Lehre von Jenseits,’ Jahrb. Prot. Theol. 1879, ii. ; Fr. Spiegel, art. *Parsismus,’ in Herzog, RE?; Jackson, ‘The AncientPersian Doc- trine of a Future Life,’ in Biblical World, 1896, pp. 149-148. For
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In the later Jewish Apocalypses, as in Talm., we find the limitation of Meine kingdom clearly set forth: thus Apoc. Bar distinctly limits its dura- tion to this present world. Zt erit principatus ejus stans in seculum, donec finiatur mundus corrup- tionis et donec impleantur tempora predicta (40°). The character of this kingdom 15 set forth in extra- vagant language (women bearing children without pain, the vine yielding 1000 branches, each branch 1000 clusters, each cluster 1000 grapes, each grape 8, cor of wine, etc., ec. 29. 73), which occurs also in Papias, and is applied to the Christian Millennium. Still more striking is 2 Es 7*:* ‘ For my Son the Messiah (so Syr. Auth. Arab. over ag. Lat. ‘Iesus’) shall be revealed with those that are with him, and shall rejoice with those that remain 400 years. And it shall come to pass after these ears that my Son the Christ and all men who ave breath shall die. And the world (s@culwm) shall be changed into the ancient silence seven days as in the first beginnings, so that no one shall be left. And it shall come to pass after the seven days that the world which does not now wake shall be aroused, and the corruptible shall die. And the earth shall give up them that sleep in her, and the dust them that dwell in that silence, and the store-houses (promptuaria) shall give up the souls entrusted to them. And the Most High shall be revealed upon the seat of judgment,’ ete. (ef. 12). Here, unlike Baruch, where the Messianic age forms a transition between this world and that which is to come (74* 8, ef. Schiirer, lu. ii. 178), the contrast between the Messianic age and the world to come is emphasized in the sharpest way. The Messiah and all flesh die, and remain dead for seven days. The length of the Messianic kingdom is expressly limited to 400 years—a number explained in the Talmud as due to the combination of Gn 15% (the sojourn in Egypt) with Ps 90 ‘Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us’ (Sanh. 99a). Another passage cites Mic 7 ‘As in the days of thy coming forth out of the land of Egypt will I show unto him marvellous things’ (Zan- chuma, Ekeb 7, quoted Weber®, 372). In the later Jewish theology the view of the Messiah’s king- dom as iemated Recaro the prevailing one (Schiirer, as above; cf. Weber, 373). Its duration was a favourite subject of speculation. The classical passages are Sanh. 97, 99a, where the following reckonings are given: three generations, 40 years (corresponding to the 40 years in the wilderness), 70 years, 100 years, 365 years, 400 years, 600 years, 1000 years, 2000 years, 7000 years (see the passages quoted at length in Gfrérer, 1i. 252 ff. ; also Weber, 371 ff. ; Drummond, 315 ff.). The determining prin- ciple seems to have been either ‘the analogy be- tween the first and the last redemption, therefore 40 or 400 years,’ or ‘the symmetry of the final period with those which precede,’ hence 2000 years, corresponding to the 2 before and the 2000 under the law; or finally, ‘the thought that the Messianic time is a time of }° , Israel’s marriage— hence 1000 or 7000 years’ (Weber, 373). Still another reckoning is based upon the idea of a Sabbatical week, in which six millenniums of work are followed by one of rest. This view, per- haps first found in Secrets of Enoch 33'-* (see Charles’ note at the passage, and Index ii., s. ‘ Mil- lennium’; also art. ENOCH in vol. i. p. 7115), rests upon Ps 909 (cf. Jub 4, Sanh. 97a) and meets us in the Christian Epist. of Barnabas (c. 15). In early Christian eschatology we find a like
a discussion of Persian influence on OT eschatology, Cheyne in Exros. Times, \i. (1890) RP 202, 224, 248, and Bampton Lectures fer 1880, p. 881 ff.; Moulton in Ν᾽ Times, \x. 852 ff. ; Stave, injluss des Parsismus auf das Judentum, 1898, p. 146 ff. ; on the eschatology of the Talmud, Kohut, ZDMG, 1867, p. 552 ff.
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difference of view. On the one hand, we find pas. sages in which the horizon of prophecy is bounded by the second advent of Christ, which, like the day of J” of OT, is regarded as closing the present age, and introducing the world to come. In many passages it is expressly associated with the general resurrection and the judgment (Mt 13%, parable of the Tares ; Mt 25%”, the great judgment scene ; Jn 5” 64, Ac 175], cf. 10”). It results, for the wicked, in ‘eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might’ (2 Th 181°), while it introduces the saints into ‘an in- heritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away’ (1 P 1*8, cf. 2P 14). On the other hand, we find a view which distinguishes between the Coming of Christ and the end of the world, and inserts between the two a period of millennial reign, in which Christ will dwell with the saints upon the renewed earth, and in which the OT prophecies concerning the glory of Jerus. and the victory of Israel over the nations will find their fulfilment. This period is variously described in language more or less gross or spiritual. But its essential features are these: a preliminary victory of Christ over the forces of evil at the advent (the destruction of Antichrist) ; a double resurrec- tion, first of the saints at the beginning of the millennial period, then of all men at the last day ; an earthly kingdom, in which the saints rei with Christ on the renewed earth, and the Or prophecies find literal fulfilment ; a last brief out- reak of the forces of evil, followed by the uni- versal resurrection and final judgment.