Sárospataki Füzetek 18. (2014)
2014 / 1. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Jacob J. T. Doedens: The Return of YHWH and the End of the Exile
The Return of YHWH and the End of the Exile Similarly, 4Q504 mentions the exile, without any reference to a geographical return from exile: You did favours to your people Israel among all the countries amongst whom you had exiled them, to place upon their heart to turn to you and to listen to your voice in agreement with all that you commanded through the hand of Moses, your servant. For you have poured your holy spirit upon us, to bestow your blessings to us, so that we would look for you in our anguish.83 Look at our distress, our labour and our affliction, and free your people Israel from all the countries, both near and far, to where you have exiled them. All who are written in the book of life [...] to serve you and give thanks to [...] from all their oppressors.84 Among the Dead Sea Scrolls, there is also a vision about the new Jerusalem, with city-gates named to the twelve tribes of Israel.85 Even if the different documents from the Dead Sea scrolls display varied views on the time of the restoration of Israel - this may be in the near present or in a messianic or apocalyptic future - they have in common that this restoration will be in the physical world of Israel and Jerusalem.86 87 (3) Philo and Josephus In Philos tractate On Rewards and Punishments87 the return from the exile is mentioned as something still in the future, mentioning also the people who were scattered about in Greece.88 In Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews,89 there are several passages referring to the enduring exile.90 Josephus explains why only two tribes of Israel are subject to the Romans, while ten tribes are still in ongoing exile.91 Josephus also relates about 83 4Q504 frags. 1-2, col. V:11-16 (DSSSE 1016-1017). 84 4Q504 frags. 1 -2, col. VI: 11 -16 (DSSSE 1016-1017). 85 4Q554 (DSSSE 1106-1111). 86 See Schiffman, "Restoration in the Dead Sea Scrolls,"205. 87 For a translation, see C.D. Yonge, The Works of Philo (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1993), 664- 681. 88 Philo, De Praemiis et Poenis, 164-168. Philo's Embassy to Gaius 214-215 mentions that the people of Israel are spread over the whole earth. For a broader overview, see Evans, "Jesus and the Continuing Exile of Israel," 90, and Scott, "Exile and the Self-Understanding of Diaspora Jews," 216-217. 89 For a translation, see William Whiston, The Works of Josephus (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1987), 29-542. 90 For a broader analysis, see Craig A. Evans, "Aspects of Exile and Restoration in the Proclamation of Jesus and the Gospels," in Jesus in Context: Temple, Purity, and Restoration (AGJU 39; eds. Bruce Chilton and Craig A. Evans; Leiden: Brill, 1997), 264-270. 91 Josephus, Antiquitates 11:133. Sárospataki Füzetek 17. évfolyam | 2014 | 1 43
