Third Isaiah also sounds this theme of openness,
reassuring foreigners and eunuchs who have
joined themselves to Yahweh that they'll be
welcome in the Holy Temple to serve God and
to offer sacrifices. Now, this is significant.
Again, remember that Deuteronomy 23 right
in the heart of the Pentateuch, bans eunuchs
specifically, and certain foreigners--Moabites,
Ammonites--from entering the congregation.
Remember also that Ezekiel explicitly excluded
foreigners from the restored temple in his
visions at the end of the book. This is also
clearly the policy of Ezra and Nehemiah. They
had an Ammonite who had his lodgings or office
or room in the temple--they had him thrown
out of that area in the temple.
Third Isaiah seems to oppose such restrictions.
Isaiah 56:3-7:
Let not the foreigner say,
Who has attached himself to the Lord,
"The Lord will keep me apart from his people";
And let not the eunuchs say,
"I am a withered tree."
For thus said the Lord:
"As for the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths,
Who have chosen what I desire
And hold fast to My covenant--
I will give them, in My House
And within My walls,
A monument and a name
Better than sons or daughters.
I will give them an everlasting name
Which shall not perish.
As for the foreigners
Who attach themselves to the Lord,
To minister to Him,
And to love the name of the Lord,
To be His servants--
All who keep the Sabbath and do not profane
it,
And who hold fast to my covenant.
…I will bring them to My sacred mount
And let them rejoice in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
Shall be welcome on My altar;
For My House shall be called
A house of prayer for all peoples."
So on this issue clearly the post-exilic community
was quite divided. Now, there's only one [biblical
book], which pretty much in its entirety,
belongs to the genre of literature known as
apocalyptic. Not in its entirety, but it is
the most significant and through-going apocalyptic
book in the Bible. The term apocalyptic derives
from the Greek word apocalypsis. An apocalypsis
is a revealing, so something that's apocalyptic
is a revealing. Apocalypse is a revelation
of things to come, and as apocalypses generally
predict the end of historical time and the
beginning of a new world order, they are generally
concerned with eschatology; so apocalyptic
works tend to be eschatological. That doesn't
mean all eschatological work is apocalyptic.
Apocalyptic literature within the Bible, and
then much more significantly outside the Hebrew
Bible, is characterized by certain distinguishing
features. So apocalyptic literature is always
eschatological, deals with the end of time.
But to be apocalyptic a work has to have certain
kinds of features and not all eschatologies
have these features.
