By the first century, ‘resurrection’ had functioned for a long time as a symbol and metaphor for the total reconstitution of Israel, the return from Babylon, and the final redemption. Ezekiel 37 spoke of the return in terms of Israel being awakened out of the grave; the Maccabaean martyrs, as presented in 2 Maccabees (written in the late second or early first century BC),214 spoke of their own forthcoming resurrection in the context of claiming that their god would vindicate his people against the tyrant.
