Resurrection (3)
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
Continued from yesterday
Zech. 14:3 Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. 4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, (Whose feet?) which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south. 5 Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, for the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Thus the Lord my God will come, and all the saints (who are they?) with You. 6 It shall come to pass in that day That there will be no light; The lights will diminish. 7 It shall be one day which is known to the Lord (might that be the Feast of Yom Teruah? A DAY WHEN WE ARE TOLD — THOSE IN JERUSALEM — TO WATCH FOR THE NEW MOON, TO BEGIN THE FEAST? AND NOT BY THE HILLEL CALENDAR)— neither day nor night. But at evening time it shall happen That it will be light. 8 And in that day it shall be That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, Half of them toward the eastern sea And half of them toward the western sea; In both summer and winter it shall occur. 9 And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. in that day it shall be— “The Lord is one,” And His name one. (Could that be the 1000 year reign mentioned in Rev. 20?):
Zechariah 14:1-9
Let’s concentrate on the only verse in this apocalyptic passage which might possibly suggest a general resurrection, that is, verse 5 in the phrase “all the saints.” Without this phrase, there is nothing in this passage that specifically mentions a resurrection of the dead. Instead, the passage in general is about God’s conquest over evil on earth. First, a few notes on your added questions. “His feet”—the pronoun clearly refers to the feet of the Lord, who in this case, is YHVH. Interpreting the text as a Messianic verse would have been impossible at the time of Zechariah, the grammar of the text is clear. Secondly, your suggestion about the time depends entirely on reading the text anachronistically, that is, from a much later perspective.
Now let’s look at the phrase “all the saints.” The Hebrew is “all the holy ones.” Don’t import later ideas of “saints” as if the same term can be applied as it is used in the New Testament. In Hebrew the word is qōdešim. It is not a general term for believers. Some background here will help:
The noun qōdeš connotes the concept of “holiness,” i.e. the essential nature of that which belongs to the sphere of the sacred and which is thus distinct from the common or profane. This distinction is evident in Lev 10:10 and Ezk 22:26 where qōdeš occurs as the antithesis of ḥôl (“profane,” “common”).
There is some truth in the idea of R. Otto (see bibliography) that the word “holy” refers to the mysterium tremendum. It speaks of God with a measure of awe. It can be used almost as a synonym of deity. “His holy name” is the name of God. The inner room of God’s dwelling is called the Holy of Holies—the most holy place.
But the biblical viewpoint would refer the holiness of God not only to the mystery of his power, but also to his character as totally good and entirely without evil. Holy objects therefore are those with no cultic pollution which is symbolic of moral pollution. They are not merely dedicated, but dedicated to what is good and kept from what is evil. The separation of men from what defiles ceremonially is but typical of the holiness that is spiritual and ethical. “Be ye holy for I am holy” is quoted from the ot (I Pet 1:16; Lev 19:1; 20:7, etc.) and the so-called holiness code is heavily ethical. “Man was made in the image of God and capable of reflecting the Divine likeness. And as God reveals himself as ethically holy, he calls men to a holiness resembling his own” (ISBE, “Holiness”).
A basic element of Israelite religion was the maintenance of an inviolable distinction between the spheres of the sacred and the common or profane (Num 18:32). That which was inherently holy or designated so by divine decree or cultic rite was not to be treated as common. The sabbath was holy, and the restrictions connected with that day served to maintain its distinctive nature and to guard against its being treated as common (Ex 16:23–26; Isa 58:13, 14). Special restrictions were placed on the priests to guard against profanation of its holy status (Lev 21:6ff.). Sexual intercourse was not considered immoral in the ot but it did effect a state of Levitical defilement (Lev 15:18) which prohibited contact with that which was holy (I Sam 21:4). The same principle applied to the peace offering (Lev 19:5–8), the holy oil (Ex 30:32–33), and holy incense (Ex 30:37).[1]
The adjective qādôš (holy) denominates that which is intrinsically sacred or which has been admitted to the sphere of the sacred by divine rite or cultic act. It connotes that which is distinct from the common or profane.[2]
How does this background help us resolve the question about a general resurrection of the dead? If qōdešim means those who have sacred status, does this imply that all humanity experiences a resurrection? No. Even if it means some form of resurrection, it only applies to those who are qōdešim, that is, who are fully separated and dedicated to God. Even within Israel, the qōdešim would only be those who were committed to lives of total purity according to the instructions of the Covenant. At best, this would include those who lived up to the code of the Levitical order. If we take Zechariah’s prophecy as support for a resurrection, we end with a resurrection of only a very small number of “holy ones,” not a proof text for a general resurrection of the dead.
However, there is another explanation of this phrase which does not involve the problem of “limited” resurrection. “with all His holy ones” is easily understood as the entire celestial population which, by definition, are qōdešim. There is no implication of a resurrection of human beings. This is simply a way of saying “the angelic armies.” By the way, some of this Hebrew text is cryptic and it is virtually impossible to know exactly what it means.
To be continued
ISBE International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. J. Orr, 1929
[1] Mccomiskey, T. E. (1999). 1990 קָדַשׁ. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 787). Chicago: Moody Press.
[2] Ibid.
