What is a timeline of Judaism?

Answer 1

A:A brief historical timeline of Judaism:

• Biblical tradition says that Judaism began with Abraham and that Moses led the Hebrew people out of Egypt to conquer the entire land of Canaan around 1400 BCE. Few modern historians accept these accounts as historical.
• A little before 1200 BCE, there is a gradual increase in population in the Palestinian hinterland, indicating the presence of new settlers. The first mention of Israelites is on an Egyptian stele from 1205 BCE, and these are probably the new settlers in the Canaanite hinterland.
• The Bible says that the Israelites united under a monarchy during the eleventh century BCE and achieved its greatest expansion. Around the end of the eleventh century, the United Monarchy broke down, with Israel and Judah forming separate kingdoms. Modern scholars think the monarchy is exaggerated, that David was more likely a local warlord and that there was no United Monarchy.
• Some scholars believe that Omri was the first king of Israel, in the ninth century, and that Uzziah was the first king of Judah, in the eighth century BCE. Isaiah, son of Amoz lived during this time and wrote the first 39 chapters of the Book of Isaiah. Another contemporary prophet was Micah. The Hebrew people were polytheistic, but Yahweh was becoming the dominant God in both kingdoms.
• Assyria destroyed Israel in 722 BCE, replacing much of the population and creating the Assyrian province of Samaria. Conquests in all of northern Palestine resulted in the neighbouring Assyrian provinces of Dor and Galilee.
• King Josiah of Judah introduced the Deuteronomistic reforms in the seventh century BCE, including the introduction of monotheistic Judaism as the official religion of Judah. For Judahites, worship was henceforth restricted to the Temple in Jerusalem, although Samaria and Elephantine (Egypt) also had their own temples. The Book of Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic History were probably written during this period, although they would be added to and redacted in later times.
• After several years of sporadic fighting, Babylon captured and destroyed Jerusalem, sending many of its elite into exile in Babylon in 586 BCE.
• In 539BC, Cyrus of Persia defeated Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon. He allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and ordered the Jerusalem Temple to be rebuilt, using Persian funds.
• The period of the Exile and the immediate post-Exilic period was a time when much of what is now known as the Old Testament was completed, as well as a time of religious innovation.
• In 331, Alexander the great annexed Judah and the Hellenistic period commenced.
• The last book of the Hebrew canon, the Book of Daniel, was written around 167 BCE.
• The Maccabean revolt against Syria began in 168 BCE, leading to a brief period of expansion and independence. However, the Romans asserted dominance in 63-69 BCE.
• The period from the rebuilding of the Temple until its destruction in 70 CE, at the end of the First Roman-Jewish War, is often called the Second Temple Period. It was defined by monotheism, but also many of the ancient rituals such as animal sacrifices at the Temple.
• The destruction of the Second Temple marked the end of an era. There was no place for worship and the sects of the Sadducees and Pharisees disappeared, leaving the Jews without religious leadership. Out of this maelstrom, Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism evolved.

Answer:See the attached Related Link, for many more dates than can be discussed in a relatively brief answer. The dates and content which follow are from a religious viewpoint; from Torah, Tanakh, Talmud and their commentaries.

Abraham was born in 3812 BCE in Ur, in the kingdom of Nimrod (Genesis ch.11). Unlike the rest of the populace, he took the trouble to investigate and contemplate the claims of the ubiquitous idolaters, and came to the conclusion that God is One. As such, he is called the founder of what we call Judaism. He later came to the Holy Land following a prophecy from God (ibid ch.12), and taught his beliefs to his family and descendants, Isaac(born 3712 BCE) and Jacob (born 1652 BCE). Genesis ch.12-50 is a biography of this family.

Jacob and his family went down to Egypt during a famine (Genesis ch.46), in 1522 BCE, for a sojourn of 210 years. They at first enjoyed prosperity under the Israelite viceroy, Joseph, but later (around 1428 BCE), the Egyptians enslaved them (Exodus ch.1) by stages, from mild to oppressive.

Moses, born in 1392 BCE, was the greatest of prophets (Numbers ch.12; Deuteronomy ch.34), and was called upon by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus ch.3) following the Ten Plagues (ibid ch.7-12), and to convey God's Torah to the Israelites at Mount Sinai (Exodus ch.19, and 24:12), where God proclaimed the Ten Commandments in front of the assembled Israelite people (Exodus ch.19-20). These events were in 1312 BCE.

The Israelites sojourned in the wilderness for forty years (Numbers ch.14) under the direction of God (Numbers 9:15-23), during which they built the Tabernacle (Exodus ch.35-40) as commanded (ibid ch.25-31).

Joshua (born 1354 BCE) was the disciple of Moses (Numbers 11:28) who was chosen by God (Numbers ch.27) to lead the Israelites into the Holy Land, in fulfillment of God's promise to their forefathers (Genesis ch.13, 26, and 28). They entered the Land in 1272 BCE.

The period from Joshua's death (1244 BCE) until King Saul (878 BCE) is the era of the Judges, including Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson and others. The recurring pattern was that some or most of the Israelites would slide into idolatry, the nation would be oppressed by one of its neighbors, they would repent, and God would inspire one of the Judges to conquer the enemy (Judges ch.2).

The Monarchy lasted 456 years, during which the First Temple, built by King Solomon (1 Kings ch.6-8) in 832BCE, stood for 410 years. The Prophets included Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, etc.; and the righteous kings included Saul, David, Solomon, Asa, Yehoshaphat, Yehoash, Amatziah, Azariah, Yotam, Hizkiah, and Josiah. Due to the lure of idolatry, there were wicked kings too: Ahaz, Menashe, Amon, and others.

The First Temple was destroyed in 422 BCE by the Babylonians. The Second Temple, built in 352 BCE, stood for 420 years. Soon after its construction, prophecy ended; and the Sanhedrin of that generation sealed the canon (see Talmud, Bava Batra 14b). Then the Greek period of dominance began. During this era was the miracle of Hanukkah, the Hasmoneans, and the spiritual damage done by the Hellenizing Jews and the Sadducees. The Second Temple was destroyed in 68 CE by the Romans.

The Jewish Sages, seeing the increasingly far-flung dispersal of the exiles, realized that the time had come to seal the Torah-law discussions of the Oral Torah; and through their efforts the Mishna was put in its final wording in around 190 CE; and its Talmudic debates, in around 500 CE. This was the redaction of the Torah-traditions that were handed down in an unbroken chain reaching back to Mount Sinai, where the Laws had been given with their oral commentary.