The time of σημεῖα and τέρατα

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FransJVermeiren
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The time of σημεῖα and τέρατα

Post by FransJVermeiren »

Chapter 3:13 – 4:22 of Ascension of Isaiah is an inserted Christian section, which is called the Testament of Hezekiah. Below I will discuss the first part of this writing (3:13 – 3:20). The text goes as follows in the translation of A. Knibb (in J.H. Charlesworth’s The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha volume 2, p. 160):


13. For Beliar was very angry with Isaiah because of the vision, and because of the exposure with which he had exposed Sammael, and that through him there had been revealed the coming of the Beloved from the seventh heaven, and his transformation, and his descent, and the form into which he must be transformed, (namely) the form of man, and the persecution with which he would be persecuted, and the torments with which the children of Israel must torment him, and the coming of the twelve disciples, and the teaching, and that before the sabbath he must be crucified on the tree, and be crucified with wicked men, and that he would be buried in a grave,
14. and the twelve who (were) with him would be offended at him; and the guards who would guard the grave;
15. and the descent of the angel of the church which is in the heavens, whom he will summon in the last days;
16. and that the angel of the Holy Spirit and Michael, the chief of the holy angels, will open his grave on the third day,
17. and that Beloved, sitting on their shoulders, will come forth and send out his twelve disciples,
18. and they will teach all nations and every tongue the resurrection of the Beloved, and those who believe in his cross will be saved, and in his ascension to the seventh heaven from where he came;
19. and that many who believe in him will speak through the Holy Spirit,
20. and there will be many signs and miracles in those days.



This first part of the Testament of Hezekiah describes, after an introductory phrase in verse 13 (For Beliar … Sammael), the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, who is called the Beloved. Important events from the passion narrative of the gospels are missing, and also the figures that could chronologically place the story in the thirties of the first century CE: Caiaphas, Herod, and most of all the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate. At first sight not a single chronological indicator is present in this resume of Jesus' life and death.
But at the very end of this fragment we find ‘there will be many signs and miracles in those days’. The most obvious question we can ask is what signs and portents were to be observed in the days of Jesus’ life and passion. But a different question is also possible: is there a period in that era that is identifiable as the period of σημεῖα and τέρατα?

Josephus uses the combination 'σημεῖα καἱ τέρατα' once in his War, in the introduction at the very beginning of Book I (verse 28) when he oversees his undertaking: I will describe the burning of the Temple, perpetrated contrary to Caesar’s wishes, and the number of sacred treasures seized as booty from the flames; the capture of the city, and the signs and portents that preceded it.
(Above as well as below I underline the ‘signs and portents’ words, and I put in bold the 'catastrophe, war, destruction and calamity' words).

In War I:377-378 the word τέρας is used twice, and σημεῖον once: Do not let the convulsions of inanimate nature disturb you or imagine that the earthquake is a portent (τέρας) of further disaster. These accidents to which the elements are subject have physical causes, and beyond the immediate injury inflicted bring no further consequences to mankind. A pestilence, a famine, subterranean commotions may possibly be preceded by some slighter premonition (σημεῖον), but these catastrophes themselves are limited by their very magnitude to their instant effects. I ask you, can war, even if we are defeated, do us more harm than the earthquake?
Our adversaries, on the other hand, have one grave portent (τέρας) of impending destruction in a recent incident, due neither to natural causes nor to the actions of others.


Elsewhere in The Jewish War Josephus uses the word τἐρας (portent) alone, and he frequently does so in a context of capture and destruction.
War IV:287: Such a convulsion of the very fabric of the universe clearly foretokened destruction of mankind, and the conjecture was natural that these were portents of no trifling calamity.
War V:411: This same miracle (τέρας) you saw happen once before at the capture of the city when the Babylonians whom I have mentioned marched against it, captured and burnt both the city and the sanctuary, although the Jews of that generation, I imagine, were surely guilty of no such impiety as yours. So I believe that the Deity has fled from the holy places and stands now on the side of those with whom you are at war.
War VI:288: Thus it was that the wretched people were deluded at that time by charlatans and pretended messengers of the deity; while they neither heeded nor believed in the manifest portents (τέρασιν) that foretold the coming desolation, but, as if thunderstruck and bereft of eyes and mind, disregarded the plain warnings of God.
(This verse is followed by the enumeration of different omens in verse 289-284). Then follows verse 295, in which again both τέρας and σημεῖον are used.
War VI:295: This again to the uninitiated seemed the best of omens (τέρας), as they supposed that God had opened to them the gate of blessings; but the learned understood that the security of the temple was dissolving of its own accord and that the opening of the gate meant a present to the enemy, interpreting the portent (σημεῖον) in their own minds as indicative of coming desolation.

It may be clear that Josephus uses the nouns σημεῖον and τέρας to describe ominous (and often divine) portents of capture and destruction, and more specifically alarming portents of the destruction of the Temple and the capture of Jerusalem during the war against the Romans.

The σημεῖα καἱ τέρατα phrase is also present in the Synoptic Apocalypse (Mk 13:22 and Mt 24:24). Elsewhere I have argued that the Synoptic Apocalypse is integrally a war chapter, and the present σημεῖα καἱ τέρατα discussion confirms this thesis.

While at first sight there seem to be no chronological clues in Ascension of Isaiah 3:13-20, at closer reading this section ends with a veiled time indication of Jesus’ life and passion: the days of the frightening portents of impending annihilation, the time of the war of the Jews against the Romans.

Thoughts?
www.waroriginsofchristianity.com

The practical modes of concealment are limited only by the imaginative capacity of subordinates. James C. Scott, Domination and the Arts of Resistance.
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