Babylonian Captivity and the Ritual Law

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Dondi

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Babylonian Captivity and Ritual Observance
How did the Israelite perform the ritual law during the Babylonian captivity? They had no Temple in Babylon (even if they had I understand that the only place that the High Priest could perform on the Day off Atonement was the spot designated by God in Jerusalem). Did God just let this aspect slide? Was there any animal sacrifices?

Secondly, wasn't the Ark of the Covenant missing or stolen during the captivity? Upon their return to Jerusalem, how could they continue the ritual law without it, even up to the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70?
 
There are some mitzvot that are only applicable in certain situations, involving certain people, certain groups. For example, there are laws of ritual purity that apply only to a woman. A man isn't error for not fulfilling those mitzvot. If G!d had intended him to fulfill them he would have given him a menstrual cycle. The same is true when there is no Temple as is also the case today. There is no obligation to do the impossible.

-- Dauer
 
So what you are saying is that there was (and is now) no system of atonement (i.e. animal sacrifice). So on what basis were Israel's sins forgiven? (BTW, I hope you aren't taking this the wrong way. I'm not going to spin off into a diatribe about the Christian idea of atonement, if that is your concern. I'm just trying to understand the process.)
 
Atonement and animal sacrifice are two different things. Not all atonement includes a step of sacrifice and not all sacrifice is part of a system of atonement. Further, not all sacrifices are animal sacrifices. Generally the only types of sacrifice related to sin deal with unintentional sin. The Hebrew word for a sacrifice is a qorban which means a coming-near or drawing-close. That is to say, it is an ancient israelite form of prayer. The daily services today mirror that type of prayer. For reference:

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. [2 Chronicles 7:14]

He prays to God and finds favor with him, he sees God's face and shouts for joy; he is restored by God to his righteous state. [Job 33:26]

Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. [Psalm 34:14]

The Eternal is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. [Psalm 34:18]

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. [Psalm 51:16-17]

Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. [Psalm 40:6]

Take words with you and return to the Eternal. Say to him: "Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the bulls of our lips. [Hosea 14:2]

He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. [Proverbs 28:13]

Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Eternal a man avoids evil. [Proverbs 16:6]

To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Eternal than sacrifice. [Proverbs 21:3]

For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. [Hosea 6:6]

With what shall I come before the Eternal and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Eternal be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Eternal require of you? Only to do Justice, and to love Mercy and to walk humbly with your God. [Micah 6:6-8]


There are three categories of sin and two types of sin in Judaism. The three categories of sin are a cheit which is a missing-of-the-mark, an avon which is when one gives in to their base drives, and a pesha which is intentionally doing something against G!d.

The two types are sins between man and man and sins between man and G!d. A sin between man and man must be dealt with between the two individuals first i.e. if you wrong another person you must seek forgiveness from that person, not from G!d. The obligation is to seek forgiveness on as many as three separate occasions if the person will not forgive you on the first at which point you are considered forgiven and released from the obligation. One situation that is unforgivable for this reason is murder. There is nobody to receive forgiveness from. If there was some material loss then reparation are also required as a part of this process.

If it is a sin that is not interpersonal then a person is required to seek forgiveness from G!d. So for example, on Yom Kippur a person can pray their heart out and it won't deal with the time he had wronged his neighbor and never reconciled. In that sense the days of awe and even the whole month of elul preceeding those days are a bit like the Christmas season for Christians. Jewish people may be especially at that time seeking to make good with anyone they wronged in the past year.

For the most part Judaism places far more emphasis on doing the right thing than on those times a person might have acted in error but the above is the system for expiating sin. Judaism empowers each individual to redeem themselves from sin through their own actions. It sees G!d's desire for humanity not that we are all perfect, but that when we stumble a bit we're able to recover ourselves and keep moving forward.

-- Dauer
 
Thank you Dauer. That is quite enlightening. Thank you for taking the time to explain all that.

So basically, God overlooked the sacrifices during the Babylonian period. And is it fair to assume that this is when much of the teachings of modern Judaism were formulated?

Also, when Herod's Tenple was built, did they bring back the ritual sacrifices? If so, was the Ark of the Covenant missing by then? Evidently they still could not fulfill all the priestly duties, particularly in regards to the Day of Atonement, no?
 
Dondi said:
Thank you Dauer. That is quite enlightening. Thank you for taking the time to explain all that.
Click to expand...
Currently lurking on this thread, not wanting to butt in. But do wish to say I am admiring the line of inquiry and agreeing with Dondi's appreciation. Kudos all around (back to your regular programming)
 
Dondi,

in answer to your first question, historically I'm not so sure. It's generally held that during and after there were some important ideas that were formulated, such as the move from henotheism to monotheism. According to tradition it all goes back to Moses but it was designed in such a way to allow it to be applied to different situations. According to the mishna there was originally a system in place to allow people who were at a distance from the Temple to still be connected to the things that were happening there but I'm not certain when that started. It's a bit of a precursor to the daily prayers of today.

Re: Herod's Temple. Yes, they did bring them back but the sadducees became pretty corrupt. They had the ark but I'm pretty sure some of the contents were lost. My personal guess, though I could be wrong, is that the ark wasn't the same one as had been used previously. Based on some things I've read I would wonder if the talmudic description of the cheruvim on the ark as being in the form of two people, that is, a male and a female, might have actually been accurate for that ark and not a drash while a previous ark had sculptures of cheruvim on it according to other descriptions of their appearance.

edit: I thought the ark was there but I decided to google to see if I could find a bit more info about it. Now I am uncertain. However, based on the mentioned drash from the Talmud, I am thinking there may have been something there as most of the sites I'm hitting are not Jewish.

edit: ah, here we go: "This second temple was missing the Ark of the Covenant, the Urim and Thummim, the holy oil, the sacred fire, the Ten Commandments, the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod. The Kodesh Hakodashim was separated by curtains rather than a wall as in the first Temple. As in the Tabernacle, there was in it only one golden lamp for the holy place, one table of showbread, and the incense altar, with golden censers, and many of the vessels of gold that had belonged to Solomon's Temple that had been carried to Babylon but restored by Cyrus (Ezra 1:7-11)."

Second Temple - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's not that I trust wikipedia more than the other sites, just Ezra.
 
This is a fantastic thread, however I'm going further off on the tangent to avoid starting another thread.

Questions about cheits, avons, and peshas

Somewhere in the past at various times I've borrowed several books (& and 1 vinyl record which I've now lost) and I also lost and forgot the original owners, my friends. First of all, I probably should have kept track of those people. I also still have their books (not many, though, and I usually return books), however it would be difficult find the owners because it was so long ago. Other people have kept lots of my personal books, and I don't think I'm ever getting them back. Am I even-steven? I guess I should hire a detective service to find the owners and the lost vinyl and return all the books as well as help my books find their way back to me? What if I'm too poor? Is this cheit, avon, & pesha or is it just cheit you think, or am I missing the point?

Additionally, you suggested an avon must be confessed to be cleared up. Well, everybody is connected in a way, so how many people should it be confessed to? I'm not trying to count chads, here; just getting an idea of how this works. Ok, I'm counting the chads.
 
dauer said:
edit: ah, here we go: "This second temple was missing the Ark of the Covenant, the Urim and Thummim, the holy oil, the sacred fire, the Ten Commandments, the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod. The Kodesh Hakodashim was separated by curtains rather than a wall as in the first Temple. As in the Tabernacle, there was in it only one golden lamp for the holy place, one table of showbread, and the incense altar, with golden censers, and many of the vessels of gold that had belonged to Solomon's Temple that had been carried to Babylon but restored by Cyrus (Ezra 1:7-11)."

Second Temple - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's not that I trust wikipedia more than the other sites, just Ezra.
Click to expand...

So you concur that the Ark of the Covenant was not present in the Second Temple. But how could the High Priest perform his duties? Basically, from the Babylonian Captivity until this very day, the rites involved in the Day of Atonement, according to Leviticus 16, has never been properly performed. That is a span of some 2600 years (586 BCE - 2008 CE). Wow.

But doesn't Judaism teach that God really replaced the sacrifice system with prayer as a form of higher worship? Yet Orthodox Judaism has prayers for the restoration of the Temple and the sacrifice system. Ezekiel 40-47 quite detailingly describes the third Temple where the sacrifice system is reinstated. Yet there is no mention of the Ark of the Covenant there either. Moreover, there is mention of a prince, not a priest, who will give a bullock sacrifice for the sins of the people (Ezekiel 45:22), whom I presume would be the Messiah. So why the injunction to go back to sacrifices? Wouldn't this be taking a step backwards?
 
Hey Dream.

Cheit is an archery term for missing the mark. It's stumbling along the way. That's a cheit. Any of the three categories could necessitate action of reconciliation on the individual's part, be it between man and man or between G!d and man. A cheit is missing-the-mark and teshuvah is turning, bringing oneself on the mark again.

Let's say you have a problem with individual x. You deal with individual x. It's not really a matter of confession, more of reconciliation. so let's say you wronged individual x in business. You'd apologize to them and make good on what you did. If no material loss is involved then you don't need to worry about that step. Think about the guy doing a 12-step program who has to go apologize to all the people he's wronged. Similar to that.

--Dauer
 
Dondi,

as I said in my first post, we don't hold that G!d expects the impossible. If a mitzvah is not available to be performed then it is not required of us. I don't need to stay away from dead bodies because I'm not a kohen, but that doesn't mean I'm failing to fulfill that mitzvah.

But doesn't Judaism teach that God really replaced the sacrifice system with prayer as a form of higher worship?
Click to expand...

It depends on the stream of Judaism and the individual's thoughts on the matter. For someone who holds that the sacrifices will be reinstated it's not a step backwards.
 
While I don't have orthodox friends, I have many Jewish friends. For most it seems their religious/spiritual life is quite different from my Christian friends. They are much more cocerned with today than the hereafter. They are focused on passing on the history, the tradition, the values to their children, they bring the stories to life.

Now years ago I was at a conference where I was assigned a roomate, and when I woke up and saw him wrapped in leather straps with little boxes on his arm and forehead, swaying and chanting in front of the wall I must admit I did not know what to think. Now I still do not know if he was orthodox, he always wore head covering and a beard but didn't have the long locks by his ears. We talked some, we didn't talk much, I would have asked a thousand more questions today.

But attending shabbot services and passover dinners and sitting in the little grass shed listening to all the stories is incredible to me. I see why Jews congregate in business, ie use a jewish lawyer, accountant, real estate agent...etc. They know the stories that their mother and father told them were the same stories these other folks learned. They know they have a common tradition and expectation of how life and business is to be accomplished, there is comfort in that.

But I don't see the arguments between the 'denominations' this could be because I am not in that world enough, but the concern about reading the letter of the law appears more amongst the literal readers, similar to Christianity.
 
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