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Notes THY 1 / The Context of the First Century World1 Teacher: Susan Ong / College of Science A Roman World Jesus was born in a world dominated by the Roman Empire. Emperor Octavian (63 BCE-14 BCE) founded the empire in 27 BCE after the grateful senate awarded him for ending civil war and establishing peace in which trade and prosperity could flourish. They gave him the title of Augustus meaning one to be revered. The empire was divided into provinces administered by governors and client kings. The latter were either existing kings who agreed to serve the emperor or people appointed by the Rome. Jesus lived his short life in the province of Syria, an imperial province on the eastern part of the empire, where Roman legions were stationed to defend the borders. Within the province were various client kings Herod the Great until 4 BCE and then his kingdom was divided between his sons Archelaus, Herod Antipas and Herod Philip. Jesus public ministry was conducted in Galilee, the territory of Herod Antipas, and in Judea under Pontius Pilate, one of the Roman procurators who had replaced Archelaus in 26 CE. It is nor surprising to find Jesus meeting a Roman centurion or tax collectors (Jews who were working for the occupying power) and rebels who wanted to fight for Jewish freedom. A Jewish World Jesus was a Jew and he lived and worked among Jews, so it is important to know something about Judaism in the first century. The epicenter of the Jewish world at that time was Jerusalem, the city known in their Holy Scriptures as the City of God. Until 70 CE there was a temple, Herod the Great had begun an extensive rebuilding programme in 19 BCE which was completed in 64 CE. This was the temple which the disciples pointed out to Jesus (Mk. 13:1) where daily sacrifices were carried out by priests, and the center for other for other annual festivals of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, during which Jews gathered in the city in vast numbers. The spiritual heart of Judaism was the Torah (The Law) and in the Law, the one-ness of God and the command to love God wholeheartedly as set out in the Shema (the word means hear and is the first word of Dt. 6:4-5). Whatever their differences, Jews were united in their belief that the one God had committed himself to their ancestors, and therefore to them, through a covenant at Mount Sinai in the time of Moses. There was also the oral law which taught how the written law was to be applied to the details of daily life. This oral law is called traditions of the elders in the Gospels. It was neither simple nor agreed and Jews were divided into different groups according to their response to the oral law. They also differed in their attitudes to Roman occupation. Many longed for God to act and fulfill his promises through the prophets to send a great king like David, a Messiah, to deliver the people and put a restored Israel at the center of the world. Others were nervous about anything that might disturb the status quo in which they had vested interest. We meet most of these groups in the Gospels. (A Glimpse) to the Israelite Religion
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For Private Use Only

Duling, Dennis. 2003. The New Testament: History, Literature, and Social Context . Ontario, Canada, Thomson Wadsworth. Rowe, Arthur. 2006. The Essence of Jesus. England, w. Foulsmam & Co. Ltd.

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1. Clean ad unclean people, places, time, things 2. Holy God, Holy People, Holy Land 3. Holy Temple and Holy Priesthood The Israelite society, political religion and holiness went hand in hand. Within Yahwehs holy people and holy land, there were holy people, places, times, and things. Within the holy land was the holy city, Jerusalem surrounded by walls; within the holy city was the holy temple surrounded by walls and within the holy temple were holy courts surrounded by walls. NonIsraelites were permitted only in the outermost Court of Gentiles. Indeed, Gentiles were warned by an inscription that if they proceeded beyond this point their penalty would be death. Moving inward, thus progressively more holy, was the Sacred Enclosures for the Israelites consisting of the Court of Women, Court of Israel (men), Court of Priests, and forecourt where the holy sacrifice took place to atone for sin. In the very center was the Holy of Holies where the presence of God was said to reside and into which the holiest of men, the high priest, entered only on a very holy feast day, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). Priests had to maintain purity. Priestly genealogies were necessary because a priest had to marry an Israelite virgin who had never been a divorcee, prostitute, convert, prisoner of war, or in the case of the high priest, a widow. Some of the priestly duties were as follows: 1. purification rites performed on those with diseases, especially disorders of the skin or physical impurities; 2. preservation of holiness in the temple 3. maintenance of their own purity especially avoiding contact with a corpse. They could not officiate in the temple if they were ritually impure, had a physical defect, were under the influence of alcohol or had married an impure woman. The temple was likewise the meeting place of the Sanhedrin, a body that combined executive, legislative, and judicial function. The wealthy priestly aristocracy who functioned in the temple established norms for traditional religious life. 4. The Holy Scriptures They accepted the Torah or Pentateuch as the book of Moses. According to sacred tradition, the Torah had been handed down from Moses to Joshua, to the elders, to the prophets, and finally to the men of the Great Synagogue. All phases of life and thought were inspired and guided b it. , Oral Torah alongside the written Torah became so authoritative that they also attributed to Moses. In the New Testament, this oral tradition is called the tradition of the elders (Mk 7:3). 5. Feasts and Fasts Feasts and fasts were holy times. Most Israelites followed a lunar-solar calendar. The length of the year was determined by the sun, but the length of the month was determined by the phases of the moon (from new moon to new moon). The six major feasts and one major fast of Israel followed the agricultural seasons and harvests. Three feasts Booths, Passover, and Weeks (Pentecost) were pilgrimage festivals, that is, male pilgrims were obliged to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate them.

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Booths was celebrated at the time of grape harvest when booths were built in the vineyards for grape pickers; it eventually came to symbolize the story of wilderness wanderings. Passover was a spring festival. Originally, it seems to have been a rite of sacrifice to maintain fertility of the flock. Later, it commemorated the exodus of the Israelites from Egyptian captivity to freedom. During the time of Jesus the tradition was, the pilgrim find a room in the city; procure a male yearling sheep or goat for sacrifice; buy wine, unleavened bread dough, and spices; and celebrate with a minimum of ten males. In the gospels, this festival is the occasion for the passion and death of Jesus. Weeks (NT Pentecost) was originally a celebration of the fertility of the land at the end of the grain harvest. Then, it became associated with the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai. In the New Testament, it is associated with the coming of the Holy Spirit to the early church. Rosh Hashanah (New Year), (Head, First Day) of the Year, originally celebrating the ascent of the king to the throne, which became a day of special sanctity marked by the blowing the shopar or rams horn. Rabbinic traditions linked Rosh Hashanah with creation. Synagogue worship focused on the theme of God as King over creation and the one who continually renews creation. The three blessings recited in the synagogue reflect three fundamentals of Jewish belief: 1) God is king of the universe 2) God intervenes in the world to punish the wicked and reward the good 3) God has revealed himself in the law at Sinai and will do so again at the end of days. Hannukah originated in the second century BCE under the Maccabees. It commemorated the rededication of the Jewish temple and was an eight day holiday. On each day a candle was lit on the eight candle stick the menorah. Ans for the sins of t Purim (Lots) celebrated the victory of Persian Israelites over Haman who cast lots in his attempt to exterminate them; customarily the Book of Esther which tells the story, was read on this day. Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), the only prescribed fast in the Hebrew Scripture; a celebration when purification from sins or atonement took place. On this day of fasting, rest, and penance, the high priest sacrifice a bull for his sins and for the sins of the priests; then, and only on this day he entered the Holy of Holies and sprinkled the bulls blood on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant, that is, the symbolic throne where God dispensed mercy to his people. Two goats were presented by the people; the high priest sacrificed the first goat to atone for the sins of the people. Then, he placed his hands on the second goat, transferring to it the sins of the people. It was led into the desert to die; after which the high priest purified himself. (the origin of the tern scapegoat) 5. Sabbath Israelite days began and ended at sunset, not midnight. Sabbath (Hb. Shabbot) is the name given to the seventh day of the week, from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. Popular etymology explained that on the seventh day God ceased from his work of creation, blessed the day, declared it holy, and required no one to work on that day. (Gen. 2:1-3) The requirement to observe the Sabbath became part of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:8).

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Similar ideas about refraining from work were associated with the holiness of the sabbatical or seventh year, when the land was not to be worked (Lev. 16:31 ff), debts were to be released (Dt. 15:2) and taxes were not to be paid. (Josephus Antiquities 14:202) 6. House Synagogue. The Greek word for synagogue synagoge (gatheirng together), a translation of the Hebrew word in the scriptures for assembly (of God). The place to gather together in Palestine was a large room in a house, an extension of domestic or family religion. No sacrificed was offered in the synagogue. Rather, services which consisted of the monotheistic Shema (Hear O Israel, Yahweh our God, Yahweh alone), scripture reading, a sermon, blessings and prayer. When separate buildings came into existence, they became community centers for education, common meals, and in some cases places where Israelite travelers might stay. 7. Song and Prayer Most of the Psalms found in the Hebrew Bible were originally the hymnbook of the temple. In the New Testament times, these psalms and other chants had become the special function of a lower order of priests, the Levites. However, there were also no doubts sung in the house-synagogues. Prayers were also offered in house-synagogues or at any time and place. They were oriented toward Jerusalem specifically the Holy of Holies and it was customarily to offer them three times a day: morning, midday, and evening. Standing or kneeling with hands raised to heaven was the usual praying position. Equivalent in Catholic Church: