Chapter 213 of 404

Limited Parallels with “Charismatic Sages”

As we noted in an earlier chapter, Vermes has clearly and helpfully shown that one need not look to more geographically distant Gentile healing traditions for the historical Jesus. Our limited material reports some Jewish signs-workers in Palestine, including in Galilee. Nevertheless, the postbiblical parallels should not be pressed too far.⁷⁴ While Honi (Onias) was undoubtedly known for getting answered prayer regarding rain,⁷⁵ most of the details we hear about him surface only in Amoraic tradition — perhaps half a millennium after he lived.⁷⁶ At the very least, much of the rabbinic characterization of Honi appears to be later. Thus, for example, we do not know if “Honi the Circle-Drawer” actually drew a circle around himself, as in the rabbinic legend (but not Josephus),⁷⁷ or merely prayed for rain. Eric Eve contends that, against Vermes, it is not clear that Honi represents a class of people beyond himself.⁷⁸

Vermes’ other chief example in rabbinic sources, Hanina ben Dosa, is usually assigned to the first century.⁷⁹ Like Jesus he was a Galilean, though he is the only other Galilean we know of to whom signs are attributed.⁸⁰ He appears several times in early-third-century sources,⁸¹ where he could tell when he prayed whether the sick would recover or not,⁸² and where a lizard who bit him as he prayed died.⁸³ Later material about Hanina is much more abundant, yet was transmitted and developed over the course of three or four centuries.⁸⁴

Moreover, even if the tradition is reliable, it differs from Jesus: whereas Jesus was itinerant, people came to Hanina for prayer, and few of the divine interventions mentioned involve healing.⁸⁵ In their respective sources, Hanina was a petitioner of numinous or divine power, whereas Jesus was its bearer.⁸⁶ We cannot know much about other Galilean folk-healers, but Jesus was clearly no ordinary one.⁸⁷ Honi and Hanina are the natural places to start when looking for the Jewish context of Jesus’ miracles, but the parallels they offer are more limited than we would like.

↑ Back to top