Biblical Hebrew Blog by ClassicalHebrew.com

The Second Temple Period is one that extends from the return of the first of the exiles in 539 BCE following the declaration of Cyrus, or with the dedication of the Temple in 516 BCE, until the Temple’s destruction in 70 CE.

Throughout this period, the Jewish people were ruled by several different empires and underwent many religious and political changes. From the beginning of the era until Judea was conquered by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, the Persian Empire ruled the region, enabling religious freedom. Although Judea, led by the High Priest, still enjoyed a relative religious autonomy until Antiochus IV’s decrees, Alexander’s occupation brought about a tremendous cultural change: Judea was now subject to Western influence which would last for the next thousand years, until the Arab conquest in the 7^th Century CE. Subsequent to Alexander’s death, Judea was under various Hellenistic rules: (Egyptian) Ptolemaic and later Seleucid. As a result of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV’s (Epiphanes) decrees against the Jewish religion, a rebellion led by the priestly Hasmonean family erupted in 167 BCE. Judea, led by the Hasmoneans, who also assumed the High Priesthood, gained full independence at around 140 BCE, which lasted until 63 BCE when Judea was conquered by the Roman general, Pompey.

Under Roman rule, Judea remained somewhat independent, as a vassal state, and finally became a Roman province in 4 CE. In 66 CE, the Great Revolt against the Romans broke out, which resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE. Still, the Judeans remained the majority in Palestine at least until their next failed attempt at gaining independence in the Bar Kokhbah Revolt (132-135 CE).

There is not much historical and archaeological knowledge of the period prior to the Hasmonean Revolt, but from that point until 70 CE we have many sources. This was a period of major cultural and religious evolution, during which the later biblical books and many of the books of the Pseudepigrapha and Apocrypha were composed. The era was that of the flourishing of the Judean sects, among them the Qumran Sect and its’ writings – the Dead Sea Scrolls. Towards the end of this period Jesus came into action and early Christianity was born.

Interested in learning Biblical Hebrew? Sign up for a trial lesson at www.classicalhebrew.com

The patriarchal age is one of great importance for the people of Israel: it begins with Abraham’s journey, a daring voyage to a strange land led by faith in a then new, single God, who said unto him: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). At a late age of 100, 25 years after having arrived in Canaan, Abraham and Sarah give birth to their son, Isaac, and he and Rebecca then give birth to Esau and Jacob. Jacob, Rachel, Lea and their handmaids give birth to twelve sons. Jacob is renamed Israel, and the family started by Abraham and distinguished by the monotheistic faith starts to become a nation, comprised of twelve tribes. The land of Canaan, to which God led Abraham, becomes the land of the people of Israel.

Historically, the patriarchal age is believed to have begun some time between the 21^st and the 15^th century B.C.E., and to have lasted for a few hundred years. At this time, the patriarchs were foreigners in the land of Canaan, then inhabited by many small nations. Having originated in Mesopotamia (current Iraq; Abraham’s native city was in the southern part of this region), Mesopotamian traditions and practices, such as dedication of holy places when a revelation has taken place, are described in the Bible as part of the patriarchs’ every-day life. The patriarchs also distinguished themselves from Canaanite practices and social ties by their insistence that the sons of the family not marry local women, and marry only members of the extended family who resided in Haran (current south-east Turkey). This distinction from the Canaanite nations is later apparent in various biblical decrees against intermarriage.

The patriarchs are not only the genealogical fathers of the nation: they are also the first prophets and the founders of the covenant between God and the people of Israel.

Technorati Tags: Babylon exile,Babylonia,Jeremiah the prophet,biblical prophets,history of Judea,destruction of Jerusalem,Jerusalem temple,Cyrus king of Persia,biblical history,Israelites