Ben Sira

2021 ◽  
pp. 582-598
Author(s):  
Benjamin G. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Primary Language ◽  
Greek Translation ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Ben Sira ◽  
History Of

The Wisdom of Ben Sira is the paradigmatic Wisdom text from the Second Temple period. Its author was a scribe/sage who lived in Jerusalem during the early part of the second century bce. It has a complicated history of transmission, originally written in Hebrew, but the Greek translation is its primary language of transmission. The book provides evidence for one elite Jew’s understanding of how to please God while living under the political domination of foreign powers. Ben Sira’s instruction has the goal of equipping his students to fear the Lord, fulfill the commandments, and acquire wisdom in order to achieve success in such an uncertain world.

A Short History of the People Israel from the Patriarchs to the Messiah

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-207
Author(s):  
Beth A. Berkowitz
Keyword(s):  
Early Period ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Sexual Practice ◽  
Short History ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Rich Variety ◽  
Political Status ◽  
Leviticus Rabbah ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of

This article addresses recent arguments that question whether “Judaism,” as such, existed in antiquity or whether the Jewishness of the Second Temple period should be characterized in primarily ethnic terms. At stake is the question of whether it is appropriate to speak of Judaism as an abstract system or religion in this early period. An appeal to the under-used collections of Midrash Aggadah provides the context for new insights, focused around a pericope in Leviticus Rabbah that is preoccupied with this very question. This parashah goes well beyond the ethnicity/ religion binary, producing instead a rich variety of paradigms of Jewish identity that include moral probity, physical appearance, relationship to God, ritual life, political status, economics, demographics, and sexual practice.

The Son of Man in the Vision of Daniel

2020 ◽  
pp. 19-24
Author(s):  
Peter Schäfer
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Rabbinic Judaism ◽  
Son Of Man ◽  
Book Of Daniel ◽  
The One ◽  
Point Of Departure

This chapter is devoted to the continuation of the Son of Man tradition in rabbinic Judaism. It explains how the Son of Man is virtually irrelevant among the rabbis of Palestine, in contrast to the Second Temple period. The point of departure of all binitarian speculations in Judaism is the enigmatic “Son of Man” in the biblical Book of Daniel. This book consists of various parts that were written at different times. It is certain that its final editing took place during the Maccabean period, which is in the first half of the second century BCE. The chapter also discusses who exactly is the Ancient One, who is the “one like a human being,” and who are the holy ones of the Most High.

Flavius Josephus

2019 ◽  
pp. 281-298
Author(s):  
Michael Tuval
Keyword(s):  
Jewish History ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
First Century ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Old Russian ◽  
Russian Version ◽  
Manuscript Tradition ◽  
History Of ◽  
Greek Manuscript

The works of first century CE Jewish historian Flavius Josephus constitute our main source for the study of Jewish history of the Second Temple period. In this chapter, we briefly discuss Josephus’ career and his four compositions, as well as the condition of the Greek manuscript tradition of his works. The chapter also deals with the Latin translations of Josephus, a late antique Christian adaptation of mainly Judean War in Latin, known as Hegesippus, and the remnants of Judean War in Syriac. Next comes Josippon, a medieval Hebrew adaptation of Josephus and some other sources, and finally the much-discussed Slavonic, or Old Russian, version of the Judean War.

scholarly journals The Praise of God and His Name as the Core of the Second Temple Liturgy

2015 ◽  
Vol 127 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mika S. Pajunen
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Early Judaism ◽  
Primary Element ◽  
Liturgical Texts ◽  
Liturgical Practice

Das Lob Gottes wurde schon immer als wichtigstes Element des liturgischen Lebens am 2. Tempel verstanden. Formkritiker haben dieses Moment der liturgischen Praxis vor allem durch die Analyse der Psalmen nachgezeichnet. Demgegenüber erscheint die Rolle der Klage zumindest in der späten Phase des 2. Temepls randständig. Allerdings fehlt ein Bindeglied zwischen der hellenistischen Phase der Liturgie und dem Lob in den Qumran Texten des 1 Jh. v. Chr. Der Blick auf das Motiv der Schöpfung erschließt dieses Bindeglied und erklärt zugleich, warum das Lob als Verpflichtung Gott gegenüber verstanden wurde.Praise of God has always been understood by scholars as a primary element of the liturgical life of the Second Temple period. Form-critics have situated the praises of God in the liturgical practice of the period most of all by analyzing the Psalms now in the MT Psalter. However, at least in the late Second Temple period the role of laments seems to be marginal. Thus far a link has been missing in scholarship between this centrality of praise perceivable in the liturgical practice of the Hellenistic period and the all-encompassing nature of praise in the texts of the Qumran movement from the first century BCE. This is a link that may in part explain why prayer, or during this time more properly praise, came to be seen in early Judaism as an obligation towards God. This question is explored by investigating how the Second Temple liturgy is in many texts from the second century BCE given an explicit basis in the creation, and how such traditions in turn served an important function in the composition of new liturgical texts.La louange de Dieu a toujours été comprise par les exégètes comme un élément essentiel de la vie liturgique de la période du Second Temple. A l’aide de la critique des formes, certains exégètes ont situé les louanges de Dieu dans la pratique liturgique de cette période, en analysant surtout les Psaumes actuellement présents dans le psautier du TM. Le rôle des lamentations, en revanche, semble marginal, au moins dans la période tardive du Second Temple. Jusqu’à présent la recherche n’a pas établi de lien entre la centralité de la louange perceptible dans la pratique liturgique de la période hellénistique et l’importancede la louange dans les textes qumrâniens du premier siècle av. J.-C. Ce lien pourrait expliquer, en partie, pourquoi la prière, ou à plus proprement parler la louange, a été de plus en plus perçue, durant cette période, comme une obligation envers Dieu dans le judaïsme primitif. Cette question est explorée à travers l’analyse de nombreux textes du deuxième siècle av. J.-C. qui montrent comment la liturgie du Second Temple a été basée explicitement sur la Création et comment de telles traditions ont occupé en retour une place importante dans la composition de nouveaux textes liturgiques.

The Illyrian Provinces: A Step Towards Yugoslavism

1974 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-125
Author(s):  
Susana S. Macesich
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
The Political ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Administrative Unit ◽  
History Of ◽  
Revolutionary Movements ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe history of the Illyrian Provinces belongs not only to the history of the Napoleonic Era in Europe, but also to that of the development of Yugoslav history in the early part of the nineteenth century. The Provinces can be studied from several aspects: political, social, economic and cultural. This paper will emphasize only one of the offered aspects-namely the impact of the Illyrian Provinces on the concept of Yugoslavism. Three features are of singular importance: first, the effects of the ideas of the French Revolution on the Yugoslavs (development of modern nationalism, use of the vernacular, secularism, abolition of feudalism); second, the effects of the political unification of Dalmatia, Slovenia and part of Croatia under French rule, which brought Croats, Slovenes and Serbs under one political and administrative unit; third, the correlation between French rule in the Western Balkans with the national-revolutionary movements of that period, such as the Serbian uprising of 1804 and its effect upon other Yugoslavs.1

scholarly journals Znaczenie i rola Izaaka i Jakuba w historii Izraela według Syracha (Syr 44,22-23)

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-72
Author(s):  
Andrzej Piwowar
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Greek Text ◽  
Subsequent Generation ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Principal Role ◽  
History Of ◽  
Hebrew Version ◽  
Book Of Genesis

The article is devoted to the analysis of the Greek text of Sir 44:22-23, but it also takes into account the Hebrew version of the praise of Isaac and Jacob. The main aim of the article is to read Sirach’s depiction of these two patriarchs in his Praise of the Fathers (Sir 44:1 – 50:24) and the role and significance that he attributes to them in Israel’s history. The analysis conducted shows that the Jerusalem sage based his presentation of Isaac and Jacob exclusively on the Book of Genesis, not referring to any theological traditions connected with the patriarchs that were known during the Second Temple period. The principal role played by the two patriarchs in the history of the chosen nation is passing on to the subsequent generation the covenant that God made with Abraham and the promises related to it (Isaac’s substantial passivity in this role has to be pointed out). It is this motif that is emphasized in Sir 44:22-23, as a result of which other important events from the patriarchs’ lives are completely overlooked, including the justification of Jacob’s stealing of Isaac’s blessing for his firstborn son.

Sophia

2019 ◽  
pp. 468-484
Author(s):  
Jonathan Cahana-Blum
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Feminist Critique ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
The Social ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Social Level

This chapter discusses how convictions about gender and sexuality (both at the divine and at the social level) have been instrumental to the ways early Christians addressed the divine Sophia myth. Strongly gendered and idealized already in the Hebrew Bible, the personified feminine Sophia undergoes a process of masculinization and further idealization in Jewish writings of the Second Temple Period. Somewhat paradoxically, this appears to culminate in her (almost) complete effacement from the New Testament or her replacement with the masculine Logos. Yet in Christian gnostic writings of the second century, Sophia returns with a vengeance: more feminine than ever, by now she is both more powerful than the God of the Hebrew Bible and no longer idealized as an unequivocally positive figure. It is argued that with a careful application of feminist critique, a more thorough understanding of the Sophia myth and its possible theological implications can be reached.

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