Resurrection in the OT, Part 2

Cases of Resurrection

(avg. read time: 3–6 mins.)

With the framework for resurrection belief established in the previous entry, let us next turn to look at cases of actual resurrection. But here I must make a distinction. Many prefer to distinguish between “resuscitation” on the one hand and “resurrection” on the other. In this distinction, the former simply refers to a return to this life while the latter refers to a rise to everlasting life, often with transformation also implied. While I understand the conceptual distinction, I am not sure the terminological distinction is helpful, because it tends to imply that it reflects a terminological distinction in the source text, which is in fact never made. In fact, the same terminology is used for references to eschatological resurrection and to other actions of raising the dead. This same continuity applies in the other versions outside of the MT and it applies to the NT references to resurrection as well. I thus find it more helpful to maintain this terminological continuity of referring to both kinds of events as “resurrection” while making the distinction in the adjectives applied to them, with one kind being a temporary resurrection when it involves a return to bodily life with an expectation of dying again, and with the other kind being the eschatological resurrection when it involves a final return to bodily life without the expectation of dying and rising again (however, this can be refined further in distinguishing between the eschatological resurrection to everlasting life and the eschatological resurrection to condemnation, but we will need to address that another time). The latter is also distinguished by being climactic in the scriptural worldview narrative and/or is instrumental to the ultimate resolution of that grand story. That is, this resurrection is of final, everlasting consequence. In the cases that concern me here, the resurrections are temporary.

The first story concerns Elijah during his stay with a widow at Zarephath in 1 Kgs 17:17–24. One day, the widow’s son became gravely ill and eventually died. After the widow appealed to Elijah, whose presence in her home had otherwise been a blessing, Elijah appealed to God for the boy’s life (נפשׁ) to return within him. As his death had been signified by no longer breathing, the appeal is that the life-breath would return to him. This indeed what God does for the boy and God’s performance of the action in v. 22 matches the vocabulary of the appeal in v. 21. But a further addition is made with the verb חיה to signify the child has revived or come to life again. (In this respect, the LXX/OG is abbreviated and neither repeats the language nor adds the final verb, but Aquila more closely resembles the MT.)

The next story is a parallel from Elisha’s ministry related to a couple in Shunem in 2 Kgs 4:18–37. The story broadly resembles the case of Elijah, as Elisha also raises a child after stretching himself over him and praying to God. Of course, this story is more complex, including its featuring of Elisha’s servant Gehazi, who initially fails to raise the boy. The description of this failure in v. 31 is notable for how it says the boy has not awakened (קיץ). The closest Greek equivalent to this verb, ἐγείρω, appears in the LXX/OG and would likewise become frequently associated with resurrection in the NT, though it, like קיץ, has a basic sense of arising, often from sleep (hence “awaken”). These Hebrew and Greek verbs are associated with resurrection because of the association of sleep with death in the OT (1 Kgs 1:21; Job 3:13; 14:12; Pss 13:3; 22:29; 76:5; Isa 26:19; Jer 51:39, 57; Dan 12:2; Nah 3:18). The verbiage is not repeated when the child is revived (vv. 34–35), but the implication of the language is clear that the event constitutes a resurrection.

That leaves one last story connected to Elisha, albeit after his death. This most peculiar story appears in 2 Kgs 13:20–21. Sometime after Elisha died, was buried, and has decayed (to the point that he is now described as “bones”), the narrator quickly recounts a story in which some men burying another quickly threw him into Elisha’s grave for fear of a marauding band of Moabites. When the dead man’s body touches Elisha’s bones, he is said to come to life (חיה again) and stand up (קום). The latter verb has a similar semantic range to קיץ, but it seems to be more restricted to arising in the sense of standing up, rather than having the extra layer of “awakening.” It will thus be used in a few other resurrection texts.

But apart from those general resemblances with other resurrection texts, there is really nothing else like this story in the OT. It still illustrates the power of God at work through the prophet, but now in the most peculiar and unexpected of circumstances. Apart from its sheer remarkability, it appears to be referenced here because of its role in the narrative context. Before Elisha had died, he prophesied that Israel would have victory over Aram, although this would happen only three times and thus the victory would be temporary. After he has died, this prophecy comes true in Joash defeating the armies of Ben-hadad (2 Kgs 13:25), and the king would even defeat Judah in battle. These victories, as well as the prosperous reign of Jeroboam II, despite his wickedness, show God’s faithful dedication to Israel and its revival (2 Kgs 14:23–27). The revival of the man when coming into contact with the one who prophesied these things thus parallels the revival of the nation as a whole.

Although none of these texts directly point to the eschatological resurrection, they all contribute to a plausibility structure for resurrection. In other words, they all provide precedents for regarding resurrection as plausible. Other factors are needed to move from stories of temporary resurrection to a vision of eschatological resurrection, including a larger cosmological context for such an event, but it is nonetheless significant that we have these stories of temporary resurrection in the OT. They are far from the level of prominence that would later come to be assigned to resurrection belief in some circles to the point of identifying God as the God who raises the dead. But again, these stories prime the pump in that respect and show that resurrection was not so out of place in an ancient Israelite worldview as some are inclined to think.

What is also noteworthy about these stories is that the recipients of the resurrecting action include both Jews/Israelites and a gentile. Even this kind of miracle is not the special reserve of the descendants of Israel but is a sign of God’s graciousness given also to those outside of Israel as a revelatory testimony. This is another sign, among more general ones noted already, of how God’s promises for Israel are ultimately part of a much larger vision for his creation in general.