Concepts of Sheol, Resurrection, and Purity in Ancient Israel

Sheol

A place of the dead.

Sheol

A place where the dead have only a shadowy, dusty existence.

Sheol

Is a place of punishment for the morally wicked.

Sheol

Is either a place where all go at death, or the post-death place of those who experienced a 'bad' death (e.g., left unburied, no family to provide offerings).

Resurrection in ancient Israel

Often involved more than just eternal existence—it included the reawakening of the body, sometimes in a moral context.

Moral component of resurrection

Some people appear to be raised to a positive existence because of their righteousness.

Moral component of resurrection

Some people appear to be raised to a negative existence because of their moral failings.

Daniel 12

The words point to the development of ideas about resurrection.

Holy in the Hebrew Bible

The term refers to that which is separated or devoted to something.

Holy in the Hebrew Bible

'Sacred' is an acceptable synonym.

Holy in the Hebrew Bible

The divine is most fundamentally the source of the holy.

Ritual purity and impurity

Are about spiritual or ritual significance rather than literal hygiene.

Holy status in the Bible

A sanctuary (e.g., the temple).

Holy status in the Bible

A ritual object housed in a sanctuary (e.g., an altar).

Holy status in the Bible

A priest.

Sources of ritual impurity

Dirt (or mud).

Sources of ritual impurity

Giving Birth.

Sources of ritual impurity

Semen and Menstrual blood.

Sources of ritual impurity

A human corpse.

Sources of ritual impurity

Certain kinds of skin diseases.

Ritual impurity resolution

Can generally be purified through prescribed rituals.

Ritual impurity and holy things

Ritual impurity that is not resolved can defile holy spaces and objects.

Moral impurity vs. ritual impurity

Moral impurity affects individuals but does not spread, whereas ritual impurity can contaminate people or objects.

Ritual of purification

Staying away from priests is NOT an example of a ritual of purification.

Ritual impurity as sin

Ritual impurity is not a sin, but a state that can be purified through rituals.

Difference between Atonement and Purgation

Atonement involves restoring a relationship with the divine, while purgation refers to the purification of impurity (moral or ritual).

Ritually impure contact with holy

A ritually impure person cannot come into contact with the holy.

Ritual impurity

Concerns ceremonial cleanliness.

Moral impurity

Involves sin and wrongdoing.

Penitence

The act of showing regret for having done wrong.

Sources of Moral Impurity

Touching a corpse; Sin or wrongdoing.

Acts of penitence in the Scapegoat ritual

Fasting and refraining from work.

Clean animals according to Leviticus 11

Animals with split hooves and chew the cud (e.g., cattle, sheep, goats); Fish with fins and scales; Flying insects with jumping legs.

Rationale for food regulations of Leviticus 11

They are divine instruction and should be obeyed; They are related to the symbolics of death that have no place with the holy-divine.

Monolatry

The exclusive worship of a single god without denying the existence of other deities.

Babylonian Exile

Best dated from 586 to 539 BCE.

The Apocrypha

Are sometimes included as an appendix in Christian Protestant Bibles.

Hebrew Bible

When used critically, is the most important source for understanding the religion of ancient Israel.

Canaanite Gods El and Baal

Impacted how ancient Israel described and understood its God.

Leviticus 16

Both the sanctuary (temple) is purged from impurity (ritual and moral), and the people's sin or moral impurity is atoned for.

True or False: Priests and holy things

Even priests must follow specific rules regarding contact with holy things.

True or False: Unresolved ritual impurity

Unresolved ritual impurity can defile holy objects or places.

True or False: Purity and holiness system

The system of purity and holiness may have been designed to protect the sacred from impurity.

True or False: Moral impurity contamination

Moral impurity can also contaminate holy spaces or objects.

True or False: Ethical foundation for food laws

Some scholars suggest that ethical considerations may underlie these laws.

True or False: Divine name Bobmarley

Bobmarley is NOT a divine name found in the Bible and/or Ancient Israel.

True or False: Religion as opium

According to the Protestant Theologian Paul Tillich, religion is the opium of the people.

True or False: Priests' contact with holy things

A priest, because he has a holy status, can contact holy things or places whenever he wants.

True or False: Difference between ritual and moral impurity

There is a difference between ritual and moral impurity in the Bible.

True or False: Moral impurity affects the sinner

Although moral impurity affects the sinner or wrongdoer themselves, this sort of impurity can attach to the holy.

True or False: Sanctuary and people's sins in Leviticus 16

In Leviticus 16, both the sanctuary (temple) is purged from impurity and the people's sin or moral impurity is atoned for.

torah

Law, instruction

ancient capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel

Samaria

Genesis 2-3, the earth creature and the woman

Are forbidden from eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

primordial waters or deeps in the Hebrew Bible

Essentially always are regarded as existing before the Divine creates the known world.

characters in the Epic of Gilgamesh

Siduri the woman winemaker, Enkidu

Genesis 2-3 suggests about humans

Humans are completely unique and absolutely distinct from non-human animals.

flood hero in ancient Mesopotamian flood stories

Utnapishtim, Gilgamesh, Atrahasis

Ark of the Covenant

A chest on the cover of which two cherubs stretched out their wings, and which was functionally a symbol of God's presence in ancient Israel, and in which were deposited the Ten Commandments.

Psalm 74: 13-14

Represent the influence of the Conflict Model of creation (known primarily from Mesopotamia) on the idea of creation in the Hebrew Bible.

Genesis 1:1--2:3 and Genesis 2:4-3:24

Suggest that a second creation account in Genesis 2-3 has been juxtaposed to the first creation account in Genesis 1.

alternative explanation for the origin of sin in the Hebrew Bible

There is not even a trace of an alternative explanation.

Creatio ex nihilo

Means 'creation from nothing' and is clearly evident in Genesis 1.

Exodus 1:8-14

The Egyptians oppressed the Israelites with hard labor, a new king or pharaoh arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph, the son of Jacob/Israel who had earlier risen to prominence in Egypt, and the Egyptians feared or came to dread the Israelites.

term in critical religious studies for a system of worship

Cult

Covenant with Abraham in Genesis

Included promises of a home in the land of Canaan and descendants.

Passover

Commemorates the Israelite escape from bondage in Egypt that is recounted in the book of Exodus.

practice of discovering hidden causes or foretelling future events

Divination

critical term meaning manifestation of the divine

Theophany

figure of Moses in the book of Exodus

Lawgiver, the one to whom the divine name YHWH is revealed in Exodus 3, and Liberator.

city for sacrifices and religious practices according to Deuteronomy

Jerusalem

ancient Israel religious practices

Certain religious practices and rituals were carried out in households, often by women.

Exodus 15 poem aspect

The persistent images of waters, the sea, the primordial deeps, etc., which were held back by the divine so the Israelites could safely cross the sea.