Commenting
on the widespread belief in the contingent nature of prophecies relating to the
eschaton during the time Jesus and the inscripturation of the New Testament,
Dale Allison wrote the following:
Contingent Eschatology as an Apologetic
Despite the historical determinism which
undoubtedly characterizes much ancient Jewish apocalyptic literature, there are
nevertheless a good many apocalyptic texts in which it is undoubtedly taught
that the eschatological climax is contingent upon, or at least will be hastened
by, the repentance of Israel . . . For example, according to T. Dan 6:4 (first or second century
B.C.), Satan knows “that upon the day on which Israel shall repent, the kingdom
of the enemy shall be brought to an end.” And in T. Sim. 6:2-7 (first or second century B.C.), the vision of the end
is introduced by “if ye remove from
you your envy and all stiff-neckedness.” Again, T. Jud. 23:5 (first or second century B.C.) affirms that the great redemption
will be preached by Israel’s repentance: the people will be held captive “until
the Lord visit, when with perfect heart ye repent and walk in all His
commandments, and He bring you up from captivity among the Gentiles.” The same
idea probably lies behind As. Mos.
1:18 (second century B.C. or first century A.D.), where we read of “the day of
repentance in the visitation wherewith the Lord will visit them in the
consummation of the end of days.” In 2
Apoc. Bar. 78:6-7 (late first century or early second century A.D.) we find
this: if the Babylonian exiles remove
themselves from error, God will gather them together (into the land) at the
last times (cf. 84:2-6). Similarly, the Apocalypse
of Abraham (late first century A.D. or early second century A.D.?) recounts
a vision in which righteous men “hasten” the glory of God’s name” (Apocalypse of Abraham, 31). Moreover,
Jacob Licht has persuasively argued that it is the death of Taxo and his seven
sons—a death which is actively sought—which “forces” the end in the Testament (or Assumption) of Moses
(Licht, “Taxo, or the Apocalyptic Doctrine of Vengeance,” JJS 12 [1961]:95-103); and Sigmund Mowinckel has correctly observed
that Psalms of Solomon 17 (first
century B.C.) places the promise of the consummation within a context of moral
exhortation and thus implicitly contains the idea that national penitence can
hasten that consummation (He that Cometh,
297). Finally, 4 Ezra (4:38-43) (late
first century A.D.) rebuts the thought that the kingdom has been delayed on
account of the sins of those who dwell on the earth and thereby evidently
discounts somebody’s claim that righteousness might hasten the end. Fourth Ezra 4:39 reads: “It is perhaps
on account of us that the time of threshing is delayed for the righteous—on account
of the sins of those who dwell on earth.” Clearly, if the Pseudepigrapha are
reliable testimony, the expectation that the Day of the Lord would be heralded
by Israel returning with a whole heart to her God was widespread.
Rabbinic literature is also familiar with this
belief in the contingency of eschatology. The following passages are typical:
(1) R. Eliezar b. Hyrcanus (ca. 80-120 A.D.) is purported to have said, If Israel does not repent she will not
be delivered; but if she does repent
she will be delivered (b. Sanh. 97b).
(2) According to R. Simeon b. Yoḥai (ca. 140-160 A.D.), if the nation were to keep only two Sabbaths, the Lord would
immediately usher in salvation (b. šabb 118b). (3) In b. Sanh. 98a we read that Ze’iri (middle
Amoraic) declared in the name of R. ḥanina
b. ḥama (early Amoraic) that the
Son of David will not come until no conceited men remain in Israel. (4) Sipre Deut. 4 (79b, Tannaitic) announces
that if Israel were to keep the Law,
God would therewith send Elijah. Similar statements are expressed in, among
other places, b. B. Bat. 10a (R.
Judah, ca. 170-200 A.D.); b. Sanh.
97b (R. Samuel b. Nahmani [middle Amoraic] in the name of R. Jonathan [early
Amoraic]); b Sanh. 98a (R. Alexandri,
early Amoraic); b. Yoma 86b (R.
Jonathan, early Amoraic); and y. Ta’an
63d (R. Joshua b. Levi, early Amoraic) . . . In Mark 13:10 Jesus is represented
as saying, “’The gospel must first be preached to all nations.’” This verse—which,
with its absolute use of to euaggelion and
the reference to a Gentile mission, we cannot trace back to Jesus—makes the
completion of the eschatological prophecies wait upon a human activity: God
will not bring the kingdom until his people have completely discharged their divinely
appointed task. Also of interest for our theme is Mark 13:20—if it does not go
back to Jesus (an uncertain issue). “’And if the Lord had not shortened the
days, no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom he
chose, he shortened the days.’” Here, as already remarked, the time of the eschatological
crisis is thought of as lasting for a fixed period of time, yet it is also a
period of time God can—indeed, will—shorten. For the sake of the elect, God in
his mercy is capable of altering the course ordained for the events of the
latter days. (Dale C. Allison, Jr., The
End of the Ages Has Come: An Early Interpretation of the Passion and
Resurrection of Jesus [Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985], 155-57, 158)
For an
interesting presentation of Old Testament prophecies of the eschaton, and how
they evidence various potential possible futures, see the following from Duncan
Heaster:
