The eschatology of the NT, therefore, is in its broad outlines a consistent though not a system- atized doctrine. In the different sections of NT, and with all differences in detail, the eschatology turns on the great truths of the Parousia, the bodily resurrection, the universal, righteous judgment, the final awards of recompense and penalty. It is in essential harmony with the faith and teaching of the OT, and requires for its explanation no theories of derivation from ethnic thought. The distinctive points in the Pauline eschatology are in affinity with Hebrew faith, not, as some argue (Pfleiderer, etc.), with Greek thought. The same is even more obviously the case with the eschatology of the NT writings outside the Pauline circle. Essene or Alexandrian (Philonic) ideas are not in place as sources of Clirist's teachin" on the things of the end. Even the doctrine of the resurrertion as it is given in the NT cannot be said to be dependent, in the sense affinned by some (L. U. Mills, etc.), on the Zoroastrian theology. It is possible that in some of its affirmat; ais the NT eschatology has been influenced to a certain extent in its form by external modes of thought. In all that is ol its sub.stance it is in relation to Hebrew faith, and has its point of is-sue in the principles and ideas of the Old Testament.
LiTKRATmn. — The variovis books on -Vr Theolofjy. the BIblicni Theolniv of ST, the Tmchinn ot Christ and th€ Apostles, by Baur. Neander, Ueuss, Lechler, Schmid. Oosteraee,
ESCHEW
ESDRAELON
757
Mtyer, Weiss, B«7BchIag, Wendt, HolUiiiann, etc. : the variouj UvfttlKa llluatrmtive of NT TimeB and Jewish beliefs : Colani, Jitut-Chrut et U4 croyaixcfi rm^ianiqufi de gon tempg ; Kdere- helm, Jesus the MestwJi ; Drummond, Jewish Mesniah • Stautoii, Jevish and Christian Messiah ; Hilgenfcld, Judisc/ie Apok. ; Ofrort-r, Jahrhurulert dfs i?<i^ : Schiirer, HJI'; Hausruth, Sew Test. Tiin^i ; Weber, Jiid, Theolooie ; Delitzsch. BddicaL PsycJtUogy ; S. DuvidtiOti, Doctrine o/ Last Thiiujg ; Saliiioiid, Christum Doctrine 0/ hnmurtality; Pusey, What is 0/ Faith as to Everlastinfj Punishment t White, Li/e in Christ ; I'etavel- OIlifT, Problem oS Immortality \ Kabisch, Eachatoloijie. des Pautus ; Russell, The Parousia ; Riemann, Lehre von der Apocatastasis. S. D. F. SaLMOND.
ESCHEW. — In the older versions ' eschew ' is common, and is used in two senses. — 1. To 'escape,' as Pr 11" Wye. 'He that escheweth Bnaris, schal be sikur ' ; cf. Knox, HiM. p. 70, ' If they will not convert themselves from their wicked errour, there shall hastily come upon them the wrath of God, which they shall not eschew.' Of this meaning AV has retained no example.
2. To 'turn away from,' as Pr 17'" Wye. 'He that eschewith to lerne, schal falle in to yuels.' Of this AV preserves three examples in Or, Job l'-" 2*, all in the phrase ' to fear God and e. evil ' (Heb. TiD) ; and one in NT, 1 P 3" ' Let him eschew evil, and do good' (Gr. {kkKIvu). Cf. Is 7"^ Gov. 'But or ener tliat childe come to knowledge, to eschue the euel and cliose the good.' RV prefers ' turn away from ' in 1 P, Amer. RV in Job also. Eschew came into the Eng. lang. from the Old High Ger. sciuhen (through the Fr. esc/iever), whence came also ' shy,' adj. and verb.
J. Hastings.
ESDRAELON.— This is the Gr. way of writing the Heb. name Jezreel — ^n;p,]' 'God soweth'— the royal city of Aliab and Jezebel, which, standing on the E. edge, gave its name to 'the great plain' of central Palestine. It is variously given, e.g. Jth 3" n"* A 'EaSpTiXiir (B 'EadpaTtXun) ; 7' A 'EffSpriXiiiJ. (B K 'EaSpTiXwv) ; 4' B 'EaprjXuy, A 'Etrep-rjxuf. Tlie name by which it^is now known among the natives is Merj Ibn-'Amr 'Meadow of the son of 'Amr.'
At one time the mountain range must have stretched unbroken from the uplands of Samaria, behind Jenln, to those of Galilee, which run N. into the Lebanons. Now it is as if a gigantic mass had been torn from the bo.som of the range, leaving the rough protuberances of Gilboa, Little Hermon, and Tabor, along the edge of the Jordan Valley, and thrust violently towards the sea, in a N.W. direction. This ma.ss forms llie wooded bulk of Carmel, which, rising to a heiglit of over 1800 feet, terminates in a bold promontory, guarding the S. end of the Bay of Acre. The undulating floor of this great gaj) among the hills forms the ' valley ' or plain of^ Esdraelon. The name by which it is mentioned 2 Ch 35*", Zee 12", nypa ' an opening,' from pb; ' to split ' or ' cleave asunder,' as distinguished from p;y 'a depression ' or 'deepening,' applied to its oirslioot, tlie vale of Jezreel, suits the conditions admirably. The word still persists in El-Bekd', tlie great hollow between the Lebanons ; and in its dim. form, lU-Bakei'a, a village with a tract of fertile land around it, enclosed by ridges, high in the mountains of Naphtali. So the plain of E. is shut in by hills on every side. It may be described generally as triangular in form. It is bounded oy irregular lines, drawn from the foot of Carmel, along the N. edge of the low hills wliich join Carmel to the Samaritan mountains, to Jenin ; from Jentn to the base of Mt. Tabor; and thence imder the Nazareth hills, back again to Carmel. The S. boundary is the longest, extending some 20 miles ; the other two are nearly equal, being each about 15 miles in length. From Jenin a little bay runs ea-st into the bosom of (Jilboa, but linds no outlet. Between Gillxia and Little llermon a broad and easy descent passes down as far as BeisAn, and then.