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

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.

743/752 page 685

$will come to tlie ]\Iessiah from all quarters of the world on the wings of Simurg. The Messianic king- dom will endure for 1,300 years. Tlie description of it and of the last judgment, which succeeds it, does not differ materially from that in the preceding apocalypses. Certain details in the description of the last judgment occur also in the' alphabets of K. Akiha. Tlie apocalypse has, besides, a brief account of the different divisions of hell. On the basis of the historical setting of this apocalypse, it is safe to conclude, with Bousset, that it was written in the first half of the ninth century.' 14. Escliatological Descriptions: In conclu- sion the following eschatological descriptions may be mentioned; The one in Pesikta Zuttarta, section Balak (ed. Buber, iv. 358 et seq.), included by Jelli- nekin“B. H.”iii. 141-143, under the title ri't^D mJN (Haggadah of the Messiah); the conclusion of “ Mid- rash Vajmsha*,” in the'recension edited by Jellinek (“B. H.” ii. 55-57); n'C'D 'p~iD (Chapters on Mes- siah), in Jellinek, “B. 11.” iii. 68, 78; contained also with many better readings in the Munich Codex, No. 223 (see in regard to the beginning of this piece as given here, Buttenwieser, “Elias Apocal.vpse,” p. 10): py P mUlD (Repast in Paradise), miyO (The Feast on the Leviathan), in Jellinek, “B. H.” v. 45e< seq., vi. \50etseq.; niT'DX (Prophecies of the Future), existing onlj' in manuscript form in Codex de Rossi, Nos. 1240 and 541 (compare Zunz, “L. G.” p. 604 and Steinschneider, “ Apocalypsen,” p. 635, note 18); the description of Saadia in his “ Emunot Vedeot,” viii.; that of Hai Gaon in “ Ta am Zekenim, ” pp. 59 et seq., Frankfort-ou-the-Main, 1854; and that of Meir Aldabi in “8hcbile Emunah.” Of the above-mentioned, the “Haggadah of the Mes- siah ” is the only one which contains a description differing somewliat from all the other presentations met with in the course of this article; From the wil- derness. whither the Israelites will flee after the fall of the Messiah, they will march to Rome at the com- mand of a voice from heaven, and seize the city, whereupon Messiah b. David will reveal himself to them. It isalso worthy of note that the burning of Death and Satan in the lake of fire at the last judgment forms part of the description in “The Feast of the Leviathan ” as in the Revelation of .John. All the others offer nothing new. “Chapters on ^les- siah ” is a very late compilation (compare Jellinek, “ B. H. ” iii. 19), as is also “ Prophecies of the Future. ” Bibliography : Eisenmenger, Entdecktes Judenthum. ii. .5.5, 57, i. 48-49; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, iii. 85 et seq.; Jellinek, B. H. ii. .55-57, iii. 68 et seq.. LeipsitvV'ienna, ]8.5}-77; Merx, Archiv filr WLssenschaftliehe Erforschutig des Alt. Test. 1. 386 et seq.; Schiirer, Ge.sc?i. 3(1 ed., ii. 498 et seq.. iii. 183 et seq.; Steinschneider, Apnca\\n>sen mit Polemischer Temieiiz, in Z. D.M.G. xxvlii. 637 et seq., xxix. 162 et seq.; Wellhausen, I. J. O. pp. 133 et seq., 164 et seq., 253 et seq., Berlin, 1894; idem, Shizzen und Vorarheiten, vi. 226 et seq.; Smend, Ueber Jiidische Apokaluptik in Z. A. T. 11'. v. 332 et seq.; H. J. Holtzinan, Keu Testam. Theologie, i. 68; Bousset, Der Antichrist in der Veherlieferunq des Jndenthums. M. Be. END OF VOL. 1.$