Messiahs and Resurrection in 'The Gabriel Revelation'

140 Pages·2009·3.72 MB·English

by  Israel Knohl

The Kogod Library of Judaic Studies
6
EDITORIAL BOARD Menachem Fisch
Moshe Halbertal
Donniel Hartman
Moshe Idel
Avi Sagi
Other titles in the series:
Judaism and the Challenges of Modern Life
Moshe Halbertal and Donniel Hartman (eds)
The Boundaries of Judaism
Donniel Hartman
Ben: Sonship and Jewish Mysticism
Moshe Idel
The Open Canon
Avi Sagi
Transforming Identity
Avi Sagi and Zvi Zohar
Messiahs and
Resurrection in
The Gabriel
Revelation
By
Israel Knohl
Published by Continuum
The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX
80 Maiden Lane, Suite 704, New York, NY 10038
www.continuumbooks.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Copyright © Israel Knohl, 2009
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Typeset by Free Range Book Design & Production Limited
Printed and bound in Great Britain by …
ISBN-10: 0–8264-4669–8 (hardback)
0–8264-2507–0 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978–0-8264–4669-5 (hardback)
978–0-8264–2507-2 (paperback)
Dedication
To my wife Dalia and my children:
Shay, Tal-Shahar and Orr.
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Contents
Preface ix
Introduction xi
1 The Gabriel Revelation: Text, Translation and Commentary 1
2 Structure, Themes and Historical Context 31
3 The ‘Antichrist’ Figures in The Gabriel Revelation and
Related Texts 52
4 The Gabriel Revelation and the Birth of Christianity 85
Postscript 95
Appendix: Further Support for the Reading: ‘In three days, live’ 97
Photographs 101
Bibliography Related to The Gabriel Revelation 117
Index of Terms 119
Index of Scripture 121
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Preface
The dramatic discovery of the apocalyptic text known as Hazon Gabriel
or The Gabriel Revelation is a turning point in our understanding of
the birth of Christianity. This book is the first broad scholarly work
dedicated to this text.
Dr. David Jeselsohn, the owner of the stone on which this text is
written, kindly enabled me to read the inscription in his house and
also to use the photocopies published in the book.
The first editors of the text of The Gabriel Revelation, Dr. Ada Yardeni
and Dr. Benjamin Elitzur have kindly shared their knowledge with
me.
The writing of this book was made possible by the constant support
of the Shalom Hartman Institute and its directors Rabbi Prof. David
Hartman and Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman.
Parts of the book were translated faithfully by Orr Scharf and Gila
Fine. Laura Major has done excellent work in editing the book.
My thanks are due to all of them.
Israel Knohl,
Yehezkel Kaufmann Chair in Bible Studies,
The Hebrew University, Jerusalem