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 thine eyes, are , As yesterday, in that it passed away, Or as a watch in the night.
Until the day, breathe, and the shadows, be lengthened, Again, liken thyself, my beloved, to a gazelle, or to a young stag, upon the cleft mountains. ****
Until the day, breathe, and the shadows, be lengthened, Again, liken thyself, my beloved, to a gazelle, or to a young stag, upon the cleft mountains. ****
Son of man Prophesy. and thou shalt say, Thus saith My Lord Yahweh, - Howl ye. Alas for the day!
I continued looking in the visions of the night, when lo! with the clouds of the heavens, one like a son of man, was coming, - and, unto the Ancient of days, he approached, and, before him, they brought him near;
And Yahweh became jealous for his land, - and took pity on his people; Then answered Yahweh, and said to his people: - Behold me! sending you the corn, and the new wine and the oil, so shall ye be satisfied therewith; and I will not make you, any more, a reproach among the nations. read more. And, the Northerner, will I remove far from you, and drive him into a land parched and desolate, with, his face, toward the eastern sea, and, his rear, toward the hinder sea, - then shall come up his ill odour, yea his stench, shall ascend, because he hath shown himself great in doing. Be not thou afraid, O soil, - exult and rejoice, because Yahweh, hath shown himself great, in doing. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field, for sprouted have the pastures of the wilderness, - for, the tree, hath borne its fruit, the fig-tree and the vine, have yielded their wealth. Ye sons of Zion, then, exult and be glad in Yahweh your God, for he hath given you the seed-rain, in right manner, - Yea he hath caused to descend for you a down-pour, of seed-rain and of the harvest-rain in the first month; So shall the threshing-floors, be filled, with corn, - and the vats, overflow, with new wine and oil. Then will I make good to you the years which were eaten by the swarming locust, the grass locust, and the corn locust and the creeping locust, - even my great army, which I sent among you. And ye shall eat and eat, and be satisfied, and shall praise the name of Yahweh your God, who hath dealt with you wondrously, - so shall my people, not be abashed, unto times age-abiding. So shall ye know that, in the midst of Israel, I am, and that, I, Yahweh, am your God, and none else, - and my people, shall not be abashed, unto times age-abiding. And it shall come to pass, afterwards, 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 out of her midst, and, all her rulers, will I slay with him, saith Yahweh. Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of Judah, and because of four, will I not turn it back, - Because they have rejected the law of Yahweh, and, his statutes, have not kept, but their falsehoods, have led them astray, after the which their fathers, did walk, read more. Therefore will I send a fire upon Judah, - which shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem. Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of Israel, and because of four, will I not turn it back, - Because they have sold - for silver - the righteous, and the needy - for a pair of shoes: Who strive to bring the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and, the way of the oppressed, they pervert, - Yea, a man and his own father, go in unto the maid, to profane my holy Name! And, on pledged garments, they recline, beside every altar, - and, exacted wine, do they drink, in the house of their God.
Announce it over the palaces in Ashdod, and over the palaces in the land of Egypt, - and say ye - Gather yourselves together upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold ye - the great disorders in the midst thereof, and the oppressed within her. Therefore do they not know how to do right, Declareth Yahweh, who are treasuring up violence and spoil in their palaces. read more. Therefore - Thus, saith My Lord, Yahweh, An adversary! Yea round about the land, - and he who shall bring down, from thee, thy strength, And spoiled shall be thy palaces. Thus, saith Yahweh, Just as a shepherd rescueth, out of the mouth of the lion, a couple of shankbones, or the tip of an ear, so, shall be rescued the sons of Israel, who are tarrying in Samaria, in the corner of the divan, and on the damask of the luxurious couch. Hear ye and bear witness, throughout the house of Jacob, - Commandeth My Lord, Yahweh, God of hosts: That, in the day I visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, then will I punish, concerning the altars of Bethel, So shall the horns of the altar, be broken off, and they shall fall to the ground; And I will smite the winter house along with the summer house, - and the houses of ivory, shall be destroyed! and the great houses, shall disappear, Declareth Yahweh.
They hate the man who, in the gate, rebuketh, - and, him who speaketh truthfully, they abhor. Therefore - because ye have trampled on the poor, and, the gift of corn, ye would take away from him, though, houses of hewn stone, ye have built, Yet shall ye not dwell in them, - Though, delightful vineyards, ye have planted, Yet shall ye not drink the wine of them. read more. For I know how numerous are your transgressions, and how surpassing your sins, - ye adversaries of the righteous! ye acceptors of a bribe! Even the needy in the gate, have they turned away! Therefore, the prudent man, at that time, will be dumb, - Because an evil time, it is!
Yahweh, was sore displeased, with your fathers: therefore shalt thou say unto them, Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Return ye unto me, urgeth Yahweh of hosts, - that I may return unto you, saith Yahweh of hosts. read more. Do not become like your fathers, unto whom the former prophets, proclaimed, saying, Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Return, I pray you, from your wicked ways, and from your wicked practices; but they heard not, nor hearkened unto me, declareth Yahweh. Your fathers, where are they? and, the prophets, to times age-abiding, do they live? Howbeit, as for my words and my statutes with which I charged my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? and so they returned and said, Just as Yahweh of hosts planned to do unto us, according to our ways and according to our practices, So hath he dealt with us? Upon the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the same, is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Yahweh unto Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, the prophet, as followeth: I looked by night, And lo! a man riding upon a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees, in the shade; and, after him, were horses, red, bay, and white. Then said I, What are these, my lord? And the messenger who was speaking with me, said unto me, I, will shew thee what these, are. So the man who was standing among the myrtle-trees responded, and said, - These, are they whom Yahweh, hath sent, to go to and fro through the earth. Then responded they to the messenger of Yahweh, who was standing among the myrtle-trees, and said, We have gone to and fro through the earth, - and lo! all the earth, resteth and is quiet. Then the messenger of Yahweh responded, and said, O Yahweh of hosts! How long wilt, thou, not have compassion upon Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, - against which thou hast had indignation these seventy years? And Yahweh answered the messenger who was speaking with me, in words that were pleasant, - words that were consoling, Then the messenger who was speaking with me, said unto me, Proclaim thou, saying, Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, I am jealous for Jerusalem, and for Zion, with a great jealousy; And, with a great displeasure, am I displeased with the careless nations, - in that, when, I, was displeased (for) a little, then, they, helped forward the calamity, Wherefore, Thus, saith Yahweh, I have returned to Jerusalem, with compassions,, My house, shall be built therein, declareth Yahweh of hosts, and, a line, shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem. Further, proclaim thou, saying, Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Yet, shall my cities overflow with blessing! So will Yahweh yet, have compassion, upon Zion, and yet make choice of Jerusalem. Then lifted I up mine eyes and looked, - and lo! Four Horns.
So he said unto him, Run, speak unto this young man, saying: Like open villages, shall Jerusalem remain, for the multitude of men and cattle in her midst; And, I, will become to her, declareth Yahweh, A wall of fire round about, - and, a glory, will I become in her midst. read more. Ho! ho! flee ye, therefore, out of the land of the North, urgeth Yahweh. For, as the four winds of the heavens, have I spread you abroad, declareth Yahweh. Ho! Zion, deliver thyself, - thou that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon. For, Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, For his own honour, hath he sent me unto the nations that are spoiling you, - Surely, he that toucheth you, toucheth the pupil of mine eye. For behold me! brandishing my hand over them, and they shall become a spoil unto their own slaves, - and ye shall know that, Yahweh of hosts, hath sent me. Sing out and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, - For behold me! coming in, and I will make my habitation in thy midst, declareth Yahweh. Then shall many nations, join themselves, unto Yahweh, in that day, and shall become my people, - and I will make my habitation in thy midst, so shalt thou know that, Yahweh of hosts, hath sent me unto thee. Thus will Yahweh inherit Judah, his portion, on the soil of the sanctuary, - and make choice, yet again, of Jerusalem. Hush! all flesh, before Yahweh, - For he hath roused himself up out of his holy dwelling.