Jews as People of the …

• Land• Temple Cult• Abrahamic Covenant• Text• Developing Monotheism

• Jews as People Under Rome– Tensions of monotheism & exclusivity

Abrahamic Covenant [Genesis 15] Seed/Descendants & Land

• “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then [the Lord] said to [Abram], “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness. (Gen. 15.5-6)

• On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphra'tes, the land of the Ken'ites, the Ken'izzites, the Kad'monites, the Hittites, the Per'izzites, the Reph'aim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Gir'gashites and the Jeb'usites.” (Gen.15:18-21)

Abrahamic Covenant--Genesis 17

“I [The Lord] will make my covenant between me and you [Abram], and will make you exceedingly numerous. … As for me, this is my covenant with you; You shall be ancestor of a multitude of nations. ... I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding, and I will be their God.”

Gen. 17.9ffCovenant and Circumcision

• “God said to Abraham, ‘… This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old … Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.’

Mosaic Law

• Deut. 5.6-7

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out fo the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

Mosaic Law• Exod. 19-20

“Now therefore if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.” (Exod. 19.5-6)

Davidic Monarchy (1010-587/6BCE)

Abrahamic Covenant in Context of Davidic Monarchy (2Sam.7)

“… The Lord declares to you [David] that you will make a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him and he shall be a son to me.” (2Sam.7:11-14)

Solomon’s Temple(Constructed 970-930BCE,

Destroyed 587BCE [Babylonian Exile])

Jews Under Foreign Rule

• Brief Period of Monarchy (1010-587/6BCE)

• Persian Rule (538 - 332BCE)

• Alexander the Great (332-323BCE)

• Hellenistic Empire (323-164/3BCE)• Ptolemies (323 - 198 BCE)

– Septuagint• Seleucids (198-164/3 BCE)

– Antiochus IV Epiphanes & the Maccabean Revolt

• Romans Rule (63BCE - 70 CE)– Caligula and Jewish Revolt (66-70CE)– 132-135 Bar Kochbah Revolt (132-135CE)

Second Temple (538BCE-70CE)Leviticus & Cultic Practice

Rome and Foreign CultExamples of Uneasy Alliances

• Judaism: Positive Aspects• Ancient Temple Cult• Covenant language (berit ~ fides) • Jewish Law and Moral Philosophy

• Monotheism & Exclusivity (also covenantal)• Antiochus IV Epiphanes & the Maccabean Revolt (mid 2nd

c. BCE)

• Caligula, Titus and The Jewish Revolts– Destruction of Temple (70CE)

• How can Judaism continue without land and temple?

• Jewish Scriptures become the Focus of Jewish Identity– Tanakh– Pharisees precursors to Rabbinic Classes