This essay will trace the development of Israel’s attempt to answer the question, “How can we survive as a nation?” from the conquest through the fall of the second temple (70 A.D.). Briefly analyze the various options, using historical examples. Discuss the post-exile answer in detail and assess its impact on Jewish culture at the time of Christ.
Incomplete Conquest of Canaan: Israel’s struggle to survive as a nation is ultimately due to her disobedience and rebellion against God. As we learned in class, she failed more often than not to maintain a “thorough-going allegiance to Yahweh.” Her problems began during the conquest of the land of Canaan. She was commanded by God to “herem,” or utterly destroy the Canaanites (Exodus 23:20-33, Deuteronomy 18:9-22) lest the Israelites intermarry with the idolatrous nations and be led astray from God to follow after their false gods. Joshua’s failure to herem the Canaanites (especially the Amalekites, Midianites and Philistines) was a very serious breach of God’s command and resulted in the nation’s falling away from God.
Times of the Judges: During the period of the Judges, the bible notes that “In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). Israel was at her lowest moral point. It was a time of great apostasy in the land. Not only had Joshua failed to herem the Canaanites, but he had also failed to remove the idol worship in the land (Judges 2:2-3). Israel fell into Baal worship. God brought judgment upon the nation through the battles with the Canaanites.
The Monarchies: After some time, Israel began to clamor in envy for a king like the other nations that surrounded her (1 Samuel 8) because the judges had failed to bring peace and justice to the land. Rather than return to the Lord and devote themselves fully to Him who was their King, they rebelled against Him and sought their own solution to the ravages of the punishment God brought upon them through the Canaanites; they sought an earthly king. God gave them Saul. King Solomon made an alliance with the Egyptian Pharaoh by marrying his daughter (1 Kings 3:1). Later in his life, Solomon was led into apostasy by his foreign wives. The kings (Davidic line) lasted only a few generations before the nation split in civil war over a tax issue. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin formed the southern kingdom of Judah and maintained the Davidic line. The other ten tribes formed the northern kingdom of Israel. With nation divided, she eventually went into captivity under the Babylonians.
Alliances with Pagan Nations and Pagan Gods: Israel before the divided kingdom and afterward, both Judah and Israel (the northern kingdom), made alliances with pagan nations such as Egypt, Assyria (with Tiglath Pileser in II Kings 15:19, for example), Syria, The Philistines, Samaria, etc. rather than with God. These alliances didn’t last, and often resulted in the Hebrews being led away into captivity, or worse, idolatry. In Elijah’s day, he battled against the followers of Baal (1 Kings 18). Israel abandoned her true God to follow after a false god. God again brings judgment.
Multiple Shrines to YHWH: Israel tried in vain to create a national alliance between the northern and southern kingdoms by establishing shrines in both kingdoms (Jeroboam’s shrine in Bethel in the northern kingdom was established so those in the northern kingdom could continue to worship YHWH without traveling to Judah). This was merely an outward expression, but didn’t create the national alliance that was sought. Solomon’s Temple could not unite the kingdom and preserve the nation.
Allegiance to YHWH: This was the only real course of action. God wanted their whole hearts, not just the outward expressions of religion. The Babylonian exile served to move Israel back toward God. Having lost her land, her freedom and the presence of God, she turned her heart back to God. After the Persians take power, Israel is permitted (under Artaxerxes Longimanus) to return to the land, restore and rebuild Jerusalem and rebuild the temple (Nehemiah and Ezra). This becomes a national reunion and time of spiritual renewal for Israel. The law is restored to prominence and the people repent and return to God. As is Israel’s checked history, this national spiritual fervor does not last. Eventually, Israel is taken over by the Greeks (Alexander the Great, followed by his generals Ptolemy and Seleucus) and then the Romans. Multiple rebellions arise and Israel is forced into paganism, emperor worship, etc. The Hasidim appear and offer a return to serious worship of YHWH. Among them are the Pharisees (strict conservatives), the Essenes (isolationists) and the Zealots (violent). The Maccabean revolt is an attempt to remain true to God and His law. It ultimately gives way to Roman rule. Messianic fervor runs high. Christ appears, is not the military leader expected in the messianic office, is rejected and crucified for His claims to deity – interpreted by the Jews as blasphemy and by the Romans as treason. Again, God brings judgment in 70 AD when Titus Vespasian and four Roman legions enter Jerusalem and destroy the city and level the Temple. This closes the book on the old system of Judaism. The Sadducees do not survive the destruction of the temple which was the center of their sect.
