Resurrection from the dead is not a New Testament phenomenon. Already in the Tenach, the later Old Testament, there are reports of resurrections. There are not very many, but you can find them. The reports are interesting and instructive.
The hope of a resurrection
In the Old Testament we find sober accounts of our humanity. We are alive, but mortal. Whoever is mortal dies once. He who has died is dead, and this is the opposite of and absence of life. While there is hope of a resurrection (at the last of days. Dan 12:2; Dan 12:13; Jn 11:24), this prospect of new life through resurrection is not an everyday occurrence.
There are a few resurrections of individuals that have already taken place. The reports from the Old Testament are in this article. The expectation of a resurrection on the last day, however, is to embrace all people.
Is the resurrection missing from the Torah?
At the time of Jesus, there were the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection. These assumed that a resurrection is not mentioned in the five books of Moses (Torah) and therefore there would be no resurrection. How did they come to this opinion?
Christians often see the Old Testament as a single collection of books, all of which are roughly “equal.” However, this is not the case in Judaism to this day. The core of Scripture lies in the Torah. The rest is subordinate explanation and application. So, while there were accounts of resurrections in the other scriptures, they were absent from the Torah. Therefore, the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. Jesus dealt with this view in Matthew 22:23-33, showing that resurrection is very much described in the Torah.
Today, some see the resurrection as something that came much later in the development of Old Testament history, namely, the removal of Israel from the land by Babylon and Assyria. To this may be suggested the argument of Jesus in Matthew 22, from which it appears that at the time of Jesus the resurrection could also be linked to the Torah. Here one could ask how to value the development of ideas, because it is obvious that many ideas about resurrection appeared later. The same is true for most of the ideas in the Bible: they were gradually further specified.
Resurrections in the Old Testament
Three resurrections are mentioned in the Old Testament. All reports are from the Kings books.
- Resurrection of the widow's son in Zarpat (1Kings 17:17-22)
- Resurrection of the son of the Shunemite woman (2Kings 4:18-37)
- Resurrection of the man who was thrown into Elisha's tomb (2Kings 13:20-21)
