Early Jewish Literature Research Articles

Another ‘I Have Come’ Saying from Ancient Judaism: A Note on De Sampsone 13

This article adds a further, early example of the ‘I have come’ + purpose formula, as used frequently in early Jewish literature by angelic visitors to earth. This case and other instances already known are relevant to the question of whether pre-existence christology is implied in the parallel statements of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels.

Rethinking the Origins and Textual History of Ancient Jewish Literature: A Review of Recent Works by Emanuel Tov, James Nati, and Nathan Mastnjak

Abstract This essay discusses the current state of research on the origins and textual history of early Jewish literature in light of three recently published books. On the one hand, the current practice of textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, well presented in the standard handbook of the topic, is anchored in relatively traditional views on the origins of biblical books. On the other hand, two studies challenge current ideas about the ontology and materiality of ancient Jewish literature. An analysis of the Serekh ha-Yahad scrolls reveals that usual models of textual growth cannot account for the entirety of the intricate textual history of certain compositions. A material-historical perspective suggests that, before the Hellenistic period, literary works existed in the form of collections of scrolls, which has potentially profound implications for understanding how these collections became books. Whether conservative or innovative in outlook, these books show that theory and practice are inextricably linked in the field of textual criticism.

Travel and Anxiety in Early Jewish Literature

Abstract While some early Jewish texts highlight opportunities enabled by travel, others reflect related concerns, suggesting that an encounter with the unknown moves people not only physically but also emotionally. This article addresses the latter phenomenon by investigating the blend of travel and anxiety in a selection of passages from Jubilees, Tobit, Aramaic Levi Document, and Philo of Alexandria. Drawing on affect theory, it argues that travel-related anxiety is best understood as an inclusive affect covering both explicit and more unspoken or fuzzy forms of anxiety, which can be either acute or chronic in nature. Seeking to map out a range of ancient responses to or strategies of managing apprehensions, I demonstrate that the selected sources reflect both emotional and ethical concerns. The authors of narrative texts invite their audiences to immerse themselves in “historical” events and to share the emotionally taxing aspect of relocations undertaken by ancestral figures in the past, while the authors of instructional texts address current experiences arising from their own communities: they mitigate possible worries related to encountering competing claims of wisdom on the move and instruct against trips driven by a greedy pursuit of luxurious goods.

Atoning for the land in the writings of Early Judaism

This paper explores the references to atonement for the land in Early Jewish literature. The notion that sexual misconduct, idolatry, and bloodshed defile the land is well known from such scriptural texts as Lev 18:6–25, 27 and Num 35:33–34. Recent biblical scholarship distinguishes between ritual and moral impurities and places the defilement of the land within the latter category. For such moral impurities, the Torah makes no provision for a ritual removal. And yet, the book of Jubilees and Genesis Apocryphon depict Noah as offering a sacrifice to atone for the earth immediately after the Flood. Moreover, 1QWords of Moses (1Q22) in its description of the Day of Atonement mentions an atonement for the land. Finally, such sectarian texts as Community Rule (S), Rule of the Congregation, and 4QMiscellaneous Rules (4Q265) depict the sectarian community(ies) as atoning for the land. Looking closely at all these sources, this paper suggests that underlying all of them is a shared halakhic tradition that land can and should be atoned for by means of a sacrifice.

The World Spoken Through the Son: Divine Speech and Creation in the Epistle to the Hebrews

The “Word of God” plays an important role in Hebrews. The author of Hebrews uses spoken quotations to recontextualize Scripture for the contemporary age (e.g., Heb. 2.12–13) and appeals to divine speech acts that alter the course of history (e.g., Heb. 6.14; 8.5). One such speech act is his creation of the world by the word of God, which the author claims we understand “by faith” (Heb. 11.3). But what claim is the author making with respect to creation? This article will argue that the identification of the “Word of God” in Hebrews as the Son in Hebrews 11.3 is a viable reading and then show that this reading affects other passages in Hebrews. To accomplish this, I will (1) provide an overview of some relevant interpretive issues with Hebrews 11.3; (2) discuss how intermediaries (e.g., Word; Wisdom) related to creation in early Jewish literature; (3) demonstrate how the presentation of creation in Hebrews relates to those concepts in early Jewish literature; (4) provide a reading of Heb. 11.3 in light of that synthesis; and (5) offer some suggestions regarding how other passages in Hebrews might be read to highlight Christ as the Word.

바룩 2서의 메시아사상

The purpose of this paper is to explore the Messianism in the Second Book of Baruch, an early Jewish literature written in Israel around 100 AD. To achieve this goal, texts from 2 Baruch that describe the Messiah and Messianic Age were selected (29-30, 39-42, 72-74). After analyzing the three Messianic texts in consideration of the larger context of the Old Testament and early Jewish literature, a conclusion was reached by synthesizing the results of each analysis. A summary of Messianic thought in 2 Baruch is as follows. In 2 Baruch, the Messiah is described as the warrior-king Messiah who destroys and judges Israel’s unrighteous oppressors, and as the protector of the righteous remnant of the end times. He is also the pre-existing Messiah who will appear at the appointed time to usher in the age of salvation in the world. With his advent the age of the Messiah begins, which is described as the ideal state of the Garden of Eden. The Messianic Age is also described as a great Banquet in which the two primordial monsters, Leviathan and Behemoth, will be provided as food for the “remnant.” This Banquet is described as a time of continuous abundance. Healing dew, manna, fruit of the earth and wine will also be given. In other words, the Messianic Age is the restoration of creation to its pre-fall state, or the restoration of a nutritious paradise for the remnant. In a word, the Messianic Age is a ‘New Creation.’ Also, when the monsters of the beginning are destroyed, the desert is restored to the garden, and God gives manna to his people again, it is the ‘New Exodus.’ This image of the Messianic Banquet implies the role of the Messiah as a priest. Then, the Messiah in 2 Baruch can be said to be the pre-existing ‘warrior-king-priest Messiah.’ The Messiah’s time is limited, and when his reign is over, the Messiah returns to God, followed by the resurrection of all the dead. After that, it is said that the true new world, the ‘World to Come’ will come.

Textual Criticism and the Ontology of Literature in Early Judaism: An Analysis of the Serekh ha-yaḥad by James Nati

Reviewed by: Textual Criticism and the Ontology of Literature in Early Judaism: An Analysis of the Serekh ha-yaḥad by James Nati Elena Dugan james nati, Textual Criticism and the Ontology of Literature in Early Judaism: An Analysis of the Serekh ha-yaḥad (JSJSup 198; Leiden: Brill, 2022). Pp. xvi + 357. €119/$144. This thorough and careful book provides a welcome bridge between cutting-edge scholarship on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the developing new frontiers in textual criticism [End Page 344] of the Hebrew Bible. Concern over how to handle multiply attested texts among the Scrolls, and the focusing of this concern upon the Serekh ha-Yaḥad (or Community Rule, as it is sometimes called), has become more popular in recent years, especially in concert with the rise of New or Material Philology. Nati's contribution to students of the Scrolls is his provision of exquisite and comprehensive detail with which to parse these problems—the synoptic edition of the manuscripts he includes as an appendix will surely become an essential reference for students of the Serekh ha-Yaḥad (though the lack of an accompanying translation will make its use forbidding for some). But N. also explicitly tilts the discussion toward the study of the Hebrew Bible, the methodology undergirding the production of critical editions, and the practice of textual criticism writ large. Aptly, then, the book comprises five chapters advancing his case concerning the Serekh, with an epilogue drawing out the implications for recent discussions of the editing of the Hebrew Bible In chap. 1, N. provides a précis of the recent history of textual criticism and theories of the Hebrew Bible and early Jewish literature. He importantly establishes the relevance of his project for these broader fields by joining with scholarship insisting that "all biblical books in their canonical forms are Second Temple … literature" (p. 3). By this token, the window provided onto processes of composition gained by careful study of the development of Second Temple works like the Serekh ha-Yaḥad may (and perhaps must) also be used to consider the development of biblical books. The key problem for classically rendered historical criticism, as outlined by N., is the demonstrable "pluriformity" of our manuscript tradition for early Jewish texts like the Serekh (pp. 3, 11). Pluriformity is a key word for N., signaling that one entity exists in multiple forms. Our witnesses for works like the Serekh ha-Yaḥad (if, indeed, we should group all of its manuscripts under the heading of a single work or composition, a supposition that N. criticizes) demonstrate dynamic change at every stage of development. Few of the changes he details throughout the volume can be accounted for in terms of mechanical errors—pluriformity cannot be explained away as copying errors. Similarly, it does not make sense to situate variants as accretions, like unwanted barnacles on the bottom of a boat, given the overall trend toward growth and lengthening evidenced in this manuscript tradition. Scholars interested in establishing either an Urtext, or a final form, would be thwarted when confronted with the dynamic and developing Serekh tradition. In chap. 2, N. provides an exposition of some of the differences on the level of text, often noting discrepancies in single words. The most stunning conclusion of his work, more evident from perusing the synoptic edition than the chapter by itself, is the phenomenon of absence—as he concludes, "the operating assumption that any witness to one unit of the Serekh probably contained all the other units … is not only not supported by the preserved evidence, but is contradicted by it" (p. 102). Attention to the absence of literary units among manuscripts of the Scrolls can be difficult to signal in presentation and is even harder to prove with certainty given the demonstrably fragmentary nature of some of our manuscripts. Nevertheless, these patterns of presence and absence represent resounding larger-scale evidence of pluriformity, so long as scholars are interested in weighting their probability appropriately. Chapter 3 provides a new description of the development of the Serekh over time. Though N. does away with the idea of a "short" and "long" recension to which all manuscripts...

Ruben A. Bühner. Messianic High Christology: New Testament Variants of Second Temple Judaism

Ruben A. Bühner. <i>Messianic High Christology: New Testament Variants of Second Temple Judaism</i>

Rabbanite Views and Rabbinic Literature in Judeo-Persian Karaite Exegesis

This article discusses the outlook of Judeo-Persian Karaite authors on Rabbanite law and rabbinic literature based on an exegetical corpus written in Early Judeo-Persian from the eleventh century, which mostly remains in manuscript form. A close examination of this corpus demonstrates the authors’ complex attitude towards their contemporary Rabbanites and early Jewish literature. By relying on the teachings of the Karaite community of Jerusalem (the “Mourners of Zion”), the corpus’ authors criticize certain Rabbanite views and concepts, while still accepting other parts of the rabbinic tradition which did not challenge their ideology. In so doing, the authors establish themselves as part of the Karaite exegetical tradition, and, more broadly, of the Jewish intellectual world.

The phallus in our stars: Sexual violence in the Animal Apocalypse

The Animal Apocalypse (1 En. 85–90) provides some of the most vivid imagery in Second Temple literature. In reference to the descent of the Watchers allegorized as stars, the narrative invokes the simile “they let out their phalluses like stallions” three times. Beyond the simile’s allusion to the oracle in Ezek 23:20, the stallion phallus remains largely unexplored. Our investigation demonstrates the associations of stallions with “aggressive virility” and foreignness based on the Hebrew Bible and contemporary Hellenistic and early Jewish literature. Moreover, we show the Animal Apocalypse’s innovative emphasis on the violent nature of the sexual acts, a feature absent in Gen 6 and the Book of Watchers, and argue for the episode’s contextualization with other early Jewish texts in which sexual violence is present. By spotlighting the stallion-phallused stars with their foreign genitalia, the Animal Apocalypse highlights anxieties surrounding communal boundary crossing and its violent repercussions.

Josephus’s Lamentations in the Judean War: Body, Emotional Resistance, and Gender

Abstract In the Judean War’s proem, Josephus professes his need to lament, an atypical statement in Hellenistic and Roman historiography. This article explores his lamentations, in the proem and the work, as they engage body, emotion, gender, and power. It examines the constructions that laments receive in Josephus’s diverse literary and cultural backgrounds—biblical and early Jewish literature as well as ancient Greek and Roman traditions. It also considers how the War reflects these constructions. Josephus’s laments, staging his wailing voice and suffering body, suggest self-abasement. However, his protagonists’ laments often convey resistance and rebellion, a traditional function of laments; they thus shed a more political light on the proem. Josephus masculinizes the typically feminine lamenter-qua-protester figure, perhaps to avoid feminizing his own role. This article interprets Josephus’s laments as an embodiment of his carefully subversive account and as emotional resistance against the Roman power.

Early Judaism and Its Modern Interpreters ed. by Matthias Henze and Rodney A. Werline

Reviewed by: Early Judaism and Its Modern Interpretersed. by Matthias Henze and Rodney A. Werline Barbara Schmitz matthias henzeand rodney a. werline(eds.), Early Judaism and Its Modern Interpreters( 2nded.; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2020). Pp. xxiv + 645. $45. It was a milestone in the study of early Judaism when Robert A. Kraft and George W. E. Nickelsburg published Early Judaism and Its Modern Interpreters(Atlanta: Scholars Press) in 1986. It was one of the first projects that brought together the different approaches and perspectives on the Second Temple period and not only offered an overview but established it as an independent field of research. Although published in 1986, the volume summarized research from 1945 until 1980 and drew a picture of early Judaism as a varied, complex, and dynamic period. Since 1980, the study of early Judaism has vastly increased. Texts, manuscripts, inscriptions, and archaeological findings as well as their translations have been made accessible. Furthermore, new methodologies, approaches, and tools have been developed. Therefore, forty years after the first edition, Matthias Henze and Rodney Werline offer a revised second edition that offers an updated version covering the last decades of research on early Judaism. Henze and Werline organized the volume in four parts ("Historical and Social Settings"; "Methods, Manuscripts, and Material"; "Early Jewish Literature"; "The Afterlife of Early Judaism"). In the introduction, the editors outline the conceptual and methodological changes in the last forty years and discuss challenges with terminology and categories such [End Page 523]as "Judaism," "early," "Second Temple period," "Apocrypha," "pseudepigrapha," and so on. The first part, "Historical and Social Settings," includes four chapters. Chris Seeman ("Jewish History from Alexander to Hadrian") presents a historical overview focusing on three main issues: the history of the high priesthood, the question of integration and marginalization in Israel as well as in the diaspora, and the relationship between Rome and Judea. Philip Esler ("The Social World of Early Judaism") delineates the social picture, with its broad social system in Palestine, socioreligious institutions (temple, synagogue, household) and social movements and groups. He discusses the problems related to the question of Jewish/Judean identity. Erich Gruen ("Jews in the Diaspora") gives a learned insight on Jewish life in the different regions of the ancient world, with a hermeneutical shift, asking how comfortable Jews in the diaspora found themselves in the balance between the maintenance of their tradition and the adjustment to societies in which they were a minority culture. A new chapter in the volume is Françoise Mirguet's "Gender in Early Jewish Literature," contextualizing research on gender in early Judaism in the study of ancient Greece and Rome and exploring the role of women, the construction of gender, femininities and masculinities, and gender as a structuring category. The second part, "Methods, Manuscripts, and Material," includes six chapters. The first is also a new chapter, "New Methodologies," by Werline. He presents recent results from different approaches, such as spatial theory, emotions, ritual theory, postcolonial theory, and so on. Alison Schofield ("The Dead Sea Scrolls") gives an update on a field of research that has changed significantly in the most recent decades. Pieter W. van der Horst ("Early Jewish Epigraphy") is a new entry, presenting the rapidly developed specialization of epigraphy as a path to "ordinary Jewish people" in antiquity and their thoughts, hopes, griefs, and joys. His discussion of critical aspects of Jean-Baptiste Frey's Corpus Inscriptionum Judaicarum(Rome: Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1975) is followed by the presentation of newly published editions, criteria for identifying Jewish inscriptions and questions on geographical and chronological distribution as well as genres and languages. Similar issues are discussed in Robert Kugler's chapter, "Documentary Papyri," which gives an update of Victor Tcherikover and Alexander Fuks's Corpus Papyrorum Iudaicarum(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1957), covering the new findings in Egypt (e.g., Herakleopolis) and Israel. Eric M. Meyers ("The Archaeology of Early Judaism") gives an insightful overview of archaeology, starting with the Persian period and including the evolution of the Jews in Babylonia. In "Early Judaism and Modern Technology," Todd R. Hanneken describes the dramatic changes that computer-assisted research has brought to the study of early Judaism. Timothy...

ASENETH OF EGYPT: THE COMPOSITION OF A JEWISH NARRATIVE. By Patricia D.Ahearne‐Kroll. SBL Early Jewish Literature 53. Atlanta: SBL, 2020. Pp. xvi + 285. Paperback. $42.00.

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 48, Issue 2 p. 277-277 Short Reviews of Recent Publications: Judaism (Hellenistic to Late Antiquity) ASENETH OF EGYPT: THE COMPOSITION OF A JEWISH NARRATIVE. By Patricia D. Ahearne-Kroll. SBL Early Jewish Literature 53. Atlanta: SBL, 2020. Pp. xvi + 285. Paperback. $42.00. First published: 20 September 2022 https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.15859Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume48, Issue2June 2022Pages 277-277 RelatedInformation

Jewish Mysticism from Ancient Times through Today by Marvin A. Sweeney

Reviewed by: Jewish Mysticism from Ancient Times through Today by Marvin A. Sweeney Joshua Ezra Burns marvin a. sweeney, Jewish Mysticism from Ancient Times through Today (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020). Pp. xvi + 432. $60. The stated purpose of this volume is to present "an account of the development of visionary and mystical experience in Jewish tradition from antiquity to the present" (p. 8). What it actually presents amounts to two accounts of varying quality and coherence. The first, comprising chaps. 1 through 5, reads like a primer on prophecy in the Hebrew Scriptures and Jewish literature of the Second Temple period highlighting its visionary themes. The second, comprising chaps. 6 through 10, surveys postbiblical Jewish texts and concepts belonging to the general order of esoteric or mystical theology, from the Hekhalot, or heavenly ascent texts of late antiquity, through the medieval Kabbalah and contemporary Hasidism. The two halves of the book do not mesh especially well. Linking them is an underdeveloped argument positing that the appearance of scriptural visionary motifs in postbiblical Jewish mysticism indicates a religious phenomenon whereby the visionary accounts of Israel's prophets informed the development of subsequent Jewish thought and devotional [End Page 310] practice involving sensory experience of the divine. That is a dubious analytical premise. Where prophecy was supposedly initiated by God, the pursuit of communion with God that typifies Jewish mystical speculation is meant to be initiated by the individual. Sweeney's elision of that distinction renders his reasoning more suggestive than persuasive. The greater part of the book is given not to reasoning but to description. In the first half of the book, S. summarizes a wide range of prophetic texts and depictions of prophecy in the Hebrew Scriptures and early Jewish literature. His analysis of those materials is capable but largely derivative, often drawing upon his own extensive body of scholarship. The second half, focusing on mystical texts, is almost entirely descriptive. Annotations are sparse, nebulous, and often conspicuously out of date. The contrast gives the impression of a scriptural scholar dabbling in a field of expertise not his own. S. occasionally offers comments challenging the stance of Gershom Scholem (e.g., Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism [New York: Schocken, 1941]) and his followers setting mysticism in opposition to the rationalistic intellectual pursuits of rabbinic Judaism. S. notes that Torah study and prayer, quintessential rabbinic acts of devotion involving the consumption of prophetic writings, historically have been regarded in mystical circles as means of accessing the divine realm. He likewise highlights the appearance of classical rabbinic personalities in mystical lore. Those observations, by no means original, represent the clearest efforts on the author's part to substantiate his location of prophecy and mysticism in a linear phenomenological continuum. The book is not easy to digest. It is unreasonably dense. Its literary summaries are supplemented by all sorts of ancillary information: form-critical commentaries, historical excursions, biographical legends, and so forth. These passages are impressionistic, repetitive, and, in the second half of the book, poorly documented. As for the summaries themselves, they are packed with too much information for the casual reader to retain reasonably. That is a tremendous liability as S. proceeds from the simple visionary claims of the prophets to discuss the more sophisticated cosmological schemes and metaphysical concepts of later ages. The net effect is that of an overambitious survey of literature embedded in a chronicle of Jewish history and burdened by a thesis that is not argued cogently. Aspiring to accomplish too much, the study ends up accomplishing too little to justify reading it from cover to cover. In view of the foregoing, I am at a loss to imagine an ideal audience for this book. Scholars acquainted with its subject matter will find the book superficial. Graduate students and seminarians will find it tedious. Undergraduates will find it impenetrable. S. seems to pitch his work to a reader in need of remedial education in the Hebrew Scriptures yet conversant in postbiblical Judaism, its culture, and its religious lexicon. I can imagine it working for adult learners with healthy attention spans interested in exploring formative Jewish texts seldom read outside of Hasidic circles. But I would not recommend...

Possession Amnesia

Abstract The occurrence of possession amnesia—memory loss subsequent to the cessation of possession by a spirit—is chronicled in Akkadian, Greek, early Jewish, and Christian literature. Anthropologists have collected data that witness to the same phenomenon occurring in indigenous cultures. Anthropologists have argued that patterns of experience with certain inexplicable phenomena, such as with spirits, may provide clues for evidence of their existence. This article discusses patterns of possession amnesia that occur cross-culturally and transhistorically as possible evidential support for the existence of spirits.

Passion, Persecution, and Epiphany in Early Jewish Literature, edited by Nicholas Peter Legh Allen, Pierre J. Jordaan and József Zsengellér

Passion, Persecution, and Epiphany in Early Jewish Literature, edited by Nicholas Peter Legh Allen, Pierre J. Jordaan and József Zsengellér

“Mystery” in the Wisdom of Solomon and 4QInstruction

Similar ideas and tropes found in the Wisdom of Solomon and 4QInstruction (4Q415–418, 423; 1Q26) have considerable significance for the study of early Jewish sapiential literature. One feature shared by both compositions is teaching about “mysteries.” Previous studies on these two wisdom writings conclude that there are distinct differences in what these mysteries are and how they function in the thought world of each composition. This article argues for an alternative understanding of mysteries in 4QInstruction to those presented in previous comparative studies. In light of this reassessment of mysteries, the Wisdom of Solomon and 4QInstruction are seen to participate within an intellectual space much closer to one another than previously perceived.

Überlegungen zu ausgewählten Aspekten der Behandlung des Jeremiabuchs in der Monographie von Benjamin Ziemer „Kritik des Wachstumsmodells“ (2020)

Abstract In a massive study, Benjamin Ziemer has launched a scathing stricture of redaction criticism in Old Testament studies. Based on comparative material from an impressive range of Ancient Near Eastern, biblical, early Jewish and early Christian literature, he maintains that diachronic research is unable to deliver meaningful reconstructions that reach more than one stage of textual development behind the present biblical text. Moving beyond that boundary would amount to unfettered speculation. While his appraisal is overwhelmingly negative, there is one biblical book on which he endeavors to devise a redaction-critical hypothesis of his own: the book of Jeremiah. The article evaluates Ziemer’s theory on Jeremiah and draws some general conclusions regarding the validity of his verdict on traditional redaction-critical research.

EARLY JEWISH LITERATURE: AN ANTHOLOGY. 2 volumes. Edited by BradEmbry, RonaldHerms &amp; Archie T.Wright. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2018. Pp. xvi + 728 (vol 1) and xii + 758 (vol 2). Hardback, $125.00.

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 47, Issue 1 p. 107-107 Short Reviews Of Recent Publications: Judaism: Hellenistic Through Late Antiquity EARLY JEWISH LITERATURE: AN ANTHOLOGY. 2 volumes. Edited by Embry, Brad, Herms, Ronald & Wright, Archie T.. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2018. Pp. xvi + 728 (vol 1) and xii + 758 (vol 2). Hardback, $125.00. First published: 30 May 2021 https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.15126Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume47, Issue1March 2021Pages 107-107 RelatedInformation

Resurrection of the Dead in Early Judaism, 200 BCE–CE 200 by C. D. Elledge

Reviewed by: Resurrection of the Dead in Early Judaism, 200 BCE–CE 200 by C. D. Elledge Glenn B. Siniscalchi c. d. elledge, Resurrection of the Dead in Early Judaism, 200 BCE–CE 200 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019). Pp. xiv + 253. $25. C. D. Elledge’s treatment of early Jewish conceptions of the resurrection and immortality should prove invaluable for future studies on Jewish theology and early Christianity. Focusing on the latest writings of the Hebrew Bible, the Apocrypha (i.e., the deuterocanonical texts), Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, and other Hellenistic Jewish authors, E. stresses the diversity of Jewish perspectives concerning the afterlife in the Second Temple era. Furthermore, Jews had multiple understandings of each view of the afterlife. According to E., “Resurrection is to be defined by the new, qualitatively different life into which the dead are raised. . . . This new, exalted existence, however, is reflected in a wide diversity of expressions within early Jewish literature” (p. 3). E. is also concerned with resituating ancient belief in the eschatological resurrection within the literary settings in which it arose and was sustained. [End Page 336] Elledge maintains that some Jews did not understand resurrection as the revivification of the same body that died. Instead, they thought that resurrection was compatible with certain expressions of belief in the immortality of the soul. E. states, “The varied forms in which resurrection is attested indicate that it was not an exclusive belief that banished all other possible conceptions of the afterlife from consideration. While resurrection made a specialized claim, it was still adaptable to belief in the immortality of the soul and a variety of mythological conceptions about the fate of the dead” (p. 4; cf. 5, 6, 16, 41). Diverse perspectives on the resurrection helped to adapt and accelerate beliefs up to and including the time of Jesus and the nascent church. But it should be emphasized that resurrection was one among many options within an array of viable viewpoints. In this context, some Jews denied the possibility of an afterlife. Although belief in the resurrection remained widespread in the postexilic period, E. argues that it mostly developed from earlier expressions of Judaism and was even spurred on to some degree by external religious influences: “Persian influence may have made it plausible for Judaism to reinterpret the imagery of earlier prophetic texts in a more literalizing way” (p. 53; cf. 58). Similarly, Jews legitimated their belief in the emerging hope of resurrection in several ways. E. summarizes the reasons why it was accepted: “Jews utilized the language of earlier prophecy when describing resurrection . . . they [also] appealed to the paradigm of creation as a precedent for God’s power to ‘re-create’ the human in the resurrection life. . . . Finally, some also insisted that resurrection was an essential, not merely optional, affirmation of divine justice” (p. 66). A major reason why resurrection was promoted and fostered had to do with the experience of hardship, violence, and even martyrdom; resurrection was seen as an answer to the common problem of suffering. Unjustified suffering may seem to have the last word in human affairs, but Jews said that Yhwh would reward and raise the dead. Toward the end of the book, E. discusses the relevant passages in the Book of Watchers, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Josephus. An analysis of Watchers indicates that physical, earthly conceptions of resurrection developed much earlier than is usually recognized. As he says, “One is likely, therefore, to avoid any tendency to regard the interim state as an exclusively later development. Instead, the interim state in the Book of Watchers suggests a much earlier and more intimate connection to the idea of resurrection itself, as its authors imagined cosmic landscapes for both the present state of the dead and their future judgment” (p. 147). Finally, E. blends together his lessons on Jewish conceptions of resurrection as background material for understanding the Pauline Epistles. Recognizing the wide range of views on the afterlife that prevailed in Judaism, E. affirms that the NT writers expressed their belief in the bodily resurrection in “strikingly new ways” (p. 202). Resurrection became a focal point of their religious belief; Christians held that one man was raised...