IF YOU CAN GET THROUGH THIS FIRST CHAPTER, THE REST OF THE BOOK MAY BE comparatively easygoing. If we are to understand as much as possible about Jesus, we have to be acquainted with his roots in Jewish history and with the only Bible he had—the "Old" Testament. {3}
We may be tempted to say, "Why bother with all that ancient history? Is it really important for today—Moses and the Red Sea, Jonah and the whale, Adam and Eve and the snake? We have the Ten Commandments, and that's enough."
Well, suppose you wanted to understand the life of Abraham Lincoln. Could you ignore everything before 1809, the year he was born? Could you know what his aims and values and sorrows were without some knowledge of slave ships from Africa and the development of a "North" and a "South"? Shouldn't you also know about the precarious new world of thirteen colonies, the cold and fear of Valley Forge, the long debate over the Constitution?
In a somewhat parallel way, we cannot begin to know Jesus as he really is unless we have at least a glimmering of what was in his consciousness as he heard the story of his people read in the synagogue all his life, or took the scrolls into his own hands for study. He pondered the love of his Father, the glory of his people and their sin. He heard the fierce denunciations of the prophets and their consoling assurances that someone would come to free his people from misery. He must have seen himself, and his future, in each column of the unrolling parchment and accepted his vocation.
The life of the chosen people was a journey toward Jesus. We will try to enter into that life. In many respects, perhaps more than we realize, their story is our story even now. It is not really an "old" testament; it is the perennial story of humanity with and without God, and the story of the determination of that loving God to save us in spite of ourselves. {4}
The Bible is not merely a record of events, but it is also an interpretation of those events. It is the sad-wise account of the ups and downs of the chosen people's relationship with God and of the meaning of God's acts in their history.
The chosen people gradually built up a collection of narratives, songs, prayers, meditations, prophetic utterances and "underground" writings— all centering around their God, Yahweh. Much of this tradition was transmitted by word of mouth from generation to generation. It was sung around campfires and commemorated in liturgical feasts like Passover. Finally, over a period of centuries beginning about the year 1000 B.C.E. (Before Common Era), this tradition was written down.
For a people not allowed to have carved images of God, the chosen people had a daring way of describing Yahweh. God has a face, eyes and ears and nostrils, a strong arm. He speaks and laughs, whistles and hisses; he is delighted and disgusted; he loves and hates with a passion; he regrets; he pities. He is alive.
Israel is his child, even his spouse. God holds his people like an infant to his cheek, while Israel vacillates between being a tender lover, a spoiled child and an adulteress. God gives and demands total surrender, but is faithful and endlessly forgiving.
The Bible cannot, therefore, be read as merely a list of dusty dates and long-ago battles. It must be experienced by someone who has outgrown the childhood fallacy that the world started when he or she was born, and who now puts an adult meaning to the question, "Where do I come from?" This question found a thrilling answer in the consciousness of Jesus, and we can all share his experience by making the story of the Bible our own story.
In this chapter we try to combine a basic consideration of the of Israel's history in chronological order with the books in which these events (and their meaning) are recorded.
The contents page of your Bible will reveal that there arc three kinds of books in the Old Testament: historical books tracing God's relationship with a people; prophetic books recording the prophets' warnings in the face of the people's sin, as well as their consoling assurances; and the wisdom books, prayerful meditations on human life. {5}
Many kinds of writing—literary genres—fill these books: narrative, poetry, prophecy, fiction and a strange thing called apocalyptic (more about that later) . In order to understand what the writers are trying to tell us, we will have to take that into account. We also must consider what's going on in their time and culture, and how they express themselves (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, #110) .
Why? Well, imagine trying to explain a "Big Mac attack" to an Israelite facing Assyrian spears or "Lions devour Patriots, 55—0" to a first-century Roman Christian.
HISTORICAL BOOKS
The first five books of the Bible are called the Pentateuch ("five books") or the Torah ("the Law") , which Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof longed to contemplate in retirement. The first of these, Genesis, deals with the origin of the human race and, more importantly, of the chosen people.
GENESIS. For our present purpose, let us summarize the first eleven chapters of Genesis as follows: God creates man and woman and gives them divine friendship along with a world in which to enjoy it. But Adam and Eve choose to be little gods themselves; they abandon God's friendship and their innocence and their honesty.
Made to be like God, humans decided to play at being God, thumbing their noses at the Creator and refusing to be who they are—creatures. The "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" symbolizes the limits of creaturehood (see Catechism, #311, 398).
Untruth and unlove seep through the world like poison, until people are so absorbed in their own selfishness that no one can understand or communicate with others. Everyone seems to speak his or her own "foreign" language. Humanity plunges from Paradise to Babel.
This is not merely an earthly setback or tragedy; it is the total collapse of life itself—physical and spiritual. "[T]he moment you eat from it [the forbidden tree] you are surely to die" (Genesis 2:17b) Humankind embraced sin and begot death. {6}
Abraham, Our Father in Faith. Now God intervenes in a special way. About nineteen hundred years before Christ, God chooses a man, Abraham, who lived in what is now Iraq, to be the father of a new people. Through this man and his household, God enters human history in a new way and begins a special self-revelation. Abraham is the seed of the Savior to come as God begins to unveil, in Paul's words, "the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past" (Colossians 1:26a) .
It may sound odd to us that God "intervenes" in our history by his special relationship with Abraham and his people, Israel. After all, God "has the whole world in his hands" and is "here" already, supporting every atom and spirit in existence. Nevertheless, it is true to say that God now begins to unfold an eternal plan that will be fulfilled by definite historical events beginning with Abraham and "ending" with Jesus.
God's purpose is to prepare (and at the same time save from sin) an "acceptable" people. God must free human beings without forcing them to love—which, ultimately God does by a free act of love in Jesus' death.
God's basic purpose is liberation. We are by inheritance and by choice enslaved to our own pride and passion. God must continually throw light on both real beauty and real ugliness, let us suffer the logic of sin (called punishment) and bring us, painfully, to what should be a commonsense decision—to choose to live.
Israel, symbol of humankind, has a monotonous history of being loved, of responding with sin, of being punished, of repenting, of being forgiven, of being unfaithful again, on and on. God has a refreshing history of being God: one who loves faithfully.
EXODUS. The Book of Exodus ("a way out") is the story of Israel's liberation from physical and spiritual slavery in Egypt—the model of our ultimate liberation in Jesus. We join his "exodus" through death to life.
God strikes the Egyptians but passes over the homes of the Israelites who have put the blood of a lamb on the doorposts of their homes all partaken of a meal of its flesh. Now, under the leadership of Moses (foreshadowing Jesus), they go (perhaps as a straggling mass of refugees) through the water of the Red Sea to freedom.
The Exodus, together with the covenant that followed at Sinai, is the central event of Israel's history. {7}
We cannot exaggerate the importance of these events for the Jews and, ultimately, for us. What the death and resurrection of Jesus is to us, the Exodus-covenant was to the chosen people. It foreshadows our own exodus, in Jesus, from slavery to freedom, from death to life, again in the blood of the Lamb. It foretells the family meal of the Eucharist and the "drowning" and "rising" in the water of baptism.
The Exodus is not a simple affair. The Israelites wander in the Sinai desert for forty years—sometimes faithful, sometimes grumbling. Yahweh gives them signs of divine presence and protection. As always, Yahweh was a hidden God who could be seen only by faith.
In the desert, Israel was alone with God. There was no place to run and hide. The desert is the symbol of death and of human loneliness. There we must each decide either to die or to survive in the only way possible: by total surrender to God.
The Ten Commandments. At the mountain of Sinai, God makes a covenant with the Israelites. Through Moses, God says,
You have seen for yourselves how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagle wings and brought you here to myself. Therefore, if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people.... You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.... (Exodus 19:4b—5a, 6a)
The people all answered together, "We will do everything that the Lord has told us" (Exodus 24:3b).
The Covenant. God gave his people the Ten Commandments not as a burden but as a way of keeping the Sinai Covenant. They were, when not unfaithful, happy to have this guide on how to be God's people. In the Book of Exodus, the list of the commandments is followed by several chapters of guidance and specific details on observing God's way.
The Blood. It is important to realize what blood meant to the Israelites: Blood was life. So, at the dramatic liturgy ratifying the covenant, Moses took the blood of an animal and poured half of it on the stone altar—representing God—and threw the other half on the assembled people, saying the words Jesus would fulfill: 'This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you" (Exodus 24:8b). {8}
It is one blood on the altar and on the people. God and the people are united. The blood of the covenant is the symbol of the marriage of God and the chosen, of their union, their oneness. "I will be your God, and Mill be Inv people" (Leviticus 26: 12b).
Covenant Love. In the generations after Moses, the covenant remained a focus of Israel's life. Beneath all the customs and ceremonies that gradually developed and in spite of continuing unfaithfulness, the Israelites, like spoiled children, could always be sure of one thing: They might sin and wander, but God is faithful. They used a special word for this love: hesed. It is a love that cannot be worn down, the love of kinship that is simplv faithful (see Catechism, #214).
This love goes beyond all expectation, all just dues. It pours itself out in generosity. Best of all, it is unstoppable, unquenchable. The more God's children sin, the more God pursues them with mercy. Yahweh is faithful to the spouse who is continually adulterous.
Passover. It is extremely important to understand three things Jesus did: He lived the covenant perfectly, he celebrated the Passover and he transformed the "old" covenant into a new and eternal one. His death and resurrection were his own passover-exodus, and they became the exodus for all humankind.
Why did Jesus celebrate the Passover? First, because he was an observant Jew. The Jews had always said, down the centuries, that God's covenant is remade with each new generation. With their usual children-of-the-house boldness, they said, "[N]ot with our fathers did he make this covenant, but with us, all of us who are alive here this day" (Deuteronomy 5:3b).
Every year at Passover each household procured a lamb, one year old and without blemish. They ate it with loins girt, sandals on their feet and staff in hand—like those who are in flight (see Exodus 12:11).
Our Passover is Jesus, in whose blood the new and eternal covenant is made. Jlis blood is "upon us" and in us, symbolizing a true union between God and us. We cal his flesh as those who are in flight from slavery. We drink his blood, sealing the covenant.
The Law: Powerless to Save. The Torah—the Law—cannot save. As Saint Paul keeps on saying, it is merely our teacher (see Galatians 3:24). It is powerless, except to reveal all the obstacles of sin between us and God. {9}
Our reverence for the Ten Commandments should never deceive us into thinking that we can save ourselves by observing them. Saint Paul spent most of his Christian life insisting on this. We have the Law, but we cannot observe it by ourselves. We are not self-righteous (though that is the word we use for people who think they are). God leads us, chosen people, through glory and misery, sin and faith, to a growing consciousness that we need God absolutely.
LEVITICUS. The third book of the Bible gets its name from Levi, head of the priestly tribe. The book gives many directives for sacrifice and ritual. The central theme is this: "Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy" (Leviticus 19:2b; see also 11:44; 20:26).
NUMBERS. The Book of Numbers (so called because it records two censuses of the Hebrew people) continues the story of the journey begun in Exodus. It describes the life of the Israelites for thirty-eight years in the desert, from their coming to Sinai to their arrival at the border of the promised land.
For their murmuring, God prolongs the people's stay in the desert while simultaneously deepening the covenant relationship and preparing them to be a missionary nation.
DEUTERONOMY. The name means "Second Law. " It is not really a new Law, but a repeating and completing of the Law given on Mount Sinai. Moses, in a series of discourses (similar to those of Jesus in Matthew's Gospel), presents the theme of covenant renewal, of living religion. He exhorts and threatens his people, reminding them of the special claim the Lord has on them.
The events described in this book took place between the end of the desert journey and the crossing of the Jordan into the promised land under Joshua. The book was written alter the Israelites had lived in the protuised land for centuries and is presented as a kind of testatment of Moses.
JOSHUA. This book shows God's faithfulness in giving the Israelites the inheritance of land he had promised. God acts through Joshua, and the chosen people cross the Jordan and begin the gradual capture of the promised land. At this point Israel renews the covenant with Yahweh. {10}
The history of the conquest of Canaan is a foretelling of the spiritual conquest of the world under the leadership of Jesus (Joshua is an earlier form of the name Jesus) . Under Jesus, the New Moses, there will be a new covenant, a new Mount Sinai, a new Passover, a new Passover Lamb, a new commandment.
The book ofJoshua may be summed up by these words,
In the future, when the children among you ask their fathers what these stones mean [twelve stones from the Jordan], you shall inform them, 'Israel crossed the Jordan here on dry ground.' For the Lord, your God, dried up the waters of the Jordan in front of you until you crossed over, just as the Lord, your God, had done at the Red Sea...; in order that all the peoples of the earth may learn that the hand of the Lord is mighty, and that you may fear the Lord, your God, forever (Joshua 4:21b-23b, 24)
JUDGES. This book takes its name from the "judges," twelve military heroes sent by God to lead the people in the interval between the death of Joshua and the institution of the monarchy. The book shows that Israel's fortunes go up and down according to whether or not they obey God's Law. When they rebel, they are overcome by pagan nations; when they repent, God raises up new leaders to liberate them.
It is the same cycle again: from faithfulness to unfaithfulness, to punishment, to repentance, to forgiveness and deliverance.
Kingship—Under or Instead of God? Eventually Israel decides it wants earthly kings instead of being a theocracy, a people ruled directly by God. Three pairs of books (each one a single scroll) describe the period: 1 and 2 Samuel; 1 and 2 Kings; 1 and 2 Chronicles.
1 AND 2 SAMUEL. The books of Samuel span the history of a century (about 1100—1000 B.C.E.) and relate a series of episodes centering around the persons of Samuel, Saul and David. Central to our interest is the oracle of Nathan (2 Samuel 7) which promises David an eternal dynasty. This is the basis for the development of the idea of an earthly Messiah. {11}
I AND 2 KINGS. The two books of Kings cover similar ground, but also extend to the most tragic happening in Israel's history: the exile in 587 B.C.E., about which more will follow in a moment.
A central figure of the Old Testament is King David, who foreshadows the King to come. He succeeds in forming the confederation of twelve tribes into a united kingdom and setting up a new capital, Jerusalem. God renews his eternal covenant with this king. (David sins, as movies have emphatically pointed out, but does penance with equal vigor.)
The kings were, as was to be expected, a poor substitute for the rule of God. Consequently, the prophets (about whom more will follow) spend a large part of their careers denouncing both moral and religious aberrations. A later biblical writer looks back over history and says sadly of the kings, "Except for David, Hezekiah and Josiah, / they all were wicked" (Sirach 49:4).
In 930 B.C.E. David's united kingdom is split into two: in the north, the ten tribes of Israel; in the south, Judah (whose people come to be called "Jews") , consisting of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin—the tiny remnant that will eventually fulfill God's promises.
In 721 B.C.E. Assyrian invaders conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, deporting its citizens and recolonizing the land with foreigners. The descendants of these Israelite-pagan marriages were the Samaritans of Jesus' day. Thus the expression: "the lost tribes of Israel." It is important to note that the sacred writer says, "The king of Assyria then deported the Israelites. This came about because they had not heeded the warning of the Lord, their God, but violated his covenant, not heeding and not fulfilling the commandments of Moses, the servant of the Lord" (2 Kings 18:11a, 12).
The terrors of exile also came to the southern kingdom (587 B.C.E.) under the armies of Babylon. Again the sacred writer sees the meaning:
Early and often did the Lord, the God of their fathers, send his messengers to them, for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets, until the anger of the Lord against his people was so inflamed that there was no remedy. Then he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men in their own sanctuary building. . . . They burnt the house of God, tore down the walls of Jerusalem, set all its palaces afire.... Those who escaped the sword he carried captive to Babylon.... All this was to fulfill the word of the Lord.... (2 Chronicles 36:15—17a, 19a, 20a, 21a)
1 AND 2 CHRONICLES. The two books of Chronicles treat the same period as the two pairs of books just described, but from a different viewpoint. They cover the period from Samuel to the return from exile in 538 B.C.E. {12}
Solomon is presented as an ideal king, second only to David. His great achievement is building the temple and promoting a magnificent liturgy of sacrifice, prayer and praise. The ideal of one people united in the worship of the true God in Jerusalem is achieved.
But at the end, in the return from the agony of exile (a second Exodus) the remnant knows the political greatness of Israel is past. They have had a national "holocaust." They will now be a people under God or they will be nothing. The past will show the way to the future: There will be emphasis on David's blessed line, on Jerusalem as the divinely established place of worship. But the way into the future is not easy. When the remnant returns they find the "people of the land"—descendants of those who had escaped being carried into exile—have mixed with foreigners and developed a new religion; hence, tension.
PROPHETIC BOOKS
The word prophet means "one who speaks for" ("in the place of" or "on behalf of"). Prophets communicate with God in prayer, visions, and, by God's grace, understand the meaning of God's self-revelation and the horror of the sin that repudiates it. They stand up coutageously against sin and injustice, whether in king or slave. They warn of God's punishment and, when it befalls, bring God's consolation. They demand faithfulness and promise deliverance.
They attack all violations of the covenant: sexual imnmorality, social injustice, human degradation. They are the conscience of Israel.
Moses may be considered a prophet, and also Elijah, thc "troubler of Israel." Sonne prophets, like Nathan, are written about in the historical books. Other prophets, or their followers, recorded their own vision and message. {13}
The eighteen prophetic books are the work of the so-called "classical", or writing, prophets. They cover a period from Amos's denunciation of the sins of Israel in the north around 750 B.C.E. to the hopeful book of Daniel, written in the second century before Christ.
AMOS. Let us spend a few moments with Amos, a shepherd from the southern kingdom who was sent north sometime between 780 and 740 B.C.E. The people of Israel are not even aware how deeply their conduct offends a holy God, who must therefore say,
I hate, I spurn your feasts,
I take no pleasure in your solemnities;
...
Away with your noisy songs! (Amos 5:21, 23a)
Like the prophets after him, Amos speaks of the "remnant" that God will save—though it will be like a shepherd rescuing from the mouth of the lion "a pair of legs or the tip of an ear of his sheep" (Amos 3: 12b).
He gives a new meaning to an expression that runs throughout the Bible: "the day of the Lord." To a suffering people, it meant the day God would judge the enemies of Israel and vindicate his people. But now Amos reminds the chosen people that it will also be a day of gloom for them—not just their enemies. For those who are sinners, unfaithful, it will be a day of judgment when God destroys their pride.
HOSEA. Like Amos, Hosea thunders in the north, and at about the same time (during the later years of the reign of Jeroboam II—786—746 B.C.E.). Yet he is one of the most touching examples of God's mercy. His own marriage to the prostitute Gomer becomes a symbol of God's marriage relationship with Israel. After three children, Gomer reverts to being a prostitute. But Hosea seeks her out and takes her back—as no Jewish husband could or would do—as an example of the way God pursues and welcomes back an unfaithful people.
ISAIAH. The writings of several prophets appear in the one book we now call Isaiah. Only the first segment (Isaiah 1—39)—and not all of that—is the work of the actual person Isaiah, who prophesied between the years 742 and 687 B.C.E. Isaiah 40—55, sometimes called Second Isaiah, is generally attributed to an anonymous poet at the end of the Babylonian exile (around 538 B.C.E.). Isaiah 56—66 was written at a still later period by followers of the prophet. {14}
Excerpts from the book of Isaiah are read fifty-seven times in the three year cycle of Sunday readings—an indication of the importance these prophets still hold for us. They are used extensively in Advent and Lent.
First Isaiah. Isaiah is the greatest of the prophets. He lives at a crucial time in salvation history, his career covering the years 742—687 B.C.E. After the north is destroyed, Judah in the south has its turn on center stage. It is to Judah that Isaiah preaches.
His great vision is of the holiness of God—and the horror of human sinfulness in contrast. The frightful abyss between God's holiness and human sin overwhelms Isaiah. He denounces both north and south for seeking security in military alliances; he summons Judah to faith in God as its only hope.
But again, in the tradition of Amos, Isaiah foresees that only a remnant will be saved to see the desert bloom and God's splendor:
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
With divine recompense
he comes to save you. (Isaiah 35:4b)
Second Isaiah. Isaiah 40—55 is called "The Book of Consolation" and was written toward the end of the Babylonian exile. The anonymous author sees that the chosen people will be liberated; the captives will return. The prophet rebuilds their shattered morale and paints a vision of a glorious future:
It is I, I, who wipe out,
for my own sake, your offenses;
your sins I remember no more. (Isaiah 43:25)
Can a mother forget her infant,
be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget,
I will never forget you. (Isaiah 49: 15)
Very prominent in Second Isaiah is the promise to the remnant. There will be a small number of humble and faithful people who will be God's new Israel, with whom God will make a new covenant. They are purified by the sorrows of exile. They are the "poor" and the "poor in spirit" whom Jesus praised. From our perspective we can see Mary, the flower of Israel's faith, standing at their head. {15}
The four "Songs of the Suffering Servant" are an important feature of Second Isaiah (42:1-4; 49:1-7; 50:4-11; 52:13-53:12) The Servant is, first, the motley remnant of the poor who listen faithfully to the prophet's words; and, second, he is also an individual figure who will save the people from their sins. Isaiah 53 reads like a description of the passion of Jesus.
Still, when the return from exile is complete, the ideal Israel is not fully restored, God must still create a new heaven and a new earth. Someone will come who will be the true Servant.
THE MESSIAH. Much of the teaching of Isaiah, as well as the other prophets, converges on the Messiah who is to come. The figure takes form slowly, very slowly, over the centuries.
The word Messiah means "anointed," that is, commissioned like a king, priest or prophet. The Messiah will fulfill Israel's destiny, save his people, protect them. He will lead his people to delight in the fear of the Lord. He willjudge—that is, vindicate—the poor and "with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked" (Isaiah 11:4c).
Coming in the line of King David, he will create a holy nation, which will be "a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (see Exodus 19:6; also 1 Peter 2:9). The inner core of his work is to eliminate sin and restore humankind to intimacy with God. Isaiah sees his work as centered in the temple. All nations will come there, as to the center of the earth. He heartens his fellow Jews with a vision:
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light. (Isaiah 9:1a)
For a child is born to us
...
His dominion is vast
and forever peaceful. (Isaiah 9:5a, 6)
JEREMIAH. Jeremiah was called to be God's prophet about 627 B.C.E. For forty years—through the reigns of Judah's last five kings—he warned of coming disaster and begged king and people to turn back to God. He was ignored, abused, arrested and publicly disgraced. In 587 B.C.E. the Babylonian army destroyed Jerusalem and took the most influential people into exile. Many people fled to nearby countries. Jeremiah stayed behind with the remnant in Judah, but later was forced into exile in Egypt and according to one tradition was murdered there. {16}
Speaking for the Lord, Jeremiah says,
Two evils have my people done:
they have forsaken me, the source of living waters;
They have dug for themselves cisterns,
broken cisterns, that hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13)
But Jeremiah has words of hope of the eventual victory of God: "The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Jeremiah 31:31, 33b).
Jeremiah's influence was greater after his death than before. The exiles read and meditated on his lessons, and his influence can be seen Ezekiel and Second Isaiah.
EZEKIEL. Ezekiel becomes a prophet while he suffers among the deportees in Babylon (c. 587 B.C.E.). He is often called the "prophet of the exile." He helps the exiles accept the destruction of Jerusalem, pointing out, like his fellow prophets, that the people's past and present sins are wreaking their necessary fulfillment. Perhaps the saddest words in the Bible are those of Ezekiel 10:18: "Then the glory of the Lord left the threshold of the temple...."
But, finally, Ezekiel offers a sure hope. He begins to announce God's promise of a new covenant and describes a new and ideal Israel rising from the graveyard of Babylon (the dry bones come together in Ezekiel 37). But salvation will be the work of God, not man. God will create a new heart and a new spirit in the people (see Ezekiel 36:26). The temple will be purified, and God will be present among the people (see Ezekiel 43:1-7). {17}
After the Exile Until the Time of Christ. Just as the people had been liberated from Egypt in the Exodus, so eventually the small remnant is delivered from captivity in Babylon in 538 B.C.E. They are a chastened people. They discover the Torah anew and become more convinced than ever that they are God's chosen ones.
The exile has made them a people with an unshakable faith in the one God. They no longer have earthly kings, only God, whose representative is the high priest.
The Jews are never again a nation of power. But after the exile they are benevolently treated by Cyrus the Persian. A very modest new temple is built by 515 B.C.E.
The Persians retain control until the time of Alexander the Great. With him begins a "Greek period" whose influence continues into New Testament times, even though the land was under the Ptolemies of Egypt in the third century B.C.E. and the Seleucids of Syria until the time of the Maccabees one hundred years later.
JONAH. This much debated book was written some time between 400 and 200 B.C.E. It is not historical narrative, but didactic fiction, a story designed to teach a lesson. The lesson is this: God loves all people, not just the Jews. When Jonah is sent to prophesy to the pagan Ninevites, they turn to God; but the chosen people sometimes refuse. It is a parable of mercy aimed against narrowness and self-righteousness.
EZRA AND NEHEMIAH. The transformation of the Jewish people after the exile is important for our understanding of Jesus. This is the period of the Restoration. The two men most responsible for this reorganization of Jewish life are Ezra and Nehemiah. (The books attributed to these men fall into the category of historical books, but are treated here for the sake of chronology.)
Ezra provides spiritual unity. Without his firmness, Judaism has no chance of resisting absorption by Greek culture. He sets the tone for a postexilic community characterized by fidelity to the Torah. {18}
Nehemiah, like Ezra, helps Judaism maintain its identity during difficult days in the postexilic restoration.
DANIEL. This book represents a special kind of biblical writing called "apocalyptic." It looks to a direct intervention of God as the only way the world will be transformed. The wfiting abounds in symbols, often difficult to understand—parts of the body, animals, colors, numbers. Apocalyptic writers foresee a cataclysm: The heavens will open and the future will crash into the present.
In the New Testament the book of Revelation (the Apocalypse) is written in this style. Jesus uses this form in his description of the Day of the Lord (see Mark 13).
The book of Daniel was born during the persecution of the Jews in the second century before Jesus. It firmly asserts that God is the Lord of history. Deliverance and glory are coming; God's people should stay strong amid temptation and suffering.
In the seventh chapter the author speaks of
One like a son of man coming,
on the clouds of heaven;
...
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not be taken away,
his kingship shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13a, 14b)
1 AND 2 MACCABEES. Again, for the sake of chronology, we insert a book classified as part of the historical writings.
Judas Maccabee (and later his brothers) led a Jewish revolt against the Seleucid kings, who were persecuting the Jews. It was a courageous reaction to the attempt to suppress Judaism in Palestine in the second century before Christ. For a time the Jews again have religious and political independence. Again it is hoped that the salvation of the Jews will involve the creation of a Jewish state with political autonomy from foreign conquerors.
The Roman power enters Palestine in 63 B.C.E. Herod the Great, a Jew favored by the Romans, is declared "King of Judea," reigning from 37 to 4 B.C.E. Herod's son Herod Antipas rules Galilee until 39 C.E., but Roman governors, called procurators, hold the real power. {19}
One of them is named Pontius Pilate.
WISDOM BOOKS
A third type of literature in the Old Testament is the wisdom books. These are meditations on human experience and the problems of life: good and evil, death and life, happiness and suffering. They are concerned with moral information—that is, how to live in God's presence. There are seven of them, comprising about one-fourth of the Old Testament.
PSALMS. The psalms are the prayers of Israel and continue to be the prayers of the Catholic Church today. They are a collection of 150 religious poems, about half of them attributed to King David. Some were undoubtedly written during the exile or even later, until about 300 B.C.E.
These are the prayers Jesus said with all his family and friends. They are an intimate part of the church's prayer today and should receive our special attention.
PROVERBS. This is an anthology of didactic poetry aimed at helping the young and inexperienced along the road to wisdom; consideration is also given those who desire advanced training. Solomon is the author of at least part of the collection.
JOB. The book of Job, written between the seventh and fifth centuries B.C.E., is a drama in poetic form that treats the problem of the suffering of the innocent.
Why do the good suffer? There is no answer, if one wants to know why God did not create a world free of suffering. God wants instead humble and trustful acceptance of divine providence and deep faith in God's steadfast covenant love.
THE SONG OF SONGS. Written after the exile, this is a portrayal of ideal love between man and woman. This love is a symbol of the love between the Lord and the chosen people.
ECCLESIASTES. The author, writing about 300 B.C.E., considers such human ambitions and aspirations as the pursuit of wealth, pleasure, luxury knowledge, wisdom, bravery. Are they good or bad? He concludes: "[V]anity of vanities! All things are vanity!" (Ecclesiastes 1:2b). The meaning: These values are not deserving of a wise person's full time and energy because the human spirit cannot be fulfilled by any earthly values— human, social or material. {20}
SIRACH. This catechism of good conduct, cast in the traditional categories of sin and virtue, was written about 200—175 B.C.E. How can one be wise for God? The author treats humility, giving alms, filial piety, sincerity, friendship, pride and presumption, prudence and temperance.
WISDOM. This exhortation, addressed to Jews scattered in lands far away from Palestine, urges them to be faithful and warns them not to be taken in by the pagan immorality of their surroundings. It is the Old Testament book written last (about 100 B.C.E.).
SUMMING UP
Over a period of two thousand years, God forms a people. God chooses a missionary group, liberates them from slavery in the great Exodus from Egypt and makes a covenant with them at Sinai. They waver between faithfulness and sin, between majestic worship in the temple and adulterous running after idols.
They go through the cycle of friendship, rebellion, punishment and reconciliation over and over again—a paradigm of the life of the church. They—or at least a faithful remnant—are purified in the fires of oppression and exile. Reduced to human helplessness, they long for the Messianic Age. Some look for a new time of prosperity, others for the great king who will rival the glory and power of David and lead them to freedom, reestablishing the kingdom.
Among the poor of God who wait is a girl of Nazareth, the virgin womb of Israel, prepared for by prophet, priest and king. She, the flower of the "poor of Yahweh," the remnant, sums up all her people's longings and the love of those who have kept faith. She learns of the Passover lamb, the covenant, the promise.
And we can imagine her praying these words of Isaiah, not knowing the full depth of the words which had come down to her: {21}
I rejoice heartily in the LORD,
in my God is the joy of my soul;
For he has clothed me with a robe of salvation,
and wrapped me in a mantle ofjustice,
Like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem,
like a bride bedecked with her jewels.
As the earth brings forth its plants,
and a garden makes its growth spring up,
So will the Lord GOD make justice and praise
spring up before all the nations. (Isaiah 61: 10—11)
REFLECTION DISCUSSION STARTERS
l) What does it mean to say the Bible is not simply a record of events but also an interpretation of these events?
2)Reflect on the ways the God of the chosen people is described by Old Testament writers. How is this God similar to or different from the God of your experience?
3)The Exodus—Israel's liberation from physical and spiritual slavery in Egypt—is a model for our ultimate liberation in Jesus. Discuss how the Passover-Exodus parallels and foreshadows the death-resurrection of Jesus.
4)What is the covenant relationship God makes with the Israelites? Discuss the love God offers in this relationship and the response of the people. Do you see your own relationship to God as one of covenant?
5)What, in general, was the role of the prophets for the chosen people? Does any one prophet speak particularly to you? Why?
6)What are the concerns of the wisdom books? Are your prayers as candid as those found in the book of Psalms?
7)Discuss the recurring theme of oppression and exile in the life of the chosen people. Have you ever felt oppressed or in exile in your own life? What freed you?
SCRIPTURE READINGS
In covering the entire Old Testament, this chapter can provide only a brief view of its contents. You may wish to examine more closely some of the books discussed. Four passages that are significant as both a reference to a faithful remnant of the people and a foreshadowing of a savior are the "Songs of the Suffering Servant": Isaiah 42:1-4; 49:1-7; 50:4-11; 52:13-53:12. {22}
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL1
Catholic Updates: "The Bible and Prayer: Themes from the Synod" by Michael Guinan O.F.M.; "Choosing and Using a Bible: What Catholics Should Know," by Ronald Witherup s.s.; "A Popular Guide to Reading the Bible," by Macrina Scott O.S.F.; "How to Understand the Bible: Examining the Tools of Today's Scripture Scholars," by Norman Langenbrunner; "The Whole Bible at a Glance: Its 'Golden Thread' of Meaning" and "Finding Your Way Through the Old Testament," both by Virginia Smith.
Scripture From Scratch: "The Bible From Square One," written by Elizabeth McNamer; "Interpreting the Bible: The Right and the Responsibility," by Sandra Schneiders I.H.M.; "The Use and Abuse of the Bible," by Ronald D. Witherup s.s; "Mapping the Biblical Journey" and "Exodus and Exile: Shaping God's People," both by Virginia Smith; "From Mount Sinai to the Sermon on the Mount: The Laws of Moses and Jesus," by Alfred McBride O.PRAEM.; "From Spirit to Holy Spirit in the Old Testament," by Leonard Doohan; "The Dead Sea Scrolls," by Elizabeth McNamer.
CD: New Great Themes of Scripture, by Richard Rohr O.F.M.
Books: The Great Themes of Scripture: Old Testament, by Richard Rohr O.F.M., and Joseph Martos; The Bible Made Easy: A Book-by-Book Introduction, by Timothy Schehr; When God Speaks: Reflections on the First Readings Of the Sunday Lectionary, by Daniel E. Pilarczyk.
Footnotes
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In the Supplementary Material sections throughout this book, Updates refers to issues of Catholic Update, published by St. Anthony Messenger Press. Scripture Scratch, is a St. Anthony Messenger Press newsletter. Books, CDs and DVDs listed are available from St. Anthony Messenger Press. Study guides can be downloaded http://catalog.AmericanCatholic.org/guide. ↩