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WE must now show by quotations from the Apocalyptic literature that the eschatological teaching of the Old Testament prophets was continued, being both developed and elaborated during the two centuries immediately preceding the Christian Era. The divisions of this chapter will correspond with those of chap. ii., so that the teaching of the two classes of literature may be easily compared. It will be the more necessary to give quotations in full here, owing to the fact that editions of the works belonging to this class of literature are not easily available on account of their cost.
In Ethiopic Enoch i. 5-7 we read that, on the appearance of the Holy and Great One, "every
one will be smitten with fear, and the watchers will quake, and great fear and trembling will seize them unto the ends of the earth. And the high mountains will be shaken, and the high hills will be made low, and will melt like wax before the flame. And the earth will be rent and all that is upon the earth will perish . . . .;" the "watchers" (‘îrîn) are mentioned for the first time in Dan. iv. 13, 17, 23 (iv. 10, 14, 20 in the Aramaic); in Slavonic Enoch xviii. 1 they are called "angels"; strictly speaking, the fallen angels are meant, though in Ethiopic Enoch lxxi. 7 "it designates the archangels" (Charles in loc.). In later passages of this book similar ideas occur, thus xcix. 4. 5: "In those days (i.e. immediately before the Advent of the Messiah) nations shall rise up, and the Kindreds of the Gentiles will lift themselves up on that day of destruction. In that day shall they who suffer want go and hew their children in pieces and cast them away." A "sign" of a different kind is recorded in c. 1, 2: "And in those days the fathers together with their sons will be smitten in one place, brothers will fall in death one with another until it streams with their blood like a river. For a man will not withhold his hand from slaying his sons and his sons' sons,
and the sinner will not withhold his hand from his honoured brother: from dawn till sunset they will slay one another." Another characteristic passage is cii. 1, 2: "And in those days when he brings a grievous fire upon you, whither will ye flee and where will ye find deliverance. . . .? And all the luminaries will quake with direst fear, and all the earth will be affrighted and tremble and be alarmed." In one of the fragments from the Apocalypse of Noah, preserved in this book (lxxx. 4-8), we read: "And the moon will alter her order and not appear at her (appointed) time . . . . and many chiefs of the superior stars will err, and these will alter their orbits and tasks, and will not appear at the seasons prescribed to them . . . ." The third book of The Sibylline Oracles contains several passages describing the signs of the "last times"; only one or two need be cited here. In verses 71 ff. the approach of the terrors of the great God are spoken of, then in 83-85 it goes on to say that the firmament will fall to the earth and into the ocean, and a mighty cascade of fire will flow down incessantly and burn up earth and sea. In verses 184 ff. the wickedness of men in those days is described, this being one of the signs of the approaching end; and this will be
followed "in those days" by oppression and confusion among men, and the general break-up of society. Among the "signs" that are spoken of in this book are fiery swords which shall fall from heaven upon the earth, and burning torches which will drop among men (verses 669 ff.). The most striking passage, however, is the following (verses 796-806): "But I will tell thee of a sure sign whereby thou mayest know when the end of all things is coming upon the earth; when swords appear in the star-lit heavens towards evening and towards morning; then will a dust-storm descend from heaven upon the whole earth, and the splendour of the sun will disappear from the heavens at midday, and the moonbeams will become visible on earth. Another sign will be bloody drops upon rocks; in the clouds ye will see a battle . . . thus God who dwells in the heavens will bring about the end of all things." The teaching of The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs on this subject may be illustrated by a few quotations; Levi iv. 1 runs: . . . . "When the rocks are being rent, and the sun quenched, and the waters dried up, and the fire cowering, and all creation troubled, and the invisible spirits melting away, and Hades taketh the
spoils through the visitations of the Most High, men will be unbelieving and persist in their iniquity." Judah xxii. 1, 2: "And the Lord shall bring upon them divisions one against another. And there shall be continued wars in Israel; and among men of another race shall my kingdom be brought to an end, until the salvation of Israel shall come." That, as in the case of the Old Testament prophets, the Apocalyptic writers often based their eschatological prophecies upon the historical conditions of their own times is what one would expect. Professor Charles remarks on the passage cited: "During the civil wars in the reign of Alexander Jannaus 50,000 Jews are said to have perished. From the death of Alexander to the accession of Herod Palestine was hardly ever free from civil strife." (See, further, Schürer, The Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, I. i. pp. 301-307, etc.) In Asher vii. 2, the signs of the coming of the "last times" are thus referred to: "For I know that ye shall sin, and be delivered into the hands of your enemies, and your soul shall be made desolate, and your holy places destroyed, and ye shall be scattered unto the four corners of the earth. And ye shall be set at nought in the dispersion as
useless water, until the Most High shall visit the earth. . . ." (Cf. also Naph. viii. 1 ff.) The Book of Jubilees also has several passages which speak of the signs of the "last times," e.g., xxiii. 12 ff., where it says that "in those days there will be plague upon plague, wound upon wound, sadness upon sadness, evil rumour upon evil rumour, and many similar terrible punishments, one after another; sickness, destruction, frost, hail, snow, fever, cold, stiffness, drought, death, sword, imprisonment, and every kind of sorrow and sickness. And all this will come upon the evil generation that sins upon the earth. . . ." A long passage of similar content follows; see also xxxvi. 10 ff. The Ascension of Isaiah, which is to a large extent of Christian origin, evidently, however, utilises much earlier material; a passage from a work called The Testament of Hezekiah, which has been incorporated into the Ascension, 1 runs: ". . . And at his word the sun will rise at night, and he will make the moon to appear at the sixth hour" (iv. 5.); a description of the Second Advent follows later on. Of more interest, because of its greater details, is a poetic passage in The Assumption of Moses, x. 1-10, one of the
most striking descriptions of the "last things" which we possess; it tells first of the impending Advent, and then goes on (verses 4-6): "Then shall the earth quake and it shall be shaken unto the ends thereof, and the high mountains shall be brought low, and shall be shaken, and the valley shall sink down. The sun shall no more give her light, and shall be turned into darkness. The horns of the moon shall be broken, and shall be wholly turned into blood. And the course of the stars shall be brought into confusion. The sea shall withdraw into the abyss, and the wells shall cease, and the rivers shall dry up." With these words it will be interesting to compare Isa. ii. 19, xiii. 10; Ezek. xxxvi. 7; Joel ii. 10, iii. 4, iv. 15; Pss. of Sol. xvii. 21; Test. xii. Patr., Levi iv. 4; iv. Esdras vi. 24; Sib. Orac. v. 158, 159. The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch has a large amount of material of which only a few selected passages can find a place here; in xxv. 2 ff. it says: "This, therefore, shall be the sign (i.e., of the coming of the Most High at the end of the days); numbing fear shall take hold of the inhabitants of the earth, they shall fall into many grievous troubles (cf. Dan. xii. 1), yea, shall fall into terrible torments. And when, owing to their great
sorrows, they will say in their hearts, 'Give no more thought to the mighty of the earth,' and when they shall give up all hope, then shall that 'time' commence." Chap. xxvii. of this book enumerates the sorrows that are to come upon men in "those days"; there are to be twelve periods into which these sorrows will be divided, each period being characterised by special terrors; the first will initiate the beginning of travail, in the second will follow the murder of the great ones of the earth, in the third the death of many men, in the fourth the sending out of the sword (cf. for this expression Jer. xxv. 16, 27), in the fifth hunger and drought, in the sixth revolutions and terrors, in the seventh . . . . (part of the text has fallen out here), in the eighth many apparitions and meetings with demons, in the ninth the falling of fire from heaven, in the tenth robbery and oppression, in the eleventh wicked deeds and self-indulgence, and in the twelfth a repetition and mixing up of all the foregoing. These woes which are to precede the coming of the Messiah are again dealt with in xlviii. 25-41, and in lxx. 2-10. Lastly, in iv. Esdras a long account of these "signs" is given in chaps. v., vi.; to give but one or two
passages out of many: "Then shall the sun shine suddenly at night-time, and the moon in the day-time; blood will flow down from the trees; the stones will cry aloud; the nations shall rise up. . . . In many places abysses will open up, and fire will break forth; the wild beasts will leave their haunts; women will bear mis-shapen monsters; sweet water will turn salt; friends will suddenly fight against one another" (v. 4-9). Very important, too, in this connection is ix. 1 ff.: ". . . And when thou seest that a part of the signs which have been announced are past, then wilt thou understand that the time has come in which the Most High will punish the earth that He has created, when there shall appear in the world:
then wilt thou understand that these are the things that the Most High spoke of since the days which were from the beginning. . . ." See the whole passage, which is very suggestive all through.
The thought of the end of the age and that of the actual Advent belong of course together, one presupposes the other; and therefore we shall not expect to find in every passage dealing with the approach of God, or of the Messiah, 1 the direct statement that this approach heralds the end of all things; nor shall we expect to find in every passage dealing with the "end of the age" a direct statement of the actual Advent. The whole cycle of eschatological ideas--and this cannot be too strongly insisted upon--was public property, and therefore very familiar to the people in general; the vast mass of eschatological literature which must once have existed illustrates this fact. We must now deal with a few passages which embody the two ideas of the "end of the age" and of the actual Advent, the preceding signs of which have been referred to in the foregoing section. These may be prefaced by a few words from the book of Daniel; this book exercised a good deal of influence on the Apocalyptic literature, of
which (so far as we know) it is the earliest example in the stricter sense. In Dan. viii. 19, we read: And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the latter time of the indignation; for it belongeth to the appointed time of the end (cf. the visions in chaps. vii., viii.). More pointed is xi. 40, where again historical conditions form the basis of eschatological thought: And at the time of the end shall the king of the south contend with him; and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass through. The reference here is evidently to the "end of the age," both from the opening expression, as well as on account of the words which come later on and belong to the same passage: And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. The actual appearing of the Almighty is spoken of in Eth. Enoch i. 3, 4, 9: "Concerning the elect I spake, and uttered a parable concerning them: the Holy and Great One will come forth from His dwelling, the God of the world. And going from thence He will tread on Mount Sinai and appear with His hosts, and in the strength of His might appear from
[paragraph continues] Heaven. . . . And to! He comes with ten thousands of (His) holy ones to execute judgement upon them . . . .;" this is from the earliest portion of the book, but The Book of the Similitudes also refers to the Advent, e.g., xxxviii. 2: "And when the Righteous One shall appear before the eyes of the elect righteous whose works are wrought in dependence on the Lord of spirits . . . ." See also xxxix. 6: "In that place did mine eyes behold the 'Chosen One' (i.e., the Messiah) 1 of righteousness and faithfulness; in his days shall righteousness reign." So, too, in the other portion of this work, called "The Book of Celestial Physics," the Advent is clearly referred to in the words: "And the Lord of Spirits seated him (i.e., the Messiah) on the throne of his glory and the spirit of righteousness was poured out upon him, and the word of his mouth slew all the sinners, and all the unrighteous were destroyed before his face. And there will stand up in that day all the kings, and the mighty, and the exalted, and those who hold the earth, and they will see and recognise him how he sits on the throne of
his glory" (lxxii. 2 ff.; see the whole chapter); the passage is especially interesting when compared with The Book of Enoch proper, for as will have been seen above, in i. 3 ff., it is God Himself, the "Holy and Great One," who is the central figure in the Advent, while in the passage just quoted it is the Messiah who takes up this position. One other passage from this portion of the book is worth quoting: "And he sat on the throne of his glory, and the sum of judgement was committed unto him, the Son of Man, and he caused the sinners and those who have led the world astray to pass away and be destroyed from off the face of the earth . . ." (lxix. 27 ff.).
Turning now to The Sibylline Oracles, we find the expectation of the approach of the "last times" expressed thus: "When will that day come, and the judgement of the immortal God, the Great King? . . . For (that day) shall come in the which the smell of brimstone will be evident to all men" (iii. 55-61). In another passage of this book it is not the immortal God who is to come, but a King whom He will send from Heaven: "And then will God send a King from Heaven to judge each one with blood and the glow of fire. But there is a royal stock,
whose seed will not perish, but will in the fulness of time reign and rear up a new Temple of God" (iii. 286-290). A similar passage occurs in iii. 625-658: "And then God will send a King from the rising up of the sun (i.e., from the east) who will put an end to the terrible war on the whole earth, some he will slay, with others he will make a covenant. And this all will he do not by following his own counsel, but by following the righteous purposes of the great God. And the Temple of the great God will stand forth in rich splendour, with gold and silver and purple. . . ." This mention of the Temple is interesting; we shall refer to it again in dealing with the Gospel teaching on the subject. It is spoken of also in a passage in The Book of Jubilees i. 29 ff.: "And the Angel of the presence who went before the hosts of Israel, took the tables of the divisions of the year . . . from the day of the new creation, when Heaven and earth and all creatures shall be renewed like the powers of the Heavens and like every creature of the earth, until the Sanctuary of God in Jerusalem on Mount Zion shall be made. . . ." (See, further, xxiii. 27 ff.) The thought of the "last times" is frequent in The Testaments
of the Twelve Patriarchs, and, as in the Old Testament, it is, as a rule, present historical conditions which form the point of attachment to which are joined eschatological prophecies; various expressions are used to denote the end, e.g.: "the consummation of the times" (Reuben vi. 8); "the end of the ages" (Levi x. 2; Benj. xi. 3); "the last times" (Issachar vi. 1); "the time of consummation" (Zebulon ix. 9), etc. It is by no means always that the Personal appearance of God or the Messiah is specifically mentioned, although this is always understood; herein the Testaments are at one with most of the Apocalyptic literature. The mention of God Himself as the Messianic ruler occurs, however, in, e.g., Zebulon viii. 8: "And after these things there shall arise unto you the Lord himself, the light of righteousness, and ye shall see (the place) which the Lord shall choose. Jerusalem is its name." (Cf. Mal. iv. 2.) With this should be compared Levi xviii. 2-14, which is also an eschatological passage, but the place of the Almighty is taken by another here: "Then shall the Lord raise up a new priest. And to him all the words of the Lord shall be revealed; and he shall execute a righteous judgement upon the earth for a multitude of
days. And his star shall arise in heaven as of a King, lighting up the light of knowledge as the sun the day, and he shall be magnified in the world . . . .;" but more frequently it is God Himself who is represented as the central figure in the Advent, thus Simeon vi. 5-7: ". . . For the Lord God shall appear on earth, and save the sons of men. . . ." (See also Levi ii. 11, Naphthali viii. 3, and Asher vii. 3.) In this last passage it tells of how the Most High shall visit the earth, coming Himself, and breaking the head of the dragon in the water. These are only a very few passages from this most interesting work. In The Book of Jubilees the personality of the central figure at the Advent is not described, but may be inferred from such a passage as xxiii. 29-31, which is eschatological: ". . . And then will God heal his servants . . . and the righteous shall behold and give thanks, and they shall rejoice in all eternity, and shall see all the judgement upon their enemies and all their curse. And their bones shall rest in the earth, and their spirit shall have great joy, and they shall understand that it is God who commands judgement, and who shows mercy upon hundreds and thousands, even upon all that love him." But this book does not offer
a great deal which is appropriate in the present connection; the same must be said of The Ascension of Isaiah, though here and there some interesting evidence is forthcoming, thus in The Testament of Hezekiah, which is incorporated in this book, we read that "the Lord will come with his angels and with the armies of the holy ones from the seventh heaven with the glory of the seventh heaven . . ." (iv. 14 ff.); from the same portion of the book the following may also be cited: "And there will be much slander and vain-glory at the approach of the Lord, and the Holy Spirit will withdraw from many" (cf. verse 30); this, however, is evidently Christian, though on comparing it with other pre-Christian passages, one can see that it is based on earlier material. Considerably more material is contained in the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch; here we read, for example, in xxix. 1 ff: ". . . Then shall the Messiah begin to reveal himself;" in xxx. 3: "For every one knows that the time has come of which it is said that it is the end of the times." But the fullest account in this book is contained in chap. lxxxiii. This begins: "For the Most High shall surely cause his times to come quickly, he shall surely cause his periods to commence; he
shall surely judge those who are in his world. . . . But the end of the world shall then show forth the great might of the Ruler, for all men shall be brought to judgement . . ." (see the whole chapter). It is important to note how in this book the limitation in time of the Messianic rule is taught; it is said, for example, in xxx. 1: "And after that, when the time of the Advent of the Messiah has been accomplished, he will return unto heaven in glory." This limited duration seems implied again in xl. 1-4: ". . . And they shall bring him (i.e., the last evil ruler) up to Mount Zion, and my Messiah will question him concerning all his evil deeds, and he will gather together and lay before him all the deeds of his followers. And after that he (i.e., the Messiah) will slay him, but the remnant of my people, even those who are found in the land which I have chosen, will he protect; and his rule shall last continually, for ever, until the world, which is condemned to destruction, comes to an end, and until the times which have been referred to, have been completed." In some respects iv. Esdras is the most important among Apocalyptic writings; the Advent of the Messiah is described in xiii. 2-13, which contains the
[paragraph continues] "Vision of the Man ascending out of the sea"; this passage is sufficiently important to be quoted in full. The following is a translation of the Latin text edited by Bensley:--"And behold, from the sea a great wind arose and stirred up all its waves. And I looked, and behold that wind caused to ascend from the heart of the sea as it were the likeness of a man. I looked, and behold this man flew with the clouds of heaven. And whithersoever he turned his face and gazed, there all things trembled when they were seen by him. And whithersoever the voice went forth out of his mouth, there all that heard his voice melted away as wax melts when it feels the fire. And after these things I looked, and behold a multitude of men that could not be numbered, were gathered together from the four winds of heaven, in order to come against the man who had ascended out of the sea. And I looked, and behold he hewed out for himself a great mountain, and flew upon it. But I sought to discover the region or the locality out of which the mountain had been hewn, but I could not. And after this I looked, and behold, all they that were gathered together against him in order to fight against him,
were greatly afraid; nevertheless they dared to fight. And behold, when he observed the onslaught of the approaching multitude, he raised not his hand, nor did he clutch his sword, nor any other warlike weapon; I only saw how that he sent forth out of his mouth as it were a fiery stream, and from his lips flaming breath; and from his tongue there came out a storm of sparks; these were all mixed up together, the fiery stream, the flaming breath and the overwhelming storm. And these struck against the approaching multitude which had prepared to fight, and burned the whole of it, so that suddenly nothing was seen of the miserable multitude but the dust of ashes and the smell of smoke. And when I saw this I was terrified. And after this I saw that man descending from the mountain and calling unto him another, a peaceful multitude. And there were nigh unto him the figures of many men, some of them joyful, others sad; some of them bound, others led those whom they brought as offerings." In this passage there are a number of traits which are very much older than the book in which they have been embodied, 1 but
the Vision purports to describe the Advent of the Messiah, the annihilation of his enemies, i.e., the wicked, and the blessedness of his followers, i.e., the good; the Messianic reign of peace is then to be inaugurated. The interpretation of the Vision, as given in verses 21 ff. of the same chapter, should also be read.
This subject plays a very prominent part in the Old Testament as well as in the later literature; but here it is, of course, only in connection with eschatological thought that it is to be considered. The passages in which mention is made of the final lot of the Wicked are many in number in Eth. Enoch; only a small selection need be cited. In i. 9, we read: "And lo! He comes with ten thousands of His holy ones to execute judgement upon them, and He will destroy the ungodly, and will convict all flesh of all that the sinners and ungodly have wrought and ungodly committed against Him;" and so in many other passages. The place in which the Wicked are to suffer punishment is also mentioned; it is said in x. 12-14: "When all their sons have slain one another, and they have seen the destruction
of their beloved ones, bind them fast under the hills of the earth for seventy generations, till the day of their judgement and of their consummation, till the judgement which is for ever and ever is consummated. In those days they will be led off to the abyss of fire; in torment and in prison will they be confined for ever and ever . . .;" these are the words of the Lord spoken to Michael the Archangel. (See also xxii. 1-13; xvii. 1-5.) In lxiii. 10 (from the portion of this book known as The Book of Celestial Physics) the Wicked speak of their own punishment in these words: "Our souls are satisfied with the mammon of unrighteousness, but this does not prevent us from descending into the flame of the pain of Sheol." In The Book of Similitudes there are likewise frequent references to the doom of the Wicked (see xli. 1, 2.; xlv. 6; xlviii. 8-10; lvi. 8; lxii. 2; lxix. 27, 28). Passages dealing with the subject from other books of this class of literature are the following (only one example from each book is given): The Sibylline Oracles iii. 689 ff.: "And God shall judge all men with war and sword, and fire, and overflowing rain, and brimstone shall descend from heaven . . . mourning and the cry of battle will be over the whole earth, when men
will perish, and cascades will run with blood, yea, the earth herself will drink of the blood of those that perish." In speaking of the "seven heavens" it says in The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, Levi iii. 2: "The second has fire, snow, ice ready for the day of the ordinance of the Lord in the righteous judgement of God. In it are all the spirits of the retributions for vengeance on the lawless." With this cf. Sir. xxxix. 28-30; xl. 9, 10. In The Psalms of Solomon xv. 12, 13, we read: "And in the Lord's Day of Judgement the sinners shall be destroyed for ever, when God will punish the earth with His judgement: . . . the sinners will go into everlasting destruction." So, too, in The Book of Jubilees xxxvi. 10, 11: "And in the day of confusion and curse and of wrath and indignation will He (God) burn, in the fire that burns and destroys, his (i.e. the wicked) land and his city and all that is his, like as He (God) burned Sodom; and he (i.e. the wicked man) shall be blotted out of the book of remembrance 1 of the children of men, and shall not be written in the book of life, 2 but in that of those who are destined to destruction; and he shall
go to the eternal curse, in order that their judgement may be daily renewed for ever in shame and in perdition and in wrath, and in sorrow and in sickness." In Slav. Enoch x. 1-6 a vivid description is given of the place where the Wicked are to dwell eternally; after enumerating the various kinds of sinners, it says: "For all these this place is prepared for an eternal inheritance." (Cf. vii. if .; lxi. 6 ff.) A very curious conception is contained in The Ascension of Isaiah iv. 18, according to which the final punishment of the Wicked will not consist in torment, but in an annihilation resulting in absolute non-existence; this idea is contained in a passage from The Testament of Hezekiah, incorporated into this book: ". . . . And the Beloved will cause fire to go forth from Him, and it will consume all the godless, and they will be as though they had not been created." Once more, in The Assumption of Moses x. 3, we read: "For the Heavenly One will rise up from His throne, and will come forth from His holy dwelling-place 1 in indignation and in wrath because of His children." The whole passage needs to be read in order to realise to the full its eschatological character. Then we have in the Syriac
[paragraph continues] Apocalypse of Baruch xxx. 4, 5, these words: "But the souls of the godless, when they shall see all this, will perish for fear; for they shall know that (the time of) their torment has come upon them, and that their destruction is at hand." (See also xliv. 15, and the whole of li.) Lastly, in iv. Esdras vi. 18-20, we read: "Behold, days are coming in the which I will come near to punish the inhabitants of the earth, when I shall come to make inquisition concerning the iniquity of the evil doers. . . ." (See also xi. 37, 38.)
On comparing the ideas on this subject with those contained in the Old Testament, the process of development will be sufficiently obvious.
This subject, like the preceding, occupies a very prominent place in the literature we are considering; it will be sufficient here, too, to give a single example from each work in order to show how uniform the teaching on the subject is. Eth. Enoch i. 8: "But to the righteous He will give peace, and He will protect the elect, and grace will be upon them, and they will all belong to God, and it will be well with them, and they will be
blessed, and the light of God will shine upon them." (See, too, xcix. 10 ff.; c. 5; cii. 4; ciii. 1 ff.) In The Book of Similitudes lxii. 13-16, we read: "And the righteous and elect will be saved on that day . . . and there shall be your garments, garments of life, before the Lord of Spirits; and your garments will not grow old, and your glory will not pass away before the Lord of Spirits." (See, too, xli. 1, 2; xlv. 4; 1. l; lviii. 3-6; lxix. 26.) Sibylline Oracles iii. 580-582: "In righteousness and in joy shall they inherit the cities and the fruitful fields, for they have attained to the Law of the Most High. They shall become prophets themselves, raised up by the Immortal One, and shall bring great joy to all men." 1 (See, further, verses 702-731, 767-784.) The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, Levi xviii. 12, 13: "And Beliar shall be bound by Him, and He shall give power to His children to tread upon the evil spirits. And the Lord shall rejoice in His children, and be well pleased in His beloved ones for ever." (See also Judah xxv. 3-5; Dan. v. 12, 13.) The Psalms of Solomon xv. 13: "But they who fear the Lord shall then find mercy and shall live in the grace of their God" (cf. xviii. 6-9). The Book of Jubilees xxiii. 29: "And all their days shall they fulfil in peace
and joy, and they shall live, for there will be no Satan and no Evil One to destroy them, but all their days will be days of blessing and salvation;" the succeeding verses are to the same effect. Slav. Enoch lxv. 8: "There shall be one eternity, and all the just who shall escape the great judgement of the Lord shall be gathered together in eternal life, and for ever and ever the just shall be gathered together, and they shall be eternal." (See also lxi. 1 ff; lxvi. 7.) The Ascension of Isaiah (The Testament of Hezekiah) iv. 15-17: "And He will give rest to the godly whom He shall find in the body in this world. . . . But the saints will come with the Lord 1 with their garments which are stored up on high in the seventh heaven; with the Lord will they come, whose spirits are clothed, they will descend and be present in the world, and He will strengthen those that have been found in the body, together with the saints, in the garments of the saints, 2 and the Lord will minister to those who have kept watch in this world." 3 The Assumption of Moses x. i: "And then shall appear his rule over all creatures; then shall the devil come to an end, and with him sorrow shall be taken
away" (cf. verses 8-10). The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch has many passages of a similar kind, e.g., li. 7-12: ". . . . For they shall dwell in the high places of that world, and they shall be like the angels 1 and shall be comparable with the stars. . . . And then shall the glory of the righteous be greater than that of the angels. . . ." (See, further, xxix. 6-8, xliv. 13-15, and the beautiful passage lxxiii. 1-7.) Finally, iv. Esdras vi. 25-28: "And whosoever remaineth after all these things that I foretold to thee, shall be saved and shall see my salvation, and shall behold the end of my world. Then shall appear the men who were aforetime taken up and who have not tasted of death since their birth; then shall the heart of those who inhabit the earth be turned and be changed to a new spirit. 2 . . ." (See also xiii. 39, 40.) By those who "have not tasted death" are meant Enoch and Elijah, and possibly Moses, in view of the words in Deut. xxxvi. 6: No man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day; as regards Enoch, see Slav. Enoch ii. 4: "And now, my children, let no one seek me till the Lord brings me back to you."
82:1 See Charles's edition, pp. xxxvi.--xliii.
85:1 Cf. Ezek. xxxviii. 10.
85:2 The poetic form of these lines suggests ancient material.
86:1 On this point see The Evolution of the Messianic Idea, pp. 230 ff.
88:1 See Luke ix. 35: This is my Son, my chosen; hear ye him; xxiii. 35: Let him save himself if this is the Christ of God, his chosen. (Cf. Isa. xliii. 1, 2; Eth. Enoch xl. 5; xlv. 3, 4; xlix. 2, 4; li. 3, 5.)
96:1 See further on this, The Messianic Teaching of iv. Esdras in "The International Journal of Apocrypha," pp. 11 ff. (Jan. 1908).
99:1 Cf. Mal. iii. 16.
99:2 Cf. Ps. lxix. 28.
100:1 Cf. Mic. i.
102:1 Cf. Dan. xii. 3.
103:1 Cf. 1 Thess. iii. 13; 2 Thess. i. 10.
103:2 Cf. Luke xxiv. 4.
103:3 Cf. 1 Thess. v. 6; Rev. xvi. 15.
104:1 Cf. Luke xx. 36: For they are equal to the angels; and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
104:2 Cf. Ezek. xxxvi. 26.