-Jews did not exist before 1200 BCE

-Menepta Stele first mention of jews in 1200 BCE

-propaganda exaggerating destroying Israel, but Israel continued
to exist,
suggested Israel group of people without walled city,
nomadic people
-huge group of people coming down from Troy to middle east area (the
Philistines)
-wanted to invade Israelites
-israel came together as federation of trides to protect themselves
from philistines
-came together to prevent others from taking over the city and
to more easily
move resources around city
-god tells Samuel (first ruler of Israel) to make saul the 1st king
-go tells saul to go war and kill everything in other town
-saul leaves livestock alive and loses king ship
-god choses sauls musician (David) to become next king
-David was descendant of one of most powerful tribes in Israel
Judah
-David
-more successful than Saul at killing, gains fame through military
prowess
-expands borders of Sauls kingdom
-captured Jerusalem
-moral shortcoming killed too many people so couldn't make
gods temple
-king Solomon - Davids son and successor
-maintained kingdom of david
-great builder built solomons temple (first temple)
-built on mount zion for Israelite god
-instilled corvee labor certain regions build project at certain
times
-Solomon thought to be showing too much favoritism to Judah
(south)
-north got mad
-after rule of Solomon, kingdom of David split into north kingdom
(Israel) and south kingdom (Judah)
-people in north didn't have access to gods temple was in
Jerusalem which was in judah
-built two temples in Israel to prevent religious ties to
Jerusalem
-assyrians advanced and conquered Israel
-had policy of deportation and deported people around
kingdom
-northern tribes of Israel scattered and tribes were lost
-southern kingdom of Judah (924-586 BCE)
-ran continuously by single dynasty descendents of david

-assyrians tried to siege Judahs city of Lachish

-london museum have tablets depicting siege of Lachish
-assyrian siege of Jerusalem
-sennacheribs prism describe siege of Jerusalem
-sennacherib compared Hezekiah (king of Jeru.) to
caged bird
-siege ultimately fails claims Hezekiah paid them of
-bible says huge plague hit assyrian army
-hezekiah means to protect city is corroborated wall and
underground
tunnels in jerusalem
-two main kings of 7th century BCE Mannaseh (hated), Josiah (liked)
-mannaseh one of worst kings according to bible
-permitted other gods into Yahwehs temple and also built other
temples
-because of alliances there are other gods and Manasseh
wanted to
let subjects worship gods they wish
-Josiah rid temple of Judah from temples of other gods
-prohibited people from worshipping other gods
-neo-babylonian empire
-king Nebuchadnezzar
-conquered Judah and exiled old king and appointed new one
(Zedekiah)
-required Judah to pay huge tributes to Babylon
-Zedekiah chose one year to not pay tribute (thought Yahweh
would protect
them)
-king marched to Jerusalem and burned city down and
destroyed
Yahweis original temple in Jerusalem
-Jerusalem people killed Zedekiahs wife and exiled Zedekiah
-Babylonian Exile (586 BCE)
-elite class in Judah forced to live in Babylon, so king could detect
rebellion
by Judahite people
-lower class people allowed to remain in Judah
-exile presented three major problems
1) challenge of diaspora
2) theological crisis what happened to Yahweh?
3) coping strategies reconceptualize yahwehs role in
history
-end of neobabylonian empire
-babylon conquered by Persia
-ruled by King Cyrus the Great
-lets people from conquered country live in native land
-in cyrus cylinder
-conquered jews allowed to go back to Judah
-many jews ended up staying in Babylon
-persian period
-dual leadership in Yehud

-Zerubbabel - governor descendant of david, had secular

authority
-Joshua high priest religious leader, in charge of things like
rebuilding temples
-Zerubbabel supposed to be king but ended up losing power so
Joshua rose to power
-after zerubbabel no more descendants of david rose to power
-delayed construction of second temple
-return and restoration
-jews came back from exile in Babylon
-high priest became single authoritative figure in power at Yehud
-delayed construction of 2nd temple
-Haggai and Zechariah (both prophets post exile)
continued
construction of second temple
-samaritan problem Samaritans came into Jerusalem
and wanted
leadership stake in new temple
-returning jews said no and both sides sabotaged
each other
from building new temple
-poverty and lack of security Jerusalem war torn after
battle w/
Babylon
-exiles returned and city still war torn
-ezra and Nehemiah
-jerusalem so unstable persians sent jews back w/ authority to
help rebuild
city
-ongoing squabbling between
-dividic and priestly leaders
-returned exiles and those who stayed
-judahites and other worshippers of Yahweh
-ongoing poverty, insecurity, and environmental catastrophes
-persians wanted jews to repair city more taxes for them and
created large
stable Persian empire
-israel also in strategic location, halfway between Greece
and Egypt (two powerful countries)
-ezra and Nehemiah charged to restore order to Yehud
-built wall around yehud
-policy of ethnic purification
-non-exiled judahites could not marry exiled ones
-exiled jews = elite kind of jews
-promalgamation of Gods law the Torah
-constitution of jewish people
-2 important developments of Persian period
-emergence of Zadokite high priest as most important leader
-emerge of torah as central document
-old testament not necessarily real diferent for
Christians and
jews
-origin of torah

-traditional view first five books of bible written by moses

-problem some passages could not be written by moses
-documentary hypothesis four main sources of torah
stitched together
around time of Babylonian exile
-constructed when high priest came into power in
Jerusalem
-Hellenistic period
-sparta wages war against Athens, Sparta won at high cost (lost many
men)
-Macedonians joined with greeks and defeated Persian and took over
empire under Alex the great
-conquers everywhere from india to Egypt
-conquering not only about plundering, but also conquering
culturally
-when alex died, empire divided among generals
-two concentrating on Ptolemaios (Egypt area) and soleucids
(east)
-jews under Ptolemies (300-200 BCE)
-very rich jewish population developed in cities around Egypt, esp
Alexandria
-ptolemies II (philadephius) missing 5 books in library 5
books of torah
-but only in hebrew
-brought 70 of best scribes in Jerusalem and put them in diferent
rooms to
translate, all 70 came up with exact same translation
-probably not real, made up to assure torah not lost in
translation
Jews under Seleucids (200 BCE)
-ptolemies lost control of Jerusalem to seleucids
-antiochus III (Megas) reigned over Judah
-jews happy under Antiochus lowered taxes compared to
Ptolomies
-confirmation of priestly rule, torah regulations in
efect
-by 129 BCE, rome a lot bigger
-antiochus at war with many kings
-antiochus IV epiphanies took throne after Antiochus III
1) eforts to extract wealth from Judah tried to take wealth from
temple
2) cooperation from ambitious contenders for high priesthood
-Jason the high priest
-Menelaus the high priest
3) Hellenization of Jerusalem
-Fateful events of 167 BCE
-construction of Akra, Seleucid fortress in middle of Jerusalem

-increase in taxes
-prohibiting torah regulations
-conversion of Jerusalem temple into shrine for Zeus Olympius
-hasmonean revolt
-revolt began in Modiin under mattathius hasmonay
-dies, son, Judah Hasmonay, takes over and lays siege to
Akra and
restores temple (commemorated by
Hanukkah)
-Judah has full control over Jerusalem, forges alliance with rome
(fighting
Seleucids from west)
-power consolidates under Jonathan one of Judahs brothers
-jews finally under their own rule
-Simon (last of Judahs brothers) declares himself high priest
-hasmonean dynasty
-expansion in wake of simon
-Jon Hyrcanus first of hasmonean kings
-expanded jewish empire
-gave those he conquered ultimatum convert to jew or
get out
-Aristobulus took title of king and high priest
-problem: not descendent of david
-problem of maccabees growing don't have authority to
claim self as
high priest or king
-another problem: aristobulus = greek name
-ironic bc Maccabees opposed Greece but taking on
their way
of life (i.e. naming kids greek names)
-maccabees becoming people they rebelled against
Hellenized Greeks
-Alexander Jannaeus
-waged massive wars that took toll on own people
-city went to enemy to ask to take them over since alex
taking huge
toll on people
-end of hasmonean dynasty
-arrival of Pompey Magnus in 63 BCE, conquered Judea,
starting roman
period
-legacy:
-jews enjoy autonomous rule
-hasmoneans become what they rebelled against
-emergence of sects within jew community
-pharisees separated themselves from normal society
-treated homes as temple to bring holy life into all aspects of life
-scrupulous devotion to regulations of torah informed by
regulations of
fathers
-public consulted them for how ceremonies are supposed to be
done

-sadducees from Hebrew for Zadok

-people from priest class of jew society
-devoted to scrupulous devotion to regulations of torah, but
rejected
traditions of fathers
-strict constructionalists
-very elite group, did not have ear of masses
-essenes most sectarian, lived bare and isolated lives
-limited participation in jewish temple thought groups were
corrupt
-spread the wealth around
-wanted to create socialist utopia collected money from
many
members and redistributed it according to
needs of jewish temple
-dead sea scrolls discovered at Qumran
-contained biblical texts, extra biblical texts, biblical
commentaries, and
sectarian texts
-community at Qumran
-teacher of righteousness vs wicked priest
-simon person who claimed to be high priest = wicked
priest
-teacher of righteousness = defrocked zadokite priest