Early Judaism- A Comprehensive Overview

viction that the Hebrew prophets did not really speak to their own times

but to Second Temple circumstances. Parallels between pesher and rab-

binic exegesis usually concern only the basic interpretation of the text, and

not the pesher form itself. The theological presumptions of pesher exegesis

were not in agreement with rabbinic notions of prophecy, and the rabbis

tended in general to minimize apocalyptic trends.

Sectarian versus Rabbinic Theology

Both Second Temple texts and rabbinic literature were heir to the complex

and often contradictory theological views of the various biblical books.

Both corpora also share basic Jewish theological ideas such as belief in God

the creator, the revelation of the Torah, and hope in a coming redemption.

An important question is whether ideas in Second Temple texts that differ

substantially from the biblical tradition were taken up in rabbinic Judaism.

The extreme dualism and determinism taught in the sectarian Dead Sea

Scrolls offers an interesting case in point. This set of beliefs assumes that

God has preplanned the entire course of the cosmos and certainly of hu-

mans, who are divided into two lots, as are the heavenly beings, who strug-

gle eternally against one another. Individual actions, for good or evil, seem

in this system to be beyond one’s own power, and yet individuals are pun-

ished for transgressing God’s law, even including prescriptions that are not

known beyond the sect. There is no basis for such ideas in the Hebrew

Scriptures, and it is widely assumed that these concepts are somehow influ-

enced by Persian dualism. In the rabbinic corpus, predestination is not ac-

cepted, although human free will can be countermanded by God. There is

no cosmic dualism but rather an inner spiritual dualism of the good and

evil inclination(yejer)in each person. Later, this concept merged with Hel-

lenistic notions so that the two inclinations came to be identified closely

with the spiritual and physical aspects of humanity. But free will is the basis

of God’s judgment of people, and all are responsible for their actions.

Another notion found in the Scrolls and other Second Temple texts

but at variance with rabbinic theology is that prophetic or revelatory phe-

nomena did not end with the story line of Scripture ca. 400b.c.e.but

rather continued into Greco-Roman times. This point of view underlies a

lot of Second Temple literature but is virtually absent in rabbinic texts. The

rabbis state explicitly that prophecy ended with the last of the Hebrew Bi-

ble prophets — Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. In fact, the end of

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Early Judaism and Rabbinic Judaism

EERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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