Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE MISSION OF JESUS §12.3
elude interesting sub-themes of heavenly books to be consulted on the day
of judgment, 81 and the expectation that God will give judgment of the
Gentiles into the hands of Israel. 82
13. The related belief in resurrection evidently emerged in explicit thought
only in the latter half of the Second Temple period. 83
14. Sheol/Hades, from being understood as the abode generally of the dead,
comes to be seen as a place of retribution for the wicked (hell), S4 often
equated with the fires of Gehenna (the valley of Hinnom). 85
I repeat: the above outline is not intended to be complete or to include all
relevant texts. The concern is simply to fill out what we might call 'the context of
expectation' within which Jesus' preaching about the kingdom of God would
have been heard. But even such a cursory review raises several important issues.
a. A Grand Narrative?
12.3. Three Key Questions
We have talked about a larger story. But should we be thinking of a single larger
story? Can these different strands be combined into what historians have called
a single 'grand narrative'? The historians' idea of a 'grand narrative' is rooted in
the biblical conception of history as a linear and purposeful progression. So perhaps
the collapse of that idea among contemporary historians (in reference to
modernity) 86 should serve as a cue to biblical scholars to rethink the issue. The
same warning has to be sounded if we assume that the different strands are parts
of a coherent whole which we can now reconstruct; or, to change to the image of
a jig-saw puzzle, if we assume that there must be a complete picture which we
(19-163); for the theme in 4 Ezra see M. E. Stone, Fourth Ezra (Hermeneia: Minneapolis: Fortress,
1990) 149-51.
81. Exod. 32.32-33; Ps. 69.28; Dan. 7.10; 12.1; Mai. 3.16; Mb. 30.19-23; 36.10; 39.6;
1 En. 89.61-64, 70-71; 98.7-8; 104.7; 108.7; CD 20.19; Apoc. Zeph. 7.1-8; T. Abr. (A) 12.7-18;
13.9-14.
82. Dan. 7.22 LXX; Mb. 32.19; Wis 3.8; lQpHab 5.4; cf. / En. 95.3; 1QS 5.6-7; 1QH
12[= 4].26; 1QM 6.6; 11.13f.; T. Abr.(A) 13.6; Apoc. Ab. 22.29. The thought is clearly echoed
in 1 Cor. 6.2.
83. Isa. 26.19; Dan. 12.2-3; Hos. 6.2; 2 Mace. 7.10-11, 14, 23, 29; 1QH 19[= 11].12-14;
Shemoneh 'Esreh 2. See further below § 17.6b.
84. Pss. Sol. 14.6; 15.10; / En. 22.10-13; 103.7-8; 2 En. 10; 40.12-42.2.
85.1 En. 27.1-2; 54.6; 90.25; 91.14; 100.9; 103.7; 4 Ezra 7.36-38; cf. already Isa. 66.24.
See further J. Jeremias, hades and geenna, TDNT 1 (1964) 146-48, 657-58.
86. See above, §5.6.
396