Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE CLIMAX OF JESUS' MISSION §17.6
brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the
stars forever and ever.
The earliest expressions of martyr-theology already express hope of vindication
in terms of resurrection (2 Mace. 7.9, 14). There is also a consistent hope of resurrection
expressed in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, though the extent
of Christian redaction there is unclear, 267 and probably also in 1 Enoch. 268 We
also know that the belief in resurrection was firmly embraced by the Pharisees,
269 as indeed by Jesus himself. 270 So it would hardly be surprising if Jesus
had entertained hope of vindication in terms of resurrection.
What this hope would refer to, however, is almost certainly what might best
be described as the general and final resurrection — resurrection prior to final judgment
(as implied in Dan. 12.2) and disposition of eternal destiny ('some to everlasting
life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt'). If Jesus hoped for resurrection
it was presumably to share in the general and final resurrection of the dead.
There are some indications of 'resurrection' language being used in service
of a prophet redivivus concept: Jesus as John the Baptist 'raised from the dead'
(Mark 6.14 pars.), 'Jeremiah' (Matt. 16.14), 'one of the old prophets has risen'
(Luke 9.8). 271 But these are presented as expressions of troubled or puzzled
minds trying to make sense of disquieting phenomena — Jesus acting like one of
the old prophets, disturbingly like the Baptist. The hopes regarding the return of
Enoch and Elijah are only partly parallel, since neither was thought to have died
(§ 15.6a); but pseudo-Philo identified Elijah with Phinehas (Num. 25), preserved
in secret ('in Danaben') by God until his return as Elijah {LAB 48.1). 272 And the
267. T. Sim. 6.7; T. Jud. 25.1, 4; T. Zeb. 10.2; T. Ben. 10.6-8; cf. T. Levi 18.13-14; T. Dan
5.12; with clear echoes of Isa. 26.19; see further Hollander and de Jonge, Testaments 61-63,
125.
268. 1 En. 22.13; 90.33; 92.3; 91.10, (17b); cf. 46.6; 51.1; 61.5; 62.15; 92.3; 104.2. See
M. Black, The Book of Enoch or 1 Enoch (Leiden: Brill, 1985) ad loc. On whether the Qumran
community shared belief in a future resurrection (only 1QH 14[= 6].32-34 and 19[= 11]. 12 call
for serious consideration) see H. Lichtenberger, 'Auferstehung in den Qumranfunden', in
Avemarie and Lichtenberger, Auferstehung 79-91.
269. The testimony of Acts 23.6-8 and Mark 12.18 pars, agrees with the Hellenistically
slanted description of Josephus (War 2.163, l65;Ant. 18.14, 16); in m. Sank 10.1 resurrection
has become an article of faith for the rabbis.
270. Explicitly Mark 12.24-27 pars., but presumably implied also in Matt. 8.11-12/Luke
13.28-29; and note Luke 16.19-31. See further above, chapter 12 n. 234.
271. K. Berger, Die Auferstehung des Propheten und die Erhöhung des Menschensohnes
(Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1976) draws attention to this text as an example of 'individual,
non-eschatological resurrection of prophets' (15-22).
272. R. Hayward, 'Phinehas — the Same Is Elijah: The Origin of a Rabbinic Tradition',
775 29(1978)22-38.
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