Bibliography: Early Apocalyptic Preterism (150BC-AD150)
The next line, however, begins, “Its interpretation concerns the Kittim….” The modern theory had already been propounded by interpretation by the ancient community two thousand years earlier!
JEWISH & CHRISTIAN WRITINGS FROM 150 B.C. TO A.D. 150
FIRST PART OF THE LITERATURE SUITE:
- EARLY APOCALYPTIC PRETERISM (150 B.C.-A.D. 150)
- THE DOMINANCE OF PRETERISM (A.D. 150-1500)
- FREE ONLINE BOOKS (A.D. 1500-2018)
- ALL PDF FILES IN THE PRETERIST ARCHIVE
SEE ALSO:
- 1971: J.A.T. Robinson, Redating the New Testament
- 1994: Florentino Garcia Martinez, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated. The Qumran Texts in English (PDF) | Other versions at Archive.org
- 2008: Mark Goodacre, Dating the Critical Sources in Early Christianity
(EC) – A) Views espoused by all Christian sources during the first thousand years of church history, during which the only systematizing being done was in Catholic and Orthodox circles. B) This class includes all the earliest church fathers, historians and pseudepigraphic writers, dating back to the writings of the New Testament. C) Sources could be considered “Historicist” or “Futurist” but very rarely “Preterist” in any developed way (Eusebius would be the most likely to be considered Preterist). (Broadest in Years, Broadest in Doctrine – First Thousand Years of Church History – Pret-related comments color-coded with “Historical Preterism” due to similarities)
PRETERISM AND THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
(150 B.C. – A.D. 68)
- DSS: Pre-Christian Preterism – The “Dead Sea Scrolls”: PRE-CHRISTIAN PRETERIST COMMENTARIES – EARLIEST FOUND IN “CAVE ONE”
THE TRANSMISSION OF PRETERIST DOCTRINE FROM THE IMMEDIATE PRE-CHRISTIAN PERIOD: Expectation of a “Romano-Judaic Eschaton” in First Century BC/AD Judaism as Revealed in the Dead Sea Scrolls:
And we recognize that some of the blessings and curses have come, (24) those written in the Bo[ok of Mo]ses; therefore this is the End of Days (4Q397 – 399)
The Dead Sea Scrolls and other archeological finds are pouring light onto the period of time reckoned by Preterists as “the last days”: AD30-70. When fleeing Jerusalem during the Roman siege, scribes sealed numerous texts into the caves of the southwest Dead Sea area. A portion of these was first discovered in 1947, with many more finds since then. Below are excerpts from the various scrolls. They collectively teach that they lived in “the end of days” and that a ruler was coming out of the East who would rule the world. Josephus and others reckoned this figure with Roman general Vespasian, who was indeed hailed Emperor by his legions while still in Palestine. Regardless, the glory of Christ’s throne outshines that of Vespasian to this day, and shows no sign of diminishing. The “War Scroll” pits the Romans against Israel, using the term “Kittim” or “Chaldea” to refer to the Roman Empire. The “Roman-Judean” end times view expressed in the Dead Sea Scrolls is also precisely what was taught by Daniel, Jesus, the first century Christians, and is also what is believed by Preterist Christians today.
‘Kittim’ as ‘the Romans’ – This interpretation is an early example of precise preterist interpretation from the pre-Christian era. The coming destruction at the hands of a ‘heathen power’ was an ancient message, dating to before Moses’ declarations in Deuteronomy 28. This ‘heathen power’ being identified specifically as Rome (Kittim) is, stunningly, found in Septuagint Daniel and the Habakkuk Commentary, among other instances found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. This quote from the “Habakkuk Scroll” dates “prior to 63 B.C.”:
Pesher on Habakkuk 1:6
“For, behold, I raise up the Kasdim, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the eretz, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.” Comment: “Its interpretation concerns the Kittim”
Pesher on Habakkuk 1:11
“Then he sweeps by like the wind, and goes on. He is indeed guilty, whose strength is his god.” Comment: “Interpreted, [this concerns] the commanders of the Kittim who, on the counsel of [the] House of Guilt, pass one in front of the other; one after another [their] commanders come to lay waste the earth.”
This interpretation carried into the Christian era. In fact, Jerome changed ‘Kittim’ to ‘Romans’ in his translation. Following that translation is a comment from the Geneva Bible:
“Kittim” in Daniel 11:30
“For the Romans shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved, and shall return, and have indignation against the holy covenant, and shall do [his pleasure]: he shall even return, and have regard to those who forsake the holy covenant.” Comment: Daniel 11:30 (h) That is, the Romaine power shal come – MORE ON KITTIM AT BOTTOM OF PAGE
THE IMMEDIATE PRE-CHRISTIAN ERA
(150 B.C. – A.D. 30)
- -0300-200: The Book of Tobit, Sinaitic Recension (pdf) – “Indeed, everything that was spoken by the prophets of Israel, whom God sent, will occur. None of all their words will fail, but all will come true at their appointed times. So it will be safer in Media than in Assyria and Babylon. For I know and believe that whatever God has said will be fulfilled and will come true; not a single word of the prophecies will fail. All of our kindred, inhabitants of the land of Israel, will be scattered and taken as captives from the good land; and the whole land of Israel will be desolate.” (14:3,4)
- -0150-AD68: The Dead Sea Scrolls
- 1QM, 4Q491-496 – The War Scroll
- 1QpHab – Pesher Habakkuk
- 1QS – The Community Rule
- 1Q16 – Pesher Psalms
- 1Q71-72 ; 6Q7 ; 4Q243 – The Book of Daniel
- 4QH – The Thanksgiving Hymns
- 4Q171 – Pesher Psalms
- 4Q179 – Pesher Nahum
- 4Q266-273 ; CD – Damascus Document
- 4QMMT – Second Letter on Works Accounted for Righteousness
- -0165: I Enoch or Ethiopic Enoch
- -0150: Sibylline Oracles, Book III
- -0135: The Book of Jubilees – they shall name the great name, but not in truth and not in righteousness, and they shall defile the holy of holies with their uncleanness and the corruption of their pollution. And a great punishment shall befall the deeds of this generation
- -0109: Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
- -0070-40: The Psalms of Solomon
- -0006-AD30: The Assumption of Moses
FROM THE “APOSTOLIC ERA”
AD 30 – 70
- -0047-48: James “Simply So Called”, The New Testament Epistle of James, Chapter 5, 5:8
- 0050-0150: P.Oxy. 1224 – “W[h]at [is] the ne[w] doct[rine] [that they say] [you] te[ach]”
- 0050,E: Paul the Apostle, 1 Thessalonians
- 0050-51: Paul the Apostle, 2 Thessalonians, 2:2
- 0055,E: Paul the Apostle, 1 Corinthians
- 0055,L: Paul the Apostle, 1 Timothy
- 0056,E: Paul the Apostle, 2 Corinthians, 5:4
- 0056,L: Paul the Apostle, Galatians
- 0057,E: Paul the Apostle, Romans, 13:11
- 0057,E: Paul the Apostle, Titus
- 0058,E: Paul the Apostle, Philippians, 4:5
- 0058,M: Paul the Apostle, Philemon
- 0058,M: Paul the Apostle, Colossians
- 0058.M: Paul the Apostle or Associate, Ephesians
- 0058,L: Paul the Apostle, 2 Timothy
- 0040-60: The Didache
- 0045-60: Mark the Evangelist, The Gospel of Mark, 9:1, Olivet Discourse, Chapter 16 Long Ending
- -0068: Mark the Evangelist, “7Q5 = Mark 6:52-53” in Dead Sea Scrolls
- 0040-60+: Matthew The Evangelist, The Gospel of Matthew – 10:23, 13:39, 16:27-28, Olivet Discourse, 24:2, 24:4-5, 24:13, 24:14, 24:15, 24:16, 24:21, 24:27, 24:28, 24:29, 24:30, 24:34, 24:36, 26:64
- -0057-60+: Luke the Physician, The Gospel of Luke, 21:22, 23:34
- 0061-62: Jude
- 0061-62: Peter the Apostle, 2 Peter, 1:16, 3:10
- 0057-62+: Luke the Physician, Acts of the Apostles : Western Text, 1:11
- 0060-65: John the Apostle, 1 John
- 0060-65: John the Apostle, 2 John
- 0060-65: John the Apostle, 3 John
- 0065,E: Peter the Apostle, 1 Peter 4:7
- -0040-65+: John the Apostle, The Gospel of John, 21:22
- 0067: Paul the Apostle or Associate, Hebrews
- 0068,L(-70): John the Apostle or Associate, The Apocalypse of John, 1:1, 1:7, 6:16, 9:11, 11:1, 13:18, 17:10
- -0070: Mathetes, The Epistle of Mathetes
- 0070,E: Clement of Rome, First Clement to the Corinthians
FROM THE “SILENT ERA”
70 – 150
- Bibliography: Early Church Fathers
- 0075: Barnabas, The Epistle of Barnabas
- -0085: Shepherd of Hermas
- 0067-100: The Odes of Solomon – Because He is my Sun and His rays have lifted me up and His light hath dispelled all darkness from my face. In Him I have acquired eyes and have seen His holy day. I have put on incorruption through His name: and have put off corruption by His grace. Death hath been destroyed before my face: and Sheol bath been abolished by my word
- 0070-0160: “Peter”, The Gospel of Peter (the Preaching of Peter)
- 0100-0150: “Peter”, The Apocalypse of Peter
- 0100-0150: “James”, The Secret Book of James – Therefore I say to you, become full and leave no place within you empty, since the Coming One is able to mock you.
- 0100-0160: Gospel of the Ebionites
- 0100-0160: Gospel of the Nazoreans
- 0110: Ignatius of Antioch, Various – It is absurd to speak of Jesus Christ with the tongue, and to cherish in the mind a Judaism which has now come to an end.
- 0150: Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew
OTHER (LIKELY) NON-CHRISTIAN WORKS FROM THIS PERIOD
- 0070: Life of Adam and Eve or The Apocalypse of Moses
- 0071: Judea Capta Coins
- 0070-80: Esdras 2 (4 Ezra) – Similarly, II Baruch and IV Ezra, who are obsessed by the destruction of Jerusalem in 70, are strikingly silent on the matter of the consequent pollution, cultic or otherwise.
- 0070-100: Apocalypse of Abraham, 9-32
- 0071-115: Justus of Tiberias, A Chronicle of the Kings of the Jews in the form of a Genealogy – His kingdom, which was bestowed upon him by Claudius, was extended by Nero, and still more by Vespasian. He was a political opponent of Josephus, against whom he is said to have concocted several plots; but Josephus, although on several occasions he had his enemy in his power, only chastised him with words and let him go free. It is said that the history which he wrote is in great part fictitious, especially where he describes the Judaeo-Roman war and the capture of Jerusalem.
- 0073-: Mara BarSerapion
- 0074-139: The Miriam Fragment
- 0075: The Ascension of Isaiah
- 0075-: “Baruch“, The Apocalypse of Baruch, aka II Baruch – Kneucker, Marshall, and several other recent critics, however, place its composition after the capture of Jerusalem by Titus, holding that the “strange nation” of iv. 3 (“give not thine honor . . . to a strange nation”) refers to the Christians, and relates to a time when the antagonism between Judaism and Christianity had become pronounced.
- 0075: Josephus, The Judaic Wars (Bello Judaica PDFs Below) – 6:5:3
- Josephus Parallels? Revelation 16:18 and Wars of the Jews 4:4:5
- Josephus Parallels? Revelation 16:19 and Wars of the Jews 5:1:1
- Josephus Parallels? Revelation 16:21 and Wars of the Jews 5:6:3
- Josephus Parallels? The 10 Horns Who Received Authority for “One Hour” (Revelation 17:12)
- 1499: Antiquitatibus ac Bello Judaica (Latin)
- 1511: Torino que hoc Volumine Contineantur Josephi (Latin)
- 1528: Josephus, Erasmus Edition (Latin)
- 1530: Hegesippus Josephus Ambrosius, Cologne Edition (German)
- 1552: Judische Chronik (German)
- 1560: Hystorie Judischen Krieges, Gernhard Edition (German)
- 1602: Thomas Lodge, Famous and Memorable Workes of Josephus
- 1702: Josephus, 1767 L’Estrange Edition, V1 | V2
- 1736: William Whiston, Works of Josephus with Porteus | 1996 Edition | Whiston’s Josephus Hyperlinked
- 1777: Josephus, Thompson-Price Edition, V1 | V2
- 1823: Josephus, Johnstone Edition
- 1851: Traill’s Josephus, Josephus’ The Wars of the Jews, V1 | V2
- 1852: Josephus, Whiston Edition, London, V1
- 1882: Destion, Die Quellen Flavius Josephus (German)
- 1898: Josephus, Flavius Josephus Latina (Latin)
- 1911: Reinach’s Josephus, Works of Josephus, V1-2 | V2-2 (French)
- 0080: Sibylline Oracles IV/V
- 0093-96: Pseudo Hecataeus
- -0100: The Testament of Abraham
- 0109: Tacitus, The Annals of Tacitus, Books I-VI (PDF)
A CLOSER LOOK AT PESHER HABAKKUK
- Habakkuk 1:11 – Then he sweeps by like the wind, and goes on. He is indeed guilty, whose strength is his god.” Comment: “Interpreted, [this concerns] the commanders of the Kittim who, on the counsel of [the] House of Guilt, pass one in front of the other; one after another [their] commanders come to lay waste the earth.
Refugees from Jerusalem’s besiegement stored numerous documents east of the city near Qumran. Also found are likely Essene sect scrolls (Calvinistic Apocalypticism). They are all of utmost significance for first century studies, and are highly preteristic — the commentaries (persherim) on Daniel and Habakkuk found among the documents remarkably identify the Romans with the apocalyptic nation referred to as “Chaldea” or “Kittim” in Numbers 24:24 and Daniel 11:30, making it the earliest known Preterist commentary (pre 68 B.C.)
This point is quite important, for if the Kittim of the Dead Sea Scrolls is to be identified with Rome, then according to their interpretation, the full scope of biblical prophecy ends with reference to Rome. This is pre-christian preterism indeed!
- Numbers 24:24 (Balaam’s prophecy) “But ships will come from the coast of Kittim to subdue Ashur and subdue ‘Ever, but they too will come to destruction. 25 Then Bil’am got up, left and returned to his home; and Balak too went his way..”
- Daniel 11:30 (Daniel’s prophecy) “For ships of Kittim shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved, and shall return, and have indignation against the holy covenant, and shall do [his pleasure]: he shall even return, and have regard to those who forsake the holy covenant. [Rendered In the Latin Vulgate (A.D.405): 11:30 Et veniet super eum Trieres, et Romani: Daniel 11:30 “For the Romans shall come against him]
- Habakkuk 1:6 (Habakkuk’s prophecy) – For, behold, I raise up the Kasdim, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the eretz, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. (Jewish Names Bible)
The first scholar to investigate the scrolls seemed likewise excited by this possibility: “The new leather fragment now provided a first-century B.C.-A.D. testimony to the accuracy of the text as it has been preserved – Kasidim was clearly in the text used by the copyist. The next line, however, begins, “Its interpretation concerns the Kittim….” The modern theory had already been propounded by interpretation by the ancient community two thousand years earlier!” – John C. Trever, The Untold Story of Qumran
F.F. Bruce: New Testament History (Kittim is Rome) “They believed that the iniquities of the Wicked Priest and his associates would bring the judgement of God upon them. As time went on, they came to see clearly who would be the instruments of God’s judgement. God was raising up the ‘Kittim’ for this purpose, and by the ‘Kittim’, as has been said above, they probably meant the Romans. It was indeed the Romans who, by their occupation of Judaea in 63 B.C., put an end to Hasmonaean domination; but the Qumran community could see the shape of things to come before that date. They also saw that the Romans would exceed the terms of their commission and incur the divine judgement themselves because of their impiety and rapacity.”
John Dominic Crosson “The Romans were not singled out as much in their (Essene) secterian documents, although against them, in their so-called War Scroll, they were preparing to fight the ultimate apocalyptic battle. This was to take place at the end time, when Sons of Light, the members of the group, were to clash with the Sons of Darkness, the Romans, code-named the Kittim. A battle against Rome did take place eventually, when the Roman general and soon-to-be emperor Vespasian marched through the area on his way to Jerusalem in the early summer of 68 C.E. But the Qumran Essenes’ final battle did not end as the War Scroll imagined. What de Vaux labeled and archeologists still call Phase II of the site ended in fiery destruction, with Roman arrowheads scattered around the site. In their final desperate act, the members took and hid their sacred scrolls in nearby caves, rolled up in storage jars with bowls and lids, and they were not discovered again until a Bedouin shepherd stumbled upon them in 1947.” (Excavating Jesus, p. 158)
Jones, Robert C. The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christianity (1999) ““Kittim” Commentary on Habakkuk 1:17: “This means the Kittim, who cause many to perish by the sword – youths, men, and old men; women and little children – and on the fruit of the womb have no mercy.” (Burrows, p. 367) War Scroll: And the dominion of the Kittim shall come to an end, so that wickedness shall be laid low without any remnant; and there shall be no survivor of the sons of darkness.” (Burrows, p. 390)
FROM EARLYCHRISTIANWRITINGS.COM