Jewish history

I found it helpful to create a quick timeline for myself of Jewish history. I took this from an NIV commentary so it does reflect conservative/traditional thinking. I have rounded the dates off to the nearest century in many cases. I have added some comments at the end after the timeline.

2000 BCE Abram leaves Ur

1500 BCE Moses leads the Exodus from Egypt

1000 BCE David becomes king and the first temple is built

700 BCE Israel falls to the Assyrians – and later Judah falls to the Babylonians

500 BCE The exiles return to Jerusalem and the second temple is built – last books of OT are written

200 BCE Judas Maccabeus revolts unsuccessfully and the Romans take control

4 BCE Jesus is born

30 CE Jesus is crucified

47 CE Paul begins his ministry and the first letters are written

65 CE Mark’s gospel is written probably in Rome

70 CE Jewish revolt leads to the destruction of Jerusalem

75 CE Remaining gospels are written (after the destruction of Jerusalem)

95 CE Revelations is written

132 CE Bar Kochba, believed to be the true Messiah by the Jews, leads an unsuccessful revolt. Jews are exiled from Palestine (a Roman word) not to return for almost 2,000 years. Christians did not support the revolt sealing the split between Christianity and Judaism.

Most scholars outside of fundamentalist seminaries find no evidence for Jews in Egypt, the Exodus, or a King David. Instead, they believe that most of the bible was written after the return from exile in Babylon.

The dating of Paul’s letters and the gospels is very dependent on the date of the destruction of the temple in 70 CE. Scholars say that if the document reflects knowledge of the destruction then it must be post-70; if it is ignorant of the catastrophe then it is pre-70. Borg, and others, believe that there were many pre-70 stories about Jesus that were in circulation, but these were colored by the early church in the light of the destruction of the temple.

As we noted in an earlier class, there is a huge gap in time between the Old and the New Testament. Jesus did not enter an Old Testament world, but one shaped by documents that have found their way into the Apocrypha. Wright, in particular, makes much use of the messianic hopes that were running rampant in the Inter-Testament period to build a picture of Jesus for us.