Bibliography
| Title: Josephus' Portrait of Elisha Secondary Title: NT Volume: 36 Pages: 1-28 Type: Journal Article Year: 1994 Abstract: "In depicting the prophet Elisha Josephus was in a quandary. On the one hand, Elisha is clearly inferior to his master Elijah, who was the great popular hero and was even the forerunner of the Messiah himself. But, on the other hand, Elijah was the prototype of the zealot, whom Josephus, in view of his bitter experiences with the revolutionaries in the Jewish War against the Romans, greatly despised. That Josephus identified himself less closely with Elijah than with Elisha may be seen from the fact that he has a eulogy for the latter when he dies but not for the former".
"After observations on the importance of Elisha to Josephus, the article considers the following aspects of Josephus' portrait of Elisha: his power as a prophet, loyalty to Elijah, virtues (courage, temperance, justice, piety), relative gentleness, and miracles. It also discusses Josephus' "improvements" (clarifications, increased drama) upon the biblical story". - D.J.H. Keywords: Antiquities |