Imagining the End: Visions of

Ancient Judaism

, Max Weber gave the following as the

foremost reason for the world-historical significance of  its subject:

For the Jew the religious promise was the very opposite [of  that of  Hinduism].

The social order of  the world was conceived to have been turned into the

opposite of  that promised for the future, but in the future it was to be over-

turned so that Jewry would be once again dominant … The whole attitude

toward life of  ancient Jewry was determined by this conception of  a future

God-guided political and social revolution.

1

Yet there is no word on the emergence of  apocalypticism in the Hellenistic

era in the admittedly incomplete manuscript Weber left behind. Peter Berger

considers the Christian theodicy of  the crucifixion of  the Son of  God as the

cause of  the other-worldly transposition of  this revolution.

2

 He further states

with some justice that, after the collapse of  the Christian theodicy of  suffering,

the deeply rooted messianic vision of  ancient Judaism ushered in the era of

modern revolution.

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107

Messianism, Millennialism and Revolution

What Weber had in mind doubtless included Isaiah’s vision of  the redemp-

tion and restoration of  Israel. That vision of  restoration, however, lacked the

apocalyptic dimension as we have defined it in that it did not amount to a new

creation. The more radically transcendent promised order appears later in the

form of  the apocalyptic idea of  the total transformation of  the world. To be

more precise, the prototype of  the ‘conception of  a future God-guided political

and social revolution’ is the apocalyptic vision of  the fall of  the last empire

and the coming of  God’s as it developed in the Hellenistic era and was

recorded at the time of  the Maccabean revolt in the mid-second century 



.

The apocalyptic perspective in ancient Judaism is itself  not the product of

any ancient revolution. More specifically, the apocalypticism of  the Book of

Daniel and the contemporary pseudepigrapha cannot be said to have been

caused by any short-term political crisis and/or breakdown in the authority

structure, such as the one that demonstrably precipitated the Maccabean

revolt.

3

 It is now generally agreed that the earliest apocalyptic texts, especially

early parts of  the Book of  Enoch, predate the mid-second-century 



Maccabean revolt considerably.

4

 At least some of  the Zoroastrian apocalyptic

ideas are older still. Let me mention the cosmological notion of  the glorious

renewal of  the world (

frasho-kereti

) at the end of  time, the view of  world

history as the succession in world domination of  the four empires in the

Bahman Yasht

, and the millennial division of  time into twelve periods of

,

 years, each under the domination of  an astral divinity of  a sign of  the

Zodiac. These Persian notions spread widely in the Hellenistic era and gave

rise to a particular oracular form of  resistance to Hellenistic domination that

was absorbed into intertestamental apocalypticism.

5

 The Maccabean revolt

was the decisive historical matrix for the birth of  the apocalyptic view of

politics and of  political messianism, which were, interestingly, developed by

the losing partners in the revolutionary coalition, the Essenes, who withdrew

as ‘the exiles of  the desert’ to the Qumran settlement near the Dead Sea.

6

The Qumran settlement was destroyed by the Roman army of  Vespasian

some two centuries later, but the messianism the sect had sustained in in-

stitutionalized form survived, and was passed on to Christianity, Rabbinical

Judaism and Islam. The broader apocalyptic vision was carried by other

sectarian groups, notably the Enochic circles and the Christians. Many

apocalyptic notions spread and coalesced with messianism while undergoing

extensions and elaborations. The eschatological prophet, for example, re-

appears in the apocalyptic reconstruction of  Elijah as the returning prophet

of  the end of  time. The apocalyptic perspective of  the Book of  Daniel, which

included the idea of  the successive world domination of  the four empires and

the fall of  the last empire, was especially privileged as the Maccabean winners

of  the revolutionary power struggle had appropriated it and assured its

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108

Judaism, Christianity and Islam

inclusion in the Old Testament canon. Apocalyptic worldview and political

messianism thus became an autonomous cultural form available for adaptation

by future generations of  millenarians and revolutionaries in the late antiquities.

In short, the apocalyptic worldview was historically prior to and presumed

by political messianism. Once the apocalyptic perspective is culturally avail-

able, one would expect it to be drawn upon by revolutionaries; and that was

certainly done by various coalition partners in the Maccabean revolt. This

resort to the apocalyptic in revolutionary situations, however, is not inevitable.

7

The apocalyptic worldview is compatible with revolutionary as well as quiet-

istic political attitudes, with militancy as well as pacifism. Political messianism,

on the other hand, inevitably motivates militant activism. The apocalyptic

view of  politics is particularly appropriate for the moment of  revolutionary

liminality, and can supply a powerful stimulus to what has been called ‘absolute

politics’, when no boundaries are set to the political will and every aspect of

the social order is seen as transformable by political action.

8

 The apocalyptic

vision is a powerful means for transcendentalizing the normative order. Order

is no longer identified with cosmos and nomos but requires a radical break

with both; it therefore radically transcends the existing reality which is

destined for cataclysmic destruction. By holding up the vision of  the complete

social and political transformation at an imminent point in history, political

messianism generates a powerful motivation for absolute political action aiming

at the destruction and reconstruction of  the political order. Only political

messianism, established as a legitimate cultural form, can be regarded as an

indispensable prerequisite for what Weber called the ‘conception of  a future

God-guided political and social revolution’.

Muhammad and the Rise of Islam

The rise of  Muhammad in Arabia, whatever else it may have been, was a

revolution by any reasonable definition of  the term. It was sustained by a

strong apocalyptic vision, and it claimed to be the realization of  messianism.

Millennialism, however, was not present at its birth; the closest parallel we

find to it in early Islam is the apocalyptic notion of  the centennium.

The influence of  the Book of  Daniel on the origins of  Islam has generally

been overlooked. This may be due to the surprising fact that the Qur'an does

not mention Daniel. Nevertheless, the Qur'an itself  supplies unmistakable

evidence of  the influence of  the Book of  Daniel. The reference to Abraham

as the friend of  God (Daniel 



: 



) is carried over to the Qur'an (



: 



).

Gabriel and Michael, the two archangels who are introduced to the Hebrew

Bible in the Book of  Daniel, are both mentioned in the Qur'an.

9

 In fact,

Gabriel’s role in hierophany and audition (Daniel 



: 



–



.



) becomes central

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109

Messianism, Millennialism and Revolution

in Islam, and the Islamic tradition sees Gabriel not only as the angel of

revelation but also as Muhammad’s frequent counsellor.

10

 Last but not least,

the Danielic notion of  setting the seal on prophecy (Daniel 



: 



), as we shall

see, crucially influenced Muhammad’s idea of  final prophecy.

It is interesting to note that the legend of  Daniel is traceable

11

 to 'Abd Allah

b. Salam (d. 



), the learned rabbi who accepted Muhammad as the prophet

of  the end of  time, the gentile ‘brother of  Moses’.

12

 The earliest historical

reference to Daniel occurs in the account of  the conquest of  Susa (Shush) in



, six years after Muhammad’s death. After entering Susa in a suitably

apocalyptic fashion to be described presently, the conquering Muslims were

then shown the remains of  Daniel and found a seal/signet ring depicting a man

between two lions. The seal was first taken but was returned to the body by

'Umar’s order. The commander of  the Muslim forces ‘had the body wrapped

in shrouds and the Muslims buried it’.

13

 According to a more interesting

tradition, upon the conquest of  Shushtar (Tustar), where the presumed tomb

of  Daniel is located, the Muslims found a book in the treasury of  the Persian

commander, Hurmuzun, above the head of  a corpse identified as Daniel. ‘They

carried the book to 'Umar who was the first Arab to read it and sent it to Ka'b

who copied it in Arabic. In it was what will occur of  civil disorders (

fitan

).’

14

With the civil wars of  



–



, 



–



 and 



–



, the term