scendence means here not so much elevation of character as separation from the world. That follows from the idea of the world; evil as it is and under the control of Satan, it forms no place for a living and indwelling God. The Jewish idea of holiness is influential also. Under the influence of legalism holiness was primarily ritual, not so much a matter of positive character as of separation from defilement. With God it meant, as Ezekiel clearly shows, rather that sovereign power and glory which lifted the divine beyond the human than any moral quality in which God and man might be united. Such an exaltation is very naturally indicated by physical figures, by pictures of light and dazzling glory, and by the reference to intermediary angels, through whom alone such a God can be approached (Enoch 14). With this transcendence goes the emphasis upon power, upon the sheer sovereignty of might. The background of this thought of God is the Oriental monarchy. There are throne and court and attendant hosts. Jehovah is approached like an Oriental monarch with set forms and phrases. What happens on earth of good as of evil is because this King decides. What he does is inscrutable. When Ezra asks concerning this evil age, why it is and why it continues, there is no answer. It is for man to obey, not to know; he can know only earthly things, not things of heaven (4 Ezra 3 and 4).

The reason for this picture is apparent. In these portrayals of power and splendor these writers expressed their faith in God as one who rose above the kings of earth and could overturn all foes, even the mightiest. But all these labored efforts cannot approach the sublimity of the thought of God as given in a single one of the

simple pictures of Jesus. For he found the glory of God in character and not in sheer power. In contrast to the apocalyptists, Jesus, like the prophets, speaks to the conscience of men. He has no pictures of Oriental court scenes, but he does bring near a living and merciful God with whom men can have fellowship and to whom they can all come simply as children and say, "Our Father."

THE APOCALYPTIC HOPE

What was the hope that apocalypticism held forth? The large variations that occur in these writings, the wealth of their pictures, their indifference to matters of system or consistency-all this makes it difficult to attempt a summary answer. Certain characteristic features, however, can be pointed out, and this will be done without the fruitless effort at giving any order of

events.

1. The Imminent End. As in all apocalyptic thought, the end of the age is viewed as near at hand. The age is hastening to its close. The earth shows signs of decay and strange portents in nature point to the end. The Messianic woes, the birth-pangs of the new age, will signal the change, involving increased wickedness, and even greater distress for the saints.

2. The Resurrection. The concern of the prophets was with the resurrection of the nation (Hos. 6. 2; Ezek. 37); individual resurrection appears but late. Ecclesiastes 3. 19-20 is apparently aimed against the new doctrine: "For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath and man hath no preeminence above the beasts: for all

is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again." It was still a matter of strife as late as the time of our Lord, and the Sadducees were on this point the "conservatives" opposed to the "new theology." The thought of a just God demanded that good and evil should not share the same fate, rather that some future state should compensate for the inequalities here where the good suffered and the evil prospered. And as religion became more individual and spiritual, as reflected in the psalms, faith in Jehovah would lead to the assurance that he would not leave those who trusted in him to the empty shadows of sheol (see Psa. 49. 14, 15; 73. 24-26). Such an idea would develop gradually. Isa. 26. 1- 19 suggests the resurrection of the righteous. Later there appears the idea of the resurrection of the evil for purposes of punishment. Daniel 12. 2, 3 apparently has in mind only the Jews, and but a portion of these, as being raised. It refers to saints and sinners, but the gift of life seems to be only for the real and faithful saints, while those sinners are raised for punishment who had oppressed or opposed the saints. Not a few later apocalyptic passages suggest the general resurrection (1 Enoch 51. 1-3; 2 Baruch 30. 2-5; 4 Ezra 7. 32-36).

3. The Judgment. The Judgment appears in double form. It still occurs in the old sense as the great day of conflict in which the hosts of wickedness are to be overthrown. But with the idea of the resurrection there appears a second kind of judgment. The field of battle gives place to a court with the Most High seated upon the throne. Books are opened, and according to the record of deeds performed the award of good or evil is

made, the reference being sometimes to individuals and sometimes to nations (4 Ezra 7. 33-44). In this latter Judgment the dead and the living are thus included. These two Judgments, of course, could be held together.

4. The New Heaven and Earth. The prophets had looked forward to a renewed and changed earth, where spiritual blessings would have as their counterpart a wonderful fertility of soil and where even the nature of the wild beasts would be transformed. One late passage mentions specifically a new heaven and new earth (Isa. 65. 17; 66. 22). It is easy to see how the idea of the resurrection would influence this. It is true that the idea of resurrection sometimes meant little more than a restoration to present physical conditions; but it tended to imply a higher and more spiritual state, especially where the Hellenic influence was felt. As such it would suggest not simply a renewed earth, but a heaven and earth totally different from what went before. And this tendency was furthered by the idea that the present world was utterly corrupt, and that its decay would soon end in destruction. So we read in 1 Enoch 91. 16:

I

"And the first heaven shall depart and pass away, And a new heaven shall appear,

And all the powers of the heavens shall give sevenfold light."

With this appeared the idea of a world conflagration in which the old heavens and earth would be destroyed: "Then shall flow a ceaseless cataract of raging fire, and shall burn land and sea, and the firmament of heaven and the stars and creation itself it shall cast into one molten mass and clean dissolve" (Sibylline Books, 3.

84-87). In this new heaven and earth time shall not be any more, nor death, nor evil of any kind. In earlier writings the future abode of the saints is spoken of as paradise. It is located on the earth and is placed sometimes in the distant East, again in the northeast or northwest. Later thought turns to heaven as the abode of the blessed. 2 Enoch 8 and 9 speak of a glorious place in the third heaven, while in 2 Baruch 51.10 we are told:

"In the heights of that world shall they dwell, And they shall be made like unto angels."

5. Hell. It is in these writings that there appears first among the Jews the idea of a place of punishment for the wicked. The Old Testament, with no conception of a general resurrection and judgment, has no doctrine of heaven or hell except as the latter is suggested by Isa. 66. 24 and Dan. 12. 2. It knows simply an underworld, or Sheol (mistranslated "hell" in the old version), the place where the departed maintain their shadowy existence. The apocalypses bring in the idea of a place of punishment for the wicked following upon the resurrection and judgment. Sometimes the name "Gehenna" (that is, vale of Hinnom) is used for this. "Abyss of fire" and "pit of torment" are other terms employed. Later on Sheol (Hades) loses its original meaning and is used for the last abode of the wicked.

6. The figure of the Messiah does not play a large part in the Jewish apocalypses. The idea of a Messianic King belongs naturally with the thought of an earthly kingdom, that is, with the older and simpler hope of Israel. It is significant that in Psalm 17 of the Psalms