Patriarchs: tribal. End result -- bondage in Egypt
Abraham, Isaac, and JacobExodus
In some cases, the names of the patriarchs may represent tribes or communities. This is in accord with "corporate personality," which plays an important part in the Old Testament. Although that may be true in some cases, it is by no means appropriate to all patriarchs.
Individual patriarchs are associated with sanctuaries: Abraham at Hebron, Isaac at Beersheba, and Jacob at Bethel. [Remember, Abraham --> Isaac --> Jacob, later called Israel.]
Occupation / Conquest of Canaan
Settlement (transition from nomadic to agrarian lifestyle)
Age of the Judges
Canaanites
Amorites, Hittites, Girgashites, Perizzites and Horites
Partly Semitic, partly non-Semitic
Shechem seems to have been an important center of fusion of Israel with earlier inhabitants.
Attacks from outside probably led to Israelites and Canaanites coming together; out of this, charismatic leaders such as Samson.
Samson, a Danite, centered in Shephelah region -- where the tribe of Dan centered before it moved northward. They moved northward due to Philistine pressure.
[Philistia (sea-people) --> land of the Philistines --> Palestine --> originally southwest region of the area but eventually entire "land of Canaan." Sea-people came to this area after the breakup of the Minoan Empire.]
[Note: Phoenicians -- north of Canaan, but considered Canaanites; origin unknown.]
[Philistia: sea-people -- as Minoan Empire disintegrated. Minoan Empire centered on Crete]
Philistines occupied stretch from Joppa to Gaza: major threat to IsraelToward a Monarchy
Major/minor judges
Major: Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson
Samuel (judge): first and greatest kingmaker in Israel
Introduced the monarchySaul (judge/king): elevated to kingship
Anointed both Saul and David
Sanctuary at Shiloh under Eli
In some Israeli circles, he was criticized for being a "king"David: establishes the Kingdom of Israel
"King" seemed to be in conflict with Yahweh
First achievement: defeated the Ammonites
Biggest threat remained: the Philistienes
[It's almost as if all Canaanites had found way to co-exist, but when sea-people -- the Philistines -- arrived, the Israelites felt pressure from the Philistines.]
Decisively defeated by the Philistines
Jonathan: Saul's son
David: a Bethlehemite, added to Saul's retinueKing Solomon
Close bond between Jonathan and David
Inter-Israeli conflict for kingship
Hebron: city, far south, in Judah
Judah vs northern and central tribes
Any unity due to David's charisma/personality
David captures Jerusalem -- more centralized
Jerusalem between Judah and northern/central tribes and had belonged to neither
David brings ark from Kiriath-jearim --> Jerusalem
David establishes the Kingdom of Israel
David established Israel as an independent state; much going for Israel
King David's wife Michal: no son
King David murders Uriah; King David marries Uriah's wife Bath-sheba, favorite wife
King David/Bath-sheba's son King Solomon (coup d'etat)
New kingBreakup of Israel: over the next 350 years; disintegrates; no longer an independent political unit
New regime (other sons of David contested this king; lost)
Father of Israelite wisdom
922 - 876 BC: division of the kingdomRise of Babylon (6th century BC - momentous turning point in the Mid East)
876 - 786 BC: Omri, Jeroboam II
Era of Classical Prophets (8th and 9th centuries)
Prophet Elijah: a Gileadite from Transjordania
Represents the most austere tradition of Hebrew prophecy
786 - 687 BC: Jeroboam II of Israel, Uzziah of Judah, death of Hezekiah of Judah
687 - 587 BC: from Manasseh to fall of Jeruslaem
Judah survived 135 years after the fall of the northern kingdom
Northern Kingdom: unstable
Southern Kingdom (Judah): had Jerusalem
Comment: during these 350 years. During a succession of kings, the rise of prophets as powerful, and Kingdom divided North vs Judah
A prominent prophet -- ELIJAH - most solitary, vanished, reappeared; Yahweh vs Baal
Successor: Elisha
A succession of prophets
Isaiah: prophetic ministry
Amos, Hosea --> Isaiah and Micah
Neo-Babylonian empire established by aggressive policies of Nabopolassar and his sonThe Exile (three phases)
Nebuchadrezzar: the last great Semitic power in Biblical times
Israeli religion survives the ExileBabylon falls
Ezekial: the great prophet
Father of Judaism (not Ezra)
Neo-Babylonian empire overthrown by Persians in 539 B.C.Persian Persecution
Persian tolerance/benign neglect/tolerance with regard to Jeusalem
Ezra and Nehemiah: key in rejuvenating / re-establishing Jerusalem
Israel caught between warring empires: Greece and Persia
DanielHellenization
Apocalyptic Literature
Persian Empire lasted two centuries
Ended with the Macedonian Alexander the Great, died 323 B.C.
Semites did not take control until 7th century AD with rise of Islam
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