THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
625
in later times, thef'almln hail cinnc to )ircvuil L'l'eat scetinii of the Jews. AliiahaMi lien
amonir David
a
intended to
Jimlialily
with
tlieir belief in
snirirest that Ihe Kreiieh .lews,
the literal meaniiii,' of Hil)le
and
were awaided
Anthropomorphisin Antichrist
and this would aj^pear lo be more probable. The Ribliis baserl heir rlecision on Deiit. xxvi. r-'(I{.V.l: "Thou shall give il iinlo tin- Levile. to he si ranger |-|J = proselyte that Ihc-y may eat within thy gates"; laying stress on Ihe words "lliy gates," and interpreting thi.s expression tirmean that the Israelites must take care not lo allow in-oselytes to emigrate w hen in needy circumstances. This account of the treatment received by Ihe Antibla at the hands of ihe rabbis throws an inleresiing light on Ihe altitude of the Synagogue toward proselytes.
I
I
.
.
.
I
Talmud, were
led to anthro|)onuir|)hie views by the fantaslie <lescriptions w liich some of the lla.spidol friveof Godanil Ilisaetions. Compare, forinstance.
the remark (Sanh. (IS) that the Almighty will shear heard of the kini; of Assyria, or the i)a.ss!i}!;e
filT till'
(Ket.
where the
~li)
(ima.iie of
God)
IJililieal
expression D'H^X D^V
mOT
to in'J3n D^V dlx' ima.u'e of th<- likeness of His form); for aeeordinj; to is enlarcri-d
.Maimonides. "Moreh." mat leal form."
i.
- i.
n*J3n
sijrnities
BiRLIOGRAPIIV:
—
Mention must also be made of Ilasdai Crcscas the greatest Jewish philosopher after .Maimonides not only beeause he opposed tile lutt<'r's dixlrine of negative attributes, by assertin.g that it is jiossible to aseribe many attributes to Deity without injury to the idea of His unity, but because he exerted intluenee upon Spinoza, the greatest of all ojiponents of Anthropomor|)hism. Spinoza's vi<'ws upon this sub-
—
however, no longer belong to Jewish philosophy, but to philosophy in general. For the Karaitic views
ject,
Aahon iskn Ei.l.r mi thk YocNciKU; works sjiecitically written by Karaites on Anthropomorphism are: Aaron b. .loseph. " Ez ha-
on thesubiect.,sce the chief
IIavvim."ed. Delitzsch.and Judali lIadassi,"Eshk()lha Kofer." HiMi.iociuPMY:
M. B.
S. D. l.uzzatto. (ihth lift: pp. 1-LV). Vienna. z. Knuikel. Einiiirs zn ili u Tnrijniniin, In Zi it. f.il. Ui • Inti:rt:s.-<i: <l. Jwli nthrmi--*. is4(i, pp. IID-I:^); Idem, I'l ht riii }i KiartM.s.wf/* r Pataist. Krcf/c.vc auftlk Atrxiimlr. Ih riti>ufUiik,H 7.9. Lei))sie. IK'tl ; idem, Vttrntttilit:}! zlt dir Si'iitiutiiiulti, 1841. pi». 174-1711; A. (ielffer, I'rschrift uml i% itirsi tzinnjcn ilrr /J(7>r/. pp. :iln * f ^fi/.. ;(.si ,f sn/.. Hresliui, ls."i7: s. Maybauni. />iV Anlhriiinnniirjthii'n uint AntUrt>i»,iHtthU' n lii'i 0;f;ff;^^J*, Bre.slau. Is7n; c.siepfried. /*/n7<) von Ah-xamtrit}! (sei* index . Jena. lK7-'i: M.iiinslturper. Oir AnthrniMtm<trithv<iinn in den T(tr{ftuiiiiiu
Ztit, f. Pint.
ril.nl,.,,i,. IMIl. |s;(();
ANTICHRIST:
Counterpart of the Slcssiah and o|>poiiiiii of God Himself; one of the most important personages in Christian eschatology. The name oecuis for the first time in the Johaiinean Epistles (I John. ii. IS, 22, iv. 3; II John, 7); but the idea is met with in earlier New Testament w ritings, and, like Ihe greater pari of the eschatology of early Christianily, its beiriniiings are to be found in Jewish theology, and modern scholars even hold Ihe opinion that its true origin is lo be found in Ihe Babylonian Chaos-myths. In II Thess. ii. 1-12 a passjige probably of Paiilini' origin it is slated that the day of the Lord shall not come before "the nam of sin," the lawless one (o aiounr), "the son of Antichrist ])ei(lition," be revealed. This oppoin Pauline neiil will apjiear and seat himself in Writing's, the Ti-mple of God at Jerusalem.
T,
Tab),
O.
ABRAHAM:
Chief nibbi at Aleppo; died March i:i. ISoS. His book of responsa. "Ohel Yesharini " (The Tent of the Highteous). arranged according to the four Tui'im (or legal code of Jacob ben Asher), was published at
Leghorn
in 1H43.
BniiioiiinPIIV: Henjaccili. ftfar ha-Scfarim,
p.
1!)
Ohlrondl
and
Ni'iti. Tntfdiit iicdittc YixraH, p. .52 : Steinschneifler. In ./<». Quiirt. Rev. xl. HW; Zeclner, Cat. Helir. UiiiiHs liril.
Mum.
It. .'il.
II.
ANTIBLA
G. E.
A
family of pro.sclytcs living at century li.r., which had been in i>rosperous circumstances, but was afterward reduced to poverty. From allusions to them contained in four Talmudic pas,sages. in w liicli Ihe spelling of till' familv name is corrupted (Ver. Penh. viii. 'iXn; Tosef., I'eah, iv, II; Sifre, Dent. :)(•;!, 1111), Griltz reslores ihe nimie to Ihe Greek form, .Vgalhobulos. Il appiars that, being unable to inainlain their old standard of life, they proposed lo emigrale. Tin' represeutalives i>f Judaism, however, who at thai lime reiriirded hopefully the inlliix of hralhen into Ihe .Jewish failh (SchUier. " I.ehrliuih der Neuleslameiitliiheii Zeilgeschichle." pp. (l-l-l r/ «</.). did not like to see proselytes emigrating for lack of the means of subsistence; and Ihe mailer was submilt<'d lolhe rabbis (D'03n). whoawarded (ipDS)tlie family J< Tu^aleni
ill
the
a cerlain sum.
first
In three of
the above-i|Uoli'<l
pa.s-
sageslliissum is said lo have been six hundred talents of gold, w hich amoiinl seems loo exorbitant to tie iredible, in view of ihe fact Ihiil a lalcnl wi'ighed about sixty pounds. In anoiher passage il is recorded Hint six liundreil gold shekels (ubout $'.2,000)
L—10
—
—
"showing himself
liilinsi:ti
ANTIBI ca»njy :(<'., of -Ain
(iritz, in Monatssclirift, 1881, pp. 289-294.
"matlie-
but
that
hi'
is
God":
wicked one, will then be consumed by the Messiah through Hie sjiiiit of his moulh, who thus will make an end of him "whose conung is after Ihe working of Satan with all ]iower and signs and lying wonders." Paul declares further that "Ihe inysleiy of ini(|nity doth alreadv work," but that that which now resliainetli will restrain until it be taken out of the way, and "that wicked [one] he, Ihe
be icvealed." This "liltle apiwalypse," as this passage has well been called, has been variously expounded. It is, however, (|uite evident that Paul unileistood by Antichrist a personal opponent of Ihe Messiah, this conception being compounded of ideas derived from the Old Tcstmiu.nt and the .pocrypiia (Dan. vii. 2."), ix, 27, xi. 'Mi; Isa. xiv. 13 it.(i/.: Ezek. .xxviii. 2. JIacc. xiv. 14). It is not. however, clear this description is intended lo represent an opjiosing .Messiah, or a Jewi.sli pseiido-^NIessiah, or 14;
I
whether
whether Paul had any in
mind.
deriiiili'
liislorieal
His expression concerning
llii'
personage lawless one
I'miii'c), seating himself ill Ihe Temple (compare Ezek. xxviii. 14). and "showing himself llial lie is (lod." can hardly be underslood of a Jewish Messiah; nor can. by any jiossibiliiy. a Homan ruler, such as Caligula or Neio. be iindei'stood by it. Just as unreasonable is it to a.ssiime that by Ihe expression " he who now reslrainelh " (A. V. " lellelh ") the appearance of Anliehrist. il is intended to designate the Uoinan .!.'<ivcrnnieiil or Ihe emperor himsilf. The
(u
incarnalion of evil upon earlli. is not a polilical personage, held back by Hoiiiiin power. is lo bi- explained by the aid of raiibinical e.sclialology. as for instance in .'saiili lis.', which teaches llial lUr Messiah will not appear iiiilil the whole world is eillier entirely riglileous rX2T v13) iiiii|uilous one. ihe
The passage
or eiilirely wicked (3"n )h^2^'- a slandpoinl llial explains not only the expression "thai which reslrainelh " the rabbis speak of various iliiiiijs w liieh
—
impede the redemption inHxjn Beslmllal,i, l.ed.
Weiss,
p.
nX
"331*!;;
Mek.,
2»; Niddali. lIVo— but also
