Lecture #12: Intertestamental Period

COURSE: Old Testament

Lecture #12: Intertestamental Period

Alexander the Great

• His father was assassinated when he was 20 at which time he set out on a dramatic military career in which he was victorious everywhere.
• He swept through Persia, Afghanistan and by 326 BCE had reached the Indus River in present day Pakistan.
• According to legend, Alexander stood on the banks of the Indus River weeping because there were no more worlds to conquer.
  
  
• He had studied under the Greek Philosopher, Aristotle and thus was also interested in spreading Greek culture.
• The city of Alexandria, Egypt, which was named for him, became a monument to the Greek way of life: intellectual, athletic and artistic.
• Believing Greek culture was superior, he felt it his divine mission, (for he was honored as a god) to spread Greek art and manners everywhere.
  
  
• Alexander did not live to see his dream fulfilled for he died in 323 at age 32.
• at his death his generals divided his empire
• Syria went to Seleucus and Egypt to Ptolemy and Palestine was caught in a struggle between the powers of the fertile crescent.
• Alexander's policy of spreading Greek culture thru the world was carried on by these leaders
• Hellenization is the name applied to this process of bringing Greek culture. Gymnasiums, theaters, stadiums were found everywhere.
• Greek dress became fashionable, especially among the aristocrats, and koine Greek ie, the vernacular, became the spoken language of international business and political affairs
  
  
• Hellenism represents a synthesis of the Occident and Orient.
• Carthage became the only remaining center of Canaanite civilization.
• Like the fall of Assyria in 609, Alexander's conquest fed the apocalyptic spirit of the age and had a great intellectual impact on all peoples.
• The Ptolemies built up a famous museum at Alexandria, with a huge library that would compare favorably with the best libraries of today
• Euclid, Archimedes, and others developed their ideas there.
  
  
• Under Ptolemy II (285-246 BCE) Jewish scholars began translating the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek.
• this translation too many years but the Septuagint was produced which was read by most of the diaspora now that Greek was the language
• The Jews also produced a number of books including The Wisdom of Solomon which is in the Apocrypha, which were influenced by a Hellenistic world view.
  
  
• the Ptolemies ruled in Palestine for a long time after Alexander's death but in 198 BCE the seleucid king won back Falistine from Egyptian control,
• Under the Ptolemies the Jews had no problems with their own religion but Antiochus the great was a strict upholder of Hellenism as was successor, Antochus IV (175-163).
• He was known as Antiochus Epiphanes because he claimed to be god (Zeus) manifest. As a result, he ruled with absolute authority.
• He didn't object to people having other gods, but the test of political loyalty was the worship of Zeus, and this meant submission to the absolute authority of the king--"god manifest".
• Needless to say, this caused real trouble in Palestine.
• When the office of high priest was auctioned off to the highest bidder, rioting took place.
• the fight between the two pretenders to the high priesthood, and the ensuing riots, brought Antiochus to Jerusalem with his army, put Menelaus into the high priest's office and punished the populace by plundering the temple and shedding Jewish blood (II Macc 4-5)
  
  
• Infuriated over the Jews stubborn defiance and a defeat he had suffered in an Egyptian campaign, he issued orders for the outlawing of Jewish religion and complete Hellenization of Jewish life.
• according to the edict, Jewish mothers who circumcised their children were to be put to death,
• copies of the Torah were to be burned and observance of the Sabbath and possession of a copy of the Torah were capital offenses.

• Abomination of Desecration: In 168 BCE he marched his troops into Jerusalem and set up an altar to Zeus over the alter for burnt offerings in the temple court.
• he further defiled it by sacrificing a swine upon it--the most unclean animal of all, according to Jewish law (I Macc 1:54; see Dan 9:27; 11:31; 12:11; and Mk 13:14)
• pagan altars were built in the land and Jews were forced to make sacrifices to Zeus and eat swine's flesh, with troops policing to make sure the royal edict was obeyed.

The Maccabean Revolt

• The revolt began in a town NW of Jerusalem when a Syrian officer demanded the local citizens comply and make a pagan sacrifice.
• Mattathias, a village priest, flatly refused and proceeded to kill a jew who was going to comply and the officer.
• He and his five sons fled to the hills and gathered a band of loyal Jews.
• Their battle cry was the shoult of Mattathias: "Let everybody who is zealous for the Law and stands by the covenant come out after me" (I Macc 2:27)
• In 166 when he died, he commissioned his eldest son Judas to Carry on.
• He won a surprising victory over Antiochus' general and demanded a peace treaty.
• on the 25th day of the month of Kislev (December), 165 BCE. He rebuilt the altar of the Temple and restored the service of Jewish worship
  
  
• This is the origin of Hanukkah (rededication) also called the feast of lights.
• The story is there was only enough oil to burn in the lamps needed for cleansing the temple for one night but it burned for 8 days, i.e. a miracle. Thus, Hanukkah lasts 8 days.
  
  
• In 148 BCE the tower which Antiochus had built overlooking the temple, to keep an eye on the Jews, along with his Syrian and Greek troops, were cleared away through negotiations.
• Palestine essentially had independence for about a century until the Roman ruler Pompey came to Jerusalem in 63 BCE.

Daniel

• Shortly after the outbreak of the Maccabean wars, an unknown writer composed the book of Daniel
• He was undoubtedly one of the Hasidim and his purpose was to rekindle the faith of Israel and summon the Jewish people to loyalty even in the fact of persecution.
• He affirms that history is completely under YHWH's control and sets forth the theology of the Maccabean revolution.
• it has rightly been called "The manifesto of the Hasidim"
  
  
• Some people have been misled by the author's portrayal of incidents and visions experienced by Daniel and have regarded it as a prophecy of the future.
• It has become the happy hunting ground for those who are fascinated by "biblical prophecy" and who look for some mysterious blueprint of the future hidden in its pages.
• However, Daniel is not classed with the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures but is considered part of the writings.
• The author of Daniel spoke to his time in the guise of a writing that was predated in the Babylonian period, as though one were looking to the future not backward from the present.
• In this late post-exilic period when prophecy was believed to have ceased, it was common to release writings under the name of some figure of ancient Jewish tradition.
• The Pseudepigrapha (which means spurious writings) contain works issued under the names of various biblical characters such as the assumption of Moses, the Testament of the twelve patriarchs, etc.
• this literature has been increased with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls also (which I will discuss later.)
• in this case the author chose Daniel--a traditional pious Israelite and hero of the Ras Shamra literature.
  
  
• the type of literature is known as Apocalyptic which means in Greek "to uncover or reveal"
• there are many examples of this type in the late post-exilic and Christian period.
• The most outstanding example is the book of Revelation which is written in an idiom that is strikingly similar to and even dependent upon, the book of Daniel.
• Apocalyptic literature abounds with bizarre visions, strange symbolism, and supernatural happenings.
• It is written in a time of persecution and employs a kind of spiritual code that makes it a "sealed book" (Dan 12:4) to those outside the circle of faith.
  
  
• The central theme of apocalyptic literature is God's revelation (apocalypse) concerning the end-time, the coming kingdom of God.
• Israel' sense of the linear progression of history means that from the first her faith had been future oriented toward a fulfillment of the promise of YHWH and his control on all history.
  
  
• Before the exile, the prophets for saw a new age in which Israel would be healed and the new covenant would be written on the hearts of the people (Jer 31)
• they did not expect that the course of human affairs would come to an end, but that the course of Israel's rebellious history would be ended.
• beginning with the Exile a shift in prophetic emphasis took place.
• Ezekial, who stood on the boundary between the old national era and emerging Judaism spoke in accents of doom and hope like his predecessors, but his message was cast in a new style of bizarre visions and weird symbolism.
• He looked beyond the judgment day and drew a pattern of "priestly utopia".
• He believed that the new age would be preceded by a final assault on Jerusalem by Gog from Magog, a symbolic foe from the north.
• This overthrow of Gog is a good illustration of how apocalyptic literature tends to shift the burden of responsibility from Israel's covenant failure to the sway of mysterious powers of evil (the mythical powers of chaos) that must be overthrown in the final battle of history.
  
  
• Most apocalyptic writers see the sufferings of Israel---or other peoples–cannot be explained on the basis of sin (remember Job).
• Israel is the victim of a monstrous power of evil that sweeps over the righteous and the wicked as Habakkuk perceived (Hab 1:6-11)
• Israel is not a criminal but a victim and even if there is punishment, it is all out of proportion to the crime.
• Therefore, apocalyptic writers who are grappling with the problem of evil are profoundly pessimistic about the present age and see it under the domain of sinister evil powers, symbolized by Satan.
• They all see the age to come as a time of freedom from moral corruption, evil oppression and death.
  
  
• Nothing can be done humanly speaking to change things but God himself must intervene to destroy the whole present system in a cataclysm.
• in the New Testament, the kingdom of Satan is overthrown
  
  
• In the apocalyptic vision history is moving with inexorable momentum and with a predetermined divine plan toward the final showdown and the final victory of God's kingdom.
  
  
• Zechariah 12-14 come from this later time and see when all nations gather at Jerusalem for a final showdown,
• Isaiah 24-27 comes from this time also and is called "the little apocalypse" and has already been discussed
  
  
• However, I will add here that in Is 26:19 we have the first clear reference in the Hebrew Scriptures to the resurrection of the individual in the context of the righteous of earlier generations being raised from the dead in order that they may participate in the consummation of history.
• Ezekial 37 had spoken of the resurrection of Israel, but this was the first time applied to the individual.
  
  
• Eventually, the doctrine was extended to cover a general resurrection at the end of time, in order that the wicked might not escape the final judgment and that the righteous might receive the reward of their faithfulness.
• There is no biblical view of a soul separate from a body but the life of the individual is tied up with the body and a resurrection of it (the body).
• The idea of a soul in a body is Greek.
  
  
• Daniel is divided into two parts.

• chap 1-6 tell about Daniel and his friends
• Chap 7-12 contains his visions.

• part of it is in Aramaic, part Hebrew
• The book in its present form is fundamentally a unity issued during the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes' persecution--probably about 165 BCE.
  
  
• The author has made numerous historical blunders on details of the Babylonian exile. He did not have his history of the Persian empire straight.
• The Author’s purpose was not historical accuracy, thank heaven, but to proclaim a religious message to his embattled fellow Jews
• He wrote in a cryptic code which the enemy could not understand and cleverly disguised his references to contemporary historical events and personalities in narratives and visions.
• Read between the lines, it is quite a good history of the period of the Maccabean revolt.
  
  
• The Maccabean revolution was successful for a time but eventually lost the religious zeal it had initially and returned to the old political game with the most successful schemer being the high priest.
• Edom (which Rome called Ideomenia) was forcibly converted to Judaism as part of the revolution.
  
  
• the last daughter of the Maccabees married into the Ideomenian family of Antipater, who was not accepted by pious Jews since they had been forcibly converted, and were not trusted
• Antipater was behind the Roman rule which began in 63 BCE when the Romans took Jerusalem w/o siege due to internal Jewish fights
• Antipater is the father of Herod I (the Great) who lived till 4 BCE and under whom Jesus was born.
• Samaria split off at the same time rejecting the revolution and this is the source of the hatred of Samaritans during Jesus day.
• Orthodox Jews felt the Samaritans had become too multicultural even though they used only the Pentateuch as their scripture and had their own temple.
• the borders of Judah and Israel were pushed to that of 800 BCE.

Sects within Judaism

Sadducees

• Sadducees advocated a policy of tolerance and compromise, which was understandable since they were from the more wealthy, priestly and prestigious families.
• They rejected the doctrine of the resurrection because they found no support for it in the Torah (the Pentateuch)
• They also rejected any apocalyptic thinking including belief in angels and demons and the predictions of the end time.
• Their view of history was essentially that of the priestly version of the Pentateuch in which the divine plan came to fulfillment in the establishment of a theocratic community, patterned after the law and revealed to Moses.
• They advocated the priestly status quo and advocated a policy of collaboration as long as the temple services were permitted to continue.

Pharisees

• Out of the circles of the Hasidim there eventually arose a party known as the Pharisees.
• They practiced strict devotion to the customs that separated Jews from Gentiles: dietary laws, circumcision, fasting, prayer.
• In one sense they were stricter than the Sadducees but in the sense that they accepted the teachings found in books outside the Torah, such as the prophets, they were more liberal.
• In addition, they believed Moses had not only been given written law, but oral law that interpreted the meaning of what was written.
• This is called the tradition of the elders and was eventually codified in the Mishnah (C. CE 200). and finally in an expanded version known as the Talmud
• It is the Pharisaic version of Judaism which survived the fall of the temple in 70 CE and basically it is their form which Jews today have inherited.

Zealots

• The Zealots are closely related to the Pharisees but their views on political action was more akin to the Maccabees
• They wanted to act to bring about the new age and were basically the cause of the revolt which led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple from 66 to 70 CE.
  
  
• Apocalyptic literature was by far the most popular literature coming out of this time.
• It was held that prophecy ceased with Ezra so writers couched their prophecy in the form of a revelation given to a figure of ancient times (Adam, Enoch, Noah, Moses, etc.)
• Enoch, for example, is given a trip through heaven and hell, a la Dante and his divine comedy, and dates from early in the Christian era.

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

• Until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in a cave by a Bedouin Shepherd boy in 1947, little was known about the Essenes except that they were listed in Josephus' histories and by Philo Judaeus of Alexandria as one of the sects of Judaism.
• Before this time, scholars had almost no Jewish literature dating from the centuries immediately before and during the formative period of Christianity.
• These scrolls provide an entire religious library dating from the mid second century BCE to the end of the first century CE. This is the area where John the Baptist (possibly an Essene himself) and Jesus began their ministries.

Essenes

Some scholars propose that the Dead Sea Library represents a variety of religious groups, but the largest group of scholars believe that the scrolls were produced by the Essenes, an ascetic Jewish sect that flourished in Palestine from about 140 BC till 68 CE when it was destroyed or dispersed by Roman legions.

• THE QUMRAN COMMUNITY: It is believed that this group began after the Macabean revolt (167-164 BC) over which was the "proper" lineage for the Priesthood in the temple of Jerusalem. Many priests felt that the Hasmonean rulers who assumed the high priesthood after the Macabean revolt, were not in the "proper" lineage to be priests in the temple and split off forming a new community.

They saw themselves as the community of the "new covenant" and separated themselves from the world to practice monastic devotion to the Torah and wait until the end of the historical drama.

They awaited two messiahs, one priestly in the line of Aaron who would take over the temple and re-install the proper priesthood. And the second in the line of David who would be a military messiah who would set up David's kingdom as it was meant to be again

They emphasized MELCHIZEDEK, a mysterious king-priest mentioned in Gen. 14 and possibly influenced the writer of Hebrews who tried to prove that the risen Christ fulfilled the roles of both messiahs.

Their zeal for the Torah and their hope for the "apocalyptic kingdom" led them to revive the ancient concept of "Holy War" (Herem) by which they would be purified from pagan culture in the "War of the Sons of light against the Sons of Darkness".

This book, among others, was found in the caves, including fragments of every book except Esther of the Hebrew Canon.

There are scholars who theorize that this group was an early form of Christianity. Others such as Barbara Theiring and Dr. Eisenman believe that the Teacher of Righteousness was James the Just, Jesus Brother and leader of the first church in Palestine. He was known as "James the Righteous". Jesus was part of this group, according to them, although going against their purity laws and it was Jesus seen as the "wicked Priest" according to Theiring.

Some have seen the apostle Paul as the "Wicked Priest" whom the scrolls condemn because he rejected keeping the Torah in favor of divine grace.

Despite a few extreme, and almost universally repudiated claims the scholarly consensus believes the primary value of the scrolls is studying Christian origins is the evidence they provide for the Palestinian roots of earliest Christianity as opposed to Hellenistic roots.

Documents outlining the Essenes' mode of worship, communal meals using bread and wine, purification rites, involving baptism, and the conviction that they alone formed a New covenant community representing the True Israel demonstrate abundant parallels with Christianity.

Most scholars think that it simply shows that many rituals were shared in common just as the Greco-Roman myths of a dying and rising savior deity foreshadowed theological interpretations of Jesus' life and death.

THE SCROLLS:

First: the scrolls contain the oldest surviving copies of the Hebrew bible pushing back the dates about 900 years over previously known copies.

Some are remarkably accurate when compared but others differ from the medieval texts. This suggests that by the first century Jewish scholars had not yet adopted a universally recognized version of the sacred writings.

Second: the scrolls include copies or fragments of apocryphal and pseudepigraphal works: tobit, I Enoch, Jubilees. Generally written later than the canonical books. They use names of people of the distant past to write. It appears these were studied and preserved as scripture.

Third: are Essene commentaries on canonical books, called Targums. These use methods interpreting the biblical texts almost identical to the New Testament writers. Matthew is a good example, who sees the Hebrew bible as a repository of prophetic texts foretelling Jesus.

The Targum on Habakkuk sees his words as a predictor of recent Essene leaders' experiences.

Both Essene and Christian writers see God's only loyal worshippers as their community and as the culmination of the divine plan for humanity.

Finally: are scrolls produced entirely by and for the Essene community. There are numerous works whose existence had never been suspected.

These include 7 scrolls:

"A manual of Discipline" giving requirements and regulations for life in Qumran. Humanity is divided into two mutually exclusive categories>

The children of light who are guided by a "spirit of truth" and ruled by a "Prince of Light" and.

Children of falsehood who walk in darkness under an "angel of Darkness". This kind of language typifies John's gospel.

A compendium of messianic rules designating qualities of age, purity, orthodoxy, etc. for the community. Especially relevant, a solemn meal of bread and wine which strikingly resembles accounts of Jesus Last supper.

Hymns: sung during Qumran worship since they rejected the temple as contaminated by the sadducees, they wrote their own hymns and rituals.

Liturgical fragments: blessings and curses

The "Zadokite Document" which outlines the New covenant made in the "land of Damascus", a code word for the Qumran community.

Passages of biblical interpretation such as "blessings of Jacob", admonition of Moses, etc. also an exposition of signs marking the last days and an anthology of messianic predictions.

Finally, a scroll: The war of the sons of light against the sons of Darkness" a surprisingly mundane battle plan for the cosmic war that would culminate in the defeat of the ungodly and the establishment of God's kingdom.

• The Essenes are not mentioned in the New Testament at all. This may reflect the fact that by the time the gospels were written, they had ceased to exist. Other scholars say that the Gospel's silence may reflect their author's consciousness that Jesus and the first disciples may have been influenced by Essene teaching. Some even suggest they were the first Christian community.
• John the Baptist was probably an Essene, but whether Jesus was or not is really unknown. If he was, he later rebelled against it.