This paper will briefly examine three events in the history of Judaism in order to show how external political forces brought about organic changes within the structure of Judaism.  The Jewish reaction to these events shows the dynamic nature of the Jewish religious system and illustrates its ability to adapt itself to changed situations in a way that is internally consistent with the tradition which had its origin in the revelation of God given to Moses at Mount Sinai.  The three events that will be examined are: (1) the destruction of Solomon’s Temple by the Babylonians in 587/6 B.C. and the resulting crisis in Jewish theology; (2) the rise of Hellenism with the conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. and the attempts made to adapt to the new cultural climate; and finally (3) the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in the year 70 of the Common Era and the rise of rabbinic Judaism.

          When the Babylonians conquered Judah in the year 587/6 B.C., they exiled the intelligensia of the Jewish kingdom and destroyed the cultic center of the religion of YHVH, this of course caused a crisis within Judaism because the worship of the Lord was connected in the Jewish mind with a specific locality.  The solution to this crisis is evident within the Book of Psalms and the Book of Isaiah (Second Isaiah).  Psalm 137 explains the dilemma when it says, “How can we sing a song of the Lord on alien soil” [Psalm 137:4], but this text, which is believed to have been composed during the exile, also recognizes that in some sense it is possible to communicate with the Lord even in Babylon because it goes on to say the words, “Remember, O Lord . . . ” [Psalm 137:7],  thus asking God to hear their prayer even while thy are outside the promised land.  This implies that God transcends any specific cultic center and as a consequence of this idea, that He in some sense resides with His people even in their exile.  The Book of Isaiah (Second Isaiah) also implies this when God speaks to His exiled people and says, “Fear not, for I am with you: I will bring your folk from the East, will gather you out of the West” [Isaiah, 43:5], this text shows that the idea that God is also found outside the Temple had arisen during or just after the period of the exile.  With the decree of Cyrus allowing the Jews to return to the land of Israel in 539/8 B.C. and with the restoration of the Temple, this idea was submerged, but not eliminated.

          The next major event began with the conquest of Palestine in 332 B.C. by Alexander the Great, this caused an acceleration in the process of Hellenization which had already been occurring within the region for many years.  The strategic location of Palestine put it between the major successor states of the Empire of Alexander, the Ptolemaic Empire and the Seleucid Empire.  The political intrigues of these two states and the activities of the extreme Hellenizers among the Jewish aristocracy culminated in the Maccabean Revolt (168-164 B.C.) and the rise of the Hasmonean dynasty.  Under Antiochus IV Epiphanes, “The right to live according to the Torah, granted to the Judeans by Antiochus III, was . . . rescinded” [Schiffman, 73] and at the same time Jason, the brother of Onias, purchased the high priesthood from Antiochus IV and began an attempt to Hellenize Jerusalem.  As Schiffman points out, “Jason’s brand of Hellenization was apparently not enough for some” [Schiffman, 74] and he was eventually opposed by the Tobiad family.  Menelaus, a member of the Tobiad family, eventually purchased the high priesthood from Antiochus IV also and then successfully forced Jason out of office.  The extreme Hellenizers led by Menelaus overplayed their hand when they installed, “. . . foreign deities . . . into the Temple” [Schiffman, 76].  This along with the persecutions order by Antiochus IV brought on the Maccabean Revolt, which by 164 B.C. had succeeded in restoring the rights of the Jews to practice their ancestral traditions and so “. . . the radical Hellenizers failed once and for all to sway the Jewish people” [Schiffman, 79] to their cause and this successfully limited the extent to which Hellenism would influence Judaism in the future.

          Hellenism in the Diaspora had greater success, though it never tried to go as far as the extreme Hellenizers had attempted to go in Palestine.  The Jews of Alexandria had a powerful influence on the ancient world through the Greek translation of the Bible called the Septuagint.  This translation would have a profound effect on the early Christian Church since it is the version of the Bible most frequently quoted in both the New Testament books and in the writings of the early Church Fathers.  One of the most important individuals in the diaspora community was Philo the Jew, his biblical commentaries were an attempt to combine certain Greek philosophical ideas with the world view promoted by the Hebrew Bible.  His influence should not be minimized, as Schiffman points out, his “notion that the logos was the firstborn son of the deity led to the popularity of Philo among the early Christian fathers” [Schiffman, 95].  His allegorical  method of biblical interpretation was also popular in the early Church.

          The final event which will be examined concerns the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 A.D., and the developments within Judaism that were caused by it.  It would be incorrect for one to see an abrupt change in Judaism because of this event, the theological developments brought on by the loss of the Temple are of an organic nature.  It is at this time that the idea that God transcends any specific locality re-emerged, this concept was not new but with the restoration of the Temple after the end of the Babylonian captivity it had not received great emphasis.  Now that the Temple was once again gone, it resurfaced with even more power.  This was symbolized in a very strong way by the rabbis when they began to transfer in a symbolic way many of the Temple concepts and rituals to the Jewish home and to the synagogue.  But it is important to note that the synagogue didn’t come into existence after the destruction of the Temple; instead, it came into existence in the centuries prior to 70 A.D. and the change that occurred concerned the transference of Temple concepts to the synagogue, not the creation of the synagogue itself.  Thus once the Temple was gone “. . . the daily prayers would serve in place of sacrifice, and the synagogue, the ‘Temple in miniature,’ would replace the central sanctuary in Jerusalem” [Schiffman, 166].  This change along with the transference of certain rituals to the home was an organic change, it flowed naturally from the principles underlying the Jewish religion.

          Throughout Jewish history external forces have caused changes within Judaism, but the changes concerned the understanding of what was required of the Jew in order to live the commandments of the Torah.  But it would be incorrect to see these developments as something extraneous to the Jewish ideological system; instead, they must be seen as intrinsic to it, since they naturally flow from the underlying principles within the system itself.  Because of the concept of interpretation inherent within Judaism, the system was dynamic and thus possessed enough flexible to allow for adaptations in Jewish life as new and different situations would arise.  The position Schiffman takes in his book is a logical one, even if he presses his point a bit far by implying that the only form of Judaism that meets this criteria (based in the extant writings of the Rabbis) is rabbinic Judaism.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lawrence H. Schiffman.  From Text To Tradition: A History of Second Temple and RabbinicJudaism.  (Hoboken, NJ: Ktav Publishing House, Inc., 1991).

TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures.  (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1985).

How has Political and Institutional History Influenced the Development of the Jewish Religion?

by Steven Todd Kaster

San Francisco State University

Jewish Studies 320:  Jewish Historical Experience

First Writing Assignment

Professor Fred Astren

23 September 1999

Copyright © 1999-2025 Steven Todd Kaster