Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Christine Bass" <christinebass AT home.com>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Costa" <tmcos AT hotmail.com>
To: <christinebass AT home.com>
Sent: Monday, January 01, 2001 9:03 PM
Subject: Re: What will Elijah restore?


> >Damon, according to the references I found in my Bible :
> >
> >"In later Jewish thought the messianic age was frequently associated with
> >Elijah's return. Malachi speaks of the reappearance of Elijah (Mal 4:5-6)
> >before the day of the Lord arrives."
> >
> >Elijah is also associated with John the Baptist (Matt 11:14; 17:10-13;
Luke
> >1:17)
> >and some associate Jesus with Elijah (Matt. 16:14; Luke9:8). Both Moses
and
> >Elijah appeared (does that mean they were resurrected???) with Jesus on
the
> >Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:3).
>
> Christine, Just a note. The appearance of Moses and Elijah with Jesus on
the
> mountain (Matt 17:3) does not logically necessitate their resurrection.
> Remember, Elijah is never recorded as ever dying (which mitigates against
> resurrection since one must die first in order to be resurrected) but
taken
> alive into heaven according to 2 Kings 2. Enoch as well never seemed to
> experience physical death and was taken by God (Genesis 5:24) and this
gave
> rise to tons of ideas in the pseudipigrapha especially the Book of Enoch.
> Moses on the other hand clearly is said to have died.(Deut 34:5-8) This
> appears to have been a supernatural event, but there is no need to assume
> resurrection. What is even more interesting is the fact that the disciples
> of Jesus, Peter, John and James were able to recognize Moses and Elijah at
> all! I think Matthew's thrust is to show that in the Kingdom of God there
is
> immediate personal intuition. Best regards,  Tony Costa.
======================

"He who opens his mouth in facetious remarks is apt to catch a toad in
it......"

(Proverbs must have a verse along these lines, but this one is an ad lib...)

Dying is something Elijah is not recorded as doing....and I  agree with Tony
that to be resurrected from the dead
one would logically need to, ahem,---- die first.

My thoughts were jumping ahead to Elisha resurrecting the  Shunammite
woman's son ( II Kings 4:16-37) and comparing and contrasting it to
Elijah's resurrection of the widow of Zaraphath's son (I Kings 17).


Best,

Christine