It has ilways been felt strange that the Penta- teuch, which gives the constitution of the people of God, should be silent on death and immortality, or only refer to the popular idea of Sliehl. in explanation it may be said tliat tlie earliest part of the Pent, is anterior to the pro])licts of the 8lh cent., while the later portions are the reflection of the prophetic teaching. Deut. reposes on Isaiah and the prophets of the Assyrian age, and the Priests' Code on Kzekiel. The constitution which they furnish for Israel is the embo<linient of the prophetic conceptions. Hut the concejitions of the prophets are ideal, their pictures of the true Israel are pictures of Israel of the future, Israel of
•See particularly the Auhamj to Sluilcr's Dot Iluch Uiob, Bremen, Ib^l.
the perfect and final state ; in other words, of Israel in what may be called its condition of immortality. The legislation seeks to impose this ideal on Israel of the present. Of necessity, when applied to the conditions of the actual Israel, the ideal was iniperfeetl}' realized, and was anew pro- jected into the future.
LiTSRATtnti. — Von Orelli, Prophecies of the C(mtumnuition oS the Kirujdom ; Bertheau, ' Die Altt. Weiiisagung von Israel't Reichaherrlichkeit in seinem I-ande,' Jahrbb. fiir Deutiche Theul. vols, iv. V. The older literature on Immortality is piven in Boettcher, De Iiyferis, 1846. and particularly in W. R. Alger, A Critical U v^tory of ths Doctrine of a Future Life, with a Com- plete Biblifxjrajihy tty Ezra Abbot, New Vork, 1871. Besides the relative sections in the Bib. Theolofjles, useful works are : Oehler, Vet. Test. Sententia de rebuji jtost mortem futurin, 1846; Perowne (Bp.), Immortality (Uulsean Lecture), 1SG9 ; Schultz, I'orauesetzuTujen der Chrmt. Lfhre v. d. Ungterblich- keit, 18411 ; Stode, Die Alttest. Vorstdlunnen vom Zustatid nach dem Tode, leG8, and relative section in Hist. vol. i.; .leremioB, Die Babyt.-Assyr. Vorgtellungen voin Zustand nach dem Tode-, 1887 ; Schwally, Dae Leben nach dem Tode, 1892 ; A. B. Davidson, * Modem Relitdon and OT Iiiunortality,' Expositor, Mav 189.") ; especially Salmond, The Christian Doctrine of ymmOTtoiity, 3rd ed.,' 1897. A. B. DAVIDSON.
ESCHATOLOGY OF THE APOCRYPHAL AND APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE.— We shall treat this subject under four heads. 1. The autliorities for Jewish Eschatology, B.C. 200-A.D. 80. 2. Some of the conceptions which gave birth to and con- trolled the evolution of later Jewish Eschatology. 3. Its historical development. 4. Its systematic exposition. I. The Authorities.
2nd cent. B.C. — Sirach.
„ Ethiopic Enoch 1-36.
„ Daniel.
„ Ethiopic Enoch 83-90 ; 91-
104. „ Tobit.
„ Sibylline Oracles — Pro-
ujmium and 3"""'. f, Testaments of the XII
Patriarchs — Apocalyptic Sections. Between B.C. 140 and A. D. 30. „ Judith.
Ist cent. B.C.— Ethiopic Enoch 37-70. „ 1 Maccabees.
„ Psalms of Solomon.
„ 2 Maccabees.
Ist cent. A.D. — Book of Jubilees.
„ Assumption of Mosea.
„ I'liilo.
„ Slavonic Enoch.
Book of Wisdom. 4 Maccabees.
Composite works writ Apocalypse of Baruch
Book of Baruch
4 Ezra
Ascension of Isaiah
ten partly before and partly after A.D. 70. Part of the Book of Baruch may belong to the 2nd cent. B.C. Josephua.
The above authorities vary indefinitely in the degree of light they shed on the evolution of escliatological thought among the Jews. Tims very little help in this direction is to be derived from Sirach, the Book of Baruch, Judith, and 1 Maccabees. It is, in fact, to the pseudonymous apocalyptic writings that we are almost entirely beholden for the materials of wliich we are in quest. The.se not only supiily the missing links which nuite in orderly devilopment the thought of OT to tliat of NT, but also in not a few cases are the only documentary authorities for views and doctrines which in later times established themselves securely in Christianity or Judaism.
II. Some of the Conckptions which gave
BIRTH to and controlled THE EVOLUTION 0»
742
ESCHATOLOGY
ESCHATOLOGY
Later Jewish Eschatoloov.— Tliese concep- tions were already at work in OT, l)ut were aiiiilied only sporadically, and in a partially developed form. In the later period they gradually attain to their full rights.
1. The enlnrfjed conception of God as the Creator and Moral Governor of all the world, and its con- sequences.— When once this idea is fully compre- hended, the OT conception of Sheol can no longer logically exist. And yet these two conflicting conceptions did exist side by side for several cen- turies. So long as J' was conceived simply as the tribal God of Israel, and as one amon^ other gods, whose sole concern was the moral well-being and prosperity of His people on earth, then Sheol was naturally conceived as beyond the sphere of His dominion, and so preserved its ancient non- moral character. It is not, indeed, till almost the Maccabasan period that the former concep- tion has transformed the latter, and the abode of the shades has become a place of moral retribu- tion.
Another consequence of this enlarged conception of God was an enlarged conception of judCTnent. Since God was the Creator and Ruler of afl men, the idea of a final and world judgment, in which the destinies of all should be decided, naturally arose. It must be conceded, however, that in Judaism this idea was, so far as the Gentiles went, always of the most one-sided and inequit- able character. In their case, judgment, as a rule, meant simply condemnation. At best they were spared only to become subject to Israel.