Death and Afterlife in Ancient Jewish and Christian Literature

220 Pages·2019·1.555 MB·English

by  Pau Figueras

Death and Afterlife
in Ancient Jewish
and Christian Literature
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Death and Afterlife
in Ancient Jewish
and Christian Literature
Pau Figueras
gp
2019
Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA
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2019 ܒܝ 1
ISBN 978-1-4632-3919-0 ISSN 1935-6838
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from the Library of Congress.
Printed in the United States of America
To the blessed memory of my beloved parents,
Jacint and Joaquima
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents ..................................................................................... v
Abbreviations ........................................................................................... xi
Introduction .............................................................................................. 1
Chapter One. Canonical and Deuterocanonical Books of the
Old Testament ................................................................................. 3
The concept of ‘life’ ........................................................................ 3
Death and the Tree of Life ............................................................ 4
Death as a phenomenon ................................................................ 4
Sheol and the grave ......................................................................... 5
Funerary rites and contact with the dead..................................... 6
Ideological development ................................................................ 7
Resurrection of dead and immortality of soul .......................... 11
Chapter Two. Apocryphal Literature .................................................. 13
I Enoch (Ethiopic Enoch) ........................................................... 14
Chapters 1–36 .......................................................................... 14
Chapters 37–104 (The Parables) ........................................... 17
Chapters 106–108 (Apocalypse of Noah) ........................... 23
The Book of Jubilees .................................................................... 23
The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs ................................... 25
Testament of Simeon .............................................................. 26
Testament of Levi ................................................................... 26
Testament of Judah ................................................................. 27
Testament of Issachar ............................................................. 27
Testament of Dan ................................................................... 28
Testament of Naphtali ............................................................ 28
Testament of Gad.................................................................... 28
Testament of Asher ................................................................. 28
Testament of Joseph ............................................................... 29
Testament of Benjamin .......................................................... 29
Genesis Apocryphon .................................................................... 29
The Sibylline Oracles .................................................................... 30
v
vi DEATH AND AFTERLIFE
Book III .................................................................................... 30
Fragment III ............................................................................. 32
The Psalms of Solomon ............................................................... 32
Apocalypse of Elijah ..................................................................... 33
Apocryphon of Ezekiel ................................................................ 36
Assumption of Moses ................................................................... 37
Apocalypse of Moses or Life of Adam and Eve ...................... 38
The Fourth Book of Ezra (chs. 3–14)........................................ 43
The Martyrdom of Isaiah ............................................................. 47
The Lives of the Prophets............................................................ 48
Isaiah .......................................................................................... 48
Jeremiah .................................................................................... 48
Ezekiel ....................................................................................... 49
Daniel ........................................................................................ 50
Hosea ......................................................................................... 50
Micah the Morashtite .............................................................. 50
Jonah .......................................................................................... 50
Habakkuk .................................................................................. 50
Haggai ........................................................................................ 50
Zechariah son of Iddo ............................................................ 51
Malachi ...................................................................................... 51
Nathan ....................................................................................... 51
Zechariah son of Jehoiada ..................................................... 51
Elijah .......................................................................................... 51
The Testament of Job ................................................................... 51
The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch ............................................... 53
Greek Apocalypse of Ezra ........................................................... 58
Paralipomena of Jeremiah ............................................................ 60
Greek Apocalypse of Baruch ....................................................... 61
Apocalypse of Zephaniah ............................................................ 62
Apocalypse of Sedrach ................................................................. 64
Testament of Solomon ................................................................. 64
The Prayer of Joseph .................................................................... 65
II Enoch (Slavonic Enoch) .......................................................... 65
III Enoch (Hebrew Enoch) ......................................................... 69
Chapter Three. The Books of the New Testament .......................... 73
Synoptic Gospels ........................................................................... 74
The Kingdom of God (Kingdom of Heaven) .................... 74
Resurrection of the Dead ....................................................... 75
‘Parousia’ ................................................................................... 75
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
Judgment ................................................................................... 76
Afterlife ..................................................................................... 76
Jesus’ Death .............................................................................. 78
Acts of the Apostles ...................................................................... 79
Pauline Epistles .............................................................................. 83
I and II Thessalonians ............................................................ 83
I Corinthians ............................................................................ 84
II Corinthians and Romans ................................................... 86
Pastoral and Captivity Epistles .............................................. 87
Gospel and Epistles of John .................................................. 88
Catholic Epistles and Hebrews ................................................... 91
Jude ............................................................................................ 91
II Peter ...................................................................................... 92
James.......................................................................................... 93
I Peter ........................................................................................ 94
Hebrews .................................................................................... 95
Revelation of John ................................................................... 96
Chapter Four. Early Jewish Literature .............................................. 101
The Dead Sea Scrolls .................................................................. 101
Death and the body ............................................................... 102
Faith in immortality ............................................................... 103
General eschatology and future life .................................... 106
Upper World and Nether World......................................... 110
Philo of Alexandria ..................................................................... 111
The souls of the righteous.................................................... 112
Exceptional Figures ............................................................... 112
The Condemned .................................................................... 113
Flavius Josephus .......................................................................... 113
Portion of the Souls according to the Romans ................ 114
According to the Indians ...................................................... 115
According to the Essenes and the Greek .......................... 115
According to the Pharisees .................................................. 116
According to the Sadduacees ............................................... 117
According to Josephus himself ........................................... 117
Rabbinic Literature ...................................................................... 118
Death and Its Religious Significance .................................. 118
Faith in Immortality and Resurrection ............................... 120
Messianic Age......................................................................... 123
The Coming Age and the Upper World ............................ 126
The World of the Souls ........................................................ 127
viii DEATH AND AFTERLIFE
Gehenna .................................................................................. 129
Paradise of the Blessed ......................................................... 131
The Throne of God .............................................................. 134
Funerary Epigraphy ..................................................................... 137
The Grave ............................................................................... 137
Death ....................................................................................... 139
Resurrection ........................................................................... 140
The Dwelling-place of the Souls ......................................... 140
Chapter Five. Early Christian Literature ........................................... 143
‘Didache’ or Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles ....................... 143
Epistles of Ignatius from Antioch ............................................ 144
Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians ...................................... 146
Martyrdom of Polycarp .............................................................. 147
Papias from Hierapolis ............................................................... 148
Irenaeus’ Testimony (Adv Haer IV, 33, 3–4).................... 148
Jerome (De viris illustribus, 18) ........................................... 149
Philip Sidetes (The Christian History)................................ 149
Anastasius Sinaita (Hexaemeron, VII) ............................... 149
Phocius (Bibliotheca) ............................................................ 149
The Presbyters ............................................................................. 149
Epistle of Barnaba ....................................................................... 150
Epistle to Diognetus ................................................................... 151
I Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians .................................. 152
II Epistle of Clement .................................................................. 153
The Shepherd of Hermas ........................................................... 154
Visions ..................................................................................... 154
Precepts ................................................................................... 155
Parables ................................................................................... 155
Justin the Martyr .......................................................................... 156
The First Apology ................................................................. 157
The Second Apology ............................................................. 158
Dialogue with Trypho ........................................................... 159
Odae of Solomon ........................................................................ 160
Chapter Six. Excursus on Contemporaneous Foreign
Religions ........................................................................................ 163
The Iranian Religious World ..................................................... 164
Pre-Zoroastrian Period ......................................................... 164
Early Zoroastrianism ............................................................ 165
The Religion of the Achaemenians..................................... 167
The Parthians ......................................................................... 167
TABLE OF CONTENTS ix
Egypt ............................................................................................. 168
Death ....................................................................................... 169
The grave ................................................................................ 170
Afterlife ................................................................................... 172
The Hellenic World ..................................................................... 175
Classical religion..................................................................... 176
Orphism .................................................................................. 178
The Mysteries ......................................................................... 179
Rome ............................................................................................. 180
The legacy of Greece ............................................................ 183
Eastern cults ........................................................................... 185
Bibliography .......................................................................................... 189
Index ....................................................................................................... 201