Fact-checked by Grok 2 weeks ago

Second Temple Judaism

Second Temple Judaism refers to the religious, cultural, and communal practices of the Jewish people from the reconstruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem around 516 BCE, after the return from Babylonian under rule, until the Temple's destruction by legions in 70 CE. This era, spanning over five centuries, saw Judaism adapt to successive imperial dominions—, Hellenistic Greek, and —while maintaining core elements of , observance, and Temple-centered sacrificial worship, even as synagogues proliferated for communal and , particularly in the communities of , , and beyond. Diverse sects emerged, including the , who stressed oral traditions and resurrection beliefs; the aristocratic , aligned with Temple priesthood and rejecting afterlife doctrines; and the ascetic , known for communal living and apocalyptic writings preserved in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Notable achievements encompassed the compilation of prophetic and into the Hebrew canon, resistance to forced via the that restored Temple rites in 164 BCE, and Herod's expansive renovation of the sanctuary into a monumental complex. Yet, internal divisions, priestly corruption allegations, and clashes with overlords fueled revolts, culminating in the devastating , which ended sacrificial practices and catalyzed the pivot to rabbinic traditions emphasizing textual interpretation over cultic ritual.

Chronology and Historical Framework

Definition and Time Span

Second Temple Judaism refers to the phase of ancient Jewish religion and culture centered on the in , encompassing theological, scriptural, and communal developments amid foreign imperial oversight. This era marked a shift from the monarchic and prophetic emphases of the First Temple period toward institutionalized priestly practices, emerging sectarian groups, and the compilation of authoritative texts like the and prophetic writings. The temporal scope begins with the Temple's reconstruction and dedication around 516 BCE, following the Persian king Cyrus the Great's 538 BCE decree permitting Jewish returnees from to rebuild the sanctuary razed by in 586 BCE. It extends roughly 586 years until 70 CE, when Roman general destroyed the amid the First Jewish-Roman War (66–73 CE), an event that dismantled the sacrificial and propelled toward rabbinic and synagogue-based forms. Some delineations initiate the broader post-exilic context from 538 BCE, but the core period aligns with the Temple's physical existence as Judaism's focal institution.

Key Period Divisions

The Second Temple period, spanning from the dedication of the rebuilt in 516 BCE to its destruction by forces in 70 , is typically divided into phases aligned with successive imperial dominions and pivotal political transitions that shaped Jewish religious and communal life. These divisions—, Hellenistic, Hasmonean, and —reflect changes in external rule, from under Achaemenid to cycles of cultural imposition, revolt, , and subjugation, influencing the development of Jewish scriptural , , and . Persian Period (539–332 BCE): This initial phase commenced with the Great's conquest of in 539 BCE and his subsequent edict permitting exiled to return to (then termed Yehud) and rebuild the , which was completed and dedicated in 516 BCE amid local opposition and Persian oversight. Under Achaemenid administration, Yehud functioned as a semi-autonomous province governed by Jewish officials like and high priests, fostering the compilation of texts and early post-exilic reforms documented in and , while Persian imperial policy generally allowed religious continuity without heavy interference. The era ended with Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian Empire in 332 BCE, marking a shift to Greek cultural influences. Hellenistic Period (332–140 BCE): Following Alexander's victory at Issus and subsequent control of the , fell under successive Hellenistic kingdoms: first the (c. 301–198 BCE), which maintained relative tolerance toward Jewish practices, then the after the Battle of Paneion in 200/198 BCE, intensifying pressures under rulers like . This period saw internal Jewish divisions between traditionalists and Hellenizers, culminating in the sparked by Antiochus's desecration of the in 167 BCE, including bans on and observance, as recorded in . Seleucid rule eroded Jewish autonomy, prompting the rededication of the in 164 BCE (commemorated as ), though full independence was not achieved until Simon Maccabeus's expulsion of Seleucid forces around 140 BCE. Hasmonean Period (140–63 BCE): Emerging from the Maccabean victories, the under leaders like Judas Maccabeus's brothers and established a Jewish with high priestly rule combining religious and political authority, expanding territory through conquests into Idumea, , and by the late 2nd century BCE. This era of relative independence, formalized by 's ethnarchy in 142/140 BCE, involved forced conversions (e.g., Idumeans under ) and conflicts with emerging sects like and , but devolved into civil strife between rival claimants like and , inviting Roman intervention. Pompey's conquest of in 63 BCE concluded Hasmonean sovereignty, incorporating into the Roman sphere. Roman Period (63 BCE–70 CE): Roman general Pompey's siege and capture of the Temple in 63 BCE subordinated Judea to Roman proconsular oversight, initially tolerating Hasmonean remnants before Herod the Great's client kingship from 37 BCE, during which he extensively renovated the Temple complex starting c. 20 BCE. Direct Roman prefectural rule followed Herod's death in 4 BCE, marked by procurators like Pontius Pilate (26–36 CE) and escalating tensions over taxation, religious desecration, and messianic expectations, leading to the First Jewish-Roman War (66–73 CE). The period culminated in Titus's destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE during Jerusalem's siege, dispersing the priesthood and shifting Jewish practice toward synagogues and rabbinic traditions.

Pivotal Events and Transitions

The Second Temple period began with the in 538 BCE, issued by the Achaemenid king , which permitted Jewish exiles in to return to and authorized the rebuilding of the , thereby transitioning Judaism from a state of captivity to localized restoration under Persian imperial tolerance. Temple reconstruction commenced around 536 BCE amid local opposition but advanced under the prophets and , culminating in its completion and dedication in 516 BCE during the reign of Darius I, reestablishing sacrificial worship as the focal point of Jewish religious life despite the absence of the . This event solidified institutional continuity with pre-exilic traditions while adapting to reduced sovereignty, as Persian oversight limited full political independence. A profound geopolitical shift occurred after Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia in 332 BCE, integrating into the Hellenistic world and exposing Jewish society to , philosophy, and governance under successive Ptolemaic and Seleucid dynasties, which initially tolerated but later pressured Jewish customs. The crisis peaked in 167 BCE when Seleucid king desecrated the Temple by erecting a altar and banning circumcision and Sabbath observance, provoking the led by , whose forces recaptured and purified the Temple in 164 BCE—an event commemorated as that briefly restored ritual purity. This revolt transitioned Judaism toward militarized resistance against assimilation, enabling the Hasmonean dynasty's expansion into semi-independent rule by circa 140 BCE, blending priestly authority with territorial conquests. Roman expansion marked the next major transition, with general Pompey's siege and capture of in 63 BCE during Hasmonean civil strife, incorporating as a client kingdom under Roman hegemony and curtailing dynastic autonomy. the Great's appointment as king in 37 BCE, backed by Roman support, brought architectural enhancements to the Temple but intensified internal factionalism among , , and amid heavy taxation and cultural impositions. The period culminated in the First Jewish-Roman War (66–73 CE), triggered by provincial revolts against procuratorial corruption, leading to the Temple's destruction by in 70 CE, which dismantled centralized sacrificial practice and propelled toward rabbinic adaptation centered on and synagogue-based observance. These events collectively shifted from Temple-centric to resilient diaspora-oriented faith amid successive imperial dominions.

Political and Geopolitical Developments

Persian Dominion and Restoration

The Achaemenid conquest of the by in 539 BCE transferred control of the Jewish exiles and the province of to authority. This event ended the that had begun with Nebuchadnezzar II's deportations from in 597 BCE and the city's destruction in 586 BCE. In 538 BCE, issued an edict permitting the Jewish exiles to return to and rebuild the , reflecting a broader policy of repatriating displaced peoples to foster imperial stability. The , an archaeological artifact documenting this approach, confirms the restoration of sanctuaries and return of cult images for various conquered groups, though it does not explicitly mention the . The initial return, led by as governor and as high priest, involved around 42,000 repatriates who began Temple reconstruction, laying the foundation stones circa 536 BCE. Local opposition from and others halted progress until I ascended in 522 BCE and reaffirmed Cyrus's decree in 520 BCE, enabling resumption under prophetic urging from and . The Second Temple was completed and dedicated in the sixth year of 's reign, 516 BCE, lacking the grandeur of Solomon's original but serving as the focal point for sacrificial worship. Under Persian administration, Judah functioned as the semi-autonomous province of within the satrapy of Beyond the River, governed by Jewish officials like and later Persian-appointed figures, with coinage and seals indicating limited self-rule in internal religious and civil matters. This structure preserved Jewish monotheistic practices amid Zoroastrian imperial tolerance, without evidence of significant , as Persian oversight prioritized tax collection and loyalty over cultural imposition. Subsequent reforms reinforced communal cohesion: Ezra, a and , arrived in 458 BCE during the seventh year of , empowered to teach the and address intermarriages, enacting measures to align practices with Mosaic law. , as to Artaxerxes, secured permission in 445 BCE to rebuild Jerusalem's walls, completing the project in 52 days amid regional threats, and instituting observance and systems. These efforts, documented in Persian archives referenced in biblical texts, stabilized Yehud's population and institutions, sustaining until the empire's fall to in 333 BCE.

Hellenistic Conquest and Cultural Pressures

The conquest of Judea by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE marked the onset of Hellenistic dominance, as Macedonian forces incorporated the region into the expanding empire following the defeat of Persian satraps at the Battle of Issus and the subsequent submission of Jerusalem without major resistance. Alexander's brief oversight permitted continuity of Jewish Temple worship, but his campaigns disseminated Greek administrative practices, coinage, and urban models across the Near East. After Alexander's death in 323 BCE, initially oscillated between Ptolemaic Egyptian control—established around 301 BCE—and Seleucid Syrian incursions, stabilizing under Ptolemaic rule until 198 BCE, when III secured the territory at the Battle of Paneion and granted tax exemptions in exchange for loyalty. Ptolemaic governance maintained relative autonomy for the Jerusalem priesthood and economy, funding it through tithes and temple taxes, while introducing Greek-style bureaucracies and occasional forced levies that strained agrarian communities. Early proceeded unevenly, with voluntary adoption of Greek language and trade networks by coastal and urban , fostering hybrid cultural expressions like translations, yet provoking resistance from rural traditionalists wary of eroding covenantal distinctiveness. Seleucid ascendancy amplified cultural integration efforts, as the dynasty promoted koinē Greek as an imperial and civic to consolidate disparate satrapies, including incentives for and theaters that symbolized over local rites. In , elite factions vied for high priesthood through bribes to Seleucid kings, prioritizing Hellenistic credentials; , appointed in 175 BCE after ousting the Zadokite , petitioned Antiochus IV for funds to erect a adjacent to the , where Jewish youth trained nude in ephebic contests, adopting Greek and attire to emulate status. This facility, documented in 4:9-17 as a locus of "craze for ," underscored causal tensions: economic ties to drew elites toward assimilation for patronage, while traditionalists perceived such innovations as idolatrous dilution of observance, widening sectarian rifts between urban cosmopolitans and pious hasidim. Antiochus IV's fiscal imperatives intensified pressures after 169 BCE, when his Egyptian campaigns yielded insufficient spoils; entering post-victory, he authorized the plundering of vessels and reserves—estimated to include 1,800 talents—to replenish Seleucid coffers depleted by Ptolemaic bribes and Roman interventions. Favoritism toward hyper-Hellenizers like , who supplanted in 172 BCE by outbidding for the priesthood despite lacking Aaronic lineage, eroded sacral authority, as melted sacred artifacts for resale to fund loyalty. These acts, blending opportunism with ideological uniformity, catalyzed perceptions of existential threat among circumcision-adherent factions, as Greek civic oaths implicitly clashed with monotheistic exclusivity, though initial responses emphasized internal reform over outright rebellion.

Maccabean Revolt and Hasmonean Autonomy

The Maccabean Revolt began in 167 BCE amid escalating Seleucid efforts to impose Hellenistic culture on Judea, culminating in decrees by King Antiochus IV Epiphanes that banned core Jewish practices including circumcision, Sabbath observance, and Torah study, while mandating sacrifices to Zeus Olympios in the Jerusalem Temple. These measures followed Antiochus's plundering of the Temple treasury in 169 BCE during his Egyptian campaigns and retaliation against a failed revolt by the deposed high priest Jason in 168 BCE, exacerbating tensions fueled by internal Jewish divisions over Hellenization, such as the appointment of pro-Greek high priests Jason in 175 BCE and Menelaus in 172 BCE, who promoted gymnasia and civic Greek institutions in Jerusalem. Rural Jews, less amenable to cultural assimilation than urban elites, viewed these impositions as existential threats to ancestral customs, sparking widespread resistance. The revolt ignited when , a from Modein, killed a Seleucid official and a collaborating Jew during an enforced pagan , then fled with his five sons—including Judas, , and —to the Judean hills, rallying adherents through guerrilla tactics and calls to uphold Mosaic law. After 's death shortly thereafter, Judas, surnamed "Maccabeus" (possibly meaning "hammer"), assumed leadership in 166 BCE, organizing small forces of pious fighters known as Hasidim to conduct hit-and-run attacks against Seleucid garrisons. Key early victories included the Battle of Beth Horon in 166 BCE, where Judas ambushed a larger force under Seron, and the Battle of Emmaus later that year, defeating 3,000–4,000 Seleucid troops under through nighttime maneuvers. Judas's campaigns peaked with the Battle of Beth Zur in 164 BCE, enabling the recapture of Jerusalem and the purification of the desecrated on 25 (December), an event commemorated annually as and marking the restoration of sacrificial rites after a three-year interruption. Despite this religious triumph, military pressure persisted; Judas secured a temporary truce with the Seleucid regent but died in 160 BCE at the against superior forces led by Bacchides. Judas's brother succeeded him, blending warfare with diplomacy to exploit Seleucid civil wars between rival claimants I and ; by 152 BCE, secured recognition as from , consolidating Hasmonean religious authority. 's death in 143 BCE amid further infighting led to Simon's leadership, who in 142 BCE persuaded II to grant formal autonomy as an ethnarchy, exempt from tribute, removing the garrison, and affirming Simon's dual role as and (military governor). This arrangement, detailed in 13:41–42, effectively ended direct Seleucid oversight, though nominal vassalage lingered until the empire's fragmentation around 129 BCE. Under Hasmonean rule, autonomy evolved into de facto independence, enabling territorial expansion; (r. 134–104 BCE), Simon's son, conquered Idumea (forcing conversions), , and parts of Transjordan, while minting coins and destroying the Samaritan temple on circa 111 BCE. (r. 104–103 BCE) first adopted the title (king), hellenizing the dynastic nomenclature despite its Jewish origins, and John Hyrcanus's successor (r. 103–76 BCE) extended borders to approximate biblical dimensions, incorporating coastal cities and through campaigns against Nabateans and remnants of Seleucid influence. This period of self-rule, lasting until Roman conquest in 63 BCE, restored Jewish political agency absent since the Babylonian exile, though internal Pharisee-Sadducee strife and dynastic murders foreshadowed vulnerabilities.

Roman Intervention and Herodian Rule

In 63 BCE, Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey) intervened in a dynastic civil war between the Hasmonean brothers Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, who vied for control of Judea following the death of their mother, Queen Salome Alexandra. Hyrcanus, supported by the Pharisees and Nabatean Arabs, appealed to Pompey for aid against Aristobulus, backed by Sadducean elites; Pompey, consolidating Roman influence in the eastern Mediterranean after defeating Mithridates VI, marched on Jerusalem after Aristobulus' forces surrendered Damascus. The siege of Jerusalem lasted three months, with Roman forces breaching the city walls and entering the Temple Mount, reportedly slaying around 12,000 defenders; Pompey himself viewed the Holy of Holies but refrained from looting, respecting Jewish customs to some degree. Pompey deposed Aristobulus, executing him later in captivity, and installed as high priest and ethnarch but stripped him of royal title, reducing to a Roman tributary to the province of ; Aristobulus' surviving sons, Alexander and Antigonus, led sporadic revolts that were crushed, further eroding Hasmonean autonomy. the Idumean, a non-Hasmonean advisor to Hyrcanus with prior ties to , emerged as de facto power broker, aiding against Alexander's rebellion in 57 BCE and securing Hyrcanus' position amid ongoing factional strife. Following Caesar's victory at Pharsalus in 48 BCE, assisted Caesar's campaign in , earning for his sons and appointment as procurator of , which formalized Idumean influence over Jewish affairs. Antipater's son Herod, appointed governor of in 47 BCE at age 25, demonstrated loyalty to by suppressing brigands and collecting taxes for Cassius Longinus during the Roman civil wars; after Antipater's in 43 BCE, Herod and his brother Phasael rose further under Mark Antony's patronage, with Herod named in 42 BCE. Parthian forces invaded in 40 BCE, capturing Phasael and installing the Hasmonean as king, prompting Herod to flee to where the , influenced by Antony and Octavian, proclaimed him "King of the " and provided legions for reconquest. Herod retook in 37 BCE after a five-month marked by severe famine and high casualties, executing Antigonus—the last Hasmonean ruler—and thus ending the dynasty's direct line. As client king from 37 BCE to 4 BCE, maintained allegiance through tribute payments—estimated at one-third of agricultural produce and one-fourth of commercial income—and military support, while expanding 's territory to include , , and parts of Transjordan through conquests and alliances. He undertook massive public works, including the port city of , the fortress of , and the expansion of the Second Temple beginning in 20 BCE, which employed 10,000 workers and took over eight decades to complete, though these projects imposed heavy taxation that fueled resentment among the populace. Herod's rule grew increasingly autocratic, characterized by paranoia over rivals: he executed his Hasmonean wife Mariamne in 29 BCE, her sons and Aristobulus in 7 BCE, and even his son shortly before his own death from illness in . Upon 's death in 4 BCE, divided the kingdom among his sons—Archelaus as of until his deposition in 6 CE, Antipas as of and until 39 CE, and as of northern territories until 34 CE—shifting toward direct prefectural oversight in core areas and intensifying tensions.

Jewish-Roman Wars and Temple Destruction

The First Jewish-Roman War erupted in 66 CE amid escalating tensions between Judean Jews and Roman authorities, triggered by procuratorial abuses, religious desecrations, and economic grievances under figures like , whose extortionary practices incited widespread unrest. Initial Jewish successes included the expulsion of Roman forces from and the establishment of a , but internal divisions among factions—such as the , , and moderates—weakened cohesion. Roman general , dispatched by in 67 CE with four legions (approximately 60,000 troops), systematically reconquered and northern , capturing key strongholds like Jotapata where himself surrendered and defected to the Roman side. 's son assumed command in 69 CE following the , advancing on with reinforced forces amid civil strife within the city. The siege of Jerusalem, commencing in April 70 CE, exemplified siegecraft: encircled the city with a 5-mile circumvallation wall to prevent escapes and supplies, deploying ballistae, catapults, and rams against the triple-walled defenses. ravaged the population— recounts defenders consuming leather and even engaging in —while internecine fighting among Jewish leaders like and further eroded resistance. legions breached the Third Wall by May, the Second by June, and the by July, culminating in assaults on the . On August 70 CE (corresponding to the 9th of in the Jewish ), the Second was set ablaze, either by deliberate action or accidental spread from adjacent fires, despite ' reported orders to preserve it; claims soldiers looted and burned it amid chaotic plunder. The 's destruction marked the war's climax, with razed except for key towers and the remnants. Casualties were staggering: Josephus estimates over 1.1 million Jewish deaths from combat, starvation, and disease during the siege alone, with 97,000 survivors enslaved, though modern analyses suggest totals between 600,000 and 1.3 million across the war. Roman losses numbered around 20,000, per and , underscoring the asymmetry of imperial resources. The conflict concluded in 73 CE with the fall of , where holdouts committed mass suicide rather than surrender. The wars' aftermath profoundly reshaped Judaism: the Temple's obliteration ended centralized sacrificial worship, priesthood functions, and pilgrimage festivals, compelling a pivot to rabbinic interpretation of Torah, synagogue-based prayer, and diaspora adaptation. Roman victory imposed the fiscus Judaicus tax on Jews empire-wide, funding Jupiter's temple in Rome from former Temple tithes, while suppressing overt nationalism and fostering Pharisaic survival over Sadducean and Zealot elements. This catastrophe, chronicled by Josephus in The Jewish War—a pro-Roman narrative reflecting his integration into Flavian patronage—underscored the perils of messianic zealotry against imperial might, influencing subsequent Jewish theology toward accommodation and study over revolt.

Religious Institutions and Practices

The Second Temple's Architecture and Role

The Second Temple was constructed following the return of Jewish exiles from , with foundations laid circa 538–536 BCE under the leadership of and High Priest , supported by authorization from the Great's decree in 538 BCE. Completion occurred in 516 BCE after interruptions, resulting in a modest structure lacking the grandeur and artifacts of Solomon's First Temple, such as the . Its dimensions measured approximately 60 cubits in length, 20 cubits in width, and 30 cubits in height—roughly 90 by 30 by 45 feet—built primarily from local stone without extensive ornamental gold or cedar paneling noted in biblical accounts. This initial edifice served as the focal point for restoring sacrificial worship, including daily offerings and festival observances mandated in law, thereby reestablishing centralized cultic practice amid Yehud's limited under Achaemenid oversight. Significant expansion began under around 20–19 BCE, transforming the into a monumental complex over 46 years of intermittent construction, though the sanctuary core was completed in about 18 months. doubled the Temple Mount's area by extending retaining walls northward, westward, and southward, incorporating massive stones—some weighing up to 400 tons—to create a vast platform capable of accommodating large pilgrim crowds. The proper featured a façade 100 cubits (about 150 feet) square and equally high, clad in white stone with gold-overlaid doors, cedar beams, and decorative elements like a golden vine with grape clusters over the entrance, as described by the historian . Gold spikes adorned the roof to deter birds, preventing ritual impurity, while inner chambers housed the , altar for sacrifices, and menorahs for illumination. Architecturally, the Herodian phase blended Judean traditions with Hellenistic influences, evident in porticos, colonnades, and fortified enclosures like the at the northwest corner, yet maintained strict purity divisions separating priests, males, women, and Gentiles. The temple's role extended beyond architecture to embody Jewish religious continuity and national aspirations, functioning as the exclusive site for korbanot (sacrifices) including tamid offerings twice daily and communal atonement on , drawing pilgrims from the for Shalosh Regalim festivals. It reinforced priestly authority under Sadducean influence while symbolizing resilience against Hellenistic and Roman cultural pressures, though its opulence masked underlying sectarian tensions over interpretation of ritual law. Destruction in 70 CE by Roman forces under ended this centrality, shifting Jewish practice toward prayer and study.

Priesthood, Sacrifices, and Rituals

The priesthood in Second Temple Judaism was hereditary and restricted to male descendants of , known as kohanim, who held exclusive rights to perform sacrificial rites within the , while Levites assisted in ancillary roles such as chanting , guarding the sanctuary, and handling impure materials. Priests were divided into courses that rotated weekly duties, ensuring continuous ; this system, rooted in earlier traditions, persisted throughout the period despite political upheavals. The , selected from prominent priestly families, served as the supreme religious authority, responsible for unique ceremonies like entering the on to atone for the nation's sins, though appointments increasingly fell under foreign influence from the Persian era onward, with Hasmonean and rulers frequently deposing incumbents for political gain. Sacrifices formed the core of Temple worship, mandated by Torah prescriptions and executed solely in Jerusalem to maintain centralized cultic practice. The daily tamid offering consisted of two unblemished yearling lambs—one in the morning and one in the afternoon—accompanied by grain offerings of fine flour mixed with oil and wine libations, symbolizing perpetual devotion and serving as the foundational rite before other sacrifices. Historical accounts from Josephus and procedures preserved in Mishnah tractate Tamid, which reflect Second Temple-era practices, confirm the tamid's regularity, with archaeological evidence of altar use supporting continuous burnt offerings. Additional categories included sin offerings for atonement, guilt offerings for restitution, peace offerings for communal meals, and burnt offerings for general dedication, all requiring ritual slaughter, blood sprinkling on the altar, and incineration of portions. Rituals surrounding sacrifices emphasized purity and precise sequence to avert divine displeasure, with priests undergoing and donning sacred vestments before service; any , such as contact with the dead, disqualified participants until purification rites were completed. Festival cycles amplified these practices, as seen in when Josephus recorded 256,500 lambs slaughtered in 66 to feed over 2.7 million pilgrims, involving mass ritual and sequential offerings under priestly oversight. rituals, detailed in Yoma, featured the High Priest's confessions over a and , the latter expelled to the wilderness bearing communal sins, underscoring themes of expiation without political overlay in core liturgical texts. These observances, corroborated by and , integrated sensory elements like burning and renewal to invoke , though their cessation after 70 shifted Jewish practice toward and .

Emergence of Synagogues and Study Practices

The emerged as a distinct Jewish institution during the Second Temple period, serving as a communal center for , scripture reading, and teaching, particularly in the where access to the was limited. Literary sources from the Hellenistic and early eras, such as of Alexandria's writings around 38 , describe synagogues in as established places of piety dating back to approximately 262 BCE, where gathered weekly on the for the exposition of the laws and ethical instruction. , writing in the late first century , similarly attests to synagogues in and abroad as proseuchai (prayer houses) facilitating and communal assembly, supplementing rather than replacing . This development likely stemmed from the needs of exilic and communities during the (586–539 BCE) or the Persian restoration, evolving into formalized structures by the third century BCE amid Hellenistic cultural pressures that emphasized portable, non-sacrificial piety. Archaeological evidence for pre-70 CE synagogues remains inconclusive, with proposed sites such as the structures at , , and Modiin featuring assembly halls, benches, and ritual features like stone tables potentially used for scrolls, though interpretations vary due to the multifunctional nature of ancient public buildings. The Theodotos inscription from , dated before the Temple's destruction in 70 CE, explicitly references a built by a family of archisynagogoi for the reading of the and instruction in the commandments, providing epigraphic confirmation of such institutions in . These venues contrasted with the Temple's sacrificial focus, prioritizing verbal recitation and ethical discourse, which fostered resilience among Jews under foreign rule by decentralizing religious authority. Study practices within synagogues centered on the public reading and interpretation of the , a custom rooted in post-exilic reforms under around 458 BCE, who mandated weekly assemblies for scriptural exposition to the people. This evolved into structured pedagogy associated with the , who by the second century BCE advocated for the oral traditions (later codified as the ) alongside the written text, emphasizing meticulous halakhic debate in bet midrash (houses of study) to apply ancient laws to contemporary life. notes that in synagogues, elders and teachers expounded the Pentateuch philosophically, blending Jewish with Hellenistic rhetoric to promote virtue and among diverse audiences. Such practices democratized religious knowledge beyond priestly elites, cultivating a versed in scriptural reasoning, which proved vital for Judaism's continuity after the Temple's fall.

Daily Observances and Festival Cycles

The daily observances in Second Temple Judaism revolved around the Tamid sacrifices, conducted twice each day in the Jerusalem Temple: once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Each offering consisted of a yearling lamb, accompanied by a grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil and a libation of wine, as mandated in Numbers 28:3-8. These rituals, detailed in the Mishnah tractate Tamid, were performed exclusively by kohanim and symbolized continual communal atonement and devotion. Beyond Temple rites, personal and synagogue-based practices included regular prayers, with Philo of Alexandria and Flavius describing patterns of daily supplication, typically twice daily to align with the Tamid timings. The recitation of the (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) was a biblical integrated into morning and evening routines, emphasizing monotheistic affirmation and ethical commandments. Weekly, the demanded complete rest from labor, rooted in 20:8-11 and 35:2-3, with Second Temple sources like the enforcing stringent prohibitions against work, fire-kindling, and commerce to preserve sanctity. Violations were severely penalized, reflecting the Sabbath's role as a sign. The festival cycle followed the lunar-solar calendar, featuring biblical high holidays and post-exilic additions. The three pilgrimage festivals— (Pesach), Weeks (Shavuot), and (Sukkot)—required adult males to ascend to the with offerings, per Deuteronomy 16:16. commemorated with lamb sacrifices and ; marked the wheat harvest and revelation; evoked wilderness tabernacles amid autumn ingathering, each drawing massive pilgrim crowds for amplified sacrifices. , the Day of Atonement, involved national fasting and rituals for purification (Leviticus 16). Rosh Hashanah introduced trumpet blasts for the new year, while , instituted after the Maccabean rededication of the circa 164 BCE, spanned eight days with lamp-lighting and rejoicing, as chronicled by . These observances reinforced historical memory, agricultural rhythms, and centrality, with often sending representatives or funds for proxies.

Scriptural and Literary Corpus

Canonization of the Hebrew Bible

The canonization of the , or Tanakh, during the Second Temple period (516 BCE–70 ) involved a gradual process of recognition and standardization by Jewish scribes and communities, rather than a singular formal council or decree. This development privileged texts deemed prophetic, historically authoritative, and aligned with emerging Pharisaic traditions emphasizing oral interpretation alongside written scripture. By the late Second Temple era, the core corpus—divided into (Law), (Prophets), and (Writings)—had achieved widespread acceptance among , though boundaries remained somewhat fluid, as evidenced by the inclusion of extracanonical works in collections like those at . The , comprising the five books of ( through Deuteronomy), was the earliest to gain status, likely fixed by the Persian period around 400 BCE, reflecting its foundational role in covenantal and identity post-exile. Hellenistic Jewish texts, such as the prologue to (c. 132 BCE), attest to the Torah's established authority alongside the Prophets, indicating a bipartite collection of "Law and Prophets" by the BCE. Archaeological and textual evidence from sites like corroborates this, with multiple Torah manuscripts dated to the late showing textual stability. The Prophets (Nevi'im), including Former Prophets (historical books like through ) and Latter Prophets (, , , and the ), were collected and recognized as a unit by approximately 200 BCE, as inferred from allusions in works like (c. 100 BCE) and the stability of prophetic manuscripts at . The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in caves near and dating from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE, include fragments of all except possibly , demonstrating their scriptural prestige amid a broader library of over 200 biblical manuscripts. This collection reveals no systematic exclusion but a preference for texts with prophetic attribution, contrasting with the Septuagint's inclusion of additional Greek-translated works. The Writings (Ketuvim), a more heterogeneous group encompassing poetry, wisdom literature, and later histories (Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles), exhibited the greatest variability during the Second Temple period, with final delimitation occurring post-70 CE amid rabbinic consolidation. Josephus, a 1st-century CE Jewish historian, described a 22-book canon (equivalent to the later 24-book rabbinic count, combining some texts) fixed since the time of Artaxerxes I (c. 465–424 BCE), comprising 5 books of Torah, 13 of Prophets, and 4 of hymns and doctrine, underscoring a closed corpus by his era to counter Hellenistic critiques. Qumran evidence supports this trajectory, with multiple copies of books like Psalms (over 30 manuscripts) treated as authoritative, yet alongside noncanonical texts like Jubilees, indicating ongoing discernment rather than rigid closure. Claims of a "Council of Jamnia" (c. 90 CE) formalizing the canon lack primary evidence and have been widely discredited by scholars, representing a 19th-century hypothesis unsupported by rabbinic sources. This process was driven by communal usage in synagogues, Temple liturgy, and scribal schools, prioritizing texts with perceived divine inspiration and historical continuity, while excluding those deemed apocryphal or sectarian. The resulting canon, numbering 24 books in rabbinic tradition, reflected causal priorities of monotheistic fidelity and resistance to foreign influences, as Pharisaic groups post-70 CE marginalized Sadducean or Essene variants favoring stricter Temple-centric limits.

Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, and Extracanonical Texts

During the Second Temple period (c. 516 BCE–70 CE), Jewish authors produced a diverse body of literature beyond the emerging Hebrew canon, including the and , which offer insights into theological, ethical, and historical developments amid Hellenistic and Roman influences. These texts, composed primarily in Hebrew, , and between approximately the 3rd century BCE and the 1st century CE, encompass genres such as historical narratives, wisdom teachings, and apocalyptic visions, reflecting responses to foreign domination, sectarian debates, and messianic hopes. While not deemed authoritative by later , they circulated widely in the and among Hellenistic Jews, influencing early Christian writings and preserving traditions absent from the Tanakh. The Apocrypha consists of books included in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of Jewish scriptures, c. 3rd–2nd centuries BCE) but excluded from the Hebrew canon finalized after 70 CE. Key examples include 1 Maccabees, composed around 100 BCE, which chronicles the revolt against Seleucid rule from 167–160 BCE and emphasizes pious resistance without overt supernatural elements; Tobit (c. 225–175 BCE), a moral tale of exile and divine providence; Judith (c. 150–100 BCE), portraying a widow's heroic deception of Assyrian forces; and wisdom texts like Sirach (Ecclesiasticus, c. 180 BCE) and the Wisdom of Solomon (c. 1st century BCE), which blend Proverbs-style ethics with Hellenistic philosophy and reflections on immortality. These works document historical events, such as the Maccabean victories, and articulate Jewish identity under persecution, though their canonicity was debated due to late composition and Greek provenance in some cases. Pseudepigrapha refers to writings pseudonymously attributed to ancient biblical patriarchs or prophets to invoke authority, spanning apocalypses, testaments, and scriptural expansions from the BCE to post-70 CE. Prominent texts include , a composite work with sections dating from the BCE (e.g., Book of Watchers on ) to the CE, detailing cosmic judgment and Enoch's heavenly visions; the (c. 160–150 BCE), a retelling of – emphasizing a 364-day and strict covenantal observance; and the (c. BCE–2nd century CE), ethical exhortations from Jacob's sons warning against vices like and . Such attributions served to legitimize novel interpretations amid cultural crises, revealing heightened interest in angelology, , and dualistic ethics not emphasized in earlier prophetic literature. Exracanonical texts, encompassing the , , and related fragments (distinct from Qumran-specific discoveries), illuminate the fluidity of scriptural boundaries in Second Temple Judaism, where authority derived more from communal use than fixed lists. They evidence theological pluralism, including proto-rabbinic piety in Sirach and ascetic-apocalyptic strains in , without uniform acceptance; for instance, fragments of Tobit and appear in Hebrew/ at , suggesting broader circulation before rabbinic exclusion. These writings, preserved largely through Christian manuscripts after 70 , provide empirical data on Jewish adaptation to empire, countering narratives of monolithic tradition by highlighting interpretive diversity and causal links to events like the .

Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran Discoveries

The consist of approximately 900 ancient manuscripts, primarily in Hebrew and , discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves adjacent to the of Khirbet on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. The initial find occurred in 1947 when shepherds stumbled upon jars containing scrolls in what became known as Qumran Cave 1, with subsequent explorations by archaeologists identifying additional deposits in nearby caves. These discoveries included biblical texts, such as the nearly complete Great Isaiah Scroll, alongside non-biblical compositions like sectarian rules, hymns, and apocalyptic visions, preserved in fragments due to the arid climate. Radiocarbon dating and paleographic analysis place the scrolls' composition between the late third century BCE and the first century , aligning closely with the Second Temple period and predating previously known Hebrew manuscripts by about a . The corpus encompasses portions of every book except , apocryphal works such as Tobit and , and unique Qumran-specific texts like the Community Rule (regulating communal discipline) and the War Scroll (depicting an eschatological battle between sons of light and darkness). These documents reveal textual variants from later Masoretic traditions, indicating fluidity in scriptural transmission during the Second Temple era rather than a fixed canon. The nearby Qumran settlement, excavated starting in 1951, features ruins of a communal complex with ritual baths, a scriptorium, and pottery matching scroll jars, occupied from roughly the second century BCE until its destruction by Roman forces in 68 CE. Scholarly consensus, drawing on descriptions by ancient historians like Josephus and Pliny the Elder, identifies the site's inhabitants as Essenes—a ascetic Jewish sect emphasizing purity, communal property, and opposition to the Jerusalem Temple priesthood—though debates persist over whether all scrolls originated there or were hidden from Jerusalem amid unrest. Alternative theories propose Qumran as a fortress or pottery factory with scrolls deposited by refugees, but archaeological evidence of isolation, water management for purity rites, and alignment with sectarian texts supports the Essene connection as the most parsimonious explanation. For Second Temple Judaism, the scrolls illuminate sectarian diversity, including proto-rabbinic legal interpretations, heightened messianic expectations, and critiques of corrupt practices, challenging earlier views of uniform Pharisaic dominance. They demonstrate a spectrum of theological currents, from solar calendars diverging from lunar rites to dualistic cosmology, reflecting internal Jewish debates rather than monolithic . While some academic interpretations overemphasize links to due to shared motifs like communal meals, the primary value lies in empirically grounding the pluralism of pre-70 Judaism, with scrolls' antiquity confirming their role as primary evidence over later rabbinic traditions.

Sectarian Diversity and Internal Debates

Pharisees: Oral Law and Popular Piety

The , a prominent Jewish sect during the Second Temple period from approximately the mid-second century BCE onward, emphasized the authority of an (paradosis) transmitted alongside the Written , viewing it as essential for interpreting and applying Mosaic commandments to contemporary life. This tradition, according to the first-century historian Flavius , consisted of ancestral customs and regulations not explicitly inscribed in the but received from preceding generations, enabling adaptations such as expanded purity rules for lay households and detailed observances. , who aligned himself with Pharisaic views later in life, estimated their numbers at around 6,000 and portrayed them as adhering to reason while affirming , , and postmortem judgment, doctrines intertwined with their interpretive framework. In contrast to the ' strict adherence to the written text alone, the maintained that the provided binding clarifications, such as prohibitions on certain formulations or practices for common produce, fostering a dynamic halakhic evolution responsive to Hellenistic influences and social changes post-Maccabean revolt (circa 167–160 BCE). Historical evidence for this development appears in Josephus's accounts of inter-sectarian disputes, where defended traditions against Sadducean rejection, as well as in texts critiquing interpretive excesses, though scholarly analysis cautions that full codification occurred later in the (circa 200 ), reflecting pre-70 practices. This body of lore, rooted in scribal and scholarly circles, prioritized ethical reasoning and communal application over priestly ritualism, enabling to challenge elite authority on issues like ritual purity for non-priests. The cultivated popular by extending observance beyond Jerusalem's cult to everyday Judean and Galilean life, appealing to the masses through accessible practices like gatherings for prayer, Scripture study, and communal meals, which predated the Temple's destruction in 70 CE. noted their widespread esteem among the populace for virtuous conduct and mutual concord, positioning them as influencers over despite lacking formal political power under Hasmonean (140–37 BCE) or rule. Their emphasized personal accountability— herbs, ritual handwashing, and Phylacteries—democratizing holiness for artisans and farmers, in opposition to Sadducean confined to sacrificial rites. This grassroots focus, evidenced by archaeological remains from the late era (e.g., , circa 1st century BCE), sustained lay devotion amid Roman taxation and cultural pressures, with advocating and divine justice to bolster resilience against oppression. Their influence persisted, shaping post- by prioritizing study houses (batei ) and ethical halakhah over centralized worship.

Sadducees: Temple-Centric Authority

The constituted an elite Jewish sect primarily composed of hereditary priests and aristocrats who wielded significant influence over the Second Temple's operations and religious authority from approximately the mid-2nd century BCE until its destruction in 70 CE. As the dominant faction within the high priesthood, they maintained control over sacrificial rituals, purity laws, and Temple administration, deriving their legitimacy directly from the Torah's prescriptive texts rather than extrabiblical traditions. This Temple-centric orientation positioned them as custodians of the cultic system outlined in the Pentateuch, emphasizing literal adherence to scriptural mandates for offerings, festivals, and priestly duties without the interpretive expansions favored by rival groups. Their authority was structurally embedded in the priestly hierarchy, with Sadducean families, such as the Boethus and clans, frequently occupying the high priesthood under Hasmonean, , and governance. , the primary historical source, describes them as a philosophical that rejected Pharisaic oral traditions, insisting instead on the self-sufficiency of the written for judicial and ritual matters; this stance reinforced their role as arbiters of , often clashing with popular piety that incorporated ancestral customs. For instance, disputes arose over procedural details like the preparation of the or the timing of certain sacrifices, where prioritized literalism over what they viewed as Pharisaic innovations, thereby centralizing interpretive power within the priestly class. This approach not only sustained their socioeconomic dominance—tied to tithes, land holdings, and revenues—but also aligned with a worldview skeptical of interventions, fate, , and angels, focusing causality on human agency within observable practices. Politically, Sadducees collaborated with ruling authorities to preserve Temple stability, participating in the Sanhedrin's deliberations on capital cases and foreign policy, though their influence waned among the masses who favored the ' democratized legalism. Archaeological and textual evidence, including documents indirectly referencing priestly disputes, underscores their opposition to broader sectarian eschatologies, prioritizing perpetual service as the axis of Jewish religious life over apocalyptic or communal alternatives. The sect's dissolution following the 's fall in 70 , with no evidence of post-destruction continuity, highlights the inseparability of their authority from the physical and ritual infrastructure of the sanctuary. Josephus's accounts, while shaped by his Roman audience and personal sympathies, remain the most detailed, corroborated in outline by references to Sadducean toward doctrines.

Essenes: Asceticism and Communal Withdrawal

The constituted a Jewish active from the second century BCE to the first century , distinguished by rigorous and voluntary communal isolation from broader society, as attested by the historians , of , and . , drawing on direct observation, described approximately four thousand who rejected personal wealth, pooling all resources into a common fund managed without distinction of mine or thine, fostering a fraternal equality that precluded and emphasized mutual aid. This communal structure extended to daily life, where members dined in priest-supervised halls after ritual immersions in cold water, adhering to precise purity laws that governed even mundane acts like , performed far from settlements to avoid ritual contamination. Ascetic discipline defined Essene ethos, with portraying their disdain for bodily pleasures as vice and exaltation of continence—restraint over appetites—as supreme virtue; they shunned fine oils, scrubbing away any accidental contact to preserve a "hard and dry" bodily state, and limited possessions to basic undergarments and a single cloak. corroborated this , noting their avoidance of animal-derived foods except for shared sacrificial portions, simple vegetarian-leaning diets, and rejection of or crafts that might lead to oaths beyond the of , which bound them to , , and communal fidelity. prevailed among the core group, as Pliny emphasized their status as a unique, women-free renouncing altogether for perpetual self-reproduction through and of male novices, though allowed that a marrying faction existed, subjecting potential spouses to three years of menstrual purity tests before permitting procreation solely for lineage continuation, not passion. Communal withdrawal manifested in geographic and ritual separation: Pliny located their settlements northwest of the Dead Sea, beyond , in a barren region eschewing urban corruption for self-sufficient enclaves dedicated to agriculture, study, and eschatological preparation. This isolation critiqued Jerusalem's establishment; while affirming sacrificial validity in principle, Essenes abstained from personal participation, sending tithed offerings but substituting their own rigorous ablutions and study for direct cultic involvement, owing to perceived priestly illegitimacy and impurity under Hasmonean and rule. noted their exceptional prophetic accuracy in communal councils, underscoring a inward-focused that prioritized ethical perfection and angelic-like purity over public ritual. Archaeological evidence from , including communal pottery, ritual baths, and scroll repositories, aligns with this profile, suggesting it as an Essene outpost, though scholarly debate persists on whether all Essenes resided there or if the site housed a distinct .

Zealots and Revolutionary Factions

The Zealots originated as a Jewish revolutionary movement in response to Roman administrative impositions, particularly the census conducted by Quirinius in 6 CE, which Judas of Galilee interpreted as an act of enslavement and idolatry incompatible with exclusive allegiance to God. Judas, alongside a Pharisee named Zadok, articulated a "fourth philosophy" emphasizing theocratic sovereignty, rejecting Roman taxation and governance as violations of divine law, and advocating armed resistance to achieve liberation. This ideology drew from biblical precedents of zeal for Yahweh, such as Phinehas, but Josephus Flavius, the primary ancient source whose accounts derive from his Jewish Antiquities and Jewish War, portrays Judas' followers as instigators of persistent unrest, though modern scholars caution that Josephus' narrative reflects his post-revolt alignment with Roman patrons, potentially exaggerating the Zealots' continuity and culpability to deflect blame from broader Jewish-Roman tensions. A radical offshoot, the , emerged in the decades following, distinguished by their tactic of concealed assassinations using short daggers (sicae) against officials and Jewish collaborators perceived as apostates. Active from around 50 CE, the targeted figures like the under procurator , escalating terror in and rural areas to intimidate pro- elites and spark wider rebellion. While allied with in opposing foreign dominion, the operated as a more clandestine faction, focusing on internal purification rather than open warfare initially; describes their methods as , but his bias as a former insurgent turned apologist likely amplifies their portrayal as irrational extremists over legitimate grievances against . During the First Jewish-Roman War (66–73 CE), and factions seized after initial victories over Roman garrisons, overthrowing moderate leadership and installing revolutionary governance, including high priests selected by lot to supplant hereditary Sadducean control. Their dominance fueled internal divisions, with Zealot leader and under clashing violently, including the massacre of moderates and Idumean auxiliaries, which claims numbered thousands and critically weakened defenses against ' siege in 70 CE. This infighting, alongside refusal of negotiated surrender, contributed to the city's fall on August 70 CE, the Temple's destruction, and the revolt's suppression, with remnants holding until collective suicide in 73 CE to evade enslavement. Scholarly analysis of underscores his tendency to attribute the war's failure to these factions' fanaticism, minimizing systemic Roman provocations like procuratorial extortion, yet archaeological evidence from sites like corroborates widespread militant resistance rooted in anti-imperial zeal.

Theological and Philosophical Currents

Monotheism, Angelology, and Divine Order

Second Temple Judaism upheld a strict centered on as the sole creator and sovereign deity, rejecting the worship of other gods prevalent in Hellenistic and Near Eastern contexts. This stance, solidified post-exile around 539 BCE, emphasized Yahweh's uniqueness and exclusivity, as articulated in texts like 44:6, where declares, "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god." Scholars such as characterize this as a "binitarian" monotheism in practice, wherein Yahweh alone received cultic devotion, while subordinate divine agents were acknowledged but not venerated equivalently. Complementing this monotheism was an expanded angelology, portraying angels as non-divine intermediaries executing Yahweh's will without compromising his supremacy. In literature from the period, such as the composed circa 300–100 BCE, angels formed hierarchical orders including archangels like (protector of ), (messenger), (healer), and (light-bearer), alongside classes like watchers who descended to earth, leading to narratives of rebellion and the origins of evil. These beings functioned as messengers, warriors, and overseers of natural phenomena, reflecting influences during the Achaemenid (539–333 BCE) but adapted to affirm Yahweh's unchallenged authority. The divine order encompassed a structured cosmology integrating and angelology, envisioning a tiered with as Yahweh's throne realm, as the human domain, and an for the departed or chaotic forces. Apocalyptic visions, as in 1 Enoch and (ca. 165 BCE), depicted enthroned amid angelic hosts in liturgical worship, mirroring practices and underscoring cosmic harmony under . This order maintained Yahweh's while delegating intermediary roles to angels, ensuring no erosion of monotheistic worship; for instance, angels mediated revelation to prophets, compensating for reduced direct divine encounters post-Malachi (ca. 450 BCE). Such frameworks countered dualistic Zoroastrian imports by subordinating all entities—including potentially adversarial spirits—to Yahweh's singular rule.

Messianic Expectations and Eschatology

During the Second Temple period (c. 516 BCE–70 ), messianic expectations evolved from earlier prophetic motifs in texts like and Micah 5, which envisioned an anointed Davidic ruler to restore Israel's sovereignty amid foreign domination. These ideas gained apocalyptic intensity in response to Hellenistic and Roman oppression, particularly after the (167–160 BCE), where figures like the "anointed prince" in Daniel 9:25–26 symbolized divine intervention against desecrators. The , composed around 165 BCE, introduced the "Son of Man" in chapter 7:13–14 as a heavenly figure receiving eternal dominion, influencing later eschatological visions of a transcendent redeemer who would judge nations and establish God's kingdom. Apocalyptic literature amplified these expectations with diverse messianic archetypes: a warrior-king in 17 (c. 50 BCE), who would purge of gentiles and rule with ; a priestly figure in texts like Testament of Levi 18; and a prophetic Elijah-like precursor in 4:5, echoed in 4Q521 from . Expectations were not monolithic; some texts, such as 1 Enoch 37–71 (3rd–1st centuries BCE), merged royal and heavenly roles in the "Elect One" or , who executes judgment and resurrects the dead. Suffering or humbled messiahs appeared sporadically, as in pre-70 CE apocalyptic works anticipating a figure tested before triumph, though dominant views emphasized a triumphant deliverer. Qumran texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls (c. 200 BCE–68 CE), associated with the , reveal a dual-messiah framework in documents like the Community Rule (1QS 9:11), anticipating a "" (priestly) and "" (royal Davidic) to inaugurate the end times through ritual purity and communal preparation. Fragment 4Q521 describes a messiah who "heals the wounded, revives the dead, and proclaims good news to the poor," blending prophetic and eschatological roles. This bifocal expectation, rooted in priestly-kingly tensions from 4 and 6, contrasted with broader Pharisaic hopes for a single Davidic liberator, while largely rejected future-oriented in favor of temple-centric presentism. Eschatological frameworks intertwined with messianism, projecting a cataclysmic "Day of the Lord" involving cosmic war, divine judgment, and renewal, as in Zechariah 14 and Joel 3. Resurrection of the dead emerged as a core tenet by the 2nd century BCE, affirmed in Daniel 12:2—"Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt"—and expanded in 2 Maccabees 7 (c. 124 BCE) with martyrdom narratives validating bodily revival for the righteous. Pharisees upheld resurrection and final judgment, per intertestamental evidence, while Essenes envisioned angelic hierarchies aiding eschatological battles in texts like the War Scroll (1QM). Outcomes included ingathering of exiles (Isaiah 11:11–12), a purified temple, and an eternal messianic age, though timelines varied from imminent (under Antiochus IV) to deferred, fostering resilience amid repeated disappointments like the failed Hasmonean theocracy.

Wisdom Traditions and Ethical Reasoning

The wisdom traditions of Second Temple Judaism, spanning approximately 516 BCE to 70 CE, built upon earlier Israelite proverbial literature while increasingly aligning with Torah observance as the ultimate source of ethical insight. Texts from this era, such as the (composed circa 180 BCE in Hebrew by the scribe Jesus ben Sira), portray as an emanation from that manifests concretely in the , urging readers to pursue virtues like , , and through daily adherence to . This integration reflected a causal understanding that ethical living—encompassing almsgiving, honest speech, and familial piety—stemmed from revering rather than abstract philosophy, with serving as the empirical guide derived from and historical . Ethical reasoning in these traditions prioritized practical discernment over speculative metaphysics, emphasizing consequences observable in human affairs and nature. , for instance, instructs on social ethics by warning against and while advocating moderation in and speech, framing such counsel as derived from creation's order and Torah's precedents rather than Hellenistic rationalism alone. The Wisdom of Solomon, likely authored in Greek by an Alexandrian Jew in the late first century BCE, extends this by contrasting the fates of the righteous (who gain through wisdom's pursuit) and the wicked (enslaved to passions), grounding moral dualism in God's sovereignty and empirical divine justice rather than innate human reason. Though showing superficial Hellenistic influences like personified Wisdom (), these works maintain a theocentric ethic where ethical actions align with covenantal obedience, evidenced by rewards in , , and posthumous vindication. Dead Sea Scrolls discoveries, including wisdom compositions like 4QInstruction (dated to the second century BCE), reveal sectarian adaptations where ethical reasoning incorporated eschatological urgency, portraying as hidden knowledge revealed to the elect for navigating moral perils amid cosmic dualism. In the Community Rule (1QS, circa 100 BCE), demands communal discipline, truthfulness, and hatred of iniquity as Torah-derived imperatives for purity, linking personal to group and divine favor without reliance on priestly alone. This approach underscores causal realism: ethical failures invite divine judgment, verifiable through historical precedents like , while fidelity yields restoration, as reasoned from scriptural patterns rather than elite . Such traditions influenced broader by fostering a resilient moral framework amid Hellenistic pressures, prioritizing empirical fidelity over syncretic innovations.

Debates on Afterlife, Resurrection, and Theodicy

In Second Temple Judaism, beliefs about the afterlife and resurrection varied significantly among sects and texts, reflecting responses to historical persecutions and theological challenges. The Pharisees, as described by the historian Flavius Josephus, affirmed the immortality of souls and the resurrection of the righteous to a renewed bodily existence after death, viewing it as a divine reward for piety. In contrast, the Sadducees rejected resurrection, angels, and spirits, adhering strictly to the written Torah, which lacks explicit endorsement of postmortem bodily revival, and emphasized cessation of existence after death. The Essenes, per Josephus, held to soul immortality without bodily resurrection; virtuous souls migrated to a paradisiacal realm, while wicked ones faced eternal punishment in a subterranean darkness, influenced by communal ascetic practices evidenced in Dead Sea Scrolls. These divergences, documented around the 1st century CE, highlight resurrection as a sectarian boundary marker rather than a universal doctrine. Scriptural and intertestamental literature further illustrates evolving concepts, often tied to vindicating martyrs under Hellenistic . 12:2, dated circa 165 BCE amid IV's persecutions, introduces the first explicit biblical reference to : "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt," framing it as eschatological justice. Similarly, (ca. 124 BCE) portrays Jewish martyrs enduring with assurance of , as in the mother urging her sons: their suffering earns eternal life through bodily revival, supported by ' offerings for the dead to atone for sins until . Apocryphal works like 1 Enoch elaborate cosmic judgment with of the righteous, influencing Pharisaic views, while earlier texts retain as a neutral, shadowy realm without reward or punishment. This shift from ancestral shades to individualized reflects adaptation to empirical realities of unpunished evil in historical events like the (167–160 BCE). Theodicy—the reconciliation of divine justice with observed suffering—intersected these debates, particularly in addressing why the righteous endured without earthly retribution. Pre-exilic traditions posited direct divine recompense, but Second Temple crises, such as the of the in 167 BCE, prompted explanations deferring justice to an , resolving the tension through future and judgment. Texts like and portray suffering as temporary testing, with ensuring the wicked's downfall and the pious' exaltation, as George Nickelsburg notes: persecutions generated acute problems, birthing robust doctrines to affirm God's causal sovereignty. Qumran writings, such as the Community Rule, echo this by envisioning eternal light for the faithful amid communal trials, countering Sadducean with eschatological realism over immediate causality. , prioritizing Torah's silence on such mechanisms, implicitly favored this-worldly explanations, underscoring how beliefs served causal frameworks for interpreting empirical without impugning divine order.

Social, Demographic, and Cultural Dynamics

Torah Law Adoption and Halakhic Evolution

Following the Babylonian , the adoption of law as the foundational legal and religious framework for the returning Judean community intensified under Persian imperial authorization. In 538 BCE, the Great's decree permitted the exiles' return and temple reconstruction, but it was , arriving circa 458 BCE as a and commissioned by , who centralized observance. publicly proclaimed the in around 444 BCE, as recounted in Nehemiah 8, where the assembly responded with weeping and commitment to its statutes, marking a pivotal shift toward Torah-centric amid reconstruction efforts. This event underscored as the covenantal antidote to the exile's causes—disobedience to —fostering communal rituals like observance to reinforce adherence. Scribes emerged as key interpreters, bridging textual with practical application during the Second Temple era (516 BCE–70 CE). These sopherim, distinct from yet often overlapping in roles, copied, taught, and expounded Torah, gaining prominence as seen in Ben Sira's circa 180 BCE praise of the as a scholar versed in "the of the Most High," whose wisdom preserves the community. Scribal activity involved not mere transcription but hermeneutical expansion, addressing ambiguities in written Torah through case-based rulings, evidenced by variant textual traditions in scrolls. This interpretive labor adapted ancient statutes to Hellenistic influences and administrative needs, elevating scribes as Torah authorities alongside elites. Halakhic evolution accelerated through oral traditions, which Pharisees championed as divinely revealed supplements to the written , contrasting Sadducean literalism. , influential from the Hasmonean period (circa 140–37 BCE), developed via debates on ritual purity, sabbath observance, and tithes, incorporating "traditions of the fathers" to extend principles—such as fence-like precautions against inadvertent violation. , tied to priestly aristocracy, rejected these extrascriptural norms, adhering strictly to pentateuchal text, leading to disputes like funding for daily sacrifices or pouring timing, where rabbinic accounts depict as ritually stricter yet text-bound. This divergence, rooted in post-exilic authority contests, allowed to evolve dynamically, with Pharisaic methods anticipating rabbinic codification while reflecting broader societal adaptations. By the late Second Temple, halakhic pluralism manifested in sectarian texts like the , revealing Essene variants on purity laws diverging from Pharisaic norms, yet unified by fidelity. These developments prioritized empirical communal application over rigid ritual, enabling resilience amid Roman oversight, though source biases—such as later rabbinic portrayals favoring —necessitate caution in reconstructing Sadducean views from polemical accounts. Overall, this era's halakhic trajectory emphasized interpretive reasoning to sustain law's causality in national survival.

Diaspora Communities and Adaptation

The Jewish diaspora expanded significantly during the Second Temple period (516 BCE–70 CE), with communities establishing themselves across the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman empires following the Babylonian exile of 586 BCE and subsequent migrations. In Babylon, a substantial Jewish population persisted after Cyrus the Great's edict in 538 BCE permitted returns to Judea, maintaining scholarly traditions evidenced by the compilation of Aramaic Targums and the influence of exilarchs as communal leaders. Similarly, in Egypt, Jews settled in Elephantine during the Persian era (5th century BCE) and proliferated under Ptolemaic rule after Alexander the Great's conquest in 332 BCE, forming military garrisons and civilian enclaves that adapted Persian and Greek administrative structures while preserving Torah observance. These dispersions, driven by economic opportunities, forced relocations, and trade routes, numbered in the hundreds of thousands by the 1st century BCE, with estimates for Babylonian Jews alone exceeding 50,000 based on later talmudic references to organized academies. Alexandria emerged as the preeminent diaspora hub, hosting a Jewish population that Josephus records as over one million in the 1st century CE, rivaling or surpassing Jerusalem's in size and comprising up to 40% of the city's residents in distinct quarters. Communities there navigated Hellenistic urban life by securing civic privileges, such as tax exemptions for Sabbath observance and representation in the Alexandrian gerousia (council), while facing periodic tensions with Greek neighbors over citizenship rights, culminating in anti-Jewish riots in 38 CE. In Asia Minor, Syria (e.g., Antioch), and Rome, Jews similarly formed enclaves, with Roman synagogues documented by 1st-century CE inscriptions and literary sources like Cicero, who noted their influence and philanthropy despite expulsions under Tiberius in 19 CE. These groups sustained ties to Jerusalem through pilgrimage taxes and priestly delegations, as Philo describes annual envoys carrying temple offerings, reinforcing a dual identity bound to both local adaptation and Judean centrality. Adaptation manifested in the development of the (proseuche in ), a non-sacrificial for communal , , and ethical instruction, which literary evidence from and attests as widespread by the 1st century BCE, compensating for distance from the . Archaeological finds, such as the inscriptions from the 2nd century BCE, confirm dedicatory practices linking assemblies to biblical motifs, though pre-70 CE structures remain sparse and debated due to post-destruction rebuilding. This shift emphasized lay scholarship over priestly ritual, fostering pharisaic-like emphases on and purity in , as seen in halakhic texts prioritizing and dietary laws amid pagan environments. Intellectual adaptation peaked in , exemplified by the translation of the into Greek around 250 BCE in , initiated under to serve Koine-speaking and facilitate scriptural access without Hebrew fluency. Subsequent translations of prophetic and wisdom books by the 2nd–1st centuries BCE integrated Jewish texts into Greek literary culture, employing Hellenistic exegetical methods like , as of (ca. 20 BCE–50 CE) demonstrated in synthesizing Platonic philosophy with Mosaic law to affirm Judaism's compatibility with reason and universal ethics. 's works, such as On the Creation, reinterpret through theology, portraying divine intermediaries akin to intermediaries, yet subordinating philosophy to revelation—a strategy enabling diaspora to engage civic while resisting full , though it drew criticism from Palestinian traditionalists for diluting literalism. Such adaptations preserved monotheistic distinctiveness amid polytheistic pressures, with diaspora texts like the (2nd century BCE–1st century CE) propagating Jewish ethics to Gentiles via pseudepigraphic forms, while communal philanthropy and practices enhanced . However, they also engendered internal debates on Hellenization's risks, as evidenced by ' critiques of diaspora-like accommodations, balancing identity retention through and festival observance against pragmatic concessions like bilingual inscriptions. This framework of localized resilience prefigured post-70 CE rabbinic Judaism, where synagogue-centric practices became normative amid further dispersion.

Proselytism, God-Fearers, and Conversion Practices

During the Second Temple period (c. 516 BCE–70 CE), attracted interest through its , ethical teachings, and communities, leading to and a class of partial adherents known as God-fearers, though scholarly debate persists on whether this constituted active . Early 20th-century scholars viewed as , citing population estimates of 4.2 million Jews in the by the CE (about 7% of the total), implying significant influx via conversion rather than solely natural growth or cultural factors. Later analyses, however, argue against organized efforts, emphasizing passive attraction without systematic recruitment, as no ancient texts describe dedicated Jewish comparable to later Christian ones. Evidence includes isolated royal conversions, such as King Izates and around 44–47 CE, facilitated by Jewish merchants and rabbis who instructed in observance. God-fearers (Greek theosebeis, "God-worshippers") represented Gentiles who adopted select Jewish practices—such as observance, avoidance of , and attendance—without undergoing full , positioning them as sympathizers between and Judaism. Literary sources attest to their presence: distinguishes partial adherents () from proselytes in works like Jewish War 2.454 and 14.110, while notes Gentiles drawn to Jewish customs; pagan authors like and mock Sabbath-keepers among Romans. Epigraphic evidence, including a 3rd-century CE inscription listing theosebeis alongside and proselytes as donors, and inscriptions from and Tralles in Asia Minor, confirms their role as community supporters without ethnic integration. Some critiques question the category's uniformity, suggesting theosebeis could denote pious pagans or generically, but the cumulative sources indicate a distinct group avoiding to evade full Jewish obligations and . Conversion practices emphasized acceptance of the , , and, for males, as the primary rite marking entry into the community, with (tevilah) possibly emerging as a purificatory step but not universally standardized before the . recounts Izates' conversion requiring for validity, despite initial hesitation over political risks, underscoring its centrality; for females, as in cases of women converts discussed by , adherence sufficed without physical alteration. Hasmonean-era forced conversions, such as ' of Idumeans around 125 BCE, blurred voluntary lines but highlight 's role in incorporation, though these were politically motivated rather than proselytizing ideals. Synagogues served as entry points for instruction, fostering gradual adoption, but full proselytes faced communal scrutiny to ensure sincerity, reflecting Judaism's focus on fidelity over numerical expansion.

Interactions with Samaritans, Idumeans, and Gentiles

Relations between and during the Second Temple period were marked by persistent conflict, originating in the era when , descendants of mixed Israelite and foreign populations in the northern kingdom, opposed the rebuilding of the around 520–515 BCE by petitioning authorities to halt construction. This antagonism deepened over centuries, with establishing their own temple on , likely in the fourth century BCE, which they regarded as the true sacred site per their version of the Pentateuch emphasizing Deuteronomy 11:29 and 27:4. The Hasmonean ruler decisively escalated hostilities by destroying the Gerizim temple around 111–110 BCE during his campaigns to consolidate Judean territory, an act attributes to religious rivalry and viewed by scholars as solidifying the schism by eliminating cultic independence. Post-destruction, persisted as a distinct group practicing a Torah-centric faith but rejecting 's centrality, leading to mutual exclusion in religious practices and occasional violence, such as defilement of the during circa 52 BCE under Roman procurator . Idumeans, or Edomites relocated to southern Judea after Babylonian conquests, were forcibly incorporated into Judaism by John Hyrcanus between 129 and 125 BCE following military subjugation of their territory; Hyrcanus permitted survival only upon circumcision and Torah observance, marking the sole documented instance of coerced mass conversion in Jewish history. This policy integrated Idumeans into Judean society, evidenced by their participation in Hasmonean administration and military, though tensions arose from perceptions of incomplete assimilation, as Idumeans retained distinct ethnic markers. Under Roman rule, Idumean Antipater rose as procurator of Judea circa 47 BCE, fathering Herod the Great, whose Idumean heritage fueled Jewish elite suspicions of foreign influence despite his patronage of the Temple, including its 20–19 BCE reconstruction. Scholarly assessments, drawing from Josephus and Strabo, indicate that while Idumeans adopted Jewish customs outwardly, underlying pagan residues persisted in some communities until at least the early Roman period, complicating claims of full Judaization. Interactions with Gentiles—non-Jews encompassing Greeks, Romans, and other pagans—generally adhered to purity and separation norms derived from laws against intermarriage and , as articulated in texts like Jubilees and the , which deemed Gentiles morally impure and ritually contaminating. Hellenistic pressures provoked resistance, exemplified by the of 167 BCE against Seleucid king Antiochus IV's desecration and decrees, restoring purity in 164 BCE and fostering a tradition of armed defense against assimilation. Roman conquest from 63 BCE introduced pragmatic accommodations, such as tribute payments and alliances with figures like , yet bred resentment over procuratorial abuses, culminating in the First Jewish-Roman (66–73 CE); the Herodian complex included a Court of Gentiles allowing non-Jewish approach for offerings but barred further entry to prevent defilement, reflecting controlled engagement. Amid separation, Second Temple Judaism attracted "God-fearers"—Gentiles observing and without full —via synagogue communities and appeals in works like Philo's, though rabbinic sources later debated rigor, prioritizing voluntary adherence over coercion. These dynamics balanced isolation from idolatrous influences with economic necessities under empire, without compromising core covenantal exclusivity.

Controversies, Conflicts, and Scholarly Interpretations

Temple Legitimacy and Priestly Corruption Claims

Criticisms of priestly corruption emerged soon after the Second 's reconstruction in 516 BCE, with the prophet condemning for offering blemished sacrifices and deviating from covenantal fidelity, actions that profaned God's and undermined instructional integrity. 's oracles, dated to circa 450 BCE, portrayed as corruptors of the Levitical covenant by prioritizing personal gain over ritual purity, leading to divine rebuke and public contempt for their authority. These early indictments highlighted systemic failures in priestly oversight rather than isolated incidents, reflecting tensions between restored operations and adherence to standards. During the Hasmonean dynasty (circa 140–37 BCE), legitimacy debates intensified as the family assumed the high priesthood without undisputed Zadokite lineage, traditionally required for the office since Solomon's era. Simon Thassi's conferral of the title by the Seleucid assembly in 140 BCE marked a departure from Oniad control, with subsequent rulers like John Hyrcanus combining priestly and kingly roles, contravening Deuteronomic separations of powers. Opponents, including proto-sectarian groups, viewed this as usurpation, arguing it diluted priestly sanctity and invited Hellenistic influences, though Hasmonean supporters cited wartime necessities and prophetic precedents for dual authority. The community, associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls (circa 150 BCE–68 CE), articulated sharp rejections of legitimacy, accusing its priests—termed the "Wicked Priest" in texts like the —of defiling the sanctuary through impurity, calendar discrepancies, and moral lapses. This group abstained from Temple participation, establishing alternative purity rituals and anticipating eschatological purification, as evidenced in Community Rule and scrolls, which prioritized covenantal fidelity over institutional loyalty. Their critiques, rooted in Zadokite traditionalism, portrayed Hasmonean innovations as causal drivers of corruption, fostering sectarian withdrawal amid broader Jewish diversity. Under Roman oversight from 63 BCE, high priestly appointments became politicized, with frequent rotations—over 28 high priests between Herod's time and 70 —often secured via or favor, eroding perceived legitimacy among traditionalists. Scholarly analyses note that while not all were corrupt, as argued by regarding widespread Jewish Temple participation, dissident voices like those in and prophetic echoes amplified claims of aristocratic excess and ritual laxity. These persistent allegations, drawn from textual and archaeological evidence, underscore causal fractures between priestly elites and reformist factions, contributing to Judaism's internal volatilities without implying uniform rejection of the 's foundational sanctity.

Hellenization vs. Traditionalist Resistance

Following Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian Empire in 332 BCE, Hellenistic culture permeated through administrative, linguistic, and urban influences under Ptolemaic and later Seleucid rule, introducing , athletics, and philosophy alongside Aramaic and Hebrew traditions. By the mid-3rd century BCE, Jewish elites in adopted elements such as the translation of the into for diaspora communities, reflecting pragmatic adaptation rather than wholesale assimilation. This saw syncretic expressions, including Jewish echoing and ideas, yet core monotheistic practices persisted without systemic coercion. Tensions escalated in 175 BCE when High Priest Jason, appointed by Seleucid king , promoted aggressive by constructing a in , encouraging ephebic training, and petitioning to rename the city , signaling elite alignment with Greek civic ideals over observance. 's policies intensified this from 169–167 BCE, including plundering the treasury to fund wars, banning , observance, and , and erecting an altar to Olympios in the , accompanied by sacrifices of swine—acts interpreted as direct assaults on Jewish ritual purity and autonomy. These measures, partly motivated by fiscal pressures and unification efforts amid Seleucid decline, alienated traditionalists while appealing to Hellenized factions among urban priests and merchants. Traditionalist resistance crystallized among rural priests and scribes known as Hasidim ("pious ones"), who prioritized strict adherence against perceived cultural erosion. In 167 BCE, priest of Modein sparked the by slaying a royal official enforcing pagan sacrifices and fleeing to the hills, rallying followers for guerrilla tactics against Seleucid garrisons and apostate . His son led decisive victories, such as at Beth Horon in 166 BCE and , culminating in the Temple's rededication on 25 Kislev 164 BCE after purging Hellenistic altars—a event commemorated as symbolizing ritual restoration. The revolt, blending religious zeal with nationalist fervor, achieved de facto independence by 160 BCE under Hasmonean rule, though internal divisions persisted as some victors adopted Hellenistic royal titles like . Post-revolt, resistance manifested in sectarian lines: , emerging from Hasidic roots, championed oral traditions and doctrines to counter Sadducean accommodation of politics, which often intertwined with Hellenistic influences under patronage. Jews, particularly in , balanced through apologetic works like Philo's allegorical , yet Judean traditionalists viewed such syntheses skeptically, fueling apocalyptic texts decrying as precursors. This dialectic of confluence and conflict underscored Judaism's resilience, with empirical resistance preserving core practices amid empire-driven cultural pressures.

Unity vs. Diversity: "Judaisms" Debate

The scholarly debate on "Judaisms" in the Second Temple period (c. 516 BCE–70 CE) centers on whether Jewish religious life constituted a singular, cohesive tradition or a collection of disparate, quasi-independent systems comparable to distinct religions. Proponents of the "Judaisms" model, influenced by mid-20th-century form criticism and analyses of sectarian texts like the Dead Sea Scrolls, argue that groups such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and others operated with fundamentally incompatible theologies, halakhic interpretations, and social structures, rendering unity illusory. For instance, Sadducees rejected resurrection and oral traditions while emphasizing priestly Temple authority, Pharisees advocated Pharisaic expansions of Torah via oral law and belief in afterlife rewards, and Essenes practiced ascetic communalism with dualistic eschatology, as described by Flavius Josephus in Jewish War (c. 75 CE) and Antiquities of the Jews (c. 94 CE), which enumerates these as the three main "philosophies" encompassing much of Jewish thought. E.P. Sanders, in works like Paul and Palestinian Judaism (1977) and Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63 BCE–66 CE (1992), countered this fragmentation thesis by delineating "common Judaism" as a shared al nomism: God's elective grace toward as the entry point into the , with observance, repentance, and atonement rituals (e.g., sacrifices, ) maintaining it, evidenced across sectarian and non-sectarian sources including , Philo of (c. 20 BCE–50 CE), and archaeological finds like miqvaot (ritual baths) and ossuaries inscribed with phrases. Sanders' approach, grounded in comparative reading of rabbinic, , and Hellenistic Jewish texts, posits that diversity existed within a unified framework of , scriptural authority (Pentateuch as core), and ethnic-religious identity tied to descent from Abraham, rather than as autonomous "Judaisms." This view aligns with empirical patterns, such as widespread participation by diverse groups until its destruction in 70 CE and synagogues (attested from 3rd century BCE onward in places like and ) supplementing rather than supplanting cultic unity. Critics of the plural "Judaisms" framing, including Sanders and subsequent scholars, note its potential anachronism, as it projects post-70 CE rabbinic standardization backward onto a period lacking centralized dogma but unified by practical norms and existential threats like Hellenistic assimilation or Roman rule, which fostered cohesion over schism. While texts reveal variances—e.g., Qumran rejection of Temple purity under Hasmonean priests (c. 152–63 BCE)—no group denied Yahweh's uniqueness or Israel's covenantal election, distinguishing Second Temple Judaism from truly polyvalent ancient Near Eastern religions. Modern consensus, per analyses of primary sources, favors Sanders' "unity in diversity": sects represented interpretive streams within a resilient common tradition, not rival faiths, with Josephus estimating Pharisees as the most popular (c. 6,000 members influencing broader laity) and non-sectarian Jews comprising the majority.

Causal Factors in Sectarian and Political Fractures

Sectarian divisions within Second Temple Judaism, particularly among the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, stemmed primarily from disputes over the interpretation and application of Torah law, including the acceptance of oral traditions and varying emphases on ritual purity. The Pharisees advocated for an expansive halakhah incorporating oral law alongside the written Torah, applying purity regulations broadly to lay life, while the Sadducees, as a priestly elite, adhered strictly to the literal text of the Pentateuch and confined purity to Temple contexts. These halakhic divergences, evident by the mid-second century BCE, reflected deeper tensions over authority in religious practice, with Pharisees drawing support from middle and lower classes seeking democratized observance, in contrast to Sadducean aristocratic control. Theological variances further exacerbated fractures, notably on and : affirmed and an active , influenced partly by Persian ideas, whereas rejected such doctrines, prioritizing present Temple rituals; anticipated a messianic era with strict communal discipline. Calendar discrepancies, such as the Essene 364-day versus the Pharisaic lunar-solar reckoning, led to conflicting observances, symbolizing irreconcilable views on sacred time and Temple legitimacy. Social factors, including and , reinforced these splits, as withdrew to ascetic communities like around 150 BCE to escape perceived urban corruption and priestly materialism. Political fractures intensified under Hasmonean rule following the (167–160 BCE), when priestly leaders like assumed the high priesthood in 152 BCE, violating Zadokite lineage traditions and alienating groups like the who viewed it as illegitimate. Dynastic civil wars, such as the conflict between and (67–63 BCE), exposed elite rivalries over kingship and priesthood, culminating in Roman intervention by in 63 BCE, which subordinated as a . often aligned with ruling powers for Temple control, while resisted monarchical overreach, fostering popular discontent. External imperial pressures amplified internal rifts: Seleucid under IV, including the 167 BCE desecration, unified rebels temporarily but post-victory accommodations to culture deepened traditionalist divides. Roman dominance from 63 BCE onward, via heavy taxation, land expropriations under (37–4 BCE), and cultural impositions, widened socioeconomic gaps and ideological alienation, birthing militant who rejected foreign rule outright. These strains—fiscal exploitation burdening rural poor and elite collaboration eroding religious autonomy—culminated in the 66 revolt, where sectarian coalitions fractured further amid and calls for . Earlier precedents, like the Samaritan during rebuilding circa 538 BCE over centralized worship, underscored persistent tensions between regional autonomy and Judean primacy.

Legacy and Transitions

Shift to Rabbinic Judaism Post-Destruction

The destruction of the Second Temple by forces in 70 CE marked a pivotal rupture in Jewish religious practice, ending centralized sacrificial worship and necessitating a reorganization of Jewish life around non-Temple institutions such as synagogues and study houses. This event dismantled the , who were tied to rituals, while enabling the survival and dominance of Pharisaic traditions emphasizing , purity, and communal observance, which did not depend on the . sources depict this transition as a deliberate reorientation, with sages portraying rapid reforms to sustain amid and oversight. Rabban , a leading Pharisaic sage active in the late first century , played a foundational role by smuggling himself out of besieged and securing Roman permission—reportedly from —to establish an academy at Yavneh (ancient Jamnia). There, he and his disciples, including figures like Rabban , convened surviving scholars to adapt halakhic practices: instituting daily prayers as substitutes for sacrifices, standardizing the calendar without Temple signals, and ordaining rabbis to maintain authority. These efforts preserved Pharisaic oral traditions, which emphasized interpretation of over priestly mediation, allowing to persist as a portable, text-based rather than collapsing into apocalyptic despair or . Over the subsequent generations, the Yavneh center evolved into a hub for tannaitic scholarship, fostering debates on law, theology, and liturgy that addressed post-Temple exigencies like mourning rituals and communal governance. By the early third century CE, this trajectory culminated in the redaction of the Mishnah around 200 CE under Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi (Judah the Prince), who systematized oral traditions into six orders covering agriculture, festivals, women, damages, holy things, and purity—effectively codifying Rabbinic Judaism's legal framework. This compilation, drawing from Pharisaic precedents, ensured doctrinal continuity while innovating for a Temple-less era, sidelining rival sects like the Essenes and marginalizing Sadducean views. The result was a resilient Judaism oriented toward rabbinic authority, study, and ethical praxis, which spread through academies in the Galilee and Babylon.

Divergence with Emerging Christianity

Christianity emerged in the early CE as a sect within Second Temple Judaism, centered on the teachings and reported of , whom followers proclaimed as the foretold in Jewish scriptures. This movement initially adhered to Jewish practices, including worship and observance, but divergences arose from claims that ' death and fulfilled messianic prophecies in a spiritual rather than political sense, challenging expectations of a Davidic king who would restore Israel's sovereignty and usher in universal peace. Jewish leaders, including and , rejected these claims, viewing the —deemed a curse under Deuteronomy 21:23—as disqualifying any messianic pretender, and noting the absence of prophesied global redemption or ingathering of exiles. A pivotal practical divergence occurred around 50 CE at the , where apostles debated the status of converts; James and upheld exemptions from and certain laws, prioritizing faith in over full compliance, in contrast to Judaizing factions insisting on ethnic Jewish markers for membership. The apostle , a former Pharisee converted circa 33-36 CE, accelerated this shift by arguing in epistles like and Romans that justification came through faith apart from works of the law, interpreting the as a temporary custodian until Christ's advent, which undermined the ongoing necessity of sacrifices, sabbaths, and purity rituals central to Second Temple observance. This stance provoked conflicts with synagogue authorities, who saw it as abrogating God's eternal with , leading to Paul's expulsion from communities and the gradual formation of separate Christian assemblies. Theologically, early Christian assertions of ' divine sonship and —evident in hymns like Philippians 2:6-11—clashed with Jewish , evoking charges of akin to Hellenistic , while the replacement of with eucharistic meals and symbolized a spiritualized fulfillment of atonement, rendering the physical sanctuary obsolete even before its 70 destruction. By the late , mutual anathemas intensified: Jewish texts like the Birkat ha-Minim in the prayer targeted minim (heretics, including adherents), while Christian writings in and portrayed as superseded, fostering social separation amid Roman persecutions that distinguished the groups. These fractures, rooted in interpretive disputes over scripture and authority, solidified by the 2nd century , transforming from a Jewish apocalyptic into a universal faith decoupled from ethnic and ritual boundaries.

Long-Term Impacts on Jewish and Western Thought

The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 marked a pivotal transition in Jewish thought, with Pharisaic traditions—emphasizing interpretation, resurrection of the dead, and ethical conduct over Temple-centric ritual—emerging dominant and forming the basis of . This shift redirected religious life from sacrificial practices to synagogue-based study and prayer, enabling Judaism's adaptation to conditions and long-term survival without a central cultic site. Rabbinic sources, compiling the around 200 under , preserved and systematized Second Temple-era debates on (Jewish law), drawing from Pharisaic responses to Hellenistic influences and sectarian diversity. Second Temple Judaism's doctrinal developments, including apocalyptic expectations and messianic frameworks evident in texts like (composed circa 165 BCE) and 1 Enoch, influenced rabbinic , though later rabbis moderated dual-messiah expectations into a singular figure amid post-Temple disillusionment. The period's exclusive , rejecting polytheistic accommodations while acknowledging foreign deities' limited spheres, solidified Yahweh's sovereignty in Jewish , underpinning rabbinic rejection of and . This , prioritizing covenantal obligations and , persisted in Talmudic literature, shaping Jewish communal structures through the medieval period and beyond. On Western thought, Second Temple Judaism exerted influence primarily through early Christianity, which adopted Pharisaic beliefs in bodily and afterlife judgment—core to soteriology—as seen in Josephus's accounts of Pharisee doctrines prevailing among the populace circa 1st century . Hellenistic Jewish intellectuals like Philo of Alexandria (circa 20 BCE–50 CE) bridged biblical exegesis with Platonic philosophy via allegorical interpretation, impacting Church Fathers such as and in harmonizing faith with reason. Josephus's histories, documenting Jewish resistance to Roman imperialism and sectarian dynamics, provided non-biblical frameworks for Christian self-understanding as heirs to prophetic traditions, informing patristic . The period's contributions to scriptural canonization, including the stabilization of prophetic writings by the 2nd century BCE, supplied the Hebrew Bible's core texts adopted (with expansions) into Christian Old Testaments, embedding linear and universal moral law in Western intellectual traditions. Apocalyptic motifs from literature, envisioning cosmic renewal, resonated in and later secularized in views of history, from Augustine's to modern teleological narratives. These elements fostered Western emphases on individual accountability, , and ethical , distinct from cyclical pagan cosmologies.

References

  1. [1]
    Second Temple Judaism - Biblical Studies - Oxford Bibliographies
    Jan 11, 2012 · Evidence for Second Temple Judaism includes Jewish literature in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, as well as material and documentary data from the ...
  2. [2]
    Second Temple Judaism and the Hannukah Story
    The Second Temple period of Jewish history begins with the edict of Cyrus in 538 BCE marking the end of the Babylonian exile.
  3. [3]
    Redating the Building of the 'Second' Temple | Bible Interp
    The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BCE by the Neo-Babylonians, who made Judah into the province of Yehud, and it was not rebuilt until sometime after ...
  4. [4]
    The Second Temple Period - Jewish Studies - Oxford Bibliographies
    Aug 29, 2012 · This period begins when Jews in Judaea, Mesopotamia, and Egypt found themselves under Persian rule, and Jews were able to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.
  5. [5]
    Religion of Second-Temple Judaism | An Introduction to the New ...
    The religion of Second-Temple Judaism included certain beliefs, practices, and institutions that nearly all Jews shared. Among these we will consider the God of ...
  6. [6]
    Judaism Transforms in the Diaspora During the Second Temple ...
    Aug 12, 2024 · The Jerusalem Temple, its rituals and personnel, were central to Judean religious and political life, and feature prominently in Second ...
  7. [7]
    Ancient Jewish History: Pharisees, Sadducees & Essenes
    They are often depicted as in conflict with the Pharisees. Jewish sect in the 1st century C.E. according to Josephus, Philo, and other sources. (See also ...
  8. [8]
    Ancient Jewish Sects: Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes
    First-century historian Josephus observed that there were three sects among the Jews: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and Essenes.
  9. [9]
    Afterlife and Resurrection Beliefs in the Second Temple Period
    Jan 14, 2020 · The Second Temple Period saw the birth of multiple Jewish sects/communities and also multiple views of the afterlife that focused on the fate of ...Missing: definition | Show results with:definition
  10. [10]
    Second Temple Judaism: Meaning and Timeline - Bart Ehrman
    Apr 24, 2025 · Second Temple Judaism witnessed the rise of different Jewish groups that would play distinctive roles in the early years of Christianity, and ...
  11. [11]
    The Second Temple Period (Chapter 2) - The Cambridge Guide to ...
    Jerusalem: Portrait of the City in the Second Temple Period (538 B.C.E. – 70 C.E.). Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.Google Scholar. The Literature ...
  12. [12]
    Second Temple Judaism - Bible Odyssey
    The second temple period spans about six hundred years, beginning in the late sixth century BCE and ending with the destruction of the Jerusalem temple by the ...
  13. [13]
    HISTORY: Second Temple Period-Return to Zion - Gov.il
    Nov 28, 2010 · Roman Rule (63 BCE-313 CE). Hasmonean rule came to an end and the Land became a province of the Roman Empire. When the Romans replaced the ...<|control11|><|separator|>
  14. [14]
    Second Temple Era and Jewish Diaspora - Intro To Judaism - Fiveable
    Persian period (539-332 BCE): Jews lived under Persian rule as a semi-autonomous community · Hellenistic period (332-167 BCE): Judea under the control of ...
  15. [15]
    Timeline for the History of Jerusalem (4500 BCE-Present)
    Roman Period (70 - 324 CE) · 70 CE - Roman Forces Destroy Jerusalem and Demolish Second Temple · 135 CE - Jerusalem Rebuilt as a Roman City ...
  16. [16]
    Late Second Temple Period
    Periodization: The Second Temple Period · Late Second Temple Period (63BCE-70CE/135CE): Jewish Jerusalem under the Romans · King Herod the Great (40-4BCE) · After ...
  17. [17]
    The Destruction of the Second Holy Temple - A Historical Overview
    The Second Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem for 420 years (349 BCE–70 CE). Unlike the period of the First Temple, when the Jews were for the most part autonomous.
  18. [18]
    cylinder | British Museum
    Description: The Cyrus cylinder: clay cylinder; a Babylonian account of the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus in 539 BC, of his restoration to various temples of ...
  19. [19]
    JUDEO-PERSIAN COMMUNITIES ii. ACHAEMENID PERIOD
    Jun 15, 2009 · The most significant chapter in the story of Jews and Judaism in Persia began 15 March 597 BCE, when King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylonia conquered Jerusalem.
  20. [20]
    The Miraculous Way God Used King Cyrus to Rebuild Jerusalem
    Apr 11, 2025 · In 538 BC, Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon and established the ... Cyrus instituted a policy of altruism through the Edict of Restoration, ...
  21. [21]
    Building the Second Temple | My Jewish Learning
    More importantly, it established the biblical sacrificial system as the dominant pattern of worship for the entire Second Temple period. Some groups, like the ...
  22. [22]
    The Book of Haggai and the Rebuilding of the Temple in the Early ...
    ... in rebuilding the temple (Ezra 5:1, 2; NABR). The temple was then completed in the sixth year of Darius, about 516 BCE. There are a number of well-known ...
  23. [23]
    The completion of the Second Temple in Jerusalem
    The Temple is finally completed in the sixth year of the reign of Darius I and is dedicated in time for the Passover festival in March 516BC.
  24. [24]
    Satrapy of Yehud Medinata - Persian Empire
    The Satrapy of Yehud Medinata, also known as the Province of Judah, was an administrative division of the Achaemenid Empire located in the region of ancient ...
  25. [25]
    The 220-Year History of the Achaemenid Persian Empire
    Mar 12, 2017 · An overview of Persian history starting from Cyrus the Great's conquest of Media (549 BCE.) until Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia (334-329 BCE.)
  26. [26]
    Kingly Chronology in the Book of Ezra - Apologetics Press
    Feb 27, 2005 · ... (Ezra 4:7-23). This solution is unacceptable, however, since Artaxerxes II lived several years after the events recorded in Ezra and Nehemiah.
  27. [27]
    The Somewhat-Confusing Ezra-Nehemiah-Esther Timelines
    Sep 13, 2022 · Following a report of things going badly in Jerusalem, Nehemiah – Persian King Artaxerxes' cupbearer (1:11) – travels to Israel in 444 B.C. ...
  28. [28]
    Political and Social Structures in Hellenistic Judea (332-63 BCE)
    In the summer of 332 B.C.E., Palestine was conquered by Alexander the Great. The land and people of Israel were now part of the Hellenistic world.
  29. [29]
    Alexander the Great Comes to Jerusalem - BYU Studies
    It commemorates and contemplates the introduction of Hellenism to Judea. Greeks and Jews were aware of each other before Alexander conquered the Persian empire, ...
  30. [30]
    The Land of Israel in the Hellenistic Age | My Jewish Learning
    In the summer of 332 BCE, Palestine was conquered by Alexander the Great. The land and people of Israel were now part of the Hellenistic world.
  31. [31]
    Antiochus - Jewish Virtual Library
    By 198 B.C.E. the Jews of Palestine had become disenchanted with Ptolemaic rule, and they opened the gates of Jerusalem to Antiochus, and assisted in the ...
  32. [32]
    https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism/Hellenistic-Judaism-4th-century-bce-2nd-century-ce
  33. [33]
    Hellenism - Jewish Virtual Library
    Jason the high priest carried his Hellenizing to the extent of establishing Greek educational institutions, the gymnasium and ephebeion, and of founding ...
  34. [34]
    JASON - JewishEncyclopedia.com
    During the three years of Jason's administration the influences of Hellenism in Judea reached their climax. In his desire to pass for a Hellene Jason went ...
  35. [35]
    Antiochus IV Epiphanes | Biography, Reign, Jerusalem ... - Britannica
    Antiochus's hellenizing policies brought him into conflict with the prosperous non-Greek temple organizations, and particularly with the Jews. Since ...
  36. [36]
    Schwartz: Antiochus IV Epiphanes in Jerusalem
    To summarize: one source, I Maccabees, claims Antiochus thoroughly robbed the temple in 169 BCE but that elicited no response; two others - II Maccabees and ...
  37. [37]
    None
    ### Summary of Antiochus IV's Policies Towards Judea (175-167 BCE)
  38. [38]
    The Maccabean Revolt - World History Edu
    Dec 23, 2024 · The Maccabean Revolt was a pivotal uprising in Jewish history, unfolding between 167 BCE and 160 BCE. It marked a defiant stand by the Jewish people against ...
  39. [39]
    Ancient Jewish History: The Hasmonean Dynasty
    Following further Hasmonean victories (147 BCE), the Seleucids restored autonomy to Judea, as the Land of Israel was now called, and, with the collapse of the ...
  40. [40]
    Judea Under Roman Rule (63 BCE-66 CE)
    The Roman general Pompey, taking advantage of an internal quarrel between two rival members of the Hasmonean royal family, conquered Jerusalem in 63 BCE.
  41. [41]
    The End of the Hasmoneans, The Rise of Rome - Jewish History
    The decline of the Hasmoneans coincided with the rise of Rome, but it wasn't coincidence, for the once great Jewish family had become a shell of its holy roots.Enter Rome · Pompey's Compromise · Enter Julius Caesar<|control11|><|separator|>
  42. [42]
    Pompey's Siege of Jerusalem - Livius.org
    Sep 23, 2020 · During the festival of Passover of 63, Aristobulus and the Sadducees were besieged in the Temple of Jerusalem by Hyrcanus and his ally, the Arab ...
  43. [43]
    The Roman Province of Judea - BYU Studies
    In 63 BC, Rome attached the territory of Judea to the newly created Roman province of Syria, where a high-ranking Roman governor of proconsular status would ...
  44. [44]
    A Chronology of the Herods - Charles A. Sullivan
    Dec 12, 2010 · Josephus believed that Herod the Great's reign began when Rome appointed him in 40 BC, and that Antigonus, the last bloodline Jewish King died ...
  45. [45]
    Rule of Rome Timeline (230 BCE-400 CE) - Jewish Virtual Library
    Rule of Rome Timeline (230 BCE-400 CE) ; 63 B.C.E., Rome (Pompey) annexes the land of Israel. ; 37-4 B.C.E., Herod the Great (Jewish Roman ruler of the land of ...<|separator|>
  46. [46]
    The First Jewish Revolt against Rome | Religious Studies Center
    When Jews of the Roman province of Judea initiated a revolt against Rome in ca. AD 66, the results were catastrophic and had lingering effects on both Jews and ...Missing: "scholarly | Show results with:"scholarly
  47. [47]
    Judaea's Leaderless Revolt Against Rome - TheTorah.com
    Jul 29, 2020 · The Judaean Revolt against Rome was neither the first nor the last against Roman authority. Several other revolts loom equally large in the historical record.
  48. [48]
    The Fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE: A Story of Roman Revenge
    During the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE, Roman general Titus stormed the great city in a bloody battle that destroyed much of region.
  49. [49]
    Modeling the Fall of the Second Temple -
    Aug 15, 2022 · Computer modeling using ballista stones and GIS software was used to study the Roman siege, revealing concentrated attacks on the Third Wall.
  50. [50]
    Josephus Describes The Romans' Sack Of Jerusalem | From ... - PBS
    When they went in numbers into the lanes of the city, with their swords drawn, they slew those whom they overtook, without mercy, and set fire to the houses.
  51. [51]
    The Destruction of the Second Temple - Jewish History
    The Second Temple was destroyed by Roman siege, internal Jewish fighting, and a fire that spread, causing the building to collapse. Many Jews died.
  52. [52]
    Part 7, The Fall of Jerusalem - Josephus.org
    Jerusalem Siege 70. Reference, Action, Action Detail. 5.262-274, Both sides begin artillery fire. Simon places previously captured Roman artillery on the walls ...
  53. [53]
    The First Jewish-Roman War Ends with the Destruction of the ...
    "Estimates of the death toll range from 600,000 to 1,300,000 Jews ... Over 100,000 died during the siege, and almost 100,000 were taken to Rome as slaves.
  54. [54]
    The Temple Mount during the times of Ezra and Nehemiah
    Nov 15, 2014 · In the Post-Exilic period, the returnees from Babylon first built the altar and then laid the foundations of the Second Temple (536 BC).<|separator|>
  55. [55]
    What Was the Second Holy Temple? - 13 Facts You Should Know
    The Second Holy Temple, built 70 years after the destruction of the First Temple, stood for 420 years until being set on fire by the Romans.
  56. [56]
    Topical Bible: Dimensions and Specifications of the Temple
    A cubit is generally considered to be about 18 inches (45 centimeters), making the Temple approximately 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high.
  57. [57]
    Building Second Temple Jerusalem - Biblical Archaeology Society
    Aug 5, 2024 · These massive stones would have been the primary building materials for Jerusalem's royal construction ... dates to the Second Temple period.
  58. [58]
    The Temple of Herod - Religious Studies Center
    Josephus further describes “a golden vine with grape-clusters hanging from it,” that was placed above the door and wound itself around the pillars (Antiquities ...
  59. [59]
    The Second Temple - Jewish Virtual Library
    The Second Temple was not only awe inspiring because of its religious significance, but also for its physical dimensions, its grandeur and its beauty.
  60. [60]
    Topical Bible: the Second Temple: Its Dimensions
    Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian, describes the temple as having a façade of 100 cubits in both height and width. The temple complex itself was ...
  61. [61]
    The Temple Mount in the Herodian Period (37 BC–70 A.D.)
    Dec 3, 2014 · Herod extended the Hasmonean Temple Mount in three directions: north, west and south. At the northwest corner he built the Antonia Fortress and in the south, ...
  62. [62]
    Jewish Worship - Tabletalk Magazine
    For the Jews during the latter part of the second temple period (516 BC–AD 70), the temple and its worship played a primary role, as they had for ancient Israel
  63. [63]
    Second Temple History, Constuction & Destruction - Study.com
    Either way, the Second Temple of Jerusalem fulfilled the same role as its predecessor as a center of worship and animal sacrifice. However, it lacked the ...Table Of Contents · The Second Temple Of... · Who Built The Second Temple?
  64. [64]
    The Agrarian Priesthood of Second Temple Judaism | Bible Interp
    In the Second Temple period (516 BCE–70 CE), Judean priests took an active role in the farming life in the countryside, far beyond the temple precinct in ...
  65. [65]
    "Beholdest Thou. . .the Priests and the Levites" | Religious Studies ...
    One of the official responsibilities of priests under the law of Moses was to serve as judges of religious and civic matters. These responsibilities were ...
  66. [66]
    High Priest - Jewish Virtual Library
    Although the high priests continued to serve as presidents of the *Sanhedrin , both their actual powers and measure of esteem among the people gradually ...
  67. [67]
    High Priests of the Jews | Brandon Marlon | The Times of Israel
    Jun 19, 2016 · During the Second Temple period, the high priest's purview was expanded to include administrative and diplomatic duties. Under Roman rule, the ...
  68. [68]
    Tamid: Zacharias and the Second Temple | The Interpreter Foundation
    Nov 1, 2021 · This sacrifice was called the tamid, a Hebrew word that means “standing,” “continual,” or “daily.” Clearly, the first tamid commenced the ...
  69. [69]
    The Historicity of the Mishnaic Tractates Tamid and Yoma - New Torah
    The information conveyed in both of these tractates derives from second temple times and is historically reliable.
  70. [70]
    4 Jewish Animal Sacrifice in the Period 100 bc–ad 200
    The chapter discusses animal sacrifice in the Jerusalem Temple based on sources from the late Second Temple period, that is Philo and Josephus, and of the ...<|separator|>
  71. [71]
    The Second Temple - Bible Odyssey
    Jun 20, 2017 · According to Josephus, 256,500 lambs were sacrificed to accommodate more than 2.7 million people at the Passover celebration of 66 C.E. While ...Missing: primary | Show results with:primary
  72. [72]
    https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004370098/BP000006.xml
  73. [73]
    The Temple and the synagogue (Chapter 10)
    The synagogue is an enduring contribution of the second temple period to the history of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The origin of the synagogue is unknown ...
  74. [74]
    The origin of the synagogue - jstor
    synagogue was established in Babylon by the Jewish exiles there. Some associate the rise of the synagogue with the resettlement of the repatriated exiles in ...
  75. [75]
    https://brill.com/display/book/9789004257726/B9789004257726_004.pdf
  76. [76]
    The Role and Purpose of Synagogues in the Days of Jesus and Paul
    Nov 1, 2019 · The Theodotos inscription, which likely predates 70 CE, discovered in a 1913–1914 archaeological dig of the City of David (just south of the ...<|separator|>
  77. [77]
    ANCIENT SYNAGOGUES IN PALESTINE - Oxford Academic
    Archaeological remains of pre-70 synagogue buildings in Palestine accord well with the picture presented so far. These include the synagogues at Masada, ...
  78. [78]
    Pharisees and Sadducees: Jewish Factions During the Hasmonean ...
    The Pharisees, known as Perushim, or Chaverim, consisted of the sages and the vast majority of the Jewish people who were loyal to the Torah and followed the ...
  79. [79]
    A Historical Analysis of the Role of the Ancient Synagogue, and its ...
    Studies have shown that the origin of the synagogue is shrouded in mystery and may never be fully known. However, the synagogue was clearly a well-known ...
  80. [80]
    Jewish Practices & Rituals: Sacrifices and Offerings (Karbanot)
    Parts of the rituals involved in the offering of Karbanot were performed exclusively by the kohanim (priests). These rituals were only performed in the Temple ...
  81. [81]
    [PDF] Patterns of Daily Prayer in Second Temple Period Judaism
    With all their diversity, extant sources are unanimous in this respect; as we have seen above, Philo, Josephus, the New Testament, and the Theodotus inscription ...
  82. [82]
    The Prohibition to Carry on Shabbat: Historical and Exegetical ...
    Mar 3, 2016 · Jewish readers in the Second Temple period combed their sacred texts in search of sources for the prescriptive Shabbat practice. Jeremiah 17:21– ...
  83. [83]
    What Are Pilgrimage Festivals? | My Jewish Learning
    A major category of Jewish holidays is the pilgrimage festival. Described in the Hebrew Bible as celebrating both agricultural festivals and historical events.Missing: cycles | Show results with:cycles
  84. [84]
    Josephus on Hanukkah
    The Books of the Maccabees, which record the origins of the Hanukkah story and of the Hasmonean dynasty, are represented by Josephus in the Jewish Antiquities.
  85. [85]
    How was the Canon Formed? - Timothy H. Lim, 2022 - Sage Journals
    Apr 15, 2022 · The canon was formed by faith communities, particularly the Pharisaic-Rabbinic Judaism, and is a complex process with no single ancient source ...
  86. [86]
    The Formation of the Jewish Canon - Biblical Archaeology Society
    Oct 3, 2014 · The Jewish canon, a fixed list of 22 books, likely closed between 150 and 250 C.E. with the Pharisaic canon becoming the majority.
  87. [87]
    The Very Long Process of Canonization of the Hebrew Bible
    The canonization of the Hebrew Bible likely occurred between 200 BCE and 200 CE, with the Torah possibly around 400 BC, Prophets around 200 BC, and Writings ...
  88. [88]
    Sacred Books - BYU Studies
    Introduction. A number of fragmentary manuscripts in Hebrew and Aramaic have been found at Masada, including seven from the Hebrew Bible.
  89. [89]
    The Dead Sea Scrolls | The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
    The biblical manuscripts comprise some two hundred copies of books of the Hebrew Bible, representing the earliest evidence for the biblical text in the world.
  90. [90]
    https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781575066233-021/html?lang=en
  91. [91]
    Josephus: Historical Evidence of the Old Testament Canon
    May 29, 2012 · The clearest testimony of the extent of the Hebrew canon comes from the first century writer Flavius Josephus (A.D. 37-100).
  92. [92]
    Josephus And The Twenty-Two-Book Canon Of Sacred Scripture
    The tradition of a canon of twenty-two books was clearly present in both Jewish and Christian circles during the first four centuries of the common era.
  93. [93]
    The Council That Wasn't | Catholic Answers Magazine
    Answering the claim that a supposed "Council of Jamnia" decided the Jewish canon of the Old Testament. Many myths are believed not because they are true but ...
  94. [94]
    https://brill.com/content/books/b9789004381612_003
  95. [95]
    The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha - Jewish Virtual Library
    These books were included in the Jewish canon by the Talmudic sages at Yavneh around the end of the first century CE, after the destruction of the Second Temple ...
  96. [96]
    Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha - Biblical Studies
    Mar 21, 2024 · Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha are terms used to label a large body of early Jewish and early Christian literature written between the 3rd century BCE and the ...
  97. [97]
    Resources for Studying the Second Temple Period - Reading Acts
    Jan 26, 2017 · The Apocrypha represents books popular in the Second Temple period but were not accepted as authoritative by the Jews. The earliest post- ...
  98. [98]
    The Pseudepigrapha of Second Temple Judaism
    Nov 7, 2021 · A consideration of Jewish Pseudepigrapha raises the question whether the New Testament contains books written under a false name.
  99. [99]
    Scrolls from the Dead Sea Introduction - Library of Congress
    In 1947, Bedouin shepherds discovered the scrolls inside jars hidden in a cave. Shortly after, scholars rushed in with paleographic, linguistic and ...
  100. [100]
    Dead Sea Scrolls | National Endowment for the Humanities
    These scrolls included some of the oldest extant fragments of the Hebrew Bible as well as religious writings, hymns, prayers, and legal documents.
  101. [101]
    https://oxfordre.com/religion/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-1057
  102. [102]
    https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004393387/BP000008.xml
  103. [103]
    Discovering the Dead Sea Scrolls - West Semitic Research Project
    It was not until 1949 that the site of the find was identified as the cave now known as Qumran Cave 1. It was that identification that led to further ...
  104. [104]
    The Essenes and the Qumran Settlement – By Jodi Magness
    May 1, 2014 · In this monograph, Joan Taylor makes a strong case in support of the “Essene hypothesis,” identifying the inhabitants of Qumran as Essenes who ...
  105. [105]
    https://brill.com/view/journals/dsd/11/3/article-p361_7.pdf
  106. [106]
    The Fortress at Qumran: A History of Interpretation | Bible Interp
    Since the discovery of the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, Khirbet Qumran has garnered a prized position at the center of scrolls studies. Qumran earned ...
  107. [107]
    https://brill.com/view/journals/jsj/51/1/article-p43_3.xml?language=en
  108. [108]
    Josephus, Antiquities XVIII, 11-17: More About the Pharisees and ...
    Apr 8, 2008 · (12) Now, for the Pharisees, they live simply, and despise delicacies in diet. And they follow the conduct of reason; 81 and what that ...
  109. [109]
    Flavius Josephus, Wars of the Jews 2.117-2.166 - Lexundria
    166Moreover, the Pharisees are friendly to one another, and are for the exercise of concord, and regard for the public; but the behavior of the Sadducees one ...
  110. [110]
    Flavius Josephus and the Pharisees | Bible Interp
    And once we abandon the effort to identify him as a Pharisee, we can place his other remarks about the Pharisees in a more adequate and illuminating context, as ...
  111. [111]
    [PDF] The Pharisees and the Sadducees - BYU Law Digital Commons
    Sep 1, 1993 · Instead, he suggests that those. Jews who accepted the oral Torah were merely termed "Pharisees" by the embit- tered Sadducees who resented ...
  112. [112]
    "Torah in the Mouth”: An Introduction to the Rabbinic Oral Law
    Here, Jesus accuses the Galilean Pharisees of allowing the interpretive laws on the annulling of oaths to overcome the stated intent of the law of Moses because ...
  113. [113]
    Diversity and Unity in Judaism before Jesus | Bible Interp
    Second Temple Judaism was characterized by such a plurality of beliefs and practices that some scholars have adopted the term “Judaisms” to describe Jewish ...Missing: key | Show results with:key
  114. [114]
    Cultic Piety and Pharisaism before 70 AD | Religious Studies Center
    The generally negative picture of the Pharisees given by the New Testament produced, in the later history of the West, a highly partisan caricature. “Pharisee” ...
  115. [115]
    Sadducees: Who Are the Sadducees in the Bible? (PLUS VERSES)
    Jul 27, 2024 · The Sadducees were a Jewish sect, the priestly class and aristocracy of Jerusalem, who were influential during the Second Temple period.
  116. [116]
    Sadducees - Bible Odyssey
    Jun 10, 2016 · Josephus tantalizingly mentions that the Sadducees ascribe authority to Scripture, not to the ancestral traditions handed down by the Pharisees:.
  117. [117]
    Sadducees - Livius.org
    Oct 12, 2020 · The historian Flavius Josephus states that the Sadducees did not believe in Fate. Now for the Pharisees, they say that some actions, but not ...
  118. [118]
    https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-5658
  119. [119]
    https://brill.com/display/book/9789004377349/BP000011.pdf
  120. [120]
    Josephus on the Essenes - Biblical Archaeology Society
    May 27, 2025 · Explore Josephus's detailed account of the Essenes, a strict Jewish sect known for communal living, ascetic practices, and spiritual discipline.Missing: asceticism withdrawal Pliny
  121. [121]
    Philo, Every Good Man is Free XII, 75-87: Description of the Essenes
    Philo tells of a group of pious individuals who live in villages, and, like the Essenes of Josephus, practice communal ownership of goods and services.
  122. [122]
    Pliny, Natural History V, xv: The Solitary Essenes
    The solitary tribe of the Essenes which is remarkable beyond all the other tribes of the whole world as it has no women and has renounced all sexual desire.
  123. [123]
    John C. Reeves | The Essene Hypothesis - UNC Charlotte Pages
    ' The evidence from the Scrolls clearly affirms the continuing validity of a sacrificial cultus at the Temple in Jerusalem, although there is a measure of ...
  124. [124]
    Who Were the Essenes? - Biblical Archaeology Society
    Jesus was an Essene and A Gnostic. Jesus wrote part of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Nag Hammadi & the Dead Sea Scrolls, to date, are the only found scriptures that ...
  125. [125]
    Causes of the Jewish War Against the Romans - Josephus
    Judas the Galilean Founds the Revolutionary Fourth Philosophy (6 CE). The Census of Quirinius (6 CE) Antiquities 18.1.1 3-10 (See also War 2.8.1) Now ...
  126. [126]
    Judah the Galilean - Jewish Virtual Library
    The group of anti-Roman rebels of the 1st century C.E. Their movement started in 6 C.E., but became really active during the period of Jewish Revolt. Their most ...
  127. [127]
    [PDF] T&T Clark Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism - Lincoln Blumell
    Josephus' first reference to the “zealots” as an organized group appears in a reference to events dated 66/67 CE (J.W. 4.160). Here he details how the high ...
  128. [128]
    Roots of the Rebellion: Zealots and Sicarii - Reading Acts
    Apr 22, 2017 · They were “urban assassins,” primarily attacking the Jewish aristocracy who were pro-Roman. Eventually they took to burning estates and ...Missing: differences | Show results with:differences
  129. [129]
    Zealots - World History Encyclopedia
    Feb 10, 2022 · The Zealots were a group of Jews who began to emerge as a religious/political movement around the beginning of the 1st century CE.
  130. [130]
    The Great Revolt (66 - 70 CE) - Jewish Virtual Library
    At the beginning of the Common Era, a new group arose among the Jews: the Zealots (in Hebrew, Ka-na-im). These anti-Roman rebels were active for more than six ...
  131. [131]
    The Great Jewish Revolt of 66 CE - World History Encyclopedia
    Aug 28, 2015 · There, the Zealots, a band of un-Hellenised anti-elite Jews, wiped out the Roman-backed elite Greeks that had inhabited the area.<|separator|>
  132. [132]
    Part 1: Larry Hurtado and 2nd Temple Jewish Monotheism
    Oct 7, 2009 · Hurtado describes late 2nd Temple Jewish monotheism as a monotheism defined by the worship of only one god/divine being, while recognizing ...
  133. [133]
    [PDF] Monotheism and the Hierarchy of Divine Beings in Second Temple ...
    The view that there was a hierarchy of divine beings, with the one God as the Most High accompanied by a principal divine agent second only in authority to ...
  134. [134]
    Jewish Concepts: Angels & Angelology
    During the Second Temple period it was assumed that only the great prophets of earlier times had had the privilege of direct communication with God while in ...
  135. [135]
    The Myth of Rebellious Angels: Studies in Second Temple Judaism ...
    Apr 6, 2017 · The mythical story of fallen angels preserved in 1 Enoch and related literature was profoundly influential during the Second Temple period. In ...<|separator|>
  136. [136]
    Angels as Warriors in Late Second Temple Jewish Literature
    In this study, Aleksander Michalak focuses mainly on the association of angelic beings with warfare in the Jewish literary sources.
  137. [137]
    Heavenly Worship in Second Temple Judaism, Early Christianity ...
    Jul 27, 2017 · Ancient peoples often believed that heavenly (celestial) worship provided a normative or authoritative pattern for earthly worship.
  138. [138]
    Israel in Second Temple Eschatological and Apocalyptic Literature
    Through analysis of the Wisdom of Ben Sira, the Psalms of Solomon, Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, baruch, 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch, and more this chapter ...
  139. [139]
    [PDF] MASHIAH: MESSIANISM IN JEWISH APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE ...
    I intend to show that Jewish messianism incorporated the idea of a prophetic figure who suffers before the First Jewish Revolt, and that it is not a Christian ...
  140. [140]
    (PDF) Messianic Expectations in the Second Temple Period applied ...
    This paper explores messianic expectations during the Second Temple Period, emphasizing the complex and varied interpretations of the term "Messiah" within ...
  141. [141]
    The Scepter and the Star. The Messiahs of the Dead Sea Scrolls ...
    The book explores the concept of the Messiah using Dead Sea Scrolls, examines messianic thought in ancient literature, and links Jewish and Christian models.
  142. [142]
    [PDF] the temporary messianic kingdom in second
    Second Temple Jewish expectation of a temporary messianic kingdom laid the ground- work for early Christian inaugurated eschatology and the unexpected ...
  143. [143]
    Eschatology - Jewish Virtual Library
    In the last two centuries before the destruction of the Second Temple the *Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead, whereas the *Sadducees did not ( ...
  144. [144]
    [PDF] THE STRANDS OF WISDOM TRADITION IN INTERTESTAMENTAL ...
    67 Wisdom is associated with the Torah in that the Torah is the source of wisdom, and obedience to the Torah leads to wisdom (IQS 9:17; 4Q504 f1. 2:13-15 ...
  145. [145]
    https://brill.com/view/journals/jsj/52/3/article-p388_4.xml
  146. [146]
    [PDF] The Ethical Functions of Deuteronomic Laws in Early Second ...
    This study is about the ethical functions of Deuteronomic laws in the 3rd–1st centuries BCE: what they were and how to study them. Since the 1980's boom in ...
  147. [147]
    The Wisdom of Ben Sira - Yale University Press
    In stock Free 20-day returnsMar 1, 1995 · Ben Sira's rigorous code of moral behavior was the measure of Jewish faithfulness in an era of ethical and religious bankruptcy.
  148. [148]
    Discovering Second Temple Literature: The Scriptures and Stories ...
    The past century and a half has seen extraordinary developments in the field of Second Temple Judaism. The discoveries made at Qumran, St. Catherine's ...
  149. [149]
    [PDF] Tracing Sapiential Traditions in Ancient Judaism - Pure
    Scholars have observed how the wisdom tradition was not isolated from other traditions that constituted late Second Temple Judaism. (if it ever had been ...
  150. [150]
    Resurrection of the Dead as Symbol and Strategy - jstor
    Yet resurrection of the dead is so crucial to certain ancient Jewish groups that it becomes a boundary issue: belief or nonbelief divides Jews into identifiably ...
  151. [151]
    Resurrection in Early Judaism | Bible Interp
    The history of 2 Maccabees, for example, includes resurrection as an integral feature within the faith of the Jewish martyrs who resisted the Hellenistic Reform ...
  152. [152]
    A Resurrection for Tortured Jews (2 Maccabees)
    Aug 17, 2017 · For this post I am principally interested in 2 Maccabees, because like Daniel it presents a Jewish understanding of the resurrection of the dead ...
  153. [153]
    Afterlife and Resurrection Beliefs in the Pseudepigrapha by Jan A ...
    Together these books constitute two of the most penetrating studies on the ways in which Jews of the Second Temple era understood the afterlife; they also help ...
  154. [154]
    "The Afterlife Views and the Use of the TaNaKh in Support of the ...
    Appendix A of this study provides a comprehensive list of resurrection passages from Second Temple period literature, compiled from the Apocrypha and the ...<|separator|>
  155. [155]
    [PDF] An examination of early Jewish thought on the afterlife
    This paper examines early Jewish thought on the afterlife, including resurrection, immortality of the soul, and no vindication beyond Sheol.
  156. [156]
    Ezra and the Law in History and Tradition on JSTOR
    To the writers of both Ezra-Nehemiah and 1 Esdras, it was the failure to observe Torah law that caused the destruction of the temple and the Babylonian exile.Missing: adoption | Show results with:adoption
  157. [157]
    [PDF] EZRA'S RADICAL SOLUTION TO JUDEAN ASSIMILATION
    Jul 31, 2012 · The Temple was rebuilt (Ezra 6:15-22); Ezra returned from Babylonia as the legitimate authority to teach the laws and rules of Torah (Ezra 7:1- ...<|separator|>
  158. [158]
    Lesson 5 - Ezra 2 & 3 - Torah Class
    Ezra returns as chief examiner of the Temple with a new position as teacher of the Torah. ... Ezra had authority to go to Judah, establish the Law of Moses on all ...
  159. [159]
    "They Shall Teach Your Statues to Jacob": Priests, Scribes, and ...
    Jun 5, 2023 · Ben Sira's encomium to the scribe is significant because it is the only extended statement we have from Second Temple times about this figure.
  160. [160]
    [PDF] THE STATUS AND FUNCTIONS OF JEWISH SCRIBES IN THE ...
    The thesis conducts a historical investigation into the status and functions of Jewish scribes during the Second-Temple period.
  161. [161]
    The Torah Scroll: How the Copying Process Became Sacred
    Feb 22, 2023 · For most Second Temple scribes, the Torah's sanctity did not translate into a requirement to avoid the imprecisions common in all books.
  162. [162]
    Biblical Pharisees and Jewish Halakhah
    Modern Orthodox and Conservative Judaism was “weaned” from the physical Temple ritual by the better Pharisees. One former Pharisee who portrayed their teaching ...
  163. [163]
    (PDF) "The Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the Sacred
    The text reevaluates halakhic disputes between Pharisees and Sadducees through unbiased analysis of Rabbinic sources. Sadducees consistently appear stricter ...Missing: evolution | Show results with:evolution
  164. [164]
    Oral Torah | Texts & Source Sheets from Torah, Talmud ... - Sefaria
    This historical debate during the Second Temple period highlights the Pharisaic reliance on the Oral Torah to determine the date for beginning the counting ...
  165. [165]
    Sources and Development of Halakha - Intro To Judaism - Fiveable
    The development of Halakha began with the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai and the establishment of the Oral Torah tradition; During the Second Temple period ...<|separator|>
  166. [166]
    Exile & Diaspora - Jewish Journeys
    Diaspora communities blossomed as Babylonian, Persian, Greek-Hellenist, and Roman civilisations swept across the Mideast.
  167. [167]
    ALEXANDRIA, Egypt—Ancient - JewishEncyclopedia.com
    The history of the Jews of Alexandria dates from the foundation of the city by Alexander the Great, 332 BC, at which they were present.The Jewish Quarter. · Government. · Riot in Alexandria. · Renewed Persecution.
  168. [168]
    [PDF] The Second Temple Period Jewish Diaspora Preparing the Nations ...
    by the Jews of that time has been confused with the more modern definition of intentional activities to incorporate outsiders into a believing community.63 ...
  169. [169]
    Alexandria, Egypt - Jewish Virtual Library
    During the period of the Second Temple, the Jews of Alexandria were represented in Jerusalem by a sizable community. References to this community, while not ...
  170. [170]
    Ancient Synagogues in Israel and the Diaspora
    Apr 6, 2015 · Ancient synagogues were for Jewish worship, with some existing before 70 C.E. in Israel. They had benches, and some had a mikveh. The Golan  ...
  171. [171]
    Philo of Alexandria - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
    Feb 5, 2018 · Philo of Alexandria is a Jewish thinker who lived in Alexandria in the first half of the first century BCE (Hadas Lebel 2012).
  172. [172]
    The Temple, the Synagogue, and the Early Yeshua-Community
    Aug 11, 2021 · During the Second Temple period, the synagogue was an established institution in the Jewish community in both the land of Israel and in the ...
  173. [173]
    The Septuagint: Greek Scriptures for Greek-speaking Jews and ...
    Although preserved, used, and transmitted by Christians, the Septuagint was produced by Hellenistic Jews and is one of their major achievements.
  174. [174]
    “Gentiles for Moses”: The Debate about the Nature and Intensity of ...
    Second Temple Judaism did attract proselytes and facilitate the conversion of Gentiles that wanted to convert to Judaism, much to the ire and contempt of some ...Missing: sources | Show results with:sources
  175. [175]
    [PDF] 1 COMPETITION BETWEEN EXCLUSIVE RELIGIONS - asrec
    For much of the 20th century the consensus view was that the Judaism of the late Second Temple period7 was actively and successfully proselytizing across the.
  176. [176]
    Louis H. Feldman. “The Omnipresence of the God-Fearers.” Biblical ...
    The view, so commonly held, that in antiquity there was a large class of gentiles, the so-called God-fearers, who stood somewhere between paganism and Judaism.
  177. [177]
    The Samaritans: Weakened the Hands of the Jews in Building
    The opposition from the Samaritans during the rebuilding of the Second Temple highlights the broader theme of conflict and perseverance in the Jewish narrative.
  178. [178]
    Mount Gerizim - Bible Odyssey
    Jun 13, 2025 · In 110 BCE, however, the Hasmonean leader John Hyrcanus destroyed the Samaritan temple and within a few years took control of the entire region.
  179. [179]
    The Destruction of the Samaritan Temple by John Hyrcanus - jstor
    The forced conversion of the Idumeans is not mentioned in Jewish War. 11 See Menahem Stern, ed., Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism, 3 vols., FRJS.
  180. [180]
    The Samaritan Schism - Biblical Archaeology Society
    Aug 11, 2014 · In the Hellenistic period, the Samaritans often took stands against their Judean neighbors. The Samaritan Temple was destroyed by the Hasmoneans ...
  181. [181]
    CONVERSION, FORCED - Oxford Reference
    The forced conversion of the Idumeans (Edomites) to Judaism by John Hyrcanus (135–105 bce) is the only such recorded case of forced conversions to Judaism.
  182. [182]
    Forced Circumcision and the Shifting Role of Gentiles in ...
    Jun 10, 2011 · The author of a medieval Hebrew paraphrase of Josephus, Jossipon, understood that the Idumeans were not the only people forcibly circumcised by ...
  183. [183]
    https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004416826/BP000001.xml?language=en
  184. [184]
    The Religion of Idumea and Its Relationship to Early Judaism - MDPI
    13.318–319), ostensibly quoting Strabo who was quoting Timagenes, claimed that Hyrcanus' son Judah Aristobulus I forced the Itureans in the Galilee to convert, ...
  185. [185]
    The Impurity of Gentiles in Second Temple Sources - Oxford Academic
    In a wide range of Jewish texts representing diverse groups in the Second Temple period, Gentiles are consistently portrayed as susceptible to moral rather ...
  186. [186]
    https://www.bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/2010/08/gentile357918
  187. [187]
    Jews and Gentiles in the Holy Land in the Days of the Second ...
    Mar 29, 2004 · Jews and Gentiles in the Holy Land in the Days of the Second Temple, the Mishna and the Talmud · Review by · Matthew Kraus, Williams College.<|separator|>
  188. [188]
    Book of Malachi | Guide with Key Information and Resources
    Jul 5, 2023 · And the priests are part of the problem too, because they not only tolerate but also participate in these corrupt forms of worship. From top to ...
  189. [189]
    THE PRIESTHOOD: God's Ekg of Israel Malachi 2:1-9
    The priests were condemned for their corrupt practices. God allowed them to be viewed as “contemptible and base before all the people” (v. 9). Notice, they ...
  190. [190]
    Malachi 2 - Corruption Throughout Israel
    May 28, 2016 · Malachi accused the people of corrupting the sacrifices; the priests of not honoring God and corrupting the teaching. Now the Lord's messenger ...
  191. [191]
    The Hasmoneans Usurped the High Priesthood from the Oniads
    Dec 6, 2023 · The family of Onias long controlled the high priesthood before the persecution of Antiochus IV and the Hasmoneans' (“Maccabees'”) rebellion.
  192. [192]
    1 Maccabees and the Legitimacy of the Hasmoneans - Reading Acts
    Feb 10, 2017 · To the Pharisee and the Essenes, the Hasmonaean priest-kings were an insult to the long-standing line of separation of kingship and priesthood.Missing: debates | Show results with:debates
  193. [193]
    [PDF] vasile babota, the institution of the hasmonean high priesthood
    The author argues that the question of whether the. Hasmoneans were Zadokites or Aaronides is not particularly significant for assessing the legality of their ...
  194. [194]
    https://brill.com/downloadpdf/book/edcoll/9789004190764/Bej.9789004167841.i-552_012.pdf
  195. [195]
    The Sect of the Qumran Texts and its Leading Role in the Temple in ...
    Apr 30, 2014 · It is frequently supposed that the people of the Qumran texts opposed the Hasmoneans because the Hasmoneans combined the office of king and high priest.
  196. [196]
    (PDF) Corruption Among The High Priesthood: A Matter Of Perspective
    The paper critically examines the portrayal of high priests in the late Second Temple period as corrupt figures lacking community support.
  197. [197]
    Evidence of Priestly Corruption around the Time of Yeshua
    Aug 15, 2021 · Under the Roman regime, the high priestly role contained plausible circumstances for bribery and corruption to occur within its political ...
  198. [198]
    Introduction to Part II | Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple
    These works analyze the literary evidence (especially Josephus, Jewish War 5:184–287, and Mishnah Tractate Middot) along with the results of recent ...
  199. [199]
    Hellenistic Culture | From Jesus To Christ - The First Christians - PBS
    Jewish culture and civilization during the Hellenistic period was in intense dialogue with Hellenistic culture and civilization, beginning with the translation ...<|separator|>
  200. [200]
    Jewish-Greek Literature in the Hellenistic and Roman Eras
    Oct 19, 2020 · Jewish authors composed literary works in Greek primarily between the middle of the third century BCE and the end of the second century CE.
  201. [201]
    The Rise of Antiochus IV Epiphanes and His Assault Against Judea
    Attention will then be given to the factor of Hellenization within Judaea, and how the High Priesthood became corrupted by this influence.
  202. [202]
    Religious Persecution or High Taxes? The Causes of the ...
    Oct 18, 2014 · Although Jason and Menelaus were Hellenized High Priests, we have no reason to believe that they ever harmed the Temple, as 2 Maccabees claimed ...
  203. [203]
    The Maccabean Revolt - World History Encyclopedia
    Oct 29, 2015 · The Maccabean Revolt of 167-160 BCE was a Jewish uprising in Judea against the repression of the Seleucid Empire.<|separator|>
  204. [204]
    Maccabees | Meaning, History, Significance, Revolt, & Facts
    Sep 5, 2025 · Mattathias sparked the resistance movement by striking a Jew who was preparing to offer sacrifice to the new gods and by killing the king's ...
  205. [205]
    Jewish Sectarianism in Second Temple Times, Lawrence H ...
    Rabbinic tradition saw the period of the Second Temple under Persian rule as lasting only thirty-four years, thus losing almost a century in its chronology.
  206. [206]
    Judaism and Hellenism in Antiquity: Conflict or Confluence? - jstor
    One of the most engaging and productive areas of research in the modern study of Jewish history in antiquity is the issue of Hellenization.
  207. [207]
    Let's talk about sects: Diversity in Second-Temple Judaism (NT 2.3)
    Sep 19, 2006 · Among groups within Judaism or Judean culture, we happen to know most about the sects that the Jewish historian Josephus styles as three (or ...Missing: unity | Show results with:unity
  208. [208]
    E. P. Sanders and His Impact on the Study of Second Temple Judaism
    Mar 11, 2024 · Annette Yoshiko Reed surveys the impact of E. P. Sanders upon the study of Second Temple Judaism.
  209. [209]
    [PDF] Comparing Judaism and Christianity - Fortress Press
    The principal aim of this chapter is to explain the origin of the phrase. “common Judaism,” which I employed in Judaism: Practice and Belief;1.
  210. [210]
    [PDF] The Destruction of the Temple in 70 CE: Rabbinic Judaism as a New ...
    The second aspect of Hellenization was the cultural component. ... Texts and Traditions: A Source Reader for the Study of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism.
  211. [211]
    [PDF] Exploring Changes in Judaism After the Fall of the Second Temple
    OF PAGAN CULTURE AND RELIGION ON POST SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM ........................... 50. CHAPTER FOUR: THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS AND THE IMPACT OF EXTERNAL ...
  212. [212]
    [PDF] Continuity and Change in Rabbinic Judaism - Fortress Press
    Rabbinic sources portray the reorientation of Judaism in the aftermath of the destruction of the second temple as a series of rapid reforms that took place in ...<|separator|>
  213. [213]
    [PDF] YOHANAN BEN ZAKKAI, AMICUS CAESARIS:* A JEWISH HERO IN ...
    Yohanan ben Zakkai to establish a rabbinic academy in Yavneh, the academy that would come to be viewed retrospectively as the central core of the burgeoning ...
  214. [214]
    The Waters of Consolation: Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai and His ...
    Sep 3, 2019 · Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai is famous as the Rabbi who shepherded the Jews through the destruction of the Temple. He ensured that at least one ...
  215. [215]
    Josephus and Judaism after 70 CE - Oxford Academic
    Reading this passage, one might wonder, for a moment, whether the destruction of the temple in 70 CE would have shattered Judaism's plausibility structure.
  216. [216]
    RABBINIC JUDAISM IN LIGHT OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS - jstor
    We can ask how the variegated. Judaism of the Second Temple period eventually would yield the consensus which developed around Rabbinic Judaism by the onset of ...
  217. [217]
    Mishnah | Oxford Classical Dictionary
    Compiled in c. ce 200 in Palestine by the patriarch Judah haNasi and his school, the Mishnah comprises the legal statements of the tannaim, i.e. rabbis, and ...
  218. [218]
    https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004299139/B9789004299139_001.pdf
  219. [219]
    The Separation of Christianity from Judaism
    Jun 21, 2021 · In the 1st century CE, Christians were essentially just one more sect of Judaism. A major turning point occurred when something unexpected ...
  220. [220]
    The Messiah: Who Was Israel Expecting?
    Apr 1, 2021 · The crucifixion of Jesus was a clear indication that the Jewish leaders rejected His claim as their long-awaited Messiah—despite compelling ...
  221. [221]
    Why Jews Don't Accept Jesus - Jewish Journal
    The primary reason that Jews do not believe in Jesus as the Messiah is that after his arrival and death, the world was not redeemed. There is at least as much ...
  222. [222]
    Why the Jews Rejected Jesus as the Messiah - Ministry Magazine
    The Jewish nation rejected Jesus as the Saviour and Messiah, when the Old Testament Scriptures were so filled with prediction, type, and prophecy.
  223. [223]
    At what point did Judaism and Christianity diverge?
    Mar 29, 2013 · The divergence is clearly articulated in Acts 15 - at the "Council of Jerusalem," often pegged at 50 AD - roughly 20 years after the Crucifixion.
  224. [224]
    Paul: Jewish Law and Early Christianity - Biblical Archaeology Society
    Learn how Jewish traditions and law extended into early Christianity through Paul's dual roles as a Christian missionary and a Pharisee.
  225. [225]
    The Parting of the Way: A Survey of the Relationship between Jews ...
    Apr 12, 2021 · This article assesses the relationship between Judaism and Christianity in the first two centuries CE, with specific focus on the social, theological, ...Missing: divergences | Show results with:divergences
  226. [226]
    [PDF] Continuity and Discontinuity: The Temple and Early Christian Identity
    In Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, he asks the readers this question: “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you?” ( ...
  227. [227]
    [PDF] Rabbinic Judaism's Messianic shift - Iowa Research Online
    For most Jews, however, two messianic missions meant two different individuals filling the two different roles—one of anointed king and one of anointed high ...<|separator|>
  228. [228]
    [PDF] jewish monotheism: the exclusivity of yahweh in persian period
    Throughout the Second Temple period our sources indicate an exclusive worship of Yahwh and an iniconic cult. Whether one wants to use "monotheism" in its ...
  229. [229]
    [PDF] Philo, Herod, Paul, and the Many Gods of Ancient Jewish ...
    Second Temple Jews who highly identified as Jews: Philo of Alexandria, Herod the ... Our scholarly reliance on “monotheism” as a term of historical description.
  230. [230]
    (DOC) Closed to All but One: The Canon and Messianic Expectation ...
    In essence, this paper will propose that the post-exilic and pre-Maccabean era saw a limited closing of the OT canon accompanying the cessation of prophecy.
  231. [231]
    Judaism – Comparative Religions
    Judaism is the oldest monotheistic religion, believing in one God, with a focus on the holiness of human life, strong ethics, and less emphasis on afterlife.