Sem 1 Notes

I. Introduction to the Sacred Scriptures o Judges 16:4-30 (The Story of Delilah) shows the story of Samsons relationship with God: Faith Betrayal Bondage Reconciliation/ Repentance Restoration o o o Deuteronomic History: The way of presenting history of Israels relationship with God The Word of God in the words of humans, but inspired by God The Bible: Collection of books that tells about the agreement or covenant that God made with Israel through Moses (Old Testament) and fulfilled by Jesus (New Testament) 2 Timothy 3:16-17: All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching for reproof, correction, and training in holiness so that the Man of God may be fully competent and equipped for every good work Inspired by God (Dei Verbum, Vatican II): Written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Sacred Scripture teaches the truth for sake of our Salvation.

Main Divisions of the Sacred Scriptures: a. Old Testament i. Christians from different traditions differ in the number of books they consider sacred ii. Old testaments Hebrew Versions: Law- Torah Prophets Nebrim Writings Kethubim Thus they are known as TaNaK iii. Consist of the following books: Pentateuch also known as the Torah, this was the Law of Moses. It focuses on the event when God gave His Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai.

Historical Books Cover about 800 years, from the time the Israelites conquered the Promised Land and became a powerful nation to the time when they abandoned their faith and were once again taken for slavery in a foreign land. Wisdom Books Prophets: There are no major or minor prophets if you talk about their importance, but you consider the length of their scripture. ii. Why is there a Greek version? Hellenization: Alexander the Great dominated the entire region using culture and language, thus they came under the influence of the Greeks. Legend of the Septuagint (LXX): Legend has it that translators were called to translate versions of the Scriptures to Greek and each word and phrase were the similar. b. New Testament: Some of the books include i. Gospels 1. Matthew 2. Mark 3. Luke; Acts 4. John ii. Letters of Paul Only seven (7) letters are undoubtedly written by Paul, the rest are not letters and not written by Paul. They meant authority of the works. iii. Catholic Letters aka Universal letters iv. Revelation/ Apocalypse Apocalyptic Literature, characterized by: 1. Symbolisms 2. Context when the Roman Catholic Church was facing severe persecution and that they had to remain steadfast in FAITH c. Aprocrypha or Deuterocanonical Books- Second Canon

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St Jerome- Translated the Hebrew and Greek to Latin Vulgate, provided an introduction before the Deuterocanonical Books Martin Luther- Translated from original languages, said that Deuterocanonical Books not of the same character as the other books and should not be used for Doctrine. Why are they not equal? i. Language: Only those written in Hebrew should be included, but advanced findings proved otherwise ii. Doctrine: context at that time were of indulgences and thus the said doctrine would be on weak ground (ok di ko gets notes ko rito) iii. Thus says the Lord: This phrase is absent in the books; you cannot dispute further

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The Exodus and The Covenant (10 Commandments) Wilderness in the Desert About 1250 B.C. Hebrews now organized along tribal lines Joshua The Land: not a continuous piece of property Organization based on tribal confederacy Reign of the judges: Deborah, Samson, etc Samuel and Saul Prophet and priest, anointed Saul Hebrews were under Theocracy (God was King and therefore no other person should be anointed) Organization transition into Monarchy in 1035 B.C. David The Kingdom rises to power (about 1000 B.C.) Solomon Wise man who saw the creation of The Temple, ambitious infrastructure CONTEXT - Forming identity of the People 1. Covenant through Moses 2. Land through Joshua 3. Kingdom through David 4. Temple through Solomon At this time, tension caused by labor camps and excessive taxation exploded into a rebellion from the North Kingdom and splits into two: Israel North (comprised of 10 Tribes), capital is at Samaria Judah South, maintained camp at Jerusalem *Isaiah prophetized that the alliance of Ahram and Israel/ Ephrain against Judah shall not stand (Isaiah 7:1-17) If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all (Isaiah 7:7)

II.

The Story of the Old Testament 1. Adam and Eve Genesis 1 & 2: The Creation Power by merely saying that God causes it to be God saw that it was good: Humans created in the image and likeness of God Evening and morning: start with sunrise. 2. Cain and Abel Fall of Man 3. Noah and the Great Flood 40 Days and 40 Nights 4. Abraham The Promise: Offered his own son (Isaac) to God 5. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob Patriarchs, semi-nomadic, diversions by class Isaac a minor character in genesis Jacob deceived Esau to get the birthright 6. Joseph the Dreamer Favorite of the father, thus he was a victim of a conspiracy to commit murder by his brothers. Interpreted dreams of the Pharaoh (7 fat cows and 7 thin cows signified years of abundance and famine) Rose to power but was overthrown Love for relatives and forgiveness 7. Moses

12. Assyrians 722 B.C. Northern Kingdom falls

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Under the leadership of Sargon, they rose to power and uprooted people. King Josiah in 622, during the reformation of the Kingdom, they discovered the Book of Law which contained radical reforms Babylonians 586 B.C. Southern Kingdom Falls Rose to power under King Nebuchadnezzar Exile and Slavery The Exile We lost the Temple. We lost the Kingdom. We lost the Land. Are we to lose the Kingdom? To cope, the exiles: o Recalled the Law of Moses o Collected sayings and writings of the Prophets o Created new writings o Developed worship without Temple Pre-Kingdom, they were called Hebrews. During the time of the Kingdom, they were known as Israelites. Without the Kingdom, they were known as Jews. Canaan- Israel- Palestine Persians 539 B.C. Under Cyrus, the Persians overpowered the Babylonians They had: o Allowed exiles to return o Covenant rebuilt o Refunded rebuilding of the Temple Different kinds of worship: o Left Behind (Samaria): intermarried o Exiled (Jews) Greeks 333 B.C. Alexander the Great leads to become the new world power Greek language spreads, imposed culture Alexander died prematurely but the Greeks still held power Time of Septuagint Eventually, the Seleucids under Antiochus the Great was defeated in Egypt. Greek culture spread rapidly and aggressively. The Temple was profaned in 167 B.C. when it was dedicated to Zeus.

17. Judas the Maccabee Led a successful revolt against the Seleucids Temple was purified in 164 B.C. This was the origin of the Hanukkah Festival of the Jews Remained in power until 40 B.C. 18. Romans Became the new center of world power when Pompey conquered Syria in 63 B.C. Installed puppets in the area that they conquered Herod the Great from 37 to 4 B.C. During the time of Jesus and the Early Church, riots and rebellions continued against Herodians and .. A revolt broke out in 66 A.D. This was crushed in 70 A.D. when Jerusalem and the Temple was destroyed. Desperate revolutionaries held out in the natural fortress of Masada. Rather than surrender, they committed suicide in 33 A.D. Simon Bar Kochba put up a shrine to _. Another revolt broke out. Temple again was profaned. Since the second century, the Israelites remained a people without a state. In the 1940s, under the sponsorship of the Allied powers, the state of Israle was re-established in Palestine, but this had and still has very serious political implications.

III.

Jesus Genealogy (1 Matthew) o Jesus- Joshua o Christ- Messiah o David- King o Abraham- Father of Nations Why is the genealogy not applicable to Jesus case? Frequently, when God chooses, it is not governed by human norms. They are not based on birthright, etc. The 5 Women mentioned in Jesus Genealogy: Tamar Daughter-in law of Judah, devised a way to get pregnant by pretending to be a whore and getting pregnant by Judah

Rahab- A real prostitute, she misdirected pursuers of Jacob and she negotiated with them so her family would be spared Ruth- a Moabite daughter-in-law of Naomi. When the male bloodline of her family was cut, she was left with Naomi and her sister-in-law. She insisted to stay with the tribe of Naomi (Hebrew) and was spotted by Boaz, who soon pursued her. NOTE: READ THE 4 CHAPTERS OF RUTH. This will be included. Bathsheba David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah. David was mesmerized by her, and pursued her. However, he faced three problems when this happened: first, she got pregnant; second, she was the wife of Uriah; and third, Uriah is the loyal officer of his army. David was supposed to recall Uriah in the battlefront to have him sleep with Bathsheba to cover up the pregnancy, but this failed. So he sent Uriah in the frontline where battle is fiercest and got killed. Mary Immaculate Conception; Matthew is avoiding the phrase that Joseph is the father of Jesus

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Baptism Story (1 Mark) Verse 1 Title Verse 2 - Originating from the prophetic books Verse 3 Voice crying in the wilderness Verse 4 Words of John the Baptist (repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as also will appear in Luke) Verse 5 Confession of sins dates back to the time of Christ Verse 6 Johns fashion sense and diet= same with Elijah (prophetic vision, another way of saying he is an important person) Baptism Story in Jordan (public, presence of witnesses) Note the chronology of when the gospels were written: 1. Mark 2. Matthew and Luke (same time) 3. John Why is this relevant? Because the one who baptizes is supposed to be more powerful that the one baptized. This is a discomfort that they had to answer to. The answer to which is embedded throughout the Gospels. Differences: o Matthew - Hesitation of John to baptize, voice was telling everyone else This, meaning he was talking to the people, against You o Luke - People thought John was Christ - During the baptism itself, Jesus was only praying. He did not come out of the water. The theme of prayer is consistent throughout Luke - Not the Spirit but the Holy Spirit o John - You will not find baptism in the gospel of John.

Why were these mentioned? Their unions were irregular, but they were still determined to have the bloodline continue. How to classify the ancestors in three groups: The Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) The Kings (King Hezekiah and Josiah were good kings but the rest were incompetent) The Unknowns (To point out that everybody is significant in the work of salvation) INCLUSIO - This is a unique Hebrew technique used in presenting Jesus genealogy, where what is mentioned at the start will also be mentioned in the end, but only in reverse. - This may be seen in Matthews gospel - This is to highlight that what is in the middle is important