EssentialSocioeconomic differences Between the Sects (according to Josephus):
The Pharisees werepoor, farmers and lived in little villages (not many in cities).
The Sadducees wererich, aristocrats, lived in the city, and were Cohanim.
The Essenes livedin the desert (5,000 people), were a closed off group (from everyone else),started their own calendar, and they didn t have slaves.
Politicaldifferences Between the Sects:
The Phariseesemphasized religion above everything (including politics).
The Sadducees werevery involved in politics, were obsessed with power, and believed the mostimportant thing were the state and the Mikdash (Temple).
The Essenesrejected all authority of Yerushalaim, the center, and believed it was corrupt.They had no part in political life at the time.
Our big question:
Was the Dead SeaSect the Essenes????????
A little history:The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947 in Kumran, by a Bedouin shepherd whowent to look for his goat. Near that area they also found a whole civilizationand several Mikvahs.
Most historiansidentify the Dead Sea Sect with the Essenes.
Proofs:
1. The place: both lived in the desert
2. Their way of life, beliefs are the same:they didn t marry, had shared property, wore white clothes, were ascetic(rejected physical things)
3. The time: 140 B.C.E.- 70 C.E. (the Essenesdisappeared in 70 C.E. after the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash II).
The Dead SeaScrolls:
The Content: Itmentions a war between the Sons of Light (Bnei Ha Or- who were the members ofthe sect) and the Sons of Darkness (Bnei Ha Choshech- who were everybody else).It says (in a thing called the Habakkuk Document) that the leader of the Sonsof Light was righteous leader, while the leader of the Sons of Darkness wasCohen Harasha- the evil Cohen (The historian Vermes said that the Cohen Harashawas Yonatan the Hasmonaean).
There is a littlecontradiction between two documents: The Manual of Discipline (the rules thesect had to abide by which says that they couldn t marry and there was noprivate property) and the Damascus Document (which said that there was privateproperty and they could marry). Josephus solves this by saying that there weresimply different groups of the Essenes.
Other historianshave different opinions on who the Dead Sea Sect were:
They were Sdukim because it mentionsthe words Bnei Sadok (Sons of Sadok) in the Dead Sea Scrolls
They were Prushim because theyseparated themselves from the rest of the nation
They were non- Jews.The Origin ofthe Sects: Where did thewhole Prushi/Sduki thing come from?
Started in the time of Beit Hamikdash Iwhen Shlomo was king- there was on argument between Sadok the Cohen Gadol(Sdukim) and Evyatar (Prushim)
Started also in the time of Bayit I-there was an argument between the Cohanim (Sdukim) and the Prophets(Prushim)
According to Mantel it started at thetime of Ezra and Nechemia- there was and argument between several groupsof Jews- the Cohanim (Sdukim) and the Shomranim (Prushim). How does Mantelprove this (that the Prushim started during that time)?
He says that theJews that returned to Eretz Yisrael from Babylonia were called Bnei Hagolah andthey were the Prushim- their leaders were Ezra and Nechemia.
(A side note: thePrushim were also called Sofrim, Chaverim, and some call them Chasidim.)
The whole Oral Torah thing started atthat time
The fact that they started reading theTorah not literally anymore
The Prushim had a more universalisticview towards humans- all were equal and ready to learn Torah- even theignorant people
The smart big Rabbis were the leadersof the nation- the Prushim
The Torah was not only commanded forthe Beit Hamikdash- while the Sdukim believed the whole Judaism was theBeit Hamikdash
The Prushim worked for the good of thecommunityAlso the Essenesstarted their own calendar and the Prushim didn t like that.
THERE IS NO REVIEW #4 YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN WITH THAT TOPIC
Herod and Rome (5)
Antipater was the advisor to Horkenus (he was anEdomite).
Herod was Antipater’s son. Herod was first agovernor in the Galilee.
His job, for Rome, in the Galilee was to watch overthe Zealots (transliterated- Kanaim they were Jews that wanted to throw outRome from Eretz Yisrael and make the country a Jewish State. The head of theZealots at that time was Chezkiah). Herod’s was to make sure the Zealots didn’t rebel against Rome.
He killed many Zealots therefore the Jews did notlike him at all. Herod captured 30 Zealots and their leader, Chezkiah, andkilled them without a trial. The country was outraged. An announcement was madesaying that Herod must come before the Sanhedrin.
He came to the court with a lot of ammunition andsoldiers to show the Sanhedrin that he was strong and to scare them. He didscare them and they didn’t sentence him.
The president (Nasi) at the time was either Shamaior Shmayah. He called out to the men in the Sanhedrin: “If you don’t judgeHerod today then there will come a day when he will judge you!” This wasalmost like prophecy because in the end that’s what indeed happened. Herod wasscared that the Sanhedrin would listen to the president so he took his soldiersand ran away to Rome. He told Marc Anthony (the Caesar at the time) how hefought against the terrorists in Eretz Yisrael who hate Rome (the Zealots). Hisintention was to be king of the Jews in Israel. Anthony appointed him king.Herod tried hard to keep the Romans happy with him but he knew the Jews didn’tlike him so he married a Jewish woman from the Hasmonaean family, Mariamne(Miriam) thinking that now the Jews will accept him. Herod also does somethingvery dramatic to find favor in the Jews’ eyes:
During his reign, the Seleucid family (Selekus) wasin trouble. The Parthians (Pratim) came and captured the family and part ofEretz Yisrael. They also seized the Cohen Gadol, Horkenus, whom the Jews loved.Herod sees this as a great opportunity to improve his image with the Jews. Hetakes his soldiers and kicks out the Parthians, negotiates a peace treaty withthem and gets them to return Horkenus. (The Parthians, however, had chopped offone of Horkenus’ ears therefore giving him a Moom (defect) so he can’t be theCohen Gadol anymore). Marc Anthony gave permission to Herod to fight with theParthians. Why does Marc Anthony care if Horkenus comes back or not? Because ifthe Jews didn’t have Horkenus they would be upset and they would want to rebelagainst Rome with the Parthians. (The Parthians are enemies of Rome.)
“Herod the Bad” (37- 4 B.C.E)
The Jews called him “Ha’Eved Ha’Edomi”-the Edomite slave.
What bad things did he do?
1) He made changes in the Cohen Gadol- Herod wasscared the Jews would stick with the Cohen Gadol, and not him, if he picked aHasmonaean to be Cohen Gadol. So he picked a Jew from Babylon instead to be theCohen Gadol- Chananel Me’Bavel. He weakened the Kehunah. The people are reallyupset that he picked Chananel. (Horkenus, the former Cohen Hagadol, had adaughter, Alexandra, and she had 2 children- Mariamne (Miriam) andAristobolus.) Herod picked Aristobolus. But Herod was very paranoid and wasafraid of Aristobolus and his power so he commanded him to a pool party in oneof his palaces in Yericho. He commanded his soldiers to drown Aristobolus inthe pool, which they did. Herod tried to cover the death up so that he wouldseem innocent but the Jews knew the truth and knew that Herod did indeed killAristobolus. So Herod put Chananel back as the Cohen Gadol. Herod told MarcAnthony that the reason Aristobolus was killed was because he rebelled againstthe king.
2) He brought changes into the Sanhedrin
- He killed all members of the Sanhedrin he didn’tlike
- He put his friends and his family in theSanhedrin (nepotism)
- He put non-Jews in the Sanhedrin
- He out himself as the head of the Sanhedrin
3) He was a very paranoid man and was scaredeveryone hated him- even his family. Because of that he killed Horkenus,Miriam, Alexandra (his mother-in-law), his sons with Miriam (Hasmonaeans), andhe killed all the Hasmonaeans left. With these killings is the end of theHasmonaeans
3) When he died he wanted people to mourn hisdeath. To make sure they would, he ordered that Jewish leaders be killed on theday he died so that the country will definitely mourn and no one will celebrate
4) His army was a non-Jewish army because he didn’tlike to spend time with the Jews
5) He locked up his wife in the palace on Masada.
Herod the Great
1) Herod beautified and enlarged the Beit Hamikdash.There is a saying: If you’ve never seen a building of Herod’s, then you’venever seen a beautiful building. On the gate of the Beit Hamikdash he put agolden eagle- an eagle was the symbol of Rome.
2) He built his palace on Masada. The Hasmonaeanshad already built up Masada and Herod built a palace on it.
3) He built Caesarea in honor of the Caesar.
*Note that he built all this stuff for the Romansand not for the Jews.
4) He helped the Jews after an earthquake. He gavethem money to help rebuild homes, buy clothing and food, etc.
5) He helped Jews not living in Eretz Yisrael-those living in Babylon, Syria, Asia Minor.
6) He had good relations with the Pharisees(Prushim) who were the majority of the Jews and the leaders of the Jews. He wasvery paranoid and didn’t want any enemies. (the President at the time wasShmayah, and the Av Beit Din was Avtaliyon).
7) He never decreed anything bad against the Jewsand let them live according to the laws of their fathers.
The Prushim understood that he was directlyconnected to Rome and they were very cautious. They knew rebelling against himwould mean rebelling against Rome and they would all die in that case (becauseRome is so strong and powerful).
8)Cleopatra, queen of Egypt was Anthony’sgirlfriend but she was also Herod’s greatest enemy. She was a Femme Fatale. Shewanted to return the power to the Ptolemy family (Talmai). Before we said theHerod was in favor of the Seleucid family. She wanted Marc Anthony to give herland in Eretz Yisrael. Later on Augustus Octavius killed Marc Anthony andbecame Caesar. Herod liked Augustus. Augustus’ nephew, Agrippa, was goodfriends with Herod.
So Octavius gave back land in Eretz Yisrael thatCleopatra took from Rome in the times of Marc Anthony.
Herod had lots of connections. One was Agrippa whowas a “friend of Rome.” His advisor was Nicholaus of Damascus.
Octavius saw how bad Herod really was and said thatit was better to be a dog in Herod’s palace than to be Herod’s son. One thingOctavius was not happy about was the fact that Herod went to war with Romewithout permission from Rome (and Octavius).
Herod reigned from 37 B.C.E – 4 B.C.E.
Before he died he chose his sons Archelaus, HerodAntipas, and Phillip to rule after him. He wanted Archelaus to be king. TheRoman Senate, however, chose him as only an ethnarch (a kind of governor)showing that the real power is in the hands of Rome.
Bythe year 6 C.E. his sons are done ruling. Rome picked procurators (non-JewishRoman governors) to be leaders. They were cruel ad decreed horrible decreesagainst the Jews.
Jesus and Christianity (6)
The Sources:
Antiquities, by Josephus- InAntiquities it only mentions a small paragraph on Jesus and calls him TheMessiah of the Jews. Historians say it s a forgery written by Eusibius (amonk in the 5th century) who put it in because he wanted toprove to the Jews that he was really the Messiah and that they believedit. Historians (in particular, Zeitlin) know it s a forgery because inEusibius book on Jesus there is a paragraph strikingly similar to the onein Antiquities, so they ve come to a conclusion that Eusibius stuck inthat paragraph in Antiquities.
The New Testament- there are 4 gospelsthat talk about Jesus and his life:John,Mark, Matthew, and Luke. Mark, Matthew, and Luke are the Synoptic Gospels whoagree on most of their facts.
Howeverbetween the Gospels there s a huge contradiction on where Jesus was born, whatyear, and what he called himself.
Another huge problem is that we don t have anyprimary sources from Jesus time. Not only did the gospels live almost 60 yearsafter his death, but also they wrote what they believed- not facts.
c. The Talmud and Midrashim- In them it mentions a few sentencesand stories about Jesus. But the Talmud was compiled in almost 200 years afterJesus death in 34 C.E.- so it s not really accurate. In the Talmud they wrotesome really nasty things about Jesus but it had to be censored so theChristians could accept the Talmud.
When was Jesus born?
a. According to Matthew he was born in the days of Herod- 37- 4B.C.E.- that means he would have to have been born at least 4 years before whenhe is said to have been born.
b. According to John he was born in the days of the procurators-6 C.E.- which means he would have to have been born 6 years after he is said tohave been born.
Where was Jesus born?
a. Matthew and Luke say he was born in Bethlehem because it saysin the Torah the Messiah will come form Bethlehem, and they believed Jesus wasthe Messiah.
b. Mark says he was born in Nazareth and John says he was born inthe Galil- but there s no contradiction here because Nazareth is in the Galil.
Problem: If Jesus had nofather (G-d was his father) then how can he be from a human family- Beit David?The Christians say that Mary and G-d immaculately conceived him.
Who was Jesus father?
a. Mary was his mother and she was engaged to Joseph theCarpenter- meaning she had a baby out of wedlock
b. According to the Talmud Jesus is a Mamzer- he was the son of aRoman soldier Mary slept with
According to the NewTestament Jesus was born in a barn with 3 wise men who came bearing gifts forthe miraculous messiah.
One fundamental belief inChristianity: Mary was the wife of G-d- if they don t believe that then Marywas just an unwed mother.
Another thing is thatChristians use our Bible to try to prove their beliefs of Jesus- one example isthe misinterpretation of the Hebrew in Isaiah 53.
Jesus Life
When Jesus was young he wasa folk healer and went to the poor, the hungry, and the lepers and healed them.
Once he encountered John theBaptist- Yonatan HaMatbil (who was a preacher that went around telling peopleto repent). His name- He was a member of the Essenes because they were big onbaptizing (the Mikvah). Jesus had Essene tendencies. So when they met, Jesusbowed down to John and said he was holy and John answered, No, you, Jesus, areholier than I am.
Jesus was:
a. A healer of the sick
b. A preacher (gave sermons)- His most famous sermon was called Sermon on the Mount in which he told Jews to repent because the Kingdom ofHeaven is at hand.
c. A miracle worker: 1)He walked on water, 2) He performed amiracle by feeding hundreds of people with 2 loaves of bread and 2 fish.
Jesus found followers andlisteners among the poor and suffering- most Jews laughed at him and called himcrazy.
He assembled 12 Apostles(like the 12 Shevatim) and Peter was the teacher of the 12 Apostles.
Question: Was Jesus a goodJew?- Was he Shomer Mitzvot?
a. In Matthew it states that Jesus said: I did not come to getrid of the Mitzvot- which implies he kept the Mitzvot
b. [Possibly in John] it says that Jesus students were in afield on Shabbat and they were cutting down corn stalks. When a few Prushimcame and screamed at them for not keeping Shabbat, Jesus defended them- whichmeans he was not keep the Mitzvot.
Jesus and the Jews
In 34 C.E. Jesus ran aroundIsrael saying he was the King of the Jews. This sounded like he was rebellingagainst Rome.
Last Supper:
On Erev Pesach, in front ofthe Beit Hamikdash there would be money changers (Prushim) for people to givemoney in Shekalim to the Mikdash. Jesus came up to them and turned over theirtables and called them corrupt and said they only cared about money.
Judas Iscariot turned Jesusinto Rome.
Here s where there arecontradictions:
a. According to John- Judas turned Jesus in because Satan enteredhis heart and caused him to do evil. According to Synoptic Gospels- Judasturned Jesus in for money (silver)= bribe.
b. According to John- Jesus was captured on Erev Pesach- 14Nissan- which means Jesus was the Korban (sacrifice) and accepted upon himselfthe sins of humanity (because Korbanot were given on Erev Pesach). According toSynoptic Gospels- Jesus was captured on the night of Pesach which means Jesuswas the savior and the redeemer.
c. According to John- He committed a political crime because hewas endangering an entire Jewish people. According to the Synoptic Gospels- Heis a blasphemer and curses G-d.
According to the NewTestament the Romans captured Jesus and he had 2 court trials: First theybrought him in front of Caiphas, and second in front of Pontius Pilate (theprocurator at the time) who condemned him to death.
But, it says in the NewTestament that on the same day they captured a robber, Barrabas. Pontius gavethe Jews a choice and said, I ll give you Jews permission to free one captiveand kill the other (either Barbarras or Jesus). And the Jews chose to killJesus. This makes no sense however. Pontius supposedly said, The blood ofJesus is in your hands, Jews, but he wouldn t say that because Jesus wasalready condemned to death by ROME, meaning this was a fabricated saying.