Imagining the End: Visions of

Book

of the Watchers

  (



 Enoch 



–



), which tells of  a rebellion in heaven among

the sons of  God. This story is modified in Jubilees, where the leader of  the

rebel angels is called Mastema. A different paradigm of  the origin of  evil is

found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, where the opposing spirits of  Light and

Darkness are created from the beginning by God. But the destiny of  human

beings is still shaped by the angelic spirits to whose lot they belong. The

Book of  Daniel does not address the question of  the origin of  evil so directly,

but there are clear mythological overtones in Daniel chapter 



 where the

Gentile kingdoms are portrayed as beasts rising from the primordial sea.

Superhuman, angelic agency is also manifested in other ways. In Daniel, for

example, the conflict between Jews and Greeks in the Hellenistic era is

conceived as a struggle between the archangel Michael and the holy ones in

heaven and the angelic (or demonic) prince of  Greece. The 

Animal

 

Apocalypse

(



 Enoch 



–



), written about the same time, speaks of  angelic shepherds

of  the nations, and of  a heavenly ‘man’ who comes to the aid of  Judas

Maccabee. All of  this can be seen as an adaptation of  common Near Eastern

mythology, but the role of  these angelic figures is more prominent in the

apocalypses than in the earlier writings of  the prophets. The effect is a sense

that the outcome of  history is not in human control, but is largely in the

hands of  principalities and powers.

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Judaism, Christianity and Islam

The most fundamental difference between the Jewish apocalypses and the

Hebrew prophets in my view concerns the judgment of  the dead. The Hebrew

Bible is extreme in the literature of  the ancient world in its rejection of

reward and punishment after death. There are, to be sure, some ambiguous

passages, where some scholars find evidence of  resurrection or even of  beatific

vision in the afterlife.

27

 The only form of  resurrection that is securely attested

before the Hellenistic period, however, is the resurrection of  the Jewish people

after the exile, as we find it in Ezekiel’s vision of  the dry bones (Ezekiel 



),

and also, I would argue, in Isaiah 



: 



.

28

 In both Enoch and Daniel, however,

we have a hope of  human transformation after death. Enoch has a vision of

chambers under a mountain where the spirits of  the dead are divided into

separate categories (



 Enoch 



). More typical, however, is transformation to

an angelic state. In Daniel 



 we are told that the righteous teachers will

shine like the stars. The significance of  this imagery is made clear by com-

parison with 



 Enoch 



: ‘Be hopeful! … you will shine like the lights of

heaven and will be seen, and the gate of  heaven will be opened to you … for

you will have great joy like the angels of  heaven … for you shall be associates

of  the host of  heaven.’ What is envisioned here is not resurrection of  the

body to renewed life on earth, but the exaltation of  the ‘spiritual body’ or

nefesh

 to angelic life in heaven. In the Hebrew Bible only an elect few, Enoch,

Moses and Elijah, could be said to share this destiny, because of  the mysterious

nature of  their departures. In the apocalyptic literature, such transformation

becomes the hope of  all the righteous.

The implications of  this new hope were far-reaching. In most of  the

Hebrew Bible the goal of  life was to live long in the land and to see one’s

children and one’s children’s children to the third or fourth generation. The

hope of  the individual was very closely bound up with the hope of  the people

of  Israel. The blessings and curses of  the covenant relate to the people as a

whole, not just to individuals. The apocalypses do not break completely with

this traditional, corporate utopian ideal. Daniel, for example, still speaks of

the kingdom that will be given to the people of  the holy ones of  the Most

High. Later apocalypses envision a messianic kingdom, and the ingathering

of  the exiles. But a new element has also been introduced, where the destiny of

the individual is not dependent on progeny, or on the restoration of  Israel.

In the Book of  Daniel, the heroes are the wise teachers,