Historical Overview of Jewish History

Discussion Questions/Points for Wylen Ch. 2

E. Historical Overview; Kraft Chart (overview), cf. Wylen Ch. 2 (Biblical –Post Exilic), Fredriksen 67-69 (Overview)

1.Define and Characterize 4 major periods of ancient Jewish/Christian History from the beginnings through the 4^th century. (Ancient Israelite; Post Exilic, Early Christian/Rabbinic, Christian Consolidation/Talmudic)

2 Be able to explain the quote below and to relate it to your understanding of OT source criticism:

“The Exile, the traumatic result of the Babylonian victory in 586 BCE, marked not only all subsequent Jewish history, but also, with the postexilic redaction of the Torah, all previous Jewish history as well. For it was only after the Exile, according to modern textual critics, that the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, received its final form. Earlier traditions about the Creation, the patriarchs, the liberation from Egypt, the giving of God’s Torah (teaching) on Sinai—all originating variously and at now indeterminate periods in the northern and southern Kingdoms—were now redacted by anonymous editors who incorporated their religious reflections on the Babylonian Captivity into the history of their people’s ancient origins. And from this documentary montage emerged a narrative unity, the story of a universal deity’s election of a people and of their role in his plans for all people (Fredriksen 68-69).”

3. What explanation(s) can you propose for the difference in outcomes between the Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 721/22 BCE and the Babylonian conquest of the Kingdom of Judah and destruction of the First Temple in 586/87 BCE. As you know, the resettlement of the Northern population by the Assyrians resulted in “ten lost tribes,” the virtual disappearance of these Jews as an ethnic/cultural group. In the case of the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of its population to Babylonia in 586 BCE, enough of the population remained intact to enable a “return” (539CE) associated with Ezra and Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple, known as the Second Temple, IN 515.

4.From your reading (Wylen Ch. 2 and Sources) what was the most important achievement of the early postexilic period (time of Ezra the Scribe)?

5.What is meant by a “scriptural religion?” During what period in its history did Judaism become a scriptural religion? What are some factors that brought about this change? What effect did the new emphasis on scripture have on traditional prophecy?

6.Who is the last prophet in the OT canon? When did prophecy “end”? What replaced it?

(LOOKING AHEAD)

7.BE ABLE TO ENUMERATE SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ‘TRADITIONAL’ PROPHECY AND APOCALYPTIC PROPHECY INCLUDING GENERAL TIME PERIODS FOR EACH.

8.BE ABLE TO ENUMERATE SEVERAL SIGNIFICANT COMMONALITIES AND DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN PRE-EXILIC AND POST-EXILIC JUDAISM.