The Rise and Fall of Jewish Nationalism - Report Example

Introduction After the book of Malachi, Christians believe that there was a 400-year period of no communication between God and the people of Israeluntil the birth of Jesus Christ1. This was the period between Malachi and Matthew and this has been known in the circles of Christian theology as the intertestamental period2. Since there is no Christian no Jewish authoritative sources about the events that happened within this period, there is a void and a general lack of information about that era. Unlike other periods like the period of the Old Testament where the history and socio-cultural trends of Ancient Israel were documented in accepted Biblical sources, the intertestamental period had little or no information about what happened. There is no clearcut information in the New or Old Testaments about the events. Thus, scholars will have to rely on other historical sources to ascertain the events and activities that shaped the period from other sources. The only conclusive information about the period is that it was in the time of the Second Temple. Hence, it is apparent that life in this period was a struggle between Jewish practices and traditions and Greco-Roman expansionist and cultural integration processes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the life, culture and processes in Ancient Israel during the period of the Second Temple. To this end, the following objectives will be explored: 1. A critical evaluation of the political trends and processes in the period; 2. An analysis of the Jewish culture and philosophy and its resistance to Greek and Roman activities; 3. A critique of important events and matters that existed before the birth of Jesus Greco-Roman Political Domination in Ancient Israel As a background to the rise of the Greco-Roman empires, it must be pointed out that empires had existed at various times in history. Mighty nations like Egypt, Assyria, Phoenicia amongst others rose in the Mediterranean region and these formed the earliest civilizations in history. The Israelite community was consolidated into a nation around 3,300 years ago when they left Egypt and escaped the servitude of the king of Egypt. After entering the land of Israel, the Israelite community dwelt for about 500 years before the nation was consolidated into a kingdom under the Davidic dynasty which culminated in the building of the Temple by King Solomon, son of David. The Temple was a central figure in Israeli and Jewish nationalism because it had linkages and roots to the promises made by God to Moses, the leader of the nation who led the Exodus from Egypt3. The Temple acted as a convergence point for the conduct of various religious rites and processes that kept the social structures of the Israelite nations stable4. However, the balance of power in the Middle East first shifted in 586 BC when the Babylonians gained regional domination in the region5. The expansionist policy of the Babylonians led to the destruction of the Temple and the integration of Israel into the Babylonian empire6. The Babylonian expansionist policies were emulated by the Persians a few generations later and this formed the blueprint for the Greek and the Roman Empires who arose several centuries after the fall of the Persian and Babylonian Empires. Alexander the Great Around the year 330 BC, Alexander and his Macedonian Army emerged. Alexander and his troops developed a superior military strategy and through this, they were able to conquer and annex numerous territories and communities in the Mediterranean region7. The fundamental approach used by Alexander the Great in consolidating and holding his empire was cultural osmosis and social intercourse amongst the captured territories8. Thus, Alexander found ways of resettling various persons, particularly lighter-skinned southern Europeans in the captured territories and communities that they ruled. This led to the creation of the city of Alexandria in Egypt and other territories in North Africa and the Middle East where persons of European extractions were made indigenous. Secondly, there was a general tendency under Alexander the Great and his Greek leaders that involved the spread of positive social systems they learnt in different parts of the empire. To this end, the Greeks published the Hebrew Bible in Greek after the death of Alexander the Great9. This was the first time the Jewish Torah and elements of the Tanach were published in a foreign language. The translation was done by 70 Jews in different locations and they came up with the same kind of translations and this formed the core of the Old Testament which formed the foundation for the Christian faith10. Thus, Alexander laid the foundation and the impetus for the mixing of the nations in Southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The Greeks ruled the land of Israel under Alexander. Although this period was not marked by massive use of force and the destruction of the Second Temple which had been built under the authority of the Persian Empire, the Greeks sought to modify the culture of the Jewish people11. The Greeks created regional city states and sought to integrate persons of European descent into Israel. This was in addition to the promotion of Jewish resettlement into other parts of the Greek Empire and the banning of Temple practices in the Temple of Jerusalem12. Instead, elements of a new hellenistic religious movement with its ideologies were imposed on the land of Israel with the view of making Israel a central part of the Greek empire. This led to a major revolt by the Hasmoneans (discussed below) which led to the expulsion of the Greek authorities in the land of Israel. Rise of Rome and the Herodian Dynasty in Israel Around 200 BC, there were cracks in the Greek military and political hierarchy and this gave way for the Romans to conquer Greece and annex lands in the region to itself13. Instead of using the Greek strategy of resettling loyalists in captured territories, the Romans used a system of colonialism in which they sent governors to territories they governed and controlled14. The earliest governors were sent to Athens to create a buffer between the Roman Empire and the eastern frontier. With time, the expansionist policy of the Romans increased and their appetite for land grew until they captured the land of Israel and annexed it. The Roman militaristic quest for improved authority and control over more territory led to the consolidation of policies and the improvement of their system of governing their vassal states and provinces. As a result of this, the Romans created a system of installing their generals and officials over areas who reported directly to the Caesar in Rome. Below these Roman authorities, there were puppet kings that were created to protect Roman interests in these foreign lands and nations. In the land of Israel, the Romans installed an Idumean or Edomite client king who had the fundamental duty of representing the Roman interest in the region15. His name was Herod I and he lived between 70 BC and 4 BC according to most estimations. Herod was of a non-Israeli origins. Rather, he was an Edomite of lighter-skinned European-like features and was an observant Jew, although not ethnically like the other Israelites of his days16. Herod therefore acted in the interest of the Roman Empire and collected taxes with some of the local Israelites who cooperated with Herod. Herod reported directly to Agrippa, the head of the Eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. This structure was preserved for approximately 200 years and the Herodian dynasty was formed to cooperate with the Romans in their quest to control the land of Israel. Jewish Culture in the Period Obviously, the Jewish social systems were severely affected when the Babylonians, Greeks and Romans conquered the land and the destruction of the first temple and the gaps in the second temple period affected the Jewish nation significantly. In reaction to this, there were various counter claims and philosophies that came up in the Israelite community that formed the impetus for the break up of the Torah heritage into Judaism and Christianity as we have it today. The Hasmoneans The Hasmoneans were priests who lived in a rural setting and managed to stand up and challenge Greek rule and Greek verdicts on the land of Israel17. The Hasmonean revolt was in reaction to the policies of the Greek emperor, Antiochus who had passed a decree that only Greek gods must be worshiped in the Jerusalem Temple. This decree was openly defied by the priest, Mathatias Maccabees and his sons who moved into hiding and let a revolution against the Greek authorities circa 167 – 160 BC18. With time, Matthatias died and the command of the Maccabean army was taken by his older son, Simon Maccabees19. Eventually, after several battles with the Greek military, the Maccabees were successful and Judas Maccabees, the younger son of Mathatias successfully rode into Jerusalem and the city was finally relieved of its Greek influence and the Temple was re-dedicated and used for Judaic practices only20. The victory of the Maccabees led to the formation of the Hasmonean dynasty. This dynasty countered foreign influence and foreign rule over the land of Israel. In the period though, the influence of the foreign powers was so strong. And this made it impossible for the Israelites to maintain a homogenous nation. Thus, there were numerous ideals and values that were brought in by the foreign nations and from the Jews who were scattered in the Diaspora who returned to the nation. Thus, the Hasmonean dynasty sought to create a system through which the Jewish people could carry out their practices and maintain national integrity in the face of constraints from outside the boundaries of the nation. Due to the diversity in the nation and pressures from outside, there were numerous philosophies and ideologies that were carried out in the period. This included the introduction of various sects and groups that emerged in the intertestamental period. There are three main branches of such groups and most of them were challenged directly by Christianity. Pharisees The Pharisees were a group of people who placed a central emphasis on the Oral Law21. They believed that God gave the Torah to Moses and the core sections of the Torah was written down. However, there are some important aspects of the Torah that was communicated directly by God to Moses and from Moses to the Israelites. Each Israelite was supposed to teach the Oral Tradition to his children and the children were to teach to their children and so on. Thus, just as a nations constitution provides the core and central laws of the land, the Pharisees believed that the Written Torah; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy provided the core rules and framework within which the laws of God was given to the Israelites22. However, in reality, no nation has all its laws written in one constitution. That is not possible. This is because some laws will evolve from customs of the society, laws made by authorities and many other sources. In the same vein, the Pharisees taught that the application of the Written Torah was given directly to Moses when he spent 40 days on Mount Sinai. This formed the basis of the Oral Tradition and this was the most important thing the Israelites had to focus on. Thus, they codified the Oral Tradition and formed the Talmud and other sources. The Pharisees believed that there was life after death and good people got rewarded whilst the wicked were punished by God. The Pharisees teaching stated that a Messiah will come who will move the world into an era of physical peace and give the Jewish people the right setting within which they can practice their Faith. The Pharisees were in support of individual prayer and assembling in synagogues. The Sadducees These were an elite group of people who sought to maintain a system whereby a priestly caste was put in place in Israel23. They were very liberal and they sought to integrate elements and aspects of Hellenistic practices in their social lives. This was something the Pharisees objected to because the Pharisees advocated for a systematic and selective integration of foreign ideologies into the Jewish culture. The Sadducees rejected the Oral tradition and sought to maintain only the actual interpretation of the Written Law as it existed in the Torah. They did not believe in the afterlife because it was not mentioned in the Torah. The Sadducees rather focused on Temple observances and practices. Thus, when the Second Temple was destroyed, the Sadducees and their practices ended. Therefore, the information about the Saducees are available from the Pharisees, whose teachings have survived to this day in the form of Rabbinical Judaism. The Sadducees and the Pharisees were in charge of the Sanhendrin and they had the power to interpret religious laws according to the Torah. The Essenes The Essenes was somewhat the “third way”. It was a collection of people who did not want to be part of the Pharisees teachings or the Sadducees teachings. These were people who believed that the life in urban centers like Jerusalem had been corrupted. Hence they moved from the city and lived in seclusion in monasteries where they observed strict dietary laws and refused to marry or engage in the pleasures of the world24. However, the learning systems and the practices of the Essenes have come under close investigations in recent times because they are believed to be linked to the group that wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. Thus, scholars believe that the sect had access to some sensitive religious writings and information that they considered to be worthwhile enough to live their lives in seclusion to preserve25. Conclusion Life in the intertestamental period of Israel reflects a struggle between the Greco-Roman powers and their quest for expansion into Israel and the Israelite/Jewish peoples quest for homogeneity and observance of Torah principles and ideologies. The Greeks sought to impose a harsh rule on Israel whilst the Romans sought to impose a king who was a practitioner of Judaism and collect taxes from the people. The Israelites resisted and kept a locally recognized Hasmonean kingdom that fought to maintain peace and national integrity of the Jewish nation. In the quest for survival, three distinct Jewish philosophies emerged. The first was the Essenes who had a strict interpretation of the Torah and sought to live in seclusion. The second was the Sadducees who were liberals and cooperated with the Greeks but their observances were tied to the Temple and hence the group disappeared after the temple collapsed. 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