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
Yes, in your eyes a thousand years are like yesterday that quickly passes, or like one of the divisions of the nighttime.
The Beloved to Her Lover: Until the dawn arrives and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved -- be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountain gorges.
The Beloved to Her Lover: Until the dawn arrives and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved -- be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountain gorges.
"Son of man, prophesy and say, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: "'Wail, "Alas, the day is here!"
I was watching in the night visions, "And with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man was approaching. He went up to the Ancient of Days and was escorted before him.
Then the Lord became zealous for his land; he had compassion on his people. The Lord responded to his people, "Look! I am about to restore your grain as well as fresh wine and olive oil. You will be fully satisfied. I will never again make you an object of mockery among the nations. read more. I will remove the one from the north far from you. I will drive him out to a dry and desolate place. Those in front will be driven eastward into the Dead Sea, and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea. His stench will rise up as a foul smell." Indeed, the Lord has accomplished great things. Do not fear, my land! Rejoice and be glad, because the Lord has accomplished great things! Do not fear, wild animals! For the pastures of the wilderness are again green with grass. Indeed, the trees bear their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield to their fullest. Citizens of Zion, rejoice! Be glad because of what the Lord your God has done! For he has given to you the early rains as vindication. He has sent to you the rains -- both the early and the late rains as formerly. The threshing floors are full of grain; the vats overflow with fresh wine and olive oil. I will make up for the years that the 'arbeh-locust consumed your crops -- the yeleq-locust, the hasil-locust, and the gazam-locust -- my great army that I sent against you. You will have plenty to eat, and your hunger will be fully satisfied; you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has acted wondrously in your behalf. My people will never again be put to shame. You will be convinced that I am in the midst of Israel. I am the Lord your God; there is no other. My people will never again be put to shame. After all of this I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your elderly will have revelatory dreams; your young men will see prophetic visions.
I will remove Moab's leader; I will kill all Moab's officials with him." The Lord has spoken! This is what the Lord says: "Because Judah has committed three covenant transgressions -- make that four! -- I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They rejected the Lord's law; they did not obey his commands. Their false gods, to which their fathers were loyal, led them astray. read more. So I will set Judah on fire, and it will consume Jerusalem's fortresses." This is what the Lord says: "Because Israel has committed three covenant transgressions -- make that four! -- I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They sold the innocent for silver, the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the dirt-covered heads of the poor; they push the destitute away. A man and his father go to the same girl; in this way they show disrespect for my moral purity. They stretch out on clothing seized as collateral; they do so right beside every altar! They drink wine bought with the fines they have levied; they do so right in the temple of their God!
Make this announcement in the fortresses of Ashdod and in the fortresses in the land of Egypt. Say this: "Gather on the hills around Samaria! Observe the many acts of violence taking place within the city, the oppressive deeds occurring in it." "They do not know how to do what is right." (The Lord is speaking.) "They store up the spoils of destructive violence in their fortresses. read more. Therefore," says the sovereign Lord, "an enemy will encircle the land. He will take away your power; your fortresses will be looted." This is what the Lord says: "Just as a shepherd salvages from the lion's mouth a couple of leg bones or a piece of an ear, so the Israelites who live in Samaria will be salvaged. They will be left with just a corner of a bed, and a part of a couch." Listen and warn the family of Jacob! The sovereign Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking! "Certainly when I punish Israel for their covenant transgressions, I will destroy Bethel's altars. The horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground. I will destroy both the winter and summer houses. The houses filled with ivory will be ruined, the great houses will be swept away." The Lord is speaking!
The Israelites hate anyone who arbitrates at the city gate; they despise anyone who speaks honestly. Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops and exact a grain tax from them, you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone, nor will you drink the wine from the fine vineyards you planted. read more. Certainly I am aware of your many rebellious acts and your numerous sins. You torment the innocent, you take bribes, and you deny justice to the needy at the city gate. For this reason whoever is smart keeps quiet in such a time, for it is an evil time.
The Lord was very angry with your ancestors. Therefore say to the people: The Lord who rules over all says, "Turn to me," says the Lord who rules over all, "and I will turn to you," says the Lord who rules over all. read more. "Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets called out, saying, 'The Lord who rules over all says, "Turn now from your evil wickedness,"' but they would by no means obey me," says the Lord. "As for your ancestors, where are they? And did the prophets live forever? But have my words and statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, not outlived your fathers? Then they paid attention and confessed, 'The Lord who rules over all has indeed done what he said he would do to us, because of our sinful ways.'" On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month Shebat, in Darius' second year, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo, as follows: I was attentive that night and saw a man seated on a red horse that stood among some myrtle trees in the ravine. Behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. Then I asked one nearby, "What are these, sir?" The angelic messenger who replied to me said, "I will show you what these are." Then the man standing among the myrtle trees spoke up and said, "These are the ones whom the Lord has sent to walk about on the earth." The riders then agreed with the angel of the Lord, who was standing among the myrtle trees, "We have been walking about on the earth, and now everything is at rest and quiet." The angel of the Lord then asked, "Lord who rules over all, how long before you have compassion on Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah which you have been so angry with for these seventy years?" The Lord then addressed good, comforting words to the angelic messenger who was speaking to me. Turning to me, the messenger then said, "Cry out that the Lord who rules over all says, 'I am very much moved for Jerusalem and for Zion. But I am greatly displeased with the nations that take my grace for granted. I was a little displeased with them, but they have only made things worse for themselves. "'Therefore,' says the Lord, 'I have become compassionate toward Jerusalem and will rebuild my temple in it,' says the Lord who rules over all. 'Once more a surveyor's measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.' Speak up again with the message of the Lord who rules over all: 'My cities will once more overflow with prosperity, and once more the Lord will comfort Zion and validate his choice of Jerusalem.'" Once again I looked and this time I saw four horns.
and said to him, "Hurry, speak to this young man as follows: 'Jerusalem will no longer be enclosed by walls because of the multitude of people and animals there. But I (the Lord says) will be a wall of fire surrounding Jerusalem and the source of glory in her midst.'" read more. "You there! Flee from the northland!" says the Lord, "for like the four winds of heaven I have scattered you," says the Lord. "Escape, Zion, you who live among the Babylonians!" For the Lord who rules over all says to me that for his own glory he has sent me to the nations that plundered you -- for anyone who touches you touches the pupil of his eye. "I am about to punish them in such a way," he says, "that they will be looted by their own slaves." Then you will know that the Lord who rules over all has sent me. "Sing out and be happy, Zion my daughter! For look, I have come; I will settle in your midst," says the Lord. "Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on the day of salvation, and they will also be my people. Indeed, I will settle in the midst of you all." Then you will know that the Lord who rules over all has sent me to you. The Lord will take possession of Judah as his portion in the holy land and he will choose Jerusalem once again. Be silent in the Lord's presence, all people everywhere, for he is being moved to action in his holy dwelling place.