NT Key Words

intertestamental period

400 years between the two major divisions of the Bible

diaspora

deportation of jews resulting in a scattering throughout the Babylonian Empire into foreign lands

synagogues

gathering houses

hellenization

embracing of Greek culture and language

LXX/septuagint

greek translation of the Hebrew bible

Antiochus IV Epiphanes

Seleucids leader who resent the jewish people and determined to eradicate the jewish religion by banning all copies of the Law

mattathias

elderly priest who refused to offer a sacrifice and subsequently stabs a governmental official and jewish man who was complying to the officials demands. This sparked major revolt and began a time of guerilla warfare against the foreign ruler

hasmoneans

the period of time when the Maccabees reigned after this revolt

Judas Maccabeus

Mattathias son who took over leadership of the insurrection after hid fathers death

maccabeans

refers to the time of revolt after Judas meaning hammer

hanukkah

feast of dedication celebrating that the oil to light the candelabra in the temple lasted 8 days

mount gerizim

location of the samaritan temple and true place for sacrifice

samaritans

separatist group of Jews who intermarried with Gentiles after the exile. Ethnically and religiously distinct from the Jews.

pharisees

conservative jewish sect who accepted the entire old testament but also observed the oral law. Keepers of purity and holiness, hater of Hellenization and anything foreign.

mishnah

the oral laws and teaching written down and collected by the Pharisees

sadducees

politically motivated leaders influenced by greco-roman thought and practice. Concerned primarily with wealth and power. Accept the Torah but deny the supernatural world.

sanhedrin

the highest court of the jews, chaired by the high priest, consisting of seventy men who met in Jerusalem

essenes

prominent jewish sect in the first century. A separatist group who lived in the desert who were anti-temple and legalistic.

qumran

a jewish establishment on the north side of the Dead Sea where scrolls where carefully hidden in caves.

dead sea scrolls

scrolls discovered in 1947 that reveal the ideas of this Jewish community and contained copies of every book of the Hebrew scripture except Esther

zealots

jewish sect who used violence and any means possible to further the the cause of God. Blamed for the downfall of the Jewish people under Rome

apocrypha

unveiling literature that entails the future vindication of the righteous

psuedepigrapha

false name; focus on future events

apocalyptic literature

revealed through the use of symbolic imagery what God was doing in heaven to encourage his people who were suffering on earth.

judaisms

the variety that existed within judaism during the intertestamental and new testament eras

herod the great

governor of Galilee

centuries of silence

time after the last prophet malachi