The Antichrist Legend

[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

Continued from prior post↑

From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (page 107):

In all the documents except the Midrash va-Yosha we find the puzzling statement that Armillus is to be begotten by Satan of a stone, and in the Signs of the Messiah he is expressly called the Antichrist. Then follows in all except the Book of Zorobabel a description of this Antichrist, who is represented as a frightful monster. Then comes everywhere an account of the flight of Israel to the wilderness, and the death of the Messiah ben Joseph in the battle with Armillus; only in the Midrash va-Yosha this Messiah is slain in Jerusalem. Both of the Signs of the Messiah and in Zorobabel, Armillus is already distinctly described as a false Messiah. But in the other sources also he is prominently mentioned in connection with the Roman-Byzantine empire, which, in fact, is alluded to by his very name. Here again is clearly seen the influence of the Christian legend.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

Continued from prior post↑

From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (pages 107-108):

Then comes the Messiah, the son of David, called also the Menakham ben Ammiel, while the Messiah ben Joseph takes also the name of Nehemia ben Uziel. Now the son of David slays Armillus with the breath of his mouth; in the Signs of the Messiah, however, Armillus is killed by God Himself. It is characteristic of these sources that the description of the end does not abruptly break off with this event, as it does in the Christian tradition. For there still follows the description of the revival of the New Jerusalem, and also the resurrection of the dead, and in the Signs of the Messiah the return of the ten tribes. In the Mysteries of Simon we have even the description of a kingdom lasting for two millenniums, after which comes the last judgment. It is noteworthy that in this Jewish tradition there is much more in common with the Johannine Apocalypse that is found in the Christian tradition. We have especially in the Book of Zorobabel some striking points of contact, for instance, with Revelation, chapter xvii. So also the description in the last part of the Mysteries of Simon: "And fire falls from heaven and consumes Jerusalem, and sweeps from the midst of her all strangers and uncircumcised and unclean." Direct parallelisms with John are also found in the interesting Apocalypse of Elias.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

Continued from prior post↑

From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (page 108-109):

It should be mentioned that here this figure of Elias comes on the scene, although quite in the background, together with that of the Messiah ben David. With this may be compared what has been stated above (p. 82) about Lactantius and Commodian; and also Sibyl II. 187.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

Continued from prior post↑

From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (page 109):

In the development of the Jewish legend a special place is taken by an apocalypse which has been preserved in the Persian language, and for the text and translation of which we are indebted to Zotenberg. The title, History of Daniel, is significant, and recalls the evidences brought forward higher up in support of the early existence of an Apocalypse of Daniel.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

Continued from prior post↑

From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (page 109):

To be continued...

[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

Continued from prior post↑

From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (pages 109-110):

To be continued...

[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

Continued from prior post↑

From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (page 110):

The Israelites will ask signs of him, which he cannot perform; and especially is he unable to raise the dead again. Then he persecutes the Israelites, and Israel flees to the desert. Then are the Israelites made partakers in the grace of God, who opens the floodgates of heaven; a month will be as a week, a week as a day, a day as an hour. Then shall Michael and Gabriel appear to the Israelites in the wilderness, and they shall slay the false Messiah.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

Continued from prior post↑

From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (page 110):

Thereupon comes the Messiah ben David and kills the wicked one (that is, the above-mentioned ruler) with the breath of his mouth; "and the banner of the Messiah, son of David, shall appear." The same shall kill the whole host of Gog and Magog, after which comes Elias. Then shall the new era be announced with four blasts of the trumpet. The dead arise; the Israelites are gathered from all quarters of the world (on the wings of Simurg?); a pillar of fire appears in the Temple, the glory of God is made manifest, and all mountains disappear. Then follows for thirteen hundred years the time of rejoicing and of domination, and the ever lasting great doom.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

Continued from prior post↑

From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (pages 110-111):

Obviously the Apocalypse is a genuine collection of manifold traditions, and betrays the influence of the Christian legend in far greater measure than the other sources. From this influence, which may even be closely followed in the style of the composition itself, it also becomes probable that here the Messiah ben Joseph has been transformed to the Antichrist. The statement, however, on this point is not quite clear. Presumably Abar ben-el may have also had a similar tradition in mind, when his work, the Mashmia Yeshua, son of Joseph, whom we expect to come in the beginning of the deliverance, is the Antichrist, whose coming they, the Christians, predict. Or in these few surviving fragments have we not rather a primeval tradition about some false Messiah destined to appear among the Jews? But no final judgment can yet be pronounced at this point. In any case we have in the remarkable document under consideration a great mass of archaic traditions. In its whole composition it also shows the closest connection with the Mysteries of Simon. Let me add that we are here told how at first the Jews do not believe in the Messiah ben David, who thereupon hides himself, until at last he appears to them as the Son of man in the clouds of heaven.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

Continued from prior post↑

From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (page 111):

But on the whole the conclusion may be hazarded that the Jewish cycle of legends taken collectively, with the figure of Armillus and of both Messiahs, was developed in this connection in the seventh and eighth centuries under the influence of the Antichrist saga.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

Continued from prior post↑

From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (pages 111-112):

The survey of this Jewish literature has revealed numerous interminglings of the Jewish and Christian traditions of our apocalyptic material. In the light of the evidence brought together in chap. vii., the conjecture becomes a certainty that the expectation of an Antichrist had its origin on Jewish ground. Thus the tradition might have been traced back to a period prior to the New Testament writings, while full confirmation is given to the view advanced in the Introduction that the apocalyptic documents there described imply the existence of an earlier tradition. Thus, while the Antichrist legend was adopted by the Christians from the Jews, the fully developed tradition reacted in its turn on the Jewish eschatology during the sixths, seventh, and eighth centuries.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

Continued from prior post↑

From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (page 112):

But this eschatological tradition of the Antichrist tradition has also made its influence felt beyond the pale of the Christian and Jewish worlds. Here I shall bring together a few notices on the subject, without making any pretense to completeness.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

Continued from prior post↑

From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (pages 112-113):

In a full and careful inquiry into the of the elder Edda (Berlin, 1889), E. H. Meyer has endeavored to follow step by step the influence of Christian tradition on the poem which covers the whole ground from the creation to the last judgment. Still more definitely has he advanced the view that the author of this poem depends essentially on the theological works of Honorius of Autun, and especially on the Elucidarium. But if the depends on the one hand on Honorius, it is influenced on the other by the Antichrist legend, and in fact works up the same material. Still, despite its comprehensive and learned treatment, the question seems to me not yet cleared up. For Meyer's assumption the strongest argument seems to be the fact that the last great battle between the good and evil powers of the world, that is to say the end, begins with the passage:

Brothers will one another slay, and
Murderers one of another become;
Kindred their kinsfolk will kill;
Heavy times are in the world....

To be continued...

[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

Continued from prior post↑

From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (page 113):

As will be seen further on, this has become an almost stereotyped introduction to the tradition of the Antichrist. The description also recalls the punishments in Hades, while the opening strongly reminds one of the Sibylline literature as known to us. Hence a general connection of the Edda with the Christian literature and with the Antichrist legend admits of no denial.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

Continued from prior post↑

From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (pages 113-114):

But in the details much remains uncertain. The difficulties we had to contend with in the elucidation of these poems may be seen, for instance, in strophe 47 (in Meyer, 46). Here the usual translation is, "The world all burns at the blast of the horn"; whereas Meyer (191) here reads, "The Healer shines on that old renowned cross." If Meyer is right, which, however, is doubtful, owing to the express mention that follows of Heimdall's horn, then we have here a characteristic feature of the Antichrist tradition.

To be continued...