I have not been following the various stories very carefully about the so-called "messiah tablet" (but Jim West has a nice collection of links and his usual trenchant comments here ). Reading the Time article , however, I was struck by Israel Knohl’s quote regarding the origins of the three day resurrection model.
But, as Knohl told TIME, maybe the Christians had a model to work from. The idea of a "dying and rising messiah appears in some Jewish texts, but until now, everyone thought that was the impact of Christianity on Judaism," he says. "But for the first time, we have proof that it was the other way around. The concept was there before Jesus." If so, he goes on, "this should shake our basic view of Christianity. … What happens in the New Testament [could have been] adopted by Jesus and his followers based on an earlier messiah story."
Like the tablet, we do not know the full context of Knol’s quote but I think even without this tablet we can safely assume that the disciples at least looked at the story of Jonah as an antecedent or lens through which to interpret the events of the cross and empty tomb. Jesus is attributed with rebuking the "evil generation" that looked for signs but would only receive "the sign of Jonah" (Mark 16:4, Luke 11:29).
The fact that this reference to Jonah is present in the text certainly attests, if nothing else, to the importance of citing Scripture to justify the belief in a 3-day "descent" and resurrection. This is a fact of early Judaism that is often stated with regard to rabbinic teaching and halakhah yet often ignored with respect to Christian teaching. Originality is not a positive trait of teaching in first century Judaism.
That being said, I have often said that no one expected the immediate (relatively speaking) resurreciton of the Messiah. If this text really does refer to such a belief and if it is legitimate (something that will be very difficult to prove at this point) then it certainly adds new data to the discussion and will alter my teaching, but I am not sure that it changes or would challenge the Christian faith in any substantial way.
4 thoughts on “The Sign of Jonah (and a stone tablet)”
“The idea of a “dying and rising messiah appears in some Jewish texts, but until now, everyone thought that was the impact of Christianity on Judaism,””
I might be imagining things, but I was under the assumption that this was not a wholly novel narrative in the various mystery cult, Egyptian, Babylonian, etc. sources that would have been present at the time. I think E.P. Sanders may have touched on this several years ago, but I would have to check the source again…
At any rate I think that you are absolutely correct with the last sentence…
“That being said, I have often said that no one expected the immediate (relatively speaking) resurrection of the Messiah.”
Hmmm, what about Matthew 27:62-64 –
“The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”
Of course, the “sign of Jonah” only gets turned into a reference to the resurrection somewhat later, in Matthew’s Gospel…
Interesting reflections, Chris! I also tried my hand at a post on this today: http://biblische.blogspot.com/2008/07/messianism-before-christ-gabriels.html