Exam 1 Flashcards
Reason Israel divided between northern and southern kingdom
After the death of King Solomon, his son Rehoboam comes to power. In Solomon’s consolidation of power through the construction of the palace and Temple on Jersusalem high taxes were placed on the people. When Reohboam comes to power he does not ease these conditions. As a result, the kingdom fractures.
Clans and tribes in the north split
King is Jeroboam
They are called Israel
Capital is Samaria
Tribes in the south stayed with the king in Jerusalem
King Rehoboam
They are called Judah
Capital is Jerusalem
Fall of Israel to Assyri
722/721 BCE
Fall of Jerusalem to Babylon
586 BCE
Persians conquer Babylon
539 BCE
Temple is rebuilt
515 BCE
Arrival of Alexander the Great in Israel
332 BCE
Roman dominance over Palestine begins
63 BCE
Romans destroy the Jerusalem temple
70 CE
Strengths and weaknesses of the two kingdoms
North-
Bigger
Stronger
Has more resources
Better farm land
Bible wants to make you think they were on the edge of teetering and falling apart
Problem:
Big enough that in they made alliances with other kingdoms they would be very powerful
Jezabel and Ahab were very powerful despite what the bible says
Kingship was never stable
722/721 BCE falls to the Empire of Assyria
Ninevah is capital
North thinks they can stand against Assyria
Ten tribes disappear from history
People who survived were exiled
They moved other defeated people into the territory and mixed people up
Assyria falls in 612 to the Neo-Babylonian Empire
Strong Davidic dynasty in the kingship
Smaller, weaker
586 BCE Babylon destroys Jerusalem
Temple is burned
Exiled people- mostly focused on priests, royalty, and nobility
Land is not empty- prophetic text is using hyberbole
539 BCE Persia defeats Babylon
Cyrus
People of Judah can go home
Why did Judah last longer?
Judah lasted longer as they were able to make some smarter decisions. They were smaller and took fewer risks. Sometimes by luck or lucky good decision
Biblical text says because they were more righteous; historically they took few chances, got lucky, but eventually Babylon wipes them outGone in 586 Judah paid tribute to Assyria and did not threaten the empire.
What are the problems of deciding when historically correct to use the designation “Jews”
We cannot use the term “ Judaism” or “Jews” until at least 539 BCE
Even with that date- there is a question about what it actually meant. Built off of the word “ Yehud”
Province in the Persian Empire
Meant the people who live in that province
Does not immediately mean a religious system of thought
We know who their ancestors are- The Hebrews
Themes on the prayer
Similarities between the Lord’s prayer and the Sabbath
Holy, holy, holy- is from Isaiah- coming straight out of Isaiah 6
Apart, apart, apart
God is apart and God is present
Similar 8
“ In mercy, God is revealing the sight of all the living “
The revelation of God- the sight of God is an act of mercy- of kindness
Feminine word in hebrew care and kindness
Hallelujah-
One of the new hebrew words that did not get translated
Praise Jah!
What did the religion of Judah look like? Israel in the north?
Israel was absolutely polytheistic, then Henotheistic, then Monotheistic. The religion look very similar to Canaanite religion especially in the imagine used on the temple. Sacrificial system at local alters. Festivals, sacrfices, practice in the home
What did the religion of the Second Temple look like?
Once the temple is rebuilt in 515 BCE- 70 CE
High priest hood becomes very political
High Priest is the liaison between whatever ruling power and the Jewish people
Maccabees- the Hasmoneans when they get control of the priesthood, there is a big question over whether or not they are legitimate
Temple is central
Sacrafices
Late in the period- rise of the synagogue- at the turn of the era
But these are more like community centers
Not sure if worship went on there
Or study of the bible went on there
No idea what went on there
Home is a very important place for practice of the religion
Development of the idea of Torah as something to be studied and practiced begins to grow
Slowly prayer is developing a lot
God’s name [Exodus 3; Ten Commandments
God spoke these words…In order to call on a deity you needed to have the deities name
Power to change the behaviour of a person by calling the name
To have some element of control and access over the deity
Israel gets the name and also doesn’t get the name
How do you pronounce it? Really not sure- can’t really say it
Its guarded- this is way it will say in Judaism
Any Jewish reading of a text, and you come to the name, you say ‘adonai instead- this means “ LORD”
In rabbinic texts, there will be a further abbreviation- this helps keep the name holy
How do we refer to the term
Call it the tetragrammaton
YHWH
Some Jews will write G-d to protect the name
Transcribed into English a lot as Yahweh
