|
TOUR GUIDE TIPS
(1) The name "Israel" takes on different
meaning. First, it is the name of a man, Jacob, who is also called
Israel. Next, it is the name of the nation established at the end
of the Exodus. Then it becomes the name of the ten tribes located
in the north and called the "Northern Kingdom." Finally,
in certain Christian theologies, it becomes a name for the Church.
(2) The story of David holds a primary place in the
Hebrew Bible. Beliefs about David continue to influence people
today.
(3) One of the issues that biblical writers had to
deal with was the defeat of Yahweh's people by an outside nation.
In the ancient world such a defeat would have been viewed as the defeat
of Yahweh. See how Isaiah, Jeremiah and other prophets dealt with it.
(4) Read the Book of Ezra to get a feel for the
beginning of the Second Temple Period.
|
Israel is known as the "people of the book,"
and that book is their Bible. The Hebrew Bible is the story of
ancient Israel. It begins with the creation of the heavens and
earth and moves quickly to the birth of the nation. Without the
Hebrew Bible we would know nothing of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who is
also called "Israel." The Bible chronicles the
descendants of Abraham and the victories and defeats they experience.
The high point of the biblical account of ancient
Israel is the kingship of David and his United Kingdom. Soon after
the death of his son, Solomon, the kingdom divides into the Northern
Tribes called "Israel" and the Southern Tribes that are called
"Judah." Tensions between the two kingdoms continues for
almost two centuries before an outsider invades the Northern Kingdom and
conquerors the tribes. The outsider is Babylon and that is where
many Israelites are taken. Judah continues with its independence
for another century and then it shares the same fate as its Northern
kinsmen.
The First Temple is destroyed by the foreign invaders
and the future looks dim for the people of Israel and Judah. But
then, according to the biblical account, God sends a Messiah to deliver
his people. This Messiah, however, was a Persian and not a Jew,
and his name was Cyrus the Great. This story is recorded in the
books of Ezra and Nehemiah, along with copies of the ancient decrees
that allowed many of the Israelites to return to their land. Cyrus
also plays an important role in the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple,
which is called the Second Temple. We also read that Ezra is
directed by Cyrus to return to Israel with a copy of the Law of Yahweh,
which is the law under which all Jews were to live. This is the
first reference to the Torah.
This is where the biblical account ends -- the
building of the Second Temple and the delivery of the Torah as the law
of the land. The history of Israel from this point until the
destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70 is found outside of the
Bible. From 70 until 1948 the land
of Israel was under the control of foreign powers with the vast majority
of the Jewish population living outside of the land. For the next 1,800
years Christians and Jews would read their Bibles in a world void of a
Jewish state. In 1948 everything changed
with the establishment of the modern state of Israel by the United
Nations.
It must clearly be understood that Jesus and all of
his initial followers were Jews. Their words and story must be
viewed through the Jewish culture in which they lived. Their story
falls at the end of the Second Temple Period and the teachings of Jesus
must be viewed in that context. Follow the
amazing story of the "People of the Book" and learn how their book
became the most sacred book ever to exist.
|
