[5407] Kethub. 111 a.
[5408] On that day Gabriel had descended, cut a reed from the ocean, and planted it in mud from the sea, and on this the city of Rome was founded (Siphré 86 a).
[5409] Ab. A. 24 a.
[5410] Ab. Z. 3 b; Yeb. 24 b.
[5411] Tanch. ed. Warsh ii. p. 115 a, top.
[5412] Taan. 7a.
[5413] Kethub. 111 b.
[5414] Pirké d. R. Eliez. 34.
[5415] It is, of course, not denied, that individual voices would have assigned part in the world to come to the pious from among the Gentiles. But even so, what is the precise import of this admission?
[5416] Erub. 19 a.
[5417] As to the latter, a solitary opinion in Moed K. 27 a.
[5418] See Appendix XIX.
[5419] Pes. 54 a.
[5420] Rosh haSh. 17 a.
[5421] Sanh. x. 3; 106 b.
[5422] Tanch. u. s. i. p. 71 a, b.
[5423] Ab. Z. 2 a to 3.
[5424] Ber. R. 91.
[5425] Yalkut i. p. 45 c.
[5426] But it does not seem clear to me, whether this conjunction of the cessation of darkness, together with that of the Yetser haRa, is not intended to be taken figuratively and spiritually.
[5427] Babha B. 74 a.
[5428] At the same time, many quotations by Christian writers intended to show the materialism of Jewish views are grossly unfair. Thus, for example, Ber. 57 b, quoted by Weber (Altsynag. Theol. p. 384), certainly does not express the grossly carnal expectancy imputed to it. On the other hand, it is certainly grossly materialistic, when we read how the skin of slaughtered Leviathan is to be made into tents, girdles, necklets, or armlets for the blessed, according to their varying merits (Babha B. 75 a). Altogether the account of the nature and hunt of this Leviathan, of the feast held, the various dishes served (Babha B. 74 b to 75 b), and the wine drunk on the occasion (Targ. Pseudo-Jon. on Gen. xxvii. 25; Targ. on Cant. viii. 2; on Eccles. ix. 7), are too coarsely materialistic for quotation. But what a contrast to the description of the Last Things' by our Lord and His Apostles! This alone would furnish sufficient presumptive evidence in favour of the New Testament. I have tried to touch this very painful matter as delicately as I could, rather by allusions than by descriptions, which could only raise prejudices.
[5429] Yalkut, vol. i. p. 32 d. and especially Ber. 17 a.
[5430] This is the Jerusalem built of sapphire, which is to descend from heaven, and in the central sanctuary of which (unlike the worship of the Book of Revelation) Aaron is to officiate and to receive the priestly gifts (Taan. 5 a; Baba B. 75 b).
[5431] See Appendix.
[5432] Comp. generally Schürer, Neutest. Zeitgesch. pp. 579, &c.
[5433] 2 Macc. v. 2, 3.
[5434] Or, Sibyll. iii. 795-806.
[5435] IV. Esdr. v. 1-12.
[5436] vi. 18-28.
[5437] Book of Jubilees xxiii.
[5438] Orac. Sibyll. iii. 633-652.
[5439] u. s. 653-697; comp. the figurative acc't in the Book of Enoch xc. 16, and following.
[5440] Assumpt. Mos. x. 2-10.
[5441] Book of Enoch xc. 37.
[5442] In the Assumptio Mosis there is no reference at all to the Messiah.
[5443] Or. Sibyll. iii. 652-656; Book of Enoch, u. s.: comp. ch. xlv. 3-6; xlvi.; lv. 4; lxi. 8, 9, 11, 12; lxii.; lxix. 27-29; Apoc. of Bar. xxxix. 7, 8; xl.; lxx. 9; lxxii. 2, end; IV. (II.) Esdras xii. 32-34; xiii. 25-30, 34-38.
[5444] Psalter of Sol. xvii. 25, 33.
[5445] The words do not convey to me, as apparently to Dr. Schürer, that the New Jerusalem actually stood in Eden, and, indeed, existed otherwise than ideally.
[5446] Apoc. of Baruch iv. 3-6.
[5447] IV. Esdr. x. 44 &c.
[5448] Tob. xiii. 16-18; xiv. 5; Book of Enoch liii. 6, 7; xc. 28; Apoc. of Baruch xxxii. 4.