We began with the topic of Persian Jerusalem. Dr. Cargill introduced the sources for the Persian Period, through Biblical Literature written in Jerusalem. Examples of these were The Book of Chronicles and "Second" Isaiah. The reason it is called this is because 36-39 were identical copies to 2: Kings 18-20. After this, the prophecy spanned such a long time that it had to be written by someone else. Also, there were no non-biblical texts deaing directly with Jerusalem for this entire period. There were also Archaelogical Excavations.
We then talked about the prophet Ezekiel. Dr. Cargill made a reference to Ezekiel as someone on 3rd street (very "out there"). Even though he was crazy, numerous things that he said were intelligent. In Ezekiel Chapter 1, he has a vision of the remergence of God as a mobile entity. What he begins to envision--the temple is gone--is a mobile entity of God. There is a journey to Jerusalem in Ezekiel 2 of coming back from exile. Lastly, there is Exekiel's temple vision; for example measuring out the new Temple in Ezekiel 40-42.
We recapped on the Ark of the Covenant. Even though it was gone, Ezekiel describes a new throne for god--In Ezekiel 1:15-21. I found it very interesting how Ezekiel describes things. For example, when describing a new Ark, he talks about the ark by saying "When they moved, they moved in any of the four directions without veering as they moved" (Ezekiel 17-18). The vision Ezekiel has is that God is still around, and is mobile once again. The way people view God changed dramatically after the exile.
We moved on to talk about King Cyrus. The Persian Empire is in control, because they took out the Babylonians. Cyrus Cylinder gave money and promise to Jews in order for them to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple. Cyrus had a cylinder--it is a clay cuneiform cylinder. It announced a general return to the homelands. There was an idea to portray kings as liberators and not conquerers. Dr. Cargill said the idea of the Persians fostering the Jews.
There was a connection between 2 Chronicles 36:22-23 and Ezra 1:1-3--these were almost identical. We moved on to Isaiah 44:24, 28. It was stated how Cyrus was viewed by Judean Exiles as great deliverer. It was common in Ancient Israel to view conquering nations as the "hand of God". Now Isaiah 44, states "I am YHWH, who made all things.. who says of Cyrus, "He is my shepherd, he shall carry out all my plans." The problem with this text is that he is NOT the son of David. A question arose--Who is the Messiah? The Biblical author must rationalize history. All the rules are going to change. We took just a moment to explain and compare the similarities between Judaism and Zoroastrianism. There were purity codes in marriage, the introduction of angels, and the introduction of an evil counterpart (Ahriman/Angra Mainyu).
We talked about the First Return in late 6th Century BCE. there were leading figures such as Cyrus, Cambyses II, Dariys I "the Usurper". David could be considered a usurper king as well. More examples were Zechariah and Haggai, Zerubbabel, and Joshua. Professor Cargill told us that Joshua means Salvation. Zerubbabel is a governor. Also, during the First Return, the Jerusalem temple was rebuilt between 520-515 BCE under Darius I. The high priest and rebuiding the temple becomes the strong point; the new center of Jewish practice. There were the introduction of "Yehud" Coins, a Persian Province of Judah. In the Aramic portions of the Bible, what used to be Judah becomes "The Land Beyond the River".
A question then arose--Do We Need a Temple? Many Jews today will say no--because of the holidays and the reading and interpretation of the Torah. "Post-Exilic" or "2nd Temple" Literature? In Haggai 1, there is a call saying the temple needs to be rebuilt. Over time, the tradition of the second temple is the same as the first temple. This is the same with the destruction as well.
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