2001 - Johannes Tromp - The Davidic Messiah in Jewish Eschatology of the First Century BCE

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RESTORATIONOld Testament, Jewish, and Christian Perspectives

EDITED BY

JAMES M . SCOTT

BRILLLEIDEN • BOSTON • KÖLN

2001



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Scott James M. :

Restoration : Old Testament, Jewish, and Christian Perspectives / cd.by James M Scott. - Leiden ; Boston; Köln : Brul , 2 0 0 1

(Supplements to ihr j o u r n a l fo r th e s t udy of Judaism ; Vol. 72 )ISBN 90-04-11580-.3

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€ > C o p y r i g h t 200J by Konrnkiyix Bnü nv , Laden, The N e t h e r l a n d s

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t h e a p p r o p r i a te f e e s a r e paid d i r e c t l y t a T h e C o p y r i g h t

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CONTENTS

Preface ix

A b b r ev i a t i on s x i

I N T R O D U C T I O N 1

F O R M A T I V E P E R I O DRes tora tion in Deu teronomy an d the Deu teronomic L it e ratu re . . . 11

J. G . McCONVILLE, Cheltenham & Gloucester College of HigherEducat ion

Restoration Expectations in the Prophetic Tradit ion of the OldTestament 41

KONRAD SCHMID AN D OD1L HANNES STECK. Universities ofHeidelberg and Zurich

"Mind the Gaps : Eaa. Nehemiah and the Judean Restoration . . . 83L E S T E R L . G R A B B E . U n i v e r s i t y o f H u l l

G R E C O - R O M A N P E R I O D

"Ex i le " and "Restorat ion" in the Conceptual World of Ancient

J u d a i s m 1 0 7S H E M A R Y A H U T A L M O N . H e b r e w U n i v e r s i t y

From th e Idealized Past to the Imaginary Future: EschatologicalRestoration in Jewish Apoc alypt ic Li terature 147

DAVID E. A UNE WITH ERIC STEWART, Universi ty of Notre Dame

The D avidic Messiah in Jew ish Eschatology of theFirst Century BCE 179

JOHANNES TROMP, Leiden Un iversi ty

The Concept of R estorat ion in the Dead Sea Scrolls 2 0 3LAWRENCE H. SCHIFFMAN, New York Un ivers i ty



C O N T E N T S

Res tora t ion in J o s e p h u s 2 2 3

LOUIS H . FELDMAN. Yeshiva Un ivers i ty

F O R M A T I V E J U D A I S M

Trajectories of Re turn . Res tora t ion and R edem pt ion in Rabbinic-

J u d a i s m 2 65CHAIM MILIKOWSKY, Ba r -Han Universi ty

Some Not ions of Res tora t ion in Ea r ly R abb in ic P r aye r 2 81

STEFAN C. REIF, Un ive rs i ty of C amb r idge

Ezra in R ab bi n ic Li te ra ture 305GARY G . PORTON, Un iversity of Illinois a t U rbuna-Champaign

Temple Restored, Temple in Heaven: Isaiah and the Prophe ts in theT a r g u m i m 335

B R U C E C H J L T O N , B a r d C o l l e g e

E A R L Y C H R I S T I A N I T YJ esu s , the T w e lv e , and the R es to r a tion of Israel 365

JOHN P. MEIER. Universi ty of Notre Dame

The Geography of Restorat ion: Gali lee-Jerusalem Relat ions in Ear lyJ e w i s h and Chr ist ian Exp er ience 405

SEAN FREYNE, Trinity College, D u blin . Ireland

The Restoration of Israel in L u k e - A c ts 435

RICHARD BAUCKHAM, University of St. Andrews

"And then all Israel wi l l b e saved (Rom 1 1 : 2 6 ) 489JAMES M . SCOTT, Trin i ty W estern U niversi ty

Jewish-Christian Chiliastic Restorat ion in Pseudo-ClementineRecognitions 1 . 27 - 71 529

F. STANLEY JONE S, California State Un iversity, Long Beach

Indices . . 549



T H E D A V I D I C M E S S I A H I N J E W I S H E S CH A T O LO G Y

OF T H E FIRS T CE N T U R Y B C E

Johannes TrompLeiden U niversity

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Since the firs t ce nt u ry BC E, Pale stinian Ju da ism knew the concept of adescendant of the fami ly of David who would in the fu ture appear onthe political stage to assume power and establish a kingdom of right-eousness, holiness and peace in Je rusa lem. '

A w e l l -known example of t ex t s expressing this expectation is Psalm

of Solomon 17, bu t other texts are witn ess to its existence, too; 4Q161;4Q174; 4Q252 and 4Q285 shou ld be ment ioned am ong th e older ex -ample s . Obvious ly , th e Jew ish expec ta t ion of a son of Dav id is mostof a ll expressed in Chris tian tex ts . How ever, a lthou gh early C hris tianau thors we re happy to sugges t tha t Jesus was the fu l f i l lmen t o fe v e r y t h i n g p iou s J e w s had a lways hoped for , namely the Messiah(e.g., L u k e 2:25-26), th i s sugges t ion w as only par t ia l ly t rue at themost.

The expec ta t ion of a fu tu re son of David , sent by God to rule ask i ng , w as not an isolated phen om enon, bu t part of a comp lex of idealsa b ou t th e fu ture of Israel as brought about by God. This complex m aybe cal led "Jewish eschatology."2 T h i s c omp le x s hou ld no t be

On the absence of th is concept before th e first c e n t u r y B C E . cf. J. J.Col l i n s , "Messianism in the Maccabean Per iod," in J. N e u s ne r . et al. (eds.),Judaisms and their M essiahs al the Tu rn of the Christian Era (Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1987) 97-109; K. E. Pomykala, The D avid ic Dynas ty

Tradition in Early Judaism. Its History and Signif icance for M essianism (EarlyJ u d a i s m and us L i te ra ture 7 ; At lan ta . G A : Scholars Press. 1995). A di fferentv iew , assuming a n unbroken cont inui ty of m essianic exp ectat ion in the exilic andpost-exilic period, is consistently elaborated by A. Laalo. A Star is Rising. The

Historical Development of the Old Testament Royal Ideology and the R ise of

Jew ish M essianic Exp ectations (International S tud i es in Fo rmative Ch rist iani tyand Juda i sm 5; Atlanta , G A : Scholars Press. 1997) 240-42, 285-89.

From a traditio-historical point of v i ew , concepts about th e individual life

a f te r dea th shou ld be c l ea r ly d i s t i ngu i shed f rom th i s pol i t ica l or cosmic



180 TROMP

des ignated as "messian ism," a s was u sua l un t i l the inappropr ia tenessof this term w as realized.

The term "mess ian ism" sugges ts tha t a person ca l led Mess iahwould in some w ay have to b e part of the eschatological fu tu re , a nec-essary tool in God's hand for the s a l v a t i o n o f I s r ae l . However , thes t udy of Jew ish l i te ra ture in the Greco- Rom an era has show n beyonddoubt that in many eschatological designs God could use other toolsto tha t end , or no tool a t all .1 Essent ia l to Jewish eschato logy (anddis t inguish ing it from earlier forms of p rophecy) is only the exclu -s ive ly d iv ine na tu re of the expected sa lva t ion : w h a t w as needed, thedef ini t ive res torat ion of r ighteousness , holiness and peace, could not

be achieved by, or even w i t h the aid of , any l iv ing h u m a n b e i n g .H um a n i t y was too far gone to be able to p r o d u c e i m p r o v e m e n t b yitself.

However, i t cannot be ignored that the idea that God would bring ason of David to royal power in Jerusalem did in fact exis t , at leas tfrom the first c e n t u r y B C E . The fo l lowing pages a re devoted to theques t ion of w h e n and how this idea w as fo rmed.

M a n y scholars have traced the origin of the concept back toBabylon ian and early Pers ian periods. The fall of Jerusa lem and the

Davidic dynasty in 587 BCE would have caused a desire for the resto-rat ion of both, but when the hope for the res torat ion of an idealis t i -ca l ly conce ived Dav id ic k ingsh ip f a i l ed to be fu l f i l l ed , i t waspro jec ted in to the future.4 The new aeon, a concep t though t to have

eschatology; cf. N. Spineto, L'escalologia nel monde classico, Annali cli storia

dell'esegesi 16 ( 1999) 7-20 (esp. 19-20 ).M. Smith, What is Implied by the V ariety of M essianic Figures'' JB L 78

( 1 95 9) 66-72; M. de Jonge, "The Use of the Word ' A n o i n t e d ' in the Time ofJesus, N o v T & (1966) 132-48.

4 Th i s br i e f summary does no jus t ice to the of len much subt l e r a rgumen tsof, e.g., R. H. Charles, A Critical History o f th e Doctrine < > j a Future Life in

Israel, in Judaism, and in Christianity, or Hebrew, Jewish, and Christian

Eschatology from Pre-Prophetic Times Til l th e Close o f t he New Testament

Canon (London: Black, 1899) 106; E . Sc h ü r e r , D ie Geschichte des judischen

Volkes im Zeitalter Je su Christi (3 vols.; 4th ed.; Leipzig: Hinr ich , 1907) 2.583-

90; S. M o w i n c k e l , H e That Cometh ( O x f o r d : B l a c k w e l l , 1956) 155-56; D. S.Russe l l , The M ethod and Message of Jew ish Apocalypt ic ( Lo nd on: SCM, 1964)181-83; A. Laato, A Star is Rising, 236-40; S. Ta lm on , "The Concepts of MàStah

and Mess ian i sm in Ea r ly Judaism, in J. H. Ch a r l e s w o r t h (éd.). T he Messiah:

D evelopments in Earliest Ju daism and Christianity (M inneap ol is : For tress, 1992)7 9 -115 .



D A V I D I C MESSIAH 1 81

been perhaps developed under I ran ian inf luence , was welcomed as at ime to locate th e ant icipated fulf i l lment of the prophecies.' '

However , the commonly assumed or ig in of Davidic messianism int he s i x th cen tu ry BCE i s i ncons i s t en t w i th t he re j ec t ion o f"messianism" as an adequate term for Jewish eschatological expecta-t ion. I t suggests tha t there was an o r ig ina l ly i n t r i n s i c re l a t i onsh ipbe t w e e n t h e e x pe c t a t i o n o f a f u t u r e D a v i d i c k i n g a n d J e w i she scha t o l ogy , a f te r a l l . M o re o v e r , in t h i s e x p l a n a t i o n th e f a m i l y( D a v i d ) , the t i t les (Mess iah , k i n g ) , and the func t ions (restore right-eousness, hol iness and peace) of this part icular expectat ion form anorganica l ly coherent concept: the expectat ion of the Davidic Messiah

as the royal saviour in the eschatological fu tu re . This organic coher-ence makes it d i ff icul t to exp la in how in the s ix th centu ry such a hopew o u l d emerge from th e catast rophe, af terwards go u n de rg ro u n d forsevera l cen tur ies , and then reemerge prac t ica l ly in tac t in the firstcen tu ry B C E . At the same t ime , parts of the concept can be observedin the in termedia te cen tur ies : in eschatological scenarios kings of un-specified fami ly re la t ions m ay occur; off icers other than kings m ayf u l f i l l the f unc t ions me nt ioned ; a lso some of the M ess iah ' s tasks m aynot be the object of fu ture expecta t ions , bu t may be c la imed to ac tu -

a l ly be exercised in a p art icular au thor 's ow n time.''It can be argued tha t these i so la ted e lements represent alterations

and t ransformat ions of an o riginal hope for a son of Dav id to re tu rn tothe throne in Jerusalem.7 Furthermore, these variants may well haveex is ted side by side wi th the original concept itself, even if there areno clear traces of the c on t i nua t i on of the idea af ter the fal l of theDav id i c dynasty. Fin al ly , i t may be tha t the si lence of our sourcesa bo u t th e expected Davidic Messiah is due to coincidence or even th e

E.g., Charles, A . Critical History, 122 - 23 ; 135-36; Schürer, Geschichte,

2.587; M o w i n c k e l . H e That Cometh. 2 7 1 : Rus se l l . The Method and Message ,

264-71.1 J. J. Co l l in s . T he Scepter and the Star: T he M essiahs of th e D e a d Sea

Scrolls and Other Ancient Literature ( N e w Y o rk : Doub l eday, 1995) 20-48, hasr igh t ly described these facts as a problem, tradit io-hislorically speaking. Idisagree , howeve r , w i t h h is c la im tha t f i r s t -cen tu ry -BCE Jew i sh ideology w as" p redominan t ly shaped b y sc r ip tu ra l tradit ions" (p . 4 1 ) . See f u r t h e r section I.below.

1 V. S , icd i i . "Messiamsmo e apocalittica." Qu aderni di Vita M onastica 46

(1987) 14-38 = "Messianism and A pocalyptic," i n idem, Jew ish Apocalyptic and

its History (Sheffield: Sheffield A cad em ic Press, 1990) 150-67.



182 TROMP

result of a process of selection by the collectors and editors of thebooks of the Hebrew B ib l e . H o we v e r , these are no less t han three

hypotheses which have to be set up to make the supposition of a sixth-cen tu ry origin of the idea possible.

M y alternative solution would be that the idea of a son of David ex-pected to be sent by God as k ing in the eschatological fu tu re is therelatively late (second or first cen tury B CE) result of a com bination ofvar ious , or ig inal ly un rela ted ideas.* The stages of the a m a l g a m a t io nleading to the concept would be: ( 1 ) the general phenomenon of es-chato logica l expecta t ion, occur r ing in th e Hel len i s t i c wor ld a t large;(2) the exp ectation of a king as a specification of this eschatology; (3)

th e adaptat ion of the expecta t ion of a fu ture k ing to the local Jud eansituation, by describing him in the t radi t ional terms used for the idealru le r ; (4) the (poss ib ly ) s imu l t aneou s assoc ia t ion of the fu tu re idealking wi th th e image of Dav id as the ideal king from th e past. I shallnow discuss these four e lements .

ESCH TOLOGY

The first element necessary in reconstructing the origin of the expec-tation of a Dav id ic k ing is the emergence of eschatology in general.'

The origins of the eschatological frame of mind are obscure. On theone hand , it has often been traced back to Iranian influence.1 " H o w -ever, sources bearing witness to Zoroastrian eschatology in this periodare v i r t ua l l y absen t , " whereas J e w i s h escha to log ica l t ex t s beg in toemerge only several centuries after Persian political dominance. Onthe o ther hand , eschatological concepts were w e l l d e v e l o p e d inclassical Greece, and from the third century onwards, the Hellenes

So also Pomykala, The D avid ic Dvnastv T radi tion, esp. I69-70.W i t h th is ent i re section, compare M . H e n g e l . Judentum u n d Hel lenismus .

S t ud ien z u ih rer B eg egnu ng u n t e r besonderer Berü cks icht igu ng Palästinas b is zur

M itte des 2. Jh .s v. Chr . (3rd ed.; Tü b i n g e n: Mohr -S iebeck , 1988) 330-57.i f > See W . B o u s s e t , D ie Religion des Judentums im späthellenistischen

Zeitalter (HNT 2l; 3rd ed. , revised by H. Gre s sm ann ; T ü b i n g e n : M o h r . 1926)

506-15, and the au thors ci ted in n . 4 above . The few relevant passages, al l dating to the Imperial Roman period, which

m i g h t reflect Zoroastrian eschatology, are discussed in A. F. de Jong, Tradi t ions

of th e M a g i : Zoroastrianism in Greek and Lat in Li terature ( R e l i g i o n s in theGraeco-Roman W o r ld 133; Le iden : Bri l l , 1997) 324-30.



DAVIDIC MESSIAH 1 83

may have done much to fur ther th is l ine of th inking among the cul-

tures in their sphere o f influence.1 '

For the present purpose, it has to suffice to say that in many cornersof the He l l en i s ti c w or ld , an awareness exis ted that th is w or ld was in abad state, and qu ick ly deteriorating. The rulers were unrighteous ,warfare w as increasing, good and decent people were becoming rare,crops were fa i l ing , the wea ther w as becom ing unp redic table , in short,every th ing changed, and changed for the worse. Moreover, it wast hough t tha t the b ad state o f the wor ld was the result of a process overth e generations. That is, it was perceived as a deve lopmen t th roughh i s t o r y , wh i c h c o u l d no t be s topped and w h i c h w o u l d end in

catas trophe. Because th e process is though t to s tretch over the genera-t i ons , the s i t u a t i o n is beyond human r epa i r . T he d iv in i ty (o r , fo rinstance in early Stoic thoug ht, th e same necessity that also causes thewor ld ' s de te r io ra t ion ) mus t f ina l ly act to restore its creation to itsoriginal splendour .

It would seem to me that the s tr ict ly heavenly orientat ion of escha-to logy, r u l ing out any hum an in i t ia t ive as wel l as any actually exis t ingper son as a res tore r , d i s t i n g u i s h e s i t f rom prophecy , insofar asprophecy is concerned w i t h th e d i v i n i t y ' s ad hoc i n v o l v e m e n t in

everyd ay po li t ics . The real or ientat ion toward the fu ture dis t inguishesi t from the vaticinia e x eventu, f rom which it is otherwise practical lyind is t inguishable .

A p r ime example of the ph e n o m e n o n u n de r discussion is Jub.

23 :11 -31 (ear ly second century BCE). In th is passage a rapid declineof hu ma nk ind s ince the flood is described. Whereas the ancients s t i l llived fo r nineteen jubilees (that is, for 950 years), th e life expectancyof men has s ince then decreased because of the i r wickednes s ( Jub .

23:9). Th i s process of deter iora t ion ap pare nt ly took on a momen tum

of its own , for even Abraham, who "was perfect in all his dealingswi th the Lord, did not live to see four complete jubi lees (23:10).Since then , life expectancy has dropped to less than tw o jubi lees , orseventy years, eighty at the most (23:11, 15); moreover, the greaterpart of human l i fe is f i lled w i th misery (23:13). The deterioration ofthe wor ld , which comes to its a l l - t ime low in w h a t is probably the

T. F. Glasson, Greek Influence in Jew ish Eschato logy , w ith Sp ecial

Reference to the Apo calypses and Pseudepigraphs (London: SPCK, 1961) 1-7.

See A. O. Lovejoy and G. Boas, Primitivism and Rela ted Ideas in

Antiquin (Bal t imore: Johns Ho pkins , 1935) 23-102.



184 TROMP

a u tho r ' s ow n age, is said to have been caused by the people's lo wmorali ty (23:9 , 16-21; i t s hou ld be noted that the author incons is ten t ly

appl ies a schema w hich i s va l id for all h u m a n i t y to the Jewish peoplein p a r t i cu la r ) . At the same t im e , how ever , the gene ra l ly p reva i l ing a ndincreasing wickedness is also presented as a symptom of the generaldecline (23:13-14, 16-21).

The Lord wil l f inal ly p u n i s h the people to a poin t tha t there is nomore salvation (23:24), while old age is reached after as few as threew eeks (23:2 5). At this point the s i tua tion seems beyon d repair . How -ever, as often in Jewish eschatological scenarios, there are a fewpeople who f ind the r ight path.1 4 In J u b . 23:26 children are predicted

to "begin to s tudy the laws." From tha t moment on, the s i tua t ion w i l limp r ove : people w i l l grow to l ive for a thousand years aga in , andthere wi l l be no more need fo r Sa tan, the accuser in the he a ve n lycourtroom (23:27-28).n At that time, "the Lord w i ll heal his servants(23:30).

The description of the utterly desperate state of the Lord ' s peoplecan be compared wi th many s im i l a r t ex t s in the OT. Of ten such d e-scr ipt ions fo rm pa r t of com pla ints , e i ther by p roph e ts r enounc ing theking's and the people's wickedness (e.g., Isa 3:5; 24; Jer9:l-10; M ic

7:2-6; Zech 14:13; cf. Isa 1 9:1-1 5), or in p ray ers addressed to God, inw h i c h the despair is v iv id ly depicted to move God to mercy (e.g., Ps58:2-6; 79:1-4; Lamenta t ions) . Also s imila r are Egyp t ian tex t s , inwhich t imes of chaos and des t i tu t ion are depicted.1 6

However, none of these outwardly s imilar texts share th e eschato-

logical orientation of Jub i lees 2 3, w h ic h i n t e r p r e t s the mise ry ofhuman l i f e not as the result, for instance, of mismanagement by acerta in bad ru ler , but as the resu lt of a deterioration process be gi nn in gimmedia te ly after the flood, and inexorably moving over the genera-

t ions toward the absolute low poin t , when God, in reac t ion to the

Cf. Assumption of M o se s 9.The absence of Satan can be und e r s tood as a s y m b o l of the r igh teousness

of h u m a n k i n d , w h i c h fi ts th e con t ex t o f Jubilees 2 3 be t te r than u n d e r s t an d i n gSatan as an e v i l , con t r iv ing adversa ry of the Lord . In J u b . 1 0 : 1 1 , Satan ispresented as a pu nishe r of ma nk ind , in the Lord's service.

See J . As sm ann , Königsdogma u n d H e i l s e r w a r t u n g , P o l i t i s c h e u n dku l t i s c h e Chaosbeschre ibungen in ägyp t i s chen Texten. in D. H e l l h o l m (ed.) ,Apocalypticism in the M edi terranean wor ld and the Near East . Proceedings of th e

International Colloquium on Apocalypticism, Uppsala. August 12-17, 1 9 7 9

( Tü b i n g e n : Mohr-Siebeck, 1983) 345-77.



DA VIDIC MESSIAH 185

fai thfulness of a small body of people, will finally restore the situationto as it was before th e process of degradation began.

The v iew on h is tory as a fateful process leading to the total corrup-t ion of an or ig ina l ly perfec t c rea t ion f r equen t l y occurs in Jewishl i t e ra tu re and l ies at the basis of m any Jew i sh t ex ts of eschatologicalcon ten t . In texts such as Dan 2; 7; / Enoch 93 :1 - 1 0 + 91 : 1 1 - 1 7 ; 2Baruch 53-74, h i s tory i s d iv ided in to fou r or more periods. Incommon wi th o ther tex ts , such as / Enoch 83-90 and Assu mp tion o f

M u s e s 2-9, w h i ch do not use this clear periodizat ion, they presenthis tory wi th a genera lly dow nw ard tendency. Even if in some of theseexample s al lowance is made for a n u m b e r of u p t u rn s in the downward

tendency of h i s tory Assumption o f Moses 4; in 2 Baruch 53-70,his tory is p resented as an alternation of br igh t and black waters) , theend i s nonetheless to ta l d i s rupt ion (Assumpt ion o f M oses 7-9; 2Baruch 68-70).

The idea that when th e downfal l of h u m a n i t y in terms of moral andprosperi ty is complete, something wil l happen to restore the world toit s original glory, is a l so known from non-Jewish l i t e ra tu re . T he ideaof the world ' s de ter iora t ion and i ts restoration by the de i ty is elabo-ra te ly di scussed in Pla to ' s Politicus 268c - 274e . '7 T he m y t h is

presented as "ch i ld ' s p lay" (Politicus 268c) '* and l ikewise , th e con-cept of the return of the golden age may be used half in jest in Vi rg i l ' sE c l o g u e 4 (referr ing to the C u m a e a n h y m n , " th a t is, a S i by l l i n ep ro ph e c y ) . In a f i f t h - cen tu ry comedy b y Crates, the re t u rn of thegolden age is parodied.1 9 Nonetheless, all three passages are wi tnessto th e existence of the idea.

The golden age and the world's deterioration are described inHesiod, Works and D ays 107 -201 . The description resembles that ofJubi lees 23 to such an ex ten t , tha t it can be safely assumed that these

images were w idely kno w n in the Hellenistic world (although it is lessl i ke l y t ha t the au thor o f Jubilees w as l i t e ra r i l y dependen t on

Lovejoy and Boas, Primitiv ism. 156-59.11 Cf., how ever , A . C ape l l e , Platos D ialog Politikos (diss., H a m b u r g

Universi ty. 1939)29-31 Craies, Beluae, preserved in Athenaeus, D eipnosophis lae 4.267e-268a; cf.

Lovejoy and Boas, P rimitiv ism, 39-40; H. J. de Jonge, "BOTPrc B O H C E I : The Age

of Kronos and the Mi l l enn iu m in Papias of Hierapolis," in M. J. V ermaseren (ed.),Stu dies in Hellenistic Re l ig ions (EPRO 78; Leiden: Bri l l , 1979) 37-49.



186 T R O M P

Hesiod).20 Hesiod did not say that the golden age would return, but itis obvious tha t it was unders tood to come back by m a n y . In this con-

t ex t , the E p i c u r e a n and Stoic doctr ines of the r econs t i t u t ion of thecosmos after i ts decom posit ion or con flag ration have the appearanceof reflecting or even rat iona lizing popular ideas; it may at least be saidthat the philosophical topos on the question of whether the world waseternal or f in i te , mu s t even tua l ly be rooted in common bel iefs .2 1 Thenotion that degeneration and recomposit ion formed a cyclical processmay be a secondary development, legit imized, if not invented, by theearly Stoic philosophers, and combining the idea of a new age w i thastronomical calculat ions.2 1

For the purpose of the present argument, it is impor tan t to concludetha t J ewish escha to logy d id not emerge as the r e su l t of the disap-p o i n t m e n t at the D a v id i c dyn as ty ' s f a i l u r e to r e tu rn . Jewisheschatology should rather b e in terpre ted as a specif ic variant o f a phe -n o m e n o n o c c u r r i n g in the He l l en i s t i c Near Eas t in genera l . T heobservat ion tha t Jewish eschato logy was unre la ted in or ig in to thef igure of the son of David easily expla ins w hy there are so m a n yJewish eschatological texts in which no king features, and why the sonof David emerges only in relat ively late eschatological texts . Jewish

eschatology is not the ev en tu al outcom e of the loss of the Da vid icdynasty. Ins tead, the inclus ion of a royal f igure into the complex ofeschatological expectations is best considered as a secondary speciali-zation of the general concept of future res torat ion.

For the suggest ion of l i lerury dependence on Hesiod, e e Glasson. Greek

Influence, 4.F. G. Downing, "Cosmic Eschato logy in the First C e n t u r y : 'Pagan.'

Jewish and Ch ristian," L 'Antiquité Classique 64 (1995) 99-109.J. Mans fe ld , "Providence and the Destruct ion of the Universe in Early

Stoic Thou ght," in V ermaseren (ed.). Studies, 129-88.21 Cf. R. van den Broek, The M yth of th e P hoenix According to C lassical an d

Early Christian Traditions (EPRO 24; Leiden: Bri l l , 1972) 67 -112 . W . Clausen, A

Commentary on Virgil, Ec logues (Oxford : Clarendon. 1994) 1 31 . comment s thatin the Four th Ec logue Virgi l does n ot imagine the return of the golden age as part

of a cyc l ica l process, "but a s ta te of cons tant fe l ic i ty , a wo r l d end less lyredeemed."



DA V I D I C M E S S IA H 187

T H E K I N G I N E S C H A T O L O G I C A L S C E N A R I O S

The conclus ion of the preceding section leads to the question of wha t

i nduced a n u m b e r of au tho r s to look forward to a k i n g in the idealfu ture .

It should be noted, first of all, that a fu tu re king features in a n o n -Jewish eschatological text before such a king is mentioned in Jewisht ex ts , n a m e l y the t h i rd -cen t u ry -B CE Demot ic Chronic le , in w h i c h ana t i ve E g y p t i a n k i n g is p rophes ied to end the fore ign ru le overEgypt.2 4 The presence of th is f igure is not surpr is ing , because king-sh ip and the land were tradit ionally closely related in Egypt , and thesub ject ion of the land to successive foreign dynasties can plausibly be

seen as a reason for expect ing a native royal f igure. Moreover , thereseems to have been a t r a d i t i o n in Egypt of vaticinia ex eventu, inwhich prophets are alleged to have foretold th e a dv e n t of a king end-ing a state of u t ter socie ta l despai r .2 ' These p rophec ies m ay haveserved as a model for composing eschatological scenarios (as in thecase of the Demotic Chronicle).

The emergence of a royal f igure in Jewish eschatological texts can,to a certain extent , be regarded as an analogous phenomenon. If i t ist rue that Jew ish eschatological scenarios w hich inclu de a royal f igure

date to the first c e n t u r y BC E at the earliest, it is t e m p t i n g to assume ac o n n e c t i o n w i t h the fact that , from c a . 1 0 0 B C E o n w a r d s , theHasm onean h igh pr ies ts had themse lves ca l led kin gs . Fur ther sub-stantiation of this assumption might be seen in the observation that inthe second c entu ry BC E, a nu m be r of Jewish eschato logica l tex ts in -clude, not a king, but a priest as the ruler of the fu ture ideal situation.2 6

See, e.g., I . G . G rif f iths, "Apocalyptic in th e Hel len is t ic Era." i n Hel lholm( e d . ) . Apocalypticism, 273-93 (esp. 279-83); also Hengel , Judentum u nd

Hellenismus, 337-38.J. Ass ma nn. "Königsdogma u nd He i l s e rwar t ung" : see also H . Ringgren.

" Akkad ian Apocalypses," in Hel lholm (ed.) . Apocalyp ticism, 379-86.* On the ear ly impo rtance of an eschatological priest, see M. de Jonge, "The

Role of Intermediar ies in God's Final In tervent ion in th e Future according to theQ u m r a n Scrolls," in O. Miche l , et al. (eds.) . S tud ies on the Jew ish Background o f

the New Testament (Asse n: V an Gorcum . 1969) 44-63 = Jewish Eschatology,

Early Christian Christologv, and th e Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs.

Collected Essays of M arinus de Jonge (NovTSup 63; Uiden: Br i l l , 1991 ) 28-47;see also J. C. Vand e rKam. "Jub i lees and the Priest ly Messiah of Qu mra n." R e vQ

13 ( 1 9 8 8 ) 353-65 = idem. From Revelation to Canon: Studies in the HebrewBib le and Second Temple Li terature ( JSJSup 62 ; Leiden: Br i l l . 2000) 462-75.



1 88 T R O M P

The exact nature of the eschatological leader's of f ice would then re -flect the actual situation of the period in w h ich a particular concept

with in the complex of eschatological images arose.2 7

One consequence of this line of thought should be considered, how-ever, before it can be d efini t ively embraced. It assumes that there is ageometrical congruence between the actual situation and the desireds i tua t ion , in the sense that the d esi red s i t ua t ion w ou ld be, as it were ,th e perfectly mirrored situation of the present. This seems to implythat eschatological texts including a po l i t i ca l f igure mus t a lways beassumed to have been writ ten b y people w ho were in political opposi-t ion to the people w ho were concretely in power .

That this is indeed the case, seems obvious, on the one h a n d , fromsuch texts as Psalm o f Solomon 17, wh i c h is comm only taken to havebeen wr i t ten in opposition to the Hasmonean ru lers of Judea (cf . P s.

Sol. 17:4-6).2> This opposition m ay well have "led to the emergence ofan interpretat ion of the davidic dy na s ty t radi t ion in t e rms of an ideol-ogy of renewed davidic kingship."2 '*

On the other hand, there are texts which sugges t tha t mat ters aremore complicated. In Assumption o f M o ses 6, the regime of kingHerod and his successors is f ierce ly re jec ted. However , the ma in

reason why the author believed that God must f inally intervene is thetotal moral degradation of Judea's leaders in general, as described inAssumption o f Moses 1. In Assumpt ion o f M o ses 9, it is even clearertha t the author regarded his society as a wh o l e to be c o r r u p t to thebone (9:3). In many other texts , eschatological or not, i t can be ob-served that references to bad leaders are made in order to sugges t th eutter ly desperate state of society as a whole (see, e.g., Ezek 22:25-29;

̂ This is the a rgumen t of, e.g., H . H. R o w l ey . Th e R elevance of Apocalyptic:

A S tudy of Jew ish an d Christian Apocalypses f rom Danie l In th e Revelation ( 2 n ded.; Londo n: Lu t te rwor th , I947| 25-28.

28 The Psalm is usua l ly dated to short ly after Pompey 's invasion of 63 B C E .A somewhat later date w as proposed by K. Atkinson, Herod th e Great, Sosius,and th e Siege of Jerusalem (37 B.C.E.) in Psalms of Solomon 17." N n v T 38 ( 1996)313-22. In 'The Sinners and the Lawless in Psalm of Solomon 17," NovTIS

(1993) 344-61,1 have argued tha t here not the Hasmoneans, but the Romans arein view, an d have denied the possibility of a more precise dating than that of theRoman era . However , th i s is l ess impor tant for the ma t t e r p r e sen t l y unde rdiscussion.

Pomykala , The D avid ic Dynasty Tradition, 167.



DA VFDIC MESSIAH 1 89

M ie 3 : 1 1 ; Zeph 3:3-4; As. M o s . 5:4-6).' In the same Psalm o f

Solomon 17 it appears that the deplorable state of Jerus alem politics is

not presented as the cause of the problem, but as a part of it (Ps. Sol.17:15 , 19-20).

These cons ide ra t ions p reven t us, I t h ink , from u nd e r s t a nd ing theideal fu tu re to o strictly or concretely as the reversal of the present.':

Whereas i t makes perfect sense to say that God must send a king toreplace the present one, if one objects to the ac tua l ly ru l ing k ing, itmight s t i l l make good sense to include such a figure in one's projec-t ion of the ideal fu ture , if one is speaking in a more general way of thepresent as thorough ly imm ora l .

In tha t case, the ima ge of the ideal kin g as it features in a nu m ber ofeschatological scenarios might s imply be part of the tradit ionally en-visaged ideal s i tuation, projected into the fu ture . The presence of aking in such scenarios may have to be explained more on a traditio-historical and literary level, than as the direct consequence of concretepolit ical opposit ion against particu lar rulers . This explanation by nomeans rules out tha t the ac tua l s i tu a t io n as perce ived by an authorplayed a role in the way in w h i ch he envisaged th e ideal future . How-ever, it is u nli ke ly that eschatological thin kin g as such w as tr iggered

by the rejection of a particular ruler or dynasty. Instead, the rejectionof a ru le r or ru l ing class (w i t h or without the expectation of an idealru le r in the fu ture ) shou ld be seen as a featu re of an autho r 's negativeassessment of society as a whole . In any case, there seems to be noor ig ina l ly in t r ins ic connec t ion be tween the expectation of an idealk ing in the fu ture , and a na t ive Judean tradition about the return of theDavidic dynasty.

THE IM GE OF THE I D E L RULER

If it is tru e that the concept of an eschatological kin g, sent by Go d toend a period of u tter misery, w as inc luded in certain Jewish circles asa spec if ica t ion of escha tologica l th inking in genera l , it should beadded that this frame of mind and the concomitant concepts came to

J. Tromp , The Assumption of Moses : A Critical Edition w ith Com men tary

( S V T P 10; Leiden: Bri l l . 1993) 186-87. J. Tromp, 'The Sinners and th e Lawless," 352.12 Cf. E. J . C . T igche l aa r . Prop hets of Old and the D ay of the End:

Zechariah. the Book o f Watcktrs and Apocalypt ic (OTS 35; Leiden: Br i l l . 1996)263-65.



190 TROMP

funct ion within an exis t ing culture with i ts ow n p articularities. That isto say, eschatology and i ts specif ic expectat ions were not impor ted

and s imply added to the a l r e a dy a v a i l a b l e set of t r a d i t i o n s andconcepts , but integrated into i t , and dressed in a d i s t i nc t ive ly localgarb, thereby receiving its particular character of Jew ish eschatology.

This process o f appropr ia t ion and in t e rna l i za t ion r e su l t ed in t e x t sthat are of a s imi lar na ture , and use comparable concepts as the i rcounterpar ts in o ther cu l tu re s of the Hel len is t ic wor ld , b u t w hic h arenone the les s unmis takab ly J ewish . Obv ious ly , the God who i s ex -pected to intervene in his tory is expected to act on behalf of his ownJudean people. This is a truism , bu t in less ob viou s ways too, the inte-

gration of eschatology in the wider Hel len is t ic cu l tu res wi th Jewisht r ad i t ion, r e su l t ing in a genu ine ly J ew ish spec imen o f th i s w or ldv iew,is observable. Mention can be made of the eschatological interpreta-tion of traditional Israelite themes such as the Day of the Lord, w h i c hcould now be understood as the day of the f inal judgement. The por-t rai t of the ideal ruler in the eschato logica l fu tu re can also be observedto have typically Judean traits.

Psalm o f Solomon 17 conta ins the mos t extens ive pre-Chr is t ianJewi sh description of a son of David expected to a s sume power in the

future." It follows a descript ion of the present s i tuat ion in Jerusalem,w h i c h is character ized by the ty rann ica l , murde rous r u l e o f i l leg i t i -mate , non-Davidic kings , as we l l as by the s i n f u l n e s s and c r i m i n a lbehav iou r of the inhabi tan ts o f Jerusa lem themselves (17:1 -20) . In theprayer for a son of David to be k i n g in J e ru sa lem, God is asked tocreate the king to smash the s inners and t h e i r arrogance and free theci ty from foreigners (17:21-25); next , that he may rule over a r ight-eous people , pur i f ied f rom s in , and holy (17:26-29) ; tha t he maysubdue th e nat ions and gather the dispersed ( 17 :30 -31 ) ; and br ing

abou t a peace fu l and safe existence for the people under his rule, onaccount of the Messiah's and the people's trust in God (17:32-43).

T he future envisaged in this prayer reflects the au thor ' s ideas aboutthe perfect society. Peace, righteousness and holiness are the charac-teristics of the world in w h ich he would l ike to l ive . These themes arevery much reminiscent of other depictions of the ideal society ruled

For a comparison of Psalm of Solomon 17 and o ther mess ianic t ex t s wi thth e Qu mran f r agmen t s men t i oned above, see M . A . Kn i bb , "Mess ian ism in thePseudepigrapha in the Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls," D S D 2 (1995) 165-84; K.Atkinson, "On the Herodian Origin of Mi l i t an t Davidic Messianism at Qumran:New Ligh t from Psalm of Solomon 17." J B L ] 18 (1999) 435-60.



DAV IDIC MESSIAH 191

by a good king. The exact wording in w h ich th e desired situation isphrased clearly deriv es to a great exten t from ancient royal ideology.14

Severa l terms and concepts appear to have been taken from O T pas-sages concerning the perfect king, the foremost being Isa 11:1-5.15

It is possible that th e au tho r of Psalm of So lomon 17 in fact quotedor purposely edited the Isaianic passage; the passage is explici t lyq u o t e d and in terpre ted in the I sa iah pesher (4Q161)." ' A l te rna t ive ly ,the terms and concepts of Isa 11 : 1 -5 and other passages may havebeen part of a l iv ing oral t radi t ion, and handed down indep enden t ly ofthe book o f I sa iah . This p oss i bi l i t y , ra t he r than tha t o f l i t e r a r ydependency, more easily explains the variance wi th Isa 11:1-5 and the

c onc l ud i ng lines of that prophecy in vv. 6-9, the omission of certainat tract ive images occurr ing in tha t passage, as w e ll as the presence ofcertain elements w hich cannot have been derived from it .

That th e t r ad i t ion of the image of the ideal ruler is not on ly a mat terof creative reading in the psalms and prophets , but of an ongoing,

l i v i ng pract ice, can be conc luded f rom the fo l lowing ins tances , inw hi c h par t icu lar ru le r s are praised by prophets or other court officialsas the ideal rulers.

C yrus

In the Deutero- Isa ian ic ex eveniu prophecies about Cyrus of Pers ia,use is made of the image of the ideal ru ler former ly appl ied to thek ings of Je rusa lem. ' The tradit ional Judahite image is par t of a more

Cf., fo r instance. H. Gres smann , D er Ursprung der israelitisch-jüdischen

Eschatologie ( F R L A N T 6; G ö t t ingen : Vandenhoeck & R u p rech t , 1905) 250-70,Mo w i n c ke l , He That Cometh, 2 1 -95; A. Laato. The Servant of YHWH an d Cyrus :

A K einterpretarion of th e Ex ilic Messianic P rogram m e in Isaiah 40-55 (ConBOT35: Stockholm: A lmqu i s t & W ikse l l, 1992) 47-65.

G. L. Davenport. "The 'Anoin ted of the Lord ' in Psa lms o f Solomon 17,"i n G. W. E. Nicke l sburg an d J. J. Co l l ins (eds.) . Ideal Figures in Ancient Ju daism

(SBLSCS 12 ; M isso u la. MT : Scholars Press, 1980) 67-92 (esp. 72, 89-90); cf. L.Har tman. Prophecy Interpreted: The Formation o) Some Jew ish Apocalypt ic Texts

and of th e Eschalological Discourse Mark 13 par. (Lund: Gleenip , 1966)99-101.* Pomykala , Th e D avid ic Dynasty Tradit ion, 197-203.

On the Jerusa lem origin of Deutero-lsaiah, see for instance th e concisea rgum en t in P. R. D avies, "God of Cyras , God of Israel: Some Rel igio-Histor icalReflect ions on Isaiah 40-55. in J. Davies , et al. (eds.). Words R em em b ered , Texts

Renewed: Essays in Honour of John F. A. Sawyer (JSOTSup 195; Sheffield:

JSOT, 1995) 207-25 (esp. 2 I O - I 5 ) . However , the da t ing o f D eutero-lsaiah to thesecond ha l f of the f i f l h c e n t u r y (K . B a l l z e r . Deutero-Jesaja [ K A T 10.2;



192 TR OMP

general Near Eastern view on ideal kingship , but the au tho r s of theDeutero- lsa ian ic prophecies had no need to resort to foreign mode l s

(as one might be tempted to conclude from the paral lels w i t h the so-called Cyrus -cyl inder),1 8 and the proper ly Judahi te character of thisimage is apparent from the bestowal of the term "Messiah" to Cyrus(Isa 45:1) . It is un l i k e ly tha t Cyrus had ever been anointed as a k i n g ,either of Anshan , Babylon or Jeru sa lem . Therefore , the term, whichcan be paraphrased as " Y a h w e h ' s au thor ized agent , " mus t be takenf igura t ive ly , designating the gift of power a long w i t h the ass ignmentof Yahweh.'9

In the entire region, shepherd (Isa 44:28) is a very usual designa-

t ion o f a k ing , or more genera l ly , the people's leaders , as in, e.g.,Ezekiel 34; cf. 2 Sam 5:2; 1:1.m The image of the shepherd symbol -

izes the good care which the ideal k ing takes of h is people (h i s"flock") , especial ly of the weakest among them (Isa 42:7); for thegood care the ideal king takes of his people, see Ps 72:4, 12 -14 .

God is said to have taken Cyrus by the r igh t hand ( I sa 45:1 ). This isan image of care and protection, as is s h o wn by a Phoen ic ian inscr ip-tion (mid-eighth century B CE ) in w hich the Danu nian vizier Azitiwadaboasts . " I grasped the MSKBM by the h a n d , and t h e y be h a v e d

( towards me) like an orph an towards (his) mother" (KAI 24 :13 ; cf. Isa.42:6).

Gülers loh : Mohn, 1999] 57-59; cf. Davies , God of Cyrus , " 2 1 6 - 2 3 ) in myopin ion fa i ls lo ex p la in w hy someone w o u l d w a n t to ta lk abou t Cyrus in th i smagnifying w ay a century after his appearance.

* M . Smi th , "II Isaiah and (he Persians." JAGS 83 (1963) 4 1 5 - 2 1 = S. . D .

Cohen (ed.) . Studies in the Cult o f Yahweh . I. Studies in Historical Method .

Ancient Israel, Ancient Judaism b v Morton Smith ( R e l ig ions i n the Graeco-Roman World 130.1; Leiden: Br i l l , 1996) 73-83.

w E . Kutsch, Salbu ng ü ls R echtsak t im Alten Testament und im Alten Orient

( B Z A W 8 7 ; Be r l i n : Töpelmann, 1963) 6l; cf. K. El l iger . Deuterojesaja. I .

Teilband. Jesaja 40.1-45,7 ( B K A T 1 1 . 1 : N e u k i r c h e n - V I u y n : N e u k i r c h e n e rVer lag , 1978)492 .

* In the OT, "shepherds" u su a l ly refers to th e col lect ive r u l i ng class ; seeElliger, D euterojesaja, 476. See fur ther G. Wallis, "nç-i," TWAT, 7.566-76 (esp.570-75).

4 1 An otherwise un kn ow n group of people in this region; see J. C. L. Gibson,

Tex tbook o f Syrian Semitic Inscriptions III. Ph oenician Inscriptions (Ox fo rd :Clarendon. 1 982 )35 ,37-38 .



DA VIDIC MESSIAH 193

The Lord has called Cyrus by name (45:3, 4).42 In itself, the phrase"to call someone by name" has no roya l connota tions . W hen a h igh -

placed person (or god) calls a more lowly placed person by his or hern a m e , the speaker expresses an interest in the exact person of the ad-dressee and his or her specific qu ali t ies w hich the speaker m ight w antto br ing in to act ion for h is or her in tent ions (Exod 31:2; 33:12, 1 7;Esth 2:14) . In th is ins tance , the phrase re fe rs to Cyrus as be ingselected by Y a hw e h to fulfill specific divine plans, and is equ iva len tto inn, to choose.

For Cyrus , the gates of the c it ies to be ru ined wi l l be no obstacle;God him self w ill open them (cf. Am os 1:5; M ic 2:13; Hab 1:10). The

gods are often depicted as the effective authors of a king's victories.Mesha, k i n g o f Moab , a sc r ibed eve ry th ing he accompl i shed toKa m o sh ' s command and assistance; it is said, fo r instance, that he wasable to take th e town of Yahas from Omri because Kamosh drovehim ou t before m e" (KAI 181 : 19) . A z i t i w a d a con t i nuous ly ment ionstha t every th ing he did was on command , and b y the grace, of Baal andthe gods (KAl 2 6 passim).

Fina l ly , it s h o u l d be noted that in fu r ther oracles that might b edealing w ith Cyrus, Deutero-Isaiah has also used local traditions other

than those connected w i t h the pre-exi l ic d yna s ty . The announcementsof a king from the East (41 :2 , 25) a re usua l ly f ound in oracles ofdoom, but are here transformed into the prediction of the benevolentking Cyrus.4 ' The comparison of Cyrus with a bird of prey (46:11 ; cf.Jer 12:9; Ezek 39:4) confirms that the a u tho r is recontextualizing tra-di t ional announcements , so that the reuse of originally Davidic-royallanguage fo r a fo re ign k i n g can be seen as par t of the author ' sstrategy.

Deutero-Isaiah was not w rit ten in order to honor Cy rus . It is entirely

wri t t en in praise of Yahweh, and even allows for being read as a de-fense of the tradit ional Je ru sa l emi t e deity against reproaches of

Cf. the Mesopotamia parallels in A. Laato. A Star is R i sing , 16-18I n Isa 41 :25 , the a u t h o r al ternates, apparent ly for va r ia t ion ' s sake on ly ,

between East and North as the direction from which a conqueror, presumablyCyrus , w as expected, m a k i n g use o f quas i -mythologica l l a n g u a g e to refer toa c t u a l e v e n t s ; c f . K. Koch , "D ie S t e l l u n g d es Kyros im Gesch i ch t sb i l d

Deuterojesajas u nd ihre überl ieferungsgeschichtl iche Verankerung," ZA W 84(1972)352 -56 .



194 TROMP

inactivi ty and inadequacy.44 The gods of Babylon have fa l len beforeCyras (46:1) , but i t is Yah w eh, and non e other (passim), who has been

using the Persian king as his i n s t rumen t .^Therefore , the au thors have a c lear reason for dep ic t ing Cyrus in

tradit ional, Judahite terms for k ingship , inc lud ing that of messiah. Theforeign k i n g is w o v e n into the loca l fabr i c o f royal ideology, con-sc ious ly subs t i tu ted for the hom e-b red , Dav id ic k ings , and equippedwi th h onorific predicates s tressing Y a h w e h ' s sovere ignty in choos ingand guiding rulers.

This example shows tha t the ideas and concepts of Judahi te roya lideology cou ld be transferred to foreign rulers of Jerusalem, w ho w ere

not at all of Davidic descent. Cyrus is dep icted as God's ideal ruler inth e same terms that had been used for the de scendan ts of David . Eventhe spec if ica l ly Judahi te te rm "Mess iah" was used to des igna te h im,albeit metaph orically. Natu rally , no terms or trad it ions were u sed thatwere ex c lu s iv e ly charac te r ist ic of the David ides , suc h as Na tha n ' sprophecy (2 Samuel 7).

T he fo l lowing example conf i rms tha t the ima ge of the idea l ru le rwas not a mat te r of wri t ten tex ts f rom the pas t , bu t ra ther a l i v i n g ,meaningfully functioning tradition.

The Lévi tes

In the early-second century BCE, priests effectively, if not n o m i n a l ly ,ruled Jerusalem.4*' In J u b . 31:13-17, d iv ine promises are made to Levi

This u nd ers tan d in g of , e .g . , I sa iah 45 i s sugges ted by read ing v . 15(contrasted w i t h v. 19) as a reproach on beha lf of Jud ahi tes : "N onetheless , you are

a hidden god, S a v i o u r God of I s rae l, " w hich mig ht be paraphrased as fo l low s:"W e d o no t no t ice much o f y o u r s a l v a l i o n a l a c t i v i t i e s , Y a h w e h , " t h a t is, asopposed to those of Cyrus and his gods (cf the e q ua l l y d e f ens ive passages Isa40:27; 4 2 : 14 ; 43:12). To co un t e r t h is a t ta ck , Yahw eh is presented as Cyrus's god,even though Cyrus does no t k n o w Ya hw eh (45:4-5). C ompare H. M. Bars tad . A

Way in the Wilderness: The "Second Exo d us " in the Mes s a ge of Second Isaiah

( J S S M 1 2 ; Manches t e r: Un ive r s i t y of Manches te r , 1989) 65-66; Laato. T he

Servant of YHWH, 170.4' T he concept that the God of Israel uses foreign kings a s h is ins t ruments is

not uncommon (cf . , e .g. , Jer 43:10 MT; more spec i f ica l ly i n v o l v i n g C y r u s :Jeremiah 51 M T ) .

* Cf. D. Goodblatt, The Monarchic Principle: Studies in Jewish Self-

Government in Antiquity (TSAJ 38; Tub in g e n : Mohr -S iebeck , 1994) 6-28.



D A V I D I C M E S S I A H 1 95

und h is o f f spr ing , w h i c h set the Lévites apart as the ru lers , judges andteachers of Israel.17

Several elements in this bless ing refer to funct ions tha t are na tu ra l lypr ies t ly . They include t each ing the l a w , acting as j u dg e and bless ingthe people (Jub . 31 :15 ) . The adminis t ra t ion o f jus t ice is a task equallya t t r ibu ted to k ings. Moreover, Levi and his descendants are called"ru lers" ( J ub . 3 1 : 1 5 ) .

4* In a portion of the Aramaic Levi Document.

preserved in a Greek translat ion in manusc r ip t e of the Testaments o f

the Twelve Patriarchs, and related to the book of Jubilees, th e p r ies t lyr u l e is ex pl ic i t ly ca l led "kingly ru le" (cf . 1Q21 i).*

T he royal character is t ics a t t r ibu ted to the Lévi tes in this passage

m u s t b e related to the act u al po sit ion the pr ies ts had in early-secondc e n t u r y Jeru sa lem . This imp ress ion is conf i rm ed by the immedia te lyfo l lowing bless ing f or J u d a h ( Jub . 31:18-20) . This b less ing is not on lym u c h b r i e fe r than tha t o f Levi , bu t the c o n c l u d i n g w o r d s of bo thbless ings are p rac t i ca l l y ident ica l (compare J u b . 31 :20 wi th 3 1 : 1 7 ) .These conc lud ing words are de r ived from Deu t 33 :11 , Moses' bless-in g of Levi, so that i t appears that terms associated with the tr ibe ofLevi came to be used for the rulers from the tr ibe of Judah as well .The s imples t ex pl an at io n for th is is to assume th at for an au thor who

had no memory o f o ther I s rae l i te ru le rs tha n pries ts for c e n t u r i e s , theconcept of k i n g l y ru le was co loured to an ex t en t by the model ofpries t ly r u l e .

The bless ing of L e v i and J u d a h in Ju b i l ee s is a vaticinium ex eventit

of bo th the royal and the p r ies t ly ru le of Jerusa lem. The prophecyc onc e r n i ng J u da h has been f u l f i l l e d : the re have indeed been k ing sfrom the tr ibe of Judah. That there are no more such kings in the t imeof the author is not made explici t . However, i t is not said ei ther thatJ u d a h ' s k i n g s h i p w i l l last forever. This stands in strong contrast to

Levi ' s pr ies thood, which is said no less than four t imes to be eternal .It is clear that the au thor envisages a cont inuous pr ies thood f rom Leviu p to his own t ime and forever more. In other words , the pr ies thood

M . d e J o n g e and J . Tromp , Jacob's Son Lev i in the Old T e s t a m e n tPseudepigrapha and R ela ted Literature," i n M . E. Slone and T. A. B ergren (eds.) ,Bibl ical F i gures Outs ide th e B ib le (Har r i sburg : Tr in i ty Press In te rna t iona l , 1998)203-36.

My c o m m e n t s on V a n d e r K a m ' s r ende r ing mala''kt as leaders, in De

Jonge and Tromp. "Jacob's Son Levi ," 2 1 1 - 1 2 , were en t i re ly un jus l t f i ed .* Cf. Goodb lat t. T he M onarchic Principle, 44-49



196 TROMP

described in Isaac's bless ing of Levi is the pr ies thood which is actu-ally func t ion ing in the au thor ' s t ime.

From Jubilees 31 it can be concluded that the traditional languagein which kings used to be praised, could be transferred to those actu-ally in power. T he pr ies ts have in fac t adopted many of the du t i e susually performed by kings , and in the description of the ideal priestseveral t rad it ion ally royal cha racte r is t ics have been adopted. This pas-sage, therefore, is an ins tance of the ongoing t radi t ion of the praise ofrulers, adapted to the fact that in the t ime when Jubilees w as writ ten,priests in effect wielded supreme secular power in Jerusalem.

The H asmonean Simon

The conclusions reached so far in this section are confirmed by the

image of the Hasmonean high pries t Simon in 1 M accabees 1 4. Thiswrit ing, composed short ly after 135 BCE, depic ts the age of Simon asa time of perfect bliss.

Ent i re ly in l ine wi th th e pra ise of Near Eas tern despots,™ 1 M ace14:4-15 begins , af ter briefly men t ion ing h is con t r ibu t ion to the we l l -being of the people in general (v. 4), with an enum eration of Simon'sachievements in the domain of in ternat ional poli t ics : he is said to have

made important terr i tor ial conquests and many prisoners of w arM (vv .5-7). Next comes a more detailed description of the peace he broughtto his country as a result of its enemies ' fear of h im (vv . 8 -13) . Thephrasing o f the na tion 's welfare is rem inisc ent of old salvation ora-cles. Simon is fur therm ore sa id to have suppor ted the poor, to havebeen faithful to the law, and to have destroyed sinners (v. 14). Almostas an after thought it is f inal ly ment ioned tha t he added to the temple 'ssplendor and to the number of holy vessels (v. 15).

In sum, Simon is most of all described as a ruler (compare also the

people's decree in 1 Mace 14:27-47). The author is w e l l aware thathe was a priest. In the context of 1 Maccabees, his p ur i f ica tion of theland (14:7) and his dedication to the law (14:14) are unmistakable ref-

Cf. the (self-)praise of pe t ty pr inces in K AI 24. 26 , 2 1 4 . 2 1 5 ; and thepa ra l l e l s d i scussed in E. B l u m e n t h a l an d S M o r e n z , "Spu r e n äg y p t i s c h e rKönigsideologie in e in e m H y m n u s auf den Makkab äer fü rsten Simon. Zeitschrift

für ägypt ische Sprache und Altertumskunde 93 (1966l 21-29.O r: "brought many back from capt iv i ty" : so F . -M. Abe t , L es Livres d es

Maccabees (Paris: Lecoffre, 1949) 2 51

'2 Cf. D. Arenhoeve l , Die Theokratie nach dem I. und 2. Makkabäerbuch

(Mainz: M at th ia s Gruenew a ld , 1967) 62-66.



D A V I D I C ME SSI AH 197

e r e nc e s to the t e m p l e ' s cen t ra l i ty for the J e w i s h society.51

Nonethe less , he has chosen to present Sim on's achievemen ts foremost

as those of a poli t ical and mili tary ruler. According to 1 Maccabees

14, the high priest 's a t tention to the temp le w as no greater or smallerthan that of princes and kings, to whom he is compared in the firs tplace. This reflects th e political reality of the H a s mone a n period, inw h i c h the high pr ies ts were the sovere igns of Judea . Consequent ly ,th e praise of the ideal ru ler , once rela ted to the k ings of Israel andJ ud a h , w as here transferred to Sim on, their effective successor.

This l auda to ry de sc r ip t ion of S imon is a perfect example of thecasual transfer of royal praise to the one actual ly in power, even if hehappens

to be a priest. Simon's

priestly duties hardly

come into viewin this passage, and even the remark abou t his muni f ic ence towardsth e t emple is tradit ion ally m ore appropria te of a k ing-benefac tor thanof the k ing ' s cu l t i c employees, which is w h a t priests in the age of theDavidic dynasty used to be.

Zerubbabe l

Lack of space p r e ve n t s i n c l u s ion of a thorough d iscuss ion of theproblemat ic f igure of Zerubbabe l , th e governor of Judah on behalf of

th e Persian king, in th is section. Zerubbabel is adduced by many as ane x a m p l e of pos t -ex i l ic D a v i d i c mess ian i sm. Howeve r , a s ha s beenargued by K. E. Pomykala , Zerubbabel was neither a Davidide, 54 norcalled a Messiah. Moreover, th e passage which is often read as a de-pic t ion of an ideal messianic fu ture , Hag 2:20-23, should more l ikelybe read as another example of cour t ly praise.

T he te rms in which Haggai phrases the imminen t g randeur of thegove rnor o f J u d a h are w e l l - k n o w n f ro m the genera l anc ient NearEastern royal ideology, i nc lu di ng that of pre-exi l ic Judah . God wi l l

move heaven and earth (P s 18:7; Hag 2:6), overthrow the ru le ofkingdoms ( Isa 13:19; cf. Ps 2:8-9; 21:9; 46:9-10; 110:5-6; Jer 51:20),defea t the ir cava lry (Exod 1 5:1 ; P s 76:6; Isa 31:3; Jer 51 : 21 ) , and

For zeal fo r the l aw" ( 1 Maccabees 2) as a specifically priestly qua l i t y ,.see M u m 25 :11 -13 ; Ps 106:30-31; Wisd 18:20-25; Sir 45:23-24; J u b . 30:18; Philo,Spec. L e g . 1.56-57; c f. Exod 32:27-29; Deul 33:9.

u Thi s is the c la im o f I C hr 3:19 on ly , and the Chron ic l e r is l ikely to err int h i s instance; see J. M. Mi l le r and J. H. Hayes , A History o f Ancient Israel and

Judah (Lo nd on: SCM , 1986) 456; Pomyk ala, The D avid ic D ynas ty , 46-53.w Cf. Pomyka la . The David ic D ynas ty Tradition, pp. 53-60.



198 TROMP

choose his servant Zerubbabel as his signet-ring, that is, his deputy onearth (Jer 22:24; cf. Ezek 28:12) .

All this boils down to a br ief , but t radi t ional oracle to a currentruler,* to whom great glory is promised in the (near ) fu ture; thepromise is condi t ioned by Z erubbabe l 's reconstruct ion of the temple.This passage does not imp ly that Zerubbabel was a royal f igure , bu tshows that the court ly rhetoric or ig inal ly belonging to k i ng s cou l d betransferred to a high-ranking official of the Persian king (so far as the

J e r u s a l e mi t e s we r e concerned, the im m ed iate represe ntat ive of thek ing h imsel f ) , who filled in for the k ing in one of the la t ter ' s most im -portan t dut ies: bu i ld ing and ma inta in ing temples and cu l ts .*

In this section, it has been argued that the pre-exil ic cou rt ly rhetoricof the k i n g as the idea l r u l e r w as c o n t i n u e d in the Persian andHellenis t ic period and, w i t h a l l due mo d i f i ca t ions depend ing on cir-cum stances, app lied to the actu al rule rs: the Persian k ing , or the localhigh priests. This continuing tradit ion was u nrelated to any expecta-t ion of an ideal k ing in the f u t u r e , even to k i n g s h i p at all, not toment ion the f ami ly of David . Instead , if a Jewish au thor inc luded af u t u r e k i n g in his eschatological scenar io , he por t r ayed him in theimage of the ideal ruler as it existed in his own t ime.

J E W I S H ESCHATOLOGY A N D A S O N O F D A V I D

Both in the cou rt ly praise of an actual ruler, and in the description of aruler to be sent by God in the eschatological future , the portrai t whichth e author draws is that of an ideal ruler. Therefore, both portraits, dif-ferent from each other as they may be in their au thor s ' intentions, arenatura l ly l ikely to resemble each other . As the poli ty of Jerusalemchanged through th e centuries, and the status of the holders of power

changed with it, the courtly praise of the rulers is seen to have beenadapted to the demands of the circum stances. Thus, i t is easily und er-stood that, for instance in Jubilees 31 , royal character ist ics were

Ibid., 47-49.

Cf. R. A. Mason, "The Purpose of the 'Ed i tor ia l F ram ew ork ' of Ihe Book

of Haggai, VT 27 (1977) 413-27. I am less incl ined than Mason to sharplyd i s t i ngu i sh between the oracles of Haggai himself and the ed i to r i a l f r amework .

* C f. Laato, A Star is Rising. 196-200.



D A V I D I C MESSIAH 199

a t t r ibu ted to the p r i es thood ,w bu t also tha t the k ing in Psalm o f

Solomon 17 indub i tab ly bears p r ies t ly traits.6"

Therefore, it can b e said that the image of the ideal ru ler in Je w isheschatological scenarios is a reflect ion of the specif ical ly Jew ish ideaof w h a t t he perfect ruler should look l ike. Du e to the p art icular his toryof Judea, the traditional Jewish image of the ideal ruler had developedin to a part icular form, in which royal and pr ies t ly concepts had beenc o m b i n e d . A s argued above, the memory of, or desire for, a m e m be rof the Davidic fami ly to occupy the throne, plays no perceptible rolein the development of the image of the ideal ruler from the sixth to thesecond centuries BCE.

If th is argument is accepted, the ident i f ica t ion of the eschatologicalr u l e r as a son of David, occurr ing in Jewish texts s ince the f irs tcentu ry B CE, is most eas i ly und ers tood as a fur th er jud aization of themore general eschatological concept as it ex i s t ed th roughou t theH e l l e n i s t i c and Roman empi res . In the con tex t o f the p resen tdiscussion, however, i t is important to stress that the ideal ruler of thefu ture , on the one han d, and the ima ge of David as the ideal king fromth e past are or ig in al ly u nre la ted ideas . This is shown by a s u rvey ofth e image of Dav id in the p ost-exil ic era.61

In th e books of Chronic les , David is presented most of all as thet e m p l e bu i lder and the organizer of the Levi t ica l cult (cf . also thepriest ly redaction of N ehemiah . N eh 12:45).w Cult ic associations alsodomina te in the priestly redaction of N ehemiah , where D av id is men-tioned as the i n v e n t o r o f temple mus ic and organizer of the Lévi tes

M . E . Slone, "Ideal Figures and Social Context: Priest and Sage in the

Ear ly Second Temple Age" , i n P. D. Mi l le r , et al. (eds . ) . Ancient Israelite

Rel ig ion . F. M . Cross Festschrift (Ph i l ade lph ia : Fortress, 1988) 575-86 (580) =idem. Selected Studies in Pseudepigrapha and Apocrvpha, w i th Special R eference

to the Armenian Tradition (SVTP 9: Leiden: Brill , 1991 ) 259-70 (264). ' Davenport , "The 'An ointe d of Ih e Lord,' 75."' On variou s pro ph etic passages not discu ssed here, see J. J. M. R oberts,

"The O ld Tes tamen t ' s Con t r ibu t ion to Messianic Expectat ions," in Charlesworth(ed.), The Messiah. 39-51.

(i: P. B. Dirksen, "The Future in the Book of Chronicles," i n P. J. Har l andan d C . T R . Hayward (eds.). N ew Heaven and New Earth: Prophecy and the

M i ll enn ium . Essays in Honou r of Anthony Gelston ( V T S u p 77; Leiden: Br i l l ,1999)37-51 (esp. 44-50).



200 TROMP

(Neh 12:24, 36, 45; cf. Ezra 3:10 ; PS. 15 1 ; in Tob l :4 S, "the house ofDavid" even seems to designate the temple).61

In Deutero-Zechariah 12:1-13:1, the house of David i s ment ioned ,b u t unfor tunate ly th is passage is f r augh t w i t h i n s u r m o u n t a b l e in te r -preta t ive diff icul t ies." In th is passage the f ami ly of David i s men-t ioned in direct connection w i th the house of Levi (Zec h 12 :12-1 3: seealso th e addit ion in Jer 33:17-22 MT) . The date of these prophecies(and the redactional process leading to the i r com pi la t ion) is a mat terof un ending debate .

In Is a 55:3-4, David is presented as the k ing of Judah when i t was amajor wor ld power . The mercy of David is r em em b er ed in 1 M ace2:57; his heroic deeds are recalled in 1 Mace 4:30 and in the praise ofthe fa thers in Sir 47:1-7. In the la t ter wr i t ing his last ing mer i t s areseen to lie in his cultic achievements: see Sir 47:8-11 and cf. 49:4.Final ly , when in Sir 45:25 the "covenant fo r David" is m en t i oned , i tfunctions as a m od e l for the idea that only Aaronides can be priests

(i.e., in Sirach's view, rulers; c f. Sirach SO).*5

Obviously , David w as seen as a f igure from th e past,** whose nam eis used as a w arrant of l eg i timacy . Al tho ug h the memory of his name

was al ive, in none of the examples discussed above is there a l ink toth e future, or the slightest trace of hope for a re turn to the throne by ason of Dav id . This conf i rms wha t h as been concluded above, that thehope for an eschatological , David ic Messiah is a secondary develop-m e n t of a more general eschatological wo r l d v i ew . The name of Dav idap p a r en t l y stood for the k ing of the J u d e a n s p ar excellence; only

The relat ionship between David an d temple mus ic is of course well kno w nfrom th e head ings of th e Psalms and may al ready have been fami l ia r to the

au thors of the legend on David p lay ing th e harp fo r Sau l , recorded in 1 Sam16:14-23. The oldest preserved reference 1 0 Dav id as a mus ic ian is p robab lyA m o s 6:5.

64 Cf. M. Sœb0 , Sacharja 9-14. Untersuchunxen von Tex t u nd Form

( W M A N T 34 ; N e u k i r c h e n - V I u y n : N e u k i r c h e n e r V e r l a g , 1969) 260-76:Tigchelaar, Prophets of Old, 116-20.

™ The promise of eternal k ingsh ip to Da v id ' s offspr ing , remembered in Sir47:22, serves to exp la in w hy Solomon's s ins did not lead lo the end of God'sprov iden t ia l care fo r Israel.

See S. E. G i l l i n g h am ' s c omme n t s on the "backward look to David" in the

post-exilic collection and ed i t ing of the Psalms: "The Messiah in the Psalms: AQuestion of Reception History and the Psalter," in J. Day (ed.). K i ng an d Messiah

in Israel and the ancient Near East (JSOTSup 270; Sheff ie ld: JSOT, 1998) 209-37 (esp. 226-29).



D A V I D I C ME SSI AH 201

w he n in eschatolog ical circles the idea of a f u tu r e ideal k ing arose,w as this name associated w i th fu tu re expectations.

C O N C L U S I O N S

In th is ar t ic le the fol low ing points have been argu ed: 1 ) The concept of th e fu tu re advent of a son of David, as a king

sent by God to end the present state of corrupt ion, is not a continua-t ion or deve lopment of anc ient hopes for the return of the Davidicd y n a s t y . Ra the r , it is a la te invention of t radi t ion, to be dated to thefirst, possibly second, century BC E at the earliest.

(2 ) Palest inian Jewish eschatology is a local variant of Hellenist ic

escha tology, that is, the widespread idea that a superhuman inte rven-tion is necessary to restore th e corrupt state of the present world to itsoriginal glory.

(3) T he concept that in the restored golden age an idea l k ing wi l lru le , is not specif ical ly and probably not or igina l ly Jew ish. It is l ikelyto occur in societies headed by a king, although this is not strictly nec-essary. In any case, a direct re lat ionship between actual ly present badru l e r sh ip and the expec ta t ion of a k i n g should not be assumed: hadru le r s are just a very good example of the corrupt ion of the present

wor ld as eschatological thinkers perceive it. The image of the idealr u l e r in Jewi sh eschatological scenarios is ident ical to that which isk n o w n from the contemporary Jewish praise of the migh ty.

(4 ) The idea that the ideal king of the eschatological future will be ason of David resul ts f rom the association of the fu tu re k ing w i th theimage of David as a great king from the past , the founding fa ther ofJudea .

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2001 - Johannes Tromp - The Davidic Messiah in Jewish Eschatology of the First Century BCE

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