Zealot - The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

Merkel
     expands on the division between Jesus and the Temple priesthood in “The Opposition
     Between Jesus and Judaism,”
Jesus and the Politics of His Day
, 129–44. Interestingly, Jesus is seen in conversation with the Sadducees only once,
     during a debate around the resurrection on the last day; Mark 12:18–27.
CHAPTER NINE: BY THE FINGER OF GOD
    A comprehensive treatment of Jesus’s individual miracles can be found in H. van der
     Loos,
The Miracles of Jesus
(Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1965).
    For more on Honi and Hanina ben Dosa, see Geza Vermes, “Hanina ben Dosa: A Controversial
     Galilean Saint from the First Century of the Christian Era,”
Journal of Jewish Studies
23 (1972): 28–50, and
Jesus the Jew
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1981), 72–78. For a more general study of miracle workers
     in the time of Jesus, see William Scott Green, “Palestinian Holy Men: Charismatic
     Leadership and Rabbinic Tradition,”
ANRW
19.2 (1979): 619–47. A very good critique of scholarly work on Hanina can be found
     in Baruch M. Bokser, “Wonder-Working and the Rabbinic Tradition: The Case of Hanina
     ben Dosa,”
Journal of Jewish Studies
16 (1985): 42–92.
    The earliest work on Apollonius is the third-century text by Philostratus of Athens
     titled
The Life of Apollonius of Tyana
. For an English translation, see F. C. Conybeare, ed.,
Philostratus: The Life of Apollonius of Tyana
(London: Heinemann, 1912). Conybeare’s book also includes a translation of a later
     work on Apollonius by Hierocles titled
Lover of Truth
, which expressly compares Apollonius to Jesus of Nazareth. See also Robert J. Penella,
The Letters of Apollonius ofTyana
(Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1979). For an analysis of the parallels between Apollonius
     and Jesus, see Craig A. Evans, “Jesus and Apollonius of Tyana,” in
Jesus and His Contemporaries
, 245–50.
    Research done by Harold Remus indicates no difference in the way pagans and early
     Christians described either miracles or the miracle workers; “Does Terminology Distinguish
     Early Christian from Pagan Miracles?”
Journal of Biblical Literature
101.4 (1982): 531–51; see also Meier,
Marginal Jew
, vol. 2, 536. More on Eleazar the exorcist can be found in Josephus,
Antiquities
8.46–48.
    A survey of magic and the laws against it in the Second Temple period is provided
     by Gideon Bohak,
Ancient Jewish Magic: A History
(London: Cambridge University Press, 2008). As in the fable of Rumpelstiltskin, there
     was a general belief that knowledge of another’s name establishes a certain power
     over him. Magical prayers quite often derived their power from the name of whoever
     was being cursed or blessed. Per Bultmann: “The idea … that to know the name of the
     demon gives power over it is a well-known and widespread motif.” See
History of the Synoptic Tradition
, 232. Ulrich Luz cites as a Hellenistic example the story of Chonsu, “the God who
     drives out demons,” as an instance of demon recognition; “The Secrecy Motif and the
     Marcan Christology,”
The Messianic Secret
, ed. Christopher Tuckett (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983), 75–96.
    Joseph Baumgarten discusses the relationship between illness and demon possession
     and provides a host of references to other articles on the topic in “The 4Q Zadokite
     Fragments on Skin Disease,”
Journal of Jewish Studies
41 (1990): 153–65.
    Additional useful studies on magic in the ancient world are Matthew W. Dickie,
Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World
(London: Routledge, 2001); Naomi Janowitz,
Magic in the Roman World
(London: Routledge, 2001); and Ann Jeffers,
Magic and Divination in Ancient Palestine and Syria
(Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1996). The word “magic” comes from the Greek term
mageia
, which has its roots in the Persian term for priest,
magos
. As in “the Magi.”
    Contrary to popular perception, Jesus’s miracles were not meant to confirm his messianic
     identity. In all the biblical prophecies ever written about the messiah, there is
     no characterization of him as either a miracle worker or an exorcist; the messiah
     is king, his task is to restore Israel to glory and destroy its enemies, not heal
     the sick and cast out demons (indeed, there are no such things as demons in the Hebrew
     Bible).
    Justin Martyr, Origen, and Irenaeus are quoted in Anton Fridrichsen,
The Problem of Miracle in Primitive Christianity
(Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1972), 87–95.