The Lives of the Prophets.
Ancient biographical sketches.
Attributed author(s).
Anonymous.
Text(s) available.
Online Critical Pseudepigrapha.
Summa Scriptura:
Lives of the Prophets (English only).
Useful links.
Lives of the Prophets at Wikipedia.
EJW (Peter Kirby).
Jewish background texts
(Jim Davila).
The Lives of the Prophets are biographical
sketches of the ancient Hebrew prophets.
Peter Kirby (Early Jewish Writings).
Peter Kirby surveys scholars writing on the Lives
of the Prophets:
Raymond F. Surburg writes: "The Lives of the Prophets is an account of
the Hebrew prophets, each of whom is portrayed as telling where he was born,
to what tribe he belonged, and where he was buried. The Biblical materials about
the prophet's life are not repeated but supplemented. Many legendary stories
have been added. This holds true in the biographies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
Daniel, Jonah, and Habakkuk, while those of other prophets are short and as
a rule contain extra-Biblical material." (Introduction to the Intertestamental
Period, p. 135)
James Charlesworth writes: "The original text was probably composed from
diverse and ancient oral traditions sometime just prior to or in the first century
A.D. (T. Schermann, Peropheten- und Apostellegenden nebst Jüngerkatalogen
des Dorotheus und verwandter Texte [TU 31.3] Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1907; pp.
119, 126; Torrey, Lives, p. 11; idem, Apoc. Lit., p. 135; R. H.
Pfeiffer, IB 1 [1952] 425). The original language is probably Hebrew
(Schermann in TU 31.3, pp. 130-33; Torrey, Lives, pp. 1, 7, 16f.; idem,
Apoc. Lit., pp. 135-40; Pfeiffer in IB 1 [1952] 425. Schermann noted
it might be Syriac and Hall argued for a Syriac original, JBL 7 [1887]
38f.), or possibly Greek (cf. A.-M. Denis, no. 24, p. 89; M. E. Stone, no. 1229).
The author, who was apparently more a compiler of legendssome of which
he missed (cf. L. Ginzberg, Legende, ad. loc. cit.)probably
lived in Jerusalem, since there is convincing evidence that he was intimately
familiar with Jerusalem, Judaean, and Palestinian topography and geography.
The Jeremiah legends, however, betray an Egyptian provenance. Christian additions
abound in the various recensions, but the only ancient ones are in the life
of Jeremiah, verses 7-8 and 10 (cf. only vaguely possible Christian interpolations
in Hosea, vs. 2, and in Habakkuk, vss. 11-14)." (The Pseudepigrapha
and Modern Research, pp. 178-177)
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