Post-Exilic Judaism

Rough Chronology

540 BC  Cyrus
520     building temple
400     Ezra / Nehemiah
333     Alexander
323     Division of empire 
200     Change from Ptolemies to Seleucids
168     Maccabees / Hasmoneans
 63     Romans
  4     birth of Jesus
 30 AD  crucifixion
 70     fall of Jerusalem
 90     Hebrew Bible limits set

Ezra and Nehemiah

Ezra and Nehemiah
	noticed that named prophets not associated
		   tradition of end of prophecy
	problems of dating (ca 450-375)
	Nehemiah's account self-serving
	   remember me for good!
	Ezra: central to Jewish survival? fiction?

	Ezra the Scribe
	   mission from Artaxerxes 7:11-26
	   divorce from foreign wives 9:1-4; 10:9-17
	   reading of law Neh 8:1-8
	      feast of booths (Neh 8:13-18)
	      people's acceptance (Neh 10:28-31 etc)
		identification of the law as the Pentateuch?
	   building of religious community

	Nehemiah the governor
	   mission from Artaxerxes 2:1-10
	   rebuilding walls 2:17-20 etc
		and the question of outsiders
	   righting economic injustice 5:1-13
	   settling of Jerusalem 11:1-2 (synoikismos)
	   enforcement of sabbath 13:15-22
	question about sequence & dating (450-375)
	building of city 

signs of a different view
	Trito-Isaiah
		a place for foreigners (Isaiah 56:1-8)
		the true fasting (Isaiah 58:1-12)
		downgrading of temple & cult (Isaiah 66:1-4)
	Ruth
		setting (time of judges)
		circumstances of composition
 	  		Solomonic period?
	   		post-exilic period?
		characters and plot
 	   		1:8-19
	   		2:2-7
 	   		3:6-9
 	   		4:11-22
	Jonah
	Elephantine

The Maccabees and Daniel

book of Daniel

	lengthened version in Greek
	   (Susanna, Bel, Song of three men)
Stories of faithful Jews (1-6)
	set in Babylonian exile
	   faithfulness of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego
	   protection from Yahweh
	   (some recognition by rulers)
		cf Hebrew Esther
    Daniel 5
visions of conflict (7-12)
Hellenistic Jewish history
   sources:  Maccabees (1 and 2), Josephus
   (Antiquities, Wars), Megillat Taanith, etc

outline
  fall of Persia to Alexander  333
       (Zechariah 9:1-7, 11-13)
       concept of hellenism
  division of empire decade later
    Palestine under Ptolemies (Egypt)
  Seleucids oust Ptolemies from Palestine (ca 198)
    Antiochus the Great
    exact course of events unclear
       forcing hellenism upon Judah
       (Daniel 1)  [Judith?]

  Antiochus Epiphanes (Epimanes)
	Maccabeans / Hasmoneans (168)
	   Mattathias of Modein (Hasmonean house)
	   Judas the Maccabbee
	        [1,2 Maccabees, rabbinic scroll]
	        (Talmud Shabbat 23b)

Daniel's Visions
	    7; 11:2-4; 11:29 - 12:13 

1. sources in prophecy and wisdom
2. for strengthening resolve in hard times
3. certainty of victory - portrayed in symbolic terms

future of independent Judah
     coalition starts breaking down after dedication
        (Pharisees, Saducees, scribes, Essenes, etc)
     supports already in place for survival after Rome