The History of Judaism and its Modern Day Implications... Part 2

The unfortunate events that have happened to the Jewish people throughout history are indeed heart-wrenching. In most all the occasions of these traumatic events, the reason for such occurances rested on the fact that the Jews had turned their back on God, entertaining pagan practices and in doing so, lost God's blessing and protection. Even so, I feel such grief in my spirit seeing the seemingly endless fighting, death, separation, and exclusion of God's chosen people. My heart goes out to them even though most of what was true orthodox Judaism is gone. The enemy has wrought destruction and pillaged these people over many, many centuries and in doing so has destroyed much of the original Jewish religion. However, we are assured that before God's final judgement, that he will stay true to his covenant despite many Jews not honoring that promise. Jesus will ultimately be revealed to them and the Jewish people will accept Jesus as their prophesied Messiah. Zechariah 12:10 ("And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.")

The Roman Era:

In 63 BCE, the civil war between the two Jewish factions ended with the Roman occupation of Jerusalem. There was much unrest amongst the Jews following the Roman general Pompey's defilement of the Temple, to which the Pharisees attributed to Sadducee misrule. Pompey was beseeched by the Pharisees and named Hyrcanus High Priest.

In 40 BCE, Antigonus, Aristobulus's son, overthrew him and decreed himself king and High Priest. After this Herod (military governor of Galilee) fled to Rome. In Rome, Herod sought the support of Mark Antony and Octavian which secured his recognition by the Roman senate as king. Over the years, Herod was heavily disliked as a ruler, but treated the Pharisees more favorably than the Sadducees partially because of Antigonus defiance. The Pharisees ultimately opposed Herod because the family of Boethus, who Herod appointed to the priesthood, revived the spirit of the Sadducees and conflict continued.

In 4 BCE, Herod died. In response, several Jewish elements began a 2 year revolt. The Syrian legate Publius Quinctilius Varus took control of Judea and immediatly crushed the revolt killing thousands of Jews and selling many into slavery. Rome quickly re-established control and divided Herod's kingdom amongst his sons: Archelaus received the southern part of the territory (Judea and Samaria), Herod Antipas (King Herod, who sent the Jews that sought to have Jesus killed, back to Pontius Pilate despite Pilate initially sending the Jews to him.) became tetrarch of the Galilee and the southern Transjordan (Peraea), and Philip received the northern Transjordan (Batanaea).

In 6 AD, Archelaus (ruler over Judea and Samaria) was antagonistic towards the Jews just as his father was. The emperor Augustus placed Judea and Samaria under the indirect rule of a Roman procurator and the direct rule of a Roman-appointed high priest instead. At the time the primary tasks of the appointed High Priest was to collect tribute to the Roman emperor, convince the Romans not to interfere with the Temple, and ensure that the Jews not rebel.
It should be noted that the sanhedrin was primarily influenced by the Sadducees. But during the Roman period, the power of the sanhedrin was severly limited. The pharisees however, never really were a political influence, but were very popular as teachers and interpreters of Jewish law. Their power resided in their ability to persuade.

By 66 AD, Jewish discontent with Roman rule had escalated. At first, the priests (Saduccees) tried to suppress rebellion, even calling upon the Pharisees for help. After the desecration of a Jewish synagogue in Caesarea by Hellenists, the high priest suspended tribute to the emperor and what is known as the Great Jewish revolt, began. During this time a sect of Jews emerged known as the revolutionaries and it encompassed what were known as "the Zealots" and "the Sicarri". These sects developed specifically to fight Rome.

In 70 AD, the Romans crushed the revolt and rendered the 2nd Temple to rubble, utterly destroying it. The Zealots, of the revolutionaries, had been wiped out completely by 73 AD.
This was a devistating event for the Jews. The Sadducees whos teaching were so closely connected to the Temple, dissolved out of existance. The Essenes too disappeared, as the Romans eventually sacked their settlement in Qumran. (Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947 by a local shepard boy in a cave near Qumran. It is believed that the Essenes put the scrolls in caves in the area around Qumran to save them from Roman destruction.) Eventually all that remained were the Pharisees, and it was out of the Pharisees that Rabbinic

Judaism emerged and centuries later, turned into normative Judaism.

To show just how traumatic this event was, below is an account of the 2nd temple's destruction... Rabbi Spiro of aish.com has done an incredibly in depth study of Judaisms history. He gives the accounts of the Roman historian Deo Cassius and the controversial historian Josephus...

"A horrific slaughter ensues with the Romans taking the city, literally house-by-house. One of the excavations that gives testimony to the destruction is the famous "Burnt House" which is open to visitors in Old City Jerusalem today. Here the skeletal remains of a woman's arm were found where she died on the doorstep of her house, with a spear still lying nearby.
Despite the determined resistance of the Jewish defenders Titus slowly works his way to the Temple Mount. Now a duel to the death ensues, and finally, five months after the Romans had begun this attack Titus orders the Second Temple razed to the ground. The day is the 9th of Av, the very same day on which the First Temple was destroyed."

A roman by the Name of Deo Cassius states,

"The populace was stationed below in the court and the elders on the steps and the priests in the Sanctuary itself. And though they were but a handful fighting against a far superior force, they were not conquered until part of the Temple was set on fire. Then they met their death willingly, some throwing themselves on the swords of the Romans, some slaying one another, others taking their own lives and still others leaping into the flames. And it seemed to everybody and especially to them that so far from being destruction, it was victory and salvation and happiness to them that they perished along with the Temple." All of the neighboring countryside is denuded of whatever trees remained from the siege to create the giant bonfire to burn the buildings of the Temple to the ground. The intense heat from the fire causes the moisture in the limestone to expand and it exploded like popcorn, producing a chain reaction of destruction. In a day's time, the magnificent Temple is nothing but rubble. "

Josephus describes the destruction of the Temple:

"While the holy house (The Temple) was on fire, everything was plundered that came to hand, and ten thousand of those that were caught were slain; nor was there a commiseration of any age...but children and old men...and priests, were all slain in the same manner....The flame was also carried a long way, and made an echo, together with the groans of those who were slain...one would have thought the whole city would have been on fire. Nor can one imagine anything greater and more terrible than this noise.""

For years to come, dispair and defeat hung over the Jews.

In 132 AD, Emperor Hadrian threatened to rebuild Jerusalem as a pagan city dedicated to Jupiter and leading sages of the Sanhedrin backed a rebellion led by Simon Bar Koziba. A short-lived independant state was established that lasted for only 3 years.

In 135 AD, the Romans conquered the independant state and brutally executed Simon and ten leading members of the Sanhedrin. Romans then forbade Jews to enter Jerusalem and forbade any plan to rebuild the Temple. Directly taking over Judea, Rome renamed Jerusalem.. Aelia Capitolina. Under the leadership of Judah haNasi, Romans reconstitued the Sanhedrin and Judah's sons served as heads within the Sanhedrin.

In 200 AD, due to the fear that the Oral Law would be lost (Jews were still being persecuted by the Romans, and not many experts on the interpretation of Oral Law remained.) Judah and a group of sages, for the first time in history, documented the Oral Law into a book known to Jews as the Mishnah. Not unlike the Pharisees, the sages and scribes debated on interpretation and application of the Mishnah as time progressed.

In 400 AD, these debates, stories, and commentaries from various Rabbi on the Mishnah were culminated into a publication known as the Talmud. There were 2 seperate Talmuds from 2 seperate regions. During this time, the Palestinian Talmud emerged and a century later the Babylonian Talmud was created, touting further commentary on the Mishnah. Ever since, the Misnah has continued to be debated and studied for its applications. The belief in the Oral Law being evolutionary, in that its wisdom continues to build on itself through continual revelation and application, traces back to the Pharisees and was a prominent part of Jewish life then, through the centuries, and still is today in Orthodox Judaism.

To Be Continued...