Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE MISSION OF JESUS §11.4
(2) Also possible is a heavenly figure, as exercise of such final judgment
might seem to require. Most frequently suggested is the Son of Man, 153 on the
assumption that the figure in Dan. 7.13-14 would already have been interpreted
as a specific individual with a role in judgment. 154 The problem here, as we shall
see later (§ 16.3b), is that it is very doubtful whether there was such a Son of Man
concept and expectation at this time in Second Temple Judaism on which John
could have drawn. And it is just as doubtful whether the sole occurrence of the
verb 'coming' would be sufficient in itself to evoke the coming Son of Man,
since the Jewish tradition, the Similitudes of Enoch and 4 Ezra 13 (on which the
suggestion depends), does not think of the Son of Man as 'coming'. 155
(3) The suggestion that John would have thought of 'the one to come' as
Elijah has more to commend it than is usually appreciated. 156 In Mai. 3.1 it is actually
the messenger who 'is coming' (erchetai, as in Mark 1.7/Luke 3.16). It
would have been natural to identify this messenger with Elijah spoken of in Mai.
4.5 (both are 'sent' by God), as Matt. 11.14 confirms ('Elijah who is to come').
Moreover, Elijah was remembered as a prophet of fire, 157 which fits both with
the purificatory role attributed to the 'messenger of the covenant' in Mai. 3.2-3
and with the Baptist's expectation for the coming one. But did John see himself
only as the forerunner of Elijah? The problem here is not that Christian tradition
is convinced that John himself filled the role of Elijah, 158 for such reinterpretation
of John's own expectation would be wholly understandable. The problem is
rather that the role attributed to Elijah in Mai. 4.5 (cf. 3.2-5) seems to be essentially
preparatory, 'before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes'. But, as
2.33-34; Webb, John the Baptizer 284-86 makes an effective response to J. H. Hughes, 'John
the Baptist: The Forerunner of God Himself, NovT 14 (1972) 191-218; also 'John the Baptist'
198-202; brief discussion in Theissen and Merz, Historical Jesus 201-203.
153.Pesch, Markusevangelium 84, Stuhlmacher, Biblische Theologie 1.61-62, 110, 117,
124, Gnilka, Jesus of Nazareth 74-75, and Becker, Jesus of Nazareth 46-47, are typical of the
continuing confidence among German scholarship that there was a recognized 'Son of Man'
concept in the Judaism of the time (likewise Riches, Jesus 156, 176). Reiser mentions also the
archangel Michael (Dan. 12.1; 1QM 17.6-7; T. Mos. 10.2; T. Dan 6.1-7) and Melchizedek
(1 lQMelch) (Jesus and Judgment 182).
154. Note particularly that 4 Ezra 13 draws both on the Danielic imagery (4 Ezra 13.3
— 'something like a figure of a man come up out of the heart of the sea') and on the imagery of
Isa. 30.27-28 (4 Ezra 13.10-11).
155. As several have noted, 'coming' is not specific to any particular expected/hoped-for
figure (see, e.g., Fitzmyer, Luke 666; Meier, Marginal Jew 2.199 n. 90).
156. Argued in a classic essay by J. A. T. Robinson, 'Elijah, John and Jesus', Twelve
New Testament Studies (London: SCM, 1962) 28-52.
157. 1 Kgs. 18.38; 2 Kgs. 1.10, 12; Sir. 48.1; Luke 9.54. In Luke 9.54 the clear echo of
2Kgs. 1.10, 12 was made explicit by the scribes who added 'as also Elijah did' (ACD W, etc.).
158. Luke 1.17; Matt. 11.14; Mark 9.11-13.
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