Restoration and New Beginnings

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Restoration and New Beginnings

• More prophets, more invaders, more problems, more
  reform

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Historical and Postexilic (after the exile) Books

• Books were written between 6th and 4th Century BC
• Starts with Chronicles continues through Esther
• Exalted King David (See Chronicles)
• Looked to the past to build the future

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The Emperors through the years

• Cyrus 590-529 BC
• Darius 522-486 BC
• Xerxes I 486-465 BC
• Artaxerxes I 465-425 BC
• Artaxerxes II 404-359 BC
• Artaxerxes III 359-338 BC

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The Persian Empire

• The empire extends from Egypt to the Indus River
• Founded by Cyrus the Great

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Persians and Jews frenemies?

• Cyrus the Great allowed the Jews to Reconstruct
  the temple
• Problem Samaritans wanted to help
• Samaritans were Jews who intermarried with the
  Assyrians, were considered unclean and unwanted
• Thus the Samaritans did what they could to
  interfere by bribing officials and causing
  general havoc
• Emperor Darius I
• Attempted to fix the situation by creating
  stronger local governments called satrapies, this
  was largely successful
• Darius was big on religious tolerance, often
  consulting local religious officials when making
  legal decisions

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Meet the Emperors

• Artaxerxes I
• Succeeded Xerxes
• Sent Nehemiah a treasurer in his royal court and
  a Jew, to fortify Jerusalem.
• Nehemiah eventually became a governor in the area
• Sent him for political reasons having a Jew
  governing his own pacified the region and added
  loyalty to the empire
• Also sent Ezra, a scribe and others who were part
  of the remnantexiles and former exiles who kept
  the faith

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Coins of Artaxerxes I
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Meet the Emperors

• Artaxerxes II
• Was less diplomatic, but effective
• Kept a harsh rule over the area
• Many satraps revolted but were eventually
  pacified through force
• Artaxerxes III
• Was even harsher than A II, killed several family
  members en route to the throne
• Eventually conquered Egypt

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Keeping the Tradition

• The stories of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah,
  and Malachi are stories of preservation of a
  religion, NOT A NATION!!
• Dominant theme is how to keep your Jewishness
  without Israel
• How to maintain the Covenant
• How to follow God in the midst of the Diaspora

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Haggai

• Was the major leader in rebuilding the Temple in
  Jerusalem
• Renewed the Jews focus on God
• They had become worried and preoccupied housing
  and fortifications
• Rebuilding the Temple, he believed, would refocus
  the Jews on God
• Haggai proclaimed that God will bless Gods
  people when they make the first steps toward
  obedience and placing God first

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Haggai
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Zechariah

• Also encouraged rebuilding the Temple
• Spoke of a Messiah to redeem Israel
• Was an apocalyptic prophet

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Zechariah

• Visions of the Apocalypse
• Apocalypse the unveiling of future events,
  usually dealing with the final struggle of good
  and evil
• The book of Revelation in the NT often refers
  back to Apocalyptic visions by prophets such as
  Zechariah
• Note the evolution, why would the Jews look
  toward the Apocalypse? Think, the peasants in the
  Medieval era did the same thing, why?
• The book of Zechariah is full of visions of the
  apocalypse and of angels and demons

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Zechariah

• Presented as a dialogue between Zechariah and God
  and an interpreting angel
• The angel interprets the visions for Zechariah
• His visions are about victory after struggle
  most apocalyptic visions are
• Visions often are a response to oppression
• Hope
• Main themes of these visions are repentance and
  the hope for a messiah

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Joel

• Focuses on repentance and returning back toward
  God
• Uses natural disasters, like a plague of locusts,
  as signs of forewarning
• Speaks of an apocalypse
• NOTE The prophets have moved toward a new
  direction
• Instead of rebuilding Israel they are building up
  the messiah and coming apocalypse

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Reform, Renewal and Change

• Prophets are dealing with a new type of Jewish
  community
• Diaspora had splintered Israel to small factions
  and cities
• Judaism now just an ethnicity and religion, not a
  nation
• Caused great reflection and an identity shift
• Prophets begin to look for a savoir in the form
  of a messiah

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Malachi

• Not the prophets real name
• Means my messenger in Hebrew
• A confrontational prophet
• The Isrealites, 80 years after rebuilding the
  Temple, were again neglecting their religion
• Disobedience to God
• Years of neglect to the Temple had left it
  crumbling
• Focused on priests and laity

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Malachi

• Priests were using the wrong animals for certain
  sacrifices to cut corners
• Jews were divorcing their Jewish wives to
  intermarry with non-Jews (double uh-oh!)
• Jews had quit tithing or offering sacrifices
• Malachi said that the punishment for this was
  several subsequent droughts

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Malachi

• Malachi kept with the tradition within Isaiah
  speaking about the Remnant
• In his case, as with other prophets, the Remnant
  referred to those Jews who kept the Law who would
  be saved from judgment
• Spoke of the dismal state of Jews who saw
  religion as a burden or chore

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Third Isaiah

• The third and last section of Isaiah, chapters
  56-66
• Written between 540-510 BC
• Lamented the waywardness of the Jews
• Called for renewal of the Covenant (Law of Moses)
  and for Gods blessing toward all
• NOT just Jews but gentiles and eunuchs (slaves)..
  BIG BIG DEAL
• Ends Isaiah with certainty of Gods justice and
  salvation

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Religious Restoration and Culture

• Many of the postexilic prophets and books were
  written to preserve Jewish culture, religion and
  nationalism
• These books fortify a sense of Jewishness that
  pervades Judaism even today
• Books often considered to be the epitome of this
  movement to restore and preserve are Jonah,
  Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah

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Jonah

• The Book of Jonah is a perfect example of the
  preservation and restoration
• A satire on what happens when people disobey God
• Jonah as the anti-hero

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Jonah and Doré
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Jonah and Doré