Texts in Conversation
Malachi promises that God will send the prophet Elijah back before the day of judgment. Pseudo-Philo identifies the priest Phinehas with Elijah, taken up to await the end and to return one day to taste death.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Malachi 4:5
Hebrew Bible
4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, to whom at Horeb I gave rules and regulations for all Israel to obey. 5 Look, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives. 6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the sons, and the hearts of the sons to their fathers10, so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.”
Pseudo Philo Biblical Antiquities 48:1
Classical
1 At that time Phinehas also lay down to die, and the Lord said to him, “You have passed the 12 years that were ordained for all men. Now arise and go from here and dwell on Mount Danaben, and stay there many years, and I will command my eagle, and he will feed you there, and you will not come down to men again until the time comes and you are tested in that time. Then you will shut the heaven, and at your word it will be opened. After that you will be lifted up into the place where those before you were lifted up, and you will be there until I remember the world. Then I will bring you, and you will taste what death is.” 2 Phinehas went up and did all that the Lord commanded him. Now in the days when he appointed him to be priest, he anointed him in Silo.
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Notes and References
... The final version of Malachi was probably important for the author of Pseudo-Philo's character Phineas/Elijah. Malachi 2:7's priest who is called an 'angel of YHWH' is often identified with both Phineas, because of the covenant made with him, and contextually with the angel of Malachi 3:1. Malachi 3:1's angel is identified as Elijah in Malachi 3:23-24 and therefore also Phineas. It was likely this identification that inspired the author of Pseudo-Philo to have one character who is both Phineas and Elijah. ...
Geddis, Aaron William
The Concept of the Return of Elijah in Matthew 11:2-24 and its Christological Implications
(p. 103) University of Otago, 2020
* 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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