According to Ascensio Isaiæ, viii. 26, ix. 18, xi. 40, the righteous on the arrival of the Messiah receive in the seventh heaven garments of light as well as crowns and thrones. No small part in the future bliss is played by the eating of the heavenly bread or manna (Sibyllines, Prooemium, 87; Ḥag. 12b; Tan., Beshallaḥ, ed. Buber, p. 21; comp. “the mysterious food,” II Esd. ix. 19), the ambrosial milk and honey (Sibyllines, ii. 318, iii. 746), and, according to R. Joshua b. Levi, “the wine prepared from the beginning of the world” (Ber. 34b; comp. Matt. xxvi. 29). The very name for the highest bliss of the future is “the banquet” (Abot iii. 16), which is the same as “sitting at the table of the Messiah” (Rev. xix. 9; Luke xiii. 28-29, xxii. 30, et al.). It is called in rabbinical literature “se’uddat ha-liwyatan” (the banquet of the leviathan), that is to say, in accordance with Job xl. 30 (A. V. xli. 6) the “ha-barim, or pious ones, shall hold their meal over it” (see Leviathan). It seems that the Persian ox, “hadhayos,” whose marrow imparts immortality to the eater (Bundahis, xxx. 25), gave rise to the idea of the behemoth and leviathan meal which is dwelt on in Enoch, lx. 7et seq.; Syriac Apoc. Baruch, xxix. 4; II Esd. vi. 52; Targ. Yer. to Num. xi. 26, Ps. civ. 26; B. B. 74b; Tan., Beshallaḥ, at end.
But while this eudemonistic view is the popular one, based upon Isa. lxv. 13 and Ps. xxiii. 5 (Num. R. xxi.), there is also the higher and more spiritual view taught by Rab: “In the world to come there is neither eating, drinking, nor procreation, neither barter nor envy, neither hatred nor strife; but the righteous sit with their crowns on their heads and enjoy the splendor of the Shekinah; for it is said: ‘And they saw God and did eat and drink’; that is, their seeing God was meat and drink to them” (Ber. 17a). More characteristic still is the view of Rab’s Palestinian contemporary R. Johanan: All the bliss for the future promised by the Prophets refers only to the Messianic time, whereas in regard to that which is in store for the righteous in the world to come it is said: “No eye hath seen it beside thee, O God” (Isa. lxiv. 3 [A. V. 4]; Ber. 34b; comp., however, Ex. R. xlv., at end, according to which God showed to Moses all the treasures in store for the doers of benevolent works). The New Testament sentence, “Many shall be last [there] that are first [here], and first [there] that are last [here]” (Matt. xix. 30, Greek), finds its explanation in the saying of a son of R. Joshua b. Levi: “A contrary order of things I have seen in the world beyond: the high in station are low there, the lowly are placed on high” (Ber. 50a).
Only in the esoteric Essene circles whence the apocalyptic literature emanated were attempted all the elaborate descriptions of paradise that found their way into the Midrash Konen, the Ma’aseh Gan ‘Eden, and similar midrashim of the geonic time given in Jellinek’s “B. H.” ii. 28, 52 et seq.; iii. 131, 191 et seq.; but these descriptions can be traced through early Christian back to Jewish sources (see “J. Q. R.” vii. 595). Mystics like Naḥmanides in his “Sha’ar ha-Gemul” adopted these views; Maimonides and his school rejected them. The whole eschatological system of retribution through paradise and hell never assumed in Judaism the character of a dogmatic belief, and Talmudic Judaism boldly transferred the scene of the heavenly judgment from the hereafter to the annual Day of Judgment at the beginning of the year (R. H. 16b; see New-Year). For Samaritan eschatology see Samaritans.
The account above deals only with the early stages of the Jewish eschatological views, roughly speaking, down to the end of the Talmudic period. For later development and present-day views see Immortality; Judgment, Day of;Messiah; Resurrection.