Judaism

Yoke = to lose God’s word, is to lose life

To know God (Yhwh) is to know His nature and how He related to Israel

    God revealed himself slowly over time to Israel

Judaism leads to Christianity or Islam

  • Christianity began as a movement within the Second Temple Judaism

  • Christianity did not become an offical religion until the 4th century

    • This is because all Christians were Jews

  • It was a very slow separation of Judaism and Christianity

  • Shaye Cohen: “the separation of Christianity from Judaism was a process, not an event.”

  • Judaism and Christianity coexisted untul the 4th century

Jewish educational system (Being “Yoked” to God’s word)

  • Most important person in town is the Rabbi

    • Religious teacher at the synagogue

  • The first five books of the old testament are called the Torah

(Bet means house)

  • Bet sefer (house of the book)

    • Kid’s ages 4-10 memorized the Torah

  • Bet talmud (house of learning)

    • Only boys who memorized everything move to this

      • Now need to memorize minor prophets, major prophets, almost all old testament

    • Rabbi tells them, “come follow me”

    • The art of questioning

      • Rabbi would ask questions; kids could only answer with qusetions

      • “Wrestling with the word”

    • Oral tradition is taught in this stage

  • Bet midrash (house of study)

    • Age 15, learn for 15 years until 30

    • Only ONE is chosen

    • “Covered in the dust of a Rabbi”

    • Once at this stage, whole life goal is to become a Rabbi

Yahweh has a lot of names because of his characteristics

  • Yahweh = old testament name for God

  • Adonai = lord or master

Yhwh used these four:

  1. Covenant

  • Spiritual agreement with God

  • If you follow God’s law, He will bless you. If you do not, you will feel His curse

  1. The OT Law

  • The rules and regulations that God gave Israel how to live

  1. Feast / Festivals

  • Celebrations of Israel year-round, celebrating the goodness of God

  1. Tabernacle / Temple

  • Place in the OT where God came to meet His people

  • Dwelling place of God at the center of Israel’s camp

  • Also the center or worship

  • Mobile temple: before their land was set, they would set it up and break it down each time

  • Structure: outer courtyard, holy place, and holy of holies

  1. Sacrificial System

  • People of Israel had to sacrifice a spotless animal once a year to have their sins forgiven

Old Testament Law

  1. Moral Law

What’s right and wrong in God’s eyes?

  1. Civil Law

The laws and regulations of a good society.

What the government tells you to do.

  1. Ceremonial Law

Had festivals where they would worship and sacrifice to God

  1. Convenantal Context

The Adamic Covenant

  • Live peacefully with God, don’t eat from the tree

The Noah Covenant

  • God said he would no longer flood the world and destroy it, and Noah and his family would restart the human race

  • The world was so evil, God’s heart was broken

The Abrahamic Covenant

  • God spoke to a man named Abrahm to travel to the promise land (now Israel)

  • The promise made to Abrahm by God was blessing him with so many kids, they became a nation

The Mosaic Covenant

  • God freed the slaves from Egypt and gave Moses His law

The Davidic Covenant

  • The agreement God made with King David

  • God promised one of his descendants would be the savior

  1. For Israel

  1. For Chrisitians