Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey

by Craig L. Blomberg

the intertestamental period.

Josephus's Jewish Antiquities,

Josephus (AD 37-about 100) described himself as a one-time Pharisee and a military general in the war against Rome (66-70), who subsequently became a loyal supporter of Rome and wrote voluminously under the patronage of the imperial court.

The apocrypha (from the Gk. word for “hidden”) refers to a collection of fifteen short books or parts of books that have traditionally been accepted by Roman Catholics as part of the Old Testament canon or that appeared in ancient Greek translations of the Old Testament.

The vast majority of these books were never accepted as inspired or canonical by any official segment of Judaism or Christianity.

The most significant of these documents for reconstructing the history of intertestamental Israel are 1 and 2 Maccabees (from the apocrypha).

BC, with 2 Maccabees usually viewed as a little less reliable than 1 Maccabees.

Many Jews came to believe that after Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets, prophecy ceased to exist in Israel and would arise again only in connection with the events surrounding the arrival of the Messiah and his kingdom.

So a survey of the intertestamental period begins where the Old Testament leaves off, with various repatriated Jews having returned from exile to Israel, rebuilding the temple, and seeking once again to serve their God in their land.

Why is this era important to study as background for the Gospels? Politically and socioeconomically, key developments occurred, an understanding of which is essential to a correct interpretation of the situation of the Jews in the time of Jesus.

For those inclined to see the hand of providence in history, numerous events occurred that prepared the way for the first-century world to be more receptive to the message of the gospel than in many other periods of history.

worship their God freely, and obey the laws of Moses.

An increased preoccupation with the Law was based on the convictions that their

past exiles were punishment for disobedience and that God would grant them complete freedom when they achieved a substantial measure of obedience to his Word.

century. The first two of these were the rise of the synagogue and the beginning of the oral Law.

In fact, no one knows for sure the origins of either institution; some would date one or both much earlier or later.

Without access to a temple in which to gather or a divinely authorized place to offer sacrifices, Jews began to congregate in local places of worship.

They drew on biblical texts such as 1 Sam 15:22 (“To obey is better than sacrifice”)

and substituted prayers of repentance and good works as the means ...

Because they sought to apply the Torah (Law) to every area of life, a body of oral tradition—interpretation and application—began to develop around the written Law of Moses to explain how to implement its commandments in new times and places.9 Both the synagogue and the oral La...

The third development was the establishment of Aramaic as the main language for business ...

Aramaic became and remained the native tongue for everyday use among Jews in Palestine well into the first century.

by

the time of Christ, many Jews were probably not fluent in Hebrew, as it had become a language largely limited...

The Greek historian-philosopher Isocrates challenged Philip with his famous declaration: “Once you have made the Persian subject to your rule, there is nothing left for you but to become a god.”

Philip was assassinated two years later, however, and it fell to his son Alexander to strive for those goals.

Alexander has been considered by many the greatest military ruler ever.

Israel came under Greek rule in 331 BC as Alexander's armies swept eastward.

Israel. In fact, the largest Jewish community not in Palestine developed in one of Alexander's newly founded cities in Egypt, which he named for himself—Alexandria.

Alexander's morals also decayed toward the end of his life, which ended prematurely just before his thirty-third birthday when, after a heavy bout of drinking, he caught a fever, possibly malaria, and died.

First, Greek rule brought improved standards of living and administrative efficiency in an empire that came to be urban-rather than rural-centered.

This shift facilitated mass communication; and news, including the gospel, could be spread rapidly by focusing on the major cities in each territory.

Second, Hellenization spread as the result of imperialism. Greek culture and influence could be found everywhere. For Jews, this provided signi...

Major libraries (especially in Alexandria) and universities (especially i...

Thirdly, no doubt the most pervasive result of Alexander's conquests was the spread of the Greek language itself.

A simplified form of Attic (Athenian) Greek developed, now known simply as Hellenistic Greek.

The Greek of New Testament times became known as koinē (Gk. for “common”) and reflected what Romans called the

trilingual, with some knowledge of Hebrew (probably limited in use to religious literature), Aramaic as their common vernacular, and Greek as the language of business, commerce, and relations with the military and political authorities.

The extent of the spread of the Greek language is perhaps best illustrated by the need of diaspora Jews (i.e., outside Israel) to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek as early as the mid-third century BC because of the disuse into which Hebrew was falling, even among the generally closed and tightly-knit Jewish communities.

the Septuagint, from the Latin word for “seventy.”

The importance of the Septuagint for New Testament studies, though, can scarcely be overestimated.

The Septuagint was clearly “the Bible” for most first-century diaspora Jews.

Until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest known Hebrew versions were copies of the Masoretic text (MT) from the ninth and tenth centuries after Christ,

“successors”). Initially, the empire was divided into four parts; then, into three.

The Ptolemaic period seems to have been one of relative peace and freedom for the Jews, with a fairly good standard of living, but sources of information about this time are scarce. One source that has survived is the collection of Zenon

This practice continued into Roman and New Testament times, fueling the Jewish hatred for tax collectors that we see on the pages of the Gospels.

The most famous and powerful ruler during this century was Ptolemy III (246-222 BC),

But he also began more actively to promote Hellenization,

Hellenism. These Jews were increasingly called the Hasidim (Hb. for “pious ones”).

He also allegedly massacred forty thousand Jews in one day.