Week 11
1053 words by hawrts
Source criticism is when someone uses information from a primary source rather than a secondary source. They use real people who witnessed what happened or with things that were written by those people. Source criticism is based on the real thing. Textual criticism is when someone draws their own conclusions from something that was written by someone in the time period they are interested in and not necessarily concerning the event they are interested in. Their ideas of what’s going on is based on writings in the time period not really related to the events they are interested in. The difference is that source criticism is more accurate historically while textual criticism is more guesswork and pulling together theories of what happened in history. Source criticism is a lot more likely to be factual while textual criticism may be a bit off the mark. Unfortunately, sometimes there aren’t any primary sources to use for source criticism and the only sources are from writings in the time periods of events that are said to have happened. So historians have to use what they can to piece things together.
Tobit was a Jewish man who followed his religion and kept the traditions and religious views of the Jews. He lived in Ninevah where he buried dead Jews although it was against the law where he lived for them to be buried. He buried Jews that were killed for being Jewish. Because he was disobeying the law he was found out and exiled by the king. He returned to Ninevah when the king died and continued burying the dead until he lost his sight. When he lost his sight, he pretty much gave up all hope and prayed for death.
In this same story, another person, a woman named Sarah, is mentioned. Sarah has had seven husbands, all of whom have been killed by a demon before the marriage could actually be consummated. God takes pity on both of these people and sends an angel named Raphael to heal Tobit’s eyes and to get rid of Sarah’s demon through Tobit’s son, Tobias.
Tobit sends his son to collect some of Tobit’s money in a place called Media. The angel Raphael goes with him to protect Tobias on his journey. On the way to Media to get the money, Raphael tells Tobias about Sarah, eventually convincing him to go meet her and encouraging him to marry her. On the wedding night, Raphael tells Tobias how to protect himself from the demon that has killed Sarah’s other husbands and when Tobias does those things, he and Sarah are able to consummate their marriage. Sarah’s family is surprised because he’s the first of seven to live and they invite him to have a long marriage feast with her family. Tobias then sends Raphael to get the money for Tobit since he is busy with the marriage feast. When the trio returns to Ninevah and to Tobit with the money and with Tobias’ new wife, Raphael tells Tobias how to heal his father’s eyes. When Tobit can see again, Raphael explains that he is an angel and that he must go back to heaven. Tobit tells Tobias to take his family out of Ninevah before God destroys the city, as according to prophecy. Tobit dies and Tobias buries him and then takes his family back to Media where his wife’s family resides.
The story of Tobit is about God’s plans for people. His plans for us might not always be our plans for ourselves. It’s also about God taking care of His people. If something goes wrong, God is going to come along and fix things for us in His own way and in His own time. The story is significant because it gives hope to people who are having a hard time and promotes the idea of a happy ending.
The Maccabees were Judah Maccabee’s army. Judah was the son of Mattathias, who refused to worship the Greek gods. Mattathias killed a man who stepped forward to make a sacrifice in Mattathias’ place because he didn’t want to be at all associated with the Greek gods. He then took his family into hiding. When he died, his son Judah gathered an army. They were an army made up of Jewish people who wanted to destroy the people worshipping the Greek gods and then to go back to Jerusalem and regain control of the temple. Although the Maccabees seem a little on the fiercer side with their methods of war, I suppose that ar isn’t exactly a peaceful idea. I would consider them heroic because they fought for their independence and eventually did take over and reestablished Jewish control of the Temple of Jerusalem. They fought for their religion and regained control over what was sacred and special to them. They re-dedicated it to God. The fact that they did all of it for their religion makes them heroic… If they’d all died in the process I guess I would probably have considered them to have been martyrs!
After Judah died, Mattathias’ second son, Jonathan, took over. Jonathan tried to make peace with others instead of fighting for freedom. On his death, Mattathias’ last son, Simon, took over. The king of Syria gave the Jews political independence. In looking up information on the Maccabees, I learned that Hanukkah is a celebration for Judah’s original victory in taking over the temple and some other things that accompanied and followed his winnings. I’d always been with the belief that Hanukkah was more about some miracle oil lasting for 8 days or something like that. I’m somewhat embarrassed not to know more about the Jewish religion. On looking up Hannukah, It’s talking about how the Maccabees took over the Second Temple in Jerusalem and that it was all happened in 167 BC. The candles represent the eight days of celebration. Also, Hannukah ranges in dates from late November to late December, based on the Hebrew calendar (the 25th day of Kislev, or the 9th month of the Hebrew calendar).