Throughout history, Jews were party to momentous sufferings that fate heaped upon them, yet persisted. Many have wondered how they persevered despite being conquered and oppressed in periods ranging from the Babylonian Exile to the Roman sacking of Jerusalem, the Jewish capital. The oppression of Jews had a religious basis, with outsiders such as the Greeks  thinking, “If the Jews felt like Greeks, why then did they not revere the same Gods as the Greeks?” (Brenner). And the Greeks were hardly alone, as others oppressed the Jews, starting with the Babylonian Exile and the destruction of the First Temple. Then, Antiochus IV banned Jewish culture. After a rebellion known as the Maccabean Revolt and about a century of freedom, the Roman Empire came along and reconquered the Jews, destroying their Second Temple in Jerusalem and murdered or enslaved all the people. Looking at this oppression, it is difficult to understand how the Jewish culture endured. Jewish identity was able to persist despite their political weakness relative to their neighbors because they had an unwavering faith in their God that withstood the harshest of sufferings; this strong belief in their identity and religion also stemmed from the portability of sacred texts, and the covenant, which encouraged a monotheistic faith in god and a careful following of the law in exchange for future blessings and happiness.

The Sacred Texts, such as the Torah, were the cornerstone of Judaism, and it was thanks to them that Jewish identity was able to continue since, with the books, the religion could stay alive and spread to every corner of the world. During the Hellenistic period, the books were even translated into languages other than Hebrew so that people could follow the Israelite religion without speaking the language. Sacred texts included the Torah, “which contains a narrative of early Israelite history and an exposition of the law that Israel received through Moses” (Mattern & Winks), and as long as they existed, the culture was able to persist because the people had a connection to God without actually being present in the temple. Additionally, sacred texts gave the religion a sort of durability: generally, once all the believers died, the religion would die too, but the books made it possible for Judaism to survive. Not only is the religious background for Judaism contained in the sacred texts, but “the history of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah is told in the books of the Bible” (Mattern & Winks). History contains all the background necessary for a religion to flourish because then, people know about their ancestors and their wars, creating a sense of shared origins. In short, sacred Texts are one of the reasons Jewish culture was able to survive what it did and continue for as long as it did, because of their portability and the inability to destroy.

Covenant, or the holy promise between God and the Jewish people, is another reason that Judaism was able to persist, for it gave them faith that as long as they obeyed God’s law, God would rescue them, connecting them to God in a way that many other religions didn’t. The covenants overall state that “the people had to keep the commandments which God gave them, and in exchange, God will bless them and their offspring” (Deuteronomy 6:1-24, Genesis 17:1-22, Genesis 22:1-14). Such a solid connection to God allowed the people to believe that He would rescue them, a faith that endured every obstacle thrown in their path. To stay true to the Covenant, there were a number of Laws that Jews had to follow, and it was these laws that connected the people to God in yet another way. Law was the side of the bargain where Israelites had to act in a certain way, and “Yahweh would save the Hebrew nation, the prophets thundered, only if Jews strictly observed divine law” (Hunt). The 10 Commandments outline the laws, which included “holidays for Jews to observe, rules for behavior such as no committing murder, thievery, or adultery, and circumcision, as a physical way to show that they were God’s” (Exodus 20:2-17, Exodus 34:12-26, Deuteronomy 5:6-21). By following the Laws outlined by God in his Covenant, Jewish culture was able to persist past indignities that were thrown their way.

These three, the sacred texts, covenant, and law led to the development of a monotheistic society and a connection to God that was more tangible than in other cultures. Without the Sacred Texts, Covenant, and Law, Judaism would not have been able to survive the calamities its people suffered because there would have been no books to spread the religion, no promise from God for them to stay faithful too, and no Laws that their culture centered around. The implications of this are astounding because it proves that with sacred texts, covenant, and law, a religion could survive the worst of terrors. In this day and age, when the internet preserves everything, is it even possible to destroy religion?

Sources

Aslan, Reza. God: A Human History. Bantam Press, 2017.

Brenner, Michael, and Jeremiah Riemer. A Short History of the Jews. Princeton University Press, 2012.

Deuteronomy, 6:1-24

Deuteronomy 5:6-21

Exodus 20:2-17

Exodus 34:12-26

Ford, S. Personal Interview, 28 February 2019.

Genesis 17:1-22:

Genesis 22:1-14

Hunt, Lynn. The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012.

Winks, Robin W., and Susan P. Mattern-Parkes. The Ancient Mediterranean World: from the Stone Age to A.D. 600. Oxford University Press, 2004.