Hotmetal,
You wrote,
>>>>>Id like to learn more about Jewish beliefs, and Im currently re-reading the whole New Testament before I go onto Old... So... I have some questions!<<<<
This is a grave mistake. Because the NT was written as an addition, response and commentary on the TaNaKh (OT) one has no foundation in which to discern the NT without first gaining a thorough understanding of G-d and what the messianic expectation was.
I know it's a common practice by well'doers to suggest one to read the NT first, but that comes from the presumption that the OT was "done away with". We learn the nature, character, knowledge of G-d through the OT. This is our introduction to the G-d we worship. Without knowing the G-d of the OT we cannot know Yeshua. Yeshua teaches from the words of G-d from the OT. He did not teach a "new thing" as presumed by those who haven't first read the words of G-d as found in the TaNaKh. By the time you get to the NT you should be able to read it and remember where that principle and teaching was found in the OT. So, I'm encouraging you to start from the beginning and work foreward instead of working backwards.
You said,
<<<<<As far as I am aware Jews were mixed in their beliefs of life after death i.e. Saducee's and Pharisee's.
Why did God give them the law?
They believed in prosperity here on earth, rather than 'do this and you go to heaven' did they not?
When did this pharisee/saducee split happen?
Is it fair to say that the Jews had a relationship with God, contrary to most views, but it was a relationship of LAW.<<<<<
Yes, the Jewish people practiced diverse beliefs. They not only disagreed on the afterlife, but on their daily lives as well. The Essenes removed themselves from the city and lived in a remote area and lived lives of strict halachah because they rejected the corrupted temple practices and priesthood. There is evidence of approx 20 + splinter groups within Judaism. It's no different than the many denominations within christianity today. Messianic Judaism has many splinter groups today as well. So there's much more than just the Pharisee/Sadducee split. The split between these last two would have occured at some time after the rebuilding of the second temple under Ezra and Nehemiah's revival and 60 BC when the Romans invaded. The temple priestood (Sadducces) was established under Ezra and Nehemiah whereas the proto Pharisees were given the job to instruct the people in Torah. During that 200 year timespan their positions in society evolved and were defined into what we find in the NT.
Why did G-d give them the Law? Give who? He gave His people whom He chose from all the peoples on the earth to be His chosen and treasured possession.
>>>>Deu 7:6 For you are a holy people to Jehovah your God. Jehovah your God has chosen you to be His own treasure out of all the people on the face of the earth.
Deu 7:7 Jehovah did not set His love on you or choose you because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all peoples.
Deu 7:8 But because Jehovah loved you, and because He kept the oath which He swore to your fathers, Jehovah has caused you to go out with a strong hand, and redeemed you from the house of slaves, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Deu 14:2 For you are a holy people to Jehovah your God; and Jehovah has chosen you to be a people to Him, a special treasure out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
Eschetology in the tanakh does not deal with heaven per se as a place in the clouds, but as a redeemed earth. So the Jews did concentrate on the here and now as the focus is on G-d once again living amongst man as in the Garden of Eden. The diverse groups interpreted this differently and practiced their belief accordingly (Gnosticism, Docetism, esceticism, oral torah, etc). But the focus was on the earth. As far as the NT goes, heaven is a temporary place as those who died will once again live on the earth under the reign of Yeshua. Resurrection is for the purpose of living once again here on earth in an uncorrupted physical body.
Of course the Jews had a relationship with G-d, mabie not according to someone elses standard, but it was the standard they set for themsleves. It's unfair for us to judge their religious experience as that was between them and G-d. Yeshua dealt harshly with some of them as they were putting their high standard on others and Paul dealt with this issue a lot in the growing churches as everyone was judging other's practices because each thought theirs was the right way while condemning others. What did Paul say," Each one needs to do what he is convinced of". So it's not for us to judge whether the Pharisees and Sadducees had a true relationship with G-d or not. Just because someone is legalistic in his observance doesn't disqualify him from eternal life. He's just making it hard on himself.
Once you are well studied in Torah you will understand that grace in not a new concept or character trait of G-d.
Blessings on your journey,
torahlife
