Jewish Origins Midterm People

Abraham

- first Hebrew Patriarch, formerly Abram of Ur (in Mesopotamia)

- entered covenant with God

- in Genesis (likely incorporated during the Persian period)

• Also mentioned in Jubilees (he dies in Jubilees)

Alexander the Great

- Greek (Macedonian) King, AKA Alexander III

- reigned 336-323 BCE

- 334 BCE alexander conquered persian territories -

- in 331 BCE he starts the Hellenistic period by dying (somebody double check that please)

- founded Alexandria (amongst many other places) which became center of study in region. When he died his kingdom was split into ptolemaic, seleucid, and antigonid dynasties. Alexandandria was in the center of Judaea - which was a very coveted area (trade routes)

- Text

• In Josephus he’s said to have bowed to Jadua, the high priest of Judea 

  • Given that the purpose of Josephus’ work is to give the Judeans a magisterial history like the Greeks and Romans had, this is suspicious

Antiochus IV Epiphanes

- Seleucid Greek king ruling during the Maccabean revolts. 

• When Jason attacks Menaleus, Antiochus believes that they’re rebelling and invades Jerusalem

• Desecrates the Temple and outlaws Jewish religious practice on penalty of death to try to squash civil unrest

• The enemy which Mattathias calls on his sons to resist (which starts the Maccabean revolt)

- from 167-142 BCE

- Explanation/Connections

- 1 Maccabees

• Dies in Persia, depicted as struck by illness/remorse after hearing of his forces' defeats (a divine judgment motif)

Artapanus

- Jewish historian and writer who lived in Egypt during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE

- his writings bridged the gap between Judean and Greek culture

- On Moses is written as a sort of national hero romance

• Attempts to mesh the mythology of Egypt and Greece with Moses

  • Eg. Moses taught Orpheus, Moses was a better magician than the Egyptian court magicians

Azazel

- Oversees all forms of oppression on earth

- One of the Watchers who were blamed (he teaches humans metalworking)

• origin of the term scapegoat

  • The location where they would send goats out to die (“scapegoat”) during Yom Kippur 

• Originally a place name in Leviticus (hence the scapegoat connection), later reinterpreted by Jewish and Christian readers (who associated deserts with demons) as a demonic figure

-  1 Enoch

• God commands Azazel to be bound and thrown into the desert

Belial

Demon

- Demon, AKA beliar (Greek)

- Date

- “Sons of Belial” in Qumran Community are the bad guys of the apocalypse

- Jubilees, Damascus document, War Scroll

Cyrus the Great

- Cyrus II of Persia

- 559-530 BCE 

- allowed Judeans to return to Judah after Babylonian Exile in 538 BCE, authorized and funded the rebuilding of the Second Temple and the return of looted temple vessels

- The Cyrus Cylinder records his orders to allow the return of exiled peoples

• Also connected to the Al Yahuda texts because these two are some of the only non-biblical accounts of the Exilic period

Daniel

- Judean brought to Babylon

- set in (early?) Babylonian period (7th Century BCE), Book of Daniel finalized mid 2nd century BCE around Maccabean REvolt

- Greek version has additions like Susana and Bel and the Dragon. Daniel is a model of piety and good citizenship in exile, demonstrates Greek values like law, logic, philosophy

- Daniel + Greek Daniel

David

Father of Solomon

Ancient king?

- Text: Kind davids lost empire 

Deborah

- Definition: Biblical Heroine who Judith was modelled after. She led the Israelite forces against the Caananites. 

- Explanation/Connections: women heroines, similar to Judith 

- Text: simkovitch 256 / Judges 4-5 

Enoch

- Pious guy

- Date: circa 200 to 300 bce

- book of Enoch describes watchers. Didn’t die, he was taken by God and saw the Heavens and tree of Knowledge and stuff

- Enoch, Genesis, Book of watchers

Essenes

- Definition: Separatists; Khirbet Qumran was a settlement of the Essenes community. Highly pious, celebite, communal, and hierarchical.

- Date: 2nd century - before romans

- Larger community connected to 

- Text: Josephus, Not According to Rule pg 127, War Scrolls, The Community Rules, Damascus Document

Esther

-  Jewish woman married to Persian King Ahasuerus

- Date- set during exilic period

- Greek Esther answers common questions about text and reflects Greek culture with extra text of the specific decrees and prayers

- Esther & Greek Esther

Ezra

- the lord urged him to build God a house at Jerusalem (at the end of babylonian captivity) 

- Date

- put together the canonized Torah, banned mixing with other cultures - exiles foreign wives and children

- Ezra 1, 3, 6-10

Herod the Great

• Appointed king of Judea by the Romans - he was not impressed with the temple so he rebuilt it 

- Date: building on temple began 20 BCE

- expanded the temple (Idumean descent)

Haman

- villain in story of (Greek?) Esther

• Plots to destroy all jews in the greek empire after mordecai refuses to bow to him

Hermes

- Greek messenger god

- Compared to Moses in Artapanus’ parabiblical text because of his ability to interpret scripture

- Simkovich 235

Holofernes

- Commander in Chief of Nebuchadnezzar’s Assyrian Army in Judith

- written 2nd century BCE

- got tempted by Judith’s beauty and she beheaded him, metaphor for taking his virginity. His name is Greek which is evidence of hellenization

- Judith

Idumeans

- neighbors of Judah

- John Hyrcanus allowed them to become Judean if they adopted the culture, early example of conversion. Herod the Great was an Idumean

Jaddua

- High priest of Judea when Alexander the Great came to conquer. 

- 332 BCE

- Alexander saw him in his regalia and didn’t kill them. He saw in a dream that the people of Judea should wear white and he wore his regalia. Blurred lines between Yahweh as god of Judeans and god of everyone

- Nehemia, Josephus 130 

Jannes & Jambres

- Two magicians of the Egyptian court who face off with Moses

- Date

- defied moses, magic trick with snakes?

- Exodus

John Hyrcanus

- high priest and ethnarch after Maccabean revolt. He destroyed Samaria and the Samarian temple on Mount Gerizim- wanted to get rid of a competing temple close to the temple of the Judeans. He allowed the Idumeans to become part of the Judeans if they adopt their laws (early example of conversion). 

- ruled 134-104 BCE

- wanted to renew alliance with Romans after Maccabean Revolt, led expedition against Samaria, forced Idumeans to convert. Considered the first king. 

- 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees

Josephus

- Roman-Jewish historian

- 1st century BCE

- author of Antiquities which mapped Judean history, based on biblical canon

Judah Maccabeus

- Mattathias’ son. 

- 164 BCE - retaking and cleansing of the temple (which Hanukkah is dedicated to). Revolutions continued until 142 BCE

- headed the Maccabean revolt which addressed Hellenization and later began Hasmonean Empire

- 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees

Judith

- Saved Judeans from Nebuchadnezzar’s Assyrian army (Holofernes is commander in chief)

- likely written 2nd century BCE

- Example of a pious woman in Judean narratives, similar to Esther

- Judith

Lysimachus

-  appears to be an intentional effort to utilize pretentious Greek to address the issue of maintaining Jewish identity within the broader Greco-Roman world. 

- 2nd or early 1st century BCE

- Explanation/Connections - onomastic name 

Mastema

In Simkovich’s recounting of Jubilees, Mastema is an evil angel who plays a role in the events of the Exodus era by aiding Egyptian sorcerers and spurring the Egyptians to pursue the Israelites to the Red Sea. He acts as the personification of evil in death in Jubilees and is an adversary of Israel. In the Damascus Document, Mastema is used interchangeably with Belial/Beliar, and Simkovich suggests that these two could be regarded as one being by some Jewish authors.

• connected to the Damascus Document which we didn’t read directly but we did read about (written around 175-150 BCE during the Hasmonean dynasty)

• Simkovich, around pages 258-261

Mattathias

- Definition: Kohen who refuses to allow Hellenization of his community under Antiochus IV. Kills the commissioner and Judean volunteer for sacrifice to Greek Gods and lead his sons into the wilderness, beginning the Maccabean Revolt

- Mid 2nd century

- Explanation/Connections: hasmonean dynasty results from the revolt that comes out of this. He kills a guy who sacrificed on pagan altar

- according to the 1 Maccabees (chapter 2) 

Michael

- Definition

• An angel whose role is generally expanded over the 2nd century to become God’s right hand guy

• Defender of the people of God (Judeans)

- Date: 3rd-2nd centuries BCE

- Explanation/Connections

- Text

• Book of Daniel 10-12 

  • assists a heavenly messenger against the prince of Persia 

  • Daniel predicts that Michael’s appearance will mark the end time, accompanied by the resurrection of the dead

• War Scroll:

  • Appears as the primary defender of Israel II think?

• 1 Enoch: 

  • Michael and his fellow angels lament human wickedness, especially angel–human sexual unions (again referencing Gen 6:1–4)

• 3 baruch: 

  • He’s the holder of the keys of heaven

• Testament of Abraham: portrays Michael somewhat comically, failing at tasks, which only works because readers already regarded him as the premier angel

Mordecai

- Wise man, adopted father and also uncle of Esther

• Wise, pious Jew in Susa (persian empire) who has the prophetic dream of the dragons in the septuagint version of Esther

- Date

- Like Daniel and his companions he wouldn’t bow down to Hamon I think so he was sentenced to death but ended up living yay!

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- Texts: 

• Esther

• Septuagint

Moreh Tzedek

- Definition: literally translates to ‘righteous teacher’

- Date

• Arose in 2nd century BCE during the Hasmonean dynasty

- Moreh Tzedek was the title for the leader of the proto-monastic Qumran community, who didn’t recognize the authority of the Judean temple. 

• Employed cosmic dualism in their teachings (separating all of humanity into sons of light and sons of darkness) and apocalypticism (living in piety to prepare for the return of the Messiah and the war at the end of days) 

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- Khirbet Qumran (Dead Sea Scrolls)

Nephilim

- Gigantes. Offspring of Watchers and human women. They are celestial demons and their children become terrestrial demons. The Nephilim inspire great violence. 

- Date

- Explanation/Connections

- Genesis, 1 Enoch

Onias III

- High priest devoted to Jewish ancestral law

- around 200 BCE

- opposed Hellenization, brother of Jason

• Executed by Menelaus for exposing him for buying out the priesthood (he outbid Jason for it)

• In 2 Maccabees the temple a minister named Heliodorus is sent by the king Seleucus IV to sack the temple, but a divine apparition appears to strike him down and Onias III intercedes in prayer. This heals Heliodorus, who then testifies to the Temple's divine protection

• Later, Onias III is overthrown by scheming forces (Jason and Menelaus) who seek to bid for the priesthood

Onias IV

- Son of Onias III who ruled as a rival high priest to the temple in Jerusalem. 

- temple built in 154 BCE

- built a temple in Leontopolis, Egypt because of the prophecy of Isaiah.

- Text

• Connection to Elephantine, the only other known Jewish temple in Egypt

Orpheus

• He was the lawmaker in ancient egypt

• Artepanus reverses Greek tradition (which has Orpheus teach Musaeus) and instead claims that Musaeus is Moses, who taught Orpheus.

  • Orpheus was the law-maker

Pharisees

- Judean Sect

• A middle-class sect considered the precursors to the rabbis and centered in synagogues

  • Emphasized oral law alongside scripture

• In opposition to the Sadducees, who did not believe in oral law

• Often more independent and resistant to hellenization

• King Alexander Janneus (ruled starting in 104 BCE) was fiercely opposed to the pharisees and saw them as a threat to his hellenizing political agenda

The Reign of John Hyrcanus

Priests of Bel

- Priests of false god statue in story of Daniel

- got totally busted for eating the sacrifices and the king lowkey converted. The exposure of their scheme by Daniel is an example of the earliest detective narratives from the Judean community

- Daniel

Priests of Knum

- Priests of Knum temple beside Yahwistic temple on Island of Elephantine

- Destroyed Elephantine Yahwistic Temple. Khnum had ram’s head, possibly offended by sheep offerings at Yahwistic temple, possibly to push the temple back off the main road so they could expand.

- Elephantine Papyri

Ptolemy I Soter

• Ruled Greece from  305-283ish BCE 

• Founded the Ptolemaic dynasty after Alexander’s death and ruled over Egypt

• First Greek ruler to bring Judea and Jerusalem under Egyptian control, marking the beginning of significant Jewish diaspora communities in Egypt

• Enslaved and transported lots of Jews to Alexandria, creating a new center for jewish communities and leading to the groundwork for the later translation of the Septuagint 

• His policy generally allowed Jewish leaders to govern their own communities, setting a precedent for Ptolemaic oversight of Judea that was more permissive and allowed more autonomy than later Seleucid rule

Raphael

 One of the main archangels (others are Michael, Gabriel, Uriel)

• Ordered to bind Azazel and throw him into the desert in Enoch

- Date

- taught Tobias an apotropaic ritual (using fish to break curse and cure Tobit)

- connection to Tobit

Sadducees

• Judean sect made up of primarily the elites who held control of the temple and exclusively accepted the Torah’s religious authority

• Didn’t believe in resurrection, angels, or oral law

• Derived their name from Zadok, the first high priest

• Generally more pro-hellenization

Date: circa 167 BCE-70CE

- Explanation/Connections

• Hellenization 

- Text

• Maccabees

Samael

- Definition

• Evil angel who is suggested to have tricked Adam and Eve into touching a vine by the light of the moon

  • God punishes the moon for this, causing it to wax and wane

- Explanation/Connections

• Alongside other figures (Satan, Belial/Beliar, Mastema, Daimonos, Diabolos, Azael) he helped explain the existence of suffering and sin without implicating God directly

Samaritans

- Claim to be a remnant of the ten lost tribes

- not accepted by Judeans because that challenges scriptural canon, went on to form Samaritan Israelite community

• Judean narrative is that they’re Cutheans: Assyrian colonists who resettled their land who worship their gods wrong 

• They have 4 principles of faith

  • One holy book (torah/penteteuch) 

• Problematic for Jerusalem-centric religious order because their holy place is Mt. Gerizim

• Modern researchers see them as a sect that split from judaism

• Like the Sadducees they reject oral law, but unlike the Sadducees they also reject rabbinic and priestly authority

• Josephus’ writing “alexander and the jews” depicts the samaritans from a Judean perspective: as opportunists who claim israelite descent when it’s advantageous

- Texts:

• Israelite samaritan religion reading

• Josephus, “alexander and the jews”

Satan

-- THE bad guy

• In the hebrew bible it’s not a name it’s more of a catch all term for a divine obstacle sent to test someone 

- Date

- “divinely sent stumbling block sent to test or punish a biblical character”

- specifically in story of Dan and Job where he is Job's enemy, used in Theodicy to justify suffering under an all-powerful all-benevolent god

• In Job (1st century bce) satan/the devil takes the form of a persian king who incites a mob against job, which shifts moral responsibility for Job’s suffering away from God and onto Job

Semjaza

- the leader of the watchers - he takes the blame for them - along with Azazel

- Date

- takes the blame for the actions of the watchers in Enoch, taught enchantments 

- Text: Enoch chapter 8 

Simeon the Just

- High priest

- reigned 4th and 3rd centuries BCE

- fortified the walls and temple

Simon Thassi

- high priest in hasmonean dynasty. Son of Mattathias 

- 2nd century BCE

Sons of Light/Darkness

- the two sides in the apocalyptic war according to Qumran Community who believed end times were imminent

• Sons of darkness were led by Belial and include the Kittim (the Romans) as well as philistia and Jews who violated the covenant 

- Explanation/Connections

• Example of cosmic dualism

- War Scroll

Susana

- daughter of judge, accused of adultery by evil elders

• Took a bath (hellenized), .

- Date

- Explanation/Connections

- Greek Daniel

The Ten Lost Tribes

-Israel - northern kingdom - split from other two tribes of southern Judah. The split occurred because king solomon died 

- Conquered by Assyrians in 722 BCE

- Lost because Assyrians scattered them → active forgetting

Watchers

- Angels who came down from heaven to “come into” the daughters of man (AKA egregoroi)

- Date

- The watchers are said to have taught weapon and armor forging, use of herbs, magic, and cosmetics to humans as well as father the nephilim. Similar to other angels, such as Raphael in the story of Tobit, also teach the use of herbs and fish entrails for healing ailments and banishing demons. Moses is given a similar role as teacher of skills by the historian Artapanus.

- 1 Enoch

Yehudi

- meaning people of Judah- defined by monolatry

Zerubabbel

- oversaw construction of second temple and great wall 

- Date: 539 second temple construction started

- Explanation/Connections - Zerubabbel temple was completed in 9th year of Darius’ reign. Also Zerubabbel denied the samaritans when they wanted to help build the temple

Ptolemy II Philadelphus

- Greek king who ruled Egypt

- 3rd century BCE

- commissioned the Septuagint in 285 BCE

• Liberated the jews who were enslaved by his father and gave them money and resources to translate it to greek