Imagining the End: Visions of

Book of the Watchers

, however, the

crisis is described in allegorical terms, through the story of  the fallen angels,

and it does not involve persecution in any case. Rather, it is a matter of

cultural change, arising in part from technological innovation:

And Azazel taught men to make swords, and daggers, and shields and breast-

plates. And he showed them the things after these, and the art of  making them:

bracelets, and ornaments, and the art of  making up the eyes and of  beautifying

the eyelids, and the most precious and choice stones, and all kinds of  coloured

dyes. And the world was changed. And there was great impiety and much

fornication, and they went astray, and all their ways became corrupt. (



 Enoch



)

It is, of  course, debatable how far this description should be taken to

reflect any specific historical situation, but it is hardly coincidental that this

account appears in a document from the Hellenistic period. The impact of

Hellenism on the Near East can be imagined by analogy with that of  Western

culture on traditional Middle Eastern societies in modern times. The superior

power and knowledge of  the new culture was dazzling, but the confidence in

human capability and lack of  modesty with respect to the human body were

shocking. The impact of  Hellenism on traditional Judaism is writ large in the

story of  the so-called Hellenistic reform in 



 Maccabees, but it must have

been felt in less extreme form for a century before that. I would suggest,

then, that the earliest Enoch apocalypses reflect a kind of  culture shock;

dismay at the way that the world was changed and a flight in imagination,

with Enoch on the clouds of  heaven, to a world where God was in control

and everything in order. Later Enochic writings, such as the 

Epistle of

 

Enoch

(



 Enoch 



–



) and the 

Similitudes

  (



 Enoch 



–



), are more concerned

with problems of  social injustice, which are perceived by the authors as

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77

Eschatological Dynamics in Early Judaism

constituting a crisis, but which were endemic to Judean society (and not only

to it) for centuries, and were not necessarily peculiarly acute when these

apocalypses were written.

Nevertheless, I think there is merit in the view that all the Jewish

apocalypses, at least, reflect crises of  some sort. All of  them profess the view

that this world is out of  joint. It is possible in principle to find also an

apocalypticism of  the powerful, or a triumphalist millennialism, and examples

of  this can be found in the Christian use of  millennialism in the Middle Ages.

I am not persuaded, however, by attempts to find it in Jewish antiquity.

Stephen Cook has argued that we find an example of  triumphant millennialism

in the prophecies of  Zechariah, and his celebration of  the restoration under

Zerubbabel and the High Priest Josiah.

34

 But while Zechariah was close to the

centre of  power in Judah, the Jewish province was marginal in the Persian

empire, and very far from the kind of  eschatological fulfilment that had been

predicted by the prophets. Again, Albert Baumgarten has argued for triumph-

ant millennialism in the case of  the Maccabees.

35

 It is true that the description

of  the reign of  Simon Maccabee (



 Maccabees 



: 



–



) has eschatological

overtones. Nevertheless, it seems to me to fall well short of  apocalyptic

expectations. Most crucially, it lacks the claim of  definitive fulfilment, of  a

kingdom that would not pass away. It seems to me, then, that the perception

of  ancient Jewish apocalyptic literature as crisis literature is essentially accur-

ate, given the significant qualification that the crises might be of  various kinds.

It is also fair to say that apocalyptic literature was meant to console and

exhort, but again we should grant that these terms cover a multitude of  more

specific illocutional functions. David Aune has proposed a more nuanced

formulation: an apocalypse is intended (a) to legitimate the transcendent

authorization of  the message, (b) by mediating a new actualization of  the

original revelatory experience through literary devices, structures and imagery,

which function to ‘conceal’ the message which the text ‘reveals’, so that

(c) ‘the recipients of  the message will be encouraged to modify their cognitive

and behavioral stance in conformity with transcendent perspectives’.

36

 I do

not propose to repeat Aune’s discussion of  this formulation, but only to

comment on one point. Direct exhortation, such as we find habitually in the

prophets, is relatively rare in apocalyptic texts, although there are some

exceptions. What is more typical of  apocalyptic writings is that they give a

descriptive account of  the world as they see it, and leave the reader to infer

the proper course of  action. They aim, first of  all, to change perception and

understanding. They want to persuade the reader that Belial is loose on the

earth, that Michael is championing their cause in heaven, or that the places

of  judgment are already prepared. Anyone who really believes these things

will inevitably modify his behaviour. Consequently, I agree with Aune that it

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78

Judaism, Christianity and Islam

is not sufficient to say that apocalypses are written to console and exhort.

They are written first of  all to persuade the reader of  hidden realities.

The function of  apocalyptic literature obviously has some bearing on why

it should first emerge in the Hellenistic period. Undoubtedly the crisis that

enveloped Judaism in the Maccabean era gave impetus to apocalyptic revela-

tions, just as the destruction of  Jerusalem by the Romans did, more than two

centuries later. But these crises were not sufficient causes for the development

of  apocalypticism. They were no more severe than other pre-Hellenistic crises,

such as the destruction of  Jerusalem by the Babylonians. The particular

phenomenon of  Jewish apocalypticism was also shaped by the confluence of

traditions that was characteristic of  the Hellenistic age. Jews were exposed to

Greek thought on the one side, and Persian and Babylonian ideas on the

other. The genesis of  the new genre was influenced both by this cultural

mixing and by the new crises confronting the Jewish community, but of

course we can never fully explain why a particular author chose to express

himself  in one way rather than another.

The Case of Qumran

Against the background of  this general account of  apocalypticism, I would

like to discuss the particular case of  Qumran, which is often described as an

apocalyptic community.

37

 The anomaly of  Qumran, for purposes of  this

discussion, is that while the central writings of  the sect are profoundly

influenced by apocalyptic ideas, these writings are not in the form of  apoca-

lypses. Several copies of  the books of  Enoch and Daniel were found at

Qumran, and there are several fragmentary writings, primarily in Aramaic,

which may have been formulated as heavenly revelations, but none of  these

is clearly a product of  the Dead Sea sect. The distinctive sectarian writings

take the form of  rule-books, hymns or biblical commentaries. Even the War

Scroll, which speaks of  the final War of  the Sons of  Light against the Sons

of  Darkness, is in the form of  

serek

, or rule-book, and is in large part a

manual giving instructions for the conduct of  the war.

Nevertheless, these Scrolls are imbued with a worldview that can reasonably

be called apocalyptic. Human beings are manipulated by the Spirits of  Light

and Darkness in which they partake. History is divided into periods, and the

penultimate period, the ‘End of  Days’, is either imminent or already begun.

The outcome of  history will be decided by a war between the Sons of  Light

and the Sons of  Darkness, led by Michael and Belial respectively. Life is lived

in anticipation of  eternal rewards and punishments: for the righteous there

is ‘everlasting blessing and eternal joy in life without end, a crown of  glory

and a garment of  majesty in unending light’ (Scroll of  the Rule [hereafter

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79

Eschatological Dynamics in Early Judaism



QS] 



:

  

–



). For the wicked, conversely, there shall be ‘a multitude of

plagues by the hand of  all the destroying angels, everlasting damnation by the

avenging wrath of  the fury of  God, eternal torment and endless disgrace

together with shameful extinction in the fire of  the dark regions’ (



QS 



: 



–



). All of  this is quite typical of  what we usually find in apocalypses.

The fact that these teachings are not presented in the form of  apocalyptic

visions, authorized by angelic authority, seems to be due to the role of  the

Teacher of  Righteousness in the formation of  the sect, and the emphasis that

he placed on the traditional Torah and the Prophets. In the Damascus Docu-

ment (hereafter CD), the structure of  revelation is explained with reference

to an obscure passage in Numbers 



:

  

: ‘the well which the princes dug,

which the nobles of  the people delved with the staff ’:

The Well is the Law, and those who dug it were the converts of  Israel who

went out of  the land of  Judah to sojourn in the land of  Damascus. God called

them all princes because they sought Him, and their renown was disputed by

no man. The staff  is the Interpreter of  the Law of  whom Isaiah said, He makes

a tool for his work; and the nobles of  the people are those who come to dig the

well with the staffs which the staff  ordained that they should walk in all the age

of  wickedness – and without them they shall find nothing – until he comes

who shall teach righteousness at the end of  days. (CD 



: 



–



)

Here, the authoritative Interpreter of  the Law is the figure usually called

the Teacher of  Righteousness, while an even more definitive teacher is still

expected at the end of  days.

38

 Again, a famous passage in the Pesher on

Habakkuk claims that God did not give the prophet full understanding of

what he wrote down, but made known to the Teacher of  Righteousness ‘all

the mysteries of  the words of  His servants the Prophets’ (IQpHab col. 



).

The apocalypses of  Daniel and Enoch certainly make use of  older scriptures

as sources of  revelation – think, for example, of  Daniel’s use of  Jeremiah’s

prophecy of  the seventy years (Daniel 



). But such explicit interpretation of

scripture is exceptional in the apocalypses, and where it is found it is reinforced

by the authority of  an angel. The pseudonymous authors of  the apocalypses

lack the authority of  the Teacher, but they also have a different mode of

operation. They are visionaries, somewhat analogous to the prophets of  old,

or at least to some of  them. The Teacher is a wisdom teacher, and interpreter

of  the Law. While the Teacher and his community knew and were influenced

by the apocalypses, he can scarcely have been a product of  the same com-

munity. The different valuing of  the scriptures and the different manner of

revelation are some of  the reasons why we should not attribute the Enoch

literature and the Scrolls to a single movement, or speak of  the apocalypses

as Essene.

39

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80

Judaism, Christianity and Islam

There was also a significant difference between the sectarian Scrolls and

the apocalypses in their future expectations. Daniel, famously, culminates

with the resurrection of  the dead, and this expectation also plays a pivotal

role in the Enochic writings. The resurrection in question is not evidently

physical; we might speak more appropriately of  the resurrection of  the spirit.

But it is a resurrection, in the sense that it is an event that is expected at a

future time. The language of  resurrection is strangely lacking in the sectarian

Scrolls. The only clear examples (



Q



, the ‘messianic apocalypse’, and



Q



, ‘pseudo-Ezekiel’) are clearly not of  sectarian provenance. The reason

for this, as has long been recognized, is that the sectarians believed that they

were already living the angelic life:

I thank thee, O Lord, for thou hast redeemed my soul from the Pit, and from

the hell of  Abaddon thou hast raised me up to everlasting height. I walk on

limitless level ground and I know there is hope for him whom thou has shaped

from dust for the everlasting council. Thou has cleansed a perverse spirit of great

sin that it may stand with the host of  the Holy Ones and that it may enter into

community with the congregation of  the Sons of  Heaven. (IQH 



: 



–



)

Or again:

Thou has purified man of  sin that he may be made holy for thee, with no

abominable uncleanness and no guilty wickedness; that he may be one [with]

the children of  thy truth and partake of  the lot of  thy Holy Ones; that the

worm of  the dead may be raised from the dust to the counsel [of  thy truth],

and that the perverse spirit (may be lifted) to the understanding [which comes

from thee]; that he may stand before thee with the everlasting host and with

[thy] spirits [of  holiness], to be renewed together with all the living and to

rejoice together with them that know. (



JI 



: 



–



)

In short, the sectarians by the Dead Sea claimed to enjoy already in their

community the fellowship with the angels that was promised to the righteous

after death in the apocalypses of  Enoch and Daniel.

The Utopian Ideals of Qumran

What, then, can be said about the utopian ideals of  the Dead Sea sect? As in

most Jewish apocalypses, they are of  two kinds, one corporate, national and

public and the other differentiated, personal and spiritual. The public

eschatology is ushered in by the war against the Gentiles, and issues in a

messianic age. Messianism, in the sense of  the restoration of  Jewish kingdom,

was conspicuously lacking in the early apocalypses of  Enoch and Daniel. It

emerges in the Scrolls, probably in reaction to the restoration of  a Jewish

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81

Eschatological Dynamics in Early Judaism

kingship by the Hasmoneans.

40

 As is well known, the Dead Sea sect expected

two messiahs, and as Shemaryahu Talmon and others have shown it hearkens

back to the structure of  leadership in the early Second Temple period.

41

 The

royal messiah is the military figure, but the messianic High Priest takes

precedence, as he also did in some texts from the Persian period. The Scrolls

are quite reticent as to the nature of  messianic society. We do, however, have

a number of  texts (the Temple Scroll, the New Jerusalem text) that provide

elaborate prescriptions for a utopian or an eschatological temple. The War

Rule presupposes that a purified and legitimate temple cult will be in operation

during the final war. It would seem, then, that the utopian societal ideal of

the Dead Sea sect had a cultic focus. The sect expected the elimination of  the

wicked and the restoration of  a purified Israel, but their main concern, in so

far as we can infer it from the texts, was with a purified cult.

The personal eschatology of  the Scrolls is not spelled out in detail either,

beyond the few passages that we have already cited. The most suggestive text

in this regard is the