THE RELEVANCE OF APOCALYPTIC A Study of Jewish and Christian Apocalypses from Daniel to the Revelation sy H. H. ROWLEY ASSOCIATION PRESS NEW YORK THE RELEVANCE OF APOCALYPTIC First publishd zgp4 Second edition 1947 Reprinted 1950, 1952, 1955, and 1960 New and Revised edition 1963 Published in 1964 in the U.S.A. by ASSOCIATION PRESS 291 Broadway New York, N.Y. 10007 Library of Congress catalog card number: 64-12221 Publisher's title stock number: 1544 Printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay and Company, Ltd., Bungay, Suffolk TO THE REVEREND PROFESSOR THEODORE H. ROBINSON LITT.D., D.D., D.TH. MY FORMER CHIEF AND ENDURING FRIEND THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF ALL I OWE HIM Contents CHAP. . . PAGE PREFACE ix - I. THE RISE OF APOCALYPTIC I3 11. THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE: I. DURING THE LAST TWO CENTURIES 54 B.C. The Book of Daniel-The Ethiopic Book of Enoch (I Enoch)-The Book of Jubilees-The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs-The Sibylline Oracles-The Psalms of Solomon-The Zadokite Work-The Qumran Scrolls 111. THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE: 11.. DURING THE FIRST CENTURY A.D. 106 The Assumption of Moses-The Slavonic Book of Enoch (2 Enoch)-The Life of Adam and Eve-4 Ezra (2 Esdr.) The Apocalypse of Baruch-The Ascension of Isaiah -The ~ ~ o c a l o~f ~Asbreah am-The Testament of Abraham-The Little Apocalypse of the Gospels-The Book of Revelation IV. THE ENDURING MESSAGE OF APOCA- . . 11 166 LYPTIC i . '94 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . INDEX OF SUBJECTS 228 . 234 INDEX OF AUTHORS CONTENTS PAGE A. The Date of the Earliest Sections of the Ethiopic . Book of Enoch 93 . B. The Date of the Book of Jubilees 99 C. The Figure of Taxo in the Assumption of Moses 149 . . D. The Unity of 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch 156 E. The Duration of Antichrist's Reign in the Ascen- . sion of Isaiah I59 F. The Source and Unity of the Little Apocalypse of . . the Gospels 160 . . G. The Second Advent 163 vii Preface THEF OUR chapters of this book consist of four lectures de- livered at the Vacation Term for Biblical Study held at St. Hilda's College, Oxford, in the summer of 194.2. They are published substantially as delivered, save that some sections of the third lecture had to be omitted for lack of time, and in the other lectures a measure of compression was dictated by the same necessity. I am conscious of the inadequacy of the survey of the literature, but I know of no way to combine adequacy with the necessary brevity, and to expand now to the point of adequacy would be to write a large work, which would bear scant resemblance to the lectures delivered. They are published in the hope that they may be of service to a wider circle of readers in days when apocalyptic commands much interest. In times of crisis there is always a revival of interest in apocalyptic, and confident prophecies are made on the basis of some of the writings here treated. Two disciplines serve to expose the folly of this approach. The first is the study of the history of the interpretation of these works, with its dismal unfolding of the long series of false prophecies to which this approach has invariably led. The other is the study of the canonical writings of the apocalyptic order in relation to the non-canonical writings of the same order. In the present lectures this latter study is briefly undertaken. It should suffice to show that in the circles that produced these writings little importance was attached to those details on which the schemes of the interpreters are commonly built. For there is the greatest variety in the conception of the order of the expected events that should mark the end of the age. Sometimes there is attention to detail in order to point the first readers to the contemporary circumstances of their day, but at other times the details are formal and schematic, ix PREFACE or designed to fill in the picture. Nor is it merely that the separate works differ from one another. Within a single work we continually find a variety of detail that has led to theories of composite authorship, instead .of to the recognition that the author has no desire to pin himself down to details. In the Book of Revelation the triple series of woes, while successive in the vision, must almost certainly be interpreted as parallel, yet cannot possibly be parallel in detail. For the author wished rather to emphasize that he anticipated a time of great tribulation than to indicate the precise order and character of the elements of that tribulation. It is when we realize this that we are able to appreciate the real worth of these writings. Instead of that meticulous attention to detail that has led astray successive generations of interpreters, we are able to concentrate on the broad features of the hope of these writers, and on the spiritual principles that underlay their work. We are able to realize that a truly prophetic purpose inspired them. For it was of the essence of Biblical prophecy to use prediction not primarily for the sake of unfolding the future, but for the bringing home of the message of God to the men who first received it. And the apocalyptists are able to speak to us just because they spoke primarily to their own contemporaries. Their purpose was essentially practical, to proclaim a great hope to men and to call them to a great loyalty and watchful- ness. Instead, therefore, of casting aside these works in an age of tribulation that drives others with false presuppositions to them, we are able to find them speak a relevant word to us just because they spoke a relevant word to men in like days. My indebtedness to others who have worked in the field of apocalyptic, and especially to R. H. Charles, who was by far the most energetic of British workers here, will be apparent throughout. I have not slavishly followed my predecessors, however, but have endeavoured to reach an independent judgement on all that is of importance for my argument. On other matters I have been content to indicate variety of view. X