The Setting of the New Testament

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34 Terms

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PGMR

1) The Persian Period (539-334 BC)

2) The Greek Period (334-166BC)

- Alexander the Great and the Hellenization of Palestine

- Ptolemaic Domination of Israel (323 - 198 BC)

- Seleucid Domination of Palestine (198 - 166 BC)

3) The Maccabees and Jewish Independence (166-63 BC)

- The Maccabean Revolt (166 - 135 BC)

- The Hasmonean Dynasty (135 - 63 BC)

4) The Roman Period (63BC - AD 135)

- Herod the Great

- The Herodian Dynasty

- Roman Rule and the Pax Romana

- The Jewish Revolt of AD 66 - 73

- After the War

I. THE HISTORICAL SETTING

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Common Era

▪ The designations AD (Anno Domini, "the year of our Lord") and BC (Before Christ) are sometimes replaced with CE (Common Era) and BCE (Before the Common Era). BCE;BC - AD/CE

▪ The ___________________ refers to the period in which Christianity and Judaism have existed together.

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Foreign Domination of Israel

722 BC - AD 135

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Old testament period

The Assyrian Empire (722-605 BC)

The Babylonian Empire (605-539 BC)

The Persian Empire (539-334 BC)

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The Macedonian-Greek Empire (134-166 BO .

Alecander the Great 334-323 BO Prolemalc Doninarion (323-198 BO Sdeudid Domination (198 166 BO Jervish ladegendence (166-63 ) The Macabees - Tha-Hasmonea Dynasly

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Intertestamental Period

(334 - 63BC)

1) The Macedonian-Greek Empire

2) Jewish Independence

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New Testament Period

The Rorman Emptre (63 BC - AD 135) - The Herodian Dynosty

- Roman Procurators

- Destruction of Jerusalem (AD 70)

- Second Revolt ends the Jewish State (AD 135)

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Intertestamental Period

The __________________________ or "Four Hundred Silent Years"

c. 430 BC - Malachi Written

c. 4 BC - Birth of Jesus

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The Second Termple Period

The ________________________ Period

Second Temple Completed: 516 BC

Second Temple Destroyed by Romans: AD 70

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Hellas;

Hellenization

▪Alexander's most influential role in history and his most enduring legacy for New Testament background is his promotion of the process of Hellenization.

▪ _____________ means Greece

▪ ____________________ refers to the spread of Greek language and culture.

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Koine; lingua franca;

Hebrew;

Aramaic;

Greek

_______________ ("common") Greek as the _________________, or trade and diplomatic language is one of the most important results of Hellenization for the background to the New Testament.

▪ The Israel of Jesus day was trilingual. ____________ - read and spoken in religious contexts

____________ - the lingua franca prior to Alexander's conquest—was the language of the common people _____________ - was the language of trade and government

▪ (Latin would have also been spoken by Roman officials)

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1) The dynasty of the Ptolemies;

2) The dynasty of the Seleucids

When Alexander died in 323 BC, a power struggle ensued for control of his empire. War and conflict between his four leading generals eventually resulted in the establishment of two great dynasties.

1. ______________________________ was centered in Egypt, with Alexandria as its capital.

2. ____________________________ was centered in Syria, with Antioch as its capital.

Because Israel was strategically located between Syria and Egypt, the nation became caught in a tug-of-war between these two rivals. The Ptolemies gained control of Israel and ruled her for 125 years. The Jews lived in relative peace and prosperity under Ptolemaic rule.

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Septuagint

Alexandria, Egypt, the capital of the Ptolemaic Empire, developed into a major center of scholarship and learning.

▪ One of the most significant literary achievements of this period was the translation of the __________________ (abbreviated LXX), the Greek version of the Old Testament.

▪ The Septuagint became the primary Bible of both Jews of the Diaspora and the early Christians.

▪ Diaspora means "dispersion" and refers to Jews who were not living in Israel but were dispersed throughout the rest of the Mediterranean world.

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Septuagint (abbreviated LXX)

the Greek version of the Old Testament.

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Diaspora / "dispersion"

refers to Jews who were not living in Israel but were dispersed throughout the rest of the Mediterranean world.

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Epimanes

SELEUCID DOMINATION OF PALESTINE

▪ Antiochus IV "Epiphanes."

▪ Under Antiochus IV (175 - 163 BC), Israel would face perhaps its greatest threat to survival ever. Antiochus called himself Epiphanes, "manifest one" — a claim to be a god. His erratic behavior, however, earned him the nickname "_____________," meaning "madman."

▪167 BC - desecrated the temple and suppressed Judaism

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THE MACCABEAN REVOLT (166-135 BC)

Modein; Mattathias;

Maccabeus;

Hanukkah

THE MACCABEAN REVOLT (166-135 BC)

Rebellion broke out in the Judean village of ___________ , led by an old priest named ______________

▪Mattathias died in 166 BC, leaving his son Judas to lead the revolt (166 - 160 BC).

▪ Judas's prowess in battle earned him the nickname "____________," meaning "hammer." ▪164 BC the temple was liberated and rededicated. The celebration is known as _________________

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Jonathan;

Simon;

Hasmon - priest-kings

THE HASMONEAN DYNASTY (135-63 BC)

After Judas was killed in battle in 160 BC, leadership passed to his brothers, first _____________ (160 - 143 BC) and then _________ (143 - 135 BC). Simon eventually gained political independence from the Syrians, taking the title "leader and high priest." He thus established the Hasmonean dynasty (named after _____________, an ancestor of Mattathias), a line of priest-kings which would rule Israel until the Roman occupation in 63 BC.

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Simon

He thus established the Hasmonean dynasty (named after Hasmon, an ancestor of Mattathias), a line of priest-kings which would rule Israel until the Roman occupation in 63 BC.

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Pompey;

Hyrcanus II;

Antipater;

Judea;

Phasael and Herod

The Roman Period

▪63 BC, the Roman general ______________ captured Jerusalem weakened by a power struggle between two Hasmoneans

▪The conquering Romans made ______________ high priest and ethnarch ("ruler of a people" — a title for a minor ruler).

▪The real power behind the throne, however, lay with Hyrcanus's advisor, an Idumean named __________________

▪The Romans made Antipater governor of _____________, and he appointed his sons _________ and ___________ as military governors of Jerusalem and Galilee.

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Herod "the Great"

HEROD THE GREAT

▪Appointed by the Romans king of Judea in 40 BC. But met with protests by the Jews

▪He defeated and executed Antigonus, the last of the Hasmonean rulers

▪___________________ ruled as king of the Jews under Roman authority for thirty-three years, from 37 - 4 BC.

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Herod "the Great"

He defeated and executed Antigonus

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Various factors that led to the revolt:

1. Traditional conflict between Hellenizers and conservatives

2. Widespread corruption of and oppression by wealthy aristocrats and landowners

3. Severe Roman taxation

4. Heavy-handed Roman suppression of opposition

5. At times incompetent and insensitive Roman administration

The JEWISH REVOLT OF AD 66-73

Various factors that led to the revolt:

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Gessius Florus;

General Vespasian;

Titus;

AD 70

The JEWISH REVOLT OF AD 66-73

▪ ________________________ was procurator of Judea while Nero was the emperor.

▪ _________________ was sent by emperor Nero to put down the revolt. He began conquering the cities of Galilee and Judea

▪ Nero died and Vespasian returned to Rome and succeeded Nero as the new emperor.

▪ _________, son of Vespasian complete the battle for Jerusalem.

▪ In _______, after a horrific three-year siege, Jerusalem was taken and the temple destroyed.

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AD 73

The JEWISH REVOLT OF AD 66-73

▪pockets of Jewish resistance held out for several years after Jerusalem's collapse.

The last citadel to fall was the mountain top fortress at Masada in ______.

▪To reach it, the Romans built a massive earthen ramp (still visible today).

▪According to Josephus, when the Romans finally breached the walls, they found that the 900 Jewish defenders had committed suicide rather than surrender.

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AFTER THE WAR

AFTER THE WAR

▪Judea was reorganized as a Roman province

▪The war had a profound and transforming effect on Judaism.

▪ the priestly hierarchy lost its influence and eventually disappeared from history.

▪Study of Torah and worship in the synagogue replaced the sacrificial system as the heart of Jewish religious life.

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Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai;

Jamnia or Jabneh

AFTER THE WAR

▪__________________________, in the years after the Jewish War established an academy for the study of the law at Jamnia (or Jabneh) on the Mediterranean coast.

▪The discussions of this school unified Judaism into a relatively homogenous religious movement centered on the study of the law

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The BAR KOKHBA REVOLT;

AD 132;

AD 135;

1948

The Second Jewish Rebellion or the ___________________________

▪ led by Simon bar Koseba, nicknamed "Bar Kokh-ba" ("son of the star") broke out in _______ when the emperor Hadrian banned circumcision and ordered the building of a temple of Jupiter on the Temple Mount.

▪ by __________, the rebellion had been crushed by the Roman legions this time ending Israel's existence as a political state.

▪ Jerusalem was made into a pagan city by the Romans. Jews were forbidden to enter Jerusalem. Circumcision, observance of the Sabbath, and study of the law were banned.

▪ Not until ____________ would Israel emerge again as a political state.

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Hellenism;

The Greek spirit of inquiry

▪Contributions of the Greeks and the Romans to world of the NT/ The Greek Contributions

__________________ - Geek culture

- Consisted of art and literature, sculpture and architecture, philosophy and religious thought

➢____________________________ - the desire to search for truth and knowledge as shown in the lives of Greek writers and thinkers (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle), etc.

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Syncretism;

Universalism;

Individualism;

Democratization of learning

Characteristics of the Hellenistic Period

➢______________ of its culture - the combination or fusion of arts, philosophies and faiths. (Greek influence was felt by the people, but in turn, Greek culture was modified). ➢___________________ - one world under the control of Greek culture

➢____________________ - an emphasis on the importance of the individual as a person ➢__________________________, particularly philosophy. Education was made available to more people.

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Characteristics of Augustus Reign

➢Pax Romana (Roman Peace)

➢Certainty and safety of life

➢Freedom of ideas

➢Cosmopolitan spirit

THE ROMAN CONTRIBUTIONS (aside from the Greek)

Characteristics of Augustus Reign

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"Robbery, butchery and rapine they call government; they create a desert and call it peace." - Tacitus

DARKER SIDE OF THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD

Of course, peace is a relative term, and the Romans enforced this "peace" through the ruthless suppression of revolt. The Roman historian Tacitus quotes the Scottish leader Calgacus on the eve of a battle with the Roman legions:

"Robbery, butchery and rapine they call government; they create a desert and call it peace." — ______________, quoting the Scottish leader Calgacus's assessment of the Pax Romana (Life of Cnaeus Julius Agricola, 30)

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ROMAN TAXATION

DARKER SIDE OF THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD

_____________________

▪ The cost of maintaining the vast Roman Empire was enormous, and Rome imposed a variety of taxes on its citizens.

▪ Publicans, or "tax farmers," used to oversee the collection. This system was open to great abuse and corruption, since Rome did not generally control the surcharges imposed by their agents.

▪ Zacchaeus is identified in Luke as a "chief tax collector," probably a tax farmer with authority over other collectors (Luke 19:2).

▪ Levi may be a subordinate to a tax farmer (Mark 2:14, par.).

▪The weight of this taxation could be devastating to a poor craftsman or farmer in Israel. Tax collectors were despised, not only because of their reputation for extortion but also because they worked for the hated Romans.

▪ Jesus' association with tax collectors was an important part of his identification with the sinners and outcasts in Israel.

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fornix;

▪ Crucifixion -- method for executing slaves and political criminals

▪ Burning at the stake

▪ Forcing condemned men to fight as gladiators

DARKER SIDE OF THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD

▪ Sexual immorality -

▪ Practice of prostitution (fornication - ___________ [vault]) - were slave girls and undesired infants were usually the victims.

▪ Slavery - prisoners of war, etc., harnessed for manual labor

Cruel means of punishment (____________________3)

▪ Crucifixion -- method for executing slaves and political criminals

▪ Burning at the stake

▪ Forcing condemned men to fight as gladiators