Yeshua in Context >> Ideal Israel Theme
Magi's Gifts, Video
Matthew sometimes shows the scriptures behind the story of Messiah's birth and sometimes he expects us to see them in the hints he leaves in the story. What is the Jewish background to the gifts of the Magi in Matthew 2? Click "Read entire article..." to see the video. ... Read entire article >>
Filed under: Background to Gospels , Birth of Messiah , Detailed Commentary , Ideal Israel Theme , Intertextuality in the Gospels , Video
Greece, Rome, Israel #3
And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and sought a way to destroy him; for they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching. -Mark 11:18 The gospel did not just happen. The events which marked the onset of a new stage in the world's redemption happened in a time and place with three main cultural backdrops. Parts 1 and 2 introduced Greek and Roman influences on these events, both in Yeshua's time and the later time the gospels were written. What about conditions and social structures in Israel itself? What are some basics readers need to know about conditions and groups in Israel? What about Jewish concerns in the times of the evangelists? ... Read entire article >>
Filed under: Aims of Yeshua , Background to Gospels , Beginners , Formation of the Gospels , Gentiles , Ideal Israel Theme , Identity of Yeshua , Judaism Today & Yeshua , Law, Torah
Temptation, Moses, Wilderness
Matthew especially develops layers of symbolism, Yeshua as the New Moses and Yeshua as Ideal Israel. The temptation story (Matthew 4:1-11) is bursting with such symbolism. See Dale Allison, The New Moses: A Matthean Typology for details. The list of parallels is not only interesting, but a great clue to the meaning of the temptation story itself. ... Read entire article >>
Filed under: Background to Gospels , Ideal Israel Theme , Identity of Yeshua , New Moses Theme , Temptation
"My Son" as Midrash
February 20th, 2012 | 1 Comment
It's a famous example of what seems to be the unusual, perhaps questionable, use of the Jewish scriptures by the apostles. It occurs in a very noticeable location -- the birth narrative of Yeshua in Matthew. Some parts of the Bible get very little traffic, but the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke are pretty much highways and not little goat trails. So people are bound to notice some odd things about Matthew's "this happened in order to fulfill" sayings. One of the two weirdest (there is one that is even weirder) is Matthew 2:15. Is Matthew able to read and understand the Hebrew Bible? Is he guilty of a strange and arbitrary reading simply to justify his belief in Yeshua of Nazareth? Of course the author of Matthew knows what ... Read entire article >>
Filed under: Background to Gospels , Detailed Commentary , Formation of the Gospels , Gospel Genres , Hebrew Bible as Testimony , Ideal Israel Theme , Intertextuality in the Gospels , Literary Features