Religion Midterm #1

Abraham

Originally called Abram, he established the covenant with God, which included having many descendants and the Promised Land. This covenant changes his name to Abraham. He had a son Ishmael with Hagar and a son Isaac with his wife Sarah and is considered the father of many nations.

chosenness

God chooses, for unstated reasons, a particular individual to found a nation or fulfill a divine purpose. God chooses Abraham to begin the covenant people of Israel. Other examples of chosenness include God choosing Saul and David as king, Noah for the arc, and Mary to have Jesus.

covenant

The covenant is when God and the people enter into a relationship of mutual obligation. God makes a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12. He establishes a covenant with Noah and promises never again to destroy all life on Earth by a flood. In Hosea, the marriage metaphor is a metaphor for God’s covenant.

Daniel

Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den for worshipping God, but angels kept the lions’ mouth shut and he survived. The Book of Daniel is set during the sixth century BCE, following the conquest of Judah by the Babylonian Empire, in which the Temple was destroyed. It has two distinct sections: Chapters 1-6 (Daniel’s interpretation of dreams at the Babylonian court); 7-12 (Daniel’s visions of the future).

Hosea

Hosea was one of only three writing prophets who prophesy about the Northern Kingdom. His prophecies are set ~750 BCE, about 3 decades before the Assyrian conquest. He writes to condemn the worship of other gods, using strongly metaphorical language and makes an analogy between God’s covenant with Israel and a marriage vow. It is the first book in the Minor Prophets.

Jericho

is the city attacked by the Israelites under Joshua. The Israelites were instructed by God to march around Jericho for seven days, and on the seventh day, they marched around the city seven times and the city’s walls collapsed after they shouted and blew trumpets. A local woman Rahab was spared because she hid Israelite spies.

1 & 2 Maccabees

1 Maccabees was originally written in Hebrew, but only survives in a Greek translation. It’s narrative follows the high priest Mattathias and his sons, who successfully seize control from the Seleucid rulers and establish a (temporarily) independent Judean state. 2 Maccabees includes stories of Eleazar and the mother and her 7 sons who choose to suffer rather than eat pig’s flesh.

Jerusalem

is an ancient city in the land of Israel that became an important center for Judaism. It was conquered by King David, who made it the capital of Israel, and his son Solomon built the First Temple there. Jerusalem was later destroyed by the Babylonians, rebuilt, and became the location of the Second Temple.

Moses

is the earliest biblical figure to be identified as a prophet. He is an Egyptian who is left for dead but rises as an outsider to power. God calls Moses to free the Israelites from Egypt and he parts the Red Sea to guide the Israelites out of Egypt. He receives the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai. He is also considered the author of the first five books of the Bible, known as the Torah.

Promised Land

is the land that God promised to Abraham and his descendants. It was inhabited by the Canaanites, so the Israelites eventually engage in a divinely-backed conquest of the land of Canaan led by Joshua after 40 years of exile. Jericho was one of the first cities conquered in the Promised Land.

prophets

is a person chosen by God to serve as His spokesperson and deliver divine messages to people. They make predictions about the future, but their primary function is to hold Israel/Judah and their kings accountable to the covenant. Moses is the earliest biblical figure to be identified as a prophet and later Jewish tradition identifies figures like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua, Kings David and Solomon as prophets. Prophets have no distinct identity apart from being called by God.

Second Temple Judaism

is the term used by scholars to refer to Judaism between the return from exile/rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple (~ 538 BCE) to the destruction of the Temple by the Romans (70 CE). It is a period marked by the near-constant occupation of the land of Israel by other Empires (Persians, Greeks, Romans). It includes the emergence of diasporic communities outside of Israel, new literary genres (apocalypse), new social/religious structures (synagogue), and new beliefs (resurrection/afterlife).

Sinai/Horeb

is a mountain in the Bible where Moses encountered God while leading the Israelites out of Egypt. It is where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments and established a covenant with the Israelites. The prophet Elijah traveled there to meet God in a whisper after fleeing from Queen Jezebel. It is referred to as Sinai in Book of Exodus and the Books of Kings and referred to as Horeb in Book of Deuteronomy.

Tabernacle/Temple

The Tabernacle is a mobile sanctuary, in which God resides (in the Ark) and in which sacrifices are to be made by priests from the tribe of Levi, descendants of Aaron. The First Temple was built by Solomon in Jerusalem. The Temple became the center of Jewish worship and sacrifice, but was destroyed by the Babylonians and later rebuilt as the Second Temple.

Torah

is the first five books of the Hebrew Bible and is attributed to Moses. It includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, which trace ancient Israelite history from the creation of the world to the calling of Abraham to the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt and their exile in the desert. It reaches it’s final form after the Babylonian exile.