JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

Israel until the latest writings in the Bible, important developments
took place in Jewish eschatological thought. This
can be seen especially in the writings of Ezekiel, the so-called
Deutero-Isaiah (Isa. 40:1–55:13), the so-called Trito-Isaiah
(Isa. 56:1–66:24), Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, Joel, the
so-called Deutero-Zechariah (Zech. 9:1–14:21), the author of
the so-called Apocalypse of Isaiah (Isa. 24:1–27:13), and finally
in the Book of Daniel.
EZEKIEL. Since it can rightly be said that the Babylonian destruction
of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.E. formed the climactic turning
point, not only in the political history of ancient Israel but
also in its religious orientation, the prophet *Ezekiel is unique
in many ways, particularly as he prophesied before that destruction
(although already in Babylonia), as well as during the
first few decades of the Jewish exile in Babylonia, where he had
been taken in the first deportation of Jews by Nebuchadnezzar
in 597 B.C.E. He shows a more intense sense than the older
prophets both of the imminence of God’s punitive judgment
on the pagan nations (Ezek. 25:1–32:32) and of the restoration
of God’s chosen people to a holier state than before.
For Ezekiel, Judah’s restoration would be almost as miraculous
as the resurrection of the dead to life, which is illustrated
in his well-known vision of the valley filled with dead
men’s bones that took on flesh and came back to life (37:1–14).
Although the new religious life of Judah would be essentially
based on a sincere inner conversion to the Lord (11:19–20;
36:26–27), it would be centered on an elaborately described
worship in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem; this holy city, with its
new symbolic name of “The-Lord-Is-There,” would be in the
center of the new land of Israel, with six of the twelve tribes of
Israel living in parallel geographic strips to the north of it, and
the other six in similar strips to the south (40:1–48:35).
Now that Judah no longer had its own king, Ezekiel kept
alive the ancient expectation of a continuance of the Davidic
dynasty – the basis of later messianism. However, for this
prophet, Judah’s future ruler as the Lord’s viceroy would have
the title of only “prince” (nasi, anciently “a tribal chief ”), not
“king” (44:3; 45:17; et al). He would be a true shepherd of the
Lord’s flock (34:11–24). Chastened Israel, though now scattered
throughout the world, would be the Lord’s means of establishing
His reign over all the earth, and would thus fulfill
the promise He made to the Patriarchs (36:1–38). A diligent
elaborator of Jeremiah motifs, he conceived in his own way
the motif of a change in Israel’s nature – “a new heart and a
new spirit,” with variations (11:17–20; 16:60; 36:24–28) – which
would guarantee the new covenant against dissolution as in
the case of the first. However, he stresses in his inimitable
manner (36:20–23, 29–31) the principle first clearly enunciated
in I Samuel 12:22, according to which God’s motive is
not compassion for undeserving Israel, but His own prestige,
since His name, because it is associated with Israel, is
discredited in the eyes of the nations by Israel’s misfortunes.
That is why, even after proving that he is able to restore Israel
to its land, He will further “prove Himself great and holy” in
eschatology
the eyes of the nations (38:23) by demonstrating through Gog
and Magog that He is able to prevent their being subjugated
again (39:22–29).
The fantastic word pictures drawn by Ezekiel, which he
used directly only for describing eschatology in the broad
sense, e.g., that of *Gog and Magog who represented for the
prophet the hostile pagan nations of his time (38:1–39:20),
were destined to find many echoes in later Jewish writers,
who reused them in depicting their eschatology in the strict
sense – the “end” of the world as men knew it.
DEUTERO-ISAIAH. The anonymous writer who composed
Isaiah 40:1–55:13 and to whom modern scholars have given
the name “Deutero-Isaiah” (the “Second Isaiah”) is generally
believed to have prophesied in the last years preceding the
conquest of Babylon by the Persians under Cyrus the Great
in 539 B.C.E. Just as the prophet knew that the Lord had used
the pagan kings of Assyria and Babylon to punish His sinful
people according to the predictions of the earlier prophets (Isa.
1:21–31; Jer. 7:1–15; Ezek. 22:1–22), so he foresaw that the Lord
would use the pagan king of Persia as His “anointed one” (cf.
Isa. 44:28; 45:1 with Jer. 25:9; 27:6; 43:10) to liberate repentant
Judah from its captivity. The prophet’s preaching, therefore,
is almost entirely one of consolation for his afflicted fellow
exiles. From an eschatological viewpoint, Deutero-Isaiah is
important for his clear perception of God’s plan in directing
man’s history on earth; the Lord alone prearranged this history
from beginning to end (Isa. 41:22–23; 42:8–9; 46:8–13; et
al.). The prophet treats this history of man on a cosmic scale;
the restoration of Judah is to be a “new creation” for all mankind
as well as for the Jews (41:17–20; 42:5–7; 43:1; 45:8). This
plan of God for the world’s salvation would be carried out by
the *Servant of the Lord (ʿeved YHWH), who both personifies
Israel (49:3) and has a mission for Israel (49:5–6); his sufferings
atone for man’s sins, but his glorious exaltation brings
peace and salvation to the world (52:13–53:12). With Deutero-
Isaiah there begins a more transcendent concept of eschatology;
climactic events in history are viewed not so much as
the beginning of a new historical era brought about by human
means, but rather as a transformation of the world on a
cosmic scale produced by God’s extraordinary intervention
in man’s history.
HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH, AND MALACHI. When Zerubbabel,
the grandson of King Jehoiachin of Judah, was appointed
governor of the small Persian province of Judah, the prophets
*Haggai and *Zechariah temporarily saw him as the one
who could continue the Davidic dynasty (Hag. 2:20–23; Zech.
4:6–7; 6:9–14 (emending “Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high
priest,” to “Zerubbabel” in v. 11; cf. “the Shoot” in 3:8)); thus
they kept alive the messianic expectation in Judah. Moreover,
the strange type of symbolism that first appears in Zechariah
1:7–2:13 and 5:1–6:8, connected with the concept of an
incredibly enlarged Jerusalem (Zech. 2:5–9), was later reechoed
in the eschatological imagery of Daniel and the later
Jewish writers.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 493