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Religions of the
Middle East
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Monarchy, Captivity, Diaspora, Job,
Afterlife, Rabbinic & Modern Judaism
First Midterm Exam
 Tu 10/21 at 3pm to Tu 10/28 at 7pm
 CEN 456 lab, Cottage Grove Center or
approved proctor
 See syllabus for further details
The Monarchy
 Under Judges Israel was a loose
confederation of tribes
 Secular explanation: no united military
defense, no standing army
 Religious explanation: God was punishing
them for worshiping idols
Saul
 First King - tall, charismatic, good
commander, but insubordinate
 Makes a sacrifice reserved for Levites
(Priests)
 Botches the Amalekite genocide
 Resorts to necromancy
 Commits suicide, body mutilated, cremated
David
 Good King, makes Saul look like a false
start
 Promised an everlasting Kingdom, model
for the Messiah
 Sin with Bathsheba results in personal and
political consequences
 Samuel’s parable of the pet lamb
Solomon
 Asks God for wisdom, given riches as well
 Weakness for foreign women, builds
temples to their gods
 Because of his Father, retains Kingdom, but
his son loses it
 922 B.C. Israel split into Northern and
Southern Kingdoms
The Divided Kingdom
 Secular explanation: Reheboam’s rash
threats, regional conflicts and resentment
over Solomon’s building projects
 “My little finger is thicker than my father’s
loins!”
 Religious explanation for split: God is
punishing Solomon for idolatry
Successive Conquest
 The Split of the Kingdom into the Northern and
Southern Kingdoms in 922 B.C.
 Israel falls to the Assyrians in 722 B.C.
 Judah falls to the Babylonians in 587 B.C.
 The Babylonian Captivity
Successive Conquest
The Babylonian Captivity
 Temple system and sacrifice less important
 Emphasis on study of scripture and prayer on
Sabbath at local house of worship (synagogue)
 Importance of Teacher schooled in Scripture &
Tradition (Rabbi)
Successive Conquest
 The Persians Defeat the Babylonians, Jews
return to Judah, rebuild Jerusalem
 The Greek Conquest and Maccabean Revolt
 Hanukkah
 Roman Rule
 Rebellion and the Diaspora 70, 130 A.D.
 The Holocaust and Restoration of Israel in
1948
Did God keep his promise to
David and Solomon?
 Promised an “everlasting” kingdom
 Conditional promise?
 Later Jews (and Christians) came to believe
the promise would be fulfilled by a
descendent of David who would restore a
united Kingdom of Israel (the Messiah)
The Messiah
 Hebrew for “annointed one”, sign of being
chosen by God, of God’s spirit, royalty
 Military leader like the Judges who would
deliver Israel from their enemies and
establish an everlasting Kingdom
 Developed over time as empire after
empire conquered Israel
The Babylonian Captivity
(587-538 BC)
 No Temple, so no animal sacrifices
(afterwards less important)
 Worship in private homes centered around
study of scriptures and prayer (become
Synagogue system)
 Rising importance of a Rabbi (“teacher”) to
interpret scripture
 Talmud Begins
The Afterlife in Early Judaism
(2000 BC - 538? BC)
 The dead go to Sheol (“the grave”)
 No conscious experience good or bad
 Eternal rest unless you break God’s law and
conduct a séance (necromancy)
Later Judaism
538? BC to Present
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Bodily Resurrection
Persian Zoroastrian Influence
Ezekiel’s Vision - Valley of Dry Bones
Questions about God’s Justice
Daniel 12:2 ONLY unambiguous reference
in entire Tanakh
Job
 Early view: Punishment for sin
 Later view: Test from God, Satan
Job
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Why do bad things happen to good people?
Wager between God and Satan
Satan borrowed from Persians?
Only TWO other references in Tanakh
 1 Chronicles 21:1, (cf. 2 Sam 24:1)
 Zechariah 3:1-2
 Is. 14:12-22 and Ezekiel 28:12-19 refer to the
Kings of Babylon and Tyre, not Satan
Why do bad things happen to
good people?
 A test of our faith from Satan
 We can’t hope to understand God’s ways;
we should just trust and obey
 No corporate responsibility
 Rejection of misfortune as a manifestation
of divine wrath? (Deuteronomy 28)
The Holocaust
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The theme of Job writ large
6 million Jews killed, most in gas chambers
Garnered international sympathy
Israel made a nation after WW II without it?
Judaism
 Meaning in History
 God works through the Nation of Israel and the
Jewish people
 Human problem = sin (willful disobedience to
God’s commands)
 Solution: Concentrate on one group of people,
give commands and enforce them. Animal
sacrifices early on, later repentance only
Major festivals
 Passover (Exodus celebration)
 Shavuot (Pentacost - Law given 50th day after
Passover)
 Sukkot (Wilderness Wandering - Tablernacles)
 Purim (Saved from Persians by Esther)
 Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year)
 Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
 Hanukkah (Festival of Lights, independence from
Greeks/Seleucids)
The Talmud
 Commentary on The Law
 Theology, Demonology, Practical
Application (e.g. how to keep Sabbath)
 Opinions of Rabbis from the Babylonian
Captivity on
 Authoritative but not inspired
Four Branches of Judaism
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Orthodox
Conservative
Reformed
Reconstructionist