Several texts in the BH seem to evoke a collective "resurrection". Ezek 37:1-10 depicts a new creation. This is not (yet) the idea of an individual resurrection at the end of time, although Christian tradition has often interpreted it in this sense, but the affirmation of a new life possible for a wounded community. The vision of Ezek 37:1-10 is a parable of the restoration of the exiled Judeans. These verses are often seen as a later rereading that would have interpreted the prophet's original vision in the sense of a concrete resurrection of the dead at the end of time. However, the idea of Yhwh opening the tombs to take those in them back to their homeland undoubtedly has its origins in the practice of transporting bones, well attested in the biblical world, but also in Mesopotamia [1]. The saying "our bones are dry", which describes metaphorical death, is used here to introduce an oracle of salvation announcing the return to the country, with the help of the custom of transporting bones. This return is possible, since the bones symbolize the presence of the "dead", who can be brought back to life by Yhwh's intervention.
Speculation about the end of the world
Until the 4th or 3rd century B.C., the Ancient Near East seems to have shown little interest in speculating about the end of the world, with one major exception: the Flood myth, which depicts the disappearance of a world. But this end of the world is situated upstream, not at the end of time. According to the most popular flood stories of the ancient Near East, the end of the world has already occurred. The versions of the flood gathered in chapters 6 to 9 of the book of Genesis share concerns found elsewhere in the POA. These narratives record a caesura between a first (ideal) creation and the "redefined" creation after the flood, which is obviously the one in which the recipients of such stories live. The heroes who escape the flood are the ancestors, or even representatives, of the humanity that was able to survive the catastrophe and who, through the establishment of a cult (see the role of sacrifices), seek to maintain a relationship with the divine world.
