Awaiting the Promised One

by Colleen Rooney

In two months it will be Christmas. We will celebrate the birth of the Christ Child. Songs will be sung. Gifts will be given. Liturgies will be celebrated. As we prepare for Christmas have you ever wondered what Jews of the first century B.C. were waiting for? Palestine, known first as Canaan and referred to as the “Promised Land” or “Israel,” the land flowing with milk and honey, was given by God to Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 15:18-21;26:3;28:13). God had a great plan for Abraham. He drew Abraham away from his native land of Ur with the promise to make his offspring as numerous as the stars in the heavens. They would have a land, a royal dynasty, and bring universal blessings to all nations if they kept the covenants that He offered them. It was a vision of greatness and blessings. A young man, named David, found favor with the Lord. He was from the lineage of Abraham by way of Judah, the great grandson of Abraham, and the son of Jacob, who God renamed Israel. David was anointed king by the Lord’s prophet Samuel and went on to unite the twelve tribes of Jacob in the land promised to Abraham. David’s reign was a period of Jewish self-governance, a United Kingdom with a leader who honored the laws given by God to Moses and the covenants made with the patriarchs. A king who had the Ark of the Covenant with the Sacred Presence of God brought into the capital city of Jerusalem and danced rejoicing before it. Despite his human frailties, King David’s reign was a great and glorious one full of achievements in battle and fidelity to the Lord. His faithfulness to Yahweh brought the great promise: “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your

fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” (2 Sam. 7:12-13) The years between David’s reign and the birth of Jesus witnessed the breakup of the United Kingdom. The leaders of the Jews, both priests and governors, were a mixed group. Some were faithful to Yahweh’s Law, the Torah, and the covenants. Others admired their pagan neighbors and embraced their idol worship and foreign marriages. The loss of faith in God’s plan for them resulted in the unraveling of self-rule. First the northern tribes were conquered and exiled by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. and finally the southern tribes with the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem were conquered and exiled to Babylonia in 587 B.C. The land promised to Abraham and his descendants was no longer theirs. After the exile there were heroic attempts by faithful Jews to restore the kingdom. They began first to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem after their return in 537 B.C. For a short period, they reconquered some land, but the deep attraction of pagan cultures enticed many to abandon their faith in God and his plan. Powerful nations, the Greeks under Alexander the Great (325 B.C), and later the Romans with Pompey (63 B.C.), were able to seize and control the land of milk and honey. First century B.C. found Palestine governed by Rome and administered by Roman appointees. And here is our answer: observant Jews, faithful to Yahweh, lived under the yoke of the Romans and awaited the fulfillment of the promise to David and the prophecy of Micah: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah, From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; Whose origin is from old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:1).

Next month – The Life of Observant First Century Jews B.C. as they waited– Mary and Joseph