1. Pharisees and Sadducees
  1. Destruction of Solomons Temple
    1. 571 BC the Babylonians destroyed the Temple and led the people into captivity
      1. Daniel, Ezekiel
  2. Persia overthrows the Babylonian empire in one night
    1. 539 during the reign of Beltshazzar
  3. Cyrus allows for the rebuilding of the Temple. 536 BC
    1. Zerubbabal was in charge of it and the Biblical prophets were Ezra and Haggai.
    2. Nehemiah went to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in 444 B.C.
  4. Wars with Greece
    1. The legend of the 300 with Esther
    2. Alexander the Great conquers Asia Minor 334 – 323
  5. Alexander dies and four generals take over
    1. All I am sharing is in Daniel (Daniel 11: 1 – 3)
      1. Daniel 11 starts with the battles of these kings  135 prophecies fulfilled in this chapter alone
    2. Antiochus comes for the land of Asia Minor 175 B.C.Daniel 29 – 35
      1. ships were Popilus from Rome
      2. Anger so he went to defile the temple with sacrificing a pig and make the people worship the Greek gods
    3. Judas Maccabaeus kills the person sacrificing the pig and then defeats the army there
      1. Hanukkah
      2. Maccabeans ruled, but they lacked direct lineage to David.
      3. If you were going to rule, you had better be able to trace your lineage to David.  Lineage lines in Luke and Matthew
      4. To rule two groups begin, Pharisees and Sadducees
        1. Sadducees monetary elite with literal interpretation of the Torah (EXAMPLE: Eye for Eye poke out an eye)
        2. Pharisees more like the people with interpretative version of the Torah (Eye for Eye means let there be fair justice
          1. When you have an interpretative view, you have to keep making laws to define how the Torah should be interpreted. 365 negative and 248 positive.
        3. Sadducees rejected these laws and so had a following of freedom.
    4. Antipater Roman leader over Judea.  Conquered it for Julius Caesar.  Became the ruler after 37 B.C.
      1. He reestablished the High Priesthood.
      2. Had a son named Herod the Great who killed babies in Bethlehem.

2. Fall festivals or the time to come

  1. Rosh HaShannah court is convened
  2. Yom Kippur Court issues a verdict
  3. Sukkot celebration

3. Rosh HaShannah 23: 24

  1. The mark this celebration with the blowing of the trumpet (shofar)
    1. 100 trumpets are blown during this festival in the synagogues
  2. They are to blow them as a remembrance but they don’t say what they are to remember.
    1. Coronation of a king  tradition states that Adam was made on this holiday so it is anew year
      1. This is opposite of Passover which is also a new year.
    2. Rosh HaShannah means head of the year. (Started at 6:00 tonight)
  3. Repentance 10 day countdown to Yom Kippur.
    1. Good idea to repent before the verdict is handed down.
  4. This holiday symbolizes the coming of the king to set up his kingdom on the earth.

4. Blasts of the shofar

  1. There are three different blasts of the shofar.
    1. Long blasts
    2. Three blasts
    3. Repeated blasts up to nine.
  2. Time of repentance here so we will focus on those
    1. Long blasts
      1. Cannot last forever
        1. God’s patience in waiting for us to repent
        2. Our need to repent as nothing last forever either good or bad
    2. Short three blasts
      1. Sign of mourning or crying
    3. Longer blasts which are the sign of sorrow may last, but joy will come in the morning.

5. Day of Atonement Yom Kippur 23: 28

  1. Throw ourselves on the mercy of the Lord.

6. Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)16: 34

  1. Five days after Yom Kippur the feast of Tabernacles begins
  2. Messiah who tabernacled among us will come again and we will tabernacle with him forever.
  3. One more small feast on the eighth day after Sukkot Festival of the 8th day.
    1. Eight is a symbol of eternity.

6.Jubilee Leviticus 25 – 26

  1. One more holiday that the children of Israel were to celebrate.
  2. Six years you will work the land and on the seventh year the land will rest.
    1. Adam and Eve rested in the garden but lost it because of sin
    2. Sabbath year is to restore this to the land.
  3. Seven groups of Seven then a year of Jubilee 25: 10
    1. people forgave debts, sent land back to original owners, and freed Hebrew slaves.
    2. Jeremiah rebuked Israel for not keeping the year of Jubilee Jeremiah 34: 17
  4. Celebration of our redemption in Jesus as kinsman redeemer