The Maccabean War and Hollywood

:( Recognized as an e-mail of the weAk! 1/26/2005

Personally I found the lecture on the Maccabean war most interesting. So interesting in fact that I did a little looking into the possibility of a movie dealing with this subject. While my research was not very thorough so I did not turn up any b movies dealing with the subject I did discover a rather interesting fact. Mr. Mel Gibson is planning on doing a movie dealing with this subject. He was inspired by the book of Maccabees. For an article on this go to http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/8210801.htm?1c.
Just goes to show that not all history is worthy of nap time. This story also inspires some new questions about the Apocrypha. Could it be useful not only for historical reference but also for something like a good Lois Lamour book?

The Temple's Beauty and the Question Over the Words of Christ.

I enjoyed the section on the temple. One thing that grabbed my attention was how they described the temple. From the golden spikes and the white washed top all the way to what you could see depending on where you stood in the temple. The other thing that I was intrigued by was the last couple of paragraphs about John discussing Jesus’ claims of destroying the temple with hands and building it up in three days with no hands. But Mark wrote in a way to say that Jesus did not mean “destroy” it. The book says there is no consensus and after reading it I was wondering if anybody else ever thought about it? I for one always took it to be a spiritual metaphor referring to our bodies being the new temple of Christ. Maybe I was wrong, little help?

Herod the Great...or not so Great!

I really enjoyed the class lecture and reading material from Wenham over Herod the Great. His accomplishments as a builder were astonishing. His work on the Jerusalem temple was incredible. His finished product of the temple covered twice the area of the original. It was huge! I'm blown away at some of the things he built. His palaces and temples were master works and the quality of his theatres was good enough that they are still being used today. The harbor constructed from cement that was poured and hardened under water wows me a bit. How did he do this? The thing was big enough for an entire Roman fleet to enter in. That's amazing. His gravity centered aquaduct was very cool...to me anyways. But what's up with the guy's nervous anxiety. If elements of Star Trek were true, we would need to send Gregory or Rhodes back in time to do an analysis on this guy. The fact that he built so many fortresses in a country that's 1/5 the size of AR signals he had some psychological problems. He killed his wife, killed some of his sons, and declared thousands of men to be killed on the day that he died just to ensure everyone would be mourning on this day. This guy was a phenom when it came to building, but a nut-case with several issues.

History a non-essential?

Not too many people sit through a high school history class (a class which is usually taught by one of the football coaches who either relates all of history to the previous Friday night's win or could care less about history than you already did) with enthusiasm and zeal for being a history teacher. If you were like me, you sat through class wishing you were somewhere else, like watching a cubs game or something. But ever since I have graced Williams with my presence, I have been so convicted about the importance of the history which surrounds the Biblical text. History has actually become one of my more favorite subjects now, heaven forbid. The hisotory, though not as important as the Biblical text itself, is extremely important. It gives us the insight we need in order to understand the culture of the times, and helps modern bible interpreters (such as ourselves) interpret what we read with a higher level of accuracy. Thank you history!

Only One God

One of the main charcteristics of the second temple Judaism and in Judaism today is that they believe in one true God (taken from the textbook pages 25-28). A belief that was very radical at the time, in that not only did the Jews not follow other gods, they did not even recognize the exsistance much less any validity of other gods. Believing that one picticular person's or culture's god is better another's god was common back then; but to totally disreguard the exsistance of someonelse's god instead of even calling it a false god, was unthinkable to most cultures of the time. That was the main reason the Jews were hated so much, even today many people dislike the idea that there is only one way to God and a desirable eternity. They also knew that God had created everything, and was therefore in control of everything. I found it interesting that the Jews believed that God was God of all, but that they had a problem with the Messiah coming for the gentiles as well as themselves.

Craig Powell

Execution of John the Baptist

I find it interesting to read Josephus' account of the execution of John the Baptist and comparing it to the biblical account found in Mark 6 and Matthew 14. Our biblical texts insist that, although Herod was not fond of JTB, he was afraid to have him killed, and even when he did kill him, he felt "very sorry". Josephus writes that Herod had him killed in an effort to prevent an uprising (Josephus writes this without even refering to the banquet scene). If Josephus' work has been "Christianized" through the scribes, I wonder why this account was not brought closer to the biblical account?

History in it's Essentiality

I like to make up words sometimes and I beleive I did with the title, but I am wrong a lot also when it comes to making up words. Over the past few years I have learned the importance of history in refrence to biblical study. And for many years I have wanted to study history in biblical times. The importance of history ways deep into my study of scriputre. The one thing that intrigues me the most with history is looking at maps of Judea and Palestine and Greece and Rome and reading about Paul's journeys and all the places that he went. In a sense, it gives me an understanding of his desire to spread the word of Christ. It also makes me think about my journeys and the distances I go or don't go to bring the word of Christ. Grant it, we have aquired a much greater stronghold on traveling technology then what Paul had or even Jesus had, yet I see it a hassle to drive 10 minutes out of my way to go see someone and they walked days to speak to thousands. It's just a thought but relevant in my mind. History has it's place even now.

Study of the Apocrypha

I have always been brought up in church and for a long time my King James Version of the Bible is all that I ever knew about. I then went on to college at UAM and began learning about other translations of the the Bible. I then surrendered to the ministry and transfered schools. After starting college here I began learning more about the history part of the Bible and found how informative the Apocrypha is. I found it interesting what Dr. Foster said in class tuesday that we have study Bibles that have the notes from other peoples ideas on the text and we take them to heart. The Apocrypha is great because of the way it kind of sets up the New Testament. The is one goal of mine this semester is to read and study more from the Apocrypha.

Revolutionary Movements today

I've found that in my reading, I, like my classmates, have applied what I'm reading to today. The Jews fiercely fought for their beliefs, whether violently or not-so-violently. Do we, as 21st century Christians? If I understand the different revolutionary movements of the 1st century, I see parallels in today's society. There are sicarii-type groups who bomb abortion clinics in the name of God. Zealot-type groups violenty protest homosexuality declaring "God hates the homosexual." There are the less pro-active groups that write letters and sign petitions believing as apocalypticists and martyrs that God will bless the obedient nation. While a few of these "Christian" actions seem severe and others maybe not severe enough, there has to be a way for Christians to assert what we believe to be true against a changing society. The Jews failed to assert themselves to the Roman takeover. Are we, as American Believers, losing the same battle?

A new understanding

The past few days, being in Life of Christ and Biblical Interpretation, I have learned how little I know about scripture, biblical history, and correctly interpreting the Bible. I have come to realize that the statement "the more you understand the Old Testament the better you will understand the New Testament" is true. I really need a better understanding of the Old Testament, especially the books after the Pentateuch. Also if you asked me what the apocrypha was before coming to school here I would have no clue what it was. And after you told me I would have thought of it as "bad" and refuse to even look at it. But, I have learned that even though it is not inspired by God, it is still useful in learning the culture and history of the inter-testamental period. As for interpreting the Bible, I am guilty of making allegorical meanings to the text and taking things out of context, and not knowing the historical background of scripture. I now know that, " scripture can never mean what it never meant." I have learned so much in the past few days, and still have so much more to learn. And the final thing I learned is that you can't spend too much time writing in the blog because you will be timed out and loose all you have written and have to rewrite it.

Luke Passage from ENT

The passage in Luke was speaking straight to me. The reason that it was speaking to me is that God has called me to be His servent. I have come to realize that I must give up a lot of things within my life, so that I can take up my cross and follow him. I do not want to be the one who desides to build a tower without any type of plans. I want to prepare myself as much as possible so that I can finish the building project that God has placed within my life. I realize that I can never know everything about God, but if I keep my ears open to him, I will always be prepared for the battles that may I may face.

Digging into the biblical text

Everyone seems to be fascinated with the Apocrypha. I find the Apocrypha interesting and informative, but we must be careful not to neglect the canon. My favorite reading in this class has been 94-100 of ENT "An approach to the exegesis of the gospels." I remain persuaded that the canon has been sufficient and remains sufficient. I like the reading (94-100) so much because we need to handle the canon well before diving to deep into the non-canonical books. I personally stopped using a study bible because I found myself spending more time in the study material than the biblical text. I am not saying we should ignore the Apocrypha, but we should approach it with caution. The Apocrypha is useful in assisting our study of the biblical text, but we should always remember the inspired texts are superior.

Standing For Your Faith

Monday in class Dr. Foster was talking about the book of Maccabees. As he was talking about everything these people went through I was inspired. The story of the Maccabees to me is one of true faith and God providing. I think the lesson to be learned was If you stand up for what is right and pleasing to God. He will be with you. The people stood up for what they knew was right and they fought against people who were messing up the sacred temple of God. After they went to the temple they only had enough oil in the lamp to keep it burning for a day,but the candle continued to burn for seven days. Sometimes in our christen life we find it hard to stand up for God, but if we stand up for God He will protect us and be with us. This is what I personally learned from the Maccabees.

Possible Parrelels of Isamic extremism and Maccabees

One passage I found to be very interesting in the ENT was the topic about how the Maccabean revolt resembles many of the Islamic extremists movement. The Hasmoneans faced a "pagan" society that is wealthy, influential, and in some cases, even the occupying force. Resentment was felt throughout the traditionalist sects and rebellion was even praised and honored by men and (local understanding) God. This is a time when history should warn us about potential problems and conflicts that might occur when our Western Civilization is the powerful, "pagan", and current occupiers of two Islamic countries. Traditionalists and rebels will be exalted by many. Westerners might see these suicidal muslims as nuts but to traditionalists and (local understanding) Allah, they are heroes! Just like the Maccabees in the 1st and second century b. c. !

false gods

When Dr. Foster talked about the fact that other religions of the time believed in their god as the true god, but they believed that other gods were merely false gods. And that Judaism and Christianity viewed other gods as non-existent, and that just really made me think about how I know so little about other religions of the time, and is forcing me to have the desire to educate myself in the history of the period.

Apocrypha

When I first came to this college I didn't know anything about the Apocrypha, except for the fact that it was used by Catholics. Now I realize just how important these books are. We can gain insight into the events that took place between the OT and the NT. We can learn about the courage and faith that the Jews had in God to deliver them a victory over their oppressors. This is a key tool that we have been gifted with, but sadly people go about their lives only believing what I used to believe. I have made a commitment to buy a Bible with the Apocrypha and read it this semester so that I may gain the knowledge that I lack.

One True God

After reading the material in the ENT I was very intrigued by how unusual the Jewish belief was in the first-century to the rest of the world. I never really knew just how different Judaism was compared to the other beliefs at this time. For example, there was the Greeks and the Romans who worshiped many gods. Now, I have always know that there were faiths, such as the Greek and Romans, that were around at this time, but I never really knew how much they contrasted the Jewish belief. This gives me a renewed respect for the Jews at this time who stuck by their belief in the One True God with the constant adversity they faced for believing this way.

"The 'New Perspective' on Judaism (p. 30 in Wenham)

The concerns of E. P. Sanders that scholars have commonly held misperceptions with regard to Jewish attitudes toward the law seem intriguing. Sanders argues that the Jew kept the law with a view toward staying in the covenantal relationship with God as opposed to a view toward entering the grace of God, and this argument is quite compelling. From everything remotely legitimate that I have read or heard, a pious Jewish individual held a very specific Jewish identity derived from God's election of Israel. His or her theological positioning came from God's initial election as opposed to personal religious exploration. Additionally, families brought Jewish males into their Jewish community through circumcision, after which the family raised the boy in a context of assumed community faith. The boy would, no doubt, be expected to make personal religious overtures at a later point in his life, but this would be, in my opinion, merely a continuation of the status quo--being in a Jewish community of faith. Ergo, Sanders' theory that the law was the means through which a Jew maintained his previous covenantal relationship seems feasible. In essence, the potential Jewish view could be that God (and the family) made the metaphorical ball begin to roll, and the individual merely kept the ball on its rolling course.

Historical Background

Already, this early in the semester I have been reminded of my ignorance of the scriptures. Many times I have studied in the New Testament and not even think about the intertestamental period. But these last few days with my reading and during class I have been reminded how much I fall short of the whole story. So much more things make sense when we can see the bigger picture of what the people during that time were going through. I am daily amazed at how little I know and how much God knows and how great his plan really is.

against the tide

After completing the reading required for Monday, the Maccabean Revolt weighed heavy on my mind. I wondered what it would be like if a foreign power came in and commanded me with force to forget my God . What if they desecrated our churches, burned our Holy Bibles, and tortured us to give in to their line of belief? I wonder what the proper response would be. I know Judas Maccabeus along with many others in Israel believed that a military revolution was the answer. However, for those who live “behind the cross” (Christians) wouldn’t the decision be very troubling? After all Jesus told us to “turn the other cheek” and to “pray and love our enemies.” Therefore, in my mind, the plan of action for Christians becomes more difficult. I for one would like to think that I would be willing to die for my faith in Christ. But when I think about those I love suffering, the decision to leave justice in God’s hands becomes more difficult. I guess that it would be hard to say what I would do for I am not currently faced with a situation of life or death for my faith. I just hope that if I ever am faced with the difficult decision that the Jews had to make that the Lord’s Wisdom would guide me.