Week 2: First Century Judaism

Rabbinic Writings - Talmud

b) Talmud Oral tradition continued after the Mishnah was compiled. The Talmud was a commentary on the Mishnah - even bigger than the original. Babylonian Talmud in the library. First known addition came from Palestine, sometimes but probably falsely attribute to Jerusalem.

Jewish Groups/ Sects

(10-15% of he population were included in these groups. Most Jewish people were peasants) - Pharisees - Sadducees - Essenes/Qumran Community - Zealots - Scribes - Herodians

Fundamental Beliefs/Practices of Second Temple Judaism

i) Monotheism - One God ii) Election - Covenant iii) Sabbath iv) Temple v) Purity vii) Festivals viii) Messianic Hope

Scribes

• Assigned to copy manuscripts • They were teachers of the people and as such were well respected • Skilled and knowledgeable • Possibly responsible for the Intertestamental writings • Scribes spent their time in study of God's word o Provided scholarly authority for the Pharisees. • Gamaliel was a scribe, Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin (Acts 5:34).

A note on Josephus

* Extremely important for NT studies. * He wrote a number of important works - Antiquities of the Jews (Jos Ant), and the Jewish War with Rome (JosWar). * Most info re. Herod comes from Josephus. Not Christian - attestation from another point of view. He still has his bias. Interesting character, because he was a Pharisee/Sadducee. * Wrote all his books in Rome living in the Emperor's palace - He would have painted the Romans well. He says it is the Jews fault. He led the resistance movement in Galilee so his tune has changed since the start. * Only copies of Josephus have come from Christian scholars - there could be additions from them. * Described himself as a one-time Pharisee and a military general in the war against Rome (66- 70), who subsequently became a loyal supporter of Rome and wrote voluminously under the patronage of the imperial court.

iv) Temple

* God's house - his dwelling place. * Festivals, sacrifices, teachings all happened in the temple. * Sanhedrin, official Jewish governing body, met in the temple. * Inseparably bound up with the covenant - meeting place between God and his people. * Sacrificial system was means of atonement for sin. * Temple construction embodies idea of separateness. (No ark in second temple - it was never found). * Took 20000 priests and Levites to look after temple - centre of the life of the nation. * Herod's building program - 19BC - 63AD - resulted in dimension of temple of 330m by 400m - he enlarged it rapidly. * Dome of the rock where Holy of Holies was. * Qumran community distanced itself from the temple (believed priesthood to be corrupt and impure)

ii) Election - Covenant

* Israel were God's people - God's elect - a unique covenantal relationship. * Exodus deliverance - tied to the promise of Abraham, but covenant nation relationship starts at the Exodus. Law is given as expression of the Covenant. * Wrongly said that OT is law and NT is grace. OT was based on grace too - he delivered them and then gave them the law - an agreement. Covenant was not a means of salvation but a response to the revelation of God. Males - circumcision a mark of the covenant, and the land was a promise to them. The land only happened in a very brief period - unhappy history. * What did they do with the hope? Kept pushing it forward. Still waiting for root of David, stump of Jesse. * Election - God creating a special people for himself. * Covenant - establishment of a relationship. * The Law was an expression of the covenant. * Circumcision was a mark of the covenant. * The land was a crucial component of election and the Jews looked to a time where they would dwell in the land in safety and security.

Points of contention with between Jesus and the Sadducees

* Jesus believed in the resurrection, angels and demons, which the Sadducees did not believe in * Jesus' concern for the poor and the marginalised (Luke 14:15-24) contrasts sharply with the Sadducees' affluent lifestyle * Sadducees like the Pharisees tried to trick Jesus by asking difficult questions (Luke 20:27-40). Jesus' skilful response frustrates the Sadducees

vii) Messianic Hope - what they were not expecting?

* No expectation of a suffering Messiah - essential contradiction in terms. * Messiah's don't suffer, they liberate from suffering. Jesus shatters the worldview of disciples. He was regularly misunderstood. * NTWright - When Jesus was crucified, the disciples realised they'd backed the wrong horse. * What about Isaiah 53 - The servant was seen to be Israel, not the Messiah. Jesus is the first to make that link with himself.

vii) Messianic Hope

* The new David * No uniform idea of the Messiah - Sadducees had little interest, Qumran were enthusiasts - In general, Jews expected the Messiah to be an agent of God, come to judge the world, get rid of sin and evil, and restore justice - especially for God's people. - Messianism - Davidic royal messiah (Psalm 2:6-12), a priestly messiah of Aaron (Qumran), an eschatological prophet (Deut 18:15-18, John 6:14, 7:40), and a Son of Man (1 Enoch) figure. - Were NOT expecting a suffering Messiah. Jesus shatters the worldview of disciples. Mark 8, Is 53.

v) Purity

*Purity also captures the concept of sacred space or separateness. It was not just to do with food but with all areas of life (utensils, bodily discharges etc.). * I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy. (Leviticus 11:45) * Sacred space - separateness between God and humans. * Ritual and moral purity. The former was about utensils, food, bodily fluids etc. The latter was about avoiding sinful deeds such as adultery, idolatry and murder. * Jewish focus on purity was related primarily to temple worship. * Lively disagreements among Jews about the requirements for holy living characterised Second Temple Judaism.

iii) Sabbath

- A unique part of the covenant - a day set apart for God - nothing to be done except that which preserved life - they prevented Jesus' disciples from mourning at his tomb directly following his burial - Jesus said "The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath." (Matt 12:8, Mark 2:28, Luke 6:5)

The Septuagint (LXX)

- Greek translation of the Old Testament written 200+ years before the birth of Christ. - Translated by scholars in Egypt at a time when Israel was ruled by the Ptolemies - Bible of the early church. Most Gospel writers quoted from LXX.

Pharisees and Jesus

- In Matthew, John the Baptist calls them a 'brood of vipers' in 3:7 as does Jesus in Mat 23:33. In between slowly building conflict between the two over God's requirements for justice. - Matt 9:11-14 Different ideas of purity. - Matt 23 Strongest critique of Pharisees - he affirms their teaching, but not their doing. Hypocrisy and blindness Matt 6:2, Luke 16:4 - Jesus is the consummate interpreter of the Torah in contrast to the Pharisees (Matt 15:1-20, 23:1-39) - In Mark, Pharisees argue with Jesus about fasting, divorce, taxes, food laws and Sabbath practices (2:18, 24, 3:6, 8:11-15, 10:2) - In Luke, Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath (14:1-14), flouting idea of Sabbath rest. Pharisees were lovers of money (16:4) in keeping with Luke's theme of the poor and they wealthy. - In John, Nicodemus the Pharisee (3:1-2, 7:50, 19:39) Josephus was a Pharisee. The true people of God will no longer rely on membership in a national community, but on a new basis of repentance and faith.

Essenes/Qumran Community

- Josephus tells us that the Essenes were very concerned with purity - wore white clothes and lived among the people - possessions were shared, no private property - name means pious or holy. - rejected slavery - we don't hear about them in the gospels at all. The Dead Sea Scrolls were from the Qumran community. - most scholars regard Qumran as stricter subgroup of the Essenes. Share some common texts and evidence of similar concerns about purity. - Qumran group was apparently founded by the Teacher of Righteousness who opposed the Wicked Priest (could have been one of the Hasmonean rulers). - they withdraw and live in the desert. - Did not hoard "gold or silver" or acquire large pieces of land, living without excess of riches but not living in poverty. - Vowed to keep themselves from theft and "unlawful gain" - Cared for their own sick and elderly. - Numbered around 4000 - Concern for the poor, sick, elderly, foreigner, prisoner and fatherless - this is very similar to Jesus' concern for the poor and marginalised. - Produced a prodigious library 3 main things - Biblical manuscripts e.g. Isaiah scrolls, - Biblical commentaries - pesher (the p in 4QpHab), - sectarian documents - community rule, hymns - life in the community.

Pharisees

- Name means 'set apart', numbered around 6000 in the time of Herod the Great. - People of the law - kept it to the finest detail and told others about it too - zealous and courageous men of conviction who saw it to be their duty to preserve the Jewish faith. - they resisted all compromise - subtle battle against Hellenism was very fierce - main feature. - grew out of the Hasidim, or the 'pious ones'. - Josephus describes their political engagement during the Hasmonean Period and the Herodian periods and first Jewish revolt. - concerned with purity issues such as proper hand washing before meals, food laws and tithing (Mark 7:5, Luke 18:11-12) - had some political clout e.g. Asking for guards at the tomb in Matt 27:62-63, John 9:22 - 'quality control' people for holiness of God's people. - They 'built a fence around the Torah'. Had writings added to the Torah - oral tradition. - operate in Galilee and Jerusalem, often allied with chief priests. - Nicodemus & Paul & Josephus were Pharisees. - middle ground between free will and God's sovereignty

Points of contention between Jesus and the Pharisees included:

- Sabbath laws - for Jesus the Pharisee's laws about the Sabbath were an unnecessary burden which drew attention away from worshiping God. - For Jesus the Pharisees were more concerned about outward appearances rather than inward cleanliness (Luke 11:39-41) - Lack of love and compassion towards the people, instead loading them down with laws that are hard to follow (Matthew 23:2-4). The Pharisees did not help the people at all ('refused to lift a finger'). - The Pharisees trusted in their own righteousness rather than the righteousness that comes from repentance. (Luke 18:9-14). - The Pharisees were meant to explain the scriptures and point people towards the coming Messiah but had failed to do so and instead heaped burdens upon the people (Matthew 23:13).

Rabbinic Writings - Mishnah

- divided into halakah (legal material) and haggadah (everything else) a) Mishnah (Hebrew for 'repetition') Mostly Halakah written down by Rabbi Judah the Prince in 200AD - codification. Organised by legal subject areas such as purity and festivals Slightly thicker than the Bible. Codified the oral laws that had been developing over the centuries. Legal material in the rabbinic literature is often called halakah (from Hebrew 'to walk'). Halakic works are much more reliable because they originate in the courtroom and academy, so learned and transmitted in a very controlled way. E.g. Hul 8.1: "No meat may be boiled with milk save meat of fish and locusts. It is also forbidden to bring it to table together with cheese, save meat of fish and locusts. He who vows to abstain from meat is still free to partake of fish and locusts." Story of Narrative material in the rabbinic literature is called haggadah. Haggadic material probably orginated in sermons and table talk.

Targums

- from the Akkadian word for 'interpretation'. Aramaic interpretative translations of paraphrases of the Old Testament. Aramaic replaced Hebrew among the Jews during the Second Temple period. Language was Aramaic at time of Jesus. Jesus would have had to converse with the Romans in Greek. A need to get the OT into Aramaic - this was the Targums. They would read Hebrew texts for the week in the Synagogues, followed by oral translation and paraphrase into Aramaic. These oral Aramaic interpretive paraphrases were, in the course of time, fixed and preserved in literary form under the name Targum. Periodically, the targumist would add their own commentary on OT passages. Some have modified or significantly altered the original meaning. Written under Gentile rule. Many have survived. 'Implicit midrash'

Sadducees

- smaller, influential, wealthy, elite group of a very conservative religious leaders. - believed that the Pentateuch was the sole authority in matters of doctrine and belief - did not accept the oral law (Halakah) - anything else (e.g. Future life, final judgement, Angels, demons, God's sovereignty, resurrection) became irrelevant, so no messianic ideas - Sadducees were all for maintaining the status quo - liked to keep the peace with the Romans - more concerned with politics over religion - controlled the Sanhedrin - many were priests and descendants of Zadok the high priest. - did not exist after the destruction of the temple in 70AD - believed in human free will

Apocrypha

Apocrypha (Greek word for 'hidden') - too late for the OT writings, Fifteen short books or parts of books accepted as part of the OT canon by the Catholic Church or appeared in Greek translations of the OT. Not accepted by the rabbis. A large body of writings roughly covering the period 2nd C BC to 1st C AD. It includes the following: - Apocalyptic literature (excerpt of 1 Enoch 48 attached), prophetic, end times, dooms day - Revelation, Second half of Daniel, 1 Enoch. Pessimistic - disastrous. A tract for bad times. It was widespread, 90% certain that 1 Peter draws on 1 Enoch - either directly from the passage or draws from the same ideas. - Testaments - testaments of the patriarchs - Wisdom - Sirach - most important,Wis. Solomon - wisdom of Solomon - Psalms (excerpt from Psalms of Solomon 17:21-32) Messiah - ruler of all - typical Royal Messiah. Draws heavily from the Bible - pastiche - collection of stuff. Gentiles viewed negatively. The most significant of these documents for reconstructing the history of the intertestamental Israel are 1 and 2 Maccabees (from the Apocrypha). These books narrate the events leading up to and including the Jewish revolt against Syria in the mid-second century BC, and with 2 Maccabees usually viewed as a little less reliable than 1 Maccabees.

viii) Governance

At this time the Jews saw no great division between religious and civil law. The gate of the city or village was where grievances were generally heard and justice given in Old Testament times but by the New Testament era the synagogue was the focus of education and local government within the Jewish community.

Intertestamental Period

Last quarter of the 5th century BC to the first century AD

Midrash

Midrash - means inquiry, examination, commentary - scriptural interpretation. Midrashim are collections of unrelated sayings and sermons arranged usually by the order of the main Scripture text that they deal with.

i) Monotheism

One God (Deut 6:4, Mark 12:29) - Jews maintained an uncompromising belief in one God - the creator and Lord of heaven and earth - who has expressly forbidden the making of images - revealed his moral will through the law - and entered into a binding relationship with his people Jews were surrounded by Polytheism (many Gods, Greek), but were determined to not repeat the mistakes of the past which had led to their exile

vi) Other Festivals

Other feasts included: iv) Purim—celebrating Esther's deliverance of the Jews v) Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah)—marking the first of the civil year and the end of the grape and olive harvests vi) Hanukkah (Lights)—the celebration of the rededication of the Temple in 164 BC. Also important was the Day of Atonement (Yom Kipper). This was the only day of national fast. On this day the High Priest entered Holy of Holies to offer atonement for his sin and the sin of the people. The Law required that Jews should attend the Temple for three of the great festivals each year, but if great distances were involved only one was required. Jews of the Dispersion tried to celebrate at least one feast in Jerusalem in their lifetime (which is still the goal of many Jews today).

Dead Sea scrolls

Pre-dates rabbinic literature - see 3 iii) above - associated with the Essenes and the Qumran community (destroyed by Romans in AD 68) - found in 11 caves between 1947 and 1956 Dead Sea Scrolls included: i) copies of books of the Old Testament including two scrolls of Isaiah, one complete. ii) Copies of certain books now collected in the Pseudepigrapha, including fragments of 1 Enoch and Jubilees iii) Compositions of the Qumran community (1QS), the War Scroll (1QM) and the Pesharim (commentaries on biblical books).

Pseudepigrapha

Pseudepigrapha (Greek word for 'false ascriptions') Claimed to be written by people it couldn't possibly have been e.g. 1 Enoch. More than 60 additional works Vast majority were never accepted as inspired or canonical by any official segment of Judaism or Christianity.

The Torah

The Torah (covers first 5 books of the Old Testament) - Also known as the Law - Supreme written authority for the Jews - Officially known as the Masoretic Text (MT) - Hebrew version of the Old Testament

x) Synagogue worship

The centre of weekly sabbath worship was the synagogue. The origins of synagogue worship are uncertain but probably it began during the Exile when Jews began to meet together for the reading of the Law and prayer (as they did not have access to the Temple). Gradually buildings were erected to meet this need. Structurally they were rectangular, supported by pillars on a raised platform and with the front door facing Jerusalem. Synagogues were built throughout the Empire. A feature of Paul's missionary journeys was that the first stop ('as was his custom') in a new town was a sermon at the synagogue.

ix) The Sanhedrin

This was a kind of Jewish Cabinet. Often referred to as the 'Council', it was the supreme body in the internal government of the Jewish people. (Remember that the Romans allowed the Jews a measure of self-government.) In the time of Jesus the Sanhedrin was very powerful with some considerable judicial authority: Roman authorities allowed them to pass any sentence under Jewish law except death. Herod the Great was once summoned to stand before it (for murder!), but he managed to escape sentence. Its authority was limited to Judea but it was not uncommon for Diaspora Jews to recognise its authority as well. The Council met daily, except on the sabbath, and consisted of 70 members. The High Priest was its 'chairman' and among the others one would find priests, scribes and various elders from the community.

vi) Festivals

Three main festivals annually: a) Passover / Unleavened Bread: * Appears to be most significant feast. * Commemorated Exodus and God's provision. * Families, dressed for travel, would sit together for an evening meal - sacrifice was roasted whole and completely eaten. * Probably Hezekiah, and the reforms of Josiah, who turned this into an annual pilgrimage to the Jerusalem. b) Pentecost (Feast ofWeeks): * Also known as "the day of the first fruits" or "the feast of the harvest". * Harvest - late spring, early summer, 50 days after Passover (early spring) * Day of Pentecost in Acts. Not an accident that that is the day that the Spirit comes. * Pilgrims were expected to bring two leavened loaves from their settlements. c) Tabernacles (Booths): * "Feast of ingathering" or "Feast of Yahweh" * Coming immediately after gathering the grain and pressing the wine. * The most joyous of the three pilgrim feasts. * End of harvest - late summer, early autumn, commemorated wilderness journey * 7-8 day feast with requirement to live in booths (or tents).

Zealots

• Closely aligned with the Pharisees • Zealous for law and righteousness • Convinced that God would honour military efforts to overthrow Rome. • Formed in AD 67-68 after the Roman procurator Florus (AD 64-66) fought with the citizens of Jerusalem. Florus had stolen the temple treasury, looted Jerusalem and attempted to capture and control the temple. The lower priests thus began agitating for war and decided to terminate the sacrifices offered twice each day on behalf of Rome and the Roman emperor. The sacrifices had been negotiated as a substitute for emperor worship and thus stopping the sacrifices was an act tantamount to war. • During the ensuring war, the Zealots held out at Masada which had 500 meters of rock. If the Romans got there the Zealots would commit suicide.