Professor C. H. Dodd in The Apostolic Preaching and its Development has drawn attention to the importance of the “Kerygma” as a more or less formal statement of the Christian Gospel, lying behind the earliest Christian documents; it determines the structure of Mark, the speeches in Acts and the form of the Creeds. This conventional form seems to be derived from Judaism. A statement of the mighty works of God in creation and the history of mankind, more especially in the deliverance of his people from Egypt, is a recurring feature of Jewish literature in the post-exilic era; perhaps the most notable example is Ps. 136; cf. Nehemiah 9. 6 ff., Is. 63. 7 ff. Such a recital of the mighty works of God in delivering His people was obviously necessary if the religion of Israel was to be changed from a primitive Semitic tribal cult into a system of monotheism, centred on the national deity, identified with the one God of Heaven; it was specially necessary to find an aetiological myth for the principal festival of the Passover. The emphasis on this deliverance reflects the process by which vague legends of a migration from Egypt have been conflated with the return from Babylon to form the biblical picture of the Exodus.

Among the Greek documents concerning Jews the tale told by Josephus in the name of Clearchus of Soli deserves special attention. This account, in which Clearchus describes the meeting of his master Aristotle with a Jewish sage, contains not only the earliest information about personal acquaintance between a Greek and a Jew, but also raises general interest by the personality of the Western representative. Josephus has omitted to report upon the subject of their discourse, although it would have been worth while to relate the words exchanged between the “maestro di color' che sanno” and one of the ἐκλεκτοὶ πιστοὶ `Eβραῖοι.

The term “Armageddon,” familiar in English literature, primarily designates the scene of the last great battle at the end of the present age, in which the powers of evil, represented by hostile nations warring against the Kingdom of God, are to be overthrown and destroyed. The name is derived from a passage in the Book of Revelation, 16:16, in which a standing feature of Hebrew eschatology is given a setting characteristic of the apocalypse.