Goodacre, "Mark, Elijah, the Baptist and Matthew"

Mark Goodacre, ―Mark, Elijah, the Baptist and Matthew: The Success of the First Intertextual Reading of Mark‖ in Tom Hatina (ed.), Biblical Interpretation in Early Christian Gospels, Volume 2: Matthew (Library of New Testament Studies 310; London & New York: T & T Clark, 2008), 73-84

*NOTE: page numbers listed below are from the online PDF, which does not follow the 73-84 pagination. I'll need to cite this as an online viewing.

Connection between JB and Elijah in Mk

• clothing (1.6; cf. close verbal connection to 2 Kg 1.8 (LXX))
• new Ahab and Jezebel (6.14-29)
• echo of Elijah's complex relationship with the weak king Ahab and his manipulative wife Jezebel. Similar situation in Mk 6, which presents a similarly weak Herod and similarly manipulative Jezebel (Goodacre, 5).
• Verbal links in Mk 6 are limited (cf. Gundry, 313), however, in its innertextual context, the story is placed between two very clear references to Elijah (1.6; 9.11-13). Pointing out that the verbal connections are weak "might be seen as declining the invitation to read Mark intratextually as well as intertextually since both the broader context (1.6, 9.11-13) and the immediate context (6.14-16) draw the reader's attention to Elijah" (5).
• "as part of a developing discourse in which this theme is clearly important, it is difficult not to spot Jezebel's haunting presence lurking in the shadows of Herod's court" (5).
• ID confirmed (9.11-13)
• This third reference to Elijah clarifies and proves the 2nd. Jesus declares, upon descending the mountain, that Elijah has come, and that he has suffered as he was supposed to. Elijah was identified in JB earlier on for this purpose. This statement that "Elijah indeed has come" in JB confirms Jesus' messianic identity that the disciples are beginning to perceive (7).
• Jesus mentions that the Son of Man is going to suffer like Elijah, "they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him" (the SofM will also "suffer many things" which are "written" about him [7]).

Elijah in Matthew, and what this means for Mark

• Matthew takes Mark and clarifies, sharpens, and interprets it. As a result, Matthew can be a very helpful guide, at the very least, a good interpreter close to Mark's writing. (9)
• Mt 17.13 clarifies Mk 9.11-13, "the the disciples understood that Jesus was speaking about John the Baptist". How much clearer can it get? (9; cf. Mt 16.12/Mk's story of bread and the boat; Mt clarifies what Jesus says in Mk about leaven spreading through the dough)
•   Mt 11.13-14 explicitly connects JB with Elijah.
• Mt's version of JB with Herod and Herodias does not mention Elijah. Mark takes a lot of space to "hint so gently" at the Elijah theme, whereas it is explicit in Matthew. Perhaps Matthew thought hidden ref to E at this point was unnecessary. As a result, contemporary scholarship still isn't sure if an echo of 2 Kings is there at all. (11-12) (This calls for careful comparison of the MT, LXX and GNT. What can I find?)
• Implications of JB=E is that "If Elijah has already come and was mistreated, then surely this greater-than-Elijah will also suffer at their hands." (14)
• Jesus' statement about Mk in 9.11-13 is tricky as the Mal 3.23 prophecy does not come completely true in JB. JB does not "restore all things". He loses his head and is dead. Rather than submitting to this difficulty, Mark has Jesus refute it head on - but how is this done? (15, n. 19; cf. Marcus, The Way of the Lord, 94-110; how does Jesus refute what is left lacking in Mal 3.23?)

Elijah and JB before Mark

• Some suppose that John himself thought he was Elijah, but Goodacre thinks Mark might be the source of this connection between JB and E since Mark's gospel is the earliest evidence (17). Mark points to another interp., which erroneously understands Jesus to be Elijah (6.15; 8.28).
• Mark's focus on Elijah is strong. In the Transfig scene, "there appeared Elijah with Moses." And so great was the emphasis on Elijah that the disciples ask about him immediately on their way down the mountain (no questions about Moses). (18).
• Jesus cannot be Elijah because Elijah appeared with Jesus (18). This fact seems to have needed reinforcement since the disciples seemed to be confused on the matter. "If Jesus isn't Elijah, who is?" (19, n. 25). JB is dead, so either JB appeared with Jesus as Elijah, or it was the actual Elijah (my thought).

Evaluation

JB's identity as Elijah is not only contested in the literature, but in the Gospels themselves. John and Luke seem to point to Jesus as Elijah, while Mark is (subtly) emphatic, with Matthew explicitly. This comparison of the 4 Gospels is valuable, and I especially appreciated his critique of Marcus' The Way of the Lord, to which I'll return when I read Marcus.