Resurrection and Biblical Tradition 67 impure one. And of the caperbush there will not be any wine, nor will a bee (33) make honey. But I will slay the wicked one in Memphis and I will bring my children out of Memphis and turn the reverse way concerning their remnant” (34). The events related here have been associated with historical circumstances of the Maccabean era (35). Yet there are also some points of connection between the wording in these lines and the book of Ezekiel. Ezek 38,1 – 39,29 comprise Gog and Magog oracles, starting with the description of a chief prince of Gog (Ezek 38,2) and his evil scheme, h[r tbçjm (Ezek 38,10), against the people which ultimately ends in the defeat of Gog (Ezek 38,21-23). This description could provide a general parallel to lines 3 and 4 of our passage in Pseudo-Ezekielb. The killing of the wicked one in Memphis and the exodus of God’s children from Memphis, which is recounted in line 6, could have a general parallel in Ezek 30,13. This biblical passage relates the divine destruction of idols in Memphis and the assurance that “there shall no longer be a prince in the land of Egypt” (RSV) (36). The reverse way which the Lord turns concerning their remnant according to line 6 appears to serve as complement to the phrase that he ‘will bring his children out of Memphis’. The reverse way is the reverse of the situation in Memphis and the complete sentence thereby implies return of a remnant to the land of Israel. This implication is further supported by the direction of the dialogue, which began with the prophet’s question about gathering of the people and continues with reference to the land, ≈rah, in line 7 (37). Line 6 thereby envisions a divine exodus and return of a remnant, in a dialogue setting with a horizon of expectation that the people will be gathered together at some point in the future. Lines 7-9 subsequently describe apocalyptic circumstances of divine wrath in the following way: “7 As they will say, ‘peace and quiet have come’, they will (also) say, ‘the land will be 8 as it was in days of old’. After this I will arouse wrath agains them 9 from the four quarters of the heavens”. The fragmentarily preserved line 10 seems to suggest that this wrath is ‘like burning fire’. Also at this point, the Gog and Magog oracles of Ezekiel 38-39 may play in the background. Analogously, the oracle in Ezekiel 38 describes a —————— (33) On this noun, zyzt, previously unattested in biblical or rabbinic Hebrew, cf. DIMANT, DJD 30, 64-65. (34) DIMANT, DJD 30, 65 notes the unparalleled usage l[ ˚ph in this line, but suggests a translation ‘I will return’ “on the basis of biblical and post-biblical usages”. However, the verb bwç usually denotes the activity to return; usage which is also much more common in the Dead Sea Scrolls (e.g. 1QM I 3; 4Q161 2-6 1 // 4Q163 4-6 II 10-11; 4Q166 I 16; 4Q508 2 2 (bwç t[, ‘time of return’). The translation ‘I will turn myself toward their remnant’ by García Martínez – Tigchelaar (Study Edition. 2, 777) presupposes the reading of ˚pha as a niphal. (35) DIMANT, DJD 30, 55-59 (‘Dating events in Pseudo-Ezekiel’). Cf. Brady (“Biblical Interpretation in the ‘Pseudo-Ezekiel’ Fragments”, 106 and n. 34) who refers to a suggestion by B.Z. Wacholder that the biblical passages serve as “vehicles to depict contemporary issues and presage the future”. (36) Note that the identification of ‘seemingly disparate elements’ in 4Q386 1 i-iii by BRADY, “Biblical Interpretation in the ‘Pseudo-Ezekiel’ Fragments”, 107 could be contradicted by comparison of Pseudo-Ezekielb with biblical passages like Ezekiel 30:10-13 which mention both Babylon and Memphis (Egypt). (37) According to Dimant (DJD 30, 66) this is “undoubtedly the Land of Israel, since it is the subject of the vision”. References to the Land of Israel as ≈rah also occur in Ezekiel 37,22.25 and 38,8.