Introduction

Judaism has come under several influences during its long history of four thousand years. These influences have also touched the understanding of, and doctrines about, eschatology. The first influence was the teaching of the prophets, authors of the Hebrew Bible, and then the influences of people and cultures that have crossed paths with Israel—from time to time as neighbor countries, and other times through the Jews’ exile in Egypt, in Assyria, in Babylonia, Media, Persia, Greece, Rome, and then Christian and Muslim civilizations. We must acknowledge how the encounters with all these countries, cultures, and civilizations shaped Judaism’s beliefs and practices of biblical religion, especially in the area of eschatology.

Jewish Doctrines

I have used the word doctrine because in most Christian circles there is a misunderstanding about Judaism, with many thinking that Judaism has no doctrine and dogma. David Bleich affirms on the first page of his monumental work on the thirteen principles of Maimonides: “One widespread misconception concerning Judaism is the notion that Judaism is a religion which is not rooted in dogma” (Bleich 1983, 1). According to Bleich it was Moses Mendelssohn who popularized the view that Judaism has no dogmas. We can affirm that Judaism has a corpus of beliefs which has been codified in final form by Jewish scholars during the Middle Ages. The most famous of them is certainly Maimonides, who was born in Spain in 1135 and died in Egypt in 1204 (Jewishencyclopedia.com), and who wrote the well-known thirteen principles of faith called Ani Ma’amin (“I Believe”). Some scholars such as Crescas¹ tried to reduce these thirteen beliefs to six,² and it is interesting to note that in this reduction to six fundamental beliefs, Crescas did not accept any belief in connection with the Messiah and eschatology. Later, when Rashbatz³ reduced these beliefs to only three,⁴ he did not refuse to include eschatology, but reduced it to two words— “reward and punishment”—which can be interpreted in very different ways because of the questions this belief raises in Judaism about “freedom of will” and “freedom of choice.” I will return to these questions later in this paper.

The thirteen principles of faith of Maimonides became so popular that they have been included in the daily Jewish prayer-book, and thus they are poetically read every morning in the Yigdal poem or prayer.

Let’s list here the thirteen principles of Maimonides which are today accepted by most of the Jewish denominations even though their interpretations may be different. Then from these thirteen principles we will focus on those that are about eschatology.

1. The existence of the Creator—an existent Being invested with the highest perfection of existence.

2. The unity of God—the exalted one is a unity in the sense that there is no unity like His in any way.

3. The removal of materiality from God—this unity is not a body or a power of a body, nor can the accidents of bodies overtake Him.

4. The priority of God—no existent thing outside Him is primary in relation to Him.

5. He is the only one who can be worshipped—this must not be done to any existing beings lower than He, not to the angels or to the spheres or the elements, or the things which are compounded from them.

6. Prophecy—it should be known that among this human species there exist persons of advanced intellectual natures and possessing much perfection.

7. The prophecy of Moshe Rabbenu (our teacher)—Moses was the greatest of all the prophets, and we must believe that he was the father of all the prophets before him, and those who came after him were all beneath him in rank.

8. The Torah has been revealed from heaven. This implies our belief that the whole of this Torah found in our hands this day is the Torah that was handed down by Moses and that it is all of divine origin.

9. The Torah will not be abrogated. No other law will come from God. Nothing is to be added to it or taken away from it, either in the written or oral law.

10. He, the exalted one, knows the works of men and is not unmindful of them.

11. He, the exalted one, rewards him who obeys the commands and the Torah, and punishes him who transgresses its prohibitions. God’s greatest reward to man is the Olam Ha’ba, “the future world,” and that his strongest punishment is Karat, “cutting off.”

12. The day of the Messiah—that involves the belief and firm faith in His coming and that we should not find Him slow in coming.

13. The resurrection of the dead.

Maimonides’s Three Principles of Eschatology

It is interesting to see that three of these thirteen principles of faith are about the end of time or eschatology: the eleventh one, which is about rewards and punishment; the twelfth one about the Messiah; and the thirteenth about the resurrection. It is also interesting that no one of these principles speaks about the immortality of the soul, and if the eleventh one promises the world-to-come or eternity as the reward, none of them speaks about hell. In this way we can affirm that Maimonides tried to be faithful to the teaching of the Bible even though it is clear that some of these principles are expressed in a way to answer the Christians and Muslims of his time.

Jewish Eschatology Is Centered on the Messiah and Israel

Let’s come back to these three principles of faith of Maimonides later, because the first influence that the Jewish people and Judaism received is from the Bible. However, we have very little statement on eschatology during the early stage of Israel, which means the time of the Patriarchs, Moses, or even the time of the Judges, Samuel, and King Shaul. The main origin of eschatology in Israel’s belief is in its election by God and the universal kingdom of God that was announced by the prophets.

A real eschatology was first understood at the time of the prophets of the eighth century, as it was reported in the Hebrew Bible by Isaiah, Amos, Hosea, and some others. This early eschatology was certainly influenced by the invasions and persecutions of the Assyrians or Neo-Babylonians and thus was centered around the people of Israel itself, and specifically the remnant people of Israel, which ultimately, in spite of persecutions and deportations, will live in their land in security and peace. Indeed, it was expressed in this way by the prophets. Here is a typical example of this eschatology centered on a Messiah who will give security to Israel in their land: “ ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness” ’ ” (Jer 23:5–6, ESV). This righteous branch of David has been clearly identified with the Messiah in the Jewish tradition. The Radak⁵ commentary of the Bible is only one example of this application of this text to the Messiah, among others. The two implications of this text from Jeremiah are that (1) the Messiah is a descendant of King David and (2) the people of Israel return to their homeland, Israel. The Messiah should be a descendant of David, which has been universally accepted by every trend of Judaism. The second point is more controversial, but supported by many texts of the Hebrew Bible, which suggest this return of the Jews to the Land of Israel. The Jewish tradition quotes many texts to support this idea, among which we find:

The Day of the Lord

Before analyzing the principles of Maimonides on eschatology, we must look at some very specific biblical expressions. Several of them have been used to describe the time of the end. The prophet Amos was one of the first. It depends on our chronology of the prophets as to when we designate the time of the coming of the Lord and His punishment of the evildoer, known as the “Day of the Lord” (Amos 5:18, 20). The Lord is in Jerusalem: “The LORD roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem” (1:2); and from there God’s future punishment will come upon all: upon Damascus (v. 3); Gaza (v. 6), Ashod, Ashkelon, Ekron (four cities of the Philistines); Tyre (v. 10); Edom (v. 11); the Ammonites (v. 13); Moab (2:1); and even Judah and Israel in chapter 2. While Amos delivered all the reproach God has to pronounce against Israel and Judah, saying, “Therefore, thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” (Amos 4:12), the day of the future judgement will be a day of encounter, when they will meet God in person. We notice that the orthodox movement of Lubavitch (Chabad) has interpreted this text as “prepare to meet your Messiah, O Israel.” Only after asking the people of Israel to be prepared to meet their God in chapter 4 do we have this expression about the day of the judgement as the “Day of the Lord” (Yom Adonai) in chapter 5. Then this term was used by subsequent prophets such as Isaiah (Is 13:6, 9; 58:13), Jeremiah (Jer 46:10), Ezekiel (Ezek 13:5; 30:3), Joel (Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14), Obadiah (Obad 1:15), Zephaniah (Zeph 1:7–8, 14), and Malachi, in his famous text about Elijah the prophet coming before the Messiah (Mal 4:5).

The “Last Days” in Jewish Eschatology

One of the biblical expressions that has been associated by the Jewish people with eschatology and the end of time is, in Hebrew, הימים אחרית (Acharit Hayamim), an expression which occurs in the Hebrew Bible thirteen times.⁶ All these occurrences are not clearly about the end of time, especially those of the Torah, but many of them in the prophets are clearly eschatological and are rightly interpreted in this way. Among them: “It shall come to pass in the latter days (הימים אחרית) that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it” (Is 2:2). This same idea is given by the prophet Micah (4:1). Isaiah and Micah are prophets of the eighth century before Christ, and thus it is difficult to know who first wrote this verse, because they are identical. And since we don’t believe in word-by-word inspiration of the Bible, but in the inspiration of the ideas which were inspired to the prophets, we can suppose that one of these prophets had access to the text of the others. According to this text and Jewish eschatological belief in the world-to-come, Jerusalem, which can be the “Jerusalem from above,” would be the center of the world, and all of the saved among the nations will come to this city to worship the Lord. A great implication of this Jewish eschatology is that not only the Jews will have access to salvation but also the nations.

Gog and Magog

This same expression is used in the context of “Gog, of the land of Magog” (Ezek 38:2). In the Jewish eschatology, Gog and Magog will be used by the nations for the last war against the people of Israel after the gathering in their homeland and before the coming down of Jerusalem from above:

Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not know it? You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes (Ezek 38:14– 16).

A note in the Soncino Talmud says:

Gog and Magog are, in Jewish eschatology, the tribes who shall lead all nations in a tremendous attack upon Israel; their final defeat ushers in the halcyon days of the Messiah (Ezek. XXXVIII, XXXIX). It is not clear whom the prophet had in mind, the whole passage having the mystic form of apocalyptic prediction. The present passage is remarkable in that it shews that in the opinion of its author no particular nation was intended, but any great heathen power whose destruction, by the will of God, is to precede the millennium.⁷

In addition, of this description of a climactic war which will occur at the end of the exile of the people of Israel, the Radak (see note 3) says in his commentary of Zechariah 14 that in the end of days Jerusalem will be the battleground of Gog and Magog.⁸ The Talmud and the Jewish tradition has identified “Gog and Magog” with all the great powers and nations that have persecuted Israel during their history, particularly Sennacherib, who has been identified in connection to Gog and Magog in Sanhedrin 94a and 96b, and also Rome. Indeed, in Sanhedrin 97b it is written, “It is stated that four thousand, two hundred and thirty-one years after the creation the world will be orphaned. [As to the years following,] some of them will be spent in the war of the great sea monsters, and some in the war of Gog and Magog, and the remaining [period] will be the Messianic era, whilst the Holy One, blessed be He, will renew his world only after seven thousand years.” Since the creation occurred according to the Jewish calendar on the year 3761 before Christ, the year 4231 mentioned in this Talmudic text falls during the Roman Empire. Thus, the War against the great Leviathan, living in the sea, and another personification of Satan: “In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea” (Is 27:1); and then after this the Messiah could come at any time.

Another idea about this expression “Gog and Magog” in the Jewish tradition is that it is a war which involve all the nations of the world and not a specific nation (Berachot 7b). This is confirmed by the Gematria way of interpreting God’s Word. It teaches us that “Gog and Magog” is equal to 70 (Guimel: 3 + Vav: 6 + Guimel: 3 + Vav: 6 + Mem: 40 + Guimel: 3 + Vav: 6 + Guimel: 3 = 70). In the Jewish tradition, 70 is the symbolic number of the nations of the world. Thus, for the Jewish people, “Gog and Magog” do not represent one or two nations but a cosmic war involving all the nations of the world, or, in other words, the power of evil against the power of good, a cosmic conflict.

The Date of the Coming of the Messiah

It is worth saying something here about the eschatological chronology according to the Jewish tradition. There are numerous texts which apply symbolically the six days of the creation to the six thousand years of existence of the earth, accepting the principle that one day is given symbolically for one thousand years, and the seventh day symbolically represents the millennium when the earth will be in rest: “R. Kattina said: The world is to last six thousand years, and one thousand it will be desolate” (Rosh Hashana 31a; Sanhedrin 97a). And the text of the Sanhedrin goes a little further about this timing, saying: “The Tanna debe Eliyyahu teaches: The world is to exist six thousand years. In the first two thousand there was desolation; two thousand years the Torah flourished; and the next two thousand years is the Messianic era” (97a). This division of history into three periods of two thousand years is as follows: (1) from the creation to Abraham; (2) from Abraham to the second destruction of the temple; and (3) from the destruction of the temple to the end of the days. We find also in the Talmud some indication about the two thousand years of Torah:

From when are the two thousand years of the Torah to be reckoned? Shall we say from the Giving of the Torah at Sinai? In that case, you will find that there are not quite two thousand years from then till now [i.e., the year four thousand after the Creation], for if you compute the years [from the Creation to the Giving of the Torah] you will find that they comprise two thousand and a part of the third thousand; the period is therefore to be reckoned from the time when Abraham and Sarah had gotten souls in Haran for we have it as a tradition that Abraham was at that time fifty-two years old. Now, to what extent does our Tanna encroach [on the other thousand]? Four hundred and forty-eight years! Calculate it and you will find that from the time when they had gotten souls in Haran till the giving of the Torah there are just four hundred and forty-eight years (Avodah Zarah 9a).

Even though, evidently, the last two thousand years started at the time of Jesus, they said that since we are in the days of the Messiah, he can reveal himself (appear) at any time. And the Talmudic tractate Avodah Zarah explains: “The Tanna debe Eliyyahu taught: The world is to exist six thousand years; the first two thousand years are to be void; the next two thousand years are the period of the Torah, and the following two thousand years are the period of the Messiah. Through our many sins a number of these have already passed [and the Messiah is not yet]” (9a). The Jewish tradition has clearly made a parallel between the sabbatical year, the seventh year, and the seven thousand years of rest for this earth: “It has been taught in accordance with R. Kattina: Just as the seventh year is one year of release in seven, so is the world: one thousand years out of seven shall be fallow, as it is written, ‘And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day,’ and it is further said, ‘A Psalm and song for the Sabbath day’ (Ps 92:1), meaning the day that is altogether Sabbath.”

Another way of computing the end of time or the days of the Messiah is given in the tractate Sanhedrin in this way: “Elijah said to Rav Judah, the brother of R. Salia the pious: ‘The world shall exist not less than eighty-five jubilees, and in the last jubilee the son of David will come’ ” (97b). “Eighty-five jubilees” is 4,250 years, which is close to the 4,231 years mentioned above. It is interesting to notice that the editors of the Soncino Talmud add a footnote to this last text, saying, “He should have come at the beginning of the last two thousand years; the delay is due to our sins.” In Judaism the idea of a Messiah coming to expiate or forgive our sins is absent, which is why, for the Jewish people, when the people of Israel are full of sins, the Messiah cannot come.

Many scholars from the Middle Ages to today have developed this idea of the world lasting six thousand years, among them Nachmanides (Ramban 1974, Genesis 2:3); Isaac Abarbanel (Abarbanel 2007, Genesis 2); Abraham Ibn Ezra (Ramban 1974);⁹ Bahya ben Asher ibn Halawa, known as Rabbeinu Bachya (Bachya 1998, Genesis 2:3); Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, known as the Vilna Gaon (Vilna, chapter 5); Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe (Schneersohn 1992, 5750:254); Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, known as Ramchal (Luzzatto 1997, 4:7:2); Aryeh Kaplan;¹⁰ and Esther Jungreis.¹¹

I would like to make special mention here about the urban legend which says that the Jewish Rabbis have pronounced a curse for anyone who studies chapter 9 of the prophet Daniel. That is not true. We must verify our sources before affirming anything about the beliefs of the members of other religions. Here is what is written in the tractate Sanhedrin 97b:

What is meant by “but at the end it shall speak and not lie?”—R. Samuel b. Nahmani said in the name of R. Jonathan: Blasted be the bones of those who calculate the end. For they would say, since the predetermined time has arrived, and yet he has not come, he will never come. But [even so], wait for him, as it is written, Though he tarry, wait for him. Should you say, We look forward [to his coming] but He does not: therefore Scripture says, And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you. But since we look forward to it, and He does likewise, what delays [his coming]?—The Attribute of Justice delays it. But since the Attribute of Justice delays it, why do we await it?—To be rewarded [for hoping], as it is written, blessed are all they that wait for him.

It is clear in this text that there is no mention of the book of Daniel, and certainly not of chapter 9 or the “seventy weeks” of that chapter. The motive of this “blast” or curse is that it is only meant to discourage anyone to do so much calculation and supposition on the date of the Messiah that he will discourage others. There were already too many dates proposed for the coming of the Messiah: after four thousand years, after 4,231 years, after eighty-five jubilees, and so on. All of these dates passed, and the Jews have not yet seen the Messiah. As the scholars have said in this quotation, if the people are often given dates and the Messiah is not coming, they will say, “He will never come.” That would be dramatic for the Jewish people. He has not come yet, but the Rabbis said according to Habakkuk 2:4, “But [even so], wait for him, as it is written, Though he tarry, wait for him.” This was the substratum of the twelfth principle of Maimonides, who said, “I believe in the coming of the Messiah; even though he tarry, I will wait for him.”

Let’s remember the Jewish tradition: “Our Rabbis taught: Seven things are hidden from men. These are they: (1) the day of death, (2) the day of comfort, (3) the depth [extent] of judgment; (4) a man does not know what is in his neighbor’s heart; (5) a man does not know from what he will earn; (6) when the Davidic dynasty will return.” Among things God has hidden from men is “when the Davidic dynasty will return,” which in rabbinic language means: when the Messiah will come and will be seated on the throne of King David. This date has not been revealed to human beings and is hidden from God, and so the rabbis tried to discourage Jews from making more speculations. We could compare this to the early Adventist movement: How many dates have we proposed before saying we must not propose any date anymore—the Day of Atonement 1843, Passover 1844, Day of Atonement 1844; and after this, a group of early Adventists continued to give dates until 1914, which gave birth to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Thus, in my opinion, the Rabbis were correct to ask the Jewish people to stop giving dates for the end and the coming of the Messiah.

The Messiah and Redemption

There is no doubt in fundamental and orthodox Judaism that there will be a redemption. Rabbi Saadia¹² put it this way:

The fact of Redemption is undeniable for various reasons: (1) because it is confirmed by the miracles performed by Moses, the first prophet, in announcing the message of Redemption and because it is confirmed by the miracles which happened to the prophet Isaiah and to the other prophets who announced the Redemption of Israel. . . . (2) Because He is just and will not do wrong. Having inflicted on our people heavy and prolonged sufferings—some no doubt, as punishment, and some as a test—He must certainly have set a time limit to them. . . . (3) He is a faithful keeper of His promises, His word endureth and His commandments stands for ever, as it says, ‘The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand for ever’ (Isaiah 40:8). . . . (4) We judge the promise of final Redemption from the first promise at the time when we were living as exiles in Egypt and God promised us in more precise terms that He would mete out judgement to our oppressors and reward us with great wealth as it says (Genesis 15:14) (Bleich 1983, 599).

This Redemption is revealed, in the Jewish tradition, by the Messiah. In Judaism the Messiah will be a direct lineal descendant of David and Solomon. And since he is a descendant of human beings, he is not seen as God or “Son of God.” He is completely human in his being and his work. His first role will be the restoration of the monarchy of the House of David, and he will be a great prophet approaching the greatness of our teacher Moses, but, as Bleich put it, “his prophetic powers are essentially extrinsic to his role as Messiah” (Bleich 1983, 595). Maimonides adds that “all ancient laws will be reinstituted in his days; sacrifices will again be offered; the Sabbatical and Jubilee years will again be observed in accordance with the commandments set forth in the Law.”

How will this Messiah be recognized, according to Maimonides? “It is only when the claimant succeeds in ‘rebuilding the Temple on its proper site and in the ingathering of the dispersed of Israel’ that his claim must be regarded as having been established irrefutably” (Bleich 1983, 595, 596).

However, Jewish scholars try to avoid conferring supernatural power on him in order to avoid being convicted by miracles and not the true Messiah. That is why Maimonides affirms: “Do not think that King Messiah will have to perform signs and wonders, bring everything new into being, revive the dead, or do similar things. It is not so” (Maimonides 1949, 11:3). What will characterize the Messiah is his faithfulness to the Torah. Again Maimonides, on this same page, says:

If there arise a king from the House of David who meditates on the Torah, occupies himself with the commandments, as did his ancestor David, observes the precepts prescribed in the Written and Oral Law, prevails upon Israel to walk in the way of the Torah and to repair its breaches, and fights the battles of the Lord, it may be assumed that he is the Messiah. If he does these things and succeeds, rebuilds the sanctuary on its site, and gathers the dispersed of Israel, he is beyond all doubt the Messiah. He will prepare the whole world to serve the Lord with one accord. . . . But if he does not meet with full success, or is slain, it is obvious that he is not the Messiah promised in the Torah (Maimonides 1949).

Maimonides in this chapter speaks about Jesus, saying:

Even Jesus of Nazareth, who imagined that he was the Messiah, but was put to death by the court, Daniel had prophesied, as it is written, “And the children of the violent among the people shall lift themselves up to establish the vision; but they shall stumble” (Daniel 11:14). For has there ever been a greater stumbling than this? All the prophets affirmed that the Messiah would redeem Israel, save them, gather their dispersed, and confirm the commandments. But he caused Israel to be destroyed by the sword, their remnant to be dispersed and humiliated. He was instrumental in changing the Torah and causing the world to err and serve another beside God (Maimonides 1949).

Rewards and Punishments

The Jewish people strongly believe in the concept of “reward and punishment.” It is one of the thirteen principles of Maimonides. Principle 11 says, He will reward him who obeys the commands and the Torah, and punish him who transgresses its prohibitions. The “reward” is the Gan-Eden or eschatological paradise, and punishment is the Gehinnom (Gehenna) or hell. Judaism does not know the concept of salvation through the merits of the Messiah, but the understanding is much more nuanced than pure “salvation by works,” which is why Maimonides says: “Every human being has merits and iniquities. One whose merits exceeds his iniquities is righteous. He whose iniquities exceed his merits is wicked. If the two balance in an individual, he belongs to the intermediate class” (Maimonides 1983, 3:1). And there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, that is why later Maimonides adds: “It is necessary therefore that everyone, throughout the year, should regard himself as if he were half innocent and half guilty and should regard the whole of mankind as half innocent and half guilty” (Maimonides 1983, 3:8).

Judaism teaches that the motivation for observing the law and the resulting rewards and punishment should be love. Thus Rabbi Albo¹³ states: “It is true that he who serves God from love does not concern himself at all about reward and punishment, having no other purpose except to fulfill the will of the object of his love, as the Rabbis say: ‘be not like servants who serve their master in order to receive compensation ’ But this does not mean that there is no reward and punishment” (Albo 1929, Book IV, Chapter 29).

However, the concept of “rewards and punishments” is challenged in Judaism by some philosophical questions. Bleich writes, “The belief that God rewards and punishes man gives rise to one of the most difficult of theological problems. Reward is meaningless and punishment unjust unless man is author of his own actions” (Bleich 1983, 495). The problem here is that if God is omnipotent, how can human freedom be reconciled with this omnipotence of God? Are we still free and, in reality, independent from the will of God? In Judaism the omnipotence of God means that “he could control human will,” and Bleich adds, “[God] does not do so in order to make reward and punishment possible. Since the concept of divine justice mandates freedom of the will as a necessary condition of reward and punishment, God has indeed endowed man with freedom of the will” (1983, 495). This answer is prompted by the Mishnah, which states, “Everything is foreseen but the right [of choice] is granted, and the world is judged with goodness, and everything is in accordance with the preponderance of [man’s] deed[s]” (The Mishnah 2007, Pirqé Avot, 3:15).

Another parallel question is the omniscience of God. “If God knows in advance the deeds of man, then those actions will surely come to be If man cannot act contrary to divine knowledge, are his actions really free?” (Bleich 1983, 495). Even though Crescas was not a fatalist, Bleich tells us how Crescas solved this question:

Crescas affirms divine omniscience at the expense of human freedom. God knows all things in advance and this knowledge does, indeed, render human freedom a nullity. Retribution is not punishment, which would be unjust, but the natural effect of human acts. A child who disobeys a parent’s command not to place his hand in the fire will burn his hand. This phenomenon is not a punishment but rather the natural result of the child’s folly. Human actions when good produce beneficial results or rewards; when evil they result in misfortune or punishment. Such actions and their results are connected in an entirely natural, causal manner (Bleich 1983, 497).

However, the great majority of Jewish scholars accept the idea of “freedom of will” and “freedom of choice” of man, which means that human beings are responsible for their acts and God will be just in His distribution of rewards and punishments. Maimonides affirms, “Free Will is bestowed on every human being. If one desires to turn towards the good way and be righteous, he has the power to do so. If one wishes to turn towards the evil way and the wicked, he is at liberty to do so” (Maimonides 1983, 5:1). This belief is supported by the Torah, which says: “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:22). And in Judaism there is no predestination; again Maimonides declares: “Let not the notion, expressed by foolish gentiles and most of the senseless folk among Israelites, pass through your mind that at the beginning of a person’s existence, the Almighty decrees that he is to be either righteous or wicked. This is not so. Every human being may become righteous like Moses, our teacher, or wicked like Jeroboam; wise or foolish, merciful or cruel; niggardly or generous; and so with all other qualities” (Maimonides 1983, 5:2).

The Resurrection (Tehiyat HaMetim)

Judaism believes in the resurrection—it is one of the thirteen principles of Maimonides. But we find different views on the resurrection. Let’s look at Maimonides, Nacḥmanides, Saadia, Ibn Ezra, and Crescas to find what views they were united in and what are their differences.

Maimonides was accused in his time of denying resurrection, which is why he wrote an essay called Ma’amar Tiheyat Ha-Metim (Treatise on the Resurrection of the Dead). This treatise is included today in the Iggerot HaRambam, the letters written by Maimonides, and can be consulted on sefria.org. In this essay he explains that resurrection has to be accepted as a matter of faith and not as a conclusion of research or some philosophical investigation. However, since Maimonides believed strongly in the immortality of the soul, he had some difficulties to reconcile this idea with the resurrection of the body. That is why he was accused of denying the resurrection. He states: “Besides, we stated also there, that the resurrection of the dead, though an essential creed of the Mosaic religion, is not our final destination . . . yet whoever denies it cannot be called an Israelite. . . . He who disbelieves in the resurrection of the dead has no share in the world to come.” This comes from a secondary source for the translation from Hebrew (Bleich 1983, 639-640). Maimonides’s doubt arises when “he asserts that at some point following the physical resurrection, all those revived will die again: ‘and so it appears to me from these verses that the individuals whose souls will return to their bodies will eat, drink, marry and procreate and then die after enjoying that very long span of life characteristic of the messianic era.’ ” Bleich comments, “Maimonides’s belief that those resurrected will ultimately die after the lapse of an undetermined period of time is based upon the Talmudic statement that in the world-to-come there is no eating, drinking, or physical pleasure. There is, thus, no need for bodily organs in the world-to-come” (Bleich 1983, 619).

Nacḥmanides has his own opinion, according to which, after the resurrection both the bodies and the souls of those restored to life will live on for all eternity. However, since he revered Maimonides as his “master” he analyzes his position showing the opposition of other scholars with his “master,” Maimonides. He wrote in his book Sha’ar HaGemul:

The Master, of blessed memory, goes to great lengths in making numerous statements in order to demonstrate that the inhabitants of the World-to-Come have no bodies for two reasons: [first] he knows that the men of our tradition believe that there is no death following the resurrection of the dead on the basis of their explanation [of the verse] “He will swallow up death forever” (Isaiah 25:8). They declared, “The dead which the Holy One, blessed be He, will revive do not return to dust” (Sanhedrin 92a). According to this opinion, the inhabitants of the World-to-come will exist in that world with their bodies after the resurrection. The Master negates this opinion with all his ability. Therefore, many of the wise men of these generations have disagreed with him concerning this, as is found in their statement. That the world-to-come after death is [only] for the souls, no man disputes—whether he be wise or not. There is no need for the statements which the Master wrote in many places, for it is well known that the body has no share or privilege [in the World-to-Come after death] (Bleich 1983, 660-661).

We discover here that Judaism has not just one position but many different opinions which are in fact respected and discussed openly.

Bleich says about the position of Ibn Ezra: “The righteous of Israel who are restored to life during the messianic era will subsequently die and be restored to life a second time at the time of the resurrection ushering in the world-to-come” (1983, 620).

Like many other Jewish scholars, Crescas believes strongly in the immortality of the soul. He affirms: “I say that the soul which survives after death survives eternally by nature” (Crescas 1989, Book III, First section, part 2 (quoted by Bleich, 1983, 663)). For him, the soul does not contain in itself any cause of corruption, which is why it survives eternally. And if there is a resurrection it will occur after the rebuilding of the temple by the Messiah. He states too that “not every person will be resurrected. Resurrection will be limited to the completely righteous and the completely wicked of the people of Israel. The righteous will experience reward, and the wicked will be punished. The souls of persons of an intermediary status, as well as of the righteous of the nations of the world, will be rewarded, but they will not merit the wondrous miracle of the resurrection.”

The most interesting opinion is certainly expressed by Saadia.

Saadia asserts that there will be not one resurrection, but two resurrections. The first will take place at the time of the Messiah and will be limited to the righteous of Israel. Other persons will be restored to life on the occasion of the second resurrection, which will take place at the subsequent time and will usher in the age referred to as “the world-to-come.” The righteous of Israel, who will be resurrected in the messianic era, will not die subsequently, but will be transferred to the world-to-come. According to Saadia, the resurrected bodies will remain to share the spiritual bliss of the world-to-come (Bleich 1983, 620).

In fact Saadia accepted the belief of the two resurrections through studying the book of Daniel, especially the portion which encompasses Daniel 11:1 to Daniel 12:3. Here is a long paragraph of what he states:

I found that our Lord informed Daniel as to what will happen in the end of time, in 47 verses. One verse, namely the first one, describes what will happen in the final period of the Persian Kingdom (Daniel 11:2); 13 verses inform us about the Greek Kingdom, namely from 11:3 to 16; 20 verses inform us about the Roman Empire, namely from 11:16 to 36; 10 verses inform us about the Arab Kingdom, namely from 11:36 to 12:1 and the last 3 verses deal with the Redemption (of Israel) and one of them reads as follows, “and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence” (12:2). He only says “and many of them that sleep”; he does not say, “all of them that sleep,” because that would include all children of Adam, whereas this promise includes only the children of Israel. Therefore he says, “many” and he says, “some to everlasting life, and some to reproaches.” Which does not mean that some of those revived will be rewarded and some punished, since at the time of the Redemption God will not revive those who deserve punishment. But the meaning of the distinction made in this verse is that those who will awake will awake to life everlasting, and those who will not awake will be marked for eternal shame, because all the righteous and penitent will be revived, and only the unbelievers and those who died without repentance will be left over. All this applies to the time of the Redemption (Saadia Gaon 1976, 7:2).

It is interesting that Saadia Gaon, who was a Jewish rabbi and philosopher of the tenth century, arrived at this conclusion of the two different resurrections, the first one for the righteous and the second one for the wicked, since he had no access to the book of Revelation to complete his understanding.

The World to Come (Olam Haba)

The future world or hereafter is called in Judaism, in Hebrew, Olam Haba, “the world-to-come,” in contrast to the present world (Olam Hazé). The Olam Haba relates to the idea of paradise, Gan-Eden, and Hell, Gehinom. The Olam Haba is not, according to Maimonides and others scholars, reserved only for Jews but for any righteous among the nations who live according to the seven laws of Noah.

Since the Jewish people were divided concerning the concept of immortality of the soul— Essenians believed in immortality of the soul, but not the Pharisees, who believed in the resurrection at the coming of the Messiah—it is difficult to know how they imagined life in this world-to-come. However, during the Middle Ages the rabbis revealed some of the Jewish opinions, which are still valid. Rabbi Albo reveals in his book on the principles of Judaism that the main position is that the main reward is purely spiritual—separation of the soul from the body after death. A world in which there is no eating or drinking, nor hatred, no envy, no strife, but the righteous sit with their crowns on their heads and enjoy the splendor of shekinah. There is another corporeal reward in this world at the time of the Messiah. This is the same as the time of the resurrection, when the perfectly righteous will come to life (Albo 1929, book IV, chapter 30).

Rewards or Eschatological Paradise (Gan-Eden)

The Hebrew word is Gan-Eden or the “Garden of Eden,” but this expression has been translated into Greek in the Septuagint as paradeisos, which gave us the word paradise. For the Hebrew prophets, the reward has been depicted in an illustrated manner as a “new earth” and “new heaven” (Is 65:17; 66:22), which is a return to the original situation of peace and joy of the Garden of Eden before Adam’s sin: “And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden [KeGan-Eden], and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited’ ” (Ezek 36:35).

The intertestamental writers call the place where the righteous are to enjoy endless bliss “the Garden of Eden” (IV Ezra 4:7; 7:36, 123; 8:52; II Enoch 42:3; 65:10). It is not identical with “heaven” as God's throne, but this eschatological paradise has at least three levels (I Enoch 8), one higher than the other, the uppermost being nearest to God’s throne in heaven.

The Jewish tradition is not clear concerning the time of this paradise, and thus we don’t know if it is right after death or only at the resurrection after the coming of the Messiah. Let’s remember that Jewish theology has been influenced by the Greek philosophers about the state of dead, and today most of them believe in the immortality of the soul, which was not taught in the Hebrew Bible.

Gehenna or Hell

The word Gehenna, which has given rise to the idea of hell, is the Greek form of the Aramaic word Gehinnom from the Hebrew Bible: “Then the boundary goes up by the Valley of the Son of Hinnom [Ge Ben Hinnom] at the southern shoulder of the Jebusite (that is, Jerusalem)” (Josh 15:8). This valley is a ravine south of Jerusalem: “Then the boundary goes down to the border of the mountain that overlooks the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is at the north end of the Valley of Rephaim. And it then goes down the Valley of Hinnom, south of the shoulder of the Jebusites, and downward to En-rogel” (Josh 18:16). This valley had no particular negative connotation at the time of Joshua and Judges; however, the site became defiled by Topheth worship of Molech: “And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind” (Jer 7:31). Jeremiah cursed the place and predicted that, at the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, this valley would be filled with the corpses of the city’s inhabitants, to be burned there and rot like “dung upon the face of the earth” (Jer 7:32); it would be a place of sadness and tears (Jer 7:34). However, before Jeremiah, Isaiah had alluded to this idea even though it is a universal and eschatological punishments of sinners. He does not use the word Gehenna. “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh” (Is 66:24). It is interesting to see that in the Talmud there is the idea that there will be no Gehenna in the world-to-come:

R. Simeon b. Zebid said in the name of R. Isaac b. Tabla, in the name of R. Hiyya Areka of the school of R. Aha, in the name of R. Zera in the name of R. Eleazar in the name of R. Hanania in the name of R. Mi’asha on the authority of R. Judah b. Il’ai: What is the meaning of, But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings?—This refers to those people who fear to utter the Divine name in vain. “The sin of righteousness with healing in its wings”: Said Abaye, This proves that the motes dancing in the sun’s rays have healing power. Now, he differs from R. Simeon b. Lakish, who said: There is no Gehinnom (9) in the world to come, but the Holy One, blessed be He, will draw forth the sun from its sheath: the righteous shall be healed, and the wicked shall be judged and punished thereby. As it is written, But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. Moreover, they shall be rejuvenated by it, as it is written, And ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall.12 But the wicked shall be punished thereby, as it is written, Behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

Note 9 about Gehinnom says: “Gehinnom (Gehenna) as an equivalent of hell, purgatory, takes its name from the place where children were once sacrificed to Moloch, viz., ge ben Hinnom, the valley of the son of Hinnom, to the south of Jerusalem (Josh. XV, 8; II Kings XXIII, 10; Jer. VII, 32-32; XIX, 6. 13-14).” Here the word hell is juxtaposed with the word purgatory, the connection of which is not clear since the Talmud never uses this word. It appears four times in the English Soncino Talmud, not in the Talmudic text but only in the notes written by the editors.¹⁴ Of course, these notes do not exist in the Hebrew original Talmud, which is why it is difficult to define the meaning of this word for the editors of the Soncino Talmud. However, this juxtaposition of the words hell and purgatory in Judaism means that hell is not an eternal punishment but a place where the wicked purify themselves for a period of eleven months, and then they are able to go to paradise.

This is translated in Judaism by the three periods of mourning for a near relative: the first period is shiva, the seven days following the burial; then a second period is shloshim, the thirty days following the burial; and a third period that finishes at the end of the first year or anniversary of the death (according to the Jewish calendar) of the near relative. This period of one year is very much respected because Jews believe that most sinners (sin is the human condition in everyone) spend eleven months or one year in the Gehinnom in order to be purified, and then enter paradise. In this perspective, “Gehinom is considered a spiritual forge where the soul is purified for its eventual ascent to Gan Eden.” Jews, therefore, light a candle and pray for the salvation of their near relatives for one year. This prayer is called in Hebrew the kaddish; however, Jews will not recite the mourner’s kaddish for longer than a one-year period.

Conclusion

As a conclusion of this paper, we can affirm that Israel and consequently Judaism always had firm faith in God rewarding the good and punishing the wicked. However, there was a progressive development of this concept from collective responsibility and retribution to individual responsibility and retribution. Some scholars have affirmed that this development was initiated by the prophet. That is why, even though Judaism has a definite order of the sequence of what will happen at the end of time, the central figure is the Messiah, a nationalistic Messiah who will restore the house of David and the Davidic kingdom; who will gather the dispersed children of Israel to their promised land; who will rebuild the temple, and reestablish the sacrificial system and all the laws of the Torah and who will not have supernatural power. According to Maimonides and the Jewish tradition, nothing will change in the Messianic age except that Jews will regain their independence. In fact, even though the resurrection of the bodies will occur at the coming of the Messiah, it is not the Messiah who will have the power to resurrect the dead, but it is God who has the power to resurrect the dead.

In Judaism there is a period called the “last days” or called in Christianity the end of time. The end of time for the Jewish people will occur after six thousand years of human history. Knowing that the year 2018 is the year 5778 in the Jewish calendar, that means the end of time for the Jews is near, but still 222 years away. However, Jewish tradition says that after four thousand years, the world entered a Messianic period, when the Messiah can come at any time, the only condition being the readiness of the Jewish people, who must repent from their sins.

These last days will be inaugurated by a world conflagration or war, the war of Gog and Magog, which will ultimately involve the nations of the world that will make war against Israel (Sanhedrin 94a).

If we wish to summarize the sequence of events at the end of time in orthodox Judaism, they go this way: God creates or sends a regent from the house of David (Is 11:1), who will be recognized by the Jewish people as the Messiah. In order to be recognized he has to be faithful to the Torah of Moses (Is 11:2), written and oral. He has to gather the dispersed Jewish people to the promised land (Is 11:12, Zech 10:6), and to rebuild the sanctuary or temple on its original site (according to the vision of Ezekiel 40). Then he will be anointed as the king of Israel and all the nations will recognize that the God of Israel is the only true God of the universe (Is 2:17). Then God resurrects the dead (Is 26:19), reuniting the souls to their bodies, and they would return to the Garden of Eden or paradise of peace (Is 65:25).

However, there are some points which are not very clear because various opinions prevail in Judaism. Orthodox Jews speak about a personal Messiah, while conservative and reformed Jews speak about a Messianic era which has to be built by human beings through the concept of Tikkun Olam (repair of the world). The gathering of the people of Israel and the rebuilding of the temple are very controversial, while the resurrection of the dead is well accepted. Some speak about two resurrections, one for the righteous, and the second one later for the wicked— some such as Maimonides, who is very much influenced by the Aristotelian philosophy, do not need an eternal resurrection of the bodies, which is why, for him, after a certain period, everyone will die again and will be survived by the souls which are eternal.

It seems also that Judaism is not comfortable with the idea of hell, and sees in it the Catholic idea of purgatory. People are sent there for a period of eleven months to be purified and then are reintroduced to the Gan-Eden. And this Gan-Eden is not reserved only for Jews but for Gentiles too, at least those who follow the seven laws of Noah, which are very moral laws and not difficult to follow.

Eschatology in Judaism is a very open eschatology, with dramatic events at the end, but with the opportunity for all mankind to be saved, not through the merits of anyone (as in Christianity) but according to their deeds.

References

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