Jewish Apocalypses Research Articles

Enoch the Explorer: 1 Enoch 17–36 in Its Hellenistic Context

Abstract The journeys undertaken by the antediluvian patriarch Enoch, in 1 Enoch 17–36, engage closely with a well-known contemporary practice of Hellenistic courts: the dispatching of expeditions of exploration. Such reframing can situate this early Jewish apocalypse more fully within its third-century BCE intellectual, cultural, and political ecosystem and also make space for Judean thought in the history of ancient geography.

A Solution to the Duration Problem of Daniel 12:11–12

The last few verses of the Hebrew Book of Daniel are famously difficult. Among other issues, they present a duration problem that has long seemed intractable. But they also contain a key that provides a solution to the problem. That key is signaled by the lack of parallelism between the Aramaic expression of Daniel 7:25b and the Hebrew expression of Daniel 12:7b. The solution it allows is both accessible and expected. In his closing verses, the author of the book of Daniel created a mechanism to convey his view of the proper cultic calendar. That view places him securely among the other writers of early Jewish apocalypse literature and among the authors of much of the sectarian and non-sectarian literature of the last three centuries BCE. This paper reviews the duration problem and its elements. It also examines and discusses the prior attempts to solve the problem. It then presents and discusses a solution that was made available in the author’s text but has not been previously recognized. Keywords: Apocalypse, The Book of Daniel, Calendar Controversy, Zadokite Calendar

The Hidden Bones Apocalypse: The Marker, Its Message, and their Hiddenness

There is an unusual phrase that occurs only fourteen times in the Hebrew Bible. Those fourteen occurrences mark the accounts of ten highly consequential days. The essential messages of those ten accounts, when taken together, create and convey a unified and coherent communication. The presence of the phrase, its uniqueness to those days, and the message it creates, are hidden in translations. Readers of the biblical text in English, Greek, Latin, and German versions have no reason to associate the ten marked days. The phrase and its message are effectively hidden even from those who use the Hebrew text; having been obscured by the tradition of interpretation extending through rabbinic literature and commentary. The message created by reference to those ten marked days is representative of early Jewish apocalypse literature. This paper identifies and analyses the marker phrase, identifies the days that it marks, interprets the message created, demonstrates the hiddenness of that message, and argues its character as an apocalypse. Keywords: Hebrew Bible, Apocalypse, Bible Translation, Early Rabbinic Literature, Rabbinic Commentary

R. H. Charles and Modern Biblical Studies

Abstract The presentation centers on R. H. Charles, the pioneer scholar of Jewish apocalypses and pseudepigrapha in the English-speaking world. After a short biography of Charles, I offer a survey of his career and publications, followed by an explanation of how he and his contemporaries saw themselves as standing at a pivotal time in the history of interpreting the Bible. A listing of some examples from Charles's work illustrates the point. The address concludes with several comparisons between biblical studies as practiced a century ago and today and with an imaginative look at what Charles might have thought had he been able to attend a twenty-first century Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature.

Torah as Wisdom in 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch

Abstract This essay is concerned with the meaning of torah and its relationship with wisdom in late Second Temple Judaism. It has been previously argued that, as the Mosaic torah had gained dominance, the wisdom school absorbed and accommodated the Mosaic torah tradition, and yet maintained all the essential elements of the sapiential tradition. Through a study of two Jewish apocalypses, 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch, the essay discovers not only the sapientialization of the Mosaic torah, but also the total submission of the wisdom tradition under the authority of the Mosaic torah tradition to gain legitimacy. It argues that this is done through a submission of sapiential revelations to the Mosaic revelation received at Sinai, and a portrayal of wisdom recipients and apocalyptic visionaries as types of Moses. This process reflects religious innovation under the disguise of compliance with established, older traditions.

A Handbook on 1–2 Esdras by Roger A. Bullard and Howard A. Hatton

Reviewed by: A Handbook on 1–2 Esdras by Roger A. Bullard and Howard A. Hatton Richard J. Bautch roger a. bullard and howard a. hatton, A Handbook on 1–2 Esdras (UBS Handbook Series; Miami, FL: United Bible Society, 2019). Pp. xi + 894. $20. Although it is not among the seven books that form the Deuterocanonical books of the Catholic Bible, 1 Esdras is part of the Apocrypha and an important witness to ancient traditions involving the biblical figure Ezra. In the narrative of 1 Esdras, Ezra leads a group from exile in Babylon to Jerusalem, where he refurbishes the temple and publicly proclaims the law to the people. His actions parallel those of the biblical Ezra in the Book of Ezra (and the Book of Nehemiah, 8:1–12). Ezra also appears prominently in 2 Esdras, where he receives seven visions that foretell the climax or end of history. 2 Esdras is a Jewish apocalypse, to which later Christian writers appended two introductory chapters and two concluding chapters. It too forms part of the Apocrypha. 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras are the subject of this volume by Roger A. Bullard and Howard A. Hatton, who aim to assist translators making these texts available in diverse languages and cultures, per the aims of the United Bible Societies. The handbook allows translators without knowledge of Greek to carry out their work while relying on B. and H. for discussions of any lexical issues in the original language. Bullard and Hatton provide a systematic presentation of the text. A pericope appears synoptically in two translations (RSV and the Good News Translation, which reads like a “functional equivalent” [p. 878]). A short commentary follows, with exegetical, historical, linguistic, and cultural information. The authors then treat each verse in the pericope individually, with attention to the Greek on which the two English translations are based. In this way, the commentary imparts a deeper knowledge of the text without requiring readers to be familiar with its original language. Units often conclude with B. and H. writing their own translation of certain verses to guide the translator rendering 1 Esdras or 2 Esdras in a “receptor” language, that is, the language spoken today where these two books of the Apocrypha are being introduced. Given the intended readership, the volume has appropriate and ample resources. There are brief introductions to 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras, a selected bibliography, a glossary, and a subject index. Certain terms in the glossary provide a window on the global work of translators who would use this volume. “Ideophone,” for example, is defined as “a form of expressive language that can describe anything that a person’s senses might feel or observe. … They are especially common in African languages. For example in one language prrrr! expresses whiteness or brightness. In another language yaa indicates complete emptiness” (p. 879). The bibliography is not up-to-date, as there are only a handful of entries published after 2000. Missing are notable discussions of 1 Esdras such as Lisbeth S. Fried, ed., Was 1 Esdras First? An Investigation into the Priority and Nature of 1 Esdras (AIL 7; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011); and Dieter Böhler, 1 Esdras (International Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2015). Böhler’s commentary features one of the most cogent arguments to date that 1 Esdras is best understood as a composition in its own right; the author of 1 Esdras culled (and revised) materials from an early Ezra source (specifically, an early stage of Ezra-Nehemiah before the Nehemiah Memoir and various minor portions of Ezra were incorporated) in order to write a freestanding book that features the wisdom of Zerubbabel at its center. This view is quite different from that of 1 Esdras as merely a compilation of texts or as a fragment [End Page 476] from an earlier, united version of Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah. Such assessments of 1 Esdras held sway in the last century, along with the theory that it is a translation from the Hebrew and Aramaic of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, the view put forth by B. and H. (p. 2). Such views are increasingly relegated to the...

Prayer as Divine Experience and Empathetic Identification in 2 Baruch: 2 Baruch 48:1–25 as a Test case

First, in this essay I will summarize research in the field of neuroscience, which describe the cognitive processes that allow a person to empathize with another person’s emotional experience. Second, I will provide evidence that implies the author of the late first-century Jewish Apocalypse, 2 Baruch, wished to portray that the seer, Baruch, was in God’s presence as he prayed. Finally, I will discuss the emotions potentially aroused by the language of one the seer’s prayers (2 Baruch 48:2–24). Reverence for God, hope, confidence, and humility all are expressed by the words of his prayer. I will propose that reading or hearing these emotions could have allowed an ancient reader or listener to share and understand Baruch’s emotional states that are reflected in his prayer. Consequently, this process may have provided the reader or listener with a sense of the tangible presence of God that is consistent with the experience described as occurring to Baruch while offering his prayer in the divine presence.

A New Approach to the Apocryphal Ladder of Jacob

For a long time the apocryphal Ladder of Jacob was accessible only in arbitrarily selected translations. Without a critical edition and a comprehensive study of the whole textual segment, scholars were unable to evaluate its significance for Early Jewish and Christian literature. Since 2015/17, with the publication of a new critical edition and German translation (accompanied by a detailed introduction, footnote commentaries and appendices with related texts), a new approach to this important but hitherto widely unknown text has been made possible. This approach verifies the different layers or strata in the text, which are: a supposed Jewish apocalypse (mid-second century), a Christian expansion of the angels speech in light of the praeparatio evangelica tradition (fourth–seventh centuries), a Jewish mystical prayer (eleventh century) and the incorporation of this narrative block into the Tolkovaja Paleja together with a series of exegetical commentaries (end of the thirteenth century). In the light of the new approach, it can be said that the Ladder of Jacob is most of all an outstanding example of mutual relations between Jewish and Christian theology.

Orality, Literacy and Memory in the Composition and Transmission of Christian Ezra Apocalypses

ABSTRACTA cluster of Christian Ezra apocalypses from the 2nd to 9th century, namely the Greek Apocalypse of Esdras, the Greek Apocalypse of Sedrach and the Latin Vision of Ezra, clearly draw their inspiration from the first-century Jewish apocalypse 4 Ezra (2 Esdras 3–14) and share many common features among themselves. Yet conventional textual criticism has failed to offer a satisfactory explanation to account for their similarities and divergences both among themselves and vis-à-vis other apocalyptic works not in the pseudonym of Ezra. This article presents an alternative approach to explain textual relationship by taking into account 1) the role orality played in the process of composition, performance and transmission; 2) the interplay of orality and literacy; 3) the role of memory in the formation of traditions; and 4) eventually viewing textual relationship not as stemmatics but a network of traditions in a common religious and intellectual context.

Between Symbolism and Realism: The Use of Symbolic and Non-Symbolic Language in Ancient Jewish Apocalypses 333-63 B.C.E., written by Bennie H. Reynolds III

Between Symbolism and Realism: The Use of Symbolic and Non-Symbolic Language in Ancient Jewish Apocalypses 333-63 B.C.E., written by Bennie H. Reynolds III

The Dictionary of the Bible and Ancient Media

The Dictionary of the Bible and Ancient Media

Enoch Book of Watchers and Astronomical Book: Theodicy in the Context of a Proto-Scientific Cosmology

In the earliest book of 1 Enoch, the Astronomical Book, Enoch the “seer” exhorts the reader to contemplate cosmological phenomena. The book displays a keen interest in cosmology and meticulous observation of the natural world. Such characteristics still today form the foundation of the discipline of science. The second earliest Enochian writing, 1 Enoch Book of Watchers, in addition to proto-scientific observations, propounds an alternative explanation for the existence of evil to the traditional Christian belief in the doctrine of “original sin” as a result of the “fall” of Adam and Eve. The origin of evil is recognised to be divine, but the deity is exonerated from responsibility for it. There is an intriguing relation between the observations of natural phenomena, cosmology, divination, and angelic activity in these earliest Jewish apocalypses. This article considers the striking similarity between the use of proto-scientific elements in this pseudepigraphical literature to offer a solution to the vexed problem of theodicy, and the scientific observations that culminated more than two thousand years later in the new paradigm of evolution as the means of creation, and hence for understanding the inevitability of suffering and evil in cosmological terms.

Jewish Rhetorics and the Contemplation of a Diminished Future

Abstract Recent work by scholars such as Sylvie-Anne Goldberg and Elisheva Carlebach has paid close attention to the forms of temporality in traditional Jewish cultures, and classic twentieth-century studies debated the origin and character of various forms of Jewish Messianism as well as the genre of Jewish apocalypse. This essay considers the possible relevance of Jewish rhetorics of temporality to the most likely current scenario of the human future: a deterioration of both numbers and quality of life, with no inevitable extinction or redemption to be envisioned as a narrative end-point. The recent television series “Battlestar Galactica” is closely examined, both for its specifically Jewish tropes and more generally as a narrative modeling of a regressive sequence without inevitable resolution. Most broadly, this meditation in the form of a dialogue challenges scholars to address their analyses to the current situation of the species, and to do so in a way that does not rely on antiquated ideologies of progress and enlightenment.

What to Expect when you’re Expecting: Maternity, Salvation History, and the ‘Apocalyptic Paul’

This article argues, on the basis of Jewish and Christian apocalypses, that ‘apocalyptic’ in Paul should not be understood as antithetical to ‘salvation history’. It focuses on one of Paul’s key metaphors, childbirth, which has been identified as an image intrinsically connected to Paul’s ‘apocalyptic’ eschatology. It will first offer a brief survey of the way the image of childbirth has been deployed in recent ‘apocalyptic’ interpretations of Paul (notably in the work of Beverly Gaventa) in support of a ‘punctiliar-invasive’ theology of history over against a ‘linear-progressive’ view. It will then examine some of the evidence from the apocalyptic literature where childbirth is used as an eschatological metaphor, particularly in the book of Revelation. It will argue that an understanding of the logic of this metaphor in Second Temple Jewish and early Christian apocalyptic thought raises questions about the eschatological dichotomy at the heart of the contemporary ‘apocalyptic Paul’ movement.

The “Synoptic Apocalypse” (Mt 24–25 Par.) and Its Jewish Source

The so-called “Synoptic Apocalypse” is a reworking of a Second Temple period Jewish apocalypse (best preserved in Matthew), whose structure is recoverable from the contents and the order of Jesus’ parables.

Sethian Crowns, Sethian Martyrs? Jewish Apocalypses and Christian Martyrs in a Gnostic Literary Tradition

The predominant image of the crown is among the most baffling features of several, difficult Gnostic apocalypses, recensions of which we know to have been controversial in the school of the Neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus (ca. 263c.e.). In these “Sethian” apocalypses, recovered from Nag Hammadi (Upper Egypt) in 1945, crowns adorn heavenly beings, and are donned by seers during their celestial voyages. It is clear they are significant in this literature, but scholarship has yet to answer how, and why. First, while these crowns are relatively common in the “Sethian Gnostic” literature, they are notably absent from the Hellenic philosophical tradition which also informs the apocalypses in Plotinus’ school. The abundance of crown-imagery, however, in contemporary Jewish and Christian apocalypses thus serves as evidence of a Judeo-Christian background for this “Platonizing” Sethian literature, even if it is replete with Neoplatonic jargon instead of references to Jesus of Nazareth. Secondly, the crowns seem to indicate a state of glorification and deification derivative from ancient Jewish tradition concerning the possibility of recovering the primordial glory of humanity, often phrased as becoming an angel. Thirdly, Plotinus’ Christian Gnostic opponents may have seen these crowns differently — as indicative of the glory of martyrdom, reminding us that this early confrontation between Hellenic and Christian Gnostic philosophers followed on the heels of the Decian and Valerianic persecutions.

Book review: Between Symbolism and Realism: The Use of Symbolic and Non-Symbolic Language in Ancient Jewish Apocalypses 333–63 B.C.E., written by Bennie H. Reynolds III

Book review: Between Symbolism and Realism: The Use of Symbolic and Non-Symbolic Language in Ancient Jewish Apocalypses 333–63 B.C.E., written by Bennie H. Reynolds III

Between First-Century Apocalyptic and Seventh-Century Liturgy: On 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch, and Qillir

Abstract The relationship between two first- or second-century C.E. Jewish apocalypses, 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch, is complex, and remains unresolved. It is well known that elements of both works occur, predicated of Jeremiah, in a singular rabbinic text, Pesiqta Rabbati 26. In this paper, I argue that analysis of the development of the traditions underlying 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch must take more serious account of two pararabbinic texts, a pair of laments by the seventh-century Byzantine poet Qillir.

Visions and Eschatology: A Socio-Historical Analysis of Zechariah 1–6 by Antonios Finitsis (review)

Reviewed by: Visions and Eschatology: A Socio-Historical Analysis of Zechariah 1–6 by Antonios Finitsis Richard J. Bautch Visions and Eschatology: A Socio-Historical Analysis of Zechariah 1–6. By Antonios Finitsis. LSTS 79. Pp. x + 193. New York: T & T Clark, 2011. Cloth, $110.00. There is copious evidence linking the book of Zechariah in its final form to the apocalyptic texts that came to the fore later in the Second Temple Period. The recently published Hazon Gabriel (Matthias Henze, ed., Hazon Gabriel: New Readings of the Gabriel Revelation [SBLEJL 29; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011]) is only the most recent in a line of Jewish apocalypses from the second and first centuries b.c.e. that owe a particular debt to Zechariah. While Zechariah’s association with later [End Page 428] apocalyptic literature has often driven the study of this biblical book, Antonios Finitsis argues for a different approach based upon the fifth-century social setting of Zechariah. He documents a complex of socio-historical developments associated with the early postexilic period, and he calls the sum of these developments “restoration eschatology” (p. 2). Restoration eschatology is the rubric under which Finitsis examines chapters 1–6 of Zechariah. This study is a version of Finitsis’ Ph. D. dissertation at the University of Chicago, directed by J. David Schloen. Schloen’s publications, which trace cultural developments such as patrimonialism in the Levant from the first millennium b.c.e. down to the Persian Period, reflect his acumen in this area, and his influence on the work of Finitsis is evident. This project benefited from the additional direction of John J. Collins and his expertise on the matter of apocalypticism. Chapter 1 establishes the book’s two foci, the sociological context of the prophet Zechariah in the late sixth century and the visionary expression that he uniquely employed. Chapters 2 and 3 deal with the history of scholarship. In the crucial chapter 4, Finitsis reconstructs the social setting of the early postexilic period, an effort that is discussed in more detail below. Chapter 5 involves a reading of Zechariah 1–6 that incorporates key passages from the book of Haggai. Chapter 6 branches into critical theory; the work of Michael Riffaterre informs an exploration of the prophet Zechariah as visionary medium. In the final chapter, Finitsis recapitulates his thesis that the author of Zechariah 1–6, or proto-Zechariah, crafted a message that promoted social harmony in the face of potential strife by inspiring the people of Judah and Jerusalem to restore their community after the exile. The crucial support for this thesis is chapter 4, the historical reconstruction of the world behind the text of Zechariah. In fact, this chapter is the crux of the monograph and deserves attention. Finitsis rightly states the question as follows: How did the Persian empire relate to its provinces such as Yehud, and vice-versa? His inquiry is structured along three lines: the Achaemenid dynasty’s propaganda directed at the provinces, the empires’s base of loyal elites who would enact Persian policy in provinces such as Yehud, and finally Persia’s dealings with local sanctuaries so as to generate revenue and support for the empire. All three discussions are substantive and focused, but they are not always cogent. The reconstruction that emerges is based largely on secondary sources, whereas primary sources better support these types of arguments. For example, there is a surfeit of documents on palace-temple relations in Babylonia, Egypt, and Asia Minor during the Achaemenid period, but this type of evidence is not introduced. Moreover, Finitsis relies on secondary sources that are slightly dated and so he is not always in step with contemporary scholarship. One example is his following Charles Carter’s conclusion that in the Persian I period of 539–450 b.c.e., [End Page 429] the population of the province of Yehud was 13,350 people (pp. 99–100). More recent scholarship has adjusted this figure upward, with Oded Lipschits in 2005 placing the number at 30,125 (The Fall and Rise of Jerusalem [Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2005], p. 270). Finitsis includes Lipschits’s study in his bibliography but does not engage it...

The Signs of the Messiah ('Otot Hamashiach) and Jewish Apocalypticism

ABSTRACTDuring the Second Temple period several Jewish writings refer to the oral tradition of the ‘otot hamashiach, the signs that would accompany the coming of the Messiah. The subject is utilized by the author of the Gospel of John in his deliberate and calculated references to ‘signs’ as a way of authorizing Jesus as the expected and promised Messiah. The signs enumerated in Near Eastern apocalypses range from natural disasters and cataclysms, to social and political upheavals and preternatural occurrences. The ‘Otot Hamashiach is a Jewish apocalypse of uncertain date, from around the third to the sixth centuries C.E., describing ten signs or portents that would transpire before the end comes. The Apocalypse opens important perspectives on Jewish medieval expectations of the Messiah and the end of times, as well as the enemy of Israel, Armilus.