JEWISH TERMS FOR THE FUTURE DISPENSATION. a 435 CHAP. A.D. VI primary reason was, no doubt, controversial. When hardly pressed by Christian argument about the Old Testament prophecies of the sufferings of the Messiah, the fiction about the Son of Joseph as distinct from the Son of David would offer a welcome means of escape.' Besides, when in the Jewish rebellion under the false Messiah 132-135 'Bar-Cochba' (the Son of a Star') the latter succumbed to the Romans and was killed, the Synagogue deemed it necessary to re- xxiv. 17 kindle Israel's hope, that had been quenched in blood, by the picture of two Messiahs, of whom the first should fall in warfare, while the second, the Son of David, would carry the contest to a triumphant issue.2 b Numb. In general, we must here remember that there is a difference between three terms used in Jewish writings to designate that which is to succeed the present dispensation' or 'world' (Olam hasseh), although the distinction is not always consistently carried out. This happy period would begin with the days of the Messiah' (non ni'). These would stretch into the coming age' (Athid labo), and end with the world to come' (Olam habba)—although the latter is sometimes made to include the whole of that period.3 The most divergent opinions are expressed of the duration of the Messianic period. It seems like a round number when we are told that it would last for three generations. In the fullest discussion on the subject, the opinions of different Rabbis are mentioned, who Friedmann, variously fix the period at from forty to one, two, and even seven thousand years, according to fanciful analogies.1 d 1 Comp. J. M. Glasener, De Gemino Jud. Mess. pp. 145 &c.; Schöttgen, Horæ Heb. ii. pp. 360–366. 2 So also both Levy (Neuhebr. Worterb. vol. iii. p. 271 a) and Hamburger (Real. Encycl. f. Bib. u. Talm., Abtheil. ii. p. 768). I must here express surprise that a writer so learned and independent as Castelli (Il Messia, pp. 224-236) should have argued that the theory of a Messiah, son of Joseph, belonged to the oldest Jewish traditions, and did not arise as explained in the text. The only reason which Castelli urges against a view, which he admits to be otherwise probable, is that certain Rabbinic statements speak also of the Son of David as suffering. Even if this were so, such inconsistencies would prove nothing, since there are so many instances of them in Rabbinic writings. But, really, the only passage which from its age here deserves serious attention is Sanh. 98 a and b. In Yalkut the suffer ing Messiah is expressly designated as 3 In Bemidb. R. 15 (ed. Warsh. p. 63 a, 40 years the wilderness wanderings; 1000 years = one day, Ps. xc. 4; 2000 years' the day of vengeance and the year of salvation' (Is. lxiii. 4); 7000 years the marriage-week; Is. lxii. 5, a day 1000 years. = = • Siphré, ed. p. 134 a, about the middle d Tanchuma, as in Note 3 BOOK V a Yalkut on b Where statements rest on such fanciful considerations, we can scarcely attach to them serious value, or expect agreement. This remark holds equally true in regard to most of the other points involved. Suffice it to say, that, according to general opinion, the birth of the Messiah would be unknown to His contemporaries; that He would appear, carry on His work, then disappear-probably for fortyfive days; then reappear again, and destroy the hostile powers of the world, notably 'Edom,' 'Armilos,' the Roman power-the fourth and last world-empire (sometimes it is said: through Ishmael). Ransomed Israel would now be miraculously gathered from the ends of the earth, and brought back to their own land, the ten tribes sharing in their restoration, but this only on condition of their having repented of their former sins.2 According to the Midrash, all circumcised Israel would then be released from Gehenna, and the dead be raisedaccording to some authorities, by the Messiah, to Whom God would Sanh. 113a give the Key of the Resurrection of the Dead.' This Resurrection would take place in the land of Israel, and those of Israel who had been buried elsewhere would have to roll under ground-not without suffering pain till they reached the sacred soil. Probably the reason of this strange idea, which was supported by an appeal to the direction of Jacob and Joseph as to their last resting-place, was to induce the Jews, after the final desolation of their land, not to quit Palestine. This Resurrection, which is variously supposed to take place at the beginning or during the course of the Messianic manifestation, would be announced by the blowing of the great trumpet. It would be difficult to say how many of these strange and confused views prevailed at the time of Christ; which of them were universally entertained as real dogmas; or from what sources they had been originally derived. Probably many of them were popularly entertained, and afterwards further developed-as we believe, with elements distorted from Christian teaching. * Chethub. 111 a 4 IV. Esd. vi. 23 &c. d3 C 4 We have now reached the period of the coming age' (the Athid labo, or sæculum futurum). All the resistance to God would be concentrated in the great war of Gog and Magog, and with it the 1 This confirms St. John vii. 27, and affords another evidence that it cannot have been of Ephesian authorship, but that its writer must have been a Jew, intimately conversant with Jewish belief. 2 But here opinions are divided, some On the Resurrection-body, the bone ance of the former bodily defects, see previous remarks, pp. 398, 399. In this extremely condensed abstract, I have thought it better not to cumber the page with Rabbinic references. They would have been too numerous, and the learned reader can easily find sufficient to bear on each clause in books treating on the subject. THE NEW JERUSALEM' AND THE NEW LAW. prevalence of all wickedness be conjoined. And terrible would be the straits of Israel. Three times would the enemy seek to storm the Holy City. But each time would the assault be repelled-at the last with complete destruction of the enemy. The sacred City would now be wholly rebuilt and inhabited. But oh, how different from of old! Its Sabbath-boundaries would be strewed with pearls and precious gems. The City itself would be lifted to a height of some nine miles -nay, with realistic application of Is. xlix. 20, it would reach up to the throne of God, while it would extend from Joppa as far as the gates of Damascus! For, Jerusalem was to be the dwelling-place of Israel, and the resort of all nations. But most glorious in Jerusalem would be the new Temple which the Messiah was to rear, and to which those five things were to be restored which had been wanting in the former Sanctuary: the Golden Candlestick, the Ark, the Heaven-lit fire on the Altar, the Holy Ghost, and the Cherubim. And the land of Israel would then be as wide as it had been sketched in the promise which God had given to Abraham, and which had never before been fulfilled-since the largest extent of Israel's rule had only been over seven nations, whereas the Divine promise extended it over ten, if not over the whole earth. 437 CHAP. VI Strangely realistic and exaggerated by Eastern imagination as these hopes sound, there is, connected with them, a point of deepest interest on which, as explained in another place,' remarkable divergence of opinion prevailed. It concerns the Services of the rebuilt Temple, and the observance of the Law in Messianic days. One party here insisted on the restoration of all the ancient Services, and the strict observance of the Mosaic and Rabbinic Law-nay, on its full imposition on the Gentile nations.2 But this view must at least have been modified by the expectancy, that the Messiah would give a new Law. But was this new Law to apply only to the Gentiles, or also to Israel? Here again there is divergence of opinions. According Yalkut ii. to some, this Law would be binding on Israel, but not on the Gentiles, or else the latter would have a modified or condensed series of ordinances (at most thirty commandments). But the most liberal view, and, as we may suppose, that most acceptable to the enlightened, was, that in the future only these two festive seasons would be observed: The Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Esther (or else that of Tabernacles), and that of all the sacrifices only thank 'See Book III. ch. iii. and Appendix XIV. 2 Such as even the wearing of the phylacteries (comp. Ber. R. 98; Midr. on Midr. on Cant. ii. 13; par. 296 BOOK V a Yalkut ii. p. 57 b, par. 363. line 3 b Baba B. 756 offerings would be continued.' Nay, opinion went even further, and many held that in Messianic days the distinctions of pure and impure, lawful and unlawful, as regarded food, would be abolished. There can be little doubt that these different views were entertained even in the days of our Lord and in Apostolic times, and they account for the exceeding bitterness with which the extreme Pharisaic party in the Church at Jerusalem contended, that the Gentile converts must be circumcised, and the full weight of the yoke of the Law laid on their necks. And with a view to this new Law, which God would give to His world through the Messiah, the Rabbis divided all time into three periods: the primitive, that under the Law, and that of the Messiah.3 It only remains briefly to describe the beatitude of Israel, both physical and moral, in those days, the state of the nations, and, lastly, the end of that 'age' and its merging into 'the world to come' (Olam habba). Morally, this would be a period of holiness, of forgiveness, and of peace. Without, there would be no longer enemies nor oppressors. And within the City and Land a more than Paradisiacal state would prevail, which is depicted in even more than the usual realistic Eastern language. In that vast new Jerusalem (not in heaven, but in the literal Palestine) the windows and gates were to be of precious stones, the walls of silver, gold, and gems, while all kinds of jewels would be strewed about, of which every Israelite was at liberty to take. Jerusalem would be as large as, at present, all Palestine, and Palestine as all the world. Corresponding to this miraculous extension would be a miraculous elevation of Jerusalem into the air. And it is one of the strangest mixtures of selfrighteousness and realism with deeper and more spiritual thoughts, when the Rabbis prove by references to the prophetic Scriptures, that every event and miracle in the history of Israel would find its counterpart, or rather larger fulfilment, in Messianic days. Thus, Gen. xviii. what was recorded of Abraham would, on account of his merit, find, clause by clause, its counterpart in the future: 'Let a little water be fetched," in what is predicted in Zech. xiv. 8; wash your feet,' in what is predicted in Is. iv. 5; ' rest yourselves under the tree,' in what is said in Is. iv. 4; and I will fetch a morsel of bread,' in the promise of Ps. lxxii. 16.d 4,5 d Ber. R.48 с 6 But by the side of this we find much coarse realism. The land • Shabb. 306 would spontaneously produce the best dresses and the finest cakes; 1 Vajjik. R. 9, 27; Midr. on Ps. lvi.; c. 2 Midr. on Ps. cxlvi.; Vajj. R. 13; Tanch., Shemini 7 and 8. 3 Yalkut on Is xxvi.; Sanh. 97 a; Ab. S. 9 a. THE GENTILE WORLD IN THE MESSIANIC AGE. d a 439 CHAP. VI a Chethub. Midr. on Ps. xlv. the wheat would grow as high as palm-trees, nay, as the mountains, while the wind would miraculously convert the grain into flour, and cast it into the valleys. Every tree would become fruit-bearing; nay, they were to break forth, and to bear fruit every day; daily was every woman to bear child, so that ultimately every Israelitish a,¿ family would number as many as all Israel at the time of the Exodus. All sickness and disease, and all that could hurt, would pass away. As regarded death, the promise of its final abolition was, with Is. xxv. 8 characteristic ingenuity, applied to Israel, while the statement that the child should die an hundred years old was understood as Is. lxv. 20 referring to the Gentiles, and as teaching that, although they would die, yet their age would be greatly prolonged, so that a centenarian would be regarded as only a child. Lastly, such physical and outward loss as Rabbinism regarded as the consequence of the Fall,ff Ber. R. 12 would be again restored to man. 1 It would be easy to multiply quotations even more realistic than these, if such could serve any good purpose. The same literalism prevails in regard to the reign of King Messiah over the nations of the world. Not only is the figurative language of the prophets applied in the most external manner, but illustrative details of the same character are added. Jerusalem would, as the residence of the Messiah, become the capital of the world, and Israel take the place of the (fourth) world-monarchy, the Roman Empire. After the Roman Empire none other was to rise, for it was to be immediately followed by the reign of Messiah. But that day, or rather that of the fall of the (ten) Gentile nations, which would inaugurate the Empire of Messiah, was among the seven things unknown to man. Nay, God had conjured Israel not to communicate to the Gentiles the mystery of the calculation of the times. But the very origin of the wicked world-Empire had been caused by Israel's sin. It had been (ideally) founded 2 when Solomon contracted alliance with the daughter of Pharaoh, while Romulus and Remus rose when Jeroboam set up the worship of the two calves. Thus, what would have become the universal Davidic Rule had, through Israel's sin, been changed into subjection to the Gentiles. Whether or not these Gentiles would in the Messianic future become proselytes, seems a moot question. Sometimes it is affirmed; m at others it is stated 1 They are the following six: His splendour, the continuance of life, his original more than gigantic stature, the fruits of the ground, and of trees, and the brightness of the heavenly lights. 2 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). * Bemidb. R. 13 "Vajjik. R. 13, end Ber. R. 65 k Chethub. 111 a m Ab. S. 24 a |