Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§12.3 The Kingdom of God
much of the expectation reviewed in the fourteen-item list above was hope for a
continued 'this-worldly' existence — the diaspora returned to the Promised
Land, Israel triumphant over the nations, paradise restored, perhaps, but on
earth. 9i So 'end' yes, certainly in the sense of the 'end' of a period of time, the
end of an epoch. But 'the end of time, of history, of the world'? Yet at the same
time there seem to be more radically 'final' elements within the strands of expectation
— new creation, final judgment, and resurrection of the dead. What did
'life expectancy' beyond resurrection envisage?
The issue is not greatly clarified by the terminology used. The principal
Hebrew terms of relevance are qes, 'aharit and 'olam. 92 The first normally denotes
the 'end' of a period of time, sometimes with a final sense. 93 In Daniel,
however, it is given a clear eschatological connotation — 'the time of the end'
('et qes, 8.17; 11.35, 40; 12.4, 9), 'the appointed time of the end' (mo'ed qes,
8.19; 11.27), 'the end of days' (qes hayyamim, 12.13). 94 'Aharit can also be used
in the sense 'end' and accordingly is translated with Greek eschaton. Most relevant
is the phrase 'end of days' ('aharit hayyamim); 95 what is noteworthy is that
this phrase could be used both of a limited future time 96 or as envisaging the culmination
of history. 97 In the DSS we find qes 'aharit ('the final age', 'the last
time', 'the end of days', 'time of the end' — Garcia Martinez), 98 and elsewhere
talk of the 'end of the age'. 99 But lQpHab 7.7 also explicitly envisages that 'the
91. The same question arose in chapter 11 with regard to the Baptist's expectation
(§11.4b).
92. See also J. Barr, Biblical Words for Time (London: SCM, 2 1969) 122-32.
93. Ezek. 21.30, 34 (21.25, 29); 35.5 (but see K. Koch, "awon\ TDOT 10 [1999] 557);
Hab. 2.3.
94. See also G. Delling, telos, TDNT 8 (1972) 53; LXX usually translates qes by
synteleia in these passages (65).
95. H. Seebass, 'aharit, TDOT 1.210-12.
96. Most clearly Num. 24.14; but also Gen. 49.1; Deut. 4.30; 31.29; Jer. 48.47; 49.39.
'Jer. 23.20b = 30.24b stands on the borderline between future and eschaton' (Seebass, TDOT
1.211). NRSV translates the first four as 'in days/time to come', but the Jeremiah references as
'in the latter days'.
97. Isa. 2.2 = Mic. 4.1; Ezek. 38.16; Dan. 2.28; 10.14; Hos. 3.5. NRSV translates as 'in
days to come' in Isaiah and Micah, 'in the latter days' in Hosea and Ezekiel, and 'at the end of
days' in Daniel. This is clearly the sense in the regular use at Qumran (lQpHab 2.5-6; 9.6;
lQ28a [lQSa] 1.1; CD 4.4; 6.11; 4Q174 [4QFlor] 1.2, 12, 15, 19; 4Q178 3.3-4; 4Q182 [4QCat
B] 1.1; 11Q13 [HQMelch] 2.4) and in 2 Bar. 25.1.
98. lQpHab 7.7, 12; 1QS 4.16-17; 4QMMT C14; 5Q16. In 4 Ezra note 6.7-10, 25;
7.112-13; 11.39-46; 14.9 (see Stone, Fourth Ezra 103-104).
99. 'The day of the end' (1 En. 10.12; 16.1; 22.4); 'the end of the ages (synteleia tön
aiönön)' (T. Levi 10.2; T. Ben. 11.3); 'the time of the end (kairou synteleias)' (T. Zeb. 9.9); 'the
end of the age/world (exitum saeculi)' (T. Mos. 12.4); 4 Ezra 7.113 (on 'the two ages' in 4 Ezra
see Stone, Fourth Ezra 92-93); 'the end of times' (2 Bar. 13.3; 19.5; 21.8; 27.15); cf. 1 En. 16.1.
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