The Jewish Gospels
Page 17
17.Marcus, Way of the Lord, 108. Truth be told, in tannaitic literature much more often the first, but there are examples of the latter pattern as well in which the suggested interpretation is rejected. To my mind, saying “as it has been written” of the Son of Man that he will suffer is an entirely plausible scriptural inference. Marcus is still a bit misled by his confusion of two separate midrashic forms: (1) two verses that contradict each other and must be reconciled, and (2) a verse that contradicts the implication of an interpretive move that then can be refuted (as in the passages from the Mekhilta that Marcus correctly cites). It is only owing to this conflation that Marcus can claim that “a hermeneutical rule for the treatment of a biblical text is here applied to a Christian midrash.” It is, moreover, the midrash of the scribes that is refuted here by Jesus. It is a virtue of Marcus’s reading, as amended here, that it obviates the need to ascribe ineptitude to Mark (cf. Davies and Allison, Critical, 710). The point nonetheless stands that Mark’s text is a lectio dificilior here.
18.Origen, Contra Celsum, trans. with an introduction and notes by Henry Chadwick (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965), 50.
19.This version is almost certainly anterior to the Babylonian Talmud’s parallel, which indicates that it is the Messiah, Son of Joseph, for whom they are mourning. This alternative Messiah, known only from the Babylonian Talmud and later texts, seems precisely to represent a sort of apologetic way of avoiding the implications of earlier traditions within which the Messiah suffers and/or is slain, such as is clear from the PT version of this tradition. David C. Mitchell, “Rabbi Dosa and the Rabbis Differ: Messiah Ben Joseph in the Babylonian Talmud,” Review of Rabbinic Judaism 8, no. 1 (2005): 77–90, could hardly be more wrong in his interpretation of the rabbinic material. He insists that the Palestinian Talmudic text is tannaitic, notwithstanding the fact that it says “two Amoraim” explicitly; he considers the Babylonian Talmudic text primary and the Palestinian one secondary, and he seems to think that if the saying is quoted in the name of Rabbi Dosa, that means that it is something that actually was said by a figure who lived while the Temple still stood. Finally, he insists that a text cited explicitly as amoraic must be tannaitic simply because its diction is Hebrew and all Hebrew texts, eo ipso, are Palestinian and before A.D. 200, which further reveals his innocence of rabbinic textual knowledge. I know of no evidence for a Messiah the son of Joseph before late antiquity. Claims to find one in the Hazon Gabriel of the first century B.C. seem highly suspect since this finding would be dependent on a very doubtful reading indeed. Israel Knohl, “The Apocalyptic and Messianic Dimensions of the Gabriel Revelation in Their Historical Context,” Hazon Gabriel: New Readings of the Gabriel Revelation, ed. Matthias Henze, Early Judaism and Its Literature, 29 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011), 43, may perhaps be correct in reading the name Ephraim in Il. 16–17 of this newly discovered text, but the reading is at best doubtful and in the opinion of some expert epigraphers impossible. See Elisha Qimron and Alexey Yuditsky, “Notes on the So-Called Gabriel Vision Inscription,” Hazon Gabriel: New Readings of the Gabriel Revelation, ed. Matthias Henze, Early Judaism and Its Literature, 29 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011), 34. It seems rather a weak read [sic] on which to base a second Messiah nearly half a millennium before its attestation in the literature. See also papers of Adela Yarbro Collins and John J. Collins in same volume for further corroboration of this position. If the Palestinian Talmud, then, imagines a dead Messiah, it must be the Messiah and not a second or other Messiah of which it speaks. Note that the supposed existence of a “War Messiah” in rabbinic literature is a chimera. “The one anointed—mashuah not mashiah—for war” is a special priest and nothing else, as an examination of every place in rabbinic literature where the term occurs confirms easily. Holger Zellentin’s interpretation of the Babylonian Talmudic passage may have some merit in finding an allusion to Christian passion narratives there, but his claim that it is based on an earlier narrative of a double Messiah seems shaky in the extreme to me; Holger Zellentin, “Rabbinizing Jesus, Christianizing the Son of David: The Bavli’s Approach to the Secondary Messiah Traditions,” in Discussing Cultural Influences: Text, Context and Non-Text in Rabbinic Judaism, ed. Rivka Ulmer, Studies in Judaism (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2007), 99–127. To be sure, the BT does not seem to be inventing the concept here; rather, it is reflecting a known entity, but one for whom there is no prior evidence whatever within any extant text. When the Palestinian Talmud says that the Messiah died, therefore, it can only mean the Messiah.
20.The word for “disease” here means “leprosy” throughout rabbinic literature and is translated leprosus by Jerome as well (for the latter reference, see Adolph Neubauer, The Fifty-Third Chapter of Isaiah According to the Jewish Interpreters (Oxford: J. Parker, 1876–1877), 6.
21.But since it is only known from a volume of polemic Testimonia (of a thirteenth-century Dominican friar), it might be considered suspect. See next note.
22.Raymondo Martini, Pugio Fidei, Cum Observationibus Josephi de Voisin, et Introductione J. B. Carpzovj, Qui Appendicis Loco Hermanni Judœi Opusculum De Sua Conversion Ex Mscto . . . Recensuit (Lipsiae, 1687), 674. Martini cites this text as from the fourth-century Midrash Siphre. I don’t know if that citation is accurate, and one must question whether this is a real rabbinic text. On the other hand, although Martini was a polemicist, even his considerable powers as a Hebraist would not seem to have permitted him to forge a text in such fine midrashic style. Modern Jewish scholars from Leopold Zunz to my own teacher Saul Lieberman have accepted Martini’s testimoniae as authentic texts.
23.Neubauer, Fifty-Third Chapter, 23.
24.Ibid., 258.
25.Ibid., 78.
26.I am not claiming that therefore the followers of Jesus did not originate this particular midrash, rather, if and when they did so, the hermeneutical practice they were engaged in bespoke in itself the “Jewishness” of their religious thinking and imagination.
27.Martin Hengel, “Christianity as a Jewish-Messianic Movement,” in The Beginnings of Christianity: A Collection of Articles, ed. Jack Pastor and Menachem Mor (Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi Press, 2005), 85, emphasis in original.
Epilogue
1.Adela Yarbro Collins, “Response to Israel Knohl, Messiahs and Resurrection in ‘The Gabriel Revelation,’” in Hazon Gabriel: New Readings of the Gabriel Revelation, ed. Matthias Henze, Early Judaism and Its Literature, 29 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011), 97.
Index
Acts 7:56, 139
Acts 22:3, xviii
adoptionism, 84
“Against the Jews” (Chrysostom), 15
Alexander, Philip S., 166n27
Alshekh, Rabbi Moshe, 155
Alter, Robert, 167n27
Ambrose, Saint, 15
Ancient of Days: in Aphrahat’s interpretation, 39–40, 44; in Daniel’s vision, 32–33; Enoch and, 84; “head of days” and, 75, 175n6; mythographical similarities, 48; Sabbath and, 68; in Similitudes, 92, 94; Son of God and, 47; Son of Man and, 77, 81; two-thrones vision and, 46
Ancient One, 38, 42, 72, 75
angel/angels, 51, 76–77, 83, 89, 166n26, 166–67n27
Animal Apocalypse, 74
“Anointed of YHVH,” 27–28
“anointed one,” 26–29, 79, 80, 189n19. See also Messiah
Aphrahat, 39–40, 43, 44
apocalypse, 31, 46, 74, 95, 166n27
Apocalypse of Abraham, 166n27
apotheosis, of Enoch, 82–84, 85, 89
Aqiva, Rabbi, 40, 41, 62, 64, 169n39
archangels, 51, 84
Astronomical Book, 74
Augustine of Hippo, Saint, 15, 16
authority, of Son of Man, 57–58, 168n33
Baʿal (god), 45, 48–49, 164n20, 164–65n21, 166n27
Babylonian exile, 4–5, 30, 104
Babylonian Talmud, 188n19
Baeck, Leo, 34
Baukham, Richard, 94–95, 1
78n27
Beare, F.W., 168n36, 174n51
beasts, in Daniel’s vision, 41–43
Ben Menasya, Rabbi Shimʿon, 63, 171n41
Ben Nahman, Rabbi Moses, 155
binitarianism, 51–52
Black, Matthew, 40
blasphemy, 56–59, 137–39
Book of Daniel, 31–32, 33, 43. See also Daniel
Book of Enoch: exaltation scene, 82, 84 merger of divinities in, 87–88; sub-books of, 74. See also Enoch; Similitudes of Enoch
Book of Isaiah, xxi. See also Isaiah
Book of Samuel, 27. See also 1 Samuel
Book of the Watchers, 74, 91, 92
Canaanites, 45, 48–49, 51, 165n21
categories, ethnic vs. religious, 3
Catholic Encyclopedia, 15
Chagall, Marc, 129
checklists, for religion membership, 7–11, 19–20
Chester, Andrew, 54, 167n31
Christ: divinity of, 167n31; as Jew, 6; Passion of, 155. See also suffering Jesus; suffering Messiah
Christ Son of Man, 91–95
“Christian Jews”: religious grouping of, 17; as term, 7
Christianity: appropriation of Jewish texts, 157; beginning of, 105; “checklists” for members, 8–11, 19–20; exegetical tradition origins, 186n9; separation/parting from Judaism, 13–15, 107–8; suffering Christ and, 129–30; theological differences with Judaism, xi–xii
Christians: beliefs about Jews, 6; discipleship to Jesus, 21; engagement with Jews, xix; Jewish laws and, 11; religious beliefs of, 1–2
Christology: adoptionism in, 84; elements of, 94; as explanation of Christ, 72–73; Gospels and, 80; issues/controversies in, 53–55; as Jewish discourse, 6; Jewish diversity and, 22; scholarship on, 167–68n31; “Son of Man” term in, 36; transfiguration in, 145
Christos, 26
Chrysostom, John, 15
Cicero 24, 131
circumcision, xix, 8–9, 10, 62
clean/unclean foods, 113
clouds: coming of Jesus and, 36, 37; in Daniel’s vision, 38, 92; divine beings and, 38, 39–40, 98; in Enoch’s vision, 91–92; in Fourth Ezra, 96, 97; of Heaven, 32; rider on, 48; Son of Man and, 101, 137, 139, 140, 149; in two-throne vision, 46
Collins, Adela Yarbro, 55, 97, 108, 138, 158, 183n20
Collins, J.J., 48, 97, 163n6, 167n28, 168n31
Colpe, Carsten, 48, 100
Constantine, 18
Contra Celsum (Origen), 152
Council of Constantinople, 13–15
Council of Nicaea, 13–15, 18
Council of Yavneh, 12
cross, 129, 131, 136, 155
Cross, Frank Moore, 164–65n21
crucifixion, 53, 56, 132, 140, 149, 158
cultic designations, 3
cursing, of parents, 180n7
Daniel, vision of, 31–32, 41–43, 44, 70
Daniel 7: divine figures in, 99; forgiveness of sins, 58–59; Fourth Ezra and, 95; Gospel narrative and, 141; Lord of the Sabbath in, 69–70; Messiah in, 46; midrashic reading of, 143–144; prophet’s night vision, 38–39; thematic relation to Enoch 14, 91–93; two-thrones theophany in, 45–46
Daniel 7:9, 40
Daniel 7:13, 40
Daniel 7:13–14, 55, 69, 178n27, 185n6
Daniel 7:14, 57–58, 59, 66–67
Daniel 7:27, 58
Daniel 9:31, 143
David: anointing of, 27; house of, 5, 30, 85; Torah/Sabbath violation, 65–66, 67
Davidic King/Kingdom: expectation of restoration, 32, 33; loss of, 29–30; Sabbath and, 60; “Son of God” usage for, 47
Davidic Messiah, 69
Davila, James, 177n24, 178n25
Day of the Lord, 148
Dead Sea Community, 64
Dead Sea Scrolls, people of, 4
defilement, 108–11, 115, 118, 122–23, 181n9, 184n24. See also dietary laws; kosher keeping
Demonstration 5:21. See Aphrahat
destruction, of Jewish Temple, xi–xii, 12, 30, 105, 130
Diasporism, xx
dietary laws, xiv, 17, 103, 106, 108, 112–14. See also kosher keeping
divine beings/figures, 31–34, 39–40, 50, 75, 98, 99
Divine throne, second figure on, 71–72
divinity, of Jesus, 53–57
“doctors of the Church,” 15
Dodd, C.H., 186n9
dominion: in Daniel’s vision, 42–43; of divine figure, 50; of Son of Man, 87
duality, 45, 99
Dunn, James, 167n31
Easter: celebration of, 11; Council of Nicaea and, 13, 14
eigo eimi, 138, 139
ʾEl (god), 45–46, 48–51, 164–65n21
Elʿazar, Rabbi, 62
Elders, tradition of, xiv, 104, 120, 126
Elijah, 135, 145–48
Elliot, Richard, 167n27
Elyon, 166n27
Emerton, J.A., 40
end of days, 31
Enmeduranki, 88
Enoch: apotheosis of, 82–84, 85, 89; Christ Son of Man and, 91–95; as Son of Man, 75–76, 82, 84–91; story of, 88–89. See also Book of Enoch; Similitudes of Enoch
Enoch 14, 87, 91–93
Enoch 46, 75, 76, 82
Enoch 48, 77–79
Enoch 70, 82, 88–89
Enoch 71, 82, 88–89, 93
Enoch’s vision, 75
Epistle of Enoch, 74
Ethiopian Orthodox Church, 74
ethnic vs. religious categories, 3
exaltation, 37, 82, 85, 140, 144, 160
Exodus 3:14, 138
Exodus 21:14, 169n39
Ezekiel (prophet), 31, 92
Ezekiel the Tragedian, 71–72
Ezra. See Fourth Ezra
family resemblance model, 20–21, 22
fasting practices, 183n20
father: honoring of, 110, 180–81n7; support of, 119; term usage, xvi
female/male distinction, xviii
final judgment, 80–81
fist/fistmaking, in handwashing, 116–17, 182n12, 182n13
Fitzmyer, Joseph, 27
foods, kosher, 112–13. See also dietary laws; kosher keeping
forgiveness, 58
Fourth Ezra, 95–101
Fourth Ezra: A Commentary on the Book 1 Fourth Ezra (Stone), 99
Fredriksen, Paula, 3, 55
Furstenberg, Yair, 117–18
Galatians 3:28–29, xvii-xviii
Gamaliel, xviii
Genesis 5, 88–89
Genesis 22:11–18, 167
Gentile Christianity, 105
Gentile/Jew, difference between, xviii-xix
gerim, 23
The Ghost Dance: The Origins of Religion (La Barre), 127
God: commandments of, 110–11; name of, 138, 166n27. See also Son of God; young God/gods
God-fearers, 23
godhead, 34, 58, 158
Goodman, Martin, 181n8
Gospel Judaism, 156
Gospel of John: Judaism and, 22; on Messiah, 26
Gospel of Luke: Judaism and, 22; use of Mark in, 105
Gospel of Mark: Jesus’ kosher status in, xiii, 103; Jesus’ Torah fulfillment, 64–65; Jewish controversy in, 109; as Jewish text, 127; Judaism and, 22; midrashic role of, 148–49; Similitudes of Enoch and, 100; Son of God/Man in, 26, 30–31; understanding of Jesus, 104–5. See also Mark citations
Gospel of Matthew: “Jewishness” of, 169n39; Judaism and, 22; kosher keeping in, 184n24; portrayal of Jesus, 179n1; use of Mark in, 105. See also Matthew citations
Gospels: Christology of, 80; doubleness of Jesus story, 84–85; on Elijah, 146–48; on Jewishness of Jesus communities, xiii; midrashic ways/mode of, 134, 149; narrative progression, 140–41; rabbinic literature and, 65; relationship among, 104–5; Similitudes of Enoch and, 74–81; “Son of Man” usage in, 100–101; theology of, 47
Gospels, Jewish, 22–23
Great Angel Michael, 51, 163n6, 166n27
Gregory the Great, Saint, 15
Guelich, Robert A., 108, 169n3
7
Guttenberger, Gudrun, 168n35
Hagar, 167n27
halakha, 64, 69, 118, 124
handwashing: Jesus on, 119, 121, 124, 184n24; Pharisees and, 109–10, 118, 183n17; as purity regulation/ritual, 116, 182n12
Hartman, Lars, 176n7
Hassidic movement, 17
Head of Days, 40, 75, 78, 85, 90, 175n6
healing, on Sabbath, 61, 65–67, 171n41
Hengel, Martin, 156, 167n31, 185n4
“high Christology,” 53–55
Hokhma, 165n22
Horbury, William, 168n31
House of David, 5, 30
Hultgren, Arland J., 170n41, 171n41
Hurtado, Larry, 167n31, 178n25
“I am,” 138
Idel, Moshe, 83, 91
identities, reciprocally settled, ix–xi, xii
impure/pure foods, 112–13
incarnation: belief in, 1, 8, 10; doctrine of, 34; idea of, xiii, xvii, 102
Isaiah 53, 131–32, 135, 150–53, 155, 185n4
Isaiah 53:3, 141
Isaiah 56:7, xxi
Isaiah 56:8, xxi
Isaiah 66:20, 98
Ishmael, Rabbi, 62
Israel: King of, 27–28; suffering of, 131–32
Israelites: expectation of Messiah, 6; Temple in Jerusalem and, 3–4; as term, 2. See also Jews; Judaism
Jehoahaz, 27
Jehu, 27
Jerome, Saint, 15–20, 24
Jerusalem, siege of, 29–30
Jesus: belief in, 24; as Christ, 72–73; coming of, 1–2; divinity of, 53–57; followers of, 21; as Jew, 5–6; Jewish belief in, 53–56; Judaism of, 104–5; kosher status of, xii, xiii, xvi, 103; messianic claims of, 137–38, 185–86n6; nature of, 159; Pharisees and, xiv-xv, 117, 126; purification of all foods by, 112; suffering prediction of, 141–42, 155; as thinker/teacher, 125. See also Christ
Jesus communities, Jewishness of, 102
Jesus movement: beginnings of, 105; ideas/practices of, xiii, 102–3, 179n1; Jesus and Christ in, 7; in relationship to Judaism, 106; Similitudes of Enoch and, 77
Jew/Gentile, difference between, xviii-xix
Jewish laws, Christians and, 11
Jewish Temple, destruction of, xi–xii, 12, 30, 105, 130
Jews: acceptance of Jesus, 21–22, 72–73; belief in Jesus as God, 53–56; engagement with Christians, xix; expectation of Messiah-Christ, 56, 134; expectation of Redeemer, 34, 142–43; ideas about Christians, 6–7; Nicene Creed and, 17; religious beliefs of, 1–2, 5; suffering Christ and, 129–30