Other articles from this issue | Version in English | Version in French

Elijah the Peacemaker - Jewish and Early Christian Interpretations of Malachi 3_23-24
Lawrence Frizzell

 

Introduction

Few biblical personalities influenced the thought of later generations more deeply than Elijah the Thisbite. his mysterious departure (2 Kg 2:11; see Sim 48:9-12; 1 Enoch 89,52; 1 Macc 2:58) excited speculation, as did the accounts of his miracles and the vagueness about his origin, People read the text of Second Kings to imply that he was exempt from death; this was understood to be a reward for his zealous ministry in defense of God's Torah (see 1 Kg 19:10, 14). This zeal in imitation of Phinehas the priest (see Num 25:9-12; Ps 106:30; Sira 45:23-24; 1 Macc 2:54), along with the sacrifice he offered on Mount Carmel (1 Kg 18:2040), contributed to the identification of Elijah as a priest, There was a general conviction that his departure, like that of Hempel, (Gen. 5:24; see Sira 44:6; Wisdom Sol 4:10), did not sever his relationship with the world and his people. The oldest extant text concerning Elijah's return occurs at the end of Malachi, the last prophet in the Hebrew Bible.

1. Reconciliation in the work of Elijah

Writing rather early in the Second Temple period,' Malachi was especially interested in worship and the priesthood. Pertinent to our study is his reflection on the priestly blessing (Num 6:24-27) which ends with a petition for peace. Unless the priests of his day give dedicated service to God, their blessings will be cursed (Mal 2:1-2). They must live up to the Levitical covenant (Num 25:12-13), which was God's promise of peace and perpetual priesthood to Phinchas, the grandson of Aaron, "because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the people of Israel" (Num 25:13, see Mal 2:4-5). The model priest walked with God in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity (Mal 2:6). 2

Malachi's devastating critique of priestly failures is completed with a threat of divine judgment. He depicts the coming of the Lord in terms that expand on the description in Isaiah 40:3 (see Mal 2:17 - 3:5), but rather than stressing God's presence with all his people (as in ha 40:5), he concentrates on the Lord's manifestation in the Temple to purify the sons of Levi. God will send a messenger to prepare for this coming. The implication that he will have a role in the work of purification is the basis for speculation about his priestly character.

Is the clause "The messenger of the Covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming..." (3:1b) an interpolation to better distinguish the messenger's activity from that of the Lord?' This might refer back to "my messenger" (3:1a) but Gelin maintained that "the angel of the Covenant" is not the precursor mentioned previously, because his arrival in the Temple is simultaneous with tilat of God. Rather, this is a mysterious title of God himself, referring implicitly to Exodus 3:2, 23:20.4 In any case, there is a work of preparation distinct from that of divine judgment.

A later addition to Malachi (3:22-24), which may constitute a conclusion to the prophetic corpus of the Hebrew Bible,` establishes more clearly the identity of the messenger and perhaps the understanding that "the voice in the wilderness" (Ise 40:3) as well may point to Elijah as precursor.

Although Mal 3:1 was not written with a Messianic idea in mind, it could take on such a connotation when read in light of the addition (3:23-24). When the messenger in 3: la is identified as Elijah, one might easily recognize a second figure, if also distinct from God, in "the messenger of the Covenant." This is probably how the idea of a precursor arose, but whether a precursor to the Messiah was known in Judaism before the New Testament is debated.°

Bowman points out that Mal 3:22 is a prerequisite for understanding the last two verses of Malachi. "Elijah here is bringing the people back to the Law. Prophecy is for Malachi the servant of the Law... Zeal for the Law is the epitome of Elijah's work."' The task of purifying the priesthood (3:2-4) and bestowing peace (3:24) go together, both contributing to the preparation for divine judgment and Israel's salvation.

Peace begins with reconciliation between the generations of Israel, and this offsets the threat of divine punishment. "(Elijah) will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I conic and smite the land with a curse" (Mal 3:24). Conversion originates in God's call but is seen as a community activity wherein peace is achieved in the human order so that the people's solidarity in God's service prepares them for communion with the divine.

Besides the demand for conversion and reconciliation implied by the theme of the Last Day, is there any aspect of earlier traditions about Elijah that might be a basis for the idea of turning hearts of different generations toward each other? He did re-animate a child and restore him to his mother (I Kg 17:17-24), but was not appreciated as a peacemaker (sec 1 Kg 18:17, where Ahab addresses him as "Troubler of Israel"). Rather, it is the Torah which brings conversion and true peace, and Elijah's dedication to Covenant fidelity makes him a figure like Moses (see 1 Kg 19:1-18) and an instrument of God's purifying and reconciling power.

The Septuagint interprets the task of reconciliation as reaching more widely than family or clan. "(Elias the Thisbite) shall turn again the heart of the father to the son, and the heart of a man to his neighbor..." A similar development occurs in the Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sim (about 190 B.C.), whose hymn summarizes the record of the hooks of Kings and speaks of Elijah's future task in terms of Mal 3:23-24.

"You who were taken up by a whirlwind of fire... You who are ready at the appointed time, it is written,
to calm the wrath of God before it breaks out in fury,
to turn the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob" (48:9-10)8

The final phrase refers to Isaiah 49:6, which speaks of the Servant's work. For Billerbeck, the fact that Sira attributes this task to the returning Elijah shows that he saw him to be a Messianic personality, inasmuch as he 1) re-establishes the tribes of Israel, gathering them from Exile and freeing them from oppressors, and 2) bestows peace on God's people by appeasing the divine wrath.° Indeed, Elijah prepares for God's coming in judgment, and is the instrument answering the prayer in Sira 36:1-17. "Gather all the tribes of Jacob, and give them their inheritance, as at the beginning" (36:11). However, Elijah should not be identified with God's Servant in Deutero-Isaiah, whose role was not restricted to Israel.

2. New Testament application to John the Baptist

An alternative to the idea that Elijah will return in person is the attribution of his spirit to another person. This occurs in a tradition that Luke incorporates into his account of the annunciation to Zechariah, and is found elsewhere in the Synoptic tradition.

"(John) will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb
And he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God,
and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah,
to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared"
(Luke 1:15-17).10

Because John receives the Holy Spirit, he will be the divine instrument for conversion of many Israelites. Ile will precede the Lord as Elijah did, and perform the task of family reconciliation. Within the Covenant, Torah obedience brings righteousness and wisdom and disposes Israel to receive further gifts from God, indeed to recognise his presence in their midst." In the record of John's preaching, the identification by the title "children of Abraham" is of little value without activities of repentance (Luke 3:7-9; see Mart 3:7-10). Here the conversion is linked to a new obedience, an attitude of listening to God's teaching. John will have a special role, not so much in making ready a path for the Lord, but in preparing people to the renewal of their Covenant commitment. his fiery preaching (e.g. Luke 3:7-9) is reminiscent of Elijah's work.12

In the tradition upon which Luke drew, Elijah would bring the people of Israel back to integrity before God. This involved their interior and exterior restitution. Peace would come after the people had done penance, an aspect of the conversion provoked by prophetic teaching.'3 The central portion of the apocalyptic Fourth Book of Ezra (Esdras) (chapters 3-14), written about 100 AD. by a Palestinian Jew, contains the following pertinent text.

"It shall be that whoever remains after all that I have foretold you shall be saved and shall see my salvation and the end of my world. And they shall see the men who were taken up, who from their birth have not tasted death; and the heart of the earth's inhabitants shall be changed and converted to a different spirit" (6:25-26)."14

The sight of Enoch and Elijah, those privileged men who escaped death, is a preparation for the transformation foreseen by Ezekiel (11:19; 36:26f.), intimately linked to the experience of God's salvation.

Because the roots of the Gospel are deeply anchored in the Jewish interpretation of the Bible and earlier traditions, it is not surprising to find similar themes in Luke and the Apocalypse of Ezra. The ministry of Israel to "the inhabitants of the earth" opens the possibility of Covenant fidelity being practised by all whose lives arc transformed by God's gift.

3. Traditions of the Pharisees and their successors

The vicissitudes of history, and especially the relation between the Jewish people and the Roman empire, had profound effects on the generations that survived the fall of Jerusalem in 70 and 135 A.D. The community had to make considerable adjustments to the loss of life and the dispersion which followed the destruction of the Temple and the holy city. The people needed reassurance that this situation would not continue in the new age. So the proclamation of interior conversion to the full message of the Torah was accompanied by the promise that the twelve tribes would be gathered together, a theme prominent from the time of the Babylonian Exile.

The text of Deutero-Isaiah (49:6) from which Sira quotes one clause ("to raise up the tribes of Jacob") clearly speaks of restoration of Jacob to God and presumably to the Land of Israel. This is the understanding in the hymn of Tobit 13, with its vision of the captives being cheered (13:10) and the sons of the righteous being gathered together (13:13) in Jerusalem (13:8, 1618). The eschatological prayer of Sira 36 contains the same themes of ingathering and Jerusalem, so this was probably the implication of "restore the tribes of Jacob" in Sira 48:10, at least when these hymns were read in sequence.

In later times this restoration was understood by some to mean that Elijah would segregate the illegitimate from Israel and bring all real Israelites back to union with God's people. The Mishnah records such a discussion.

"Rabbi Joshua said: I have received from Rabhan Johanan ben Zakkai, who heard from his teacher, and his teacher from his teacher, a legal tradition (halakbah) attributed to Moses on Sinai, that Elijah will not come to pronounce unclean or clean, to remove or draw nigh, but to remove those who were brought nigh by force and to bring nigh those who were removed by force... Rabbi Judah says: To bring nigh but not to remove. Rabbi Simeon says: To bring agreement in disputes. But the sages say: Neither to remove or to draw nigh, but to make peace in the world, as it is said: I will send you Elijah the prophet..." (Mal 3:23-24) (Mishnah Eduyoth VIII:7).

This succinct report places the discussion in the decades between the destruction of the Temple in 70 and the Bar Kochba revolt in 132. The first discussant is Joshua ben Hananiah, one of the favorite disciples of the great teacher who rescued the Pharisee movement prior to the fall of Jerusalem, Johanan ben Zakkai. During the Roman occupation of Judea, the priestly leadership trod a careful path of accommodation and compromise. This led to a renewed discussion of the legitimacy of this priesthood. The genealogy of each family was crucial, and Rabbi Joshua declared that the solution will come through the discerning power of Elijah.

Rabbis Judah bar Ilai and Simeon bar Yohai were disciples of Rabbi Akiha (among other teachers), and both survived the Bar Kochba revolt and the destruction of Jerusalem by Hadrian. R. Judah continues the earlier interpretation of Elijah's role, but does not see a need for judgment against those already in the community. Alluding to Mal 3:23-24, R. Simeon interprets "fathers" to be teachers and "children" to be disciples, if one follows Blackman.15 However, he may be referring to the disputes between the Houses of Hillel and Shammai. The majority understood the tradition to mean that Elijah's role as peacemaker goes far beyond the resolution of conflicts. He has a task in the process whereby God brings peace as a creative force whereby wholeness, tranquillity and order come upon the world.16

Although there was every reason for the Jewish community to turn in on itself and ignore the world at large, the sages (who represent the general consensus of the community) continue to hope that God's peace can be shared with all creatures. In the time before the last days this was accomplished by the reception of converts, which was both a joy and a burden to the Jewish community. The medieval document entitled Eliyyahu Zuta contains a discussion attributed to the early second century A.D. on the related question of recognizing members of the ten tribes.

(In the matter of proselytes), take note that because the ten tribes had been absorbed by the heathen Gutheans (Samaritans), proselytes will not be accepted from the Cuthcans until Elijah and the Messiah come and clear up their ancestry, es it is said: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet... (Mal 3:23-24).17

As with the priesthood, Elijah would have a special role in deciding the legitimacy of those candidates for membership in Israel who might claim that they descend from one of the lost tribes.

Within the Jewish tradition there is a tendency to link persons of different generations who possessed similar characteristics. The identification of Elijah with Phinehas, the zealous high priest, has been studied recently and need not be reviewed here." It is noteworthy that themes from Malachi studied above recur in the texts which sce the similarity between Phinehas and Elijah to be a sign of the future priestly function of Elijah in relation with the Levitical covenant (Num 25:12-13).

4. Christian interpretation of Elijah's eschatological role

The tradition from which Luke drew for the narrative about the birth of John the Baptist used the Elijah tradition, even though the account of Jesus' ministry would apply this typology to him." Mark implicitly identifies John as an Elijah-like figure (9:9-13) and Matthew makes the typology explicit (17:9-13)38 The Apocalypse 11:3-11 records a vision of two mysterious witnesses described in terms of Zechariah 4:3, 11-14. Powers attributed to these witnesses show clear reminiscences of Elijah and Moses, both of whom call fire down from heaven (Num 16:28-35; 1 Kg 18:20-40; 2 Kg 1:9-14; Sira 48:3)." The witnesses are Christians bearing a resemblance to the prophets and acting with similar power, intrepid and inflexible in the midst of their enemies, relying on God for the accomplishment of their mission." Their role in the events of the final conflict between good and evil are described in terms of the greatest prophet and the one who, like him, journeyed to Sinai — Horeb to find the strength to continue faithful in most trying circumstances.

Outside the New Testament, the earliest allusion to Elijah preparing for the Messiah occurs in Justin Martyr. Trypho the Jew explains that the Messiah is not known, nor even conscious of his own identity and power until Elijah comes to anoint him and make him manifest to all (Dialogue with Trypho V111:4, see XLIX:1).

The numerous uses of Elijah themes by Greek, Latin and Syriac writers have been studied thoroughly" It remains for us to report on the way Jerome and Augustine discussed the text of Malachi.

In his commentaries on the prophets, Jerome frequently cites Jewish traditions and his works beat witness to themes that are preserved only in part in Jewish texts that can be dated early. He reports that the Jews understand 'Behold, I send my messenger..." (Mal 3:1) of Elijah the prophet, and what follows about the messenger of the Covenant "they refer to eleimmenos, that is their Christ, whom they say will come on the last day"." Because Jesus links John the Baptist with Elijah, Jerome applies Malachi 3:23 to him. His lengthy comment on the last verses of Malachi deserves our attention.

"After Moses, whose commandments we have taught should be kept spiritually, (Malachi) says that Elijah is to be sent; Moses signifying the law and Elijah prophecy, as Abraham says to a certain rich man in purple: 'They have Moses and the prophets: let them hear them!' (Luke 16:28)... The Lord sent in Elijah (which means `my God'), who is from the town Thesbi (which resounds conversion and penance), the entire chorus of prophets, who turn the heart of fathers to sons, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs, that their descendants may believe in the Savior Lord, in whom they believed. 'Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day' (John 8:56). Or, 'the heart of the father to the son', that is, the heart of God to everyone who will accept the spirit of adoption. And, 'the heart of the children to their fathers' that both Jews and Christians, who now disagree among themselves, agree to Christ by like religion. Whence it is to the apostles, who proclaim the plantation of the Gospel throughout the whole world: 'Instead of your fathers shall he your sons' (Ps 45:17). If, however, Elijah does not turn the heart of fathers to sons before, when the great and horrible day of the Lord comes... the true and just Judge will strike, not heaven, nor those meditating on it, but the earth with a curse, those who do earthly things. Jews and Judaizing heretics think that Elijah will come before their eleimmenos and restore all things. Hence the question is posed to Christ in the Gospel: 'Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?' (Mark 9:11) and he replies: 'Elijah does come first..? (9:12), understanding Elijah to be John." 15

Knowing the traditions about Elijah's role in reconciling Israelites among themselves, and causing them to return to God (as his names "Elijah the Thisbite" imply) Jerome places the task within a Christological framework. Then he argues against a Jewish eschatological hope by referring to the Gospel.

Augustine devotes a chapter of The City of God (XX:29) to the Malachi passage, with an emphasis on Elijah's work in converting the Jews. Although there are themes in common with Jerome, his thought develops from the Septuagint wording.

(Elijah) will `turn the heart of the father toward the son'... the seventy translators used the singular for the plural. The meaning, then, is that the sons, that is, the Jews, will interpet the Law as their fathers - that is, the prophets, including Moses himself - interpreted it. For it is thus that the heart of the fathers will be turned toward the children when the understanding of the fathers is brought to the understanding of the children. And 'the hearts of the children will be turned to the fathers' when the children share the views of their fathers. The Septuagint here says, 'the heart of a man to his neighbor' — for fathers and sons are the closest of neighbors.
However, another and a more attractive meaning... is that Elijah is to turn the heart of God the Father toward the Son, not, of course, by causing the Father to love the Son, but by teaching men that the Father loves the Son, so that the Jews also, who first hated the Son, will love this same Son, who is our Christ 20 (XX:29).

Jerome's thought on a major theme such as Christology or eschatology, must be drawn from a variety of places in his commentaries and letters, and we cannot be totally sure of the synthesis. Augustine's City of God, on the other hand, places the discussion of Malachi 3:2324 into the context of a great treatise concerning the Last Judgment. The text quoted comes from the last of five chapters on Malachi's prophecy, and he has commented on Malachi already in Book XVII chapter 35. The speculation concerning Elijah's role, limited to the Jewish people as in some strands of Jewish tradition, is only one point in a large eschatological panorama. However, both Jerome and Augustine share this tradition with a large number of writers in the early Church.27

5. Elijah as man of peace

Ahab's title for Elijah, "Troubler of Israel" (1 Kg 18:17) derives from the identification of the King as the embodiment of the people Israel. Elijah was a troubler only for those who were being unfaithful to the Covenant. Later Ahab called him "my enemy" (1 Kg 21:20) because the prophet continued to oppose the weak King's idolatry and injustice. Elijah could claim that he was extremely zealous for the God of the Covenant, the Lord of hosts (1 Kg 19:10,14). It was that vigorous fidelity to his prophetic vocation that led him to accept deeds of violence. However, the observance of Torah leads to peace and to life, so it is not surprising that Jewish tradition came to see Elijah as both interpreter of Torah and arbiter within the community.

As Elijah's priestly background and role were emphasized in Jewish tradition, he came to be seen in the pattern of Aaron the high priest. Hillel had recommended to all: "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures, and drawing them near to the Torah" (Mishnah Ahot 1:12). Those who emulated this great teacher of peacemaking could look forward to the return of the priest whose fidelity to the Covenant led him to a fuller life with God (2 Kg 2:11). In the chain of activities listed by Rabbi Phineas ben Jair, "the Holy Spirit leads to the resurrection of the dead. And the resurrection of the dead shall come through Elijah of blessed memory" (Mishnah Sotah IX:15).

In the political order, peace is most often achieved through compromise, and the resulting situation is often defined as "co-existence". Elijah reminds us that the peace which is God's gift must be grounded in faith and pursued with fidelity, an awareness that certain principles cannot be neglected as one pursues the task of drawing that potential for integrity from the ambiguity of the human situation.

At least in the abstract, we are much more sensitive to the rights of dissenters than Elijah seemed to be. Our sense of human dignity and the rights of conscience permit the acceptance of pluralism in the various areasof social existence." I iowever, there must also be a strong sense of the individual's responsibilities to God and society as our generation seeks to move from terror, chaos and anarchy to a peaceful and ordered world where each and all find a place. The ancient insight that this will come from a divine gift should be acknowledged, along with a concerted effort to imitate Elijah in fostering reconciliation between generations and among neighbors.

---

* The Reverend Lawrence Frizzell, D. Phil., is a priest of the Archdiocese of Edmonton, Canada. He is Associate Professor in the Department of Judaeo-Christian Studies at Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey, US.A.
1. The Book of Malachi is dated aproximately 450 B.C. The Septuagint rendered the word "Malachi" as "his messenger," so it was not considered as a personal name in the Jewish community responsible for that part of the Greek translation. Later this person is identified as Ezra the scribe (the Aramaic targum, b. Megilla 15a).
2. See Alwin Renker, Die Tong bei Maleachi: Ein Beitrag zur l3edeutungsgeschichte von tora in Alten Testament, Freiburg: herder, 1979. He offers a lengthy study of Mal 2:1-9 and the Levitical Covenant.
3. F. Horst, Die Zwti Kleinen Propheten (Handbuch zum Alten Testament) Tubingen: Mohr, 1954, p. 271.
4. Albert Gelin, "Malachi", The Jerusalem Bible, p. 1547 note b. The Covenant mentioned is with the tribe of Levi (Num 25:11-13, see Mal 2:4-5) which they have contravened.
5. See the caution of B.S. Childs, Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture, Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979, p. 495. Asher Finkel's study of "canonical endings" will appear in Dor LeDor.
6. See Morris Faierstein, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" JBL 100 (1981) p. 75-86; Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke (LIX), Garden City: Doubleday, 1981, p. 327.
7. John Bowman, The Gospel of Mark: The New Christian Jewish Passover Haggadah. Leiden: Brill, 1965, p. 342. The Septuagint places the verse concerning the Torah of Moses after those describing the return of Elijah. This was probably due to liturgical influence; a reading in the synagogue should not end on a threatening note. See Horst p. 275.
8. Bowman writes that in 48:10, "Ben Sira does not clearly link up (as does Mal 3:23) Elijah with the great and dreadful day of the Lord" (p. 342). However, the prophets had already described the wrath of God in association with that day (Amos 5:18-20; Zeph 1:15; Lam 2:22), so Sira could he understood as taking up the same motif. There is a gap in the Hebrew text from the Cairo Geniza; the scroll discovered at Masada provides a text from 39:27 - 43:30.
9. Paul Billerbeck (with II. Strack), Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud and Midrasch IV. 2, p. 780.
10. For the relation of this passage to other Elijah themes in Luke, see Fitzmyer p. 213-215. On Elijah and John the Baptist, see David E. Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean World. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983, p. 121-132.
11. I. Howard Marshall, Commentary on Luke. Grand Rapids: Eermans, 1978, p. 60, discusses the possible interpretations and concludes: "The people who are prepared for their God are those who have learned to live in peace and righteousness with one another."
12. Raymond E. Brown, The Birth of the Messiah. Garden City: Doubleday, 1979, p. 278f., makes some interesting connections between Luke 1:15-17 and the rest of the Gospel. However, I disagree with his effort to interpret the "Lucan parallelism" so that the "disobedient" are the fathers and the "just" are the children. It seems logical to follow the Malachi text and biblical tradition in general and understand that both need to be reconciled with each other and with God. Wisdom is God's gift through the Torah (Siva 24:1-23).
13. The Hebrew term tesbubah ("conversion") would later be linked with Elijah through a play on the word "Thisbi" (1 Kg 17:1);
R. Judah said: If Israel will not repent they will not be redeemed. Israel only repents because of distress and oppression, and owing to exile, and because they have no sustenance. Israel does not do a great repentance until Elijah comes, as it is said: "Behold, I will send Elijah..." (Mal 3:23). Gerald Friedlander, Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer: New York: Hermon Press, 1970 (reprint) p. 344.
14. Translation of B.M. Metzger in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (ed. James H. Charlcsworth) Garden City: Doubleday, 1983. I p. 535.
13. Philip Blackman, Mishnayoth: Order Nezikin. London: Mishna Press, 1954, IV, p. 444.
16. At this and other points I have profited from discussion with my colleague, Asher Finkel. On the theme of peacemaking see his essay "The meaning and practice of peace: The rabbinic perspective," in Exploring Peace and Justice: Religious Perspectives, edited by L.E. Frizzell and John A. Radano, forthcoming.
17. The Translation is by William G. Braude and Israel J. Kapstein, Tanna de be Eliyyahu: The Lore of the School o) Elijah. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1981, p. 403.
18. Robert Hayward, "Phinehas — the same is Elijah: The origins of a rabbinic tradition," Journal of Jewish Studies 29 (1978) p. 22-34.
19. See Paul IIinnebusch, "Jesus the New Elijah in St. Luke," The Bible Today 32 (1976) p. 2237-44, and his spiritual interpretation in Jesus the New Elijah. Ann Arbor: Servant Books, 1978.
20. For bibliography on the Transfiguration and related passages see The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (ed. Colin Brown). Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975. I p. 543-545. III p. 861-865.
21. See R.J. Bauckham, "The martyrdom of Enoch and Elijah: Jewish or Christan?", JBL 95 (1976) p. 447458, and Alexander Zeron, "The martyrdom of Phincas — Elijah," JBL 98 (1979) p. 99-100.
22. See Andre Feuillet, "Essai d'interptetation de l'Apocalypse 11," N.T. Studies 4 (1957-58) p. 183-200, reprinted in Johannine Studies. New York: Alba House, 1964.
23. See the essays in volume I of Elie Le Prophete (Lcs Etudes Carmelitaines), Desclee de Brouwer, 1956.
24. The Latin text is found in Corpus Cbristianorum, series latina, volume 76 A. p. 928. The translation is my own. In Judaeo-Hellenic circles the Messiah was called eleimmenos, the Anointed; this term was chosen in reaction to the Christian use of Christos. See Samuel Krauss, "The Jews in the works of the Church Fathers III", Jewish Quarterly Review 6 (1894) p. 244; reprinted in Judaism and Christianity (edited by Jacob Agus), New York: Arno, 1973.
25. Ibid., pp. 941-942. Note that the disagreement between Jews and Christians will be resolved by Elijah. This is similar to the point made by Rabbi Simeon.
26. Henry Bettenson's translation in Augustine: City of God (Pelican Classics) p. 957.
27. See the numerous texts rabbinic and Christian, collection by R. Macina, "Le rale eschatologique d'tlie le Prophete dans la conversion finale du peuple juif," Proche Orient Chretien 31 (1981) pp. 71-99.
28. See Eugene B. Borowitz, "The autonomous self the commanding community," Theological Studies 45 (1984) pp. 34-56; Michael Wyschogrod, "Judaism and conscience," Standing Be/ore God (J.M. Oesterreichcr Festschrift) New York: Ktav 1981, pp. 313-328.