before failure.
Better to be humble and among the lowly
Than to share spoils with the proud.
(16:18-19)
He who loves transgression loves strife;
He who builds a high threshold invites broken bones.
(17:19)
Many designs are in a man’s mind,
But it is the LORD’s plan that is accomplished.
(19:21)
Through forbearance a ruler may be won over;
A gentle tongue can break bones.
(25:15)
If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat;
If he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
You will be heaping coals on his head,
And the LORD will reward you.
(25:21-22)
As a dog returns to his vomit,
So a dullard repeats his folly.
If you see a man who thinks himself wise,
There is more hope for a dullard than for him.
(26:112)
Also attributed to Solomon is the beautiful Song of Songs. Meant to be a love poem to God, it has verses in which the sensuality is vivid:
How fair you are, how beautiful!
O Love, with all its rapture!
Your stately form is like a palm,
Your breasts are like clusters.
I say: Let me climb the palm,
Let me take hold of its branches;
Let your breasts be like clusters of grapes,
Your breath like the fragrance of apples,
And your mouth like the choicest wine.
Let it flow into my beloved as new wine
Gliding over the lips of sleepers. (7:7-10)
The book of Job is a complex story of a very good man who is used as an experiment between God and the Adversary. The Adversary claimed that if Job did not have all of God’s blessings he would turn against him. To prove Job’s devotion God takes away everything from him: Job’s children are killed, his possessions are all lost, and he is covered with festering sores from head to feet. The story is a document of Job’s faith and his discussions with his friends who try to comfort him. The story ends with Job’s great dismay, his final faith, and God’s restoration of more wealth than he had before and a new set of children.
Among the writings of the Kethuvim is the book of Ecclesiastes. This book is one of the most unusual of these diverse writings and in many ways feels the most modern. It is laced with philosophy that ranges from fatalism, to hedonism, to nihilism, to pragmatism.
Whatever God has brought to pass will recur evermore:
Nothing can be added to it
And nothing taken from it -
and God has brought to pass that men revere Him.
What is occurring occurred long since:
And what is to occur occurred long since:
and God seeks the pursued. And, indeed, I have observed under the sun:
Alongside justice there is wickedness,
Alongside righteousness there is wickedness. (3:14-16)
Only this, I have found, is a real good: that one should eat and drink and get pleasure with all the gains he makes under the sun, during the numbered days that God has given him; for that is his portion. Also, whenever a man is given riches and property by God, and is also permitted by Him to enjoy them and to take his portion and get pleasure form his gains - that is a gift of God. For [such a man] will not brood much over the days of his life, because God keeps him busy enjoying himself. (5:17-19)
How sweet is the light, what a delight for the eyes to behold the sun! Even if a man lives many years, let him enjoy himself in all of them, remembering how many days of darkness there are going to be. The only future is nothingness! (11:7-8)
The sum of the matter, when all is said and done: Revere God and observe His commandments! For this applies to all mankind: that God will call every creature to account for everything unknown, be it good or bad. (12:13)
The Tanakh, the “Old Testament,” tells the story of creation, the story of the chosen people of God, the Israelites. It tells of their many falls from grace but it also tells of God’s great love for them and his perseverance with them.
The conquest of Israel by Babylonia is given the date of 586 BCE (Before the Common Era). Three generations later, at the end of the sixth century BCE, the Persians, under the leadership of Cyrus the Great, defeated the Babylonians and applied his more tolerant subjugation to the Jews in Babylon; they were allowed to return to Jerusalem if they wished. Later the Temple ceremonies were again allowed to take place, and in 450 BCE the Persians sent a Jewish governor, Nehemiah, and an administrator, Ezra, to Jerusalem and the Second Temple was constructed. The crisis of the destruction of the First Temple, the exile, and then restoration kindled in the Jews’ the sense of identity. It was in reaction to these events that the Torah was first assembled. Many of the writings existed before this time, but it was during this period that the structure of the Torah began to take shape (Neusner I, 39). It was an explanation of what happened and an ordering of Jewish life, now that some self-governing power was back in their hands.
The Jews generally maintained basic administrative power in their communities under the empire structures of the Persians, then the Greeks, and the Romans, until 70 C.E. (Common Era). In 70 the Jews rose up against the Romans, were soundly defeated, and the Second Temple destroyed as punishment. Following what they believed to be historical guidelines three generations later the Jews tried to regain political control and restore the Temple. This uprising was also crushed by the Romans and now the Jews were banished from Jerusalem. It was a definitive end of the system of Temple worship
