Death and Afterlife in Ancient Jewish and Christian Sources 9781463239633

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Death and Afterlife in Ancient Jewish and Christian Literature

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Death and Afterlife in Ancient Jewish and Christian Literature

Pau Figueras

gp 2019

Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2019 by Gorgias Press LLC

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC. ‫ܝܒ‬

1

2019

ISBN 978-1-4632-3919-0

ISSN 1935-6838

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A Cataloging-in-Publication Record is available from the Library of Congress. Printed in the United States of America

To the blessed memory of my beloved parents, Jacint and Joaquima

TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ..................................................................................... v Abbreviations ........................................................................................... xi Introduction .............................................................................................. 1 Chapter One. Canonical and Deuterocanonical Books of the Old Testament ................................................................................. 3 The concept of ‘life’ ........................................................................ 3 Death and the Tree of Life ............................................................ 4 Death as a phenomenon ................................................................ 4 Sheol and the grave ......................................................................... 5 Funerary rites and contact with the dead..................................... 6 Ideological development ................................................................ 7 Resurrection of dead and immortality of soul .......................... 11 Chapter Two. Apocryphal Literature .................................................. 13 I Enoch (Ethiopic Enoch) ........................................................... 14 Chapters 1–36 .......................................................................... 14 Chapters 37–104 (The Parables) ........................................... 17 Chapters 106–108 (Apocalypse of Noah) ........................... 23 The Book of Jubilees .................................................................... 23 The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs................................... 25 Testament of Simeon .............................................................. 26 Testament of Levi ................................................................... 26 Testament of Judah ................................................................. 27 Testament of Issachar ............................................................. 27 Testament of Dan ................................................................... 28 Testament of Naphtali ............................................................ 28 Testament of Gad.................................................................... 28 Testament of Asher................................................................. 28 Testament of Joseph ............................................................... 29 Testament of Benjamin .......................................................... 29 Genesis Apocryphon .................................................................... 29 The Sibylline Oracles .................................................................... 30 v

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Book III .................................................................................... 30 Fragment III ............................................................................. 32 The Psalms of Solomon ............................................................... 32 Apocalypse of Elijah ..................................................................... 33 Apocryphon of Ezekiel ................................................................ 36 Assumption of Moses ................................................................... 37 Apocalypse of Moses or Life of Adam and Eve ...................... 38 The Fourth Book of Ezra (chs. 3–14)........................................ 43 The Martyrdom of Isaiah ............................................................. 47 The Lives of the Prophets............................................................ 48 Isaiah.......................................................................................... 48 Jeremiah .................................................................................... 48 Ezekiel ....................................................................................... 49 Daniel ........................................................................................ 50 Hosea ......................................................................................... 50 Micah the Morashtite .............................................................. 50 Jonah.......................................................................................... 50 Habakkuk .................................................................................. 50 Haggai ........................................................................................ 50 Zechariah son of Iddo ............................................................ 51 Malachi ...................................................................................... 51 Nathan ....................................................................................... 51 Zechariah son of Jehoiada ..................................................... 51 Elijah .......................................................................................... 51 The Testament of Job ................................................................... 51 The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch ............................................... 53 Greek Apocalypse of Ezra ........................................................... 58 Paralipomena of Jeremiah ............................................................ 60 Greek Apocalypse of Baruch....................................................... 61 Apocalypse of Zephaniah ............................................................ 62 Apocalypse of Sedrach ................................................................. 64 Testament of Solomon ................................................................. 64 The Prayer of Joseph .................................................................... 65 II Enoch (Slavonic Enoch) .......................................................... 65 III Enoch (Hebrew Enoch) ......................................................... 69 Chapter Three. The Books of the New Testament .......................... 73 Synoptic Gospels ........................................................................... 74 The Kingdom of God (Kingdom of Heaven) .................... 74 Resurrection of the Dead ....................................................... 75 ‘Parousia’ ................................................................................... 75

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Judgment ................................................................................... 76 Afterlife ..................................................................................... 76 Jesus’ Death .............................................................................. 78 Acts of the Apostles ...................................................................... 79 Pauline Epistles .............................................................................. 83 I and II Thessalonians ............................................................ 83 I Corinthians ............................................................................ 84 II Corinthians and Romans ................................................... 86 Pastoral and Captivity Epistles .............................................. 87 Gospel and Epistles of John .................................................. 88 Catholic Epistles and Hebrews ................................................... 91 Jude ............................................................................................ 91 II Peter ...................................................................................... 92 James.......................................................................................... 93 I Peter ........................................................................................ 94 Hebrews .................................................................................... 95 Revelation of John................................................................... 96 Chapter Four. Early Jewish Literature ..............................................101 The Dead Sea Scrolls ..................................................................101 Death and the body...............................................................102 Faith in immortality...............................................................103 General eschatology and future life ....................................106 Upper World and Nether World.........................................110 Philo of Alexandria .....................................................................111 The souls of the righteous....................................................112 Exceptional Figures...............................................................112 The Condemned ....................................................................113 Flavius Josephus ..........................................................................113 Portion of the Souls according to the Romans ................114 According to the Indians......................................................115 According to the Essenes and the Greek ..........................115 According to the Pharisees ..................................................116 According to the Sadduacees...............................................117 According to Josephus himself ...........................................117 Rabbinic Literature ......................................................................118 Death and Its Religious Significance ..................................118 Faith in Immortality and Resurrection...............................120 Messianic Age.........................................................................123 The Coming Age and the Upper World ............................126 The World of the Souls ........................................................127

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Gehenna ..................................................................................129 Paradise of the Blessed .........................................................131 The Throne of God ..............................................................134 Funerary Epigraphy.....................................................................137 The Grave ...............................................................................137 Death .......................................................................................139 Resurrection ...........................................................................140 The Dwelling-place of the Souls .........................................140 Chapter Five. Early Christian Literature ...........................................143 ‘Didache’ or Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles .......................143 Epistles of Ignatius from Antioch ............................................144 Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians......................................146 Martyrdom of Polycarp ..............................................................147 Papias from Hierapolis ...............................................................148 Irenaeus’ Testimony (Adv Haer IV, 33, 3–4)....................148 Jerome (De viris illustribus, 18)...........................................149 Philip Sidetes (The Christian History)................................149 Anastasius Sinaita (Hexaemeron, VII) ...............................149 Phocius (Bibliotheca) ............................................................149 The Presbyters .............................................................................149 Epistle of Barnaba .......................................................................150 Epistle to Diognetus ...................................................................151 I Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians ..................................152 II Epistle of Clement ..................................................................153 The Shepherd of Hermas ...........................................................154 Visions .....................................................................................154 Precepts ...................................................................................155 Parables ...................................................................................155 Justin the Martyr ..........................................................................156 The First Apology .................................................................157 The Second Apology.............................................................158 Dialogue with Trypho...........................................................159 Odae of Solomon ........................................................................160 Chapter Six. Excursus on Contemporaneous Foreign Religions ........................................................................................163 The Iranian Religious World .....................................................164 Pre-Zoroastrian Period .........................................................164 Early Zoroastrianism ............................................................165 The Religion of the Achaemenians.....................................167 The Parthians .........................................................................167

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Egypt .............................................................................................168 Death .......................................................................................169 The grave ................................................................................170 Afterlife ...................................................................................172 The Hellenic World .....................................................................175 Classical religion.....................................................................176 Orphism ..................................................................................178 The Mysteries .........................................................................179 Rome .............................................................................................180 The legacy of Greece ............................................................183 Eastern cults ...........................................................................185 Bibliography ..........................................................................................189 Index .......................................................................................................201

ABBREVIATIONS 1Clem 1Cor 1En 1John 1Kings 1Mac 1Pet 1QH 1QM 1QpH 1QpHab 1QpHos b 1QS 1QSa 1Sam 1Thes 2Clem 2Cor 2En 2John 2Kings 2Mac 2Pet 2Sam 2Thes 2Tim 3En 4Ezra 4Mac 4QpNah 4Q3911

I Clemens I Corinthians I Enoch (Ethiopic Enoch) I John I Kings I Maccabees I Peter Qumran Hodayot (Hymns) Qumran War Scroll Qumran Pesher on Habakkuk Qumran Pesher on Habakkuk Qumran Pesher on Hosea b Qumran Manual of Discipline Qumran Community Rule I Samuel I Thessalonians II Clemens II Corinthians II Enoch (Slavonic Enoch) II John II Kings II Maccabees II Peter II Samuel II Thessalonians II Timothy III Enoch (Hebrew Enoch) IV Book of Ezra IV Maccabees Qumran Pesher on Nahum Qumran Angelic Liturgy xi

xii 4QpIsa 4Q181 4QSl 11QPs Ab ABR Acts AD Adv Haer AM Am ANET Ant. Apion ARW BAEO

Bar Barn BC Berak Beresh BT CD cent. cf. ch. Col col. Com. Congreg. DACL

Dan De Cherub. De exsecr. De gigant.

DEATH AND AFTERLIFE Qumran Pesher on Isaiah Qumran fragment Qumran Pseudo-Jeremiah text Qumran Psalms Aboth Australian Biblical Review, Melbourne Acts of the Apostles Anno Domini (common era) Adversus Haereses Apocalypse of Moses Amos Pritchard, J.B. (ed.), 3rd. ed., 1974, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, Princeton Josephus, Antiquities Josephus, Contra Apionem Archiv fur Religionswissenschaft, Germany Boletín de la Asociación Española de Orientalilstas, Madrid Baruch Espistle of Barnaba Before Christ (before common era) Berakhot Bereshit Babylonian Talmud Damascus Document century confer, compare chapter, chapters Colossians column, columns Commentary Philo, On mating for the sake of seeking instruction Dictionnaire d’Archéologie Chrétienne et de Liturgie Daniel Philo, On the Cherubim Philo, On the curses Philo, On the giants

ABBREVIATIONS De migrat. Abrah. De post. Caini De sacrif. De somn. Deut Did dR Eccle Eccli Eph Epist Exod Ezek Fragm. Gal Gen Greek Apoc Bar Hab Hag Heb Hos Ign Isa Ist JAAR Jam Jer Josh JQR JSS JT JTS Jub Jud Judg Ket Kila Lam Lev

Philo, On the migration of Abraham Philo, On the posterity of Cain Philo, On the sacrifices of Abel and Cain Philo, On dreams Deuteronomy Didache of Rabbi Ecclesiastes (Qohelet) Ecclesiasticus (Ben Sirah) Ephesians Epistle Exodus Ezekiel Fragment Galatians Genesis The Greek Apocalypse of Baruch Habakkuk Haggai Hebrews Hosea Ignatius Isaiah first Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Oxford. James Jeremiah Joshua Jewish Quarterly Review, Pennsylvania Journal of Semitic Studies, Oxford Jerusalem Talmud The Journal of Theological Studies, Oxford The Book of Jubilees Jude Judges Ketuboth Kilaim Lamentations Leviticus

xiii

xiv Lk LXX M Magn Mal Mart Pol Mekh MGWJ

Mic Midr Midr Gen R Mk Mt Nah N.S. N.T. NTS NTT

Num Od Sol Ohol O.T. par. Parab Pesiq PG Phil Philad Pir pl. Pol Praem. Prec Protrep. Prov Ps Ps Sol Pseudo-Clem, Hom

DEATH AND AFTERLIFE Luke Septuagint Mishnah Magnesians Malachi Martyrdom of Polycarp Mekhilta Die Monatschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums, Berlin – Breslau Micah Midrash Midrash Genesis Rabba Mark Matthew Nahum New Series New Testament New Testament Studies, Cambridge. Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift, Utrecht – Groningen Numbers Odes of Solomon Oholot Old Testament parallels Parables Pesiqta Migne, Patrologia Graeca Philippians Philadelphians Pirqei plate Polycarp Philo, On rewards and punishments Precepts Protrepticus Proverbs Psalm, Psalms The Psalms of Solomon Pseudo Clement, Homilies

ABBREVIATIONS Pseudo-Clem, Rec Qoh Quaest. in Exod. Quaest. in Gen. Quis rerum div. Quod Deus immut. R R. RB REJ Rev RHR Rom RQ RSR RThPh Sanh Shab Shir Smyr Strom Syb Orac Syr Apoc Bar Taan Tanh Tanh B

Targ Targ J Tehil Theol. Stud. Tit Tob Tos Tral v. VA VT Vis.

Pseudo Clement, Recognitions Qohelet Philo, Questions and answers on Exodus Philo, Questions and answers on Genesis Philo, Who is the heir of divine things Philo, That God is immutable Rabba, Rabbati Rabbi Revue Biblique, Paris Revue des Études Juives, France Revelation La revue de l’histoire des religions, Paris Romans Revue de Qumran, Louvain La revue des Sciences Religieuses, Strasbourg La Revue de Théologie et de Philosophie, Lausanne – Neuchâtel Sanhedrin Shabat Shir haShirim Smyrnaeans Stromata Sybiline Oracles The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch Taanith Tanhuma Tanhuma’s edition by M. Buber (Wilna 1885) Targum Jerusalem Targum Tehillim Theological Studies, Santa Clara Titus Tobit Tosefta Trallians verse Life of Adam and Eve Vetus Testamentum, Leiden Visions

xv

xvi War Wisd Sol Zech Zeph

DEATH AND AFTERLIFE Josephus, The Jewish War against Rome Wisdom of Solomon Zechariah Zephaniah

INTRODUCTION This short book about ancient Jewish and Christian ideas concerning human death and the life believed to follow it was written many years ago. It was the first part of a doctoral dissertation that I wrote in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem under the direction of my revered professors David Flusser and Michael Avi Yonah. The second part of that dissertation was a systematic study of the art motifs decorating the panels of Jewish ossuaries, i.e., the stone receptacles containing the bones of a person, used in the land of Israel in the Herodian period for secondary inhumations. The basic intention of my thesis was to conduct research that could explain the possible symbolism underlying the ossuary decorations when compared with contemporary Jewish and early Christian beliefs about death and afterlife. That comparative study was later published in Leiden (Figueras 1983). The present publication is a systematic collection of texts related to the beliefs in life after death as they appear in the ancient Jewish writings, starting with those from the so-called Second Temple period. Following an introductory chapter about death and the afterlife in the Old Testament books (canonical and noncanonical) is a study of the series of Jewish Apocrypha, written from the second century BC up to the early second century AD, when some sporadic Christian interpolations can already be detected. After surveying the rich apocalyptic literature, I examine books of the New Testament, some of which show tendencies of what soon developed into an open Jewish – and not Jewish – Gnosticism. I then collect relevant texts from the books of early Jewish literature, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo of Alexandria, Flavius Josephus, rabbinic writings, and related expressions from funerary epigraphy. After this, the first Christian writings outside the New Testament are examined (Didache, 1

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DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrn, Papias, Hermas, Ep. to Diognetus, Ep. Barnaba, Clement and Pseudo-Clement of Rome, Justin Martyr, Odae of Solomon). These works offer important evidence of a clear development of their Jewish roots. Complementing previous chapters is an excursus on the eschatological ideas of four foreign peoples that might have influenced ancient Judaism, namely, Iran, Egypt, Greece and Rome. Eschatology, the doctrine of the last times, is a challenging subject to deal with, and scholars have approached it following different methods and investigating it from very different perspectives. Any researcher of this subject has to start by determining a main purpose, which can be the study of the ideas concerning the individual salvation or condemnation of any simple person, or the destiny of specific human groups or entire peoples, or even a universal destruction of cosmic proportions. The texts I have collected indeed refer to all of these subjects, which in most cases appear separately treated, but are very often interconnected. The method used here cannot be called critical nor even analytical, as I have tried to let the texts speak for themselves, thus allowing readers, through the pertinent references, to compare for themselves one text with another. This will surely enable readers to discover the evolution of ideas in the different periods and from a great variety of literary frameworks. The organization of texts in this book will facilitate these comparisons. Pau Figueras Ben Gurion University of the Negev, August 2017

CHAPTER ONE. CANONICAL AND DEUTEROCANONICAL BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT In the study of Old Testament ideas, little is more exciting than verifying their constant evolution. When their subject is eschatology, the afterlife and resurrection, we find ourselves involved in problems of a revolutionary kind. Problems about life and death were felt similarly by the prophetic authors and by writers of wisdom and history. Though always theoretically approached, the solutions given differ considerably from one author to another. Foreign and local influences exert their pressure, and historical events impress upon the minds of the people of Israel. Although there is no static revelation, we shall try, in the following pages, to point out briefly the main traces of the ascendant line shown by eschatology along the course of biblical history: from the darkness in Sheol to the everlasting light by God.

THE CONCEPT OF ‘LIFE’

From an early period, the concept of ‘life’ has been unifying, incorporating both the physical aspect of life as much as what we might call intellectual or spiritual life. Man is a ‘living being’ (‫נפש חיה‬, Gen 2:7) in the full sense of the term. This corresponds to the idea of man as a whole entity. The trenchant distinction between body and soul is a fruit of Hellenistic thought. While ‫‘( נפש‬soul’) is the concrete form under which life manifests itself in man, ‫‘( חיים‬life’) is rather the vital force that can be made concrete in different forms. Moreover, life is a divine gift (Ps 21:5; 2Kings 20:1–7; Isa 38:1–20). Only God has the right ‘to make alive and to kill’ (1Sam 2:6). To die implies, therefore, to get away from God. 3

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DEATH AND THE TREE OF LIFE

Gen 3:22 connects everlasting life with a particular tree planted in the midst of Paradise – or among the trees of Paradise (cf. 3:3). This tree is well-known to the readers, as the use of the definite article suggests (‫)עץ החיים‬, and poetic hints to it also occur elsewhere (Prov 3:18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4). 1 A second tradition maintains yet another tree, that of the ‘knowledge of right and wrong’ (3:8). Adam and Eve can achieve the experience of such knowledge if they eat from the fruit of that tree, in such a way that God fears that man may now ‘take also from the tree of life’ and ‘live forever’ (Gen 3:22). From the fact that man did not die on that very day in which he ate from the forbidden tree (Gen 2:17; 3:6), it appears that ‘you shall die’ means that the eater should be deprived of the possibility of ever eating from the ‘the tree of life’, i.e., of ever reaching immortality (Gen 3:22). 0F

DEATH AS A PHENOMENON

At his death, man goes ‘to join his people’ (Gen 25:8) or ‘his parents’ (2Kings 22:20), or ‘to rest’ with them (Deut 35:16). Man does not disappear altogether at death. ‘Tomorrow’ – says Samuel’s specter to Saul – ‘you and your sons shall be with me’ (1Sam 30:19). What survives is certainly not the ‫נפש‬, for we often read of a ‫נפש מת‬, meaning ‘dead’ or ‘corpse’ (Lev 19:28; 21:1; 22:4; Num 5:2; 6:6f, 10; cf. Hag 2:3). 2 Like their Mesopotamian neighbors, to whom they were culturally related, ancient Israelites thought that man goes on existing after death, 3 though in a quite different mode of being; not a part of him, but a sort of ‘shadow of the whole man’. 4 In cases where the ‫ נפש‬is said to return to the dead body (1Kings 17:21f), that cannot be anything but a Semitic concretizaMythological origins of the Tree of Life are obvious from Mesopotamian literature (see ANET, pp.73ff). 2 See Seligson 1951. 3 See Descent of Ishtar to Netherworld (ANET, pp. 106–108) and A Vision of Netherworld (ANET, pp. 109–110). 4 Eichrodt 1967, pp. 214–215. 1

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5

tion of the concept of individual life. 5 Indeed, the ‫ נפש‬dies together with the body (cf. Num 23:10; 16:30). Only in Ecclesiastes (12:7) do we find a clear definition of what happens in death: the human whole disintegrates. Qohelet does not think of a happy future life with God, but imagines man’s breath as the sign of his vital power (‫)רוח‬. When, at death, man fails to breathe, it is because this power stops acting. 6 Such an idea is in fact a common view among Old Testament writers (cf. Gen 3:19; Job 34:12f): man, who until death was considered as a really living being (‫)נפש חיה‬, with ‫‘( בשר‬flesh’) as his essential support and ‫ רוח‬as his vital power, ceases to exist as such: ‘I go and shall no more be’ (‫)אלך ואינני‬, says the Psalmist (Ps 39:14).

SHEOL AND THE GRAVE

The human family reassembles after death. Sons go to meet their parents and the parents to meet their sons (see above). But this meeting is not in joy but in sadness (Gen 37:35). Sheol, the meeting place, is located under the earth. Man descends to it (Gen 37:35; 42:48; 1Kings 2:6; Num 16:28), and goes to its gates, which are closed with doors and locks (Isa 38:10; Job 38:17; Ps 9:14; 101:18). God can cause people to go down to Sheol and to get out from it (1Sam 2:6). It is the kingdom of darkness (Ps 88:6,12), the deep abyss, on the side opposite to the height of sky (Isa 7:11). It is the place of eternal silence (Ps 31:18; 94:17; 115:17), the land of forgetfulness (Ps 88:12), from which no praise and prayer can be addressed to God (Ps 6:5), because those descending into it have no more hope in God’s faithfulness (Isa 38:18). Moreover, in the Israelite mind, Sheol is a dynamic reality often imagined as the waters of the abyss upon which the earth is standing (Job 26:7; Ezek 26:19f), and is generally associated with the water and the sea. This is why Jonah, while inside the fish, declares himself to be already in the “belly of Sheol” (Jonah 2:3ff). Some biblical passages indicate that Sheol and the grave are more or less identified in the ancient mind: the dead are ‘those who 5 6

Ibid., p.139. See Figueras 1966, p. 280.

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DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

descend to the pit’ (Ps 88:5,12; 30:3; 143:7; Isa 14:19); the grave corresponds to ‫( אבדון‬Ps 88:12), it is synonymous with Sheol but has a connotation to perdition (Job 26:6; 28:22; 31:12; Prov 15:11); there is parallelism between the ‘pit’ (‫ )שחת‬and Sheol (Ps 16:10; cf. 49:10; 55:24; 103:4; Isa 38:17) and between ‘cistern’ (‫ )בור‬and Sheol (Isa 14:15; 38:18; cf. Gen 40:15; Jer 48:6ff = cistern-prison; Isa 14:19 = cistern-grave; Ps 28:1; 30:4 and 43:7 = id.; Lam 3:55 = id.). If the term Sheol and its parallels are so often used in the Bible to describe the place where the dead are located and the very fact of dying, it is also easy to understand the common biblical use of the opposite literary expression, ‫ארץ החיים‬, ‘the land of living’. 7 An explicit contraposition of the two expressions is found in Ezek 32:27. As in Mesopotamia, 8 in Israel it also was believed that social differences in this world are maintained in Sheol (Ezek 28:10; 31:18; 32:18ff). In both Mesopotamia and Israel there was a relationship between the care displayed to the mortal remains of a person in this world and his final lot in the Netherworld (cf. Isa 14:15– 20; Ezek 32:23). Therefore, nothing was more important than burial (Gen 23, and passim), and nothing more terrible than having one’s bones spread over the ground (2Kings 9:10; Jer 8:1; 16:4; 22:19).

FUNERARY RITES AND CONTACT WITH THE DEAD

Scholars have discussed the possibility that some ancient Israelites engaged in worshiping the dead, 9 like others in the ancient Near Eastern world. Isa 65:4 may offer a hint of this practice in periods of greater corruption. 10 This expression occurs already in such a remote period as the Sumerian texts. See Gilgamesh in the Land of the Living (ANET pp. 48–50). 8 Cf. ANET, pp.72–99; 106–108; 109–110. 9 This thesis is sustained by, among others, Schwally (1892), Lods (1906) and Charles (1963, pp. 19–28), while it is denied by Frey (1898), Scheftelowitz (1916, pp. 112ff), Dhorme (1941, pp. 112ff) and Eichrodt (1967, p. 220). 10 König 1923, pp. 3, 4, 31, as quoted by Eichrodt, ibid. 7

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7

Conflicting feelings of fear (cf. 2Sam 21:10–14; 1Kings 2: 29– 31; 2Kings 9:34) and of love and respect (Job 1:17; 2:3–10) lead people to bury their dead as soon as possible. It was important to be buried beside forefathers and relatives (2Sam 17:23; 19:38), and such old expressions as ‘to be joined to his people’ or ‘to lie with his parents’ (Gen 25:8; 35:29; 49:29,33; Deut 32:50; Judg 2:10; 1Kings 2:10, etc.) would have originally been understood in terms not only of the mysterious Sheol but also of the grave. Besides burial, incineration was likely practiced in the early history of Israel. Later, except for special cases (1Sam 31:9–12), incineration was considered a great crime (Am 2:1ff; 1Kings 13:2). It was forbidden to offer food to the dead (Deut 26:14), but as a matter of fact, such practices survived to a later period (cf. Eccli 30:18; Tob 4:17) and still existed among Christian Arabs in Israel not long ago. Other rites, such as violent gestures and screams (Deut 14:1; Lev 19:28), seem to have been intended not to be forgotten in the depths of Sheol. The priestly law, probably influenced by other peoples, proscribed all physical contact with corpses and bones (Num 19:11– 22), but it had probably been normal to bury the dead in his own house in earlier periods (1Sam 15:1; 1Kings 2:34). Necromancy, or communication with the dead, was forbidden in Israel (1Sam 28:9; Lev 19,31; 20:6,27; Deut 18:11), but appears to have been practiced widely (1Sam 28:8ff; 2Kings 21:6; Isa 8:19). Underlying this prohibition was, no doubt, the denial of God’s sovereignty that it presupposed. The dead already belonged to a world that was essentially the opposite of the order established by God in His creation, and they were considered as omniscient as ‫‘( אלהים‬God’ or ‘gods’; 1Sam 28:15; cf. Gen 3:5).

IDEOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

From a belief in collective retribution by God (Deut 28; Lev 26), Israel developed the idea of individual retribution (Jer 21:28–30; Ezek 18:38). Moreover, the traditional doctrine that promised reward to the righteous in this world (Deut 4:40; Prov 3:2,16, etc; Ps 55:23) and punishment for the wicked (Ps 30; 73), and considered the sufferings of the righteous as a proof of his virtue (Gen 22:12) or as what he deserved for his faults perpetrated in ignorance or out of weakness (Ps 19:13; 25:7), was also contested by a deeper individual consciousness. Job is an exponent of this later view,

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DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

though he does not solve the problem. His sole conviction is in his absolute innocence. He knows, therefore, that his redeemer (‫)גואל‬ lives, and that God will testify the truth of his claim by restoring to him his physical health.11 The Psalmists too experienced the same doubt about the received doctrine on retribution, and their only solution was trust in God (Ps 37; 49; 73). Qohelet demonstrated the insolubility of the problem, explicitly denouncing what former writers had affirmed (comp. Eccle 7:15 with Ps 37:15). According to Qohelet, death equates not only all people, no matter their behavior (Eccle 7:15) – even man and beast (3:19–21). Qohelet shows no belief in any kind of retribution, not in this life (7:5; 8:14) or in any other (9:3,10). 12 Ben Sirah’s later reaction against such views again leans towards insolubility, with a strong belief in God’s judgment, whose conseqences remain unspecified (Eccli 16:17–23; 17:15–23; 39:30). Some points, however, deserve mention: Death can serve as atonement (cf. 18:22), as in later Rabbinism. The wicked shall suffer the pain of fire in the pit of Hades (21:9–10); this is the first mention of a punishment ‘post mortem’, probably due to Hellenistic influence. In contrast, no mention is made of a happy afterlife for the righteous. Ben Sirah seems not to know where to place Elijah’s figure. He was simply ‘hidden by the whirlwind’ (48:12). 13 In 48:11, the Greek text seems to refer to an 10F

Job 19:25–27. See Sutcliffe 1946, pp. 131–137. His odd mention of a judgment by God (3:17) must be understood as being purely in God’s mind, with no connotation whatsoever of any real sanction for the individual (see Figueras 1966, p. 225). A second reference to judgment (12:14) belongs to another hand, with the whole epilogue of the book. 13 Gr ἐν λαίλαπι εσκέπασθη must correspond to Heb ‫נסתר בסערה‬, as proposed by Peters 1913, who is followed by Segal 1958. The idea of hiding from onlookers is common to several similar cases (e.g., in Jesus’ Ascension, Acts 1:9) that Fl. Josephus employs when he describes Elijah’s assumption. Therefore, the correction proposed by Smend to our text, based on Syr (see Charles 1913, vol. I, p. 501), ‫שבאוצר נסתר‬, is very implausible. In Eccli 39:31 the term ‫ אוצר‬is used as meaning the ‘store of elements’ which God will employ as instruments of punishment against 11 12

1. BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

9

eternal life for the writer as well as for the readers (ἡμεῖς ζωῆ ζηsόμεθα ἐν εἰρὴνῃ). But the Hebrew text is almost erased here, and there is no proof that this is the genuine sense. 14 In 42:12 and 49:10, the expression ‘the bones of the righteous shall blossom’ means that they shall be eternally remembered. In contrast with Ben Sirah’s ambiguities and Qohelet’s pessimism, some of the Psalmists openly show a desire to live permanently with God, even sparing their own stay in Sheol (Ps 16:8–11; cf. 49:16). This desire of a few slowly developed into the hope of many, and this hope became at last, in the Maccabean period, the widespread faith of the majority. As for the Prophets, some texts prove that an old basis existed in Israel for the later belief in bodily resurrection; e.g., the vision of the bones in Ezekiel (37:1ff) and Isaiah’s affirmation: ‘Your dead shall live, my corpse (they) will rise (sic!). 15 They shall awake and rejoice 16 who lie in the dust, for your dew is a dew of lights 17 and the land of ghosts will give birth’ 18 (Isa 26:19). Though both texts probably only refer to a special salvation of Israel by God, the very use of the image of resurrection indicates that the idea had become familiar to people. 19 Still more important is the concept of a future judgment by God on ‘the day of visitation’ or ‘Yahweh’s day’, a day of punishment as well as blessing. Judgment shall be against Israel the wicked. Moreover, it is to be observed that ‫ באוצר‬in 39:31 has been read ‫=( בארץ‬ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς) by the Greek translator. 14 Possibly, this may simply be that Elisha saw Elijah disappearing (2Kings 2:10, 12). 15 For a collective noun in accordance with a verb in plural, see e.g., E. Kautsch, Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar (ed. A.E. Cowley, Oxford 1966, #145, b and c.) 16 In imperfect tense, according to 1QIsa ‫יקיצו ורננו‬. 17 Cf. Ps 139:12. Others translate ‫ ארות‬as ‘herbs’ (cf. 2Kings 4:39). 18 ‫ רפאים תפיל‬could also be translated as ‘you shall strike down the land of shadows’; but in the former verse ‫ נפל‬means ‘to be born’ or ‘to take out’. 19 Canaanite mythology might have supplied the necessary preparation. Compare Isa 25:8 with the Ugaritic myth of Baal and Anath (ANET, p. 140), and Isa 27:1 with the same myth (ANET, 137).

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(Am 5:18ff) and against the nations. Or it shall be in favor of ‘the righteous’ Israel and against ‘the wicked’ nations (Isa 26:10; Hab 1:4,13; cf. Ps 9:5; 10:2–4; 58:10; 68:2; 125:3). It is a collective judgment – universal, even (Zeph 1:1–18) – on earth, never individual and ‘post mortem’. In Jeremiah, it shall be preceded by repentance and a change of heart for each member of the Israelite community (e.g., Jer 3:13,19–25; 24:7; 31:33). In connection with the idea of judgment and restoration, there is a hint of the Messianic hope, a hope whose object oscillates between an individual and a dynasty (comp. already Jer 23:5 with Jer 3:15; 23:4). Later, from the Maccabean period onwards, there will be an intimate relationship between the judgment and the Messiah. 20 Similarly, other eschatological views of the Prophets have been adopted and developed in later Jewish and Christian Apocalypses: The vision of God’s throne (Isa 6:1ff; Ezek 1:4–28; cf. Dan 7:8ff; Rev 4:7f). God’s sign on the forehead of the elected (Ezek 9:4; cf. Rev 7:3ff; 9:4).

The new Heaven and the new Earth (Isa 65:17; 66:22; cf. 51:6; Rev 21:1). A new and restored Jerusalem, whose light will be God himself (Isa 60:1ff; cf. Rev 21:23; 22:5).

Everlasting fire shall destroy enemies (Isa 33:14); nations will be judged by fire (Isa 66:16). In Dan 7, the power of judgment against the nations is given to the mysterious ‘Son of Man’, who, though a symbol of Israel as a whole, certainly has Messianic attributes. Later, some of the Jewish Apocrypha developed the meaning of the title ‘son of man’, identifying this figure with the still more mysterious Metatron, prince of the the angels, who is showed enthroned next to God on a throne like that of God (3En 4–5). He is God’s servant (‫)עבד‬, to whom God has revealed the secrets of creation (3En 11,1) (see Borsch 2007, p. 160). 20

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Peaceful and certain home will be for the elect (Isa 32:18).

Nations will yearly celebrate the Sukkoth festival in a restored Jerusalem (Zech 14:9,16–21; cf. Lk 16:9; Rev 7:15; 12:12; 13:6; 21:3).

RESURRECTION OF DEAD AND IMMORTALITY OF SOUL

During the Maccabean wars, a Hassid writes the consoling book of Daniel, where the Psalmist’s hope of everlasting life in God is clearly enounced as a matter of faith: ‘And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt (‫( ’)לדראון עולם‬Dan 12:2). For his statement of a happy or a terrible afterlife, the writer employs the prophetic images of a metaphorical resurrection and, probably, some Iranian astrological beliefs. 21 That he deals with a bodily resurrection is obvious from the fact that ‘those who sleep’ certainly means the dead (cf. John 11:11; Rev 7:60; 1Thes 4:13; 5:10). The distinction made between ‘some’ and ‘some’ (Dan 12:2) is not here subject to a universal judgment – nor does the resurrection seem to be general (cf. ‘many’). Verse 1 mentions only a prior ‘great affliction’ (cf. Jer 30:7). The idea of a resurrection of the body to eternal life as a reward for fidelity to God’s laws was well-rooted among pious Jews, not only in Israel but also in the Hellenistic Diaspora (2Mac7:9ff). Maccabean martyrs are convinced that God will give back to them both spirit (τὸ πνεῦμα) and life (τὴν ζωὴν) (v. 23). As for their executioner, there will be no resurrection to life for him (v. 14). Resurrection is a ‘nice reward’ only for those who die ‘in piety’; but prayer and sacrifices may make resurrection possible also for those who died in sin (2Mac 12:43–45). Around the middle of the I cent. BC an Alexandrian Jew seems to have openly adopted a Greek understanding of man, and with it the Socratic doctrine of the immortality of the soul, independent of the condition of the body. The Wisdom of Solomon challenges the pagan view that everything ends with death (ch. 2). 20F

Concerning the question of the Iranian influence on the resurrection doctrine in Israel, which has been the subject of numerous researches, see Martin-Achard 1956, pp. 148–153. 21

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Death is not God’s work (1:13) but entered the world through the envy of the devil (2:24). Man can reach immortality (ἀθανασία) (3:4). The Wisdom of Solomon expresses no hope of a bodily resurrection, but acknowledges God’s power to raise the body (16:13). Incorruption (ἀφθαρσία) is reached through observance of the laws and causes man to be placed near God (ἐγγύς Θεοῦ) (6:18–19). Looking back to Genesis, we find ourselves still very near to older ideas, although they are stripped of their mythological dress.

CHAPTER TWO. APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE Apocryphal literature stands between the Old Testament and New Testament in some Christian Bibles, and is thus also known as intertestamentary literature. Some apocryphal texts are apocalyptic in genre, relating to the end of times. This kind of literature emerged especially at times when Jews found themselves in precarious political situations, which led them to struggle in their hope for the fulfillment of God’s promises. Persecution by Antiochus Epiphanes, with the temptation to surrender to the acceptance of invading Hellenism, provoked a religious reaction of extremist pietism. It is, probably, from these Jewish circles of Hassidim that most of the oldest writings discussed in the present chapter emerged. One of the main features of apocryphal literature is its general interest in offering an eschatological doctrine that fits the sense of individual righteousness. But the views of the writers on each particular point are far from unanimous. These writings diverge on such matters as the resurrection of the body, the immortality of the soul, the final judgment, the intermediate states of the human spirits, the eternity of punishment, the universality of the election and the Messianic Kingdom. On the other hand, the difficulty in establishing the dates and places of their composition, their original languages and their mutual influences is compounded by the undoubted fact that they include Christian interpolations; these are often quite obvious, although sometimes merely plausible. Amid such complex conditions, it is hard to offer a synthesis of doctrinal developments and mutual influences as far as our subjects are concerned. We have therefore preferred to review each writing separately, trying to present in sequence its particular eschatological views, and letting the texts speak for themselves, without extensive commentary. A brief introduction will precede each document, referring to such matters as its author and its place, date 13

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and language. Textual quotations in English are usually taken from Charles’ translation. 1 Other editions and translations of sources are always indicated in the footnotes. The sequence of the books is chronological, as far as possible. 2

I ENOCH (ETHIOPIC ENOCH)

This is a compilation of apocalyptic writings of a very heterogeneous character. Except for ch. 105, which appears to be Christian in origin, they seem to be Pharisaic or Hassidic works of a disputed date. Chapters 1–36: probably older than the Book of Jubilees, written ca. 170–161 BC 37–71 (The Parables): could be of a very late date – end of the II cent. AD.: attention should be paid to their reference to the Parthians. 3 90–104: perhaps from the years 95–78 or 70–64 BC (Charles). 106–108: possibly from before 64 BC (Martin). Chapters 1–36 There shall be a universal judgment by God and His angels (1:1,7,9), and ‘all that is upon the earth shall perish’ (1:7). But with the righteous God will make peace and they shall belong to Him (1:8). The elect shall inherit the earth (cf. Ps 5:7; 37:11): they shall not transgress again, nor shall they die of (divine) anger, but they shall live ‘in eternal gladness and peace, all the days of their life’ (5:9). And for the sinners, ‘there shall be no salvation’ (5:6). The special unit made up of Chapters 6–11, a Noachic fragment about the fall of the angels, followed by its pernicious conseCharles 1913, vol. II (Pseudepigrapha). For more recent editions and translations, see Charlesworth 1983–1985 and Bauckham – Davila – Panayotov 2013. 2 Scholarly views on dating and other related points being often very different and even opposite to one another, we have tried to evaluate their arguments as they have been summarized by Denis 1970. 3 Hindley 1967 (this paper has been overlooked by Denis 1970). 1

2. APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE

15

quences for mankind, ends with a Messianic blessing for the righteous that we shall again find in Rabbinic Judaism and in early Christianity: the wonderful fruitfulness of the earth 4 (10:18–20). Here, such a material blessing is a sign of a more spiritual one, namely, the cleanness of the earth from all sin (10:21–27). Only after this cleaning of the earth shall a universal praise and worship of God take place (10:22). Chapters 12–16 contain a vision of the fall of angels. Enoch intercedes for their salvation, and he is given the answer: ‘Go, say to the Watchers of Heaven…: You should intercede for men, not men for you’ (15:2). Those angels ‘shall be wholly consumed’ (19:1). A number of elements also appearing in Greek mythology are mentioned in the description of Enoch’s journey through the earth and the Netherworld, but their names are omitted: ‘the river of fire’, 5 the ‘great sea’ 6 and the ‘great rivers’ 7 (17:5b). Other expressions are biblical, like ‘the living waters’. 8 Angels are identified with stars, a feature often occurring from this point forward in Jewish writings. Fallen angels ‘shall be judged till they are made an end of. And also the women of the angels who went astray shall become sirens’ (19:1–2). A faithful angel, Ramiel, has been sent by God ‘over those who rise’ (20:8). Resurrection, however, is not clearly indicated in this section of the book; it can be inferred only indirectly from the description of the ‘hollow places created with the purpose that the spirits of the souls of the dead should assemble therein’, and this ‘till the day of their judgment’ (22:3–4). There are three divisions in the Netherworld: one is for ‘the spirits of the righteous, in which there is the

See e.g. BT Yoma 39b; Mekh Deut 26:2; Midr Exod R 15; Papias (Irenaeus, Adv Haer V,33,3–4), Justin, Trypho 90:14, etc. 5 Cf. Pyriphlegeton. 6 Cf. Okeanos. 7 Cf. Styx, Acheron, Cocytus. 8 Cf. Ps 36:9; Prov 10:11; 13:14; 14:27; 16:22. In an eschatological context, we will find it again in Rev 22:17 (see below, p. 99). 4

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bright spring of water’ (22:9). 9 The second is ‘for the sinners when they die and are buried in the earth and judgment has been executed on them in their lifetime’. Here they shall suffer till the judgment, when God ‘shall bind them forever’ (22:1–12). The third division has been made for the spirits of ‘those who were complete in transgression’; ‘they shall not be slain in the day of the judgment nor shall they be raised from thence’ (22:13). It may be assumed, therefore, that the righteous shall be raised from their ‘hollow place’ in the judgment. 10 Enoch proceeds towards ‘West of the end of the Earth’ (ch. 23–36), where he sees a mountain: this shall be the throne of God in His visit to the earth (25:3). That mountain is encircled by trees; and one of them, of excellent fragrance (24:2–6) ‘shall be given to the righteous and holy. Its fruit shall be for the elect: it shall be transplanted… to the Temple of the Lord (25:4–5). Then shall they rejoice… and into the holy place shall they enter; and its fragrance shall be in their bones, and they shall live a long life on earth, such as their forefathers lived’ (25:6). In ‘the middle of the earth’ there is the earthly Jerusalem, surrounded by mountains and valleys (ch. 26), in one of which (Gehenna), the accursed shall be gathered together (27:2) for their judgment in the presence of the righteous. 11 For other references to this ‘spring’, probably of Mesopotamian origin, see Isa 12:3; 1En 32:4–5; Syb Orac III, 749; 4Ezra 2:18, 31; 1QH VIII, 12–13; Od Sol 11:6; 30:1–7, etc. 10 Charles 1913, vol. II, 203, n. 13. 11 Neither Jerusalem nor the Valley of Gehinnom is mentioned by its own name in the text. As for the latter, early associated with the sacrifices to Molokh (or rather with molk-sacrifices, see De Vaux 1960, 331–333; cf. 2Kings 22:10) and accursed by Jeremiah (7: 31f; 19:2, 6; 22:35), we see that already in Isaiah (46:24) it is the place where the apostate Israelites suffer the torment of fire in the presence of the righteous, as in the present text. In 1En 91–94 punishment is of a spiritual kind and for impious Jews alone. In the N.T. Gehenna is the place where the wicked in general are thrown (cf. Mt 5:29–30 and par.). In Rabbinic Judaism, it is the place of perdition for the Gentiles and of purgation for unfaithful Jews (see below, pp. 17, 21, 40, 51, 52, 63,118, 120, 125). 9

2. APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE

17

Proceeding towards the Eastern regions (ch. 28–32), Enoch finds aromatic spices such as those used for the treatment of corpses, 12 and arrives finally to the ‘Paradise of Righteousness’ 13 where he sees, among other things, ‘the Tree of Wisdom, whereof (the righteous) eat and know great wisdom’ (32:3). From this multiform tree Adam and Eve had eaten (33:4–6). Chapters 37–104 (The Parables) The ‘lot of eternal life’ has been given to Enoch (37:4). The sinners shall perish in judgment (38:1) and shall be destroyed from the face of the earth (45:6): ‘it had been good for them if they had not been born’ (cf. Mk 14:21). A similar end awaits the kings and the mighty (38:5–6). As for the righteous and the elect who dwell on earth, light shall appear on them (38:2); from their resting-place they intercede and pray for men (39:5). They will be without number before God forever (39:6). There seems to be a predestination by God, not only for Enoch (39:8) but also for everybody: ‘He knows before the world was created what is forever and what will be from generation to generation’ (39:11). Archangel Phanuel is ‘set over the repentance unto hope of those who inherit eternal life’ (40:9); for him who shall not repent before judgment, there shall be no mercy (50:4–5). On a certain day, God shall cause His Elect One, the Son of Man, 14 ‘to dwell among’ men (45:4), and on a transformed earth He Possible allusion to resurrection (Gil 1968–69). The word παραδείσος in the Greek and Ethiopic texts was used as a terminus technicus for the Heavenly Paradise (‫ פרדס‬in the oldest Jewish esoteric writings), as is now proven by the Aramaic [‫ קושט]א‬in a fragment from Qumran (Milik 1958). Before this usage was adopted, the term had a merely practical sense, meaning garden of a synagogue in two Egyptian papyri of the III and II cent. BC (Tcherikover – Fuks 1957, pp. 157 and 248). 14 Cf. Dan 7. Here the designated is a personal Messiah, and the Greek equivalent must have been ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου and not υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου (Charles 1913, vol. II, 214, n. on XLVI, 2). The date of our book being unknown, it is wrong to base on its references to the Son of Man (cf. 44:4; 48:3; 62:9; 63:11; 69:26,27; 70:1; 71:1) the view that such a 12 13

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shall cause His elect ones ‘to dwell upon it’ (45:5). From there their prayer and their blood shall have ascended before God; ‘the holy ones who dwell above in Heaven shall unite with one voice and supplicate… on behalf of the blood of the righteous… that judgment may be done unto them, and that they may not have to suffer forever’ (47:1–2) (cf. Rev 6:10). Enoch sees God, ‘the Head of the Days’, seated upon the throne of His glory and the ‘book of the living’ 15 ‘open before Him’; the hearts of the holy were filled with joy ‘because the number of the righteous had been offered’, 16 their prayer heard, and their blood required before the Lord (47:3–4). Enoch sees the ‘inexhaustible mountain of righteousness and around it many fountains of wisdom: and all the thirsty drank of them, and were filled with wisdom, and their dwellings were with the righteous and the holy and the elect’ (48:1). The kings and the mighty shall ‘burn before the face of the holy… and no trace of them shall any more be found’ (48:9). They shall fall and not rise again… and there shall be no one to take them with his hands and raise them’ (48:10). In the Elect One, whose ‘glory is forever and ever’ (49:2), there is ‘the spirit of those who have fallen asleep in righteousness’. 17 The victory of the righteous shall be public, so that others may repent and God may have mercy upon them (50:2–3). For them, judgment, that is prepared for those who deny the righteous’ judgment (60:6), is the last chance to be forgiven (50:4–5). The resurrection of the dead here seems to be general and to take place in the Messianic period: ‘In those days shall the earth also give back that which has been entrusted to it, and Sheol also term was ordinarily employed to designate the Messiah in the Palestinian Judaism of the I cent. AD (see Hindley, 1967). 15 This book of living or book of life (‫ )ספר חיים‬appears already in the O.T. (e.g., Ps 69:29), in several Apocryphes, in the N.T. (e.g. Rev 3:4f) and in the early Christian writings (e.g. Hermas, Shepherd, Vis. 1, 3, 2). 16 Cf. Syr Apoc Bar 23:5; 4Ezra 4:36; Rev 6:10–11. 17 This sounds too close to N.T.’s statement about those ‘who have fallen asleep in Christ’ (1 Thes 4:14) for us not to see the influence of one writing upon the other.

2. APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE

19

shall give back that which it has received, and hell shall give back that which it owes’ (51:1). 18 But only the ‘righteous and holy’ ‘shall be chosen from among them and be saved’ (51:2). Their dwellingplace shall be the rejoicing earth (51:5). As for the sinners and the mighty, their destruction shall be carried out by angels (53:1–5) as well as by the fallen angels and by fire (54:1–6) and water (54:7–10). There is a final attempt by fallen angels to destroy the city of the righteous, but finally they also are devoured by Sheol (56:5–8), and the righteous and the elect enjoy the light of eternal life (61:12). An incomplete reference is made to the two mythical monsters, the male Behemoth and female Leviathan. The latter departed ‘on that day’ 19 to dwell in the abyss of the ocean; Behemoth ‘occupied with his breast a waste wilderness named Duidain, 20 on the East of the garden’ where the elect and the righteous dwell, and from where Adam was taken up 21 (60:7–10). This is ‘the garden of the righteous’ (60:23) or ‘the garden of life’ (61:12). Those two monsters, ‘prepared conformably to the greatness of God, shall feed… (the elect)’ (61:24) at the Messianic meal 22 according to rabbinic literature (cf. below, ch. 4, p. 126). 23 Angels are given cords ‘to measure’ those elect who have died in the desert, or have been devoured by beasts and fishes, for none of them shall be destroyed (61:1–5). 24 Hell is the Abaddon of Job 26:6 (cf. Rev 9:10). Earth gives back the body and Sheol renders the soul. 19 That is to say, in the day of the creation (cf. Job 40; 42 and also Gen 1:21; Ps 50:10; Isa 27:1). 20 Cf. Gen 4:16: ‘land of Nod’. 21 Eden or ‫ גן עדן‬will traditionally be in later Judaism the happy and peaceful place where the souls of the righteous wait for their resurrection (see below, Ch 4, pp. 122–125). 22 See the first explicit reference to it in ch. 62:14. 23 See also 4Ezra 6:49–52; Syr Apoc Bar 29:4. 24 The meaning of this remains in doubt, but special interest is shown in those who die without a burial-place. The latter should, therefore, be considered of major importance for the resurrection. Verse 5 reads, in Charles’ version, ‘that they may return and stay themselves on the day of the Elect Ones’ (Charles, ibid. p. 226). 18

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DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

In the presence of the Elect One seated on His throne and judging all the works of the holy, they and the elect ‘dwell in the garden of life’ (61:12), while the sinners are ‘slain by the word of His mouth’, and ‘the unrighteous are destroyed’ (62:2–5). The mighty and the kings, terrified by this vision (62:2–5), shall supplicate for mercy, but in vain (62:9). He will deliver them to punishment, and God’s sword shall be ‘drunk with their blood’ (62:11– 12). The resurrection of the elect shall take place when ‘the Lord of the Spirits will abide over them, and with that Son of Man shall they eat and lie down and rise up forever and ever. And the righteous and elect shall have risen from the earth… and shall have been clothed with garments of glory… garments of life…’ (62:13– 16). ‘Darkness shall be the eternal dwelling-place of the mighty and the kings’ (63:1–6). ‘Their faces shall be filled with darkness and shame before the Son of Man’, ‘and the sword shall abide before His face in their midst’ (63:11). Angels who had led men astray are punished with streams of fire in a valley where there is a great convulsion of waters (67:1–7). These waters, that before served for the healing of the body but for the punishment of the spirit, shall now become ‘waters of judgment’, ‘a fire that burns forever’ (67:8–13). ‘Men were created exactly like the angels, to the intent that they should continue pure and righteous, and death, which destroys everything, could not have taken hold of them, but they are perishing through the knowledge’ (69:11) of ‘all the secrets of wisdom’ that angel Penemue revealed to them (69:8–9). But when the Son of Man sat on the throne and ‘the sum of judgment was given unto the Son of Man’, 25 ‘He caused the sinners to pass away and be destroyed from off the face of the earth and those who have led the world astray’ (69:27). Enoch’s ‘name was raised during his lifetime aloft’ to the Son of Man on the chariots of the spirit and his name vanished among them. In a place for the elect and righteous, the visionary sees the first fathers and the righteous (70:1–4). 25

Cf. John 5:22, 27.

2. APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE

21

In a new section that seems to belong to the Parables, Enoch’s spirit is said to have been ‘translated’. ‘It ascended to Heaven’ where he contemplates its secrets, and the Sons of God (=angels) and the Head of Days and the Son of Man. An angel greets Him with the praise of the Son of Man 26 (71:1–14). This proclaims unto Enoch ‘peace in the name of the world to come’27 (71:15). ‘And all shall walk in His (i.e., the Son of Man) ways…: with Him will be their dwelling-place, and with Him their heritage, and they shall not be separated from Him forever and ever’ (71:16). In the so-called Book of the Heavenly Luminaries (ch. 72–82), it is said that there will be a ‘new creation which lasts till eternity’ (72:2). In Heaven there are the ‘Heavenly tablets’, whereon every individual fact is written (81:1). ‘Blessed is the man who dies in righteousness and goodness, concerning whom there is no book of unrighteousness written, and against whom no day of judgment shall be found’ (81:4). A series of dream-visions (chs. 85–90) ends with the judgment of the stars (= fallen angels): 70 shepherds and blinded sheep (= Israelite apostates) are cast into a fiery abyss, to the right of the house (= Gehenna, near Jerusalem) (90:20–27). Then, a new house ‘greater and loftier than the first’ was set up (90:28–29), wherein all the beasts, and the sheep that had been left and all the birds of Heaven assembled. Then, a ‘white bull’ was born, soon transformed into the Lamb (= Messiah) (90:30–38). An exhortation and blessing to the righteous and malediction to the sinners (chs. 91–94) mentions ‘the great eternal judgment’ against the angels, the transformation of the old Heaven into a new one, when ‘all the powers of the Heaven shall give sevenfold light’ (91:15ff). ‘The righteous one shall arise from sleep’ and walk ‘in From this passage, which seems to be incomplete, some early interpreters thought that Enoch is here proclaimed the Son of Man and Messiah (see 1En 22:6; 67:2; Targ to Gen 5:24; Pseudo-Clem, Hom 18:3, Rec 2:47). But this seems to contradict all the former visions. 27 This is the first reference to this expression which will later become popularly used (‫ )העולם הבא‬to describe the Messianic Age and afterlife in general (see below, pp. 75, 120). 26

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eternal goodness and grace’ and ‘in eternal light’, while ‘the sin shall perish in darkness forever’ (92:3–5). Heathen ‘shall be cast into the judgment of fire and shall perish… forever’ (92:9) and the ‘righteous shall arise from their sleep and wisdom shall… be given to them’ (92:9ff). The spirits of the wicked ‘shall be cast into the furnace of fire’ (98:3). They shall be ‘delivered into the hands of the righteous’, who shall cut off their neck and slay them and have no mercy upon them’ (98:13). ‘No grave shall be dug’ for them, 28 for they ‘will have no hope of life’ 29 (98:1–4). Those who ‘shall resist perversion shall be saved’ (99:10), but those ‘who spread evil’ among their neighbors until the day of judgment will be destroyed with the sword (99:15–16). Sinners shall burn ‘in blazing flames worse than fire’ (100:9). An exhortation links the fate of the soul after death with its state at the moment of death: ‘Fear you not, you souls of the righteous and be hopeful you that have died in righteousness. And grieve not if your soul into Sheol has descended in grief, and that in your life your body fared not according to your goodness. But wait for the day of the judgment of the sinners…’ (102:4–5), for ‘they too have died and henceforth they shall see no light’ (102:8). It is written ‘in the Heavenly tablets’ and in ‘the holy books’ ‘that all goodness and joy and glory are prepared’ for the righteous (103:2f). They shall ‘shine in the lights of Heaven’, ‘they will shine and be seen’, and ‘the portals of Heaven shall be open’ to them (104:2). 30 Their glory will be great like that of the angels in Heaven (104:5). ‘Books will be given to them, and they shall believe in them and rejoice over them’, and all the righteous who have learnt therefrom all the paths of uprighteousness shall be recompensed’ (104:12f). A possible reference to an improper burial (cf. Jer 8:2). In a certain measure, the hope of an eternal life is linked to the place where the body lies on earth. Cf. also v. 16: ‘They shall have no peace but die a sudden death’. 30 Here, there is no idea of resurrection of their bodies, of a return to a new life, or of a Messianic kingdom. 28 29

2. APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE

23

A Christian promise interpolated into the book is most reassuring: ‘I (= God) and my Son will be united with them forever in the paths of uprighteousness in their lives and you shall have grace: rejoice, you children of uprighteousness. Amen’ (105:1). Chapters 106–108 (Apocalypse of Noah) Enoch’s ‘dwelling-place is among the angels’ (106:7). The names of the transgressors ‘shall be blotted out of the book of life and out of the holy books, and their seed shall be destroyed forever, and their spirits shall be slain, and they shall cry… in a place that is a chaotic wilderness, and in the fire shall they burn; for there is no earth there’ (108:3). God will ‘summon the spirits of the good who belong to the generation of light’ and He will ‘transform those who were born in darkness’ (10:11). He will ‘bring forth in shining light’ those who have loved His holy name, and will ‘seat each on the throne of His honor’ (108:12), where they shall be resplendent forever (108:14). And the sinners shall cry aloud ‘and see the righteous resplendent’ (108:15).

THE BOOK OF JUBILEES

Although it was written in Hebrew, 31 a complete version of the Book of Jubilees has only been preserved in Ethiopic translation, which is based on the Greek version of the book. Its date is still an object of discussion, though generally the years 170–161 BC are accepted. Its author is Jewish, and though we do not know the sect to which he belonged, his writing suggests a priestly and cultic tendency. This book, also known under the title of Leptogenesis, is a sort of aggadic commentary of Genesis and Exodus, written in the form of a revelation made to Moses by an angel. Its eschatological references, as well as some interesting allusions to funerary rites, include the following: Whoever profanes the Sabbath ‘shall surely die eternally’ (2:27). Several fragments have been discovered at Qumran: Jub 23:6–7, 7– 8, 12–13; 27: 19–21; 35:8–10; 46:1–3. See bibliography in A. Denis, 1970, 157f. 31

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Divine ordinances are codified in the ‘Heavenly tablets’ (3:31 and passim). Cain’s ‘blood cried from the ground to Heaven’ (4:3). Adam was buried ‘in the land of his creation’ (4:29). It was ordained in the Heavenly tablets that ‘with the instrument with which a man kills his neighbor, with the same shall he be killed’ (4:32). ‘Judgment of all is… written in the Heavenly tablets’ (5:13). ‘There is nothing in Heaven or in earth, or in the light or in darkness, or in Sheol or in the depth, or in the place of darkness (which is not judged), according to the Heavenly tablets’ (5:14). Sheol is the place of condemnation for all those who commit homicide. ‘And into the darkness of the deep shall they all be removed by a violent death’ (7:29). ‘The Garden of Eden is the holy of holies’ (8:19). On ‘the day of judgment’, the Lord will judge ‘with a sword and with fire’ (9:15). Pagans ‘offer their sacrifices to the dead’ and ‘eat over the graves’ (22:17). Abraham slept ‘the sleep of eternity (cf. Jer 51:39, 57) and was gathered to his fathers’ (23:1). His sons ‘buried him in a double cave…, and they wept for him for forty days’ (23:7). When God ‘will wake up’ against the ‘sinners of the gentiles’, ‘there shall be none to gather and none to bury’ (23:26). ‘And at that time the Lord will heal His servants, and they shall rise up and see great peace’ 32 (23:30). ‘And their bones shall rest in the earth, and their spirits shall have much joy’ 33 (23:31). None of the Kittim 34 ‘shall be saved on the day of the wrath of judgment (24:30). And if a descendant of the Caphtorim ‘ascend unto Heaven, thence shall he be brought down…; and though he According to Charles’ interpretation (ibid., p. 49, n. 30), this passage does not refer to a resurrection in the Messianic kingdom, but it must refer to happiness in afterlife (cf. next v.). 33 Again, there is an intimate link between the rest of the bones in the earth and a happy afterlife. 34 Here the Macedonians. The Caphtorim of next sentence are the Philistine nation. 32

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25

descend into Sheol, there also shall his condemnation be great, and there also he shall have no peace… for into eternal condemnation shall he depart’ (24:30–32). The transgressors out of Israel ‘will be destroyed out of the book of life, and they will be recorded in the book of those who will be destroyed…’ (30:22). Deborah, Rebecca’s nurse, was buried beneath the city under the path of the river (32:30). ‘Jacob built a pillar on the grave of Rachel, on the road above her grave’ (32:34). Rebecca wants to be buried near Sarah, so that her bones may be close to Sarah’s bones (35:21). ‘I am going the way of my fathers – says Jacob when about to die –, to the eternal house where my fathers are’ (36:1). He wants to be buried in the sepulcher which he dug for himself, near Abraham (36:2). Joseph commanded the Children of Israel to should carry his bones with them when they leave the land of Egypt (45:5). ‘The Children of Israel brought forth all the bones of the children of Jacob save the bones of Joseph, and they buried them in the field in the double cave in the mountain (of Hebron)’ (46:9). The Passover rite has to be observed in such a way that ‘no bones be broken thereof; for of the Children of Israel no bone shall be crushed’ 35 (49:13).

THE TESTAMENT OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS

The redaction of this book, as it is known today in the Greek version, is certainly due to a Christian hand. Interpolations are obvious in the Greek version, less so in the Armenian version. Some Aramaic fragments found in Qumran differ from the Greek as much as from the original text underlying the other version. A Hebrew basic text was likely written ca. 109–107 BC. Scholars have also identified possible Jewish anti-Hasmonean interpolations (70–40 BC). The Greek version, which could have been known to the Apostle Paul, probably dates from ca. 50 BC, though a much later 35

Latin version reads: ‘non erit tribulatio in filiis Israhel in die hac’.

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date has also been proposed, namely, the end of II cent. or beginning of III cent. AD. 36 Testament of Simeon ‘As a rose shall my bones flourish in Israel…’ (6:2). ‘The Lord shall appear on earth, and Himself save men’ (6:5). ‘Then shall I arise in joy and will bless the Most-High…’ (6:7). Testament of Levi Levi sees in a dream 37 the seven Heavens, and he enters into each of them, invited by an angel (2:5–3:9). The first Heaven contains all the unrighteous deeds of men (3:1), as well as ‘fire, snow and ice, made ready for the day of judgment’ (3:2). In the second are the hosts of armies which are ordained for that day, ‘to work vengeance on the spirits of deceit and of Beliar’. And above them are the holy ones (3:3). ‘In the highest of all dwells the Great Glory’ (3:4). ‘In (the Heaven next to) it are the archangels, who… make propitiation to the world for the sins of ignorance of the righteous’ (3:5). (Under this) ‘are the angels who bear answers to the angels of the presence of the Lord’ (3:7). ‘And (in the Heaven next to it) are thrones and dominions’ (3:8). ‘The Lord shall execute judgment upon the sons of men ‘with a great commotion of the whole creation’, and ‘Hades will take the spoils’ ‘through the visitation of the Most High’. De Jonge, 1953. See also Hollander – De Jonge 1985. ὕπνος. According to Scholem (1965, p. 18) it may refer to the ecstasy of the visionary: ‘The seven Heavens are open to him and the angel says “Enter”, in the same manner in which the angel at the sixth gate admits the Mercabah mystic when has passed all trials’. The vision lasted for two weeks according to an Aramaic fragment found at Qumran (Milik 1955). 36 37

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Men will perish in their iniquity, and therefore they will be judged with punishment (43:1). The gates of Heaven are open. Inside is ‘the holy temple, and upon a throne of glory the Most High’. Levi is made a priest (5:1). He is anointed with oil, washed with pure water, fed ‘with bread and wine, the most holy things’ and clad with a ‘holy and glorious robe’ (8:4f). He is given an olive branch, a crown, and the diadem of priesthood (7:8–10). The new Priest (=Messiah) ‘shall open the gates of Paradise (cf. Rev 3:7–8) and shall remove the threatening sword against Adam. And he shall give to the saints to eat from the tree of life… And Beliar shall be bound by him… And the Lord shall rejoice in his children’ (18:10–12). Testament of Judah The three Patriarchs ‘shall arise into life’ (25:1). The Israelites ‘shall be the people of the Lord, and have one tongue; and there shall be no spirit of deceit of Beliar, for he shall be cast into the fire forever’ (25:3). ‘And they who have died in grief shall arise (in joy)’ and the martyrs ‘shall awake (to life)’ (25:4). Testament of Issachar ‘He (Issachar) stretched out his feet and died… He slept the eternal sleep’ (7:9) ‘And he (= Joseph) spent in the pit three days and three nights’ 38 (4:3). ‘In the last days God will send His compassion on the earth, and wheresoever He finds bowels of mercy He dwells in him’ (8:2). Zebulun dies, but he will ‘rise again’ in the midst of his children (10:1f).

This is a midrashic enlargement of the text of Gen 37, and it is found only in Greek, Armenian and Slavonic I versions. There is a relationship with the story of Jonah (2:1) (cf. also Mt 12:40!). 38

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‘Upon the ungodly shall the Lord bring eternal fire and destroy them… But I am now hastening to my rest, as did also my fathers’ (10:3f). Testament of Dan ‘And the saints shall rest in Eden, and in the new Jerusalem shall the righteous rejoice…; the Lord shall live in the midst of it’ (5:12). ‘And he (Dan) fell asleep at a good old age. And his sons buried him. And after that they carried up his bones, and placed them near Abraham…’ (7:2). Testament of Naphtali Naphtali sees in a vision how Levi seized the sun and Judah the moon in their hands ‘and both of them were lifted up with them’ (5:1–3). And then Levi became as a sun, and a certain young man gave him twelve branches of palm; ‘and Judah was bright as the moon, and their feet were twelve rays’ (5:4). A bull appeared upon the earth, with horns and wings. ‘Joseph seized him, and ascended up to him on high’ (5:6). ‘My children, I have shown to you the last times…’ (8:1). ‘He exhorted them that they should remove his bones to Hebron, 39 and that they should bury him with his fathers’ (9:1). ‘… He covered his face and died’ (9:2). Testament of Gad ‘The unrepentant is reserved for eternal punishment’ (7:5). Testament of Asher ‘Death succeeds to life… night to day, and darkness to light…; wherefore also eternal life awaits death’ 40 (5:2).

39 40

Greek: ἵνα μετακομίσωσιν τὰ ὀστά αὺτοῦ εἰς Χεβρὼν. Greek: διὸ καὶ τον θάνατον ἡ αἰώνιος ζωὴ ἀναμένει.

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Testament of Joseph ‘Ye shall carry up my bones with you; for when my bones are being taken up thither, the Lord shall be with you in light, and Beliar shall be in darkness with the Egyptians’ (20:2). Testament of Benjamin Be followers of the good man, ‘that ye also may wear crowns of glory’ (4:11). ‘Keep the commandments of God, until the Lord shall reveal His salvation to all gentiles. And then shall ye see Enoch, Noah, and Shem, and Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob, rising on the right hand in gladness. Then shall we also rise, each one over our tribe, worshiping the King of Heaven… Then also men shall rise, some unto glory and some unto shame. And the Lord shall judge Israel first, for their unrighteousness… And then shall He judge all the gentiles’ (10:5–9). 41

GENESIS APOCRYPHON

Also called Book of Lamech, it is one of the scrolls found in Cave I of Qumran. 42 Written in Aramaic, it contains a fragmentary apocryphal version of several accounts from Genesis. The original text might have been Hebrew. Its date is uncertain, though it possibly was first written during the first half of the II cent. BC. Of interest for the topic at hand, in this book Methuselah seemingly addresses Enoch, who dwells with the angels and knows everything. 43 An incomplete sentence may read: ‘… I swear to thee by the great Holy One, the King of H(eaven)’. 44 This passage contains several Christian interpolations that we have omitted in the quotation. 42 It was published by Avigad and Yadin, 1956. 43 Editors (p. [16]) note that the story is similar to that in 1En 106, which is part of the so-called Book of Noah. 44 This expression is Israelite, not only in biblical books but also in rabbinic writings, and it is correlative to the well known ‫ מלכת השמים‬in Jer 44 (passim). 41

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THE SIBYLLINE ORACLES

Only the third book of the Sibylline Oracles contains interesting eschatological teaching. Originally Jewish, and possibly from the II cent. BC, it also includes pagan elements and Christian interpolations. Fragment III seems also to be Jewish, though from a later date, and it has been preserved in the work of Theophile, Ad Autolicum, from the end of the I cent. AD. Book III God ‘established the fashion of the form of mortal men’ 45 (v. 27). Wicked men forget the Judgment of God, the ‘Eternal Saviour’ (v. 34–35). ‘Gaining husbands shall not keep hold of the rope of life’ (v. 45). ‘When Rome shall rule over Egypt… then the mighty Kingdom of the Immortal King (=Messiah) over men shall appear’ (v. 47–49). A universal judgment will destroy Rome and the other cities with a ‘cataract of fire’ flowing from Heaven (v. 53–63). ‘From the stock of Sebaste Beliar shall come in later time… and he shall raise up the dead and shall perform many signs’ 46 (v. 63–65). God is ‘the Immortal God’ (v. 283). He ‘shall send a king and shall judge each man with flood and flame of fire’ (v. 286). ‘Eternal perdition’ shall come down from the air to Babylon and ‘the children of wrath’ (v. 307f). The ‘land of Gog and Magog’ is ‘in the midst of the rivers of Ethiopia’ (v. 319f). The good shall come ‘from starry Heaven 47 upon men’ (v. 373f). They are called mortal (θνητοῖ) (passim), as different from the immortal King (= Messiah), who is going to appear among them (v. 48). 46 Thus resurrection of the dead is held as being one of the most important Messianic attributions, as in the Synoptic Gospels (see below, ch. 3, pp. 75). 47 Obviously, this is the dwelling-place of God. 45

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The man who will overtake Asia, ‘Hades shall attend him utterly destroyed’ (v. 388–393). When an earthquake shall destroy Cyprus, ‘Hades at one swoop shall possess himself of many souls’ (v. 457). With the destruction of Hellas, the third part of mankind shall be destroyed (v. 544). Men are ‘powerless to escape the consummation of death’ (v. 546). Hellas proffers ‘vain gifts to the dead’ (v. 548). At the consummation of all, all the men ‘shall be unburied… and… the giant earth shall devour the remains of the dead’ (v. 643– 646). To the nations ravaging the land of the people of God, ‘judgment shall come upon them from God, and all shall perish’, with a terrible commotion of all the earth, ‘the universal Mother’ (v. 657– 669). ‘And they shall know the Immortal God’ (v. 693). God ‘shall burn with fire the race of stubborn men’ (v. 761), and then ‘He will raise up His Kingdom for all Ages over men’ (v. 767f). To all good men ‘He promised to open out the earth and the world, and all the portals of the blessed, and all joys and everlasting sense and eternal gladness’ (v. 769–771). From every land they shall bring gifts to the only House of God (= Temple) (v. 772–776). ‘The lofty mountains and the wild sea waves shall become easy to travel over by foot or sail in those days’ (v. 778f). ‘For naught but peace shall come upon the land of the good’ (v. 780). Then the ‘virgin’ (= Jerusalem) must rejoice, for God ‘has given everlasting joy’: ‘And in you shall He dwell, and you shall have eternal light’ (v. 796–807). Then there will be eternal peace over the whole creation (v. 788–795). Strange events in the sky will precede ‘the end of all things coming on the earth’ (v. 796–807).

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Fragment III ‘They who honor the true and everlasting God inherit life, 48 throughout the aeonian time dwelling in the fertile garden of Paradise, feasting over bread from the starry Heaven’ (v. 46–49).

THE PSALMS OF SOLOMON

Originally Hebrew and written in the land of Israel around 80–40 BC, they have been preserved in a Greek translation from the end of I cent. BC, likely from Egypt. The last two Psalms evince a different eschatological view from the rest of this series of eighteen. The ‘body of the insolent one’ 49 is ‘brought hither and thither on the billows with much insolence, with none to bury (him), because He (= God) had rejected him with dishonor’ (2:31). In the judgment of all ‘that is under Heaven’, God will have mercy upon the righteous, retaliate the sinners for their deeds, and establish the pious ones ‘at all times before Him in strength’ (2:36). The destruction of the sinner is forever (3:11), ‘but they that fear the Lord shall rise to life eternal, and life in the light of the Lord, and shall come to an end no more’ (3:16). The sinner’s ‘soul, like Sheol, is not sated’ 50 (4:13). ‘On the poor shall God have mercy in the gladness of Israel… The salvation of the Lord be upon the house of Israel unto everlasting gladness’ 51 (10:6-7). The good tidings of God’s visit to Jerusalem (cf. Isa 40–46) (11:1–9). ‘The salvation of the Lord be upon Israel… forever; and let the sinners perish together at the presence of the Lord; but let the Lord’s pious ones inherit the promises of the Lord’ (12:6). ‘The life of the righteous shall be forever, but sinners shall be taken away into destruction’ (13:11). Such expression occurs in Ps Sol 14:7 and Mt 9:29. Probably Pompey. See Charles’ note ad locum. 50 Cf. 27:20; Isa 5:14. This metaphysical use of the concept of Sheol is similar to that in Eccle (see above, ch. 1, p. 7). 51 The reference to Israel’s joy alludes probably to the Messianic Age. 48 49

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The flame of fire and wrath shall come out ‘from the face of the Lord to destroy’ all their substance, leaving the pious ones untouched ‘for the mark of the Lord is upon the righteous that they may be saved’ 52 (15:6). But ‘the mark of destruction is upon the forehead of the sinners’, 53 whose ‘iniquities shall pursue them into Sheol beneath’ (15:10). They shall perish forever in the day of the Lord’s judgment… but they that fear the Lord shall find mercy therein’ (15:13). Temptation is comparable to the gates of Sheol (16:1–3). ‘The Kingdom of God is forever over the nations in judgment’ (17:4). When the anointed King (Messiah) will rise, there shall be no more wickedness among the sons of God. He shall judge tribes and nations, and they shall submit to Him. ‘Blessed be those who shall live in those days’ (17:44). ‘May God cleanse Israel against… the day of choice when He brings back His anointed’ 54 (18:6).

APOCALYPSE OF ELIJAH

This is preserved only in Coptic, except for some Greek fragments. Church Fathers quote it as though it was the source of I Cor 2:9, 55 but this cannot be proved. Its origin is Jewish, but it contains parts which are entirely Christian, particularly chs. 19–23. Some rabbinic writings are similarly ascribed to Elijah, among them a description of the Antichrist. 56 Cf. Ezek 9:4, 6; Rev 7:3ff; 9:4. In Gen 4:15, the mark upon the forehead of Cain is a sign of protection against his enemies. 54 Rather than the idea of a pre-existing Messiah (see Charles’ note ad locum), we would see here the concept of a reestablishment of God’s theocracy in Israel – ‘the goodness of the Lord’ (next v.) – through the Davidic dynasty, revived in the last king, the Messiah. 55 Thus Origen, Com. in Matthaeum, 27:9. Also Clement Alex., Protrep. X, 94:4, quotes it, adding: ‘They shall rejoice in the Kingdom of the Lord forever. Amen.’ 56 For the following quotations we have used the German translation by Steindorf 1899. 52 53

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‘… He dies, we bury him like all other men; if he dies, we take him out to play for him the cithar and to sing psalms over his body’ (1:1–4). Elijah is taken by an angel above the city (1:6) and he sees a place full of light, the dwelling-place of the righteous (2:4–8), and the place of the souls that are being punished (2:9–16). The angels write down on a scroll at the gate of Heaven the good works of the righteous (3:13–18). The name of the righteous man is written on the book of the living (4:1–3). Other angels write down the sins of men on another scroll at the gate of Heaven (4:3–13). Thousands of angels are commissioned to punish souls (4:15– 5:13). Entering one of the portals, Elijah sees Hades as a fiery sea (6:8–7:12). Eremiel presides over Hades; in his hands are all the souls, from the time of the flood until now (10:9–14). He holds a scroll where all sins are registered (11:1–12:4). An angel brings another scroll (12:15–17). Angels take Elijah by the hand (cf. Acts 9:4) and place him on a boat, and sing and pray in a language that he understands (13:1– 14). An angel blows a golden trumpet (13:15–18). Elijah’s name is written in the book of the living (14:5). The angel talks with the three Patriarchs, Elijah, and David (14:9–10). At the trumpet blows, Heaven is opened (14:15–19). Elijah sees in Hades the various torments of the condemned (15:14f). Some blind men, the ‘catechumens’, repent until the day when the Lord judges them (15:5–16:9). Others have bodies and hair, for ‘the Lord gives body and hair as He likes’ (cf. ICor 15:38). The three Patriarchs supplicate for those who are being punished (16:15 17:15). The angels blow the trumpet over the earth and the Heaven (17:15–18:2). Elijah cannot see everything until the Lord destroys both (18:4–8). On the ‘day of the Lord’, everything will fall down (18:10–12).

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The ‘Father’ has prepared in Heaven thrones and crowns (cf. Rev 2:10; 20:4) for those who belong to Him (19:12–17). He shall write His name upon their forehead (cf. Rev 3:12) and their right hand (cf. Rev 7:3ff), and they shall suffer no more hunger or thirst (cf. Rev 7:16); they shall go with the angels unto His city (21:5f). The end of the Ages (21:15). The day of the wrath (23:8). The man who doubts will not be able to go to the ‘holy place’ 57 (24:6f). The throne of God (34:14). The living will say to the dead: ‘Rise up and join us in this rest’ (31:11–14). The Anointed One (= Messiah) shall appear in the shape of a dove, for a crown of doves shall surround Him on His coming from the clouds of the Heaven, preceded by the sign of the cross with the angels (31:19–32). Again ‘the son of sin’ (= Antichrist) shall stretch his hand to place himself in the ‘holy place’ (cf. 2Thes 2:4), doing all kind of wonders, except the rising of dead 58 (32:10–33:10). He has no power over the souls (33:13ff; 38:2–4). He shall persecute and kill ‘the saints’ and the ‘priest of the land’ (36:1–16), but the Lord shall take with Him their spirits and their souls (36:17). Their flesh shall go on in existence, being like a stone; no wild beast shall devour them, until the last day of the great judgment; and they shall rise up and find a resting-place. But they shall not be in the Kingdom of the Anointed, as well as those who went astray, for the Lord says: ‘I shall grant them to be at my right’ (37:1–9). They shall see the dissolution of Heaven and earth, 59 and shall obtain the thrones of glory and the crowns (37:14 -38:14). The Anointed One descends with myriads of angels, and these take on their wings the people who have His name on their foreheads and His seal on their hand (38:15–39:7). In 29:11; 32:11, etc., this expression refers to Jerusalem, and here it is certainly the new, eschatological Jerusalem. 58 For literary references on this text, and generally for descriptions of Antichrist, see Bousset 1895, p. 117, etc. 59 This expression occurs often in this book. 57

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‘Gabriel and Uriel shall lift a column of fire (cf. Exod 13:21) that precedes them to the Holy Land, and grant them to eat from the tree of life and be clad in (white) garment… (and) to be guarded by (angels): they shall be no more thirsty, and the son of the nolaw (= Antichrist) shall have no power against them’ (39:7–15). The judgment of the Son of God (41:6). The righteous see the sinners in their punishment and are seen by them (41:14f). Elijah and Enoch descend, remove their worldly flesh, take their spiritual flesh, and kill the son of unrighteousness (= Antichrist) by fire, as if it were a dragon (42:10–43:3). The latter is annihilated, together with believers in him, who shall be cast into the abyss (43:5–7). ‘On that day, the Anointed One, the King, descends from Heaven with all His saints and puts the earth on fire, brings to it 1000 years 60 and He will create a new Heaven and a new earth, for the sinners dominated it; the devil shall no more exist; He will be the King with all the saints, ascending and descending, while they shall be with the angels for all time, and with the Anointed One for 1000 years’ (43:8).

APOCRYPHON OF EZEKIEL

Only a few fragments of this book have survived, but they are important because of their insistence on the doctrine of a bodily resurrection. Its author seems to be Jewish, from before the year 50 BC. 61 Resurrection and right judgment belong to the body as much as to the soul (1:1f). Those are like a blind man (= the body) and a cripple (= the soul) who are invited to the wedding of the king’s son, being the only civilians among the crowd of soldiers (= the angels). As they are bored, they go out into the king’s garden to steal the fruit of Paradise. One helps the other, according to their Belief in the millenary Kingdom of Christ on earth was widely accepted since Rev 20:6 (but see below, ch. 3, pp. 74–75), and it caused a severe crisis in the early Church. 61 For the following quotations we have used the German translation by Riessler 1966, pp. 334–336, Ezekiel der Prophet. 60

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abilities. Once their deed is discovered, they are judged by the ‘right judge’ (1:3–37). Thus it will be also in the final judgment, which is lenient with both of them, for both take part in the good and in the bad works (1:38). ‘In the fashion I find you, I shall judge you’ (2:1).

ASSUMPTION OF MOSES

Only fragments of this book are preserved in Greek but the Old Latin version is rather complete. Possibly the Greek is based on a Hebrew original, written in the land of Israel. The Greek could have existed as early as before 30 AD, and no later than 70 AD. Moses declares: ‘The time of the years of my life is fulfilled and I am passing away to sleep with my fathers even in the presence of all this people’ 62 (1:15). On ‘the day or repentance in the visitation… the Lord will visit them in the consummation of the end of the days’ (1:8). A king from the West shall ‘burn a part of their Temple with fire (and) shall crucify some around their colony’ 63 (6:9). The king of kings 64 shall come and ‘shall crucify those who confess to their circumcision’ (8:1). ‘If we do this (=resist the transgression of the law) and die, our blood shall be avenged before the Lord’ (9:7). ‘And then His kingdom shall appear through His creation and then Satan shall be no more and sorrow shall depart with him’ (10:1). God ‘will arise from His royal throne and He will go forth from His holy habitation’ and shall come in assistance ‘of His sons’ (10:3) with great cataclysms in the entire creation (10:4–6). ‘He will appear to punish the gentiles’, Israel shall be happy and He will cause them ‘to approach to the heaven of the stars, wherefrom they shall see their enemies in Gehenna’ (10:7–10). From Moses’death until God’s ‘advent there shall be 250 times’ 65 (10:12). According to Deut 34:5f nobody was present at his death. Procurator Varus crucified 2000 (Josephus, Ant. XX, 9:7). 64 It might be a reference to Antiochus Epiphanes, despite the anachronism. 62 63

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Moses must sleep with his fathers (10:14). But, ‘what place shall receive thee? Or what shall be the sign that marks (your) sepulcher? Or who shall dare to move thy body from thence as to that of a (mere) man from place to place? 66 For all men when they die have according to their age their sepulchers on earth; but your sepulcher is from the rising to the setting sun, and from the South to the confines of the North; all the world is your sepulcher’ 67 (11:6– 8).

APOCALYPSE OF MOSES OR LIFE OF ADAM AND EVE

This is a Jewish aggadic midrash on Gen 1:4 with some Christian interpolations. It was probably written between 11 BC and 70 AD. There are no traces of anti-Christian polemics. According to its several versions and recensions, two different titles and two different numberings were given to this apocryphal work. In the following extracts, AM stands for Apocalypse of Moses and VA for Life of Adam and Eve. 68 The devil threatens to set his ‘seat above the stars of heaven’ in order to be ‘like the Highest’ (VA 15:3). Adam gives an account of his vision when he was cast out of Paradise. 69 He saw the divine ‘chariot’ and was caught up into the Paradise of righteousness, where he saw the Lord, with thousands of angels on both sides of the chariot (25:3). BT Sanh 97b gives the same date for the coming Messiah. This proves that removal and transportation of bodies was just an ordinary custom in contemporary Judaism. 67 A cosmic cross seems to be the sign of Moses’ tomb. 68 Unspecified quotations are to be held as being from VA (= Life of Adam and Eve) or from AM (= Apocalypse of Moses), according to the last specified one. 69 In AM chs. 13 and 37, it appears that the vision is post mortem. Scholem (Jewish Mysticism…, pp. 11–18) notes that the close relation between what is the mystic experiences of the ecstasy and what the soul sees after the death of the body, and compares the present text with 2Cor 12:24 and Hekhalot Zutarti. 65 66

2. APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE

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Adam askes for some oil 70 from the tree in Paradise to anoint himself and to rest (AM 8:3, VA 26:1–2). In her troubled journey to Paradise, Eve says: ‘If I come to the day of the resurrection, all those who have sinned will curse me saying: Eve has not kept the commandment of God’ (AM 10:1f). Seth commands the beast to ‘Stand away from the image of God until the day of judgment’ (12:1). An angel declares to Seth that the oil from the tree shall not be given to Adam until the end of times (13:2). ‘Then shall all flesh be raised up… all that shall be of the holy people. Then shall the delights of Paradise be given to them and God shall be in their midst’ 71 (13:3). Michael blows the trumpet to call the angels to Paradise to attend the judgment of Adam (AM 22:1f). When God appears all the plants flourish. ‘The throne of God was fixed there where the tree of life was’ 72 (22:3). God refuses to allow Adam to eat from the tree: ‘You shall not take of it now…; yet when you are gone out of Paradise, if you should keep thyself from evil, as one about to die, 73 when again the resurrection has come to pass, I will raise you up and then there shall be given to you the tree of life’ (28:2–4). Adam and Eve will die together and they will be buried in the same place. Adam wants to be anointed at his death 74 and for nobody to touch him. For God will not forget him, ‘but will seek His own creature’. VA: ‘the oil of life’. This text relates to that of Jam 5:14f., which mentions the use of oil as medicinal for the sick and is the origin of Christian ‘Extreme Unction’. 71 Obviously, the return to life in the resurrection shall be like a return to the Paradisiac state of the forefathers. 72 The author is possibly thinking of final judgment – note the trumpet-blowing in v. 1 –, wherein it will be decided who will obtain immortality, which in this book is identified with a final resurrection (see below, 28:4). 73 Perhaps the idea of atonement by death is implied here. 74 See above, note 75. 70

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‘And now – says Adam to Eve – arise rather and pray to God till I give up my spirit into His hands who gave it to me (cf. Eccle 12:7). For we know not how we are to meet our Maker, whether He be wroth with us, or be merciful and intend to pity and receive us’ (31:3f). Adam wants to be buried ‘towards the sunrising’ (VA 45:2). ‘He gave up his ghost’ (45:3). ‘Then Seth saw the hand of God stretched out holding Adam and He handed him over to Michael saying: Let him be in your charge till the day of judgment in punishment, till the last years when I will convert his sorrow into joy. Then shall he sit on the throne of him who has been his supplanter’ 75 (48:1–3). Michael and Uriel are commanded to bring ‘linen clothes of byssus’ and to ‘spread them out over Adam and other linen clothes over Abel… and bury’ them (48:4). ‘And all the powers of angels marched before Adam, and the sleep of the dead was consecrated’ (48:5). ‘And Michael and Uriel buried Adam in the parts of Paradise, before the eyes of Seth and his mother… and Michael and Uriel said: Just as you have seen, in like manner, bury your dead’ 76 (48:6f). Adam has ‘gone out of his body’, His spirit is ‘born aloft to His Maker’ (AM 32:4). Eve sees in Heaven God’s chariot of light’ (33:2), incense offering and intercession by angels on behalf of Adam: ‘Jael, Holy One, have pardon, for he is Your image, and the work of Your hands’ (33:3–5). She tells Seth that she sees the seven Heavens opened and the soul of Adam lying on his face (35:1f). ‘Will he one day be delivered into the hands of the Invisible Father, even our God? But who are the two negroes who stand at the prayers for… Adam?’ An intermediate state between death and judgment is acknowledged here. In this text, Michael is not only in charge of the souls of the dead, as in the Jewish and Christian traditions, but also of their bodies. The ‘supplanter’ cannot be but the devil. 76 This important passage projects onto the origins of mankind the Jewish uses of the time and the sacrality of funerary rites. Cf. also next verse. 75

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(35:3f). ‘They are the sun and the moon’ (36:1), that ‘cannot shine before the Light of the universe, the Father of Light’ (cf. Jam 1:17) (36:3). One of the Seraphim ‘snatched up Adam and carried him off to the Acherusian lake 77 and washed him thrice78 in the presence of God’ (37:3). God asks Adam about his deeds, and promises him to transform him to his ‘former glory’ and to set him on the throne of his ‘deceiver’. The latter shall be cast into that same place to see him sitting above him, and ‘then he shall be condemned’ (39:1–3). After three hours, God takes Adam and hands him over to Michael saying: ‘Lift him up into Paradise unto the third Heaven 79 and leave him there until that fearful day of my reckoning, which I will make in the world’ (37:4). At Michael’s request concerning the laying out of Adam’s ‘remains’ (38:1), God descends with His angels to ‘Paradise on the earth’ where his body was lying (38:5), and commands to bring ‘linen clothes’ and ‘oil of fragrance’ from Heavenly Paradise to cover the body and pour the oil over it (41:1f). The three great angels ‘acted thus and they prepared him for burial’. Also Abel’s body, ‘unburied since the day when Cain… slew him’ is prepared and ‘both were buried… in the spot where God found the dust (cf. Gen 2:7) and He caused the place to be dug for two’ (40:3–6). Seven angels ‘brought many fragrant spices and placed them in earth, and they took the two bodies and placed them in the spot which they had dug and built’ 80 (40:7). ‘And God… said: Adam, Adam! And the body answered from the earth and said: Here I am, Lord. And God said to him: ‘I told you (that) earth you are and to earth you return. Again I promise Other versions have different readings. But cf. Acheron of the Greek mythology, and the ‘fiery river’ in 1En 14:19ff; 23:2 (Charles, ad locum). 78 Lustral waters are certainly related to the following individual judgment by God. 79 Only Adam’s soul is taken into the ‘Paradise in the third Heaven’ (40:1), while his body is lying on ‘Paradise on earth’ (33:5). 80 The author is certainly thinking of the contemporary Palestinian tombs, partly dug into the rock and partly built. 77

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you resurrection; I will raise you up in the resurrection with every man who is of your seed’ (41:1–3). ‘God made a seal and sealed the tomb of Adam that no one might do anything to him for six days till his rib should return to him… And Eve also, when the six days were fulfilled, fell asleep’ (AM 42:1–3). Before death, ‘she prayed that she might be buried in the place where… Adam was’ (42–4), and to be deemed worthy ‘to enter into his tabernacle’ 81 (42:6). After she prayed, she gazed Heavenwards and groaned aloud and smote her breast and said: “God of all, receive my spirit”, and straightway she delivered up her spirit to God’ (42:8). Before her death, Eve had warned her sons, saying: ‘Our Lord will bring upon your race the anger of His judgment, first by water, the second time by fire: by these two, will the Lord judge the whole human race’ 82 (VA 49:1–3). Thereafter Eve ‘bent her knee to the earth, and while she worshipped the Lord and gave Him thanks, she gave up her ghost. Thereafter, all her children buried her with loud lamentation’ (50:3). When Eve’s sons ‘had been mourning (her) four days, Michael… said to Seth: mourn not for thy dead more than six days, for on the seventh day the Lord rested from all His works’. 83 Three angels buried Eve’s body, and thereafter Michael said to Seth: ‘Lay out in this wise every man that dies till the day of the resurrection… Mourn not beyond six days, but on the seventh day, rest and rejoice on it, because on that day, God rejoices (yea) and we angels (too) with the righteous soul, who has passed away from the earth’ (AM 43:1–3). The idea of Heavenly tabernacles or compartments for the elect. Judgment by water refers to Gen 6:5–8:17 (and cf. Exod 14:26– 28). Judgment by fire means the final judgment. According to Charles (1913, vol. II, p.152), the latter would be a Greek idea adopted by the Hellenistic Jews, and he quotes Syb Orac 3:760. But we should not forget the many references to the divine judgment by fire in the Bible (Isa 7:11; Am 1:4 – 2:5; Zech 12:6, etc.). 83 Cf. also BT Sanh 97a. Heb 4:9 says, in contrast, that this rest of the seventh day is reserved for the elected people. 81 82

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THE FOURTH BOOK OF EZRA (CHS. 3–14)

The Fourth Book of Ezra is a Jewish work with Christian interpolations. The original may have been written in Hebrew or Aramaic around 100 AD. The numerous existing translations are all based on the Greek. Our quotations are from the Latin version, which is the most complete one, containing not only the old apocalypse (ch. 3–14), but also the two main Christian additions, called 2Ezra (ch. 1–2) and 5Ezra (ch. 15–16). An angel says to the seer: ‘Perchance you would have said to me: Into the deep I have not descended, nor as yet gone down into Hades: neither to Heaven have I ever ascended, nor entered Paradise’ (4:8). The seer asks about the time of the fulfilment of God’s promise to the righteous (cf. 4:26): he must not hasten more than God (4:34). Were not these questions of time asked by the souls of the righteous in their chambers? 84 (saying) ‘How long are we here? When comes the fruit upon the threshing floor of our reward?’ (4:35). Reply: ‘Even when the number of those like yourself (= the saints) is fulfilled’ (4:36). ‘The underworld and the chambers of souls are like the womb…; those places hasten to deliver what has been entrusted to them from the beginning’ (4:42f). After some preceding signs, ‘then shall the sun shine forth by night and the moon by day: And blood shall trickle from the wood, and the stone utter his voice’ 85 (5:4). Mankind and the entire creation shall be in great commotion (5:6–10). ‘Before… the greatness of the treasures of faith were sealed’ 86 (6:5), even then had God His salvation plan in mind (6:6). The day comes when God is about to visit men and require from the sinners the penalty of their iniquity. Then ‘the books shall Latin: in promptuariis suis (cf. 4:41; 7:32,25), here in the Netherworld. In Rev 6:9f, martyrs’ souls are kept under the Heavenly altar. As for the rabbinic views, see below, ch. 3, p. 97, note 58; ch. 4, pp. 109-111; Midr Haotiot dR Akiba (ed. Wertheimer ‫תשט"ו‬, p. ‫)תיז‬. 85 This passage is quoted by Barn 12:1 and by some Christian Apocrypha and Gnostic writings as a prophecy of Christ’s crucifixion. 86 This seal may refer to the mark on the foreheads of the elect, but its meaning is uncertain. 84

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be open before the face of the firmament, and all see together’ (6:18–20). Commotion on earth (6:21f), the terrifying God has reserved Behemoth and Leviathan ‘to be devoured by whom’ God will and when God will 87 (6:49–51). The seer is requested to consider ‘what is to come rather than what is now present’ (7:16; cf. 6:59). An invisible city shall appear ‘and the land which is now concealed be seen’ 88 (7:26). ‘My Son – says God – shall be revealed, together with those who are with Him, and shall rejoice with the survivors four hundred years. 89 And it shall be… that my Son the Messiah shall die, and all in whom there is human breath. Then shall the world be turned into the primeval silence eleven days, like as at the first beginnings; so that no man is left’ (7:28–30). ‘After seven days… the Age which is not yet awake shall be aroused, and that which is corruptible shall perish. And the earth shall restore those that sleep in her, and the dust those that are at rest therein, and the chambers shall restore those that are committed into them’ (7:31f). ‘And the Most High shall be revealed upon the throne of judgment’ (7:33). Then, reward shall follow, according to the deeds of each man, and ‘then shall the pit of torment (cf. Rev 9:2) appear, and over against it the place of refreshment (cf. Lk 16:2–25). 90 The furnace of Gehenna shall be manifest, and over against it the Paradise of delight’ (7:35f). And then the Most High will reproach the nations ‘that have been raised (from the death)’ their behavior (7:37). ‘Look now, before (you): here delight and refreshment, there fire and torments’ (7:38). On the ‘day of judgment’, the elements shall disappear to let the Most High shine for a week of years (7:39f). ‘The coming Age See below, ch. 4, p. 133. The city is the new Jerusalem, and this is the Heavenly Paradise. The author seems here to try to harmonize two different traditions (Charles, ad locum). 89 The traditional millennium (cf. Rev 20:1ff) is here shortened to 400 years, as in the rabbinic passages. 90 From this verse to v. 145, the text is only found in some of the mss. Vv. 146ff are vv. 36ff in the Vulgate text. 87 88

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shall bring delight to few, but torment to many’ (7:47). God ‘has made not one Age but two’ (7:50). He ‘will rejoice over the few that shall be saved’ (7:60), and ‘will not grieve over the multitude of them that perish… they are fires, burn hotly, are extinguished’ (7:61). Since the beginning God ‘prepared the judgment and the things that pertain unto the judgment’ (7:70). Ezra asks God: ‘Show… Thy servant…: whether after death, even now when every one of us must give back his soul, we shall be in rest until those times come in which Thou shalt renew the creation, 91 or shall we suffer torture forthwith?’ Reply: ‘… Do not…number thyself with those who suffer torment. For you have a treasure of works laid up with the Most High, but it shall not be showed you until the last times’ (7:76). ‘And concerning death the teaching is: When the decisive decree has gone forth from the Most High that man should die, as the soul from the body departs that it may return to Him who gave it (cf. Eccle 12:7), to adore the glory of the Most High, first of all: if it be one of those that have… not kept the ways of the Most High… such souls 92 shall not enter into habitations, but shall wander about henceforth to torture, ever grieving and sad, in seven ways’ (7:78–80)…: the fifth way, that they shall see how the habitations of the other souls are guarded by angels in profound quietness; the sixth way, that they shall see how from now henceforth they must pass over into torture. The seventh way, that they shall… see the glory of the Most High… before whom they are destined to be judged in the last times’ (7:85–87). Those ‘who have kept the ways’ of God, ‘when they shall be separated from this vessel of mortality’ (7:88), ‘they understand the rest which they now, being gathered in their chambers, enjoy in profound quietness, guarded by angels, and the glory which awaits them at their latter end’ (7:95), ‘they see… the spacious liberty which they are destined to receive with enjoyment and immortality. Renewal of creation (cf. Syr Apoc Bar 32:6) may be equivalent to καινή κτίσις of Gal 6:15; 2Cor 6:17; but the idea seems to be closer to the παλιγγενεσία of Mt 19:28 (see next ch., p. 78). 92 Latin: inspirationes. Cf. Hebrew: ‫נשמות‬. 91

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Their face is destined to shine as the sun, and… they are destined to be made like the light of the stars, 93 henceforth incorruptible’ (7:96f). ‘They are hastening to behold the face of Him whom in life they served 94 and from whom they are destined to receive their reward in glory’ (7:98). Ezra asks whether time is given to the souls, after they are separated from their bodies, that they may see what has been described to him (7:100). Answer: ‘Seven days they have freedom’, during which ‘they may see the things aforesaid; afterwards they shall be gathered together in their habitations’ (7:101). In judgment, none shall pay for another, but everyone for himself; there will be no intercession and no mutual compassion (7:102–115). Ezra asks why there should be a promise of eternal life, of ‘that Paradise whose fruit endures incorruption, wherein is delight and healing’ (7:123), to those born in sin because of Adam, 95 and thus destined to death (7:116–126). Answer: The obtaining of life is in man’s hands: ‘Choose you life, that you may live!’ (cf. Deut 30:19) (7:127–130). Perdition is only due to oneself; ‘therefore shall there not be such grieve at their perdition, as there shall be joy over the salvation of those who have believed’ (7:131). ‘Many have been created, but few shall be saved!’ (8:3). ‘For you is opened Paradise, planted the tree of life; the future Age is prepared, plenteousness made ready; a city built, a rest appointed; good works established, wisdom preconstituted (8:52)… and Death is hidden, Hades fled away; corruption forgotten, sorrow passed away and in the end the treasures of immortality are made manifest’ (8:53–54). Those who perish because of their transgressions and conscious ungodliness ‘knowing full well that they must die’, ‘thirst and Cf. 7:125 and 1Cor, and also Jesus’ transfiguration (Mt 17:2). Cumont (1940, 384, n. 2) considers this idea as Platonic. But it should not be forgotten that already the Psalmists expressed similar hope (above, ch. 1, pp. 7–8). 95 Ezra’s formulation is very much like that of Paul in Rom 5:12. 93 94

2. APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE

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anguish awaits them’ (8:57–59). ‘Judgment is now nigh at hand’ (8:61). ‘God’s visit to world’ will be preceded by cosmic signs (9:1). ‘Perish, then, the multitude which has been born in vain; but let my grape be preserved, and my plant, with which much labor I have perfected’ (9:22). Ezra sees the new Jerusalem as a ‘city built’ and a place ‘of large foundation’ (10:25–28). The lion seen in a vision ‘the Messiah, whom the Most High has kept unto the end of the days’, and who shall reprove the foreign governors ‘for their ungodliness’ (12:31–32). ‘At first He shall set them alive for judgment; and when He has rebuked them, He shall destroy them’ (12:33). ‘Those who survive (to Messiah’s time) are more blessed than those that have died’ (13:24). The nations ‘are destined to be tortured – (with tortures) that are compared with a flame; and then He (= Messiah, the Son of God) shall destroy them without labor by the Law which is compared unto fire’ 96 (13:38). But He ‘shall defend the people that remain. And then shall He show them very many wonders’ (13:49). From Ezra’s last words: ‘You shall be preserved alive and after death shall judgment come (when we shall once more live again), 97 and then shall the name of the righteous be made manifest…’ (14:34–35). ‘And then was Ezra caught away, and taken up into the place of such as were like him’ (14:49).

THE MARTYRDOM OF ISAIAH

The lost Hebrew or Aramaic original, from the I cent. AD, has been preserved only in fragments in Ethiopic translation together The words by the Law appear only in the Syriac and Latin versions. Even without the gloss the verse is interesting because of the obvious symbolic interpretation of the fire and the flames that shall torture the condemned. 97 Words within brackets are probable marginal glosses (Charles, ad locum). 96

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with two Christian writings, The Vision of Isaiah and Testament of Hezekiah. The three together form the so-called Ascension of Isaiah. 98 There is only one passage of interest for our subject in the Jewish part of the book: ‘Isaiah himself has said: I see more than Moses the prophet. But Moses said: No man can see God and live (cf. Ex 33:20); and Isaiah has said: I have seen God and behold I live’ (Asc Isa 3:8–9).

THE LIVES OF THE PROPHETS

This work was probably written in Hebrew towards the end of the I cent. AD by a Jew who certainly used an earlier Jewish-Christian work. In the Life of Jeremiah it becomes clear that this source came from Egypt. Yet, the whole of the book is from the land of Israel. 99 Isaiah He ‘was buried below the fountain of Rogel’ (v. 1). Before his death… he prayed for water and it was sent (= Shiloah) to him from this source (v. 3). In remembrance, ‘people buried his body with care and high honor, in order that through his prayers, even after his death, they might continue having the benefit of the water’ (v. 5). Hezekiah ‘defiled the bones of his ancestors’ and was punished by God (v. 9). Jeremiah He is buried in the place ‘where Pharaoh’s palace stood’ (v. 2). ‘Even at the present day God’s faithful servants pray on that spot, and taking of the dust of the place they heal the bites of serpents’ (v. 4). ‘Alexander the Macedonian… carried away his bones to Alexandria, placing them round about with due ceremony’ (v. 5). 100 See Charles 1900. For further details on dating and on Jewish-Christian influence in certain parts of the book, see Torrey 1946. We have used this edition for the translation and the numeration of the passages quoted below. 100 Greek: περιθεὶς αὐτά ἐνδόξως κὐκλῳ. 98 99

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Jeremiah has said: ‘The Lord departed from Sinai into Heaven, and He will again come with might; and this shall be for you the sign of His appearance, 101 when all the Gentiles worship a piece of wood’ 102 (v. 10). ‘And in the resurrection the ark will rise first, and come forth from the rock, and will be placed on Mount Sinai; and all the saints will be assembled to it there, awaiting there the Lord and fleeing from the enemy wishing to destroy them’ (v. 12). Jeremiah, who had caused ‘the ark of the Law and the things within it… to be swallowed up in a rocky cliff’ (v. 9), ‘sealed in the rock with his finger the name of God, and the writing was as though carved with iron. A cloud then covered the name; and no one knew the place, nor can the writing be read, to the present day and even to the end’ (ἔως συντελείας) (v. 13). 103 ‘The rock is in the wilderness where the ark was first, between the two mountains on which Moses and Aaron are buried’ (v. 14). Jeremiah may ‘be the associate of Moses, and they are together to this day’ (v. 15). Ezekiel His ‘tomb is a double cave, according to whose plan Abraham also made the tomb of Sarah in Hebron (cf. Gen 2:2ff). It is called double because it has a winding (stairway) and there is an upper chamber hidden from the main floor, hung in the rock above the ground level’ (vv. 4f). ‘Through his prayer he (= Ezekiel) provided for them ample sustenance in fish which came of their own accord to be caught. Many who were on the point of death he cheered with the news of life coming to them from God’ (v. 11).104 ‘And by the vision of the Greek: παρουσία. See next chapter, n. 6. This is a Christian interpolation, according to Torrey 1946, p. 9. 103 The sealing of a rock with God’s name has been compared to the assumed custom of sealing an ossuary with sacred letters and symbols (Figueras 1983, pp. 19–23). 104 Perhaps in the Semitic original the parallelism between the two parts of the verse, which seems to be intended, could be seen even more clearly. The Greek reads: Οὗτος διὰ προσευχῆς αὐτοματως αὐτοῦς δαψιλῆ τροφὴν ἰχθύων παρέσχατο καὶ πολλοῖς ζωὴν ἐλθεῖν ἐκ Θεοῦ παρεκάλεσεν. 101 102

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dry bones (cf. Ezek 31:1ff) he persuaded them that there is hope for Israel both now and in the time to come (ἐπὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος)’ (v. 1). Daniel ‘When the mountain on the North shall smoke, the end of Babylon will come; when it shall burn as with fire, the end of all the earth will be at hand. If the mountain on the South shall flow with water, Israel will return to its land; if it shall run blood, it portends a slaughter brought by Satan on all the earth’ (vv. 21f). ‘And the holy prophet slept in peace’ (v. 23). Hosea ‘He gave a sign, that the Lord would come to the earth when the oak tree which is in Shiloh should of its own accord be divided and become twelve oaks’ (v. 2). Micah the Morashtite ‘He was given a solitary burial in his own land, near the burying place of the giants (Ἐνακεὶμ)’ (v. 2). Jonah ‘He gave a sign to Jerusalem and to all the land: When they should see a stone crying aloud (cf. Hab 2:11) in distress, the end would be at hand…’ (v. 8). Habakkuk He ‘was buried alone in his own field’ (v. 9). Haggai ‘He was buried near the tomb of the priests, honored as though one of their number’ (v. 2). The relationship between a wonderful abundance of fish and the life coming from God brings us very close to the symbolism of John 5:9–11, 27. This point has remained unobserved by commentators of the present book and by De Jonge 1961–62.

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Zechariah son of Iddo ‘His prophecies… had to do with the end of the nations… and with a double judgment’ 105 (v. 5). He ‘was buried beside Haggai’ (v. 6). Malachi ‘While in his youth, he was joined to his fathers in his own field’ (v. 4). Nathan ‘He found lying by the road the naked body of a man who had been slain; and while he was detained by his duty, 106 he knew that in that night the king had committed the sin’ (vv. 2f). Zechariah son of Jehoiada ‘The priest buried him beside his father’ (v.1). Elijah His father was told by the oracle in Jerusalem that his ‘dwelling will be light’ (v. 3).

THE TESTAMENT OF JOB

Opinions are divided as to the authorship of the book. To some scholars, it seems to be the work of a Jewish-Christian, for others, that of an Essene. The latter view, however, seems to contradict the book’s doctrine of resurrection and its hints to sacrifices. In any case, a date prior to the year 70 AD is the most plausible. 107 ‘You shall awaken in the resurrection’ (4:9). ‘And after having marked me with a seal, the angel departed from me’ (5:2). ‘I sang to the salary of my reward’ (14:14). Cf. Zech 9:12: ‫משנה אשיב לך‬. Greek has only: καὶ ἐπεμείνει ἐκεῖ. 107 For the translation of the following texts we have used Philonenco 1968. 105 106

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‘My throne is on the upper world, and its glory and splendor are at the Father’s right hand’ (33:3); it is in ‘the Holy Land’, in the ‘world of the Immutable One’ (33:5). ‘The world shall pass away… and they who get hold of it shall be partakers of its fall’ (33:4). While the rivers shall dry and their waves shall descend to the abyss, ‘the rivers of my land, where my home is… shall be forever’ (33:5–6). ‘My kingship shall remain forever and its glory and splendor are in the chariots of the Father’ (33:9). ‘There is no disorder in Heaven’ (36:3). ‘We have heard that it is peaceful’ (36:5). Job’s wife asks for help to find the homes of her sons, ‘that may be put with security in a tomb’ (39:8). ‘At least, that we see their bones!’ (39:9). ‘Am I, perchance, a wild beast… for I have not buried any of the ten sons that I lost?’ (39:10). Job replies: ‘You shall not find my sons, for they have been carried to Heaven by the Creator and King’ (39:12). Look ‘towards the East and see my sons crowned with the glory of the Heavenly God’ (40:3). ‘I shall enter the city – says Job’s wife –, I shall close my eyes for an instant and I shall be revived (ἀνακτήσομαι) in exchange for the services that I did as a servant’ (40:4). After her death, ‘they accomplished with her the last duties and buried her near the house that had fallen down upon her sons’ (40:12). The fathers of the city declare that she ‘has not been judged worthy of the necessary sepulcher’ (40:13). Elihu gets angry on Job for having said that his throne was in Heaven (4:4): ‘… his lot is not such’ (41:5). ‘Elihu… shall have no remembrance among living. His lamp, once extinguished, has lost its light, and the splendor of his torch shall turn into condemnation. For he is son of darkness and not of light. The doorkeepers of darkness shall receive his glory and splendor in inheritance’ (43:5–6). ‘His kingship has passed away, his throne is moth-eaten and his precious tent is in Hades’ (43:7). Gall and poison of the Snake and Dragon shall feed him (43:8). ‘He has not acquired for himself the Lord…’ (43:8). ‘Wrath and anger shall cast him into Naught’ (43:11). ‘Our sins had been removed… but Elihu, the wicked, does not leave remembrance among living’ (43:13). The Lord ‘will judge all of us in equality’ (43:13).

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‘Behold, the Lord has manifested Himself… the saints were prepared, the crowns and praises had preceded them’ (43:14). ‘Let the saints rejoice… for they received the expected glory' (43:15– 16). Job gives to each of his daughters a belt (46:9) that shall ‘introduce (them) into a better world, to live in Heaven’. 108 ‘This is an amulet from the Father. Rise up, therefore, begird yourself with them that you see those who come for my soul, that you may admire God’s creatures’ (47:11). The belts transform the hearts of Job’s daughters, who shall talk and sing in the tongue of angels (48–50), of ‘those who abide in the height’ (50:1). ‘Two days after (having fallen sick) Job saw those who were coming for his soul’ (52:2). His sons saw the luminous chariots that came for his soul (52:3–6). ‘After this, the one who was seated on the great chariot came forth and greeted Job’ (52:8). ‘He took the soul and went away flying, with it in his arms, caused it to go up to the chariot and took the way toward East. And his body, wrapped, was brought to the ground’ (52:10f). Widows and orphans wanted to prevent it from being put into the grave. ‘Only three days after he was placed in the grave in good sleep, and received a glorious name for all the generations of the world. Amen’ (ch. 53).

THE SYRIAC APOCALYPSE OF BARUCH

The original language of this important writing seems to have been Greek. Its date is an unsolved question, but the years 70 to 100 AD are plausible. It was probably written in the land of Israel. 109 ‘Our fathers go to sleep without suffering, and behold, the righteous rest in peace’ (11:4).

These belts have the same qualities as the Iranian Kusti. See Widengren 1965, 351–353 (quoted by Philonenco 1969, 15, n. 47, 3). 109 The following passages are taken from the French translation by Bogaert 1968. 108

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‘Earth, raise up your ear; dust, make yourself a heart. Go to announce to Sheol and to tell to dead: you are much happier than us, the living ones!’ (11:6–7). Men ‘ignore their fate when the end comes’ (14:11). ‘Righteous expect the end rightly and leave this life without fear, for they possess beside Thee the power of their souls kept in a treasure’ (14:2). They expect with joy the world promised to them (14:13). The coming world is for the righteous (15:7), it is a glorious diadem (15:8). (Heavenly) spheres are an unmistakable and accusing light against transgressors (19:3). God judges everything (19:4). ‘Behold, the end of the Age is coming…’ (19:5). ‘Today – says Baruch – everything has a mortal nature (21:22). Therefore, restrain also the angel of death 110 … Let Sheol be sealed, that henceforth it receives no more dead, and the stores of the souls let free those enclosed therein’ (21:23). Many years have elapsed since the time of the Patriarchs and of ‘all those similar to them who are sleeping in the ground… (21:24). Today, show very soon Thy glory and do not delay the fulfilment of Thy promise’ (21:25). After Adam’s death and the decree against those who were to be born, the multitude of these was reckoned, and for them was prepared ‘a dwelling-place for the living, where the dead would be kept’ 111 (23:4). ‘As long, then, as the prefixed number should not be complete, creation will not be saved, for the spirit does not create life, and Sheol receives the dead’. 112 ‘The day comes – says God – and the books shall be open where the sins… are written, and also the stores where the unrighteousness of those who were righteous in the creation are gathered’ (24:1). This figure occurs often in rabbinic literature (see below, Ch 4, p. 132-133). 111 Other apocryphal books show a clear between dwelling-places for the two groups (see 1En 5 and passim, and 2En 42:1). 112 In 4Ezra and Rev 6:11, consummation comes when the number of the saints, not of mankind as a whole, is complete. 110

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‘Messiah’s revelation will start after the accomplishment of what has been foreseen for these parts (of the earth)’ (24:3). Baruch ignores the fate of enemies and the date of God’s visit to His creatures (24:4). The sign will be general terror and affliction (25:3). Then Behemoth and Leviathan shall appear. They are the monsters created on the fifth day of creation, reserved by God ‘for these times, to be the nourishment of all those who shall survive’ 113 (29:4). Earthly products shall multiply in a marvelous way. 114 ‘… At the end of the day, clouds shall drop the dew of salvation’. 115 ‘During those years’, Heavenly manna shall feed those ‘who have reached the consummation of the Age’ (29:8). ‘And after this, when Messiah’s advent shall be accomplished and He returned to His glory, all those who slept having His hope shall rise up (30:1). At this moment, the seal shall be removed from the stores containing the number of the souls of the righteous; they shall go forth, the multitude of souls shall appear in a unique and unanimous assembly. The first ones shall rejoice, the last ones shall know no fear. For they know that the end of the times has come’ (30:2–3). ‘But the works of the wicked, in this view, shall perish altogether, knowing that torment awaits them and their perdition is at hand’ (30:4–5). ‘Days come when all shall be removed in corruption, and it will be as though nothing had existed’ (31:5). ‘But… the almighty will protect you in the time when He will evaluate the entire creation’ (32:1). The Temple twice destroyed (32:20) shall be renewed in glory and completed forever (32:4). God will ‘renew all of His creatures…’ (32:6). ‘The future, this is the object of our hope’ (44:11) ‘for there is a time that does not pass away, a permanent Age; a new world that See below, Ch 4, p. 126. Passage 29:5–8 is similar, though shorter, to the text which Papias assigns to Jesus in Irenaeus (see below, Ch 5, p. 148). 115 Rabbinic literature mentions the ‘dew of resurrection’ (below, Ch 4, p. 122). 113 114

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will bring into corruption those who walk in its empire, (a world) where those condemned to punishment will engender no compassion and that shall not bear into perdition those who have been saved in its womb’ (44:12). The saved shall inherit the promised Age (44:13). Only to those who had prepared for themselves stores of wisdom and who kept the truth of the Law ‘the coming world shall be granted (44:14f); the dwelling-place of the rest in great number will be in the fire’ (44:15). ‘Happiness belongs to us forever, but only on condition that we shall not mingle with the nations’ (48:23). Baruch asks: In which form shall the dead rise? (49:1–3). God answers: The earth shall give back the dead that now it receives, without modifying their form in any way (51:1). ‘For then it will be important to show the living that the dead are alive, and that those who were departed are coming back (53:3). And then those who today know one another shall have mutually recognized one another, 116 only then the aspect of those who will be justified shall be transformed’ (53:1). The faces of the righteous shall turn into a luminous beauty (53:1) and angelic splendor (51:5). They will see a world and an Age now invisible (51:8) that will not make them old (51:9). ‘They shall dwell on the tops of the world, similar to angels, equal to the stars… They shall take the aspect of their better choice, from beauty to splendor, from light to gleam of glory’ (51:10). Because to them the magnificent beauty of the animals under the throne shall be revealed, and all the angelic hosts (51:11). ‘…And Sheol started requesting to be renewed in blood’ 117 (56:6). In the time of the Patriarchs ‘the belief in the coming judgment was generated, the hope in a renewed world was raised and the deniers the torment is reserved for them’ (59:2). God showed to Moses (59:6) ‘the truth of judgment… the greatness of Paradise and the consummation of the Ages and the beginning of the day of judgment (59:8); and the land which still has to come, and the mouth of Gehenna, and the season of vengeSame reason for resurrection in Midr Gen R 95. That is, to be given more bodies to be fed. For hunger of Sheol cf. already Prov 27:20 and Isa 5:14. 116 117

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ance and the place of faith and the region of hope, and the aspect of future torment…’ (59:9–11). Josiah ‘not only killed the wicked who were alive but also took out of the graves the bones of those who had died and burned them with fire’ (66;3). ‘For this he received an eternal reward and he shall be glorified with the Almighty more than many others… because for him and those like him were prepared the (aforesaid) honorable glories…’ (66:6–7). When the days of God’s Messiah shall come, He will gather all nations, and He will forgive those that have not known or have not disturbed Israel, but the others shall be delivered to the sword (72:4–6). There will be peace on earth when the Messiah will sit on His throne. ‘Nobody shall suddenly die’ (73:1–3). That time shall be ‘the consummation of that which is corruptible’ (74:2). ‘You (= Baruch) shall depart from this world, but not for death; you shall be preserved till the consummation of the Ages’ (76:2). People should learn ‘in order not to die in the last Age, but to live in the last Age’ (76:2). Present affliction is just for good, ‘not to be condemned and tormented at the end’ but ‘to receive an eternal hope’ (78:6). The hour of vengeance and consummation by the Most High is very near (82:2). The impious shall be reduced like vapor, a drop, a spit (82:2). They shall disappear like smoke, wither like grass, be broken like a wave, and vanish like a cloud (82:6–9). God will judge everything (82:2–3, 7). Not to be slaves in both worlds, captive here, tormented there (82:9). All luxuries and vices shall turn into Sheol, death, judgment and condemnation (82:2–22). ‘If God does not judge us according to the multitude of His mercies, woe to us all who are born!’ (84:11). ‘We shall receive what is incorruptible’ (85:5) ‘Before judgment demands what belongs to him… let us prepare our souls, to possess and not to be possessed, to have hope and not to be put to shame, to rest with our fathers and not to be tormented with our enemies’ (85:9). There shall be no place for repentance, and no intercession shall be of value (85:12). ‘For there is the sentence of corruption, the way of fire, the way leading to Gehenna’ (85:13). God ‘will preserve those whom He can forgive, and, at the same time, will destroy those who are defiled with sins’ (85:15).

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GREEK APOCALYPSE OF EZRA

The Greek Apocalypse of Ezra may have been written in Rome after the I cent. AD, perhaps in the III cent., but it has a very old Jewish background, similar to 4Ezra. 118 Ezra sees in the first Heaven the angels who lead him to the place of judgment (1:7). From their hell of fire, sinners see the righteous above the angels (1:9). God grants the righteous rest in Paradise (1:12). ‘The righteous receives his reward in Heaven’ (1:13). God delivers us to judgment (1:23). Judgment and punishment of sinners in the next world are eternal – ‘inextinguishable flames’ (1:24). Adam’s life was well-kept by Cherubim for eternal life (2:14). No rain on earth on the day of judgment (2:29). All the people gather at Jehoshaphat’s valley, mankind is annihilated and the world ceases to exist (3:6). The sign of the end is the lack of love among men (3:11–14). Hell revolts against mankind (3:15). Ezra descends lower than hell, accompanied by angels (4:5–8) and sees Herod on a throne of fire (4:9–11). Still lower, he hears the shouting of sinners (14:13–14). Then, some old men with strings of fire in their ears. They are the disobedient (4:15–18). He descends even deeper and sees the worm and the fire (4:19–20). At the lowest part, he sees twelve gates of the abyss (4:21). In the East, a man hung by his eye-lids is being lashed by angels (4:22). In the North is the Antichrist, between bars of iron (4:25–34). Nobody will believe him to be the son of God (4:35). ‘Then, at the blowing of the trumpet, graves are open and dead rise at once’ (4:35). The enemy hides in the outer darkness (4:37). Heaven, earth and sea disappear (4:38), and God sets Heaven and earth on fire (4:39). Texts gathered here have been taken from Riessler 1966, pp. 126–137. Greek text was first published by Tischendorf 1886. 118

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Ezra sees more punishments in hell (5:1–3) and complete darkness, with no people (5:4). Then he is again brought to Heaven, where he sees many judgments of punishment (5:7–8). Man receives his soul in the sixth month (5:13). God has mercy on the transgressor (5:17). Ezra asks to see Paradise (5:20). In the West he sees the tree of life (5:21) and Enoch, Elijah, Moses… 119 and all righteous men and the Patriarchs (5:22) as well as eternal punishment (5:23–26). Deeper in hell, he sees the sinners weep (5:27). God tells Ezra the names of the angels in charge of ‘the end’ 120 (6:1–2). A voice reaches him: ‘Come, Ezra, my beloved, die! Give me your trust!’ 121 Angels try to get his soul out through the mouth, nose, head, toes, but in vain, for all parts of his body have served holy purposes (6:4–15). God orders His Son to receive Ezra’s soul (6:16). God asks Ezra: ‘Give me back the bail that I gave once to you. Your crown is ready’ (6:17). Ezra resists, and supplicates the saints to weep for him, who is going down into Hades (6:18–26). God says to him: ‘I am immortal but I took the cross… I was placed in a grave, but I caused My elect to rise up. I called Adam from Hades, in order that mankind have no fear of death’ (7:1–2). ‘What comes from Me, the soul, goes to Heaven: what comes from earth, the body, goes back to earth, whence it was taken’ (7:3). Ezra asks for a blessing for the reader of this book, that he have ‘an end like that of Joseph’ (7:4–10). ‘Do not remember his former sins on the day of judgment!’ (7:11), ‘He who shall not believe all that is written in this little book shall be burned like Sodom and Gomorrah’ (7:12). God promises to fulfil the request (4:13). ‘At once he gave forth his soul (7:14). And he was buried with incense and with flames’ (7:15). Text adds Peter, Paul, Luke, Matthew. Through the knowledge of those names, his soul can easily ascend to Heaven. 121 Greek παρακαταθὴκην, the entrusted deposit, here ‘the soul’. 119 120

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PARALIPOMENA OF JEREMIAH

Also called II (and III or IV) Baruch, Paralipomena of Jeremiah is a Jewish work from around 70 to 130 AD, possibly from the land of Israel, since its author has good knowledge of Jerusalem. It contains interpolations from a Christian hand. Some scholars think it could have been written by a Jewish-Christian . 122 The trumpet blows, and angels with torches in their hands stand on the walls of the city (= Jerusalem) (3:2). God commands Jeremiah to deal with the earth to receive the holy vessels of the Temple ‘until the advent of the Beloved’ (3:8). Jeremiah lives in a tomb, but angels report to him about all events (4:11). ‘God leads you to the upper city of Jerusalem, to the light! (5:33). Abimelech finds Baruch sitting in a grave (6:1). ‘There is a God who rewards the saints. Rejoice… my soul, sing out of joy in your cell, that is, your house of flesh… for the Almighty comes and takes you out of the cell’ (6:2–3). As it happened with the figs, that after 66 years were still fresh (6:5), so ‘it will happen with you, my flesh, if you observe the commandments…’ (6:6). An eagle places itself on a dead man, ‘and this came back to life. This happened that they believe’ (7:14–17). ‘Holy, holy, holy, Thee, fragrance of the tree of life… the true light that enlightens me until I be brought to Thee! (9:3). ‘I beg of Thee another fragrant perfume (9:4) and I worry about Michael, the angel of justice, until he introduces the righteous’ (9:5). ‘… His aspect was like that of one who rendered his soul’ (9:7). ‘Jeremiah, our father, has left us… he is gone’ (9:8). A voice was heard: Do not bury him, for he is still alive, and his soul goes back to the body (9:11). ‘After three days, the soul came back to the body… and he said: Blessed is God… and Jesus Christ who awakes us’ (9:13). After 365 days He will come back to earth. ‘The tree of life… causes all the sterile trees to fructify… and its fruit remains beside the angels’ (9:14).

122

Our texts are taken from Riessler 1966, pp. 903–919.

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‘Baruch and Abimelech went to bury him, took that stone and dressed it to his memory, writing on it: This is the stone that once gave help to Jeremiah’ (9:32).

GREEK APOCALYPSE OF BARUCH

Sometimes called also III (or IV) Baruch, this description of Baruch’s voyage to Heaven has a Jewish origin but includes many Christian interpolations. It is dated to the II cent. AD or the beginning of the III cent. The day of judgment (1:8). David sees in the first Heaven the big gate of Heaven, whose width is like the distance between earth and Heaven, and a plane of which the length is like the distance between North and South. Its inhabitants, in the form of animals, are the builders of the tower of Babel (2:1–7). The second Heaven: another gate, another plane, and more animals: they are those who advised the building of the tower (3:1– 8). The third Heaven is a large plane, with a huge dragon that swallows the bodies of the wicked, and Hades drinking a cubit from the sea, which does not diminish (4:1–6). The vine, which was the tree whose fruit Adam ate, was cursed by God: ‘the devil, out of envy, deceived him through his vine’. 123 The Dragon’s belly is Hades 124 (5:3). David sees the chariot of the sun (6:1–2), and Phoenix, the bird that eats the manna of Heaven and the dew of earth 125 (6:3– 10). Cf. Wisd Sol 2:24; 1En 31:3. After v. 8 follows a long Christian section trying to save the wine from this condemnation, for it ‘shall become the blood of God; …through Jesus Christ Immanuel will (people) receive in Him the upward calling, and enter into Paradise’ (v. 15). 124 Slavonic version reads: ‘As great as is the bottom of hell, so great is his belly’ (Charles 1913, vol. II, p. 536). 125 Origins of the myth of Phoenix the bird are probably Egyptian, whence it went over to Greece and Rome. It was a symbol of immortality. The manna and the dew were also connected with this concept. 123

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The fourth Heaven is a monotonous plane and a pool of water, surrounded by a multitude of birds. ‘They are those who continually sing praise to the Lord’ (10:1–9). This is the source of ‘what is called the dew of Heaven’ (10:10). Fifth Heaven: ‘The gate was closed’. ‘They cannot enter until Michael comes, who holds the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven’ 126 (11:1–5). Michael holds in his hands an enormous vessel containing the merits and good works of the righteous (11:8–9). These are thrown continuously by angels, in the form of flowers (12:1–6); then, privately, Michael presents them to God (14:1–2). Finally, Michael appears bringing some oil with which angels fill baskets to reward the men who wrought good works (15:1–2). Those who brought nothing are punished with the sword and death, and their sons with devils (16:1–4).

APOCALYPSE OF ZEPHANIAH

This has been preserved only fragmentarily in Coptic and Greek, but it may be purely Jewish in origin, as it shows no Christian elements. 127 It was written no later than the II cent. AD. 128 The visionary sees in the Netherworld the soul of a sinner tormented by 5000 angels, who bring it from East to West (I, 1:1). There are others in a more distant place (I,1:7–8). ‘At his death, we buried him like any other person’ (II,1:1). ‘We took him upwards, to play for him the cither and to sing his praises with songs’ (1:2). There is always light in the dwelling-place of the righteous and the saints (2:1–2). Zephaniah sees souls in the place of torment (2:3). On the top of Mount Seir, he sees the three obedient sons of Joatham, and two Slavonic adds that the names of those who may enter are written on the gate. 127 See below, n. 135. Greek fragments have only been preserved as quotations in Clemens Alex. (see ed. by Sthaelin 1960). We have taken our quotations from Riessler 1966, pp. 168–177. 128 Scholem 1965, p. 18. 126

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angels rejoicing over them (2:5–6; 3:1–3). Two other angels weep over their disobedient brothers (3:4). Angels sitting at the gate of Heaven write down all the good works of the righteous in a book (3:5). An angel (= Michael?) brings the book before God, that He may record their names in the book of the living (4:1). Other angels write down the sins, sitting at the extreme end of Heaven, so that those who enter may present their claims (4:2). A lot of fiery angels are in charge of the punishment of the souls of sinners (4:4; 5:1–5). A door opens into a long street of a beautiful city (6:2–4). There is a vision of a fiery sea (7:2–3), of an angel of terrifying aspect (8:1–4), and of a very beautiful angel with a golden girdle about his chest (9:2–4). The latter is Eremiel, who presides over the Netherworld; there are enclosed all the souls that were on the earth, from the deluge until now (10:3). The terrible angel was the accuser of men before God (10:5). Zephaniah is shown a scroll written in his own language, whereon are recorded the bad deeds of all man, including his own (11:1–5). He asks for his deeds to be erased (12:1–3). But he has already been taken out of Hades and out of the Abyss (12:4–5). They bring to him another scroll (12:6). 129 He is brought to a ship, where the angels sing and pray (13:1– 2) in a language familiar to him. He joins in the prayer (13:3). It is his judgment, announced by the trumpet-blowing of an angel (13:4–5). 130 He is led to a secure place, for his name is in the book of the living (14:1). The angel talks in a friendly manner to all the righteous, the Patriarchs, Enoch, Elijah and David (14:3). Heaven opens as the trumpet blows (14:5–6). Here the text is interrupted by a gap of two pages. This shows the current belief in an individual judgment after death. Only at the end of the book is there clearly a belief in the last judgment (cf. 16:4; 18:3–6), as well as in resurrection (18:4). But we may doubt the authenticity of these last chapters, for the mention of the cathecumens in 16:1 shows a Christian redactional work. 129 130

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Zephaniah sees the sea of Hades where all the souls are bathing (15:1–2) and where they receive terrible torments (15:3–10). Among them are the Cathecumens who have not progressed (16:1). At the end, God will save them (16:4). Some of them have hair and bodies, if it is the will of God (16:5–7). The three Patriarchs pray for the people (16:8f: 17:1–5). Another blow of the angel’s trumpet is heard throughout the entire earth (17:6f). One day God’s wrath shall destroy earth and Heaven (19:3,5f). On the ‘day of the Lord’, Zephaniah will be given the flesh that belongs to him (18:4).

APOCALYPSE OF SEDRACH

Though it contains some entirely Christian parts, the background or this work seems to be Jewish and rather ancient. In its present shape, however, it does not date to before the III or IV cent. AD. 131 Sedrach is brought above the third Heaven, to the flame of God (2:2–4). The Devil fights against ‘God, the Immortal’ (5:6). God does not take into account the sins of a man who has been practicing penitence for three years before his death (12:5), or if he repents for forty days (12:6), or he who confesses his sins before others thinking of his death (13:3). It is written: ‘The repentant shall suffer no punishment, but he shall rather come with the righteous to a place of refreshment and rest’ (16:5). ‘He who will write down these words, his sins shall not be taken into account forever’ (16:6).

TESTAMENT OF SOLOMON

This is a collection of astrology, demonology and magic of various origins, Eastern, Egyptian, Hellenistic, Jewish and Christian. Its original background is certainly Jewish, from ca. 100 AD, but the whole work was written by a Christian hand in the III cent. We exclude the Christian parts in the following texts, which have been summarized by Riessler 1966, pp. 156–167. 131

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‘As devils walk in the sky and fly among the stars; there we hear the decisions taken by God in regard of the souls of men’ (20:12). ‘There are principalities, dominions and powers flying in the height who were already worthy to enter into Heaven’ (20:15). As for those who are not allowed to enter and fall down, men think that they are falling stars (20:16). 132

THE PRAYER OF JOSEPH

An apocryphal work, possibly Jewish-Christian, that is preserved in very short quotations by Origen. It includes an allusion to the ‘Heavenly tablets’: ‘(Jacob says:) I read on the Heavenly tablets all that is happening to you and to your sons’. 133

II ENOCH (SLAVONIC ENOCH)

Also called The Book of the Secrets of Enoch, this book was written in the I cent. AD by an Alexandrian Jew, or possibly by a Christian of Jewish origin. 134 The book has been preserved in two different recensions, one longer and more recent, in Russian, and one shorter and older, in Bulgarian; the latter is based on the Slavonic version of the original Greek. The original text, however, was certainly Hebrew. We quote from the shorter version. Enoch is taken to the first Heaven (3:1), where there are stars, a great sea, stores of snow and dew, and angels (3:1–6:1). In the second Heaven Enoch sees those condemned in the great judgment, who were weeping. They are the disobedient apostates (6:1–3). In the third Heaven he is placed ‘in the midst of Paradise, a place unknown in goodness and beauty’ (8:1), full of fragrant and fruitful trees (8:2); among them there is the tree of life in the place Texts from Riessler 1966, pp. 1251–1262. Origen, Com. in Gen. III (= Gen 1:14), 9 (PG,12, col. 73). For other allusions to the Heavenly tablets in Origen, cf. ibid. III, 12 (PG 12, col. 82) and Com. in Johan. I, 34 (PG 14, cols. 81–83). 134 See Vaillant 1952, pp. VIII-XIII; Daniélou 1958, p. 27. 132 133

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where God rests when He goes to the most beautiful and fragrant Paradise (8:3–4). 135 There no tree is without fruit, for each tree is blessed (8:7). Bright angels guard Paradise (8:8). This is the place prepared for the ‘eternal inheritance’ of the righteous who have done good works. 136 Further north of Heaven there is a place of torments, with fire, darkness and ice, where cruel angels torment sinners, 137 this place shall be ‘their eternal inheritance’ (10:1–6). The sun and the moon are in the fourth Heaven (11:1–4), with angels preceding and pulling the chariot of the sun that carries the dew and the heat towards the West (11:1–2:1). The route of the sun and the moon is shown (14:1–16:7). Enoch hears the singing of the armed hosts (17:1). In the fifth Heaven he sees the armies, the Egoroi, 138 like human giants. In the sixth Heaven are seven orders of angels, archangels of the world, the stars and life on earth (19:1–5). Seven Phoenix birds, seven Cherubim and seven winged beings are singing and mutually responding. God rejoices in them (19:6). Taken into the seventh Heaven, he sees a great light, the Lord seated on His throne among the Cherubim and the Seraphim (20:1–21:1). Enoch feels lonely before God (21:2). God commands Gabriel to bring him forth into His presence, where he will stay forever (21:3–5). Michael is commanded to take from Enoch his clothing, to anoint him with oil and to dress him with the robes of glory (22:8f), and Enoch is now like one of the glorious ones (12:9). The Archangel Uriel brings the books, gives Enoch a reed and dictates to him from the book (22:11–12). Enoch writes 360 books The longer recension says here that ‘Paradise is between corruptibility and incorruptibility…’. 136 Some of those mentioned are the same as in Mt 25:35–36 in a similar context. Cf. also Ezek 18:7; Tob 4:16; 4Ezra 2:20; Syb Orac 2:83; 8:404f. 137 Here too, some of the sins mentioned are similar to the faults of the condemned according to Mt 25:42–43. 138 I.e., the watchers (Ἐγρήγυροι). Cf. 1En 6–16; 19; 86. 135

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for a period of 30 days and nights (23:1). Then God places him on his left, beside Gabriel. Enoch teaches his sons about what is going to happen on earth ‘till the day of judgment’ (39:2). He is taken ‘into the place of judgment’, where he sees ‘the hell open, the prisoners and an infinite judgment’ (40:12). He cries for the destruction of the impious (41:1). He sees the guardians of the keys of hell (cf. Rev 9:1; Syb Orac 8:121f), ‘standing over against the gates like great serpents…’ (42:1). In the Paradise of the righteous, Enoch sees ‘all blessed creatures and all there living in joy and in infinite happiness in eternal life’ (42:2f). Enoch says to his children: ‘Learn to bring gifts to the Lord, that you may enjoy life’ (42:6). Those who fear God ‘shall be glorious in eternity’ (43:3). ‘I swear to you… that before man a judgment-place was prepared for him, and a measure and a weighingscale, in which man will be proved’ 139 (49:2). ‘Spend… your days in patience and gentleness, that you inherit the endless Age that is to come’ (50:4). ‘You shall find a reward on the judgment-day’ (51:3). ‘All this will be laid bare on the weighing-scales and in the books on the day of the great judgment’ (52:15). ‘Keep your hearts… that you may inherit the weighing-scale of the light into eternity’ (52:16). ‘Say not, my children, that our father is with God, and will pray to deliver us from our sins’ 140 (53:1). ‘The day of my term has approached, the angels coming from the Lord God urge the appointed time, and stand by me before my face. And I shall go tomorrow on to the highest Heaven into my eternal inheritance’ (55:1–2). ‘There will be no judgment of every living soul, but only of man’s’ (58:4). ‘For the soul of beasts there is in the great Age one place and one fold. For no soul of any animal… will be shut up till The long recension treats only a resting-place prepared for each soul, and the measure with which every man shall be tested in this world. 140 For a survey of the doctrine of interecession of holy men after death, cf. the following texts: Isa 63:6; 1En 22:12; 97:3,5; 99:16; 2Mac 15:14; Philo, De Exsecr. 9; Josephus, Ant. I:13,3; Syb Orac 330:3; Mt 27:47; Lk16:24–31; John 8:56; Heb 12:1; Rev 6:9–11. 139

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the great judgment, and all souls will curse man’ 141 (58:5–6). ‘There is no cure… into eternity’ for him ‘who does injury to the soul of man’ 142 (60:1). ‘He who puts a man into (Paradise), 143 his judgment shall not be exhausted into eternity’ (60:3). God ‘has prepared many mansions, 144 very good dwellings, and bad dwellings without number. Blessed is he who departs into the sweet houses’ (69:2–3). There is possibility of forgiveness and repentance for those who do good works (62:1–4). ‘When the creation… shall end, and every man shall go to the Lord’s great judgment, then the seasons shall perish… but there shall be one endless Age. And all the righteous shall be collected together in the great Age… and they shall be eternal and incorruptible… There shall be no labor among them, nor sickness… nor night nor darkness, but… indestructible light. And the great Paradise will be their shelter and eternal dwelling-place, and they shall no longer bear the injuries of those on earth’. 145 The Lord will send down great destruction on the earth, and the earth’s whole composition shall perish… This will end in tumult and will perish, only my brother will be preserved on that day, placed in… and those of his tribe and the sun’ (65:5–11). After this speech ‘the Lord sent murk on earth, and there was darkness… And the angels hastened’, and took Enoch, carrying him ‘up to the highest Heaven. And He received him and put him before His face into eternity’ (67:1–2). ‘Glory be to our God into eternity. Amen’ (67:3). This doctrine is based on the belief that animals are more or less conscious; before Adam’s sin they had all spoken the same language (cf. Job 3:28; Josephus, Ant. I:1,4). 142 Implicitly, then, it is taught here that other sins may be punished with a lighter penalty than the eternal one (cf. 60:3). 143 The term is unclear in the original. 144 Cf. 1En 39:4,7; John 14:2. 145 It appears that the righteous are gathered into Paradise just before the destruction of earth, where Enoch’s ‘brother’ is still living (cf. next v.). 141

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III ENOCH (HEBREW ENOCH)

This is the only Apocryphon of the O.T. preserved in its Hebrew original. 146 Its date is still a matter of discussion, its final redaction thought to be from the 5th or 6th cent. AD. Because the book says it was written by Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha haKohen, scholars tend to accept the second century AD as a probable dating for some parts of III Enoch. The supposed author received his title of ‘high priest’ (haKohen) in his visions of ascension to Heaven. The most salient feature of the book is the fact that Enoch, once in Heaven, is transformed into Metraton (3En 4:2). This mystical figure is described as enthroned next to the throne of God. He is called God’s servant (‫)עבד‬, prince of the Divine Presence (‫)שכינה‬ (1:4), even the “lesser Yahweh” (‫( )יהוה הקטן‬12:5; 48c: 7; 48d: 1) (153), head of all the angelic rulers, and to whom God revealed all His secrets of creation and of the Torah (11:1). He guards the tree of life and writes down the good deeds people do on earth. Readers should notice that Metatron appears not only in 3En but also elsewhere in the Apocryphal and rabbinic literature, for instance in the Midrash Haotiot dR. Akiba, 147 and particularly in the medieval Kabbalistic books. In the present work, Metatron is appointed by God to bring R. Ishmael before God and His Mercabah (1:4–11). The contents of the book are mainly a vision of what Metatron shows the seer will happen in ‘the world to come’, including the ‘days of the Messiah’. The whole book is rather a revelation of the celestial world and the divine liturgy continuously developing in front of God’s throne, the divine Mercabah, all described in full detail. Most of the text contains long lists of angels, celestial princes (‫)שרים‬, spirits (‫)רוחות‬, divine holy creatures (‫)חיות‬, with their names, their charasteristics and their particular assignments in the different heavens, celestial halls, wheels (‫ )אופנים‬of the Mercabah, and so on. Only near the end of the book we read about the sorting of the souls, or rather the ‘spirits’, both of the righteous and of the wicked: 146

1973).

147

It was translated and published by Odeberg in 1928 (reprint

Wertheimer, 1955, p. 349.

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Metatron said to Elisha: ‘Come and I will show you where are the spirits of the righteous that have been created and returned, and the spirits of the righteous that have not yet been created. And he lifted me up to his side, took me by his hand and hifted me up near the Throne of Glory by the place of the Shechinah; and he revealed the Throne of Glory to me, and he showed me the spirits that have been created and had returned; and they were flying above the Throne of Glory before the Holy One.’ They had been created in ‘the chamber of creation of the righteous’. Interpreting Isa 57:16, Ishmael writes that ‘the souls I have made’ ‘refers to the spirits of the righteous that have not yet been created in the chamber’ (43:1–3). Elisha is then shown ‘the spirits of the wicked and the spirits of the intermediate (‫ )בינונים‬where they are standing, and the spirits of the intermediate, whither they go down, and the spirits of the wicked where they go down’. For they ‘go down to Sheol by the hand of two angels of destruction: Zaaphiel and Simkiel’ (44:1–2). While ‘Simkiel is appointed over the intermediate to support them and purify them because of the great mercy of the Prince of the Place (‫)מקום‬, Zaaphiel is appointed over the spirits of the wicked in order to cast them down from the presence of the Holy One… to Sheol, to be punished in the fire of Gehenna with staves and burning coal’ (44:3). And Elisha was shown ‘the spirits of the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and the rest of the righteous whom they had brought up out of their graves and have ascended to the Raqi’a. And they were praying before the Holy One to deliver His children ‘who are made slaves among the nations’, and reveal His ‘Kingdom in the world’ (44:7). Metatron orders Elisha to read from the books the 36 transgressions committed by the wicked ‘and besides, that they have transgressed all the letters in the Torah, as it is written (Dan 9:11): “Yea, all Israel have transgressed Your Law”’ (44:9). The three Patriarchs wept, and angel ‘Michael cried and wept with a loud voice and said (Ps 10:1): “Why stand You afar off, o Lord?”’ Besides Enoch himself, only three other humans are mentioned in this book as arriving in the next world. One is R. Ishmael, the visionary. At his view, the highest classes of angels appear inquiring about him, a man who comes to behold the Marcabah. Metatron appeases them, answering that he belongs to the nation

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of Israel, that God chose His people from seventy nations, a priest from the tribe of Levi. To this answer, which seems to presuppose that none but Jews are worthy of the honor to behold the Mercabah, those angels express themselves with these words: “Happy is the people that is in this case!” (2:1–4). The second human arriving in Heaven is Moses, who is received there by Metatron with all honors, as if representing the whole people of Israel. Metatron and a great host of other angels ‘took the prayers of Israel and put them as a crown on the head of the Holy One’ (15:2–5). The third one is Acher (the other one) 148 (16:1–4), who seeing Metatron and all his glory, misunderstands him, fearing that there are two Divine Powers in Heaven, thus putting in doubt the uniqueness of God, the most important dogma of the Jewish faith (Deut 6:4).

On the basis of Exod 23:21: “For my name is in him”, in reference to the angel sent by God to Israel when entering the land of Canaan. Concerning ‘Acher’; the reference is to Elisha Ben Abuya (TB Hagigah, 15, 1). 148

CHAPTER THREE. THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT Unlike other Jewish literature from the same period, the New Testament’s message has its starting point in a historical person: Jesus. His basic doctrine is eschatological: “The Kingdom of God has come” (Mt 11:5). His miracles are rightly understood only as signs that the Messianic Age has come (Mt 11:5; 27:53; John 11:25f; cf. 5:20f; 6:39,40,54). But there is still more. The central figure of the Christian message is Jesus risen from the dead. He appears announcing His own resurrection (Mt 16:23; 17:9; Mk 10:34). His disciples are witnesses of His resurrection (Acts 1:22; 3:15; 5:32), for they saw Him alive again, and ate and drank with Him (Acts 10:40f). Jesus’ resurrection is the summit of the Evangelical story and the principle of early Christian preaching – the Apostolic ‘kerygma’. 1 Proclamation of Jesus’ messiahship, that is to say, that Jesus has been ‘assumed by God’ and raised to the ‘glory’ of the Father, is unconditionally linked to the fact that God has ‘raised the Crucified’ (Acts 1:22; 2:24, 31f; 10:41; 13:33f 17:3, 31; 1Cor 15:1ff; Phil 2:9–11; Eph 1:20ff). Jesus’ resurrection is but the ‘first fruit’ of the general resurrection of righteous (Acts 26:23; 1Cor 15:20; Col 1:8) which He had predicted (Lk 14:14). In fact, had He not actually risen, faith in resurrection would be meaningless, because then no atonement for their sins would have taken place (1Cor 15:17). It is ‘in Christ’ that men find restoration of their relations with God (Rom 3:24; 5:1; 2 Cor 5:19, etc.). Final atonement for their sins is For a general view on different exegetical and theological interpretations of Jesus’ resurrection see Léon-Dufour 1969. 1

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achieved only through His blood (Heb 9:14). 2 John’s Revelation points out this power of redemption (Rev 5:9; 7:14). Glorification by God has been guaranteed by Christ’s blood (cf. 1Cor 15). Such is the basic faith of the New Testament writers, without which their references to general and individual eschatology in the various books cannot be understood.

SYNOPTIC GOSPELS The Kingdom of God (Kingdom of Heaven) Jesus preaches ‘the good news’ of the coming ‘Kingdom of God’ (Mt 4:23; 9:35), an old biblical concept but still not clear to Israel. 3 For Jesus, it is a mysterious reality (Mk 4:11; 8:10; 13:11). It is a dynamic reality that, when offered in the form of words, can reach various degrees of fruitfulness (My 13:3–9, 18–23, etc.). Indeed, it will only be granted to the ‘small herd’ (Lk 12:32). But this gift of Kingdom also takes other forms. People can ‘enter’ it (Lk 8:17, 24) and be ‘thrown out’ of it (Lk 23:28). It is a place of rest where not only Patriarchs and Prophets but also a great crowd will come ‘to sit down’ (Lk 13:28f). It is like a dining room where one can ‘eat bread’ and ‘drink wine’ (Lk 14:15; 22:30; Mk 14:25; cf. Mt 26:9). It also has an eschatological dimension: time of wedding (Mt 2:19), of harvest (Mt 9:37). It is a ‘life’ which man can ‘enter’ (Mk 9:43ff; Mt 19:23ff) because it is ‘inherited’ (Mt 5:4; 19:29), and its ‘possession’ will be finally enjoyed (Mt 19:26). Both levels, temporal and eschatological, seem to be purposely involved, and it would be useless to try to distinguish between them. ‘Kingdom’ is identified with ‘Church’ (ἐκκλησία), the great assembly of the elected that has the same double aspect. The keys of the It is noteworthy that in this text, like in the whole Epistle to Hebrews, no mention is made of Christ’s resurrection. On the other hand, the visible ascension of Jesus to Heaven (Acts 1:6–11) might be but a midrashic development of that glorification accepted by faith (see, e.g., Bertram 1927). 3 For a development of it, cf. Isa 52:7; Zeph 3:14f; Zech 14:9; Ps 47:96–99; 145:1ff; Dan 2:44; 7:24, 27; Wisd Sol 4:8. 2

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Kingdom of Heaven are promised to Peter, the ‘stone’ upon which Jesus wants to build His Church (Mt 16:18f). Resurrection of the Dead Jesus speaks of resurrection of the dead only when pushed to do so by His interlocutors, and curiously enough, never in connection with a final judgment or with His return to earth. It is a doctrine fully admitted by His audience, except for the Sadduceans, who pose to Him the question of what resurrection will be like. He says nothing of when it will take place: ‘Those who are considered worthy of reaching the coming world and the resurrection of the dead, do not take a wife or husband; for they are sons of the resurrection (i.e., for they have achieved resurrection)’4 (Lk 20:36; cf. Mk 12:25; Mt 22:30). Jesus’ use of Ex 3:6 as proof that resurrection will occur is based on the biblical belief in Sheol (cf. above, ch. 1, pp. 5–6): ‘Therefore, He is not a God of dead but of living’ (Lk 20:38). This includes union with God, in fullness of life, for which man must have conformed his will to that of God during his earthly existence. 5 Life in Sheol is not a real life. ‘Parousia’ A peculiar element of N.T. eschatology is the belief in the second coming of Christ to the world, or the so-called Parousia. 6 Jesus predicts His return to the world ‘in the glory of (His) Father with the holy angels’ as the completion of the cycle of Passion-DeathResurrection (Mk 8:31; cf. Mt 16:27; Lk 7:26). Its description in the so-called Synoptic Apocalypse (Mt 24 and par.) is a sort of transposi-

Charles (1963, pp. 397–398) sustains the opposite interpretation of this sentence, alluding to the fact that in the continuation of the text Jesus says: ‘God is not a God of dead but of living, for all live for Him (πάντες γὰρ αὐτῷ ζῶσιν)’ (Lk 20:38). Yet it is much better understood as meaning ‘all [those who live] live for Him’, for only the righteous have been mentioned – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 5 Cf. 4Mac 16:25: ‘Those who die for God, live for God, like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’ (cited by Charles 1963, p. 397). 6 From the Greek παρουσία, which means ‘coming’ and ‘presence’. 4

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tion of the ‘Lord’s day’ of the O.T., with its typical bellicose (Mt 24:6ff) and cosmic (24:29) factors, astonishment of the idolaters (24:15), Judgment (24:34–43) and suddenness of the approaching day (24:36–44). 7 In the midst of all, will appear ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds with great power and majesty’ (24:30; cf. Dan 7:13f). There is no doubt about the eschatological character of the Parousia, which Matthew points out when speaking of the ‘consummation of the Age’. 8 Judgment The return of Christ or appearance of the Son of Man will bring judgment to the world. It will be universal; at the gathering of all the ‘elected’ (Mk 13:27; cf. Lk 9:26) or ‘all the tribes of the earth’ (Mt 24:30). His own servants (Lk 19:22f; Mt 25:14–30), the sons of Israel (Mt 19:28), the nations (Mt 25:37f), even the Ninevites and the Queen of Sheba (Mt 12:41f; Lk 11:31f), the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon (Mt 11:20–24) and, probably, even the demons (Mt 8:29). After the separation of elected and rejected (Mt 25:31ff), everybody will be rewarded according to his deeds (Mt 13:41–43; cf. Mk 9:41; Mt 10:42). Here, a very particular criterion will be followed: ‘All what you did to one of these little ones of Mine, you did it to Me’ (Mt 25:40). Afterlife The Righteous will then ‘be brought to eternal life’, 9 and the others ‘to an eternal punishment’ (Mt 25:46). This will be the ‘Gehenna’ (Mt 5:29; 10:20; Mk 9:43ff) ‘of fire’ (Mt 5:22) – ‘as to the fire is thrown the bad herb’ (Mt 13:40cf. 7:9; John 15:6) –, an ‘inextin‘That day’ (Mt 16:22; 24:36; Mk 13:22) is an obvious reflection of ‘Yahweh’s day’ from the O.T. (Ezek 30:3; Isa 13:6; Joel 1:15, etc.). 8 This expression (συντελεία τοῦ αἰώνος) (Mt 24:3; 28:20) presupposes a Hebrew-written original. Αιών cannot correspond but to ‫עולם‬, which has a connotation of time more than of space. 9 εἰς ζωὴν αιώνιον. Cf. ‫ חיי עולם‬or ‫ חיי נצח‬of the Jewish post-biblical literature. In Mk 9:43–45 and Mt 18:8–9 the term ζωὴ alone points to that fullness of life included in the word ‫ חיים‬in the O.T. 7

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guishable fire’ (Mk 9:43f), ‘where worm does not die’ (Mk 9:48), a real ‘burning oven’ (Mt 13:42, 50), 10 a destroying fire, similar to that that devoured Sodom and Gomorrah (Lk 17:29). Punishment will be, at the same time, thrown ‘to the outer darkness’ (Mt 9:12), in contrast, obviously, to the lights of the hall where the weddingdinner is being celebrated (ibid., and see above, The Kingdom of God). The Condemned will ‘crack their teeth’ out of pain and rage in view of the luck of the righteous (cf. Ps 35:16; 37:12;120:10; Job 16:9). Some texts raise doubts about the eternity of the punishment. Indeed, if there is a sin ‘not forgiven in this world nor in the coming one’ (Mt 12:32), others can be forgiven, either here or there. While one servant gets many lashes, another gets fewer (Lk 12:47). And the rich condemned in afterlife asking for clemency for his brothers still on earth (Lk 16:19–31) may indicate a possibility of moral bettering in the place of punishment, which could result in the diminishing or suspension of the sentence. In the last passage, Lk might have made use of an existing Jewish parable. The term Hades (ἄδης) is borrowed from Greek mythology11 but reflects the contemporary Jewish concept of the old Sheol, already enriched with the doctrine of afterlife. Abraham sits at the head of the assembly of the righteous, though not yet redeemed by Christ. 12 Lazarus is taken by angels to ‘Abraham’s bosom’, 13 where he seems to enjoy a place of honor in the Messianic meal. 14 The ‘great abyss’ is a current element in contemporary apocryphal literature (above, ch. 2, passim). The rich man’s request for ‘water’ introduces the following Christian theme of refrigerium. 15 This whole description echoes the prophetic figuration of God’s wrath against the impious (Am 1:4–2:5) and the nations (Isa 37:33). 11 For references to Greek mythology in Jewish sources, see Glasson 1961. 12 Cf. the early Christian doctrine of the ‘descent of Christ to Hades’. 13 The expression ‘in Abraham’s bosom’ occurs already in 4Mac 16:25; and see below, p. 127. 14 Cf. the image of Apostle John leaning on Jesus’ chest during the last supper (John 13:25). 15 Epigraphic and figurative allusions to it are frequent in early Christianity (see Cabrol – Leclercq 1939, col. 217ff). Though Cabrol and 10

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1) παλιγγενεσία (Mt 19:28), with the contemporary Jewish meaning of ‘return to life after death’, 16 as the parallel ‘My Kingdom’ (Lk 22:30) points out;

2) παραδείσος (Lk 23:42), corresponding to the rabbinic expression ‫גן עדן‬, the resting place for the righteous (see below, ch. 4, pp. 125126); 17

3) ‘everlasting tents’ (Lk 16:9), i.e., the resting place of the righteous in the Messianic era, which seems to be an eternal festival of Sukkoth, as we have also seen in the Prophets (ch. 1, p. 9) (Mt 17:1; Mk 9:2; Lk 9:28; cf. Rev 7:15; 12:12; 13:6; 21:3). 185F

Jesus’ Death Jesus spoke of His own death on several occasions. It should be a violent one, as indicated in the expressions ‘to drink the cup’ (Mk 14:36; cf. Rev 14:10; 15:7 – 16:1ff; 16:19) 18 and ‘to be baptized’ (Lk 12:50), 19 with a double connotation, that of fulfilling His Father’s Leclerq think that the text of Luke serves as the origin of Christian refrigerium, that must rather be found in the pagan expression of the same theme, probably based on the Egyptian myth of Osiris. 16 See Philo, De post. Caini, 124; De Cherub., 114; Josephus, Ant. I:11,66. The term in question does not point, in the present context, to the universal conflagration known by the Stoics as ἐκπὐροσις, and referred to as παλιγγενεσία in Rev 21:1; 1En 45:4f; 72:1; 91:15f; Greek Apoc Bar 32:6;42:12; 57:2; 4Ezra 5:45; 7:75). Jewish Apocalypses have borrowed the idea from Isa 51:16; 65:17; 66:12. In Tit 3:5, the same term παλιγγενεσία is applied to the regeneration effected by Baptism, as a parallel to ἀνακαινώσις. 17 The term ‘today’ in the same context seems to contradict the later Christian tradition of Jesus’ soul in Hades for three days, preceding his resurrection (cf. already Acts 2:31). 18 See Near Eastern parallels to this expression in Feuillet 1967. 19 Together with this expression, other reasons might indicate that in early Christian thought there was an intimate link between Jesus’ baptism in the Jordn river and Jesus’ death: 1) the allusion to the Servant (Isa 42:1) in Mk 1:11 and par.; 2) ‘to die with Christ through baptism into death’

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will and that of a free willing acceptance of it. For He knows that His death will bring redemption to the world: ‘The Son of Man has not come to be served but to serve, and to give His soul as a ransom (λύτρον) for a multitude’ (Mt 20:28; cf. Mk 10:45). This logion, which supposes a Hebrew original, has its origin in Isa 53:1–12; 20 obviously, Jesus applies to Himself the role of the Servant. The same is apparent in Jesus’ words at the institution of the Eucharist: ‘My blood… will be poured out for you and for the crowds’ (Mt 26:22). It is the ‘blood of the Covenant’ (cf. Exod 24:8; Zech 9:11), which indicates the sacrificial aspect of Jesus’ death in His own mind. Redemption, however, will only take place in the joy of the eschatological meal: ‘Truly I say unto you that I shall not drink any more of the fruit of the vine until that day, when I shall drink it anew with you in God’s Kingdom’ (Mt 26:29).

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

In this book, Luke’s theological prospective is focused on Jesus’ exaltation, a reality which takes a concrete shape in the narrative of His ascension to Heaven at the beginning of the book (Acts 1:9– 11). Jesus will come back in a similar way, like the ‘Son of Man’ of Daniel coming ‘on the clouds of Heaven’ among His angels, in order to judge the world. There is an eschatological dynamism in the present Jesus’ exaltation. The Church grows among Jews and Gentiles, 21 ‘serving’ in the presence of its Lord – Jesus, 22 and ‘witnessing’ to the world the ‘good news of God’s grace’ (20:24). (Rm 6:4); 3) ‘to be baptized in the Lord Jesus’ name’ (βαπτισθήναι εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ κυρίου Ιησοῦ (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5), which may indicate an identification with Jesus’ person through Baptism, a rite with which He wanted to foreshadow His death. Compare, e.g., with such a simple expression as βαπτισθήναι εἰς τοῦ Ιωάννου βἀπτισμα (Acts 19:3,4). 20 Though in Isaiah the term ‘ransom’ does not occur, the idea underlies the text. 21 Justification of the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles is, in the mind of some scholars, the very purpose of the book of Acts (see Dupont 1959–60). 22 For Franklin (1970), the book of Acts was written to strengthen the faith in Jesus as Lord. Apart from the exact theological extent of

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In Paul’s ‘kerygma’, this grace or gift (χάρις) is embodied in a double fact – Jesus and resurrection of the dead 23 (17:18, 31f; 23:6ff; 24:15, 21; 26:8, 21). For apologetic reasons, Paul in Acts 24 simplifies when trying to deny any innovation in the Christian doctrine of resurrection. He knows that there is a difference between the Pharisaic doctrine that ‘there will be a resurrection of the righteous and the impious’ (24:15) and that Jesus was the first one to rise from the dead (26:23), a fact which not only carried the belief in Jesus’ messiahship, but that, through it, God had shown the futility of having put Him to death (2:24; 3:15; 4:10; 5:30; 10;40; 13:30). Jesus is the ‘Savior’ sent by God to Israel (13:23), and His resurrection is the fulfilment of God’s promise (13:32f). Therefore, from now on, only those who believe in Jesus will achieve salvation. Yet, this is submitted to a free predisposition by God (13:48). In Peter’s ‘kerygma’, we find the same centrality of the soteriological figure of Christ ‘raised by God’ and ‘elevated to God’s right’ (2:31–33). It is only in the name of the Crucified ‘raised by God from the dead’ (4:10), and through the faith in Him ‘the author of life’ (3:15f), that miracles are executed by the Apostles (4:10). The soteriological character of the Christian faith in Jesus dead and risen is so strong in the writer of Acts, 25 that he calls the believers simply ‘the saved’ (τοὺς σωζομένους) (2:47; cf. 2:21; 15:11). Christians are the ‘saints’ (ἅγιοι). Eschatology is already present, since also ‘to Gentiles the door of faith has been open’ (21:27) and ‘conversion to faith has been given’ (11:18). The new-born κύριος in the N.T. books (see Bousset 1913), it is certain that the acceptance of Jesus as Lord was the object of Christian faith as it was preached by Paul, the teacher of Luke (cf. Rom 10:9). Throughout the Acts, the explicit expression ὁ κυρίος Ιησοῦς occurs no fewer than 17 times. 23 See on this subject Ménoud 1944. 24 The Bultmannian school has dealt at length with the apparent doctrinal differences between Paul’s teaching in Acts and in the Epistles. See Kaestli 1969, pp. 76–83 (“Histoire du salut et interpretation existentielle: Le problème de la comparaison entre Paul et Luc”). 25 See Zehnle 1969.

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Church does not pray for God’s Kingdom to come (cf. Lk 11:2) but for ‘strength’ (παρρησια) to preach His word (4:29; cf. 28:31). Effusion of His spirit on the day of Pentecost is a ‘fulfilment’ (2:1), with which salvation becomes a present reality. 26 As God received Jesus ‘loosening the ties of death’ (2:24, 27), so also the Apostles occasionally return to dead the very bodily life (9:36–43; 20:7–12). Violent death is intimately connected with the power of the Spirit; the death of the wicked is a punishment (5:1–11; 12:1–23), and the death of the martyr is a starting-point for broader spreading of the Gospel (8:1). If Peter and John are ‘glad to have been considered worthy to suffer for the sake of (Jesus’) name’ (5:41), Paul is ready even to ‘die in Jerusalem for the sake of the Lord’s name’ (21:13). Death is never seen in its material aspect. There is no mention of any special care for the mortal remains of the believers, as will later happen. 27 Salvific effects of Jesus’ death are here viewed within the frame of an emphasized identification with the power of redemption of the death of ‘God’s servant’. Peter assigns to Jesus that title (παις [Θεου]) in two different contexts (3:26; 4:27). And Philip the Deacon starts his evangelization of the Ethiopian Eunuch by Isa 53:7f (8:35). 28 The Messiah suffered because ‘so had God announced by His Prophets’ (3:18). Jesus’ crucifixion is only related to His exaltation by God’s power (3:13; 5:30f). There is no special veneration of the ‘Crucified’ as such. The ‘Servant Jesus’ has been ‘raised’ (3:22, 27; 7:37; cf. 5:30) by God as a Prophet and sent to the world. God has ‘anointed Him with the Holy Spirit’ (10:38), that is to say, He has made Him Messiah. After having raised Him from the dead, He has made Him ‘judge of living and dead’ (10:40, See Francis 1969. Only in Mart Pol (see below, ch. 5, pp. 147), veneration of relics is mentioned for the first time. This point is important for the question of a Jewish-Christian use of ossuaries and reliquaries and its connection with bodily resurrection. 28 For an excellent study on the theme of Jesus – Servant, see Cullman 1958, pp. 48–73. It was later suggested that, in Acts, also the Church is, on the steps of Jesus, ‘the Servant of the Lord’ (Ryan 1963, pp. 110– 115). 26 27

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42). Thus, according to the very testimony of the Prophets, ‘everyone who believes in Him, obtains by His name the forgiveness of sins’ (10:44). ‘There is no salvation in anybody else, for there is no other name under Heaven given to men, in which we may be saved’ (4:12). Obviously, eschatology is already present. Salvation is obtained by faith now, ‘in these days’ (3:24). There is a passage, however, where a future fulfilment is considered (3:19–21). It is, in fact, a Christianized vision of the Jewish Messianic Age, of the ‘times of consolation’, 29 when through the Messiah’s (Jesus’) intervention, the ‘restoration of all things’ will take place. Ἀποκατάστασις, which is a hapax in the New Testament and does not appear in the LXX, is a term used by Fl. Josephus (Ant 11:63) with the meaning of the return of the exiled from Babylon, and it seems that Peter bases his use of the term on that sense (3:21). Indeed, this reestablishment ‘announced by God through the mouth of the holy Prophets’ 30 is one of cosmic proportions in Jewish and Christian views – it is a new creation of the world 31 and particularly a spiritual renovation. 32 In Peter’s eschatology it is linked with the return of Jesus. Thus the Jewish belief in the return of Elijah ‘who would restore (ἀποκαθιστάνει) everything’ (Mk 9:12; cf. Mal 3:23f) is transferred onto Jesus’ person for a time which remains quite undetermined (cf. Acts 1:6–8), an additional means of emphasizing the value of the present period as integrating into the general plan of salvation an unexpected end. Paul’s mention of a general judgment of God ‘by the man whom He has appointed, and of this He has given asIn the Gospel, Luke spoke already of the ‘consolation of Israel’ (παράκλησις τοῦ Ισραήλ) expected by ‘the righteous and pious’ Simeon (Lk 2:25). In Acts 3:19, the Greek term is ἀνάψυζις, which connotes the idea of ‘refrigerium’. Both words seem to point to the semantic riches of the Hebrew ‫נחם‬, which is used in rabbinic texts to describe the complete happiness in Messiah’s days (see Strack – Billerbeck 1969, vol. 2, pp. 124– 126). Basically, the concept is prophetic (cf. Isa 49:13). 30 Jer 16:15; 23:8; 24:6; 50:19; cf. Exod 16:55; Hos 11:11. 31 Cf., in the N.T., Eph 1:10; Col 1:20; 2Pet 3:13; Rev 12:1. 32 See Mussner 1961, pp. 293–306. 29

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surance to all men raising Him from the dead’ (17:31) must also be appreciated with the same perspective of newness.

PAULINE EPISTLES

Paul’s eschatology is complex and evolutional, and it is possible to distinguish in it four periods of thought, as shown by the following groups of letters: 33 1) I–II Thessalonians, 2) I Corinthians, 3) II Corinthians and Romans, 4) Philippians, Colossians and Ephesians. I and II Thessalonians An important passage (1Thes 4:14–17) answers the question concerning those who died before the return of Jesus. This return, or ‘the Day of the Lord’ (5:2), will include all the details of the apocalyptic framework of contemporaneous Judaism (cf. below, ch. 4), though here the Lord is already identified with Christ Himself. Resurrection is a privilege enjoyed by ‘those who slept ἐν Χριστῷ’ 34 or ‘the dead ἐν Χριστῷ’, in contradiction to the words assigned to Paul in Acts 24:13, where resurrection is believed to be universal. In a literary way, Paul considers himself among those who are left alive until the Parousia. These shall not precede those who already died, at the meeting with the Lord, and this certainly includes bodily resurrection of the dead. Total incertitude exists about the date of that sudden day of Christ’s return (1Thes 5:2; cf. Mt 24:43; 2 Pet 3:10). The ‘sons of the night and of darkness’ will not be able to flee (5:2–6). Neither Jews nor Gentiles (cf. 4:5) will escape God’s wrath, i.e., those who cause suffering to the believers (2Thes 1:8) and those who have not known God and do not obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ (2Thes 1:8). ‘Lord Jesus’ will come like a ‘flame of fire’ (2Thes 1:7) when He will reveal Himself from Heaven with His angels. ‘Sudden’ perdition of 1Thes 5:3 is already ‘eternal’ in 2Thes 1:9, and it seems to mean a total destruction (cf. 2Thes 2:10). This grouping is by Charles 1963. In this context, the preposition διὰ must be taken in a modal rather than in a causal sense (see Rigaux 1956, pp. 536f). 33 34

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Two new elements are added to the eschatological picture in II Thessalonians: 1) general defection (ἀποστασία) and 2) Antichrist (2Thes 2:3f). The latter is not, as in Rev 20:7–10, the Roman emperor, but most probably, a personification of all the powers that oppose God. 35 Both elements appear also in the Synoptic Gospels in the form of general perversion and of false Messiahs and Prophets (Mt 2411ff). Paul, though unclear, is more concrete: this ‘impious one’, who Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of His mouth and with the splendor of His coming (παρουσία), is, for the moment, restrained, while ‘already now, the mystery of impiety works secretly’ (2Thes 2:3–8). Antichrist’s action is so cunning that it will cause the perdition of those who accepted ‘the charity of the truth that had saved them (σωθῆναι)’, so that ‘all will be condemned (κριθῶσιν)’ (2 Thes 2:9–12). But those who will be ‘caught up to meet the Lord’ (1Thes 4:7) shall ‘acquire’ the glory of Christ (2Thes 2:14) in ‘God’s Kingdom’. Such ‘acquiring’ (περιποίεσις) gives new meaning to the traditional idea of the Kingdom of God. Also in Paul, as in the rest of the New Testament, Jesus, already elevated to the rank of Lord (κύριος), is the central point of the eschatological vision. I Corinthians Paul must insist on the doctrine of resurrection, and his first argument is the fact of Jesus’ resurrection. This is proven by His appearances (15:1–8) as had been predicted by the Scriptures. 36 A second argument is ad absurdum: if there is no resurrection of the dead, the very essence of Christ’s message, whose main points are remission of sins by the risen Christ and personal life after death, gets lost (15:12–18). In developing his concept of resurrection, Paul The Jewish origin of Antichrist, so brilliantly defended by Bousset 1895 (pp. 84–86), must apparently be rejected if we take into account that its general concept derives from the attack of Magog against Jerusalem (Ezek 38–39) and from the desecration of the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes (1Mac 1:54). For bibliography on this matter, see Hoffman 1969, p. 348f. 36 That it took place ‘on the third day according to the Scriptures’ may be related to Jonah’s parallel (Jonah 2:1), but cf. also Hos 6:2. 35

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emphasizes Christ’s resurrection and its salvific consequences. A parallel is traced between Adam, ‘in whom all men die’ and Christ, in whom ‘all men will be restored to life (ζωοποιηθήσονται) (15:21f; cf. Rm12:21f). Yet, resurrection will not be universal after Christ (ἀπαρχή Χριστός); those belonging to Him (οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ) will rise at His return (15:21f; cf. Rom12:21f); but cf. v. 51). Using the metaphor of the seed, he goes on explaining bodily resurrection, for which death is necessary (15:36–38): ‘it is sown an animal (ψυχικόν) body, it is raised a spiritual (πνευματικόν) body’, a body which will be ‘incorruptible’, ‘glorious’, ‘vigorous’ (15:43f). Paul spiritualizes the concept of resurrection to the point of affirming that the risen body will have, in regard of the former one, the same relationship which exists between the seed and the tree that comes out of it. It is not the flesh and the blood that will possess the inheritance of God’s Kingdom, as it is not the corruption (ἡ φθορά) that will ever possess incorruption (ἀφθαρσἰα) (15:47–50). 37 Even those who will still be alive at the Parousia, among whom Paul wants to be counted, 38 will be ‘overdressed with incorruption’ and immortality (15:52f). Then the words of the prophets (cf. Isa 25:8; Hos 13:14) will be fulfilled, that ‘death will be swallowed by victory’, a victory obtained by God, but only ‘through Christ our Lord’ (15:54–57). This victory belongs not only to the believers but even more to Christ Himself, who, after destroying all powers, will deliver the Kingdom to God (15:24). The last enemy is death (15:26). At the end, the Son Himself will submit to the One who submitted to Him, ‘in order that God be all in all’ (15:27–28). Paul seems to allude to a temporary punishment for some of the sinners at the judgment, which shall take place at the Parousia. Fire will consume the ‘superstructure’ of bad deeds, and man ‘will be saved, but as through the fire’ (3:10–14). In another passage, when explaining the meaning of the Eucharist, which is Christ’s Thus, it is impossible to relate veneration of relics and ossuary burial with an eschatological view like that of Paul in the present text. 38 Codex Claramontanus, the Vulgate and Marcion point to a textual difficulty, as they read: ‘We all will rise, but not all will be transformed’, which is contrary to v. 23 (cf. IThes 4:15). 37

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‘memorial until He comes’ (11:25), he sees the possibility of being forgiven altogether by means of repentance before judgment: it is better to examine ourselves (διεκρίνομεν) than to be judged (κρινόμενοι) and punished by the Lord, and condemned (κατακριθῶμεν) together with this world (11:31f). A baptism ‘for the dead’ (15:29), mentioned by Paul as proof for the belief in resurrection, is not explicit enough to be understood clearly. It possibly hints to the heretical practice of a vicarious Baptism taken by the relatives of a person who died without being baptized, as some Church Fathers later understood it. 39 II Corinthians and Romans Paul has elaborated his thought of the moment of a definitive meeting with Christ (2Cor 5:1–20). His only wish is ‘to emigrate from the body and to be near the Lord’. Yet, his metaphoric explanation has given occasion to numerous interpretations. These may be reduced to three: 1) Paul deals with an intermediate state after death, without a bodily existence, though this is thought already ‘to be at home with the Lord’; 2) he speaks exclusively of the resurrection at the Parousia, and his words imply that he will not die before Christ’s return; 3) he speaks of already receiving a glorified body immediately after death. 40 His horror for an intermediate state, or ‘to be nude’ (1:1–10), is an obvious consequence of his Jewish background. 41 It is difficult, however, to appreciate the exact dimension of his words, for we do not know, for instance, whether the ‘revelation’ in 2Cor 5:10 and Rom 8:19 presupposes the general resurrection or only that of the ‘sons of God’. Indeed, it is an appearance before ‘Christ’s seat See texts in Staab 1963, pp. 443–450. O. Cullman, in his famous lecture Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead (London 1958), pointed out that it was the Greek doctrine of immortality of the soul that prevented Paul’s believers from accepting the great Christian hope of resurrection; and that Paul expresses, in 2Cor 5:1–10, this discrepancy produced by his Jewish view of the need of having to face the reality of an intermediate state between life in the present body and the final resurrection. 41 See below, Ch 4, pp. 120. 39 40

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of judgment’, and this presupposes the possibility of condemnation. In His trial, according to Rom 14:10–12, ‘we all shall stand before the judgment seat of God’, and ‘each of us shall give account of himself to God’. A subsequent retribution for the deeds of each one is also affirmed in 2Cor 11:15. In his mystical experience (2Cor 12:2–4), Paul was once ‘caught up’, 42 ‘God knows if in the body or out of the body’, to the ‘third Heaven’, a traditional expression for the nearest place to God. 43 A second time he was taken into ‘Paradise’, the ‫ גן עדן‬of rabbinic literature (cf. Ch 4, p. 94), which here probably indicates the intermediate place of happiness where the dead (in Christ) await the final revelation. Pastoral and Captivity Epistles In the judgment of the living and dead, Parousia and Kingdom are assigned here to Christ in the same level and as taking place on the same day (2Tim 4:1). It will be ‘the day’ (2Tim 1:12, 18) when Paul and all those who expect the manifestation (ἐπιφανεία) of Christ will receive the ‘wreath of righteousness’ (2Tim 4:8). Then, in a last stage of evolution, Pauline eschatology is dominated by the vision of Christ, universal peacemaker and reconciliator. His Kingdom is no longer considered temporary (cf. 1Cor 15:24), but eternal, and is even identified with God’s Kingdom (Eph 5:5). Christians have already been transferred into the Kingdom of the ‘beloved Son’ of God, for they have obtained redemption and remission of sins (Col 1:13f). Moreover, Christ’s Kingdom embraces now the whole universe, for all things subsist by Him (Col 1:16) and are gathered in Him (Eph 1:10). He is also ‘the firstborn from among the dead’ (προτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν), that is to say, the first one for whom death has constituted birth to a new life. It is ‘through His death’, ‘by the blood of His cross’ and ‘in His The same expression is found in the Apocrypha (cf. 1En 39:3; 52:1; 71:1, 5; Greek Apoc Bar 2ff). 43 The old biblical concept of two Heavens was expanded to three, on the basis of 1Kings 8:27 (cf. Midr Tehillim 114:2 [236a]) and later to seven (BT Hagigah 13a). We find also ten in 2En 22, and five in Greek Apoc Bar 11. 42

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body of flesh’ that He has reconciled all things (Col 1:20, 22). God the Father gave Him the highest name of ‘Jesus Christ the Lord’ for having ‘humbled Himself to the point of taking the condition of Servant’ (cf. Isa 53:3, 11) and making Himself ‘obedient until death and death on the cross’ (Phil 2:7–11). The cross has thus become a symbol of the divine economy of salvation: God ‘forgave us benevolently all our trespasses, having cancelled the act of accusation (χειρόγραφον) which stood against us with all its legal demands, and He set this aside, nailing it to the cross’ (Col 2:14). It is ‘by the cross’ that Christ joined in one the two separate peoples, Gentiles and Jews (Eph 2:16). As for the individual’s death and resurrection, Paul develops a concept already expressed with regard to Baptism (Gal 2:20f), namely, that the believer, already dead with Christ through the Baptism, must walk in a new life (Gal 2:20f; Rom 6:2). Now he considers the believer as already ‘risen with Christ’ (συνεγέρθητε τῷ Χριστῷ), though not yet ‘manifested in glory’ (Col 3:1f). Finally, we should mention Eph 4:9f, where Paul contrasts Christ’s exaltation with His ‘descending to the lowest parts of the earth’. This can be understood as pertaining exclusively to the material world, but perhaps, like Rom 10:7, what it has in mind is rather the stay of Christ in Sheol before His resurrection (cf. Acts 2:24). Gospel and Epistles of John John’s theological approach to Christ’s message forms a special unit within the N.T. books, though here also the converging point is Jesus dead and risen, winner of death and donator of life. Johannine eschatology may be divided into two different aspects – 1) actual possession of ‘eternal life’, and 2) future fulfilment of the resurrection of the dead, final judgment and retribution. Present eschatology Here the basic concept is ζωῆ αἰῶνιος, an expression which cannot be simply translated as ‘eternal life’, for it includes much more than

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the Semitic original ‫חיי עולם‬. 44 While the latter points always to a future life after death, in John it refers to a present and permanent reality, independent of any temporal circumstances. The believers already possess this ‘eternal life’ (John 5:4; 6:47) which has been brought up by Jesus (3:6; 10:10). Of what does it consist? ‘This is eternal life, that they know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent’ (17:3). In part, then, this theological category is identical to the ‘Kingdom of God’ of the Synoptic Gospels (cf. Mt 11:27). 45 It is a state of communication with God, in contrast to another state described as ‘death’ (John 8:51; 11:26) and ‘darkness’ (8:12). Whoever follows Jesus, ‘the light of the world’, walks ‘in the light of life’ 46 (8:12; cf. 1:4). Thus, this life can be expressed through the images of resurrection and immortality (5:14f; 11:25f). Obviously, Jesus’ doctrine in the Fourth Gospel presupposes the actual resurrection of Jesus and the faith in the future resurrection of dead (cf. below). Other metaphors complete the vision of this new form of vital communication with God. Jesus is ‘the true bread’, ‘the bread of life’, ‘descended from Heaven to give life to the world’ (6:27, 32f). The believer will never again ‘be hungry’, as he will never ‘be thirsty’ (6:35), for Jesus gives also the ‘water that pours into eternal life’ (4:10–14). Jesus is also the ‘gate’ through which one can enter in order to gain ‘salvation’ and ‘eternal life’ (10:7–10). This juxtaposition of concepts points to the fact that this sort of life will not stop with bodily death, but is peremptory, eternal, even in the temporal sense of the term. Jesus is ‘light’, a concept that not only relates to ‘eternal life’ (cf. above), but also to the present ‘judgment’ by God or by His 21F

213F

214F

This expression occurs in Qumran (4Q181, 4 and 6) as well as in funerary epigraphy (below, p. 137–138). See also Dodd 1953, pp. 144–150 45 The expression occurs also in John, twice in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus (3:3–5) and in His declaration to Pilate that His kingdom is nor from this world (18:36). It is not a typical Johannine doctrine and seems to be rather a literary adaptation due to special circumstances. 46 Use of the article (τὸ φῶς τῆς ζωῆς) indicates that such expressions are more concrete than if they were to be taken just poetically. 44

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Son (5:22, 27; 8:16, 50). Whoever rejects this ‘light’ is condemned in this ‘judgment’ (3:17–21; 9:39). And, inasmuch as ‘salvation’ is present, so also is ‘judgment’, that is, ‘condemnation’. Though both concepts imply a future reality to take place after death, John wants to emphasize above all the need for present faith in some realities already now existing. Such faith, on the other hand, involves the believer in a total commitment in his social life, as is clearly expressed in the Epistles (1John 2:8–11; 3:14f). This pragmatic aspect supplies us with the real meaning of all these symbols, which, otherwise, could be taken as purely theoretic speculations of a vain Gnosticism. Future eschatology Notions of an afterlife occupies in John a rather humble place, for, though accepted as fact and hoped for, they serve mainly as symbols for the more important, spiritual realities of this life. Both plans usually overlap. Jesus does not contradict Martha when she declares her faith in the future resurrection of her brother (John 11:24), but He answers her saying that, being Himself the resurrection, no one who believes in Him will ‘die forever’ (8:26; cf. 8:51). Bodily resurrection will take place on ‘the last day’ (cf. 6:39, 40, 44, 54; 12:48), and it will be performed by Jesus Himself (6:40). John probably does not accept the possibility of a future life in Hades: ‘resurrection of judgment’ indicates rather that those who have not accepted the faith in the Son of Man will be cast into perdition, to be annihilated (cf. 5:24). 47 Given the occasion, the two overlapping plans are openly distinguished between, as when Jesus speaks of preparing ‘a place’ for His disciples and for those who belong to Him (12:26; 14:2f; 17:24). This place is His ‘Father’s house, where there are many rooms’ (14:2f), in agreement with the current thought on the next world. 48 This coming to His Father’s house will precede Jesus’ return: ‘I am coming back (πάλιν ἔρχομαι) and will take you with Me’ 47

37.

48

Compare this doctrine with Wisd Sol 4:3–6. See, e.g., IV Ezra 4:35; 7:101; Syr Apoc Bar 30:2; BT Shab 152a,

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(14:3; cf. 21:22f). It is Christ’s ‘revelation’ (ἐὰν φανερωθὴ) and ‘Parousia’ for which the ‘freedom of speech’ (παρρησία) is necessary to the believers (14:3; cf. 21:22f), because it will certainly take place ‘in the day of judgment’ (ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς κρίσεος) (4:17). The end of this whole process will bring a ‘full reward’ for the believer’s ‘work’ (2John 8), a reward which will essentially consist of ‘being like’ God, for they ‘will see Him as He is’ (1John 3:2). Funerary rituals Some important passages in the Gospel of John require attention. Dead Lazarus is said to be ‘sleeping’ (11:11–14; cf. Dan 12:2). Many people gather at his sisters’ house to console them (11:8). Lazarus’ tomb is a cave sealed with a big stone (11:38f). His head had been bandaged with a ‘sudarium’ (11:44). At Jesus’ death, John observes that, being Sabbath eve, the bodies had to be removed from the crosses. The Jews ask Pilate that the bones of the legs of the crucified be broken. Jesus, although already expired, was pierced with a lance (19:31–34). Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who brought ‘a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight’, took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen clothes 49 with the spices, ‘as is the burial custom of the Jews’. This last observation is rather surprising, for it is not confirmed by any rabbinic text. Corpses were anointed with oil, not with spices. 50

CATHOLIC EPISTLES AND HEBREWS Jude This letter seems to be addressed to a Jewish-Christian community well aware of current eschatological doctrines, for its author quotes several passages of 1En (Jud 13, 14, 15), and the dispute between Michael and Satan about Moses’ body, from the Assumption of Regarding this custom see Vaccari 1953 and Bartina 1965. Cf. M Shab 23:5. Mark and Luke also tell the story of the pious women who on Sunday morning went to the tomb to anoint the body with ἀρώματα (Mk 16:1; Lk 24:1). 49 50

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Moses (Jud 9 and 16), in connection with the ‘condemnation’ which menaces the libertines. 51 Starting with the example of fallen angels who had been ‘in eternal chains in the nether gloom until the judgment of the great day’ (v. 6), the writer sees in the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire (cf. Gen 19:4–25), an ‘eternal fire’, the punishment designated for the libertines (v. 7). It was of these that ‘Enoch… prophesied, saying: “Behold, the Lord came with His holy myriads to execute judgment on all…”’ (cf. 1En 5:4; 27:2) (Jud 14f). The libertines are once called ‘wandering stars, for whom the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved forever’ (v. 13). This idea is taken from two passages in 1En (18:13ff and 21:1–6) that cast the stars as beings that did not obey God’s commandment and are being chained for 10,000 years. This short script finishes with an exhortation to trust in Christ’s mercy, that brings ‘eternal life’ (v. 21). II Peter Also here the idea of ‘judgment’ dominates eschatological thought. Judgment is prepared for the wicked, according to the example of the sinner angels that God ‘cast into Tartar and committed to pits of nether gloom to be kept until the judgment’ (2:4), the wicked men punished with the flood (2:5), the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah ‘condemned to extinction’ (2:6). So also the ‘false prophets’ bring upon themselves swift destruction’, because ‘from old their condemnation (κρίμα) has not been idle, and their destruction has been asleep’ (2:1–3). But ‘the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteousness under punishment until the day of judgment’ (2:9). And not only those false prophets and their followers shall suffer an ‘execrable judgment’ (2:12), but also the present Heaven and earth have been stored for the fire, being kept until the ‘day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men’ (3:7). Regarding the pressing question of ‘where is the promise of His coming (παρουσία), for ever since falling asleep, all things have 51

Jude possibly refers to the Gnostics of his time.

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continued as they were from the beginning of creation’ (3:4), the writer responds with the case of the flood, when the world that then existed was deluged by water and perished. For ‘the Lord is not slow about his promise…, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief (cf. 1Thes 5:2f), and the Heaven will pass away with loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up’ (3:8–10). As for the faithful, they may ‘escape from corruption’, and ‘become partakers of the divine nature’ (1:4; cf. Rom 6:3; 8:26; Gal 3:26; Eph 1:5; 4:4; 5:1), as the fruit of God’s promises, which seems to hint that this wonderful participation will only take place in the future. It is up to the faithful that their ‘call and election’ should be ‘confirmed’, so that they should be given ‘full entrance in the eternal Kingdom of Christ’ (1:11). The present state is only a ‘stay in a tent (= the body?)’ which will be ‘put off’ (ἀπόθησις), plausibly through death. The latter is also described as an ‘exit’ (ἔξοδος) (1:13–15). James This didactic exhortation deals also with ‘the coming of the Lord’, which is ‘at hand’, and must be awaited with patience. ‘The Judge is standing at the door’ (5:7–9). For ‘there is only one law-giver and judge. He is able to save and to destroy’ (4:12). Therefore, the rich are exhorted that the rust of their gold and silver will serve as evidence against them and will eat their flesh like fire, since they have stored up fire ‘for the last days’ (ἐν ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις) (5:1–3). In contrast with the rich, who will pass away like a dry herb (1:10f), the proved man will receive the promised ‘wreath of life’ (1:21; cf. 1Cor 9:25; 1Pet 5:4; Rev 2:10; 3:11) and ‘the Kingdom’ (2:5). The Epistle of James is full of expressions relating to salvation and condemnation: ‘sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death’ (1:15); ‘the implanted word, which is able to save your souls’ (1:21); ‘as to the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from work is dead’ (2:26); the ‘tongue… set on fire by Gehenna, sets on fire the whole circle of nature’ (3:6); ‘humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you’ (4:10); ‘whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death’ (5:20).

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An interesting recommendation is made about the anointing of the sick with oil ‘in the name of the Lord’; through the prayer of faith of the elders of the church, the sick man will be saved, ‘the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven’ (5:14f). Such practice and its meaning might bear connections with the anointing of the corpses. 52 I Peter The basic premise of this writing is the hope, fruit of the ‘regeneration’ caused by the resurrection of Christ (1:3), for the ‘revelation’ (ἀποκαλύψις) of Jesus (1:7, 13; 4:17) and the final ‘manifestation’ (φανηροθὴναι) of the believers in Him (1:5; 5:1). The last times have approached: ‘the end of everything has approached’ (ηγγικεν) (4:7), and ‘it is time (ὁ καιρός) for judgment to start with the house of God’ (4:17). An imperishable inheritance is kept in Heaven (1:3f), the ‘salvation of the souls’ (1:9), to be revealed in the last Age (ἐν καιρῷ εσχάτῳ) (1:5). God is the judge (1:7; 2:23), but a final judgment of living and dead is attributed to Christ (4:5), in a trial that will start with the believers, and from which the end of the wicked and sinner is to be feared (4:7f). Those who resist temptation will reach God’s ‘eternal glory in Christ’ (5:10). Faithful shepherds will get ‘an imperishable wreath of glory’ at the manifestation of the ‘Prince of the shepherds’ (5:4). It remains unclear what the writer means by ‘also to the dead the good news was preached’ (4:6). This may perhaps be related to Christ’s preaching to ‘the spirits in prison who formerly did not obey…, in the days of Noah…’, when only ‘eight persons were saved through water’. No mention at all is made of a final resurrection. As for Christ’s exaltation, He is now, after His resurrection, in Heaven, ‘at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to Him’ (3:22). ‘To Him (belongs) the dominion forever and ever’ (4:11). See above. The Mishna (Berak 5:5) also recommends the prayer for the sick. 52

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Hebrews The writer seems to address a well-defined group of Christians whose original Judaism could be very close to that of the Qumran sect. 53 His eschatology emphasizes the judicial aspect of the ‘approaching day’ (10:25). God is the judge (10:30f; 13:4), ‘judge of all’ (12:23), to Whom ‘we must render account’ (4:13). The judgment will be terrible (10:31), inevitable (12:25) and eternal (6:1). On the one hand, judgment seems to take place only at Christ’s return, when He ‘will appear’ (ὀφθήσεται) to those who wait for His salvation (εἰς σωτερίαν) (9:26). On the other, judgment may occur immediately after death (9:27). God is called ‘Father of the spirits’ (12:9), that is to say, ‘the spirits of the righteous arrived to their term’ (τετελειωμένων), probably those who form ‘the Church of the first-born, inscribed (ἀπογεγραμμένων) in Heaven’ (12:23). 54 And we learn that many famous men from the O.T. ‘died in faith’ (κατά πίστιν απέθανον) (11:13). Among other basic doctrines we also find that of the resurrection (6:1), which the writer derives from the O.T. and the books of Maccabees: ‘some women received their dead by resurrection’ (ἐξ ἀναστάσεος) (11:35; cf. 1Kings 17:23; 2Kings 4:36), while others ‘were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life’ (11:36; cf. 2Mac 6:18–7:24). As for the ‘future goods’, the reward expected by the righteous, Christ is their pontifex, for He reached ‘everlasting redemption’ (αἰώνιαν λύτροσιν) (9:11f). God has prepared a ‘city’ (11:16), ‘permanent and future’ (13:14), built by Himself (11:10), ‘a Heavenly homeland’ (11:14f), ‘an immovable Kingdom’, that God will give to the faithful after having removed earth and Heaven (12:26–28). For He wanted ‘to bring many sons to glory’ (2:10), so that they may ‘see God’ (12:4).

See also Yadin 1965. Cf. in the Apocrypha the ‘book of the living’ and the ‘Heavenly tablets’ (1En 103:2, etc.). 53 54

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All this is the ‘conservation of the soul’ (περιποίησιν ψύχης) (10:39), ‘salvation’ (9:28), ‘rest’ (4:1–11), a ‘sabbatical rest’ (σαββατισμός) (4:9). 55 The wicked, on the other side, will go into ‘perdition’ (ἀπώλειαν) (10:39), which entails not only bodily death (9:27) but a ‘terrifying expectation of judgment and ardor of a fire that will devour the enemies’ (10:37; cf. Isa 26:11 in LXX). In the whole the epistle to Hebrews one should observe the writer’s insistence on the sufferings, the blood, the death of Jesus Christ as the causal instrument of the righteous’ redemption (passim). Revelation of John With a typical apocalyptic structure, this book offers a complicated eschatology. It is full of biblical reminiscences, but its Christian element is present everywhere in the person of Jesus Christ, ‘the Lamb’ that has been slain (13:8), ‘the first-born of the dead (cf. Col 1:8)… who has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a Kingdom’ (1:5f). The letters in the first three chapters warn the faithful of seven churches with the divine ‘judgment’, a sort of invisible visit of Christ (2:5, 16). At the same time, throughout the book the final Parousia of Christ coming on the clouds (1:17; cf. 14:14) seems to be very near 1:3; 3:11; 22; 2:20), for Jesus is coming ‘like a thief’ (16:15; cf. Mt 24:43; 2Pet 3:10). This visit also is a judgment, one of condemnation and destruction (14:14, 20). It is ‘the great day of the almighty God’ (16:4), the day of the slaughter, for the kings of the earth will oppose resistance to the angels, executors of the judgment (19:17f). God will gather in Harmagedon 56 the Beast and the false Prophet to destroy them (16:16ff). They will be cast down alive into the lake of fire and sulphur, while their servants, who bear their sign on their foreheads, will die by the sword (19:20f). The same comparison is found in rabbinic doctrine (M Aboth 1; Midr Gen R 17). 56 Today Tel Megiddo (Cf. Judg 5:19,31; 2Kings 9:27; 23:29; Zech 12:11). 55

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After this destruction of the temporal powers, Satan will be cast into the abyss (ἄβυσσον) for a thousand years (20:1ff). The Kingdom of the martyrs and faithful with Christ will also last for a thousand years, after which period a ‘first resurrection’ will take place for all the other dead (20:4–6). In all probability, that millennium is to be understood in a figurative way. It is not said that martyrs will reign on earth. What is meant is a state of happiness with Christ in Heaven (cf. 11:11f; 14:15f; 15:2–4) for a rather long term, i.e., during the years of relative peace, between the persecutions and the end of the world, which will be preceded by the great apostasy (20:7ff). Martyrs and faithful reign in Heaven with Christ as soon as they die. These martyrs ‘complete the number’ of the old martyrs,57 whose souls are ‘resting under the (Heavenly) altar’ 58 and claiming justice for their blood (6:9f). At the end of the millennium, Satan will be unchained for a short period, and the nations Gog and Magog 59 will attempt a final attack against the elected and Jerusalem (20:7–9). God Himself will destroy them, casting them from Heaven into the fire; the devil will be thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur, to join the Beast and the False Prophet, who will be tormented forever (20:10). Only then does the final judgment take place, with Heaven and earth disappearing at the sight of the ‘great white throne’. The books are open, including the ‘book of the living’; according to them all dead are judged. Sea, death and Hades give back their dead. Death and Hades are then cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death (cf. 2:11), and he who is not found in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire (20:11–15; cf. 19:20). The lot of the wicked, therefore, seems to be a definite death. Regarding the ‘number of the elect’ cf. 1En 47:2ff; 4Ezra 4:35f; Syr Apoc Bar 23:43. 58 Also in rabbinic literature martyrs are said to enjoy the privilege of proximity to God (Pesiq 50a; Midr Qoh 9:10 [42b]. For R. Akiba (M Aboth 26 [7c]), every buried Jew, even outside the land of Israel, is considered as being under the Altar and held as if he were buried under the Throne of God (cf. BT Ket 111a). 59 The author quotes Ezek 48:2,4. Those names, which defy any identification, seem to be intentionally imprecise. 57

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For those whose names are to be found in the book of life (21:27), there will be ‘new Heaven and new earth’ (cf. Isa 65:17; 66:22), and a ‘new Jerusalem’ as well, that will come from Heaven, proceeding from God. There will be no Temple in the city, for ‘God-with-them’ will be the God of its inhabitants, who will be ‘His-people’. There will be no death and no more weeping, for ‘all the former things will have passed away’ (21:1–5). The new, celestial Jerusalem is enlightened by God Himself, and ‘its lamp is the lamb’ (21:11, 23f; 22:5). Its walls, made of precious stones (21:18), have 12 gates, with their watching angels and the names of the 12 tribes of Israel (21:12). Their 12 foundations, adorned with gems (21:19f), bear the names of the 12 Apostles of the Lamb (21:14). And the gates are never closed for there is no night (21:25; 22:5). The ‘river of the water of life flowing from God and the Lamb’ crosses the city, having at its side, as well as in the middle of the square, the Tree of Life that produces 12 fruits, one each month, to which the elected will have access (22:14) and whose leaves are of ‘medicinal use for the Gentiles’ (22:1–3). Inhabitants of the city will see God’s face (22:14) and will ‘reign forever’ (22:5). On their foreheads will be written the name of God (22:4). There will be 144.000 thus ‘sealed with the sign of the living God’ 60 (7:1–8; cf. 9:4) from the tribes of Israel. And from the Gentiles an innumerable crowd will stand before the throne and the Lamb, dressed in white clothes and with palm-branches in their hands – as in an eternal Feast of Tabernacles – praising God and the Lamb (7:9). The nations, indeed, will also walk in the light of the new Jerusalem (21:24–26). Jews and Gentiles form one community since the moment of their redemption, and both will be kings and priests for God (1:6; 5:10). John’s description of God’s throne and Heavenly court (4:1– 11) is inspired by Isa 4:1ff and Ezek 1:28ff, but it contains some new details: 24 elders on 24 thrones surround God’s throne, clad in white garments and with golden crowns upon their heads (4:1–4). 61 In Ezek 9:4 and 6, this seal has the cross-form of the Hebrew character thaw. 61 These old men probably represent the angels of time. 60

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From the central throne ‘issue flashes of lightning and voices and peals of thunder, and before the throne burn seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God (cf. 1:4), and before the throne there is as if it were a sea of glass, like crystal’ (4:5–6). Besides these great visions, there are still a number of hints, symbols and promises related to our subject. God is ‘alpha and omega’ (1:8; 22:13). Jesus, who is ‘similar to a Son of Man’ (1:3; cf. Dan 7:13), died but lives forever and has the key of death and Hades (1:18). He promises to the ‘winners’ and to the ‘faithful until death’ (2:10) ‘to eat from the tree of life which is the Paradise of God’ (2:7), ‘hidden manna’ and a ‘white stone, with new name written on the stone’ (2:17), ‘power over the nations’ and ‘the morning star’ (2:28). They will be dressed in white clothes (3:18; 6:11; 7:9, 13f). 62 Their names will not be erased from the book of life (3:4f). They will be permanently in the Temple of God like a column, and on them will be inscribed God’s name, the name of God’s city – the new Jerusalem –, and Jesus’ new name (3:12). The Lamb ‘will be their shepherd and will guide them to the spring of living water’ (7:17). Everyone who so desires will be able to ‘take the water of life without price’ (22:17). Before the Lord of the earth stand His ‘two witnesses and prophets – these are the two olive-trees and the two lamp-stands’ (11:4). ‘At the end of their testimony, the Beast… killed them, and their bodies lay in the street of the great city… where the Lord was crucified’. Their bodies were allowed to be placed in a tomb (μνῆμα), but after three and a half days, a breath of life (πνεῦμα ζωῆς) from God entered them, and they stood upon their feet… Then they heard a loud voice from Heaven saying to them, “Come up hither!” And in the sight of their foes they went up to Heaven in a cloud’ (11:7–12). 63 The many references to the white garment of the elect may be due to the ritual of the Feast of Tabernacles as it was celebrated during that period (cf. the frescoes at Dura-Europos synagogue). Many other details about the elect may also be related to it (see Daniélou 1961, pp. 9–30). 63 In Zech 4:3–14, the two olive-trees and lamp-stands represent Joshua and Zerubbabel. Here they may represent the first two Christian martyrs, Steven and James, who were killed in Jerusalem (Acts 7:54–60; 62

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Some typically eschatological symbols 1) God’s wrath represented as a cup of wine (14:10; 15:7–16:1ff; 16:19; cf. 18:3, 6), as in the O.T.; 64 Jesus Himself will ‘tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty’ (19:15).

2) The Messianic meal, represented here in form of vengeance against the oppressing powers. An angel invites all the birds flying in the mid-Heaven to come and gather for ‘the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of the kings…, of captains… of mighty men…, of horses and their riders… of all men…’ (19:17f).

3) In Heaven, the elect will dwell in God’s Tabernacle (21:3; cf. 7:15; 12:12; 13:6).

Individual, immediate eschatology of John’s revelation appears summarized in this blessing: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth; Yea, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them’ (14:13).

12:2), but their resurrection and ascension to Heaven are difficult to explain. It could be understood as the martyrs’ glorification by God during the Messianic Kingdom of 1000 years. ‘Three and a half days’ means that the period of persecution will be very short. 64 Isa 51:17–22; 15:7; Jer 25:15; Ps 75:9.

CHAPTER FOUR. EARLY JEWISH LITERATURE The material included in this chapter ranges from the Dead Sea Scrolls to inscriptions on tombs. These different sources have been gathered under one heading for purely practical reasons, with no attempt to find in them any common denominator. Yet there is certainly a common thought underlying these diverse scripts. Despite their varied origins, whether in the Alexandrian Hellenized school or a land-rooted Israelite tradition, each text evinces faith in an everlasting existence after the present life on earth. Only the way in which eternal life is presented differs from one writing to another. Differences, however, are not only a question of presentation, of genus literarium, but of the very understanding of existence after death. While pre-gnostic trends in Qumran point toward the fulfilment of the divinely-directed human nature through the practice of divine law, in Rabbinic Judaism afterlife is rather considered a gift from God, gratuitously granted to His faithful. Important details, such as belief in bodily resurrection, intermediate states and a final judgment, often radically differ in the various sources as well. Let us not forget the numerous and often unsurmountable difficulties in establishing exact dates and authorship in early literature, especially where rabbinic teachings are concerned. With respect to rabbinic teachings, we of course could have limited ourselves to reviewing Tannaitic literature, but instead, an exception has been made wherever we were sure that more recent works show a direct relationship to an early source.

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

Qumran sectarians constituted an eschatological community, who were spiritually preparing themselves to take part in a final war 101

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against the ‘sons of darkness’; and scholars have trouble trying to establish a clear distinction between symbolism and reality regarding this war. To this community of believers who lived in continuous expectation of the final revelation of God, individual death was nothing more than an incident, for they were convinced that God is already grasped by man through his knowledge of Him. Certainly, their ideas about death had little in common, for instance, with those of the ossuary makers and users from Jerusalem. Nevertheless, both groups took the Bible as their starting point, so that there is an undeniable similarity of symbolic language where existence after death is concerned. From archaeological evidence in the burial area of Kh. Qumran, 1 it appears that funerary customs were quite different from those in the rest of the country in that period, with graves dug in the ground and marked by an oval of pebbles, instead of cut out of rock. No lamps or coins have been found near the bodies, which sometimes show signs of poor ornamentation. 2 The Mishnaic rule prohibiting burial within a distance of less than 50 cubits from a dwelling-place was not observed at Qumran. Yet there is a text dealing with impurity of the dead (CD XII, 16–18) that is very similar to the prescription in the Mishna (Megilla 4:3; Ket 2:10). Little can be inferred from these discoveries throwing new light on the eschatological doctrine of the sectarians, as known to us from the texts. Death and the body Dualistic doctrines from Qumran, which divided men into ‘righteous’ and ‘wicked’, into ‘sons of light’ and ‘sons of darkness’, were also applied to the nature of man. Dealing with man’s election and divine predestination, 3 the author of Hymns sets forth the contrast By de Vaux 1953, pp. 95, 102–103, fig. 5, pls. IV–V; 1954, pp. 206–207; 1956, pp. 569–571). Some independent excavations were later undertaken by Stekoll 1968. 2 It would be interesting to know the contents of a written text reported found in grave G2, in the collar of pebbles around the neck. 3 On these subjects see the study by Flusser 1965, pp. 220–222 (predestination) and 222–227 (election). 1

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between man’s precarious earthly condition and man’s eternal vocation. Made of dust and destined to return to dust, the author is astonished at the fact that God allows him to comprehend His marvels and ‘the mystery of His truth’. ‘I, who am dust and ashes, what shall I plan without Thee willing it… and how shall I understand unless Thou create for me (a spirit)?’ (1QH X, 13–17). 4 From the ‘dust’ that man is, God has constituted him an ‘eternal foundation’ (‫ ;מעפר לסוד עולם‬cf. Prov 10:25) (1QH III, 21). Other texts see an explicit link between this dust and the dust of the tomb with its worms: ‘And those who lay on dust ( ‫שכבי‬ ‫ ;עפר‬cf. Job 7:21; 20:11; 21:26) lifted up their banner, and the worm of death carried the flag’ (1QH VI, 34). ‘… To raise up from the dust the worm of death to an (eternal) foundation’ (1QH XI, 12). Although such expressions may be no more than poetic (see below), they reveal the writer’s awareness of the body’s corruptibility. Fl. Josephus also stresses this point in his description of the Essenes (below, pp. 115-116). Death was thought of as caused by sin (11QPs a Plea 9–10). The sectarians’ attitude towards it was that of persons in possession of the hope of immortality, for whom death is only a necessary step to reach it. If the Essenes are to be identified, at least in part, with the Qumran sectarians, then Josephus’ account of their courage in the face of torment, death and martyrdom is quite understandable.5 Josephus adds, hyperbolically, that ‘death, if it come with honor (εἰ μετ’ευκλείας πρόσιοι), they (= the Essenes) consider it better than immortality (ἀθανασίας ἀμείνονα)’. Faith in immortality According to some scholars, ‘to the men of Qumran there was no hope after death. The grave would be man’s final resting-place’. 6 Others affirm that in the Hymns or Hodayot, belief in a bodily resOn the relationship between this text (cf. also 1QH XII,11–13; 32– 34; XV,21–22) and Wisd Sol 9:13–18, and also its Hellenistic implications, see Flusser 1965, pp. 258f. 5 Part of this text is quoted below, p. 115–116. 6 Laurin 1958, p. 255. 4

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urrection is clearly stated. 7 A third point of view holds that a passage in the Manual of Discipline (IV 20–22) ‘seems to imply the idea of a bodily resurrection of a “spiritual body”’. 8 On his part, Josephus is categorical in affirming the Essenes’ faith in immortality of the soul, comparing their doctrine to that of the Greeks (see below, pp. 115-116). An analysis of the texts themselves, which seem to us to refer to individual eschatology – and which we would prefer to call mystic, to differentiate between them and those describing general eschatology (see next paragraph) – leads us to establish a parallel between them and gnostic doctrines. 9 In fact, the starting point of the author of Hymns is the view that the moment man is purified from his sins by God’s mercy and benevolence (IV 36–37), he finds himself in a secure place, one which rests ‘on eternal foundations’ (VIII 8–9); and this is equivalent to having knowledge of God’s truth, a knowledge that has been granted to him by God Himself: ‘Thou hast made them (= the sons of His ‫ )רצון‬to know (‫ )הודעתם‬Thy deep, deep truth and divine (‫ )הסכלתם‬Thine inscrutable wonders; and for Thy glory’s sake, Thou hast granted it unto man to be purged of transgression, that he may hallow himself to Thee and be free from all taint of filth and all guilt of perfidy, to be one of them that possess Thy truth, and to share (= that shares) the lot of Thy Holy Beings’ 10 (1QH XI 9–10). 24F

Rabin 1955, pp. 174–182. Flusser 1965, p. 256, quoting 1Cor 15:42–47 and, with some reservation, M Sota (end). 9 Relationships between Qumran and Gnosticism have been pointed out by some scholars; see Dupont-Sommer 1952; Ringgren 1967; Mansoor 1967; Painter 1969. 10 English free translation by Gaster 1964, pp. 178f. 7 8

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Qumran dualism does not rest on a duality implicit in nature, as does Gnosticism. In addition to man’s lowly origin, ‘shaped of clay and kneaded with water, a bedrock of shame and a source of pollution’, the author of Hymns also mentions his lack of intelligence (1QH I 21–23). It is this lack, therefore, that God comes to fill with knowledge, so that man may be saved. However, a fundamental distinction must be made between ‘knowledge’ in Qumran (‫ )דעת‬and in Gnosticism (γνῶσις). While for the latter, knowledge is ‘understanding of nature of reality, of origin, nature and predicament of the soul’, in Qumran it is acknowledgment of the ‘marvels of God’s creation, fulfilment of prophecies, and the meaning of divine laws of the O.T. that man must obey’. 11 Here, then, knowledge implies observance of the Law (‘faith with works’ as the N.T. would put it). 12 Obviously, these ‘works’ have nothing in common with gnostic practices. Most important for our subject is the immediate result of such knowledge: salvation, eternal life. By God’s grace, ‘there is salvation (1QH XI 17), which is as ‘eternal’ as God Himself (‫( )אל עולם‬1QH VII 30–32). 13 In texts like this, the author is obviously convinced that no accident can disturb God’s plan of salvation for the elect. There is no anxiety about death, resurrection, the day of God’s ‘visitation’, tribulation of the last days, the coming of a savior, or the final judgment. Salvation is already obtained at the moment of purification, and it lasts forever. The Manual of Discipline is quite explicit about this point: ‘The reward for all those walking in it (i.e., the spirit of truth) is health, abundance of peace in a long life, fruitfulness with everlasting blessings, and permanent joy in an eternal life (‫( ’…)חיי נצח‬1QS IV 6–8). Undoubtedly, the mystical enthusi243F

24F

Mansoor 1967, p. 178, who quotes also Burrows 1955, p. 256. See, for instance, 1QH VI, 6: ‘I know that there is hope for those who leave transgression and abandon sin’. 13 Also in the Angelic Liturgy, a number of epithets for the various groups of angels link their state of purity (‫ )טהרי טהור‬with the knowledge of divine secrets (‫ לבורי סכל‬,[‫)ידעו רזי]ם‬, their eternal existence (‫הווי‬ ‫ קדושי עולמים‬,‫עולמים‬, etc.), and the eternal peace (‫ )שלום עולמים‬enjoyed by them (4Q3911:1ff). 11 12

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asm of the Community has combined faith in the individual salvation with an eschatological expectation of a cosmic kind. Did Qumran mystics believe in resurrection? All we can be absolutely sure of is that a bodily resurrection was not one of their vital concerns. Some texts that have been quoted as expressing belief in resurrection may be interpreted symbolically: ‘And then (i.e., at the time of the final judgment) God will purge all the acts of man in the crucible of His truth, and refine for Himself all the fabric of man, destroying every spirit of perversity with his flesh and cleansing him by the Holy Spirit from all the effects of wickedness’ (1QS IV 20–21). ‘For when (at the last) they so essay, the sword of God will be swift to wreak a final judgment, and all who acknowledge His truth will rouse themselves to (do battle) (against the forces of) wickedness, and all the sons of guilt will be no more’ (1QH VI 29–30). 14 General eschatology and future life Qumran sectarians thought their time to be the ‘final Age of wrath’ (‫)קץ חרון‬, 15 the ‘period of iniquity’, 16 and held themselves in a state of preparedness by living as closely as possible to the example of Israel’s life in the wilderness, in the hope that they would very soon enter into the ‘new promised Land’; 17 sometimes they seem to have suffered from impatience (1QpH). But they are also convinced that there will be a ‘period of favor’ (‫)מועד רצון‬, when God will grant ‘eternal salvation and ever247F

248F

249F

Cf. also the texts 1QH VI, 34 and XI, 12, quoted above. An external witness to the Essenes’ belief in resurrection is that of Hippolytus (Elenchos XI, 27, 1), though it is quite possible that a mistake in copying, a simple case of dittography, caused him to read ἀφθαρσἰα for φθἀρτα in Josephus’ text; hence his misunderstanding of Essene doctrine. See Carmignac 1958–59, p. 238. 15 CD VI, 5; 1QH III, 28; Fragm. 1, 5; 1QpHos b, I, 12; cf. Zeph 1:5. In Rabbinic Judaism too the term ‘wrath’ has an eschatological meaning (cf. BT Baba Bathra 10a; Shab 11a; Abodah Zarah 18b). 16 CD VI, 10, 14; XII, 23; XIV, 19; XV, 7, 10; cf. XX, 23. See also 1En 22:12; 80:2. 17 Yadin 1965, p. 55. 14

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lasting peace’ (‫ )לישוע עולם ולשלום עד‬to the righteous (1QH XV 15–16). This may be understood as referring to a special divine providence for the elect. However, many passages in the Manual of Discipline explicitly mention a ‘final Age’ (‫)קץ‬, 18 which will probably be preceded by the ‘time of visitation’ (‫( )מועד פקודה‬IV, 20). At this judgment God will examine all human works (IV, 20–21), and ‘destroy iniquity forever’ (‫( )לעד‬IV, 18–19). God, indeed, has decided to put into execution His plan for a general ‘renewal’ ( ‫עשות‬ ‫( )חדשה‬IV, 25). Also in Hymns it is written – in the style of Qohelet – that in God’s hands is ‘the judgment of all’ (1Q H V, 4; cf. Eccle 3:17; 11:9; 12:4). As this judgment is identical with ‘punishment’ (III, 27), it may be assumed that bad spirits and angels will suffer also, for they too are to be judged (IX, 23), as the oppressed soul suffered from its tyrants in the Age of wrath (III, 24–28). Cosmic cataclysms will make the earth desolate, for the ‘torrents of Belial’ will overflow everywhere to devour those who did drink from them, before casting them finally into the Abyss and Abaddon (III, 29– 32). The entire earth shall be destroyed by God and His hosts (III, 33–36). It is hard to distinguish this real ekpyrosis 19 from the eschatological fight between the ‘sons of light’ and the ‘sons of darkness’ described in the War Scroll. But it is quite possible that the universal destruction mentioned in Hymns is nothing more than a literary amplification of the final victory that God will grant to the oppressed poor – among whom is included the mystical poet – against their oppressors. Indeed, God had ‘revealed to him his salvation’. As for the war against Belial (see above), and the one against Gog (War Scroll I, 10, 23–24 and passim), we do not know its exact relationship to a Messianic Age. There are, in fact, several definite allusions to Messianic expectations in Qumran. See, for example, the ‘precursor’ (1QSa IX, 11), the ‘star’ (CD VII, 18), the ‘faithful shepherd’ who shall rise up (New Covenant 3, 28), and the ‘Messiah’ himself, who is the Anoint1Q S 3:23; 4:18,25; CD IV, 9, 10; 20, 15; 1QpHab VII,2. Cf. already Mal 3:19; Dan 7:10f; the O.T. Apocrypha, passim; also the N.T. (Lk 17:28; 2Thes 1:7f; 2Pet 3:6ff; Rev 19:20; 20:10, 14ff; 21:8). 18 19

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ed for righteousness, branch of David, and interpreter of the Law (4Q Patriarchal Blessings, lines 3–4; cf. 4Q Florilegium, lines 1–4). One small manuscript gives us a collection of Messianic testimonia (4QTestimonia). Two Messiahs are described, ‘Messiah of Aharon’ (a priestly Messiah), and ‘Messiah of Israel’ (a lay Messiah) (1QS IX, 11), and both of them are to exercise their functions at the end of the ‘Age of iniquity’ (CD XII, 22). 20 Eschatological war, however, will be fought, not under the leadership of the Messiah, but with the help of powers of light, justice, and appointed angels. On one side, the sons of Levi, Judah, Benjamin, and the rest of the Israelite tribes will be arrayed; on the other side, the enemies of Israel – at their head the ‘Kittim’ 21 –, assisted by Belial and the powers of darkness and evil. After six years, during which time each side is to win three battles, the final victory is attained by the sons of light, thanks to the ‘powerful hand of God’. Then, in separate battles the struggle continues for 29 more years against all other nations. 22 We are ignorant of the lot of the sinners from among the tribes of Israel. In Qumran we do not find a consistently held view of life after death as we do in the apocalypses, but only several references to a future state. Once evil has been ‘destroyed forever’ (1QS IV, 18f, 23), and the ‘time for decision and of renewing all things’ arrives (ibid. IV, 26; cf. Isa 20:23; Dan 11:36), the righteous ones, purified by the Holy Spirit while in their present bodies (ibid. IV, 22), 23 will be instructed in the ‘knowledge of the Most High, and the wisdom of the sons of Heaven… for God has elected them in an eternal Covenant and theirs shall be the glory of Adam’ (ibid.). They return to the primaeval state of innocence and intimacy with God enjoyed by the Concerning Messianic hope in Qumran, and its evolution, see Starcky 1963. 21 The Romans are probably meant. Cf. also 4QpNah I, 3 and 4QpIsa a7, lines 5 and 7. 22 See Yadin 1962, p. 4. 23 According to Licht (1965, pp. 96–97), this text deals with moral purification, symbolically expressed in terms of ritual purification. But it is equally possible to see here a hint to a probable funerary rite practiced in Qumran. 20

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first parents. They ‘will be in the rows of the host of the saints, entering into the company of the congregation of the sons of Heaven’ (1QH III, 22), remaining forever in the presence of God (1QH IV, 21f) in eternal blessedness in the place that He has established for them (1QH VII, 5). Present sufferings are to be turned into joy; wounds into perpetual health; and in place of the mockery of their enemies, they will receive ‘a diadem of glory’ (1Q H IX, 24). 24 Eternal life25 is enjoyed by God’s saints in Heaven. In addition, material blessings on earth are also not withheld from true believers (cf. New Covenant, col. I). For all this goodness, continual thanksgiving will pour from the lips of the blessed (ibid.), 26 who will sing with one voice a joyful hymn in ‘eternal peace’ (New Covenant, col. 1). Special mention should be made of the expression ‘an eternal plantation’ (‫)מטעת עולם‬, typically used by the sectarians to describe themselves, and particularly dear to the author of Hymns. 27 This expression is linked with the image of an ‘eternal fountain’ (‫ )מקור עולם‬and a ‘secret source’ (1Q H VIII, 6–8). The meaning is that these ‘eternal trees’ (‫ )עצי עולם‬planted near the stream of Torah have life which is assured forever in a ‘glorious Eden’ (cf. 1Q H VIII, 19–20). Watered by all the rivers of Eden, they extend their shade to the whole world. There will also be ‘a fountain of light… Cf. 1Q IV, 8 and 11QPs a Plea, 7–8. To the texts quoted above, in the last section, may be added 4Q181, 4 and 6 (‫)חיי עולם‬, and 1QS IV, 8 (‫)באור עולמים‬. 26 This text is important, for it places in the everlasting thanksgiving the very aim of the creation of the elect: ‘For it is for this that Thou hast created me’. 27 It appears developed in 1QH XV; cf. also 1QS VIII,5; XI,9. The expression is probably based on Isa 60:21 (‫)נצר מטעו‬, and is also found in the Apocrypha (see 1En 93:2,3,5,10 and Od Sol 38, 18–21), in the Mishnah (Sanh 1), and in the Mandaean liturgy (see texts in Rudolph 1960, p. 258). But its transcendent connotation in Qumran is obvious from its connection with the Paradisiac symbols. In 1QS XI,8–9 the expression occurs in a context dealing with the participation that God has granted to the members of the Community ‘in the portion of the saints, with the sons of Heaven’ (= angels). 24 25

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a perpetual unfailing spring’ (ibid. VI, 15–18). Trees, water, light, Eden… all these are symbols of a transcendent, indescribable world. 28 In addition, the image of an indestructible ‘tower’ (1Q H VI, 26–31), a ‘fortified city’, and a ‘foundation on a rock’ (1Q H VI, 26–31; 4Q 160, col. II, 2–3) are used with explicit reference to the eternal security that God will provide for His elect in another Age. One text mentions also the ‘house’ and the ‘sanctuary’ formed by men, where God is going to dwell ‘in the last days’ (Florilegium 19– 11a). Upper World and Nether World A scroll dealing with the Heavenly liturgy (4Q Sl) gives us a detailed account of the angels’ praises. An important point here is the number ‘seven’, 29 referring to the chiefs of the angels, to the princes of the second rank, to the tongues and mysterious words. However, seven Heavens are not mentioned, nor are the Seraphim, in neither this scroll nor in any other manuscript from Qumran published to date. In section 37–40 of 4QSl we have our first introduction to the vision of the throne-chariot of God (cf. Ezek 1 and 10), with its Cherubim, its animals (‫)חייות‬, and wheels (‫ גלגלים‬,‫)אופנים‬, the latter not yet transformed into a new order of angels. The various divisions of the earthly temple (,‫ דביר‬,‫אולם‬ ‫ קודש‬,‫ פרוכת‬,‫ )משכן‬are so many reflections of the Heavenly dwelling-place of God. Nothing is said about whether or not this celestial abode is the one reserved for the elect. We only find an allusion to them in the case that the curious expression ‫משכן אלי דעת‬, i.e., the ‘dwellingplace of the great possessors of knowledge’, probably referring to angels, but which is also possible to interpret as referring to ‘men’.

A dubious testimony by Josephus on how the Essenes imagined life after death is given below, pp. 115-116. 29 This has been pointed out by the editor of the text, Strugnell 1960, p. 328. 28

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These beings ‘prostrate before the (Cheru)bim’, reciting their blessings (4QSl 40:24, 2). 30 As for the Nether World, Sheol and related terms are often mentioned in the scrolls, particularly in a passage about the ‘evil woman’: (Those who approach her) ‘will go back to Sheo[l], and those who possess her will end up in the pit (‫( ’)שחת‬4Q184, 1, line 10). ‘Mansions of darkness are her chambers… To the foundation of the gloom (‫ )אפלות‬will she take her resting-place, and she will sleep in the tents of the Netherworld (‫)אהלי דומה‬, in the middle of an eternal fire’ (ibid. lines 16 and 19–20). According to Hymns, Sheol has its ‘chambers’ (1Q H X, 34– 35) and its ‘gates’ and ‘doors’ through which the wicked are swallowed up (ibid. III, 16–18). Synonyms for Sheol are ‘pit’ (‫ )שחת‬and ‘place of perdition’ (‫( )אבדון‬e.g., ibid. 16 and 19–20). Yet, it may be that all these terms refer only to death itself. We see, in fact, in 1QHVIII, 28 and 29, parallelism between ‘those who descend to Sheol’ (‫ )יורדי שאול‬and ‘the dead’; and in IX, 4 Sheol and death appear to be synonymous (cf. already Isa 38:18). Only one text of Hymns vaguely alludes, in connection with the judgment, to the fire of Sheol (XVII, 13). On the other hand, in the Manual of Discipline there is a threat against those of the ‘portion of Belial’ which reads: ‘Be condemned to darkness of everlasting fire’ (‫)אש עולמים באפלת‬ (cf. Mt 18:9; Mk 9:43).

PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA

The writings of this contemporary of Jesus and Paul, 31 in whom Hellenistic Judaism reaches its greatest splendor, are mainly mystical treatises. His primary purpose was to show men the way to achieve perfect union with God, and toward this target he made use of an allegorical system of exegesis that deserves to be carefully Also in other Qumran books angels are possessors of transcendent knowledge, as in several of the Apocrypha. Similarly, the mention the ‘Holy Ones’ (‫ )קדושים‬in 1QM has been unconvincingly interpreted to mean the blessed in Heaven (Carmignac 1958, p. 18). 31 He may have lived between 15–10 BC and 50 AD. 30

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and thoroughly analyzed in connection to the question of symbols in the Jewish art of the period. 32 We cannot go beyond a short record of his doctrines regarding immortality. The souls of the righteous The body is the tomb of the soul (Quod Deus immut. 32). The present life in the body is death, the body being the prison of the soul (De migrat. Abrah. 2). Some souls, while still in their mortal bodies, constantly meditate on how to die to life in this body, in order to reach the incorporeal and immortal life in the presence of God (De gigant. 3). Commenting on Gen 15:15 (LXX), he says: ‘Here is indicated the corruptibility of the soul, when she transports herself from the mansion of the mortal body, and returns, so as to say, to the metropolis of her fatherland, from which she had originally emigrated to the body; … for what else is this if not proposing and placing before oneself another life out of the body?’ (Quaest. in Gen. 3:11). ‘An immortal life, therefore, awaits the pious ones’ (De post. Caini). Immortality is a ‘regeneration’ (παλιγγενεσία) (De Cherub. 32:114) and a ‘second birth’ (δεύτερα γένεσις) (Qaest. in Exod. 2:46). 33 Exceptional Figures Commenting on the biblical sentence ‘and thou shalt go to thy fathers’ (Gen 15:15), Philo says that ‘thy fathers’ does not mean, as some affirm, ‘the sun, the moon and the stars’, nor does it mean, as others think, ‘the ideas, in which – as they say – the mind of the wise man finds its new home’; nor does it mean the four elements, ‘but – in my opinion – they mean the incorporeal substances and the inhabitants of the divine world, which in other passages we are accustomed to call angels’ (Quaest. in Gen. 3:11). The ‘people’ to whom Abraham was joined (cf. Gen 25:8) are ‘the people of God’, who are truly incorruptible and similar to angels; ‘for angels consti32 33

They have been studied by Goodenough 1953–1968. Cf. also regeneration and rebirth in the N.T.

4. EARLY JEWISH LITERATURE

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tute the hosts of God, being as they are incorporeal and blessed souls’ (De sacrif. 2:5). Similarly, it is said of Jacob, the athlete, that he was joined to ‘the good’ (cf. Gen 49:33), after leaving that which was ‘less good’. 34 Isaac, however, was not joined to his people but to his race (γενος). This means that he was taken to the intelligible world, 35 which is different from Heaven (De sacrif. 2:5). Enoch, Moses and Elijah did not die, but were transported during life. Enoch first ‘was transported from a sensible and visible place to an incorporeal and intelligible idea’ (Quaest. in Gen. 1:86). Moses, however, was placed among those ‘whom God had promoted even higher, lifting him above all species and gender, and has placed him beside Himself’ (De sacrif. 3:8). 36 The Condemned ‘Eternal death awaits those who live according to the fashion of the impious’ (De post. Caini 11:39). The man rejected by God will suffer eternal punishment in the place appointed for the ungodly, where he will be cast immediately after his death (De Cherub. 1). Apostates ‘shall be thrown into Tartar and the deep gloom’ (Praem. 26:52). 37 Also the wicked Jews shall be given up to Tartar (De exsecr. 6).

FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS

This Jewish historian from the I cent. AD records different views about the fate of souls after death, current in the contemporary Jewish sects and other peoples of his time. Writing for Greeks and From the context it is clear that Philo placed Jacob and Abraham in the same place. 35 γένος is the term employed by Philo to designate the ideas. 36 It is to be noted that in Philo’s system Moses plays a role similar to that of the Logos in Plato. 37 Philo probably did not think of a mythical, but rather of an ideological Tartar (Wolfson 1948, p. 42–43). In other texts he mentions the ‘true Hades’, i.e., ‘the life of the wicked, a life of condemnation and blood guilt, the victim of every curse’ (Congreg. 11,57; cf. Quis rerum div. 9,45; De somn. I,23,151). 34

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Romans, his language is sometimes ambiguous, and commentators have often interpreted him wrongly, particularly when assigning to him the belief in the doctrine of metempsichosis. 38 Rather, he accepts the Pharisaic doctrine of immortality of the soul and resurrection of the body. As we have pointed out above, Josephus ascribed to the Essenes a teaching which differed widely from the doctrines of Qumran sectarians that we find in the scrolls. Indian thought, as he reports it, is extremely valuable insofar as it reveals the extent to which the educated classes of Jewish society could be influenced by foreign ideas. 39 Portion of the Souls according to the Romans From Titus’ speech to his soldiers: ‘I refrain on this occasion from an encomium on the warrior’s death and the immortality reserved for those who fall in the frenzy of battle, but for any who think otherwise the worst I could wish is that they may die in peace of disease, soul and body alike condemned to the tomb. For what brave man knows not that souls released from the flesh by the sword on the battlefield are hospitably welcomed by that purest of elements, the ether (αἰθῆρ), and placed among the stars (ἄστροις ἐγκαθίδρυει); and that as good genii and benignant heroes they manifest their presence to posterity; while souls which pine away with bodies wasted by disease, however pure they may be from stain or pollution, are obliterated in subterranean night and pass into profound oblivion, – their life, their bodies, and their memory, brought simultaneously to a close? But if men are doomed to an inevitable end, and the sword is a gentle minister thereof than any disease, surely it were ignoble to deny to the public service what we must surrender to fate’ (War VI, 46–49).

Thackeray 1919, p. 159. The following quotations are taken from the English edition and translation of Josephus’ works by Thackeray – Marcus, et al. 1946–1965. 38 39

4. EARLY JEWISH LITERATURE

115

According to the Indians 40 Eleazar’s exhortation in Masada: ‘They (= the Indians), brave men that they are, reluctantly endure the period of life, as some necessary service due to nature, but hasten to release their souls from their bodies; and though no calamity impels nor drives them from the scene, for sheer longing for the immortal state, they announce to their comrades that they are about to depart. Nor is there any who would hinder them: no, all felicitate them and each gives them commissions to his loved ones; so certain and absolutely sincere is their belief in the intercourse which souls hold with one another. Then, after listening to these behests, they commit their bodies to the fire, that the soul may be parted from the body in the utmost purity, and expire amidst hymns and praise. Indeed, their dearest ones escort them to their death more readily than do the rest of mankind their fellow-citizens when starting on a very long journey; for themselves they weep, but them they count happy as now regaining immortal rank’ (War VII, 352–356). According to the Essenes and the Greek ‘They (= the Essenes) make light of danger, and triumph over pain by a resolute will: death, if it comes with honor, they consider better than immortality. The war with the Romans tried their souls through and through by every variety of test… Smiling in their agonies and mildly deriding their tormentors, they cheerfully resigned their souls (τὰς ψυχάς ἠφίεσαν), 41 confident that they would receive them back again. For it is a fixed belief of theirs that the body is corruptible and its constituent matter impermanent, but that the soul is immortal and imperishable. Emanating from the finest ether, these souls become entangled, as it were, in the prison-house of the body, to which they are dragged down by a sort of natural spell: but when once they are released from the bonds of the flesh, then, as though 273F

This is probably taken from the Indica of Megasthenes, a Greek writer who visited India in the III cent. BC. 41 This is a typical expression employed by Josephus, indicating the moment of death. He also uses ἀποδοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν (cf. War VI, 66). 40

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liberated from a long servitude, they rejoice and are born aloft (μετεώρους φέρεσθαι). Sharing the belief of the sons of Greece, they maintain that for virtuous souls there is reserved an abode beyond the ocean, a place which is not oppressed by rain or snow or heat, but is refreshed by the ever-gentle breath of the west wind coming in from the ocean; while they relegate base souls to a murky and tempestuous dungeon, big with never-ending punishments. The Greeks, I imagine, had the same conception when they set apart the isles of the blessed for their brave men, 42 whom they call heroes and demigods; and the region of the impious for the souls of the wicked down in Hades, where, as their mythologists tell, persons such as Sysiphus, Tantalus, Ixion, and Titus are undergoing punishments. Their aim was first to establish the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and secondly, to promote virtue and to deter from vice; for the good are made better in their lifetime by the hope of a reward after death, and the passions of the wicked are restrained by the fear that, even though they escape detention while alive, they will undergo never-ending (ἀθάνατον) punishment after their decease (διάλυσιν). Such are the theological views of the Essenes concerning the soul, whereby they attract all who have once tasted their philosophy’ (War II, 151–158; cf. also Ant XVIII, 18). According to the Pharisees ‘Though they (= the Pharisees) postulate that everything is brought about by fate, 43 still they do not deprive the human will of the pursuit of what is in man’s power, since it was God’s good pleasure that there should be a fusion and that the will of man with his virtue and vice should be admitted to the council-chamber of fate. They believe that souls have power to survive death (ἀθάνατον τε See Hesiodus’ Works and Days, 170ff. Writing for a Greek public, Josephus employed this term to refer to what we would call Providence. Εἰμαρμένη has no equivalent in Hebrew, as has been pointed out by Moore (1971, p. 379). But it has no equivalent in Greek either. Josephus himself employs the term πρὀνοια when he discusses his own deliverance from a death for which he did not wish (War III, 391). 42 43

4. EARLY JEWISH LITERATURE

117

ισχύν) and that there are rewards and punishments under the earth for those who have lives of virtue or vice; eternal imprisonment (εἰρχμον αίδιον) is the lot of evil souls, while the good souls receive an easy passage to a new life (ραστώνην τοῦ ἀναβιοῦν)’ (Ant XVIII, 13–14). According to the Sadduacees ‘The Sadducees hold that the soul perishes along with the body’ (Ant XVIII, 18). According to Josephus himself ‘Each individual, relying on the witness of his own consciousness and the lawgiver’s prophecy, confirmed by the sure testimony of God, is firmly persuaded that those who observe the laws and, if they must need die for them, willingly meet death, God has granted a renewed existence, and in the revolution of the Ages (ἐκ περιτροπῆς αἰώνων; see below, War III, 375) the gift of a better life’ (Apion II, 218). From his speech against suicide: ‘No; suicide is alike repugnant to that nature which all creatures share, and an act of impiety towards God who created us… For it is from Him that we have received our being, and it is to Him that we should leave the decision to take it away. All of us, it is true, have mortal bodies, composed of perishable matter, but the soul lives forever, immortal: it is a portion of the Deity housed in our bodies… Shall we flee from the best of masters, from God Himself, and not be deemed impious? Know you not that they who depart this life in accordance with the law of nature and repay the loan which they received from God, when He who lent is pleased to reclaim it, win eternal renown; that their houses and families are secure; that their souls, remaining spotless and obedient, are allotted the most holy place in Heaven, whence, in the revolution of the Ages (ἐκ περιτροπῆς αἰώνων), they return to find in chaste bodies a new habitation? But as for those who have laid hands upon themselves, the darker regions of the nether world receive their souls, and God, their father, visits upon their posterity the outrageous acts of the parents… With us it is ordained that the body of a suicide should be exposed unburied until sunset, although it is thought right to bury even our enemies slain in war…’ (War III, 369–377).

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RABBINIC LITERATURE

In this section, ideally we would only include Tannaitic teachings. But the difficulty in establishing a chronology for each authorized opinion compels us to include works later than the Mishna and Talmud. Older views were certainly transmitted and amplified, or shortened, in later periods. In our review of rabbinic writings we have not tried to distinguish between Halakha and Aggada, both of which reveal the faith of their authors, though the more colorful descriptions of the afterlife are found in Aggada. Later Midrashim often prove to be the heirs of traditions dating to early as the I cent. BC. Mystical trends that reach their summit in the Medieval Kabbala also have their roots in the early rabbinic period. We cannot, however, go through all of these vast products of later times. Of the Mystical legacy, we shall only briefly treat the so-called Hekhalot. 44 Death and Its Religious Significance Rabbinic anthropology had adopted a clear distinction between body and soul. 45 The latter, called ‫ נפש‬and more frequently ‫נשמה‬, is the distinctive quality in man and animals. At death, the soul departs from the body (‫דבר שהנשמה תלויה‬ ‫)בו‬. As early as in the Mishna, to die and the departure of the soul are synonymous: ‘Man is not a cause of impurity until his soul departs (‫( ’)עד תצא נשמה‬M Ohol 1:6). The One who receives the soul is God: ‘He takes your soul’ (M Berak 9:5), an idea which was origi-

Though the following is the result of first-hand research, we have also made extensive use of the Excursus on the subject by Strack – Billerbeck (1965, vol. 4, pp. 799ff), and of Volz 1934. 45 Such an evolution with regard to the biblical anthropology (see above, Ch 1, pp. 7–11) might have been caused by Hellenistic influences, but the cause might also have been the adoption of a much stronger and more detailed faith in afterlife. In the Tosefta, the human composite is compared to a tree, the soul being the root and the body the branches (Tos Sanh 13:2). 44

4. EARLY JEWISH LITERATURE

119

nally derived from several biblical theophanies. 46 But aggadic imagination developed the theme of the Angel of Death (‫)מלאך המוות‬. Very often, this figure is nothing more than a personification of death itself. Now and then, this messenger bears a name, such as Samael. Resh Lakish states that ‘Satan, the Bad Impulse (‫)יצר הרע‬ and Angel of Death are identical’ (BT Baba Bathra 16a). This angel takes away the soul at man’s death (Midr Qoh 7:26); Targ Tehil 89:45), or else he himself causes death by pouring a drop of poison into the individual’s mouth (BT Abodah Zarah 20b). 47 Death is generally considered a divine punishment for personal sins (cf. BT Shab 55b), 48 while premature and sudden death result from concrete faults (cf. M Shab 2:6; Shekalim 6:2). The few people who have died sinless, have died ‘by the action of the Serpent’ (‫( )בעימול הנחש‬BT Shab 55b; Baba Bathra 17a). 49 The condition of his conscience determined the attitude of the Jew facing death. While R. Akiba, on the point of suffering martyrdom, sings the Shema’ and declares that he is happy (for his spirit is undivided) (JT Berak 14b), R. Yohanan B. Zaccai, ‘lamp of Israel, right column, vigorous hammer’, weeps when the final moment arrives, because he fears standing before the presence of God. In front of him there are ‘two paths, one leading to Paradise and one to Gehenna’, 50 and he knows not ‘which way he is being taken through’ (BT Berak 28b, 23). Such anxiety is very surprising when we recall that, in rabbinic thought, death is considered to be an act 279F

281F

Already the LXX had translated into singular form (ἄγγελος θανάτου) the plural ‫ מלאכי מות‬of Prov 16:14. 47 For further details, see Bender 1894, pp. 664–671. 48 Though occasionally, it is also related to Adam’s fault (cf. Tana debe Eliahu R, V, as quoted by Eisenstein 1903, p. 483). 49 As for the ‘serpent of brass’ in Num 21:8, the Mishnaic interpretation is that it had no power to kill, or to preserve life, but that Israelites ‘obtained salvation as they addressed their thoughts to the height and maintained their hearts in subjection to their Father in Heaven; otherwise they died’ (M Rosh ha-Shanah 3:8). 50 The ‘two paths’ doctrine appears also in other rabbinic writings and in the early Christian Didache (below, pp. 143–144). 46

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of atonement (‫ )כפרה‬if the person dies with a repentant spirit (‫בעל‬ ‫( )תשובה‬M Yoma 8:8). Faith in Immortality and Resurrection The dead are called ‘the living ones’ (‫( )החים‬M Aboth 4:29). 51 By the time of the compilation of the Mishna, faith in a life after death had spread to the entire Jewish world. From that period on, essential religious terminology included expressions such as the present Age (‫ )העולם הזה‬and the coming Age (‫)העולם הבא‬. The belief in the resurrection of the dead grew common around the end of the I cent. AD, with the opposing Sadducean view gradually disappearing altogether. Faith in resurrection became so widespread that the Mishna felt no necessity to prove it, which is also the reason that it seldom mentions resurrection at all. Instead we find discussions about the secondary questions of how and who will rise from the dead. Interpreting Deut 12:2, the schools of Shammai and Hillel agree that the righteous are destined to eternal life, and the impious to eternal perdition; but they disagree about the destiny of the ‫בינונים‬, the (spiritual) ‘middle class’. Shammai’s followers allowed them a purgative, intermediate period in the fire of Gehenna until they ‘would rise up and be healed’ (cf. Zech 13:9; 1Sam 2:6). Hillel’s disciples stressed the divine mercy (cf. Exod 34:6): God would not cast them into Gehenna (Tos Sanh 13:3; BT Rosh ha-Shanah 16b–17a). In fact, the divergence of views focuses on the role of Gehenna and the belief in an intermediate period of purgation. The Shammai school defends the existence of a real, eschatological Purgatory at the end of the present Age. The Hillel school maintains that criminals, either from Israel or from among the nations who have sinned with their own body (‫)בגופן‬, go to Gehenna for a period of 12 months, after which time ‘their body is (already) destroyed, their soul purified, and the wind scatters them under the feet of the righteous…’ (Tos Sanh 13:3–4). The same appellation appears in early Christian works: 2Clem III, 1; Acts of Karpos, Papylos and Agathonice, 12; Vatican Museum inscription ΙΧΘΥΣ ΖΩΝΤΩΝ (from about 200 AD). 51

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121

When does the resurrection take place? In the oldest view, namely that of the first Apocalypses, it will be in ‘the days of the Messiah’ (‫)ימות המשיח‬, said expression being synonymous with ‘the coming Age’ (cf. 1En 51:1; 65:1; 90:33ff). But from the time of the second Tannaitic generation, a distinction was made between a final period of blessedness (‫)העולם הבא‬, when each man would receive his merited reward (and from which many would be excluded), and the Messianic age that would precede it. In the latter view, which is that of R. Eliezer and R. Yehoshua, ca. 90 AD, resurrection takes place only at the beginning of the coming Age (Tos Sanh 13:2). In the Mishna, ‘resurrection’ (the Hebrew term ‫תחית‬ ‫ המתים‬literally meaning ‘vivification of the dead’) and ‘coming Age’ mean virtually the same thing (cf. M Sotah 9:15).52 A third and later opinion (III cent. AD) again places resurrection in the time of the Messiah, 53 understanding this event as distinct from ‘the coming Age’. In the Talmud it is written that those who will be resurrected at that time ‘shall not return to their ashes’ but will be brought back to the land of Israel. God will grant them special treatment, so to speak, until the time for renewal of the world arrives (BT Sanh 92a–b). The answer to the question of who will be resurrected differs from one period to another. We have seen Josephus’ statement of the Pharisaic doctrine that only the righteous will rise, the impious being destined to eternal imprisonment (above, Ant 18:1, 3; cf. War 284F

285F

‘R. Pinhas b. Yair says: Headfulness leads to cleanliness, and cleanliness leads to purity…, to abstinence…, to holiness…, to humility…, to the shunning of sin…, to saintliness…, to [the gifts of ] the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit leads to the resurrection of the dead. And the resurrection of the dead shall come through Elijah of blessed memory. Amen.’ (Translation by Danby 1967). A second reference says that those who deny resurrection as not ‘coming from the Torah’ (or as ‘not existing’, according to some mss.) (M Sanh 10:1) shall not take part in the coming Age. The daily Shmone Esre prayer (quoted in M Berak 4:3) includes explicit faith in the resurrection. Such faith is also implicit in M Aboth 4:22 and 6:9. 53 Midr Qoh 1,7 [7b, 27]; Midr Tehil 18:11 [71z, 10]; Targ Hos 14:8, etc. (see Strack – Billerbeck 1965, vol. 4, p. 1198). 52

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2:8, 14). Yet the rabbinic literature suggests that the Pharisees believed in a general or universal resurrection. This was the belief of Shammai and Hillel, as well as R. Eliezer and R. Yehoshua (see above), and was maintained well into the II cent. AD (M Aboth 4:22). From then on, opinions are divided: a general resurrection is still referred to in many of the later texts, but most rabbinic writings begin to lean toward a restriction, either to Israelites only 54 or to the righteous only, 55 or only to those of the righteous who are buried in the land of Israel. 56 From this latter view springs the curious theory of ‫( גלגול‬reincarnation; literally ‘rolling’), which states that Jews who died and were buried in a foreign land will ‘roll’ like wineskins through subterranean channels to the Land of Israel, where they will be joined again to their souls. 57 Some texts try to describe the event of the resurrection. Thus an old legend tells about the ‘dew of resurrection’, based on Isa 26:19 and Ps 73:10. That dew is preserved in the ‘Araboth of Heaven (BT Hagigah 12b), and God will cause it to descend on the world so that, when it makes contact, the dead will arise (JT Berak 5:9b; Tanh 1:63d). Another legend states that the righteous will help others to be resurrected, though generally this ministry is reserved to the Messiah or to his precursor Elijah. 58 The dead will arise in their individual bodies, but dressed differently than they 289F

Cf. Sifre Deut 32:39; 329 [139b]; BT Sanh 91b,28 and 34; Midr Deut R 2 [198b,49]; Midr Qoh 1:4 [5b,23]; Midr Shir 2:1 [95a,13]; Pir dR Eiezer 34 [18a,4], and many others texts. 55 Some texts explicitly exclude the Gentiles (Midr Beresh R 13 [9d,40]; Seder Eliahu R 17 [86]), while others exclude the Samaritans (Pir dR Eliezer 38 [21d,23]), the Egyptians that perished in the Red Sea (Targ J Exod 15:12), or the generation of the flood (BT Sanh 10,3). In the Mishna, which in principle holds that ‘all Israelites have part in the coming Age’, we see already a reduction in the number of Israelites who are to enjoy salvation (M Sanh 10:1ff). According to R Akiba, even those who read heretical books are to be excluded (ibid.). 56 BT Ket 111b,18, etc. 57 JT Ket 12,35b,5. Cf. Kila 9,32 c,1; Midr Beresh R 96 [60d; Tanh ‫ ויהי‬54b, etc. 58 M Sota 9:15 (end) (see text above, n. 52). 54

4. EARLY JEWISH LITERATURE

123

were when they were buried (BT Sanh 90b). Still other opinions are expressed by some Rabbis on this question (JT Kila 9:6). At the Messiah’s coming, the first ones to be resurrected will be those who were buried in the land of Israel, ‘the land of the living’ (Ps 116:9). 59 According to a Talmudic tradition, resurrection will begin in Tiberias (JT Rosh haShanah 31). The first to rise shall be those who died last, and personal bodily defects will help to identify them immediately; then, they shall be healed (Midr Qoh 1:4/55/). 60 The schools of Shammai and Hillel disagreed about the bodies of those who would rise. While the latter asserted that the process of forming the resurrected body was similar to the formation of a fetus in its mother’s womb, which ‘starts with the skin and the flesh and ends with the tendons and the bones’, the disciples of Shammai believed it was the other way around (Midr Beresh R 14/10c/). Resurrection will only start when a Heavenly trumpet is sounded, 61 as in the Apocalypses. 62 Messianic Age We shall limit ourselves to some hints to the redemption (,‫גאולה‬ ‫ )פדיון‬of Israel from the enemies from this period, as described in Conveyance of dead bodies to the Holy Land, or to Jerusalem from other parts of the country, is attested by literary sources (Josephus, Ant XX, 4, 2; JT Kila 9:6) as well by inscriptions on Jewish ossuaries (see Figueras 1983, p. 15). 60 Cf. also BT Sanh 91b,28; Sifre Deut 32:39,329 [139b], etc. 61 Targ J I, Exod 20:18; BT Sanh 92a, etc. Curious details are given in Midrash Haotiot dR Akiba (ed. Wertheimer ‫תשט"ו‬, p. ‫)שעב‬: The trumpet will blow seven times, and at each blast, a new phenomenon will take place. ‘… At the third blowing, the bones shall be joined together; at the fourth blowing, the limbs will receive warmth; at the fifth, they will be covered with skin; at the sixth, spirits and souls will enter their bodies; at the seventh, they will receive life and stand up fully clothed’. 62 See Apocryphal literature (passim) and the N.T. (Mt 24:31; 1Cor 15:52). 59

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rabbinic writings. 63 The texts are countless, and full of symbols and images. We have selected a sample of these to discuss here. Israel will be at the head of all nations (Midr Shir 5:16/122a), ‘recognized among the peoples as a lily among herbs’ 64 (Midr Tehil 45:7/36a). The nations shall be Israel’s servants (Midr Qoh 2:8/13). Israelites shall be kings (Midr Shir 6:11/124b) as God will be their King forever, subduing the pagans (Mekh Exod 17:14/64a). The Messiah is also a king, the ninth of the kings who dominated the world, and at the end of his kingship the reign will be given back to the first ruler and owner, namely, to God (Pir dR. Eliezer 11/6c) (cf. 1Cor 15:24). In the Messiah’s days, Israelites shall possess their land (BT 122a, 1, 15, 9), in which all the cities shall be rebuilt (Midr Exod R 15/77d). Dispersed as they were throughout the world, they shall all come back at the blowing of the trumpet (Midr Qoh 1:7/7b), including the lost tribes. 65 At this moment, God too will return to His Land (Tanh B ‫ יתרו‬14/39a), treating Israel like a gardener who transplants his garden (cf. Ps 92:14) (Midr Tehil 92:11/206a). The Messiah is seen gathering the people together (Midr Gen R 98/62a, 16). 66 The Messiah’s name shall be ‘Peace’, for he shall be a prince of peace (cf. Isa 9:5) (Midr Tehil 120:7/253a). Wars between nations shall cease, either altogether, or in proportion to their imitation of Israel’s obedience (BT Shab 63a). Even the evil impulse shall disappear, so that death shall be no more (cf. Isa 25:8) (Midr Deut R 2/199b), and Israelites will receive a heart of flesh in place of the impulse to evil (Midr Exod R 41). Satan, the angel of death, will be cast into Gehenna (Pesiq R 36/161a), and the Spirit of God 298F

Detailed references to the times of preparing for the redemption may be found in Strack – Billerbeck 1965, vol. 4, pp. 857ff. 64 The same concept is found in Midr Vayiqra 23 [122a]; Midr Shir 2:1[95a]; Midr Tehil 11:20 [10], etc. The image is based on Hos 14:6. 65 This opinion was a doubtful point for R. Akiba (Sifre Lev 26:38; cf. BT Sanh10,29b,51). 66 In this text, God says: ‘I am tied to the vine-tree’, i.e., to Israel, referring to the Messiah’s wine-stained mantle (Isa 63:1–3); stains are interpreted as representing the sins of Israel that the Messiah will produce as evidence. 63

4. EARLY JEWISH LITERATURE

125

will be poured out on the Israelites, who shall become prophets (cf. Joel 3:1) (Midr Num R 15).67 God will pour water over them and they shall be purified from their sins (Tanh B ‫ מצורע‬9/24b). The earthly center of the Messianic kingdom is the new Jerusalem, which comes down from Heaven, 68 built by God (cf. Ps 102:17; 147:2) (Tanh ‫נח‬, 12a), ‘the builder of Jerusalem’. 69 Restoration of Jerusalem will last forever (‫( )בנין עולם‬Shmone Esre Bless. 14, Bab rec.). Its walls are of all kinds of precious stones (Midr Exod R 15/177d). Its size is immense (Midr Deut R/201c), and it is likened to an enormous fig tree well-rooted in the earth, which raises its branches high (Pesiq R 41/177b). For it will indeed reach up to the sky, with all its inhabitants, passing from sky to firmament and from one Heaven to another, up to the seventh one, and to the very ‘throne of glory’ (Tanh B 13 16/16b). Its huge and wonderful structure shall absorb all peoples (Pesiq 143a). The Temple will be there (BT Pesahim 5a), built by the Messiah himself 70 (Midr Lev 26:11/45a). Cedars from Paradise (‫ )גן עדן‬and also other trees shall be employed in its construction (Targ Shir 1:17). The powerful stream flowing from beneath the Temple (cf. Ezek 47:1–5) (M Sheqal 6:3) will be ‘waters of life’, causing healing and life to abound. The monthly fruit of the trees along its banks will be for nourishment, and their leaves for medicine (cf. Ezek 37:12) (Midr Exod R 15/77–78a).

The same concept is found in Midr Tehil 111:1 [234a], which quotes Isa 44:2–4. 68 Cf. Rev 3:12; IV Ezra 10:25–28. This idea reappears in the Midrashim. 69 Shmone Esre, Bless. 14. This title (‫ )בונה ירושלים‬strikingly recalls the inscription ‫( שמעון בונה הכלה‬Simon builder of the Sanctuary), found on an ossuary (see Figueras 1983, p. 13). 70 Another opinion maintains that he will manifest himself standing on the roof of the Sanctuary (Pesiq R 36 [162a]) so that the latter will have to be built first (cf. also M Shebuoth 5:12). 67

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A festival meal will be celebrated by Israel and the Messiah, 71 the so-called meal of Leviathan: ‘I shall accompany thee, oh king Messiah – says Israel –, and shall lead thee to my sanctuary, that thou may instruct me to fear Yahweh and to walk in His ways. And here we wish to celebrate the meal of Leviathan (‫)סעודתא דלויתן‬ and to drink an old wine that has been preserved since the day the world was created, and (to eat) of the fruit of the pomegranates which is prepared in Paradise (‫ )גינתא דעדן‬for the righteous’ (Targ Shir 8:2). 72 An abundance of the fruits of the earth will be one of the main features of the Messianic Age (Syb Orac III, 744–745), and the Rabbis appeal to the authority of the biblical text to prove this. 73 The Talmud describes the wonderful size and fruitfulness of wheat and vine (BT Ket 111b, 30), with Joel 4:18 providing a basis for the belief that abundance of wine is a symbol (‫ )דוגמא‬of the coming Age (Midr Hen R 51/32d). There will be other marvelous kinds of food for the elect (Mekh Deut 26:2), in particular the ‘manna’ which the Messiah will cause to descend from Heaven (Midr Ruth 2:14/132b) (cf. Mic 7:15; Hos 12:10; Ps 72:16). The Coming Age and the Upper World The Hebrew expression ‫‘( העולם הבא‬the coming Age’) may sometimes mean the Messianic Age, but it is more often employed with reference to the final Age which immediately follows it; and at times it even has a meaning that is more spatial than chronological, for the place where the souls of the blessed dead are believed to dwell is also called ‫העולם הבא‬. In the latter sense, it is opposite in meaning to ‘Gehenna’, and corresponds to an intermediate state which precedes the resurrection of the body. This meaning makes The texts do not distinguish between this Messianic meal and the eschatological meal (see below, pp. 132–134). 72 This text is remarkable for two reasons: 1) The Messianic Age is viewed as a return to the happiness of the first days of creation, which includes the state of immortality; 2) symbols of this happiness are the meat of Leviathan (neither Behemoth nor Ziz is mentioned, see below pp. 132–133), and grapes and pomegranates from Paradise. 73 Zech 8:11f; Ps 111:4; Gen 1:11; Lev 19:23, etc. (Midr Bereshit R 12; Sifre Lev 26:4 [448a]; Tanh B ‫ קדושים‬7 [38a], etc.). 71

4. EARLY JEWISH LITERATURE

127

its first appearance around the middle of the I cent. AD (cf. Tosef Pea 4:18/24). Another rabbinic expression, parallel to the first but much less precise, namely ‫ =( העתיד לבוא‬the coming future), also has the same triple meaning. However, the coming Age or future world was understood to be the exact opposite of ‫העולם הזה‬, the present world or life. An attempt to fix a more precise meaning for ‫ העולם הבא‬could lead us into error. Bearing in mind this danger, we shall now examine the rabbinic views on the world of the souls, Gehenna, the Paradise of the blessed, and the throne of God. The World of the Souls When a righteous person dies, his soul ‘rests’ (‫)נח‬, as does his body (BT Shab 152b). Abraham’s soul ‘rests in peace’ (Targ J Gen 15:15). The Torah guards the righteous during the sleep of death in the tomb (Pir Ab 6:9). It is believed that the souls of the righteous are kept in a special store (‫ )אוצר‬74 (Sifre Num 27:16, 139), and they are thought of as being bound together in the ‘band (‫ )צרור‬of life’ (cf. I Sam 25:29) (Sifre Num 6:24, 40 / 12a), or being found beneath the throne of God, with the angels (BT Shab 152b). The presence of the ghosts of the dead in the tomb, sometimes talking in the cemetery, sometimes walking through the world of those assembled in the ‘academy of the firmament’ (‫ )מתיבתא דרקיע – ישיבה של מעלה‬are beliefs from a later period (BT Baba Mezia 85a; Shab 18b). R. Akiba thought of David (= Messiah) as sitting at the right hand of God (BT Sanh 38b), and Targ J says that Enoch ‘ascended to the firmament by the living word to the presence of God’. Later texts show the dead being received in ‘Abraham’s bosom’ (Pesiq R 43/180b; BT Qiddush 72b), an image of afterlife happiness which was already used in the I cent. AD (cf. Lk 16:22f). The most common rabbinic expression for the dwelling-place of the righteous after death is without a doubt ‫גן עדן‬, the Garden of Aramaic ‫ גנזא‬or ‫( גניז חיי עלמא‬Targ J I Deut 31:16; Targ Onkelos I Sam 25:29). 74

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DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

Eden or Paradise of Heaven. 75 This is the soul’s only alternative to going to Gehenna. To ‫ גן עדן‬fly the souls (Midr Gen R 65), and it is the heritage of the righteous (Pir Ab 5:19; JT Qiddush 1, 61b, 23). There, in the place of the ‘light of the righteous’ (Targ Ps 56:14), the righteous receive the bread and the wine kept for them (Targ Qoh 9:27). There is an abundance of good things (Sifre Deut 23:29, 356/148), and the righteous are fed with ‘the fruit of the tree (of life)’ (Targ J I Gen 3:24), 76 planted nearby, its branches extending over each one’s table. The person who, redeemed from Gehenna by the almsgiving of his relatives, passes over into Paradise, ‘takes a bath every hour in the streams of balsam, in milk, oil and honey, going incessantly to eat from the tree of life’ (Tanhuma ‫ האזינו‬27b, 33). Paradise is all balsam (Midr Shir 8:14). In Paradise the righteous are divided according to seven degrees of holiness (Sifre Deut 1:10/67a, cf. JT Hagigah 2, 77a, 60), and ‘they are similar to the firmament, to sun, moon, stars, thunderbolts, lilies, and the candlestick of the sanctuary’ (Sifre Deut ibid.). They differ so much from one another in sanctity and in their respective distance from God in the coming world (cf. BT Berak 34b, 28; Pesiq 50a, 8, etc), that in Paradise each has his own dwelling-place (BT Shab 162a, 37) or even ‘his own Paradise’ (Midr Lev R 27/125b, 31). Some texts mention as many as seven different dwelling-places (Midr Tehil 11:6/51a). The ‘light of the righteous’ was created by God at the beginning of the world (Midr Lev Later Midrashim draw a clear distinction between the Heavenly Paradise (‫ )גן עדן‬and the earthly one (‫( )גן עדן מלמטה‬see quotations in Strack – Billerbeck 1965, vol. 4, pp. 1118 ff). But some rabbis, similar to the old Apocalypses (1En 60:8; 61:12; 70:4, etc; Jub 4:23), asserted an identity between the Paradise of the souls and the earthly Paradise of Adam (BT Ket 77b, 15 and 23; Tamid 66b,5; Midr Exod R 20 [82b,32]; Targ J I Gen 46:17; ibid. Num 26:46). In Midr Tehillim 26:7 [110b], it is said that Jonah, the ‘perfect righteous man’, did not die in the depths of the sea, but the fish ‘spewed him out on the dry land (cf. Jonah 2:11) and he entered alive into Paradise’. 76 From some texts, it is apparent that the rabbis imagined the Paradise of the souls to be similar to the earthly Paradise; compare, e.g., Targ J I Gen2:9 with 1En 8:1ff. 75

4. EARLY JEWISH LITERATURE

129

R 11 113b). The blessed wear crowns on their heads (BT Berak 17a, 34), and rest on pillows on comfortable beds, where they contemplate God, praising Him (Midr Tehil 149:8/270b) and dwelling in the shade of the tree of life (Pesiq R 3/198a, 14). God, who walks among them (BT Sanh 102a, 45), opens up to them the chambers of His treasures (Tanh 95a, 29; Midr Exod R 31/91d, 20). Gehenna Situated in the innermost parts of the earth 77 (Midr Qoh 3:21/2a), 78 Gehenna constitutes a deep cavern that is opened daily to receive the wicked (Pesiq R 41/173b). Its entrance is narrow (Midr Bum R 10/157b, 49) and it has two gates (Pesiq R 24/124), or, according to some, seven gates (Pir dR. Eliezer 53). Inside are different compartments, as in Sheol and Abaddon (Derech Eretz 2/19b, 12), or seven abodes (Midr Tehil 11:5/50b). In Gehenna, the souls of the impious are enchained, while two angels throw them from one end of the earth to the other (Sifre Num 27:16, 139/185) ‘with the sling’ (cf. I Sam 25:29) (BT Shab 152b). Their bodies also suffer similar torment of unrest (ibid.) The chief torments are a terrifying darkness (Tanh ‫ בא‬73b, 14; cf. BT Yebam 109b, 24) and a fierce fire (BT Berak 57b, 24), for all Gehenna is fire (Tanh ‫ פקודי‬128a, 30). The flames alternate with cold (Tanh B ‫ בראשית‬25/9b), for half of Gehenna is fire and half is ice (cf. Ps 66:12) (Midr Exod R 51/103d, 44). To these main punishments others are added, such as smoke, worms, and all kinds of bodily afflictions. Punishment in Gehenna, in view of the fact that Gehenna is a ‘temporary’ state, plays an important role as a means of atonement. This is the common rabbinic opinion. The school of Eliah, however, placed it above the firmament (BT Tamid 66b, 14), and others placed it ‘behind the mountains of darkness’ (ibid.). Still other rabbis held to the old idea that Gehenna is near Jerusalem (Mekh Exod 20:18 [78b, 11]). 78 This text quotes Ezek 31:15, which deals with Sheol; it proves that the latter had lost its meaning, and was identified with Gehenna (see below). 77

130

DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

The school of Shammai had acknowledged this purgative power of Gehenna, although purgation was here considered to be strictly eschatological. Those who belonged to the ‘middle class’ of sinners (see above, p. 120) had the possibility of leaving once they had been purified by fire. The text quotes Zech 13:9, and evokes I Sam 2:6: ‘The Lord kills and brings to life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up’ (BT Rosh Hashanah 16b, 34). As for Hillel’s followers, their opinion was, as we have seen, that the ‘middle’ group of sinners immediately receive their reward in the coming Age. But ‘those among the Jews and the nations of the entire world who have sinned in their own bodies (to distinguish them from those who induced others to sin) go down to Gehenna, where they are tried for 12 months; after 12 months their body is destroyed and their soul burned with fire, and the wind scatters them under the feet of the righteous’ (Tos Sanh 13:4; this text is followed by quotation of Mal 3:21). 79 From the beginning of the II cent, there was widespread recognition of a temporary Gehenna as a place of atonement, a kind of Purgatory. The process of atonement lasts 12 months (BT 31b), during which time the soul is punished for its sins. R. Akiba, the main proponent of this idea, attempted to prove it by giving various examples of divine judgment: the flood, the book of Job, the plagues upon Egypt and the future punishment of Gog and Magog. ‘Thus, he stated, the judgment of the wicked (‫ )רשעים‬in Gehenna lasts 12 months’, quoting Isa 66:23 (M ‘Eduyot 2:10). This theory prevailed in the following centuries also (see above, and Tanh ‫ בראשית‬33/12a). Before Akiba, R. Yohanan B. Nuri had taught that judgment in Gehenna took only seven weeks (M ‘Eduyot 2:10). 31F

The mention of 12 months as the duration of the period of judgment for impious souls leads us to assume that the purification period of the ‘middle group’ of sinners (see Shammai’s school) also lasts 12 months. Perhaps the reckoning of 12 months as the atonement period here and in R. Akiba’s view (see below) is due to the fact that the body takes about a year to become ‘corrupted’ (i.e. decompose). This is important in connection with the custom of bone-gathering and secondary burial (see Figueras 1983, pp. 7–10). 79

4. EARLY JEWISH LITERATURE

131

The possibility of liberation from Gehenna is not only due to the atoning power of the punishment itself (BT Shab 152b, 9), but also to the alms and prayers of relatives (Tanh ‫ האזינו‬27b, 33; cf. BT Qiddush 31b, 29). But this is a privilege only enjoyed by the ‘middle group’ of sinners. The rest, namely heretics (‫)מינים‬, traitors, freethinkers and those who deny the Torah and the resurrection, have no hope for salvation; for them, Gehenna is eternal (M Sanh 10:1ff). The everlasting punishment, similar in all respects to the intermediate one, is preceded by a final and definite judgment, carried out by God (Tanh ‫ קדשים‬1/136a, quoting Isa 5:6), by the Messiah (BT Hagigah 14a, 18), or by the Israelites themselves. The Gentiles are thrown into Gehenna (BT ‘Erubin 101a, 15, quoting Mic 4:13), and in some texts Gentiles and Israelites are judged together (Midr Tehl 31:5 and 6/119b, 29), the impious of Israel descending together with the nations to Gehenna forever (BT Sanh 105a, 35). Both groups shall arise and suffer judgment (Pesiq R first rec. 192b, 10), such judgment and eternal condemnation being called ‘the second death’ (‫( )מות שני‬Pir dR Eliezer 34/18a). Judgments of individuals, such as Pharaoh, also receive mention (Midr Tehil 75:4/170a). 80 312F

Paradise of the Blessed Very near to Gehenna, according to some texts, is the definitive Paradise (‫ )גן עדן‬of the Blessed, the true city of palm-trees (Sifre Deut 34:3, 356/149b, 4), sometimes identified with Adam’s Paradise (Midr Gen R 21/14c, 4; Targ J I Gen 2:8). It is generally thought to be here on earth (cf. M Sanh 10:1), but also in the seventh Heaven, close to the throne of God (Pesiq 143b, 3). 81 It is also 31F

This is an interesting text for its symbolic use of the motif of the vase and its contents, which are found on the Jewish ossuaries (Figueras 1983, pp. 101–105). 81 According to Strack-Billerbeck 1965 (vol. 4, p. 1150), this location in Heaven means no more than the abolishing of the separation between Heaven and earth. But the careful enumeration of the seven Heavens in this text would seem to contradict such spiritualization of the idea. 80

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DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

often identified with Jerusalem, 82 an amplified Jerusalem capable of receiving all its numerous inhabitants (Tanh B, 13). Near Paradise, which is also supposed to be situated in the ‘land of the living’ (Ps 116:9), i.e., the land of Israel (for its dead shall be the first to rise (JT Ket12, 35b, 5), is the Temple (Targ Ps 24:7 and 9). In the center of Paradise the tree of life spreads its branches over all the elect (Midr Tehil 1:19/9b). This tree is now a symbol of the Law, the Torah, whose study shall still engage those who in this life learned it (Midr Shir 6:8f?/123b, 37). Even in the coming Age they will not enjoy absolute rest (BT Mo’ed Qaton 29a, 10, quoting Ps 84:8). God will then be their teacher (Tanh ‫כי‬ ‫ תבא‬24b, 29, quoting Deut 28:1). 83 The most dwelt-upon image of the Paradisiac joy is no doubt that of Heavenly food and a great meal. Already Yohanan B. Zaccai had compared the preparedness of man for the next life to the readiness of servants whom their lord had invited to his meal (BT Shab153a, 16). 84 R. Yehoshua, from around the same period, is reported to have said: ‘He who serves God until the day of his death will be satiated with bread. The bread of the coming Age’ (Midr Gen R 82/52, 38). And R. Akiba ended a discourse about man’s moral responsibility with the words: ‘All is ready for the meal’ (Pir Ab 3:16). It is for this meal that the big table in Paradise is made ready (Midr Exod R 25/86d, 23). The main dish will be the flesh of Behemoth and Leviathan. 85 The latter, especially, plays a significant role in the life of Paradise – a sort of hint that it is a return to the life of Adam and Eve immediately after creation: ‘The 315F

82

146:9.

A clear distinction between the two places is seen in Midr Tehillim

More recent texts, like New Pesiq 6,47, 12 (ed. Jellineck), depict the blessed ones being taken into a large school where they enjoy ‘the tastes of Torah’ (‫)טעמי תורה‬, before being taken to the great meal of the righteous (see below). 84 This parable shows a striking similarity to that of the ten virgins in the Gospel (Mt 22:2ff). 85 Cf. the Apocrypha (above, ch. 2: 1En 60:7ff; Syr Apoc Bar 29:4; 4Ezra 6:49ff) and the Messianic meal (pp. 98–100; see also Targ J I Gen 1:21). 83

4. EARLY JEWISH LITERATURE

133

Holy One… will, in the coming Age, prepare a meal for the righteous from the flesh of Leviathan… The remains (of Leviathan) shall be distributed in the market of Jerusalem… And Rabba says: R. Yohanan said that the Holy One… will in the coming times make a tent for the righteous out of the skin of Leviathan’ (BT Baba Bathra 75a). 86 The idea of a tent here seems to be connected with the life of the blessed, symbolized as an eternal Sukkot Feast. 87 Leviathan, one notes, provides them with food and dwelling, two symbols of a joyous immortality. Like the Tree of Life, Leviathan represents a means of attending everlasting life. It comes to recompense them to the point of satiety for the austerity which observant Jews have had to endure in the present life: ‘Instead of the forbidden fish (God allows them to eat of) Leviathan, which is a pure fish’ 88 (Midr Lv R 22/121c, 41). The continuation of this text mentions another monstrous animal, the bird Ziz Shaddai (‫;זיז שדי‬ cf. Ps 50:11), which, according to Aggadic imagery, is also part of the eschatological world: ‘Instead of the forbidden birds, the Ziz, which is a pure bird’ (ibid.). Heavenly food is accompanied by an abundance of heavenly drink, of that old wine ‘that has been kept in its grapes since the six days of creation’ (Midr Num R 13/168b, 41; BT Berak 34b). A In the continuation of this text it becomes clear that Leviathan, a sea-monster, was imagined to be a big fish, as indeed it was later represented in Jewish medieval miniatures (see Wischnitzer-Bernstein 1936, Fig. 1). Around 130 AD, the representation of Leviathan as a fish was plainly set forth (cf. next texts). The quotation of R. Yohanan is pertinent for a possible interpretation of the ichtyform graffiti on Jewish ossuaries (see Figueras 1983, pp. 21, 109–110). 87 Cf. Rev 7:9 (above Ch 3, p. 99). 88 This detail has twofold relevance: Leviathan is certainly a fish (see above, n. 86) and, moreover, a pure fish. This makes possible (and even plausible) a connection between this large Jewish ‘pure fish’ and the ‘fish of spring, very big, very pure’ – a symbol of Christ – mentioned in the inscription of Aberkios in Asia. The same feature of a large fish to be acquired instead a great number of small fishes appears in one of the statements of Jesus to His disciples in the Apocryphal Gospel of Thomas, 8 (Patterson – Robinson – Gebhard 1998). 86

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DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

Talmudic text shows David (= Messiah) in Paradise taking the cup in his hands and reciting the blessing from Ps 116:13 (BT Pesahim 119b; cf. Midr Exod R 25/86d, 22). David’s cup is extraordinarily large (BT Yoma 76a). There are still other kinds of food for the ‘servants’ of God. As the crowning touch to all this abundance, which will astonish all the nations who are to be punished by famine (cf. Isa 65:13) (Midr Exod R 25/86d, 6), the blessed will bathe in rivulets of milk (Midr Num R 13/168b, 41). The Throne of God Esoteric doctrines concerning the chariot-throne of God (‫)מרכבה‬ and the Heavenly liturgy are mainly found in the Midrashic writings called Hekhalot 89 and in later Midrashim. Some Talmudic passages also offer valuable material for understanding this mystical trend in early Judaism, and this fact suggests that such doctrines might have at last been officially accepted in popular rabbinic teaching, while in the period of the Mishna’s codification they were still considered inappropriate for simple believers. 90 321F

It is to the credit of Prof. Scholem (1941 and 1965) that he revindicated their antiquity. 90 Cf. M Hagigah 2:1 ‘The forbidden degrees may not be expounded before three persons, nor the Story of the Creation before two, nor [the chapter of] the Chariot before one alone, unless he is a sage that understands out of his own knowledge. Whosoever gives his mind to four things it wre better for him if he had not come into the world: ‘what is above? what is beneath? what was beforetime? and what will be hereafter?…’ (transl. Danby). Such a prohibition proves that Mercabah speculations had already filtered down to the simple masses. Prof. Urbach states that ‘the acquaintance of Mercabah visionaries with the Tannaitic and Amoraic teaching caused the pseudepigraphic literature to blossom, which is related to Talmudic sources in a similar way to how Apocalyptic literature is related to the Bible’ (Urbach 1967, p. ‫)כח‬. Let us observe, in passing, that the above-mentioned Mishnaic text forms a curious parallel to that of Eph 3:18, which Testa (1963, p. 307f) relates to the cosmic Cross. 89

4. EARLY JEWISH LITERATURE

135

BT Hagigah 12b describes in detail the seven Heavens with their specific names. In the third one, the clouds (‫ )שחקים‬are the mill-stones that grind the ‘manna’ for the righteous. In the fourth, the height (‫)זבול‬, the Heavenly Jerusalem is situated, with its Temple and altar. The souls of the righteous, the souls and the spirits of those who are not yet born, and the dew of resurrection are in the last Heaven, the ‘Araboth. There too is the throne of God. The Rabbis claimed to know that ‘four men entered (during their life) into Paradise (‫ פרדס‬,‫)גןעדן‬: Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, another one (‫ )אחר‬91 and R. Akiba’ (BT Hagigah 14b). Only Akiba had returned safely from his ascension, and later he warned future ascendants no to be led astray by the shining white stones at the entrance to the sixth Heaven’s palace, which the other three fatally took for water. 92 Awesome guards at the entrance of the seventh palace ride voracious horses that drink from fiery rivers. 93 The vision of the mystic soul who has entered the very presence of God is described in these terms in Hekhalot R: 94 ‘The Holy Living Creatures do strengthen and hallow and purify themselves, and each one has bound upon its head a thousand thousands of thousands of crowns of luminaries of diverse sorts, and they are clothed in clothing of fire and wrapped in a garment of flame and cover their faces with lightning. And the Holy One, blessed be He, uncovers His face. And why do the Holy Living Creatures and the Ophanim of majesty and the Cherubim of splendor hallow and purify and clothe and wrap and adorn themselves yet more? Because the Mer32F

324F

325F

326F

The anonymous individual is Elisha ben Abuya, who later apostatized. See also above, ch 2, p. 71). 92 Quoted by Scholem (1965, p. 15) from Hekhalot Zutarti. 93 Hekhalot R 15,8 – 16,1. Scholem sees a connection between these horses and those which took Elijah away from the earth (ibid., p. 32). Another possible reference could be the horses of the eschatological riders in Rev 6:2ff. 94 According to the mss. of the Jewish Theol. Seminary 828, fol. 8a (Scholem ibid., p. 29). Other descriptions of the ‘Living Creatures’ are found in marginal notes in BT Pesahim 94. 91

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DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

cabah is above them and the throne of glory upon their heads and the Shechinah over them and rivers of fire pass between them’. According to another Midrash (Pir dR Eliezer 4), ‘God’s presence is situated among four camps of angels headed by Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael. God is seated on a portable high throne suspended in the air, and His majestic aspect is like electrum (‫)חשמל‬. Upon His head is a crown and on His forehead the diadem of the explicit Name. His eyes are watching all over the earth, being half fire and half hail. On His right hand is Life, and on His left Death… Justice and judgment are the abode of His throne…’ R. Akiba had once misinterpreted the plural ‫ =( כרסון‬thrones) of Dan 7 as signifying one throne for God and one for David (Messiah?); later he admitted, like R. Yose, that one throne was to sit on, and the other for His feet 95 (BT Sanh 38a). In this context, we wish to mention the rabbinic tradition according to which the souls of the martyrs are placed in the immediate vicinity of God (BT Pesahim 50a; Midr Qoh 9:10/42). 96 The soul of Moses is also said to be in God’s presence (Midr Deut R 10/206c and 11/208b). A permanent liturgy is sung around God’s throne by Cherubim, Seraphim and the Living Creatures. The latter, particularly, ‘sing chants and hymns, with one voice, one expression (‫ )דבור‬and one melody’. 97 God takes pleasure listening each day for several hours to the singing of the Living Creatures (BT Abodah Zarah 3b). Parts of these hymns are preserved in the Midrashic literature, 98 which rabbinic tradition, having inherited them from the Apocalypses,99 faithfully preserved for centuries (BT Abodah Zarah 24b). The mystic soul arriving before the Mercabah immediately joins the singing (Hekhalot R 24:1). 327F

329F

30F

31F

Thus the possibility of destroying the purity of the main Jewish doctrine, namely, God’s uniqueness, was avoided. 96 See above, Ch 3, p. 72, n. 58. 97 Hekhalot R (Scholem 1965, p. 29). Scholem points out the similarity between this text and and the ending of the Prefaces in the Latin Mass, as well as Asc Isa 7:15; 8:18; 9:28; 2En19:6. 98 Cf. Hekhalot R 2:4; 7:41; 8:1. 99 Cf. Rev 14:2–3. 95

4. EARLY JEWISH LITERATURE

137

FUNERARY EPIGRAPHY

We shall briefly record here the contents of the epitaphs on Jewish tombs of the period, but only insofar as they throw additional light on the subject of our present interest. 100 Greek and Latin inscriptions reveal considerable assimilation of the pagan formulae in use in the Hellenistic world, to such a degree that we must recognize the existence of religious syncretism among members of Jewish communities. We know that Jewish slaves in Rome were even incinerated at their death, and their ashes placed in columbaria (cf. Frey 1936, pp. 68* and 69*). This fact is actually of no greater significance than the mummification practiced by some Jews in Egypt at this time (cf. Frey 1936, p. 536), for the Jewish conscience had not been completely lost, as we see that a ‫שלום‬-colophon or a typical Jewish symbol, such as a menorah or a lulav, accompanies otherwise pagan formulae in inscriptions. In addition, possible future desecrators of the tomb are often threatened with a Deuteronomic curse. The Grave Terms and Expressions ‫קבר‬ ‫קברא‬ ‫משכב‬ ‫בת נפש‬ ‫נפש‬ ‫ בית עלמא‬101

References

Klein 8; Frey 993 Frey 820 Klein 8; Frey 1414 Frey 1077 Frey 1009 Frey 1415

Dating, Frequency, Original language early period early period early period late period late period late period

We have used the corpus of Frey (1936 and 1952) and that of Klein (1920) for epitaphs found before 1920. More recently, other works on the subject have come to light, like that of Cantera – Millás (1956), Leon (1960) and Noy (1993), as well as various reports of Jewish inscriptions discovered in Israel during the last 70 years. In our record we do not include per se the funerary inscriptions of Beth She‘arim. 101 Cf. already Eccle 12:15 ‫בית עולם‬. A similar Hebrew expression is still used in our time to mean ‘a cemetery’. It may originally have come from ancient Egypt (cf. ANET, p. 33), and was a common expression in 100

138 ‫ביעלמא‬ ‫בית העצמ]ו[ת‬ ἐνθάδε κεῖται ῶδε κεῖται τόπος τόπος τῆς εἰρήνης τόπος αἰώνιος ἀναπαύσεως θήκη σωματοθήκη μνῆμα μνῆμα διαφέρον μνῆμιον μνημεῖον μήμορις μιμόριον μημόριον τάφος τόμβος οἷκος αιώνιος χώρον εις ευσεβέα 105

DEATH AND AFTERLIFE Frey 1418 Frey 1395 Frey 283 103 Frey 210 Frey 694 Frey 1040

late period once 102 extremely frequent frequent rare rare

Klein 145 Klein 153 Frey 693 Frey 1510 Frey 1530 Frey 337

latinism latinism latinism infrequent infrequent

Frey 877 Klein 140 Frey 785 Frey 130 Frey 142 Frey 157 Frey 820 104

rare very frequent once frequent frequent

the Greco-Roman world (see here below, οἴκος αἰώνιος, Frey 337; domus aeterna, Frey 523; see also Ch 6, pp. 164–165). We find it too in a Punic inscription (Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, n. 124). 102 This appeared on a slab found inside the well-known tomb of ‫בני‬ ‫ חזיר‬in Silwan, near Jerusalem. The slab was possibly used to close a special compartment for secondary burials. 103 This is a significant case: Greek text, menorah, shofar, lulav and theatrical masks – a strong Jewish awareness but no concern for the Jewish religious law which forbids the representation of the human form. 104 The Aramaic text of this bilingual epitaph has ‫ קברא‬and ‫]ב[עלמא‬, which indicate the low ideological value given to the latter term. 105 If this expression corresponds to the present Spanish and Italian camposanto (cemetery), as was suggested in RB (32, 1923, p. 154f), it should be noted that already in Eccle 8:10 ‫ מקום קדוש‬probably designates a

4. EARLY JEWISH LITERATURE μυστήριν παραστάτικον τόπος καθαρός sepulchrum hic iacet hic est positus hic sita est hic requiescit dormitor(ium) domus aeterna 107

Frey 871 Frey 784 Frey 752 106 Frey 476 Frey 527 Frey 497 Frey 476 Frey 499 Frey 630 Frey 523

139

once once once

very frequent once once

Death No direct reference to death occurs in Hebrew or Aramaic epitaphs, except for the frequent formula ‫ =( נוח נפש‬rest of the soul), usually abridged as ‫( ננ‬Klein 106, 110). In Greek and Latin inscriptions, the designation of death as sleep is rather widespread, and is often accompanied by a wish for peace: ἐν εἰρὴνῃ ἡ κοίμεσις αυτοῦ dormitio dormitionem accepit obdormivit in pace dormitio eius com iustis dormitio eius memoriae eius

Frey 507; cf. 171, 172 Frey 250 Frey 68 Frey 526 Frey 526 Frey 526 108

In later texts the deceased is referred to by the term defuncta (-us) (Frey, 482 and 635). graveyard, like an old Egyptian expression (see Ipuwer, in Erman 1923, p. 136; ΑΝΕΤ, p. 442). 106 The text says that the sarcophagus (σορός) has been placed ‘in a pure place’ (ἐπὶ τόπου καθαροῦ). 107 Cf. also the long epitaph of Probina: ‘Perpetuas sine fine domos mors incolit atra’ (Black death lives forever in the eternal houses) (Frey 1936, no. 527). 108 This text ends with a warning to the possible disturber of the ‘sleep’ of the dead person: ‘et si quis impsum vexaverit, ultor erit Deus Israel in saeculum’.

140

DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

Resurrection Belief in resurrection shows up only sporadically, though Roman Jews sometimes bear names in which such a belief is fairly obvious, 109 such as Ἀνάστασις (‘resurrection’; Frey 364, 576, 598), Ἀναστασία (ibid. 298, 522b, 732) and Anastasius (ibid. 211; cf. 2). Several sentences offer further evidence of the same belief: ‘Blessed, who has his hope in the Lord’ (Frey 877) and ‘a good hope of mercy’ (ἐλεοὺς ἐλπίδα ἀγαθὴν) (ibid. 1513). In point of fact, however, only the long epitaph of the Roman lady Regina leaves no room for doubt, for, besides expressions such as ‘rursum victura, reditura ad lumina sursum’ and ‘speranda futura’, we also read these explicit words: ‘surgat in aevum promissum’ (= let her rise up in the promised Age) (Frey 476). 110 The Dwelling-place of the Souls A short expression of peace, like ‫( שלום‬Klein 124), ειρηνη (ibid. 137), or in pace (ibid. 477), often accompanies the simple epitaphs. Such wishes seem to be most frequently addressed to the deceased: ‫( שלום אבודמוס‬Klein 119), ‫( שלום יודן‬ibid. 1087). Here, a belief in an afterlife can be inferred. In other epitaphs, the wish for peace is for the resting-place of the body, like ‫ =( שלום על משכבו‬peace on his resting-place) (ibid. 593), and often for the whole people of IsSee Frey 1936, vol. I, p. CXXXVII. Here is the entire text of this important epitaph: HIC REGINA SITA EST TALI CONTECTA SEPVLCRO QVOD CONIVX STATVIT RESPONDENS EIVS AMORI HAEC POST BIS DENOS SECVM TRANSSEGERAT ANNVM ET QUARTVM MENSEM RESTANTIBVS DIEBVS RVRSVM VICTVRA REDITVRA AD LVMINA SVRSVM NAM SPERARE POTEST IDEO QVOD SVRGAT IN AEVOM PROMISSVM QUAE VERA FIDES DIGNISQVE PIISQVE QVAE MERVIT SEDEM VENERANDI RVRIS HABERE HOC TIBI PRAESTITERIT PIETAS HOC VITA PVDICA HOC ET AMOR GENERIS HOC OBSERVANTIA LEGIS CONIVGII MERITVM CVIVS TIBI GLORIA CVRAE HORVM FACTORVM TIBI SVNT SPERANDA FVTVRA DE QVIBVS ET CONIVX MAESTVS SOLACIA QVAERIT 109 110

4. EARLY JEWISH LITERATURE

141

rael: ‫( שלום על ישראל לעולם‬Klein 163), ‫( שלום על ישראל בעולם‬Frey 1179). On other tombs, the single word ‫ שלום‬may mean nothing more than the sign of Jewishness of the deceased, like other typical Jewish symbols (above), for such markings are particularly common on Diaspora tombs; they are sometimes written in Hebrew when the epitaph is in Greek (Klein 156), or else transcribed into Greek characters (Klein 136). In a few instances, it is possible that the inscription ‫ שלום‬is the name of the dead person, as we find also on several ossuaries (Figueras 1983, p. 14). The most explicit formulae of a wish for future rest and happiness include: ἐν εἰρὴνῃ ἡ κοίμεσις αυτοῦ (σοῦ) ἐν εἰρὴνῃ κεῖται requiescat in pace

Frey 171, 172, 506, 507 Frey 133 Frey 458

Cf. also ‫( נוח נפש‬above, p. 139). A discussed case is that of '‫נוח ה‬ ‫( נפשה דיוסף‬Frey 1416), where '‫ ה‬may stand for ‫ יהוה‬or for ‫העולם‬. The following are common pagan formulae: χαίρε, χρήστη εὐψύχει θάρσει εὐμοίρει θάρσει... οὐδεῖς ἀθάνατος

111

Typical Jewish expressions:

Klein 148 Frey 782 Frey 891 very frequent Frey 999 especially frequent in Beth She‘arim Frey 314, 1209

‫שלום על צדיקים‬ ‫חולוקון עם צדיקים‬ μετᾶ τῶν δικαιῶν ἡ κοίμησις σοῦ dormitio tua in bonis ‫נפשו בצרור החיים‬ ‫נשמתו לחיי עולם‬ ὅς καὶ ἰς σφαῖρ]αν πλα[νητῶν κατέ]στεσεν ἡμάς (the soul) εἰς οὑσίους ἕπετε

Frey 632

Frey 979 Frey 78 Frey 250 Frey 1534 Frey 1536 Frey 788 Frey 1510

This second expression, quite common in the surrounding pagan world, is meant as consolation for the bereaved, in the same way as the first one, θἀρσει. 111

142

DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

εὔοδον (a farewll wish, on an ossuary) reditura ad lumine sursum… 112 dignisque piisque quae meruit sedem venerandi ruris habere (ibid.)

Expressions of sorrow:

‫חבל‬ ἄωρος (= taken before his time)

Testa 1962, p. 39, fig. 11 Frey 476 (see above, note 110)

Frey 898 113

Frey 1077, 112 (frequent in Beth She’arim) Frey 1452, 1508

Egyptian Jews in particular expressed their grief in long epitaphs, like the following:

‘… Stop, you passerby. For he who gave me life is in deep sadness and is desolate, like all his family and his friends…’ Frey 1451 ‘I am Jesus, the issue of Famais, oh stroller. At the age of sixty I descended to Hades. Weep together, all of you, for him who suddenly descended to the eternal abyss, to live in the gloom…’ Frey 1511 ‘… How old were you when you passed into the dark region of Lethe? – At the age of twenty I went to the sad abode of the dead… Without issue did I come to the dwelling-place of Hades. – May the earth, the guardian of the dead, be light upon you…’ Frey 1530 114

It presupposes the Graeco-Roman belief in afterlife amongst the stars, but compare already Daniel (12:2–3) and the Apocalypses (1En 43:3; Rev 2:28; Syb Orac III, 99–100; VA 15:3, etc.). 113 Such is the possible interpretation of one of the inscriptions in the old Jaffa cemetery. 114 This last expression is merely an extension of a commonly used formula (Frey 1484). 112

CHAPTER FIVE. EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE Early Christian eschatology is Jewish in its basic elements, and its literary exponents may at times even prove the antiquity of specific Jewish images, expressions of belief related to afterlife that otherwise would be known only from later Jewish sources. Where this is especially true of the N.T. books (cf. Lk 16:22; 2Cor 12:2–4; Rev 6:9, etc), we may see how easily Jewish eschatology has been integrated by the early Church in the writers known as Apostolic Fathers – not all of them of Jewish origin. The new elements of Christian origin did not eliminate old Jewish conceptual frameworks. On the contrary, death became more than ever a means of eternal salvation, with judgment essentially attributed to the Messiah, and resurrection not only a hope but a belief. This review further highlights the extent to which early Christian writings demonstrate the popular use of symbols among Israelite religious circles in the I and II centuries. Moreover, if this was true in the literary field, it might also have been true with respect to artistic expression. Yet, we must once again recognize the limitations that preclude easy assertions on this subject.

‘DIDACHE’ OR DOCTRINE OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES

This is probably the oldest Christian writing after the N.T., from around the end of the I cent. Its eschatological teaching is based on that of the N.T., though it contains some innovative elements. The author must have been of Jewish origin.

143

144

DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

‘There are two paths, one to life and one to death’ 1 (Did 1:1). This double reality guides the overarching reasoning of the book. Sin causes spiritual death (2:4). Idols are ‘dead gods’ (6:3). God commands respect for human life, even for that of infants (2:2; 5:2). Through Jesus Christ, true life (9:3) and immortality (10:2) have been revealed to man, who is now assured of an eternal reward (4:8; cf. 5:2). A kingdom has been prepared by Christ (10:5) and it constitutes the object of prayer of the Church (8:2). In the Eucharist, the Messianic vine-tree 2 provides a real drink of immortality (10:3). Lord Christ’s return with the saints on the cloud (16:7– 8) shall be preceded by hatred and ominous signs in the ‘last days’ (16:3). Believers must have reached perfection in the ‘last Age’ (16:2) 3 to be saved from the curse4 ‘in the fire of testing (16:5) at the revelation of the ‘deceiver of the world 5 as the son of God’ (16:4). ‘Then the signs of the truth shall appear; first the sign of the expansion (ἐκπετάσεως) in Heaven, then the sign of the voice and the trumpet, and in the third place the resurrection of the dead’ (16:6).

EPISTLES OF IGNATIUS FROM ANTIOCH

These letters were written around 107–117, during Ignatius’ trip to Rome where he was being taken to be put to death. Although he

See above, Ch 4, p. 155. This theme of the two paths or two ways may have roots in the O.T. (cf. Deut 30:5f; Jer 21:8; Bar 4:1; Eccli 21:10), but we find it in the works of pagan authors as well, such as Hesiodus (Works and Days 5:285ff) and Xenophon (Memorables 2:1). 2 Lit. ‘the holy vine of David, Thy child’. See above, Ch 4, p. 126, 133–134. 3 Greek ἐὰν μὴ ἐν τῷ ἐσχάτω καιρῷ τελειωθῆτε. 4 We correct ὑπ[ό] by ἀπ[ό]. The text reads σωθήσονται ὑπ´αυτοῦ καταθήματος. 5 Greek ὁ κοσμοπλανής (cf. Rev 12:9; 2John 7). 1

5. EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE

145

was of gentile origin, it is not easy to establish the extent to which he was independent of the Jewish pre-Gnostic trends of his days. 6 He insists particularly on the idea of his hope of reaching God through passion, martyrdom and death (Ign Eph 11:1; Rom 2:1–2; 4:1; Pol 7:1), as well as reaching Christ through bodily torments (Rom 5:3), or, simply of reaching God (Magn 1:3; Rom 1:2; Smyr 11:1) and going to Him (Rom 7:1). This idea is parallel to that of obtaining life (Eph 11:1; Rom 4:3) and resurrection through martyrdom (Smyr 5:3). For the reward of the believers is their portion (Rom 1:2), true life (Eph 11:1), eternal life (Pol 2:3), freedom (Rom 4:3; Pol 4:3), inheritance (Philad 5:1) or the kingdom (Eph 16:1; Philad 3:3). It is Christ who exhales ‘for His church a perfume of incorruptibility’ (Eph 17:1); for in Him God appeared in human form for a newness of eternal life’, preparing for them the destruction of death (Eph 19:3). Because ‘ín His resurrection he received a banner 7 for all the Ages’ (Smyr 1:2). Therefore, it is in Christ that Ignatius hopes to rise (Rom 4:3). He does ‘not want to die for nothing’ (Tral 10:1). He knows that Christ calls the believers unto Him by His cross, for its branches are incorruptible 8 (Tral 11:2). It is His Father who raises up in Christ (ibid. 9:2). This way of eternal life, which is going to the Temple of God and to His altar, a running together to the same Christ (Magn 5:2), who is our perpetual living (Magn 1:3), is reached not only by martyrdom but by simple faith in Christ (Philad 5:2), by practical love (Smyr 7:1), and in a very particular way by the Eucharist, which is ‘the medicine of immortality, the antidote not to die but to live forever in Jesus Christ’ (Eph 20:2). Ignatius wants ‘the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was the seed of David, and for drink – he says – I desire His blood, which is incorruptible love’ (Rom 7:3). A judgment will be held for everybody (cf. Magn 10:2), though judgment means also pure condemnation, as for the angels We have basically used the text edited by Camelot (1951, pp. 66– 180), while some of the English translations have been taken from Lake (1952). 7 The cross (cf. Isa 5:26; 11:12; 49:22; 62:10). 8 Implicitly, the cross is compared to the tree of life. 6

146

DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

who may ‘not believe in the blood of Christ’ (Smyr 6:1). There is, indeed, ‘a coming wrath’ from the Lord (Eph 11:1), and the corruptor shall go to the inextinguishable fire (Smyr 16:2). No details are given about the ‘day of resurrection’ (Pol 7:1). Ignatius knows only that the body will be restored to him, as he expresses the wish to rise even with his chains, which are his ‘spiritual gems’ (Eph 11:1). It will not be so for those who deny the truth of Christ’s resurrection. They shall be ‘without a body, and similar to devils’ 9 (Smyr 2:1). In contrast, the martyr does not care for the future of his present body, for he asks the Roman Christians: ‘Suffer me to be eaten by the beasts, through which God can be attained. I am God’s wheat, that I be ground by the teeth of wild beasts, that I may be found pure bread of Christ. Rather entice the wild beasts, that they may become my tomb and leave no trace of my body, that when I fall asleep I be not burdensome to any’ 10 (Rom 4:1–2). Indeed, death is considered a new ‘birth’ (ὁ τοκετός), a start of life, for the present life is death (Rom 6:1).

EPISTLE OF POLYCARP TO THE PHILIPPIANS

Polycarp, bishop of Smyrn, writes to the Philippians shortly after Ignatius’ visit (ca. 107–117) (cf. 1:1; 9:1). He was probably Christian since birth (see below, Mart Pol 9:3). 11 He insists on the doctrine of judgment that shall be wrought upon the world by the ‘saints’ (11:2). This trial takes place for everybody ‘before the court of Christ’ (6:2) (cf. Rom 14:10, 12; 2Cor 5:10), who ‘comes as judge of living and dead’ (2:1); and he who denies judgment and resurrection is ‘the first-born of Satan’ 12 (7:1). The whole body of the Church must be saved (11:4), so that beOr to ‘phantoms’: Greek ἀσωμάτοις καὶ διαμονικοῖς. We are, therefore, very far from the Jewish practice of bonegathering. In any case, there is no need to preserve the bones for the resurrection. 11 The following citations are based on the Greek text edited by Camelot 1951, pp. 202–220. 12 A probable allusion to Marcion, according to Irenaeus (Adv Haer 3:3,4). This text also condemns he who ‘does not confess the testimony of the cross.’ 9

10

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lievers ‘obtain Christ’s heritage and portion among His saints’ (12:2). A token of the privilege of receiving the coming Age and reigning with Christ is a resurrection from the dead (5:20) by God, who also raised Christ (2:2) after having ‘untied the laces of Hades’ (1:2). The martyrs, like Ignatius and his friends, are already with the Lord ‘in the place which is their due’ (9:2). By this last statement, Polycarp means probably a happy intermediate state, and not the last, definitive state of ‘the coming Age’ (5:2).

MARTYRDOM OF POLYCARP

The event recorded in this writing must have taken place either in 155 or in 177. Except for the last part of this account, which is probably spurious, these pages constitute a first-hand witness of the courageous attitude of early Christians in the face of death and martyrdom, which inspired so much admiration among pagan spectators. 13 Mentions of eternal life (2:3), eternal fire for the impious (2:3; 11:2), heritage (6:2), reward and crown of immortality (17:1; 19:2), as well as the vision of angels and righteous living in God’s presence (14:1; 19:2), are here of minor importance when compared with the first mention of Christian interest in and devotion to gathering the bones of a martyr (17:1; 18:2) and of liturgical assemblies at his tomb (18:3). We shall quote the whole passage: 14 XVII, 1. ‘But the… evil one (= devil)… took care that not even his poor body should be taken away by us, though many desired to do this, and to have fellowship with his holy flesh. 2. Therefore he put forward Niketas… to ask the governor not to give us the body, “lest”, he said, “they leave the crucified one and begin to worship this man.”… XVIII. 1. When therefore the centurion saw the contentiousness caused by the Jews, he put the body in the midst, as was their custom, and burnt it. 2. Thus we, at last, took up his bones, more precious than pre-

See, for instance, Plinius Junior, letter to Trajan; Galenus (in Abulfida’s Historia anteislamica); Lucian (Peregrinus, XIII); Aelius Aristides, 398; Porphyrius, Fragm. 62. 14 English translation by Lake 1950 (vol. II, pp. 335–337). 13

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DEATH AND AFTERLIFE cious stones, and finer than gold, and put them where it was meet. 3. There the Lord will permit us to come together… and celebrate the birthday 15 of his martyrdom…’

PAPIAS FROM HIERAPOLIS

We summarize below several quotations from early writers who reported the millenaristic ideas of this Asiatic bishop from the first half of the II cent. 16 Irenaeus of Lyon assigns to him the same ideas as to ‘the Presbyters who saw John, the disciple of the Lord’ (Adv Haer IV, 33, 4). Irenaeus’ Testimony (Adv Haer IV, 33, 3–4) Papias taught the renovation of the earth, plenteousness of food through the dew of Heaven and the fruitfulness of the earth. He assigned to the Lord the prophecy of the marvelous multiplication and growing of the vine and its fruit: ‘in each plant (will be)10.000 sarments, in each sarment 10.000 arms, in each arm 10.000 clusters, in each cluster 10.000 grapes, in each grape 10.000 grains, and each grain will produce 20.000 measures of wine… And when one of the saints will take a grape, another (grape) will claim: I am a better grape, take me, bless the Lord for me’. 17 There will be a similar multiplication of wheat, fruit, seeds and herbs. Animals that take their food from the earth shall live in peace and in full submission to men.

‘And (Papias) added that these things are credible to believers. And that, as Judah asked him… “How, then, such (wonderful) births shall be fulfilled by the Lord”, the Lord answered him: “Who will reach those (times) will see it”.’

15 16

(1936).

Cf. Ignatius, Rom 6:1 (above). Texts collected by Funck 1881, pp. 276–300. See also Buccellato

Some traditions in 1En 10:19 and Syr Apoc Bar 29, and very similar ones in BT Shab 30b. 17

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Jerome (De viris illustribus, 18)

‘It is said of him (= Papias), that he exposed the Jewish δευτέροσιν of one thousand years. He followed Irenaeus and Apollinarius and the rest of those who affirm that after resurrection the Lord will bodily (lit. in carne) reign with the saints.’

Philip Sidetes (The Christian History)

‘Papias goes astray also about the kingdom of one thousand years, and through him also Irenaeus… Moreover, Papias tells also other marvelous things and especially about the mother of Manaemos who rose from the dead; of those risen from the dead (by faith) in Christ, (he says) that they lived in Hadrian’s time.’

Anastasius Sinaita (Hexaemeron, VII)

‘Philo the Philosopher and Papias… and his followers interpreted spiritually in terms of what they had seen in Paradise, referring to it as Christ’s Church.’

Phocius (Bibliotheca)

‘(Stephanus Gabarus) admits neither Papias nor Irenaeus as among those saying that in the kingdom of Heaven there is a lust for certain sensible kinds of food.’

THE PRESBYTERS

Irenaeus recounts some statements of the elders or Presbyters who ‘did personally know John, the disciple of the Lord, and heard from him what the Lord was teaching about those times’ (Adv Haer V, 33, 3). Most likely, his information is borrowed from the books assigned to Papias: 18 ‘Then those who will be worthy of Heavenly life will go over there; others will enjoy the delights (τρευφής) of Paradise; others, at last, will possess (the holy land and) the splendor of the

18

Texts in Funck 1881, pp. 301–314.

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DEATH AND AFTERLIFE city (and all the good things) that God will have set around it; but from everywhere it will be possible to see the Savior, according to the dignity of those who see Him’ 19 (Adv Haer V, 33, 3).

‘This (= Gen 2:3) is why the Presbyters, disciples of the Apostles, say that those who were transferred (τοὺς μετατεθέντας) to there (= Paradise), since for the righteous and the possessors of the Spirit Paradise is prepared, where also… Paul was transferred and heard ineffable words – and that there remain those who were transferred till the consummation (ἑως συντελείας), preceding (προομιαζομένους) incorruption’ (Adv Haer V, 36, 1).

EPISTLE OF BARNABA

This was probably written by a Jewish-Christian living in a Greek environment, likely Alexandria, at the beginning of the II cent. The writer demonstrates familiarity with many Jewish sources, such as Apocrypha 20 and Midrashim, and uses also several anticultual, Christological and universalist collections. 21 The last part of the book is certainly the work of a later hand. The basic idea of the first part of the book is the hope for salvation and eternal life (1:4, 6; 8:5). The latter is imagined as a return to Paradise, 22 and described also as ‘the heritage’ (4:3; 16:19), ‘the Kingdom’ of the Lord (cf. 4:13) or of Christ (7:11), and ‘the incorruptible temple’ (16:9). There is a possibility that the deceiver, the devil, may take us away from this life (2:10; 4:13), for the reward These three degrees of the blessed in Paradise are proven by the authority of Mt 13:23 and John 14:2. It is to be observed that the Latin text is here longer than the Greek, alluding, e.g., to the dining-room and adding that ‘in the era of the kingdom, the righteous man on earth will forget to die’. 20 In 4:3 there is an explicit quotation of the book of Enoch, though the words in question are not found in any of the apocryphal writings known under that name. Cf. also 12:1. 21 See Prigent 1961. 22 See Müller 1899, p. 214. 19

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(11:8) promised in the Lord’s testament (6:18) will not be granted in the present Age but in the coming one23 (4:1). Indeed, it is to be obtained by affliction and torment (7:11), for Christ also ‘did suffer to destroy death and to show that there is resurrection from the dead’ (5:6). The author insists upon the binomium Christ-cross, adducing for it some typological testimonia from the Bible (9:2, 7–8; 11:1–11; 12:1–5) 24 and the Apocrypha (12:1; cf. 4Ezra 4:33; 5:5). Their interpretation is partly founded upon gematria, 25 a system which is also used here in relation to the doctrine of the two Ages. 26 The author utilizes the image of the ‘vase of the spirit’ as a metaphor for the body of Christ (7:3; 11:9), and places the ‘eighth day’ as a principle of the ‘other world’ (ἄλλου κόσμου), 27 for it is the day of Christ’s resurrection (15:8–9). The second part of the book is a parenetic commentary on the doctrine of the two paths, one of darkness and one of light (18:1). The first leads only to an ‘everlasting death with torment’ (20:1). There will be a day of judgment (19:10; 21:6), the day of the Lord, in which ‘everything shall perish with Evil’ (21:3). But the righteous ‘shall be filled with glory in the kingdom of God’; and ‘from where the resurrection, there also retribution’ (ἀνταπόδομα) (21:1).

EPISTLE TO DIOGNETUS

This apologetic script was probably issued in Alexandria around the end of the II cent. And was addressed to the Roman procurator τοῦ νῦν καιρός – τὸν μέλλοντα (‫)העולם הזה – העולם הבא‬. Biblical passages referred to are Gen 3:22; 17:26f; Num 19:4ff; Isa 65:2; Ps 1:3. 25 Thus the interpretation of 318 (18–ΙΗ = Jesus + 300 –T = cross). The same is found in Clement Alex. (Strom VI, 18:4) and in some Antiochian Fathers. 26 The ‘bifid’ (cf. Lev 11:3; Deut 14:6) represents the ‘righteous who walks in this world while expecting the holy Age’ (τὸν ἅγιον αιῶνα). 27 There may be here a certain relation with the rabbinic ideal of Shabbat as a symbol of rest in Heaven. See Midr Haotiot dR Akiba (ed. Wertheimer ‫תשט"ו‬, p. ‫)שמו‬. 23 24

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in Egypt, Claudios Diognetos. 28 The last three chapters belong to a Gnostic independent source. Christian contempt for death (1:1) has its rationale in the Heavenly citizenship of the believers (5:9). For, if they are put to death, they are made alive again (θανοῦνται καὶ ζωοποιοῦνται) (5:12). Like the immortal soul living in a mortal tabernacle, so also the Christians, living among corruptible things expect Heavenly incorruption (6:8). One day God will send His Word (λόγος) for judgment (7:6), and an eternal and true fire awaits those who shall be condemned; but for those who have contempt for apparent death on earth, a real life is prepared in Heaven (10:7). It is possible, by God’s power, to enter God’s kingdom (9:1). He will give His lovers ‘the kingdom that is in Heaven’ (τὴν ἐν οὐρανῷ βασιλείαν), which is promised by Him to His Son (10:2). The last chapter of the book includes the metaphor of Paradise and the tree of knowledge as applied to the righteous: ‘Those who rightly love Him shall become a Paradise of delight (Gen 3:23; Joel 2:3); a tree full of fruit grows in them…’ (12:1). The tree of knowledge and the tree of life ‘were planted one next to the other’, for they are mutually necessary (12:4). In a clearer fashion than in Qumran (see above, Ch 4, pp. 101–102), it is stated here that ‘life (is given) through knowledge’ (12:3). The work ends with a pressing hope: ‘Salvation manifests itself, knowledge is given to the Apostles, the Lord’s Passover is approaching, Ages 29 are being gathered and prepared, and the Word (by Whom Father is glorified) rejoices in teaching the saints’ (12:9).

I EPISTLE OF CLEMENT TO THE CORINTHIANS

There is little reason to doubt the authorship of Clement, bishop of Rome, to whom this letter is traditionally assigned. It was certainly written in Rome not long after Domitian’s persecution, and was praised by Irenaeus (Adv Haer III, 33). 28 29

See Marrou 1951. Reading καιροὶ for κηροὶ.

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Its main arguments for resurrection suggest that this doctrine was denied in more than one Christian circle of that period. Christ, for Clement, is the true principle of future resurrection, which takes place in the appointed time (24:1–3). If day follows night (24:3), if a corrupted seed produces the plant (24:4–5) and if Phoenix is born out of a worm from corrupted flesh (25:1–5), 30 there is nothing astonishing in the fact that the Creator resurrects His servants (26:1–3). 31 Most interesting is the obvious interpretation of the imminent coming of the Lord (23:5; cf. Mal 3:1) as taking place upon the individual’s death (22:2–4). It seems to be at that moment that a judgment is established (28:1), for which we have to be found in love (49:4). Those who will be ‘consummated in love shall obtain the place of the righteous and they shall be revealed at the visit of Christ’ (50:3) (cf. 4Ezra 2:16). Through Him we reach the Heavenly height and gaze into His face, ‘for God wanted that we may taste immortal knowledge’ (τῆς ἀθάνατου γνώσεος) (36:3). In contrast with this kind of ‘fruitful and perfect death’ (lit. dissolution) (45:5), like that of Peter, who, after martyrdom ‘proceeded to the due place of glory’ (5:4), the author offers the examples of Dathan and Abiron, who ‘descended alive to Hades’ (4:12) and were consumed by death (51:3–4). There is an established ‘number of those who are saved by Christ’ (58:2), and it must be kept complete (c. 49).

II EPISTLE OF CLEMENT

This pseudepigraphic writing is composed in a homiletic style and was likely published in Corinth about the middle of the II cent. Its exhortations are mainly based on hope for an eternal life (8:3) and fear of eternal punishment. Future, eternal life is represented through the image of rest (6:7), ‘the rest of the coming kingdom’ (6:9), a crown (7:2–3; 19:4; 20:2), an entrance to ‘the royal palace’ (τὸ βασίλειον) of God (6:9) In this account there is mention of a bird transporting the bones of its father, from Arabia to Egypt, and placing them on the sun-altar. 31 The author quotes Ps 27:7; 3:6; Job 19:26. 30

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and to the kingdom of Christ (11:7), a time of happiness, ‘the Age free of sadness’ (τὸν αλύπετον αἰώνα) (19:4). Some passages insist on the promise of a reward for the flesh (9:5; 10:4), which will become incorruptible (14:5). Christ is the ‘author of incorruption’, and through him God revealed Heavenly life (20:5). Believers must keep the seal of Baptism (6:9; 7:6; 8:6) in order not to corrupt the fight (cf. 20:2) for incorruption (7:5). For, ‘present and future ages are two enemies’ (6:3), and, once out of this world, there is no place for confession or repentance (18:3). But, before reaching this ‘upwards life’ (ἄνω ἀναβιώσας) (19:4), a fearful judgment will take place (18:2), for Christ, like God, is ‘judge of living and dead’ (1:1), and men must fear that He may throw them with body and soul into Gehenna (5:4; cf. Mt 10:28; Lk 12:4–5). Punishment is eternal (6:7); worm and fire are forever (7:6; cf. Isa 66:24; Mk 9:44ff). Therefore, we must be prepared for the coming of the Lord (chs. 15–16), as we ignore the day of ‘God’s apparition’ (τῆς ἐπιφανείας τοῦ Θεοῦ) (12:1). God’s kingdom will come when there will be no difference between male and female, and the relationship between man and woman will be no different from that between brother and sister 32 (12:1–2).

THE SHEPHERD OF HERMAS

Three parts, Visions, Precepts and Parables, are integrated in this long work, likely written in Rome in the middle of the II cent. The author, who does not belong to the hierarchy, expounds his fundamental thesis that there is a possibility of salvation for those Christians who have sinned but do repent. Aside from the eschatological descriptions, many images and symbols used by the writer are also of great interest. A brief review follows below. 33 Visions Death may be a ‘transit with the angels’ (II, 2:7), but there is also the possibility of reproval and loss of life (II, 2:8). It is God who This gospel agraphon is partly reported by Clement Alex. (Strom III, 9:63) as belonging to the Gospel according to the Egyptians. 33 We have used the Greek text edited by Joly 1958. 32

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chooses the recipients of eternal life (IV, 3:5), the promised glory (I, 3:4). ‘Repentants will be recorded in the book of life with the saints’, for they may be transferred from the place of torment (III, 7:6). The building of a tower symbolizes the building of the Church (chs. II and III). Symbolism of colors (Shepherd of Hermas, vision IV, 3:2–3). Precepts The body is like a vase (V, 1:2ff) that cannot contain evil spirits and the Holy Spirit at the same time (V, 2). Bad desire leads to a final death (ἀποθανοῦντα εἰς τέλος) (XII, 2:3), but those who defeat bad desire will be crowned (XII, 2:5). Parables The vine-tree and its fruit are an object of reflection (II, 1; V, 2:1ff). It is God’s people, planted by Him in the field of the world and entrusted to His Son (V, 5:2ff). Trees – dead, dry or green – are symbols of men (IV, 1ff). ‘The green ones are the righteous that will dwell in the coming Age’ (ὁ αἰών ὁ ἐρχόμενος), which is ‘summer for the righteous and winter for the sinners’ (IV, 2ff). Gentiles and sinners will be burned like dry wood (IV, 4). It is necessary to bear fruit in order to reach ‘the coming Age’ (IV, 7). All flesh will receive its reward, like the flesh of Christ, that obtained its restingplace (V, 6:2ff). Eternal life is symbolized by the image of dwelling in the tower (IX, 5), built on the rock of the Son of God by virgins (= angels), the Powers of God’s son (IX, 12:1ff). Different states of conscience and of readiness for eternal life are represented by different colors of the stones (IX, 4:1ff) and different conditions of the branches given to each one, which are tested in the water (VIII, 1:1 – 4:5). Wreaths, seals, and white garments are signs of success (VIII, 2), and, according to the condition of the branches, different dwelling-places are granted to every-

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body (VIII, 3:3) in the tower (VIII, 4:6). The different colors upon the head of the beast symbolize thw world and its terrible end. 34 An image of 12 months, each one with a different characteristic (IX, 1:1ff), serves as an example for the same concept (IX, 19:ff); while the first, black mountain is destined for impenitents, spiritually dead (IX, 19:1), the believers from the eleventh mountain, which is full of fruit-trees, are those who suffer martyrdom in the name of the Son of God (IX, 28:1). So that, while some are glorified near God, others give themselves to death, and their souls are thrown into torment (X, 28:1). The latter are dead for God eternally (VIII, 4:5); ‘perversion has the hope of a certain reintegration, but (spiritual) death dies forever’ (VI, 2:4). Those who once knew God and His marvels and yet behave wrongly will be twice punished, dying forever (IX, 18:2). But those who ‘fall asleep’ with the seal of the Son of God enter the kingdom of God; because, if before bearing the name of the Son of God man was dead, in accepting the seal he sheds mortality and reassumes life 35 (IX, 16:3). Those who remain simple and innocent will dwell with the Son of God (IX, 24:4). In this allegorical system, with its symbols of trees, branches, stones, colors and mountains (IX, 4:1ff), etc., numbers also are used in order to establish the mediating period between creation and Christ’s revelation: 10 25 35 = 70.

JUSTIN THE MARTYR

Considered the first Christian philosopher, Justin was born in Flavia Neapolis (Nablus, Shechem) in the first half of the I cent. AD. His first Apology, or defense of the Christian doctrine, is addressed to emperor Antoninus Pius. The second Apology is an appendix to the first. The incomplete text of his Dialogue with the Jew Trypho is an exposition of the Christian interpretation of the O.T. as well as of his tolerance in regard of the Jewish-Christians of his time, from whom he accepts Millenarism. In all his books he argues about For similar ‘registers’ of good people and their works see Visions I, 3:2; Prec VIII, 6; Parab II, 9. 35 Seal and name appear to be synonyms in this context. 34

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eternal life and resurrection, and of special interest is his system of symbolism. 36 His arguments are based not only on the Bible but also on pagan philosophy and mythology. The First Apology

Death does not destroy feeling (18:1–2), and violent death causes no damage (2:4; 45:6), for the Christians’ wish is an eternal and incorruptible life (8:2) in the future, for which they pray (13:2). This reward (39:5), merited by the knowledge of truth, practice of virtue (64:1), good works (12:2), and faith in the Christian doctrine (57:2), is a kingdom (1–2; 11; 12:1), as also Christ ‘reigned from the tree’ (41:4).

Only those who will be similar to Him may aspire to immortality (21:6), for He obtained victory over death in His resurrection (63:16), which offers hope of immortality (42:4).

An eternal punishment (8:2; 12:1) by fire (17:4; 21:6; 44:5; 45:6; 54:2; 57:1) in Gehenna (19:8) is forseen for the workers of evil, particularly for those responsible for the death of Christians; everybody must render to God an account of his own works (17:4; 68:1–2).

Among practices which distinguish Christians from pagans, Justin includes ‘not to offer sacrifices on the graves of the dead, no libations, fat or victims, wreath, sacrifices…’ (24:2). On the contrary, immortality and resurrection are also pagan doctrines, as evidenced by necromantic practices (19:3), people possessed by souls of deceased persons, oracle, pagan writers and philosophers (18:4). Christians too hope that the dead ‘will regain their bodies, for nothing is impossible to God’ (ibid.); and poets and philosophers affirm that the souls of the wicked keep feeling after death, and suffer the penalty of their crimes, while that of the righteous, exempt of punishment, obtain a happy lot (20:11ff). If, in general, nature proves the possibility of resurrection by the germination of the seeds (19:3–4), faith in Christ’s resurrection parallels the belief about the For our review we have used the Greek text edited by Pautigny 1904, and Archambault 1909. 36

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sons of Zeus (21:1) and the wonders ascribed to Asklepios (22:6). Indeed, both fables served to facilitate belief in the resurrection of the dead by Christ (54:1–2, 10). Christian doctrine is like that of the pagans, the Sybil, the philosophers and the Stoics, who preach a universal conflagration (ἐκπύροσις) (20:1ff), a doctrine which is also prophesied in the O.T. (cf. Deut 32:22) (60:8–9). In fact, philosophers received from the Prophets their teaching of the soul’s immortality, future punishment and ‘contemplation of Heavenly things’ (44:9). Already the Prophets predicted the resurrection of Christ (Isa 53:1–8) (50:12) and the resurrection of the dead that shall take place at His second coming (Ezek 37:7), as well as eternal punishment for the wicked (Isa 66:24) (52:3). Plato even found the sign X, symbol of the cross (τύπον σταυροῦ), in the books of Moses and said that, after God, the first principle, the second virtue was impressed as an X into the universe (60:1–6). Justin places a strong emphasis on the torment of the cross (55:1), this great symbol (σύμβολον) and sign (σχῆμα) of Christ’s power, without which nothing can exist or be whole, as demonstrated through many objects of daily life, in the human body, in the military trophaea, and in the way of consecrating statues of dead emperors and of divinizing them in inscriptions (55:2–7). The cross is only a sign of Christ’s victory over death, which culminates in His resurrection. After this, God took Him into Heaven, ‘keeping Him there until He will have hit the demons…, until the number of the elect shall be complete…, for whose sake He has not delivered the universe to flames’ (45:1). The Second Apology The writer insists on the Christian doctrine of a punishment with eternal fire for the wicked (1:2; 2:2; 7:2) and the demons (8:3–4): ‘if such punishment does not exist, there is no God’ (1:2). To die means to be made free from wicked lords and to go to the father and the king of Heaven (2:17). This is why Christians have contempt for death (10:7; 11:8), accepting it with joy (11:1). Yet, to commit suicide would be to behave against God’s will (4:1–3). Their firm attitude before death is an argument for their virtuous life (12:1). Dissolution of the universe in the final catastrophe, which is only delayed for the sake of Christians (7:1), will result from the fire of judgment, as once did the Flood. Stoic opines that ‘confla-

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gration shall be a mutual absorption of the creatures… does not seem reasonable’ (7:2): evil angels, demons and sinners shall disappear altogether (7:1). Dialogue with Trypho Justin’s approach to the Christian doctrine of salvation by faith in Christ alone (44:4) pushes him to be precise in his view on the question of who will be saved. He rejects the rabbinic statement of an assured salvation for all sons of Abraham according to flesh (140:2), but accepts its validity for Jews who have lived in conformity to Moses’ law (44:2), as well as for those righteous who have obeyed the natural law, such as Noah, Jacob, and others, if any exist (44:4). Jews, however, will be saved only by Christ (64:3). Some Jews will be ‘found sons of Abraham and they will be on the side of Christ’ (120:2). Christians of Jewish origin who keep Jewish practices may also be saved as long as they do not impose such practices on others, but no salvation is foreseen for those Jews who will not believe before death, and especially for those who anathematize Christians in their synagogues 37 (47:1–5). General doctrine about immortality of the soul leads Justin to quote philosophical doctrines on the relationship between soul and body: ‘When… harmony (between the two) is at the point of being destroyed, the soul leaves the body and man ceases to exist; so also, when the soul is at the point of ceasing to exist, the vital spirit goes forth from her, the soul exists no more and goes back to the place from where it was taken’ (6:2). Talking to a Jew, Justin tries to prove survival of the soul by citing select O.T. passages, such as Saul’s vision of Samuel (I Sam 28:8ff). This text suggests that all the souls of the righteous and Prophets escape the fearful fate of falling into the hands of the (devil’s) powers (105:2–5). It is by the ‘mystery of the Crucified one’ (cf. 94:4) that God has had mercy on the believers (106:1). Elevated to Heaven after His resurrection (36:5), Christ will come back to earth in Jerusalem (85:7) for the dissolution (κατάλυσις) of all and retribution to every A probable allusion to the curse against the Minnim in the daily prayer Shmone Esre. 37

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one according to his merits (30:6), destroying those who have hated, and giving rest to those who belong to Him (121:3). In the second coming of Jesus, there will be a (first) resurrection in a whole and incorruptible body for the believers in Christ (69:7). Justin ‘and Christians of sound orthodoxy’ know about this resurrection of the flesh for 1000 years in the rebuilt Jerusalem (80:5). Those who ‘deny resurrection of the dead and affirm that at death their souls are brought (directly) to Heaven’ should not be considered Christians 38 (80:2). Even pagan sources attest to the possibility of resurrection (69:2). Justin insists also on Christ’s role as a judge of ‘the entire race of men’ (124:1), of Adam himself (133:1). They will face judgment and eternal punishment by worm and fire for prevarication (cf. Isa 66:24), for they will also ‘remain immortal, till becoming a spectacle for all flesh’ (130:2). Evil angels and the primaeval serpent shall be destroyed, and death will disappear (44:2). After the resurrection (46:7), some will suffer eternal punishment, while others will face incorruption, immunity, and immortality for others (44:2). Reward will entail the inheritance of all the good things that Christ provides (56:2): Heavenly garments, eternal kingship (116:2), and the ‘holy land, with Abraham, forever’ (119:5). Christ promised possession of this land to the good ones (138:1). The posterity of Jacob ‘will inherit a holy mountain’ (135:4), where a certain number of men will live (136:1). Justin argues, at the end of the book, that condemnation of the wicked must not be imputed to God, for it is not He who made them so, but they themselves have become wicked (140:4; 141:1–2).

ODAE OF SOLOMON

A number of scholars consider these hymns the work of a Christian writer deeply influenced by the doctrines of Qumran, or even of a Qumranite who converted to Christianity. 39 If this is the case, then the hymns must be dated to the end of the I cent. One of the main values of this book for our subject is, again, its testimony of 38 39

This appears to refer to Gnostics and Marcionites. See Carmignac 1963 and Charlesworth 1970.

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the early use of some Christian symbols, such as the cross (27:1–3; 42:2–3), as well as the recurring use of the metaphor of death and life to describe redemption. 40 As in Qumran (see Ch 4, pp. 101– 111), it is often very difficult to determine the extent to which poetic metaphor is here distinguished from a believed reality. The author, for instance, expresses his conviction that he cannot die, for the Lord is with him (5:11; 28:7; cf. 3:10), referring to a spiritual incorruption: ‘your perfection is incorruptible’ (9:3). Yet, there is no doubt about his belief in a future life that is really eternal, as this thought occurs again and again in the Odae (8:26; 15:10; 17:1; 31:6; 40:8, etc.). This future life is portrayed as living water (11:7; 31:1– 6), rest (11:10), a new dress (15:8), a foundation on the Lord’s hand (28:16–17), a crown (17:1–2), a cup of divine milk (8:17; cf. 19:1–5; 35:6), Paradise (11:14–21; 20:7–9) and God’s plantation (28:18–21); and it is often related to faith, salvation and redemption (8:25; 34:6; 38:16). Also the gentiles will be saved, becoming the people of God forever (10:8). Signs of salvation are inscribed in the book (9:12) along with the Lord’s seal on the face (8:16) or on the head (42:25). 41 Christ is depicted as descending to Sheol, where He defeats the seven-headed Dragon (22:1–6) and brings freedom to His slaves, who, with His blessing, live, join Him and are saved (17:8– 14). Election is represented through a vivid image of resurrection (22:1–10). The world is delivered to corruption, so that all is dissolved and then renewed (22:11). Christ’s ‘true kingdom’ (18:1) is built on the rock, and this will become the dwelling-place of the saints (22:12). After His death on the cross, Christ rose up again and lived with those who put their hope on Him (41:2–14). They shall suffer no damage, but shall possess the new world that is incorrupt (33:10). The writer imagines himself possessing new members free For our review we follow the English translation of the Syriac text by Bernard 1970. 41 It is not quite certain that the seal of baptism is intended here (cf. 4:8), for the seal seems to precede the very existence of those whom the Lord loves (9:16); such knowledge, then, includes predestination. 40

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of sadness, lifted up to Christ’s light, serving and praising Him in His presence (21:3–6).

CHAPTER SIX. EXCURSUS ON CONTEMPORANEOUS FOREIGN RELIGIONS The evolution of Jewish ideologies stemmed from external influences as much as from internal dynamics. The Iranian world and Persian Empire, of which Yehud (Judaea) was a part for two hundred years, left an indelible trace of several basic principles of Zoroastrianism, such as religious dualism, angelology and faith in the future life for the soul of the righteous. Egypt, a once-powerful neighbor struggling in the face of repeated invasions, continued to proclaim to the world her message of survival for the dead. Greece had infiltrated the East to the point that her legacy of language, art, literature and philosophy – and with the latter its doctrine of the soul’s immortality – was widely accepted among the innermost circles of Jews. Finally, Rome, heir to the cultures of so many peoples that had submitted to her yoke, furnished new avenues of thought and symbolism for her political protégés, despite their traditional poverty of expression. We shall therefore also briefly review the particular approach of each of these peoples 1 to the question of death and afterlife.

The reader will probably miss here the Assyrians and Babylonians, if not the ancient Sumerians. They possibly influenced ancient Israel more than any other society. But, as the Israelites were submerged into the Persian empire and its successors during the period of our particular interest, we think that such direct influence did not exceed the limits of what is included in the books of the O.T. 1

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THE IRANIAN RELIGIOUS WORLD

An “Iranian religion” as such has never existed. Texts written in several languages during different historical periods reveal to us the diversity, evolution, survival and disappearance of early beliefs, as well as the beliefs of the Iranians, as well as their mutual influence and fights to impose their own sovereignty onto others. At the same time, modern studies have shown that very ancient elements have been preserved even in some relatively recent liturgical texts. In this section, we shall discuss texts representing four different periods: pre-Zoroastrian, early Zoroastrian, Achaemenian and Parthian. 2 Pre-Zoroastrian Period Funerary concerns and afterlife beliefs from the period prior to Cyrus the Great may only be inferred from allusions and contrary laws in Zoroastrian literature, especially in the Vidêvdât or Vendidad. Together with other external sources, like archaeology and the writings of ancient Greek and Roman historians, they allow us to draw the following conclusions: Old Iran knew four kinds of burial: Exhibition of the body in a place fit for vultures and dogs to devour it or to be decomposed by itself, with the subsequent gathering of the bones to be placed in ossuaries in a secure place (Vendidad 6:45ff; 8:10). Burning of the corpses 3 and preservation of the ashes in huturns. Normal underground interment. Interment of the embalmed body. These different forms of burial may correspond to different tribes and regions of ancient Iran. We have taken the work of Widengren 1968 as a chronological and geographical base. 3 That this had probably been the oldest form of burial may be proven, e.g., by the Persian name for grave, daxma, lit. ‘place of combustion’. 2

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Signs of mourning took on a tragic character that could occasionally culminate even in suicide. Individual eschatology is dominated by the trip of the soul to Heaven: 4 the soul ascends through the astral, lunar and solar spheres, reaching at last the fourth Heaven or Paradise. This was probably called, in this period, ‘the lights without origin’. There the soul is greeted by other souls, that interrogate her: ‘How have you come until here, oh righteous? Departed from the other, transitory and miserable life, You have arrived to this eternal and happy life. Enjoy long immortality, for here you see gladness!’

She is then led by the hand of a god to Ahura Mazda and his attending gods, and she receives a mansion, a throne, a garment, a diadem of light and a crown. According to another source, 5 the deceased is received in the upper world by a figure that is his own dâenâ, the spiritual element of the entire ego, formed by the actions performed by the soul on earth. The character of the dâenâ will depend on the soul’s earthly behavior. His aspect is like that of a beautiful young girl. Other texts recount troubles the soul must endure before reaching the upper world. These troubles often are depicted using the image of great rivers. According to Vendidad (19:28–32), the soul comes to the bridge, where, after an interrogation, she is met by a beautiful girl of fifteen years of age, accompanied by two dogs, who leads her to the wall at the border of the Heavenly world. Early Zoroastrianism The soul remains for three days beside the body, that had been neither burnt nor interred, reciting special prayers (Yast 43–46). Then, enwrapped in a fine perfume, the dead’s dâenâ appears. After introducing himself, the dâenâ leads the soul to the ‘heights with no Discarding the pure Zoroastrian elements described in Ardai Viraz Namak, which is an ascension in life, but whose different steps follow those of the soul after death. 5 The second chapter of Hadôxt Nask from Avesta, which has preserved part of an archaic text. 4

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origin’, passing through the Heavenly spheres. Yet the soul does not arrive in this Paradise, called ‘the best dwelling-place of the righteous, the house of song’, without first walking on a path that is ‘horrible, dangerous, separation-jointed, separation of body and conscience’ (Hâdôt Nask 2:17). 6 The deity Ahura Mazda commands that ‘a little of springbutter’, i.e., the food of immortality, be given to the deceased (ibid. 2:8). Other texts talk of ‘drinking immortality’ (Vendidad 19:31) and of certain drinks of immortality of uncertain meaning, like Haoma, the holy drink and basis of the sacrifice (Yast 1:30). Does early Zoroastrianism reflect a belief in immortality of the soul or resurrection of the body? The classical alternative appears also in Zoroastrian literature. Because, surely, resurrection is also believed in: ‘When dead will rise, The Living One will come without being expected. Life shall be transformed according to one’s will.’

This Living One is Saosyant, who, according to the Pahlavi texts must ‘stir’ the dead and raise them. Sent by God, born of a virgin mother, an eschatological redemptor and heir of Zoroaster, Saosyant will defeat enemies and reestablish for the world the original happiness: ‘By his action life shall be transformed, Without becoming old, without decomposing, Without being corrupted, eternally living, Eternally prospering, with the kingdom at will…’ (Yast 19:89).

Along with this escatology there is another one in which Mithra and other ancient heroes oppose Ahriman, the main enemy, performing an eschatologcal fight between good and evil powers.

In other texts there are allusions to different demons trying to allure and take the soul with them. Cf. Menok i Xrat 2:115–117 and 151– 153. 6

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The Religion of the Achaemenians Thanks to Herodotus and other ancient writers it is known that Achaemenian Persians went on practising mourning rituals for their dead in spite of the fact that Zoroastrianism forbade it. It seems that Zoroastrianism did not penetrate the court of Cyrus the Great and his successors. We do not know much about these emperors’ beliefs concerning death, but according to two passages attributed to Greek historians, they accepted neither immortality nor resurrection. One historian recounts the last words of Cyrus, who says, inter alia: ‘And when man retreats from his original elements, it is evident that each part goes back to the matter with which it is related’ (Xenophont, Cyropaedia VIII, 7:20). A second passage appears in the address of Prexaspes to Cambyses after having killed and buried Smerdis, the king’s brother, by his command: ‘With my own hands I wrought thy will on him, and with my own hands I buried him. If of a truth the dead can leave their graves, expect Astyages the Mede to rise and fight against thee; but if the course of nature be the same as formerly, then be sure no ill will ever come upon thee from this quarter…’ (Herodotus, III, 62). The Parthians The Parthian period, which lasted for two centuries, no doubt had the deepest influence of all upon Judaism, 7 and consequently its eschatology left more traces than that of former periods. Jewish apocalyptic literature owes many of its main themes to the Parthians. One source of interest is the Oracles of Histaspes, which offers a description of the last times. This phase will start with a period of affliction and oppression of the righteous by the wicked, and of devastation of the entire world. ‘The righteous and partisans of the truth will depart from the wicked and will flee to the deserts’. The Impious One wil lead his army there in order to besiege the mountain of refuge for the righteous and to take hold of them. Acceding to the prayer of the righteous, ‘God will send 1957.

7

For a detailed study of such influence in all fields, see Widengren

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from Heaven the Great King to save and to free them and to annihilate all the wicked with fire and sword’. The coming of this King is preceded by the sign of a sword falling down from Heaven. The King is accompanied by his Heavenly hosts, the angels, who deliver the wicked to the righteous. The fight will be fierce, until, finally, ‘when all the troops shall be destroyed, the Impious One shall flee alone, abandoned by his own power.’ The oracle ends with the destruction of idols and their temples. The fact that this writing is directed against Roman oppression and predicts a political change under mythical colors does not detract from its value as a witness to the trend of concrete eschatological thought. Contemporary Iranian Apocalypses also furnish many precise details. The course of history is imagined as a drama in several acts, progressing towards a foreseen ending. The latter includes resurrection of the dead, the coming of a savior king, final judgment by God of living and dead, destruction of the powers of evil, inauguration of a new Heaven and a new earth, entrance of the righteous into a Heavenly Paradise and fall of the wicked into the fire of hell. As in the Jewish-Christian apocalyptic literature, these prophecies are revealed by a visionary who ascends to Heaven in his ecstasy, passing through the same dangers that await the soul of a dead person in her ascension to Heaven. 8

EGYPT

No other ancient people has expressed as much concern for the afterlife as the Egyptians. This concern, usually resulting in open hope, is evident in a considerable part of her artistic and literary legacy. Both in spite of and because of the enormous quantity of material, Egyptologists have found it challenging to compose a coherent and clear exposition of ideas relating to death and future life. For example, the cycle of Osiris, god of the underworld, and Heliopolitan theology seem to contradict each other with respect to Compare, for instance, the Jewish-Christian Ascension of Isaiah with the Iranian legend of Ima’s death (see Tisserant 1909, p. 75ff). 8

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the lot of the soul. 9 Despite the thorny challenges that primary sources present, scholars have demonstrated that the religion of ancient Egypt melded a static view of the world with a belief that life is perpetuated through a constant and paradoxical renovation of forms. This combination of views necessitates an understanding of death as the necessary condition for man’s immortality. 10 Although popular magic cloaked the funerary ritual with innumerable spells, and poets and freethinkers at times challenged the optimistic picture of official religion, these are insufficient reasons to deny that since its early times, the official religion of ancient Egypt knew how to structure concrete ideas about its expectations. What often prevents us from attaining a clear understanding of these ideas is, no doubt, the figurative, allegorical and symbolic language in which they were traditionally formulated. Death The idea of death horrifies the Egyptian, who sees it as trying to deprive him of the satisfaction of physical senses, the light of day, freedom of movement, a society of family and friends, and the use of intellectual faculties. We consequently find in Egypt a philosophy of afterlife based on the principle of carpe diem, which emerges in such writings as the Song of the Harpist 11 and the Dialogue of a Dead with his Soul, 12 as well as in reflections such as this one from the XII Dynasty: ‘The fugitive moment in which man receives the rays of the sun is of a greater value than eternity, when he dominates the empire of the dead’. 13 But these same expressions of pessimism with regard to man’s final destiny provoke in the religious Egyptian the hope of an eternal survival, not only in the occasional participation of the deceased in ritual family meetings, but in its greatest forms: absorption of the soul into the god Horus and identification with Some treatises on Egyptian religion, such as the one by Morenz 1962, have tended to maintain the irreconciliation of the two beliefs. 10 For this approach see Frankfort 1961. 11 ANET, pp. 467ff. 12 ANET, pp. 505ff. 13 Quoted by Morenz 1962, p. 246. 9

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the god Osiris. This faith in immortality along with a constant concern for the dead inspired an abundance of artistic creativity in ancient Egypt. As a concrete phenomenon, the act of death in itself requires a disintegration of the human composite. The texts mention two integrating elements, namely body and soul (ba). At death, the soul, which is the vital principle and is imagined in the form of a bird or of fire, departs from the body so that the latter decomposes (Book of the Dead 1. 4–5). To die is ‘to get out from home’ (Ani IV, 11). Man then takes on a new mode of existence, which we would today call spiritual. The ghosts or akhu were simply the dead as imagined in their new status, away from the physical world. This might be the reason why this apellation was only used in funerary texts when the deceased were referred to, but not as an object of some needs that would be satisfied. The grave The Egyptian obsession with death naturally manifested itself in the practice of providing for a tomb during one’s lifetime (cf. Ani IV, 1ff). Since the oldest times, the tomb was considered the house of the dead: ‘Make splendid your house in the necropolis and excellent your place in the West’ (Hardjedef). ‘To build the house’ meant to dig the grave, also called the ‘house of eternty’, the domus aeterna of so many ancient peoples. Private tombs were largely structured as dwelling-places, despite that they were generally cut into rock. This aspect of the tombs likely echoed the ancestral idea of death as a return to mother-earth. Externally, the tumulus-grave (e.g., the pyramids) gave place to the house-grave. Inside, the mortuary chamber and its neighboring rooms were filled up with furniture, while the upper rooms of great tombs were decorated with splendid paintings of all kinds, such as family, city and rural scenes. Everything was set up to give the impression that the dead were still sharing in the life of the outer world. Other decor with themes relating to funerary ritual and life in the netherworld possibly were thought to possess magical and prophylactic value, destined to help the dead in surmountiing the obstacles that awaited him in afterlife. Alternatively, it remains plausible that the symbolism of such paintings had a merely descriptive character, as an expression of traditional beliefs, without bearing prophylactic properties.

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Quite a different meaning must be assigned to the funerary ceremonies that were mainly intended to provide the dead with means of easing his transit to the netherworld. The first step is mummification, which made a ‘living corpse’ of the dead and assured not only the preservation of its members but also their interconnection. 14 Funerary sacrifices probably represented an old custom involving just the opposite, namely, a ritual dismantling of the corpse, with the idea that precisely through the destruction of the body could the deceased obtain the renovation of his life. Thus, the death and resurrection of Osiris were mystically represented in each death. 15 But substitution of the human body by a victim and mummification prevailed. The latter custom persisted into the Christian centuries in Coptic monasteries, and did not stem from a belief in resurrection of the flesh, but rather from a need to preserve as completely as possible the physical complex – parts of which were kept in canopic vases – in order to ensure eternity for the dead. The mummy, like the statue named ka, a ‘double’ of the dead which was placed in the next room, provided ‘physical support’ for the dead’s spirit, with which its relatives wished to remain in contact. The ka’s statue was supposed to have received the vital fluid of the dead in the ceremony of the ‘opening of the mouth’. All kinds of offerings were placed beside the corpse, along with food and drink, to help sustain him in life. The extent to which these practices were merely symbolic is difficult to determine. Annual family gatherings around the ka’s statue showed that the dead was believed still to share genuinely in an outer life. When in ritual formulae he is commanded to rise up, this means nothing other than an invitation that the ka, by means of its physically present statue, take part, if only for a moment, in social life. In the room where the ka’s statue was erected, a symbolic door had been erected, This implied a straight and rigid position. In the earliest periods, a contracted position, even of mummified bodies, with or without sarcophagi, had been standard. See Emery 1967, pp. 22–23 and figs. 81, 82, 88, 90. 15 See Virey 1904, p. 249ff. 14

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through which the spirit could easily go in and out from one world to the other. The main role of funerary rites was to reproduce the dead’s transit from the present to the other world, and each act of this drama – including processions in a symbolic boat, purifications with lustral water, reciting of magical formulae, litanies, lists of odd names, and so on – was supposed to create a real effect in the current place of the dead person’s soul. This posed no obstacle, however, to the belief, in later times, that the soul remained very close to her mummy, and she was represented as a bird sitting on the sarcophagus as though using its warmth to revive the mortal remains: ‘Let thy soul be not separated from thy corpse’, we read on a papyrus. 16 The sarcophagus itself was called in the nice euphemism of ‘lord of the life’. Afterlife We have already pointed out the need for and the difficulty in reconciling two main traditions, namely, the Osiris and the Heliopolitan, both of which appear strangely interlaced in the ritual texts and graphic descriptions. The fact that this apparent contradiction posed no problem for Egyptian theologians pushes us to make an effort of global understanding. Yet, in order to be systematic, we shall first deal with each one separately. The deceased was identified with Osiris, the god that had died and risen, to the point that he was simply called ‘Osiris’. This god, who in Egyptian thought represented ‘all that dies to be reborn’, 17 was in turn identified with the grain, which suffers corruption and then springs, with the oveflowing waters of the Nile; with the moon incessantly renewing its cycles; and even with the sun, daily disappearing and reappearing. Osiris was thought to reign over the empire of the dead and the underground region located in the West, 18 a gloomy Quoted by Morenz 1962, p. 265. Virey 1904, p. 163. 18 As with biblical Sheol, it must be assumed that the tomb and realm of the dead are correlative concepts, as all of the large cemeteries were located on the West bank of the Nile. 16 17

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netherworld to which souls descend after death. They are led there by Anubis, the jackal-god personifying the horizon, i.e., the division between day and night, between the world of the living and world of the dead. Osiris, with his celebrated resurrection, represents a victory of life over death, so that the very existence of a world of the dead under his power is in itself an expression of belief in a happy immortality. The Egyptian Am-dwat differs from the biblical Sheol. On the other side, life is imagined as constant hard work. Late papyri describe a future judgment by 42 judges. In order to overcome them, it was considered prudent to furnish oneself in advance with all kinds of magic formulae and a list of systematic denials of possibly committed sins. Osiris himself was believed to be the judge before whom the dead’s heart was weighed. Souls found guilty were cast into a sort of hell filled with corporeal torments, such as fire. Generally, it was assumed that souls were compelled to complete hard agricultural labor in the netherworld fields, a task that the people tried to escape by means of the statuettes called ushabtis or ‘respondents’,19 representing faithful servants who were in charge of this labor. The agricultural representation of afterlife and the appellation of ‘Reed-field’ for the netherworld, among other details, support the contention that the primitive Egyptian conception of the other world was in part identified with a chaotic vision of a region similar to that of the swamps of the Nile delta in the initial stage of cultivation. The dead had to forge their way across the waters of several lakes, a symbol for the obstacles that they met along their journey to the netherworld. But there are also some happy descriptions of this realm of the dead, suggesting that to a certain extent it was envisioned as a kind of ideal Egypt, a beautiful and most fruitful country, full of channels, where the spirits placidly sailed in their boats. Even the gloomy vision of the netherworld was cheered up by the consideration of the sun’s daily visit. Other representations describe the departure of the soul to the other world as a long trip across the western desert, to the region called by the Greeks ‘Hesperia’ or the ‘Island of the Blessed’. 19

See Figueras 1969, p. 157f.

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Hathor is the goddess of this region, and she – and sometimes also Nuth (the goddess of firmament) or Math (a god sometimes represented as a trunk of a sycamore or of palm-tree) – receives the soul, offering her fruit and refreshing water. In the Heliopolitan myth, the soul ascends like a beautiful bird straight to Heaven, where she is absorbed by Ra or Atum, the sungod, and assimilated to Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis, gods of the dead. Once aboard the boat of the astral king, she runs with him across the world of the stars. If Anubis was considered the great psychopompos in the Osiris circle, in the Heliopolitan Toth, the scribe-god, played this role. Identification with the sun was first reserved for the dead Pharaoh, while Osiric identification was for simple humans. But already in an early period it was assumed that Pharaoh, who followed Ra in his daily course across Heaven, descended also with him into the netherworld, from where he emerged again with the gods of that region, as it is said in a hymn to the dead Pharaoh: ‘You rise and set: you go down with Nephtys, sinking in the sand with the evening boat of the sun. You rise with Isis, coming up with the morning boat of the sun’. 20 Before imagining all the blessed dead as absorbed by the sun, the Egyptians had represented them as transformed into stars of the sky and called them, like the stars, the ‘indestructible ones’. That is the reason why, on the inner side of the sarcophagus lid, the goddess Nuth was often painted sustaining the vault of the starry firmament. Since an early period, it was also supposed that such soul-stars used their beneficial influence to guide the men who were still on earth. At the same time we see also Osiris transformed into a star, identified with Orion and following the immortal course of the stars in the firmament. Some ancient Egyptian texts themselves offer global and reconciling visions of these many apparently conflicting beliefs. For example, one describes king Pepis as descending first to the ‘Reedfield’ where he is purified in lustral waters by the ‘followers of Ho-

20

Pyramid text 207–212, as quoted by Frankfort 1961, p. 106.

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rus’, and ascending immediately afterwards to Heaven, where he embarks with Ra to follow ‘in peace’ the way of the sun. 21 The real key to penetrating the intricate afterlife representations of ancient Egypt is the awareness that, in the mind of the Egyptians, the world is perennial. It is sufficient to take hold of the endless course of its elements to obtain immortality. Whether from perceiving the flux and reflux of the Nile, or observing the ‘death’ and ‘resurrection’ of the seeds, the moon or the sun, man knows that once he is dead to the form of the present life he can soar to another one, receiving a new form, like any of the elements of nature.

THE HELLENIC WORLD

Scholars have reaffirmed the Greek and Hellenistic influence on Jewish eschatology of the Second Temple period, in contrast with the view that Iranism served as its almost exclusive source. 22 In fact, Jewish sources themselves bear witness to the far-reaching influence of Greek philosophy. 23 It is nearly impossible to compose a short and homogeneous exposition of the Greek doctrines related to our main themes. The multiplicity of local worhips, etiological legends, assimilation of deities, political developments and philosophical schools constitute a complex framework around what should be called official or classical religion. Moreover, parallel to this we have the curious pheonomena of the Mystery-worships and of the Orphic movement, whose particular character deserves more careful attention than the confines of this chapter allow. Our survey will offer a limited review of the topic by way of introduction.

See Frankfort 1961, p. 106. See Glasson 1961; Nikiprowetzki 1969. 23 ‘One thousand youngsters were in my fathers’s house: five hundred learned Torah and five hundred learned the wisdom of the Greeks’, said R. Shimon ben Gamaliel (BT Sota 49b). See Lieberman 1942. 21 22

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Classical religion In contrast with the Egyptians, ancient Greeks were only minimally concerned with death. Naturally, one finds in ancient Greek literature some evidence of veneration, fear, and superstition with regard to the dead. But in the general Greek approach to life there was little room to hope for a happy afterlife. The Greek idea of the world as an absolute existence, irrespective of any supreme god as the origin or goal of all things, placed life and death in an eternal cycle. For some philosophers, life in this world was conceived of as punishment for some sin committed somewhere else. The soul had to undergo reincarnation an indefinite number of times in the form of other beings. Early burial practices involved placing simple, big jars into the ground in a way similar to storage of grains. These were probably thought of as containers for a temporary rest, and perhaps a symbol of hope, but not of a hope for immortal life or resurrection. Rather, in their state of freedom from a body, the souls of the dead possessed a special power to protect their relatives. The comparison of the body to a prison for the soul made by some philosophers 24 was surely not very popular. To know oneself, as they advise, meant in the first place to be aware of man’s mortality. Man does not come from God nor does he belong to a supernatural race calling him to an upperworld or enabling him to long for a blessed life. Only a few people, born from a god and a human being, had finally reached the status of ‘Heroes’, and some of them, like Hercules, had even become a god. But for most of the humans Pindar’s warning remained valid: ‘Do not try to become Zeus… it befits mortals to have mortal thoughts’. 25 For these simple mortals waited, in afterlife, an obscure existence in an underground place, the region of Hades, presided over by the god of the same name. Death constituted neither annihilation nor sublimation. Hermes leads the soul to a netherworld of no salvation and no condemnation. According to Plato, Phaedo, 82, d-e. We have seen that this opinion was attributed to the Essenians by Josephus (above, ch. 4, pp. 115–116). 25 Quoted by Adkins, 1969, p. 431. 24

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Plato’s description, the soul stands before the court of Minos, Radhamantos and Aecus, to make a trial of the ‘soul-in-herself’, and their criterion is their own ‘soul-in-herself’, implying some criterion of moral righteousness. But these myths exerted little influence on the simple people, who continued with their old traditions and fertility rituals, and who did not care about behaving in a way that could win them ‘salvation’. The dead were allowed to take part in the annual festival called Antesteriae, perhaps with a silent intention of keeping them happy and favorable. Ultratomb myths tell of souls crossing the river Styx on the boat of old Charon, who demanded an obol for the service. This coin was placed in the mouth of the dead. Those who successfully endured the trial by three judges lived in the Elysean field, which was located either under the earth, near the infernal regions, or in a remote spot continually enjoying spring weather. A special place was thought to be assigned to those who died in infancy. And there was also a Purgatory, where the souls were slightly tortured for a short period. But for those condemned in the trial no alternative existed other than to be cast into the terrible Tartar, where they were severely punished with all kinds of bodily tortures forever. The Heroes were brought to the far Islands of the Blessed, across the Ocean, perpetually refreshed by Zephyr. ‘There shine the gloden flowers, some on the ground, some on the branches of magnificent trees, others, finally, nourished by water; with them braid (the inhabitants) garlands for their arms, they braid wreaths’, etc. 26 While in Homer’s time only Menelaus managed to be transported in life to those happy islands, by later periods the myth had developed to such a point that even the Essenes, according to Josephus, expected this kind of immortality. 27 Pyndar, II Olympic, 70–82, as quoted by Niprowenski 1969, p. 27. See ibid. for similar and more developed descriptions, in particular by Lucian from Samosata, True Story II, 6, 1–14. 27 Above, ch. 4, p. 115–116. 26

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Orphism While famous philosophers and poets transmitted tenets of classical religion, a more or less independent religious movement developed in Greece beginning in the IV cent. BC. Because it is based on the myth of Orpheus, scholars have called this movement Orphism. One view, which has received harsh criticism, contends that Orphism exerted deep influence on early Christianity, through the actions of the Apostle Paul. 28 The Orphic doctrine on man can be summarized as bearing the following essential elements: The soul is divine and has been enclosed in the body as in a grave or a prison, from which she only wishes to depart in order to join God again. Belief in ‘original sin’, in the need of ascetism and in efficacious observance of divine commandments distinguished the Orphic from the ordinary Greek citizens, as this belief conditioned the Orphic’s whole way of life. As for afterlife, this doctrine insisted in the belief that immortality is a gift achieved through purification of the soul during life on earth. Those who reached it were admitted into Heaven as gods. Otherwise, the soul should suffer as many reincarnations as needed. The rest, the non-initiated and the impure, were destined to a punishment that could last forever. Along with austerity, magic formulae constituted another means of salvation for the mortal. Golden tablets have been found in Greek tombs in Southern Italy and Crete, containing inscriptions of a very similar tenor to that of extant Orphic hymns. They were precious indications that helped the soul to find her way to afterlife happiness. Some of these tablets mention the names of several infernal beings, particularly the ‘most holy’ Persephone, the ‘great mother’ whose bosom the soul penetrated when entering that place of happiness. There are frequent allusions to the astral origin of the soul, her sufferings, her divinization in the other world, happy immortality, blossoming meadows and sacred forests of the goddess of netherworld, and the milk into which the soul has ‘fallen like a kid’.

28

See on this matter Lagrange 1937.

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Orphic mysticism was based on the myth of Orpheus, a hero whose violent death and glorious resurrection attracted a great number of admirers. The rituals of this sect, if we may call it so, consisted mainly in a sacrifice of communion, in which, simulating ingestion of the flesh of their divinized hero, the initiated believed that they were identified with him and had guaranteed their own happy immortality. On the other hand, the well-known descent of Orpheus into the netherworld gave the hero a certain authority upon the very king of that region, the divine Pluto. The Mysteries The idea of assimilation into a god who was thought to have died and then risen from the dead is also at the center of most of the cults called Mysteries. They flourished especially during the centuries following the expension of Hellenism towards the East, when syncretism of Greek and Asiatic religions reached its climax. But even later, under Roman power and the pressure of internal social conflicts, the Mysteries obtained great favor, especially among the low classes and the slaves, for they promised them afterlife freedom and the redemption denied to them during the present life. The Mysteries as such were older. Demetrios’ shrine in Eelusis, near Athens, had already attracted, with its purification rituals and a final secret initiation, an enormous mass of faithful followers, at least since the IV cent. BC. Introduced first into the dark grottos where they were frightened with strange visions of death, and afterwards taken suddenly into the open light, the initiated mystically lived the drama of the inevitable death and the future joy of their saved souls. All this was accompanied by particular gestures and words, formulae that had to be remembered by heart in order to recite them at the moment of the real death. Together with the ancient Mysteries, the Egyptian worship of Atis, Isis and Osiris, as well as the Syrian cult of Bacchus-Dionysos, were introduced in Greece. In a later period, the Eastern cult of Mythra reached its greatest success in the West. All these gods ensured an eternal salvation to the initiated in their Mysteries. Because these practices were foreign and generally not officially recognized, the faithful of each of them gathered – in contrast to the vague Orphic sect – in well-organized fraternities, such called Thyssae and Orgeons. With their purifications, communion with

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raw meat, baptism in the blood of a victim, sacred intoxication, and mystical hymns, initiation ceremonies must have possessed a sufficient realism to cause the impression of a true enthusiasm, a preidentification with the venerated god who, after suffering, after death and resurrection, would live forever. How did the Mysteries’ devotees imagine afterlife happiness? Some Roman sarcophagi testify to the belief that the future life of Bacchus’ faithful would resemble an eternal meal, similar to those which they had shared during the present life. The deceased, indeed, is represented as leaning on his mattress, crowned with a wreath of vine-leaves, holding a crown with one hand and a cup with the other. 29 Certainly, and considering in particular the social classes that were the most adaptable to these sects, the hope for a future life could hardly transcend sensible pleasures. We are far from being able to compare, for instance, the Bacchian cup with the ‘new wine’ of the N.T. eschatological meal.

ROME

Lords of the entire civilized world, the Romans could not retain the avalanche of foreign influence within their own metropolis. The absorption of Eastern cults and Greek myths into Roman culture was stronger than the Romans’ diffusion of their own religious traditions among the conquered peoples. Yet, it is quite true that in the exercise of sovereingty over the East, and upon Jews in particular, Rome possessed the ability to introduce more than one artistic trend, and along with it, something of a symbolic system of easy adaptation. Authochtonous artists adopted the literary expressions and plastic forms of Rome and with them, likely accepted a certain amount of their inner meaning. This occurred, for instance, in the case of Jewish epitaphs using Greco-Roman style, where it is often difficult to find a sign of Jewish identity. Greek and Roman archaeology of Israel and its neighboring countries attests to the enormous influence exerted upon the local population in all spheres, including religion. 30 29 30

See Lagrange 1937, p. 185. See Figueras 2013.

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Traditional Roman eschatology, as well as the fluctuations suffered by the most important philosophical systems with regard to death and afterlife, have been thoroughly studied by historians of religion, 31 and the following paragraphs offer a survey of their results in three specific fields: ancient traditions, Pythagorean and Stoic systems, and Eastern cults. Roman society was mainly based upon the institution of the familia. The traditional religion, the so-called sacra romana, did not prevent fidelity to another form of familiar religion, that is, the veneration of the ancestors. These ancestors were believed to have transformed into gods, dii parentes, in whose honor the annual commemoration of dies parentales was officially established. This took place form the 13th to the 21st of February. Each house also had its own altar for private worship of its spirits or lares. The fact that until the 3rd cent. BC it was usual to bury the dead in the subsoil of private houses may have contributed to the persistence of this form of worship. Romans show deep concern for burial in an inviolable place, a locus religiosus, for this assured them their acceptance into the divine society of the dii parentes. Otherwise they feared the terrible condemnation of becoming wandering ghosts, one of those tormented lemures that the paterfamilas ritually expelled from his house during the annual festival called lemuria, celebrated on the 9th, 11th and 13th of May. 32 To remain unburied was the most feared misfortune. When, instead of interment, the custom of cremation was adopted in Rome, 33 people used to cut a finger off the corpse before burning it. This finger was buried in order that at least this member, the os resectum, could receive the traditional funerary rites. The purpose of these rites was to keep the ghost in his grave and, in this way, to render him unable of exercising any harmful power. Thus, as we have seen with other cultures, we find in Rome the irreconcilable belief of a Heavenly life of the spirit along with its presence near the body on earth. Moreover, See in particular the works of Cumont 1920; 1940; 1949. See Schilling, p. 483. 33 On the chronological precedence of one custom over another, see Cumont 1949, pp. 387–390. 31 32

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astrological theories made of the biothanati, that is, those who had prematurely died, errant and malefic spirits, rejected by Hades as long as the normal years of their life had not been completed. 34 Mortuary meals were not unknown among the Romans. The dead was invited by his relatives to take part in them. Abundant cups of wine were supposed to produce a vivifying effect upon the dead. The libation of wine for the dead, 35 so frequently mentioned in the epitaphs, 36 likely carried a similar meaning. As in the East and in Greece, the tomb was considered the eternal dwelling-place of men, the domus aeterna so often alluded to in tombal inscriptions. 37 This was a very ancient concept in the Italian peninsula, for even before the foundation of Rome some cremation urns were already given the form of a hut, the usual dwelling-place in prehistoric times. 38 Etruscans maintained the same traditions, 39 and later Romans also went on representing their own houses on sarcophagi, even in such distant places as the Netherlands. 40 Offerings that could be of help and use for the deceased were placed near the body. However, the most characteristic of Roman beliefs in relation to death was, no doubt, the above-mentioned divine transformation, the enthusiasm or apotheosis of the dead. Only by assimilation into the gods was it possible in their view to achieve a state of perfect and happy immortality. When the Romans had possession of the elements of mythology, the figurative representation of apotheosis was reproduced on the faces of the sarcophagus. In many cases it was indicated by a simple aureole or a wreath on the head of the deceased person; in others it is the winged horse, Pegasus psychopompos, or a carriage dragged by winged gryphons, or a Heavenly boat, symbol of the glorious ascension of Vermaseren 1963. See Kirchner 1910, p. 12f. 36 See Lommatsch 1926, nn. 500, 838, 1256, etc. 37 E.g., Lommatsch 1926, n. 11. 38 See Boëthius – Ward-Perkins 1970, figs. 6,9,10 and plates nn. 3 and 4. 39 See, for instance, Pallotino 1956, pl. 2,A. 40 See Cumont 1949, pl. 1. 34

35

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the soul to Heaven or to the Island of the Blessed. But with this, we have already entered another subject, that of the infiltration of Greek ideas. The legacy of Greece The Roman skepticism of later times, which, as the epitaphs demonstrate, gained so many adherents, 41 was due in great part to the deception of Greek philosophical systems. Greeks entered Italy in an early period. As Aristotelic rationalism was practically unknown, Pythagorean and Platonic elevations were soon stirred by Epicure’s denials and Stoic materialism. We shall limit our survey to Pythagorism and Stoicism, which are most directly significant for our subject. The Pythagorean school accepted, probably becasue of its relations with Indo-Iranian Mazdeism, that the final lot of the souls lay in the astral world. Stars, and among them the sun and the moon, replaced the mythological happy place of the first poets. 42 Plato, who had been in direct contact with Pythagoreans on his visit to Sicily, adopted from this system the idea that souls are projected onto earth by a thunder, from the starry sky, from bodies endowed with a powerful intelligence. In spite of its sectarian and obscure character, the rigid morals of Pythagorism exerted a strong influence on the Roman upper classes. While the moon, as the final destination of souls, appears represented in great number of funerary stelae in the Galliae (where the Celts associated death with lunar phases), the lunar symbol is not absent from Rome itself. 43 Several later writers, such as Antonius Diogenes and Castor from Two examples will be sufficient: ‘Evasi, effigy, spes et fortuna valete, Nil mihi vobiscum, ludificate alios’ (Lommatsch 1926, n. 1498); ‘Fortuna spondet multa multis, praestat nemini’ (ibid., n.185). 42 ‘What is the Islands of the Blessed? The sun and the moon’, says Jamblicus, Life of Pitagoras, 18:20. 43 See the monument of Julia Victoria in the Louvre Museum, in Cumont 1940, pl. XXI. 41

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Rodae, wrote of the ascension to the moon as the final mortal journey. 44 The goddess Persephone, identified with Artemis, was for Pythagoreans the queen of the dead who received souls after they ascended to her, purified by the air along the way. Whirlwinds could lift souls to the stars, but they could also throw them into the infernal regions. Each man’s daemon, as Plato admitted, acted as psychopompos. Once on the lunar surface, souls enjoyed the ‘eternal light’ of the shining sun, whose heat was tempered by the breeze of the lower atmosphere. 45 The latter, however, was still the ‘anti-land’ of Persephone, to which the guilty demons were relegated. Besides Pythagorean and Neo-Pythagorean speculations, there appeared in Rome eschatological ideas of the Stoic materialistic system, according to which individual souls play merely a minor role in the vital principle of cosmos. Now, the latter being subject to a consecutive cataclysm in every cosmic period, that is to say, the universal conflagration or ἐκπύροσις, souls should be re-born in the παλιγγενεσία 46 with the new Heaven, in which they would receive the same body they had inhabited before, with the same constitutive elements. 47 But in its later period, 48 Stoicism merged with Neo-Pythagorism to accept that souls, by the power of their own fiery nature, ‘are lifted across the air towards the Heavenly fires.’ Upon arriving in the upper zones of the atmosphere, they find, in the aether that surrounds the moon, a fluid similar to their own essence, in which they remain in balance. Conceived as material and of a spheric form, the souls are nourished, like the stars, by the Ibid, p. 190. Lucian dedicates some pages of his mentioned True Story (I, 22ff) to the life and customs of the inhabitants of the moon. 46 In the N.T. (above, Ch 3, p. 57), the same word is used with a different sense. It is used similarly in the Apocrypha (ibid. n. 16). 47 See Cumont 1949, p. 114. 48 Its best known representative is Cicero, though he never could adopt a precise idea about the lot of the deceased. The real founder of eclectic Neo-Stoicism was Poseidon from Apamea, whose works have been lost. 44 45

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emanation arising from the earth and the waters, forming a circle around the divine star. 49 It is then, around the moon and not on it, that souls find their abode, according to this system. There is no identification of all the souls with the stars, but only a commonness of abode between the latter and the ‘vigorous men’. 50 It is to be noted that, with the exception of some questionable cases, contemporary Roman iconography does not show any traces of Pythagorean or Stoic ideas. 51 It does, however, include scenes from Greek mythology. Since an early period, the Roman pantheon adopted and combined deities from Greece, furnishing artists with an immense amount of material. Infernal myths, 52 such as love stories of gods and heroes, enjoyed greater popularity than abstract and confusing philosophical concepts. In general, representations on sarcophagi depict scenes such as carriage races led by Eros, funerary meals, hunting scenes, winged horses, the apotheosis of the soul in form of a child, the deceased among the Musae, and Dionysiac orgies. Motifs such as the sun-sphere, rosettes and gates, appear as well. Others are related to the Eastern Mysteries that we are going to deal with in the next paragraph. Eastern cults During the final stages of the Republic, as early as 204 BC, the eastern goddess Cybele, known as the ‘great mother from Mount Ida’, made her triumphal debut in Rome. Joining Cybele was her lover Attis, who personified vegetation. Attis’ death was mourned and his resurrection caused public rejoicing, which included orgiasCumont 1940, p. 192f. ‘Virorum fortium animas existimant in modum siderum vagari in aere et esse sic immortales’ reads an anonymous fragment quoted by Cumont 1940, p. 193. 51 Cumont has collected the available material in the illustration to chapter III of his Recherches… (Cumont 1940). But most of these funerary monuments belong to the provinces of Galliae, Hispania, Africa and Asia, where Roman soldiers could find similar motifs in the local religious traditions. 52 Virgil dedicated the entire sixth book of his Aeneid to a ‘descent to Netherland’. 49 50

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tic and bloody worship, especially when Cybele was assimilated to the Anatolian goddess Ma. Dionysiac feasts, the famous bacchanalia, were also a matter of concern for the Senate. Beyond Asia, Egypt also exported her fair share of deities and mysteries. During the I cent. BC, worship of Isis, which had already been transformed by the Greeks, made its way towards Rome, first seducing women with its secrets and capricious rituals. From remote Syria, the goddess Atargatis also sent her emissaries to the West. These emissaries walked through the Italian peninsula drawing the attention of lower class people with their fanatical ritual mutilations. Other foreign influences would soon be felt in the very heart of the Roman empire as well. Judaism, Christianity, Mythra’s mysteries and worship of Sabazius 53 would practically put an end to the cults of the official Pantheon. In their native Anatolia, the fertility deities Cybele and Attis had already been linked to the afterlife and were considered guardians of the tomb. These paired associations suggest a conception of death as a return to mother earth. Later, Attis became a solar god, and he and Cybele were seen as astral and cosmic powers. This transformation may reflect a belief that the soul returned to her Heavenly origin. Cybele’s symbol was the city-wall wreath, for she was also considered a protectress in battles. Attis, who, like the vegetation he represented, died and rose annually during the spring equinox, was believed to provide immortality to his devotees. His emblem was the pine-tree. 54 The Greek Mysteries of Bacchus-Dionysos, seriously persecuted in Rome during certain periods, have left their mark on many representations on sarcophagi. Bacchus’ emblem of vine and grapes relates to the divine fluid that provided immortality to the This is actually attested in Rome around the middle of the I cent. BC. However, owing to persecution of its adherents, it reappeared only later. The paradisiac meal for the souls that overcame a supreme trial is one of the characteristics of its doctrine of the life hereafter. 54 For Cybele and Attis, see Cumont 1929, pp. 49–59. 53

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initiated. Bacchus was believed to have died childless in the Tirans’ hands and to have later risen from death. 55 Isis, the goddess of ‘innumerable names’, maintained her original character as goddess of the dead. On sarcophagi, especially those of women, we often see Isis’ typical emblems, the sistrum and the situla, next to the portrait of the deceased. 56 Although in the capital itself Atargatis enjoyed only a short period of worship, during Nero’s empire, as early as 134 BC, an insurrection of slaves began with the incitements of a native of Apamea, a servant of the ‘Syrian goddess’. Atargatis’ priests found Syrian correligionists among slaves throughout the empire. Worship of Atargatis included, among other things, the sacrality of fish, which could only be eaten at ritual meals by priests and the initiated. The practice of eating fish was believed to enable communion with the deity they represented. 57

Besides Cumont, ibid., pp. 195–203, see also Nielsson 1950, pp. 341–354, and the more recent Bead – North – Price, 1998. Contrary to Cumont, Nielsson sustains that Dionysus’ worship, as it was known in Rome, was more indebted to its Greek transformation than to its Tracian and Frisian origins. 56 On the Hellenistic worship of Isis, see Nielsson 1950, pp. 507– 513. 57 The possibility of a certain relationship to the worship of Atargatis should not be excluded from the research of the origins of the Christian Ichthys (see Figueras 1987, p. 127). 55

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Schwally, F. 1892, Das Leben nach dem Tode, nach den Vorstellungen der alter Israel un des Judentums, Giessen. Scholem, G. 1965, Jewish Gnosticism, Mercabah Mysticism and Talmudic Tradition, New York.

Segal, M.Z. 1958, ‫( ספר בן סירא השלם‬The Complete book of Ben Sira), Jerusalem (Hebrew). Seligson, M. 1951, The Meaning of ‫ נפש מת‬in the Old Testment, Helsinki.

Staab, K. 1963, “I Kor 15,29 im Lichte der Exegese der Griechischen Kirche”, in Studiorum Paulinorum Kongressus, I, Romae.

Staehlin O. 1960, Clemens Alexandrinus (Die griech. Christ. Schriftst. d. erst. Jahr., vol. 52), Berlin.

Starcky, J. 1963, “Les quatre étapes du Messianisme à Qumran”, RB 70, pp. 481–505. Steindorf, G. 1899, “Die Apocalypse des Elias” (Texte u. Untersuch. z. Geschichte d. altchrist. Lit., N.F. II, Heft 3a., pp. 34–145), Leipzig.

Stekoll, S.H. 1968, “Preliminary Excavation Report in the Qumran Cemetery”, RB 6, pp. 323–336.

Strack, H. – Billerbeck, P. 1965 / 1969, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch, vol. 4 / vol. 2 (reprint), München.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

199

Strugnell, J. 1960, “The Angelic Liturgy at Qumran--4Q Serek Sirot `Olat Hassabbat.” In Congress Volume, Oxford 1959. Suppl. to VT, 7, pp. 318–345, Leiden.

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DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

Volz, P. 1934, Die Eschatologie der jüdischen Gemeinde in der neutestamentlicher Zeitalter, Tübingen.

Virey, Ph. 1910, La religion de l’ancient Egypte, Paris. Wertheimer, A. 1955, ‫בתי מדרשות‬, vol. II, Jerusalem

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Wischnitzer-Bernstein, R.W. 1936, “Die messianische Hütte in der jüdischen Kunst”, MGWJ, 80.

Yadin, Y. 1962, The Scroll of the War of the Sons of the Light Against the Sons of the Darkness, Oxford. 1965, “The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Epistle to Hebrews”, Scripta Hierosolymitana 6, pp. 36–55.

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INDEX Afterlife passim Antonius Diogenes 183 Apocalyptic literature 1, 13– 14, 96, 134, 167–168 Apocryphal literature 13–71 Aristotle 183 Artemis 184 Avi-Yonah, Michael 1 Barnaba Ep. of 2, 150 Ben-Sirah 8–9 Bones 1, 6–7, 9, 16, 24–26, 28–29, 48, 50, 52, 57, 91, 123, 146–147, 153, 164 Body passim Burial 7, 19, 22, 41, 50, 85, 91, 102, 130, 138, 164, 176, 181 Castor from Rodae 183 Clement of Rome 2, 152–154 Corpse 4, 7, 9, 17, 91, 94, 164, 171–172, 181 Christian interpolations 1, 13, 23, 25, 29–30, 38, 49, 60–61 Dead Sea scrolls 1, 101 Death passim Dew 9, 55, 61–62, 65–66, 122, 135, 148 Didache 1, 119, 143 Diognetus, Ep. to 2, 151–152

Egypt 168–175 Eschatology 2, 74–75, 80, 82–83, 87–88, 90, 95–96, 100, 104, 106, 143, 165, 167, 175, 181 Eternal life passim Flavius, Josephus 1, 8, 37, 67–68, 78, 82, 103, 106, 110, 113–117, 121, 123, 176–177 Flesh 5, 35–36, 39, 60, 64, 85, 88, 93, 100, 106, 114–115, 123–124, 132–133, 145, 147, 153–155, 159–160, 171, 179 Flusser, David 102–104 Funerary rites 6–7, 11, 23, 40, 66, 69–70, 146, 172, 181 Funerary epigraphy 89, 137 Galliae 183, 185 Gehenna 16, 21, 37, 44, 56, 57, 70, 76, 93, 119–120, 124, 126–131, 154, 157 Ghosts 9, 40, 42, 127, 170, 181 Gnosticism 1, 43, 90, 92, 101, 104–105, 145, 152, 160 Grave 5–7, 22, 24–25, 53, 57–60, 70, 102–103, 137, 201

202

DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

139, 157, 164, 167, 170, 178, 181 Greece 2, 61, 116, 163, 178– 179, 182–183, 185 Hebrew University 1 Hermas 2, 18, 154–155 Herodian period 1 Ignatius of Antioch 2, 144– 148 Incineration 7 Iran 2, 11, 53, 163–164, 168, 175, 183, 187 Israel passim Jewish Apocrypha 1, 10, 13, 15, 17, 23, 25, 33, 36, 38, 43, 51, 61, 65, 71, 77, 107, 109, 111, 123, 133, 150 Job 5–8, 19, 51–53, 68, 77, 103, 130, 153 Judgement passim Justin Martyr 2, 15, 156–160 Land of the Living 5–6, 9, 35, 48, 52–53, 56, 60, 95, 97, 106, 123, 128, 132, 149, 160, 173, 177 Life passim Maccabaean period 9–11, 95 Mazdeism 183 Mesopotamia 4, 6, 16 Mesopotamian literature 4, 16 Necromancy 7, 157 Neopythagorism 184 Netherworld 4, 6, 15, 62–63, 111, 170–171, 173–174, 176, 178–179 New Testament books 73– 100

Odae of Solomon 2, 11, 160– 161, 184 Old Testament 3–12 Ossuary 1, 49, 81, 85, 102, 123, 125, 131, 133, 141–142, 164 Papias 2, 15, 55, 148–149 Paradise passim Persephone 178, 184 Philo of Alexandria 1, 51, 53, 67, 78, 111–113, 116, 149, 156–159, 163, 169, 175– 176, 178, 181, 183, 185 Platonic 46, 183 Polycarp of Smyrna 2, 146– 147 Post-biblical literature 76, 112 Prophets 9, 10, 48, 74, 78, 81–82, 84–85, 92, 99, 125, 158–159 Pseudepigrapha 14, 134, 153 Pythagorism 181, 183–185 Rabbinical literature 118–136 Resurrection passim Retribution 7–8, 87–88, 151, 159 Rome 30, 58, 61, 137, 144, 149, 152, 154, 163, 180–187 Samuel 4, 159 Saul 4, 159 Secondary inhumations 1, 120, 138 Second Temple period 1, 16, 84, 110, 175 Sheol 3, 5–7, 9, 18–19, 22, 24–25, 32–33, 54, 56–57, 70, 75, 77, 88, 111, 129–130, 161, 172–173

INDEX Soul passim Sukkoth 11, 133 Tree of Life 4, 16–17, 27, 36, 39, 46, 50, 59–60, 65–66, 69, 85, 98–99, 109–110, 118, 124–125, 128–129, 132, 133, 144–145, 152, 155–157, 174, 177, 186

Yahweh’s day 9, 76 ‫ בשר‬5 ‫ חיים‬3, 5 ‫ נפש‬3–5 ‫ נפש חיה‬3, 5

203