by hadassah | Nov 16, 2015 | Jews in the Persian Period
Why Isaiah calls a non-Jewish king of Persia Israel’s anointed one The Persian emperor Cyrus is honored as the only foreigner in the Bible to be identified as the “messiah” or “anointed one” of YHWH, the Israelite God.1 Isaiah tells us that YHWH spoke “to his messiah,...
by hadassah | Nov 12, 2015 | Jews in the Persian Period
The biblical account sees the support for the return as coming both from the Jewish community in Babylonia as well as from the Persian ruler who returned the sacred vessels taken by the Babylonians when they sacked the Jerusalem Temple in 686 B.C.E. 5 Then the family...
by hadassah | Nov 12, 2015 | Jews in the Persian Period
A weakling has been installed as the king of his country… sacred cities inappropriate rituals… daily he did blabber [incorrect prayers]. He interrupted in a fiendish way the regular offerings… within the sacred cities. The worship of Marduk, the king of the...
by hadassah | Jan 22, 2009 | Jews in the Persian Period, Persian Period
Was the Ark of the Covenant taken from Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem during the reign of King Manasseh in the seventh century B.C.E. to an island called Elephantine in the Nile River? Was it housed there in a Jewish temple much like the one King Solomon built? These...
by hadassah | Apr 8, 2008 | Jews in the Persian Period
Biblical sources assert that after sacrifices were quickly restarted after the Return, the building of the Temple was delayed. Eventually, permission was obtained from the Persian officials, as well as financial support, for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem....
by hadassah | Apr 8, 2008 | Jews in the Persian Period
Ezra was soon confronted with the problem of intermarriage of some Judeans with women from the neighboring nations. Reasoning that the Torah forbade such unions, Ezra forced these men to divorce their wives. 9-1 When this was over, the officers approached me, saying,...
