Second Temple Judaism in Exile

Posted: Saturday Nov 8th | Author: JohnO | Filed under: Exegesis, Second Temple Judaism | View Comments

This topic of exile has, in my opinion, a valuable place in looking at the New Testament from a Christian perspective. I don’t think it is the singular theme of the New Testament. I don’t think any theme is particularly singular, if there was one, it could be the vindication of Jesus and those who are his.

I think it is a valuable topic because it ellucidates the historical actions of Jesus and John the Baptist. Everyone, even those are led by God, acts in ways that are comprehensible to their context. Understanding ‘exile’ gives a very rich meaning to these actions in the eyes of those who lived in that time. Without this understanding certain actions of Jesus and John become arbitrary in our eyes.

Furthermore, this idea of exile contributes to our spiritual understanding of just what was accomplished by Jesus. But we won’t be going quite that far here. I’m going to establish here why, in my opinion, the Jewish people during second Temple Judaism still considered themselves in exile.

Ezra and Nehemiah can teach us about how the Jewish people felt about their return to Israel:

But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant, and to give us a secure hold within this holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage. For we are bondmen; yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem Ezra 9.8-9

Here we are, slaves to this day—slaves in the land that you gave to our ancestors… Nehemiah 9.6

That is the attitude of those who came out of Babylon. They realized that they are still slaves under Cyrus’ orders (even though they petitioned for the opportunity).

We can see some more perspectives by other Jewish writers in extra-biblical writings as well:

For when they were unfaithful and forsook Him, He hid his face from Israel and His Sanctuary and delivered them up to the sword. But remembering the Covenant of the foreign fathers, He left a remnant to Israel and did not deliver it up to be destroyed. And in the age of wrath, three hundred and ninety years after He had given them into the hand of king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, He visited them, and He caused a plant root to spring from Israel and Aaron to inherit His Land and to prosper on the good things of His earth… And God observed their deeds, that they sought Him with a whole heart, and He raised for them a Teacher of Righteousness to guide them in the way of his heart… Damascus Document 1.3-11, translated by Vermes

The sect led by the Teacher of Righteousness saw the age of wrath (the current evil age), the exile, ending with the creation of the sect. Surely, the sect were the only ones (they thought) enjoying prosperity on the good things of the earth, the only ones enjoying a redemption.

But God will again have mercy on them, and God will bring them back to the land of Israel; and they will rebuild the temple of God, but not like the first one until the period when the times of fulfillment shall come. After this they all will return from their exile and will rebuild Jerusalem in splendour, and in it the temple of God will be rebuilt, just as the prophets of Israel have said concerning it. Then the nations in the whole world will all be converted and worship God in truth… All the Israelites who are saved in those days and are truly mindful of God will be gathered together; they will go to Jerusalem and live in safety forever in the land of Abraham, and it will be given over to them. Those who sincerely love God will rejoice, but those who commit sin and injustice will vanish from all the earth. Tobit 14.5-7

Tobit, written in the 3rd century BC, and found in fragments at Qumran talks about a further return from exile and rebuilding of the temple explicitly. This is written in the region in which the Jews have already returned from Israel and started building a temple! But it is already seen as not truly fulfilling the prophetic dream of the return from exile.

Gather together our scattered people, set free those who are slaves among the Gentiles, look on those who are rejected and despised and let the Gentiles know that you are our God. Punish those who oppress and are insolent with pride. Plant your people in your holy place, as Moses promised. 2 Maccabees 1.27-9

This is part of the prayer of Jonathan Maccabaeus, who ruled Israel from 161-143BC. Even though the Jewish people were back in Israel and a temple built (completed more than 350 years earlier), the holy place where Moses promised, the exile was not over for him. It caused him to fight wars to keep autonomy for the very small nation Israel.

Along with this topic of ‘exile’ comes ‘exodus’, or ‘new Exodus’:

In what higher terms could one think of the coming deliverer? It is possible, too, that the prophet longing for a “new Exodus” (especially in Second Isaiah) and a “new covenant” (especially in Jeremiah) may have played a part. If redemption is to be a new Exodus, must there not be a new Moses to lead it? If it is to involve a New Covenant, does it not need a new Moses to give it? The Kingdom of God, Bright, pg 203

For a long time we’ve espoused Jesus as the new Moses, that prophet to come which Israel must heed (Deut 18.18). And, equally for a long time we’ve seen the importance of a new covenant. But, if everything is fine in Israel, they are back in covenant with God, in complete autonomy over themselves – why are they even looking for a new covenant, or a new Moses? Clearly the prophetic activities (at least six Messiah claimants in the 150 years around Jesus) state the people are unhappy!

When we look at John’s practice of baptism (and therefore Jesus’ and his disciples, Jn 4.1) we can gather another critical point.

Two points can be made: the baptism took place in the Jordan River, and there is evidence that the baptisands entered the water to be baptized from the other side of the Jordan…
the Jordan is the point of entry into the Land for the wilderness generation led by Joshua… No one who participated in John’s baptism could fail to recognize either the oddity of this happening intentionally in the Jordan or of the significance of the Jordan for Israel’s history and charge from YHWH.

A second observation clarifies John’s baptism in the Jordan: it is that John’s followers, including Jesus, must have crossed the Jordan to the Transjordan, reentered the Jordan, and then crossed back into the Land – thus, reenacting the Entry into the Land as under Joshua…
To confirm this, John’s ministry is three times located in teh Transjordan area of Perea. (John 1.28, 3.26, 10.40)

We can now conclude that John baptized in the Jordan in order to reenact the foundational story of ancient Israel, the Entry into the Land. John asked his followers, and Jesus was one of them at this point, to leave Israel by crossing the Jordan, stand with him at the Transjordan bank, confess the sin of Israel, enter into the water as a baptismal act of repentance, and then reenter the Land as a purified people ready to take the message of an eschatological repentance to the whole Land. Who Was Jesus, ed. Copan & Evans, pg 80-1

The sin of Israel is what caused the nation to be sent into exile. If John is calling for repentance from that sin, he seems to think it has not been forgiven or repented of. If it was forgiven, Israel would be in her proper place, restored. Since she is not in her proper place of autonomy, prosperity, and purity – she must not be forgiven! His call to repent and reenter the Land is a case of the Jewish people pleading with God through acts of sacrifice and repentance to act, that God may hear their cry.

And what do we find in Matthew 1, the Genesis bio of Jesus?

All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to King David, and fourteen from David’s time to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah. Matt 1.17

Matthew is keeping time not according to normal calendar rules – but to the calendar of God working mightily in the world with the Jewish people. It was fourteen generations from the promise to Abraham to the Davidic dynasty, the glory years of Israel. And fourteen more generations until Israel was totally devasted in the exile. If the hypothesis is correct so far, in the same way the Damascus Document suggests the exile ended – so does Matthew, with the Messiah. Fourteen generations after the exile into Babylon, the Messiah has finally come to redeem Israel.

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