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 present (second) temple and the proclaiming of the gospel to all nations. Only afterwards will follow the gathering of the elect from the “ends of heaven” (Mark 13:27). History will be more complicated than many of Jesus’ contemporaries, including his own disciples, thought. Jesus’ choice of exactly twelve apostles may also be seen as a symbolic act of restoring the twelve tribes of Israel.108 What becomes clear from studying the New Testament is that many among Israel were still expecting in one way or another the restoration of Israel. When John the Baptist and Jesus appear, a way of restoration is proclaimed which in many concrete aspects differs from the expectations from their contemporaries. However, the common denominator is that restoration was viewed as consisting of promises from the Old Testament still to be fulfilled. Evaluation and Consequences It is difficult to envisage what every Israelite’ during the intertestamental and the New Testament period believed about the exile and its enduring state, because too many different groups with different views existed. Even if one accepts that according to the beliefs of some the exile had come to an end, almost every group within Judaism acknowledged that the effects of the exile had not vanished and the restoration still had not come. The pregnant questions remained: Has Yhwh really forgiven the sins which led to the exile? Did he really return to his temple? And when will the kingdom for Israel be restored, and in what way? To these questions sometimes very concrete answers were given, when some historical event was seen as the dawn of a new era. Mostly, it turned out that the hoped-for results of these new beginnings dwindled rather quickly. These disappointments may have caused that others answered these questions by placing the restoration of Israel in an indefinite eschatological’ or apocalyptical’ time. Therefore, it is perhaps more accurate to state that it was believed that the effects of the exile endured, even after the return. This could be phrased theologically in the way that the real return from exile was expected to consist of the ‘return’ of Yhwh to Israel and the ‘return’ of Israel to Yhwh, as promised by the prophets. This is in line with the observation that exile was more than simply a geographical displacement; there were deep ‘theological’ causes and effects to it: for all peoples of the Ancient Near East an “exile signalled separation from the gods.”109 The destruction of the 108 So McComiskey, "Exile and the Purpose of Jesus'Parables," 74; Eva ns, "Aspects of Exile and Restoration in the Proclamation of Jesus and the Gospels,"281. See also Douglas S. McComiskey, "Exile and Restoration from Exile in the Scriptural Quotations and Allusions of Jesus," JETS 53 no. 4 (2010): 673-696. All of these articles give more references to the New Testament view on enduring exile. 109 Halvorson, Enduring Exile, 24. Sárospataki Füzetek 17. évfolyam 2014 1 1 47
