E'SAU ('H(Trti'', Vulg. Sel), given (1 Esd. v, 29) as the name of the head of one of the families of " Temple servants" or Nethinim that returned from the captiv- ity; in place of the ZiiiA (q. v.) of the Hebrew text (Ezra ii, 43).
E'say ('HrT«i'ac,Vulg. Isaia, Tsaias), the form in which the name of the propliet Isaiah (q. v.) con- stantlv appears in the A. V. of the Apocrj'pha (Ecclus. xlviii," 20, 22 ; 2 Esd. ii, 18). See Esaias.
Bschatology (a discussion of the last things, la- %a.Tu), a branch of theology which treats of the doc-
trines concerning death, the condition of man after death, the end of this world period, resurrection, final judgment, and the final destiny of the good and tha wicked. We treat it here,
I. In its Biblical aspects, especially as to the doc- trine of the Bible concerning the end of the world, denoted by the use of the phrase " last daj-s," which is applied in the O. T. to the consummation of the Jew- ish economy by the introduction of the Messianic (Isa. ii, 2 ; Mic. iv, 1 ; comp. Acts iii, 1 ; Heb. i, 2), and in the N. T. is extended to the still expected develop- ments of the divine purposes respecting the Church (2 Tim. iii, 1 ; 2 Pet. iii, 3). See Last Day.
1. The Maccabcean Age. — In the O.-T. prophets tlie return from Bab^don is often made a type of the in- coming of the more glorious dispensation of the Gos- pel. This is the first, more obvious, and most literal eschatological s^'mbol, and much of the language (es- peciallj' of Isaiah) bearing upon it has therefore a double sense (q. v.) or twofold application. See Res- toration (of the Jews).
2. The Chiliastic Period. — This is the Christian, as the preceding was the Jewish view of the consumma- tion of the existing divine economy, so far as relates to the administration of this world. It will be treated un- der Millennium.
3. The Jinid Denouement of all terresti-ial Affairs. — This whole branch of the subject is particularly exhib- ited in our Lord's discourse to his disciples upon the Mount of Olives (Matt, xxiv, xxv), in which the two scenes of the retribution impending over Jerusalem, and the final judgment, are intimately associated to- gether, in accordance witli that almost constant prac- tice in the Hebrew prophets by which one event is made tlie type and illustration of another much forther in the future. See Hypoxoia. This is emphatically exemplified in the vaticinations of Isaiah (q. v.), who perpetually refers to the coming glory of Christ under the figure of the nearer deliverance from Babylon, both these denouements being projected iqion the same plane of prophecy, without any note of the interval of time between ; likewise in the visions of John in the Revela- tion (q. v.), wliere the dramatis persona; are generic rep- resentations of certain principles constantlj' reappear- ing in the history of the Church rather than confined to particular ciiaracters at one time only. Such often- repeated developments of divine providence are the "coming of the Son of Man" and its attendant phe- nomena, in the sketches or rather glimpses afforded us by the Scriptures into the future. See Sign (oe the Son of Man).
As to the passage in Matthew, which forms tha leading proof-text of eschatological treatises, the fol- lowing expositor}^ hints will serve to clear up much of the obscurit}- and ambiguity which has been tlirown around the text by the confused manner in wliich man}'- interpreters have treated its predictions (see Strong's Harmony ami Exposition of the Gospels, § 123 ; Stier, Words of Jesus, in loc. ; Whedon, Commentary, in loc. ; Nast, Commentary, in loc).
(1.) The question of the apostles (Matt, xxiv, 3) re- lates to tivo distinct subjects, namely, the "coming of the 'Son of man' to do these things," and the "end of the world ;" these two topics, therefore, are discuss- ed by Christ in his reply. (More strictly, there are two questions concerning the first event, namely, " when," and "the sign." Mark and Luke evidently mean to confine their reports of this discourse to this former catastroplie, and therefore they do not mention the second inquiry as to the "end of the world" at all.) Yet, as the questioners apparently supposed that these two events would be simultaneous, or at least intimate- ly connected (as the constant tenor of all former proph- ecies had natural!}' made them tliink), the answer also uses very similar language in treating them both, a style which their analogous nature peculiarly required. Still, the Great Teacher could not fail to give them
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true criteria l)y which to separate these two catastro- plic-s, ami for tliese we arc to look in his laiiguaf^e. That all the events predicted in JIatthew's account as far as xxiv, 04 are connected with the former of these themes, namely, the demolition of Jerusalem and abo- lition of the Jewish polity, is certain from the declara- tion at that verse, that they should all occur within the then living generation ; and the following verses are so intimately connected with these, both by con- tinuity of idea and notes of simultaneousness, that a disruption anywhere before ch. xxv, 31 would be very harsh and arbitrary. At this point, however, we dis- cover clear intimations of a transition (ecisy indeed, as the typical correspondence of the two catastrophes ■would lead us to expect, yet a real and marked one) to the second sul)ject, the general judgment. The change is introduced by the notes of time, "■But [unwarrant- ably omitted in our translation] when .... then" and by the loftier tone of tlie stjle, besides the distinctive mention of "ozonations'' as the subjects of that adjudi- cation (ver. 32). In the latter portion of Christ's dis- course alone is emploj'ed the briefer and more general mode of prediction usual with the prophets in prefigur- ing far-distant events, and here only is the language all exclusively/ applicable to the final judgment. The expressions deemed by some to point out such a tran- sition at other points than those assumed above (xxiv, 35, and especiallj^ xxv, 31) will be noticed presently; it is sufficient here to sa}- in general that, as the pas- sages embraced within the medial portion (xxiv, 27- XXV, 30) are designed to be a link of connection be- tween two judicial events so correlative in character, the)^ naturally assume a style that might he applied to either, borrowing some expressions in describing the former which otherwise would belong exclusiveh' to the latter. See a similarly blended style in describing the former of these two events in 2 Thess. i, 7-9 ; comp. with ii, 2 ; and comp. Matt, xvi, 27, 28.