Texts in Conversation
Pseudo-Philo and 2 Peter both describe a future when time will speed up and cosmic signs will signal the coming of divine renewal. In each, the speeding up of events is not only God’s doing but also tied to human readiness, suggesting people can help bring the end sooner.
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Pseudo Philo Biblical Antiquities 19:13
Classical
12 This present heaven will pass before me like a fleeting cloud, like a day that is already gone. When I draw near to visit the world, I will command the years and appoint the times, and they will be shortened. The stars will quicken their course, the sun will hurry to set, and the light of the moon will fade. I will hasten to awaken those who sleep, so that all who are able to live may dwell in the holy place I showed you. 13 But this heaven shall be in my sight as a fleeting cloud, and like yesterday when it is past, and it shall be when I draw near to visit the world, I will command the years and charge the times, and they shall be shortened, and the stars shall be hastened, and the light of the sun make speed to set, neither shall the light of the moon endure, because I will hasten to raise up you that sleep, that in the place of sanctification which I shewed thee, all they that can live may dwell therein.
Date: 50-120 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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2 Peter 3:12
New Testament
11 Since all these things are to melt away in this manner, what sort of people must you be, conducting your lives in holiness and godliness, 12 while waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God? Because of this day, the heavens will be burned up and dissolve, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze! 13 But, according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness truly resides.
Date: 120-130 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Rabbi Joshua maintains the traditional apocalyptic appeal to the sovereignty of God, who has determined the time of the End. When the appointed time arrives, the eschatological redemption will come as God’s sovereign grace to Israel, in no way dependent on Israel’s preparation. Rabbi Eliezer, on the other hand, makes the coming of redemption conditional on Israel’s repentance. The idea of Israel’s repentance before the End was not new, but the view that it is a condition for the arrival of redemption is at least rare in the earlier literature, though it subsequently became a common rabbinic view. It seems probable that Eliezer’s saying represents a reaction to the disaster of AD 70, when hopes of redemption were dashed and Israel experienced instead a catastrophe which could only be interpreted as divine punishment. The conclusion must be that Israel was unworthy of redemption. Only when Israel repented would redemption come ... * Midrash Tanhuma Behuqutai 5. The use of Isaiah 60:22 with reference to this issue is well attested for this period: 2 Baruch 20:1; 54:1; 83:1; Epistle of Barnabas 4:3; compare also Pseudo-Philo Biblical Antiquities 19:13; 2 Peter 3:12 ..."
Bauckham, Richard
The Jewish World around the New Testament: Collected Essays
(pp. 72-73) Mohr Siebeck, 2008
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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