A. Outline:

1. Introduction: History As Elegy
2. Who Were The Jews? Ancient Ethnos
   1. Ethnos in Antiquity
   2. Tacitus on Who is a Jew
   3. Second Temple Jewish Theology
3. Making Sense Of The Loss, Placing Blame
   1. Who caused the War?
   2. Josephus
   3. Romans/Titus
   4. Zealots/Jews
   5. The Importance of Compassion
4. Sacrificing The Temple: The Enemy Within
   1. Zealots as the Enemy Within
   2. Sacrificing the Temple
   3. Purification of the city as an appeasement of God
5. Conclusion

B. Terms & Concepts:

Elegy: a text which both honors a lost person (or in this case entity) and attempts to help readers recover from that loss by consoling them with a substitute for the lost person/object.

Ethnos: Ethnic groups usually have the four following features: (1) The sense of unique group origins, (2) the knowledge of a unique group history and belief in its destiny,(3) one or more dimensions of collective cultural individuality, and (4) finally a sense of unique cultural solidarity

Jews are not distinctive during this era because of (1) looks, (2) clothing (3) speech (4) names, (5) occupation, (6) circumcision (Cohen 27-45).

Jews are recognizable during this era due to (1) whom they associate with (2) observance of Jewish ritual

Jewish Theological Belief: The history of Israel in general, and of our period [63 BCE-66 CE] in particular, shows that Jews believed that the one God of the universe had given them his law and that they were to obey it. This basic and fundamental doctrine also implies belief in the election: God chose Israel to do his will. Jews understood the election to lay on them the obligation of obedience, but also to involve promises on God's part: that he would save and protect them. One of the fundamental factors that contributed to their willingness to fight, and if need be die, was the conviction that God would save those who were loyal to him. (Sanders 241).

Yezer ha-ra: The Evil Inclination. According to the Rabbis, man was created with two opposing inclinations or tendencies, one impelling him toward the good (yezer ha-tov) and one toward evil (yezer ha-ra). However, even the so-called yezer ha-ra, which corresponds roughly to man’s untamed natural (and especially sexual) appetites or passions, is not intrinsically evil, and therefore, not to be completely suppressed (Encyclopedia Judaica VIII.1318).

"Nachman said in R. Samuel’s name: BEHOLD IT WAS VERY GOOD refers to the Good Inclination; AND BEHOLD IT WAS VERY GOOD, refers to the Evil Inclination. Can then the Evil Inclination be very good? That would be extraordinary! But for the Evil Inclination, however, no man would build a house, take a wife and beget children. (Midrash Rabbah, Genesis 9.7)

The Main Topics of Later Synagogue Liturgy:

1. God as creator
2. The unity of God
3. His "providential concern for the world that he has created--and particularly for his people Israel"
4. Israel's chosenness
5. The hope for redemption (Sanders 261)

C. Passages from Josephus:

1. [I]t is not my intention to counter the champions of the Romans by exaggerating the heroism of my own countrymen: I shall state the facts accurately and impartially. At the same time the language in which I record the events will reflect my own feelings and emotions; for I must permit myself to bewail my country's tragedy. She was destroyed by internal dissensions, and the Roman who so unwillingly set fire to the Temple were brought in by the Jews' self-appointed rulers, as Titus Caesar, the Temple's destroyer, has testified. For throughout the war he pitied the common people who were helpless against the partisans; and over and over gain he delayed the capture of the city and prolonged the siege in the hope that the ringleaders would submit. If anyone criticizes me for the accusations I bring against the party chiefs and their gangs of bandits, or for my laments over the misfortunes of my own country, he must pardon my weakness, regardless of the rules of historical writing. For it so happened that of all the cities under Roman rule our own reached the highest summit of prosperity, and in turn fell into the depths of misery; the misfortunes of all other races since the beginning of history, compared with those of the Jews, seem small; and for our misfortunes we have only ourselves to blame. How then could I master my feelings? (Josephus 28, emphasis mine)
2. Selected examples of the diseased body-politic metaphor occur on pp. 147, 289, 350
3. Selected examples of sacrifice language occur on pp. 288, 353 (woman eats child), 344 (no lambs)

D. Timeline:

I. The Hellenistic Period and the Hasmonean Rule

333-332 BCE Conquest of Jerusalem by Alexander the Great

323 Death of Alexander

c. 300-198 Palestine under Ptolemies of Egypt

198 Palestine under Seleucids of Syria (Alexander's general)

167 Profanation of temple by Greeks

166-160 Judas Maccabeus (son of Mattathias) rules

160-134 Maccabees ("Hasmoneans") rule.

164 Rededication of the Temple

II. The Roman Period: from the Hasmoneans (Maccabees) to Herod

76-67 BCE Salome Alexandra Queen

63 BCE Conquest of Judea by Pompey

37 BCE-4 CE Herod the Great king

66-70 CE The Jewish War Against the Romans

c. 75 CE Bellum Judaicum (Jewish War) translated into Greek

E. Selected Bibliography:

Cohen, Shaye. The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties. Berkeley: U.

of Calif. P., 1999.

Sanders, E. P. Judaism: Practice & Belief 63 BCE-66 CE. London: SCM Press, 1992.