Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/735

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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

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Tlic Messianic doctrine in this fragment, in which Davitl lijrures as the Messiah, is uniiiiie, not only as far as the Xeo-IIebrew, but as far as apocalyptic It compels the conclusion in general is concerned. that this fragment is distinct from the "Hook of " (treated ahove) as the work of an altogether Enoch Furllur, it indicates a very early ditTerent author. origin, which is fully conlirmed by the "iirophecy " the Ishrnael in this apocalypse too after the event can only be the rabbi Ishmael, extolled in legend as a martyr of the Hailrianic persecution. Hence the date of composition must fall after the destruction of the Temple; and the only event which can come into consideration as making such a prophecy compreheiisilile is the clisastrous term illation of he reign At that juncturi' the condilions and of Bar Kokba. events furnished a basis for the " proiihecy after the event" contained in the apocalypse under consideration: that the Temidc would be profaned and destroyed, the royal palace demolished. .lerusjilem turned into a desert, and the whole hind of Israel rendered desolate. Indeed the fragment reads as if it were written under the immediali' impression of It seems jilausible that the Hadrinnic |)erseeution. this book was the intermediary through which the peculiar metamorphosis of the "Secrets of Enoch," into the NeoIIebrew Book of Enoch, was accom;

I

plishid.

The Latin verof Moses AssuiMplinii nf Moses," which is preserved only as a fragment, must cerlainly have contained, in itsmissing part, anaccount of Ihedcath be dispute bel ween the archangel (if Moses and of Michael and Satan (or the angel of death) over the dead body. Among the Neo-Hcbrew apocalypses there is an "Ascension of Moses," as well as a fragment which, besides revealing the future, tells of the death of Moses and of the dispute that ensued This apocalypse was published for after his death. the lirst time in Salonica in 1727, mider the title 3.

The Ascension

sion of



"The

I

nCO

n^nj. and

lias

been

printed sevend

times

It since (in Amsterdam, 17.")4; Warsjiw, 1H4U, etc.). was translated by Gasler (/..-. pp. .J7-J-r)HS) uniler the title "The Kevelation of Mrl

This Arabic version has a Imigcr introduction, and varies somewhat in the text from our version. The contents of the book, according to (Jaster's For the modesty translation, arc thus summarized. disiilayid by Moses when summoned to appear be19.

demand the libenilion of the IsraelGod commands .Metatron (Enoch) to allow

fore I'liaraoh to ites.

Moses

to ascend into heaven.

.Vfter

Ascension Metatron hasli-aiisformed Moses' body of Moses, into a llery figure like unloihat of ilu' angels, he leads him up through the In the lirst heaven Moses sees waters seven heavens. "standing in line." and windows to let in and out all the things pertaining to human life and its needs. In the second heaven he sees the angels who eoiilrol the clouds, the wind, ami the rain: in tin- third, the nngels placed over vegetation; in the foiirlli, those over the earl li. sun, moon, stars, planels, and spheres; in the liflh, angels half of lire and half of snow; in the siMli. the " Irin and Kaddishin "; in the seventh. 'Araliot. he sees lirst the angels " Wralli and . ger," then the angi'l of diath, Iheii the liayyot slaiiding before (}oil, and linally an angel I'ngaged in teaelilug the souls which were create<l by tSiKl at the time

Apocalyptic Literature

of the Creation and placed in paradi.sc. (At this point occur two passages of later interpolation, one from Fe.s. 54«-6, treating of Xebiiehadnezzar's presumptuous desire " toascend the heights of thecloud and lobe like the ^Most High" Ilsa. xiv. 14], and the other from the Zoliar. intendetl to show that Moses really ascended to heaven.) God then tells Jlo.ses that He will confer on him the further ])rivilege of seeing hell and jiaradise. and, at God's command, the angel Gabriel conducts Moses to hell. There he sees the manifold torments and punishments of the dilTerent cla.sses of sinners, those who were envious of their fellow men and bore false witness against them; women whoexposi-d their charms to young men sinners who committed adultery, theft, and murder; tlios<- who perjured themselves: those who desecrated the Sabbath, despised the k»arned, and persecuted orphans; those who committed sodomy and idolatry, or cursed their parents; those who took bribes, put their fellow

men to shame, deliver<'d up their brother-Israelite to the Gentile, and denied the oral law; those that ate all kinds of forbidden food; usurers; apostates, and blasidiemers; those who wrote the inelTable name of God, and those who ate <iii Yom Kippur. Gabriel Hire he si'cs tirst then leads Moses into paradise. the guardian angel of paradise, sitting Hell and under the tree of life, who shows him Paradise, the several costly thrones erected in paradise, each surrounded by seventy angels the thrones for the Patriarchs, for the scholars who studied the Ijiw day and night for the for the pious men. for the just, and Siike of heaven for the repentant and a throne of copjar, prepared for the wicked whose sons are pious, as in the case Finally, he sees the fouulain of iife of Terali. welling forth from beneath Ihi? tree of life, and dividing itself into four streams, and four rivers flowing under each throne, "the tirst of honev, the second of milk, the third of wine, and the fourth of pure balsam." (Here another pas.sage from the Zohar, interrupting the narrative, is inserted.) As Moses is leaving paradise a voice calls from heaven: "Moses, as thou ha.st seen the reward wliii'h is jirepared for the just in the future world, so also in the days to come shall thou see the rebiiildini,' of the Temple and thea<lvent of the Messiah, and slialt behold the beauty of the Lord and shalt meditate in

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His Temple."

Up to the present no attempt has been made to ascertain the dateof composition of thisapiK-alypse; but the allusion in the last ehaiUcr to the rebuilding The deof the Temph' idaees it after that event. script ions of the dilTerent elas,sesof sinners in hell and their punishment are .strikingly similar to (in fad. are in parts identical with) those found in a iiiim ber of Christian apocalypses; namely, the ".poealvpseof Peler." thill of "Pastor Ihrnias." and the second book of the "Sibylline Onnles" (all Ihreiwritten in the second century), and the later apoc alypscs of Esilras and Paul, both perhaps dependis posIt ent upon the "Apocalypse of Peter." sible that a critical exaniinalion of these n-lalions light on Iheilaleof .scelision of .Moses."

might throw further of

"The

composition

of Moses This is a fragllie"Midnish Itireshil Itabbati" of |{, Moses ha Marshall la manuseripl in the library of the .lewish eongn^gation in Prague), which was is It published by .lellinek in " B. H." vi. ^ 'ii. The intendi'd as an exegesis to (ten, xxviii. llli. following is a synopsis of its conlenis: As the lime for Mos»'s' death approached, God permitted him to Mscend into heaven, and uuveiUil 4.

The Assumption

meiil preserved

ill