The Political, Social and Religious Situation of Palestine During the First Century AD
The situation in Palestine at the time Jesus began his teaching was
very unstable and "ready for trouble". This was mainly because of the
Roman invasion, and because they still occupied the land. This meant
that there became definite different groups of people, who had
different beliefs and attitudes towards one another. Overall, there
were five different groups of people, who had differences between
themselves. I shall explain the five groups and state their beliefs
and attitudes, which led to trouble.
The first group is the Romans. They had conquered many lands before
the region of Palestine (now part of Israel). When the invaded to
conquer the land they did it by force, their army was very important
to them so pride was taken in it and so it became very powerful. When
they had conquered a place, you really had to give in to them because
they were so powerful, but when people gave in to the Romans their
rules were quite fair. They had their own religion and they let you
have yours. They built roads and cities, established law and order and
generally kept the peace.
Although the Jews may have submitted to Roman rule on the surface,
deep down they never gave in. They really hated the Romans because of
their religion, the fact they had to pay tax to the Romans and
probably the main reason - they were taking over and occupying their
country. The Jewish people who showed their hatred and tried
frequently to rebel against the Romans is the second group called the
Zealots.
The Zealots were Jewish people who wanted rid of the Romans, for the
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...ots hated the Romans and were
constantly trying to attack them, because their land was being stolen
from them and they could not worship properly. The Romans wanted to
take over peacefully, collect money from the people in the country and
every one to obey them - which made every one hate them. Finally the
people who only wanted to have more comfortable lives, all they wanted
was the Messiah that God had promised them. I think the ordinary
people would have disliked to some extent the Temple because it was
costing them money and before Jesus cam, no benefit to them.
The implications of each group's feelings meant that eventually,
sooner rather than later something was going to happen. Overall, I
think Jesus would either be loved, and seen as saving them, or hated,
and all of the people's bad feelings took out on him.
demonstrated many frontiers. In this day in age many still cross the boundaries wanting revenge but trying to live by religious standards to obey the value of
power. This being a new idea and quite big news at the time, this must
There are many disputes as to when exactly the Jewish people and their roles in medieval civilization became apparent to the Christian and Islam peoples of the time. Various time periods are claimed by various different authors, however in this particular case I have utilized the historical writings of Louis Finkelstein. In one of his many books, we find that his perception of Jews in this time are from about 1000 AD to 1603AD. These dates seem to encompass the entire Middle Ages much better than some of the other speculations made by various other Jewish authors.
The Favorability of the Social and Religious Situation in Arabia around 600 AD Toward the Rise of Islam
When Jerusalem fell to the conquering Babylonians in 587 BC, most of what was important to the Hebrew people was gone. They lost their holy city, the Temple was destroyed, and the Davidic monarchy ended (Beasley 221). Following the destruction of Jerusalem, the Babylonian king, Nebuchadrezzar, deported most of the population to other cities, including Babylon. These exiles remained there for about fifty years until the Persian forces, under king Cyrus, took the city of Babylon in 539 BC. The Persian policies concerning captured and exiled peoples were quite different than those of the Babylonians, and because of this King Cyrus allowed the exiles to return to Jerusalem in 538 BC to rebuild the city and the Temple.
The long-awaited death in 4 BCE of Herod, the ruthless architect of an oppressive Judean police state, sparked a series of spontaneous revolts by the Jewish peasantry. Once these rebellions were subdued, the Jews continued to chafe under a series of tyrannical Roman governors until the massive revolt of 66-70. This period was marked by "widespread discontent and periodic turbulence." Direct Roman rule, along with the burdensome tribute that accompanied it, was highly offensive to the Jews, who considered themselves subjects only to God. Many, in fact, considered their conditions tantamount to slavery (Horsley and Hanson 34-5).
On the streets of Jerusalem, in the rubble of Ramallah, in synagogues, in mosques, in the hearts and minds of millions in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the remainder of Israel, Israelis and Palestinians are locked in a clash of civilizations. In his masterful work, The Clash of Civilizations, Samuel L. Huntington outlines a theory which approaches international politics on the scale of civilizations. However, he circumvents discussion about Israel. Huntington cautiously describes Israel as a “non-Western” (Huntington 90) country, but identifies the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as one along a fault line between civilizations (267). Though he chooses to avoid the issue, Huntington’s theory provides a groundwork for analyzing the conflict in Israel in terms of a clash of civilizations between Judaism and Islam. This is a dangerous and provocative idea. But if we dare examine its implications and explore its insights, we risk a more complete understanding of the conflict which has plagued relations between Palestinians and Israelis in particular, Muslim countries and Israel in general, for over fifty years.
taken from them. It was a show of honor in front of their elders, for few
Pride is a very big thing for certain people. They will protect it at all costs and make sure
When it comes to the modern relationship that Islam shares with both Christianity and Judaism, it is not difficult to recognize mutual hostility. Islamic extremism has been gradually dominating the Western perception of Muslims—in the midst of this, the World Trade Center attacks could only exacerbate the situation. On that account, it was no surprise when these hostile attitudes were unmistakably revealed during the “Cordoba House” mosque controversy at which point in 2010, it was proposed that a mosque dubbed the Cordoba House be established near ground zero. Sure enough, the proposition was met with overwhelming opposition and rebuke (Barbaro). Most of the country objected to the mosque while many of those with more personal experiences regarding 9/11 felt deeply offended and unsettled. What is more, the event garnered picket signs, protests, and contempt from local civilians (Goodstein). Among the mosque’s prominent opponents was former house speaker Newt Gingrich. Speaking out against the proposal, he claims that the push for the Cordoba House mosque “is a test of the timidity, passivity and historic ignorance of American elites” (Gingrich). Gingrich goes on to say that calling the mosque the “Cordoba House” is a deliberate insult in that “it refers to Cordoba, Spain – the capital of Muslim conquerors who symbolized their victory over the Christian Spaniards by transforming a church there into the world’s third-largest mosque complex,” and “every Islamist in the world recognizes Cordoba as a symbol of Islamic conquest. It is a sign of their contempt for Americans.” However, an investigation into Cordoba’s state of affairs during Muslim rule might lead one to believe that the existing hostility between these cultures has not ...
Are Jewish people ruling the world? How comes that all Jews are rich people? These kind of questions are considerable asked by Turkish people. Lots of conspiracy theories are created and they engage people’s attention. In other words, this issue creates lots of question marks in people’s minds. It would be pretty hard to find out who rules the world for an undergraduate paper but it is clearly possible to mention that Jewish people has always been in a special position in different countries. Jews has always been in a privileged position for the Turkic states as well, especially for the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic. This essay aims to make references to the related issues about the Jewish people and their economic lives. In order to understand the position of Jewish people in the Ottoman Empire, it is beneficial to comprehend the political, economic and social atmosphere in the Ottoman Empire.
Throughout Jewish History we have seen significant transitions from 2,000 B.C.E. to 1492 C.E. These transitions changed many different aspects of Jewish life. There are three specific events or turning points that caused tremendous change in Jewish life and had many ramifications. These three events were the Formation of the United Monarchy, the Rise of Hellenism and the Golden Age of Spain. Each of these transitions impacted Judaism in different ways that changed it forever. The different groups of people involved changed different parts of Jewish life including linguistics, politics, traditions, and literature.
When one examines the words “pride” and “self-respect”, it is possible one may assume that the two are identical in meaning. That the words go hand in hand like butter and bread. For quite some time I was pondering on the meaning of the two words “pride” and “self-respect”. The more consideration I put into the two the deeper I was in a maze of confusion. After a long thought on the subject I had come to my own conclusion.
and from it they derived a sense of purpose in the universe and the promise of
his pride in lack of fear and thought that he was not scared of him.