Reference: Apocalyptic Literature
Hastings
The apocalypse as a literary form of Jewish literature first appears during the Hellenistic period. Its origin is to a considerable degree in dispute, but is involved in the general development of the period. Among the Hebrews its forerunner was the description of the Day of Jehovah. On that day, the prophets taught, Jehovah was to punish the enemies of Israel and to establish His people as a world power. In the course of time this conception was supplemented by the further expectation of a judgment for Jews as well as for heathen (Am 2:3-8; 3:9-15; 5:10-13; Zec 1:2-18; 2:4-13; Joe 2:18-28; Eze 30:2 f.). The first approach to the apocalyptic method is probably to be seen in Zec 9; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14. It was in the same period that the tendencies towards the aesthetic conceptions which had been inherited from the Babylonian exile were beginning to be realized under the influence of Hellenistic culture. Because of their religion, literature was the only form of aesthetic expression (except music) which was open to the art impulses of the Jews. In the apocalypse we thus can see a union of the symbolism and myths of Babylonia with the religious faith of the Jews, under the influence of Hellenistic culture. By its very origin it was the literary means of setting forth by the use of symbols the certainty of Divine judgment and the equal certainty of Divine deliverance. The symbols are usually animals of various sorts, but frequently composite creatures whose various parts represented certain qualities of the animals from which they were derived.
Apocalyptic is akin to prophecy. Its purpose was fundamentally to encourage faith in Jehovah on the part of those who were in distress, by 'revealing' the future. Between genuine prophetism and apocalyptic there existed, however, certain differences not always easy to formulate, but appreciable to students of the two types of religious Instruction. (a) The prophet, taking a stand in the present, so interprets current history as to disclose Divine forces at work therein, and the inevitable outcome of a certain course of conduct. The writers of the apocalypses, however, seem to have had little spiritual insight into the providential ordering of existing conditions, and could see only present misery and miraculous deliverance. (b) Assuming the name of some worthy long since dead, the apocalyptist re-wrote the past in terms of prophecy in the name of some hero or seer of Hebrew history. On the strength of the fulfilment of this alleged prophecy, he forecast, though in very general terms, the future. (c) Prophecy made use of symbol in literature as a means of enforcing or making intelligible its Divinely inspired message. The apocalyptists employed allegorically an elaborate machinery of symbol, chief among which were sheep, bulls, birds, as well as mythological beings like Beliar and the Antichrist.
The parent of apocalyptic is the book of Daniel, which, by the almost unanimous consensus of scholars, appeared in the Maccab
See Verses Found in Dictionary
For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.
Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.
Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says lord LORD: Wail ye, Alas for the day!
I saw in the night visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven [somebody] like a son of man. And he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
Then LORD was jealous for his land, and had pity on his people. And LORD answered and said to his people, Behold, I will send you grain, and new wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith. And I will no more make you a reproach among the nations. read more. But I will remove the northern [army] far off from you, and will drive it into a land barren and desolate, its forepart into the eastern sea, and its rear part into the western sea. And its stench shall come up, and its foul odor s Fear not, O land. Be glad and rejoice, for LORD has done great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness spring, for the tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and the vine yield their strength. Be glad then, ye sons of Zion, and rejoice in LORD your God, for he gives you the former rain in just measure, and he causes the rain to come down for you, the former rain and the latter rain, in the first [month]. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust, the canker-worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm has eaten--my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied. And shall praise the name of LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never be put to shame. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am LORD your God, and there is none else. And my people shall never be put to shame. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions.
And I will cut off the judge from the midst of it, and will kill all the rulers of it with him, says LORD. Thus says LORD: For three transgressions of Judah, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they have rejected the law of LORD, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have caused them to err, accord read more. But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem. Thus says LORD: For three transgressions of Israel, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they have sold a righteous man for silver, and a needy man for a pair of shoes-- those who pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek. And a man and his father go to the [same] maiden, to profane my holy name. And they lay themselves down beside every altar upon clothes taken in pledge. And in the house of their God they drink the wine of such as have been fined.
Publish ye in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold what great tumults are in it, and what oppressions are in the midst of it. For they do not know to do right, says LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces. read more. Therefore thus says lord LORD: An adversary [shall be], even round about the land, and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be plundered. Thus says LORD: As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the sons of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria in the corner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed. Hear ye, and testify against the house of Jacob, says lord LORD, the God of hosts. For in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground. And I will smite the winter house with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, says LORD.
They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks uprightly. Inasmuch therefore as ye trample upon the poor, and take exactions of wheat from him. Ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them. Ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink the wine thereof. read more. For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins--ye who afflict the just man, who take a bribe, and who turn aside the needy in the gate [from their right]. Therefore he who is prudent shall keep silence in such a time, for it is an evil time.
LORD was greatly displeased with your fathers. Therefore say thou to them, Thus says LORD of hosts: Return to me, says LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says LORD of hosts. read more. Be ye not as your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried, saying, Thus says LORD of hosts: Return ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings, but they did not hear, nor hearken to me, says LORD. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? And they turned and said, Like as LORD of hosts thought to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, Upon the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of LORD came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, I saw in the night, and, behold, a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom. And behind him there were horses, red, sorrel, and white. Then I said, O my lord, what are these? And the [heavenly] agent who talked with me said to me, I will show thee what these are. And the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom LORD has sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And they answered the agent of LORD who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sits still, and is at rest. Then the agent of LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long will thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou have had indignation these seventy years? And LORD answered the agent who talked with me with good words, comforting words. So the [heavenly] agent who talked with me said to me, Cry thou, saying, Thus says LORD of hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very greatly displeased with the nations that are at ease. For I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus says LORD: I have returned to Jerusalem with mercies. My house shall be built in it, says LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem. Cry yet again, saying, Thus says LORD of hosts: My cities shall yet overflow with prosperity, and LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and, behold, four horns.
and said to him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and cattle therein. For I, says LORD, will be to her a wall of fire round about, and I will be the glory in the midst of her. read more. Ho, ho, flee from the land of the north, says LORD. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, says LORD. Ho Zion, escape, thou who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. For thus says LORD of hosts: After glory he has sent me to the nations which plundered you. For he who touches you touches the apple of his eye. For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall be a spoil to those who served them. And ye shall know that LORD of hosts has sent me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, says LORD. And many nations shall join themselves to LORD in that day, and shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst of thee. And thou shall know that LORD of hosts has sent me to thee. And LORD shall inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. Be silent, all flesh, before LORD, for he has arisen out of his holy habitation.