Texts in Conversation
Luke 24 and the Aramaic translation of Isaiah use similar language when referring to the dead. The similarity suggests both used an Aramaic tradition known in the first century, later preserved in the Targum when it was written.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 8:19
Hebrew Bible
18 Look, I and the sons whom the Lord has given me are reminders and object lessons in Israel, sent from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, who lives on Mount Zion. 19 They will say to you, “Seek oracles at the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, from the magicians who chirp and mutter incantations. Should people not seek oracles from their gods, by asking the dead about the destiny of the living?” 20 Then you must recall the Lord’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened.
Jonathan Isaiah 8:19
Targum
18 While I live with the children whom the LORD has given me, the signs and wonders that are promised to come upon Israel will be established among us. But if they would see and repent, the decree He decreed against them would be annulled, that they should go into captivity and not appear before the LORD of hosts, whose Shekinah is in the mountain of Zion. 19 And when the nations among whom you will live say to you, “Consult the necromancers and the wizards who chirp and mutter” — is this not the way of the nations, the worshippers of idols? A people seeks from its idol, the living from the dead. 20 Thus you shall say to them, “We will listen to the Torah that has been given to us, and to the testimony.” Yet you will go into captivity among the nations, and they will speak to you according to this word. Now there is none among them who would search and seek after it.
Luke 24:5
New Testament
4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood beside them in dazzling attire. 5 The women were terribly frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has been raised! Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,
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Notes and References
"... The perspective of verses 8:19–9:1 is that of exile from Jerusalem: “Gentiles” invite Israel to serve idols, to “inquire of the living from the dead”; the verb rendered “inquire” may also be translated “seek,” which makes verse 19 reminiscent of Luke 24:5. Belated appeal will be made to the law; idolatry will belatedly be rejected (verses 20, 21), but the Gentiles will despise Israel as a people bereft of its god (verse 20). Their “distress” will be complete (verses 21–22), as complete as that of long ago, when the exodus, the crossing of Jordan, and the glorious possession of the promised land were forgotten (9:1) ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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