The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (23 page)

Judaism

In light of the importance of Judaism as a background for the study of the NT, the following treatment of Judaism is more extensive than the previous sections. This section includes monotheism, the synagogue, the temple, the religious calendar, rabbinic schools, proselytes and God-fearers, messianism, and Jewish sects and institutions.
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Monotheism
The last—and in many ways the most important—element of NT background is Judaism, which made several important contributions to early Christianity. First, Judaism purported
monotheism
, a firm commitment to the belief in one God as taught in the OT and proclaimed in the
Shema
(Hb. “Hear”): “Hear, O Israel: The Lord
our God is one Lord” (Deut 6:4 KJV).
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The first two of the Ten Commandments (the Decalogue) forbade Israelites from worshipping other gods (Exod 20:2–6; Deut 5:6–10).

Monotheism set Israel apart from the polytheistic beliefs and practices of her pagan neighbors, including the Greco-Roman pantheon. This commitment became an important distinguishing characteristic of Jewish religion in a polytheistic environment and was recognized as a hallmark of the Jewish faith by Greco-Roman historians such as Tacitus, who wrote, “The Jews conceive of one God only” (
Hist.
5.5).

The Synagogue
Although the origins of the synagogue are uncertain, its importance for Jewish life and for the early church is undisputed.
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The liturgy and leadership structure of the synagogue—with its prayers, psalms, Scripture readings, sermons, and blessings or benedictions—and the synagogue ruler, board of elders, and attendant provided the early church with a pattern for the establishment of Christian liturgical practices and leadership structures.
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For Jesus, Paul, and the early Christian mission, the synagogue provided a natural paradigm for proclaiming salvation through faith in Jesus as the Messiah (Luke 4:16–30; John 6:30–59; 18:20; Acts 13:13–52). The synagogue was also of critical importance for Jews in the Diaspora (dispersion), especially after the destruction of the temple in AD 70.

The Temple
Another important feature of Judaism was the Jerusalem temple,
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which served as a vital symbol of national and religious unity. The original temple built by Solomon (1 Kings 5–8) was destroyed by the Babylonians in the sixth century BC. After the exile a new temple was built by Zerubbabel (Ezra 3; Haggai 1–2; Zechariah 4). The temple area and temple building included outer and inner courts and various rooms including the holy place and the holy of holies. Later it was renovated and greatly expanded by Herod the Great, with the restoration of the building being completed in 18 BC and that of the outer courts in AD 64.

In the first century the temple was known for its magnificent appearance (Matt 24:1–2 and parallels; Josephus,
Jewish War
5.222–24; see
b. B. Bat.
4a). Surrounded by porticoes, the temple consisted of an outer court (the Court of the Gentiles) and an inner temple, made up of the Court of Women on the east and the Inner Court on the west. The first room was the “holy place,” which was separated from the outside by a heavy veil. The innermost room, the “holy of holies,” was separated from the holy place by another heavy veil. The high priest entered it but once a year on the Day of Atonement.

In Jesus' day, the temple, once the glorious symbol of God's dwelling with his people, had degenerated into a place of commerce and perfunctory ritual (John 2:14–16). With the destruction of the temple in in the year 70, Judaism was forced to adjust its sacrificial and liturgical practices because the central element of its entire system of worship had been removed. In response to the loss of the temple, the Pharisees founded a rabbinic school at Javneh (Jamnia), while the Sadducees disappeared from the scene, as did the Essenes and the Zealots.

The Religious Calendar
The OT Jewish religious calendar provides an important backdrop for the NT account of Jesus' life and for the worship of the early church.
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The institution of many important holy days in the life of Israel—including the Sabbath, Passover, the Day of Atonement—is recorded in Leviticus 23, and references to these festivals pervade the entire OT. These festivals dominated the religious life of observant Jews throughout the Second Temple period and beyond.

Table 2.6: Jewish Festivals

Rabbinic Schools
Another important element of Jewish background for the study of Jesus' ministry is that of the various rabbinic schools that existed in first-century Palestine. The rabbis in these schools sought to interpret the OT and as a result created a large body
of oral tradition.
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They maintained that the oral law could be traced back to Moses at Mount Sinai and that it superseded the OT itself. Jesus, who charged them with revoking God's word because of their tradition (Matt 15:6), excoriated them for this:

The scribes and the Pharisees are seated in the chair of Moses. Therefore do whatever they tell you and observe it. But don't do what they do, because they don't practice what they teach. They tie up heavy loads that are hard to carry and put them on people's shoulders, but they themselves aren't willing to lift a finger to move them. They do everything to be observed by others: They enlarge their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love the place of honor at banquets, the front seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called “Rabbi” by people (Matt 23:1–7).

The Mishnah, a compilation of Jewish teachings around 200, attests to famous schools of rabbinic interpretation of the OT in the first and subsequent centuries.
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Understanding this background proves helpful, for example, when one reads the following question posed by the Pharisees to Jesus: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife on any grounds?” (Matt 19:3). The rabbinic dispute in this case revolved around the proper interpretation of the reference to “something improper” in Deut 24:1, dealing with legitimate grounds for divorce. The stricter rabbinic school limited this offense to sexual impropriety, while the more liberal school extended it to a variety of lesser infractions as well. In response Jesus affirmed the permanence of marriage on the basis of Gen 2:24.
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Proselytes and God-Fearers
Judaism attracted large numbers of proselytes (full converts to Judaism who observed the Sabbath, food laws, and circumcised all males) and God-fearers (who only accepted the moral teachings and general religious practices of Judaism without submitting to circumcision).
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These converts were attracted to Jewish monotheism and moral teaching, left behind pagan idolatry, and aligned themselves with the Jewish religion and way of life, though with varying degrees of conformity.

The NT, especially the Gospels and the book of Acts, makes repeated references to proselytes and God-fearers.
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God-fearers who approached Jesus in order to perform healings include Roman centurion (Matt 8:5–13 and parallels) and a royal official (John 4:46–54). A seminal account involving a God-fearer is that of Cornelius (Acts 10). The inclusion of
Gentiles on equal terms with Jews in the new messianic community was a revolutionary concept for many first-century Jews, including many early Christians (Acts 10:9–16; see 1 Cor 12:13; Gal 2:11–21; 3:28).

Jewish Theology
There is no extant “systematic theology” of Judaism, only indications of Jewish beliefs on different topics in the Mishnah and the Talmuds.
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Jewish theology took its starting point, not in mythology, mysticism, or philosophical speculation, but in the acts of God in history recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures (the OT). Many Jewish beliefs are significant as NT background, including those regarding the end-times, the nature of man, and the coming of the Messiah.

With regard to the end-times, Jews typically embraced the teaching of “two ages,” whereby “the present (evil) age” preceded the “days of the Messiah” or “the Day of the Lord,” inaugurating “the coming age.” This is clearly seen in the Gospels.
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Paradoxically, the Gospels indicate that, with Jesus' coming, the “age to come” has already begun. Hence Jesus taught that God's kingdom was already present (Luke 17:21), and those who believed in him already had eternal life (John 3:16; 10:10).

Another characteristic belief among the Jews, inferred from Gen 2:7, was that God created man with a “good” and an “evil” impulse (
yetzer tov
and
yetzer ra
). The former was viewed as the moral conscience, the inner voice that reminded a person of God's law when he or she desired to partake in the forbidden; the latter was essentially construed as self-centeredness.

Messianism
One of the most important aspects of Jewish theology was messianism, that is, various beliefs regarding a coming figure called the “Messiah” or “Anointed One.” Most Jews were looking for one, and in some cases several, Messiah(s).
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Messianic expectations were anything but uniform, as the NT and Second Temple literature attest.
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Some believed on the basis of Mic 5:2 that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem (Matt 2:5–6; see John 7:41–42); others held that the Messiah's origins would be shrouded in mystery (John 7:27; see Dan 7:13).

The Dead Sea community apparently expected two separate Messiahs, a priestly one and a royal one (1QS 9:11).
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Few (if any) expected that the Messiah would have to suffer
(though this is clearly taught in Isa 52:13–53:12; see Matt 16:21–23 and parallels; John 12:34).
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Most conceived of the Messiah in nationalistic terms, expecting him to establish an earthly rule with Israel at its center and delivering the Jews from their foreign oppressors (see John 1:49; 6:14; 12:12–13).

Jewish Sects and Other Groups of People
Several prominent Jewish sects that appear in the Gospels have their origin in the Maccabean period (mid-second century BC).
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The main parties include (1) the Pharisees; (2) the Sadducees; (3) the Essenes; and (4) the Zealots.
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The Pharisees, Jesus' primary antagonists, most likely originated from the God-fearing Hasidim, who practiced a form of righteousness that observed a complex system of oral traditions in an effort to flesh out the implications of scriptural commands for everyday life.
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Unlike the Sadducees the Pharisees believed in the resurrection and in angels (Acts 23:8).

The Sadducees traced their beginnings back to the Hasmonean period (late second century BC; Josephus,
Jewish War
2.404–15).
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Their demise took place with the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in AD 70.
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As the ruling aristocracy in Jerusalem, they had a vested interest in maintaining the status quo and arranged themselves with the foreign overlords in Palestine. They held a majority on the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, accepted only the Pentateuch as Scripture, denied the future resurrection, and eschewed a belief in angels (Acts 23:8). The Sadducees were allied with the Pharisees in having Jesus crucified.

The Essenes, like the Pharisees, probably originated with the Hasidim, from whom they later separated (1 Macc 2:42; 7:13; Josephus,
Jewish War
2.555–97).
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They were a group of pious and zealous Jews who participated with the Maccabeans in a revolt against the Seleucids but later rejected the Maccabean corruption of the Jerusalem priesthood and temple system.
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They may have formed the nucleus of the Dead Sea community that withdrew from Jerusalem to the desert in order to practice a form of communal living and pious religious observance. They engaged in the study of Scripture, ritual baths and
washings, and worship liturgy; believed that they were the chosen end-time community; and some refrained from marriage. The Essenes are not mentioned in the NT.

The Zealots are first attested during the reign of Herod the Great (c. 6 BC; Josephus,
Jewish War
2.598–606).
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They ceased to exist as a movement after the fall of Masada, a Jewish fortress near the Dead Sea, at the end of the first Jewish revolt in the year 73. The Zealots resisted the foreign occupation of Palestine by the Romans and opposed payment of tribute or taxes to pagan emperors, which they held was owed only to God. They were fiercely loyal to Jewish traditions and opposed to any foreign influence in Palestine. Among them may have been the
sicarii
, a group of resistance fighters who concealed short daggers under their cloaks and murdered people in an effort to destabilize the political climate in the Holy Land.
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One of Jesus' followers appears to have been a Zealot (Simon the Zealot; Matt 10:4).