Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lisbeth S. Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>]

Dear Lee,
Wow! This is certainly not my area of expertise.
I remember not being impressed with Hanson's
Dawn of Apocalyptic, primarily tho because of 
his treatment of Ezekiel, Zechariah, etc.
He viewed them in opposition to apocalyptic.
I certainly see them, and especially Ezekiel,
as the originator of mystical thought.
Ezekiel was certainly looking forward to a time
of the return, as was Isaiah. Daniel follows in
Ezekiel and Zechariah's footsteps by having an 
angelic interlocutor explain to him of events 
he wouldn't know or understand otherwise. I should
also mention Enoch in this regard. So I would agree
that mysticism, or whatever this is, is pre-Hellenistic.
I don't know if these books have the concept of
an end time however. I don't translate "yamim aherim" as
"end time" for example, or "the end of days," for example,
to bring the conversation back to biblical hebrew. 
Best,
LIz


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lee Roy Martin [mailto:lmartin AT vol.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2004 11:38 AM
> To: Lisbeth S. Fried
> Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: End of the Age
> 
> Dear Liz,
> In light of your statement below, do you understand apocalyptic as an
> entirely hellenistic invention?
> If so, how do you perceive the transition from the prophetic to the
> apocalyptic. For example, it appears to me that some texts in Isaiah,
> Zechariah, Micah, Joel, Ezekiel, etc. seem to be moving toward a "new
> age/kindom age" orientation. Were all of these texts written in the
> Hellenistic period? Or maybe your definition of "end times" is
> different from mine. I am planning a future writing project on this
> topic, so I would very much appreciate hearing your viewpoint.
> Thanks,
> Lee R. Martin
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On May 25, 2004, at 10:02 AM, Lisbeth S. Fried wrote:
> 
> I don't believe in end of ages.
> >>
> >> HH: Thinking of history in terms of ages, and in
> >> terms of an age coming to an end, was common in
> >> first century Israel, evidently:
> > It probably started around the time of Daniel in the
> > Hellenistic period.
> > I'm stuck in the Persian period tho, and the end times
> > hadn't been invented yet.