Read more about the article The Creation of the Monarchy – 13

The Creation of the Monarchy – 13

The Exodus from Egypt and the forty years of wandering are traditionally seen as the formative period in the building of the Israelite nation — the transition from “family” history to “national” history.  However, the biblical text makes it clear that many years passed after the entry into Palestine before the Israelite people were anything like a united nation.  In terms of the creation of a national entity and a national identity, a major turning point came with the establishment of the monarchy; a further consolidation occurred with the enthronement of the Davidic dynasty.  This lesson will investigate the transition from tribal confederation to established dynastic monarchy.

In looking at different biblical depictions of our connections to Israel, we find the promises and sojourns of the Patriarchs, the promises and instructions in the desert, the conquest and struggles of Joshua and Judges – and now, the creation of a proper kingdom of the Jews in their land, with a capital and a central government and all its institutions – including a centralized religious cult.  It is the collective memory of this period of glory that has informed our messianic vision ever since it ended. (more…)

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Read more about the article The Empire and its decline – 14

The Empire and its decline – 14

David (with help from the Philistine enemy) succeeded in creating a united kingdom of all the tribes, and withstanding a number of challenges to his sovereignty.  His successor Solomon continued the work of consolidation and institutionalization, the crown of this effort being of course the Temple.  Clearly, Solomon’s Temple continues to serve as a crucial symbol in Jewish consciousness and belief, and a key factor in the traditional connection to Eretz Yisrael.

The glory was short-lived: already with Solomon’s death centrifugal forces dominated, and the kingdom was re-divided with the ten northern tribes splitting off from Judah and Simeon.  200 years later, the northern kingdom was conquered by the Assyrians, who apparently adopted a policy of destroying the national identities of subject peoples by forced migrations – and thus the ten tribes disappeared from history and moved into legend.  Our sovereignty over the land was restricted to the area of Judah – until it too was lost just over a century later. (see next lesson)

The question that is relevant for us to consider as we examine these events is: what is the ideal relationship among Jewish religion, a Jewish state, and the land of Israel?  How do we feel about “the good old days” of Solomon?  How do we respond to the traditional idealization of that period? (more…)

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Read more about the article The Messiah – 16

The Messiah – 16

After all the promises and all the tests, and the centralization of our connection to God in the Temple, the destruction of the Temple and of our sovereignty constituted a major spiritual crisis.  It seems likely that many people saw this disaster as evidence that God was a failure, or non-existent.  The prophets’ challenge was now not just to get the people to obey the laws, but to get them not to give up on the whole project.  At first, the assumption was that this disaster was indeed a punishment, but that it would pass: we had paid the price of our sins, so now God could forgive us and get over His anger, and restore an anointed king of David’s line (anointed one = mashiach = messiah), and the Temple service.  As time went on, however, this neat picture never materialized, and we had to find a way to cope with painfully . and indefinitely postponed redemption.  And so, as the messiah receded into the future, he loomed larger and larger in terms of his expected role in the world.  At the same time, we learned to live (mostly) with a “permanent” tension between present reality and our imagined utopian restoration to the good old days (that were not as good as we imagined them).

This lesson traces the development of the messianic concept, and looks ahead at its impact on later Jewish history.  Our relationship to the land of Israel – and the state of Israel – is intimately tied up with this powerful and interesting concept.

(more…)

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