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Prophecy is the sense of predicting the future. Prophets were spiritually inspired individuals who acted as God’s messengers. The prophets cared for nothing but getting the people to return to God. There were two main types of prophets: the court prophets, and the citizen prophets. The citizen prophets were prophets who rose from the people. The court prophets were prophets who were a part of the political structure of the country. In some cases, a prophet would confront a king concerning a sin, and cause the king to repent.
Moral autonomy is a person’s right to choose what he thinks is right and wrong. The Hebrews believed that people were responsible for their own actions. Polytheistic religions believed that the gods controlled the fate ruled over people, and even the gods.
Exhortation is speech that greatly encourages something. Especially during the first temple period, the prophets exhorted the people to repent, to return to god, and to stop sinning.
Diaspora is the period of time during which the Hebrews could not live in the land. After the conquering of the land, there were two of these periods: the first started after the destruction of the first temple until the rebuilding of the temple, and the second began after the destruction of the second temple.
Syncretism is the joining different systems of belief, as in philosophy or religion, especially when the result is heterogeneous. This occurred in the Kingdom of Israel, as polytheistic religions were followed in addition to monotheism.
Exile is enforced removal from one's native country. This is what caused the periods known as Diaspora.
A covenant is a formal sealed agreement or contract. Three covenants were made in the time of the bible: the first was the rainbow, which god made with Noah. In this covenant, god promised never to destroy humanity with water again. The second covenant was made with Abraham, in which god promised that he would make Abraham’s prosperity into a great nation, but that they would suffer for 400 years in a land that they would not know. In the third covenant, also made with Abraham, god promised that he would give the land of Canaan to Abraham’s prosperity.
Accommodation is a policy in which a conquered country meets the demands of the conqueror in order to keep autonomous rule. This is the policy Jeremiah encouraged King Zedekiah to use so that Jerusalem and the Temple would not be destroyed. Unfortunately, Zedekiah went with the belief that Jerusalem was inviolable, as the party of rebellion held, and therefore he began the official revolt, which led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.
The Deuteronomic Reform was a group of changes made by two Kings of Judah, in which Judaism once again became the formal religion of the country. The first king during this period was Hezekiah, 715-687. He began this reform by destroying the high places outside of Jerusalem, bringing all of the people closer to Jerusalem and to the temple. However, it was during this king’s reign that Isaiah prophesied that Judah was crumbling. He was correct, because the next king, Menasseh brought the reforms to a halt by turning Jerusalem into an idolatrous city, and was willing to murder anyone against this. The king after, Josiah, who reigned from 640-609 under the guardianship of the high priest Hilkiah, continued the changes. The changes were mainly started because of the finding of the book of Deuteronomy. He initiated the Passover pilgrimage and read the book of Deuteronomy aloud. He also was able to conquer Northern Samaria and the Galilee.
The Babylonian Captivity was the first period of Diaspora, in which the Hebrews were deported to Babylonia. The remaining Hebrews in Judah after the destruction of the temple either ran away or were deported after Gedaliah was assassinated. After the Persians conquered Babylonia in 538, the Hebrews were allowed to return to Judah by Cyrus, the King of Persia at the time.
The Kingdom of Israel was the kingdom that was up north, made up of the ten of the Hebrew tribes. It was not able to hold on to complete monotheism, as many people began to believe in polytheism and idolatry. The Assyrians conquered it in 722.
The Kingdom of Judah was the kingdom in the south, made of the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin.
Although at many point polytheism and idolatry was followed by many, there were also points when a return to monotheism was initiated. The most popular of these was the Deuteronomic Reform. The first temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586. Soon after, the Hebrews were completely deported from the Land. In 538, Cyrus, the King of Persia who conquered Babylonia, allowed the Jews to return to the land. Toward the end of the century, because of slow progress in the reconstruction of the temple, a second group, led by Nehemiah, the governor of Judah, and Ezra. This kingdom also went through the rule of the Greeks, and then the rule of the Romans. The second temple of destroyed in 70 CE.
The period of the judges took place after all of the Hebrews settled in the land, and lasted until the period of the kings. During this period, a tribal elder was chosen to rule over that tribe, but only that tribe. In times of emergency, a judge, or a strong hero who was divinely inspired, took control, and lead the war against the threatening party. This period ended when the tribes wanted to unite and a king was chosen.
The Philistines was a nation that lived on the western end of Palestine, who the Hebrews were not able to conquer. When they became a threat, and the several tribes affected by them were not strong enough to hold them off, all the Hebrews wanted to unite. Saul was chosen as the first king, and he reigned for 24 years. He was able to hold the Philistines. It was not until the reign of David that they were conquered.
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