A Search for the Origins of Judaism: From Joshua to the Mishnah

by Etienne Nodet

Publisher:

Sheffield Academic Press

, 1997

Overview

This volume contains Etienne Nodet’s fascinating theory of Jewish origins. This radical reconstruction of the origins of Judaism starts by observing that Josephus's sources on the early history of Israel do not agree with the Bible and that the oldest rabbinic traditions show no sign of a biblical foundation. Another interesting question is raised by the Samaritan claim, at the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, that they had only recently received the Sabbath from the Jews. From such details, Nodet creates a comprehensive line of argument which reveals two major sources of Judaism, as symbolized in the subtitle of his work: Joshua was the one who established in writing a statute and a law at the Shechem assembly, while the Mishnah was the ultimate metamorphosis of traditions brought from Babylon and combined with Judaean influences.

Key Features

• Examination of Jewish history and historiography
• Biblical chronologies via multiple sources
• All Scripture references are linked to Hebrew texts and English Bible translations in your library

Contents

Top Highlights

“Pharisees constituted the branch of the Babylonians who had reached Judaea, had more or less settled there” (Page 334)

“with venerable non-biblical customs, in particular the weekly Sabbath.” (Page 335)

“He apparently succeeded in coordinating in Jerusalem the Bible (but not necessarily the Pentateuch under the form in which we know it, which was missing from the library of Nehemiah), the Babylonian oral tradition and the requirements of the high priesthood, with Simon himself being of Egyptian origin.” (Page 335)

“The strict Sabbath, thus weakened by this decision, is a non-biblical novelty, since it was a concern of only a small group of Jews, heirs of Nehemiah, who had insisted on the ramparts for the city and the closing of the gates on the Sabbath, what we have called the ‘model of Nehemiah’” (Page 379)

“Pharisees bore the stamp of Jerusalem, but they did not originate there. In fact, Nehemiah as a prototype, then for various reasons Simon the Just, Judas Maccabeus, Hillel the Elder and all the Galilean developments attest to repeated Babylonian influences, relative to the ‘ancestral tradition’ and to the customs contrary to Scripture.” (Page 331)

Product Details

• Title: A Search for the Origins of Judaism: From Joshua to the Mishnah
• Author: Etienne Nodet
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 1997
• Pages: 424

About Etienne Nodet

Etienne Nodet is Professor of Ancient Jewish Literature at the Ecole Biblique et Archéologique in Jerusalem.

Sample Pages from A Search for the Origins of Judaism: From Joshua to the Mishnah