The expression “last days” appears throughout the Jewish scriptures (evsca,twn tw/n h`merw/n/~ymyyh tyrxa[1]—Gen 49:1; Num 24:14; Deut 4:30; 31:29; Jer 23:20; 30:24; 48:47; 49:39; Ezek 38:16; Hos 3:5) and can be considered to be a technical eschatological term for a first century audience; in Dan 2:28 (Aramaic), and 10:14 it appears as an apocalyptic[2] term. Further, the use of the expression in the Qumran literature and elsewhere reflects a broader literary co-text, and this is evidence that a broad eschatological context would have also been assumed by NT writers, for example, Luke in his incorporation of Isa 2:2 alongside Joel 3:1-5 in Acts 2:17.
Certain Second Temple texts describe the past and present of history and envisage a time to come, which will be qualitatively different for humankind, and which has indefinite extent. In addition, some texts include a clearly defined segmentation of history. This division of history into two ages provides the framework for the concept of the “last days”. These texts associate “troubles” or “woes” [3] with the “last days” and describe the “New Age” in utopian terms. For example,
1) Daniel offers various visions of history and a periodization that proved influential in Second Temple Judaism.[4] The four kingdoms of Daniel 2 lead to a kingdom that will never be destroyed; the seventy weeks of Daniel 9 lead to a period of “everlasting righteousness”. Daniel includes material that attempts to calculate the end of history and when the transition to the new age will happen (Dan 7:25, 9:24, and 12:11-12).
In Ezekiel 38 and Daniel 10, the expression is used to denote a period where war(s) are waged against Israel. In Dan 10:14, the angel Gabriel (Dan 8:16) promises to make Daniel understand what would happen to Israel in the last days, and this “vision” is detailed in the history of the Ptolemies and Seleucids outlined in Daniel 11.
2) The 1 Enoch corpus contains several eschatological blocks of material, however, at a certain level of generality, there is a uniform approach to the end of time. There is an awareness of periodization in history in the Apocalypse of Weeks (1 En. 93:1-10; 91:11-17), which concludes with “many weeks without number forever” (1 En. 91:17).[5] It is the contrast with the linear progression[6] of historical events with an indefinite period that forms the substance of Jewish “two-age” thinking.
A “two-age” view of history is expressed in the remark, “they will corrupt until the day of the great conclusion, until the great age is consummated, until everything is concluded (upon) the Watchers and the wicked ones” (1 En. 16:1, cf. 72:1), but this idea is presupposed throughout the component parts of the corpus.
The righteous are exhorted to follow the ways that leads to life (e.g. in the Epistle of Enoch, 1 En. 94:4; 96:1-3; 99:3), and so ensure the survival of a remnant from the eschatological trouble (e.g. in the Dream Visions, 1 En. 83:8-9, and in the Epistle of Enoch, 1 En. 106:19; 107:1). This group of “the righteous” emerges in the Apocalypse of Weeks during the seventh week of human history (1 En. 93:10, cf. the “small lambs” of 90:6).
The new age that awaits the righteous is described in terms such as, for example, peace, truth, kindness and prosperity (1 En. 1:8; 11:1-2), or freedom from sin (1 En. 5:7-8), a new heaven and a new earth (1 En. 45:4-5), or as a restored Eden with the tree of life (1 En. 25:5-6).
3) 2 Enoch expresses a dispensational view of the ages that comprise the “age of creation”, and states that,
…when the whole of creation…shall come to an end, and when each person will go to the Lord’s great judgment, then time periods will perish…they will constitute a single age. And all the righteous, who escape from the Lord’s great judgment, will be collected together with the great age. 2 En. 65.7-8, cf. 66:6, 50:2
This prospect is made the basis of living a righteous life (2 En. 66:1-2).
4) J. J. Collins asserts that the “last days” in the Dead Sea Scrolls “has two aspects. It is a time of testing, and it is a time of at least incipient salvation”.[7] This generalization can be illustrated from a selection of texts:
i) 11Q13 assigns various distinct happenings to the “last days” (~ymiyh tyrxal, II, 4). There is a proclamation of “release” to the captives (II, 3-4), who are made to return by a Melchizedek figure (II, 5-6); there is a time for the “rule of judgment” (II, 9) and “the vengeance of Go[d’s] judgments” (II, 13) upon the peoples. This figure is “anointed of the spir[it]” (II, 18), a messenger who announces good news. The text does not describe a situation where Israel has been restored, but rather the events that bring about her restoration: a return of captives and judgment upon the peoples. The text achieves this through its pesher interpretations of Jewish scriptural texts such as Lev 25:13, Deut 15:2, Ps 82:2, Isa 52:7, 61:1-2, and Dan 9:25. If an identity is assigned to the “last days”, it is a tenth Jubilee “week” in which both release of the captives occurs and vengeance upon the peoples. At the end of this week there is a Day of Atonement (II, 7) after which God will rule. This text presupposes the presence of Melchizedek as a precondition for the transition to God’s rule.
ii) 4Q174 offers a pesher interpretation of 2 Sam 7:10 to predict that the temple will be established in the last days (I, 1-5). After this Yahweh will “appear over it forever” (I, 5). It also offers a pesher interpretation of Amos 9:11 to predict that the “branch of David” will be raised up in the last days to save Israel (I, 11-13). This “salvation” appears to be set against a “time of trial” (II, 1) in which the nations conspire against Israel (I, 18), which is the pesher offered for Ps 2:1.
iii) 4Q246 II, 1-9 describe a figure called the “son of God” whose kingdom replaces a state in which peoples wage war against one another.
iv) 4Q177 describes a time in the last days when the faithful community will be tested and refined by those in Israel who are a “congregation” of the wicked (II, 10-16). This is a “period of distress” (IV, 13, twn[ t[). 1QpHab II, 3-6 may offer a further identification of this group as “the traito[rs of the] new [covenant]”, and 4Q169 Frags. 3-4, II, 2 may also refer to the same group as “those looking for easy interpretations” (compare also 4Q385a Frag. 41, 4, and 4Q387a Frag. 2, 6).
v) 4Q398 describes the last days as the time when there will be a “turning to the Law” (Frags. 11-13, line 4) after there has been “blessing [and the] curse” (Frags. 14-17, I, line 6). This implies a period of eschatological woes insofar as blessings and curses run up until[8] the last days and fulfill the terms of the Deuteronomistic “blessings and curse” list (Deuteronomy 28). The text exhorts the faithful to persevere (Frags. 14-17, Col. II, lines 1-8) in the face of the behaviour of those of Belial.
vi) 1Q28a states that Community Rule was “the rule of all the congregation of Israel in the last days (~ymyh tyrxab), when they gather [in community to wa]lk” (1Q28a I, 1). This implies some recognition on the part of the text’s authors that they were living in the last days to the extent that the Community Rule was a guide for the Qumran covenanters.
vii) 4Q504 Frags. 1-2, III, 13-14 states that “evil would [over]take us in the last days”, and this follows a broken clause that refers to the “precepts” of Moses, and which presumably constituted the antecedent condition that the people had disobeyed the Law. The provenance of the “last days” is not clear, but it offers further evidence of the link between eschatological woes and the “last days”.
viii) CD 19:10-15 describes the coming of the “messiah of Aaron and Israel” and the “day of visitation” in which the wicked rulers of the people will be punished. CD 20:14 includes a calculation of the arrival of the “age of wrath”, at 40 years after the death of the Teacher of Righteousness. 1QpHab VII, 6-13 includes an exhortation to wait patiently for the last days, which offers evidence of that the Qumran community recognized a delay in the arrival of the age of wrath.
ix) Various Qumran texts also presuppose a periodization of history (e.g. 4Q180 lines 1-5; CD XVI, 4; XX, 14; 11Q13 II, 7, 18, 21). Thus, 1QS IV, 18-19 presumes a two-age model of history in the remark, “God…has determined an end to the existence of injustice and on the appointed time of the visitation he will obliterate it forever”. This model is developed in conjunction with the dualism of the “two spirits”; the new age will bring an end to the conflict between the two spirits. It is this period of time which can be termed a “new age” rather than any preceding time in which there is conflict.
The texts cited in (i)-(ix) state or assume a two-age view of history. Some offer a nationalistic eschatology centred on the presence of a heavenly individual (11Q13, cf. 4Q174) whose actions lead to the new age; others focus on the faithful community and its testing in the last days (4Q177).
Events that presage the new age such as the coming of eschatological deliverers or the building of the eschatological temple are future, but it is possible that some Qumran texts reflect the view that the eschatological woes had begun (1Q28a, 4Q398). This seems to be the implication in coupling woe material with exhortations to faithfulness (4Q177). On the other hand, some texts (1QpHab) imply that there is a delay in the arrival of the age of wrath.
5) Jubilees does not devote much space to eschatology, but it does give an account of various “woes” that would come upon an “evil generation” of the people (Jub. 23:14, 16, 22) including war, famine, plague (Jub. 23:13-25) and cause them to return to the Lord and his commandments (Jub. 23:26, cf. 1:23-29). In consequence the people have their lives extended so that they approach a thousand years and they will enjoy blessings from God and “rejoice forever and ever with joy” (Jub. 23:30). The picture here contrasts a period characterized by “joy” with a period characterized by “evil”. There is no cataclysmic transition to the “new age”, no single event, but the text presents the view that a period characterized with “evils” would not be the time of “joy”. This text identifies the transition as a “day of the great judgment” (Jub. 23:11), when Israel will “see all of their judgments and all of their curses among their enemies” (Jub. 23:30).
6) The two-age view of world history is also found in Jewish apocalypses that in part respond to the destruction of Jerusalem.
i) 4 Ezra expresses extensive eschatological teaching expressed from a post-70 E. perspective. Set against the question of how God will act to relieve Israel’s post-70 C.E. plight, Ezra is given an eschatological answer as a basis for hope. In the first vision, the current age was “hastening swiftly to its end” (4 Ezra 4:27) and various “woes” would come upon the earth and the land (4 Ezra 5:1-13) prior to the coming of the “good field” (4 Ezra 4:29). In the second vision, signs are described which are for “when the seal is placed upon the age which is about to pass away” (4 Ezra 6:20). In the third vision, 4 Ezra explicitly expresses a two age view, “the Most High has made not one world but two” (4 Ezra 7.50).
The future age is again contrasted with the present age in terms of various “evils” and “goods” (4 Ezra 7.12, 13, 31), and the transition to the new age occurs on the Day of Judgment, “the day of judgment will be the end of this age and the beginning of the immortal age to come” (4 Ezra 7.112-14). Those who survive the “woes” will see God’s salvation “in the land” (4 Ezra 9:8). In the fifth (Eagle) vision, the people are delivered from the Eagle-power by the messiah (4 Ezra 12:32-34). While there are differences in detail to be marked between the various visions, a broad two-age pattern is present and the transition to the new age is predicated upon the Day of Judgment and the advent of a messiah-figure.
ii) 2 Baruch also expresses a post-70 E. perspective. Eschatological woes are described (2 Baruch 27:1-15; 70:2-10), after which “the Anointed One will begin to be revealed” (2 Baruch 29:3; 70:9; 72:2) for the judgment of the nations (2 Baruch 72:1-6), and then there is a restoration of fruitfulness to the earth (2 Baruch 29:5-8; 73:1-74:4) and a resurrection of the dead (2 Baruch 30). 2 Baruch like 4 Ezra predicates a transition to a new age upon the advent of a messiah-figure.
iii) The Apocalypse of Abraham, another post-70 C.E. work, categorizes the eschatological woes as a series of plagues in the “last days” conceived of as the twelfth “hour” of twelve assigned to “the impious age” (Apoc. Ab. 29:1-2; 30:1-8). These woes come on the heathen before the “age of justice”, which is characterized by truth and justice (Apoc. Ab. 29:18). The transition to this new age involves God’s “chosen one” (Apoc. Ab. 31:1-2) who will take vengeance on the heathen who have humiliated God’s people.
7) The Testament of Moses details war and persecution for Israel by a “king of kings” (T. Mos. 8:1) as well as the misrule of godless men from within the nation (T. Mos. 7). These conditions will happen when times “will quickly come to an end” (T. Mos. 7:1), and scholars have noted that allusions to Maccabean events suggest that the author of this part of the Testament of Moses believed that these eschatological woes were currently in process.[9] After these happenings, other woes will occur presaging the new age (T. Mos. 10.4-5), woes that echo such “Day of the Lord” texts as Joel 2:10, 4:15, and Isa 13:10. These woes are enacted on the nations by the “Heavenly One” arising from his throne “on behalf of his sons” (T. Mos. 10:3-7) after which Israel will be established (T. Mos. 10:8-10).
8) Pss. of Solomon 17:21-46 delineates the Davidic messiah’s role to be one of restoration: Jerusalem is to be purged of Gentiles and unrighteous rulers (v. 22), Israel is to be regathered (v. 26), land is to be redistributed (v. 28), and nations will be ruled over (v. 29) in righteousness (v. 32). This expression of hope is invoked by the psalmist in response to the destruction of the land and Jerusalem (vv. 11, 14) and the scattering of the people (v. 18). This text petitions for the advent of the messiah to effect the transition to the new age.
9) The Sibylline Oracles III depicts a pattern where “woes” precede the advent of a saviour. For example, the last oracle (589-808) describes the end-time from the perspective of the writer. There are appeals for repentance (545-570, 624-634, 732-740, 762-767), description of the woes of war (635-651, 796-808), the sending of a “king from the sun” (652-656), an assault on Jerusalem (657-668), the cosmic judgments of God (669-701), the deliverance of Jerusalem (702-709), and the conversion of the nations (710-731); then there will be established a “kingdom for all ages” (766-795). This text identifies a critical advent of a messiah-figure to bring about deliverance, but it also juxtaposes appeals for repentance (624-631) with descriptions of the eschatological woes.
This brief review of eschatological texts, (1)–(9), is not designed to be exhaustive or enter into the complexities of exegesis. Second Temple texts do not present a uniform view of the “last days”; furthermore many texts have a complex redactional history, and this affects their value as evidence of Jewish thought contemporary with Luke. We present this evidence to support the proposition that at a certain level Jewish thought worked with a two-age view of history. The transition to the new age is focused around the actions of an individual (sometimes two individuals). The new age is to be preceded by woes, during which an eschatological community is encouraged to persevere. When the eschatological deliverer[10] comes he will inflict judgments and usher in the new age; the beneficent rule of the deliverer characterizes the new age. D. S. Russell offers a heavily qualified generalization of what he defines as “apocalyptic eschatology”.[11] He avers that Second Temple “apocalyptic texts” assume a two-age view of history, characterize the new age as one that is free of all that is wrong in the old age, and describe a transition to the new age that is cataclysmic. Russell enumerates additional characteristics shared between his selected apocalyptic texts. Allowing for a difference in detail across Russell’s “apocalyptic” texts, this body of literature presents a violent transition to the new age. D. C. Allison comments that “many of the ancient Jewish texts that foretell the end of the present world order also announce the coming of a great tribulation, a final time of trouble that is to mark the transition between this age and the messianic age or the age to come”.[12] Collins concludes his analysis of the phrase “the last days” in Qumran texts by saying, “…this period includes the time of testing and eschatological distress. It includes the dawning of the era of salvation, with the coming of the messiahs, and at least in some sources it extends to the final war. It does not, however, include the final salvation that is to follow the eschatological battle”.[13]
[1] BDB, 31, defines the phrase as “a prophetic phrase denoting the final period of the history so far as the speaker’s perspective reaches; the sense thus varies with the context”.
[2] We use this term here in a derivative sense, i.e. an expression is “apocalyptic” in virtue of being used in a topic-specific way in an “Apocalypse”. While scholars may disagree on the extent of this genre and argue for “apocalyptic” elements in works that are not Apocalypses, Daniel 7-12 is usually taken to be an “Apocalypse” because it shares features with other Second Temple Apocalypses. An “Apocalypse” may have some or all of the following aspects: periodization of history, predictions surrounding the end of history and the establishment of a new age, eschatological wars and woes, the intervention of a heavenly figure, a day of judgment, and the national restoration of Israel. In addition, the genre involves revelation by an angelic mediator, heavenly journeys, and symbolic visions of Israel and its relation to the nations.
[3] For an introductory overview of these woes in Jewish apocalyptic writings, see C. Rowland, Open Heaven (London: SPCK, 1982), ch. 7; D. C. Allison, The End of the Ages Has Come (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985), ch. 1.
[4] J. J. Collins, Apocalypticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls (London: Routledge, 1997), ch. 2, outlines the influence of Daniel in the Dead Sea Scrolls; see also the discussion of L. T. Stuckenbruck, “The Book of Daniel and the Dead Sea Scrolls” in The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls (ed., J. H. Charlesworth; 3 vols; Waco: Baylor University Press, 2006), 1:101-130.
[5] For a discussion of this form of Jewish historiography in relation to the Apocalypse of Weeks and the Animal Apocalypse, see I. Fröhlich, Time and Times and Half a Time: Historical Consciousness in the Jewish Literature of the Persian and Hellenistic Eras (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1996), 82-90.
[6] The principle upon which the periodization is organised is not solely linear, but may include chiastic or parallel elements, for a discussion of this issue see M. Henze, “The Apocalypse of Weeks and the Architecture of the End of Time” in Enoch and Qumran Origins (ed., G. Boccaccini; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), 207-209.
[7] Apocalypticism, 57.
[8] Collins appears to be overly fussy in his reading of the text when he says, “the fulfilment of these curses and blessings, then, is not part of the end of days at hand”, Apocalypticism, 61.
[9] For example, see the discussion by D. C. Allison, The End of the Ages Has Come (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985), 8.
[10] We use the notion of an “eschatological deliverer” as a catch-all term for expressions used in eschatological texts that refer to an individual who performs critical actions that bring about the new age.
[11] D. S. Russell, The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic (London: SCM Press, 1964), 269.
[12] End of the Ages, 5.
[13] J. J. Collins, “The Expectation of the End in the Dead Sea Scrolls” in Eschatology, Messianism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls (eds., C. A. Evans and P. W. Flint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 74-90 (62).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One