RELIGION IDS MIDTERM

Tree of Eternal Life

the tree that the human’s may eat in Eden

Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

the tree that humans’ may not eat from in Eden since they will die upon consumption (they don’t, but they learn shame and are evicted from Eden)

Anthropomorphic God

humans' were made in God’s image, implying he is humanoid

Tetragrammaton

• AKA Lord

• deals with human/God interaction

• God of love and mercy

Elohim

• AKA God

• deals with creation

• God of Justice and Truth

Apsu

• The father of the gods in the Epic of Gilgamesh

• Sweet/Fresh water

Tia-mat

• The mother of the gods

• A demi-god/godess

• Salt water

Enki/Ea

• eldest son

• kills his father

• builds the palace

• father of Maraduke

Maraduke

• Son of Enki

• Killer of Tia-mat

Quingu

tells Tia-mat to kill the younger gods

Lullu

• the first man created by Enki

• created to help the gods maintain order

The notion of the “second creation“

Noah

• commanded by God to build the arc and save some creatures from the flood

• Knew the flood was over once he received an olive branch from a bird

• Made covenant w/ god that promised He wouldn’t flood the earth again

Mount Ararat

Where Noah’s arc came to rest after the flood

40 days and night

The time it took for Noah to build the arc

Raven

Noah sent out a raven to search for dry land, but it never returned

Doves

Noah sent out a dove to search for dry land, and it returned with an olive branch

Primeval waters

The waters that were present before creation. God had control over them, showing his omnipotence

Uthnapishtim

A man who was able to become like the god’s and escape death in the Epic of Gilgamesh. He tries to help Gilgamesh find immortality, but Gilgamesh fails

Enlil

Demiurge

same as a demi-god

Noah’s Covenant

• Covenant w/ Noah that God will never flood the earth again

• A promise to humanity

• Symbol: Rainbow

• 7 laws: (do not)

  • worship idols

  • curse God

  • murder

  • sexual immorality/adultry

  • steal

  • eat from a living animal

  • (DO) establish courts of justice

Abraham’s covenant

• A promise of descendants/fertility and land to Abraham’s family

• Symbol: circumcision

• Applies to Abraham’s family

Themes of miraculous conceiving

Infertile women conceiving or having kids through surrogates

miraculous saving of children

reversal of the principle of primogeniture

The eldest child is given all inheritance, but God can reverse that and give another child that right

history of tradition

The idea that the bible is a collection of written and oral traditions that developed over time

documentary hypothesis

The first books of the bible were written by multiple authors (JDEP)

• Yahweh (J)

• Deuteronomy (D)

• Elohim (E)

• Priest (P)

Evidence:

• Multiple names for God

• Repetitions and Duplications

• Differences in language/style/subject matter

Names to know: Graf and Julius Wellhausen 

Amorite hypothesis

Abraham’s family was Amorites and they migrated to Caanan

Albright

• archeologist that established the Bronze and Iron age

• authenticated the Dead Sea Scrolls

• Understood the bible very literally

Noth

• theory that the D text was compiled in the in the late monolithic period

• the tribes were collected around a central sanctuary

• the bible came from oral tradition (not specific to Noth)

• theory of JDEP (from Wellhausin)

• highlights historical and literary significance

• Believes that the J cult and the E cult came together and that’s why God has two names

Alt

• highlights the literary patterns in the bible and their significance

• how can you reconstruct the history of the patriarchy stories

  • if you just look at the stories, they outline multiple stories in the weave of the narrative

  • behind each story, “each patch“, is a group of people that is not communicating with the other

    • you can still see the separations

  • there a significant tribe w/ the Abraham stories

    • likely around a southern territory

    • Jacob is more toward the middle of the territories, etc

• If you go by the units, you can recover history

  • each group has their own stories in the seemingly one together story

changing of names

a symbolic change of status or fortune

• Abram > Abraham: became father of nations

• Saria > Sarah: princess (wife of ^)

• Jacob > Israel: became a prince

• Hoshea > Joshua: ‘god should rescue you’

theophoric names

names that include the name of a deity (Yahweh = -iah)

• ie. Jeramiah, Isiah

etilogical story

stories that explain origins of life, death, birth, etc

• ie. Genisis (world), Noah (rainbow)

Late Bronze Age

• gave the Israelites a chance to escape opression

• left the chaos and became “chosen people” for their survival

Moses

• prophet for God

  • burning bush, got the ten commandments

• establishes covenant at Mt. Sinai

• leads Israelites to freedom

Aaron

• first high priest

• brother of moses and mirium

• Aaronite

• mediator between God and Israelites, offered sacrifices

• spoke for Moses to the Pharaoh to free the Israelites

cohanites

priests descendants from Aaron

Song of the Sea

song sung by Israelites after leaving Egyptian oppression, celebrating freedom after slavery

parity covanent

• a covenant between two equal parties

• an agreement between two vassals

suzerian covenant

• a covenant between two unequal parties

• God=suzerian, Isrealites=vassals

• Israelites follow God’s rules and pledges loyalty = protection and blessing

ark

• ark of Noah: saved animals + Noah’s family during the great flood

• ark of the covenant:

  • chest covered in gold, where Yahweh spoke to Moses + priests

priestly families

• Levites

  • decended from Levi

  • Arronites: Levites that did sacrifices

• Zadokites

  • Ezra and Joshua

• Mushites

  • Moses descendants

El

another name for God

Baal

a storm god that God competed with for the faith of the Israelites

Yahweh as a storm god

• God is commonly associated with floods and rain, and is shown to be a master of water

• In several events in the bible, there are examples where he is shown expelling water from his nostrils, or bring dark clouds with rumbling and flood

• This is also why he is in competition with Baal, another storm god.

Hittite treaty

a treaty between the Egyptians and the Hittites that established peace after two centuries of war and hostility

Book of the Covenant

Written laws given to Moses by God at Mt. Sinai. This established the rules the Isrealites were to follow in order to maintain the covenant between the Isrealites and God

apodictic

• laws between God and people

• no specific punishment because its beyond our understanding

• in the old testament

casuistic

• laws between people

• there is a specific punishment

hattat offering

• Sacrificial goat:

  • Ritual sins

  • Kill and put the blood on the ark and horns

  • Never put the blood on the people (except that one time)

• Scapegoat:

  • Moral sins

  • Put hand on goat, let goat go free (in wilderness, wasteland, or enemy lands)

turtledoves

mentioned as an alternative sacrifice to a goat during purification rituals

ritual impurity

• physical uncleanliness (menstruations, semen, birth, touching a corpse, sickness, leprese)

• can get rid of it at anytime

moral impurity

• committing sins

• fully clean at Yom Kippur

washing of the body and clothes

water cleanses the self (not as well as a sacrificial goat)

defiling of the Temple

• stepping into the temple w/ ritual sin (ie. menstruating)

gradual settlement theory

the idea that the Israeli people didn’t take over Caanan with force, but instead they moved in over time and integrated with the existing people

conquest model

• the isreallites took over Caanan with force and killed the people

• all 12 tribes led by Joshua

• obedience to God = victory, disobedience = failure

  • winning was by God’s handpeasant revolt model

peasant revolt model

• peasant Caananites revolted against the government

• worked with the Isrealites under Yahwehism

• survivors became isrealites

merneptah stele

• a stone slab that says that Isreal was one of the places conquered and wiped out by Egypt

• Identifies Isreal as a people

• Disaproves of the dating of Exodus

determinatives

words that modify or specify nouns

amarna letters

collection of clay tablets that detail Cannanite’s relationship with Egypt

Joshua

• Proceeded Moses

• Led the Israelites to the promise land

• Showed Israel’s need to trust God and not sin

Judges

• stories about the judges who led Israel between Joshua’s conquest and Samuel’s monarchy

• Gist: Israel sins, beg God for help, God helps and shows that all victory is by his hand, Israelites sin again

• Judges: Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Jepththath, Samson

Habiru

a group of people that are a threat to Caanan

Shasu

nomadic people who were originally from Moab that became the Israel people

Tel Dan stela

Earliest known text to referance the house of David. It details individuals that were killed

Ammonites

• A threat to the tribal confederacy and consistent military enemies

• Part of the reason the Israelites formed a monarchy

Philistines

• Known as the “Sea People“ who destroyed cities along the coast

• Skilled warriors with advanced bronze military equipment

• Fought with guerilla warfare

anoint

to apply oil to someone and bless them

Seer

someone who sees god’s messages in dreams

Navi

someone who hears god’s messages

Jebusite

A cannante person from a caannanite tribe that lived in Jerusalm

Divine sovereignty

divine suzerainty

Shalmaneser V

Sargon II

Provencies of Dor

Megiddo

Gilead

Sameria

King Hezekiah

King Zedekiah

Nabuchadnezzar

Mizpeh

House of Ahiel

Ir David

canonization of the Torah

Book of Esther

Book of Daniel