2, Post-canonical development.—But, although the doctrines of immortality and the resurrection were thus steadily establishing themselves in Jewish thought, it was only very gradually that they won their way to general recognition among the people. In several of the OT Apocrypha there is no mention of them. Sirach limits to this life both the punishment of wickedness and the reward of righteousness. Even after the doctrine of the resurrection was being regularly taught in the schools of the Pharisees, many of the Jews evi- dently had no clear ideas upon the subject (Mk 9), “ At the same time, in the post - canonical literature there is undeniably a further develop- ment of the eschatological conceptions of the later
rophets. The new views regarding the future hese of man assumed two distinct forms—one in Palestine, the otherin Egypt. To the Pal. Jew the future life was made real only through a bodily resurrection ; to the Alexandrian, it was the neces- sary consequence of the immortality of the soul.
The 2nd cent. B.C. witnessed a great advance in eschatology. Instead of the old indefinite- ness of the day of J’, we have the formulation of distinct ideas. The Book of Enoch especially describes the last things and the other world in minute detail. ; :
(1) Future judgment.—A prominent feature in the eschatological development of the period is the strongly expressed certainty with regard to future retribution, in contrast to the admitted uncertainty that men will in this life be rewarded according to their works. In the view of the apocalyptic writers of this century the establishment on earth of the Messianic kingdom will be preceded by judgment and just recompense for all men living, and for some or all of the Israelitish dead, as well as for the fallen angels. To a certain extent
unishment has already been administered through the first world-judgment on the an gels who formed
and for every kind.’ wise in the Apocalypse of Baruch (4%), according to which those who have rejected God’s law will first behold the righteous invested with the splen- dour of angels, and ‘afterwards depart to be tormented.’ idea to faithless Israelites. Book of Daniel (B.c. 168), which presents a con-
written.
unions with the daughters of men, on their children, and on all men living at the time of the Deluge (Enoch 10!). These angels are bound fast in gloomy caverns under the hills (10% "), while the souls of men are relegated to Sheol (22), until the final judgment that shall usher in the reign of the Messiah. Then will judgment be pronounced upon the impure angels, the demons who have hitherto escaped punishment (16'), and, with the exception of one special class of sinners (22}3), upon all Israel. The fact of an individual
judgment after death is thus already taught in the oldest section of the Book of Enoch. found in Jubilees (47 5°: ete.) in special connexion with the idea of ‘heavenly tables,’ on which
It is also
‘judgment is written down for every creature We have it embodied like-
There is here no limitation of the In the contemporary
trast to the Book of Enoch in respect that it has
in view the future of the nation rather than that
of the individual, judgment is executed by the
saints (72) as a prelude to the final judgment at the hands of the Almighty (9%). Although
nothing is said as to the judgment of angels, that of the angel princes of Persia (10 *) and
Greece (10%) is implied. In Enoch 83-90 (written B.C. 166-161), the last judgment is likewise placed
at the inauguration of the Messianic kingdom.
Special reference is made to the judgment wrought
by the ‘great sword’ of Judas Maccabzeus (90), whose victorious campaigns against the Syrians
were being carried on when this part of Enoch was In this section of the book the thought of a general individual judgment is set forth in great judicial detail. A throne is erected for the Lord of the sheep; the sealed books are opened ;
the seven archangels are commanded to bring
before Him the evil angels (the fallen Watchers), who are cast into an abyss of fire; the seventy faithless ‘shepherds’ of Israel and the ‘blinded sheep’ (i.e. apostate Jews) share the same fate. After this the Messianic kingdom is set up on earth ; a new Jerusalem takes the place of the old, and the righteous who have suffered oppression are brought into it (907°).
During the last century B.C. there occurred a radical change in Jewish eschatology. What lay at the root of this was the conviction that an eternal Messianic kingdom cannot be_ suitably manifested on the present earth. Such a view had obviously an important bearing upon the whole field of eschatological thought. It led the writers of this century to take new ground with respect to the kingdom, and the place of the Final Judgment relatively to it. Some cut the knot by denying the eternity of the earthly Messianic kingdom (Enoch 91-104); others by postulating the idea of a new heaven and a new earth (Enoch 37-70). ‘The latter section of the Book of Enoch is the only work of this century which still places the Final Judgment at the inauguration of the Messianic kingdom. All others dating from this period (Enoch 91-104, Ps.-Sol., ete.), appear to relegate it to its close. As to the scope of the Judgment, the view of the former period remains unaltered; it extends to all men and angels, righteous and wicked. Enoch 91-104 follows Daniel in~speaking of a preliminary judgment wrought through the instrumentality of the saints. In Ps-Sol 17. 18 the Messiah himself is judge, although the act of judgment here is probably confined to the destruction of the hostile powers.