Volume 1
The Jewish encyclopedia : a descriptive record of the history, religion, literature, and customs of the Jewish people from the earliest times to the present day / prepared ... under the direction of ... Cyrus Adler [and others] Isidore Singer ... managing editor.
- Date:
- 1901-1906
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The Jewish encyclopedia : a descriptive record of the history, religion, literature, and customs of the Jewish people from the earliest times to the present day / prepared ... under the direction of ... Cyrus Adler [and others] Isidore Singer ... managing editor. Source: Wellcome Collection.
734/752 (page 676)
![the “Alphabets of R. ‘Akiba” and “Otot” or “Mil- hainot Melek ha-Mashiah ” for the Neo-Hebrew. Finally, the Neo-Hebrew apocalypses likewise show all the external characteristics of the older. Like these, they claim to be revelations made through the medium of angels, and their authors conceal their real identity by pseudonyms, borrowing for this purpose the names of celebrated holy men of the past—hence the name I'sevdepigra'pha for the apocalyptic writings. The authors skilfully add plausibility to the claim that their writings are an- cient prophecies, by making a review of contempo- rary, and freciueutly also of past, his- External tory, in the guise of a vision of the Charac- future. In this way every apocal3'pse teristics. contains the key to the date of its ori- gin, this date coinciding with that period at which such “ prophecy after the ev^eut ” breaks off, and the real prophecy of the future be- gins, the prediction of the immediate approach of judgment for the wicked and of salvation for the good. This pious deception on the part of the wri- ters was for the purpose of awakening in the hearts of their readers, wlio were living in a period of gloom and bitter trial, that belief in the blissful fu- ture promised them, which filled their own souls. For in times of oppre.ssion and persecution the apocalypse was essentiallj' the literaiy medium through which the minds of the faithful were appealed to, and it could attain such power only througli an alleged sanctity as an ancient revelation. This leads to the corollary that eveiy age of great political agitation had its apocalj'pses, and that it would seem impossible that all productive activity in this sphere sliould have lain utterly dormant dur- ing the Talmudic period. The oldest apocalyptic monument, the Book of Daniel, is the direct fruit of the fanatical religious persecution exercised by Antiochus Epiphanes (see Apocaiatse). When the Jews came into conflict with the Roman empire, a conflict lasting for two centuries, ever}-phase of this varying drama was accompanied by apocalypses, from the conquest of Jerusalem bj Pompc^y to the despotic ride of Antonj' and Cleopatra in Egypt, and down to the last desperate struggle and bloodj' per- secution under Hadrian. In like manner, as will be mentioned, there are apocalypses contemporaneous with the great political vicissitudes of tlie Sassanian period (237-642). But apart from independent apoca- Ij’pses themselves, the Talmud contains much apoc- alyptic matter that not onlj' attests In the Tal- the interest with which the Jews fol- mudic Age. lowed the wars against Rome waged bj Sapor I. (died 271) and Sapor 11. (died 379), believing that these wars were the un- mistakable signs of the imminence of God's king- dom, but proves alsolxyond doubt that apocah'ptic writing flourished no less in Talmudic than in post- Talmudic times. For example, a passage in Yoma, 10a, for which Joshua b. Levi, a contemporarj of Sapor I., is mentioned as the authorit}', shows how, in the face of the victorious wars of Sapor I. against Rome, the prophecj' contained in Dan. viii. (about the war between the IMedo-Persian and the Grecian kingdoms) was believed to refer to Sapor’s wars with Rome. To determine the ultimate issue of these wars, an old and familiar apocalyptic tradition was there cited, according to which, before the advent of the Messiah, Rome, the fourth and last world-monarchj', would extend her godless dominion over the whole world for the space of nine months. Similarly, in Shebu. 65 there is a passage dating from the time of Sapor 11.’s wars with Rome, in which the statement in Dan. vii. 33 about the fourth world-monarchy is quoted to show conclusively that no other outcome is possible than that Rome should triumph over Per- sia. In Sanh. 97«-985 there are preserved a number of apocal^yptic calculations of those times; also, among other things, excerpts from revelations which the above-mentioned R, Joshua b, Levi—who aiso fig- ures as the author of an apocal3q3se (see below)—was supposed to have received from the mouth of the prophet Elijah as well as from the very Messiah himself. The entire Apocal3'ptic Literature is of great his- torical value. Toward the close of antiquit3- and through the Middle Ages it exercised extensive and permanent influence on the thought of the times. It reflects the hopes and fears which swayed the masses for over fifteen hundred 3ears, and reflects them more directly than any other class of contemporar3’ literature. All the strange erratic thoughts—which seem now but the outgrowth of a morbid fantas3', so grotesque and unmeaning do they appear—wei'e once full of life and keen significance, and had the power to move the readers to the depths of Historical their being. The uneasiness and solici- Yalue. tude about the approaching end of the world, which were of constant recur- rence during the Middle Ages, were nothing more than the impression made b3^ the threats and promises of the apocal3'pses upon minds already susceptible and excited b3 external events. And in the histor3' of the Jews in particular, the apocalypse was one of the most telling factors, contributing, as it did in such large measure, to determine the unique course of its development until long after the close of the Middle Ages. The courage and persistency in their belief which the .Tews have shown from the time of the Mac- cabees down to modern times, their indomitable hope under persecution, their scorn of death, were all nourished b3' the Apocal3q5tic Literature. The darker their present grew, the more desperate their condition in the later medieval period, the more eagerly did their minds turn to the comfort of- fered 1)3' the apocalyptic promises wdiich predicted the end of their suffering and the dawn of their deliveiy. The following outlines of the separate apocal3'pses will illustrate the characteristics of the Neo-Hebrew apocalyptic. Only certain general points, however, are treated here, as the preliminary investigation, upon which any exhaustive treatment would have to be based, has not yet been made in this branch of Apocalyptic Literature. 1. Book of Enoch (Hanok), ■]l3n ^DD: Even up to the present da3' this book has been confounded with “ Pirke Hekalot, ” also said to have been written b3' R. Ishmael, and hence has been called erroneousl3' mija'n ISD. That the “Book of Enoch” is the original title is established by a manuscript in the Bodleian Libraiy, and b3' the fact that the apoca- lypse is quoted under that name in the older medie- val literature. There are two editions of this book, one 1)3'.Jellinek, bearing the title NTpJI ^DD lUn “IDD p DU (“Bet ha-Midrash,” 1873, v. 170- 190), giving the text of the Munich Codex, No. 40. f. 1315-133 (not f. 94-103, as there described 1)3' Jclli- nek). The other appeared under the title IDD pD '1 Ninno (printed together with a pra3'cr attributed to R. Ishmael), in Book of Lemberg, 1864, and was reprinted in Enoch. Warsaw, 1875. According to the title- page, the latter gives the text of a ver3' old manuscript, and in man3' cases has better read- ings than Jellinek’s edition. ’An unedited manuscript of this apocal3'pse is in the Bodleian Libraiy (Op-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29000488_0001_0740.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
