Relevant quotes

Introduction

To Anna-Vera and Davide

The only men to live, throughout the Middle Ages, in imitation of Jesus were the Jews.
Karl Jaspers

Jesus was not a Christian, he was a Jew.
Julius Wellhausen

Jesus was a man and not GOD …
Jesus was a Jew, not a Christian … The Jews never rejected Jesus the Jew … The Christians as a whole and in the end, did not accept Jesus the Jew and did not follow him.
Stephen S. Wise

Pag 7-8

In some of these documents rich in political and economic information there is talk of groups of brigand nomads, called habirus and Jews. Perhaps the Jews appeared in the land of Canaan, a small region on the edge of the fertile crescent, important because it is a transit bridge between the two continents. Perhaps Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their clans were linked by fictitious kinships. The narration of the patriarchs’ wanderings, sometimes in legend, and yet in harmony with the historical events of the first half of the second millennium BC, when the amorrea tribes spread themselves in the vast territory of the fertile crescent. However, it is not possible to confidently dissolve the question related to their first appearance in the country: the book of Genesis and the final redaction of multiple oral traditions transmitted from generation to generation for almost 10 centuries, definitely from the 19th to the 10th century, with a long elaboration that ended only at the time of Ezra in the fourth century BC
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are very ancient names transmitted by an earlier tradition in which also Assyrian, Hurrian and Amorite elements converge. The God worshiped by these clans of shepherds and the GOD of the father, the God who promised a land is a descendant.

He looks up and looked at the place where you are now, north, midday, east and west. All the earth you see I will give to you and your descendants forever.

The biblical chroniclers themselves testify that the patriarchs had been gherìm (foreigners) in the land of Canaan. Their names were associated with shrines of ancient origin: Abraham with Mamre (near Hebron), Isaac with Bathsheba, and Jacob with Shechem. In contact with the Canaanite civilization, where El was worshiped, the father of the Gods and therefore the head of local deities (such as, for example, El Roi, the god of vision, El Olam, the god of eternity, El Elyon, the High God, El Shadday, the almighty god …

The negative rules, for example the prohibition of eating the meat of some animals considered impure, were associated with the ideal of sanctity which needed not only to aspire, but which also had to be achieved. In accordance with this purpose, both the strict observance of the Sabbath rest and the unleavened bread feasts, of the Pentecost of the Tabernacles, considered “holy meetings” and in striking contrast with the analogous feasts of the Canaanites which led to orgies and rites were interpreted. obscene. Equity and justice inspired not only the moral law and the relationship between man and GOD, but also those between men. In the Exodus, in the Leviticus and in the Deuteronomy a social and moral law extraordinarily advanced compared to the times is codified and that culminates with the phrase: “Love your neighbor as yourself”. The Torah also regulated the sphere of civil and judicial relations and in every detail remained coherent with a supreme model of sanctity that was based directly on the Holiness of GOD: “be holy because I, your Lord GOD, am Holy”. Holy in Hebrew, it is said qadosh E, if the meaning of its linguistic root wants to highlight the separateness from the profane, in a translated sense the term is equivalent to “pure shining”

Saul (who reigns seeking between 1025 and 1006), at the beginning obtained the desired results: he repeatedly defeated the recovery of the hinterland regions Amaleciti and Philistines. Soon, however, he failed to keep the primitive promises: his contrasts with Samuel first, David’s jealousy and rebellion then weakened him and favored his terrible defeat in the battle that took place in the plain of Izrael; here three of his sons died and the wounded Saul himself committed suicide on his sword on Mount Gelboe. The final disaster helped to superimpose historical truth and legend: a tragic mistake, he paid all his mistakes because “pride comes before the ruin”, but the great merit of completing the political unity of the twelve tribes of Israel: each of them had to give up particularistic ideas, with centrifugal thrusts, and accept the foreign institution of the national monarchy “as is the case for all peoples”.

The whole history of Israel is therefore the story of the faithfulness of GOD and of Israel’s infidelity.

Only you want I have known among all the families of the earth, therefore I will chastise you for all your iniquities.
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, Isaiah: the message of the prophets had been dramatic, yet, although in retrospect, it had a meaning of veiled hope. Everything had been foreseen: Jeremiah had announced the breaking of the old pact, but also the promise of a new one. The anonymous prophet called, by custom, “Deutero-Isaiah”, lived precisely in those harsh times of exile and uncertainty, had understood it as a judgment of GOD on the sins of Israel; And if the threats of punishment had come true, even the promises would have been fulfilled: a second Exodus more important than the Egyptian one would have been fulfilled. Babylon would fall And the Temple of Jerusalem would be rebuilt.

Instrument of God, according to Deutero-Isaiah, was Cyrus king of the Persians, but also “Anointed of the LORD” and his servant.

Also the reconstruction of the temple suffered slowdowns compared to the scheduled times. During the reign of Ciro and his successor Cambyses (529 ca – 522) the project soon on paper E did not go beyond the laying of the first stone. Only in the 520 enterprise did I really begin and ended five years later in 515 under the reign of Darius (522-485).

In the following years the international picture remained turbulent mainly because of the numerous campaigns of arms that involved Greeks and Persians, but these events did not directly touch the community of Jerusalem: in the defeat of Darius in Marathon in 490, me that of Xerxes (485- 465) at Salamis 10 years later. In the distant province of the empire, in the absence of traumatic direct political involvement, the debate focused mainly on religious themes: it was harshly discussed about mixed marriages, a direct legacy of the situations of disorder caused by exile and the sudden return. The prophet Malachy denounced, in addition to this, the zealous priests, the frequent divorces, the failure to respect the Sabbath. The most intransigent lovers of the Mosaic faith for those who wished to favor a Manichaean dualism of Persian inspiration faced each other with harshness, Seeking alliances also at the court of King Xerxes.

Arriving in Jerusalem, Ezra organized a mass demonstration during which the Torah, the Law, was read to all the people. This public reading lasted seven days and culminated with the head of the Tabernacles, but it was not a simple reading because Ezra declaimed the Law And above all the comment. He also intervened on the thorny issue of mixed marriages and restoring the ancient religious customs in a restrictive sense. His intransigence triggered violent reactions in Samaria, and so the pacification that Persians proposed to obtain thanks to him, not only was not reached, but even his intervention turned out to be counterproductive. Negative on the political level more contingent, His action left profound religious influences to favor the preservation of Israel’s spiritual heritage. The influence of the rabbis and the teaching of the synagogue was, from then on, explicit: the interpretation, the comment, the meticulous reflection on the text was substituted for the sacrifice of the most ancient times. Ezra was considered by many to be a founder of the Law, a second Moses;

The genesis begins like this:

In the beginning God created the heaven of the earth. The earth was a shapeless and empty mass and the darkness was on the surface of the abyss And the spirit of GOD hovered over the surface of the waters.

Ruach, in Greek pnèuma, in Italian “spirit”, expresses the fullness And the intimate presence of GOD in His creation. This word in the Bible, in a multiple way, perhaps sometimes apparently contradictory, but in reality always coherent, gives form to the mystery of being and of existence, to the harmonious, mysterious and terrifying relationship between man and GOD. The great personalities who have guided Jewish history have enjoyed that singular strength that the ruach of GOD has infused them: Joshua, the Judges, Saul, David have prevailed. The ruach invests Gideon, Zechariah. It comes down on Samson, Saul and David; it even falls on Ezekiel. The prophetic revelation is the fruit of the ruach and the prophet is “ish ha-ruach, the” man of the spirit “. The ruach ha-qqodesh, that is the “Holy Spirit” …
 

The love between God and the chosen people is presented through the poetic image of the marital relationship. Before “knowing” GOD, Israel is a virgin, a betulàh. Their relationship is described as that of a married couple: The return to GOD is equivalent to a reconciliation of separated spouses, to a new marriage. It is also a turbulent couple: seduction, violence, infidelity, repentance; the bond between Israel and its God goes through moments of crisis, hatred and love. Within this picture the prophet, or navì, has a particular place: he speaks to the people who are unable to understand directly, or who would not be able to bear what GOD has to tell them.

He is the “instrument through which GOD transmits His orders”, the one who nevertheless does not collect the content of the inspiration in a formal way, but tries to understand the most intimate meaning they strive to harmonize it by means of his knowledge and his sensitivity. Attentive to the word of GOD, he worries about his presence and his anxiety, which manifests itself not only in words but also in historical events.

With ardor the prophets supported the identity between religion and morality, they did not limit themselves to denouncing social oppression, but they fought it with great ethical spirit and, above all, with a direct political commitment tied to the contingent events to which the their country was involved.

There is no dichotomy between pathos and ethos, between motif and norm. They do not exist side by side opposing each other; they imply they presuppose each other. Since God is a beautiful source of justice, his pathos is ethical; Because GOD is absolutely personal, with nothing impersonal, this ethos is full of pathos. GOD takes care of the world and shares its destiny. This is the real essence of the moral nature of GOD: his willingness to let himself be intimately involved in human history. 13

There is an abyss between God and man, but pathos surpasses it. 14

The encounter with God, with his ruach ha-qqodesh, that is, with his Holy spirit, was never conceived in the Jewish world as a disharmonious rupture, but rather as the moment, perhaps traumatic or terrible, but certainly the most sublime possible …
 

Pag. 52

In one of the last prophets, the Deutero-Isaiah, needs and ideas always present in the Jewish world converge, never connected so intensely: the national historical god tied to the destinies of Israel is transformed and in the sacred hymns and in the prayers of the sanctuaries becomes the Lord of peoples, the creator of the world and all its creatures. Universalistic monotheism brings with it a new consequence: even the idolaters and other peoples of the earth will one day recognize it as God and throw themselves at his feet. In the second part of the book of Isaiah, precisely the last of the great prophets called Deutero-Isaiah expresses these concepts which, while on the one hand highlight a kind of bold confidence, on the other hand broaden Israel’s spiritual horizon towards a perspective more enough and create the premises for an investiture of enormous responsibility and universal scope.

The Deutero-Isaiah, more than Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah is the founder of a theology of universal history, since he is the first that continually strengthens the single specific message … his God is not only, like that of every prophecy of Israel, A God who by his essence reveals himself, but also a God who declares himself, who expresses his essence theologically. It makes no sense alive to call the Deutero-Isaiah the first monotheist of Israel; but he is certainly the first to whom a monotheistic theology is interested since he is interested in a theology of universal history.

Hosea from the announcement of a brilliant future with unforgettable rural images:

I will be what dew for Israel;
It will flower like a lily
and it will spread out at its roots like a poplar.
Its branches will spread everywhere,
how olive will be its magnificence
and its fragrance like that of Lebanon.

This prophet speaks of David as the future king, thus referring in reality to the Davidic dynasty and the political promises that were connected to it, offering the first trace of a personal messiah. It also uses a chronological term proper to the messianic vocabulary, “end of days”, to indicate a distant and indeterminate age in which man’s life will be tranquil, free from the fear of beasts and hunger, and the promise of universal peace and the end of the wars will become reality:

… The bow of the sword of war
I will move away from the country
and I will make everyone rest safe.

The general peace of the messianic age It is a novelty that does not exist in previous prophecies, nor in Amos, which then in the time of Isaiah and of Micah will become an integral part of this ideal conception.

That the course of history, according to the thought of prophetism, should lead to the messianic kingdom, understood as the age of moral perfection of humanity and the domain of peace and brotherhood and justice, is demonstrated by Isaiah’s inflamed words.

142 One thinks of an even higher heavenly bliss, with the result that only a limited duration is attributed to the kingdom of the Messiah, the extension of which is the subject of wide debate in the Talmud. Among the oldest texts that most clearly express this conception we have the apocalypse of Baruch and 4 Ezra “.

144 “Almàh” She is a girl of marriageable age, single or married. The Christian exegetes following the translators who rendered this word in Greek with parthènos (virgin), consider these words as a foretaste of the birth of Jesus.
 

Cyrus will not only recognize the God of Israel, but will free his people.

This ideal of redemption and freedom dominates every prophetic discourse: “This is the secret of the eternal validity of Messianic promises. Messianism thus becomes an eternal ideal. Gradually the conviction grew that the complete attainment of this ideal would not have been possible if not in the case in which all peoples were prophets ”150.

Great attention among the Jewish exegetes, but not only among them, raised the prophecies of chapter 42 on the “servant (‘ eved) of the Lord “.151 Probably the ambiguities were fueled by the use made of this expression in different contexts. Servant of God can, sometimes legitimately, be considered the people of Israel, sometimes it can be the same prophet, although some have proposed a more sophisticated articulation: the prophet was seen servant of the Lord with respect to the whole of Israel and the people of Israel servant of God compared to other peoples.

150 Lattes, 1960, p. 112 J. Klausner, Ha-rayon ha-mashikhì be-Israel, Jerusalem 1927, p. 38 is quoted.

151 Lattes, 1960, pp. 186-191: author reviews the numerous and different interpretations of Jewish commentators from Rashi to Isaac Abrabanel, from David Qimqui to Avraham Ibn Ezra, from the most modern, J. Klausern, to Martin Buber, to André Neher. An extensive bibliography on the many attempts made to name the servant of God can be found in S.W. Baron, A Social and Religious History of the Jews, 1952, vol. I p.356