THE RESTORATION OF HUMANITY: Temple Cosmology, Worship and Israel-Nations Unification in Biblical, Second Temple and Pauline Traditions

Abstract

Many biblical and ancient Jewish traditions make reference to Israel and the nations jointly participating in or being united in Israel’s covenantal blessing or eschatological
heritage. Moreover, an initial survey reveals that most such traditions also reference worship or describe a liturgical or doxological setting, with worship being somehow instrumental in the joining of Israel and the nations. This raises the question, How do ancient Jewish
traditions relate the worship of God to the unification of Israel and the nations?

Biblical traditions that reference Israel-nations unification—including Exodus 12:37–38; 1 Kings 8:41–43; Isaiah 2:1–4; 56–66; Micah 4:1–5; Zechariah 8:18–23; and Psalms 46–48—consistently employ the constellation of salient features of creation or eschatological New Creation, unification, worship and shalom. Such traditions, however, presuppose without explaining or arguing for the relationships between these features, and instead
employ the constellation in support of their respective primary theological concerns. In so doing, they seem to make use of theological frameworks of temple cosmology that perhaps map onto that outlined in a plausible reading of the creation accounts of Genesis 1–2. Relevant Non-Christian Second Temple traditions—including 1 Enoch 10:20–11:2; Tobit 14:3–11; Sibylline Oracles 3:772–95; 1 Enoch 90:28–38; and Josephus’ Antiquities 8.116–117—follow suit, often employing one or more of the above biblical traditions. These early Jewish traditions describe Israel-nations unification in terms of worship and shalom,
and as intrinsic to the eschatological New Creation, despite that their application of this common scriptural starting point diverges widely. Consequently, these traditions also presuppose that Israel-nations unification is a primary element of a theological framework of
temple cosmology. Finally, the Pauline traditions of Romans 15:7–13 and Ephesians 2:11–22 depict Israel-nations unification in a manner consonant with both biblical and the above (other) Second Temple traditions. In both instances, Israel-nations unification signals the
eschatological realization of the scriptural hope for the restoration of Israel, that is, the restoration of humanity, as the climax of Paul’s gospel. These Pauline traditions specify that God’s purposes have been inaugurated in the present age, and only add the innovation of a uniquely christocentric interpretation.