Old Testament Chapter 2

The years of the Old Testament are...

1300 - 1100 B.C.

syncretism

A blending of two or more religious traditions

Name three basic features of the faith of the early Israelites.

Early Israelite faith was based on a relationship with a God by the name of Yahweh, worship in a moveable shrine or tent, and basic moral expectations ("Laws")

what two important civilizations bordered Canaan to the north and to the south?

Egypt and Mesopatamia.

What is the importance of the Rosetta Stone?

It allowed Greek translators to translate two ancient Egyptian languages

The three main activities of the prophets were...

Messangers of God, advocates of the poor, and God's prosecutor

What were the names of the major gids of the Canaanites? Which was most likely to have appealed to the Israelites? Why?

Some Canaanite gods were El, Baal, Mot, Yam, and Ashera. The Israelites would have probably appealed to Baal because he was a storm god, and he would bring the rain to grow crops.

From what information you have now, which seemed to have the greatest impact on Jewish faith: the Assyrian Exile or the Babylonian exile? Why?

The Babylonian Exile, because the most Israelites were exiled, the Temple was destroyed, and they were taken out of Jerusalem (their religious center)

Describe the ancient geography of Canaan (now Palestine) including the four North-South strips (or zones) that divide the region

The Coastal Plains, which narrow down the north of Palestine; the hill country, which runs up like a spine up the back of Palestine; the Jordan Valley, which extends all the way from Turkey to Africa; and the Transjordainian Plateu, which contains the "King's Highway", the major North-South trade route of the ancient world and it's the best known regional zone in the ancient period

What years are considered the Old Testament Biblical Era?

The Old Testament Biblical era runs from 1300 B.C. until just after the time of Alexander the Great's conquests in the entire region

Give an example of the blending of Canaanite and Yahwist religions.

They didn't believe in the same gods (El and Ashera ex pg 47)

List the archeolgical discoveries that have been made at Jericho and Ain Ghazal. What do these findings suggest about the people who lived there?

They discovered human burials under the floor dwellings, and they revealed the development of ancient pottery

Diaspora

a group of migration or flight away from the homeland into one or more other countries

Rosetta Stone

a stone recovered in Egypt, containing the same inscription in three different languages, two hieroglyphic languages and Greek, which allowed scholars to work out the translation of hieroglyphics

prehistoric

a word that means before writing, it before to that period of history about which we had little or no written records

hieroglyphics

an ancient form of Egyptian writing, more stylized than pictograms but still required the memorization of hundreds of signs and symbols

Daniel

an example of apocalyptic literature found in the Bible

Pslams

an example of poetry found in the Bible

Pentateuch

an example of the law found in the Bible

Mermepah Stele

an inscription making the earliest known references to the Israelites, it dates back to roughly 1200 B.C.

scribes

ancient scholars trained from their youth to be able to read and write in the time before literacy was commonplace

Chronicles, Kings, Sammuel

examples of Historic literature found in the Bible

Isiah, Ezekial, Jeremiah

examples of prophecy found in the Bible

primeval history

stories or myths about the origins of the earth, humans, and other creatures

pictograms

the earliest forms of writing in which pictures represent words or ideas

Amos

the earliest writing prophet

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

the five books of the Pentateuch

context

the historical, cultural, social, or political circumstances surrounding an event or record

Covenant code

the name of the earliest collections of laws found in the Bible

3

the number of collections of the Law found in the Penateuch

2

the number of times the Commandments are listed

Leviticus

the place where we find the first collection of laws found in the Bible

Deuteronomy

the place where we find the second collection of laws found in the Bible

Hosea

the prophet who used intimate and romantic images to describe God

Ezekial

the prophet who was active among the Babylonian exiles

What were the three baisc features of the Israelite faith?

the relationship with a God by the name of "Yahweh"; worship in a moveable shrine or tent; basic moral expectations ("laws")

Charismatics

traveling bands of prophets who spoke while in a trance

Baal

was the Canaanite god that most appealed to the Israelites because he was the god of fertility an brought the rain required for their crops

5 books

what the word Pentateuch means

50 years

when all purchased land was to be returned to trial owners

7 years

when the slaves were supposed to be released according to the deuteronomic code