Ancient Miracle Stories
1. Exorcism
Apollonius of Tyana (Philostratus, Vita Apollonii IV,
20)
[while Apollonius was teaching, a demon-possessed boy interrupts him]
. . . the youth burst out into loud and coarse laughter, and quite drowned
his voice. Then Apollonius looked up at him and said: "It is not yourself
that perpetrates this insult, but the demon, who drives you on without
your knowing it." And in fact the youth was, without knowing it, possessed
by a devil . . . Now when Apollonius gazed on him, the ghost in him began
to utter cries of fear and rage, such as one hears from people who are
being branded or racked; and the ghost swore that he would leave the young
man alone and never take possession of any man again. But Apollonius addressed
him with anger, as a master might a shifty, rascally, and shameless slave
and so on, and he ordered him to quit the young man and show by a visible
sign that he had done so. "I will throw down yonder statue," said the devil
. . . when the statue began by moving gently, and then fell down, it would
defy anyone to describe the hubbub which arose thereat and the way they
clapped their hands with wonder. But the young man rubbed his eyes as if
he had just woke up . . . (Loeb translation)
Eleazar the exorcist, described by Josephus as an eyewitness
(Josephus, Antiquities 8.45-48, Whiston’s translation) God also
enabled him [Solomon] to learn that skill which expels demons, (4) which
is a science useful and sanative to men. He composed such incantations
also by which distempers are alleviated. And he left behind him the manner
of using exorcisms, by which they drive away demons, so that they never
return; and this method of cure is of great force unto this day; for I
have seen a certain man of my own country, whose name was Eleazar, releasing
people that were demoniacal in the presence of Vespasian, and his sons,
and his captains, and the whole multitude of his soldiers. The manner of
the cure was this: He put a ring that had a Foot of one of those sorts
mentioned by Solomon to the nostrils of the demoniac, after which he drew
out the demon through his nostrils; and when the man fell down immediately,
he abjured him to return into him no more, making still mention of Solomon,
and reciting the incantations which he composed. And when Eleazar would
persuade and demonstrate to the spectators that he had such a power, he
set a little way off a cup or basin full of water, and commanded the demon,
as he went out of the man, to overturn it, and thereby to let the spectators
know that he had left the man; and when this was done, the skill and wisdom
of Solomon was shown very manifestly: for which reason it is, that all
men may know the vastness of Solomon's abilities, and how he was beloved
of God, and that the extraordinary virtues of every kind with which this
king was endowed may not be unknown to any people under the sun for this
reason, I say, it is that we have proceeded to speak so largely of these
matters.
Compare Mark 5:1-20
2. Raising the Dead
Apollonius of Tyana (Philostratus, Vita Apollonii IV,
45)
Here too is a miracle which Apollonius worked: A girl had died just
in the hour of her marriage, and the bridgegroom was following her bier
lamenting as was natural his marriage left unfulfilled, and the whole of
Rome was mourning with him, for the maiden belonged to a consular family.
Apollonius then witnessing their grief, said: "Put down the bier, for I
will stay the tears that you are shedding for this maiden." And withal
he asked what was her name. The crowd accordingly thought that he was about
to deliver such an oration as is commonly delivered as much to grace the
funeral as to stir up lamentation; but he did nothing of the kind, but
merely touching her and whispering in secret some spell over her, at once
woke up the maiden from her seeming death; and the girl spoke out loud,
and returned to her father’s house, just as Alcestis did when she was brought
back to life by Hercules. And the relations of the maiden wanted to present
him with the sum of 150,000 sesterces, but he said that he would freely
present the money to the young lady by way of a dowry. Now whether he detected
some spark of life in her, which those who were nursing her had not noticed,--for
it is said that although it was raining at the time, a vapour went up from
her face—or whether life was really extinct, and he restored it by the
warmth of his touch is a mysterious problem which neither I myself nor
those who were present could decide. (Loeb translation)
Elijah (1 Kings 17:17-24)
After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became
ill; and his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.
18 And she said to Eli'jah, "What have you against me, O man of God? You
have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death
of my son!" 19 And he said to her, "Give me your son." And he took him
from her bosom, and carried him up into the upper chamber, where he lodged,
and laid him upon his own bed. 20 And he cried to the LORD, "O LORD my
God, hast thou brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn,
by slaying her son?" 21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three
times, and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this child's soul come
into him again." 22 And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Eli'jah; and
the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 And Eli'jah
took the child, and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house,
and delivered him to his mother; and Eli'jah said, "See, your son lives."
24 And the woman said to Eli'jah, "Now I know that you are a man of God,
and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth."
Compare Mark 5:21-43; Luke 7:11-17
3. Healings
Apollonius of Tyana (Philostratus, Vita Apollonii III,
39)
(healings by Apollonius) There also arrive a man who was lame. He already
thirty years old was a keen hunter of lions; but a lion had spring upon
him and dislocated his hip so that he limped with one leg. However when
they massaged with their hands his hip, the youth immediately recovered
his upright gait. And another man had had his eyes put out, and he went
away having recovered the sight of both of them. Yet another man had his
hand paralysed, but left their presence in full possession of the limb.
(Loeb translation)
Compare Mark 3:1-6; Mark 7:31-37; 8:22-26
4. Multiplication of bread
The wife of Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa (b. Taan 24b, 25a)
His [Hanina ben Dosa’s] wife used to heat the oven every sabbath eve
and used to throw fuel in to make smoke because of the shame (that is,
because she was ashamed before her neighbours). She had this spiteful neighbour.
She (the neighbour) said, "This is odd, when I know they have nothing,
nothing at all. What does all this mean?" She (the neighbour) went and
knocked on the door [of Hanina’s house]. She [Hanina’s wife] was ashamed
and went into the room. Then a miracle took place for her [Hanina’s wife];
she saw the oven full of bread and the trough full of dough. Then she [the
neighbour] said to her, "Bring a shovel. Your loaves are beginning to burn."
And she [Hanina’s wife] said to her, "That’s why I went in." (from Theissen,
Miracle
Stories, 104).
Elisha (2 Kings 4:1-7) Now the wife of one of the sons of the
prophets cried to Eli'sha, "Your servant my husband is dead; and you know
that your servant feared the LORD, but the creditor has come to take my
two children to be his slaves." 2 And Eli'sha said to her, "What shall
I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?" And she said, "Your
maidservant has nothing in the house, except a jar of oil." 3 Then he said,
"Go outside, borrow vessels of all your neighbors, empty vessels and not
too few. 4 Then go in, and shut the door upon yourself and your sons, and
pour into all these vessels; and when one is full, set it aside." 5 So
she went from him and shut the door upon herself and her sons; and as she
poured they brought the vessels to her. 6 When the vessels were full, she
said to her son, "Bring me another vessel." And he said to her, "There
is not another." Then the oil stopped flowing. 7 She came and told the
man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you
and your sons can live on the rest."
Elisha (2 Kings 4:42-44) A man came from Ba'al-shal'ishah, bringing
the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and
fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Eli'sha said, "Give to the men, that
they may eat." 43 But his servant said, "How am I to set this before a
hundred men?" So he repeated, "Give them to the men, that they may eat,
for thus says the LORD, `They shall eat and have some left.'" 44 So he
set it before them. And they ate, and had some left, according to the word
of the LORD.
Compare Mark 6:34-44
5. Other miracles
Honi the Circle-drawer. Mishnah, Taanit 3:8
They said to Honi the Circle-drawer, "Pray that it may rain." He said
to them, "Go out and bring in the Passover ovens so that they might not
get soggy." He prayed and it did not rain. What did he do? He drew a circle
and stood in it and said, "Lord of the world, your children have turned
to me, since I am like a child of your household. I swear by your great
name that I will not budge from here until you have show mercy on your
children!" It began to rain by drips. He said, "This isn’t what I asked
for, but for rains filling wells, pits, and caves!" It began to pour violently.
He said, "This isn’t what I asked for, but for rains of benefit, blessing,
and goodness!" Then it rained moderately, until Israel went out from Jerusalem
to the Temple mount because of the rain. (translation by D. Falk)
Onias the Rain-maker. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XIV,
22-24
Now there was one, whose name was Onias, a righteous man he was, and
beloved of God, who, in a certain drought, had prayed to God to put an
end to the intense heat, and whose prayers God had heard, and had sent
them rain. This man had hid himself, because he saw that this sedition
would last a great while. However, they brought him to the Jewish camp,
and desired, that as by his prayers he had once put an end to the drought,
so he would in like manner make imprecations on Aristobulus and those of
his faction. And when, upon his refusal, and the excuses that he made,
he was still by the multitude compelled to speak, he stood up in the midst
of them, and said, "O God, the King of the whole world! since those that
stand now with me are thy people, and those that are besieged are also
thy priests, I beseech thee, that thou wilt neither hearken to the prayers
of those against these, nor bring to effect what these pray against those."
Whereupon such wicked Jews as stood about him, as soon as he had made this
prayer, stoned him to death. (translation by W. Whiston)
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