The Old Faith With a New Religion:

While in Babylonian captivity, the people of God were without the Temple and therefore without the means to worship YHWH according to how it was acceptable to God. They developed a new system of studying the Torah together as a way to preserve their religious culture – the Synagogue. Despite their efforts, they assimilated into Babylonian culture and adopted some of the Babylonian religion, mingling it with that which God had  instructed.

When they came out of captivity after 70 years, the people were quite different from those that were taken into captivity. The old faith had a new religion and it was under this new religion that the Israelites, lead by Nehemiah and Ezra, struggled to reestablish Israel in the Land that God gave them by Joshua’s leadership. They “found the book of the Law”, read it, reformed religiously, and  rebuilt the Temple.

During the time between the old testament and new testament, the people living in the land of Israel (Jews and Gentiles) were subject to the superpowers that made conquest of the region (Assyrians, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks, and Romans). Some of the principalities and rulers of those times honored the religions of the people of the land, including YHWH; however, others desecrated the Temple and mistreated the system of worship.

Several revolts were lead by Jewish men to take control of the area; however, they were all beaten. Notable among the revolts is one lead by a family of Maccabees. By the time of the New Testament, under the authority of Herod the Great, the temple had been rebuilt with splendor and temple worship restored; however, they were still under Roman rule.

It was into this Hellenize world, with its plethora of gods, that John “the baptizer” and Y’shua of Nazareth began their religious reformation movement.