One great transition had been made since Ezk 18. The value of the individual sold was by this time fully realized. The old merging of the in- dividual in the family and the clan had been fully left behind. Another germ contained in the teach- ing of the prophets had been developed. We can see from the case of the Essenes that men's minds ■were being prepared for the abolition of animal sacrifices, and along with the abolition of sacrifice for an end to the localized worship of the temple.
•b,.eesp. Rshlfs, 'J<J und\y:^inil. Paalmen, Goti\Dgen, 1S92; »nd Driver, ParuUel Psalter, Oxf. I59S, Glossary. «.!•. 'poor.'
The great extension of the synagogue services would contribute to the same result.
The proselytizing zeal which the later Judaism had displayed (Mt 2;!") operated in several ways. It Wiis a step in the direction of the ultimate evangili/.ing of the (ientiles. It liad created a cl,a.ss in which the liberal intluences of (ir.ieco- lioman education prevented the purer principles of OT from lapsing into Jiulaic narrowness and for- malism, and in which it was therefore natural tha"; Clirisiianily should .strike root. We meet with specimens of this chiss in the Go.spels ( l.k 7-'->''||, Mk lu**!!) as well as in the Acts. And not only was there created a class of recipients for the gospel, but in the effort to meet the demands of the.se converts from jjaganism there was a teiulency to tone down and throw into the background the more repellent features of Judaism. If it is true, as it probably is, that the so-called Dkhiche is a Christian eidargcment of what was originally a Jewisli manual for lu-ostlytes, it woidd be a good illustration of this process.
;!. Till Missianir Kxpectation. — But by far the most important of all the prejiarations for the gos, pel, negative as well as positive, both as demanding correction and as leading up to fnllilmrnt. was the growth of the Messianic expectation, with tho group of doctrines which went along with it.
The more the .stress of the times was felt, and the more hopeless it seemed that any ordinary development of events could rescue the Jewish peojile from its oppressors, the more were its hojies thrown into the future and based upon the direct intervention of God. 'i'lie starting-point of these hopes was the great ])ropliecy in I)n 7. The world empires, one succeeding another, and all tyranni//- ing over the Cho.sen I'eople, were t" be judged, and Israel at last was to enter on the dnminion reserved for it. The figure of the Son of Man who ajipears before the Ancient of days (Dn T'-'"') was not in the first instance a person : it was* a collective ex- pression, equivalent to the ' saints of the Most High ' in v. '*. The form of a ' man ' is taken in contra.st to the ' beasts,' which rei;resent in the context the dyna.stics of the oppressor;. In conflict with the last of these Israel is at first to be hard pres.sed. but God Himself will interpose by an act of divine judgment ; the enemy will bs crushed, and there will he given to Israel a kingdom which is universal and eternal.
This dominion is Israel's by right. It had not oidy been repeatedly prounsed from Abraham onwarils, but it had be:-n earned as a matter of desert. It was the complement of Israel's potses- sion of the law. By its observance of the law Israel had acquired a right which no other nation could acquire. In the compact or covenant between Israel and Jehovah, Israel was doing its part, and it remained fi>r God to do His.
The grand catastrophe by which this wa-s to be brought about, the Trepor^reia in the tragedy of the nations, was to culminate in an act of judgment. The day of the Lord, conceived of by the prophets at first as a decisive I.iattle in which God intervenes, gives place to a judicial act in w^hich tho.se whc have oppressed His people are called to account, and the parts of oppressor and oppressed are re versed. To complete the justice of the case, tho.se of the saints who have died in the time:; of di.j- tress must not be left out. There must be a, resurrection. And the resurrection will usher in for them a state of lasting joy and felicity. Nature would share with man. There would be a 'new heaven and a new earth.' The tendency was to conceive of these somewhat literally and materi- ally. Elaborate but at the same time prosaic pictures are given of the inexhaustible plenty which the saints (i.e. Israel as a people) are to enjoy.
r
JESUS CHRIST
JESUS CHRIST
60&
Their bliss is also sometimes compared to a great feast (cf. Lk H'S).
In the Bk. of Daniel, and, as it would seem, for some time afterwards, tlie reign of the saints is conceived impfrsoiially. It is the dominion of Israel, llie Cliosen People. But gradually there arises a tendency to go back to a more primitive stage of propliecy, and to see llie kingdom as con- centrated in tlie person of its King : there is a personal Messiah. This is conspicuously the case in the I'salnisof Solomon(l". 18), the date of which is tixed between ii.c. 70-JO. The righteous King who is to rule nver the nations is the Davidic King of the elder prophets. A personal King is also im- plied in Orw. SiliyU. iii. 4!l f., 0o2-(io(j. In the middle section of the I5k. of Enoch (chs. :i7-71), wliich is also probably pre-Christian, the title '.Son of Man' is taken up from Dn and distinctly identified with a person. Here, too, as in Orac. SiliijU. iii. -280, and ,1;)()C. liar 72--^, the Messiah is not only King but Judge (ef. Enoch 4.j^ 62*-'^ 00-"). The execution of tlie judgment is handed over to Him by God. There is not absi)lute unity of view. Sometimes judgment is carried out by the Messiah, siimetimes by (iod Himself l^e.y. Enoch 90'*--'^, Ans. Mux. 10^1"). There is also some diversity as to tlie extent to which the resurrection is to be of the righteous, of Israel, or of all mankind. One view is that tliere are to be two resurrections, with a millennial reign between them.