ELIJAH with MOSES, OR, a RIFT in the PRE-MARKAN LUTE1 Michael Goulder for About a Decade I Have Been Pressing the Case That
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ELIJAH WITH MOSES, OR, A RIFT IN THE PRE-MARKAN LUTE1 Michael Goulder For about a decade I have been pressing the case that his early fol- lowers saw Jesus as a prophet. In “The Pre-Markan Gospel”2 I noted that, while Mark himself saw Jesus as the Son of God, his Gospel contained a wealth of incidents in which Jesus behaved like Elijah or Elisha. Later, in A Tale of Two Missions3 and “A Poor Man’s Christology”,4 I drew attention to the number of passages where he acts like Moses, fulfilling the prophecy of the “prophet like Moses” of Deut 18:15, 18, cited at Acts 3:22f.; 7:37. In this essay I point to a fact which has been staring me in the face, but which I con- trived to ignore: all the Elijah-Elisha incidents are in Mark 1–8, and all the Moses incidents are in Mark 9–13. This neat division is sig- nificant, and susceptible of an interesting explanation. The tracing of allusions, whether to Elijah and his successor or to Moses, is a delicate business; for our concern is not just with Mark but with the tradition which he received. Our primary evi- dence must be similarities with the Markan narrative: but it seems proper to include two further elements in our assessment, each with due circumspection. First, there are three other evangelists who are more remote heirs of the same tradition and whose wording may sometimes give us a pointer to thinking in the Church of Mark’s generation. Second, all arguments of this kind are cumulative: the more we find with confidence, the more confident we become of less clear instances. But cumulative structures may easily be houses of cards; and by importing non-Markan evidence we risk reading in Matthean or Lukan perspectives. 1 It is an honour to be asked to contribute to the present volume. David Catchpole has been a friend for more than twenty years, the kindest and most courteous of colleagues. All too often we have been sparring partners over Q , but I could not have wished for a fairer or more straightforward opponent. 2 SJT 47 (1994) 453–472. The article was a revised version of a paper given to the Pre-Synoptic Seminar of SNTS at Bethel in July 1991. 3 A Tale of Two Missions (SCM: London, 1994) 132. 4 NTS 45 (1999) 348. 194 Elijah – Elisha Mark saw John the Baptist as Elijah, the ninth century prophet who had been taken alive to heaven (4 Kgms 2:11), and whose return was prophesied in Mal 3:22. He says, “As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, fidoÁ épost°llv tÚn êggelÒn mou prÚ pros≈pou sou, ˘w kataske- uãsei tØn ıdÒn sou: . John came baptizing” (1:2, 4). It is Mark 1:3 which actually cites Isaiah, and the reference in 1:2 is primarily to Malachi: fidoÁ §g∆ §japost°llv tÚn êggelÒn mou ka‹ §pibl°cetai ıdÚn prÚ pros≈pou mou (3:1). John is found wearing the same clothes as Elijah had in his last days, like a prisoner coming out of gaol: z≈nhn dermat¤nhn periezvsm°now tØn ÙsfÁn aÈtoË (4 Kgms 1:8), cf. Mark 1:6, z≈nhn dermat¤nhn per‹ tØn ÙsfÁn aÈtoË. In Mark 9:11–13 Jesus vir- tually seals the identification. The disciples ask why the scribes say that Elijah must come first, before Jesus’ resurrection. He replies, “Elijah indeed comes first and restores everything (épokayistãnei pãnta) . But 1 say to you that Elijah has come indeed, and they did to him what they would, as it is written of him.” Mal 3:22–3 said, “fidoÁ §g∆ épost°llv Ím›n Hlian . ˘w épokatastÆsei the heart of the father to the son . .” The identification seems clear: John was the Elijah of Malachi’s prophecy. But what passage of scripture is in Mark’s mind when he says, “as it is written of him”? “They” did to John what they would by murdering him, as Mark tells in 6:14–29; and the tale of his death there bears a family likeness to Elijah’s fate in 3 Kgms 19. Then there was a weak king Ahab hen-pecked by a vengeful wife Jezebel, just as now the weak king Herod is manipulated by his vin- dictive wife Herodias. Both women have their knife into the man of God, and Elijah says, “I, even I, only am left; and they seek my life to take it away”. Jezebel and her spouse “would” (≥yelon) kill Elijah; it was not until his second life-chapter that their successors carried wish into action.5 The link is instructive, for it shows us both Mark’s familiarity with the Elijah stories and also his expectation that his audience will pick up unstressed references. There is only one element in the Jesus nar- 5 So J. Gnilka, Das Evangelium nach Markus I (1989), 249. Markus Öhler, Elia im Neuen Testament (1997), 45–6, prefers a general reference to the tradition of prophetic suffering; but the wording, “they did to him whatever they wished”, seems rather specific..