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Two years ago the now defunct Recovering Orthodox Jew blogger recommended I read The Roots of Rabbinic Judaism by Gabriele Boccaccini. It was well worth the time and gave me a greater understanding of the political, social, and especially the religious dynamics in play during the Second temple period (up to Daniel) that eventually evolved into Rabbinic Judaism. I'm leaving out the fascinating historical events and intrigue. Read the book.A very interesting thing happened when the exiles of Babylonia returned to build the second temple. Members of the Davidic dynasty came along but soon disappeared. Essentially, the main priestly families (House of Zadok) became the spiritual AND political leaders (in place of the king). History was reworked to show how the covenant of kingship between God and David was really only contingent on their faithfulness and could really be abrogated (and thus they no longer have a right to rule). They re-imagined David's role as the one who paved the way for the (new) legitimate rulers, Zadokite priests, to rule via the temple his son built. They traced their divine right to rule back to Sinai, considering Moses role as one who would establish Aaron's line as the legitimate rulers. And they traced their lines specifically to Phinehas, giving him a special covenant to rule as high priest which they then used to exclude from service all the priests who had remained in the land while they were in exile. Thus, they consolidated their power through exclusion and political/historical propaganda.
Ezekiel was the earliest document that disqualified most Levites accusing then of sinfulness while focusing on the faithfulness of the Zadokites who were the PROPER sons of Levi to serve as legitimate priests. Ezekiel also restricted and altered the cultic position of the king. Originally king offered sacrifices, blessed the people, wore priestly ephod, nominated priests (who were, at that time, considered his officials). Now the king was relegated to the status of a patron of the cult.
Chronicle's rewriting emphasizes the providential role Davidic monarchy played in establishment of Zadokite rule.
It was during the second temple period and for centuries after, that the Zadokites achieved leadership role as both priests and political power.The Zadokite/priestly theology based itself on the covenantal relationship between God and man. The stability of divine order as they imagined it was in jeopardy if the covenant was not upheld. They imagined a divine order of creation establishing boundaries of time (sacred & holy days), space (sacred geography centered at Jerusalem temple), and society (hierarchy of Zadokite high priests, then Aaronite, then Levites, male Jews, women/slaves, gentiles, clean, and unclean animals). If Jews followed God's law, God agreed to constrain Himself according to the parameters of the covenant.
If man followed the Mosaic law as interpreted by them, reward follows. If a person sinned, punishment follows. However everyday experience doesn't bare out this equation. Good suffer, innocent die, a charitable person's life is cut short contrary to the teachings of the sages. Concurrently there was another competing theological ideology which we now call Sapiential Judaism. They were the skeptics like Jonah, Job, & Qoheleth who recognized the faulty equation of the Zadokites. In their view, God could not be limited by covenantal constraints and that experience teaches us about a very different reality.
Not everyone agreed with the priestly view. But these Sapiential/wisdom theologians did eventually attempt to find a way to reconcile experience with the dominant religious power, the priests. Zadokite, Enochic and Sapiential were distinct until early Hellenistic period until the balance was broken between religious and secular with the Ptolemaic tax-farming that gave actual political power to those able to find economic advantage. In 3rd cent. BCE, the economically and politically powerful Tobiad family forced compromise and the Zadokites accepted basics of Sapiential Judaism. Tobit and Ben Sira paved the path to rapprochement between Sapiential/Wisdom and Torah. Over time, Sapiential philosophy gave up some of its cosmopolitan, universal ideas to find rapprochement with the Zadokites while the Zadokites allowed room for morality, ethics, and charity to be criteria for faithfulness and worship (aside from their own agenda of priestly power).
I find this reconciliation between skeptics and fundamentalists to be very fascinating and perhaps instructive, especially considering what happened to other groups who could not reconcile with the mainstream. Unfortunately an opportunity was lost with this reconciliation. During the 3rd cent BCE, there was a high level of integration with the Hellinistic culture. Gods were demythologized and considered hero so that attending a festival would not be considered to have worshipped idolatry. There was actually a chance for Judaism to become inclusive monotheism.
It was during this period that Qoheleth was written. It denied that humans have the power to influence the times decided by God (thereby limiting his omnipotence). In the same way we can't comprehend the plans of a king because we are not privy to the whole picture so to with God's plan. Qoheleth's answer is submission to the covenant without expecting the wisdom to understand the ways of the Lord.
Other competing groups like the Samaritans were successfully cast out from the fold and are no longer recognized by the Jews as Jews. The same is true of the Enochic Judaism group. They also had pondered the problem of the existence of evil in this world. God is truly good so evil could not have emanated from Him. Instead, they created a theology based on a rebellion in heaven, fallen angels who corrupted and contaminated humanity. Only in the end of days when this creation is destroyed and a totally new creation occur, will true order be restored to the world. The Enochians could not reconcile their theology with the Zadokites, eventually they became Essenes and finally split altogether with the abandonment of ritual (loss of ethnicity) and became Christians.
The Maccabbean revolt was another stage in the evolution of Rabbinic Judaism. Daniel incorporated SOME of the Enochic theology. Suffering was now explained as originating from God but the innovation here was describing collective vs. individual punishment. The Jewish people had free will and sinned. In his view, sin requires many generation to achieve atonement for the groups unfaithfulness but the individual still can experience his personal justice when he is judged for his own faithfulness to the covenant in the afterlife. But during his life he will experience collective punishment and testing of his will. After the required period, if people are righteous and repent, God's forgiveness will follow, ushering in a glorious time with a restoration of the original Divine order.
Daniel's ideas of resurrection, end of times, and final judgment were allowed to merge with Zadokites once they downplayed the apocalyptic part and denied him status as a prophet. Daniel's innovation of collective vs individual punishment allowed for the creative reinterpretation of Zadokite texts. The creativity was on an intellectual and literary level that eventually led to the Mishnah and idea of an oral law!
The Rabbis of the Mishnah later came along and took over the role as the legitimate leaders. They created a hereditary line that avoided Aaron and his priestly descendants (tracing back toMoshe and Joshua) and showed that the leadership role would not be an inherited one like the priests had. So Davidic dynastic rule was trumped by Zadokite priestly rule in the second temple which was later assumed by the rabbis. Kings to Priests to Rabbis, oh my! Each one re-imagining or reworking or rewriting the texts to justify their legitimacy, advocate their theological perspective, and find meaning in the political, religious, and social order.
Check out Holy Hyrax for a nice post on suffering.
