The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (24 page)

The common people of Palestine are at times referred to in the Gospels as the “people of the land” (Hb.
am haarets
). They were scorned by the religious leaders who considered them ignorant of the intricacies of their oral tradition and inadequately concerned with ritualistic piety and law observance. Typical is the Pharisees' attitude conveyed by the statement in John's Gospel: “But this crowd, which doesn't know the law, is accursed!” (7:49). It is also important to note the large number of Jews in the Diaspora outside of Palestine (see John 7:35). They worshipped in their synagogues and attracted a considerable number of proselytes and God-fearers.
¹²⁹

The Sanhedrin
The Sanhedrin, variously called “Council,” “the rulers,” “chief priests, elders, and scribes,” or a combination thereof in the NT, was the Jewish supreme council in all religious and political matters.
¹³⁰
Ideally, it consisted of 70 members on the precedent of the elders appointed by Moses at the advice of Jethro, his father-in-law (Exodus 18), though this may not always have been their actual number. The Sanhedrin was convened by the high priest.
¹³¹
While Palestine was ruled by the Roman governor who reported to the emperor in Rome, the Jews enjoyed a considerable degree of religious and political autonomy in Jesus' day.

CONCLUSION

It was the purpose of this chapter to lay the foundation for the study of the NT in the remainder of this volume. By acquiring a basic understanding of historical and political
developments prior to the NT period as well as a familiarity with Second Temple literature and prevalent theological and philosophical currents, students will be equipped for dealing with each of the writings of the NT, a study that occupies the remainder of this volume.

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. What is the significance of the following events or books for the NT?
   
   1. The Assyrian exile of Israel (the northern kingdom)
      
   2. The Babylonian exile Judah (the southern kingdom)
      
   3. The book of Malachi
      
   4. The conquests of Alexander the Great
      
2. Which were the two Greek houses in charge of Palestine from 320–167 BC?
   
3. What was the name of the Greek ruler who erected a statue of Zeus in the Jerusalem temple, and when did this event take place?
   
4. What was the name of the Jewish party supportive of the Maccabees?
   
5. What was the name of the dynasty following the Maccabeans?
   
6. Which two parties divided from the Hasidim?
   
7. What are the years of rule for the following Roman Emperors?
   
   1. Augustus
      
   2. Tiberius
      
   3. Nero
      
   4. Domitian
      
8. When did the Romans destroy the Jerusalem temple?
   
9. Who were Herod the Great's three sons who ruled over parts of Palestine, and which were the provinces or regions they ruled?
   
10. What are the names of at least five apocryphal books, five pseudepigraphical books, and three writings of the Qumran literature (Dead Sea Scrolls)?
    
11. What were the the four major Jewish sects active in first-century Judaism?
    
12. What was the name of the Jewish ruling council?
    

FOR FURTHER STUDY

History

Berlin, A. M. “Between Large Forces: Palestine in the Hellenistic Period.”
Biblical Archaeologist
60 (1997): 3–43.

Berquist, J. L.
Judaism in Persia's Shadow: A Social and Historical Approach.
Philadelphia: Fortress, 1995.

Bruce, F. F.
New Testament History
. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1980. Burge, G. M., L. H. Cohick, and G. L. Green.
The New Testament in Antiquity: A Survey of the New Testament Within Its Cultural Contexts.
Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009.

Chilton, B., and J. Neusner.
Trading Places: The Intersecting Histories of Judaism and Christianity.
Cleveland: Pilgrim, 1996.

Cohen, S. J. D.
From the Maccabees to the Mishnah.
2d ed. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2006.

Davies, W. D., and L. Finkelstein.
The Cambridge History of Judaism
. 4 vols. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1984–1999.

Evans, C. A., and S. E. Porter, eds.
Dictionary of New Testament Background: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship.
Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000.

Flusser, D. “Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes in Pesher Nahum.” In
Judaism of the Second Temple Period.
Vol. 1:
Qumran and Apocalypticism.
Translated by A. Yadin. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007.

Grabbe, L. L.
An Introduction to First Century Judaism: Jewish Religion and History in the Second Temple Period
.London: T&T Clark, 1996.

Hamerton-Kelly, R., and R. Scroggs.
Jews, Greeks, and Christians: Religious Cultures in Late Antiquity. Essays in Honor of William David Davies.
Leiden: Brill, 1976.

Helyer, L. R.
Exploring Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period: A Guide for New Testament Students
. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2002.

________ . “The Necessity, Problems and Promise of Second Temple Judaism for Discussions of New Testament Eschatology.”
JETS
47 (2004): 97–115.

Hengel, M.
Judaism and Hellenism: Studies in Their Encounter in Palestine During the Early Hellenistic Period
. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981.

Luker, L. M., ed.
Passion, Vitality, and Foment: The Dynamics of Second Temple Judaism.
Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2001.

Neusner, J., and B. D. Chilton, eds.
In Quest of the Historical Pharisees
. Waco, TX: Baylor Univ. Press, 2007.

Newsome, J. D.
Greeks, Romans, Jews: Currents of Culture and Belief in the New Testament World.
Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1992.

Niswonger, R. L.
New Testament History
. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988.

Nodet, E.
A Search for the Origins of Judaism: From Joshua to the Mishnah
. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Supplement Series 248. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997.

Scott, J. J., Jr.
Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament.
Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000.

Tomasino, A. J.
Judaism Before Jesus: The Events and Ideas That Shaped the New Testament World.
Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2003.

Witherington, B., III.
New Testament History: A Narrative Account.
Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001.

Literature

Barrett, C. K., ed.
The New Testament Background: Selected Documents.
San Francisco: Harper, 1989.

Chapman, D. W., and A. J. Köstenberger. “Jewish Intertestamental and Early Rabbinic Literature: An Annotated Bibliographic Resource.”
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
43/4 (December 2000): 577– 618.

Charlesworth, J. H., ed.
The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha.
2 vols. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1983, 1985.

Crawford, S. W.
Rewriting Scripture in Second Temple Times.
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.

DeSilva, D. A.
Introducing the Apocrypha: Message, Context, and Significance.
Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002.

Evans, C. A.
Ancient Texts for New Testament Studies.
Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2005.

________.
Noncanonical Writings and New Testament Interpretation
. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1992.

Evans, C. A., and S. E. Porter, eds.
Dictionary of New Testament Background: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship.
Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000.

Gowan, D. E.
Bridge Between the Testaments: A Reappraisal of Judaism from the Exile to the Birth of Christianity.
3d ed. Allison Park, PA: Pickwick, 1986.

Helyer, L. R.
Exploring Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period: A Guide for New Testament Students
. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2002.

Metzger, B. M., ed.
The Oxford Annotated Apocrypha
. Expanded ed., New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1977.

Nickelsburg, G. W. E.
Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah.
Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981.

Pfeiffer, C. F.
Between the Testaments.
Grand Rapids: Baker, 1959.

Russell, D. S.
Between the Testaments.
Philadelphia: Fortress, 1960.

Schiffman, L. H.
Texts and Traditions. A Source Reader for the Study of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism.
Hoboken, NJ: KTAV, 1998.

Scott, J. J., Jr.
Customs and Controversies: Intertestamental Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament
. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995.

Stone, M. E.
Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period: Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Qumran Sectarian Writings, Philo, Josephus.
Compendia rerum iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum. Section Two:
The Literature of the Jewish People in the Period of the Second Temple and the Talmud
. Assen: Van Gorcum/Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984.

Strack, H. L., and G. Stemberger.
Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash.
Translated by M. Bockmuehl. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992.

Theology

Evans, C. A., and S. E. Porter, eds.
Dictionary of New Testament Background: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship.
Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000.

Ferguson, E.
Backgrounds of Early Christianity.
Rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993.

Flusser, D.
Judaism of the Second Temple Period.
Vol. 1:
Qumran and Apocalypticism
. Translated by A. Yadin. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.

Grabbe, L. L.
Judaism from Cyrus to Hadrian.
London: SCM/Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1992.

Horbury, W., W. D. Davies, and J. Sturdy.
The Cambridge History of Judaism.
Vol. 3:
The Early Roman Period.
Cambridge: University Press, 1999.

Instone-Brewer, D.
Traditions of the Rabbis from the Era of the New Testament
. Vol. 2A:
Feasts and Sabbaths—Passover and Atonement
. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.

Safrai, S., and M. Stern, eds.
The Jewish People in the First Century.
Compendia rerum iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum. Section One:
Historical Geography, Political History, Social, Cultural and Religious Life and Institutions.
2 vols. Assen: Van Gorcum/Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974, 1987.

Sanders, E. P.
Judaism: Practice and Belief (63 BCE–66 CE).
London: SCM/Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1992.

Schiffman, L. H., and J. C. VanderKam, eds.
The Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
2 vols. Oxford: University Press, 2000.

Schürer, E.
The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 BC–AD 135)
. Rev. and ed. G. Vermes, F. Millar, and M. Black. 3 vols. in 4. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1973, 1979, 1986, 1987.

Vermes, G.
An Introduction to the Complete Dead Sea Scrolls.
London: SCM/Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999.

¹
Major primary sources for this period include 1–2 Maccabees, Josephus, Philo, and the
Letter of Aristeas
. See also C. K. Barrett, ed.,
The New Testament Background: Selected Documents
(rev. and exp. ed.; San Francisco: Harper, 1989), especially chaps. 1 (The Roman Empire), 7 (Jewish History), 9 (Qumran), 10 (Philo), and 11 (Josephus). Additional information is found in E. Schürer,
The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ
, rev. and ed. G. Vermes, F. Millar, and M. Black, 3 vols. in 4 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1973, 1979, 1986, 1987); and S. Safrai, ed.,
The Jewish People in the First Century
, CRINT 1/1 (Assen: Van Gorcum/Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974).

²
See L. R. Helyer, “The Necessity, Problems and Promise of Second Temple Judaism for Discussions of New Testament Eschatology,”
JETS
47 (2004): 97–115.

³
L. R. Helyer (
Exploring Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period: A Guide for New Testament Students
[Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2002], 18–24) listed the crises as: (1) destruction of the First Commonwealth and the First Temple; (2) collapse of the Persian Empire in the wake of Alexander the Great's invasion; (3) persecution by Antiochus IV Epiphanes; (4) domination by Rome; and (5) Roman destruction of the Jewish state and Temple.

⁴
R. A. Horsley,
Scribes, Visionaries, and the Politics of Second Temple Judea
(Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2007), 16–22; cf. M. Hengel,
Judaism and Hellenism: Studies in Their Encounter in Palestine During the Early Hellenistic Period
, vol. 1, trans. J. Bowden (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974), 25–27.

⁵
See 2 Kgs 24–25; 2 Chr 36:5–21; and parts of Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel.

⁶
2 Kgs 25:3; see Jer 39:2: “In the fourth month of Zedekiah's eleventh year, on the ninth day of the month, the city was broken into” (i.e., July 18, 586 BC).

⁷
J. J. Scott Jr.,
Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament
(Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000), 108–12.

⁸
This represents but a conjecture on the part of scholarship. Strictly speaking, no one knows when and where the synagogue began. It appears that it did not exist prior to the exile, and the need for a meeting place for prayer and for the study of the Torah in the exile makes the exile a likely time for its origin. It is known that the synagogue did begin in the dispersion and work its way back into Palestine. See J. D. Newsome,
Greeks, Romans, Jews: Currents of Culture and Belief in the New Testament World
(Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1992), 128; cf. the discussion below in this chapter.

⁹
See L. L. Grabbe, “Jewish History: Persian Period,” in
Dictionary of New Testament Background
, 574–76. This is often termed the “Medo-Persian period,” but by the time Babylon was defeated, the Median Empire had been all but eradicated by Cyrus.

¹⁰
H. Koester,
History, Culture, and Religion of the Hellenistic Age
, 2d ed. (New York: W. de Gruyter, 1995), 1.