The Jewish context of Christianity

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The Jewish context of Christianity

• Year 11 Preliminary
• Studies of Religion
• Depth Study 1 Christianity

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The Jewish context The Patriarchs c 1850 bce

• Abram and his wife Sarai (she was barren) leave
  their land of Ur and embark on a journey to
  discover who God is for them. (Gen 12 1-3)
• On the Journey God enters into a covenant (a
  solemn promise/agreement)with Abram and God
  promises in Gen 127 that God would give the land
  of Canaan to Abrams offspring. Then in Gen 17
  1-27 God enforces the covenant- he requires that
  all male children in Abrams tribe be circumcised
  as a sign of the covenant.. God changes Abrams
  name to Abraham and Sarais name to Sarah.
  Abraham is known as the Father of the Semitic
  religions (Judaism/Islam/Christianity) but he is
  not the founder of Judaism.

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Moses Exodus and Sinai Covenant c 1250 bce

• Along with God, it is the figure of Moses (Moshe)
  who dominates the Torah. Acting at God's behest,
  it is he who leads the Jews out of slavery,
  unleashes the Ten Plagues against Egypt, guides
  the freed slaves for forty years in the
  wilderness, carries down the law from Mount
  Sinai, and prepares the Jews to enter the land of
  Canaan. Without Moses, there would be little
  apart from laws to write about in the last four
  books of the Torah.

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The 10 Commandments (also known as The Decalogue)

• I am the Lord thy god, who brought thee out of
  the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
• Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
• 3) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy
  God in vain.
• 4) Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
• 5) Honour thy father and thy mother.
• 6) Thou shalt not murder.
• 7) Thou shalt not commit adultery.
• 8) Thou shalt not steal.
• 9) Thou shalt not bear false witness against they
  neighbour.
• 10) Thou shalt not covet anything that belongs to
  thy neighbour.

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• Under Moses the Israelites wander in the desert
  for 40 years the number 40 is the number for
  preparation. There had to be a generational
  change as no Israelite who was born in Egypt
  could enter the Promised Land including Moses.
• The 10 Commandments would become the basis of
  life in the Promised Land.
• The tent of meeting would be the blue print for
  the Temple that Solomon would build to house the
  10 Commandments.

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Manasseh and Ephraim are the two sons of Joseph.
The other 10 are the sons of Jacob. The Tribe of
Levi served in the Tent of Meeting and then the
Temple. Third son of Jacob and Leah and father
of the tribe of Levi, from whom the Levites are
descended. The tribe of Levi is one of the twelve
tribes of Israel. Since Leah had already given
Jacob two sons, she said "Now my husband will be
joined with me" (Genesis 3034). The Levites were
distinguished as servants to God because of their
refusal to worship to Golden Calf (Exodus 32
26-29). Levi's own three sons, Gerhson, Kahath
and Merari, become Temple servants.
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The Monarchy c 1020 bce
After David killed Goliath, Abner took him to
King Saul. David was holding Goliath's head in
his hand for he had cut it off after he killed
him. As David stood there, Saul said to him,
"Whose son art thou, thou young man?" And David
answered, "I am the son of thy servant Jesse the
Bethlehemite." Now while David was speaking to
King Saul, King Saul's son, Jonathan, was
listening. By the time David finished talking,
Jonathan loved David just like he loved his own
soul. David was brave and courageous and he
believed in God. Saul took David that day and
would not let him go home to his father's house.
David's new home would be with King Saul and
Jonathan.
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• David and Jonathan made a covenant with each
  other because Jonathan loved David like he loved
  his own soul. Jonathan gave David many gifts--his
  robe, clothing, his sword, and his girdle.
• Because of David's wisdom and bravery, King Saul
  entrusted him to do many things for him. David
  went wherever Saul sent him and he was in charge
  of the army. David behaved himself wisely and all
  the people and Saul's servants accepted him even
  though he was so young.

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• On the way back from the slaughter of Goliath,
  the women of the cities of Israel were outside
  dancing and singing to meet King Saul. They had
  musical instruments and they were very joyful
  because their enemies, the Philistines, had been
  beaten. As they made merry, the women said, "Saul
  hath slain his thousands and David his ten
  thousands." Oh-oh. Saul got so mad. He was very
  displeased that the women said this. He said,
  "They say that David killed ten thousands and
  that I have only killed thousands. He has all
  their admiration, the only thing left is that he
  become king!" From that time on, Saul eyed David.
  He was exceeding envious of him.

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• David continued to behave himself very wisely in
  all his ways and the Lord was with him. So when
  Saul saw this he was again afraid of David. But
  all Israel and Judah loved David because he dwelt
  among them. Saul was very jealous of this and
  came up with a plan...
• Plans for the murder of David
• Saul promises the hand of his eldest daughter in
  marriage to David but David comes from peasant
  stock. This does not eventuate.
• Saul then promises his other daughter to David
  but because he fears David, Saul orders David
  into battle with the Philistines and demands that
  he bring back a dowry of 100 foreskins. David
  does. Saul plans many ways to kill David but
  fails and he is eventually defeated in battle and
  commits suicide. David is anointed by the
  Prophet Samuel as the next King of Israel.

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• In the past, King Saul disobeyed God and as a
  result an evil spirit would sometimes trouble
  him. David used to play harp to soothe Saul when
  the evil spirit came upon him. Well the day after
  the women sang their songs, the evil spirit came
  upon Saul again. And so, as in other times, David
  played the harp for King Saul to comfort him. As
  David beautifully played the harp, there was a
  sharp javelin in King Saul's hand. A javelin was
  used to kill people. It is like a spear. As David
  played, King Saul said to himself, "I will smite
  David to the wall with it." King Saul threw the
  javelin at David two times, but both times, David
  dodged out of the way. Saul was afraid of David
  because the LORD was with David and had left
  Saul. Therefore Saul had David removed David and
  made him his captain over a thousand men.

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The qualities of David

• Intelligent
• Warrior
• Military strategist
• Had Gods favour
• A writer and thinker
• A humble man
• A kingly figure a statesman
• A passionate man
• An economic strategist Jerusalem becomes the
  Capital of Israel
• A man loved by his people
• A man anointed by God for leadership
• A favourite of the prophet Samuel
• He unites the 12 tribes of Israel

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The Divided Kingdom c 931-721 bce
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• Solomon succeeds to the throne after the death of
  his Father.
• He wanted to build a permanent dwelling for the
  Ark of the covenant a Temple that would be the
  house of God in the great city of Jerusalem.
  The spot chosen was Mount Moriah the site where
  Abraham was willing to offer his son Isaac as a
  sacrifice

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The Temple built as Gods house.
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• In order to build the Temple, Solomon needed
  money to pay for the expensive materials and
  labour.
• After the death of his father David, Solomon
  issued the orders for the building of the First
  Temple to commence
• You know that my father David could not build a
  house for the name of the Lord his God because of
  the wars which were fought against him on every
  side until the Lord put his foes under the soles
  of his feet. (1 Kings 53).
• The building of the First Temple was a monumental
  task. Phoenician craftsmen were employed to build
  the Temple. Construction began in the fourth year
  of Solomon's reign and took seven years
• Then King Solomon raised up a labour force out of
  all Israel - and the labor force was thirty
  thousand men . . . Solomon selected seventy
  thousand men to bear burdens, eighty thousand to
  quarry stone in the mountains, and three thousand
  six hundred to oversee them. (1 Kings 513 2
  Chronicles 22).
• The stones were hewn from a quarry and brought to
  the Temple
• And the temple, when it was being built, was
  built with stone finished at the quarry, so that
  no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in
  the temple while it was being built. (1 Kings
  67)

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• When Solomon died his son Rehoboam became king of
  Israel. The nation, however, was on a spiritual
  decline. Rehoboam's policies caused the kingdom
  to be divided into north (Israel) and south
  (Judah) separate regimes. Jeroboam, the first
  king of Israel. He built two substitute places of
  worship, one in Bethel and one in Dan for fear
  the people would return to Jerusalem
• Because the people felt bound to the legal system
  of worship in Jerusalem Jeroboam realized the
  need that worship be centralized in the north.
  The northern kingdom remained in idolatry until
  it was overrun and taken captive in 721 BC by the
  Assyrians. Nineteen kings had ruled over the ten
  Northern tribes - the Bible has no good thing to
  say about a single one of them.

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Causes for the division of the Kingdom

• Excessive taxation of the Jews in the northern
  part of Israel and concessions in taxation to the
  Jews in the South
• Policies employed by Solomon and later his son
  Rehoboam
• Solomons turning away from God
• Allowing his many wives to practise their
  idolatrous faiths an erect Temples to their gods
  in the streets of Jerusalem.

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The Assyrian conquest of the North

• Israel enjoyed 400 years without major threats of
  conquest.
• Yet, Israel was located in a strategic
  geographical position on the single narrow strip
  of arable land at the crossroads between Africa,
  Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor. Israel was
  particularly vulnerable should nations to the
  North decide to build an empire, because the only
  land route to the wealth of North Africa and
  Egypt lay through Israel.

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• The relative calm ended in the middle eighth
  century BC. In 745 BC, Tiglath-Pileser III
  (called Pul in biblical traditions 2 Kings
  1519) took the throne of Assyria. A shrewd and
  capable ruler, he quickly managed to forge the
  warring Assyrian factions into a formidable
  nation. Soon, Assyria ruthlessly began building
  an empire.
• The nations of Israel and Judah, for the first
  time in their history, would now have to deal
  with a serious military threat to their very
  existence. Yet, neither nation was in any shape
  to face such a threat.

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• Following the relatively stable and prosperous
  reign of Jereboam II, the northern Kingdom of
  Israel collapsed into near anarchy. Internal
  turmoil and power struggles combined with a
  series of assassinations left Israel in no
  position to cope with the growing Assyrian
  menace. And, as the prophets Amos and Hosea
  pointed out, spiritual decline and Baal worship
  were rampant, factors that further weakened
  national identity and resolve. At the very time
  that Tiglath-Pileser III was coming to power in
  Assyria, marking the rebirth of the Assyrian
  Empire and the greatest external threat the
  Israelites had faced since the beginning of the
  Kingdom, Israel was self-destructing. The
  Northern Kingdom would never recover.

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• In 734, Tiglath-Pilesers armies decimated the
  Philistine territories along the coast southwest
  of Judah, cut off any assistance from Egypt to
  the south, and then turned back north to deal
  with Israel. By 733 the Assyrians had taken most
  of the northern territories of Israel and
  surrounding areas, and were poised to take
  Samaria, the northern capital (2 Kings 1529).

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The Babylonian Captivity

• Unfortunately for the Jews, the Assyrians did not
  hold West Asia for very much longer. During the
  700's BCE, the Assyrians began to lose power.
  This meant that the Jews could be more
  independent of the Assyrians, but the Jews used
  their independence only to fight many small wars.
  Some of the wars were between Israel and Judah.
  Others were civil wars within one country over
  who would be king. And still other wars were
  fought with their neighbours like the Canaanites.
  During the 600's BCE the Egyptians managed to
  reconquer Israel and even part of Syria.

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• But when the Assyrian Empire really fell
  completely apart, a new empire started up which
  had its centre at Babylon. The Jews under their
  king Josiah did their best to support the
  Assyrians. In the last big battle between the
  Assyrians and the Babylonians, the Egyptians sent
  help to the Babylonians. Josiah and the Jews
  fought the Egyptians at the battle of Megiddo
  (me-GID-oh) and prevented them from getting to
  Babylon (BA-buh-lon). But the Assyrians lost the
  battle anyway.

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• The Babylonians soon took over most of Western
  Asia. So they took over both Israel and Judah.
  Because the Jews had fought on the side of the
  Assyrians, the Babylonians thought the Jews were
  troublemakers. So the Babylonians destroyed the
  Temple that Solomon had built (the First Temple),
  and took many of the richer, more aristocratic
  Jews prisoner, both men and women, and their
  children, and took them away to Babylon where
  they could keep an eye on them. This is called
  the Babylonian Captivity. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and
  Ezekiel all wrote sad lamentations about the
  destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, which
  are in the Bible (the book of Prophets).

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• During the Babylonian Captivity, two religious
  leaders were important, whose names were Ezra and
  Nehemiah. Both Ezra and Nehemiah looked for
  reasons why God had allowed this terrible thing
  to happen to the Jews. They thought that it was
  because the Jews had not observed the Law (the
  Ten Commandments) carefully enough. The Jews had
  not kept up their side of the Covenant, so God
  had not kept up his side either. Ezra and
  Nehemiah persuaded many of the Jews in Babylon to
  begin observing the Law much more carefully than
  before.

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• Once the Persians came to power and conquered the
  Babylonians, the Jews were after some time
  allowed to return home.
• While in captivity, the Jews began to reform
  their religious practice. They developed the
  Synagogue as a house of prayer and meeting as
  they had no Temple to worship in while in exile
  in Babylon.
• Many of their key feasts and festivals were
  reworked and celebrated in the homes of Jews.
  This is why many Jewish festivals are practised
  in the home today.
• When the Jews returned to Jerusalem they
  rebuilt the Temple.

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Jews under Hellenistic rule 333-63bce

• Israel had been under Persian rule from 520
  B.C.E. until Alexander the Great defeated them in
  332 B.C.E. The close, friendly relationship with
  Persia had lasted for 188 years. Alexander died
  soon after the conquest of Persia his empire
  fell apart and was divided between his bickering
  generals. One part would become Ptolemy Egypt,
  the other Seleucid Syria. Israel was caught not
  only in a power struggle between the two Greek
  powers, but a culture war within itself.

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• Galilee had been seized from the Syrians and
  itself forcibly converted to Judaism only around
  103BC, the Maccabees viewing this as a rightful
  restoration of part of the ancient kingdom of
  Israel, wiped out by the Assyrians six centuries
  earlier. This forced conversion also occurred in
  the south with Idumeans and Arabs.

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• In particular educated Jews were attracted to
  Greek language, philosophy, science, and
  astrology. They wanted to join the rest of the
  world and go beyond the cloistered and isolated
  world of Orthodox/Pharisee Rabbis. They wanted to
  join the Greek world the Maccabee victory in 129
  put a check on the advance of Hellenism.

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• Many pagans were attracted to Judaism for its
  moral values on family, social welfare, and
  monotheism of a caring God. Jews assimilated
  Greek science, reason, philosophy, and language
  into a more universal vision of One God.
• Eventually Greek rule came to Israel and Judea.

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• Antiochus IV, Epiphanes was determined to
  completely destroy all worship of the one true
  God. In his efforts to accomplish this end he
  slaughtered many thousands of the people of
  Israel. Women who had circumcised their babies
  were executed with their dead babies hung around
  their necks (I Maccabees 160-61). It was his
  belief that such visible acts of extreme cruelty
  would discourage the Jews from following after
  their God. The mistake of Antiochus, however, was
  in his underestimation of the devotion of the
  majority of the Israelites to their God, and the
  enduring power of their faith.

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• This underestimation would cost him dearly. Not
  long after he defiled the Temple, the first
  stirrings of a revolt surfaced in an unexpected
  part of the empire, led by a relatively unknown
  Jewish family. This would grow into a bloody
  struggle for Jewish independence which has come
  to be known in history by several names --- The
  Maccabean Revolt --- The Hasmonean Period --- The
  Period of Independence.

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• In 167 BC Antiochus sent some of his officers to
  the village of Modein to force the Jews living
  there to offer sacrifices to the pagan gods.
  Mattathias, as a leader in the city, was
  commanded by the officers to be the first person
  to offer a sacrifice -- as an example to the rest
  of the people. He refused with a noble speech
  reminiscent of the words of Joshua in Joshua
  2414-15 (see I Maccabees 215-22).

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• Because of the determination of Mattathias, and
  fearing bloody reprisals against the people for
  his refusal, a certain Jew stepped forward and
  volunteered to offer the sacrifices to the pagan
  gods in the place of this aged priest. At this
  point Mattathias was overcome with a passionate
  zeal to defend his God, and he killed this Jewish
  man, as well as the officers of the king. He then
  tore down the altar to the pagan gods and ran
  through the village shouting, "Let everyone who
  is zealous for the Law and who stands by the
  covenant follow me!" (I Maccabees 227). He and
  his sons, along with a good number of followers,
  fled to the mountains of the Judean wilderness.

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• These men organized themselves into a large,
  powerful guerrilla-warfare army, and soon began
  to launch raids against the towns and villages of
  the land, tearing down the pagan altars, killing
  the officials of Antiochus, and also executing
  those Jews who were worshipping the pagan gods.
  The aged priest Mattathias was much too old for
  such a rigorous lifestyle, however, and died in
  166 BC just as the rebellion was gaining
  momentum. He chose wisely, though, when he left
  his son Judas in charge of the rebel forces.

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Judas Maccabeus (166 - 160 BC)

• In the early days of this growing revolt against
  his authority and abuses, Antiochus again made a
  major mistake -- he vastly underestimated the
  power and zeal of this band of Jewish rebels. He
  assumed this was little more than a minor
  incident which would be quickly put down.
  Therefore, he sent out some of his less capable
  generals, with only a small army, to seek out the
  rebels and put down the rebellion. It would prove
  to be a costly miscalculation.

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• These generals and their forces were simply not
  equal to Judas, who was possibly one of the
  greatest military minds in all of Jewish history!
  Even though greatly outnumbered, Judas and his
  rebels defeated general after general in battle.
  The people of Israel gave Judas the nickname
  "Maccabeus" because of his great daring and
  success in "hammering" the enemy forces into the
  ground.

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• Antiochus soon realized he had a full-scale
  rebellion on his hands, and that it was far more
  serious than he had originally believed. He
  decided, therefore, to end the revolt in a most
  dramatic fashion, and to exterminate the Jewish
  people in the process. He sent Lysias, the
  commander-in-chief of the Seleucid army, along
  with 60,000 infantrymen and 5000 cavalry, to
  utterly destroy the Jews.
• This powerful army finally encountered Judas, who
  as greatly outnumbered. He prayed to God for
  strength and deliverance (I Maccabees 430-33),
  and God answered! They won a huge victory over
  the Seleucid army!

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• Judas then determined to enter Jerusalem and
  liberate the city, and also to purify the Temple
  and rededicate it to God. When they entered the
  holy city, the extent of the destruction which
  they beheld caused them to be overwhelmed by
  grief (I Maccabees 436-40). Their grief,
  however, soon turned to determination and action.
  They set about the task of driving the enemy out
  of the city, and also of cleaning up the Temple.

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• On December 25, 165 BC (exactly three years after
  Antiochus had defiled the altar of God by
  offering a pig upon it), the Temple of God was
  rededicated to God with rejoicing and sacrifices.
  The celebration continued for eight days. This is
  the famous "Feast of Lights" (Hanukkah) which is
  still celebrated by the Jews to this day.

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Roman Rule 63bce

• Rome had defeated the Maccabees in 63BC and
  returned much of Samaria to Syria now itself
  under Roman control.
• The Jews began to argue with each other. Then the
  Romans came and ruled Israel. They were very
  strict. The Jews wanted to be free. But the Roman
  Empire became very strong. The Romans ruled many
  countries. Their power was very great. It seemed
  impossible for the Jews to be free.

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• At the time of the birth of Jesus, the Romans had
  made Herod to be king over Israel. Herod was not
  a Jew. He was a foreigner. Although he was a Jew
  by religion, he did not obey the laws of the
  Jews. He was a strong and cruel man. He became
  king by a plot. He wanted to control the Jews. So
  he built the Temple again. He made it much
  bigger. His workmen began to build the Temple in
  20 BC. They continued until about AD 64. Herod's
  Temple was a very beautiful building.
• But what happened in the Temple was not always
  good. People did not always behave in the right
  way
• A Jew might want to kill an animal as a sacrifice
  (as a gift to God). He had to buy the animal from
  a special shopkeeper. The rulers in the Temple
  chose the shopkeepers. The shopkeepers could ask
  for big prices. People could not bring any other
  animals, even if they were good animals!
• The Romans appointed the High priest. But one
  family gave money to the Romans. So the Romans
  always chose men from that family to become the
  High priest.

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• One group of Jews were called Sadducees. They had
  different ideas from other Jews. They did not
  believe in the supernatural. They had very
  different ideas. Some people also have such ideas
  today. Really the Sadducees were a political
  party. They wanted to please the Romans. This
  group was very powerful. They did not care what
  they did. They wanted to remain powerful.
• Another group were Pharisees. They studied the
  law of Moses. They did not always know its true
  meaning. Later, Jesus spoke to them about this.
  The leaders of the Pharisees were rich and
  powerful.

46

• There were also some good Jews. These people
  wanted to please God. And they wanted to know
  more about God. They read the books of the
  prophets. So, these people believed that God
  would send a Messiah. The Messiah would be a good
  king. He would rule over them well. They desired
  that the king would come. But they had waited for
  a very long time. There had been no prophet for
  more than 400 years. Some people probably thought
  that God had forgotten them. Or, that God had
  left them. So, they were not sure that the words
  of the prophets would come true.

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• It was into this context that Jesus was born.