Malachi is probably an addition emphasizing the completion of the pro-
phetic canon. The only remnant of prophecy, thebat qol,some kind of
echo of a divine voice, is explicitly declared to be null and void. Clearly the
system of Oral Torah obviated the need for direct divine inspiration. Per-
haps most importantly, the rise of Christianity seems to have confirmed
the rabbis in their belief that the end of the biblical period meant the end
of prophecy and the end of writing scriptural books.
A few words need to be said about eschatology and messianism. Both
of these themes are very important in rabbinic literature, with extensive
materials devoted to them. This is not to speak of the apocalyptic-type
messianic materials that appear in posttalmudic writings and that resem-
ble such texts as the QumranWar Scroll.Here we must distinguish as two
separate issues the nature of the messianic figure or figures and the nature
of the messianic expectations. We need to ask first how many and what
kinds of messiahs are expected and then what kind of events are expected
to lead up to the messianic era and what its nature will be.
Second Temple texts contain three different types of messianism.
Some texts make no explicit mention of any messiah. We cannot be certain
that in these instances no such leader is expected; it is simply that no mes-
sianic figure appears in the texts. A second variety, perhaps the most com-
mon, awaits a Davidic messiah. The third approach, known to us from cer-
tain Qumran sectarian texts and from theTestaments of the Twelve
Patriarchs,is the notion of two messiahs, one of Aaron and one of Israel.
Many scholars simply assume that the messiah of Israel is Davidic, but this
may not be the case. In any event, rabbinic Judaism assumes that there
must be a messianic figure, even though some rabbis argued that the mes-
siah had already come. The dominant expectation centers on one messiah,
a scion of David. No serious rabbinic parallel at all can be adduced for the
notion of a priestly messiah. Talmudic tradition does, however, speak of a
second messiah, a messiah son of Joseph. This Josephite messiah (referred
to in some later apocalyptic texts as a son of Ephraim) may be mentioned
in a recently published stone inscription dated to the late first centuryc.e.
known as theVision of Gabriel,which refers to Ephraim in a messianic
context (A. Yardeni and B. Elizur inCathedra123 [2007]: 155-66). However,
such a figure is otherwise not found in any Second Temple text. The up-
shot of this is that the dominant notion in Second Temple times, carried
over into rabbinic tradition, was the expectation of a Davidic messiah who
would bring about the redemption and rule over Israel as the messianic
king. While this approach has extensive rabbinic parallels, other compet-430lawrence h. schiffmanEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:04:20 PM