Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion you should be able to:

• Identify key historical moments and literary works of the Second Temple period

• Understand the beliefs of Jewish groups such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes

• Discover the history between Israel’s return from Babylonian exile and the destruction of the Jerusalem temple

Course Outline

Introduction

• Introducing the Speaker and the Course

Unit 1: History of the Second Temple Period: Persian and Greek Rule

• Overview

• Accessing Second Temple Literature in Logos

• Babylonian Exile

• Persian and Second Temple Period

• Returnees: Zerubbabel and Ezra

• Returnees: Nehemiah and Samaria

• Keeping Track of Second Temple Resources with Favorites

• Alexander the Great and the Rise of Hellenism

• Alexander’s Successors: Seleucids and Ptolemies

Unit 2: History of the Second Temple Period: The Hasmonean Kingdom

• Maccabean Revolt and Rise of the Hasmoneans

• Hasmonean Army

• Early Hasmonean Kingdom

• Middle Hasmonean Kingdom: The Seleucid Connection

• Middle Hasmonean Kingdom: Aristobulus I

• Late Hasmonean Kingdom

• Final Stages of the Hasmonean Kingdom

Unit 3: History of the Second Temple Period: Jewish Sectarian Groups

• Introduction to Jewish Sectarian Groups

• Studying Jewish Religious Groups in Logos

• Pharisees: The Separate Ones

• Pharisees: Respect for Simple Living, Logic, and the Oral Tradition

• Pharisees: Theological Summary

• Sadducees: Derived from a Priestly Family

• Sadducees: Argumentative and Self-Serving

• Sadducees: Pragmatists, Opportunists, Survivors

• Pharisees and Sadducees in the New Testament

• Essenes: Urban Ascetics

• Essenes: Distinctive Practices

• Essenes: Distinctive Beliefs

• Samaritans

Unit 4: History of the Second Temple Period: The Roman Empire

• Roman Annexation of Palestine

• Exploring Second Temple People and Events

• Emergence of the Herodian Kingdom

• Herod’s Building Projects

• Herod’s Death

• Herod’s Successors and Direct Roman Rule of Judaea

• Herod Antipas and Pontius Pilate

• First Jewish Revolt

Unit 5: Corpus of Literature from the Second Temple Period

• Introduction to Second Temple Literature

• Old Testament Apocrypha

• Old Testament Pseudepigrapha

• Dead Sea Scrolls

• Philo of Alexandria

• Flavius Josephus

• Ancient Greek Translations

• Aramaic Targums

• Mishnah and the Rabbinic Sages

Unit 6: Texts of the Dispersion

• Introduction to Selected Second Temple Texts

• Tobit: An Outline of the Story

• Tobit: Historical and Theological Observations

• Additions to Daniel: Susanna

• Additions to Daniel: Bel and the Dragon

• Additions to Daniel: Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Young Men

• Letter of Jeremiah

• Studying Idolatry in the Apocrypha, Old Testament, and New Testament

Unit 7: Texts Engaging Hellenism

• Introduction to the Enoch Literature, Part 1

• Introduction to the Enoch Literature, Part 2

• Book of the Luminaries: The Schema of the Cosmos

• Book of the Luminaries: Wrong Calendar Yields Wrong Worship

• Book of the Watchers: Disorder Is Evil

• Book of the Watchers: Judgment and Explanations

• Book of the Watchers: Theological Topics

• Wisdom of Ben Sira: Overview

• Wisdom of Ben Sira: Topics Discussed

Unit 8: Apocalyptic Texts

• Introducing Apocalypticism and Apocalyptic Literature

• Researching Apocalyptic Literature with the Factbook and Sermon Starter Guide

• Jubilees

• Book of Dreams

• Using Reading Plans to Read Second Temple Literature

Unit 9: Texts Engaging the Hasmonean Dynasty

• Baruch

• Judith

• 1 Maccabees

• Finding and Understanding “Zeal” in Scripture

• 2 Maccabees

• Epistle of Enoch

Unit 10: Dead Sea Scrolls

• Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls

• Identifying the Dead Sea Scrolls

• What Are the Dead Sea Scrolls?

• Three Basic Beliefs of the Scroll Community

• Finding Information on the Davidic Messiah with Proximity Search

Unit 11: Examples of Sectarian Texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls

• The Rule Scrolls

• The Halakhic Letter

• The War Scroll

• Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice

• The Thanksgiving Hymn

• The Temple Scroll

• The Aramaic Apocalypse

• PesherInterpretation

Unit 12: Texts of the Egyptian Jewish Diaspora

• The Letter of Aristeas and the Septuagint

• Wisdom of Solomon

Unit 13: In the Wake of Herod and the Romans

• 2 Enoch

• Psalms of Solomon

• Psalms of Solomon 17

• Similitudes of Enoch

Unit 14: In the Wake of the First Jewish War

• 4 Ezra

• 2 Baruch

• Mishnah

• Connecting Scripture with Ancient Literature

Conclusion

• Summary

Details

• Title: NT202 A Survey of Jewish History and Literature from the Second Temple Period

• Instructor: Joel Willitts

• Publisher: Lexham Press

• Publication Date: 2015

• Product Type: Logos Mobile Education

• Resource Type: Courseware, including transcripts, audio, and video resources

• Courses: 1

• Video Hours: 10