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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 also Phinees laid himself down to die, and the Lord said unto him: Behold thou hast overpassed the 12 years that were ordained unto all men. And now arise and go hence and dwell in the mount Danaben and abide there many years, and I will command mine eagle and he shall feed thee there, and thou shalt not comedown any more unto men until the time come and thou be proved in the time. And then shalt thou shut the heaven, and at thy word it shall be opened. And after that thou shalt be lifted up into the place whither they that were before thee were lifted up, and shalt be there until I remember the world. And then will I bring you and ye shall taste what is death. 2 And Phinees 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.
Date: 50-120 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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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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