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eschatology
they are, at the same time, rotting away with worms and maggots
(cf. iv Ezra 7:36; I En. 27:2; 48:9; 54:1; 90:26–27; 103:8; Ass.
Mos. 10:19; ii Bar. 85:12–13).
Eschatological Paradise. The term “paradise” is from the Greek
word that the Septuagint uses to translate the Hebrew term,
Gan Eden (“the Garden of Eden”). Since the earlier prophets
had depicted, in figurative terms, the eschatological bliss
of “the new earth” as a return to the original peace and joy
of the Garden of Eden before Adam’s sin (cf. Isa. 11:6–9; 51:3;
Ezek. 36:35), the intertestamental writers call the place where
the righteous are to enjoy endless bliss “the Garden of Eden”
(IV Ezra 4:7; 7:36, 123; 8:52; II En. 42:3; 65:10). It is not identical
with “heaven” as God’s abode. But just as Gehenna is pictured
as having several levels, one lower than the other, so the
eschatological paradise has at least three levels (I En. 8), one
higher than the other, the uppermost being nearest to God’s
abode in heaven. As in the case of Gehenna, so also in regard
to the eschatological paradise there is inconsistency in these
writings concerning the time when the just enter this place
of paradisiacal bliss, whether immediately after death, or only
at the resurrection.
One of the features of the eschatological paradise, at least
during the “messianic millennium,” is the participation in the
messianic banquet (based on Isa. 25:6; cf. the Qumran literature
below, and Matt. 8:11). A special privilege at this banquet
in the world to come is to be seated at the side of Abraham
(Test. Patr., Abraham 20; cf. Luke 16:26; the poor man Lazarus
in “Abraham’s bosom”).
Dead Sea Scrolls
The writings composed by the *Essene community that lived
at Qumran from approximately 150 B.C.E. to 68 or 70 C.E.,
generally called “the *Dead Sea Scrolls,” can from a merely
chronological viewpoint be classified with the intertestamental
literature; yet, because of their unique importance for revealing
the specifically Essene concepts of eschatology, they
are here given separate treatment.
IMMINENCE OF THE END OF DAYS. The presumably Essene
community of Jews that had its headquarters at the site now
known as Khirbat Qumrān, near the northwestern shore of
the Dead Sea, was very concerned with eschatology. Its life
was organized by austere rules, especially by an exact observance
of the various precepts of the Torah, particularly those
concerning ritual purity, so that this would hasten the coming
Day of the Lord and, at the same time, make the members of
the community ready to stand at God’s awesome tribunal on
that day. They lived in the barren Desert of Judah, not merely
because they had fled from Jerusalem and its Temple on account
of what they considered the illegitimacy of the Hasmonean
high priests and their successors who were appointed by
the conquering Romans, but more particularly because they
thus sought to carry out literally the command (originally intended
merely in a metaphorical sense) of Isaiah 40:3: “Clear
ye in the wilderness the way of the Lord” (cf. 1QS 8:12–14; 9:19).
They were convinced that they were living “at the end of the
era of wickedness” (CD 6:10, 14; 12:23; 14:19), which was soon
to be followed by “the era of (divine) favor” (1QH 15:5). They
believed that they were living in the “last days” foretold long
ago by the ancient prophets; and, therefore, they held that
their anonymous founder, whom they called the Moreh Ẓedek
“Teacher of Righteousness” (probably to be understood as “the
right teacher,” i.e., the one who explained the Torah correctly),
had been raised up by God “to make known to the later generations
what He would do in the last generation” (CD 11:12).
Their pesher (“commentary”) on Habakkuk 2:1–2 says: “Its interpretation
concerns the Teacher of Righteousness, to whom
God made known all the secrets of the words of His servants
the prophets” (1QpHab ab 7:4–5). The Qumran community apparently
expected “the end” to come 40 years after the death of
their founder (CD 20:14–15), during which period the wicked
in Israel would be destroyed by God (CD 20:15–16). However,
when the members of the community were disappointed in
the nonfulfillment of this expectation, they admitted that only
God knows when the end will come. So the writer of the pesher
on Habakkuk 2:3a says: “Its interpretation is that the final end
may be prolonged, indeed longer than anything of which the
prophets spoke, for the secrets (or mysteries) of God are for
wondrous fulfillment” (1QpHab ab 7:7–8). The interpreter, therefore,
says on Habakkuk 2:3b: “Its meaning concerns the men
of truth, who carry out the Law (Torah) and do not let their
hands grow too weak to serve the truth, despite the final end
being long drawn out; for all the limits set by God will come
in their due time, as He has set for them in His mysterious
wisdom” (1QpHab ab 7:10–14).
ESCHATOLOGICAL WAR. Before “the end” there will be, according
to the Qumranites, a great eschatological war, waged
not only against the powers of evil but also against all wicked
men, not excluding the wicked of Israel. In fact, the Qumranites
placed in the latter class all the Jews who did not belong to
their community. They alone were “the remnant of Israel” (CD
1:4–5), God’s “chosen ones” (1QM 8:6). They called themselves
“the Sons of Light”; all others were “the Sons of Darkness.”
This ethical dualism, perhaps influenced by Persian thought
(though not foreign to the older Hebrew Scriptures), is typical
of Qumran theology: “He [God] created man to rule the
world, and He set for him two spirits by which he would walk
until the appointed time of His visitation; these are the spirits
of truth and perversity” (1QS 3:17–19).
The eschatological war, besides being referred to in other
Qumran writings, is described at great length and in great detail
in a fairly well-preserved scroll of 19 columns to which the
title “The War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness”
has been given. This document is a strange mixture of
sound military tactics combined with idealistic warfare, in
which God and His angels fight on the side of the Sons of Light
against Belial (Satan) and his evil spirits, who come to the aid
of the Sons of Darkness. The good fight is waged also against
Gog and Magog (cf. Ezek. 38:1–39:20), here merely symbols of
498 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6