Elijah’s Model
Elijah’s Model
The observation that some of Jesus’ activity resembles Elijah allows us to bring together both an emphasis on Jesus’ signs and an emphasis on his end-time approach, that is, the best of both Vermes’ and Sanders’ insights. Vermes himself notes Jewish future expectations for Elijah, suspecting that some Galilean sympathizers probably viewed Jesus in this manner.84
Jewish tradition naturally developed the biblical promise of Elijah’s return found in Mal 4:5-6 (MT 3:23-24). This development appears quite early, in pre-Christian sources like Ben Sira (Sir 48:10);85 some also find reference to Elijah as forerunner in 1 En. 90:31.86
4 Ezra 6:26 assumes him among historic figures with special roles at the end of the age.87 Moreover, the obviously knowledgeable Jewish writer Matthew (Matt 17:10) unhesitatingly follows Mark (Mk 9:11) in presupposing that this role was widely known in Jewish circles.
Later rabbis also seized on this feature of eschatological expectation, although they more heavily emphasized Elijah’s present activity.88 The rabbis were clearly aware of Malachi’s prophecy and anticipated Elijah’s return at the end of the age,89 destined to appear alongside rabbinism’s other eschatological figures.90 In ch. 17, we shall explore in more detail ancient Jewish expectations of an eschatological Mosaic prophet. Some sources appear to coalesce the end-time Elijah with the promised prophet like Moses.91
Jesus as an Eschatological Prophet
Although a number of scholars have argued that Jesus functioned as an eschatological prophet, E. P. Sanders has offered one of the seminal and most influential cases for this position in our generation. I am addressing in this section especially Sanders’ seminal work on Jesus research, Jesus and Judaism, even though I believe that his later work for a broader audience, The Historical Figure of Jesus, works out some earlier inconsistencies and in some respects presents a more coherent picture of Jesus.
Sanders shows clear evidence that Jesus anticipated a future kingdom.92 For example, the Son of man will be ashamed of those who are ashamed of Jesus and his message (e.g., Mk 8:38).93 He accepts the pervasive evidence from the tradition that people believed that Jesus worked miracles.94 Given Jesus’ eschatological message (such as the kingdom and apparently the new temple), Sanders thinks Jesus’ healing activity was closer to the promised signs of eschatological prophets (like Theudas) than to charismatic sages like Honi (Vermes’ view) or to the magical papyri (Morton Smith’s view, usually treated as eccentric today).95 (One cannot simply object to this that the sign-prophets were not known for healing in contrast to Honi or magicians, since Honi and magicians were also not known primarily for this.)
I believe (and will argue in ch. 17) that Sanders and other like-minded scholars have a solid case for viewing Jesus as an eschatological prophet. As we have noted above, Elijah and Moses were both miracle-working prophets expected to return at the time of the end. Especially because some miracles attributed to Jesus resemble those of such prophets (e.g., Mk 6:41-42), it appears that even from an early point in the tradition Jesus’ followers envisioned him at least in some way along such lines. Indeed, he may be the source of their perception on this point.
In the decades immediately after Jesus’ ministry, Josephus reports a prophet who wanted to make city walls collapse or the Jordan to part96 — like Joshua, Moses’ original successor.97 These prophets apparently depended not on military might but on an anticipated eschatological miracle to deliver them and their people.98 The expectation of signs-working prophets is thus relevant for understanding Jesus, and we will return to it more fully in ch. 17.