Relics, III: Pilgrimage and the Dead

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Relics, III: Pilgrimage and the Dead The Patriarchal Tombs at Machpelah The Bible clearly establishes the miraculous potential of even dead bodies. However, many Protestants are inclined to read the story of Elisha's bones as an isolated event that provides no norms for a future relation to the dead bones of miraculous personages. In fact, the biblical scholarship of the past century has generally concluded otherwise. Since the early 20th century (Albrecht Alt), scholars have noted that the Old Testament narrative likely represents an assemblage of the foundation stories of various local cultic centers. For this reason, many patriarchal stories identify the location of the events they describe (which coincide with known cultic centers), and highlight the fact that certain historic objects remain in those locations "to this very day." Tombs were certainly numbered among these sites. Pilgrimage to these sites was fueled by interest in the patriarchal stories, and represented a powerful reflex in ancient Israel: In some cases pilgrimage to the tombs of Jewish heroes and ancestors clearly did occur. Even minor figures who are only briefly mentioned in the Bible, such as the daughter of Jephthah, sometimes played important roles in local tradition and ritual (Ps.-Philo, LAB 40:8-9). But interest seems to have been directed most frequently toward the tombs of the patriarchs, matriarchs, and kings. The tombs of Abraham and Sarah, the twelve patriarchs, David, Solomon, and other similar figures seem to have been among the few tombs that were associated with known locations in the Second Temple period. Some of these sites may have been known because of persistent traditions of pilgrimage that kept alive the memory of their location. (Allen Kerkeslager, "Jewish Pilgrimage and Jewish Identity in Hellenistic and Early Roman Egypt," Pilgrimage and Holy Space in Late Antique Egypt, Ed. David Franfurter [Boston: Brill, 1998], 139). Many Adventists are unaware of the historical fact and significance of these pilgrimages. They were a common and mainstream phenomenon during the life of Jesus (cf. Mt. 23:19): The outstanding example of this is the shrine of Machpelah at Hebron. The enclosure wall built by Herod the Great to surround the tombs of the patriarchs was strikingly similar in proportion, plan, and construction to the wall that he build to enclose the temple mount. Jack Lightstone has observed that this indicates that the shrine at Machpelah had a role for contact with the sacred similar in ideological function and in national scope to the temple in Jerusalem. This implies that Jews believed that the patriarchs and matriarchs buried in Machpelah could still render powerful assistance to their descendants. (Ibid.) Mark S. Smith concludes the same expectations attended the tomb of Elisha: Saints whose powers assumed legendary proportions in life were, for example, the objects of special devotion in death, including pilgrimage. The Elijah and Elisha cycles suggest that these men were not simply prophets (though biblical historiography conforms them generally to this picture), but also classical holy men whose deeds in life and death attracted the attention of the multitudes who traveled to their tombs to seek health and other areas of popular concern. The miracles of biblical holy men extended beyond their lifetimes. . . . When the corpse touched Elisha's bones, the dead man miraculously revived (2 Kgs 13.20-21). (Smith, Mark S. and Elizabeth Bloch-Smith, The Pilgrimage Pattern in Exodus, Sheffield: Shedffield Academic Press, 1997, 53). Many scholars agree. According to Joachim Jeremias, the episode in 2 Kings indicates Elisha's tomb was a very famous tomb of the pre-exilic period, to which pilgrimage persisted into late antiquity among Jews and Christians, a view van der Horst shares: The story of this miracle demonstrates, as Jeremias rightly remarks, "dass wir es mit einem offenbar schon in vorexilischer Zeit hochberuehmte Grab zu tun haben." As in the case above, this too was exactly localized in postbiblical times: the Life of Elijah says it is in Samaria. . . and fourth-century Christian authors know many stories about miracles happening at the tomb. (van der Horst, Pieter Willem, "The Tombs of the Prophets in Early Judaism," Japheth in the Tents of Shem: Studies on Jewish Helleism in Antiquity [Leuven: Peeters, 2003], 123). From this vantage point, one better appraises the significance of the Elisha story on the question of relics. Far from representing an isolated miracle, it appears the story was transmitted and received at an early stage as an invitation to pilgrimage, with crowds approaching the general location of the bones in the hope of healing (cf. the reflexes described, and never condemned, in Jn. 5:3-4). This was a natural development in light of the miracle story, and one in keeping with the desire for contact with miraculous personages, objects, and places in the New Testament. Indeed, “the cult of the dead in Christianity followed the patterns set by Judaism" (Kennedy, Charles A., “Dead, Cult of the,” Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. II, 108) until, in later centuries, "grave veneration became an exclusively Christian practice" (Hawley, John Stratton, Saints and Virtues: Comparative Studies in Religion and Society, Vol. 2 [University of California Press, 1987], 95). Christianity, however, introduced a new dimension to the use of relics. Having transcended the pentateuchal stigmas of ritual uncleanness attached to dead bodies (Lev 21:11; Num 9:6-7), relics could be fully moved into sacred space. They were, after all, "living members of Christ and the temple the Holy Spirit, to be awakened by Him to eternal life and to be glorified" (Trent, Session 25). Thus, “the tombs of the Christian martyrs, like those of the prophets before them, stood as separate monuments; later some were incorporated into church buildings" (Ibid.). It is within that context that Catholics typically encounter their healing virtue today.  Read more at sda2rc.blogspot.com

 

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