World Religion Research Paper

Judaism

Patriarchs, Exodus, Kings and Prophets

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Egypt and Mesopotamia In the Ancient Middle East, there were two great civilizations, Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Both depended on their rivers for life. The Egyptians developed a very stable government and religious system, with the state controlling large amounts of the economy. The Egyptian Pharaoh was considered a God, and he ruled by divine decree. In Mesopotamia, governments shifted. Starting out as a series of small city-states, eventually the region consolidated into a series of small empires. Here, laws were created by humans (hopefully in accord with the will of the Gods). They also were more free market than Egypt, though here too the lugals (big men, kings) could command people to build and maintain canals. The Mesopotamians created large temples, roughly pyramid-shaped, called ziggaruts.

If a visitor from another world had looked at the Mideast about 2000 to 1800 BCE, he might have missed the small pastoral nomads who lived outside the great cities of Mesopotamia, tending their flocks (mainly sheep and goats) in the uplands, in the desert, and in regions like Haran and Canaan (Haran is in modern eastern Syria, Canaan is modern Israel and Palestine). These people, mainly Semitic in origin, were called wanderers, or A’piru, or Hebrews. These people would not build great ziggaruts like the Mesopotamians, or Sphinxes and Pyramids. Their lasting monuments would be built “in the hearts and minds” of people for thousands of years, and much of the world still is influenced by the religion they forged and the religions that grew out of it.

There was a strong Mesopotamian and, to a lesser extent, Egyptian influence on the Hebrews.

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Akhenaton A century or two before the time of Moses, an Egyptian pharaoh began worshipping the Sun Disk, the Aton—first as his own personal god, then as the only God. He may very well have been the world’s first true monotheist.

His religion never spread much beyond his family, and was dead shortly after his death.

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Fertile Crescent

The A’piru—the Hebrews—wandered in this region.

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Tanakh—The Hebrew Bible This is our main source of information on the early Hebrews:

Torah—The Law, The Five Books of Moses (pictured):

Genesis

Exodus

Leviticus

Numbers

Deuteronomy

Nevi’im—The Prophets

(also includes historical books like Joshua, I & II Samuel, I & II Kings)

Ketuvim—The Writings

Includes Psalms, Lamentations, Proverbs, Ezra, Daniel, Ruth and others.

Torah, Nevi’im, Ketuvim—Tanakh.

Note: order differs from Christian Bibles

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The Hebrew Scriptures

The next few slides will retell much of the Hebrew Scriptures.

Please note, the historical reality of much of these stories is disputed by many scholars.

The Scriptures took their final form in the early Christian era, and there was probably much editing by many editors, such as J, P, D, and E (J and E based on the name for God they used, P the Priestly editor, and D the Deuteronomist).

After the Creation and Flood, we will learn of the Patriarchs, shepherd kings who began a relationship with a deity they called El Shaddai.

Later, there is the story of the journey to Egypt, the escape, and the creation of a Hebrew state—and then states…

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Creation

“In the beginning, God created the Heavens and Earth. Now the Earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters…” Gen 1:1-2

There are many similarities with Mesopotamia’s Enuma Elish here.

In Egypt, one of the creation legends states that the world arose from the primordial waters, brought forth when Ptah said the Sacred Word.

This Word was later deified.

In the Bible, the dry land also arises out of the primordial waters.

God says “Let there be…” and there is.

There is evening and morning…hence Jewish days begin in the evening.

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Adam & Eve

The world is created in six days, and on the seventh God rested. By resting on the Seventh Day, Jews (and later Christians, though they moved the day) imitated the actions of God.

Many scholars argue that there is a second creation story “stitched in” by editors beginning in Genesis 2:4. More traditional scholars and Bible literalists argue that this is elaborating the creation of man mentioned in the first chapter.

Humans also get a secondary role in creation…they get to name the animals. (above) Remember, naming something is equivalent to creating it to many cultures.

Evil comes partially through the snake. In Egypt, Seth the snake god had killed Osiris, and there is some evidence early Hebrews worshiped, among other gods, a snake god.

Humans are placed into a garden and named Adam and Eve. They are innocent, and walk around naked. It seems that God wants humanity to live in a paradise.

There is one prohibition placed upon them---they may not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

A serpent convinces Eve to eat the fruit of the Tree, so she might be like God, knowing good and evil. Christians identify the snake as being Satan, the Adversary, but Genesis merely calls him a snake.

Having eaten the fruit, Eve gives some to Adam. They realize they are naked , and make fig leaves.

God confronts them with their disobedience—their sin—and expels them from Paradise.

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Expulsion from Paradise Augustine and others argue that we are all stained with Adam’s Original Sin.

Jews and Muslims reject this.

Whatever their opinion, believers believe that since Adam and Eve’s sin, humans have been separated from the original Paradise that God wanted them to live in.

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Gilgamesh In the Babylonian tale, Utnaphishtim, the Babylonian “Noah”, tells Gilgamesh of a Plant of Life that grows on the bottom of the sea that would renew his life. Gilgamesh gets it, but it is stolen by a snake. Gilgamesh weeps, for he realizes the lot of man is old age and death.

"Life, which you look for, you will never find. For when the gods created man, they let death be his share, and life withheld in their own hands".

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The Flood In Genesis, God destroys the world because the people were wicked. Even Noah’s

goodness is qualified—”he was righteous in his generations.”

In the Mesopotamian epic, the gods destroy the Earth because the humans are too noisy.

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Covenants

An important idea in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures is the idea of Covenant, and this is probably its first appearance in the story of Noah.

God makes several contracts, or covenants, with Noah.

A covenant is basically a contract or solemn promise.

A covenant in religion implies one party is far more powerful than the other—a god or God, for example. But it’s a solemn promise, and God promises to uphold his end if the people uphold theirs. Sometimes, there is no quid pro quo—God just makes a solemn promise to do something.

God covenants to save Noah’s life if he builds the Ark. Later, he promises not to send a flood to destroy the Earth again—and sets up the rainbow as a visible sign and reminder.

There does not seem to be a quid pro quo here—God makes his promise, period.

God is conceived as a bargainer, who bargains, and makes deals and promises with his people, with humans. A god who covenants, who promises. Humans are free agents, free to disobey the covenant they make—but they have to accept the consequences. Humans are not slaves or servants of God—but people who freely enter into deals with the Almighty. This idea of covenant would strongly influence the Puritans who were among the founders of this country.

The Mesopotamians were rather commercial, and contracts are commercial.

The later idea of redemption also seems to be related to the commercial idea of redeeming a pledge—I need money, I give my guitar to a pawn shop for money, I eventually pay back the money within the allotted time period, and get my guitar back—I have redeemed the guitar.

Most covenants have some kind of sign and reminder.

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Abraham Abraham is revered as the first monotheist.

He is considered the founder of Judaism, and at least metaphorically the ancestor of all Jews.

He is honored by Christians, who stress his faith.

Islam also stresses his faith and honors him —indeed, Islam considers him the first Muslim, the first to submit to the will of Allah.

Some Arabs believe or believed they were descended from Abraham through Ishmael.

Muslims, Jews, and Christians consider him in many ways a spiritual ancestor. Mohammed believed he was restoring the ancient faith and religion of Abraham.

Believers believe that it was through Abraham that God first spoke to humanity after the ancient mythic period of Creation and Floods.

Historians are skeptical as to his, and all the Patriarchs, historicity.

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The Call to Abraham

12 The LORD had said to Abram, Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

2 “I will make you into a great nation,     and I will bless you; I will make your name great,     and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you,     and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth     will be blessed through you.”

This covenant is repeated several times to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the land of Canaan is given as part of the covenant (see Gen 17:8 for example)

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“And Sarah laughed”

One day Abraham sees three visitors. He treats them with great courtesy, and prepares for them a fine dinner of lamb stew and milk.

The three visitors turn out to be angels. One apparently was God himself.

God and the angels tell Abraham that he will have a son through Sarah. According to the Bible, Abraham was 100 and Sarah 80.

Sarah was listening behind the tent, and finds the statement of the angels so funny that she breaks out in laughter. After all, as the Bible rather delicately puts it—“it has ceased to be with me in the manner of women.”

Nonetheless, she is assured that she will have a child, and about 9 months later, she gives birth to Isaac. The name is based on the word for “laughter” in Hebrew.

God’s promise to Abraham has been fulfilled.

Arguably the birth is miraculous…

“is anything too hard for the Lord?”

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Sodom and Gomorrah

God decides to tell Abraham that he is thinking of destroying the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because “their sin is so grievous”.

Abraham bargains with God over the fate of two wicked cities. God wants to destroy the city, Abe says what if there are 50 decent people left— God says fine, I won’t destroy it. Abe bargains God down to only 10 decent (righteous) people.

Unfortunately, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah aren’t very nice. There is only Lot and his family, and the angels go to Lot to get them out. The Sodomites knock on the door, and ask that the visitors be brought outside so that the Sodomites can rape them.

At least one of the reasons for God wanting to destroy these cities is they violated the rules of hospitality, to say the least.

Even today, treating strangers and guests with great hospitality in the desert is a great virtue among desert peoples. Why would hospitality be so important to desert dwelling peoples?

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Hagar and Ishmael

Relations between Hagar and Sarah deteriorated, and remained bad even after Isaac was born.

Ishmael, according to Genesis, made fun of Isaac or did something that really annoyed Sarah, and she demanded that Hagar and Ishmael be cast out.

Abraham doesn’t want to, but God tells him to obey Sarah.

While Sarah’s actions are perhaps understandable in terms of the mores and customs of ancient nomadic desert peoples, Sarah to us moderns does not come off very well here.

The family of Abraham may have been in close personal contact with the deity, but they were very real and human and flawed people. As someone once put it, Genesis is the tale of a rather dysfunctional family.

Hagar wanders into the desert, and the food and water run out. She sets young Ishmael under a bush, and walks an arrow shot away, because she cannot bear to see her son die. Then an angel tells her to open her eyes, and she sees a well of water that presumably wasn’t there before. Ishmael grows up to found a mighty nation, usually identified as the Arabs.

According to Islam, Ishmael helps his father Abraham build the Kaaba in Mecca, and he and Isaac are reconciled as they both help to bury Abraham.

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The Binding of Isaac (Akedah)

Perhaps the most important tale of Abraham is the Binding of Isaac, or the Akedah.

It is here that his faith was tested, and this is considered by the three religions the great quality of Abraham—his strong faith.

It also indicates that, despite what neighboring peoples like the Phoenicians were doing, God does not want human sacrifice and hates it.

God tells Abraham to take “Isaac, your only son, whom you love,“and sacrifice him on a mountain in Moriah.

While some rabbis believe Isaac was a grown man, it seems from reading the text that he was still a child—a kid, to use the rather apt English term.

He is bound, Abraham raises the knife—and then he is told to stop by an angel of God:

Abraham! Abraham! “Here I am” he replied. “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Gen: 22:11-12.

Abraham sees a ram caught in a thicket, and sacrifices him instead.

God’s angel then tells him, because of this, I will surely make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.

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Jacob

Isaac’s son is Jacob. He is the younger of two twins, and his brother Esau (or Edom) has red hair and is a bit of a wild man.

Genesis indicates that Esau is totally unsuitable to carry on the legacy of Abraham and Isaac, but because he is the elder, he will be the chieftain, the patriarch, not Jacob.

Esau sells his birthright to Isaac for “a mess of porridge”, then Jacob pretends to be Esau at his father’s death and gets the blessing that Esau should have gotten.

He is forced to flee to a distant relative named Laban, and he falls in love with Rachel, Laban’s daughter. He works as a shepherd seven years for Laban in order to marry Rachel, and is tricked into marrying Rachel’s older sister Leah. He eventually marries Rachel, leaves Haran and reconciles with his brother.

During his adventures, he sees a “ladder” leading to the skies, and wrestles either an angel or God himself and is given a new name: Israel—he who wrestles with God.

Leah wasn’t much loved by Jacob, but she was fertile and bore many children, while Rachel gives birth to only two, Joseph and Benjamin, and died giving birth to Benjamin. Perhaps because Rachel was Joseph’s mother, Joseph becomes Jacob’s favorite.

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Joseph Jacob gives Joseph a “coat of many colors.”

This was a tartan or plaid cloak.

According to Egyptian drawings of Semitic tribes and Hyksos, such a coat was a mark of ruler-ship.

His brothers are greatly annoyed by this and other things Joseph did, and sell him into slavery.

Joseph winds up in Egypt, and through his ability to interpret dreams and intelligence becomes a very important official and “food czar” of Egypt.

Jacob and Joseph’s brothers come into Egypt because of a famine—because of Joseph’s wise advice and administrative skill, Egypt has plenty of food despite the famine. Joseph and his brothers eventually reconcile, and the family moves to Egypt.

Many think that the story of Joseph was a fictional tale. However, it does tell of Hebrews entering Egypt because of a famine, and rising to administrative power. Some think that Hebrew tribes entered Egypt during the time of the Hyksos—the Hyksos were Semitic tribes very close to the Hebrews—in fact, may have been Hebrews themselves.

To the right---a modern interpretation of the Joseph story.

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Moses “There arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph”. The Hebrews, who once had the run of the sheepherding region of Goshen in the East Nile Delta, were now forced to work on projects—enslaved.

They built, according to the Bible, Pithom and Ramses as store cities for Pharaoh. This was about 1570 BCE.

Moses was a prince of the tribe of Levi, who was probably raised as a hostage in Pharaoh’s household—this was a means of controlling subject peoples, and Egyptianizing their leadership.

This is more likely than the beloved tale of Miriam watching her baby brother in the basket, who is found and adopted by Pharaoah’s daughter.

This tale is often told to elementary school children to help teach the importance of looking after their younger siblings.

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Prince of Egypt to “Stranger in a Strange

Land” Moses’ name is Egyptian, and it is possible that he was an Egyptian—and it is possible that he dropped part of the name, the part that referenced an Egyptian god. He may barely have spoken a word of Hebrew—he says at one point I’m a lousy speaker, never eloquent. Some think that he may have read some of the writings of Akehnaton, the monotheistic Pharaoh. But most scholars think that he is a true historic character—that a man named Moses actually led a group of slaves out of Egypt.

According to the Book of Exodus, after killing a taskmaster who was mistreating a Hebrew slave, he fled Egypt for the eastern desert, where he married a Midianite woman, and earned a living as a shepherd (and probably learned some Hebrew).

One day, according to the Bible, he sees a miraculous sight: A bush which burns but is not consumed….

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The Burning Bush God, according to Exodus, speaks to Moses from the Burning Bush. Moses asks God what his name was, and God replies YHWH. I am that I am, I will be what I will be—tell them “I am” sends them.

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The Parting of the Sea

Moses asks Pharaoh to let his people go, but Pharaoh says no.

A series of plagues hits Egypt, but, according to the Bible, God “hardens Pharaoh’s heart” and he refuses to let the Hebrews leave.

Eventually, he does, but then relents.

He chases the army to the sea, which parts for Moses and the Hebrews, then drowns the Egyptians.

Some have argued that the plagues resemble a major volcanic eruption and its forerunners. A major eruption did hit the Middle East and Egypt—but it was 400 years before the usual dates for the Exodus.

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The Mitzvot-- Commandments

After leaving Egypt, God gives the Hebrews many commandments—the most famous are the Ten Commandments, which among other things tell them to only worship him—its not a full claim of monotheism, but a step on the way.

Other laws are given, including the Ten Commandments 613 to be exact, such as “do not plant your field with two kinds of seed, don’t wear clothing woven of two kinds of cloth, don’t eat fruit for the first three years after eating it, no tattooing, no meat with the blood still in him. Do not boil a lamb in its mother’s milk. No shellfish.

Some of rthese may be borrowings from the Canaanites, or laws from the time of the kings.

In addition to the mainly ritual laws, the Hebrews were also told: don’t put stumbling blocks in front of people, don’t seek revenge, love your neighbor.

The Covenant at Sinai basically says “follow my commandments and you can stay in the land and you will live at peace and the rain will come to water your crops.” (See Leviticus 26), God will protect the people of Israel, in return for obedience to the Law. If not, then many bad things could happen.

To the right—The Ten Commandments

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Israelite Confederacy Hebrew tribes conquered much of Canaan, though many Canaanite and Philistine cities remained. The tribes were organized into a loose confederacy, “and there was no king in Israel; everyone did as he pleased.”

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Judges

In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 17:6)

There was no king, but a loose confederation, tied together by the Covenant with YHWH.

In short, God was the King.

The confederacy was centered at Shechem (later Shiloh) where there was a tent containing the Ark of the Covenant, a chest decorated with angels which contained the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were engraved. A small priesthood existed, but sacrifices at this period could be made anywhere. When war arose, a local hero, or “judge” (some translate shofet as chieftain) would battle the Canaanites or Philistines. Among the more famous of these judges are Deborah, Gideon, and Samson.

Samson was rather unusual—he engaged in feats of prodigious strength.

Deborah was an even more unusual judge: the Hebrews were rather patriarchal, and she was a woman. She defeats her enemies with the aid of Barak.

Sisera, the Canaanite general, escapes, but is killed by yet another strong woman, Jael, who kills him in his sleep.

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The Ark of the Covenant The Ark was kept in a tent—a “tabernacle”—in Shiloh. It contained the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written. The capture of the Ark by Philistines about 1050 BCE moved the Israelites to demand a stronger government than the very loose confederacy they had previously operated under.

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Israel becomes a Kingdom “There was no king in Israel: every man did what was right in his own eyes.”

----Judges 17:6

The people asked Samuel, the great priest, prophet, judge, to pick a king :

“To Govern us like all the Nations”.

Samuel objected, but the Bible says God told him to listen to the people. Before he did that, Samuel decided to tell them what a king would do:

“He will take your sons and appoint them to [be in his army], he will take the best of your land and give it to his officers and servants, he will take your menservants and maidservants and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.”

The king’s taxes would be on top of the tithe given to the priests.

Nonetheless, the people insisted that Samuel pick them a king. God told Samuel, according to the Bible, to listen to them. So he picked Saul, and anointed him king.

So, here we have the chief religious figure of the land picking a king at the bequest of the people and God. The king ruled because God wanted him to, and hopefully to serve the people. This would become a model for future Christian kings. Centuries later, Tom Paine would use this story to argue that God was opposed to monarchy.

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King David

Saul was moody, jealous of the warrior David, and possibly crazy.

He died in battle, and David took over, conquering a large kingdom that reached to the Euphrates.

David conquered Jerusalem, and made it his capital.

He established a formal shrine, and recovered the ark, putting it into the hands of a priesthood.

The priests, the Kohanim, were traditionally descended from Aaron, Moses’ brother.

They were a family of Levi, a tribe which had sacred duties like chorus’ and similar things.

There is also said to be a covenant with David—his line would be established forever and his throne firm through all generations. (Ps. 89:3-4)

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King David, continued David was a warrior and a poet, writing many of the Psalms.

Yet he was a man of great contradictions: He worshipped a god who demanded ethical behavior.

This God he usually called the Lord of Hosts— The Lord of Armies—Adonoi Ts’vaot.

While he worshipped an ethical warrior god, he did bad things.

He saw Bathsheba bathing on the roof of her home, and wanted her. Unfortunately, she is married.

David sends her husband Uriah on a suicide mission, and even gives orders to be sure he is killed if the enemy doesn’t kill him. Once he is dead, David marries Bathsheba. The child of this union is called Solomon, from the word for peace. David is terribly rebuked by the prophet Nathan for this.

David creates a great empire, but many of his sons, such as Absalom, revolt against him.

For all his flaws, both Jews and Christians believe that one of his descendents will be the Messiah.

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Kingdom of David

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King Solomon

Solomon’s name is based on the word for peace—”Shalom”.

He fought no wars, but built up trade. He built a great temple in Jerusalem, and sacrifices would eventually be prohibited outside the temple. Many people traveled to Jerusalem at holidays to sacrifice.

He had many wives, often foreign princesses he married as part of a peace treaty.

Each princess needed a small palace and retinue.

Many fortresses were built, mainly in the south near Jerusalem.

Taxes were rather high, and much of the revenue was spent in Jerusalem.

There was much resentment in the north of the kingdom.

On Solomon’s death, the north broke away, and there were two kingdoms: Judea in the south, and Israel in the north.

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The Queen of Sheba The visit of the Queen of Sheba seems to have impressed the Hebrews, and her visit was recorded. In the Bible, she just is given a tour. In Hollywood and in legend, she and Solomon became lovers. The royal house of Ethiopia was supposedly descended from Solomon and the Queen.

Some believe Sheba was the Arabian country of Sa’aba. Others believe Sheba came from Africa.

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Baal

The Israelites in Judea and the Northern Kingdom had begun worshipping Baal and Ashtoreth (Canaanite fertility gods) and other gods, and prophets arose to denounce them for violating the Covenant.

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Assyria

The two kingdoms were located in a dangerous spot, and the rising empire of Assyria, which conquered Mesopotamia, turned its eyes on the two small kingdoms. Assyria destroyed Israel, and the prophets blamed the wickedness of the people. Some of them began to predict that God would send a king to “execute justice and righteousness in the land.” This anointed one, or Messiah, would come from the House of David.

Jeremiah preached that God would soon make a New Covenant. The old Sinai Covenant failed as it was overlaid with ritual. It had been made with the nation as a whole. The New Covenant would be made with each individual—moral and spiritual renewal—it would be written on their hearts and conscience. “I will be their God, and they will be my people”.

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Jeremiah

New Covenant:

The time is coming soon when God will make a new covenant with the house of Israel…

It will be written on the hearts and conscience of each person.

“I will be their God, and they will be my people”

Jeremiah 31: 31-33 37

The Babylonian Exile

During Jeremiah’s life, in 586 BCE, Babylon conquered Judea, destroyed the Temple, and took many leading Judeans to Babylon.

Without a temple, how could they worship? How could they sacrifice? They began to gather in houses and study the sacred texts.

They began to form a liturgy. They modeled it on the Temple Service.

They began to put the Bible together, and began to debate fine points of law —such as, what work is permitted on Sabbath?

“By the waters of Babylon, we lay down and wept, for thee Zion.”

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The Return from Exile Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylon, and permitted the Judeans—or Jews—to return to Judea and rebuild their Temple about 538 BCE. But many Jews remained in Babylon—the beginning of the Diaspora. And while sacrifices returned, the new way of worshipping also remained and spread.

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