One God, Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Lecture 3 - From Israelite to Jew

Introduction:

We now trace the trajectory of the Jews in the crucial era after their Exile,

and the changes in their religious sensibilities and even their world-view.

A. A Divided Kingdom

1. Solomon’s fame lives on not only in Jewish legend but in Islam’s, as well:
   he is portrayed as a prophet and wonder-worker in the Quran and later
   as a magician extraordinaire.


2. At Solomon’s death, the legacy of David immediately began to unravel. The
   northern kingdom, called “Israel” drew apart from the south, dominated by
   Judah; paganism became rampant and the kings vile.


3. The times were as evil as the people. The eighth century BCE in the
   Middle East was one dominated by two superpowers, Egypt and Assyria,
   and Israel lay across the land bridge between them.
   B. The Exile and After


4. The Cause and Effect of the Babylonian Exile
   a. The conquest of Jerusalem and the looting of its temple in 597 CE—
   the invaders carried off the Ark among other things—was followed by
   exile in Babylon (Iraq) for the upper economic and social classes.
   b. This resulted in diaspora or a dispersal or scattering of the Jewish
   people across the Middle East. The northerners, ten of the original
   twelve tribes disappeared without a trace, and those who remained
   were so assimilated that they were called “Samaritans.”


5. The Reconstitution of Judaism in Judea
   a. The Jews that elected to return to Judah resettled and rewalled
   Jerusalem, rebuilt the temple and attempted to restore Jewish
   observance in the land, as the books of Ezra and Nehemiah describe.

LECTURE THREE

Consider this...

1. How did the Israelites maintain their identity in Babylon?


2. How did the Jews worship without access to the temple?


3. Was the exile God’s justice brought upon the nation of Israel?

Before beginning this lecture you may want to...

Read Isaiah, Ezra and Nehemiah (Bible, Revised Standard Version).