ORDER OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE WRITE UP 1. INTRODUCTION 2. WHO ARE THE JEWS? 3. WHAT DOES THE TERM 'SECT' MEAN? 4. WHAT NECESSITATED THE EMERGENCE OF THESE SECTS? 5.LOOKING AT THE OVERVIEW OF THE SECTS WHAT CAN ONE REALLY SAY IS THEIR MAIN ESSENCE? 6.CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION: the history of the Jews cannot be completed without mentioning the sects that existed among them. Very important were the roles played by the Jewish sects in antiquity. Prior to the destruction of the second temple in 70 CE, the Jews had various sects which they belonged to. Although the existence of these sects were not pre-negotiated in the sense that these groups were born out of urgent necessity for the survival of the Jews, yet, their existence have not been without its imparts. Pertinent upon the full understanding of this topic is the need to explain some terms so as to grasp in a clear fashion of clarity, the real essence of these sects. These terms are-the Jews, who are they? What do we mean when we say sects? THE JEWS: the Jews are particular group of people who are currently based in Isreal. They are Isrealites who practiced Judaism as their religion. The term "Jewish" refers to a religious identity, ethnic or racial identity. They are a people with distinct religion and culture. They are special people.Taking briefly a historical excursion to the biblical story of creation in Genesis, one can deduce that the history of the Hebrews (the Jews) began about 2000 B.C when God called Abraham and asked him to migrate to Cannan. Jacob (later called Isreal), Abraham's grandson, had twelve sons from whom sprang the twelve tribes of Isreal that we know today as the Jews. The Jews are monotheistic in nature. By this its means that they practiced only one kind of belief , and that is their belief only in God and His supremacy and superiority over all. They believe that God is the only one that is to be worshipped and nothing else. The Jews are highly religious people and can be fanatic about their laws, rituals and commandments given unto them by God through their leader Moses. It should be noted please that the Jews are now expanded to include all physically and spiritually descendants of Jacob.
MEANING OF SECTS: a sect is derived from the Latin noun "seka" meaning, a way, a manner, and in otherwise, a school of thought. A sect refers to a small group of people who belong to a particular religion with the same belief and ideology distinguishing them from the other group members. A sect is usually an offshoot of a larger group that is, a subgroup of either a political, religious or philosophical belief system. It can be deduced that a sect is a school of thought which is defined by a set of rules, methods and doctrines. In the past, sects were always religiously inclined and such was the case with the Jewish sects but now it can refer to people of a particular movement that breaks away from a major body to follow a different set of rules and principles. The Jewish sect is a movement that is concerned with expressing themselves, and standing for what they believed in. They were groups whose only real intentions was promoting the goodwill and wellbeing of the Jews.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE JEWISH SECTS: the Jewish sects were religious people with theological views disticnt to themselves. They were sometimes in variance with one another due to their conflicting views. Acts 23:8 , the Sadducees do not believe in the resurrection of the dead, in Angel nor spirit but the pharisees confess both. Despite their differences, the hulmark for their existence have been to promote the Jewish culture and beliefs. All the sects had major laws and ethics that is central to all of them.They were all aspiring for their coming messiah alongside the defence of their laws and territories. This pivotal role they carried out through political and religious strategies. In essence, their goals and aspirations were centered round religious and political interests. They ensured that there was balance in the society. They helped the Jews to keep their laws, ethics and commandments which is priority to them. Josephus Flavius in his book, ' The Antiquities of the Jews'- which is the primary source of information about the Jews outside the Bible identified four kinds of sects namely; A. The pharisees B. The Sadducees C. The Essenes and D. The zealots. It should be noted that beyond these four, these are others kinds of sects that historians also recognised among whom are: E. The sicarii F. Jesus' sects were seen as a particular kind of sect too The zealots were against the Roman empire. They fought to make sure the Romans left their land. The Sadducees being the upper echelon of the society oversaw many formal affairs of the state. The pharisees formed the scribes and sages who were in tune with the common people. The sicarii and the zealots were extreme nationalists who fought the Roman rulers as they believe that God is their only ruler. The Essenes meticulously observed the law of Moses, the sabbath and ritual purity. This is the fact notminding that they did not believe in the resurrection. Jesus' own sect were proclaimers of true righteousness and genuine service to God both for the Jews and the world at large. These sects in all helped to unify the Jews. These sects gave the Jews a sense of belonging to locate anyone that one is at peace with and champion it's course. They existed to ensure that there was equal representations of opinions and rights for everyone. They gave the Jews a sense of orderliness and guidance. Instead of a state of anarchy or chaos, a sense direction prevailed. To us, this is a step in the right direction so as to give everyone a say and the fundamental freedom of expression due to our human differences. WHAT NECESSITATED THE EMERGENCE OF THESE SECTS? The Jewish sects were indeed an unusual occurrence with the ancient Judaism. It came up at a time of upheaval and that led to their eventual transition. Due to paucity of information, we have very little information about the first century Jewish sects. However historically, the struggle kick started with the destruction of the Jewish temple and the consequent enslaving of the Jewish people by foreign leaders. This according to the Bible could not have been the case had they not sinned against their God-Leviticus 26:21-39. So, this punishment was in violation of that scriptural violation. Things began to fall apart from the moment of the destruction of their temple. The second temple period between 597 BCE to 70 CE was a period the Jewish people encountered intense social changes both in their religious and political lives. It was a period of major historical upheavals and significant changes. The Jews belonged initially to the ptolemies after they were taken into captivity. The ptolemies were later conquered by the Seleucids. At first, the Seleucids respected the Jewish institutions and allowed the Jews a large measure of autonomy in religious affairs. Later, however one Seleucid king, Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), tried to stamp out Judaism by force and the Greek culture (Hellenism) and the worship of other gods on the Jews.
He removed some valuable treasures from the temple and destroyed some Jews religious writings. Later he made a decree, which prohibited Jewish religious practices such as the celebration of feasts, performance of sacrifices, observance of sabbath and the circumcision of children. He went further to erect pagan altars throughout the Jewish land and offered animals which were considered unclean by the Jews on them. These and many other afflictions ushered in the struggle for independence and the battle for reindentification. The last straw that broke the camel's back came in December 167 B.C when Antiochus IV mounted Zeus' (the chief of the Greek gods) alter on the alter of Yahweh and offered swine flesh thereon. This act provoked a violent response by the Jews. Many Jews chose to die than to be defiled. Matthathias, a priest in Modein steadfastly refused to obey the order to offer sacrifices to Zeus ; he killed Antiochus' commissioner who was compelling the Jews to sacrifice to Zeus and killed another Jew who had complied and was offering the sacrifice. This act was a signal to open resistance: the Jewish patriots led Matthathias with his five sons waged bitter guerrilla warfare against the Seleucids. After the death of Matthathias, one of his sons, Judas Maccabeus, became the leader. After a long struggle, the Maccabees brothers liberated Jerusalem, cleansed the desecrated temple, and restored the old order in the temple. Having had this bitter experience as it is the case with every national struggle, there were different opinions on how this independence could be maintained and subsequently achieved. For example here in Nigeria we are facing a bit of the bitter experience. While some persons believe in one Nigeria, unity in diversity, the Biafrans believe in achieving their self independence whereas other persons believe that the solution to our problems is restructuring. Again, the situation can be likened to what we have in Christian churches today on different versions of a true worship should be. While some places emphasis on outward appearance but with a pure heart, others believe that looks or appearance does not matter that what matters is your inner mind. Yet, with all these differences, none has ever called sin righteousness. This divergent approaches to life issues created also different views on how national independence could be achieved by the Jews hence, the emergence of different sects, movements or sectarianism. To the Jews, the emergence of these sects was a renewed hope and confidence as they expected freedom from their foreign rulers. These sects served as awareness defence and development of the Jewish cultural values in an effort to recover the culture and religious traditions of the Jews. The sects equally functioned to repudiate the assimilated foreign cultures. They were seen as promoters of social revolution and denunciation of the oppressors of the Jewish people. They interpreted the Torah thereby deepening the people's understanding of the Jewish laws. CONCLUSION: Having looked at the overview of how these sects operated, one can see that despite the various schools of thoughts or dimensions of operations, they were able to uniformly achieve a common interest, which is in summary, promoting the Jewish culture and achieving independence for the Jewish nation.Despite their doctrinal differences, they had one voice when it comes to matters of their religion. For example, in Matthew 16:1, the Pharisees and the Sadducees came together to meet Jesus. Here they acted as one notwithstanding their sharp disagreement. The extremes of these sects can be criticised but not with their main beliefs. They achieved inward spiritual experiences over intellectual and rational knowledge. All their distinct ideologies revolved round the freedom of the Jews and ensuring the deepened understanding of the Torah so as to appreciate the essence of their existence. In this we found the whole essence of the Jewish sects.
REFERENCES * THE SYNOPTICS (INTRODUCTORY NOTES ON THE GOSPELS ACCORDING TO ST. MATHEW, MARK AND LUKE) BY DEJI AYEGBOYIN *DAVID PADFIELD (2007), JEWISH SECTS OF THE SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD *FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS-ANTIQUITY OF THE JEWS *BIBLE HISTORY ONLINE (2011): THE INFLUENCE OF THE PHARISEES *JOHN WOLF (2007), THE HISTORY, CREED AND INFLUENCE OF FOUR JEWISH GROUPS AND INSTITUTIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES; BOB JONES UNIVERSITY.
members have eaerned a good mark for this. It will be communicated later.
Cheers everyone. Compliments of the season. If any group member wants to add to what has been submitted, he/she is welcome to do so. Well done group leader.
THE ESSENCE OF THE JEWISH SECTS-GROUP FOUR
ReplyDeleteGROUP MEMBERS
1. ODUNZE ODIWOMMA TESSY-185359
2.OYEWALE OYEGOKE SOLOMON-176316
3.YUSUFF YEMI JOSEPHINE -184416
4.OTUNBADE HABIBAT-184364
5.TOBALESI TIWALOPE -191904
6.IDOWU AYOBOLA DEBORAH-187058
7.OJEDIRAN OLUMIDE ISRAEL-184274
8.ADEGBOYEGA ITUNU-177552
9.OLAOBA DEBORAH GBEMISOLA- 184321
10. BOLARINWA OLAWALE MICHAEL- 184124
11. AJAYI OLUWAYEMISI TAIWO-178815
12.AKINDELE OYINDAMOLA - 184056
13. OSINUPE YETUNDE CHRISTIANA-184361
14. OLUWASEGUN DARAMOLA .J.-184137
15.AKINYODE PEACE. T. - 177629
16. EMEKA AUGUSTINE TOCHUKWU-184150
17.OGUNLEYE GRACE OLUWASEUN-184263
18. ADEOLA OLUWASEUN DEBORAH-177566
19. AWOJOBI SEYI-177657
ORDER OF ARRANGEMENT IN THE WRITE UP
1. INTRODUCTION
2. WHO ARE THE JEWS?
3. WHAT DOES THE TERM 'SECT' MEAN?
4. WHAT NECESSITATED THE EMERGENCE OF THESE SECTS?
5.LOOKING AT THE OVERVIEW OF THE SECTS WHAT CAN ONE REALLY SAY IS THEIR MAIN ESSENCE?
6.CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION: the history of the Jews cannot be completed without mentioning the sects that existed among them. Very important were the roles played by the Jewish sects in antiquity. Prior to the destruction of the second temple in 70 CE, the Jews had various sects which they belonged to. Although the existence of these sects were not pre-negotiated in the sense that these groups were born out of urgent necessity for the survival of the Jews, yet, their existence have not been without its imparts. Pertinent upon the full understanding of this topic is the need to explain some terms so as to grasp in a clear fashion of clarity, the real essence of these sects. These terms are-the Jews, who are they? What do we mean when we say sects?
THE JEWS: the Jews are particular group of people who are currently based in Isreal. They are Isrealites who practiced Judaism as their religion. The term "Jewish" refers to a religious identity, ethnic or racial identity. They are a people with distinct religion and culture. They are special people.Taking briefly a historical excursion to the biblical story of creation in Genesis, one can deduce that the history of the Hebrews (the Jews) began about 2000 B.C when God called Abraham and asked him to migrate to Cannan. Jacob (later called Isreal), Abraham's grandson, had twelve sons from whom sprang the twelve tribes of Isreal that we know today as the Jews. The Jews are monotheistic in nature. By this its means that they practiced only one kind of belief , and that is their belief only in God and His supremacy and superiority over all. They believe that God is the only one that is to be worshipped and nothing else. The Jews are highly religious people and can be fanatic about their laws, rituals and commandments given unto them by God through their leader Moses.
It should be noted please that the Jews are now expanded to include all physically and spiritually descendants of Jacob.
MEANING OF SECTS: a sect is derived from the Latin noun "seka" meaning, a way, a manner, and in otherwise, a school of thought. A sect refers to a small group of people who belong to a particular religion with the same belief and ideology distinguishing them from the other group members. A sect is usually an offshoot of a larger group that is, a subgroup of either a political, religious or philosophical belief system. It can be deduced that a sect is a school of thought which is defined by a set of rules, methods and doctrines. In the past, sects were always religiously inclined and such was the case with the Jewish sects but now it can refer to people of a particular movement that breaks away from a major body to follow a different set of rules and principles. The Jewish sect is a movement that is concerned with expressing themselves, and standing for what they believed in. They were groups whose only real intentions was promoting the goodwill and wellbeing of the Jews.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE JEWISH SECTS: the Jewish sects were religious people with theological views disticnt to themselves. They were sometimes in variance with one another due to their conflicting views. Acts 23:8 , the Sadducees do not believe in the resurrection of the dead, in Angel nor spirit but the pharisees confess both. Despite their differences, the hulmark for their existence have been to promote the Jewish culture and beliefs. All the sects had major laws and ethics that is central to all of them.They were all aspiring for their coming messiah alongside the defence of their laws and territories. This pivotal role they carried out through political and religious strategies. In essence, their goals and aspirations were centered round religious and political interests. They ensured that there was balance in the society. They helped the Jews to keep their laws, ethics and commandments which is priority to them. Josephus Flavius in his book, ' The Antiquities of the Jews'- which is the primary source of information about the Jews outside the Bible identified four kinds of sects namely;
ReplyDeleteA. The pharisees
B. The Sadducees
C. The Essenes and
D. The zealots.
It should be noted that beyond these four, these are others kinds of sects that historians also recognised among whom are:
E. The sicarii
F. Jesus' sects were seen as a particular kind of sect too
The zealots were against the Roman empire. They fought to make sure the Romans left their land. The Sadducees being the upper echelon of the society oversaw many formal affairs of the state. The pharisees formed the scribes and sages who were in tune with the common people. The sicarii and the zealots were extreme nationalists who fought the Roman rulers as they believe that God is their only ruler. The Essenes meticulously observed the law of Moses, the sabbath and ritual purity. This is the fact notminding that they did not believe in the resurrection. Jesus' own sect were proclaimers of true righteousness and genuine service to God both for the Jews and the world at large. These sects in all helped to unify the Jews. These sects gave the Jews a sense of belonging to locate anyone that one is at peace with and champion it's course. They existed to ensure that there was equal representations of opinions and rights for everyone. They gave the Jews a sense of orderliness and guidance. Instead of a state of anarchy or chaos, a sense direction prevailed. To us, this is a step in the right direction so as to give everyone a say and the fundamental freedom of expression due to our human differences.
WHAT NECESSITATED THE EMERGENCE OF THESE SECTS? The Jewish sects were indeed an unusual occurrence with the ancient Judaism. It came up at a time of upheaval and that led to their eventual transition. Due to paucity of information, we have very little information about the first century Jewish sects. However historically, the struggle kick started with the destruction of the Jewish temple and the consequent enslaving of the Jewish people by foreign leaders. This according to the Bible could not have been the case had they not sinned against their God-Leviticus 26:21-39. So, this punishment was in violation of that scriptural violation. Things began to fall apart from the moment of the destruction of their temple. The second temple period between 597 BCE to 70 CE was a period the Jewish people encountered intense social changes both in their religious and political lives. It was a period of major historical upheavals and significant changes. The Jews belonged initially to the ptolemies after they were taken into captivity. The ptolemies were later conquered by the Seleucids. At first, the Seleucids respected the Jewish institutions and allowed the Jews a large measure of autonomy in religious affairs. Later, however one Seleucid king, Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), tried to stamp out Judaism by force and the Greek culture (Hellenism) and the worship of other gods on the Jews.
He removed some valuable treasures from the temple and destroyed some Jews religious writings. Later he made a decree, which prohibited Jewish religious practices such as the celebration of feasts, performance of sacrifices, observance of sabbath and the circumcision of children. He went further to erect pagan altars throughout the Jewish land and offered animals which were considered unclean by the Jews on them. These and many other afflictions ushered in the struggle for independence and the battle for reindentification. The last straw that broke the camel's back came in December 167 B.C when Antiochus IV mounted Zeus' (the chief of the Greek gods) alter on the alter of Yahweh and offered swine flesh thereon. This act provoked a violent response by the Jews. Many Jews chose to die than to be defiled. Matthathias, a priest in Modein steadfastly refused to obey the order to offer sacrifices to Zeus ; he killed Antiochus' commissioner who was compelling the Jews to sacrifice to Zeus and killed another Jew who had complied and was offering the sacrifice. This act was a signal to open resistance: the Jewish patriots led Matthathias with his five sons waged bitter guerrilla warfare against the Seleucids. After the death of Matthathias, one of his sons, Judas Maccabeus, became the leader. After a long struggle, the Maccabees brothers liberated Jerusalem, cleansed the desecrated temple, and restored the old order in the temple. Having had this bitter experience as it is the case with every national struggle, there were different opinions on how this independence could be maintained and subsequently achieved. For example here in Nigeria we are facing a bit of the bitter experience. While some persons believe in one Nigeria, unity in diversity, the Biafrans believe in achieving their self independence whereas other persons believe that the solution to our problems is restructuring. Again, the situation can be likened to what we have in Christian churches today on different versions of a true worship should be. While some places emphasis on outward appearance but with a pure heart, others believe that looks or appearance does not matter that what matters is your inner mind. Yet, with all these differences, none has ever called sin righteousness. This divergent approaches to life issues created also different views on how national independence could be achieved by the Jews hence, the emergence of different sects, movements or sectarianism. To the Jews, the emergence of these sects was a renewed hope and confidence as they expected freedom from their foreign rulers. These sects served as awareness defence and development of the Jewish cultural values in an effort to recover the culture and religious traditions of the Jews. The sects equally functioned to repudiate the assimilated foreign cultures. They were seen as promoters of social revolution and denunciation of the oppressors of the Jewish people. They interpreted the Torah thereby deepening the people's understanding of the Jewish laws.
ReplyDeleteCONCLUSION: Having looked at the overview of how these sects operated, one can see that despite the various schools of thoughts or dimensions of operations, they were able to uniformly achieve a common interest, which is in summary, promoting the Jewish culture and achieving independence for the Jewish nation.Despite their doctrinal differences, they had one voice when it comes to matters of their religion. For example, in Matthew 16:1, the Pharisees and the Sadducees came together to meet Jesus. Here they acted as one notwithstanding their sharp disagreement. The extremes of these sects can be criticised but not with their main beliefs. They achieved inward spiritual experiences over intellectual and rational knowledge. All their distinct ideologies revolved round the freedom of the Jews and ensuring the deepened understanding of the Torah so as to appreciate the essence of their existence. In this we found the whole essence of the Jewish sects.
REFERENCES
ReplyDelete* THE SYNOPTICS (INTRODUCTORY NOTES ON THE GOSPELS ACCORDING TO ST. MATHEW, MARK AND LUKE) BY DEJI AYEGBOYIN
*DAVID PADFIELD (2007), JEWISH SECTS OF THE SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD
*FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS-ANTIQUITY OF THE JEWS
*BIBLE HISTORY ONLINE (2011): THE INFLUENCE OF THE PHARISEES
*JOHN WOLF (2007), THE HISTORY, CREED AND INFLUENCE OF FOUR JEWISH GROUPS AND INSTITUTIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES; BOB JONES UNIVERSITY.
Thank you members of group four.
ReplyDeleteYour essay is interesting. I enjoyed reading it.
members have eaerned a good mark for this. It will be communicated later.
Cheers everyone. Compliments of the season. If any group member wants to add to what has been submitted, he/she is welcome to do so.
Well done group leader.