Jude one who comes from Judea an identity in terms of land and region Israel name given to Jacob means one who strives with God It is religious identity Hebrew the people and the language they speak Background in the development of Judaic thought o The near eastern religions polytheistic but try to conceive of one highest God o They try to conceive of heaven and hell and idea of reward and punishment The Hebrew Bible o 800BCE 400BCE o The Torah is the first book of the Hebrew bible It s called Pentateuch five scrolls Genesis o Story of creation of the world presents God as Creator Intelligent being Active power Omniscient Omnipotent Has purpose in creating this universe o The account of Garden of Eden temptress Eve brings punishment on Adam and eve o Story of Noah and the flood o Story of Tower of Babel Exodus o Hebrew midwives were to kill all male children born o Moses was spared o Moses brought up in the house of Pharaoh But when moses sees an Israeli slave being mistreated he flees from Egypt o The burning bush Moses hears the voice of God saying to return to Egypt to help free the slaves o Moses wants to know the divine spirit God s response I will o YAHWEH word comes from the verb hayah to exist or to be o It is God who is Life existence and everything else is contingent be who I will be alive upon him Leviticus o Describes laws Regarding animal sacrifices Animals may or may not be eaten Prohibition of eating blood in it Cutting one s beard Numbers o The account of wanderings of Jewish tribes at various places Deuteronomy o Describes the ten commandments again o Death of Moses before entering Canaan After death of Moses Israelites led by Judges The Judges and Kings o Judges were people with military power legal authority o After death of Moses Israelites led by Judges o Joshua A judge Leads the Hebrews across Jordan River Takes town of Jericho and land of Canaan Canaan divided among eleven of the tribes Levy the 12th tribe is given the charge of worship and religious functions among tribes o The first king is Saul BCE Tragic figure who commits suicide o Thereafter comes David 1013 Considered a prototype King of jews Had great aspiration to build the temple of Jerusalem o Solomon Son of David Succeeds in building 1st home for Yahweh Raised revenue for temple construction by raising the taxes Tax increases caused a revolt against the kingdom of Solomon Northern tribes broke away from control of Jerusalem Southern kingdom carried on its own until Babylonians took control of it o During exile and captivity of Jews by Babylonia Sabbath service of worship developed since it became difficult for the Jews to visit the Temple and perform sacrifices o In 540 BCE Cyrus King of Persia took over Babylonia and allowed Jews to return to their homeland and the Second temple was built o Considered the interpretations of Hebrew scriptures by Rabbis to apply their principles rules and regulations to problem arising in everyday life o Two kinds of Talmud The Talmud Palestinian Talmud Babylonian Talmud Torah teachings Nevi m early and later prophets Kethuwim miscellaneous writings or everything else Abraham Birth 1400BCE o 400 years later Moses 1000bce Essentials of Jewish Belief o Belief in one God and only one God The judge of human beings He is the creator He is just o Belief in the message of prophets o Belief that God gave law to Moses o Belief that Messiah has yet to come o There would be a resurrection in the world to come Main Themes of Judaism o God is One absolute monotheistic According to Judaism justice must prevail among human beings and we as humans must strive to establish it Omnipotent Omniscient Judge This concept develops first at least in the western religious tradition and becomes finalized in the Hebrew bible in the year 400 BCE the credit for which goes to the great scholar of the Hebrew bible named Barouch o God is the creator of this universe and everything in it He created it out of nothing ex nihilo In contrast to Babylonian myth of creation Marduk created the universe by mixing Apsu Ti amat Mumy o Judaism develops ethics and morals as the cornerstone of Judaism Ten commandment o God is conceived as the Judge Responses to the outside influences o Contact with the Hellenistic world and its worldview Some Jews accept it Some Jews rejected it Still others adapted a position in between Four Judaic Groups o The Sadducees Members of the priestly class Considered religious authority Accepted only the Torah as scripture o As a result of this tension there came into being four Judaic groups around 165 BCE o The Pharisees o The Zealots Focus on careful observation of Jewish laws and practice Accepted wider number of books beside the Torah valued oral tradition Were against rule of Roman Empire Were nationalistic o The Essenes Not content with present circumstances Withdrew from society communal celibate life Rejected animal sacrifice avoid meat and wine Might have formed the Qumran Community as it indicates in the Dead Sea Scrolls