FIRST CENTURY JUDAISM

 UNTIL A FEW DECADES AGO, THE POPULAR VIEW WAS THAT, IN JESUS TIME, JUDAISM WITHIN ISRAEL KEPT ITSELF PURE FROM FOREIGN INFLUENCES, BUT JUDAISM OUTSIDE ISRAEL WAS INFLUENCED BY GREEK AND ROMAN CULTURE.  THIS VIEW HAS BEN ABANDONED. ARCHAEOLOGY HAS SHOWN THAT MANY SYNAGOGUES IN ISRAEL HAD GREEK CHARACTERISTICS. THE WRITINGS OF RABBIS REVEAL THOSE WHO LIVED IN THE HOLY LAND HAD A TASTE FOR GREEK CULTURE, IDEAS, TERMS AND METHOD OF INTERPRETATIONS. THERE WAS TRAVEL BETWEEN ISRAEL AND JEWISH CENTERS AROUND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD;  FOR EXAMPLE, EACH YEAR EMISSARIES  WERE SENT FROM  JERUSALEM TO THE JEWS OF THE DISPERSION WHO WERE EXPECTED TO PAY THE ANNUAL HALF- SHEKEL TEMPLE TAX. THE RESULT WAS A CERTAIN UNITY OF THOUGHT AMONG JEWS EVERYWHERE, A UNITY THAT WAS EXPRESSED IN THE UBIQUITOUS SYNAGOGUE. THOUGH THE OF JESUS DAY WAS COMPLEX ND CONTAINED A NUMBER OF SECTS AND MOVEMENTS, JUDAISM , EVERYWHERE HAD MUCH IN COMMON. LET'S LOOK AT THE BASIC BELIEFS OF  JUDAISM IN THE TIME OF JESUS. THE GREEK MIND SOUGHT GOD THROUGH REASON, AND EXPLAINED GOD FROM THE WORLD AND ITS LIFE FROM GOD, BELIEVING THAT HE MAKES HIMSELF  KNOWN THROUGH REVELATION. THE EXISTENCE OF GOD POSED PROBLEMS FOR THE HEBREW MIND. GOD EXISTED, AN D WAS LORD OVER ALL CREATION AND LIFE., DEUTERONOMY 6:4. ISRAEL WAS HIS "SON,"  EXODUS 4:21,22. DURING THE POSTEXILIC PERIOD, THE JEWS SOUGHT INCREASINGLY TO PRESERVE THE "OTHERNESS OF GOD. FROM THE THIRD CENTURY B.C. ONWARDS, THE NAME YAHWEH (LORD) WAS EXCLUDED FROM THE READINGS
OF SCRIPTURES, AND THE NAME ADONAI WAS USED INSTEAD. THE GREEK TRANSLATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT (SEPTUAGINT) TRANSLATED YAHWEH BY KURIOS (LORD. THE TARGUMS (ARAMAIC) TRANSLATIONS OF THE HEBREW TEXT) USED THE WORD MEMRA (WORD). IN THE LITURGY OF THE DAY OF ATONEMENT, THE HIGH PRIEST MUMBLED THE NAME FOR GOD SO THAT NO ONE  COULD UNDERSTAND IT. TO GIVE A PROPER NAME TO GOD WAS TO SUGGEST THAT HE WAS A GOD AMONG GODS. BY NOT USING GOD'S NAME, THE JEWS DECLARED THAT HE IS ABOVE AND BEYOND ANYTHING CREATED. SOME MIGHT ARGUE THAT THIS INSISTENCE ON GOD'S "OTHERNESS"  REMOVED HIM FROM THIS WORLD. JUDAISM ANSWERED BY SAYING THAT ONE COULD EXPERIENCE GOD'S PRESENCE ON EARTH THROUGH HIS "SHEKIAH" OR (DOXA (GLORY). THOUGH THE "SHEKIAH"  GOD MADE HIS PRESENCE AMONG THE PEOPLE THROUGH HIS HOLY SPIRIT WHICH CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS  POSSESSED AND SPOKE TO HIS PEOPLE THROUGH HIS OWN "VOICE" OR "THE DAUGHTER OF A VOICE" MATTHEW 3 :17; 17:5; JOHN 12:28. THE JEWISH ATTITUDE TOWARDS GOD WAS NOT ONE OF FEAR. THOUGH PROVERBS 1:7 SPEAKS OF "THE FEAR OF THE LORD" AS THE BEGINNING  OF WISDOM."  THE TERM "THE FEAR OF THE LORD" IS ROUGHLY THE EQUIVALENT OF "RELIGION"  ISRAEL EMPHASISED  GOD'S LOVE FOR HER AS MUCH AS HER REVERENCE FOR HIM.