Resurrection (2)

Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.  And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.  Daniel 12:1-2  NASB

Continuing from yesterday

Eccl. 12: 13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.

14 For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. (What judgment?when?)

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

There are considerable technical issues with this part of Ecclesiastes.  Most scholars consider it an addition to the original, added in order to redeem the rather dour conclusion of Qohelet, who, by the way, debunks almost completely any idea of reward and punishment in another life.  Furthermore, there is evidence that the entire text was written very late (postexilic) and it shows considerable influence of Hellenism.  That alone would disqualify it as a proof text for resurrection in the Tanakh, but even in the epilogue penned by someone else, there still is no explicit endorsement of a general personal resurrection.  All the verse really says is that God will judge all our acts.  It does not say when that will occur, but since the focus is on keeping the commandments now, one could legitimately conclude that God’s judgment is consummate with keeping the commandment, that is, reward and punishment also happen now.  The text does not project some future judgment.  The Hebrew verb (“will bring”) is an imperfect, which means an incomplete or continuing action, not a final moment.  The verb (šāpaṭ) is about governing, making a decision, exercising control over.  It does not imply the sort of final Day of Judgment that occurs in later texts.

Even so, the mere fact that Qohelet isn’t the author of this epilogue and that the entire text is influenced by Hellenism and written after the age of the prophets excludes it from serious consideration as a proof text for resurrection from the Tanakh.

Ezekiel 37:1 The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.

2 Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry.

3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.”

4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!

5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.

6 I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone.

8 Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.

9 Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ’ ”

10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’

12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

13 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves.

14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord.’ ”

Ezekiel 37:1-14

The problem with Ezekiel’s vision is precisely that—it’s a vision.  What is the vision about?  “These bones are the whole house of Israel.”  Does that mean that each one of the bones is a person or does it mean that the whole collection of bones is a symbolic representation of the whole people?  If the vision is about the restoration of the whole house of Israel (as it claims to be), then it does not necessarily mean that each individual person who has died in the Captivity will be resurrected as an individual.  It means that the nation of Israel, as a whole, will not be utterly destroyed.  It (the nation) will live again.  “Early Jewish and Christian interpreters took it as a prophecy of the resurrection of the dead, but it is quite doubtful that this is what Ezekiel meant.  The scattered dry bones of the long dead are a symbolic image of the people of Israel in exile, its national existence violently ended by the conquest and destruction of the kingdom of Judah” (Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible: Vol. 3, p. 1164, fn. 3.)  In this regard, it’s worth noting that the bones are “scattered” and visible.  They are not buried in graves.  Furthermore, they are the bones of the “slain,” not just those who have died. Finally, the point of the vision is that these “dead” will be brought back to the land of Israel.  God will place them there.  Ezekiel is a prophet of the exile in the exile.  His vision is about the restoration of the nation of Israel in its own land, the “resurrection” of the nation, the people as a unit, a whole.  It does not necessarily mean the resurrection of individuals who have died.  Notice the response of the bones: “Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!”  The “dead” bones speak, not of personal resurrection, but rather of loss of hope.  God replies that He will bring back the nation.  In fact, the intention of the vision is that restored Israel will “know” that God has done this because no one else could have.

While many Jewish and Christian exegetes have taken this vision as proof of a general resurrection of the dead, that interpretation is not the only, not even the most likely, one, especially since the language of the vision is specifically about the house of Israel, not about the whole of humanity.

To be continued