Weber (Altsynag. Theol. p. 384), certainly does not express the grossly carnal
expectancy imputed to it. On the other hand, it is certainly grossly materialistic, when we
read how the skin of slaughtered Leviathan is to be made into tents, girdles, necklets, or
armlets for the blessed, according to their varying merits (Babha B. 75 a). Altogether the
account of the nature and hunt of this Leviat han, of the feast held, the various dishes
served (Babha B. 74 b to 75 b), and the wine drunk on the occasion (Targ. Pseudo -Jon.
on Gen. xxvii. 25; Targ. on Cant. viii. 2; on Eccles. ix. 7), are too coarsely materialistic for
quotation. But what a contrast to the description of the 'Last Things' by our Lord and His
Apostles! This alone would furnish sufficient presumptive evidence in favour of the New
Testament. I have tried to touch this very painful matter as delicately as I could, rather by
allusions tha n by descriptions, which could only raise prejudices.
80. Yalkut, vol. i. p. 32 d. and especially Ber. 17 a.
81. This is the Jerusalem built of sapphire, which is to descend from heaven, and in the
central sanctuary of which (unlike the worship of the Book of Revelation) Aaron is to
officiate and to receive the priestly gifts (Taan. 5 a; Baba B. 75 b).
To complete this sketch of Jewish opinions, it is necessary, however briefly, to refer to
the Pseudepigraphic Writings,82 which, as will be remembered, expressed the
Apocalyptic expectancies of the Jews before the time of Christ. But here we have
always to keep in mind this twofold difficulty: that the language used in works of this
kind is of a highly figurative character, and must therefore not be literally pressed; and
that more than one of them, notably IV. Esdras, dates from post -Christian times, and
was, in important respects, admittedly influenced by Christian teaching. But in the main
the picture of Messianic times in these writings is the same as the presented by the
Rabbis. Briefly, the Pseudepigraphic view may be thus sketched.83 Of the so -called
'Wars of the Messiah' there had been already a kind of prefigurement in the days of
Antiochus Epiphanes, when armed soldiery had been seen to carry on warfare in the
air.84 This sign is mentioned in the Sibylline Books85 as marking the coming end,
together with the sight of swords in the starlit sky at night, the falling of dust from
heaven, the extinction of the sunlight and appearance of the moon by day, and the
dropping of blood from the rocks. A somewhat similar, though even more realistic,
picture is presented in connection with the blast of the third trumpet in IV. (II.) Esdras.86
Only that there the element of moral judgment is more clearly introduced. This appears
still more fully in another passage of the same book,87 in which, apparently in
connection with the Judgment, the influence of Christian teaching, although in an
externalised form, may be clearly traced. A perhaps even more detailed description of
the wickedness, distress, and physical desolation upon earth at that time, is given in the
Book of Jubilees.88
83. Comp. generally Schürer, Neutest. Zeitgesch. pp. 579, &c.
82. See Appendix I.
84. 2 Macc. v. 2, 3.
85. Or, Sibyll. iii. 795-806.
86. IV. Esdr. v. 1-12.
87. vi. 18-28.
88. Book of Jubilees xxiii.
At last, when these distresses have reached their final height, when signs are in the sky,
ruin upon earth, and the unburied bodies that cover the ground are devoured by birds