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The Mosaic Eschatological Prophet
Howard M. Teeple
ISBN
9781589832275
Volume
SBLMS 10
Status
Available
Price
$18.00
Publication Date
May 2006
$18.00
This study collects, organizes, and evaluates the evidence for the hypothesis that some Jews and early Christians held a belief in the coming of a Mosaic eschatological prophet, that is, the return of Moses or the coming of a prophet like him in the new, eschatological age. After setting the question in context through an illuminating discussion of ancient Jewish beliefs in other eschatological prophets and concerning the law, or Torah, in the eschatological age (ch. 2), Teeple examines in detail conceptions of the Mosaic eschatological prophet in Judaism (ch. 3) and early Christianity (ch. 4). On the basis of his study, Teeple concludes, “the idea of the eschatological Prophet was not standardized, but was fluent. In Judaism there was great variety in the identity of the Prophet, and in both Judaism and in early Christianity there was variety in his function. The idea that the Prophet would be like Moses was one—but only one—of the forms in which this expectation appeared. Judging from the literature which has been preserved, the expectation of the Mosaic Prophet was not so strong as the expectation of the Davidic Messiah. Nevertheless, the idea was active and should be recognized in future discussion of Jewish and early Christian eschatology.”