What is true of the Enoch literature, however, is not necessarily true of
all the Pseudepigrapha, or even of all apocalyptic literature. The book of
Jubileesadapts the myth of the fallen angels from1 Enoch(Segal 2007: 103-
43), and shares with it the solar (364-day) calendar. It can be viewed as an
example of “rewritten Bible,” or biblical paraphrase, but it is also an apoca-
lypse, in the sense that it is a revelation mediated by an angel. But the re-
cipient of the revelation is none other than Moses, and the content is a
paraphrase of the book of Genesis. Moreover, this paraphrase is informed
throughout by a keen interest in halakic issues. The sectarian writings of
the Dead Sea Scrolls are at once apocalyptic and focused on the exact in-
terpretation of the Law of Moses. The Torah also plays a central role in the
apocalypses of4 Ezraand2 Baruch,which were composed after the de-
struction of the Temple, at the end of the first centuryc.e.The relation-
ship between apocalyptic literature and the Torah is illustrated most viv-
idly by4 Ezra.At the end of the book, Ezra is commissioned to replace the
books of the Law that had been burnt. He is given a fiery liquid to drink,
and inspired to dictate the books. In all, ninety-four books are written. Of
these, twenty-four are made public so that the worthy and unworthy may
read them. But the seventy others are kept secret, in order that they may be
given to the wise among the people. The extra or hidden books contain
“the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom and the river of
knowledge.”4 Ezrais neither critical of the Torah nor opposed to it, but it
claims to have further revelation, which provides the context within which
the Torah must be understood. This claim of higher revelation is one of the
defining characteristics of apocalyptic literature. In the words of Seth
Schwartz, “it was a way of compensating for the deficiencies of the
covenantal system” (Schwartz 2001: 83). The covenant promised life and
prosperity to those who observed it and threatened disaster to those who
did not, but life evidently did not work this way. One of the major topics of
apocalyptic revelation was judgment after death and the contrasting fates
of the righteous and wicked in the hereafter. Belief in life after death was
not confined to apocalyptic literature; the immortality of the soul was
widely accepted in Greek-speaking Judaism, and the Pharisees, who may
have subscribed to apocalyptic ideas to various degrees, believed in resur-
rection. But belief in the judgment of the dead and a differentiated afterlife
is first attested in Judaism in the books ofEnochand Daniel, and it is the
primary factor that distinguishes apocalyptic eschatology from that of the
prophets (Collins 1997b: 75-97).15
Early Judaism in Modern ScholarshipEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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