Sealing the Demons, Once and For All: The Ring of Solomon, the Cross of Christ, and the Power of Biblical Kingship

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-130
Author(s):  
Raʿanan Boustan ◽  
Michael Beshay
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
The Third ◽  
Signet Ring ◽  
Cross Of Christ ◽  
The Cross

Abstract This paper traces the historical development of the tradition that King Solomon made use of a signet-ring to marshal the demons as a labor-force for the construction of the Jerusalem Temple and analyzes the shifting ritual uses to which this tradition was put.We argue that this tradition, which is most fully articulated in the Testament of Solomon, is a Christian innovation of the third and fourth centuries rather than a venerable Jewish tradition with roots in the Second Temple period. This branch of the Solomon tradition first emerged within the context of internal Christian debates of the third century concerning proper baptismal practice, where the power of baptism to provide protection from the demons was linked to debates concerning the efficacy of Solomon’s act of sealing the demons in the temple. In the post-Constantinian period, the ring of Solomon was venerated by pilgrims to Jerusalem as a “relic” of Israelite kingship alongside the True Cross. Like certain strands of the Testament of Solomon literature, the pilgrimage practices performed at this potent site figure Christ’s victory on the cross as the fulfillment-once and for all-of Solomon’s only provisional mastery over the demons. In this context, Solomon’s ring gave concrete expression to Christian claims on the Old Testament past, while also mediating between imperial and ecclesiastical power.

A Destruction Layer from the Hellenistic Period at Tel Shiloh

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-71
Author(s):  
Reut Livyatan Ben-Arie
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
The Third

Excavations at Tel Shiloh revealed a building from the end of the third century BCE. The building was destroyed violently in the middle of the second century BCE. Based on the archaeological context, its relationship with later buildings and other finds from the period in its vicinity, it can be determined that its occupants were gentiles. Shiloh is located between Judea and Samaria, in an area included in different administrative districts at different times during the Second Temple period. In the Persian and Early Hellenistic periods, this area was outside the Land of Judea, but at the end of the Second Temple period it was within the Province of Judea. Historical sources indicate that the population on the eve of the Hasmonean Revolt was heterogeneous; during the revolt there were conflicts between the various ethnic groups. Edomites are mentioned by several sources as being in the area, and Jewish localities are also implied. Discharged Seleucid soldiers may have settled in the area as well, as they did in western Samaria. In any case, it is clear that the foreign settlement in Shiloh was destroyed in a violent confrontation. Based on its dating, the destruction must be attributed to the conquests of Jonathan and Simeon as part of the expansion of the borders of the Hasmonean state.

Jewish Identity and the Intercommunal Links between Diaspora Jewish Communities in the Second Temple Period

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. Trotter
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
Shared Identity ◽  
The City ◽  
The Temple

Abstract Many diaspora communities identify not only with a distant homeland but also with others distant from the homeland. How exactly do these intercommunal connections take place and contribute toward a shared identity? What specific aspects of diasporan identity are created or strengthened? What practices are involved? This study will begin to answer these questions through investigating two practices which were widespread among diaspora Jewish communities during the last two centuries of the Second Temple period (1st cent. B.C.E.–1st cent. C.E.). First, we will show how sending offerings and making pilgrimages to the Jerusalem temple from these communities enabled regular intercommunal contact. Then, we will suggest some ways in which these voluntary practices reinforced a cohesive Jewish identity and the importance of the homeland, especially the city of Jerusalem and the temple, for many diaspora Jews, whether they lived in Alexandria, Rome, Asia Minor, or Babylonia.

scholarly journals Die hermeneutiese proses onderliggend aan Paulus se eksegese van Eksodus 17:6 en Numeri 20:7–11 in 1 Korintiërs 10:1–4

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobus D.W. De Koning
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Temple Judaism ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Original Text ◽  
1 Corinthians ◽  
Dialogical Relationship ◽  
The World ◽  
The Church

The hermeneutical process underlying Paul’s exegesis of Exodus 17:6 and Numbers 20:7–11 in 1 Corinthians 10:1–4. In this article, Paul’s use of the Old Testament in 1 Corinthians 10:1–4 comes under scrutiny. In contrast with the theory of some modern scholars that Paul uses, ‘fanciful analogies’, ‘startling figurative claims’ and metaphors that ‘should not he pressed’, in reaching his conclusion that ‘the rock was Christ’, in 1 Corinthians 10:4c, it is indicated that Paul is indeed taking the original text, the Old Testament’s interpretation of the text, and the Jewish tradition of the interpretation of the text, seriously, in the light of the Christ-event. To prove this claim, research of the text (Exodus 17:6 Numbers 20:7–11), that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 10:1–4, is followed by research of the ‘world in front of that text’ (Deuteronomy 32, the Psalms and Second Temple Judaism).Contribution: The conclusion that is reached indicates that Paul established within the context of contemporary Jewish practices, a true dialogical relationship between an intertextual handling of the text, and his interpretation thereof in the light of the relevance of the Christ-event for the conflict in the Church of Corinth.

Philo’s Influence on Understanding Divine Anthropomorphism

2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-65
Author(s):  
Adam W. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Figures Of Speech ◽  
Hebrew Scripture

Divine anthropomorphisms are prevalent in the Old Testament. Authors of Old Testament works seemingly had no reservations with using human qualities to describe God. During the Second Temple period Greek philosophy began to influence the interpretation of texts that describe God using anthropomorphisms. This shift in understanding God is evidenced in translation tendencies in the Septuagint and in Philo’s reading of Hebrew Scripture. The elements of proto-Gnosticism found in Philo’s writings are at times closely related to his interpretation of anthropomorphism. Since Philo’s understanding of such figures of speech has been the historic majority view, it is important to evaluate his method of interpretation to determine whether this understanding of divine anthropomorphism is rooted in Scripture or his philosophical tradition.

Reappropriating Paul and Exercising Discipline

2018 ◽  
pp. 111-195
Author(s):  
Bart van Egmond
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Cross Of Christ ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Intellectual Production

The fourth chapter describes Augustine’s intellectual production and practice as presbyter of the Catholic congregation of Hippo Regius. It addresses his rereading of Paul against the Manichees, and describes the development of his thought on sin and free will (in relation to the Origenist tradition), his view of the salvific meaning of the Old Testament law, and his changing interpretation of the cross of Christ. Furthermore, the chapter describes the development of Augustine’s view of divine chastisement in the Christian life. A final series of sections deals with different aspects of fraternal correction and ecclesiastical discipline, and poses the question of how Augustine’s thought on these subjects relates to his later justification of coercion against the Donatists.

Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Goodman
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Religious Institution ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

For all Jews in this period, in both diaspora and homeland, the Jerusalem Temple was the central religious institution. The wide dispersal of Jews prevented many from regular participation in Temple worship, but no religious Jew seem to have ignored the significance of the sacrificial and other offerings in Jerusalem. The second pillar of common Judaism was the Torah. It was during these centuries that the biblical text took a form resembling that of the present day and acquired something close to its later authority. Most of the debate about the relation of Jews to the surrounding culture has concentrated on the Hellenization of Judaism. The motivation of Christian scholars for investigating the relationship of Judaism and Hellenism has naturally been very different and more concerned with the origins of ideas found in the early Church.

5. The canon, authoritative scriptures, and the scrolls

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy H. Lim
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Biblical Texts ◽  
Shed Light

The Dead Sea Scrolls have shed light on the canonization of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible in the Second Temple period. They provide us with exemplars of their biblical texts and how they used them in an authoritative manner. ‘The canon, authoritative scriptures, and the scrolls’ explains that the sectarian concept of authoritative scriptures seemed to reflect a dual pattern of authority by which the traditional biblical texts served as the source of the sectarian interpretation that in turn was defined by it. The authority was graded, beginning with the biblical books and extending to other books that were not eventually included in the canon.

scholarly journals Messianic expectations in the Old Testament

2001 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Rose
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Hebrew Word ◽  
Peace And Justice ◽  
God's People ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Definition Of

The New Testament is connected to the Old Testament in a number of different ways. It is not unusual to find the word “messianic” used to categorise all the different ways in which the writers of the New Testament find Christ (and, similarly, Jewish sources of the Second Temple Period later find the future Messiah) in the Old Testament, or to identify the specific passages in the Old Testament which are now seen to point to Christ/the Messiah. In this article I argue that, if one wants to be able to appreciate the diversity, one should abandon this indiscriminate use of the word “messianic”. After a brief discussion of the meaning and use of the Hebrew word xyvm in the Old Testament, I propose a definition of the phrase “messianic expectations” (expectations focusing on a future royal figure sent by God – someone who will bring salvation to God’s people and the world and establish a kingdom characterised by features such as peace and justice). Subsequently, the origin of these expectations is located as in the proclamation of the eighth-century prophets (Amos, Isaiah and Micah). Finally, one special category of messianic expectations, that is, messianic expectations in the Books of the Psalms, is dealt with.

Reconsidering the Salvation of Israel in Luke–Acts

2020 ◽  
pp. 0142064X2096266
Author(s):  
Philip La G. Du Toit
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
The Way

In the prevalent interpretations of Israel’s salvation or restoration in Luke–Acts, Israel is understood as referring to descendants of ancient Israel who live in the present or beyond. In light of the predominant usage of the term ‘Israel’ in the second temple period, the prevalent interpretation of Israel’s salvation in Luke–Acts is reconsidered. This is done by mainly revisiting the realized language around Israel’s salvation in the Lukan corpus as well as the Old Testament context behind the language used. This re-evaluation also involves the way in which Israel’s forgiveness is presented, the involvement of the patriarchs in salvation, as well as the connection between Israel’s hope and their resurrection.

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