Matthew, Disciple and Scribe
Page 25
In ancient Jewish practice and belief, it was commonly held that the future age of salvation would be heralded by the coming of a new Moses, who would introduce and complete the new exodus. Matthew draws his readers’ minds back to the time when Moses stands on the shores of the Red Sea, or when he provides manna for Israel, in order to reimagine the significance of the event. New events reinterpret old events. As Dale Allison puts it,
For Matthew, Jesus was the hermeneutical key to unlocking the religious meaning of the Jewish Bible, it is also true that the Jewish Bible was for him the hermeneutical key to unlocking the religious meaning of Jesus. . . . The past informs the present, and the present informs the past. . . . The typological lines between Jesus and Moses are bidirectional: informed understanding of Jesus requires true understanding of Moses, and true understanding of Moses requires informed understanding of Jesus.61
Parallels between Jesus and Moses
Matthew Pentateuch Subject
1–2 Exod. 1:1–2:10 Infancy narrative
3:13–17 Exod. 14:10–13 Crossing the water
4:1–11 Exod. 16:1–17:7 Wilderness temptation
5–7 Exod. 19:1–23:33 Mountain of lawgiving
11:25–30 Exod. 33:1–23 Reciprocal knowledge of God
17:1–9 Exod. 34:29–35 Transfiguration
26:17–30 Exod. 12:31–51 / 24:1–18 The Last Supper/Passover
28:16–20 Deut. 31:7–9 / Josh. 1:1–9 Commissioning of successor
Source: Adapted from Allison, New Moses, 268.
Through the discipled scribe’s presentation, we learn that Moses existed to teach us about Jesus. By revealing Jesus through the garb of Moses, Matthew uncovers the purpose of Moses. Whereas Moses was sent to deliver the nation out of slavery in Egypt, Jesus was sent to deliver all nations from spiritual slavery to the sins in their hearts (Matt. 1:21). Moses spoke the words he received from God, but Jesus is the very Word of God, who declares, “I say to you” (Matt. 5:21–48). Moses received the law, but Jesus fulfills the law. Moses fed Israel in the wilderness, but Jesus spreads a banquet for Jews and gentiles on the mountain (Matt. 14:13–21; 15:29–39). Whereas Moses’s face shone with the reflection of the glory he had seen, Jesus’s face shines by his own divine glory (Matt. 17:2). Moses mediated temporarily between the people and God; Jesus mediates eternally for his people by the shedding of his own blood (Matt. 27:51).62 Moses died looking out over the land that was to be for Israel; Jesus was raised from the dead and tells his disciples to go out to all nations (Matt. 28:18–20). Moses’s body cannot be found because no one knows where he was buried (Deut. 34:6), but Jesus’s body cannot be found because he is risen (Matt. 28:6).
Jesus is therefore not merely the new prophet; he is also the new mediator, the new servant, the new leader, the new miracle worker, the new teacher, and the new redeemer. He is all the things Moses was and more, and he leads the people on a greater exodus than Moses could have ever imagined. Although the old informs the new, and the discipled scribe fills in Jesus’s life with the colors of the old, it is the new that drives Matthew’s narrative. He does this because he was instructed in this understanding by his teacher of wisdom.
1. See the excellent argument by Allison as well as the other studies that contain reflections on Moses: Allison, New Moses; Baxter, “Mosaic Imagery”; R. Brown, Birth of the Messiah; Teeple, Mosaic Eschatological Prophet; Pitre, Jesus and the Last Supper, 53–443; Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, 143–45.
2. By “stands above” I do not mean that his presentation is superior. See chap. 1 for the three reasons I give for Matthew uniquely embodying this technique. John, Hebrews, and Revelation are the other books of the NT filled with OT quotes or allusions.
3. Witherington (Jesus the Sage, 350) says that the Jesus-as-Moses-figure motif is minor at best in Matthew because Jesus is portrayed more as a messianic king, Wisdom, and Son of God. But why put these things at odds? Witherington seems to avoid subtle connections to Moses in Matthew but highlights subtle connections to Jesus as a wisdom teacher and sage.
4. Hay (“Moses through New Testament Spectacles,” 245) says, “Thus we find many claims that Moses bears witness to Jesus’ glory but very few that Jesus is like Moses. The latter idea may have appealed to some early Christians, and certain New Testament passages may have been shaped to oppose it.”
5. See Gowler, Host, Guest, Enemy, and Friend, 72.
6. Wisdom 10:16 says that wisdom “entered the soul of a servant of the Lord, and withstood dread kings with wonders and signs.” In context, “servant” refers to Moses.
7. Kirk (Man Attested by God, 452) notes the following, which aligns with my view of not focusing on Moses as just a prophet: “Although scripturally Moses is remembered as the great prophet and David as the great king, the lines between prophet and king were blurred at times in the history of interpretation, Moses being depicted as a king (cf. Philo, Mos. 1.155–58; Ezek. Trag. 68–89) and David being referred to as a prophet (e.g., Acts 2:30). Both figures were also said to be taken from shepherding sheep in order to fill their roles as leaders of God’s people (Exod. 3:1; 1 Sam. 16:11–12; 17:15).”
8. Another foundation not mentioned here is the expectation of a new Moses in terms of a “servant.” Pitre, Jesus and the Last Supper, 60.
9. 1QS IX, 9–11: “They should not depart from any counsel of the law in order to walk in complete stubbornness of their heart, but instead shall be ruled by the first directives which the men of the Community began to be taught, until the prophet arrives, and the Messiahs of Aaron and Israel” (DSSSE 1:91, 93).
10. Crowe (“Song of Moses”) even argues that Matt. 1:20 draws from Deut. 32:18 and the Song of Moses to show that Israel fails to be the faithful son of God, while Jesus is the obedient Son.
11. Philo himself repeatedly emphasizes the kingly nature of Pharaoh (Mos. 1.8, 10, 13, 15, etc.).
12. Sailhamer, Pentateuch as Narrative, 244.
13. Philo himself reads the Moses story in such a way. After Moses has killed the Egyptian for persecuting his people, Philo notes, the Egyptian authorities plant suspicion in the mind of the king, saying that Moses is plotting to deprive him of the kingdom: “He will strip you of your crown. He has no humble designs or notions. . . . He is eager for the kingdom before his time” (Philo, Mos. 1.46). Philo reads the story of Moses as an attack on the kingship of Pharaoh. This could be in part because Matthew’s narrative has filled in the holes of Moses’s story to make it sound as if Philo has read Matthew here! The connection between Pharaoh and Herod the Great reveals more about Pharaoh than the first reading. Although this reading is seminal to the OT text itself, it is not brought into prominence until Matthew’s infancy story is laid on top of Moses’s infancy story.
14. The location of Egypt as a place of refuge is both new and old. Jesus must flee to Egypt as Israel did, but Herod has also come like Egypt, which persecuted Israel. Leithart, Jesus as Israel, 69.
15. While Matthew is known for his explicit fulfillment formulas, in this example he is more subtle in his presentation of Jesus as a Moses figure. Some readers might miss this echo and focus mainly on the overt reference to the OT in this section. For the story is also said to be in fulfillment of Micah (Matt. 2:6), Hosea (Matt. 2:15), Jeremiah (Matt. 2:18), and Isaiah (Matt. 2:23). It is surprising to some, however, that Matthew says nothing about this being a fulfillment of the Moses infancy narrative. That is why some scholars still cast cold water on the fire of Mosaic imagery in this narrative. However, this seems to be a hermeneutical presupposition more than a close reading of the text. It falls under the assumption that Matthew can only allude to intertexts in an explicit way. Few throughout history have read the Bible in such a way.
16. See Deutsch, Lady Wisdom, 18–20.
17. These observations come from Jonathan Pennington’s teaching notes if I recall correctly.
18. Pennington, Sermon on the Mount, 171.
19. Moo (“Jesus and the Authority of the Mosaic Law”) arg
ues that this perspective can be found in all three Synoptic Gospels.
20. France, Gospel of Matthew, 38.
21. Banks, Jesus and the Law, 226.
22. Ridderbos, The Coming Kingdom, 299.
23. Meier, Law and History in Matthew’s Gospel, 135.
24. Strecker, Der Weg der Gerechtigkeit, 146.
25. W. Davies, Sermon on the Mount, 29.
26. Allison, New Moses, 183.
27. But as Loader (Jesus’ Attitude towards the Law, 173) says, “Thus Jesus’ words in the antithesis, ‘but I tell you,’ do not set Jesus in competition with God (or Moses), but express the authority which belongs to the divinely created Son of God, Israel’s Messiah, the one who will come as the world’s judge. He comes not to abolish, but to uphold and expound Torah on the basis of the authority which is his.”
28. Longman (Fear of the Lord Is Wisdom, 123) points out how wisdom comes through tradition, but tradition can also be corrupted.
29. See also Deut. 25:19; Josh. 21:44; 22:4; 23:1; 2 Sam. 7:11; 1 Kings 5:4; 8:56; Ps. 95:11; Isa. 11:2; 28:12; 66:1.
30. In Sir. 24:19–22 and Prov. 8:1–6 and 9:5–6, Lady Wisdom calls her hearers to heed her instruction. Isaiah 9:4 also speaks about the light whose yoke of burden has been broken. This is the same text used for Jesus going into Galilee and being a light to the northern region (Matt. 4:15–16).
31. Deutsch, Hidden Wisdom, 115.
32. See also 2 En. 48.9.
33. Strauss was the first one to draw attention to the relationship between Matt. 11:25–30 and Sir. 51. See Betz (“Logion of the Easy Yoke,” 11), who does some work on the history of interpretation. See also Sharbaugh, “Light Burden of Discipleship.”
34. See Hays (Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, 154–59) for a longer analysis of the relationship between Sir. 51 and Matt. 11.
35. Deutsch, Hidden Wisdom, 43.
36. Hays (Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, 123–24) notes that Jesus’s admonitions to renounce anger (5:21–26) and practice forgiveness (6:12, 14–15) closely parallel the wise counsel of Sir. 27:30–28:7, thus labeling Jesus as the wise teacher.
37. This is at the least the third introduction to some part of Jesus’s life that mirrors Moses. Jesus was born like Moses, he revealed the law to the people like Moses, and now he heals like Moses. In all these, Matthew is using his introductory material in a purposeful way.
38. See Hays, “Canonical Matrix of the Gospels.”
39. Allison, New Moses, 238–42.
40. For a list of differences, see Davies and Allison, Matthew, 2:562–63. Admittedly, the differences do not directly support a different feeding, but based on other evidence, the differences do make it more likely.
41. Carson, “Matthew” (2010), 407.
42. Jesus’s feeding the whole world will be a point developed in greater detail in the next chapter.
43. Pitre, Jesus and the Last Supper, 69.
44. 4QSongs of the Sage [4Q511], frag 10, 9.
45. Allison, New Moses, 242.
46. I found Quarles’s table after I had constructed mine. He had the line about the cloud descending and covering the mountain, which I added after I saw his. He did not include the words of comfort from Jesus and Moses, which I have included. See Quarles, Theology of Matthew, 45.
47. The mountain theme will be developed later.
48. In Jewish tradition, the priestly messiah shines with the light of the sun. Cf. 1 En. 38.4; 4 Ezra 7.97; 2 Bar. 51.3. See Joshua Philpot’s work (“Shining Face of Moses,” 3) to which I am indebted here.
49. See Matt. 21:4–5; 26:53–54, 56; 27:9.
50. As Fisher (“New and Greater Exodus,” 69) notes, there are four elements to the pattern of exodus deliverance that define it. First, it was a deliverance accomplished by God. Second, it was a deliverance from bondage and oppression to the freedom and dignity of sonship. Third, it was a deliverance that God accomplished through a man. Fourth, it was a deliverance that created a lasting relationship between God and his people.
51. Adam Day (“Eating before the Lord”) has argued that in Deuteronomy, the last book of Moses, food (1) leads to a recognition of dependence on God, (2) points to Yahweh’s provision for his people, (3) teaches Israelites to fear and trust Yahweh, (4) shows that true satisfaction is found in Yahweh’s word, and (5) is a means of participating in joyful worship of Yahweh’s goodness and cultivating thankfulness.
52. The Mishnah (m. Pesahim 10.5) indicates that they eat pesach because God skipped over the houses in Egypt. They eat the merorim because the Egyptians embittered the lives of Israel in Egypt, and matzah because they were redeemed.
53. This paragraph is in large part dependent on Pitre, Jesus and the Last Supper, 121–47.
54. Pitre, Jesus and the Last Supper, 126.
55. Barber, “Historical Jesus and Cultic Restoration Eschatology,” 601, cited in Pitre, Jesus and the Last Supper, 95. After I had done my work on this section, I found that Pitre brought these three items together as well.
56. Readers should be expecting that if Jesus is the new Moses, then he leads them on the new exodus as their new Savior. This is because, as Josephus explains, Moses’s name means to be saved out of the water: “Hereupon it was that Thermuthis imposed this name Mouses upon him from what had happened when he was put into the river; for the Egyptians call water by the name of Mo, and such as are saved out of it, by the name of Uses; so by putting these two words together, they imposed this name upon him” (Ant. 2.228).
57. Michel, “Conclusion of Matthew’s Gospel,” 35.
58. Allison, New Moses.
59. Allison, New Moses, 267. Further connections could be exegeted between Jesus leading Israel as a shepherd leads the sheep (Matt. 9:35–38) and Moses the shepherd of God’s people (Num. 27:17), between Jesus as the servant (Matt. 12:15–21) and Moses the servant of Yahweh (Exod. 14:31), or between those who challenged Jesus by asking for a sign (Matt. 12:38) and Moses’s demonstrating his authority by performing a sign (Exod. 7:8–10). Other possible connections to Moses remain to be found in Jesus’s arrival in Jerusalem, his eschatological discourse, and his leading the twelve disciples to their new land. I have dealt with the clearer allusions to Moses. It seems that Matthew’s introduction and conclusion ring most clearly with the Moses typology. How an author sets up and concludes the narrative indicates how the rest of the tale is to be read.
60. Qohelet Rabbah 1.9. I found this quote in Quarles, Theology of Matthew, 34.
61. Allison, New Moses, 289.
62. The tearing of the temple curtain signified that the presence of God was now open to all through the blood of Jesus.
6
Jesus and Abraham’s New Family
Father Abraham certainly had many sons, but in another sense, he only had one Son. Paul makes this argument in Galatians. When Moses spoke of the “seed” of Abraham, he was not referring to many, but “to one: ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ” (Gal. 3:16). Jesus is the seed of Abraham par excellence, and as the seed he completes the family of Abraham. Paul must have been reflecting on the Jesus traditions when he wrote these words because the first words of Matthew relate Jesus to two figures: David and Abraham (Matt. 1:1). Although David and Moses usually get the lion’s share in studies on Matthew, Abraham is actually the second figure whom Matthew names. Jesus is certainly draped in robes of royalty, and he also carries Moses’s redeemer staff in his hand, but Matthew also portrays Jesus as the new Abraham, who welcomes all of Abraham’s children to his side by his sacrificial death.1 The last chapters were about Jesus establishing his kingdom (as the new David) and bringing about the new exodus (as the new Moses); this chapter is about who is part of the kingdom and whom he leads on the path back to their home.2
David’s name is associated with kingdom hopes, and Moses is linked to the new exodus, but Abraham is defined by familial metaphors.3 Matthew follows the Jewish tradition of employing Abraham as the father of “many nations.” There are familial eleme
nts in almost every Matthean text associated with Abraham. As with the previous chapters, though, it is not sufficient merely to examine the texts that explicitly mention Abraham. My aim will be to trace the development of Matthew’s presentation of Jesus as the new Abraham. The theme and narrative as a whole are more important than the individual uses of the name. As I proceed, I will attempt to answer questions such as these: How does Matthew conceive of the family of God with the arrival of Jesus? What is the relationship between Jews, gentiles, and the church in the First Gospel? How do we understand the relationship of Jesus’s mission to Israel (10:5–6) and then his mission to all nations (28:18–20)?4