ANCIENT ISRAEL Another Way of Thinking about The Noble Life

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ANCIENT ISRAELAnother Way of Thinking about
The Noble Life
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1. GEOGRAPHY

• Fertile Crescent

• Israel as cross-roads

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The Fertile Crescent
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2. To the Northeast MESOPOTAMIA

• Tigris-Euphrates River valley
• Series of Empires
• SUMERIANS
• BABYLONIANS
• ASSYRIANS
• PERSIANS

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MESOPOTAMIA
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Mesopotamia A bewildering series of
Kingdoms Sumer Assyria Babylon Persia
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Powerful and sophisticated societies
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Babylons Ishtar Gate
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Cuneiform
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The great hero, Gilgamesh
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3. To the Southwest EGYPT

• Nile River valley

• 3000 bce? Old Kingdom

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4. Hebrew Origins?2000 bce?

• Genesis
• Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph
• Matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel
• Very ordinary people (not exactly heroic!)
• Experience of a God above all the gods

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5. The EXODUS1500 bce?

• THE dramatic crisis
• God ( Moses) v. Pharaoh
• God as RESCUER
• Who acts through human beings

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EXODUS1500 b.c.e. ?
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6. JUDGES The Conquest of Canaan1300 1000 bce

• 12 Tribes
• Joshua Samson Deborah
• Long struggle against the neighbors
• Long struggle among themselves to forge a
  coherent identity

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7. UNIFIED MONARCHY1000 - 900

• King Saul
• King David
• King Solomon
• Ideal Age?

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8. DIVIDED MONARCHY900 - 600

• The Monarch collapses!
• North Kingdom of Israel
• South Kingdom of Judah
• Disaster! Invasion!
• Great age of the PROPHETS

The PROPHETS
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The Jewish Prophetic Tradition

• NOT fortune-tellers!
• Moral Teachers
• Speaking Truth to Power
• Return to the fundamentals of the faith
• Look forward to Redemption
• Right Worship is Moral Action

ISAIAH
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9. EXILE600 - 500

• Israel destroyed
• Judah destroyed
• Jewish people into exile in Babylon

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10. Restoration Hellenistic age(500 63)

• Jewish People restored to Land of Israel
• But Conquest by GREEKS (Hellenistic age)

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11. Roman Conquest60 bce

• Land of Israel becomes a Roman Colony

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12. Ethical-MonotheismThe Jewish Spiritual
Revolution

• MONOTHEISM
• Behind the chaos of appearances
• There is a coherent Mind
• Coherent, and benevolent
• Science International Law Ethics

• ETHICAL
• Right Worship is Moral Action
• Justice for all
• Care for the poor, ill, stranger
• Stewardship of Gods creation not Ownership