Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Cross, Page 8
FaMHa AMwl
Thursday, September 21, 2000
A biblical timeline: The
Old Testament
All contents copyright ©2000 by CNS
By Father Dale Launderville, OSB
Catholic News Service
n
Vy entral to the story of the Israel
ite people was their quest for a home
land:
—As a band of Hebrew slaves in the
13th century B.C., they escaped from
slavery in Egypt to make their way to
the land of Canaan.
—As a small community of exiles
in Babylon in the sixth century B.C.,
they were given the opportunity to
return to Israel after an absence of
almost 60 years.
Between these two pivotal events —
exodus and exile — the Israelite people
settled for nearly 700 years on the
land known first as Canaan and then
as Israel. It was a narrow strip of land
150 miles long and 50 miles wide at
the eastern edge of the Mediterranean
— a crossroads for caravan routes and
military forces.
The Israelite people’s only protec
tion against the area’s international
traffic was to strengthen their de
fenses or retreat to higher elevations
away from the Mediterranean. Even
when peace reigned, the threat of for
eign foes was never far distant.
■ ■ ■
When Israel fled Pharaoh’s yoke in
the 13th century B.C., Pharaoh’s
power outside his own land was in
decline. Since the 16th century B.C.,
Egypt had controlled Canaan and si
phoned off its agricultural products as
tribute. The pressure on the farming
people in Canaan, relatives of the He
brew slaves in Egypt, was so severe
that they too seemed to be Pharaoh’s
slaves.
But many Canaanites were hired
as mercenaries to fight for the pha
raoh against the Hittites, a powerful
kingdom to the north (present-day
Turkey). And this military experience
helped prepare the Canaanites to join
the Hebrew slaves in the takeover of
Canaan in the 13th and 12th centu
ries B.C.
The Hebrews and Canaanites, how
ever, were not the only peoples fight
ing the imperial rule of the Egyptians
and Hittites. A diverse group of war
riors known as the Sea People who
came to Canaan from Greece and Asia
Minor were a major force in reshaping
the political landscape of the eastern
Mediterranean countries.
The Sea People overthrew the
Hittite kingdom; they laid siege to the
northern part of Egypt. Some of them
finally settled along Canaan’s Medi
terranean coast and became known as
the Philistines.
The impact of the Sea People
marked Egypt’s retreat from Canaan.
Further to the east in the land of
Mesopotamia, the city-state of Ashur
had transformed itself by the 13th
century B.C. into a national state
known as Assyria. Yet it did not grow
into an imperial power that threat
ened Israel until the ninth century
B.C.
In the latter part of the eighth
century B.C., Assyria deported the
10 tribes of northern Israel and
made the area north of Jerusalem
and Judah into Assyrian provinces.
The northern Israelite tribes were
divided and mixed with other popu
lations in the area east of the Tigris
River (the present-day border of Iraq
and Iran) and vanished from re
corded history.
The Israelites had lived in small
agricultural communities in Israel.
Their ancestors were buried on that
plot of land, and the people could not
be separated from it without losing
their roots and a concrete sense of
what it meant to be an Israelite.
Jerusalem and Judah were able
to stay in the land by paying tribute
to the Assyrian king. The weight of
the Assyrian burden was felt reli
giously as well as economically.
Compromises in the faith practices
of the Israelite people crept into
Jerusalem, which led many of the
people, including refugees from the
northern tribes, to call for reform
and more careful
attention to their
identity as the
Lord’s people.
Such efforts
helped them to
strengthen reli
gious and commu
nal practices that
would sustain them
even if they were
deported to a differ
ent land.
■ ■ ■
Babylon became
the dominant impe
rial power in the
area in the late sev
enth century. In 598
B.C., Nebuchadnez
zar, king of Babylon,
deported a large
number of Jerusa
lem’s leaders and
skilled workers to
Babylon. They were
allowed to settle to
gether and to carry
on communal wor
ship and other activi
ties in Babylon.
In 587 and again
in 582, two addi
tional groups of
people from Jerusa
lem and Judah were
deported to Babylon.
Because they lived
together and kept
alive their worship
practices, these de
ported people were
able to mount a
strong resistance to
the forces of assimi
lation that engulfed them in Babylon.
In 539 B.C., Cyrus, king of Persia,
conquered Babylon and allowed the
exiles to return to Jerusalem. Many of
them had been born in Babylon and
had learned of Jerusalem only
through their parents. Their desire to
go back to Jerusalem and start over
was not overwhelming. In fact, many
remained in Babylon and sustained
their Jewish identity as the primary
center of the Jewish Diaspora until
well into the first millennium A.D.
The crucible of the exile, it should
be noted, had intensified efforts to pre
serve the traditions and worship prac
tices of the people of Israel. The major
ity of the biblical writings were com
posed or edited in the exile or in the
time shortly thereafter.
And while faith in the Lord for the
Israelites was not tied inextricably to
the land, the land remained a sacred
place they always would look to as the
anchor of their identity.
(Benedictine Father Launderville
is a Scripture scholar at St. John’s
University, Collegeville, Minn.)
F00DF0RTH0UGHT
When Pope John Paul II early in 2000 visited Mt. Sinai in Egypt, he spoke of the church’s roots in the Old
Testament, focusing on the law delivered to Moses.
At the Red Sea the Israelites, making the exodus from Egypt, discovered that “God does indeed set his people
free, ” said the pope.
Then at Sinai, he continued, “God seals his love by making the covenant that he will never renounce.” The
exodus and covenant aren’t just past events; “they are forever the destiny of all God’s people.”
What, then, did St. Paul mean in writing that Christians “have died to the law through the body of Christ”? Paul
“did not mean that the law of Sinai is past, ” said the pope. He explained:
Paul meant “that the Ten Commandments now make themselves heard through ... the beloved Son.” Christ’s
follower is bound “internally by the love which has taken hold” deep within the heart. “The Ten Commandments are
the law of freedom: not the freedom to follow our blind passions, but the freedom ...to choose what is good in every
situation, ” even when that is a burden.
31 David Gibson, Editor, Faith Alive!
Journey Highlights: 13th - 6th Centuries B.C.
"Central to the story of the Israelite people was their quest for a homeland....
While faith in the Lord... was not tied inextricably to the land, the land
remained a sacred place they always would look to as the anchor of their identity."
13th-12th centuries
Israel enslaved in Egypt;
Hebrews escape to Canaan,
the Promised Land
11 9th century
Assyria is an imperial
power threatening
Israel
8th century
Assyria deports the
10 tribes of northern
Israel to Babylon;
Jerusalem and Judah
stay in Israel
6th century
Jerusalem's leaders
deported to Babylon;
60>year exile ends as
Jews return to Jerusalem
CNS graphic by Anthony De Feo