Lives of the Prophets
Encyclopedia
The Lives of the Prophets is an ancient apocrypha
l account of the lives of the prophets from the Old Testament
. It is not regarded as scripture by any Jewish or Christian
denomination. The work may have been known by the author of some of the Pauline Epistles
, as there are similarities in the descriptions of the fates of the prophets, although without naming the individuals concerned.
manuscripts. There are two groups of Greek
manuscripts: the first group includes many versions, well-known in the past centuries, with heavy Christian
s additions. Some of these versions were attributed to Epiphanius of Salamis
, others to Dorotheus of Tyre
. The other group of Greek manuscripts is more stable and free from the interpolations found in the previous group: the best codex
is a 6th century CE manuscript usually referred to as Q or as anonymous recension. There is also a Latin
version with a text near to Q used by Isidore of Seville
(before 636 CE). There are also versions in Syriac
, Armenian
, and Arabic
.
, other authors proposed Aramaic
. The preferred use of quotations from the Septuagint suggests a Greek
original with semitic coloring.
Authenticating the dating is highly problematic due to the Christian transmission and presumed expansions. Most scholars consider this work to be of Jewish
origin dating the 1st century CE. Torrey suggests a date before 106 CE. Hare the first quarter of the 1st century CE. Satran proposes an early Byzantine
origin in the 4th-5th century.
The Lives of the Prophets includes the lives of the 23 prophets. Some lives are extremely short, only the most basic information is given, while for the others there are details and stories. The main facts indicated in the Lives are the followings:
One of the more typical themes of the Lives of the Prophets is the interest of the author for the burial places of the prophets. Jeremias in his study examines both the archaeological and the literary evidence, in particular the Herod
architectural activity and the attestations of and Luke 11:47, and considers the Lives as a witness of popular devotion in the 1st century.
The theme of prophets as intercessors for people long after the prophet's death is also present.
A major theme is martyr
dom of the prophets: six prophets are said to have been martyred.
Apocrypha
The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", ancient Chinese "revealed texts and objects" and "Christian texts that are not canonical"....
l account of the lives of the prophets from the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
. It is not regarded as scripture by any Jewish or Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
denomination. The work may have been known by the author of some of the Pauline Epistles
Pauline epistles
The Pauline epistles, Epistles of Paul, or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen New Testament books which have the name Paul as the first word, hence claiming authorship by Paul the Apostle. Among these letters are some of the earliest extant Christian documents...
, as there are similarities in the descriptions of the fates of the prophets, although without naming the individuals concerned.
Manuscript Tradition
The work survives only in ChristianChristian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
manuscripts. There are two groups of Greek
Koine Greek
Koine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....
manuscripts: the first group includes many versions, well-known in the past centuries, with heavy Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s additions. Some of these versions were attributed to Epiphanius of Salamis
Epiphanius of Salamis
Epiphanius of Salamis was bishop of Salamis at the end of the 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches. He gained a reputation as a strong defender of orthodoxy...
, others to Dorotheus of Tyre
Dorotheus of Tyre
Saint Dorotheus bishop of Tyre is traditionally credited with an Acts of the Seventy Apostles , who were sent out according to the Gospel of Luke 10:1....
. The other group of Greek manuscripts is more stable and free from the interpolations found in the previous group: the best codex
Codex
A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...
is a 6th century CE manuscript usually referred to as Q or as anonymous recension. There is also a Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
version with a text near to Q used by Isidore of Seville
Isidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
(before 636 CE). There are also versions in Syriac
Syriac language
Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...
, Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
, and Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
.
Original Language and Date
There is not consensus among scholars about the original language. Torrey proposed HebrewHebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, other authors proposed Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
. The preferred use of quotations from the Septuagint suggests a Greek
Koine Greek
Koine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....
original with semitic coloring.
Authenticating the dating is highly problematic due to the Christian transmission and presumed expansions. Most scholars consider this work to be of Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
origin dating the 1st century CE. Torrey suggests a date before 106 CE. Hare the first quarter of the 1st century CE. Satran proposes an early Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
origin in the 4th-5th century.
Content
It begins with an account of what it is attempting to contain:- The names of the prophets, and where they are from, and where they died and how, and where they lie
The Lives of the Prophets includes the lives of the 23 prophets. Some lives are extremely short, only the most basic information is given, while for the others there are details and stories. The main facts indicated in the Lives are the followings:
- IsaiahIsaiahIsaiah ; Greek: ', Ēsaïās ; "Yahu is salvation") was a prophet in the 8th-century BC Kingdom of Judah.Jews and Christians consider the Book of Isaiah a part of their Biblical canon; he is the first listed of the neviim akharonim, the later prophets. Many of the New Testament teachings of Jesus...
: said to be of Jerusalem, suffered martyrdom by being sawn in two by ManassehManasseh of JudahManasseh was a king of the Kingdom of Judah. He was the only son of Hezekiah with Hephzi-bah. He became king at an age 12 years and reigned for 55 years. Edwin Thiele has concluded that he commenced his reign as co-regent with his father Hezekiah in 697/696 BC, with his sole reign beginning in...
(in agreement with the Martyrdom of Isaiah), buried near a place usually identified by scholars as the Pool of SiloamPool of SiloamPool of Siloam is a rock-cut pool on the southern slope of the City of David, the original site of Jerusalem, located outside the walls of the Old City to the southeast. The pool was fed by the waters of the Gihon Spring, carried there by two aqueducts.-History:The Pool of Siloam is mentioned...
. - JeremiahJeremiahJeremiah Hebrew：יִרְמְיָה , Modern Hebrew:Yirməyāhū, IPA: jirməˈjaːhu, Tiberian:Yirmĭyahu, Greek:Ἰερεμίας), meaning "Yahweh exalts", or called the "Weeping prophet" was one of the main prophets of the Hebrew Bible...
: said to be of AnathothAnathothAnathoth - the name of one of the cities given to "the children of Aaron" , in the tribe of Benjamin . Since the Israelites often did not change the names of the towns they found in Canaan, the name of this town may be derived from a Canaanite goddess, ‘Anat...
, suffered martyrdom by stoningStoningStoning, or lapidation, is a form of capital punishment whereby a group throws stones at a person until the person dies. No individual among the group can be identified as the one who kills the subject, yet everyone involved plainly bears some degree of moral culpability. This is in contrast to the...
at TahpanhesTahpanhesTahpanhes was a city in Ancient Egypt. It was located on Lake Manzala on the Tanitic branch of the Nile, about 16 miles from Pelusium...
in Ancient EgyptAncient EgyptAncient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
where he was also buried. It is said that who prayed with faith over the seer's grave is healed from asps bites. His remains were later moved to AlexandriaAlexandriaAlexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
. Before the First Temple was destroyed, Jeremiah hid miraculously in the rock the Ark of the CovenantArk of the CovenantThe Ark of the Covenant , also known as the Ark of the Testimony, is a chest described in Book of Exodus as solely containing the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed...
. - EzekielEzekielEzekiel , "God will strengthen" , is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. In Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Ezekiel is acknowledged as a Hebrew prophet...
: said to be of Arira and to be of a priesthood family. He suffered martyrdom in the land of the ChaldeaChaldeaChaldea or Chaldaea , from Greek , Chaldaia; Akkadian ; Hebrew כשדים, Kaśdim; Aramaic: ܟܐܠܕܘ, Kaldo) was a marshy land located in modern-day southern Iraq which came to briefly rule Babylon...
ns and was buried in the grave of ShemShemShem was one of the sons of Noah in the Hebrew Bible as well as in Islamic literature. He is most popularly regarded as the eldest son, though some traditions regard him as the second son. Genesis 10:21 refers to relative ages of Shem and his brother Japheth, but with sufficient ambiguity in each...
and ArpachshadArpachshadArpachshad or Arphaxad or Arphacsad was one of the five sons of Shem, the son of Noah . His brothers were Elam, Asshur, Lud and Aram; he is an ancestor of Abraham. He is said by Gen...
. A description of the grave is given. Same stories of Ezekiel in the Babylonian captivityBabylonian captivityThe Babylonian captivity was the period in Jewish history during which the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah were captives in Babylon—conventionally 587–538 BCE....
are then narrated. - DanielDanielDaniel is the protagonist in the Book of Daniel of the Hebrew Bible. In the narrative, when Daniel was a young man, he was taken into Babylonian captivity where he was educated in Chaldean thought. However, he never converted to Neo-Babylonian ways...
: said to be of the Tribe of JudahTribe of JudahAccording to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Judah was one of the Tribes of Israel.Following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes after about 1200 BCE, Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes....
and born at Beth Horon. He is described as a man devoted to fast and prayer, and the story, full of miraculous details, of Nebuchadrezzar's conversion is narrated. - HoseaHoseaHosea was the son of Beeri and a prophet in Israel in the 8th century BC. He is one of the Twelve Prophets of the Jewish Hebrew Bible, also known as the Minor Prophets of the Christian Old Testament. Hosea is often seen as a "prophet of doom", but underneath his message of destruction is a promise...
: said to be of the Tribe of IssacharTribe of IssacharAccording to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Issachar was one of the Tribes of Israel.Following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes after about 1200 BCE, Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes...
and born at Belemot where he was buried. - MicahMicah (prophet)Micah, meaning “who is like Yahweh," was a prophet who prophesied from approximately 737-690 BC in Judah and is the author of the Book of Micah. He was a contemporary of the prophets Isaiah, Amos and Hosea and is considered one of the twelve minor prophets of the Tanakh . Micah was from...
: said to be of the Tribe of EphraimTribe of EphraimAccording to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Ephraim was one of the Tribes of Israel. The Tribe of Manasseh together with Ephraim also formed the House of Joseph....
. He suffered martyrdom by JehoramJehoram of IsraelJehoram was a king of the northern Kingdom of Israel. He was the son of Ahab and Jezebel.According to , in the fifth year of Joram of Israel, Jehoram became king of Judah, when his father Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, indicating a co-regency...
and buried in his land near the cemetery of the Anakim. - AmosAmos (prophet)Amos is a minor prophet in the Old Testament, and the author of the Book of Amos. Before becoming a prophet, Amos was a sheep herder and a sycamore fig farmer. Amos' prior professions and his claim "I am not a prophet nor a son of a prophet" indicate that Amos was not from the school of prophets,...
: said to be born in TekoaTuqu'Tuquʿ is a Palestinian town in the Bethlehem Governorate, located 12 km southeast of Bethlehem in the West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , Tuqu' had a population of 8,881 in 2007.The town is a part of the 'Arab al-Ta'amira cluster, along with Za'atara, Beit...
, tortured by Amaziah (the priest of Beth-el of ) and martyred by the son of this one. He laid in his birth-land. - JoelJoel (prophet)Joel was a prophet of ancient Israel, the second of the twelve minor prophets and the author of the Book of Joel. He is mentioned by name only once in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, in the introduction to his own brief book, as the son of Pethuel...
: said to be of the Tribe of ReubenTribe of ReubenAccording to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Reuben was one of the Tribes of Israel.From after the conquest of the land by Joshua until the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel in c. 1050 BC, the Tribe of Reuben was a part of a loose confederation of Israelite tribes. No central government...
, born and buried in Bethomoron. - Obadiah: said to be born in Beth-acharam in the land of Sichem.
- JonahJonahJonah is the name given in the Hebrew Bible to a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BC, the eponymous central character in the Book of Jonah, famous for being swallowed by a fish or a whale, depending on translation...
: said to be born in the land of Kariathmos near the Greek town of AzotusAzotusAzotus , a Greek name for an ancient Philistine city, is identified by different authorities with either:*Gaza, now the largest city within the Gaza Strip, part of the Palestinian Territories...
. After his predication in NinevehNinevehNineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
he went to live with his mother in Sur. He returned in JudeaJudeaJudea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
, died, and was buried in the cave of KenazKenazKenaz or Knaz - hunter - is the name of several persons in the Hebrew Bible. קְנָז "Hunter", Standard Hebrew Knaz, Tiberian Hebrew Qənaz / Qənāz...
(the one referred to in Genesis 36:11). - NahumNahumNahum was a minor prophet whose prophecy is recorded in the Hebrew Bible. His book comes in chronological order between Micah and Habakkuk in the Bible. He wrote about the end of the Assyrian Empire, and its capital city, Nineveh, in a vivid poetic style....
: said to be of Elkesi , in front of Isbergabin of the Tribe of SimeonTribe of SimeonAccording to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Simeon was one of the Tribes of Israel.Following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes after about 1200 BC, Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes...
. He died in peace and was buried in his land. - HabakkukHabakkukHabakkuk , also spelled Habacuc, was a prophet in the Hebrew Bible. The etymology of the name of Habakkuk is not clear. The name is possibly related to the Akkadian khabbaququ, the name of a fragrant plant, or the Hebrew root חבק, meaning "embrace"...
: said to be from the land of Bethzuchar and of the Tribe of SimeonTribe of SimeonAccording to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Simeon was one of the Tribes of Israel.Following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes after about 1200 BC, Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes...
. After the fall of Jerusalem he went to live in the land of IshmaelIshmaelIshmael is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, and was Abraham's first born child according to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Ishmael was born of Abraham's marriage to Sarah's handmaiden Hagar...
and then returned to help the Hebrews who remained. He later went in BabyloniaBabyloniaBabylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
during the Babylonian captivityBabylonian captivityThe Babylonian captivity was the period in Jewish history during which the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah were captives in Babylon—conventionally 587–538 BCE....
where he met DanielDanielDaniel is the protagonist in the Book of Daniel of the Hebrew Bible. In the narrative, when Daniel was a young man, he was taken into Babylonian captivity where he was educated in Chaldean thought. However, he never converted to Neo-Babylonian ways...
. He died two years before the end of the captivity and was buried in his land. - Zephaniah: said to be from the land of Sabaratha and of the Tribe of SimeonTribe of SimeonAccording to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Simeon was one of the Tribes of Israel.Following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes after about 1200 BC, Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes...
. He was buried in his land. - HaggaiHaggaiHaggai was a Hebrew prophet during the building of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, and one of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the author of the Book of Haggai. His name means "my holiday"...
: said to come in Jerusalem from BabyloniaBabyloniaBabylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
when he was young, and he saw the reconstruction of the Temple. He was buried near the graves of the priests (probably in the Kidron ValleyKidron ValleyThe Kidron Valley is the valley on the eastern side of The Old City of Jerusalem which features significantly in the Bible...
). - Zechariah: said to come in Jerusalem from BabyloniaBabyloniaBabylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
when already old. He blessed both Jozadak (the father of JoshuaJoshua the High PriestJoshua the High Priest was, according to the Bible the first person chosen to be the High Priest for the reconstruction of the Jewish Temple after the return of the Jews from the Babylonian Captivity The name is also spelled 'Jeshua' in some English versions , and, as with the earlier Joshua, is...
) and ZerubbabelZerubbabelZerubbabel was a governor of the Persian Province of Judah and the grandson of Jehoiachin, penultimate king of Judah. Zerubbabel led the first group of Jews, numbering 42,360, who returned from the Babylonian Captivity in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia . The date is generally thought to...
. He died old and was buried near Haggai. - MalachiMalachiMalachi, Malachias or Mal'achi was a Jewish prophet in the Hebrew Bible. He had two brothers, Nathaniel and Josiah. Malachi was the writer of the Book of Malachi, the last book of the Neviim section in the Jewish Tanakh...
: said to be born in Sofa. He died young and was buried with his fathers. - NathanNathan (Prophet)Nathan the Prophet was a court prophet who lived in the time of King David and Queen Bathsheba. He came to David to reprimand him over his committing adultery with Bathsheba while she was the wife of Uriah the Hittite whose death the King had also arranged to hide his previous transgression.His...
: said to be from Gaba. He taught the TorahTorahTorah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
to DavidDavidDavid was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
. BeliarBelialBelial is one of the four crown princes of Hell and a demon in the Bible, Jewish apocrypha and Christian apocrypha...
caused he couldn't stop DavidDavidDavid was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
to kill BathshebaBathshebaAccording to the Hebrew Bible, Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of David, king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah. She is most known for the Bible story in which King David seduced her....
's husband. He died very old and was buried in his land. - Ahijah the Shilonite : said to be from Shiloh. He was buried near the oak of Shiloh.
- Joad or Ioad (named JadonJadonJadon is a Hebrew name meaning "thankful" or "he will judge". It appears in the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament as the name of Jadon the Meronothite, one of the builders of the wall of Jerusalem in the Book of Nehemiah .-The prophet Jadon:According to Flavius Josephus, Jadon is the name of a minor...
in Antiquities of the JewsAntiquities of the JewsAntiquities of the Jews is a twenty volume historiographical work composed by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in the thirteenth year of the reign of Roman emperor Flavius Domitian which was around 93 or 94 AD. Antiquities of the Jews contains an account of history of the Jewish people,...
VIII,8,5 and referred to as the man of God in ): said to be of Samareim and was buried as told in 2 KingsBooks of KingsThe Book of Kings presents a narrative history of ancient Israel and Judah from the death of David to the release of his successor Jehoiachin from imprisonment in Babylon, a period of some 400 years...
23:18. - AzariahAzariah (prophet)Azariah was a prophet described in 2 Chronicles 15. The Spirit of God is described as coming upon him , and he goes to meet King Asa of Judah to exhort him to carry out a work of reform. Azariah is described as being the "son of Oded" , but the Masoretic Text omits Azariah's name in verse 8,...
: said to be from the land of Subatha. He was buried in his land. - Elijah the TishbiteTishbiteTishbite is a word used in the Bible to refer to Elijah . The phrasing can be reworded as "Elijah the Tishbite of Tishbe inGilead." The word is sometimes interpreted as "stranger," so that the verse might read "Elijah the stranger from among the strangers in Gilead." This designation is probably...
: is said to be from the land of the Arabs, of the tribe of AaronAaronIn the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, Aaron : Ααρών ), who is often called "'Aaron the Priest"' and once Aaron the Levite , was the older brother of Moses, and a prophet of God. He represented the priestly functions of his tribe, becoming the first High Priest of the Israelites...
that was in GileadGileadIn the Bible "Gilead" means hill of testimony or mound of witness, , a mountainous region east of the Jordan River, situated in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It is also referred to by the Aramaic name Yegar-Sahadutha, which carries the same meaning as the Hebrew . From its mountainous character...
. The birth of Elijah was miraculous: when he was to be delivered, his father Sobacha saw white figures of man who greeted him, wrapped him up and fed him with flames. - ElishaElishaElisha is a prophet mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an. His name is commonly transliterated into English as Elisha via Hebrew, Eliseus via Greek and Latin, or Alyasa via Arabic.-Biblical biography:...
: is said to be of AbelmaulAbel-meholahAbel-meholah was the birthplace and residence of the prophet Elisha. It is located near where the Wady el-Maleh merges into the Jordan River, south of Bethshean. Here Elisha was found at his plough by Elijah on his return up the Jordan valley from Horeb . It is now called 'Ain Helweh.Attribution...
in the land of ReubenReuben (Bible)According to the Book of Genesis, Reuben or Re'uven was the first and eldest son of Jacob with Leah. He was the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Reuben.-Etymology:...
. When he was born a calf of gold screamed so loudly it was heard in Jerusalem. He was buried in SamariaSamariaSamaria, or the Shomron is a term used for a mountainous region roughly corresponding to the northern part of the West Bank.- Etymology :...
. - Zechariah ben JehoiadaZechariah ben JehoiadaZechariah Ben Jehoiada was the son of Jehoiada, the high priest in the times of Ahaziah and Jehoash of Judah .After the death of Jehoiada, Zechariah boldly condemned both king Jehoash and the people for their rebellion against God...
: said to be of Jerusalem, he was killed by JehoashJehoash of JudahJehoash or Joas , sometimes written Joash or Joás , was the eighth king of the southern Kingdom of Judah, and the sole surviving son of Ahaziah. His mother was Zibiah of Beersheba ....
near the altar of the Temple. He was buried near his father Jehoiada. After his death, the priests of the Temple could no more, as before, see the apparitions of the angels of the Lord, nor could make divinationDivinationDivination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
s with the EphodEphodAn ephod was an article of clothing, and a worship object, in ancient Israelite culture, and was closely connected with oracular practices....
, nor give responses from the DebirDebirA Biblical word, debir may refer to:noun* The debir , the inner-most part of the Holy of Holies in Solomon's Temple.Personal name...
.
Themes
The author of the Lives of the Prophets seems to have been more interested in miracles, intercessions and predictions of the prophets than in their ethical teaching.One of the more typical themes of the Lives of the Prophets is the interest of the author for the burial places of the prophets. Jeremias in his study examines both the archaeological and the literary evidence, in particular the Herod
Herod the Great
Herod , also known as Herod the Great , was a Roman client king of Judea. His epithet of "the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis." He is also known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and elsewhere, including his...
architectural activity and the attestations of and Luke 11:47, and considers the Lives as a witness of popular devotion in the 1st century.
The theme of prophets as intercessors for people long after the prophet's death is also present.
A major theme is martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
dom of the prophets: six prophets are said to have been martyred.
Sources
- D.R.A. Hare The Lives of the Prophets in ed. James Charlesworth The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2 pp. 379–400 ISBN 0-385-18813-7(1985)
- Emil Schürer, G.Vermes, F.Millar The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ ISBN 0-567-09373-5 (1973) pag 783-786
- G. Lusini Vite dei Profeti in ed. P.Sacchi Apocrifi dell'Antico Testamento Vol 4 ISBN 88-394-0587-9 (2000)