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Apocalypse

Sukkot, the Festival of Future Redemption for Jews and Gentiles

Zechariah 14 envisions a time when all the nations will come to the Temple in Jerusalem on Sukkot. The festival’s eschatological significance in the Second Temple period may be further hinted at in Pseudepigraphical works, in the book of Revelation, and on coins minted during the great rebellion and the Bar Kochba rebellion.

Prof. Rabbi

Joshua Garroway

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The Valley of Dry Bones and the Resurrection of the Dead

Originally an allegorical vision about the future return of Judeans to their land, Ezekiel’s vision (ch. 37) becomes one of the cornerstones for the Jewish belief in the resurrection of the dead. The early stages of this development are made clear in a little-known Qumran scroll called Pseudo-Ezekiel.

Prof.

Devorah Dimant

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The Lead up to Chanukah in the Book of Daniel

The Book of Daniel describes in apocalyptic visions, the history of the conflict between Judea and Antiochus Epiphanes, but fails to dream that the Maccabees, a political group of guerrilla fighters, will win.

Prof.

Lawrence M. Wills

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Daniel’s Vision of the Four Beasts: The Prehistory of Chanukah

The four beasts of Daniel 7 represent four kingdoms. The terrifying fourth beast with ten horns and iron teeth is the Greek kingdom of Syria. This beast grows a talking horn, which represents Antiochus IV, whose persecutions (167–164 B.C.E.), the biblical author believes, can only be stopped by divine intercession.

Prof.

Michael Segal

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Jonah’s Magical Mystery Tour of the Netherworld

After being swallowed by a fish, Jonah prays to God in its belly. Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer reads this prayer midrashically, as a description of an alternative mission for Jonah in the underworld, in which he saves the fish from the Leviathan and promises to bring it (the Leviathan) as a sacrifice for the righteous in the end of days.

Prof. Rabbi

Rachel Adelman

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