Note 24 — Chapter IX · MIRACLES OF JESUS.

Paulus, exeg. Handb. 2, s. 39; L. J. 1, a, s. 217. He appeals in support of this to Matt. xiv. 2, where Herod, on hearing of the miracles of Jesus, says: It is John the Baptist, he is risen from the dead. In this expression Paulus finds the rabbinical opinion of the ‏עיבור‎, which is distinct from that of the ‏גלגזל‎, or transmigration of souls properly so called, (that is, the passage of disembodied souls into the bodies of infants, while in the process of formation), and according to which the soul of a dead person might unite itself to that of a living one, and add to its power (vid. Eisenmenger 2, s. 85 ff.) But, as Fritzsche and others have shown, the word ἠγέρθη refers to an actual resurrection of the Baptist, and not to this rabbinical notion; which, moreover, even were it implied, is totally different from that of demoniacal possession. Here it would be a good spirit who had entered into a prophet for the strengthening of his powers, as according to a later Jewish idea the soul of Seth was united to that of Moses, and again the souls of Moses and Aaron to that of Samuel (Eisenmenger, ut sup.); but from this it would by no means follow, that it was possible for wicked spirits to enter into the living. ↑