Religion & Theology Term Paper: Second Temple Judaism

Second Temple Judaism
Name
Institution
Second Temple Judaism
The period between 515 BCE and 70 CE saw the construction and the destruction of Jerusalem’s Second Temple and this has led to it being referred to as the Second Temple Period. The Judaism that emerged during this era is what is known as the Second Temple Judaism, which brought with it many important changes that are still being seen long after the period. Ideally, the most significant changes are in the areas of the development of the Hebrew Bible and the rise of Christianity. With this in mind, this paper therefore explores the idea that Second Temple Judaism had some significant effect on the Jewish Bible and that Christianity has its roots in the Second Temple Judaism.
The period of the Second Temple Judaism affected the development of the Hebrew Bible by enabling the editing and revision of the Torah, that is Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy books, into the form that is used even today. Accordingly, during the period of the Monarchy, when the kingdoms of Judah and Israel existed, the books of Torah were presented in various forms with each aiming to reflect the challenges of the time (McIntosh, 2018). However, it was during the Second Temple Judaism period that the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy underwent proper editing and revision to give the current forms that are used today. This therefore implies that Judaism played a vital role in creating and editing the Hebrew Bible, which serves as the greatest reference book for many Christians all over the world.
The Second Temple period also brought about the emergence one authoritative Hebrew biblical canon especially since the word of God began to be presented as written text rather than orally like it was done before. Traditionally, the word of God was delivered orally but this period saw the emergence of written text. Notably before this period, different authoritative Jewish scriptures were recognized and used in different communities. For example, in the Alexandrian community the Torah, which consists of the five books of Moses, was regarded as the Holy Scriptures. For the Israelite Samaritans only the books that make up the Pentateuch were regarded as the Holy Scriptures. The Pharisees of the time believed in the twenty-four-book canon and this canon became recognized in Rabbinic Judaism even after the end of the Second Temple period (Lim, 2015). From this, it is clear that the Second Temple Judaism had an effect on the development of the Hebrew Bible since it brought about the twenty-four canonical books including the Torah that now make up the Hebrew scriptures and subsequently the Hebrew Bible.
Another important effect of the Second Temple Judaism on the development of the Hebrew bible after this period was that it led to the translation of the Hebrew bible from the traditional versions into versions that are used today in churches and synagogues. Concerning this, it is noted that during the second temple period many biblical books had several different versions that showed slight and major differences from one another (Brennan, 2020). These versions were preserved even after this period of time as Jewish groups moved to settle in different places across the world. The Masoretic Text, which consisted of scriptures developed by Jewish scribes, and the Septuagint, was some of the preserved versions of the early Hebrew Bible. After this period, the Hebrew Bible was translated into Old Greek beginning with the Torah then followed by the other biblical books. Notably, early Christians adopted this translated version that was later edited to give rise to the Septuagint (Brennan, 2020). Early Christians used the Septuagint. Today, this effect is still seen considering that Christians have invested in translating the Greek version of the bible into several other languages in order to make them accessible to all. For example, Bibles today are written in African languages, in Arabic and in Asian languages.
Apart from affecting the development of the Hebrew Bible, the Second Temple Judaism also affected the rise of Christianity after this period of time. One of the most important effects was that it helped to define clearly the idea of Jewish monotheism that is also practiced in Christianity. Notably, the Jews were monotheists even before this period since they were known to worship and believe in only one god. In the ancient world and during this particular period of the second temple Judaism, monotheism was considered unique given that most societies at the time were polytheistic, worshipping in many gods. From this time however, the idea of one true God became firmly accepted as most of Jewish people began worshipping only one God who was believed rule the entire world and was expected to redeem the Jewish people at the end of the world. The Hebrew Bible that emerged during the second temple Judaism also interprets the universe and human life in a monotheistic manner as God’s creations. This practice has been upheld even today, for example, almost all Christians today still believe that the God Yahweh is the one and only true God and everything in the world is under His rule. Therefore, Christians in churches and other places tend to worship Him alone and any attempts to include other gods are considered a sin before God. This monotheistic interpretation from the Hebrew Bible therefore, provided the structure for the idea that makes up Christianity even today.
The Second Temple Judaism also affected the rise of Christianity in that this period introduced the idea of the messiah, which was fulfilled through Jesus Christ who then formed the foundation of Christianity. According to Schiffman (2020), there were some apocalyptic Jewish sects during the Second Temple period that were facing tribulations and misfortunes. Because of this, these groups or sects longed for a messiah who would come and deliver them from their sufferings and misfortunes. The Messiah would destroy the powers of evil amongst the people and this would lead to the realization of an ideal society. When Jesus Christ was born, he was identified as the Davidic messiah who would destroy all evil. However, due to some disagreements between Jesus and the Romans, he was crucified. Shortly after this he is believed to have resurrected from the grave and the fact that Jesus’ followers believed in his resurrection paved way to the emerging Christian faith. Therefore, Christianity began from the idea of Jews seeking to spread the belief that Jesus was the messiah. This can be seen in the current world there is many apostolic groups t...