Sacred Scripture A Catholic Study of God s Word

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books U Rise and Fall U Foundations of the Monarchy U The “United” Monarchy: Saul, David, and Solomon U The Divided Monarchy U The Last Days of the Independent Monarchy U Exile and Return U Tracing Jewish History to the Roman Rule

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books 1. Tell how the Hebrews lived out the covenant in the Promised Land 2. The theological perspectives include these themes: God remains with the Israelites when they most need his help Israel’s leaders, including King David, reflect Israel’s pattern of infidelity in their own lives

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books Attitudes Towards Formation of a Monarchy Samuel’s view: He will Israel’s view: Not so! There tithe your flocks and you must be a king over us. We … will become his slaves too must be like the other … you will complain nations, with a king to rule against the king whom us and to lead us in warfare you have chosen, but on and fight our battles. that day the Lord will not (1 Sm 8: 19– 20) answer you. (1 Sm 8: 17– 18) Post-exilic view: We are not meant to have any king but YHWH.

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books Positives and Negatives of the Monarchy Israel became a nation with David’s ill fated affair with Bathsheba a strong central leadership Solomon, who compromised his A holy city was built in faith in God for the sake Jerusalem of A dynasty was formed with political alliances an Other kings who oversaw ancestral line that an eventually led

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books King Saul 1. As much the last of the judges as he was the first king 2. He ruled over a loose-knit organization of tribes and people who were mostly farmers 3. He was essentially a warrior with limited success against the Philistines – especially in the southern Israel hill country 4. His unfaithfulness to YHWH and the charismatic rise of one of Saul’s assistants, David, led to his downfall

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books King David 1. The story of his rise to power varies, but his path to the throne is clearly won through military conquests 2. David was less a king over a vast kingdom and more a military leader who enforced submission in a large territory 3. The central promise made to David by the Lord: And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books King Solomon David’s son and the great builder in the Bible Positively, Solomon is a king who wisely settles a dispute between two women and his request from God for “an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong” Negatively he engages in political marriages with pagan women and very likely enslaved his own people as well as foreigners to complete his extravagant projects

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books The Divided Kingdom after Solomon Israel Judah The southern kingdom Tribes of Benjamin & Judah Selected Rehoboam as king These kings consider themselves to be the legitimate rulers because The northern kingdom The other ten tribes Selected Jeroboam as king The unequal division of tribes suggests the majority of the united kingdom rejected

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books Worship in the Northern Kingdom YHWH Worship Establishment Religion Strongly represented by the Allowed the worship of prophets other lesser deities in addition A more radical orientation to on YHWH the Law Identified in the Bible as a Supported a community form where the of paganism rich shared with the poor, Closely identified with the ancient polytheism of the social balance was

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books Assyrian Conquest 1. The northern kingdom of Israel was obliterated by the Assyrians in 722 BC 2. A substantial number of the northern elite – later referred to as the “Ten Lost Tribes of Israel” – were exiled according to the military strategy of deportation and these exiles are never heard from again 3. The southern kingdom of Judah survived an unsuccessful attack by the Assyrians in the early 7 th century BC and continued for another 135 years

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books Babylonian Conquest 1. The final days of Judah were largely determined by the rivalry between the empires of Egypt and Babylon 2. In defeating Jerusalem in 597, Nebuchadnezzar chose Zedekiah as a figurehead of Babylonian rule in Jerusalem 3. Initially loyal to Babylon, Zedekiah was persuaded to join an unsuccessful Egyptian revolt against the Babylonians 4. Nebuchadnezzar’s forces returned to Jerusalem in 587 BC and devastated the city

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books Exile and Freedom 1. The Old Testament describes the exile in very dark terms 2. The Babylonians destroyed the Temple and captured many religious implements of worship which they placed in the temple of Marduk, their main state god 3. The Persians eventually defeated the Babylonians and allowed some of the exiles to return to their homeland 4. The exiles who had remained faithful to YHWH during the time of captivity are known as God’s remnant

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books Post-exilic Period 1. 1 and 2 Chronicles– Two of the main themes of both books was true worship and true kingship in Israel 2. Ezra and Nehemiah – Tell of problems faced by the returning exiles, the attempt to rebuild the Temple and preserve the Jewish nation 3. Daniel – The first section tells stories of a young Hebrew living in Babylon who carefully observe Jewish laws while the later section tells of apocalyptic visions

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books Post-exilic Period 4. Tobit – Emphasizes the benefits of traditional forms of Jewish piety and reminds Jews that God will never abandon them as long as they remain faithful to him 5. Judith – The story of a fictional woman who urges faithfulness to YHWH during the Diaspora 6. Esther – The story of a beautiful Jewish maiden who illustrates that cooperation with the civil rulers and the refusal to compromise in religious matters, along with traditional elements of Jewish faith, will ensure God’s

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books Persian Rule 1. Both books of Maccabees take place in the context of the second century BC during Persian occupation 2. The Persians ruled over Palestine from 539 to 333 BC – from the time the Babylonians were conquered by Cyrus until they were conquered by Alexander the Great 3. The Jews were given a fair amount of religious and personal freedom, but not political rights 4. The Persians followed Zoroastrianism and influenced Judaism’s growing belief in angels

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books Hellenization 1. Alexander introduced Greek ideals, language, learning, dress, and customs to the lands he controlled 2. Greek remained the common language of the Middle East until AD 500, when it was supplanted by Latin 3. The Septuagint translation of the Hebrew scriptures and the entire New Testament were written in Greek 4. The principal biblical sources describing

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books Ptolemies 1. A dynasty that descended from Alexander’s general Ptolemy, controlling Palestine from about 320 -200 BC 2. Allowed religious autonomy and made no efforts to impose Hellenization on the Jews 3. Jews divided into ruling factions: those who began to adopt Greek customs versus those who were staunchly opposed to any Greek assimilation 4. When Alexandria became an important cultural and economic center, it also became an important center of Jewish culture in the Diaspora for centuries after this

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books The Seleucids & Temple Controversy 1. Came to power in Palestine under Antiochus III after driving out the Ptolemies in about 200 BC 2. Jewish life deteriorated and the Romans were gaining strength in the region 3. As the economic importance of the Temple began to increase, Jewish factions struggled over who would be the high priest and thus earn the right to negotiate financial and trade deals with the Seleucids 4. The internal struggle was complicated by the fact that a growing number of Jews continued

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books Antiochus IV 1. The squabble Jewish factions led to a confrontation over the head of the Temple 2. Intervening in the squabble, Antiochus, who zealous about promoting Hellenization, appointed a series of high priests that supported him 3. Because he believed the Jews were the cause of many of his problems, he virtually banned the practice of traditional Jewish religion 4. His decisions were often supported by Hellenized Jews w ho wanted to gain permanent advantage over the traditionalist

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books The Maccabees 1. As resistance to his policies mounted, Antiochus enacted sterner measures, eventually issuing an edict forbidding the practice of Judaism in all traditional forms 2. When Antiochus erected an altar to Zeus in the Temple, the Jews considered it a defilement of the entire Temple 3. Finally, in a revolt led by the Maccabees, the Jews regained control of the Temple in December 164 BC 4. The Temple was purified and rededicated, an event is still commemorated by Jews in the

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books Jewish Sects Sadducees Pharisees aristocratic Jews Originally Essenes strict observance of the Torah Emphasized study of Hasmonean Dynasty Favored a desert Sea Withdrew to theworshipnear thelearned Exhibited great respect for their Dead as Regarded Temple and sacrifice teachers Brought copies of most books later made essential into the doctrine of the afterlife or the Preserved the written commentaries of Denied. Testament Old the teachers resurrection with dead Wrote apocalyptic of the great reverencebooks Strong emphasis on pious religious rights in Believed coming devastation would place the home in authority in Palestine them back

Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 C The Historical Books The Romans 1. The internal bickering among the Hasmoneans opened the door for the Romans, the major military power in the region, to intervene in Palestine in 63 BC 2. Palestine was made part of the Roman province of Syria 3. Pompey appointed his own high priest and set up a puppet king 4. The Jews remained under Roman control until the seventh century AD 5. In 37 BC Herod became king of Judea and was