Overview and Textual Sources
In Judaism, the main textual source for the belief in the end of days and accompanying events is the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible. In the Five Books of Moses, references are made in Deuteronomy 28-31, that the Jews will not be able to keep the Laws of Moses in the Land of Israel and will be subsequently exiled and ultimately redeemed. The books of the Hebrew Prophets elaborated and prophesied about the end of days.
In rabbinic literature, the Rabbis elaborated and explained the prophecies that were found in the Hebrew Bible along with the oral law and Rabbinic traditions about its meaning.
The main tenets of Jewish eschatology are the following, in no particular order, elaborated in the Books of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel :
- God redeems Israel (i.e. the Jewish people) from the captivity that began during the Babylonian Exile, in a new Exodus
- God returns all the Jews to the Land of Israel and resettles them in the Land
- God restores the House of David and the Temple in Jerusalem
- God creates a regent from the House of David (i.e. the Jewish Messiah) to lead the Jewish people and the world and usher in an age of justice and peace
- All nations recognize that the God of Israel is the only true God
- God resurrects the dead
- God creates a new heaven and a new earth
It is also believed that history will complete itself and the ultimate destination will be reached when all mankind returns to the Garden of Eden.
Read more about this topic: Jewish Eschatology
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