In 4 Ezra vii. 26-31, the rule of the Messiah is represented as distinctly temporary. The Messiah will rejoice the living for four hundred years; then, together with all human beings, he will die; then after the world has returned to primeval silence for seven days, the new age, with the final resurrection, will be ushered in. It may be doubted whether this representation harmonizes with what is said elsewhere in 4 Ezra about the Messiah, indeed whether even in this passage the representation is thoroughly consistent. Box, for example, thinks that there are contradictions here, which are to be explained by the composite nature of the book and by the work of a redactor. But at any rate the result, in the completed book, is clear. The Messiah is to die, like all the men who are upon the earth, and is not connected with the new age. This death of the Messiah is as far as possible from possessing any significance for the salvation of men. Certainly it is not brought into any connection with the problem of sin, which, as has been observed above, engages the special attention of the writer of 4 Ezra. "It is important to observe how the Jewish faith knew of a Saviour for external ills, but not for sin and condemnation; and how the Christ is able only to create a brief earthly joy, which passes away with the destruction of the world."[114] [114] Volz, _Jüdische Eschatologie von Daniel bis Akiba_, 1903, pp. 202f. In the "Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs,"[115] although Brückner is no doubt right in saying that the Messiah here as well as in 1 Enoch is a supernatural figure, the connection of the Messiah with the tribe of Levi introduces the reader into a somewhat different circle of ideas. The difference becomes more marked in the "Psalms of Solomon,"[116] where the Messiah is a king of David's line. It is no doubt true that even here the Messiah is no ordinary human being; he destroys his enemies, not by the weapons of warfare and not by the help of Israelitish armies, but by the breath of his mouth. Yet the local, earthly character of the Messiah's reign--what may even be called, perhaps, its political character--is more clearly marked than in the apocalypses. Also there is stronger emphasis upon the ethical qualities of the Messianic king; the righteousness of his people is celebrated in lofty terms, which, however, do not exclude a strong element of Jewish and Pharisaic particularism. [115] See Charles, _op. cit._, ii, pp. 282-367; Schürer, _op. cit._, iii, pp. 339-356 (English Translation, Division II, vol. iii, pp. 114-124). [116] See Gray, in Charles, _op. cit._, ii, pp. 625-652; Schürer, _op. cit._, iii, pp. 205-212 (English Translation, Division II, vol. iii, pp. 17-23).