MODULE 9

JEWISH society
DURING JESUS’
TIME
 SOCIAL CLASSES
1. The upper class was made up of the temple priests and
priestly aristocracy (including the Sadducees – a Jewish
sect)
2. The middle class was comprised of traders and
merchants, artisans (stonecutters, masons, sculptors) and
craftsman (metal, wood, cloth dye). The Pharisees
(another Jewish sect), sages, scribes, and teachers were
also a part of the middle class.
3. The lower class was made of laborers (weavers, stone
carriers, slaves (non-Jewish person taken into slavery
because of debt), and the unemployable (lepers, blind,
insane, crippled, etc.)
THE INSTITUTIONS

The temple and the synagogue were the

central places of Jewish religious worship
and instructions.
The Temple:

- - built by 11,000 men

- entire area = to 4
football fields
- the center of Jerusalem
Significance of the
temple – symbol of
God’s very presence.

It is where the annual

feast of PASSOVER is
celebrated.
Every Jew w/in 15
miles was required by
law to attend the
PASSOVER.

Gentiles and tourists

come to Jerusalem to
celebrate the
PASSOVER.
 Herod’s Temple Herod’s Temple

Royal Most Holy

Place
Porch (Holy of Holies)
Main Temple
Approx 670 cubits (1000 ft)

* Court of
Priests Altar Holy
Place
* Court of Israel

* Gentile’s Temple
Court * Court of Courtyard
Women

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Approx 1000 cubits (1500 ft)
 The interior of the main temple

A priest comes in The Court of Priests The Holy of holies:

from the outer – only priests are holiest place in the
court of men and allowed in this area. entire temple.
women.
Inside the Holy of holies
– the Ark of the
Covenant containing the
10 Commandments
There were four
different costs one
had to pay:
Augustus

1. Currency exchange:
Roman money to Jewish
Shekel.

A Jewish Shekel bearing the

image of the temple
There were four
different costs one
had to pay:
2. The cost of inspection if the animal
was fit as offering.

3. The cost of the animal for offering.

4. The temple tax to cover the

services of the priest.
THE WESTERN WALL
Also called THE WAILING WALL the only remaining
part of the Second Temple during the time of Jesus
TEMPLE
• Herod restored the Temple to all its former
splendor
•The holy place, where God made himself
present
•Only the High Priest could enter the Holy of
Holies once a year on Yom Kippur, the Day of
Atonement
•Sacrifices were offered on the great altar
•Morning and evening a lamb was consumed as
a perpetual sacrifice along with numerous
private sacrifices
TEMPLE
•At festival times, there were far more sacrifices
•Paschal lamb had to be sacrificed there before
being eaten at the family meal
•After the final destruction of the Temple in AD
70, the Jewish Passover was celebrated without a
lamb
•Not only the center of religion but the
political center also (the Sanhedrin met here)
•Also the economic center
JESUS AND THE TEMPLE
The temple was very special to
Jesus
•Mary and Joseph presented
him to the priest in the temple
• at the age of 12, he joined his
parents on their trip to
Jerusalem to worship in the
temple
• he drove away the money-
changers and vendors doing
business at the temple courts
 THE SYNAGOGUE AND JEWISH WORSHIP
•Synagogue – congregation of believers
•The building in which the community meets

•The synagogue is the place where the beliefs and

religious practices were shaped
THE SYNAGOGUE
• services took place 3x a
day
•Reading of the Law
•Sermon
•Recitation of psalms
•3 great benedictions
•Recitation of the
Shema
•18 benedictions
Jesus in the Synagogue

• Jesus spent a lot of time in

synagogues (Mt. 4:23).
• He taught in them (Mt. 13:54)
• healed in them (Luke 4:33–35; Mark
3:1–5)
• and debated the interpretation of
Torah in them (John 6:28–59).