Jewish Apocalypticism (ePub)

The Author reveals compelling evidence that Jewish apocalypticism was not inspired by God and originated out of misconceived notions by Israelitish apocalypticists that God would purportedly return to earth with the Assyrian attack, c., 722 BC, to judge the idolatrous Israelites and punish their enemies. We show how Jewish Apocalypticism developed from the time of the captivity of the Northern Kingdom by the Assyrians and how that the prophet Amos, c., 760 BC, took a bona fide prophecy concerning the crucifixion of Messiah on the 'Day of the Lord' (Amos 8:7-10), and coupled this with his expectation of the impending attack by the Assyrians. Subsequent prophets used Amos' expectations as an apocalyptic prototype and orchestrated their apocalyptic expectations going forward. The original scroll of Ezekiel was edited by the school of the prophets who went on to write the second scroll of Ezekiel and the two were combined into a single work after Josephus' time. Enoch became the most popular apocalyptic writing in the years leading up to the birth of the Christian church until the 4th century AD when this Book was rejected by the Church. The author uses writings from antiquity to show conclusively that the apocalyptic portrayals in Daniel were written during the time of Antiochus iv Epiphanes and were updated in the early second century by Aquila of Sinope to make these portrayals more relevant. Convincing evidence shows that Aquila of Sinope wrote The Revelation of John early in the second century AD, naming his work after John, who was a notable character, as was the custom with apocalyptic writings. It is also shown how that the church leaders at Jerusalem added apocalyptic cliches to the Gospel of Mark which were utilized by Matthew and Luke and that these statements were not made by Messiah. It is conclusively shown that Jewish apocalypticism was orchestrated over the centuries and that these portrayals are not prophecy from God.