Exodus 5:22-6:8 Hosca 2:14-23 Ezeki&34:17-31
1. THE APOCALYPTIC VISION: DELIVERANCE
The literature which depicts the gigantic, world-impacting, cataclysmic de- liverance which God will eventually effect is technically known as apo- calyptic literature. The word ‘apocalyptic’ (‘unveiling’, ‘uncovering’) refers both to a distinct body of literature and also to a mood.’
Apocalyptic literature born out of hard times flourished in the inter- testamental period. It includes such non-canonical books as 1 Enoch, 2 Esdras and Baruch, which, while not ‘Scripture’, nevertheless illumine the direction apocalytic literature took. Within the canon of the Old Testament, scholars have identified proto-apocalyptic sections which are precursors of full-blown later apocalypticliterature: Isaiah 24-27, Ezekiel 38-39, parts of .Daniel and Zechariah. These do not in every case necessarily exhibit all the characteristics of apocalyptic literature, but they do represent the flavour of apocalyptic more than that of the prophetic.
One feature of apocalyptic shared in part by proto-apocalyptic is a series of discourse cycles revolving around visions. Unlike prophetic literature, in which one finds ‘Thus says the LORD', apocalyptic literature introduces an angelic interpreter as part of the vision report (compare Dn. 8:16ff., Zc.
4: lff.). Apocalypticists relate their own reactions of inward turmoil and physical faintness as they are confronted by the Word of God. Whereas the prophets were essentially speakers, the apocalypticists are authors. When
‘For a non-technical treatment of apocalyptic see Leon Morris, Apocalyptic (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972; London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1973). More technical is the book by Klaus Koch, The Rediscovery of Apocalyptic (Naperville: Allenson; London: SCM Press, 1972). For support on making a distinction between apocalyptic literature and apocalyptic mood, see Michael E. Stone, ‘Lists of Revealed Things in the Apocalyptic Literature’, F. M. Cross, W. E. Lemke, and P. D. Miller Jr., eds., Mugnaliu Dei, The Mighty Acts ofcod (Garden City: Doubleday, 1976), pp. 414-452, esp. 439ff.
Behold, the LORD will lay waste the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants . . . The earth is utterly broken, the earth is rent asunder, the earth is violently shaken.. . Then the moon will be confounded, and the sun ashamed. . . (Is. 24:1,19,23).
The coming action by the Almighty will be huge in its devastation.
And the devastation is inevitable. True, there is continuity with history, but now one speaks of epochs and of periods yet to come prior to the end. In the Testament of Abraham, for example, human history is said to total 7,000 years. Numbers such as 4, 7, 12, 70 and their multiples become important. The times allocated and the end of all things are predictable because divinely determined even from long ago (e.g. seven of the ten weeks of world history have elapsed (1 Enoch 91: 12-17; cf. 93: l-10). The 199
God’s design reafirmed: the post-monarchy era
canonical materials are not so explicit, but even in Daniel the sequence of kingdoms depicted by the image which Nebuchadnezzar saw-gold, silver, bronze, and iron (Dn. 2:31)-follow one another in a particular order.
The final cataclysm is imminent. There is no longer much time.
The pitcher is near to the cistern, And the ship to the port,
And the course of the journey to the city, And the life to its consummation (2 Baruch 5: 10).
The controversial seventy weeks of Daniel suggest not only a predetermined time but a relatively short time until the end.
The nature of the upheaval at the end time, while memorable for its fire and earthquake, is conspicuous for the part the demons and angels play in it.
The classical prophets of the eighth century and even those of a later period were virtually silent about spirit beings. In 1 Enoch considerable preoccupation with angels leads to elaborate descriptions of angels’ names, function and hierarchy. In 1 Enoch a discussion of sin in the world centres on Genesis 6:la and spirit beings in general. Demons are also identified by name, Belial being the chief. In comparison with the later apocalyptic literature, the biblical material is very restrained. Daniel does make mention of Gabriel (9:21). The contest between the angels and opposing forces is suggested in the note that the Prince of Persia, presumably a demon force, withstood God’s messenger for twenty-one days but was overpowered with the help of the Prince (angel?) Michael (Dn. 10: 13). The pre-Christian Qumran materials elaborate on this motif of spirit beings in The War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness. Since the New Testament gospels and even the book of Acts frequently mention angels and demons, one can ask whether they breathe the apocalpytic spirit.
Moreover, apocalyptic as an outlook is marked by a clear-cut dualism:
good and evil, light and darkness, this age and the age to come. It is as though wicked men have been hardened to become totally wicked. The righteous by contrast are easily identifiable.
Following the ominous global devastation, the age to come will be an age of new salvation, notably different from the present age.
Apocalyptic then is a kind of eschatology. Prophets had spoken about the future, to be sure, even about the latter days, but their context had been the world as they knew it with nations and the on-going flow of history. Within this history, often with nations as his agent, God would judge, and within this history God would bring salvation. The judgment and salvation were definitely this-worldly. The apocalypticists saw God’s cataclysmic judgment outside history, trans-history as it were, terminating history. No longer were nations God’s tool. All nations were opposed to him. The
Deliverance setting was not this-worldly but other-worldly.
The apocalpytic writers are successors to the prophets, though some scholars have traced their spiritual ancestry to wisdom or even to priestly material. As a British scholar affirms, ‘That Apocalyptic is the child of prophecy, yet diverse from prophecy, can hardly be disputed.” It has been said that prophets were in touch with current reality but nevertheless had a vision. In apocalypticism, the vision was divorced from the reality and in itself became the primary focus.3
With this background on the nature of apocalpytic we can more fully appreciate the shape of salvation presented in this literature. Two sample passages, one from Daniel and one from Zechariah, will serve as illustrations of deliverance seen from the vantage point of apocalypticists.
a. Deliverance depicted in Daniel
It is generally held that Daniel’s vision of the image (chapter 2) is depicting the same sequence of kingdoms as the image of the beasts (chapter 7). There is less agreement among scholars about the interpretation of the particulars, specifically the symbolism of the materials in the image (gold, silver, bronze, iron) or the beasts that arose out of the sea (lion, bear, leopard, and the fourth beast). That these represent kingdoms is explicitly stated and that minimally Babylon, Media, Persia and Greece are intended is undisputed;
but while some list only the four kingdoms, and that in the order Babylon, Media, Persia and Greece (e.g. H. H. Rowley), others include Rome and defend the sequence Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome (e.g.
Edward J. Young).4 Besides, according to one school of thought, the four kingdoms have already come and gone. Another holds that the visions are intended as a panorama of world history. In some circles there is talk of revived Roman empire which will precede the coming establishment of the kingdom of God (Dn. 2:44--15; cf. 7: 13-14). ‘The correct view can only be that there will be a time still future when the Roman empire will be restored so that these representations (ten toes) can be true in the manner depicted:
ten contemporary kings.‘s Virtually every view raises its own set of prob- lems.
Westerners are frequently exercised about the ‘timing’ of these two visions. Calendaring of future events is not the primary stress of the texts,
ZH.H. Rowley, The Relevance ofApocalyptic (London: Lutterworth, 1963), p. 13.
‘Apocalyptic writings, were one to give an extended treatment, should be differentiated according to time of writing. For a perceptive article see Richard J. Bauckham, ‘The Rise of Apocalyptic’, Themelios 3:2 (January 1978), pp. 10-23. Bauckham, who shows how wisdom materials as well as prophecy represent a source in the origin of apocalyptic, stresses the positive contribution of apocalyptic writers.
‘H. H. Rowley, Darius the Mede and the Four World Empires ofDnniel; A Historical Study ofContempor- ary Themes (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1959). E. J. Young The Prophecy ofDaniel (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1949) = A Commentary on Daniel (Banner of Truth, 1972).
sLeon J. Wood, A Commentary on Daniel (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1973), p. 187.
2 0 0
2 0 1
God’s design reaffirmed: the post-monarchy era
however; the main stress is to point to the kingdom of God as an entity quite different from worldly kingdoms, and to assert the assured triumph of God’s kingdom over the worldly kingdoms. The stone cut without hands will pulverize the kingdoms represented by gold, silver, bronze and iron;
or, in the language of the second vision, the son of man, totally unlike the four beasts that rise out of the sea but fully adequate to their challenge, will establish his kingdom forever.
In these two visions there is a forceful statement about salvation and de- liverance. The language about kings and kingdoms sets the salvation on a broad plain. Not Israel or even her nearby neighbours, but the kingdoms of the world are in view. The opposing forces are the political structures of nations, depicted in the image as strong and even attractive; but from God’s vantage point as beasts, strong to be sure, but menacing and ugly. Great boasts are made by the fourth beast particularly (Dn. 7:8). But looking into another direction the seer sees thrones set up with the Ancient of Days taking his seat: his ‘vesture was like white snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool’ (Dn. 7:9, NASB). The throne, ablaze with flames, is also the source of a river of fire. The court attendants are in readiness. A gigantic power struggle is in the offing. The apocalyptist pictures the conflict between God and enemy human forces on a grand scale.
Ultimate victory moreover is ensured. God triumphs, even effortlessly. A rolling stone cut without hands from the mountain deals the smashing blow to man’s kingdom pretensions. Or, to change the figure, the son of man is presented to the Ancient of Days and to him is given a kingdom and domin- ion which is not temporary, nor shall it be destroyed, but is for ever. It appears that this kingdom is given in turn then to the ‘saints of the Highest One’ (Dn. 7: 18, NASB) with whom the fourth beast has made war and who were, so it momentarily appeared, about to be overpowered. Judgment is passed by the Ancient of Days in favour of the ‘saints of the Highest One’
and the fourth beast, dreadful and destructive, was ‘taken away, consumed and destroyed to the end’ (Dn. 7:22,26). The triumph of the Almighty is total. It is a triumph in conjunction with the son of man. It is a triumph in which the saints of the Highest One, possibly Israelites,6 share the dominion and greatness, for ‘the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people’ (Dn. 7:27).
The role of the son of man in this victory scene and his identity particu- larly, have occasioned much discussion.’ There is little in other canonical literature about the son of man, though he appears in 1 Enoch. The son of
Deliverance man comes with the clouds of heaven (Dn. 7:13). He is presented to the Ancient of Days, who is God himself.
6Opinions vary as to identity of the ‘saints of the Most High’. A recent defender of these as Israel is Gerhard F. Hasel, ‘The Identity of the Saints of the Most High in Daniel 7’, Biblica 56(1976), pp. 173-192.
‘The literature is extensive. See I. Howard Marshall, ‘The Son of Man in Contemporary Debate’, Evangeli- cal Quarterly 42 (1970), pp. 67-87; recent commentaries on the gospels; and articles in Bible dictionaries.
2 0 2
I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and be came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed (7: 13-l 4).
To the son of man are given dominions as well as glory so that all peoples and languages might serve him. In function, then, he is a king. That portrait of royalty continues in 1 Enoch, a book that dates from the second century
BC to the first century AD where the son of man is said to be named in the pres- ence of the Lord of the Spirits by a name already assigned him prior to cre- ation. The son of man, also called an Elect One, is placed on a throne of glory (1 Enoch 6 1: 10). ‘All who dwell on earth shall fall down and worship before him’ (1 Enoch 48:5). He judges kings (1 Enoch 46:4-j).
In Enoch, then, as in Daniel, the Son of man is a celestial figure. Daniel’s language is cautious: ‘He is like a son of man’; in Enoch he is known only by the title ‘son of man’. It has been suggested that if one is to describe a heavenly being one can really do so only by comparing him with man (cfi Ezk. 1:26). Hence deity is compared to man, If, however, one writes about a human being who seems to be more than human, then comparison is made with deity. If this interpretation is correct, then the term ‘son of man’ is clearly a reference to a celestial or heavenly figure. Our Lord’s self- designation as ‘Son of man’, while it might be understood as representing an identification with humanity, was strictly speaking, a reference to his deity.
The language of deliverance is now the language of the kingdom of God, of thrones, of dominions and of the Son of man. The story of deliverance is told with a heavy use of symbol. The time of salvation, though future, is certain.
b. Deliverance depicted in Zechariah
Of the many portraits and models of deliverance which one might review from the exilic and post-exilic period, in addition to Daniel, an apocalyptic- like chapter in Zechariah 9 warrants attention. The chapter is little known
God’s design reaffirmed: the post-monarchy era
except for the quotation from the New Testament story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
Rejoice greatly, 0 daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, 0 daughter of]erusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is be, bumble and riding on an ass,
on a colt the foal of an ass (9:9).
Yet the entire chapter is an interesting statement on God’s salvation, framed, as some believe, on the pattern of an ancient warrior hymn.
At first or even at third reading the chapter seems to lack coherence. More than one scholar has suggested that certain verses are later additions. If one checks modern English translations, the confusion is only compounded, due to the various conjectural Hebrew text readings adopted in the opening verses. Rather than translate ‘The capital city of Aram is the LORD’S’, it is preferable, for reasons that cannot here be elaborated, to retain the more difficult Hebrew idea and render, ‘For the LORD has his eye on all men, as on the tribes of Israel’ (9: 1, my translation). The general direction the chapter takes is clear, however. The Lord Yahweh is on the march from the north southward. The northern city Hadrach, mentioned only here but known from ancient history, first comes into view. Then he, Yahweh, arrives at Damascus. The Phoenician cities along the Mediterranean and the Philis- tine cities of the southern coastal plain all fall, and Yahweh takes pos- session. Ekron, the northernmost city in Philistia, is absorbed into Judah, just as were the Jebusites at the time of David (9:7). The ‘house’, either the temple or the entire land, is now made safe (9: 8). The enemy cities have been conquered, and the warrior rides triumphantly into the city (9:9) and esta- blishes his dominion ‘from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth’ (verse 10). His rule will be a rule of peace. Chariot and horse will no longer be in use; the warrior speaks peace to the nations. A war skirmish may ensue (9: 13-14), but God will intervene. ‘On that day the LORD their God will save them’ (9: 16). Deliverance then is assured. Prosperity follows, for ‘grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the maidens’
(9:17).
For our purposes we single out two observations for emphasis. First, this passage depicts a time of salvation. Some scholars have tried to pinpoint the salvation period historically, which on the face of it should be possible, since various cities are mentioned; but particulars in earlier history do not align with the description given here. Almost certainly the time question is not primary. The traditional enemies of Israel were listed, and that in the context of a warrior hymn, to emphasize the grandeur of God’s victory. He
Deliverance would also be Jerusalem’s safeguard: no oppressor would pass over the land again.
Secondly, the form in which the poem is cast is that of an ancient warrior hymn, Paul Hanson identifies the parts as follows:x
Conflict-victory 1-7
Temple secured 8
Victory shout and procession 9
Manifestation of Yahweh’s universal reign 10
Salvation: captives released 11-13
Theophany of divine warrior 14
Sacrifice and banquet 15
Fertility of restored order 16-17
Hanson shows that there are other warrior hymns from the ancient Near East, dating from early periods. He finds the ritual pattern (threat, combat, manifestation of universal reign, salvation) in numerous psalms (2, 9,24, 46, 47, 48) and also in prophets (Is. 34-35). The Isaiah apocalypse is arranged in its first part to correspond to the same ritual pattern (combat, 24:1-13; victory shout, 14-16; combat-victory, 18-22; manifestation of Yahweh’s universal reign, 23; victory-shout and banquet, 25: l-8).
The apocalyptic elements of the warrior hymn in the Zechariah 9 poem include the concern about nations and God’s victory, a victory that owes nothing to human participation. Indeed, God’s intervention, in which his arrow will go forth like lightning as he marches ‘in the storm winds of the south’, is reminiscent of divine war familiar from the time of the exodus.
The warrior hymn of Zechariah 9 harks back to Israel’s early divine war.
In earlier narratives God’s deliverance was described historically as Israel fought against the Canaanites and the Midianites. Now in Zechariah the same model of war and combat is emphasized to depict God’s deliverance of a future day. Just as victory came in early Israel without a show of force and weaponry but through faith, so in Zechariah’s poem victory is assured, not because of a people’s armaments but because of the appearance of Yahweh.
In our discussion about deliverance which started with the exodus, we have at the end come full circle.
Even so, though Zechariah reaches back into time for his model, he points into the future. From early times both in Israel and the ancient Near East, the donkey was an appropriate mount for royalty (Jdg. 5: 10; 10:4; 12: 14; 2 Sa.
16:2). The expression ‘ass’s colt’ is attested from the second millennium at Mari outside Israel, where it signifies ‘pure-bred’. When Jesus rode into
*Paul Hanson, The Dawn ofApocalyptic (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975), pp. 315-316. A summary statement and assessment of Hanson’s view on the origin of apocalyptic and his position on the sociological context for its development-an intra-community struggle between visionary and pragmatic-oriented groups-is given by R. Bauckham, ‘The Rise of Apocalyptic’.
204 20s