Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha

I deal with the content of the vision of Hezekiah in Ascen. Isa. 1:2-5 and argue that it is based on Hezekiah’s prayer or thanksgiving in Isa 38:9-20. The writer of the Ascension of Isaiah argues that in his vision Hezekiah foresees the coming of Christ who fulfills the salvation plan of God and condemns the evil powers—two topics which are related in Ascen. Isa. 4:19-21 to two important key texts in the book of Isaiah, that is, Isa 13-14 (the destruction of the evil power Babylon) and Isa 52:13- 53:12 (the descending of the Beloved One). I argued that the writer of the Ascension of Isaiah presumably accepted the established Jewish interpretation that Immanuel was Hezekiah but argue, additionally, that its deeper secret meaning (according to the interpretive model of Sir 39:1-3) concerned the Beloved.

This paper brings together insights from different research areas by on the one hand examining the Apocalypse of Abraham in its context of ancient Judaism and on the other hand looking at the fourteenth century context of its manuscript-tradition. Special attention is given to how the Apocalypse of Abraham receives Ezekiel in order to create its distinct vision of God’s throne. The copyist/redactor of the manuscript in Old Church Slavonic adds six miniatures to his codex depicting essential scenes from the Apocalypse of Abraham. However, when looking at the miniature of Abraham and the angel Jaoel before God’s throne, one wonders if the miniaturist knew the text of the Apocalypse of Abraham at all or if he wanted to create his own vision of God’s throne thereby correcting/adding to the meaning of the Apocalypse’s vison of the throne. By examining both the original and the manuscript context of the work multiple discourses are opened and new questions of transmission of ancient Jewish texts in Christian transmission arise. The paper wants to encourage further research in the field of Slavonic pseudepigrapha and its transmission which is still a neglected field of academic endeavor.

Much academic research has been conducted on the rich and bewildering variety of sources underlying the book of Tobit. In this study, yet another literary type from the Hebrew Bible which has received little scholarly attention will be suggested. In Part 1 of the following study, “the prophetic miracle story,” found among the historical traditions of Northern Israel in 2 Kgs 1–8, will be investigated according to its characteristic features. The correspondence between these features and those of the accounts of the miraculous healings of Sarah and Tobit in the book of Tobit will then be demonstrated, and it will be suggested that this literary type forms a model for the accounts of the healing of Tobit and Sarah in the book of Tobit. In addition to this, the influence of other themes from 2 Kgs 1–8 on the book of Tobit will be proposed. In Part 2 of this study, certain attested forms of healing from the author’s Hellenistic cultural background will be investigated. It will be suggested the book of Tobit could represent the author’s response to these Hellenistic types of healing in the revival and development of the earlier prophetic miracle story from 2 Kgs 1–8.

This article assesses the state of the question on the identity of Alexandra, Queen of Judea, in the period before her regency. Currently, outside of a few select publications, the field identifies Alexandra with the widow of Judah Aristobulus I. The following argument demonstrates that Queen Alexandra cannot have been married to Aristobulus, having had a child with her husband Alexander Jannaeus before the death of Aristobulus. This argument has been previously presented in scholarship but has not received much attention, likely due to the focus of previous arguments being on the plausibility of a Levirate marriage between Alexandra and Jannaeus. This article seeks to redress this imbalance and clearly state the case against an ongoing misidentification.