Page 109

Alexandr Korol
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Page 109

Post by Alexandr Korol »

If the First Book of Maccabees mentions in the broadest terms the promise given to David that his throne would be restored (1 Macc. 2:57), nothing similar is found in Ben Sira, the Book of Judith, or the Book of Baruch.”

Oh, this is interesting too: “In Alexander the Great, the young conqueror, the Jews saw that mysterious ruler of the future foretold by the prophets. This belief is reflected in the story of the legendary meeting between Alexander and the high priest Jaddus (Hebrew: Jaddua), recounted in the Talmud (Yoma 69a, where the priest is called Simon the Righteous) and by the historian Josephus (Antiquities, XI, 8). Alexander recognizes in the venerable high priest the very stranger who had appeared to him in a dream, promising the conquest of Asia and the great Persian monarchy. He worships the Lord, whose name is inscribed on the golden plate (cidaris) of the priest’s headdress, and together they go to Jerusalem, where Alexander offers sacrifices in the temple. He is shown the Book of the Prophet Daniel, whose prophecies foretell the fall of Darius and the rise of Greek rule. Alexander takes this prophecy as referring to himself.” “His memory lives on in medieval apocalyptic texts, where Alexander seals Gog and Magog behind the Mountains of Darkness in the distant North. Versions of this legend by Jacob ben Serug (521) and in the Quran (Surah 18) leave no doubt about their purely apocalyptic origin.”
The Book of Enoch. The heavenly pre-eternal Messiah: “For the first time, we encounter the idea of a pre-eternal Messiah of heavenly origin in the eschatological section of the Book of Enoch (chapters 37–71), written in the first century BCE. The Messiah is called the ‘Son of Man,’ a being resembling angels in appearance, a man seated in heaven beside the ‘Ancient of Days’ (66:1), or, as expressed in 39:7, ‘under the wings of the Lord of Spirits.’ His name was pronounced before the Lord before the creation of the sun and the 12 signs of the zodiac and long before the stars and heavens were created (48:3, 6). ‘He was chosen and hidden by the Lord before the world came into being and will remain before Him until the end of ages’ (69:2b; cf. 62:6), ‘his glory will exist from age to age, and his power from generation to generation.’ The Messiah is depicted as the embodiment of justice and wisdom through divine revelations (66:3; 69:1, 2a, 3). And at the end of time, the Lord will reveal him to the people and place him on the throne of His glory so that he may judge all creation according to the purpose for which he was created from the beginning.”