Fall of Man
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Adam, Eve, and a female serpent at the entrance to Notre Dame de ParisThe Fall of Man, or simply "the Fall," in Christian doctrine refers to the transition of the first humans from a state of innocent obedience to God, to a state of guilty disobedience to God. In the Book of Genesis chapter 2, Adam and Eve live at first with God in a paradise, but are then deceived or tempted by the serpent to eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which had been forbidden them by God. After doing so they become ashamed of their nakedness, and God consequently expelled them from paradise. The Fall is not mentioned by name in the Bible, but the story of disobedience and expulsion is recounted in both Testaments in different ways. The Fall can refer to the wider theological inferences for all humankind as a consequence of Eve and Adam's original sin. Examples include the teachings of Paul in Romans 5:12-19 and 1 Cor. 15:21-22.
Some Christians believe the Fall corrupted the entire natural world, including human nature, causing people to be born into original sin, a state from which they cannot attain eternal life without the gracious intervention of God. Protestants hold that Jesus' death was a "ransom" by which humanity was offered freedom from the sin acquired at the Fall. In other religions, such as Judaism, Islam, and Gnosticism, the term "The Fall" is not recognized and varying interpretations of the Eden narrative are presented.
The term "prelapsarian" refers to the sin-free state of humanity prior to the Fall. It is sometimes used in reference to sentimental recollections of a past time when conditions stood in sharp contrast to the present; this situation is called nostalgia.
Contents
[hide]
1 Accounts
1.1 Genesis
1.2 Quran
1.3 Other traditions
2 Interpretations
2.1 Judaism
2.2 Christianity
2.2.1 Catholicism
2.2.2 Protestantism
2.2.3 Eastern Orthodoxy
2.2.4 Pelagianism
2.2.5 Mormonism
2.2.6 Unification Church
2.2.7 Felix culpa
2.3 Other interpretations
2.3.1 Entheogen theory
2.3.2 Kundalini Yoga
2.4 Fiction
3 See also
4 References
5 External links
Accounts
The Fall depicted in the Sistine Chapel by MichelangeloGenesis
In Genesis, the first book of the Jewish and Christian Bibles, God creates Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, in his own image. God places them in the Garden of Eden and forbids them to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (often symbolized in European art and literature as an apple tree). The serpent persuades Eve to eat fruit from the forbidden tree. Eve shares the fruit with Adam and they immediately become ashamed of their nakedness.
To the Serpent, God said:
Because you have done this,
cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.[1]
Although God does not use the word "curse" when he addresses the couple, he does, at a minimum, prophetically warn them of the consequences awaiting them as a result of the sin they have committed.
To the woman God said:
I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.[Gen. 3:6]
To the man God said:
Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, You shall not eat of it",
cursed is the ground because of you;
in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken; you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.[2]
The question thus remains as to whether God's statements to the woman and man are prescriptive, and therefore a curse, or are instead descriptive; that is, prophecies of the natural consequences of their actions. Calvinist theologian Roger Nicole understands the passage this way:[3]
This passage is not a commandment, but a prophecy that has been fulfilled extensively over the centuries in all the earth. Whatever we may do to alleviate God’s curse is legitimate in the matter of subordination, no less than in providing some relief from the pains of the delivery of children[Gen. 3:16] and the sweat in cultivating the ground and earning a living[Gen. 3:17-19].
– Roger Nicole
Subsequently, God banishes Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, and places cherubim to guard the entrance, so that Adam and Eve will not eat from the Tree of Life.[4]
Quran
God announced to the angels that he would create a viceregent (man) on the earth. The angels questioned this, wondering why God would create something with the capacity to disobey him:
002.030 Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: "I will create a vicegerent on earth." They said: "Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood?- whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?" He said: "I know what ye know not." 002.031 And He taught Adam the names of all things; then He placed them before the angels, and said: "Tell me the names of these if ye are right." 002.032 They said: "Glory to Thee, of knowledge We have none, save what Thou Hast taught us: In truth it is Thou Who art perfect in knowledge and wisdom." 002.033 He said: "O Adam! Tell them their names." When he had told them, Allah said: "Did I not tell you that I know the secrets of heaven and earth, and I know what ye reveal and what ye conceal?"[Qur'an 2:30] (Al-Baqara [The Cow])
God then commanded the angels to prostrate (bow down) to Adam. The angels prostrated but Iblis (Satan), out of haughtiness, refused to bow. God cursed him because of his disobedience. Iblis sought respite and vowed to mislead Adam and his progeny. He misled Adam and his wife Eve to eat from a tree that was forbidden for them by God. Due to their disobedience, God ordered the removal of Adam and Eve out of paradise and down to earth. God promised that the earth will be a dwelling place for them and their children a limited time (Until the Day of Judgment). The Qur'an Al-A'raf (The Elevated Places) verses 7:11-27 detail the story of the Fall.[5]
God warns men and women that they should not allow themselves to be deceived by Satan and fall into disobedience (disbelief, polytheism and sins) which will eventually lead them to Hell. If men and women obey God, they will lead a successful life on earth and be admitted into paradise as a reward.
Other traditions
In Gnosticism, the snake is thanked for bringing knowledge to Adam and Eve, and thereby freeing them from the Demiurge's control. The Demiurge banished Adam and Eve, because man was now a threat.
Ancient Greek mythology held that humanity was immortal during the Golden Age, until Prometheus brought them fire to help them live through cold. The gods punished humans allowing Pandora to release the evil (death, sorrow, plague) into the world due to her curiosity. See Ages of Man for more.
In classic Zoroastrianism, humanity is created to withstand the forces of decay and destruction through good thoughts, words and deeds. Failure to do so actively leads to misery for the individual and for his family. This is also the moral of many of the stories of the Shahnameh, the key text of Persian mythology.
Interpretations
Judaism
Judaism and Islam interpret the account of the fall as being simply historical, Adam and Eve's disobedience would have already been known to God even before he created them, thus draw no particular theological implications for human nature.[citation needed] That is, man's setting, condition, and environment have in essence changed - but not man himself. Quite simply, because of Adam's actions, he and his wife were removed from the garden, forced to work, suffer pain in childbirth, and die. However, even after expelling them from the garden, God provided that people who honor God and follow God's laws would be rewarded, while those who acted wrongly would be punished.
Some Muslims believe that Adam and Eve were clothed in the Garden and stripped when they were expelled. However, these stories hold no significant weight in any Judaic-Christian type of doctrine.[6]
Christianity
Adam and Eve by Peter Paul RubensChristianity interprets the fall in a number of ways. Traditional Christian theology accepts the teaching of St Paul in his letter to the Romans[7] "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" and of St John's Gospel that "God so loved the world that he sent his only son (Jesus Christ) that whoever believes on him should not perish, but have everlasting life".[John 3:16]
The doctrine of original sin, as articulated by Augustine of Hippo's interpretation of Paul of Tarsus, provides that the fall caused a fundamental change in human nature, so that all descendants of Adam are born in sin, and can only be redeemed by divine grace. Sacrifice was the only means by which humanity could be redeemed after the Fall. Jesus, who was without sin, died on the cross as the ultimate redemption for the sin of humankind.
The dominant view within Christianity is that the serpent of Genesis was an incarnation of Satan, based on the reference in the Book of Revelation: "He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years."[Rev. 20:2]
Catholicism
Catholicism teaches that "the account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man."[8]
Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God's command. This is what man's first sin consisted of.[9]
This first sin was "transmitted" by Adam and Eve to all of their descendants as original sin, causing humans to be "subject to ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death, and inclined to sin." Baptism is considered to erase original sin, though the effects on human nature remain, and for this reason the Catholic Church baptizes even infants who have not committed any personal sin.[10]
Protestantism
Among the teachings of Protestants John Calvin and Martin Luther were, in a variation and adaptation of the Pauline-Augustinian teaching, that God foresaw and predestined those who were to be redeemed by grace and those who were to be eternally condemned, thus giving humanity, in its sinful state, no real choice in spiritual matters, except to act at God's direction. (See Calvinism.) Calvinists (and others) holding this view are named Infralapsarians. Those who hold predestination to be superior to the Fall, and the creation, fall, and redemption to be part of God's eternal purpose are named Supralapsarians. (See supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism.)
Some Protestants (including some of the above mentioned Lutheran and Calvinist groups) understand the account of "the fall" in Genesis 2 and 3 not as a historical-factual account of the origins of human sin, but rather as the narrative myth that the Israelite people used to express their recognition that man's relationship with God was broken, (a "myth" in the sense that the truth contained in the narrative does not depend upon its historical factuality). This view has the advantage of not conflicting with the evolutionary description of human origins, while preserving the traditional biblical idea of man's moral failure and need for redemption.
Some more liberal Protestants [11] see the person and work of Jesus Christ as God's act to restore relationship, but tend not to view this restoration in terms of a sacrifice necessary for an unpaid debt.
Eastern Orthodoxy
Eastern Orthodoxy rejects the idea that the guilt of original sin is passed down through generations. It bases its teaching in part on a passage in Exodus saying a son is not guilty of the sins of his father. The church teaches that in addition to their conscience and tendency to do good, men and women are born with a tendency to sin due to the fallen condition of the world. It follows Maximus the Confessor and others in characterizing the change in human nature as the introduction of a "deliberative will" (θέλημα γνωμικόν) in opposition to the "natural will" (θέλημα φυσικόν) created by God which tends toward the good. Thus according to St Paul in his epistle to the Romans, non-Christians can still act according to their conscience. Nonetheless, as a consequence of Adam's sin, seen merely as the prototype (since human nature has been degraded) of all future sinners, each of whom, in repeating Adam’s sin, bears responsibility only for his own sins, humans became mortal. Adam's sin isn't comprehended only as disobedience to God's commandment, but as a change in man's hierarchy of values from theocentricism to anthropocentrism, driven by the object of his lust, outside of God, in this case the tree which was seen to be "good for food", and something "to be desired" (see also theosis, seeking union with God).[12][13]
Pelagianism
Pelagianism rejects the doctrine of original sin entirely, holding that the fall did not permanently taint human nature, and that humans are therefore capable of choosing good even without divine aid.
Mormonism
Mormonism believes that the Fall was necessary as part of God's plan to redeem and exalt his children. When God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, he gave them two seemingly contradictory commandments: First, to "multiply and replenish the earth"; and second, not to partake of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Mormonism emphasizes that Adam and Eve's subsequent partaking of the fruit was a "transgression," not a sin. Eve, understanding that without partaking of the fruit they could have no posterity, and hence could not fulfill the command to multiply and replenish the earth, partook of the fruit; Adam, seeing that his wife would be driven out of the Garden and he would be alone and unable to fulfill God’s command, partook as well.
The Book of Mormon, sacred scripture to Latter-day Saints, states:
And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end.
And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.
But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.
Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.
And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given (2 Nephi 2:22-26).[14]
According to Mormonism, through partaking of the fruit, Adam and Eve brought death into the world in two forms, namely physical and spiritual death. Physical death is a separation of the body and spirit; spiritual death is a separation between God and man. Through their own power, humanity is not able to overcome either. Yet, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all of humanity will be resurrected and overcome physical death; and by individual obedience to the Gospel, the grace of Christ provides forgiveness for individual sins, thus overcoming spiritual death and returning the faithful disciple to God’s presence.
This Plan of Salvation rejects the concept of Original sin. Three of their thirteen Articles of Faith state:[15]
2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.
3. We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
4. We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Unification Church
The Unification Church agrees with those who believe the forbidden fruit was sex, but teaches that Adam and Eve were meant to be blessed in marriage by God after they had grown to spiritual maturity. They fell when they engaged in a sexual act prematurely after Eve was tempted sexually by the serpent in the world of spirit. Thus they learned about the sexual relationship from Satan, not from God.
Contrary to many Christians' belief, Unificationists do not believe that The Fall was predestined by God, but was a choice made by Adam and Eve. According to Divine Principle (the Unification holy book),
"God created human beings in His image, with the character and powers of the Creator, intending that they govern over all things as He governs over humankind. However, for human beings to inherit the creative nature of God, they must grow to perfection by fulfilling their portion of responsibility. . . the period of their growth is the realm of God's indirect dominion or the realm of dominion based on accomplishments through the Principle. While people are still in this realm, God does not directly govern them because He wishes to allow them to fulfill their own portion of responsibility. God will govern them directly only after they have reached full maturity. If God were to interfere with human actions during their growing period, it would be tantamount to ignoring the human portion of responsibility. In that case, God would be disregarding His own Principle of Creation, according to which He intends to give human beings His creative nature and raise them to become the lords of creation. In summary, in order to preserve the absoluteness and perfection of the Principle of Creation, God did not intervene in the acts that led the human beings to fall." [16]
As a result of "the fall", humans lost God's lineage, and have been dominated by their ties to Satan. Unificationists believe that the fall is reversed through the Blessing Ceremony, which is understood to change a couple's lineage back to that of God, cutting off the bloodline to Satan. The entire purpose of history is restoration of man back to the originally intended divine lineage of God.
Felix culpa
Felix culpa (the happy fault) is an interpretation of the doctrine of the fall is that it is necessary so that humans might benefit from God's grace. It includes the notion that, had humankind not been given the capacity for evil, our choice through free will to either serve God or not would not have been as meaningful. For example:
A fall it might seem, just as a vicious man sometimes seems degraded below the beasts, but in promise and potency, a rise it really was.
– Sir Oliver Lodge, "Life and Matter", p. 79
Other interpretations
Entheogen theory
Writer/philosopher Terence McKenna in the Entheogen theory proposed that the fruit of knowledge was a reference to psychotropic plants and fungus, which played a central role, he theorized, in human intellectual evolution.
Kundalini Yoga
In the theory of Kundalini Yoga, author William Irwin Thompson attributes the story of the fall to the time when human beings first understood that sex led to pregnancy, and understood what menstruation was. In "The time falling bodies take to light", Thompson theorizes that Eve's kundalini awakened, leading her to understand sexuality and human power and intelligence. In Sanskrit, "kundalini" means "serpent"
Fiction
In William Shakespeare's Henry V (1599), the King describes the betrayal of Lord Scroop - a friend since childhood - as being "like another fall of man", referring to the loss of his own faith and innocence the treason has caused.
In the novel Perelandra (1943) by C. S. Lewis, the theme of the Fall is explored in the context of a new Garden of Eden with a new Adam and Eve on the planet Venus.
In the novel The Fall (1956) by Albert Camus, the theme of the Fall is enunciated through the first-person account given in post-war Amsterdam, in a bar called "Mexico City." Confessing to an acquaintance, the protagonist, Jean-Baptiste Clamence, describes the haunting consequence of his refusal to rescue a woman who had jumped from a bridge to her death. The dilemmas of modern Western conscience and the sacramental themes of baptism and grace are explored.
J. R. R. Tolkien included as a note to his comments about the Dialogue of Finrod and Andreth (published posthumously in 1993), the Tale of Adanel that is a reimagining of the Fall of Man inside his Middle-earth's mythos. The story presented Melkor seducing the first Men by making them worship him instead of Eru Ilúvatar, leading to the loss of the "Edenic" condition of the human race. The story is part of Morgoth's Ring.
In both Daniel Quinn's Ishmael (1992) and The Story of B (1996) novels, it is proposed that the story of the Fall of Man was first thought up by another culture watching the development of the now-dominant totalitarian agriculturalist culture.
In Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series (1995, 1997, 2000), the Fall is presented in a positive light, as it is the moment at which human beings achieve self-awareness, knowledge, and freedom. Pullman believes that it is not worth being innocent if the price is ignorance.
In the series Neon Genesis Evangelion (1994-present), the theme of the Fall is often explored. At the end of the plot, an attempt to clean the original sin is performed and a new genesis is started.
See also
Religion portal
Paradise Lost by John Milton
Deal with the devil
Original sin
Tree of Life (Judeo-Christian)
Ishmael (novel)
References
^ [Gen. 3:14-15]
^ [Gen. 3:17-19]
^ Nicole, Roger. "Biblical Egalitarianism and the Inerrancy of Scripture." Priscilla Papers, Vol. 20, No. 2. Spring 2006
^ [Gen. 3:23-24]
^ "The Elevated Places". University of Michigan Digital Library Production Service. http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/k/koran/koran-idx?type=DIV0&byte=227087. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
^ Milani, Farzaneh. "Drawing the Line Between Public and Private". http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5204664. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
^ Paul's Epistle to the Romans, chapter 3 verse 23
^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 390
^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 397
^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 404-405
^ John Shelby Spong, Bishop of Newark, Retired
^ OCA - Q & A - Original Sin
^ Eastern Orthodox Catechism, published by the Russian Orthodox Church. Accessed February 16, 2008.
^ "The Second Book of Nephi". http://scriptures.lds.org/en/2_ne/2. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
^ "The Articles of the Faith". http://scriptures.lds.org/en/a_of_f/1. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
^ Unification Home Page. Exposition of the Divine Principle, Retrieved September 12, 2007.
McKenna, Terrence, True Hallucinations & the Archaic Revival: Tales and Speculations About the Mysteries of the Psychedelic Experience (Fine Communications/MJF Books) (Hardbound) ISBN 1-56731-289-6; The Evolutionary Mind : Trialogues at the Edge of the Unthinkable (with Rupert Sheldrake and Ralph H. Abraham) (Trialogue Press; 1st Ed) ISBN 0-942344-13-8; Food of the Gods: A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution (Rider & Co; New edition) ISBN 0-7126-7038-6
Thompson, William Irwin, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, 1981, 2001 ISBN 0-312-80512-8.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Fall
Fall of Adam and Eve as explained in Mormonism
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Adam · Evil · The Fall · Original sin · Sin · Sin in theology · Supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism · Theodicy · Total depravity
Related Theology: Apologetics, Soteriology and Demonology
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Categories: Adam and Eve | Christian philosophy | Mormon cosmology | Sacred history | Biblical phrases
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Thursday, November 5, 2009
Sons of Noah
Sons of Noah
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This T and O map, which abstracts that society's known world to a cross inscribed within an orb, remakes geography in the service of Christian iconography and identifies the three known continents as populated by descendents of Shem (Sem), Ham (Cham) and Japheth (Iafeth)The Table of Nations or Sons of Noah is an extensive list of descendants of Noah which appears in Genesis 10 of the Hebrew Bible, representing an ethnology from an Iron Age Levantine perspective. The significance of Noah in this context is that, according to the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 6), the population of the Earth was completely destroyed during the Flood because of the wickedness of the Earth's inhabitants. And Noah and his family were the sole survivors to continue the human race; consequently all humans on Earth are descendant from him, therefore all mankind is thereby related.
Contents
[hide]
1 Historicity and coverage
2 Table of nations
2.1 Japheth's descendants
2.2 Ham's descendants
2.3 Shem's descendants
2.3.1 Arpachshad's family (genealogy of Abraham)
3 In historiography
3.1 In Flavius Josephus
3.2 In Hippolytus
3.3 In Jerome
3.4 In Isidore of Seville
4 Doublets
5 Extrabiblical sons of Noah
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
9 External links
Historicity and coverage
The world according to the Mosaic account (1854 map)A literal interpretation of Genesis 10 suggests that the present population of the world was descended from Noah's three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. Until the mid-19th century, this was taken by many as historical fact, and still is by many Orthodox Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Many others regard the list as part of Jewish folk legend.
There are disputes about how many of the peoples of the Earth this story was intended to cover, and as to its accuracy. Many Jews, Christians, and Muslims retain the belief that the table applies to the entire population of the earth, while others read it as a guide only to local ethnic groups.
In the Biblical view, the listed children of Japheth, Shem and Ham correspond to various historic nations and peoples. In the typical interpretation, these sons of Noah correspond to three races: European, Semitic, and African. Alternate divisions claim: Semitic-European Shem, African Ham, Asian Japhet.
Secular scholarship rejects the historicity of the list, and holds instead that the genealogy is merely a traditional one, aimed at explaining the relations between the ethnic groups of the ancient Near East, perhaps re-edited at the time of the text's final composition in the 7th century BC.
Table of nations
Shem, Ham and Japheth. Illustration by James Tissot 1904.According to Genesis 10, Noah had three sons:
Ham, forefather of the southern peoples (Hamitic Africa)
Shem, forefather of the middle peoples (Semitic)
Japheth, forefather of the northern peoples (Japhetic Eurasia)
The names of these sons are thought to have significance related to Semitic roots. Ham means "warm".[1] Shem merely means "name" or "renown", "prosperity".[2] Japheth means "open".[3]
It then proceeds to detail their descendants. The identification of several of the first generation is aided by the inclusion of the second, although several of their identifications are less certain. (The copy of the table in the biblical book of 1 Chronicles chapter 1 has occasional variations in the second generation, most likely caused by the similarity of Hebrew letters such as Resh and Daleth). Forms ending in -im are plurals, probably indicating names of peoples, and not intended as the name of a single person.
Japheth's descendants
Main article: Japhetic
Gomer, son of Japheth. Usually identified with the migratory Gimirru (Cimmerians) of Assyrian inscriptions, attested from about 720 BC).
Ashkenaz, son of Gomer. It has been conjectured that this name arose from a misprint in Hebrew for "Ashkuz", by reading a nun for a vav. Ashkuz and Ishkuz were names used for the Scythians, who first appear in Assyrian records in the late 8th century in the Caucasus region, and at times occupied vast areas of Europe and Asia. Additionally, in Medieval Hebrew, Germany is known as Ashkenaz, and is the origin of the term Ashkenazic Jews.
Riphath (Diphath in Chronicles), son of Gomer. Identification with Paphlagonians of later antiquity has been proposed, but this is uncertain.
Togarmah, son of Gomer. Some Armenian and Georgian traditions have claimed descent from Togarmah; other authors have attempted to connect them with Turkic peoples.
Magog, son of Japheth. This name appears in the Assyrian texts as mat gugu, The Land of Gugu, and means Lydia. Gugu is known in Greek texts as Gyges. Is claimed as an ancestor in both Irish and Hungarian medieval traditions. Flavius Josephus, followed by Jerome and Nennius, makes him ancestor of the Scythians who dwelt north of the Black Sea.
Madai, son of Japheth. The Medes of Northwest Iran first appear in Assyrian inscriptions as Amadai in about 844 BC.
Javan, son of Japheth. This name is said to be connected with the Ionians, one of the original Greek tribes.
Elishah, son of Javan. Identifications have been proposed with various Aegean peoples such as Elis of northwestern Peloponnesos, or Ellis of Phthia.
Tarshish (Tarshishah in Chronicles), son of Javan. Has been variously connected with Tarsus in Anatolia, or Tartessus in southern Spain.
Kittim, offspring of Javan. Usually connected with Kition in Cyprus, but name appears in other texts with a variety of interpretations.
Dodanim (Rodanim in Chronicles), offspring of Javan. Usually connected with large Aegean island of Rhodes near the coast of Asia Minor.
Note: the Greek Septuagint (LXX) of Genesis includes an additional son of Japheth, "Elisa", in between Javan and Tubal; however, as this name is found in no other ancient source, nor in I Chronicles, he is almost universally agreed to be a duplicate of Elisha, son of Javan. Nevertheless, the presence of Elisa (as well as that of Cainan son of Arpachshad, below) in the Greek Bible accounts for the traditional enumeration among early Christian sources of 72 families and languages, from the 72 names in this chapter, as opposed to the 70 names, families and languages usually found in Jewish sources.
Tubal, son of Japheth. He is connected with the Tabali, an Anatolian tribe, and both the Iberians of the Caucasus and those of the Iberian peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal), as well as Illyrians and Italics. In the book of Jubilees he was bequeathed the three 'tongues' of Europe.
Meshech, son of Japheth. He is regarded as the eponym of the Mushki Phrygian tribe of Anatolia who, like the Tabali, contributed to the collapse of the Hittites ca. 1200 BC. The Mushki are considered one of the ancestors of the Georgians, but also became connected with the Sea Peoples who roved the Mediterranean Sea. Some consider him father of Moscow, combining his name Meshech (Msc) and his wife's name, Kva (Cwa).
Tiras, son of Japheth. This name is usually connected with that of Thracians, an ancient nation first appearing in written records around 700 BC. It has also been associated with some of the Sea Peoples such as Tursha and Tyrsenoi, with the river Tiras (Dniester), and sometimes with the Anatolian region of Troas, dating to the later 13th century BC. In tractate Yoma, of the Talmud, it states that Tiras is Persia.
Japheth is traditionally seen as the ancestor of Europeans, as well as some more eastern nations; thus Japhetic has been used as a synonym for Caucasians. Caucasian itself derives in part from the assumption that the tribe of Japheth developed its distinctive racial characteristics in the Caucasus, where Mount Ararat is located. The term Japhetic was also applied by the early linguists (brothers Grimm, William Jones, Rasmus C. Rask and others) to what later became known as the Indo-European language group, on the assumption that, if descended from Japheth, the principal languages of Europe would have a common origin, which apart from Finno-Ugric, Kartvelian, Pontic, Nakh, Dagestan, and Basque, appears to be the case. In a conflicting sense, the term was also used by the Soviet linguist Nikolai Marr in his Japhetic theory intended to demonstrate that the languages of the Caucasus formed part of a once-widespread pre-Indo-European language group.
In classical times, and among a minority of modern students, various arguments have been proposed that the Roman deity Jupiter may have been a deified Japheth, and further, that he became known in Greek as 'Iapetos', and in Sanskrit as 'Pra-Japati'. Modern linguists dispute whether there are any actual connections between 'Pra-Japati', which translates as Lord of Creatures, Iapetos, Jupiter, a corruption of Dyeus Pater, meaning 'sky father', and Japheth, meaning open, and attempts to connect these deities with Japheth are often regarded as poor scholarship and folk etymology.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Biblical statement that God shall enlarge Japheth (Genesis 9:27) was used by some imperialists as a justification for the "enlargement" of European territories through Imperialism, interpreted as part of God's plan for the world.[citation needed].
Ham's descendants
Main article: Hamitic
Cush, son of Ham. The Empire of Kush to the south of Egypt is known from at least 1970 BC, but this name has also been associated by some with the Kassites who inhabited the Zagros area of Mesopotamia, the Sumerian city of Kish.
Seba, son of Cush. Has been connected with both Yemen and Eritrea, with much confusion with Sheba below. (The Shibboleth-like division amongst the Sabaeans into Sheba and Seba is acknowledged elsewhere, for example in Psalm 72, leading scholars to suspect that this is not a mistaken duplication of the same name, but a genuine historical division. The significance of this division is not yet completely understood, though it may simply reflect which side of the sea each was on.)
Havilah, son of Cush. Usually considered to be a part of the Arabian peninsula near the Red Sea.
Sabtah, son of Cush. Sometimes connected with Hadhramis (their ancient capital being Saubatha) in eastern Yemen.
Raamah, son of Cush. Has been connected with Rhammanitae mentioned by Strabo in the southwest Arabian peninsula, and with an Arabian city of Regmah at the head of Persian Gulf.
Sheba, son of Raamah. Has been connected with Sabaeans and peoples on either side of the narrowest part of the Red Sea, in both Yemen/South Arabia, and Eritrea/Ethiopia/Somalia.
Dedan, son of Raamah. Apparently a region of the Tabuk Province of Saudi Arabia.
Sabtechah, son of Cush. Possibly Sabaiticum Ostium, Sabaeans living around a specific harbour in Eritrea.
Nimrod, son of Cush, also identified as a mighty hunter before God, and the founder of ancient Babel, Akkad, Sumer, and possibly cities in Assyria. The Hebrew wording of Genesis 10:11 has led to some ambiguity as to whether Asshur here is the son of Shem or a city built by Nimrod; either interpretation can be found in various modern versions.
Mizraim, son of Ham. Mizraim is a name for Upper and Lower Egypt and literally translates as Ta-Wy in Ancient Egyptian ("The Two Lands"). The -aim in Mizraim represents dual number. Arabic-speaking modern Egyptians refer to their country as miṣr.
Ludim, offspring of Mizraim. Sometimes considered a scribal error for Lubim, a reference to the Lebou of Eastern Libya.
Anamim, offspring of Mizraim. There is a reference in an Assyrian inscription from Sargon II's time to Anami, a tribe located in Cyrene, Libya.
Lehabim, offspring of Mizraim. Identification uncertain, possibly Libya.
Naphtuhim, offspring of Mizraim. Has been connected with Na-Ptah, the Egyptian form of Memphis.
Pathrusim, offspring of Mizraim. Possibly connected with Egyptian word Pa-To-Ris meaning southerners.
Casluhim ("from whom came the Philistim"), offspring of Mizraim.
Caphtorim, offspring of Mizraim, associated with Caphtor, probably Crete, Cyprus, or both.
Phut, son of Ham. Ancient authorities are fairly universal in identifying Phut with the Libyans (Lebu and Pitu), the earliest neighbors of Egypt to the west. (Although more recent theories have tried to connect Phut with Phoenicia, or the currently unidentified Land of Punt.)
Canaan, son of Ham. This is known to be the name of a nation and people who settled the Eastern shore of the Mediterranean in what is now called Israel and Lebanon.
Sidon, firstborn son of Canaan, and name one of the oldest city-states on the Phoenician coast.
Heth, son of Canaan, considered ancestor of "Hittites", a people of Canaan, possibly connected with Hatti, a powerful entity in Anatolia.
"the Jebusite", offspring of Canaan, a tribe that lived around Jerusalem, that was formerly known as Jebus according to the Books of Kings.
"the Amorite", offspring of Canaan, a people living between the Jordan and Euphrates rivers by at least 2000 BC, known as Amurru to the Akkadians and Egyptians.
"the Girgasite", offspring of Canaan, known to the Egyptians as the Kirkash. It is suggested they settled east of the Jordan River between Lake Kinneret and the Dead Sea[4].
"the Hivite", offspring of Canaan
"the Arkite", offspring of Canaan, probably city-state of Arqa in Phoenicia.
"the Sinite", offspring of Canaan, possibly connected with the Wilderness of Sin, or the Sinn river in Syria.
"the Arvadite", offspring of Canaan, refers to the Phoenician city-state of Arwad.
"the Zemarite", offspring of Canaan, refers to the Phoenician city-state of Zemar.
"the Hamathite", offspring of Canaan, refers to Syrian city of Hamath.
Africans were thus anciently understood to be the sons of Ham, particularly his descendant Cush, as Cushites are referred to throughout scripture as being the inhabitants of East Africa, and they and the Yoruba still trace their ancestry through Ham today. Beginning in the 9th century with the Jewish grammarian Judah ibn Quraysh, a relationship between the Semitic and Cushitic languages was seen; modern linguists group these two families, along with the Egyptian, Berber, Chadic, and Omotic language groups into the larger Afro-Asiatic linguistic family. In addition, languages in the southern half of Africa are now seen as belonging to several distinct families independent of the Afro-Asiatic group. Some now discarded Hamitic theories have become viewed as racist; in particular a theory proposed in the 19th century by Speke, that the Tutsi were supposedly Hamitic and thus inherently superior, (while the Hutu were seen as just Bantu) is regarded by some sources[5][6][7] as having ultimately led to the Rwandan Genocide.
Shem's descendants
Main article: Semitic
Shem is held to be founder of the Semitic peoples. Religious Jews and Arabs consider themselves sons of Shem through Arpachshad (thus, Semites).
Elam, son of Shem. The Elamites called themselves the Haltamti and had an empire (capital Susa) in what is now Khuzistan, modern Iran. Elamite, however, is a non-Semitic language. It has been controversially grouped with the modern Dravidian languages, into "Elamo-Dravidian".
Ashur, son of Shem. The Assyrians traced themselves to the god-ancestor Ashur and the city he founded by that name on the Tigris.
Arpachshad, (also transcribed Arphaxad) son of Shem. He or his immediate descendants are credited in Jewish tradition with founding the city of Ur of the Chaldees, possibly Urfa modern southeastern Turkey, although it has also been identified by some (following the archaeologist Wooley) with the Sumerian city of Ur on the south bank of the Euphrates.
Lud, son of Shem. Most ancient authorities assign this name to the Lydians of Eastern Anatolia (Luddu in Assyrian inscriptions from ca. 700 BC). This name may also be connected with the earlier Luwians who lived in approximately the same area.
Aram, son of Shem. There are references to a campaign against 'Aram' as early as 2300 BC in the inscriptions of Naram-Suen of Akkad. His descendants settled in the city of Haran. There were a number of places named Aram including one in Damascus and another called Aram-Naharaim or Aram of two Rivers since it was situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. There is also Aram-Tzova which is mentioned in Psalms 60.
Uz, son of Aram. Possibly the ancestors of the Nabataeans, extending from Southern Jordan to Northwestern Saudi Arabia; also mentioned in Job.
Hul, son of Aram. Unknown; possible connection with Lake known in Aramaic as Hulata.
Gether, son of Aram. Father of Thamud in Arabic tradition.
Mash, son of Aram (1 Chronicles has Meshech). Unknown; suggestions include Mashu, an unknown region of cedars mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh (possibly Lebanon), and E-Mash-Mash, the main temple at Ninevah in Assyria.
Arpachshad's family (genealogy of Abraham)
The genealogy at this point lists several generations of Arpachshad's descendants, on account of their connection with the Hebrew nation and the rest of Genesis:
Cainan is listed as the son of Arpachshad and father of Shelah in some ancient sources. The name is omitted in the Hebrew Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible, but the Greek Septuagint and genealogy of Jesus in St. Luke 3:36 include the name.
Shelah (also transcribed Salah) son of Arpachshad (or Cainan).
Eber son of Shelah, implicitly indicated as the eponymous ancestor of the Hebrews.
Peleg, son of Eber. Sometimes connected to Phalgu, an ancient town located where the Euphrates and Chaboras meet. In the table, it is said that the Earth was divided in the days of Peleg. A threefold division among Ham, Shem and Japheth preceding the Tower of Babel incident, is elaborated on in some ancient sources; others assume the 'division' occurred immediately following it, with the scattering of the nations.
Joktan, son of Eber. Sometimes identified with Jectan, an ancient town near Mecca. Considered, as Qahtan, to be the ancestor of the "Pure Arabs".
Almodad, son of Joktan. Has been identified with al-Morad, somewhere in Yemen.
Sheleph, son of Joktan. Identified with Salif, Northwest Yemen. The capital of the Salif was Sulaf.
Hazarmaveth, son of Joktan. Identified with Hadhramaut in East Yemen.
Jerah, son of Joktan. Identified with Jerakon Kome in South central Yemen.
Hadoram, son of Joktan. Identification has been proposed with Hurarina, a town of Southern Arabia mentioned in Assyrian inscriptions of Ashurbanipal. Hurarina also happens to be the name of a fruit tree exclusive to Shewa, Ethiopia.
Uzal, son of Joktan. Identified with Azalla in Central west Yemen. Azal is the ancient name of San'a.
Diklah son of Joktan. Uncertain, although a connection with Deqlath (the Syriac form of Tigris) has been suggested.
Obal, son of Joktan. Identified with the Abil in Central west Yemen. The Abil are, according to ancient inscriptions, placed west of the Azalla.
Abimael, son of Joktan. Though Abimael is unidentified as a tribe it has traditionally been considered to be a northern Arabian group.
Sheba, son of Joktan. Like Sheba son of Raamah and Seba son of Cush, identified with Sabaeans of Southern Yemen/Coastal Eritrea.
Ophir, son of Joktan. Identified with Afir of Southwest Yemen. Ancient inscriptions place them between the Huwailah and Sabaeans (roughly where Ma'afir is now).
Havilah, son of Joktan. Identified with Huwailah and Kwahlans of Northwest Yemen.
Jobab, son of Joktan. Identified with Labibi of Southwest Saudi Arabia. Their capital was Juhaibab, which ancient inscriptions locate near Mecca.
In historiography
In Flavius Josephus
Geographic identifications of Flavius Josephus, c. 100 AD
The 1st century Jewish-Roman historian Flavius Josephus, in Antiquities of the Jews Book 1, chapter 6, was among the first of many who attempted to assign known ethnicities to some of the names listed in Genesis chapter 10. His assignments became the basis for most later authors, and were as follows[8]:
Gomer: "those whom the Greeks now call Galatians, [Galls,] but were then called Gomerites".
Aschanax (Ashkenaz): "Aschanaxians, who are now called by the Greeks Rheginians".
Riphath: "Ripheans, now called Paphlagonians".
Thrugramma (Togarmah): "Thrugrammeans, who, as the Greeks resolved, were named Phrygians".
Magog: "Magogites, but who are by the Greeks called Scythians".
Madai: "the Madeans, who are called Medes, by the Greeks".
Javan: "Ionia, and all the Grecians".
Elisa: "Eliseans... they are now the Aeolians".
Tharsus (Tarshish): "Tharsians, for so was Cilicia of old called". He also derives the name of their city Tarsus from Tharsus.
Cethimus (Kittim): "The island Cethima: it is now called Cyprus". He also derives the Greek name of their city, which he spells Citius, from Cethimus.
Thobel (Tubal): "Thobelites, who are now called Iberes".
Mosoch (Meshech): "Mosocheni... now they are Cappadocians." He also derives the name of their capital Mazaca from Mosoch.
Thiras (Tiras): "Thirasians; but the Greeks changed the name into Thracians".
Chus (Cush): "Ethiopians... even at this day, both by themselves and by all men in Asia, called Chusites".
Sabas (Seba): Sabeans
Evilas (Havilah): "Evileans, who are called Getuli".
Sabathes (Sabta): "Sabathens, they are now called by the Greeks Astaborans".
Sabactas (Sabteca): Sabactens
Ragmus (Raamah): Ragmeans
Judadas (Dedan): "Judadeans, a nation of the western Ethiopians".
Sabas (Sheba): Sabeans
Mesraim (Misraim): Egypt, which he says is called Mestre in his country.
"Now all the children of Mesraim, being eight in number, possessed the country from Gaza to Egypt, though it retained the name of one only, the Philistim; for the Greeks call part of that country Palestine. As for the rest, Ludieim, and Enemim, and Labim, who alone inhabited in Libya, and called the country from himself, Nedim, and Phethrosim, and Chesloim, and Cephthorim, we know nothing of them besides their names; for the Ethiopic war which we shall describe hereafter, was the cause that those cities were overthrown."
Phut: Libya. He states that a river and region "in the country of Moors" was still called Phut by the Greeks, but that it had been renamed "from one of the sons of Mesraim, who was called Lybyos".
Canaan: Judea, which he called "from his own name Canaan".
Sidonius (Sidon): The city of Sidonius, "called by the Greeks Sidon".
Amathus (Hamathite): "Amathine, which is even now called Amathe by the inhabitants, although the Macedonians named it Epiphania, from one of his posterity."
Arudeus (Arvadite): "the island Aradus".
Arucas (Arkite): "Arce, which is in Libanus".
"But for the seven others [sons of Canaan], Chetteus, Jebuseus, Amorreus, Gergesus, Eudeus, Sineus, Samareus, we have nothing in the sacred books but their names, for the Hebrews overthrew their cities".
Elam: "Elamites, the ancestors of the Persians".
Ashur: Assyrians, and their city Niniveh built by Ashur.
Arphaxad: "Arphaxadites, who are now called Chaldeans".
Sala
Heber (Eber): "from whom they originally called the Jews Hebrews".
Phaleg (Peleg): He notes that he was so named "because he was born at the dispersion of the nations to their several countries; for Phaleg among the Hebrews signifies division".
Joctan
"Elmodad, Saleph, Asermoth, Jera, Adoram, Aizel, Decla, Ebal, Abimael, Sabeus, Ophir, Euilat, and Jobab. These inhabited from Cophen, an Indian river, and in part of Asia adjoining to it."
Aram: "Aramites, which the Greeks called Syrians".
Uz: "Uz founded Trachonitis and Damascus: this country lies between Palestine and Celesyria".
Ul (Hul): Armenia
Gather (Gether): Bactrians
Mesa (Mesh): "Mesaneans; it is now called Charax Spasini".
Laud (Lud): "Laudites, which are now called Lydians".
In Hippolytus
The chronicle of Hippolytus of Rome (c. 234), existing in numerous Latin and Greek copies[9], make another attempt to assign ethnicities to the names in Genesis 10, in some cases similar to those of Josephus, but with many differences, which are:
Gomer - Cappadocians
Ashkenaz - Sarmatians
Riphath - Sauromatians
Togarmah - Armenians
Magog - Galatians, Celts
Javan
Elishah - Siculi (Chron Pasc: Trojans and Phrygians)
Tarshish - Iberians, Tyrrhenians
Kittim - Macedonians, Romans, Latins
Tubal - "Hettali" (?)
Meshech - Illyrians
Misraim
Ludim - Lydians
Anamim - Pamphylians
Pathrusim - Lycians (var.: Cretans)
Caphtorim - Cilicians
Put - Troglodytes
Canaan - Afri and Phoenicians
Arkite - Tripolitanians
Lud - Halizones
Arpachshad
Cainan - "those east of the Sarmatians" (one variant)
Joktan
Elmodad - Indians
Saleph - Bactrians
Hazamaveth, Sheba - Arabs
Adoram - Carmanians
Uzal - Arians (var.: Parthians)
Abimael - Hyrcanians
Obal - Scythians
Ophir - Armenians
Deklah - Gedrosians
Aram - "Etes" ?
Hul - Lydians (var: Colchians)
Gether - "Gaspeni" ?
Mash - Mossynoeci (var: Mosocheni)
The Chronicle of 354, the Panarion by Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 375), the Chronicon Paschale (c. 627), the History of Albania by the Georgian historian Movses Kaghankatvatsi (7th century), and the Synopsis of Histories by John Skylitzes (c. 1057) follow the identifications of Hippolytus.
In Jerome
Jerome, writing ca. 390, provided an 'updated' version of Josephus' identifications in his Hebrew Questions on Genesis. His list is substantially identical to that of Josephus in almost all respects, but with the following notable differences:
Thubal, son of Japheth: "Iberians, who are also the Spaniards from whom derive the Celtiberians, although certain people suppose them to be the Italians."
Gether, son of Aram: "Acarnanii or Carians"
Mash, son of Aram: Maeones
In Isidore of Seville
The scholar Isidore of Seville, in his Etymologiae (ca. 600), repeats all of Jerome's identifications, but with these minor changes [10]:
Joktan, son of Eber: Indians
Saleph, son of Joktan: Bactrians
Magog, son of Japheth: "Scythians and Goths"
Ashkenaz, son of Gomer: "Sarmatians, whom the Greeks call Rheginians".
Isidore's identifications for Japheth's sons were repeated in the Historia Britonum attributed to Nennius. Isidore's identifications also became the basis for numerous later mediaeval scholars.
Doublets
The Middle East through eyes of the ancient Israelites. Genesis 10 as reconstructed after the Documentary hypothesis.The text of Gen. 10 includes some apparent "doublets" in the form of two separate lines of descent covering certain groups in Yemen and the surrounding regions — one of these indicating descent from Ham via Cush; the other from Shem via Joktan. Specifically, the Sabaeans (under the similar names Sheba and Seba), Huwaila (under Havilah), and possibly Hadhramaut (if Hazarmaveth is to be equated with Sabtah as a name representing its capital), appear to be in both lineages. (Gen 10:11, translated in the KJV as "Out of that land went forth Asshur, and built Niniveh, etc…", is taken in some modern translations to mean that the city of "Asshur" was one of those built by Nimrod; however, this is but a single verse in the Hebrew, with dual English interpretations, and not a genuine "doublet".)
In the documentary hypothesis, these doublets are taken as certain signs of multiple authorship; on this account, the theory identifies hypothetical Jahwist (J) and Priestly (P) sources as having two quite different genealogies later combined into the present table. It must be remembered that these hypothetical sources have never been archaeologically or otherwise attested, and are only reconstructions by modern scholars who hold this theory. These sources are seen as originating some 150-300 years apart, with the later source, the Priestly, rewriting the Jahwist's account to reflect their own view concerning ethnology. While both sources are considered to have divided the groups into Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the descent beyond these is reconstructed quite differently. To the Jahwist source are ascribed the account of Nimrod and his cities, as well as the descendants of Joktan, Canaan, and Mizraim; while to the Priestly source are ascribed the account of the descendants of Cush and Japheth.
The Jahwist source would thus exhibit a worldview concerned heavily with Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Arab tribes viewed to have originated from around Mecca (a holy site since ancient times), and Canaan. Rather than a table, the Jahwist source is reconstructed as more of a narrative structure. Preceded by the tale of the curse of Ham, the Jahwist reconstruction describes Ham's son Cush fathering Nimrod, who is subsequently described as going on to found the great cities of Mesopotamia, then details the sons of Canaan and Mizraim.
A more genealogical line is given by the Jahwist reconstruction for Shem, going down the generations in a straight line until Joktan is reached, and, like elsewhere in the Jahwist text, though Joktan is not on the line himself, as the son of Eber, a major Patriarch on the line (the eponymous founder of the Hebrews, Eberu), Joktan's own descendants are described. The name of Joktan's purported brother, Peleg, is etymologically related to the word Pulukku in Akkadian, meaning divided by boundaries, and by borders, and Palgu in Assyrian, meaning divided by canals, and by irrigation systems. While Peleg is believed by some to be present in the narrative to indicate origin via the city of Phalgu, the comment after his name, that in his day the earth was divided, is thought in critical circles to simply be a convenient pun in order to insert the story of the Tower of Babel into the Jahwist's narrative. In the Jahwist reconstruction, Japheth has previously been described, within the tale of Ham's curse, as going on to dwell in the tents of Shem, and hence is not indicated as having any children of his own.
According to the dates given by critical scholars, the areas of the Mediterranean and the Caucasus had become much more developed over the years between the Jahwist and Priestly sources. The Egyptians had become much more unified (having largely recovered from the Third Intermediate Period). Thus, while the reconstructed Priestly source does not include the subdivisions within Egypt, it does include details of groups in the eastern Mediterranean (Javan, Tubal, Meschech, Tiras) and Caucasus (Gomer, Madai), attaching them to Japheth, perhaps since his descendants are not identified by the Jahwist. Mesopotamia retained its importance, and the Priestly source, a text reconstructed with a favouritism for long dry lists, extends the detail concerning its genealogy given by the Jahwist, presenting a more complicated ethnological tree. The Arab groups of the Yemen area also seem to have been viewed as retaining importance, as the hypothetical Priestly source considered them still worth detailing, though presenting an origin for them in the more significant Nubia (via Cush), rather than from around Mecca. There is little narrative quality in the text usually ascribed to the priestly source; essentially it resembles simply a raw list of names, with the occasional indication of familial relationship.
Extrabiblical sons of Noah
There exist various traditions in extrabiblical sources claiming that Noah had children other than Shem, Ham, and Japheth, born variously before, during, or after the Deluge.
According to the Quran (Hud v. 42-43), Noah had another unnamed son who refused to come aboard the Ark, instead preferring to climb a mountain, where he drowned. Some later Islamic commentators give his name as either Yam or Kan'an.
According to Irish mythology, Noah had another son named Bith, who was not allowed aboard the Ark, and who attempted to colonise Ireland with 54 persons, only to be wiped out in the Deluge.
Some 9th century manuscripts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles assert that Sceafa was the fourth son of Noah, born aboard the Ark, from whom the House of Wessex traced their ancestry; in William of Malmesbury's version of this genealogy (c. 1120), Sceaf is instead made a descendant of Strephius, the fourth son born aboard the Ark.
An early Arabic work known as Kitab al-Magall or the Book of Rolls (part of Clementine literature) mentions Bouniter, the fourth son of Noah, born after the flood, who allegedly invented astronomy and instructed Nimrod[11]. Variants of this story with often similar names for Noah's fourth son are also found in the ca. 5th century Ge'ez work Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan (Barvin), the ca. 6th century Syriac book Cave of Treasures (Yonton), the 7th century Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius (Ionitus[12]), the Syriac Book of the Bee 1221 (Yônatôn), the Hebrew Chronicles of Jerahmeel, ca. 12th-14th cent. (Jonithes), and throughout Armenian apocryphal literature, where he is usually referred to as Maniton; as well as in works by Petrus Comestor c. 1160 (Jonithus), Godfrey of Viterbo 1185 (Ihonitus), Michael the Syrian 1196 (Maniton), Abu Salih the Armenian c. 1208 (Abu Naiţur); Jacob van Maerlant c. 1270 (Jonitus), Abraham Zacuto 1504 (Yoniko) and Jehiel ben Solomon Heilprin c. 1697 (Yuniku).[13]
Martin of Opava (c. 1250), later versions of the Mirabilia Urbis Romae, and the Chronicon Bohemorum of Giovanni di Marignola (1355) make Janus (i.e., the Roman deity) the fourth son of Noah, who moved to Italy, invented astrology, and instructed Nimrod.
According to the monk Annio da Viterbo (1498), the Hellenistic Babylonian writer Berossus had mentioned 30 children born to Noah after the Deluge, including sons named Tuiscon, Prometheus, Iapetus, Macrus, "16 titans", Cranus, Granaus, Oceanus, and Tipheus. Also mentioned are daughters of Noah named Araxa "the Great", Regina, Pandora, Crana, and Thetis. However, Annio's manuscript is widely regarded today as having been a forgery[14].
According to Jewish tradition the inhabitants of the Ark, including the humans were not allowed to mate, therefore Noah could not have had any children while on the Ark. Directly after coming out of the Ark, Noah got drunk and according to Jewish tradition was castrated by his son Ham, preventing him from having any more offspring.
See also
Wives aboard the Ark
Nuwaubianism
Genealogy
Ethnography
Comparative linguistics
Mesopotamia
Ancient Egypt
Fertile crescent
Garden of Eden
Antediluvian
Human history
Aggadah
Continuity thesis
Notes
Dillmann, A., Genesis: Critically and Exegetically Expounded, Vol. 1, Edinburgh, UK, T. and T. Clark, 1897, 314.
Kautzsch, E.F.: quoted by James Orr, "The Early Narratives of Genesis," in The Fundamentals, Vol. 1, Los Angeles, CA, Biola Press, 1917.
References
^ Lexicon Results for Cham (Strong's 02526)
^ Lexicon Results for Shem (Strong's 08035)
^ Lexicon Results for Yepheth (Strong's 03315)
^ After the Flood Bill Cooper, 1995.
^ Jews in Central Africa Irwin M. Berg, 2003.
^ Havila and the Tutsi Hebrews
^ Hebraic Traditions of the Batutsi
^ Antiquities of the Jews - Book I
^ Die Chronik des Hippolytus
^ Etymologies of Isidore, English translation
^ Seth in Jewish, Christian, and Gnostic Literature p. 54
^ S.P. Brock notes that the earliest Greek texts of Pseudo-Methodius read Moneton, while the Syriac versions have Ionţon (Armenian Apocrypha, p. 117)
^ Looking for Jonitus by C.J. Verduin
^ Travels of Noah into Europe
External links
Latin Vulgate and English Douay-Rheims
English Septuagint
King James Version and Revised Standard Version
Jewish Encyclopedia: Entry for "Genealogy" - a 1901/6 view (the early days of comparative linguistics and the documentary hypothesis).
The connection of modern nations to the table according to a creationist source (with Europe as descended from the tribes of Israel, and the UK and USA from Joseph (but by different sons)).
Custance, Arthur C., The Roots of the Nations.A more standard creationist account that associates Japheth with Europe.
[hide]v • d • eDescendants of Noah in Genesis 10
Shem and Semitic Elam · Ashur · Aram · Arpachshad · Lud
Ham and Hamitic Cush · Mizraim · Phut · Canaan
Japheth and Japhetic Gomer · Magog · Madai · Javan · Tubal · Meshech · Tiras
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_of_Noah"
Categories: Torah people | Bible genealogy | Hebrew Bible topics | Noahides | Young Earth creationism | Survivors
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This T and O map, which abstracts that society's known world to a cross inscribed within an orb, remakes geography in the service of Christian iconography and identifies the three known continents as populated by descendents of Shem (Sem), Ham (Cham) and Japheth (Iafeth)The Table of Nations or Sons of Noah is an extensive list of descendants of Noah which appears in Genesis 10 of the Hebrew Bible, representing an ethnology from an Iron Age Levantine perspective. The significance of Noah in this context is that, according to the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 6), the population of the Earth was completely destroyed during the Flood because of the wickedness of the Earth's inhabitants. And Noah and his family were the sole survivors to continue the human race; consequently all humans on Earth are descendant from him, therefore all mankind is thereby related.
Contents
[hide]
1 Historicity and coverage
2 Table of nations
2.1 Japheth's descendants
2.2 Ham's descendants
2.3 Shem's descendants
2.3.1 Arpachshad's family (genealogy of Abraham)
3 In historiography
3.1 In Flavius Josephus
3.2 In Hippolytus
3.3 In Jerome
3.4 In Isidore of Seville
4 Doublets
5 Extrabiblical sons of Noah
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
9 External links
Historicity and coverage
The world according to the Mosaic account (1854 map)A literal interpretation of Genesis 10 suggests that the present population of the world was descended from Noah's three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. Until the mid-19th century, this was taken by many as historical fact, and still is by many Orthodox Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Many others regard the list as part of Jewish folk legend.
There are disputes about how many of the peoples of the Earth this story was intended to cover, and as to its accuracy. Many Jews, Christians, and Muslims retain the belief that the table applies to the entire population of the earth, while others read it as a guide only to local ethnic groups.
In the Biblical view, the listed children of Japheth, Shem and Ham correspond to various historic nations and peoples. In the typical interpretation, these sons of Noah correspond to three races: European, Semitic, and African. Alternate divisions claim: Semitic-European Shem, African Ham, Asian Japhet.
Secular scholarship rejects the historicity of the list, and holds instead that the genealogy is merely a traditional one, aimed at explaining the relations between the ethnic groups of the ancient Near East, perhaps re-edited at the time of the text's final composition in the 7th century BC.
Table of nations
Shem, Ham and Japheth. Illustration by James Tissot 1904.According to Genesis 10, Noah had three sons:
Ham, forefather of the southern peoples (Hamitic Africa)
Shem, forefather of the middle peoples (Semitic)
Japheth, forefather of the northern peoples (Japhetic Eurasia)
The names of these sons are thought to have significance related to Semitic roots. Ham means "warm".[1] Shem merely means "name" or "renown", "prosperity".[2] Japheth means "open".[3]
It then proceeds to detail their descendants. The identification of several of the first generation is aided by the inclusion of the second, although several of their identifications are less certain. (The copy of the table in the biblical book of 1 Chronicles chapter 1 has occasional variations in the second generation, most likely caused by the similarity of Hebrew letters such as Resh and Daleth). Forms ending in -im are plurals, probably indicating names of peoples, and not intended as the name of a single person.
Japheth's descendants
Main article: Japhetic
Gomer, son of Japheth. Usually identified with the migratory Gimirru (Cimmerians) of Assyrian inscriptions, attested from about 720 BC).
Ashkenaz, son of Gomer. It has been conjectured that this name arose from a misprint in Hebrew for "Ashkuz", by reading a nun for a vav. Ashkuz and Ishkuz were names used for the Scythians, who first appear in Assyrian records in the late 8th century in the Caucasus region, and at times occupied vast areas of Europe and Asia. Additionally, in Medieval Hebrew, Germany is known as Ashkenaz, and is the origin of the term Ashkenazic Jews.
Riphath (Diphath in Chronicles), son of Gomer. Identification with Paphlagonians of later antiquity has been proposed, but this is uncertain.
Togarmah, son of Gomer. Some Armenian and Georgian traditions have claimed descent from Togarmah; other authors have attempted to connect them with Turkic peoples.
Magog, son of Japheth. This name appears in the Assyrian texts as mat gugu, The Land of Gugu, and means Lydia. Gugu is known in Greek texts as Gyges. Is claimed as an ancestor in both Irish and Hungarian medieval traditions. Flavius Josephus, followed by Jerome and Nennius, makes him ancestor of the Scythians who dwelt north of the Black Sea.
Madai, son of Japheth. The Medes of Northwest Iran first appear in Assyrian inscriptions as Amadai in about 844 BC.
Javan, son of Japheth. This name is said to be connected with the Ionians, one of the original Greek tribes.
Elishah, son of Javan. Identifications have been proposed with various Aegean peoples such as Elis of northwestern Peloponnesos, or Ellis of Phthia.
Tarshish (Tarshishah in Chronicles), son of Javan. Has been variously connected with Tarsus in Anatolia, or Tartessus in southern Spain.
Kittim, offspring of Javan. Usually connected with Kition in Cyprus, but name appears in other texts with a variety of interpretations.
Dodanim (Rodanim in Chronicles), offspring of Javan. Usually connected with large Aegean island of Rhodes near the coast of Asia Minor.
Note: the Greek Septuagint (LXX) of Genesis includes an additional son of Japheth, "Elisa", in between Javan and Tubal; however, as this name is found in no other ancient source, nor in I Chronicles, he is almost universally agreed to be a duplicate of Elisha, son of Javan. Nevertheless, the presence of Elisa (as well as that of Cainan son of Arpachshad, below) in the Greek Bible accounts for the traditional enumeration among early Christian sources of 72 families and languages, from the 72 names in this chapter, as opposed to the 70 names, families and languages usually found in Jewish sources.
Tubal, son of Japheth. He is connected with the Tabali, an Anatolian tribe, and both the Iberians of the Caucasus and those of the Iberian peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal), as well as Illyrians and Italics. In the book of Jubilees he was bequeathed the three 'tongues' of Europe.
Meshech, son of Japheth. He is regarded as the eponym of the Mushki Phrygian tribe of Anatolia who, like the Tabali, contributed to the collapse of the Hittites ca. 1200 BC. The Mushki are considered one of the ancestors of the Georgians, but also became connected with the Sea Peoples who roved the Mediterranean Sea. Some consider him father of Moscow, combining his name Meshech (Msc) and his wife's name, Kva (Cwa).
Tiras, son of Japheth. This name is usually connected with that of Thracians, an ancient nation first appearing in written records around 700 BC. It has also been associated with some of the Sea Peoples such as Tursha and Tyrsenoi, with the river Tiras (Dniester), and sometimes with the Anatolian region of Troas, dating to the later 13th century BC. In tractate Yoma, of the Talmud, it states that Tiras is Persia.
Japheth is traditionally seen as the ancestor of Europeans, as well as some more eastern nations; thus Japhetic has been used as a synonym for Caucasians. Caucasian itself derives in part from the assumption that the tribe of Japheth developed its distinctive racial characteristics in the Caucasus, where Mount Ararat is located. The term Japhetic was also applied by the early linguists (brothers Grimm, William Jones, Rasmus C. Rask and others) to what later became known as the Indo-European language group, on the assumption that, if descended from Japheth, the principal languages of Europe would have a common origin, which apart from Finno-Ugric, Kartvelian, Pontic, Nakh, Dagestan, and Basque, appears to be the case. In a conflicting sense, the term was also used by the Soviet linguist Nikolai Marr in his Japhetic theory intended to demonstrate that the languages of the Caucasus formed part of a once-widespread pre-Indo-European language group.
In classical times, and among a minority of modern students, various arguments have been proposed that the Roman deity Jupiter may have been a deified Japheth, and further, that he became known in Greek as 'Iapetos', and in Sanskrit as 'Pra-Japati'. Modern linguists dispute whether there are any actual connections between 'Pra-Japati', which translates as Lord of Creatures, Iapetos, Jupiter, a corruption of Dyeus Pater, meaning 'sky father', and Japheth, meaning open, and attempts to connect these deities with Japheth are often regarded as poor scholarship and folk etymology.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Biblical statement that God shall enlarge Japheth (Genesis 9:27) was used by some imperialists as a justification for the "enlargement" of European territories through Imperialism, interpreted as part of God's plan for the world.[citation needed].
Ham's descendants
Main article: Hamitic
Cush, son of Ham. The Empire of Kush to the south of Egypt is known from at least 1970 BC, but this name has also been associated by some with the Kassites who inhabited the Zagros area of Mesopotamia, the Sumerian city of Kish.
Seba, son of Cush. Has been connected with both Yemen and Eritrea, with much confusion with Sheba below. (The Shibboleth-like division amongst the Sabaeans into Sheba and Seba is acknowledged elsewhere, for example in Psalm 72, leading scholars to suspect that this is not a mistaken duplication of the same name, but a genuine historical division. The significance of this division is not yet completely understood, though it may simply reflect which side of the sea each was on.)
Havilah, son of Cush. Usually considered to be a part of the Arabian peninsula near the Red Sea.
Sabtah, son of Cush. Sometimes connected with Hadhramis (their ancient capital being Saubatha) in eastern Yemen.
Raamah, son of Cush. Has been connected with Rhammanitae mentioned by Strabo in the southwest Arabian peninsula, and with an Arabian city of Regmah at the head of Persian Gulf.
Sheba, son of Raamah. Has been connected with Sabaeans and peoples on either side of the narrowest part of the Red Sea, in both Yemen/South Arabia, and Eritrea/Ethiopia/Somalia.
Dedan, son of Raamah. Apparently a region of the Tabuk Province of Saudi Arabia.
Sabtechah, son of Cush. Possibly Sabaiticum Ostium, Sabaeans living around a specific harbour in Eritrea.
Nimrod, son of Cush, also identified as a mighty hunter before God, and the founder of ancient Babel, Akkad, Sumer, and possibly cities in Assyria. The Hebrew wording of Genesis 10:11 has led to some ambiguity as to whether Asshur here is the son of Shem or a city built by Nimrod; either interpretation can be found in various modern versions.
Mizraim, son of Ham. Mizraim is a name for Upper and Lower Egypt and literally translates as Ta-Wy in Ancient Egyptian ("The Two Lands"). The -aim in Mizraim represents dual number. Arabic-speaking modern Egyptians refer to their country as miṣr.
Ludim, offspring of Mizraim. Sometimes considered a scribal error for Lubim, a reference to the Lebou of Eastern Libya.
Anamim, offspring of Mizraim. There is a reference in an Assyrian inscription from Sargon II's time to Anami, a tribe located in Cyrene, Libya.
Lehabim, offspring of Mizraim. Identification uncertain, possibly Libya.
Naphtuhim, offspring of Mizraim. Has been connected with Na-Ptah, the Egyptian form of Memphis.
Pathrusim, offspring of Mizraim. Possibly connected with Egyptian word Pa-To-Ris meaning southerners.
Casluhim ("from whom came the Philistim"), offspring of Mizraim.
Caphtorim, offspring of Mizraim, associated with Caphtor, probably Crete, Cyprus, or both.
Phut, son of Ham. Ancient authorities are fairly universal in identifying Phut with the Libyans (Lebu and Pitu), the earliest neighbors of Egypt to the west. (Although more recent theories have tried to connect Phut with Phoenicia, or the currently unidentified Land of Punt.)
Canaan, son of Ham. This is known to be the name of a nation and people who settled the Eastern shore of the Mediterranean in what is now called Israel and Lebanon.
Sidon, firstborn son of Canaan, and name one of the oldest city-states on the Phoenician coast.
Heth, son of Canaan, considered ancestor of "Hittites", a people of Canaan, possibly connected with Hatti, a powerful entity in Anatolia.
"the Jebusite", offspring of Canaan, a tribe that lived around Jerusalem, that was formerly known as Jebus according to the Books of Kings.
"the Amorite", offspring of Canaan, a people living between the Jordan and Euphrates rivers by at least 2000 BC, known as Amurru to the Akkadians and Egyptians.
"the Girgasite", offspring of Canaan, known to the Egyptians as the Kirkash. It is suggested they settled east of the Jordan River between Lake Kinneret and the Dead Sea[4].
"the Hivite", offspring of Canaan
"the Arkite", offspring of Canaan, probably city-state of Arqa in Phoenicia.
"the Sinite", offspring of Canaan, possibly connected with the Wilderness of Sin, or the Sinn river in Syria.
"the Arvadite", offspring of Canaan, refers to the Phoenician city-state of Arwad.
"the Zemarite", offspring of Canaan, refers to the Phoenician city-state of Zemar.
"the Hamathite", offspring of Canaan, refers to Syrian city of Hamath.
Africans were thus anciently understood to be the sons of Ham, particularly his descendant Cush, as Cushites are referred to throughout scripture as being the inhabitants of East Africa, and they and the Yoruba still trace their ancestry through Ham today. Beginning in the 9th century with the Jewish grammarian Judah ibn Quraysh, a relationship between the Semitic and Cushitic languages was seen; modern linguists group these two families, along with the Egyptian, Berber, Chadic, and Omotic language groups into the larger Afro-Asiatic linguistic family. In addition, languages in the southern half of Africa are now seen as belonging to several distinct families independent of the Afro-Asiatic group. Some now discarded Hamitic theories have become viewed as racist; in particular a theory proposed in the 19th century by Speke, that the Tutsi were supposedly Hamitic and thus inherently superior, (while the Hutu were seen as just Bantu) is regarded by some sources[5][6][7] as having ultimately led to the Rwandan Genocide.
Shem's descendants
Main article: Semitic
Shem is held to be founder of the Semitic peoples. Religious Jews and Arabs consider themselves sons of Shem through Arpachshad (thus, Semites).
Elam, son of Shem. The Elamites called themselves the Haltamti and had an empire (capital Susa) in what is now Khuzistan, modern Iran. Elamite, however, is a non-Semitic language. It has been controversially grouped with the modern Dravidian languages, into "Elamo-Dravidian".
Ashur, son of Shem. The Assyrians traced themselves to the god-ancestor Ashur and the city he founded by that name on the Tigris.
Arpachshad, (also transcribed Arphaxad) son of Shem. He or his immediate descendants are credited in Jewish tradition with founding the city of Ur of the Chaldees, possibly Urfa modern southeastern Turkey, although it has also been identified by some (following the archaeologist Wooley) with the Sumerian city of Ur on the south bank of the Euphrates.
Lud, son of Shem. Most ancient authorities assign this name to the Lydians of Eastern Anatolia (Luddu in Assyrian inscriptions from ca. 700 BC). This name may also be connected with the earlier Luwians who lived in approximately the same area.
Aram, son of Shem. There are references to a campaign against 'Aram' as early as 2300 BC in the inscriptions of Naram-Suen of Akkad. His descendants settled in the city of Haran. There were a number of places named Aram including one in Damascus and another called Aram-Naharaim or Aram of two Rivers since it was situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. There is also Aram-Tzova which is mentioned in Psalms 60.
Uz, son of Aram. Possibly the ancestors of the Nabataeans, extending from Southern Jordan to Northwestern Saudi Arabia; also mentioned in Job.
Hul, son of Aram. Unknown; possible connection with Lake known in Aramaic as Hulata.
Gether, son of Aram. Father of Thamud in Arabic tradition.
Mash, son of Aram (1 Chronicles has Meshech). Unknown; suggestions include Mashu, an unknown region of cedars mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh (possibly Lebanon), and E-Mash-Mash, the main temple at Ninevah in Assyria.
Arpachshad's family (genealogy of Abraham)
The genealogy at this point lists several generations of Arpachshad's descendants, on account of their connection with the Hebrew nation and the rest of Genesis:
Cainan is listed as the son of Arpachshad and father of Shelah in some ancient sources. The name is omitted in the Hebrew Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible, but the Greek Septuagint and genealogy of Jesus in St. Luke 3:36 include the name.
Shelah (also transcribed Salah) son of Arpachshad (or Cainan).
Eber son of Shelah, implicitly indicated as the eponymous ancestor of the Hebrews.
Peleg, son of Eber. Sometimes connected to Phalgu, an ancient town located where the Euphrates and Chaboras meet. In the table, it is said that the Earth was divided in the days of Peleg. A threefold division among Ham, Shem and Japheth preceding the Tower of Babel incident, is elaborated on in some ancient sources; others assume the 'division' occurred immediately following it, with the scattering of the nations.
Joktan, son of Eber. Sometimes identified with Jectan, an ancient town near Mecca. Considered, as Qahtan, to be the ancestor of the "Pure Arabs".
Almodad, son of Joktan. Has been identified with al-Morad, somewhere in Yemen.
Sheleph, son of Joktan. Identified with Salif, Northwest Yemen. The capital of the Salif was Sulaf.
Hazarmaveth, son of Joktan. Identified with Hadhramaut in East Yemen.
Jerah, son of Joktan. Identified with Jerakon Kome in South central Yemen.
Hadoram, son of Joktan. Identification has been proposed with Hurarina, a town of Southern Arabia mentioned in Assyrian inscriptions of Ashurbanipal. Hurarina also happens to be the name of a fruit tree exclusive to Shewa, Ethiopia.
Uzal, son of Joktan. Identified with Azalla in Central west Yemen. Azal is the ancient name of San'a.
Diklah son of Joktan. Uncertain, although a connection with Deqlath (the Syriac form of Tigris) has been suggested.
Obal, son of Joktan. Identified with the Abil in Central west Yemen. The Abil are, according to ancient inscriptions, placed west of the Azalla.
Abimael, son of Joktan. Though Abimael is unidentified as a tribe it has traditionally been considered to be a northern Arabian group.
Sheba, son of Joktan. Like Sheba son of Raamah and Seba son of Cush, identified with Sabaeans of Southern Yemen/Coastal Eritrea.
Ophir, son of Joktan. Identified with Afir of Southwest Yemen. Ancient inscriptions place them between the Huwailah and Sabaeans (roughly where Ma'afir is now).
Havilah, son of Joktan. Identified with Huwailah and Kwahlans of Northwest Yemen.
Jobab, son of Joktan. Identified with Labibi of Southwest Saudi Arabia. Their capital was Juhaibab, which ancient inscriptions locate near Mecca.
In historiography
In Flavius Josephus
Geographic identifications of Flavius Josephus, c. 100 AD
The 1st century Jewish-Roman historian Flavius Josephus, in Antiquities of the Jews Book 1, chapter 6, was among the first of many who attempted to assign known ethnicities to some of the names listed in Genesis chapter 10. His assignments became the basis for most later authors, and were as follows[8]:
Gomer: "those whom the Greeks now call Galatians, [Galls,] but were then called Gomerites".
Aschanax (Ashkenaz): "Aschanaxians, who are now called by the Greeks Rheginians".
Riphath: "Ripheans, now called Paphlagonians".
Thrugramma (Togarmah): "Thrugrammeans, who, as the Greeks resolved, were named Phrygians".
Magog: "Magogites, but who are by the Greeks called Scythians".
Madai: "the Madeans, who are called Medes, by the Greeks".
Javan: "Ionia, and all the Grecians".
Elisa: "Eliseans... they are now the Aeolians".
Tharsus (Tarshish): "Tharsians, for so was Cilicia of old called". He also derives the name of their city Tarsus from Tharsus.
Cethimus (Kittim): "The island Cethima: it is now called Cyprus". He also derives the Greek name of their city, which he spells Citius, from Cethimus.
Thobel (Tubal): "Thobelites, who are now called Iberes".
Mosoch (Meshech): "Mosocheni... now they are Cappadocians." He also derives the name of their capital Mazaca from Mosoch.
Thiras (Tiras): "Thirasians; but the Greeks changed the name into Thracians".
Chus (Cush): "Ethiopians... even at this day, both by themselves and by all men in Asia, called Chusites".
Sabas (Seba): Sabeans
Evilas (Havilah): "Evileans, who are called Getuli".
Sabathes (Sabta): "Sabathens, they are now called by the Greeks Astaborans".
Sabactas (Sabteca): Sabactens
Ragmus (Raamah): Ragmeans
Judadas (Dedan): "Judadeans, a nation of the western Ethiopians".
Sabas (Sheba): Sabeans
Mesraim (Misraim): Egypt, which he says is called Mestre in his country.
"Now all the children of Mesraim, being eight in number, possessed the country from Gaza to Egypt, though it retained the name of one only, the Philistim; for the Greeks call part of that country Palestine. As for the rest, Ludieim, and Enemim, and Labim, who alone inhabited in Libya, and called the country from himself, Nedim, and Phethrosim, and Chesloim, and Cephthorim, we know nothing of them besides their names; for the Ethiopic war which we shall describe hereafter, was the cause that those cities were overthrown."
Phut: Libya. He states that a river and region "in the country of Moors" was still called Phut by the Greeks, but that it had been renamed "from one of the sons of Mesraim, who was called Lybyos".
Canaan: Judea, which he called "from his own name Canaan".
Sidonius (Sidon): The city of Sidonius, "called by the Greeks Sidon".
Amathus (Hamathite): "Amathine, which is even now called Amathe by the inhabitants, although the Macedonians named it Epiphania, from one of his posterity."
Arudeus (Arvadite): "the island Aradus".
Arucas (Arkite): "Arce, which is in Libanus".
"But for the seven others [sons of Canaan], Chetteus, Jebuseus, Amorreus, Gergesus, Eudeus, Sineus, Samareus, we have nothing in the sacred books but their names, for the Hebrews overthrew their cities".
Elam: "Elamites, the ancestors of the Persians".
Ashur: Assyrians, and their city Niniveh built by Ashur.
Arphaxad: "Arphaxadites, who are now called Chaldeans".
Sala
Heber (Eber): "from whom they originally called the Jews Hebrews".
Phaleg (Peleg): He notes that he was so named "because he was born at the dispersion of the nations to their several countries; for Phaleg among the Hebrews signifies division".
Joctan
"Elmodad, Saleph, Asermoth, Jera, Adoram, Aizel, Decla, Ebal, Abimael, Sabeus, Ophir, Euilat, and Jobab. These inhabited from Cophen, an Indian river, and in part of Asia adjoining to it."
Aram: "Aramites, which the Greeks called Syrians".
Uz: "Uz founded Trachonitis and Damascus: this country lies between Palestine and Celesyria".
Ul (Hul): Armenia
Gather (Gether): Bactrians
Mesa (Mesh): "Mesaneans; it is now called Charax Spasini".
Laud (Lud): "Laudites, which are now called Lydians".
In Hippolytus
The chronicle of Hippolytus of Rome (c. 234), existing in numerous Latin and Greek copies[9], make another attempt to assign ethnicities to the names in Genesis 10, in some cases similar to those of Josephus, but with many differences, which are:
Gomer - Cappadocians
Ashkenaz - Sarmatians
Riphath - Sauromatians
Togarmah - Armenians
Magog - Galatians, Celts
Javan
Elishah - Siculi (Chron Pasc: Trojans and Phrygians)
Tarshish - Iberians, Tyrrhenians
Kittim - Macedonians, Romans, Latins
Tubal - "Hettali" (?)
Meshech - Illyrians
Misraim
Ludim - Lydians
Anamim - Pamphylians
Pathrusim - Lycians (var.: Cretans)
Caphtorim - Cilicians
Put - Troglodytes
Canaan - Afri and Phoenicians
Arkite - Tripolitanians
Lud - Halizones
Arpachshad
Cainan - "those east of the Sarmatians" (one variant)
Joktan
Elmodad - Indians
Saleph - Bactrians
Hazamaveth, Sheba - Arabs
Adoram - Carmanians
Uzal - Arians (var.: Parthians)
Abimael - Hyrcanians
Obal - Scythians
Ophir - Armenians
Deklah - Gedrosians
Aram - "Etes" ?
Hul - Lydians (var: Colchians)
Gether - "Gaspeni" ?
Mash - Mossynoeci (var: Mosocheni)
The Chronicle of 354, the Panarion by Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 375), the Chronicon Paschale (c. 627), the History of Albania by the Georgian historian Movses Kaghankatvatsi (7th century), and the Synopsis of Histories by John Skylitzes (c. 1057) follow the identifications of Hippolytus.
In Jerome
Jerome, writing ca. 390, provided an 'updated' version of Josephus' identifications in his Hebrew Questions on Genesis. His list is substantially identical to that of Josephus in almost all respects, but with the following notable differences:
Thubal, son of Japheth: "Iberians, who are also the Spaniards from whom derive the Celtiberians, although certain people suppose them to be the Italians."
Gether, son of Aram: "Acarnanii or Carians"
Mash, son of Aram: Maeones
In Isidore of Seville
The scholar Isidore of Seville, in his Etymologiae (ca. 600), repeats all of Jerome's identifications, but with these minor changes [10]:
Joktan, son of Eber: Indians
Saleph, son of Joktan: Bactrians
Magog, son of Japheth: "Scythians and Goths"
Ashkenaz, son of Gomer: "Sarmatians, whom the Greeks call Rheginians".
Isidore's identifications for Japheth's sons were repeated in the Historia Britonum attributed to Nennius. Isidore's identifications also became the basis for numerous later mediaeval scholars.
Doublets
The Middle East through eyes of the ancient Israelites. Genesis 10 as reconstructed after the Documentary hypothesis.The text of Gen. 10 includes some apparent "doublets" in the form of two separate lines of descent covering certain groups in Yemen and the surrounding regions — one of these indicating descent from Ham via Cush; the other from Shem via Joktan. Specifically, the Sabaeans (under the similar names Sheba and Seba), Huwaila (under Havilah), and possibly Hadhramaut (if Hazarmaveth is to be equated with Sabtah as a name representing its capital), appear to be in both lineages. (Gen 10:11, translated in the KJV as "Out of that land went forth Asshur, and built Niniveh, etc…", is taken in some modern translations to mean that the city of "Asshur" was one of those built by Nimrod; however, this is but a single verse in the Hebrew, with dual English interpretations, and not a genuine "doublet".)
In the documentary hypothesis, these doublets are taken as certain signs of multiple authorship; on this account, the theory identifies hypothetical Jahwist (J) and Priestly (P) sources as having two quite different genealogies later combined into the present table. It must be remembered that these hypothetical sources have never been archaeologically or otherwise attested, and are only reconstructions by modern scholars who hold this theory. These sources are seen as originating some 150-300 years apart, with the later source, the Priestly, rewriting the Jahwist's account to reflect their own view concerning ethnology. While both sources are considered to have divided the groups into Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the descent beyond these is reconstructed quite differently. To the Jahwist source are ascribed the account of Nimrod and his cities, as well as the descendants of Joktan, Canaan, and Mizraim; while to the Priestly source are ascribed the account of the descendants of Cush and Japheth.
The Jahwist source would thus exhibit a worldview concerned heavily with Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Arab tribes viewed to have originated from around Mecca (a holy site since ancient times), and Canaan. Rather than a table, the Jahwist source is reconstructed as more of a narrative structure. Preceded by the tale of the curse of Ham, the Jahwist reconstruction describes Ham's son Cush fathering Nimrod, who is subsequently described as going on to found the great cities of Mesopotamia, then details the sons of Canaan and Mizraim.
A more genealogical line is given by the Jahwist reconstruction for Shem, going down the generations in a straight line until Joktan is reached, and, like elsewhere in the Jahwist text, though Joktan is not on the line himself, as the son of Eber, a major Patriarch on the line (the eponymous founder of the Hebrews, Eberu), Joktan's own descendants are described. The name of Joktan's purported brother, Peleg, is etymologically related to the word Pulukku in Akkadian, meaning divided by boundaries, and by borders, and Palgu in Assyrian, meaning divided by canals, and by irrigation systems. While Peleg is believed by some to be present in the narrative to indicate origin via the city of Phalgu, the comment after his name, that in his day the earth was divided, is thought in critical circles to simply be a convenient pun in order to insert the story of the Tower of Babel into the Jahwist's narrative. In the Jahwist reconstruction, Japheth has previously been described, within the tale of Ham's curse, as going on to dwell in the tents of Shem, and hence is not indicated as having any children of his own.
According to the dates given by critical scholars, the areas of the Mediterranean and the Caucasus had become much more developed over the years between the Jahwist and Priestly sources. The Egyptians had become much more unified (having largely recovered from the Third Intermediate Period). Thus, while the reconstructed Priestly source does not include the subdivisions within Egypt, it does include details of groups in the eastern Mediterranean (Javan, Tubal, Meschech, Tiras) and Caucasus (Gomer, Madai), attaching them to Japheth, perhaps since his descendants are not identified by the Jahwist. Mesopotamia retained its importance, and the Priestly source, a text reconstructed with a favouritism for long dry lists, extends the detail concerning its genealogy given by the Jahwist, presenting a more complicated ethnological tree. The Arab groups of the Yemen area also seem to have been viewed as retaining importance, as the hypothetical Priestly source considered them still worth detailing, though presenting an origin for them in the more significant Nubia (via Cush), rather than from around Mecca. There is little narrative quality in the text usually ascribed to the priestly source; essentially it resembles simply a raw list of names, with the occasional indication of familial relationship.
Extrabiblical sons of Noah
There exist various traditions in extrabiblical sources claiming that Noah had children other than Shem, Ham, and Japheth, born variously before, during, or after the Deluge.
According to the Quran (Hud v. 42-43), Noah had another unnamed son who refused to come aboard the Ark, instead preferring to climb a mountain, where he drowned. Some later Islamic commentators give his name as either Yam or Kan'an.
According to Irish mythology, Noah had another son named Bith, who was not allowed aboard the Ark, and who attempted to colonise Ireland with 54 persons, only to be wiped out in the Deluge.
Some 9th century manuscripts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles assert that Sceafa was the fourth son of Noah, born aboard the Ark, from whom the House of Wessex traced their ancestry; in William of Malmesbury's version of this genealogy (c. 1120), Sceaf is instead made a descendant of Strephius, the fourth son born aboard the Ark.
An early Arabic work known as Kitab al-Magall or the Book of Rolls (part of Clementine literature) mentions Bouniter, the fourth son of Noah, born after the flood, who allegedly invented astronomy and instructed Nimrod[11]. Variants of this story with often similar names for Noah's fourth son are also found in the ca. 5th century Ge'ez work Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan (Barvin), the ca. 6th century Syriac book Cave of Treasures (Yonton), the 7th century Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius (Ionitus[12]), the Syriac Book of the Bee 1221 (Yônatôn), the Hebrew Chronicles of Jerahmeel, ca. 12th-14th cent. (Jonithes), and throughout Armenian apocryphal literature, where he is usually referred to as Maniton; as well as in works by Petrus Comestor c. 1160 (Jonithus), Godfrey of Viterbo 1185 (Ihonitus), Michael the Syrian 1196 (Maniton), Abu Salih the Armenian c. 1208 (Abu Naiţur); Jacob van Maerlant c. 1270 (Jonitus), Abraham Zacuto 1504 (Yoniko) and Jehiel ben Solomon Heilprin c. 1697 (Yuniku).[13]
Martin of Opava (c. 1250), later versions of the Mirabilia Urbis Romae, and the Chronicon Bohemorum of Giovanni di Marignola (1355) make Janus (i.e., the Roman deity) the fourth son of Noah, who moved to Italy, invented astrology, and instructed Nimrod.
According to the monk Annio da Viterbo (1498), the Hellenistic Babylonian writer Berossus had mentioned 30 children born to Noah after the Deluge, including sons named Tuiscon, Prometheus, Iapetus, Macrus, "16 titans", Cranus, Granaus, Oceanus, and Tipheus. Also mentioned are daughters of Noah named Araxa "the Great", Regina, Pandora, Crana, and Thetis. However, Annio's manuscript is widely regarded today as having been a forgery[14].
According to Jewish tradition the inhabitants of the Ark, including the humans were not allowed to mate, therefore Noah could not have had any children while on the Ark. Directly after coming out of the Ark, Noah got drunk and according to Jewish tradition was castrated by his son Ham, preventing him from having any more offspring.
See also
Wives aboard the Ark
Nuwaubianism
Genealogy
Ethnography
Comparative linguistics
Mesopotamia
Ancient Egypt
Fertile crescent
Garden of Eden
Antediluvian
Human history
Aggadah
Continuity thesis
Notes
Dillmann, A., Genesis: Critically and Exegetically Expounded, Vol. 1, Edinburgh, UK, T. and T. Clark, 1897, 314.
Kautzsch, E.F.: quoted by James Orr, "The Early Narratives of Genesis," in The Fundamentals, Vol. 1, Los Angeles, CA, Biola Press, 1917.
References
^ Lexicon Results for Cham (Strong's 02526)
^ Lexicon Results for Shem (Strong's 08035)
^ Lexicon Results for Yepheth (Strong's 03315)
^ After the Flood Bill Cooper, 1995.
^ Jews in Central Africa Irwin M. Berg, 2003.
^ Havila and the Tutsi Hebrews
^ Hebraic Traditions of the Batutsi
^ Antiquities of the Jews - Book I
^ Die Chronik des Hippolytus
^ Etymologies of Isidore, English translation
^ Seth in Jewish, Christian, and Gnostic Literature p. 54
^ S.P. Brock notes that the earliest Greek texts of Pseudo-Methodius read Moneton, while the Syriac versions have Ionţon (Armenian Apocrypha, p. 117)
^ Looking for Jonitus by C.J. Verduin
^ Travels of Noah into Europe
External links
Latin Vulgate and English Douay-Rheims
English Septuagint
King James Version and Revised Standard Version
Jewish Encyclopedia: Entry for "Genealogy" - a 1901/6 view (the early days of comparative linguistics and the documentary hypothesis).
The connection of modern nations to the table according to a creationist source (with Europe as descended from the tribes of Israel, and the UK and USA from Joseph (but by different sons)).
Custance, Arthur C., The Roots of the Nations.A more standard creationist account that associates Japheth with Europe.
[hide]v • d • eDescendants of Noah in Genesis 10
Shem and Semitic Elam · Ashur · Aram · Arpachshad · Lud
Ham and Hamitic Cush · Mizraim · Phut · Canaan
Japheth and Japhetic Gomer · Magog · Madai · Javan · Tubal · Meshech · Tiras
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_of_Noah"
Categories: Torah people | Bible genealogy | Hebrew Bible topics | Noahides | Young Earth creationism | Survivors
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Sethianism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Gnosticism
This article is part of a series on Gnosticism
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
History of Gnosticism
Early Gnosticism
Syrian-Egyptic Gnosticism
Gnosticism in modern times
Proto-Gnostics
Philo
Simon Magus
Cerinthus
Valentinus
Basilides
Gnostic texts
Gnostic Gospels
Nag Hammadi library
Codex Tchacos
Askew Codex
Bruce Codex
Gnosticism and the New Testament
Related articles
Gnosis
Neoplatonism and Gnosticism
Mandaeism
Manichaeism
Bosnian Church
Esoteric Christianity
Theosophy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gnosticism Portal
v • d • e
Not to be confused with Setianism.
The Sethians were a group of ancient Gnostics who date their existence to before Christianity.[1] Their influence spread throughout the Mediterranean into the later systems of the Thomasines[dubious – discuss], the Basilideans and the Valentinians[citation needed]. Their thinking, though it is predominantly Judaic in foundation, is arguably strongly influenced by Platonism. Sethians are so called for their veneration of the biblical Seth, third son of Adam and Eve, who is depicted in their myths of creation as a divine incarnation; consequently, the offspring or 'posterity' of Seth are held to comprise a superior elect within human society.
Contents
[hide]
1 Sethian texts
2 The Sethian or 'Classic' gnostic myth
2.1 The emanation of the spiritual universe
2.2 The creation of matter
3 Modern use
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
Sethian texts
Non-Christian texts
The Apocalypse of Adam
Christian texts[citation needed]
The Apocryphon of John
The Thought of Norea
The Trimorphic Protennoia
The Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians
The Gospel of Judas
Later texts (arguably with a Platonist influence)
Zostrianos
Three Steles of Seth
Marsenes
The Sethian or 'Classic' gnostic myth
Commonly, the Sethian cosmogonic myth describes an intended prologue to the events of Genesis and the rest of the Pentateuch, which by its emendation brings about a radical reinterpretation of the typical orthodox Jewish conception of creation, and the divine's relation to reality. This myth is typically presupposed by Sethian manuscripts, and occasionally by those of later schools. Many of their concepts, derived from a fusion of Hellenic philosophy, Platonic (c. 427–c. 347 BC), and later, Neoplatonic (ca. 253 AD) concepts with the Old Testament. This was also done by Hebrew scholar Philo (20 BC - 40 AD), who had engaged in a similar fusion.
The Sethian cosmogony was most famously contained in the Apocryphon of John, which describes an unknown God, the same as Paul had done in the Acts of the Apostles 17:23. The latter conception defines God through a series of explicit positive statements called cataphatic theology, themselves universal but in the divine taken to their superlative degrees: as well as being explicitly male, he is omniscient and omnipotent. The Sethian conception of God is, by contrast, defined through negative theology exclusively: he is immovable, invisible, intangible, ineffable.
This Apophatic Theology (Negative theology) mode of thinking about God is found throughout Gnosticism, Vedantic Hinduism, Platonic and Aristotelean theology, and Eastern Orthodox theology as well. It may be seen in some Judaic sources.
Sethianism posits a transcendent hidden invisible God that is beyond ordinary description, much as Plato (see Parmenides) and Philo had also stated earlier in history. It is only possible to say what God isn't, and the experience of it remains something, again, in defiance of rational description.
The emanation of the spiritual universe
This original God went through a series of emanations, during which its essence is seen as spontaneously expanding into many successive 'generations' of paired male and female beings, called 'aeons'. The first of these is the Barbelo, a figure common throughout Sethianism, who is coactor in the emanations that follow. The aeons that result can be seen as representative of the various attributes of God, themselves indiscernible when not abstracted from their origin. In this sense, the Barbelo and the emanations may be seen as poetic devices allowing an otherwise utterly unknowable God to be discussed in a meaningful way amongst initiates. Collectively, God and the aeons comprise the sum total of the spiritual universe, known as the Pleroma.
At this point the myth is still only dealing with a spiritual, non-material universe. In some versions of the myth, the Spiritual Aeon Sophia imitates God's actions in performing an emanation of her own, without the prior approval of the other aeons in the Pleroma. This results in a crisis within the Pleroma, leading to the appearance of the Yaldabaoth, a 'serpent with a lion's head'. This figure is commonly known as the demiurge, after the figure in Plato's Timaeus. (Gr. δημιουργός dēmiourgós, Latinized demiurgus, meaning "artisan" or "craftsman", lit. "public or skilled worker" (from δήμιος demios (belonging to the public) + έργον ergon (work)[2] This being is at first hidden by Sophia but subsequently escapes, stealing a portion of divine power from her in the process.
The creation of matter
Using this stolen power, Yaldabaoth creates a material world in imitation of the divine Pleroma. To complete this task, he spawns a group of entities known collectively as Archons, 'petty rulers' and craftsmen of the physical world. Like him, they are commonly depicted as theriomorphic, having the heads of animals. Some texts explicitly identify the Archons with the fallen angels described in the Enoch tradition in Judaic apocrypha. At this point the events of the Sethian narrative begin to cohere with the events of Genesis, with the demiurge and his archontic cohorts fulfilling the role of the creator. As in Genesis, the demiurge declares himself to be the only god, and that none exist superior to him; however, the audience's knowledge of what has gone before casts this statement, and the nature of the creator itself, in a radically different light.
The demiurge creates Adam, during the process unwittingly transferring the portion of power stolen from Sophia into the first physical human body. He then creates Eve from Adam's rib, in an attempt to isolate and regain the power he has lost. By way of this he attempts to rape Eve who now contains Sophia's divine power; several texts depict him as failing when Sophia's spirit transplants itself into the Tree of Knowledge; thereafter, the pair are 'tempted' by the serpent, and eat of the forbidden fruit, thereby once more regaining the power that the demiurge had stolen.
As is evident, the addition of the prologue radically alters the significance of events in Eden; rather than emphasizing a fall of human weakness in breaking God's command, Sethians (and their inheritors) emphasize a crisis of the Divine Fullness as it encounters the ignorance of matter, as depicted in stories about Sophia. Adam and Eve's removal from the Archon's paradise is seen as a step towards freedom from the Archons, and the serpent in the Garden of Eden in some cases becomes a heroic, salvific figure rather than an adversary of humanity or a 'proto-Satan'. Eating the fruit of Knowledge is the first act of human salvation from cruel, oppressive powers.
Modern use
The classical Sethian doctrine of the 1st and 2nd centuries has exerted a pervasive inspirational influence upon certain contemporary mystics and esotericists. The British-German group the Knights of Seth were inspired by them.
See also
Gnosis
Gnosticism
Nag Hammadi
Plotinus
Neoplatonism and Gnosticism
Knights of Seth
References
^ Sethian Gnosticism:
^ Online Etymology Dictionary
Studies in Neoplatonism: Ancient and Modern, Volume 6, Wallis & Bregman (Editors), SUNY Press, (1991), Chapter: Negative Theology in Gnosticism and Neoplatonism by Curtis L. Hancock p. 167 ISBN 0-7914-1337-3
Gnosticism and Platonism: The Platonizing Sethian texts from Nag Hammadi in their Relation to Later Platonic Literature, John D Turner, ISBN 0-7914-1338-1.
External links
The Sethians
John D Turner translations of the Sethian Nag Hammadi text and history
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sethianism"
Categories: Gnosticism
Hidden categories: All accuracy disputes | Articles with disputed statements from September 2009 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from September 2009 | Articles with unsourced statements from August 2009 | Articles containing Ancient Greek language text | Articles containing Latin language text
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Gnosticism
This article is part of a series on Gnosticism
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
History of Gnosticism
Early Gnosticism
Syrian-Egyptic Gnosticism
Gnosticism in modern times
Proto-Gnostics
Philo
Simon Magus
Cerinthus
Valentinus
Basilides
Gnostic texts
Gnostic Gospels
Nag Hammadi library
Codex Tchacos
Askew Codex
Bruce Codex
Gnosticism and the New Testament
Related articles
Gnosis
Neoplatonism and Gnosticism
Mandaeism
Manichaeism
Bosnian Church
Esoteric Christianity
Theosophy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gnosticism Portal
v • d • e
Not to be confused with Setianism.
The Sethians were a group of ancient Gnostics who date their existence to before Christianity.[1] Their influence spread throughout the Mediterranean into the later systems of the Thomasines[dubious – discuss], the Basilideans and the Valentinians[citation needed]. Their thinking, though it is predominantly Judaic in foundation, is arguably strongly influenced by Platonism. Sethians are so called for their veneration of the biblical Seth, third son of Adam and Eve, who is depicted in their myths of creation as a divine incarnation; consequently, the offspring or 'posterity' of Seth are held to comprise a superior elect within human society.
Contents
[hide]
1 Sethian texts
2 The Sethian or 'Classic' gnostic myth
2.1 The emanation of the spiritual universe
2.2 The creation of matter
3 Modern use
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
Sethian texts
Non-Christian texts
The Apocalypse of Adam
Christian texts[citation needed]
The Apocryphon of John
The Thought of Norea
The Trimorphic Protennoia
The Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians
The Gospel of Judas
Later texts (arguably with a Platonist influence)
Zostrianos
Three Steles of Seth
Marsenes
The Sethian or 'Classic' gnostic myth
Commonly, the Sethian cosmogonic myth describes an intended prologue to the events of Genesis and the rest of the Pentateuch, which by its emendation brings about a radical reinterpretation of the typical orthodox Jewish conception of creation, and the divine's relation to reality. This myth is typically presupposed by Sethian manuscripts, and occasionally by those of later schools. Many of their concepts, derived from a fusion of Hellenic philosophy, Platonic (c. 427–c. 347 BC), and later, Neoplatonic (ca. 253 AD) concepts with the Old Testament. This was also done by Hebrew scholar Philo (20 BC - 40 AD), who had engaged in a similar fusion.
The Sethian cosmogony was most famously contained in the Apocryphon of John, which describes an unknown God, the same as Paul had done in the Acts of the Apostles 17:23. The latter conception defines God through a series of explicit positive statements called cataphatic theology, themselves universal but in the divine taken to their superlative degrees: as well as being explicitly male, he is omniscient and omnipotent. The Sethian conception of God is, by contrast, defined through negative theology exclusively: he is immovable, invisible, intangible, ineffable.
This Apophatic Theology (Negative theology) mode of thinking about God is found throughout Gnosticism, Vedantic Hinduism, Platonic and Aristotelean theology, and Eastern Orthodox theology as well. It may be seen in some Judaic sources.
Sethianism posits a transcendent hidden invisible God that is beyond ordinary description, much as Plato (see Parmenides) and Philo had also stated earlier in history. It is only possible to say what God isn't, and the experience of it remains something, again, in defiance of rational description.
The emanation of the spiritual universe
This original God went through a series of emanations, during which its essence is seen as spontaneously expanding into many successive 'generations' of paired male and female beings, called 'aeons'. The first of these is the Barbelo, a figure common throughout Sethianism, who is coactor in the emanations that follow. The aeons that result can be seen as representative of the various attributes of God, themselves indiscernible when not abstracted from their origin. In this sense, the Barbelo and the emanations may be seen as poetic devices allowing an otherwise utterly unknowable God to be discussed in a meaningful way amongst initiates. Collectively, God and the aeons comprise the sum total of the spiritual universe, known as the Pleroma.
At this point the myth is still only dealing with a spiritual, non-material universe. In some versions of the myth, the Spiritual Aeon Sophia imitates God's actions in performing an emanation of her own, without the prior approval of the other aeons in the Pleroma. This results in a crisis within the Pleroma, leading to the appearance of the Yaldabaoth, a 'serpent with a lion's head'. This figure is commonly known as the demiurge, after the figure in Plato's Timaeus. (Gr. δημιουργός dēmiourgós, Latinized demiurgus, meaning "artisan" or "craftsman", lit. "public or skilled worker" (from δήμιος demios (belonging to the public) + έργον ergon (work)[2] This being is at first hidden by Sophia but subsequently escapes, stealing a portion of divine power from her in the process.
The creation of matter
Using this stolen power, Yaldabaoth creates a material world in imitation of the divine Pleroma. To complete this task, he spawns a group of entities known collectively as Archons, 'petty rulers' and craftsmen of the physical world. Like him, they are commonly depicted as theriomorphic, having the heads of animals. Some texts explicitly identify the Archons with the fallen angels described in the Enoch tradition in Judaic apocrypha. At this point the events of the Sethian narrative begin to cohere with the events of Genesis, with the demiurge and his archontic cohorts fulfilling the role of the creator. As in Genesis, the demiurge declares himself to be the only god, and that none exist superior to him; however, the audience's knowledge of what has gone before casts this statement, and the nature of the creator itself, in a radically different light.
The demiurge creates Adam, during the process unwittingly transferring the portion of power stolen from Sophia into the first physical human body. He then creates Eve from Adam's rib, in an attempt to isolate and regain the power he has lost. By way of this he attempts to rape Eve who now contains Sophia's divine power; several texts depict him as failing when Sophia's spirit transplants itself into the Tree of Knowledge; thereafter, the pair are 'tempted' by the serpent, and eat of the forbidden fruit, thereby once more regaining the power that the demiurge had stolen.
As is evident, the addition of the prologue radically alters the significance of events in Eden; rather than emphasizing a fall of human weakness in breaking God's command, Sethians (and their inheritors) emphasize a crisis of the Divine Fullness as it encounters the ignorance of matter, as depicted in stories about Sophia. Adam and Eve's removal from the Archon's paradise is seen as a step towards freedom from the Archons, and the serpent in the Garden of Eden in some cases becomes a heroic, salvific figure rather than an adversary of humanity or a 'proto-Satan'. Eating the fruit of Knowledge is the first act of human salvation from cruel, oppressive powers.
Modern use
The classical Sethian doctrine of the 1st and 2nd centuries has exerted a pervasive inspirational influence upon certain contemporary mystics and esotericists. The British-German group the Knights of Seth were inspired by them.
See also
Gnosis
Gnosticism
Nag Hammadi
Plotinus
Neoplatonism and Gnosticism
Knights of Seth
References
^ Sethian Gnosticism:
^ Online Etymology Dictionary
Studies in Neoplatonism: Ancient and Modern, Volume 6, Wallis & Bregman (Editors), SUNY Press, (1991), Chapter: Negative Theology in Gnosticism and Neoplatonism by Curtis L. Hancock p. 167 ISBN 0-7914-1337-3
Gnosticism and Platonism: The Platonizing Sethian texts from Nag Hammadi in their Relation to Later Platonic Literature, John D Turner, ISBN 0-7914-1338-1.
External links
The Sethians
John D Turner translations of the Sethian Nag Hammadi text and history
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sethianism"
Categories: Gnosticism
Hidden categories: All accuracy disputes | Articles with disputed statements from September 2009 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from September 2009 | Articles with unsourced statements from August 2009 | Articles containing Ancient Greek language text | Articles containing Latin language text
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Seth (in the garden of eden)
Seth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Seth (disambiguation).
Seth
Children Enos
Parents Adam
Biblical longevity
Name Age LXX
Methuselah 969 969
Jared 962 962
Noah 950 950
Adam 930 930
Seth 912 912
Kenan 910 910
Enos 905 905
Mahalalel 895 895
Lamech 777 753
Shem 600 600
Eber 464 404
Cainan — 460
Arpachshad 438 465
Salah 433 466
Enoch 365 365
Peleg 239 339
Reu 239 339
Serug 230 330
Job 210? 210?
Terah 205 205
Isaac 180 180
Abraham 175 175
Nahor 148 304
Jacob 147 147
Esau 147? 147?
Ishmael 137 137
Levi 137 137
Amram 137 137
Kohath 133 133
Laban 130+ 130+
Deborah 130+ 130+
Sarah 127 127
Miriam 125+ 125+
Aaron 123 123
Rebecca 120+ 120+
Moses 120 120
Joseph 110 110
Joshua 110 110
Seth (Hebrew: שֵׁת, Standard Šet, Tiberian Šēṯ; Arabic: شيث Shith or Shiyth; "Placed; appointed"), in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible, is the third listed son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, and is the only other of their children mentioned by name. Traditionally, Adam had 33 sons and 23 daughters. According to Genesis 4:25, Seth was born after the slaying of Abel by Cain, and Eve believed God had appointed him as replacement for Abel because Cain had killed him.
In Ancient Egyptian mythology, Set (also spelled Seth, Sutekh or Seteh) is an ancient god, who was originally the god of the desert, Storms, Darkness, and Chaos. Because of developments[clarification needed] in the Egyptian language over the 3,000 years that Set was worshipped, it was spelled in Greek[chronology source needed] as Σήθ (Seth).
Contents
[hide]
1 In the Hebrew Bible
2 In gnosticism
3 In Josephus
4 In Christianity
5 See also
6 References
In the Hebrew Bible
In Genesis, Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old (Genesis 5:3), "a son in his likeness and image." Genesis 5:4 states that Adam fathered "sons and daughters" before his death, aged 930 years. It is stated in Genesis 4:25 that Seth means "granted".
Seth had a son, Enos, at age 105 (Genesis 5:6), and further sons and daughters; he lived 912 years (Genesis 5:8).
Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi) refers to Seth as the ancestor of Noah and hence the father of all mankind. According to Zohar 1:36b, Seth is "ancestor of all the Generations of the Tzaddikim" (righteous ones).
In gnosticism
In Gnosticism, Seth is seen as a replacement given by God for Cain and Abel. It is said that late in life, Adam gave Seth secret teachings that would become the kabbalah.
In Josephus
Josephus refers to Seth as virtuous and of excellent character in the Antiquities of the Jews, and reports that his descendants invented the wisdom of the heavenly bodies, and built the "pillars of the sons of Seth", two pillars inscribed with many scientific discoveries and inventions, notably in astronomy. They were built by Seth's descendants based on Adam's prediction that the world would be destroyed at one time by fire and another time by global flood, in order to protect the discoveries and be remembered after the destruction. One was composed of brick, and the other of stone, so that if the pillar of brick should be destroyed, the pillar of stone would remain, both reporting the ancient discoveries, and informing men that a pillar of brick was also erected. Josephus reports that the pillar of stone remained in the land of Siriad in his day.
William Whiston, a 17/18th century translator of the Antiquities, stated in a footnote that he believed Josephus mistook Seth for Sesostris, king of Egypt, the erector of the referenced pillar in Siriad (being a contemporary name for the territories in which Sirius was venerated, i.e., Egypt). He stated that there was no way for any pillars of Seth to survive the deluge, because the deluge buried all such pillars and edificies far underground in the sediment of its waters.
In Christianity
Seth
Holy Forefather
Venerated in Armenian Apostolic Church
Feast July 26
The Armenian Apostolic Church counts him as one of the Holy Forefathers, along with Adam, Abel, and others, with a feast day of July 26.
See also
Sethian
References
[hide]v • d • eGenealogy of Adam to David according to the Hebrew Bible
Generations after Creation Adam · Seth · Enos · Kenan · Mahalalel · Jared · Enoch · Methuselah · Lamech · Noah · Shem
Patriarchs after Flood Arpachshad · Shelah · Eber · Peleg · Reu · Serug · Nahor · Terah · Abraham · Isaac · Jacob
Nationhood to Kingship Judah · Pharez · Hezron · Ram · Amminadab · Nahshon · Salmon · Boaz · Obed · Jesse · David
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth"
Categories: Articles lacking chronology/history sources | Adam and Eve | Gnosticism | Old Testament saints | Torah people | Prophets in Mandaeism
Hidden categories: Articles with hCards | Articles containing Arabic language text | All pages needing cleanup | Wikipedia articles needing clarification from May 2009
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Seth (disambiguation).
Seth
Children Enos
Parents Adam
Biblical longevity
Name Age LXX
Methuselah 969 969
Jared 962 962
Noah 950 950
Adam 930 930
Seth 912 912
Kenan 910 910
Enos 905 905
Mahalalel 895 895
Lamech 777 753
Shem 600 600
Eber 464 404
Cainan — 460
Arpachshad 438 465
Salah 433 466
Enoch 365 365
Peleg 239 339
Reu 239 339
Serug 230 330
Job 210? 210?
Terah 205 205
Isaac 180 180
Abraham 175 175
Nahor 148 304
Jacob 147 147
Esau 147? 147?
Ishmael 137 137
Levi 137 137
Amram 137 137
Kohath 133 133
Laban 130+ 130+
Deborah 130+ 130+
Sarah 127 127
Miriam 125+ 125+
Aaron 123 123
Rebecca 120+ 120+
Moses 120 120
Joseph 110 110
Joshua 110 110
Seth (Hebrew: שֵׁת, Standard Šet, Tiberian Šēṯ; Arabic: شيث Shith or Shiyth; "Placed; appointed"), in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible, is the third listed son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, and is the only other of their children mentioned by name. Traditionally, Adam had 33 sons and 23 daughters. According to Genesis 4:25, Seth was born after the slaying of Abel by Cain, and Eve believed God had appointed him as replacement for Abel because Cain had killed him.
In Ancient Egyptian mythology, Set (also spelled Seth, Sutekh or Seteh) is an ancient god, who was originally the god of the desert, Storms, Darkness, and Chaos. Because of developments[clarification needed] in the Egyptian language over the 3,000 years that Set was worshipped, it was spelled in Greek[chronology source needed] as Σήθ (Seth).
Contents
[hide]
1 In the Hebrew Bible
2 In gnosticism
3 In Josephus
4 In Christianity
5 See also
6 References
In the Hebrew Bible
In Genesis, Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old (Genesis 5:3), "a son in his likeness and image." Genesis 5:4 states that Adam fathered "sons and daughters" before his death, aged 930 years. It is stated in Genesis 4:25 that Seth means "granted".
Seth had a son, Enos, at age 105 (Genesis 5:6), and further sons and daughters; he lived 912 years (Genesis 5:8).
Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi) refers to Seth as the ancestor of Noah and hence the father of all mankind. According to Zohar 1:36b, Seth is "ancestor of all the Generations of the Tzaddikim" (righteous ones).
In gnosticism
In Gnosticism, Seth is seen as a replacement given by God for Cain and Abel. It is said that late in life, Adam gave Seth secret teachings that would become the kabbalah.
In Josephus
Josephus refers to Seth as virtuous and of excellent character in the Antiquities of the Jews, and reports that his descendants invented the wisdom of the heavenly bodies, and built the "pillars of the sons of Seth", two pillars inscribed with many scientific discoveries and inventions, notably in astronomy. They were built by Seth's descendants based on Adam's prediction that the world would be destroyed at one time by fire and another time by global flood, in order to protect the discoveries and be remembered after the destruction. One was composed of brick, and the other of stone, so that if the pillar of brick should be destroyed, the pillar of stone would remain, both reporting the ancient discoveries, and informing men that a pillar of brick was also erected. Josephus reports that the pillar of stone remained in the land of Siriad in his day.
William Whiston, a 17/18th century translator of the Antiquities, stated in a footnote that he believed Josephus mistook Seth for Sesostris, king of Egypt, the erector of the referenced pillar in Siriad (being a contemporary name for the territories in which Sirius was venerated, i.e., Egypt). He stated that there was no way for any pillars of Seth to survive the deluge, because the deluge buried all such pillars and edificies far underground in the sediment of its waters.
In Christianity
Seth
Holy Forefather
Venerated in Armenian Apostolic Church
Feast July 26
The Armenian Apostolic Church counts him as one of the Holy Forefathers, along with Adam, Abel, and others, with a feast day of July 26.
See also
Sethian
References
[hide]v • d • eGenealogy of Adam to David according to the Hebrew Bible
Generations after Creation Adam · Seth · Enos · Kenan · Mahalalel · Jared · Enoch · Methuselah · Lamech · Noah · Shem
Patriarchs after Flood Arpachshad · Shelah · Eber · Peleg · Reu · Serug · Nahor · Terah · Abraham · Isaac · Jacob
Nationhood to Kingship Judah · Pharez · Hezron · Ram · Amminadab · Nahshon · Salmon · Boaz · Obed · Jesse · David
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth"
Categories: Articles lacking chronology/history sources | Adam and Eve | Gnosticism | Old Testament saints | Torah people | Prophets in Mandaeism
Hidden categories: Articles with hCards | Articles containing Arabic language text | All pages needing cleanup | Wikipedia articles needing clarification from May 2009
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Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Day of Atonement" redirects here. For other uses, see Day of Atonement (disambiguation).
For the war, see Yom Kippur War.
Yom Kippur ("Yohm" "Kip-or")
Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur, by Maurycy Gottlieb (1878)
Official name Hebrew: יוֹם כִּפּוּר or יום הכיפורים
Observed by Jews
Type Jewish
Significance Soul-searching and repentance
Date 10th day of Tishrei
2008 date Sunset, October 8 – nightfall, October 9
2009 date Sunset, September 27 – nightfall, September 28
2010 date Sunset, September 17 – nightfall, September 18
Observances Fasting, prayer, abstaining from physical pleasures, refraining from work
Yom Kippur (Hebrew: יוֹם כִּפּוּר, IPA: [ˈjɔm kiˈpur]), also known as the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year for religious Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services. Yom Kippur completes the annual period known in Judaism as the High Holy Days.
Yom Kippur is the tenth day of the month of Tishrei. According to Jewish tradition, God inscribes each person's fate for the coming year into a "book" on Rosh Hashanah and waits until Yom Kippur to "seal" the verdict. During the Days of Awe, a Jew tries to amend his or her behavior and seek forgiveness for wrongs done against God (bein adam leMakom) and against other human beings (bein adam lechavero). The evening and day of Yom Kippur are set aside for public and private petitions and confessions of guilt (Vidui). At the end of Yom Kippur, one considers one's self absolved by God.
The Yom Kippur prayer service includes several unique aspects. One is the actual number of prayer services. Unlike a regular day, which has three prayer services (Ma'ariv, the evening prayer; Shacharit, the morning prayer; and Mincha, the afternoon prayer), or a Shabbat or Yom Tov, which have four prayer services (Ma'ariv; Shacharit; Musaf, the additional prayer; and Mincha), Yom Kippur has five prayer services (Ma'ariv; Shacharit; Musaf; Mincha; and Ne'ilah, the closing prayer). The prayer services also include a public confession of sins (Vidui) and a unique prayer dedicated to the special Yom Kippur avodah (service) of the Kohen Gadol in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
Yom Kippur is considered one of the holiest of Jewish holidays and it is observed by many secular Jews who may not observe other holidays. Many secular Jews fast and attend synagogue on Yom Kippur, where the number of worshippers attending is often double or triple[citation needed] the normal attendance. Many other Jews choose not to fast[1].
Contents
[hide]
1 Observances
1.1 Eve
1.2 Prayer services
1.3 Avodah: remembering the Temple service
2 In the Torah
2.1 Midrashic interpretation
3 Mishnaic and Talmudic literature
3.1 Temple service
4 Observance in Israel
5 Contemporary scholarship
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
Observances
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v • d • e
Leviticus 16:29 mandates establishment of this holy day on the 10th day of the 7th month as the day of atonement for sins. It calls it the Sabbath of Sabbaths and a day upon which one must afflict one's soul.
Leviticus 23:27 decrees that Yom Kippur is a strict day of rest.
Six additional prohibitions are traditionally observed, as detailed in the Jewish oral tradition (Mishnah tractate Yoma 8:1):
No eating and drinking
No wearing of leather shoes
No bathing or washing
No anointing oneself with perfumes or lotions
No marital relations
No dealing with money [with an exception of games which use play money]
Total abstention from food and drink usually begins 30 minutes before sundown (called tosefet Yom Kippur, lit. "Addition to Yom Kippur"), and ends after nightfall the following day. Although the fast is required of all healthy adults, it is waived in the case of certain medical conditions.
Virtually all Jewish holidays involve a ritual feast, but since Yom Kippur involves fasting, Jewish law requires one to eat a large and festive meal on the afternoon before Yom Kippur, after the Mincha afternoon prayer.
Wearing white clothing, for men a Kittel, is traditional to symbolize one’s purity on this day. Many Orthodox men immerse themselves in a mikvah on the day before Yom Kippur. [2]
Eve
Main article: Kol Nidre
Erev Yom Kippur (lit. "eve [of] day [of] atonement") is the day preceding Yom Kippur, corresponding to the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei. This day is commemorated with two festive meals, the giving of charity, and asking others for forgiveness.[3]
Before sunset on Yom Kippur eve, worshippers gather in the synagogue. The Ark is opened and two people take from it two Sifrei Torah (Torah scrolls). Then they take their places, one on each side of the cantor, and the three recite:
In the tribunal of Heaven and the tribunal of earth, by the permission of God—praised be He—and by the permission of this holy congregation, we hold it lawful to pray with transgressors."
The cantor then chants the Kol Nidre prayer (Hebrew: כל נדרי) in Aramaic, not Hebrew. Its name is taken from the opening words, meaning “All vows”:
All personal vows we are likely to make, all personal oaths and pledges we are likely to take between this Yom Kippur and the next Yom Kippur, we publicly renounce. Let them all be relinquished and abandoned, null and void, neither firm nor established. Let our personal vows, pledges and oaths be considered neither vows nor pledges nor oaths.[4]
The leader and the congregation then say together three times “May all the people of Israel be forgiven, including all the strangers who live in their midst, for all the people are in fault.” The Torah scrolls are then replaced, and the customary evening service begins.
Prayer services
Many married men wear a kittel, a white robe-like garment for evening prayers on Yom Kippur otherwise used by some Orthodox males on their wedding day.[5] They also wear a tallit, as they may also do on Shabbat and on other holidays.[6] Prayer services begin with the prayer known as “Kol Nidre,” which must be recited before sunset, and continue with the evening prayers (Ma'ariv or Arvith), which includes an extended Selichot service.
The morning prayer service is preceded by litanies and petitions of forgiveness called selichot; on Yom Kippur, many selichot are woven into the liturgy of the mahzor (prayer book). The morning prayers are followed by an added prayer (Musaf) as on all other holidays. This is followed by Mincha (the afternoon prayer) which includes a reading (Haftarah) of the entire Book of Jonah, which has as its theme the story of God's willingness to forgive those who repent.
The service concludes with the Ne'ila ("closing") prayer, which begins shortly before sunset, when the "gates of prayer" will be closed. Yom Kippur comes to an end with a recitation of Shema Yisrael and the blowing of the shofar,[7] which marks the conclusion of the fast.[6]
Teshuvah
Return in Judaism:
repentance, atonement,
higher ascent
In the Hebrew Bible:
Biblical Altars
Temple in Jerusalem
Korban
Prophecy in the Temple
Aspects:
Confession in Judaism
Atonement in Judaism
Love of God
Awe of God
Mystical approach
Ethical approach
Jewish meditation
Jewish services
Torah study
Tzedakah
Mitzvot
In the Jewish calendar:
Month of Elul · Selichot
Rosh Hashanah
Shofar · Tashlikh
Ten Days of Repentance
Kapparot · Mikveh
Yom Kippur
Sukkot · Simchat Torah
Ta'anit · Tisha B'Av
Passover · The Omer
Shavuot
Contemporary Judaism:
Baal teshuva movement
Jewish Renewal
Edit this box
Avodah: remembering the Temple service
A recitation of the sacrificial service of the Temple in Jerusalem traditionally features prominently in both the liturgy and the religious thought of the holiday. Specifically, the Avodah (“service”) in the musaf prayer recounts in great detail the sacrificial ceremonies of the Yom Kippur Korbananot (sacrificial offerings) that are recited in the prayers but have not been performed for 2,000 years, since the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans.
This traditional prominence is rooted in the Babylonian Talmud’s description of how to attain atonement following the destruction of the Temple. According to Talmud tractate Yoma, in the absence of a Temple, Jews are obligated to study the High Priest’s ritual on Yom Kippur, and this study helps achieve atonement for those who are unable to benefit from its actual performance. In Orthodox Judaism, accordingly, studying the Temple ritual on Yom Kippur represents a positive rabbinically ordained obligation which Jews seeking atonement are required to fulfill.
In Orthodox synagogues, most Conservative, and some progressive[8] a detailed description of the Temple ritual is recited on the day. In most Orthodox and some Conservative synagogues, the entire congregation prostrates themselves at each point in the recitation where the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) would pronounce the Tetragrammaton (God’s holiest name, according to Judaism).
The main section of the Avodah is a threefold recitation of the High Priest’s actions regarding expiation in the Holy of Holies. Performing the sacrificial acts and reciting Leviticus 16:30, (“Your upright children”). (These three times, plus in some congregations the Aleinu prayer during the Musaf Amidah on Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, are the only times in Jewish services when Jews engage in prostration, with the exception of some Yemenite Jews and talmedhei haRambam (disciples of Maimonides) who may prostrate themselves on other occasions during the year). A variety of liturgical poems are added, including a poem recounting the radiance of the countenance of the Kohen Gadol after exiting the Holy of Holies, traditionally believed to emit palpable light in a manner echoing the Torah's account of the countenance of Moses after descending from Mount Sinai, as well as prayers for the speedy rebuilding of the Temple and the restoration of sacrificial worship. There are a variety of other customs, such as hand gestures to mime the sprinkling of blood (one sprinkling upwards and seven downwards per set of eight).
Orthodox liturgies include prayers lamenting the inability to perform the Temple service and petitioning for its restoration, which Conservative synagogues generally omit. In some Conservative synagogues, only the Hazzan (cantor) engages in full prostration. Some Conservative synagogues abridge the recitation of the Avodah service to varying degrees, and some omit it entirely. Many Reform and Reconstructionist services omit the entire service as inconsistent with modern sensibilities.
In the Torah
The Torah calls the day Yom HaKippurim (יוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים) and in it Leviticus 23:27 decrees a strict prohibition of work and affliction of the soul upon the tenth day of the seventh month, later known as Tishrei. The rites for Yom Kippur are set forth in Leviticus 16:1-34 (cf. Exodus 30:10; Leviticus 23:27-32, Leviticus 25:9; Numbers 29:7-11.)
Midrashic interpretation
The midrashim described in this section need sources cited from Midrashic literature[citation needed]
Traditionally, Yom Kippur is considered the date on which Moses received the second set of Ten Commandments. It occurred following the completion of the second 40 days of instructions from God. At this same time, the Israelites were granted atonement for the sin of the Golden Calf; hence, its designation as the Day of Atonement.[9]
Mishnaic and Talmudic literature
Temple service
The following summary of the Temple service is based on the traditional Jewish religious account described in Mishnah tractate Yoma, appearing in contemporary traditional Jewish prayerbooks for Yom Kippur, and studied as part of a traditional Jewish Yom Kippur worship service.[10]
While the Temple in Jerusalem was standing (from Biblical times through 70 C.E.), the Kohen Gadol (High Priest), the Torah mandated that he perform a complex set of special services and sacrifices for Yom Kippur to attain Divine atonement, the word "kippur" meaning "atone" in Hebrew. These services were considered to be the most important parts of Yom Kippur because through them the Kohen Gadol made atonement for all Jews and the world. During the service, the Kohen Gadol entered the Holy of Holies in the center of the Temple, the only time of the year that anyone went inside. Doing so required special purification and preparation, including five immersions in a mikvah (ritual bath), and four changes of clothing.
Seven days prior to Yom Kippur, the Kohen Gadol was sequestered in the Palhedrin chamber in the Temple, where he reviewed (studied) the service with the sages familiar with the Temple, and was sprinkled with spring water containing ashes of the Red Heifer as purification. The Talmud (Tractate Yoma) also reports that he practiced the incense offering ritual in the Avitnas chamber.
On the day of Yom Kippur, the Kohen Gadol had to follow a precise order of services, sacrifices, and purifications:
Morning (Tamid) Offering The Kohen Gadol first performed the regular daily (Tamid) offering — usually performed by ordinary priests — in special golden garments, after immersing in a mikvah and washing his hands and feet.
Garment Change 1 The Kohen Gadol immersed in a special mikvah in the Temple courtyard and changed into special linen garments, and washed his hands and feet twice, once after removing the golden garments and once before putting on the linen garments.
Bull as Personal Sin-Offering The Kohen Gadol leaned (performed Semikha) and made a confession over the bull on behalf of himself and his household, pronouncing the Tetragrammaton. The people prostrated themselves when they heard. He then slaughtered the bull as a chatat (sin-offering) and received its blood in a bowl.
Lottery of the goats At the Eastern (Nikanor) gate, the Kohen Gadol drew lots from a lottery box over two goats. One was selected “for the Lord,” and one “for Azazel.” The Kohen Gadol tied a red band around the horns of the goat “for Azazel.”
Incense Preparation The Kohen Gadol ascended the mizbeach (altar) and took a shovel full of embers with a special shovel. He was brought incense. He filled his hands and placed it in a vessel. (The Talmud considered this the most physically difficult part of the service, as the Kohen Gadol had to keep the shovelful of glowing coals balanced and prevent its contents from dropping, using his armpit or teeth, while filling his hands with the incense).
Incense Offering Holding the shovel and the vessel, he entered the Kadosh Hakadashim, the Temple’s Holy of Holies. In the days of the First Temple, he placed the shovel between the poles of the Ark of the Covenant. In the days of the Second Temple, he put the shovel where the Ark would have been. He waited until the chamber filled with smoke and left.
Sprinkling of Blood in the Holy of Holies The Kohen Gadol took the bowl with the bull’s blood and entered the Most Holy Place again. He sprinkled the bull’s blood with his finger eight times, before the Ark in the days of the First Temple, where it would have been in the days of the Second. The Kohen Gadol then left the Holy of Holies, putting the bowl on a stand in front of the Parochet (curtain separating the Holy from the Holy of Holies).
Goat for the Lord as Sin-Offering for Kohanim The Kohen Gadol went to the eastern end of the Israelite courtyard near the Nikanor Gate, laid his hands (semikha) on the goat “for the Lord,” and pronounced confession on behalf of the Kohanim (priests). The people prostrated themselves when he pronounced the Tetragrammaton. He then slaughtered the goat, and received its blood in another bowl.
Sprinkling of blood in the Holy Standing in the Hekhal (Holy), on the other side of the Parochet from the Holy of Holies, the Kohen Gadol took the bull's blood from the stand and sprinkled it with his finger eight times in the direction of the Parochet. He then took the bowl with the goat's blood and sprinkled it eight times in the same manner, putting it back on the stand.
Smearing of blood on the Golden (Incense) Altar The Kohen Gadol removed the goat’s blood from the stand and mixed it with the bull's blood. Starting at the northeast corner, he then smeared the mixture of blood on each of the four corners of the Golden (Incense) altar in the Haichal. He then sprinkled the blood eight times on the altar.
Goat for Azazel The Kohen Gadol left the Haichal and walked to the east side of the Azarah (Israelite courtyard). Near the Nikanor Gate, he leaned his hands (Semikha) on the goat “for Azazel” and confessed the sins of the entire people of Israel. The people prostrated themselves when he pronounced the Tetragrammaton. While he made a general confession, individuals in the crowd at the Temple would confess privately. The Kohen Gadol then sent the goat off “to the wilderness.” In practice, to prevent its return to human habitation, the goat was led to a cliff outside Jerusalem and pushed off its edge.
Preparation of sacrificial animals While the goat “for Azazel” was being led to the cliff, the Kohen Gadol removed the insides of the bull, and intertwined the bodies of the bull and goat. Other people took the bodies to the Beit HaDeshen (place of the ashes). They were burned there after it was confirmed that the goat “for Azazel” had reached the wilderness.
Reading the Torah After it was confirmed that the goat “for Azazzel” had been pushed off the cliff, the Kohen Gadol passed through the Nikanor Gate into the Ezrat Nashim (Women’s Courtyard) and read sections of the Torah describing Yom Kippur and its sacrifices.
Garment change 2 The Kohen Gadol removed his linen garments, immersed in the mikvah in the Temple courtyard, and changed into a second set of special golden garments. He washed his hands and feet both before removing the linen garments and after putting on the golden ones.
Offering of Rams The Kohen Gadol offered two rams as an olah offering, slaughtering them on the north side of the mizbeach (outer altar), receiving their blood in a bowl, carrying the bowl to the outer altar, and dashing the blood on the northeast and southwest corners of the Outer Altar. He dismembered the rams and burned the parts entirely on the outer altar. He then offered the accompanying mincha (grain) offerings and nesachim (wine-libations).
Musaf Offering The Kohen Gadol then offered the Musaf offering.
Burning of Innards The Kohen Gadol placed the insides of the bull and goat on the outer altar and burned them entirely.
*Garment change 3 The Kohen Gadol removed his golden garments, immersed in the mikvah, and changed to a new set of linen garments, again washing his hands and feet twice.
Removal of Incense from the Holy of Holies The Kohen Gadol returned to the Holy of Holies and removed the bowl of incense and the shovel.
Garment Change 4 The Kohen Gadol removed his linen garments, immersed in the mikvah, and changed into a third set of golden garments, again washing his hands and feet twice.
Evening (Tamid) Offering The Kohen Gadol completed the afternoon portion of the regular (tamid) daily offering in the special golden garments. He washed his hands and feet a tenth time.
The Kohen Gadol wore five sets of garments (three golden and two white linen), immersed in the mikvah five times, and washed his hands and feet ten times. Sacrifices included two (daily) lambs, one bull, two goats, and two rams, with accompanying mincha (meal) offerings, wine libations, and three incense offerings (the regular two daily and an additional one for Yom Kippur). The Kohen Gadol entered the Holy of Holies three times. The Tetragrammaton was pronounced three times, once for each confession.[10]
Observance in Israel
Ayalon Highway in Tel-Aviv, empty of cars on Yom Kippur 2004.Yom Kippur is a legal holiday in the modern state of Israel. There are no radio or television broadcasts, airports are shut down, there is no public transportation, and all shops and businesses are closed.[11] In 1973, an air raid siren was sounded on the afternoon of Yom Kippur and radio broadcasts were resumed to alert the public to the surprise attack on Israel by Egypt and Syria that launched the Yom Kippur War.
In 2008, 63% percent of the Jewish people of Israel said that they were intending to fast on Yom Kippur.[1] This may be the reason that it is very common in Israel to wish "Tsom Kal" ([an] easy fast) or "Tsom Mo'iil" ([an] efficient fast) to everyone before Yom Kippur, even if one does not know whether they will fast or not.
It is considered impolite to eat in public on Yom Kippur or to drive a motor vehicle. There is no legal prohibition on driving or eating in public but in practice such actions are frowned upon, excepting emergency services.
Over the last few decades, bicycle-riding and inline skating on the empty streets has become a new “tradition” among secular Israeli youngsters, especially on the eve of Yom Kippur.
Contemporary scholarship
According to textual scholars, the biblical regulations covering Yom Kippur are spliced together from multiple source texts,[12][13] as indicated by evidence such as with the duplication of the confession over the bullock,[14] and the incongruity in one verse stating that the high priest should not enter the Holy of Holies (with the inference that there are exceptions for certain explicitly identified festivals),[15] and the next verse indicating that they can enter whenever they wish (as long as a specific ritual is carried out first).[12] Although Rashi tried to find a harmonistic explanation for this incongruity, the Leviticus Rabbah maintains that it was indeed the case that the high priest could enter at any time if these rituals were carried out.[16] Textual scholars argue that the ritual is composed from three sources, and a couple of redactional additions:[12][13]
prerequisite rituals before the high priest can enter the Holy of Holies (on any occasion), namely a sin offering and a whole offering, followed by the filling of the Holy of Holies with a cloud of incense while wearing linen garments[17]
regulations which establish an annual day of fasting and rest, during which the sanctuary and people are purified, without stating the ritual for doing so;[18] this regulation is very similar to the one in the Holiness Code[19]
later elaborations of the ceremony,[20] which include the sprinkling of the blood on the mercy seat, and the use of a scapegoat sent to Azazel; the same source also being responsible for small alterations to related regulations[21]
the redactional additions[22]
On the basis of their assumptions, these liberal scholars believe that the original ceremony was simply the ritual purification of the sanctuary from any accidental ritual impurity, at the start of each new year, as seen in the Book of Ezekiel,[23] which textual scholars date to before the priestly source, but after JE.[24][25] According to the Book of Ezekiel, the sanctuary was to be cleansed by the sprinkling of bullock's blood, on the first day of the first and of the seventh months[26] — near the start of the Civil year and of the Ecclesiastical year, respectively; although the masoretic text of the Book of Ezekiel has the second of these cleansings on the seventh of the first month, biblical scholars regard the Septuagint, which has the second cleaning as being the first of the seventh month, as being more accurate here.[23] It appears that during the period that the Holiness Code and the Book of Ezekiel were written, the new year began on the tenth day of the seventh month,[27][28] and thus liberal biblical scholars believe that by the time the Priestly Code was compiled, the date of the new year and of the day of atonement had swapped around.[12]
See also
Kol Nidre
References
^ a b http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3606861,00.html
^ "OU Customs for Erev Yom Kippur". http://www.ou.org/chagim/yomkippur/ykcustoms.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
^ http://www.divreinavon.com/pdf/ErevYomKippur.pdf Erev Yom Kippur - The purpose of the day as seen through Talmudic anecdotes (PDF)
^ Translation of Philip Birnbaum, from High Holyday Prayer Book, Hebrew Publishing Company, NY, 1951
^ "Jewish Virtual Library — Yom Kippur". http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/holiday4.html. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
^ a b Rabbi Daniel Kohn. "My Jewish Learning — Prayer Services". http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Yom_Kippur/Overview_Yom_Kippur_Community/Prayer_Services.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
^ The significance of shofar to Yom Kippur is discussed at http://hearingshofar.com/Book1.htm#_PART_FOUR_%E2%80%93
^ An abbreviated version of the Seder Avodah is used in Yom Kippur services at the Hebrew Union College Jerusalem campus
^ Spiro, Rabbi Ken. Crash Course in Jewish History Part 12 — The Golden Calf. Aish HaTorah. accessed April 29, 2007
^ a b Arnold Lustiger, Michael Taubes, Menachem Genack, and Hershel Schacter, Kasirer Edition Yom Kippur Machzor With Commentary Adapted from the Teachings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. New York: K'hal Publishing, 2006. pp. 588–589 (summary); 590–618.
^ "Sounds of The City", article from Israel Insider, October 14, 2005
^ a b c d Jewish Encyclopedia
^ a b Cheyne and Black, Encyclopedia Biblica
^ Leviticus 16:6 and Leviticus 16:6
^ Leviticus 16:2
^ Leviticus Rabbah 21
^ Leviticus 16:1, 16:3–4, 16:12–13, 16:34 (b)
^ Leviticus 16:29–34 (a)
^ Leviticus 23:27–31
^ Leviticus 16:5, 16:7–10, 16:14–28
^ Exodus 30:10, Leviticus 25:9
^ Leviticus 16:2, 16:6, 16:11
^ a b Jewish Encyclopedia, Day of Atonement
^ Jewish Encyclopedia, Priestly Source
^ Richard Elliott Friedman, Who wrote the Bible
^ Ezekiel 45:18–20
^ Leviticus 25:9
^ Ezekiel 40:1
External links
Yom Kippur Prayers for Sephardic Jews
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"Day of Atonement" redirects here. For other uses, see Day of Atonement (disambiguation).
For the war, see Yom Kippur War.
Yom Kippur ("Yohm" "Kip-or")
Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur, by Maurycy Gottlieb (1878)
Official name Hebrew: יוֹם כִּפּוּר or יום הכיפורים
Observed by Jews
Type Jewish
Significance Soul-searching and repentance
Date 10th day of Tishrei
2008 date Sunset, October 8 – nightfall, October 9
2009 date Sunset, September 27 – nightfall, September 28
2010 date Sunset, September 17 – nightfall, September 18
Observances Fasting, prayer, abstaining from physical pleasures, refraining from work
Yom Kippur (Hebrew: יוֹם כִּפּוּר, IPA: [ˈjɔm kiˈpur]), also known as the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year for religious Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services. Yom Kippur completes the annual period known in Judaism as the High Holy Days.
Yom Kippur is the tenth day of the month of Tishrei. According to Jewish tradition, God inscribes each person's fate for the coming year into a "book" on Rosh Hashanah and waits until Yom Kippur to "seal" the verdict. During the Days of Awe, a Jew tries to amend his or her behavior and seek forgiveness for wrongs done against God (bein adam leMakom) and against other human beings (bein adam lechavero). The evening and day of Yom Kippur are set aside for public and private petitions and confessions of guilt (Vidui). At the end of Yom Kippur, one considers one's self absolved by God.
The Yom Kippur prayer service includes several unique aspects. One is the actual number of prayer services. Unlike a regular day, which has three prayer services (Ma'ariv, the evening prayer; Shacharit, the morning prayer; and Mincha, the afternoon prayer), or a Shabbat or Yom Tov, which have four prayer services (Ma'ariv; Shacharit; Musaf, the additional prayer; and Mincha), Yom Kippur has five prayer services (Ma'ariv; Shacharit; Musaf; Mincha; and Ne'ilah, the closing prayer). The prayer services also include a public confession of sins (Vidui) and a unique prayer dedicated to the special Yom Kippur avodah (service) of the Kohen Gadol in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
Yom Kippur is considered one of the holiest of Jewish holidays and it is observed by many secular Jews who may not observe other holidays. Many secular Jews fast and attend synagogue on Yom Kippur, where the number of worshippers attending is often double or triple[citation needed] the normal attendance. Many other Jews choose not to fast[1].
Contents
[hide]
1 Observances
1.1 Eve
1.2 Prayer services
1.3 Avodah: remembering the Temple service
2 In the Torah
2.1 Midrashic interpretation
3 Mishnaic and Talmudic literature
3.1 Temple service
4 Observance in Israel
5 Contemporary scholarship
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
Observances
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v • d • e
Leviticus 16:29 mandates establishment of this holy day on the 10th day of the 7th month as the day of atonement for sins. It calls it the Sabbath of Sabbaths and a day upon which one must afflict one's soul.
Leviticus 23:27 decrees that Yom Kippur is a strict day of rest.
Six additional prohibitions are traditionally observed, as detailed in the Jewish oral tradition (Mishnah tractate Yoma 8:1):
No eating and drinking
No wearing of leather shoes
No bathing or washing
No anointing oneself with perfumes or lotions
No marital relations
No dealing with money [with an exception of games which use play money]
Total abstention from food and drink usually begins 30 minutes before sundown (called tosefet Yom Kippur, lit. "Addition to Yom Kippur"), and ends after nightfall the following day. Although the fast is required of all healthy adults, it is waived in the case of certain medical conditions.
Virtually all Jewish holidays involve a ritual feast, but since Yom Kippur involves fasting, Jewish law requires one to eat a large and festive meal on the afternoon before Yom Kippur, after the Mincha afternoon prayer.
Wearing white clothing, for men a Kittel, is traditional to symbolize one’s purity on this day. Many Orthodox men immerse themselves in a mikvah on the day before Yom Kippur. [2]
Eve
Main article: Kol Nidre
Erev Yom Kippur (lit. "eve [of] day [of] atonement") is the day preceding Yom Kippur, corresponding to the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei. This day is commemorated with two festive meals, the giving of charity, and asking others for forgiveness.[3]
Before sunset on Yom Kippur eve, worshippers gather in the synagogue. The Ark is opened and two people take from it two Sifrei Torah (Torah scrolls). Then they take their places, one on each side of the cantor, and the three recite:
In the tribunal of Heaven and the tribunal of earth, by the permission of God—praised be He—and by the permission of this holy congregation, we hold it lawful to pray with transgressors."
The cantor then chants the Kol Nidre prayer (Hebrew: כל נדרי) in Aramaic, not Hebrew. Its name is taken from the opening words, meaning “All vows”:
All personal vows we are likely to make, all personal oaths and pledges we are likely to take between this Yom Kippur and the next Yom Kippur, we publicly renounce. Let them all be relinquished and abandoned, null and void, neither firm nor established. Let our personal vows, pledges and oaths be considered neither vows nor pledges nor oaths.[4]
The leader and the congregation then say together three times “May all the people of Israel be forgiven, including all the strangers who live in their midst, for all the people are in fault.” The Torah scrolls are then replaced, and the customary evening service begins.
Prayer services
Many married men wear a kittel, a white robe-like garment for evening prayers on Yom Kippur otherwise used by some Orthodox males on their wedding day.[5] They also wear a tallit, as they may also do on Shabbat and on other holidays.[6] Prayer services begin with the prayer known as “Kol Nidre,” which must be recited before sunset, and continue with the evening prayers (Ma'ariv or Arvith), which includes an extended Selichot service.
The morning prayer service is preceded by litanies and petitions of forgiveness called selichot; on Yom Kippur, many selichot are woven into the liturgy of the mahzor (prayer book). The morning prayers are followed by an added prayer (Musaf) as on all other holidays. This is followed by Mincha (the afternoon prayer) which includes a reading (Haftarah) of the entire Book of Jonah, which has as its theme the story of God's willingness to forgive those who repent.
The service concludes with the Ne'ila ("closing") prayer, which begins shortly before sunset, when the "gates of prayer" will be closed. Yom Kippur comes to an end with a recitation of Shema Yisrael and the blowing of the shofar,[7] which marks the conclusion of the fast.[6]
Teshuvah
Return in Judaism:
repentance, atonement,
higher ascent
In the Hebrew Bible:
Biblical Altars
Temple in Jerusalem
Korban
Prophecy in the Temple
Aspects:
Confession in Judaism
Atonement in Judaism
Love of God
Awe of God
Mystical approach
Ethical approach
Jewish meditation
Jewish services
Torah study
Tzedakah
Mitzvot
In the Jewish calendar:
Month of Elul · Selichot
Rosh Hashanah
Shofar · Tashlikh
Ten Days of Repentance
Kapparot · Mikveh
Yom Kippur
Sukkot · Simchat Torah
Ta'anit · Tisha B'Av
Passover · The Omer
Shavuot
Contemporary Judaism:
Baal teshuva movement
Jewish Renewal
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Avodah: remembering the Temple service
A recitation of the sacrificial service of the Temple in Jerusalem traditionally features prominently in both the liturgy and the religious thought of the holiday. Specifically, the Avodah (“service”) in the musaf prayer recounts in great detail the sacrificial ceremonies of the Yom Kippur Korbananot (sacrificial offerings) that are recited in the prayers but have not been performed for 2,000 years, since the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans.
This traditional prominence is rooted in the Babylonian Talmud’s description of how to attain atonement following the destruction of the Temple. According to Talmud tractate Yoma, in the absence of a Temple, Jews are obligated to study the High Priest’s ritual on Yom Kippur, and this study helps achieve atonement for those who are unable to benefit from its actual performance. In Orthodox Judaism, accordingly, studying the Temple ritual on Yom Kippur represents a positive rabbinically ordained obligation which Jews seeking atonement are required to fulfill.
In Orthodox synagogues, most Conservative, and some progressive[8] a detailed description of the Temple ritual is recited on the day. In most Orthodox and some Conservative synagogues, the entire congregation prostrates themselves at each point in the recitation where the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) would pronounce the Tetragrammaton (God’s holiest name, according to Judaism).
The main section of the Avodah is a threefold recitation of the High Priest’s actions regarding expiation in the Holy of Holies. Performing the sacrificial acts and reciting Leviticus 16:30, (“Your upright children”). (These three times, plus in some congregations the Aleinu prayer during the Musaf Amidah on Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, are the only times in Jewish services when Jews engage in prostration, with the exception of some Yemenite Jews and talmedhei haRambam (disciples of Maimonides) who may prostrate themselves on other occasions during the year). A variety of liturgical poems are added, including a poem recounting the radiance of the countenance of the Kohen Gadol after exiting the Holy of Holies, traditionally believed to emit palpable light in a manner echoing the Torah's account of the countenance of Moses after descending from Mount Sinai, as well as prayers for the speedy rebuilding of the Temple and the restoration of sacrificial worship. There are a variety of other customs, such as hand gestures to mime the sprinkling of blood (one sprinkling upwards and seven downwards per set of eight).
Orthodox liturgies include prayers lamenting the inability to perform the Temple service and petitioning for its restoration, which Conservative synagogues generally omit. In some Conservative synagogues, only the Hazzan (cantor) engages in full prostration. Some Conservative synagogues abridge the recitation of the Avodah service to varying degrees, and some omit it entirely. Many Reform and Reconstructionist services omit the entire service as inconsistent with modern sensibilities.
In the Torah
The Torah calls the day Yom HaKippurim (יוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים) and in it Leviticus 23:27 decrees a strict prohibition of work and affliction of the soul upon the tenth day of the seventh month, later known as Tishrei. The rites for Yom Kippur are set forth in Leviticus 16:1-34 (cf. Exodus 30:10; Leviticus 23:27-32, Leviticus 25:9; Numbers 29:7-11.)
Midrashic interpretation
The midrashim described in this section need sources cited from Midrashic literature[citation needed]
Traditionally, Yom Kippur is considered the date on which Moses received the second set of Ten Commandments. It occurred following the completion of the second 40 days of instructions from God. At this same time, the Israelites were granted atonement for the sin of the Golden Calf; hence, its designation as the Day of Atonement.[9]
Mishnaic and Talmudic literature
Temple service
The following summary of the Temple service is based on the traditional Jewish religious account described in Mishnah tractate Yoma, appearing in contemporary traditional Jewish prayerbooks for Yom Kippur, and studied as part of a traditional Jewish Yom Kippur worship service.[10]
While the Temple in Jerusalem was standing (from Biblical times through 70 C.E.), the Kohen Gadol (High Priest), the Torah mandated that he perform a complex set of special services and sacrifices for Yom Kippur to attain Divine atonement, the word "kippur" meaning "atone" in Hebrew. These services were considered to be the most important parts of Yom Kippur because through them the Kohen Gadol made atonement for all Jews and the world. During the service, the Kohen Gadol entered the Holy of Holies in the center of the Temple, the only time of the year that anyone went inside. Doing so required special purification and preparation, including five immersions in a mikvah (ritual bath), and four changes of clothing.
Seven days prior to Yom Kippur, the Kohen Gadol was sequestered in the Palhedrin chamber in the Temple, where he reviewed (studied) the service with the sages familiar with the Temple, and was sprinkled with spring water containing ashes of the Red Heifer as purification. The Talmud (Tractate Yoma) also reports that he practiced the incense offering ritual in the Avitnas chamber.
On the day of Yom Kippur, the Kohen Gadol had to follow a precise order of services, sacrifices, and purifications:
Morning (Tamid) Offering The Kohen Gadol first performed the regular daily (Tamid) offering — usually performed by ordinary priests — in special golden garments, after immersing in a mikvah and washing his hands and feet.
Garment Change 1 The Kohen Gadol immersed in a special mikvah in the Temple courtyard and changed into special linen garments, and washed his hands and feet twice, once after removing the golden garments and once before putting on the linen garments.
Bull as Personal Sin-Offering The Kohen Gadol leaned (performed Semikha) and made a confession over the bull on behalf of himself and his household, pronouncing the Tetragrammaton. The people prostrated themselves when they heard. He then slaughtered the bull as a chatat (sin-offering) and received its blood in a bowl.
Lottery of the goats At the Eastern (Nikanor) gate, the Kohen Gadol drew lots from a lottery box over two goats. One was selected “for the Lord,” and one “for Azazel.” The Kohen Gadol tied a red band around the horns of the goat “for Azazel.”
Incense Preparation The Kohen Gadol ascended the mizbeach (altar) and took a shovel full of embers with a special shovel. He was brought incense. He filled his hands and placed it in a vessel. (The Talmud considered this the most physically difficult part of the service, as the Kohen Gadol had to keep the shovelful of glowing coals balanced and prevent its contents from dropping, using his armpit or teeth, while filling his hands with the incense).
Incense Offering Holding the shovel and the vessel, he entered the Kadosh Hakadashim, the Temple’s Holy of Holies. In the days of the First Temple, he placed the shovel between the poles of the Ark of the Covenant. In the days of the Second Temple, he put the shovel where the Ark would have been. He waited until the chamber filled with smoke and left.
Sprinkling of Blood in the Holy of Holies The Kohen Gadol took the bowl with the bull’s blood and entered the Most Holy Place again. He sprinkled the bull’s blood with his finger eight times, before the Ark in the days of the First Temple, where it would have been in the days of the Second. The Kohen Gadol then left the Holy of Holies, putting the bowl on a stand in front of the Parochet (curtain separating the Holy from the Holy of Holies).
Goat for the Lord as Sin-Offering for Kohanim The Kohen Gadol went to the eastern end of the Israelite courtyard near the Nikanor Gate, laid his hands (semikha) on the goat “for the Lord,” and pronounced confession on behalf of the Kohanim (priests). The people prostrated themselves when he pronounced the Tetragrammaton. He then slaughtered the goat, and received its blood in another bowl.
Sprinkling of blood in the Holy Standing in the Hekhal (Holy), on the other side of the Parochet from the Holy of Holies, the Kohen Gadol took the bull's blood from the stand and sprinkled it with his finger eight times in the direction of the Parochet. He then took the bowl with the goat's blood and sprinkled it eight times in the same manner, putting it back on the stand.
Smearing of blood on the Golden (Incense) Altar The Kohen Gadol removed the goat’s blood from the stand and mixed it with the bull's blood. Starting at the northeast corner, he then smeared the mixture of blood on each of the four corners of the Golden (Incense) altar in the Haichal. He then sprinkled the blood eight times on the altar.
Goat for Azazel The Kohen Gadol left the Haichal and walked to the east side of the Azarah (Israelite courtyard). Near the Nikanor Gate, he leaned his hands (Semikha) on the goat “for Azazel” and confessed the sins of the entire people of Israel. The people prostrated themselves when he pronounced the Tetragrammaton. While he made a general confession, individuals in the crowd at the Temple would confess privately. The Kohen Gadol then sent the goat off “to the wilderness.” In practice, to prevent its return to human habitation, the goat was led to a cliff outside Jerusalem and pushed off its edge.
Preparation of sacrificial animals While the goat “for Azazel” was being led to the cliff, the Kohen Gadol removed the insides of the bull, and intertwined the bodies of the bull and goat. Other people took the bodies to the Beit HaDeshen (place of the ashes). They were burned there after it was confirmed that the goat “for Azazel” had reached the wilderness.
Reading the Torah After it was confirmed that the goat “for Azazzel” had been pushed off the cliff, the Kohen Gadol passed through the Nikanor Gate into the Ezrat Nashim (Women’s Courtyard) and read sections of the Torah describing Yom Kippur and its sacrifices.
Garment change 2 The Kohen Gadol removed his linen garments, immersed in the mikvah in the Temple courtyard, and changed into a second set of special golden garments. He washed his hands and feet both before removing the linen garments and after putting on the golden ones.
Offering of Rams The Kohen Gadol offered two rams as an olah offering, slaughtering them on the north side of the mizbeach (outer altar), receiving their blood in a bowl, carrying the bowl to the outer altar, and dashing the blood on the northeast and southwest corners of the Outer Altar. He dismembered the rams and burned the parts entirely on the outer altar. He then offered the accompanying mincha (grain) offerings and nesachim (wine-libations).
Musaf Offering The Kohen Gadol then offered the Musaf offering.
Burning of Innards The Kohen Gadol placed the insides of the bull and goat on the outer altar and burned them entirely.
*Garment change 3 The Kohen Gadol removed his golden garments, immersed in the mikvah, and changed to a new set of linen garments, again washing his hands and feet twice.
Removal of Incense from the Holy of Holies The Kohen Gadol returned to the Holy of Holies and removed the bowl of incense and the shovel.
Garment Change 4 The Kohen Gadol removed his linen garments, immersed in the mikvah, and changed into a third set of golden garments, again washing his hands and feet twice.
Evening (Tamid) Offering The Kohen Gadol completed the afternoon portion of the regular (tamid) daily offering in the special golden garments. He washed his hands and feet a tenth time.
The Kohen Gadol wore five sets of garments (three golden and two white linen), immersed in the mikvah five times, and washed his hands and feet ten times. Sacrifices included two (daily) lambs, one bull, two goats, and two rams, with accompanying mincha (meal) offerings, wine libations, and three incense offerings (the regular two daily and an additional one for Yom Kippur). The Kohen Gadol entered the Holy of Holies three times. The Tetragrammaton was pronounced three times, once for each confession.[10]
Observance in Israel
Ayalon Highway in Tel-Aviv, empty of cars on Yom Kippur 2004.Yom Kippur is a legal holiday in the modern state of Israel. There are no radio or television broadcasts, airports are shut down, there is no public transportation, and all shops and businesses are closed.[11] In 1973, an air raid siren was sounded on the afternoon of Yom Kippur and radio broadcasts were resumed to alert the public to the surprise attack on Israel by Egypt and Syria that launched the Yom Kippur War.
In 2008, 63% percent of the Jewish people of Israel said that they were intending to fast on Yom Kippur.[1] This may be the reason that it is very common in Israel to wish "Tsom Kal" ([an] easy fast) or "Tsom Mo'iil" ([an] efficient fast) to everyone before Yom Kippur, even if one does not know whether they will fast or not.
It is considered impolite to eat in public on Yom Kippur or to drive a motor vehicle. There is no legal prohibition on driving or eating in public but in practice such actions are frowned upon, excepting emergency services.
Over the last few decades, bicycle-riding and inline skating on the empty streets has become a new “tradition” among secular Israeli youngsters, especially on the eve of Yom Kippur.
Contemporary scholarship
According to textual scholars, the biblical regulations covering Yom Kippur are spliced together from multiple source texts,[12][13] as indicated by evidence such as with the duplication of the confession over the bullock,[14] and the incongruity in one verse stating that the high priest should not enter the Holy of Holies (with the inference that there are exceptions for certain explicitly identified festivals),[15] and the next verse indicating that they can enter whenever they wish (as long as a specific ritual is carried out first).[12] Although Rashi tried to find a harmonistic explanation for this incongruity, the Leviticus Rabbah maintains that it was indeed the case that the high priest could enter at any time if these rituals were carried out.[16] Textual scholars argue that the ritual is composed from three sources, and a couple of redactional additions:[12][13]
prerequisite rituals before the high priest can enter the Holy of Holies (on any occasion), namely a sin offering and a whole offering, followed by the filling of the Holy of Holies with a cloud of incense while wearing linen garments[17]
regulations which establish an annual day of fasting and rest, during which the sanctuary and people are purified, without stating the ritual for doing so;[18] this regulation is very similar to the one in the Holiness Code[19]
later elaborations of the ceremony,[20] which include the sprinkling of the blood on the mercy seat, and the use of a scapegoat sent to Azazel; the same source also being responsible for small alterations to related regulations[21]
the redactional additions[22]
On the basis of their assumptions, these liberal scholars believe that the original ceremony was simply the ritual purification of the sanctuary from any accidental ritual impurity, at the start of each new year, as seen in the Book of Ezekiel,[23] which textual scholars date to before the priestly source, but after JE.[24][25] According to the Book of Ezekiel, the sanctuary was to be cleansed by the sprinkling of bullock's blood, on the first day of the first and of the seventh months[26] — near the start of the Civil year and of the Ecclesiastical year, respectively; although the masoretic text of the Book of Ezekiel has the second of these cleansings on the seventh of the first month, biblical scholars regard the Septuagint, which has the second cleaning as being the first of the seventh month, as being more accurate here.[23] It appears that during the period that the Holiness Code and the Book of Ezekiel were written, the new year began on the tenth day of the seventh month,[27][28] and thus liberal biblical scholars believe that by the time the Priestly Code was compiled, the date of the new year and of the day of atonement had swapped around.[12]
See also
Kol Nidre
References
^ a b http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3606861,00.html
^ "OU Customs for Erev Yom Kippur". http://www.ou.org/chagim/yomkippur/ykcustoms.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
^ http://www.divreinavon.com/pdf/ErevYomKippur.pdf Erev Yom Kippur - The purpose of the day as seen through Talmudic anecdotes (PDF)
^ Translation of Philip Birnbaum, from High Holyday Prayer Book, Hebrew Publishing Company, NY, 1951
^ "Jewish Virtual Library — Yom Kippur". http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/holiday4.html. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
^ a b Rabbi Daniel Kohn. "My Jewish Learning — Prayer Services". http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Yom_Kippur/Overview_Yom_Kippur_Community/Prayer_Services.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
^ The significance of shofar to Yom Kippur is discussed at http://hearingshofar.com/Book1.htm#_PART_FOUR_%E2%80%93
^ An abbreviated version of the Seder Avodah is used in Yom Kippur services at the Hebrew Union College Jerusalem campus
^ Spiro, Rabbi Ken. Crash Course in Jewish History Part 12 — The Golden Calf. Aish HaTorah. accessed April 29, 2007
^ a b Arnold Lustiger, Michael Taubes, Menachem Genack, and Hershel Schacter, Kasirer Edition Yom Kippur Machzor With Commentary Adapted from the Teachings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. New York: K'hal Publishing, 2006. pp. 588–589 (summary); 590–618.
^ "Sounds of The City", article from Israel Insider, October 14, 2005
^ a b c d Jewish Encyclopedia
^ a b Cheyne and Black, Encyclopedia Biblica
^ Leviticus 16:6 and Leviticus 16:6
^ Leviticus 16:2
^ Leviticus Rabbah 21
^ Leviticus 16:1, 16:3–4, 16:12–13, 16:34 (b)
^ Leviticus 16:29–34 (a)
^ Leviticus 23:27–31
^ Leviticus 16:5, 16:7–10, 16:14–28
^ Exodus 30:10, Leviticus 25:9
^ Leviticus 16:2, 16:6, 16:11
^ a b Jewish Encyclopedia, Day of Atonement
^ Jewish Encyclopedia, Priestly Source
^ Richard Elliott Friedman, Who wrote the Bible
^ Ezekiel 45:18–20
^ Leviticus 25:9
^ Ezekiel 40:1
External links
Yom Kippur Prayers for Sephardic Jews
[show]v • d • eJewish holidays
Jewish holidays Shabbat · Rosh Chodesh · Rosh Hashanah · Fast of Gedalia · Yom Kippur · Sukkot and Hoshana Rabbah · Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah · Isru chag · Hanukkah · Tenth of Tevet · Tu Bishvat · Fast of Esther and Purim · Purim Katan · Fast of the Firstborn and Passover · Pesach Sheni · Lag BaOmer · Shavuot · 17th of Tammuz · The Three Weeks · The Nine Days · Tisha B'Av · Tu B'Av
Modern holidays Yom HaShoah · Yom Hazikaron · Yom Ha'atzmaut · Yom Yerushalayim
Ethnic holidays Mimouna · Sigd
Hebrew calendar months Tishrei · Cheshvan · Kislev · Tevet · Shevat · Adar · Nisan · Iyar · Sivan · Tammuz · Av · Elul
Jewish holidays 2000–2050
[show]v • d • eHigh Holidays
Rosh Hashanah Erev Rosh Hashanah • Rosh Hashanah greetings • Shofar • Tashlikh
Yom Kippur Atonement in Judaism • Break fast • Confession in Judaism • Jonah • Kapparos • Kittel • Kol Nidre • Ne'ila • Repentance in Judaism • Selichot • Ten Martyrs • Unetanneh Tokef
Ten Days of Repentance Avinu Malkeinu • Fast of Gedalia
[show]v • d • eHolidays, Observances, and Celebrations in the United States
April Fools' Day • Arbor Day • Ash Wednesday • Black Friday • Christmas Day • Christmas Eve • Cinco de Mayo
Columbus Day • Earth Day • Easter Sunday • Easter Monday • Election Day • Father's Day • Flag Day
Good Friday • Groundhog Day • Halloween • Hanukkah • Independence Day • Kwanzaa • Labor Day • Leif Erikson Day
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day • Mardi Gras • Memorial Day • Mischief Night • Mother's Day • New Year's Day
New Year's Eve • Palm Sunday • Passover • Patriots' Day • Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day • Presidents Day • Ramadan
Rosh Hashanah • Saint Patrick's Day • Super Bowl Sunday • Thanksgiving • Valentine's Day • Veterans Day • Yom Kippur
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur"
Categories: Yom Kippur | Jewish fast days
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Postmillennialism
Postmillennialism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2007)
In Christian end-times theology, (eschatology), postmillennialism is an interpretation of chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation which sees Christ's second coming as occurring after (Latin post-) the "Millennium", a Golden Age or era of Christian prosperity and dominance. The term subsumes several similar views of the end times, and it stands in contrast to premillennialism and, to a lesser extent, amillennialism (see Summary of Christian eschatological differences).
Contents
[hide]
1 Key ideas
2 Types of postmillennialism
2.1 Difference in extent
2.2 Difference in means
3 See also
4 References
5 External links
Key ideas
Although some postmillennialists hold to a literal millennium of 1,000 years, most postmillennialists see the thousand years more as a figurative term for a long period of time (similar in that respect to amillennialism). Among those holding to a non-literal "millennium" it is usually understood to have already begun, which implies a less obvious and less dramatic kind of millennium than that typically envisioned by premillennialists, as well as a more unexpected return of Christ.
Postmillennialism also teaches that the forces of Satan will gradually be defeated by the expansion of the Kingdom of God throughout history up until the second coming of Christ. This belief that good will gradually triumph over evil has led proponents of postmillennialism to label themselves "optimillennialists" in contrast to "pessimillennial" premillennialists and amillennialists.
Many postmillennialists also adopt some form of preterism, which holds that many of the end times prophecies in the Bible have already been fulfilled.
Types of postmillennialism
Difference in extent
Comparison of Christian millennial interpretationsPostmillennialists diverge on the extent of the gospel's conquest. The majority of postmillennialists retain the notion of a final apostasy at the end of human history, presupposing the presence of a sufficient number of unsaved people on earth to mount the alleged rebellion. This postmillennial perspective essentially dovetails with the thinking of amillennial and premillennial schools of eschatology.
There are a minority of postmillennial scholars, however, who discount the idea of a final apostasy, regarding the gospel conquest ignited by the Great Commission to be total and absolute, such that no unsaved individuals will remain after the Spirit has been fully poured out on all flesh. This minority school, promoted by B. B. Warfield and supported by exegetical work of H.A.W. Meyer, has started to gain more ground, even altering the thinking of some postmillennialists previously in the majority camp, such as Loraine Boettner and R. J. Rushdoony.
The appeal of the minority position, apart from its obvious gambit of taking key scriptures literally (John 12:32; Romans 11:25-26; Hebrews 10:13; Isaiah 2:4; 9:7; etc.), was voiced by Boettner himself after his shift in position: the majority-form of postmillennialism lacks a capstone, which Warfield's version does not fail to provide. Warfield also linked his views to an unusual understanding of Matthew 5:18, premised on Meyer's exegesis of the same passage, which presupposed a global conquest of the gospel in order for the supposed prophecy in that verse to be realized, which inexorably leads to a literal fulfillment of the third petition of the Lord's Prayer: "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."
John Calvin's exposition of that part of the Lord's Prayer all but adopts the minority postmillennial position, but Calvin, and later Charles Spurgeon, were remarkably inconsistent on eschatological matters. Spurgeon delivered a sermon explicitly defending the form of absolute postmillennialism held by the minority camp today, but on other occasions he defended premillennialism. Moreover, given the nature of Warfield's views, Warfield disdained the millennial labels, preferring the term "eschatological universalism" for the brand of postmillennialism now associated with his thinking.
Warfield, like those who follow in his footsteps, did not seek to support his doctrine of cosmic eschatology from Revelation 20, treating that passage (following Kliefoth, Duesterdieck, and Milligan) as descriptive of the intermediate state and the contrast between church militant and triumphant. This tactic represented an abandonment of the Augustinian approach to the passage, ostensibly justified by a perceived advance in taking the Book of Revelation's parallel passages to the little season of Satan more seriously (cf. Revelation 6:11 and 12:12).
Difference in means
Postmillennialists also diverge on the means of the gospel's conquest. Revivalist postmillennialism is a form of the doctrine held by the Puritans and some today that teaches that the millennium will come about not from Christians changing society from the top down (that is, through its political and legal institutions) but from the bottom up at the grass roots level (that is, through changing people's hearts and minds).
Reconstructionist postmillennialism, on the other hand, sees that along with grass roots preaching of the Gospel and explicitly Christian education, Christians should also set about changing society's legal and political institutions in accordance with Biblical, and also sometimes Theonomic, ethics (see Dominion theology). The revivalists deny that the same legal and political rules which applied to theocratic state of Ancient Israel should apply directly to modern societies which are no longer directly ruled by Israel's prophets, priests, and kings. In the United States, the most prominent and organized forms of postmillennialism are based on Christian Reconstructionism and hold to a reconstructionist form of postmillennialism advanced by Gary North, Kenneth Gentry, and Greg Bahnsen.
See also
Christianity portal
Summary of Christian eschatological differences
References
Mathison, Keith A. 1999. Postmillenialism. An Eschatology of Hope. Philipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing. (ISBN 0-87552-389-7) - Good one volume over-view of Postmillennialism. Written by a proponent.
Bock, Darrell. 1999. Three Views of the Millennium and Beyond. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing.
Boettner, Loraine. 1984. The Millennium. Philipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing. (ISBN 0-87552-113-4)
Gentry, Kenneth. 1992. He Shall Have Dominion: A Postmillennial Eschatology. Tyler, Tx: Institute For Christian Economics.
Gentry, Kenneth L. 2003. Thine is the Kingdom: A Study of the Postmillennial Hope. Vallecito, CA: Chalcedon Foundation.
Murray, Iain. 1971. The Puritan Hope: A Study in Revival and the Interpretation of Prophecy. London, UK: Banner of Truth Trust.
North, Gary. 1990. Millennialism and Social Theory. Tyler, Tx: Institute For Christian Economics.
Davis, John Jefferson. 1996. The Victory of Christ's Kingdom: An Introduction to Postmillennialism. Moscow, ID: Canon Press.
Bahnsen, Greg L. 1999. Victory in Jesus: The Bright Hope of Postmillennialism (ISBN 0-9678317-1-7) Texarkana, AR: Covenant Media Press.
Sproul, R. C. 1998. The Last Days According to Jesus (ISBN 0-8010-1171-X) Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
DeMar, Gary. 1999. Last Days Madness:Obsession of the Modern Church (ISBN 0-915815-35-4) Power Springs, GA: American Vision.
Bass, Ralph E., Jr. 2004. Back to the Future: A Study in the Book of Revelation (ISBN 0-9759547-0-9) Greenville, SC: Living Hope Press.
External links
This article's external links may not follow Wikipedia's content policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links. (September 2009)
The Works of Francis Nigel Lee, promoting a postmillennial, historicist eschatology
"Eschaton" columns by Jack Van Deventer from Credenda/Agenda magazine, promoting a postmillennial eschatology
"An Exegetical Defense Of Postmillennialism from I Corinthians 15:24-26" A paper presented to the 1999 Evangelical Theological Society by Gregg Strawbridge
Articles by Kenneth Gentry promoting a postmillennial, partial preterist eschatology
The Beast of Revelation: Identified a DVD presentation and several articles by Kenneth Gentry and others presenting a preterist view of Revelation 13
"Postmillennialism: Wishful Thinking or Certain Hope?", a lecture given by Kenneth Gentry
"Confidence About the Earthly Triumph of Christ's Kingdom" by Greg Bahnsen from Journey 3:2 (March-April, 1988)
"The Prima Facie Acceptability of Postmillennialism" by Greg Bahnsen from The Journal of Christian Reconstruction, Vol. III, No. 2, Winter, 1976-77
Postmillennialism and Protestantism - writings on postmillennialism and against preterism
"Millennium and Millenarianism" from the Catholic Encyclopedia
VBS Radio - 24/7 radio network, exclusively postmillennial teachings
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmillennialism"
Categories: Christian eschatology
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Christian Eschatology
The Judgments
Preterism talk
Idealism talk
Historicism talk
Futurism talk
The Millennium
Premillennialism talk
Amillennialism talk
Postmillennialism talk
Biblical texts
The Book of Daniel talk
The Olivet Discourse talk
The Sheep and the Goats talk
The Book of Revelation talk
Israel and the Church
Covenant Theology talk
Dispensationalism talk
Supersessionism talk
Olive Tree Theology talk
This box: view • talk • edit
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2007)
In Christian end-times theology, (eschatology), postmillennialism is an interpretation of chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation which sees Christ's second coming as occurring after (Latin post-) the "Millennium", a Golden Age or era of Christian prosperity and dominance. The term subsumes several similar views of the end times, and it stands in contrast to premillennialism and, to a lesser extent, amillennialism (see Summary of Christian eschatological differences).
Contents
[hide]
1 Key ideas
2 Types of postmillennialism
2.1 Difference in extent
2.2 Difference in means
3 See also
4 References
5 External links
Key ideas
Although some postmillennialists hold to a literal millennium of 1,000 years, most postmillennialists see the thousand years more as a figurative term for a long period of time (similar in that respect to amillennialism). Among those holding to a non-literal "millennium" it is usually understood to have already begun, which implies a less obvious and less dramatic kind of millennium than that typically envisioned by premillennialists, as well as a more unexpected return of Christ.
Postmillennialism also teaches that the forces of Satan will gradually be defeated by the expansion of the Kingdom of God throughout history up until the second coming of Christ. This belief that good will gradually triumph over evil has led proponents of postmillennialism to label themselves "optimillennialists" in contrast to "pessimillennial" premillennialists and amillennialists.
Many postmillennialists also adopt some form of preterism, which holds that many of the end times prophecies in the Bible have already been fulfilled.
Types of postmillennialism
Difference in extent
Comparison of Christian millennial interpretationsPostmillennialists diverge on the extent of the gospel's conquest. The majority of postmillennialists retain the notion of a final apostasy at the end of human history, presupposing the presence of a sufficient number of unsaved people on earth to mount the alleged rebellion. This postmillennial perspective essentially dovetails with the thinking of amillennial and premillennial schools of eschatology.
There are a minority of postmillennial scholars, however, who discount the idea of a final apostasy, regarding the gospel conquest ignited by the Great Commission to be total and absolute, such that no unsaved individuals will remain after the Spirit has been fully poured out on all flesh. This minority school, promoted by B. B. Warfield and supported by exegetical work of H.A.W. Meyer, has started to gain more ground, even altering the thinking of some postmillennialists previously in the majority camp, such as Loraine Boettner and R. J. Rushdoony.
The appeal of the minority position, apart from its obvious gambit of taking key scriptures literally (John 12:32; Romans 11:25-26; Hebrews 10:13; Isaiah 2:4; 9:7; etc.), was voiced by Boettner himself after his shift in position: the majority-form of postmillennialism lacks a capstone, which Warfield's version does not fail to provide. Warfield also linked his views to an unusual understanding of Matthew 5:18, premised on Meyer's exegesis of the same passage, which presupposed a global conquest of the gospel in order for the supposed prophecy in that verse to be realized, which inexorably leads to a literal fulfillment of the third petition of the Lord's Prayer: "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."
John Calvin's exposition of that part of the Lord's Prayer all but adopts the minority postmillennial position, but Calvin, and later Charles Spurgeon, were remarkably inconsistent on eschatological matters. Spurgeon delivered a sermon explicitly defending the form of absolute postmillennialism held by the minority camp today, but on other occasions he defended premillennialism. Moreover, given the nature of Warfield's views, Warfield disdained the millennial labels, preferring the term "eschatological universalism" for the brand of postmillennialism now associated with his thinking.
Warfield, like those who follow in his footsteps, did not seek to support his doctrine of cosmic eschatology from Revelation 20, treating that passage (following Kliefoth, Duesterdieck, and Milligan) as descriptive of the intermediate state and the contrast between church militant and triumphant. This tactic represented an abandonment of the Augustinian approach to the passage, ostensibly justified by a perceived advance in taking the Book of Revelation's parallel passages to the little season of Satan more seriously (cf. Revelation 6:11 and 12:12).
Difference in means
Postmillennialists also diverge on the means of the gospel's conquest. Revivalist postmillennialism is a form of the doctrine held by the Puritans and some today that teaches that the millennium will come about not from Christians changing society from the top down (that is, through its political and legal institutions) but from the bottom up at the grass roots level (that is, through changing people's hearts and minds).
Reconstructionist postmillennialism, on the other hand, sees that along with grass roots preaching of the Gospel and explicitly Christian education, Christians should also set about changing society's legal and political institutions in accordance with Biblical, and also sometimes Theonomic, ethics (see Dominion theology). The revivalists deny that the same legal and political rules which applied to theocratic state of Ancient Israel should apply directly to modern societies which are no longer directly ruled by Israel's prophets, priests, and kings. In the United States, the most prominent and organized forms of postmillennialism are based on Christian Reconstructionism and hold to a reconstructionist form of postmillennialism advanced by Gary North, Kenneth Gentry, and Greg Bahnsen.
See also
Christianity portal
Summary of Christian eschatological differences
References
Mathison, Keith A. 1999. Postmillenialism. An Eschatology of Hope. Philipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing. (ISBN 0-87552-389-7) - Good one volume over-view of Postmillennialism. Written by a proponent.
Bock, Darrell. 1999. Three Views of the Millennium and Beyond. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing.
Boettner, Loraine. 1984. The Millennium. Philipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing. (ISBN 0-87552-113-4)
Gentry, Kenneth. 1992. He Shall Have Dominion: A Postmillennial Eschatology. Tyler, Tx: Institute For Christian Economics.
Gentry, Kenneth L. 2003. Thine is the Kingdom: A Study of the Postmillennial Hope. Vallecito, CA: Chalcedon Foundation.
Murray, Iain. 1971. The Puritan Hope: A Study in Revival and the Interpretation of Prophecy. London, UK: Banner of Truth Trust.
North, Gary. 1990. Millennialism and Social Theory. Tyler, Tx: Institute For Christian Economics.
Davis, John Jefferson. 1996. The Victory of Christ's Kingdom: An Introduction to Postmillennialism. Moscow, ID: Canon Press.
Bahnsen, Greg L. 1999. Victory in Jesus: The Bright Hope of Postmillennialism (ISBN 0-9678317-1-7) Texarkana, AR: Covenant Media Press.
Sproul, R. C. 1998. The Last Days According to Jesus (ISBN 0-8010-1171-X) Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
DeMar, Gary. 1999. Last Days Madness:Obsession of the Modern Church (ISBN 0-915815-35-4) Power Springs, GA: American Vision.
Bass, Ralph E., Jr. 2004. Back to the Future: A Study in the Book of Revelation (ISBN 0-9759547-0-9) Greenville, SC: Living Hope Press.
External links
This article's external links may not follow Wikipedia's content policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links. (September 2009)
The Works of Francis Nigel Lee, promoting a postmillennial, historicist eschatology
"Eschaton" columns by Jack Van Deventer from Credenda/Agenda magazine, promoting a postmillennial eschatology
"An Exegetical Defense Of Postmillennialism from I Corinthians 15:24-26" A paper presented to the 1999 Evangelical Theological Society by Gregg Strawbridge
Articles by Kenneth Gentry promoting a postmillennial, partial preterist eschatology
The Beast of Revelation: Identified a DVD presentation and several articles by Kenneth Gentry and others presenting a preterist view of Revelation 13
"Postmillennialism: Wishful Thinking or Certain Hope?", a lecture given by Kenneth Gentry
"Confidence About the Earthly Triumph of Christ's Kingdom" by Greg Bahnsen from Journey 3:2 (March-April, 1988)
"The Prima Facie Acceptability of Postmillennialism" by Greg Bahnsen from The Journal of Christian Reconstruction, Vol. III, No. 2, Winter, 1976-77
Postmillennialism and Protestantism - writings on postmillennialism and against preterism
"Millennium and Millenarianism" from the Catholic Encyclopedia
VBS Radio - 24/7 radio network, exclusively postmillennial teachings
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmillennialism"
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Premillennialism
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This article is about Premillennialism in Christian eschatology. For other uses, see Millenarianism.
Christian Eschatology
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Premillennialism in Christian end-times theology is the belief that Christ will literally and physically be on the earth for his millennial reign, at his second coming. The doctrine is called premillennialism because it holds that Christ’s physical return to earth will occur prior to the inauguration of the millennium. It is distinct from the other forms of Christian eschatology such as postmillennialism or amillennialism, which view the millennial rule as occurring either before the second coming, or as being figurative and non-temporal. Premillennialism is largely based upon a literal interpretation of Revelation 20:1-6 in the New Testament which describes Christ’s coming to the earth and subsequent reign at the end of an apocalyptic period of tribulation. It views this future age as a time of fulfillment for the prophetic hope of God’s people as given in the Old Testament.
Contents
[hide]
1 Terminology
2 History
2.1 Jewish antecedents
2.1.1 1 Enoch
2.1.2 4 Ezra
2.1.3 Other early Jewish contributions
2.2 Patristic age
2.2.1 Justin Martyr and Irenaeus
2.2.2 Other pre-Nicean premillennialists
2.2.3 Pre-Nicean opposition
2.3 Middle Ages and the Reformation
2.3.1 Augustinian eschatological foundation
2.3.2 Medieval and Reformation amillennialism
2.4 Modern era
2.4.1 17th and 18th centuries
2.4.2 19th century to present
3 Dispensational vs. "historic" premillennialism
3.1 Historic premillennialism
3.2 Dispensational premillennialism
4 See also
5 References
6 Resources
6.1 Works from an amillennial or postmillennial perspective
6.2 Works from a premillennial perspective
6.3 Works from multiple perspectives or no apparent perspective
6.4 Works on the history of eschatology
7 External links
Terminology
Historically Christian premillennialism has also been referred as "chiliasm" or "millenarianism". The theological term "premillennialism" did not come into general use until the mid-nineteenth century, the modern period in which premillennialism was revived. Coining the word was "almost entirely the work of British and American Protestants and was prompted by their belief that the French and American Revolutions (the French, especially) realized prophecies made in the books of Daniel and Revelation."[1]
History
Jewish antecedents
The concept of a temporary earthly messianic kingdom at the Messiah's coming was not an invention of Christianity. Instead it was a theological interpretation developed within the apocalyptic literature of early Judaism.[2] In intertestamental Judaism, there was a basic distinction between the current age and the “age to come.” The “age to come” was commonly viewed as a nationalistic Golden Age in which the hopes of the prophets would become a reality for the nation of Israel.[3] On the surface, the Old Testament prophets revealed an “age to come” which was monolithic. Seemingly the prophets did not write of a two-phase eschaton consisting of a temporary messianic age followed by an eternal state. However, that was the concept that some Jewish interpreters did derive from their Old Testament exegesis. Their conclusions are found in some of the literature and theology of early Judaism within the centuries both before and during the development of the New Testament. R. H. Charles in his commentary on Book of Revelation concluded that Jewish eschatology must have developed the concept of an earthly temporary messianic reign prior to the eternal state at the latest by 100 B.C.[4]
1 Enoch
The earliest instance in Jewish literature that teaches an earthly temporary messianic age prior to an eternal state began with “The Apocalypse of Weeks” contained in 1 Enoch 91-107. This work likely dates to the early second century[5] and shows a schematization of the divine history divided into ten ambiguous periods of time called “weeks.” In the apocalypse, weeks 1-7 (93:1-10) retell the biblical history from the creation of humanity to the author’s time of writing (possibly during the Maccabean crisis). However, after the seventh "week", the temporary earthly messianic age begins and occurs for a period of three more “weeks” (93:12-15). After the temporary messianic kingdom, the creation of the new heavens and the new earth occurs (93:16).
4 Ezra
4 Ezra. 4 Ezra likely dates from soon after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. The apocryphal book was apparently an attempt to explain the difficulties associated with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple to the Jewish people.[6] During one of the visions in the book, Ezra receives a revelation from the angel Uriel. The angel explains that prior to the last judgment, the Messiah will come and establish a temporary kingdom lasting 400 years after which all of creation will be obliterated including the Messiah (7:28). Seven days after this cataclysmic event, the resurrection and the judgment will occur followed by the eternal state (7:36).
Other early Jewish contributions
Additional early Jewish literature that refers to a temporary messianic kingdom prior to the eternal state may be found in 4 Ezra 12:34; 2 Baruch 24:1-4; 30:1-5; 39:3-8; 40:1-4; Jubilees 1:4-29; 23:14-31. The Jewish belief in an earthly temporary messianic age continued during and beyond the time of the writing of the Book of Revelation.[7] A sample of the rabbinical contributions to the concept are listed as follows:
Circa AD 90 Eleazar ben Hurcanus claimed that the messianic reign would last 100 years based on Psalm 90:15;
Circa AD 100 Eleazar ben Azariah claimed that the messianic reign would last 70 years based upon Isaiah 23:15;
Circa AD 110 Joseph ben Galilee claimed that the messianic reign would last 60 years based upon Psalm 72:5;
Circa AD 150 Eliezer ben Joseph of Galilee claimed that the messianic reign would last 400 years based upon Genesis 15:13and Psalm 90:15;
Various rabbis around the close of the first century C.E. have claimed that the messianic reign would last 2,000 years based upon 4 Ezra 7:28;
Some contemplated that there may be no messianic reign at all.[8]
Patristic age
For the larger part, Christian eschatology through the second and third centuries was chiliastic.[9] Many early Christian interpreters applied the earlier Jewish apocalyptic idea of a temporary Messianic kingdom to their interpretation of chapter 20 of John's apocalypse.[10] Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian all made explicit references to the concept of a thousand year earthly kingdom at Christ’s coming.[11]
“ The most striking point in the eschatology of the ante-Nicene age is the prominent chiliasm, or millenarianism, that is the belief of a visible reign of Christ in glory on earth with the risen saints for a thousand years, before the general resurrection and judgement. It was indeed not the doctrine of the church embodied in any creed or form of devotion, but a widely current opinion of distinguished teachers, such as Barnabas, Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Methodius, and Lactantius, while Caius[9], Origen, Dionysius the Great[10], Eusebius (as afterwards Jerome and Augustin) opposed it. ”
— Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church[12]
Justin Martyr and Irenaeus
Justin Martyr in the second century was one of the first Christian writers to clearly describe himself as continuing in the “Jewish” belief of a temporary messianic kingdom prior to the eternal state. According to Johannes Quasten, “In his eschatological ideas Justin shares the views of the Chiliasts concerning the millennium.”[13] He maintains a premillennial distinctive, namely that there would be two resurrections, one of believers before Jesus' reign and then a general resurrection afterwards. Justin wrote in chapter 80 of his work Dialogue with Trypho, “I and others who are right-minded Christians on all points are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built. . . . For Isaiah spoke in that manner concerning this period of a thousand years.” Though he conceded earlier in the same chapter that his view was not universal by saying that he “and many who belong to the pure and pious faith, and are true Christians, think otherwise.” [11][14]
St. Irenaeus (c. 130–202), an early Christian Premillennialist.Irenaeus, the late second century bishop of Lyon was an outspoken premillennialist. He is best known for his voluminous tome written against the 2nd century Gnostic threat, commonly called Against Heresies. In the fifth book of Against Heresies, Irenaeus concentrates primarily on eschatology. In one passage he defends premillennialism by arguing that a future earthly kingdom is necessary because of God's promise to Abraham, he wrote “The promise remains steadfast... God promised him the inheritance of the land. Yet, Abraham did not receive it during all the time of his journey there. Accordingly, it must be that Abraham, together with his seed (that is, those who fear God and believe in Him), will receive it at the resurrection of the just.”[15] In another place Irenaeus also explained that the blessing to Jacob “belongs unquestionably to the times of the kingdom when the righteous will bear rule, after their rising from the dead. It is also the time when the creation will bear fruit with an abundance of all kinds of food, having been renovated and set free... And all of the animals will feed on the vegetation of the earth... and they will be in perfect submission to man. And these things are borne witness to in the fourth book of the writings of Papias, the hearer of John, and a companion of Polycarp.” (5.33.3) Apparently Irenaeus also held to the sexta-/septamillennial scheme writing that the end of human history will occur after the 6,000th year. (5.28.3)[16]
Other pre-Nicean premillennialists
Irenaeus and Justin represent two of the most outspoken premillennialists of the pre-Nicean church. Other early premillennialists included Pseudo-Barnabas,[17] Papias [12], Methodius, Lactantius,[18] Commodianus[19] Theophilus, Tertullian,[20] Melito,[21] Hippolytus of Rome, Victorinus of Pettau [22][23] and various Gnostics groups and the Montanists. Many of these theologians and others in the early church expressed their belief in premillennialism through their acceptance of the sexta-septamillennial tradition. This belief claims that human history will continue for 6,000 years and then will enjoy Sabbath for 1,000 years (the millennial kingdom), thus all of human history will have a total of 7,000 years prior to the new creation.
Pre-Nicean opposition
The first clear opponent of premillennialism associated with Christianity was Marcion. Marcion opposed the use of the Old Testament and most books of the New Testament that were not written by the apostle Paul. Regarding the Marcion and premillennialism, Harvard scholar H. Brown noted,
The first great heretic broke drastically with the faith of the early church in abandoning the doctrine of the imminent, personal return of Christ...Marcion did not believe in a real incarnation, and consequently there was no logical place in his system for a real Second Coming...Marcion expected the majority of mankind to be lost...he denied the validity of the Old Testament and its Law...As the first great heretic, Marcion developed and perfected his heterodox system before orthodoxy had fully defined itself...Marcion represents a movement that so radically transformed the Christian doctrine of God and Christ that it can hardly be said to be Christian.[24]
Throughout the Patristic period—particularly in the 3rd century—there had been rising opposition to premillennialism. Origen was the first to challenge the doctrine openly. Through allegorical interpretation, he had been a proponent of amillennialism.[25] Although Origen was not always wholly "orthodox" in his theology, he had at one point completely spiritualized Christ’s second coming prophesied in the New Testament. Origen did this in his Commentary on Matthew [13] when he taught that “Christ’s return signifies His disclosure of Himself and His deity to all humanity in such a way that all might partake of His glory to the degree that each individual’s actions warrant (Commentary on Matthew 12.30).”[26] Even Origen’s milder forms of this teaching left no room for a literal millennium and it was so extreme that few actually followed it. But his influence did gain wider acceptance especially in the period following Constantine.
Dionysius of Alexandria stood against premillennialism when the chiliastic work, the The Refutation of the Allegorizers written by Nepos, a bishop in Egypt became popular in Alexandria. Dionysius convincingly argued against Nepos's influence and convinced the churches of the region of amillennialism. The church historian, Eusebius, reports this in his Ecclesiastical History. [14] Eusebius also had low regard for the chiliast, Papias, and he let it be known that in his opinion Papias was "a man of small mental capacity" because he had taken the Apocalypse literally.[27]
Middle Ages and the Reformation
Augustinian eschatological foundation
Oxford theologian Alister McGrath has noted that "all medieval theology is ‘Augustinian’ to a greater or lesser extent."[28] Augustine’s (354-430) influence shaped not only the Middle Ages, but it also influenced the Reformers, who constantly referred to his teaching in their own debates. His teaching is “still one of the most potent elements in Western religious thought.”[29] Therefore, to analyze what happened to premillennialism in the Middle Ages and the Reformation, it is necessary to observe the Augustinian foundation.
In his early period, Augustine held to the sexta-/septamillennial view common in early Christianity (see above section on Patristic Age).[30] In accordance with this view, Augustine divided history into two separate dispensations, first the church age (the current age of 6,000 years), and then the millennial kingdom (Sermon 259.2). Nevertheless, early in his career Augustine converted from premillennialism to amillennialism. Anderson locates three reasons that may account for Augustine’s theological shift:
A Reaction to Donatist Excess - Augustine displayed a revulsion to the Donatists' bacchanal feasts which seemingly used excessive amounts of food and drink (City of God, 20.7).[31] The Donatists were premillennial and thus Augustine formed a connection between their sensual behavior and their earthly eschatological expectation.
A Reaction to Eschatological Sensationalism - The millennial fervor of premillennialists as the year A.D. 500 was nearing caused them to have overly jovial celebrations (some septa-/sextamillennial interpreters calculated Jesus’s birth to have happened 5,500 years after creation).[32] These feasts appeared to Augustine to take more pleasure in the physical world than the spiritual. Such earthly revelry was repulsive to Augustine since he placed little value on the material world.[33]
A Preference for Allegorical Interpretation - Finally, Augustine was influenced by the popular allegorical interpretation of Scripture, particularly of The Book of Revelation. Tyconius (d. c. 400), a Donatist lay theologian, “whose reinterpretation of his culture’s separatist and millenarian traditions provided the point of departure for what is more brilliant and idiosyncratic in Augusine’s own theology. And it is Tyconius, most precisely, whose own reading of John’s Apocalypse determined the Western church’s exegesis for the next eight hundred years.”[34]
After moving away from premillennialism to amillennialism, Augustine viewed Sabbath rest in the sexta-/septamillennial scheme as “symbolically representative of Eternity.” Moreover, the millennium of Revelation 20 became for him “symbolically representative of Christ’s present reign with the saints.”[35] Richard Landes observed the fourth century as a time of major shift for Christian eschatology by noting that it "marked a crucial moment in the history of millenarianism, since during this period Augustine repudiated even the allegorizing variety he himself had previously accepted. From this point on he dedicated much of his energy to ridding the church of this belief."[36]
Medieval and Reformation amillennialism
Augustine’s later amillennial view laid the eschatological foundation for the Middle Ages which practically abandoned premillennialism.[37] The theological term “kingdom” maintained its eschatological function, though it was not necessarily futuristic. Instead it consistently referred to the present age so that the church was currently experiencing the eschaton. Julian of Toledo (642-690) summarizes the medieval doctrine of the millennium by referring to it as “the church of God which, by the diffusion of its faith and works, is spread out as a kingdom of faith from the time of the incarnation until the time of the coming judgment.”[38]
A notable exception to normative medieval eschatology is found in Joachim of Fiore (c. 1135-1202), a Cistercian monk, who to an extent, stressed premillennial themes. Joachim divided earth's history into three periods. He assigned each age to a particular person of the Trinity as the guiding principle of that era. The first era was the Old Testament history and was accordingly the age of the Father; the current age of the church was the age of the Son; and still in Joachim's future was the age of the Spirit. For Joachim, year 1260 was to mark the end of the second and the beginning of the third and final golden age of earth's history.[39]
During the Reformation period, amillennialism continued to be the popular view of the Reformers. The Lutherans formally rejected chiliasm in the The Augsburg Confession. “Art. XVII., condemns the Anabaptists and others ’who now scatter Jewish opinions that, before the resurrection of the dead, the godly shall occupy the kingdom of the world, the wicked being everywhere suppressed.’"[40] Likewise, the Swiss Reformer, Heinrich Bullinger wrote up the Second Helvetic Confession which reads "We also reject the Jewish dream of a millennium, or golden age on earth, before the last judgment."[41] Furthermore, John Calvin wrote in Institutes that millennialism is a "fiction" that is "too childish either to need or to be worth a refutation."[42] The Anglican Church originally formalized a statement against millennarianism in the Anglican Articles. This is observed in the 41st of the Anglican Articles, drawn up by Thomas Cranmer (1553), described the millennium as a 'fable of Jewish dotage.' but it was omitted at a later time in the revision under Elizabeth (1563).[40]
Contrarily, certain Anabaptists, Huguenots, and Bohemian Brethren were premillennial. Michael Servetus taught a chiliastic view, though he was denounced by the Reformers as a heretic and executed in Geneva under Calvin's authority.[43] A few in the mainstream accepted it, such as Joseph Mede (1586-1638).[44][15] and possibly Hugh Latimer (d. 1555),[45] but it was never a conventional belief throughout the period.
Modern era
Comparison of Christian millennial interpretations17th and 18th centuries
In the Modern Age millenarianism gained a surprising acceptance among the Pietists of Germany during the 17th and 18th century.[46] Although they were not premillennial, the English theologian Daniel Whitby (1688-1726), the German Johann Albrecht Bengel (1687-1752), and the American Jonathan Edwards (1703-58) “fueled millennial ideas with new influence in the nineteenth century.”[47] It was authors such as these who concluded that the decline of the Roman Catholic Church would make way for the conversion and restoration of the nation of Israel. Edwards taught that a type of Millennium would occur “1260 years after A.D. 606 when Rome was recognized as having universal authority.”[48] His Puritan contemporaries, Increase Mather and Cotton Mather, openly proclaimed a belief in a literal millennium. Increase Mather wrote “That which presseth me so, as that I cannot gainsay the Chiliastical opinion, is that I take these things for Principles, and no way doubt but that they are demonstrable. 1. That the thousand apocalyptical years are not passed but future. 2. That the coming of Christ to raise the dead and to judge the earth will be within much less than this thousand years. 3. That the conversion of the Jews will not be till this present state of the world is near unto its end. 4. That, after the Jews’ conversion there will be a glorious day for the elect upon earth, and that this day shall be a very long continuance.”[49]
19th century to present
Between 1790 and the mid-19th century, premillennialism was a popular view among English Evangelicals, even within the Anglican church. Thomas Macauly observed this and wrote “Many Christians believe that the Messiah will shortly establish a kingdom on the earth, and visibly reign over all its inhabitants.”[50] Throughout the 19th century, premillennialism continued to gain wider acceptance in both the US and in Britain, particularly among the Irvingites,[51] Plymouth Brethren, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christadelphians [52], Church of God, and Seventh-day Adventists.[53] Premillenialism continues to be popular among Evangelical, Fundamentalist Christian, and Living Church of God communities in the 20th and 21st centuries,[54] expanding further into the churches of Asia, Africa and South America.
Many traditional denominations continue to oppose the concept of a literal millennial kingdom.[55] The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches an amillennial position asserting that “Already they [the saints] reign with Christ; with him ‘they shall reign for ever and ever.” (Article, 12. II. 1029). On the Protestant side, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod explicitly states “When Christ returns, “new heavens and a new earth” will be created (2 Pet. 3:10-13).
Whalen has noted that modern premillennialism is “criticized roundly for naïve scholarship which confuses the poetic and inspirational prose of prophecy with fortune telling,” though “Premillennialists retort that they merely follow the Word of God, regardless of ridicule.” He then notes that, nevertheless, “the virtual theology which surrounds premillennialism is today stronger and more widely spread than at any time in history.”[56]
Dispensational vs. "historic" premillennialism
Contemporary premillennialism is divided into two schools of thought.
Historic premillennialism
Main article: Historic Premillennialism
Historic, or Classic Premillennialism is distinctively non-dispensational. This means that it sees no radical theological distinction between Israel and the Church. It is often post tribulational meaning that the rapture of the church will occur after a period of tribulation. Historic premillennialism maintains chiliasm because of its view that the church will be caught up to meet Christ in the air and then escort him to the earth in order to share in his literal thousand year rule. Proponents of the view include Charles Spurgeon [16] and George Eldon Ladd, and the 19th century Lutheran theologian, G.N.H. Peters.
Dispensational premillennialism
C.I. Scofield popularized dispensational premillennialism through the Scofield Reference Bible.Main article: Dispensationalism
Dispensational premillennialism[57] generally holds that Israel and the Church are distinct entities.[58] It also widely holds to the pretribulational return of Christ, which believes that Jesus will return to take up Christians into heaven by means of a rapture immediately before a seven year worldwide Tribulation. This will be followed by an additional return of Christ with his saints (though there are post tribulation dispensationalists, such as Robert Gundry).
Dispensationalism traces its roots to the 1830s and John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), a Calvinist[59] theologian and a founder of the Plymouth Brethren. In the US, the dispensational form of premillennialism was propagated on the popular level largely through the Scofield Reference Bible and on the academic level with Lewis Sperry Chafer’s eight volume Systematic Theology. More recently dispensationalism has been popularized through Hal Lindsey's 1970s bestseller, The Late, Great Planet Earth and through the Left Behind Series by Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins. Popular proponents of dispensational premillennialism are John F. MacArthur, Phil Johnson, Ray Comfort, Jerry Falwell, Todd Friel, Dwight Pentecost, John Walvoord (d. 2002), Tim Lahaye, Charles Caldwell Ryrie (in the notes for the Ryrie Study Bible) and Charles L. Feinberg. It should be noted that Craig Blaising and Darrell Bock have developed a form of dispensationalism that is growing in popularity known as progressive dispensationalism. This view understands that an aspect of the eschatological kingdom presently exists, but must wait for the millennium to be realized fully.[60]
See also
Christianity portal
Summary of Christian eschatological differences
Christian eschatology
Postmillennialism
Amillennialism
Idealism
Futurism
Preterism
Historicism
Biblical hermeneutics
Rapture
Tribulation
Jewish eschatology
References
^ Robert K. Whalen, “Premillennialism” in The Encyclopedia of Millennialism and Millennial Movements, Ed. Richard A. Landes (New York: Routledge, 2000), 331.
^ According to M. Simonetti “Behind Millenarism was the Jewish belief in the future Messianic kingdom understood as political and material rule, and in fact Millenarism spread initially in the Asiatic world, where Christianity was strongly influenced by Judaism and took on a distinctly materialistic colouring.” M. Simonetti, “Millenarism” in Encyclopedia of the Early Church, Translated by Adrian Walford, Volume 1 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 560. Additionally, in volume 2 of Philip Schaff's History of the Christian Church, he writes against the legitimacy of premillennialism by referring to its Jewish background. “The Jewish chiliasm rested on a carnal misapprehension of the Messianic kingdom, a literal interpretation of prophetic figures, and an overestimate of the importance of the Jewish people and the holy city as the centre of that kingdom. It was developed shortly before and after Christ in the apocalyptic literature, as the Book of Enoch, the Apocalypse of Baruch, 4th Esdras, the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and the Sibylline Books. It was adopted by the heretical sect of the Ebionites, and the Gnostic Cerinthus.” Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.), 381.[1]
^ Bailey, J. W. “The Temporary Messianic Reign in the Literature of Early Judaism,” Journal of Biblical Literature. (1934), 170.
^ Charles, R. H. Revelation, Volume 2: 15-21. International Critical Commentary. (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1920)142. Robert Henry Charles (1855-1931) was a biblical scholar who was considered the greatest scholar in the early 20th century regarding Jewish eschatology and apocalyptic. (See Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 324.)
^ George W. E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, Hermeneia, (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2001), 440.
^ Michael Edward Stone, Fourth Ezra, Hermeneia (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1990), 10.
^ The Dictionary of Judaism in the Biblical Period notes that “Rabbinic masters show some interest in calculating the advent and duration of the days of the Messiah and world to come. According to different rabbis, the former would last 40, 70, 365, or 400 years (B. Sanhedrin 99a; see B. Abodah Zarah 9b). Similar attempts to reckon the messianic age held that the world will exist for six thousand years: ‘For two thousand it will be desolate, two thousand years will be the time of Torah, and two thousand years will be the days of the Messiah’ (B. Sanhedrin 971-b). The same source holds that, on account of the Israelites’ sins, the Messiah has tarried and part of what should have been the messianic age has been lost.” “Eschatology” in The Dictionary of Judaism in the Biblical Period: 450 B.C.E. to 600 C.E. Ed. Jacob Neusner and William Scott Green, Vol. 1 (New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1996), 203.
^ These references have been compiled from Bailey, “The Temporary Messianic Reign.” And From G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation, The New International Commentary on the Greek Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 1017-1021.
^ Gundry, Stanley N. “Hermeneutics or Zeitgeist As the determining Factor In the History of Eschatologies,” The Journal of The Evangelical Theological Society. Volume 20 (March 1977): 45-55.
^ “The Christian chiliasm is the Jewish chiliasm spiritualized and fixed upon the second, instead of the first, coming of Christ. It distinguishes, moreover, two resurrections, one before and another after the millennium, and makes the millennial reign of Christ only a preclude to his eternal reign in heaven, from which it is separated by a short interregnum of Satan.” Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.) 381.
^ Bercot, David A., Editor A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1998).
^ Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.) 381.[2]
^ Johannes Quasten, Patrology, Vol. 1 (Westminster, Maryland: Christian Classics, Inc.), 219. (Quasten was a Professor of Ancient Church History and Christian Archaeology at the Catholic University of America) Furthermore according to the Encyclopedia of the Early Church “Justin (Dial. 80) affirms the millenarian idea as that of Christians of complete orthodoxy but he does not hide that fact that many rejected it.” M. Simonetti, “Millenarism,” 560.
^ Some[who?] have argued that Justin never achieved consistency in his eschatology. They have pointed out that Justin seemed also to believe in some sense that the Kingdom of God is currently present. This belief is an aspect of postmillennialism, amillennialism and progressive dispensationalism. In Justin's First Apology he laments the Romans' misunderstanding of the Christians' endtime expectations. The Romans had assumed that when Christians looked for a kingdom, they were looking for a human one. Justin corrects this misunderstanding by saying “For if we looked for a human kingdom, we should also deny our Christ, that we might not be slain and we should strive to escape detection, that we might obtain what we expect.” (1 Apol. 11.1-2; cf. also Apol. 52; Dial. 45.4; 113.3-5; 139.5) See Charles Hill’s arguments in Regnum Caelorum: Patterns of Millennial Thought in Early Christianity. Additionally however, Philip Schaff, an amillennialist, notes that “In his two apologies, Justin teaches the usual view of the general resurrection and judgment, and makes no mention of the millennium, but does not exclude it.” Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.) 383. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001.
^ Against Heresies 5.32[3].
^ "For in as many days as this world was made, in so many thousand years shall it be concluded. And for this reason the Scripture says: 'Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment. And God brought to a conclusion upon the sixth day the works that He had made; and God rested upon the seventh day from all His works.' This is an account of the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy of what is to come. For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years; and in six days created things were completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth thousand year." Against Heresies 5.28.3.[4]
^ ”Among the Apostolic Fathers Barnabas is the first and the only one who expressly teaches a pre-millennial reign of Christ on earth. He considers the Mosaic history of the creation a type of six ages of labor for the world, each lasting a thousand years, and of a millennium of rest, since with God ‘one day is as a thousand years.’ Millennial Sabbath on earth will be followed by an eight and eternal day in a new world, of which the Lord’s Day (called by Barnabas ‘the eighth day’) is the type(access The Epistle of Barnabas here). Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.) 382.
^ Insruct. adv. Gentium Deos, 43, 44.
^ According to the Encyclopedia of the Early Church “Commodian (mid 3rd c.) takes up the theme of the 7000 years, the last of which is the millennium (Instr. II 35, 8 ff.).” M. Simonetti, “Millenarism,” 560.
^ Against Marcion, book 3 chp 25
^ Simonetti writes in the Encyclopedia of the Early Church “We know that Melito was also a millenarian" regarding Jerome's reference to him as a chiliast. M. Simonetti, “Millenarism,” 560.
^ Note this is Victorinus of Pettau not Marcus Piav(v)onius Victorinus the Gaelic Emperor
^ In his Commentary on Revelation and from the fragment De Fabrica Mundi (Part of a commentary on Genesis). Jerome identifies him as a premillennialist.
^ Brown HOJ. Heresies: Heresy and Orthodoxy in the History of the Church. Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody (MA), 1988, pp. 65,67,455.
^ “Origen (Princ. II, 2-3)[5]) rejects the literal interpretation of Rev 20-21, gives an allegorical interpretation of it and so takes away the scriptural foundation of Millenarism. In the East: Dionysius of Alexandria had to argue hard against Egyptian communities with millenarian convictions (in Euseb. HE VII, 24-25). M. Simonetti, “Millenarism” in Encyclopedia of the Early Church, Translated by Adrian Walford, Volume 1 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 560. It is doubtless that Origen respected apostolic tradition in interpretation. It was Origen himself who said "Non debemus credere nisi quemadmodum per successionem Ecclesiae Dei tradiderunt nobis" (In Matt., ser. 46, Migne, XIII, 1667). However as it is noted on The Catholic Encyclopedia "Origen has recourse too easily to allegorism to explain purely apparent antilogies or antinomies. He considers that certain narratives or ordinances of the Bible would be unworthy of God if they had to be taken according to the letter, or if they were to be taken solely according to the letter. He justifies the allegorism by the fact that otherwise certain accounts or certain precepts now abrogated would be useless and profitless for the reader: a fact which appears to him contrary to the providence of the Divine inspirer and the dignity of Holy Writ."[6]
^ Larry V. Crutchfield, “Origen” in Dictionary of Premillennial Theology, ed. Mal Couch (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1996), 289.
^ Eusebius, Historia Ecclestiastica. 3.39.13
^ Alister McGrath, Iustitua Dei: A History of the Doctrine of Justification, 2nd Edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 24.
^ “Augustine of Hippo” in The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 129.
^ G. Folliet, “La typologie du sabbat chez Saint Augustin. Son interpretation millénariste entre 386 et 400,” REAug[7] 2 (1956):371-90. Referenced in David R. Anderson, “The Soteriological Impact of Augustine’s Change From Premillennialism to Amillennialism: Part One,” The Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society, Vol. 15 (Spring 2002), 27. Johannes Quasten also writes "Augustine made a “short shrift of millenarianism after having accepted it at first himself (De civ. Dei 20, 7; Serm 259.2) by explaining Apoc. 20:1-5 in an allegorical sense (it regards the spiritual resurrection of the body – real bodies even though no longer corruptible" (De civ. Dei 22, 1-28).” Johannes Quasten, Patrology, Vol. 4 (Westminster, Maryland: Christian Classics, Inc.), 452.
^ Augustine wrote in regards to the premillennialism “And this opinion would not be objectionable, if it were believed that the joys of the saints in that Sabbath shall be spiritual, and consequent on the presence of God. . . But, as they [the millenarians] assert that those who then rise again shall enjoy the leisure of immoderate carnal banquets, furnished with an amount of meat and drink such as not only shock the feeling of the temperate, but even to surpass the measure of credulity itself, such assertions can be believed only by the carnal.” (De civ. Dei 20, 7)
^ Anderson, “Soteriological Impact,” 27-28. Interestingly, by the time that Augustine wrote his monumental work The City of God he wrote that “It was impossible to calculate the date of the End. ‘To all those who make... calculations on this subject comes the command, “Relax your fingers and give them a rest.”’ The Reign of the saints had already begun...” Elizabeth Isichei, “Millenarianism,” in The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought, Ed. Adrian Hastings, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 435.
^ J. Daniélou, “La typologie millenariste de la samaine dans le christianisme prmitif,” Vigiliae Christiane 2 (1948):1-16.
^ Paula Fredriksen, “Apocalypse and Redemption in Early Christianity,” Vigiliae Christianae 45 (1991): 157. Referenced in Anderson, “Soteriological Impact,” 29. Fredriksen writes furthermore “By complicating the biblical text, Tyconius gained a purchase on the perfectionist and millenarian readings of Scripture... The Donatist’s interpretations ironically became definitive of Catholic commentary on the Apocalypse for the next eight hundred years... Tyconius affected Augustine’s own theological development profoundly. The attack on millenarian understandings of scriptural prophecy and especially of the Apocalypse, in book 20 of the City of God is a monument to Augustine’s appropriation and appreciation of Tyconius.” Paula Fredriksen “Tyconius” in Augustine Through the Ages: An Encyclopedia Ed. Allan D. Fitzgerald (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 854.
^ Larry V. Crutchfield, “Augustine” in Dictionary of Premillennial Theology, (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1996), 59.
^ Richard Landes, "Lest the Millennium be Fulfilled: Apocalyptic Expectations and the Pattern of Western Chronography 100-800 CE," in The Use and Abuse of Eschatology in the Middle Ages Mediaevalia Louvaniensia. (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1988), 156.
^ “From the time of Constantine and Augustin chiliasm took its place among the heresies, and was rejected subsequently even by the Protestant reformers as a Jewish dream.” Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.) 384. Simonetti also writes "But in the West too, the spread of Platonic spiritualism marked the end of millenarism.: Ambrose no longer presents the division of world history into seven millennia; Jerome argues against millennarism (PL 24, 627 ff.) and reworks Victorinus’s literal interpretation of Rev. 20-21 in an allegorical and anti-millenarian sense...” M. Simonetti, “Millenarism,” 560. See also a noteworthy reference to Nortbert's correspondence to Bernard. Nortbert thought that he was living in the time of the Antichrist and demonstrated possible chiliastic tendencies (Epistle 56 PL 182, 50-51).
^ Julian of Toledo, Antitheses 2.69 (Patrologia Latina 96:697), translated and quoted by Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Vol. 3 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1978), 43.
^ E. B. Elliot, Horae Apocalypticae, Vol. 4. London: Burnside and Seeley, 1846. Schwartz also writes about Joachim's eschatology in the more accessible work Eschatology, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 326ff.
^ a b Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.) 381.
^ Philip Schaff History of Creeds Vol. 1, 307.
^ John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, XXV.V
^ The Restitution of Christianity. 719, Interestingly Servetus noted that believers would be raised to live in the millennium at age 30, the year that Christ was baptized and started his ministry. Restitutio, 413.
^ Joseph Mede was a biblical scholar educated at Christ's College, Cambridge. His most well-known work is Clavis Apocalyptica (1627). For a recent monograph on Mede's eschatology see Jeffrey K. Jue, Heaven Upon Earth: Joseph Mede (1586-1638) and the Legacy of Millenarianism. Archives internationales d'histoire des idées. n.p.:Springer, 2006.
^ Charles Ryrie, The Basis of the Premillennial Faith, (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1953), 29
^ ”Millenarianism,” in The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
^ Schwartz, Eschatology, 330.
^ Kevin Stilley, “Edwards, Jonathan” in Dictionary of Premillennial Theology (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1996), 100.
^ Increase Mather, The Mystery of Israel’s Salvation Explained and Applied quoted in Charles Ryrie, The Basis of the Premillennial Faith, (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1953), 31-32.
^ Quoted by Robert K. Whalen, “Premillennialism” in The Encyclopedia of Millennialism and Millennial Movements, Ed. Richard A. Landes (New York: Routledge, 2000), 331.
^ Rev. W.W. Andrews of the Catholic Apostolic Church in the 19th century wrote a statement of faith for the Irvingites saying, "In respect to eschatology, they hold, with the Church of the first three centuries, that the second coming of the Lord precedes and introduces the millennium; at the beginning of which the first resurrection takes place, and at the close the general resurrection..." Philip Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical notes. Volume I: History of Creeds, [8] 676.
^ Bible Basics Study 5.5 - The Millennium
^ “Millenarianism,” in The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 1087.
^ Robert K. Whalen, “Dispensationalism” in The Encyclopedia of Millennialism and Millennial Movements, Ed. Richard A. Landes (New York: Routledge, 2000), 128.
^ Ibid.
^ Robert K. Whalen, “Premillennialism” in The Encyclopedia of Millennialism and Millennial Movements, Ed. Richard A. Landes (New York: Routledge, 2000), 332.
^ http://www.nyu.edu/fas/projects/vcb/ChristianMedia/prophecy_premdisp.html "What is Premillennial Dispensationalism?" New York University
^ Herbert W. Bateman IV, “Dispensationalism Tomorrow,” in Three Central Issues in Contemporary Dispensationalism: A Comparison of Traditional and Progressive Views, ed. by Herbert W. Bateman IV (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1999), 315-16.
^ Marsden, George M (2006). Fundamentalism and American Culture (2nd ed ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 351. ISBN 0195300475. page 46
^ Craig A. Blaising and Darrell L. Bock Progressive Dispensationalism (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1993), 282.
Resources
Works from an amillennial or postmillennial perspective
Beale, G. K. The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text. New International Commentary on the Greek Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998. ISBN 080282174X . A well written 1245 page commentary on the Greek text of Revelation from an amillennial perspective. Beale has an excursus on the concept of the temporary messianic kingdom and how it fits into amillennial understanding.
Bloesch, Donald G. The Last Things: Resurrection, Judgment, Glory (Christian Foundations, 7) . Westmont, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8308-1417-5. A recent eschatology text from an amillennial reformed perspective.
Boettner, Loraine. The Millennium. P&R Publishing, 1990. ISBN 0-87552-113-4. This is a revised edition of the classic 1957 postmillennial work.
Hill, Charles E. Regnum Caelorum: Patterns of Millennial Thought in Early Christianity - Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company 2001 (review)
Hoekema, Anthony A.. The Bible and the Future. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994. ISBN 0-8028-0851-4
Hughes, James A. “Revelation 20:4-6 and the Question of the Millennium,” Westminster Theological Journal 35 (Spring 73):281-302.
Riddlebarger, Kim. A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2003. An up to date defense of Amillennialism.
Works from a premillennial perspective
Chares, R. H. The Revelation of St. John. International Critical Commentary. 2 Vols. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1920. See volume 2, pages 182-86 in particular.
Deere, Jack S. “Premillennialism in Revelation 20:4-6,” Bibliotheca Sacra 135. (January 1978): 58-74. This journal article is still considered by many premillennialists to be one of the stronger defenses of premillennialism in print.
Ladd, George Eldon. A Commentary on the Revelation of John. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972. ISBN 0-8028-1684-3. A commentary on Revelation from a historical premillennial perspective.
Ladd, George Eldon. The Last Things. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988. ISBN 0-8028-1727-0.
Osbourne, Grant R. Revelation. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002. ISBN 0-8010-2299-1. A commentary on Revelation from a general premillennial perspective, though no particular view of the rapture is defended.
Peters, G.N.H. The Theocratic Kingdom. 3 Vols. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1952. ISBN 0-8254-3540-4. This is the largest defense of premillennialism in any language. It was written in the 19th century by an American Lutheran pastor. The viewpoint is historical premillennial, meaning that it is post tribulational.
Ryrie, Charles C. The Basis of the Premillennial Faith. Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1953. ISBN 1-59387-011-6. This is a small introduction and defense of premillennialism from a dispensational perspective.
Walvoord, John. The Millennial Kingdom. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1959. ISBN 031034090X . A defense from a classical dispensational perspective.
Works from multiple perspectives or no apparent perspective
Aune, David A. Revelation Word Biblical Commentary. 3 vols. Waco, TX: Word Books, 1997. A scholarly commentary on Revelation.
Bailey, J. W. “The Temporary Messianic Reign in the Literature of Early Judaism,” Journal of Biblical Literature. (1934), 170.
The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views. Edited by Ladd, George Eldon. Westmont, IL: Inter-Varsity, 1977. ISBN 0-87784-794-0. A balanced presentation of four millennial views. Ladd defends historical premillennialism; Herman A. Hoyt presents dispensational premillennialism; Loraine Boettner defend explains postmillennialism; and Anthony A. Hoekema writes on amillennialism.
Revelation: Four Views: A Parallel Commentary. Edited by Steve Greg. Waco, TX: Word Books, 1997. ISBN 0-8407-2128-5.
Works on the history of eschatology
Daley, Brian E. The Hope of the Early Church: A Handbook of Patristic Eschatology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 1-56563-737-2.
Mühling, Markus, "Grundwissen Eschatologie. Systematische Theologie aus der Perspektive der Hoffnung", Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2005. ISBN 978-3-8252-2918-4, 209–214.
Froom, Le Roy Edwin. The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers;: The Historical Development of Prophetic Interpretation. 4 Vols. Review and Herald, 1946-54. ASIN B0006AR2YQ. An enormously comprehensive history of eschatological thought. Froom is an Adventist but this is not overly apparent in the work. It is currently out of print.
Hill, Charles F. Regnum Caelorum: Patterns of Millennial Thought in Early Christianity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001. ISBN 0-8028-4634-3. Hill questions the legitimacy of early premillennial thought by analyzing an apparent paradox in the early chiliast theology, particularly the intermediate state.
External links
A helpful historical overview from a Catholic perspective
Did the Early Church Hold to Premillennialism? A documented article
Comparison Of four Eschatological positions
Was the early church amillennial? A sample of a dispensational premillennialist defending Premillennialism in the early church
Full Preterist objections to premillennialism
Premillennialism
A Survey of Early Premillennialism (pdf)
Always Victorious Argues against the idea that the early church fathers were premillennial
Irenaeus gives a 2nd century description of the eschaton
Premillennialism Yahoo Group
Advanced Eschatology
"The Rapture and Israel" William West
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This article is about Premillennialism in Christian eschatology. For other uses, see Millenarianism.
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Premillennialism in Christian end-times theology is the belief that Christ will literally and physically be on the earth for his millennial reign, at his second coming. The doctrine is called premillennialism because it holds that Christ’s physical return to earth will occur prior to the inauguration of the millennium. It is distinct from the other forms of Christian eschatology such as postmillennialism or amillennialism, which view the millennial rule as occurring either before the second coming, or as being figurative and non-temporal. Premillennialism is largely based upon a literal interpretation of Revelation 20:1-6 in the New Testament which describes Christ’s coming to the earth and subsequent reign at the end of an apocalyptic period of tribulation. It views this future age as a time of fulfillment for the prophetic hope of God’s people as given in the Old Testament.
Contents
[hide]
1 Terminology
2 History
2.1 Jewish antecedents
2.1.1 1 Enoch
2.1.2 4 Ezra
2.1.3 Other early Jewish contributions
2.2 Patristic age
2.2.1 Justin Martyr and Irenaeus
2.2.2 Other pre-Nicean premillennialists
2.2.3 Pre-Nicean opposition
2.3 Middle Ages and the Reformation
2.3.1 Augustinian eschatological foundation
2.3.2 Medieval and Reformation amillennialism
2.4 Modern era
2.4.1 17th and 18th centuries
2.4.2 19th century to present
3 Dispensational vs. "historic" premillennialism
3.1 Historic premillennialism
3.2 Dispensational premillennialism
4 See also
5 References
6 Resources
6.1 Works from an amillennial or postmillennial perspective
6.2 Works from a premillennial perspective
6.3 Works from multiple perspectives or no apparent perspective
6.4 Works on the history of eschatology
7 External links
Terminology
Historically Christian premillennialism has also been referred as "chiliasm" or "millenarianism". The theological term "premillennialism" did not come into general use until the mid-nineteenth century, the modern period in which premillennialism was revived. Coining the word was "almost entirely the work of British and American Protestants and was prompted by their belief that the French and American Revolutions (the French, especially) realized prophecies made in the books of Daniel and Revelation."[1]
History
Jewish antecedents
The concept of a temporary earthly messianic kingdom at the Messiah's coming was not an invention of Christianity. Instead it was a theological interpretation developed within the apocalyptic literature of early Judaism.[2] In intertestamental Judaism, there was a basic distinction between the current age and the “age to come.” The “age to come” was commonly viewed as a nationalistic Golden Age in which the hopes of the prophets would become a reality for the nation of Israel.[3] On the surface, the Old Testament prophets revealed an “age to come” which was monolithic. Seemingly the prophets did not write of a two-phase eschaton consisting of a temporary messianic age followed by an eternal state. However, that was the concept that some Jewish interpreters did derive from their Old Testament exegesis. Their conclusions are found in some of the literature and theology of early Judaism within the centuries both before and during the development of the New Testament. R. H. Charles in his commentary on Book of Revelation concluded that Jewish eschatology must have developed the concept of an earthly temporary messianic reign prior to the eternal state at the latest by 100 B.C.[4]
1 Enoch
The earliest instance in Jewish literature that teaches an earthly temporary messianic age prior to an eternal state began with “The Apocalypse of Weeks” contained in 1 Enoch 91-107. This work likely dates to the early second century[5] and shows a schematization of the divine history divided into ten ambiguous periods of time called “weeks.” In the apocalypse, weeks 1-7 (93:1-10) retell the biblical history from the creation of humanity to the author’s time of writing (possibly during the Maccabean crisis). However, after the seventh "week", the temporary earthly messianic age begins and occurs for a period of three more “weeks” (93:12-15). After the temporary messianic kingdom, the creation of the new heavens and the new earth occurs (93:16).
4 Ezra
4 Ezra. 4 Ezra likely dates from soon after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. The apocryphal book was apparently an attempt to explain the difficulties associated with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple to the Jewish people.[6] During one of the visions in the book, Ezra receives a revelation from the angel Uriel. The angel explains that prior to the last judgment, the Messiah will come and establish a temporary kingdom lasting 400 years after which all of creation will be obliterated including the Messiah (7:28). Seven days after this cataclysmic event, the resurrection and the judgment will occur followed by the eternal state (7:36).
Other early Jewish contributions
Additional early Jewish literature that refers to a temporary messianic kingdom prior to the eternal state may be found in 4 Ezra 12:34; 2 Baruch 24:1-4; 30:1-5; 39:3-8; 40:1-4; Jubilees 1:4-29; 23:14-31. The Jewish belief in an earthly temporary messianic age continued during and beyond the time of the writing of the Book of Revelation.[7] A sample of the rabbinical contributions to the concept are listed as follows:
Circa AD 90 Eleazar ben Hurcanus claimed that the messianic reign would last 100 years based on Psalm 90:15;
Circa AD 100 Eleazar ben Azariah claimed that the messianic reign would last 70 years based upon Isaiah 23:15;
Circa AD 110 Joseph ben Galilee claimed that the messianic reign would last 60 years based upon Psalm 72:5;
Circa AD 150 Eliezer ben Joseph of Galilee claimed that the messianic reign would last 400 years based upon Genesis 15:13and Psalm 90:15;
Various rabbis around the close of the first century C.E. have claimed that the messianic reign would last 2,000 years based upon 4 Ezra 7:28;
Some contemplated that there may be no messianic reign at all.[8]
Patristic age
For the larger part, Christian eschatology through the second and third centuries was chiliastic.[9] Many early Christian interpreters applied the earlier Jewish apocalyptic idea of a temporary Messianic kingdom to their interpretation of chapter 20 of John's apocalypse.[10] Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian all made explicit references to the concept of a thousand year earthly kingdom at Christ’s coming.[11]
“ The most striking point in the eschatology of the ante-Nicene age is the prominent chiliasm, or millenarianism, that is the belief of a visible reign of Christ in glory on earth with the risen saints for a thousand years, before the general resurrection and judgement. It was indeed not the doctrine of the church embodied in any creed or form of devotion, but a widely current opinion of distinguished teachers, such as Barnabas, Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Methodius, and Lactantius, while Caius[9], Origen, Dionysius the Great[10], Eusebius (as afterwards Jerome and Augustin) opposed it. ”
— Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church[12]
Justin Martyr and Irenaeus
Justin Martyr in the second century was one of the first Christian writers to clearly describe himself as continuing in the “Jewish” belief of a temporary messianic kingdom prior to the eternal state. According to Johannes Quasten, “In his eschatological ideas Justin shares the views of the Chiliasts concerning the millennium.”[13] He maintains a premillennial distinctive, namely that there would be two resurrections, one of believers before Jesus' reign and then a general resurrection afterwards. Justin wrote in chapter 80 of his work Dialogue with Trypho, “I and others who are right-minded Christians on all points are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built. . . . For Isaiah spoke in that manner concerning this period of a thousand years.” Though he conceded earlier in the same chapter that his view was not universal by saying that he “and many who belong to the pure and pious faith, and are true Christians, think otherwise.” [11][14]
St. Irenaeus (c. 130–202), an early Christian Premillennialist.Irenaeus, the late second century bishop of Lyon was an outspoken premillennialist. He is best known for his voluminous tome written against the 2nd century Gnostic threat, commonly called Against Heresies. In the fifth book of Against Heresies, Irenaeus concentrates primarily on eschatology. In one passage he defends premillennialism by arguing that a future earthly kingdom is necessary because of God's promise to Abraham, he wrote “The promise remains steadfast... God promised him the inheritance of the land. Yet, Abraham did not receive it during all the time of his journey there. Accordingly, it must be that Abraham, together with his seed (that is, those who fear God and believe in Him), will receive it at the resurrection of the just.”[15] In another place Irenaeus also explained that the blessing to Jacob “belongs unquestionably to the times of the kingdom when the righteous will bear rule, after their rising from the dead. It is also the time when the creation will bear fruit with an abundance of all kinds of food, having been renovated and set free... And all of the animals will feed on the vegetation of the earth... and they will be in perfect submission to man. And these things are borne witness to in the fourth book of the writings of Papias, the hearer of John, and a companion of Polycarp.” (5.33.3) Apparently Irenaeus also held to the sexta-/septamillennial scheme writing that the end of human history will occur after the 6,000th year. (5.28.3)[16]
Other pre-Nicean premillennialists
Irenaeus and Justin represent two of the most outspoken premillennialists of the pre-Nicean church. Other early premillennialists included Pseudo-Barnabas,[17] Papias [12], Methodius, Lactantius,[18] Commodianus[19] Theophilus, Tertullian,[20] Melito,[21] Hippolytus of Rome, Victorinus of Pettau [22][23] and various Gnostics groups and the Montanists. Many of these theologians and others in the early church expressed their belief in premillennialism through their acceptance of the sexta-septamillennial tradition. This belief claims that human history will continue for 6,000 years and then will enjoy Sabbath for 1,000 years (the millennial kingdom), thus all of human history will have a total of 7,000 years prior to the new creation.
Pre-Nicean opposition
The first clear opponent of premillennialism associated with Christianity was Marcion. Marcion opposed the use of the Old Testament and most books of the New Testament that were not written by the apostle Paul. Regarding the Marcion and premillennialism, Harvard scholar H. Brown noted,
The first great heretic broke drastically with the faith of the early church in abandoning the doctrine of the imminent, personal return of Christ...Marcion did not believe in a real incarnation, and consequently there was no logical place in his system for a real Second Coming...Marcion expected the majority of mankind to be lost...he denied the validity of the Old Testament and its Law...As the first great heretic, Marcion developed and perfected his heterodox system before orthodoxy had fully defined itself...Marcion represents a movement that so radically transformed the Christian doctrine of God and Christ that it can hardly be said to be Christian.[24]
Throughout the Patristic period—particularly in the 3rd century—there had been rising opposition to premillennialism. Origen was the first to challenge the doctrine openly. Through allegorical interpretation, he had been a proponent of amillennialism.[25] Although Origen was not always wholly "orthodox" in his theology, he had at one point completely spiritualized Christ’s second coming prophesied in the New Testament. Origen did this in his Commentary on Matthew [13] when he taught that “Christ’s return signifies His disclosure of Himself and His deity to all humanity in such a way that all might partake of His glory to the degree that each individual’s actions warrant (Commentary on Matthew 12.30).”[26] Even Origen’s milder forms of this teaching left no room for a literal millennium and it was so extreme that few actually followed it. But his influence did gain wider acceptance especially in the period following Constantine.
Dionysius of Alexandria stood against premillennialism when the chiliastic work, the The Refutation of the Allegorizers written by Nepos, a bishop in Egypt became popular in Alexandria. Dionysius convincingly argued against Nepos's influence and convinced the churches of the region of amillennialism. The church historian, Eusebius, reports this in his Ecclesiastical History. [14] Eusebius also had low regard for the chiliast, Papias, and he let it be known that in his opinion Papias was "a man of small mental capacity" because he had taken the Apocalypse literally.[27]
Middle Ages and the Reformation
Augustinian eschatological foundation
Oxford theologian Alister McGrath has noted that "all medieval theology is ‘Augustinian’ to a greater or lesser extent."[28] Augustine’s (354-430) influence shaped not only the Middle Ages, but it also influenced the Reformers, who constantly referred to his teaching in their own debates. His teaching is “still one of the most potent elements in Western religious thought.”[29] Therefore, to analyze what happened to premillennialism in the Middle Ages and the Reformation, it is necessary to observe the Augustinian foundation.
In his early period, Augustine held to the sexta-/septamillennial view common in early Christianity (see above section on Patristic Age).[30] In accordance with this view, Augustine divided history into two separate dispensations, first the church age (the current age of 6,000 years), and then the millennial kingdom (Sermon 259.2). Nevertheless, early in his career Augustine converted from premillennialism to amillennialism. Anderson locates three reasons that may account for Augustine’s theological shift:
A Reaction to Donatist Excess - Augustine displayed a revulsion to the Donatists' bacchanal feasts which seemingly used excessive amounts of food and drink (City of God, 20.7).[31] The Donatists were premillennial and thus Augustine formed a connection between their sensual behavior and their earthly eschatological expectation.
A Reaction to Eschatological Sensationalism - The millennial fervor of premillennialists as the year A.D. 500 was nearing caused them to have overly jovial celebrations (some septa-/sextamillennial interpreters calculated Jesus’s birth to have happened 5,500 years after creation).[32] These feasts appeared to Augustine to take more pleasure in the physical world than the spiritual. Such earthly revelry was repulsive to Augustine since he placed little value on the material world.[33]
A Preference for Allegorical Interpretation - Finally, Augustine was influenced by the popular allegorical interpretation of Scripture, particularly of The Book of Revelation. Tyconius (d. c. 400), a Donatist lay theologian, “whose reinterpretation of his culture’s separatist and millenarian traditions provided the point of departure for what is more brilliant and idiosyncratic in Augusine’s own theology. And it is Tyconius, most precisely, whose own reading of John’s Apocalypse determined the Western church’s exegesis for the next eight hundred years.”[34]
After moving away from premillennialism to amillennialism, Augustine viewed Sabbath rest in the sexta-/septamillennial scheme as “symbolically representative of Eternity.” Moreover, the millennium of Revelation 20 became for him “symbolically representative of Christ’s present reign with the saints.”[35] Richard Landes observed the fourth century as a time of major shift for Christian eschatology by noting that it "marked a crucial moment in the history of millenarianism, since during this period Augustine repudiated even the allegorizing variety he himself had previously accepted. From this point on he dedicated much of his energy to ridding the church of this belief."[36]
Medieval and Reformation amillennialism
Augustine’s later amillennial view laid the eschatological foundation for the Middle Ages which practically abandoned premillennialism.[37] The theological term “kingdom” maintained its eschatological function, though it was not necessarily futuristic. Instead it consistently referred to the present age so that the church was currently experiencing the eschaton. Julian of Toledo (642-690) summarizes the medieval doctrine of the millennium by referring to it as “the church of God which, by the diffusion of its faith and works, is spread out as a kingdom of faith from the time of the incarnation until the time of the coming judgment.”[38]
A notable exception to normative medieval eschatology is found in Joachim of Fiore (c. 1135-1202), a Cistercian monk, who to an extent, stressed premillennial themes. Joachim divided earth's history into three periods. He assigned each age to a particular person of the Trinity as the guiding principle of that era. The first era was the Old Testament history and was accordingly the age of the Father; the current age of the church was the age of the Son; and still in Joachim's future was the age of the Spirit. For Joachim, year 1260 was to mark the end of the second and the beginning of the third and final golden age of earth's history.[39]
During the Reformation period, amillennialism continued to be the popular view of the Reformers. The Lutherans formally rejected chiliasm in the The Augsburg Confession. “Art. XVII., condemns the Anabaptists and others ’who now scatter Jewish opinions that, before the resurrection of the dead, the godly shall occupy the kingdom of the world, the wicked being everywhere suppressed.’"[40] Likewise, the Swiss Reformer, Heinrich Bullinger wrote up the Second Helvetic Confession which reads "We also reject the Jewish dream of a millennium, or golden age on earth, before the last judgment."[41] Furthermore, John Calvin wrote in Institutes that millennialism is a "fiction" that is "too childish either to need or to be worth a refutation."[42] The Anglican Church originally formalized a statement against millennarianism in the Anglican Articles. This is observed in the 41st of the Anglican Articles, drawn up by Thomas Cranmer (1553), described the millennium as a 'fable of Jewish dotage.' but it was omitted at a later time in the revision under Elizabeth (1563).[40]
Contrarily, certain Anabaptists, Huguenots, and Bohemian Brethren were premillennial. Michael Servetus taught a chiliastic view, though he was denounced by the Reformers as a heretic and executed in Geneva under Calvin's authority.[43] A few in the mainstream accepted it, such as Joseph Mede (1586-1638).[44][15] and possibly Hugh Latimer (d. 1555),[45] but it was never a conventional belief throughout the period.
Modern era
Comparison of Christian millennial interpretations17th and 18th centuries
In the Modern Age millenarianism gained a surprising acceptance among the Pietists of Germany during the 17th and 18th century.[46] Although they were not premillennial, the English theologian Daniel Whitby (1688-1726), the German Johann Albrecht Bengel (1687-1752), and the American Jonathan Edwards (1703-58) “fueled millennial ideas with new influence in the nineteenth century.”[47] It was authors such as these who concluded that the decline of the Roman Catholic Church would make way for the conversion and restoration of the nation of Israel. Edwards taught that a type of Millennium would occur “1260 years after A.D. 606 when Rome was recognized as having universal authority.”[48] His Puritan contemporaries, Increase Mather and Cotton Mather, openly proclaimed a belief in a literal millennium. Increase Mather wrote “That which presseth me so, as that I cannot gainsay the Chiliastical opinion, is that I take these things for Principles, and no way doubt but that they are demonstrable. 1. That the thousand apocalyptical years are not passed but future. 2. That the coming of Christ to raise the dead and to judge the earth will be within much less than this thousand years. 3. That the conversion of the Jews will not be till this present state of the world is near unto its end. 4. That, after the Jews’ conversion there will be a glorious day for the elect upon earth, and that this day shall be a very long continuance.”[49]
19th century to present
Between 1790 and the mid-19th century, premillennialism was a popular view among English Evangelicals, even within the Anglican church. Thomas Macauly observed this and wrote “Many Christians believe that the Messiah will shortly establish a kingdom on the earth, and visibly reign over all its inhabitants.”[50] Throughout the 19th century, premillennialism continued to gain wider acceptance in both the US and in Britain, particularly among the Irvingites,[51] Plymouth Brethren, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christadelphians [52], Church of God, and Seventh-day Adventists.[53] Premillenialism continues to be popular among Evangelical, Fundamentalist Christian, and Living Church of God communities in the 20th and 21st centuries,[54] expanding further into the churches of Asia, Africa and South America.
Many traditional denominations continue to oppose the concept of a literal millennial kingdom.[55] The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches an amillennial position asserting that “Already they [the saints] reign with Christ; with him ‘they shall reign for ever and ever.” (Article, 12. II. 1029). On the Protestant side, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod explicitly states “When Christ returns, “new heavens and a new earth” will be created (2 Pet. 3:10-13).
Whalen has noted that modern premillennialism is “criticized roundly for naïve scholarship which confuses the poetic and inspirational prose of prophecy with fortune telling,” though “Premillennialists retort that they merely follow the Word of God, regardless of ridicule.” He then notes that, nevertheless, “the virtual theology which surrounds premillennialism is today stronger and more widely spread than at any time in history.”[56]
Dispensational vs. "historic" premillennialism
Contemporary premillennialism is divided into two schools of thought.
Historic premillennialism
Main article: Historic Premillennialism
Historic, or Classic Premillennialism is distinctively non-dispensational. This means that it sees no radical theological distinction between Israel and the Church. It is often post tribulational meaning that the rapture of the church will occur after a period of tribulation. Historic premillennialism maintains chiliasm because of its view that the church will be caught up to meet Christ in the air and then escort him to the earth in order to share in his literal thousand year rule. Proponents of the view include Charles Spurgeon [16] and George Eldon Ladd, and the 19th century Lutheran theologian, G.N.H. Peters.
Dispensational premillennialism
C.I. Scofield popularized dispensational premillennialism through the Scofield Reference Bible.Main article: Dispensationalism
Dispensational premillennialism[57] generally holds that Israel and the Church are distinct entities.[58] It also widely holds to the pretribulational return of Christ, which believes that Jesus will return to take up Christians into heaven by means of a rapture immediately before a seven year worldwide Tribulation. This will be followed by an additional return of Christ with his saints (though there are post tribulation dispensationalists, such as Robert Gundry).
Dispensationalism traces its roots to the 1830s and John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), a Calvinist[59] theologian and a founder of the Plymouth Brethren. In the US, the dispensational form of premillennialism was propagated on the popular level largely through the Scofield Reference Bible and on the academic level with Lewis Sperry Chafer’s eight volume Systematic Theology. More recently dispensationalism has been popularized through Hal Lindsey's 1970s bestseller, The Late, Great Planet Earth and through the Left Behind Series by Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins. Popular proponents of dispensational premillennialism are John F. MacArthur, Phil Johnson, Ray Comfort, Jerry Falwell, Todd Friel, Dwight Pentecost, John Walvoord (d. 2002), Tim Lahaye, Charles Caldwell Ryrie (in the notes for the Ryrie Study Bible) and Charles L. Feinberg. It should be noted that Craig Blaising and Darrell Bock have developed a form of dispensationalism that is growing in popularity known as progressive dispensationalism. This view understands that an aspect of the eschatological kingdom presently exists, but must wait for the millennium to be realized fully.[60]
See also
Christianity portal
Summary of Christian eschatological differences
Christian eschatology
Postmillennialism
Amillennialism
Idealism
Futurism
Preterism
Historicism
Biblical hermeneutics
Rapture
Tribulation
Jewish eschatology
References
^ Robert K. Whalen, “Premillennialism” in The Encyclopedia of Millennialism and Millennial Movements, Ed. Richard A. Landes (New York: Routledge, 2000), 331.
^ According to M. Simonetti “Behind Millenarism was the Jewish belief in the future Messianic kingdom understood as political and material rule, and in fact Millenarism spread initially in the Asiatic world, where Christianity was strongly influenced by Judaism and took on a distinctly materialistic colouring.” M. Simonetti, “Millenarism” in Encyclopedia of the Early Church, Translated by Adrian Walford, Volume 1 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 560. Additionally, in volume 2 of Philip Schaff's History of the Christian Church, he writes against the legitimacy of premillennialism by referring to its Jewish background. “The Jewish chiliasm rested on a carnal misapprehension of the Messianic kingdom, a literal interpretation of prophetic figures, and an overestimate of the importance of the Jewish people and the holy city as the centre of that kingdom. It was developed shortly before and after Christ in the apocalyptic literature, as the Book of Enoch, the Apocalypse of Baruch, 4th Esdras, the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and the Sibylline Books. It was adopted by the heretical sect of the Ebionites, and the Gnostic Cerinthus.” Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.), 381.[1]
^ Bailey, J. W. “The Temporary Messianic Reign in the Literature of Early Judaism,” Journal of Biblical Literature. (1934), 170.
^ Charles, R. H. Revelation, Volume 2: 15-21. International Critical Commentary. (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1920)142. Robert Henry Charles (1855-1931) was a biblical scholar who was considered the greatest scholar in the early 20th century regarding Jewish eschatology and apocalyptic. (See Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 324.)
^ George W. E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, Hermeneia, (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2001), 440.
^ Michael Edward Stone, Fourth Ezra, Hermeneia (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1990), 10.
^ The Dictionary of Judaism in the Biblical Period notes that “Rabbinic masters show some interest in calculating the advent and duration of the days of the Messiah and world to come. According to different rabbis, the former would last 40, 70, 365, or 400 years (B. Sanhedrin 99a; see B. Abodah Zarah 9b). Similar attempts to reckon the messianic age held that the world will exist for six thousand years: ‘For two thousand it will be desolate, two thousand years will be the time of Torah, and two thousand years will be the days of the Messiah’ (B. Sanhedrin 971-b). The same source holds that, on account of the Israelites’ sins, the Messiah has tarried and part of what should have been the messianic age has been lost.” “Eschatology” in The Dictionary of Judaism in the Biblical Period: 450 B.C.E. to 600 C.E. Ed. Jacob Neusner and William Scott Green, Vol. 1 (New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1996), 203.
^ These references have been compiled from Bailey, “The Temporary Messianic Reign.” And From G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation, The New International Commentary on the Greek Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 1017-1021.
^ Gundry, Stanley N. “Hermeneutics or Zeitgeist As the determining Factor In the History of Eschatologies,” The Journal of The Evangelical Theological Society. Volume 20 (March 1977): 45-55.
^ “The Christian chiliasm is the Jewish chiliasm spiritualized and fixed upon the second, instead of the first, coming of Christ. It distinguishes, moreover, two resurrections, one before and another after the millennium, and makes the millennial reign of Christ only a preclude to his eternal reign in heaven, from which it is separated by a short interregnum of Satan.” Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.) 381.
^ Bercot, David A., Editor A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1998).
^ Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.) 381.[2]
^ Johannes Quasten, Patrology, Vol. 1 (Westminster, Maryland: Christian Classics, Inc.), 219. (Quasten was a Professor of Ancient Church History and Christian Archaeology at the Catholic University of America) Furthermore according to the Encyclopedia of the Early Church “Justin (Dial. 80) affirms the millenarian idea as that of Christians of complete orthodoxy but he does not hide that fact that many rejected it.” M. Simonetti, “Millenarism,” 560.
^ Some[who?] have argued that Justin never achieved consistency in his eschatology. They have pointed out that Justin seemed also to believe in some sense that the Kingdom of God is currently present. This belief is an aspect of postmillennialism, amillennialism and progressive dispensationalism. In Justin's First Apology he laments the Romans' misunderstanding of the Christians' endtime expectations. The Romans had assumed that when Christians looked for a kingdom, they were looking for a human one. Justin corrects this misunderstanding by saying “For if we looked for a human kingdom, we should also deny our Christ, that we might not be slain and we should strive to escape detection, that we might obtain what we expect.” (1 Apol. 11.1-2; cf. also Apol. 52; Dial. 45.4; 113.3-5; 139.5) See Charles Hill’s arguments in Regnum Caelorum: Patterns of Millennial Thought in Early Christianity. Additionally however, Philip Schaff, an amillennialist, notes that “In his two apologies, Justin teaches the usual view of the general resurrection and judgment, and makes no mention of the millennium, but does not exclude it.” Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.) 383. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001.
^ Against Heresies 5.32[3].
^ "For in as many days as this world was made, in so many thousand years shall it be concluded. And for this reason the Scripture says: 'Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment. And God brought to a conclusion upon the sixth day the works that He had made; and God rested upon the seventh day from all His works.' This is an account of the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy of what is to come. For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years; and in six days created things were completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth thousand year." Against Heresies 5.28.3.[4]
^ ”Among the Apostolic Fathers Barnabas is the first and the only one who expressly teaches a pre-millennial reign of Christ on earth. He considers the Mosaic history of the creation a type of six ages of labor for the world, each lasting a thousand years, and of a millennium of rest, since with God ‘one day is as a thousand years.’ Millennial Sabbath on earth will be followed by an eight and eternal day in a new world, of which the Lord’s Day (called by Barnabas ‘the eighth day’) is the type(access The Epistle of Barnabas here). Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.) 382.
^ Insruct. adv. Gentium Deos, 43, 44.
^ According to the Encyclopedia of the Early Church “Commodian (mid 3rd c.) takes up the theme of the 7000 years, the last of which is the millennium (Instr. II 35, 8 ff.).” M. Simonetti, “Millenarism,” 560.
^ Against Marcion, book 3 chp 25
^ Simonetti writes in the Encyclopedia of the Early Church “We know that Melito was also a millenarian" regarding Jerome's reference to him as a chiliast. M. Simonetti, “Millenarism,” 560.
^ Note this is Victorinus of Pettau not Marcus Piav(v)onius Victorinus the Gaelic Emperor
^ In his Commentary on Revelation and from the fragment De Fabrica Mundi (Part of a commentary on Genesis). Jerome identifies him as a premillennialist.
^ Brown HOJ. Heresies: Heresy and Orthodoxy in the History of the Church. Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody (MA), 1988, pp. 65,67,455.
^ “Origen (Princ. II, 2-3)[5]) rejects the literal interpretation of Rev 20-21, gives an allegorical interpretation of it and so takes away the scriptural foundation of Millenarism. In the East: Dionysius of Alexandria had to argue hard against Egyptian communities with millenarian convictions (in Euseb. HE VII, 24-25). M. Simonetti, “Millenarism” in Encyclopedia of the Early Church, Translated by Adrian Walford, Volume 1 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 560. It is doubtless that Origen respected apostolic tradition in interpretation. It was Origen himself who said "Non debemus credere nisi quemadmodum per successionem Ecclesiae Dei tradiderunt nobis" (In Matt., ser. 46, Migne, XIII, 1667). However as it is noted on The Catholic Encyclopedia "Origen has recourse too easily to allegorism to explain purely apparent antilogies or antinomies. He considers that certain narratives or ordinances of the Bible would be unworthy of God if they had to be taken according to the letter, or if they were to be taken solely according to the letter. He justifies the allegorism by the fact that otherwise certain accounts or certain precepts now abrogated would be useless and profitless for the reader: a fact which appears to him contrary to the providence of the Divine inspirer and the dignity of Holy Writ."[6]
^ Larry V. Crutchfield, “Origen” in Dictionary of Premillennial Theology, ed. Mal Couch (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1996), 289.
^ Eusebius, Historia Ecclestiastica. 3.39.13
^ Alister McGrath, Iustitua Dei: A History of the Doctrine of Justification, 2nd Edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 24.
^ “Augustine of Hippo” in The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 129.
^ G. Folliet, “La typologie du sabbat chez Saint Augustin. Son interpretation millénariste entre 386 et 400,” REAug[7] 2 (1956):371-90. Referenced in David R. Anderson, “The Soteriological Impact of Augustine’s Change From Premillennialism to Amillennialism: Part One,” The Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society, Vol. 15 (Spring 2002), 27. Johannes Quasten also writes "Augustine made a “short shrift of millenarianism after having accepted it at first himself (De civ. Dei 20, 7; Serm 259.2) by explaining Apoc. 20:1-5 in an allegorical sense (it regards the spiritual resurrection of the body – real bodies even though no longer corruptible" (De civ. Dei 22, 1-28).” Johannes Quasten, Patrology, Vol. 4 (Westminster, Maryland: Christian Classics, Inc.), 452.
^ Augustine wrote in regards to the premillennialism “And this opinion would not be objectionable, if it were believed that the joys of the saints in that Sabbath shall be spiritual, and consequent on the presence of God. . . But, as they [the millenarians] assert that those who then rise again shall enjoy the leisure of immoderate carnal banquets, furnished with an amount of meat and drink such as not only shock the feeling of the temperate, but even to surpass the measure of credulity itself, such assertions can be believed only by the carnal.” (De civ. Dei 20, 7)
^ Anderson, “Soteriological Impact,” 27-28. Interestingly, by the time that Augustine wrote his monumental work The City of God he wrote that “It was impossible to calculate the date of the End. ‘To all those who make... calculations on this subject comes the command, “Relax your fingers and give them a rest.”’ The Reign of the saints had already begun...” Elizabeth Isichei, “Millenarianism,” in The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought, Ed. Adrian Hastings, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 435.
^ J. Daniélou, “La typologie millenariste de la samaine dans le christianisme prmitif,” Vigiliae Christiane 2 (1948):1-16.
^ Paula Fredriksen, “Apocalypse and Redemption in Early Christianity,” Vigiliae Christianae 45 (1991): 157. Referenced in Anderson, “Soteriological Impact,” 29. Fredriksen writes furthermore “By complicating the biblical text, Tyconius gained a purchase on the perfectionist and millenarian readings of Scripture... The Donatist’s interpretations ironically became definitive of Catholic commentary on the Apocalypse for the next eight hundred years... Tyconius affected Augustine’s own theological development profoundly. The attack on millenarian understandings of scriptural prophecy and especially of the Apocalypse, in book 20 of the City of God is a monument to Augustine’s appropriation and appreciation of Tyconius.” Paula Fredriksen “Tyconius” in Augustine Through the Ages: An Encyclopedia Ed. Allan D. Fitzgerald (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 854.
^ Larry V. Crutchfield, “Augustine” in Dictionary of Premillennial Theology, (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1996), 59.
^ Richard Landes, "Lest the Millennium be Fulfilled: Apocalyptic Expectations and the Pattern of Western Chronography 100-800 CE," in The Use and Abuse of Eschatology in the Middle Ages Mediaevalia Louvaniensia. (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1988), 156.
^ “From the time of Constantine and Augustin chiliasm took its place among the heresies, and was rejected subsequently even by the Protestant reformers as a Jewish dream.” Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.) 384. Simonetti also writes "But in the West too, the spread of Platonic spiritualism marked the end of millenarism.: Ambrose no longer presents the division of world history into seven millennia; Jerome argues against millennarism (PL 24, 627 ff.) and reworks Victorinus’s literal interpretation of Rev. 20-21 in an allegorical and anti-millenarian sense...” M. Simonetti, “Millenarism,” 560. See also a noteworthy reference to Nortbert's correspondence to Bernard. Nortbert thought that he was living in the time of the Antichrist and demonstrated possible chiliastic tendencies (Epistle 56 PL 182, 50-51).
^ Julian of Toledo, Antitheses 2.69 (Patrologia Latina 96:697), translated and quoted by Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Vol. 3 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1978), 43.
^ E. B. Elliot, Horae Apocalypticae, Vol. 4. London: Burnside and Seeley, 1846. Schwartz also writes about Joachim's eschatology in the more accessible work Eschatology, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 326ff.
^ a b Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.) 381.
^ Philip Schaff History of Creeds Vol. 1, 307.
^ John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, XXV.V
^ The Restitution of Christianity. 719, Interestingly Servetus noted that believers would be raised to live in the millennium at age 30, the year that Christ was baptized and started his ministry. Restitutio, 413.
^ Joseph Mede was a biblical scholar educated at Christ's College, Cambridge. His most well-known work is Clavis Apocalyptica (1627). For a recent monograph on Mede's eschatology see Jeffrey K. Jue, Heaven Upon Earth: Joseph Mede (1586-1638) and the Legacy of Millenarianism. Archives internationales d'histoire des idées. n.p.:Springer, 2006.
^ Charles Ryrie, The Basis of the Premillennial Faith, (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1953), 29
^ ”Millenarianism,” in The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
^ Schwartz, Eschatology, 330.
^ Kevin Stilley, “Edwards, Jonathan” in Dictionary of Premillennial Theology (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1996), 100.
^ Increase Mather, The Mystery of Israel’s Salvation Explained and Applied quoted in Charles Ryrie, The Basis of the Premillennial Faith, (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1953), 31-32.
^ Quoted by Robert K. Whalen, “Premillennialism” in The Encyclopedia of Millennialism and Millennial Movements, Ed. Richard A. Landes (New York: Routledge, 2000), 331.
^ Rev. W.W. Andrews of the Catholic Apostolic Church in the 19th century wrote a statement of faith for the Irvingites saying, "In respect to eschatology, they hold, with the Church of the first three centuries, that the second coming of the Lord precedes and introduces the millennium; at the beginning of which the first resurrection takes place, and at the close the general resurrection..." Philip Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical notes. Volume I: History of Creeds, [8] 676.
^ Bible Basics Study 5.5 - The Millennium
^ “Millenarianism,” in The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 1087.
^ Robert K. Whalen, “Dispensationalism” in The Encyclopedia of Millennialism and Millennial Movements, Ed. Richard A. Landes (New York: Routledge, 2000), 128.
^ Ibid.
^ Robert K. Whalen, “Premillennialism” in The Encyclopedia of Millennialism and Millennial Movements, Ed. Richard A. Landes (New York: Routledge, 2000), 332.
^ http://www.nyu.edu/fas/projects/vcb/ChristianMedia/prophecy_premdisp.html "What is Premillennial Dispensationalism?" New York University
^ Herbert W. Bateman IV, “Dispensationalism Tomorrow,” in Three Central Issues in Contemporary Dispensationalism: A Comparison of Traditional and Progressive Views, ed. by Herbert W. Bateman IV (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1999), 315-16.
^ Marsden, George M (2006). Fundamentalism and American Culture (2nd ed ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 351. ISBN 0195300475. page 46
^ Craig A. Blaising and Darrell L. Bock Progressive Dispensationalism (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1993), 282.
Resources
Works from an amillennial or postmillennial perspective
Beale, G. K. The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text. New International Commentary on the Greek Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998. ISBN 080282174X . A well written 1245 page commentary on the Greek text of Revelation from an amillennial perspective. Beale has an excursus on the concept of the temporary messianic kingdom and how it fits into amillennial understanding.
Bloesch, Donald G. The Last Things: Resurrection, Judgment, Glory (Christian Foundations, 7) . Westmont, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8308-1417-5. A recent eschatology text from an amillennial reformed perspective.
Boettner, Loraine. The Millennium. P&R Publishing, 1990. ISBN 0-87552-113-4. This is a revised edition of the classic 1957 postmillennial work.
Hill, Charles E. Regnum Caelorum: Patterns of Millennial Thought in Early Christianity - Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company 2001 (review)
Hoekema, Anthony A.. The Bible and the Future. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994. ISBN 0-8028-0851-4
Hughes, James A. “Revelation 20:4-6 and the Question of the Millennium,” Westminster Theological Journal 35 (Spring 73):281-302.
Riddlebarger, Kim. A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2003. An up to date defense of Amillennialism.
Works from a premillennial perspective
Chares, R. H. The Revelation of St. John. International Critical Commentary. 2 Vols. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1920. See volume 2, pages 182-86 in particular.
Deere, Jack S. “Premillennialism in Revelation 20:4-6,” Bibliotheca Sacra 135. (January 1978): 58-74. This journal article is still considered by many premillennialists to be one of the stronger defenses of premillennialism in print.
Ladd, George Eldon. A Commentary on the Revelation of John. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972. ISBN 0-8028-1684-3. A commentary on Revelation from a historical premillennial perspective.
Ladd, George Eldon. The Last Things. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988. ISBN 0-8028-1727-0.
Osbourne, Grant R. Revelation. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002. ISBN 0-8010-2299-1. A commentary on Revelation from a general premillennial perspective, though no particular view of the rapture is defended.
Peters, G.N.H. The Theocratic Kingdom. 3 Vols. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1952. ISBN 0-8254-3540-4. This is the largest defense of premillennialism in any language. It was written in the 19th century by an American Lutheran pastor. The viewpoint is historical premillennial, meaning that it is post tribulational.
Ryrie, Charles C. The Basis of the Premillennial Faith. Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1953. ISBN 1-59387-011-6. This is a small introduction and defense of premillennialism from a dispensational perspective.
Walvoord, John. The Millennial Kingdom. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1959. ISBN 031034090X . A defense from a classical dispensational perspective.
Works from multiple perspectives or no apparent perspective
Aune, David A. Revelation Word Biblical Commentary. 3 vols. Waco, TX: Word Books, 1997. A scholarly commentary on Revelation.
Bailey, J. W. “The Temporary Messianic Reign in the Literature of Early Judaism,” Journal of Biblical Literature. (1934), 170.
The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views. Edited by Ladd, George Eldon. Westmont, IL: Inter-Varsity, 1977. ISBN 0-87784-794-0. A balanced presentation of four millennial views. Ladd defends historical premillennialism; Herman A. Hoyt presents dispensational premillennialism; Loraine Boettner defend explains postmillennialism; and Anthony A. Hoekema writes on amillennialism.
Revelation: Four Views: A Parallel Commentary. Edited by Steve Greg. Waco, TX: Word Books, 1997. ISBN 0-8407-2128-5.
Works on the history of eschatology
Daley, Brian E. The Hope of the Early Church: A Handbook of Patristic Eschatology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 1-56563-737-2.
Mühling, Markus, "Grundwissen Eschatologie. Systematische Theologie aus der Perspektive der Hoffnung", Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2005. ISBN 978-3-8252-2918-4, 209–214.
Froom, Le Roy Edwin. The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers;: The Historical Development of Prophetic Interpretation. 4 Vols. Review and Herald, 1946-54. ASIN B0006AR2YQ. An enormously comprehensive history of eschatological thought. Froom is an Adventist but this is not overly apparent in the work. It is currently out of print.
Hill, Charles F. Regnum Caelorum: Patterns of Millennial Thought in Early Christianity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001. ISBN 0-8028-4634-3. Hill questions the legitimacy of early premillennial thought by analyzing an apparent paradox in the early chiliast theology, particularly the intermediate state.
External links
A helpful historical overview from a Catholic perspective
Did the Early Church Hold to Premillennialism? A documented article
Comparison Of four Eschatological positions
Was the early church amillennial? A sample of a dispensational premillennialist defending Premillennialism in the early church
Full Preterist objections to premillennialism
Premillennialism
A Survey of Early Premillennialism (pdf)
Always Victorious Argues against the idea that the early church fathers were premillennial
Irenaeus gives a 2nd century description of the eschaton
Premillennialism Yahoo Group
Advanced Eschatology
"The Rapture and Israel" William West
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premillennialism"
Categories: Apocalypticism | Christian eschatology | Premillennialism
Hidden categories: All articles with specifically-marked weasel-worded phrases | Articles with specifically-marked weasel-worded phrases from June 2009 | Christianity Portal pages
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