Apocalypse of Zerubbabel

"Sefer Zerubbabel" [also called the "Book of Zerubbabel" or the "Apocalypse of Zerubbabel"] is a medieval Hebrew apocalypse written at the beginning of the seventh century in the style of biblical visions (e.g. Daniel, Ezekiel) placed into the mouth of Zerubbabel, [also spelled Zrubavel] the last descendant of the Davidic line to take a prominent part in Israel's history, who laid the foundation of the Second Temple in the 6th century BCE. The enigmatic postexilic biblical leader receives a revelatory vision outlining personalities and events associated with the restoration of Israel, the End of Days, and the establishment of the Third Temple.cite book
title=Rabbinic Fantasies: Imaginative Narratives from Classical Hebrew Literature
first=Martha
last=Himmelfarb
editor=David Stern and Mark Mirsky
pages=67f
year=1998
publisher=Yale University Press
isbn=0300074026]

History

The groundwork for the book was probably written in Palestine between 629 and 636 during fierce struggles between Persia and the Byzantine Empire for control of the Holy Land (qq.v. Byzantine-Arab Wars, Muslim conquest of Syria). These wars touched Palestine and stirred Messianic hopes among Jews, including the author for whom the wars appear to be eschatological events leading to the appearance of the Messiah. However, firm evidence of the work's existence prior to the tenth century is elusive. The Zohar is cognizant of the legend of Hefzibah whom the apocalypse first names as the mother of the Davidic Messiah. Rabbis Saadia Gaon (892-942) and Hai ben Sherira Gaon (939-1038) probably knew the book, but never mention it by name.

"Sefer Zerubbabel" is extant in a number of manuscript and print recensions. The first publication was in 1519 in Constantinople within an anthology called "Liqqutim Shonim". It was reprinted again along with the "Sefer Malkiel" in Vilna in 1819, and again by Adolph Jellinek in his "Bet Ha-Midrasch" (1853-77) and S. A. Wertheimer in his "Leqet Midrashim" (Jerusalem, 1903). The fullest edition of the work was prepared by Israel Levi in his book "L'apocalypse".cite book
title=Trajectories in Near Eastern Apocalyptic: A Postrabbinic Jewish Apocalypse Reader
first=John C.
last=Reeves
year=2005
pages=40f
publisher=Society of Biblical Literature
isbn=1589831020]

Because the book gave an unequivocal date (1058 CE) for the return of the Messiah, it exerted great influence upon contemporary Messianic thought. The book is mentioned by Eleazar of Worms and supposedly by Rashi. Abraham ibn Ezra criticized the book as "unreliable."

One edition of the "Pirke Hekalot" gave a figure of 890 years until the return of the Messiah, making the Messianic year 958 CE, within a decade of the birth of Saadia Gaon. That date perhaps led to a message sent by Rhenish Jews to Palestine inquiring after rumors of the Messiah's advent.cite book
title=History of Messianic Speculation in Israel
firstAbba Hillel
last=Silver
pages=49
chapter=II The Mohammedan Period
year=2003
publisher=Kessinger Publishing
isbn=0766135144]

Contents

The sefer describes the eschatological struggle between the Antichrist Armilus, [also spelled Armilos, Armilius] who is the leader of Rome and Christianity, and the Messiah ben Joseph, who fails in battle but paves the way for the Davidic Messiahcite book
title=Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash
first=Hermann Leberecht
last=Strack
coauthors=Gunter Stemberger
pages=327
translator=Markus Bockmuehl
year=1992
publisher=Fortress Press
isbn=0800625242] and the ultimate triumph of righteousness. The original author expected the Messiah would come in the immediate future; subsequent editors substituted later dates.

Set after Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of Jerusalem, the book begins with Zerubbabel, whose name was associated with the first restoration, receiving a vision after praying for "knowledge of the form of the eternal house." In the vision he is transported by the angel Metatron to Ninevah, the "city of blood" representing Rome by which the author likely means Byzantium. There he finds in the marketplace a "bruised and despised man" who reveals himself to be the Messiah, Menahem ben 'Amiel, doomed to abide there until his appointed hour. Zerubbabel asks when the lamp of Israel would be kindled. Metatron interjects that the Messiah would return 990 years after the destruction of the Temple (approximately 1058 CE).

Five years prior to the coming of Hefzibah,also spelled Hephsibah, Hephzibah] who would be the mother of the Messiah ben David, the Messiah ben Joseph, Nehemiah ben Hushiel, will appear but he will be slain by Armilus. Afterwards, the Messiah ben David will resurrect him.

Zerubbabel is led to a "house of disgrace" (a church), a kind of antitemple. There he sees a beautiful statue of a woman (the Virgin Mary). With Satan as the father, the statue gives birth to the Antichrist Armilus. Forces associated with Armilus and the antitemple come to rule over the entire world. But in the end these forces are defeated. The work concludes with Zerubbabel's vision of the descent of the Heavenly Temple to earth. Thus the "form of the eternal house" is revealed; unlike the Second Temple it is made in heaven.

ee also

*Jewish eschatology
*Midrash Vayosha

External links

* [http://www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/jcreeves/sefer_zerubbabel.htm English translation of "SEFER ZERUBBABEL"]

References