The second volume of early rabbinic traditions and their relevance to the New Testament
In this second volume of his monumental study of early rabbinic traditions and their relevance to the New Testament, David Instone-Brewer provides significant insights into Jewish thought and practice prior to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 c.e.
For each rabbinic tradition considered -- here, the Feasts and Sabbaths -- the supporting Hebrew source text is provided side by side with an English translation. Instone-Brewer also presents evidence that exists for accurately dating these sources, which is a critical task recently advanced by modern dating techniques. He goes on to thoroughly discuss the meaning and importance of each rabbinic tradition for Second Temple Judaism, also analyzing any echoes or direct appearances of the tradition in the New Testament writings.
I used this book mainly for the latter half on Yom Kippur.
His examination across sources can be a little overwhelming at first as there is quite a bit of information being covered and examined. But this is exactly why its such a great resource. He does a fantastic job examining which sections of the Mishnah can be dated as pre-70 CE and then compares them to the other sources we have describing the practices and traditions surrounding this holy day.
Instone-Brewer mainly compares to Leviticus and some sections of the New Testament (such as Hebrews) to make his argument more rounded and better supported. He determines that the knowledge that Jesus must have had about atonement and the practices of Yom Kippur would have been essential to his early followers and teachings. In additions to the implications of how this all applies to Christianity, these details and examination are very important for all of us after the second temple times. Considering the fact that people who had actually seen the temple and its practices were dying off, additions had to be made to the earlier texts in order to preserve the knowledge of temple times. This additional material is fairly easy to parse out, as it is not found else where and tends to be very detail oriented as Instone-Brewer demonstrates.
Overall, this was a great book for what I was using it for. Very detailed descriptions of temple practices and beliefs on Yom Kippur.