The Babylonian Exile of the Judaeans and the Formation of the Doctrine of the Bodily Resurrection from the Dead

The author reveals the following sequence in the formation of the Jewish doctrine of the bodily resurrection of the dead: during the Babylonian captivity of the Judaeans, a naturalistic allegory of their revival upon their expected return to their Motherland arises (Ezek. 37:1–14, Isa. 26:19, 41:14); by the end of the period of exile/at the very beginning of the Persian period, the personified image of the people’s rising from the dead is developing (the allegory of the Servant of the Lord in Isa. 42:1–9, 49: 1–7, 50:4–9, 52:13–53:12; perhaps also the image of Job, cf. especially: Job 19:25–27a and 42:5, 7–17). In the time of another national catastrophe – the persecution of the faithful Jews under Antiochus IV Epiphanes – the concept of an individual eschatological resurrection in the flesh arises; at this receiving of the afterlife requital is assumed to be realized in the body (Dan. 12:1b–3, 13).