paul.lesson 9.second temple judaism

1 | P a g e . N o C l a i m o f o w n e r s h i p i s a s s e r t e d b y t h e E d i t o r

TheGoodLifeandHardTimesOftheApostlePaul

EditedbyJohnR.Wible1

Lesson 9 ‐ Second Temple Judaism

Between the construction of the second

Jewish temple in Jerusalem, circa 515 BC,

and its destruction by the Romans in AD

70, Judaism underwent major historical

upheavals and significant religious changes

that would affect not only it but also

Christianity. For Christians, this time is

commonly referred to as the

“Intertestamental Period” and is not

commonly taught.

For the Jews, themselves and as an

ethnicity, this was a pivotal period in which

the origins of the authority of scripture, of

the centrality of law and morality in

religion, of the synagogue and of

apocalyptic expectations for the future all

developed and had a profound influence

on pre‐Christian and Christian thought and

teaching.

Much of what we as Christians believe

today to be true had roots in this period.

That having been said, we find that while there has been significant scholarship into the period,

not a great deal of this work has been taught to us in churches. I attribute this to the fact that

there is no canonical writing.

While our Heavenly Father, in His wisdom has chosen not to so ordain, there is much non‐

canonical writing that while not inspired Word of God, may still be true and may give us clues as

to the thought of this period, and for our purposes in this study, the thought of the Apostle Paul

that influenced his canonical writings.

1 Editor’s note. Most of the material used herein is taken from a number of other sources. In some cases, it is taken ver batem. That being the case, I refer to myself as the Editor and not the Author.

312 BC to 4 BC


Maps of the Empires.

Alexandrian Empire Ptolemaic Empire Alexandrian Empire Ptolemaic Empire

Seleucid Empire Maccabean Palestine


Herodian Palestine Roman Empire 44 BC – 117 AD


We have previously studied the Babylonian captivity

(586‐539 BC) and noted its influence on Judaism.

Specifically, during the relatively brief Babylonian

period and the longer Persian period (539‐312 BC) that

followed, we noted a growth and change in Judaism.

Taking these together with the later periods of the

Greek influence and to short time of self‐rule, we

observe the following:

A. Synagogue.

• Rise of the institution of and pervasive influence of the synagogue in every day

Jewish life both in Jerusalem and thought in all areas where the Jewish diaspora

had migrated.

• The synagogue enabled many other changes.

B. Writing and Language.

• Modern Hebrew script was adopted during this period, replacing

the traditional Israelite script. The first Hebrew writing was

probably in a language referred to as “Proto‐Phoenician.” This

language was the mother tongue of Classical Hebrew, Modern

Hebrew, Aramaic, Nabataean‐Arabic, and Greek. Close study of all

will disclose many cognates.

• The influence of the Torah emerged as central to the lives of the

average “Jew in the street.”

• The Torah was altered during this time, and began to

be regarded as the authoritative text for Jews. We

will discuss the Prophets in another session.

• Later, in the Persian and particularly in the

Hellenistic (Greek) periods, we will see the

replacement of Hebrew as the normal, day‐to‐day

language of the people in favor of Aramaic, the

Assyrian language spoken by the peoples conquered

by Assyria. Assyrian is descendent from ancient Akkadian, the mother tongue of

Semitic languages. Jesus and his disciples, while all probably were able to read

Classical Hebrew in the Temple and the synagogue, as well as being passably

conversant in Greek, commonly spoke Aramaic. In fact, Jesus speaks Aramaic

from the cross.2 Greek was the common language of commerce.

2 “Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani, (My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?)” quoted directly in Aramaic in Matthew 27:46. In this, one of Jesus’ “Seven Sayings from the Cross,” Jesus quotes his own translation of the ancient Hebrew Psalm 22. By this time in the Jews’ history, they regarded Psalm 22 as a “messianic Psalm.”


C. National Identity. The Jews were transformed into an ethno‐religious group that could

survive without a central Temple primarily because of the emergence of the synagogue.

D. Political structure. During the period, the Jews returning from Babylon, and there may

not be as many of them as we have thought, underwent many changes in political structure

from vassal‐state to brief independence, to occupied territory. During this time, real power

began to be placed in the Priests and High Priests and the political groups that were formed

during the period. This culminated in the Sanhedrin, the embodiment of high council and

high court.

All the above enabled changes regarding prophesy, messianic thought, and eschatology.

A new understanding of the depth and extent of prophesy exhibited itself. Messianic

thought and eschatology began to be formed.

The last high‐point of biblical prophecy in the person of Ezekiel was seen and passed.

The belief in and increasing “looking forward to” a Davidic Savior became popular.3

In 439 BC, Babylon fell to the Persians (Actually, the Medo‐Persian Confederation.) During this

much longer period, the captive Jews either assimilated into Persian life or were allowed to

migrate back to the Jewish homeland to rebuild the temple and be ruled as a vassal‐province of

3 This development was, along with universal Greek language usage, and Roman world‐wide “peace”(Pax Romana) leading to the time of the Incarnation of Jesus as The Christ.


the Empire, the Provence of Yehud.4 While to the Jews, the Babylonian Period was seen as a

punishment for their national sin and an expression of God’s wrath towards them, the Persian

period (after it was over, of course) was seen as an expression of God’s grace.

The Persian Period is generally said

by historians to end about 333 BC

when Alexander the Great

conquered the Mediterranean

coast. Thus the Persian Period lasts

about 100 years. His empire

disintegrated after his death, and

Palestine,5 including Jerusalem, fell to Ptolemy, the

descendant of one of Alexander's generals who ruled Egypt

and to his descendants.6

This time marked the end of the Davidic monarchy7 (until Jesus’s birth.) The kings were

replaced by the emergence of scribes and sages (later called “Rabbis) as Jewish leaders. (See

Ezra). The High Priests also wielded great power in this period and became more and more

corrupt as the years passed. Though there were always the ruling classes and chief executives

by a number of names, there developed as early as 200 BC a form of democracy known as the

Sanhedrin,8 or High Council. In its final form, the

Sanhedrin was composed of 70 men plus the High Priest

who thought of themselves more as a high court than a

legislature.9

Prior to exile, the people of Israel had been organized

according to tribe. Afterwards, they were organized by

smaller family groups. Only the tribe of Levi continued in

its temple role after the return. Also, after this time, there

were always sizable numbers of Jews living outside the

4 Coogan, Michael David; Brettler, Marc Zvi; Newsom, Carol Ann. "Editors' Introduction." In Coogan, Michael David; Brettler, Marc Zvi; Newsom, Carol Ann. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books. Oxford University Press. (2007.) 5 To historians especially after World War I and the division of territory under the terms of the Sikes‐Picot Agreement, the area at the east end of the Mediterranean including territory from ancient Phoenicia through modern‐day Syria, Jordan, and Israel, and on around to the “Gaza Strip” in what is actually northern Egypt, is known as the “Levant.” It is commonly referred to as Palestine, a derogatory name given the area by the Romans actually after the fall of Jerusalem. This term represents the Roman disgust with the entire region. For our purposes, we will call it “Palestine.” See map, supra. 6 Grabbe, Lester L. An Introduction to Second Temple Judaism. A&C Black, 2010. 7 Though the actual line never died out until AD 70. See Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew 1:1‐17 and Luke 3:23‐38. 8 From the Greek word, synhedrion. 9 Petro, Bill. “History of the Sanhedrin: Who was this Council? Bridging the Gap from Strategy to Execution.” March 31, 2015. http://billpetro.com/history‐of‐the‐sanhedrin. Accessed January 14, 2016.


borders of Israel proper, historically thereafter

referred to as the diaspora.10 The principal centers

Jewish communities outside Palestine remained in

Babylon and grew in northern Egypt around

Alexandria. However, communities of Jews

populated the whole of Palestine, North Africa,

and Asia Minor. Later, they came to Greece and

eventually to all of Europe.11

In 200 BC

Palestine and the

Persian Provence

of Yehud, which

had been

maintained and

governed as a

separate

province, albeit

“under new

management,”

were captured

by the Seleucids,

the descendants

of yet another

Greek general

ruling Syria. The

attitudes toward

these foreign

rulers were mixed. Many of the Jewish ruling classes that found a way to collaborate with them

actually favored them out of self‐aggrandizement.

10 This process, likewise is fully described in the Book of Ezra. 11 In modern history, Jews moved by the millions to North America. New York City is regarded as “The Largest Jewish City in the World,” and this includes cities in the country of Israel proper.


However, there was always dislike, hatred, unrest and

dissidence among the common people at foreign rule.

This resulted in a number of minor revolts which were

always put down, most notably the revolt led by Judas

of Galilee about the time of the birth of Jesus the

Christ.12 This unrest and constant revolt culminated in

the final revolt of AD 67‐70 against the Romans and led

by the Zealots and Sicarii which resulted in the

destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and the historic “last

Stand” and fall of the mountain fortress, Masada in about AD 74 lead by the Zealot Eleazar ben

Ya’ir13 in which all the Zealots killed their families and each other until there was only one left

who then committed suicide.14

Around 167 BC, the Seleucid king Antiochus IV

Epiphanes attempted to suppress Jewish worship,

provoking a revolt that led to the effective end of

foreign control over Jerusalem. He purposefully

defiled the Temple by removing the Jewish articles

of worship and setting up an altar to the Greek god

Zeus. To add insult to injury, he had pigs sacrificed

on the altar. This may well have been the fulfillment

of Daniel’s prophesied “abomination of desolation.”

Daniel 2:11 states, “From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of

desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days [about 3.5 years].” Others regard the fulfillment of

the prophesy as the placing of Roman Eagle standards in the temple in the early First Century or

the actual destruction of the Temple itself in AD 70.

Following Daniel’s prophesy, the revolt succeeded and the Maccabean or Hasmonean dynasty

was established in about 164 BC. 15 During this time, Jewish ritual was restored in the Temple.

However, it was not until 143 BC that the Seleucids granted de facto autonomy to the

Hasmonean kings.16

Oddly, for all their fierce talk of independence and Jewish nationalism, the Maccabees

(Hasmoneans) were “Hellenizers” who attempted to adopt Greek culture. As one might expect,

12 Brandon, S. G. F. Jesus and the Zealots. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1967. 13 Richmond, I. A. (1962). "The Roman Siege‐Works of Masada, Israel". The Journal of Roman Studies (Washington College. Lib. Chestertown, MD.: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies) 52:142–155. 14 Cotton, H.M. "The date of the fall of Masada: the Evidence of the Masada Papyri". Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. 1984. 78: 157–62. 15 “Maccabee” is a Hebrew word meaning “hammer.” The Hasmoneans liked to think of themselves as freeing Israel from oppressing outsiders with the “Hammer of God,” thus the name “Maccabees.” 16 Grabbe, supra.


this set the stage for almost continual strife and civil war between the Hellenizers and the

Judaisers. This battle survived the Hasmoneans and continued into Paul’s time.

The Maccabees have been historically

considered as patriots by the Jews continuing

into modern times. They are celebrated with a

feast, Hanukkah commemorating the time in the

revolt against the Seleucids when tradition holds

that the great Menorah in the temple stayed

miraculously lit for eight days despite being out

of oil.17 They are also celebrated by having

everything Jewish named after them from

beer18 to a rock band.19

The Maccabees ruled from 116 BC to 63 BC

when the Romans conquered the province and established the dynasty of the Herodians in the

20 BC to AD 70 time frame.20

Herod the Great, pictured at left portrayed by Kelsey Grammer was a great

builder and ruled for many years. He was the “Herod” spoken of by Luke in

his account of Jesus’ birth. Herod was of Idumaean descent and was only

half a Jew. However, through skill at political intrigue, he worked himself

into a position to be appoint as the ruler of Judea and later was given the

title “King of the Jews.” It was to save his ignominious “kingship” that he

slaughtered the innocents, recorded in Luke 2, and pursued the infant

Jesus until the death of Herod.

During the period, there were “kings” among the families of the Hasmoneans and Herodians,

but they were “kings” in name only; in actually, they were pretenders because they were not of

David’s blood nor did they give pretense of being so.

The rulers during this period from 333 BC into the times of Jesus

and Paul are not as important as the ideas that emerged from this

period for it was these ideas the shaped the nation of Israel and set

the foundation for the new Jewish sect, the “Christians.”

17 Goldman, Ari L. Being Jewish: The Spiritual and Cultural Practice of Judaism Today, Simon and Schuster, page 141. 18 Maccabee Premium Beer manufactured by Tempo Beer Industries, LTD. 19 “The Maccabees” is a British indie rock band active since 2004 to the present. 20 Nelson, Richard D. Historical Roots of the Old Testament (1200–63 BCE). SBL Press, 2014.


A. Rise of the Synagogue.

According to the Jewish Encyclopedia:

The origin of the synagogue, in which

the congregation gathered to worship

and to receive the religious instruction

connected therewith, is wrapped in

obscurity. By the time it had become

the central institution of Judaism. . , it

was already regarded as of ancient

origin, dating back to the time of

Moses. . . [However,] the synagogue as

a permanent institution originated

probably in the period of the Babylonian captivity, when a place for common worship and

instruction had become necessary. . .

Isaiah, in applying the phrase "house of prayer" to the Temple to be built at Jerusalem

(Isaiah [56:7]) and, according to the very defensible reading of the [Septuagint] may

have used a phrase which, in the time of the Exile, designated the place of united

worship; this interpretation is possible, furthermore, in such passages as Isaiah [58:4].

The term was preserved by the Hellenistic Jews as the name for the [transliterated

Greek word,] synagogue. . .

After the return from the Captivity, when the religious life was reorganized, especially

under Ezra and his successors, congregational worship, consisting in prayer and the

reading of sections from the Bible, developed side by side with the revival of the cult of

the Temple at Jerusalem, and thus led to the building of synagogues.21

The pre‐Babylonian synagogues were merely houses of meeting as one would find in any

society. There is no evidence that they carried any great influence upon society. That all

changed during the Captivity because of necessity. The Temple was gone. If the Jews were to

persist as a people, they had to adapt. Thus, they drew from the old houses of meeting or

houses of prayer to form an ever‐more‐powerful synagogues, the mixed purposes of which can

be seen today in Judaism, Islam, and even in Christianity. During Paul’s time, the first Christian

churches grew out of Jewish synagogues and the patter for organization of the synagogue was

followed in the organization of the local church.

It can be argued when Christianity broke away finally from the synagogue and became a

separate religion. The traditional view has been that Judaism existed before Christianity and

that Christianity separated from Judaism at some time after the destruction of the Second

21 Bacher Wilhelm and Lewis M. Dembitz. “Synagogue,” Jewish Encyclopedia. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14160‐synagogue, accessed January 14, 2016.


Temple. Recently, some scholars have argued, rather that there were many competing Jewish

sects in the Palestine during the Second Temple period, and that those that became Rabbinic

Judaism and Proto‐orthodox Christianity were but two of these. Some of these scholars have

proposed a model which envisions a twin birth of Proto‐orthodox Christianity and Rabbinic

Judaism rather than a separation of the former from the latter. For example, Robert

Goldenberg asserts that it is increasingly accepted among scholars that "at the end of the 1st

century AD there were not yet two separate religions called 'Judaism' and 'Christianity.'"22

Your Editor submits that the synagogues grew in

power not unlike, and could, perhaps should, be

compared with today’s Islamic mosques that mix

religious instruction, prayer, nationalism, and

politics into a boiling milieu that has at times, had

a tendency to boil over into violence. Thus, I

submit that the synagogue in the period between

the 4th Century BC and the 1st Century AD served

many purposes. Not all of them for the good.

Again, the Jewish Encyclopedia informs us:

According to one legend, there were 394 synagogues at Jerusalem when the city was

destroyed by Titus [AD 70], while a second tradition gives the number as 480. Other

passages give the additional information that the foreign Jews at Jerusalem had their

own synagogues. Thus there was a synagogue of the Alexandrian [Greek‐Egyptian] Jews;

this synagogue is mentioned in Acts [6]:9 which refers also to the synagogues of the

Cyrenians, Cilicians, and Asiatics. Josephus mentions both the synagogue built by [King]

Agrippa I at Dora23 and the great synagogue at Tiberias, in which, during the war against

Rome, political meetings were once held on the Sabbath and the following days. The

synagogue of Cæarea rose to importance during the inception of this uprising; it was

called the "revolutionary synagogue" as late as the fourth century.24 (Citations omitted.)

Acts 6:9 states, “But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including

both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with

Stephen.”

22 Goldenberg, Robert. “Review of Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism by Daniel Boyarin.” The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 92, No. 3/4 (Jan.–Apr., 2002), pp. 586–588. 23 Dora was the Greek name of Dor. It was a coastal town, eight miles north of Caesarea [in the Galilee.] See “Dora Dor,” Bible History Online. http://www.bible‐history.com/geography/ancient‐israel/dora‐dor.html, accessed January 14, 2016. 24 Id.


According to the Babylonian Talmud, a minyan was

required to hold public prayer or teaching thus, the

requirement for there to be a minyan present to

establish a synagogue. A minyan consisted of ten men

and presumably their families. Thus, synagogues were

the first “small group” churches. After the captivity, the

institution of the local synagogue had already been

established so strongly that it would persist through the

ultimate destruction of the Temple and even of the

nation itself. The synagogue was the one institution that survived historically holding Judaism

together through all its struggles for millennia. That power cannot be overstated.

B. Writing and Language.

With the rise of the synagogue came a renewed interest in the Jewish holy books and their

study. This movement began in Babylon and is evident in Ezra’s insistence on the reading of the

scripture to the whole nation at the re‐dedication of the temple. In Ezra 7, we see the scribe

Ezra, who was of the lineage of the High Priests, coming from Babylon to the site of the temple

with the full blessing of the Persian king, Artaxerxes. He has in his possession a letter from the

King giving Ezra plenary power to perform many tasks, among them the rebuilding of the

Temple.25

The balance of the book of Ezra, Chapters 8‐10, recounts the cleansing of the people from the

influence of the locals. This included the ban on intermarriage and the requirement that Jews

send their local wives and children away. While some were not able to do this, most did. This

yielded a basically clean slate to start the rebuilding not only of the Temple but of the culture.

Nehemiah 8 recounts the dramatic reading of the scriptures in the presence of all the people.

1 [A]ll the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel. 2 So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. 3 He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women, and others

25 Ezra 7:12 et seq.


who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law. 4 Ezra the teacher of the Law stood on a high wooden platform built for the occasion. . . 5 Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. 6 Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

Thus begins what some scholars have called the “rebirth of Israel.” From this point on, the

scripture in written form will take precedence over almost everything else in the national

psyche. In actuality, it had begun before in Babylon in the synagogues. Though the Bible does

not tell us so, a logical inference can be made that Ezra’s influence in this direction had begun

long before in Babylon. This leads some scholars to elevate Ezra almost the level of Moses in

importance to the nation. Certainly Ezra was a great agent of change from the people that

occupied Canaan and were to some degree assimilated by it into the people of the scriptures.

This moment is a watershed for Israel. In the words of “Camelot,” For one brief, shining

moment,” they were the people God wanted them to be. However, being people – that would

change too.

So, what were those scriptures; what was Ezra teaching?

Rabbinic Judaism recognizes the 24 books of the Masoretic26 Text, commonly called the Tanakh

or Hebrew Bible, as authoritative. Modern scholarship suggests that the most recently written

are the books of Jonah, Lamentations, and Daniel, all of which may have been composed as late

as the second century BC.27

The book of 2 Maccabees, itself not a part of the Jewish or

Protestant canons but included in the Roman Catholic

canon, describes Nehemiah as having "founded a library

and collected books about the kings and prophets, and the

writings of David, and letters of kings about votive

offerings" (2 Maccabees 2:13–15). While there is no

canonical evidence of this, it would be consistent with

Nehemiah’s desire to rebuild the land and with his charge

from the king.

26 The Masoretic text was written by a group of Jewish scholars between the 8th and 10th Centuries AD. Their text forms the majority of Protestant Christian translations of the Old Testament. There are differences with the Septuagint text which, though older may reflect a Greek bias. 27 Darshan, G. “The Twenty‐Four Books of the Hebrew Bible and Alexandrian Scribal Methods,” in M.R. Niehoff (ed.), “Homer and the Bible in the Eyes of Ancient Interpreters: Between Literary and Religious Concerns” (JSRC 16), Leiden: Brill 2012, pp. 221.


The Book of Nehemiah suggests that the priest‐scribe Ezra brought the Torah28 back from

Babylon to Jerusalem and the Second Temple (8–9) around the same time period. Both 1 and 2

Maccabees suggest that Judas Maccabeus (around 167 BC) also collected sacred books. (1

Maccabees 3:42–50, 2 Maccabees 2:13–15, 15:6–9).

There is no scholarly consensus as to when the Hebrew Bible canon was fixed. Some scholars

argue that it was fixed by the Hasmonean (Maccabees) dynasty (140‐40 BC),29 while others

argue that it was not fixed until the second century AD or even later.30 The official Roman

Catholic Church Commission says that "the more restricted Hebrew canon is later than the

formation of the New Testament."31 It is ironic that what Christians think of as the Old

Testament was not completed as a unit until significantly after the completion of the New

Testament.

In summary on this point, after the time of Ezra‐Nehemiah, scrolls began to be collected,

copied, and distributed to the thousands of synagogues in Palestine and elsewhere for weekly

daily private study and weekly public reading.

An interesting development occurred in the 3rd and 2nd

Centuries BC. As the reader will remember, we discussed

the Maccabees (Hasmonean) rulers of Israel at this time

and their Greek bias. The Hasmoneans commissioned a

group of scholars to meet together in Alexandria and

collect the scrolls into s single document. Their work

product is known as the Septuagint and abbreviated

“LXX.” “LXX” are the Roman numerals for 70.

Traditionally, about 70 scholars met to accomplish the

task. While their scholarly work was excellent, some

argue that given their formation and location, some of

the translation reflects a pro‐Greek bias.32

Be that as it may, or perhaps for that very reason, the Eastern Orthodox Church uses the

translation of the Septuagint as its Bible. The best modern Protestant translations such as the

NIV, NASB, Holman Standard,33 and many others use a combination of these and other

manuscripts to form their final works.

28 Remember that the Torah contained only the first five books of the Bible collectively referred to as the books of Moses. 29 Davies, Philip R. cited in The Canon Debate, Lee McDonald and James A. Sanders, 2002 at page 50. 30 McDonald & Sanders, The Canon Debate, 2002, page 5. 31 The Pontifical Biblical Commission. "3. Formation of the Christian Canon", The Jewish People and Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 2002. 32 Barber, Michael. "Loose Canons: The Development of the Old Testament (Part 1.)” The Sacred Page. 2006‐03‐04.) 33 The translation your Editor has jokingly referred to as the ‘Revised Baptist Edition.”


With the proliferation of a relatively standard text to be read in the synagogues, the Word

became well known and studied by the common man and scholar alike. While knowledge of

and reverence for the Word is a very good thing, their reverence for it led to the abuses of

literalism by which the already well‐establish scribes or teachers of the Law wielded control

over the people.

Further, along with the well‐established scribes and teachers of the law, during the Hasmonean

Period there arose a group of Jews who took as their mission to not only teach the Law, but to

keep the Law in “every jot and tittle.” The Pharisees.

Next week, we will see the interplay between these two groups: the Scribes and the

Pharisees, and we will see the rise of other groups such as the Sadducees and Sicarii. All these

groups taken together constituted a significant influence on which ever political group

happened to be in power at the time.