9 20 12 Jews Outside Yehud Exiled Jews making their way back to Judah Wave I during Cyrus 539 BCE Am Ha aretz People of the Land Survived Babylonian exile Wave II during Darius I 522 BCE Ezra s Time Period of Reestablishment Rebuilding Temple II 516 BCE Prophets at this point o Haggai o Zechariah Joshua High Priest descendant of last high priest Zerubabel governor descendant of last king Yehud name of area to where they are returning Aramaic Never complain about the people worshipping foreign deities bc Monotheism is no longer an idea just by the prophets now it s become a Jewish universally accepted concept No longer appropriate to worship G d outside of Jerusalem Wave III during Artexerxes 460 BCE Restoration of Jewish Life Ezra appointed to implement Torah as constitution of local law for Judahites in Yehud Ezra implements religious reforms o No mixed marriages interethnic for political economic reasons Restoration Pt II 445 BCE Nechemiah appointed as governor of Yehud o Rebuilds wall of Jerusalem capital city o Forges alliances with groups other than the priests o Negotiates with other opposing elements in Yehud o Makes Torah official constitution of the people o Universally acknowledged that Torah is book of the Jewish people Other Nations Egyptian chronicle describing events Demotic Chronicle o 519 BCE o Darius I convened committee of Egyptian priests to put down in writing the Egyptian law o Process takes approximately 16 years o After completion great compilation of Egyptian law is produced SUMMARY 1 G d 1 Temple 1 Book of Laws 164 BCE Growing importance of priests Tax collectors Civil law administers Peace keeping police Military recruiters o Not major need currently Outside Yehud Murashu Archive Discovered in Nippur Mesopotamia Babylonia modern day southern Iraq Written in Acadian and Aramaic Written on clay tablets Date 450 400 BCE Family of bankers funders loaned money handled financial affairs etc 300 of these tablet texts 80 identifiably Jewish names o One of very few pieces of evidence of Jewish life in Babylon o Most of the names are theophoric expressions of G d TEXT o Record of proof of payment restitution following a robbery Udarna son of Rahim ili of Nippur victim robbed by slaves Jewish bc Zabdiya s brother Bel nadin shumu son of Murashu owner of slaves Zabdiya co robber Udarna s brother Jewish bc theophoric name Bel ittanu co robber Zabdiya s son Udarna s nephew Jewish bc Zabdiya s son o Jew on Jew Crime Jew turning on his brother o The people involved are not religiously bound but assimilated Zabdiya Jewish name Udarna not Jewish name Bel ittanu Jew Bel nadin shumu non Jew not Jewish names The people have fulfilled Jeremiah s suggestion of settling down not behaving like captives but rather closer to citizens The most distinctive feature is the lack of any distinctive feature o Morton Smith historian as time moves forward there is an increase in number of distinctively Jewish names resurgence of ethnic identity towards end of Murashu period first assimilation then resurgence of Jewish identity Plot 3 generations Mesopotamian named grandfather named after god Mesopotamian named father named after god Jewish named son perhaps Biblical Elephantine Papyri Military outpost 480 400 BCE South Egypt Southwestern corner of Persian Empire Written in Aramaic Questions related to religious life TEXT o Papyrus 1 Written by Hananiah in Jerusalem Sent to Jedaniah head of Jewish military troop gods plural Year 5 of Darius year pre spring 419 BCE How To Encouragement to Observe holiday of Passover Month Nissan Date 14th at twilight until 21st Laws no leavened bread no work o Papyrus 2 Language largely taken directly from Bible Do not drink any fermented drink wine Arsames Persian governor in Egypt Communication between King Darius and Arsames his Persian representative in Egypt Darius tells his subordinate Arsames to allow Jews to observe Passover Passover Implies that someone tried to prevent Jews from observing Coincides with theory of Persian support of Judaism First display of anti Semitism Written by Jedaniah head of Jewish military troop in Elephantine in fall 407 BCE about events which took place 3 years before Sent to Bagavahya Persian governor of Yehud About destruction of Jewish Temple in Elephantine permission to be rebuilt Destroyed by Egyptians in Elephantine in 410 BCE Vidranga local chief of Egyptian troops of Elephantine Naphaina Vidranga s son chief of Syene fortress Egyptian Priests of Khnub Mourning following destruction similar to mourning that took place after destruction of Temple in Jerusalem sackcloth fasting abstinence etc Jewish Temple has been around a lot longer than Persian community and Persians gave it authorization now that it s destroyed the Jews have every right to rebuild it but they need some sort of authorization Implies that this is the 4th attempt at correspondence Correspondence from Jerusalem is negative if there is any at all bc Jews in Elephantine want a Temple outside Jerusalem which is so obviously not okay Jewish authorities ultimately give permission for the Jewish Temple to be rebuilt in Elephantine Lack of response regarding request to bring sacrificial offerings o Papyrus 3 Jews of Elephantine o Vestiges of earlier state of people o Worship is reminiscent of Biblical period o Do not fully recognize events and their consequences that happened in Israel Jerusalem has more highly evolved Jews Elephantine has less evolved Jews REVIEW 1 General acceptance of 1 G d 2 General acceptance of exclusive place to worship that 1 G d 3 General acceptance of national lore law history body of ethics etc JEWISH COMMUNITIES OUTSIDE JUDAH end of 5th century 1 Murashu Document Jews in Iraq Babylonia 2 Elephantine Papyri Jews in Egypt Elephantine disagrees with Core Element 2 in REVIEW