justice, truth and peace,’ and the closing words of the whole work are: ‘God did not bestow any greater blessing on Israel than peace, for it is written: “The Lord will give strength to his people, the Lord will bless his people with peace.”
The Christians took from Judaism the Pentateuch (including its morals and ethics), the prophets and the wisdom books, and far more of the apocrypha than the Jews themselves were prepared to canonize. They took the liturgy, for even the eucharist had Jewish roots. They took the notion of the Sabbath day and feast-days, incense and burning lamps, psalms, hymns and choral music, vestments and prayers, priests and martyrs, the reading of the sacred books and the institution of the synagogue (transformed into the church). They took even the notion of clerical authority—which the Jews would soon modify—in the shape of the high-priest whom the Christians turned into patriarchs and popes. There is nothing in the early church, other than its Christology, which was not adumbrated in Judaism.
Therefore Christianity gave a fresh interpretation to an ancient form of monotheism, gradually evolving into a different religion but carrying with it much of the moral and dogmatic theology, the liturgy, the institutions and the fundamental concepts of its forebear.
Equally important, however, was another characteristic of Judaism: the relative absence of dogmatic theology. Almost from the beginning, Christianity found itself in grave difficulties over dogma, because of its origins. If Christ was not God, Christianity was nothing. After 70 AD The Jews could accept the decentralization of the Temple: many had long done so, and soon all had to do so. They could accept a different view of the Law. What they could not accept was the removal of the absolute distinction they had always drawn between God and man, because that was the essence of Jewish theology, the belief that above all others separated them from the pagans. By removing that distinction, the Christians took themselves irrecoverably out of the Judaic faith.There could be absolutely no compromise on this point. Each faith was thus a threat to the other. It believed in one God, but its monotheism was qualified by the divinity of Christ. To solve this problem it evolved the dogma of the two natures of Christ, and the dogma of the Trinity— three persons in one God. These devices in turn created more problems, and from the second century onwards produced innumerable heresies, which convulsed and divided Christianity throughout the Dark Ages. The Jews escaped this calvary. Their view of God is very simple and clear. The Jews usually avoided the positive dogmas which the vanity of theologians tends to create and which are the source of so much trouble. They never adopted, for instance, the idea of Original Sin. Of all the ancient peoples, the Jews were perhaps the least interested in death, and this saved them a host of problems.
The Books
Rabbinic Judaism recognizes the 24 books of the Masoretic Text ('MT'), commonly called the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible, as authoritative. Evidence suggests that the process of canonization occurred between 200 BC and 200 AD. The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and accentuation known as the Masorah. In modern times the Dead Sea Scrolls have shown the MT to be nearly identical to some texts of the Tanakh dating from 200 BC but different from others. The MT was primarily copied, edited and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the 7th and 10th centuries AD.
The Tanakh is the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The name Tanakh is an acronym of the first Hebrew letter of each of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: Torah ("Teaching", also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im ("Prophets") and Ketuvim ("Writings")—hence TaNaKh. Much of the contents of the Tanakh was compiled by the Men of the Great Assembly (Anshei K'nesset HaGedolah), a task completed in 450 BC, and have remained unchanged since that date. Evidence suggests that the process of canonization occurred between 200 BC and 200 AD. A popular position is that the Torah was canonized circa 400 BC, the Prophets circa 200 BC, and the Writings circa 100 AD, perhaps at a hypothetical Council of Jamnia. This position, however, is increasingly criticised by modern scholars. Some scholars argue that the Jewish canon was fixed by the Hasmonean dynasty (140-37 BC). Today, there is no scholarly consensus as to when the Jewish canon was set.
The chapter divisions and verse numbers have no significance in the Jewish tradition. Nevertheless, they are noted in all modern editions of the Tanakh so that verses may be located and cited. The adoption of the Christian chapter divisions by Jews began in the late Middle Ages in Spain, partially in the context of forced clerical debates. From the standpoint of the Jewish textual tradition, the chapter divisions are not only a foreign feature with no basis in the mesorah, but are also open to severe criticism of three kinds:
- The chapter divisions often reflect Christian exegesis of the Bible.
- Even when they do not imply Christian exegesis, the chapters often divide the biblical text at numerous points that may be deemed inappropriate for literary or other reasons.
-They ignore the accepted closed and open space division which are based on the mesorah
Nevertheless, because they proved useful for citations, they are often included in most Hebrew editions of the biblical books.
There are two major approaches towards study of, and commentary on, the Tanakh. In the Jewish community, the classical approach is religious study of the Bible, where it is assumed that the Bible is divinely inspired. Another approach is to study the Bible as a human creation. In this approach, Biblical studies can be considered as a sub-field of religious studies. The later practice, when applied to the Torah, is considered heresy by the Orthodox Jewish community. As such, much modern day Bible commentary written by non-Orthodox authors is considered forbidden by rabbis teaching in Orthodox yeshivas.
The New Testament writers, when citing the Jewish scriptures, or when quoting Jesus doing so, freely used a Greek translation of the Hebrew bible, "the Septuagint or the LXX", implying that Jesus, his Apostles and their followers considered it reliable. The Septuagint was widely accepted and used by Greek-speaking Jews in the 1st century, even in the region of Roman Judea, and therefore naturally became the text most widely used by early Christians, who were predominantly Greek speaking.Most quotations of the Old Testament in the New Testament, differing by varying degrees from the Masoretic Text, are taken from the Septuagint. When Jerome undertook in 382 AD the revision of the Old Latin translations of the Septuagint, he checked the Septuagint against the Hebrew texts that were then available. He then translated most of the Old Testament of his Latin Vulgate from Hebrew rather than Greek. With the passage of time, acceptance of Jerome's version gradually increased until it displaced the Old Latin translations of the Septuagint. This is why Protestants and Catholics even use the Masoretic Text as the textual basis for their translations of the protocanonical books (those accepted as canonical by both Jews and all Christians), with various changes derived from a multiplicity of other ancient sources (such as the Septuagint, the Vulgate, the Dead Sea Scrolls, etc.), while generally using the Septuagint and Vulgate, now supplemented by the ancient Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts, as the textual basis for the deuterocanonical books. The Eastern Orthodox use the Septuagint as the textual basis for the entire Old Testament in both protocanonical and deuteroncanonical books—to use both in the Greek for liturgical purposes, and as the basis for translations into the vernacular.
When the Jews closed the Hebrew bible canon, two criteria were used, that the book be written in Hebrew or Aramaic, and that it be no younger than the time of Ezra. This process led to the 24/39 books of the Tanakh and Old Testament. (However, Daniel was written several hundred years after the time of Ezra, and since that time several books of the Septuagint have been found in the original Hebrew, in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Cairo Geniza, and at Masada, including a Hebrew text of Sirach (Qumran, Masada) and an Aramaic text of Tobit (Qumran); the additions to Esther and Daniel are also in their respective Semitic languages.)
The difference in canons derives from the difference in the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint. Books found in both the Hebrew and the Greek are accepted by all denominations, and by Jews, these are the protocanonical books. Catholics and Orthodox also accept those books present in manuscripts of the Septuagint, an ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament with great currency among the Jews of the ancient world, with the coda that Catholics consider 3 Esdras and 3 Maccabees apocryphal.
Pope Damasus I assembled the first list of books of the Bible at the Council of Rome in 382 AD. He commissioned Saint Jerome to produce a reliable and consistent text by translating the original Greek and Hebrew texts into Latin. This translation became known as the Latin Vulgate Bible, in the fourth century CE. And in 1546, at the Council of Trent, Jerome's Vulgate translation was declared by the Roman Catholic Church to be the only authentic and official Bible in the Latin Church. For over a thousand years (c. AD 400–1530), the Vulgate was the definitive edition of the most influential text in Western European society. Indeed, for most Western Christians, it was the only version of the Bible ever encountered.
The Bible was divided into chapters in the 13th century by Stephen Langton and into verses in the 16th century by French printer Robert Estienne and is now usually cited by book, chapter, and verse.
Deuterocanonical books is a term used since the 16th century in the Catholic Church and Eastern Christianity to describe those certain books and passages of the Christian Old Testament that are not part of the Hebrew Bible. The original usage of the term distinguished these scriptures both from those considered non-canonical and from those considered protocanonical. However, some editions of the Bible include text from both deuterocanonical and non-canonical scriptures in a single section designated "Apocrypha". The large majority of Old Testament references in the New Testament are taken from the Greek Septuagint (LXX)—which includes the deuterocanonical books, as well as apocrypha. Several appear to have been written originally in Hebrew, but the original text has long been lost. Archaeological finds, however, discovered some original texts among the Dead Sea scrolls. The Septuagint was widely accepted and used by Greek-speaking Jews in the 1st century, even in the region of Roman Judea, and therefore naturally became the text most widely used by early Christians, who were predominantly Greek speaking.
1) The creation of the world
- Book of Genesis: Many scholars believe that the books of the Pentateuch underwent a series of revisions and editorial additions and subtractions before reaching their final form which we have today. Most generally agree that the revisions were completed by the end of the Exile in 517 BC.
The basic narrative expresses the central theme: God creates the world and appoints man as his regent, but man proves disobedient and God destroys his world through the Flood. In Genesis 3:22, by eating the forbidden fruit, man and woman become like gods and are banished from the Garden of Eden, preventing them from retaining their immortality and full divinity. Eve conceived and gave birth to Cain and a second child Abel. Cain committed the first murder by killing his brother and was the first human born and Abel was the first human to die (4:1-8). The world becomes corrupted by the sin of man and God sends a great flood to destroy it, saving only the righteous (Noah) and his family, from whose seed the world is repopulated. Man sins again, but God has promised that he will not destroy the world a second time with water. The Seven Laws of Noah (Hebrew: Sheva mitzvot B'nei Noach), or the Noahide Laws, are a set of moral imperatives that, according to the Talmud, were given by God as a binding set of laws for the "children of Noah" – that is, all of humanity. The Noahic covenant [Gen 9:8-17] applies to all of humanity and to all living creatures. In this covenant, God promises never again to destroy all life on Earth by flood [9:11] and creates the rainbow as the sign of this "everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth". Yet humanity again falls into sin and rebellion against God when building the Tower of Babel (11). The new post-Flood world is equally corrupt, but God does not destroy it, instead calling one man, Abraham (12), to be the seed of its salvation. The covenant was for Abraham and his seed, or offspring, both of natural birth and adoption. Circumcision is to be the permanent sign of this everlasting covenant with Abraham and his male descendants and is known as the brit milah. Brit bein HaBetarim, the "Covenant Between the Parts" in Hebrew, and is the basis for brit milah (covenant of circumcision) in Judaism. Covenants in biblical times were often sealed by severing an animal, with the implication that the party who breaks the covenant will suffer a similar fate. In Hebrew, the verb meaning to seal a covenant translates literally as "to cut". It is presumed by Jewish scholars that the removal of the foreskin symbolically represents such a sealing of the covenant. Abraham and Sarah aren't able to have children. But God miraculously provides Isaac as a son to Abraham and Sarah when Abraham is 100 years old (21). After Isaac's miraculous birth, God tests Abraham's fidelity by asking him to sacrifice his son (22). Abraham obeys and when he is about to slaughter Isaac, the angel of the Lord stops him. At God's command Abraham descends from his home into the land of Canaan (which is roughly modern-day Lebanon, Israel, Palestinian territories, the western part of Jordan and southwestern Syria), given to him by God, where he dwells as a sojourner, as does his son Isaac. Isaac and his wife Rebekah give birth to twins: Esau (Esau is the progenitor of the Edomites) and Jacob. Esau was born first, but Jacob buys Esau's birthright from him and steals his blessing so he become the bearer of the promises given to Abraham (27). Jacob has twelve sons and after wrestling with the Lord, he is renamed Israel (32). Jacob's twelve sons later become the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel. Joseph is Jacob's favorite son, so his jealous brothers sell him into slavery to Egypt and pretend that he was killed (37). Yet ironically, the land of Canaan suffers a famine and his brothers and the children of Israel, 70 people in all, with their households descend into Egypt to buy food. Since Joseph has risen to rule over Pharoah's possessions, he is responsible for distributing grain to them. After a series of trips and conversations, all of the brothers move to Egypt with Jacob and all of their possessions. By the time of Joseph's death at the end of Genesis, the whole tribe is living in Egypt.
Outline of the Book of Genesis:
- Creation - Genesis 1:1-2:3
- Adam and Eve's Story - Genesis 2:4-5:32
- Noah's Story - Genesis 6:1-11:32
- Abraham's Story - Genesis 12:1-25:18
- Isaac's Story - Genesis 25:19-28:9
- Jacob's Story - Genesis 28:10-36:43
- Joseph's Story - Genesis 37:1-50:26
Gen 3.19: By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return
What strikes one about the Jewish description of creation and early man, compared with pagan cosmogonies, is the lack of interest in the mechanics of how the world and its creatures came into existence, which led the Egyptian and Mesopotamian narrators into such weird contortions. The Jews simply assume the pre-existence of an omnipotent God, who acts but is never described or characterized, and so has the force and invisibility of nature itself: it is significant that the first chapter of Genesis, unlike any other cosmogony of antiquity, fits perfectly well, in essence, with modern scientific explanations of the origin of the universe, not least the ‘Big Bang’ theory.
In our present state of knowledge, we must assume that the very earliest chapters of the book of Genesis are schematic and symbolic rather than factual descriptions. Chapters 1-5, with their identification of such concepts as knowledge, evil, shame, jealousy and crime, are explanations rather than actual episodes, though embedded in them are residual memories. It is hard, for instance, to believe that the story of Cain and Abel is complete fiction; Cain’s reply, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’, has the ring of truth, and the notion of the shamed and hunted man, with the mark of guilt upon him, is so powerful as to suggest historic fact.
There can now be no doubt that some kind of huge inundation did occur in Mesopotamia. In the 1920s, Sir Leonard Woolley found and excavated Ur, an important Sumerian city of the fourth and third millennia BC, which is mentioned in the Bible at the very end of its prehistoric section.While investigating the earlier archaeological levels at Ur, Woolley made prolonged efforts to unearth physical evidence of a dramatic flood. He found an alluvial deposit of 8 feet which he dated 4000 to 3500 BC. At Shuruppak he came across another impressive alluvial deposit, and an 18-inch one at a similar stratum at Kish. Then in 1965 the British Museum made a further discovery in its deposits: two tablets, referring to the Flood, written in the Babylonian city of Sippar in the reign of King Ammisaduqa, 1646- 1626 BC. The importance of this last discovery was that it enables us to focus on the figure of Noah himself. For it relates how the god, having created mankind, regretted it and decided to drown it by flood; but Enki, the water-god, revealed the catastrophic plan to a certain priest-king called Ziusudra, who built a boat and so survived. Ziusudra was undoubtedly a real person, king of the south Babylonian city of Shuruppak about 2900 BC, in which capacity he figures in the earliest column of the Sumerian king-list. At the site of Shuruppak itself there is evidence of a phenomenal flood, though the dating does not correspond with Woolley’s flood at Ur.15 The saviour-figure of Ziusudra, presented in the Bible as Noah, thus provides the first independent confirmation of the actual existence of a Biblical personage. There is, however, a fundamental difference between the Biblical presentation of the Flood and the Babylonian-Sumerian epics. Noah, unlike Ziusudra, is a moral figure, anchored firmly in the scheme of values which the Book of Genesis identifies from the very beginning. Moreover, whereas the Gilgamesh story recounts isolated episodes lacking a unifying moral and historical context, the Jewish version sees each event as involving moral issues and, collectively, bearing witness to a providential design.
We can place Abraham and his descendants in their true historical context. At the end of the third millennium BC, civilized international society was disrupted by incursions from the East. These invaders caused great trouble in Egypt. These peoples, moving from Mesopotamia towards the Mediterranean, spoke West Semitic languages, of which Hebrew is one.
The Old Testament, it is important to grasp, is not primarily about justice as an abstract concept. It is about God’s justice, which manifests itself by God’s acts of choice. In Genesis we have various examples of the ‘just man’, even the only just man: in the story of Noah and the Flood, in the story of the destruction of Sodom, for example. Abraham is a just man too, but there is no suggestion that God chose him because he was the only one, or in any sense because of his merits. The Bible is not a work of reason, it is a work of history, dealing with what are to us mysterious and even inexplicable events. It is concerned with the momentous choices which it pleased God to make.
Circumcision was so closely associated with Jewish men that Jewish Christians were referred to as "those of the circumcision" or conversely Christians who were circumcised were referred to as Jewish Christians or Judaizers. Today, most Christian denominations are neutral about ritual male circumcision, neither requiring it nor forbidding it. Modern Christians, such as Ethiopian Orthodox and Coptic Orthodox still practice circumcision while not considering it a part of conversion to Judaism, nor do they consider themselves to be Jews or Jewish Christians. "Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts (1 Cor 7:19)."
2) The Patriarchs and the born of Israel, including its captivity and exodus from Egypt
Through the patriarchs God announces the election of Israel, meaning that he has chosen Israel to be his special people and committed himself to their future. God tells the patriarchs that he will be faithful to their descendants (i.e. to Israel), and Israel is expected to have faith in God and his promise. ("Faith" in the context of Genesis and the Hebrew bible means agreement to the promissory relationship, not a body of belief).
The Torah traces the Israelites to the patriarch Jacob, grandson of Abraham, who was renamed Israel after a mysterious incident in which he wrestles all night with God or an angel. Jacob's twelve sons (in order of birth), Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin, become the ancestors of twelve tribes.
Jacob and his sons are forced by famine to go down into Egypt. When they arrive they and their families are 70 in number, but within four generations they have increased to 600,000 men of fighting age, and the Pharaoh of Egypt, alarmed, first enslaves them and then orders the death of all male Hebrew children. The god of Israel reveals his name to Moses, a Hebrew of the line of Levi; Moses leads the Israelites out of bondage and into the desert, where God gives them their laws and the Israelites agree to become his people. Nevertheless, the Israelites lack complete faith in God, and the generation which left Egypt is not permitted to enter the Promised Land. Those events are memorialized in the Jewish and Samaritan holiday of Passover, as well as the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.
[In Israel, Passover is the seven-day holiday of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, with the first and last days observed as legal holidays and as holy days involving abstention from work, special prayer services, and holiday meals; the intervening days are known as Chol HaMoed ("Weekdays [of] the Festival"). Diaspora Jews historically observed the festival for eight days, and most still do.
2013 date sunset of Monday 25 March to nightfall of Monday 1
2014 date sunset of Monday 14 April to nightfall of Monday 21
2015 date sunset of Friday 3 April to nightfall of Friday 10
A symbol of the Passover holiday is matzo, an unleavened flatbread made solely from flour and water which is continually worked from mixing through baking, so that it is not allowed to rise.The Torah says that it is because the Hebrews left Egypt with such haste that there was no time to allow baked bread to rise; thus flat, unleavened bread, matzo, is a reminder of the rapid departure of the Exodus.
It is traditional for Jewish families to gather on the first night of Passover (first two nights in communities outside the land of Israel) for a special dinner called a seder
Children have a very important role in the Passover seder. Traditionally the youngest child is prompted to ask questions about the Passover seder, beginning with the words, Mah Nishtana HaLeila HaZeh (Why is this night different from all other nights?). The questions encourage the gathering to discuss the significance of the symbols in the meal. Many readings, prayers, and stories are used to recount the story of the Exodus. Many households add their own commentary and interpretation and often the story of the Jews is related to the theme of liberation and its implications worldwide.
When the Temple stood in Jerusalem, a sheaf of new-cut barley was presented before the altar on the second day of Unleavened Bread. Since the destruction of the Temple, this offering is brought in word rather than deed.
The Christian feast of Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) finds its roots in the Jewish feast of Passover, the night on which the Last Supper is generally thought to have occurred.
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Shavuot commemorates the anniversary of the day God gave the Torah to the entire nation of Israel assembled at Mount Sinai, although the association between the giving of the Torah (Matan Torah) and Shavuot is not explicit in the Biblical text. It usually occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan (late May or early June).
The practice of staying up all Shavuot night to study Torah – known as Tikkun Leil Shavuot – has its source in the Midrash, which relates that the night before the Torah was given, the Israelites retired early to be well-rested for the momentous day ahead. They overslept and Moses had to wake them up because God was already waiting on the mountaintop. To rectify this perceived flaw in the national character, many religious Jews stay up all night to learn Torah.
Spanish and Portuguese Jews do not observe this custom.
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- Book of Exodus: The book tells how the children of Israel leave slavery in Egypt through the strength of Yahweh, the God who has chosen Israel as his people. It is not probable that the exodus itself took place in Rameses’ reign. It seems more likely that the Israelites broke out under his successor, Merneptah. A victory stele of this pharaoh has survived and been dated 1220 BC. It relates that he won a battle beyond Sinai, in Canaan, and refers to the defeated as ‘Israel’. He may not have won, as pharaohs often presented their defeats or stalemates as triumphs, but it is clear that he fought some kind of engagement with the Israelites outside his territory, so they had already left.
Led by their prophet Moses they journey through the wilderness to Mount Sinai, where Yahweh promises them the land of Canaan (the "Promised Land") in return for their faithfulness. Israel enters into a covenant with Yahweh who gives them their laws and instructions for the Tabernacle, the means by which he will dwell with them and lead them to the land, and give them peace. The Tabernacle ( "residence" or "dwelling place"), according to the Hebrew Bible, was the portable dwelling place for the divine presence from the time of the Exodus from Egypt through the conquering of the land of Canaan. Built to specifications revealed by God (Yahweh) to Moses at Mount Sinai, it accompanied the Israelites on their wanderings in the wilderness and their conquest of the Promised Land. The fullest description of the Tabernacle describes an inner shrine (named Holy of Holies) housing the Ark of the Covenant and an outer chamber (Holy Place) with a golden lampstand (the Menorah*, which is described in the Bible as the seven-lamp (six branches) ancient Hebrew lampstand made of pure gold and used later in the Temple in Jerusalem.), table for showbread, and altar of incense. The Mosaic Covenant (named after Moses), also known as the Sinaitic Covenant (named after the biblical Mount Sinai), refers to a biblical covenant between God and the biblical Israelites, including their proselytes. Rabbinic Judaism asserts that the Mosaic covenant was presented to the Jewish people and converts to Judaism (which includes the biblical proselytes) and does not apply to Gentiles, with the notable exception of the Seven Laws of Noah which apply to all people. This covenant is sometimes also referred to as the Law of Moses or
Mosaic Law or the 613 Mitzvot.The content of the Law is spread among the
books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, and then reiterated and added
to in Deuteronomy and includes the Ten Commandments.
* The menorah symbolized the ideal of universal enlightenment. The seven lamps allude to the branches of human knowledge, represented by the six lamps inclined inwards towards, and symbolically guided by, the light of God represented by the central lamp. The menorah also symbolizes the creation in seven days, with the center light representing the Sabbath. It is also said to symbolize the burning bush as seen by Moses on Mount Horeb. The branches are often artistically depicted as semicircular, but Rashi, Ibn Ezra, and Maimonides (according to his son Avraham), held they were straight; no other Jewish authority expresses an opinion on the subject. Archaeological evidence, including depictions by artists who had seen the menorah, indicates that they were neither straight nor semicircular but elliptical. The fate of the menorah used in the Second Temple is recorded by Josephus, who states that it was brought to Rome and carried along during the triumph of Vespasian and Titus.
[Sukkot or Feast of Tabernacles: The sukkah is intended as a reminiscence of the type of fragile dwellings in which the Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of travel in the desert after the Exodus from slavery in Egypt. Throughout the holiday, meals are eaten inside the sukkah and some people sleep there as well. On each day of the holiday, members of the household recite a blessing over the lulav (closed frond of the date palm tree, bound with boughs and branches of the willow and myrtle trees) and etrog (yellow citron) (Four species). Sukkot or The Feast of Tabernacles is celebrated for eight days in Israel and nine days in the Diaspora. It takes place on the 15th of the Hebrew month Tishri. This was the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar and usually occurs in late September to mid-October.
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- Book of Leviticus: The English name is from the Latin Leviticus, taken in turn from Greek and a reference to the Levites, the tribe from whom the priests were drawn. In addition to instructions for those priests, it also addresses the role and duties of the laity. The entire book of Leviticus is composed of Priestly literature. Leviticus rests in two crucial beliefs: the first, that the world was created "very good" and retains the capacity to achieve that state although it is vulnerable to sin and defilement; the second, that the faithful enactment of ritual makes God's presence available, while ignoring or breaching it compromises the harmony between God and the world. The traditional view is that Leviticus was compiled by Moses, or that the material in it goes back to his time, but internal clues suggest that it originated in post-exilic (i.e., after c.538 BCE) Jewish worship centred on reading or preaching. Scholars are practically unanimous that the book had a long period of growth, that it includes some material of considerable antiquity, and that it reached its present form in the Persian period (538–332 BCE).
The book describes the main function of the priests as service at the altar, and only the sons of Aaron are priests in the full sense. In chapter 10, God kills Nadab and Abihu, the oldest sons of Aaron, for offering "strange incense". Fortunately, Aaron has two sons left.
Leviticus 16 concerns the Day of Atonement. This is the only day on which the High Priest is to enter the holiest part of the sanctuary, the holy of holies. He is to sacrifice a bull for the sins of the priests, and a goat for the sins of the laypeople. A third goat is to be sent into the desert to "Azazel", bearing the sins of the whole people.
New Testament writings such as the letter to the Hebrews speak of the blood of Christ, using the language of the sin offering in Leviticus.Christians generally have the view that the New Covenant supersedes (i.e., replaces) the Law of Moses, of which Leviticus is a central part. Christians therefore, unlike many Jews, do not observe Leviticus' prohibitions on a whole range of behaviors, from the ban on eating shellfish to the wearing of "fringes" on their garments. However, in both Christianity and Judaism, Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 have historically been interpreted as clear blanket prohibitions against homosexual acts.
- Book of Numbers: Numbers begins at Mount Sinai, where the Israelites have received their Ten Commandments and laws and covenant from God and God has taken up residence among them in the sanctuary. The task before them is to take possession of the Promised Land. The people are numbered and preparations are made for resuming their march. The Israelites begin the journey, but they "murmur" (complain or kvetch) at the hardships along the way, and about the authority of Moses and Aaron. For these acts, God destroys approximately 15,000 of them through various means. They arrive at the borders of Canaan and send spies into the land, but upon hearing the negative emphasis of the spies' report concerning the conditions in Canaan the Israelites refuse to take possession of it, and God condemns them to death in the wilderness until a new generation can grow up and carry out the task. Numbers is the culmination of the story of Israel's exodus from oppression in Egypt and their journey to take possession of the land God promised their fathers. The message is clear: failure was not due to any fault in the preparation, because Yahweh had foreseen everything, but to Israel's sin of unfaithfulness. As such it draws to a conclusion the themes introduced in Genesis and played out in Exodus and Leviticus: God has promised the Israelites that they shall become a great (i.e. numerous) nation, that they will have a special relationship with Yahweh their god, and that they shall take possession of the land of Canaan. Against this, Numbers also demonstrates the importance of holiness, faithfulness and trust: despite God's presence and his priests, Israel lacks faith and the possession of the land is left to a new generation. The last five chapters are exclusively concerned with land: instructions for the extermination of the Canaanites, the demarcation of the boundaries of the land, how the land is to be divided, holy cities for the Levites and "cities of refuge", the problem of pollution of the land by blood, and regulations for inheritance when a male heir is lacking.
In the book of Numbers (15:37-40),
the Israelites are commanded to put tzitzit ("fringes") [Ashkenazic
pronunciation: tzitzis] on their garments in order to remind them of
God's laws. The tallit [or, in Ashkenazic pronunciation, tallis]
is the robe with which the worshipper is wrapped during prayer and hence
often referred to as a "prayer shawl," though this is not the
traditional Jewish name for the garment, which was not originally
associated particularly with prayer.
The majority of Biblical scholars believe that the Torah (or Five Books of Moses) were a product of the Babylonian exilic period (c. 600 BCE) and that it was completed by the Persian period. The Babylonian exile lasted approximately 48 years, from 586 to 538 BCE, and ended with the conquest of Babylon in that year by the Persians. The new Persian ruler decided to allow the exiles to return home. According to the book of Ezra-Nehemiah they did so under the joint leadership of a descendant of the last king and the last High Priest, rebuilding the Temple and reconstituting Judah (now called Yehud) as a holy community ruled by priests. It was in this period that the Pentateuch (or Torah, to give the Hebrew name) was composed, by detaching the book of Deuteronomy from the Deuteronomistic history and adding it to the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. During most of the 20th century the dominant belief among scholars was that the Torah had been composed by intertwining four originally separate and complete documents, of which the Yahwist was one—this was called the documentary hypothesis.Why they were written during the Babylonian exile? The question that surfaced during Exile is what had happened to the promise that the descendants of David would reign forever. The answers were recorded in the works of the prophets Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Second Isaiah, and in the Deuteronomistic history, the collection of historical works from Joshua to Kings: God had not abandoned Israel; Israel had abandoned God, and the Babylonian exile was God's punishment for Israel's lack of faith. Similarly we can see a lack of faith when the Israeli arrived to Canaan for first time.
- Book of Deuteronomy: The book consists of three sermons or speeches delivered to the Israelites by Moses on the plains of Moab, shortly before they enter the Promised Land. The first sermon recapitulates the forty years of wilderness wanderings which have led to this moment, and ends with an exhortation to observe the law (or teachings), later referred to as the Law of Moses; the second reminds the Israelites of the need for exclusive allegiance to one God and observance of the laws (or teachings) he has given them, on which their possession of the land depends; and the third offers the comfort that even should Israel prove unfaithful and so lose the land, with repentance all can be restored. In the last chapter of the book, Joshua is installed as Moses' successor, Moses delivers the law to the Levites (priests), and ascends Mount Nebo/Pisgah, where he dies and is buried by God. The narrative of these events is interrupted by two poems, the Song of Moses and the Blessing of Moses. One of its most significant verses in the book is Deuteronomy 6:4, the Shema, which has become the definitive statement of Jewish identity: "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one." This becomes monotheism, the idea that only one God exists.
Scholars have accepted that the core of Deuteronomy was composed in Jerusalem in the 7th century BC in the context of religious reforms advanced by King Josiah of Juda (reigned 641–609 BC). At the end of the Exile, when the Persians agreed that the Jews could return and rebuild the Temple, chapters 1–4 and 29–30 were added and Deuteronomy was made the introductory book to this history, so that a story about a people about to enter the Promised Land, became a story about a people about to return to the land. The legal sections of chapters 19–25 were expanded to meet new situations that had arisen, and chapters 31–34 were added as a new conclusion. The prophet Isaiah, active in Jerusalem about a century before Josiah, makes no mention of the Exodus, covenants with God, or disobedience to God's laws; in contrast Isaiah's contemporary Hosea, active in the northern kingdom of Israel, makes frequent reference to the Exodus, the wilderness wanderings, a covenant, the danger of foreign gods and the need to worship Yahweh alone; this has led scholars to the view that these traditions behind Deuteronomy have a northern origin (Israel rebelled and was destroyed c.722 BC. Refugees fleeing to Judah brought with them a number of new traditions (new to Judah, at least)).
Deuteronomy occupies a puzzling position in the Bible, linking the story of the Israelites' wanderings in the wilderness to the story of their history in Canaan without quite belonging totally to either. The wilderness story could end quite easily with Numbers, and the story of Joshua's conquests could exist without it, at least at the level of the plot; but in both cases there would be a thematic (theological) element missing. There is an older theory which sees Deuteronomy as belonging to Numbers, and Joshua as a sort of supplement to it. This idea still has supporters, but the mainstream understanding is that Deuteronomy, after becoming the introduction to the history, was later detached from it and included with Genesis-Exodus-Leviticus-Numbers because it already had Moses as its central character. According to this hypothesis, the death of Moses was originally the ending of Numbers, and was simply moved from there to the end of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 23-19: You shall not charge interest on loans to another Israelite, interest on money, interest on provisions, interest on anything that is lent. 20 On loans to a foreigner you may charge interest, but on loans to another Israelite you may not charge interest, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings in the land that you are about to enter and possess.
Most early religious systems in the ancient Near East, and the secular codes arising from them, did not forbid usury. These societies regarded inanimate matter as alive, like plants, animals and people, and capable of reproducing itself. Hence if you lent ‘food money’, or monetary tokens of any kind, it was legitimate to charge interest. Among the Mesopotamians, Hittites, Phoenicians and Egyptians, interest was legal and often fixed by the state. But the Jews took a different view of the matter. The Jews were thus burdened with a religious law which forbade them to lend at interest among themselves, but permitted it towards strangers.
- Book of Joshua: The book is in two roughly equal parts. The first part depicts the campaigns of the Israelites in central, southern and northern Canaan, as well as the destruction of their enemies. The second part details the division of the conquered land among the twelve tribes. The two parts are framed by set-piece speeches by God and Joshua commanding the conquest and at the end warning of the need for faithful observance of the Law (torah) revealed to Moses. The earliest parts of the book are possibly chapters 2–11, the story of the conquest; these chapters were later incorporated into an early form of Joshua written late in the reign of king Josiah (reigned 640–609 BCE), but the book was not completed until after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586, and possibly not until after the return from the Babylonian exile in 539.
In chapter 2-12: The Israelites cross the Jordan through the miraculous intervention of God and his ark and are circumcised at Gibeath-Haaraloth. The conquest begins in Canaan with Jericho ( According to the narrative, the walls of Jericho fell after Joshua's Israelite army marched around the city blowing their trumpets), followed by Ai (central Canaan), after which Joshua builds an altar to Yahweh at Mt Ebal (northern Canaan) and renews the Covenant. The narrative now switches to the south. The Gibeonites trick the Israelites into entering into an alliance with them by saying they are not Canaanites; this prevents the Israelites from exterminating them, but they are enslaved instead. An alliance of Amorite kingdoms headed by the Canaanite king of Jerusalem is defeated with Yahweh's miraculous help, and the enemy kings are hanged on trees (The Deuteronomist author may have used the then-recent 701 BCE campaign of the
Assyrian king Sennacherib in Judah as his model; the hanging of the captured kings is in accordance with Assyrian practice of the 8th century). With the south conquered the narrative moves to the northern campaign. A powerful multi-national (or more accurately, multi-ethnic) coalition headed by the king of Hazor, the most important northern city, is defeated with Yahweh's help and Hazor captured and destroyed. Chapter 11:16–23 summarises the campaign: Joshua has taken the entire land, and the land "had rest from war." Chapter 12 lists the vanquished kings on both sides of the Jordan. In chapter 13-21 the king is issuing each tribe its territory. In last chapters Joshua charges the leaders of the Israelites to remain faithful to Yahweh and the covenant, warning of judgement should Israel leave Yahweh and follow other gods; Joshua meets with all the people and reminds them of Yahweh's great works for them, and of the need to love Yahweh alone. The prevailing scholarly view is that Joshua is not a factual account of historical events. The apparent setting of Joshua is the 13th century; this was a time of widespread city-destruction, but with a few exceptions (Hazor, Lachish) the destroyed cities are not the ones the Bible associates with Joshua, and the ones it does associate with him show little or no sign of even being occupied at the time. In Joshua, Israel is obedient, Joshua is faithful, and God fulfills his promise and gives them the land. The central Deuteronomistic message is that obedience leads to success and disobedience to ruin. Yahweh's war campaign in Palestine validates Israel's entitlement to the land and provides a paradigm of how Israel was to live there: twelve tribes, with a designated leader, united by covenant in warfare and in worship of Yahweh alone at single sanctuary, all in obedience to the commands of Moses as found in Deuteronomy.
Judges in the Hebrew bible:
Following the conquest of Canaan by Joshua until the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel (ca. 1150-1025 BC), the Israelite Tribes formed a loose confederation. No central government existed in this confederation and in times of crisis, the people were led by ad hoc chieftains known as judges.
In the Book of Judges, a cyclical pattern is given to show the need for the various judges: apostasy of the Israelite people, hardship brought on as punishment from God, crying out to the Lord for rescue. The judges were the successive individuals, each from a different tribe of Israel, chosen by God to rescue the people from their enemies and establish justice and the practice of the Torah amongst the Hebrews.
Judges in the Bible:
- Book of Joshua
- Book of Judges
- First Samuel
- The Book of Judges: it contains the history of Biblical judges, divinely inspired leaders whose direct knowledge of Yahweh allows them to act as champions for the Israelites from oppression by foreign rulers, and models of wise and faithful behaviour required of them by their god Yahweh following the exodus from Egypt and conquest of Canaan. The events of Judges are set "between c. 1380 [B.C.E.] and the rise of Saul, c. 1050."
The stories follow a consistent pattern: the people are unfaithful to Yahweh and he therefore delivers them into the hands of their enemies; the people repent and entreat Yahweh for mercy, which he sends in the form of a leader or champion (a "judge"); the judge delivers the Israelites from oppression and they prosper, but soon they fall again into unfaithfulness and the cycle is repeated. The details of this history's composition are still widely debated, but most scholars place its origins, or at least its final form, in the 6th century BCE and the community of the Babylonian exile. Nevertheless, fragments of Judges (such as the Song of Deborah) have been dated from much earlier, perhaps close to the period the book depicts.
The book opens with the Israelites in the land which God has promised to them but worshiping "foreign gods" instead of Yahweh, the God of Israel, and with the Canaanites still present everywhere.
Next comes the main text (3:11–16:31), six stories each concerning a major judge and their struggles against the oppressive kings of surrounding nations, plus the story of Abimelech, an Israelite who oppresses his own people. The cyclic pattern set out in the prologue is readily apparent at the beginning, but as the stories progress it begins to disintegrate, mirroring the disintegration of the world of the Israelites
The basic source for Judges was a collection of loosely connected stories about tribal heroes who saved the people in battle. This original "book of saviours," made up of the stories of Ehud, Jael and parts of Gideon, had already been enlarged and transformed into "wars of Yahweh" before being given the final Deuteronomistic revision.
The book is as intriguing for the themes it leaves out as for what it includes: the ark of the covenant, which is given so much importance in the stories of Moses and Joshua, is almost entirely missing, cooperation between the various tribes is limited, and there is no mention of a central shrine for worship or of a high priest (the office to which Aaron was appointed at the end of the Exodus story).
Some of the judges:
* Deborah: She was a prophetess of the God of the Israelites, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel, counselor, warrior, and the wife of Lapidoth according to the Book of Judges chapters 4 and 5. The only female judge mentioned in the Bible, Deborah led a successful counterattack against the forces of Jabin king of Canaan and his military commander Sisera, the narrative is recounted in chapter 4. Judges chapter 5 gives the same story in poetic form. This passage, often called The Song of Deborah, may date to as early as the 12th century BC and is perhaps the earliest sample of Hebrew poetry. It is also significant because it is one of the oldest passages that portrays fighting women, the account being that of Jael, the wife of Heber, a Kenite tent maker. Jael killed Sisera by driving a tent peg through his temple as he slept. Both Deborah and Jael are portrayed as strong independent women. The poem may have been included in the Book of the Wars of the Lord mentioned in Numbers 21:14.
The Song of Deborah is found in Judges 5:2-31 and is a victory hymn, sung by Deborah and Barak, about the defeat of Canaanite adversaries by some of the tribes of Israel. Biblical scholars have generally recognized the Song as one of the oldest parts of the Bible, dating somewhere in the 12th century BC, based on its grammar and context.
* Gideon or Gedeon which means "Destroyer," "Mighty warrior," or "Feller (of trees)" was, according to the Tanakh, a judge of the Hebrews. His story is recorded in chapters 6 to 8 of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible.
As is the pattern throughout the book of Judges, the Israelites again turned away from God after 40 years of peace brought by Deborah's victory over Canaan and were allowed to be oppressed by the neighboring Midianites and Amalekites. God chose Gideon, a young man from the tribe of Manasseh, to free the people of Israel and to condemn their worship of idols.
- Jephthah: He lived in Gilead and was a member of the tribe of Manasseh. His father's name is also given as Gilead and, as his mother is described as a prostitute, this may mean that his father may have been any of the men of that area. Jephthah led the Israelites in battle against Ammon and, after defeating the Ammonites, fulfilled a rash vow of his, by sacrificing his daughter. The story of Jephthah is found in the Old Testament Book of Judges chapters 10-12. The Israelites "again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord...they forsook the Lord and did not serve him. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites ..." (Judges 10:6-7).
The elders of Gilead ask Jephthah to be their leader in the campaign against the Ammonites, but he holds out for a more permanent and a broader position, and the elders agree that, provided Jephthah succeeds in defeating Ammon, he will be their permanent chieftain. On behalf of Israel as a whole and in reliance on the might of God the Judge, Jephthah challenges the Ammonites. Jephthah swears an oath:
"Whatever (Note: Or whoever) comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it (Note: Or him) up for a burnt offering." (Judges 11:31)
The victorious Jephthah is met on his return by his daughter, his only child. Jephthah tears his clothes and cries, "Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low!" but is bound by his vow: "I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow." (Judges 11:35). The girl asks for two months' grace, "... that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity" (Judges 11:37). And so Jephthah "did with her according to his vow that he had made" (Judges 11:39). The story ends by recounting how "the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year" (Judges 11:40).
Such rash vows with their dire consequences, and even human sacrifices, were not things unheard of in that stage of Israel's history. The Israelites of the time were decidedly barbarous; that Mosaic law (which forbade human sacrifice) was at this time widely disrespected; and that there are several other examples of rash vows to God with similarly terrible consequences.
- Samson: According to the biblical account, Samson was given supernatural strength by God in order to combat his enemies and perform heroic feats such as killing a lion, slaying an entire army with only the jawbone of an ass, and destroying a pagan temple. Samson had two vulnerabilities, however: his attraction to untrustworthy women and his hair, without which he was powerless. These vulnerabilities ultimately proved fatal for him.
The story of Samson, like other portions of the Book of Judges, is doubtless derived from the sources of ancient national legend. It has an ethical as well as a religious import, and historically it throws not a little light on the customs and manners of the crude age to which it belongs.
At the end of the narrative, Samson falls in love with a woman, Delilah, at the Brook of Sorek. The Philistines approach Delilah and induce her (with 1100 silver coins each) to try to find the secret of Samson's strength. Samson, not wanting to reveal the secret, teases her, telling her that he will lose his strength should he be bound with fresh bowstrings. She does so while he sleeps, but when he wakes up he snaps the strings. She persists, and he tells her he can be bound with new ropes. She ties him up with new ropes while he sleeps, and he snaps them, too. She asks again, and he says he can be bound if his locks are woven together. She weaves them together, but he undoes them when he wakes. Eventually Samson tells Delilah that he will lose his strength with the loss of his hair. Delilah calls for a servant to shave Samson's seven locks
One day the Philistine leaders assembled in a temple for a religious sacrifice to Dagon, one of their most important deities, for having delivered Samson into their hands. They summon Samson so that people can gather on the roof to watch. Once inside the temple, Samson, his hair having grown long again, asks the servant who is leading him to the temple's central pillars if he may lean against them (referring to the pillars). Then Samson prayed to God, "remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes" (Judges 16:28)". Samson said, 'Let me die with the Philistines!' (Judges 16:30) He pulled the two pillars together (or possibly pushed them apart), and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more as he died than while he lived." (Judges 16:30).
- The Book of Ruth: The book is traditionally ascribed to the prophet Samuel, but a substantial number of scholars date it to the Persian period (6th–4th centuries BC).
Narrative: Due to a severe famine in the land of Judah, Elimelech, a native of Bethlehem, emigrated to Moab with his wife and two sons, who married two Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah.
At the end of ten years, all three of the women were left widows and Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem. Despite Naomi's protests, Ruth determined to return to Bethlehem with her. Ruth's dedication to Naomi and to the religion of the God of Israel is stated in Ruth 1:16-17: "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me and more also, if ought but death part thee and me."
They arrived in Bethlehem at the time of the barley harvest. Ruth went out to glean in the fields of Boaz, a wealthy man whose relationship with his servants eloquently attests to his character (Ruth 2:4). According to Hebrew law, Ruth had a right to demand that a near kinsman of her late husband take her for his wife. Boaz had been related to Ruth's husband and was willing to marry her, but since there was another man of closer kinship, it was necessary to go through certain customary and legal measures before he could rightfully claim her.
This being done, the two were married with the blessings of their neighbors and eventually became the parents of Obed, the grandfather of David.
The book of Ruth demonstrates God’s love for the Gentiles, even in a period of history when the Hebrew people were given prominence due to their role in God’s redemptive plan for humanity. The principal aim of the author was to narrate how, in opposition to Deuteronomy 23:3, which forbids the reception of Moabites into Yahweh's assembly, the Moabitess Ruth was incorporated with Yahweh's people, and eventually became the ancestress of the founder of the Hebrew monarchy. A date during the monarchy is suggested by the book's interest in the ancestry of David, but Ruth's identity as a non-Israelite and the stress on the need for an inclusive attitude towards foreigners suggests an origin in the fifth century BCE, when intermarriage had become controversial.
The book records the intermarriage of an Israelite with a Moabitess, which shows that its narrative does not belong to the region of the poetical.
Several recent scholars have regarded this short book as a kind of protest against Nehemias's and Esdras's efforts to suppress intermarriage with women of foreign birth. But this is plainly an inference not from the contents of the book, but from an assumed late date for its composition, an inference therefore no less uncertain than that date itself. It lays special stress on the genealogy of David in the second part of the book, the chief aim of the author is to throw light upon the origin of David, the great King of Israel and royal ancestor of the Messias. Had this, however, been the main purpose of the writer, it seems that he should have given it greater prominence in his work. Therefore the final genealogy linking Ruth to David is believed to be a post-exilic- Priestly addition, as it adds nothing to the plot; nevertheless, it is carefully crafted and integrates the book into the history of Israel that runs from Genesis to King.
3) Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)
United Monarchy (1020 BCE–930 BCE)
Following the death of the generation of Moses a new generation, led by Joshua, enters Canaan and takes possession of the land in accordance with the curse placed upon Canaan by Noah. Eventually the Israelites ask for a king, and God gives them Saul (1079 BC – 1007 BC). The main account of Saul's life and reign is found in the biblical Books of Samuel. Saul's reign was characterized by constant conflict with Philistines, and then by civil war against forces loyal to David (1040 BC - 970 BC). It was David who, following the civil war with Saul, creates a strong and unified Israelite monarchy, reigning from c. 1000-961 BCE. Solomon, David's successor, maintained the unified monarchy, c. 961-922.
In the Bible, Jerusalem is defined as lying within territory allocated to the tribe of Benjamin though occupied by Jebusites. David is said to have conquered these in the Siege of Jebus, and transferred his capital from Hebron to Jerusalem which then became the capital of a united Kingdom of Israel, and one of its several religious centres. The choice was perhaps dictated by the fact that Jerusalem did not form part of Israel’s tribal system, and was thus suited to serve as the centre of its federation
- I Samuel book: It tells the story of Samuel and the kingdom of Saul until his death. The narrative includes the war of the Israelis against the Philistines and Goliat defeat by David. Samuel continues Moses’ function as a prophet, judge, and a priest.
The childless Hannah vows to Yahweh that if she has a son, he will be dedicated to Yahweh. Eli, the priest of Shiloh (where the ark of the covenant is located), blesses her, and a child named Samuel is born. As a child, Samuel lived and served in the temple. God singled him out as a prophet (3:19-21), and the child’s first prophecy was one of judgment on the corrupt priests.
The Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh and take it to the temple of their idol Dagon, who recognises the supremacy of Yahweh. The Philistines are afflicted with plagues and return the ark to the Israelites, but to the territory of the tribe of Benjamin rather than to Shiloh. The Philistines attack the Israelites gathered at Mizpah in Benjamin. Samuel appeals to Yahweh, the Philistines are decisively beaten, and the Israelites reclaim their lost territory.
In Samuel's old age, he appoints his sons as judges, but they are unworthy, and so the people clamour for a king. God reluctantly accedes and gives them Saul of the tribe of Benjamin. Saul defeats the enemies of the Israelites, but commits sins against Yahweh. Saul has also two faults which make him unfit for the office of king: he carries out a sacrifice in place of Samuel (1 Samuel 13:8–14), and he fails to complete the genocide of the Amalekites as God has ordered (1 Samuel 15). Yahweh tells Samuel to anoint David of Bethlehem as king, and David enters Saul's court as his armour-bearer and harpist. Saul's son and heir Jonathan befriends David and recognises him as rightful king. Saul plots David's death, but David flees into the wilderness, where he becomes a champion of the Hebrews. Near the end of the book, Samuel has died, and Saul is a lost man. On the eve of a battle with Philistia, Saul seeks for answers. Having rejected God, he finds no help from heaven, and he seeks counsel from a medium instead. During the seance, Samuel’s spirit rises from the dead to give one last prophecy: Saul would die in battle the next day. The prophecy is fulfilled; Saul’s three sons, including Jonathan, fall in battle, and Saul commits suicide. David joins the Philistines, but continues secretly to champion his own people, until Saul and Jonathan are killed in battle. At this point, David offers a majestic eulogy, where he praises the bravery and magnificence of both his brother Jonathan and King Saul.
The elders of Judah anoint David as king, but in the north Saul's son Ishbaal rules over the northern tribes. After a long war Ishbaal is murdered hoping for reward from David, but David has them killed for killing God's anointed.
The tragic story of Saul is a study in wasted opportunity. Here was a man who had it all—honor, authority, riches, good looks, and more. Yet he died in despair, terrified of his enemies and knowing he had failed his nation, his family, and his God. Saul made the mistake of thinking he could please God through disobedience. Like many today, he believed that a sensible motive will compensate for bad behavior. Perhaps his power went to his head, and he began to think he was above the rules. Somehow he developed a low opinion of God’s commands and a high opinion of himself. Even when confronted with his wrongdoing, he attempted to vindicate himself, and that’s when God rejected him (15:16-28). Saul’s problem is one we all face—a problem of the heart. Obedience to God’s will is necessary for success, and if we in pride rebel against Him, we set ourselves up for loss.
The Biblical relationship between the Hebrew and Amalekite tribes was that the Amalekite tribes without provocation pounced on the Hebrews when they were weak. Amalekit King Agag was taken alive by King Saul after destroying the Amalekites (I Samuel 15). His life was spared by Saul and the Israelites took the best of the sheep, cattle, fat calves and lambs from the Amalekites. The prophet Samuel regarded this clemency as a defiance of the will of God, which was "to completely destroy" the Amalekites. Samuel put Agag to death at Gilgal saying that "[a]s your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women." And so Samuel proceeded to cut Agag to pieces personally. The rabbis taught that the Jews took vengeance on Agag for the cruelties they had undergone at the hands of the Amalekites, who, to mock at the Israelites, their God, and the rite of circumcision, mutilated every Jew that fell into their power. It is not clear if the historical Amalekites were exterminated or not. 1 Samuel 15:7–8 states that "He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword." This implies that after Agag had been killed so were all the people of Agag who consequently became extinct. In a later story in the time of Hezekiah, however, the Simeonites annihilated a group of Amalekites on Mount Seir. Of the 613 mitzvot (commandments) followed by Orthodox Jews, three refer to the Amalek: to remember what the Amalekites did to the Israelites, not to forget what the Amalekites did to Israelites, and to destroy the Amalekites utterly. Every year, therefore, the chapter, "Remember what Amalek did unto thee" (Deut. xxv. 17-19), is read in the synagogue on the Sabbath preceding Purim, and the story of Saul and Agag in chapter 15 of I Samuel is read as the Haftarah. In Jewish tradition, the Amalekites came to represent the archetypal enemy of the Jews. Beginning in the 10th century, and continuing until the 19th century, Armenians were considered to be Amalekites by some Jewish authorities. The Nazis and Adolf Hitler have been also referred to as Amalekites. Frequently Jewish fundamentalists refer to the Palestinians as the 'Amalekites'.
- 2 Samuel: The book begins with David receiving news of the death of Saul and his sons. He proclaims a time of mourning. Soon afterward, David is crowned king over Judah. David captures Jerusalem and brings the Ark there. David wishes to build a temple, but Nathan tells him that one of David's sons will be the one to build the temple. David defeats the enemies of Israel, slaughtering Philistines, Moabites, Edomites, Syrians and Arameans.
Then David falls. He lusts for a beautiful woman named Bathsheba, commits adultery with her, and then has her husband murdered (chapter 11). When Nathan the prophet confronts David with his sin, David confesses, and God graciously forgives. However, the Lord tells David that trouble would arise from within his own household. The prophet Nathan confronted David, saying: "Why have you despised the word of God, to do what is evil in his sight? You have smitten Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife." Nathan presented three punishments from God for this sin. First, that the "sword shall never depart from your house" (2 Samuel 12:10); second, that "Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel" (2 Samuel 12:12); and finally, that "the son born to you will die" (2 Samuel 12:14)
For the remainder of his reign there are problems: one of his sons rapes one of his daughters Tamar , then Tamar’s brother Absalom kills Amnon. Absalom then flees Jerusalem rather than face his father’s anger. Later, Absalom leads a revolt against David, and some of David’s former associates join the rebellion (chapters 15-16). David is forced out of Jerusalem, and Absalom sets himself up as king for a short time. The usurper is overthrown, however, and—against David’s wishes—is killed. Absalom was caught by his hair in the branches of an oak and David’s general Joab killed him as he hung there. When the news of the victory is brought to David, he did not rejoice, but was instead shaken with grief: "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!" (2 Samuel 18:33). Finally only two contenders for the succession remain, one of them Bathsheba's son Solomon. 1 Kings then relates how, as David lies dying, Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan ensure Solomon's elevation to the throne. David expressed remorse over his transgressions and sought forgiveness. God ultimately forgave David and Bathsheba but would not remove their sins from Scripture.
David’s sin with Bathsheba should be a warning to all of us to guard our hearts, our eyes and our minds. Pride over our spiritual maturity and our ability to withstand temptation in our own strength is the first step to a downfall (1 Corinthians 10:12). God is gracious to forgive even the most heinous sins when we truly repent. However, healing the wound caused by sin does not always erase the scar. Sin has natural consequences, and even after he was forgiven, David reaped what he had sown. His son from the illicit union with another man’s wife was taken from him (2 Samuel 12:14-24) and David suffered the misery of a break in his loving relationship with his heavenly Father (Psalms 32 and 51).
The Lord Jesus Christ is seen primarily in two parts of 2 Samuel. First, the Davidic Covenant as outlined in 2 Samuel 7:16: “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever” and reiterated in Luke 1:31-33 in the words of the angel who appeared to Mary to announce Jesus’ birth to her: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." Christ is the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant; He is the Son of God in the line of David who will reign forever.
David, the youngest (divinely favored) son of Jesse of Bethlehem would succeed Saul. Under David's son Solomon they build the Temple where God takes his earthly dwelling among them. Under the House of David, the united Kingdom of Israel achieved prosperity and superiority over its neighbours. The Books of Samuel, 1 Kings, and 1 Chronicles are the only sources of information on David.
Under David's son Solomon they build the Temple where God takes his earthly dwelling among them. Yet Solomon sins by allowing his foreign wives to worship their own gods, and so on his death and reign of his son, Rehoboam, the kingdom is divided in two: Israel (including the cities of Shechem and Samaria) in the north and Judah (containing Jerusalem) in the south. Most of the non-Israelite provinces fell away.
4) Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah
Kingdom of Israel (capital Samaria) (930 BCE - 720 BCE) and Kingdom of Judah (capital Jerusalem) (930 BCE - 586 BCE)
The kings of the northern kingdom of Israel are uniformly bad, permitting the worship of other gods and failing to enforce the worship of God alone, and so God eventually allows them to be conquered and dispersed among the peoples of the earth; in their place strangers settle the northern land. The tribes exiled by Assyria later became known as the Ten Lost Tribes. In Judah some kings are good and enforce the worship of God alone, but many are bad and permit other gods, even in the Temple itself, and at length God allows Judah to fall to her enemies, the people taken into captivity in Babylon, the land left empty and desolate, and the Temple itself destroyed.
Sargon II, completed the destruction of the northern kingdom, removing the entire elite and sending in colonists: ‘I besieged and captured Samaria,’ Sargon records in the Annals of Khorsabad, ‘carrying off 27,290 of the people who dwelt therein.’
At Samaria, the royal quarter was totally destroyed. Megiddo was levelled and new, Assyrian-type buildings set up on the rubble.
The holocaust-dispersion of the northern people of Israel was final. In taking their last, forced journey into Assyria, the ten tribes of the north moved out of history and into myth. They lived in later Jewish legend, but in reality they were simply assimilated into the surrounding Aramaean population, losing their faith and their language; and the spread of Aramaic westwards, as the common language of the Assyrian empire, helped to conceal their evanescence.
In Samaria, Israelite peasants and artisans remained, and intermarried with the new settlers. Chapter 17 of the Second Book of Kings, which records these melancholy events, says that while the exiled elite in Assyria still worshipped Yahweh, they sent back one of their priests to live in Bethel and instruct the leaderless people. But it adds: ‘Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them into the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made,’ and it then paints a fearful picture of the confused paganism into which the northern kingdom collapsed. The way in which the north had worshipped Yahweh had always been suspect in Judah. This doubt about northern orthodoxy reflected the division of the Israelites which took place at the time of the entry into Egypt, and which was never really healed after the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan. In the eyes of Jerusalem and its priests, the northerners had always mingled with the pagans. The fall and dispersal of the northern kingdom, and the intermarriage of the remnant with aliens, was used to deny the Samaritans their original Israelite heritage. From this point onwards, their claim to be part of the chosen people, and to inhabit the Promised Land in full righteousness of possession, was never again acknowledged by the Jews.
- Samaritans: Samaritans claim they are Israelite descendants of the Northern Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who survived the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BC. Samaritans assert their worship is the true religion of the ancient Israelites prior to the Babylonian Exile, preserved by those who remained in the Land of Israel (Samaria), as opposed to Judaism, which they assert is a related but altered and amended religion, brought back by those returning from the Babylonian exile.
The inscription of Sargon II records the deportation of a relatively small proportion of the Israelites from Samaria (27,290, according to the annals), so it is quite possible that a sizable population remained that could identify themselves as Israelites, the term that the Samaritans prefer for themselves. Tthe Samaritans claimed that they were the true Israel who were descendants of the "Ten Lost Tribes" taken into Assyrian captivity. They had their own temple on Mount Gerizim and claimed that it was the original sanctuary.
Samaritan historiography places the basic schism from the remaining part of Israel after the tribes of Israel conquered and returned to the land of Canaan, led by Joshua. After Joshua's death, Eli the priest left the tabernacle which Moses erected in the desert and established on Mount Gerizim, and built another one under his own rule in the hills of Shiloh. According to Samaritans, it was on Mount Gerizim that Abraham was commanded by God to offer Isaac, his son, as a sacrifice Genesis 22:2. Samaritan's temple was built at Mount Gerizim in the middle of 5th century BC and was destroyed by the Macabbean (Hasmonean) John Hyrcanus late in 110 BC, although their descendants still worship among its ruins. The antagonism between Samaritans and Jews is important in understanding the Bible's New Testament stories of the "Samaritan woman at the well" and "Parable of the Good Samaritan".
In the late 8th century both Judah and Israel were vassals of Assyria: The Kingdom of Israel (or Northern Kingdom) existed as an independent state until 722 BCE when it was conquered and destroyed by the Assyrian Empire; while the Kingdom of Judah (or Southern Kingdom) existed as an independent state until 586 BCE when it was conquered by the Babylonian Empire. In 597 BC, the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple. This a key event in the formation of the Old Testament with the fall of the kingdom of Judah to the Babylonian empire in 586 BCE. The Babylonians destroyed the city and the Temple of Solomon, executed the king's sons in front of him before putting out his eyes, and took him and many others into exile.
Jerusalem fell in 597 BC, the Babylonian Chronicle, now in the British Museum, noting: ‘In the seventh year, in the month of Kislev, [Nebuchudnezzar] mustered his troops, and having marched to the land of Hatti, besieged the city of Judah, and on the second day of the month of Adar took the city and captured the king. The Second Book of Kings adds that the King of Judah, Jehoiakim, was taken to Babylon with ‘all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and all the smiths’; none remained, except ‘the poorest people of the land’. The gold vessels in the Temple were likewise ‘cut in pieces’ and carried off.
Nor was this the end of Judah’s sorrows. Under Zedekiah, the Israelite governor the Babylonians had appointed, and who had sworn fealty to them, the city rose up, and was again besieged. In an appalling scene, Zedekiah’s children were murdered in front of him, and when he had witnessed this dreadful sight, his eyes were put out, standard punishment for a vassal who broke his oath. The Temple was torn down, the walls demolished, the great city houses wrecked and the old town of Millo, dating back from before David’s conquest, slid into the ravine.
There was, however, one vital difference between the Babylonian conquest of Judah and the Assyrian descent on the north. The Babylonians were much less ruthless. They did not colonize. No strange tribes were moved in from the east, to cover the Promised Land with pagan shrines. The poor people, the am ha-arez, were left without leaders but they could cling to their religion after a fashion. Moreover, the Benjaminites, who seem to have submitted in 588 BC, were not exiled, and their cities of Gibeon, Mizpah and Bethel were left intact.
Between 734 and 581 BC there were six distinct deportations of the Israelites, and more fled voluntarily to Egypt and other parts of the Near East. From this time onwards, a majority of Jews would always live outside the Promised Land.
The two Books of Kings present the biblical view of history of ancient Israel and Judah from the death of David to the release of his successor Jehoiachin from imprisonment in Babylon, a period of some 400 years (c.960–560 BCE). It concludes a series of books running from Joshua through Judges and Samuel, which make up the section of the Hebrew Bible called the Former Prophets; this series is also often referred to as the Deuteronomistic history, a body of writing which scholars believe was written to provide a theological explanation for the destruction of the Jewish kingdom by Babylon in 586 BCE and a foundation for a return from exile.
- 1 Kings: The book begins when David dies and Solomon comes to the throne. At the beginning of his reign he assumes God's promises to David and brings splendour to Israel and peace and prosperity to his people. The centrepiece of Solomon's reign is the building of the First Temple: the claim that this took place 480 years after the Exodus from Egypt marks it as a key event in Israel's history. Seven years later, the Ark was brought to the temple, the glory of the Lord descended on it, Solomon prays a powerful prayer, and then sacrifices were offered. But later Solomon follows other gods and oppresses Israel.
According to the Bible, Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. The wives are described as foreign princesses, including Pharaoh's daughter and women of Moab, Ammon, Sidon and of the Hittites. These wives are depicted as leading Solomon away from Yahweh toward idolatry.
In a brief, unelaborated, and enigmatic passage, the Hebrew Bible describes how the fame of Solomon's wisdom and wealth spread far and wide, so much so that the queen of Sheba decided that she should meet him. The queen is described as visiting with a number of gifts including gold, spices and precious stones. When Solomon gave her "all her desire, whatsoever she asked," she left satisfied (1 Kings 10:10).
According to 1 Kings 11: Solomon's "wives turned his heart after other gods", their own national deities, to whom Solomon built temples, thus incurring divine anger and retribution in the form of the division of the kingdom after Solomon's death.
According to 1 Kings 11:30-34, it was because of these sins that "the Lord punishes Solomon by removing 10 of the 12 Tribes of Israel from the Israelites, leaving only Judah. As a consequence of Solomon's failure to stamp out the worship of gods other than Yahweh, the kingdom of David is split in two in the reign of his own son Rehoboam, who becomes the first to reign over the kingdom of Judah.
The Judgment of Solomon refers to a story from the Hebrew Bible in which King Solomon of Israel ruled between two women both claiming to be the mother of a child by tricking the parties into revealing their true feelings. It has become an archetypal example of a judge displaying wisdom in making a ruling. The story is recounted in 1 Kings 3:16-28. Two young women who lived in the same house and who both had an infant son came to Solomon for a judgment. One of the women claimed that the other, after accidentally smothering her own son while sleeping, had exchanged the two children to make it appear that the living child was hers. The other woman denied this and so both women claimed to be the mother of the living son and said that the dead boy belonged to the other. After some deliberation, King Solomon called for a sword to be brought before him. He declared that there was only one fair solution: the live son must be split in two, each woman receiving half of the child. Upon hearing this terrible verdict, the boy's true mother cried out, "Oh Lord, give the baby to her, just don't kill him!" The liar, in her bitter jealousy, exclaimed, "It shall be neither mine nor yours—divide it!". The king declared the first mother as the true mother and gave her the baby. King Solomon's judgment became known throughout all of Israel and was considered an example of profound wisdom.
The major themes of Kings are God's promise, the recurrent apostasy of the kings, and the judgement this brings on Israel:
- Promise: In return for Israel's promise to worship Yahweh alone, Yahweh makes promises to David and to Israel – to David, the promise that his line will rule Israel forever, to Israel, the promise of the land they will possess.
- Apostasy: the great tragedy of Israel's history, meaning the destruction of the kingdom and the Temple, is due to the failure of the people, but more especially the kings, to worship Yahweh alone (Yahweh being the god of Israel).
- Judgement: Apostasy leads to judgement. Judgement is not punishment, but simply the natural (or rather, God-ordained) consequence of Israel's failure to worship Yahweh alone.
- 2 Kings: Solomon dies, and his son Rehoboam assumes the throne. The kings who follow Rehoboam in Jerusalem continue the royal line of David (i.e., they inherit the promise to David); in the north, however, dynasties follow each other in rapid succession, and the kings are uniformly bad (meaning that they fail to follow Yahweh alone). After Rehoboam and Jeroboam die, the narrator recounts the story of all the succeeding kings in each kingdom, summarizing each king’s reign by whether he does good or evil.
With the help of his wife Jezebel, Ahab, northern Israel’s most wicked king, spreads cult worship of the god Baal throughout the northern lands. In response, a prophet named Elijah emerges and informs Ahab that God will curse the land with a great drought. Elijah leads a secluded life on the outskirts of civilization. After three years of drought, Queen Jezebel begins a campaign to murder all of God’s prophets in the land. Elijah flees from the belligerent Jezebel into the desert. He complains to God that, despite his earnest service, the Israelites continue to be disobedient. God promises to show himself to Elijah. Elijah is surrounded by wind, earthquakes, and fire, but none of these, we are told, is God. Instead, Elijah hears a soft whisper amidst the storm, and he recognizes that this is God. Encouraged, Elijah returns to civilization where he appoints a new man, Elisha, to be his apprentice and to eventually succeed him as prophet.
One day, Ahab and Jezebel steal a man’s vineyard by slandering the man’s name in public until the citizens stone the man. Elijah finds Ahab in the vineyard and declares that because of their murderous deeds, Ahab and Jezebel will die and dogs will lick up their blood. Soon after, King Ahab makes a rare pact with the king of Judah. The two lead their united forces against the Arameans who are occupying Israel’s borders. Ahab is killed and bleeds to death in his chariot. When the chariot is cleaned after battle, dogs gather to lick his blood.
Not long after, Elijah is miraculously taken up into heaven by a flaming chariot, never to return, while Elisha looks on. Elisha assumes Elijah’s role as prophet, acting as a cryptic doomsayer to Israel’s kings while performing miracles for the common folk. Elisha helps a barren woman become pregnant, and when her young son suddenly dies, Elisha brings the boy back to life by lying on top of him. He guides the king of Israel in eluding the Aramean invaders from the north by plaguing the enemy troops with blindness.
Elisha initiates a coup to cut off Ahab and Jezebel’s dynasty by secretly anointing a military commander, Jehu, to overthrow the throne. Jehu descends on the city where the current king, who is Ahab’s son, and Judah’s king are visiting each other. The men of the city rapidly defect to Jehu’s side. Jehu overcomes the kings on horseback and shoots them with an arrow, decrying their witchcraft and idolatry in the process. Entering the city, Jezebel calls out seductively to Jehu from a window. The men of the city throw her out the window, and Jehu’s horses trample her. The dogs eat her dead body, fulfilling Elijah’s prophecy. After killing the rest of Ahab’s family, Jehu invites all the priests of Baal to an assembly and murders them. He wipes out the Baal cult in Israel, but he does not forbid the worship of other gods.
Almost all of Israel’s northern kings commit great evil, expanding on the practices of their fathers. Some of the southern kings in Jerusalem try to revive obedience to God, but none of them bans the worship of foreign gods in Judah. At length God brings the Assyrians to destroy the northern kingdom and Samaria (722 BC), leaving Judah as the sole custodian of the promise.
Hezekiah, the 14th king of Judah "did what was right in the eyes of the Lord" and institutes a far reaching religious reform, centralising sacrifice at the temple at Jerusalem and destroying the images of other gods. Yahweh saves Jerusalem and the kingdom from an invasion by Assyria. But Manasseh, the next king, reverses the reforms, and God announces that he will destroy Jerusalem because of this apostasy by the king. Mannasah's righteous grandson Josiah reinstitutes the reforms of Hezekiah, but it is too late: God, speaking through the prophetess Huldah, affirms that Jerusalem is to be destroyed (597 BC).
God brings the Babylonians against Jerusalem; Yahweh deserts his people, Jerusalem is razed and the Temple destroyed, and the priests, prophets and royal court are led into captivity.
As the books’ religious protagonists, Elijah and Elisha illustrate that the nature of prophets has changed throughout the Old Testament. Moses, Joshua, the judges, and David are all leaders of the Israelites, and, as the people’s representatives, they meet with God on mountains or in religious centers to intercede on behalf of the people for their wrongdoing. Elijah and Elisha, however, are located on the outskirts of communities, and they utter mystical warnings or oracles to Israel that are fatalistic at best. Elijah the prophet was for forerunner of Christ and the Apostles of the New Testament. God enabled Elijah to do miraculous things in order to prove that he was truly a man of God. For example he raised from the dead the son of the widow of Zarephath.
The Book of 1 Kings was likely written between 560 and 540 B.C.
Book of Judith: The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book, included in the Septuagint and the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian Old Testament of the Bible, but excluded by Jews and assigned by Protestants to the Apocrypha. The book contains numerous historical anachronisms, which is why many scholars now accept it as non-historical; it has been considered a parable or perhaps the first historical novel. The work may have been written around 100 B.C., but its historical range is extraordinary.
The canonicity of Judith is rejected by Protestants, who accept as the Old Testament only those books that are found in the Jewish canon. Martin Luther viewed the book as an allegory, but listed it as the first of the eight writings in his Apocrypha.
The Book of Judith has a tragic setting that appealed to Jewish patriots and it warned of the urgency of adhering to Mosaic law, generally speaking, but what accounted for its enduring appeal was the drama of its narrative. The story revolves around Judith, a daring and beautiful widow, who is upset with her Jewish countrymen for not trusting God to deliver them from their foreign conquerors. She goes with her loyal maid to the camp of the enemy general, Holofernes, with whom she slowly ingratiates herself, promising him information on the Israelites. Gaining his trust, she is allowed access to his tent one night as he lies in a drunken stupor. She decapitates him, then takes his head back to her fearful countrymen. Uzziah, the the town’s magistrates, proclaims at her return that Judith is blessed “by the Most High God above all other women on earth” (Judith 13:18). This verse, an echo of Deborah’s vindication of Jael’s similar, hands-on murder of Sisera (Judges 4:21, 5:24-26), is pivotal in Roman Catholic theology, for it also is spoken of Mary (Luke 1:42, 48). The Assyrians, having lost their leader, disperse, and Israel is saved. Though she is courted by many, Judith remains unmarried for the rest of her life.
It is generally accepted that the Book of Judith is not historical. The fictional nature "is evident form its blending of history and fiction, beginning in the very first verse, and is too prevalent thereafter to be considered as the result of mere historical mistakes However Catholics with very few exceptions accept the book of Judith as a narrative of facts, not as an allegory. Even Jahn considers that the genealogy of Judith is inexplicable on the hypothesis that the story is a mere fiction ("Introductio", Vienna, 1814, p. 461). Why carry out the genealogy of a fictitious person through fifteen generations? The Fathers have ever looked upon the book as historical. St. Jerome, who excluded Judith from the Canon, nonetheless accepted the person of the valiant woman as historical.
The work anyway is written to exalt God as Israel’s deliverer from foreign might, not by an army, but by means of a simple widow. Judith, the heroine of the book is a widow, once married to a certain Manasses. She uses her charm to become an intimate friend of Holofernes, but finally beheads him allowing Israel to counter-attack the Assyrians. On the other hand, Holofernes is the villain of the book. He is a devout soldier of his king, whom he wants to see exalted in all lands. He is given the task of destroying the rebels who didn't support the king of Nineveh in his resistance against Cheleud and the king of Media, until Israel also becomes a target of his military campaign. Judith's charm occasions his death.
- The Book of Tobit (Book of Tobias in the Vulgate) : It is a book of scripture that is part of the Catholic and Orthodox biblical canon, pronounced canonical by the Council of Carthage of 397 and confirmed for Roman Catholics by the Council of Trent (1546). The book is listed as a book of the "Apocrypha" in Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England. Tobit is regarded by Protestants as apocryphal because it was not included within the Tanakh nor considered canonical by Judaism.
Prior to the 1952 discovery of Aramaic and Hebrew fragments of Tobit among the Dead Sea Scrolls in Cave IV at Qumran, it was believed that Tobit was not included in the Jewish canon because of its late authorship, which was estimated to be circa 100 AD. However, the Qumran fragments, which date from 100 BC to 25 AD and are in agreement with the Greek text existing in three different recensions, evidence a much earlier origin than previously thought. These fragments evidence authorship no later than the 2nd Century BC, and thus at least contemporary to the date modern scholars ascribe to the final compilation of the Book of Daniel, which did attain canonical status.
Other scholars have postulated that Tobit was excluded from the Jewish Scriptures for a halakhic reason, because the marriage document discussed in 7:16 was written by Raguel, the bride's father, rather than by the groom, as required under Jewish rabbinical law.
This book tells the story of a righteous Israelite of the Tribe of Naphtali named Tobit living in Nineveh (modern Iraq) after the deportation of the northern tribes of Israel to Assyria in 721 BC under Sargon II. (The first two and a half chapters are written in the first person.) Tobit was originally raised by his paternal grandmother Deborah and remained loyal to the worship of God at the temple in Jerusalem, instead of joining in the cult of the golden calves set at Dan by Jeroboam, king of Northern Israel. In exile he was particularly noted for his diligence in attempting to provide proper burials for fallen Israelites who had been slain by Sennacherib, for which the king seized all his property
The story of Tobit revolves around a righteous, law-abiding Jew who did not abandon traditional Jewish beliefs and practices while other Jews living in exile with him were worshipping idols and failing to follow God’s laws. Tobit did many good deeds, including burying Jews according to ritual at some risk to himself and giving alms to the poor. One hot night after burying a body, Tobit slept outside, and sparrow droppings fell into his eyes and blinded him. He despaired and asked God that he may die.
On that same day in Media (current North Iran), Sarah, one of Tobit’s kinsman (A kinsman is a person sharing the same racial, cultural, or national background as another) prayed to God to take her life also because she was constantly ridiculed for marrying seven times, and each time the demon Asmodeus killed her husband before the marriage could be consummated. With Tobit expecting to die soon, he sent his only son, Tobiah, to Media to return a large sum of money on deposit with a relative. Under the guidance of Raphael, Tobias made the journey to Media, accompanied by his dog, and over the objection of Tobit's wife Hannah, who was already discouraged by Tobit's nagging. During this trip, Tobiah was unknowingly accompanied by the angel Raphael (who appears only in the Apocrypha, not the Bible). while washing his feet in the river Tigris Tobiah was attacked by a large fish which Raphael tells him to kill and extract its gall bladder, liver, and heart, because they “can be used as medicines.” Upon arriving in Media, Tobiah marries Sarah at Raphael’s insistence despite her track record of dead husbands and uses the fish heart and liver to dispose of the demon and protect the marriage bed. When Tobiah returns home, he applies the gall and restores his father’s sight. When Tobiah returns home, Raphael told the youth to use the fish's gall to cure his father's blindness. Raphael then revealed his true identity and returned to heaven and Tobit sang a hymn of praise.
This book was written in Aramaic (most of the Old testament books were written in Hebrew), a rather common international language used by Jews and many others living during the intertestamental period.
Tobit is a story like one of Jesus' parables. The characters may be fictional, but the message or moral of the story is true. The story draws on themes from a few Mesopotamian myths from the same time period, but it is replete with Old Testament themes: divine retribution, theology of God, familial ties, marriage, prayer and angels.
Like Ruth, Tobit is a family story. It illustrates how God cares for those who love him. It shows him rewarding human faithfulness with his faithful deliverance. Yet the characters must undergo trials in order to experience deliverance. Tobit, Sarah and Tobiah suffer, but God delivers them in the end. In fact, Raphael says he was sent to test and heal Tobit and Sarah (12:14). Tobit also shows the importance of prayer and strong family relationships.
Yet despite these events God does not forget his people, but sends Cyrus (539 BCE), king of Persia as his messiah to deliver them from bondage. The Israelites are allowed to return to Judah and Benjamin, the Temple is rebuilt, the priestly orders restored, and the service of sacrifice resumed. Through the offices of the sage Ezra, Israel is constituted as a holy community, bound by the Law and holding itself apart from all other peoples.
Cyrus the Great, was himself the instigator of the Return. The faith of the Persian ruling class was ethical and universalistic, unlike the intolerant, narrow nationalism of the earlier imperial powers. Cyrus himself was a Zoroastrian, believing in one, eternal, beneficent being, ‘Creator of all things through the holy spirit’.Under Cyrus, the Persians developed a radically different imperial religious policy to the Assyrians and Babylonians. They were happy to respect the religious beliefs of subject peoples, provided these were compatible
with acceptance of their own authority.
Following their return to Jerusalem and with Persian approval and financing, construction of the Second Temple in 516 BCE was completed under the leadership of the last three Jewish Prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.
- 1 Chronicles (1 Paralipomenon): The history told in Chronicles begins with Adam, and the story is then carried forward, almost entirely by genealogical lists, down to the founding of the Israelite monarchy (1 Chronicles 1–9). The bulk of remainder of 1 Chronicles, after a brief account of Saul, is concerned with the reign of David (1 Chronicles 11–29).
Chronicles appears to be largely the work of a single individual, with some later additions and editing. The anonymous author was probably male, probably a Levite (temple priest), and probably from Jerusalem. He was well read, a skilled editor, and a sophisticated theologian. His intention was to use Israel's past to convey religious messages to his peers, the literary and political elite of Jerusalem in the time of the Persian empire.
Much of the content of Chronicles is a repetition of material from other books of the Bible, from Genesis to Kings, and so the usual scholarly view is that these books, or an early version of them, provided the author with the bulk of his material.
The message which the author wished to give to his audience was this:
- God is active in history, and especially the history of Israel. The faithfulness or sins of individual kings are immediately rewarded or punished by God. (This is in contrast to the theology of the Books of Kings, where the faithlessness of kings was punished on later generations through the Babylonian exile).
- God calls Israel to a special relationship. The call begins with the genealogies (chapters 1–9 of 1 Chronicles), gradually narrowing the focus from all mankind to a single family, the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob. "True" Israel is those who continue to worship Yahweh at the Temple in Jerusalem, with the result that the history of the historical kingdom of Israel is almost completely ignored.
- God chose David and his dynasty as the agents of his will. According to the author of Chronicles, the three great events of David's reign were his bringing the ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, his founding of an eternal royal dynasty, and his preparations for the construction of the Temple.
- God chose the Temple in Jerusalem as the place where he should be worshiped. More time and space are spent on the construction of the Temple and its rituals of worship than on any other subject. By stressing the central role of the Temple in pre-exilic Judah, the author also stresses the importance of the newly-rebuilt Persian-era Second Temple to his own readers.
- God remains active in Israel. The past is used to legitimate the author's present: this is seen most clearly in the detailed attention he gives to the Temple built by Solomon, but also in the genealogy and lineages, which connect his own generation to the distant past and thus make the claim that the present is a continuation of that past
- 2 Chronicles (2 Paralipomenon): The next long section concerns David's son Solomon (2 Chronicles 1–9), and the final part is concerned with the Kingdom of Judah with occasional references to the Kingdom of Israel (2 Chronicles 10–36). In the last chapter Judah is destroyed and the people taken into exile in Babylon, and in the final verses the Persian king Cyrus conquers Babylon, and authorises the restoration of Solomon's Temple, and, apparently, the return of the exiles.
The last events in Chronicles take place in the reign of Cyrus the Great, the Persian king who conquered Babylon in 539 BC; this sets an earliest possible date for the book. It was probably composed between 400–250 BC, with the period 350–300 BC the most likely
After the death of the last Jewish prophet and while still under Persian rule, the leadership of the Jewish people passed into the hands of five successive generations of zugot ("pairs of") leaders. They flourished first under the Persians and then under the Greeks. As a result the Pharisees and Sadduccees were formed. In general, whereas the Sadducees were aristocratic monarchists, the Pharisees were eclectic, popular, and more democratic. Sadducees rejected the Pharisaic tenet of an oral Torah, and created new interpretations based on a literal understanding of verses. In their personal lives this often meant an excessively stringent lifestyle from a Jewish perspective, as they did away with the oral tradition, and in turn the Pharisaic Jewish understanding of the Torah. An example of this differing approach is the interpretation of, "an eye in place of an eye". The Pharisaic understanding was that the value of an eye was to be paid by the perpetrator. In the Sadducees' view the words were given a more literal interpretation, in which the offender's eye would be removed. From the point of view of the Pharisees, the Sadducees wished to change the Jewish understanding of the Torah.
- Book of Ezra:
The Book of Ezra is a book of the Hebrew Bible. Originally combined with the Book of Nehemiah in a single book of Ezra-Nehemiah, the two became separated in the early centuries of the Christian era. Its subject is the Return to Zion following the close of the Babylonian captivity, and it is divided into two parts, the first telling the story of the first return of exiles in the first year of Cyrus the Great (538 BC) and the completion and dedication of the new Temple in Jerusalem in the sixth year of Darius (515 BC), the second telling of the subsequent mission of Ezra to Jerusalem and his struggle to purify the Jews from the sin of marriage with non-Jews. Together with the Book of Nehemiah, it represents the final chapter in the historical narrative of the Hebrew Bible. The return to Zion is a term that refers to the event written in the biblical books of Ezra-Nehemiah in which the Jews returned to the land of Israel from the Babylonian exile following the decree by the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great, the conqueror of the Babylonian empire in 538 BC, also known as Cyrus's Declaration. Around 50,000 Jews made Aliyah to the land of Israel, following the decree of Cyrus, whereas most remained in Babylon. The return of the deportees to Judah during the next 110 years to follow since the decree of Cyrus is known as "the return to Zion", an event that Jews ever since have been inspired by.
God moved the hearts of secular rulers (Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes) to allow, even encourage and help, the Jewish people to return home. He used these unlikely allies to fulfill His promises of restoration for His chosen people.
- Book of Nehemiah: The book is set in the 5th century BC. Judah is one of several provinces within the larger satrapy (a large administrative unit) within the Persian empire. The capital of the empire is at Susa. Nehemiah was a Hebrew in Persia when the word reached him that the Temple in Jerusalem was being reconstructed. He grew anxious knowing there was no wall to protect the city. Nehemiah invited God to use him to save the city. God answered his prayer by softening the heart of the Persian king, Artaxerxes (Nehemiah is a cup-bearer to king Artaxerxes II of Persia), who gave not only his blessing, but also supplies to be used in the project. At his own request Nehemiah is sent to Jerusalem as governor of Yehud, the official Persian name for Judah. Jerusalem had been conquered and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC and Nehemiah finds it still in ruins. His task is to rebuild the walls and to re-populate the city. He faces opposition from three powerful neighbours, the Samaritans, the Ammonites, and the Arabs, as well as the city of Ashdod, but manages to rebuild the walls. He then purifies the Jewish community by enforcing its segregation from its neighbours and enforces the laws of Moses.
The Nehemiah Memorial, chapters 1–7 and 11–13, may have circulated as an independent work before being combined with the Ezra material to form Ezra-Nehemia. The Book of Nehemiah was likely written between 445 and 420 B.C.
- The book of Esther : It was most likely written between B.C. 460 and 331, after the reign of Xerxes I but prior to Alexander the Great's rise to power.
By this time (486-465 B.C.), more than 100 years after the Babylonian captivity under Nebuchadnezzar, and just over 50 years after Zerubbabel led the first group of exiles back to Jerusalem, many Jews still remained in Persia. They were part of the diaspora, or "scattering" of exiles among the nations.
The book of Esther was written to the Jewish people to record the origins of the Feast of Lots, or Purim. This annual festival commemorates God's salvation of the Jewish people, similar to their deliverance from slavery in Egypt.
The book of Esther is one of only two books in the entire Bible named for women. The other is the book of Ruth. This is the story of a beautiful young Jewess who risked her life to serve God and to save her people.
Esther lived in ancient Persia about 100 years after the Babylonian captivity. When her parents died, the orphaned child was adopted and raised by her older cousin Mordecai. One day the king of the Persian Empire, Xerxes I, threw a lavish party. On the final day of the festivities, he called for his queen, Vashti, eager to flaunt her beauty to his guests. But the queen refused to appear before Xerxes. Filled with anger, he deposed Queen Vashti, forever removing her from his presence.
To find his new queen, Xerxes hosted a royal beauty pageant and Esther was chosen for the throne. Esther didnt not reveal that she was Jewish. Her cousin Mordecai became a minor official in the Persian government of Susa. Soon after, Mordecai uncovered a plot to assassinate the king. He told Esther about the conspiracy, and she reported it to Xerxes, giving credit to Mordecai. The plot was thwarted and Mordecai's act of kindness was preserved in the chronicles of the king.
At this same time, the king's highest official was a wicked man named Haman. He hated the Jews and he especially hated Mordecai, who had refused to bow down to him. So, Haman devised a scheme to have every Jew in Persia killed. The king bought into the plot and agreed to annihilate the Jewish people on a specific day. Meanwhile, Mordecai learned of the plan and shared it with Esther, challenging her with these famous words:
"Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:13-14, NIV)
Esther urged all of the Jews to fast and pray for deliverance. Then risking her own life, brave young Esther approached the king with a plan of her own. She invited Xerxes and Haman to a banquet where eventually she revealed her Jewish heritage to the king, as well as Haman's diabolical plot to have her and her people killed. In a rage, the king ordered Haman to be hung on the gallows--the very same gallows Haman had built for Mordecai.
Mordecai was promoted to Haman's high position and Jews were granted protection throughout the land. As the people celebrated God's tremendous deliverance, the joyous festival of Purim was instituted.
Themes in the Book of Esther:
God's Sovereignty - The hand of God is at work in the lives of his people. He used the circumstances in Esther's life, as he uses the decisions and actions of all humans to providentially work out his divine plans and purposes. We can trust in the Lord's sovereign care over every aspect of our lives.
God's Deliverance - The Lord raised up Esther, as he raised up Moses, Joshua, Joseph, and many others to deliver his people from destruction. Through Jesus Christ we are delivered from death and hell. God is able to save his children.
There are considerable historical inaccuracies remain throughout the text, supporting the view that the book of Esther is to be read as a historical novella which tells a story describing historical events but is not necessarily historical fact. Purim is celebrated annually according to the Hebrew calendar on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar (and on Adar II in Hebrew leap years that take place every 3 to 4 years), the day following the victory of the Jews over their enemies.
The primary source relating to the origin of Purim is the Book of Esther:
Esther 9:28 These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews—nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants. (NIV)
The first religious ceremony ordained for the celebration of Purim is the reading of the Book of Esther (the "Megillah") in the synagogue, a regulation ascribed in the Talmud (Megillah 2a) to the Sages of the Great Assembly, of which Mordecai is reported to have been a member.
The Book of Esther prescribes "the sending of portions one man to another, and gifts to the poor" (9:22). According to halakha, each adult must give two different foods to one person, and two charitable donations to two poor people. The food parcels are called mishloach manot ("sending of portions"), and in some circles the custom has evolved into a major gift-giving event.
On Purim day, a festive meal called the Se`udat Purim is held. The drinking of wine features prominently in keeping with the jovial nature of the feast. This is based on the fact that the salvation of the Jews occurred through wine and the Sages of the Talmud stated that one should drink on Purim until he can "no longer distinguish between the phrases arur Haman ('Cursed is Haman') and baruch Mordechai ('Blessed is Mordecai')."
Greek culture was spread eastwards by the Alexandrian conquests. The Levant was not immune to this cultural spread. During this time, currents of Judaism were influenced by Hellenistic philosophy developed from the 3rd century BCE, notably the Jewish diaspora in Alexandria, culminating in the compilation of the Septuagint. An important advocate of the symbiosis of Jewish theology and Hellenistic thought is Philo.
At the beginning of this period of canonisation for the Jewish Bible, Jewish scholars in the Diaspora (and possibly the Holy Land as well) translated the Hebrew texts* into Koine Greek to create the Septuagint or LXX. The septuaginta (meaning seventy), is a translation of the Hebrew Bible and some related texts into Koine Greek. It was carried out by 70 or 72 Jewish scholars in Alexandria — which is why it’s the Septuagint, meaning seventy. Importantly, the New Testament almost exclusively quotes from the Septuagint. The early Christians also used the Septuagint like the New Testament writers did, and Christians kept using it. In fact, the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox still use the Septuagint. The canon of the Septuagint, however, isn’t identical to the modern Jewish Bible. In fact the Jewish canon was finally set around the 2nd Century AD , two centuries after the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Based on that Jewish canon, the Protestant Reformation “removed” from Protestant Old Testaments the “extra” books which were not in the Jewish canon. The Septuagint was widely accepted and used by Greek-speaking Jews in the 1st century, even in the region of Roman Judea, and therefore naturally became the text most widely used by early Christians, who were predominantly Greek speaking. It is actually believed that the New Testament writers were using the Septuagint. As example how the new testament writes uses the Septuagint let's look how in several places in the New Testament-the idea that the Mosaic Law, given at Sinai, was actually given by angels:
"you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it" (7:53)
"For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution" (Hebrews 2:1-2a)
"Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary."
However you see that only in the Deuteronomy 33:1-2 at the Septuagint the idea that the Mosaic Law, given at Sinai, was actually given by angels:
"He said: The LORD came from Sinai, and He shone to us from Seir; He made haste from Mount Paran with ten thousands of Kadesh, his angels with him."
Compare now with the Traditional Masoretic Hebrew Text, no mention to angels:
"He said: Yahweh came from Sinai, and He shone upon them from Seir. He appeared in radiance from Mount Paran, and approached from Ribeboth-Kodesh, from his right lightning flashed at them."
Therefore most quotations of the Old Testament in the New Testament, differing by varying degrees from the Masoretic Text, are taken from the Septuagint.
Hebrew texts translated: It is not known when the Ketuvim ("writings") or final part of the three part Masoretic Canon/Tanakh was established, although some sort of selective processes must have been employed because the Septuagint did not include other well-known Jewish documents such as Enoch or Jubilees or other writings that are not part of the Jewish canon. Some newer books as Maccabees and the Wisdom of Ben Sirawere were included in the Septuagint: those called anagignoskomena (deuterocanonical) in Greek, because they are not included in the Jewish canon after AD 100. Their acceptance among early Christians was widespread, though not universal, and the Bible of the early Church always included, with varying degrees of recognition, books now called deuterocanonical. Some say that their canonicity seems not to have been doubted in the Church until it was challenged by Jews after AD 100.
Versio vulgata: For the first few centuries, pretty much all Christians spoke Greek and they used the Septuagint. (As did many Jews.) In the West, however, Greek was no longer the dominant language; Latin was. So in 382, Pope Damascus I commissioned St Jerome to make a revision of the Vetus Latina (old Latin translations). The Vetus Latina was the former translation of the whole Bible into Latin. St Jerome carried on with the translation into the vulgar or common tongue of the West (hence, Vulgate). St Jerome didn’t use the Septuagint translation itself, just its canon — and actually translated the Vulgate from now extinct Hebrew manuscripts. Jerome described those books or portions of books in the Septuagint that were not found in the Hebrew canon as being non-canonical: he called them "Apocrypha".
The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and accentuation known as the Masorah. In modern times the Dead Sea Scrolls have shown the MT to be nearly identical to some texts of the Tanakh dating from 200 BCE but different from others. The MT was primarily copied, edited and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the 7th and 10th centuries AD. The oldest extant manuscripts of the Masoretic Text date from approximately the 9th century AD.
5) Hasmonean Kingdom (140-37 BCE)
In 332 BCE, the Persians were defeated by Alexander the Great of Macedon. After his demise, and the division of Alexander's empire among his generals, the Seleucid Kingdom was formed. Judea became at that moment part of the Seleucid Empire of Syria.
The years 400-200 BC are the lost centuries of Jewish history. There were no great events or calamities they chose to record. Perhaps they were happy. The Jews certainly seem to have liked the Persians the best of all their rulers. They never revolted against them; on the contrary, Jewish mercenaries helped the Persians to put down Egyptian rebellion. The Jews were free to practise their religion at home in Judah, or anywhere else in the Persian empire, and Jewish settlements were soon to be found over a vast area.
A deterioration of relations between hellenized Jews and orthodox Jews led the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes to impose decrees banning certain Jewish religious rites and traditions. Consequently, the orthodox Jews revolted under the leadership of the Hasmonean family (also known as the Maccabees). In the narrative of I Maccabees, after Antiochus issued his decrees forbidding Jewish religious practice, a rural Jewish priest from Modiin, Mattathias the Hasmonean, sparked the revolt against the Seleucid Empire by refusing to worship the Greek gods. This revolt eventually led to the formation of an independent Jewish kingdom, known as the Hasmonaean Dynasty, which lasted from 165 BCE to 63 BCE. The Hasmonaean began as the avengers of martyrs; they ended as religious oppressors themselves. They came to power at the head of an eager guerrilla band; they ended surrounded by mercenaries. Their kingdom, founded in faith, dissolved in impiety.
1 Maccabees: The First book of Maccabees is a book written in Hebrew by a Jewish author after the restoration of an independent Jewish kingdom, about the latter part of the 2nd century BC. The original Hebrew is lost and the most important surviving version is the Greek translation contained in the Septuagint*. The book is held as canonical scripture by some Christian churches (including Catholic, Orthodox and Coptic churches), but not by Protestant denominations.
The book's author is unknown, but some suggest that it may have been a devout Jew from the Holy Land who may have taken part in the events described in the book. He shows intimate and detailed geographical knowledge of the Holy Land, but is inaccurate in his information about foreign countries
(*The Septuagint, from the Latin word septuaginta (meaning seventy), is a translation of the Hebrew Bible and some related texts into Koine Greek. The traditional story is that Ptolemy II sponsored the translation for use by the many Alexandrian Jews who were not fluent in Hebrew but fluent in Koine Greek, which was the lingua franca of Alexandria, Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE until the development of Byzantine Greek around 600 CE)
The setting of the book is about a century after the conquest of Judea by the Greeks under Alexander the Great, after Alexander's empire has been divided so that Judea was part of the Greek Seleucid Empire. It tells how the Greek ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes attempted to suppress the practice of basic Jewish law, resulting in a Jewish revolt against Seleucid rule. The book covers the whole of the revolt, from 175 to 134 BC, highlighting how the salvation of the Jewish people in this crisis came through Mattathias' family, particularly his sons, Judas Maccabeus, Jonathan Apphus, and Simon Thassi, and Simon's son, John Hyrcanus.
In the first chapter, Alexander the Great conquers the territory of Judea, only to be eventually succeeded by the Seleucid Antiochus IV Epiphanes. After successfully invading the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt, Antiochus IV captures Jerusalem and removes the sacred objects from the Jerusalem temple, slaughtering many Jews. He then imposes a tax and establishes a fortress in Jerusalem. Antiochus then tries to suppress public observance of Jewish laws, in an attempt to secure control over the Jews. He desecrates the Temple by setting up an "abomination of desolation" (that is, establishing rites of pagan observance in the Temple, or sacrificing an unclean animal on the altar in the Holy of Holies). Antiochus forbids both circumcision and possession of Jewish scriptures on pain of death. He forbids observance of the sabbath and the offering of sacrifices at the Temple. He also requires Jewish leaders to sacrifice to idols. While enforcement may be targeting only Jewish leaders, ordinary Jews were also killed as a warning to others.
Mattathias, the Jewish priest and landowner of Modein, calls upon people loyal to the traditions of Israel to oppose the invaders and the Jewish Hellenizers, and his three sons begin a military campaign against them. Mattathias killed a Hellenistic Jew who stepped forward to offer a sacrifice to an idol in Mattathias' place. He and his five sons fled to the wilderness of Judah. After Mattathias' death about one year later in 166 BCE, his son Judas Maccabee led an army of Jewish dissidents to victory over the Seleucid dynasty in guerrilla warfare, which at first was directed against Hellenizing Jews, of whom there were many. There is one complete loss of a thousand Jews (men, women and children) to Antiochus when the Jewish defenders refuse to fight on the Sabbath. The other Jews then reason that, when attacked, they must fight even on the holy day. In 165 BC the Temple is freed and reconsecrated, so that ritual sacrifices may begin again. The festival of Hanukkah is instituted by Judas Maccabeus and his brothers to celebrate this event (1 Macc. 4:59). Judas seeks an alliance with the Roman Republic to remove the Greeks. He is "succeeded" by his brother Jonathan, who becomes high priest and also seeks alliance with Rome and confirms alliance with Areus of Sparta (1 Macc. 12:1–23). His brother Jonathan was then appointed king and he joined with Alexander in the war to become the ruler of Syria. To further strengthen himself, Alexander entered a peace treaty with Ptolemy in which he gave his daughter Cleopatra to Alexander. Ptolemy wants to become the ruler of the Seleucids therefore he ended this treaty. Trypho, a minister and general to Alexander, invited Jonathan over. He killed Jonathan’s 1,000 men and put Jonathan in prison because he wanted to become king, and Jonathan was in his way.
2 Maccabees.- This is a deuterocanonical book which focuses on the Jews' revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes and concludes with the defeat of the Syrian general Nicanor in 161 BC by Judas Maccabeus, the hero of the work.
Unlike 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees was written in Koine Greek, probably in Alexandria, Egypt, c 124 BC. It presents a revised version of the historical events recounted in the first seven chapters of 1 Maccabees, adding material from the Pharisaic tradition, including prayer for the dead and a resurrection on Judgment Day. 2 Maccabees demonstrates several points of doctrinal interpretation deriving from Pharisaic Judaism, and also found in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox theology. Doctrinal issues that are raised in 2 Maccabees include:
- Prayer for the dead and sacrificial offerings, both to free the dead from sin (12,43-46)
- Merits of the martyrs (6, 18-7, 41)
- Intercession of the saints (15:11–17) (at least as seen from a Christian viewpoint)
- Resurrection of the dead (7,9:14,46)
- Specific mention of creation ex nihilo (II Maccabees 7:28)
In particular, the long descriptions of the martyrdoms of Eleazar and of a mother with her seven sons (2 Macc 6:18–7:42) caught the imagination of medieval Christians. Several churches are dedicated to the "Maccabeean martyrs", and they are among the few pre-Christian figures to appear on the Catholic calendar of saints' days (that number is considerably higher in the Eastern Orthodox churches' calendars, where they also appear). The book is considered the first model of the medieval stories of the martyrs.
2 Maccabees 2:1-12 explains how Jeremiah removed the Ark from the Temple in Jerusalem before the destruction of the city. He hid the Ark and the tent of the desert Tabernacle in a cave on Mount Nebo and it has never been found to this day. This legendary accout of how Jeremiah hid the sacred tent (which was not mentioned after the time of Solomon!), the ark, and the altar is given for the purpose of explaining why the postexilic temple was the legitimate place of worship even without these sacred objects.
1 You will find in the records, not only that Jeremiah the prophet ordered the deportees to take some of the aforementioned fire with them,
2 but also that the prophet, in giving them the law, admonished them not to forget the commandments of the Lord or be led astray in their thoughts, when seeing the gold and silver idols and their ornaments.
3 With other similar words he urged them not to let the law depart from their hearts.
4 The same document also tells how the prophet, following a divine revelation, ordered that the tent and the ark should accompany him and how he went off to the mountain which Moses climbed to see God's inheritance.
5 When Jeremiah arrived there, he found a room in a cave in which he put the tent, the ark, and the altar of incense; then he blocked up the entrance.
6 Some of those who followed him came up intending to mark the path, but they could not find it.
7 When Jeremiah heard of this, he reproved them: "The place is to remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows them mercy.
8 Then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord will be seen in the cloud, just as it appeared in the time of Moses and when Solomon prayed that the Place might be gloriously sanctified."
9 It is also related how Solomon in his wisdom offered a sacrifice at the dedication and the completion of the temple.
10 Just as Moses prayed to the Lord and fire descended from the sky and consumed the sacrifices, so Solomon also prayed and fire came down and burned up the holocausts.
11 Moses had said, "Because it had not been eaten, the sin offering was burned up."
12 Solomon also celebrated the feast in the same way for eight days.
2 Maccabees was condemned in Protestant circles. Martin Luther said: "I am so great an enemy to the second book of the Maccabees, and to Esther, that I wish they had not come to us at all, for they have too many heathen unnaturalities".
In 1534, Martin Luther translated the Bible into German. He grouped the seven deuterocanonical books (Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and I & II Maccabees) of the Old Testament under the title "Apocrypha" declaring, "These are books which are not held equal to the Sacred Scriptures and yet are useful and good for reading." Some scholars believe Luther wanted to return to the "primitive faith," and therefore accepted only those Old Testament books written in Hebrew originally; others speculate he wanted to remove anything which disagreed with his own theology. Part of the reason for the controversy was because these books were the latest writings of the Old Testament and were written in Greek rather than Hebrew; the other books of the Old Testament — the "protocanonical books"-- were older and originally written in Hebrew. The Westminster Confession (1647) decreed that these books, "not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of Scripture, and therefore are of no authority of the Church of God; nor to be in any otherwise approved, or made use of than other human writings." The British and Foreign Bible Society decided in 1827 to remove these books from further publications and labeled these books "apocryphal." . The Council of Trent, reacting to the Protestant Reformers, repeated the canon of Florence in the Decree on Sacred Books and on Traditions to be Received (1546) and decreed that these books were to be treated "with equal devotion and reverence." The Catechism repeats this same list of books and again affirms the apostolic Tradition of the canon of Sacred Scripture.
[Hanukkah: According to the Talmud, a late text, the Temple was purified and the wicks of the menorah miraculously burned for eight days, even though there was only enough sacred oil for one day's lighting. Hanukkah also known as the Festival of Lights, Feast of Dedication, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire of the 2nd century BCE. The festival is observed by the kindling of the lights of a unique candelabrum, the nine-branched menorah or hanukiah, one additional light on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the final night.
When the Second Temple in Jerusalem was looted and services stopped, Judaism was outlawed. In 167 BCE Antiochus ordered an altar to Zeus erected in the Temple. He banned brit milah (circumcision) and ordered pigs to be sacrificed at the altar of the temple (the sacrifice of pigs to the Greek gods was standard ritual practice in the Ancient Greek religion). Antiochus's actions provoked a large-scale revolt. Mattityahu, a Jewish priest, and his five sons Jochanan, Simeon, Eleazar, Jonathan, and Judah led a rebellion against Antiochus. Judah became known as Yehuda HaMakabi ("Judah the Hammer"). By 166 BCE Mattathias had died, and Judah took his place as leader. By 165 BCE the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy was successful. The Temple was liberated and rededicated. The festival of Hanukkah was instituted to celebrate this event. Judah ordered the Temple to be cleansed, a new altar to be built in place of the polluted one and new holy vessels to be made. According to the Talmud, unadulterated and undefiled pure olive oil with the seal of the kohen gadol (high priest) was needed for the menorah in the Temple, which was required to burn throughout the night every night. The story goes that one flask was found with only enough oil to burn for one day, yet it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of kosher oil for the menorah. An eight-day festival was declared by the Jewish sages to commemorate this miracle.
The story of Hanukkah is preserved in the books of the First and Second Maccabees. These books are not part of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible); they are Jewish apocryphal books instead. The miracle of the one-day supply of oil miraculously lasting eight days is first described in the Talmud, committed to writing about 600 years after the events described in the books of Maccabees.
Hanukkah is celebrated with a series of rituals that are performed every day throughout the 8-day holiday, some are family-based and others communal. There are special additions to the daily prayer service, and a section is added to the blessing after meals. Hanukkah is not a "Sabbath-like" holiday, and there is no obligation to refrain from activities that are forbidden on the Sabbath, as specified in the Shulkhan Arukh. Adherents go to work as usual, but may leave early in order to be home to kindle the lights at nightfall. There is no religious reason for schools to be closed, although, in Israel, schools close from the second day for the whole week of Hanukkah. Many families exchange small gifts each night, such as books or games.
The typical menorah for the Hanukkah consists of eight branches with an additional raised branch. The extra light is called a shamash ("attendant") and is given a distinct location, usually above or below the rest. The purpose of the shamash is to have a light available for practical use, as using the Hanukkah lights themselves for purposes other than publicizing and meditating upon Hanukkah is forbidden.
Each night, throughout the 8 day holiday, a candle or oil-based light, is lit. As a universally practiced "beautification" (hiddur mitzvah) of the mitzvah, the number of lights lit is increased by one each night. An extra light called a shamash, meaning "attendant" or "sexton," is also lit each night, and is given a distinct location, usually higher, lower, or to the side of the others. The purpose of the extra light is to adhere to the prohibition, specified in the Talmud (Tracate Shabbat 21b–23a), against using the Hanukkah lights for anything other than publicizing and meditating on the Hanukkah miracle. This differs from Sabbath candles which are meant to be used for illumination and lighting. Hence, if one were to need extra illumination on Hanukkah, the shamash candle would be available and one would avoid using the prohibited lights. Some light the shamash candle first and then use it to light the others. So all together, including the shamash, two lights are lit on the first night, three on the second and so on, ending with nine on the last night. The reason for the Hanukkah lights is not for the "lighting of the house within", but rather for the "illumination of the house without," so that passersby should see it and be reminded of the holiday's miracle (i.e. the triumph of the few over the many and of the pure over the impure). Accordingly, lamps are set up at a prominent window or near the door leading to the street.
]
The Hasmonean Dynasty (110 – 63 BCE) eventually disintegrated as a result of civil war between the sons of Salome Alexandra, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II. The people, who did not want to be governed by a king but by theocratic clergy, made appeals in this spirit to the Roman authorities. A Roman campaign of conquest and annexation, led by Pompey, soon followed.
6) Herodian Kingdom (37 BCE–4 BCE)
Judea had been an independent Jewish kingdom under the Hasmoneans, but was conquered by the Roman general Pompey in 63 BCE and reorganized as a client state. (Roman expansion was going on in other areas as well, and would continue for more than a hundred and fifty years.) Later, Herod the Great was appointed "King of the Jews" by the Roman Senate, supplanting the Hasmonean dynasty. Some of his offspring held various positions after him, known as the Herodian dynasty. Briefly, from 4 BCE to 6 CE, Herod Archelaus ruled the tetrarchy of Judea as ethnarch, the Romans denying him the title of King. After the Census of Quirinius in 6, the Roman province of Judaea was formed as a satellite of Roman Syria under the rule of a prefect (as was Roman Egypt) until 41, then procurators after 44. The empire was often callous and brutal in its treatment of its Jewish subjects.
Wisdom books:
- Book of Job: The author of the book is unknown, neither can the period in which it was written be exactly determined. Many considered the book the work of Job himself or Moses. It is now universally and correctly held that the book is not earlier than the reign of Solomon. On the other hand it is earlier than Ezechiel (Ezekiel 14:1-20). For it is the natural supposition that the latter gained his knowledge of Job from the Book of Job, and not from other, vanished, sources. It is claimed that allusions to Job have also been found in Isaias, Amos, Lamentations, some of the Psalms, and especially Jeremias.
It is generally agreed by scholars that the book comes from the period between the 7th and 4th centuries BCE, with the 6th century as the most likely date for a variety of reasons. Most scholars suggest that Job was written during or after the reign of Solomon, but that the setting of the story is in the much earlier patriarchal period, about the same time as Abraham.
The Book of Job is one of the Writings (Ketuvim) of the Hebrew Bible, and first of the poetical books in the Christian Old Testament. Addressing the theme of God's justice in the face of human suffering - or more simply, "Why do the righteous suffer?" - it is a rich theological work, setting out a variety of perspectives. It has been widely and often extravagantly praised for its literary qualities - "The greatest poem of ancient and modern times," according to Tennyson
1. Prologue in two scenes, the first on earth, the second in heaven (chapters 1-2):
The prologue on earth shows the righteous Job blessed with wealth and sons and daughters. The scene shifts to heaven, where God asks the satan (ha-satan, literally "the accuser") for his opinion of Job's piety. The satan answers that Job is pious only because God has blessed him; if God were to take away everything that Job had, then he would surely curse God. God gives the satan permission to take Job's wealth and children (1:13-19), but Job praises God: "Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return: the Lord has given, and Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." God allows the satan to afflict his body with boils (2:7). Job sits in ashes; his wife prompts him to "curse God, and die," (2:9) but Job answers: "Shall we receive good from God and shall not receive evil?"
In chapter 3 Job complains that he was born and He complains of his life. His whole speech amounts to saying: I wish I had never been born: Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?" (3:11). Three of his so-called "friends" (Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar) added to his misery as they doubted Job’s righteousness and integrity and argued that his sin brought about his calamities (4:1 – 25:6). And on top of all this, Job felt that the Lord had withdrawn from him, and would not answer him nor intervene in his situation.
In light of this terrible suffering, how is it that James, with Job’s situation in mind, could write that "the Lord is full of compassion and mercy"? (James 5:11).
In 7.6-7 we read important words of Job:" My life goes by faster than the shuttle of a weaver.. my days come to their end without hope.... My eye will never again see good." We note that Job sees no possible relief in this life
One of Job’s greatest concerns was that God seemed to be distant and uninvolved in his situation. At one point, for example, Job asked the Lord, "Why do You hide Your face and consider me Your enemy?" (13:24). What Job did not realize throughout the time of his suffering was that the Lord was very much involved in his life. It was the Lord, after all, who first mentioned Job’s name to Satan, and it was the Lord who established the boundaries for the testing Satan was to bring against him. The last chapter of the Book of Job makes it clear that the Lord was fully aware of Job’s situation including the conversations he had with his three friends. Although it appeared quite the contrary to Job, everything that happened to him was under the Lord’s sovereign oversight.
This is perhaps one of the most important truths the Lord shared with Job when He finally broke silence and answered Job (see chapters 38-41). What may be especially noteworthy in the Lord’s words is that He did not answer Job’s questions. He did not explain why Job was suffering. He did not discuss Job’s innocence or guilt. He did not even discuss Job’s situation. Instead, He reminded Job through a series of rhetorical questions and statements that Job is not the Creator, but that He, the Lord, is the Creator and that He is intimately involved with His Creation.
He is the One who laid the earth’s foundation and marked off its dimensions (38:5-7); He knows the way to light and darkness (38:19-20);He governs the laws of the heavens and earth (38:33); ; He gives wisdom to man’s heart and understanding to man’s mind (38:36); He gave the horse its strength (39:19-25); the hawk takes flight by His wisdom and the eagle soars at His command (39:26-30); He is the Creator of man (40:15) and He is the Creator of awesome creatures such as behemoth and leviathan that are beyond man’s control (40:15 – 41:34).
Why this emphasis on God’s control and intimacy with His Creation? Perhaps the Lord, out of His great love and concern for Job, wanted to remind him that He had not withdrawn from him, but was fully aware of his situation. As Job’s Creator, the Lord was most concerned about Job’s life, as He is with all of His Creation. Nothing in Job’s situation had escaped the Lord’s attention.
Since the Lord knows all about us and has unlimited power to help us, some people may argue that He is unjust and unkind to allow suffering. This seems all the more so when God allows an innocent man like Job, described by the Lord Himself as "blameless and upright" (1:8), to suffer so terribly. While it is certainly true that the Lord "does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men" (Lam. 3:33), He does work through affliction, grief and other hardships to bless His people. Job’s suffering had caused him to seek the Lord far more deeply than he ever had before, and the Lord graciously revealed Himself to Job. Following this great revelation, Job exclaimed, "My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen You" (42:5).
It is of great significance that the breakthrough in Job’s life came before the Lord restored Job to health and prosperity. Even while he was still in the midst of his troubles and sorrows, his whole perspective changed. This monumental breakthrough came when the Lord revealed His sovereignty, power, love and concern to Job. As Job’s vision of God increased and he realized that God was for him and not against him, he was liberated from the weight of his suffering. Though his situation had not changed, Job had changed. He was forever blessed by the deeper revelation of the glory and grace of God. He humbled himself before his Creator and found a greater assurance and contentment in the Lord than he had ever known before. He was a free man with complete confidence in his God. He knew with absolute certainty that God is gracious and powerful, and can be trusted completely. Although Job had lost all else, he discovered that true life is found in God alone.
Jewish liturgy does not use readings from the book of Job in the manner of the Pentateuch, Prophets, or megillot, although it is quoted at funerals and times of mourning. However, there are some Jews, particularly the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, who do hold public readings of Job on the Tisha B'Av fast (a day of mourning over the destruction of the First and Second Temples and other tragedies).
Job is a consoling book in times of suffering. While it does not solve the problem of suffering, it shows us that the complexities of human life are not easy to understand and that God is present with us when we suffer. Jesus later emphasizes this same perspective (Matt 19:29). Jesus also clarifies and agrees with Job's view that sin is not always the cause of personal suffering (John 9:3).
-- In Job chapter 28 there is an extraordinary description of mining in the ancient world. Through this image, a view is presented of the almost unlimited scientific and technological potential of the human race, and this is then contrasted with man’s incorrigibly weak moral capacities. What the author of Job is saying is that there are two orders in creation—the physical and the moral order. To understand and master the physical order of the world is not enough: man must come to accept and abide by the moral order, and to do this he must acquire the secret of Wisdom, and this knowledge is something of an altogether different kind from, say, mining technology. -- Paul Johson
Interlude: Where Wisdom Is Found
28 “Surely there is a mine for silver,
and a place for gold to be refined.
2 Iron is taken out of the earth,
and copper is smelted from ore.
3 Miners put[a] an end to darkness,
and search out to the farthest bound
the ore in gloom and deep darkness.
4 They open shafts in a valley away from human habitation;
they are forgotten by travelers,
they sway suspended, remote from people.
5 As for the earth, out of it comes bread;
but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
6 Its stones are the place of sapphires,
and its dust contains gold.
7 “That path no bird of prey knows,
and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.
8 The proud wild animals have not trodden it;
the lion has not passed over it.
9 “They put their hand to the flinty rock,
and overturn mountains by the roots.
10 They cut out channels in the rocks,
and their eyes see every precious thing.
11 The sources of the rivers they probe;
hidden things they bring to light.
12 “But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13 Mortals do not know the way to it,
and it is not found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 It cannot be gotten for gold,
and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.
16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
in precious onyx or sapphire.
17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
the price of wisdom is above pearls.
19 The chrysolite of Ethiopia cannot compare with it,
nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20 “Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is the place of understanding?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
and concealed from the birds of the air.
22 Abaddon and Death say,
‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’
23 “God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
24 For he looks to the ends of the earth,
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When he gave to the wind its weight,
and apportioned out the waters by measure;
26 when he made a decree for the rain,
and a way for the thunderbolt;
27 then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
28 And he said to humankind,
‘Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
and to depart from evil is understanding.’”
- Psalms: The composition of the psalms spans at least five centuries, from Psalm 29, which is adapted from early Canaanite worship, to others which are clearly from the post-Exilic period. The majority originated in the southern kingdom of Judah and were associated with the Temple in Jerusalem, where they probably functioned as libretto during the Temple worship.
Exactly how they did this is unclear, although there are indications in some of them: "Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar," suggests a connection with sacrifices, and "Let my prayer be counted as incense" suggests a connection with the offering of incense.
Seventy-three of the 150 Psalms in the Bible are attributed to King David, “the favorite of the songs of Israel,Nevertheless, there is no hard evidence for Davidic authorship of any of them. "Davidic authorship is not accepted as historical fact by modern scholars," note Adele Berlin and Marc Vzi Brettler in the Jewish Study Bible
Most individual psalms involve the praise of God – for his power and beneficence, for his creation of the world, and for his past acts of deliverance for Israel. The psalms envision a world in which everyone and everything will praise God, and God in turn will hear their prayers and respond.
The reading of psalms is viewed in Jewish tradition as a vehicle for gaining God's favor. They are thus often specially recited in times of trouble, such as poverty, disease, or physical danger; in many synagogues, Psalms are recited after services for the security of the State of Israel.
Psalm 14, 1-3
1 The fool has said in his heart,“There is no God.” They are corrupt,. They have done abominable works,. There is none who does good.
Psalm 21
"O God, my God, look upon me, why have You forsaken me far from my salvation?" Psalm 21:1
...
"For many dogs came about Me. The council of the malignant came about Me. They pierced My hands and feet" 21:17
“They parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they cast lots” – Psalm 21:19
Psalm 22
“My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue hath cleaved to my jaws: and thou hast brought me down into the dust of death.” – Psalms 22:16
Psalm 23
1.The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing
...
4. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 27
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?
...
14 Wait for the LORD;be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
Psalm 31
3 You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,
4 take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
for you are my refuge.
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.
...
10 For my life is spent with sorrow,
and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,
and my bones waste away.
11 I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
a horror[c] to my neighbors,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street flee from me.
Psalm 34
“The Lord keepeth all their bones, not one of them shall be broken.” - Psalms 34:20
Psalm 52
3 You love evil more than good,
and lying more than speaking the truth.Selah
4 You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.
5 But God will break you down forever;
Psalm 63
Verses 1-3
Oh God, you are my God,
Earnestly I seek you;
My soul thirsts for you,
My body longs for you
In a dry and weary land
Where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary
And beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life,
My lips will glorify you.
Psalm 68
“And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” – Psalm 68:22
Psalm 86
11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart to revere your name.
12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your steadfast love toward me;
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
Psalm 91:
"I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Psalm 100:
"For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."
The Book of Psalms can teach people how to pray and is the “prayer book ‘par excellence,’” Pope Benedict XVI said in his June 22 2011 audience with pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square:
“These inspired songs teach us how to speak to God, expressing ourselves and the whole range of our human experience with words that God himself has given us.”
Psalm 102
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place[a]
in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
...
4 For a thousand years in your sight
are like yesterday when it is past,
or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning;
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
...
9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
our years come to an end[c] like a sigh.
10 The days of our life are seventy years,
or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
even then their span[d] is only toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
- Book of Proverbs:
King Solomon, famous for his wisdom, is credited as one of the authors of Proverbs. Other contributors include a group of men called "The Wise," Agur, and King Lemuel.
Proverbs is not merely an anthology but a "collection of collections" relating to a pattern of life which lasted for more than a millennium. It is an example of the Biblical wisdom tradition, and raises questions of values, moral behaviour, the meaning of human life, and right conduct. The repeated theme is that "the fear of God (meaning submission to the will of God) is the beginning of wisdom"
Wisdom is praised for her role in creation; God acquired her before all else, and through her he gave order to chaos; and since humans have life and prosperity by conforming to the order of creation, seeking wisdom is the essence and goal of the religious life.
For the most part Proverbs offers a simplistic view of life with few grey areas: life lived according to the rules brings reward, life in violation of them is certain to bring disaster. In contrast, Job and Ecclesiastes appear to be direct contradictions of the simplicities of Proverbs, each in its own way all but dismissing the assumptions of the "wise"
The superscriptions divide the collections as follows:
Proverbs 1–9: "Proverbs of Solomon, Son of David, King of Israel"
Proverbs 10–22:16: "Proverbs of Solomon"
Proverbs 22:17–24:22: "The Sayings of the Wise"
Proverbs 24:23–34: "These Also are Sayings of the Wise"
Proverbs 25–29: "These are Other Proverbs of Solomon that the Officials of King Hezekiah of Judah Copied"
Proverbs 30: "The Words of Agur"
Proverbs 31:1–9: "The Words of King Lemuel of Massa, Which his Mother Taught Him"
Proverbs 31:10–31: the ideal wise woman (elsewhere called the "woman of substance"
Proverbs has several audiences. It is addressed to parents for instruction to their children. The book also applies to young men and women who are seeking wisdom, and finally, it supplies practical advice for today's Bible readers who want to live a godly life.
Although Proverbs was written in Israel thousands of years ago, its wisdom is applicable to any culture at any time.
Proverbs 4
5 Get wisdom; get insight: do not forget, nor turn away
from the words of my mouth.
6 Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
love her, and she will guard you.
Proverbs 6
6 Go to the ant, you lazybones;
consider its ways, and be wise.
7 Without having any chief
or officer or ruler,
8 it prepares its food in summer,
and gathers its sustenance in harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, O lazybones?
When will you rise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want, like an armed warrior.
Proverbs 14
her feet do not stay at home;
12 now in the street, now in the squares,
and at every corner she lies in wait.
13 She seizes him and kisses him,
and with impudent face she says to him:
14 “I had to offer sacrifices,
and today I have paid my vows;
15 so now I have come out to meet you,
to seek you eagerly, and I have found you!
16 I have decked my couch with coverings,
colored spreads of Egyptian linen;
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love until morning;
let us delight ourselves with love.
19 For my husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey.
20 He took a bag of money with him;
he will not come home until full moon.”
21 With much seductive speech she persuades him;
with her smooth talk she compels him.
22 Right away he follows her,
and goes like an ox to the slaughter,
or bounds like a stag toward the trap[c]
...
30 A tranquil mind gives life to the flesh,
but passion makes the bones rot.
31 Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker,
but those who are kind to the needy honor him.
32 The wicked are overthrown by their evildoing,
but the righteous find a refuge in their integrity.[i]
33 Wisdom is at home in the mind of one who has understanding,
but it is not[j] known in the heart of fools.
34 Righteousness exalts a nation,
but sin is a reproach to any people.
Proverbs 16
16 How much better to get wisdom than gold!
To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.
Proverbs 21
19 It is better to live in a desert land
than with a contentious and fretful wife.
Proverbs 24
14 Know that wisdom is such to your soul;
if you find it, you will find a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
Proverbs 27
6 Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts,
but profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
7 The sated appetite spurns honey,
but to a ravenous appetite even the bitter is sweet.
8 Like a bird that strays from its nest
is one who strays from home.
9 Perfume and incense make the heart glad,
but the soul is torn by trouble.
Proverbs 28
19 Anyone who tills the land will have plenty of bread,
but one who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty.
Proverbs 29
2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;
but when the wicked rule, the people groan.
...
17 Discipline your children, and they will give you rest;
they will give delight to your heart.
Proverbs 30
5 Every word of God proves true;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
...
7 Two things I ask of you;
do not deny them to me before I die:
8 Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that I need,
9 or I shall be full, and deny you,
and say, “Who is the Lord?”
or I shall be poor, and steal,
and profane the name of my God.
- Ecclesiastes: The title Ecclesiastes is a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of the Hebrew Koheleth (meaning "Gatherer", but traditionally translated as "Teacher" or "Preacher"), the eponymous author of the book.
Koheleth introduces himself as "son of David, king in Jerusalem", perhaps implying that he is Solomon, but the work is in fact anonymous and was most probably composed in the last part of the 3rd century BC. The book is in the form of an autobiography telling of his investigation of the meaning of life and the best way of life.
- Ecclesiastes: Ecclesiastes has had a deep influence on Western literature: American novelist Thomas Wolfe wrote: "[O]f all I have ever seen or learned, that book seems to me the noblest, the wisest, and the most powerful expression of man's life upon this earth"
Ecclesiastes is presented as the autobiography of Koheleth, the Teacher. Koheleth's story is framed by voice of the narrator, who refers to Koheleth in the third person, praises his wisdom, but reminds the reader that wisdom has its limitations and is not man's main concern. Koheleth reports what he planned, did, experienced and thought. His journey to knowledge is, in the end, incomplete, and the reader is not only to hear Koheleth's wisdom, but to observe his journey towards understanding and acceptance of life's frustrations and uncertainties: the journey itself is important.
Many attempts to uncover an underlying structure to Ecclesiastes have met with widespread acceptance; among them, the following is one of the more influential:
Title (1:1)
Initial poem (1:2–11)
I: Koheleth's investigation of life (1:12–6:9)
II: Koheleth's conclusions (6:10–11:6)
Introduction (6:10–12)
A: Man cannot discover what is good for him to do (7:1–8:17)
B: Man does not know what will come after him (9:1–11:6)
Concluding poem (11:7–12:8)
Epilogue (12:9–14)
The subject of Ecclesiastes is the pain and frustration engendered by observing and meditating on the distortions and inequities pervading the world, the uselessness of human deeds, the limitations of wisdom and righteousness; all this coexists with a firm belief in God, whose power, justice and unpredictability are sovereign. History and nature move in cycles, so that all events are predetermined and unchangeable, and life has no meaning or purpose: the wise man and the man who does not study wisdom will both die and be forgotten: man should be reverent ("Fear God"), but in this life it is best to simply enjoy God's gifts
The presence of Ecclesiastes in the Bible is something of a puzzle, as the common themes of the Hebrew canon — a God who reveals and redeems, who elects and cares for a chosen people – are absent from it. One argument advanced then was that the name of Solomon carried enough authority to ensure its inclusion, but other works which appeared with Solomon's name were excluded despite being more orthodox than Ecclesiastes. Another was that the words of the epilogue, in which the reader is told to fear God and keep his commands, made it orthodox; but all later attempts to find anything in the rest of the book which would reflect this orthodoxy have failed. A modern suggestion has been to treat the book as a dialogue in which different statements belong to different voices, with Koheleth himself answering and refuting unorthodox opinions, but there are no explicit markers for this in the book, as there are, for example in the Book of Job. Yet another suggestion is that Ecclesiastes is simply the most extreme example of a tradition of skepticism, but none of the proposed examples match Ecclesiastes for a sustained denial of faith and doubt in the goodness of God. "In short, we do not know why or how this book found its way into such esteemed company"
Ecclesiastes differs from the other biblical Wisdom books in being deeply skeptical of the usefulness of Wisdom itself. Ecclesiastes is a Wisdom book that explores life from a pessimistic perspective. While Proverbs proposes salient points of wisdom to be followed, Ecclesiastes exposes the utter futility of human life without God.
Wisdom was a popular genre in the ancient world, where it was cultivated in scribal circles and directed towards young men who would take up careers in high officialdom and royal courts; there is strong evidence that some of these books, or at least sayings and teachings, were translated into Hebrew and influenced the Book of Proverbs, and the author of Ecclesiastes was probably familiar with examples from Egypt and Mesopotamia. He may also have been influenced by Greek philosophy, specifically the schools of Stoicism, which held that all things are fated, and Epicureanism, which held that happiness was best pursued through the quiet cultivation of life's simpler pleasures.
Koheleth rejects three goals which people regularly pursue: knowledge, money and pleasure. Each one is "vanity and a striving after wind" (1:14). While he acknowledges the usefulness of knowledge and wisdom (7:12), Qohelet rejects seeking them as vain (1:17). The accumulation of wisdom and knowledge is merely a human undertaking when what God really desires from us is obedience (12:13).
Work and money also play a central role in the book. Koheleth observes how people spend their days working and toiling, but never seem to gain from it. Everyone seems stuck in a useless pattern of striving. Even those who achieve material success often find that they don't get to enjoy the fruits of their labor (6:2). Through Ecclesiastes we realize the shortness of human life, the smallness of our work, the insignificance of our lives without God. Koheleth helps us understand that there are many pursuits in human life that are not worth investing our time and energy in. Rather, we should seek God and keep his commandments. For money, pleasure and knowledge are merely necessary things along the path of life, but God is the goal of the journey.
For Koheleth, it seems at first that money, pleasure and wisdom will produce human happiness. But he is continually surprised to find out that this is not always the case
The book discusses the finality of death, which brings all earthly pursuits to a sudden halt. It is as if all the grand projects of man are simply cut off. No one can escape from death; it envelops the good and the wicked alike (9:2).
Ecclesiastes is hard to stomach because it confronts us so sharply with the contradictions of life. Yet the hard truths which Ecclesiastes teaches lift our vision higher. While our daily work is important in a limited sense, Ecclesiastes focuses us on the ultimately important purposes of life: to love God and keep his commandments (12:13).
Ecclesiastes 3
1. For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
...
12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live
...
19 For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals; for all is vanity.
20 All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.
21 Who knows whether the human spirit goes upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth?
22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that all should enjoy their work, for that is their lot; who can bring them to see what will be after them?
Ecclesiastes 4
1 Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. Look, the tears of the oppressed—with no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power—with no one to comfort them.
2 And I thought the dead, who have already died, more fortunate than the living, who are still alive;
3 but better than both is the one who has not yet been, and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.
4 Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from one person’s envy of another. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind
Ecclesiastes 5
13 There is a grievous ill that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owners to their hurt,
14 and those riches were lost in a bad venture; though they are parents of children, they have nothing in their hands.
15 As they came from their mother’s womb, so they shall go again, naked as they came; they shall take nothing for their toil, which they may carry away with their hands.
16 This also is a grievous ill: just as they came, so shall they go; and what gain do they have from toiling for the wind?
...
18 This is what I have seen to be good: it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us; for this is our lot.
Ecclesiastes 7
2 It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of feasting;
for this is the end of everyone,
and the living will lay it to heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter,
for by sadness of countenance the heart is made glad.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning;
but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise
than to hear the song of fools.
...
12 For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money,
and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to the one who possesses it.
...
14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other, so that mortals may not find out anything that will come after them.
Ecclesiastes 8
1 All this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hate one does not know. Everything that confronts them
2 is vanity,[a] since the same fate comes to all, to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil,[b] to the clean and the unclean, to those who sacrifice and those who do not sacrifice. As are the good, so are the sinners; those who swear are like those who shun an oath.
3 This is an evil in all that happens under the sun, that the same fate comes to everyone. Moreover, the hearts of all are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
4 But whoever is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
5 The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no more reward, and even the memory of them is lost.
6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished; never again will they have any share in all that happens under the sun.
7 Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has long ago approved what you do.
...
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might; for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.
...
12 For no one can anticipate the time of disaster. Like fish taken in a cruel net, and like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them.
Ecclesiastes 10
5 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as great an error as if it proceeded from the ruler:
6 folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place.
Ecclesiastes 11
7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.
8 Even those who live many years should rejoice in them all; yet let them remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.
9 Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the inclination of your heart and the desire of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
10 Banish anxiety from your mind, and put away pain from your body; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
Ecclesiastes 12
1 Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come, and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;
2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return with[a] the rain;
3 in the day when the guards of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the women who grind cease working because they are few, and those who look through the windows see dimly;
4 when the doors on the street are shut, and the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low;
5 when one is afraid of heights, and terrors are in the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along[b] and desire fails; because all must go to their eternal home, and the mourners will go about the streets;
6 before the silver cord is snapped,[c] and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern,
7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath[d] returns to God who gave it.
8 Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher;[e] all is vanity.
...
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone.
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including[i] every secret thing, whether good or evil.
Song of Songs.- The Song offers no clue to its author or to the date, place or circumstances of its composition. The superscription states that it is "Solomon's", but even if this is meant to identify the author, it cannot be read as strictly as a similar modern statement.The most reliable evidence for its date is its language: Aramaic gradually replaced Hebrew after the end of the Babylonian exile in the late 6th century BCE, and the evidence of vocabulary, morphology, idiom and syntax clearly points to a late date
The Song was accepted into the Jewish canon of scripture because of its supposed authorship by Solomon, and because its subject-matter was taken to be not sexual desire but God's love for Israel.It is one of the overtly mystical Biblical texts for the Kabbalah, which gave esoteric interpretation on all the Hebrew Bible.
The Song of Songs is unique within the Hebrew bible: it makes no reference in Law or Covenant or Yahweh, the God of Israel, nor does it teach or explore "wisdom" like Proverbs or Ecclesiastes (although it does have some affinities to Wisdom literature, as the ascription to Solomon suggests); instead, it celebrates sexual love.
It gives "the voices of two lovers, praising each other, yearning for each other, proffering invitations to enjoy". The two are in harmony, each desiring the other and rejoicing in sexual intimacy; the women (or "daughters") of Jerusalem form a chorus to the lovers, functioning as an audience whose participation in the lovers' erotic encounters facilitates the participation of the reader.
Jewish tradition reads it as an allegory of the relationship between God and Israel. Christian tradition, in addition to appreciating the literal meaning of a romantic song between husband and wife, has also largely adopted an allegorical reading of the piece, taking it as relating Christ (the bridegroom) and his Church (the bride).
The following must therefore be taken as indicative rather than determinative:
Introduction (1:1–6)
Dialogue between the lovers (1:7–2:7)
The woman recalls a visit from her lover (2:8–17)
The woman addresses the daughters of Zion (3:1–5)
Sighting a royal wedding procession (3:6–11)
The man describes his lover's beauty (4:1–5:1)
The woman addresses the daughters of Jerusalem (5:2–6:4)
The man describes his lover, who visits him (6:5–12)
Observers describe the woman's beauty (6:13–8:4)
Appendix (8:5–14)
The Song is very sensual but delicately presented. It is not lustful since it does not reduce love to its sexual expression. Rather it extols the virtues of love, which is "stronger than death" and presents sex in the context of love of the whole person (8:6). The book does not give us detailed history or theology, but if understood in the allegorical sense it reveals the passionate love of God for his people. Though he is a great and mighty king (1:4; 7:5), the Lord loves us ardently like a young Groom loves his Bride. The bridal imagery can be startling to us, but it simply shows the intensity of God's love. For all human love is a merely a dim reflection of God's perfect love.
Book of Wisdom .- The Book of Wisdom, often referred to simply as Wisdom or the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon, is one of the books of the Bible that is considered deuterocanonical by some churches such as the Roman Catholic Church and non-canonical or apocryphal by others such as the Protestant Churches. It is one of the seven Sapiential or wisdom books of bound with the Septuagint.
Eusebius wrote in his Church History that Bishop Melito of Sardis in the 2nd century AD considered Wisdom of Solomon as part of the Old Testament.
The book is believed to have been written in Greek language, but in a style patterned on that of Hebrew verse. Although the author's name is nowhere given in the text, the writer was traditionally believed to be King Solomon.
The traditional attribution of The Book of Wisdom to Solomon has been soundly rejected in modern times. Says the Catholic Encyclopedia: "at the present day, it is freely admitted that Solomon is not the writer of the Book of Wisdom, which has been ascribed to him because its author, through a literary fiction, speaks as if he were the Son of David." Although the book of Wisdom is also called the Wisdom of Solomon, it was most likely composed centuries after the death of King Solomon. Scholars believe that the book represents the most literary post-classical Greek language found in the Septuagint, having been written during the Jewish Hellenistic period (the 2nd or 1st century BC). The author of the text appears well versed in the popular philosophical, religious, and ethical writings adopted by Hellenistic Alexandria.
The book is written as one continuous argument rather than as abbreviated proverbs. The first section (1:1-6:21) discusses the nature of righteousness and its relation to man's eternal destiny.
The middle of the book praises and describes wisdom. In ch. 7-9 the author impersonates Solomon (though he does not name him) and describes his love of wisdom and his quest for it. The author personifies wisdom as a woman (7), similar to the Book of Proverbs. Ch. 9 presents Solomon's prayer for wisdom. Ch. 10 gives a synopsis of wisdom's "history" from Adam to the Exodus. The whole book is written in stylized Greek poetry which uses many Hebrew conventions and expressions.
The message of the book is quite clear from the beginning. The author urges us to seek righteousness (1:1) and wisdom (1:6) because they are matters of life and death (1:12). By rejecting righteousness, the wicked reject life (2). By their actions, the righteous and the unrighteous gain different rewards (3). The author emphasizes that even if a righteous person dies young and childless, his life was worthwhile (4:1; 4:6). A couple times the author parodies the speech of the wicked, so the reader must carefully note when this occurs (2:1-20; 5:3-13).
Like other biblical wisdom literature, the Book of Wisdom urges us to live according to God's word, to seek wisdom, to gain righteousness. Yet the author of Wisdom lived in a world in which the fullness of God's mercy had not yet been revealed. Only through the grace of Jesus' death and resurrection are we fully able to live up to the calling of God in the Book of Wisdom.
The following extensive passage rightly sees through the essential connections between the denial of God(1:12-16), the denial of the soul (2:1-5), the wanton misuse of creation (2:6-9), the oppression of the poor (2:10-11) and the attack on
those who value and defend the poor (2:12-20). If no humans have any inherent transcendent worth, then we must only live for the satisfaction of our bodily pleasures, and those who can best do that are rightfully the winners in the global race toward wealth and death.
Wisdom 1
12 Do not invite death by the error of your life,
or bring on destruction by the works of your hands;
13 because God did not make death,
and he does not delight in the death of the living.
14 For he created all things so that they might exist;
the generative forces of the world are wholesome,
and there is no destructive poison in them,
and the dominion of Hades is not on earth.
15 For righteousness is immortal.
16 But the ungodly by their words and deeds summoned death;
considering him a friend, they pined away
and made a covenant with him,
because they are fit to belong to his company.
Wisdom 2
1 For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves,
“Short and sorrowful is our life,
and there is no remedy when a life comes to its end,
and no one has been known to return from Hades.
2 For we were born by mere chance,
and hereafter we shall be as though we had never been,
for the breath in our nostrils is smoke,
and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our hearts;
3 when it is extinguished, the body will turn to ashes,
and the spirit will dissolve like empty air.
4 Our name will be forgotten in time,
and no one will remember our works;
our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud,
and be scattered like mist
that is chased by the rays of the sun
and overcome by its heat.
5 For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow,
and there is no return from our death,
because it is sealed up and no one turns back.
6 “Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that exist,
and make use of the creation to the full as in youth.
7 Let us take our fill of costly wine and perfumes,
and let no flower of spring pass us by.
8 Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.
9 Let none of us fail to share in our revelry;
everywhere let us leave signs of enjoyment,
because this is our portion, and this our lot.
10 Let us oppress the righteous poor man;
let us not spare the widow
or regard the gray hairs of the aged.
11 But let our might be our law of right,
for what is weak proves itself to be useless.
12 “Let us lie in wait for the righteous man,
because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions;
he reproaches us for sins against the law,
and accuses us of sins against our training.
13 He professes to have knowledge of God,
and calls himself a child[a] of the Lord.
14 He became to us a reproof of our thoughts;
15 the very sight of him is a burden to us,
because his manner of life is unlike that of others,
and his ways are strange.
16 We are considered by him as something base,
and he avoids our ways as unclean;
he calls the last end of the righteous happy,
and boasts that God is his father.
17 Let us see if his words are true,
and let us test what will happen at the end of his life;
18 for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him,
and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries.
19 Let us test him with insult and torture,
so that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death,
for, according to what he says, he will be protected.”
Error of the Wicked
21 Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray,
for their wickedness blinded them,
22 and they did not know the secret purposes of God,
nor hoped for the wages of holiness,
nor discerned the prize for blameless souls;
23 for God created us for incorruption,
and made us in the image of his own eternity,
24 but through the devil’s envy death entered the world,
and those who belong to his company experience it.
Wisdom 3
1 But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
and no torment will ever touch them.
2 In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died,
and their departure was thought to be a disaster,
3 and their going from us to be their destruction;
but they are at peace.
Wisdom 7
1 I also am mortal, like everyone else,
a descendant of the first-formed child of earth;
and in the womb of a mother I was molded into flesh,
2 within the period of ten months, compacted with blood,
from the seed of a man and the pleasure of marriage.
3 And when I was born, I began to breathe the common air,
and fell upon the kindred earth;
my first sound was a cry, as is true of all.
4 I was nursed with care in swaddling cloths.
5 For no king has had a different beginning of existence;
6 there is for all one entrance into life, and one way out.
7 Therefore I prayed, and understanding was given me;
I called on God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.
8 I preferred her to scepters and thrones,
and I accounted wealth as nothing in comparison with her.
9 Neither did I liken to her any priceless gem,
because all gold is but a little sand in her sight,
and silver will be accounted as clay before her.
10 I loved her more than health and beauty,
and I chose to have her rather than light,
because her radiance never ceases.
11 All good things came to me along with her,
and in her hands uncounted wealth.
...
14 for it is an unfailing treasure for mortals;
those who get it obtain friendship with God,
commended for the gifts that come from instruction.
15 May God grant me to speak with judgment,
and to have thoughts worthy of what I have received;
for he is the guide even of wisdom
and the corrector of the wise.
16 For both we and our words are in his hand,
as are all understanding and skill in crafts.
17 For it is he who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists,
to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements;
18 the beginning and end and middle of times,
the alternations of the solstices and the changes of the seasons,
19 the cycles of the year and the constellations of the stars,
20 the natures of animals and the tempers of wild animals,
the powers of spirits[a] and the thoughts of human beings,
the varieties of plants and the virtues of roots;
21 I learned both what is secret and what is manifest,
22 for wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me.
...
28 for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.
Wisdom 8
2 I loved her (Wisdom) and sought her from my youth;
I desired to take her for my bride,
and became enamored of her beauty.
...
5 If riches are a desirable possession in life,
what is richer than wisdom, the active cause of all things?
Wisdom 14
24 they no longer keep either their lives or their marriages pure,
but they either treacherously kill one another, or grieve one another by adultery,
25 and all is a raging riot of blood and murder, theft and deceit, corruption, faithlessness, tumult, perjury,
26 confusion over what is good, forgetfulness of favors,
defiling of souls, sexual perversion,
disorder in marriages, adultery, and debauchery.
27 For the worship of idols not to be named
is the beginning and cause and end of every evil.
- Sirach: Also known as The Book of Ecclesiasticus or Ben Sira, is a work of ethical teachings from approximately 200 – 175 BCE.
The book itself is the largest wisdom book to have been preserved from antiquity. Joshua ben Sirach, or, according to the Greek text "Jesus the son of Sirach of Jerusalem," was a Jewish scribe who had been living in Jerusalem, may have authored the work in Alexandria. Because it was excluded from the Jewish canon, Sirach was excised from the Protestant canon following the Reformation.
The Wisdom of Sirach is a collection of ethical teachings. Thus Ecclesiasticus closely resembles Proverbs, except that, unlike the latter, it is presented as the work of a single author, not an anthology of maxims drawn from various sources. Wisdom, in ben Sirach's view, is synonymous with the fear of God, and sometimes is identified in his mind with adherence to the Mosaic law.The maxims are expressed in exact formulas, and are illustrated by striking images. They show a profound knowledge of the human heart, the disillusionment of experience, a fraternal sympathy with the poor and the oppressed.
By contrast, Sirach exhibits little compassion for either women or slaves, and advocates distrust and possessiveness over women, and the harsh treatment of slaves (which presupposes the validity of slavery as an institution), positions which are not only difficult for modern readers, but cannot be completely reconciled with the social milieu at the time of its composition.
As with other wisdom books, there is no easily recognizable structure in Sirach; in many parts it is difficult to discover a logical progression of thought or to discern the principles of arrangement.
Despite the lack of structure, there are certain themes running through the Book that reappear at various points. The New Oxford Annotated Apocrypha identifies ten major recurring topics:
1. The Creation (16:24-17:24, 18:1-14; 33:7-15; 39:12-35; and 42:15-43:33);
2. Death (11:26-28; 22:11-12; 38:16-23; and 41:1-13);
3. Friendship (6:5-17; 9:10-16: 19:13-17; 22:19-26: 27:16-21; and 36:23-37:15);
4. Happiness (25:1-11; 30:14-25; and 40:1-30);
5. Honor and shame (4:20-6:4; 10:19-11:6; and 41:14-42:8);
6. Money matters (3:30-4:10; 11:7-28; 13:1-14:19; 29:1-28; and 31:1-11);
7. Sin (7:1-17; 15:11-20; 16:1-17:32; 18:30-19:3; 21:1-10; 22:27-23:27; and 26:28-28:7);
8. Social justice (4:1-10; 34:21-27; and 35:14-26);
9. Speech (5:9-15; 18:15-29; 19:4-17; 20:1-31; 23:7-15; 27:4-7; 27:11-15; and 28:8-26); and
10. Women (9:1-9; 23:22-27; 25:13-26:27; 36:26-31; and 42:9-14)
Some scholars think that the book was used to train young Jewish men for positions of leadership. Ben Sira wrote in a time when Jewish identity was threatened by the extensive influence of Greek culture. His writing invites his contemporaries to return to their spiritual and scriptural roots.
Sirach 6
34 Stand in the company of the elders.
Who is wise? Attach yourself to such a one.
35 Be ready to listen to every godly discourse,
and let no wise proverbs escape you.
36 If you see an intelligent person, rise early to visit him;
let your foot wear out his doorstep.
Sirach 7
26 Do you have a wife who pleases you?[h] Do not divorce her;
but do not trust yourself to one whom you detest.
...
34 Do not avoid those who weep,
but mourn with those who mourn.
35 Do not hesitate to visit the sick,
because for such deeds you will be loved.
Sirach 8
5 Do not reproach one who is turning away from sin;
remember that we all deserve punishment.
6 Do not disdain one who is old,
for some of us are also growing old.
7 Do not rejoice over anyone’s death;
remember that we must all die.
Sirach 9
1 Do not be jealous of the wife of your bosom,
or you will teach her an evil lesson to your own hurt.
2 Do not give yourself to a woman
and let her trample down your strength.
3 Do not go near a loose woman,
or you will fall into her snares.
4 Do not dally with a singing girl,
or you will be caught by her tricks.
5 Do not look intently at a virgin,
or you may stumble and incur penalties for her.
6 Do not give yourself to prostitutes,
or you may lose your inheritance.
7 Do not look around in the streets of a city,
or wander about in its deserted sections.
8 Turn away your eyes from a shapely woman,
and do not gaze at beauty belonging to another;
many have been seduced by a woman’s beauty,
and by it passion is kindled like a fire.
9 Never dine with another man’s wife,
or revel with her at wine;
or your heart may turn aside to her,
and in blood[a] you may be plunged into destruction.
10 Do not abandon old friends,
for new ones cannot equal them.
A new friend is like new wine;
when it has aged, you can drink it with pleasure.
11 Do not envy the success of sinners,
for you do not know what their end will be like.
12 Do not delight in what pleases the ungodly;
remember that they will not be held guiltless all their lives.
13 Keep far from those who have power to kill,
and you will not be haunted by the fear of death.
But if you approach them, make no misstep,
or they may rob you of your life.
14 As much as you can, aim to know your neighbors,
and consult with the wise.
15 Let your conversation be with intelligent people,
and let all your discussion be about the law of the Most High.
16 Let the righteous be your dinner companions,
and let your glory be in the fear of the Lord.
Sirach 10
12 The beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord;
the heart has withdrawn from its Maker.
13 For the beginning of pride is sin,
and the one who clings to it pours out abominations.
Therefore the Lord brings upon them unheard-of calamities,
and destroys them completely.
Sirach 11
1 The wisdom of the humble lifts their heads high,
and seats them among the great.
2 Do not praise individuals for their good looks,
or loathe anyone because of appearance alone.
3 The bee is small among flying creatures,
but what it produces is the best of sweet things.
4 Do not boast about wearing fine clothes,
and do not exalt yourself when you are honored;
for the works of the Lord are wonderful,
and his works are concealed from humankind.
5 Many kings have had to sit on the ground,
but one who was never thought of has worn a crown.
6 Many rulers have been utterly disgraced,
and the honored have been handed over to others.
7 Do not find fault before you investigate;
examine first, and then criticize.
...
17 The Lord’s gift remains with the devout,
and his favor brings lasting success.
...
25 In the day of prosperity, adversity is forgotten,
and in the day of adversity, prosperity is not remembered.
Sirach 13
14 Every living thing loves its own kind, every man a man like himself.
15 Every being is drawn to its own kind; with his own kind every man associates.
Sirach 14
12 Remember that death does not tarry,and the decree[a] of Hades has not been shown to you.
13 Do good to friends before you die,and reach out and give to them as much as you can.
14 Do not deprive yourself of a day’s enjoyment; do not let your share of desired good pass by you.
...
18 Like abundant leaves on a spreading tree that sheds some and puts forth others,
so are the generations of flesh and blood:one dies and another is born.
19 Every work decays and ceases to exist, and the one who made it will pass away with it.
...
20 Happy is the person who meditates on[c] wisdom and reasons intelligently,
21 who reflects in his heart on her ways and ponders her secrets
Sirach 15
13 The Lord hates all abominations;
such things are not loved by those who fear him.
14 It was he who created humankind in the beginning,
and he left them in the power of their own free choice.
15 If you choose, you can keep the commandments,
and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice.
16 He has placed before you fire and water;
stretch out your hand for whichever you choose.
17 Before each person are life and death,
and whichever one chooses will be given.
Sirach 16
Do not desire a multitude of worthless[a] children,
and do not rejoice in ungodly offspring.
2 If they multiply, do not rejoice in them,
unless the fear of the Lord is in them.
3 Do not trust in their survival,
or rely on their numbers;
4 for one can be better than a thousand,
and to die childless is better than to have ungodly children.
Sirach 18
6 It is not possible to diminish or increase them,
nor is it possible to fathom the wonders of the Lord.
...
9 The number of days in their life is great if they reach one hundred years.
10 Like a drop of water from the sea and a grain of sand,
so are a few years among the days of eternity.
...
25 In the time of plenty think of the time of hunger;
in days of wealth think of poverty and need.
26 From morning to evening conditions change;
all things move swiftly before the Lord.
27 One who is wise is cautious in everything;
when sin is all around, one guards against wrongdoing.
28 Every intelligent person knows wisdom,
and praises the one who finds her.
29 Those who are skilled in words become wise themselves,
and pour forth apt proverbs
30 Do not follow your base desires, but restrain your appetites.
Sirach 19
8 With friend or foe do not report it,
and unless it would be a sin for you, do not reveal it;
9 for someone may have heard you and watched you,
and in time will hate you.
...
13 Question a friend; perhaps he did not do it;
or if he did, so that he may not do it again.
...
26 There is the villain bowed down in mourning,
but inwardly he is full of deceit.
27 He hides his face and pretends not to hear,
but when no one notices, he will take advantage of you.
Sirach 20
3 And the one who admits his fault will be kept from failure.
4 Like a eunuch lusting to violate a girl
is the person who does right under compulsion.
5 Some people keep silent and are thought to be wise,
while others are detested for being talkative.
Sirach 21
13 Do not talk much with a senseless person
or visit an unintelligent person.[b]
Stay clear of him, or you may have trouble,
and be spattered when he shakes himself off.
Avoid him and you will find rest,
and you will never be wearied by his lack of sense.
...
24 The vapor and smoke of the furnace precede the fire;
so insults precede bloodshed.
Sirach 23
6 Let neither gluttony nor lust overcome me,
and do not give me over to shameless passion.
...
17 To a fornicator all bread is sweet;
he will never weary until he dies.
18 The one who sins against his marriage bed
says to himself, “Who can see me?
Darkness surrounds me, the walls hide me,
and no one sees me. Why should I worry?
The Most High will not remember sins.”
19 His fear is confined to human eyes
and he does not realize that the eyes of the Lord
are ten thousand times brighter than the sun;
they look upon every aspect of human behavior
and see into hidden corners.
Sirach 25
16 I would rather live with a lion and a dragon
than live with an evil woman.
...
21 Do not be ensnared by a woman’s beauty,
and do not desire a woman for her possessions
Sirach 26
2 A loyal wife brings joy to her husband,
and he will complete his years in peace.
...
8 A drunken wife arouses great anger;
she cannot hide her shame.
9 The haughty stare betrays an unchaste wife;
her eyelids give her away.
Sirach 27
17 Love your friend and keep faith with him;
but if you betray his secrets, do not follow after him.
18 For as a person destroys his enemy,
so you have destroyed the friendship of your neighbor.
19 And as you allow a bird to escape from your hand,
so you have let your neighbor go, and will not catch him again.
20 Do not go after him, for he is too far off,
and has escaped like a gazelle from a snare.
21 For a wound may be bandaged,
and there is reconciliation after abuse,
but whoever has betrayed secrets is without hope.
Sirach 28
2 Forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done,
and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.
...
13 Curse the gossips and the double-tongued,
for they destroy the peace of many.
Sirach 29
10 Lose your silver for the sake of a brother or a friend,
and do not let it rust under a stone and be lost.
...
12 Store up almsgiving in your treasury,
and it will rescue you from every disaster;
...
21 The necessities of life are water, bread, and clothing,
and also a house to assure privacy.
Sirach 30
2 He who disciplines his son will profit by him,
and will boast of him among acquaintances.
3 He who teaches his son will make his enemies envious,
and will glory in him among his friends.
4 When the father dies he will not seem to be dead,
for he has left behind him one like himself,
...
8 An unbroken horse turns out stubborn,
and an unchecked son turns out headstrong.
...
13 Discipline your son and make his yoke heavy,
so that you may not be offended by his shamelessness.
...
21 Do not give yourself over to sorrow,
and do not distress yourself deliberately.
22 A joyful heart is life itself,
and rejoicing lengthens one’s life span.
23 Indulge yourself[h] and take comfort,
and remove sorrow far from you,
for sorrow has destroyed many,
and no advantage ever comes from it.
24 Jealousy and anger shorten life,
and anxiety brings on premature old age.
25 Those who are cheerful and merry at table
will benefit from their food.
Sirach 31
6 Many have come to ruin because of gold,
and their destruction has met them face to face.
...
14 Do not reach out your hand for everything you see,
and do not crowd your neighbor[e] at the dish.
...
17 Be the first to stop, as befits good manners,
and do not be insatiable, or you will give offense.
18 If you are seated among many persons,
do not help yourself[g] before they do
...
28 Wine drunk at the proper time and in moderation
is rejoicing of heart and gladness of soul.
29 Wine drunk to excess leads to bitterness of spirit,
to quarrels and stumbling.
30 Drunkenness increases the anger of a fool to his own hurt,
reducing his strength and adding wounds.
Sirach 38
24 The wisdom of the scribe depends on the opportunity of leisure;
only the one who has little business can become wise.
25 How can one become wise who handles the plow,
and who glories in the shaft of a goad,
who drives oxen and is occupied with their work,
and whose talk is about bulls?
26 He sets his heart on plowing furrows,
and he is careful about fodder for the heifers.
27 So it is with every artisan and master artisan
who labors by night as well as by day;
those who cut the signets of seals,
each is diligent in making a great variety;
they set their heart on painting a lifelike image,
and they are careful to finish their work.
Major prophets
- Book of Isaiah: Isaiah identifies itself as the words of the 8th century BC prophet Isaiah ben Amoz, but there is ample evidence that much of it was composed during the Babylonian exile and later. The scholarly consensus which held sway through most of the 20th century saw three separate collections of oracles:
a) Proto-Isaiah (chapters 1–39), containing the words of Isaiah;
Proto-Isaiah speaks of Israel's desertion of God and what will follow: Israel will be destroyed by foreign enemies, but after the people, the country and Jerusalem are punished and purified, a holy remnant will live in God's place in Zion, governed by God's chosen king (the messiah), under the presence and protection of God;
b) Deutero-Isaiah (chapters 40–55), the work of an anonymous 6th-century author writing during the Exile; and Deutero-Isaiah has as its subject the liberation of Israel from captivity in Babylon in another Exodus, which the God of Israel will arrange using Cyrus, the Persian conqueror, as his agent;
c) Trito-Isaiah (chapters 56–66), composed after the return from exile.
Trito-Isaiah concerns Jerusalem, the Temple, the Sabbath,and Israel's salvation: The Persians ended the Jewish exile, and by 515 BCE the exiles, or at least some of them, had returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the Temple. The return, however, was not without problems: the returnees found themselves in conflict with those who had remained in the country and who now owned the land, and there were further conflicts over the form of government that should be set up.
The composition history of Isaiah reflects a major difference in the way authorship was regarded in ancient Israel and in modern societies: the ancients did not regard it as inappropriate to supplement an existing work while remaining anonymous. While the authors, apart from the historic Isaiah behind parts of chapters 1–39, are anonymous, it is plausible that all of them were priests, and the book may thus reflect Priestly concerns, in opposition to the increasingly successful reform movement of the Deuteronomists
While it is widely accepted that Isaiah the prophet did not write the book, there are good reasons to see parts of chapters 1–39 as stemming from the historic Isaiah ben Amoz, who lived in the Kingdom of Judah during the reigns of four kings from the mid to late 8th century BC. During this period Assyria was expanding westward from its origins in modern-day northern Iraq towards the Mediterranean, destroying first Aram (modern Syria) in 734–732 BCE, then the Kingdom of Israel in 722-721, and finally subjugating Judah in 701.
Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–395), believed that the Prophet Esaias (Isaiah) "knew more perfectly than all others the mystery of the religion of the Gospel". Jerome (c. 342–420) also lauds the Prophet Esias, saying, "He was more of an Evangelist than a Prophet, because he described all of the Mysteries of the Church of Christ so vividly that you would assume he was not prophesying about the future, but rather was composing a history of past events."
The Book of Isaiah has been immensely influential in the formation of Christianity, from the cult of the Virgin Mary to anti-Jewish polemic, medieval passion iconography, and modern Christian feminism and liberation theology. The regard in which Isaiah was held was so high that the book was frequently called "the Fifth Gospel", the prophet who spoke more clearly of Christ and the Church than any others. His influence extends beyond the Church and Christianity to English literature and to Western culture in general, from the libretto of Handel's Messiah to a host of such everyday phrases as "swords into ploughshares" and "voice in the wilderness"
Isaiah seems always to have had a prominent place in Jewish bible use, and it is probable that Jesus himself was deeply influenced by Isaiah, and that he took it as his destiny to fulfil Isaiah 53 ("a man of suffering, and familiar with pain... he bore the sin of many"). Thus many of the Isaiah passages that are familiar to Christians gained their popularity not directly from Isaiah but from the use of them by Jesus and the early Christian authors – this is especially true of the Book of Revelation, which depends heavily on Isaiah for its language and imagery
Isaiah lived at the time when the northern kingdom was under sentence of death. Unlike most of the heroic figures in the Bible, he was not born poor: according to the tradition of the Babylonian Talmud, he was the nephew of King Amaziah of Judah. Isaiah was not only the most remarkable of the prophets, he was by far the greatest writer in the Old Testament. He was evidently a magnificent preacher, but it is likely he set his words down in writing. All the themes of Isaiah are interrelated.
1) Social justice
He is concerned to warn of catastrophe. ‘Watchman, what of the night?’ he asks, ‘Watchman, what of the night?’ Foolish men take no notice: they say: ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’ Or they put their trust in fortifications and alliances. Instead they should obey the Lord’s command: ‘Set thy house in order.’ This means a moral change of heart, an internal reform for both individuals and the community. Social justice must be the aim. Men must cease to pursue wealth as the main aim in life: ‘Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place.’ God will not tolerate the oppression of the weak. He demands: ‘What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor, saith the Lord God of hosts
2) Repentance.
Isaiah’s second theme is repentance. Provided there is a change of heart, the Lord is always forgiving. ‘Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.’ What God wants from man is a recognition and a reciprocation of his holiness—‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory’. And when sinful man changes his heart, and seeks not wealth and power but holiness, Isaiah introduces his third theme
3) Peace
the idea of an age of peace, when men ‘shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.’ In this age of peace, ‘the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
4) Saviour-figure
The idea not just of a collective turning from sin, but of a specific saviour-figure: ‘Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.’ This special babe shall be an agent in the age of peace: ‘The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.’ But he will also be a great ruler: ‘For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.’
The second part of Isaiah, a new character emerges, who seems to be linked to the saviour-figure of the first: the Suffering Servant, who carries the sins of the whole community and, by his sacrifice, purges them, and who also personifies and directs to a triumphant conclusion the mission of the nation
What, as a whole, the Book of Isaiah does is to mark a notable maturing of the religion of Yahweh. It is now concerned with justice and with judgment: judgment of nations and judgment of the individual soul.
In Deutero-Isaiah in particular, the stress is on the individual as the bearer of faith, outside the claims of tribe, race, nation. Not just Elijah, but each and all of us has the ‘still, small voice’ of conscience. It is all part of the discovery of the individual, a giant step forward in human self-knowledge. The Greeks would soon be pushing in the same direction, but the Israelites, or as we shall soon call them, the Jews, were the forerunners.
In Deutero-Isaiah, however, the existence of other gods is denied, not just in practice but in ideological theory: ‘I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.’Moreover, it is now stated clearly that God is universal, ubiquitous and omnipotent. God is the motivating force, and the sole motivating force, throughout history. He created the universe; he directs it; he will end it. Israel is part of his plan, but then so is everyone else.
- Book of Jeremiah: We know more about Jeremiah than any other of the pre-Exilic writers because he dictated his sermons and autobiography to his scribal pupil, Baruch. Jeremiah had two scribes who were brothers of each other: Baruch and Seraiah, sons of Neriah. They are probably responsible for the text of the book as we have it.
The book begins with Jeremiah's prophecies against Judah (1-25). Then it presents a prose history of Jeremiah's life and the events of the last years of the kingdom of Judah (25-46). Next are Jeremiah's oracles against the nations (47-51). Finally, there is an historical epilogue (52).
Jeremiah's life was closely interwoven with the tragic history of his country. He was a Benjaminite, of a priestly family, from a village just north-east of Jerusalem. He began preaching in 627, in the tradition of Hosea and to some extent of Isaiah. He saw the nation as woefully sinful, hastening to its doom: ‘This people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart'
The book of Jeremiah is one of the longest and most challenging books in the Bible. It is a mix of prophecy and history. Jeremiah was a prophet who ministered to the nation of Judah in its final years before the Babylonian conquest and the exile. God called him at a young age (1:5-7) to preach a hard message to the nation: the sins of Judah had reached their limit and God must execute his judgment by sending the people to exile.
Two major events frame the book: the religious reform of Josiah at the beginning (1:3) and the fall of Jerusalem at the end (39, 52). Near the beginning of Jeremiah's ministry, King Josiah initiates a return to worship of the Lord and the eradication of the worship of false gods.
After he dies in battle against the Egyptians, Jehoahaz temporarily takes the throne, but is deposed by Pharaoh Neco who makes Jehoiakim king. Babylon conquers Judah in 605 BC under Jehoiakim's reign, but Jehoiakim tries to throw off their control a few years later. Jehoiakim is then succeeded by Jehoiachin, who is reigning when the Babylonians attack again in 597 in response to Jehoiakim's rebellion. Jehoiachin is exiled and Babylon places his uncle, Zedekiah, on the throne.
After the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah lives among the ruins, but he is later brought to Egypt against his will (Jer 43:5-7).
Zedekiah reigns for about 10 years until he too tries to reject Babylonian power, which elicits a crushing response from Nebuchadnezzer, the king of Babylon. In 587, the Babylonians come and destroy Jerusalem and the Temple. They tear down the city and gouge out Zedekiah's eyes and take the leaders of Judah into exile.
Jeremiah saw the great pro-Temple religious reform, under Josiah, as a total failure, and soon after the death of the king, in 609 BC, he went to the Temple and preached a furious sermon, saying so. As a result he was very nearly killed and forbidden to go near the Temple quarter. His own village, even his family, turned against him. He could not or would not marry. In his isolation and loneliness, he exhibits signs in his writings of paranoia, as we would call it: ‘Cursed be the day wherein I was born,’ he writes. And again: ‘Why is my pain perpetual, my wound incurable?’ (15:18). He felt he was surrounded by enemies who ‘devised devices against me’, and that ‘I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter.’ There was some truth in this: not only was Jeremiah forbidden to preach but his writings were burned.
Jeremiah’s “confessions” are a type of individual lament. Such laments are found elsewhere in the psalms and the book of Job. Like Job, Jeremiah curses the day of his birth (Jer. 20.14–18 and Job 3.3–10). Likewise, Jeremiah’s exclamation “For I hear the whispering of many: Terror is all around!” (Jer. 20.10) matches Psalm 31.13 exactly. However, Jeremiah’s laments are made unique by his insistence that he has been called by Yahweh to deliver his messages. These laments “provide a unique look at the prophet's inner struggle with faith, persecution, and human suffering
Jeremiah warned the people of the approaching destruction (21:1-10). He informed them that this catastrophe was a judgment from God. They must submit to it and take their punishment. It was this message that provoked livid anger in the Jews. Jeremiah was viewed as a traitor and persecuted more intensely than any other Hebrew prophet ever had been. Jeremiah was not preaching despair; on the contrary, he was preparing his fellow Israelites to meet despair, and overcome it. He was trying to teach them how to become Jews: To submit to conquering power and accommodate themselves to it, to make the best of adversity, and to cherish the long-term certainty of God’s justice in their hearts. The lesson was needed, for the end of the First Commonwealth was in sight. Three years before Jeremiah preached his Temple sermon, the Assyrian empire suddenly collapsed and the new power of Babylon moved into the vacuum it left.
Jeremiah prophesies that the exile will last 70 years (25:11). Then the people will be brought back to the land, have a new Davidic king (33:15-17) and most significantly, a new covenant (31).
The understanding of the early Christians that Jesus represented a "new covenant" (see 1 Corinthians 11:25 and Hebrews 8:6–13) is based on Jeremiah 31:31–34, in which a future Israel will repent and give God the obedience he demands. The Gospel's portrayal of Jesus as a persecuted prophet owes a great deal to the account of Jeremiah's sufferings in chapters 37–44, as well as to the "Songs of the Suffering Servant" in Isaiah.
Jeremiah 31
31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out
of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord.
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
The Prophet Jeremiah had a most difficult message to deliver. Jeremiah loved Judah, but he loved God much more. As painful as it was for Jeremiah to deliver a consistent message of judgment to his own people, Jeremiah was obedient to what God told him to do and say. Jeremiah hoped and prayed for mercy from God for Judah, but also trusted that God was good, just, and righteous. We too must obey God, even when it is difficult, recognize God’s will as more important than our own desires, and trust that God, in His infinite wisdom and perfect plan, will bring about the best for His children.
- Lamentations: It is a short poetic book of mourning over the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians. Traditionally, Jeremiah has been considered the author of the book. The Hebrew sources do not mention his name, but the Greek text credits him at the beginning of the book Scholars have found similarities between Lamentations and other Ancient Near Eastern poems of lament.
Jeremiah's authorship is no longer generally accepted; nevertheless, it is generally accepted that the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 BCE forms the background to the poems. Several different voices are represented in the text. This fact can make Lamentations a bit confusing. The main voice that begins the book is the voice of the author, narrator or the prophet Jeremiah. But quickly, the voice of Jerusalem chimes in (1:9, 11-16). Then Jerusalem's enemies speak (2:15-16).
The author truly "laments" the fate of Judah and Jerusalem. The Babylonians have come and destroyed the Temple and the city and taken the leaders of the people into exile. In the midst of this calamity, the author acknowledges the sins of Judah since he understands the tragic circumstances as God's just judgment upon the nation (1:8-9, 14).
Yet the book holds out hope for Judah's future, for a return from exile and for judgment upon the nation's enemies. In the context of total desolation, prayers for vindication fill the book (1:21-22; 3:64-66). The last half of chapter 3 and the very end of chapter 5 are the most hopeful sections of the book. They illustrate the hope that the nation has in the Lord and in his power to redeem his people and punish their enemies.
The message of Lamentations is hard. It challenges us with the fact that there are tangible and painful consequences for our sin. Judah suffered exile because of its infidelity to its covenant relationship with the Lord. Yet the prayer of lament does not end in despair, but looks forward to the Lord's purposes for Judah's future, for vindication and restoration. The suffering is not permanent, but purgative. The Lord will bring his people back.
Lamentations is a prayer. It is a prayer of sorrow, a prayer of repentence, a prayer in time of suffering, a prayer for God's deliverance. The Jewish people suffered greatly at the time of the exile. The reader of Lamentations can try to identify with their sufferings and pray along with them. Lamentations expresses the desperation of a suffering soul and a suffering people. This book not only helps us to understand the plight of the Jews at the time of the exile but it shows us how to bring our own sufferings to God in prayer.
The book is traditionally recited on the fast day of Tisha B'Av ("Ninth of Av"), mourning the destruction of both the First Temple and the Second.
Much of Jeremiah’s poetry concerns itself with the fallen bricks and cracking mortar of the overrun city. Do you see any of that destroyed city in your own life? Are you mourning over the sin that’s brought you to this point? Do you feel overrun by an alien power; are you in need of some hope from the Lord? Turn to Lamentations 3:17–26, where you’ll find someone aware of sin’s consequences and saddened by the results but who has placed his hope and his trust in the Lord.
17 My soul is deprived of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is;
18 I tell myself my future is lost, all that I hoped for from the LORD.
19 The thought of my homeless poverty is wormwood and gall;
20 Remembering it over and over leaves my soul downcast within me.
21 But I will call this to mind, as my reason to have hope:
22 The favors of the LORD are not exhausted, his mercies are not spent;
23 They are renewed each morning, so great is his faithfulness.
24 My portion is the LORD, says my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25 Good is the LORD to one who waits for him, to the soul that seeks him;
26 It is good to hope in silence for the saving help of the LORD.
Chapter 5
1 Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us, look, and see our disgrace:
2 Our inherited lands have been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans, fatherless; widowed are our mothers.
4 The water we drink we must buy, for our own wood we must pay.
5 On our necks is the yoke of those who drive us; we are worn out, but allowed no rest.
6 To Egypt we submitted, and to Assyria, to fill our need of bread.
7 Our fathers, who sinned, are no more; but we bear their guilt.
8 Slaves rule over us; there is no one to rescue us from their hands.
9 At the peril of our lives we bring in our sustenance, in the face of the desert heat;
10 Our skin is shriveled up, as though by a furnace, with the searing blasts of famine
11 The wives in Zion were ravished by the enemy, the maidens in the cities of Judah;
12 Princes were gibbeted by them, elders shown no respect.
13 The youths carry the millstones, boys stagger under their loads of wood;
14 The old men have abandoned the gate, the young men their music.
15 The joy of our hearts has ceased, our dance has turned into mourning;
16 The garlands have fallen from our heads: woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Over this our hearts are sick, at this our eyes grow dim:
18 That Mount Zion should be desolate, with jackals roaming there!
19 You, O LORD, are enthroned forever; your throne stands from age to age.
20 Why, then, should you forget us, abandon us so long a time?
21 Lead us back to you, O LORD, that we may be restored: give us anew such days as we had of old.
22 For now you have indeed rejected us, and in full measure turned your wrath against us.
- Book of Baruch: Also named as 1 Baruch. It is named after Baruch ben Neriah, Jeremiah's scribe. Some scholars propose that it was written during or shortly after the period of the Maccabees.
It is a deuterocanonical book (books and passages of the Christian Old Testament that are not part of the Hebrew Bible) so it is a non-canonical book by most Protestants.
The book of Baruch is composed of three basic parts. The first part (1:1-3:8) is a preface which includes a penitential prayer by the exiles in Babylon. The second part (3:9-5:9) is poetry by Baruch in which he offers prayers of praise, remembrance and trust. The final part (6) is actually a separate work entitled the Letter of Jeremiah, which in ancient Greek manuscripts was not part of the text of Baruch, but was a separate book in the Bible.
Baruch reveals part of the Lord's relationship with his people. The exile was necessary to teach Israel to trust in him (2:5). The nation acknowledges its sin and spiritually returns to the Lord by seeking his wisdom and law. While they praise him in captivity (3:7), their fear is removed (4:21) and God leads them in joy (5:9). They trust in the Lord's promise of deliverance (2:34) and reject the idol worship of the Babylonians (6). Baruch is a book of hope which reveals the transformative power of trusting in God with sincere repentence.
While religious idol worship is not a common problem in our times, imagine all the things that our age does worship by placing human trust in them. Whether it be fame, money, power or sexual immorality, these false gods are just as incapable of giving us salvation as were the Babylonian idols. Baruch 6 is quoted in Catechism of the Catholic Church §2112 as part of an exposition against idolatry. During the Diaspora the Jews lamented their lapse into idolatry, and their repentance is captured in the Book of Baruch.
The Catholic Church uses Baruch 3:9-38 as part of its Holy Saturday liturgy during Passiontide (Easter Season). This portion of the book, which speaks of obtaining and desiring wisdom, concludes with a verse referencing Christ’s living among us.
9 Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life: listen, and know prudence!
10 How is it, Israel, that you are in the land of your foes, grown old in a foreign land, Defiled with the dead,
11 accounted with those destined for the nether world?
12 You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom!
13 Had you walked in the way of God, you would have dwelt in enduring peace.
14 Learn where prudence is, where strength, where understanding; That you may know also where are length of days, and life, where light of the eyes, and peace.
15 Who has found the place of wisdom, who has entered into her treasuries?
16 Where are the rulers of the nations, they who lorded it over the wild beasts of the earth,
17 and made sport of the birds of the heavens: They who heaped up the silver and the gold in which men trust; of whose possessions there was no end?
18 They schemed anxiously for money, but there is no trace of their work:
19 They have vanished down into the nether world, and others have risen up in their stead.
20 Later generations have seen the light, have dwelt in the land, But the way to understanding they have not known,
21 they have not perceived her paths, or reached her; their offspring were far from the way to her.
22 She has not been heard of in Canaan, nor seen in Teman.
23 The sons of Hagar who seek knowledge on earth, the merchants of Midian and Teman, the phrasemakers seeking knowledge, These have not known the way to wisdom, nor have they her paths in mind.
24 O Israel, how vast is the house of God, how broad the scope of his dominion:
25 Vast and endless, high and immeasurable!
26 In it were born the giants, renowned at the first, stalwarts, skilled in war.
27 Not these did God choose, nor did he give them the way of understanding;
28 They perished for lack of prudence, perished through their folly.
29 Who has gone up to the heavens and taken her, or brought her down from the clouds?
30 Who has crossed the sea and found her, bearing her away rather than choice gold?
31 None knows the way to her, nor has any understood her paths.
32 Yet he who knows all things knows her; he has probed her by his knowledge - He who established the earth for all time, and filled it with four-footed beasts;
33 He who dismisses the light, and it departs, calls it, and it obeys him trembling;
34 Before whom the stars at their posts shine and rejoice;
35 When he calls them, they answer, "Here we are!" shining with joy for their Maker.
36 Such is our God; no other is to be compared to him:
37 He has traced out all the way of understanding, and has given her to Jacob, his servant, to Israel, his beloved son.
38 Since then she has appeared on earth, and moved among men.
- Book of Ezekiel: The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Major Prophets in the Tanakh and one of the major prophetic books in the Old Testament, following the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah.
The Greek (Septuagint) version of Ezekiel differs considerably from the Hebrew (Masoretic) version – it is shorter and possibly represents an earlier stage of the book we have today – while other ancient manuscript fragments differ from both.
According to the book itself, it records seven visions of the prophet Ezekiel, exiled in Babylon, during the 22 years from 593 to 571 BC. The visions, and the book, are structured around three themes:
(1) judgment on Israel (chapters 1–24);
(2) judgment on the nations (chapters 25–32);
(3) and future blessings for Israel (chapters 33–48).
Ezekiel was a priest and a prophet who was taken from Judah to Babylon in the second wave of exiles (597 BC).
The various dates given in the book suggest that Ezekiel was 25 when he went into exile, 30 when he received his prophetic call, and 52 at the time of the last vision c.571. His prophecies are very attentive to the Temple, the liturgy and the Sabbath. He takes the ceremonial commands of the law just as seriously as the moral. He calls the exiled people to faithfulness to the Lord even though the signs of the Lord's blessing (the land and the Temple) have been taken away.
Most scholars today accept the basic authenticity of the book, but see in it significant additions by a "school" of later followers of the original prophet. While the book exhibits considerable unity and probably reflects much of the historic Ezekiel, it is the product of a long and complex history and does not necessarily preserve the very words of the prophet.
Ezekiel is a very challenging book for several reasons. The author uses unfamiliar apocalyptic imagery to describe many things. The historical situation in which Ezekiel wrote is rather complicated and many of the events in the book occur only in visions. Even Ezekiel's geographical location is puzzling. Much of the exacting detail in his visions seems unnecessary.
Each of Ezekiel's visions serves as a window into the spiritual life of Judah and its relationship with God. He has a vision of heaven (1-3), of idolatry in the Temple and the glory of the Lord leaving the Temple (8-10), of the valley of the dry bones (37), and of the New Temple and the restored land with God's glory returning (40-48).
Like the other prophets, Ezekiel has a message of judgment and a message of restoration. He announces God's judgment against Judah for its sins against the covenant and he pronounces God's judgment against the surrounding nations which oppressed Judah.
The book opens with a vision of Yahweh, the God of Israel; moves on to anticipate the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, explains this as Yahweh's punishment, and closes with the promise of a new beginning and a new Temple.
1. Inaugural vision (Ezekiel 1:1–3:27): Yahweh approaches Ezekiel as the divine warrior, riding in his battle chariot. The chariot is drawn by four living creatures each having four faces (of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle), and four wings.
2. Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah (Ezekiel 4:1–24:27) and on the nations (Ezekiel 25:1–32:32): Yahweh warns of the certain destruction of Jerusalem and the devastation of the nations that have troubled his people, the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites and Philistines, the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon, and Egypt.
3. Building a new city (Ezekiel 33:1–48:35): The Jewish exile will come to an end, a new city and new Temple will be built, and the Israelites will be gathered and blessed as never before.
Ezekiel is referenced more in the Book of Revelation than in any other New Testament writing. To take just two well-known passages, the famous Gog and Magog prophecy in Revelation 20:8 refers back to Ezekiel 38–39, and in Revelation 21–22, as in the closing visions of Ezekiel, the prophet is transported to a high mountain where a heavenly messenger measures the symmetrical new Jerusalem, complete with high walls and twelve gates, the dwelling-place of God where his people will enjoy a state of perfect well-being. Apart from Revelation, however, where Ezekiel is a major source, there is very little allusion to the prophet in the New Testament; the reasons for this are unclear, but it can be assumed that not every Christian or Jewish community in the 1st century would have had a complete set of scripture scrolls, and in any case Ezekiel was under suspicion of encouraging dangerous mystical speculation, as well as being sometimes obscure, incoherent, and pornographic.
Ezekiel describes how God took him to a valley which was full of bones, and asked him: ‘Son of Man, can these bones live?’ Then, before his terrified gaze, the bones begin to rattle and shake and come together: God puts on them sinews, flesh and skin, and finally he breathes into them, ‘and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army’.3 The Christians were later to interpret this fearsome scene as an image of the Resurrection of the dead, but to Ezekiel and his audience it was a sign of the resurrection of Israel
Ezequiel 36
26 I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts.
Ezekiel 37:2-3
2 He made me walk among them in every direction so that I saw how many they were on the surface of the plain. How dry they were!
3 He asked me: Son of man, can these bones come to life? "Lord GOD," I answered, "you alone know that."
But this vision is a prediction of the restoration of Israel under the figure of a resurrection from the dead; it is not concerned with the doctrine of resurrection itself.
Gog and Magog: Gog and Magog is referred to in Ezekiel 38-39. In Ezekiel’s prophecy, Gog will be the leader of a great army that attacks the land of Israel. Historically speaking, Magog was a grandson of Noah (Genesis 10:2). The descendants of Magog settled to the far north of Israel, likely in Europe and northern Asia (Ezekiel 38:2). Gog is to be defeated and buried in the Valley of Hamon-Gog, Israel.
Gog and Magog are mentioned again in Revelation 20:7-8. The duplicated use of the names Gog and Magog in Revelation 20:8-9 is to show that these people demonstrate the same rebellion against God and antagonism toward God as those in Ezekiel 38-39.
The book of Revelation uses Ezekiel's prophecy about Magog to portray a final end-times attack on the nation of Israel (Revelation 20:8-9). The result of this battle is that all are destroyed, and Satan will find his final place in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10)
But it is important to recognize that the Gog and Magog of Ezekiel 38-39 is different from the one in Revelation 20:7-8.
- There is no mention of Satan in the context of Ezekiel 38-39. In Revelation 20:7 the context clearly places the battle at the end of the millennium with Satan as the primary character.
- The battle in Ezekiel 38-39 is used by God to bring Israel back to Him (Ezekiel 39:21-29). In Revelation 20, Israel has been faithful to God for 1,000 years (the millennial kingdom). Those in Revelation 20:7-10 who are rebellious are destroyed without any more opportunity for repentance.
- Ezekiel's Gog from Magog was a symbol of the evil darkness of the north and the powers hostile to God, but in Revelation, Gog and Magog have no geographic location, and instead represent the nations of the world, banded together for the final assault on Christ and those who follow him.
Despite their generally negative depiction in the Bible, Lord Mayors of the City of London carry images of Gog and Magog (depicted as giants) in a traditional procession in the Lord Mayor's Show. The Lord Mayor's account of Gog and Magog says that the Roman Emperor Diocletian had thirty-three wicked daughters. He found thirty-three husbands for them to curb their wicked ways; they chafed at this, and under the leadership of the eldest sister, Alba, they murdered their husbands. For this crime they were set adrift at sea; they washed ashore on a windswept island, which they named "Albion"—after Alba. Here they coupled with demons and gave birth to a race of giants, whose descendants included Gog and Magog.
In 2007, the former French president, Jacques Chirac said that in the prelude to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, the US president George W. Bush told the French president that "Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East."
- Book of Daniel: Daniel is a complicated book. The first six chapters tell stories about the life of Daniel and a few other Jews in the court of Nebuchadnezzer II (605-562 BC) in Babylon. Then the book presents several of Daniel's prophetic visions (7-12). Finally, three stories about Jews in exile, including Daniel, conclude the book (13-14). Daniel was written in three different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek). It covers the reigns of several rulers from different empires.
Daniel and his companions lived as a minority people under intense persecution for their nationality and their religion. Their fidelity to the Lord under such difficult circumstances is an enduring witness for us to be faithful in the midst of suffering. The examples of pagan kings (Nebuchadnezzer, Belshazzar) whose pride leads to their disgrace serves to illustrate an important biblical principle (Prov 16:18, 29:23).
Daniel is a snapshot of the lives of the Jewish exiles in the Babylonian empire. Yet it is not merely a collection of nice stories, but a spiritual testimony which shows how it is possible to be faithful to the Lord in trying situations. Daniel anticipates Jesus the Messiah and teaches lasting spiritual truths about living for God
The dominant view among scholars is that Daniel is not in any case a prophetic book but an apocalypse.
The additions to Daniel were accepted by all branches of Christianity until the Protestant movement rejected them in the 16th century on the basis that they were absent from Hebrew bibles; they remain in Catholic, Orthodox, and a few other bibles.
Chapters 1 and 8–12 are in Hebrew and 2–7 in Aramaic. The reasons behind this have never been satisfactorily explained.
Captives in Babylon (chapter 1)
The story begins with a brief reference to king Nebuchadnezzar robbing the Jerusalem Temple (Solomon's Temple) and carrying its treasures back to Babylon. It goes on to describe how some young members of the Judean nobility, including Daniel and his three companions, are inducted into the king's service. Daniel and his companions are given Babylonian names, but refuse to be 'defiled' by the royal provisions of food and wine. Their overseer fears for his life in case the health of his charges deteriorates, but Daniel suggests a ten-day trial on a simple diet of vegetables and water. When they miraculously emerge healthier than their counterparts, Daniel and his friends are allowed to continue with their diet. At the end of the induction period, the king finds them 'ten times better' than all the wise men in his service, and it is noted that Daniel has a particular gift for dream interpretation.
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of four kingdoms (chapter 2)
Nebuchadnezzar has a disturbing dream and asks his wise men to interpret it, but refuses to divulge its content. When they protest he sentences all of them, including Daniel and his friends, to death. Daniel asks permission to petition his God for a solution.
He receives an explanatory vision in the night: Nebuchadnezzar has dreamed of an enormous statue with a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of copper, legs of iron, and feet of mixed iron and clay. The statue is destroyed by a rock that turns into a huge mountain, filling the whole earth. The statue symbolises four successive kingdoms, starting with Nebuchadnezzar, all of which will be crushed by God's kingdom, which will endure forever. Nebuchadnezzar raises Daniel to be chief over all his wise men, and appoints him and his companions to rule over all the chief cities of Babylon.
The fiery furnace (chapter 3)
Daniel's companions Ananias (Hananiah/Shadrach), Azariah (Abednego), and Mishael (Meshach) refuse to bow to the emperor's golden statue and are thrown into a furnace. Nebuchadnezzar sees a fourth figure appear in the furnace with the three and God is credited for preserving them from the flames. Daniel does not appear in this story.
During the dedication ceremony of the golden image, certain officials noticed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego not bowing down to the idol. Thus, Nebuchadnezzar was immediately notified.[v.10-12] The King was enraged and demanded that these three men come before him.[v.13] Nebuchadnezzar knew of these very men, because it was not too long ago when Daniel had petitioned the King to assign Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon.[Daniel 2: 48, 49] Daniel was also very special to the King because he was able to interpret his dreams unlike any of the Chaldean wise men.[Daniel 2: 24, 25] So it is of no surprise that the King would offer one more chance for these three Jews, who held honorable positions to the King, to show their patriotism to Babylon.[v.14, 15]
Their response: "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."[v.16-18]
Nebuchadnezzar demanded that the execution furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual. Valiant soldiers of the King’s army were ordered to firmly bind the fully clothed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and cast them in the blazing furnace. Upon approaching the mouth of the furnace, the fire was so hot that the soldiers perished while attempting to throw in the three tightly bound Jews (who then fell in).
When the King saw what appeared to be four men in the furnace, unbound and walking about, he called to them to come out. King Nebuchadnezzar then acknowledged the power of their God, even going as far as to make a decree, whereby any nation who says anything against the God of the Jews is an act of war. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were then given promotions to their positions over the province of Babylon. In Christian tradition, one interpretation of identifying the fourth man in the furnace is that of Christ[v.25], although he is more often shown in the arts as the Archangel Michael. The pagan king reasoned that the being in the fire was divine.
Nebuchadnezzar's madness (chapter 4)
Nebuchadnezzar recounts a dream of a huge tree that is suddenly cut down at the command of a heavenly messenger. Daniel is summoned and interprets the dream. The tree is Nebuchadnezzar himself, who for seven years will lose his mind and live like a wild beast. All of this comes to pass until, at the end of the specified time, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges that "heaven rules" and his kingdom and sanity are restored.
Belshazzar's feast (chapter 5)
Babylonian King Belshazzar and his nobles blasphemously drink from sacred Jewish temple vessels, offering praise to inanimate gods, until a hand mysteriously appears and writes upon the wall of the palace. The horrified king eventually summons Daniel who is able to read the writing and offer the following interpretation: Mene, Mene – God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. Tekel – You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Upharsin – Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. "That very night" Belshazzar was slain and "Darius the Mede" took over the kingdom. This has given form to the expression "The writing on the wall", an idiom for "imminent doom or misfortune" and for "the future is predetermined".
Daniel in the lions' den (chapter 6):
Daniel is elevated to a pre-eminent position under Darius which elicits the jealousy of other officials. Knowing of Daniel's devotion to his God, these officials trick the king into issuing an edict forbidding worship of any other god or man for a 30-day period. Because Daniel continues to pray three times a day to God towards Jerusalem, he is accused and King Darius, forced by his own decree, throws Daniel into the lions' den. God shuts up the mouths of the lions and the next morning king Darius finds Daniel unharmed and casts his accusers and their families into the lions' pit where they are instantly devoured.
Throughout the Ancient Near East, and even in the Hebrew Bible, lions have often been symbolic of monarchs. The lions surrounding Daniel could be seen as a symbolic representation of the nations and empires of the world.
Vision of the beasts from the sea and the Son of Man (chapter 7)
It is the last chapter written in Aramaic before it continues again in the Hebraic Masoretic text of the next chapter. This chapter begins the first series of apocalyptic visions that Daniel receives and is given cryptic interpretations for a portion of them.
This vision, set in the first year of Belshazzar, concerns four great beasts (7:3) representing future kings (7:17) or kingdoms (7:23). The fourth of these devours the whole earth, treading it down and crushing it (7:23). This fourth beast has ten horns representing ten kings. They are followed by a further wicked king, or "little horn", who subdues three of the ten (7:24), speaks against the Most High, wages war against the saints, and attempts to change the set times and laws (7:25). After 'a time and times and half a time', this king is judged and stripped of his kingdom by an "Ancient of Days" and his heavenly court (7:26). Next, "one like a son of man" approaches the Ancient of Days and is invested with worldwide dominion. Moreover, his everlasting reign over all earthly kingdoms is shared with "the people of the Most High" (7:27).
There is general agreement among modern scholars that the four beasts represent Babylonia, Medes, Persia, and Alexander's Greek empire. Those scholars who do not subscribe to this view point to Daniel's reference to the Kingdom of the Medes and Persians as a single entity, enabling the possibility of another empire after Greece, such as MacArthur's interpretation (also here) that the fourth Kingdom is the Roman Empire.[6] The majority view is that ten horns represent the kings from Alexander on through the Seleucid kingdom
Vision of the ram and goat (chapter 8):
This vision in the third year of Belshazzar describes Daniel's vision of a ram and goat that, according to the text, represent Media, Persia (the ram's two horns) and Greece (the goat). The goat with the mighty horn, becomes very powerful until the horn breaks off and is replaced by four "lesser" horns. The vision then focuses on a small horn that grows very large, representing a wicked king who arises to challenge the "army of the Lord" by removing the daily temple sacrifices and desecrating the sanctuary for a period of "twenty three hundred evening/mornings". The vision culminates in the "cleansing" or reconsecration of the temple.
Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks (chapter 9):
The vision in first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus (9:1) concerning seventy weeks, or seventy "sevens", apportioned for the history of the Israelites and of Jerusalem (9:24).
This consists of a meditation on the prediction in Jeremiah that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years, a lengthy prayer by Daniel in which he pleads for God to restore Jerusalem and its temple, and an angelic explanation which focuses on a longer time period – "seventy sevens" – and a future restoration and destruction of city and temple by a coming ruler.
Vision of the kings of north and south (chapters 10–12):
The narrative setting takes place during the third year of Cyrus king of Persia on the twenty-fourth day of the first month. The prophet Daniel was on the banks of the Tigris River. When he looked up, he saw the figure of a man standing before him dressed in white linen. Although his companions fled in terror, they saw nothing. Daniel faints and has a dream where the angel Gabriel speaks of conflicts between the King of North and King of the South.
The series of wars between the "King of the North" and the "King of the South", is generally interpreted as a record of Levantine history from the time of Alexander the Great down to the era of Antiochus IV, with the "Kings of the North" being the Seleucid kings of Syria and the "Kings of the South" being the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt
Critical scholars have asserted that the prophecies in the Book of Daniel reflect the persecutions of the Jews by the Greek Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes who ruled the Jews from 175–164 BC, and his desecration of the altar in the temple at Jerusalem, and consequently they date its composition to that period.
Daniel 11:21-35 is devoted to the Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes(the ruler of the Jews from 175-164 BCE), his rise to power, wars against Egypt, and his subsequent actions against Jerusalem, the Temple and the Jewish people.
After describing the "desecration of the Temple (Daniel 11:31) and the Maccabean revolt, the author predicts another attack from Egypt in which Antiochus will be victorious and capture the entire territory along with Libya and Ethiopia (Daniel 11:40-43).There is however no historical evidence for this.
Daniel 11:3-39 is considered very accurate. All major conflicts are mentioned, and the Sixth Syrian War is described in great detail.
Daniel 12: the angel reveals that at this time Michael, "the great prince who protects your people," will come. It will be a time of great distress, but all those whose names are written will be delivered. "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt; those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever."
The concepts of immortality and resurrection, with rewards for the righteous and punishment for the wicked, were raised for the first time in Judaism in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE. The doctrine has roots much deeper than Daniel, but is clearly stated in the final chapter of that book: "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame and contempt".
[The Jewish afterlife is called Olam Ha-Ba (The World to Come)
Some scholars claim that belief in the afterlife is a teaching that developed late in Jewish history. It is true that the Torah emphasizes immediate, concrete, physical rewards and punishments rather than abstract future ones.
Traditional Judaism firmly believes that death is not the end of human existence. However, because Judaism is primarily focused on life here and now rather than on the afterlife, Judaism does not have much dogma about the afterlife, and leaves a great deal of room for personal opinion. But Belief in the eventual resurrection of the dead is a fundamental belief of traditional Judaism. It was a belief that distinguished the Pharisees (intellectual ancestors of Rabbinical Judaism) from the Sadducees. The Sadducees rejected the concept, because it is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah. The Pharisees found the concept implied in certain verses.
The Torah speaks of several noteworthy people being "gathered to their people." See, for example, Gen. 25:8 (Abraham), 25:17 (Ishmael), 35:29 (Isaac), 49:33 (Jacob), Deut. 32:50 (Moses and Aaron) II Kings 22:20 (King Josiah). This gathering is described as a separate event from the physical death of the body or the burial.
Later portions of the Tanakh speak more clearly of life after death and the World to Come. See Dan. 12:2, Neh. 9:5.
12.2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some shall live forever, others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace.
The resurrection of the dead will occur in the messianic age, a time referred to in Hebrew as the Olam Ha-Ba, the World to Come, but that term is also used to refer to the spiritual afterlife. When the messiah comes to initiate the perfect world of peace and prosperity, the righteous dead will be brought back to life and given the opportunity to experience the perfected world that their righteousness helped to create. The wicked dead will not be resurrected.
There are some mystical schools of thought that believe resurrection is not a one-time event, but is an ongoing process. The souls of the righteous are reborn in to continue the ongoing process of tikkun olam, mending of the world. Some sources indicate that reincarnation is a routine process, while others indicate that it only occurs in unusual circumstances, where the soul left unfinished business behind.
Only the very righteous go directly to Gan Eden. The average person descends to a place of punishment and/or purification, generally referred to as Gehinnom (guh-hee-NOHM) (in Yiddish, Gehenna), but sometimes as She'ol or by other names. According to one mystical view, every sin we commit creates an angel of destruction (a demon), and after we die we are punished by the very demons that we created.
Only the utterly wicked do not ascend at the end of this period. some say that the wicked soul is utterly destroyed and ceases to exist while others say that the soul continues to exist in a state of consciousness of remorse.
]
The Greek text of Daniel is considerably longer than the Hebrew, due to three additional stories:
The Prayer of Azariah and the Hymn of the Three Youths, placed after Daniel 3:23;
The story of Susanna and the Elders, placed before chapter 1 in some Greek versions and after chapter 12 in others;
The story of Bel and the Dragon, placed at the end of the book.
The origins of these writings are obscure. Whether the accounts were originally composed in Hebrew (or Aramaic) or in Greek is uncertain, although many modern scholars conclude on the basis of textual evidence that there was probably an original Semitic edition. The date of composition of these documents is also uncertain, although many scholars favor a date either in the second or first century B.C
- The Prayer of Azariah and the Hymn of the Three Youths:
The passage includes the penitential prayer of Azariah (Abednego in Babylonian; see Daniel 1:6–7) while the three youths were in the fiery furnace
- The story of Susanna and the Elders:
Susanna is included in the Book of Daniel (as chapter 13) by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. As the story goes, a fair Hebrew wife named Susanna was falsely accused by lecherous voyeurs. As she bathes in her garden, having sent her attendants away, two lustful elders secretly observe the lovely Susanna. When she makes her way back to her house, they accost her, threatening to claim that she was meeting a young man in the garden unless she agrees to have sex with them.
She refuses to be blackmailed and is arrested and about to be put to death for promiscuity when a young man named Daniel interrupts the proceedings, shouting that the elders should be questioned to prevent the death of an innocent. After being separated, the two men are questioned about details (cross-examination) of what they saw but disagree about the tree under which Susanna supposedly met her lover.
The first says they were under a mastic and Daniel says that an angel stands ready to cut him in two. The second says they were under an evergreen oak tree and Daniel says that an angel stands ready to saw him in two. The great difference in size between a mastic and an oak makes the elders' lie plain to all the observers. The false accusers are put to death, and virtue triumphs.
- The story of Bel and the Dragon:
The narrative of Bel (14:1–22) ridicules the worship of idols. In it, the king asks Daniel, "Thinkest thou not that Bel is a living god? seest thou not how much he eateth and drinketh every day?" to which Daniel answers that the idol is made of clay covered by bronze and thus, cannot eat or drink. Enraged, the king then demands that the seventy priests of Bel show him who consumes the offerings made to the idol. The priests then challenge the king to set the offerings as usual (which were "twelve great measures of fine flour, and forty sheep, and six vessels of wine") and then seal the entrance to the temple with his ring: if Bel does not consume the offerings, the priests are to be sentenced to death; otherwise, Daniel is to be killed.
Daniel then uncovers the ruse (by scattering ashes over the floor of the temple in the presence of the king after the priests have left) and shows that the "sacred" meal of Bel is actually consumed at night by the priests and their wives and children, who entered through a secret door when the temple's doors were sealed.
The next morning, Daniel calls attention to the footprints on the temple's floor; the priests of Bel were then arrested and, confessing their deed, showed the secret passage that they used to sneak inside the temple. They, their wives and children are then put to death, and Daniel is permitted to destroy the idol of Bel and the temple. This version has been cited as an ancestor of the "locked room mystery".
In the brief but autonomous companion narrative of the dragon (14:23–30), "there was a great Dragon, which they of Babylon worshiped." In this case the supposed god is no idol, but an animal. However, Daniel slays the dragon by baking pitch, fat, and hair (trichas) to make cakes (mazas, barley-cakes, but translated "lumps") that cause the dragon to burst open upon consumption.
As a result, the Babylonians are indignant. "The king has become a Jew; he has destroyed Bel, and killed the dragon, and slaughtered the priests," they say, and demand that Daniel be handed over to them.
- Twelve Minor Prophets:
The Minor Prophets or Twelve Prophets, occasionally Book of the Twelve, is the last book of the Nevi'im, the second main division of the Jewish Tanakh. The collection is broken up to form twelve individual books in the Christian Old Testament, one for each of the prophets. The terms "minor prophets" and "twelve prophets" can also refer to the twelve traditional authors of these works.
The term "Minor" relates to the length of each book (ranging from a single chapter to fourteen); even the longest is short compared to the three major prophets, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah. It is not known when these short works were collected and transferred to a single scroll, but the first extra-biblical evidence we have for the Twelve as a collection is c. 190 BCE in the writings of Jesus ben Sirach, and evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls suggests that the modern order was established by 150 BCE.
It is believed that initially the first six were collected, and later the second six were added; the two groups seem to complement each other, with Hosea through Micah raising the question of iniquity, and Nahum through Malachi proposing resolutions
- Book of Hosea:
Hosea is believed to be the first prophet to use marriage as a metaphor of the covenant between God and Israel, and he influenced latter prophets such as Jeremiah.
Hosea prophesied during a dark and melancholic era of Israel's history, the period of the Northern Kingdom's decline and fall in the 8th century BC. The apostasy of the people was rampant, having turned away from God in order to serve the calves of Jeroboam and Baal, a Canaanite god.
During Hosea's lifetime, the kings of the Northern Kingdom, their aristocratic supporters, and the priests had led the people away from the Law of God, as given in the Pentateuch. Forsaking the worship of God, they worshiped other gods, especially Baal, the Canaanite fertility god. Other sins followed, including homicide, perjury, theft, and sexual sin. Hosea declares that unless they repent of these sins, God will allow their nation to be destroyed, and the people will be taken into captivity by Assyria, the greatest nation of the time.
Ch. 1-3 detail Hosea's relationship with his unfaithful wife Gomer and Ch. 4-14 tell of Israel's unfaithfulness to the Lord.
Chapters 1–2; Account of Hosea's marriage with Gomer biographically which is a metaphor for the relationship with Yahweh and Israel.
Chapter 3; Account of Hosea's marriage autobiographically.
Chapters 4–14:9; Oracle judging Israel, Ephraim in particular, for not living up to the covenant.
First, Hosea was directed by God to marry a promiscuous woman of ill-repute, and he did so. Marriage here is symbolic of the covenantal relationship between God and Israel. However, Israel has been unfaithful to God by following other gods and breaking the commandments which are the terms of the covenant, hence Israel is symbolized by a harlot who violates the obligations of marriage to her husband.
Together with Gomer they have three children:
First they have a son. God commands that the son be named Jezreel. This name refers to a valley in which much blood had been shed in Israel's history, especially by the kings of the Northern Kingdom. (See I Kings 21 and II Kings 9:21–35). The naming of this son was to stand as a prophecy against the reigning house of the Northern Kingdom, that they would pay for that bloodshed. Jezreel's name means God Sows.
Then the couple have a daughter. God commands that she be named Lo-ruhamah; Unloved, or, Pity or Pitied On to show Israel that, although God will still have pity on the Southern Kingdom, God will no longer have pity on the Northern Kingdom; its destruction is imminent.
Last a son is born to Gomer. It is questionable whether this child was Hosea's, for God commands that his name be Lo-ammi; Not My People, or more simply, Not Mine. The child bore this name of shame to show that the Northern Kingdom would also be shamed, for its people would no longer be known as God's People. Also God says that "I am not your I am"; in other words, God changes His own name in connection with his current relationship with Israel.
Then Gomer apparently returns to her immoral lifestyle, but Hosea seeks her out, redeems her and takes her back (3:2). Gomer's unfaithful character mirrors Israel's infidelity to the Lord. Even Hosea and Gomer's children represent problems in the Lord's relationship with his people
Hosea is a mysterious figure, and in some ways his writing is among the most impenetrable in the whole Bible. His tone is often dark and pessimistic. He had the power, which was to become characteristic of so many Jewish writers, to convey the sense of having suffered, yet to have retained an inextinguishable spark of hope. He may have been a reformed drinker and womanizer.
- Book of Joel:
Joel is a short prophetic book which speaks of the coming "day of the LORD." (1:15) The name "Joel" means "Yahweh is God." The book begins by describing a plague of locusts sweeping through the land of Judah, destroying crops and ravishing the land (1:2-12).
The prophet sees this plague as foreshadowing a future time in which God will bring his judgment on Israel and the surrounding nations. Yet Joel calls the people to repentance to avoid the impending judgment (2:12). The Lord responds to the nation's repentant hearts and has mercy on them (2:18). He then transfers his just anger from Israel to the surrounding nations (4:4, 19). The Lord promises the restoration of Israel, the judgment of Israel's enemies and an everlasting time of blessing (4:17-21).
The book is very hard to place in the chronology of Israel. The prophet Joel cannot be identified with other persons named Joel in the Old Testament and the book mentions no historical events that are easy to date. Based on the text of the book alone, scholars have guessed at many different dates of composition from 900 down to 400 BC.
On the day of Pentecost, St. Peter quotes Joel 3:1-5 in Acts 2:17-21 to show that Joel's prophecy was fulfilled in the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Lord indeed "restored the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem" (cf. 4:1) through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
The Church always reads Joel 2 on Ash Wednesday to invite us to return to the Lord with all our hearts, with "fasting, weeping and mourning" for the duration of Lent (2:12).
- Book of Amos:
Amos was a prophet during the reign of Jeroboam ben Joash (Jeroboam II), ruler of Israel from 793 BC to 753 BC, and the reign of Uzziah, King of Judah, at a time when both kingdoms (Israel in the North and Judah in the South) were peaking in prosperity. He was a contemporary of the prophet Hosea, but likely preceded him. Many of the earlier accounts of prophets found in the Tanakh are found within the context of other accounts of Israel's history. Amos, however, is the first prophet whose name also serves as the title of the corresponding biblical book in which his story is found.
God speaks to Amos, a farmer and herder, and tells him to go to Samaria, the capital of the Northern kingdom. Through Amos, God tells the people that he is going to judge Israel for its sins, and it will be a foreign nation that will enact his judgment. Amos is sent by God from the southern kingdom of Judah to the northern kingdom of Israel. The kingdoms had been divided during the reign of Rehoboam, Solomon's son (see 1 Kgs 12). At this point in biblical history, the twelve tribes had split into two kingdoms: Judah and Israel. Judah's capital was Jerusalem and could claim the authentic line of David for its royalty. Israel had been established by Jeroboam I with its capital in Samaria. It is believed by most that Amos was a southern farmer who chose to deliver his prophetic message in the North. However, some believe that Amos was actually from a Tekoa in the North, near Galilee. They believe that it is more probable that Amos was from the North because it has conditions more suitable for the cultivation of sycamore figs than the Tekoa of the South.
Amos brings a harsh message to the rulers and people of Israel: God's judgment is coming because of their infidelity to him. Amos calls for a destruction of Israelite worship and the reuniting of the kingdom. He denounces unjust social practices and calls for a return to true worship of the Lord. He announces the end of the Jeroboamite dynasty (7:9). He prophesies of a day when the "booth of David" will be repaired and rebuilt, when all the people will dwell in peace and harmony under a true king who is a descendant of David. Amos' harsh message eventually gets him banished from the northern kingdom (7:12-14).
A few theological themes for meditation in this book are God's love for the poor and his desire for a just society. Also, the holiness of God's law is so great that it demands a great punishment on those who break it. In our times, as in Amos' there is a famine "of hearing the word of the Lord" (8:11). God does not desire to punish his people, but in many cases suffering is a necessary precursor to restoration.
It should also be noted that Amos preached about two years before a very large earthquake, and made reference to it twice in his book. Zechariah (Zechariah 14:5b) remembers this earthquake over 200 years later.
- Book of Obadiah:
The book is a prophecy against the nation of Edom and is the shortest book in the Old Testament.
Edom, also called Idumea, was descended from Esau, the brother of Jacob. The Edomites' land was south and east of Dead Sea, adjacent to southern Judah and extending south to the Gulf of Aqaba. The nation had refused to let the Israelites pass through during the Exodus journey (Num 20:18). They had been one Israel's traditional enemies and had been conquered as part of David's kingdom in the period of the united monarchy.
Obadiah announces the Lord's judgment against Edom for the nation's sins against Israel. The prophet mentions "the day of the Lord," which is a constant theme in the prophets (Obad 15, Isa 13:6, Jer 46:10, Ezek 30:3, Joel 1:15, Amos 5:18, Zeph 1:14). The last section of the prophecy describes a time of vindication for the Lord's people, when Israel will rule over Edom. The book illustrates the Lord's care for those who belong to him and reveals his character as a just God who will judge evil and reward fidelity.
In verse eighteen, it says that once judgment has been carried out, “There will be no survivors from the house of Esau” (NIV). So, according to Obadiah there will not remain even a remnant after Edom’s judgment; This is in contrast to Amos 9:12, where Amos refers to such a remnant, however, it is stated that their possession will be given to Israel. Some scholars have suggested that Amos’s reference to Edom is symbolic of all nations who were once enemies of Israel and not meant to literally mean Edomites in the flesh. This is certainly the perspective of Luke as he recites the passage from Amos in Acts 15:17. Edom is symbolic of the remnant of men and Gentiles who will eventually bear God’s name. Moreover, Frederick A. Tatford in Prophet of Edom’s Doom says that Obadiah’s prophecy is fulfilled today as there is currently no trace of anyone who may be identified as a fleshly Edomite.
Since Obadiah does not make any clearly dated historical references, the book is very difficult to date.
- Book of Jonah:
It tells the story of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah ben Amittai who is sent by God to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh but tries to escape the divine mission. Set in the reign of Jeroboam II (786–746 BC), it was probably written in the post-exilic period, sometime between the late 5th to early 4th century BC.
The book of Jonah is a story about a prophet rather than a prophecy. It tells the story of Jonah's rocky relationship with God. When the Lord calls him to preach to Ninevah, Jonah immediately flees in the opposite direction. The fact that G-d had asked Jonah to save the people of the Assyrian city, Ninevah, by telling them to repent, was not appealing to Jonah, because the Assyrians were the enemies of the Jewish people and would in fact wage war against them, as Jonah prophesies.
Then the Lord doesn't let him off the hook so easily. A powerful storm and a giant fish combine to thwart Jonah's plan to escape God's call. Even the pagan sailors on their way to Tarshish turn pious in the face of disaster and begin praying and offering sacrifices to the Lord (1:16).
Once inside the fish, Jonah realizes his error and repents for being so impetuous. Jonah is spit out 3 days later on the shores of Ninivah. But the drama is not over yet! God sends his word to Jonah for the second time, asking him to go and preach to Ninevah. Jonah reluctantly accepts. He despised the Ninevites and resented the fact that the Lord wanted to extend his mercy to them. But when Jonah preaches God's message, the people of Ninevah respond immediately with fasting and prayer, just like the sailors in the first part of the story.
While it seems a prophet should be ecstatic at such a response, Jonah is despondent and finds a hillside on which to sulk (4:5).
But again the Lord won't let Jonah off so easy. He challenges Jonah's resentful attitude by sending a plant which gives Jonah shade and a worm that kills the plant. Jonah's resentment is only intensified by this episode so that he becomes "angry enough to die." (4:9) But the Lord explains that his attitude contradicts the merciful heart of the God he represents. The story ends before we hear Jonah's response, but we can accept the Lord's challenge to Jonah as a challenge to us.
The message of the book confronts us with our sinfulness as we see our own faults in Jonah's heart. Ironically, the people who really "got the message" were the sailors and Ninevites, not the prophet God sent to them!
Jesus looks back to Jonah as a type or foreshadowing of himself (Matt 12, 16; Luke 11). The Church fathers continued Jesus' line of thought by comparing how Jonah brought a message of salvation to the Gentiles after leaving the fish's belly and Jesus brought the message of the Gospel for the Gentiles after leaving the tomb.
The debate over the credibility of the miracle of Jonah is not simply a modern one. The credibility of a human being surviving in the belly of a great fish has long been questioned. In c. 409 AD, Augustine of Hippo wrote to Deogratias concerning the challenge of some to the miracle recorded in the Book of Jonah. He writes:
The last question proposed is concerning Jonah, and it is put as if it were not from Porphyry, but as being a standing subject of ridicule among the Pagans; for his words are: “In the next place, what are we to believe concerning Jonah, who is said to have been three days in a whale’s belly? The thing is utterly improbable and incredible, that a man swallowed with his clothes on should have existed in the inside of a fish. If, however, the story is figurative, be pleased to explain it. Again, what is meant by the story that a gourd sprang up above the head of Jonah after he was vomited by the fish? What was the cause of this gourd’s growth?” Questions such as these I have seen discussed by Pagans amidst loud laughter, and with great scorn.
—(Letter CII, Section 30)
Augustine responds that if one is to question one miracle, then one should question all miracles as well (section 31). Nevertheless, despite his apologetic, Augustine views the story of Jonah as a figure for Christ. For example, he writes: "As, therefore, Jonah passed from the ship to the belly of the whale, so Christ passed from the cross to the sepulchre, or into the abyss of death. And as Jonah suffered this for the sake of those who were endangered by the storm, so Christ suffered for the sake of those who are tossed on the waves of this world." Augustine credits his allegorical interpretation to the interpretation of Christ himself (Matt. 12:39,40), and he allows for other interpretations as long as they are in line with Christ's.
The narrative itself does not speak of "whale" in the sense that we understand it today, but a more vague "a great fish" AND the Greek word used in the Septuagint and the Gospels, ke-tos, originally denoted a sort of sea-monster. It was only in the medieval period that the Latinized form of the word, cetus, began to refer specifically to the mammals we call 'whales'. This explains why in early Christian art, Jonah is swallowed by a serpentine aquatic creature like the Cetus of Greco-Roman mythological art - with ears and front paws/legs no less!
"The most common interpretation nowadays, and one that is held by indubitably orthodox exegetes, is that the story of the prophet being swallowed and then disgorged by a ‘great fish’ is merely didactic fiction, a grand tale told to establish a religious point. Catholics are perfectly free to take this or a more literal view Strictly literal interpretations of what happened to Jonah actually come in two forms. One relies on the fact that people apparently have been swallowed by whales and lived to talk about it. The other literal interpretation is that Jonah indeed underwent what the story, read as straight history, says he did but survived only because of a positive miracle. (Catholicism and Fundamentalism, Ignatius Press, 129–30).
- Book of Micah:
It records the sayings of Micah, Mikayahu, meaning "Who is like Yahweh?", an 8th-century B.C. prophet from the village of Moresheth in Judah.
The book has three major divisions, chapters 1–2, 3–5 and 6–7, each introduced by the word "Hear," with a pattern of alternating announcements of doom and expressions of hope within each division Micah reproaches unjust leaders, defends the rights of the poor against the rich and powerful, and preaches social justice;while looking forward to a world at peace centered on Zion under the leadership of a new Davidic monarch
It is widely, though not universally, accepted by scholars that only chapters 1–3 contain material from the late 8th century prophet Micah. The latest material comes from the post-Exilic period after the Temple was rebuilt in 515 BC, so that the early 5th century BC seems to be the period when the book was completed.
At the broadest level Micah can be divided into three roughly equal parts:
Judgment against the nations and their leaders
Restoration of Zion (chapters 4–5, probably exilic and post-exilic, together with the next section);
God's lawsuit against Israel and expression of hope (chapters 6–7).
Judgment against Samaria (1:2–7): Drawing upon ancient traditions for depicting a theophany, the prophet depicts the coming of Yahweh to punish the city, whose sins are idolatry and the abuse of the poor.
Warnings to the cities of Judah (1:8–16): Samaria has fallen, Judah is next. Micah describes the destruction of the lesser towns of Judah (referring to the invasion of Judah by Sennacherib, 701 BC).
Misuse of power denounced (2:1–5): Denounces those who appropriate the land and houses of others. The context may be simply the amassing wealth for its own sake, or could be connected with the militarisation of the region for the expected Assyrian attack
Zion's future hope (4:1–5) This is a later passage, almost identical with Isaiah 2:2–4. Zion (meaning the Temple) will be rebuilt, but by God, and based not on violence and corruption but on the desire to learn God's laws and live in peace
When the Assyrians attacked Judah in 701 they did so via the Philistine coast and the Shephelah, the border region which included Micah's village of Moresheth, as well as Lachish, Judah's second largest city. This in turn forms the background to verses 1:8–16, in which Micah warns the towns of the coming disaster (Lachish is singled out for special mention, accused of the corrupt practices of both Samaria and Jerusalem). In verses 2:1–5 he denounces the appropriation of land and houses, which might simply be the greed of the wealthy and powerful, or possibly the result of the militarising of the area in preparation for the Assyrian attack
Micah's message comes to us as a confrontation of our patterns of sin, a call to repentance. It shows the evil nature of sin, how one kind of idolatry leads to another. But Micah's message includes a promise of salvation, inviting us to repent while expecting the Lord's forgiveness. Repentance is how we re-enter our broken love relationship with God.
- Book of Nahum:
Nahum was a prophet in Judah after the 722 BC fall of Israel, but before the 587 BC fall of Jerusalem. His name means "comfort." He preached during the reign of Josiah, king of Judah (640-609 BC). Nahum is not metioned in other biblical books and the location his hometown, Elkosh, has not been identified but probably it was in Judah (1:1).
The subject of Nahum's prophecy is the approaching complete and final destruction of Nineveh, the capital of the great and at that time flourishing Assyrian empire. Assur-bani-pal was at the height of his glory. Nineveh was a city of vast extent, and was then the center of the civilization and commerce of the world, a "bloody city all full of lies and robbery" (Nahum 3:1), for it had robbed and plundered all the neighboring nations.
His "book of vision" was written shortly before the fall of Nineveh at the hands of the Medes and Babylonians (612 BC). The book begins with an acrostic poem (1:2-11) about the nature of God as slow to anger (1:3) and yet an avenger (1:2). (An acrostic poem is in alphabetical order according to the Hebrew alphabet.) God despises evil and will not allow it to persist forever. He will take vengence against those who do evil (1:6, 9). The Lord knows those who trust in him (1:7), so he will break Judah's yoke (1:13), bring good news (1:15) and restore the splendor of Jacob (2:2).
Chapters two and three describe the fall of Nineveh in 612 BCE (although Nineveh was apparently destroyed first by fire around 625 BC) and the Assyrian empire came to an end, an event which changed the face of Asia.
The Babylonian chronicle of the fall of Nineveh tells us also the story of the end of Nineveh. Naboplassar of Babylon joined forces with Cyaxares, king of the Medes, and laid siege for three months. Assyria lasted a few more years after the loss of its fortress, but attempts by Egyptian Pharaoh Neco II to rally the Assyrians failed due to opposition from king Josiah of Judah, and it seemed to be all over by 609 BC.
Chapter 2 describes the chaos of the beginning of the battle for Ninevah. Soldiers run to and fro (2:3-4), women wail aloud (2:6), and the city is plundered (2:9-10). Chapter 3 continues the graphic depiction of the coming destruction of Ninevah. Blood, chariots, swords, horses, spears and bodies fill the terrifying picture (3:1-3). Ninevah's overthrow is likened to the shaming of a prostitute (3:4-7), the conquest of Thebes (3:8-11) and to the easy harvest of over-ripe figs (3:12).
The preparation for the destruction of Nineveh, and the description of its ruin, and its greatness, are expressed in most vivid colors, and possess admirable perspicuity and fulness. Nahum multiplies metaphors in his effort to describe his vision of Ninevah's fall. The destruction he foresees will be devastating. The Assyrian empire, which oppressed so many people, will be oppressed itself.
God's judgement on Ninevah is "all because of the wanton lust of a harlot, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft." (Nahum 3:4 NIV). Sexual infidelity, according to the prophets, related to spiritual unfaithfulness.
The book's message is simple: God's justice will in the end prevail over human injustice. The Lord brought retribution against Assyria for all of its crimes, but only after a long cruel reign. Assuredly, the people who clap their hands at Ninevah's fall (3:19) felt the Lord was slow to anger (1:3). They had suffered enough; the defeat of Assyria would truly be "good news" (1:15).
Christians believe in the Lord's vindication for his people, but we await his final act of making things right. Though some injustices are "righted" in our history, the complete righting of all wrongs will not come until the end of time.
- Book of Habakkuk:
The prophet Habakkuk is generally believed to have written his book in the mid-to-late 7th century BC, not long before the Babylonians' siege and capture of Jerusalem. It is a short dialogue between the prophet and the Lord about the judgment of Judah.
The book consists of three chapters and the book is neatly divided into three different genres:
- A discussion between God and Habakkuk
- An Oracle of Woe
- A Psalm
The major theme of Habakkuk is trying to grow from a faith of perplexity and doubt to the height of absolute trust in God. Habakkuk addresses his concerns over the fact that God will use the evil Babylonian empire to execute judgment on Judah for their sins.
In the middle part of Chapter 1, God explains that he will send the Chaldeans to punish his people. 1:5 “Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you. 1:6 For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs."
In the final part of the first chapter, the prophet expresses shock at God's choice of instrument for judgment. 1:13 You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he.
Therefore Habakkuk objects to God using a nation even more wicked than Judah to bring his judgment (1:12-2:1).
In Chapter 2, he awaits God's response to his challenge. God explains that He will also judge the Chaldeans, and much more harshly. The Lord replies that Babylon itself, after it has fulfilled its purpose, will fall and be mocked by the people it oppressed and "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord" (2:14).
Notice that the central message in this chapter "the just shall live by his faith" (2:4), plays an important role in Christian thought. It is used in the Epistle to the Romans 1:17, Epistle to the Galatians 3:11, and the Epistle to the Hebrews 10:38 as the starting point of the concept of faith.
Finally, in Chapter 3, Habakkuk expresses his ultimate faith in God, even if he doesn't fully understand.
The major tension in the book centers around the fulfillment of God's plan for his people and the execution of his judgment in the world. Habakkuk's questioning comes from a standpoint of faith and trust, not from doubt. The prophet believes in God's ultimate justice, so he can openly ask for vindication.
Habakkuk gives us an opportunity to grapple with the unanswerable questions of life. We too must seek to understand suffering and the seeming triumph of wickedness in the face of God's justice.
Modern Christian hymns have been inspired by the words of the prophet Habakkuk. The Christian hymn "The Lord is in His Holy Temple", written in 1900 by William J. Kirkpatrick, is based on verse 2:20.
- Book of Zephaniah (Sophonias):
Zephaniah prophesied during the reign of Josiah, king of Judah (640-609 BC). The Bible does not mention him elsewhere, but from his book we can discern that he was familiar with the Temple workings, the priests and the inner political circle of Jerusalem. His name means "the Lord hides, keeps or stores up."
The book of Zephaniah incorporates a good deal of phrases and terminology which are found in other books of the Bible. This suggests that the author of Zephaniah was familiar with and drew upon earlier Israelite religious tradition and also that later biblical writers regarded the book of Zephaniah as an authoritative (or at least respectable) work in the prophetic corpus
The book of Zephaniah is a short announcement of God's impending judgment on Judah (1:2-2:3) and the surrounding nations (2:4-3:8) with a note of hope for restoration at the end (3:9-20). The book takes up many themes found in the other prophets: judgment, restoration and the in-gathering of the nations. Zephaniah lived under Josiah between the Assyrian conquest of Israel (722) and the Babylonian conquest of Judah (587). Josiah's reign over Judah was particularly influential in biblical history because he instituted a reform of worship and religious practice (2 Kgs 22-23). Zephaniah probably prophesied before the 622 reform because he speaks against current idolatrous practices, which were suppressed during Josiah's reform. Zephaniah accurately predicted the 612 fall of Ninevah before it occurred (2:13-15).
The message of Zephaniah is in harmony with the other prophets. He announces the Lord's severe judgment against Judah because of the nation's sins of idolatry. The people have turned their backs on the Lord and worshiped Baal, the "host of heaven," and Milcom (1:4-6).
Zephaniah takes us from a terrifying message of judgment where God will "utterly sweep everything away" (1:2) to a beautiful picture of a loving relationship with God wherein he will "rejoice over you with gladness" (3:17). He points to the immediate future as full of suffering and judgment, but the ultimate future as a time of glorious restoration. As Christians, we can embrace the message of Zephaniah by humbly accepting the redemptive sufferings of human life while seeking the Lord, his righteousness and humility. Yet we anticipate a coming glorious age in which he will "restore our fortunes" (see 3:20) and we will see him face to face.
- Book of Haggai (Aggeus) :
It is a short book, consisting of only two chapters.
It was written in 520 BC some 18 years after Cyrus had conquered Babylon and issued a decree in 538 BC allowing the captive Jews to return to Judea. Cyrus saw the restoration of the temple as necessary for the restoration of the religious practices and a sense of peoplehood after a long exile.
After Darius I the Great acceded to the Persian throne in 522 BC, Haggai prophesied to the returned exiles, calling them to recommit themselves to building the Temple.
The people respond to Haggai's word and begin the building process under the leadership of Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and Joshua (1:12-15). As Haggai encourages the people to work heartily he prophesies that the future glory of the temple will be greater than the former (2:1-9). Next, through a dialogue with the Jewish priests, Haggai pronounces that uncleanness is more contagious than holiness in order to show that the lack of Temple-building activity is the cause of the people's lack of material goods (2:10-19). Finally, Haggai prophesies that Zerubbabel will be the Lord's "signet ring" (2:20-23). The hope for a new political kingdom under the rule of Zerubbabel, the Davidic heir to the throne was never realized. Yet this prophecy is often understood to be fulfilled by the ultimate Son of David of whom Zerubbabel is only a type: Jesus.
The Temple was the heart of Jewish worship. While the returned exiles were already sacrificing on the ruins of the first Temple, the Lord wanted them to reconstruct the whole building. They built the second Temple with meager resources and under difficult circumstances. But their work was an act of faith that God would fulfill his promises to them. The second Temple did achieve a greater glory than the first because it was graced by the presence of Christ himself.
Haggai roused a people who had forgotten their purpose. Initial obstacles, legal entanglements, resource shortages and the march of time had caused them to forget why they returned to Palestine. They were living their lives in "paneled houses," trying to make ends meet, but Haggai shocked them out of their haze and helped them to realize they had a mission to build the Temple and restore the practice of worship. When our lives get filled with clutter, we can turn to Haggai and his generation for a dose of reality, mission and purpose. God did not place us on this earth merely to live in paneled houses and enjoy our grain, wine and oil. We are made to worship him and our lives should constantly reflect this calling.
- Book of Zechariah:
Zechariah was a prophet from the priestly family of Iddo who returned to Palestine from Babylon with a group of Jewish exiles before 520 BC. He was a contemporary of Haggai, with whom he encouraged the people during the reconstruction of the Temple (Ezra 5:1, 6:14). His name means "The Lord has remembered."
The book is usually divided into two basic sections: Ch. 1-8 and Ch. 9-14. Ch. 1-8 are precisely dated to 520-518 BC and include eight mysterious visions, surrounded by two exhortations. Ch. 9-14 focus on the coming Messiah and the restoration of Israel. The differences between these two sections have led some scholars to contend that Zechariah wrote them at different periods in his life and many other scholars to argue that the latter section was not written by Zechariah himself.
Zechariah was born in exile and returned with his fellow Jews to the land after the Persians took over Babylon. The Persians' policy was to return foreign peoples to the their homelands and allow them to worship their own gods, rather than to displace people and suppress their religious practices as the Babylonian conquerors had done.
Through formidable obstacles, the returnees succeeded in building a humble Temple and restoring sacrificial worship. Joshua, the high priest and Zerubbabel, the political leader of the community, were very important figures in this time and in the prophecies of Zechariah and Haggai. Zerubbabel, a descendant of David, was especially important since he embodied the hopes of the people to restore the kingdom.
The book contains many visions which are challenging to understand. Fortunately, most of the visions in the first part (1-8) have an angel interpreter who explains what they mean. Pay close attention to the angel's words. The images mainly point to the prosperity of Jerusalem and the Lord's protection of the Jewish people from their enemies.
The second part of the book (9-14) is thoroughly messianic. Zechariah sees many things about a coming king who will be betrayed and put to death (9:9; 13:7). In Zechariah's time, the hopes of restoring the kingdom of David remained unfulfilled, but Jesus takes up these expectations and fulfills them as the true Son of David. The Gospel writers quote and allude to Zechariah consistently showing that they understand Jesus to be fulfilling Zech 9-14. The messianic vision of Zechariah concludes with a prediction that all of the nations will worship the Lord together at Jerusalem, the in-gathering of the nations (14:16). This prophecy is fulfilled in the proclamation of the Gospel to the Gentiles so that every knee may bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (cf. Phil 2:11).
Zechariah's visions have often been subjected to fantastic interpretations. But they must be read in the context of the post-exilic Jewish community in Jerusalem, rebuilding the Temple and renewing their covenant with the Lord. Yet they were not brought to fulfillment until Jesus came preaching "the kingdom" (Matt 3:2).
Most Christian commentators read the series of predictions in chapters 7 to 14 as Messianic prophecies, either directly or indirectly. These chapters helped the writers of the Gospels understand Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection, which they quoted as they wrote of Jesus’ final days. Much of the Book of Revelation, which narrates the denouement of history, is also colored by images in Zechariah.
Chapters 9–14 of the Book of Zechariah are an early example of apocalyptic literature. Although not as fully developed as the apocalyptic visions described in the Book of Daniel, the "oracles", as they are titled in Zechariah 9–14, contain apocalyptic elements. One theme these oracles contain is descriptions of the Day of the Lord, when "the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle" (Zechariah 14:3). These chapters also contain "pessimism about the present, but optimism for the future based on the expectation of an ultimate divine victory and the subsequent transformation of the cosmos".
- Book of Malachi:
The book is commonly attributed to a prophet by the name of Malachi. Although the appellation Malachi has frequently been understood as a proper name, its Hebrew meaning is simply "My [i.e., God's] messenger".
Some scholars note affinities between Zechariah 9–14 and the book of Malachi. Zechariah 9, Zechariah 12, and Malachi 1 are all introduced as The word of Elohim. Many scholars argue that this collection originally consisted of three independent and anonymous prophecies, two of which were subsequently appended to the book of Zechariah (as what scholars refer to as Deutero-Zechariah) with the third becoming the book of Malachi.
Because of the development of themes in the book of Malachi, most scholars assign it to a position between Haggai and Zechariah, slightly before Nehemiah came to Jerusalem in 445 BC. The book of Malachi was written to correct the lax religious and social behaviour of the Israelites – particularly the priests – in post-exilic Jerusalem. Although the prophets urged the people of Judah and Israel to see their exile as punishment for failing to uphold their covenant with Elohim, it was not long after they had been restored to the land and to Temple worship that the people's commitment to their God began, once again, to wane. It was in this context that the prophet commonly referred to as Malachi delivered his prophecy.
The prophet reproved them for offering polluted sacrifices, for intermarrying with other people and for withholding their tithes from the Lord. These were the same problems that Nehemiah had to address during his rule of Judah. Malachi's prophecy probably encouraged the efforts of Ezra and Nehemiah to bring reform.
The Lord emphasizes his love for Israel at the beginning of the Book of Malachi, but then he challenges the people with a series of questions about their relationship with him. First, he charges the priests with offering illegal sacrifices at the newly rebuilt Temple. The Mosaic law prescribes that only clean animals without blemish be offered as sacrifices and the priests were disobeying (Lev 22:21-22). Second, the Lord rebukes the priests for turning aside from the way and corrupting the covenant of Levi (Mal 2:8). Third, he upbraids the men of Judah for marrying non-Jewish women and blames some for divorcing their Jewish wives in order to marry foreigners (2:11, 14). Intermarriage with other peoples, an act of disobedience to the Law (Deut 7:3), was an important issue in the time of the Restoration under Ezra's spiritual leadership (Ezra 9-10). Malachi then announces the messenger who will prepare the way of the Lord, purify the priests and bring the Lord's judgment against social injustice (Mal 3:1-5). The Gospels recognize John the Baptist as this messenger (see above references and 1:17, 1:76).
In the last section, Malachi announces the Day of the Lord, a day of judgment for evildoers, but a day of healing for those who fear the name of the Lord (Mal 4:1-2). The last couple verses announce that Elijah will come before the day of the Lord (4:5-6). The Gospels again understand John the Baptist to fill this role (Matt 11:14, 17:12; Mark 9:13).
Malachi's message is in harmony with the other prophets, but some of his points may be surprising to us. Most of the sins which the prophet brings up are basically ceremonial: impure sacrifices, intermarriage and tithe avoidance. Yet the Lord views these acts as serious offenses against his covenant relationship with his people. What seems trivial is in fact definitive for Judah's relationship with the Lord, revealing the heart of his people.
Malachi is the last of the prophets before the arrival of John the Baptist. This book concludes the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets and the entire Old Testament canon. It reminds us of God's love for us. It reveals the importance of worshiping him correctly and it causes us to look forward to the "sun of righteousness" who will come with healing in his wings (4:2). While Malachi reproves the people for their sins, his anticipation of the joy of redemption sounds a note of hope at the close of the Old Testament.
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Brief history after 70 AD
In 66 CE, the Jews began to revolt against the Roman rulers of Judea. The revolt was defeated by the future Roman emperors Vespasian and Titus. In the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Romans destroyed much of the Temple in Jerusalem and, according to some accounts, plundered artifacts from the temple, such as the Menorah. After the Jewish-Roman wars (66-135), Hadrian changed the name of Iudaea province to Syria Palaestina and Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina in an attempt to erase the historical ties of the Jewish people to the region. In addition, after 70, Jews and Jewish Proselytes were only allowed to practice their religion if they paid the Jewish tax, and after 135 were barred from Jerusalem except for the day of Tisha B'Av.
This great enterprise in social metaphysics began humbly enough in the aftermath of the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The hereditary priestly families, and the traditional Jewish upper class as a whole, perished in the ruin of the city.
Having lost the Kingdom of Israel, the Jews turned the Torah into a fortress of the mind and spirit, in which they could dwell in safety and even in content.
The Jews survived because the period of intense introspection enabled their intellectual leaders to enlarge the Torah into a system of moral theology and community law of extraordinary coherence, logical consistency and social strength.
The Jews formed themselves into a cathedocracy: they were ruled from the teacher’s chair.This had always been inherent in Judaism—for were not prophets instruments through whom God taught his people? But now it became explicit
The rabbi and the synagogue became the normative institutions of Judaism, which from now on was essentially a congregationalist faith. The academy at Jabneh made the annual calculations of the Jewish calendar. It completed the canonization of the Bible. It ruled that, despite the fall of the Temple, certain ceremonies, such as the solemn eating of the Passover meal, were to be regularly enacted. It established the form of community prayers and laid down rules for fasting and pilgrimage.
The Kitos War (115–117) is the name given to the second of the Jewish–Roman wars. Major revolts by diasporic Jews in Cyrene (Cyrenaica), Cyprus, Mesopotamia and Aegyptus spiraled out of control, resulting in a widespread slaughter of Roman citizens and others (200,000 in Cyrene, 240,000 in Cyprus according to Cassius Dio, but see below) by the Jewish rebels. Jews continued to live in their land in significant numbers after this war. In 131 CE after the governor of Judaea, Tineius Rufus, performed the foundation ceremony of Aelia Capitolina, the projected new name of a refounded Jerusalem. This caused that Julius Severus ravaged Judea while putting down the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–136 CE. The revolt erupted as a result of religious and political tensions in Judaea province. Simon bar Kokhba, the commander of the revolt, was regarded by many Jews as the Messiah, a heroic figure who could restore Israel. Initial rebel victories established an independent state of Israel over parts of Judea for over two years, but a Roman army made up of six full legions with auxiliaries and elements from up to six additional legions finally crushed it. 985 villages were destroyed and most of the Jewish population of central Judaea was essentially wiped out, killed, sold into slavery, or forced to flee. . The rebellion ended with the deaths of a large part the Judaean population and a ban upon the Jewish faith across the Roman Empire, which was lifted in 137, upon Hadrian's death. Many more Jews migrated to Babylon in 135 CE after the Bar Kokhba revolt and in the centuries after. Babylonia (modern day Iraq), where some of the largest and most prominent Jewish cities and communities were established, became the center of Jewish life all the way up to the 13th century. By the first century, Babylonia already held a speadily growing population of and estimated 1,000,000 Jews, which increased to an estimated 2 million.
One of the most important developments in the history of the Jews, one of the ways in which Judaism differed most strongly from primitive Israelite religion, was this growing stress on peace. After 135 AD, in effect, Judaism renounced even righteous violence—as it implicitly renounced the state—and put its trust in peace. From the second century AD onwards, the sectarianism which had been such a feature of the Second Commonwealth virtually disappeared, at any rate to our view, and all the old parties were subsumed in rabbinical Judaism. Torah study remained an arena of fierce argument, but it took place within a consensus sustained by the majority principle. The absence of the state was a huge blessing.
In 313 the Emperor Constantine had become a Christian catechumen and ended state persecution. There followed a brief period of general toleration. From the 340s, however, Christianity began to assume some of the characteristics of a state church.
As a penalty for the first Jewish Revolt, Jews were required to pay a poll tax until the reign of Emperor Julian in 363. In the late Roman Empire, Jews were free to form networks of cultural and religious ties and enter into various local occupations. But, after Christianity became the official religion of Rome and Constantinople in 380, Jews were increasingly marginalized.
Christianity became the norm throughout the Roman empire in the late fourth century and paganism began to disappear. As it did so, the Jews became conspicuous—a large, well-organized, comparatively wealthy minority, well educated and highly religious, rejecting Christianity not out of ignorance but from obstinacy. They became, for Christianity, a ‘problem’, to be ‘solved’. They were unpopular with the mob, which believed that Jews had helped the authorities when the emperors persecuted Christians.
The Greek church, however, inheriting the whole corpus of pagan Hellenistic anti-Semitism, was more emotionally hostile. Early in the fifth century, the leading Greek theologian John Chrysostom (354-407) delivered eight ‘Sermons Against the Jews’ at Antioch, and these became the pattern for anti-Jewish tirades, making the fullest possible use (and misuse) of key passages in the gospels of St Matthew and John. Thus a specifically Christian anti-Semitism, presenting the Jews as murderers of Christ, was grafted on to the seething mass of pagan smears and rumours, and Jewish communities were now at risk in every Christian city.
The size of the Jewish community in the Byzantine Empire was not affected by attempts by some emperors (most notably Justinian) to forcibly convert the Jews of Anatolia to Christianity, as these attempts met with very little success. Under the Justinian code, and subsequent statutes, the Jews of Byzantium, unlike pagans and heretics, enjoyed legal status. In theory at least, Jewish synagogues were legally protected places of worship.
The Byzantines were decisively defeated at the battle of the Yarmuk in 636, and within four years the Moslems occupied all Palestine and most of Syria too. Chalcedonians and Monophysites, Nestorians and Copts, Seleucians and Armenians, Latins and Greeks, Samaritans and Jews, were all collectively submerged beneath the flood of Islam.
In 638 CE the Byzantine Empire lost control of the Levant. The Arab Islamic Empire under Caliph Omar conquered Jerusalem and the lands of Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt. Under the various regimes, the Jews suffered massacres and fled the inland villages toward the coast. They were subsequently induced to return inland after the coastal towns had been destroyed. After the change in control, the Jews still controlled much of the commerce in Palestine. The Jewish presence in Arabia is very ancient. In the south, in what is now Yemen, Jewish trading interests date back to the first century BC, but in the north or Hijaz, it goes back very much further. One Arab historical legend says that Jewish settlement in Medina occurred under King David, and another puts it back to Moses. Babylonian inscriptions discovered in 1956 suggest that Jewish religious communities were introduced into the Hijaz in the sixth century BC, and they may have been there even before
In year 20 of the Muslim era, or the year 641 AD, Muhammad's successor the Caliph 'Umar decreed that Jews and Christians should be removed from all but the southern and eastern fringes of Arabia—a decree based on the (sometimes disputed) uttering of the Prophet: "Let there not be two religions in Arabia". The two populations in question were the Jews of the Khaybar oasis in the north and the Christians of Najran.
Above all, Islam quickly created a theory and practice of forcible conversion, as the Jews had done in the time of Joshua, David and the Hasmoneans, but which rabbinic Judaism had implicitly and conclusively renounced. It spread with astonishing speed, to engulf the Near East, the whole of the southern Mediterranean, Spain and vast areas of Asia. By the early eighth century, the Jewish communities, which still retained precarious footholds in the Greek and Latin worlds, found themselves cocooned in a vast Islamic theocracy, which they had in a sense spawned and renounced, and which now held the key to their very survival. But, by now, they had developed their own life-support system, the Talmud, and its unique formula for self-government—the cathedocracy.
Mohammed waged jihad against the Jews of Medina, beat them, decapitated their menfolk (save one, who converted) in the public square, and divided their women, children, animals and property among his followers. Mohammed, however, sometimes found it politic to make a treaty, or dhimma, with his beaten foes, under which he spared their lives and permitted them to continue to cultivate their oases, provided they gave him half the proceeds. The dhimma eventually took a more sophisticated form, the dhimmi, or one who submitted, receiving the right to his life, the practice of his religion. The status of the dhimmi was always at risk, since the dhimma merely suspended the conqueror’s natural right to kill the conquered and confiscate his property; hence it could be revoked unilaterally whenever the Moslem ruler wished. In theory, then, the status of Jewish dhimmi under Moslem rule was worse than under the Christians, since their right to practise their religion, and even their right to live, might be arbitrarily removed at any time. In practice, however, the Arab warriors who conquered half the civilized world so rapidly in the seventh and eighth centuries had no wish to exterminate literate and industrious Jewish communities who provided them with reliable tax incomes and served them in innumerable ways. Jews, along with Christian dhimmis, constituted a large proportion of the administrative intelligentsia of the vast new Arab territories.
In Iraq, in addition to the great academies, the Jews constituted a wealthy quarter of the new city of Baghdad which the Abbasid dynasty founded in 762 as their capital. The Jews provided court doctors and officials. They learned spoken and written Arabic, first as a demotic trading device, then as a language of scholarship, even sacred commentary. The Jewish masses spoke Arabic, as they had once learned to speak Aramaic, though some knowledge of Hebrew was treasured in almost all Jewish families.Throughout the Arab world, the Jews were traders. From the eighth to the early eleventh century, Islam constituted the main international economy and the Jews supplied one of its chief networks.
Charlemagne's expansion of the Frankish empire around 800, including northern Italy and Rome, brought on a brief period of stability and unity in Francia. This created opportunities for Jewish merchants to settle again north of the Alps. Charlemagne granted the Jews freedoms similar to those once enjoyed under the Roman Empire. In addition, Jews from southern Italy, fleeing religious persecution, began to move into central Europe. Returning to Frankish lands, many Jewish merchants took on occupations in finance and commerce, including money lending, or usury. (Church legislation banned Christians from lending money in exchange for interest.). It is significant, indeed, that whereas the Christians started to produce credal formulations very early in the history of the church, the earliest Jewish creed, listing ten articles of faith, was formulated by Saadiah Gaon (882-942), by which time the Jewish religion was more than 2,500 years old. Not until much later did Maimonides’ thirteen articles become a definitive statement of faith, and there is no evidence it was ever actually discussed and endorsed by any authoritative body.
From the eighth to the eleventh centuries, however, the most successful area of Jewish settlement was Spain. Jewish communities had prospered here under the Roman empire and to some extent under the Byzantine rule, but under the Visigoth kings a church-state policy of systematic anti-Semitism was pursued. Throughout the seventh century, Jews were flogged, executed, had their property confiscated, were subjected to ruinous taxes, forbidden to trade and, at times, dragged to the baptismal font. Hence when the Moslems invaded Spain in 711, the Jews helped them to overrun it, often garrisoning captured cities behind the advancing Arab armies. This happened in Córdoba, Granada, Toledo and Seville, where large and wealthy Jewish communities were soon established.
The primitive Berber Moslems took Córdoba in 1013. The Ummayids disappeared. Prominent Jews were assassinated. At Granada there was a general massacre of Jews. In the closing decades of the eleventh century, another Berber dynasty, the Almoravids, became dominant in southern Spain. They were violent and unpredictable. They threatened the large and rich Jewish community of Lucena with forcible conversion, then settled for a huge ransom. But from this time onwards, Jews were sometimes safer in Spain under Christian rulers. It was the same story in Asia Minor, where the Byzantines might offer Jewish communities more security than they could find as dhimmis. Early in the twelfth century a new wave of Moslem fundamentalism arose in the Atlas Mountains, creating a dynasty of zealots, the Almohads. Jews too were given a choice between conversion and death. The Almohads carried their fanaticism into Spain from the year 1146. Synagogues and yeshivot were shut down.
Many Jews fled north into Christian territory. Others moved into Africa in search of more tolerant Moslem rulers. Among the refugees was a young and brilliant scholar called Moses ben Maimon, better known as Maimonides. He was born in Córdoba on 30 March 1135, the son of a scholar. When the Almohads took the city he was just thirteen, a prodigy already possessed of astonishing.
During the Middle Ages, due to increasing geographical dispersion and re-settlement, Jews divided into distinct regional groups which today are generally addressed according to two primary geographical groupings: the Ashkenazi of Northern and Eastern Europe and Sephardic Jews of Iberia (Spain and Portugal), North Africa and the Middle East.
Maimonides (1135 - 1204) was a preeminent medieval Spanish, Sephardic Jewish philosopher and one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars and physicians. of the Middle Ages. He was born in Córdoba in 1135 and died in Egypt. Maimonides was also one of the most influential figures in medieval Jewish philosophy. His brilliant adaptation of Aristotelian thought to Biblical faith deeply impressed later Jewish thinkers, and had an unexpected immediate historical impact. Maimonides strove to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy and science with the teachings of the Torah. He was part of the great twelfth-century pre-Renaissance which marked the first real emergence from the Dark Ages and which affected Jewry as well as the Arabic world and Christian Europe. He was cosmopolitan. He wrote in Arabic but he was familiar with other tongues and usually answered his correspondents in their own language.
Maimonides wrote on theodicy (the philosophical attempt to reconcile the existence of a God with the existence of evil). To justify the existence of evil, assuming God is both omnipotent and good, Maimonides postulates that one who created something by causing its opposite not to exist is not the same as creating something that exists; so evil is merely the absence of good. God did not create evil, rather God created good, and evil exists where good is absent (Guide 3;10). Therefore all good is divine invention, and evil both is not and comes secondarily. Maimonides believes that there are three types of evil in the world: evil caused by nature, evil that people bring upon others, and evil man brings upon himself (Guide 3;12). The first type of evil Maimonides states is the rarest form, but arguably of the most necessary—the balance of life and death in both the human and animal worlds itself, he recognizes, is essential to God's plan. Maimonides writes that the second type of evil is relatively rare, and that humanity brings it upon itself. The third type of evil humans bring upon themselves and is the source of most of the ills of the world. These are the result of people falling victim to their physical desires. To prevent the majority of evil which stems from harm we do to ourselves, we must learn how to ignore our bodily urges.
Maimonides answered an inquiry concerning astrology, addressed to him from Marseille. He responded that man should believe only what can be supported either by rational proof, by the evidence of the senses, or by trustworthy authority. He affirms that he had studied astrology, and that it does not deserve to be described as a science. He ridicules the concept that the fate of a man could be dependent upon the constellations; he argues that such a theory would rob life of purpose, and would make man a slave of destiny.
The rationalism for which Maimonides stood was, in part, a reaction to the growth of esoteric literature and its penetration of Jewish intellectual life. And rationalism did have some effect. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries it forced the leading mystics, at any rate those with a claim to intellectual respectability, to refine their literature and corpus of belief, purge it of its magical dross and the gnostic clutter of centuries, and turn it into a coherent system. The higher kabbalah, as we might call it, began to emerge in Provençal France in the second half of the twelfth century.
All creation was, and is, a mere linguistic development, the materialization of divine speech. Mystical kabbalah spread south across the Pyrenees to Gerona, Burgos and Toledo. Its standing was immeasurably improved by the patronage of the great rabbi Moses ben Nahman, known as Nahmanides or Ramban (1194-1270), who became a convert to the system in youth and later rose to be the leading judicial authority in Spain.Nahmanides produced at least fifty works.
Religious Jews believed in immortality in a spiritual sense, and most believed that the future would include a messianic era and a resurrection of the dead. This is the subject of Jewish eschatology. Maimonides wrote much on this topic, but in most cases he wrote about the immortality of the soul for people of perfected intellect; his writings were usually not about the resurrection of dead bodies. Rabbis of his day were critical of this aspect of this thought, and there was controversy over his true views. Some Jews at this time taught that Judaism did not require a belief in the physical resurrection of the dead, as the afterlife would be a purely spiritual realm. They used Maimonides's works on this subject to back up their position. In return, their opponents claimed that this was outright heresy; for them the afterlife was here on Earth, where God would raise dead bodies from the grave so that the resurrected could live eternally. Maimonides asserts that belief in resurrection is a fundamental truth of Judaism about which there is no disagreement, and that it is not permissible for a Jew to support anyone who believes differently. He cites Daniel 12:2 and 12:13 as definitive proofs of physical resurrection of the dead when they state "many of them that sleep in the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence" and "But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days."
Maimonides remains one of the most widely debated Jewish thinkers among modern scholars.
The original hirteen-point formulation, given in Maimonides’ commentary on the Tenth Chapter of the Mishnah, on the Tractate Sanhedrin, lists the following articles of faith:
The existence of God.
God's unity and indivisibility into elements.
God's spirituality and incorporeality.
God's eternity and pre-existence
God alone should be the object of worship without intermediary
Belief in the revelation through God's prophets.
The preeminence and uniqueness of Moses among the prophets.
The Torah that we have today is the one dictated to Moses by God.
The Torah given by Moses will not be replaced and that nothing may be added or removed from it.
God's omniscient and awareness of human actions.
Reward of good and punishment of evil.
The coming of the Jewish Messiah.
The resurrection of the dead.
This credo, reformulated as the Ani Ma’amin (‘I believe’), is printed in the Jewish prayer-book.
The Jews became an element in a vicious circle. The Christians, on the basis of the Biblical rulings, condemned interest-taking absolutely, and from 1179 those who practised it were excommunicated. But the Christians also imposed the harshest financial burdens on the Jews. The Jews reacted by engaging in the one business where Christian laws actually discriminated in their favour, and so became identified with the hated trade of moneylending. Rabbi Joseph Colon, who knew both France and Italy in the second half of the fifteenth century, wrote that the Jews of both countries hardly engaged in any other profession.
Always, in the background, there was the menace of anti-Semitism. It is described in the genizah documents by the word sinuth, hatred. The worst actual persecution occurred under the fanatical or mad Fatimid caliph al-Hakim, early in the eleventh century, who turned first on the Christians, then on the Jews. Another zealot-ruler was Saladin’s nephew al-Malik, who called himself caliph of the Yemen (1196-1201); a letter of August 1198 from the Yemen relates how the Jews were summoned to the ruler’s audience-hall and forcibly converted: ‘Thus all apostacized. Some of the pious, who [then] defected from Islam, were beheaded.’ Parts of Islam were much worse than others for Jews. Morocco was fanatical. So was northern Syria. Anti-dhimmi regulations, such as sumptuary laws, were often strictly enforced to gouge a financial settlement out of the Jewish community.
With the onset of the Crusades, and the expulsions from England (1290), France (1394), and parts of Germany (15th century), Jewish migration pushed eastward into Poland (10th century), Lithuania(10th century), and Russia(12th century). By the 15th century, the Ashkenazi Jewish communities in Poland were the largest Jewish communities of the Diaspora. This area, which eventually fell under the domination of Russia, Austria, and Prussia (Germany), would remain the main center of Ashkenazi Jewry until the Holocaust.
Jews lived in medieval Spain longer than they had in any other country in the world, including Israel ... approximately twelve centuries of continuous Jewish presence ... Second, more Jews lived in medieval Spain than in all the other countries of Europe combined ... Most indeed, were rural rather than urban dwellers. This could be possible only in a situation where Christians generally were not only tolerant but friendly towards Jews, and where Jews felt entirely safe in living, sometimes only two or three families, in a remote Christian village -- Norman Roth, Conversos, Inquisition, and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain
In the early Middle Ages, and even as late as the early fourteenth century, Spain was the safest Latin territory for Jews. For a long time it was a place where Jews and Christians were more likely to meet in debate than come to blows. In Spain, at any rate for a time, the debates were more genuine and covered a wide area. It was the Spanish, or rather King James I of Aragon, who staged by far the best of the debates, at Barcelona on 20-31 July 1263. The idea again came from an ex-Jew, Pablo Christiani (many Jewish converts chose the name Paul). The Jews had a sole spokesman, but the best: Nahmanides, learned, fluent, well-born, self-confident. He agreed to come to Barcelona to take part because he knew King James, who employed many Jews as officials, was well-disposed and anyway guaranteed him complete liberty of speech. The Disputation of Barcelona was regarding: 1. whether the Messiah had appeared or not 2. whether, according to Scripture, the Messiah is a divine or a human being 3. whether the Jews or the Christians held the true faith.
The Christian version shows Nahmanides caught in inconsistencies, defeated in argument, reduced to silence and finally fleeing in disorder. Nahmanides’ own account is clearer and much better presented. The Christian attack was designed to show, from aggadic and homiletical passages in the Talmud, that the Messiah had indeed appeared, that he was both human and divine and had died to save mankind, and that in consequence Judaism had lost its raison d’être. Nahmanides replied by contesting the meaning attributed to these passages, denying that Jews were obliged to accept the aggadah and insisting that the doctrine of the Messiah was not of paramount importance for Jews. The reason given by him for this bold statement was that it was more meritorious for the Jews to observe the precepts under a Christian ruler, while in exile and suffering humiliation and abuse, than under the rule of the Messiah, when every one would perforce act in accordance with the Law. He also counterattacked by arguing that the belief in Jesus had proved disastrous. Rome, once master of the world, had declined the moment it accepted Christianity ‘and now the followers of Mohammed have greater territories than they’. Moreover, he added, ‘from the time of Jesus until the present the world has been filled with violence and injustice, and the Christians have shed more blood than all other peoples’. The Messiah is also about bringing peace in the world. If there is no peace in the world now it must mean that the Messiah did not come. On the Incarnation, he said: ‘The doctrine in which you believe, the foundation of your faith, cannot be accepted by reason, nature affords no grounds for it, nor have the prophets ever expressed it.’ He told the king that only lifelong indoctrination could persuade a rational person that God was born from a human womb, lived on earth, was executed and then ‘returned to his original place’.
The Dominicans who have sent Pablo, nevertheless, claimed the victory, and Nahmanides felt obligated to publish the text of the debates. From this publication Pablo selected certain passages which he construed as blasphemies against Christianity. Nahmanides admitted that he had stated many things against Christianity, but he had written nothing which he had not used in his disputation in the presence of the King, who had granted him freedom of speech. The justness of his defense was recognized by the King and the commission, but to satisfy the Dominicans, Nahmanides was sentenced to exile for two years and his pamphlet was condemned to be burned.
Some Jewish scholars have argued that Nahmanides’ version is a work of propaganda, and disingenuous too, since in his own writings he placed much more weight on aggadic interpretations than he admitted in the debate.
In Nahmanides’ day the Jews in Spain could still with reason regard themselves as the intellectually superior community. Their skills were still extremely useful, if not quite indispensable, to Christian rulers. But the Christians were catching up fast, and by the end of the thirteenth century they had absorbed Aristotelianism themselves, had written their own summae, and in trade and administration were a match for anything the Jews could provide.
After the Black Death disturbances, the whole position of the Jews in Spain began to deteriorate quite rapidly, as the blood libels and other anti-Semitic tales got a grip on the people. In Seville, for instance, there were anti-Semitic riots in 1378 and a positive explosion in 1391. Many were forced to convert to Christianity to save their lives. The laws in 14th and 15th century Spain became increasingly oppressive toward practicing Jews, and conversion was provded as an alternative. Large numbers of middle class Jews outwardly adopting Christianity to avoid the laws, while secretly practicing Judaism.
When they Jews became converts "conversos" or as the populace called them "marranos", a term of abuse derived from the Spanish word for ‘swine’, they became a hidden danger. Spanish townsfolk knew that many, perhaps most, of the converts were reluctant. They ceased formally to be Jews from fear, or to gain advantage. As Jews they suffered from severe legal disabilities. As conversos they had the same economic rights, in theory, as other Christians. A marrano was thus much more unpopular than a practising Jew because he was an interloper in trade and craft, an economic threat; and, since he was probably a secret Jew, he was a hypocrite and a hidden subversive too.
One Franciscan fanatic, Alfonso de Espina, a converso himself, or the son of one, compiled a volume, Fortalitium Fidei, listing (among other things), twenty-five ‘transgressions’ by which treacherous conversos could be identified. These included not only secret Jewish practices but, perhaps more easily noted, evidence of bad Christianity: avoiding the sacraments, working on Sundays, avoiding making the sign of the cross, never mentioning Jesus or Mary, or perfunctory attendance at mass.
Segregation was decreed by the Cortes at Toledo in 1480. At the same time a special Spanish inquisition was being created. The first inquisitors, including the vicar-general of the Dominicans, were appointed to operate a central inquiry for Andalucia, run from Seville.
On 31 March 1492 Spain signed an Edict of Expulsion, promulgated a month later, physically driving from Spain any Jew who would not accept immediate conversion. There were then about 200,000 Jews still in the kingdom. It is an indication of the demoralized state of the Jewish community, and also of the attachment Jews nevertheless felt for Spain, the country where they had enjoyed most comfort and security in the past, that very large numbers, including the senior rabbi and most of the leading families, chose to be baptized. About 100,000 trudged across the frontier into Portugal, from which in turn they were expelled four years later. About 50,000 went across the straits into North Africa, or by ship to Turkey. By the end of July 1492 the expulsion was an accomplished fact. The destruction of Spanish Jewry was the most momentous event in Jewish history since the mid-second century AD. There had been Jews in Spain from early classical times, perhaps even since Solomon’s day, and the community had developed marked characteristics. In the Dark and early Middle Ages, dispersed Jews tended to fall into two main groups: those in touch with the Babylonian academies and those linked to Palestine. There were two such communities, each with its synagogue, in Maimonides’ Fustat (and a third synagogue for the Karaites). From the fourteenth century, however, it is more accurate to speak of Spanish or Sephardi Jews—the term is a corruption of an old name for Spain—and Ashkenazi or German Jews radiating from the Rhineland. The Sephardis created their own Judaeo- Spanish language, Ladino or Judezmo, once written in rabbinic cursive script, as opposed to the modern (originally Ashkenazi) Hebrew cursive.
The Spanish expulsions were preceded by many in Germany and Italy. Jews were expelled from Vienna and Linz in 1421, from Cologne in 1424, Augsburg in 1439, Bavaria in 1442 (and again in 1450) and from the crown cities of Moravia in 1454. They were thrown out of Perugia in 1485, Vicenza in 1486, Parma in 1488, Milan and Lucca in 1489 and, with the fall of the philosemitic Medicis, from Florence and all Tuscany in 1494. By the end of the decade they had been turned out of the Kingdom of Navarre too. One expulsion provoked another, as refugees streamed into cities which already housed more Jews than their rulers now wanted. In Italy their only function at the end of the fifteenth century was pawnbroking and making small loans to the poor. Even in backward Rome the role of the Jewish bankers was declining.149 Christian bankers and craftsmen got the Jews banned as soon as their guilds were powerful enough. In Italy, in Provence and in Germany, the Jews had been virtually eliminated from large-scale trade and industry by the year 1500. So they moved into the less developed territories further east—first into Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, then on into Poland, to Warsaw and Cracow, Lwov, Brest-Litovsk and into Lithuania. The demographic axis of Ashkenazi Jewry shifted itself several hundred miles into east-central and eastern Europe. There was trouble here, too—there were anti-Jewish riots in Poland in 1348-9, in 1407 and in 1494; they were expelled from both Cracow and Lithuania the following year. All these movements and expulsions were interlinked. But because the Jews were needed more in the east, they managed to cling on; by the year 1500 Poland was regarded as the safest country in Europe for Jews, and it soon became the Ashkenazi heartland.
Nevertheless the medieval sculptor did not deal in anti-Semitic themes; he never portrayed the Jew as a usurer, a diabolical creature who poisoned wells, murdered Christian youth or tortured the host.
Marthin Luther attacked them for their obstinacy (1526), then in 1543 turned on them in fury. His pamphlet Von den Juden und ihren Lügen (‘On the Jews and their Lies’), published in Wittenberg, may be termed the first work of modern anti-Semitism, and a giant step forward on the road to the Holocaust. ‘First’, he urged, ‘their synagogues should be set on fire, and whatever is left should be buried in dirt so that no one may ever be able to see a stone or cinder of it.’ Jewish prayer-books should be destroyed and rabbis forbidden to preach. Then the Jewish people should be dealt with, their homes ‘smashed and destroyed’ and their inmates ‘put under one roof or in a stable like gypsies, to teach them they are not master in our land’. Jews should be banned from the roads and markets, their property seized and then these ‘poisonous envenomed worms’ should be drafted into forced labour and made to earn their bread ‘by the sweat of their noses’. In the last resort they should be simply kicked out ‘for all time’.23 In his tirade against Jews, Luther concentrated on their role as moneylenders and insisted that their wealth did not belong to them since it had been ‘extorted usuriously from us’.
Of the estimated 8.8 million Jews living in Europe at the beginning of World War II, the majority of whom were Ashkenazi, about 6 million – more than two-thirds – were systematically murdered in the Holocaust. These included 3 million of 3.3 million Polish Jews (91%); 900,000 of 1.5 million in Ukraine (60%); and 50–90% of the Jews of other Slavic nations, Germany, Hungary, and the Baltic states, and over 25% of the Jews in France. Sephardi communities suffered similar depletions in a few countries, including Greece, the Netherlands and the former Yugoslavia. As the large majority of the victims were Ashkenazi Jews, their percentage dropped from nearly 92% of world Jewry in 1931 to nearly 80% of world Jewry today.
People of Ashkenazi descent constitute around 47.5% of Israeli Jews (and therefore 35–36% of Israelis).During the first decades of Israel as a state, strong cultural conflict occurred between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews (mainly east European Ashkenazim). The roots of this conflict, which still exists to a much smaller extent in present day Israeli society, are chiefly attributed to the concept of the "melting pot".
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Briet notes about Assyria and Babylon
Assyria
Assyria, a major Mesopotamian East Semitic-speaking kingdom and empire of the ancient Near East, existed as an independent state from perhaps as early as the 25th century BC, until its collapse between 612 BC and 599 BC, spanning the mid to Early Bronze Age through to the late Iron Age.
The cities of Assur and Nineveh, together with a number of other towns and cities, existed since at least before the middle of the 3rd millennium BC (c. 2600 BC), although they appear to have been Sumerian-ruled administrative centres at this time, rather than independent states.
Greco-Roman classical writers such as Julius Africanus, Marcus Velleius Paterculus and Diodorus Siculus dated the founding of Assyria to various dates between 2284 BC and 2057 BC, listing the earliest king as Belus or Ninus.
Assyria became a regionally powerful nation in the Old Assyrian Empire from the late 21st century to the mid 18th century BC. Following this, it found itself under short periods of Babylonian and Mitanni-Hurrian rule in the 18th and 15th centuries BC respectively. From the mid 18th century BC, Assyria came into conflict with the newly created city state of Babylon, which eventually eclipsed the far older Sumero-Akkadian states and cities in the south.
Assyria found itself under short periods of Babylonian and Mitanni-Hurrian rule in the 18th and 15th centuries BC respectively. The emergence of the Mitanni Empire in the 16th century BC did eventually lead to a short period of sporadic Mitannian-Hurrian domination in the latter half of the 15th century.
The Middle Assyrian kingdom was well organized, and in the firm control of the king, who also functioned as the high priest of Ashur, the state god. He had certain obligations to fulfill in the cult, and had to provide resources for the temples. The priesthood became a major power in Assyrian society.
The main Assyrian cities of the middle period were Ashur, Kalhu (Nimrud) and Nineveh, all situated in the Tigris River valley. At the end of the Bronze Age, Nineveh was much smaller than Babylon, but still one of the world's major cities (population c. 33,000). By the end of the Neo-Assyrian period, it had grown to a population of 120,000, and was possibly the largest city in the world at that time.
All free male citizens were obliged to serve in the army for a time, a system which was called the ilku-service. A legal code was produced during the 14th and 13th centuries which, among other things, clearly shows that the social position of women in Assyria was lower than that of neighboring societies. Men were permitted to divorce their wives with no compensation paid to the latter. If a woman committed adultery, she could be beaten or put to death. It's not certain if these laws were seriously enforced, but they appear to be a backlash against some older documents that granted things like equal compensation to both partners in divorce. The women of the king's harem and their servants were also subject to harsh punishments, such as beatings, mutilation, and death. Assyria, in general, had much harsher laws than most of the region. Executions were not uncommon, nor were whippings followed by forced labor. Some offenses allowed the accused a trial under torture/duress. One tablet that covers property rights has brutal penalties for violators. A creditor could force debtors to work for him, but not sell them.
Trade was carried out in all directions. The mountain country to the north and west of Assyria was a major source of metal ore, as well as lumber. Economic factors were a common casus belli.
Assyria was open to homosexual relationships between men. In the Middle Assyrian Laws, sex crimes were punished identically whether they were homosexual or heterosexual. An individual with a higher social class faced no punishment for penetrating someone of a lower social class, or whose gender roles were not considered solidly masculine. However, homosexual relationships between social equals, or those where a social better was submissive or penetrated, were treated as rape. Omen texts referred to male homosexual acts without moral judgement or affirmation. One historian notes that the laws would not be so detailed "if homosexual behavior were not a familiar aspect of daily life of early Mesopotamia."
Upon the death of Ashur-bel-kala in 1056 BC, Assyria went into a comparative decline for the next 100 or so years. The empire shrank significantly, and by 1020 BC Assyria appears to have controlled only areas close to Assyria itself, essential to keeping trade routes open in eastern Aramea, south eastern Asia Minor, central Mesopotamia and north western Iran.
Despite the apparent weakness of Assyria in comparison to its former might, at heart it in fact remained a solid, well defended nation whose warriors were the best in the world. Assyria, with its stable monarchy, powerful army and secure borders was in a stronger position during this time than potential rivals such as Egypt, Babylonia, Elam, Phrygia, Urartu, Persia and Media.
Beginning with the campaigns of Adad-nirari II from 911 BC, it again became a great power over the next three centuries, overthrowing the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt and conquering Egypt, driving the Ethiopians, Kushites and Nubians from Egypt.
The Neo-Assyrian Empire is usually considered to have begun with the accession of Adad-nirari II, in 911 BC, lasting until the fall of Nineveh at the hands of the Babylonians, Chaldeans, Medes/Persians, Scythians and Cimmerians in 612 BC
Tiring of Egyptian interference in the Assyrian Empire, Esarhaddon decided to conquer Egypt. In 671 BC crossed the Sinai Desert, and invaded and took Egypt with surprising ease and speed, driving its foreign Nubian/Kushite and Ethiopian rulers out and destroying the Kushite Empire in the process.
Shalmaneser V died suddenly in 722 BC, while laying siege to Samaria, and the throne was seized by Sargon II, the Turtanu (commander-in-chief of the army, which the Old Testament refers to as Tartan), who then quickly took Samaria, effectively ending the northern Kingdom of Israel and carrying 27,000 people away into captivity into the Israelite diaspora.
Under Ashurbanipal (669-627 BC), Assyrian domination spanned from the Caucasus Mountains (modern Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan) in the north to Nubia, Egypt, Libya and Arabia in the south, and from the East Mediterranean, Cyprus and Antioch in the west to Persia and the Caspian Sea in the east.
The Assyrian Empire was severely crippled following the death of Ashurbanipal in 627 BC
By 599 BC at the very latest, Assyria had been destroyed as an independent political entity, although it was to launch major rebellions against the Achaemenid Empire in 546 BC and 520 BC, and remained a geo-political region, ethnic entity and colonised province until the late 7th century AD, with small Assyrian states emerging in the region between the 2nd century BC and 4th century AD.-the nation and its empire descending into a prolonged and brutal series of civil wars involving three rival kings, Ashur-etil-ilani, Sin-shumu-lishir and Sin-shar-ishkun. Egypt's 26th Dynasty, which had been installed by the Assyrians as vassals, quietly detached itself from Assyria, although it was careful to retain friendly relations.
It was in 5th century BC Assyria that the Syriac language and Syriac script evolved. Five centuries later these were later to have a global influence as the liturgical language and written script for Syriac Christianity and its accompanying Syriac literature which also emerged in Assyria before spreading throughout the Near East, Asia Minor, The Caucasus, Central Asia, the Indian Subcontinent and China.
In 332 BC, Assyria fell to Alexander the Great, the Macedonian Emperor from Greece, who called the inhabitants Assyrioi. The Macedonian Empire (332-312) was partitioned in 312 BC. It thereafter became part of the Seleucid Empire (312 BC). It is from this period that the later Syria Vs Assyria naming controversy arises, the Seleucids applied the name not only to Assyria itself, but also to the Levantine lands to the west (historically known as Aram and Eber Nari), which had been part of the Assyrian empire but, the north east corner aside, never a part of Assyria proper.
Majority mainstream scholarly opinion now strongly supports the already dominant position that 'Syrian' and Syriac indeed derived from 'Assyrian', and the 21st Century discovery of the Çineköy inscription seems to clearly confirm that Syria is ultimately derived from the Assyrian term Ašš?r?yu.
When the Seleucids lost control of Assyria proper, the name Syria survived but was erroneously applied only to the land of Aramea (also known as Eber Nari) to the west that had once been part of the Assyrian empire, but apart from the north eastern corner, had never been a part of Assyria itself, nor inhabited by Assyrians. This was to lead to both the Assyrians from Northern Mesopotamia and the Arameans and Phoenicians from the Levant being collectively dubbed Syrians (and later also Syriacs) in Greco-Roman and later European culture, regardless of ethnicity, history or geography.
During Seleucid rule, Assyrians ceased to hold the senior military, economic and civil positions they had enjoyed under the Achaemenids, being largely replaced by Greeks. The Greek language also replaced Mesopotamian East Aramaic as the lingua franca of the empire, although this did not affect the Assyrian population themselves, who were not Hellenised during the Seleucid era.
Christianity arrived in Assyria soon after the death of Christ and the Assyrians began to gradually convert to Christianity from the ancient Mesopotamian religion during the period between the early first and third centuries. Assyria became an important centre of Syriac Christianity and Syriac Literature, with the Assyrian Church of the East evolving in Assyria, and the Syriac Orthodox Church partly also, indeed Osroene became the first independent Christian state in history
After the Roman empire conquered the region of Assyria in the 200s Christianity spread, and many of the ethnically Assyrian churches that exist today are among the oldest in the world. For example, the Syriac Orthodox Church is purported to of been founded by St Peter himself in 67 AD.
Nevertheless, although predominantly Christian, a minority of Assyrians still held onto their ancient Mesopotamian religion until as late as the 10th or 11th century AD. The Assyrians lived in a province known as Asuristan, and the region was on the frontier of the Byzantine and Sassanian empires.
After the early Islamic conquests in the seventh century, Assyria was dissolved as a political entity, although the native population still regarded the region as Assyria. Under Arab rule, Mesopotamia as a whole underwent a gradual process of Arabisation and Islamification, and the region saw a large influx of non indigenous Arabs, Kurds, Iranian, and Turkic peoples. The indigenous Assyrian population of northern Mesopotamia resisted this process, retaining their language, religion, culture and identity.
Under the Arab Islamic empires, the Christian Assyrians were classed as dhimmis, second-class citizens that had certain restrictions imposed upon them. Dhimmis were excluded from specific duties and occupations reserved for Muslims, did not enjoy the same political rights as Muslims, their word was not equal to that of a Muslim in legal and civil matters without a Muslim witness, they were subject to payment of a special tax (jizyah) and they were banned from spreading their religion further in Muslim ruled lands.
The Assyrian Church structure thrived during the period of 600- 1300, and is regarded as a golden age for Assyrians.
The first signs of trouble for the Assyrians started in the 13th century, When the Mongols first invaded the Near East after the fall of Baghdad in 1258 to Hulagu Khan. Assyrians at first did very well under Mongol rule, as the Shamanist Mongols were sympathetic to them, with Assyrian priests having traveled to Mongolia centuries before. The Mongols in fact spent most of their time oppressing Muslims and Jews, outlawing the practice of circumcision and halal butchery, as they found them repulsive and violent
However, the Mongol rulers in the Near East eventually converted to Islam, and then sustained persecutions of Christians throughout the entirety of the Ilkhanate began in earnest in 1295 under the rule of Oïrat amir Nauruz, which affected the indigenous Assyrian Christians greatly.
Regardless of these hardships, the Assyrian people remained numerically dominant in the north of Mesopotamia as late as the 14th century AD, and the city of Assur functioned as their religious and cultural capital. However, in the mid-14th century the Muslim Turk ruler Tamurlane conducted a religiously motivated massacre of the indigenous Assyrian Christians, and worked tirelessly to destroy the vast Assyrian Church structure established throughout the Far East, destroying the entire structure of the church with the exception of the St Thomas Christians of the Malabar Coast in India, whom number 10 million or so in modern times.
After Timurs campaign, The Assyrian Cultural and religious capital of Assur was completely destroyed, thousands of Assyrians were massacred, the vast church structure of the Assyrian Church of the East was decimated, and the Assyrian population was from that point on reduced to a small minority living within Muslim dominated lands.
During 1500-1780 the Assyrian Church suffered diverse splits, for instance a faction within the Assyrian Church entered into communion with Rome and was was renamed the "Chaldean Catholic Church" in 1683.
In addition to the Eastern Rite Churches, The Syriac Orthodox Church also has a large number of ethnically Assyrian Adherents, who are known as Syriacs. The Syriac Orthodox Church has 5 million adherents across the globe, mostly in India, but is based in Damascus.
After these splits, the Assyrians suffered a number of religiously and ethnically motivated massacres throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, culminating in the large scale Hamidian massacres of unarmed men, women and children by Turks and Kurds in the 1890s at the hands of the Ottoman Empire and its associated (largely Kurdish and Arab) militias, which greatly reduced their numbers, particularly in southeastern Turkey.
The Assyrians suffered a further catastrophic series of events during World War I in the form of the religiously and ethnically motivated Assyrian Genocide at the hands of the Ottomans and their Kurdish and Arab allies from 1915 to 1918. Some sources claim the highest number of Assyrians killed during the period was 750,000, while a 1922 Assyrian assessment set it at 275,000. The Assyrian Genocide ran largely in conjunction to the similarly motivated Armenian Genocide and Greek Genocide.
The sizable Assyrian presence in south eastern Anatolia which had endured for over four millennia was thus reduced to no more than 15,000 by the end of World War I, and by 1924 those who remained were expelled, with many leaving and later founding villages in the Sapna and Nahla valleys in the Dohuk Governorate of Iraqi Kurdistan.
After Iraq was granted independence by the British in 1933, the Assyrians suffered the Simele Massacre, where thousands of unarmed villagers (men, women and children) were slaughtered by joint Arab-Kurdish forces of the Iraqi Army. 7 August officially became known as Martyrs Day or National Day of Mourning by the Assyrian community in memory for the Simele massacre, as it was declared so by the Assyrian Universal Alliance in 1970.
The massacres also had a deep impact on the newly established Kingdom of Iraq. Kanan Makiya argues that the killing of Assyrians transcended tribal, religious, ideological and ethnic barriers as Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, Sunni Kurds, Sunni Turkmen, Shia Turkmen, and Yazidis; Monarchists, Islamists, nationalists, royalists, conservatives, Leftists, federalists, and tribalists, were all united in their anti-Assyrian and anti-Christian sentiments. According to him, the pogrom was "the first genuine expression of national independence in a former Arab province of the Ottoman Empire" and that the killing of Assyrian Christians was seen as a national duty.
A further persecution of Assyrians took place in the Soviet Union in the late 1940s and early 1950s when thousands of Assyrians settled in Georgia, Armenia and southern Russia were forcibly deported from their homes in the dead of night by Stalin without warning or reason to Central Asia, with most being relocated to Kazakhstan, where a small minority still remain.
The period from the 1940s through to 1963 was a period of respite for the Assyrians in northern Iraq and north east Syria. The regime of Iraqi President Kassim in particular saw the Assyrians accepted into mainstream society.
However, in 1963, the Ba'ath Party took power by force in Iraq, and came to power in Syria the same year. The Baathists, though secular, were Arab nationalists, and set about attempting to Arabize the many non-Arab peoples of Iraq and Syria, including the Assyrians. This policy included refusing to acknowledge the Assyrians as an ethnic group, banning the publication of written material in Eastern Aramaic, and banning its teaching in schools.
The policies of the Baathists have also long been mirrored in Turkey, whose nationalist governments have refused to acknowledge the Assyrians as an ethnic group since the 1920s, and have attempted to Turkify the Assyrians by calling them "Semitic Turks" and forcing them to adopt Turkish names and language.
In recent years, particularly since 2014, the Assyrians in northern Iraq and north east Syria have become the target of unprovoked Islamic terrorism. As a result, Assyrians have taken up arms, alongside other groups (such as the Kurds, Turcomans and Armenians) in response to unprovoked attacks by Al Qaeda, ISIL, Nusra Front, and other Wahhabi terrorist Islamic fundamentalist groups. In 2014 Islamic terrorists of ISIS attacked Assyrian towns and villages in the Assyrian homelands of northern Iraq and north east Syria.
In addition, the Assyrians have suffered seeing their ancient indigenous heritage desecrated, in the form of Bronze Age and Iron Age monuments and archaeological sites, as well as numerous Assyrian churches and monasteries, being systematically vandalised and destroyed by ISIS. These include the ruins of Nineveh, Kalhu (Nimrud, Assur, Dur-Sharrukin and Hatra).
Assyria continued to exist as a geopolitical entity until the Arab-Islamic conquest in the mid-7th century, and Assyrian identity, personal, family and tribal names, and both spoken and written evolution of Mesopotamian Aramaic (which still contain many Akkadian loan words and an Akkadian grammatical structure) have survived among the Assyrian people from ancient times to this day.
Babylon
One of these Amorite dynasties founded a small kingdom which included the then still minor town of Babylon circa 1894 BC, which would ultimately take over the others and form the short-lived first Babylonian empire, also called the First Babylonian Dynasty.
Babylon remained a minor town in a small state until the reign of its sixth Amorite ruler, Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC, or fl. c. 1728 - 1686 BC (short). He conducted major building work in Babylon, expanding it from a small town into a great city worthy of kingship.
He then gradually expanded Babylonian dominance over the whole of southern Mesopotamia, conquering the cities and states of the region, such as; Isin, Larsa, Eshnunna, Kish, Lagash, Nippur, Borsippa, Ur, Uruk, Umma, Adab and Eridu.
The Code of Hammurabi was one of several sets of laws in the ancient Near East and also one of the first forms of law. The code of laws was arranged in orderly groups, so that all who read the laws would know what was required of them. The Code of Hammurabi is the longest surviving text from the Old Babylonian period. The code has been seen as an early example of a fundamental law, regulating a government - i.e., a primitive constitution. The code is also one of the earliest examples of the idea of presumption of innocence, and it also suggests that both the accused and accuser have the opportunity to provide evidence. The Code issues justice following the three classes of Babylonian society: property owners, freed men, and slaves. For example, if a doctor killed a rich patient, he would have his hands cut off, but if he killed a slave, only financial restitution was required. In 1901, a copy of the Code of Hammurabi was discovered on a stele by Jacques de Morgan and Jean-Vincent Scheil at Susa, where it had later been taken as plunder. That copy is now in the Louvre.
The armies of Babylonia under Hammurabi were well-disciplined. He turned eastwards and invaded what was a thousand years later to become Iran, conquering Elam, Gutians, Lullubi and Kassites. To the west, the Amorite states of the Levant (modern Syria and Jordan) including the powerful kingdom of Mari were conquered.
Southern Mesopotamia had no natural, defensible boundaries, making it vulnerable to attack. After the death of Hammurabi, his empire began to disintegrate rapidly. Under his successor Samsu-iluna (1749-1712 BC) the far south of Mesopotamia was lost to a native Akkadian speaking king called Ilum-ma-ili who ejected the Amorite ruled Babylonians. The south became the Sealand Dynasty, remaining free of Babylon for the next 272 years
The date of the sack of Babylon by the Hittites under king Mursili I is considered crucial to the various calculations of the early chronology of the ancient Near East, as it is taken as a fixed point in the discussion. The exact date is not known but it is between 1736 BC - 1499 BC range. The Hittites did not remain for long, but the destruction wrought by them finally enabled the Kassites to gain control.
The Kassites renamed Babylon Karduniaš and their rule lasted for 576 years, the longest dynasty in Babylonian history.
Babylon did not begin to recover until late in the reign of Adad-shuma-usur (1216-1189 BC), as he too remained a vassal of Assyria until 1193 BC. However, he was able to prevent the Assyrian king Enlil-kudurri-usur from retaking Babylonia, which, apart from its northern reaches, had mostly shrugged off Assyrian domination during a short period of civil war in the Assyrian empire, in the years after the death of Tukulti-Ninurta.
Despite the loss of territory, military weakness, and evident reduction in literacy and culture, the Kassite dynasty was the longest-lived dynasty of Babylon, lasting until 1155 BC, when Babylon was conquered by Shutruk-Nakhunte of Elam, and reconquered a few years later by the Nebuchadnezzar I, part of the larger Late Bronze Age collapse.
By 1155 BC, after continued attacks and annexing of territory by the Assyrians and Elamites, the Kassites were deposed in Babylon. An Akkadian south Mesopotamian dynasty then ruled for the first time. However, Babylon remained weak and subject to domination by Assyria.
During the rule of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911-609 BC), Babylonia was under constant Assyrian domination or direct control. During the reign of Sennacherib of Assyria, Babylonia was in a constant state of revolt, led by a Chaldean chieftain named Merodach-Baladan, in alliance with the Elamites, and suppressed only by the complete destruction of the city of Babylon. In 689 BC, its walls, temples and palaces were razed, and the rubble was thrown into the Arakhtu, the sea bordering the earlier Babylon on the south.
Under Nabopolassar, a previously unknown Chaldean chieftain, Babylon eventually escaped Assyrian rule, and in an alliance with Cyaxares, king of the Medes and Persians together with the Scythians and Cimmerians, the Assyrian Empire was finally destroyed between 612 BC and 605 BC. Babylon thus became the capital of the Neo-Babylonian (sometimes and possibly erroneously called Chaldean) Empire.
With the recovery of Babylonian independence, a new era of architectural activity ensued, particularly during the reign of his son Nebuchadnezzar II (604-561 BC). Nebuchadnezzar ordered the complete reconstruction of the imperial grounds, including the Etemenanki ziggurat, and the construction of the Ishtar Gate-the most prominent of eight gates around Babylon-. A reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate is located in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.
Nebuchadnezzar is also credited with the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon-one of the seven wonders of the ancient world-which is said to have been built for his homesick wife Amyitis. Whether the gardens actually existed is a matter of dispute. Excavations by German archaeologist Robert Koldewey are thought to reveal its foundations, though many historians disagree about the location, and some believe it may have been confused with gardens in the Assyrian capital, Nineveh.
Etemenanki (Sumerian: "temple of the foundation of heaven and earth") was the name of a ziggurat dedicated to Marduk in the city of Babylon. It was famously rebuilt by the 6th-century BCE Neo-Babylonian dynasty rulers Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar II. According to modern scholars, such as Stephen L. Harris, the biblical story of the Tower of Babel was likely influenced by Etemenanki during the Babylonian captivity of the Hebrews.
King of Judath Jehoiakim ruled originally as a vassal of the Egyptians, paying a heavy tribute. However, when the Egyptians were defeated by the Babylonians at Carchemish in 605 BCE, Jehoiakim changed allegiances, paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. In 601 BC, in the fourth year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar unsuccessfully attempted to invade Egypt and was repulsed with heavy losses. This failure led to numerous rebellions among the states of the Levant which owed allegiance to Babylon. Jehoiakim also stopped paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar and took a pro-Egyptian position. Nebuchadnezzar soon dealt with these rebellions. According to the Babylonian Chronicles, after invading "the land of Hatti (Syria/Palestine)" in 599 BC, he lay siege to Jerusalem. Jehoiakim died in 598 BC during the siege, and was succeeded by his son Jeconiah at an age of either eight or eighteen. The city fell about three months later, on 2 Adar (March 16) 597 BCE. Nebuchadnezzar pillaged both Jerusalem and the Temple, carting all his spoils to Babylon. Jeconiah and his court and other prominent citizens and craftsmen, along with a sizable portion of the Jewish population of Judah, numbering about 10,000 were deported from the land and dispersed throughout the Babylonian Empire. (2 Kings 24:14) Among them was Ezekiel. Nebuchadnezzar appointed Zedekiah, Jehoiakim's brother, king of the reduced kingdom, who was made a tributary of Babylon.
Despite the strong remonstrances of Jeremiah and others, Zedekiah revolted against Nebuchadnezzar, ceasing to pay tribute to him and entered into an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra. In 589 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II returned to Judah and again besieged Jerusalem. During this period, many Jews fled to surrounding Moab, Ammon, Edom and other countries to seek refuge. The city fell after a siege which lasted either eighteen or thirty months and Nebuchadnezzar again pillaged both Jerusalem and the Temple, after which he destroyed them both. After killing all of Zedekiah's sons, with the possible exception of one, Nebuchadnezzar took Zedekiah to Babylon, putting an end to the independent Kingdom of Judah. According to the Book of Jeremiah, in addition to those killed during the siege, some 4,600 people were deported after the fall of Judah. By 586 BCE much of Judah was devastated, and the former kingdom suffered a steep decline of both economy and population.
In 539 BC, the Neo-Babylonian Empire fell to Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, with a military engagement known as the Battle of Opis. Babylon's walls were considered impenetrable. The account was elaborated upon by Herodotus and is also mentioned in parts of the Hebrew Bible. According to 2 Chronicles 36 of the Hebrew Bible, Cyrus later issued a decree permitting captive people, including the Jews, to return to their own lands. Text found on the Cyrus Cylinder has traditionally been seen by biblical scholars as corroborative evidence of this policy, although the interpretation is disputed because the text only identifies Mesopotamian sanctuaries but makes no mention of Jews, Jerusalem, or Judea.
Under Cyrus and the subsequent Persian king Darius the Great, Babylon became the capital city of the 9th Satrapy (Babylonia in the south and Athura in the north), as well as a center of learning and scientific advancement. In Achaemenid Persia, the ancient Babylonian arts of astronomy and mathematics were revitalized, and Babylonian scholars completed maps of constellations. The city became the administrative capital of the Persian Empire and remained prominent for over two centuries. Many important archaeological discoveries have been made that can provide a better understanding of that era.
In October of 331 BC, Darius III, the last Achaemenid king of the Persian Empire, was defeated by the forces of the Ancient Macedonian Greek ruler Alexander the Great at the Battle of Gaugamela. A native account of this invasion notes a ruling by Alexander not to enter the homes of its inhabitants. Alexander the Great captured Babylon and ordered repairs to the Etemenanki; when he returned to the ancient city in 323 BCE, he noted that no progress had been made, and ordered his army to demolish the entire building, to prepare a final rebuilding. His death, however, prevented the reconstruction. The Babylonian Chronicles and Astronomical Diaries record several attempts to rebuild the Etemenanki, which were always preceded by removing the last debris of the original ziggurat.
Under Alexander, Babylon again flourished as a center of learning and commerce. However, following Alexander's death in 323 BC in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, his empire was divided amongst his generals, the Diadochi, and decades of fighting soon began. The constant turmoil virtually emptied the city of Babylon. A tablet dated 275 BC states that the inhabitants of Babylon were transported to Seleucia, where a palace and a temple (Esagila) were built. With this deportation, Babylon became insignificant as a city, although more than a century later, sacrifices were still performed in its old sanctuary
Under the Parthian and Sassanid Empires, Babylon (like Assyria) became a province of these Persian Empires for nine centuries, until after AD 650. It maintained its own culture and people, who spoke varieties of Aramaic, and who continued to refer to their homeland as Babylon.
Christianity was introduced to Mesopotamia in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, and Babylon was the seat of a Bishop of the Church of the East until well after the Arab/Islamic conquest.
The satrapy of Babylonia was absorbed into As?rist?n in the Sasanian Empire, which began in 226 AD, and by this time East Syrian Rite Syriac Christianity (which emerged in Assyria and Upper Mesopotamia the first century AD) had become the dominant religion among the native populace, who had never adopted the Zoroastrianism or Hellenic religions of their rulers.
Apart from the small 2nd century BC to 3rd century AD independent Neo-Assyrian states of Adiabene, Osroene, Assur, Beth Garmai and Beth Nuhadra in the north, Mesopotamia remained under largely Persian control until the Arab Muslim conquest of Persia in the seventh century. As?rist?n was dissolved as a geopolitical entity in 637, and the native Aramaic-speaking and largely Christian populace of southern and central Mesopotamia gradually underwent Arabization and Islamization.
In the mid-7th century, Mesopotamia was invaded and settled by the expanding Muslim Empire, and a period of Islamization followed. Babylon was dissolved as a province and Aramaic and Church of the East Christianity eventually became marginalized.
Among the sciences, astronomy and astrology still occupied a conspicuous place in Babylonian society. Astronomy was of old standing in Babylonia. The zodiac was a Babylonian invention of great antiquity; and eclipses of the sun and moon could be foretold. There are dozens of cuneiform records of original Mesopotamian eclipse observations.
The Babylonian system of mathematics was sexagesimal, or a base 60 numeral system. From this we derive the modern day usage of 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, and 360 (60 x 6) degrees in a circle. The Babylonians were able to make great advances in mathematics for two reasons. First, the number 60 has many divisors (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 30), making calculations easier. Additionally, unlike the Egyptians and Romans, the Babylonians had a true place-value system, where digits written in the left column represented larger values (much as in our base-ten system: 734 = 7×100 + 3×10 + 4×1).
It is possible that Babylonian philosophy had an influence on Greek philosophy, particularly Hellenistic philosophy. The Babylonian text Dialogue of Pessimism contains similarities to the agonistic thought of the sophists, the Heraclitean doctrine of contrasts, and the dialogs of Plato, as well as a precursor to the maieutic Socratic method of Socrates.
Babylonia, and particularly its capital city Babylon, has long held a place in the Abrahamic religions as a symbol of excess and dissolute power. Many references are made to Babylon in the Bible, both literally (historical) and allegorically. The mentions in the Tanakh tend to be historical or prophetic, while New Testament apocalyptic references to the Whore of Babylon are more likely figurative, or cryptic references possibly to pagan Rome, or some other archetype. The legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Tower of Babel are seen as symbols of luxurious and arrogant power respectively.
The Jews were the first race to find words to express the deepest human emotions, especially the feelings produced by bodily or mental suffering, anxiety, spiritual despair and desolation, and the remedies for these evils produced by human ingenuity—hope, resolution, confidence in divine assistance, the consciousness of innocence or righteousness, penitence, sorrow and humility.
The notion of human life being sacred, because created in God’s image, was the central precept of Jewish ethics, and it determined the provisions of Jewish criminal codes from the earliest times. But the sages and their successors worked out the implications of this doctrine in ingenious detail. Everything came from God, and man merely had the temporal use of these gifts: thus he must, for instance, farm the land industriously and with a view to its use by future generations. But these gifts included man’s own body. Hillel the Elder taught that man therefore had a duty to keep his body fit and healthy. Philo, like many influenced by Greek notions, separated the body and soul in moral terms and even referred to the body as an emotional, irrational ‘plotter’ against the rational soul. But mainstream, rabbinical Judaism rejected a body-soul dichotomy, just as it rejected the good powers/evil powers of gnosticism. Body and soul, it taught, were one and jointly responsible for sin, therefore jointly punishable. This became an important distinction between Christianity and Judaism. The Christian idea that, by weakening the body through mortification and fasting, you strengthened the soul, was anathema to Jews.
The Torah and its superstructure of commentaries formed a moral theology as well as a practical system of civil and criminal law. Judaism is not so much about doctrine—that is taken for granted—as behaviour;the code matters more than the creed.
In Mosaic Jewish theology, man is made in God’s image, and so his life is not just valuable, it is sacred. To kill a man is an offence against God so grievous that the ultimate punishment, the forfeiture of life, must follow; money is not enough (the life of a rich man wouldnt be spared because of his assets). The horrific fact of execution thus underscores the sanctity of human life. Under Mosaic law, then, many men and women met their deaths whom the secular codes of surrounding societies would have simply permitted to compensate their victims or their victims’ families. But the converse is also true, as a result of the same axiom. Whereas other codes provided the death penalty for offences against property, such as looting during a fire, breaking into a house, serious trespass by night, or theft of a wife, in the Mosaic law no property offence is capital. Human life is too sacred where the rights of property alone are violated. It also repudiates vicarious punishment: the offences of parents must not be punished by the execution of sons or daughters, or the husband’s crime by the surrender of the wife to prostitution. Moreover, not only is human life sacred, the human person (being in God’s image) is precious. Whereas, for instance, the Mid-Assyrian code lists a fierce series of physical punishments, including facial mutilation, castration, impalement and flogging to death, the Mosaic code treats the body with respect. Physical cruelty is reduced to the minimum. Even flogging was limited to forty strokes, and must be carried out ‘before the face’ of the judge, ‘lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee’. The fact is, the Mosaic code was far more humane than any other, because, being God-centred, it was automatically man-centred also.
The Jews are sometimes accused of not understanding freedom as well as the Greeks, but the truth is that they understood it better, grasping the point that the only true freedom is a good conscience—a concept St Paul carried from Judaism into Christianity. The Jews thought sinfulness and virtue were collective as well as individual.. The Bible showed repeatedly that a city, a community, a nation, earned both merit and retribution by its acts. The Torah bound the Jews together as one body and one soul.
The notion of man’s basic right to roam freely was very deep in Judaism, another reason why it was the first society of antiquity to reject slavery. But if a man was free physically, he was certainly not free morally. On the contrary, he had all kinds of duties to the community, not least the duty of obedience to its duly constituted authorities. Therefore Man was seen both as an individual, with rights, and as member of a community, with obligations. No system of justice in history has made more persistent and on the whole successful efforts to reconcile individual and social roles—another reason why the Jews were able to keep their cohesion in the face of otherwise intolerable pressures. Society required that there should be equality before the law. Also the obligation to pay communal taxes was religious as well as social. Moreover, philanthropy was an obligation too, since the word "zedakah" meant both charity and righteousness. A Jew must always bear witness and protest against evil, especially great public sins of the powerful crying to God for vengeance. But precisely because the duty to protest against another’s sin is so important, false and malicious accusations are particularly abhorrent. To destroy a man’s reputation wilfully and unjustly is one of the worst of sins.
The notion of strict justice was never enough. The Jews were the first to introduce the concept of repentance and atonement, which became a primary Christian theme also. The Bible repeatedly refers to the ‘change of heart’—‘Turn ye even to me with all your heart,’ as the Book of Joel puts it, and ‘Rend your hearts and not your garments.’ In the Book of Ezekiel the injunction is ‘Make ye a new heart.’ The Law and the courts sought to go beyond restitution to bring about reconciliation between the contending
The idea of peace as a positive state, a noble ideal which is also a workable human condition, is another Jewish invention. It is one of the great motifs of the Bible, especially of its finest book, Isaiah. The Mishnah laid down: ‘Three things sustain the existence of the world—justice, truth and peace,’ and the closing words of the whole work are: ‘God did not bestow any greater blessing on Israel than peace, for it is written: “The Lord will give strength to his people, the Lord will bless his people with peace.”
The Christians took from Judaism the Pentateuch (including its morals and ethics), the prophets and the wisdom books, and far more of the apocrypha than the Jews themselves were prepared to canonize. They took the liturgy, for even the eucharist had Jewish roots. They took the notion of the Sabbath day and feast-days, incense and burning lamps, psalms, hymns and choral music, vestments and prayers, priests and martyrs, the reading of the sacred books and the institution of the synagogue (transformed into the church). They took even the notion of clerical authority—which the Jews would soon modify—in the shape of the high-priest whom the Christians turned into patriarchs and popes. There is nothing in the early church, other than its Christology, which was not adumbrated in Judaism.
Therefore Christianity gave a fresh interpretation to an ancient form of monotheism, gradually evolving into a different religion but carrying with it much of the moral and dogmatic theology, the liturgy, the institutions and the fundamental concepts of its forebear.
Equally important, however, was another characteristic of Judaism: the relative absence of dogmatic theology. Almost from the beginning, Christianity found itself in grave difficulties over dogma, because of its origins. If Christ was not God, Christianity was nothing. After 70 AD The Jews could accept the decentralization of the Temple: many had long done so, and soon all had to do so. They could accept a different view of the Law. What they could not accept was the removal of the absolute distinction they had always drawn between God and man, because that was the essence of Jewish theology, the belief that above all others separated them from the pagans. By removing that distinction, the Christians took themselves irrecoverably out of the Judaic faith.There could be absolutely no compromise on this point. Each faith was thus a threat to the other. It believed in one God, but its monotheism was qualified by the divinity of Christ. To solve this problem it evolved the dogma of the two natures of Christ, and the dogma of the Trinity— three persons in one God. These devices in turn created more problems, and from the second century onwards produced innumerable heresies, which convulsed and divided Christianity throughout the Dark Ages. The Jews escaped this calvary. Their view of God is very simple and clear. The Jews usually avoided the positive dogmas which the vanity of theologians tends to create and which are the source of so much trouble. They never adopted, for instance, the idea of Original Sin. Of all the ancient peoples, the Jews were perhaps the least interested in death, and this saved them a host of problems.
The Books
Rabbinic Judaism recognizes the 24 books of the Masoretic Text ('MT'), commonly called the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible, as authoritative. Evidence suggests that the process of canonization occurred between 200 BC and 200 AD. The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and accentuation known as the Masorah. In modern times the Dead Sea Scrolls have shown the MT to be nearly identical to some texts of the Tanakh dating from 200 BC but different from others. The MT was primarily copied, edited and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the 7th and 10th centuries AD.
The Tanakh is the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The name Tanakh is an acronym of the first Hebrew letter of each of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: Torah ("Teaching", also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im ("Prophets") and Ketuvim ("Writings")—hence TaNaKh. Much of the contents of the Tanakh was compiled by the Men of the Great Assembly (Anshei K'nesset HaGedolah), a task completed in 450 BC, and have remained unchanged since that date. Evidence suggests that the process of canonization occurred between 200 BC and 200 AD. A popular position is that the Torah was canonized circa 400 BC, the Prophets circa 200 BC, and the Writings circa 100 AD, perhaps at a hypothetical Council of Jamnia. This position, however, is increasingly criticised by modern scholars. Some scholars argue that the Jewish canon was fixed by the Hasmonean dynasty (140-37 BC). Today, there is no scholarly consensus as to when the Jewish canon was set.
The chapter divisions and verse numbers have no significance in the Jewish tradition. Nevertheless, they are noted in all modern editions of the Tanakh so that verses may be located and cited. The adoption of the Christian chapter divisions by Jews began in the late Middle Ages in Spain, partially in the context of forced clerical debates. From the standpoint of the Jewish textual tradition, the chapter divisions are not only a foreign feature with no basis in the mesorah, but are also open to severe criticism of three kinds:
- The chapter divisions often reflect Christian exegesis of the Bible.
- Even when they do not imply Christian exegesis, the chapters often divide the biblical text at numerous points that may be deemed inappropriate for literary or other reasons.
-They ignore the accepted closed and open space division which are based on the mesorah
Nevertheless, because they proved useful for citations, they are often included in most Hebrew editions of the biblical books.
There are two major approaches towards study of, and commentary on, the Tanakh. In the Jewish community, the classical approach is religious study of the Bible, where it is assumed that the Bible is divinely inspired. Another approach is to study the Bible as a human creation. In this approach, Biblical studies can be considered as a sub-field of religious studies. The later practice, when applied to the Torah, is considered heresy by the Orthodox Jewish community. As such, much modern day Bible commentary written by non-Orthodox authors is considered forbidden by rabbis teaching in Orthodox yeshivas.
The New Testament writers, when citing the Jewish scriptures, or when quoting Jesus doing so, freely used a Greek translation of the Hebrew bible, "the Septuagint or the LXX", implying that Jesus, his Apostles and their followers considered it reliable. The Septuagint was widely accepted and used by Greek-speaking Jews in the 1st century, even in the region of Roman Judea, and therefore naturally became the text most widely used by early Christians, who were predominantly Greek speaking.Most quotations of the Old Testament in the New Testament, differing by varying degrees from the Masoretic Text, are taken from the Septuagint. When Jerome undertook in 382 AD the revision of the Old Latin translations of the Septuagint, he checked the Septuagint against the Hebrew texts that were then available. He then translated most of the Old Testament of his Latin Vulgate from Hebrew rather than Greek. With the passage of time, acceptance of Jerome's version gradually increased until it displaced the Old Latin translations of the Septuagint. This is why Protestants and Catholics even use the Masoretic Text as the textual basis for their translations of the protocanonical books (those accepted as canonical by both Jews and all Christians), with various changes derived from a multiplicity of other ancient sources (such as the Septuagint, the Vulgate, the Dead Sea Scrolls, etc.), while generally using the Septuagint and Vulgate, now supplemented by the ancient Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts, as the textual basis for the deuterocanonical books. The Eastern Orthodox use the Septuagint as the textual basis for the entire Old Testament in both protocanonical and deuteroncanonical books—to use both in the Greek for liturgical purposes, and as the basis for translations into the vernacular.
When the Jews closed the Hebrew bible canon, two criteria were used, that the book be written in Hebrew or Aramaic, and that it be no younger than the time of Ezra. This process led to the 24/39 books of the Tanakh and Old Testament. (However, Daniel was written several hundred years after the time of Ezra, and since that time several books of the Septuagint have been found in the original Hebrew, in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Cairo Geniza, and at Masada, including a Hebrew text of Sirach (Qumran, Masada) and an Aramaic text of Tobit (Qumran); the additions to Esther and Daniel are also in their respective Semitic languages.)
The difference in canons derives from the difference in the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint. Books found in both the Hebrew and the Greek are accepted by all denominations, and by Jews, these are the protocanonical books. Catholics and Orthodox also accept those books present in manuscripts of the Septuagint, an ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament with great currency among the Jews of the ancient world, with the coda that Catholics consider 3 Esdras and 3 Maccabees apocryphal.
Pope Damasus I assembled the first list of books of the Bible at the Council of Rome in 382 AD. He commissioned Saint Jerome to produce a reliable and consistent text by translating the original Greek and Hebrew texts into Latin. This translation became known as the Latin Vulgate Bible, in the fourth century CE. And in 1546, at the Council of Trent, Jerome's Vulgate translation was declared by the Roman Catholic Church to be the only authentic and official Bible in the Latin Church. For over a thousand years (c. AD 400–1530), the Vulgate was the definitive edition of the most influential text in Western European society. Indeed, for most Western Christians, it was the only version of the Bible ever encountered.
The Bible was divided into chapters in the 13th century by Stephen Langton and into verses in the 16th century by French printer Robert Estienne and is now usually cited by book, chapter, and verse.
Deuterocanonical books is a term used since the 16th century in the Catholic Church and Eastern Christianity to describe those certain books and passages of the Christian Old Testament that are not part of the Hebrew Bible. The original usage of the term distinguished these scriptures both from those considered non-canonical and from those considered protocanonical. However, some editions of the Bible include text from both deuterocanonical and non-canonical scriptures in a single section designated "Apocrypha". The large majority of Old Testament references in the New Testament are taken from the Greek Septuagint (LXX)—which includes the deuterocanonical books, as well as apocrypha. Several appear to have been written originally in Hebrew, but the original text has long been lost. Archaeological finds, however, discovered some original texts among the Dead Sea scrolls. The Septuagint was widely accepted and used by Greek-speaking Jews in the 1st century, even in the region of Roman Judea, and therefore naturally became the text most widely used by early Christians, who were predominantly Greek speaking.
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| Timeline of the Hebrew books |
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| An overview of the Old testament History |
- Book of Genesis: Many scholars believe that the books of the Pentateuch underwent a series of revisions and editorial additions and subtractions before reaching their final form which we have today. Most generally agree that the revisions were completed by the end of the Exile in 517 BC.
The basic narrative expresses the central theme: God creates the world and appoints man as his regent, but man proves disobedient and God destroys his world through the Flood. In Genesis 3:22, by eating the forbidden fruit, man and woman become like gods and are banished from the Garden of Eden, preventing them from retaining their immortality and full divinity. Eve conceived and gave birth to Cain and a second child Abel. Cain committed the first murder by killing his brother and was the first human born and Abel was the first human to die (4:1-8). The world becomes corrupted by the sin of man and God sends a great flood to destroy it, saving only the righteous (Noah) and his family, from whose seed the world is repopulated. Man sins again, but God has promised that he will not destroy the world a second time with water. The Seven Laws of Noah (Hebrew: Sheva mitzvot B'nei Noach), or the Noahide Laws, are a set of moral imperatives that, according to the Talmud, were given by God as a binding set of laws for the "children of Noah" – that is, all of humanity. The Noahic covenant [Gen 9:8-17] applies to all of humanity and to all living creatures. In this covenant, God promises never again to destroy all life on Earth by flood [9:11] and creates the rainbow as the sign of this "everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth". Yet humanity again falls into sin and rebellion against God when building the Tower of Babel (11). The new post-Flood world is equally corrupt, but God does not destroy it, instead calling one man, Abraham (12), to be the seed of its salvation. The covenant was for Abraham and his seed, or offspring, both of natural birth and adoption. Circumcision is to be the permanent sign of this everlasting covenant with Abraham and his male descendants and is known as the brit milah. Brit bein HaBetarim, the "Covenant Between the Parts" in Hebrew, and is the basis for brit milah (covenant of circumcision) in Judaism. Covenants in biblical times were often sealed by severing an animal, with the implication that the party who breaks the covenant will suffer a similar fate. In Hebrew, the verb meaning to seal a covenant translates literally as "to cut". It is presumed by Jewish scholars that the removal of the foreskin symbolically represents such a sealing of the covenant. Abraham and Sarah aren't able to have children. But God miraculously provides Isaac as a son to Abraham and Sarah when Abraham is 100 years old (21). After Isaac's miraculous birth, God tests Abraham's fidelity by asking him to sacrifice his son (22). Abraham obeys and when he is about to slaughter Isaac, the angel of the Lord stops him. At God's command Abraham descends from his home into the land of Canaan (which is roughly modern-day Lebanon, Israel, Palestinian territories, the western part of Jordan and southwestern Syria), given to him by God, where he dwells as a sojourner, as does his son Isaac. Isaac and his wife Rebekah give birth to twins: Esau (Esau is the progenitor of the Edomites) and Jacob. Esau was born first, but Jacob buys Esau's birthright from him and steals his blessing so he become the bearer of the promises given to Abraham (27). Jacob has twelve sons and after wrestling with the Lord, he is renamed Israel (32). Jacob's twelve sons later become the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel. Joseph is Jacob's favorite son, so his jealous brothers sell him into slavery to Egypt and pretend that he was killed (37). Yet ironically, the land of Canaan suffers a famine and his brothers and the children of Israel, 70 people in all, with their households descend into Egypt to buy food. Since Joseph has risen to rule over Pharoah's possessions, he is responsible for distributing grain to them. After a series of trips and conversations, all of the brothers move to Egypt with Jacob and all of their possessions. By the time of Joseph's death at the end of Genesis, the whole tribe is living in Egypt.
Outline of the Book of Genesis:
- Creation - Genesis 1:1-2:3
- Adam and Eve's Story - Genesis 2:4-5:32
- Noah's Story - Genesis 6:1-11:32
- Abraham's Story - Genesis 12:1-25:18
- Isaac's Story - Genesis 25:19-28:9
- Jacob's Story - Genesis 28:10-36:43
- Joseph's Story - Genesis 37:1-50:26
Gen 3.19: By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return
What strikes one about the Jewish description of creation and early man, compared with pagan cosmogonies, is the lack of interest in the mechanics of how the world and its creatures came into existence, which led the Egyptian and Mesopotamian narrators into such weird contortions. The Jews simply assume the pre-existence of an omnipotent God, who acts but is never described or characterized, and so has the force and invisibility of nature itself: it is significant that the first chapter of Genesis, unlike any other cosmogony of antiquity, fits perfectly well, in essence, with modern scientific explanations of the origin of the universe, not least the ‘Big Bang’ theory.
In our present state of knowledge, we must assume that the very earliest chapters of the book of Genesis are schematic and symbolic rather than factual descriptions. Chapters 1-5, with their identification of such concepts as knowledge, evil, shame, jealousy and crime, are explanations rather than actual episodes, though embedded in them are residual memories. It is hard, for instance, to believe that the story of Cain and Abel is complete fiction; Cain’s reply, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’, has the ring of truth, and the notion of the shamed and hunted man, with the mark of guilt upon him, is so powerful as to suggest historic fact.
There can now be no doubt that some kind of huge inundation did occur in Mesopotamia. In the 1920s, Sir Leonard Woolley found and excavated Ur, an important Sumerian city of the fourth and third millennia BC, which is mentioned in the Bible at the very end of its prehistoric section.While investigating the earlier archaeological levels at Ur, Woolley made prolonged efforts to unearth physical evidence of a dramatic flood. He found an alluvial deposit of 8 feet which he dated 4000 to 3500 BC. At Shuruppak he came across another impressive alluvial deposit, and an 18-inch one at a similar stratum at Kish. Then in 1965 the British Museum made a further discovery in its deposits: two tablets, referring to the Flood, written in the Babylonian city of Sippar in the reign of King Ammisaduqa, 1646- 1626 BC. The importance of this last discovery was that it enables us to focus on the figure of Noah himself. For it relates how the god, having created mankind, regretted it and decided to drown it by flood; but Enki, the water-god, revealed the catastrophic plan to a certain priest-king called Ziusudra, who built a boat and so survived. Ziusudra was undoubtedly a real person, king of the south Babylonian city of Shuruppak about 2900 BC, in which capacity he figures in the earliest column of the Sumerian king-list. At the site of Shuruppak itself there is evidence of a phenomenal flood, though the dating does not correspond with Woolley’s flood at Ur.15 The saviour-figure of Ziusudra, presented in the Bible as Noah, thus provides the first independent confirmation of the actual existence of a Biblical personage. There is, however, a fundamental difference between the Biblical presentation of the Flood and the Babylonian-Sumerian epics. Noah, unlike Ziusudra, is a moral figure, anchored firmly in the scheme of values which the Book of Genesis identifies from the very beginning. Moreover, whereas the Gilgamesh story recounts isolated episodes lacking a unifying moral and historical context, the Jewish version sees each event as involving moral issues and, collectively, bearing witness to a providential design.
We can place Abraham and his descendants in their true historical context. At the end of the third millennium BC, civilized international society was disrupted by incursions from the East. These invaders caused great trouble in Egypt. These peoples, moving from Mesopotamia towards the Mediterranean, spoke West Semitic languages, of which Hebrew is one.
The Old Testament, it is important to grasp, is not primarily about justice as an abstract concept. It is about God’s justice, which manifests itself by God’s acts of choice. In Genesis we have various examples of the ‘just man’, even the only just man: in the story of Noah and the Flood, in the story of the destruction of Sodom, for example. Abraham is a just man too, but there is no suggestion that God chose him because he was the only one, or in any sense because of his merits. The Bible is not a work of reason, it is a work of history, dealing with what are to us mysterious and even inexplicable events. It is concerned with the momentous choices which it pleased God to make.
Circumcision was so closely associated with Jewish men that Jewish Christians were referred to as "those of the circumcision" or conversely Christians who were circumcised were referred to as Jewish Christians or Judaizers. Today, most Christian denominations are neutral about ritual male circumcision, neither requiring it nor forbidding it. Modern Christians, such as Ethiopian Orthodox and Coptic Orthodox still practice circumcision while not considering it a part of conversion to Judaism, nor do they consider themselves to be Jews or Jewish Christians. "Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts (1 Cor 7:19)."
2) The Patriarchs and the born of Israel, including its captivity and exodus from Egypt
Through the patriarchs God announces the election of Israel, meaning that he has chosen Israel to be his special people and committed himself to their future. God tells the patriarchs that he will be faithful to their descendants (i.e. to Israel), and Israel is expected to have faith in God and his promise. ("Faith" in the context of Genesis and the Hebrew bible means agreement to the promissory relationship, not a body of belief).
The Torah traces the Israelites to the patriarch Jacob, grandson of Abraham, who was renamed Israel after a mysterious incident in which he wrestles all night with God or an angel. Jacob's twelve sons (in order of birth), Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin, become the ancestors of twelve tribes.
Jacob and his sons are forced by famine to go down into Egypt. When they arrive they and their families are 70 in number, but within four generations they have increased to 600,000 men of fighting age, and the Pharaoh of Egypt, alarmed, first enslaves them and then orders the death of all male Hebrew children. The god of Israel reveals his name to Moses, a Hebrew of the line of Levi; Moses leads the Israelites out of bondage and into the desert, where God gives them their laws and the Israelites agree to become his people. Nevertheless, the Israelites lack complete faith in God, and the generation which left Egypt is not permitted to enter the Promised Land. Those events are memorialized in the Jewish and Samaritan holiday of Passover, as well as the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.
[In Israel, Passover is the seven-day holiday of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, with the first and last days observed as legal holidays and as holy days involving abstention from work, special prayer services, and holiday meals; the intervening days are known as Chol HaMoed ("Weekdays [of] the Festival"). Diaspora Jews historically observed the festival for eight days, and most still do.
2013 date sunset of Monday 25 March to nightfall of Monday 1
2014 date sunset of Monday 14 April to nightfall of Monday 21
2015 date sunset of Friday 3 April to nightfall of Friday 10
A symbol of the Passover holiday is matzo, an unleavened flatbread made solely from flour and water which is continually worked from mixing through baking, so that it is not allowed to rise.The Torah says that it is because the Hebrews left Egypt with such haste that there was no time to allow baked bread to rise; thus flat, unleavened bread, matzo, is a reminder of the rapid departure of the Exodus.
It is traditional for Jewish families to gather on the first night of Passover (first two nights in communities outside the land of Israel) for a special dinner called a sederChildren have a very important role in the Passover seder. Traditionally the youngest child is prompted to ask questions about the Passover seder, beginning with the words, Mah Nishtana HaLeila HaZeh (Why is this night different from all other nights?). The questions encourage the gathering to discuss the significance of the symbols in the meal. Many readings, prayers, and stories are used to recount the story of the Exodus. Many households add their own commentary and interpretation and often the story of the Jews is related to the theme of liberation and its implications worldwide.
When the Temple stood in Jerusalem, a sheaf of new-cut barley was presented before the altar on the second day of Unleavened Bread. Since the destruction of the Temple, this offering is brought in word rather than deed.
The Christian feast of Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) finds its roots in the Jewish feast of Passover, the night on which the Last Supper is generally thought to have occurred.
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Shavuot commemorates the anniversary of the day God gave the Torah to the entire nation of Israel assembled at Mount Sinai, although the association between the giving of the Torah (Matan Torah) and Shavuot is not explicit in the Biblical text. It usually occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan (late May or early June).
The practice of staying up all Shavuot night to study Torah – known as Tikkun Leil Shavuot – has its source in the Midrash, which relates that the night before the Torah was given, the Israelites retired early to be well-rested for the momentous day ahead. They overslept and Moses had to wake them up because God was already waiting on the mountaintop. To rectify this perceived flaw in the national character, many religious Jews stay up all night to learn Torah.
Spanish and Portuguese Jews do not observe this custom.
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- Book of Exodus: The book tells how the children of Israel leave slavery in Egypt through the strength of Yahweh, the God who has chosen Israel as his people. It is not probable that the exodus itself took place in Rameses’ reign. It seems more likely that the Israelites broke out under his successor, Merneptah. A victory stele of this pharaoh has survived and been dated 1220 BC. It relates that he won a battle beyond Sinai, in Canaan, and refers to the defeated as ‘Israel’. He may not have won, as pharaohs often presented their defeats or stalemates as triumphs, but it is clear that he fought some kind of engagement with the Israelites outside his territory, so they had already left.
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| Menorah |
* The menorah symbolized the ideal of universal enlightenment. The seven lamps allude to the branches of human knowledge, represented by the six lamps inclined inwards towards, and symbolically guided by, the light of God represented by the central lamp. The menorah also symbolizes the creation in seven days, with the center light representing the Sabbath. It is also said to symbolize the burning bush as seen by Moses on Mount Horeb. The branches are often artistically depicted as semicircular, but Rashi, Ibn Ezra, and Maimonides (according to his son Avraham), held they were straight; no other Jewish authority expresses an opinion on the subject. Archaeological evidence, including depictions by artists who had seen the menorah, indicates that they were neither straight nor semicircular but elliptical. The fate of the menorah used in the Second Temple is recorded by Josephus, who states that it was brought to Rome and carried along during the triumph of Vespasian and Titus.
[Sukkot or Feast of Tabernacles: The sukkah is intended as a reminiscence of the type of fragile dwellings in which the Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of travel in the desert after the Exodus from slavery in Egypt. Throughout the holiday, meals are eaten inside the sukkah and some people sleep there as well. On each day of the holiday, members of the household recite a blessing over the lulav (closed frond of the date palm tree, bound with boughs and branches of the willow and myrtle trees) and etrog (yellow citron) (Four species). Sukkot or The Feast of Tabernacles is celebrated for eight days in Israel and nine days in the Diaspora. It takes place on the 15th of the Hebrew month Tishri. This was the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar and usually occurs in late September to mid-October.
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- Book of Leviticus: The English name is from the Latin Leviticus, taken in turn from Greek and a reference to the Levites, the tribe from whom the priests were drawn. In addition to instructions for those priests, it also addresses the role and duties of the laity. The entire book of Leviticus is composed of Priestly literature. Leviticus rests in two crucial beliefs: the first, that the world was created "very good" and retains the capacity to achieve that state although it is vulnerable to sin and defilement; the second, that the faithful enactment of ritual makes God's presence available, while ignoring or breaching it compromises the harmony between God and the world. The traditional view is that Leviticus was compiled by Moses, or that the material in it goes back to his time, but internal clues suggest that it originated in post-exilic (i.e., after c.538 BCE) Jewish worship centred on reading or preaching. Scholars are practically unanimous that the book had a long period of growth, that it includes some material of considerable antiquity, and that it reached its present form in the Persian period (538–332 BCE).
The book describes the main function of the priests as service at the altar, and only the sons of Aaron are priests in the full sense. In chapter 10, God kills Nadab and Abihu, the oldest sons of Aaron, for offering "strange incense". Fortunately, Aaron has two sons left.
Leviticus 16 concerns the Day of Atonement. This is the only day on which the High Priest is to enter the holiest part of the sanctuary, the holy of holies. He is to sacrifice a bull for the sins of the priests, and a goat for the sins of the laypeople. A third goat is to be sent into the desert to "Azazel", bearing the sins of the whole people.
New Testament writings such as the letter to the Hebrews speak of the blood of Christ, using the language of the sin offering in Leviticus.Christians generally have the view that the New Covenant supersedes (i.e., replaces) the Law of Moses, of which Leviticus is a central part. Christians therefore, unlike many Jews, do not observe Leviticus' prohibitions on a whole range of behaviors, from the ban on eating shellfish to the wearing of "fringes" on their garments. However, in both Christianity and Judaism, Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 have historically been interpreted as clear blanket prohibitions against homosexual acts.
- Book of Numbers: Numbers begins at Mount Sinai, where the Israelites have received their Ten Commandments and laws and covenant from God and God has taken up residence among them in the sanctuary. The task before them is to take possession of the Promised Land. The people are numbered and preparations are made for resuming their march. The Israelites begin the journey, but they "murmur" (complain or kvetch) at the hardships along the way, and about the authority of Moses and Aaron. For these acts, God destroys approximately 15,000 of them through various means. They arrive at the borders of Canaan and send spies into the land, but upon hearing the negative emphasis of the spies' report concerning the conditions in Canaan the Israelites refuse to take possession of it, and God condemns them to death in the wilderness until a new generation can grow up and carry out the task. Numbers is the culmination of the story of Israel's exodus from oppression in Egypt and their journey to take possession of the land God promised their fathers. The message is clear: failure was not due to any fault in the preparation, because Yahweh had foreseen everything, but to Israel's sin of unfaithfulness. As such it draws to a conclusion the themes introduced in Genesis and played out in Exodus and Leviticus: God has promised the Israelites that they shall become a great (i.e. numerous) nation, that they will have a special relationship with Yahweh their god, and that they shall take possession of the land of Canaan. Against this, Numbers also demonstrates the importance of holiness, faithfulness and trust: despite God's presence and his priests, Israel lacks faith and the possession of the land is left to a new generation. The last five chapters are exclusively concerned with land: instructions for the extermination of the Canaanites, the demarcation of the boundaries of the land, how the land is to be divided, holy cities for the Levites and "cities of refuge", the problem of pollution of the land by blood, and regulations for inheritance when a male heir is lacking.
In the book of Numbers (15:37-40),
the Israelites are commanded to put tzitzit ("fringes") [Ashkenazic
pronunciation: tzitzis] on their garments in order to remind them of
God's laws. The tallit [or, in Ashkenazic pronunciation, tallis]
is the robe with which the worshipper is wrapped during prayer and hence
often referred to as a "prayer shawl," though this is not the
traditional Jewish name for the garment, which was not originally
associated particularly with prayer. The majority of Biblical scholars believe that the Torah (or Five Books of Moses) were a product of the Babylonian exilic period (c. 600 BCE) and that it was completed by the Persian period. The Babylonian exile lasted approximately 48 years, from 586 to 538 BCE, and ended with the conquest of Babylon in that year by the Persians. The new Persian ruler decided to allow the exiles to return home. According to the book of Ezra-Nehemiah they did so under the joint leadership of a descendant of the last king and the last High Priest, rebuilding the Temple and reconstituting Judah (now called Yehud) as a holy community ruled by priests. It was in this period that the Pentateuch (or Torah, to give the Hebrew name) was composed, by detaching the book of Deuteronomy from the Deuteronomistic history and adding it to the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. During most of the 20th century the dominant belief among scholars was that the Torah had been composed by intertwining four originally separate and complete documents, of which the Yahwist was one—this was called the documentary hypothesis.Why they were written during the Babylonian exile? The question that surfaced during Exile is what had happened to the promise that the descendants of David would reign forever. The answers were recorded in the works of the prophets Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Second Isaiah, and in the Deuteronomistic history, the collection of historical works from Joshua to Kings: God had not abandoned Israel; Israel had abandoned God, and the Babylonian exile was God's punishment for Israel's lack of faith. Similarly we can see a lack of faith when the Israeli arrived to Canaan for first time.
- Book of Deuteronomy: The book consists of three sermons or speeches delivered to the Israelites by Moses on the plains of Moab, shortly before they enter the Promised Land. The first sermon recapitulates the forty years of wilderness wanderings which have led to this moment, and ends with an exhortation to observe the law (or teachings), later referred to as the Law of Moses; the second reminds the Israelites of the need for exclusive allegiance to one God and observance of the laws (or teachings) he has given them, on which their possession of the land depends; and the third offers the comfort that even should Israel prove unfaithful and so lose the land, with repentance all can be restored. In the last chapter of the book, Joshua is installed as Moses' successor, Moses delivers the law to the Levites (priests), and ascends Mount Nebo/Pisgah, where he dies and is buried by God. The narrative of these events is interrupted by two poems, the Song of Moses and the Blessing of Moses. One of its most significant verses in the book is Deuteronomy 6:4, the Shema, which has become the definitive statement of Jewish identity: "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one." This becomes monotheism, the idea that only one God exists.
Scholars have accepted that the core of Deuteronomy was composed in Jerusalem in the 7th century BC in the context of religious reforms advanced by King Josiah of Juda (reigned 641–609 BC). At the end of the Exile, when the Persians agreed that the Jews could return and rebuild the Temple, chapters 1–4 and 29–30 were added and Deuteronomy was made the introductory book to this history, so that a story about a people about to enter the Promised Land, became a story about a people about to return to the land. The legal sections of chapters 19–25 were expanded to meet new situations that had arisen, and chapters 31–34 were added as a new conclusion. The prophet Isaiah, active in Jerusalem about a century before Josiah, makes no mention of the Exodus, covenants with God, or disobedience to God's laws; in contrast Isaiah's contemporary Hosea, active in the northern kingdom of Israel, makes frequent reference to the Exodus, the wilderness wanderings, a covenant, the danger of foreign gods and the need to worship Yahweh alone; this has led scholars to the view that these traditions behind Deuteronomy have a northern origin (Israel rebelled and was destroyed c.722 BC. Refugees fleeing to Judah brought with them a number of new traditions (new to Judah, at least)).
Deuteronomy occupies a puzzling position in the Bible, linking the story of the Israelites' wanderings in the wilderness to the story of their history in Canaan without quite belonging totally to either. The wilderness story could end quite easily with Numbers, and the story of Joshua's conquests could exist without it, at least at the level of the plot; but in both cases there would be a thematic (theological) element missing. There is an older theory which sees Deuteronomy as belonging to Numbers, and Joshua as a sort of supplement to it. This idea still has supporters, but the mainstream understanding is that Deuteronomy, after becoming the introduction to the history, was later detached from it and included with Genesis-Exodus-Leviticus-Numbers because it already had Moses as its central character. According to this hypothesis, the death of Moses was originally the ending of Numbers, and was simply moved from there to the end of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 23-19: You shall not charge interest on loans to another Israelite, interest on money, interest on provisions, interest on anything that is lent. 20 On loans to a foreigner you may charge interest, but on loans to another Israelite you may not charge interest, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings in the land that you are about to enter and possess.
Most early religious systems in the ancient Near East, and the secular codes arising from them, did not forbid usury. These societies regarded inanimate matter as alive, like plants, animals and people, and capable of reproducing itself. Hence if you lent ‘food money’, or monetary tokens of any kind, it was legitimate to charge interest. Among the Mesopotamians, Hittites, Phoenicians and Egyptians, interest was legal and often fixed by the state. But the Jews took a different view of the matter. The Jews were thus burdened with a religious law which forbade them to lend at interest among themselves, but permitted it towards strangers.
- Book of Joshua: The book is in two roughly equal parts. The first part depicts the campaigns of the Israelites in central, southern and northern Canaan, as well as the destruction of their enemies. The second part details the division of the conquered land among the twelve tribes. The two parts are framed by set-piece speeches by God and Joshua commanding the conquest and at the end warning of the need for faithful observance of the Law (torah) revealed to Moses. The earliest parts of the book are possibly chapters 2–11, the story of the conquest; these chapters were later incorporated into an early form of Joshua written late in the reign of king Josiah (reigned 640–609 BCE), but the book was not completed until after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586, and possibly not until after the return from the Babylonian exile in 539.
In chapter 2-12: The Israelites cross the Jordan through the miraculous intervention of God and his ark and are circumcised at Gibeath-Haaraloth. The conquest begins in Canaan with Jericho ( According to the narrative, the walls of Jericho fell after Joshua's Israelite army marched around the city blowing their trumpets), followed by Ai (central Canaan), after which Joshua builds an altar to Yahweh at Mt Ebal (northern Canaan) and renews the Covenant. The narrative now switches to the south. The Gibeonites trick the Israelites into entering into an alliance with them by saying they are not Canaanites; this prevents the Israelites from exterminating them, but they are enslaved instead. An alliance of Amorite kingdoms headed by the Canaanite king of Jerusalem is defeated with Yahweh's miraculous help, and the enemy kings are hanged on trees (The Deuteronomist author may have used the then-recent 701 BCE campaign of the
Judges in the Hebrew bible:
Following the conquest of Canaan by Joshua until the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel (ca. 1150-1025 BC), the Israelite Tribes formed a loose confederation. No central government existed in this confederation and in times of crisis, the people were led by ad hoc chieftains known as judges.
In the Book of Judges, a cyclical pattern is given to show the need for the various judges: apostasy of the Israelite people, hardship brought on as punishment from God, crying out to the Lord for rescue. The judges were the successive individuals, each from a different tribe of Israel, chosen by God to rescue the people from their enemies and establish justice and the practice of the Torah amongst the Hebrews.
Judges in the Bible:
- Book of Joshua
- Book of Judges
- First Samuel
- The Book of Judges: it contains the history of Biblical judges, divinely inspired leaders whose direct knowledge of Yahweh allows them to act as champions for the Israelites from oppression by foreign rulers, and models of wise and faithful behaviour required of them by their god Yahweh following the exodus from Egypt and conquest of Canaan. The events of Judges are set "between c. 1380 [B.C.E.] and the rise of Saul, c. 1050."
The stories follow a consistent pattern: the people are unfaithful to Yahweh and he therefore delivers them into the hands of their enemies; the people repent and entreat Yahweh for mercy, which he sends in the form of a leader or champion (a "judge"); the judge delivers the Israelites from oppression and they prosper, but soon they fall again into unfaithfulness and the cycle is repeated. The details of this history's composition are still widely debated, but most scholars place its origins, or at least its final form, in the 6th century BCE and the community of the Babylonian exile. Nevertheless, fragments of Judges (such as the Song of Deborah) have been dated from much earlier, perhaps close to the period the book depicts.
The book opens with the Israelites in the land which God has promised to them but worshiping "foreign gods" instead of Yahweh, the God of Israel, and with the Canaanites still present everywhere.
Next comes the main text (3:11–16:31), six stories each concerning a major judge and their struggles against the oppressive kings of surrounding nations, plus the story of Abimelech, an Israelite who oppresses his own people. The cyclic pattern set out in the prologue is readily apparent at the beginning, but as the stories progress it begins to disintegrate, mirroring the disintegration of the world of the Israelites
The basic source for Judges was a collection of loosely connected stories about tribal heroes who saved the people in battle. This original "book of saviours," made up of the stories of Ehud, Jael and parts of Gideon, had already been enlarged and transformed into "wars of Yahweh" before being given the final Deuteronomistic revision.
The book is as intriguing for the themes it leaves out as for what it includes: the ark of the covenant, which is given so much importance in the stories of Moses and Joshua, is almost entirely missing, cooperation between the various tribes is limited, and there is no mention of a central shrine for worship or of a high priest (the office to which Aaron was appointed at the end of the Exodus story).
Some of the judges:
* Deborah: She was a prophetess of the God of the Israelites, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel, counselor, warrior, and the wife of Lapidoth according to the Book of Judges chapters 4 and 5. The only female judge mentioned in the Bible, Deborah led a successful counterattack against the forces of Jabin king of Canaan and his military commander Sisera, the narrative is recounted in chapter 4. Judges chapter 5 gives the same story in poetic form. This passage, often called The Song of Deborah, may date to as early as the 12th century BC and is perhaps the earliest sample of Hebrew poetry. It is also significant because it is one of the oldest passages that portrays fighting women, the account being that of Jael, the wife of Heber, a Kenite tent maker. Jael killed Sisera by driving a tent peg through his temple as he slept. Both Deborah and Jael are portrayed as strong independent women. The poem may have been included in the Book of the Wars of the Lord mentioned in Numbers 21:14.
The Song of Deborah is found in Judges 5:2-31 and is a victory hymn, sung by Deborah and Barak, about the defeat of Canaanite adversaries by some of the tribes of Israel. Biblical scholars have generally recognized the Song as one of the oldest parts of the Bible, dating somewhere in the 12th century BC, based on its grammar and context.
* Gideon or Gedeon which means "Destroyer," "Mighty warrior," or "Feller (of trees)" was, according to the Tanakh, a judge of the Hebrews. His story is recorded in chapters 6 to 8 of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible.
As is the pattern throughout the book of Judges, the Israelites again turned away from God after 40 years of peace brought by Deborah's victory over Canaan and were allowed to be oppressed by the neighboring Midianites and Amalekites. God chose Gideon, a young man from the tribe of Manasseh, to free the people of Israel and to condemn their worship of idols.
- Jephthah: He lived in Gilead and was a member of the tribe of Manasseh. His father's name is also given as Gilead and, as his mother is described as a prostitute, this may mean that his father may have been any of the men of that area. Jephthah led the Israelites in battle against Ammon and, after defeating the Ammonites, fulfilled a rash vow of his, by sacrificing his daughter. The story of Jephthah is found in the Old Testament Book of Judges chapters 10-12. The Israelites "again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord...they forsook the Lord and did not serve him. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites ..." (Judges 10:6-7).
The elders of Gilead ask Jephthah to be their leader in the campaign against the Ammonites, but he holds out for a more permanent and a broader position, and the elders agree that, provided Jephthah succeeds in defeating Ammon, he will be their permanent chieftain. On behalf of Israel as a whole and in reliance on the might of God the Judge, Jephthah challenges the Ammonites. Jephthah swears an oath:
"Whatever (Note: Or whoever) comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it (Note: Or him) up for a burnt offering." (Judges 11:31)
The victorious Jephthah is met on his return by his daughter, his only child. Jephthah tears his clothes and cries, "Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low!" but is bound by his vow: "I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow." (Judges 11:35). The girl asks for two months' grace, "... that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity" (Judges 11:37). And so Jephthah "did with her according to his vow that he had made" (Judges 11:39). The story ends by recounting how "the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year" (Judges 11:40).
Such rash vows with their dire consequences, and even human sacrifices, were not things unheard of in that stage of Israel's history. The Israelites of the time were decidedly barbarous; that Mosaic law (which forbade human sacrifice) was at this time widely disrespected; and that there are several other examples of rash vows to God with similarly terrible consequences.
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| Jephthah's Vow: The Return, Edwin Long (1885) |
- Samson: According to the biblical account, Samson was given supernatural strength by God in order to combat his enemies and perform heroic feats such as killing a lion, slaying an entire army with only the jawbone of an ass, and destroying a pagan temple. Samson had two vulnerabilities, however: his attraction to untrustworthy women and his hair, without which he was powerless. These vulnerabilities ultimately proved fatal for him.
The story of Samson, like other portions of the Book of Judges, is doubtless derived from the sources of ancient national legend. It has an ethical as well as a religious import, and historically it throws not a little light on the customs and manners of the crude age to which it belongs.
At the end of the narrative, Samson falls in love with a woman, Delilah, at the Brook of Sorek. The Philistines approach Delilah and induce her (with 1100 silver coins each) to try to find the secret of Samson's strength. Samson, not wanting to reveal the secret, teases her, telling her that he will lose his strength should he be bound with fresh bowstrings. She does so while he sleeps, but when he wakes up he snaps the strings. She persists, and he tells her he can be bound with new ropes. She ties him up with new ropes while he sleeps, and he snaps them, too. She asks again, and he says he can be bound if his locks are woven together. She weaves them together, but he undoes them when he wakes. Eventually Samson tells Delilah that he will lose his strength with the loss of his hair. Delilah calls for a servant to shave Samson's seven locks
One day the Philistine leaders assembled in a temple for a religious sacrifice to Dagon, one of their most important deities, for having delivered Samson into their hands. They summon Samson so that people can gather on the roof to watch. Once inside the temple, Samson, his hair having grown long again, asks the servant who is leading him to the temple's central pillars if he may lean against them (referring to the pillars). Then Samson prayed to God, "remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes" (Judges 16:28)". Samson said, 'Let me die with the Philistines!' (Judges 16:30) He pulled the two pillars together (or possibly pushed them apart), and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more as he died than while he lived." (Judges 16:30).
- The Book of Ruth: The book is traditionally ascribed to the prophet Samuel, but a substantial number of scholars date it to the Persian period (6th–4th centuries BC).
Narrative: Due to a severe famine in the land of Judah, Elimelech, a native of Bethlehem, emigrated to Moab with his wife and two sons, who married two Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah.
At the end of ten years, all three of the women were left widows and Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem. Despite Naomi's protests, Ruth determined to return to Bethlehem with her. Ruth's dedication to Naomi and to the religion of the God of Israel is stated in Ruth 1:16-17: "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me and more also, if ought but death part thee and me."
They arrived in Bethlehem at the time of the barley harvest. Ruth went out to glean in the fields of Boaz, a wealthy man whose relationship with his servants eloquently attests to his character (Ruth 2:4). According to Hebrew law, Ruth had a right to demand that a near kinsman of her late husband take her for his wife. Boaz had been related to Ruth's husband and was willing to marry her, but since there was another man of closer kinship, it was necessary to go through certain customary and legal measures before he could rightfully claim her.
This being done, the two were married with the blessings of their neighbors and eventually became the parents of Obed, the grandfather of David.
The book of Ruth demonstrates God’s love for the Gentiles, even in a period of history when the Hebrew people were given prominence due to their role in God’s redemptive plan for humanity. The principal aim of the author was to narrate how, in opposition to Deuteronomy 23:3, which forbids the reception of Moabites into Yahweh's assembly, the Moabitess Ruth was incorporated with Yahweh's people, and eventually became the ancestress of the founder of the Hebrew monarchy. A date during the monarchy is suggested by the book's interest in the ancestry of David, but Ruth's identity as a non-Israelite and the stress on the need for an inclusive attitude towards foreigners suggests an origin in the fifth century BCE, when intermarriage had become controversial.
The book records the intermarriage of an Israelite with a Moabitess, which shows that its narrative does not belong to the region of the poetical.
Several recent scholars have regarded this short book as a kind of protest against Nehemias's and Esdras's efforts to suppress intermarriage with women of foreign birth. But this is plainly an inference not from the contents of the book, but from an assumed late date for its composition, an inference therefore no less uncertain than that date itself. It lays special stress on the genealogy of David in the second part of the book, the chief aim of the author is to throw light upon the origin of David, the great King of Israel and royal ancestor of the Messias. Had this, however, been the main purpose of the writer, it seems that he should have given it greater prominence in his work. Therefore the final genealogy linking Ruth to David is believed to be a post-exilic- Priestly addition, as it adds nothing to the plot; nevertheless, it is carefully crafted and integrates the book into the history of Israel that runs from Genesis to King.
3) Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)
United Monarchy (1020 BCE–930 BCE)
Following the death of the generation of Moses a new generation, led by Joshua, enters Canaan and takes possession of the land in accordance with the curse placed upon Canaan by Noah. Eventually the Israelites ask for a king, and God gives them Saul (1079 BC – 1007 BC). The main account of Saul's life and reign is found in the biblical Books of Samuel. Saul's reign was characterized by constant conflict with Philistines, and then by civil war against forces loyal to David (1040 BC - 970 BC). It was David who, following the civil war with Saul, creates a strong and unified Israelite monarchy, reigning from c. 1000-961 BCE. Solomon, David's successor, maintained the unified monarchy, c. 961-922.
In the Bible, Jerusalem is defined as lying within territory allocated to the tribe of Benjamin though occupied by Jebusites. David is said to have conquered these in the Siege of Jebus, and transferred his capital from Hebron to Jerusalem which then became the capital of a united Kingdom of Israel, and one of its several religious centres. The choice was perhaps dictated by the fact that Jerusalem did not form part of Israel’s tribal system, and was thus suited to serve as the centre of its federation
- I Samuel book: It tells the story of Samuel and the kingdom of Saul until his death. The narrative includes the war of the Israelis against the Philistines and Goliat defeat by David. Samuel continues Moses’ function as a prophet, judge, and a priest.
The childless Hannah vows to Yahweh that if she has a son, he will be dedicated to Yahweh. Eli, the priest of Shiloh (where the ark of the covenant is located), blesses her, and a child named Samuel is born. As a child, Samuel lived and served in the temple. God singled him out as a prophet (3:19-21), and the child’s first prophecy was one of judgment on the corrupt priests.
The Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh and take it to the temple of their idol Dagon, who recognises the supremacy of Yahweh. The Philistines are afflicted with plagues and return the ark to the Israelites, but to the territory of the tribe of Benjamin rather than to Shiloh. The Philistines attack the Israelites gathered at Mizpah in Benjamin. Samuel appeals to Yahweh, the Philistines are decisively beaten, and the Israelites reclaim their lost territory.
In Samuel's old age, he appoints his sons as judges, but they are unworthy, and so the people clamour for a king. God reluctantly accedes and gives them Saul of the tribe of Benjamin. Saul defeats the enemies of the Israelites, but commits sins against Yahweh. Saul has also two faults which make him unfit for the office of king: he carries out a sacrifice in place of Samuel (1 Samuel 13:8–14), and he fails to complete the genocide of the Amalekites as God has ordered (1 Samuel 15). Yahweh tells Samuel to anoint David of Bethlehem as king, and David enters Saul's court as his armour-bearer and harpist. Saul's son and heir Jonathan befriends David and recognises him as rightful king. Saul plots David's death, but David flees into the wilderness, where he becomes a champion of the Hebrews. Near the end of the book, Samuel has died, and Saul is a lost man. On the eve of a battle with Philistia, Saul seeks for answers. Having rejected God, he finds no help from heaven, and he seeks counsel from a medium instead. During the seance, Samuel’s spirit rises from the dead to give one last prophecy: Saul would die in battle the next day. The prophecy is fulfilled; Saul’s three sons, including Jonathan, fall in battle, and Saul commits suicide. David joins the Philistines, but continues secretly to champion his own people, until Saul and Jonathan are killed in battle. At this point, David offers a majestic eulogy, where he praises the bravery and magnificence of both his brother Jonathan and King Saul.
The elders of Judah anoint David as king, but in the north Saul's son Ishbaal rules over the northern tribes. After a long war Ishbaal is murdered hoping for reward from David, but David has them killed for killing God's anointed.
The tragic story of Saul is a study in wasted opportunity. Here was a man who had it all—honor, authority, riches, good looks, and more. Yet he died in despair, terrified of his enemies and knowing he had failed his nation, his family, and his God. Saul made the mistake of thinking he could please God through disobedience. Like many today, he believed that a sensible motive will compensate for bad behavior. Perhaps his power went to his head, and he began to think he was above the rules. Somehow he developed a low opinion of God’s commands and a high opinion of himself. Even when confronted with his wrongdoing, he attempted to vindicate himself, and that’s when God rejected him (15:16-28). Saul’s problem is one we all face—a problem of the heart. Obedience to God’s will is necessary for success, and if we in pride rebel against Him, we set ourselves up for loss.
The Biblical relationship between the Hebrew and Amalekite tribes was that the Amalekite tribes without provocation pounced on the Hebrews when they were weak. Amalekit King Agag was taken alive by King Saul after destroying the Amalekites (I Samuel 15). His life was spared by Saul and the Israelites took the best of the sheep, cattle, fat calves and lambs from the Amalekites. The prophet Samuel regarded this clemency as a defiance of the will of God, which was "to completely destroy" the Amalekites. Samuel put Agag to death at Gilgal saying that "[a]s your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women." And so Samuel proceeded to cut Agag to pieces personally. The rabbis taught that the Jews took vengeance on Agag for the cruelties they had undergone at the hands of the Amalekites, who, to mock at the Israelites, their God, and the rite of circumcision, mutilated every Jew that fell into their power. It is not clear if the historical Amalekites were exterminated or not. 1 Samuel 15:7–8 states that "He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword." This implies that after Agag had been killed so were all the people of Agag who consequently became extinct. In a later story in the time of Hezekiah, however, the Simeonites annihilated a group of Amalekites on Mount Seir. Of the 613 mitzvot (commandments) followed by Orthodox Jews, three refer to the Amalek: to remember what the Amalekites did to the Israelites, not to forget what the Amalekites did to Israelites, and to destroy the Amalekites utterly. Every year, therefore, the chapter, "Remember what Amalek did unto thee" (Deut. xxv. 17-19), is read in the synagogue on the Sabbath preceding Purim, and the story of Saul and Agag in chapter 15 of I Samuel is read as the Haftarah. In Jewish tradition, the Amalekites came to represent the archetypal enemy of the Jews. Beginning in the 10th century, and continuing until the 19th century, Armenians were considered to be Amalekites by some Jewish authorities. The Nazis and Adolf Hitler have been also referred to as Amalekites. Frequently Jewish fundamentalists refer to the Palestinians as the 'Amalekites'.
- 2 Samuel: The book begins with David receiving news of the death of Saul and his sons. He proclaims a time of mourning. Soon afterward, David is crowned king over Judah. David captures Jerusalem and brings the Ark there. David wishes to build a temple, but Nathan tells him that one of David's sons will be the one to build the temple. David defeats the enemies of Israel, slaughtering Philistines, Moabites, Edomites, Syrians and Arameans.
Then David falls. He lusts for a beautiful woman named Bathsheba, commits adultery with her, and then has her husband murdered (chapter 11). When Nathan the prophet confronts David with his sin, David confesses, and God graciously forgives. However, the Lord tells David that trouble would arise from within his own household. The prophet Nathan confronted David, saying: "Why have you despised the word of God, to do what is evil in his sight? You have smitten Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife." Nathan presented three punishments from God for this sin. First, that the "sword shall never depart from your house" (2 Samuel 12:10); second, that "Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel" (2 Samuel 12:12); and finally, that "the son born to you will die" (2 Samuel 12:14)
For the remainder of his reign there are problems: one of his sons rapes one of his daughters Tamar , then Tamar’s brother Absalom kills Amnon. Absalom then flees Jerusalem rather than face his father’s anger. Later, Absalom leads a revolt against David, and some of David’s former associates join the rebellion (chapters 15-16). David is forced out of Jerusalem, and Absalom sets himself up as king for a short time. The usurper is overthrown, however, and—against David’s wishes—is killed. Absalom was caught by his hair in the branches of an oak and David’s general Joab killed him as he hung there. When the news of the victory is brought to David, he did not rejoice, but was instead shaken with grief: "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!" (2 Samuel 18:33). Finally only two contenders for the succession remain, one of them Bathsheba's son Solomon. 1 Kings then relates how, as David lies dying, Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan ensure Solomon's elevation to the throne. David expressed remorse over his transgressions and sought forgiveness. God ultimately forgave David and Bathsheba but would not remove their sins from Scripture.
David’s sin with Bathsheba should be a warning to all of us to guard our hearts, our eyes and our minds. Pride over our spiritual maturity and our ability to withstand temptation in our own strength is the first step to a downfall (1 Corinthians 10:12). God is gracious to forgive even the most heinous sins when we truly repent. However, healing the wound caused by sin does not always erase the scar. Sin has natural consequences, and even after he was forgiven, David reaped what he had sown. His son from the illicit union with another man’s wife was taken from him (2 Samuel 12:14-24) and David suffered the misery of a break in his loving relationship with his heavenly Father (Psalms 32 and 51).
The Lord Jesus Christ is seen primarily in two parts of 2 Samuel. First, the Davidic Covenant as outlined in 2 Samuel 7:16: “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever” and reiterated in Luke 1:31-33 in the words of the angel who appeared to Mary to announce Jesus’ birth to her: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." Christ is the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant; He is the Son of God in the line of David who will reign forever.
David, the youngest (divinely favored) son of Jesse of Bethlehem would succeed Saul. Under David's son Solomon they build the Temple where God takes his earthly dwelling among them. Under the House of David, the united Kingdom of Israel achieved prosperity and superiority over its neighbours. The Books of Samuel, 1 Kings, and 1 Chronicles are the only sources of information on David.
Under David's son Solomon they build the Temple where God takes his earthly dwelling among them. Yet Solomon sins by allowing his foreign wives to worship their own gods, and so on his death and reign of his son, Rehoboam, the kingdom is divided in two: Israel (including the cities of Shechem and Samaria) in the north and Judah (containing Jerusalem) in the south. Most of the non-Israelite provinces fell away.
4) Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah
Kingdom of Israel (capital Samaria) (930 BCE - 720 BCE) and Kingdom of Judah (capital Jerusalem) (930 BCE - 586 BCE)
The kings of the northern kingdom of Israel are uniformly bad, permitting the worship of other gods and failing to enforce the worship of God alone, and so God eventually allows them to be conquered and dispersed among the peoples of the earth; in their place strangers settle the northern land. The tribes exiled by Assyria later became known as the Ten Lost Tribes. In Judah some kings are good and enforce the worship of God alone, but many are bad and permit other gods, even in the Temple itself, and at length God allows Judah to fall to her enemies, the people taken into captivity in Babylon, the land left empty and desolate, and the Temple itself destroyed.
Sargon II, completed the destruction of the northern kingdom, removing the entire elite and sending in colonists: ‘I besieged and captured Samaria,’ Sargon records in the Annals of Khorsabad, ‘carrying off 27,290 of the people who dwelt therein.’
At Samaria, the royal quarter was totally destroyed. Megiddo was levelled and new, Assyrian-type buildings set up on the rubble.
The holocaust-dispersion of the northern people of Israel was final. In taking their last, forced journey into Assyria, the ten tribes of the north moved out of history and into myth. They lived in later Jewish legend, but in reality they were simply assimilated into the surrounding Aramaean population, losing their faith and their language; and the spread of Aramaic westwards, as the common language of the Assyrian empire, helped to conceal their evanescence.
In Samaria, Israelite peasants and artisans remained, and intermarried with the new settlers. Chapter 17 of the Second Book of Kings, which records these melancholy events, says that while the exiled elite in Assyria still worshipped Yahweh, they sent back one of their priests to live in Bethel and instruct the leaderless people. But it adds: ‘Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them into the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made,’ and it then paints a fearful picture of the confused paganism into which the northern kingdom collapsed. The way in which the north had worshipped Yahweh had always been suspect in Judah. This doubt about northern orthodoxy reflected the division of the Israelites which took place at the time of the entry into Egypt, and which was never really healed after the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan. In the eyes of Jerusalem and its priests, the northerners had always mingled with the pagans. The fall and dispersal of the northern kingdom, and the intermarriage of the remnant with aliens, was used to deny the Samaritans their original Israelite heritage. From this point onwards, their claim to be part of the chosen people, and to inhabit the Promised Land in full righteousness of possession, was never again acknowledged by the Jews.
- Samaritans: Samaritans claim they are Israelite descendants of the Northern Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who survived the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BC. Samaritans assert their worship is the true religion of the ancient Israelites prior to the Babylonian Exile, preserved by those who remained in the Land of Israel (Samaria), as opposed to Judaism, which they assert is a related but altered and amended religion, brought back by those returning from the Babylonian exile.
The inscription of Sargon II records the deportation of a relatively small proportion of the Israelites from Samaria (27,290, according to the annals), so it is quite possible that a sizable population remained that could identify themselves as Israelites, the term that the Samaritans prefer for themselves. Tthe Samaritans claimed that they were the true Israel who were descendants of the "Ten Lost Tribes" taken into Assyrian captivity. They had their own temple on Mount Gerizim and claimed that it was the original sanctuary.
Samaritan historiography places the basic schism from the remaining part of Israel after the tribes of Israel conquered and returned to the land of Canaan, led by Joshua. After Joshua's death, Eli the priest left the tabernacle which Moses erected in the desert and established on Mount Gerizim, and built another one under his own rule in the hills of Shiloh. According to Samaritans, it was on Mount Gerizim that Abraham was commanded by God to offer Isaac, his son, as a sacrifice Genesis 22:2. Samaritan's temple was built at Mount Gerizim in the middle of 5th century BC and was destroyed by the Macabbean (Hasmonean) John Hyrcanus late in 110 BC, although their descendants still worship among its ruins. The antagonism between Samaritans and Jews is important in understanding the Bible's New Testament stories of the "Samaritan woman at the well" and "Parable of the Good Samaritan".
In the late 8th century both Judah and Israel were vassals of Assyria: The Kingdom of Israel (or Northern Kingdom) existed as an independent state until 722 BCE when it was conquered and destroyed by the Assyrian Empire; while the Kingdom of Judah (or Southern Kingdom) existed as an independent state until 586 BCE when it was conquered by the Babylonian Empire. In 597 BC, the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple. This a key event in the formation of the Old Testament with the fall of the kingdom of Judah to the Babylonian empire in 586 BCE. The Babylonians destroyed the city and the Temple of Solomon, executed the king's sons in front of him before putting out his eyes, and took him and many others into exile.
Jerusalem fell in 597 BC, the Babylonian Chronicle, now in the British Museum, noting: ‘In the seventh year, in the month of Kislev, [Nebuchudnezzar] mustered his troops, and having marched to the land of Hatti, besieged the city of Judah, and on the second day of the month of Adar took the city and captured the king. The Second Book of Kings adds that the King of Judah, Jehoiakim, was taken to Babylon with ‘all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and all the smiths’; none remained, except ‘the poorest people of the land’. The gold vessels in the Temple were likewise ‘cut in pieces’ and carried off.
Nor was this the end of Judah’s sorrows. Under Zedekiah, the Israelite governor the Babylonians had appointed, and who had sworn fealty to them, the city rose up, and was again besieged. In an appalling scene, Zedekiah’s children were murdered in front of him, and when he had witnessed this dreadful sight, his eyes were put out, standard punishment for a vassal who broke his oath. The Temple was torn down, the walls demolished, the great city houses wrecked and the old town of Millo, dating back from before David’s conquest, slid into the ravine.
There was, however, one vital difference between the Babylonian conquest of Judah and the Assyrian descent on the north. The Babylonians were much less ruthless. They did not colonize. No strange tribes were moved in from the east, to cover the Promised Land with pagan shrines. The poor people, the am ha-arez, were left without leaders but they could cling to their religion after a fashion. Moreover, the Benjaminites, who seem to have submitted in 588 BC, were not exiled, and their cities of Gibeon, Mizpah and Bethel were left intact.
Between 734 and 581 BC there were six distinct deportations of the Israelites, and more fled voluntarily to Egypt and other parts of the Near East. From this time onwards, a majority of Jews would always live outside the Promised Land.
The two Books of Kings present the biblical view of history of ancient Israel and Judah from the death of David to the release of his successor Jehoiachin from imprisonment in Babylon, a period of some 400 years (c.960–560 BCE). It concludes a series of books running from Joshua through Judges and Samuel, which make up the section of the Hebrew Bible called the Former Prophets; this series is also often referred to as the Deuteronomistic history, a body of writing which scholars believe was written to provide a theological explanation for the destruction of the Jewish kingdom by Babylon in 586 BCE and a foundation for a return from exile.
- 1 Kings: The book begins when David dies and Solomon comes to the throne. At the beginning of his reign he assumes God's promises to David and brings splendour to Israel and peace and prosperity to his people. The centrepiece of Solomon's reign is the building of the First Temple: the claim that this took place 480 years after the Exodus from Egypt marks it as a key event in Israel's history. Seven years later, the Ark was brought to the temple, the glory of the Lord descended on it, Solomon prays a powerful prayer, and then sacrifices were offered. But later Solomon follows other gods and oppresses Israel.
According to the Bible, Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. The wives are described as foreign princesses, including Pharaoh's daughter and women of Moab, Ammon, Sidon and of the Hittites. These wives are depicted as leading Solomon away from Yahweh toward idolatry.
In a brief, unelaborated, and enigmatic passage, the Hebrew Bible describes how the fame of Solomon's wisdom and wealth spread far and wide, so much so that the queen of Sheba decided that she should meet him. The queen is described as visiting with a number of gifts including gold, spices and precious stones. When Solomon gave her "all her desire, whatsoever she asked," she left satisfied (1 Kings 10:10).
According to 1 Kings 11: Solomon's "wives turned his heart after other gods", their own national deities, to whom Solomon built temples, thus incurring divine anger and retribution in the form of the division of the kingdom after Solomon's death.
According to 1 Kings 11:30-34, it was because of these sins that "the Lord punishes Solomon by removing 10 of the 12 Tribes of Israel from the Israelites, leaving only Judah. As a consequence of Solomon's failure to stamp out the worship of gods other than Yahweh, the kingdom of David is split in two in the reign of his own son Rehoboam, who becomes the first to reign over the kingdom of Judah.
The Judgment of Solomon refers to a story from the Hebrew Bible in which King Solomon of Israel ruled between two women both claiming to be the mother of a child by tricking the parties into revealing their true feelings. It has become an archetypal example of a judge displaying wisdom in making a ruling. The story is recounted in 1 Kings 3:16-28. Two young women who lived in the same house and who both had an infant son came to Solomon for a judgment. One of the women claimed that the other, after accidentally smothering her own son while sleeping, had exchanged the two children to make it appear that the living child was hers. The other woman denied this and so both women claimed to be the mother of the living son and said that the dead boy belonged to the other. After some deliberation, King Solomon called for a sword to be brought before him. He declared that there was only one fair solution: the live son must be split in two, each woman receiving half of the child. Upon hearing this terrible verdict, the boy's true mother cried out, "Oh Lord, give the baby to her, just don't kill him!" The liar, in her bitter jealousy, exclaimed, "It shall be neither mine nor yours—divide it!". The king declared the first mother as the true mother and gave her the baby. King Solomon's judgment became known throughout all of Israel and was considered an example of profound wisdom.
The major themes of Kings are God's promise, the recurrent apostasy of the kings, and the judgement this brings on Israel:
- Promise: In return for Israel's promise to worship Yahweh alone, Yahweh makes promises to David and to Israel – to David, the promise that his line will rule Israel forever, to Israel, the promise of the land they will possess.
- Apostasy: the great tragedy of Israel's history, meaning the destruction of the kingdom and the Temple, is due to the failure of the people, but more especially the kings, to worship Yahweh alone (Yahweh being the god of Israel).
- Judgement: Apostasy leads to judgement. Judgement is not punishment, but simply the natural (or rather, God-ordained) consequence of Israel's failure to worship Yahweh alone.
- 2 Kings: Solomon dies, and his son Rehoboam assumes the throne. The kings who follow Rehoboam in Jerusalem continue the royal line of David (i.e., they inherit the promise to David); in the north, however, dynasties follow each other in rapid succession, and the kings are uniformly bad (meaning that they fail to follow Yahweh alone). After Rehoboam and Jeroboam die, the narrator recounts the story of all the succeeding kings in each kingdom, summarizing each king’s reign by whether he does good or evil.
With the help of his wife Jezebel, Ahab, northern Israel’s most wicked king, spreads cult worship of the god Baal throughout the northern lands. In response, a prophet named Elijah emerges and informs Ahab that God will curse the land with a great drought. Elijah leads a secluded life on the outskirts of civilization. After three years of drought, Queen Jezebel begins a campaign to murder all of God’s prophets in the land. Elijah flees from the belligerent Jezebel into the desert. He complains to God that, despite his earnest service, the Israelites continue to be disobedient. God promises to show himself to Elijah. Elijah is surrounded by wind, earthquakes, and fire, but none of these, we are told, is God. Instead, Elijah hears a soft whisper amidst the storm, and he recognizes that this is God. Encouraged, Elijah returns to civilization where he appoints a new man, Elisha, to be his apprentice and to eventually succeed him as prophet.
One day, Ahab and Jezebel steal a man’s vineyard by slandering the man’s name in public until the citizens stone the man. Elijah finds Ahab in the vineyard and declares that because of their murderous deeds, Ahab and Jezebel will die and dogs will lick up their blood. Soon after, King Ahab makes a rare pact with the king of Judah. The two lead their united forces against the Arameans who are occupying Israel’s borders. Ahab is killed and bleeds to death in his chariot. When the chariot is cleaned after battle, dogs gather to lick his blood.
Not long after, Elijah is miraculously taken up into heaven by a flaming chariot, never to return, while Elisha looks on. Elisha assumes Elijah’s role as prophet, acting as a cryptic doomsayer to Israel’s kings while performing miracles for the common folk. Elisha helps a barren woman become pregnant, and when her young son suddenly dies, Elisha brings the boy back to life by lying on top of him. He guides the king of Israel in eluding the Aramean invaders from the north by plaguing the enemy troops with blindness.
Elisha initiates a coup to cut off Ahab and Jezebel’s dynasty by secretly anointing a military commander, Jehu, to overthrow the throne. Jehu descends on the city where the current king, who is Ahab’s son, and Judah’s king are visiting each other. The men of the city rapidly defect to Jehu’s side. Jehu overcomes the kings on horseback and shoots them with an arrow, decrying their witchcraft and idolatry in the process. Entering the city, Jezebel calls out seductively to Jehu from a window. The men of the city throw her out the window, and Jehu’s horses trample her. The dogs eat her dead body, fulfilling Elijah’s prophecy. After killing the rest of Ahab’s family, Jehu invites all the priests of Baal to an assembly and murders them. He wipes out the Baal cult in Israel, but he does not forbid the worship of other gods.
Almost all of Israel’s northern kings commit great evil, expanding on the practices of their fathers. Some of the southern kings in Jerusalem try to revive obedience to God, but none of them bans the worship of foreign gods in Judah. At length God brings the Assyrians to destroy the northern kingdom and Samaria (722 BC), leaving Judah as the sole custodian of the promise.
Hezekiah, the 14th king of Judah "did what was right in the eyes of the Lord" and institutes a far reaching religious reform, centralising sacrifice at the temple at Jerusalem and destroying the images of other gods. Yahweh saves Jerusalem and the kingdom from an invasion by Assyria. But Manasseh, the next king, reverses the reforms, and God announces that he will destroy Jerusalem because of this apostasy by the king. Mannasah's righteous grandson Josiah reinstitutes the reforms of Hezekiah, but it is too late: God, speaking through the prophetess Huldah, affirms that Jerusalem is to be destroyed (597 BC).
God brings the Babylonians against Jerusalem; Yahweh deserts his people, Jerusalem is razed and the Temple destroyed, and the priests, prophets and royal court are led into captivity.
As the books’ religious protagonists, Elijah and Elisha illustrate that the nature of prophets has changed throughout the Old Testament. Moses, Joshua, the judges, and David are all leaders of the Israelites, and, as the people’s representatives, they meet with God on mountains or in religious centers to intercede on behalf of the people for their wrongdoing. Elijah and Elisha, however, are located on the outskirts of communities, and they utter mystical warnings or oracles to Israel that are fatalistic at best. Elijah the prophet was for forerunner of Christ and the Apostles of the New Testament. God enabled Elijah to do miraculous things in order to prove that he was truly a man of God. For example he raised from the dead the son of the widow of Zarephath.
The Book of 1 Kings was likely written between 560 and 540 B.C.
Book of Judith: The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book, included in the Septuagint and the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian Old Testament of the Bible, but excluded by Jews and assigned by Protestants to the Apocrypha. The book contains numerous historical anachronisms, which is why many scholars now accept it as non-historical; it has been considered a parable or perhaps the first historical novel. The work may have been written around 100 B.C., but its historical range is extraordinary.
The canonicity of Judith is rejected by Protestants, who accept as the Old Testament only those books that are found in the Jewish canon. Martin Luther viewed the book as an allegory, but listed it as the first of the eight writings in his Apocrypha.
The Book of Judith has a tragic setting that appealed to Jewish patriots and it warned of the urgency of adhering to Mosaic law, generally speaking, but what accounted for its enduring appeal was the drama of its narrative. The story revolves around Judith, a daring and beautiful widow, who is upset with her Jewish countrymen for not trusting God to deliver them from their foreign conquerors. She goes with her loyal maid to the camp of the enemy general, Holofernes, with whom she slowly ingratiates herself, promising him information on the Israelites. Gaining his trust, she is allowed access to his tent one night as he lies in a drunken stupor. She decapitates him, then takes his head back to her fearful countrymen. Uzziah, the the town’s magistrates, proclaims at her return that Judith is blessed “by the Most High God above all other women on earth” (Judith 13:18). This verse, an echo of Deborah’s vindication of Jael’s similar, hands-on murder of Sisera (Judges 4:21, 5:24-26), is pivotal in Roman Catholic theology, for it also is spoken of Mary (Luke 1:42, 48). The Assyrians, having lost their leader, disperse, and Israel is saved. Though she is courted by many, Judith remains unmarried for the rest of her life.
It is generally accepted that the Book of Judith is not historical. The fictional nature "is evident form its blending of history and fiction, beginning in the very first verse, and is too prevalent thereafter to be considered as the result of mere historical mistakes However Catholics with very few exceptions accept the book of Judith as a narrative of facts, not as an allegory. Even Jahn considers that the genealogy of Judith is inexplicable on the hypothesis that the story is a mere fiction ("Introductio", Vienna, 1814, p. 461). Why carry out the genealogy of a fictitious person through fifteen generations? The Fathers have ever looked upon the book as historical. St. Jerome, who excluded Judith from the Canon, nonetheless accepted the person of the valiant woman as historical.
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| Caravaggio, 'Judith Beheading Holofernes', 1599 |
The work anyway is written to exalt God as Israel’s deliverer from foreign might, not by an army, but by means of a simple widow. Judith, the heroine of the book is a widow, once married to a certain Manasses. She uses her charm to become an intimate friend of Holofernes, but finally beheads him allowing Israel to counter-attack the Assyrians. On the other hand, Holofernes is the villain of the book. He is a devout soldier of his king, whom he wants to see exalted in all lands. He is given the task of destroying the rebels who didn't support the king of Nineveh in his resistance against Cheleud and the king of Media, until Israel also becomes a target of his military campaign. Judith's charm occasions his death.
- The Book of Tobit (Book of Tobias in the Vulgate) : It is a book of scripture that is part of the Catholic and Orthodox biblical canon, pronounced canonical by the Council of Carthage of 397 and confirmed for Roman Catholics by the Council of Trent (1546). The book is listed as a book of the "Apocrypha" in Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England. Tobit is regarded by Protestants as apocryphal because it was not included within the Tanakh nor considered canonical by Judaism.
Prior to the 1952 discovery of Aramaic and Hebrew fragments of Tobit among the Dead Sea Scrolls in Cave IV at Qumran, it was believed that Tobit was not included in the Jewish canon because of its late authorship, which was estimated to be circa 100 AD. However, the Qumran fragments, which date from 100 BC to 25 AD and are in agreement with the Greek text existing in three different recensions, evidence a much earlier origin than previously thought. These fragments evidence authorship no later than the 2nd Century BC, and thus at least contemporary to the date modern scholars ascribe to the final compilation of the Book of Daniel, which did attain canonical status.
Other scholars have postulated that Tobit was excluded from the Jewish Scriptures for a halakhic reason, because the marriage document discussed in 7:16 was written by Raguel, the bride's father, rather than by the groom, as required under Jewish rabbinical law.
This book tells the story of a righteous Israelite of the Tribe of Naphtali named Tobit living in Nineveh (modern Iraq) after the deportation of the northern tribes of Israel to Assyria in 721 BC under Sargon II. (The first two and a half chapters are written in the first person.) Tobit was originally raised by his paternal grandmother Deborah and remained loyal to the worship of God at the temple in Jerusalem, instead of joining in the cult of the golden calves set at Dan by Jeroboam, king of Northern Israel. In exile he was particularly noted for his diligence in attempting to provide proper burials for fallen Israelites who had been slain by Sennacherib, for which the king seized all his property
The story of Tobit revolves around a righteous, law-abiding Jew who did not abandon traditional Jewish beliefs and practices while other Jews living in exile with him were worshipping idols and failing to follow God’s laws. Tobit did many good deeds, including burying Jews according to ritual at some risk to himself and giving alms to the poor. One hot night after burying a body, Tobit slept outside, and sparrow droppings fell into his eyes and blinded him. He despaired and asked God that he may die.
On that same day in Media (current North Iran), Sarah, one of Tobit’s kinsman (A kinsman is a person sharing the same racial, cultural, or national background as another) prayed to God to take her life also because she was constantly ridiculed for marrying seven times, and each time the demon Asmodeus killed her husband before the marriage could be consummated. With Tobit expecting to die soon, he sent his only son, Tobiah, to Media to return a large sum of money on deposit with a relative. Under the guidance of Raphael, Tobias made the journey to Media, accompanied by his dog, and over the objection of Tobit's wife Hannah, who was already discouraged by Tobit's nagging. During this trip, Tobiah was unknowingly accompanied by the angel Raphael (who appears only in the Apocrypha, not the Bible). while washing his feet in the river Tigris Tobiah was attacked by a large fish which Raphael tells him to kill and extract its gall bladder, liver, and heart, because they “can be used as medicines.” Upon arriving in Media, Tobiah marries Sarah at Raphael’s insistence despite her track record of dead husbands and uses the fish heart and liver to dispose of the demon and protect the marriage bed. When Tobiah returns home, he applies the gall and restores his father’s sight. When Tobiah returns home, Raphael told the youth to use the fish's gall to cure his father's blindness. Raphael then revealed his true identity and returned to heaven and Tobit sang a hymn of praise.
This book was written in Aramaic (most of the Old testament books were written in Hebrew), a rather common international language used by Jews and many others living during the intertestamental period.
Tobit is a story like one of Jesus' parables. The characters may be fictional, but the message or moral of the story is true. The story draws on themes from a few Mesopotamian myths from the same time period, but it is replete with Old Testament themes: divine retribution, theology of God, familial ties, marriage, prayer and angels.
Like Ruth, Tobit is a family story. It illustrates how God cares for those who love him. It shows him rewarding human faithfulness with his faithful deliverance. Yet the characters must undergo trials in order to experience deliverance. Tobit, Sarah and Tobiah suffer, but God delivers them in the end. In fact, Raphael says he was sent to test and heal Tobit and Sarah (12:14). Tobit also shows the importance of prayer and strong family relationships.
Yet despite these events God does not forget his people, but sends Cyrus (539 BCE), king of Persia as his messiah to deliver them from bondage. The Israelites are allowed to return to Judah and Benjamin, the Temple is rebuilt, the priestly orders restored, and the service of sacrifice resumed. Through the offices of the sage Ezra, Israel is constituted as a holy community, bound by the Law and holding itself apart from all other peoples.
Cyrus the Great, was himself the instigator of the Return. The faith of the Persian ruling class was ethical and universalistic, unlike the intolerant, narrow nationalism of the earlier imperial powers. Cyrus himself was a Zoroastrian, believing in one, eternal, beneficent being, ‘Creator of all things through the holy spirit’.Under Cyrus, the Persians developed a radically different imperial religious policy to the Assyrians and Babylonians. They were happy to respect the religious beliefs of subject peoples, provided these were compatible
with acceptance of their own authority.
Following their return to Jerusalem and with Persian approval and financing, construction of the Second Temple in 516 BCE was completed under the leadership of the last three Jewish Prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.
- 1 Chronicles (1 Paralipomenon): The history told in Chronicles begins with Adam, and the story is then carried forward, almost entirely by genealogical lists, down to the founding of the Israelite monarchy (1 Chronicles 1–9). The bulk of remainder of 1 Chronicles, after a brief account of Saul, is concerned with the reign of David (1 Chronicles 11–29).
Chronicles appears to be largely the work of a single individual, with some later additions and editing. The anonymous author was probably male, probably a Levite (temple priest), and probably from Jerusalem. He was well read, a skilled editor, and a sophisticated theologian. His intention was to use Israel's past to convey religious messages to his peers, the literary and political elite of Jerusalem in the time of the Persian empire.
Much of the content of Chronicles is a repetition of material from other books of the Bible, from Genesis to Kings, and so the usual scholarly view is that these books, or an early version of them, provided the author with the bulk of his material.
The message which the author wished to give to his audience was this:
- God is active in history, and especially the history of Israel. The faithfulness or sins of individual kings are immediately rewarded or punished by God. (This is in contrast to the theology of the Books of Kings, where the faithlessness of kings was punished on later generations through the Babylonian exile).
- God calls Israel to a special relationship. The call begins with the genealogies (chapters 1–9 of 1 Chronicles), gradually narrowing the focus from all mankind to a single family, the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob. "True" Israel is those who continue to worship Yahweh at the Temple in Jerusalem, with the result that the history of the historical kingdom of Israel is almost completely ignored.
- God chose David and his dynasty as the agents of his will. According to the author of Chronicles, the three great events of David's reign were his bringing the ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, his founding of an eternal royal dynasty, and his preparations for the construction of the Temple.
- God chose the Temple in Jerusalem as the place where he should be worshiped. More time and space are spent on the construction of the Temple and its rituals of worship than on any other subject. By stressing the central role of the Temple in pre-exilic Judah, the author also stresses the importance of the newly-rebuilt Persian-era Second Temple to his own readers.
- God remains active in Israel. The past is used to legitimate the author's present: this is seen most clearly in the detailed attention he gives to the Temple built by Solomon, but also in the genealogy and lineages, which connect his own generation to the distant past and thus make the claim that the present is a continuation of that past
- 2 Chronicles (2 Paralipomenon): The next long section concerns David's son Solomon (2 Chronicles 1–9), and the final part is concerned with the Kingdom of Judah with occasional references to the Kingdom of Israel (2 Chronicles 10–36). In the last chapter Judah is destroyed and the people taken into exile in Babylon, and in the final verses the Persian king Cyrus conquers Babylon, and authorises the restoration of Solomon's Temple, and, apparently, the return of the exiles.
The last events in Chronicles take place in the reign of Cyrus the Great, the Persian king who conquered Babylon in 539 BC; this sets an earliest possible date for the book. It was probably composed between 400–250 BC, with the period 350–300 BC the most likely
After the death of the last Jewish prophet and while still under Persian rule, the leadership of the Jewish people passed into the hands of five successive generations of zugot ("pairs of") leaders. They flourished first under the Persians and then under the Greeks. As a result the Pharisees and Sadduccees were formed. In general, whereas the Sadducees were aristocratic monarchists, the Pharisees were eclectic, popular, and more democratic. Sadducees rejected the Pharisaic tenet of an oral Torah, and created new interpretations based on a literal understanding of verses. In their personal lives this often meant an excessively stringent lifestyle from a Jewish perspective, as they did away with the oral tradition, and in turn the Pharisaic Jewish understanding of the Torah. An example of this differing approach is the interpretation of, "an eye in place of an eye". The Pharisaic understanding was that the value of an eye was to be paid by the perpetrator. In the Sadducees' view the words were given a more literal interpretation, in which the offender's eye would be removed. From the point of view of the Pharisees, the Sadducees wished to change the Jewish understanding of the Torah.
- Book of Ezra:
The Book of Ezra is a book of the Hebrew Bible. Originally combined with the Book of Nehemiah in a single book of Ezra-Nehemiah, the two became separated in the early centuries of the Christian era. Its subject is the Return to Zion following the close of the Babylonian captivity, and it is divided into two parts, the first telling the story of the first return of exiles in the first year of Cyrus the Great (538 BC) and the completion and dedication of the new Temple in Jerusalem in the sixth year of Darius (515 BC), the second telling of the subsequent mission of Ezra to Jerusalem and his struggle to purify the Jews from the sin of marriage with non-Jews. Together with the Book of Nehemiah, it represents the final chapter in the historical narrative of the Hebrew Bible. The return to Zion is a term that refers to the event written in the biblical books of Ezra-Nehemiah in which the Jews returned to the land of Israel from the Babylonian exile following the decree by the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great, the conqueror of the Babylonian empire in 538 BC, also known as Cyrus's Declaration. Around 50,000 Jews made Aliyah to the land of Israel, following the decree of Cyrus, whereas most remained in Babylon. The return of the deportees to Judah during the next 110 years to follow since the decree of Cyrus is known as "the return to Zion", an event that Jews ever since have been inspired by.
God moved the hearts of secular rulers (Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes) to allow, even encourage and help, the Jewish people to return home. He used these unlikely allies to fulfill His promises of restoration for His chosen people.
- Book of Nehemiah: The book is set in the 5th century BC. Judah is one of several provinces within the larger satrapy (a large administrative unit) within the Persian empire. The capital of the empire is at Susa. Nehemiah was a Hebrew in Persia when the word reached him that the Temple in Jerusalem was being reconstructed. He grew anxious knowing there was no wall to protect the city. Nehemiah invited God to use him to save the city. God answered his prayer by softening the heart of the Persian king, Artaxerxes (Nehemiah is a cup-bearer to king Artaxerxes II of Persia), who gave not only his blessing, but also supplies to be used in the project. At his own request Nehemiah is sent to Jerusalem as governor of Yehud, the official Persian name for Judah. Jerusalem had been conquered and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC and Nehemiah finds it still in ruins. His task is to rebuild the walls and to re-populate the city. He faces opposition from three powerful neighbours, the Samaritans, the Ammonites, and the Arabs, as well as the city of Ashdod, but manages to rebuild the walls. He then purifies the Jewish community by enforcing its segregation from its neighbours and enforces the laws of Moses.
The Nehemiah Memorial, chapters 1–7 and 11–13, may have circulated as an independent work before being combined with the Ezra material to form Ezra-Nehemia. The Book of Nehemiah was likely written between 445 and 420 B.C.
- The book of Esther : It was most likely written between B.C. 460 and 331, after the reign of Xerxes I but prior to Alexander the Great's rise to power.
By this time (486-465 B.C.), more than 100 years after the Babylonian captivity under Nebuchadnezzar, and just over 50 years after Zerubbabel led the first group of exiles back to Jerusalem, many Jews still remained in Persia. They were part of the diaspora, or "scattering" of exiles among the nations.
The book of Esther was written to the Jewish people to record the origins of the Feast of Lots, or Purim. This annual festival commemorates God's salvation of the Jewish people, similar to their deliverance from slavery in Egypt.
The book of Esther is one of only two books in the entire Bible named for women. The other is the book of Ruth. This is the story of a beautiful young Jewess who risked her life to serve God and to save her people.
Esther lived in ancient Persia about 100 years after the Babylonian captivity. When her parents died, the orphaned child was adopted and raised by her older cousin Mordecai. One day the king of the Persian Empire, Xerxes I, threw a lavish party. On the final day of the festivities, he called for his queen, Vashti, eager to flaunt her beauty to his guests. But the queen refused to appear before Xerxes. Filled with anger, he deposed Queen Vashti, forever removing her from his presence.
To find his new queen, Xerxes hosted a royal beauty pageant and Esther was chosen for the throne. Esther didnt not reveal that she was Jewish. Her cousin Mordecai became a minor official in the Persian government of Susa. Soon after, Mordecai uncovered a plot to assassinate the king. He told Esther about the conspiracy, and she reported it to Xerxes, giving credit to Mordecai. The plot was thwarted and Mordecai's act of kindness was preserved in the chronicles of the king.
At this same time, the king's highest official was a wicked man named Haman. He hated the Jews and he especially hated Mordecai, who had refused to bow down to him. So, Haman devised a scheme to have every Jew in Persia killed. The king bought into the plot and agreed to annihilate the Jewish people on a specific day. Meanwhile, Mordecai learned of the plan and shared it with Esther, challenging her with these famous words:
"Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:13-14, NIV)
Esther urged all of the Jews to fast and pray for deliverance. Then risking her own life, brave young Esther approached the king with a plan of her own. She invited Xerxes and Haman to a banquet where eventually she revealed her Jewish heritage to the king, as well as Haman's diabolical plot to have her and her people killed. In a rage, the king ordered Haman to be hung on the gallows--the very same gallows Haman had built for Mordecai.
Mordecai was promoted to Haman's high position and Jews were granted protection throughout the land. As the people celebrated God's tremendous deliverance, the joyous festival of Purim was instituted.
Themes in the Book of Esther:
God's Sovereignty - The hand of God is at work in the lives of his people. He used the circumstances in Esther's life, as he uses the decisions and actions of all humans to providentially work out his divine plans and purposes. We can trust in the Lord's sovereign care over every aspect of our lives.
God's Deliverance - The Lord raised up Esther, as he raised up Moses, Joshua, Joseph, and many others to deliver his people from destruction. Through Jesus Christ we are delivered from death and hell. God is able to save his children.
There are considerable historical inaccuracies remain throughout the text, supporting the view that the book of Esther is to be read as a historical novella which tells a story describing historical events but is not necessarily historical fact. Purim is celebrated annually according to the Hebrew calendar on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar (and on Adar II in Hebrew leap years that take place every 3 to 4 years), the day following the victory of the Jews over their enemies.
The primary source relating to the origin of Purim is the Book of Esther:
Esther 9:28 These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews—nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants. (NIV)
The first religious ceremony ordained for the celebration of Purim is the reading of the Book of Esther (the "Megillah") in the synagogue, a regulation ascribed in the Talmud (Megillah 2a) to the Sages of the Great Assembly, of which Mordecai is reported to have been a member.
The Book of Esther prescribes "the sending of portions one man to another, and gifts to the poor" (9:22). According to halakha, each adult must give two different foods to one person, and two charitable donations to two poor people. The food parcels are called mishloach manot ("sending of portions"), and in some circles the custom has evolved into a major gift-giving event.
On Purim day, a festive meal called the Se`udat Purim is held. The drinking of wine features prominently in keeping with the jovial nature of the feast. This is based on the fact that the salvation of the Jews occurred through wine and the Sages of the Talmud stated that one should drink on Purim until he can "no longer distinguish between the phrases arur Haman ('Cursed is Haman') and baruch Mordechai ('Blessed is Mordecai')."
Greek culture was spread eastwards by the Alexandrian conquests. The Levant was not immune to this cultural spread. During this time, currents of Judaism were influenced by Hellenistic philosophy developed from the 3rd century BCE, notably the Jewish diaspora in Alexandria, culminating in the compilation of the Septuagint. An important advocate of the symbiosis of Jewish theology and Hellenistic thought is Philo.
At the beginning of this period of canonisation for the Jewish Bible, Jewish scholars in the Diaspora (and possibly the Holy Land as well) translated the Hebrew texts* into Koine Greek to create the Septuagint or LXX. The septuaginta (meaning seventy), is a translation of the Hebrew Bible and some related texts into Koine Greek. It was carried out by 70 or 72 Jewish scholars in Alexandria — which is why it’s the Septuagint, meaning seventy. Importantly, the New Testament almost exclusively quotes from the Septuagint. The early Christians also used the Septuagint like the New Testament writers did, and Christians kept using it. In fact, the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox still use the Septuagint. The canon of the Septuagint, however, isn’t identical to the modern Jewish Bible. In fact the Jewish canon was finally set around the 2nd Century AD , two centuries after the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Based on that Jewish canon, the Protestant Reformation “removed” from Protestant Old Testaments the “extra” books which were not in the Jewish canon. The Septuagint was widely accepted and used by Greek-speaking Jews in the 1st century, even in the region of Roman Judea, and therefore naturally became the text most widely used by early Christians, who were predominantly Greek speaking. It is actually believed that the New Testament writers were using the Septuagint. As example how the new testament writes uses the Septuagint let's look how in several places in the New Testament-the idea that the Mosaic Law, given at Sinai, was actually given by angels:
"you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it" (7:53)
"For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution" (Hebrews 2:1-2a)
"Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary."
However you see that only in the Deuteronomy 33:1-2 at the Septuagint the idea that the Mosaic Law, given at Sinai, was actually given by angels:
"He said: The LORD came from Sinai, and He shone to us from Seir; He made haste from Mount Paran with ten thousands of Kadesh, his angels with him."
Compare now with the Traditional Masoretic Hebrew Text, no mention to angels:
"He said: Yahweh came from Sinai, and He shone upon them from Seir. He appeared in radiance from Mount Paran, and approached from Ribeboth-Kodesh, from his right lightning flashed at them."
Therefore most quotations of the Old Testament in the New Testament, differing by varying degrees from the Masoretic Text, are taken from the Septuagint.
Hebrew texts translated: It is not known when the Ketuvim ("writings") or final part of the three part Masoretic Canon/Tanakh was established, although some sort of selective processes must have been employed because the Septuagint did not include other well-known Jewish documents such as Enoch or Jubilees or other writings that are not part of the Jewish canon. Some newer books as Maccabees and the Wisdom of Ben Sirawere were included in the Septuagint: those called anagignoskomena (deuterocanonical) in Greek, because they are not included in the Jewish canon after AD 100. Their acceptance among early Christians was widespread, though not universal, and the Bible of the early Church always included, with varying degrees of recognition, books now called deuterocanonical. Some say that their canonicity seems not to have been doubted in the Church until it was challenged by Jews after AD 100.
Versio vulgata: For the first few centuries, pretty much all Christians spoke Greek and they used the Septuagint. (As did many Jews.) In the West, however, Greek was no longer the dominant language; Latin was. So in 382, Pope Damascus I commissioned St Jerome to make a revision of the Vetus Latina (old Latin translations). The Vetus Latina was the former translation of the whole Bible into Latin. St Jerome carried on with the translation into the vulgar or common tongue of the West (hence, Vulgate). St Jerome didn’t use the Septuagint translation itself, just its canon — and actually translated the Vulgate from now extinct Hebrew manuscripts. Jerome described those books or portions of books in the Septuagint that were not found in the Hebrew canon as being non-canonical: he called them "Apocrypha".
The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and accentuation known as the Masorah. In modern times the Dead Sea Scrolls have shown the MT to be nearly identical to some texts of the Tanakh dating from 200 BCE but different from others. The MT was primarily copied, edited and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the 7th and 10th centuries AD. The oldest extant manuscripts of the Masoretic Text date from approximately the 9th century AD.
5) Hasmonean Kingdom (140-37 BCE)
In 332 BCE, the Persians were defeated by Alexander the Great of Macedon. After his demise, and the division of Alexander's empire among his generals, the Seleucid Kingdom was formed. Judea became at that moment part of the Seleucid Empire of Syria.
The years 400-200 BC are the lost centuries of Jewish history. There were no great events or calamities they chose to record. Perhaps they were happy. The Jews certainly seem to have liked the Persians the best of all their rulers. They never revolted against them; on the contrary, Jewish mercenaries helped the Persians to put down Egyptian rebellion. The Jews were free to practise their religion at home in Judah, or anywhere else in the Persian empire, and Jewish settlements were soon to be found over a vast area.
A deterioration of relations between hellenized Jews and orthodox Jews led the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes to impose decrees banning certain Jewish religious rites and traditions. Consequently, the orthodox Jews revolted under the leadership of the Hasmonean family (also known as the Maccabees). In the narrative of I Maccabees, after Antiochus issued his decrees forbidding Jewish religious practice, a rural Jewish priest from Modiin, Mattathias the Hasmonean, sparked the revolt against the Seleucid Empire by refusing to worship the Greek gods. This revolt eventually led to the formation of an independent Jewish kingdom, known as the Hasmonaean Dynasty, which lasted from 165 BCE to 63 BCE. The Hasmonaean began as the avengers of martyrs; they ended as religious oppressors themselves. They came to power at the head of an eager guerrilla band; they ended surrounded by mercenaries. Their kingdom, founded in faith, dissolved in impiety.
1 Maccabees: The First book of Maccabees is a book written in Hebrew by a Jewish author after the restoration of an independent Jewish kingdom, about the latter part of the 2nd century BC. The original Hebrew is lost and the most important surviving version is the Greek translation contained in the Septuagint*. The book is held as canonical scripture by some Christian churches (including Catholic, Orthodox and Coptic churches), but not by Protestant denominations.
The book's author is unknown, but some suggest that it may have been a devout Jew from the Holy Land who may have taken part in the events described in the book. He shows intimate and detailed geographical knowledge of the Holy Land, but is inaccurate in his information about foreign countries
(*The Septuagint, from the Latin word septuaginta (meaning seventy), is a translation of the Hebrew Bible and some related texts into Koine Greek. The traditional story is that Ptolemy II sponsored the translation for use by the many Alexandrian Jews who were not fluent in Hebrew but fluent in Koine Greek, which was the lingua franca of Alexandria, Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE until the development of Byzantine Greek around 600 CE)
The setting of the book is about a century after the conquest of Judea by the Greeks under Alexander the Great, after Alexander's empire has been divided so that Judea was part of the Greek Seleucid Empire. It tells how the Greek ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes attempted to suppress the practice of basic Jewish law, resulting in a Jewish revolt against Seleucid rule. The book covers the whole of the revolt, from 175 to 134 BC, highlighting how the salvation of the Jewish people in this crisis came through Mattathias' family, particularly his sons, Judas Maccabeus, Jonathan Apphus, and Simon Thassi, and Simon's son, John Hyrcanus.
In the first chapter, Alexander the Great conquers the territory of Judea, only to be eventually succeeded by the Seleucid Antiochus IV Epiphanes. After successfully invading the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt, Antiochus IV captures Jerusalem and removes the sacred objects from the Jerusalem temple, slaughtering many Jews. He then imposes a tax and establishes a fortress in Jerusalem. Antiochus then tries to suppress public observance of Jewish laws, in an attempt to secure control over the Jews. He desecrates the Temple by setting up an "abomination of desolation" (that is, establishing rites of pagan observance in the Temple, or sacrificing an unclean animal on the altar in the Holy of Holies). Antiochus forbids both circumcision and possession of Jewish scriptures on pain of death. He forbids observance of the sabbath and the offering of sacrifices at the Temple. He also requires Jewish leaders to sacrifice to idols. While enforcement may be targeting only Jewish leaders, ordinary Jews were also killed as a warning to others.
Mattathias, the Jewish priest and landowner of Modein, calls upon people loyal to the traditions of Israel to oppose the invaders and the Jewish Hellenizers, and his three sons begin a military campaign against them. Mattathias killed a Hellenistic Jew who stepped forward to offer a sacrifice to an idol in Mattathias' place. He and his five sons fled to the wilderness of Judah. After Mattathias' death about one year later in 166 BCE, his son Judas Maccabee led an army of Jewish dissidents to victory over the Seleucid dynasty in guerrilla warfare, which at first was directed against Hellenizing Jews, of whom there were many. There is one complete loss of a thousand Jews (men, women and children) to Antiochus when the Jewish defenders refuse to fight on the Sabbath. The other Jews then reason that, when attacked, they must fight even on the holy day. In 165 BC the Temple is freed and reconsecrated, so that ritual sacrifices may begin again. The festival of Hanukkah is instituted by Judas Maccabeus and his brothers to celebrate this event (1 Macc. 4:59). Judas seeks an alliance with the Roman Republic to remove the Greeks. He is "succeeded" by his brother Jonathan, who becomes high priest and also seeks alliance with Rome and confirms alliance with Areus of Sparta (1 Macc. 12:1–23). His brother Jonathan was then appointed king and he joined with Alexander in the war to become the ruler of Syria. To further strengthen himself, Alexander entered a peace treaty with Ptolemy in which he gave his daughter Cleopatra to Alexander. Ptolemy wants to become the ruler of the Seleucids therefore he ended this treaty. Trypho, a minister and general to Alexander, invited Jonathan over. He killed Jonathan’s 1,000 men and put Jonathan in prison because he wanted to become king, and Jonathan was in his way.
2 Maccabees.- This is a deuterocanonical book which focuses on the Jews' revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes and concludes with the defeat of the Syrian general Nicanor in 161 BC by Judas Maccabeus, the hero of the work.
Unlike 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees was written in Koine Greek, probably in Alexandria, Egypt, c 124 BC. It presents a revised version of the historical events recounted in the first seven chapters of 1 Maccabees, adding material from the Pharisaic tradition, including prayer for the dead and a resurrection on Judgment Day. 2 Maccabees demonstrates several points of doctrinal interpretation deriving from Pharisaic Judaism, and also found in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox theology. Doctrinal issues that are raised in 2 Maccabees include:
- Prayer for the dead and sacrificial offerings, both to free the dead from sin (12,43-46)
- Merits of the martyrs (6, 18-7, 41)
- Intercession of the saints (15:11–17) (at least as seen from a Christian viewpoint)
- Resurrection of the dead (7,9:14,46)
- Specific mention of creation ex nihilo (II Maccabees 7:28)
In particular, the long descriptions of the martyrdoms of Eleazar and of a mother with her seven sons (2 Macc 6:18–7:42) caught the imagination of medieval Christians. Several churches are dedicated to the "Maccabeean martyrs", and they are among the few pre-Christian figures to appear on the Catholic calendar of saints' days (that number is considerably higher in the Eastern Orthodox churches' calendars, where they also appear). The book is considered the first model of the medieval stories of the martyrs.
2 Maccabees 2:1-12 explains how Jeremiah removed the Ark from the Temple in Jerusalem before the destruction of the city. He hid the Ark and the tent of the desert Tabernacle in a cave on Mount Nebo and it has never been found to this day. This legendary accout of how Jeremiah hid the sacred tent (which was not mentioned after the time of Solomon!), the ark, and the altar is given for the purpose of explaining why the postexilic temple was the legitimate place of worship even without these sacred objects.
1 You will find in the records, not only that Jeremiah the prophet ordered the deportees to take some of the aforementioned fire with them,
2 but also that the prophet, in giving them the law, admonished them not to forget the commandments of the Lord or be led astray in their thoughts, when seeing the gold and silver idols and their ornaments.
3 With other similar words he urged them not to let the law depart from their hearts.
4 The same document also tells how the prophet, following a divine revelation, ordered that the tent and the ark should accompany him and how he went off to the mountain which Moses climbed to see God's inheritance.
5 When Jeremiah arrived there, he found a room in a cave in which he put the tent, the ark, and the altar of incense; then he blocked up the entrance.
6 Some of those who followed him came up intending to mark the path, but they could not find it.
7 When Jeremiah heard of this, he reproved them: "The place is to remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows them mercy.
8 Then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord will be seen in the cloud, just as it appeared in the time of Moses and when Solomon prayed that the Place might be gloriously sanctified."
9 It is also related how Solomon in his wisdom offered a sacrifice at the dedication and the completion of the temple.
10 Just as Moses prayed to the Lord and fire descended from the sky and consumed the sacrifices, so Solomon also prayed and fire came down and burned up the holocausts.
11 Moses had said, "Because it had not been eaten, the sin offering was burned up."
12 Solomon also celebrated the feast in the same way for eight days.
2 Maccabees was condemned in Protestant circles. Martin Luther said: "I am so great an enemy to the second book of the Maccabees, and to Esther, that I wish they had not come to us at all, for they have too many heathen unnaturalities".
In 1534, Martin Luther translated the Bible into German. He grouped the seven deuterocanonical books (Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and I & II Maccabees) of the Old Testament under the title "Apocrypha" declaring, "These are books which are not held equal to the Sacred Scriptures and yet are useful and good for reading." Some scholars believe Luther wanted to return to the "primitive faith," and therefore accepted only those Old Testament books written in Hebrew originally; others speculate he wanted to remove anything which disagreed with his own theology. Part of the reason for the controversy was because these books were the latest writings of the Old Testament and were written in Greek rather than Hebrew; the other books of the Old Testament — the "protocanonical books"-- were older and originally written in Hebrew. The Westminster Confession (1647) decreed that these books, "not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of Scripture, and therefore are of no authority of the Church of God; nor to be in any otherwise approved, or made use of than other human writings." The British and Foreign Bible Society decided in 1827 to remove these books from further publications and labeled these books "apocryphal." . The Council of Trent, reacting to the Protestant Reformers, repeated the canon of Florence in the Decree on Sacred Books and on Traditions to be Received (1546) and decreed that these books were to be treated "with equal devotion and reverence." The Catechism repeats this same list of books and again affirms the apostolic Tradition of the canon of Sacred Scripture.
[Hanukkah: According to the Talmud, a late text, the Temple was purified and the wicks of the menorah miraculously burned for eight days, even though there was only enough sacred oil for one day's lighting. Hanukkah also known as the Festival of Lights, Feast of Dedication, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire of the 2nd century BCE. The festival is observed by the kindling of the lights of a unique candelabrum, the nine-branched menorah or hanukiah, one additional light on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the final night.
When the Second Temple in Jerusalem was looted and services stopped, Judaism was outlawed. In 167 BCE Antiochus ordered an altar to Zeus erected in the Temple. He banned brit milah (circumcision) and ordered pigs to be sacrificed at the altar of the temple (the sacrifice of pigs to the Greek gods was standard ritual practice in the Ancient Greek religion). Antiochus's actions provoked a large-scale revolt. Mattityahu, a Jewish priest, and his five sons Jochanan, Simeon, Eleazar, Jonathan, and Judah led a rebellion against Antiochus. Judah became known as Yehuda HaMakabi ("Judah the Hammer"). By 166 BCE Mattathias had died, and Judah took his place as leader. By 165 BCE the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy was successful. The Temple was liberated and rededicated. The festival of Hanukkah was instituted to celebrate this event. Judah ordered the Temple to be cleansed, a new altar to be built in place of the polluted one and new holy vessels to be made. According to the Talmud, unadulterated and undefiled pure olive oil with the seal of the kohen gadol (high priest) was needed for the menorah in the Temple, which was required to burn throughout the night every night. The story goes that one flask was found with only enough oil to burn for one day, yet it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of kosher oil for the menorah. An eight-day festival was declared by the Jewish sages to commemorate this miracle.
The story of Hanukkah is preserved in the books of the First and Second Maccabees. These books are not part of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible); they are Jewish apocryphal books instead. The miracle of the one-day supply of oil miraculously lasting eight days is first described in the Talmud, committed to writing about 600 years after the events described in the books of Maccabees.
Hanukkah is celebrated with a series of rituals that are performed every day throughout the 8-day holiday, some are family-based and others communal. There are special additions to the daily prayer service, and a section is added to the blessing after meals. Hanukkah is not a "Sabbath-like" holiday, and there is no obligation to refrain from activities that are forbidden on the Sabbath, as specified in the Shulkhan Arukh. Adherents go to work as usual, but may leave early in order to be home to kindle the lights at nightfall. There is no religious reason for schools to be closed, although, in Israel, schools close from the second day for the whole week of Hanukkah. Many families exchange small gifts each night, such as books or games.
The typical menorah for the Hanukkah consists of eight branches with an additional raised branch. The extra light is called a shamash ("attendant") and is given a distinct location, usually above or below the rest. The purpose of the shamash is to have a light available for practical use, as using the Hanukkah lights themselves for purposes other than publicizing and meditating upon Hanukkah is forbidden.
Each night, throughout the 8 day holiday, a candle or oil-based light, is lit. As a universally practiced "beautification" (hiddur mitzvah) of the mitzvah, the number of lights lit is increased by one each night. An extra light called a shamash, meaning "attendant" or "sexton," is also lit each night, and is given a distinct location, usually higher, lower, or to the side of the others. The purpose of the extra light is to adhere to the prohibition, specified in the Talmud (Tracate Shabbat 21b–23a), against using the Hanukkah lights for anything other than publicizing and meditating on the Hanukkah miracle. This differs from Sabbath candles which are meant to be used for illumination and lighting. Hence, if one were to need extra illumination on Hanukkah, the shamash candle would be available and one would avoid using the prohibited lights. Some light the shamash candle first and then use it to light the others. So all together, including the shamash, two lights are lit on the first night, three on the second and so on, ending with nine on the last night. The reason for the Hanukkah lights is not for the "lighting of the house within", but rather for the "illumination of the house without," so that passersby should see it and be reminded of the holiday's miracle (i.e. the triumph of the few over the many and of the pure over the impure). Accordingly, lamps are set up at a prominent window or near the door leading to the street.
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| Hanukkah with the nine-branched menorah or hanukiah |
The Hasmonean Dynasty (110 – 63 BCE) eventually disintegrated as a result of civil war between the sons of Salome Alexandra, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II. The people, who did not want to be governed by a king but by theocratic clergy, made appeals in this spirit to the Roman authorities. A Roman campaign of conquest and annexation, led by Pompey, soon followed.
6) Herodian Kingdom (37 BCE–4 BCE)
Judea had been an independent Jewish kingdom under the Hasmoneans, but was conquered by the Roman general Pompey in 63 BCE and reorganized as a client state. (Roman expansion was going on in other areas as well, and would continue for more than a hundred and fifty years.) Later, Herod the Great was appointed "King of the Jews" by the Roman Senate, supplanting the Hasmonean dynasty. Some of his offspring held various positions after him, known as the Herodian dynasty. Briefly, from 4 BCE to 6 CE, Herod Archelaus ruled the tetrarchy of Judea as ethnarch, the Romans denying him the title of King. After the Census of Quirinius in 6, the Roman province of Judaea was formed as a satellite of Roman Syria under the rule of a prefect (as was Roman Egypt) until 41, then procurators after 44. The empire was often callous and brutal in its treatment of its Jewish subjects.
Wisdom books:
- Book of Job: The author of the book is unknown, neither can the period in which it was written be exactly determined. Many considered the book the work of Job himself or Moses. It is now universally and correctly held that the book is not earlier than the reign of Solomon. On the other hand it is earlier than Ezechiel (Ezekiel 14:1-20). For it is the natural supposition that the latter gained his knowledge of Job from the Book of Job, and not from other, vanished, sources. It is claimed that allusions to Job have also been found in Isaias, Amos, Lamentations, some of the Psalms, and especially Jeremias.
It is generally agreed by scholars that the book comes from the period between the 7th and 4th centuries BCE, with the 6th century as the most likely date for a variety of reasons. Most scholars suggest that Job was written during or after the reign of Solomon, but that the setting of the story is in the much earlier patriarchal period, about the same time as Abraham.
The Book of Job is one of the Writings (Ketuvim) of the Hebrew Bible, and first of the poetical books in the Christian Old Testament. Addressing the theme of God's justice in the face of human suffering - or more simply, "Why do the righteous suffer?" - it is a rich theological work, setting out a variety of perspectives. It has been widely and often extravagantly praised for its literary qualities - "The greatest poem of ancient and modern times," according to Tennyson
1. Prologue in two scenes, the first on earth, the second in heaven (chapters 1-2):
The prologue on earth shows the righteous Job blessed with wealth and sons and daughters. The scene shifts to heaven, where God asks the satan (ha-satan, literally "the accuser") for his opinion of Job's piety. The satan answers that Job is pious only because God has blessed him; if God were to take away everything that Job had, then he would surely curse God. God gives the satan permission to take Job's wealth and children (1:13-19), but Job praises God: "Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return: the Lord has given, and Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." God allows the satan to afflict his body with boils (2:7). Job sits in ashes; his wife prompts him to "curse God, and die," (2:9) but Job answers: "Shall we receive good from God and shall not receive evil?"
In chapter 3 Job complains that he was born and He complains of his life. His whole speech amounts to saying: I wish I had never been born: Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?" (3:11). Three of his so-called "friends" (Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar) added to his misery as they doubted Job’s righteousness and integrity and argued that his sin brought about his calamities (4:1 – 25:6). And on top of all this, Job felt that the Lord had withdrawn from him, and would not answer him nor intervene in his situation.
In light of this terrible suffering, how is it that James, with Job’s situation in mind, could write that "the Lord is full of compassion and mercy"? (James 5:11).
In 7.6-7 we read important words of Job:" My life goes by faster than the shuttle of a weaver.. my days come to their end without hope.... My eye will never again see good." We note that Job sees no possible relief in this life
One of Job’s greatest concerns was that God seemed to be distant and uninvolved in his situation. At one point, for example, Job asked the Lord, "Why do You hide Your face and consider me Your enemy?" (13:24). What Job did not realize throughout the time of his suffering was that the Lord was very much involved in his life. It was the Lord, after all, who first mentioned Job’s name to Satan, and it was the Lord who established the boundaries for the testing Satan was to bring against him. The last chapter of the Book of Job makes it clear that the Lord was fully aware of Job’s situation including the conversations he had with his three friends. Although it appeared quite the contrary to Job, everything that happened to him was under the Lord’s sovereign oversight.
This is perhaps one of the most important truths the Lord shared with Job when He finally broke silence and answered Job (see chapters 38-41). What may be especially noteworthy in the Lord’s words is that He did not answer Job’s questions. He did not explain why Job was suffering. He did not discuss Job’s innocence or guilt. He did not even discuss Job’s situation. Instead, He reminded Job through a series of rhetorical questions and statements that Job is not the Creator, but that He, the Lord, is the Creator and that He is intimately involved with His Creation.
He is the One who laid the earth’s foundation and marked off its dimensions (38:5-7); He knows the way to light and darkness (38:19-20);He governs the laws of the heavens and earth (38:33); ; He gives wisdom to man’s heart and understanding to man’s mind (38:36); He gave the horse its strength (39:19-25); the hawk takes flight by His wisdom and the eagle soars at His command (39:26-30); He is the Creator of man (40:15) and He is the Creator of awesome creatures such as behemoth and leviathan that are beyond man’s control (40:15 – 41:34).
Why this emphasis on God’s control and intimacy with His Creation? Perhaps the Lord, out of His great love and concern for Job, wanted to remind him that He had not withdrawn from him, but was fully aware of his situation. As Job’s Creator, the Lord was most concerned about Job’s life, as He is with all of His Creation. Nothing in Job’s situation had escaped the Lord’s attention.
Since the Lord knows all about us and has unlimited power to help us, some people may argue that He is unjust and unkind to allow suffering. This seems all the more so when God allows an innocent man like Job, described by the Lord Himself as "blameless and upright" (1:8), to suffer so terribly. While it is certainly true that the Lord "does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men" (Lam. 3:33), He does work through affliction, grief and other hardships to bless His people. Job’s suffering had caused him to seek the Lord far more deeply than he ever had before, and the Lord graciously revealed Himself to Job. Following this great revelation, Job exclaimed, "My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen You" (42:5).
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| IlyaRepin - Job and His Friends (1869) |
Jewish liturgy does not use readings from the book of Job in the manner of the Pentateuch, Prophets, or megillot, although it is quoted at funerals and times of mourning. However, there are some Jews, particularly the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, who do hold public readings of Job on the Tisha B'Av fast (a day of mourning over the destruction of the First and Second Temples and other tragedies).
Job is a consoling book in times of suffering. While it does not solve the problem of suffering, it shows us that the complexities of human life are not easy to understand and that God is present with us when we suffer. Jesus later emphasizes this same perspective (Matt 19:29). Jesus also clarifies and agrees with Job's view that sin is not always the cause of personal suffering (John 9:3).
-- In Job chapter 28 there is an extraordinary description of mining in the ancient world. Through this image, a view is presented of the almost unlimited scientific and technological potential of the human race, and this is then contrasted with man’s incorrigibly weak moral capacities. What the author of Job is saying is that there are two orders in creation—the physical and the moral order. To understand and master the physical order of the world is not enough: man must come to accept and abide by the moral order, and to do this he must acquire the secret of Wisdom, and this knowledge is something of an altogether different kind from, say, mining technology. -- Paul Johson
Interlude: Where Wisdom Is Found
28 “Surely there is a mine for silver,
and a place for gold to be refined.
2 Iron is taken out of the earth,
and copper is smelted from ore.
3 Miners put[a] an end to darkness,
and search out to the farthest bound
the ore in gloom and deep darkness.
4 They open shafts in a valley away from human habitation;
they are forgotten by travelers,
they sway suspended, remote from people.
5 As for the earth, out of it comes bread;
but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
6 Its stones are the place of sapphires,
and its dust contains gold.
7 “That path no bird of prey knows,
and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.
8 The proud wild animals have not trodden it;
the lion has not passed over it.
9 “They put their hand to the flinty rock,
and overturn mountains by the roots.
10 They cut out channels in the rocks,
and their eyes see every precious thing.
11 The sources of the rivers they probe;
hidden things they bring to light.
12 “But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13 Mortals do not know the way to it,
and it is not found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 It cannot be gotten for gold,
and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.
16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
in precious onyx or sapphire.
17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
the price of wisdom is above pearls.
19 The chrysolite of Ethiopia cannot compare with it,
nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20 “Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is the place of understanding?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
and concealed from the birds of the air.
22 Abaddon and Death say,
‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’
23 “God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
24 For he looks to the ends of the earth,
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When he gave to the wind its weight,
and apportioned out the waters by measure;
26 when he made a decree for the rain,
and a way for the thunderbolt;
27 then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
28 And he said to humankind,
‘Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
and to depart from evil is understanding.’”
- Psalms: The composition of the psalms spans at least five centuries, from Psalm 29, which is adapted from early Canaanite worship, to others which are clearly from the post-Exilic period. The majority originated in the southern kingdom of Judah and were associated with the Temple in Jerusalem, where they probably functioned as libretto during the Temple worship.
Exactly how they did this is unclear, although there are indications in some of them: "Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar," suggests a connection with sacrifices, and "Let my prayer be counted as incense" suggests a connection with the offering of incense.
Seventy-three of the 150 Psalms in the Bible are attributed to King David, “the favorite of the songs of Israel,Nevertheless, there is no hard evidence for Davidic authorship of any of them. "Davidic authorship is not accepted as historical fact by modern scholars," note Adele Berlin and Marc Vzi Brettler in the Jewish Study Bible
Most individual psalms involve the praise of God – for his power and beneficence, for his creation of the world, and for his past acts of deliverance for Israel. The psalms envision a world in which everyone and everything will praise God, and God in turn will hear their prayers and respond.
The reading of psalms is viewed in Jewish tradition as a vehicle for gaining God's favor. They are thus often specially recited in times of trouble, such as poverty, disease, or physical danger; in many synagogues, Psalms are recited after services for the security of the State of Israel.
Psalm 14, 1-3
1 The fool has said in his heart,“There is no God.” They are corrupt,. They have done abominable works,. There is none who does good.
Psalm 21
"O God, my God, look upon me, why have You forsaken me far from my salvation?" Psalm 21:1
...
"For many dogs came about Me. The council of the malignant came about Me. They pierced My hands and feet" 21:17
“They parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they cast lots” – Psalm 21:19
Psalm 22
“My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue hath cleaved to my jaws: and thou hast brought me down into the dust of death.” – Psalms 22:16
Psalm 23
1.The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing
...
4. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 27
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?
...
14 Wait for the LORD;be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
Psalm 31
3 You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,
4 take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
for you are my refuge.
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.
...
10 For my life is spent with sorrow,
and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,
and my bones waste away.
11 I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
a horror[c] to my neighbors,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street flee from me.
Psalm 34
“The Lord keepeth all their bones, not one of them shall be broken.” - Psalms 34:20
Psalm 52
3 You love evil more than good,
and lying more than speaking the truth.Selah
4 You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.
5 But God will break you down forever;
Psalm 63
Verses 1-3
Oh God, you are my God,
Earnestly I seek you;
My soul thirsts for you,
My body longs for you
In a dry and weary land
Where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary
And beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life,
My lips will glorify you.
Psalm 68
“And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” – Psalm 68:22
Psalm 86
11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart to revere your name.
12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your steadfast love toward me;
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
Psalm 91:
"I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Psalm 100:
"For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."
The Book of Psalms can teach people how to pray and is the “prayer book ‘par excellence,’” Pope Benedict XVI said in his June 22 2011 audience with pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square:
“These inspired songs teach us how to speak to God, expressing ourselves and the whole range of our human experience with words that God himself has given us.”
Psalm 102
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place[a]
in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
...
4 For a thousand years in your sight
are like yesterday when it is past,
or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning;
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
...
9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
our years come to an end[c] like a sigh.
10 The days of our life are seventy years,
or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
even then their span[d] is only toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
- Book of Proverbs:
King Solomon, famous for his wisdom, is credited as one of the authors of Proverbs. Other contributors include a group of men called "The Wise," Agur, and King Lemuel.
Proverbs is not merely an anthology but a "collection of collections" relating to a pattern of life which lasted for more than a millennium. It is an example of the Biblical wisdom tradition, and raises questions of values, moral behaviour, the meaning of human life, and right conduct. The repeated theme is that "the fear of God (meaning submission to the will of God) is the beginning of wisdom"
Wisdom is praised for her role in creation; God acquired her before all else, and through her he gave order to chaos; and since humans have life and prosperity by conforming to the order of creation, seeking wisdom is the essence and goal of the religious life.
For the most part Proverbs offers a simplistic view of life with few grey areas: life lived according to the rules brings reward, life in violation of them is certain to bring disaster. In contrast, Job and Ecclesiastes appear to be direct contradictions of the simplicities of Proverbs, each in its own way all but dismissing the assumptions of the "wise"
The superscriptions divide the collections as follows:
Proverbs 1–9: "Proverbs of Solomon, Son of David, King of Israel"
Proverbs 10–22:16: "Proverbs of Solomon"
Proverbs 22:17–24:22: "The Sayings of the Wise"
Proverbs 24:23–34: "These Also are Sayings of the Wise"
Proverbs 25–29: "These are Other Proverbs of Solomon that the Officials of King Hezekiah of Judah Copied"
Proverbs 30: "The Words of Agur"
Proverbs 31:1–9: "The Words of King Lemuel of Massa, Which his Mother Taught Him"
Proverbs 31:10–31: the ideal wise woman (elsewhere called the "woman of substance"
Proverbs has several audiences. It is addressed to parents for instruction to their children. The book also applies to young men and women who are seeking wisdom, and finally, it supplies practical advice for today's Bible readers who want to live a godly life.
Although Proverbs was written in Israel thousands of years ago, its wisdom is applicable to any culture at any time.
Proverbs 4
5 Get wisdom; get insight: do not forget, nor turn away
from the words of my mouth.
6 Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
love her, and she will guard you.
Proverbs 6
6 Go to the ant, you lazybones;
consider its ways, and be wise.
7 Without having any chief
or officer or ruler,
8 it prepares its food in summer,
and gathers its sustenance in harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, O lazybones?
When will you rise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want, like an armed warrior.
Proverbs 14
her feet do not stay at home;
12 now in the street, now in the squares,
and at every corner she lies in wait.
13 She seizes him and kisses him,
and with impudent face she says to him:
14 “I had to offer sacrifices,
and today I have paid my vows;
15 so now I have come out to meet you,
to seek you eagerly, and I have found you!
16 I have decked my couch with coverings,
colored spreads of Egyptian linen;
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love until morning;
let us delight ourselves with love.
19 For my husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey.
20 He took a bag of money with him;
he will not come home until full moon.”
21 With much seductive speech she persuades him;
with her smooth talk she compels him.
22 Right away he follows her,
and goes like an ox to the slaughter,
or bounds like a stag toward the trap[c]
...
30 A tranquil mind gives life to the flesh,
but passion makes the bones rot.
31 Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker,
but those who are kind to the needy honor him.
32 The wicked are overthrown by their evildoing,
but the righteous find a refuge in their integrity.[i]
33 Wisdom is at home in the mind of one who has understanding,
but it is not[j] known in the heart of fools.
34 Righteousness exalts a nation,
but sin is a reproach to any people.
Proverbs 16
16 How much better to get wisdom than gold!
To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.
Proverbs 21
19 It is better to live in a desert land
than with a contentious and fretful wife.
Proverbs 24
14 Know that wisdom is such to your soul;
if you find it, you will find a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
Proverbs 27
6 Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts,
but profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
7 The sated appetite spurns honey,
but to a ravenous appetite even the bitter is sweet.
8 Like a bird that strays from its nest
is one who strays from home.
9 Perfume and incense make the heart glad,
but the soul is torn by trouble.
Proverbs 28
19 Anyone who tills the land will have plenty of bread,
but one who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty.
Proverbs 29
2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;
but when the wicked rule, the people groan.
...
17 Discipline your children, and they will give you rest;
they will give delight to your heart.
Proverbs 30
5 Every word of God proves true;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
...
7 Two things I ask of you;
do not deny them to me before I die:
8 Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that I need,
9 or I shall be full, and deny you,
and say, “Who is the Lord?”
or I shall be poor, and steal,
and profane the name of my God.
- Ecclesiastes: The title Ecclesiastes is a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of the Hebrew Koheleth (meaning "Gatherer", but traditionally translated as "Teacher" or "Preacher"), the eponymous author of the book.
Koheleth introduces himself as "son of David, king in Jerusalem", perhaps implying that he is Solomon, but the work is in fact anonymous and was most probably composed in the last part of the 3rd century BC. The book is in the form of an autobiography telling of his investigation of the meaning of life and the best way of life.
- Ecclesiastes: Ecclesiastes has had a deep influence on Western literature: American novelist Thomas Wolfe wrote: "[O]f all I have ever seen or learned, that book seems to me the noblest, the wisest, and the most powerful expression of man's life upon this earth"
Ecclesiastes is presented as the autobiography of Koheleth, the Teacher. Koheleth's story is framed by voice of the narrator, who refers to Koheleth in the third person, praises his wisdom, but reminds the reader that wisdom has its limitations and is not man's main concern. Koheleth reports what he planned, did, experienced and thought. His journey to knowledge is, in the end, incomplete, and the reader is not only to hear Koheleth's wisdom, but to observe his journey towards understanding and acceptance of life's frustrations and uncertainties: the journey itself is important.
Many attempts to uncover an underlying structure to Ecclesiastes have met with widespread acceptance; among them, the following is one of the more influential:
Title (1:1)
Initial poem (1:2–11)
I: Koheleth's investigation of life (1:12–6:9)
II: Koheleth's conclusions (6:10–11:6)
Introduction (6:10–12)
A: Man cannot discover what is good for him to do (7:1–8:17)
B: Man does not know what will come after him (9:1–11:6)
Concluding poem (11:7–12:8)
Epilogue (12:9–14)
The subject of Ecclesiastes is the pain and frustration engendered by observing and meditating on the distortions and inequities pervading the world, the uselessness of human deeds, the limitations of wisdom and righteousness; all this coexists with a firm belief in God, whose power, justice and unpredictability are sovereign. History and nature move in cycles, so that all events are predetermined and unchangeable, and life has no meaning or purpose: the wise man and the man who does not study wisdom will both die and be forgotten: man should be reverent ("Fear God"), but in this life it is best to simply enjoy God's gifts
The presence of Ecclesiastes in the Bible is something of a puzzle, as the common themes of the Hebrew canon — a God who reveals and redeems, who elects and cares for a chosen people – are absent from it. One argument advanced then was that the name of Solomon carried enough authority to ensure its inclusion, but other works which appeared with Solomon's name were excluded despite being more orthodox than Ecclesiastes. Another was that the words of the epilogue, in which the reader is told to fear God and keep his commands, made it orthodox; but all later attempts to find anything in the rest of the book which would reflect this orthodoxy have failed. A modern suggestion has been to treat the book as a dialogue in which different statements belong to different voices, with Koheleth himself answering and refuting unorthodox opinions, but there are no explicit markers for this in the book, as there are, for example in the Book of Job. Yet another suggestion is that Ecclesiastes is simply the most extreme example of a tradition of skepticism, but none of the proposed examples match Ecclesiastes for a sustained denial of faith and doubt in the goodness of God. "In short, we do not know why or how this book found its way into such esteemed company"
Ecclesiastes differs from the other biblical Wisdom books in being deeply skeptical of the usefulness of Wisdom itself. Ecclesiastes is a Wisdom book that explores life from a pessimistic perspective. While Proverbs proposes salient points of wisdom to be followed, Ecclesiastes exposes the utter futility of human life without God.
Wisdom was a popular genre in the ancient world, where it was cultivated in scribal circles and directed towards young men who would take up careers in high officialdom and royal courts; there is strong evidence that some of these books, or at least sayings and teachings, were translated into Hebrew and influenced the Book of Proverbs, and the author of Ecclesiastes was probably familiar with examples from Egypt and Mesopotamia. He may also have been influenced by Greek philosophy, specifically the schools of Stoicism, which held that all things are fated, and Epicureanism, which held that happiness was best pursued through the quiet cultivation of life's simpler pleasures.
Koheleth rejects three goals which people regularly pursue: knowledge, money and pleasure. Each one is "vanity and a striving after wind" (1:14). While he acknowledges the usefulness of knowledge and wisdom (7:12), Qohelet rejects seeking them as vain (1:17). The accumulation of wisdom and knowledge is merely a human undertaking when what God really desires from us is obedience (12:13).
Work and money also play a central role in the book. Koheleth observes how people spend their days working and toiling, but never seem to gain from it. Everyone seems stuck in a useless pattern of striving. Even those who achieve material success often find that they don't get to enjoy the fruits of their labor (6:2). Through Ecclesiastes we realize the shortness of human life, the smallness of our work, the insignificance of our lives without God. Koheleth helps us understand that there are many pursuits in human life that are not worth investing our time and energy in. Rather, we should seek God and keep his commandments. For money, pleasure and knowledge are merely necessary things along the path of life, but God is the goal of the journey.
For Koheleth, it seems at first that money, pleasure and wisdom will produce human happiness. But he is continually surprised to find out that this is not always the case
The book discusses the finality of death, which brings all earthly pursuits to a sudden halt. It is as if all the grand projects of man are simply cut off. No one can escape from death; it envelops the good and the wicked alike (9:2).
Ecclesiastes is hard to stomach because it confronts us so sharply with the contradictions of life. Yet the hard truths which Ecclesiastes teaches lift our vision higher. While our daily work is important in a limited sense, Ecclesiastes focuses us on the ultimately important purposes of life: to love God and keep his commandments (12:13).
Ecclesiastes 3
1. For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
...
12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live
...
19 For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals; for all is vanity.
20 All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.
21 Who knows whether the human spirit goes upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth?
22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that all should enjoy their work, for that is their lot; who can bring them to see what will be after them?
Ecclesiastes 4
1 Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. Look, the tears of the oppressed—with no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power—with no one to comfort them.
2 And I thought the dead, who have already died, more fortunate than the living, who are still alive;
3 but better than both is the one who has not yet been, and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.
4 Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from one person’s envy of another. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind
Ecclesiastes 5
13 There is a grievous ill that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owners to their hurt,
14 and those riches were lost in a bad venture; though they are parents of children, they have nothing in their hands.
15 As they came from their mother’s womb, so they shall go again, naked as they came; they shall take nothing for their toil, which they may carry away with their hands.
16 This also is a grievous ill: just as they came, so shall they go; and what gain do they have from toiling for the wind?
...
18 This is what I have seen to be good: it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us; for this is our lot.
Ecclesiastes 7
2 It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of feasting;
for this is the end of everyone,
and the living will lay it to heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter,
for by sadness of countenance the heart is made glad.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning;
but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise
than to hear the song of fools.
...
12 For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money,
and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to the one who possesses it.
...
14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other, so that mortals may not find out anything that will come after them.
Ecclesiastes 8
1 All this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hate one does not know. Everything that confronts them
2 is vanity,[a] since the same fate comes to all, to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil,[b] to the clean and the unclean, to those who sacrifice and those who do not sacrifice. As are the good, so are the sinners; those who swear are like those who shun an oath.
3 This is an evil in all that happens under the sun, that the same fate comes to everyone. Moreover, the hearts of all are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
4 But whoever is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
5 The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no more reward, and even the memory of them is lost.
6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished; never again will they have any share in all that happens under the sun.
7 Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has long ago approved what you do.
...
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might; for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.
...
12 For no one can anticipate the time of disaster. Like fish taken in a cruel net, and like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them.
Ecclesiastes 10
5 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as great an error as if it proceeded from the ruler:
6 folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place.
Ecclesiastes 11
7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.
8 Even those who live many years should rejoice in them all; yet let them remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.
9 Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the inclination of your heart and the desire of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
10 Banish anxiety from your mind, and put away pain from your body; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
Ecclesiastes 12
1 Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come, and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;
2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return with[a] the rain;
3 in the day when the guards of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the women who grind cease working because they are few, and those who look through the windows see dimly;
4 when the doors on the street are shut, and the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low;
5 when one is afraid of heights, and terrors are in the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along[b] and desire fails; because all must go to their eternal home, and the mourners will go about the streets;
6 before the silver cord is snapped,[c] and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern,
7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath[d] returns to God who gave it.
8 Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher;[e] all is vanity.
...
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone.
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including[i] every secret thing, whether good or evil.
Song of Songs.- The Song offers no clue to its author or to the date, place or circumstances of its composition. The superscription states that it is "Solomon's", but even if this is meant to identify the author, it cannot be read as strictly as a similar modern statement.The most reliable evidence for its date is its language: Aramaic gradually replaced Hebrew after the end of the Babylonian exile in the late 6th century BCE, and the evidence of vocabulary, morphology, idiom and syntax clearly points to a late date
The Song was accepted into the Jewish canon of scripture because of its supposed authorship by Solomon, and because its subject-matter was taken to be not sexual desire but God's love for Israel.It is one of the overtly mystical Biblical texts for the Kabbalah, which gave esoteric interpretation on all the Hebrew Bible.
The Song of Songs is unique within the Hebrew bible: it makes no reference in Law or Covenant or Yahweh, the God of Israel, nor does it teach or explore "wisdom" like Proverbs or Ecclesiastes (although it does have some affinities to Wisdom literature, as the ascription to Solomon suggests); instead, it celebrates sexual love.
It gives "the voices of two lovers, praising each other, yearning for each other, proffering invitations to enjoy". The two are in harmony, each desiring the other and rejoicing in sexual intimacy; the women (or "daughters") of Jerusalem form a chorus to the lovers, functioning as an audience whose participation in the lovers' erotic encounters facilitates the participation of the reader.
Jewish tradition reads it as an allegory of the relationship between God and Israel. Christian tradition, in addition to appreciating the literal meaning of a romantic song between husband and wife, has also largely adopted an allegorical reading of the piece, taking it as relating Christ (the bridegroom) and his Church (the bride).
The following must therefore be taken as indicative rather than determinative:
Introduction (1:1–6)
Dialogue between the lovers (1:7–2:7)
The woman recalls a visit from her lover (2:8–17)
The woman addresses the daughters of Zion (3:1–5)
Sighting a royal wedding procession (3:6–11)
The man describes his lover's beauty (4:1–5:1)
The woman addresses the daughters of Jerusalem (5:2–6:4)
The man describes his lover, who visits him (6:5–12)
Observers describe the woman's beauty (6:13–8:4)
Appendix (8:5–14)
The Song is very sensual but delicately presented. It is not lustful since it does not reduce love to its sexual expression. Rather it extols the virtues of love, which is "stronger than death" and presents sex in the context of love of the whole person (8:6). The book does not give us detailed history or theology, but if understood in the allegorical sense it reveals the passionate love of God for his people. Though he is a great and mighty king (1:4; 7:5), the Lord loves us ardently like a young Groom loves his Bride. The bridal imagery can be startling to us, but it simply shows the intensity of God's love. For all human love is a merely a dim reflection of God's perfect love.
Book of Wisdom .- The Book of Wisdom, often referred to simply as Wisdom or the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon, is one of the books of the Bible that is considered deuterocanonical by some churches such as the Roman Catholic Church and non-canonical or apocryphal by others such as the Protestant Churches. It is one of the seven Sapiential or wisdom books of bound with the Septuagint.
Eusebius wrote in his Church History that Bishop Melito of Sardis in the 2nd century AD considered Wisdom of Solomon as part of the Old Testament.
The book is believed to have been written in Greek language, but in a style patterned on that of Hebrew verse. Although the author's name is nowhere given in the text, the writer was traditionally believed to be King Solomon.
The traditional attribution of The Book of Wisdom to Solomon has been soundly rejected in modern times. Says the Catholic Encyclopedia: "at the present day, it is freely admitted that Solomon is not the writer of the Book of Wisdom, which has been ascribed to him because its author, through a literary fiction, speaks as if he were the Son of David." Although the book of Wisdom is also called the Wisdom of Solomon, it was most likely composed centuries after the death of King Solomon. Scholars believe that the book represents the most literary post-classical Greek language found in the Septuagint, having been written during the Jewish Hellenistic period (the 2nd or 1st century BC). The author of the text appears well versed in the popular philosophical, religious, and ethical writings adopted by Hellenistic Alexandria.
The book is written as one continuous argument rather than as abbreviated proverbs. The first section (1:1-6:21) discusses the nature of righteousness and its relation to man's eternal destiny.
The middle of the book praises and describes wisdom. In ch. 7-9 the author impersonates Solomon (though he does not name him) and describes his love of wisdom and his quest for it. The author personifies wisdom as a woman (7), similar to the Book of Proverbs. Ch. 9 presents Solomon's prayer for wisdom. Ch. 10 gives a synopsis of wisdom's "history" from Adam to the Exodus. The whole book is written in stylized Greek poetry which uses many Hebrew conventions and expressions.
The message of the book is quite clear from the beginning. The author urges us to seek righteousness (1:1) and wisdom (1:6) because they are matters of life and death (1:12). By rejecting righteousness, the wicked reject life (2). By their actions, the righteous and the unrighteous gain different rewards (3). The author emphasizes that even if a righteous person dies young and childless, his life was worthwhile (4:1; 4:6). A couple times the author parodies the speech of the wicked, so the reader must carefully note when this occurs (2:1-20; 5:3-13).
Like other biblical wisdom literature, the Book of Wisdom urges us to live according to God's word, to seek wisdom, to gain righteousness. Yet the author of Wisdom lived in a world in which the fullness of God's mercy had not yet been revealed. Only through the grace of Jesus' death and resurrection are we fully able to live up to the calling of God in the Book of Wisdom.
The following extensive passage rightly sees through the essential connections between the denial of God(1:12-16), the denial of the soul (2:1-5), the wanton misuse of creation (2:6-9), the oppression of the poor (2:10-11) and the attack on
those who value and defend the poor (2:12-20). If no humans have any inherent transcendent worth, then we must only live for the satisfaction of our bodily pleasures, and those who can best do that are rightfully the winners in the global race toward wealth and death.
Wisdom 1
12 Do not invite death by the error of your life,
or bring on destruction by the works of your hands;
13 because God did not make death,
and he does not delight in the death of the living.
14 For he created all things so that they might exist;
the generative forces of the world are wholesome,
and there is no destructive poison in them,
and the dominion of Hades is not on earth.
15 For righteousness is immortal.
16 But the ungodly by their words and deeds summoned death;
considering him a friend, they pined away
and made a covenant with him,
because they are fit to belong to his company.
Wisdom 2
1 For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves,
“Short and sorrowful is our life,
and there is no remedy when a life comes to its end,
and no one has been known to return from Hades.
2 For we were born by mere chance,
and hereafter we shall be as though we had never been,
for the breath in our nostrils is smoke,
and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our hearts;
3 when it is extinguished, the body will turn to ashes,
and the spirit will dissolve like empty air.
4 Our name will be forgotten in time,
and no one will remember our works;
our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud,
and be scattered like mist
that is chased by the rays of the sun
and overcome by its heat.
5 For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow,
and there is no return from our death,
because it is sealed up and no one turns back.
6 “Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that exist,
and make use of the creation to the full as in youth.
7 Let us take our fill of costly wine and perfumes,
and let no flower of spring pass us by.
8 Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.
9 Let none of us fail to share in our revelry;
everywhere let us leave signs of enjoyment,
because this is our portion, and this our lot.
10 Let us oppress the righteous poor man;
let us not spare the widow
or regard the gray hairs of the aged.
11 But let our might be our law of right,
for what is weak proves itself to be useless.
12 “Let us lie in wait for the righteous man,
because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions;
he reproaches us for sins against the law,
and accuses us of sins against our training.
13 He professes to have knowledge of God,
and calls himself a child[a] of the Lord.
14 He became to us a reproof of our thoughts;
15 the very sight of him is a burden to us,
because his manner of life is unlike that of others,
and his ways are strange.
16 We are considered by him as something base,
and he avoids our ways as unclean;
he calls the last end of the righteous happy,
and boasts that God is his father.
17 Let us see if his words are true,
and let us test what will happen at the end of his life;
18 for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him,
and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries.
19 Let us test him with insult and torture,
so that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death,
for, according to what he says, he will be protected.”
Error of the Wicked
21 Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray,
for their wickedness blinded them,
22 and they did not know the secret purposes of God,
nor hoped for the wages of holiness,
nor discerned the prize for blameless souls;
23 for God created us for incorruption,
and made us in the image of his own eternity,
24 but through the devil’s envy death entered the world,
and those who belong to his company experience it.
Wisdom 3
1 But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
and no torment will ever touch them.
2 In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died,
and their departure was thought to be a disaster,
3 and their going from us to be their destruction;
but they are at peace.
Wisdom 7
1 I also am mortal, like everyone else,
a descendant of the first-formed child of earth;
and in the womb of a mother I was molded into flesh,
2 within the period of ten months, compacted with blood,
from the seed of a man and the pleasure of marriage.
3 And when I was born, I began to breathe the common air,
and fell upon the kindred earth;
my first sound was a cry, as is true of all.
4 I was nursed with care in swaddling cloths.
5 For no king has had a different beginning of existence;
6 there is for all one entrance into life, and one way out.
7 Therefore I prayed, and understanding was given me;
I called on God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.
8 I preferred her to scepters and thrones,
and I accounted wealth as nothing in comparison with her.
9 Neither did I liken to her any priceless gem,
because all gold is but a little sand in her sight,
and silver will be accounted as clay before her.
10 I loved her more than health and beauty,
and I chose to have her rather than light,
because her radiance never ceases.
11 All good things came to me along with her,
and in her hands uncounted wealth.
...
14 for it is an unfailing treasure for mortals;
those who get it obtain friendship with God,
commended for the gifts that come from instruction.
15 May God grant me to speak with judgment,
and to have thoughts worthy of what I have received;
for he is the guide even of wisdom
and the corrector of the wise.
16 For both we and our words are in his hand,
as are all understanding and skill in crafts.
17 For it is he who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists,
to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements;
18 the beginning and end and middle of times,
the alternations of the solstices and the changes of the seasons,
19 the cycles of the year and the constellations of the stars,
20 the natures of animals and the tempers of wild animals,
the powers of spirits[a] and the thoughts of human beings,
the varieties of plants and the virtues of roots;
21 I learned both what is secret and what is manifest,
22 for wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me.
...
28 for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.
Wisdom 8
2 I loved her (Wisdom) and sought her from my youth;
I desired to take her for my bride,
and became enamored of her beauty.
...
5 If riches are a desirable possession in life,
what is richer than wisdom, the active cause of all things?
Wisdom 14
24 they no longer keep either their lives or their marriages pure,
but they either treacherously kill one another, or grieve one another by adultery,
25 and all is a raging riot of blood and murder, theft and deceit, corruption, faithlessness, tumult, perjury,
26 confusion over what is good, forgetfulness of favors,
defiling of souls, sexual perversion,
disorder in marriages, adultery, and debauchery.
27 For the worship of idols not to be named
is the beginning and cause and end of every evil.
- Sirach: Also known as The Book of Ecclesiasticus or Ben Sira, is a work of ethical teachings from approximately 200 – 175 BCE.
The book itself is the largest wisdom book to have been preserved from antiquity. Joshua ben Sirach, or, according to the Greek text "Jesus the son of Sirach of Jerusalem," was a Jewish scribe who had been living in Jerusalem, may have authored the work in Alexandria. Because it was excluded from the Jewish canon, Sirach was excised from the Protestant canon following the Reformation.
The Wisdom of Sirach is a collection of ethical teachings. Thus Ecclesiasticus closely resembles Proverbs, except that, unlike the latter, it is presented as the work of a single author, not an anthology of maxims drawn from various sources. Wisdom, in ben Sirach's view, is synonymous with the fear of God, and sometimes is identified in his mind with adherence to the Mosaic law.The maxims are expressed in exact formulas, and are illustrated by striking images. They show a profound knowledge of the human heart, the disillusionment of experience, a fraternal sympathy with the poor and the oppressed.
By contrast, Sirach exhibits little compassion for either women or slaves, and advocates distrust and possessiveness over women, and the harsh treatment of slaves (which presupposes the validity of slavery as an institution), positions which are not only difficult for modern readers, but cannot be completely reconciled with the social milieu at the time of its composition.
As with other wisdom books, there is no easily recognizable structure in Sirach; in many parts it is difficult to discover a logical progression of thought or to discern the principles of arrangement.
Despite the lack of structure, there are certain themes running through the Book that reappear at various points. The New Oxford Annotated Apocrypha identifies ten major recurring topics:
1. The Creation (16:24-17:24, 18:1-14; 33:7-15; 39:12-35; and 42:15-43:33);
2. Death (11:26-28; 22:11-12; 38:16-23; and 41:1-13);
3. Friendship (6:5-17; 9:10-16: 19:13-17; 22:19-26: 27:16-21; and 36:23-37:15);
4. Happiness (25:1-11; 30:14-25; and 40:1-30);
5. Honor and shame (4:20-6:4; 10:19-11:6; and 41:14-42:8);
6. Money matters (3:30-4:10; 11:7-28; 13:1-14:19; 29:1-28; and 31:1-11);
7. Sin (7:1-17; 15:11-20; 16:1-17:32; 18:30-19:3; 21:1-10; 22:27-23:27; and 26:28-28:7);
8. Social justice (4:1-10; 34:21-27; and 35:14-26);
9. Speech (5:9-15; 18:15-29; 19:4-17; 20:1-31; 23:7-15; 27:4-7; 27:11-15; and 28:8-26); and
10. Women (9:1-9; 23:22-27; 25:13-26:27; 36:26-31; and 42:9-14)
Some scholars think that the book was used to train young Jewish men for positions of leadership. Ben Sira wrote in a time when Jewish identity was threatened by the extensive influence of Greek culture. His writing invites his contemporaries to return to their spiritual and scriptural roots.
Sirach 6
34 Stand in the company of the elders.
Who is wise? Attach yourself to such a one.
35 Be ready to listen to every godly discourse,
and let no wise proverbs escape you.
36 If you see an intelligent person, rise early to visit him;
let your foot wear out his doorstep.
Sirach 7
26 Do you have a wife who pleases you?[h] Do not divorce her;
but do not trust yourself to one whom you detest.
...
34 Do not avoid those who weep,
but mourn with those who mourn.
35 Do not hesitate to visit the sick,
because for such deeds you will be loved.
Sirach 8
5 Do not reproach one who is turning away from sin;
remember that we all deserve punishment.
6 Do not disdain one who is old,
for some of us are also growing old.
7 Do not rejoice over anyone’s death;
remember that we must all die.
Sirach 9
1 Do not be jealous of the wife of your bosom,
or you will teach her an evil lesson to your own hurt.
2 Do not give yourself to a woman
and let her trample down your strength.
3 Do not go near a loose woman,
or you will fall into her snares.
4 Do not dally with a singing girl,
or you will be caught by her tricks.
5 Do not look intently at a virgin,
or you may stumble and incur penalties for her.
6 Do not give yourself to prostitutes,
or you may lose your inheritance.
7 Do not look around in the streets of a city,
or wander about in its deserted sections.
8 Turn away your eyes from a shapely woman,
and do not gaze at beauty belonging to another;
many have been seduced by a woman’s beauty,
and by it passion is kindled like a fire.
9 Never dine with another man’s wife,
or revel with her at wine;
or your heart may turn aside to her,
and in blood[a] you may be plunged into destruction.
10 Do not abandon old friends,
for new ones cannot equal them.
A new friend is like new wine;
when it has aged, you can drink it with pleasure.
11 Do not envy the success of sinners,
for you do not know what their end will be like.
12 Do not delight in what pleases the ungodly;
remember that they will not be held guiltless all their lives.
13 Keep far from those who have power to kill,
and you will not be haunted by the fear of death.
But if you approach them, make no misstep,
or they may rob you of your life.
14 As much as you can, aim to know your neighbors,
and consult with the wise.
15 Let your conversation be with intelligent people,
and let all your discussion be about the law of the Most High.
16 Let the righteous be your dinner companions,
and let your glory be in the fear of the Lord.
Sirach 10
12 The beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord;
the heart has withdrawn from its Maker.
13 For the beginning of pride is sin,
and the one who clings to it pours out abominations.
Therefore the Lord brings upon them unheard-of calamities,
and destroys them completely.
Sirach 11
1 The wisdom of the humble lifts their heads high,
and seats them among the great.
2 Do not praise individuals for their good looks,
or loathe anyone because of appearance alone.
3 The bee is small among flying creatures,
but what it produces is the best of sweet things.
4 Do not boast about wearing fine clothes,
and do not exalt yourself when you are honored;
for the works of the Lord are wonderful,
and his works are concealed from humankind.
5 Many kings have had to sit on the ground,
but one who was never thought of has worn a crown.
6 Many rulers have been utterly disgraced,
and the honored have been handed over to others.
7 Do not find fault before you investigate;
examine first, and then criticize.
...
17 The Lord’s gift remains with the devout,
and his favor brings lasting success.
...
25 In the day of prosperity, adversity is forgotten,
and in the day of adversity, prosperity is not remembered.
Sirach 13
14 Every living thing loves its own kind, every man a man like himself.
15 Every being is drawn to its own kind; with his own kind every man associates.
Sirach 14
12 Remember that death does not tarry,and the decree[a] of Hades has not been shown to you.
13 Do good to friends before you die,and reach out and give to them as much as you can.
14 Do not deprive yourself of a day’s enjoyment; do not let your share of desired good pass by you.
...
18 Like abundant leaves on a spreading tree that sheds some and puts forth others,
so are the generations of flesh and blood:one dies and another is born.
19 Every work decays and ceases to exist, and the one who made it will pass away with it.
...
20 Happy is the person who meditates on[c] wisdom and reasons intelligently,
21 who reflects in his heart on her ways and ponders her secrets
Sirach 15
13 The Lord hates all abominations;
such things are not loved by those who fear him.
14 It was he who created humankind in the beginning,
and he left them in the power of their own free choice.
15 If you choose, you can keep the commandments,
and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice.
16 He has placed before you fire and water;
stretch out your hand for whichever you choose.
17 Before each person are life and death,
and whichever one chooses will be given.
Sirach 16
Do not desire a multitude of worthless[a] children,
and do not rejoice in ungodly offspring.
2 If they multiply, do not rejoice in them,
unless the fear of the Lord is in them.
3 Do not trust in their survival,
or rely on their numbers;
4 for one can be better than a thousand,
and to die childless is better than to have ungodly children.
Sirach 18
6 It is not possible to diminish or increase them,
nor is it possible to fathom the wonders of the Lord.
...
9 The number of days in their life is great if they reach one hundred years.
10 Like a drop of water from the sea and a grain of sand,
so are a few years among the days of eternity.
...
25 In the time of plenty think of the time of hunger;
in days of wealth think of poverty and need.
26 From morning to evening conditions change;
all things move swiftly before the Lord.
27 One who is wise is cautious in everything;
when sin is all around, one guards against wrongdoing.
28 Every intelligent person knows wisdom,
and praises the one who finds her.
29 Those who are skilled in words become wise themselves,
and pour forth apt proverbs
30 Do not follow your base desires, but restrain your appetites.
Sirach 19
8 With friend or foe do not report it,
and unless it would be a sin for you, do not reveal it;
9 for someone may have heard you and watched you,
and in time will hate you.
...
13 Question a friend; perhaps he did not do it;
or if he did, so that he may not do it again.
...
26 There is the villain bowed down in mourning,
but inwardly he is full of deceit.
27 He hides his face and pretends not to hear,
but when no one notices, he will take advantage of you.
Sirach 20
3 And the one who admits his fault will be kept from failure.
4 Like a eunuch lusting to violate a girl
is the person who does right under compulsion.
5 Some people keep silent and are thought to be wise,
while others are detested for being talkative.
Sirach 21
13 Do not talk much with a senseless person
or visit an unintelligent person.[b]
Stay clear of him, or you may have trouble,
and be spattered when he shakes himself off.
Avoid him and you will find rest,
and you will never be wearied by his lack of sense.
...
24 The vapor and smoke of the furnace precede the fire;
so insults precede bloodshed.
Sirach 23
6 Let neither gluttony nor lust overcome me,
and do not give me over to shameless passion.
...
17 To a fornicator all bread is sweet;
he will never weary until he dies.
18 The one who sins against his marriage bed
says to himself, “Who can see me?
Darkness surrounds me, the walls hide me,
and no one sees me. Why should I worry?
The Most High will not remember sins.”
19 His fear is confined to human eyes
and he does not realize that the eyes of the Lord
are ten thousand times brighter than the sun;
they look upon every aspect of human behavior
and see into hidden corners.
Sirach 25
16 I would rather live with a lion and a dragon
than live with an evil woman.
...
21 Do not be ensnared by a woman’s beauty,
and do not desire a woman for her possessions
Sirach 26
2 A loyal wife brings joy to her husband,
and he will complete his years in peace.
...
8 A drunken wife arouses great anger;
she cannot hide her shame.
9 The haughty stare betrays an unchaste wife;
her eyelids give her away.
Sirach 27
17 Love your friend and keep faith with him;
but if you betray his secrets, do not follow after him.
18 For as a person destroys his enemy,
so you have destroyed the friendship of your neighbor.
19 And as you allow a bird to escape from your hand,
so you have let your neighbor go, and will not catch him again.
20 Do not go after him, for he is too far off,
and has escaped like a gazelle from a snare.
21 For a wound may be bandaged,
and there is reconciliation after abuse,
but whoever has betrayed secrets is without hope.
Sirach 28
2 Forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done,
and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.
...
13 Curse the gossips and the double-tongued,
for they destroy the peace of many.
Sirach 29
10 Lose your silver for the sake of a brother or a friend,
and do not let it rust under a stone and be lost.
...
12 Store up almsgiving in your treasury,
and it will rescue you from every disaster;
...
21 The necessities of life are water, bread, and clothing,
and also a house to assure privacy.
Sirach 30
2 He who disciplines his son will profit by him,
and will boast of him among acquaintances.
3 He who teaches his son will make his enemies envious,
and will glory in him among his friends.
4 When the father dies he will not seem to be dead,
for he has left behind him one like himself,
...
8 An unbroken horse turns out stubborn,
and an unchecked son turns out headstrong.
...
13 Discipline your son and make his yoke heavy,
so that you may not be offended by his shamelessness.
...
21 Do not give yourself over to sorrow,
and do not distress yourself deliberately.
22 A joyful heart is life itself,
and rejoicing lengthens one’s life span.
23 Indulge yourself[h] and take comfort,
and remove sorrow far from you,
for sorrow has destroyed many,
and no advantage ever comes from it.
24 Jealousy and anger shorten life,
and anxiety brings on premature old age.
25 Those who are cheerful and merry at table
will benefit from their food.
Sirach 31
6 Many have come to ruin because of gold,
and their destruction has met them face to face.
...
14 Do not reach out your hand for everything you see,
and do not crowd your neighbor[e] at the dish.
...
17 Be the first to stop, as befits good manners,
and do not be insatiable, or you will give offense.
18 If you are seated among many persons,
do not help yourself[g] before they do
...
28 Wine drunk at the proper time and in moderation
is rejoicing of heart and gladness of soul.
29 Wine drunk to excess leads to bitterness of spirit,
to quarrels and stumbling.
30 Drunkenness increases the anger of a fool to his own hurt,
reducing his strength and adding wounds.
Sirach 38
24 The wisdom of the scribe depends on the opportunity of leisure;
only the one who has little business can become wise.
25 How can one become wise who handles the plow,
and who glories in the shaft of a goad,
who drives oxen and is occupied with their work,
and whose talk is about bulls?
26 He sets his heart on plowing furrows,
and he is careful about fodder for the heifers.
27 So it is with every artisan and master artisan
who labors by night as well as by day;
those who cut the signets of seals,
each is diligent in making a great variety;
they set their heart on painting a lifelike image,
and they are careful to finish their work.
Major prophets
- Book of Isaiah: Isaiah identifies itself as the words of the 8th century BC prophet Isaiah ben Amoz, but there is ample evidence that much of it was composed during the Babylonian exile and later. The scholarly consensus which held sway through most of the 20th century saw three separate collections of oracles:
a) Proto-Isaiah (chapters 1–39), containing the words of Isaiah;
Proto-Isaiah speaks of Israel's desertion of God and what will follow: Israel will be destroyed by foreign enemies, but after the people, the country and Jerusalem are punished and purified, a holy remnant will live in God's place in Zion, governed by God's chosen king (the messiah), under the presence and protection of God;
b) Deutero-Isaiah (chapters 40–55), the work of an anonymous 6th-century author writing during the Exile; and Deutero-Isaiah has as its subject the liberation of Israel from captivity in Babylon in another Exodus, which the God of Israel will arrange using Cyrus, the Persian conqueror, as his agent;
c) Trito-Isaiah (chapters 56–66), composed after the return from exile.
Trito-Isaiah concerns Jerusalem, the Temple, the Sabbath,and Israel's salvation: The Persians ended the Jewish exile, and by 515 BCE the exiles, or at least some of them, had returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the Temple. The return, however, was not without problems: the returnees found themselves in conflict with those who had remained in the country and who now owned the land, and there were further conflicts over the form of government that should be set up.
The composition history of Isaiah reflects a major difference in the way authorship was regarded in ancient Israel and in modern societies: the ancients did not regard it as inappropriate to supplement an existing work while remaining anonymous. While the authors, apart from the historic Isaiah behind parts of chapters 1–39, are anonymous, it is plausible that all of them were priests, and the book may thus reflect Priestly concerns, in opposition to the increasingly successful reform movement of the Deuteronomists
While it is widely accepted that Isaiah the prophet did not write the book, there are good reasons to see parts of chapters 1–39 as stemming from the historic Isaiah ben Amoz, who lived in the Kingdom of Judah during the reigns of four kings from the mid to late 8th century BC. During this period Assyria was expanding westward from its origins in modern-day northern Iraq towards the Mediterranean, destroying first Aram (modern Syria) in 734–732 BCE, then the Kingdom of Israel in 722-721, and finally subjugating Judah in 701.
Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–395), believed that the Prophet Esaias (Isaiah) "knew more perfectly than all others the mystery of the religion of the Gospel". Jerome (c. 342–420) also lauds the Prophet Esias, saying, "He was more of an Evangelist than a Prophet, because he described all of the Mysteries of the Church of Christ so vividly that you would assume he was not prophesying about the future, but rather was composing a history of past events."
The Book of Isaiah has been immensely influential in the formation of Christianity, from the cult of the Virgin Mary to anti-Jewish polemic, medieval passion iconography, and modern Christian feminism and liberation theology. The regard in which Isaiah was held was so high that the book was frequently called "the Fifth Gospel", the prophet who spoke more clearly of Christ and the Church than any others. His influence extends beyond the Church and Christianity to English literature and to Western culture in general, from the libretto of Handel's Messiah to a host of such everyday phrases as "swords into ploughshares" and "voice in the wilderness"
Isaiah seems always to have had a prominent place in Jewish bible use, and it is probable that Jesus himself was deeply influenced by Isaiah, and that he took it as his destiny to fulfil Isaiah 53 ("a man of suffering, and familiar with pain... he bore the sin of many"). Thus many of the Isaiah passages that are familiar to Christians gained their popularity not directly from Isaiah but from the use of them by Jesus and the early Christian authors – this is especially true of the Book of Revelation, which depends heavily on Isaiah for its language and imagery
Isaiah lived at the time when the northern kingdom was under sentence of death. Unlike most of the heroic figures in the Bible, he was not born poor: according to the tradition of the Babylonian Talmud, he was the nephew of King Amaziah of Judah. Isaiah was not only the most remarkable of the prophets, he was by far the greatest writer in the Old Testament. He was evidently a magnificent preacher, but it is likely he set his words down in writing. All the themes of Isaiah are interrelated.
1) Social justice
He is concerned to warn of catastrophe. ‘Watchman, what of the night?’ he asks, ‘Watchman, what of the night?’ Foolish men take no notice: they say: ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’ Or they put their trust in fortifications and alliances. Instead they should obey the Lord’s command: ‘Set thy house in order.’ This means a moral change of heart, an internal reform for both individuals and the community. Social justice must be the aim. Men must cease to pursue wealth as the main aim in life: ‘Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place.’ God will not tolerate the oppression of the weak. He demands: ‘What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor, saith the Lord God of hosts
2) Repentance.
Isaiah’s second theme is repentance. Provided there is a change of heart, the Lord is always forgiving. ‘Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.’ What God wants from man is a recognition and a reciprocation of his holiness—‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory’. And when sinful man changes his heart, and seeks not wealth and power but holiness, Isaiah introduces his third theme
3) Peace
the idea of an age of peace, when men ‘shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.’ In this age of peace, ‘the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
4) Saviour-figure
The idea not just of a collective turning from sin, but of a specific saviour-figure: ‘Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.’ This special babe shall be an agent in the age of peace: ‘The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.’ But he will also be a great ruler: ‘For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.’
The second part of Isaiah, a new character emerges, who seems to be linked to the saviour-figure of the first: the Suffering Servant, who carries the sins of the whole community and, by his sacrifice, purges them, and who also personifies and directs to a triumphant conclusion the mission of the nation
What, as a whole, the Book of Isaiah does is to mark a notable maturing of the religion of Yahweh. It is now concerned with justice and with judgment: judgment of nations and judgment of the individual soul.
In Deutero-Isaiah in particular, the stress is on the individual as the bearer of faith, outside the claims of tribe, race, nation. Not just Elijah, but each and all of us has the ‘still, small voice’ of conscience. It is all part of the discovery of the individual, a giant step forward in human self-knowledge. The Greeks would soon be pushing in the same direction, but the Israelites, or as we shall soon call them, the Jews, were the forerunners.
In Deutero-Isaiah, however, the existence of other gods is denied, not just in practice but in ideological theory: ‘I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.’Moreover, it is now stated clearly that God is universal, ubiquitous and omnipotent. God is the motivating force, and the sole motivating force, throughout history. He created the universe; he directs it; he will end it. Israel is part of his plan, but then so is everyone else.
- Book of Jeremiah: We know more about Jeremiah than any other of the pre-Exilic writers because he dictated his sermons and autobiography to his scribal pupil, Baruch. Jeremiah had two scribes who were brothers of each other: Baruch and Seraiah, sons of Neriah. They are probably responsible for the text of the book as we have it.
The book begins with Jeremiah's prophecies against Judah (1-25). Then it presents a prose history of Jeremiah's life and the events of the last years of the kingdom of Judah (25-46). Next are Jeremiah's oracles against the nations (47-51). Finally, there is an historical epilogue (52).
Jeremiah's life was closely interwoven with the tragic history of his country. He was a Benjaminite, of a priestly family, from a village just north-east of Jerusalem. He began preaching in 627, in the tradition of Hosea and to some extent of Isaiah. He saw the nation as woefully sinful, hastening to its doom: ‘This people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart'
The book of Jeremiah is one of the longest and most challenging books in the Bible. It is a mix of prophecy and history. Jeremiah was a prophet who ministered to the nation of Judah in its final years before the Babylonian conquest and the exile. God called him at a young age (1:5-7) to preach a hard message to the nation: the sins of Judah had reached their limit and God must execute his judgment by sending the people to exile.
Two major events frame the book: the religious reform of Josiah at the beginning (1:3) and the fall of Jerusalem at the end (39, 52). Near the beginning of Jeremiah's ministry, King Josiah initiates a return to worship of the Lord and the eradication of the worship of false gods.
After he dies in battle against the Egyptians, Jehoahaz temporarily takes the throne, but is deposed by Pharaoh Neco who makes Jehoiakim king. Babylon conquers Judah in 605 BC under Jehoiakim's reign, but Jehoiakim tries to throw off their control a few years later. Jehoiakim is then succeeded by Jehoiachin, who is reigning when the Babylonians attack again in 597 in response to Jehoiakim's rebellion. Jehoiachin is exiled and Babylon places his uncle, Zedekiah, on the throne.
After the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah lives among the ruins, but he is later brought to Egypt against his will (Jer 43:5-7).
Zedekiah reigns for about 10 years until he too tries to reject Babylonian power, which elicits a crushing response from Nebuchadnezzer, the king of Babylon. In 587, the Babylonians come and destroy Jerusalem and the Temple. They tear down the city and gouge out Zedekiah's eyes and take the leaders of Judah into exile.
Jeremiah saw the great pro-Temple religious reform, under Josiah, as a total failure, and soon after the death of the king, in 609 BC, he went to the Temple and preached a furious sermon, saying so. As a result he was very nearly killed and forbidden to go near the Temple quarter. His own village, even his family, turned against him. He could not or would not marry. In his isolation and loneliness, he exhibits signs in his writings of paranoia, as we would call it: ‘Cursed be the day wherein I was born,’ he writes. And again: ‘Why is my pain perpetual, my wound incurable?’ (15:18). He felt he was surrounded by enemies who ‘devised devices against me’, and that ‘I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter.’ There was some truth in this: not only was Jeremiah forbidden to preach but his writings were burned.
Jeremiah’s “confessions” are a type of individual lament. Such laments are found elsewhere in the psalms and the book of Job. Like Job, Jeremiah curses the day of his birth (Jer. 20.14–18 and Job 3.3–10). Likewise, Jeremiah’s exclamation “For I hear the whispering of many: Terror is all around!” (Jer. 20.10) matches Psalm 31.13 exactly. However, Jeremiah’s laments are made unique by his insistence that he has been called by Yahweh to deliver his messages. These laments “provide a unique look at the prophet's inner struggle with faith, persecution, and human suffering
Jeremiah warned the people of the approaching destruction (21:1-10). He informed them that this catastrophe was a judgment from God. They must submit to it and take their punishment. It was this message that provoked livid anger in the Jews. Jeremiah was viewed as a traitor and persecuted more intensely than any other Hebrew prophet ever had been. Jeremiah was not preaching despair; on the contrary, he was preparing his fellow Israelites to meet despair, and overcome it. He was trying to teach them how to become Jews: To submit to conquering power and accommodate themselves to it, to make the best of adversity, and to cherish the long-term certainty of God’s justice in their hearts. The lesson was needed, for the end of the First Commonwealth was in sight. Three years before Jeremiah preached his Temple sermon, the Assyrian empire suddenly collapsed and the new power of Babylon moved into the vacuum it left.
Jeremiah prophesies that the exile will last 70 years (25:11). Then the people will be brought back to the land, have a new Davidic king (33:15-17) and most significantly, a new covenant (31).
The understanding of the early Christians that Jesus represented a "new covenant" (see 1 Corinthians 11:25 and Hebrews 8:6–13) is based on Jeremiah 31:31–34, in which a future Israel will repent and give God the obedience he demands. The Gospel's portrayal of Jesus as a persecuted prophet owes a great deal to the account of Jeremiah's sufferings in chapters 37–44, as well as to the "Songs of the Suffering Servant" in Isaiah.
Jeremiah 31
31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out
of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord.
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
The Prophet Jeremiah had a most difficult message to deliver. Jeremiah loved Judah, but he loved God much more. As painful as it was for Jeremiah to deliver a consistent message of judgment to his own people, Jeremiah was obedient to what God told him to do and say. Jeremiah hoped and prayed for mercy from God for Judah, but also trusted that God was good, just, and righteous. We too must obey God, even when it is difficult, recognize God’s will as more important than our own desires, and trust that God, in His infinite wisdom and perfect plan, will bring about the best for His children.
- Lamentations: It is a short poetic book of mourning over the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians. Traditionally, Jeremiah has been considered the author of the book. The Hebrew sources do not mention his name, but the Greek text credits him at the beginning of the book Scholars have found similarities between Lamentations and other Ancient Near Eastern poems of lament.
Jeremiah's authorship is no longer generally accepted; nevertheless, it is generally accepted that the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 BCE forms the background to the poems. Several different voices are represented in the text. This fact can make Lamentations a bit confusing. The main voice that begins the book is the voice of the author, narrator or the prophet Jeremiah. But quickly, the voice of Jerusalem chimes in (1:9, 11-16). Then Jerusalem's enemies speak (2:15-16).
The author truly "laments" the fate of Judah and Jerusalem. The Babylonians have come and destroyed the Temple and the city and taken the leaders of the people into exile. In the midst of this calamity, the author acknowledges the sins of Judah since he understands the tragic circumstances as God's just judgment upon the nation (1:8-9, 14).
Yet the book holds out hope for Judah's future, for a return from exile and for judgment upon the nation's enemies. In the context of total desolation, prayers for vindication fill the book (1:21-22; 3:64-66). The last half of chapter 3 and the very end of chapter 5 are the most hopeful sections of the book. They illustrate the hope that the nation has in the Lord and in his power to redeem his people and punish their enemies.
The message of Lamentations is hard. It challenges us with the fact that there are tangible and painful consequences for our sin. Judah suffered exile because of its infidelity to its covenant relationship with the Lord. Yet the prayer of lament does not end in despair, but looks forward to the Lord's purposes for Judah's future, for vindication and restoration. The suffering is not permanent, but purgative. The Lord will bring his people back.
Lamentations is a prayer. It is a prayer of sorrow, a prayer of repentence, a prayer in time of suffering, a prayer for God's deliverance. The Jewish people suffered greatly at the time of the exile. The reader of Lamentations can try to identify with their sufferings and pray along with them. Lamentations expresses the desperation of a suffering soul and a suffering people. This book not only helps us to understand the plight of the Jews at the time of the exile but it shows us how to bring our own sufferings to God in prayer.
The book is traditionally recited on the fast day of Tisha B'Av ("Ninth of Av"), mourning the destruction of both the First Temple and the Second.
Much of Jeremiah’s poetry concerns itself with the fallen bricks and cracking mortar of the overrun city. Do you see any of that destroyed city in your own life? Are you mourning over the sin that’s brought you to this point? Do you feel overrun by an alien power; are you in need of some hope from the Lord? Turn to Lamentations 3:17–26, where you’ll find someone aware of sin’s consequences and saddened by the results but who has placed his hope and his trust in the Lord.
17 My soul is deprived of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is;
18 I tell myself my future is lost, all that I hoped for from the LORD.
19 The thought of my homeless poverty is wormwood and gall;
20 Remembering it over and over leaves my soul downcast within me.
21 But I will call this to mind, as my reason to have hope:
22 The favors of the LORD are not exhausted, his mercies are not spent;
23 They are renewed each morning, so great is his faithfulness.
24 My portion is the LORD, says my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25 Good is the LORD to one who waits for him, to the soul that seeks him;
26 It is good to hope in silence for the saving help of the LORD.
Chapter 5
1 Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us, look, and see our disgrace:
2 Our inherited lands have been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans, fatherless; widowed are our mothers.
4 The water we drink we must buy, for our own wood we must pay.
5 On our necks is the yoke of those who drive us; we are worn out, but allowed no rest.
6 To Egypt we submitted, and to Assyria, to fill our need of bread.
7 Our fathers, who sinned, are no more; but we bear their guilt.
8 Slaves rule over us; there is no one to rescue us from their hands.
9 At the peril of our lives we bring in our sustenance, in the face of the desert heat;
10 Our skin is shriveled up, as though by a furnace, with the searing blasts of famine
11 The wives in Zion were ravished by the enemy, the maidens in the cities of Judah;
12 Princes were gibbeted by them, elders shown no respect.
13 The youths carry the millstones, boys stagger under their loads of wood;
14 The old men have abandoned the gate, the young men their music.
15 The joy of our hearts has ceased, our dance has turned into mourning;
16 The garlands have fallen from our heads: woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Over this our hearts are sick, at this our eyes grow dim:
18 That Mount Zion should be desolate, with jackals roaming there!
19 You, O LORD, are enthroned forever; your throne stands from age to age.
20 Why, then, should you forget us, abandon us so long a time?
21 Lead us back to you, O LORD, that we may be restored: give us anew such days as we had of old.
22 For now you have indeed rejected us, and in full measure turned your wrath against us.
- Book of Baruch: Also named as 1 Baruch. It is named after Baruch ben Neriah, Jeremiah's scribe. Some scholars propose that it was written during or shortly after the period of the Maccabees.
It is a deuterocanonical book (books and passages of the Christian Old Testament that are not part of the Hebrew Bible) so it is a non-canonical book by most Protestants.
The book of Baruch is composed of three basic parts. The first part (1:1-3:8) is a preface which includes a penitential prayer by the exiles in Babylon. The second part (3:9-5:9) is poetry by Baruch in which he offers prayers of praise, remembrance and trust. The final part (6) is actually a separate work entitled the Letter of Jeremiah, which in ancient Greek manuscripts was not part of the text of Baruch, but was a separate book in the Bible.
Baruch reveals part of the Lord's relationship with his people. The exile was necessary to teach Israel to trust in him (2:5). The nation acknowledges its sin and spiritually returns to the Lord by seeking his wisdom and law. While they praise him in captivity (3:7), their fear is removed (4:21) and God leads them in joy (5:9). They trust in the Lord's promise of deliverance (2:34) and reject the idol worship of the Babylonians (6). Baruch is a book of hope which reveals the transformative power of trusting in God with sincere repentence.
While religious idol worship is not a common problem in our times, imagine all the things that our age does worship by placing human trust in them. Whether it be fame, money, power or sexual immorality, these false gods are just as incapable of giving us salvation as were the Babylonian idols. Baruch 6 is quoted in Catechism of the Catholic Church §2112 as part of an exposition against idolatry. During the Diaspora the Jews lamented their lapse into idolatry, and their repentance is captured in the Book of Baruch.
The Catholic Church uses Baruch 3:9-38 as part of its Holy Saturday liturgy during Passiontide (Easter Season). This portion of the book, which speaks of obtaining and desiring wisdom, concludes with a verse referencing Christ’s living among us.
9 Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life: listen, and know prudence!
10 How is it, Israel, that you are in the land of your foes, grown old in a foreign land, Defiled with the dead,
11 accounted with those destined for the nether world?
12 You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom!
13 Had you walked in the way of God, you would have dwelt in enduring peace.
14 Learn where prudence is, where strength, where understanding; That you may know also where are length of days, and life, where light of the eyes, and peace.
15 Who has found the place of wisdom, who has entered into her treasuries?
16 Where are the rulers of the nations, they who lorded it over the wild beasts of the earth,
17 and made sport of the birds of the heavens: They who heaped up the silver and the gold in which men trust; of whose possessions there was no end?
18 They schemed anxiously for money, but there is no trace of their work:
19 They have vanished down into the nether world, and others have risen up in their stead.
20 Later generations have seen the light, have dwelt in the land, But the way to understanding they have not known,
21 they have not perceived her paths, or reached her; their offspring were far from the way to her.
22 She has not been heard of in Canaan, nor seen in Teman.
23 The sons of Hagar who seek knowledge on earth, the merchants of Midian and Teman, the phrasemakers seeking knowledge, These have not known the way to wisdom, nor have they her paths in mind.
24 O Israel, how vast is the house of God, how broad the scope of his dominion:
25 Vast and endless, high and immeasurable!
26 In it were born the giants, renowned at the first, stalwarts, skilled in war.
27 Not these did God choose, nor did he give them the way of understanding;
28 They perished for lack of prudence, perished through their folly.
29 Who has gone up to the heavens and taken her, or brought her down from the clouds?
30 Who has crossed the sea and found her, bearing her away rather than choice gold?
31 None knows the way to her, nor has any understood her paths.
32 Yet he who knows all things knows her; he has probed her by his knowledge - He who established the earth for all time, and filled it with four-footed beasts;
33 He who dismisses the light, and it departs, calls it, and it obeys him trembling;
34 Before whom the stars at their posts shine and rejoice;
35 When he calls them, they answer, "Here we are!" shining with joy for their Maker.
36 Such is our God; no other is to be compared to him:
37 He has traced out all the way of understanding, and has given her to Jacob, his servant, to Israel, his beloved son.
38 Since then she has appeared on earth, and moved among men.
- Book of Ezekiel: The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Major Prophets in the Tanakh and one of the major prophetic books in the Old Testament, following the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah.
The Greek (Septuagint) version of Ezekiel differs considerably from the Hebrew (Masoretic) version – it is shorter and possibly represents an earlier stage of the book we have today – while other ancient manuscript fragments differ from both.
According to the book itself, it records seven visions of the prophet Ezekiel, exiled in Babylon, during the 22 years from 593 to 571 BC. The visions, and the book, are structured around three themes:
(1) judgment on Israel (chapters 1–24);
(2) judgment on the nations (chapters 25–32);
(3) and future blessings for Israel (chapters 33–48).
Ezekiel was a priest and a prophet who was taken from Judah to Babylon in the second wave of exiles (597 BC).
The various dates given in the book suggest that Ezekiel was 25 when he went into exile, 30 when he received his prophetic call, and 52 at the time of the last vision c.571. His prophecies are very attentive to the Temple, the liturgy and the Sabbath. He takes the ceremonial commands of the law just as seriously as the moral. He calls the exiled people to faithfulness to the Lord even though the signs of the Lord's blessing (the land and the Temple) have been taken away.
Most scholars today accept the basic authenticity of the book, but see in it significant additions by a "school" of later followers of the original prophet. While the book exhibits considerable unity and probably reflects much of the historic Ezekiel, it is the product of a long and complex history and does not necessarily preserve the very words of the prophet.
Ezekiel is a very challenging book for several reasons. The author uses unfamiliar apocalyptic imagery to describe many things. The historical situation in which Ezekiel wrote is rather complicated and many of the events in the book occur only in visions. Even Ezekiel's geographical location is puzzling. Much of the exacting detail in his visions seems unnecessary.
Each of Ezekiel's visions serves as a window into the spiritual life of Judah and its relationship with God. He has a vision of heaven (1-3), of idolatry in the Temple and the glory of the Lord leaving the Temple (8-10), of the valley of the dry bones (37), and of the New Temple and the restored land with God's glory returning (40-48).
Like the other prophets, Ezekiel has a message of judgment and a message of restoration. He announces God's judgment against Judah for its sins against the covenant and he pronounces God's judgment against the surrounding nations which oppressed Judah.
The book opens with a vision of Yahweh, the God of Israel; moves on to anticipate the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, explains this as Yahweh's punishment, and closes with the promise of a new beginning and a new Temple.
1. Inaugural vision (Ezekiel 1:1–3:27): Yahweh approaches Ezekiel as the divine warrior, riding in his battle chariot. The chariot is drawn by four living creatures each having four faces (of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle), and four wings.
2. Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah (Ezekiel 4:1–24:27) and on the nations (Ezekiel 25:1–32:32): Yahweh warns of the certain destruction of Jerusalem and the devastation of the nations that have troubled his people, the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites and Philistines, the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon, and Egypt.
3. Building a new city (Ezekiel 33:1–48:35): The Jewish exile will come to an end, a new city and new Temple will be built, and the Israelites will be gathered and blessed as never before.
Ezekiel is referenced more in the Book of Revelation than in any other New Testament writing. To take just two well-known passages, the famous Gog and Magog prophecy in Revelation 20:8 refers back to Ezekiel 38–39, and in Revelation 21–22, as in the closing visions of Ezekiel, the prophet is transported to a high mountain where a heavenly messenger measures the symmetrical new Jerusalem, complete with high walls and twelve gates, the dwelling-place of God where his people will enjoy a state of perfect well-being. Apart from Revelation, however, where Ezekiel is a major source, there is very little allusion to the prophet in the New Testament; the reasons for this are unclear, but it can be assumed that not every Christian or Jewish community in the 1st century would have had a complete set of scripture scrolls, and in any case Ezekiel was under suspicion of encouraging dangerous mystical speculation, as well as being sometimes obscure, incoherent, and pornographic.
Ezekiel describes how God took him to a valley which was full of bones, and asked him: ‘Son of Man, can these bones live?’ Then, before his terrified gaze, the bones begin to rattle and shake and come together: God puts on them sinews, flesh and skin, and finally he breathes into them, ‘and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army’.3 The Christians were later to interpret this fearsome scene as an image of the Resurrection of the dead, but to Ezekiel and his audience it was a sign of the resurrection of Israel
Ezequiel 36
26 I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts.
Ezekiel 37:2-3
2 He made me walk among them in every direction so that I saw how many they were on the surface of the plain. How dry they were!
3 He asked me: Son of man, can these bones come to life? "Lord GOD," I answered, "you alone know that."
But this vision is a prediction of the restoration of Israel under the figure of a resurrection from the dead; it is not concerned with the doctrine of resurrection itself.
Gog and Magog: Gog and Magog is referred to in Ezekiel 38-39. In Ezekiel’s prophecy, Gog will be the leader of a great army that attacks the land of Israel. Historically speaking, Magog was a grandson of Noah (Genesis 10:2). The descendants of Magog settled to the far north of Israel, likely in Europe and northern Asia (Ezekiel 38:2). Gog is to be defeated and buried in the Valley of Hamon-Gog, Israel.
Gog and Magog are mentioned again in Revelation 20:7-8. The duplicated use of the names Gog and Magog in Revelation 20:8-9 is to show that these people demonstrate the same rebellion against God and antagonism toward God as those in Ezekiel 38-39.
The book of Revelation uses Ezekiel's prophecy about Magog to portray a final end-times attack on the nation of Israel (Revelation 20:8-9). The result of this battle is that all are destroyed, and Satan will find his final place in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10)
But it is important to recognize that the Gog and Magog of Ezekiel 38-39 is different from the one in Revelation 20:7-8.
- There is no mention of Satan in the context of Ezekiel 38-39. In Revelation 20:7 the context clearly places the battle at the end of the millennium with Satan as the primary character.
- The battle in Ezekiel 38-39 is used by God to bring Israel back to Him (Ezekiel 39:21-29). In Revelation 20, Israel has been faithful to God for 1,000 years (the millennial kingdom). Those in Revelation 20:7-10 who are rebellious are destroyed without any more opportunity for repentance.
- Ezekiel's Gog from Magog was a symbol of the evil darkness of the north and the powers hostile to God, but in Revelation, Gog and Magog have no geographic location, and instead represent the nations of the world, banded together for the final assault on Christ and those who follow him.
Despite their generally negative depiction in the Bible, Lord Mayors of the City of London carry images of Gog and Magog (depicted as giants) in a traditional procession in the Lord Mayor's Show. The Lord Mayor's account of Gog and Magog says that the Roman Emperor Diocletian had thirty-three wicked daughters. He found thirty-three husbands for them to curb their wicked ways; they chafed at this, and under the leadership of the eldest sister, Alba, they murdered their husbands. For this crime they were set adrift at sea; they washed ashore on a windswept island, which they named "Albion"—after Alba. Here they coupled with demons and gave birth to a race of giants, whose descendants included Gog and Magog.
In 2007, the former French president, Jacques Chirac said that in the prelude to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, the US president George W. Bush told the French president that "Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East."
- Book of Daniel: Daniel is a complicated book. The first six chapters tell stories about the life of Daniel and a few other Jews in the court of Nebuchadnezzer II (605-562 BC) in Babylon. Then the book presents several of Daniel's prophetic visions (7-12). Finally, three stories about Jews in exile, including Daniel, conclude the book (13-14). Daniel was written in three different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek). It covers the reigns of several rulers from different empires.
Daniel and his companions lived as a minority people under intense persecution for their nationality and their religion. Their fidelity to the Lord under such difficult circumstances is an enduring witness for us to be faithful in the midst of suffering. The examples of pagan kings (Nebuchadnezzer, Belshazzar) whose pride leads to their disgrace serves to illustrate an important biblical principle (Prov 16:18, 29:23).
Daniel is a snapshot of the lives of the Jewish exiles in the Babylonian empire. Yet it is not merely a collection of nice stories, but a spiritual testimony which shows how it is possible to be faithful to the Lord in trying situations. Daniel anticipates Jesus the Messiah and teaches lasting spiritual truths about living for God
The dominant view among scholars is that Daniel is not in any case a prophetic book but an apocalypse.
The additions to Daniel were accepted by all branches of Christianity until the Protestant movement rejected them in the 16th century on the basis that they were absent from Hebrew bibles; they remain in Catholic, Orthodox, and a few other bibles.
Chapters 1 and 8–12 are in Hebrew and 2–7 in Aramaic. The reasons behind this have never been satisfactorily explained.
Captives in Babylon (chapter 1)
The story begins with a brief reference to king Nebuchadnezzar robbing the Jerusalem Temple (Solomon's Temple) and carrying its treasures back to Babylon. It goes on to describe how some young members of the Judean nobility, including Daniel and his three companions, are inducted into the king's service. Daniel and his companions are given Babylonian names, but refuse to be 'defiled' by the royal provisions of food and wine. Their overseer fears for his life in case the health of his charges deteriorates, but Daniel suggests a ten-day trial on a simple diet of vegetables and water. When they miraculously emerge healthier than their counterparts, Daniel and his friends are allowed to continue with their diet. At the end of the induction period, the king finds them 'ten times better' than all the wise men in his service, and it is noted that Daniel has a particular gift for dream interpretation.
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of four kingdoms (chapter 2)
Nebuchadnezzar has a disturbing dream and asks his wise men to interpret it, but refuses to divulge its content. When they protest he sentences all of them, including Daniel and his friends, to death. Daniel asks permission to petition his God for a solution.
He receives an explanatory vision in the night: Nebuchadnezzar has dreamed of an enormous statue with a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of copper, legs of iron, and feet of mixed iron and clay. The statue is destroyed by a rock that turns into a huge mountain, filling the whole earth. The statue symbolises four successive kingdoms, starting with Nebuchadnezzar, all of which will be crushed by God's kingdom, which will endure forever. Nebuchadnezzar raises Daniel to be chief over all his wise men, and appoints him and his companions to rule over all the chief cities of Babylon.
The fiery furnace (chapter 3)
Daniel's companions Ananias (Hananiah/Shadrach), Azariah (Abednego), and Mishael (Meshach) refuse to bow to the emperor's golden statue and are thrown into a furnace. Nebuchadnezzar sees a fourth figure appear in the furnace with the three and God is credited for preserving them from the flames. Daniel does not appear in this story.
During the dedication ceremony of the golden image, certain officials noticed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego not bowing down to the idol. Thus, Nebuchadnezzar was immediately notified.[v.10-12] The King was enraged and demanded that these three men come before him.[v.13] Nebuchadnezzar knew of these very men, because it was not too long ago when Daniel had petitioned the King to assign Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon.[Daniel 2: 48, 49] Daniel was also very special to the King because he was able to interpret his dreams unlike any of the Chaldean wise men.[Daniel 2: 24, 25] So it is of no surprise that the King would offer one more chance for these three Jews, who held honorable positions to the King, to show their patriotism to Babylon.[v.14, 15]
Their response: "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."[v.16-18]
Nebuchadnezzar demanded that the execution furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual. Valiant soldiers of the King’s army were ordered to firmly bind the fully clothed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and cast them in the blazing furnace. Upon approaching the mouth of the furnace, the fire was so hot that the soldiers perished while attempting to throw in the three tightly bound Jews (who then fell in).
When the King saw what appeared to be four men in the furnace, unbound and walking about, he called to them to come out. King Nebuchadnezzar then acknowledged the power of their God, even going as far as to make a decree, whereby any nation who says anything against the God of the Jews is an act of war. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were then given promotions to their positions over the province of Babylon. In Christian tradition, one interpretation of identifying the fourth man in the furnace is that of Christ[v.25], although he is more often shown in the arts as the Archangel Michael. The pagan king reasoned that the being in the fire was divine.
Nebuchadnezzar's madness (chapter 4)
Nebuchadnezzar recounts a dream of a huge tree that is suddenly cut down at the command of a heavenly messenger. Daniel is summoned and interprets the dream. The tree is Nebuchadnezzar himself, who for seven years will lose his mind and live like a wild beast. All of this comes to pass until, at the end of the specified time, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges that "heaven rules" and his kingdom and sanity are restored.
Belshazzar's feast (chapter 5)
Babylonian King Belshazzar and his nobles blasphemously drink from sacred Jewish temple vessels, offering praise to inanimate gods, until a hand mysteriously appears and writes upon the wall of the palace. The horrified king eventually summons Daniel who is able to read the writing and offer the following interpretation: Mene, Mene – God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. Tekel – You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Upharsin – Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. "That very night" Belshazzar was slain and "Darius the Mede" took over the kingdom. This has given form to the expression "The writing on the wall", an idiom for "imminent doom or misfortune" and for "the future is predetermined".
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Belshazzar's Feast by Rembrandt,
1635
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Daniel is elevated to a pre-eminent position under Darius which elicits the jealousy of other officials. Knowing of Daniel's devotion to his God, these officials trick the king into issuing an edict forbidding worship of any other god or man for a 30-day period. Because Daniel continues to pray three times a day to God towards Jerusalem, he is accused and King Darius, forced by his own decree, throws Daniel into the lions' den. God shuts up the mouths of the lions and the next morning king Darius finds Daniel unharmed and casts his accusers and their families into the lions' pit where they are instantly devoured.
Throughout the Ancient Near East, and even in the Hebrew Bible, lions have often been symbolic of monarchs. The lions surrounding Daniel could be seen as a symbolic representation of the nations and empires of the world.
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Belshazzar's Feast by Rembrandt,
1635
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Vision of the beasts from the sea and the Son of Man (chapter 7)
It is the last chapter written in Aramaic before it continues again in the Hebraic Masoretic text of the next chapter. This chapter begins the first series of apocalyptic visions that Daniel receives and is given cryptic interpretations for a portion of them.
This vision, set in the first year of Belshazzar, concerns four great beasts (7:3) representing future kings (7:17) or kingdoms (7:23). The fourth of these devours the whole earth, treading it down and crushing it (7:23). This fourth beast has ten horns representing ten kings. They are followed by a further wicked king, or "little horn", who subdues three of the ten (7:24), speaks against the Most High, wages war against the saints, and attempts to change the set times and laws (7:25). After 'a time and times and half a time', this king is judged and stripped of his kingdom by an "Ancient of Days" and his heavenly court (7:26). Next, "one like a son of man" approaches the Ancient of Days and is invested with worldwide dominion. Moreover, his everlasting reign over all earthly kingdoms is shared with "the people of the Most High" (7:27).
There is general agreement among modern scholars that the four beasts represent Babylonia, Medes, Persia, and Alexander's Greek empire. Those scholars who do not subscribe to this view point to Daniel's reference to the Kingdom of the Medes and Persians as a single entity, enabling the possibility of another empire after Greece, such as MacArthur's interpretation (also here) that the fourth Kingdom is the Roman Empire.[6] The majority view is that ten horns represent the kings from Alexander on through the Seleucid kingdom
Vision of the ram and goat (chapter 8):
This vision in the third year of Belshazzar describes Daniel's vision of a ram and goat that, according to the text, represent Media, Persia (the ram's two horns) and Greece (the goat). The goat with the mighty horn, becomes very powerful until the horn breaks off and is replaced by four "lesser" horns. The vision then focuses on a small horn that grows very large, representing a wicked king who arises to challenge the "army of the Lord" by removing the daily temple sacrifices and desecrating the sanctuary for a period of "twenty three hundred evening/mornings". The vision culminates in the "cleansing" or reconsecration of the temple.
Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks (chapter 9):
The vision in first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus (9:1) concerning seventy weeks, or seventy "sevens", apportioned for the history of the Israelites and of Jerusalem (9:24).
This consists of a meditation on the prediction in Jeremiah that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years, a lengthy prayer by Daniel in which he pleads for God to restore Jerusalem and its temple, and an angelic explanation which focuses on a longer time period – "seventy sevens" – and a future restoration and destruction of city and temple by a coming ruler.
Vision of the kings of north and south (chapters 10–12):
The narrative setting takes place during the third year of Cyrus king of Persia on the twenty-fourth day of the first month. The prophet Daniel was on the banks of the Tigris River. When he looked up, he saw the figure of a man standing before him dressed in white linen. Although his companions fled in terror, they saw nothing. Daniel faints and has a dream where the angel Gabriel speaks of conflicts between the King of North and King of the South.
The series of wars between the "King of the North" and the "King of the South", is generally interpreted as a record of Levantine history from the time of Alexander the Great down to the era of Antiochus IV, with the "Kings of the North" being the Seleucid kings of Syria and the "Kings of the South" being the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt
Critical scholars have asserted that the prophecies in the Book of Daniel reflect the persecutions of the Jews by the Greek Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes who ruled the Jews from 175–164 BC, and his desecration of the altar in the temple at Jerusalem, and consequently they date its composition to that period.
Daniel 11:21-35 is devoted to the Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes(the ruler of the Jews from 175-164 BCE), his rise to power, wars against Egypt, and his subsequent actions against Jerusalem, the Temple and the Jewish people.
After describing the "desecration of the Temple (Daniel 11:31) and the Maccabean revolt, the author predicts another attack from Egypt in which Antiochus will be victorious and capture the entire territory along with Libya and Ethiopia (Daniel 11:40-43).There is however no historical evidence for this.
Daniel 11:3-39 is considered very accurate. All major conflicts are mentioned, and the Sixth Syrian War is described in great detail.
Daniel 12: the angel reveals that at this time Michael, "the great prince who protects your people," will come. It will be a time of great distress, but all those whose names are written will be delivered. "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt; those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever."
The concepts of immortality and resurrection, with rewards for the righteous and punishment for the wicked, were raised for the first time in Judaism in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE. The doctrine has roots much deeper than Daniel, but is clearly stated in the final chapter of that book: "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame and contempt".
[The Jewish afterlife is called Olam Ha-Ba (The World to Come)
Some scholars claim that belief in the afterlife is a teaching that developed late in Jewish history. It is true that the Torah emphasizes immediate, concrete, physical rewards and punishments rather than abstract future ones.
Traditional Judaism firmly believes that death is not the end of human existence. However, because Judaism is primarily focused on life here and now rather than on the afterlife, Judaism does not have much dogma about the afterlife, and leaves a great deal of room for personal opinion. But Belief in the eventual resurrection of the dead is a fundamental belief of traditional Judaism. It was a belief that distinguished the Pharisees (intellectual ancestors of Rabbinical Judaism) from the Sadducees. The Sadducees rejected the concept, because it is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah. The Pharisees found the concept implied in certain verses.
The Torah speaks of several noteworthy people being "gathered to their people." See, for example, Gen. 25:8 (Abraham), 25:17 (Ishmael), 35:29 (Isaac), 49:33 (Jacob), Deut. 32:50 (Moses and Aaron) II Kings 22:20 (King Josiah). This gathering is described as a separate event from the physical death of the body or the burial.
Later portions of the Tanakh speak more clearly of life after death and the World to Come. See Dan. 12:2, Neh. 9:5.
12.2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some shall live forever, others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace.
The resurrection of the dead will occur in the messianic age, a time referred to in Hebrew as the Olam Ha-Ba, the World to Come, but that term is also used to refer to the spiritual afterlife. When the messiah comes to initiate the perfect world of peace and prosperity, the righteous dead will be brought back to life and given the opportunity to experience the perfected world that their righteousness helped to create. The wicked dead will not be resurrected.
There are some mystical schools of thought that believe resurrection is not a one-time event, but is an ongoing process. The souls of the righteous are reborn in to continue the ongoing process of tikkun olam, mending of the world. Some sources indicate that reincarnation is a routine process, while others indicate that it only occurs in unusual circumstances, where the soul left unfinished business behind.
Only the very righteous go directly to Gan Eden. The average person descends to a place of punishment and/or purification, generally referred to as Gehinnom (guh-hee-NOHM) (in Yiddish, Gehenna), but sometimes as She'ol or by other names. According to one mystical view, every sin we commit creates an angel of destruction (a demon), and after we die we are punished by the very demons that we created.
Only the utterly wicked do not ascend at the end of this period. some say that the wicked soul is utterly destroyed and ceases to exist while others say that the soul continues to exist in a state of consciousness of remorse.
]
The Greek text of Daniel is considerably longer than the Hebrew, due to three additional stories:
The Prayer of Azariah and the Hymn of the Three Youths, placed after Daniel 3:23;
The story of Susanna and the Elders, placed before chapter 1 in some Greek versions and after chapter 12 in others;
The story of Bel and the Dragon, placed at the end of the book.
The origins of these writings are obscure. Whether the accounts were originally composed in Hebrew (or Aramaic) or in Greek is uncertain, although many modern scholars conclude on the basis of textual evidence that there was probably an original Semitic edition. The date of composition of these documents is also uncertain, although many scholars favor a date either in the second or first century B.C
- The Prayer of Azariah and the Hymn of the Three Youths:
The passage includes the penitential prayer of Azariah (Abednego in Babylonian; see Daniel 1:6–7) while the three youths were in the fiery furnace
- The story of Susanna and the Elders:
Susanna is included in the Book of Daniel (as chapter 13) by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. As the story goes, a fair Hebrew wife named Susanna was falsely accused by lecherous voyeurs. As she bathes in her garden, having sent her attendants away, two lustful elders secretly observe the lovely Susanna. When she makes her way back to her house, they accost her, threatening to claim that she was meeting a young man in the garden unless she agrees to have sex with them.
She refuses to be blackmailed and is arrested and about to be put to death for promiscuity when a young man named Daniel interrupts the proceedings, shouting that the elders should be questioned to prevent the death of an innocent. After being separated, the two men are questioned about details (cross-examination) of what they saw but disagree about the tree under which Susanna supposedly met her lover.
The first says they were under a mastic and Daniel says that an angel stands ready to cut him in two. The second says they were under an evergreen oak tree and Daniel says that an angel stands ready to saw him in two. The great difference in size between a mastic and an oak makes the elders' lie plain to all the observers. The false accusers are put to death, and virtue triumphs.
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| Susanna and the Elders, Guido Reni (1625) |
- The story of Bel and the Dragon:
The narrative of Bel (14:1–22) ridicules the worship of idols. In it, the king asks Daniel, "Thinkest thou not that Bel is a living god? seest thou not how much he eateth and drinketh every day?" to which Daniel answers that the idol is made of clay covered by bronze and thus, cannot eat or drink. Enraged, the king then demands that the seventy priests of Bel show him who consumes the offerings made to the idol. The priests then challenge the king to set the offerings as usual (which were "twelve great measures of fine flour, and forty sheep, and six vessels of wine") and then seal the entrance to the temple with his ring: if Bel does not consume the offerings, the priests are to be sentenced to death; otherwise, Daniel is to be killed.
Daniel then uncovers the ruse (by scattering ashes over the floor of the temple in the presence of the king after the priests have left) and shows that the "sacred" meal of Bel is actually consumed at night by the priests and their wives and children, who entered through a secret door when the temple's doors were sealed.
The next morning, Daniel calls attention to the footprints on the temple's floor; the priests of Bel were then arrested and, confessing their deed, showed the secret passage that they used to sneak inside the temple. They, their wives and children are then put to death, and Daniel is permitted to destroy the idol of Bel and the temple. This version has been cited as an ancestor of the "locked room mystery".
In the brief but autonomous companion narrative of the dragon (14:23–30), "there was a great Dragon, which they of Babylon worshiped." In this case the supposed god is no idol, but an animal. However, Daniel slays the dragon by baking pitch, fat, and hair (trichas) to make cakes (mazas, barley-cakes, but translated "lumps") that cause the dragon to burst open upon consumption.
As a result, the Babylonians are indignant. "The king has become a Jew; he has destroyed Bel, and killed the dragon, and slaughtered the priests," they say, and demand that Daniel be handed over to them.
- Twelve Minor Prophets:
The Minor Prophets or Twelve Prophets, occasionally Book of the Twelve, is the last book of the Nevi'im, the second main division of the Jewish Tanakh. The collection is broken up to form twelve individual books in the Christian Old Testament, one for each of the prophets. The terms "minor prophets" and "twelve prophets" can also refer to the twelve traditional authors of these works.
The term "Minor" relates to the length of each book (ranging from a single chapter to fourteen); even the longest is short compared to the three major prophets, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah. It is not known when these short works were collected and transferred to a single scroll, but the first extra-biblical evidence we have for the Twelve as a collection is c. 190 BCE in the writings of Jesus ben Sirach, and evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls suggests that the modern order was established by 150 BCE.
It is believed that initially the first six were collected, and later the second six were added; the two groups seem to complement each other, with Hosea through Micah raising the question of iniquity, and Nahum through Malachi proposing resolutions
- Book of Hosea:
Hosea is believed to be the first prophet to use marriage as a metaphor of the covenant between God and Israel, and he influenced latter prophets such as Jeremiah.
Hosea prophesied during a dark and melancholic era of Israel's history, the period of the Northern Kingdom's decline and fall in the 8th century BC. The apostasy of the people was rampant, having turned away from God in order to serve the calves of Jeroboam and Baal, a Canaanite god.
During Hosea's lifetime, the kings of the Northern Kingdom, their aristocratic supporters, and the priests had led the people away from the Law of God, as given in the Pentateuch. Forsaking the worship of God, they worshiped other gods, especially Baal, the Canaanite fertility god. Other sins followed, including homicide, perjury, theft, and sexual sin. Hosea declares that unless they repent of these sins, God will allow their nation to be destroyed, and the people will be taken into captivity by Assyria, the greatest nation of the time.
Ch. 1-3 detail Hosea's relationship with his unfaithful wife Gomer and Ch. 4-14 tell of Israel's unfaithfulness to the Lord.
Chapters 1–2; Account of Hosea's marriage with Gomer biographically which is a metaphor for the relationship with Yahweh and Israel.
Chapter 3; Account of Hosea's marriage autobiographically.
Chapters 4–14:9; Oracle judging Israel, Ephraim in particular, for not living up to the covenant.
First, Hosea was directed by God to marry a promiscuous woman of ill-repute, and he did so. Marriage here is symbolic of the covenantal relationship between God and Israel. However, Israel has been unfaithful to God by following other gods and breaking the commandments which are the terms of the covenant, hence Israel is symbolized by a harlot who violates the obligations of marriage to her husband.
Together with Gomer they have three children:
First they have a son. God commands that the son be named Jezreel. This name refers to a valley in which much blood had been shed in Israel's history, especially by the kings of the Northern Kingdom. (See I Kings 21 and II Kings 9:21–35). The naming of this son was to stand as a prophecy against the reigning house of the Northern Kingdom, that they would pay for that bloodshed. Jezreel's name means God Sows.
Then the couple have a daughter. God commands that she be named Lo-ruhamah; Unloved, or, Pity or Pitied On to show Israel that, although God will still have pity on the Southern Kingdom, God will no longer have pity on the Northern Kingdom; its destruction is imminent.
Last a son is born to Gomer. It is questionable whether this child was Hosea's, for God commands that his name be Lo-ammi; Not My People, or more simply, Not Mine. The child bore this name of shame to show that the Northern Kingdom would also be shamed, for its people would no longer be known as God's People. Also God says that "I am not your I am"; in other words, God changes His own name in connection with his current relationship with Israel.
Then Gomer apparently returns to her immoral lifestyle, but Hosea seeks her out, redeems her and takes her back (3:2). Gomer's unfaithful character mirrors Israel's infidelity to the Lord. Even Hosea and Gomer's children represent problems in the Lord's relationship with his people
Hosea is a mysterious figure, and in some ways his writing is among the most impenetrable in the whole Bible. His tone is often dark and pessimistic. He had the power, which was to become characteristic of so many Jewish writers, to convey the sense of having suffered, yet to have retained an inextinguishable spark of hope. He may have been a reformed drinker and womanizer.
- Book of Joel:
Joel is a short prophetic book which speaks of the coming "day of the LORD." (1:15) The name "Joel" means "Yahweh is God." The book begins by describing a plague of locusts sweeping through the land of Judah, destroying crops and ravishing the land (1:2-12).
The prophet sees this plague as foreshadowing a future time in which God will bring his judgment on Israel and the surrounding nations. Yet Joel calls the people to repentance to avoid the impending judgment (2:12). The Lord responds to the nation's repentant hearts and has mercy on them (2:18). He then transfers his just anger from Israel to the surrounding nations (4:4, 19). The Lord promises the restoration of Israel, the judgment of Israel's enemies and an everlasting time of blessing (4:17-21).
The book is very hard to place in the chronology of Israel. The prophet Joel cannot be identified with other persons named Joel in the Old Testament and the book mentions no historical events that are easy to date. Based on the text of the book alone, scholars have guessed at many different dates of composition from 900 down to 400 BC.
On the day of Pentecost, St. Peter quotes Joel 3:1-5 in Acts 2:17-21 to show that Joel's prophecy was fulfilled in the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Lord indeed "restored the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem" (cf. 4:1) through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
The Church always reads Joel 2 on Ash Wednesday to invite us to return to the Lord with all our hearts, with "fasting, weeping and mourning" for the duration of Lent (2:12).
- Book of Amos:
Amos was a prophet during the reign of Jeroboam ben Joash (Jeroboam II), ruler of Israel from 793 BC to 753 BC, and the reign of Uzziah, King of Judah, at a time when both kingdoms (Israel in the North and Judah in the South) were peaking in prosperity. He was a contemporary of the prophet Hosea, but likely preceded him. Many of the earlier accounts of prophets found in the Tanakh are found within the context of other accounts of Israel's history. Amos, however, is the first prophet whose name also serves as the title of the corresponding biblical book in which his story is found.
God speaks to Amos, a farmer and herder, and tells him to go to Samaria, the capital of the Northern kingdom. Through Amos, God tells the people that he is going to judge Israel for its sins, and it will be a foreign nation that will enact his judgment. Amos is sent by God from the southern kingdom of Judah to the northern kingdom of Israel. The kingdoms had been divided during the reign of Rehoboam, Solomon's son (see 1 Kgs 12). At this point in biblical history, the twelve tribes had split into two kingdoms: Judah and Israel. Judah's capital was Jerusalem and could claim the authentic line of David for its royalty. Israel had been established by Jeroboam I with its capital in Samaria. It is believed by most that Amos was a southern farmer who chose to deliver his prophetic message in the North. However, some believe that Amos was actually from a Tekoa in the North, near Galilee. They believe that it is more probable that Amos was from the North because it has conditions more suitable for the cultivation of sycamore figs than the Tekoa of the South.
Amos brings a harsh message to the rulers and people of Israel: God's judgment is coming because of their infidelity to him. Amos calls for a destruction of Israelite worship and the reuniting of the kingdom. He denounces unjust social practices and calls for a return to true worship of the Lord. He announces the end of the Jeroboamite dynasty (7:9). He prophesies of a day when the "booth of David" will be repaired and rebuilt, when all the people will dwell in peace and harmony under a true king who is a descendant of David. Amos' harsh message eventually gets him banished from the northern kingdom (7:12-14).
A few theological themes for meditation in this book are God's love for the poor and his desire for a just society. Also, the holiness of God's law is so great that it demands a great punishment on those who break it. In our times, as in Amos' there is a famine "of hearing the word of the Lord" (8:11). God does not desire to punish his people, but in many cases suffering is a necessary precursor to restoration.
It should also be noted that Amos preached about two years before a very large earthquake, and made reference to it twice in his book. Zechariah (Zechariah 14:5b) remembers this earthquake over 200 years later.
- Book of Obadiah:
The book is a prophecy against the nation of Edom and is the shortest book in the Old Testament.
Edom, also called Idumea, was descended from Esau, the brother of Jacob. The Edomites' land was south and east of Dead Sea, adjacent to southern Judah and extending south to the Gulf of Aqaba. The nation had refused to let the Israelites pass through during the Exodus journey (Num 20:18). They had been one Israel's traditional enemies and had been conquered as part of David's kingdom in the period of the united monarchy.
Obadiah announces the Lord's judgment against Edom for the nation's sins against Israel. The prophet mentions "the day of the Lord," which is a constant theme in the prophets (Obad 15, Isa 13:6, Jer 46:10, Ezek 30:3, Joel 1:15, Amos 5:18, Zeph 1:14). The last section of the prophecy describes a time of vindication for the Lord's people, when Israel will rule over Edom. The book illustrates the Lord's care for those who belong to him and reveals his character as a just God who will judge evil and reward fidelity.
In verse eighteen, it says that once judgment has been carried out, “There will be no survivors from the house of Esau” (NIV). So, according to Obadiah there will not remain even a remnant after Edom’s judgment; This is in contrast to Amos 9:12, where Amos refers to such a remnant, however, it is stated that their possession will be given to Israel. Some scholars have suggested that Amos’s reference to Edom is symbolic of all nations who were once enemies of Israel and not meant to literally mean Edomites in the flesh. This is certainly the perspective of Luke as he recites the passage from Amos in Acts 15:17. Edom is symbolic of the remnant of men and Gentiles who will eventually bear God’s name. Moreover, Frederick A. Tatford in Prophet of Edom’s Doom says that Obadiah’s prophecy is fulfilled today as there is currently no trace of anyone who may be identified as a fleshly Edomite.
Since Obadiah does not make any clearly dated historical references, the book is very difficult to date.
- Book of Jonah:
It tells the story of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah ben Amittai who is sent by God to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh but tries to escape the divine mission. Set in the reign of Jeroboam II (786–746 BC), it was probably written in the post-exilic period, sometime between the late 5th to early 4th century BC.
The book of Jonah is a story about a prophet rather than a prophecy. It tells the story of Jonah's rocky relationship with God. When the Lord calls him to preach to Ninevah, Jonah immediately flees in the opposite direction. The fact that G-d had asked Jonah to save the people of the Assyrian city, Ninevah, by telling them to repent, was not appealing to Jonah, because the Assyrians were the enemies of the Jewish people and would in fact wage war against them, as Jonah prophesies.
Then the Lord doesn't let him off the hook so easily. A powerful storm and a giant fish combine to thwart Jonah's plan to escape God's call. Even the pagan sailors on their way to Tarshish turn pious in the face of disaster and begin praying and offering sacrifices to the Lord (1:16).
Once inside the fish, Jonah realizes his error and repents for being so impetuous. Jonah is spit out 3 days later on the shores of Ninivah. But the drama is not over yet! God sends his word to Jonah for the second time, asking him to go and preach to Ninevah. Jonah reluctantly accepts. He despised the Ninevites and resented the fact that the Lord wanted to extend his mercy to them. But when Jonah preaches God's message, the people of Ninevah respond immediately with fasting and prayer, just like the sailors in the first part of the story.
While it seems a prophet should be ecstatic at such a response, Jonah is despondent and finds a hillside on which to sulk (4:5).
But again the Lord won't let Jonah off so easy. He challenges Jonah's resentful attitude by sending a plant which gives Jonah shade and a worm that kills the plant. Jonah's resentment is only intensified by this episode so that he becomes "angry enough to die." (4:9) But the Lord explains that his attitude contradicts the merciful heart of the God he represents. The story ends before we hear Jonah's response, but we can accept the Lord's challenge to Jonah as a challenge to us.
The message of the book confronts us with our sinfulness as we see our own faults in Jonah's heart. Ironically, the people who really "got the message" were the sailors and Ninevites, not the prophet God sent to them!
Jesus looks back to Jonah as a type or foreshadowing of himself (Matt 12, 16; Luke 11). The Church fathers continued Jesus' line of thought by comparing how Jonah brought a message of salvation to the Gentiles after leaving the fish's belly and Jesus brought the message of the Gospel for the Gentiles after leaving the tomb.
The debate over the credibility of the miracle of Jonah is not simply a modern one. The credibility of a human being surviving in the belly of a great fish has long been questioned. In c. 409 AD, Augustine of Hippo wrote to Deogratias concerning the challenge of some to the miracle recorded in the Book of Jonah. He writes:
The last question proposed is concerning Jonah, and it is put as if it were not from Porphyry, but as being a standing subject of ridicule among the Pagans; for his words are: “In the next place, what are we to believe concerning Jonah, who is said to have been three days in a whale’s belly? The thing is utterly improbable and incredible, that a man swallowed with his clothes on should have existed in the inside of a fish. If, however, the story is figurative, be pleased to explain it. Again, what is meant by the story that a gourd sprang up above the head of Jonah after he was vomited by the fish? What was the cause of this gourd’s growth?” Questions such as these I have seen discussed by Pagans amidst loud laughter, and with great scorn.
—(Letter CII, Section 30)
Augustine responds that if one is to question one miracle, then one should question all miracles as well (section 31). Nevertheless, despite his apologetic, Augustine views the story of Jonah as a figure for Christ. For example, he writes: "As, therefore, Jonah passed from the ship to the belly of the whale, so Christ passed from the cross to the sepulchre, or into the abyss of death. And as Jonah suffered this for the sake of those who were endangered by the storm, so Christ suffered for the sake of those who are tossed on the waves of this world." Augustine credits his allegorical interpretation to the interpretation of Christ himself (Matt. 12:39,40), and he allows for other interpretations as long as they are in line with Christ's.
The narrative itself does not speak of "whale" in the sense that we understand it today, but a more vague "a great fish" AND the Greek word used in the Septuagint and the Gospels, ke-tos, originally denoted a sort of sea-monster. It was only in the medieval period that the Latinized form of the word, cetus, began to refer specifically to the mammals we call 'whales'. This explains why in early Christian art, Jonah is swallowed by a serpentine aquatic creature like the Cetus of Greco-Roman mythological art - with ears and front paws/legs no less!
"The most common interpretation nowadays, and one that is held by indubitably orthodox exegetes, is that the story of the prophet being swallowed and then disgorged by a ‘great fish’ is merely didactic fiction, a grand tale told to establish a religious point. Catholics are perfectly free to take this or a more literal view Strictly literal interpretations of what happened to Jonah actually come in two forms. One relies on the fact that people apparently have been swallowed by whales and lived to talk about it. The other literal interpretation is that Jonah indeed underwent what the story, read as straight history, says he did but survived only because of a positive miracle. (Catholicism and Fundamentalism, Ignatius Press, 129–30).
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Jan
Brueghel the Elder - Jonah Leaving The Whale (1600)
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It records the sayings of Micah, Mikayahu, meaning "Who is like Yahweh?", an 8th-century B.C. prophet from the village of Moresheth in Judah.
The book has three major divisions, chapters 1–2, 3–5 and 6–7, each introduced by the word "Hear," with a pattern of alternating announcements of doom and expressions of hope within each division Micah reproaches unjust leaders, defends the rights of the poor against the rich and powerful, and preaches social justice;while looking forward to a world at peace centered on Zion under the leadership of a new Davidic monarch
It is widely, though not universally, accepted by scholars that only chapters 1–3 contain material from the late 8th century prophet Micah. The latest material comes from the post-Exilic period after the Temple was rebuilt in 515 BC, so that the early 5th century BC seems to be the period when the book was completed.
At the broadest level Micah can be divided into three roughly equal parts:
Judgment against the nations and their leaders
Restoration of Zion (chapters 4–5, probably exilic and post-exilic, together with the next section);
God's lawsuit against Israel and expression of hope (chapters 6–7).
Judgment against Samaria (1:2–7): Drawing upon ancient traditions for depicting a theophany, the prophet depicts the coming of Yahweh to punish the city, whose sins are idolatry and the abuse of the poor.
Warnings to the cities of Judah (1:8–16): Samaria has fallen, Judah is next. Micah describes the destruction of the lesser towns of Judah (referring to the invasion of Judah by Sennacherib, 701 BC).
Misuse of power denounced (2:1–5): Denounces those who appropriate the land and houses of others. The context may be simply the amassing wealth for its own sake, or could be connected with the militarisation of the region for the expected Assyrian attack
Zion's future hope (4:1–5) This is a later passage, almost identical with Isaiah 2:2–4. Zion (meaning the Temple) will be rebuilt, but by God, and based not on violence and corruption but on the desire to learn God's laws and live in peace
When the Assyrians attacked Judah in 701 they did so via the Philistine coast and the Shephelah, the border region which included Micah's village of Moresheth, as well as Lachish, Judah's second largest city. This in turn forms the background to verses 1:8–16, in which Micah warns the towns of the coming disaster (Lachish is singled out for special mention, accused of the corrupt practices of both Samaria and Jerusalem). In verses 2:1–5 he denounces the appropriation of land and houses, which might simply be the greed of the wealthy and powerful, or possibly the result of the militarising of the area in preparation for the Assyrian attack
Micah's message comes to us as a confrontation of our patterns of sin, a call to repentance. It shows the evil nature of sin, how one kind of idolatry leads to another. But Micah's message includes a promise of salvation, inviting us to repent while expecting the Lord's forgiveness. Repentance is how we re-enter our broken love relationship with God.
- Book of Nahum:
Nahum was a prophet in Judah after the 722 BC fall of Israel, but before the 587 BC fall of Jerusalem. His name means "comfort." He preached during the reign of Josiah, king of Judah (640-609 BC). Nahum is not metioned in other biblical books and the location his hometown, Elkosh, has not been identified but probably it was in Judah (1:1).
The subject of Nahum's prophecy is the approaching complete and final destruction of Nineveh, the capital of the great and at that time flourishing Assyrian empire. Assur-bani-pal was at the height of his glory. Nineveh was a city of vast extent, and was then the center of the civilization and commerce of the world, a "bloody city all full of lies and robbery" (Nahum 3:1), for it had robbed and plundered all the neighboring nations.
His "book of vision" was written shortly before the fall of Nineveh at the hands of the Medes and Babylonians (612 BC). The book begins with an acrostic poem (1:2-11) about the nature of God as slow to anger (1:3) and yet an avenger (1:2). (An acrostic poem is in alphabetical order according to the Hebrew alphabet.) God despises evil and will not allow it to persist forever. He will take vengence against those who do evil (1:6, 9). The Lord knows those who trust in him (1:7), so he will break Judah's yoke (1:13), bring good news (1:15) and restore the splendor of Jacob (2:2).
Chapters two and three describe the fall of Nineveh in 612 BCE (although Nineveh was apparently destroyed first by fire around 625 BC) and the Assyrian empire came to an end, an event which changed the face of Asia.
The Babylonian chronicle of the fall of Nineveh tells us also the story of the end of Nineveh. Naboplassar of Babylon joined forces with Cyaxares, king of the Medes, and laid siege for three months. Assyria lasted a few more years after the loss of its fortress, but attempts by Egyptian Pharaoh Neco II to rally the Assyrians failed due to opposition from king Josiah of Judah, and it seemed to be all over by 609 BC.
Chapter 2 describes the chaos of the beginning of the battle for Ninevah. Soldiers run to and fro (2:3-4), women wail aloud (2:6), and the city is plundered (2:9-10). Chapter 3 continues the graphic depiction of the coming destruction of Ninevah. Blood, chariots, swords, horses, spears and bodies fill the terrifying picture (3:1-3). Ninevah's overthrow is likened to the shaming of a prostitute (3:4-7), the conquest of Thebes (3:8-11) and to the easy harvest of over-ripe figs (3:12).
The preparation for the destruction of Nineveh, and the description of its ruin, and its greatness, are expressed in most vivid colors, and possess admirable perspicuity and fulness. Nahum multiplies metaphors in his effort to describe his vision of Ninevah's fall. The destruction he foresees will be devastating. The Assyrian empire, which oppressed so many people, will be oppressed itself.
God's judgement on Ninevah is "all because of the wanton lust of a harlot, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft." (Nahum 3:4 NIV). Sexual infidelity, according to the prophets, related to spiritual unfaithfulness.
The book's message is simple: God's justice will in the end prevail over human injustice. The Lord brought retribution against Assyria for all of its crimes, but only after a long cruel reign. Assuredly, the people who clap their hands at Ninevah's fall (3:19) felt the Lord was slow to anger (1:3). They had suffered enough; the defeat of Assyria would truly be "good news" (1:15).
Christians believe in the Lord's vindication for his people, but we await his final act of making things right. Though some injustices are "righted" in our history, the complete righting of all wrongs will not come until the end of time.
- Book of Habakkuk:
The prophet Habakkuk is generally believed to have written his book in the mid-to-late 7th century BC, not long before the Babylonians' siege and capture of Jerusalem. It is a short dialogue between the prophet and the Lord about the judgment of Judah.
The book consists of three chapters and the book is neatly divided into three different genres:
- A discussion between God and Habakkuk
- An Oracle of Woe
- A Psalm
The major theme of Habakkuk is trying to grow from a faith of perplexity and doubt to the height of absolute trust in God. Habakkuk addresses his concerns over the fact that God will use the evil Babylonian empire to execute judgment on Judah for their sins.
In the middle part of Chapter 1, God explains that he will send the Chaldeans to punish his people. 1:5 “Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you. 1:6 For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs."
In the final part of the first chapter, the prophet expresses shock at God's choice of instrument for judgment. 1:13 You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he.
Therefore Habakkuk objects to God using a nation even more wicked than Judah to bring his judgment (1:12-2:1).
In Chapter 2, he awaits God's response to his challenge. God explains that He will also judge the Chaldeans, and much more harshly. The Lord replies that Babylon itself, after it has fulfilled its purpose, will fall and be mocked by the people it oppressed and "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord" (2:14).
Notice that the central message in this chapter "the just shall live by his faith" (2:4), plays an important role in Christian thought. It is used in the Epistle to the Romans 1:17, Epistle to the Galatians 3:11, and the Epistle to the Hebrews 10:38 as the starting point of the concept of faith.
Finally, in Chapter 3, Habakkuk expresses his ultimate faith in God, even if he doesn't fully understand.
The major tension in the book centers around the fulfillment of God's plan for his people and the execution of his judgment in the world. Habakkuk's questioning comes from a standpoint of faith and trust, not from doubt. The prophet believes in God's ultimate justice, so he can openly ask for vindication.
Habakkuk gives us an opportunity to grapple with the unanswerable questions of life. We too must seek to understand suffering and the seeming triumph of wickedness in the face of God's justice.
Modern Christian hymns have been inspired by the words of the prophet Habakkuk. The Christian hymn "The Lord is in His Holy Temple", written in 1900 by William J. Kirkpatrick, is based on verse 2:20.
- Book of Zephaniah (Sophonias):
Zephaniah prophesied during the reign of Josiah, king of Judah (640-609 BC). The Bible does not mention him elsewhere, but from his book we can discern that he was familiar with the Temple workings, the priests and the inner political circle of Jerusalem. His name means "the Lord hides, keeps or stores up."
The book of Zephaniah incorporates a good deal of phrases and terminology which are found in other books of the Bible. This suggests that the author of Zephaniah was familiar with and drew upon earlier Israelite religious tradition and also that later biblical writers regarded the book of Zephaniah as an authoritative (or at least respectable) work in the prophetic corpus
The book of Zephaniah is a short announcement of God's impending judgment on Judah (1:2-2:3) and the surrounding nations (2:4-3:8) with a note of hope for restoration at the end (3:9-20). The book takes up many themes found in the other prophets: judgment, restoration and the in-gathering of the nations. Zephaniah lived under Josiah between the Assyrian conquest of Israel (722) and the Babylonian conquest of Judah (587). Josiah's reign over Judah was particularly influential in biblical history because he instituted a reform of worship and religious practice (2 Kgs 22-23). Zephaniah probably prophesied before the 622 reform because he speaks against current idolatrous practices, which were suppressed during Josiah's reform. Zephaniah accurately predicted the 612 fall of Ninevah before it occurred (2:13-15).
The message of Zephaniah is in harmony with the other prophets. He announces the Lord's severe judgment against Judah because of the nation's sins of idolatry. The people have turned their backs on the Lord and worshiped Baal, the "host of heaven," and Milcom (1:4-6).
Zephaniah takes us from a terrifying message of judgment where God will "utterly sweep everything away" (1:2) to a beautiful picture of a loving relationship with God wherein he will "rejoice over you with gladness" (3:17). He points to the immediate future as full of suffering and judgment, but the ultimate future as a time of glorious restoration. As Christians, we can embrace the message of Zephaniah by humbly accepting the redemptive sufferings of human life while seeking the Lord, his righteousness and humility. Yet we anticipate a coming glorious age in which he will "restore our fortunes" (see 3:20) and we will see him face to face.
- Book of Haggai (Aggeus) :
It is a short book, consisting of only two chapters.
It was written in 520 BC some 18 years after Cyrus had conquered Babylon and issued a decree in 538 BC allowing the captive Jews to return to Judea. Cyrus saw the restoration of the temple as necessary for the restoration of the religious practices and a sense of peoplehood after a long exile.
After Darius I the Great acceded to the Persian throne in 522 BC, Haggai prophesied to the returned exiles, calling them to recommit themselves to building the Temple.
The people respond to Haggai's word and begin the building process under the leadership of Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and Joshua (1:12-15). As Haggai encourages the people to work heartily he prophesies that the future glory of the temple will be greater than the former (2:1-9). Next, through a dialogue with the Jewish priests, Haggai pronounces that uncleanness is more contagious than holiness in order to show that the lack of Temple-building activity is the cause of the people's lack of material goods (2:10-19). Finally, Haggai prophesies that Zerubbabel will be the Lord's "signet ring" (2:20-23). The hope for a new political kingdom under the rule of Zerubbabel, the Davidic heir to the throne was never realized. Yet this prophecy is often understood to be fulfilled by the ultimate Son of David of whom Zerubbabel is only a type: Jesus.
The Temple was the heart of Jewish worship. While the returned exiles were already sacrificing on the ruins of the first Temple, the Lord wanted them to reconstruct the whole building. They built the second Temple with meager resources and under difficult circumstances. But their work was an act of faith that God would fulfill his promises to them. The second Temple did achieve a greater glory than the first because it was graced by the presence of Christ himself.
Haggai roused a people who had forgotten their purpose. Initial obstacles, legal entanglements, resource shortages and the march of time had caused them to forget why they returned to Palestine. They were living their lives in "paneled houses," trying to make ends meet, but Haggai shocked them out of their haze and helped them to realize they had a mission to build the Temple and restore the practice of worship. When our lives get filled with clutter, we can turn to Haggai and his generation for a dose of reality, mission and purpose. God did not place us on this earth merely to live in paneled houses and enjoy our grain, wine and oil. We are made to worship him and our lives should constantly reflect this calling.
- Book of Zechariah:
Zechariah was a prophet from the priestly family of Iddo who returned to Palestine from Babylon with a group of Jewish exiles before 520 BC. He was a contemporary of Haggai, with whom he encouraged the people during the reconstruction of the Temple (Ezra 5:1, 6:14). His name means "The Lord has remembered."
The book is usually divided into two basic sections: Ch. 1-8 and Ch. 9-14. Ch. 1-8 are precisely dated to 520-518 BC and include eight mysterious visions, surrounded by two exhortations. Ch. 9-14 focus on the coming Messiah and the restoration of Israel. The differences between these two sections have led some scholars to contend that Zechariah wrote them at different periods in his life and many other scholars to argue that the latter section was not written by Zechariah himself.
Zechariah was born in exile and returned with his fellow Jews to the land after the Persians took over Babylon. The Persians' policy was to return foreign peoples to the their homelands and allow them to worship their own gods, rather than to displace people and suppress their religious practices as the Babylonian conquerors had done.
Through formidable obstacles, the returnees succeeded in building a humble Temple and restoring sacrificial worship. Joshua, the high priest and Zerubbabel, the political leader of the community, were very important figures in this time and in the prophecies of Zechariah and Haggai. Zerubbabel, a descendant of David, was especially important since he embodied the hopes of the people to restore the kingdom.
The book contains many visions which are challenging to understand. Fortunately, most of the visions in the first part (1-8) have an angel interpreter who explains what they mean. Pay close attention to the angel's words. The images mainly point to the prosperity of Jerusalem and the Lord's protection of the Jewish people from their enemies.
The second part of the book (9-14) is thoroughly messianic. Zechariah sees many things about a coming king who will be betrayed and put to death (9:9; 13:7). In Zechariah's time, the hopes of restoring the kingdom of David remained unfulfilled, but Jesus takes up these expectations and fulfills them as the true Son of David. The Gospel writers quote and allude to Zechariah consistently showing that they understand Jesus to be fulfilling Zech 9-14. The messianic vision of Zechariah concludes with a prediction that all of the nations will worship the Lord together at Jerusalem, the in-gathering of the nations (14:16). This prophecy is fulfilled in the proclamation of the Gospel to the Gentiles so that every knee may bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (cf. Phil 2:11).
Zechariah's visions have often been subjected to fantastic interpretations. But they must be read in the context of the post-exilic Jewish community in Jerusalem, rebuilding the Temple and renewing their covenant with the Lord. Yet they were not brought to fulfillment until Jesus came preaching "the kingdom" (Matt 3:2).
Most Christian commentators read the series of predictions in chapters 7 to 14 as Messianic prophecies, either directly or indirectly. These chapters helped the writers of the Gospels understand Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection, which they quoted as they wrote of Jesus’ final days. Much of the Book of Revelation, which narrates the denouement of history, is also colored by images in Zechariah.
Chapters 9–14 of the Book of Zechariah are an early example of apocalyptic literature. Although not as fully developed as the apocalyptic visions described in the Book of Daniel, the "oracles", as they are titled in Zechariah 9–14, contain apocalyptic elements. One theme these oracles contain is descriptions of the Day of the Lord, when "the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle" (Zechariah 14:3). These chapters also contain "pessimism about the present, but optimism for the future based on the expectation of an ultimate divine victory and the subsequent transformation of the cosmos".
- Book of Malachi:
The book is commonly attributed to a prophet by the name of Malachi. Although the appellation Malachi has frequently been understood as a proper name, its Hebrew meaning is simply "My [i.e., God's] messenger".
Some scholars note affinities between Zechariah 9–14 and the book of Malachi. Zechariah 9, Zechariah 12, and Malachi 1 are all introduced as The word of Elohim. Many scholars argue that this collection originally consisted of three independent and anonymous prophecies, two of which were subsequently appended to the book of Zechariah (as what scholars refer to as Deutero-Zechariah) with the third becoming the book of Malachi.
Because of the development of themes in the book of Malachi, most scholars assign it to a position between Haggai and Zechariah, slightly before Nehemiah came to Jerusalem in 445 BC. The book of Malachi was written to correct the lax religious and social behaviour of the Israelites – particularly the priests – in post-exilic Jerusalem. Although the prophets urged the people of Judah and Israel to see their exile as punishment for failing to uphold their covenant with Elohim, it was not long after they had been restored to the land and to Temple worship that the people's commitment to their God began, once again, to wane. It was in this context that the prophet commonly referred to as Malachi delivered his prophecy.
The prophet reproved them for offering polluted sacrifices, for intermarrying with other people and for withholding their tithes from the Lord. These were the same problems that Nehemiah had to address during his rule of Judah. Malachi's prophecy probably encouraged the efforts of Ezra and Nehemiah to bring reform.
The Lord emphasizes his love for Israel at the beginning of the Book of Malachi, but then he challenges the people with a series of questions about their relationship with him. First, he charges the priests with offering illegal sacrifices at the newly rebuilt Temple. The Mosaic law prescribes that only clean animals without blemish be offered as sacrifices and the priests were disobeying (Lev 22:21-22). Second, the Lord rebukes the priests for turning aside from the way and corrupting the covenant of Levi (Mal 2:8). Third, he upbraids the men of Judah for marrying non-Jewish women and blames some for divorcing their Jewish wives in order to marry foreigners (2:11, 14). Intermarriage with other peoples, an act of disobedience to the Law (Deut 7:3), was an important issue in the time of the Restoration under Ezra's spiritual leadership (Ezra 9-10). Malachi then announces the messenger who will prepare the way of the Lord, purify the priests and bring the Lord's judgment against social injustice (Mal 3:1-5). The Gospels recognize John the Baptist as this messenger (see above references and 1:17, 1:76).
In the last section, Malachi announces the Day of the Lord, a day of judgment for evildoers, but a day of healing for those who fear the name of the Lord (Mal 4:1-2). The last couple verses announce that Elijah will come before the day of the Lord (4:5-6). The Gospels again understand John the Baptist to fill this role (Matt 11:14, 17:12; Mark 9:13).
Malachi's message is in harmony with the other prophets, but some of his points may be surprising to us. Most of the sins which the prophet brings up are basically ceremonial: impure sacrifices, intermarriage and tithe avoidance. Yet the Lord views these acts as serious offenses against his covenant relationship with his people. What seems trivial is in fact definitive for Judah's relationship with the Lord, revealing the heart of his people.
Malachi is the last of the prophets before the arrival of John the Baptist. This book concludes the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets and the entire Old Testament canon. It reminds us of God's love for us. It reveals the importance of worshiping him correctly and it causes us to look forward to the "sun of righteousness" who will come with healing in his wings (4:2). While Malachi reproves the people for their sins, his anticipation of the joy of redemption sounds a note of hope at the close of the Old Testament.
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Brief history after 70 AD
In 66 CE, the Jews began to revolt against the Roman rulers of Judea. The revolt was defeated by the future Roman emperors Vespasian and Titus. In the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Romans destroyed much of the Temple in Jerusalem and, according to some accounts, plundered artifacts from the temple, such as the Menorah. After the Jewish-Roman wars (66-135), Hadrian changed the name of Iudaea province to Syria Palaestina and Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina in an attempt to erase the historical ties of the Jewish people to the region. In addition, after 70, Jews and Jewish Proselytes were only allowed to practice their religion if they paid the Jewish tax, and after 135 were barred from Jerusalem except for the day of Tisha B'Av.
This great enterprise in social metaphysics began humbly enough in the aftermath of the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The hereditary priestly families, and the traditional Jewish upper class as a whole, perished in the ruin of the city.
Having lost the Kingdom of Israel, the Jews turned the Torah into a fortress of the mind and spirit, in which they could dwell in safety and even in content.
The Jews survived because the period of intense introspection enabled their intellectual leaders to enlarge the Torah into a system of moral theology and community law of extraordinary coherence, logical consistency and social strength.
The Jews formed themselves into a cathedocracy: they were ruled from the teacher’s chair.This had always been inherent in Judaism—for were not prophets instruments through whom God taught his people? But now it became explicit
The rabbi and the synagogue became the normative institutions of Judaism, which from now on was essentially a congregationalist faith. The academy at Jabneh made the annual calculations of the Jewish calendar. It completed the canonization of the Bible. It ruled that, despite the fall of the Temple, certain ceremonies, such as the solemn eating of the Passover meal, were to be regularly enacted. It established the form of community prayers and laid down rules for fasting and pilgrimage.
The Kitos War (115–117) is the name given to the second of the Jewish–Roman wars. Major revolts by diasporic Jews in Cyrene (Cyrenaica), Cyprus, Mesopotamia and Aegyptus spiraled out of control, resulting in a widespread slaughter of Roman citizens and others (200,000 in Cyrene, 240,000 in Cyprus according to Cassius Dio, but see below) by the Jewish rebels. Jews continued to live in their land in significant numbers after this war. In 131 CE after the governor of Judaea, Tineius Rufus, performed the foundation ceremony of Aelia Capitolina, the projected new name of a refounded Jerusalem. This caused that Julius Severus ravaged Judea while putting down the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–136 CE. The revolt erupted as a result of religious and political tensions in Judaea province. Simon bar Kokhba, the commander of the revolt, was regarded by many Jews as the Messiah, a heroic figure who could restore Israel. Initial rebel victories established an independent state of Israel over parts of Judea for over two years, but a Roman army made up of six full legions with auxiliaries and elements from up to six additional legions finally crushed it. 985 villages were destroyed and most of the Jewish population of central Judaea was essentially wiped out, killed, sold into slavery, or forced to flee. . The rebellion ended with the deaths of a large part the Judaean population and a ban upon the Jewish faith across the Roman Empire, which was lifted in 137, upon Hadrian's death. Many more Jews migrated to Babylon in 135 CE after the Bar Kokhba revolt and in the centuries after. Babylonia (modern day Iraq), where some of the largest and most prominent Jewish cities and communities were established, became the center of Jewish life all the way up to the 13th century. By the first century, Babylonia already held a speadily growing population of and estimated 1,000,000 Jews, which increased to an estimated 2 million.
One of the most important developments in the history of the Jews, one of the ways in which Judaism differed most strongly from primitive Israelite religion, was this growing stress on peace. After 135 AD, in effect, Judaism renounced even righteous violence—as it implicitly renounced the state—and put its trust in peace. From the second century AD onwards, the sectarianism which had been such a feature of the Second Commonwealth virtually disappeared, at any rate to our view, and all the old parties were subsumed in rabbinical Judaism. Torah study remained an arena of fierce argument, but it took place within a consensus sustained by the majority principle. The absence of the state was a huge blessing.
In 313 the Emperor Constantine had become a Christian catechumen and ended state persecution. There followed a brief period of general toleration. From the 340s, however, Christianity began to assume some of the characteristics of a state church.
As a penalty for the first Jewish Revolt, Jews were required to pay a poll tax until the reign of Emperor Julian in 363. In the late Roman Empire, Jews were free to form networks of cultural and religious ties and enter into various local occupations. But, after Christianity became the official religion of Rome and Constantinople in 380, Jews were increasingly marginalized.
Christianity became the norm throughout the Roman empire in the late fourth century and paganism began to disappear. As it did so, the Jews became conspicuous—a large, well-organized, comparatively wealthy minority, well educated and highly religious, rejecting Christianity not out of ignorance but from obstinacy. They became, for Christianity, a ‘problem’, to be ‘solved’. They were unpopular with the mob, which believed that Jews had helped the authorities when the emperors persecuted Christians.
The Greek church, however, inheriting the whole corpus of pagan Hellenistic anti-Semitism, was more emotionally hostile. Early in the fifth century, the leading Greek theologian John Chrysostom (354-407) delivered eight ‘Sermons Against the Jews’ at Antioch, and these became the pattern for anti-Jewish tirades, making the fullest possible use (and misuse) of key passages in the gospels of St Matthew and John. Thus a specifically Christian anti-Semitism, presenting the Jews as murderers of Christ, was grafted on to the seething mass of pagan smears and rumours, and Jewish communities were now at risk in every Christian city.
The size of the Jewish community in the Byzantine Empire was not affected by attempts by some emperors (most notably Justinian) to forcibly convert the Jews of Anatolia to Christianity, as these attempts met with very little success. Under the Justinian code, and subsequent statutes, the Jews of Byzantium, unlike pagans and heretics, enjoyed legal status. In theory at least, Jewish synagogues were legally protected places of worship.
The Byzantines were decisively defeated at the battle of the Yarmuk in 636, and within four years the Moslems occupied all Palestine and most of Syria too. Chalcedonians and Monophysites, Nestorians and Copts, Seleucians and Armenians, Latins and Greeks, Samaritans and Jews, were all collectively submerged beneath the flood of Islam.
In 638 CE the Byzantine Empire lost control of the Levant. The Arab Islamic Empire under Caliph Omar conquered Jerusalem and the lands of Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt. Under the various regimes, the Jews suffered massacres and fled the inland villages toward the coast. They were subsequently induced to return inland after the coastal towns had been destroyed. After the change in control, the Jews still controlled much of the commerce in Palestine. The Jewish presence in Arabia is very ancient. In the south, in what is now Yemen, Jewish trading interests date back to the first century BC, but in the north or Hijaz, it goes back very much further. One Arab historical legend says that Jewish settlement in Medina occurred under King David, and another puts it back to Moses. Babylonian inscriptions discovered in 1956 suggest that Jewish religious communities were introduced into the Hijaz in the sixth century BC, and they may have been there even before
In year 20 of the Muslim era, or the year 641 AD, Muhammad's successor the Caliph 'Umar decreed that Jews and Christians should be removed from all but the southern and eastern fringes of Arabia—a decree based on the (sometimes disputed) uttering of the Prophet: "Let there not be two religions in Arabia". The two populations in question were the Jews of the Khaybar oasis in the north and the Christians of Najran.
Above all, Islam quickly created a theory and practice of forcible conversion, as the Jews had done in the time of Joshua, David and the Hasmoneans, but which rabbinic Judaism had implicitly and conclusively renounced. It spread with astonishing speed, to engulf the Near East, the whole of the southern Mediterranean, Spain and vast areas of Asia. By the early eighth century, the Jewish communities, which still retained precarious footholds in the Greek and Latin worlds, found themselves cocooned in a vast Islamic theocracy, which they had in a sense spawned and renounced, and which now held the key to their very survival. But, by now, they had developed their own life-support system, the Talmud, and its unique formula for self-government—the cathedocracy.
Mohammed waged jihad against the Jews of Medina, beat them, decapitated their menfolk (save one, who converted) in the public square, and divided their women, children, animals and property among his followers. Mohammed, however, sometimes found it politic to make a treaty, or dhimma, with his beaten foes, under which he spared their lives and permitted them to continue to cultivate their oases, provided they gave him half the proceeds. The dhimma eventually took a more sophisticated form, the dhimmi, or one who submitted, receiving the right to his life, the practice of his religion. The status of the dhimmi was always at risk, since the dhimma merely suspended the conqueror’s natural right to kill the conquered and confiscate his property; hence it could be revoked unilaterally whenever the Moslem ruler wished. In theory, then, the status of Jewish dhimmi under Moslem rule was worse than under the Christians, since their right to practise their religion, and even their right to live, might be arbitrarily removed at any time. In practice, however, the Arab warriors who conquered half the civilized world so rapidly in the seventh and eighth centuries had no wish to exterminate literate and industrious Jewish communities who provided them with reliable tax incomes and served them in innumerable ways. Jews, along with Christian dhimmis, constituted a large proportion of the administrative intelligentsia of the vast new Arab territories.
In Iraq, in addition to the great academies, the Jews constituted a wealthy quarter of the new city of Baghdad which the Abbasid dynasty founded in 762 as their capital. The Jews provided court doctors and officials. They learned spoken and written Arabic, first as a demotic trading device, then as a language of scholarship, even sacred commentary. The Jewish masses spoke Arabic, as they had once learned to speak Aramaic, though some knowledge of Hebrew was treasured in almost all Jewish families.Throughout the Arab world, the Jews were traders. From the eighth to the early eleventh century, Islam constituted the main international economy and the Jews supplied one of its chief networks.
Charlemagne's expansion of the Frankish empire around 800, including northern Italy and Rome, brought on a brief period of stability and unity in Francia. This created opportunities for Jewish merchants to settle again north of the Alps. Charlemagne granted the Jews freedoms similar to those once enjoyed under the Roman Empire. In addition, Jews from southern Italy, fleeing religious persecution, began to move into central Europe. Returning to Frankish lands, many Jewish merchants took on occupations in finance and commerce, including money lending, or usury. (Church legislation banned Christians from lending money in exchange for interest.). It is significant, indeed, that whereas the Christians started to produce credal formulations very early in the history of the church, the earliest Jewish creed, listing ten articles of faith, was formulated by Saadiah Gaon (882-942), by which time the Jewish religion was more than 2,500 years old. Not until much later did Maimonides’ thirteen articles become a definitive statement of faith, and there is no evidence it was ever actually discussed and endorsed by any authoritative body.
From the eighth to the eleventh centuries, however, the most successful area of Jewish settlement was Spain. Jewish communities had prospered here under the Roman empire and to some extent under the Byzantine rule, but under the Visigoth kings a church-state policy of systematic anti-Semitism was pursued. Throughout the seventh century, Jews were flogged, executed, had their property confiscated, were subjected to ruinous taxes, forbidden to trade and, at times, dragged to the baptismal font. Hence when the Moslems invaded Spain in 711, the Jews helped them to overrun it, often garrisoning captured cities behind the advancing Arab armies. This happened in Córdoba, Granada, Toledo and Seville, where large and wealthy Jewish communities were soon established.
The primitive Berber Moslems took Córdoba in 1013. The Ummayids disappeared. Prominent Jews were assassinated. At Granada there was a general massacre of Jews. In the closing decades of the eleventh century, another Berber dynasty, the Almoravids, became dominant in southern Spain. They were violent and unpredictable. They threatened the large and rich Jewish community of Lucena with forcible conversion, then settled for a huge ransom. But from this time onwards, Jews were sometimes safer in Spain under Christian rulers. It was the same story in Asia Minor, where the Byzantines might offer Jewish communities more security than they could find as dhimmis. Early in the twelfth century a new wave of Moslem fundamentalism arose in the Atlas Mountains, creating a dynasty of zealots, the Almohads. Jews too were given a choice between conversion and death. The Almohads carried their fanaticism into Spain from the year 1146. Synagogues and yeshivot were shut down.
Many Jews fled north into Christian territory. Others moved into Africa in search of more tolerant Moslem rulers. Among the refugees was a young and brilliant scholar called Moses ben Maimon, better known as Maimonides. He was born in Córdoba on 30 March 1135, the son of a scholar. When the Almohads took the city he was just thirteen, a prodigy already possessed of astonishing.
During the Middle Ages, due to increasing geographical dispersion and re-settlement, Jews divided into distinct regional groups which today are generally addressed according to two primary geographical groupings: the Ashkenazi of Northern and Eastern Europe and Sephardic Jews of Iberia (Spain and Portugal), North Africa and the Middle East.
Maimonides (1135 - 1204) was a preeminent medieval Spanish, Sephardic Jewish philosopher and one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars and physicians. of the Middle Ages. He was born in Córdoba in 1135 and died in Egypt. Maimonides was also one of the most influential figures in medieval Jewish philosophy. His brilliant adaptation of Aristotelian thought to Biblical faith deeply impressed later Jewish thinkers, and had an unexpected immediate historical impact. Maimonides strove to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy and science with the teachings of the Torah. He was part of the great twelfth-century pre-Renaissance which marked the first real emergence from the Dark Ages and which affected Jewry as well as the Arabic world and Christian Europe. He was cosmopolitan. He wrote in Arabic but he was familiar with other tongues and usually answered his correspondents in their own language.
Maimonides wrote on theodicy (the philosophical attempt to reconcile the existence of a God with the existence of evil). To justify the existence of evil, assuming God is both omnipotent and good, Maimonides postulates that one who created something by causing its opposite not to exist is not the same as creating something that exists; so evil is merely the absence of good. God did not create evil, rather God created good, and evil exists where good is absent (Guide 3;10). Therefore all good is divine invention, and evil both is not and comes secondarily. Maimonides believes that there are three types of evil in the world: evil caused by nature, evil that people bring upon others, and evil man brings upon himself (Guide 3;12). The first type of evil Maimonides states is the rarest form, but arguably of the most necessary—the balance of life and death in both the human and animal worlds itself, he recognizes, is essential to God's plan. Maimonides writes that the second type of evil is relatively rare, and that humanity brings it upon itself. The third type of evil humans bring upon themselves and is the source of most of the ills of the world. These are the result of people falling victim to their physical desires. To prevent the majority of evil which stems from harm we do to ourselves, we must learn how to ignore our bodily urges.
Maimonides answered an inquiry concerning astrology, addressed to him from Marseille. He responded that man should believe only what can be supported either by rational proof, by the evidence of the senses, or by trustworthy authority. He affirms that he had studied astrology, and that it does not deserve to be described as a science. He ridicules the concept that the fate of a man could be dependent upon the constellations; he argues that such a theory would rob life of purpose, and would make man a slave of destiny.
The rationalism for which Maimonides stood was, in part, a reaction to the growth of esoteric literature and its penetration of Jewish intellectual life. And rationalism did have some effect. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries it forced the leading mystics, at any rate those with a claim to intellectual respectability, to refine their literature and corpus of belief, purge it of its magical dross and the gnostic clutter of centuries, and turn it into a coherent system. The higher kabbalah, as we might call it, began to emerge in Provençal France in the second half of the twelfth century.
All creation was, and is, a mere linguistic development, the materialization of divine speech. Mystical kabbalah spread south across the Pyrenees to Gerona, Burgos and Toledo. Its standing was immeasurably improved by the patronage of the great rabbi Moses ben Nahman, known as Nahmanides or Ramban (1194-1270), who became a convert to the system in youth and later rose to be the leading judicial authority in Spain.Nahmanides produced at least fifty works.
Religious Jews believed in immortality in a spiritual sense, and most believed that the future would include a messianic era and a resurrection of the dead. This is the subject of Jewish eschatology. Maimonides wrote much on this topic, but in most cases he wrote about the immortality of the soul for people of perfected intellect; his writings were usually not about the resurrection of dead bodies. Rabbis of his day were critical of this aspect of this thought, and there was controversy over his true views. Some Jews at this time taught that Judaism did not require a belief in the physical resurrection of the dead, as the afterlife would be a purely spiritual realm. They used Maimonides's works on this subject to back up their position. In return, their opponents claimed that this was outright heresy; for them the afterlife was here on Earth, where God would raise dead bodies from the grave so that the resurrected could live eternally. Maimonides asserts that belief in resurrection is a fundamental truth of Judaism about which there is no disagreement, and that it is not permissible for a Jew to support anyone who believes differently. He cites Daniel 12:2 and 12:13 as definitive proofs of physical resurrection of the dead when they state "many of them that sleep in the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence" and "But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days."
Maimonides remains one of the most widely debated Jewish thinkers among modern scholars.
The original hirteen-point formulation, given in Maimonides’ commentary on the Tenth Chapter of the Mishnah, on the Tractate Sanhedrin, lists the following articles of faith:
The existence of God.
God's unity and indivisibility into elements.
God's spirituality and incorporeality.
God's eternity and pre-existence
God alone should be the object of worship without intermediary
Belief in the revelation through God's prophets.
The preeminence and uniqueness of Moses among the prophets.
The Torah that we have today is the one dictated to Moses by God.
The Torah given by Moses will not be replaced and that nothing may be added or removed from it.
God's omniscient and awareness of human actions.
Reward of good and punishment of evil.
The coming of the Jewish Messiah.
The resurrection of the dead.
This credo, reformulated as the Ani Ma’amin (‘I believe’), is printed in the Jewish prayer-book.
The Jews became an element in a vicious circle. The Christians, on the basis of the Biblical rulings, condemned interest-taking absolutely, and from 1179 those who practised it were excommunicated. But the Christians also imposed the harshest financial burdens on the Jews. The Jews reacted by engaging in the one business where Christian laws actually discriminated in their favour, and so became identified with the hated trade of moneylending. Rabbi Joseph Colon, who knew both France and Italy in the second half of the fifteenth century, wrote that the Jews of both countries hardly engaged in any other profession.
Always, in the background, there was the menace of anti-Semitism. It is described in the genizah documents by the word sinuth, hatred. The worst actual persecution occurred under the fanatical or mad Fatimid caliph al-Hakim, early in the eleventh century, who turned first on the Christians, then on the Jews. Another zealot-ruler was Saladin’s nephew al-Malik, who called himself caliph of the Yemen (1196-1201); a letter of August 1198 from the Yemen relates how the Jews were summoned to the ruler’s audience-hall and forcibly converted: ‘Thus all apostacized. Some of the pious, who [then] defected from Islam, were beheaded.’ Parts of Islam were much worse than others for Jews. Morocco was fanatical. So was northern Syria. Anti-dhimmi regulations, such as sumptuary laws, were often strictly enforced to gouge a financial settlement out of the Jewish community.
With the onset of the Crusades, and the expulsions from England (1290), France (1394), and parts of Germany (15th century), Jewish migration pushed eastward into Poland (10th century), Lithuania(10th century), and Russia(12th century). By the 15th century, the Ashkenazi Jewish communities in Poland were the largest Jewish communities of the Diaspora. This area, which eventually fell under the domination of Russia, Austria, and Prussia (Germany), would remain the main center of Ashkenazi Jewry until the Holocaust.
Jews lived in medieval Spain longer than they had in any other country in the world, including Israel ... approximately twelve centuries of continuous Jewish presence ... Second, more Jews lived in medieval Spain than in all the other countries of Europe combined ... Most indeed, were rural rather than urban dwellers. This could be possible only in a situation where Christians generally were not only tolerant but friendly towards Jews, and where Jews felt entirely safe in living, sometimes only two or three families, in a remote Christian village -- Norman Roth, Conversos, Inquisition, and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain
In the early Middle Ages, and even as late as the early fourteenth century, Spain was the safest Latin territory for Jews. For a long time it was a place where Jews and Christians were more likely to meet in debate than come to blows. In Spain, at any rate for a time, the debates were more genuine and covered a wide area. It was the Spanish, or rather King James I of Aragon, who staged by far the best of the debates, at Barcelona on 20-31 July 1263. The idea again came from an ex-Jew, Pablo Christiani (many Jewish converts chose the name Paul). The Jews had a sole spokesman, but the best: Nahmanides, learned, fluent, well-born, self-confident. He agreed to come to Barcelona to take part because he knew King James, who employed many Jews as officials, was well-disposed and anyway guaranteed him complete liberty of speech. The Disputation of Barcelona was regarding: 1. whether the Messiah had appeared or not 2. whether, according to Scripture, the Messiah is a divine or a human being 3. whether the Jews or the Christians held the true faith.
The Christian version shows Nahmanides caught in inconsistencies, defeated in argument, reduced to silence and finally fleeing in disorder. Nahmanides’ own account is clearer and much better presented. The Christian attack was designed to show, from aggadic and homiletical passages in the Talmud, that the Messiah had indeed appeared, that he was both human and divine and had died to save mankind, and that in consequence Judaism had lost its raison d’être. Nahmanides replied by contesting the meaning attributed to these passages, denying that Jews were obliged to accept the aggadah and insisting that the doctrine of the Messiah was not of paramount importance for Jews. The reason given by him for this bold statement was that it was more meritorious for the Jews to observe the precepts under a Christian ruler, while in exile and suffering humiliation and abuse, than under the rule of the Messiah, when every one would perforce act in accordance with the Law. He also counterattacked by arguing that the belief in Jesus had proved disastrous. Rome, once master of the world, had declined the moment it accepted Christianity ‘and now the followers of Mohammed have greater territories than they’. Moreover, he added, ‘from the time of Jesus until the present the world has been filled with violence and injustice, and the Christians have shed more blood than all other peoples’. The Messiah is also about bringing peace in the world. If there is no peace in the world now it must mean that the Messiah did not come. On the Incarnation, he said: ‘The doctrine in which you believe, the foundation of your faith, cannot be accepted by reason, nature affords no grounds for it, nor have the prophets ever expressed it.’ He told the king that only lifelong indoctrination could persuade a rational person that God was born from a human womb, lived on earth, was executed and then ‘returned to his original place’.
The Dominicans who have sent Pablo, nevertheless, claimed the victory, and Nahmanides felt obligated to publish the text of the debates. From this publication Pablo selected certain passages which he construed as blasphemies against Christianity. Nahmanides admitted that he had stated many things against Christianity, but he had written nothing which he had not used in his disputation in the presence of the King, who had granted him freedom of speech. The justness of his defense was recognized by the King and the commission, but to satisfy the Dominicans, Nahmanides was sentenced to exile for two years and his pamphlet was condemned to be burned.
Some Jewish scholars have argued that Nahmanides’ version is a work of propaganda, and disingenuous too, since in his own writings he placed much more weight on aggadic interpretations than he admitted in the debate.
In Nahmanides’ day the Jews in Spain could still with reason regard themselves as the intellectually superior community. Their skills were still extremely useful, if not quite indispensable, to Christian rulers. But the Christians were catching up fast, and by the end of the thirteenth century they had absorbed Aristotelianism themselves, had written their own summae, and in trade and administration were a match for anything the Jews could provide.
After the Black Death disturbances, the whole position of the Jews in Spain began to deteriorate quite rapidly, as the blood libels and other anti-Semitic tales got a grip on the people. In Seville, for instance, there were anti-Semitic riots in 1378 and a positive explosion in 1391. Many were forced to convert to Christianity to save their lives. The laws in 14th and 15th century Spain became increasingly oppressive toward practicing Jews, and conversion was provded as an alternative. Large numbers of middle class Jews outwardly adopting Christianity to avoid the laws, while secretly practicing Judaism.
When they Jews became converts "conversos" or as the populace called them "marranos", a term of abuse derived from the Spanish word for ‘swine’, they became a hidden danger. Spanish townsfolk knew that many, perhaps most, of the converts were reluctant. They ceased formally to be Jews from fear, or to gain advantage. As Jews they suffered from severe legal disabilities. As conversos they had the same economic rights, in theory, as other Christians. A marrano was thus much more unpopular than a practising Jew because he was an interloper in trade and craft, an economic threat; and, since he was probably a secret Jew, he was a hypocrite and a hidden subversive too.
One Franciscan fanatic, Alfonso de Espina, a converso himself, or the son of one, compiled a volume, Fortalitium Fidei, listing (among other things), twenty-five ‘transgressions’ by which treacherous conversos could be identified. These included not only secret Jewish practices but, perhaps more easily noted, evidence of bad Christianity: avoiding the sacraments, working on Sundays, avoiding making the sign of the cross, never mentioning Jesus or Mary, or perfunctory attendance at mass.
Segregation was decreed by the Cortes at Toledo in 1480. At the same time a special Spanish inquisition was being created. The first inquisitors, including the vicar-general of the Dominicans, were appointed to operate a central inquiry for Andalucia, run from Seville.
On 31 March 1492 Spain signed an Edict of Expulsion, promulgated a month later, physically driving from Spain any Jew who would not accept immediate conversion. There were then about 200,000 Jews still in the kingdom. It is an indication of the demoralized state of the Jewish community, and also of the attachment Jews nevertheless felt for Spain, the country where they had enjoyed most comfort and security in the past, that very large numbers, including the senior rabbi and most of the leading families, chose to be baptized. About 100,000 trudged across the frontier into Portugal, from which in turn they were expelled four years later. About 50,000 went across the straits into North Africa, or by ship to Turkey. By the end of July 1492 the expulsion was an accomplished fact. The destruction of Spanish Jewry was the most momentous event in Jewish history since the mid-second century AD. There had been Jews in Spain from early classical times, perhaps even since Solomon’s day, and the community had developed marked characteristics. In the Dark and early Middle Ages, dispersed Jews tended to fall into two main groups: those in touch with the Babylonian academies and those linked to Palestine. There were two such communities, each with its synagogue, in Maimonides’ Fustat (and a third synagogue for the Karaites). From the fourteenth century, however, it is more accurate to speak of Spanish or Sephardi Jews—the term is a corruption of an old name for Spain—and Ashkenazi or German Jews radiating from the Rhineland. The Sephardis created their own Judaeo- Spanish language, Ladino or Judezmo, once written in rabbinic cursive script, as opposed to the modern (originally Ashkenazi) Hebrew cursive.
The Spanish expulsions were preceded by many in Germany and Italy. Jews were expelled from Vienna and Linz in 1421, from Cologne in 1424, Augsburg in 1439, Bavaria in 1442 (and again in 1450) and from the crown cities of Moravia in 1454. They were thrown out of Perugia in 1485, Vicenza in 1486, Parma in 1488, Milan and Lucca in 1489 and, with the fall of the philosemitic Medicis, from Florence and all Tuscany in 1494. By the end of the decade they had been turned out of the Kingdom of Navarre too. One expulsion provoked another, as refugees streamed into cities which already housed more Jews than their rulers now wanted. In Italy their only function at the end of the fifteenth century was pawnbroking and making small loans to the poor. Even in backward Rome the role of the Jewish bankers was declining.149 Christian bankers and craftsmen got the Jews banned as soon as their guilds were powerful enough. In Italy, in Provence and in Germany, the Jews had been virtually eliminated from large-scale trade and industry by the year 1500. So they moved into the less developed territories further east—first into Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, then on into Poland, to Warsaw and Cracow, Lwov, Brest-Litovsk and into Lithuania. The demographic axis of Ashkenazi Jewry shifted itself several hundred miles into east-central and eastern Europe. There was trouble here, too—there were anti-Jewish riots in Poland in 1348-9, in 1407 and in 1494; they were expelled from both Cracow and Lithuania the following year. All these movements and expulsions were interlinked. But because the Jews were needed more in the east, they managed to cling on; by the year 1500 Poland was regarded as the safest country in Europe for Jews, and it soon became the Ashkenazi heartland.
Nevertheless the medieval sculptor did not deal in anti-Semitic themes; he never portrayed the Jew as a usurer, a diabolical creature who poisoned wells, murdered Christian youth or tortured the host.
Marthin Luther attacked them for their obstinacy (1526), then in 1543 turned on them in fury. His pamphlet Von den Juden und ihren Lügen (‘On the Jews and their Lies’), published in Wittenberg, may be termed the first work of modern anti-Semitism, and a giant step forward on the road to the Holocaust. ‘First’, he urged, ‘their synagogues should be set on fire, and whatever is left should be buried in dirt so that no one may ever be able to see a stone or cinder of it.’ Jewish prayer-books should be destroyed and rabbis forbidden to preach. Then the Jewish people should be dealt with, their homes ‘smashed and destroyed’ and their inmates ‘put under one roof or in a stable like gypsies, to teach them they are not master in our land’. Jews should be banned from the roads and markets, their property seized and then these ‘poisonous envenomed worms’ should be drafted into forced labour and made to earn their bread ‘by the sweat of their noses’. In the last resort they should be simply kicked out ‘for all time’.23 In his tirade against Jews, Luther concentrated on their role as moneylenders and insisted that their wealth did not belong to them since it had been ‘extorted usuriously from us’.
Luther was not content with verbal
abuse. Even before he wrote his anti-Semitic pamphlet, he got Jews expelled
from Saxony in 1537, and in the 1540s he drove them from many German towns; he
tried unsuccessfully to get the elector to expel them from Brandenburg in 1543.
His followers continued to agitate against Jews there: they sacked the Berlin
synagogue in 1572 and the following year finally got their way, the Jews being
banned from the entire country. Jean Calvin, on the other hand, was more well
disposed towards Jews.
To the East, the Jews had been active in the Russian border territories, especially on the shores of the Black Sea, since Hellenistic times at least. Indeed, legends connect the arrival of Jews in Armenia and Georgia with the Ten Lost Tribes of the despoiled northern kingdom of Israel. In the first half of the eighth century, the Kingdom of the Khazars had been converted to Judaism. From early medieval times Jews had been active over a vast swathe of territory in southern Euro-Asia, both as traders and as proselytizers. In the 1470s, in the rapidly expanding Principality of Moscow, Jewish activities brought into existence a semi-secret sect which the authorities termed the Judaizers, and ferocious efforts were made to stamp it out. Tsar Ivan IV Vasilievich, ‘Ivan the Terrible’ (1530-84), ordered Jews who refused to embrace Christianity to be drowned, and Jews were officially excluded from Russian territory until the partition of Poland in the late eighteenth century.
To the East, the Jews had been active in the Russian border territories, especially on the shores of the Black Sea, since Hellenistic times at least. Indeed, legends connect the arrival of Jews in Armenia and Georgia with the Ten Lost Tribes of the despoiled northern kingdom of Israel. In the first half of the eighth century, the Kingdom of the Khazars had been converted to Judaism. From early medieval times Jews had been active over a vast swathe of territory in southern Euro-Asia, both as traders and as proselytizers. In the 1470s, in the rapidly expanding Principality of Moscow, Jewish activities brought into existence a semi-secret sect which the authorities termed the Judaizers, and ferocious efforts were made to stamp it out. Tsar Ivan IV Vasilievich, ‘Ivan the Terrible’ (1530-84), ordered Jews who refused to embrace Christianity to be drowned, and Jews were officially excluded from Russian territory until the partition of Poland in the late eighteenth century.
The Habsburg Emperor Maximilian II
allowed the Jews to return to Bohemia and in 1577 his successor, Rudolph II,
gave them a charter of privileges. The old Jewish community of Vienna was
reconstituted and in Prague, where Rudolph had set up his court, there were
3,000 Jews by the end of the century.
Jewish skill in raising and
deploying huge sums of cash played a decisive role in two of the greatest
military confrontations of the second half of the seventeenth century: the
Habsburgs’ successful resistance to the advance of Turkey into Europe and their
subsequent counter-offensive; and the great coalition which halted Louis XIV’s
attempt to dominate the Continent. Samuel Oppenheimer (1630-1703) played the
leading role in both.
The most stupendous piece of magic
was the creation of a golem, an
artificial man into which a ba’al shem, or Master of the Name, could breathe
life by pronouncing one of the secret divine names according to a special
formula. The idea derives from the creation story of Adam, but the actual word
occurs only once in the Bible, in a mysterious passage in the Psalms.58
However, talmudic legends accumulated around the golem. Jeremiah was said to
have made one. Another was made by Ben Sira. From the fifteenth to the
seventeenth centuries the notion gathered force, so that the ability to make a
golem was attributed to any man of outstanding sanctity and kabbalistic knowledge. The golem was
brought to life to perform a variety of tasks, including defending Jews from their
gentile enemies.
An Austrian law of 1787 compelled
Jews to adopt German-sounding first and family names. While Sephardi Jews had
long since adopted the Spanish practice of family names, the Ashkenazis had
been very conservative, still following the antique custom of using their
personal, plus father’s personal, name, and in the Hebrew-Yiddish form—Yaakov
ben Yitzhak, for example. Hebrew-sounding names were now usually forbidden and
the bureaucrats produced lists of ‘acceptable’ names. Bribes were necessary to
secure ‘nice’ family names, derived from flowers or precious stones:
Lilienthal, Edelstein, Diamant, Saphir, Rosenthal. Two very expensive names
were Kluger (wise) and Fröhlich (happy). Most Jews were brutally lumped by
bored officials into four categories and named accordingly: Weiss (white), Schwartz
(black), Gross (big) and Klein (little). Many poorer Jews had unpleasant names
foisted on them by malignant clerks: Glagenstrick (gallow’s rope), Eselkopf (donkey’s
head),
The events of 1947-8, which
established Israel, also created the Arab-Israeli problem, which endures to
this day. It has two main aspects, refugees and frontiers, best considered
separately. According to UN figures, 656,000 Arab inhabitants of mandatory
Palestine fled from Israeli-held territory: 280,000 to the West Bank of the
Jordan, 70,000 to Transjordan, 100,000 to Lebanon, 4,000 to Iraq, 75,000 to
Syria, 7,000 to Egypt, and 190,000 to the Gaza Strip (the Israelis put the
total figure rather lower, 550,000-600,000). They left for four reasons: to
avoid being killed in the fighting, because the administration had broken down,
because they were ordered to or misled or panicked by Arab radio broadcasts,
etc.
Of the estimated 8.8 million Jews living in Europe at the beginning of World War II, the majority of whom were Ashkenazi, about 6 million – more than two-thirds – were systematically murdered in the Holocaust. These included 3 million of 3.3 million Polish Jews (91%); 900,000 of 1.5 million in Ukraine (60%); and 50–90% of the Jews of other Slavic nations, Germany, Hungary, and the Baltic states, and over 25% of the Jews in France. Sephardi communities suffered similar depletions in a few countries, including Greece, the Netherlands and the former Yugoslavia. As the large majority of the victims were Ashkenazi Jews, their percentage dropped from nearly 92% of world Jewry in 1931 to nearly 80% of world Jewry today.
People of Ashkenazi descent constitute around 47.5% of Israeli Jews (and therefore 35–36% of Israelis).During the first decades of Israel as a state, strong cultural conflict occurred between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews (mainly east European Ashkenazim). The roots of this conflict, which still exists to a much smaller extent in present day Israeli society, are chiefly attributed to the concept of the "melting pot".
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Briet notes about Assyria and Babylon
Assyria
Assyria, a major Mesopotamian East Semitic-speaking kingdom and empire of the ancient Near East, existed as an independent state from perhaps as early as the 25th century BC, until its collapse between 612 BC and 599 BC, spanning the mid to Early Bronze Age through to the late Iron Age.
The cities of Assur and Nineveh, together with a number of other towns and cities, existed since at least before the middle of the 3rd millennium BC (c. 2600 BC), although they appear to have been Sumerian-ruled administrative centres at this time, rather than independent states.
Greco-Roman classical writers such as Julius Africanus, Marcus Velleius Paterculus and Diodorus Siculus dated the founding of Assyria to various dates between 2284 BC and 2057 BC, listing the earliest king as Belus or Ninus.
Assyria became a regionally powerful nation in the Old Assyrian Empire from the late 21st century to the mid 18th century BC. Following this, it found itself under short periods of Babylonian and Mitanni-Hurrian rule in the 18th and 15th centuries BC respectively. From the mid 18th century BC, Assyria came into conflict with the newly created city state of Babylon, which eventually eclipsed the far older Sumero-Akkadian states and cities in the south.
Assyria found itself under short periods of Babylonian and Mitanni-Hurrian rule in the 18th and 15th centuries BC respectively. The emergence of the Mitanni Empire in the 16th century BC did eventually lead to a short period of sporadic Mitannian-Hurrian domination in the latter half of the 15th century.
The Middle Assyrian kingdom was well organized, and in the firm control of the king, who also functioned as the high priest of Ashur, the state god. He had certain obligations to fulfill in the cult, and had to provide resources for the temples. The priesthood became a major power in Assyrian society.
The main Assyrian cities of the middle period were Ashur, Kalhu (Nimrud) and Nineveh, all situated in the Tigris River valley. At the end of the Bronze Age, Nineveh was much smaller than Babylon, but still one of the world's major cities (population c. 33,000). By the end of the Neo-Assyrian period, it had grown to a population of 120,000, and was possibly the largest city in the world at that time.
All free male citizens were obliged to serve in the army for a time, a system which was called the ilku-service. A legal code was produced during the 14th and 13th centuries which, among other things, clearly shows that the social position of women in Assyria was lower than that of neighboring societies. Men were permitted to divorce their wives with no compensation paid to the latter. If a woman committed adultery, she could be beaten or put to death. It's not certain if these laws were seriously enforced, but they appear to be a backlash against some older documents that granted things like equal compensation to both partners in divorce. The women of the king's harem and their servants were also subject to harsh punishments, such as beatings, mutilation, and death. Assyria, in general, had much harsher laws than most of the region. Executions were not uncommon, nor were whippings followed by forced labor. Some offenses allowed the accused a trial under torture/duress. One tablet that covers property rights has brutal penalties for violators. A creditor could force debtors to work for him, but not sell them.
Trade was carried out in all directions. The mountain country to the north and west of Assyria was a major source of metal ore, as well as lumber. Economic factors were a common casus belli.
Assyria was open to homosexual relationships between men. In the Middle Assyrian Laws, sex crimes were punished identically whether they were homosexual or heterosexual. An individual with a higher social class faced no punishment for penetrating someone of a lower social class, or whose gender roles were not considered solidly masculine. However, homosexual relationships between social equals, or those where a social better was submissive or penetrated, were treated as rape. Omen texts referred to male homosexual acts without moral judgement or affirmation. One historian notes that the laws would not be so detailed "if homosexual behavior were not a familiar aspect of daily life of early Mesopotamia."
Upon the death of Ashur-bel-kala in 1056 BC, Assyria went into a comparative decline for the next 100 or so years. The empire shrank significantly, and by 1020 BC Assyria appears to have controlled only areas close to Assyria itself, essential to keeping trade routes open in eastern Aramea, south eastern Asia Minor, central Mesopotamia and north western Iran.
Despite the apparent weakness of Assyria in comparison to its former might, at heart it in fact remained a solid, well defended nation whose warriors were the best in the world. Assyria, with its stable monarchy, powerful army and secure borders was in a stronger position during this time than potential rivals such as Egypt, Babylonia, Elam, Phrygia, Urartu, Persia and Media.
Beginning with the campaigns of Adad-nirari II from 911 BC, it again became a great power over the next three centuries, overthrowing the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt and conquering Egypt, driving the Ethiopians, Kushites and Nubians from Egypt.
The Neo-Assyrian Empire is usually considered to have begun with the accession of Adad-nirari II, in 911 BC, lasting until the fall of Nineveh at the hands of the Babylonians, Chaldeans, Medes/Persians, Scythians and Cimmerians in 612 BC
Tiring of Egyptian interference in the Assyrian Empire, Esarhaddon decided to conquer Egypt. In 671 BC crossed the Sinai Desert, and invaded and took Egypt with surprising ease and speed, driving its foreign Nubian/Kushite and Ethiopian rulers out and destroying the Kushite Empire in the process.
Shalmaneser V died suddenly in 722 BC, while laying siege to Samaria, and the throne was seized by Sargon II, the Turtanu (commander-in-chief of the army, which the Old Testament refers to as Tartan), who then quickly took Samaria, effectively ending the northern Kingdom of Israel and carrying 27,000 people away into captivity into the Israelite diaspora.
Under Ashurbanipal (669-627 BC), Assyrian domination spanned from the Caucasus Mountains (modern Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan) in the north to Nubia, Egypt, Libya and Arabia in the south, and from the East Mediterranean, Cyprus and Antioch in the west to Persia and the Caspian Sea in the east.
The Assyrian Empire was severely crippled following the death of Ashurbanipal in 627 BC
By 599 BC at the very latest, Assyria had been destroyed as an independent political entity, although it was to launch major rebellions against the Achaemenid Empire in 546 BC and 520 BC, and remained a geo-political region, ethnic entity and colonised province until the late 7th century AD, with small Assyrian states emerging in the region between the 2nd century BC and 4th century AD.-the nation and its empire descending into a prolonged and brutal series of civil wars involving three rival kings, Ashur-etil-ilani, Sin-shumu-lishir and Sin-shar-ishkun. Egypt's 26th Dynasty, which had been installed by the Assyrians as vassals, quietly detached itself from Assyria, although it was careful to retain friendly relations.
It was in 5th century BC Assyria that the Syriac language and Syriac script evolved. Five centuries later these were later to have a global influence as the liturgical language and written script for Syriac Christianity and its accompanying Syriac literature which also emerged in Assyria before spreading throughout the Near East, Asia Minor, The Caucasus, Central Asia, the Indian Subcontinent and China.
In 332 BC, Assyria fell to Alexander the Great, the Macedonian Emperor from Greece, who called the inhabitants Assyrioi. The Macedonian Empire (332-312) was partitioned in 312 BC. It thereafter became part of the Seleucid Empire (312 BC). It is from this period that the later Syria Vs Assyria naming controversy arises, the Seleucids applied the name not only to Assyria itself, but also to the Levantine lands to the west (historically known as Aram and Eber Nari), which had been part of the Assyrian empire but, the north east corner aside, never a part of Assyria proper.
Majority mainstream scholarly opinion now strongly supports the already dominant position that 'Syrian' and Syriac indeed derived from 'Assyrian', and the 21st Century discovery of the Çineköy inscription seems to clearly confirm that Syria is ultimately derived from the Assyrian term Ašš?r?yu.
When the Seleucids lost control of Assyria proper, the name Syria survived but was erroneously applied only to the land of Aramea (also known as Eber Nari) to the west that had once been part of the Assyrian empire, but apart from the north eastern corner, had never been a part of Assyria itself, nor inhabited by Assyrians. This was to lead to both the Assyrians from Northern Mesopotamia and the Arameans and Phoenicians from the Levant being collectively dubbed Syrians (and later also Syriacs) in Greco-Roman and later European culture, regardless of ethnicity, history or geography.
During Seleucid rule, Assyrians ceased to hold the senior military, economic and civil positions they had enjoyed under the Achaemenids, being largely replaced by Greeks. The Greek language also replaced Mesopotamian East Aramaic as the lingua franca of the empire, although this did not affect the Assyrian population themselves, who were not Hellenised during the Seleucid era.
Christianity arrived in Assyria soon after the death of Christ and the Assyrians began to gradually convert to Christianity from the ancient Mesopotamian religion during the period between the early first and third centuries. Assyria became an important centre of Syriac Christianity and Syriac Literature, with the Assyrian Church of the East evolving in Assyria, and the Syriac Orthodox Church partly also, indeed Osroene became the first independent Christian state in history
After the Roman empire conquered the region of Assyria in the 200s Christianity spread, and many of the ethnically Assyrian churches that exist today are among the oldest in the world. For example, the Syriac Orthodox Church is purported to of been founded by St Peter himself in 67 AD.
Nevertheless, although predominantly Christian, a minority of Assyrians still held onto their ancient Mesopotamian religion until as late as the 10th or 11th century AD. The Assyrians lived in a province known as Asuristan, and the region was on the frontier of the Byzantine and Sassanian empires.
After the early Islamic conquests in the seventh century, Assyria was dissolved as a political entity, although the native population still regarded the region as Assyria. Under Arab rule, Mesopotamia as a whole underwent a gradual process of Arabisation and Islamification, and the region saw a large influx of non indigenous Arabs, Kurds, Iranian, and Turkic peoples. The indigenous Assyrian population of northern Mesopotamia resisted this process, retaining their language, religion, culture and identity.
Under the Arab Islamic empires, the Christian Assyrians were classed as dhimmis, second-class citizens that had certain restrictions imposed upon them. Dhimmis were excluded from specific duties and occupations reserved for Muslims, did not enjoy the same political rights as Muslims, their word was not equal to that of a Muslim in legal and civil matters without a Muslim witness, they were subject to payment of a special tax (jizyah) and they were banned from spreading their religion further in Muslim ruled lands.
The Assyrian Church structure thrived during the period of 600- 1300, and is regarded as a golden age for Assyrians.
The first signs of trouble for the Assyrians started in the 13th century, When the Mongols first invaded the Near East after the fall of Baghdad in 1258 to Hulagu Khan. Assyrians at first did very well under Mongol rule, as the Shamanist Mongols were sympathetic to them, with Assyrian priests having traveled to Mongolia centuries before. The Mongols in fact spent most of their time oppressing Muslims and Jews, outlawing the practice of circumcision and halal butchery, as they found them repulsive and violent
However, the Mongol rulers in the Near East eventually converted to Islam, and then sustained persecutions of Christians throughout the entirety of the Ilkhanate began in earnest in 1295 under the rule of Oïrat amir Nauruz, which affected the indigenous Assyrian Christians greatly.
Regardless of these hardships, the Assyrian people remained numerically dominant in the north of Mesopotamia as late as the 14th century AD, and the city of Assur functioned as their religious and cultural capital. However, in the mid-14th century the Muslim Turk ruler Tamurlane conducted a religiously motivated massacre of the indigenous Assyrian Christians, and worked tirelessly to destroy the vast Assyrian Church structure established throughout the Far East, destroying the entire structure of the church with the exception of the St Thomas Christians of the Malabar Coast in India, whom number 10 million or so in modern times.
After Timurs campaign, The Assyrian Cultural and religious capital of Assur was completely destroyed, thousands of Assyrians were massacred, the vast church structure of the Assyrian Church of the East was decimated, and the Assyrian population was from that point on reduced to a small minority living within Muslim dominated lands.
During 1500-1780 the Assyrian Church suffered diverse splits, for instance a faction within the Assyrian Church entered into communion with Rome and was was renamed the "Chaldean Catholic Church" in 1683.
In addition to the Eastern Rite Churches, The Syriac Orthodox Church also has a large number of ethnically Assyrian Adherents, who are known as Syriacs. The Syriac Orthodox Church has 5 million adherents across the globe, mostly in India, but is based in Damascus.
After these splits, the Assyrians suffered a number of religiously and ethnically motivated massacres throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, culminating in the large scale Hamidian massacres of unarmed men, women and children by Turks and Kurds in the 1890s at the hands of the Ottoman Empire and its associated (largely Kurdish and Arab) militias, which greatly reduced their numbers, particularly in southeastern Turkey.
The Assyrians suffered a further catastrophic series of events during World War I in the form of the religiously and ethnically motivated Assyrian Genocide at the hands of the Ottomans and their Kurdish and Arab allies from 1915 to 1918. Some sources claim the highest number of Assyrians killed during the period was 750,000, while a 1922 Assyrian assessment set it at 275,000. The Assyrian Genocide ran largely in conjunction to the similarly motivated Armenian Genocide and Greek Genocide.
The sizable Assyrian presence in south eastern Anatolia which had endured for over four millennia was thus reduced to no more than 15,000 by the end of World War I, and by 1924 those who remained were expelled, with many leaving and later founding villages in the Sapna and Nahla valleys in the Dohuk Governorate of Iraqi Kurdistan.
After Iraq was granted independence by the British in 1933, the Assyrians suffered the Simele Massacre, where thousands of unarmed villagers (men, women and children) were slaughtered by joint Arab-Kurdish forces of the Iraqi Army. 7 August officially became known as Martyrs Day or National Day of Mourning by the Assyrian community in memory for the Simele massacre, as it was declared so by the Assyrian Universal Alliance in 1970.
The massacres also had a deep impact on the newly established Kingdom of Iraq. Kanan Makiya argues that the killing of Assyrians transcended tribal, religious, ideological and ethnic barriers as Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, Sunni Kurds, Sunni Turkmen, Shia Turkmen, and Yazidis; Monarchists, Islamists, nationalists, royalists, conservatives, Leftists, federalists, and tribalists, were all united in their anti-Assyrian and anti-Christian sentiments. According to him, the pogrom was "the first genuine expression of national independence in a former Arab province of the Ottoman Empire" and that the killing of Assyrian Christians was seen as a national duty.
A further persecution of Assyrians took place in the Soviet Union in the late 1940s and early 1950s when thousands of Assyrians settled in Georgia, Armenia and southern Russia were forcibly deported from their homes in the dead of night by Stalin without warning or reason to Central Asia, with most being relocated to Kazakhstan, where a small minority still remain.
The period from the 1940s through to 1963 was a period of respite for the Assyrians in northern Iraq and north east Syria. The regime of Iraqi President Kassim in particular saw the Assyrians accepted into mainstream society.
However, in 1963, the Ba'ath Party took power by force in Iraq, and came to power in Syria the same year. The Baathists, though secular, were Arab nationalists, and set about attempting to Arabize the many non-Arab peoples of Iraq and Syria, including the Assyrians. This policy included refusing to acknowledge the Assyrians as an ethnic group, banning the publication of written material in Eastern Aramaic, and banning its teaching in schools.
The policies of the Baathists have also long been mirrored in Turkey, whose nationalist governments have refused to acknowledge the Assyrians as an ethnic group since the 1920s, and have attempted to Turkify the Assyrians by calling them "Semitic Turks" and forcing them to adopt Turkish names and language.
In recent years, particularly since 2014, the Assyrians in northern Iraq and north east Syria have become the target of unprovoked Islamic terrorism. As a result, Assyrians have taken up arms, alongside other groups (such as the Kurds, Turcomans and Armenians) in response to unprovoked attacks by Al Qaeda, ISIL, Nusra Front, and other Wahhabi terrorist Islamic fundamentalist groups. In 2014 Islamic terrorists of ISIS attacked Assyrian towns and villages in the Assyrian homelands of northern Iraq and north east Syria.
In addition, the Assyrians have suffered seeing their ancient indigenous heritage desecrated, in the form of Bronze Age and Iron Age monuments and archaeological sites, as well as numerous Assyrian churches and monasteries, being systematically vandalised and destroyed by ISIS. These include the ruins of Nineveh, Kalhu (Nimrud, Assur, Dur-Sharrukin and Hatra).
Assyria continued to exist as a geopolitical entity until the Arab-Islamic conquest in the mid-7th century, and Assyrian identity, personal, family and tribal names, and both spoken and written evolution of Mesopotamian Aramaic (which still contain many Akkadian loan words and an Akkadian grammatical structure) have survived among the Assyrian people from ancient times to this day.
Babylon
One of these Amorite dynasties founded a small kingdom which included the then still minor town of Babylon circa 1894 BC, which would ultimately take over the others and form the short-lived first Babylonian empire, also called the First Babylonian Dynasty.
Babylon remained a minor town in a small state until the reign of its sixth Amorite ruler, Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC, or fl. c. 1728 - 1686 BC (short). He conducted major building work in Babylon, expanding it from a small town into a great city worthy of kingship.
He then gradually expanded Babylonian dominance over the whole of southern Mesopotamia, conquering the cities and states of the region, such as; Isin, Larsa, Eshnunna, Kish, Lagash, Nippur, Borsippa, Ur, Uruk, Umma, Adab and Eridu.
The Code of Hammurabi was one of several sets of laws in the ancient Near East and also one of the first forms of law. The code of laws was arranged in orderly groups, so that all who read the laws would know what was required of them. The Code of Hammurabi is the longest surviving text from the Old Babylonian period. The code has been seen as an early example of a fundamental law, regulating a government - i.e., a primitive constitution. The code is also one of the earliest examples of the idea of presumption of innocence, and it also suggests that both the accused and accuser have the opportunity to provide evidence. The Code issues justice following the three classes of Babylonian society: property owners, freed men, and slaves. For example, if a doctor killed a rich patient, he would have his hands cut off, but if he killed a slave, only financial restitution was required. In 1901, a copy of the Code of Hammurabi was discovered on a stele by Jacques de Morgan and Jean-Vincent Scheil at Susa, where it had later been taken as plunder. That copy is now in the Louvre.
The armies of Babylonia under Hammurabi were well-disciplined. He turned eastwards and invaded what was a thousand years later to become Iran, conquering Elam, Gutians, Lullubi and Kassites. To the west, the Amorite states of the Levant (modern Syria and Jordan) including the powerful kingdom of Mari were conquered.
Southern Mesopotamia had no natural, defensible boundaries, making it vulnerable to attack. After the death of Hammurabi, his empire began to disintegrate rapidly. Under his successor Samsu-iluna (1749-1712 BC) the far south of Mesopotamia was lost to a native Akkadian speaking king called Ilum-ma-ili who ejected the Amorite ruled Babylonians. The south became the Sealand Dynasty, remaining free of Babylon for the next 272 years
The date of the sack of Babylon by the Hittites under king Mursili I is considered crucial to the various calculations of the early chronology of the ancient Near East, as it is taken as a fixed point in the discussion. The exact date is not known but it is between 1736 BC - 1499 BC range. The Hittites did not remain for long, but the destruction wrought by them finally enabled the Kassites to gain control.
The Kassites renamed Babylon Karduniaš and their rule lasted for 576 years, the longest dynasty in Babylonian history.
Babylon did not begin to recover until late in the reign of Adad-shuma-usur (1216-1189 BC), as he too remained a vassal of Assyria until 1193 BC. However, he was able to prevent the Assyrian king Enlil-kudurri-usur from retaking Babylonia, which, apart from its northern reaches, had mostly shrugged off Assyrian domination during a short period of civil war in the Assyrian empire, in the years after the death of Tukulti-Ninurta.
Despite the loss of territory, military weakness, and evident reduction in literacy and culture, the Kassite dynasty was the longest-lived dynasty of Babylon, lasting until 1155 BC, when Babylon was conquered by Shutruk-Nakhunte of Elam, and reconquered a few years later by the Nebuchadnezzar I, part of the larger Late Bronze Age collapse.
By 1155 BC, after continued attacks and annexing of territory by the Assyrians and Elamites, the Kassites were deposed in Babylon. An Akkadian south Mesopotamian dynasty then ruled for the first time. However, Babylon remained weak and subject to domination by Assyria.
During the rule of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911-609 BC), Babylonia was under constant Assyrian domination or direct control. During the reign of Sennacherib of Assyria, Babylonia was in a constant state of revolt, led by a Chaldean chieftain named Merodach-Baladan, in alliance with the Elamites, and suppressed only by the complete destruction of the city of Babylon. In 689 BC, its walls, temples and palaces were razed, and the rubble was thrown into the Arakhtu, the sea bordering the earlier Babylon on the south.
Under Nabopolassar, a previously unknown Chaldean chieftain, Babylon eventually escaped Assyrian rule, and in an alliance with Cyaxares, king of the Medes and Persians together with the Scythians and Cimmerians, the Assyrian Empire was finally destroyed between 612 BC and 605 BC. Babylon thus became the capital of the Neo-Babylonian (sometimes and possibly erroneously called Chaldean) Empire.
With the recovery of Babylonian independence, a new era of architectural activity ensued, particularly during the reign of his son Nebuchadnezzar II (604-561 BC). Nebuchadnezzar ordered the complete reconstruction of the imperial grounds, including the Etemenanki ziggurat, and the construction of the Ishtar Gate-the most prominent of eight gates around Babylon-. A reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate is located in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.
Nebuchadnezzar is also credited with the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon-one of the seven wonders of the ancient world-which is said to have been built for his homesick wife Amyitis. Whether the gardens actually existed is a matter of dispute. Excavations by German archaeologist Robert Koldewey are thought to reveal its foundations, though many historians disagree about the location, and some believe it may have been confused with gardens in the Assyrian capital, Nineveh.
Etemenanki (Sumerian: "temple of the foundation of heaven and earth") was the name of a ziggurat dedicated to Marduk in the city of Babylon. It was famously rebuilt by the 6th-century BCE Neo-Babylonian dynasty rulers Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar II. According to modern scholars, such as Stephen L. Harris, the biblical story of the Tower of Babel was likely influenced by Etemenanki during the Babylonian captivity of the Hebrews.
King of Judath Jehoiakim ruled originally as a vassal of the Egyptians, paying a heavy tribute. However, when the Egyptians were defeated by the Babylonians at Carchemish in 605 BCE, Jehoiakim changed allegiances, paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. In 601 BC, in the fourth year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar unsuccessfully attempted to invade Egypt and was repulsed with heavy losses. This failure led to numerous rebellions among the states of the Levant which owed allegiance to Babylon. Jehoiakim also stopped paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar and took a pro-Egyptian position. Nebuchadnezzar soon dealt with these rebellions. According to the Babylonian Chronicles, after invading "the land of Hatti (Syria/Palestine)" in 599 BC, he lay siege to Jerusalem. Jehoiakim died in 598 BC during the siege, and was succeeded by his son Jeconiah at an age of either eight or eighteen. The city fell about three months later, on 2 Adar (March 16) 597 BCE. Nebuchadnezzar pillaged both Jerusalem and the Temple, carting all his spoils to Babylon. Jeconiah and his court and other prominent citizens and craftsmen, along with a sizable portion of the Jewish population of Judah, numbering about 10,000 were deported from the land and dispersed throughout the Babylonian Empire. (2 Kings 24:14) Among them was Ezekiel. Nebuchadnezzar appointed Zedekiah, Jehoiakim's brother, king of the reduced kingdom, who was made a tributary of Babylon.
Despite the strong remonstrances of Jeremiah and others, Zedekiah revolted against Nebuchadnezzar, ceasing to pay tribute to him and entered into an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra. In 589 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II returned to Judah and again besieged Jerusalem. During this period, many Jews fled to surrounding Moab, Ammon, Edom and other countries to seek refuge. The city fell after a siege which lasted either eighteen or thirty months and Nebuchadnezzar again pillaged both Jerusalem and the Temple, after which he destroyed them both. After killing all of Zedekiah's sons, with the possible exception of one, Nebuchadnezzar took Zedekiah to Babylon, putting an end to the independent Kingdom of Judah. According to the Book of Jeremiah, in addition to those killed during the siege, some 4,600 people were deported after the fall of Judah. By 586 BCE much of Judah was devastated, and the former kingdom suffered a steep decline of both economy and population.
In 539 BC, the Neo-Babylonian Empire fell to Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, with a military engagement known as the Battle of Opis. Babylon's walls were considered impenetrable. The account was elaborated upon by Herodotus and is also mentioned in parts of the Hebrew Bible. According to 2 Chronicles 36 of the Hebrew Bible, Cyrus later issued a decree permitting captive people, including the Jews, to return to their own lands. Text found on the Cyrus Cylinder has traditionally been seen by biblical scholars as corroborative evidence of this policy, although the interpretation is disputed because the text only identifies Mesopotamian sanctuaries but makes no mention of Jews, Jerusalem, or Judea.
Under Cyrus and the subsequent Persian king Darius the Great, Babylon became the capital city of the 9th Satrapy (Babylonia in the south and Athura in the north), as well as a center of learning and scientific advancement. In Achaemenid Persia, the ancient Babylonian arts of astronomy and mathematics were revitalized, and Babylonian scholars completed maps of constellations. The city became the administrative capital of the Persian Empire and remained prominent for over two centuries. Many important archaeological discoveries have been made that can provide a better understanding of that era.
In October of 331 BC, Darius III, the last Achaemenid king of the Persian Empire, was defeated by the forces of the Ancient Macedonian Greek ruler Alexander the Great at the Battle of Gaugamela. A native account of this invasion notes a ruling by Alexander not to enter the homes of its inhabitants. Alexander the Great captured Babylon and ordered repairs to the Etemenanki; when he returned to the ancient city in 323 BCE, he noted that no progress had been made, and ordered his army to demolish the entire building, to prepare a final rebuilding. His death, however, prevented the reconstruction. The Babylonian Chronicles and Astronomical Diaries record several attempts to rebuild the Etemenanki, which were always preceded by removing the last debris of the original ziggurat.
Under Alexander, Babylon again flourished as a center of learning and commerce. However, following Alexander's death in 323 BC in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, his empire was divided amongst his generals, the Diadochi, and decades of fighting soon began. The constant turmoil virtually emptied the city of Babylon. A tablet dated 275 BC states that the inhabitants of Babylon were transported to Seleucia, where a palace and a temple (Esagila) were built. With this deportation, Babylon became insignificant as a city, although more than a century later, sacrifices were still performed in its old sanctuary
Under the Parthian and Sassanid Empires, Babylon (like Assyria) became a province of these Persian Empires for nine centuries, until after AD 650. It maintained its own culture and people, who spoke varieties of Aramaic, and who continued to refer to their homeland as Babylon.
Christianity was introduced to Mesopotamia in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, and Babylon was the seat of a Bishop of the Church of the East until well after the Arab/Islamic conquest.
The satrapy of Babylonia was absorbed into As?rist?n in the Sasanian Empire, which began in 226 AD, and by this time East Syrian Rite Syriac Christianity (which emerged in Assyria and Upper Mesopotamia the first century AD) had become the dominant religion among the native populace, who had never adopted the Zoroastrianism or Hellenic religions of their rulers.
Apart from the small 2nd century BC to 3rd century AD independent Neo-Assyrian states of Adiabene, Osroene, Assur, Beth Garmai and Beth Nuhadra in the north, Mesopotamia remained under largely Persian control until the Arab Muslim conquest of Persia in the seventh century. As?rist?n was dissolved as a geopolitical entity in 637, and the native Aramaic-speaking and largely Christian populace of southern and central Mesopotamia gradually underwent Arabization and Islamization.
In the mid-7th century, Mesopotamia was invaded and settled by the expanding Muslim Empire, and a period of Islamization followed. Babylon was dissolved as a province and Aramaic and Church of the East Christianity eventually became marginalized.
Among the sciences, astronomy and astrology still occupied a conspicuous place in Babylonian society. Astronomy was of old standing in Babylonia. The zodiac was a Babylonian invention of great antiquity; and eclipses of the sun and moon could be foretold. There are dozens of cuneiform records of original Mesopotamian eclipse observations.
The Babylonian system of mathematics was sexagesimal, or a base 60 numeral system. From this we derive the modern day usage of 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, and 360 (60 x 6) degrees in a circle. The Babylonians were able to make great advances in mathematics for two reasons. First, the number 60 has many divisors (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 30), making calculations easier. Additionally, unlike the Egyptians and Romans, the Babylonians had a true place-value system, where digits written in the left column represented larger values (much as in our base-ten system: 734 = 7×100 + 3×10 + 4×1).
It is possible that Babylonian philosophy had an influence on Greek philosophy, particularly Hellenistic philosophy. The Babylonian text Dialogue of Pessimism contains similarities to the agonistic thought of the sophists, the Heraclitean doctrine of contrasts, and the dialogs of Plato, as well as a precursor to the maieutic Socratic method of Socrates.
Babylonia, and particularly its capital city Babylon, has long held a place in the Abrahamic religions as a symbol of excess and dissolute power. Many references are made to Babylon in the Bible, both literally (historical) and allegorically. The mentions in the Tanakh tend to be historical or prophetic, while New Testament apocalyptic references to the Whore of Babylon are more likely figurative, or cryptic references possibly to pagan Rome, or some other archetype. The legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Tower of Babel are seen as symbols of luxurious and arrogant power respectively.
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| Die Stadt Babylon (illustration from 1750) |
