The Makers and Teachers of Judaism

The Makers and Teachers of
Judaism, by

Charles Foster Kent
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Title: The Makers and Teachers of Judaism
Author: Charles Foster Kent
Release Date: March 24, 2004 [eBook #11701]
Language: English
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The Historical Bible
THE MAKERS AND TEACHERS OF JUDAISM
FROM THE FALL OF JERUSALEM TO THE DEATH OF HEROD
THE GREAT
BY
CHARLES FOSTER KENT, PH.D.
WOOLSEY PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE IN YALE
UNIVERSITY
WITH MAPS AND CHARTS
1911

PREFACE

The period represented by this volume is in many ways the most
complex and confusing in Israel's history. The record is not that of the
life of a nation but of the scattered remnants of a race. It was inevitable
that under the influence of their varied environment, the survivors of
the Jewish race should develop very different beliefs and characteristics.
The result is that many different currents of thought and shades of
belief are reflected in the literature of this period; some of it is dross,
but much of it is purest gold. While the period following the
destruction of Jerusalem was a reflective and a retrospective age in
which the teaching of the earlier priests and prophets gained wide
acceptance, it was also a creative era. Fully half of the literature of the
Old Testament and all of the important writings of the Apocrypha come
from these tragic five centuries. Although the historical records are by
no means complete, the great crises in Israel's life are illuminated by
such remarkable historical writings as the memoirs of Nehemiah, the
first book of Maccabees, and the detailed histories of Josephus.
The majority of the writings, however, reveal above all the soul of the
race. Out of its anguish and suffering came the immortal poems found
in Isaiah 40-66, the book of Job, and the Psalter. Instead of the
distinctly nationalistic point of view, which characterizes practically all
of the writings of the pre-exilic period, the interest becomes individual
and the outlook universal. During these centuries Israel's prophets,
priests, and sages became not merely teachers of the nation but of
humanity. Conspicuous among the great teachers of his day stands the
noble sage, Jesus the son of Sirach, who gleaned out and presented in
effective form that which was most vital in the earlier teaching of his
race. In his broad, simple faith in God and man, in his emphasis on
deeds and character, as well as ceremonial, and in his practical
philosophy of life he was a worthy forerunner of the Great Teacher
whose name he bore.
This period represents the culmination and fruition of the divine
Influences at work in Israel's early history. It was during this period
that Judaism was born and attained its full development, Israel accepted
the absolute rule of the written law, and the scribes succeeded the
earlier prophets and sages. Out of the heat and conflict of the
Maccabean struggle the parties of the Pharisees and Sadducees sprang
into existence and won their commanding place in the life of Judaism.

Hence this period is the natural historical introduction to the study of
the birth and early development of Christianity. It is also the link that
binds the revelation found in the Old Testament to that of the New.
The volume of literature coming from this period is so vast that it has
been necessary to abridge it at many points in order to utilize that
which is most valuable. This has been done by leaving out those
passages which are of secondary origin or value, and by preserving at
the same time the language and logical thought of the original writers.
In the verbose and voluminous writings of Josephus the resulting text is
in most cases far clearer and more useful; for the repetitious clauses
found in the original often obscure the real thought of the writer. No
apology or explanation is required for the use of such apocryphal
writings as I Maccabees, Ben Sira, the Wisdom of Solomon, or
Josephus's histories, for these are required to bridge the two centuries
which intervene between the latest writings of the Old Testament and
the earliest writings of the New. They make it possible to study biblical
history as an unbroken unit from the days of Moses to the close of the
first Christian century, and thus concretely to emphasize the significant
but often the forgotten fact that God was revealing