Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-v5vhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-30T18:25:26.428Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - The Second Temple Period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

By
Alan F. Segal
Edited by
Judith R. Baskin  and
Kenneth Seeskin
Judith R. Baskin
Affiliation:
University of Oregon
Kenneth Seeskin
Affiliation:
Northwestern University, Illinois
Get access

Summary

When Cyrus, the ruler of Persia, conquered Babylon in 539 bce, the exiled Israelites living there saw him as a redeemer empowered by God. The book of Ezra, which recorded the permission of the Persian government to construct a new Jerusalem Temple to YHWH, portrayed Cyrus as if he too were a worshiper of YHWH:

In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put in writing: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: ‘The lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the lord, the God of Israel – he is the God who is in Jerusalem.’” (Ezra 1:1–2)

The author of Isaiah 45:1 was so convinced of the divine presence behind the events surrounding Cyrus's rise to power that he called Cyrus “the Messiah,” a leader anointed by God to fulfill a certain destiny; he believed that it was the destiny of Cyrus to return the people of Israel to their homeland and end the period of tribulation described in Isaiah 40:1–2.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture , pp. 34 - 57
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barclay, John M. G. 1996. Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora: From Alexander to Trajan (323 BCE – 117 CE). Edinburgh: T and T Clark.Google Scholar
Baron, Salo W. 1952. A Social and Religious History of the Jews. 1:102–212. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Bickerman, E. J. 1979. The God of the Maccabees Studies on the Meaning and the Origins of the Maccabean Revolt. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Cohen, Shaye J. D. 1987. From the Maccabees to the Mishnah. Philadelphia: Westminster.Google Scholar
Dahl, Nils Alstrup. 1974. The Crucified Messiah and Other Essays. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg.Google Scholar
Elior, Rachel. 2004. The Three Temples: On the Emergence of Jewish Mysticism. Trans. Louvish, David. Oxford: The Littmann Library of Jewish Civilization.Google Scholar
Fredriksen, Paula. 1999. Jesus of Nazareth: King of the Jews. A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Goodenough, E. R. 1938. The Politics of Philo Judaeus: Practice and Theory. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Reprint, Hildesheim, 1967.Google Scholar
Goodenough, E. R. 1940. An Introduction to Philo Judaeus. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Reprint, Oxford University Press, 1962.Google Scholar
Klawans, Jonathan. 2000. Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kraft, R. A., and Nickelsburg, G. W. E.. 1986. Early Judaism and Its Interpreters. Atlanta: Scholars Press.Google Scholar
Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period: Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Qumran Sectarian Writings, Philo, Josephus. Ed. Mulder, M. J. and Stone, Michael E.. 1984. 3 parts, 4 vols. Philadelphia: Fortress and Assen: Van Gorcum.
Juel, Donald. 1978. Messianic Exegesis: Christological Interpretation of the Old Testament in Early Christianity. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Press.Google Scholar
Levine, Lee I. 2002. Jerusalem: Portrait of the City in the Second Temple Period (538 B.C.E. – 70 C.E.). Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.Google Scholar
The Literature of the Sages. Ed. Safrai, Shmuel, Safrai, Ze'ev, Schwartz, Joshua, and Thomson, Peter J.. 1987. Parts 1 and 2. Philadelphia: Fortress and Assen: Van Gorcum.
Magness, Jodi. 2002. The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.Google Scholar
Schwartz, Seth. 2001. Imperialism and Jewish Society, 200 B.C.E. to 640 C.E. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Segal, Alan F. 1986. Rebecca's Children: Judaism and Christianity in the Roman World. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Segal, Alan F. 1988. Paul the Convert: The Apostolate and Apostasy of Saul of Tarsus. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Segal, Alan F. 2004. Life after Death: A History of the Afterlife in Western Religions. New York: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Smith, Morton. 1971. Palestinian Parties and Politics and Parties That Shaped the Old Testament. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Tcherikover, V. 1959. Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews. Trans. Applebaum, S.. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.Google Scholar
Vanderkam, James, and Flint, Peter. 2002. The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance for Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus and Christianity. San Francisco: Harper.Google Scholar
Vermès, Géza. 1962–1997. The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English. London: Penguin.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×