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Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible

Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible. 2000 B.C.E. – 1st Century C.E. (Before the Common Era – Common Era). Ancient Israel. On the intersection of multiple ancient cultures : egyptian, mesopotamian, foinician, etc. Borders: W: Medditeranean Sea

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Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible

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  1. Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible 2000 B.C.E. – 1st Century C.E. (Before the Common Era – Common Era)

  2. Ancient Israel On the intersection of multiple ancient cultures : egyptian, mesopotamian, foinician, etc. Borders: W: Medditeranean Sea E: moving boundaries according to the cultivated area x desert N: the city of Dan and Hermon mountain chain S: Negev Desert and the city of Beersheba Before the arrival of the Israeli tribes this territory was settled by principally the semitic Canaanites and other smaller ethnical groups such as the Philistines that came here from the greek area Canaan - under egyptian influence 1250 B.C.E. Arrival of Israeli (Hebrew) tribes Five Books of Moses - what happened before the arrival of Israelis to Canaan = Torah (hebrew) = teaching/ law; Sefer Torah (scroll) = חומש‎(printed) ḤamishahḤumsheiTorah (Five Books) = Pentateuch (greek) = Five Books = a saga describing the destinies of the forefathers of the Israeli tribes (Abraham, Isac, Jacob, Joseph et al.) that were semi-nomadic and travelled in the Middle East = abstract complex of God´s will

  3. Ancient Israel Abraham – forefather of Israelis Told by God to lead Israelis from Mesopotamy to Canaan God promised him and his descendents, Isaak and Jacob (Israel) the Holy Land Jacob (Israel) had 12 sons A part of Israelis settled in Egypt - became enslavend – freed by Moses = founder of the Jewish religion = Judaism

  4. Moses Born in Egypt His parents were from the Levi tribe Killed the egyptian tyrant – escaped – the Lord appeared to him in a burning bush and told him to lead his nation from Egypt to Canaan, the promised land They wandered 40 years in the desert where the Lord revealed himself to Moses on the mount Sinai and gave him the God´s Law and made a covenant, a religious treaty with the people of Israel – it became the people of God and God became their Lord Monoteism = trust in existence of one God Ten Commandments

  5. Moses – Ten Commandments • http://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Deut.5.4-Deut.5.21 Deuteronomy 5:4-21 4The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, 5  while I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord. For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. He said: 6  “‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 7 “‘You shall have no other gods before[a] me. 8 “‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but showing steadfast love to thousands[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments. 11 “‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. 12 “‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15  You shall remember that you were a slave[c] in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. 16 “‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 17  “‘You shall not murder.[d] 18  “‘And you shall not commit adultery. 19 “‘And you shall not steal. 20 “‘And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 21 “‘And you shall not covet your neighbor's wife. And you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.’

  6. Ancient Israel - Bible • Exodus (Shemot) from Egypt • Different Israeli tribes arrived to Canaan in multiple waves • United by a faith in one God • With time became a prevailing ethnicity in the country that they called the land of Israel ( = God fights/ God reigns) • Judges = destinies of the leaders of the Israeli tribes • Tribal system evolved in a kingdom • Saul • David • Solomon

  7. Ancient Israel - Bible • Saul • David, about 1000 B.C.E. – Books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles • Unified the Israeli tribes • Jerusalem – capital of his new kingdom • Fortified and rebuilt the city • Wrote Psalms • Solomon Rembrandt, David playing for Saul

  8. Ancient Israel - Bible • David • Commanded his son • Salomon • to build a Jerusalem Temple on Mount Moriah (destroyed 70 C.E. By the Roman Emperor Titus). This work took seven years followed by thirteen years of building of a royal complex to the south of the Temple. New walls were built to connect this area with David´s city. • Israel´s first permanent sanctuary • Wise man : wrote Proverbs, Kohelet and the Song of Songs (שר השרים)

  9. Kingdom • Kingdom split in two parts • North – Israel kingdom – Samaria • The cult of Baal was allowed • Asyria conquered Samaria in the 8th c. BCE disintegration of the Kingdom of Israel • South – Kingdom of Judea – Jerusalem • Among two mighty states : Egypt and Neo-Babylonian realm • 587 Nabuchodonozor conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the 1st Temple Babylonian captivity of the elites  the end of the Kingdom and of the dynasty of David • Ended with the Persian conquest of Babylonia : the Persian king Kyros permitted Jews to go back to Judea and to renew the Temple (hailed as a divine angle – Isaiah) • Ezra עזרא, Nehemia נְחֶמְיָה: Persian province Jehud – area of 20 x 50 km around Jerusalem • Ezra the Scribe – lived about 100 years after Kyros; organized return to Judea; played an importnat role in the redaction of Torah; perhaps author of the Chronicles (end of Ketubim) • Since 518 BCE renewal of the Temple – already without Aron ha-kodesh; from the 1st Temple only the Menorah survived

  10. Jerusalem Temple, reconstruction

  11. Judea Greeks Romans The Hasmonean dynasty (from Makkabes) was superated by the Romans (63 BCE Pompeius conquered Jerusalem) Under Romans the Jewish society polarized Sadducees Pharisees Essenes Zealots • Under Ptolemai dynasty untill cca 200 BCE when the Seleuk dynasty takes power • 164 BCE Juda Makkabe´s uprising against Antiochos IV Epiphanos who tried to force Jew to hellenisation • Jerusalem was reconquered and the Temple reconsecrated

  12. Judea • Sadducees • elitists who wanted to maintain the priestly caste • open to incorporate Hellenism into their lives (something the Pharisees opposed) • rejected the idea of the Oral Law and insisted on a literal interpretation of the Written Law; (consequently, they did not believe in an afterlife, since it is not mentioned in the Torah) • the main focus : rituals associated with the Temple • disappeared around 70 CE after the destruction of the Second Temple • None of the writings of the Sadducees survive • Pharisees • the spiritual fathers of modern Judaism • Oral Law • Believed that God gave Moses on Sinai a written law and the knowledge of what these laws meant and how they should be applied. This oral tradition was codified and written down roughly three centuries later in what is known as the Talmud

  13. Judea • Essenes • moved out of Jerusalem and lived a monastic life in the desert, adopting strict dietary laws and a commitment to celibacy. • may have been the Temple priests who went into self-imposed exile in the 2nd c. BCE, after kings unlawfully assumed the role of high priest • Zealots • Advocated violence against Romans and the Sadducees • Criticised in Talmud for their blind militarism • The leading role in the Jewish Revolt of 66: took over Jerusalem and held it until 70, when the son of Roman Emperor Vespasian, Titus retook the city and destroyed the Temple. • After the destruction of the Temple took refuge in the fortress Masada – committed a group suicide when the fortress was conquered by the Romans

  14. Exile • Diaspora – Jewish communities living outside of Israel • God rules the world through His love and justice and He dwells in the world in the form of shekhina (God´s presence)

  15. Ancient Israel - Bible • God יהוה ha- Shem Adonaï • Contrasts with the Middle East polytheism • Eschatology • Monoteism : judaism, christianity, islam • Bible: „ta biblia“ (greek) = books • Old Testament – mainly in hebrew – canonical for Jews • New Testament – in greek – tradition about life and teaching of Jesus Christ • Written 2nd c. BCE – 1st c. CE

  16. Ancient Israel - Bible • Hebrew bible = Tanakh • Torah - Five Books of Moses: Bereshit (Genesis), Shemot (Exodus), Vayikra (Leviticus), Bemidbar (Numbers), Devarim (Deuteronomy) • Divided in 54 parashiyot for every Shabbat – starts again on Simchat Torah • Naviim (Prophets) : Isaiah, Jeremy, Ezechiel, small prophets... • Ketubim (Scriptures): Psalms, Song of Songs (love poetry), Job, Kohelet, Proverbs, Ruth, Daniel...

  17. Shema Israel Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. And you will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your capability. And these words that I command you today shall be in your heart and you will teach them to your sons and you will pronounce them while you dwell in your house, while you are on your way and while you lie down and while you rise up. And you will bind them to your hand and they will be among your eyes and you will write them on your the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

  18. Rabbinic Judaism and Talmud 1st C. – 5th C. CE

  19. Talmudic Times • Sanhedrin (the Jewish High Court) continued to work after the destruction of the 2nd Temple in the year 70 but was allowed only to deal with religious matters • Formulation of the canon of the biblical books • Oral Law- adaptation of Torah to the actual problems • United Jews in Diaspora • Rabbi Akiva – Romans tried to interrupt the Jewish traditions – uprising of Bar Kochba, 132 CE – Romans reconquered Jerusalem

  20. Talmud • Galilee – new center of the Jewish litteracy and the High Court

  21. Talmud • Hillel (הלל) c.110 BCE, died 10 CE • associatedwith the development of the Mishnah and the Talmud • founder of the House of Hillel school for Tannaïm (Sages of the Mishnah) • Jehuda ha-Nasi (2nd c.) codified Mishna (teaching) – oral law • Law regulating the agriculture, holidays, marriage, civile law, cult, ritual purity • Mishna based on Torah and halakha, religious law which originates in the Written (Torah she-bikhtav) and Oral Torah (Torah she- b´al peh) • Babylonia • Extensive commentary to Mishnah = Gemara MISHNA + GEMARA = TALMUD Talmud Jerushalmi – 5th c. Talmud Bavli – 6th c. – more authoritative

  22. Talmud • Stimulates to raise questions • Besides the religious law and disputations (halakha), the Talmud contains different narrative stories (aggada) • Jerusalem Talmud 2/3 aggada, 1/3 halakha • Babylonian Talmud 5/6 halakha • הגיד = to narrate; to put on the table in individual details • Aggada – collected fragments on individual rabbis • Creative filling of biblical gaps • Halakha – a part of everyday life does need to change; aggada does not • Aggada : everything that is not halakha (constitution); creative • Halakha is superior to aggada • Prior, necessary, a priviledge to fulfill it since the revelation of the Torah on Sinai

  23. Talmudic Ethics • Rabi Shimon ben Gamliel says: "The world is sustained by three things, by justice, by truth and by peace.„ • Rabi Natan says: „Do not blame others for your own mistake.“ • Hilel says:  “Don’t do unto others what you would not want do to you – that is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary. Go and learn!“ • "Do not say 'I will study when I have the time', for perhaps you will never have time." Pirkei Avot 2:5

  24. Talmudic Times • Formation of a synagogue = place of gathering • Religious service and school • Oldest synagogues in Galilee, Bet Alpha, 6th c. CE • Mosaic floor • Place of reading of Torah written on parchemin kept in a sanctuary, wrept in precious, often embroidered cloth

  25. Mosaic floor in Bet Alpha, Galilee

  26. Geonic Period • Geonim: Rabbinic leaders in Babylonia in the 7th - 10th c. • Responsa • Talmudic academies in Babylonia • These schools (yeshivot) had the same function as Sanhedrin • Sura, Pumbedita • Arabization and islamization of the Middle East, Egypt, northern Africa, most of Spain • Besides hebrew and arameic (the language of Talmud; a language spoken in entire Middle East 2000 years ago), Jewish scholars start to use arabic, especially for scientific and philosophical treatises • 10th c. – Andalusia – new center of the Jewish education • Flowering of Jewish philosophy, science and poetry

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