The story of how Western monotheism developed is fascinating because it influences so much at how we look at the world today. Thought that I would join in the discussion with a fairly long post.
Early Judaism did not view Yahweh as the only god, but as the god who had chosen the Jewish people as his own. In that sense they were much like many other religious groups around the Mediteranian, though they early on they came to the fundamental realization that Yahweh was too transendent to be represented in the form of a physical idol.
The Exodus created a unique loyalty of the Jewish people to Yahweh, but they expressed that loyalty in much the same way that the other inhabitants of Caanan worshiped their gods - through blood sacrifice. Though in the story of Abraham and Isaac, Yahweh ultimately rejects the idea of a human sacrifice, Abraham proved his faithfulness through his readiness to take that ultimate step. In Old Testament Israel, Jews expressed their loyalty to Yahweh through the symbolic sacrifice of animals, just the lamb took Isaac's place.
During the times of Judges and Kings, Jewish people worshipped their god Yahweh in much the same way that other Caananites worshiped their gods such as Baal and Ishtar, with the important exception that pagan worship still involved actual human sacrifice. The word that Jesus frequency used for hell, 'Gehenna', derives its name from a valley east of Jerusalem where Baal-worshipers performed child sacrifice until just a few hundred years before his time.
Throughout Judges, Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, the history of this period is told from the perspective that the fate of the Jewish people and nation is intimately tied to their faithfulness to Yahweh. Leaders who divided their loyalty among other gods, including Solomon, invariably led the nation into disaster. If a similar account of the Philistine people's history survived, it might have reflected a similar loyalty to Baal.
One of the key events that led Judaism to evolve in a distinctly different way from neighboring religions was the Babylonian exile. Most Jews actually remained behind in Israel, but several thousand of the political and religious leaders were taken to Babylon as more or less hostages. For the several decades of exile, these leaders had a great deal of time on their hands to think about the problem of how such a disaster could have befallen Yahweh's chosen people. The result was a maturing of spiritual insight which led this group beyond the primitive "my god can beat up your god" belief system, to the more transcendent belief that the god who they had known as Yahweh was actually the one and only universal God.
From the end of the Babylonian exile onward, Jews had a fundamentally different view of religion than any pagan sect. Jews believed that they had a special relationship with God, and that God would certainly want the Jewish people to have a nation that was independent and successful, provided that the Jewish nation behaved righteously. However, to a much greater extent than in the earlier Davidic kingdoms, Jews now believed that God had purposes far beyond the success or failure of any earthly government. As servants of the one universal God, Jews could find spiritual meaning apart from the nation. Individual Jews would now form communities to practice their religion regardless of the the success or failure of the Jewish nation. The concept that the Jewish religion did not stand or fall with the Jewish nation was fairly unique in the region.
This evolution of belief created the Jewish world that Jesus was born into. Although Christian tradion often views Jesus as coming to a conquered and impoverished nation, it may be more accurate to say that Jesus came into a nation that had achieved a degree of prosperity and influence within the Roman empire, but was in danger of losing its soul. The Macabees had thrown off Greek rule around the same time as the Romans were finishing off Carthage in the Punic Wars, but then evolved into the Hasmonian dynasty. During the Roman civil war following the assasination of Julius Ceasar, Herod 'the Great' had skillfully manuevered to create a Jewish nation that was quasi-independent and relatively influential within the Roman Empire.
Unlike most of their neighbors, the Jews of Jesus' time had not been conquered by the Roman military. However, Herod's dynastic ambitions required that the Jewish religion should be pressed into the service of the Jewish political establishment. This reversal of the legacy of the Babylonian exile produced great resentment, and led to the formation of multiple religious communities within the broader Jewish nation. These communities that all considered themselves 'Jewish', but often held quite different beliefs.
The Saducees dominated the Jerusalem religious and political heierarchy. They were the beneficiaries of Herod's political patronage and the commercial opportunities that Herod's alliance with the Roman Empire created. Herod's Temple was an architectural wonder. Roman transportation and security allowed for a sizeable level of 'religious tourism', in which pilgrims traveled from through the Easter Mediteranean to participate in the religious spectacle of the temple. These pilgrims brought revenues, but the solemn tradition of animal sacrifice now took on the atmosphere of an open-air barbecue. Many devout Jews resented this commercialization of their religion, observed that the Temple had become a 'den of thieves', and looked for ways to practice their religion independent of this corruption.
The Pharisees, who take a verbal beating in the Gospels, were actually a reform movement that sought to lesson the importance of temple sacrifice through increased emphasis on personal righteousness. The Pharisees and Saducees both agreed that misfortune was caused disobedience to the law, but they disagreed on what to do about sin. The Saducees encouraged attonement for sin through animal sacrifice, which was in accord with Mosaic tradition and profitable too. The Pharisees sought to lessen dependence on the centralized Temple hierarchy by reducing the need for sacrifice. This involved rigorous compliance with the detailed prescriptions of Mosaic law, with a fastidiousness that earned them the scorn of the writers of the Gospels. By moving worship away from the Temple and encouraging the study and interpretation of the Torah, they also were forefathers of rabbinical Judaism which developed after the destruction of the Temple.
Other groups such as the Zealots viewed themselves as heirs to the legacy of the Maccabees, advocating armed resistance to Roman rule and the associated corruption. They would eventually get their way in 67 A.D., with disastrous results.
The Essenes were a fairly small faction within the Jewish community of Jesus' day, but were uniquely important in the development of the early Christian community. Like the Zealots, they radically rejected the practices of the Temple hierarchy and believed that the nation and world faced impended appocalypse; however, they expressed this belief through asceticism rather than violence. John the Baptist was likely an Essene. The Dead Sea scrolls were authored by the Qumron Essene community and provide added historical context for many of the early Christian writings. There is no proof that Jesus himself was a member of the Essene community, but some of his closest followers may have been.
In his role as Jewish 'King', Herod had bought peace, prosperity and influence at the cost of Roman hegemony. The Sadducees accepted this arrangement, running the risk of 'gaining the world but losing their souls'. Other Jewish factions rejected this bargain in various ways. The Zealots pursued armed resistence. The Essenes dropped out of Jewish society and eventually out of history. The Pharisee party focused on the development of a detailed moral framework independent of ritual sacrifice, thereby laying the foundations of rabinical Judaism. The Christian community believes the sacrifical death of Jesus forever replaces the ritual attonement accomplished through sacrifice.
Of these various traditions, only Christianity and rabbinical Judaism survived the Roman suppression of the Jewish revolt in 70 A.D. Paul became a central figure in the development of Christianity, partly because the Jewish segments of the Christian community in residing in Judea were wiped out. In the wake of the disastrous revolt, both the early Christians and the founders of rabbinical Judaism sought to distance themselves from the unpopular leaders of the Jewish rebellion. In the process of separating themselves from their roots in the Jewish nation, they also sundered themselves from each other.
However, both grew out of the same tiny but marvelously insightful religious community that gifted the world with an understanding that God is big enough to reign over an entire universe, yet personal enough endow each individual life with meaning. May we use this season to rediscover and celebrate our shared values and spiritual traditions.
bttt
Outstanding post! Thanks.
But other historical descriptions of Pontius Pilate and why he was recalled to Rome tell quite a contrasting story from what we've read in the New Testament. Try Philo and Josephus. It is also noticeable as to how Catherine Emmerich (much later) added to the story of Pontius regarding his wife. ...another keyword to add to Philo, Josephus and Pontius Pilate would be Sejanus.
btt
Herod was an Idumean/Edomite theoretically converted to Judaism. He was installed by the Romans and killed of most of the Hamoneans and much of the Sanhedrin. He built gentile towns in Caesaria and Sebastia (the latter over the remains of Samaria) The ethnic strife created by this was the direct cause of the Jewish rovolt three generations later.