Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63 BCE-66 CE by E. P. Sanders

Author:E. P. Sanders [Sanders, E. P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, pdf
ISBN: 9781506408170
Publisher: Fortress Press
Published: 2016-07-31T23:00:00+00:00

In a later passage God’s mercy is motivated by the covenant ‘and the oath that he has sworn not to abandon you forever’ (30.7), and there are many similar statements.

Paul provides excellent evidence of the assumption of a covenantal relationship between God and Israel. He wrote that to the Israelites belong ‘the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ’ (Rom. 9.4f.). Further, he thought that these gifts and the calling of Israel were ‘irrevocable’ (Rom. 11.29). ‘As regards election they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers’ (Rom. 11.28). In some ways even more telling is the fact that in Galatians Paul argues against the ‘view that Israel is elect: the blessing of Abraham, he claims, ‘skipped’ from Abraham to Christ, and now passes to those who are in Christ, who become ‘Abraham’s offspring’ (Gal. 3.15–18, 29). Here he opposes what was essential to Judaism—the election of the physical descendants of Abraham—and simultaneously tries to appropriate the category ‘Abraham’s chosen offspring’ for those in Christ.

Finally, we note the criticism of the Jews for holding to the election and relying on it in Matt. 3.9, where John the Baptist is said to have warned Israel not to have confidence in their descent from Abraham (cf. John 8.39).

The doctrine of the election is the theological expression of the feeling of community that bound together the Jews of the ancient world. We noted this feeling above, in discussing sacrifices (p. 420–21). It is expressed often and in a variety of ways. Thus Josephus spoke of the ‘mutual harmony’ that prevailed among ‘the members of the community’ (Apion 2.170). This comes in a list of virtues that is modelled on the Platonic school, except that ‘harmony’ replaces ‘wisdom’ (the other three are justice, temperance and fortitude; see Apion 2.170 and Thackeray’s note).

Mutual harmony did not in fact always prevail, and the history of the time is full of internecine strife. Yet community spirit was real. Jews in one part of the empire were affected by events in another; both Jews and Gentiles saw world-wide Jewry as constituting a single group. Jews throughout the world paid the temple tax. Jewish solidarity is most graphically illustrated, however, by noting certain military and political events. When Hyrcanus II and Antipater (Herod’s father) decided to help Julius Caesar in the Roman civil wars, they dispatched an army to Egypt. It became necessary to persuade the Egyptian Jews to co-operate, and Antipater did so by appealing to ‘their common nationality’ and by showing them a letter from Hyrcanus, the high priest (Antiq. 14.127–32). The appeal was effective, and the Egyptian Jews supported Palestinian military action in Caesar’s cause. Caesar responded by conferring favours not only on Antipater, Hyrcanus and the Palestinian Jews, but also on Jews in all parts of the Diaspora, not just Egypt. Further, he encouraged the semi-independent cities to do the same (Antiq.

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