8. In contradistinction, then, to the political concept of the kingdom of God, which Ezekiel still hoped to see established by the exercise of external power,(1080) the idea assumed now a purely spiritual meaning. This kingdom of God is accepted by the pious Jew every morning through his confession of the divine Unity in the Shema. Abraham had anticipated this, say the rabbis, when he swore by the God of heaven and earth, and so also had Israel in accepting the Torah at Sinai and at the Red Sea.(1081) In fact, the kingdom of God began, we are told, with the first man, since, when he adored God freely as King of the world, every living creature acknowledged Him also. But only when Israel as a people proclaimed God's dominion at the Red Sea, was the throne of God and His kingdom on earth established for eternity.(1082) And when Ezekiel says: "With a mighty hand will I be King over you," they explain this to mean that the people chosen as the servant of God will be continually constrained anew by the prophets to recognize His kingdom.(1083) Yea, the closing words of the Song at the Red Sea, "The Lord shall reign for ever and ever" were taken to imply that all the nations would in the end recognize only Israel's One God as King of the world.(1084) As a matter of fact, the rabbinical view is that every proselyte, in "taking upon himself the yoke of the sovereignty of God," enters that divine Kingdom which at the end of time will embrace all men and nations.(1085) In the book of Tobit and the Sibylline Oracles also we find this universalistic conception of the Messianic age expressed.(1086)
9. Accordingly, proselytism found open and solemn recognition both before and after the time of the Maccabees, as we see in the Psalms,--especially those which speak of proselytes in the term, "they that fear the Lord,"(1087) and also in the ancient synagogal liturgy, where the "proselytes of righteousness" are especially mentioned.(1088) The school of Hillel followed precisely this course. Matters changed, however, under the Roman dominion, which was contrasted to the dominion of God especially from the time of Herod, when the belief became current that "only when the one is destroyed, will the other arise."(1089) Particularly after the Christian Church had become identified with Rome, all missionary endeavors by the Jews were considered dangerous and were therefore discouraged as much as possible. In their place arose the hope for a miraculous intervention of God. In Hellenistic circles the Messiah was believed to be the future founder of the kingdom of God,(1090) which assumed more and more of an other-worldly nature, such as the Church developed for it later on.