Religion 207 - Judaism

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Prophecy

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“To speak for”, people will speak for god

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Revelation

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“divine revelation” three common assumptions about revelation
1. There is a god
2. There are people (prophets) that god speaks through
3. Message that god speaks will have a divine moral content

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Yahweh

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When Moses asked who do I say sent me, God said, tell them Yaweh “I am who I am” sent you
(God is personal, all powerful and all loving.)

God always transcends human conception

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Meaning in God

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Ethical Monotheism - there is one god, we did not create ourselves, god did.
Jews believe that god has expectations of us

Jews have an ethical monotheistic view of god:
1. God is not a product human rational
2. God is not chaotic – you expect him to act in a certain way
3. God is not immoral (he will follow his own conduct)
4. God is not hostile to human weakness – he is merciful

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Meaning in creation

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(Creation) Nature is very important. Humans are the representatives of god on this earth (on the 6th day he created us and gave us dominion over this world)

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Meaning in human existence

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Recognize human limitations but also splendor associated with being human (we have much more than animals).
1. Human beings/image of god – gives us reasoning , self-awareness, free will (we are morally responsible for our actions) – being created in the image of god means humans have a specific purpose here, which is to rule and care for his world
2. Moral freedom: a: we are free to choose what we do b: we have to accept the consequences of our actions
3. Sin: by not performing your responsibility (rule and care for God’s world), free will is what can lead us to sin

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Meaning in history

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Nature vs. History
Nature: "the way things are" - follow the laws of nature, so plants can't be judged
History: "the way things ought to be" - we document our actions therefore we bring moral judgement (we have free will because we were created in the image of god), we can be judged for our actions

Judaism vs. Paganism: nature (fertility & harvest) vs history (moral obligation)

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Meaning in morality

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Rules by which we govern social interaction.
1. Ten Commandments
2. 613 Commandments

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Ten Commandments

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1st table: how humans ought to relate to the creator god
1. No false gods
2. Don’t make any image of god
3. Don’t take God’s name in vain
4. Honor the Sabbath
2nd table: how you relate to other human beings
1. Honor your parents
2. Don’t murder
3. Don’t commit adultery
4. Don’t steal
5. Don’t bear false witness: don’t misrepresent the evidence – don’t lie against someone else
6. (6) – Don’t covet (don’t desire what your neighbor has)

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613 Commandments

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37 odd books
• 1st five - genesis, exodus, Leviticus, numbers, deutoronomy – thought to be authored by Moses
• The laws were interpreted by the Rabbis

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Meaning in justice

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1. Moses
2. Prophetic Guild
3. Pre-writing prophets
4. Writing Prophets

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Moses

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original prophet, went up to Mt. Sinai for 40 days and talked to God, came back with the 10 commandments, famous for receiving the word of god and bringing it to his people, man called by God to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt

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Prophetic Guild

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grew discontent with people and left to live in bushes where they practiced ecstatic worship (believe that they were possessed by the spirit of god), they had no criticism against the people they grew discontent with, some of these men become the pre-writing prophets

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Pre-writing prophets

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- Teachers from Prophetic Guild
- critique against Kings
- Samuel warned Israelites that a king would be bad
- Nathan was a pre-writing prophet who agreed with Samuel's prediction, God spoke to King David through Nathan, saying that King David was doing bad things
- Elijah was the next prophet, God spoke through him to communicate with the next king

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Writing Prophets

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- Critiqued ALL of society (compared to pre-writing that critiqued the KINGS)
- Poems: later books of the bible
- Isaiah: says Israelites are living incorrectly but there is nothing they can do, god will bring good to their society but they have to wait and be hopeful

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Meaning in suffering

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1. Assyrian conquest
2. Babylonian Conquest
3. Persian restoration

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Assyrian conquest

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(King David was followed by King Solomon, after Solomon’s death the Israelites, split into two kingdoms, northern and southern) The northern kingdom was conquered by the assyrians, to make sure that the conquest would remain theirs, the assyrians made the Israelites scatter throughout the Assyrian empire – making it difficult to maintain themselves as Jews. Therefore these are the 10 lost tribes (never recovered after the conquest).

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Babylonian conquest

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The southern tribes were conquered by the Babylonians through the Fertile Crescent, after the Babylonians conquered the Assyrians. The Babylonians took 10,000 of the wealthiest Jews back to their capital. Normal Jews were able to stay in Judah. The Jews in Babylon were allowed to practice Judaism – they kept hope to be reunited back in Israel. This was at the time of the destruction of the 1st temple.

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Persian restoration

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Persian conquered Babylon, they wanted all the gods to be on their side (cover all you bases), if there was anyone among them that worshiped a different god they accepted it, they allowed the Jews to return to Israel and build a temple

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Meaning in Messianism

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1. First temple
2. Second temple
3. Messiah
4. Messianic restoration
5. End of days (apocalypse)

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First Temple

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Built by Solomon
One God - one temple in Jerusalem, permanent place of worship – ties god to a specific location (before it was mobile), destroyed by Babylonians

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Second temple

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built after exile, physical is not as nice and the experience of exile affected the Jews so that they start questioning if God is really found at the temple

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Messiah

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- True perfect king: by God's definition (what Jews expected from their previous Kings)

- Hasn't come yet, but we are expecting it
- Brings military conquest of Israel (and expulsion of current non-Jewish ruler in Israel)
- Brings utopia

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Messianic restoration

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when the Messiah comes, every Jew in the Diaspora (Assyrian dispersal) will return to Jerusalem (home)

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End of Days (Apocalypse)

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End of this imperfect world, Messiah brings utopia

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Abraham

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Father of three monotheistic religion (original patriarch), called upon by God to leave his home to establish his people in the land of Israel, “grandfather”

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Isaac

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son of Abraham, second patriarch, famous for the “sacrifice” story (this is when Abraham proves his faithfulness to God)

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Jacob

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son of Isaac – 3rd patriarch, wrestled with “God”, Jacob gets injured but doesn’t give up so God blesses him by changing his name to Israel, has twelve sons (twelve tribes)

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Twelve Tribes

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named after the twelve sons

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David

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poet king, responsible for the psalms, second king but the first righteous king (his heart was after god’s own heart)

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Solomon

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David’s son, philosopher king, three books ascribed, 1. book of proverbs 2. Ecclesiastes (wisdom book reflecting the meaning of life) Songs of Solomon (extended erotic poem), third king, very wise, built the 1st temple

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Chosen People

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Genesis 12: Verses 1-3 “Leave your country and your fathers house and go to a land that I will show you… all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you”

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Promised Land

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Abraham doesn’t know where God is taking him, he has to trust God to guide him, he follows god around for 400 years, eventually (after Abraham’s lifetime) God gives the Jews (his descendents) the land of Israel – boundaries are roughly the present day state of Israel

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Exodus

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Second book of Hebrew bible, people of Israel leave Egypt (escape slavery), Moses is one of the main characters (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived in Israel then Jacob moved his children to Egypt where they enslaved)

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Sabbath

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The seventh day of the week. For Jews, this begins on Friday night and ends on Saturday night. The justification for the Sabbath day is contained in the accounts of creation: “on the seventh day God rested.” Thus, in order to follow in God’s footsteps, the Hebrew people are commanded to work 6 days and rest of the seventh.

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Synagogue

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A religious institution that develops during the Babylonian exile. It is associated with rabbis and scribes, not priests and prophets. Judaism becomes much less cultic and much more book-oriented to study and preserve the faith.

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Rabbi

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: literally means “teacher”, and becomes important in Judaism after the temple is destroyed. The synagogue develops and with it, the rabbi to answer the Jews’ uncertainties of God’s commitment to them. Less ritually oriented, and more like a school – leader of the synagogue;