One thing we owe to the Jews is our belief in the resurrection of the dead. This may strike some as strange, particularly if your Jewish friends
express little or no belief in a life after death. The majority of Jews
these days are secular and hold few of the traditional beliefs. Among
traditional Jews, however, belief in the resurrection of the dead is an
article of faith. Moses Maimonides, the 12th century Jewish philosopher, is
credited with compiling the most definitive list of Jewish articles of faith.
There were 13 items on his list and resurrection of the dead is number 13.
The Jewish belief in the resurrection is not to be confused with a belief
in the immortality of the soul. In the Jewish view the human person is a
unity of body and soul. The soul may be separated from the body at death but
this is not its ultimate destiny. To fully enjoy life in the world to come,
the soul and body must be reunited through the resurrection of the body. A
scripture that states this view is Job 19: 25, 26. This text might be rather
obscure were it not for the fact that Charles Jennens used it in the libretto
for an oratorio by Handel entitled simply, “Messiah.” In the “Messiah” a
soloist sings this text immediately after the famous Hallelujah Chorus. It
reads, “ I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth: and though worms destroy this body, yet in my
flesh shall I see God.” The same text is included in our Prayer Book in the
Burial Office. It is one of the anthems read at the outset of the service.
In Rite II the text is rendered, “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth. After my awaking, he will
raise me up; and in my body I shall see God.”
How the Jews arrived at such a view is not clear. They did not arrive at
this view all at once and together. It is plain on the pages of the New
Testament that in Jesus’ day Jews were divided on the issue. Sometime later
a belief in the resurrection became normative for all Jews. For Christians
this belief was normative from the start since the resurrection of Jesus,
bodily from the tomb, is central to the proclamation of the gospel. A belief
in the resurrection of the body is at least consistent with other Jewish
practices. The Jews had always included their bodies in their religion.
Eating prescribed foods in prescribed ways is for them as much a religious
act and service to God as acting morally. Just so there are proscribed ways
to express the sexuality of the body and the labors undertaken in the body.
Perhaps they could not imagine that the faithful body which had lived in the
service of God would not receive the reward of resurrection.
Daniel W. Kreller,
Kreller@aol.com
Last Updated: April, 2000
© 2000 The Rev. Daniel W. Kreller
