NT Module 1 & 3a

Intertestamental Period

400 years bridging time period between two major divisions of the Bible

Diaspora

Deportations resulting in the scattering of Jews

What were the Jewish Synagogues used for?

Reading of the Law and for prayer

“Hellenization”

Embracing of Greek language and culture

Legend associated with the Septuagint (or LXX)

Greek translation for the Old Testament

Antiochus IV and what did he do to oppress the Jews?

Eradicated the Jewish religion by banning all copies of the Law, observance of the Sabbath, customary festivals, traditional sacrifices, circumcision, and desecrated the Jewish temple by offering a pig

Mattathias and what did he do during the Seleucid occupation?

Elderly priest who refused to offer the sacrifice, stabbed the sword through the governmental official and a Jewish man (those willing to comply with the officer”s command)

Judas Maccabeus and what did he do?

Mattathias’ son, took over leadership of the insurrection

Who were the Maccabeans and where did they get their name?

Mattathias’ defiant sparked a revolt which was named Maccabean (“hammer”)

Hanukkah and its origin

Feast of Dedication, oil necessary to light the candelabra in the temple lasted 8 days

Samaritans and what was true of their beliefs and practices?

Separatist group of Jews who intermarried the Gentiles after the exile

What was built on Mount Gerizim and what happened to it?

Samaritan temple, John Hyrcanus’s destroyed it

Pharisees, their concerns, and what were the divisions by the first century AD?

Conservative sect, keepers of purity and holiness, haters of Hellenization and foreign things; divisions: disciples of Hillel and the followers of Shammai

Mishnah, what did it address?

Book of Pharisees’ oral laws and teachings, legal matters related to purity, civil and criminal law, women, and marriage

Sadducees, concerns, beliefs

known for being politically motivated, concerned with wealth and power

What was the Sanhedrin and who controlled it?

Highest court of Jews, controlled by the Sadducees

Essenes and what were they characterized by?

Jewish sect in the first century, lived in the desert apart from the Hellenized mainstream society

Qumran

Jewish establishment on the north side of the Dead Sea

Dead Sea Scrolls and what is included among them?

Reveal the ideas of the Jewish community, Jewish writings of and every book of Hebrew Scriptures except Esther

Zealots, what were they blamed for by Josephus?

Last important Jewish sect of this time period, blamed for downfall of Jewish people

Apocrypha, and what does it affirm about the righteous?

Literature, future vindication of the righteous

Pseudepigrapha, meaning of the name, what insight does it give us?

Another category of writings, “false name,” future events

What did the writers of the Apocalyptic literature claim to reveal, and what was their purpose?

illustrating what God was doing in heaven attempting to encourage his people who were suffering on Earth

What does the term “Judaisms” refer to?

Variety that existed within Judaism during the intertestamental era

Herod the Great, what was he like, and what was he especially known for?

“King of the Jews,” people pleaser, power hungry, builder, especially known for his renovation of the Jerusalem temple

What do the “centuries of silence” refer to, and what did they imply for many people?

400 year period where the prophetic voice was silent, that God had taken away his Spirit due to Israel’s sin

Writer of the Gospel of Mark

Mark

What do the titles, “Christ” and “Messiah” mean?

“Annointed One”

What did the title, “Son of God,” mean in the OT?

Royal and Messianic title

What is “Peter’s confession” in the gospels?

Telling Jesus that he is Christ

Centurion’s confession

Jesus was the Son of God

What is the so-called “Messianic secret?”

Jesus commanding others not to make his identity known