the-bible-and-the-dead-sea-scrolls

ÉMILE PUECH 251
proclaims the one “happy” who is living at the time of the return of the
prophet. For it is he who during his lifetime can seize the prophet’s call
to conversion by returning to the divine commandments and, therefore,
become just. Elijah will be able to return to him life so he might have a
share in the rewards of the just on the day of judgment. Thus, we read
in Sir 48:11 (HT): “Happy is he who shall see you before he dies, for you
will restore life and he will live again.”
The sense of our verse seems to be echoed by Jesus in Mark 9:1:
“There are those standing here today who will not taste of death before
the kingdom of God comes in power!” Those who wait with love for the
coming of the kingdom will be able to die in peace for they will have seen
the victory of the saving God.
Since Elisha had received a double portion of the spirit during his life,
he had given life to the son of the Shunamite (2 Kgs 4:35; 8:4–5) and,
likewise, even after his death, to a Moabite foreigner according to the old
Hebrew text and the Old Greek (2 Kgs 13:20–21), but the Masoretic Text
and the kaige recension corrected it to “an Israelite” in order to make it
conform to contemporary custom and belief (Isa 26:19) that only the just
of Israel are able to benefit from the resurrection of the dead. The sages
also decreed that an “impure” Jew could not repose in a family tomb until
the purification of the flesh. 5 Thus, as the follower of Elijah and a just
man having lived long before the eschatological times, he ought also to
have a part in the resurrection of the just during the Messianic times, Sir
48:12–14 (HT): 6
Elijah has been enveloped in the whirlwind! Then Elisha was filled with his
spirit, he wrought two times more signs and marvels by his mere word.
During his lifetime he feared no one, nor had any man power on his spirit.
Nothing was beyond his power; and from his tomb his flesh will be
brought back into life. In life he performed wonders, after death, marvelous
deeds.
In conclusion, far from opposing any belief in resurrection, as is often
asserted, the Wisdom of Ben Sira (Sirach) admits, in the section of the
are quickened to life,” concerning Ben Sira’s generation, after “Happy are those who
see you and those who are asleep in love,” concerning the contemporaries of (historical)
Elijah, since his contemporaries are well dead? Furthermore, nowhere does Ben
Sira claim to be witness of the definitive intervention of the prophet (227–28)! The
latter is awaited in the future, on the Day of Yahweh. No, the doctrine of the future
was quite well known in certain circles of priests and sages of his time.
5. See Puech, La croyance des Esséniens, 78–79.
6. For more detail, see ibid., 76–78. The Greek reading 13b: “and in his death his
corpse prophesied…”