How the Old Testament Transitioned into the New

1. How the Old Testament Transitioned into the New Between the Testaments

3. 960 B.C. – King Solomon; First Temple Period begins 922 – Division of the Kingdom Important Dates

5. 960 B.C. – King Solomon; First Temple Period begins 922 – Division of the Kingdom 722 B.C. – Assyrians destroy Northern Kingdom Important Dates

8. 960 B.C. – King Solomon; First Temple Period begins 922 – Division of the Kingdom 722 B.C. – Assyrians destroy Northern Kingdom 606/597/586 B.C. – Babylonian occupation of Judah; First Temple Period ends Note: from this time forward the people of “Judah” are known as the “Jews” Important Dates

10. 960 B.C. – King Solomon; First Temple 922 – Division of Kingdom 722 B.C. – Assyrians destroy Northern Kingdom 606/597/586 B.C. – Babylonian occupation of Judah; First Temple Period ends 606-537 B.C. – Seventy Years of Babylonian Exile 537 B.C. – Persian King Cyrus’ decree encouraging Jewish Exiles to return home 520 B.C. – Rebuild Temple; Second Temple Period begins 470 B.C. – Esther & Mordecai 450 B.C. – Ezra & Nehemiah Important Dates

12. 960 B.C. – King Solomon; First Temple Period begins 922 – Division of Kingdom 722 B.C. – Assyrians destroy Northern Kingdom 606/597/586 B.C. – Babylonian occupation of Judah; First Temple Period ends 606-537 B.C. – Seventy Years of Babylonian Exile 537 B.C. – Persian King Cyrus’ decree encouraging Jewish Exiles to return home 520 B.C. – Rebuild Temple; Second Temple Period begins 470 B.C. – Esther & Mordecai 450 B.C. – Ezra & Nehemiah 336-323 B.C. – Alexander the Great Important Dates

14. 960 B.C. – King Solomon; First Temple Period begins 922 – Division of Kingdom 722 B.C. – Assyrians destroy Northern Kingdom 606/597/586 B.C. – Babylonian occupation of Judah; First Temple Period ends 606-537 B.C. – Seventy Years of Babylonian Exile 537 B.C. – Persian King Cyrus’ decree encouraging Jewish Exiles to return home 520 B.C. – Rebuild Temple; Second Temple Period begins 470 B.C. – Esther & Mordecai 450 B.C. – Ezra & Nehemiah 336-323 B.C. – Alexander the Great 323-167 B.C. – Judea on the border between Ptolemies (Egypt) and Seleucids (Syria) 165-63 B.C. – Jewish Independence Important Dates

15. From Persia to Rome:Jewish Independence gained & lost • The Persians sent the Jews home from Babylonian exile beginning in 538 B.C. • Judea was a Persian province until Alexander the Great came through in 329 B.C. • He had recently won major victories over the Persian armies and was planning to strike at the heart of Persia after first winning Egypt • On the way to Egypt he passed through Palestine and was confronted by the Jewish High Priest Jaddua who showed him the Book of Daniel and told Alexander that he was destined by God to conquer the Persians • For this reason Alexander annexed Judea to his empire without any battles against the Jews, granting them significant freedom

16. From Persia to Rome:Jewish Independence gained & lost • But Alexander died a few years later (323) • With no ready successor, Alexander’s generals divided his realm into four sections • After internal fighting these were soon reduced to three • Seleucus created the Antiochid dynasty and ruled out of Syria (Antioch) • Ptolemy created a dynasty that ruled out of Egypt (Alexandria) • Judea was on the borderland between these two great powers • For one century (323-223) Judea remained mostly under Ptolemaic control and experienced a great deal of freedom • During this period there was some pressure to become more Hellenized, but it was more cultural than political

17. From Persia to Rome:Jewish Independence gained & lost • Seleucid Antiochus III (223-187) began campaigns against Egypt that netted him control of Palestine in 223. Now pressures to Hellenize were increased politically as well as socially. • Two branches of the High Priest family in Jerusalem came to typify divergent views on Hellenism: • The Oniads tried to keep Judaism more orthodox and less Hellenized • The Tobiads were fully in favor of Hellenizing, to the extent of revisioning Jewish religion in the form of the Greek gods and rites • When Antiochus IV (“Epiphanes;” 175-164) came to power he exploited these differing perspectives. He received bribe money from Menelaus to appoint him as High Priest (completely inappropriate by Jewish tradition). This created enormous internal controversy among the Jews, with those wishing further Hellenization supportive of Menelaus and those horrified by Hellenization grating at this tragic turn of affairs

18. From Persia to Rome:Jewish Independence gained & lost • Antiochus was seen as the powerful outside meddler, and when reports circulated of his death in a campaign against Egypt, a small revolt in Jerusalem put Menelaus’ brother Jason into the role of High Priest • But Antiochus was not dead. Furthermore, the Romans (whom Antiochus admired) informed him that they controlled Egypt and that he had to get out. In consternation Antiochus turned his attention toward Jerusalem. • With great rage he stormed the city, defiled the Temple (25 Kislev 168), set up an image of himself in it, and forced the Jews to become overtly Hellenized. To show their fealty Antiochus sent his soldiers throughout the land requiring the sacrifice of pigs in every town and city. • In Modein, old priest Mattathias refused to make the sacrilegious sacrifice. A younger priest agreed to officiate, but Mattathias was enraged and killed the man. Mattathias and his four sons then killed the soldiers of Antiochus, precipitating the Jewish revolt.

19. From Persia to Rome:Jewish Independence gained & lost • Although Judas was the second son of Mattathias, he was quickly designated the military leader. People called him “The Hammerer” because of his lightning-quick powerful raids that pummeled the Syrian forces. This is the origin of the name “Maccabees” • The revolutionary forces quickly took back Jerusalem and managed to cleanse and re-dedicate the Temple (25 Kislev 165). There was almost no oil for the Temple lamp, but what was left miraculously replenished itself until the dedication was complete and a new quantity of holy oil could be created and sanctified. This is the origin of Hanukkah, the “Festival of Lights.” • Antiochus did not realize the tenacity of the orthodox Jewish will, and underestimated the strength of their guerrilla warfare. Beset with troubles back home, he could not long endure another war, and his successor made peace with the Jews in 162, granting them virtual freedom.

20. From Persia to Rome:Jewish Independence gained & lost • But Jewish independence opened the way for internal conflicts, particularly between the Hellenizing and orthodoxy emphases. • The Hasmonean family, descended from Mattathias and his sons, retained control of the High Priest office and added to it the designation of “King” • Social tensions escalated between the “separatist” party, increasingly identified as the Pharisees, and the Sadducees (priests, nobility, political leaders) who were much more in favor of Hellenistic trends. To the left of these were those who identified themselves outright as “Hellenizers,” and to the right even of the Pharisees were the Essenes, waiting for divine judgment to fall down on this whole mess. • When Hasmonean family feuds escalated, Antipater, governor of Idumaea (Edom), began a persistent campaign to bring in Roman rule. His grandson Herod married into the Hasmonean family, and in 63 Roman General Pompey was invited to bring peace to Jerusalem. Herod became king.

24. 960 B.C. – King Solomon; First Temple Period begins 922 – Division of Kingdom 722 B.C. – Assyrians destroy Northern Kingdom 606/597/586 B.C. – Babylonian occupation of Judah; First Temple Period ends 606-537 B.C. – Seventy Years of Babylonian Exile 537 B.C. – Persian King Cyrus’ decree encouraging Jewish Exiles to return home 520 B.C. – Rebuild Temple; Second Temple Period begins 470 B.C. – Esther & Mordecai 450 B.C. – Ezra & Nehemiah 336-323 B.C. – Alexander the Great 323-167 B.C. – Judea on the border between Ptolemies (Egypt) and Seleucids (Syria) 165-63 B.C. – Jewish Independence 63 B.C. – Roman rule begins 37-4 B.C. – Herod the Great Important Dates

25. The Socio-Political Spectrum

26. The Socio-Political Spectrum

27. The Socio-Political Spectrum

28. The Socio-Political Spectrum

29. The Socio-Political Spectrum

30. The Socio-Political Spectrum

31. Shifting Gears The Same Message in a New Form

32. Old Testament 39 books Written over 1000 years (1300-300 B.C.) Understood to be both the “Hebrew Bible” of Judaism and the “Old Testament” of Christianity Focused on the Sinai Covenant and the Kingdom of Yahweh in and through Israel New Testament 27 books Written in 50 years (48-98 A.D.) Understood as the primary sourcebook for Christianity Focused on the person, work and teachings of Jesus Comparing the Literature

33. What about the “Apocrypha”? • Name means “hidden things” • Several collections of “apocryphal” books: • Old Testament “pseudepigripha” • Books in Hebrew related to Old Testament themes but considered less authentic or authoritative • Jewish “apocrypha” • Books in Greek mainly related to times and writings during the Second Temple period but considered less authoritative • Christian “apocrypha” or “spiritual writings” • Books in Greek or Latin which purport to continue stories begun in New Testament writings or to come from authors mentioned there

34. What about the “Apocrypha”? • At the time of Jesus two collections had been “canonized” • Torah – the writings of Moses or Covenant documents • Nabi’im – the prophets, both historical and sermonic • There was a growing body of other literature that had been translated into Greek or was written in Greek that became part of the “Septuagint” This was used extensively by early Christians • After the destruction of the Temple (70 A.D.), Pharisaic/Rabbinic Judaism began to place a huge emphasis on an authoritative text for its Synagogue readings and teachings. Around 90 A.D. the Hebrew Bible became standardized with the Torah and Nabi’im as we know it today, and the K’tuvim (“Writings”) pared down from the Septuagint collection.

35. What about the “Apocrypha”? • The Christian church generally used the Septuagint for the first few centuries, but began to distinguish between those books which had greater authority and those which had less • At the time of the Reformation, Protestant scholars sought to get back to early church identity and practices, and adopted the Hebrew Bible as the normative Old Testament • This clarified the higher and lower authority of shared canonical scriptures over the apocryphal writings

36. Relation between the Testaments • A number of different theories: • O.T. is Scripture, N.T. is explanatory footnote • Note use of O.T. by early church • O.T. is Prophecy, N.T. is Fulfillment • General Christian understanding • O.T. is historical background, N.T. is scripture • “Christocentric” Christian understanding • O.T. is Law, N.T. is Gospel • Peculiarly Lutheran understanding • O.T. is Covenant mission, N.T. is Messianic thrust • Broader Reformed understanding

37. 48 Galatians 49 James 50 Thessalonians 53 1 & 2 Corinthians 54 Romans 58 Philippians, Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians 63 1 Timothy, Titus, 1 Peter, Jude 64 2 Peter 65 Mark 66 Matthew, Luke, Acts, Hebrews 67 2 Timothy 88 Revelation 96 John 97 1, 2, & 3 John Dating the New Testament

38. Dating the New Testament • The span of time over which these works were written was very short – 50 years! • Most of the “letters” were written before the “gospels” • Among the gospels: • Mark appears to have been written first • Matthew and Luke make extensive use of Mark when writing their gospels • Because of the similarity between Matthew, Mark and Luke, these are called the “Synopitic” gospels • John is written much later, and uses a very different approach to telling the stories and teachings of Jesus

39. What is the literary genre of “Gospel”? • Not biography • There is not enough data to tell a life story • Not summary of teachings of Jesus • The teachings are too scattered • There is too much material about Jesus’ life and actions • There is clear and extensive focus on Jesus’ last week (betrayal, arrest, trial, death, resurrection) • The most fitting designation seems to be “Preaching” • Early Christian “preaching” about Jesus and the significance of his coming, person, teachings, actions, death & resurrection