ANCIENT ISRAEL, RABBINIC JUDAISM, AND EARLY CHRISTIANITY SOME SIGNIFICANT DATES BCE Ca. 1280 Ca. 1250-1200 Exodus from Egypt Conquest of Canaan under Joshua Ca. 1050 Samuel UNITED MONARCHY IN ISRAEL ca. 1025-926 BCE Ca. 1025-1005 Saul First King of Israel FIRST TEMPLE PERIOD ca. 1005-586 BCE 1005 David (ca. 1005-962) Captures Jerusalem 950 Solomon (ca. 962-926) Completes the Temple 926-586 Divided Monarchy Israel (Northern Kingdom) Judah (Southern Kingdom) 870-850 Elijah 850-800 Elisha 750-745 Amos 742-700 Isaiah, chs. 1-23, 28-39 750-745 Hosea 722 Samaria, the capital of the Northern 722-701 Micah Kingdom, falls to Assyrian forces after a three-year siege; the deportation of 30,000 Israelites (the ten Northern Tribes) to Assyria in central Asia; they disappear from history 701 Sennacherib, the King of Assyria, conquers the city of Lachish 639-609 Reforms of Josiah 626-586 Jeremiah 597 Nebuchadnezar II, the King of Chaldea, conquers Jerusalem 587-86 Fall of Jerusalem Deportation to Babylon 586-539 Babylonian Exile 585 Book of Lamentations 540 Isaiah 24-27, 40-55
SECOND TEMPLE (post-exilic) PERIOD 539 BCE-70 CE_ 539-333 Persian Period 539 Cyrus, the Persian king, conquers Babylon Decree of Cyrus allows Jews living in Babylon to return to Israel. After the initial return, Jews in Babylon continued to return to Israel. 538 Beginning of restoration 520-515 Construction of the Second Temple 515 Dedication of the Second Temple 515-500 Isaiah 56-66 500-450 Malachi 450-400 Jonah Ca. 500-375 The Five Books of Moses (Torah) become normative (are canonized) Ezra assembles a community of Jews bound by faithfulness to Torah 333-63 Hellenistic (Greek) Period 332 Alexander the Great conquers Judea 250-100 Septuagint: translation of Hebrew Bible into Greek 175-64 Reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes; profanation of the Temple in Jerusalem 167-64 Maccabean Revolt: Jewish resistance to the rule of Antiochus IV Epiphanes begins with Mattathias, of the priestly Hasmonean family, together with his sons Jonathan, Simon, and Judas Maccabeus 164 Retaking of Jerusalem and rededication of the Temple in December (Hanukkah). This period saw the beginning of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and the Essenes of Qumran 164-63 Hasmonean Rule of Judea EARLY ROMAN PERIOD 63 BCE-135 CE 63 BCE Pompey, a Roman military leader and statesman, intervenes in a civil war in Judea, captures Jerusalem after a three-month siege of the Temple; Rome takes control of Judea Shammai (50 BCE-30 CE) and Hillel (30 BCE-10 CE) are Jewish Sages who founded two schools of thought that were pivotal in the development of what would later become rabbinic Judaism. 40 Rome names Herod king of Judea 37 Herod captures Jerusalem
30 Herod rules over all of Palestine 20-12 Herod rebuilds the Temple in Jerusalem Ca. 7-4 Birth of Jesus of Nazareth 4 BCE Herod dies at Jericho and is buried at Herodium. At his death, Herod s kingdom is divided among his three sons: Archelaus (4 BCE-6 CE) Judea and Samaria Herod Antipas (4 BCE-39 CE) Galilee and Perea Philip (4 BCE-34 CE) Northern Transjordan COMMON ERA 6-41 Roman prefects govern Judea, Samaria, and Idumea from Caesarea 26-36 Pontius Pilate is governor of Judea Ca. 27 Ca. 28 Ca. 31-33 Ca. 37 Ca. 36-45 John the Baptizer begins his public ministry Jesus of Nazareth begins his public ministry Jesus of Nazareth is executed by the Romans in Jerusalem The Jesus movement begins to spread Saul/Paul receives his commission on the Damascus road, becomes the Apostle to the Gentiles, sets out on his missionary travels to Asia Minor, and begins preaching in Syria and Cilicia. 47 In Antioch, the word Christian is first used to identify the followers of Jesus Ca. 49-50 According to the Acts of the Apostles, The Christian Council of Jerusalem meets and formally ratifies a policy regarding the admission of Gentiles into the Christian community without first being circumcised In Antioch, Paul accuses Peter of hypocrisy in a dispute over dietary practices Paul begins his journeys throughout Greece The Emperor Claudius expels Jews from Rome, among whom were followers of Jesus 51-58 Paul writes his letters to the various churches in the Diaspora 58 Paul journeys to Jerusalem with the collection from the Gentile churches, is arrested by the Romans, and eventually taken to Rome for a legal decision
Ca. 62-64 Peter and Paul are executed in Rome 64 The first known persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire occurs under Nero and continues intermittently until 313 when Constantine first legalizes and subsequently declares Christianity to be the religion of the Roman Empire 66-74 First Jewish Revolt against Rome Josephus, commander of the Galilee, defects to Rome 69-70 Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Roman Legate Titus 68-72 The Gospel according to Mark 74 Masada, the last Zealot stronghold, falls to the Roman Legate Silva 78 Josephus writes The Jewish Wars 80s Tensions begin to develop between an increasingly Gentile church and the Jewish community and its leaders; the gradual partings of the ways begins Mid-late 80s The Gospels according to Matthew and Luke Early 90s Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai sets up a house of study in Yavneh 93 Josephus writes The Antiquities of the Jews Mid-90s The Gospel according to John 109-117 Persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Trajan 132-35 Jews in Jerusalem revolt 135 Simon bar Kochba, leader of the Jewish revolt, is killed in a last stand at Bethar Rabbi Akiva, who had proclaimed bar Kochba the Messiah, and many other rabbis are martyred by the Romans Hadrian orders Jerusalem to be plowed under Hadrian rebuilds Jerusalem as the Roman colony of Aelia Capitolina Judea is renamed the Roman province of Palestine 144 Excommunication of Marcion (85-160), a well-known Bishop of the early church, and rejection of all his teachings. Among these are his distinction between the Supreme God of Goodness, of whom Jesus was the messenger, and the inferior God of justice, who was the god of the Jews; and his assertion that, as a consequence of this distinction, the Old and New Testaments could not be reconciled, and therefore the church should totally reject the Old Testament. The condemnation of Marcion s
teachings by the early Church had a profound and lasting effect on the formulation and formation of the Christian Bible which includes both the Old and the New Testaments. Ca. 200 Mishnah, the oldest authoritative collection of Jewish oral law which reflects centuries of Jewish legal traditions, is compiled, edited, and given its final form in the 3rd century CE in Israel by Rabbi Yehudah ha-nasi Midrash is a collection of verse by verse commentaries on the Hebrew Scriptures and Jewish oral traditions. There are two kinds of midrashim: legal midrashim (Halakhah), which deal with the legal portions of Scripture, and non-legal midrashim (Aggadah) which deal with biblical lore. Classical midrashic activity begins to emerge in the 2nd century CE, although many generations of development preceded any written midrashim. The oldest written aggadic midrash is Genesis Rabbah, dated ca. 450 CE. This interpretive genre of literature continues into the present day. Talmud is the authoritative body of Jewish law and lore accumulated over a period of approximately seven centuries (ca.200 BCE-ca. 500 CE). It incorporates the Mishnah and rabbinical discussions of the Mishnah, known as the Gemara. There are two Talmuds, the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud. 212 Jews become Roman citizens 250-51 Wide-spread persecution of Christians under the Emperor Decius (ca. 190-251) 300-400 The Jerusalem Talmud is compiled 312-337 The Emperor Constantine becomes the absolute ruler of the Western Roman Empire 313 The Edict of Milan The Roman Empire legitimizes Christianity Christianity becomes the religion of the Empire Ca. 347-420 Saint Jerome, a priest, is best known for his translation of both the Old and New Testaments into Latin (known as the Vulgate). It was, for hundreds of years, the only Bible in universal use in Europe 354-430 Saint Augustine of Hippo (in North Africa) was a Bishop, philosopher and theologian whose writings were very influential in the development of Western Christianity Ca. 499 The Babylonian Talmud is completed. Together, the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud form the basis of Jewish law and interpretation. 570-632 The prophet Mohammed