apocalypse against empire

APOCALYPSE AGAINST EMPIRE

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APOCALYPSE AGAINST EMPIRE

Theologies of Resistance in Early Judaism

Anathea E. Portier-Young

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, U.K.

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© 2011 Anathea E. Portier-Young

All rights reserved

Published 2011 by

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

2140 Oak Industrial Drive N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505 /

P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K.

Printed in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Portier-Young, Anathea, 1973-

Apocalypse against empire: theologies of resistance in early Judaism /

Anathea E. Portier-Young.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-8028-6598-4 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Resistance (Philosophy) 2. Jews — History — 586 b.c.–70 a.d.

3. Bible. O.T. Former prophets — History of Biblical events.

4. Ethiopic book of Enoch — Criticism, interpretation, etc.

5. Judaism — Social aspects — Israel. 6. Maccabees.

7. Military history in the Bible. 8. Palestine — History, Military.

I. Title.

B105.R47.P67 2011

296.3¢82 — dc22

2010022222

www.eerdmans.com

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To Jim Crenshaw,

my teacher, colleague, and friend

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Contents

Foreword, by John J. Collins xii

Preface xiv

Abbreviations xviii

Introduction xxi

1. Theorizing Resistance 3

Theology or Theologies of Resistance? 3

Conceptualizing Resistance 5

Forms of Resistance 5

In Search of a Definition 6

Resistance Limits Power 6

Intentions and Actions 8

Contesting Hegemony and Domination 9

Summary 10

Hegemony and Domination:The Conditions and Objects of Resistance 11

Hegemony 11

Domination and dominio 23

Resistance to the Hellenistic Empires: Key Studies 27

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James C. Scott, the Hidden Transcript,and Apocalyptic Pseudonymity 31

Practice versus Belief? 35

Anonymity or Pseudonymity 37

Scott on Anonymity 37

Pseudonymity and Contingency 41

Conclusion 44

2. Hellenistic Rule in Judea: Setting the Stage for Resistance 49

The Beginnings of Hellenistic Rule 49

Alexander, the Successors, and the Ideology of Conquest 49

Caught in the Battle for Domination 54

The Transition to Seleucid Rule 55

The Letter to Ptolemy 55

The Programma 57

Peaceful Coexistence? 62

Stressors and Divisions 63

Ancestral Laws, Scripture, and Invented Tradition 73

3. Interaction and Identity in Seleucid Judea: 188-173 bce 78

The Broader Context: The Seleucid Empireunder Roman Hegemony 78

Domination and Interaction in Seleucid Judea 79

The Heliodorus Stele 80

Heliodorus’s Incursion into the Jerusalem Temple:2 Maccabees 3:1–4:6 86

Reading the Sources Together 89

Judaism versus Hellenism? 91

Jason’s Hellenizing Reforms 93

Cultural Encounter in the Hellenistic Empires 103

Distinctive Identities 108

Asserting a Threatened Identity 112

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4. Re-creating the Empire: The Sixth Syrian War,Jason’s Revolt, and the Reconquest of Jerusalem 115

Preparing for War 117

The Akra 122

Sacrilege and Riot 124

Civil War and Revolt 126

Antiochus IV, Rome, and the Plan of God 130

The Evidence of Polybius 130

The Evidence of Daniel 134

Revolt and the Re-creation of Empire 136

5. Seleucid State Terror 140

The Logic of State Terror 141

Massacre 143

Murder in the Home 145

Abduction 147

Plundering the Temple 150

Jerusalem’s Shame 155

Apollonius’s Mission 158

Parade Turned Massacre 162

Exposing the Spectacle, Answering Terror 168

Into the Wilderness 168

The Monstrosity of Imperial Rule 170

Divine Justice 172

Speaking the Unspeakable 172

Time, Memory, and Language 173

Conclusion 174

6. The Edict of Antiochus:Persecution and the Unmaking of the Judean World 176

Daniel 178

1 and 2 Maccabees 185

Loss of Autonomia 186

Aims of the Edict and Persecution 191

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Prohibitions 193

Compulsory Practices 195

Resistance 210

Conclusion 215

Introduction to Part Three 217

7. Daniel 223

The People Who Know Their God Will Stand Strong and Act:Strength, Knowledge, and Faithfulness 235

Prayer and Penitence 243

To Teach, to Fall, and to Make Righteous 254

Daniel 1, 3, and 6: Stories of Faithfulness 258

Waiting for the End 262

Reading and Writing Scripture:Creative Reinterpretation and New Revelation 265

Studying the Scrolls: Seventy Weeks of Years 267

Suffering Servants 272

Commissioning the Reader 276

Conclusion 277

8. Enochic Authority 280

Distinctive Features of the Early Enochic Literature 285

Astronomical Concerns 286

Alternative Cosmology 287

Alternative Epistemology 291

Elevated Role of Enoch 292

Enochic Authority in the Hellenistic Imperial Context 294

Who Were They? 307

Languages 310

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9. The Apocalypse of Weeks: Witness and Transformation 313

The Righteous 324

The Seventh Week: Witness, Uproot, Enact Justice 328

A Sword to Execute Righteous Judgment 337

Beyond Resistance: Righteous Economy, Temple,and the Kingdom of the Great One 340

Conclusion 345

10. The Book of Dreams: See and Cry Out 346

Interpreting the Present through the Past 352

The First Dream Vision: Supplication 353

The Second Dream Vision: The Animal Apocalypse 363

They Began to Open Their Eyes and to See 363

. . . And to Cry Out to the Sheep 368

Horns Came Out on Those Lambs 372

They Lamented and Cried Out 374

War Traditions 376

Conclusion 379

Conclusion 382

Epilogue 390

Bibliography 401

Index of Modern Authors 439

Index of Subjects 442

Index of Ancient Sources 450

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Foreword

The last half century has seen intense, if sporadic, study of early Jewish apoca-lyptic literature. Much of this study has been literary. We have attained a clearergrasp of the apocalyptic genre and of the traditional associations of apocalypticsymbolism. We have also made important advances in the sociological study ofapocalypticism, inspired in part by Paul Hanson’s groundbreaking study, TheDawn of Apocalyptic (Fortress Press, 1975) and the lively debate it stimulated,but also by the broader interest in apocalypticism as a social phenomenon atthe end of the twentieth century. Scholars have long recognized that apocalyp-tic literature originated as resistance literature, even if was sometimes co-optedfor other purposes in the course of history. We must admit, however, that thestudy of the social function of apocalyptic writings has lagged somewhat in re-lation to literary and historico-traditional studies.

Anathea Portier-Young bids fair to redress this situation in this sweepingand learned work. She breaks new ground in two important respects.

First, she has read widely in the theoretical literature on the subjects of im-perial power and resistance thereto. As a result, she brings to this subject a de-gree of sophistication that has been lacking in previous biblical scholarship onthe subject. She sees the exercise of power as a complex phenomenon, some-times mediated by brute force but often by symbolism and ritual. Equally, resis-tance is not simplistic rejection but may involve selective appropriation or sub-version of the ideology of the dominant power. Both the exercise of power andresistance are processes of negotiation, and each may take a range of forms.

Second, Portier-Young has immersed herself in the study of the Seleucidempire in a way that biblical scholars seldom do. Not since the early work ofMartin Hengel have we seen such a thick description of Seleucid history andpolitics in the context of biblical scholarship. Building on the work of suchscholars as John Ma, she views the Seleucid empire in terms of its strategies of

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domination. This enables her to shed new light on the perennially debated mo-tives of Antiochus Epiphanes in his persecution of the Judeans. Portier-Youngviews his actions through the lens of Realpolitik, the strategy of a pragmaticruler intent on asserting and maintaining his own power. Epiphanes was nomadman but, rather, a cynical and brutal pragmatist.

The theoretical studies and the in-depth historical background of thisbook establish the context for the early Jewish apocalyptic writings. Apocalyp-tic literature has often been stereotyped as otherworldly. Portier-Young makes apersuasive case that it is deeply immersed in political reality and cannot beproperly understood without seeing it against the foil of Hellenistic imperialrule.

This book makes an important contribution to the study of Judea underSeleucid rule and to the social context of apocalyptic literature, but it also doesmore than that. The use of state terror Portier-Young describes here is in noway peculiar to the Seleucid empire. It is an important phenomenon in theworld we live in. Equally, the diverse strategies of resistance that she describesare still employed in the modern world. It is an uncomfortable reality thatmodern America is most often perceived as empire in the tradition of theSeleucids. Portier-Young’s sympathetic account of the various strategies of re-sistance should help us understand the motives of people who resist imperialdomination and are often labeled as terrorists. But it also shows that recourse toviolence is not the only strategy of resistance that is sanctioned and modeled bythe scriptures we have inherited from ancient Judaism.

John J. CollinsHolmes Professor of Old TestamentYale

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Preface

In 2004 I completed my dissertation, “Theologies of Resistance in Daniel, theApocalypse of Weeks, the Book of Dreams, and the Testament of Moses,” underthe direction of James Crenshaw at Duke University. I thank Jim for grantingme the freedom to dream up my own project, for directing me with gentlegrace, and for modeling intellectual courage, precision, and care. I offer specialthanks, once again, to the other members of my committee, Richard Hays, EricMeyers, and Ed Sanders.

In that earlier project I offered a literary and theological analysis of four re-sistant responses to Seleucid domination in Judea. I was especially interested inthe intersection of theology, hermeneutics, and ethics, in the use of Israel’s wartraditions, and in understanding why two of the texts I studied advocatedarmed revolt while two advocated martyrdom. I thought I would come awaywith a clear sense of their differences. Instead I came away impressed by howmuch these four texts had in common. They functioned as resistance literaturein remarkably similar ways, owing in large part, it seemed, to their commongenre, historical apocalypse (or, in the case of Testament of Moses, an apocalyp-tic testament that shared many generic features with the historical apoca-lypses). This conclusion left me with a new set of questions about the genre andthe circumstances in which it arose. I have taken them up in this book.

A few years ago I sent my dissertation to John Collins, who sent back areader’s report with copious guidance on how to make this a better book. Hechallenged me to define resistance, to engage the work of James C. Scott, and toweigh in on emerging debates in the study of Enochic Judaism. He asked me tosay more about what, exactly, these writers and their contemporaries were re-sisting, especially if some of the apocalypses dated earlier than Antiochus’s per-secution in 167 bce. The questions seemed straightforward, and I naivelythought I could turn it around in a few months. As I dug deeper, I realized there

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was a lot to work out. I am grateful to John for the challenges and for the en-couragement. Pursuing these questions has not only improved the book but hasmade me a better scholar.

The book you hold in your hands has (heavily) revised versions of threechapters from my dissertation (chs. 7, 9, and 10 of the present book). It also hasseven new chapters, including all of Parts One (ch. 1) and Two (chs. 2–6) as wellas chapter 8.

When I voiced my bold hope to Michael Thomson that this book “fly topress,” I didn’t dare to expect it could happen. To the incredibly supportiveteam at Eerdmans who gave this book wings, I offer profuse thanks: MichaelThomson, Linda Bieze, Jon Pott, Allen Myers, David Cottingham, and JennyHoffman.

I owe thanks also to Hindy Najman, for your encouragement and grace.As I was preparing my manuscript for press I had the pleasure of reading

Richard Horsley’s Revolt of the Scribes: Resistance and Apocalyptic Origins (Min-neapolis: Fortress, 2010). Part One of Horsley’s book covers much the sameground as my own book. Yet it would have been disingenuous to insert refer-ences to Horsley’s book throughout this manuscript. Instead, I offer a fewwords here. My hope is that whoever is interested in this subject will read bothbooks. Horsley’s thesis and my own are very similar — I take this as a goodsign! Starting from the observation that the surviving “apocalyptic” texts fromancient Judea all “focus on imperial rule and the opposition to it,” Horsley in-sists on “a more historical approach,” specifically calling for “critical attentionto the political-economic-religious structure and dynamics within Judean soci-ety in the broader context of conflict with the dominant empires.” I could notagree more, and my reader will find just such critical attention in Part Two. Butour approaches, and our accounts of that history, also differ in significant ways,and that impacts our conclusions. Moreover, in shifting the focus to history,Horsley aims to shift the focus away from genre and away from “apocalyp-ticism.” Questioning the distinctiveness of the apocalyptic worldview and dis-carding the genre label “historical apocalypse,” Horsley prefers to analyze theextant texts apart from constructed genre expectations. I believe this is a mis-take. I argue that the characteristic features of the genre historical apocalypse,including such elements as the prophetic review of history, narrative frame, an-gelic mediation, and revered human recipient of revelation, all play a crucialrole in how the text functions as resistant discourse and how the text presentsits program of resistance. This is consistent in each of the texts I study in thisvolume and tells us a great deal about the nascent genre. Reading Horsley’sbook makes me all the more excited to think about future work on the historyand development of the genre apocalypse. I thank Horsley for bringing a newsurge of energy to the questions of empire, resistance, and apocalyptic.

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I completed several chapters in Parts One and Two during a year-long sab-batical in 2008-09. I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to my colleagues in theCatholic Biblical Association of America, who supported my work for sixmonths of that sabbatical through a Young Scholars’ Fellowship. The great giftof the sabbatical was not only the chance to “get it done” but also to rememberwhy I love my research. Every day of my sabbatical I gave thanks for each ofyou, and I continue to do so.

Duke University supported me during my sabbatical as well, and I thankDean Greg Jones, the office of Academic Affairs, our library staff, and others atthe University for vital support at this time and throughout my years at Duke.

As the project grew (and grew) Jon Berquist, Greg Carey, John Collins, JoelMarcus, Bill Portier, Bonnie Portier, Phil Portier, and Lauren Winner all readand commented on multiple chapters and assorted parts, often on very shortnotice. They gave encouragement when I most needed it and also helped me seeweaknesses and ways to remedy them. I incorporated as many of your sugges-tions as I could. I offer very deep gratitude to each of you.

Many colleagues at Duke and elsewhere have been conversation partners asI explored new ways of thinking and tested ideas. I have learned more from youthan I can say. I owe special thanks to my colleagues in Old Testament, EllenDavis and Stephen Chapman, for your mentoring, support, and example.

The students in my courses on Daniel and Apocalyptic Literature and EarlyJewish Apocalypses created the forum where I worked out many of the ideas inthis book. You are a treasure.

Anne Weston provided invaluable editorial assistance, first as a colleague andthen as a friend. From teaching me about comma splices and restrictive clauses tofixing my dashes, hyphens, and multiform footnotes, Anne’s light but carefultouch graces every page. As the project neared its conclusion Anne worked atlightning speed. There aren’t enough honeycomb-filled chocolate bars in theworld to convey my thanks for the gift of your patience, time, and expertise.

To Judith Heyhoe, for help with indexes, thank you!I thank Sean Burrus, Jay Forth, Tyler Garrard, Jill Hicks, Logan Kruck,

Mindy Makant, Dan Rhodes, Candice Ryals, Denise Thorpe, and Jess Wong(quite a team!) for your cheerful help in tracking down references, adding tomy piles of folders (you may not have thought I would read them all, but I re-ally did), and assembling the bibliography. I thank Diane Decker for helpingthem and me with photocopies, scans, printing, and logistics. Even more, Ithank Diane for daily moral support, friendship, cheerleading, and the bigthermometer-chart that got me to the end.

So many friends have loved and supported me and my family along theway. I cannot name everyone here. I thank you. I am incredibly fortunate tocount you in my life.

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Finally, I thank my family. My mom and dad, Bonnie and Bill Portier, knewwhen to encourage and when to remind. That was tricky. You did great! Youbless me so much. During the past two years my husband Steve has repeatedlymade time and space for me to write. I don’t know how. This book would nothave happened without Steve’s support. I am truly grateful. No one has wantedthis book to end as much as I have, but my son Sebastian comes close.Sebastian, I thank you for your patience and understanding. To you alone of myreaders I say, close this book immediately! Let’s get back to our adventures! Andlet’s start planning for a book we’ll write together one day . . .

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Abbreviations

Ancient AuthorsArist. AristotleJos. JosephusPolyb. PolybiusDiod. DiodorusVell. Pat. Velleius PaterculusXen. Xenophon

Primary Sources1 En. 1 EnochA.J. Josephus Antiquitates judaicae (Jewish Antiquities)Ad Nic. Isocrates, Ad Nicoclem (To Nicocles)Aem. Plutarch Aemilius PaulusAges. Xenophon AgesilaeusAnab. Arrian AnabasisAnach. Lucian AnacharsisB.J. Josephus Bellum judaicum (Jewish War)Exod. Rab. Exodus RabbahFlacc. Philo In Flaccum (Against Flaccus)Ill. Appian Illyriaca (Illyrian Wars)In Dan. Jerome In DanielemJub. JubileesL.A.B. Liber antiquitatum biblicarum (Pseudo-Philo)LXX SeptuagintMac. Appian Macedonian AffairsOG Old GreekOr. Dio Chrysostom Orationes

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Pol. Aristotle Politica (Politics)PV Aeschylus Prometheus Vinctus (Prometheus Bound)Resp. Plato Respublica (Republic)Sib. Or. Sibylline OraclesSyr. Appian Syriaca (Syrian Wars)Tg. Isa. Targum IsaiahT. Mos. Testament of Moses

Secondary SourcesAJA American Journal of ArchaeologyAJSR Association for Jewish Studies ReviewBASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental ResearchBibInt Biblical InterpretationBDB F. Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs. A Hebrew and English

Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford, 1907BTB Biblical Theology BulletinCBQ Catholic Biblical QuarterlyCBQMS Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph SeriesCCSL Corpus Christianorum: Series latina. Turnhout, 1953-CEJL Commentaries on Early Jewish LiteratureCT Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British

Museum. London, 1896-C. Ord. Ptol. Corpus des ordonnances des PtoléméesEA Epigraphica AnatolicaFOTL Forms of Old Testament LiteratureHeyJ Heythrop JournalHTR Harvard Theological ReviewHUCA Hebrew Union College AnnualICC International Critical CommentaryIEJ Israel Exploration JournalIJAHS International Journal of African Historical StudiesJAAR Journal of the American Academy of ReligionJANESCU Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society of Columbia

UniversityJBL Journal of Biblical LiteratureJCS Journal of Cuneiform StudiesJJS Journal of Jewish StudiesJRE Journal of Religious EthicsJSJ Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and

Roman PeriodsJSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

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JSP Journal for the Study of the PseudepigraphaLSJ H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones. A Greek-English Lexicon. 9th

ed. with revised supplement. Oxford, 1996Neot NeotestamenticaNIB The New Interpreter’s BibleNIDOTTE New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and

Exegesis. Edited by W. A. VanGemeren. 5 vols. Grand Rapids,1997

NTS New Testament StudiesPL Patrologia latina [= Patrologiae cursus completus: Series latina].

Edited by J.-P. Migne. 217 vols. Paris, 1844-64PRSt Perspectives in Religious StudiesRB Revue bibliqueREJ Revue des études juivesRevPhil Revue de philologieRevQ Revue de QumranRIDA Revue Internationale des Droits de l’AntiquitéSBL Society of Biblical LiteratureSBLSCS Society of Biblical Literature Septuagint and Cognate StudiesSBLSP Society of Biblical Literature Seminar PapersSEG Supplementum Epigraphicum GraecumSIFC Studi Italiani di Filologia ClassicaTDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Edited by G. Kittel

and G. Friedrich. Translated by G. W. Bromiley. 10 vols. GrandRapids, 1964-76

TDOT Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Edited by G. J.Botterweck and H. Ringgren. Translated by J. T. Willis, G. W.Bromiley, and D. E. Green. 15 vols. Grand Rapids, 1974-2006

USQR Union Seminary Quarterly ReviewVT Vetus TestamentumWBC Word Biblical CommentaryZNW Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde

der älteren KircheZPE Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik

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Introduction

In 167 bce the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes issued an edict thatsought to annul the ancestral laws of Judea, proscribing traditional Jewish reli-gion and mandating new religious practice in its place. According to2 Maccabees, 22,000 Seleucid troops already occupied the city of Jerusalem, andhad already massacred and enslaved thousands among its population. Nowthey would kill any who did not comply with the king’s edict. Many Judeans didcomply with Antiochus’s program of terror. In so doing they saved their livesand the lives of their families. Others resisted. They resisted by remaining faith-ful to the law of Moses, circumcising their children, reading the scrolls, and re-fusing to eat pork or sacrifice to other gods. They resisted by preaching andteaching, praying, fasting, and dying. These first martyrs of the Jewish faithhave inspired generations of Jews and Christians who have told and retold (andrelived) their stories of courage and faithfulness. Others resisted with arms,fighting in self-defense and to reclaim their temple and city, ultimately expel-ling the occupying Seleucid troops from Judea. They succeeded in establishingJudea as a semi-independent nation-state after over four hundred years of colo-nial rule. Each year Jews around the world celebrate this accomplishment dur-ing the festival of Hanukkah.

The reign of Antiochus marked a turning point in the history of Judaismfor another reason that, though rarely remarked upon, is no less momentous.For during this period emerged a new literary genre, the historical apocalypse,and with it an apocalyptic worldview and consciousness that would becomeenormously influential in the history of Judaism and Christianity alike.1 Why

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1. Elements of that worldview and consciousness were already taking shape perhaps a cen-tury earlier, as evidenced by the Book of the Watchers (1 En. 1–36), commonly considered the firstextant apocalypse of the “heavenly journey” type. The two subgenres are closely related. While

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this genre at this moment? What is the relationship between apocalypse andempire?

I argue that the first Jewish apocalypses emerged as a literature of resis-tance to empire. Empire claimed the power to order the world. It exercised thispower through force, but also through propaganda and ideology. Empire ma-nipulated and co-opted hegemonic social institutions to express and reinforceits values and cosmology. Resisting imperial domination required challengingnot only the physical means of coercion, but also empire’s claims about knowl-edge and the world. The first apocalypses did precisely this.

In examining how they resisted empire, this book corrects a common set ofmisperceptions about apocalypticism and about Judaism in this vital period. Itis often thought that early apocalyptic literature represents a flight from realityinto fantasy, leading to radical detachment from the world or a disavowal of thevisible, embodied realm. It has been imagined that the pseudonymous writersof the apocalypses hid their identities in order to avoid retaliation for their rad-ical critique, or that they belonged to fringe sectarian groups with little connec-tion to mainstream Judaism or centers of influence in Judean society. Nothingcould be further from the truth. The early apocalyptic visionaries numberedamong Judea’s elite. During the persecution they did not hide, but urged publicpreaching, aiming to convert a wide audience to their message of faithfulnessand hope. And they did not flee painful and even devastating realities, but en-gaged them head on.

This book is divided into three parts, moving through theory, history, andtexts to arrive at an understanding of apocalyptic theology and praxis at thiscrucial juncture in Judean and Jewish history. Part One (ch. 1), “Theorizing Re-sistance,” lays out a framework for understanding the meaning of resistance, foridentifying and analyzing its objects, domination and hegemony, and for un-derstanding the literary genre apocalypse as resistant counterdiscourse. I layout this framework at the book’s beginning so that it can inform the analysis insubsequent chapters. Yet I risk losing the energy of readers drawn more to thedrama of history and ancient text than to theory. I invite readers less inclinedtoward theory to read the conclusion of chapter one and proceed to Parts Twoand Three.

Part Two, “Seleucid Domination in Judea” (chs. 2–6), traces the history ofHellenistic rule in Judea, with special attention to the era of Seleucid rule from200 bce to the persecution in 167 bce. What was happening in Judea at this

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my primary focus is on the first historical apocalypses, namely Daniel, the Apocalypse of Weeks(1 En. 93:1-10 + 91:11-17), and the Book of Dreams (1 En. 83–90), I also give attention to the Bookof the Watchers, which deeply influenced both the Apocalypse of Weeks and the Book ofDreams.

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time had never happened before. These conditions formed the matrix in whichthe first apocalypses took shape. A common narrative for this period haspainted the early years of Seleucid rule as beneficent and peaceful, suddenly in-terrupted in 167 bce by the inexplicable and murderous ravings of a mad king.Another explanation characterizes the conflict as a clash of cultures betweenJudaism and Hellenism. Locating events in Judea in a wider imperial context, Ioffer a more nuanced account. I examine the violence of conquest and thestressors of imperial rule in Judea from the very beginning of Hellenistic ruleand Seleucid domination. I document interaction between ruler and ruled, andoffer new lenses for viewing the encounter between Judaism and Hellenism. Ithen identify the logic that ultimately led to Antiochus’s edict and persecutionof Judeans. He aimed to re-create his own empire through the reconquest, de-creation, and re-creation of Judea. Judea’s conquest was carried out not only byforce but through a program of state terror. The persecution was not somethingwholly discontinuous after all, but continued a program of terror already wellunderway. Understanding the logic of Antiochus’s program of terror and de-creation, we perceive not only what the apocalyptic writers were resisting, buthow they resisted. Trauma stopped time. With visions of a unified past, present,and future, the historical apocalypses put time back together. With vivid sym-bols they asserted the integrity of a world that had threatened to shatter. Theyanswered terror with radical visions of hope.

Part Three (chs. 7–10), “Apocalyptic Theologies of Resistance,” treats in de-tail the three extant historical apocalypses written in Judea during Antiochus’sreign, namely Daniel (ch. 7), the Apocalypse of Weeks (1 En. 93:1-10 + 91:11-17;ch. 9), and the Book of Dreams (1 En. 83–90; ch. 10). Chapter 8 introduces thetwo Enochic texts by addressing the relationship between Enochic authority inthe early Enochic writings and Israel’s other scriptural traditions as well as theepistemological and cosmological claims of the Hellenistic ruling powers. Asresistant discourse, each apocalypse countered the totalizing narrative of theSeleucid empire with an even grander total vision of history, cosmos, and thereign of God. But their resistance did not stop at the level of discourse or belief.Vision and praxis shaped one another. From each apocalyptic discourseemerged a program of radical, embodied resistance rooted in covenant theol-ogy and shaped by models from Israel’s scriptures as well as new revelatory par-adigms. I examine each text in turn, giving careful attention to the creative in-terplay between theology, hermeneutics, and ethics, or, put another way,between the framework of belief, practices of reading, and the shaping of resis-tant action.

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apocalypse against empire

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