What was everyday life like for 1st Century Jews?

with Rabba Dr Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz

In this episode we think about what day to day life was like for Jews at the time of Jesus.

Additional Resources

Topic Recap

  • There were many different ways of being Jewish at the time of Jesus, as there are today; a lot depended on where you lived.

  • The Temple was a central feature of Jewish life at the time, religiously and economically.

  • Synagogues were beginning to develop, a process that speeded up after the destruction of the Second Temple and the end of sacrifices in 70 CE, after Jesus’ lifetime.

  • Women were definitely not equal to men in Jewish society, but did play important roles, even as landowners and merchants.

  • Jesus was very much a man of his times and his place, deeply involved in his Jewish society and culture, as we can see throughout the Gospels.

Key Biblical Texts

 

Other Key Texts/Primary Sources

  • The Inscription of Theodotus

  • The Dead Sea Scrolls

  • Josephus’s Jewish War and Jewish Antiquities

  • Philo's On Ascetics

  • Babatha's Archive

 

Glossary of Key Terms

  • Diaspora - A population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its homeland.

  • Judaea - A Roman province which incorporated the regions of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea.

  • Mishmarot -  Groups into which Jewish priests were divided for the purposes of their service in the Temple.

  • Synagogue - A building used by Jews for worship, religious study, and, often, community activity.

  • The Temple - The centre of worship and national identity in ancient Israel.

  • Torah - The law of God as revealed to Moses and recorded in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.

 

Suggestions for Group Discussion

  • What suggestions of everyday Jewish life do we encounter in the New Testament?

  • How do the Gospel writers signal Jesus' Jewish identity to the reader?

  • What hallmarks of everyday Jewish life and practice remain evident amongst the earliest Jesus followers?

 

Suggestions for Further Reading

  • From the Maccabees to the Mishnah by Shaye Cohen

  • The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings by Bart Ehrman, especially Chapter 2: 'The World of Early Christian Traditions'

  • 'Jewish Family Life in the First Century CE' by Ross Kraemer, in Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Bressler (eds.), The Jewish Annotated New Testament

  • Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63 B.C.E.-66 C.E. by E. P. Sanders