Matthew and the Mishnah (eBook)

Cover 1
Acknowledgments 6
Table of Contents 10
List of Abbreviations 16
List of Illustrations 20
Chapter 1: Methodological Issues 22
1.1 Research Questions 22
1.1.1 Recent Scholarship on the Impact of the Destruction of the Second Temple 26
1.1.2 The Focus of My Study 33
1.2 The Warrants for Comparing the Gospel according to Matthew and the Mishnah 34
1.3 Matthew’s Gospel and the Sectarian Documents from Qumran 39
1.4 Some Methodological Clarifications 43
1.5 Why Is Such a Study Necessary? 51
Chapter 2: Matthew’s Gospel: Introductory Matters 53
2.1 Authorship: The First Gospel’s Title in the Manuscript Tradition, Internal and External Evidence 53
2.1.1 The Gospel’s Title 53
2.1.2 Internal Evidence 55
2.1.3 External Evidence 60
2.2 Date 61
2.3 Ignatius’s Dependence upon Matthew and a Later Dating for the Ignatian Epistles? 77
2.4 Language 80
2.5 Sources 88
2.6 The Gospels, Q, and Oral Tradition 99
2.7 Genre 101
2.8 Location 104
2.9 Sociological Studies and Matthew’s Audience 108
2.10 Matthew’s Audience 110
Chapter 3: Jewish Christianity: The Search for Appropriate Terminology and the Mattheans 121
3.1 The Implications of Methodological Approaches to ‘Jewish Christianity’ for Matthean Identity 121
3.2 Recent Discussions concerning Contextual Terminology 124
3.3 Daniel Boyarin’s View of the Term ‘Jewish Christianity’ 130
3.4 Ethnicity and the Mattheans 141
Chapter 4: The Theological Orientation of Matthew’s Sources 145
4.1 The Theological Orientation of Matthew’s Main Literary Source: Mark 146
4.2 The Theological Orientation of Matthew’s Secondary Literary Source: Q 147
4.2.1 ‘Q Christians’ according to Christopher Tuckett 149
4.2.2 Tuckett’s Q Christians vis-à-vis the Pharisees 151
4.3 Matthew’s Sondergut: The Theological Character of M 154
Chapter 5: Locating the Mattheans within Their Late First-Century Context 160
5.1 Ulrich Luz’s Understanding of Matthean Jewish Christianity 163
5.2 Luz’s Understanding of the Fate of the Mattheans 171
5.3 Anders Runesson: Matthew’s Pharisaic Intragroup Conflict 173
5.3.1 Advancing the Discussion of the Mattheans’ Social Location 177
5.4 Jewish Christian Liturgy and the Mattheans 185
5.5 The Mattheans and the Mission to the Gentiles 195
5.6 The Mattheans, Gentiles, Circumcision, and Ethnic Distinction 207
5.7 Bilateral Halakic Standards for Jewish and Non-Jewish Community Members 224
5.8 The Mattheans and Table Fellowship with Non-Jewish Community Members 229
5.9 Summary Thoughts concerning the Mattheans 232
Chapter 6: Matthew and the Temple 244
6.1 Matthean Terms Related to the Temple 244
6.2 Passages in Matthew Related to the Temple 245
6.2.1 Passage One: Matt 4 : 5 (Matt 4:1–11/Mark 1:12–13/Luke 4:1–13) 245
6.2.1.1 Sources 246
6.2.1.2 Comments 247
6.2.2 Passage Two: Matt 5:23–24 (No Parallels) 250
6.2.2.1 Sources 251
6.2.2.2 Comments 252
6.2.3 Passage Three: Matt 8:4 (Matt 8:1–4 Mark 1:40–45
6.2.3.1 Sources 257
6.2.3.2 Comments 257
6.2.4 Passage Four: Matt 12:6 (Matt 12:1–8/Mark 2:23–28/Luke 6:1–5) 259
6.2.4.1 Sources 260
6.2.4.2 Comments 260
6.2.5 Passage Five: Matt 17:24–27 (No Parallels) 264
6.2.5.1 Sources 265
6.2.5.2 Comments 266
6.2.5.3 The Parable in Its Second Temple Era Context 270
6.2.5.4 The Temple-Tax Pericope in Its Post-Destruction Context 282
6.2.6 Passage Six: Matt 21:12–17 (Mark 11:11, 15–17/Luke 19:45–46/John 2:13–17) 287
6.2.6.1 Sources 287
6.2.6.2 Comments 288
6.2.7 Passage Seven: Matt 21:23 (Matt 21:23–27/Mark 11:27–33/Luke 20:1–8) 297
6.2.7.1 Sources 298
6.2.7.2 Comments 298
6.2.8 Passage Eight: Matt 22:7 (Matt 22:1–14 Luke 14:16–24)
6.2.8.1 Sources 299
6.2.8.2 Comments 300
6.2.9 Passage Nine: Matt 23:16–22 (Mark 12:37b–40/Luke 20:45–47) 306
6.2.9.1 Sources 306
6.2.9.2 Comments 307
6.2.10 Passage Ten: Matt 23:34–39 (Luke 11:49–51 13:34–35)
6.2.10.1 Sources 309
6.2.10.2 Comments 309
6.2.11 Passage Eleven: Matt 24:1–2 (Mark 13:1–2/Luke 21:5–6) 314
6.2.11.1 Sources 314
6.2.11.2 Comments 315
6.2.12 Passage Twelve: Matt 24:15–22, 28 (Mark 13:14–20 Luke 21:20–24, cf. 19:43–44
6.2.12.1 Sources 323
6.2.12.2 Comments 323
6.2.13 Passage Thirteen: Matt 26:55 (Matt 26:47–56 Mark 14:43–52
6.2.13.1 Sources 329
6.2.13.2 Comments 329
6.2.14 Passage Fourteen: Matt 26:61 (Matt 26:57–68 Mark 14:53–65
6.2.14.1 Sources 331
6.2.14.2 Comments 331
6.2.15 Passage Fifteen: Matt 27:3–10 (No Parallels, but cf. Acts 1:18–19) 332
6.2.15.1 Sources 333
6.2.15.2 Comments 333
6.2.16 Passage Sixteen: Matt 27:38–43 (Mark 15:27–32a Luke 23:35–38
6.2.16.1 Sources 336
6.2.16.2 Comments 336
Chapter 7: Approaching First-Century Synagogues 338
7.1 Some Methodological Caveats Related to the Study of First-Century Synagogues 338
7.2 The Origins and Functional Character of Ancient Synagogues 344
Chapter 8: The Mishnah 349
8.1 Introductory Matters 349
8.1.1 Literary Structure and Authorship 349
8.1.2 The Mishnah’s Temple-Related Discourse 351
8.1.3 The Historical and Aggadic Origins of the Mishnah 354
8.2 The Origin of the Mishnah in Biblical Interpretation 356
8.3 Summary of the Traditional Views regarding the Origin of the Mishnah 358
8.3.1 From Oral Tradition to Authoritative Written Text 359
8.3.2 The Mishnah and Orality 361
8.3.3 Jacob Neusner’s Evidence for the Mishnah 364
8.4 Summarizing Neusner’s Oeuvre and Ongoing Research on the Mishnah and the Rabbinic Corpus 369
8.5 Pre-70 Halakah 377
8.6 Interim Category-Formation: The Halakah between the Wars of 66–70 and 132–135 379
8.7 The Mid-Second Century Fully-Developed Halakic System of the Mishnah 381
8.8 Ritual Grammar of the Mishnah: Transforming the Temple-Cult into Ritual Language 383
8.9 Critics of Neusner’s Approach to the Mishnah 386
8.10 Summary Thoughts on My Approach to the Mishnah 392
8.11 The Tosefta 393
8.11.1 The Purpose and Redactional Character of the Tosefta 394
8.11.2 The Origin of the Tosefta 395
8.11.3 The Printed Editions of the Mishnah and Tosefta 396
Chapter 9: The Myth of Yavneh and the Taqqanôt of Rabban Yoanan ben Zakkai 398
9.1 The Myth of Yavneh 398
9.2 Rabban Yoanan ben Zakkai’s Taqqanôt 401
9.3 Summary Thoughts concerning Ritual Transformations at Yavneh and in the Mishnah 411
Chapter 10: Entrance to the Forbidden City: The Utopian Temple of Rabbinic Imaginings 418
10.1 The Temple-Related Theology of the Mishnah 420
10.2 The Mishnah in Context 421
10.3 Selected Readings from the Mishnah 427
10.4 The Mishnah as a Foundational Document 427
10.5 Tannaitic Reactions to the Loss of the Temple 429
10.6 Does the Mishnah Express Hope for a Rebuilt Temple? 440
10.7 The Temple and Apocalyptic Eschatology in the Mishnah 443
Chapter 11: The Mishnah’s Transformation of Temple Sacrality 446
11.1 From Sacrifice to Prayer: The Temporal Transference of the Temple’s Sacrality within Jewish Liturgy 446
11.2 The Relationship between the Bet Midrash and the Synagogue 456
11.2.1 One Building or Two? 458
Chapter 12: The Spatial Transference of the Temple’s Sacrality 461
12.1 The Sacrality of the Bet Midrash 462
12.2 A Microcosm of a Three-Fold ‘Parting of the Ways’ Model 466
12.3 The Transference of Holy Space: The Influence of the Temple upon Synagogue Architecture and Symbolism 468
12.4 The Transference of Holy Space: Mishnah, Ritual, and Symbolic Synagogue Art 480
12.4.1 The Role of the Priests in the Synagogue 480
12.4.2 The Waving of the Lulab 489
12.4.3 The Counting of the Omer 489
12.4.4 The Recitation of the Hallel 490
12.4.5 Public Fast Days 491
12.4.6 The Ner Tamid and Artistic Renditions of Menorot 492
12.4.7 The Shofar 495
12.4.8 Synagogue Sacrality 497
Chapter 13: Ways in Which the Tannaim Adapted the Daily Life of the People of Israel to Post-Destruction Realities 501
13.1 Modification of Agricultural Laws 501
13.2 Conclusion 510
Chapter 14: Matthew and the Mishnah in the Shadow of the Temple’s Destruction 511
14.1 Matthew and the Mishnah: Different Paths to Sacred Ground 511
14.2 The Temple and the Qodeš ha-Qôd?šîm in the Mishnah 512
14.3 A Side-Glance at Emerging Temple-Symbolism in Antique Synagogues 516
14.4 The Torn paroket of the Matthean Temple 524
14.5 Passage Seventeen: Matt 27:45–54 (Mark 15:33–39/Luke 23:44–48/John 19:28–30) 525
14.5.1 Sources 526
14.5.2 Comments 527
14.6 Divergent Paths to Israel’s Sanctification 537
Appendix: The Seat of Moses 553
Bibliography 560
Index of Sources 628
1. Hebrew Bible 628
2. Septuagint 631
3. Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 632
4. Philo of Alexandria 632
5. Josephus 632
6. Qumran 633
7. New Testament 633
8. Apostolic Fathers 637
9. Church Fathers 637
10. Jewish Writings 638
Mishnah 638
Tosefta 641
Jerusalem Talmud 641
Babylonian Talmud 642
Midrashim 643
Targum 643
11. Classical Authors 644
Index of Modern Authors 646