Biblical Judaism (20th–4th century bce)

Question 1

The ancient Middle Eastern setting

Answer 1

• Hebrews were seminomadic herdsmen and occasionally farmers
• Canaanite component of Israelite culture consisted of the Hebrew language and a rich literary heritage—whose Ugaritic form illuminates the Bible’s poetry, style, mythological allusions, and religious or cultic terms
• Egypt provides many analogues for Hebrew hymnody and wisdom literature.

Question 2

The pre-Mosaic period: the religion of the patriarchs

Answer 2

• Israelite tradition identified YHWH (by scholarly convention pronounced Yahweh), the God of Israel, with the creator of the world, who had been known and worshipped from the beginning of time
• Moses liberated the people of Israel from Egypt, imposed covenantal obligations on them at Mt. Sinai, and brought them to the Promised Land.
• Hebrew tradition itself, moreover, does not unanimously support even the more modest claim of the continuity of YHWH worship from Abraham to Moses
• patriarchs are depicted as objects of God’s blessing, protection, and providential care

Question 3

The Mosaic period: foundations of the Israelite religion

Answer 3

• According to Hebrew tradition, a famine caused the migration to Egypt of the band of 12 Hebrew families that later made up a tribal league in the land of Israel
• Like Muhammad (c. 570–632 ce) at the birth of Islam, Moses fills oracular, legislative, executive, and military functions. He shapes the main institutions of Israel: the priesthood and the sacred shrine, the covenant and its rules, and the administrative apparatus of the tribal league
• The liberation from Egypt laid upon Israel the obligation of exclusive loyalty to YHWH
• The values of life and limb, labour, and social solidarity were protected in the rules governing interpersonal relations
• Moral exhortations called for solidarity with the poor and the helpless and for brotherly assistance to those in need
• Since the goal of the Israelites was the conquest of a land, their religion had warlike features

Question 4

The period of the conquest and settlement of Canaan

Answer 4

• conquest of Canaan was remembered as a continuation of God’s marvels at the Exodus.
• The Jordan River was split asunder, the walls of Jericho fell at Israel’s shout, the enemy was seized with divinely inspired terror, and the sun stood still in order to enable Israel to exploit its victory
• A complex process of occupation, involving both battles of annihilation and treaty agreements with indigenous peoples, has been simplified in the biblical account of the wars of Joshua (13th century bce)
• The Book of Judges, the main witness for the period, describes repeated cycles of apostasy, oppression, appeal to God, and relief through a champion sent by God.
• Both written and archaeological testimonies, however, point to the Hebrews’ adoption of Canaanite cults—the Baal worship of Gideon’s family and neighbours in Ophrah
• Ark of the Covenant was housed in the Shiloh sanctuary, staffed by priests of the house of Eli, who traced their consecration back to Egypt. But the ark remained a portable palladium in wartime; Shiloh was not regarded as its final resting place.

Question 5

The period of the united monarchy

Answer 5

• The decentralized tribal league could not cope with the constant pressure of external enemies, so a central authority that could mobilize the forces of the entire league and create a standing army had to be established
• Two attitudes were distilled in the crisis—one conservative and anti-monarchic, the other radical and pro-monarchic
• Benjaminite Saul was made king (c. 1020 bce) by divine election and by popular acclamation after his victory over the Ammonites
• Saul’s kingship was bestowed by Samuel and had to be accommodated to the ongoing authority of that man of God
• The essence of the Davidic innovation was the idea that, in addition to divine election through Samuel and public acclamation, David had received God’s promise of an eternal dynasty
• David captured the Jebusite stronghold of Jerusalem and made it the seat of a national monarchy
• Then, fetching the ark from an obscure retreat, David installed it in his capital, asserting his royal prerogative (and obligation) to build a shrine for the national God and thus at the same time joining the symbols of the dynastic and the national covenants.
• David planned to build a temple to house the ark, but the tenacious tradition of the ark’s portability in a tent shrine forced the postponement of the project to the reign of his son Solomon
• Solomon erected the Temple on a Jebusite threshing floor
• latest historical allusions in the Torah literature (the Pentateuch) are to the period of the united monarchy
• In this period the traditional wisdom cultivated among the learned in neighbouring cultures came to be prized in Israel

Question 6

The period of the divided kingdom

Answer 6

• Jeroboam I (10th century bce), the first king of the north, now called Israel
• The Book of Kings (later divided into two books; see Kings, books of) remains the almost exclusive source for the evaluation of Jeroboam’s innovations and the subsequent official religion of the north down to the mid-8th century
• Another serious limitation is the restriction of Kings’ purview: excepting the Elijah-Elisha stories, it recognizes only the royally sponsored cult and pays scant attention to popular religion
• For half a century after the north’s secession (c. 922 bce), the religious situation in Jerusalem was unchanged
• To judge from the stories of Elisha, devotion to the cult of Baal existed in the capital city, Samaria, but was not felt in the countryside

Question 7

The period of classical prophecy and cult reform

Answer 7

• By the mid-8th century, one hundred years of chronic warfare between Israel and Aram had finally ended—the Aramaeans having suffered heavy blows from the Assyrians.
• The westward push of the Neo-Assyrian empire in the mid-8th century bce soon brought Aram and Israel to their knees.
• Judah was subjected to such intense pressure to join an Israelite-Aramaean coalition against Assyria that its king Ahaz (8th century bce) instead submitted to Assyria in return for relief
• The prophecy of Micah (8th century bce), also from Judah, was contemporary with that of Isaiah and touched on similar themes—e.g., the vision of universal peace is found in both their books
• According to the Book of Jeremiah (about 100 years later), Micah’s prophetic threat to Jerusalem had caused King Hezekiah (reigned c. 715–c. 686 bce) to placate God—possibly an allusion to the cult reform instituted by the king in order to cleanse Judah of various pagan practices
• Hezekiah was the leading figure in a western coalition of states that joined with the Babylonian king Merodach-Baladan II in a rebellion against the Assyrian king Sennacherib shortly after the Assyrian’s accession in 705 bce
• During the long and peaceful reign of Manasseh in the 7th century bce, Judah was a submissive ally of Assyria
• With the death of Ashurbanipal, Assyria’s power faded quickly.
• Josiah envisaged the restoration of Davidic authority over the entire domain of ancient Israel, and the retreat of Assyria facilitated his ambitions—until he became fatally embroiled in the struggle of the powers over the dying empire
• Among the exiles in Babylonia, the prophet Ezekiel, Jeremiah’s contemporary, was haunted by the burden of Israel’s sin.

Question 8

The Babylonian Exile

Answer 8

• The survival of the religious community of exiles in Babylonia demonstrates how rooted and widespread the religion of YHWH was.
• Assurance of that future glory was given not only by Jeremiah’s and Ezekiel’s consolations, which were made credible by the fulfillment of the prophecies of doom, but also by the great comforter of the exile, the writer or writers of what is known as Deutero-Isaiah (Isaiah 40–66), who perceived the instrument of God’s salvation in the rise and progress of the Persian king Cyrus II (the Great; reigned 550–529 bce; see Isaiah, Book of).

Question 9

The period of the restoration

Answer 9

• After conquering Babylonia, Cyrus allowed those Jews who wished to do so to return and rebuild their Temple. Although some 40,000 eventually made their way back, they were soon disillusioned and ceased their rebuilding as the glories of the restoration failed to materialize and as controversy arose with the Samaritans, who opposed the reconstruction.
• The one religious constant in the vicissitudes of the restored community was the mood of repentance and the desire to win back God’s favour by adherence to the rules of his covenant.
• The decisive constitutional event of the new community was the covenant subscribed to by its leaders in 444, which made the Torah the law of the land.
• Concern over observance of the Torah was raised by the stark contrast between messianic expectations and the harsh reality of the restoration.