Bar, “Resurrection or Miraculous Cures?” OTE 24/1 (2011): 9-18 9 Resurrection or Miraculous Cures? The Elijah and Elisha Narrative Against its Ancient Near Eastern Background SHAUL BAR (UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS) ABSTRACT The Elijah and Elisha cycles have similar stories where the prophet brings a dead child back to life. In addition, in the Elisha story, a corpse is thrown into the prophet’s grave; when it comes into con- tact with one of his bones, the man returns to life. Thus the question is do these stories allude to resurrection, or “only” miraculous cures? What was the purpose of the inclusion of these stories and what message did they convey? In this paper we will show that these are legends that were intended to lend greater credence to prophetic activity and to indicate the Lord’s power over death. A INTRODUCTION There is consensus among scholars that Dan 12:2-3, which they assign to the 1 second century B.C.E., refers to the resurrection of the dead. The question be- comes whether biblical texts earlier than this era allude to this doctrine. The phrase “resurrection of the dead” never appears in the Bible. Scholars searching for biblical allusions to resurrection have cited various idioms.2 They list verbs including “arise,”3 “wake up,”4 and “live,”5 all of which can denote a return to life. We also find “take,”6 which refers to being taken to Heaven, the noun “life,”7 and “see.”8 In the present paper however, we shall examine the stories of the Elijah and Elisha cycles which include similar tales in which the prophet brings a dead child back to life: in Elijah’s case, the son of the widow of Zare- phath (1 Kgs 17:17-24); in Elisha’s, the son of the Shunammite matron (2 Kgs 4:31-37). In the second tale in the Elisha story, a corpse is thrown into the prophet’s grave; when it comes into contact with one of his bones, the man re- turns to life (2 Kgs 13:20-21). Thus we will try to determine whether these sto- 1 John J. Collins, Daniel (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993), 391-392. 2 John F. A. Sawyer, “Hebrew Words for the Resurrection of the Dead,” VT 23 (1973): 218-234. 3 2 Kgs 13:21; Isa 26:14, 19; Job 14:12. 4 2 Kgs 4:31; Isa 26:19; Job 14:12; Dan 12:2. 5 1 Kgs 17:22; 2 Kgs 13:21; Isa 26:14, 19; Ezek 37:3, 5-6, 9-10, 14; Job 14:14. 6 Gen 5:24; 2 Kgs 2:3, 5, 9; Ps 49:16; 73:24. 7 Ps 27:13; 30:6; 36:10; 56:14; 68:29; 116:8-9; 133:3; 142:6. 8 Ps 17:15. 10 Bar, “Resurrection or Miraculous Cures?” OTE 24/1 (2011): 9-18 ries do in fact allude to the resurrection of the dead or “merely” of miraculous cures? B ELISHA 1 The Son of the Shunammite In this story, Elisha sends his servant Gehazi ahead to place his wonder-work- ing staff on the boy’s body (2 Kgs 4:29). To prevent any delay the prophet or- ders his emissary not to greet any person on the way. Brunner thinks that Ge- hazi was sent ahead not to revive the boy but to prevent the body being moved to the grave for burial. The attempt to resuscitate the child was his own initia- tive.9 According to the story Gehazi was unable to revive the boy. When he re- ports his failure to his master, he says “the boy has not awakened” (v. 31); as we have seen, awakening is one of the terms the Bible employs for resurrec- ,die” is used explicitly twice (vv. 20, 32); but David Kimchi“ מות tion. The verb in his commentary, writes that the child was only unconscious. We should point out that Gehazi placed the staff on the lad’s face and and no response” (v. 31). In (קשב) according to the Bible “there was no sound ,means literally “attentiveness to spoken words.”10 Thus קשב Hebrew, the word it appears that here is a kind of magic in which the staff was placed on the face of the boy while Gehazi articulates some words or incantations. Indeed, the following chapter 5 records Naaman’s cure from leprosy. Naaman expected the prophet to practice some rite of exorcism which included raising his hand and calling upon his God (5:11). According to the Gospel of Mark in the NT, Jesus took the girl by the hand meaning he touched her and used a verbal com- mand, “‘Talitha cum,’ which means, ‘little girl, get up!’” (Mark 5:41). After Gehazi’s failure Elisha prays to the Lord. He stretches himself out on top of the child and evidently practices mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until the boy revives. Kimchi explains that the physical contact is meant to focus the prayer on the person he is praying for, as with Isaac his wife (Gen 25:21). It is also possible (לנכח) who prayed opposite that he breathes on the child to warm him with his natural heat from his mouth and his eyes, because most miracles are achieved through 11 some natural stratagem. 9 Leila Leah Bronner, The Stories of Elijah and Elisha: As Polemics Against Baal Worship (Leiden: Brill, 1968), 121. 10 Mordechai Cogan and Hayim Tadmor, II Kings (AB 11; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1988), 58. 11 Kimchi on 1Kgs 17:21; Miqra’oth Gedoloth, 42. Commentaries of Rashi, Abraham ibn Ezra, David Kimchi, and Mesudoth are taken from Miqra’oth Gedoloth [The Rabbinic Bible], (Jerusalem: Eshkol, 1976). Bar, “Resurrection or Miraculous Cures?” OTE 24/1 (2011): 9-18 11 does not (וימת) ”In fact, the statement (v. 20) that the child “died necessarily denote irreversible death. It can also refer to a critically ill person who stops breathing, or stops breathing normally.12 The biblical author may have exaggerated here and the child was simply in a coma. We know that the boy was in the field with the harvesters, evidently bareheaded; it is plausible that he came down with sunstroke, which is why he cried out that his head was hurting. Rabbi Manna explicitly stated that it was a case of heatstroke: “Acci- dents occur during the harvest season, because the sun inflames the head of people.”13 Another possibility is that the boy was suffering from fulminating encephalitis or a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Elisha’s prayer and contact with the boy’s body are similar to Elijah’s treatment of the son of the widow of Zarephath. There too the boy is said to have been critically ill and no longer breathing (1 Kgs 17:17).14 In all likeli- hood, then, the Shunammite matron’s son was unconscious and close to death; but he was not dead, and the story is not one of resurrection. Note that one of the questions that the men of Alexandria asked R. Joshua ben Hananiah was whether the (dead) son of the Shunammite matron could convey ritual impur- ity. His reply that only a dead person could do so, suggests that he thought the child was alive and only seemed to be dead. Another story of death from sunstroke can be found in the book of Ju- dith (8:3), where Judith’s husband Manasseh dies “in the days of the barley 12 It is possible that the child was in a coma and breathing so shallowly that his respiration could not be detected. When the prophet lay on him and forced air into his mouth, it was a stimulus like pouring cold water on a person. Elisha did not perform what is known as mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. See Haim Gevaryahu, “On Elisha the Prophet,” BethM 113 (1988): 194. 13 Y. Yebam. 15:2 (14d). 14 Rofé argues that the story of the son of the widow of Zarephath is of late origin and derived from the story of the Shunammite matron. He alleges two points as proof of this contention. First, the Shunammite’s son is said to have been dead and Elisha restores him to life, whereas the condition of the child in Zarephath is somewhat am- biguous. The text reads that “there was no breath left in him”—not that he has died (v. 17). The widow’s complaint is that Elijah has come to kill her son, not that he has he revived” (v. 22) could mean resurrection“ ויחי killed him (v. 18). And although from death, it sometimes refers to recovery from illness. According to Rofé, in his ac- count of a miraculous cure worked by Elijah the author employed language appropri- ate to death and resurrection because he already had in front of him the story of Elisha and was influenced by it. Rofé’s second point is that the Shunammite was rich and built a special room for Elisha. The widow of Zarephath is penniless but nevertheless seems to have an attic room—a detail he says was transferred from the story of Elisha. See: Alexander Rofé, The Prophetical Stories (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1988), 132- 135. 12 Bar, “Resurrection or Miraculous Cures?” OTE 24/1 (2011): 9-18 harvest.” He was standing in the field overseeing his workers and then “heat came on his head” and he took sick and died. 2 Elisha’s Grave In the second resurrection story (2 Kgs 13:20–21) a corpse from Elisha’s grave and stood (ויחי) came into contact with one of Elisha’s bones, “he came to life up” (2 Kgs 13:21).