The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

II. Talmud, Targum, and Midrash on the Four Kingdoms

1. TALMUD FIRST SUPPLEMENTS, THEN SUPERSEDES, WRITTEN LAW

This oral law was first exalted as a necessary supplement to the written law; then it was virtually substituted in its place. ¹³ The Babylonian Talmud, which fills 2,947 folios, is composed of legal disputes, stories, sermons, legends, Scripture comments, moral truths, observations, legal enactments, history, and rationalism. ¹⁴ It is a veritable encyclopedia of things Jewish, a vast compendium of Hebrew science and theology. Drawn from the promiscuous notebooks of students, as taken down from lectures by noted rabbis in the schools, it has been called a “monument of human industry, human wisdom, and human folly.” ¹⁵ PFF2 188.1

It is still regarded as a sacred book by orthodox Jews. But one must search diligently for the gems hidden in the midst of the conglomerate mass of more than 2,500,000 words—the “sea of the Talmud”—the flotsam and jetsam of a thousand years. Thus it came to overshadow and supersede the Living Oracles (Sacred Scriptures), and turned its followers from the River of Life to broken cisterns. It is often so arbitrary or futile as to give radically false concepts of the sacred books. ¹⁶ PFF2 189.1

2. ORAL TRADITIONS MULTIPLY LAW A THOUSANDFOLD

The Halachah, or Halaka (pi. Halachoth), meaning “rule,” “law,” or “decision,” comprises the accepted decisions of the rabbis of the Talmud on disputed questions—a general term for Jewish oral or traditional law, which supplements and runs parallel to the written law (Scriptures), embracing minute precepts not found in the written law. Although written by men, it was supposed to be of inspired origin, and to serve as an adjunct to the fundamental code, the theory being that the oral law was handed down through a long line of the highest authorities. PFF2 189.2

These additions multiplied the bulk of the law a thousandfold, as all Scripture was considered capable of infinite expansion. Like ever-widening, yet ever fainter circles on the broken surface of a lake, the ripples of indefinitely expanding legal ism spread long after all traces of the first waves had died away. They embraced foolish questions and conflicts between schools of thought—such as the disagreements between the schools of Hillel and Shammai, and whether an egg laid on the Sabbath or holiday might be eaten. Tradition was thrust between men and the Book. There was an almost limitless development of rules to meet every conceivable case. It was Scholasticism, or Dialecticism, applied to ritual. ¹⁷ PFF2 189.3

The Haggadah (pi., Haggadoth), meaning “narrative,” was a free interpretation or application. It embraced the illustrative sayings—stories, legends, fables, aphorisms, proverbs, allegories, and folklore ¹⁸—as distinguished from the Halachah, and was often in conflict therewith. It developed beginning with the days of Johanan ben Zakkai (1st century), when the Jews needed consolation after the destruction of the Temple and their dispersion. These together make up the Talmud. PFF2 189.4

3. TALMUD MAKES ROME FOURTH IN PROPHETIC SERIES

The Talmud of this early period-which was completed by the fifth century—commonly speaks of the four empires of prophecy, beginning with Babylonia and ending with Rome ¹⁹—which latter name was usually concealed under the term Edom. Thus, after the Persian bear and the Grecian leopard, the fourth, designated as Edom, is explicitly explained to be “the kingdom of Rome the wicked.” ²⁰ Guttmann further discusses the Jewish use of the symbol of the wild boar, employed by the Romans themselves as the symbol of their nation. He then concludes: PFF2 190.1

“The result was that it was as though it was said specifically with reference to the Romans.” ²¹ PFF2 190.2

Guttmann then turns from the common designation “Edom,” as “the fourth kingdom, the kingdom of Edom or Rome,” to the Middle Age suspicion of the dominant Christian church in thinking that the Midrash and Talmud extended the application to ecclesiastical Rome. His statement is illuminating: ²² PFF2 190.3

“One more word about the view which began to be spread abroad in the Christian church of the Middle Ages, i.e. that the designation ‘Edom’ which is found in the Midrash and Talmud, and similarly ‘the fourth kingdom, the kingdom of Edom or Rome,’ refers to Christianity. The censorship, too, acted in accordance with this view, and burned many literary treasures, and in many places where it did not decree destruction, it at least deleted the source texts by placing instead of ‘Edom,’ ‘Rome,’ ‘the fourth kingdom,’ or ‘the wicked kingdom’ other names which confused the subject matter.... The jealous ones of the [Christian] church suspected the Talmud for something which is not contained in it. In vain they thought that they would find their name on the ancient pages of the Law of Israel. And their error rolled upon them from two different reasons: from the first side, they thought (from Jerome on) that they were the inheritors of the dominion of the fourth kingdom, and thus necessarily it had as inescapable result that in their eyes all the ancient remainder of Judaism who mentioned the name of this kingdom were referring to them.” ²³ PFF2 191.1

4. TALMUD ON WORLD’S END AT 6,000 YEARS

Many rabbisbelieved, on the basis of creation week, that the world would last six thousand years and be in chaos the seventh thousand years. ²⁴ The Babylonian Talmud records the discussion of Rab Hanan and Rab Joseph, and concludes with these words: PFF2 191.2

” ‘The Holy One, blessed be He, will renew his world only after seven thousand years.’ R. Abba the son of Raba said: The statement was after five thousand years. It has been taught; R. Nathan said: This verse pierces and descends to the very abyss: For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though he tarry, wait for him; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Not as our Masters, who interpreted the verse, until a time and times and the dividing of time.” ²⁵ PFF2 191.3

5. THE TARGUMIM TEACH THE FOUR WORLD POWERS

The Targum (pi. Targumim) comprises the vernacular paraphrases of portions of the Old Testament into the Aramaic of Judea—together with oral tradition reaching back to the preChristian Roman period, used in the synagogues of Palestineand Babylonia. When Hebrew ceased to be spoken generally, it became necessary to explain the meaning of what was read from the Hebrew Scriptures. Only a minor part of the floating mass of oral Targumim produced has survived in written form, chiefly—(1) the Babylonian Targum Onkelos on the Pentateuch, (2) the Jerusalem Pseudo- Jonathan Tar gum on the Pentateuch, and (3) the Babylonian Tatgum Jonat Jian ben Uzziel on the prophets. No Targum has been found for Daniel. In the Targurnim a few passages bear on the four empires. For example, in the Jerusalem Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan: PFF2 191.4

“Behold, the kingdom of Babylon shall not endure, and shall not exercise rulership over Israel; the kings of Media shall be killed, and the mighty men of the worshipers of the stars and constellations shall not prosper. The Romans shall be destroyed, and they shall not gather rakings from Jerusalem [i.e., they shall not profit from the destruction of Jerusalem.—Translator’s note.] ²⁶ PFF2 192.1

“And I lifted up my eyes, and I saw, and behold, four kings. And I said to the angel who was speaking with me: What are these? And he said unto me: These are the kingdoms which scattered the men of Judah and Israel and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.... These are the kingdoms which scattered the men of Judah and did not permit them to walk upright, and these came to terrify them, to break the kingdom of the nations which lifted up weapons against the land of the house of Judah to exile it.” ²⁷ PFF2 192.2

6. MIDRASH DECLARATIONS ON FOUR WORLD POWERS

The Midrash (pi., Midrashim), meaning “interpretation,” “explanation,” with the practical sense of “deeper exegesis,” is a body of Scriptural exposition produced over many centuries following the Exile, embracing two leading principles: (1) That nothing in Scripture is indifferent or accidental, and (2) that all Scripture is capable of infinite interpretations. ²⁸ This explains the strange textual basis selected to set forth the four world powers. The comment on Genesis 15:9, recording a discussion between Rabbis Eleazar and Johanan, is an example: PFF2 192.3

“‘Take Me a heifer of three years old.’ This is Babylon, which caused three kings to stand, [i.e. which raised up three kings.—Translator’s note.] Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-Merodach, and Belshazzar. And a she-goat of three years old. This is Media, which raised up three kings, Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes [in Hebrew, Ahashverosh.—Trans.] And a ram of three years old. This is Greece. Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Johanan had a dispute. Rabbi Eleazar said: The children of Greece subdued all the winds, but they did not subdue the east wind. Rabbi Johanan said to him: But it is written (Daniel 8), I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; and no beasts could stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and magnified himself. This is the opinion of Rabbi Eleazar, who did not say the east. And a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon. This is Edom.” ²⁹ PFF2 192.4

Similarly in Genesis 15:12, Babylonia, Media, Greece, and Edom are thrice named by Rabbi Simon in connection with various symbols, and the fourth power is declared to be the “fourth beast, fearful and dreadful and exceedingly strong”—the comment closing with the expression, “the four kingdoms.” ³⁰ PFF2 193.1

And finally, the Midrash on Leviticus 13:5 twice presents by name the same four powers-but under the strange symbols of the camel, rock-badger, hare, and swine-citing Rabbi Akiba ³¹ and his associates. Thus the four empires of prophecy permeate the Midrash. PFF2 193.2